Two hours of programmer created content, podcasts, music, interviews, and community announcements. Hour One airs Mondays from 11am to Noon; Hour Two airs Fridays from 3pm to 4pm.
Visit with the lovely folk at KW AccessAbility, an organization that support and advocate for people with disabilities. www.kwaccessability.ca for more information. They are located Downtown Kitchener at 659 King Street East.
Tim Cameron and Bob Jonkman talk about the Hammond B3 organ, GarageBand, instrumentals vs. lyrics, naming bands, new releases for Cameronoise, T.C. Folkpunk performances pre-pandemic, and The Bumblebats.
Bob and Tim are bopping to the music. Tim explains the origin of the name Id’s My Party; discussing Id, Ego, and Superego, but nobody remembers what it means. Also talking about the Cameronoise name. Talking about the sound of Cameronoise, the Hammond B3 organ, and groups that used it. Tim has no Hammond B3, but uses GarageBand and a guitar and bass. Tim explains how he composes and plays music on GarageBand. Talking about past bands Tim has played in.
More tricks on using GarageBand. Cameronoise music is shorter than typical, Tim says that’s the PowerPunk esthetic. All Cameronoise is all instrumental, Tim compares it to his T.C. Folkpunk music that does have lyrics. The lack of lyrics sells well in Japan, where the puns and colloquialisms don’t always come across. How T.C. Folkpunk came to be. Music or lyrics first? It depends! The music may come in a dream, but lyrics need more work. Talking about the orgins and production of the Lamest Fast Words album.
Talking about band names: “Mondale”? You had to be there. Talking about the future: No more T.C. Folkpunk, live performances ended with the pandemic. No online performances either. But there will be new Cameronoise releases every six months. There have been some covers and other songs inspired by Tim’s music. Talking about musician’s block, but with a home studio you can record whenever inspiration strikes. Talking about another of Tim’s projects, The Bumblebats.
Talking about the lineup of The Bumblebats. Bob points out the similar sound quality of the guitars of The Bumblebats and the Hammond B3 organ of Cameronoise. Tim explains how he achieves that sound with GarageBand effects. Would Mozart use GarageBand? Probably. Talking about Tim’s guitar collection.
54m36s
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 alternate Fridays from 3:00pm to 4:00pm.
Raechele Lovell is the chair of the Waterloo Region Arts Fund, and due to recent funding cuts has set up Save The Arts Waterloo Region. She also runs DiverseWorks, a safe space to practice the arts and teach de-colonialization.
Raechele is the chair of the Region of Waterloo Arts Fund, which provides grant support for artists, both organizations and individuals. Raechele had received funds for her company, Diverse Works, but the production was thwarted by the pandemic, so she turned it into a film, shown at the Registry Theatre. Subsequent years she received funds for other, varied projects. Raechele runs down what other types of projects are funded.
6m07s
There are a lot of artists in Wateloo Region, but few opportunities. Federally, we’re considered an “artistic desert”; we’ve been systemically underfunded. There are several sources of funding, including the private sector and family. This artistic desert started with gentrification and the Mike Harris government (in 1995) reducing funding for arts in education. Private schools aren’t necessarily any better at teaching the arts, but they may have more capacity. The pandemic forced artists to change how they presented their art, but not equitably — not everyone has access to the equipment, or the learning capacity. And much pandemic funding is no longer available, even though the effects of the pandemic are still with us. Artists predominantly live under the poverty line. Raechele is lucky in that her day job is also in the arts. But people who need to work as servers, in retail, or a corporate job don’t have the capacity to do the art work.
13m00s
Talking about the KW Symphony shut down. Not unexpected, but still a big shock. The symphony was deeply in debt, and funding from the region had been denied. Raechele points out, as a racialized, younger person “If the symphony can’t make it, who can?” The symphony shutdown caused a lot of unrest in the arts community. Over 70 musicians lost their jobs, as well as executives, supporters, the people who worked at the Conrad Centre and the Centre In The Square. And the patrons of the symphony are now going to other cities to enjoy their music. But the KW Symphony funding is not the only funding that was removed. Regional Councillor Kari Williams proposed a 20% reduction to the Arts Fund, but Waterloo Regional Council approved a 10% reduction. Not just the Arts Fund is affected, but the entire portfolio: the key cultural institutions, the grassroots initiatives, the upstream fund, a climate action change fund, and entrepreneurial initiatives. And this loss in funding occurred after these organizations had established their 2024 budgets; the cuts were made after the Director of Culture and Art, Helen Chimirri-Russell, stepped down, so the department had no oversight. Raechele was personally affected by these cuts, and has set up Save The Arts Waterloo Region, hoping to grow an on-going advocacy body for the arts sector.
Raechele set up Save The Arts as a response to the systemic defunding of the arts, not just in Waterloo Region. Yet people are keen to approve a $14 million increase for the police budget which already has surpluses. Raechele is concerned about the funding of racist enforcement, that this is a delibrate effort to protect their colonial ways. There’s no interest in redirecting any of that money into community initiatives. There is data that putting money into prevention programs and affordable housing there would not be as much crime. The fact that this is being actively ignored feels intentional and like a systemic problem. Raechele feels very personally attacked. The hope is that Save The Arts will be able to address some of these issues. The campaign is for artists to have a safe space to come together to fight these battles together. Raechele’s goal is to move towards an arts council, to seek funding for the arts outside the Region.
28m39s
Raechele talks about making art accessible. Her show for the MT Space IMPACT23 festival took place outside, on the Gaukel Block, free and available for everyone. Art gives hope, entertainment, empathy, compassion; this is what art does for us. Funding is vital to put on these no-admission performances, and still provide an income to the artists.
30m35s
Communication about the cut in funding was poor — Raechele learned about the cuts from the news. This was just one of many concerns about governance alleged in the news. Raechele is joined in Save The Arts by some people from the Waterloo Arts Fund board and other artists, but this group is for everyone. The arts community in Waterloo Region is more vibrant that what Raechele has experienced in Toronto. The campaign can grow to benefit other regions; there are funding cuts at other arts organizations. Raechele sees the drop in funding as a step backwards to last century when artists needed to fight for civil rights, fighting for marginalized people. Raechele has had two meetings, the first a special Waterloo Arts Fund meeting to discuss the funding cuts, then a Town Hall meeting for the community. There’s a mailing list of around 200 people to keep informed of upcoming events. There are plans, but none Raechele is willing to share.
How to get funding: Running community workshops on how to get money from the Arts Fund, how to get money from the Ontario Arts Council. There’s no database of available options. Workshops on dealing with tax problems, how to make investments, and more. Most artists don’t have a financial background, but Raechele does. She started in the corporate workforce, but quickly realized she wanted to pursue her dreams. Recently Raechele made a trip to Barbados to celebrate her grandmother’s 100th birthday, and turned that experience into a documentary that she presented last year at THEMUSEUM. Her roots go back to the British slave trade on Barbados.
45m42s
Raechele’s company DiverseWorks sprang out of frustration in giving dance lessons six days a week. It provided a creative outlet, and she had the experience to make it work. Working on de-colonialization sounds more like teaching, but Raechele still views it as art. She is in the process of building the DiverseWorks de-colonial arts hub, a physical safe space to practice, perform, dance, teach, all with racialized representation.
51m15s
Raechele gives out the contact info for the Save The Arts campaign, and encourages everyone with concerns about funding in the arts sector to come to the Committee meeting on Tuesday 5 March 2024 to speak to Council. And go see art!
55m00s
Bob gives the credits.
CKMS Community Connections Hour One airs on CKMS-FM 102.7 on Monday from 11:00am to Noon, and Hour Two airs alternate Fridays from 3:00pm to 4:00pm.
Barbara Spronk of CFUW-KW and Melissa Star Ireland of Indigenous Relations UW join Jenniefer Strong and Bob Jonkman to discuss the Indigenous Film Festival taking place in February.
The interview starts at 3m00s.
Office of Indigenous Relations at University of Waterloo:
Melissa provided us with some additional information on other Indigenous Relations programs:
Conestoga College Indigenous Services
Be-Dah-Bin Gamik, a Place of New Beginnings provides services for Indigenous students at Conestoga College, including those who are First Nations (status and non-status), Métis and Inuit. It is a warm, welcoming and comfortable environment that assists students with a smooth transition to college life by providing ongoing student support. The leader there is Christina Restoule, Manager.
Wilfrid Laurier University
We’ve been working with Bonnie Whitlow of The Office of Indigenous Relations at Laurier which has been working toward the goal of Indigenization, a term that reflects the incorporation of Indigenous knowledge into the daily life of the university.
DJ Jordan with Through the Static, on Wednesdays at 9 PM til 10 PM and replay on Saturdays at 1 PM til 2 PM. Bob and I enjoyed our chat with DJ Jordan, who puts in a lot of thought to her shows and is a genuine music lover, spinning her vinyls.
DJ Jordan is currently an undergraduate student at University of Waterloo, and CCC is looking forward to following up on Monday, March 11th, in studio, with Jordan and her professor. A conversation that will conclude during the week of March 18th, and exhibit held at UW.
Thank you DJ Jordan!
Throughout the hour, Bob played Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings.
Margaret Jackson from Amnesty International‘s local KW chapter Group Nine talks to Bob Jonkman about this year’s Write For Rights campaign, describes some of the cases that are being written about, the petition to BC premier David Eby about the criminalization of the Wet’suwet’en Land Defenders, and gives some info on joining the Group Nine chapter.
Margaret Jackson tells us about Write For Rights, focusing on ten cases for this campaign, sending a blitz of letter to government and other people involved in human rights abuses. This has been quite effective; half-a-million letters for each case can’t be ignored. Margaret tells us the details of some of this year’s cases. In some cases the letters get sent to the individuals directly, sometimes they go to a local Amnesty office and are forwarded to the recipient. These letters are always appreciated.
24m38s
Margaret reads her letter to David Eby, premier of British Columbia and former KW resident, to express her concern over the criminalization of the Wet’suwet’en Land Defenders.
Margaret tells us how the Write For Rights works. It’s at the Kitchener Public Library, downstairs in meeting room D. People can sign pre-printed letters, add an illustration or other artwork on a postcard. The Group Nine chapter will take care of mailing them out.
39m05s
This year Margaret wrote the standard letters, based on ideas of what should go in the letters from the Amnesty International campaign. Margaret adds that these letters come from Kitchener-Waterloo, and adds some information about each case to help the people who come in. The last in-person Write For Rights was in 2019, the past two years it was held as a ten-day e-mail blitz. The letters were printed, signed, and dropped off in a mailbox at a member’s house. This year there’s an e-mail letter sent to the government of Tunisia. Letters don’t have return addresses, but people are encouraged to sign their name, city, country, and postal code.
43m53s
For people who can’t come to the library there are online petitions at https://writeathon.ca, all of the information is available there. You can contact local chapter Group Nine at groupnine9@gmail.com and they can send you a package of case letters. The mailbox is still available at the member”s house until 15 December 2023.
47m32s
Margaret tells us that the letters are generally received well, because Amnesty International has a good reputation world-wide; people trust the information they get from Amnesty. There is nothing Amnesty can do in the way of applying economic pressure or sanctions; but perhaps local chapters can apply pressure to their local governments to act.
50m08s
Group Nine meets regularly on the first Tuesday of the month at Conrad Grebel college. There are speakers, either from Group Nine or from other agencies. Group Nine also participates in local events, like the Multicultural Festival and the Waterloo Pow Wow. Group Nine consists of about twelve core people, another 20 who help out at events, and a large number of people who are signed up for their e-mail list. People can get involved by sending an e-mail to groupnine9@gmail.com to come to the meeting. There is no cost, but people who make a donation become Amnesty International members and get to vote at their annual general meeting. Group Nine was the ninth group in Canada, now there are hundreds of groups. Margaret gives a bit of history of Amnesty International.
56m45s
Margaret recaps the info for Write For Rights 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 alternate Fridays from 3:00pm to 4:00pm.
Bob Jonkman chats with Margaret Walker of CFUW and Fadhilah Balogun of African Women’s Alliance of Waterloo Region about the upcoming Vigil for the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women. Margaret and Fadhilah also talk about gender-based violence, how it affects our communities, some available resources for women facing gender-based violence in Waterloo Region, how men can help as male allies. Margaret tells us about the books CFUW has published, and Fadhilah gives more background on the African Women’s Alliance of Waterloo Region.
Fadhilah Balogun introduces the African Women’s Alliance of Waterloo Region. Margaret Walker tells us the reasons for having a vigil on 6 December, and explains what gender-based violence is. Fadhilah provides some statistics on gender-based violence. The pandemic has made the issue worse — the shelters and services were shut down, women could not leave, men were staying in the house as well so there was more stress in the home. Fadhilah explains that gender-based violence crosses across all demographics: culture and race, geographic location, economic status, &c. There are some women with the financial capacity to flee violence, but that’s mostly not the case.
Margaret gives the details of the December 6th vigil. The main purpose is the remember the fourteen women. Bob can remember the name of the perpetrator, but does not know the names of the victims. Margaret says that’s common, but these days the press avoids naming the perpetrator. But Fadhilah says that the movie business still glamorizes violence and serial killers. After the victim remembrance there are speakers, including Fadhilah, Fran Pappert-Shannon of the KW Unity Mosque, and Sarah Casselman of the Sexual Assault Support Centre Waterloo Region. The vigil takes place in the sanctuary of St. Columba church. Margaret Walker is the priest at the church, so that provides her an “in”. The church provides support in a number of ways, including a food bank.
27m35s
December 6th is the actual date, the 34th anniversary of the attack. It is now the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women. Margaret reminds us that it is not just a day of remembrance, but action. The action is coming to learn about the issue of violence against women, how the violence is affecting the communities, and how to deal with it. Fadhilah says that it’s important to put faces to the issue, which helps us take action. We can localize our actions; Toronto is not the same as Waterloo Region. Even in Waterloo Region there are different needs for the rural areas than the urban areas.
33m13s
Margaret points out that we need to get more men involved, having male allies tell their male colleagues what is unacceptable behaviour. Men may be reluctant to speak to violent men, but there are programs in how to be an ally; for example, the Sexual Assault Support Centre has offered courses in Bystander Training. Margaret says allies can influence others in locker room talk, objecting to sexist jokes, &c. Fadhilah says that men tie that behaviour to their masculinity. That perception needs to be broken. Keep an eye on the Groups and Workshops” page on the Sexual Assault Support Centre‘s website.
39m11s
Margaret has brought some books with her, Women of Waterloo County (now sold out, but available at the library), and a pair of other books, Proudly She Marched, two editions, one on the Canadian Women’s Army Corps, and the other on the Naval Service. These two books can be bought directly from the CFUW. The proceeds of that go towards funding scholarships for people in high schools, St. Louis Adult Learning centres, and local colleges and universities.
Margaret recaps the time, location, and purpose for the December 6th vigil, and gives information about the CFUW and the advocacy they perform. Fadhilah gives some more background information on the African Women’s Alliance of Waterloo Region.
54m04s
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 alternate Fridays from 3:00pm to 4:00pm.
Today I play music from Waterloo Region musicians (“KW Content”), and then talk all over it to request donations for our Fall 2023 Fundraiser. My sincere apologies to all the musicians.
No podcast today. Instead, go out and buy the music I played or go to a concert, and listen to the music as it was meant to be heard.
Bob Jonkman makes a fundraising request for a new audio board, and talks to Jack Bishop, the chair of the KW Santa Claus Parade about this Saturday’s parade and the preparations that go into it.
Jack Bishop tells us when and where this year’s KW Santa Claus Parade takes place: Saturday, 18 November 2023; it begins at 10:00am at the corner of Frederick Street and Weber Street, and continues up Weber Street to Erb Street in Waterloo. Why so early? The Toronto Santa Claus parade is on Sunday, and the KW parade is always the day before. The route has changed from north-to-south along King Street to south-to-north along Weber Street, it’s because of the ION tracks and wires. Any wires on this route can be dealt with. It’s about an hour trip, with the head of the parade arriving at Erb just as the tail leaves Frederick.
8m15s
The KW Santa Claus Parade is a community parade, for community groups to show their involvement to the public. There’s no limits to the groups that want to enter. There are fees, because it costs about $25,000 to put on the parade: policing costs, paying the marching bands, and other costs. The community groups pay a fee of $300, commercial entries pay $500. There are other thoughtful community people that sponsor some bands. Jack may still be able to squeeze in one or two last-minute entries if you contact him right away! There are about 80 entries, including community groups, marching bands, clowns. Jack is still looking for volunteers to help out, there are lots of costumes available. It’s a good role for young people; it’s a good experience. To enter, click on the 2023 Parade Registration Here button on the Lions Club’s Santa Claus Parade website.
13m44s
Jack tells us what happens when people sign up for the parade. There’s a meeting for volunteers on Friday night, where they get outfitted with a costume. Then people come back at 8:00am on Saturday and get slotted into the parade. Jack makes it sound easy, but he’s been doing to for a while. There are about ten core people who manage the event, but it grows just before the event. Planning starts in the summer, and it takes four of five months. Working with the City, there’s an all-services meeting: fire, police, ambulance, transit… The same people are involved in the Oktoberfest Parade, good practice for the Santa Claus Parade. Jack organizes the order of the entries; it’s mostly random. But Santa goes at the end, the main sponsor goes at the start, the bands need to spaced out. Jack has had 15 years of experience. The parade was going for 25 years before the Lions took over, so it’s probably existed for 40 years.
Some of the buttons and lights on the sound board don’t work, so Bob makes a pitch for a new audio board. You can help by making a donation at https://radiowaterloo.ca/give.
26m11s
Jack explains how the parade logistics are organized. The floats line up at Frederick and Weber all the way back to Edna Street. Just before the parade starts there’s a Santa Claus Run, hundreds of runners all dressed in Santa Claus suits. A Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer inflatable float leads the way. When it (and the other inflatable floats) get to the rail overpass and other overhead obstructions the float is pulled down out of the way. The inflatable snowman is 20ft tall, others are only(!) 15 feet. The obstructions are pretty consistent over the years, so people get to know the route. Jack makes the organization sound easy, but reminds parade participants to arrive early to get on the float well before it leaves. At the destination there are buses to take people back, the floats need to arrange their own transportation back. The bands have their own buses, assembling at The Aud then picking up the band members at the end.
35m15s
Jack says that booking marching bands has been a big problem. All the drum and bugle corps are gone! Some companies that sponsored bands are gone, and the organizers are gone. It takes a lot of dedication, a lot of money, and a lot of experience to manage a marching band, and people have gone on to other things. Covid has been a big factor too. Small bands, rock bands, just don’t participate much in parades. The Regional Police have a marching band, but only participate in the Oktoberfest Parade, not the Santa Claus Parade. Band members are getting older, and it takes a lot of stamina to march for an hour carrying an instrument and huffing and puffing into a trumpet or clarinet. Jack is always an organizer, but has never marched in a parade. He knows lots of people, which helps getting sponsorships. There are not many people who like to ask people for money. Bob is asking for donations today too, but with inflation people are not donating as much as they used to. Jack finds that getting permits from two City municipalities and one Regional municpality is easier year after year, there are lots of volunteers, no paid staff, to do that.
Jack has been up since 3:00 in the morning, working on parade stuff. The line-up keeps changing! Jack finds there can’t be too many people working on one job, better to have one person do it. And that’s Jack.
46m32s
The Lions Club was formed just over 100 years ago in Chicago, the Lions Club of Kitchener was chartered in 1937. The Lions Club, right from the start, has been involved in vision-related issues. Helen Keller challenged the Lions to be the “Knights of the Blind”. There are about 25,000 members across Canada, every small community has a Lions Club. They do screening of kindergarten kids, kids who have never had their eyes checked. The Lions are tied in with the optometry school at the University of Waterloo. They have refractors used for testing. Kids are referred to optometrists, but not all kids actually follow up with appointments. The Lions will buy glasses for kids who need the financial assistance. The Lions Clubs have just created two new districts, and want to take this project across the country. Another major project is guide dogs for the blind, started in 1985. That’s expanded to hearing dogs, diabetic-sensing dogs, stress-relief dogs. There’s a school in Oakville for the finishing part of training a client with their dog. It takes a month to get trained! People can apply to the Lions Foundation of Canada in Oakville through https://www.dogguides.com/.
54m17s
Another major project is the Citizen of the Year. This year’s recipient is John Tibbits, president of Conestoga College. He’ll be in the parade as a celebrity! The award is in May, the search begins in January. There’s a selection process, nominators have to write a letter to say what the nominee has done, then a selection committee makes the decision.
55m30s
Bob thanks Jack, gives the credits, and introduces the last musical selection.
TOUR DATES:
2023.11.09 • HAMILTON, ON • FIRSTONTARIO CONCERT HALL
2023.11.10 • LONDON, ON • LONDON MUSIC HALL
2023.11.11 • KITCHENER, ON • ELEMENTS NIGHTCLUB
2023.11.14 • CHARLOTTETOWN, PE • PEI BREWING CO.
2023.11.15 • HALIFAX, NS • LIGHTHOUSE ARTS CENTRE
2023.11.17 • MONCTON, NB • CASINO NEW BRUNSWICK
2023.11.18 • MONTREAL, QC • THÉ TRE BEANFIELD
2023.11.20 • PARRY SOUND, ON • STOCKEY CENTRE
2023.11.21 • SAULT STE. MARIE, ON • THE MACHINE SHOP
2023.11.23 • REGINA, SK • CASINO REGINA
2023.11.24 • EDMONTON, AB • MIDWAY
2023.11.25 • CALGARY, AB • THE PALACE THEATRE
2023.11.28 • NANAIMO, BC • PORT THEATRE
2023.11.29 • VANCOUVER, BC • COMMODORE BALLROOM
2023.11.30 • SEATTLE, WA • NEUMOS
2023.12.02 • PORTLAND, OR • WONDER BALLROOM
2023.12.05 • OAKLAND, CA • THE NEW PARISH
2023.12.06 • WEST HOLLYWOOD, CA • TROUBADOUR
2023.12.08 • PHOENIX, AZ • CRESCENT BALLROOM
2023.12.10 • AUSTIN, TX • EMPIRE CONTROL ROOM
2023.12.11 • HOUSTON, TX • HOUSE OF BLUES HOUSTON
2023.12.12 • DALLAS, TX • THE STUDIO AT DEEP VELLUM
2023.12.14 • DENVER, CO • MARQUIS THEATRE
2023.12.16 • SASKATOON, SK • COORS EVENT CENTRE
2023.12.17 • WINNIPEG, MB • CLUB REGENT EVENT CENTRE
2023.12.18 • THUNDER BAY, ON • NV NIGHTCLUB
2023.12.20 • BELLEVILLE, ON • EMPIRE THEATRE
2023.12.21 • OTTAWA, ON • BRONSON CENTRE
2023.12.22 • TORONTO, ON • HISTORY
Big Wreck Is:
Ian Thornley
Dave McMillan
Chris Caddell
Sekou Lumumba
Jean-Guy Poirier, a firefighter diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress (Disorder), started PTSD Peer Support groups: “The Truth Behind The Smile. These groups so far are in London, Stratford, and Kitchener, Ontario. Jean-Guy has a big vision for The “Truth Behind The Smile.” Giving back is a big part of the endeveour.
On the Monday 16th of October, 11 AM, CKMS Community Connections we talked with DJ Mophead!
It was an amazing conversation, and we learned a lot about how little Richard back in the day, when he was nine years’ old, discovered Hip Hop. Til he had an opportunity to start a show with CKMS, and quite the show at that. DJ Mophead had prepared daytime friendly tunes:
Skyblew x Navo the Maestro – Light Switch
Aesop Rock – Blood Sandwich
6 Dogs – Plant Life
Blu – j e s u s
Childish Gambino – Waiting
Bloquera – Back to the Grind Again
It was friggen awesome
Check it out The Clean-Up Hour sometime: Thursdays 12 midnight til 2 am
David Alton of the Lived Expertise Working Group talks to Bob Jonkman about the work of LEWG, what is “lived expertise”, working with the City of Kitchener, the principles of human rights in housing, homelessness, and using contributions of people with lived expertise. David tells us of some upcoming events for the members of the Lived Expertise Working Group and the public.
David explains the purpose of the Lived Expertise Working Group, twelve folks with housing marginalization experience and advocacy experience. “Expertise” rather than “Experience”, so that the contributions are seen with the same value as academic expertise. They are presenting a report to the City of Kitchener council as part of a staff report from the Planning Department. Pointing out the different areas of responsibility for City departments, and different levels of government. The work LEWG is doing with the City of Kitchener is influencing decisions made in other municipalities (City of Cambrige, City of Waterloo, the Region of Waterloo). But a large part of the work is helping the mutual aid groups in the area, creating a bridge between these groups and the municipalities. Talking about the role and perceived role of by-law enforcement, part care-giving, part criminalizing. David’s message to all organizations is to remove the barriers to care. They recognize the difficult role that municipalities have. A good news story: The Region of Waterloo modified a by-law on hate speech to include income status and housing status.
David talks about the report that will be presented to council: A list of principles; what it means to include lived expertise in the planning process. The people working in the Lived Expertise Working Group are being compensated, just as experts from other areas would be. There are stipends for transportation, child care, &c. Not just the people in LEWG are at capacity, but councillors and city staff feel overwhelmed by all the pressures and logistics, but the community understands that. There was some friction at the June council meeting, David recaps. David discusses the different sources of funding for their position and the Lived Expertise Working Group. David tells us about the Ride For Refuge, this Saturday. Covering some of the eight principles of lived expertise engagement, for example “the value of bridges”, “the value of paid work”, “navigating around conflict.”
Talking about David’s participation in the Jillian video, with their partner Aashay. Talking about David’s participation in Ground Up WR, working to counter the “Parents’ Rights” movement that restricts youth from self-expression. There is a rally at City Hall on Wednesday, everyone who wants to be an ally is invited. Ground Up is well connected with the community, it’s a good place to start if you’re looking to help. David encourages people to pay close attention to what’s going on in housing and homelessness — winter is coming. Follow organizations like Unsheltered Campaign or ACCKWA. The Lived Expertise Working Group is sending some members to Halifax for the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness conference in November, donations are gratefully accepted to enable LEWG to help send another member to the conference. Connect with the Social Development Centre or the Civic Hub Waterloo Region to get involved. Talking about the photographic exhibition, which was a conference fundraiser.
56m46s
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 alternate Fridays from 3:00pm to 4:00pm.
It’s another music show, with local bands from Kitchener-Waterloo-Cambridge (and a few from outside the region). Several have upcoming concerts, check their websites for more information.
Vanessa Ricci-Thode is one of the organizers for Waterloo Bookfest and a founder of the KW Writer’s Alliance, as well as the author of a series of books. She talks to Bob Jonkman about Bookfest and the KW Writer’s Alliance, writing, and reads from her most recent book, Fireborn.
Vanessa Ricci-Thode tells us about Waterloo Bookfest, some of the special guests (Katie Mack, E.K. Johnston), and more listed on the KW Writer’s Alliance Bookfest website. How KW Writer’s Alliance got started on Zoom during the height of the pandemic. Talking about NaNoWriMo, the National Novel Writing Month. KW Writer’s Alliance was started with Caroline Topperman, looking to give Waterloo Region authors a space to keep writing all year ’round. Support includes moral support (especially after rejections!), guides to publishing, guides to improving the writing craft. Talking about traditional publishing vs. self-publishing.
Running down the events taking place at Waterloo Bookfest. How Bookfest is organized. There are 70 authors, and there’s a waiting list! Talking about other events, like Word On The Street which is no longer happening in Waterloo Region. Authors bring their books (of course), but some will have bookmarks and artwork as well. There is overlap in the arts for authors, several are visual artists or musicians. Jason Baronette is one such author, he’ll be at Bookfes, but he’s been on CKMS Community Connections as part of his band Athanase.
It’s the Waterloo Bookfest, that means for all of Waterloo Region, including Kitchener, Cambridge, and the rural townships. Vanessa will be at Bookfest as an author, with her series Fireborn. Vanessa tells us about her writing process. Talking about acquiring Fireborn and the logistics of getting it in online stores.
Bob encourages more prose readings on the radio. Vanessa tells us about other reading series in southern Ontario. The website is for Grand River Writers & KW Writer’S Alliance, bringing in people from outside of Waterloo Region. Talking about possible upcoming events, readings, workshops. Vanessa gives some ideas for future workshops.
55m43s
Vanessa recaps the details for Bookfest 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 alternate Fridays from 3:00pm to 4:00pm.
CxViolet comes into the studio for a Live, On-Air, In-Studio performance, and talks to Bob Jonkman about his start in music, vocal training, composition, trying new things, and his upcoming EP Hackerboy and an album with The New People.
We are having a technical difficulty! Talking about Glimpse of Us by Joji. The musician or artist isn’t always in control of creating music or art. Inspiration from Mr. Alonzo in high school, then to university for a Bachelor in Classical Music, the Romantic Era. CxViolet doesn’t play much of that any more, but it influences composition now. Introducing the Introduction Piece.
Talking about CxViolet’s vocal range and voice training — everyone can find the voice they have to shape the art they create. Talking about the origins of Hackerboy, and the origins of CxViolet.
22m25s
Bob makes a pitch to local musicians to submit their music to office@radiowaterloo.ca with KWCon in the subject line for people from Waterloo Region, and CanCon for Canadians further away.
22m49s
CxViolet has played locally, but right now is taking time to hone his composition. CxViolet likes taking spaces that normally don’t play music and turning them into musical venues. Looking for venues and opportunities! Contact @_cxviolet on Instagram! Talking about other social media presences. The first self-hosted show was at AOK, a video game bar. Performing with The New People, working on starting a label / publishing house / band. Introducing “the roadies” Stevie and Naomi, and the next song, still untitled.
Is this song autobiographical? All songs carry some biographical fingerprints. Talking about guitar technique. CxViolet is self-taught, claims he doesn’t know what he’s doing. Recently took up rock climbing, the forearm muscles are killing. Lyrics first, or music first? For this song, it came all at once. CxViolet pushes beyond the familiar, trying new things outside the norm. CxViolet writes for CxViolet, and the fans follow along. CxViolet doesn’t perform covers; for anything he likes well enough to cover he wants to do it justice. Talking about performance rights, SOCAN; any agents or managers should contact @_cxviolet. Music is a full-time gig, but CxViolet is sitting in the broke-artist trope. CxViolet got some grants from arts councils to offset recording expenses. CxViolet plays, records, produces everthing with the help of friend and artist-partner Stevie (more than a roadie!).
40m34s
Bob asks for another song, CxViolet sets up to improvise something. Asks Bob for a key (G), sad or happy (happy), something for end-of-summer.
CxViolet claims not to have practiced this before the show, he just knows some chord progressions. Talking about piano lessons.
44m26s
What’s coming up in the future? The Hackerboy EP in late September, followed by The New People album in October. CxViolet is working on 40 songs, ready to come out. He’ll be putting out music until he has no more music to put out, but feels there’s an infinite reservoir inside him. CxViolet has a three-year plan, maybe ending with a world tour. Playing outside Waterloo Region, playing at festivals, and playing in the classical sphere. CxViolet wouldn’t go back to playing classical, but might put those skills towards film scoring or video game scoring. Doesn’t do the restaurant / bar piano gigs, except for the pay. Prefers performing in non-musical venues. Maybe turn his attic studio into a venue, to host maybe ten people. Maybe doing secret concerts like Sofar Sounds. Working with The New People to help others find their voice, and playing with other artists.
50m55s
Appearing in the Jillian video with I, The Mountain. CxViolet received the sweetest worded e-mail ever, and couldn’t say no after that. The idea was to get people together who are a little bit unique and have a unique sense of self. CxViolet was very impressed with how the production came together.
52m29s
Dealing with an unreceptive audience: CxViolet hasn’t really experienced that, has some tricks up his sleeve, such as asking “Name a key” and making an improvisation. But the fan base is well curated, so that hardly ever happens. The fan base exists as far away Europe and South America.
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 alternate Fridays from 3:00pm to 4:00pm.
Megan Ruttan of Waterloo Region ACORN joins Bob Jonkman to talk about evictions, renovictions, tenants’ rights, and setting up a tenants’ union in Waterloo Region.
Introducing Megan Ruttan and ACORN: The Association for Community Organizations for Reform Now, a low- to moderate-income tenants union, but they take on any issues that their members want to take on, for example payday loans. The union is just getting set up now to help fight renovictions and demovictions. Megan herself is experiencing attempts at renoviction. This has been happening for at least six years. This pre-dates ACORN, but ACORN would have fought it by drawing attention to it by direct action such as protests. There have been rallies against other renovictions in Kitchener. Landlords intimidate tenants by withholding information, so that tenants do not know what their rights are, or even who their landlord is. ACORN in Hamilton has helped create a by-law that makes it illegal to evict people in Hamilton for renovations. But each municipality will have different by-laws. ACORN has just held a national day of action on the financialization of housing. They’re asking for a law that will give first right of refusal will go to housing organizations, co-ops, and other businesses that want to build affordable housing. Waterloo Region ACORN has about 500 members; about 15 full members who pay $15/month in dues, but many people can’t afford that. Waterloo Region ACORN started about three months ago, in April.
Waterloo Region ACORN has a three month plan, meeting in August to plan an action to take place in September. They’re building membership; anyone is welcome to join, not just renters. The August meeting will be hybrid, both in-person and online for Covid safety. The national organization in Ottawa and the chapter in London have provided a lot of help in the form of flyers, handouts, mailing lists, &c. The money from dues goes towards copying costs and SDCWR for use of their facilities. The entire region of Waterloo has an epidemic of unsheltered people. The chapter was named Waterloo Region ACORN to include everyone in the region; it’s not just a Kitchener issue.
28m47s
“The financialization of housing” treats housing as an investment, not as shelter or homes, or as a human right. Municipalities are not building purpose-built rental housing; many politicians to make this happen to own rental properties, and seem disinclined to reduce their holdings to build affordable housing. Globally, the climate crisis is creating climate refugees, who need housing. Do we have shelter for these people? We need to build housing. The municipalities need to build the housing, not just pass by-laws or re-zones. The City of Kitchener is not acting to build housing or reduce renovictions when they had the chance to vote on zoning changes. Their answer seems to be to police housing. If they don’t build housing, people will die. Who could be affected by the housing crisis? Almost every renter. What happens with the laws that require landlords to provide the renovated units to former tenants? It gets ignored, landlords just rent to new, higher-paying tenants. People in this situation don’t have the capacity, “the spoons”, to deal with this. Megan has the spoons to deal with this because she’s connected in the community, and knows the resources.
38m14s
How did Waterloo Region ACORN get started here? There were already people with memberships in other chapters; people contacted the national chapter; they already had a mailing list! Everything is connected, Megan was already active in climate organizing, political organization; if one issue is advanced, the others are too.
How do people get involved if they have no background in tenant organization? Come to the meeting in August, ACORN will provide training on door knocking, &c. They’ll knock on the doors of tenants to let them know help is available. They’ve reached out to local politicians, but not all have responded. Talking about other events where ACORN has had a presence. Giving credit to Maribel and other leaders, their appearances in local media.
48m25s
What about all the local construction? It’s mostly condominiums, only 15% affordable housing. Condos aren’t affordable housing. The tenants’ union is the opposite of a Home Owners’ Association, the union lifts you up, doesn’t repress your rights.
50m36s
Reviewing Waterloo Region ACORN‘s presence on social media. Talking about Project Mushroom, an online presence for social activists. It had some setbacks when the founder discovered it could not be monetized, but Megan and others are still keeping it alive.
53m12s
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 alternate Fridays from 3:00pm to 4:00pm.
Bob Jonkman talks with VEFO, musician and animal rights activist about his social justice philosophy, the alter-ego that VEFO represents, animal liberation, the Plant Based Treaty, producing music, VEFO’s influences and other activities, mainstream music, and the VEFOFEST Popup + Jaqui NDS Tribute this Saturday 29 June 2023 from 4 pm to 8pm at the Arts Quad at the University of Waterloo.
VEFO does perform on Control the Voices, but his vocals are sampled and chopped up. VEFO likes both lyrical and instrumental tracks for balance.
2m57s
VEFO wears a mask to create a character, an alter-ego, a new artist profile. VEFO’s music started to promote animal rights activism. In animal agriculture animals are viewed as though they don’t have a personality or a face, and so VEFO was created as an anonymous identity to show that you can turn yourself into whoever you want to, and VEFO is there to support. The mask reduces the ego, and shows how we are all a community of people trying to do better and trying to change the world for a kinder and sustainable future. VEFO has been doing music for six years, the activism for about four years, and hard-core animal rights for the last two years. VEFO draws inspiration from Regan Russell who was killed during an animal vigil in Burlington. Got Your Back was created as a tribute track to Regan. VEFO plays at both musical venues and animal rights rallies. Bob met VEFO at KW Vegfest.
8m01s
VEFO tells us about VEFOFEST, this Saturday 29 July 2023 at the University of Waterloo through the UW Animal Rights Society.
10m24s
4 All the Animals (Save The World) Live, On-Air, In-Studio!
Talking about the lyrics in 4 All the Animals. Finding VEFO’s motivation in animal activism. Discussing animal liberation, and the trauma that animals experience in industrial agriculture. Are politicians paying attention? Yes, some politicians have endorsed the Plant Based Treaty, and VEFO is trying to get the University of Waterloo to adopt it. This is a world-wide campaign; the UK has had some success, but not so much in Canada. The treaty applies to institutions as well, such as hospitals, jails, schools. But Bob hasn’t seen much uptake in his mom’s long term care home.
Talking about VEFO’s production work. He’s been concentrating on sampling vocals. It’s a way to process his emotions, feeling on top of the world when working on one track, then next day your heart is just torn; music is always there for you. VEFO is a big fan of Moby, re-recording his tracks when the emotion strikes. We discuss dancing. VEFO plays guitar as well, will be playing electric guitar at VEFOFEST. VEFO is also a big fan of Prince. He performs solo, but is always open to collaboration. He’s been practicing with the Liberation Choir at the Wishbone Animal Rights Lab in Toronto, as well as practicing drumming. VEFO will be playing snare drum at the Toronto Animal Rights March 2023 on Saturday 26 August. Will there be a march in Waterloo? VEFO doesn’t think there are enough animal rights activists here to hold a march.
34m40s
VEFO’s music isn’t mainstream; he doesn’t feel that he can make pop music. Is mainstream media ignoring this music because of commercial interests? Not even Moby releases animal rights music, there’s no commercial value. Maybe mainstream fans don’t want to hear social justice music. VEFO started @VeganLove4All on Instagram and Vegan Love 4 All on YouTube to promote animal rights.
38m50s
Talking about V4EVA and the Beat Challenge, creating a new beat and a new genre every day.
Talking about MotionRave Demo. Music or lyrics first? Either way… Recap of VEFOFEST, doing it every month, next at University of Toronto. VEFO tells us how to release music on streaming services. Talking about the Burlington Vegfest (note: not at Spencer Smith Park, but at the Burloak Waterfront ParkMap)
49m21s
Talking about GuruuuV, an alter-ego that started VEFO’s music story. It combines “groove” and “guru”; the purple comes from Prince. There’s no politics or message with GuruuuV, just music.
Today we’re playing lots of KW Content: Music by musicians from Waterloo Region. Then we speak with Mark Higgins, the promoter/producer/impressario for Canada’s Teen Jam.
Mark Higgins tells us about Canada’s Teen Jam: A program of musical discoveries for teens with dreams, the next generation of superstars. The mission is to take this across Ontario and Canada. Many teens have sports and other programs but teens with musical talent have nothing. Mark is not releasing the names of the performers yet, that will be revealed on Saturday. Bob offers to bring the performers into the studio for an interview and a Live, On-Air, In-Studio performance! Mark is impressed with the professionalism and demeanor of the performers. Canada’s Teen Jam launched in January, and is now starting the tour to get the performers into other festivals and showcases. Kitchener is the first stop. Canada’s Teen Jam goes from 3pm to 5pm, followed by the Wayback Festival performers. Mark appreciates the irony: Canada’s newest performers followed by Canada’s superstar rock performers. Mark has had a lot of experience promoting and producing performers, notably The Tragically Hip at Bobcageon, which was filmed for a documentary. Covid has affected the start of CTJ, everyone is catching up from the performances that were missed.
53m04s
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 alternate Fridays from 3:00pm to 4:00pm.
Nick Bordman, accompanied by Caleb Khuu, gives a Live, On-Air, In-Studio performance, and talks to Bob Jonkman about touring, recording, performing, and songwriting.
Talking about the genre of Country Music, and country music venues in Waterloo Region. Re-recording Tread Lightly , the first song Nick ever wrote with Matt Koebel; how it’s changed since the first recording. Talking about Nick’s recently completed tour, including the Horseshoe Tavern. Touring with The Boogie Boy Band, but there are session players on Nick’s studio recordings. Talking about the modern way of recording, session musicians record their tracks in their own studios, send them in, and the producer assembles them in the DAW, the Digital Audio Workstation. Nick tells us his songwriting technique: Inspiration from the outdoors.
Talking about the origins of Home and the origins of Nick Bordman, and how he might develop in the future. Music is a full-time career for Nick, he feels lucky to have stumbled into the opportunities he’s had. He’s an old soul, getting compared to the country singers someone’s grandma might have listened to. Nick tells us how he met Caleb, just walking past Caleb’s band in the street. Caleb says playing everything from country to jazz is not such a big stretch. Talking about playlists on streaming services, and how to market to streamers and viewers.
Take Out Some Insurance is a Jimmy Reed cover, Nick has only performed it live. Nick performs other songs with a bit of a yodel to them, Hank Williams’s Your Cheatin’ Heart. Nick has worked some vocal teachers, including Amanda Kind. Also talking about the Seneca College program, Independent Songwriting and Performance.
37m03s
Words first, or music first? Nick writes the words first, he has an idea for a story, some phrasing, then calls up collaborators to put the music to words. Sometimes that changes the words. Nick composes on guitar (so does Caleb), he doesn’t get along with piano. Talking about the process of songwriting from lyrics and music to production and recording. Nick has at least five songs he’s working on now. The EP of that should be coming out soon.
Listening to the lyrics in Beam Blues. Listing some upcoming shows, and Nick’s contact information and social media accounts. Talking about an audience not paying attention to the music at some gigs. Getting subs for the band, and sessions musicians for recording. Caleb tells us about doing session work. Talking about ever-changing technology in recording.
Aaron Liang and Matt Lam join Bob Jonkman to talk about their band Waterfowl, how they turned from a studio band into a live performance band, composing their music and writing their lyrics, and dealing with the many instruments and changeovers on their live gigs.
Introducing the band, from both Toronto and Kitchener. There are other members, Ben Easton and Calvin Wu. There are lots of instruments, everyone plays keyboards, and there are many guitars. They’ve been playing live gigs, but made their album Habitat first. Adapting the recorded sound to live performance, the music wasn’t written with the idea of playing it live. Aaron and Matt had written music and played in bands before, while in high school in Toronto. There are recordings, but not for public listening yet. The Habitat album was intended for friends and family, with limited distribution. They used some online web services to get some press, now it’s just on the streaming services. Both Matt and Aaron have day jobs, it’s tough finding time to play and record music. Now that they have a live band, the next music will be written in a more traditional way, workshopping the songs during live performances. Some songs on the album were released individually, like Open Up. It was based on a Lesley speaker sound effect. It was much more difficult to produce this song than to come up with the music in the first place.
Analyzing the sampled vocals in Open Up. Music first, lyrics second. Matt does more lyrics, Aaron does the songwriting. Start with a melodic progression, then form some words to it, altering the melody to stay within their vocal range. We got a sneak peek of the entire album, CKMS-FM aired it before it was released. Matt and Aaron had some excitement during their album release, when the venue caught fire. They’re no longer calling their genre “Dream Pop”, their style is more varied than that. Talking about the theme of the album, “water”. They started their band in the middle of Covid, there was nothing else to do. They’ve already had some personnel churn in the band. How the other band members got the music. Introducing Ascending.
Talking about the instrumentation on Ascending, and writing for a particular instrument, or a particular effect. Playing covers to fill in a live set, and arranging the set list to accomodate instrument changes. Talking about upcoming gigs, no gigs in Kitchener-Waterloo yet. But they’re looking for new gigs! They’re adding more original music to their live sets, then record and produce them. Talking about their recording setup. How they named the band, Matt is a novice birder and was looking through birding books. Introducing All My Time.
All My Time is the song they close their live sets with. How they promote their music, using some online distribution services and music review blogging sites. Bob talks about the NCRA‘s !earshot Digital Distribution System to get their music to all campus and community radio stations in Canada. Talking about touring. Reviewing Waterfowl‘s contact information and streaming services.
55m05s
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 alternate Fridays from 3:00pm to 4:00pm.
It’s the last day of spring for CKMS Community Connections, and time for our annual Spring Funding Drive! If you’re a fan of CCC or just Community Radio in general, help keep CKMS-FM on the air with a donation! Radio Waterloo is a cooperative, so you can become a member with a donation of $24 or more. Then you’ll get a vote in how the station is run, and you’ll get to host an episode of CKMS Community Connections!
At Radio Waterloo we do things you don’t hear on mainstream radio stations: Live, On-Air, In-Studio performances by local musicians; Extended interviews with local service agencies, advocacy groups, and social justice activists; In-depth reporting and analysis of local news; News programs from across Canada and the world; and, of course, as much local music as we can get our hands on.
Today I’m doing an all-music show with some of that local music (sorry, no podcast or bonus video!) to showcase Waterloo Region musicians, but it’s also because I’m so very behind in writing up the show notes and producing the podcasts for the last few CKMS Community Connections episodes with in-studio musicians. The music in-studio has been great, but the broadcasts and audio files have not always been so good. That’s because our studio equipment is older than most of the performers, and parts of it need repair or replacement. The sound board is missing some channels, the microphones need refurbishing, our transmitter is weak… We’d like to get a new transmitter so our signal reaches all parts of Waterloo Region, but the budget for equipment replacement got eaten up by the 50% increase in rent this year. So we really need your donation!
Bob Jonkman talks with Dan Jancar, Hills Walter, and Tim Palser of the FOG Blues & Brass Band about the origin of the band, recording the album, writing Twelve Bar Prescription, their trip to Memphis, and, of course, about the blues. And they perform two songs, Live, On-Air, In-Studio!
Introducing the band. In the studio is Dan Jancar, Hills Walter, and Tim Palser; other band members are Bobby Becker, Joe Dublanski, Domenic Di Nino, and Al Hosack. In studio we have Tim playing guitar and Hills on harmonica, and everyone on vocals, other instruments in the band are saxophones, bass, keyboards, and drums. Sometimes Dan plays baritone sax. But there are no horns, so there is no brass in the FOG Blues & Brass Band. Even though the sax is made of brass it’s considered a woodwind. But the band was named “Blues & Brass” through marketing genius. Orginally the band was a five-piece, and named for “Five Old Guys”, hence the capitalization.
7m40s
How does a seven-piece band get gigs? Not all venues can afford all the musicians, but they stand their ground. They all have day jobs, even though managing the band is a full-time job. Band members have different hours, so they can take shifts in doing the admin work. Talking about other people, producer Robi Banerji, and recording in Dan’s basement, the Jancar Studios. How the album Twelve Bar Prescription came to be. The title song was written by Grant Heywood, then reworked by the members of the band. Working through the Covid pandemic, working with software, building the studio, doing all the Covid mitigation.
Analyzing the song Twelve Bar Prescription, how it changed from the way Grant Heywood wrote it. Grant and Hills have both been in Musician’s FAQ. Coral Andrews first broke the first record on CKMS.
21m47s
Talking about their trip to Memphis representing the Grand River Blues Society for the International Blues Challenge. Starting with 12,000 bands, the organizers knocked it down to 300 bands, including FOG. It was a contest, with stringent time constraints. And FOG made it through to the semi-finals! They went not expecting to win, but to make contacts. They made quite a few, but then Covid shut it down. Then they had some smaller gigs like the Kitchener Blues Festival in 2020 at Bobby O’Briens, but there were lots of constraints for Covid.
This is a first, FOG Blues & Brass Band haven’t done their music acoustically before. Why blues? Each band member has their own story. Dan has a metal background, Hills is wearing a Bob Dylan T-shirt. Blues only has five chords, but they stretch every facet of five chords, and throw in some jazz elements. They’re playing “Canadian Blues”. Kitchener has a rich history, not just Mel Brown, but others like Sonny Boy Williams. Each performer has the opportunity to play with others. Hills did a dance album during Covid, and he does jazz, classical, funk, blues, rock, even country. Everybody in the band is pretty diverse in their musical interests. Talking about the other members’ contributions.
42m25s
Adapting their music to different circumstances, like doing Beaterland acoustically, which was the biggest production number on the album. Talking about working with other musicians. Talking about live music in Kitchener, new venues opening, including The Boathouse. Guelph has a buzzing underground scene, very eclectic.
Hey Lucy ends with Jacob The Cat purring, he gets a credit on the album liner notes. Discussing how many chords there are in Hey Lucy. Talking about upcoming gigs and events. Covering the various social media accounts. Talking about the Grand River Blues Society, how FOG got the gigs in Memphis. Talking about the work they do with the Youth Blues Camp.
55m12s
Introducing Why Get Up as the regular closing song.
Introducing Natalia Valencia and Saturday Night. Talking about Natalia’s start as a musician, and the process of writing Saturday Night. How Natalia met her producer, Trevor. Natalia tells us about her upcoming EP and the concept behind it. Natalia introduces the next song.
Talking about pre-show nerves; Natalia’s live performances, going to University of Waterloo, getting a Master’s degree in Social Work in Social Policy. Finding the time to write music, playing at open-mic venues, commercial venues. Playing for Sofar Sounds, secret performances in people’s homes. Talking about the production of the recordings, and the new songs coming up. Does a producer who contributes to background music get a writing credit? No, only the person writing the lyrics and music is the songwriter, background music writers get a producer credit. Natalia introduces My Kind of Paradise.
Discussing the feel of My Kind of Paradise. Natalia tells us how she writes music. Lyrics first, or music? For Natalia, it’s lyrics first. Natalia also plays ukelele, and is learning piano. Natalia has not yet written Christmas music or other festive music, but she does covers of other people’s music. Talking about Natalia’s inspirations, and the genre of her music. She’s just been introduced to heavy metal, and is learning to appreciate it. Introducing Living With Your Memory
Bob listened to the lyrics, found it very sad, but could be a favourite. Playing different venues, concert gigs or background music. Talking about nerves again. Natalia goes back to the studio in a few weeks, every night for a whole week. Natalia’s a perfectionist, will do 40 or 50 takes for song. Any live gigs? Natalia has just got her busker’s license, will be playing on the streets and in the subways of Toronto.
53m25s
Bob gives the closing credits, and Natalia plays us out to the end of the show.
Fabian Fletcher, president of the board at tri-Pride Community Association Inc. comes into the studio to talk about the tri-Pride organization, the tri-Pride Summer Festival, the performers, the history of Pride, some other 2SLGBTQIA+ organizations including Spectrum, and ideas for future activities and events.
Introducing Fabian Fletcher, the President of the Board of Directors of tri-Pride, an all-volunteer organization. In addition to the summer festival there’s Winter Pride, in February or March, and PRIDEtoberfest during the Octoberfest weekend. The Board works on organizing the events, but also works on policies and procedures, governance issues, and work more on advocacy and doing grass-roots community organization. The Board is eight or nine folx, a Vice-President and other Board directors who take on roles like vendors market, sponsorships, a treasurer, a development director: a small but mighty group. But there are twenty-plus volunteers who do the work of setting-up and tear-down, oversee the vendors market, volunteers to manage the stage area. There are enough volunteers for the summer festival, but people can sign up now for the fall and winter events. To volunteer, contact info@tri-pride.ca or look for the volunteer call-out on social media.
6m45s
Planning for the summer event started in January; lots of paperwork. The summer festival this year is taking place at Willow River Park, officially known as Victoria Park. The vendor market filled up really early this year, but there are still people looking for spots. This is the second year back after a Covid absence. Last year was really well attended, hoping to increase that for this year.
9m54s
Aside from the vendor booths, there will be performances from Noon to 4pm, local live performers, music, spoken word, standup. From 4pm to 8pm there will be the drag performances. Alysha Brilla is the musical headliner, and the headline drag performers are Ongina and Trinity K. Bonet, both from Ru Paul’s Drag Race. tri-Pride has a sign-up sheet for local performers, but the headline acts were cold-called. There’s a great drag scene in Waterloo Region.
12m27s
tri-Pride has been operating since 2002, doing summer festivals and other events. The City of Kitchener has an events team that coordinates with tri-Pride to arrange all the applications and paperwork. tri-Pride is very privileged to have the Board members it does to fill out paperwork and applying for licenses. Fabian wishes were ways to make the process more accessible to smaller organizations and community-based folks to have space in the park to have events. The requirements for audited financial statements are out of reach of organizations on shoe-string budgets that have no finances.
The tri-Pride festival this year is on Saturday, 10 June 2023 in Willow River Park, from Noon to 8pm. “tri”-Pride covers all three cities, Kitchener, Waterloo, and Cambridge, although they have not been out in Cambridge as much as they want to. But Grand River Pride has just started up in Cambridge, having their summer festival also on Saturday, 10 June 2023!
20m58s
Covering some of the history of the Pride movement, starting with the Stonewall Riots in 1969. Are things getting worse today? Not necessarily, intolerance has always been there, but people today are less hesitant about sharing their hate. Life has become more difficult for Queer folx, actions v transferring over from the United States. Fabian knows of incidents across Canada, not so much in Waterloo Region, although there is the example in Oxford county with the municipality of Norwich refusing to fly the Pride flag.
25m26s
What actions can tri-Pride and other organizations take? It’s tricky, because the organizations need to ensure the safety their membership. Non-Queer folks can show up for the Queer community at events, protests, and rallies, get involved with local organizations, and lobby their elected officials. tri-Pride joined #Act4QueerSafety, and signed a letter addressed to government officials at both provincial and federal levels to say “Enough is enough, you need to act for Queer safety.” But while getting involved, there will be spaces strictly reserved for the 2SLGBTQIA+ community. For example, tri-Pride is trying to create safe spaces geared toward BIPOC Queer folk, IndigiQueer youth, Two-Spirit youth, and those intersecting personalities. But non-Queer folk should show up for the larger festivals and use their voice and use their privilege to advocate for their 2SLGBTQIA+ community members.
Talking about tri-Pride‘s online presence; keeping it up-to-date is tough with volunteers. The main website needs to be updated, there’s a new volunteeer to do that.
Talking about other Pride organizations across Canada. There’s a Canada-wide organization, and a world-wide organization called InterPride. Joining such a federation gives tri-Pride a chance to hear from other organizations what’s working for them, to support each other, and to brainstorm ideas for festivals. There’s no Canada-wide Pride festival, although Captital Pride in Ottawa has what is deemed the nation-wide Pride festival, and InterPride has a festival as well.
37m43s
Pride festivals aren’t so much a protest any more, but a celebration. Fabian says it’s building communities. Talking about other events, like PRIDEtoberfest, a dance / drag performance / other performance. It’s an indoor event, unlike the summer festival. Winter Pride is a bit smaller, a dance with one or two drag performers. Fabian would like to have more social, low-key events like coffee nights, or speed friending.
39m50s
Talking about other Pride organizations, like Spectrum, in the same building as the CKMS-FM studio. Fabian is a staff member at Spectrum, overseeing their volunteers and operations. But tri-Pride is careful not to step on anyone’s toes, looking to support and uplift other organizations. Talking about some of Spectrum‘s programs, Fabian mentions “capacity building”, to be more accepting and creating safer space for Queer folks. tri-Pride focuses on the events, and focus on creating spaces. They’re looking at ways to do smaller events throughout the year that are tailored to different parts of their community.
Fabian tells us how Alysha Brilla came to be the headliner for this year’s festival. This year’s lineup was chosen to highlight diversity to represent what our community actually looks like.
50m45s
Bob and Fabian go over the details of the coming tri-Pride festival: Noon to 8pm on Saturday 10 June 2023 in Willow River Park, followed by a dance starting at 9pm hosted by Queer Night Out.
52m35s
Bob thanks Fabian for being on the show, and 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 alternate Fridays from 3:00pm to 4:00pm.