Bob Jonkman provides computer tech support to homes, businesses, and community radio stations, engages in politics, and hopes to have a local affairs news show someday.
Technical troubles at CKMS-FM; a pitch for the Spring 2021 Fundraiser (yes the station phone number is +1‑519‑884‑2567); Concentrating on songs, not albums. Jake explains “Fingerstyle” or “Travis Picking”, and introducing Growing Pains.
Clockwise from bottom left: Peter Snow of the Soviet Influence, Jeff Stager of The Agriculture Show, and Bob Jonkman Our guest today on CKMS #CommunityConnections is Peter Snow from The Soviet Influence. We talk about music, making a video in pandemic times, and even about politics.
Who: In support of the Toronto Prisoner’s Rights Project When: Sometime in August 2021 Where: Online (stay tuned to CKMS-FM for more info; this page will be updated)
Theme for CKMS Community Connections (by Steve Todd)
0m48s
Plant The Bombs
4m40s
There’s been a pandemic! But The Soviet Influence has still released two albums in 2021; the progression to becoming a more outspoken band; people like music with a message, The Soviet Influence is not a band to write romantic love songs; appearing on the 1492 Land Back Lane Mixtape; learning about Indigenous issues; introducing These Chains on that album; ; introducing Two Weeks.
13m18s
These Chains
15m50s
Oh Not Tonight
18m47s
Explaining the meaning of Oh Not Tonight; mixing albums when you can’t go into the studio; introducing the band: Peter Snow, lead vocals and guitar, Peter Morey on bass, Blake Morey drummer, Ty Mackenzie on guitar; a plug for Dave Partridge of HELM Recording; making a video in the home studio, making a home studio from a shed; writing a song ‘cos you need an encore; introducing Two Weeks, a song about Indigenous issues; explaining the album title This Band Is So God.
31m06
Two Weeks
34m36s
Doing some live online shows, paid video gigs; August compilation album for the Toronto Prisoner Rights Project; covering the social justice projects that need support, album proceeds go to these organizations. Bob and Jeff make a pitch for the Radio Waterloo Spring 2021 Fundraising Drive; explaining the Community at the Radio Station, is there a similar community amongst musicians? Peter says Yes, there is, but no formal organization of “social justice bands”. Yet.
47m46s
Oh Not Tonight
51m36s
Oh Not Tonight has played on commercial radio, that was unexpected! If you have music, submit it at office@radiowaterloo.ca, please excuse our delays in replying. Peter talks about upcoming songs, recordings, and live online events; talking about prison abolition; introducing The Guns of Brixton, originally by The Clash.
56m24s
The Guns of Brixton, and Bob gives the end credits.
CKMS Community Connections Hour One airs on CKMS-FM 102.7 on Monday from 11:00am to Noon, and Hour Two airs on Saturday from 1:00pm to 2:00pm.
Since the studio remains closed we’re playing more new Canadian Content and KW Content music today, and a few tracks released last year too. The definition of “KW Content” broadens yet again — while the group Your New False Gods hails from Scotland, lead singer Kevin Combe has family in Kitchener, and that makes them our neighbours from a different country. Right?
This weeks marks the start of a four-week Covid lockdown in Ontario, so the studio remains closed. No guests, but the music keeps on coming. All CanCon again this week, with some new material and some favourites.
There’s another lockdown for the Covid pandemic, and the Radio Waterloo studio remains closed. In good news, there are now vaccinations available in Waterloo Region, and there is lots of new music from local Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge, and Palm Springs musicians (OK, Michael Gagliardi lives in Palm Springs, but he’s got a house in Kitchener, so that counts as KWCon to me!)
Since the program is all music, there’s no podcast. If you want to listen to the music again, tune in to CKMS-FM 102.7 Radio Waterloo, or click through the artist links in the music index and buy their music!
It’s the first CKMS Community Connections show of spring, when grass is growing, birds are singing, and new music is released. The studio remains closed due to Covid so there’s no interviews, but we have lots of newly released music with several tracks from local Waterloo Region musicians!
Today is The Ides Of March, but the 15th of March falls in a run of other celebratory days: Pi Day, St. Urho’s Day, and of course, St. Patrick’s Day. So today we depart a bit from our usual format with some holiday music, and a poetry reading. The recording of Gene McCavic is a bit unclear, so here’s the text from the definitive St. Urho’s web site.
Ooksi kooksi coolama vee
Santia Urho is ta poy for me!
He sase out ta hoppers as pig as pirds.
Neffer peefor haff I hurd tose words!
He reely tolt tose pugs of kreen
Braffest Finn I effer seen
Some celebrate for St. Pat unt hiss nakes
Putt Urho poyka kot what it takes.
He kot tall and trong from feelia sour
Unt ate kala moyakka effery hour.
Tat’s why tat kuy could sase toes peetles
What krew as thick as chack bine neetles.
So let’s give a cheer in hower pest vay
On Sixteenth of March, St. Urho’s Tay.
It’s International Women’s Day, so today we’re celebrating by featuring music by the women of Waterloo Region. Sadly, there’s only an hour of CCC so we couldn’t possibly squeeze in all the wonderful musicians in Kitchener, Waterloo, Cambridge, and the townships. If you’ve got some music you’d like aired on Radio Waterloo then send an e-mail at office@radiowaterloo.ca and we’ll be happy to add it to our Digital Music Library. Full information is at How To Submit Music.
At 11:00am CCC is back for another week but the studio remains closed until further notice, so here’s some more Canadian Content music: Some so new it hasn’t been released yet, some new just to me, and there’s some old favourites too. Follow the links to the artists — some are back to doing performances, so check them out and support your local musicians!
Bob Jonkman talks with CKMS DJs and show hosts Val Scheer and Rob Curwain about radio broadcasting, the courses available at colleges, and their experiences.
DJs Val Scheer and Rob Curwain introduce themselves and their shows; how they got their start into radio; the courses at Fanshawe College and Niagara College; discussing home production equipment and techniques, and comparing it to the college’s equipment; transferrable skills? With Covid, even commercial radio station show hosts are working from home;
The differences between commercial radio and Community Radio: So many shows! So much freedom! The mandate for Community Radio is to provide an alternative to commercial radio. But the skills are transferrable, working at CKMS helps hone the craft for a commercial radio career. Val and Rob both have “The Voice” of professional announcers — how did they get it? Mostly it comes from yourself, but in the broadcast course people will point out voice problems. Having “The Voice” isn’t needed on Community Radio, we’re more interested in what you have to say than in how you say it.
The Coronavirus has not yet been defeated, and the Radio Waterloo studio remains closed for both guests and show hosts. So I dug through my overflowing e-mail inbox, and found some new Canadian musicians and a few I’ve played before. Enjoy!
The studio remains closed due to the Covid lockdown, and so Chelsey Danfield wasn’t able to come in. She’s been invited back for a Live, On-Air, In-studio performance as soon as everything is back to normal, but the best we can do today is play some tracks from her last album, At The Time.
We’ve also got two new album releases today:
Peter Snow, The Soviet Influence (24 Feb 2020)Peter Morey, The Soviet Influence (24 Feb 2020)
The Soviet Influence who werein the studio in February 2020, will be releasing Socialism: An Introduction this Friday, 29 January 2021.
Dichroma will be releasing their second EP, Two next month, February 2021. We interviewed Aaron Dawe on 26 October 2020, when we talked about this upcoming release.
Gelareh and Tareq of GelaX join Bob Jonkman for a discussion on music and lyrics. Unfortunately, technical problems interfered, and the interview was not completed. When the Covid is done we’ll have GelaX back in the studio for a Live, On‑Air, In‑Studio performance!
How to pronounce Gelareh and Gelax (hint: it’s a hard G); Gelareh worked in the music industry in Iran where women aren’t allowed to sing; Tareq grew up in Palestine and Saudi Arabia; segueing from metal to ambient, trance; Dreamonic to be released Friday, 8 January 2021; introducing Mr. Square
On Sunday, 15 November 2020 the Kitchener Festival of Neighbourhoods held its Mosaic of Neighbourhoods online meeting. Allison Brown, the Celebration Planner/Multi-Media Specialist with FON sends us a report featuring highlights from the meeting. It’s in two parts, the first features the Neighbourhood Exchange program and the second part is the feedback from the discussions. Allison writes “Bear in mind that this audio all comes from Zoom, so it’s not the best.” You can read all about it on their website: Festival Of Neighbourhoods 2020: A Mosaic Of Neighbourhoods.
Taylor Davison talks about performing, recording; introducing Julian Shanahan; working on a full-length album; the songwriting, composing, and production process; getting a new song out; the debut of A Lazy Day In June.
Identifying the genre of Taylor’s music; playing live shows, the differences from produced music; dynamic range; cooperation during post-production; lyrics drive the music, writing in a “diaristic way”; journals led the way to writing music; introducing You Put My Mind At Ease.
Talking about the instrumentation for You Put My Mind At Ease, Julian explains sample libraries for horns; favourite live venues; performing online; the upcoming album, releasing an album as opposed to a bunch of singles; introducing Let You Go.
Taylor Davison’s online presence, comparing social media; starting a Twitter account (@TaylorDavMusic); working on a pop song; looking for live venues; “musician’s block”; co-writing with others; introducing Christmas Changes.
The Women’s Crisis Services Waterloo Region is holding their Gift of Hope campaign during the holiday season. By donating to Women’s Crisis Services of Waterloo Region you are providing essential services to women and children who have experienced domestic violence and come to WCSWR for support. Donate today!
How Bob came across WCSWR looking for podcasts on WR Dashboard; Jen Hutton explains what Women’s Crisis Services is and does; statistics on domestic violence; the kinds of abuse that women suffer; listing the 24 Hour Support Lines: Kitchener-Waterloo: +1‑519‑742‑5894 or Cambridge: +1‑519‑653‑2422, both available to rural townships as well; how to access shelter support; better to prevent domestic abuse from happening in the first place;
What happens when someone calls the 24 hour support line; receiving calls from family and friends; planning, and things to consider when leaving; what a shelter is like — hotel style, communal dining area; staying at the shelter until housing is available; working with community partners like thrift stores and food banks; providing outreach support after moving out; a network of shelter support services across Ontario;
Talking about the She Is Your Neighbour podcast, hosted by Jenna Mayne; origins of the podcast; introducing episode 3: A Childhood Experience of Domestic Violence with Chris Linklater
Kevin California’s origins in Waterloo and travels elsewhere, developing as a musician, using his degree in kinesiology, doing production work on his albums, credits to the staff working on Timeless, describing the Timeless video
More chatting with Kevin California: More album credits, how to shoot a music video, preparing footage for the next video and the next album. Introducing Currency.
Bob Jonkman talks to Mack Rogers and Katherine Arruda. Mack explains Life Literacy Canada and National Literacy Month; moving the Money Matters program at Kitchener Public Library online. The goal is to raise people’ confidence with finance, how to save, how to take out a loan; making sure the program is accessible to everyone. Working with TD Bank experts to explain financial products, and to be an on-going contact for participants. Katherine explains the contents of the program, how people get signed up (through the library). Providing access to financial resources online. Katherine teaches Bob the basics of financial literacy – ask questions, review budgets, get companies to reduce their rates. Talking about investments and retirements. ABC Life Literace continues to do online learning with community groups, these are all free.
56m00s
2 Lane Blacktop Lies and Bob gives the end credits and a plug for the 25 Hour Xmas Radiothon starting Thursday at 8pm.
Chuck Howitt talks about his time at The Record; how BlackBerry Town came to be; the research involved in writing a book; a rival book, Losing The Signal appears; finding a publisher with the help of Steve Izma; Lorimer Publishing accepts, but imposes a deadline. Chuck writes to meet the deadline; changes suggested by Lorimer made it a better book. Not a history book, but about people and stories and technology. Chuck explains what happened with RIM and its stock options. Talking about patents, patent trolls, and RIM’s patent lawsuit. What took BlackBerry down? Chuck thinks it was distractions (buying hockey teams, physics institutes), complacency, and failure to innovate. Discussing the technology offered by the competition. With RIM’s centralized infrastructure, how secure was the BlackBerry technology really? Chuck Howitt reads some excerpts from BlackBerry Town. Talking about other technology companies in Waterloo. “Unicorn companies”, worth billions of dollars on paper, but what are they really worth? Promoting the book in the media. Chuck is now writing a blog. How to buy the book: Online at Lorimer, IRL at Words Worth Books. Audio book on CKMS-FM? Stay tuned!
57m10s
Empty To Fill
and Bob Jonkman gives the end credits
Dan Walsh joins Bob Jonkman to play some guitar, and to talk about Guitars For Kids Waterloo Region and the fundraiser they’re having on Sunday 22 November 2020.
Dan Walsh tells Bob Jonkman it’s “Virtusoso”, not “Virtuoso”. Talking about beards, playing guitar, teaching, how it was in “before times”, performing online, cancelled shows in the event list, the vibe of playing live, talking about The Moonshine Café,
LEWP is “Line Echo Weather Pattern”; Dan’s 2006 National Replicon 14 guitar, the mojo of guitar sound. Practicing or playing? Experimenting with Open Tuning. Where’s the soul in music? Not in Nashville, apparently… Stolen guitars, sentimental value.
Interpreting Movin’ On, recovering a stolen guitar. Too many guitars? Getting around to Guitars For Kids Waterloo Region and the fundraiser; “Blue Box for Guitars”; how people donate guitars; the spread of Guitars For Kids across the country and North America; the donors that provide services to GFK; Video documentary coming out on Sunday, 22 November 2020 at http://guitarsforkids.ca/; Art Guitar auction at https://www.32auctions.com/gfkwr.
58m44s
Drive Me To Drink
Excerpt as Bob signs off for the week
Jim Stewart and Riani de Wet of the Waterloo Region Health Coalition return to CKMS Community Connections to talk about the new legislation for Long Term Care facilities and privatization of health care.
Ford’s 4-hour long-term care announcement too late:
Need commitment to deal with staffing crisis now
Toronto – While the Ontario Health Coalition is happy that the Ford government has finally adopted the 4-hour minimum care standard as policy, the timeline that they have given is so long that it is meaningless for the people who are suffering and dying in long-term care now, warns the Coalition. The Coalition has been working to win a minimum care standard in long-term care for more than 20 years, since the Harris government removed the existing care standard in the late 1990s. For at least 15 years this has been a priority issue and the Health Coalition has held countless events and activities to pressure consecutive governments to bring it in. Today the Ford government announced that it has adopted the 4-hour target but will not commit to implementing it until 2024/25, four years and a provincial election away.
“Too much of the government’s response to date has been focused on PR at the expense of concrete measures, said Natalie Mehra, executive director of the Ontario Health Coalition. “There is much more that the Ford government could do right now to save lives and get care levels up, so announcing a care standard four years from now is just not good enough.”
“Ontarians need to know what concrete recruitment and training is going to happen right now to get staff into the homes and to move us toward the four-hour minimum average care level as quickly as possible,” Ms. Mehra went on to say.
For example:
4 months ago, at the beginning of June, Quebec’s government launched a recruitment drive backed by the full power of government and funded fully to get 10,000 PSW-equivalent workers, paid them $21 per hour for training, increased wages to $26 an hour and is deploying this small army of workers into the homes.
British Columbia’s government took action 6 months ago to provide full time work and an increased wage of $21.75 per hour for PSWs in long-term care to stabilize the workforce.
In contrast, Ontario’s government did nothing substantial in the summer months when there was a lull in COVID-19 cases and should have been planning for the fall. Finally in September, they announced funding and training for 2000 PSWs along with a series of piecemeal funding and training; no big recruitment drive, no full time work, no improvement in wages and working conditions that would attract people to this work. They also renewed the pandemic pay until March, but at $1 per hour less than it was in the summer.
“We are happy that the minimum care standard is finally, belatedly, adopted as policy but we cannot allow this to be the way that this government tries to shut down the legitimate criticism about their inadequate response. We desperately need staff in the homes now. It is in this government’s power to do more. Why will they not do it?” concluded Ms. Mehra.
Almost Four Dozen People Who Applied to Testify Before the
Ontario Legislature’s Standing Committee on Bill 218 Limiting Legal Liability for COVID-19 Harms for Long-Term Care Homes and Others,
Cut Out of the Hearings Today
Toronto – Increasingly frustrated with the lack of accountability for the response to COVID-19 in Ontario’s long-term care homes, Coalition executive director Natalie Mehra called today’s revelation that dozens of people who applied for standing in today’s legislative hearings on Bill 218 which limits legal liability for the home operators, “Injustice heaped upon injustice,” for the families of those who have died.
A number of family members and their lawyers were among those cut from the hearings, as the Ford government has limited the hearings to one part-day meaning that there are only 15 spaces for people to be heard. The government gave almost no notice for the hearings, which are being held this afternoon, so families spent hours in the past two days reliving the horrors of the last days of their loved ones lives while trying to write up their presentations, only to find that they will not be heard, Ms. Mehra reported. “It is heartbreaking, just so wrong,” she said.
Fifty-eight people applied for standing and only 15 are being heard. The practice of severely limiting public hearings has reached unprecedented levels under the Ford government which has also changed the rules of the Legislature to enable themselves to pass bills with unprecedented speed.
“There is no reason that the government cannot extend the hearings to one more day to hear from people who have been directly impacted in the most devastating of ways,” she said. “We are calling on the government to extend the hearings and give the families the ability to have input on this legislation that directly impacts their attempt to seek justice.”
Bill 218 raises the legal bar for those suing for COVID-19 harms to gross negligence from simple negligence. It redefines “good faith effort” which usually means a reasonable and competent effort to say that long-term care and retirement homes, among others, just had to make an “honest effort, whether reasonable or not”, thereby making it both harder to sue and easier to defend. It makes these measures retroactive to March 17, 2020, the week that COVID-19 began to spread in long-term care homes, impacting more than two dozen class action and legal suits that are already underway against for-profit long-term care homes that were responsible for more than half of the COVID 19 deaths in Ontario’s homes in the first wave of the pandemic, a trend that is shaping up to be the same or worse in the second wave, reported the Coalition.
The Health Coalition, which opposes these measures for long-term care and retirement homes, will testify before the Standing Committee on Justice Policy at 1 p.m. today and will call on the committee to extend the hearings.
Bob Jonkman and Jim Stewart talk about the state of the Covid pandemic in Ontario, and are joined by Riani de Wet to discuss long term care legislation.
58m01s
Ridin’ With A Thief
while Bob gives the end credits.
Bob Jonkman talks to Denny Copf about the style of Tomacco‘s music (Spoiler: It’s “Rock / Funk”), playing shared venues, the tribulations of drummers, the line-up of the band, playing large and prestigious venues, a bit of band history, streaming a show during the pandemic shutdown, the trouble with services shutting down streams for copyright violations.
About the Mister Twister video setup, the visual production for live shows, what brought Denny to play Funk/Rock, how Funk comes and goes in the mainstream, Denny’s musical background, using the pandemic to work on refining his music.
Producing the first Tomacco EP, realizing revenue from performing and streaming, using the pandemic to hone his craft. Bob makes another fundraising appeal. Inviting other bands to submit music. Talking about being a musician and a social justice advocate, events Tomacco has, upcoming social justice
How Denny came to name the band “Tomacco“, both a Simpsons reference and incorporates some GMO awareness. Listing the social media and online presence for Tomacco. Upcoming project: A new EP, discussing the setup and software tools used to self-produce an album. Another project: Filming an analysis on how bands are dealing with Covid. Working Covid into song lyrics.
57m53s
Rebellion Da Funk while Bob gives the end credits and makes a final fundraising request.
Bob Jonkman speaks with Aaron Dawe about the music of Dichroma, the band itself, how Covid has affected the band, and the production of their new EP, possibly called Two and possibly to come out this Friday, 30 October 2020.
The interview starts at 5m55s. Sadly, the phone connection was not very good.
John MacDonald of the Kitchener Festival of Neighbourhoods
John MacDonald joins Bob Jonkman on a web conference to talk about the Kitchener Festival of Neighbourhoods, what the organization does, how it operates with the City, and the upcoming festival on Sunday 15 November 2020.
Jeremy Gignoux and Bob Jonkman talk about Extension Chord, Calgary, studying composition, Greek musicology and Pythagoras, composition technique, and a technical discussion on resolving notes which Jeremy demonstrates on the piano.
Analyzing Technicolour, talking about the Cinacoustic album, the personnel, influenced by Stéphane Grappelli and Django Reinhardt, the banjoline, working on new skills and projects during Covid downtime, the pedal steel guitar, the viola. Fidde player or vio
Jeremy Gignoux talks about fiddle music. Fiddle music is folk music, music of the people, all over the world. Fiddle styles are like accents in language. Is classical violin music more difficult?
Talking about classical music. There’s a spectrum of style from classical violin to fiddle and even jazz violin. Upcoming jazz concert in Calgary. Contact info, social media info, streaming and purchase info for Jeremy Gignoux and his music.
58m18s
Climate Rag and Bob Jonkman gives the end credits.
The YouTube Editor seems to have trimmed the *end* of the video, not the start, so now it has 20 minutes of Musician’s FAQ (a fine show), but is missing 20 minutes with Jeremy Gignoux. You’ll just have to listen to the podcast…
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Creative Commons Attribution Only license. Copy, re-use, and derivative works are allowed with attribution to Radio Waterloo and a link to this page. Music selections are copyright by the respective rights holders.
All music today is by 
Deluxe
Fading Away
Confused and Rejuvenated
My Re:Collection
Ruminations of ShantiMaya
Syrinx
Dimensional Split
Haywire
To Mend
(single)
The Drift
Socialism — An Introduction
Two
(from YouTube)
Dreamonic
Baptism of Solitude
(single)
(single)
Lucky Lucky Deluxe
(single)
Festival of Neighbourhoods
A Kaleidoscope Christmas
(video)
(single)
(single)
(single)
(single)
(single)
(single)
Remixes for Christmas
Timeless
Virtusoso
CKMS Community Connections shows!
BlackBerry Town
Sex Love & Chaos
Just Beyond the Shine
See all CKMS Community Connections shows!
LEWP
See all CKMS Community Connections shows!
Virtuoso
Vagabond
Tomacco
One
(single)
Cinacoustic
Fiddle Demo
Changemakers Without Borders