Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Last Call set list 23 march 2011

Time - Supergrass
Loaded - Primal Scream
Stand by me - Oasis
How was it for you? - James
Never had no one ever - The Smiths
White chalk - PJ Harvey
Love long distance - Gossip
Je suis un funky homme - Marmaduke Duke
Clamour - Glasser
Gospel Oak - James
DVV - James
Dead guitars - Seefeel
Why why why - The Woodentops
One man's burden - Nitzer Ebb
Outside inside - The Streets
Bop scotch - Stereolab
I'm not living in the real world - Belle & Sebastian
Sound of music - Joy Division
Local boy in the photograph - Stereophonics
Stay - 60 ft Dolls
It's not war (just the end of love) - Manic Street Preachers
Shoot you down - The Stone Roses
Subtitle - The Charlatans
England - PJ Harvey
Low C - Supergrass
Zorbing - Stornoway

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Opinion - Libyan rebels headed for defeat

With the so-called allied forces struggling to make a decision about who should supervise the no-fly zone over Libya and what will be the direction now, since last Thursday's UN Security Resolution 1973, the situation for the Libyan rebels is dire and getting rapidly worse.

If the allies can't make a decision then surely Gaddafi will. He could step up a ground war against the rebels and it's unclear how fighter jets will prevent that. Yet there is uncertainty as to who is the more organized, Gaddafi or the rebels? There have been comparisons in the media with Ceaucescu but perhaps Saddam Hussein circa the first gulf war is more fitting for the fate of the Libyan leader in the short term.

The resolution will stay in force and perhaps a trade embargo will follow, Gaddafi will regain his grip over the Libyan people and the West will bide their time until they can invade. Of course that strategy as history tells us has been an unmitigated disaster for Iraqis but has enabled the West to gain leverage in the region. That's what Obama et al want. They get to do all this under the guise of saying they are securing the safety of the Libyan people. The BBC is starting to report civilian deaths as a result of the air strikes against Libyan targets.

It is very possible that the UN Resolution will prolong the war in Libya. The Libyan rebels now not only have to worry about Gaddafi's forces but also they run the risk of getting killed by an air strike from their so called friends. There are also reports that people are hungry. Again think Iraq.

Libyans not joining the rebels or openly supporting Gaddafi will likely grow. Gaddafi's forces can be defeated as witnessed in the Toyota War with Chad. But then they were fighting another army from another country and not their own people. Unless America and the Europeans commit to a ground force then the Libyan rebels look likely headed to defeat.

Monday, March 21, 2011

From the BBC country profile of Libya - soon to be edited no doubt

Libya, once shunned by much of the international community over the 1988 bombing of a PanAm plane above the Scottish town of Lockerbie, underwent a dramatic rehabilitation after taking formal responsibility for the bombing in 2003.

The UN lifted sanctions, and Libya's subsequent renunciation of weapons of mass destruction further improved relations with the West.

However, the world once again turned against the Libyan government in early 2011 over its violent response to a popular uprising inspired by anti-authoritarian protests that swept Arab countries. Several leaders urged Colonel Muammar Gaddafi to step down, and the UN Security Council passed a resolution authorising a no-fly zone over Libya and air strikes to protect civilians.

Overview

* Overview
* Facts
* Leaders
* Media

A former Roman colony, Libya is a mostly desert country which saw invasions by Vandals, Byzantines, Arabs, Turks and more recently Italians before gaining independence in 1951.

AT-A-GLANCE
Mural celebrating 40 years of Colonal Gadaffi in power in August 2009
Politics: Colonel Gaddafi took power in a 1969 coup; he presides over a system of "people's congresses"
Economy: Libya has large reserves of oil and gas; proposed reform of state-run economy has met with political opposition
International: Libya returned to the diplomatic fold after renouncing weapons of mass destruction and paying compensation for the Lockerbie bombing

Timeline

Oil was discovered in 1959 and made the state wealthy. Ten years later, King Idris was overthrown in a coup led by the 27-year-old Muammar Gaddafi, and Libya embarked on a radically new chapter in its history.

Colonel Gaddafi's revolution has been based largely on distinguishing his country from the world around it. Ideas put forward in his Green Book aim at an alternative to both communism and capitalism, while Islam is adhered to but with a unique slant - Libya has its own calendar based on the Prophet Muhammad's death, for example.

Colonel Gaddafi called the new system a jamahiriya, loosely translated as a "state of the masses". Power is held by various people's committees, while in practice Gaddafi rules unopposed.

Libya was blamed for the Lockerbie plane bombing, and two Libyans suspected of organising the incident were handed over in 1999 for trial in The Hague under Scottish law. In 2001 one of the suspects was found guilty of killing 270 people in the bombing.

After Britain and Libya signed a prisoner-exchange agreement in 2009, Libya requested the transfer of the convicted Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi, who was freed from gaol on compassionate grounds and returned home in August.

Tripoli paid compensation to the US victims of the bombing in 2008, opening up the possibility of full diplomatic relations with the United States.

Libya possesses considerable reserves of oil and gas, but the sector remains relatively undeveloped.

Facts

* Overview
* Facts
* Leaders
* Media

* Full name: The Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya
* Population: 6.5 million (UN, 2010)
* Capital: Tripoli
* Area: 1.77 million sq km (685,524 sq miles)
* Major language: Arabic
* Major religion: Islam
* Life expectancy: 73 years (men), 78 years (women) (UN)
* Monetary unit: 1 Libyan dinar (LD) = 1,000 dirhams
* Main exports: Crude oil, petroleum products, natural gas
* GNI per capita: US $12,020 (World Bank, 2009)
* Internet domain: .ly
* International dialling code: +218

Leaders

* Overview
* Facts
* Leaders
* Media

Leader: Colonel Muammar Gaddafi

Once regarded as a pariah by the West, Colonel Gaddafi began his return to the international fold after Libya settled the Lockerbie bombing claims and agreed to stop developing weapons of mass destruction.
Maummar Gaddafi
Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi seized power in 1969

Western politicians, including the British, Italian, French and German leaders, have since visited Tripoli.

Muammar Gaddafi is the Arab world's longest-serving leader. A shrewd operator, he survived several attempts on his life and reinvented Libya's system of government.

The colonel came to power in a bloodless coup in 1969 against the ailing King Idris. He was inspired by the Egyptian nationalist leader Gamal Abdul Nasser, who dominated Arab politics in the 1950s and 1960s.

Though Col Gaddafi has always presented himself as an Arab nationalist, his attempts to forge unity with other Arab states have met with little success. In the 1990s he turned to Africa and proposed a "United States of Africa". The concept later formed the basis of the African Union.

Over the years Col Gaddafi has supported a broad range of armed groups, including the Irish Republican Army and the Palestine Liberation Organisation. Libya's alleged involvement in attacks in Europe in the 1980s triggered US military strikes in 1986. Dozens of people were killed, including the Libyan leader's adopted daughter.

One of Col Gaddafi's sons, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, is seen as having played a large part in the rehabilitation of the Libyan regime in the eyes of the international community. However, his credibility as the "acceptable" face of the Libyan leadership was somewhat tarnished after unrest broke out in February 2011 and he became an apologist for his father.

Muammar Gaddafi was born in the desert near Sirte in 1942. He married twice and has eight children.

• In February 2011 Col Gaddafi faced a popular revolt which spread across much of the country. His opponents gained control over several towns, but he held onto Tripoli. A battle between Gaddafi loyalists and opponents sparked an exodus by foreign workers, and prompted an international debate over whether or not to intervene in the conflict.

Media

* Overview
* Facts
* Leaders
* Media

Media rights body Reporters Without Borders has said press freedom is "virtually non-existent" in Libya, with self-censorship being commonplace.

The state strictly controls the media. Non-governmental media were authorized in 2007, leading to the launch of newspapers and a satellite TV by a company affiliated to one of Colonel Gaddafi's sons. But in 2009, these outlets were nationalized.

The Libyan Jamahiriyah Broadcasting Corporation is the state broadcaster. Pan-Arab satellite TVs are widely watched.

The main newspapers are state controlled. Some international publications are available, but the authorities routinely censor them. Few press visas are issued to foreign journalists.

There were 323,000 internet users by September 2009. Web filtering is selective, focusing on political opposition websites.

The press

* Al-Fajr al-Jadid - controlled by an arm of the information ministry
* Al-Shams - controlled by an arm of the information ministry
* Al-Jamahiriyah - controlled by an arm of the information ministry
* Al-Zahf Al-Akhdar - controlled by the Revolutionary Committees Movement
* The Tripoli Post - English-language pro-government weekly
* Quryna - Benghazi daily

Television

* Great Jamahiriyah TV - state-run, available terrestrially and via satellite
* Al-Libiyah - via satellite

Radio

* Great Jamahiriyah Radio - state-run
* Voice of Africa - state-run external service
* Al-Libiyah FM

News agency

* Jana (Jamahiriyah News Agency) - state-run

Three songs from Last Call

This is classic Last Call

cut and paste my friends cut and paste, cut and paste

http://radioisradio.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/threesongs.mp3

http://radioisradio.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/threesongs.mp3

Friday, March 18, 2011

Sunrise

Sunrise is the name of a radio show that is in the works. It could be go within the first weeks of April. It would be a great time to get the green light. As the coordinator/director of the show I am excited to get this new vehicle for communication moving.

When I grad the radio program last summer my intention after a trip to England to visit family was to start job hunting on my return for an on-air radio gig. Yet on my return I didn't start that job hunt. Instead I continued to enjoy myself and to go out and have fun. In England I actually didn't do what you might term partying - rather I went for long coastal walks and walks over farmland on the Isle of Sheppey. I also made a trip north to the Lake District and got in some really good walking with my good buddy Peter McCready before he embarked on the long distance El Camino de San Tiago.

Back in Vancouver I got into a routine of work at the library and Coop Radio programming and socializing. I think around Christmas time I realized it was time to start focusing. In this last week or so I have felt something bordering on satisfaction at where I am going or where I am not going. I mean that both in terms of location and work.

It looks like I will be in Vancouver for at least another year. These plans could change and that is the one thing that I am embracing right now is change. Anyhow I want to talk about Sunrise and I want to say that this new radio show will provide a venue for discussion, commentary, humour, music and news Monday to Friday for 60 minutes early in the morning. It's going to be great. What is more, whoah Gary, we haven't got approval yet. But what is more there is so much to discuss right now.

For the first time in a really long time I listened to CBC Radio One for nearly three hours. I listen and love the CBC but in recent years I've become very much a small time listener. The odd 20 minutes here, five minutes there. It could be that there is a lot going on. But there is always big news all the time isn't there. Yet I can think of the current big stories in Japan, Libya and Haiti and I guess these are the top stories but that's not forgetting that just a few weeks ago the focus was on Egypt, Tunisia and the United States. Yet it very much still is. And here in Canada we could see a contempt of Parliament charge laid against a MP and the possibility of a federal election. There's a lot going on - I'm desperate to shine the light on these stories on Sunrise pun intended.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Big News All Of The Time II

"Everybody's counting on the media" says a dentist working as a journalist now in Benghazi, Libya.

I just heard that on the Democracy Now report for 17 March. Sitting here in the comfort of my place in Vancouver, Canada I can't help but feel a bit nervous about what is going on in Japan. I keep on telling myself that we'll be fine here in Canada and the U.S but if it does affect us here on the west coast of North America it will affect a lot more of the world too.

Some of the American media is hysterical. I even heard one voice say in reference to Hiroshima "Japanese nuclear use" - er excuse me. You mean American dropping of an atomic bomb.

Closer to home we are to see a rise in the minimum wage, after ten years stuck at $8 the min wage will now be $10.25 from 12 May 12.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Last Call set list 16 mar 2011

Time - Supergrass
Wildlife of the desert - The Winks
Victoria - The Kooks
No kind words - The Maccabees
Call me - Franz Ferdinand
Ulysses - Franz Ferdinand
Sound of music - Joy Division
Lightning man - Nitzer Ebb
Rope - Nitzer Ebb
Hillbilly motobike - Stereolab
Roxy - Supergrass
White chalk - PJ Harvey
England - PJ Harvey
In the dark places - PJ Harvey
A leaving song - Broken Records
Warpath - Esben & The Witch
Apply - Glasser
My angel rocks back and forth - Four Tet
OMG - The Streets
My angel rocks back and forth - Four Tet
Roof of your car - The Streets
Pearls girl - Underworld

Tuesday, March 15, 2011

Less is more, old is new - shameless name checking

Has to be done, has to be done. Yes I am curious to know how much of the stats that this wee blog is getting is due to name checking. I'm not even tagging and so I have to say I am little bit surprised at the number of hits this blog is getting. They are by no means incredible but to the Denmark massive big respect.

I am using the library once more for browsing. Taking out books and if enjoying continuing to read and after reading the words of legendary Welsh Labour MP Aneurin Bevan, feeling content about that fact too. Bevan says us workers read not like students to pass tests and write papers but to read to learn about what we need to know in life. Yes I am revisiting Bevan's 'In Place of Fear'. A superb book for the times we are living in. All over the world people are asserting their rights and to me when I think of what is important in my life, well a health service that's accessible to all, the elimination of poverty, these are just a few of the things on my political shopping list. Bevan's political career focused on these principles.

Here in British Columbia we have a new premier who gets to be premier without facing the electorate. Christy Clark won the leadership race for the BC Liberals and has now been sworn in as the new Premier. What a joke. There is a silver lining. She is set to go to a by-election for the riding in which she sits, Point Grey, vacated by Gordon Campbell. Statistically a BC Government hasn't won a by-election for 30 years. I doubt that even if the New Democratic Party does pull out a big name to run against Clark that that statistic will remain. Clark is doing enough to convince people that she is the new face and direction of the Liberal party.

It's miserable to think about it too much. I think that's probably where the majority of people in this province is at when it comes to provincial politics or any kind of politics for that matter. I am convinced that people care not enough in British Columbia about who is running the country at the federal, provincial and municipal level.

......oh well back to the shameless name checking. What you thought that was name checking. Well Bevan maybe but the rest I was just moaning. I am some sixty pages into Graham Greene's Brighton Rock. This is my second attempt and this time I am hooked. I love the detail about London and of course Brighton and not forgetting his talk of all things English in the book. I am breaking my Greene duck in reading Brighton Rock. What else is on the coffee table, er floor, next to couch, another Tariq Ali book, a book about Roman Britain, a few Brit history books, and Black Workers Remember. They are at least the books that I have managed to open and start to read.

On the turntable, CD player a Brian Eno/David Byrne album which is both gimmicky and fantastic. I can't quite work out if I can fit it into Last Call. I got it from Vancouver Public Library, where I work part time, if you didn't already know. Also got out PJ Harvey's White Chalk which is great because I can now play it side by Let England Shake. The Streets' AKA Mike Skinner Computer and Blues is never far from the CD player right now. When I listen to this Eno Byrne thing I am reminded of James' Wah Wah album which is one of my all time favourites. The clock ticks on for midday and I need to get out there and get some groceries for I am going snow shoeing tomorrow for the first time ever!

I am still rummaging through the cassettes too as I mentioned in the first installment of Less is more, old is new. I've started to sort a few piles of tapes. Anything that's a real album is finding it's way onto the top shelf of my CD collection and stacked on the right side of the shelf actually looks like something artistic. Then there's the dubbed copies of albums. They form pile 1. Pile 2 is stuff taped off the radio. Both piles are keeping pace with each other.

I then found a mix tape and at Kitsilano Library on Sunday found a book all about mix tapes. It was cute but I found myself speed reading what tracks were on the cassettes and then back peddling to see what people had written about the mix tapes. It's now back in the library. But it did make me realize that mix tapes would have to constitute a separate pile. However then there are the mix tapes that I made that really are mix tapes, where I am mixing and sampling. A lot of these are not easy to listen to. What was I thinking when I made this one is the thought that all too often goes through my mind. It would be crazy to analyze them as all they really are is moments of playing music caught on tape. It's not like I was doing anything really creative. Although there is the odd tape and in it the interesting sounds that makes me think 'oh I quite like that.' But those really are few and far between but I can not dispose of these memories. Am I rambling?

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Last Call set list 9 March 2011

Time - Supergrass (snippet)
Without thinking - The Streets
Time - Supergrass
In the year 2525 - Ian Brown
Outside inside - The Streets
Cardiac arrest - Madness
Chaka demus - Jamie T
Sheepskin tearaway - Pete Doherty
Blue tango - The Winks
Phone - Glasser
Dry - PJ Harvey
Let England shake - PJ Harvey
Eumenides - Esben & The Witch
Dead guitars - Seefeel
Roots dub - King Tubby
Modern worksong - Broken Records
Auto-intoxication - Manic Street Preachers
The words that maketh murder - PJ Harvey
On Battleship Hill - PJ Harvey
England - PJ Harvey
Take down the union jack - Billy Bragg
If you tolerate this your children will be next - Manic Street Preachers
Warpath - Esben & The Witch
I want the world to stop - Belle & Sebastian
Blip on a screen - The Streets

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Last Call set list 2 March 2011

a short one tonight,
Time - Supergrass
Crowning of the poor - Ian Brown
Just like you - Ian Brown
19 rebellions - Asian Dub Foundation
Spanish bombs - The Clash
Auto-intoxication - Manic Street Preachers
Marlon J-D - Manic Street Preachers
London's burning - The Clash
Too much too young - The Specials
Chaka Demus - Jamie T
Take it or leave it - Madness
I want the world to stop - Belle & Sebastian
The never played symphonies - Morrissey
Light streams - Esben & The Witch
Aint no longer asking - Dodgy