The Tucson shooting has consumed me all this past week. I’ve wrestled with whether or not
Sarah Palin and the army of right-wing, propagandists are responsible in some way for the tragedy. After thinking about it for a week I’ve concluded that, though they are not directly responsible in a legal sense, I believe they are indirectly responsible in a spiritual sense. Their wreckless rhetoric has contributed to the atmosphere of hate and distrust for anyone who disagrees with them.

In the same way that they make connections with Karl Marx to Barack Obama over socialism, we can make the same kinds of connections from Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck to Jared Loughner over hate speech. Can you imagine who Rush Limbaugh would blame for the shooting if the victim would have been a Republican?

They have stoked the fires of hate for Democrats, liberals of all stripes and the Government with their inflammatory, over-the-top rhetoric on a thousand radio stations all across the nation.

Sarah Palin said in print and at a live appearance "Don't Retreat, Instead - RELOAD!" She posted on her Facebook page a "target" map showing the districts of Gabrielle Giffords and other House Democrats in a rifle's cross hairs. Then, she appears on her tv show/campaign commercial looking through the crosshairs of a rifle, shooting a caribou. Just a few months earlier Congresswoman Gifford’s office doors were shot out after her vote for the Healthcare Bill. Giffords was clearly targeted and the animus was out there, boiling in a black cauldron of hate with fires stoked by right-wing leaders, talkers and commenters. Many of whom, talked of “Second Amendment Remedies”.

Just a few weeks ago I truly believed that Sarah Palin could become our next President. If they could put George W. Bush in the Whitehouse they could certainly put Sarah Palin in there. Now, I think it would be impossible because of political ads that could connect her to the Tucson shootings through the gun sight images she has so proudly used. Connect that to the carnage in Tucson and her own words and you have a biased, but effective ad campaign. She couldn’t get elected dog-catcher now.

At a rally a few months ago in Washington DC they carried signs that said, “I came unarmed...THIS TIME!” and “Where’s my gun?”. On Glenn Beck’s website comments are so over-the-top with hateful rhetoric I won’t quote them here for fear they would target me, too.

And, what has the Left done? They certainly have not tried to inspire people to take up arms and shoot people. The worst of the far left are the Anarchists. They have burned cars in a car dealership, they have set animals free in an animal research laboratory and they have rioted so they can loot. It’s just not the same as encouraging people to violence because our President has a “Deep-seated hatred of white people” and is destroying our nation as Beck has said.

Even, though they deny any responsibility for the tragedy in Tucson, they have indeed dialed back the rhetoric. Palin took down the map with the crosshairs on it and every conservative pundit from Pat Buchanan to Charles Krauthammer approved of Obama’s speech at the memorial service for the victims.

So, they have done what I have always wanted them to do: dial back the rhetoric a little bit so as not to inspire some loony-tune to go out and shoot someone.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/10/AR201101...

http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/news/who-is-jared-lee-loughner

http://www.fresnobee.com/2011/01/17/2236224/eugene-robinson-palins-egoce...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bob-cesca/sarah-palin-fumbles-and-f_b_8083...

Here’s a 1919 Fresno Morning Republican newspaper I’ve had in my collection for several years.
It’s amazing these 90-year old pieces of newsprint are still in tact. Though yellowed with age, it's still readable and big. It was a different size, 22 inches tall, same as today’s Bee but much wider at 16 inches as opposed to only 11 inches in today’s paper. Every story was completed on the page it started and not continued on another page. Very little photography and most of it from far away like world leaders in Europe and national movie stars. A couple of local photos were of two boxers who were going to fight at the American Legion Hall. Johnnie Hayes of Auberry was to fight Roy Fain of Fresno for the San Joaquin Valley Bantamweight (118 pounds) Championship.

The Gottschalks ad was interesting with summer dresses from $4 each and 'dainty undermuslins' at $1.75.

Another difference was the relative lack of coverage of local stories on the front page. I had to dig into the middle of the 22 page paper to find local stories. Although, it is ironic that there was one local story on the front page about Fresno Mayor, W.F. Toomey announcing an anonymous donation of $40k to buy food to feed the hungry. It wasn’t going to be given away, but sold at cost at a special sale in the Municipal Auditorium. Some things never change. There’s always poor folks going hungry.

90 years ago there were 45,000 people here, now over half a million.

The Fresno Morning Republican newspaper was founded in 1876 by Dr. Chester Rowell the elder, who’s statue rests on the southwest corner of Fresno’s Courthouse Park and was mayor of Fresno from 1909-1912, the year he died. Perhaps, the ghost of Dr. Rowell walks the lanes of courthouse park late at night? The paper continued on, changing hands several times until it’s demise in 1932.

There were two Chester Rowells. The younger was Chester Harvey Rowell, nephew of the elder Rowell and was brought in to edit and manage the Fresno Morning Republican in 1898 and continued in that position till 1920. So, by the time of this 1919 volume he had been here for over 20 years and was coming to the end of his tenure as editor.

From his editorials, Chester Harvey seemed quite the liberal, favoring nationalization of the railroads and sympathetic to unions. He spoke in a language and tone that, to me was very intellectual but sounded like a public speech and felt stiff and made me wonder if conversation was also stiff in that time.

Chester H. Rowell was also a lecturer in journalism at UC, Berkeley (1911) and in political science at Stanford (1927-1934). He was also editor of the San Francisco Chronicle from 1932 to 1939. He was a member of the University of California Board of Regents from 1914 until shortly before his death in 1948.

Here is an excerpt from the History of the Fresno Republican that explains the two Chester Rowells - fresnorepublican.com:

"Dr. Rowell's brother was a congressman in Washington whose son was Dr. Rowell's namesake. The younger Chester H. Rowell served as a Committee Clerk in Congress for his father after graduating the University of Michigan. He then took two years of post graduate studies at the University of Berlin before teaching college Latin, German, and French, in Baxter, Kansas.
On October 12, 1885, the Fresno City Township was incorporated. In 1895 young Rowell was hired by C. L. McLane, Fresno City School Superintendent for a teaching position at the 115 student, Fresno High School. Young Rowell was among its first five teachers.
Three years later, the younger Chester Rowell accepted the job as Editor of the Republican from his Uncle Chester Rowell. The name on the masthead was soon modified as the Fresno Morning Republican . The younger Rowell soon became well-known throughout the Nation as a crusading young journalist-editor attempting to cleanup Fresno's image of political graft and crime. He went after a change in the General Law for Cities of the Fifth Class.
Fresno operated without a Mayor under that law. Town government had been weak and run by five trustees. The Fresno Morning Republican campaigned for election of literate community leaders with commitment to limited government, clean streets and a responsible business community."

Sometimes the backstory of a band is so good it's better than the music they make.

Toxic Shock started playing in 1980. That was 30 years ago! You could pay off a mortgage on a house in 30 years! Or, you could build up a following for a cool hc punk band.

Lead singer, Gary Bufkin, told me they were all buddies at Roosevelt High when they started the band, playing their first gigs on campus during lunchtime. He was a punk rocker and became class president. That was back when just being a punk rocker could get you in trouble. "These guys helped me get class president", he said backstage after their set. And they're still friends after all these years.

TS had a Farewell gig a few months ago, but this gig came up and now they're thinking about continuing on with some more gigs in the future. Nothing wrong with that. As long as they're able to play and people want to see them, more power to them. Buf said they have a gig tentatively set for April.

They have the coolest vintage gear. Being a musician myself, it's something I notice. And they know how to play well. Your chops can get mighty honed after such a long time. They had a great mix in the club last night from that monster PA at the Starline.

One of the highlights of their set was a punk version of Jingle Bell Rock. During the lead solo, Buf lept off the stage, into the audience and distributed candy canes!

They seemed so happy just to be there.

http://www.facebook.com/toxicshockfresnoCA

http://www.stagedive-records.com/toxicshock.html

Here's my latest project, a rockumentary about my 80s Fresno punk band, Capitol Punishment - Pure Punk Pragmatists - 1981-1995 - CP1 1981

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpeRdko55sA

C-SPAN had a good update this afternoon of the Al Sharpton rally and march that was a reaction to the Glenn Beck rally at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington DC. There was some video of the event but the link froze up. I suspect because there were so many people trying to access it. They already had over 600 views of just the phone report from Bob Cusack from The Hill.

http://www.c-spanarchives.org/program/ID/231823
Reclaim the dream rally and march report on cspan

Starve the Beast
http://soundcloud.com/dale-stewart/starvethebeastpmix3dec1067

Starve the Beast by Dale Stewart

V1
To help the weak and right the wrongs
I need my state to be very strong
Raise a tax to pay for it all
To benefit both big and small

Destroy the government by making it weak
And it becomes ineffective
Then point and say I told you so
That’s the way that it usually goes

Cho
In my heart I hear a sound
The search for truth I have found
The voice of reason diversity

V2
Sign a pledge not to raise a tax
And yet a tax would save the state
Starve the Beast and break it’s back
That’s the way they legislate

The Blogger software is quite difficult to learn to use. I have a complete story, with photos I took myself and I can't quite get it posted on here. Once I have uploaded my photos, it's impossible to move them around on the page. Then, when I add my text that also cannot be easily moved around on the page.

Blogger is more like a very simple diary. Text only is the best with Blogger. Multiple photos makes it all too unwieldy. If you have multiple photos and would like to put a text box next to or under that photo it just can't be done. Now, I'm sure if I was much better at writing html it would all be easy as pie. But, that's what Blogger brags about: User-friendly software.

On my paid Yahoo website, with their SiteBuilder software it's quite simple and intuitive. But, my subject matter is more appropriate for a blog not a commercial website.

If I could quickly and easily make a page like this on Blogger I would do it:
http://www.stagedive-records.com/cajonhomemade.html

THINGS GROW IN FRESNO

The Grammys are a bought and sold scam product of Payola - Always has been always will be and have nothing to do with what is really going on in the world of music.

There is a much, much bigger world of musicians, venues, recordings and promoters out there creating and playing music for a vastly larger audience than that of the Grammy artists.




Examples of NARAS bias:

• In the 1950s, when Elvis was the biggest pop culture icon in the world they ignored him and gave awards to singers like Domenico Modugno and Percy Faith.
  

• In the 1960’s when the Beatles were an even bigger pop culture phenomenon Grammys were given to Henry Mancini and Herb Alpert while the Fab Four were hung out to dry.
  

• In the 70’s they dug their heels in further and refused to acknowledge Punk, New Wave and Metal and gave awards to artists like The Starland Vocal Band and Debby Boone.

• In the 80’s as the grass-roots phenomena of Punk Rock swept across the world awards were given to artists like The Doobie Brothers and Kenny Loggins.

• In the 90’s they famously ignored Grunge and the massive impact of Curt Cobain and Nirvana to give awards to Whitney Houston and Eric Clapton. After that I lost interest in the Grammys.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammy_Awards
http://openlibrary.org/b/OL9224402M/Contemporary_Music_Almanac

Fresno Fresh & Easy opening day 13JAN10



This is a good thing no matter how you slice it. And the best thing is the location: another grocery store in downtown Fresno!

We just did our grocery shopping on sunday so I didn't really need anything except cookies and a 24oz. bottle of beer. No single bottles of beer but they did have my favorite Loacker cookies for $2 a bag.

I was disappointed to see their reluctance to go below the $3 an item price point, something that The Joe does well.

We will definitely shop there from time to time, but I was disappointed in the stocking of major brands like Coca Cola and Fruit Loops, which I think is somewhat responsible for the fattening up and dumbing down of America.

A piece in the Fresno Bee yesterday said that "Americans are still among the chunkiest folks on the planet, with 68% of adults overweight or obese."

New data based on surveys by the AMA and published by the Center for Disease Control says that not only are adults overweight but 17% of children are obese, too.

40 years of advertising, telling the American people that eating cold cereal and drinking soda pop is good for you is partly to blame for this epidemic. That's why I look for foods that are low in fat, salt and sugar. But, it's an acquired taste.
It takes a long time and a lot of will to get off the unhealthy diet and start to enjoy healthier foods.

One way is to try to find foods that are healthier but are just as satisfying. But, it is difficult to do that when your choices are so slim as are found in most chain store supermarkets. There are about 5 corporations that sell most of the food in the US and they are the kings of high fat, high salt and high sugar content.

That's why I appreciate the selection at Trader Joes. They are the kings of Budget
Gourmet, quite unlike Whole Foods which is king of Expensive Gourmet. The Joe consistently finds ways to include fiber and reduce fat, salt and sugar in great tasting foods that have a relatively low price.

It was the Night before Christmas (as read by Sen. Burris)

It was the night before Christmas, and all through the Senate
The right held up our health care bill, no matter what was in it
The people had voted a mandated reform
But Republicans blew off the gathering storm
We'll clog up the Senate, they cried with a grin
And in the midterm elections, we'll get voted in
They knew regular folks needed help right this second
But fundraisers, lobbyists and politics beckoned
So try as they might, Democrats could not win
Because the majority was simply too thin
Then across every state there rose such a clatter
The whole senate rushed out to see what was the matter
All sprang up from their desk and ran from the floor
Straight through the cloakroom and right out the door

And what in the world would be quite so raucous?
But a mandate for change from the Democratic caucus
The president, the Speaker, of course Leader Reid
Had answered the call in our hour of need
More rapid than eagles, the provisions they came
And they whistled and shouted and called them by name
Better coverage, cost savings, a strong public plan
Accountable options. We said, 'Yes, we can.'
No exclusions or changes for pre-existing conditions
Let's pass a bill that restores competition
The Democrats all came together to fight
For the American people that Christmas Eve night

And then in a twinkle, I heard under the dome
The roll call was closed, and it was time to go home
Despite the obstructionist tactics of some
The filibuster had broken, the people had won
And a good bill was ready for President Obama
Ready to sign and end health care drama
Democrats explained as they drove out of sight
Better coverage for all, even our friends on the right.

How to make a cajon w/snare

http://stagedive-records.com/cajonhomemade

When my former percussionist brought a cajon to rehearsal I was intrigued but put-off because of the way I
thought it had to be played, bending way over to reach the striking surface, or Tapa. But, after I heard the
playback I was hooked. It sounded so cool and homemade, but kind of like a drum kit, with snare and kick.

I thought, if you had a crash you indeed would have an acoustic percussive instrument that could imitate a
drum kit. But, it would be hard to hit a crash cymbal bending over like that. Then I saw many different
configurations of the cajon, in many different sizes and shapes. And many you don't have to play bending
over. I have this problem with my back and so does my percussionist, so it was nice to see that you can
definitely play it standing or sitting up. And as it turns out, do it in an interesting way that records easily and
well. The ones on youtube that were miked in the hole sounded great. You could really get a loud, thumping
beat. Pumping it through a big PA, you could rival the volume of a drum kit.

When I looked online at how a cajon is made, I was amazed at the wealth of information out there. Many
different plans, videos and diagrams on how they are made, what they sound like and how the cajon
originated is available online. Just Google 'how to make a cajon'.

I printed out several plans from the net. It seemed like each plan left out some key details and so, puttting
them all together gave me a more complete vision of how to make it. I have to be able to visualize the
finished product and most of it's detail in my mind before I can feel confident enough to make it.

Materials

Wood: One sheet of 2'x4' 1/2" plywood
One sheet of 2'x4' 1/4" plywood
3/4"x3/4" hardwood square dowel
1"x2" furring strip

Orchard supply and Lowe's both had a good selection and low prices for
the wood. The half inch birch plywood was $13 and the quarter-inch was
$8. They've got the hardwood square dowels and furring strips, too.

4 guitar tuners and 4 bass guitar strings or a snare drum snare
20 or so screws OSH Wood screw brass, flat head phillips 7x3/4
Wood glue - Elmer's was lot cheaper than Gorilla and worked just fine
Minwax Wood Finish - Dark Walnut 2716 Stain/sealer

Tools
Circular or table saw
Jigsaw
VSR Drill or screwdriver
Clamps

I already had some painted, half-inch plywood and so I
used that for the three sides and top and bottom. As it
turned out my wood was a little warped and I couldn't see
where the blade was cutting with precision so I got some
pretty crooked lines that made for a box that was not
square. I now wish I would have started with a new piece
of birch plywood. The whole thing would have been more
square. And therefore would have been easier to glue and
would have looked a lot better. If I build another cajon, I'll
use a new piece of plywood and not paint it, but just
stain/seal it with Minwax Wood Finish.
I first drilled a small hole with the drill, big enough to get
the Jigsaw blade in it and then cut the 4-inch soundhole.

Here are the three 1/2" sides, the back, left and right. I
made a big mistake by painting them again with a gloss
Rustoleum, which is very slippery and made it even more
difficult to clamp and hold steady.
Bar clamps holding the sides glued with
wood glue. I let them dry overnight, but
found out just an hour or two in fall
weather was enough. Got the clamps at
Harbor Freight tools for about $5 each

I neglected to photograph the cutting,
glueing and clamping of the hardwood
frame, which was made of 3/4" square
dowels from Orchard Supply hardware.
But, once that was accomplished it was
just a matter of glueing and clamping
the frame to the sides of the body. There
again the crooked lines in the sawing of
the three sides made for problems at
this juncture. But, with enough clamping
it was forced into contact, no matter
how not square it was.
I found some old tuning keys from a
couple of beat up, old electric guitars I
had laying around and attached them to
to 6-inch piece of furring strip. Found
out later, as I installed the bass guitar
strings that the fatter bass strings would
not fit in the holes on the guitar tuners,
but the thinner, (.050 - .058 gauge)
bass strings would fit.

With bass tuners you could use a fatter
string and maybe get a fatter, slappier
sound on the Tapa.

I also tried regular guitars strings and
they were not functional at all. Because
they are so much smaller they tend to
rattle and ring too much, making a
musical note and would vibrate and
linger too long, getting in the way of the
percussive, rhythmic attack.



I do think that a snare drum snare would
work perhaps even better. Which is what
most of the factory-made cajons use.
But, I was attempting to make this with
as much materials I had on hand.
The strings must slap against the Tapa
to make the slapping sound, so they
have to be touching or lying against the
Tapa. Here I drilled holes for the strings
and tried some grooves to further seat
the strings right against the Tapa. It
was a trial and error process to find the
best position for the strings. I noticed
the hardwood frame was so much more
stable than the soft plywood.

The finished product with all it's crooked
corners and warped surfaces. It took some
tweaking of the tuners and strings to get it
to sound good. A slappy, snarey sound with
not too much overring. The strings
shouldn't be too tight, which is easy to do
with the tuners. I also added a small piece
of masking tape to hold the strings against
the Tapa and cut down on the ringing.

There again, the snare drum snare would
probably work better. But, since I am a
guitarist the whole idea of using bass
guitar strings was attractive

The Ballad of Ramblin Jack video documentary

I knew absolutely nothing about this guy. It was a big empty hole in my record collection. About 5 minutes into the Ballad of Ramblin Jack I was turned off by his simple playing and seemingly phoney personna.

But, by the time the credits were rolling, and we had gone from the early 50's to the double naughts and I had this need to stay there and continue to be fascinated by this flaky traveling minstrel. It didn't do a thing to change my lack of interest in 'cowboy music' but it did put me firmly in the camp of fans of his blazingly colorful story. A
long life full of contradictions. Cliche and yet unique.

We laughed to the point of tears at some of his comments on stage and his off the wall adventures at odd times in his life. Film, video and stills document every move from birth to today and they fill this loving, yet honest look by his daughter.

I thought I knew what 'flat-picking' was, but I didn't. And now I must learn this technique that he was known for.

He's still gigging at nearly 80 years old and has a show coming up next month in San Francisco. http://ramblinjack.com/home

http://www.netflix.com/Movie/The_Ballad_of_Ramblin_Jack/60001826?trkid=226870

Facebook | Dale Stewart

Facebook | Dale Stewart

Gilmore says first Assembly term may be his last

Sitcom Pitch: My Mother the Mayor. All about the zany antics of two feuding political families. Banana peels thrown in the hallways of the State House to uproarious laughter at the pratfalls. The mother constantly chiding the the two lead characters (based on Dean and Nicole) to get along and yet turns and churns up more bad feelings herself to more laughter when the son has to correct the mother. The underlying sexual tension builds as the audience yearns for the two handsome antagonists to get together. All the support characters are in some level of politics,
too. Even the kids are running for student body president.

After the story in today's Bee about Danny Gilmore's buyer's remorse I'm still convinced that a tv show about the two political families would be viable. Or at least funny as we speculate about the plot and characters.