Brad Barrish

All kinds of inspirational things come to mind and fall right out because I never have enough time to write things down as I think them. Throughout the course of a day I try and jot down a few ideas in my Backpack for posts or things I want to focus energy toward. On of those things is how your list of feeds (assuming you are using some type of RSS reader) really define who you are and influence others. Now, I realize this isn't going to apply to most people, but for those of us who keep so much of our lives online, make friends online, admire people from their blogs or sites or whatever, an OPML file can really define us. I take great pride in the gems that make up my list of feeds. And the fact that I can't really share them very easily with others sucks. I want to know what other people are reading, especially the people I look to as being the tastemakers and early adopters.

So let me just start off by saying that Chicago is really cold. Seriously... REALLY cold. I arrived at the venue around 1pm to find that the production people had transformed Schubas. There were lights, meters, the smallest HD cameras you've seen and a bunch of people to figure out how everything works. Luckily the nice folks at Schubas had wi-fi, so I could actually get some work done while I was around. Did I mention that every single person at Schubas was incredibly nice. I think it's a mid-west thing or something. KT's (pronounced like Katie, btw) bus arrived and everyone cleared out for sound check. As a small side note, she met her God Son for the first time. He played drums while she soundchecked a song, which was quite entertaining considering he was probably 2 years old, if that. Anyway, KT was sounding great.

We wanted to make sure there was SOME sort of company signage at the venue, so I made an emergency call to MN with JR, had him whip up some quick snipes, which AA from that-one-company took to Kinkos, brought back and then I started taping all the posters in the venue. I even used my teeth to cut the tape.

There was no sign of Willy though. Shortly after I started worrying about Willy (and I wasn't the only one), I got a call from his manager who said he was on his way to the venue FROM NEWARK! He assured me Willy would arrive on time. Sure enough, a few hours later, he walked in the door. I happened to see him walking in, introduced myself and directed him to the stage for soundcheck. Everyone was gathered upstairs for dinner. Willy wondered in and I struck up a nice conversation with him. I knew damn well, that if I started talking, I would ruin the interview I was going to do a few minutes later. Oh well, I thought, we'll just revisit a few things, which we did.

As soon as people finished eating, we moved everyone out of the upstairs area and conducted interviews. I did some research on KT and Willy earlier in the afternoon and prepped some questions.Willy and I talked about the differences between US and UK audiences, how he felt about being so well-known in the UK even though he was a US artist, how his parents are folk singers / artists and what artists have had an impact on his artistry. He was extremely talkative and we seemed to get along well.

The KT interview was fun. She was also very talkative and we had a good time talking about LA's own Hotel Cafe, her guitar pedal (called "wee bastard"), Deadheads, other Scottish artists she was friends with and how cool it is to have a tour bus. Unfortunately, our interview was conducted while Willy was on stage, so I'll be watching the DVD on the plane.

We took Willy in to the audio truck and video van (yes, it was a van), only to see Mike Drumm directing the shoot from a pillow on the wheel well of the van while a space heater kept the frigid air out. HOW PUNK ROCK IS THAT?!

We ended to the evening with a good meal and now I'm abou to pack up and pass out.

I arrived to Chicago 10 minutes early, at 1:10am. There was lots of snow on the ground and it was freezing cold outside. I was one of two people waiting for a cab and it took quite a while for one to arrive. Midway was desolate except for the few maintenance workers that were dressed for the occasion. Willy loaded me into his cab and immediately told me about singing backup for Cole Porter. I haven't verified it yet, but I wouldn't put it past him. He was talking my ear off the second I climbed in. I told him to excuse me so I could make a quick phone call. Willy is 65 years old, covers his bald head with the worst wig on the planet (I thought he was a woman until he spoke) and can sing about anything. He told me I was his third and final fare tonight. He was tired and has been writing a lot tonight. He sang me songs about whatever we were talking about. It was a real treat and I told him it was a pleasure to ride in his cab as he passed my hotel.

"I think you just passed my hotel, Willy."

"I know that, Brad, but you see, I had to finish my song. And I won't charge you extra."

He dropped me off and drove 90 minutes to his apartment. His daughters were worried.

I'm sitting in a Starbucks preparing for my interview with KT Tunstall later today. We'll be taping her show at Schuba's tonight. The show will air next month. I'm really excited to see Willy Mason as well. I'll report on the show later today.

Tomorrow is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in America tomorrow. If you are in the Los Angeles area, I highly recommend attending one of Southern California's largest celebrations of Dr. King at the World Peace Ikeda Auditorium at 9am tomorrow. The auditorium is located at 525 Wilshire Blvd. in Santa Monica. Yolanda King (Dr. King's eldest daughter) will be speaking.

It's been some time since I have read the famous "I Have A Dream Speech," so I decided to find the text and read it again (you can also download and listen). I recommend you do the same. It couldn't be more relevant today.

I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.

But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. And so we've come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.

In a sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the "unalienable Rights" of "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness." It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds."

But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. And so, we've come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice.

We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.

It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. And those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. And there will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.

But there is something that I must say to my people, who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice: In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force.

The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom.

We cannot walk alone.

And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead.

We cannot turn back.

There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until "justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream."

I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. And some of you have come from areas where your quest -- quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed.

Let us not wallow in the valley of despair, I say to you today, my friends.

And so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.

I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of "interposition" and "nullification" -- one day right there in Alabama little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.

I have a dream today!

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; "and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together."

This is our hope, and this is the faith that I go back to the South with.

With this faith, we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith, we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith, we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

And this will be the day -- this will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with new meaning:

My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.

Land where my fathers died, land of the Pilgrim's pride,

From every mountainside, let freedom ring!

And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true.

And so let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.

Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.

Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.

Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.

But not only that:

Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi.

From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual:

Free at last! Free at last!

Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!

If anyone is feeling particularly generous, I would like one of these. It would look quite nice in the house.

ppelin

Man, I can only hope to raise a kid with such exceptional taste in music. [via Boing Boing]

I sign up for beta tests pretty often and sometimes I get chosen. Apparently, I’m one of the first 7000 to get chose for the Newsvine beta, which is awesome. It’s a new site that attempts to make it more enjoyable to read the news, comment, tag, share, etc. It looks really nice, thoguh I don’t know how much I will use it. I’ve gotten so used to reading all my news via RSS, that I have trouble going through a site to get news.I will make an attempt to use Newsvine for a couple of weeks to see how I like it.

I'm going to write more. There, I said it. I'll repeat it every day if I have to. I even started a list of post ideas on my Backpack site. I haven't figured out a lot of my determinations for the year, but looking back on the last year, I made quite a bit of shit happen. Great great shit happened. There was also some real shit. 2005 was quite a year. On to the next one.

About 2 months before the holidays came around I got an email from a fellow KJHK alum (who now is the General Manager) asking if I wanted to do one of the freeform shows over the break. I haven't been back to the station for probably 8 years now. I jumped at the chance and I think I was one of the first to respond. I got a slot for 12pm-4pm on Thursday, Dec. 29. I spent hours and hours coming up with my playlist. The plan was to split the 4 hours up into a best-of-2005 set and a local set. I kept the local set kind of open because I invited some friends in to play music (they didn't end up showing).

When I got to the station the Malicious Intent show was on. The DJ smelled kinda gross too. It was good to be back, but I was nervous, especially because I could not figure out how to connect my computer up so I could do the show from there. The DJ was no help. I ended up calling the station manager and of course I didn't have the right cable. WHY DIDN'T SOMEONE TELL ME I NEEDED A SPECIAL CABLE?! I was about to start panicking. There was 2 minutes left on the CD player and I didn't have anything ready. I started playing stuff from the stacks and while each song was playing, I tried to figure out what the hell I was going to do. And then I found the magic cable. I was in business. I settled in to the chair, set everything up and started the show for reals.

Set 1 (2.2 hours)
01 No More Stalins, No More Hitlers (with John Cale) (1989) | William S. Burroughs | Dead City Radio
02 The Comeback | Shout Out Louds | Howl Howl Gaff Gaff
03 My Mathematical Mind | Spoon | Gimme Fiction
04 Kissing Families | Silversun Pickups | Pssst! (Filter Magazine, Summer 2005)
05 Monster Hospital | Metric | Filter Magazine Subway Series Vol. 2
06 Random | Lady Sovereign | Vertically Challenged
07 What's Mine Is Yours | Sleater-Kinney | The Woods
08 High Rise | Ladytron | Witching Hour
09 Chromakey Dreamcoat | Boards Of Canada | The Campfire Headphase
10 A Match Made In Texas | Her Space Holiday | The Past Presents The Future
11 Comment Allons Nous Ce Faire? | Gangpol und Mit | (Internet Demo)
12 Don't Save Us From The Flames | M83 | Before The Dawn Heals Us
13 It Beats For You | My Morning Jacket | Z
14 Concrete Bed | Nada Surf | The Weight is a Gift
15 Another Sunny Day | Belle and Sebastian | The Life Pursuit
16 Rewind | Goldspot | Tally of the Yes Men
17 Home | Engineers | Engineers
18 Jenny Wren | Paul McCartney | Chaos And Creation In The Backyard
19 Forever Lost | The Magic Numbers | The Magic Numbers
20 Red Moon | Turin Brakes | JackInABox
21 Broken Beads | The New Pornographers | Twin Cinema
22 Bom Bom Bom | Living Things | Ahead Of The Lions
23 Medicine | Queens Of The Stone Age | Lullabies To Paralyze
24 The Mask (Feat. Ghostface Killah) | Dangerdoom | The Mouse & The Mask
25 Homme | Brazilian Girls | Brazilian Girls
26 Pelican Narrows | Caribou | The Milk of Human Kindness
27 City Lights | Husky Rescue | Country Falls
28 On My Own | Ulrich Schnauss | A Strangely Isolated Place
29 Freakin' Out | Graham Coxon | Happiness In Magazines
30 Oh My God | Kaiser Chiefs | Employment
31 Mexican Standoff | Elbow | Leaders Of The Free World
32 Slow Night, So Long | Kings Of Leon | Aha Shake Heartbreak
33 Weight Of The World | B.R.M.C. | Howl
34 Disposable | Story One | EP
35 Clementine | The Decemberists | To: Elliott, From: Portland

Set 2 (1.3 hours)
36 How I Spent My Summer Vacation | Truck Stop Love | How I Spent My Summer Vacation
37 Wanderlust | Sufferbus | Sufferbus
38 Ernst & Son | Zoom | Zoom
39 Sideways | Shiner | Lula Divinia
40 Extract Centrifugado | Panel Donor | Lobedom & Global
41 Kick Me | The Glitter Kicks | Love Everything
42 Cool 500 | Shallow | 3D Stereo Trouble
43 Demons And Avalanches | Butterglory | Downed - A Singles Collection
44 Summer Too | What Gives! | Up All Night With The What Giv
45 Watcha Trying To Do | Shower Trick | The Mortal Micronotz Tribute
46 Your Gonna Lose | Todd Newman | Temporary Setback
47 Giants Of May | The Pedaljets | The Pedaljets
48 Squares Of Squares | Vitreous Humor | Self Titled E.P
49 Lister | Boys Life | Boys Life
50 Never Said Anything (Demo) | The Belles | Demos
51 Somewhere In Your Town | Arthur Dodge & The Horsefeathers | Cadillacs, Ponytails And Dirty Dreams ...
52 Supernatural Bologna | Tenderloin | Let It Leak
53 Experimental Trucking | Go Kart | Swank
54 Sleeping Bag | Paw | Dragline
55 Restraining Order | Action Man | Adventures In Boredom
56 Breaking Dummy | Means To An End | Means To An End
57 Wuss Kliph | Kill Creek | Stretch
58 Gutshot And The Jogger | Giants Chair | Red And Clear
59 Mine Eyes | Season To Risk | Season To Risk

Despite my working later than usual this week (so far), I'm already stressing about a radio show I'm going to be hosting next Thursday (see below). Since I can play anything I want, I'm bringing the entire show in on my iPod. I'm so not kidding. Listen, if you were given the chance to do one radio show for the year, you'd want it to be good too. I'm in the process of putting together a 4-hour-long playlist. I will of course post it here, but I'm having trouble with what song should start it all off. What would you start with?