It's Friday afternoon again!

We have a nice group of volunteers here today, working away on the various jobs we have to do in order to make a radio station work. It's cold outside, and school is coming to an end, and the flow of music into the station is finally slowing to a deluge from an avalanche. Phew.

Hopefully you caught the interviews and stuff on air this week. And there's even more next week! Keep an eye on the programming notes section on teh front page for all the deets, and you can check here for last minute stuff.

So. What is amusing us today at CJSW, giving us happy thoughts to take us into the weekend? Well. We always love a good "animal in the news" story, so when we saw this on Fark, we were pretty happy.

Our friends at CITR in Vancouver are just wrapping up their first ever Fundiing Drive and dudes went big! 2 weeks long and it looks like they're gonna break $15,000 which is amazing!

We're excited as we continue to learn all about blogging and stuff. We'll have links up to other blogs and stuff soon, once we come down from the excitement of discovering things like Technorati (oooo - blog aggregators! we've heard of these!) and Hype Machine.

Paper Thin Walls continue to discover the gems, namely the fact that Grizzly Bear (a band receiving some love here at CJSW, and hopefully one which will get more because of this) has posted the vocal track for a Smash Mouth song that never saw th light of day. If you want to hear what the miracles of production an do, as well as the lyrical mastery of whatever that dude's name is. Click here to get to Grizzly Bear's really nice site, and then scroll to the bottom of the page for the stream. Remember to imagine this man singing it. Yikes.



Okay. We're done. Time for after work pops and then a weekend full of excitement, dancing, fogged up glasses and desperately trying to stay warm. Hope yours is the same!

As promised, WtFC Contest!

If you listened to Welcome to Flava Country yesterday, you heard Gary Powers offer up the first in a (hopefully) ongoing contest - WITH HAIKUS! Yes, GP was asked to create a haiku by a listener and failed, so he has passed on the challenge to you, loyal cjsw listeners. For the first installment of the WtFC "Write a Hai-effin-ku" contest the theme is "Ennui" - come up with a haiku about it, mail it to cjswfm@ucalgary.ca with the subject line "Haiku Contest" and you might win a bunch of music! Deadline is Monday, November 27 at noon.

Oh and a friend sent us this link yesterday - it's really unnerving:

Last minute programming note!

So last minute it actually can't even be included in the Programming NOtes section of the website! The Bloodlines will be calling into Welcome to Flava Country today around 5 pm MST! They're great, they're opening for The Dears and are quite photogenic, as you can see from this picture, taken at a show they performed at Broken City earlier this year!

Friday Afternoon Distractions

Ok, so as promised, we have Kallen Law's review of the Bonnie Prince Billy shows he saw in Van-city last weekend - three nights of fanboy love!



Part 1:
WILL MOTHERFUCKING OLDHAM.

St. James Hall is THE most beautiful and fitting place i could ever dream of to see Oldham play in. it's basically a small church. it's rustic and really intimate but there's still a feeling of grandeur due to the fact that it still looks like a church. it sounds contradictory but trust me on this. the capacity of the place is smaller than i expected so i feel so lucky that i got tickets to all three shows.

Human Bell was a pretty interesting opener. two guys with guitars playing instrumental psych-rock (heavy on the repetitive riffs, etc.). it might get pretty old for the next two nights cause the songs i heard last night followed the exact same structure. simple riff, repeat, add more on top. it's good to listen to for a bit but the repetition made me nod off for a bit...still decent though.

Will Oldham himself. Human Bell came on right at 8 and Oldham right at 9. i've never been to a show that was this punctual (probably because they have to be out of there by a certain time). he played for about two hours. absolutely astounding. probably tied with that Dirtbombs show earlier this year as the best show i've ever been to (and how could i not think this? you know me...he could have gone up by himself and whistled the entire time and i still would have thought this)...but no, i'm not saying this because i'm a fanboy but because it was genuinely amazing.

he has a tremendous amount of personality live. his interactions with the band and the audience are equally entertaining and hilarious. he moves around the stage and his legs contort into these weird and awkward positions. it sounds weird and it is.

they played a relaxed but focused set. most of the songs were more upbeat versions of his studio material. i'm sure it can go either way with him. i've heard bootlegs where he's ultra mellow and where it was like last night...

anyway...i didn't write down the setlist cause i'm not THAT dorky but highlights if you're still reading and give a shit:
-he opened with "Pushkin" and then went into "A King At Night"...perfect.
-"Horses" (Mekons cover)
-teaching Azita (the keyboardist) how to play "I Gave You" (i can't even begin to describe how surreal seeing this was)
-a completely fucked up version of "Three Questions" that is completely the opposite of everything the original studio version is
-obviously "I See a Darkness"
-the live versions of the songs he played off the new album are enhanced a billion times off the originals.
-the encore included "John the Baptist"...oh man.

i'm forgetting a billion things probably cause i'm trying to remember all of it at once and it's all rushing back to me. i can't wait for the next two nights.

Part 2:
i'll get to the point.

second night - whole different beast. the band was pretty much mellowed out and completely restrained. they barely bantered amongst themselves or with the audience. thought i was watching a different band from the first night. it was a decent show though. and they played "His Hands", which is probably the most unexpected song.

third night - still no banter but musically, probably on par with the first night. fucking "O Let It Be", holy fucking shit. the extended hippie noise jam at the end of Human Bell's set where basically everyone from both bands went onstage and wanked out on guitars. not so cool. guys, it might have sounded like a great idea backstage but really, think about the audience next time? not all of us are stoned.

oh yeah, for the first two nights, Bonny's band invited Dave Heumann (one of the guys from Human Bell, the other guy being Nathan Bell...GET IT GUYS???) up to do backing vocals for a cover of the Grateful Dead's "Brokedown Palace". now, i'm no Deadhead nor do i think i ever will be, but both times were just fucking beautiful.

Kallen Law

OK, in other Friday aft minituae:
We were reminded of this in the past couple of days, and as it has been a while since I've seen it, and it's funny as hell, I thought why not?

The Plug Awards nominees were announced this week. Calgary's very own Chad Van Gaalen is nominated for best Male Artist - woohoo! We just won't get into the backend of things. Lots of Canadians show up this year as nominees for the awards that deal with strictly indie artists, and while we can quibble with some of the categories (Comets on Fire are metal? Jenny Lewis is Americana?) it's still worth taking the time to vote for your favourite artists.

Speaking of voting, th emore well heeled/music fanatics who are planning on attending the second of 2007's All Tomorrow's Parties shuold buy your tickets now, as you get to vote for who you see rather than it being curated by such musically ignorant scenesters Sonic Youth, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs or Slint.

Lastly, the best record of 2007 that hasn't been leaked yet (hi Bloc Party, The Shins and Of Montreal) is The Broken West's I Can't Go On, I'll Go On. It comes out January 23 and pop fans are gonna lose their shit over this one. Here's a track to whet your appetite - this song was on an EP that came out earlier this year, but shows up on the upcoming full length as well.



The Broken West Down In The Valley M4a

Overdue Update

So, it's been a while since our last post. Recovering from and catching up from Funding Drive is no easy task, but we're nearly there. I (Music Director Derek McEwen) attended the CMJ conference from October 31 - November 4 in New York City. Craziness. Unfortunately I lost the MD of the Year in a hotly contested (at least I hope, anyway) to Omar Hussein at CJLO. Though there may have been voting irregularities/faulty machines/ballot stuffing, I didn't complain. I was too busy seeing bands. Besides having a Canadian win the award up against the mighty(?) US College Radio Machine is a coup, and us Canadians are all about solidarity. Or something.

TODAY! Listen to the Road Pops between 4 and 6pm MST for what is sure to be a lovely conversation between Grant and Kevin and Calgary's finest country singer Matt Masters! The heartbreakin', baritone voiced man about town is going to be playing at Broken City tonight to celebrate his latest disc, Centennial Swell! Opening act Romi Mayes might drop by as well! Here's a kinda grainy, b&w photo of Matt that actually makes him look like a historical figure:


This weekend, there's tons going on around town. Seriously - Uncut play tonight at the Liberty Lounge, Dr. Octagon at Broken City tomorrow night, AND if you're a long time Calgary music fan, you surely remember Mico! They're back (in some form) and playing a CD release tomorrow night at the HIFi Club. Get yer scene nostalgia on, kids! Finding a picture of Mico or their main man Jon Stewart wasn't easy, but apparentlyl Mico is also a popular name for cats, so here's a picture of a cat in an empty box of beer. Noting the shot glass in the lower right corner of the frame, it' safe to assume some drunk people thought this was HILARIOUS.



Oh if you're in a band, New Music West a festival/conference held in Vancouver every year is accepting applications. Please don't consider the link an endorsement of the event. We'll let you decide if it's worth it or not.

Just a reminder that the office is NOT open on weekends anymore to accept your pledges. We are still taking your payments Monday Friday 10-6 though! COme down and get your swag if you haven't already!

Ok. So Monday, we'll be posting the exciting programming notes for the week - there's at least one interview on Monday, and another on Tuesday, and we'll take it from there. It's going to be yet another busy week in the life of your favourite campus station in the world, CJSW.

Oh and later today, to make your Friday aft just a lil easier, we'll post our very own Kallen Law's review of the Bonnie 'Prince' BIlly shows that happened in Vancouver last week. We'd post it now, but it's in his myspace blog, and apparently myspace is effin' broken. Ugh.

The Swag is Just Flying off the Shelves!

Folks, if you haven't come up to the station and paid your pledge yet, and you're looking to have your pick of colours and sizes, well... I'm sorry to have to tell you you're too late...

• We are out of the El Salvador Fair Trade women's long sleeve t-shirts
• We are out of XXL hoodies
• Ladies shirt sizes/colours are limited
• XXL shirts are in VERY low supply

I'm not saying you have to come up to the station right away to pay your pledge, but if you do want to make sure you get the clothing you want in the size and colour you want, I'm thinking you don't want to leave it for much longer.

Luckily, the volunteers here at CJSW are working extra long hours to make easier for you to find the time to head up to the CJSW offices (Room 127, down the hall from the den in the basement of the MacEwan Student Center). For the rest of this week and the following week, we'll be running the following extended office hours:

• Monday - Thursday: 9:00AM - 9:00PM
• Friday: 9:00AM - 6:00PM
• Saturday/Sunday: 10:00AM - 6:00PM

Hope to see you soon!

(Oh, and for the curious, our total now stands at $220,069! Incredible, Calgary. Thanks once again)