UPON READING THE MINUTES OF THE SORTA BOARD
CityBeat -- Porkopolis
http://www.citybeat.com/2005-07-13/porkopolis.shtml
Politics can get SORTA circular in the biggest small town in America. Last year musician Elliott Ruther helped Cincinnati City Councilman John Cranley mount a fight against the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority (SORTA) when most of its board, and Chairman Benjamin Gettler most of all, wanted to jack up fares on Metro buses while reducing service and cutting Sunday rides altogether. The contentious debate ended early this year in a tenuous compromise in which riders pay more but Sunday service remains intact.
Ruther first got involved because he moonlights as Cranley's aide. Or maybe it's the other way 'round. In any case, fledgling label Brown Room Records has donated a copy of Ruther's debut album, Rock-N-Roll Conceived, to all 41 branches of the Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County. (For CityBeat's review of the album, see "Rock-N-Roll Salvation," issue of May 4-10.)
That's generous of Ruther and Brown Room Records, but it's also a bit subversive. The album's last, unlisted track is "Upon Reading the Minutes of the SORTA Board." With lines such as, "The plan puts us back at the back of the bus/ And it's more than SORTA clear," Ruther makes clear his own opinion of the transit agency, whose chairman happens to be married to Library Trustee Deliaan Gettler.
She, in turn, was the prime mover in getting "MTV Rock the Vote" kicked out of the Main Public Library just four days before the nonpartisan voter education concert was scheduled last year (see "Library Closes the Book on Political Discourse," issue of Oct. 20-26, 2004). It seemed Gettler, who echoes her husband in heavy contributions to the Republican Party, thought she sniffed a political agenda she didn't like.
Among those kicked out of the library, and very put out about it, was Matt Hood of the local band NSPCrew. And he, in turn, is now CEO of Brown Room Records.
CityBeat -- Spill It
http://www.citybeat.com/2005-01-05/musicspillit.shtml
Singer/songwriter Elliott Ruther has started Josie Wails and the Fusstones, a new recording project that teams him with bassist Joel Cotton (of the Elliott Ruther Trio and Uplift I) and drummer Dan Allaire (formerly of Pearlene and currently the touring drummer for the Brian Jonestown Massacre). The threesome converged to record the timely new song, "Upon Reading the Minutes of the SORTA Board," an intense burst of old-school, bleeding-raw Punk that's actually about something (just like the good ol' days). In this case, "SORTA" is a clever and biting damnation of the recently proposed bus fare hikes and discontinuation of Sunday bus service ("Don't make a fuss/Or yer bus will be cut"). The song is available through Ruther's Web site at elliottruther.com.
CiN Weekly
http://www.cinweekly.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050105/ENT0301/501050337/1046
You gotta love local musicians for being civic-minded in their songwriting.
Local musician Elliott Ruther (he sings and plays guitar in his own Elliott Ruther Project) has a new side project, Josie Wails and the Fusstones, with which he's recorded a new song, "Upon Reading the Minutes of the SORTA Board."
Visit www.elliottruther.com and click on the appropriate link for lyrics and to download the song. The Fusstones also include Joel Cotton on bass and Dan Allaire on drums.