Contents:
Minus The Bear Rips It Up
By Deano
Being one of the "rock " d.j.'s at WHUS is a great way to find out about all kinds of cool indie rock and other "experimental/progressive" music. One of the bands that I found out about and have come to really enjoy is a band who call themselves Minus The Bear. The Seattle based quintet are out on the road in support of their fourth album entitled Planet of Ice on the Suicide Squeeze label. I had the good fortune to catch the Thursday, Oct. 4 th show at The Middle East in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
We arrived early to begin looking for tickets. It's a long story, for another time, but we were unable to get tickets to the sold out two night stand. There were to be three bands and there were quite a few people on the streets. It didn't take too long for us to find our first ticket, and the second was soon to follow.
As we made our way into the venue, the sign above the door said capacity 571. Middle East is a twenty one plus club, or at least it was this night, making the crowd mostly college age with a few "post grad" (also pronounced di-no-saur) patrons, such as myself ,in tow. With at least forty percent woman there, it was a refreshing change of pace for a progressive band audience.
The rumors on the street about the band playing only new tunes was unfounded. They began with the first track from the latest disc, Burying Luck, then followed with Drilling, from the previous release, Menos El Oso. It was here that Jake Snider, lead vocalist and guitarist addressed the crowd and introduced a song from their first release, Highly Refined Pirates, entitled Spritz Spritz. The rest of the 90 minute plus show was a mix of new and old, with lead guitarist, David Knudson, displaying awesome technique and prowess on his guitar and peddles. The rhythm section, Cory Murchy- bass, and Erin Tate-drums, kept the band rooted and rocking, with their complex timing and riffing. The newest member of the band, keyboardest Alex Rose, did his share of work to fill out the band unique sound. All and all Minus the Bear played a spirited and energetic show, spanning the range of their repertoire. They ended the show with a two song encore. Absinth Party and the MTV vidieo hit Pachuca Sunrise. I would see them again any time they come around, and would highly recommend them to any one who digs rocks music.
How the Liberal Left Eats Itself
By Dean Farrell
You want to help stop war?
Well, we reject your application.
You crack too many jokes,
And you eat meat.
--The Dead Kennedys
As a working-class progressive, I find many of my fellow leftists a never-ending source of anger and frustration. Here are but two of them:
Mr. & Mrs. Manners. These good folks dream of changing the world into a Utopia of equal rights and justice for all people. Unfortunately, their chances of doing so are about the same as a snowball's chance in hell—mainly due to their contempt for the people they long to save.
Mr. & Mrs. Manners exist in a hermetically-sealed environment of overly-educated, white-bread milquetoasts who insist on intellectualizing everything. And god help the person who utters an "F" bomb in their presence!
My question for Mr. & Mrs. Manners: How do you propose to change the world when you're too goddamned thin-skinned to deal with a few lousy curse words? The people you need to reach out to use curse words on a regular basis. They attend films starring Will Ferrell and The Rock. Their choice of reading material leans heavily toward Harlequin Romances, pulp adventure fiction, and TV Guide. They've never heard of Ani DiFranco and Noam Chomsky, and wouldn't like them if they had. They don't know the difference between Merlot and Muscatel. And they don't give a good goddamn about which utensil goes with which dish.
Until Mr. and Mrs. Manners take those people seriously, they have as much of a chance of changing the world as I have of becoming a Hair Club For Men "after" model.
The Diehard Democrat. In spite of everything, the Diehard Democrat insists on believing that the Democratic Party is America's salvation. Never mind that some of the most damaging legislation to the poor and middle class became law during Bill Clinton's presidency (Remember welfare "reform?"). Never mind that the Democratic-controlled Congress continues to fund Bush's illegal war in Iraq despite a clear mandate from the voters to end it. Never mind that the party gave only lukewarm support to Ned Lamont when he defeated incumbent right-wing senator Joseph Lieberman during last year's Connecticut primary. Never mind that the three major Democratic presidential candidates for 2008 are in the pocket of Wall Street, AIPAC and the Pentagon. If we can just get a Democrat back in the White House next year, everything will be hunky-dory again!
Sure. And grasshoppers will fly out of my ass the next time I fart.
I could go on and on, but you get the idea. Suffice it to say, with the piss-poor excuse for gatekeepers currently guiding the left, I'm not optimistic that a truly progressive agenda will surface in Washington any time soon.
"Beyond Iraq's Green Zone, Dispatches from an Unembedded Journalist in Occupied Iraq,"
A review by Dori Smith
"As a journalist I continue to hold out hope that if people have knowledge of what is happening, they will act accordingly. If people in my country could hear the stories of life under occupation and put themselves into the Iraqis' stories, they would understand. I hold that hope because the stories of Iraq are our story now. Whether we accept that or not, it is the truth. The water from the Euphrates runs through all our veins." Dahr Jamail.
As I write this CNN is announcing that civilian deaths in Iraq are down by more than 50%. They claim "only" 63 US soldiers died there in September though AFP has already put the number at 71.
Frustrated by the brevity of CNN's report I check out their web page where I find a clutter of stories plus a big bold list of "favorite videos" including, "Life's short, have an affair'" and "Pamela Anderson getting married again?"
CNN's upbeat report had identified 'only' 844 Iraqi civilian deaths during September. By the following morning Baltimoresun.com had found 1,654 deaths in combined wire reports. In other words somebody probably counted wrong at CNN. This could be due to the fact that they turned to Col. Steven Boylan, Multi-National Forces-Iraq spokesman, as a source.
Boylan's reports have often been wrong and even deceptive. In 2005 he was caught downplaying the U.S. Military's use of white phosphorous against Iraqis in Fallujah and even assuring Democracy Now viewers that it was "legal". Amy Goodman read international law to him and caught him in his lies.
CNN should have turned to firebrand reporter Dahr Jamail years ago, like we did. U.S. Military sources like Boylan and the cadre of embedded reporters who follow them may have a bigger audience but Dahr's is obviously paying more attention.
An Alaskan who worked as a mountain guide during the winter of 2002, Dahr became increasingly uneasy about the way news networks were covering the build up to war. In the opening lines of "Beyond the Green Zone" he writes, "The drumbeat for war became deafening." Yet, he was also inspired by the coverage on Democracy Now and Media Channel. So he made a life changing decision to head off for Iraq to learn the truth and report it wherever he could. As he boarded a plane for Iraq he had no idea if the larger alternative outlets would ever publish his reports. He was going for the sake of the story itself, for the Iraqis, and for all of us.
"My going to Iraq was an act of desperation," he explains in the book. "One that has since transformed itself into a bond to that country and so many of her people--There were stories that begged to be heard and told again."
We can now read though these stories over the coming years as we note how Dahr's observations are proven to be exactly what journalist Seymour Hersh said they were, prescient. In fact, the book is full of masterful observations of what U.S. and coalition forces did on a routine basis.
From the start Dahr was looking into major stories of big oil investors and military contracts such as Bechtel and Halliburton. He wrote about the outsourcing of Iraqi resources and the privatization of reconstruction work so that Iraqis didn't get the work. But through his in depth research and investigative coverage Dahr continued to dig in to what he saw as the biggest story in Iraq. It was the impact of the occupation on individual Iraqis, their families, and their communities.
"Beyond the Green Zone" helps us understand the agonies they have been enduring under U.S. occupation. It also sheds light on what Americans have endured in the form of deceptive reporting.
On page 69 he explains, "Every day on the streets of Baghdad , I was witnessing the deterioration of conditions in Iraq." He described some of what he saw for WHUS listeners during 2003 and 2004, including the damage being done to U.S. forces that were increasingly jumpy as they walked dangerous streets. They too had to withstand the impact of toxic weapons coated with DU, depleted uranium, a deadly heavy metal that is radioactive.
Back then networks were still airing slick reports about U.S. soldiers who had set out for Iraq to make the world safer after 9/11. Meanwhile, Dahr was describing the backlash to American heavy handedness. The nightly home raids where U.S. soldiers would kick or even shoot their way into Iraqi households.
He covered the brutal treatment of prisoners including Sadiq Zoman who was tortured while in U.S. Military custody. He visited Zoman's family and documented the tragic story of their struggle to find medical care for him.
By the time he made his way into Fallujah during US sieges in 2004 Dahr was a well known journalist making appearances on Pacifica news shows and writing for well known U.S. and international newspapers and magazines. His reports about dodging U.S. sniper fire in Fallujah with scholar Rahul Mahajan and humanitarian Jo Wilding were snapped up by international media and virtually ignored by mainstream American outlets.
As the dramatic reports appeared on Dahr's web page (dahrjamailiraq.com ) they went screaming around the internet and out to readers who were starved for first hand news. As it turns out Dahr's readers included veteran journalists such as Seymour Hersh, John Pilger, Stephen Kinzer, Laura Flanders, Naomi Klein, and scholars like Chalmers Johnson and Peter Phillips.
As US soldiers became increasingly frustrated in Fallujah, civilians there experienced what Dahr saw as "collective punishment, a common enough occurrence each time a U.S. patrol was attacked."
Soon Fallujah was known as "a city of both actual and symbolic resistance to the U.S. empire throughout the Middle East" he wrote. And in a dramatic section on what he found at a small clinic there Dahr writes: "The boxes of medical supplies we brought into the clinic were torn open immediately by the desperate doctors. A woman entered, slapping her chest and face, and wailing as her husband carried in the dying body of her little boy. Blood was trickling off one of his arms, which dangled out of his father's arms. Thus began my witnessing of an endless stream of women and children who had been shot by the U.S. soldiers and were now being raced into the dirty clinic, the cars speeding over the curb out front, and weeping family members carrying in their wounded."
Through it all he continued to document the destruction of Iraqi homes, schools, and hospitals during US Military bombings. And during Operation Phantom Fury, refugees described the use of white phosphorous incendiary weapons to him. They were fired from U.S. artillery holds.
"It is a violation of the Geneva Conventions to use white phosphorous in an area where civilians may be hit," he writes. "I heard similar descriptions in the coming days and weeks, both from refugees and doctors who had fled the city." Relief workers complained that they had not been allowed into Fallujah but Dahr used doctor's reports to establish that at least eight hundred civilian had perished by that time. He would later visit a city where the dead had been hastily buried, and bodies were still decomposing in the streets. He documented the size of the graves and what information he could find on them.
Despite the ongoing destruction of Fallujah most Americans had never heard of the city prior to the horrific killing of four Blackwater contractors, an event Dahr feared would catalyze another invasion of the city. In his chapter, "Reentering the Inferno," he explains that religious and community leaders had cried out against the attack and residents were overwhelmingly against it. It was a fragile moment and US forces took a terrible wrong turn.
"My first thought was concern over how the Bush administration would use this incident to its advantage," he explains, "Particularly in light of the fact that the U.S. military had long ago lost control of Fallujah, the killing of the four mercenaries would most likely be used as a green light for another invasion."
Dahr feared that the incident would provoke another brutal invasion of the city and sadly he was right. By the end of April 2004 U.S. forces had destroyed more than 60% of Fallujah. At a talk Dahr gave in Boston I saw film footage of smashed buildings with toddlers standing in the middle of them in tattered clothing without shoes. I wonder if they lived.
Ultimately, Dahr Jamail's new book stands as an indictment of what the Bush administration and US Military did in Fallujah and other parts of Iraq. No Col. Boyle or CNN announcer can erase what he has documented.
The people of Iraq were considered irrelevant, from places like Baghdad and Fallujah to Najaf, Baquba, Diwaniyah, Haditha, Hilla, the villages of Western Iraq, to other parts of the country including in some cases the political figures in the Green Zone itself. The Iraqi people Dahr came to know were ignored unless they could be fitted into some American political context. His book makes it impossible for us to either ignore them or forget them.
Regular listeners of FM 91.7 have heard some of Dahr's stories. But in "Beyond the Green Zone" he reveals his personal experiences in Iraq while getting them. By sharing his responses to what he was witnessing Dahr offers a highly readable and dramatic narrative to back up his big story on the Iraq War and the Iraqi's.
'Beyond the Green Zone, Dispatches from an Unembedded Journalist in Occupied Iraq ,' an October 2007 release from Haymarket books is available at the UConn Co-Op.
I would love to hear your thoughts about the book. Write to me at WHUS Radio, The University of Connecticut Student Union Building Room 412 2110 Hillside Road, Unit 3008R Storrs, CT 06268-3008 . We will share more of the story during further interviews with Dahr on WHUS on upcoming Wednesdays at 5 PM on 91.7 and talknationradio.org
Spaceship In The Snow
By Richard Segan
It was a snowstorm of blizzard-like intensity but even this could not deter a group of intrepid travelers blasting in from far distances. UCONN Storrs had uncharacteristically closed, overwhelmed by severe weather. But on December 9, 2004, the Sun Ra Arkestra, helmed by the transcendent Marshall Allen, careened into Storrs, CT. to perform at Vonder Mehden Recital Hall-a show presented by WHUS radio.
Having experienced over 100 gigs by this aggregation, I can attest this was an evening of extraordinary musical communication. The group played some exceedingly rare pieces, including "Way Down Yonder In New Orleans" for the first time and "Bali Hai" for only the 2nd time, both incidentally inspired by yours truly. "Bali Hai" is one of those moments when time stops and the music would be appropriate for any time or place in the history of the universe. Danny Thompson's haunting flute led the way to this melody. Another Sun Ra classic "Angels and Demons at Play" was given a superb reading, with lead vocals by Marshall Allen, and excellent support by lead vocalist Art Jenkins. Art's lead vocals put a special shine on "In Spite of Everything," "Differ" "The Blue Set" and "Space Chants." Also in evidence was Art's new megaphone, a gift to him from Scotland, utilized in a cosmic manner.
Marshall's playing was terrific all night, as he blasted away on alto, flute, clarinet, and EVI (Electronic Valve Instrument); no one could believe that this was a man in his 80's. The traditional Sun Ra flamboyant garb was apparent that night, particularly as the band marched through the audience while playing and chanting culminating in an out-of- this-world dance by Noel Scott.
Special mention should be made for 2 dearly loved members that left the planet this year. Trombonist Tyronne Hill, who was much in evidence that evening, left in the spring, and Lugman Ali, one of the greatest drummers ever, left this summer. Both will be severely missed. Tyrone's trombone sounds sparked the Arkestra for decades. It was Tyrone's animated vocal performance that led the way through the debut of "Way Down Yonder In New Orleans." Lugman's great ability to swing and play outside the box makes him one of the most inspiring drummers in jazz history.
If you are a fan of Sun Ra's, you can hear him on my One-World radio programs, Mondays 10-Noon with Sun Ra's cosmic corner generally appearing at 11 a.m. and Thursdays 8-10 a.m. with the Thursday Sun Ra feature around 9:30 a.m. Portions of the performance reviewed here can be heard exclusively during these segments. If you are unfamiliar with Sun Ra, his music and message can be life changing. Do yourself a favor and walk through the Door of the Cosmos.
An Interview with Poet/MC/Playwright Idris Goodwin
By Ben Shaiken
I spent the last year in Chicago and had the opportunity to meet and interview a Chicago area Poet, MC, Playwright, teacher and Community Activist named Idris Goodwin. He met me at the radio station I was working at there, WRDP, and talked with me for over an hour. Here is an excerpt of what we talked about.
Benny Shaik: Tell us about yourself, where you're from, how you got into music, everything like that.
Idris Goodwin: Okay, I'll try to give you the abbreviated, the TV Guide version. I was born in Detroit, Michigan, lived there for a good part of my life. Then we moved to the suburbs of Detroit when I was in middle school, high school. When I turned 18, moved to Chicago to go to Columbia College Film School and I've been here ever since. One of the things that's kept me here is I've always had a lot of interests in a lot of different kinds of mediums. So I've always been creative, I used to draw, I've always written raps, always had an interest in film, and Chicago is a very good place to explore all these different things that you do. And after doing all of this different sort of work, I got into teaching.
I've been at it forever, man, and I feel like I'm just now starting to really understand what I'm capable of and what opportunities are really out there for me. Before I think I was just experimenting. You know basically man, I'm kinda like the guy that you see at the outdoor bazaar, the outdoor market who's got a little bit of everything, you know what I mean, 'What do you want? You want a book? Okay, I got books for you. You want jewels? I got jewels." So I just kinda try to work it as many different ways as I can. I'm kinda like a hustler but in a positive way.
BS: What does music mean to you? What power does it hold?
IG: I've never studied it, but I have a few theories. Music in general, but especially Hip-Hop, I think it speaks to something that's really deep inside of all of us. It's the part of us that we can't really explain. It works on so many levels. It excites us; it can make us cry; it can make us happy. I mean how many times have you just been driving, crappy day and that song comes on the radio? You know, it reminds us of a place, of a time and it somehow gets into us. And I think Hip-Hop especially, not only is it one of the newer forms of music, but it's driven by the beat, it's driven by percussion and we're very percussion driven organisms. We move by time, you know we move by the tick tock of the clock, we live in routines—sun up, sun down, over and over again. We have heartbeats. Repetition is how we learn, we learn through nursery rhymes, and Hip-Hop is very much about the repetition, but not in a negative way. It's a celebration, almost in a way, of the repetition. Music to me is one of the most incredible mediums, and it's the medium that I always work in and am always fascinated and curious by 'cause I cannot get a handle on it whatsoever. Theater, film, teaching are all different, but there's something about music, man. It's like, as crazy as being a musician is, with playing in dive bars and making no money, and spending all this time to make music that people may or may not ever hear, but what's great is that you can be really selfish about it. I'm really selfish about it, it's for me, you know. It's one of the most amazing things.
BS: Could you talk a little bit about the current state of Hip-Hop music or the current state of popular music in general?
IG: Sure. I think it's interesting. I have a lot of different opinions on this, actually. I'm in a constant battle, like most people, between the snarky cynic in me and the real optimist in me. Now, the snarky cynic in me, obviously sees that the problems with how Hip-Hop is sold, how Hip-Hop product is sold and marketed on a wide scale basis. It's obviously problematic, but I don't think that's just exclusive to Hip-Hop. I mean, I think that's films; that's all forms of music, that it's even bigger than entertainment. It's just about the conglomeratizing of different businesses. Radio, TV, all these things controlled by a huge corporation, it means that localized business can't survive. The radio station in Chicago should not be playing the same music that the radio station in Miami is playing. The radio station in Miami should be playing the music that is made in Miami. And so the fact that you go anywhere around the United States and you hear the same songs is incredibly problematic. I feel like Hip-Hop is no different. Hip-Hop is big business, just like anything else. It suffers from the same problems. It gets into something different, on a social aspect, because it's a music that has its roots from a particular community that's still very marginalized and underrepresented. And so rappers become the biggest success stories in that community and that's what the young people in that community are looking towards as opposed to a variety. There's not a variety, there's not a Stevie Wonder and a 50 Cent that are promoted and marketed to the same degree. That's when it gets into sticky territory.
However, the optimist in me also realizes that we're in a really special time right now. There are so many other venues and avenues that, up to now, are somewhat incorruptible. Like the internet, to me, up to this point, is somewhat incorruptible. Cable, satellite radio, look at us sittin' here. This is a big deal. I'm optimistic that despite these problems, we're gonna be fine. Because, just like Hip-Hop, necessity is the mother of invention. And just like the same cats who started breakin' in the alleyways on broken glass and dudes pullin' street lamps and connectin' 'em playin' their mother's old records, we'll come up with something. We'll get bored with what's being provided to us and we'll come up with something fresh. And it'll be amazing and it'll be energetic and wonderful. And some company will come along and be like 'What are those kids doing?' And they'll co-opt it, but they won't get it just right. They'll get it like a little bit, you know, kinda. And then the people who originate will pass that spirit on to somebody else and they'll come up with something new. So I think that there are very immediate issues that we should discuss and look at, but overall I think we're cool. I think that we're good. I think that Hip-Hop is beautiful right now. You have people making movies and starting schools and institutions and supporting presidential candidates. It's a good time, we're showing that there's more to this culture than just records. There's a philosophy and an energy behind this culture that's really positive and its producing some brilliant individuals. And I feel good about that, I feel good to be a part of something like that.
BS: The last statistic I heard is that the audience for independent Hip-Hop right now is 70% white. 70% of the people at concerts and buying albums are now white. I've heard from a lot of people who've been involved in Hip-Hop for many years a certain degree of feeling that the people listening to the music are not real and not into it on the same level that they are. Can you speak to that at all?
IG: It's a big issue, and I've heard a lot of different opinions on it, and everybody's entitled to theirs. You know, I don't know man. I'm a little hesitant to ever be exclusionary. I look at it like this. There are more white people in this country. White people are a majority of this country, and so this music is also all over this country and it's worldwide. And so if you break it down to purely a numbers game, it's an inevitability. Also, at the same time, there's something kind of dangerous in the assumption that only people of color should be buying Hip-Hop. And there's also something dangerous in the notion that, you know some people say that 'White people have more disposable income. That's why they're at the shows. They have high speed computers, and so they can download the music and keep up with independent culture, blah blah blah, X Y Z.' That's assuming that all people of color are at the same economic status and don't have any disposable income. I don't really know what to say on that. For me personally, my job is to make my work, and try to represent where I come from. And whoever's listening is whoever's listening.
My thought is if you don't like white people at your shows, go find where the brown people are and go perform for them. Go perform for them. I'm sure there's a multitude of factors that one could look into on that one. I think people's personal frustrations with it are their personal frustrations. And I would be interested to know what those personal frustrations come from. I would assume it's because there's a certain community that you're interested in speaking to, but I feel like you need to go actively have that conversation with them. My friend Kevin Coval, who's a spoken word artist and activist and teacher and a million other things—he just put out this great book called 'Slingshots: A Hip-Hop Poetica'—he's a Jewish guy, so he has a lotta feelings about Israel-Palestine, and so he wants to have a lotta conversations with other Jews. And so he actively seeks them out. He calls synagogue and he calls Hillels and he's like 'Yo, I wanna do something with ya'll.' So its like, if you wanna reach these communities, go reach these communities! But you can't get mad, they bought your ticket, dude. It's better than nobody. It's one of those prickly issues that I think is bigger than just talking about music. I think it gets into a lot more different socioeconomic and ethnic issues that I don't think I'm educated enough to speak on. But I'll tell you this: You can be a midget, alien with one leg, you can come to my show as much as you want and bring all your friends.
BS: Being on a college campus, I have access to a television channel called MTVu, which is one of their offshoot channels that plays mostly videos. It's only available on a college campus. You cannot get it if your TV is not on a college campus and it's the only place that I've seen an independent Hip-Hop video. The fact that these things are getting played is awesome. But the fact that this channel is only available to college students has some negative implications. Do you have any idea why they would want this music only getting distributed to people who are getting educated by universities in the first place?
IG: I lived in Los Angeles for a couple months. I was there just doing recon, I was checkin' out the Hip-Hop scene out there—which by the way there's a dope group, you heard of L.A. Symphony?
BS: Yeah, I have their CD, Disappear Here.
IG: They're hot man, I saw them live. They were sick. But anyway, I was also there because I dabble in the media arts, and so I was interested in screen writing and TV writing and so I was staying with a guy who worked for a major studio; he was like a script reader. And I was giving him all my ideas and he was like, 'Oh, that's not marketable, that's not what the people want. Blah blah blah.' And that notion was echoed throughout the week by other folks that he introduced me to. And so it's like, in these major markets, they think they're so on the pulse of what the people want, right? But none of those markets, like New York or L.A. are in any way indicative of what the rest of the country or even the rest of the world is really interested in. And even beyond that, no one can ever know what "the people" want 'cause you can't ask every person! All you can do is put millions and millions of dollars behind a piece of crap and people will buy that piece of crap.
I think these big companies that have been around forever, like MTV and other companies, they're so big and they're so tied up with only having to make money that they have no vision and they have no confidence. And so the only reason they even have an MTVu is probably because the whole "college market" has been talked about forever, you know what I mean, since like the sixties they been talkin' about like the "college market." And so they finally decided 'We're gonna get to this 'college market' I been hearin' about.' You know, they just don't have no vision. They're just late to the party. I think that's the problem with all of the stuff that's on the radio and on the TV and everything; that these people, man, they live in these bubbles and they only read trade magazines. They only read what other companies are doing, but they're not actually out on the ground level talkin' to people, listening to what the DJ Benny Shaik's are doing. They're not down with the folks, finding out what's going on. To me, that's really all there is to it. They don't know the people.
So its like, Jay Z, clearly like—that movie 'Fade to Black.' He does this show at Madison Square Garden, right? He's just one guy on this big stage with a mic in his hand. The whole audience—and its all mixed up, it's like everybody's in this audience—they're sayin' like every word to this dude's songs. People love this dude—every song, like 'Girls Girls Girls' but also like 'Song Cry,' his whole catalog. The guy obviously has an audience. So for them to not play 'Lost Ones' means that they don't think that Jay Z's loyal audience is gonna like it; that they might be offended or it might be a touchy song. So it's like, 'We'll put the important records on the college station.' So that means that you don't think the majority of the country is smart enough or is even interested in anything serious? That's the most troubling thing. It's the continued dumbing—or not even dumbing, actually. I won't say dumbing. We're a very medicated country. They think that we can't handle it. We all saw Katrina, so obviously it's on all of our minds and we've been talking about it. So what better than a song by Jay Z, who's like the biggest artist in Rap, addressing this same topic. If anything, people will probably be very excited by that instead of another song where he's talking about the club.
For a complete audio clip of this interview, including a discussion about Idris's work outside of Hip-Hop music, please visit thisismysongradio.mypodcast.com.
For more information about Idris, please visit www.idrisgoodwin.com.
Graduation Represents Kanye's Best and Worst
By Ben Shaiken
The standings are in and—to no one's real surprise—Kanye West has crushed 50 Cent in their epic battle of self promotion. I haven't listened to 50's new album all the way through. I've heard parts. It's bad. A lot of reviews out there have been trying to compare the two, but it's an unfair fight. Instead, I'm going to look at "Graduation" standing alone, as its own unit. Forgetting commerce, "Graduation" deserves to be broken down on the artistic side.
Because production is such an important factor, let's start with it. Kanye West is a gifted producer. He is not the best, but he is far from the worst. West produced, or helped produce, every song on his new album except "Big Brother." Some are good. In fact, some are very good. But some are bad, and some are very bad. This is a problem I've always had with Ye. He does amazing production work for others, see "The Black Album," for instance, but I always come away from his own albums feeling like he's sold himself just a little short. In comparison with his two previous albums, "College Dropout" and "Late Registration," "Graduation" does both worse and better at the same time. Why is there this inconsistency? Kanye is more than capable of producing an all around solid album (see Common's new album "Finding Forever," where Kanye's work holds up to Will.i.am, Devo Springsteen and most importantly and impressively, the late, great J Dilla).
The beats on some of the tracks on "Graduation" are innovative. They are different, combining genres from around the globe (see his combination of European House in Daft Punk's "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger" in "Stronger") and different areas within hip-hop (see "Good Life" and "I Wonder"). There is also classic Kanye, done to great effect in "Champion," and "The Glory." But on the other songs on the album, I'm left feeling like Kanye slacked off on the production.
I got this impression the second I popped the CD into my car this weekend, with the first track "Good Morning." The beat, with a snare paying obvious homage to old school hip-hop, is just plain boring. The songs "Barry Bonds," "Flashing Lights," "Everything I Am" (although we'll revisit this song in a minute), "Homecoming" and "Big Brother" all left me with the same feeling: That Kanye had decided to leave these beats unfinished. Whether he desired this effect or not I don't know, but I listened to this album and found myself consistently waiting for the beat to drop. Kanye's immense talents as a producer have been demonstrated time and time again, indeed many times on this album, but he falls so drastically short sometimes that it's hard to place him on the forefront of today's hip-hop producers.
In the all places where Kanye succeeds on "Graduation," there is another example of where he fails. He deftly combines Paris-House-Euro-Electronic Daft Punk with hip-hop on "Stronger," which is one of the few successful examples of genre hybridization in hip-hop. However, he goes back and tries again, with synth samples in "Flashing Lights" and fails miserably. His banging combination of mainstream, southern production style and Kanye's own lyrical style on "Good Life," featuring T-Pain, comes crashing down around him two tracks later on "Barry Bonds," featuring Lil Wayne. In fact, the only times that Kanye's production is consistent is when he's doing Kanye. It works on "Champion," and then works equally as well again on "The Glory."
An important factor, something unfortunately being lost with singles and iTunes, is how an album flows from one song to the next; how good a particular album is as a unit. Because of the inconsistency, "Graduation" is not overly successful in this respect. For a lesson of how a hip-hop record should flow, buy (because it didn't sell enough copies for you to download) The Roots' "Game Theory."
The other main area on "Graduation" is, of course, the words. I've long been torn about Kanye being seen as mainstream hip-hop's so-called "conscious" rapper. Part of me has always said that it's good that he exists at all, before him there was a void that had not been filled in years. The other part of me, however, has always nagged in the background with a persistent, "Yeah, but there are so many MCs out there who are just—plain and simple—better lyricists than Kanye." In other words, it's wonderful that Kanye exists, but there are many others who could deliver socially conscious rhymes much better than Kanye could. With that background, I was eagerly looking forward to "Graduation," hoping that he had improved significantly. I'm happy to report that he indeed has. I'm also happy to report that he still has a very very long way to go.
In the same way as his beats, Kanye's words on "Graduation" are very hit or miss. Generally, the songs with good words are also the songs with good beats. I'm pleased with that. One noted exception of this is "Homecoming," featuring Coldplay's Chris Martin. A rip off of the theme of Common's 1994 classic "I Used to Love H.E.R.," this song demonstrates unprecedented lyrical intricacy for West. Unfortunately, the song suffers immensely from the beat, which is just a looped introduction to a live recording of a song.
Otherwise, some songs shine and some don't. Personally, I'm not a fan of Kanye's delivery. There are typical, boring Kanye tracks interspersed on this album. Examples of this are "Good Morning," "I Wonder," "Can't Tell Me Nothin'," "Flashing Lights," and "Big Brother." Surprisingly, at least to me, Kanye really comes through on some of his songs. "Champion," "Good Life," "The Glory," and "Homecoming" are all at least solid. At some points, they are even excellent. "Drunk and Hot Girls," Ye's collaboration with Mos Def, makes me laugh, which is what it intends to do.
So as far as a breakdown rating for this album, half of it gets an A, half gets a C. So that's a B average, not bad.
But, as my teacher's used to tell my parents every single year in their conferences, "he has got so much potential, if only he worked up to it." I feel the same way about Kanye.
If you've sat through the last 1000 words and listened to "Graduation" already, you might be saying to yourself, "What the hell kind of reviewer doesn't talk about 'Everything I Am?'"
The first line of this song says "Common passed on this beat / I made it to a jam" and I could see probably why that happened. This beat would only work with this song. Common needed to leave this one to Kanye. What Common might have missed, however, were the subtle hums in the background and the rich piano chords played on a perfectly out of tune piano. Luckily for Common, DJ Premiere brought his A game to Common's "The Game," and brought his D game for Kanye. The scratches on this song are bad, but coming from Premiere, probably the best hook scratcher alive, they are terrible. That's basically my only criticism though. Read on.
"Everything I Am" follows an album that spends a lot of time inflating Kanye's ego, filled with songs called "Champion," "Stronger," "Can't Tell Me Nothing," et cetera. This song immediately strips away Kanye's public façade, revealing a person who is surprisingly human. Interwoven in the simple, deliberately delivered rhymes, Kanye shows us his struggles with his originality, public image and politics. "Everything I'm not makes me everything I am" is repeated throughout the album. Think carefully about the underlying message in each verse coupled with those words.
The first verse discusses the pressure Kanye faces to have an image. Despite his huge success among stars where image is everything, Kanye still doesn't have one. Sure he has a style outside of his music; sure he is always recognizable, but he still lacks that undeniable image that so many other artists have today. But guess what? That doesn't matter. It doesn't mean he's any less talented or worthy of praise. In fact, Kanye is a good deal more talented than most artists who rely solely on their image. He relies on his music, which is how it should be.
In the second verse, Kanye discusses how others, specifically the "haters," view him. He says, "They want gun talk or I don't wear enough / Baggy clothes, Reeboks or adidos," meaning that people only compare him to a set standard of what a rapper should talk and look like. Instead of living his life by their criticism, though, Kanye settles to "take the I got-alotta-cheese award," which is fair enough. If all else fails, Kanye has his overwhelming popularity to comfort himself with.
The third and final verse in "Everything I Am" talks about Kanye's willingness to go where other rappers don't; to rap about things that exist in real life, not a fabricated toughness or club existence. Granted, he maybe could have said it a little bit more eloquently than, "Man, killin some wack shit," but the message that Kanye delivers to the hip-hop industry in this verse brings me goose bumps.
"I know people wouldn't usually rap this
But I got the facts to back this
Just last year Chicago had over 600 caskets
Man, killin some wack shit
Oh, I forgot 'cept for when niggas is rappin'
Do you know what it feel like when peoples is passin?
He got changed over his chains a block off Ashland"
The verse ends with the beat dropping out (to be followed by some more bad scratches), preceded by these lines "My fifteen seconds is up but I got more to say / That's enough Mr. West, no more today." In a world where mainstream rappers stay away from any political issues like they are the plague, West has always shone through as someone who is willing to force us to think about them. How much he has actually done to promote change is debatable, but what is undeniable is his ability to cause a stir with what he says. From "Diamonds from Sierra Leone" to "George Bush doesn't like black people," his publicly stated thoughts have always made the news. He has forced the woefully ignorant mainstream hip-hop community to recognize that no matter how much time is spent in the club, the world outside is still filled with injustice.
"Everything I'm not makes me everything I am" is the theme that runs throughout the track and it takes on real meaning when thought of in this context: Kanye is his own person with his own style, not willing to remain painted in only one picture and not afraid to tackle the issues.
"Everything I Am," taken in context with the rest of "Graduation," Kanye's previous work, his success and the hip-hop game in general, represents not only everything that he is but everything he has been and most importantly, everything he could be.
So what can he be? What is in the future for Kanye? He's not retiring like 50 is, so what's next? What will the next album consist of? I, for one, hope that Kanye will continue to usher in other talented MCs and producers (see: Lupe Fiasco) and start to promote a positive change in the hip-hop industry. If not, the genre faces extinction. Kanye has proved that you don't have to kill, sell drugs or promote an unachievable lifestyle to sell records. Hopefully, the capstone of Kanye's "higher education" trilogy will be the beginning of a new era in hip hop.
An Interview With Cartel
By Kris
On October 4, Kris of Kris and Snacky's Untitled Punk Rock Show sat down with Will Pugh (vocals) and Kevin Sanders (drums) of the band Cartel at the Webster Theater in Hartford. Here is what they talked about.
Kris: Your pretty new to the whole scene. Youre blowing up, your everywhere. Your everywhere from ESPN commercials, to movie soundtracks, Madden 07. How is it dealing with the new notarity?
Kevin: I think any band that's taking the plunge to make their band super serious., and try to "go the distance", You gotta be prepared for that to happen. If your working hard you gotta keep in the back of your mind that things may go great. Then, when things happen, for a split second, you go "oh my god!", and you kinda giggle about it amongst the guys, but then you gotta go alright cool. You gotta keep level about it cuz theres so much going on around you.
Kris: What do you think is the biggest thing you guys attribute your success to?
Kevin: Hard work. Persistence. We did the whole band thing in high school and college, but when we really got down to it and tried to get stuff going for real, and make it work, it kinda did.
Kris: You guys all met in high school right?
Kevin: yeah we all met in high school, some of us before that, but we've been hanging out for about a decade; It's been pretty crazy!
Kris: you recently made the jump from milita group to Epic, what was the Transition between the two like? Militia being primarily and Indie label, what were the biggest differences?
Will: Its like being poor then winning the lottery band wise. Indie labels don't have money and your dream and scope of what you want to do in the band is not so easily achieved. But with Epic, or any major [label] for that matter, they have a lot of money and its like, "ok, we want to do this, this and this" and they do it. So its like the scale automatically goes up just because of how much monetary funds are thrown into it. Just the amount of money makes a big difference in this industry.
Kris: How did you get involved in Band In the Bubble? Who approached you with the idea?
Kevin: Dr. Pepper went to Epic. Epic went to us and asked us to do it, and it sounded kinda crazy that they asked us to, and we were like this sounds retarded. But, I think because of the past we have as friends, and growing up together, was one of the many factors that made us think "this seems not that bad" and we thought that if any band could make this look decent we thought we could. And I think it was a big deal, and then not a big deal, almost instant. It was like "oh my god this sounds crazy", and then once it was over it was kinda like "that's it?" becaue it was only 4 episodes, it was only 20 days. For a second it seemed so large, and it was as far as a promotional aspect, it was a very new way of doing something. It was very fresh, I think that's why it was big. And that was also one of our main reasons why we were so appealed to it, it was like, "wow this has never been done in the United States, we want to be the first ones to do this". So, I think it definitely helped show us to a new type of audience or new fans. Its like when you go on tour with other bands they might not draw the same kind of kids we draw, because you want to be like "hey look at our band", like you don't want to play to the same kids every single year. So it helped us get new fans.
Kris: What do you think made it stand out for you guys? For them to approach you guys and have you guys do it as opposed to any other band on the label? Do you think it was just because you were so new?
Kevin: I think it's the fact that we were new, new to a major, we were a band that was kind of in that in between stage. [It was] something that appealed to us as kind of the next thing we could do, like this could happen; We didn't see we were to big for it. I heard All American Rejects got offered to do it, but they weren't really up and coming....
Kris: ...their heads wouldn't fit in the bubble?!
Kevin: ...and I think that was the case. We seemed to fit the size of it I guess. The promotion was way bigger then a major label would actually put out on their own. No major label would go through what it would take to make that happen, nor would any Indie label be able to dream of it. So we used that as like a launch, like "hey look at our name, one spot so much, all of a sudden like boom and our record is coming out, great!". Seemed like a no brainer, you don't really turn down...its like no press is bad press.
Kris: So you guys really didn't have much hesitation going into it?
Kevin: Oh we definitely were like, this could totally suck but lets go make the best of it and see how we can do!
Kris: Tell me a little bit...I know it was 24/7 access through the cameras. Did that get annoying? Did you ever feel like "ok this is a little too much. I just don't have any privacy at all?"
Kevin: The bathroom cams annoyed me.
Will: Yeah, those were stupid
Kevin: For the most part we asked them "what's bad and what's good" and they were like, we have a guy pushing a button so just be yourselves, so we just cussed a whole lot.
And the button guy was failing at his job"
Will: He was bad at his job!
Kris: What were the interactions with the fans like that would come up to the bubble?
Kevin: Good and Bad. I mean because, sometimes you were like ok this is cool, but maybe after eight hours of it its hard to have the same excitement for every person. But it was something you kind of tired to have to do. It was like ok I have to try to talk to each person like I just now met you for the first time. So it was warring. But I used it as a tool to try to help pass the time. It was like if I've got nothing else to do, then like use that as your outlet to do whatever ya know, just talk to kids. But sometimes it would get so many people that you could only talk to some and everyone else was just like tapping and you were like "no, no, don't." Now you feel like a zoo animal, you're like "now that just sucks". It already sucks being here; don't degrade us by tapping on it. But I'd do the same [thing]....but its like "hey, idiots you signed up for this, so...".
Kris: What was the craziest fan you had? Do you have that sticks out in your minds at all? One that was just overly belligerent?
Kevin: Ah yeah, we had one fan, who won something to participate in one of the contests that was going on outside the bubble, but they cut the contest short just like "ok were good"; They didn't have all systems go, and this girl was a pretty die hard fan and she like flipped out on us an everyone outside. She came up to the box thing and was screaming at everybody and crying and being hysterical to me and I was like you've got to slow your role.
Kris: Is it kind of intimidating, well not intimidating, but surreal that you have fans that are that hard core to?
Will: It's Frightening.
Kevin: Yeah, because it goes to the point where you're kinda like "stop it, your going a little too far with this. Calm down, its just me, your just you, its just music".
Kris: Now the biggest thing about being there, obviously, you had 20 days to write the new album. Was it 20 days to write and record or just write?
Will: To record
Kris: Now be honest with me, did you guys cheat going into this. Did you have stuff already written before you came in or was this stragit from...
Kevin: well we had 2 years between the last and this one, so there was no way we didn't have an idea. Its kinda hard...you don't not think, unless your like matchbox 20 or somebody where you go into a studio and your just going to write and record everything. It can take a long time, you have to get it right. I think most bands now a days, and given the timing of the project, we had a definite idea of what was going to happen and then when you get in there your just going as fast as you can, and whatever happens is gonna happen and you just kind of go "cool that's the record".
Kris: When you writing is it a collaborative process or do you tend to lean more toward one person or the other to get things done?
Kevin: It's kind of like a tree and let's say Will's the star of the tree, the Christmas tree, and then it just kinda trickles down. Like, Will is like, "this is the riff I got" and then we all grab and start piecing together stuff. It works that way with everyone. Joseph will be like "this is the riff I have", and then Will will be like "this is the melody I have" and then I hear that and I'm like "well this is the drums id play" and that's how you craft the song and then you record it almost backwards.
Kris: Do you find yourself writing more of the vocals or is that something too where its all...?
Kevin: That's all [Will], that's his instrument!
Kris: Now the second album, it's a decent album, but it seems a little...I don't want to say darker, but for lack of a better word....darker then your first album. The first album was a little more poppier. Did you intend to go in kind of a different direction with this album or was that something that just kind of happened?
Will: I think we all grew up. I mean we were all 19 when we wrote Chroma. We recorded it when I was 21, now I'm 23. So its like... I mean we've done a lot of growing up on tour, we've had a lot happen to us, we've done a lot of things, seen a lot of places, so obviously...there's something about getting older; there's something about, your expression isn't naturally bent towards poppy, happy kind of stuff. You start to, I don't know, life starts to influence more then when you were younger.
Kevin: You definitely don't want to use the few instances you get to write the same record. You want to kind of take it on a revolving balance plain if you will. So its like, this record is, for a darker record, its kinda still got a little bit of a hook and catch to it so its not completely off the deep end of darkness, but who knows; and then the next record could be back up.
Kris: do you find yourself wanting to play with new avenues to go to for the next album? As far as new sounds or new ideas?
Kevin: I think the thing is with the old record and the last record we put out is that we want the songs that are released, we want to be able to write whatever comes out and people still be like "well that's Cartel, they can do whatever". With Chroma having songs that are like "Honestly", and then songs like "Say This" and then songs that are like "Q" and "A", those are very different songs; and then using that is what sets us up to be able to different songs on this record. You can do,"Wasted" and then "Lose It" and then you can do the secret track at the end of this record. So its like, while those things seem a little far off then the EP, its stil there and its like "they've set themselves up for that". And hopefully, with those two records we can be like "we can do whatever we want for the third record and everyone will say they are still evolving".
Kris: You guys have already worked with and toured with bands such as New Found Glory and Panic! at the Disco. Do you have any ideas for future albums and any artists that you would absolutely love to work with in the future. Who stands out in your minds the most right now?
Will: I think, this record we had a lot of collaboration. We had Juliet Simms come in an she sang on "Lose It", we had Wyclef come in, we had harmonica players and accordion players...we had a lot of people that weren't in the band that contributed to the record.. I used to be one that really wanted to have some crazy good vocalist come in and sing and now I'm like [screw] you its my record! I don't think we're gonna...I don't see us leaning to doing more collaborations by any means. Its fun if you're not doing your song. Like I sang on the New Found Glory record for the new Screen to your Stereo volume 2, and I mean its cool, but its not their songs. I doubt they would have me come in and sing on their record because it just wouldn't fit. I sing, and Jordan sings, it's not like I'm doing something new that the rest of the band cant do. I see us possibly getting some auxiliary musicians in the sense of organ players or people to come in and do stuff that we cant do as well as they could. Most of the time we like to have a hands on approach and do everything our selves, which pretty much we have done, but sometimes its like we need a ripping organ solo and none of us know how to play piano that well, so we have to find an organist, things like that.
Kris: What do you guys think is the hardest part about being on tour. What the worst thing you've had to sacrifice?
Will: Your anonymity. I mean we don't feel like we are special, he's still the same jackass I met when I was 15, and I feel like everybody feels the same way about everybody else. We don't look at each other and say "oh that's the drummer of Cartel", I go "its Kevin" but everybody else looks to you like "oh my god!" and you're like "woah what? Was I supposed to do something? Do I have something on my face?" We are southern boys and we just want to hang out and play some tunes.
Kris: Now obviously, you said losing your anonymity was the hardest part...
Will: ...its not crazy. Its just like sometimes you just want to be yourself and sometimes you just cant.
Kris: What was the one moment you've had so far where you're like "you know what I lost that, but it was all worth it"
Kevin: For me, it's the fact that on a whole, I view I going to shows as what I do and its what I think about to do because I try to please or whatever, its hard for me to flip my switch off and go to a show and be a part of it. I go to shows and I'm like who's the lighting guy? What's he running? Are his movers going? I'm like looking at the techs, do they have got their changes, they are running tracks, all these things are going on in my head I'm not even thinking about how good or bad their songs are and if they are playing them correctly. I'm so into thinking about what they are thinking about, that its hard for me to be a fan of shows. It's the same reason I never got a job in the food service industry because I always want to go to a restaurant and enjoy the fact that I'm eating out. I don't want to go there and be likes how's the cook? how's the line? Who's running this? What's the ticket time? That bums me out. Im going there to relive myself of all the other [bull] in my life, So I was like I'm never gonna do it and I haven't. But I would sacrifice that because this is what I wanted to do from the time I was really young so its so worth it.
Kris: Which is worse, being locked in the Bubble or being on the bus?
Will: The bubble. This is awesome.
Kevin: The bus isn't too far off, I'm trapped in there for eight weeks at a time so its got to be alright.
Will: We don't really move from this spot most of the time because its 1.) like your house and 2.) I sleep right there and 3.) they have direct TV. The bubble didn't have tv, that sucked.
Kevin: Even if we go to hotels we still stay on the bus.
Kris: What do you guys fight over the most?
Will: Who drank the last Mountain Dew or some [stuff] like that.
Kevin: Who drank who's stuff with their name on it, or for me who's stuff is still in the back lounge.
Kris: If you guys weren't Cartel, and you weren't touring what would you be doing?
Will: Playing golf.
Kevin: Finish school. I'd be running around in a nice suit and tie. I wouldn't have long hair. I'd probably have my glasses back on.
Kris: What's next for Cartel?
Will: We've got some international stuff early next year. It's weird because we feel we really haven't done a lot in the last 6 months. Normally our lives consist of touring all the time. Compared to '06, where it was literally touring the whole year no recordings, just boom straight through, and then to go to a year like this where we had our headlining tour and the bubble, the record came out so quick, so we were getting all that stuff done, and we had Six Flags dates every Thursday in July; It ended up where we were home but we weren't because we were still on, we still had [stuff] to do so we haven't really had that break yet. I mean we did, it feels like it, but we haven't. I realized even after this, we are on our seventh week now and our bodies are getting tired and you just need to recharge for like a week or two, just don't do [anything]. But we still have Florida dates in November, because we're missing Florida on this tour, so we hit those then we have some college dates in between this tour and then, and then thanksgiving through probably the end of January off to relax. We go to Japan in February and then continue on through there to Australia.
Kris: If you could sum up your experience so far in one word, what would it be?
Will: Probably just surreal.
Kris: What are you currently playing in your I-pod? What's the band your listening to right now that everyone should hear?
Kevin: There's this band, As Tall as Lions, their from Long Island, we did a tour with them in '05, and they just put out a record about a year ago. The record is just ridiculous, the record is so good they should be the biggest band in the world but no one knows about them. It's just perfect, almost like a Beatles-esque thing.
Kris: What's your favorite snack while on tour?
Will: Cheez-IT: Hot and Spicy
Kevin: I'm a Reese's fan, preferably Big Cups, and they have to be fresh or else they suck. And I love cereal; we put cereal on our rider. On our rider we put "cereal: not the healthy [stuff].
Kris: What do you put on your rider?
Will: Beer and water.
Kevin: Beer and water the minimum. We put cereal on our rider, and we put "cereal: not the healthy [stuff]. But usually low fat milk, some sort of sugary, unhealthy cereal, Reese's. Humus, bread, vegetarian snacks, and Gatorades.
An Interview with UConn's New President Michael Hogan
By Katie Schwartz and Chris Grohs
The following is an interview with Michael Hogan, UConn's new president as of September 2007. He met with WHUS on September 28th after being on campus for roughly two or more weeks and came to the studio to do an interview.
M= Michael Hogan
K= Katie Schwartz
C= Chris Grohs
K: What is the primary role of a university president?
M: Well I think the university president is the main person to set the agenda for the university, going forward not by himself or herself but in collaboration with colleagues in the leadership team and faculty across the university. They set the agenda; they are the sort of official face of the university to the world outside the university. I am a very academic guy so I'm very interested in the academic side of the university, which has to do of course with faculty with staff and students, people on campus, making the university perform it's basic emission of teaching research and service, but in addition to that the university president has to represent the university to external constituencies, the governor, people in the state house, donors, alumni, the news media, folks like yourself and so on. It's a busy job with a lot of different roles but luckily I'll have a lot of good help.
K: What sort of preparations did you need to go through in order to make the transition from provost to president?
M: I got into academic administration a number of years ago. I've been a department chair of a very good history department at Ohio State. I was dean of a college of humanities there. I was executive dean with oversight of five different colleges, kind of a mini provost position, and then I was provost for going on four years at the University of Iowa. So I've had many administrative positions at virtually every level of a university and I think that is about the best training a person can have who wants to be president of a university. Now I've got to take on some new assignments that only the president does that I've never done before. Generally speaking I think that I've had good training and good preparation for the job.
K: We've definitely recognized your efforts so far also in reading about your student appreciation in Iowa and the Hogan's Heroes, we've heard all about your efforts there. But on a different level, on a more academic level, we've spoken to some members on the selection committee and the response that we got from them is that you were an academic first and foremost and that's what attracted you to them. How will you apply your experience as a professor in this position?
M: Well, first let me just say, it really tickles me, it makes me very pleased that the members of the presidential search committee felt that way. I've been very happy to be a chair, a dean, a provost and a president. But nothing makes me happier than to go to the book store and see my books on display and the library is going to do an exhibit of my books. It reminds me what universities are all about. I was quoted before in an interview that was published today; the only real good reason to become a university administrator is to create an environment. It gives you a chance to create an environment in which good teachers and good students can succeed. So, I guess, that's what my academic credentials as a teacher; I've taught at every level of the undergraduate curriculum, I think I've been successful at that. I've built a very strong graduate program. I have 30 PhDs teaching and researching around the country today. I've published my share of books and articles and do on. I think what that experience has taught me is just that I have got to remind myself as a university president every single day of my job is fundamentally about accommodating the work that faculty members do and the opportunity to learn what students have before them.
K: Can you explain a little bit about the Iowa Promise and how you might be able to apply some work you've done in that towards developing UConn?
M: The Iowa promise was the title I gave to the academic plan for moving that institution into the future. We're in the process here at UConn, probably within the past few months, in developing our own strategic plan. So to the extent that I've been involved in that kind of strategic planning, at Iowa with the Iowa promise or even at Ohio state before that, it think that I'll be able to play a useful role with our provost, faculty and others in putting the final touches on our own academic plan. Secondly, universities like Iowa and UConn do have a lot in common. They are both ranked 24; they are both flagship institutions inside the state. They both compete on a national marker. It's common here to say we're the number one public university in New England, and we are, we are proud of that. But the fact is now; we are so good that we are competing with great universities in a vast national market, well beyond the New England state, including my two previous homes at Ohio State, ranked 19, Iowa ranked 24 among public universities. These institutions face similar challenges and have in some ways, the same aspirations and similar goals to improve the quality of student life: build more civic engagement programs, living learning opportunities, service learning opportunities, ramp up our research funding, isolate and identify and focus our resources on the great undergraduate and professional programs that have a chance to be competitive on a national market. A good strategic plan is like a roadmap and points in one direction. Faculty gets cynical about strategic plans because we do them, engage a lot of people, produce a plan and a lot of places over time, nothing comes of it because we don't align our resources with the plan. You've got your plan over here and your money over there and never the two will meet and so faculty has a right to get cynical about strategic planning. It's up to people like me to make absolutely sure, as hard as it is that our strategic priorities are also our funding priorities, and then you can really make progress.
C: What are your views on student activism?
M: I think students should be active, and I think they are; not exactly in the same way that I was an activist in the late 60's early 70's. I was very active in the civil rights movement and I was very active in the anti war movement at the time. But today's students are active. They have their political causes and they should. This is a time in life that is very exciting for young people. They are forming opinions about their goals in life and about their commitments in life: political, social and cultural. We are a university and universities are forums for free expression of ideas and institutions above all uphold the principle of free speech and academic freedom. So it does not faze me a bit that students want to exercise those rights on campus. I encourage them to do that. But I like the fact that today's students, unlike what used to be called the "me" generation of a decade or so ago, seem very engaged. They come to us with backgrounds of engagement, community work, outreach, and volunteerism and so on. That sort of engagement is something we should celebrate and we should provide venues to allow our students to do that and actually integrate it though service learning into our curriculum.
C: I just want to talk a little bit about academic freedom. Do you have an opinion about the firing of Ward Churchill from the University of Colorado ?
M: I'm not at the University of Colorado so I don't know the process; I only know what I've read in the Chronicle of Higher Education. There are obviously always going to be some people who think his firing was an effort to censor his political engagement and opinions. But my understanding is that his work and research was investigated by a faculty a committee. I have yet to see a faculty committee these days that would recommend the censor or firing of a faculty member for political reasons. While I don't know the details I can tell you that it would be a cold day in hell would I ever support the firing of a faculty member for political reasons or censoring a student for political reasons. We're a university; we're all about not just diversity in race, but diversity in promoting the market place for idea and open competition for ideas.
What If We Try Something Different, This Time?
by Chris Sampson
I'm not sure when radio became a medium that was about something, rather than a thing itself. Certainly, for as long as I've been listening, the default assumption was that content questions concerned only which songs one might play. Even under those conditions though, there was a time when the DJ was present; when his or her personality and musical tastes mattered.
Eventually content questions were narrowed. Stations adopted genre formats, which were narrowed further, until, eventually, play lists were dictated by the central corporate office, having been tweaked to optimize ratings: a notion which had been recast in pursuit of dubious ends.
Somewhere in there, radio had not only become a meta-medium, but it had lost its purpose.
Even with the advent of angry-white-guy talk; the business model prevailed; maximize listenership in an attractive demographic and sell it to the advertisers. Now, suddenly, original content was being co-opted. And the suits called it progress and a few got wealthy.
Such venal motives are anathema to our purpose at WHUS. And, as diverse as our programming is, we do share a common purpose: to provide compelling programming to an appreciative audience.
Naturally we'd like that audience to be sizable, but we only worry over numbers when trying to gauge our value to the community (both within and without UCONN). Considering our mission to serve underserved audiences, getting too hung up on popularity would be a trap.
Something else changed. Over the years, the sharp features of the Program Director's job were worn down and he or she became (in practice) the "schedule cop".
That was the case when I first held the position for three years, starting in 1998; though we did make an important (if staff-centered) change by doing away with block programming.
When I was reelected to the office, last April, I began wondering what we might do this time that might not be so inward-looking.
One thing we've done is give air to a show whose time has come. "Boombox From The Boondocks" addresses a need identified some time ago by its host, Apathy: to provide a forum for substantive talk that's not condescending or stuffy. Every Tuesday night from 9 until 11, Apathy and Emilio Lopez (of the Demigodz) tackle a range of topics with the fearless and genuine intention of informing and engaging everyone, but primarily youth, in the issues of the day.
Another came when we set aside Saturday mornings from, 9 until noon, for a new show called "Fiat Flux" ("Let There Be Change"). Where we traditionally assign a DJ to an airshift for a season, we have this time given a very popular shift to no single host. Instead, any of our staff may step outside his or her comfort zone in an attempt to bring you something different, preferably something live, and, eventually, something unique. As we enter our fifth week in this experiment we are, in any case, bringing you live performances by area bands.
What both shows have in common is a genuine desire to engage you, the listener. And we not only want your opinion of how we're doing, but actually want your participation, as well.
"Boombox From The Boondocks" takes callers. And, again, we won't talk down to or bore you.
"Fiat Flux", for its part, wants you involved on an entirely different level. This can, potentially, become a show about you; your music, poetry or other performing art; your politics; your talk... whatever. In any event, we want you to not only listen, but to get involved.
Email your ideas for what might go there to: fiatflux@whus.org .
Étonne-moi!
Blues Central: Ramblin' Bert and The Blues Lines on WHUS, Tuesdays from 3-5.
By Clyde Price
Blues fans rejoice - Ramblin' Bert has loaded up a truckload of new artists and music to deliver for this season of the "Blues Line" on Tuesday afternoons from 3-5.
For the past 10 years, Ramblin' Bert has been treating the WHUS audiences to the best of the blues by artists from the four corners of the world. Blues music is traditionally an American art form, but Ramblin' Bert has found the genre has international appeal and has brought live music to the airwaves with bands from Norway, Italy, and Canada. "One of my favorite live broadcasts was a couple of years ago when we brought the band 'Woodleg Odds' from Norway into the studio. They had been in the states for a tour once before and had performed a simulcast on my show at ECSU (90.1 FM) and they had such a good time that they started their last tour right here on WHUS."
More recently, Ramblin' Bert hosted Italian blues great Robi Zonca in the studio promoting his new album while he was on his last U.S. tour. One of the trademarks of the Blues Line has been regular live performances which always promotes a bevy of phone calls to the studio. "It's one thing to hear the latest in blues releases," said Bert, "But it's a blast to have artists in the studio performing live and talking about their music and answering callers' questions."
Ramblin' Bert is a lifelong fan of blues music and points to a particular event that finally got him into the radio game. "I was having dinner with my wife at a local restaurant when this guy in a big, black cowboy hat came in and started setting up his stage equipment. We thought for sure he was going to be a country music act; so we got a little nervous and started hurrying through our meal. I suggested that we just wait a little while; at least hear the first couple of songs, you know, to be polite. Well, the guy in the big cowboy hat turned out to be Dan Stevens and his music was pure blues. He sat and talked with us after his first set and we got so engrossed in conversation about blues music, that he was late starting his second set. He told me I sure could talk and should go into radio. He told me about the WHUS class and the rest is history. He's still performing (and is a regular guest on my show) and so am I."
Ramblin' Bert has become a icon for blues fans, and he's often approached in public by strangers who have heard him on the radio - they recognize his distinctive voice and never hesitate to approach him and ask him if he's "Ramlin' Bert". At one point in his radio career, Bert was hosting three blues shows - one at WHUS and two at ESCU. "Two of the DJ's at ESCU had left and I was hosting both shows for a while. It was interesting."
The Blues Line has become 'the place' for blues fans to tune in and find information about everything that's happening in music. Ramblin' Bert keeps the audience informed of performances in the area with the Blues Concert Calendar from Dave Carpenter's website, as well as news from The Connecticut Blues Society. Attend any blues venue from Connecticut to Massachusetts to Rhode Island, and chances are, you'll find Ramblin' Bert in the audience.
Ramblin' Bert has formed friendships with many blues artists over the years; having interviewed them on his show (either live or on the telephone). He's lost count of how many bands have actually appeared on the show; but he remembers the stories connected to each one. "I've interviewed so many wonderful musicians over the years; all the living members of The Muddy Waters Band and Pine Top Perkins were among the most memorable. The first bands I had on the show for a live performance were String Bean and The Stalkers, then John Cephas and Phil Wiggins, and then Ruthie Foster from Houston; this really got me hooked on inviting performers to my show. And even though he's interviewed and hosted some blues artists that have made the big time; Bert never stops searching for the upcoming unknowns. He's given many local artists their first opportunity to be heard on the airwaves.
Finding new blues music has taken on a life of its own for Ramblin' Bert. He receives about 30 new CD's a month and, without fail, he listens to each and every one. He created a rating system for each CD and logs his comments on each track on a sticker affixed to the case. He's got an 'eagle's ear' for radio-unfriendly tracks and he doesn't hesitate to file a complaint with record companies, producers, and artists alike. "It really ticks me off when artists are using profanity in their lyrics and not making a note of that on the liner notes. They need to understand that they're not going to get played on a lot of radio stations; it's a decision they have to make when they're writing their songs."
Ramblin' Bert files a 'Top 25' report with "Living Blues" - an organization that evaluates data from all reporting stations about which independent artists are getting air play and then publishes the compiled information in a report for their "Living Blues Magazine". This gets WHUS a listing in the magazine and has become the 'holy grail' for independents to follow their exposure. Over the years, many of the artists have contacted Ramblin' Bert because they found themselves listed in his 'Top 25 report' and end up stopping by the show when they're traveling through the area.
And what does the future hold for Ramblin' Bert and The Blues Line? "I'm planning on featuring more live performances," he said. "I'm still getting comfortable with the new equipment in the studio; but that won't take long. I really like the spontaneity of having the artists in the studio - it can be crazy, at times; there's always something that happens that's unexpected, and that's the fun of it!"
