partial schedule for Women's History Month 2008

Please join WEFT in Celebrating Women’s History Month for the ninth year in a row! Tune in to 90.1 FM, or www.weft.org to hear over 50 hours of programming dedicated to women’s unique contributions to music, politics, and community!

SATURDAY 1
“A Pirate’s Life for Me” midnight-3am (punk)
“Mah Na Mah Na” 8-9a (children’s)
“The Illinois Labor Hour” 11a-noon (labor issues)
“From Bard to Verse” noon-1pm (spoken arts)
“Old-Time Country Music for New Old-Timers” 5-8pm (old-time country)
“modbit” 10p-midnight (contemporary classical)

SUNDAY 2
“WOMYN MAKING WAVES” 1-3p
“Celtic Music Go Bragh Go Bragh” 6-8p (Celtic)
“Decayed Lace” 10pm-midnight (goth)

MONDAY 3
“Lunch Bunch Blues” 11:30a-2p (blues)
“Francophiliacs” 2-4p (world music)
“Champaign-Urbana Radio Theatre” 7-8p (radio theatre)

TUESDAY 4
“Connie’s Hot Flashes on Movies” ~630am (movie review)
“Tuesday Verve” 9-11:30a (jazz)
“El Ritmo de Pachamama” 2-4p (world music)
“Sierra Club Radio” 530-6pm (environmental issues)
“From the Joshua Tree Inn” 6-8p (folk, country, bluegrass)

WEDNESDAY 5
“Connie’s Hot Flashes on Movies” ~730am (movie review)
“Blues Connection” 11:30a-2p (blues)

THURSDAY 6
“In Excelis Deo” midnight-2am (chant/spiritual)
“Speak Up!” 6-9am (music & commentary)
“Sounds Like Home” 9-11:30a (jazz)
“North, South, East, WEFT” 2-4p (world music)
“Another Country” 6-8p (alternative country)
“The Mental Vortex” 10-11p (industrial)

FRIDAY 7
“C-U in Hell!” midnight-2am (metal)
“Senor Blues” 2-4p (world music)
“Blues Live” 8-10p (live blues)

And stay tuned all month for other special shows!
MARCH 9, 10-11am: “Liberacion!: Latina Women in the Academy”

and of course,
“Womyn Making Waves” each and every Sunday 1-3pm!

Women's History Month

Stay tuned on Sunday, March 2 for my "Womyn's Music" show. WMW always plays "Womyn's music and music by Women," however on the first Sunday in March I will be playing a whole bunch of old favorite lesbian standards and some other music as well. You can listen to WEFT online at weft.org. Womyn Making Waves runs from 1-3pm. Meg, Cris, Holly...all the old gang will be there, and I am looking for people to share stories about WMW from the old days, since WMW has been on WEFT from the very beginning.

Bits of info about the music WMW 2/24/08

WMW Black History Month 2/24/2008

NEWS: Civil rights icon Johnnie Carr, 97, dies By DESIREE HUNTER, Associated Press writer Sat Feb 23, 5:34 PM ET MONTGOMERY, Ala. - Johnnie Carr, who joined childhood friend Rosa Parks in the historic Montgomery bus boycott and kept a busy schedule of civil rights activism up to her final days, has died. She was 97.

Carr died Friday night, said Baptist Health hospital spokeswoman Melody Ragland. She had been hospitalized after a stroke Feb. 11.

Carr succeeded the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. as president of the Montgomery Improvement Association in 1967, a post she held at her death. It was the newly formed association that led the boycott of city buses in the Alabama capital in 1955 after Parks, a black seamstress, was arrested for refusing to give up her seat to whites on a crowded bus.

A year later the U.S. Supreme Court struck down racial segregation on public transportation.

"Johnnie Carr is one of the three major icons of the Civil Rights Movement: Dr. King, Rosa Parks and Johnnie Carr," said Morris Dees, co-founder of the Southern Poverty Law Center. "I think ultimately, when the final history books are written, she'll be one of the few people remembered for that terrific movement."

About the Music

Nicole Mitchell has been noted as “a compelling improviser of wit, determination, positivity, and tremendous talent...on her way to becoming one of the greatest living flutists in jazz,” (Peter Margasak, Chicago Reader). A creative flutist, composer and bandleader, Mitchell placed first as Downbeat magazine’s "Rising Star Flutist 2005-2007, "and was awarded ““Chicagoan of the Year 2006” by the Chicago Tribune. The founder of the critically acclaimed Black Earth Ensemble and Black Earth Strings, Mitchell’s compositions reach across sound worlds, integrating new ideas with moments in the legacy of jazz, gospel, pop, and African percussion to create a fascinating synthesis of “postmodern jazz.”

Eunice Kathleen Waymon, better known by her stage name Nina Simone (February 21, 1933 – April 21, 2003), was an American singer, songwriter, pianist, arranger and civil rightsactivist.Although she disliked being categorized, Simone is generally classified as a jazz musician. She preferred the term "Black Classical Music" herself. Simone originally aspired to become a classical pianist, but her work covers an eclectic variety of musical styles besides her classicalsoul, folk, R&B, gospel, and pop music. "Mississippi Goddam is her response to the murder of Medgar Evers and the bombing of a church in Birmingham, Alabama, killing four black children. On the recording she cynically announces the song as "a show tune, but the show hasn't been written for it yet."

"Before I'd be a Slave" was written by Undine Smith Moore in 1953 and is performed by Maria Corley on her CD Soulscapes: Piano Music by African American Women.
Maria Corley is a composer, performer and arranger of music.


Rory Block is the only white performer I am playing on this show. I was unable to find a black woman singer performing Ain't I a Woman, which is the famous speech by Sojourner Truth, delievered at theWomen's Convention in 1851 in Akron, Ohio.

"Troubled Water" was composed by Margaret Bonds in 1967 and is performed by Maria Corley from the Soulscapes cd

Deidre McCalla With four critically acclaimed albums to her credit and a new release this year, Deidre McCalla remains the indefatigable road warrior. An African American lesbian feminist, Deidre's words and music poignantly traverse the inner and outer landscapes of our lives, chronicling our strengths and weaknesses and celebrating the power and diversity of the human spirit.

Fannie Lou Hamer (born Fannie Lou Townsend on October 6, 1917 – March 14, 1977) was an American voting rights activist and civil rights leader. She was instrumental in organizing Mississippi's "Freedom Summer" for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), and later became the Vice-Chair of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, attending the 1964 Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey, in that capacity. Her plain-spoken manner and fervent belief in the Biblical righteousness of her cause gained her a reputation as an electrifying speaker and constant champion of civil rights.

Sweet Honey in the Rock was founded in 1973 by Bernice Johnson Reagon who formed the group out of singers from a vocal workshop she was teaching with the Washington, D.C. Black Repertory Company. Reagon retired from the group in 2004. The name of the group comes from a religious parable from Psalm 81:16 which tells of a land so rich that when rocks were cracked open, honey flowed from them. ^[1] Over the years, more than 20 individuals have lent their voices to Sweet Honey in the Rock. Beginning as a quartet, the group is now composed of six African-American women (including a professional American Sign Language interpreter who accompanies the group on concert tours).

Roxanne Shante Biography
Real Name: Lolita Shante Gooden / Born: November 9 1969, Queens NY USA. Shante came to prominence at the tender age of 14 via her related answer record to U.T.F.O.'s 1984 rap hit, ' Roxanne, Roxanne'. Gooden was walking outside a New York housing project when she overheard three men discussing U.T.F.O.'s cancellation of a show they were promoting. In turn gooden offered them a reply record. The onlookers, DJ Mister Magic, Tyrone Williams and Marley Marl took her up on the offer. Her version 'Roxanne's Revenge' mixed sassy, indignant raps with a funky backbeat. It was a massive hit, which sold over a quarter of a million copies in the New York area alone, and spawned a flood of answerback records (well over a hundred at the final count), as rappers queued to take up the challenge. U.T.F.O. replied by sueing her for using their b-side as the rhythm track.

playlist 2/24/2008 Black History Month

Track Artist Album Label Genre

1. I Will Survive Gloria Gaynor Best of Gloria Gaynor
   
2. Cause and Effect Nicole Mitchell Black Unstoppable
   
3. To Be Young, Gifted and Black Nina Simone Respect
   
4. Mississippi Goddam Nina Simone Best of Nina Simone
   
5. Respect Aretha Franklin 30 Greatest Hits
   
6. Wild Women Don't Have the Blues Ida Cox & Coleman Hawkins Blues for Rampart Street
   
7. God Bless the Child Billie Holiday Lady Day: Master Takes and Singles (4 disc)
   
8. Ain't No Mountain High Enough Diana Ross The No. 1's
   
9. Before I'd Be a Slave Maria Corley Soulscapes: Piano Music by African American Women
   
10. Ain't I a Woman Rory Block Ain't I a Woman
    
11. The Lady is a Tramp Ella Fitzgerald Mack the Knife: Ella in Berlin
    
12. Piece of My Heart Etta James Deep in the Night
    
13. Troubled Water Maria Corley Soulscapes: Piano Music by African American Women
    
14. Mama's Little Baby Girl Deidre McCalla With a Little Luck
    
15. I'm Lucky Joan Armatrading Square the Circle
    
16. Fanny Lou Hamer Go Tell It On the Mountain Voices of the Civil Rights Movement
    
17. I Want a Little Sugar in My Bowl Queen Latifah Trav'lin' Light
    
18. Adventures in Paradise Minnie Riperton Best of Minnie Riperton
    
19. Paper and Ink Tracy Chapman Telling Stories
    
20. Ballad of the Sit Ins Sweet Honey in the Rock The Women Gather
    
21. Roxannes Revenge Roxanne Shante Respect
    
22. Dancing in the Streets Martha and the Vandellas 20th Century Masters
    
23. HonkeyTonk Women Tina Turner Tina Turner:The Collection
    

Community Radio In My World

I love WEFT most of the time. Sometimes it's hard. There are elections coming up in March (the Associates meeting is on my birthday mandatory and it's pretty mandatory, since I am running for reelection to the Associates Executive Committee). Recently a mailing list, which I thought was called weft-a because it was for weft-associates but according to another member actually stands for weft-announcements, got shut down.

Here is my response:

I think the problem with weft-a is bad karma. Personally, I don't want to read anything that is going to spoil my mood for the rest of the day. However, the WEFT associates (people who have paid their dues, come to associates meetings and are active at the station) need to have a forum to discuss the things that don't get discussed in the 8 hours per year that make up the meeting time for the associates as a body. That was the charge of weft-a. The implementation was flawed and therefore the discussion group got hijacked in a most offensive manner. If weft-a can't come back and be what it is meant to be which is a forum for discussion of weft and the things that members of weft are concerned about WITH REGARD TO WEFT, then we need another venue.

The Associates Executive Committee (the officers of the Associates committee...btw, the Associates are a committee) is going to facilitate a study group devoted to weft-a. The board are not, if I remember correctly, associates. If associates don't care whether there is a discussion group or not, they will let us know and (because communication is important) will make sure that the wishes of the associates are carried out.

BTW, I am running for the AEC. I was elected by a slim (1 vote) margin at the last associates meeting to fill in a vacant spot. I have since attended 2(3?) AEC meetings and assorted other meetings (Music and Programming committee) to find out what's going on and to be able to better serve the associates. My goal as part of the AEC will continue to work for the benefit of the associates, the airshifters, the other weft committees, and the station.

Don't forget, the associates meeting is March 6 at the Illinois Terminal Building.

Black AND Women's History - Bessie Coleman Woman Aviator

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/kareem/2008/02/bessie-coleman.html

Bessie Coleman (pictured), 1892-1926 — also known as “Queen Bess” — was the first African American woman airline pilot, as well as the first American woman to receive an international pilot’s license.

I found this information in Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's blog of all places.

Homelessness Marathon Schedule

The 11th Annual Homelessness Marathon broadcast starts at 6 p.m., CST, on
Wednesday, Feb. 20th and ends at 8 a.m. on Thursday, Feb. 21st.

Host Jeremy Alderson is based in Nashville, TN this year.

Below is an updated schedule of the short (5-minute) prerecorded
segments and longer (53 minute) live segments.

For more information, you can go to http://www.homelessnessmarathon.org
------------------------------

---------------------------------------------

Hour 1 - SHORT: Welcome from "Nobody" (live)
(7pm) LONG: A panel of homeless Nashvillians.

Hour 2 - SHORT: Performing A One Night Count
(8pm) LONG: Homelessness in Music City - Part 1 - The Civic View.
Co-hosts: George Gruhn, CEO of Gruhn Guitars and Howard
Gentry, Chairman, Mayor's Homelessness Commission.

Hour 3 - SHORT: Housing First
(9pm) LONG: Homelessness in Music City - Part 2 - The Street
View. Co-Hosts: Father Charlie Strobel, founding director,
Campus for Human Development, and Patricia Bryant, a
currently homeless Nashvillian.

Hour 4 - SHORT: Poetry by Homeless Teens
(10pm) LONG: National Hour I - A survey of homelessness in three cities
in the east and midwest.

Hour 5 - SHORT: Homeless Vets
(11pm) LONG: Homelessness, Crime and Criminalization. Co-Hosts:
Matt Leber, organizer, Nashville Homeless Power Project
and Tulin Ozdeger, civil rights director, National Law
Center on Homelessness and Poverty.

Hour 6 - SHORT: Street Poetry
(mid) LONG: "The War and The Poor - Co-Hosts: Norman Solomon,
author of "War Made Easy" and Frances Fox Piven, author
of "The War At Home: The Domestic Cost of Bush's
Militarism."

Hour 7 - SHORT: Addressing Rural Homelessness
(1am) LONG: The Fight in Fresno - A live remote from Fresno, CA.

Hour 8 - SHORT: A Homeless Job Program
(2am) LONG: The Working Poor. Co-Hosts: William Miles, Nashville
Jobs with Justice, Cornell Professor of Sociology
Thomas Hirschl.

Hour 9 - SHORT: Registering Homeless Voters
(3am) LONG: National Hour II: A survey of homelessness in three cities
on the West Coast, including Los Angeles.

Hour 10 - SHORT: Generational Homelessness
(4am) LONG: International Hour. Co-host to be Peter Fredriksson,
senior adviser to the Housing Ministry of Finland.

Hour 11 - SHORT: Homeless School Kids
(5am) LONG: Fighting Back - Co-Hosts to be Cheri Honkala, director
of the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign,
Paul Boden, director of the Western Regional Advocacy
Project and Clemmie Greenlee, this year's "Nashvillian
of the Year!"

Hour 12 - SHORT: Street Poetry
(6am) LONG: Health Care and Homelessness. Co-hosts, John Lozier,
Director National Health Care for the Homeless, and
co-host TBA.

Hour 13 - SHORT: TBA
(7am) LONG: Will the Foreclosure Crisis Drive People to the
Streets? Co-hosts Danilo Pelletiere, research director,
National Low Income Housing Coalition and a co-host TBA.

Hour 14 - SHORT: TBA
(8am) LONG: First: Where Is The Housing? Co-Host, Jeremy Rosen,
executive director, National Policy and Advocacy
Council on Homelessness. Next: TBA

Reggae Month

http://www.jis.gov.jm/officePM/html/20080109T100000-

Jamaica has announce that February is Reggae month. The Prime Minister of Jamaica, Bruce Golding, said:

Reggae Month will be used to consolidate a series of events into a passionate movement in order to give full recognition to the music as a cultural capital. The month of celebrations will also assert Jamaica's authority on the music so there can be no ambiguity of its origin. ... the month will also be used to plant the seeds for a nation branding project to firmly establish Brand Jamaica. This year's activities will also be used as a stepping stone for next year's celebration of the 50th anniversary of the founding of reggae music.

Some top names of Women in Reggae that you can hear on a regular basis on WEFT:

About Us Women of Reggae Upcoming Events Volunteer In The News Sponsors Links Contact Info

ALTHEA & DONNA AMBELIQUE CECILE CYNTHIA SCHLOSS DAWN PENN DAZARIE DELLA GRANT DIANA KING FIONA FOXY BROWN FOXY BROWN IVY QUEEN JANET KAY JC LODGE JUDY MOWATT KAREN WHEELER KINGSTON LADIES LADY G LADY SAW LUNA ANGEL MACKA DIAMOND MARCIA ATKINS MARCIA GRIFFITHS MARIJAH MARVIA PROVIDENCE MINX MS DYNAMITE NADINE SUTHERLAND NELLY FURTADO NiiQQii Li NINA SKY PAM HALL PATRA PHIYLLIS DILLON RITA MARLEY SANDRA CROSS SASHA SENYA MS. THING SHELLY THUNDER SISTER CAROL SISTER NANCY SISTER NYANDA SOPHIA GEORGE TANYA STEPHENS WORLD A GIRL

Thanks to Jamaica Information Service, Reggae Woman, and Women of Reggae for information.

The Cocoa Lounge

In honor of Black History Month here is a link to the Cocoa Lounge, which is self described as:

A tribute to Beautiful Black Women in Arts & Entertainment. Cocoalounge.com first hit the web in 2000 becoming one of the first sites to provide news and information about black women of note. We are changing to a blog format to continue servicing our audience on a more frequent basis.

Among other services it provides information about new music from black women artists. Check it out.