Ending off the Year With Some More Bad Radio News.

2012 has been a busy year for Community in radio in Canada, in fact the last few years have been busy, and not always in a good way.
In 2008 Winnipeg station CJWV, a privately owned Community Radio station went off the air and lost it's license after a years of infighting, money problems, legal problems and refusal to follow CRTC regulations. From what I know of the CJWV (and I have read the CRTC hearing transcripts and decision) that place was completely fucked up and got what they deserved. (Note the CJWV call letters have already been reassigned).
Then, disregarding this warning sign, Toronto's Ryerson University's Student Union jumped into bed with a group of way far left wacko political activists and seized control of radio station CKLN, taking it off the air for eight months and purging any dissenters and so incurring lawsuits and CRTC complaints. That resulted in a CRTC hearing in 2010 (which I testified at) and the loss of their license as well in 2011. From personal experience I can report that CKLN and Ryerson were REALLY fucked up and richly deserved to be put down.
Also in 2010 two other stations were hauled in front of the CRTC to answer for their myriad regulatory, financial, staffing and legal problems; CHSC, a small station in St.Catherines and The Aboriginal Voices Network. CHSC got shut down and AVN lost some of their network.
In 2011 CKRG, the tiny radio station at York University (with only a few watts) decided it was simply too much trouble and cost to keep broadcasting and gave up their license. But on the other hand CARN, the application for a Black/Caribbean station finally got their license, which was seen as a good thing until people actually heard it. Oh well.

That brings us to 2012. This past year started out with a feeding frenzy as the old 88.1fm frequency came up for tender and 22 groups applied, including a bid by Ryerson to take back the license. Besides the usual corporate suspects and The CBC, there was a small group which owned two other small town stations for a all-indie radio station called "INDIE 88". I wrote a lengthy brief for their application which I and most other people assumed was a longshot. In the end the CRTC gave the nod to INDIE 88, which is has gotten generally good feedback from the local music scene. So that's good news. Also Vancouver's CO-OP Radio managed to keep it's license after some serious problems which landed them into hot water with the CRTC as well. In the end they were bale to reassure the CRTC that they were able to fix their problems unlike, say, CKLN, CHSC and CJWV. (Note; I wrote a letter of support for their hearings as well)

So far so good. But of course you might have expected that there would have to be some serious fuckups to ruin things. That brought us back to Winnipeg to watch the jaw-dropping spectacle of Red River College's CKIC (AKA "KICK FM")getting in a completely unnecessary public spat with the CRTC and refusing to renew their license. Then days later they changed their minds and deleting their earlier comments. Then a few months changing their minds back again and going off the air in a snit. I have written fairly extensively about KICK FM an this blog.

And a just few months back I reported that another small privately owned station, CJRN in Niagara Falls, lost their license for blatantly flaunting CRTC Rules.
And then out of the blue came this posting from The Northwest Territories;



Posted on Airchecker Saturday Dec.29 2012
EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY CKLB RADIO NWT WILL BE OFF THE AIR UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE

As with most publicly funded Aboriginal organizations, The Native Communications Society of the NWT relies heavily on both Federal and Territorial government funding to deliver our Radio and Television programming to the people we serve. As of December 21, 2012 we have received neither a contribution agreement nor the funding we were for the 2012 fiscal year, a full nine months overdue.
Because of this, we have no choice but discontinue our Broadcasting service.
EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY, CKLB RADIO WILL BE OFF THE AIR UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE.
If you wish to show your support or have any inquiries regarding this situation, please contact your MLA's, or the Federal government officials listed.
The contact information for all relevant government officials is listed below.
In the meantime, from all of us here at NCS, we'd like to wish all our listening audience a safe and happy holiday season, and the best for the New Year.
The Hon. James MOORE, P.C., B.A., M.A. Minister of Canadian Heritage PARLIAMENTARY ADDRESS Telephone: 613-992-9650 Fax: 613-992-9868 E-Mail: james.moore@parl.gc.ca House of Commons Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0A6
Danielle Bouvet Director, Aboriginal Affairs Branch Canadian Heritage Aboriginal Peoples' Program Directorate 15 Eddy Street Gatineau, Québec, K1A 0M5 Email: Danielle.Bouvet@pch.gc.ca Tel: 819-997-6451 Fax: 819-953-2673
Nicholas Moore Program Officer Aboriginal Peoples' Program Canadian Heritage Government of Canada 15 Eddy Street Gatineau, QC K1A 0M5 Tel: 819-934-2585 Fax: 819-953-2673"
(this was followed by a list of NWT MLA's and contact info)



Here's the short bio on CKLB from their website;
"Under the mandate of the Native Communications Society of the Northwest Territories (NCS NWT), we deliver aboriginal language services to 32 different communities and 3 diamond mines as well as into Alberta. The First Peoples of the North have historically relied on oral traditions to pass on stories, culture and information. NCS continues to reinforce the oral traditions of the past by using the technologies of today to bring CKLB-FM 101.9 to all the communities of the NWT and beyond. CKLB radio has formed a strong personal relationship with the people of the NWT since it’s inception in 1982. Northerners start and complete their day with CKLB because we offer the most unique radio programming available in the Territories…We’ve become like part of the family! Here at CKLB we present a great mix of music: from contemporary and traditional Aboriginal music to country. We also have daily insightful interviews from the communities and live special event broadcasts. This is done in one of the six languages that we broadcast, which are: English, North Slavey (Sahtu), South Slavey (Deh Cho), Denesuline (Chipewyan), Gwich’in & Tlicho Yati."

From what little I have been able to find there seems to have little or no advance warning (at least on line) so there is no way of knowing what exactly is going on here. But clearly this is not a problem with the CRTC, yet. It has been in the news that the various Aboriginal Communities are in a contentious battle with the Harper govt. over budget cuts and it would appear that CKLB's money problems stem from this dispute.
However, keeping in mind that I don't know exactly what the financial situation of CKLB is, I can't help but wonder if they could not have kept something on their air through volunteers.

There are basically two types of costs for any Community Station; those which absolutely have to be paid, which include rent and power to the transmitter, rent and power for the station itself (unless they get office and studio rent free) and various taxes (which may not apply to a station on native land) and fees to Banks, Socan and The NCRA. Then there are the expenses which can be deferred which is everything else, including staff wages. It should be possible to delay at some of these costs and work with volunteers while some quick fundraising is done, especially if they had several months to get ready for this.

If CKLB is going off air as a sign of solidarity (there is also a hunger strike and protests going on over funding cuts) then they are taking a huge risk. As we learned from CKLN and CJWV, going off the air is the swiftest way to provoke the wrath of the CRTC and end up on the wrong side of side of some CRTC hearings which could cost them their license for good. The CRTC has little patience for stations that can't stay on the air whatever the reason. Let's hope it doesn't come to that.
Besides; staying onair would enable the community to get it's message out themselves rather than relying on outside sources like, even relatively friendly ones like the CBC. Let alone hostile press like SUN News, which has already denounced the native protestors as "terrorists".
In the meanwhile if you want to fire off a letter of protest/concern to the Harpercons you should probably get right on that, the longer this drags on the harder it will be for them to keep their license.
Their website is at;
http://www.ncsnwt.com/
With a Facebook page at;
http://www.facebook.com/cklbradio.radiocklb?ref=ts&fref=ts



UPDATE: As of January 3 this posting went up on their Facebook pages;
"The world is right again - Cklbradio Radiocklb is back on air! Denendeh Sunrise tomorrow at 7 am :D."
I can find no other explanation nor is there any on their official website either. For that matter the previous off-air notice has been deleted from their web page, although not from their Facebook or Twitter pages. Apparently cooler heads prevailed somewhere.
Although they are apparently still having a few problems as the following Facebook exchange shows;

*Gina Migwiposted toCklbradio;
"cklb is not working in behchoko still been 2weeks"

*Cklbradio; "The community's transmitter at the Edzo Fire Hall is not working. As soon as we get one, we'll set it up. This is the second time we have done this in the last three months."

How Accurate Was The Use Of Historical Figures In "Lincoln"?

With all the Oscar buzz around Steven Spielberg's "Lincoln" it's worth once again looking at how a film deals with the presentation of real historical figures. This is not Spielberg's first film dealing with slavery, the previous being "Amistad" in 1997. That film featured not one but two American Presidents dueling over slavery; former President John Quincy Adams (Played by Anthony Hopkins), arguing the abolitionist position while current President Martin Van Buren (Nigel Hawthorne) stalled, dithered and tried to rig the trial to protect the slavers and stop the debate from messing up his re-election chances. Hopkins' performance as Adams was widely acclaimed for it's heartfelt and realistic portrayal of the brilliant and idealistic if crotchety ex-president, however the treatment of Van Buren was another matter. As played by Hawthorne Van Buren is portrayed as a shallow, fatuous, cynical, underhanded coward with no convictions at all. In fact the real Van Buren was far more nuanced. He did in fact dislike slavery and while he stayed neutral in the slavery debate while president he did become an active slavery opponent afterwards, even allowing his name to be used as the candidate for the launch of the Anti-slavery Free Soil Party in 1848. Ironically with none other than John Quincy Adams' son Charles Francis Adams as his running mate, facts the film did not even hint at. Van Buren may be criticized fairly enough for not taking a forthright stand while president (although slavery was of course completely legal then) but it's simply unfair to portray him as in any way pro-slavery which he clearly was not. And while it may be outside the scope of the film to look at what happened later, some sort of epilogue explanation of what happened to the films major figures would have been helpful, especially given the way Van Buren was portrayed in the film. Obviously Spielberg felt the film needed an obvious villain at the top and Van Buren provided an almost cartoonish foil. From a story telling standpoint I can understand this although for my money showing a more conflicted Van Buren wrestling with the conflicts of his own conscious versus political realities and the limitations of the office would have been more emotionally involving. It also would have been a lot more fair to Van Buren, who is not exactly a house-hold name anymore. It also would have been accurate, if that matters to anyone.

Personally I believe that makers of historical fiction have a special responsibility to get their story and portrayals as accurate as reasonably possible. One should always keep in mind that these characters were real people who actually lived, did things and said things, often controversial things. They should be treated fairly and get the credit for the things that deserve it and the blame for their failings. There is also a responsibility to the audience, many of whom are not historians and whose only knowledge of these characters and events might come from a Hollywood movie. I accept that historical drama is not the same as a documentary and that drama filmmakers get to, and indeed need to, take certain liberties in service to telling the story. They sometimes need to compress time, leave out certain events and condense several characters into one composite to save time. They get to imagine dialogue that may not have happened to explain information to the audience. They get to simplify complex political, military or scientific concepts and debates so laymen can follow the story. All literate film-goers understand this and accept it easily enough. The question is however at what point are these changes actually changing the real story in important and possibly unethical ways? And are all such changes actually needed to tell the story? Or are some of them just lazy or sloppy?

Such films as "Braveheart" and "The Untouchables" are the most notorious examples of historical epics that are so wildly inaccurate that historians just threw up their hands in exasperation at the task of debunking them. These were merely annoying but harmless enough. More offensive was a World War Two film from a decade back, the title of which I can't recall, which had the Americans single-handedly cracking the German Enigma code by finding a copy of a code machine on a captured sub whereas all the real work was done by British and Polish codebreakers with no American involvement at all. The British were more than a little miffed by that one. On the more highly charged topic of civil rights there was the classic "Mississippi Burning" which showed the F.B.I. as the heros of the civil rights movement with nary a hint of the role Hoover played in trying to destroy Martin Luther King. That was beyond the childishly jingoistic war film and was blatant conservative revisionism that was only slightly mitigated by the undeniable emotional power of much of the film which does not pull any punches about the evils of Jim Crow and some fine acting.

So how does "Lincoln" stack up? Note that while the credits state that the film is "Partly based on Doris Kearns Goodwins' "Team Of Rivals", a classic work about Lincoln, her book only deals with the passage of the 13th Amendment in a few pages, and as we shall see, little of which is in the film.



Daniel Day Lewis makes a fine Lincoln with his hunched, haunted face and tired, creaky voice masking a steely determination and a crafty wisdom about human nature and politics. This portrayal is light years away from the previous Lincolns played by Raymond Massey and Henry Fonda as an impossibly noble and remote statue-like figure. Lincoln was not always played that way however, in fact Sam Waterston also played Lincoln in a 1989 TV mini-series which is available in DVD. His portrayal is closer to Lewis's although Waterson is considerably less world weary. Lewis gets aclaim for his voice and accent, although at this point we can not really know exactly what Lincoln sounded like. Lewis did his usual research (remember his characters from "Gangs Of New York" and "There Will Be Blood") and his Lincoln sure sounds right. Most previous portrayals of Lincoln usually had him speaking in a deep, somber voice we used to imagine appropriate for historical figures. However contemporary accounts point out that Lincoln in fact had a rather weak and slight voice as here. Sam Waterson also went with this approach but Lewis' voice sounds more lived in. As an aside I have heard contemporary recordings of figures like Teddy Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, William Jennings Bryan, William Howard Taft, JS Woodsworth, William Aberhart, Billy Sunday and Booker T Washington and they all turned out to have higher pitched and flatter voices than expected, in some cases considerably so. For some reason we just expect them to sound deeper and more pompous. Lewis probably gets this right.



Sally Field is also excellent as Mary Todd Lincoln. This misunderstood woman has come down in history as a mentally and emotionally unbalanced woman who would later be committed. In fact the evidence shows that her mental breakdown came later in life, after the death of Lincoln and another of her sons sent her over the edge. Earlier in life she was known as a shrewd and ambitious woman who pushed for her husband. When younger Mary Todd was considered quite a catch for an ambitious politician and as a note of trivia Mary has the unique distinction of having dated three of the presidential candidates of 1860; Abraham Lincoln, Stephen Douglas and John Breckinridge. A record that will surely never be repeated. In the previous Sam Waterston version Mary was played by Mary Tyler Moore who did a good job but Sally Field's Mary is an altogether tougher and smarter character.

MARY TODD LINCOLN;


The third major character is that of Thadeus Stevens, one of the leaders of the Radical faction of the Republican Party. Stevens was a grim, hatchet faced man with a club foot and a bad wig known for his steely determination to end slavery at all costs and use the power of the federal government to destroy the power of the slave owning Southern Aristocracy once and for all. As Chair of The House Ways And Means Committee Stevens had great power, including the power to investigate waste in the White House and War Dept, which he did with great vigor. All of this is mentioned by Mary Lincoln in the movie. The subject of Mary Lincoln's over spending was given more detail in the 1989 mini-series but of course that film was twice as long. As played by Jones he is a hard man with an short temper and an abrasive tongue who does not suffer fools or lesser mortals at all. Including Lincoln who he does not consider up to his high moral standards. He believes Lincoln to be a weak compromiser who has moved far too slowly to end slavery. He resents having to temper his public comments even a little in order to get the proposed constitutional amendment banning slavery passed. The real Steven was apparently even more irascible in real life. Jones doesn't actually look much like the frail, pinched-faced Stevens but he embodies the role so perfectly that you don't even notice that his character doesn't actually do very much. Jones' Stevens does have a deep resonant voice because he's Tommy Lee Jones, but we'll let that pass. In the film Stevens is revealed to be having an affair with his black house-keeper. Although never proved this was widely rumored at the time and later and is generally accepted as likely. The film's reveal is done in a subtle and touching way which is certainly a change from how the relationship is portrayed in D.W.Griffith's 1915 film "Birth Of A Nation" where the maid is shown as a manipulative, vindictive, tramp who stirs up Stevens to punish the defenseless white south. Stevens died, still in office in 1868. He demanded in his will that he be buried in a desegregated cemetery.

THAD STEVENS;


Other major characters in Lincoln's circle are Secretary Of State William Seward played by David Strathairn, best known for playing Edward R Murrow in "Goodnight And Good Luck". Seward was originally a rival for the presidential nomination who at first resented Lincoln's presence in the White House considering him a crude bumpkin. By the time covered by the movie however Seward had revised his opinion of Lincoln and had become his most loyal and dogged adviser, a role Strathairn fills here with a fair amount of shrewd but exasperated concern. This role had been filled in the 1989 TV version by Richard Mulligan who did a fine job but lacked Strathairn's depth. It helps that Strathairn also looks closer to the real Seward.

WILLIAM SEWARD;


War Secretary Edwin Stanton is played by Bruce McGill with the appropriate bluster and foul temper the real Stanton was known, and feared for. Again McGill also looks quite similar to the real Stanton. Nothing to quibble over here.

EDWIN STANTON;


Some of the other characters are an odd and not always necessary mixture of reality and complete fiction. The other two leaders of the Radical Republican faction in the House Of Representatives are James Ashley and Asa Vintner Litton. James Ashley was a real person who was indeed one of the House Radical leaders. Unlike Stevens whose personality has been pretty well written of, Ashely is little known as a person so it's impossible to know how accurate the portrayal here is. However in the movie Ashley is seen as being somewhat reluctant to submit the bill to a vote, not due to any reluctance to end slavery but because he doesn't believe they have the votes to pass it. This is not really fair to the real Ashley who was in fact something of a hot-head. Ashley was actually a leader of a faction calling themselves "Ultra Radicals" who were constantly pushing Lincoln to move farther and faster than he thought politically wise. His portrayal here as more cautious is a reversal of roles from the real Ashley in this respect. I suspect the real Ashley would be a little insulted by this.

JAMES ASHLEY;


The character of Congressman Litton is actually a huge and puzzling disappointment. Not because there is anything wrong in actor Stephen Spinella's heartfelt portrayal but because for some reason Spielberg saw fit to create a completely fictional character where he didn't need to. In the movie Litton is another Ultra Radical leader who is harshly critical of Lincoln for not moving faster to end slavery and states that he doesn't trust Lincoln, originally advocating holding the amendment to wait for a new congress that will be sworn in a few months. Litton also wants guarantees for racial equality and black suffrage which are not included in the proposed amendment. Litton even scolds Stevens for pulling his punches during a debate. Litton believes in full racial equality and says so. He has no patience for anyone who does not. With such a noble and idealistic character it comes as real disappointment to find out that the character is actually completely made up. Litton is believed to be based on a real Congressman named Henry Winter Davis who was another one of the leaders of the Ultra Radicals to the left of Lincoln and occasionally even Stevens in spite of the fact that he came from the pro-Southern slave state of Maryland. Davis had been one of the sponsors of an 1864 Bill which would have not only ended slavery but would have guaranteed equal rights for blacks including suffrage and set harsh terms for allowing Southern States to rejoin the union. Lincoln had allowed the bill to die even after it had passed the House and a bitterly disappointed Davis had written a harsh "Manifesto" attacking Lincoln as both a weakling and a tyrant for vetoing the bill. Davis was so uncompromising in his advocacy that he was probably out of step with the many of the voters of Maryland but he would not back down even at risk of losing his seat which may have been a factor in his not seeking re-election in 1864, a fact mentioned in passing here by Stevens, although Steven's implied that Vintner had lost re-election which he had not. Winter's health may also have been a factor in his not running in 1864 since he died the next year. Since Asa Vintner Litton is so similar to Henry Winter Davis I simply can not understand why Spielberg didn't just name the character as Davis in the first place. Surely Davis deserves a little bit of credit for taking such brave and forward thinking positions. I can see no reason for making up a fake character when there was a real one already there. As it stands Henry Winter Davis remains a trivia question for a few scholars of the Reconstruction Era, and the only fleeting public recognition he would have ever gotten would have been on this film. By changing the name he was denied even that. He deserved better.

HENRY WINTER DAVIS;


Although the Litton character most closely resembles Henry Winter Davis it's possible that Litton may be a composite of a two other Radical Congressmen; Ignatius Donnelly and George Julian. Donnelly is the most interesting and eccentric of the group and would have made a great character on his own. From Minnesota, Donnelly was the most extreme of the Ultra Radicals famed as a fire breathing orator. Besides fighting for racial equality he was also an early advocate for women's suffrage, worker's rights, better treatment for Indians, breaking up monopolies, government takeover of the railways, slum clearance, cheap land and loans for farmers, in short every left wing cause of the next century. In his long and uncompromising activist career he would become a founder of the Populist Party. In fact he would be a left winger even today. All this is admirable enough but what really makes Donnelly standout were his extra-curricular activities. A prolific writer of utopian science fiction, Donnelly was also one of the originators of the idea of an ancient civilization living in Atlantis. He also wrote about civilizations living in the center of the earth and a possible comet strike on earth in pre-historic times which was responsible for changing the earths rotation and sinking Atlantis. If that weren't enough he was also one of the founders of the "Francis Bacon actually wrote the works of Shakespeare" conspiracy theory. All in all a strange guy who if he were around today would no doubt be searching for UFO's. And possibly finding them. I know he doesn't warrant much time in a film about Lincoln but it's too bad they couldn't give him a line or two.

IGNATIUS DONNELLY;


George Julian was another Radical leader, albeit less fire-breathing than Davis or Donnelly. He wasn't as colourful as Donnelly either, but then who is? Note how the names of these men can be broken down into the Litton character; Asa vs Ignatius, Vintner vs Winter and Litton vs Julian. Personally I would have greatly preferred simply using the name of Henry Winter Davis (as the most important of these men) with some sort of token mention of Donnelly (the most colourful). There is another Radical who is shown in some meetings with Stevens and the others. I assume he supposed to be Hiram Price, another real Radical Congressmen of the time, whose name is in the credits. I would have exchanged Price for the more colourful Donnelly.

The leaders of the more cautious conservative faction of the Republican Party are the Blair family led by Hal Holbrook as Francis Blair. The conservative Blair wants Lincoln to hold off the amendment believing it will ruin any chance of a negotiated peace. The real Blair looked nothing like Holbrook being a rather cadaverous old man by that point but this is not a real problem since few people would have reason to know this and Holbrook is a fine actor who gives the role his usual crotchety gravitas.

FRANCIS BLAIR;


Blair's lieutenant in the House (Blair himself is not in Congress) is apparently based on James G Blaine, a Congressman from Maine. The actor playing him looks similar to the bearded Blaine and his rather pompous manner conforms with what is known about the real Blaine. Although again the character is given a made-up name of Arron Haddom. Again I can see no reason for this. Blaine was not an inspiring figure like Henry Winter Davis but he was an important one. He later became a powerful senator and an important power broker in the Republican Party becoming the party's candidate in the 1884 election (which he lost to Grover Cleveland) and later Secretary Of State. Incidentally the character mentions that he speaks for the "Conservative Faction Of Western and Border States" for which he is given an accent. This is not true either. Of the dozen or so self-proclaimed Conservative Republicans in the House about half were from slave-owning border states like Missouri, Kentucky and Maryland while the rest were from New York, Illinois, Indiana and even Massachusetts while Blaine was from Maine. Blaine died in 1893.

JAMES BLAINE;


The leaders of the opposition Democrats are congressmen Fernando Wood and George Pendleton as played by Lee Pace and Peter McRobbie. These are both real characters who had long and noteworthy careers in real life. Wood was an especially colourful character who almost seems to be out of fiction. Starting out as a saloon keeper he invested in buying a shipping company and California gold mines and became quite wealthy before entering politics becoming mayor of New York in 1858. Wood started out with a good record as a reformer; cleaning out corruption, cutting waste, keeping the streets reasonably clean and shutting down hundreds of illegal saloons, brothels and gambling dens. There was talk of running Wood as a possible future governor or even president. However when it came time for his re-election Wood realized that having fought with the corrupt Tammany Hall New York machine meant that he could probably not get re-elected. So he patched things up with Tammany, managed to win re-election and then promptly rewarded Tammany with an orgy of corruption shocking even by New York's tolerant standards. Bribery at all levels of government, especially the police and fire departments was endemic and the famed Gangs Of New York were allowed to run amok at will. At one point the Republican Governor took the unprecedented step of disbanding the hopelessly compromised New York Police Dept. and replaced them with a new "Metropolitan" force. Mayor Wood took the even more unprecedented step of simply ignoring the Governor's order and hiring his own "Municipal" police force. This led to the unique position of New York having not one but two competing police forces. This did not make the streets any safer though since the two rival forces worked hard to undermine each other. If one force arrested some gangsters the other force would invariably have them released (after appropriate bribes were paid) and saloons and brothel keepers could not keep track of who to bribe. It got so bad that rival groups of "Metropolitans" and "Municipals" would actually fight each other in the streets leading to full scale police brawls. Eventually the Governor had enough and had Wood himself arrested. The charges were soon dropped, however Wood was in jail long enough to have his "Metropolitans" disbanded. When the Civil War broke out Mayor Wood gave serious consideration to declaring New York an independent city-state like Venice or Florence in renaissance Italy. Wood openly opposed the war as well as the draft and the tax increases to pay for it, advocating instead for a negotiated peace which would have allowed slavery to continue. Although Wood did indeed oppose the anti-slavery amendment he was not as partisan as this film allows, in fact in Doris Kearns Goodwins "Team Of Rivals" Wood is shown giving a massive party which Republicans attended. After the events of the film Wood made another attempt to run for mayor of New York which he again lost. After that he returned to congress rising to the position of Chair Of House Ways And Means Committee after the Democrats regained control of the House, ironically the same position as his old antagonist Thad Stevens. Wood stayed in congress until his death as a respected elder statesman in 1881. Lee Pace seems a little more young and handsome than the real Wood but that's normal enough for Hollywood. Pace does capture enough of the flashy charisma the real Wood must have had. It would have been outside of the scope of this film to get into Wood's backstory but it's too bad Martin Scorsese didn't add him into his "Gangs Of New York" which actually did take place during part of Wood's tenure. Wood may have been a cynical opportunist and a reckless demagogue but his larger-than-life personality and history is tailor-made for film.

FERNANDO WOOD;


George Pendleton was a Democratic congressman from Ohio who had also opposed the war much as Wood had. Pendleton was indeed a Democratic leader and had been the Democratic Vice-Presidential nominee in the 1864 and some of the racist comments made in the film are certainly in line with those made at the time. As played by Scottish actor Peter McRobbie, Pendleton is a crafty master of debate and house procedure which seems accurate. To be fair; the real Pendleton's up-and-down career ended honorably enough. He was defeated when he ran for governor of Ohio by Rutherford Hayes in 1869 but was successfully elected to the senate in 1879. He became a leading advocate of reforming corruption and patronage in government, bringing in the first major such law to reform government in the Pendleton Act. To do so he had to reach across the aisle and work with Republican President Chester Allan Arthur and in opposition to conservatives like James Blaine. His reward was to lose re-election but he would later be appointed ambassador to Germany by Democratic President Grover Cleveland. He died in 1889.

GEORGE PENDLETON;


The Speaker of The House Schuyler Colfax was a real person who was indeed House Speaker and he did actually break tradition to vote for the amendment. Colfax was known as a friendly backslapping type of politician with few strong convictions so he comes off rather better here. Unlike Pendelton however Colfax's career ended in scandal and disgrace. He was elected to the Vice-Presidency in 1868 under Ulysses Grant, but his career came to a screeching halt when he was involved with the Credit Mobilier scandal which enveloped a number of mostly Republican congressmen. He just managed to dodge a censure and did not run for re-election, he died in 1885. The Credit Mobilier scandal led to the Democrats regaining the congress and later the White House and the passage of the aforementioned Pendleton Act.

SCHUYLER COLFAX;


The film features several congressmen who are considered swing votes and are wooed by the White House using various methods, some less than ethical. Some of these scenes are thoughtful while others are played for laughs. Unfortunately most of these characters are completely made up. Two however were real people, Alexander Cawfroth and George Yeaman.
In the film Cawfroth is a Democratic congressman who trades his vote in a deal with Stevens. It seems that Cawfroth's recent re-election is in dispute and in exchange for changing his vote and switching parties Stevens will see to it that Cawfroth will be recognized as the victor. Cawfroth is portrayed as a simpering, stammering, coward and the scene between him and Stevens is played for laughs which is probably why it's in the movie because it certainly isn't based on fact. Cawfroth was a real congressman from Pennsylvania, a Democrat who did indeed vote for the amendment, however it would appear that he did so out of real conviction rather than as part of any deal. In a speech justifying his vote Cawfroth explained that he was voting yea because he agreed that in order to win the war and avoid a future one it was necessary to break the economic and political power of the Southern aristocracy and that meant ending slavery forever. He further states that if his yea vote ruins his career than he would happily accept this. In the film his vote is shown as a last minute surprise that outrages his fellow Democrats, in reality he had already anounced his intentions and made his speech beforehand. It's worth pointing out that the Democrats were not united in their opposition. Most did oppose both the amendment and the war itself for a variety of reasons. Most (like Wood and Pendleton) simply opposed the war itself and advocated for a negotiated peace with the South even if that meant allowing slavery to continue. Others disliked slavery but as firm believers in state's rights simply did not think the Constitution allowed the federal government to intervene. Others came from slave owning border states like Maryland, Missouri, Kentucky, West Virginia and Delaware. However a minority came to truly agree with Lincoln that slavery had to end and no bribery was needed to get their vote. Cawfroth was clearly one of these men if his speech is to be believed. As for the claim that he traded his vote? It turns out that there was indeed a dispute over his election in but that was in 1866, after the war. As it happened the House did not side with him and instead seated his Republican rival so if he made a deal the Republicans did not live up to his end. Cawfroth did not switch parties either but remained a Democrat. As it turned out he ended up winning his seat back in a later election anyway. Before that came Lincoln's assassination and Cawfroth was an official pallbearer at his funeral, presumably in recognition for his prior support. Cawfroth seems to have been a gutsy and independent guy who voted his conscience unlike his portrayal here. In fact if he were alive today he could probably sue. Like Henry Winter Davis only more so, Cawfroth is a completely forgotten figure with only a brief mention in Doris Goodwin's book being his only historical footnote so his appearance here is the only one he'll ever have. In fact I suspect the only reason the character is used rather than going with a made-up name like most of the other such characters in the film is that the writers spotted his name in Goodwin's book and thought it was funny. In the film his mane is mocked by James Spader's character, Thad Stevens and Lincoln himself. To portray him as a opportunistic twit however is unfair. Cawfroth died in 1906.

ALEXANDER CAWFROTH;


George Yeamen fares better. He was a real congressman from the slave state of Kentucky who did indeed vote for the amendment, doing so may have been a factor in his losing re-election in 1866. Yeaman is personally opposed to slavery but is worried that the slaves are not ready for emancipation, nor is the country. I don't know if the real Yeamon thought that but this was another argument used in those days by some moderate conservatives, especially coming from a slave state as Yeaman did. After his failed re-election Yeamon became Ambassador to Denmark then went into academia so he may have made a deal for his vote. Yeaman was not necessarily a Democrat however, he was elected as a member of the Unionist Party, a war time catch-all coalition for pro-war Democrats and Whigs. He is shown in the film as thoughtful and agonizing over the vote and comes off as a decent guy. The actor playing Yeaman does look very much like the real Yeaman.

GEORGE YEAMAN;


Confederate Vice President Alexander Stephens features in the film (played by Jackie Earl Haley) as the leader of a delegation sent to negotiate a peace treaty and hopefully head off the passage of the anti-slavery amendment. Stephens was short, scrawny and consumptive, with a face pocked by smallpox scars and in constant pain from various ailments. However he was respected as a tough customer; brilliant, articulate, quick tempered and stubborn. All of this is implied in Haley's performance, except for the quick tempered part. Haley is shown bundled up in a shawl which as the real Steven often was. Once when asked what his idea of happiness would be the frail Stephens replied; "To be warm". As a Pre-War Senator from Georgia Stephens had actually opposed secession and was even a friend of Lincoln's, facts not hinted at in the movie. After Lee's surrender at Appomattox Stephens would recommend to Confederate President Jefferson Davis that they surrender and after Davis refused Stephens stomped out and returned to home to Georgia refusing to speak with Davis again. After the war Stephens would actually run for re-election and return to the Senate. Refused admission to the Senate he ran for Congress instead and won again. Although he was in poor health all his life he served until his death in 1878.

ALEXANDER STEPHENS;


Union General and future President Ulysses Grant appears in the film as played by British actor Jarred Harris, previously known for playing Professor Moriarty in the last Robert Downy jr Sherlock Holmes movie. His Grant is a quiet, unpretentious, taciturn man who Lincoln confides in. They share a desire to make sure the war is ended decisively but not vindictively. All this conforms with the real Grant who Haris resembles. In the 1989 mini-series Grant was played in a similar vein by the late James Gammon who ironically also played yet another general turned president, Zachary Taylor, in another movie. Personally I preferred Gammon's somewhat more droll performance to the understated Harris but there's nothing wrong with Harris as Grant.

ULYSSES GRANT;


Ben Wade and Charles Sumner are two more Radical Republican leaders, they are Senators rather than Congressmen where the film's action takes place so we don't see much of them but they were real figures as well. Sumner was another humorless, quick tempered man known for his sharp tongue. In a notorious incident just prior to the war he was attacked on the floor of the Senate by Southern congressman Preston Brooks who he had offended. Sumner was beaten with a cane so viciously that he spent the next few years under a doctor's care and suffered permanent damage. In the film Sumner is shown as tall and imposing as well having the courtly manners of a gentleman. None of this jibes with the real Sumner who was a dour, frail man who by that time had to walk with a cane. Presumably these changes were made because the real Sumner would have looked and acted too much like Thad Stevens and might have confused the audience. By contrast Ohio Senator Ben Wade was a big, blustery, brawler who swaggered through the ranks of the Senate daring prickly Southern congressmen to take a swing at him. None ever did. After the attack on Sumner, and another episode in which a Southern Senator pulled a gun on Senator Thomas Hart Benton, Wade announced that he would regard any more such attacks, or any more challenges to a duel as an attack on himself to be responded to in kind. Oddly enough Southern congressmen who were notorious for challenging Northerners to duels whenever they were offended, which was often, were notably reluctant to take on Wade. In the movie Wade is big and blustery but doesn't really convey the loud, larger-than-life personality of the real Wade. Sumner died 1874, still in office but Wade wore out his welcome and was denied renomination in 1868 and died in 1878.

SUMMER ATTACKED BY BROOKS;


In the movie there are a trio of lobbyists employed by Lincoln to woo Democratic swing votes. They are played by James Spader, Tim Blake Nelson and John Hawkes. Somewhat surprisingly they are actually based on real people although the real figures are by this point too obscure to know how much they may have resembled the characters in the film. Their tactics of using promises of patronage jobs to buy votes were common enough at the time, and perfectly legal until the passage of the aforementioned Pendleton Act, although as we have seen at least some of the Democrats needed no such bribes for their votes anyway so the importance of such tactics in this vote seam be somewhat overstated.

At the end of the movie as the final vote is called a number of congressmen are shown calling out their votes, some of these names are real and some are made-up. This would have been a chance to have cameo appearances by some real congressmen including the aforementioned Ignatius Donnelly and George Julian. There are a few other real Congressman who could have popped up to add some colour and provide a few in-jokes for history buffs including James Garfield, John Todd Stuart, Oakes Ames and William Windom.

Garfield is of course the most famous due to his later becoming President. In 1864 he was a freshman Republican congressman with an impressive war record but too new to be considered a leader. He was a supporter of Radical Thad Stevens although he would later moderate his views as he moved up the political ladder. He would make it to the Presidency in 1880 only to get shot and die less than a year later, becoming the second President to be assassinated after Lincoln himself. He did have a cartoon cat named after him though so there's that.



John Todd Stuart was an Illinois Democratic congressman who was actually an in-law and friend of Lincoln's being a cousin of Mary Todd, who he was close to. Years earlier Stuart had been a business partner of Lincoln's and had encouraged him to become a lawyer and enter politics. They fell out over slavery and the Civil War however. Stuart was an arch states-rights conservative who opposed emancipation and frequently lobbied Lincoln to drop it. He lost his re-election in 1864 but was still in the House for the debate and vote covered by the film. Given the family ties the lack of this character from the film is a huge oversight. Surely a couple of scenes where he argues with Lincoln and Mary Todd Lincoln would have been a no brainer dramatically speaking. After 1865 Stuart retired from politics and returned to the law. He died in 1885.

JOHN TODD STUART;


Ames was a Republican congressman from Massachusetts whose biggest claim to fame was as the ringleader of the Credit Mobiler scandal in 1872 which forced him out of congress in disgrace, ruining Schuyler Colfax in the process. Ames was in fact so guilty that congress took the unusual step of censuring him. Ames died in disgrace the next year. William Windom was a less notable figure but he gets a trivial footnote as the great-grandfather of his namesake, actor William Windom, best known for playing the racist prosecutor in the classic film "To Kill A Mockingbird" and a crazed commander on "Star Trek" who tries to kill Kirk. You know trekkies would have enjoyed that one at least.

WILLIAM WINDOM (NOT THE CONGRESSMAN);

RIP to Mike "Motor X" Anderson of The Viletones and The Secrets

Details are short at the moment but it just announced on Saturday Nov.24 that Mike Anderson (AKA Motor X) drummer for one of Toronto's classic punk bands The Viletones and the Secrets was found dead. The Viletones were probably the most notorious denizens of the Canadian Punk scene in late 1970's Toronto. After a short and violent career in which they managed to find time between drunken brawls to record an album with a few classic songs such as "Screaming Fist", "Danger Boy" and "Possibilities". Later the chronically unstable Viletones quit out from under manic singer Steve Leckie (AKA Nazi Dog) and formed a new band, The Secrets, who would also record a good album and appear in the "Last Pogo" film before they two broke up. Motor X would then go on to play in Arson and The G-Rays.

THE VILETONES ~ "THE LAST GUY";


THE VILETONES ~ "DANGER BOY";


THE VILETONES ~ "REBEL";
A SHORT DOCUMENTARY ABOUT THE CRASH & BURN CLUB AND THE 1978 & 79 TORONTO PUNK SCENE;

RIP to Jo Gunne of Fuzzbox and some other post-punkers

Nothing says the 1980's quite like the hairstyles of U.K girl group "We've Got A Fuzzbox And We're Gonna Use It" (AKA known as "Fuzzbox" for those who get tired of excessive typing) which range from the ludicrous to the ridiculous. However there was no denying the infectious glee and innocence of their actual music.

"FUZZBOX" ~ "LOVE IS THE SLUG";


Like Bow Wow Wow, The Go-Go's, Bangles, and Toronto's B-Girls they are a reminder that setting aside the archetypal anger of hardcore the most important ingredient of Punk and New Wave was innocence and good old fashioned fun. Rock and Roll all night and party every day indeed. Just as it was in the 1960's Surf and Garage Rock and 1950's Rockabilly. As it always should be. Before soulless corporations and humourless political activists suck all the fun out of things of course.

"FUZZBOX" ~ "RULES AND REGULATIONS"


Fuzzbox were a group of wildly upbeat post punk girls from England who bounced on the scene with hair explosions, cheerleader ready songs, pounding drums and of course a fuzzbox. Which they did in fact use. Jo Dunne was their guitarist. She died this week of cancer this week at 43. Which also tells you just how young they were back in the 1980's.

FUZZBOX & THE NIGHTINGALES ~ "ROCKIN WITH RITA";


If the over the top perkiness of girl bands like Fuzzbox, Go-Go's, Bangles etc. seem a little too undignified for today's riot grrls keep in mind that in the 1980's the very idea of girls playing actual rock and roll (as opposed to just singing) was still a radical one. Of course eventually a major record label got a hold of them and softened their sound to a more Bananarama type pop which got them a few top 40 hits. But the first few singles are still great fun.

FUZZBOX REUNION REPORT ON BBC;





Mike Scaccia; Guitarist for Ministry on their classic 1990's "Psalm 69" album and such songs as "Jesus Built my Hotrod" and "N.W.O.", collapsed and died on stage in Texas on December 22 aged 47. He started out in Thrash Metal band Rigor Mortis in 1983, then moved to Ministry in 1992. He also played in Ministry side projects like The Revolting Cocks, Buck Satan and Lard. Ministry's "Psalm 69" and the accompanying videos and Lollapalooza tour did much to bring Industrial Music (or a modernized club ready version of it) to the mainstream.

MINISTRY ~ "JESUS BUILT MY HOTROD";


MINISTRY ~ "N.W.O.";
Tony Sly, singer of 1990's California post hardcore band with a similarly awkward moniker "No Use For A Name" also died in July at age 41. No Use For A Name had actually had a series of different members over the years but Sly had been singer since 1989 and after Sly's death they announced that they would end the band. Sly had also recorded with Lagwagon as well.

NO USE FOR A NAME ~ "SOULMATE";


Sven Gali were a Toronto band of the late 1980's and early 1990's who started off as a Hair Metal Band before doing a quick chango when Grunge hit. It never really took of course which is kind of too bad since they were better than your average hair band. Guitarist Dee Cernile died this year.

SVEN GALI ~ "UNDER THE INFLUENCE";


From some pre-punk Psyche/Space Rock bands that I couldn't find room anywhere else from;
Ed Cassidy ~ Drummer for late sixties Psyche Band Spirit. Cassidy was an oddity in the late sixties in being fully twenty years older than the rest of the scene, i fact he was actually the father-in-law of Spirit guitarist Randy California. Partly to hide his age Cassidy shaved his head making him stand out even more. ~ 89
SPIRIT;


Huw Lloyd-Langton ~ Guitarist for UK Psyche/Space Rock band Hawkwind ~ 61
HAWKWIND ~ "SILVER MACHINE";


And in the "I can't believe I forgot to post this" department. Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys! I know I played some stuff on my radio show when this was announced but apparently I forgot to post anything. Ooops my bad.
At this point it's easy to forget that in the beginning they were so viciously attacked on all sides. The hysterical attacks by the Legion of Decency types were predictable enough (and also hysterically funny at this point) but they were also attacked by women's groups (for sexism, natch) and by leftists for "racism" and "appropriating black culture". Like that's possible. Serious music critics dismissed them as a joke at first (understandable) but by their second album they had developed a distinctive style of densely produced mixes that could not be denied. They also managed to combine their laddish persona with some good work on some serious issues like the Environment and Free Tibet that any punk should envy. So there.
So here's some extra Beasties to make amends;

BEASTIE BOYS ~ "FIGHT FOR YOUR RIGHT TO PARTY";


BEASTIE BOYS ~ "SABOTAGE";


BEASTIE BOYS ~ "SO WATCHA WANT";


BEASTIE BOYS ~ "SURE SHOT";


BEASTIE BOYS ~ "HEY LADIES";


BTW people forget that the Beasties actually started out as a New York City punk band, but they did in fact release one punk ep "Pollywog Stew" and a single;

BEASTIE BOYS ~ "ODE TO...";

CRTC turns down Astral/BELL deal. Toronto radio scene can go back to sleep now.

On October 18 the CRTC announced it's much anticipated ruling on the proposed merger of BCE and Astral Media. For the better part of a year there has been a serious lobbying and media campaign to stop the deal led by competitors such as Cogeco, Eastlink, and Vidéotron. The last of which are owned by the right wing Québecor Média (QMI), who also own SUN Media and have become notorious for their campaigns attacking the CBC as well as government grants and funding for the arts in general, all on behalf of the poor oppressed tax payers of course. Mind you this is even while QMI blithely takes millions of taxpayer funded grants themselves (something the CBC famously revealed and which I have already written about).
In fairness the anti-merger group did have some genuine grass roots support from consumers groups worried about concentration of media ownership and raising fees as well as less choices in programming. But I'm pretty sure they weren't behind all the anti-merger ads I've been seeing.

Still most smart money has been confidentially predicting that the merger would be rubber stamped, and that's not even counting the usual suspects with their conspiracy theories about the CRTC's "EVIL CORPORATE AGENDA" (cough..NCRA..cough) which makes the CRTC's ruling a bit of a surprise.



From the CTRC ruling;
"Conclusion
67. The Commission has reviewed BCE’s proposal, as well as the comments received in response to Broadcasting Notices of Consultation 2012-370, 2012-370-1 and 2012-370-2. As noted above, the Commission must evaluate applications for a change in effective control against the objectives set out in the Act, as well as its own policies and regulations. The Commission considers that the concerns related to competition, ownership concentration in television and radio, vertical integration and the exercise of market power are very substantial and fatal to the application.
68. The Commission finds that BCE has not discharged its burden and demonstrated that, on balance, this transaction is in the public interest. The benefits proposed would advantage BCE and its services, but the Commission is not persuaded that the transaction would provide significant and unequivocal benefits to the Canadian broadcasting system and to Canadians sufficient to outweigh the concerns described above.
69. Accordingly, the Commission denies the application by BCE Inc., on behalf of Astral Media inc., to change the effective control of Astral and its licensed broadcasting undertakings so that it is exercised by BCE (application 2012-0516-2). In light of its decision, the Commission has not made determinations on other aspects of BCE’s application, including the value of the transaction.
70. The Commission notes the objections of numerous interveners with respect to the application by Bell Media Inc. and 7550413 Canada Inc., partners in a general partnership carrying on business as Bell Media Canada Radio Partnership, to convert CKGM Montréal from an English-language to a French-language commercial radio programming undertaking (application 2012-0573-2). These objections related to, among other things, the integrity of the Commission’s licensing process and the loss of an English-language broadcasting service to an official language minority community. At the public hearing, BCE indicated that in the event the proposed transaction was denied, it would continue to operate CKGM Montréal as an English-language station. As a result, the Commission denies this application. Therefore, the licensee will continue to operate CKGM Montréal under the terms and conditions in effect under its current licence.
71. Similarly, the Commission denies the following related applications, which BCE indicated were contingent on approval of the proposed change of control of Astral:
applications by BCE Inc., on behalf of certain of its licensed broadcasting subsidiaries, to effect a multi-step corporate reorganization involving the transfer of the assets of 33 Bell Media radio stations to seven partnerships or corporations, requiring the issuance of new broadcasting licences (applications 2012-0701-9 and 2012-0736-6); and
application by BCE Inc., on behalf of Astral Media inc. and certain of its licensed broadcasting subsidiaries, to effect a corporate reorganization involving the transfer of the assets of certain broadcasting undertakings to companies to be incorporated, requiring the issuance of new broadcasting licences (application 2012-0735-8)."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What this means for radio is that a number of radio stations which Astral would have had to divest (sell off) in order to comply with existing ownership rules will now stay where they are.
BCE owned stations in Toronto include 1050 CHUM AM (TSN), 104 CHUM-FM and CKFM (Virgin Radio);



Informed speculation about the FM stations BCE were most likely to divest following the purchase of Astral Media based on performance are as follows:

City ~ Call letters/freq. ~ Station name and format ~ Share/Rating
1. Vancouver CHHR/104.3 Shore-FM, AAA 1.6/16th
2. Vancouver CKZZ/95.3 Virgin Radio, adult contmp. 7.2/5th
3. Ottawa CJOT/99.7 Boom, classic hits 1.5/14th
4. Ottawa CKQB/106.9 The Bear, active rock 3.5/11th
5. Calgary CKCE/101.5 Kool, adult contemporary 3.4/13th
6. Winnipeg CHIQ/94.3 FAB, ’60s/’70s hits 4.9/10th
7. Toronto CHBM/97.3 Boom, classic rock 5.7/7th
8. Toronto CFXJ/93.5 Flow, hip-hop 1.4/19th
Or they could have sold off the latest money loosing version of the former iconic CHUM AM, now an all-sports station called "TSN 1050". (I have already written about this as well).



Note the two Toronto stations. ASTRAL also had originally put in an application for the vacant 88.1FM frequency last year but then withdrew once the proposed merger was announced and before they had a chance to reveal what exactly they had in mind. Not that there was any guarantee they would have beaten out the winning INDIE 88FM application anyway.
Speaking of which the CRTC also recently announced that the call-letters for the new INDIE 88 will be "CIND".

At any rate this means that the after three years of uncertainty in the Toronto radio scene the status quo has been settled. The FLOW and BOOM 97 are not being sold, and probably not changing format either. Unless ASTRAL change their mind of course, but at least they don't actually have to. Some of those various corporate types who applied for the 88.1FM frequency and got turned down and who have been lurking around to see if they might get a second bite at the apple by buying one of ASTRAL's cast-offs can now go home thanks.

FLASH!! CRTC revokes license of a corporate radio station. NCRA says diddly squat.

Remember in 2010 when Ryerson University radio station CKLN lost it's broadcast license for being incompetent, lying, weasels? Remember when Ryerson's attempt to get that license back was turned down? Remember how the far leftist wack-jobs at CKLN and the National Campus Radio Association claimed it was proof of the CRTC's "corporate agenda" to "destroy community radio"? CKLN and NCRA partisans (like say; NCRA head Shelly Robinson, CKLN Manager Jacky Harrison and CKLN Exec Andrew Lehrer) insisted that the CRTC was being unfair, holding CKLN up to an unfair double standard compared to commercial radio who are always breaking the rules and never getting penalized. It's all so unfair. According to their official line the only time a commercial station lost it's license for not complying with CRTC was CHOI FM in Quebec City in 2006, and they were able to sort of weasel out of it by fighting the ruling in court until they could sell off the signal. (Note: As it happened the court ruled in the CRTC's favour after the fact, although by then the station had changed hands).



Somehow the CKLN/NCRA Axis failed to notice that commercial radio station CHSC in St Catherines also lost it's license in 2010. Even though the CHSC hearings were held at the same time as the CKLN hearings were originally to be held before they were postponed, and thus that ruling came down first. Well now there's been another;




THE ABANDONED CHSC STUDIOS

"CJRN 710 told to go off the air
By Matt Day, Niagara Falls Review
Friday, October 12, 2012 4:38:12 EDT PM
NIAGARA FALLS - The airwaves may go silent at CJRN 710.
The Niagara Falls tourist information radio station has been ordered by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission to cease broadcasting by Nov. 30.
A report issued by the CRTC on Oct. 10 states that CJRN Radio 710 AM failed to comply with multiple sections of the Radio Regulations, including broadcasting a live program in the Punjabi language and having commercial messages that targeted the Asian community in Toronto.
“When you’re a tourist information station there are a number of things you can and cannot do,” said Annie Laflamme, director of radio polices and applications at the CRTC. “The bottom line in this case was that the licencee had been found in non compliance repeatedly.”
According to the licencee’s condition, the radio station was only permitted to broadcast pre-recorded tourist information for the purpose of informing visitors to Niagara Falls.
The CRTC monitored the programming of CJRN during the week of April 18, 2010 to April 24, 2010 and found that, in addition to weather forecasts and tourist information consistent to the licence, the station also broadcasted international, national and regional news, promotions for two Niagara Falls FM radio stations and sports updates from NHL games.
Radio 710 said that the information provided was of particular and direct relevance to tourists, said the report.
A second monitoring period took place between Aug. 14, 2011 and Aug. 20, 2011.
During that time, a program entitled Reflections on Islam containing both spoken word and musical selections was aired.
The radio stationed claimed it was providing the program for Muslim tourists who were celebrating Ramadan.
On Aug. 25, 2011, the CRTC requested program logs from that week in August and failed to receive portions of the broadcast.
“The Commission considers that the issues of non-compliance … when taken cumulatively, are extremely serious both due to the nature of the non-compliance and its recurrence,” said the report.
“The Commission is gravely concerned about the licencee’s willingness and ability to bring itself into compliance.”
Niagara Falls Tourism chairman Wayne Thomson said his organization “didn’t really have a relationship or association” with CJRN 710, but believed the radio station to be a good service to the tourist community.
The decision can be appealed.
A representative from CJRN could not be reached for comment.
matt.day@sunmedia.ca Twitter: @Matt_Review"

No word yet from the CKLN/NCRA Axis on why the CRTC forgot their much feared "corporate agenda" and shut down a corporate station for blatantly flaunting the rules. And this after the CRTC granted the old CKLN 8.1fm license in Toronto to tiny INDIE 88 instead of the 20 or so corporate entities who also applied. I guess they didn't get the memo from their corporate masters.

Prof Kitzel's Time Machine Profile; Fisk Jubilee Singers

The Fisk University Jubilee Singers were the first commercially and critically successful black vocal group, they were the first group to tour both the USA and Europe, they were also the first black vocal group to successfully record, setting the foundations for all later Gospel groups as well as those in turn influenced by gospel, ie. Jazz, Blues, R+B, Doo-Wop, Soul, & Rock n' Roll. ..

~The beginnings ~ ..

Fisk University was an all black Liberal Arts School in Nashville Tennessee in 1866 to educate newly freed slaves, founded by the American Missionary Association, a white northern abolitionist group. The school attracted 900 students in it's first year but had trouble raising funds so that by 1870 school treasurer (who also acted as choir master) George L. White hit upon a plan to raise money by sending the school's respected choir on a concert tour to raise funds. At first following the trail of the old underground railway to the north and performing to mainly white audiences the group were a sensation to whites who had never seen a non-minstrel black singing group. ..

THE FISK JUBILEE QUARTET ~ "SWING LOW SWEET CHARIOT";


~ The Fisk University Jubilee Singers ~ ..

Billing the group as the Jubilee Singers to emphasize their dignified & religious nature, the group consisted of a male and female quartet with a female pianist. Their music consisted of traditional hymns performed in respectable European style, but also influenced by the more emotional style of the black churches and the work songs of the slaves giving them a power and depth no white group could match. They wore typically somber black suits and gowns of the Victorian era and sang impassively with out speaking to the audience, leaving White to introduce the songs. In 1872 they performed for President U.S. Grant, Vice-President Colfax and members of the congress as well as getting rave reviews in New York City before going to London where they performed for the Queen and Prime Minister Gladstone and royal guests from all over Europe, this tour was so successful that they stayed in Europe until 1874 when they finally returned home minus baritone Issac Dickerson who remained in Britain. Upon returning home singers Minnie Tate and Benjamin Holmes retired due to health issues and exhaustion as did musical director George White. In 1875 a renewed lineup toured Europe, doing especially well in Germany, Holland & Switzerland. In spite of their success the A.M.A facing financial hard times and govt. cuts, declined to fund the group anymore and they returned home (minus three members who stayed in Europe) and disbanded in 1878. Later a reorganized group would tour across the USA, Europe, Asia, Australia, New Zealand & Canada in the 1880's. The great success of the Fisk singers inspired the black schools like the Tuskegee Institute to follow suit. ..

THE FISK JUBILEE QUARTET ~ "I COULDN'T HEAR NOBODY PRAY";


~ The Fisk Jubilee Quartet ~ ..

By the 1890's the Europeanised style of the 1870's had been replaced by a newer quartet style which was less formal as well as being easier for the new recording industry to reproduce, accordingly the Fisk singers were reduced to a quartet which became one of the first to record starting in 1909 for Victor Records. These records were highly successful , continuing to sell well into the early 1920's when they were finally superseded by more rural groups like the Norfolk and Golden Gate Jubilee Quartets and even more down home preachers like Rev. J.M Gates. A later member of the quartet Roland Hayes would go on to a successful solo opera career and would become the first black singer to independently produce his own records. Versions of the quartet would continue to perform into the 1950's (including on the Grand Ole Opry) albeit to a largely older middle class and white audience. A yet again revived group continues to perform today. Fisk University is still in operation in Nashville.

Members;

The Fisk University Jubilee Singers ~ Thomas Rutling, Issac Dickerson, Benjamin Holmes, Fredrick Loudin, Minnie Tate, Ella Sheppard, w/George L. White as musical director.
The Fisk Jubilee Quartet ~ John W.Work, N.W.Ryder, J.A.Myers, Alfred King and later John Work, Roland Hayes, Leon P.O'Hara, Charles Wesley

THE FISK JUBILEE SINGERS ~ "WHEN I WAS SINKING DOWN":

Rock The Vote 2012

Hey Yanks! Tired of Christian Wackjobs trying to force their Medieval superstitions and Crusader mentality on the rest of us? Looking for someone Rock n' Roll to vote for in the 2012 election? Well Metalhead Surfer Dude Randy Blythe from "Lamb of God" wants you;
From his website;



"I want to be The Big Cheese.
It’s 2012 now, the year some are saying the Mayan calendar predicts a cataclysmic upheaval across the board for our planet, perhaps even the end of the world as we know it. I don’t know if these doomsday predictions have any validity, but I do know one thing: the potential candidates in the race to decide who will be elected President of the United States look like pure shit.
I’m not particularly stoked on any of the candidates. In a massive blow to our civil rights, Obama quietly signed the NDAA for the fiscal year 2012 into law while Americans drank in their party hats on New Year’s Eve. The GOP is parading around a bunch of ass-clowns in what has got to be the most embarrassing primary season in the history of their party. Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse than Sarah Palin, they bust out that lunatic Michele Bachman. I have no clue what the Libertarians are up to now that Ron Paul is gunning for the Republican nomination. Probably loading their guns and preparing for the worst.
Don’t even get me started on our current Congress, THE WORST CONGRESS I HAVE EVER SEEN OR HEARD OF IN THE ENTIRE HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. It’s a relentless bipartisan pissing contest in Washington where not only is nothing getting done, nothing is ALLOWED to get done. There’s a bunch of squabbling children in Washington in charge of the business of running our country. These baboons are stopping any useful litigation from occurring by engaging in an endless game of “I know you are, but what am I?”. There is very little compromise happening in DC, and there is very little regard for the welfare of the American people. It’s PATHETIC.
Something has got to change. America is falling to pieces around us and we are sitting back and letting it happen. We need someone to come in and REALLY take charge, someone who can’t be bought by corporate dollars because he doesn’t need or want ‘em. Someone who is not going to bullshit the country or the rest of the world about what’s going to go down when he steps into office, because he LIKES pissing people off and doesn’t give a shit about hurting anyone’s feelings. We need a man who is not afraid to stick his neck out and risk embarrassing himself while doing the right thing, a man, in fact, INCAPABLE of embarrassment anymore PERIOD because he’s ALREADY done almost every stupid WRONG thing you can think of at one time or the other. We need a hard-boiled, no-nonsense, mean son-of-a-bitch with a bad reputation who ain’t afraid to cock-whip the shit out of some randomly selected pussy-ass billionaire on live tv during his annual State of the Union Address just to make a point and let the mega-rich know that NO ONE is above the law here in the land of the free and the home of the brave. In short, we need a man who just DOES NOT GIVE A FUCK.
America, that man is me.
Thats right, ME. David Randall Blythe. Ol’ D. Randall. Uncle Randy. Wassisname, that dude from that one band that got drunk and fought in a skirt. I love the USA like a nerd loves D&D, I am thoroughly disgusted with the state of affairs, and I am ready, willing, and able to FUCK SHIT UP without a micro-second’s hesitation in order to fix what ails this country. All you have to do is elect me as the next President of the United States of America and I’ll handle the rest.
You may be asking yourselves “What does this motherfucker think he’s got that all the other more politically experienced candidates don’t? What makes him think that he should be allowed to run this great country?” Well, let me tell you. I have something that all the other candidates lack, something this nation needs now more than ever: BALLS. And when I take office, I will IMMEDIATELY prove it.
My first act as President of the United States will to be shot. That’s right, SHOT. With a high-powered assault rifle. Immediately after taking the oath of office, I will be escorted about twenty yards away and be shot publicly in a non-lethal area of my body by a highly trained Navy SEAL sniper. It will hurt like fuck. Why would I do this? Because I will now be commander-in-chief of the armed forces. This means that during my term I will probably have to make some tough decisions affecting the survival of other men. And as commander-in-chief, I shouldn’t expect anyone in our military to do anything I’m not willing to do myself. That includes getting shot. Me being shot will be broadcast live world-wide via satellite, with no bleeping out of the incredible string of curse words I will undoubtably let fly with. I will be required to walk/limp/crawl on my own power a minimum of 50 yards through the mud to an ambulance that will take me away to patch me up. If I can’t make it on my own, I’m not tough enough to be your President. After all the nations in the entire world witness America’s new President, an insane looking heavily tattooed freak, getting shot ON HIS OWN ORDER as soon as he takes office, then crawling all bloody to an ambulance, cussing the whole way and screaming pure hate in a monstrous voice tortured by years of touring and Marlboro Reds, they will think twice before fucking with us. I can promise you that.
Speaking of military policy, there’s a few other things I will be required to do if I am going to be your commander-in-chief. The first thing I’ll do after recovering from being shot will be to go through the thirteen week Marine Corps basic training boot camp on luxurious Parris Island, South Carolina. I’ll be treated like any other recruit, in fact, probably worse due to my status as the new POTUS.
‘Well, well, well, what do we have here? Isn’t this just PRECIOUS” the drill sergeant will scream in my face “If it isn’t the goddamned President of the United fucking States. Do you think your special, boy? Do you think just because you fooled a bunch of goddamned idiots into voting you into the White House you deserve special treatment? Are you staring at my ass, son? Are you sweet for me? This is the Corps, not Harvey Milk’s San Francisco. Now drop and give me 50, you sub-human piece of shit!”
The physical and mental abuse will be extreme, but I’ve done that to myself for years already, so I’m confident I will pull through ok and be a better man for it.
After I make it through boot camp and come out a lean, mean, presidential killing machine, I’ll have to immediately assess our military presence world-wide. I’ll take a look at any conflicts we are currently involved in, and if I want to keep our troops there and fighting, I’ll be required to fly there ASAP on Air Force One and kill an enemy prisoner myself. In a UFC-style chain-link octagon. In hand-to-hand combat. With a ka-bar knife. If I don’t have the balls to use my recent Marine Corps training, face off against the enemy, and knife another man TO DEATH, then I have NO BUSINESS sending men and women I’ve never met to fight and maybe die in a strange land in the name of service to our country. Once again, if I don’t have the stones to do this, then I don’t have the stones to be your President.
In fact, anytime I decide America is going to war with another country, I will be REQUIRED to kill the first of the enemy, on their home turf, face to face in a brutal manner and with a primitive weapon. If I am willing to do that, there’s a pretty good chance I’m not shipping our guys and gals over there just because they have some oil I want or wear funny hats. They need to die in order to keep America safe. I should certainly not mind doing my part to make that happen.
If you think I’m overreaching a bit here here, take a look at one of my historical precedents - a bad motherfucker named John F. Kennedy. The son of a Congressman, JFK was disqualified from joining the Army in 1941 due to a chronic back problem. JFK was a pretty boy from Boston whose father had a ton of political juice. Had he used that juice to get his disqualification? FUCK NO. He was PISSED about it. Like any child of privilege, he rang Pops up to bitch and cry about how unfair life had treated him, and how he wanted daddy to fix it. And in the manner of connected men everywhere, his big-shot father DID use his old boy network to shut his whining son up. He pulled some strings and got Jack into the Navy instead.
JFK served as the commander of a torpedo patrol boat in the South Pacific during The Big One (WW2). He and his buddies were cruising around the Solomon Islands searching for the enemy late one night when a Japanese destroyer named Amagiri rammed his little-ass patrol boat and it started to sink. He gathered his posse around him on the flaming wreck of his boat and asked them if they wanted to surrender right there in the water.
FUCK NO. These guys knew that if JFK, their commander in charge, was willing to fight, then they should be willing to fight. NO SURRENDER. Fuck it. So they took off swimming to an island. JFK had re-injured his back in the crash, and wasn’t feeling so hot. But there was a badly burned man with them unable to swim to safety on his own. So JFK towed the man to safety. He had to tow him by grabbing the life jacket strap of his burned up homey, and once he had it secure, he swam him to safety. Fucked up back and all, he took off swimming in the dark water, pulling that extra weight. He didn’t let his man down, he didn’t let his man sink, he did what he had to do, and he held onto that strap.
WITH HIS FUCKING TEETH.
Now THAT is some hard shit right there. And he wasn’t even done yet. In fact, after they got to the island safely, JFK looked around and decided he just wasn’t in love with it. So he towed the man once again, WITH HIS TEETH, to another island, where the atmosphere looked a little more chill. Once his crew were all there, he decided he it was Miller time and took off swimming for a few HOURS, again with his fucked up back, through the night and in water a Japanese DESTROYER was cruising around in in search of brews for his boys. He didn’t find any beer, but he did secure food and aid and the men were rescued off the second island.
That was just one of the many awesome displays of BALLS Kennedy was known for. He was smart as a whip, too. We need a President with balls AND brains again. I’m not going to lie to you and tell you that I’m as hard, smart, or even as good looking as JFK. But I do have a few brain cells left rolling around in my knotty head, and I promise you that I won’t lead America into any unnecessary conflicts.
Why should you trust me on this? Because I’ll know what it’s like for our military guys and gals to go through boot camp, and I’ll know what it’s like to get shot then pull myself to safety. Most importantly, I’ll know what it’s like to kill another human being, face to face and with my bloody hands, not by making a fucking phone call. This is the type of bullshit games men behind desks play that get our young men and women killed. Fuck that.
If I do decide to get us into a war, I’ll untie the hands of our military when I send them off to fight. I’ll remove these ridiculous rules of engagement that say we can’t shoot until we are being shot at. It’s INSANE what our troops are expected to do- sit there like sitting ducks until someone puts a bullet in someone’s head. Only then are they allowed to start busting caps. This bullshit is getting Americans killed everyday. Under the Blythe administration, if we see you, you have a gun, and you come too close to us, you get shot the fuck up. BLAM! We’ll fight by ghetto law- in the hood, do you think a Blood is gonna wait until a gun waving Crip starts shooting at him to put a round in the motherfucker? HELL NO. He wants to live to sell another 50 rock, so he lets him have it! If I get us into a fight, it will be because we HAVE to fight, and once we’ve been FORCED to fight I’ll let our guys and gals do their jobs- KICK SOME FUCKING ASS IN A GODDAMNED HURRY so they can get safely back home, where they belong, drinking beer and getting laid.
This is the first of my campaign announcements, funded entirely by myself. I refuse to take campaign donations. Let’s let the people, not big money, decide who will be the next El Jefe. In my next announcement, I’ll address some of my ideas for domestic policy, including economic reform.
Thank you for your support, and God bless America."



OK there is one small problem. Actually two. First I'm pretty sure he's not actually on the ballot anywhere. Sure you can write him in but then you would probably have to bring your own pen. And you gotta know the Republicans won't count those votes.
And then there's the slight issue that Blythe was recently arrested in The Czech Republic for Manslaughter after an incident in 2010 in which a fan fell or was pushed off stage striking his head and dying. He is now out on bail and back in the USA promising to return to The Czech Republic for any trial, assuming the charges are not dropped. Blythe is insisting that the incident was an accident and he was unaware that anyone was hurt until he was arrested two years later. Still it doesn't look good.





Then there's Robert Burck, better known as "The Naked Cowboy" a notorious street performer in New York City who is also running on a basic far right wing Tea Party platform;



Wow! Who knew he was such a humourless prig? Seriously you might as well vote for Romney and Ryan.

Or screw it; you could just vote for this guy;

Nick Curran & Some recent Rock and Roll pioneer deaths

Nick Curran was not a Rock and Roll pioneer, in fact he was only 35 when he dies of cancer on October 6. But he did play with the original spirit and style. Besides his solo work he managed to also do some scorching guitar work with Ronnie Dawson, Kim Lenz and the Fabulous Thunderbirds.

NICK CURRAN ~ "TRAIN KEPT A ROLLIN";


KIM LENZ ~ "ZOMBIE FOR YOUR LOVE":


Another great guitarist, Mikey Baker, 1950's & 60' Rock & Roll and R&B guitarist and singer, both solo for the Savoy, King, Atlantic, Vik, MGM and RCA-Victor Record labels and with Sylvia Robinson as Mikey & Sylvia. He also played with The Drifters, Ray Charles, Ivory Joe Hunter, Ruth Brown, Big Joe Turner, Louis Jordan, Champion Jack Dupree and Coleman Hawkins. He also played in touring band for Alan Freed's "Rock n' Roll Dance Party" with Big Al Sears, Freddie Mitchell and Sam "The Man" Taylor. Baker was hugely influential on blues and rockabilly guitarists in the 1960's in Britain and Europe where he toured extensively, later moving to France. ~ 87

MICKEY BAKER ~ "SPINNIN' ROCK BOOGIE";


MICKEY BAKER ~ "WHISTLE STOP";


MICKEY BAKER & COLEMAN HAWKINS;


Jon Lord ~ Keyboardist for 1960's and 1970's Hard Rock heavy weights Deep Purple ("Smoke on the Water", "Space Truckin'", "Hush") ~ 71
DEEP PURPLE ~ "SMOKE ON THE WATER";


Larry Reinhardt ~ American rock guitarist with 1960's Proto Heavy Metal Band Iron Butterfly ~ 63 ~ also Lee Dorman Iron Butterfly bassist ~ 70


Johnny Perez ~ Drummer for 1960's Texas garage band The Sir Douglas Quintet ("She's about a mover" ~ 69
THE SIR DOUGLAS QUINTET ~ "SHE'S ABOUT A MOVER";


BB Cunningham ~ Singer/Keyboardist with 1960's Garage Band The Hombres ("Let it out (Let it all hang out))" and Jerry Lee Lewis ~ 70

Eddie Bertrand ~ Guitarist w/ 1960's Surf band The Bel Airs ("Mr Moto")
THE BEL AIRS ~ "MR. MOTO";


Big Jim Sullivan ~ British session guitarist from the 1960's on. Played with; Dave Berry's 1964 hit "The Crying Game", Alexis Korner's and Blues Incorporated's, P.J. Proby's 1964 hit "Hold Me", Billy Fury, Frank Ifield, Adam Faith, Frankie Vaughan, Helen Shapiro, Freddie and the Dreamers, Cilla Black, Tom Jones, Shirley Bassey, Dusty Springfield, Georgie Fame, Bobby Darin, Little Richard, Dell Shannon, The Walker Brothers, Donovan, David Bowie, Engelbert Humperdinck, Benny Hill, The New Seekers, Thunderclap Newman, Long John Baldry, Marmalade, Small Faces, The Tremeloes. He was also the resident guitarist at TV shows "Top of the Pops" and "Ready Steady Go!" ~ 71
DAVE BERRY ~ "THE CRYING GAME";


BILLY FURY ~ "NOTHING SHAKING BUT THE LEAVES ON THE TREES";


THE WALKER BROS ~ "BABY YOU DON'T HAVE TO TELL ME" & "THE SUN AIN'T GONNA SHINE ANYMORE";


Bill Dees ~ Guitarist and songwriter with Rot Orbison in their original band "The Five Bops", co-wrote "Pretty Woman" and "It's Over", worked on the Orbison movie "The Fastest Gun Alive". Also worked with Johnny Cash, Loretta Lynn, Skeeter Davis, Glen Campbell, Billy Joe Royal, Frank Ifield, Mark Dinning and Gene Pitney ~ 73

ROY ORBISON ~ "OH, PRETTY WOMAN";


ROY ORBISON ~ "IT'S OVER";


Eddie "Guitar" Burns ~ Detroit blues musician from the 1950's on who recorded with Chess, Checker, Red Bird and Delmark Records ~ 84

JIMMY McCRACKLIN; 1950's California R&B pianist/singer with hits like "The Walk" on Chess Records ~ 91
JIMMY MCCRACKLIN & RY COODER ~ "THE WALK";


Maurice Davis ~ 71 ~ American trumpeter (The Funk Brothers)
Bob Babbitt ~ 74 ~ American bass guitarist (The Funk Brothers)

~ The Funk Brothers were of course the house band for Motown Records. Babbitt was not the main bassist for Motown though, that was the legendary James Jamerson.

SMOKEY ROBINSON & THE MIRACLES ~ "GOING TO A GO-GO";


Bill Tillman, 65, American saxophonist (Blood, Sweat & Tears),
BLOOD SWEAT AND TEARS ~ "AND WHEN I DIE";


James "Sugar Boy" Crawford ~ New Orleans R&B songwriter. Wrote "Iko Iko" hit by The Dixie Cups ~ 77
THE DIXIE CUPS ~ "IKO IKO";


Cleve Duncan ~ Singer with 1950's Doo-Wop group the Penguins ("Earth Angel" & "Pledge of Love") and The Viceroys and The Radiants as well as backup singer w/ Frank Zappa ~ 77
THE PENGUINS ~ "EARTH ANGEL";


Vincent Carrella ~ Singer with Doo Wop group Randy & The Radiants did the original version of "Denise" later covered by Blondie as "Denis"

Inez Andrews ~ Singer with 1950's Gospel Group The Caravans ~ 83

THE CARAVANS WITH REV JAMES CLEVELAND;


Fontella Bass ~ Gospel, R&B and Jazz singer from the 1960's & 1970's with hits on Chess like "Rescue Me", "You'll Never Know", "I Can't Rest", later recorded with The Art Ensemble of Chicago" ~ 72

FONTELLA BASS ~ "RESCUE ME";


Marva Whitney; Singer with James Brown's band, as well as solo, known as "Soul Sister"

MARVA WHITNEY ~ "IT'S MY THING";


Major Harris ~ Singer w/R&B Vocal Group The Delfonics ("Didn't I blow you mind this time" & "La La La Means I Love You") ~ 65
THE DELFONICS ~ "DIDN'T I BLOW YOUR MIND THIS TIME";


Dave Brubeck ~ Jazz Pianist who introduced new poly-rhythms to jazz from the Mid-East and was one of the leaders of the West Coast Cool Jazz sound of the late 1950's and early 1960's with sax players Paul Desmond and Gerry Mulligan and trumpet player Chet Baker. ~ 91

DAVE BRUBECK ~ "TAKE 5";


DAVE BRUBECK ~ "TAKE THE A-TRAIN";


Ted Curson ~ American Jazz trumpet player w/Charles Mingus ~ 77
CHARLES MINGUS SEXTET ~ "TAKE THE A TRAIN";


John Tchicai ~ Black Danish born Jazz Sax Free Jazz Sax Player, w/Albert Ayler, John Coltrane and Archie Shepp ~ 72
ALBERT AYLER ~ "ANGELS";


Frode Thingnæs ~ Norwegian Jazz Trombonist, composer and Jazz Pioneer who recorded the first jazz album in Norway ~ 72

Pete La Roca ~ American Jazz drummer w/ John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Marian McPartland, Art Farmer, Freddie Hubbard, Mose Allison and Chic Corea as well as with his own bands. Retired and became a lawyer, later suing after one of his solo albums was released under Corea's name instead of his own. ~ 74

David S. Ware ~ Free Jazz sax player w/Cecil Taylor and later with his own Quartet ~ 62
DAVID WARE ~ "CRYSTAL PALACE";


Jose Curbelo ~ Cuban-born American Big Band Jazz musician and manager from 1939 to the 1970's, played with Xavier Cugat and Titi Puente ~ 95

Terry Callier ~ Jazz/Folk singer guitarist from the 1960's on. Also songwriter for 1960's psyche band H.P. Lovecraft and R&R band The Dells ~ 67

HP LOVECRAFT ~ "THE WHITE SHIP";


Scott McKenzie ~ American singer ("San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)") and songwriter ("Kokomo" covered by The Beach Boys) ~ 73
SCOTT MCKENZIE ~ "SAN FRANSISCO";


Mike Auldridge ~ Dobro player with Bluegrass The Seldom Scene from the 1960's on. Previously played with Cliff Waldron's Band, later played with Emmy Lou Harris and Lyle Lovett ~ 73

THE SELDOM SCENE ~ "LAY DOWN SALLY";


Doc Watson. A blind Folk & Old Time Country singer & guitarist from the 1950's on. Father of guitarist Merle Watson;

Doc Watson ~ "Deep River blues";


Martin Fay ~ Fiddler & Bones player with Irish Folk Band The Chieftains ~ 76
THE CHIEFTAINS & VAN MORRISON ~ "STAR OF THE COUNTRY";




Rollin Sullivan ~ Country singer with 1940's & 50's Country duo Lonzo & Oscar ~ 93

LONZO & OSCAR ~ "MOVIN' ON";


Kitty Wells ~ Country singer from the 1940's to the 1960's (It wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels", "I can't stop loving you") ~ 92
KITTY WELLS ~ "IT WASN'T GOD WHO MADE HONKY TONK ANGELS";


Louis Nunely ~ Singer with 1950's & 60' vocal group The Anita Kerr Singers (who sang backups for Brenda Lee, Perry Como, Pat Boone, Rosemary Clooney, Bobby Vinton, Roy Orbison, Willie Nelson, Floyd Cramer, Al Hirt, Ann-Margret, Red Foley, Jim Reeves, Eddy Arnold, Faron Young, Chet Atkins, Rod McKuen, and Webb Pierce. In 1999 he joined the current gospel version of The Jordanaires ~ 81

RED FOLEY & THE ANITA KERR SINGERS w/ SPEEDY HAWORTH ~ "HEARTS OF STONE";


THE ANITA KERR SINGERS (W/MARTY ROBBINS INTRO) ~ "SOMEBODY STOLE MY GAL";