WUSB Radio Show, Bob Longman, 09 March 2008

12:30-2:30 pm. WUSB Stony brook NY, 90.1 FM, http://wusb.fm/

title -- Artist -- album N=New Lp=vinyl I=Instrumental
----------------------------------------------------------

This House -- Christopher Williams
The Dragonfly Races -- Ellis Paul -- the Dragonfly Races -- N
(title track) -- Brooks Williams-- The Time I Spend With You -- N
Desperate For Love -- Over The Rhine
Much Farther to Go -- Rosie Thomas
Those Kind of Things -- Jim Lauderdale -- Honey Songs -- N
Love Hurts -- Everly Brothers
Leaving the Life -- Lori McKenna
Last to Die -- Bruce Springsteen
I Can Laugh At It Now -- Dion
The Song Sings Itself -- Gerry O'Beirne -- the Bog Bodies.... -- N, I
Oh Darlin' -- O'Kanes
Returning -- Buddy & Julie Miller
Unchained -- Johnny Cash
Let's Go Out -- Devon Sproule
Lullabye -- Tim Blane -- Clockwork -- N
Somewhere Somebody -- Jennifer Warnes
If I Could Help Somebody -- 5 Blind Boys AL -- Down In New Orleans -- N
Hallelujah -- Fairfield Four
It Happens Every Day -- Dar Williams
Fire -- Iona (UK) -- -- I
Stoned Soul Picnic -- New York Voices -- A Day Like This -- N
I Can't Make It Alone -- Lou Rawls -- the Essential... -- "N"
Dead End Street -- Lou Rawls -- the Essential.... -- "N"
One -- Harry Nilsson

I've been catching up again with Rosie Thomas tracks lately, they wear well.
Exhibit B in the case for Lou Rawls as a top-level soul singer (Exhibit A was with Sam Cooke, in Bring It On Home to Me).

Jazz On the Air, WUSB 90.1 FM, 09 March 2008

(Yeah, I know; it took longer to get the playlist back....) ;)

track-- artist -- album (if new) N=new *: especially good
============================================

* Them That's Got -- Maceo Parker -- Roots & Grooves, cd1 -- N
Tempus Fugit -- Miles Davis
Two Bass Hit -- Miles Davis & John Coltrane
Compassion -- John Coltrane
Parker's Mood -- James Carter
Atonement -- Ron Blake -- Shayari -- N
Can't Buy Me Love -- Ella Fitzgerald
Impulsive -- Clark Terry
Keyhole Blues -- Louis Armstrong Hot 9
* Wave -- Sarah Vaughan
Lluvia Azul -- Gato Barbieri
Song For Bilbao -- Michael Brecker
If I Should Lose You -- Mulgrew Miller
Count Basie -- Count's Place
China Cat Sunflower -- Sabertooth -- Dr. Midnight -- N
* Petit Pays (Little Country) -- Cesaria Evora
Just A Blues -- Virginia Mayhew Septet -- A Simple Thank-You -- N
Thieves In the Temple -- Herbie Hancock
Vibraphone Blues -- Lionel Hampton
Blues On the Corner -- David Brandom -- No Way Out -- N
* HIMM -- Don Byron
Around the Corner - Eero Kolvistoinen - Jazz fr. Finland '08 (compil.) - N
Back To Basics -- Bellson & Terry -- Louie & Clark Expedition 2
Well, You Needn't -- Tigran Hamasyan -- New Era -- N
Who Walks In (When I Walk Out) -- Louis Armstrong & Ella Fitzgerald
In A Mist -- Clark Terry

Maceo made the first CD of the set a celebration of Ray Charles (incl. this track); the second CD of the set went funk to the floor.
A classic Vaughan vocal, 'nuff said.
Sabertooth, a brass-kicking band, is bold enough to play anything, even Grateful Dead.

Bob Longman radio show, 16 March 2008, WUSB 90.1 FM

track-- artist -- album (if new) N=new *: especially good
============================================

Everywhere -- Brooks Williams -- The Time I Spend With You -- N
Peace In the Valley -- Sam Cooke / Soul Stirrers
Sentenced to Life With the Blues -- Andy Falco -- Sentenced... -- N
You Better Mind -- Blind Boys of AL -- Down In New Orleans -- N
I Can't Make It Alone -- Lou Rawls
I Know My Love -- the Chieftains w. the Corrs
The Irish Blessing -- Twin Shores Chorus
* Lullabye -- Tim Blane -- Clockwork -- N
Book of Dreams -- Dion
All Mine (w. band) -- Five Satins
* Caravan of Love -- the Housemartins
Today -- Birmingham Sunlights
Dese Bones Gonna Rise Again -- Golden Gates
Think of You -- Five O'Clock Shadow
Shishumayel'ivangeli -- Ladysmith Black Mambazo
Down By The Old Mill Stream -- 139th Street Quartet
Jackie -- New York Voices -- A Day Like This -- N
Farmer's Market -- Lambert Hendricks & Ross
I'll Never Forget -- Dixie Hummingbirds
I Have A Dream -- the Persuasions
Walking Down the Street -- Real Group
People Change -- Rockapella
It's Sure Gonna Flop -- Sabertooth -- Dr. Midnight -- N
Bayou Betty -- Bonerama -- Bringing It Home -- N
Death Don't Have No Mercy -- Jorma Kaukonen
Death Don't Have No Mercy -- Toby Walker
Wide River to Cross -- Levon Helm -- Dirt Farmer -- N
Lamb Of God -- Take 6

Jackie is from the Annie Ross catalogue (as in Lambert Hendricks and..)
Tim Blane sings to someone he hasn't met, but she's already crossed his mind.
Sabertooth and Bonerama are two of a new breed of brass-kicking bands.

a month off... whoa! too long.

I've been so busy with my own woes and those of others that I haven't posted in 6 weeks. Ouch!

I haven't forgotten. I'm coming!

Much of that time has been dedicated to my finances. Mine are a bit messy. (Like a lot of folks.) I'll have to find a new revenue stream to better support my lifestyle. (Living in a cubicle apartment, minimized expenses, no luxuries.) And, of course, it was tax season, when America's average blood pressure rises by about 15%. Some of the time left over was in the interminable search for a woman to love. And the first week or so of my 'break' was decompressing from the trip to California. No, I didn't see a single celebrity. (Rick Warren doesn't count...:) ) Nor did I get any job offers. But it was great being with my father's side of the family.

Not much was done with the Spirithome.com site in the past month. Some duplicate content was removed. Only two pages took big drops during that time. One of those is seasonal -- angels.html, which drops down search lists when baseball season starts due to the sites related to the Los Angeles Angels team. The other is a puzzler, prayersp.html, which is the main page on prayer. (The other prayer pages are doing quite well.) I'll be doing an emailing in a few weeks to those who asked for it. And there are a few new word definitions, most notably on atonement, expiation, and propitiation.

Please keep me in prayer -- I'll need all of the divine attention I can get.

More from La-La Land

Went to a number of the local churches this past weekend. ('Local' my butt -- it's like driving to Jersey or Connecticut from Long Island, everything's so far apart and still LA.)

First stop was West Angeles COGIC, Crenshaw Blvd, where two women were gleefully describing what it is to sing worship there. (One of them does solos on occasion, the other's a choir singer.) Super smiles! It was just a hello stop, but a good one. As always, some spending in the neighborhood, picking up an accessory and lunch at El Pollo Loco.

At night, it was Saddleback Church. Moving stuff about forgiveness, reconciliation, and Rwanda, with a Rwandan church leader speaking. Rick Warren is on message, giving a teaching sermon on the whys of forgiving. I never seem to get used to worshipping in auditoriums, even when they're called worship halls. (That applies to many old-style cathedrals, too, for some reason.) I had brief chats with people involved in educational ministries. I was a bit surprised how quickly things wrapped up after the service -- longer than LI churches, but shorter than they let on, all the special tent areas and such were picked up and the worship building being locked up around 8:30. No hanging here. It was also not much of a 'worship service'. To me, it was a very good basic seminar class framed by music and dotted with a prayer at the end.

Next up was Sunday morning, which was started at Lutheran Church of the Master ELCA - Lancaster. They were friendly and had a pretty good supply/temporary pastor, but not much membership. Next after that, Mosaic - West LA. They had to fudge their setup; usually, they are at Beverly Hills High, but they had to switch to an elementary school for this one service. Again, not as much of a worship service as I was expecting; basically some songs followed by an Erwin McManus message, then another song and some hanging out. It felt much looser and less rushed, and I got to talk to some more people. None of those emergent-type worship elements like art, ancient practices, questions, rock music, etc., but then this was on the fly.

None of it really felt like worship. Part of that was me (the phone call that took me out of LC of the Master before Communion, and the fact that this is a vacation). Part was the services (songs - teachings - songs is not, to me, much of an act of worship). But at least I was there. I tried not to go in with expectations, but of course I had them anyway. What was more impressive than the worship was how involved these churches are. Each has made commitments to large-scale projects in LA and in other countries. In the case of Saddleback and Mosaic, they took on large projects involving many volunteers, and working with government and other churches. I'm used to having little money and even less volunteers. Time will tell if this will have any impact on such a big place as LA.

Report from Antelope Valley

The second full day here in SoCal. So far, a job interview or two, meeting relatives, and a lot of driving and learning the lay of the land. One of the 'stretching' things I'm doing is that I'm using what is for me new technology. For instace, a wireless phone. (Never had one before.) I'm driving a hybrid car (new to me), with a GPS (new to me). Oddly enough, it's all been easy so far, no bizarre electronic fubbs to report. Too easy. The GPS is doing wonders for getting around a strange city.

I've been to the Valley now for a fifth time, but each time is different because each time the place has changed. More houses, more shopping centers, fewer joshua trees. All according to a plan - even if it resembles helter-skelter. (But more of that some other time.) It's not as dry this time, there's more moisture in the air. And there's more fog/smog at the foot of the south mountains. Homes are still being planned, though few are actually being built at the moment. No, it does not yet resemble LA, yet it also resembles its desert roots less and less.

I had a fun time at the Desert Toastmasters tonight, an unplanned pleasure on a busy schedule. I hope I can visit more parts of the LA church scene in the next few days.

More later....

Fun Links

Some fun-links to try out.

• Humor columnist Tim Bete


• Bruce Cameron, a good humorist; his stuff translates well over the Web.


• Funology, a site just for fun, for all ages.


• horn+swaggled blog, that dabbles in religion-world satire


• Laugh and Lift :)


• The Leviathan, which puts the 'fun' back in fundamentalism. (Y'mean there was some?)


• MyHumor.org. Try it just for laughs.


• Peggie's Place, Peggie Bohannon's pleasant place to stop off during a long
  hard night's Netsurfing. (Bohannon also is one of the pioneer Christian believers on the Web.)


• the Phantom Tollbooth. (Not easy to describe; you have to dig into it to get a grasp of it. Enjoy!)


• the long-running Ship of Fools satirical magazine. I'd never even heard of them until I stumbled onto this web home for the bizarrly faithful. Also, their digital Church of Fools, and their version of the history of saints, Loose Canons.


• one version of the origin of April Fool's Day.


• Snopes.com, a good resources for checking over those on-line hoaxes and 'urban legends'.


• A check-up for your attitude, with
  Dr. Thorson's Humor Scale