Yes, I'm thankful to all of you for your birthday wishes from over a month ago.

And that month would be April. And I was sick for most of it. Which is why I never thanked most of you for sending Happy Birthday messages and profile comments; that, and I didn't catch up on the backlog from being sick enough to look at my Inbox at Myspace until about a month after my birthday.

On April 6 I went to one of only two birth-family weddings I've attended in the last decade (out of many more invites), and my godfather (least said, better), my sister and who knows who else had colds, which, despite frequent hand washing on my part, I came down with shortly thereafter. Made me miserable right through the end of the month.

I'm still digging out from under the backlog. But, to be accurate, I'm digging out of the backlog of the Annus Horibilus 2007, when my PC died a slow death, losing data several times before my move to Mac. And the Mac learning curve. And the reconfiguring of my listening habits to deal with not being on the radio. (Interrupting this run-down: Would every and any body who cares to please bug me incessantly and mercilessly to start a podcast??? Please!) And the adjustment to Allen losing his job; returning to college (for a Certificate in Event Planning & Meeting Mgmt - he just graduated), getting an apprenticeship with the George Street Playhouse, and the perpetual learning process of life-partnership. And re-discovering how morose I get in the winter, and literally digging out of the weeds and vines that overrun our yards over the last few years while I tried to recover - especially in my knees and feet - from the work and self-injury of moving in, and without health coverage.

Blah blah blah. I don't THINK I tend to get so victim-y in the stuff I post to blogs or write to most of you who read this. But sometimes I just have to get the shit out of my system, and this seems like the most efficient means of letting the most of you possible get a sense of what's been going on.

Which, when it comes down to it, is just the world saying to me: Congratulations! You have a lot of problems, just like everyone else.

What I've been doing is to do as much yard work as possible, at least an hour 5 days a week since the beginning of May, more hours some days. And this counts as a great deal of my exercise and aerobic activity. Borrrrrr-ing, I know, to read about me weeding and cutting the lawn and planting pansies. But for me it's a change and an improvement in how I spend my time. Which cuts into the days I spent tied to the keyboard (like the last few, which I'll get to in a moment).

I've also been listening to as much new music from as many different people as possible, again, now that I've refound bookmarked sites I'd lost, found new ones, and stopped spending every waking moment listening to podcasts (only 1/3 of which were music programs). And tweaking household things, and working on my perpetual difficulties with time management and planning.

And I wrote two of my "Dancing To Architecture" columns for GAAMC Challenge (the newsletter of the Gay Activist Alliance in Morris County (NJ)), came up with the descriptive subtitle for it"Music reviews & news with a Queer Ear," and trying to connect / reconnect with as many musicians as I can in the process of preparing for them.

Lately I've been preparing copies of the latest column to hand out at Jersey Pride weekend, today (Saturday May 31) and tomorrow (Sunday June 1), in Asbury Park. If all goes well, you should be able now or soon to go to gaamc.org/services and find a link to the column, too, in pdf form and glorious color (which we can't afford to print in).

So, I know it's late notice, but if you can, come on down today (the main party is in the afternoon, called Foreplay, www.NJForeplay.com FMI) or tomorrow (Sunday's the big festival starting at Noon). Great music can be had at both! Foreplay has Nekked, Josh Zuckerman and Troy Rusnack playing live. Jersey PrideFest (www.JerseyPride.org) has Christine Martucci Band ("There You Are"), Nekked again, Regina Sayles, Sweet Namaste, Telling On Trixie and the new-to-me and phenomenal Danielia Cotton. I think they're all Myspace friends of mine, so you can listen to their music if you like, but don't stick to your 'puters too long, you still have to travel to Asbury. Also performing (and I'm separating them out only because I don't think they're myspace friends (yet), Martin "Bear Naked" Swinger and, headlining, THE Martha Wash. For once, Jersey Pride has both a line-up worth paying for, and a headlner with real talent (not just studio trickery and costumes). AND ITS FREE!!! -

WELLLLLLL -- they do ask at the entrances for a donation; I think they ask for 5-10 bucks. It's totally worth it. And if you can't pay it, just say so and you should still be able to attend.

I also hope to see some of you at Ron Morris' CD release party June 18 at the Metropolitan Room in NYC -- go to www.ronmorrismusic.com for details, and to see his brand new video "We All Sleep Alone": a perfect 2 minutes and change of understated intimacy!; and at Louis C K's stand-up concert at the State Theatre in New Brunswick NJ on June 27 (yes, really); and at the XPoNential Music Festival in Camden's Wiggins Park on July 11-13. (And, if all goes well, at the True Colors Tour in Denver (yes, the one in CO) on July 5.)

Is that enough? I know I've forgotten something, but that will have to do for now. I have to cut the grass in 7 hours.

Be well, keep on keepin' in touch, I love you (those of you i love) and want the best for all of you.

Bill,
obviously feeling the euphoric effect of those Omega 3&6 supplements over the last 5 weeks, that Guinness Stout 5 hours ago, and all the great sunshine I get in the garden these days.

STOP.

WATCHING.

O. J.

STOP.

TALKING ABOUT,

PAYING ATTENTION TO,

O. J.

1100 is HomoRadio.

WRPI Troy, NY, is the only station I know (other than WBAI for brief stretches and WRSU when I was active there) to have TWO gay shows on broadcast radio - RPI's other, newer, one is The Quest of Life, hosted by Harry Faddis and Steve Sims. (They're in my "friends" list, too.) I've spent enough time listening to know they do good radio. Good radio is rare, folks, so read that as a rave. Put in in your schedule to listen, yourself.

I kinda regret I never got around to putting in an add request with these guys before now. I probably received, and missed taking action on, an add request FROM them. Then again, life's too short for regret for not spending MORE time scooting around myspace, so I forgive myself.

Here's how HomoRadio describe themselves:

Celebrating our 15th anniversary this year, HomoRadio is the voice of the New York Capital District's lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community.

This award-winning program features news, interviews, event listings, giveaways, music by LGBT artists, and much more, as well as "This Way OUT," the international lesbian and gay radio magazine.

Check us "OUT," live, every Sunday from noon til 2 pm on WRPI 91.5 fm, on RPI television channel 2 (campus wide), and via Real Audio at www.wrpi.org

For interview inquiries, to volunteer, or to learn more, e-mail us at HomoRadio@yahoo.com or send us a message here on MySpace.

They're at www.myspace.com/homoradio - Natch'!

For what honor it bestows, Congratulations Homoradio on becoming the 1100th Friend 'round here, and becoming a permanent milestone in my list.

On to 1200!

Paul Simon at 60-ish, Dan Bern, and musical benchmarks and standards

Surprise! It's another blog tonight. (I'm surprising myself!)

I wrote a letter to a musician I know on myspace (whose identity I'll remove from this) and suddenly I started a digression about my memory of something I heard and saw yesterday, a digression that became my main point. And it's one I want to share with y'all.

Are you familiar with Dan Bern?

He's been around for about 15 years, another guy with a guitar with a following and no major general public breakthrough. His New American Language album in 2001 was something like my 5th favorite album of the year. I thing the energy it takes to maintain that level of output with mostly do-it-yourself resources took some of the wind out of him...

But it finally occurred to me that when I listen to you...

First, Let me back up a moment.

As a music critic, a critical listener to music, one who listens to music critically - as well as viscerally - I, fairly or not, have a kind of internal evaluation system. And subconsciously or consciously (depending on the day and the music), I've realized that one of the elements which goes into that evaluation is the music I really love. My favorite music becomes a goal point for others to meet or surpass, and other music I love, like, tolerate or disdain become benchmarks.

So, as I was saying, it finally occurred to me, listening to Dan Bern today just after writing to you, that Dan Bern is the high benchmark standard to which I compare you.

I'm not looking for every guy with a guitar to be Bob Dylan. (Dylan isn't even one of my reeeealy favorite musicians.) But there's a part of me that goes: If Dan Bern can do it, these other guys can, too.

In fact, to further illustrate, I saw Paul Simon on the Sundance Channel / BBC series "Live At Abbey Road" last night, performing three tunes, and one was (live, in one take) "Slip Sliding Away." (Unforgettable, yet I take it for granted.) Now, Paul IS one of my reeeeeeeeally favorite musicians, and I'm watching him do a mellow, tasty, just what you'd expect, high-quality performance of the song. And I'm sitting there. and Paul sings this not-very-loud but long, sustained note, a near-the-top-pitch-sung in the song note. And the thought crosses my mind: Never mind the song I have got to stop taking this performance for granted.

Sure, he's a old pro at this. But WHOA THERE! - How many 60-something former pop stars are singing with such clarity, such grace? I can't think of any. Neil Young's voice has never been synonymous with clarity and grace, Dylan's is old-sounding - full of character, but weighted by the years, and McCartney's sounds like a broken record - like everything he does of late he just seems to have given up maintaining anything hinting at a high standard. But over there is Paul Simon, NOT yelling his head off, making beautiful sounds come from his voice.

And Paul's the one in Simon & Garfunkle who wasn't "The Singer".

And in awe as I was, my brain nearly instantaneously turned to the following thought: If he can do it, why can't X numbers of musicians, especially those working for years performing pretty songs, do it? From the obscure dull struggling bastards I reject add-requests from on myspace, to Rufus Wainwright and his mush-mellow mouth, it's no wonder I get pissed off at the success of Rufus-like pop pretenders when this 60-something with nothing to prove can sing a gorgeously-rendered line like that.

So, yeah, you see? I'm not hard on the individual musician. I don't compare folks in rock music to, oh, Joe Williams or Sarah Vaughn (or Pavarotti, not that I'm qualified to), but I do compare them to what's possible if they train, study, practice, play well.

And the low benchmark to my high benchmarks? I want to hear people do better than I did when I heard myself sing and play guitar, and thought myself not worthy of playing publicly if I can't do better than that.

Here's Dan Bern's profile. Maybe hearing him would be fun. Maybe useful. He has up 4 of his lesser-known tracks (2 are unreleased). He also has something raucous and gentle and folk and rock and a few other seeming contradictions to him that all spring from his him-ness. I give plenty of credit to people who sound like themselves - much as I love 'im, I don't want anyone sounding like Paul Simon, either... exactly...

Have a good one.

Bill

Check this link: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=29779135

 Message from Brave New Films

August 29 marks the 2-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, and still there are tens of thousands of families without homes.  30,000 families are scattered across the country in FEMA apartments, 13,000 are in trailers, and hardly any of the 77,000 rental units destroyed in New Orleans have been rebuilt.  To share some of these people's stories, we have put together a short film, "When the Saints Go Marching In."

... the heartbreaking stories of good people unable to return home.  ...the Aguilar family who lost their home to the storm and only received $4,000 in payments from their insurance company.  ...Mr. Washington, an 87-year-old man and former carpenter,  owned three homes prior to the storm.  He is still living in a FEMA trailer today. ...Julie, who could have returned to her job and normal life if the government had opened up the public housing units that she had lived in prior to the storm.  Watch their stories here [5 mins]: http://whenthesaints.org/

There is something very specific you can do to help.  Sign the petition urging the Senate to pass the Gulf Coast Recovery Bill of 2007 (S1668).  http://whenthesaints.org/ The bill is expected to come to a vote after Labor Day.  Its passage will be an important step toward rebuilding the infrastructure in the Gulf Coast region.

Please pass the video on and encourage people to sign the petition.  It's important we all support the Gulf Coast region's right to return home and put the needed resources toward rebuilding these families' lives.

  1.  Call your Senators: Call your senators and ask them to support the Gulf Coast Recovery Bill of 2007 (S1668). In addition, encourage them to support Sen. Landrieu's (D, La) points which adds further amendments for public housing tenants and very low-income residents displaced by the storm. [Only some senators' phone s are below, due to space limits. The entire list, and the more detailed version this blog is based on, is at http://whenthesaints.org/links.php?f=1&message=Thank+you+for+signing+the+petition%21]

   2. Become a Disaster Accountability Monitor or Blogger. DisasterAccountability.org is a website that monitors the nation's disaster prevention, response, relief, and recovery system. They are building a non-partisan, citizen oversight network across the country to report and verify gaps in disaster relief services. If gaps are made public, they are more likely to be addressed, and faster. You can also make policy recommendations on their website or share your disaster story.
   3. Watch "Voices from the Gulf." If you were affected by Hurricane Katrina, please submit your own video to the project.
   4. Learn more about the issue. See below for articles and bills on Katrina-related issues.

Information on the Gulf Coast Recovery Bill (S1668)

 Official Status of the Bill on GovTrack
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s110-1668
 Text of the Bill on GovTrack
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=s110-1668
 Gulf Coast Recovery Bill Expected in Senate
http://www.nlihc.org/detail/article.cfm?article_id=4273
 Side By Side Comparison of House Bill 1227 and Senate Bill 1668
http://www.nlihc.org/doc/s1668_Side-by-Side.pdf

Update on New Orleans and Gulf Coast Region

 Katrina Information Network
http://www.katrinaaction.org/
 USA Today: 66% are back in New Orleans, but basic services still lag
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-08-12-neworleans_N.htm

Housing in the Gulf Coast Post-Katrina

 After Katrina, hope and despair coexist (Los Angeles Times, 8/25/2007)
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-katrina25aug25,0,6549304.story?coll=la-home-center
 Katrina Aid Goes To $1 Million Luxury Condos As Hardest-Hit Areas Remain In Ruin
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20070813/katrina-luxury-condos/

Other Issues in Post-Katrina Gulf Coast Region

 New Orleans Children Fighting for the Right To Learn
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/080907A.shtml
 Education Among the Devastation
http://www.wiretapmag.org/education/43207/
 Katrina victims struggle mentally
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-08-16-neworleans-illness_N.htm
 Katrina and race
http://commonsense.ourfuture.org/its_blacks_0

PARTNER ORGANIZATIONS:
[please google for links to most of what follows.]
Center for Social Inclusion works to build a fair and just society by dismantling structural racism.

ColorOfChange.org empowers our members - Black Americans and our allies - to make the government more responsive to the concerns of Black Americans and to bring about positive political and social change for everyone.

Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center is a private, non-profit civil rights organization established to eradicate housing discrimination throughout the Greater New Orleans area.

Advancement Project is a democracy and justice action group. AP seeks to ensure that the voices of low-income Gulf Coast residents are heard and weigh in on rebuilding discussions.

Kirwan Institute for Study of Race and Ethnicity is currently mapping the impact of the storm and the distribution of opportunities in the region. The goal is to understand what strategies can connect those affected by the storm into the region's remaining opportunity structures.

Plenty International is village-based international development agency. Plenty has been sending relief supplies and volunteers to the Gulf Coast region since 2005.

Ella Baker Center for Human Rights is a strategy and action center working for justice, opportunity and peace in urban America.

Moving Forward Gulf Coast is a community organization led by natives of the Gulf Coast region for families who want to rebuild their lives in the Gulf Coast, but cannot because of lack of funds or information.

Oxfam America is a non-profit organization that works to end global poverty through saving lives, strengthening communities, and campaigning for change. Hurricane Katrina spurred Oxfam America's first US relief project.

National Alliance to Restore Opportunity to the Gulf Coast & Displaced Persons is an inclusive national coalition of faith-based and social justice non-profit organizations.

Methodist Federation for Social Action unites activists within the United Methodist Church.

Mississippi ACLU is the foremost defender of the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights. The ACLU has played a major role in nearly every critical civil liberties battle of the last century.

Institute on Race and Poverty

Think New Orleans. Alan Guiterrez blogs about the progressive happenings including the rebuilding of infrastructure, policy happenings, and events in NO.

Videos of interest:
Voices From The Gulf
Hurricane Katrina: The Fight for Housing in New Orleans
When The Levees Broke
Surviving Katrina
Still Waiting: Life After Katrina
Right To Return
This Is My Home
Fema City

SENATORS:
Arizona
Jon Kyl -R
202-224-4521; 224-2207
Phoenix: 602-840-1891

John McCain (R
202-224-2235; 228-2862
Phoenix: 602-952-2410

Arkansas
Blanch Lincoln (D
202-224-4843; 228-1371
Little Rock: (501-375-2993

Mark Pryor (D
202-224-2353; 228-0908
Little Rock: 501-324-6336

California
Barbara Boxer (D
202-224-3553; 202-228-2382
San Francisco: 415-403-0100

Dianne Feinstein (D
202-224-3841; 228-3954
San Francisco: 415-393-0707

Connecticut
Christopher Dodd (D
202-224-2823; 224-1083
Wethersfield: (860-258-6940

Joeseph Lieberman (I
202-224-4041; 224-9750
Hartford: 860-549-8463

Florida
Bill Nelson (D
202 224-5274; 228-2183
Orlando: 407-872-7161

Mel Martinez (R
202 224-3041; 228-5171
Orlando: 407-254-2573

Illinois
Dick Durbin (D
202 224-2152; 228-0400
Chicago: 312-353-4952

Barack Obama (D
202 224-2854; 228-5417
Chicago: 312-886-3506

Maryland
Barbara Mikulski (D
202-224-4654; 224-8858
Baltimore: 410-962-4510

Ben Cardin (D
202-224-4524: 224-1651
Baltimore: 410-962-4436

Michigan
Debbie Stabenow (D
202-224-4822; 228-0325
East Lansing: 517-203-1760

Carl Levin (D
202-224-6221; 224-1388
Detroit: 313226-6020

New Jersey
Robert Menendez (D
202-224-4744; 228-2197
Newark: 973-645-3030

Frank Lautenberg (D
202-224-3224; 228-4054
Newark: 973-639-8700

New York
Hillary Clinton (D
202-224-4451; 228-0282
New York: 212-688-6262

Charles Schumer (D
202-224-6542; 228-3027
New York: 212-486-4430

Pennsylvania
Arlen Specter (R
202-224-4254; 228-1229

I posted a video! I'm soooo moh-dairn and with-it!

It's right back over there, on my profile.

Couldn't resist The Happy in it.

And it's a perfect counterpoint, seems to me, to Sleater-Kinney's "Entertain".

Gotta love it all.

Be well. Good stuff is coming. I can feel it. (or I just have a Bowling For Soup hangover.)

Folks: Let's see whether *this* works now: I have copied below for y'all the latest blog entry from the myspace profile for an amazing production of Hedwig & The Angry Inch. Hopefully it'll show up formatted just right. I haven't had a minute to post here the review of the show I wrote for Challenge, so this is the least I can do before its previously-extended run at the Baronet Theatre in Asbury Park now has to end July 7. I know my blog readers live in Chicago, SoCal, etc, but anyone who can reasonably - or unreasonably - make it to the show, please do so. Need I say you won't regret it? The comments below the entry include my two cents.

Thanks,
Bill

Oh yeah, PS: I keep neglecting to mention (and get it recorded for posterity) that the second time I saw the show Aaron (Hedwid) and the band responded to calls for an encore with a transcendent version of Radiohead's "Creep" -- and those of you who know my opinion of Radiohead know how bizarre it is I said that. It was full of rock&roll power, insecure and confident all at once, joyous, and complete confirmation that these musicians really get it about rock's ability to make (words fail me) so much out of so little. I can't promise you a "Creep" encore, but that impromptu encore (two band members mentioned afterwards in passing that they'd never played it before) was a great moment I had to tell you about.

..> ..>

HEDWIG'S FINAL ASBURY PARK PERFORMANCE! CLOSING NIGHT FOR HEDWIG in ASBURY PARK!! WE NEED YOUR HELP!! SPREAD THE WORD!! FILL THE SEATS!! See HEDWIG LIVE for the LAST TIME in ASBURY PARK!! Local Musician Returns to The Angry Inch for final performance!! Ladies and gentlemen, the sad and unfortunate time has come. Due to unforeseen circumstances, Hedwig is being KICKED OUT of Asbury Park! After 3 months, Hedwig will officially close in Asbury Park on Saturday, July 7th @ 8PM This has been an incredible ride. So many people have helped to see Hedwig in New Jersey for the first time, and it's been years in the making. Your support has been amazing.WE MUST GO OUT WITH A BIG BANG!! WE MUST PROVE TO ASBURY PARK THAT LIVE THEATRE CAN SURVIVE. Don't allow THE BARONET THEATRE to be TORN DOWN!! The Asbury Park Press has called the show "ENERGETIC, LOUD, & HILARIOUS". The Aquarian, the tri-state area's leading rock&roll magazine calls it a "spectacular stage achievement... not a moment to miss..." Bill Stella, music columnist and DJ says "Aaron Berk as Hedwig gives perhaps the single strongest musical theater performance I've seen in New Jersey – and I've been going to New Jersey theater - and to rock shows - for about 35 years." With articles on PLAYBILL.com, BROADWAYWORLD.com, HX.com, and PEREZHILTON.com, our MySpace is FLOODED with incredible reviews, life-changing experiences, and enthusiastic fans. We can't even pinpoint our target audiences: the show has thrilled every age and type. Joining The Angry Inch for their final performance will be ARLAN FEILES, popular New Jersey musician, who will be reprising his role after playing the first touring productions in Boston of HEDWIG, working side by side with composer Stephen Trask. Arlan currently appears with his band, Arlan Feiles and his Lone Orchestra. Arlan joins the acclaimed cast of AARON BERK (Hedwig), BRE CADE (Yitzhak), BILLY HORN (Krzyzhtoff/Lead Guitar), STEPHEN PETRY (Jacek/Bass), and MICHAEL LAPP (Schlatko/Drums). The show has been produced by IN GOOD COMPANY, stage managed by ANNA OLEINIK, costumes by MONICA ZIMMERMAN, makeup by NICOLE RICCIO, lighting and hair by KATIE SMALL, sound by DAN DUBROW, projections by PETE CARTER, audio recordings by MARC SY-SANTOS, graffiti art and designs by ALI GLEASON and HEATHER RICHARDSON. The show is directed, musical directed, and designed by ANTHONY D'AMATO. We ask your help by spreading the word, or simply showing up. We have made this show, from the beginning, completely affordable. Tickets are $15 at the door, with a $10 reservation. The Baronet Theatre has been around for almost 100 years in Asbury Park. An old vaudeville and burlesque house, The Baronet then became an adult movie theatre, and a 2nd-run movie theatre before it closed for years. With the help of independent owners, director/producer Anthony D'Amato, and In Good Company, HEDWIG made it's New Jersey debut, and the theatre's FIRST musical production EVER. Since opening on April 7th, extending through June into July, gaining a nationally acclaimed actor for the role of HEDWIG, rotating musicians who have been playing the show exclusively since it's NYC run, the theatre has new owners, with no understanding of how a theatrical production is run. JOIN US FOR AN INCREDIBLE CLOSING NIGHT EXPERIENCE!! HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH Saturday, July 7th @ 8PM THE BARONET THEATRE 205 4th Ave., Asbury Park, NJ 07712 TICKETS $15 at the door $10 reservation by e-mailing HEDWIGasburypark@gmail.com GOODBYE WICKED LITTLE TOWN!!

..> ..>

	Count Zero (HHN)	..> ..> I'm already there Posted by Count Zero (HHN) on Tuesday, July 03, 2007 at 11:35 PM

..> ..>

	Alison	..> ..> I really hope I can make it! I've been wanting to see it again since I came in April. Posted by Alison on Thursday, July 05, 2007 at 12:16 PM

..> ..>

	Kat-tunes2ya	..> ..> EVERYONE/ANYONE/ALL.... DO NOT MISS THIS SHOW.... MAKE IT A MUST ON YOUR AGENDA/CALENDAR/EVENT PLANNER... THIS IS CHOCK FULL OF.... TALENT/HUMOR/GREAT VOCALS/WAY COOL MUSIC/DRAMA/COMEDY/HUMANITY/... NO EXCUSES.... IF YOU MISS THIS SHOW then..... YOU WILL BE CURSED WITH THE MOST AWLFUL SPELL EVER.... THIS IS ONE SHOW THAT WILL GUARANTEE... TO BLOW YOU AWAY FOR SURE...IN THE MOST CREATIVE -MAGICAL-STATE YOU EVER WANNA BE IN..... Posted by Kat-tunes2ya on Thursday, July 05, 2007 at 1:04 PM

..> ..> ..>..>

Bill Realman Stella

..>..> Anyone stumbling on this page at Myspace asking themselves whether to take a chance on this show -- TAKE A CHANCE ON THIS SHOW! My quote up top is no hype. I came out of this "Hedwig"'s performance twice, impressed to no end by the combination of theatrical magic and rock & roll spirit, and unable to express the depth and effect of Aaron Berk's commitment to character and to connecting with an audience. If I weren't at a long-planned event far (far) away, I'd be there. Even if it seems unreasonable for you to go, but you can get there, GO! - Bill Stella PS re having to leave the Baronet: Aaargh! Posted by Bill Realman Stella on Friday, July 06, 2007 at 9:28 AM

My 996th Friend was NaNuchka, who I previously blogged about.

I was kinda hoping they'd accept at my #1000 point, but I'm on the verge of accepting a request from 8traC Street Team myspace.com/8tracstreetteam which, unless one of my pending requests swoop in, will be 1000. I've only heard of them what I've heard on their profile, and they have a very tight party-funk sound, but they also list Michael Franti as an influence, so HELL yeah: This is how they put it:
..>..>

quincy jones, michael franti, sharon jones & the dapkings, nikka costa, me' shell, anthony hamilton, chili peppers, musique soulchild, U2, questlove & the roots, alicia keys, michael jackson, sufjan stevens, marvin gaye, jimi hendrix, common, stevie wonder, d'angelo, jill scott, strange fruit project, dmb, the slip, coldplay, george benson, flaming lips, prince, ozomatli, boards of canada, john mayer trio

Sounds Like

If Red Hot Chili Peppers, Nikka Costa, The Roots and Alicia Keys had a kid.....

...Even after namedropping Coldplay among that company, I can't complain about that list.
(I must be getting soft... I've just posted two blogs in a row with something non-critical to say about Headcold. ...err, RadioPlay. err ...YOU know.

Gotta go... internet access charges become twice as expensive from the hotel in a few minutes.

bill