Heading to the Dock of the Bay and Area

Hey SF Bay Area--see you soon.

Radio of the Day--The Outside World and Inspiration

Dear all,

Here is the embed that will hopefully work, if not the url is there and the two poems about my wonderful friends at KBOO late night radio.



A Sound Vision
(Ode to KBOO)

I have seen radio,
a vision from which
one will never sleep again:

curled around the speaker,
holding the bubble of sound
as it expands:

circle upon circle
through the atmosphere
then through space.

I have seen radio.

I have seen the Octopus
in his garden
create the pastiche of sound
with a wink and a smirk.

Prisms of waves,
rainbows of quiet,

one sound, then two,
until they pinball
through the speaker

to dreaming eyelids
and
dance in the heart.

10/25/1999

Ode II to KBOO

It is this cord,
umbilical
that pulls us
guide us
from home to
the heart
as we drive
arrive from anywhere
to here, 20 SE 8th.

It is this wave
of delight and torment
ecstasy and despair
consensus and conflict
sweet controversy
which feeds our
introspections
and our global action.

It is this circle
upon circle
upon circle outward
rippling through the
amber waves
and purple mountains
past henge and pyramid
perhaps even to The Great Wall

touching other ripples
creating new angles
of thought.

It is this spiral
which winds us
and springs us forth
through magnetic magic

a conch shell
of ocean sounds
of thunder and of rain.

8/1/2K

cc nc nd Yaney LA MacIver

The Agony Aunt Letter

Dear Friends,

It was quite a pleasure to hang out with some of you when Michael and I came up for the KBOO meeting on January 26^th.

I am at a crossroads in my life or perhaps we are at a crossroads. As many of you know the original plan had been to move to Greece once the kids were out of high school and the house. Well one kid, Zeke, took a couple extra years to move and due to my lay off at HP in 2001 (two weeks before 9/11) I didn't have the luxury of taking a sabbatical to test out the Mediterranean waters and then I worked for OPW which was a huge loss of $$ and almost crippled me due to the drive between Corvallis and Salem. And then Michael's condition deteriorated due to his hip (he will most likely need surgery). And I realise that at least the outside of the Π (Pi) in the Sky Ranch is very much what one would call a landfill (or a hippy dump) and neither of us are up to clearing it together or separately (at least at this point).

It was also, very much a pleasure to be hosted by Michael's son Nic and his wife Jess as well as his daughter Katie over the X'mas holiday week in Santa Rosa and SF. There is a wonderful group of people there who more or less support each other although sometimes with some attitude that is inimical to folks who have been together a long time on a communal project much as Star Mountain or KBOO for that matter are. And Santa Rosa is just an hour away from Berkeley and SF and not much further to Sactotoon where I have many relatives who I don't get to see very often.

Hence I am trying to figure out what to do next. We are not so in debt that selling the house and buying another gracefully is totally out of the picture (the financial deities willing). But there is of course a cash flow issue as I am now again unemployed and feeling like a professional job seeker (I mean I can write mocking cover letters as jokes to friends) and I have been living off credit card checks for the last little bit.

I have talked with Ani a bit about this and I know she would love to have me/us up in Portland Town and I think that would be better for my health (public transit, walking, not driving to concerts, just hanging out with friends face to face, mano a mano―it was so wonderful to be around you Conch you bring laughter and lightness). But would Santa Rosa be much different? I love those kids, they are fun, have good food and they let me be me even when I'm a bit tipsy. They are so awesome! You see the landscape in the Santa Rosa area especially between Santa Rosa and Sebastopol is so much like the landscape around my native Bishop, CA only greener and the hills remind me of going to Summit from Corvallis only with cactus. It's very perfect. But so is Portland Town in its way. I mean it reminds me a lot of Berkeley when I left only my friendships are deeper there than in Berkeley I mean I have folks who I consider soul mates, yet there could be many wonderful soul mates in Santa Rosa. Plus I could go take sax lessons at the Church of St. John Coltrane every week. Anyway. . .

And just a few minutes ago another of the trees fell (an oak that had rotted away) at least it fell on another tree! So I say it s a sign that the land is telling us to leave, it is looking for someone else (most likely younger who can maintain it better). When I moved her nearly 15 or more years ago (The Π in the Sky Ranch that is not Corvallis which was 25 years ago this summer―damn nearly half my life in a place that has never embraced me and that I have not really found soul mates) anyway as I was saying when I moved to the Π I was very much needing a house to hold my three kids as they all left their dad when he moved to Buffalo. And I never thought I'd be at this house that long, I mean I guess it was a choice-whatever real choices life gives us.

But it is time to move on from the Π and I say this with the background of how painful the move from Berkeley to Corvallis was; how poor we (Russ and I) were; how we lived in crappy places with splintery floors at times, dirt basements, cardboard walls. It was the hippy dream (nightmare) and what more was I to expect? The Π was at least safe for the kids. And I haven't been malnourished except for the first year here in Cornvalley. But I just can't do that type of a move again. So what am I supposed to do, can I have a real job please, and a nice house and will you come to potlucks/hang out, etc.? I know some of you may be thinking that I'm being quite the high maintenance valley girl here--but I've had enough funk (not funky music mind you--although) it almost broke my heart to see Liberty Hall when I've seen what folks can do to make a community place. (I know it's what's available and folks have put lots of effort into it yet take a look at Damanhur and you'll see what I mean.)

So my dear Portland friends what say you about me moving up to Stumptown? I can admin and coordinate as you all know. Do you think that a busload of you might come down on Cool (providing it's available and Joe is willing) and help us with the yard? Or something like that. Will anyone step forward to be a point person to organize that up there? Or is this something better left to say JunkBeGone (I've written them but they've yet to reply―I know there's one also in Salem―but maybe they don't service here?).

Tommy Hollywood's 12 String Stolen and Van Breakin Oustide KBOO 2/8

From Tommy:

"Hi Yaney, I'm still reeling from what happened. There was broken glass all over the chocolate frosting on my birthday cake. I'm brokenhearted about my Guild. The electronics are just electronics, but that was a 17 year relationship with an instrument. I'm very bummed. The good news is people are keeping an eye out for it. Its not the most common guitar. The guitar is a Guild JF30 12 string. It is a beautiful jumbo flamed maple instrument. It has a few cracks in the finish from temperature fluctuations. One crack is right at the headstock. The crack is in the finish only. Here are a couple of pix. The Guild is sitting behind the Fender amp in these shots. I was parked half a block from KBOO's door....just waiting 15 minutes for Kathy Fours to move her car as she left at 2AM. I could have easily caught the bastards in the act. That might not have been such a good thing. The larger issue is the security of late night KBOO programmers."

And on his birthday!!!!

As many of you know KBOO was born in Tommy's dad's (Ern Hood's) house.

[hq2600] From Cynthia McKinney: "Something for Which to Vote

"We cannot be satisfied so long as the Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and the Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote."
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. August 28, 1963

Dear Friend,

Are you:
* Incredulous at the fact that two Presidential elections were stolen and no one was held accountable?
* Disappointed that, as a result, our country is at war, involved in torture, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and crimes against the peace?
* Concerned, especially in light of New Hampshire, that your vote might not be counted in November and that the will of the voters will be thwarted yet again with election fraud or outright theft?
* Disquieted that the use of electronic voting machines, coupled with laws that restrict public access to election data "owned" by voting machine companies, might thwart your ability to verify election results if they are in question?

As acknowledged in the documentary American Blackout, I worked with investigative journalist Greg Palast and conducted my own Congressional investigation into election theft in Florida and across our country in the Presidential election of 2000. Those proceedings documented the role of Data Base Technologies, now a part of ChoicePoint, and election officials in Florida, in illegally "scrubbing" the voter rolls.

In 2001, with Al Gore presiding, I objected to the seating of the Florida electors. Not one Senator objected and so there was no discussion and no debate in the Congress about what happened in Florida and across our country in the 2000 Presidential election during the seating of the Electoral College. The same pattern of fraud and theft was planned and executed in the 2004 Presidential election. But this time, not relying on any political party, the people themselves demanded and funded an investigation into what happened in Ohio. More and more information comes to us about how the will of voters in Ohio was deliberately suppressed to produce a desired outcome. This effort at discovering the truth of Ohio was led by independents, Libertarians, and the Green Party because the Democrats had already conceded the election.

In my own 2006 Congressional election, Georgia courts have ruled that the electronic election data cannot be made public because they belong to Diebold. The matter is going to be appealed all the way to the Georgia Supreme Court, but isn't that a shame? In my election night speech I declared electronic voting machines a clear and present danger to our Republic.

I want to keep election protection and a radical common sense approach to issues on the table. As the candidates with populist appeal, but without their party's support, are being pushed to the margins, I want to make sure that the election results are truly a reflection of the will of the voters. That will only happen if there is another voice raising critical issues.

Are you also:
* Waiting to hear the leading Presidential contenders say that it's past time to repeal the Patriot Acts, the Secret Evidence Act, the Bush tax cuts, the Military Tribunals Act, bring our troops home now, and institute a livable wage?
* Infuriated that 48 million of our neighbors have no access to health care while those of us with insurance have our claims too often denied?
* Ready to have the Parties' solutions to the shrinking dollar and the ballooning national debt explained, especially in light of rising food prices and unemployment?
*Tired of the belligerent talk being directed at Iran and Pakistan and ready for our country to become a leader in pursuit of peace? And finally, are you also
*Afraid that the issues you really care about won't get addressed in this election season and therefore the likelihood of them being addressed by the incumbent is almost nil?

I have traveled across our country to almost half its states. I have met too many people disillusioned by their fears that their issues won't be addressed in this campaign season. I've met many people who want to participate, but who long ago figured out that the system was rigged against the interests of working families and so, dropped out, but who want to have hope that our country can be delivered from its current morass.

Too many are feeling that they have nothing for which to vote, that their votes won't count, even worse, they might not even be counted. To them, I suggest looking another way. As I have done. On March 17th of 2007, I declared my independence from national leadership that deepens the slough in which our country finds itself today. That leadership has enabled our country to throw away traditional American values of justice, and peace, and freedom.

I have now become a member of the Green Party and am seeking its Presidential nomination.

I'm encouraging the people I've met to join me and do some things we've never done before in order to have some things we've never had before. I hope you will lend your support so we can press for election integrity and put real solutions to the problems faced by real people on the table in real talk that we all can understand.

This election in November is critical. The future of our country and the content of the current debate can be influenced by us. Please help me create the political space for real issues to stay on the table. I know you support the truth. I know you want to help the American people know the truth.

Please visit www.allthingscynthiamckinney.com to review my record. Please visit www.runcynthiarun.org to donate to this effort.

Please take the time to view two youtube offerings: http://youtube.com/watch?v=03cOM9r51Nw and http://youtube.com/watch?v=ozQ_iPuqCxg

After viewing these films, I hope you will agree that our work deserves your support. The time is too precarious, the issues too important, our futures too much at risk for us to lose any more critical voices on important issues.

Thank you again for your support of truth. I hope to hear from you soon.

Sincerely,

Cynthia McKinney

P.S. You can mail your donation by U.S. Postal Service to:

Power to the People Committee
Cynthia McKinney for President
P.O. Box 311759
Atlanta, GA 31131-1759

Please complete and include in your mail our contribution form to help us comply with federal election reporting requirements:

http://www.runcynthiarun.org/pdf/contributor_form.pdf

Please note: Campaign Contributions are not tax-deductible. Corporate contributions are not permitted. Only U.S. residents and citizens aged 17 or older may make contributions to federal elections.

--
"It is the absolute responsibility of everybody in uniform to disobey an order that is either illegal or immoral." General Pace, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, National Press Club, February 17, 2006

"My brother need not be idealized . . . beyond what he was in life. To be remembered simply as a good and decent man who saw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering and tried to heal it, saw war and tried to stop it. Eulogy of Bobby Kennedy by Teddy Kennedy, June 18, 1968

"Certain material weaknesses in financial reporting and other limitations on the scope of our work resulted in conditions that, for the 10th consecutive year, prevented us from expressing an opinion on the federal government's consolidated financial statements." David Walker, Comptroller General of the United States, December 15, 2006
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Adventures in Translator Land a Report from 100.7 K264AA

Well hi all from the SweetHeart of the Valley at the Pi in the Sky Ranch. As some of you Corvallans might know we have changed our translator antennae site from the commercial one we’ve been paying for through the nose all these years to the OPB/KOAC tower just a wee bit away from the former site. Hence we’ve been playing with the signal abit via KBOO engineer, John Mackey and a few other folks two Roberts (one of them dear Pue Rogers of Mt. St. Helens fame--Echoes of Fury: The 1980 Eruption of Mount St. Helens and the Lives It Changed Forever by Frank Parchman) and a recent KBOO volunteer Brian who came up with Mr. Mackey just this last Friday.

Well what a day to come up to work on a tower! Wind gusts to 40 miles an hour, trees dancing tangos on Vineyard Mountain where the tower is located. And then we get up to just feet from the tower and the buildings and what should our wondering eyes see—but of course a downed tree in the road. Of course John asks if we have brought our chain saw, well myself, the SweetHeart of the Valley (being a bit of princess will not let a chain saw in her new—to her—’97 Plymouth Voyager with two sliders).And we gave the chain saw away as it was possessed and followed me around the laundry room. But thankfully Mr. Mackey has a four wheel drive rig and we pushed the top part of the tree out of the way so he could take Michael, Brian, and himself up to the tower (I as the princess I am stayed in the warm car). So the work got done and we headed back down the hill with John leading the way for me to back up down the road in the dark.

All this being said, should any of you in 100.7 land want to help out in tweaking the signal do let us know, we would like to map where it is better and worse since last Friday’s adventures. I promise you will not have to carry a chain saw—but we recommend that KBOO have one for this particular site issued in the engineering room as one might a portable recording device. And many thanks to the engineering team at KBOO for making the signal better here in Corvalley and its environs.

Love always,

The SweetHeart of the Valley--Ever your Reality Chick
Pi in the Sky Ranch
http://piintheskyranch.blogspot.com/
http://www.myspace.com/sweetheartofthevalley