dearest diary

Alright so some significant time has passed but know that I’ve been thinking of you…. Life has gotten in the way of my blogging intentions and it’s everything I can do just to keep up with doing dishes let alone getting my thoughts jotted down.
So I’ve been suddenly launched into the land of social security dependency and away from the angst and vexation of professional responsibilities. It was not my choice, really. I was having what I thought was a decent career at a great nonprofit music venue and had every reason to think all was well. Upper management met with me weekly and things were progressing nicely. I was then suddenly hit with a 4 pack single spaced document containing a barrage of my insufficiencies and faults. I responded to said document and during my meeting with upper management was basically accused of being a fraud. I was shocked and humiliated. So I Johnny Paychecked them, went and put my desk accoutrements in a box and cried all the way home.

Various coworkers and even a board member has reached out to me and have been very supportive. I’ve been licking my wounds for a little over a week, but am feeling loads better and although I didn’t want to go out on a sour note, I’m old enough for social security and can supplement my income writing grants. I’ll be just fine!
I’m looking forward to having time for painting, getting the house cleaned and organized, and just getting out more often with my two big crazy dogs.
and blogging- I’m going to try and keep more up to date.

I’m doing a radio show this Thursday 4/25 at midnight on kfai.org if you care to tune in. I’m trying to get Robyn Hitchcock to call in from the road – he’s in Mpls on May 2.

thanks for reading friends!

J. Otis Powell‽’s Health Transition Fundraiser

My friend J. Otis is recuperating from a serious illness and this campaign to raise money to help pay for some of his expenses is over the half-way point to meeting its goal. Please contribute and help out one of the Twin Cities’ greatest talents. Thank you very much.

THIS JUST IN: To my peeps in the Twin Cities – there is a fundraiser being held at Intermedia Arts, here is the info:

Members from the community are coming together to produce a benefit show honor and celebrate local treasure J. Otis Powell‽ on Wed July 15th at Intermedia Arts (7pm). We would love to have you there to witness & contribute to the wall poetry/word/image mural that will hang in J. Otis’s recovery room. Come commune, jam and celebrate with us. 

Purchase your ticket here:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/benefit-show-for-j-otis-powell-tickets-17602364145

Madame Presidente Queen of All She Sees Kiss My Ruby What What

Was it Groucho Marx or Woody Allen who said he’d never want to be a member of a club who’d have him as a member. I’m kind of that way, ‘cept I’m actually the president of that hair club for men now. I have never been the president of anything (someone asked me, “Oh you were never a class president?” “Yeah, right.”)

So yeah this is great, we have our board meetings on the top of the IDS with fabulous banquets and fine wine, making our terrible plans for the little people who serve us at our whim. Bwahahahahahha. Another glass please, garson.

 

Yonkers Alert!

Michael Yonkers is doing a rare appearance in support of our community radio station KFAI on Sat., February 7th at the Turf Club in St. Paul. He’ll perform at 8:00.  I can’t thank Cyn Collins enough for making this fundraiser happen, but especially for getting Yonkers on the bill – I’m giddy over being able to see him! He tells Cyn that he won’t be “covering” himself – he means his songs, not that he’ll be naked, so all originals can be expected.

Sun City Girls Spun

I DJ’d at Harriet Brewing in Mpls tonight and played nothing but the Sun City Girls. I provided the below info about them and thought I’d share here, so, here:

KFAI’s VINYL VOICES, September 30, 2014

 

Sir Richard Bishop, Charlie Gocher, Alan Bishop

I will delight in playing the legendary Sun City Girls for you tonight. For the uninitiated, it’s often hard to find the words to describe them; I’m not a music writer, per se, just a dj and lifelong fan of SCG, and have had the honor and privilege of getting to know them.

Since I am much better at presenting the music rather than blabbing about them, I thought I’d share this article by the fabulous Mike McGonigal of Yeti Magazine from back in 2002: http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/sun-city-girls/Content?oid=10798 – check it out sometime….

Since that time, SCG’s drummer (well, he was really so much more than that), Charlie Gocher, passed away from cancer in February of 2007, and the Girls are no more. The Bishop Brothers embarked upon a memorial tour to celebrate the music of the Sun City Girls in May 2008, called “The Brothers Unconnected: A Tribute to the Sun City Girls and Charles Gocher.”

Alan and Richard Bishop continue to create at a mind-blowing pace on their solo musical paths as Alvarius B and Sir Richard Bishop, respectively, singularly and collaboratively with other trouble-making cohorts.

I’ve tried to stay on top of collecting their vinyl over the years; it hasn’t been easy, as they’re so prolific! But I’ll try and play the Sun City Girls’ greatest hits, and I hope that you, too, will become a rabid fan.

-Patti Walsh, KFAI

Here is their discography (includes cassette-only releases)

Midnight Cowboys from Ipanema CS (Breakfast Without Meat) 1986, LP/CD reissue (Amarillo Records) 1994
God is My Solar System 1982 CS (Cloaven) 1987
Superpower 1982-83 CS (Cloaven) 1987
Hatchet Rain 1983 CS (Cloaven) 1987
Bleach Has Feelings, Too! 1983-85 CS (Cloaven) 1987
To Cover Up Your Right To Live 1983-85 CS (Cloaven) 1987
Def in Italy 1984 CS (Cloaven) 1987
Folk Songs of The Rich and Evil 1985 CS (Cloaven) 1987
Fresh Kill of a Cape Hunting Dog 1985-86 CS (Cloaven) 1987
Exotica on Five Dollars a Day 1986 CS (Cloaven) 1987
Fruit of The Womb 1986 CS (Cloaven) 1987
Polite Deception 1986 CS (Cloaven) 1987
Famous Asthma 1986-87 CS (Cloaven) 1987
The Palm Leaves of Victory 1986-87 CS (Cloaven) 1987
Cloaven Theatre No. 1 1987 CS (Cloaven) 1987
Cloaven Theatre No. 2 1987 CS (Cloaven) 1987
Tibetan Jazz 666 1987 CS (Cloaven) 1987
The Multiple Hallucinations of an Assassin 1987-88 CS (Cloaven) 1989
Cloaven Theatre No. 3 1988 CS (Cloaven) 1989
Audio Letter to Mitch Meyers 1988 CS (Cloaven) 1989
That Old Western Sieve 1988 CS (Cloaven) 1989
Graverobbing in the Future 1988 CS (Cloaven) 1989
Extra-Sensory Defection CS (Cloaven) 1989
The Great North American Tricksters CS (Cloaven) 1990
Pelican 92 CS (Abduction) 1993

LP’s/CD’s

Sun City Girls LP (Placebo) 1984
Grotto of Miracles LP (Placebo) 1986
Horse Cock Phepner (Placebo) LP/CS 1987
Torch of the Mystics LP (Majora) 1990, CD reissue (Tupelo) 1993
Dawn of the Devi LP (Majora) 1991
Live from Planet Boomerang 2-LP (Majora) 1992
Bright Surroundings, Dark Beginnings LP (Majora) 1993, CD reissue (Majora) 1998
Valentines from Matahari LP (Majora) 1993, CD reissue (Majora) 1998
Live at C.O.N. Artists LP (Poon Village) 1993
Kaliflower CD/LP (Abduction) 1993
Juggernaut LP (Abduction) 1994
Piasa…Devourer of Men LP (Abduction) 1994
Jacks Creek LP (Abduction) 1994
Dante’s Disneyland Inferno 2-CD (Abduction) 1996, 3-LP reissue (Locust) 2002
330,003 Crossdressers from Beyond the Rig Veda 2-CD (Abduction) 1996, 3-LP reissue (Locust) 2001
Live from the Land of the Rising Sun City Girls CD (Japan Overseas) 1997
Box of Chameleons 3-CD box (Abduction) 1997
Dulce soundtrack LP (Abduction) 1998
Cameo Demons and Their Manifestations CD (Abduction) 2000 – CFR vol. 1
The Dreamy Draw CD (Abduction) 2000 – CFR vol. 2
Superculto CD (Abduction) 2000 – CFR vol. 3
A Bullet Through the Last Temple CD (Abduction) 2000 – CFR vol. 4
Severed Finger With a Wedding Ring CD (Abduction) 2000 – CFR vol. 5
Sumatran Electric Chair CD (Abduction) 2001 – CFR vol. 6
Libyan Dream CD reissue (Abduction) 2001 – CFR vol. 7
The Handsome Stranger CD (Abduction) 2001 – CFR vol. 8
High Asia/Lo Pacific 2-CD reissue (Abduction) 2001 – CFR vols. 9 & 10
Wah CD (Abduction) 2002
Flute and Mask CD (Abduction) 2002
God is My Solar System/Superpower 2-LP reissue (Eclipse) 2003
Bleach Has Feelings, Too!/To Cover Up Your Right To Live 2-LP reissue (Eclipse) 2003
Carnival Folklore Resurrection Radio 2-CD (Abduction) 2004 – CFR vols. 11 & 12
The Fresh Kill of a Cape Hunting Dog / Def In Italy 2-LP reissue (Eclipse) 2004
98.6 IS DEATH CD (Abduction) 2004 – CFR vol. 13
Folk Songs of the Rich and Evil / Exotica on $5 a Day 2-LP reissue (Eclipse) 2005
Uncle Jim’s Superstars of Greenwich Meantime LP (Black Velvet Fuckere Records) 2005
Static from the Outside Set CD (Abduction) 2006 – CFR vol. 14
Uncle Jim’s Superstars of Greenwich Meantime CD reissue (Abduction) 2006
Live Room CD (Three Lobed) 2006
Montreal Pop CD
Djinn Funnel LP (Nashazphone) 2006
Piano Bar LP (Ri Be Xibalba) 2006
For Drummers Only LP (Ri Be Xibalba) 2006
Beginnings Dark LP (Enterruption) 2007
Mister Lonely: Music From A Film By Harmony Korine with J. Spaceman LP/CD (Drag City) 2008
Funeral Mariachi LP/CD (Abduction) 2010

7-inch

And So The Dead Tongue Sang (Pulp) 1987
You’re Never Alone With a Cigarette (Majora) 1990
Three Fake Female Orgasms 2×7″ (Majora) 1991
Let’s Just Lounge (Majora) 1992
Napoleon and Josephine (Scratch) 1992
Caroliner tribute (Nuf Sed) 1992 [split with Thinking Fellers Union Local 282]
Eye Mohini (Majora) 1992
Borungku Si Derita double 7″ (Majora) 1993 [also issued as a single 7″]
Live…For Chilly (bootleg) 1993
Carl the Barber 2003 [split 7″ with Carl Wellman]
Uncle Jim’s True Confessions of Homeland Security (Empirical) 2003

I’m Off!

To help orchestrate KFAI’s co-sponsorship of THROWATHON, a 48HR Pottery Spinning Charity for Empty Bowls Polka Dance Party at the PNA Hall with Kids’ Art DJs spinnin live broadcast Sugar Shop Learning for Leadership kids deejaying then Jazzed Up & Bonkers Polish kielbasa Harriet Brewing Beer for sale but there’s free snowcones and popcorn on Saturday all as a part of ART-A-WHIRL WEEKEND which happens annually here in Minneapolis and is a true harbinger of spring although it is still in the 50s and windy and feels more like March but that’s how we whirl here in Minnesota.

Oh Evil Earworm

Earworm tunes. This happens to me ALL THE TIME. I have a great record collection which I listen to all the time. I listen to my favorite shows on KFAI and try to surround myself with music I love as much as I can. However, weird tunes enter and infect my ears and brain frequently and the only way that I can expunge them is to inflict them upon others. Sort of an exorcism. One time (years before the internet and youtube and stuff) I had Bryan Adams’ “Everybody Wants You,” stuck in my head for almost a week, so I broke down and bought the 45 and opened up my radio show with that insidious song. I’m sure I irritated my audience, but it needed to be done. Mental floss.

Alright, here was the first one…I think I just saw the words “Black is Back,” and that of course set me off:

And then – and this is a bad one – I was whistling (my whistling skills are really lame) and this little ditty came to mind. (I posted that one on Facebook, and I think my husband and my friend Jeff unfriended me.)

 

 

 

Psych from Afrika

Continuing my Saturday morning diskjockering…. There was so much fuzzed out greatness going on in different parts of Africa (particularly Zambia) during the 70s which much of the world didn’t know about. http://www.nuvo.net/ACulturalManifesto/archives/2013/08/20/african-psychedelic-rock  For a steady diet of this kind of stuff, check out Kinda Cloudy Radio on kfai.org/kindacloudyradio – DJ Steely will hook you up with some amazing Afrobeat and more.

The ask

http://kfai.org/voicecriedsoftly So I’ll be at the helm for Voice Cried Softly tonight, trying to keep us crazy midnighters on course to do non-cryptic and quasi-intelligent pledge rapping, as we are in the second day of Pledge Drive. Sometimes when I p’rap with Eric, the regular show host, I’ve gotta sort of peel him off the ceiling, as he gets off track a little bit when he starts talking about Jackie Chan movies, and not reasons why you should call 612-375-9030 to join KFAI. Eric won’t be there tonight, so I won’t need the spatula and forceps.

Can you feel the love at this silly radio station?

 

Such tomfoolery on these occasions

I’ll have some semi-normal folks rappin with me tonight…oh, wait, Machinist Man wants to come down and help out tonight…hardly normal (and I mean that in the most loving way, dear) but we’ll get the job done. We’ve got the Nighthawk swooping in with sage advice and maybe some punk banjo riffs. So tune in at the witching hour, Midnight tonight, we put the dumb in fundraising.

P’drive

So we’ve arrived at the spring p’drive once again – umm, does that mean winter’s actually over? Alrighty, then. Bring it on!!! http://kfai.org/events/station-events/kfai-spring-2014-pledge-drive

Anyone who talks to me for more than an hour or so gets to hear about KFAI. I’m sort of obnoxious that way. KFAI’s a part of me, and I know I’m not the only one. Ask most of the 500 volunteers and 5 paid staff how they feel about the station, and I’m certain you’ll hear a similar loving tune.

Lots of stuff happening! We’re one of the 18 nonprofit winners of THE NERDERY Challenge – we get to have a talented nerd team work on developing our website for a consecutive 24 hours. That along with funding KFAI will be receiving from the State of MN will bring our website up to snuff and help us to better meet the needs of our community.

I have been proud to be a member of the Freshen Up Fresh Air (FUFA) Committee – we’ve done some painting in the Kitchen/Galley, Front Lobby, Greenroom and both bathrooms, purchased some new furniture (may it arrive before pledge drive, please….) Additionally, Chris Elpers, a member of KFAI’s Community Advisory Board and owner of Chris Elpers Carpentry, has redone the kitchen cabinets, replaced the kitchen countertop, and installed flooring in the kitchen and bathrooms. I’m probably missing something here. It was a ton of work!!! So happy the project is almost complete as of this writing.

Loads of other happenings that I’m also skipping, but I’d like to get this posted at some point… Please frequent our frequencies 90.3 FM Minneapolis and 106.7 FM St. Paul, and go to our website www.kfai.org.

Lots of energy going into the training for pledge drive and we really hope to kick ass this spring drive.

Nuff sed.