Gary Jarvis

Why the B.C. Missing Women's Commission of Inquiry fails | rabble.ca

2011-10-12T16:57:00.000-07:00

Why the B.C. Missing Women's Commission of Inquiry fails | rabble.ca

Remembering Jack

2011-10-09T20:14:00.001-07:00

Feels appropriate to re-post this.

Jack Layton will be remembered as a fighter. From his first political steps as a young man to the amazing surge of the federal NDP in this year’s spring election to his fight with cancer he always embraced the struggle.

It was this tenacity that endeared him to people all over Canada. To many he was simply known as Jack and in Vancouver on Monday night some five hundred people gathered at the Art Gallery in a vigil for him.

It was a beautiful event with NDP activists and supporters holding candles. I held a CUPE flag which drifted gently in the evening breeze. It was fitting that after the day’s heavy rains the clouds cleared. As candles glowed people talked of Jack and grieved. I chatted with an old friend - we knew each from our activism with the BC Health Coalition. Our interaction, just one of many such conversations taking place.

I got home at about 10pm and went online to Youtube where I found a video of Jack singing at the 2005 Parliamentary Press Gallery Dinner. The event typically has a satirical edge to it and that year was no exception with Jack singing his own lyrics to the tunes of three popular songs.

‘King of the Road’ became ‘Party For Sale or Rent’ with Jack making fun of himself, his party and the general state of federal politics at that time. The medley continued with ‘Nobody knows you when you’re down and out’ again with different and comical lyrics. He ended with a variant of the Barenaked Ladies ‘If I had a million dollars’ becoming ‘If I Had Another $48.6 billion dollars’.

As Jack left the stage that night - the musician accompanying him sang Hit The Road Jack. That night Jack left the stage of the press gallery dinner but yesterday he departed this life. He will be greatly missed, but what a legacy!

Jack Layton’s letter to Canadians
http://media.thestar.topscms.com/acrobat/a8/44/ffee8eaa4928bb2bc366f943f7af.pdf

obituary from The Toronto Star
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/1043514--jack-layton-dead-at-61

Statement from Barry O’Neill, President CUPE BC
http://www.cupe.bc.ca/news/2241

Statement from Paul Moist, National President CUPE
http://cupe.ca/paul-moist/paul-moist-remembers-jack-layton

Red Bull prepares to cross Rocky Mountaineer picket lines

2011-10-09T12:45:00.000-07:00

Red Bull's Mini Drome tour, a lapped bicycle ride comes to Vancouver and controversially the site of a Lock Out at the Rocky Mountaineer terminus, Cottrell Street on October 23.

The soft drink maker boasts that Mini Drome "brings skill, speed, balance, and bravado together on a steep and shrunken version, far from the traditional velodrome, to give competitors the most challenging and treacherous ride of their lives." At the same time competitors are having the time of their lives they will have to think on the fact that in taking part in this event they have crossed a picket line.

Rocky Mountaineer locked out its on-board attendants in June of this year and refuses to negotiate with the union Teamsters Local 31.

In addition spectators are also invited to cross the picket line. There is no admission charge.

The Super Champion Bike Shop at the foot of Main Street near Cordova is acting in partnership with Red Bull to organize the event. The store is taking registrants information.

The Vancouver International Film Festival also held an event at the Cottrell Street site. A large picket and mobilization by the B.C Federation of Labour persuaded film lovers to boycott the event.

Rocky Mountaineer Lock Out continues | Radio is Radio

2011-10-09T12:17:00.000-07:00

The Lock Out at Rocky Mountaineer is far from over.

Here's an interview I did with Heather Donily, one of the on-board attendants for the Rocky Mountaineer. I spoke with her on The Rational on Vancouver Cooperative Radio, Monday 3 Oct.

The latest on Rocky Mountaineer is that Red Bull plan to hold a bicycle event at RM's train terminus Oct 23.

Rocky Mountaineer Lock Out continues | Radio is Radio

Resistance to Cheney book bash

2011-09-27T13:25:00.000-07:00

Today's newspapers and last night's web reports from CTV and CBC carried reports from the protest at the Vancouver Club where Dick Cheney appeared at a $500 a seat Bon Mot book club event.

Outside on the street the mood was jubilant almost celebratory as opponents to war and torture made their thoughts and feelings known. Protestors dressed in orange suits as a representation of Guantanamo Bay detainees sat at the front steps of the VC before the arrival of the first guests. Cheney arrived by other means as the venue became a fortress surrounded by the Vancouver Police and the RCMP.

A bevvy of media - TV, radio and photographers remained poised to get sights and sounds. Indie media also got their fix. Both indie and mainstream media were able to capture the image of people linking arms in an attempt to prevent Cheney guests from entering the club. The sidewalk was blocked with guests struggling to get through the rumbustious gathering.

Organizer of the Bon Mot event Leah Costello said it was not an endorsement of Cheney but an opportunity for debate and discussion. The former U.S Vice President continues to defend the interrogation techniques deployed during his tenure. It is a stand that has politicians at the highest level in Canada speaking out. Don Davies, the New Democratic Member of Parliament for Vancouver Kingsway voiced his opposition to allowing Cheney to enter Canada.

The disastrous invasion of Iraq and the ongoing war in Afghanistan remain front and centre in the minds of those opposed to these wars. Given Cheney's connection to this history it's of no surprise that the protest outside the West Hastings venue was as militant as it was.

Yeah yeah - Vancouver touching down

2011-08-31T20:49:00.000-07:00

I'm about to embark on a road trip of sorts. Tomorrow night I will be leaving Vancouver and taking the Greyhound to Calgary, and then on Sunday I take a flight to Manchester, England.

I am close to completing my first pack of the backpack. My attempt at trying to travel lighter is looking good but at present nothing is in the backpack - ha ha! So I can not really boast about achieving anything at this stage.

I think the only thing I've not got right now is a Maple Leaf! I'm thinking of getting one just in case I run into difficulties in the north of England and end up hitch hiking - it will add some novelty to my appearance. I've also cut the hair and it's looking a touch hip(pyish)as the blade set #4 did not do a uniform cut. Yeah it was deliberate.

I've cut up the last of the fruit and put into freezer. Only the milk and some lemons left in the fridge. Oh yeah the lemons.

Going to use some of those right now.

Travel Mode

2011-08-28T13:32:00.000-07:00

A week from now I will be at the airport in Calgary awaiting my flight to Manchester, England.

It's under a year since I was last in England but it feels a lot longer than that. I think it's just down to the fact that I've been busy. Yet at the same time I really don't feel like I've done that much. Who am I? Well yes this blog And Out Left is a blog by Gary Jarvis. I'm from north west London if you want to know but have been living in Vancouver for nearly seven years and most of that in the Downtown Eastside. Every time I take a trip back to England I get the feeling that I am closer to leaving Vancouver.

In fact I have more days than not when I think to myself why I am still in Vancouver. There's an answer to that question that I just haven't worked out.
It's a glorious sunny day in Vancouver and I'm readying myself for a trip to England, finding British money I forgot I had - no great fortunes but along with hostel cards and an Oyster (London Underground) card it feels like I'm ready.

I am readying myself for the travel mode. I got a cheap flight out of Calgary, and in typical style, well for me at least, I will be doing the Greyhound there. That's 18 hours on a bus! I've already decided that I am going to be traveling light. I hope to stay at a hostel in Calgary that has great reviews in the Rough Guide to Canada but that's not confirmed.

So I'm thinking of packing the emergency sheet, sleeping back and maybe even a tarp. It was last used for a night camping in Osoyoos. I will not be packing a tent though. It's tempting but it can stay here on this side of The Atlantic.

From Calgary it's a flight to Manchester, and then a quick hop to Carnforth.

The 6.57 chart for September | Radio is Radio

2011-08-27T12:35:00.000-07:00

The 6.57 chart for September | Radio is Radio

Jack Layton

2011-08-23T12:39:00.000-07:00

Jack Layton will be remembered as a fighter. From his first political steps as a young man to the amazing surge of the federal NDP in this year's spring election to his fight with cancer he always embraced the struggle.

It was this tenacity that endeared him to people all over Canada. To many he was simply known as Jack and in Vancouver on Monday night some five hundred people gathered at the Art Gallery in a vigil for him.

It was a beautiful event with NDP activists and supporters holding candles. I held a CUPE flag which drifted gently in the evening breeze. It was fitting that after the day's heavy rains the clouds cleared. As candles glowed people talked of Jack and grieved. I chatted with an old friend - we knew each from our activism with the BC Health Coalition. Our interaction, just one of many such conversations taking place.

I got home at about 10pm and went online to Youtube where I found a video of Jack singing at the 2005 Parliamentary Press Gallery Dinner. The event typically has a satirical edge to it and that year was no exception with Jack singing his own lyrics to the tunes of three popular songs.
'King of the Road' became 'Party For Sale or Rent' with Jack making fun of himself, his party and the general state of federal politics at that time. The medley continued with 'Nobody knows you when you're down and out' again with different and comical lyrics. He ended with a variant of the Barenaked Ladies 'If I had a million dollars' becoming 'If I Had Another $48.6 billion dollars'.

As Jack left the stage that night - the musician accompanying him sang Hit The Road Jack. That night Jack left the stage of the press gallery dinner but yesterday he departed this life. He will be greatly missed, but what a legacy!

These riots reflect a society run on greed and looting | Seumas Milne | Comment is free | The Guardian

2011-08-10T22:44:00.000-07:00

These riots reflect a society run on greed and looting | Seumas Milne | Comment is free | The Guardian

Support needed to end the lock out of 100 Vancouver workers

2011-07-25T21:40:00.000-07:00

There's a lock out going on right now in Vancouver. It's a lock out that could be ended with your help. Yes you're reading right you can help bring an end to this lock out.

The action or actions that will end this lock out needs a big ask. That big ask is that hundreds possibly thousands mobilize in the coming weeks on Cottrell Street in Vancouver to support the locked out on-board workers of Rocky Mountaineer.

Some 100 Rocky staff have been locked out since the middle of June when the company decided to abandon bargaining and lock out their workers. The lock out came at a critical time in bargaining negotiations and rather than bargain in good faith management decided to lock out its on-board employees and run the tourist train without those workers.

The Rocky Mountaineer is operating with inexperienced staff hired at short notice to replace the locked out workers. Yes that is indeed scab labour - a further torment to the locked out workers. However the company has been able to get around this by using a combination of managers and scabs, the latter being legally acceptable as there is no such thing as scab labour under Canadian federal legislation. Of course just because scab labour is legal in Canada doesn't make it right.

The push to get the management of Rocky Mountaineer back to the bargaining table can be achieved and one of the quickest ways to make it happen is to mobilize hundreds of trade unionists. A weekly picket is being organized by the Vancouver & District Labour Council. We need to join that picket line this Friday, and every Friday until the objective - of getting back to the bargaining table - is achieved.

See you on Cottrell Street in Vancouver this Friday at 5pm.

Cottrell Street is the right turn off Terminal - one turning before the Home Depot store.

Alternatively meet at the Main Street skytrain station on the east side of the street at Thornton Park.
We're going to meet at 4.30pm and at 5pm march to the Cottrell Street site.

‪Rocky Mountain train LOCKED OUT‬‏ - YouTube

2011-07-21T13:25:00.000-07:00

‪Rocky Mountain train LOCKED OUT‬‏ - YouTube

Simon Fraser Student Society serves lockout notice to CUPE 3338 members | cupe.bc.ca

2011-07-12T21:13:00.000-07:00

Simon Fraser Student Society serves lockout notice to CUPE 3338 members | cupe.bc.ca

a more diverse set on African Vibes you are likely never to hear…. | Radio is Radio

2011-07-04T13:48:00.000-07:00

a more diverse set on African Vibes you are likely never to hear…. | Radio is Radio

Gary Jarvis hosts African Vibes at Coop Radio from time to time. You can find the set list from the 3 July show at the radioisradio.wordpress.com blog and listen to the set at http://www.coopradio.org/station/archives/78

Canada Day in Crab Park, Vancouver

2011-07-02T11:23:00.000-07:00

Some pix from Crab Park on Canada Day

Rocky Mountaineer lockout update

2011-06-29T18:25:00.000-07:00

Workers continue to picket the company's headquarters on Terminal and will also picket, later tomorrow afternoon, the western terminus of the Rocky Mountaineer tourist train.

The on-board attendants who are members of Teamsters Local 31 have been locked out by their employer. Currently some of the culinary staff, members of the Canadian Auto Workers union, local 4001 continue to work.

Injunctions have been served against Teamsters members for actions connected to the picketing.

A bittersweet Canada Day - Opinion

2011-06-28T14:40:00.000-07:00

Postal workers are back at work after being legislated back to work by the Conservative Government. As that Lock Out comes to an end the Lock Out by Rocky Mountaineer on its on board staff continues.

Yesterday there was a picket line at both Rocky Mountaineer's head office on Terminal in Vancouver and then later a picket at the scenic train's western terminus just a few streets away.

At that picket line on board staff held Teamsters Local 31 picket signs as well as their own homemade signs. Workers cried as they saw bus loads of tourists leave the site. It really hit home at the sheer pointlessness of management's aggressive stance against what really is a great community of workers - family almost.

So yet again Canada Day is almost here and the expectation is to show patriotism for this great country of ours. My patriotism for the magnificent beauty of the mountains and the lakes continues. My despair with the brutality of the capitalist society continues also.

Despair never lasts long here. It turns to anger and shortly after that action. The fight for a democratic and just Canada continues.

Rocky Mountaineer workers locked out

2011-06-28T12:33:00.000-07:00

The Rocky Mountaineer caters for tourists on a scenic train ride from Vancouver to Calgary, Alberta via the Rockies.

The employees and their union Teamsters Local 31 are being shunned by the company.

It's really sad to see such obviously loyal staff - many have worked for the company for 15 years - being treated so appallingly.

To make matters worse the company has hired scab labour - which is illegal in British Columbia. Some of the "replacement workers" are management but there are also new hires.

YouTube - Rocky Mountaineer locks out its employees

2011-06-28T12:21:00.000-07:00

YouTube - Rocky Mountaineer locks out its employees

Back to work for the Postal Workers

2011-06-27T09:27:00.000-07:00

It's a sad day for Canadian postal workers and the Canadian Union of Postal Workers. It's a frightening day for all Canadians.

Our Conservative Government it reads in the mainstream media has legislated postal workers back to work. Legislated is correct but it feels more like sledgehammered back to work.

For the record and to say it again - it was Canada Post that brought our post office to a halt with the lock out. Yes the employer locked out the workers preventing them from working. True the post office employees had been engaging in rotating strikes prior to the lock out.

Rotating strikes or temporary work stoppages to put it another way are not a strike. Legislation back to work normally follows a strike, at least it does in Canada. The crippling fines for ignoring back to work legislation can kill a union and it would undoubtedly kill the CUPW.

The really upsetting thing in all of this is that the Tories legislated the post workers back to work following a lock out by Canada Post and not a strike. The management of Canada Post, a federal workforce means that the Government is the boss. So let's get it right for what it is - Canada Post locked out the workers and then the Government forced them back to work, and enforced back to work terms and conditions worse than Canada Post's final offer in negotiations with CUPW.

The new collective agreement would last three years should the CUPW sign up to it.

As for a general strike to support the CUPW - ain't going to happen. Summer is coming and all those music festivals, baseball, football to keep us Canadians busy. Yeah it's apathy again that allows Harper and the conservatives to do their worst. Greater organization and cooperation on the left is the only thing that is going to stop the Tories.

A general strike in the traditional sense is probably not something that can easily be done. The laws in this country as detailed above stifle that possibility. As it stands the postal workers have no option but to go back to work. A solution can only come from the workers in this country when they take a principled stand against the Tories. What will that look like?

Postal Workers under attack

2011-06-26T17:40:00.000-07:00

Postal workers under attack
What do we do?
Stand up dance back. Yeah that's right. In addition to picketing, postal workers in Vancouver have held a few dance parties. Here's some pix from the streets.

The 6.57 to St John’s – it’s a radio show | Radio is Radio

2011-06-26T13:58:00.000-07:00

The 6.57 to St John’s – it’s a radio show | Radio is Radio

The 6.57 to St John's set list 25 june 2011

2011-06-25T09:05:00.000-07:00

My best plaid - The City Streets
Generic - Keep Me Safe
Kings, queens & The wax machines - Pale Whale
Drunks & thieves - Falklands
Maintain your composure - Zombies
It's good to see you - Falklands
16 in April - Keep Me Safe
16 in April - Keep Me Safe (yes twice)
Golden platitudes - Manic Street Preachers
School pride - The Stance
Honestly speaking - Stuck On Planet Earth
Something new - Pale Whale
Are you mine - The Robots
This is the one - The Stone Roses
Irish rose - The City Streets
Miss the cold - The City Streets
Big love - The City Streets
Breathless - The City Streets
Dragons - It Kills
Ringerz - Islet
Your radio - Little Scream
Wild human child - Egyptian Hip Hop
Islands - The XX
Sole brother - Born Ruffians
Old song - It Kills

The 6.57 to St John's set list 18 june 2011

2011-06-18T09:02:00.000-07:00

Police & thieves - The Clash
My best plaid - The City Streets
Report from the trenches - Keep Me Safe
Oh man - Born Ruffians
Romania - Boxer The Horse
Pop song automaton - Zombies
Brown sabbath - Etaoin Shrdlu
Pobody's nerfect - Wolf Parade
Black star - Radiohead
She's lost control - Joy Division
Go deep - Snowblink
The fish of little thoughts - Snowblink
The appeal of the master dredger - Construction & Destruction
Hibernation - Pugs & Crows
Red crescent - Matthew Hornell & The Diamond Minds
The ghost of Carbisdale castle - Pat Lepoidevin
Grand aul dame Brittannia - Ron Kavana & The Alias Acoustic Band
The Portland cement factory at monolith California - John Fahey
Home fire - Ron Kavana & The Alias Acoustic Band
Song 2 - Blur
Wrong em boyo - The Clash
You lost my love - The Stance
Sole brother - Born Ruffians
Age 25-29 hairline - Shane Turner Overdrive
The signal - Construction & Destruction
A year on trial - The Paperbacks
Protocols - Then Radio
The words that maketh murder - PJ Harvey

YouTube - ‪jarvisv6a's Channel‬‏

2011-06-16T23:45:00.000-07:00

YouTube - ‪jarvisv6a's Channel‬‏

Riot Act being read in Vancouver, 15 June 2011

Vancouver Stanley Cup defeat riot

2011-06-16T06:44:00.001-07:00

15 June
8.25pm west of Granville

8.50pm, Hamilton and Georgia

9.12pm, Hamilton, Canada Post

9.15pm, Hamilton and Georgia

9.45pm, Dunsmuir and Seymour

9.55pm, Hamilton parking lot

10.37pm, Granville Street

11.10pm, Richards near Red Room

11.20pm, Vancouver Art Gallery, Georgia

11.28pm, VAG, Georgia

11.37pm, VAG, Georgia

11.41pm, VAG, Georgia

11.45pm, VAG, Georgia

16 June
12.18am, Robson near Art Gallery

12.31am, somewhere near Granville

12.45am, Georgia outside Canada Post

Vancouver riots as Stanley Cup goes to Boston

2011-06-16T05:30:00.000-07:00

Many many people said there would be a riot but a few of us, myself included, based on the experience of the Olympics and the policing there thought that the riotous scenes of 1994 wouldn't be repeated.

Wrong. The lid blew off the pressure cooker. Cycling round the turmoil of downtown Vancouver and witnessing the destruction, as well as the good cop bad cop routines of the Vancouver Police Department and the completely chaotic crowd control measures it really became apparent that this was always how it was going to be.

Even if Vancouver had won the last game on home ice a riot might still have been the outcome. The mess downtown as a result of the riot is being viewed as a black eye for Vancouver. That's what you are going to read in the mainstream media and hear on the CBC for weeks, even years to come. What they won't mention is that Vancouver wears a black eye everyday, and has done for years - that became apparent to overseas media when they saw the poverty in this city during the Olympics.

Many of you might be thinking this opinion is an attempt to shift the blame from the rioters to the authorities. In part it is. Watching smart cars get overturned brings me to the conclusion that a lot of people just weren't thinking about their acts of vandalism. Then there were the overturned portapotties. Hey guys think about the salmon! Then there was the smashed windows of Canada Post. Canada Post who this week locked out postal workers across the country. Two acts of stupidity and one act of strategic direct action. It's difficult to know if that really is the case. But then this was a riot. The motivations of people were not clear.

The CBC, in particular Radio One, has been building up the event, and running with the Stanley Cup fever for weeks. Of course they were tapping into the buzz of the city but they also became part of that buzz and helped to keep it going. The crowds outside the CBC centre on Hamilton grew from a few hundred a few weeks back when Vancouver eliminated San Jose to tens and tens of thousands yesterday. The crowd may have been one hundred thousand strong at the start of the game. It certainly was impressive to look down from the Vancouver public library to see the crowds of hockey fans adorned in blue stretching back along Georgia past Homer to the next intersection. An impromptu singing of Oh Canada following both playings of the national anthems at Rogers Arena was impressive.

From that point on though it felt like the downtown core, the library included, was under siege. It was like a fireworks crowd with no beach to go to, no fireworks to view. One media report said that the destruction on Georgia at the Canada Post building started right as the game ended. The plume of thinly streaming smog-like looking smoke could been seen as far as Dunsmuir.

Three things contributed to the chaos; the anticipation created by the play-off nature of the Stanley Cup, the absence of a large downtown space for people to celebrate a win or loss and the response of the Vancouver Police. The art gallery was cleared of people dancing on the steps by riot police. There was no smashing windows there, no looting, just people dancing, smiling, waving Canucks flags and having a party. The riot police treated this crowd just the same as the people looting on Granville and the people rioting on Georgia. The police are completely out of touch with the average person in the city. It's not the fault of the rank and file police officer. The powers that be got it spectacularly wrong. Very early in the night police put on riot gear. Big mistake. They did this just west of Granville in full view of the then partying crowd. Children with parents watched eagerly. The police attempts to 'look' and 'sound' tough didn't and don't work. Could they not have donned their riot gear more discretely and then gave the vandals a real surprise. No, this is of course, not how Vancouver polices. You only have to think of the police car parked across the bike lanes when police make their presence known at Pigeon Park, or the bus lanes anywhere in the city as officers stand around a handcuffed individual sitting on the ground.

These are the things you won't hear about in the mainstream media. These are things that people know and see for themselves. We forget about it, we walk past it and try to get on with life despite the contradictions in thinking that this type of policing provokes.

A riot in Vancouver post Canucks defeat. Won't happen. But it did and when all is considered it's not surprising. It wasn't a political riot as some are bemoaning but you know in some ways it was. Big name stores were attacked and looted including Louis Vuitton while eateries kept their doors open and did a brisk trade. It was reminiscent of the large manifestations at a typical G8 or G20. The small store owners fed the people and the corporate commercial giants got ransacked.

There were more onlookers than looters and more people than police. The latter being the reason that people wouldn't go home and that the "Attention Attention - leave the area or risk arrest" announcements were completely ignored. This for the most part wasn't a crowd of rioters. The people causing the destruction of cars and looting stores were a small number. But the people wanting to party and celebrate the achievement of going to game 7 in the Stanley Cup Final were many. The demand of the Vancouver Police in telling people to go home - ridiculous.

Based on last night many will be hoping it's another 17 years before the Vancouver Canucks makes the Stanley Cup Final. Our media, the policing and our city will have changed dramatically again as it has done since 1994. Yet we'll probably still have a corporate media toying with Vancouverites love of hockey, we'll still have a police department that's insensitive to the people it's meant to serve, and we'll still have no real public squares - and those that we do have will be cleared by riot cops. We could of course try to sign Tim Thomas.

Sounds like a riot in Vancouver | Radio is Radio

2011-06-16T05:29:00.000-07:00

Sounds like a riot in Vancouver | Radio is Radio

The 6.57 to St John's set list 11 june 2011

2011-06-11T21:50:00.000-07:00

Back in fine form after a week off. Thanks to Pam Carr for hosting last week's show

Pre-show warm up to 6.57
Beetlebum - Blur
Stir it up - Bob Marley
Song 2 - Blur

set list
My best plaid - The City Streets
Yours & mine - The Stance
16 in April - Keep Me Safe
Gimme me a ride - Entire Cities
Protocols - Then Radio
Beat and the pulse - Austra
Mattlers - Lovely Killbots
What's left us - Construction & Destruction
Wildwood - Code Pie
Age 25-29 hairline - Shane Turner Overdrive
Filthy love - We Are Enfant Terrible
OMG - Ohama
Reach out your hands - Friends Electric
Smokin - Boston
Transmission - Joy Division
It's good to see you - Falklands
Kiss me when I come - Keep Me Safe
Alive - Stuck On Planet Earth
Kings, Queens & The Wax Machines - Pale Whale
Jenny jitters - The Stance
Sweet tooth - The Stance
Myself the cop - Pete Tremblay & The Boozy Truth
Mary - Pat Lepoidevin
Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear - Entire Cities

Stanley Cup craziness

2011-06-09T15:11:00.000-07:00

The excitement in Vancouver for the Canucks possibility of winning the Stanley Cup is completely understandable. The anticipation is palpable and no doubt the same is true on the streets of Boston.

The momentum has steadily grown with each game in the series final and with each home win for the Canucks, currently sitting at 3-2 to Vancouver. Just one more win will secure Vancouver glory and this town will go crazier than it is possible to imagine right now and that opinion is based on the celebrations in downtown Vancouver on Friday night.

It's not comparable to the euphoria for soccer teams in the UK. This is bigger. Vancouverites themselves are saying that people are acting as if Canucks has already won the Cup. The nearest comparison that comes to mind in UK soccer at club level is Arsenal's 1989 League Title win. That brought to an end an 18 year drought not only for the team but also for London.

You see, in London there are some 16 rival clubs. These include Chelsea, Tottenham, Arsenal and West Ham United. Those are the best well known in the capital city. Add to that the newly promoted Queens Park Rangers with a history as proud as that of West Ham, and you are beginning to get close to the complexity of tribal patterns of UK soccer support. The soccer club scene in the UK is so competitive with so many teams in each others pockets that it is difficult to find a comparison to the Canucks. Even the great teams in the UK that have achieved so much in recent years both domestically and in Europe have rivals in their midst. For Manchester United see City, for Liverpool see Everton. You get the drift.

Really the only buzz that is truly comparable to this year's Stanley Cup run is the excitement surrounding England's World Cup run in 1990. They lost on penalties to West Germany. By the following world cup West Germany was Germany once more. Yes it that was long ago. Although in 1996 the excitement surrounding England's hosting of the Euro Championships was pretty incredible. Hitch-hiking from Scotland to London a day or two before the England Scotland clash clearly displayed the north south divide at the border. In Scotland the Saltire proudly waved while to the south it was the George Cross.

In Vancouver, 1994 was the last time city's hockey team did so well. Not having a rival hockey team closer than Edmonton or Calgary means that the loyalty is pretty much focused on the Canucks. Heck people are even traveling from Calgary to soak up the vibes.

There's been narrow wins for every Vancouver home game and big losses on the road. There has of course been a lot of rough play too at those away games. It was a little bit daunting last night at zero zero in the second period and listening to the commentary on the radio it seemed to me at least that Vancouver were on their way to defeat. Not so. A tight game had me thinking given Boston's last two wins would give them the motivation to get the all important third win. The win went to Vancouver.

The chatter has for so long leading up to the final been on the potential for riots in Vancouver should the Canucks lose. This won't happen. It would be pretty impressive should Boston win the next two and take the Cup but there won't be riots. Policing is just so different now in Vancouver compared to the mid-90s. The authorities really know how to manage crowds. That can be seen with the fan zones and the strict monitoring of people entering these areas. The city quickly realized that a fan zone centered on the CBC building was the best way to ensure that people could be controlled. Crushing is the only danger that could occur but even that seems unlikely due to the lack of alcohol being consumed.

The city flooded last night with people rushing towards Granville and Georgia Streets to celebrate the win. The celebratory mood looks set to continue and even two losses in Boston and in Vancouver next Wednesday can't dampen what has been a great cup run for the Canucks.
A win for the Canucks in Boston or on home ice midweek will again send people into the streets. Granville for some reason appears to be our city square. It is peculiar. The lawns of the art gallery were relatively quiet last night with most people preferring to congregate on the shopping and nightclub district.

What we can expect if Vancouver do clinch the Stanley Cup is one huge party, and a snap provincial election of course. Christy Clark wouldn't miss an opportunity like that. The postal workers of this city might have something to say on that though. Their solid strike vote is power indeed and could potentially thwart the Liberals.

Last Call final sounds

2011-06-08T14:37:00.000-07:00

This is by no means a comprehensive list but these are the bands and singers that were defining Last Call in the final few months of the show.

In reverse order
25, Austra
24, God Help The Girl
23, Snowblink
22, The Square Waves
21, Chapel Club
20, Islet
19, Dutch Uncles
18, The Maccabees
17, Seefeel
16, The Streets
15, Radiohead
14, The Winks
13, Broken Records
12, The Morning Benders
11, Glasser
10, Pete Doherty
9, Stornoway
8, Jamie T
7, Esben & The Witch
6, Belle & Sebastian
5, Ian Brown
4, PJ Harvey
3, The XX
2, James
1, Manic Street Preachers

the very last Last Call radio show

2011-06-08T02:09:00.000-07:00

Here's the set list for the last show. It's been great. Last Call has been on the last two years at Coop Radio playing UK rock and pop, you can check out the archives of course at http://coopradio.org/station/archives/27

But here's the final set - more analysis to follow in subsequent posts
Time - Supergrass
Dear Wack - The Beatles
You really got a hold on me - The Beatles
Common people - Pulp
Here's where the story ends - The Sundays
What difference does it make - The Smiths
Last of the English roses - Pete Doherty
England - PJ Harvey
Julie - The Levellers
If you tolerate this your children will be next - Manic Street Preachers
Happy shopper - 60ft Dolls
Beetlebum - Blur
Sproston Green - The Charlatans
Wonderwall - Oasis
Vanishing point - New Order
Middle class revolt - The Fall
Vaseline - Elastica
Song 2 - Blur
Garageland - The Clash
Porcupine - James
Morning Mr Magpie - Radiohead
Step down - Seefeel
Marching song - Esben & The Witch
Darken her horse - Austra
Confusion - New Order
Mary Jane - Sheep On Drugs
All we make is entertainment - Manic Street Preachers
I've changed my plea to guilty - Morrissey
Crystal days - Echo & The Bunnymen
Essence - Cocteau Twins
Wilderness - Joy Division

post set
High & Dry - Radiohead

last Last Call radio show

2011-06-07T15:49:00.000-07:00

Tune in tonight for the last Last Call radio show on Vancouver Cooperative Radio, CFRO, 102.7FM streaming live at www.coopradio.org

Last Call retires tonight. The time is right to end the show. It started late summer 2009 and tonight's show at midnight heading into 8 June will be the last show.

Remember you can hear past shows at http://coopradio.org/station/archives/27

So tonight is your last chance to hear the show dedicated entirely to UK rock and pop on Coop Radio.

Gary

The Okanagan

2011-06-05T19:56:00.000-07:00

Fresh back from a week long trip to the Okanagan. I was up in Naramata with fellow library workers on a union organizing course. The following pix are from the trip....outside of the classroom. A great experience.

After nearly seven years in Canada, I got to see my first black bear. I looked out the window of the bus on the trip from Vancouver to Penticton and there was a black bear. The pic above is actually of the third bear that I saw through the bus window. Traffic had slowed down enough for me to get this pic.

The following are other pics from Naramata...

Kettle Valley trail near Naramata

Sunset on Lake Okanagan at Naramata

As the sun set the vegetation glowed and I enhanced it with a trick of the SD1000

This is just one of those flukey shots, I just held up the camera at arms length and clicked

After 4 days in the Okanagan it finally got warm enough to take a swim. It was great but brief and getting out of the water was tricky but well worth it as you can see in the following post swim pics...

This was a great beer, Tree Brewing Company I think, it's an Amber Ale - really smooth just like it says on the label...

And then it was time for the beach fire and dogs

Mr Todd Wong - Accordion Master provided the music cheer. He did a great job, so much fun, I was still singing Bring Back My Bonnie To Me well into the next day....

Another trick shot

Waking at 5am on Friday I was rewarded with a chance meeting....

After the final wrap up event at Naramata - I was there for a union course on bargaining, it was time to hit the road west. I skipped a chance to visit a winery earlier in the week due to the course work load. That was a good decision. Todd, now tour guide! made sure that we got to see some good wineries, sample some goodies and lots of photo opps en route to our first stop in Penticton.

After dropping off some friends at Penticton bus depot Todd and I started a road trip from there to Vancouver via Osoyoos.

We discovered this unknown lake after following a winding road out of Penticton...

Continuing south to Osoyoos we stopped at Vaseux Lake and walked down to the bird blind. Great views across the bird waterscape.

Friday night ended at the provincial campsite Haynes Point, which a day later I discovered was the aboriginal place called Sw'iws. From here aboriginal peoples were able to make their way across the shallows to cross the lake. Todd and I camped here and drank Okanagan wine and looked up to the thousands of stars in the night sky.

Adjacent to the campsite, a ten minute walk back to the "mainland" off the point is the Haynes Point Wetland Project. It's small but very special and it makes me think how precious are those little bits of wetland and how much good we can do to protect the environment. Here's some pix from the wetland.

Back on the road Todd and I decided to make a flying visit to the USA. I guessed lucky on the middle gate at the Osoyoos border crossing. The laid back border guard at this gate was older and perhaps a bit wiser as opposed to the bad cop border guard who gave Todd and I some very dark stares. I didn't need to get a visa but was reminded that my UK passport and Canadian citizenship were insufficient for future travel.
I still get a buzz from my trips south. It's really interesting how much of a tourist I become as soon as I step into America as the following pictures illustrate. They're not amazing but they are kinda like postcards of our 90 mins in the USA, which has to be my shortest visit ever to another country. I did once cross Austria in under 3 hours.
I need that Canuck passport - I want more of America!

This is America

And there is Canada as viewed from America but still in the Okanagan/Okanogan

And as the flags protest this is very much America. We had coffee in a small and nothing special coffee place across the street from the Oroville public library. Outside the library was a small farmer's market. Really nothing to suggest that we were in America accept the flags and different street signs. Border country.

Back in Canada and en route to Anarchist Mountain we were able to get this wonderful view of the lake, the narrow strip of Sw'iws where we had camped the night before, and in the distance the snow covered mountains. A land of contrasts. I really enjoyed the experience of the micro climates and the ever changing landscapes.

Lest we forget

Visiting the Nk-Mip Desert Cultural Centre was a highlight of the trip to the Okanagan. I found out about Anthony Walsh - who as an immigrant to Canada took a very different approach to that of his contemporaries. He had a great respect for Aboriginal culture.
Here is a brief detail on his life
http://library.queensu.ca/ojs/index.php/edu_hse-rhe/article/view/21

The Nk-Mip DCC has information on the life of Walsh - there is also a film on a young woman getting back to her roots and connecting with Sk'elep, see this Wiki link,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sk%27elep

I found the film very moving and it really put me in the right zone for viewing the rest of the cultural centre. Here's some pix from the outside trails which distance some 2kms in length and like the Rough Guide to Canada says there are numerous signs warning of rattle snakes.

Leaving the cultural centre we started out on the road trip proper back to Vancouver. We first made a stop at Spotted Lake, which can be viewed at a distance from the road. You can't get lakeside due to its environmental sensitivity and also due to the fact that it is a culturally historic sight for aboriginal people in the Okanagan region.
Todd's observation of the lake was that the water was high. This is a fact right across the Okanagan right now. Everybody at the school in Naramata commented on how green everything appeared in the region. The cloud and cool temperatures remained all week long and the sun only really made an appearance on the last day. It certainly made for a different Okanagan experience.
I've spent time before in Kelowna when I have found the heat very difficult. Listening to the radio, today Tuesday June 7th, there are reports from the Okanagan of how the heavy rain fall is washing snow down river with increased levels in the Similkameen river.

Spring has arrived in the mountains - and did you know that Grouse Mtn in Vancouver is planning to close its season on Canada Day! Big White in the Okanagan is also still open.
With the arrival of spring mother bears and their cubs are making appearances everywhere. Prior to this trip I had never seen a black bear. The following pix are a sample of some of the best bear sightings from the return leg through Manning Park.

I also found the radio experience or trying to listen to the radio through the mountains a real novelty. Of course I'm a radio junkie - you must all know that by now. Todd's car CD player is knackered and I was quite pleased at that really cos I love listening to the radio while driving. I love how the stations change and so do the personalities and the banter.
Coming through the mountains the reception was poor and at one point there was no FM or AM signals. Awesome. In the town of Hedley I think we could only tune into CBC. It really is a demonstration of how crowded the FM band is in Vancouver and the lower mainland.
So of course it was Saturday on our return trip and we were listening to the hockey intermittently. When we first tuned in Vancouver were leading Boston 1-0. Then we lost the reception. When it came back Vancouver were down 2-1 and from that point the reception really struggled in and out. The next we heard was that it was going to overtime, "They must have tied it up" said Todd. The reception disappeared.
Then a voice on the radio said Vancouver win with eleven seconds played of overtime. We let out a great whoop whoop and hooted at motorists traveling in the opposite direction.

Oh yeah those bears,,,but a few deers first.

I was able to zoom in close enough to get this picture. The bear, who at first we thought a Grizzly was not that far away as this pic shows. But to give you a real perspective on the distance from us see the second picture. We were mindful though not to stray too far from the motor.

But this is my favourite shot. This was of a black bear road side. What a beauty.

The 6.57 to St John's set list 28 may 2011

2011-05-28T19:34:00.000-07:00

My best plaid - The City Streets
Sweet tooth - The Stance
Are you mine - The Robots
16 in April - Keep Me Safe
Romania - Boxer The Horse
In another country - Couples
Yesterday's gurl - Elephant Stone
Drunks & thieves - Falklands
Alive - Stuck On Planet Earth
Late night radio - Slow Down Molasses
Jenny jitters - The Stance
Found - Falklands
Filthy love - We Are Enfant Terrible
OMG - Ohama
Bad apples - Boxer The Horse
How I came - Watermelon
Reach out your hands - Friends Electric
Paper Streets - Couples
Stand in the water - Wildlife
Telefunken stereo - Then Radio
The humble - Mat Duffus
Protocols - Then Radio
Mary - Pat Lepoidevin
Bodies - Slow Down Molasses
Tired bees - Snowblink
Ghost of the Carbisdale castle - Pat Lepoidevin
Madrugada Eterna - The KLF

The 6.57 to St. John’s radio show | Radio is Radio

2011-05-27T23:56:00.000-07:00

The 6.57 to St. John’s radio show | Radio is Radio

Another list - Last Call total plays top 50

2011-05-25T14:07:00.000-07:00

Way overdue. Here's an up to date list of the artists played and the total number of plays for each artist up to 25 may 2011.
Top 50 most played artists on Last Call

Supergrass 77
Manic Street Preachers 75
James 58
The Clash 38
Stone Roses 25
Joy Division 25
The Beatles 23
The Charlatans 23
The XX 22
Ian Brown 21
The Smiths 21
PJ Harvey 21
Belle & Sebastian 20
Jack Penate 19
Billy Bragg 19
The Kooks 19
Hot Chip 19
Esben and The Witch 19
Jamie T 17
Asian Dub Foundation 16
Pulp 15
Stornoway 14
The 1990s 13
60 ft Dolls 13
Glasser 13
Pete Doherty 13
The Morning Benders 13
Digits 12
New Order 12
Gang of Four 12
The Fall 12
Broken Records 12
The Winks 12
Oromocto Diamond 11
The Rapture 11
The Levellers 11
Radiohead 11
Efterklang 11
Happy Mondays 10
Old World Vulture 10
Egyptian Hip Hop 10
Julian Plenti 10
The Big Pink 10
Dodgy 10
Nitzer Ebb 10
The Streets 10
Stereolab 10
Mathematique 9
Portishead 9

Last Call set list 25 may 2011

2011-05-25T01:57:00.000-07:00

Time - Supergrass
Roof of your car - The Streets
Burn the bridges to the shores - The Square Waves
Rip-run - Seefeel
I just want your jeans - God Help The Girl
Arcady - Pete Doherty
Cosmic country noir - Stereolab
Rut & nuzzle - Snowblink
Marching song - Esben & The Witch
Wilderness - Joy Division
Coldharbour Road - Stornoway
Rabbit hole - James
How soon is now? - The Smiths
The end of the movie - Stornoway
Little Lou, ugly Jack, prophet John - Belle & Sebastian
Lookaway - James
Write about love - Belle & Sebastian
All day day light - The Morning Benders
Marlon J D - Manic Street Preachers
Rock and roll hairdo - The Sarah Michelles
Do dizzy - The Sarah Michelles
White riot - The Clash
England - PJ Harvey
In the dark places - PJ Harvey
Underdogs - Manic Street Preachers
Virginia State Epileptic Colony - Manic Street Preachers
All we make is entertainment - Manic Street Preachers
Seagull - Ride
It's hot - James

A Stanley Cup Final

2011-05-24T22:13:00.000-07:00

I am so pleased for all the Canucks fans. I have to say that I have taken my eye off the ball or should that read the puck over these last few weeks.

Beating Chicago was amazing. Purely because the last two years Vancouver had failed to pass them. A lad at the library was telling me how he called a Vancouver Boston final way back when in the season and so I guess that is now even closer to happening.

Should be a good party in downtown Vancouver right now - but I guess that will wrap up pretty soon as most people I guess will be conserving their energy for the Stanley Cup Final.

I want to keep writing it - I have heard so much about 1994 and having arrived in Canada in 2004 this is my first taste of the fever. I am not a fan but like I said during the Chicago series I am fan of watching Vancouverites enjoying themselves.

Congratulations Vancouver - enjoy the Stanley Cup Final.

Highway Houses by Pat LePoidevin

2011-05-24T12:13:00.001-07:00

Highway Houses is an album by Pat LePoidevin. I have been listening to it steadily for a week or so now since I found it in one of the bargain buckets at Coop Radio.

Unbelievable that this album was destined for a Coop Radio CD castoff sale - other gems discovered as a result of my late night rummaging include We Are Enfant Terrible and Lovely Killbots.

Hey, I say this not as any kind of hero but merely to point out there are imperfections in the Coop Radio music committee. But hey Coop's a community station with limited funds. A paid up Music Committee person would make the difference though I'm sure.

Anyhow back to Highway Houses. I listened to the opening track North a few weeks back as I was sorting through CDs for the early morning show The 6.57 to St John's, a temporary and new show on Coop Radio.

As I pottered around in the kitchen with the CD playing - a great way to study music by the way. If the music is unsuitable it will soon stop you from what you are doing be it washing up or preparing dinner. And although I am not sure how far I got into the CD before I returned to pick up the CD case and study this Pat LePoidevin bloke, it must easily have been half way through.

Another early listen to the album really got me - with the 'hey' chant in Mary. It reminded me of a kind of indigenous style of singing - the type I have seen on the streets of Vancouver during various protests and celebrations.

It is such a subtle yet brilliant album - right down to the artwork, one of the Highway Houses has a mountain peak for a roof top and blends easily with my memories of road trips to the interior of British Columbia.

It should come of no surprise then that Pat LePoidevin is from Princeton. It really impressed that Pat was born in just 1987. It made me think that he's the same age as some of fellow students that I went to radio school with, and immediately I started to think of my BCIT pals Caroline, Matt another Pat and Scott, and them discovering and listening to Pat LePoidevin.

One thing I'd like to know for sure is the correct spelling of LePoidevin. Is it as I just wrote it or is it Le Poidevin or Lepoidevin or L'Epoidevin or something else?

The title track of the album Highway Houses is one of those songs that gets deep inside of you - it actually gives me the chills. Highway Houses is Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska territory. My CD player is beginning to die and jump and skip and it just spat as '97' played - the skip happened just as the track was making a chord progression and having started to skip myself to the CD player to eject the CD the spat ended and I stood amazed at the beauty of the song.

Highway Houses is a beautiful piece of art.

It says Roots Reggae but it aint

2011-05-22T12:00:00.001-07:00

There's some seriously good music at this link 7am and 8am links

cut and paste

http://www.coopradio.org/station/archives/60

oh and it's not roots reggae - the earlier hours is roots reggae

Best set yet for The 6.57

2011-05-21T10:05:00.001-07:00

I enjoyed that. I think today's show might be the best of the four shows to date for The 6.57 To St. John's.

Here's the complete set list including the pre-set from 6.42,

Immigration officer - Dubin Hood
Rip-run - Seefeel
Window - PVT
Borrowed time - John Lennon

6.57
My best plaid - The City Streets
Age 25-29 hairline - Shane Turner Overdrive
Reach out your hands - Friends Electric
Kiss me when I come - Keep Me Safe
That cold night - Pale Whale
Alive - Stuck On Planet Earth
Are you mine - The Robots
Someday I won't - The Murder Plans
The humble - Matt Duffus
Ain't mama - Scott Dunbar
16 in April - Keep Me Safe
How I came - Watermelon
Love meets rage - Code Pie
There's nothing out there - The Twin Library
Chelsea girl - Ride
Transmission - Bocce
Face of Maya - Exit 451
Because of the bees - We Are Enfant Terrible
Romangst - Lovely Killbots
Spook in the woods - Construction & Destruction
B Flat - Construction & Destruction
Stand in the water - Wildlife
Winter's end - Michael LaRoy
Strangers - Then Rad10
Love=NBA Jam - B A Johnson
North - Pat Lepoidevin
Bilderburton - Pete Tremblay & The Boozy Truth
Live jam - Pugs And Crows
April skies - Jesus & Mary Chain

Film favourites

2011-05-20T23:21:00.000-07:00

I just watched Stranger Than Paradise. This is one of those films that is going to stick with me for a long time. A Wiki reviewer says it's been influential on indie film makers ever since.

The Hungarian character Eva is played by Hungarian actress Eszter Balint. She is great. She is calm in the presence of her uncaring cousin and nothing seems to bother her. This delights her cousin Willie.

It's filmed in B & W and takes in New York, and the states of Ohio and Florida and is probably one of the most accurate films I've ever seen in illustrating the tedium of the road and motels and well just hanging around.

A must see,
I am adding it to my film favourites book.

What's in the book.....

okay in no particular order,
Otomo
Bread e Tulipo
Pump Up The Volume
Donnie Darko
Elegy
The Name of the Roses
Goodbye Lenin
High Fidelity
28 Days Later
Chocolat
Land and Freedom
Cinema Paradiso
Woodlanders
Gadjo Dilo
Kolya
Respiro
In America
Look Both Ways
The Horses Mouth
Walkabout
North Country
Map Of The Human Heart
Le Courbeau
Dancer In The Dark

Documentaries,
The Making of Jaws

Vancouver sun postcard #3 - Mining Justice

2011-05-19T13:44:00.000-07:00

The Streets - taking it to....

2011-05-19T13:11:00.000-07:00

It's not the fact that we are now up to day 3 of continued sunshine - something to celebrate in Vancouver for sure, although my mother tells me that the south east of England and the Isle of Sheppey has had no rain in 9 weeks.

That never happens here. My dear mum also told me that the heat is comparable to mid-summer temperatures in Vancouver, ooh. And then she said that it's expected to warm up again this weekend.

There's been a lot of lively action this week in Vancouver with people turning out in large numbers to support rallies organized by the Mining Justice Alliance. Yesterday an incredible protest took place against Goldcorp and today the focus switched to First Majestic Silver. The mining outfit held its AGM at the Terminal City Club on West Hastings Street.

Two Wixaritari men who had taken out proxy shares in First Majestic were initially denied entry to attend today's AGM. Negotiations by activists eventually saw the two men being allowed to take part in the AGM.

We are witnessing the start of protests in Vancouver that could last all summer. The Conservative majority government elected by a minority of Canadians is deeply discouraging but has had the effect of alerting people to the fact that if parliament does not represent us - then it's time to go to the streets.

All around the world people have engaged in civil disobedience, have engaged in vigils and marches and many types of rallies in the last six months or so. Protests are always taking place but it seems like there is a groundswell in activity. It's like the era when George W Bush was first elected.
It could be just my perception but something about the present time suggests to me that we are entering into an era of protest similar to that. It looks as if activists from different communities are making connections with each other.

It was visible today with local indigenous folks supporting the indigenous Wixaritari from northern Mexico. There's no denying that when that happens the effect is powerful.

Once again the protest on the street today proved that the streets are not the way that you get to work, or somewhere you go to work or eat. The streets are there to enable people to speak out and to let us all know of injustices taking place - be it on the next block or in some remote village in a land far away.

The Heat is on

2011-05-18T18:31:00.000-07:00

This can't really be summer but it is beginning to feel like it. Two days of sunshine - not sure I can remember the last time that happened in Vancouver. And it looks set to continue into the Victoria Day long weekend.

Another bike ride round Stanley Park. Saw two women fighting and a guy connected to it, but not involved in the fisticuffs but who ended up in cuffs when the police arrived. It begs the question, which I put to one of the police officers - why the cuffs for someone who was not involved. The only conclusion that I could come to was the officer made a decision based on bias against the person's ethnicity and class. I tried to think of how police would react upon arriving in a similar situation in say Shaunessy and not as this was outside a restaurant in English Bay.

Of course I was interfering and being a nuisance but then that's the response one would have when one witnesses something such as that - well it would be where I am from. The cuffs only go on in the UK when it's proven or the police have a suspicion that you have committed a crime. In this situation in Vancouver today they did eventually take off the cuffs. It was at that moment that I left.

I asked the woman police officer why she was putting this guy in cuffs without knowing what has happened and that it would be better to ask questions. She responded by asking me to let her do her job. Her colleague then informed me that I should leave otherwise he'd put me in cuffs. My response - not likely.
I walked forward ten feet, away from the incident, and continued to observe. Half a minute later he comes up to me and asked why I had come back. My response - I hadn't gone anywhere and that it was he that came to me.

So that's how I passed twenty minutes of a beautiful sunny afternoon. I found it incredible though that most folk only made passing comments at the outset of the police arrival and then split.

And for the real criminals - well they had a conference today in downtown Vancouver - Goldcorp. A Canadian mining company causing environmental damage in Guatemala. And by the way the Canadian Pension Plan is investing in Goldcorp.

Last Call chart for 18-24 May | Radio is Radio

2011-05-18T14:25:00.000-07:00

Last Call chart for 18-24 May | Radio is Radio

Last Call set list 18 may 2011

2011-05-18T01:30:00.000-07:00

Time - Supergrass
Armageddon days are here - The The
Crowning of the poor - Ian Brown
Morning Mr Magpie - Radiohead
One life stand - Hot Chip
Faults - Seefeel
Build the bridges to the shores - The Square Waves
Morning drift - Efterklang
The Coldharbour Road - Stornoway
Rut & nuzzle - Snowblink
Glad - Glasser
It's happening - The Winks
Light streams - Esben & The Witch
On Battleship Hill - PJ Harvey
Porcupine - James
Twenty four hours - Joy Division
Dr Helier - James
I've been waiting for tomorrow (all of my life) - The The
The future has been here 4 ever - Manic Street Preachers
All we make is entertainment - Manic Street Preachers

radio la la la and sun sun sun

2011-05-17T16:54:00.000-07:00

I know I have worked for a week like this for a long time but I can't help feeling like the Gods are smiling on me.

By Friday it will be my first day at work for almost a week. I am benefiting from time off thanks to union duties past and upcoming. So I am kind of working but I am not putting books on shelves.

In addition the absence of elections or conventions of any sort means that I can chill at home a little and do some housework - hello carpet. I am all for politics and busy ness but there's definitely pleasure in chilling.

I even found humour laughing with a car driver at the antics of another car driver today while cycling in downtown Vancouver.

After a trip to the dentist, which is always a pleasure. I like the dentist. What can I say, but I do.

Wanting to be out in the sun and not wanting to rush home to paperwork, okay call it procrastination or a desire to get as much Vitamin D as possible I headed to Stanley Park via False Creek. I somehow managed to fall off my bike at False Creek. Feeling it now in my left hand - oooooh.

But it was a great ride, with stop at the automated light station, not really a light house just under the Lions Gate Bridge and another stop at Siwash Rock before cycling home.

I'm listening to Pale Whale - what a great band. Will be featuring some of their album on Saturday on Vancouver Cooperative Radio - The Six Fifty Seven To St John's.

Rocky Raccoon sends his best.

Vancouver sun postcard # 2 Shipping News @ Lions Gate Bridge

2011-05-17T16:45:00.003-07:00

Vancouver sun postcard # 1 Tribute to Jimi Hendrix

2011-05-17T16:42:00.001-07:00

Slut Walk | Radio is Radio

2011-05-16T22:02:00.000-07:00

click below for audio link
Slut Walk | Radio is Radio

African Vibes 15 May set list

2011-05-15T21:54:00.000-07:00

African Vibes airs on Vancouver Coop Radio every Sunday night at 7pm.

Normally hosted by Victor Obosi and by me, Gary Jarvis, every last Sunday of each month, with some exceptions like tonight.

You can hear the show at http://www.coopradio.org/station/archives/78

Here's the set list.
Me Gustas tu - Manu Chao
Going back to my roots - Odyssey
Buy Africa - Fela Kuti
Eh oh - Femi Kuti
Sanctuary - Antibalas
Six love - The Luge Sessions
Spanish bombs - The Clash
Spanish bombs - The Luge Sessions
Stop the taser - Lazare S Halk
Amilly - Kenge Kenge
The 2nd night in Mohamed Ali Street - Mahmoud Fadl
Fatouma - Fantazia
Amampondo - Miriam Makeba
Oxgam - Miriam Makeba
Please baby - Madeleine Peyroux
Tonight - MXO
High ride samba - TrenchAnt
Subtle confrontation - Trip The Off
That very night in dub - Prince Fatty
Gangsters - The Specials
Aliss - Etran Finatawa
Racist friend - The Specials
Soobax - K'naan
Rat race - The Specials

and was that Mozart at end of set, yes it was

The Six Fifty Seven To St John's radio show set list 14 May

2011-05-14T09:41:00.000-07:00

This shows airs on CFRO 102.7FM Vancouver Coop Radio every Saturday morning at 7am....

Here's the set list. You can hear the show at http://www.coopradio.org/station/archives and search for the 14 May 7am link (reads as Roots Reggae), and 8am link....

My best plaid - The City Streets
You lost my love - The Stance
Are you mine - The Robots
Yesterday's gurl - Elephant Stone
One of a million - Danny Echo
Electric lights - The Murder Plans
Save you for lost - Hilary Grist
Let me go - Roxanne Potvin
Save me - Jody Quine
Rut & nuzzle - Snowblink
Beware of bees - Twin Library
Reach out your hands - Friends Electric
Must be machine - Lovely Killbots
Make you laugh - We Are Enfant Terrible
Songs of storms - Ephixa
Filthy love - We are Enfant Terrible
Blue Monday - New Order
Anxious - Cousins
A hawthorne sublet - The Paperbacks
Regrettable tattoos - The Paperbacks
Lost dreams - Digits
The appeal of the master dredger - Mutatis Mutandis
Far from home - Chris Velan
Emma comes home - Steven McKay
My love & I - Cam Penner
Beehives - Chad Vangaalen

Nearly Eby

2011-05-12T00:54:00.000-07:00

NDP MLA hopeful David Eby came really close tonight to defeating the BC Premier. What a great effort by the grassroots activists of the NDP in Point Grey.

In the end Eby came just 595 votes short of Christy Clark's total number of votes.

The miserable low turnout of approximately 30 per cent affected both candidates. The Green Party and BC First each failed to get enough votes to cause spoiler concerns.

And pity poor independent Eddie Petrossian who got just 14 votes. At least your family loves you Eddie.

Extended hours at Coop Radio

2011-05-11T00:02:00.000-07:00

Did a long haul show last night today on Coop Radio.

Here's the complete set list,

A salty salute - Guided By Voices
Evil speakers - Guides By Voices
Watch me jumpstart - Guided By Voices
They're not witches - Guides By Voices
America the beautiful - Neil Young
Open up your heart - The Rapture
Jackie - Sinead O'Connor
Love - The Smashing Pumpkins
Bones - Murder Ford Monument
Sweet tooth - The Stance
Baby What you want me to do - Neil Young with Crazy Horse
Jenny jitters - The Stance
Haircut economics - Hot Hot Heat
Modern lovin - Pine Tarts
How the west was lost - Old World Vulture
Faulty times - Black Mountain
Beware of bees - Twin Library
Morning drift - Efterklang
Reach out your hands - Friends Electric
Are you mine - The Robots
I believe - R.E.M.
Lord of overstock - Guided By Voices
Your name is wild - Guides By Voices
My best plaid - The City streets
Lies lies lies - Elephant Stone
Yesterday's gurl - Elephant Stone
Anxious - Cousins
Baby learns to crawl - Paul Westerberg
16 shells from a thirty-ought six - Tom Waits

I've been waiting for tomorrow (all of my life) - The The
Ailene - Broken Records
Eumenides - Esben & The Witch
She's so loose - Supergrass
Always where I need to be - The Kooks
White riot - The Clash
London calling - The Clash
London's burning - The Clash
Transmission - Joy Division
Journal for plague lovers - Manic Street Preachers
The sinking feeling - The The
England - PJ Harvey
Warpath - Esben & The Witch
Lotus flower - Radiohead
Hand me down your love - Hot Chip
Make you laugh - We Are Enfant Terrible
Faults - Seefeel
Zaffa Hindi - Mahmoud Fadl
Crystallised - The XX
Dead guitars - Seefeel

Now read this!

2011-05-08T22:07:00.000-07:00

Just had a funny thought. Perhaps cos I'm watching Doctor Who and marveling at time travel but where are the readers of this blog. Yeah where are you reading this blog from?

So here's my message in a bottle. I'm getting lots of hits from the United States but where in the U.S. Also are all you Danish readers reading just cos of Esben?

Cheers mateys!

set list Six Fifty Seven To St John's 7 may 2011

2011-05-07T22:48:00.000-07:00

an audio file coming soon on radioisradio.wordpress.com

set list

Lies lies lies - Elephant Stone
Are you mined - The Robots
Someday I won't - The Murder Plans
Happy new year - We Are The City
That's it that's all - We Are The City
Places to stay - Friends Electric
Maybe I wanted phantoms - Twin Library
Colours - Young Liars
The winter hive - Twin Library
Prey for rain - Pete Tremblay & The Boozy Truth
Party party party - Pete Tremblay & The Boozy Truth
Ain't Mama - Scott Dunbar
Nightmares - Isobel Trigger
Public square - Mutatis Mutandis
Rut & nuzzle - Snowblink
Make art - The Paperbacks
Regrettable tattoos - The Paperbacks
The common bird - Jess Hill
Bull dog - Sheena Grobb
OMG - The Streets
Immigration officer - Dubin Hood
90s kids - Oh No! Yoko
A minefield - The Murder Plans
Crazy people on the internet - Laurie Biagini
Loyal man - Yukon Blonde
Dance 'til the end of time - Steven McKay
She rises - Maria In The Shower

Let it rain, let it rain, let it rain.

2011-05-07T17:12:00.000-07:00

Vancouverites will be both cursing and delighting in our plentiful rain this May. It is both amazing and devastating. It's like nature is demonstrating the energy which makes this province and in the particular the Lower Mainland so verdant.

At the same time it is devastating for the poor people and I mean poor both in the pecuniary sense of the word and also for being the unfortunate ones. It could be so very different. The homeless of Vancouver could be sleeping in shelters by night and leaving their possessions secure by day.
Rider Cooey talking on Vancouver Coop Radio today said that some 200 people lost a roof over their heads at the end of April.
In Scotland there's a saying "Dinnae cast your cloak until May is oot." How apt for the weather Vancouver is experiencing right now.

The city chose to cut funding and close the shelters resulting in an immediate climb in the number of homeless. Both housing advocates and activists will agree that that number is likely to be less than 200 due to the fact that some have moved into Single Room Occupancy hotels. For others this is not an option due to addiction risks.

You don't have to look very hard to see the folks who could be benefiting from a place at the HEAT shelters were they still open. This is a city with wealth. It can be seen in the downtown bars and expensive cars. Then there's the new housing developments in the DTES. The occupants of Woodwards living a life of luxury cheek by jowl with men and women sleeping in doorways.

At Vancouver Public Library on Georgia - a ten minute walk from the DTES the homeless congregate to escape the rain. One homeless man wears shoes so worn down that only his toes and instep are covered from the elements. His heels hit the ground. His baggy trousers are soaked and his "street feet" *, add another burden to his daily struggle.

In the washrooms in the basement area of the library patrons are warned to not "sponge bath". In addition to the no-loitering signage the homeless can hardly call the library a refuge. It's not meant to be. It's a library, but many are finding this is the only place they can go where they can sleep and see out the day hassle free. After the library closes many stay in the atrium area of the downtown library until they are requested to leave by the security staff. It's a sorry state of affairs.

* Street feet is a condition of blistered and damaged feet which results from a person walking around all day with no means to change their socks and shoes or to care for their feet.

BC Place. Now who’s paying? | The Real Story

2011-05-06T00:27:00.000-07:00

BC Place. Now who’s paying? | The Real Story

Last Call chart for 4-10 May | Radio is Radio

2011-05-04T15:21:00.000-07:00

Last Call chart for 4-10 May | Radio is Radio

Last Call set list 4 may 2011

2011-05-04T13:41:00.000-07:00

After a slight delay only solved by marmite and peanut butter sarnies Last Call is proud to bring you the set list for the 4 May show. Remember you can listen to the archives of the show at http://www.coopradio.org/station/archives/27

Some tech glitch means that today's show is showing as incomplete. 51 mins for first hour and even less for the second hour of the show.

Nevermind. You'll just have to tune in next week at midnight (pacific coastal time), remember we're 8 hours behind the UK, 3 hours behind Toronto. Hope that helps. Also trying to sort the distortion that appears to persistent on the archives.

It could be as simple as having the microphone too high. Let's see what we can do about. I will be back at Coop on Saturday morning 7am for the The Six Fifty Seven To St.John's.

Last Call set list 4 May

Time - Supergrass
Police & thieves - The Clash
Underdogs - Manic Street Preachers
In another world - Maximo Park
The hill - Bombay Bicycle Club
Always where I need to be - The Kooks
Sticks and stones - Jamie T
Roof of your car - The Streets
Love - Orange Deluxe
Song of a baker - The Small Faces
Abstain - Five Thirty
Lost in the supermarket - The Clash
All we make is entertainment - Manic Street Preachers
The words that maketh murder - PJ Harvey
England - PJ Harvey
Warpath - Esben & The Witch
Which side are you on - Billy Bragg
Got the shakes - James
Lotus flower - Radiohead
Surfacing - Chapel Club
Window - PTV
Infinity - The XX
Everloving - Moby
Here comes the blackout - Stornoway
I want the world to stop - Belle & Sebastian
Dead guitars - Seefeel
Tell her I said so - James
Kaliedscope - James
A leaving song - Broken Records
Rabbit hole - James

The Six Fifty Seven To St John's radio show set list 30 April

2011-04-30T20:58:00.000-07:00

This radio show is so new it doesn't even have a podcast entry on Vancouver Coop Radio's archive page.

So if you want to find it head to http://www.coopradio.org/station/archives

and then scroll for 30 April 7am and 8am for the show. You'd need to click on the Roots Reggae play buttons for 7am and 8am.

Here's the set list for the virgin show. The Six Fifty Seven To St John's plays music from the length and depth and breadth of Canada.

En la esquina - Dubin Hood
Sarah - Digits
Cold killer - Ben Sigston
Little angel - Scott Dunbar
Lit from within - The Paperbacks
Beware of the bees - Twin Library
In another year - Modern Boys Modern Girls
Jenny jitters - The Stance
The Queen is dead - The City Streets
God save the Queen - The Sex Pistols
The drugs - Billy The Kid
Just trying to get by - Billy The Kid
There she goes - Analog Bell Service
White light - The Torrent
Meet me in the basement - Broken Social Scene
English Bay - Blue Rodeo
Kansas - The Gertrudes
I think I'm terrified - Maria In The Shower
Of all the places - Steven McKay
Someday I won't - The Murder Plans
Tell a lie - The Murder Plans
Chocolove - La Patère Rose
Places to stay - Frends Electric
Good lives - The Paperbacks
Restore me - Steven McKay
My lover & I - Cam Penner
Coffee song - Matthew & The Birds

The Six Fifty Seven returns next Saturday morning at 6.57am (yeah really!) on 102.7FM or www.coopradio.org, joining Gary Jarvis in hosting will be Pam Carr, and a cast of thousands including Compelish Rawlins. Have a great week.

Tune in to Coop Radio at 7am Sat 30 April and you might hear

2011-04-30T00:16:00.000-07:00

some of the following

Bryan Adams
Analog Bell Service
Arcade Fire
Jann Arden
Auburn
Jill Barber
Barenaked Ladies
Bedouin Soundclash
Beekeeper
The Be Good Tanyas
Bend Sinister
Barney Bentall
Art Bergmann
Jessica Beach
Geoff Berner
Big Cookie
Big Tall Garden
Black Mountain
Blue Rodeo
Bocephus King
Ana Bon-Bon
Bored Of Authority
Bottleneck
Broken Social Scene
Chris Brown & Kate Fenner
Brundlefly
Shelley Campbell
The Carnations
Joanna Chapman-Smith
Chilliwack
Cinderpop
Circus In Flames
Coal
Bruce Cockburn
Leonard Cohen
Ray Condo ( Hard Rock Goners/ & his Ricochets )
Coney Hatch
Copyright
Cousin Harley
Cuff the Duke
Dark Blue World
Deep Dark Woods
Marq Desouza
Destroyer
DOA
Drake
The Dreadnoughts
Scott Dunbar
Kathleen Edwards
Elliot Brood
Fear Of Drinking
Feist
54-40
Fish & Bird
Frazey Ford
Ford Pier
Lily Frost
Furnaceface
Nelly Furtado
Fuzzcat
Ingrid Gatin
Ginger
Matt Good
Grapes Of Wrath
Great Big Sea
Great Lake Swimmers
Guess Who
Emily Haines
Hard Rock Miners
Jack Harlan
Sarah Harmer
Hawaiian Bibles
Hayden
Henry & the Nightcrawlers
Hey Ocean
Hidden Cameras
Dan Hill
Veda Hille
Rich Hope
Hot Hot Heat
Hounds Of Buskerville
Chris Houston
Jets Overhead
Kaos
k.d. lang
JT King
King Apparatus
Willy Kruger
Avril Lavigne
the Legendary Hearts
Gordon Lightfoot
Limblifter
Raghu Lokanathan
The Look People
Los Furios
Lowest Of The Low
Luba
Linda MacCrae
Maestro Fresh Wes
Raine Maida
Dan Mangan
The Manvils
The Marble Index
Carolyn Mark
Murray McLaughlin.
Sarah McLaughlin
Wendy McNeill
Metric
Camille Miller
Minimalist Jug Band
Mistress Jen
Joni Mitchell
Modernettes
Alannis Morisette
Mother Mother
Motion Soundtrack
Mountain Goats
Butch Murphy & the Bloody Miracles
My Idea Of Fun (2 Left Feet)
Nathan
The New Deal
The Nines Circa
Herald Nix
Faith Nolan
No Means No
Jimmy Now's Blues Jam Band
The Odds
Olenka & the Autumn Lovers
The Orchid Highway
Our Lady Peace
The Pack AD
Parachute Club
Parlour Steps
The Payolas
Peppersands
Petunia
Pied Pumpkin
Pineapple
Joel Plaskett
Pointed Sticks
Carole Pope and Rough Trade
Protest the Hero
Queen City Kids
The Real McKenzies
The Rheostatics
Stan Rogers
Roots Round-Up
Ruffled Feathers
Rush
The Sadies
Ron Sexsmith
Skinny Puppy
Sloan
David P. Smith
Solarbaby
Songs:Ohia
Soukous Rhythms
Spirit of The West
SSRI's
The Stance
Stars
The Stills
Buffy St. Marie
The Swans
The Sweaters
The Tea Party
Tequila Mockingbird Orchestra
The Tragically Hip
Thomas Trio & The Red Albino
The Trews
The Unicorns
Micheal Van Eyes & Trespassers
Video Barbecue
The Wailin Jennys
Waltz Darling
The Weakerthans
Wintermitts
Hawksley Workman
Neil Young
Zapato Negro
The Zolas

Thank you Vancouver Canucks

2011-04-26T23:02:00.001-07:00

As a very new fan to this beautiful and exciting game called hockey I want to say a big thank you for making so many Vancouver Canucks fans happy tonight. Had Chicago got the win this city would have been sounding very different tonight................

As it is I think there's going to be some extended partying. It's great. I loved listening to the last period on Team 1040. Commentator Shorthouse said "Time to exhale British Columbia". Very good.

So a 4-3 playoff series win. A nice stat. I achieved a nice stat today too - with 500 hits for this month on this blog. Thank you peeps.

And the panda says thanks too.

Voting strategically leads to disappointment

2011-04-26T10:41:00.000-07:00

The suggestion that strategic voting is the method whereby Canada can elect Stephen Harper out of office makes no sense.

The only reason that folks are suggesting the need for strategic voting is because voter turnout continues to decline or to put it another way the right is successful at getting its vote out while apathy reigns on the left.

I have heard the argument in favour of strategic voting in two Greater Vancouver ridings. Let's start with the easy one - Burnaby Douglas. Traditionally a NDP stronghold the Conservatives came very close to grabbing this seat in 2008. The SV camp is saying vote NDP and not Liberal to ensure that the Conservatives don't take this seat. The truth of the matter though is that the NDP failed to get out its vote at the last election. Not really a failing on the part of the NDP - it has more to do with people not bothering to vote.

Avaaz the organization and website talks of "hope" if voters galvanize around the NDP to the benefit of the Greens and the Liberals too by ensuring the Conservatives don't take Burnaby Douglas. All that Avaaz is doing is generating the NDP vote. SV is when people swap votes in separate ridings which could result in swings to a different party taking office in both of those ridings. So a SV in Burnaby Douglas would be Liberals voting Conservative. It's a terrible thought but not that far from reality when you consider how close these parties are in ideology. The Liberals might be talking left now but that would change once elected. It's the Liberals that scrapped the National Housing Program in 1993.

The true concept of SV is one that really is apparent in Vancouver Centre where voters are considering voting for Karen Shillington running for the NDP and ousting veteran Liberal MP Hedy Fry. This is really is an exciting riding to watch considering that Adriane Carr is also running for the Greens. The way things stand right now though Carr could come in a sorry fourth. The so called "Orange surge" could topple Fry and put the NDP in power in Vancouver Centre. It would be a fantastic result for Shillington and her party.

For any party to win Vancouver Centre however it is going to take a strong voter turnout for that party. The Conservatives don't appear to have a foothold in the riding so it could come down to just a battle between the Liberals and the NDP. If the left can get its vote out in large numbers strategic voting becomes redundant.

Left energies are better spent organizing working class action to get the vote out for the NDP at this election. Voting with your class and a clear conscious is the only way to avoid feeling upset at your voting choice once the results come in. Voting for the party that best represents your view of what society should look like be it a left or right outlook won't result in disappointment post election.

Should Harper get the majority government the time spent by the left organizing the working class vote can then be refocused to the general struggle. It's not as if a Harper majority equals Conservative victory and left collapse. It's a step towards increased polarization between the working class and capital.

Likewise a Liberal minority, looking unlikely, is more of the same. Coalition would be a positive step and surely the Governor General could not ignore the possibility of a coalition government this time round but again it's apathy outside of elections that lets the elite manoeuvre the system to suit their aims.

If you vote strategically you are voting on a hope that everyone else will also do so and there's no guarantee that the person you are vote swapping with will follow through and remember how will you know if they did or did not. The only safe vote is a vote with your beliefs.

Drop the burger n chips what about some Social Housing

2011-04-25T21:25:00.000-07:00

It was that time - danger - in the Jarvis household. I need to eat, 7pm ish, and thinking there's nothing to eat in the fridge I started to think of burger and chips - but somehow convinced myself this would be a bad move.

The alternative which I cobbled together in about ten minutes was a lot healthier and actually pretty satisfying in the sense that I didn't need to go shed ten bucks or more in some diner or restaurant where I would feel like a total loser eating alone on Easter Monday.

I don't know what it is lately but I am feeling the need to be around people like all the time. So when I do get out to do my volunteer stints at Coop Radio and also for the federal election, I'm like, okay I've done my volunteer work but can I hang out for like an hour and just well hang out cos you people are really nice and I'm not wanting to go home just yet.

Shit, it's not all bad at home. I am totally digging some CDs from Vancouver Public Library that I got out for African Vibes - the show that I host normally on the last Sunday of the month but will be hosting again on May 15th. New discovery is the track "Khira" by Yazid Fentazi. It is definitely going to get a play or two. I'm browsing the sleeve notes as I write this and it makes reference to the fact that Fentazi honed some of his skills in London - ooh ooh - a Last Call connection, could sit well with The Streets.

Back to the alone thing - I think living in the hood - The DTES is beginning to rub off on me, in the positive sense of really understanding the street culture. Say what you like about the drug abuse and all the other kinds of abuses that go on in the hood but there is something that I really appreciate about this neighbourhood. It is that you can be yourself.
I see people walking through the DTES who are obviously ill at ease and not comfortable with what they are seeing around them. I can understand that. No one wants to see suffering or witness the humiliation of people who are obviously suffering through drug addiction, mental health problems, poverty or a combo of these.
At the same time I see people talking and living in community. Don't get me wrong. It's no Garden of Eden but I tell you something - it's a lot more real than some of the developments that I am seeing in the blocks immediately west of the DTES and this is where I start to talk about gentrification. "Cleaning up the dirty face of Hope Street" as the Levellers correctly noted in their ditty Hope St is not a solution to poverty. Homelessness is on the rise in Vancouver, the shelters are closing and City Hall is approving condo development in Chinatown. It's not right.

What would be right is some social housing. Today I had the pleasure of canvassing for one of the candidates in the federal election at a housing coop and wow, I was so impressed with what I saw. Here was community, a community where people were thriving. The Single Residency Occupancy buildings are for the most part in a continued state of decline. Their owners, not all, want to hold on to these sites in the hope of development. It is our society, a capitalist society that puts profit before people which lets the neglect happen and increases the divide between those who have and those who have not.

There needs to be a shift in thinking to foster the development of housing which is going to create community and provide a haven for people to be successful. The gentrification of the DTES is not going to rid society of the problems associated with poverty. Success is too often thought of in this world as making one's riches but success can also mean getting a job with good benefits, moving into a housing coop, and being part of that community. Not every one is going to want to eat a burger and chips.

Vancouver homeless shelters closing

2011-04-25T14:29:00.001-07:00

I got this email today from supporters of the year round shelters in Vancouver which are set to close.

I really thought that the best thing I could was to pass on the message by blogging it.

So here it is,

"Hello dear network of supporters. We need your help.

On Sunday night, 7 of us from Carnegie Centre Action Project, Downtown Eastside Neighbourhood Council, Vanact and Council of Senior Citizens visited 3 shelters that are closing:

Cardero - 27 April
Howe - 28 April
Fraser - 29 April

These shelters are slowly emptying out and now there are about 20-30 people remaining in each. Shelter residents have no options once they close. Many can’t rent apartments because of stigma from landlords. No social housing is available. Many will fail and be back on the street if they go back to an infested, unsafe Single Resident Occupancy in areas where they used to use drugs or have been “red zoned” by police.

As Marta from the Howe shelter said, “I’m going to stay right here in the alley. We are here because we don’t want to be alone. We got nobody. Everyone else has a family, we don’t. This is our family.” Marta said she doesn’t buy the excuse that governments don’t have money. She explained that each person in her shelter is eligible for $375 a month for rent on welfare and if you multiply this by 40 people per shelter that means BC Housing already has $15,000 a month to spend to keep her shelter open.

“I can’t go to an SRO”, said Chase from the Cardero Shelter. “I’ll go crazy and just end up back on the street. If this shelter closes, I guess I’ll head to the Super Value parking lot. That’s where we came from before they opened this place up.”

“If I lose this place, these regular meals and my guaranteed spot here, then I’ll go back to selling drugs to survive,” said Deanna, also from the Cardero Shelter.

Don from the Fraser shelter who is about 65 years old said: “Two women near IGA on Broadway got me to come here about a month ago. I’ve been outside a long time. I guess if they close this, I’ll be in the doorways, back laneways and
behind restaurants.”

Kerry from Howe said: If this closes I’ll find an abandoned house. I have my Coleman stove. I hope nobody will notice me. If this shuts down, the government will spend more money on corrections. People here will be panhandling, living in the allies. You would think they would rather we stay in the shelter.”

Please help us stop these people from losing their ground, their networks of support and these makeshift homes. And call on governments to fund these shelters, build homes etc.

We are planning a vigil at these sites with the shelter residents starting on Wednesday morning at 10 a.m. at the Cardero Shelter. How much we can accomplish will depend on what support people on this list can provide.

Here are the things we need:

Food
Tents
Tarps
Sleeping bags
Placards and banners
Guardians
Legal advice
Transportation

Please be in touch with Wendy at 604-839-0379 to strategize about how you can support. Financial support is welcomed if you can’t volunteer time or provide donated goods. Ignore this appeal if you are under financial and social stress as many of us are --

In solidarity,

Don and Wendy from CCAP

Fraser and Dave from DNC

Nate and Tristan from Vanact!

Gail from Council of Senior Citizens of BC

PS, show your support and attend the media conference at the Cardero shelter on Tuesday at 10:30.

Address of shelters:

CARDERO SHELTER 747 CARDERO STREET

FRASER SHELTER 677 E. BROADWAY

HOWE STREET SHELTER 1442 HOWE ST

** Fir and 4th Street Shelter, run by MPA (???), closed already. The Stanley New Fountain, run by Portland Hotel Society, is rumoured to have a one month funding extension plus is already working on a separate campaign to keep that shelter open.

Just don't mention the wedding

2011-04-24T23:01:00.000-07:00

Thankfully, thankfully - I'm in Canada, a long way from the hype surrounding the wedding of a young lad called William Windsor. As a son of England it is one of those happy moments for me at least when I am far far away from Blighty. Willi - what a great name, Willi Windsor. Of course he's better known as, well you know what he's better known as. Really seeing his mug and that of his bride to be on front of the glossies really makes me want to take a holiday in a land that time forgot. Well I always want to take a holiday there.

There's recession in Europe, war in north Africa, nuclear calamity following an earthquake in Japan and closer to home we are seeing Vancouverites suffer because of the collapse of their beloved hockey team to Chicago in the play-offs and are we interested in some tat from a bygone era, no we are not.

Everyone knows what the royals are about and it became explicitly clear following the death of Willi's mother Diana. This extreme wealth is part of the problem in this world. I'm thankful I'm here in Vancouver where the whole sorry affair can be easily avoided. Oh and Willi during your Canuck honeymoon please leave us alone in peace in Vancouver.

What the Canucks

2011-04-24T22:22:00.000-07:00

What the Canucks indeed. The Vancouver Canucks look set to repeat a statistic that they'd rather not - taking a 3-0 lead in a play-off series only to give it up and go out 4-3. They haven't given up completely and the replacement of goal tender Roberto Luongo by Cory Schneider hasn't come a moment too soon. Of course there's a lot else wrong with the team - but don't ask me - what the Canucks do I know about hockey.

Great Easter Sunday, I did a Schneider - sub that is, Victor Obossi out of action tonight on African Vibes. Yet Victor is on top of his game. Let's leave it there, before the Luongo massive rises up.

I should have compiled a set list to post on here. Never mind I will be back at Coop Radio hosting African Vibes for the last Sunday of May. Started the day out on Hollyburn snow shoeing, what a great mountain, so beautiful up there. Thinking seriously about investing in a pair of snow shoes - makes the mountain so much more accessible even if the snow banks are beginning to collapse aaarrrghhh.....

Last Call radio show chart | Radio is Radio

2011-04-21T23:38:00.000-07:00

Last Call radio show chart | Radio is Radio

Everything ever played on Last Call

2011-04-20T23:33:00.000-07:00

This is a straight cut and paste from the word doc on my computer.

There's no formatting folks!

But this is everything ever played on the show

Last Call is every Tuesday night at midnight on Vancouver Cooperative Radio,
CFRO - 102.7FM

http://coopradio.org/station/archives/27

#pos Artist plays Nation City/Town
1 Supergrass 73 E Oxford
2 Manics 66 W Blackwood
3 James 50 E Manchester
4 The Clash 32 E London
5 Stone Roses 25 E Manchester
6 The Beatles 23 E Liverpool
7 The Charlatans 23 E Northwich
10 Joy Division 22 E Manchester

29 The XX 20 E Putney
8 The Smiths 20 E Manchester

33 Ian Brown 20 E Manchester
9 Jack Penate 19 E London
11 Billy Bragg 18 E Barking, Essex
64 Belle & Sebastian 18 S Glasgow

14 Hot Chip 17 E Putney
15 The Kooks 17 E Brighton
13 Franz Ferdinand 17 S Glasgow
12 Asian Dub Foundation 16 E London

48 Jamie T 16 E London
16 Pulp 15 E Sheffield
165 PJ Harvey 15 E Bridport
243 Esben and The Witch 14 E Brighton

24 The 1990s 13 S Glasgow
17 60 ft Dolls 13 W Newport
18 Digits 12 C Toronto
19 New Order 12 E Manchester
20 Gang of Four 12 E Leeds
21 The Fall 12 E Manchester

35 The Morning Benders 12 A San Francisco

27 Pete Doherty 12 E Hexham
105 Glasser 12 A San Fransisco
22 Oromocto Diamond 11 C Montreal
23 The Rapture 11 A New York
28 The Levellers 11 E Brighton

63 The Winks 11 A?
25 Happy Mondays 10 E Manchester

26 Old World Vulture 10 C Toronto
30 Egyptian Hip Hop 10 E Manchester
41 Julian Plenti 10 A New York
34 The Big Pink 10 E London

38 Efterklang 10 Denmark
32 Dodgy 10 E London
49 Nitzer Ebb 10 E Chelmsford

240 Broken Records 10 S Edinburgh
235 Stornoway 10 E Oxford
31 Mathematique 9 C Quebec City

42 Portishead 9 E Bristol
37 Cold Cave 9 A Philadelphia

43 Morrissey 9 E Manchester

40 King Tubby 9 Jamaica Kingston
47 Stereolab 9 E London

36 Andy Williams 8 A Wall Lake, Iowa
39 Kraftwerk 8 G Dusseldorf

250 The Streets 8 E

138 Radiohead 8 E Oxford
44 Miss Massive Snowflake 7 A Portland
45 The Torrent 7 C Toronto?
46 The Shagbots 7 C Calgary
50 Beth Orton 7 E East Dereham

54 Esser 7 E where in Essex?
60 The Beach Boys 7 A Hawthorne.California

106 The Maccabees 7 E London
51 Oasis 7 E Manchester
52 John Lennon 6 E Liverpool
53 Transparent Source 6 S Edinburgh
57 Beta Band 6 S Edinburgh

229 Madness 6 E London
76 Four Tet 6 E Putney

181 Underworld 6 E Romford
55 Steve Reich 5 A New York
56 MBMG 5 C Toronto
58 Rep By Pop 5 C Toronto
59 My Bloody Valentine 5 I Dublin

61 Bob Davenport 5 E
62 Snuff 5 E London
74 The Cocteau Twins 5 S Grangemouth
86 Frank Black 5 A Boston
71 The Stance 5 C Halifax, NS
81 Harlem 5 A Austin
77 Primal Scream 5 S Glasgow
225 Blur 5 E Colchester

95 The Specials 5 E Coventry

65 Dominic Alldis 4 E London
66 Stephanie Braganza 4 C Toronto
67 The Zolas 4 C Vancouver
68 Summer 5000 4 C Montreal
69 Everything but the Girl 4 E Hull
70 Vitamins For You 4 C Toronto

72 Elastica 4 E London

73 Sinead O’Connor 4 I Glenageary

75 The Enemy 4 E Coventry

78 Arab Strap 4 S Falkirk

104 Graham Coxon 4 E Colchester
92 U2 4 I Dublin

140 Rory McLeod 4 E London
84 Murder Ford Monument 4 C Montreal
129 Interpol 4 A New York
83 Cat Power 4 A Atlanta
93 Public Enemy 4 A New York
148 Gossip 4 A Portland
79 Nico Vega 3 A Los Angeles
80 Guided By Voices 3 A Dayton.Ohio
82 Aerosol 3 G Berlin
85 McCarthy 3 E London
87 Blue States 3 E London
88 Pine Tarts 3 C Calgary
89 The Rolling Stones 3 E London

90 Pleasure Bridge 3 C
91 Bettie Serveert 3 N Amsterdam

94 Ron Kavana
& The Alias Acoustic Band 3 I
96 Tim Buckley 3 A Washington DC
97 Bjork 3 Iceland Reykjavik

98 The Sundays 3 E London
99 Echo & The Bunnymen 3 E Liverpool
100 Coldplay 3 E London
101 They Came From The Stars, I Saw Them 3

102 White Lies 3 E London

103 Everything Everything 3 E Manchester
117 Spacemen 3 3 E Rugby
123 Bob Dylan 3 A Duluth, Minnesota
135 The Cure 3 E Crawley

144 Maximo Park 3 E London

152 Dutch Uncles 3 E Manchester

147 Marmaduke Duke 3

251 Seefeel 3 E London

143 Islet 3
107 The Dead Letters 2 C Winnipeg
108 The Flaming Lips 2 A Oklahoma City
109 David Guetta (DJ) 2 F Paris
110 The Jam 2 E Woking
111 The Killers 2 A Las Vegas
112 The Moody Blues 2 E Birmingham
113 Jeremy Nischuk 2 C Edmonton
114 Rhythm is Rhythm 2 E Detroit
115 Joy Williams 2 A Santa Cruz
116 Ride 2 E Oxford
118 We Were Promised Jetpacks 2 Edinburgh
119 Crystal Castles 2 C Toronto
120 The Buzzcocks 2 E Bolton
121 Bocce 2 C Waterloo
122 Robert Wyatt 2 E Bristol

124 Gotan Project 2 F Paris
125 The KLF 2 S/E London

126 Cast 2 E Liverpool

127 Pink Floyd 2 E
128 The Who 2 E London
130 The Paperbacks 2 C Winnipeg

131 The Book of Lists 2

132 Dubin Hood 2 C Dubwood Forest, B.C
133 Cornershop 2

134 Cut Copy 2

136 The Virgins 2 A

137 Wolf & Cub 2 Aus

139 Warpaint 2

141 Bombay Bicycle Club 2

142 Bis 2
145 Rubicks 2

146 The View 2

149 Enter Shikari 2

150 The Foals 2

151 Pugs and Crows 2

183 Pavement 2 A Stockton, California
205 Jon Hopkins 2

203 Temper Trap 2

245 Seething Akira 2 E Portsmouth

244 Beirut 2

193 The Woodentops 2 E London
172 World Domination Enterprises 2 E London

242 Loop 2

153 DJ Carne 1 C Toronto
154 John Fahey 1 A Washington DC
155 Fast Eddie 1 A Chicago
156 Gene 1 E London
157 Gomez 1 E Southport
158 Hardfloor 1 G Dusseldorf
159 Inspiral Carpets 1 E Oldham
160 Jesus & Mary Chain 1 S East Kilbride
161 The Luge Sessions 1 C Toronto
162 Mates Of State 1 A Lawrence.Kansas
163 Natalie Merchant 1 A Jamestown.New York
164 Moby 1 A Harlem
166 The Primitives 1 E Coventry
167 Gerry Rafferty 1 S Paisley
168 The Sex Pistols 1 E London
169 Shearwater 1 A Austin
170 Stockhausen 1 G Cologne
171 Verve 1 E Wigan
173 Depeche Mode 1 E Basildon
174 Taken By Trees 1 Sweden
175 Chuck D 1 A New York

176 The Wind Up Radio Sessions 1 C/E Ottawa/Montreal

177 Was Not Was 1 A Detroit

178 Descendents 1 A Hermosa Beach, California

179 The Orb 1 E London

180 M83 1 F Antibes

182 Lavice & Company 1 A

184 Imogen Heap 1 E London

185 Smokekiller 1 C Saskatoon

186 Julian Cope 1 W Tamworth, Staffs

187 VIM 1 E

188 Trip The Off 1 C Montreal

189 Ege Bam Yasi 1 S

190 Steve Earle 1 A

191 Linda Thompson 1 E

192 Gerry & The Pacemakers 1 E Liverpool

194 Buffalo Tom 1 A

195 Jose Gonzales 1

196 Teenage Fan Club 1 S Glasgow

197 The La’s 1 E Liverpool

198 Hot Chip w Robert Wyatt & Ceese 1

199 Magneta Lane 1

200 LCD Soundsystem 1

201 Mercury Rev 1

202 Muse 1

204 Jello Biafra 1

206 Shotgun Jimmie 1

207 Matt Costa 1

208 St Etienne 1

209 Miramichi 1

210 The Prodigy 1

211 Willi Williams 1

212 Cake 1

213 John Mayall & His Bluesbreakers 1

214 Naum Gabo 1

215 Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel 1

216 DJ Dan 1

217 A Guy Called Gerald 1

218 Scott Dunbar 1

219 Easy Star All Stars 1

220 Nina Simone 1

221 The Proclaimers 1

222 Lucky 1

223 David Bowie 1

224 Mike Scott 1

226 Passion Pit 1

227 The Alarm 1

228 Tracey Thorn 1

230 Chumbawamba 1

231 The Auteurs 1

232 The Creatures 1

233 Jo & Danny 1

234 Neu 1

236 Spiritualized 1

237 Joey Beltram 1

238 Sleeper 1

239 Pete Lawrie 1

241 The Killers 1

243 The Pack A.D. 1

246 Glasvegas 1

247 Chapel Club 1

248 The Moldy Peaches 1

249 Elvis Costello 1

252 Stereophonics 1 W

253 Elvis Presley 1 A

254 Decades In The Fall 1 ?

255 Karen Dalton 1 A

Last Call Top 30

2011-04-20T23:29:00.000-07:00

Last Call Top 30

Last Call Top 29 (20-26 April)
# (LW) Weeks on chart

1 (1) PJ Harvey 4
2 (2) The Streets 4
3 (4) Esben and The Witch 10
4 (5) Ian Brown 23
5 (9) Glasser 18
6 (11) Seefeel 4
7 (20) Broken Records 10
8 (23) The Winks 16
9 (6) James 29
10 (8) Nitzer Ebb 7
11 (re) Radiohead 12
12 (14) Stornoway 10
13 (–) Decades In The Fall 1
14 (–) Islet 1
15 (3) Manic Street Preachers 31
16 (7) Belle & Sebastian 18
17 (10) Stereolab 9
18 (12) The Woodentops 2
19 (13) Stereophonics 2
20 (15) Gossip 8
21 (16) Primal Scream 7
22 (17) The Charlatans 9
23 (18) Marmaduke Duke 2
24 (19) Madness 7
25 (21) Jamie T 19
26 (22) Franz Ferdinand 15
27 (24) The Kooks 19
28 (25) The Maccabees 12
29 (26) Underworld 8
30 (27) Four Tet 7

REMEMBER YOU CAN LISTEN TO THE MOST RECENT SHOW AT

http://www.coopradio.org/station/archives/27

Last Call is every Tuesday night at midnight on Vancouver Cooperative Radio, CFRO, 102.7FM
www.coopradio.org

The chart is based on song plays by each artist over the last four Last Call radio shows. Each artist gets a point for a song played, and then once four weeks have passed points get deducted from the show from five weeks ago. Clear as mud right?

So what are you looking at.

Well the figure on the far left is the number that the artist holds in the chart; 1, 2, 3 that’s easy right.

Then the figure in brackets is last week’s position, (re) is re-entry to the chart, and (–) is a new entry.

The figure after the artist name is the total number of weeks on the chart.

Last Call set list 20 april 2011

2011-04-20T02:01:00.000-07:00

Time - Supergrass
Hexagons IV - Esben & The Witch
Mirrorage - Glasser
It's happening - The Winks
Let England shake - PJ Harvey
Morning Mr. Magpie - Radiohead
Dead guitars - Seefeel
Essex dogs - Blur
Heaven for the weather - The Streets
We can never be friends - The Streets
In the year 2525 - Ian Brown
Ringerz - Islet
Hotsy girl - World Domination Enterprises
Marching song - Esben & The Witch
The nail will burn - Loop
The words that maketh murder - PJ Harvey
Interzone - Joy Division
You know you're not dead - Broken Records
The Coldharbour Road - Stornoway
Burning love - Elvis Presley
We'll have everything and realize it's nothing - Decades In The Fall
Too much too young - The Specials
Rub 'til it bleeds - PJ Harvey
Take me - Karen Dalton
Man-size - PJ Harvey
Lotus flower - Radiohead

Dix – new leader BC NDP | Radio is Radio

2011-04-17T23:29:00.000-07:00

Dix – new leader BC NDP | Radio is Radio

Top day for Vancouver

2011-04-17T22:52:00.000-07:00

The sun shone, the wind gusted, and a full moon appeared as Steve Bowell made us all laugh with his Ragbag show on Vancouver Cooperative Radio.

So for all the babies born today in Vancouver this 17 April, history will record the Canucks going 3-0 up in the playoff series v Chicago and the BC NDP reclaiming the political stage from the Liberals. At the 3rd ballot Adrian Dix became the new leader of the NDP.

In support of Vancouver Cooperative Radio

2011-04-14T00:04:00.000-07:00

A letter to the CRTC in support of Vancouver Cooperative Radio

Dear Commission

I am writing in support of Vancouver Cooperative Radio for its scheduled appearance at a Notice of Hearing.

I have been a volunteer programmer with Coop Radio for five years and have participated in both music and current affairs programming at the station. I am currently pursuing a career in commercial and public radio and maintain strong links with community radio. I graduated the radio program at the British Columbia Institute of Technology in 2010.

Caroline Samorodin and Amanda Panes now working in private sector radio also graduated from BCIT in 2010. Both have also been Coop Radio programmers. Jenna Chow of the CBC also volunteered at Coop Radio. These are just a few of the programmers that I know of. I am sure there are more. Not only does Coop Radio provide programming not heard on commercial or public radio but as you can see from the names above is a place of learning for Canadian broadcasters just as important as BCIT.

I am proud of my involvement with Coop Radio. Radio is the medium that lets everyone learn. You don't need to pay cable fees, you don't have to make a purchase every day like a newspaper and you don't need a computer to access it. Radio is the medium that continues to survive. All sectors of Over The Air radio provide informative programming. Commercial radio can create a greater understanding of the music that it plays but it won't provide increase my knowledge of my immediate world or of issues overseas. That role falls to community and public radio.

Coop Radio has programs dedicated to feminist issues and animal rights in the F Word and Animal Voices respectively. Along with It Takes a Village (a show about parenting), The Story Telling Show (a show produced and hosted by women talking about womens' stories), local music shows Radio Bandcouver and Into the Pit demonstrate Coop Radio's diversity and original programming.

The news that Coop Radio is at risk of losing its licence for infractions of the radio regulations for the late filing of its annual returns is sad. Before I started writing this submission it was important for me to ask some questions of the Board at Coop Radio. It's public knowledge that there has been some disruption in the staffing of the finance department at Coop Radio and that it missed deadlines in the submitting of the annual returns in line with the radio regulations. Knowing this I put two questions to the board in an email dated 27 March 2011. Below are those questions and the responses.
1) Is the turnover of staff in the finance dept connected to the late returns for 2009 and 2010?
Yes. The Financial Administrator each year is responsible for sending in the Annual Returns. As you know we had two different, each new, Financial Admins for these years and each failed to get these in on time. Now that this has been brought to the attention of the board and staff we have put in place accountability mechanisms to ensure this oversight does not occur again.
2) Did the board know that the annual return for 2009 was filed late, prior to receiving notice from the CRTC that Coop Radio needs to attend a hearing in May?
No. The first the CFRO board heard about this issue was from the CRTC on March 16th, 2011.

It's puzzling to read that the Commission took more than one year to notify Coop Radio that it had submitted a late 2009 annual return. I completely understand that it is the responsibility of a radio station to meet the legal requirements of the Broadcasting Act. Coop Radio, a not for profit organization has acted to make good on its past failings. The station now has a logger mechanism and has educated its Coop Radio programmers to ensure correct levels of Canadian content is played. I have personally gone to great lengths to explain and to educate my fellow programmers of the law pertaining to Can Con. As Coop Radio says on its website in relation to the Notice of Hearing, "We take our regulatory requirements seriously and we do our best with the limited resources that we have."

I want to emphasize that quote. Coop Radio is a station with limited resources. I know from my industry training at BCIT that Coop Radio is, to use a boxing analogy punching above its weight. We don't get advertising revenue and our income is derived from donations and membership subscriptions of our listeners. Evolution1079, the radio station at BCIT has a computerized music system and its programmers are radio and broadcast journalist students. The BCIT students typically do three hour stints on air. At the same time other students are pre-producing content while others are doing live news reads and longer interviews.
At Coop Radio priorities are different. Programmers need to work to pay the rent. There's no student loans or grant revenue for its programmers. In addition many programmers have family commitments caring for elders or children. The staff are equally limited in what they can do with the limited hours that Coop Radio can afford to pay them to work.

The Radio Regulations show that Coop Radio was in breach of the regulation 9 (2), "On or before November 30 of each year, a licensee shall submit to the Commission a statement of accounts, on the annual return of broadcasting licensee form, for the year ending on the previous August 31."
As a programmer like most other programmers at Coop Radio I had no knowledge of this requirement or other business details of the station. Many programmers, myself included are now paying closer attention to these details.
Personally I felt that if I had known that Coop Radio was going to file late I would have volunteered to help so that this would not have happened. Unfortunately not even the staff outside of the finance department were aware that the station had submitted a late return for 2009.

That fact is most unfortunate and I hope will be taken into consideration by the Commission. A lot of people connected to the station have a lot to lose because of this failing that they have no control over.
Again Coop Radio, in learning of this failing has rectified its procedures to eliminate repetition of this oversight. The staff and board are doing a great job. The loss of the Coop Radio licence would not only impact listeners and programmers but it would also impact the staff at Coop Radio.

There is a bigger picture I think to this - the fact that Coop Radio occupies a valuable place on the FM dial in the Vancouver radio market.
I have been reading up on the radio industry and have read parts of the report Navigating Convergence: Charting Canadian Communications Change and Regulatory Implications, dated February 2010.
Of particular interest to Vancouver Cooperative Radio in relation to the Notice of Hearing is Appendix 2 - FM Radio Spectrum allocation under Community Radio policy. It is there that the report references the CRTC Public Notice 2000 - 13 which reads,
"Section 3(1)(b) of the Broadcasting Act provides for a Canadian broadcasting system composed of public, private and community elements and further confirms that community radio stations are an important element of the Canadian broadcasting system. In Community radio policy, Public Notice 2000-13, 28 January 2000, the Commission stated that community stations should add diversity to the broadcasting system by increasing program choice in both music and spoken word. They should contribute to diversity at three levels:
* community stations should offer programming that is different from and complements the programming of other stations in their market. Their not-for-profit nature and community access policies should assist them in contributing to the achievement of this objective;
* community stations should be different from other elements of the broadcasting system, including commercial stations and stations operated by the CBC; and
* the programming broadcast by individual community stations should be varied and provide a wide diversity of music and spoken word."

This is everything that Vancouver Cooperative Radio stands for.

I can understand the Commission wanting to discuss the filing of late Annual Returns by Coop Radio but what I can't understand is why the Commission would even be considering revoking the licence of such a successful community radio station.

It is well known in the radio industry in all sectors - community, public and private that the Commission is paying close attention to ensure that stations adhere to the regulations. My concern is deeper than the Commission's close attention to detail.

I fear that the Commission is going to make the process to obtain a private sector licence easier to the detriment of community radio. Having read the Technical Considerations of the Commission’s Broadcasting Regulatory Policy CRTC 2010 – 499 I believe I am right to be nervous as to the future of community radio programming in Canada and worry now that the lobbying powers of the private radio sector is influencing the Commission to act to remove community radio stations from the crowded FM radio spectrum.

Paragraph 126 outlines the Commission’s current position or rather what it has been in the past, ‘The Commission does not reserve frequencies or portions of the radio spectrum for future use by classes of radio undertakings.’ As noted previously in my submission in support of Coop Radio I referred to the Commission’s policy Public Notice 2000-13 which states community radio programming should contain diversity. It is this diversity in programming that the Commission should go one step further in recognizing by reserving frequencies or portions of the radio spectrum for future and existing use of community radio undertakings.

The National Campus and Community Radio Association is in favour of this as detailed under paragraph 127 of the Broadcasting Regulatory Policy CRTC 2010 – 499, ‘Most parties, including the NCRA, expressed a strong desire for the Commission to reserve frequencies or a portion of the FM spectrum for use by campus and community radio stations.’

Opposition to this view comes from the Canadian Association of Broadcasters, representing the interests of the private radio sector. It’s my opinion that the CAB should recognize that the FM spectrum has room enough for public, private, community and campus radio. Listeners to community radio do not listen only to community radio like listeners to private radio do not only listen to private radio. People listen to the radio and they tune in at different times to match their mood or activity or even what kind of work they are doing at that time.

Radio fans need community radio as much as they need private sector radio. The majority of the FM dial in large urban areas is filled with private sector radio. Private sector radio is commercial radio and exists to make a profit with its entertainment and information service. It’s a service that I appreciate, respect and admire but when that desire to make money means stifling community radio from the airwaves then I have to speak out.

As a child I was taught to share. I believe that the FM spectrum is there for all of us, and it is to be shared and not to be manipulated as the CAB have suggested it should be, paragraph 129, ‘Opposing parties, such as the CAB, noted that the Commission has limited jurisdiction with regard to spectrum management. The CAB submitted that it would be inappropriate for the Commission to manage spectrum in the manner suggested by the NCRA and others, given that it is a limited public asset.’

It is true that the Governor-in-Council is the one person that can reserve frequencies as noted under paragraph 130, but it is worrying to the community radio sector when just four paragraphs on from the stated views of the CAB, we read that the Commission holds the same opinion. Paragraph 133, ‘Given these different responsibilities'(detailed in 130-132), 'the Commission considers that it is inappropriate to reserve frequencies or portions of the radio spectrum for use by specific classes of licences, such as campus or community stations.’

The Regulatory Policy CRTC 2010 – 499 document of July 2010 follows on from comments made by Pierre-Louis Smith, the Vice-President, Policy and Chief Regulatory Officer of the CAB in October 2009. Then Smith wrote to Robert A. Morin, the Secretary General of the CRTC in response to a request for submissions regarding Broadcasting Notice of Consultation 2009-418 – Review of campus and community radio.

This is what Smith had to say, "The Canadian Association of Broadcasters is the national voice of Canada’s private broadcasters". He went on to detail the difficulties faced by the private radio sector due to the economic down turn. He did not mention that advertising revenue for private sector radio has continued to grow since the year 2000, with the exception of 2009. After reporting at length these difficulties he wrote,
“It is therefore against this backdrop that the CAB is intervening in the context of the current proceeding. As stated at the outset of this submission, the CAB will limit its comments and recommendations to: (i) the role of community/campus radio in the broadcasting system; (ii) licensing mechanisms for community/campus stations; (iii) approaches to funding; and (iv) spectrum issues."

The CAB doesn’t want to share the radio spectrum – it wants it all and Smith said as much in October 2009, ‘that, in accordance with its jurisdiction, the Commission should refrain from setting aside spectrum for the expansion of the campus/community radio sector’.

Yes Vancouver Coop Radio filed late Annual Returns for the years 2009 and 2010. There wouldn’t have been a late return for 2010 if the Commission had notified the station sooner than March 2011. If two late Annual Returns necessitates an appearance at a Notice of Hearing I would have thought that one late Annual Return would be worth a letter indicating that fact to Coop Radio.

The Commission is under pressure from the CAB. I recognize that but it appears as if the Commission, the federal regulatory body for radio is pandering to the CAB. Yet I am sure that private radio stations would not appreciate the stance of its lobby group in its pressure via the Commission of community radio. Indeed I am sure that many private radio stations value the place of community radio on FM radio. Let's work together and share the FM radio spectrum.

Yours sincerely
Gary Jarvis
Volunteer Programmer, Vancouver Cooperative Radio.

Last Call set list 13 april 2011

2011-04-13T02:20:00.001-07:00

End of an Era show

Time - Supergrass
Tales of endurance - Supergrass
Sweet & tender hooligan - The Smiths
Modern world - The Jam
Under the boardwalk - The Undertones
Birthday - The Sugarcubes
Delicious demon - The Sugarcubes
Shadow - The Primitives
My perfect cousin - The Undertones
Boys will be boys - The Undertones
Heaven - Psychedelic Furs
Use a bank i'd rather die - McCarthy
I worked myself up from nothing - McCarthy
Across the universe - Phosphorescent
I me mine/Dig it - Beth Orton
Can't be sure - The Sundays
Tears - The Stone Roses
Polar bear - The Charlatans
You're so great - Blur
Cebe and me - Cold Cave
Vaseline - Elastica
London calling - The Clash
Insight - Joy Division
Gone - The Beta Band

CAB says CRTC does

2011-04-10T19:13:00.000-07:00

Who would have thought that submissions to the Canadian Radio Television and Telecommunications Commission or the CRTC for short to the uninitiated could be so interesting.

It's funny to read suggestions by the Canadian Association of Broadcasters on the subject of campus and community radio stations. Funny in a not a ha ha funny way given that the CAB represents the private radio industry in Canada.

Even funnier and again not in a ha ha type of funny when the CRTC make recommendations and decisions to the campus and community radio sector, less than a year after the CAB submissions.

Pierre-Louis Smith, the Vice-President, Policy and Chief Regulatory Officer of the Canadian Association of Broadcasters in October 2009 wrote to Robert A. Morin, the Secretary General of the CRTC in response to a request for submissions regarding Broadcasting Notice of Consultation 2009-418 – Review of campus and community radio.

Just to give you an idea of who the CAB are, this is what Pierre-Louis Smith wrote in his opening paragraph,
"The Canadian Association of Broadcasters is the national voice of Canada’s private broadcasters" and after writing about the woes affecting the commercial radio sector due to the recent global economic down turn and the ongoing problems this presents Smith gets to the crux of the matter,
"It is therefore against this backdrop that the CAB is intervening in the context of the current proceeding. As stated at the outset of this submission, the CAB will limit its comments and recommendations to: (i) the role of community/campus radio in the broadcasting system; (ii) licensing mechanisms for community/campus stations; (iii) approaches to funding; and (iv) spectrum issues."

Take note of those last two words - spectrum issues, which in plain English is the competition relating for control of the radio frequencies.

The National Campus and Community Radio Association, the organization representing campus and community radio stations in Canada has been lobbying the CRTC to ensure that part of the radio spectrum be maintained for non-commercial radio operations. The CAB is opposed to this, "that, in accordance with its jurisdiction, the Commission refrain from setting aside spectrum for the expansion of the campus/community radio sector", writes Smith.

And so in July 2010 in its Summary of Determinations the CRTC recommended under the heading Technical matters in Appendix 1 to Broadcasting Regulatory Policy CRTC 2010-499.
"The Commission considers that it is inappropriate to reserve frequencies or portions of the radio spectrum for use by specific classes of licensees, such as campus or community stations."

So there we have it - there's competition for the airwaves, and campus station CKLN out of Toronto and now community station CFRO out of Vancouver are fighting for survival. Both have now been called in for infractions under the radio regulations.

This is Spring

2011-04-06T21:02:00.000-07:00

This really is spring. You know how I know. Cos today I experienced all the seasons in one day. Well with the exception of Fall I had it all. I stood in the cold at a bus station in Abbotsford waiting for the bus to Vancouver. Occasionally the sun would appear from behind the clouds. I experienced spring at the pool table with my good friend N. Had a few beers and it felt like summer. Saw a lad getting beaten up and intervened by calling the cops well - flagged them down! That felt like deep winter but summer when I leapt into Hastings!

What a strange life - strange day. Got all the way to Chilliwack and talked to the lovely people at a radio station there. Awesome. And then it was time to get to A where I met my good friend K and her lovely H. We had T with an ea and it was splendid.

I love spring.......

The Courier's greatest ever Vancouver April Fools Day Joke

2011-04-01T00:36:00.000-07:00

I've got to take my hat off to the Vancouver Courier for their April Fools Day joke. I read the headline of the proposed bike tunnel - The Funnel linking False Creek to Downtown and promptly said to myself 'that's just mad.'

It's not an AFD joke - you are fuddin kicking me. A tunnel for bikes - if Gregor wants out of office this will do it. How on earth is a tunnel for bikes a good idea. We are not talking the Dartford Tunnel - the London tunnel that stretches beneath one of the widest parts of the River Thames.

The new barricaded routes don't sit well with all cyclists. Although vehicle traffic is behind a concrete foot high wall - great on the bridges but not so appealing in the downtown core. I know I for one prefer the option of taking a right turn or a left turn or a left turn and another left turn and another left turn just because I feel like it. Yes I like the freedom of cycling. The freedom of popping into a coffee shop or a store. The barricaded routes are meant to keep you moving; not nice.

A tunnel for bikes then would be for me a nightmare. Once you enter you are stuck - no turning and almost certainly no turning back. In addition riding a bike through a tunnel is against the rationale of cycling - there are no views. There's nothing constructive to say about this proposed idea. It is definitely not green. Cyclists don't want tunnels - they want views. They don't need shortcuts beneath water, they need shortcuts over water - a bridge.

It was a great April Fools Day joke - perhaps the best that Vancouver has ever known.

Last Call set list 23 march 2011

2011-03-23T02:22:00.000-07:00

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

Opinion - Libyan rebels headed for defeat

2011-03-22T10:24:00.000-07:00

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.

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

2011-03-21T07:37:00.000-07:00

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

2011-03-21T01:02:00.000-07:00

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

Sunrise

2011-03-18T20:42:00.001-07:00

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.

Big News All Of The Time II

2011-03-17T08:37:00.000-07:00

"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.

Last Call set list 16 mar 2011

2011-03-16T02:05:00.000-07:00

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

Less is more, old is new - shameless name checking

2011-03-15T11:30:00.000-07:00

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?

Last Call set list 9 March 2011

2011-03-09T02:20:00.000-08:00

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

Last Call set list 2 March 2011

2011-03-02T01:01:00.000-08:00

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

Last Call set list 23 Feb 2011

2011-02-23T02:07:00.000-08:00

Time - Supergrass
Emily's heart - Jamie T
It's my own cheating heart that makes me cry - Glasvegas
Modern worksong - Broken Records
My little empire - Manic Street Preachers
Cebe and me - Cold Cave
Marine Fields glow - Esben & The Witch
Light streams - Esben & The Witch
Surfacing - Chapel Club
Always where I need to be - The Kooks
Who's got the crack? - The Moldy Peaches
Far from home - The Levellers
Night boat to Cairo - Madness (twice)
Out of this world - The Cure
I want the world to stop - Belle & Sebastian
Limassol - Maximo Park
You're so great - Blur
Golden platitudes - Manic Street Preachers
Postcards from Italy - Beirut
Face-in - Dutch Uncles
I didn't see it coming - Belle & Sebastian
Night boat to Cairo - Madness (yes again!)
Tramp the dirt down - Elvis Costello

Big news all of the time

2011-02-22T08:55:00.000-08:00

I keep trying to tell myself that big news stories happen all the time. It's impossible to not forget that my home countries of Canada and the UK are still knee deep in war in Afghanistan. Then there's Iraq. Not forgetting the Tsunami of 2004, Hurricane Katrina. And here's the but.

But there is something really incredible happening right now in the Middle East and North Africa which makes it feel like these stories are bigger than others. Perhaps it really is the fact that the mainstream media can't get enough of the stories due to the fact that these stories are new stories. Not forgetting the strategic necessity of The West's involvement in that region - oil.

Kind of makes you proud to ride a push bike doesn't it. I'm not gloating. I need that oil as much, well maybe not as much as the idiots in their Hummvies.
We have a quake in New Zealand, with deaths, a quick look at the tectonic plates, yes, could it happen here in Vancouver?
Gadafi might hang on to power he might not. It really looks like things are in the balance. The danger though is that many many people will perish. Many more than have died in the revolutionary momentum that has taken place in Tunisia and Egypt. One European journalist commented that the situation right now in Libya reminded him of the fall of Caucescu in Romania.

Big news all of the time.

Less is more, old is new

2011-02-21T14:00:00.000-08:00

Okay first off have to say a big thank you to Oasis. It appears that I have lost an Oasis CD. I never lose CDs. To make matters worse this cd belongs to Vancouver Public Library. Did I mention that I work there too? I can't get off the hook, no special favours for me.

So I've lost this CD for the time being and the only thing that I can think that I must have done with it is put in the wrong case. So the hunt for the CD began on Saturday. I'm hunting mostly in my kitchen. I even checked inside the freezer and the fridge because sometimes when I open them CDs fly in from their vantage point. Thanks to Oasis I have decided to move the CD player. It now rests on a chair. At that chair's foot is the Panasonic cassette deck that I rediscovered while looking for the CD. There's some real gems in this cardboard box. Some real retro stuff that I sorting for use, for the give away box etc.

Losing this CD and the hunt that has begun for it and the finding of stuff and the using of this stuff feels a little like Spring. Easy Gary it's February 21 still. Okay okay but you get the point. Right now I am listening to a cassette that was once a yoga exercise workout tape but I dubbed over at some point in the last five years and is now some late night recording of CBC Canada en francais. The music is great. This cassette is a keeper.

Back to the hunt....

Last Call set list 16 feb 2011

2011-02-16T01:57:00.000-08:00

Time - Supergrass
Sound of music - Joy Division
She's lost control - Joy Division
Swans - Esben & The Witch
Clamour - Glasser
It could be sweet - Portishead
Crystallised - The XX
Postcards from Italy - Beirut
I didn't see it coming - Belle & Sebastian
Alone - Seething Akira
Miss Europa - Manic Street Preachers
A leaving song - Broken Records
Wet cement - Morning Benders
Zorbing - Stornoway
I want the world to stop - Belle & Sebastian
Golden platitudes - Manic Street Preachers
If you tolerate this then your children will be next - Manic Street Preachers
Hey Jude - The Beatles
For the glory - Ian Brown
Sticks n stones - Jamie T
Enemy - Seething Akira
Someday soon - Harlem
Got the shakes - James

Last Call set list 9 Feb 2011

2011-02-09T02:18:00.000-08:00

Time - Supergrass
Sofa - Supergrass
Someday soon - Harlem
For the glory - Ian Brown
Emily's heart - Jamie T
Assessment - The Beta Band
Crystallised - The XX
Islands - The XX
Marine Fields glow - Esben & The Witch
Hearts skipped a beat - The XX
Frisk - The Big Pink
Write about love - Belle & Sebastian
I used to dream - Broken Records
The end of the movie - Stornoway
Everybody please relax - The 1990s
Hexagons IV - Esben & The Witch
Clamour - Glasser
Lord, help the poor & the needy - Cat Power
Don't think twice, it's alright - Bob Dylan
This joke sport severed - Manic Street Preachers
I want the world to stop - Belle & Sebastian
Morning drift - Efterklang
A leaving song - Broken Records
Ten below - James
Crowning of the poor - Ian Brown
Fight the power - Public Enemy
Just like you - Ian Brown

Last Call set list 2 February 2011

2011-02-02T01:17:00.000-08:00

Time - Supergrass
Sound of music - Joy Division
Fake plastic trees - Radiohead
Hardtrack saloon - The Pack A.D
A leaving song - Broken Records
She bathed herself in a bath of bleach - Manic Street Preachers
Hazelton Avenue - Manic Street Preachers
No kind words - The Maccabees
Salome - Pete Doherty
For the glory - Ian Brown
Emily's heart - Jamie T
Learning lines - Jack Penate
(It's not war) just the end of love - Manic Street Preachers
Zorbing - Stornoway
Auto-intoxication - Manic Street Preachers
Lookaway - James
I didn't see it coming - Belle & Sebastian
Fear - James

Last Call set list 26 Jan 2011

2011-01-26T02:13:00.000-08:00

Time - Supergrass
A leaving song - Broken Records
Modern worksong - Broken Records
Smile like you mean it - The Killers
Black moon lake - Murder Ford Monument
The Coldharbour Road - Stornoway
Blackout - Stornoway
It's happening - The Winks
Barricade - Interpol
This joke sport severed - Manic Street Preachers
Hazelton Avenue - Manic Street Preachers
Blow out - Radiohead
Whatever happened to Pong - Frank Black
Marlon J D - Manic Street Preachers
Freedom rock - Frank Black
Revolution - Spacemen 3
The nail will burn - Loop
You lost my love - The Stance
Stormy weather - The Kooks
Marching song - Esben and The Witch
Rust - Telekinesis!
I want the world to stop - Belle & Sebastian
For the glory - Ian Brown
Marine fields glow - Esben and The Witch
Light streams - Esben and The Witch

Looking for Gary Jarvis

2011-01-19T22:51:00.000-08:00

Looking for Gary Jarvis radio host?
Also try
http://radioisradio.wordpress.com/

Last Call set list 19 Jan 2010

2011-01-19T02:11:00.000-08:00

Time - Supergrass
It's not war (just the end of love) - Manic Street Preachers
Inside my head - Radiohead
Memory serves - Interpol
Fly as you might - Julian Plenti
Here comes the blackout - Stornoway
I want the world to stop - Belle & Sebastian
Ten below - James
Maria - James
Step into the breeze - Spiritualized
Sweet disposition - The Temper Trap
Crystalised - The XX
Energy flash - Beltram
The Coldharbour Road - Stornoway
Levi Stubbs tears - Billy Bragg
I shouldn't be here without you - Rory McLeod
Hazelton Avenue - Manic Street Preachers
Creep - Radiohead
Mirrorage - Glasser
Read the blessed pages - Belle & Sebastian
Wet cement - The Morning Benders
Emily's heart - Jamie T
Shrinkwrapped - Sleeper
Black and blue - Pete Lawrie
Zorbing - Stornoway