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Some readers and listeners may remember that I got lost on my way to my first meeting with George Galloway. This segment is a *little* about that, and a little about the history of my name, and a little about a familiar song which made it's debut in 1978, some say it is credited with breaking thru mainstream radio's resistance to punk music. Have a listen and see what George Galloway and Sting have in common.....

Complete Show | Preview

Update for the next Radio Roxanne, Edition Seven, titled, "Circular World, Political World" which will be posted at this site sometime in the next couple of weeks. There is no exact date right now, but most assuredly, it will be available for your listening pleasure in about two weeks...

Please check out the blog, where I will regularily update with reposts of the most recent blogs about Radio Roxanne to get all up to speed... Thank you for listening to "Radio Roxanne -- Where Radio Rox the Planet, with conversations from the streets of Buffalo and beyond, mapping the intersection of work and life, arts and politics, people and the planet!"

Here are some details about Radio Roxanne, Edition 7, Titled: "Circular World, Political World", including what you will hear in these regular features of each show...:

A. Partial Playlist is shaping up... Local music pick is BASS REEVES. His Myspace page is http://www.myspace.com/bassreeves . More info about Bass is below. Other music you will hear on Edition 7 includes: Bob Dylan, Kate Bush, Bob Dylan, Supertramp, The Clash, U2, Bob Dylan, The Staple Singers, Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros, Bob Dylan, Pink Floyd, and Aretha Franklin.

Oh, and-Uh-- lest I forget: Bob Dylan. (This Edition features George Galloway and he is a self-described "Dylanologist")

1. Vigil-Watch: I dunno! I put out a call for contacts for vigil interviews and got so many responses and have so much material now (see, I've been working behind the scenes!!!), that I don't know what I will use, but there WILL be a vigil watch. THANKS to all who helped out with suggestions and contacts--It was very helpful and encouraging!

2. The "Planet Mover Portrait" is of course with George Galloway, Member of Parliament of the UK. More on him in another post. You can check him out here: George Galloway's myspace: http://www.myspace.com/georgegalloway Website: http://www.georgegalloway.com/ George Galloway Radio Show on the UK's Talksport: http://www2.talksport.net/features/feature_detail.asp?show=100051&day=7&feature_id=100351 --One of the most exciting and interesting talk-radio shows I have EVER heard... You can listen online on Saturday's from 3pm to 5pm EST... Galloway's new political party he started: http://www.respectcoalition.org/ --Started after he was ousted
--after 33 years-- from the labour party for his opposition to Britain's participation in the attack on and occupation of Iraq, and for his opposition to Britain's support of Israel's human rights violations. Galloway also now has a weekly TV show.

3. "Planet Rox-n-Rolls" Action Segment: Jamie Kilstein is a poet who rants, whose readings are performances that often begin with his upfront explanation that he
(paraphrasing) ".... uses the word fuck and cock and the phrase "fuck george bush" a certain number of times, with a little bit of metaphor thrown in there...." This humble statement of his hardly does justice to the truly poetic nature of his work which is often performed in comedy clubs. (!!!) I'm choosing Jamie's work as the action segment because he is a model for art-in-action. His work knows no sharp nor clear boundaries other than that of an artist looking at and experiencing the world as it is and passionately using his art as a tool for social change. When I purchased a CD from him and he thanked me for being an artist who supports other artists, I told hiim it's easy for me to support him because his work is about more than navel gazing... Here's Jamie's Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/jamiekilstein

4. "Buffalo Shuffle": Bass Reeves. Folk Rock at its finest local fare. Check out his Myspace http://www.myspace.com/bassreeves I heard and saw Bass play about a month ago and I can hardly wait for the next time, and I will keep ya'll posted about that. Meanwhile, you've GOT to check out his Myspace. He's got everything: Humorous and subtley profound story-telling, brilliant instrumentation, and a stellar voice to match all of the above. At his Myspace, there's more info, including this: Band Members: bass reeves, frank grizanti, moss kaufman, jerry livingston, gary mallaber, maria sebastian, linda schriver, dave schiavone..... "if you ignore the truth" was recorded at audio magic studios and engineered by mike "mingo darooky" rorick. "Sounds like"....: "..."Some writers make you think.... Bass Reeves will change your state of mind" Allen Koss(award winning producer) We'll be hearing a song off of Reeves's album, "If You Ignore the Truth" CD BABY: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bassreeves

5. "Blog-in-Corner" -- Comments from listeners and readers-- In January, I put out the following call for help: ".... When I interviewed George Galloway, I was not able, in the time we had to talk, to cover the most recent book he wrote, __The Fidel Castro Handbook__, altho we talked about other books, etc. So, instead of my voice doing a review, I thought maybe I could find someone else who's a fan of Galloway's and / or Fidel's, who could 1. Read the book, 2. Write a review, and 3. Record it with me for the show. I did indeed find someone whom I'm very thrilled to bring to Radio Roxanne: Actor and writer David Calderisi. I met David in November, at the Vault Studios http://www.vaultstudios.com/ , from which George Galloway broadcast his Saturday Radio Show, with the generous and expert assistance of Doug Paulson. Doug Paulson is the founder of VAULTSTUDIOS. His background as an on-camera performer reaches back to the 70's. CTV's "Thrill of a Lifetime", "Sport Diver" and others. As a voice he has narrated thousands of productions and commercials in Canada and the US. DAVID CALDERISI is an actor and writer based in Toronto where he lives with his wife Marsha and their retired racing greyhound Maggie. His wide interests range from poetry, to gardening, to aquatic habitat conservation. He was the founding president of the group called Ontario Streams, devoted to raising public awareness of community water resources. He's already planning his annual spring canoe trip, always aiming for that perfect window between "ice out" and "bugs (!) in." David Calderisi did a knock out review of Galloway's Castro bio! THANKS to all who expressed interest when I put out a call for help on this piece!

6. Radio Roxanne's New theme song: For the first 6 editions, the theme song was "What's Up?" by the Four Non Blondes. I was able to have it as my theme song at Myspace, until one day it disappeared from the Myspace files. I tried to contact the band directly, but they never responded. I really don't even like being friends with people who don't respond, let alone using their music, so since it was already well past the December chill from WHLD's sad closing, I thought it would be good to find another theme for the show anyway. One day I was listening to The Staple Singers and I knew it had to be them. Listening to their folk-soul took me back to the roots of my artistic inspiration, which is deeply rooted in part in the history of social and environmental justice movement in this culture. I thought about two songs: "Come Go with Me", because of its no nonsense statement of vision about the present state of the world and their aim to bring the world to a better place. I love the lines that speak of no genocide and these: "Peace and love will flow between the races / love is the only transportation / where there's total communication... / No wars will ever be declared / No economical exploitation; No political domination... Get ready now!" I had reservations about the lines that refer to no hatred, tho. I believe hatred is normal, human, and real. It's a feeling, and I will not pretend to not feel it, because I think that pretension is counter-productive and can backfire. It's not hatred that's a problem; it's what we do with it. As an artist, I take my responsibiliity to feel all I experience and then to share it with audiences, very seriously. Then again, it was while listening to The Staples' "I'll Take You There" that I felt two things: I felt like crying while smiling and dancing all at once -- A perfect experience of the sacred and secular, just as The Staples' music represents that intersection in US musical and political history. I remembered my early childhood inspirations for justice were rooted in part in the music of those promiising times, a promise embraced by so many even when the threats of force and imprisonment and death were so great. I did some research on the song history and here's what I found: http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=2173 "...Stax Records president Al Bell (born Avertis Isabell) wrote this after attending the funeral of his little brother, who was shot to death. Says Bell: " "I went out in the backyard in my father's home. He had an old school bus there parked that was not running. I went back there and sat on the hood of that bus thinking about all that was happening. And all of a sudden, I hear this music in my head. And I heard these lyrics: 'I know a place, ain't nobody worried, ain't nobody crying, and ain't no smiling faces lying to the races, I'll take you there.' "I heard it, and I heard the music. And it wouldn't leave, it stayed there. kept trying to write other verses, but I couldn't. Nothing worked - there was nothing left to say."...." Reading that story just about did it for me--I feel a lot like Bell, looking out at the world when everyday my human and non-human family are felled by the guns of greed and the bombs of bullshit, while still, voices from within and voices from 1972, when I was barely
9 yrs old (the age of one of my nieces), and already deep in the grip of a political consciousness that would never let go of me, would rise up and be my guiding light for life. Ultimately, I chose "I'll Take You There" largely because of the ACTIVE voice, as opposed to the passive "Come Go With Me". I want to say something, in my work, about the necessity of active contribution to making a better world, and to the best of my ability, I want to take you there.....

By the way: Mavis Staples http://www.myspace.com/mavisstaplesmusic http://www.mavisstaples.com/ has a brand new album, and she'll be playing in Buffalo, New York: Solid Blues : Mavis Staples, Charlie Musselwhite, Joe Krown & More University At Buffalo Center for the Arts, Buffalo, NY Wed, Nov 7, 2007 08:00 PM http://www.ticketmaster.com/event/00003E8DCE2CD4A1

Here are two links to YouTube videos of the early Staples Singers singing "I'll Take You There", on The Flip Wilson Show http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGYlxHatmoQ and another of the song being danced to on Soul Train: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAuL7aTeoIQ

7. The "Riot-in-a-Mic": The name of the segment on Radio Roxanne known as "riot-in-a-mic" is named after the fact that when I was a child, my mother told me I could start a riot in a phone booth. Since the birth of the show, I've done my own riot once, and then had guests for their rants, raves, and reflections. It's my turn again.

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All this AND MORE on Radio Roxanne, coming soon!

As the Staple Singers say: Shananana-Boom-Boom, Yeah, Yeah....

.... Radio Roxanne, Where Radio Rox the Planet, with conversations from the streets of Buffalo and beyond, mapping the intersection of work and life, arts and politics, people and the planet...

Call 1-800-ROX-0715 for music requests, suggestions, comments, and questions...

Radio Roxanne needs sponsors, so let us know if you are interested in supporting independently produced radio! Stay tuned for more updates...

Here's an excerpt from the transcript of a talk given in January, by David Walsh, arts editor of the World Socialist Web Site, who spoke on “Film, History, and Socialism” at York University in Toronto. A friend sent me the link to the whole transcript which I read while I was very sick (hence I had the time to read the whole thing), and found it enormously inspiring at a time I needed to hear something to remind me who I am and what I'm doing...:

"... No profound social transformation will occur accidentally or spontaneously.... [ Involves ] a deepening of the understanding of the human condition in its manifold dimensions.... ... Art ought to tell even the most painful truths about people, about their social and personal relationships...." "... The unconscious comes into play in art in a rich and meaningful manner only to the extent that there is conscious, purposeful intent, that the artist knows what he or she is about. Only under those conditions do intuition and the non-rational assist in the artistic creation. At present, we have loads of unconscious fantasy, mostly the self-involved, narcissistic fantasy life of middle class individuals with no experience of life and little to say.... Our conviction is that no one carries out enduring artistic work without knowing important things, without exhaustive study of his or her art form and the world. Hegel writes that the serious artist “has to call in aid (i) the watchful circumspection of the intellect, and (ii) the depth of the heart and its animating feelings.” It is therefore an absurdity to suppose that poems like Homer’s “came to the poet in sleep. Without circumspection, discrimination, and criticism the artist cannot master any subject-matter which he is to configurate, and it is silly to believe that the genuine artist does not know what he is doing.”....."

[ Thanks to my friend David Calderisi for sending this to me...]


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