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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.