Community and Music

Since my laptop has been in the shop, I’ve rediscovered radio in the community. I already knew we had a really interesting community radio station, WEFT, run by volunteers and not-for-profit. But another not-for-profit, WPGU, which used to be great (like I could hear The Pretenders, Cowboy Junkies, PJ Harvey, Midnight Oil, etc.) when I was in high school, is again on the road to greatness if you like alternative rock inspired by the 80s Punk scene. I’ve heard Cat Power, Wilco, The Lemonheads, The New Pornographers...need I go on? Then, they’ve also played the classics The Cure, The Talking Heads, The Ramones, The Clash, RadioHead. They take requests, so I’ve given them a few names, like Rachel Yamagata, Patty Griffin (Grammy nominee for her album this year), Ozomatli, Sam Phillips, Sonic Youth, and last night I heard Bright Eyes (with My Morning Jacket) on Austin City Limits. I will soon be suggesting Bright Eyes. You can stream the station, which is why I’m blogging about their “no rules radio” programming, and give them your suggestions. I know Brayden likes good music.

Also, there is a new saga going on in the community (the old being the chief mascot controversy, over which there is now a boycott of book stores selling chief paraphernalia – nothing like a racist mascot to taint a #1 ranked team), also related to music. There is a billboard going into campus town that reads, “HIP HOP ROTS YOUR BRAIN, Sponsored by the Coalition of Responsible Attentive Parents” – CRAP. The billboard has been (apparently) vandalized, crossing out “HIP HOP” and underneath adding “STEREOTYPES, RACISM, IGNORANCE.” So it now reads “STEREOTYPES, RACISM, IGNORANCE ROTS YOUR BRAIN.” So this billboard will continue to have changing messages, which appear to be staged. This story was covered in a weekly paper, but there is nothing on their site for me to link to, unfortunately. The billboard saga has sucked us in. I wonder what's next.