http://kencofield.com/news.html Idaho Boy: What's The Latest? Jannis' PHPRss class - http://www.jannis.to/ Sat, 04 Sep 2010 02:21:01 -0700 http://kencofield.com/news.html#18 Just click on the "Listen to My Music" link and enjoy!]]> http://kencofield.com/news.html#18 Fri, 21 Dec 2007 00:00:00 -0800 low-down, lo-fi songs from a dry country ... - Idaho Boy - What's The Latest? http://kencofield.com/news.html#17
I'll post a minute-and-a-half version of the song here on my web site in the next few days.

Here's my blog about my first ride on the SLUT during opening day ceremonies, Wednesday, Dec. 12th:

All speculation aside, you only have to ride one of the damn things to see what a boondoggle this thing is.

I wrote that "South Lake Union Trolley" song, so Jerry and Don from Kapow Coffee invited me and my friend Bill to "Ride the S.L.U.T." with them. We boarded about 12:45 PM at the Westlake hub, about the third or fourth trolley car to take off on this inaugural day. It was jammed because of the opening day celebrations, so we packed on like good sardines and we were off--for about five seconds. We had to wait for the traffic light, then we proceeded at a leisurely pace to the next traffic light, then the next, etc. Sometime in the first five minutes of the ride, Bill and I sang an acapella version of "The South Lake Union Trolley", since our arms were pinned to our sides and we couldn't reach our guitars. By 1:17 PM (not AM, thank God), we were down at the Fairview terminal, the other end of the line. Over half an hour to go 1.3 miles! I believe that works out to, oh let me see, two miles an hour! Not many people were getting on or off the first couple of stops, largely because we were jammed in there and couldn't get to the doors. By the time we got to Fairview Ave, about half the people had gotten off ("Gotten off on the SLUT!", Jerry declared) deciding they didn't want to use their entire lunch hour for a full loop trip.

Will this improve once opening day inertia wears off? Well, if the trolley gets less packed, as I predict it surely will, especially after Dec. 31st when it is no longer free, it might go faster. But if it isn't packed with people, they won't make the estimated 1000 riders a day that is necessary to reach their goal of $500,000 a year in rider fares. This princely sum will cover 25% of the estimated $2,000,000 a year operating costs. They hope to raise another $500,000 a year in fund raising from private sources, leaving Metro, the people who run the buses, to cover the other $1,000,000 a year.

Do the math, ride the thing to see if you want to pay $1.50 per ride to go at a snail's pace on its limited route, and then ask yourself why a city would think that a transit option that costs $40,000,000 per mile to build and is a money loser for the rest of eternity is a good idea.

Ride the S.L.U.T., but be sure you have a long lunch hour!]]> http://kencofield.com/news.html#17 Thu, 13 Dec 2007 00:00:00 -0800 low-down, lo-fi songs from a dry country ... - Idaho Boy - What's The Latest? http://kencofield.com/news.html#16 http://kencofield.com/news.html#16 Sat, 15 Sep 2007 00:00:00 -0700 low-down, lo-fi songs from a dry country ... - Idaho Boy - What's The Latest? http://kencofield.com/news.html#15 http://kencofield.com/news.html#15 Tue, 10 Apr 2007 00:00:00 -0700 low-down, lo-fi songs from a dry country ... - Idaho Boy - What's The Latest? http://kencofield.com/news.html#14 http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/040107B.shtml ); and the confrontation with Iran becoming more and more inevitable.

Musically, for me it was a month to turn inward and absorb the music of others, ranging from the pop-folk of local band THE Other Band on March 10th, to the fiddling virtuosity of Martin Hayes, Alasdair Fraser and Bruce Molsky on March 30th. But now I am ready to turn outward and perform at multiple venues in the month of April. The electric sound of our Rockabilly/Rhythm and Blues band, Raw Cheeze, will be filling the High Dive in Fremont on Monday, April 16th. Thursday April 26th and Friday April 27th I have back-to-back acoustic gigs as Idaho Boy (accompanied by the talented Mary Grider) at two local coffeehouses. Ken-Bob sez, "Check out the Upcoming Gigs section!"]]> http://kencofield.com/news.html#14 Mon, 02 Apr 2007 00:00:00 -0700 low-down, lo-fi songs from a dry country ... - Idaho Boy - What's The Latest? http://kencofield.com/news.html#13 http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/iran-strikes.htm . Bombing 24/7, oh boy!

Look for the Stennis or the Eisenhower to become latter-day versions of the USS Maddox and the USS Turner, the ships that were "attacked" in the Gulf of Tonkin. Each of those modern-day aircraft carrier groups has 6000 sailors. Any significant loss of life among those sailors will be good enough reason for launching an all-out attack against Iran, and Russia and China will have to come to Iran's rescue because they are strong allies. Get the picture?]]> http://kencofield.com/news.html#13 Thu, 15 Feb 2007 00:00:00 -0800 low-down, lo-fi songs from a dry country ... - Idaho Boy - What's The Latest? http://kencofield.com/news.html#12 www.broadjam.com/ . Our Blues group, Raw Cheeze, might try a double gig with them sometime...

Saturday night I was among seven other musicians backing up Tom Rawson at his CD Catch and Release party that was a benefit for Seattle Fellowship of Reconciliation. We packed the place and I hope Tom sold a lot of CDs and T-shirts. A guy like that deserves our support.]]> http://kencofield.com/news.html#12 Sun, 11 Feb 2007 00:00:00 -0800 low-down, lo-fi songs from a dry country ... - Idaho Boy - What's The Latest? http://kencofield.com/news.html#11
According to an article in the Seattle Times today, a US attorney for the western region of Washington, John McKay, was asked in December to resign by January "due to performance reasons". This despite the review seven months ago by the Justice Department's Evaluation and Review Staff (EARS) which stated, "McKay is an effective, well-regarded and capable leader of the [U.S. attorney's office] and the District's law enforcement community." Despite the fact the U.S. Navy last month gave McKay its Distinguished Public Service Award, its highest civilian honor. When asked in Senate hearings if this was part of a purge of six US attorneys so they could be replaced with political loyalists, Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty denied the assertion. But the Justice Department would not even confirm he was asked to step down. Lies, lies, lies.

Another helicopter was shot down yesterday in Iraq the New York Times reports today. The military denies it was shot down and claims it was "mechanical failure". This despite the fact they only recently had to cop to the fact that four previous copters involved in "crashes" had actually been shot down, not malfunctioned as they originally claimed. Do they think we won't find out? Do they think it will look better if they deny it at first and then later have to rescind their story when the evidence of eyewitnesses becomes too great?

And the lies also extend even to our own State Supreme Court. They overturned a law allowing gay marriage last July, saying, in a a contrived and poorly worded majority opinion, that the purpose of marriage was procreation. An article in the Feb. 6th Seattle Times describes a group of gay-marriage supporters, the Washington Defense of Marriage Alliance, who are gathering signatures for an initiative that would limit marriage in Washington to couples willing and able to have children and also dissolve the union of those who remain childless three years after marrying. The group hopes the Supremes would declare the initiative, I-957, unconstitutional and be forced to confront their decision in the gay-marriage case. Does the State Supreme Court think it can have it both ways? Does it think we can't see that it opposes gay-marriage just because it doesn't like it, the same way interracial marriage was once banned? Why do they even bother to lie?]]> http://kencofield.com/news.html#11 Thu, 08 Feb 2007 00:00:00 -0800 low-down, lo-fi songs from a dry country ... - Idaho Boy - What's The Latest? http://kencofield.com/news.html#10 http://kencofield.com/news.html#10 Wed, 31 Jan 2007 00:00:00 -0800 low-down, lo-fi songs from a dry country ... - Idaho Boy - What's The Latest? http://kencofield.com/news.html#9
Sunday was a long day as we drove to Camano Island to sing, along with a dozen or so other singers, at the deathbed of Viola, who will soon pass from this world. We gathered in a circle around her bed and sang from the Sacred Harp, a hymn book originally published in 1844. It is sung four-part acapella and has very spooky harmonies. If you want to know more about that kind of music, check out www.fasola.org. Viola's soul seeks another home, a brighter world on high.

Then we went to a concert at the Richard Hugo house that was the CD Release party of THE Other Band, friends of ours and fine musicians. They played for over two hours and put on quite a lively show. Check them out at www.theotherband.org.]]> http://kencofield.com/news.html#9 Mon, 29 Jan 2007 00:00:00 -0800 low-down, lo-fi songs from a dry country ... - Idaho Boy - What's The Latest?