Cait Glasson, “Social Activist At Large”, spoke with Bob Jonkman about the Government of Canada petition E-4268: To extend to transgender and nonbinary people the right to claim asylum in Canada by reason of eliminationist laws in their home countries.
Bob Jonkman talks to Matt Burdett of Lost Faculty about his new single, Muddy My Mind, the sound he’s trying to achieve, the songwriting process, the ins and outs of music publishing, and his upcoming gigs.
This is the debut release of Muddy My Mind! Matt comes from Hamilton, Ontario, playing at the Corktown Tavern, Casbah, the Doors Pub, Mills Hardware, and Bridgeworks. Matt just completed his Master’s degree in Sustainability Management at the University of Waterloo. Tonight he’s off to play at the release party for Muddy My Mind at the Coach & Lantern Pub in Ancaster. Matt brought his guitar to play some other tunes that he’s releasing over the next few months, starting with Pieces.
Admiring Matt’s guitar, a graphite body with a maple neck. Matt’s a heavy-handed guitar player, that gets lots of volume out of the guitar. Pieces was the first song he wrote as a single piece. Matt cites Bob Dylan as an influence for this song. He didn’t have a title, until a woman in the bar called out “Call it Pieces!” Most songs come to Matt in pieces, not all in one shot. Matt likes writing both the music and the lyrics, being both McCartney and Lennon. Matt’s been performing as a solo act for only about five years. Matt’s going for the full band sound, working with Michael Keire at the Threshold Recording Studio in Hamilton, who has worked with big, guitar-driven bands, and gave Matt some pointers. Matt’s band on the recording of Muddy My Mind wasn’t his regular band, but a bunch of friends that played in The Bandicoots; three of them played on the track. Matt wants to play some venues in Toronto, and is looking to put together a show in Waterloo. Contact Matt if you can make it happen! Matt draws his songwriting influence from walking around downtown of the place he’s living. Matt introduces the next song, a preview of the next song he’s releasing.
Any Other Name was recorded at the same time as Muddy My Mind, Bob is looking forward to hearing the band version as well. Matt writes chord charts, tabs out some guitar licks, passes this to the other musicians: Andrew Parkinson on drums, Nikolai Kozel on guitar, Justin Ross on bass and vocals. Matt says it’s nice to play with people who are better than you, it brings you up. In February 2021 Matt drove to BC, tells stories of winter driving. It took five days to get there, but took his time to get back. He was working in Gibsons, BC, working on his degree remotely. Made lots of friends there, got good ideas for poems and music. But it might take three years for him to turn his ideas into music. Matt uses phone memos to record his ideas, playing into the phone. Matt is concerned about digital material being unavailable in the future, the pervasiveness of phones and technology. Matt will play a sad song to take our minds off it. Matt introduces A Man Escapes, based on French film he studied in University.
Matt’s songwriting includes combining two different narratives into one song, something he lifted from Phoebe Bridgers’s song Kyoto. One of the story lines in A Man Escapes came from Matt’s walk around the Hamilton Escarpment when he wasn’t having a particularly good day. The other came from driving along Highway 101, windows down, music blasting. Talking about developing finger picking skills. Matt’s been pushing his “band” sound, sometimes at the expense of songs like this, but there’s space for both kinds of sounds in the same project. Matt inventories his music room, it’s busy, it also has guitars from his parents. No drums, Matt prefers to leave that to the professionals. Does Matt have writer’s block? It comes and goes. Matt does most of his writing in the winter, and living life in the summer.
Bucket List has its chord progressions from doo-wop chords from the 1950s. Matt has been getting pigeonholed as an acoustic singer-songwriter, now he’s playing with a pedal board for a full sound, and even brought in a drummer once. He took Lost Faculty as the project name. It’s even the name of the band, even though there’s not a set lineup for the band. The switch from “Matt Burdett” to “Lost Faculty” should be complete soon. Matt uses TuneCore to distribute his music. Matt has been trying to learn the ins and outs of royalties, streaming rights, publishing, licensing. It’s hard to understand, and not get taken advantage of. New CRTC regulations should make CanCon qualifications easier for Canadian songwriters. Matt has been getting gigs more frequently since the name change to Lost Faculty. He e-mails, networks with bands, meets people, sharing a bill with friends. Matt’s playing at the historic Horseshoe Tavern on Monday, 6 February 2023, got by a cold e-mail and a link to the music; he regularly plays at the Coach & Lantern Pub, a pub gig so he plays lots of covers and mixes a few originals in. That’s where he started playing the Open Mics, now he hosts the Open Mics! Other gigs at The Casbah and Doors Pub, and the release party tonight at 9:00pm at The Coach and Lantern. If you want Matt Burdett of Lost Faculty to play at your venue contact him at mattburdettmusic@gmail.com.
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Matt Burdett plays us out while 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 Friday from 3:00pm to 4:00pm.
Tim tells us about Basketball Rock, more of a novelty song for him, but now the music he writes is labelled “neo-classical”. All his songs are recorded at River Music Studios in London, Ontario, the better for the quality of the music. Tim Schwindt, propietor of River Music did the guitar, bass, and drums; Tim (McInnes) played the piano and sang the vocals, and, of course, wrote the song . Tim’s first album was almost all ragtime music, with seven Jellyroll Morton covers, and seven of his own compositions in the ragtime vein. His second album, Shadowlife is almost all his own music. Tim says you can hear his style get more serious, for example he says Repetitive Stress is being picked up on dark, lugubrious playlists on Spotify. Tim wrote It’s A Sad Song and An Even Sadder Song in an attempt to create the saddest song ever written. Certainly it’s the saddest song Tim could write.
9m11s
Tim is mostly self-taught. He took piano as a kid and teenager, but what he doesn’t know about music theory would fit into a good-sized warehouse. He finds YouTube useful for picking up music theory. Introducing An Even Sadder Song (but Bob plays Music For Money instead).
The viola and violin parts were played by Tim’s neighbour, Kelvin Enns, the principal viola player for the London Symphonia. Kelvin and Tim have collaborated on several pieces, including For Ukraine and Almost Home. Tim has also collaborated with Jessie Grandmont on the song Ghost Dance. Jesse is currently touring with Fiddler on the Loose (plug plug!) playing in Drayton, Petrolia, and even in the United States. He’s an excellent violin player, and Tim says he just plays some triads on the piano…
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Bob comments on Tim’s varied repertoire; Tim says he’s narrowing down to writing only neo-classical music. But every now and then a funny song occurs to him, like Better Days, about vaccination, in which he also plays ukelele. Current events sometimes get Tim going, like writing a pro-vax song to counter the anti-vax songs.
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Tim just had a birthday (the Big Seven-Oh); he started his “music business” after he retired from being a forklift driver. He started seriously playing music in 2015 playing at the McCormick Home for Alzheimers patients, every now and then sneaking in his own compositions. Once Tim started getting ready to record the songs just kept coming. All of Tim’s musical connections (collaborators, studio, playing venue) are within walking distance of his home. Tim stays out of the spotlight, preferring to do studio work and writing songs rather than performing. He’d love to find other people to perform his music. Some of Tim’s music is getting thousands of streams on Spotify.
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Tim is working on a new song. It was something Tim had heard before — something he had written himself. But Tim says it’s not wrong to steal from yourself. Sometimes Tim thought he was in a rut, but then a brand-new melody occurs to him. There are hundreds of songs that have gone through the transom of his mind; there are parts of songs, ones for which there’s no ending, and some he’s just plain forgotten. Tim can’t keep two different songs in his head. A new song will knock out the one that was there. Tim set up a video camera to film himself playing, so if he forgets something he can go back to remind himself of the melody. Tim introduces Ghost Dance with Jesse Grantmont on violin.
Talking about the instrumentation on Music Box Waltz — it’s a celeste, also used in Mozart’s Magic Flute and Tchaikovsy’s Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy, then Music Box Waltz switches to a Fazioli-sound piano. Tim is a connoisseur, he can tell the difference between a Bösendorfer, Yamaha, or Steinway piano. For some songs he uses the effect of an upright or broken-down piano, for example in Silent Movie Heroics.
Silent Movie Heroics is meant to emulate movies of Douglas Fairbanks Sr., swashbuckling, swordfights, and chases. It’s a change of pace from the serious neo-classical stuff. The slightly out-of-tune piano sound is an effect added digitally to a midi keyboard. Done professionally, the effects sound like the real thing.
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On Music For Money that’s Tim’s brother Brad McInnes playing the Irish flute. Tim told him what the melody was, then Brad was on his own. Tim hasn’t collaborated on composing, but he has “borrowed” from other composers, for example Almost Home sounds a lot like Beethoven’s Pathétique.
Does Tim deliberately try to emulate other composers? He did in this case, although he says his composition is not as sophisticated, and doesn’t have as much “meat on the bone” as Chopin’s real music, but it’s a suggestion of his music. Tim suggests playing Backwards Boogie.
What’s backwards about Backwards Boogie? Tim says it’s the left hand — if you play it backwards you’ll get some subliminal messages. Tim went into the studio and improvised. It’s not a three-chord boogie but a six-chord boogie. Tim prefers people use Spotify to get his music, wants to get Ghost Dance over 1,000 streams.
Bob Jonkman talks with Tamara Lorincz, who’s involved with a number of Peace and Social Justice organizations, and Stuart Ross from World Beyond War.
On last week’s CKMS Community Connections I spoke with Tamara and Stuart briefly at the “No F35 Fighter Jets” rally, but there was so much else to talk about that Tamara and Stuart came to the studio for a longer conversation.
Sign the Parliamentary petition to: Study the financial, climate, environmental, and social costs of the F35 fighter jets; Make public the results of that study; and Cancel the planned purchase of F35 fighter jets and invest in climate action and the well-being of Canadians: e-4217 : Petition to the House of Commons
An earlier Parliamentary petition endorsed by the No Fighter Jets Coalition was presented by the Hon. Bardish Chagger, MP for Waterloo: e-3821 (National defence and military operations) to which members of the government have responded.
Stuart Ross tells us how he became involved with World Beyond War. Tamara Lorincz tells us of several other organizations that promote peace and non-violence.
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Talking about the F35 fighter jet purchase by the Canadian government. Discussing the expense, the carbon emissions, other pollutants in the fuel, stolen Indigenous lands for airforce bases, and the trauma and chronic disease brought to these communities from the effects of fighter jet emissions. Militaries are responsible for a 5% of the total carbon emissions across the world, and the United States military is the largest consumer of fossil fuels on the planet. In Canada, the Department of National Defense accounts for 61% of all federal government emissions. There is no plan to offset the emissions from military vehicles and operations. We need to talk about demilitarization for decarbonization. The F35s are not defense armament, but attack fighters. And they are seriously flawed: They only have a range of 2,200km, they can’t fly across the Atlantic or Pacific Oceans, or even across Canada, without flying alongside a tanker. And so Canada will not just be purchasing fighter jets, they will also be purchasing a fleet of strategic tankers to supply these fighter jets. And also runways, hangars, and fuel tanks in the Arctic. Instead of this, Canadians need affordable housing, and health care, and education, and public transit. And yet, these F35s are well known to have many technical flaws, but Canada will not own any of the software or repair manuals.
Tamara gives some context for No To NATO, including the clips from speeches by veterans from the war in Afghanistan. Tamara encourages us to view the video on YouTube: “No NATO, No War”: U.S. Veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan Return War Medals at NATO Summit. Stuart recommends a film Soldiers Without Guns. Tamara provides background information on NATO, a U.S. let military alliance that has launched illegal wars in Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, and Libya; its role in provoking the war in Ukraine, and its attempts at globalizing conflict in Asia. NATO is the greatest threat to peace in the world. Tamara explains the situation of Sweden, and especially Finland experiencing pressure to join NATO, even though Finnish citizens are opposed. Tamara says that if we want to succeed on peace, to succeed on the climate crisis and the Sustainable Development Goals then we need to work collaboratively and co-operatively with Russia and with China. Tamara urges people to read Stephen Cohen’s book War with Russia? The south-east region of Ukraine is the Donbas, a dominant Russian-speaking minority, who held a referendum to say they want to be part of Russia. NATO-backed forces have been shelling and killing Donbas civilians, yet this is something people don’t hear in the mainstream media. If NATO countries had respected the Minsk agreements, giving autonomy within Ukraine for the Donbas region to end the violence against the Russian speaking minority, then this Russia-Ukraine war would never have happened. Tamara wants to see political parties and elected officials to call for an inquiry, and to stop sending weapons, and to support peace and a political resolution.
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What can be done? People can find out what the peace movement is doing in Canada at https://peaceandjusticenetwork.ca/. They are planning an international weekend of action from 24-26 February 2023 to rally in the streets and public squares, to contact their elected representatives, and they will be holding webinars on true nature of the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the F35 fighter jet purchase. Also check the World Beyond War website.
We need peace for a livable planet, and we need peace for a positive happy future for out children and future generations. Stuart hopes that the millions of peace and environmental organizations can get together and have a solid, large voice in stopping this war in Ukraine.
Talking with Brian Chris about the Christmas album, the book that goes with it, and the origins of the song. Introducing Chris Collins, Brian’s producer. Talking about Brian’s trip to Nashville, and the song he performed there, Now Or Never.
Chris Collins performs the vocals on Now Or Never. Talking about Chris’s studio, Sonic Alley Studios. Discussing Brian’s process for writing songs, and producing them.
Talking about live performances, needing an agent, connections in the music industry. Chris Collins has written music too, but hasn’t recorded any. Working with other artists, like rapper Li’l White Lie. Shoutout to Street Hop for local Hip Hop music. Talking about some of Brian’s older music. Introducing Something About Christmas.
Talking about Brian and Chris’s musical background. Brian’s musical instrument collection and album and CD collection. Learning music from the Internet. “Practice makes permanent. Perfect practice makes perfect.” Chris has been collecting instruments in his studio, and keeps stuff like lava lamps around for inspiration. Brian gets inspiration from everywhere.
37m00s
Talking about Brian’s books. They’re inspirational books for kids. Brian reads an excerpt from Play Your Way, illustrated by Brian’s wife, Brittany Barr. The Broken String is the first book Brian wrote. Brian gives a synopsis of the story, and his aspirations as an author.
Chris’s son heard the lyrics “It’s the worst time of the year” and didn’t realize that it was a joke. But Brian says Christmas is tough, and hopes this song resonates with that feeling. Introducing Special Stuff, and Bob gives the end credits.
Andrew explains the setup of the installation Music For Trees on Roos Island in Willow River Part for the Open Ears festival this past spring. The origins of Music For Trees originated in an idea to emulate the sun and the moon. Synthesizer isn’t Andrew’s main instrument, that’s the harp. There’s 47 strings on a harp! And some have 50 strings! And seven foot pedals! The harp isn’t a chromatic instrument, so you use your feet to access the black notes. Other harps use levers. Andrew has four harps, the pedal-operated 47 string harp, a 26 string wearable harp, and two harps he built from a kit. Those are good to have for kids when Andrew is teaching. The strings on a harp are colour-coded, Cs are red and Fs are blue.
17m13s
This Garden is Andrew’s album of music primarily written for harp that sets four poems to music, poetry by Eli Sokoloff Harris. This was the capstone project for Andrew’s degree. It’s available on Bandcamp! Andrew likes quiet, prefers hearing the sounds around him (but not cars). Does Andrew listen to his own music? He writes music out of necessity, when nothing else scratches the itch. He looks for music that doesn’t pollute with its soundwaves. Music that slows things down. As an example, You Always Loved The Water.
Bob thought it was Andrew doing the narration, but it is Andrew’s friend Eli. When Andrew was looking for material for his grad concert, he asked Eli to send him some poems. It reminded Bob of a Vangelis piece called The Little Fete. Andrew’s thoughts on the piece today are not the same as when he wrote it, or heard the poem for the first time. It talks not so much about the garden itself, but what happens between people.
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Bob and Andrew met at the Rural Rainbow Ride in response to a Woolwich councillor making some “disgraceful remarks”. The ride was so the city community could show that they support the rural Queer community even if they don’t live there. As with all activists, Andrew thinks he should be doing more; while he attends events, the Rural Rainbow Ride was the first thing he organized.
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Andrew is no longer on social media. It didn’t feel authentic, like he was trying to create a gobal audience. Andrew is trying to care about everything, but he can only act on so much. Geting off the Internet gives him more control over where he’s acting. Bob says the Internet is not Real Life, but Andrew says digital things are real, but which ones? The Internet is still new, and the odds that we got it right on the first go are not very high. Perhaps we need some public control over the Internet, because when we leave it up to profit it doesn’t serve the public. We need access to the Internet the same way we need access to electricity. Things that happen on the Internet are real. Meeting online friends in real life is also real, but in a different way. Being off social media hasn’t affected Andrew’s ability to market himself, he tries to be present in the community and talk to people, tries to stay hyperlocal. The pressure is trying to keep up with social media, to post daily, but Andrew is trying to make art, he can’t keep up with that or it becomes just “content”. Andrew had a concert at the Conrad Centre For The Performing Arts with support from the City of Kitchener as part of the NUMUS 2022-2023 season. Not so much a concert as a collection of installations all in one space. Andrew will try to make this project available digitally, on his web site “this fall”…
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Bob gives the closing credits, and we go to the end of the podcast with Postlude (I love the way it flows)
Loon Town is back in the studio! Bob Jonkman talks with Danielle Savage, Nic Hyatt, and Dave Lacalamita about their tour of Ontario and Québec, making their video for Silver Flowers, musical collaboration, and writing harmonies. And Loon Town performs some songs, Live, On-Air, In-studio!
Quick band intro. Reviewing the Ontario/Québec tour. Discussing Great Sorrow lyrics, and how collaboration works. The structure (and length) of the Slow Space album. “Bootleg” music from Dave’s previous visit. There’s some material for a new album, but for now concentrating on performing the current songs together. Nic explains why some songs didn’t make it to this album; they’re conceptually different. Discussing the artwork on the website and the album cover. Talking about the video for Silver Flowers that was shot in Québec the past weekend.
“It ends abruptly, right here.” Talking about the rhythmic structure of Silver Flowers. Shoutouts to the video production crew, discussing the complexity of shooting video and recording an album. Getting together again in the spring for more songwriting. Spread across Canada, it’s like Loon Town has four hometowns, with a home crowd at every stop.
Bob resists the impulse to sing along. How Ice Cream Shop was developed. Sharing collaborative works to perform them solo — is there a “proprietary” feeling to the songs? No, the members are attached to the results but happy to play them; there’s a generosity to it. Talking about rights and songwriting credits: Everything is shared equally. How about the public “sharing” Loon Town music? It’s unavoidable, and they don’t mind as long as it’s from the ethos of sharing, but not for profit. The music is copyrighted, but they’re open to sharing if someone asks. Drop them a note! Cover versions of songs are equally valid. All band members have jobs in the music field: Dave is a music teacher, Nic runs a record label, Danielle does sound installations, and Milli is a full-time drummer. But they’ve all packed boxes and cut staples in their off-season. But this month of touring has been a full-time music gig, and it’s slowly increasing.
How Black Crow here differs from the album track, and it’s more upbeat when played live with the band. Bob thought Dave’s guitar had been restrung, but it’s still wound nylon strings making a slidey effect between notes. Seeing what a song lives as — embracing who’s there, what instruments are there. The first album Exit Strategy was different from Slow Space, these songs have all existed as “B” sides or demo versions. Collaborating by sharing files might be time-consuming, with the danger of losing the creative spark. But Danielle says there wasn’t a lot of waiting; everyone had a shared repertoire and worked on it. There was enough material that if there was a lull they could pick up something else. Did some “distance residencies”, took a week to spend time writing together, called each other to work on material. Sometimes a song comes all at once, sometimes it can take years to finish the last 10%. The last 25% is the hardest. All members have other collaborators for different projects, creating different music. Lots of new material for the Radio Waterloo library! Shoutout to campus and community radio station, where interesting music is being played all the time. There is Loon Town merch, a vinyl disc of Slow Space! Hand-delivery by a band member if you’re in their hometown!
Pick Up The Phone has three-part harmonies, how do you write harmony? Dave is a natural-born harmonizer. There are techniques, but sometimes they just try stuff out.
Bob gives the end credits, and Dave Lacalamita plays us out.
CKMS Community Connections Hour One airs on CKMS-FM 102.7 on Monday from 11:00am to Noon, and Hour Two airs on Friday from 3:00pm to 4:00pm.
Introducing Dave Lacalamati from Loon Town and his travelling bandmates. Introducing the band: Danielle Savage from Penticton, Nic Hyatt from Whitehorse, and Milli Hong from Montréal. How they met, how they manage to have a band scattered across Canada. Using Ableton to collaborate remotely. Upcoming shows: Cameron House on Thursday; at Sephora Catana’s studio in the old Boehmer Box Factory building in Kitchener. In Ottawa on Saturday, and Montréal on Sunday. Then band members are doing some playing and writing together, playing in Sarnia a week later, and then Dave follows the others to play in British Columbia. This is the first tour and playing live since the start of the pandemic. And the Slow Space album has just been released on 4 November. Going to play a track from that now.
Identifying the genre of Loon Town music, Dave identifies it as “Synth Pop”, the Exit Strategy album is “Psych Synth Rock”, more heavy guitar, busier drumbeats. Dave is playing an acoustic guitar today, and composes on guitar with a little bit on piano. Nick, Danni and Dave are all songwriters, one goal of the new album is collective songwriting. Bob is surprised that composing is sometimes accidental. New songs are shared with the band by audio clips, written out only to figure out details. Not all the chords have names! Dave and Nick like improv, Milli is a jazz musician. Hoping to incorporate some improv in their live performances. This will be the first time all four musicians have played together in person!
The album version has differences from the live version. Examining Dave’s guitar, which he uses to write music. Talking about how the rest of the band composes. Doing some group composition now that the group is together. And shooting a video when they’re in Montréal, something “upbeat”. Dave is a music teacher at St. Mary’s high school, his students describe all music as “upbeat”. Composing professionally helps teach music to the students; some teachers lack that context. Dave teaches “Music and Computers”, using computers to record, compose. There’s a computer lab, not unlike the CKMS-FM studio. Maybe get some student compositions on the air! So much local talent and local music being produced. A little local community radio history. Dave taught drama during the pandemic, and plays a song about the process of “getting out of your head” and being a bit over-confident.
Maybe this song was autobigraphical? Dave didn’t write it with himself in mind. It’s a fun song, and the chords are simple. Talking about what’s happening in the world of education today. Kids are not in school due to an education workers’ strike. Discussing the government’s treatment of hard-working but low-paid workers, which has said that human rights don’t matter here. Dave knew education minister Steven Lecce from their university days, not surprised he’s a politician. Does Loon Town have protest music? Not as such, there needs to be a chantable chorus. But all members of the band are politically engaged, and comment on the state of the world; music is a way of recapturing some of that power. Recap of upcoming performances. Discussing the Loon Town website, a animated map of Loon Town. Clicking on the icons will play music. After Toronto and Kitchener the tour continues to Ottawa, Montréal, Penticton, Nelson, and Vancouver. There are some unused songs for a new album. But Dave is interested in pursuing music with specific sounds that exist in the band. Dave would like to revisit the sound of Exit Strategy, there’s a lot of energy in that album. Dave has done a bit of solo work, an improv piano set, and has been playing a bit with Alison Corbett and Grady Caplan. Dave introduces the last song.
Discussing Great Sorrows, recognizing people’s needs over the last few years. Talking about a future CKMS Community Connections episode with Loon Town, 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 Friday from 3:00pm to 4:00pm.
Aalaa RehmanAyla and Abdullah Rehman Aalaa, Abdullah, and Ayla Rehman of #CANYouthVoteMatter #CANMinorityVoteMatter join Bob Jonkman in the studio. We discuss the importance of voter engagement, we get to know the Rehmans, and Abdullah spins some tunes.
Introducing Aalaa, Ayla, and Abdullah. Aalaa makes a land acknowledgement, makes a pitch for donations, and tells us what the #CANYouthVoteMatter #CANMinorityVoteMatter show is about, and her motivations for doing a radio show. Talking about the poor voter turnout, getting every vote out. Looking for candidates.
Learning about Abdullah, Ayla, and Aalaa outside of politics. Besides school there are lots of extracurricular activities. Ayla has written a book, The Fantastic Friends: Snake Goes Crazy. And the three siblings have written several other comics and stories. And all three are musicians and play in a guitar club.
Narine Dat Sookram is the first guest on Sunday; Aalaa, Ayla, and Abdullah have been on Narine’s show, Let’s Chit Chat with Narine Dat. Aalaa tells us how she finds candidates to interview. Contact information for any candidates if they want to be interviewed. Then Abdullah plays some music.
Screenshot of the Radio Waterloo website showing the “Funding Drive 2022” Radio Waterloo is having its On-Air Funding Drive for 2022, so Bob Jonkman makes a pitch for donations and plays new KWCon music by artists from Waterloo Region and the surrounding area.
The music scene in Rockwood, with Ian Reid. Better Man Today is about Woody’s jump into full-time music writing and performance at the age of 44. The album ideas came from the process of thinking about leaving his day job. The songs were written with Matt and Chris Gormley. The album’s six songs were written in three days by Woody, Matt, and Chris at a cottage retreat. The producer is Carl Jennings of Freedom Train. The four are amazing on stage, but most of Woody’s performances are solo.
Woody held Drive-in concerts during the pandemic with EJSE Studio and Anthony Andrews of Party Cinemas. Headlining Jim Cuddy, and bringing local talent like Sohayla Smith, whos’ been featured on Radio Waterloo‘s Musician’s FAQ. Woody also did online concerts with Zoom for Weight Watchers, which really expanded his fan base. Covid was successful in that regard; Woody lets the universe look after things. Live concerts are a different thing, but some of the same people are in the audience — Woody met some people in person that he’s previously met online. Playing upcoming concerts in Kitchener for the first time at Rich Uncle Tavern and Fall’s Road Pub.
Introducing I Am Enough, which was originally labelled Am I Enough?. One of the few songs Woody wrote solo. This should be out in a seven-song collection in October or November; just awaiting the submission process from FACTOR.
The last line of the song answers the question “Am I Enough?”. Woody doesn’t read music, but works with musicians who are fluent in music, and they write their own parts. The songs benefit from the extra creative input. Woody did learn to read music twice before, but his passion is singing and writing, not musical theory. Carl Jennings is Woody’s musical producer at Westmoreland Studios who drills Woody through vocal takes and who is an amazing bass player.
Upcoming gigs in Kitchener are solo, but on 8 July 2022 at Stonewall’s Restaurant the gig is a trio with Matt and Chris Gormley. Woody has been very busy now that post-Covid bookings are coming back. Playing nursing homes, other gigs, sometimes six or seven a week. Much more fulfilling to work for yourself playing music than being at an office job. Russell Scott helped Woody make the decision to be a musician full-time, along with the support of Woody’s wife.
There is Woody Woodburn merchandise: The Woody Hoodie! The VW microbus artwork is by Woody’s uncle, and there’s musical merch too. The merch is a small part of the revenue stream, the gigs are the main income. Woody hasn’t fully accepted that people want to wear his logo and merchandise, although he’s coming around to telling people they might enjoy his music. There’s some streaming revenue, all done through CD-Baby, which also does social media posting, distributing to other outlets. Woody is quite happy to get his music heard by other people on free streaming sites. People are buying CDs and probably don’t even have a CD player, but they’re supporting Woody’s music.
Introducing Dad, released on Father’s Day for Woody’s dad.
A tough song for Woody to get through, but Woody’s Dad is his biggest fan. Woody varies his set list depending on the crowd’s vibe, sometimes Dad is an opener, sometimes it’s a finale. Woody can gauge the vibe by audience response, people coming up and talking. Every venue is different, even when the audience is unresponsive Woody approaches it by believing something amazing will happen, and it usually does. Some gigs are for playing the bills, and Woody plays cover songs the audience knows. But Woody tells the story of quitting his day job, and here’s the song he wrote about it. And Woody puts his own spin on cover songs.
Is Better Man Today a concept album? In theory; it’s about what’s important in life. Most of the songs come from Woody’s experiences, the feelings from within. But there’s one different song, a party song on the EP, but it’s still a meaningful song about the writing trip to the cottage. Woody doesn’t write traditional love songs. There is a theme that runs through all songs. The party song is Bottle of Rum.
This sure sounds like a Cape Breton traditional song. Woody has a family connection to Cape Breton — people here ask “Are you from the East Coast?” but people there say “You’re not from around here…”
Woody broke a guitar string playing Bottle of Rum, the weather, humidity and air conditioning isn’t good for guitars. Woody’s guitar needs some service from Folkway Music, Woody’s guitar shop.
Woody’s music room is sparse, other rooms are in use for other things. Woody wants to have a proper at-home studio. There’s a piano, but Woody’s only had one piano lessons from local musician Andrea LeBlanc of My Living Room Live.
Woody covers his upcoming events, several at breweries which have become popular recently. Then Woody plays some music to take us out while 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 Friday from 3:00pm to 4:00pm.
Bob Jonkman is joined by Dr. Erin Dej, Assistant Professor in the Department of Criminology at Wilfrid Laurier University, Dr. Laura Pin, Assistant Professor in the Political Science Department, also at Wilfrid Laurier University, and Lesley Crompton, who works with the Unsheltered Campaign at the Civic Hub in Waterloo Region. They discuss the impending eviction of the people at the Victoria/Weber encampment, direct aid, government responsibilities, housing policy, and the role of academia.
A community fridge facilitates access to high quality food. It is open 24 hour a day, 7 days a week and available to anyone who needs food at any time. Donations of fresh food or non-perishable items are welcomed.
Kitchener
The Kitchener Market Map
300 King Street East
Kitchener, Ontario
Waterloo
Cafe Pyrus Outpost Map
120 Roger Street
Waterloo, Ontario
Dr. Erin Dej introduces herself, explains the role of critical criminology in social justice issues, and begins to explain the Point-In-Time count when technical difficulties arise.
Dr. Erin Dej explains that what is happening in Waterloo Region with homelessness is happening across the country, and across the world. The Point-In-Time count shows a doubling of homelessness since 2018. Part of that is due to Covid, but there are a variety of factors that contribute.
Dr. Laura Pin introduces herself, and explains how Political Science influence policy action around social issues and homelessness.
Lesley Crompton introduces herself, and the Unsheltered Campaign which has been filling gaps in social services for food, water, sanitary facilities, and shelter. Talking to people with lived experience, and gathering stories. Identifying the “hidden homeless”, people who are not registered with the municipality for the shelter system. Extended families are excluded, but may have some of the same issues. The Point-In-Time count had to be done by the municipality in order to get funding from other levels of government, but contracted the service out to the assistive organizations like Unsheltered Campaign. There are issues dealing with the macro issues because so much attention is focused on the micro issues.
17m43s
Direct aid provided by eg. Unsheltered Campaign, Going Mobile KW, 519 Community Collective provide food, food ingredients, and food preparation for people who have food insecurity. It is difficult to prepare a variety of meals from supplies from the food banks; it does not provide the recipients with the choice of what to eat. There is no confirmation of need, no means testing; treating people with dignity. Are people satisfied, well-nourished? It’s difficult to say. Is this Canada’s “Social Safety Net”? Aid agencies need a “Billing For Filling” initiative, billing the state for filling the gap. This goes back to social policy, social assistance for people who have disabilities or are unemployed; the rates are not enough for people to afford shelter and food. The single rate for Ontario Works (OW) is $750/month; the Ontario Disability Support Program is about $1150/month. These are not livable, humane rates.
24m30s
At the Waterloo Region Council Meeting on Tuesday, 7 June 2022, there was a call for additional funding from higher levels of government. Housing requires intergovernmental relations and multiple levels of government to manage. But at the regional level there are lots of things that can be done, eg. a regional encampment protocol. While there is a need for additional funding, it’s not an excuse for making use of the powers the regional government has for taking action. Beyond food, there are other issues that require support. Shelter support for families in motels are the same facilities used for people displaced from encampments, but this does not work for many people. Waterloo Region contracts out these services to aid agencies. Lesley Crompton says we need an Auditor General to ensure that there is more public accountability and transparency between the Region and its service providers to ensure they’re doing what we think they’re supposed to be doing — Lesley doesn’t think they are.
29m21s
There are upwards of 50 people living at the Victoria and Weber encampment. Regional Council seemed sympathetic, but not motivated to help. Premier Doug Ford has said that for people in this situation just need to get a job. But Dr. Dej says that lots of people in this situation have a job! They’re working, but it’s not enough to pay the rent. For those without work, it is difficult to get a job. How do people without a job get a bus pass to find work? How do they get equipment like steel-toed boots needed to get a job? How can people try to get a job when they’re in an encampment, likely sleep deprived from being in the same area with 50 other people, concerned for their safety, and unable to get good rest from sleeping on the ground. And even when people on social assistance do get work, their earnings are clawed back at %50, an effective tax rate much higher than anyone else has to pay. The provincial government is cutting its sources of revenue (license plate renewal), federal government isn’t pursuing foreign holdings tax which could be used to invest in affordable housing and social housing. Dr. Pin says that at the local government level, a vacant home tax or foreign ownership tax could raise revenues for social programs. People are working part-time, employers cutting hours to minimize benefits. But even people working full-time at minimum wage earn only about $2000/month before deductions, yet rents are around $1600/month. If we took an approach of housing as a human right it shouldn’t matter whether people work full-time, part-time, if they need child care, or if people have a disability and can’t work — people still have a right to decent and affordable housing. The Region of Waterloo’s housing policy has put forward a human rights approach to housing; the federal government in its national housing strategy has also put forth a human rights approach to housing. But how can we make this a lived experience for people experiencing homelessness? Yet the Region of Waterloo Council has not advanced this into a formal motion.
35m30s
International Human Rights declaration indicate that people are not to be evicted from their housing, or even encampments. What legal ramifications are there for municipalities that break the International Human Rights declaration? Dr. Dej says that federally this has already been adopted. Yet municipalities don’t follow it. Instead, municipalities are adopting a criminalizatin of homelessness, and even a militarization of the efforts to evict people from encampments. We do have a national protocol for homeless encampments in Canada to follow for removing people from encampments developed by the former UN Rapporteur on Housing, Lailani Farha and Dr. Kaitlin Schwan that tells municipalities how to do it within our international human rights obligations. Recognize that people don’t want to live in encampments, they want to be housed. The challenge is that following this protocol takes time, but people want quick fixes. Yet removing encampments is not that quick fix people are looking for, it’s not going to end homelessness.
38m06s
Lesley Crompton points out that people need more than just housing: They need wrap-around services such as cooking instruction, a social structure, mental health issues that need to be addressed. Some shelters have zero-tolerance for violence. But what is violence? Someone speaking exteremely loudly may be considered violent, and get evicted. At motels used for housing, the staff are not able to deal with mental health issues. People need on-going supports, but some municipal housing staff think that merely providing housing is enough. What can academics do to influence the outcome of the pending eviction? Dr. Pin recognizes her privilege; people from the region connect with her in ways that they don’t connect with people on the ground. The 30 June deadline for evicting people from the Victoria and Weber encampment is artificial, the site is not needed for construction until the fall. Dr. Pin suggests we push back against that deadline to give people more time to discuss with decision makers as to what they need. Dr. Dej suggests that we push as hard as we can to make sure that the voices of the people in the encampments are the ones that are heard. She has received criticism about the Point-In-Time counts and other academic pursuits, that money spent on academic studies would be better spent on housing directly. But there is a lot of power in that data, it can convince people in ways that people might be convinced otherwise. For example, Dr. Dej has researched, rigorous data that supports Lesley’s statements on the need for ongoing services. Use this as clout to amplify the voices of people on the ground.
43m33s
How does this get to the politicians who make the decisions? Dr. Pin has been inviting councillors and staff into the Unsheltered Campaign meetings to hear what community organizations have to say on the issue. Dr. Pin’s graduate seminar prepared a report on comparative encampment protocols from a human rights perspective to provide the Region with data on how difference cities have put forward protocols to manage encampments, and providing some analysis to determine which protocols are more consistent with a human rights approach. Building relationships and capacity at the Regional level to do that kind of analysis. What can ordinary citizens do? Lesley Crompton says to take time to understand, to talk to people at the encampments, to talk to people who have been working for the people at encampments. The Region’s capacity of outreach staff is very limited, and does not give enough time to spend with the individuals at the encampments. Get involved, so you can then speak to the Region. This is an election year, and while there are no Regional or City councillors on the same page as Premier Ford, it is time for a change. CARE (Coalition Against Removing Encampments) is a grassroots organization that looks at other social justice issues, a coalition of other organizations. Dr. Pin mentions the Social Development Centre and the Civic Hub WR for people who are interested in connecting in a immediate way. Challenge the stigma that’s presented to the people experiencing unsheltered homelessness, recognize that the people in encampments are our neighbours and community members.
49m23s
Bob thanks the guests, gives the credits for CKMS Community Connections, and introduces Dreamer by Rose Brokenshire.
Barbara Schumacher and Jim Stewart of the Waterloo Region Health Coalition join Bob Jonkman on a web conference to talk about the Ontario government’s creeping advances to privatized health care, the diminishing level of health care in Ontario compared to other provinces, ideas to improve public health care, the effects of having private hospitals, and an announcement of the upcoming Waterloo Region Health care Privatization Summit.
We had some technical difficulties during the live broadcast, but the podcast cleaned up nicely, although the web conference created some dropout in the audio at some points.
Introductions: Barbara Schumacher is a retired physician and the former Medical Director of the University of Waterloo Health Service; Jim Stewart is the chair of the Waterloo Region Health Coalition. WRHC is a chapter of the Ontario Health Coalition, a non-partisan public watchdog for health care. Provincial legislation is introducing privatization of health care by stealth; result of insufficient funding for the health care system. Canadian Doctors for Medicare has done studies of the administration of private health care: Canadian public health has half the administrative cost of private health care.
13m37s
Ontario is dead last among the provinces in funding public health care: fewest hospital beds, fewest nurses, and funding hospitals at the lowest rate of any province. We need to look for ways to invest in public health, not take funds out and drive them into profit-driven “Independent Health Facilities”. Federal health care transfer payments have dropped from 50% to 20%. There is a massive reduction in provincial health care spending. Federal government transfer payments are intended to administer a provincial health care system, not deliver health care. In 2019 the Ontario People’s Health Care Act created a super agency with powers to restructure the public health care system, now there is a patchwork across the province, different in Waterloo Region from Windsor, Toronto, Ottawa, Kingston, Sudbury.
17m14s
How to make things better? Focus on public health care, we paid for this over decades, why throw it out? Comparing England, where NHS privatized, but the private company went bankrupt and left. How sustainable are private companies for delivering health care. But Scotland’s NHS rejected privatization and focused on public infrastructure and create a strategy for sustainability for the NHS in Scotland. As a result, Scotland is a world leader in reducing wait times, reduction of hospital acquired infections, and reducing re-admission rates. They used four strategies: 1) Redesign and transform capacity on population-based requirements; 2) Information (linked electronic health records); 3) Planning strategy, including continuous quality improvement; 4) Peformance Management Strategy, holding regional health units accountable when they don’t reach targets. Canadian Doctors for Medicare has a lot of studies on how our Canadian health care system can be reformed. Private health care is not the only alternative. Private clinics primarily focus on profit, that’s what they’re designed to do.
25m00s
On 1 February 2022 the Ontario Health Minister, Christine Elliot, gave a press conference where she said “Let independent health facilities create private hospitals.” This is an alarming announcement, it speaks to the complete coring out of our public hospitals, having them recall diagnostic and surgical services, to be reconstituted in private clinics. In private hospitals the simple procedures and uncomplicated patients get drawn in the private system, then the public hospitals are left with the more expensive cases requiring more intense professional care, so public hospitals have expenses that far exceed those of private hospitals. Private hospitals also pull professional expertise out of the public system, but since there will be no additional doctors it leaves public hospitals with fewer resources. Private hospitals only benefit people who can afford it; poor people will go to underfunded, understaffed public hospitals. Public hospitals have a flat-fee system to compensate doctors; all neurologists or all obstetricians are paid the same. In a private system there can be a differential fee scale according to expertise. The public system doesn’t reinforce holding on to quality, we see physicians with specialized skills move to the US, draining the public care system. But some Canadian physicians find the private system in the US burdensome (health insurance costs, tracking down overdue payments, take orders from health insurance corporations) so their ability to deliver high-quality health care is diminished significantly, and they return to Canada.
30m33s
WRHC is trying to warn the Region of Waterloo what is happening with privatization. They are holding an emergency summit on Tuesday, 5 April 2022, at 7:00pm register with Zoom. Speakers include Natalie Mehra, Executive Director of the Ontario Health Coalition. Find out what’s happening so people can make a decision a the voting booth in June.
31m48s
Discussing the politics of health care. WRHC is non-partisan, but there’s no need to have a political affiliation, almost all parties support the public health care system. It’s not a political position, it’s a social position. Discussing the scope of health care delivery: Eye care, hearing care, dental care, pharmacare, and mental health care. “Health care above the neck.” Pharmacare on a large scale gets better competitive pricing, but the strong Pharma lobby is holding us back.
36m16s
Jim Stewart gives the WRHC contact info and Bob gives the credits as Extended Heatwarning plays out to the end of the podcast.
Article in The Record about the Mill Street development where the “worst case scenario” we warned about basically is what happened, with over 100 units lost without preventing displacement of the original homes.
James Blacktop on CKMS Community Connections, 18 February 2022Marc ReillyAdom Postma
The Boys & I are back in the studio! Well, on a web conference, because the CKMS studio is still closed to guests until the pandemic subsides. James Blacktop, Marc Reilly and Adom Postma tell us about their experience with the pandemic, their studio session, working with a producer, being a road band, and give us a brief rundown of upcoming gigs. Nathan Bonassin couldn’t be with us today, there’s that day job getting in the way again.
We play some music from their past appearances on CCC (19 August 2019 and 31 August 2020), James plays a love song for his fiancée Stepaniee (they’re getting married this summer — Congratulations!), and we play the brand new single White Hot which was released today.
When: Friday, 11 March 2022 Location: 4057 New St, Burlington, Ontario Website: https://www.slyefox.com/
EP Release Party
When: Saturday, 19 March 2022 Where: Descendants Beer and Beverage Company Location: 319 Victoria Street North, Kitchener, Ontario Website: https://www.descendantsbeer.com/
The Boys & I were in Chalet Studio in Uxbridge from September to November to record an EP, Ignite with 5 tracks. Worked with staff who recorded That Ain’t Me Any More, but learning all about distribution and marketing. On the web conference with James Blacktop (vocals), Marc Reilly (guitarist), Adom Postma (bass). Everyone is excited to be playing live in front of an audience again. The EP includes another track, Book Of Counted Sorrows, written during the pandemic. Marc created the riff, James wrote the lyrics.
Marc says the music in a minor key with an interesting riff sounded sad, fitting with the pandemic. Started as a remote collaboration, passing music and lyrics back and forth before working together. The full EP, remaining four songs will come out together on 18 March 2022, Book Of Counted Sorrows will be the second single off the EP but released on the same day. Introducing Nathan Bonassin (drummer) can’t make it due to work. James working on another song, Old Fashioned Kind Of Love, a summertime love song. We’ve been playing Lay Down Easy at the station.
Why release a song in Winter? We all need a bit of White Hot in the winter. But it builds up an audience for summer concerts. There’s a concert from 8pm to 10pm tonight (Friday, 18 February 2022) at Descendants brewery; James lists other upcoming events. How far do The Boys & I travel? Welland, Oshawa, usually within about an hour and a half. They’ve been approached to join the “Extreme Tour”, with shows throughout the United States. But 2020 and 2021 happened. Maybe this summer. Is streaming worthwhile? Not as a revenue stream. But it helps get gigs. James promised Stephaniee to play a song live on the air, the song they will dance to at their upcoming wedding.
32m25s
Here I Stand Live, On-air
Stephaniee and James Blacktop
36m24s
Discussing James and Stephaniee’s wedding. Looking forward to the honeymoon in Europe. Adom and Marc leave the lovesong writing to James. This studio session was a totally different experience than the one in 2020. The band had a producer that nitpicked technique to get the best out of the band. That has affected the live performance, but they sneak in some of the old-style riffs, the “OG Version”. But no background vocalists! White Hot came out today, eagerly looking forward to streaming hits. James quit smoking and has improved his vocal range, looking to increase his repertoire to take advantage. James tells us the inspiration for White Hot — James didn’t think it was very good, but Adom recognized it as a banger right away. Bob heard White Hot as the theme on Wide World Of Motorsports, but without James’ singing!
Mo Markham of KW Vegfest Mo Markham joins me, Bob Jonkman, on a web conference to talk about the upcoming KW Vegfest 2021, and tells us about the speakers and vendors who will be at this year’s Vegfest. We talk about veganism, the need for a plant-based diet, and the “Ag Gag” laws that try to suppress publication of the problems with industrial agriculture. The speaker presentations are being recorded, so we’ll have Mo back in a few weeks to as we put some on the air.
I promised to play a bunch of new CanCon and KWCon music today, but there was so much Vegfest to talk about we didn’t get to it. We’ll definitely have a full music episode next week, and I’ll invite the musicians to come into the studio (when it re-opens) for a Live, On-Air, In-Studio performance!
Mo Markham tells us about this year’s KW Vegfest, being held in-person at the Kitchener Market. She gives a little history, and then goes over the Covid protocols in place, done by the Kitchener Market staff. There’s no online component, but presentations will be recorded and we’ll air excerpts on a future CCC. Mo tells us about the KW Vegfest programme, and tells us about some of the musical guests. There’s more stuff happening outside, and Mo goes over the list of vendors. We talk about transitioning to a vegan lifestyle, there are Vegan Societies to help people with this, for example the KW Vegan Society and the Cambridge, Ontario Vegan Society. KW Vegfest is put on by KW Animal Save.
Veganism is one of the ways to address climate change — animal agriculture is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. Plant Based Treaty was recently set up to bring attention to this, and some municipal councillors are already on board.
Mo’s cat Joanie introduces herself, and we talk about plant-based cat food. Cats are obligate carnivores, they’re required to eat meat. But the only nutrient needed by cats missing in plants is taurine, so adding a taurine supplement makes plant-based cat food completely nutritious for cats.
We talk about “vegan” as an ethical choice, separate from eating a plant-based diet. Veganism includes not using any animal based clothing, not going to the zoo, not riding a horse, not using animals in any way. It’s not only animal welfare that drives people to veganism, but also climate change. Mo tells us of her experiences in seeing the effects of climate change herself.
Talking about “Ag Gag Laws”, to suppress information about the conditions for animals in industrial agriculture. Mo gives details about some of these “acceptable” practices. Content Warning: Mo gives some explicit descriptions of animal abuse. Talking about the specifics of the law, how it doesn’t do what it claims to do. There have been no incidents of disease brought in my activists. But it’s foreign and low-paid workers who are most at risk of the zoonotic diseases spread by poor working conditions in these places. Strong agricultural industry lobbying keeps this law on the books.
54m34s
Hardest Part (vocals by CJ Cooper) and Bob gives the closing credits
Peter Snow
You may remember our show from 10 May 2021 with Peter Snow from The Soviet Influence, a politically active, indie rock band from southern Ontario. Peter spoke of a live, online event in August for prisoner justice.
The Soviet Influence have partnered up with the Toronto Prisoner Rights Project and produced a compilation record and streamed show this past weekend to raise funds and awareness of this cause. CKMS Community Connections is re-broadcasting that show, recorded by our sister campus radio station from Guelph University, CFRU-FM. It features performances from The Soviet Influence, Friday Empire, Skye Wallace, and Joni Void, along with interviews and information about the project.
The Toronto Prisoner’s Rights Project (TPRP) is a volunteer organization of former prisoners, people with loved ones inside, front-line workers, artists, researchers, educators and students. They engage in direct action, public education, and mutual aid to shed light on the harms caused by incarceration and connect prisoners with social, financial, legal and health supports. They’re committed to abolition and building sustainable communities rooted in community care, transformative justice, and accountability.
Tomorrow, Tuesday 10 August 2021 is Prisoner Justice Day. Please join the memorial at the Church of the Holy Trinity, in Trinity Square tucked between the Eatons Centre and the Marriott Downtown. Between 5pm and 8pm there will be a vigil in solidarity with those who have died while incarcerated as well as to show support for prisoners’ rights. Former prisoners and their loved ones will share their stories and truths. There will be activities, music, performances, food, swag and more! Folks are encouraged to show up to demonstrate solidarity with prisoners and those impacted by incarceration. No one is free until we are all free.
You can support the Toronto Prisoner Rights Project at https://www.torontoprisonersrightsproject.org/get-involved-and-support All proceeds go to mutual aid projects including the Prisoner Emergency Support Fund, Jail Hotline, and Good Food Boxes, and support our direct action advocacy work (through digital organizing tools and protest supplies). Supporters can contribute a monthly donation on Patreon that includes exclusive TPRP merchandise as a thank-you.
Or you can make a one-time donation to the Prisoner Emergency Support Fund, started by the Criminalization and Punishment Education Project and the Toronto Prisoners’’ Rights Project. It’s a team of volunteers that are organizing to support prisoners, who believe that people need access to community support and not human cages. The fund was originally launched as a response to the pandemic. Given the clear gaps in care that have been revealed by the volume of applications, they are continuing to raise funds so long as there are needs to be met. This fund is intended for people inside prisons and jails and recently released prisoners. People behind bars often need support to contact their loved ones or purchase essential items on their canteen. Recently released prisoners need access to funds for housing, food, clothing, and physical and mental health supports. Families who still have loved ones behind bars need funds for expensive phone bills and canteens.
And you can download the Toronto Prisonsers Rights Project Compilation EP by Musicians For Mutual Aid. The record features new music from The Soviet Influence along with tracks from Skye Wallace, The Burning Hell, Sean Bertram, Friday Empire, Davita Guslits, Joni Void + Jerry Quickley, and Kayla Hagerty.
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.
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.
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.
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