Brown Samana

Post Script for 03/23/2007 Webcast

2007-03-24T09:28:00.000-05:00

After the snow-out of the week previous Brown Samana was back in business and flush with the fever of the season. There's a blooming sense of freedom inherent in spring fever that juxtaposes ironically with the slow death of true personal liberties as they are trampled beneath the goose-step of our prevailing culture of neo-conservative/neo-liberal/neo-facist global capitalism. Reflexively I felt obliged to spin a "freedom" mix. Neil Young, Devo and Traffic were all represented as well as Sonny Rollins and Oscar Peterson. And then the jazz took over entirely. Johnny Griffin, Lee Morgan, Hank Mobley, Curtis Fuller and John Coltrane blew the doors off the 1077A studio @ HomeGrownRadioNJ.com as horns upon horns rolled forth. We moved back to Oscar Peterson to bring it into the station for the Rob G. take-over.

Onion headlines were featured near the end as were those of Democracy Now!, an always provocative news show with which we at HGRNJ are in the process of affiliating. DN! is one of the sole remaining sources of truth available to we balance of meat puppets and I couldn't be happier we're bringing it aboard.

As I write, I'm diggin' this Stan Getz with Cal Tjader I've just picked up. You all can expect some of that this coming week.

Post-Script for 03/02/2007 Webcast

2007-03-03T13:03:00.000-05:00

I hadn't conducted a remote interview for a while going into last evening's Brown Samana, at least not since HGRNJ upgraded our telephone interface with the big board. So when my buddy Danno called to verify some on-air speculation as to the release date of O' Brother Where Art Thou? (2000), I couldn't resist the temptation to drag him on the air. We began by joking a bit and discussing the film and the music from the film, which I had been playing. Danno had more on his mind though and we fell easily into the same old anti-capitalist ranting which so often dominates my on-air spiel as well as Danno's and my private conversations. We weren't covering any new ground, but as we spoke I came to appreciate the value of rehashing the usual suspects and revisiting again and again the well trod paths of one's own evolution of thought. There's always something new to be gleaned from what had once appeared to be picked clean. And so it was that Friday evening. As I listened to Danno lay it out for me, woe upon woe, it struck me that he is the embodiment of the fatal flaw in a capitalist ideology.

Danno is a good man, someone who deeply and genuinely cares about the well being of others–his friends and acquaintances especially, but all of humanity just as certainly. No one who knows him can dispute this fact. They will all attest to his generosity and humility, to his willingness to give of himself freely and without expectation of return. They will, however, also tell you of his complete incapacity for salesmanship, self-promotion and entitlement. It is unfortunately this latter rather than the former which defines his level of "success" in a capitalist system. So what does capitalism teach us to be? What type of human being is "naturally" selected for extinction if the struggle for survival is staged within a capitalist construct? A man like Danno who is willing to work and to contribute to humanity at large to the best of his ability should not have to face the spectre of an impoverished retirement fraught with economic and social pitfalls. And he's one of the lucky ones in possession of intelligence and interpersonal skills and U.S. citizenship. We need to stop trying to solve our problems within a capitalist construct and start thinking outside that particular box, if you'll allow the cliche. There are real solutions out there. All we need as a society is to want to solve our problems. Do we? I mean, do we really want to?

Friday 02/23/07 on Brown Samana

2007-02-23T08:58:00.000-05:00

I've been been hunched over a post intended to air out my feeling of disconnect between current events as they are defined and discussed by the plutocratic elite and mainstream media and the actual issues, buried out-of-sight, which are much more pressing (and O-pressing) than the things we do talk about. The post was meant to be a "postscript" to the 02/16/07 webcast during which I babbled randomly on the coming war with Iran and the candidacy of HRH/HRC (Her Royal Highness/Hillary Rodham Clinton). The post began to spin out of control and I was left pondering the dynamic balance between the on-air and on-line aspects of Brown Samana. So it remains lost in the ether for the time being, but perhaps I'll be able to work through some of it on the air this evening between 7pm and 10 pm on HomeGrownRadioNJ.com.

I'll also be playing jazz featuring pianist Wynton Kelly, especially as he appears in a rhythm section with bassist Paul Chambers which he does on Freddie Freeloader from the landmark 1959 Miles Davis record Kind of Blue. Also look for some Hank Williams Sr., Art Blakey, Ike & Tina, Harry Chapin's 30,000 Pounds of Bananas and much more.

This Friday on Brown Samana

2007-02-15T19:43:00.000-05:00

As I write this, Mongo Santamaria snakes his way through the little white umbilical connecting my brain to my iPod. And Baby, I'm feelin' it for tomorrow evening's webcast. So look out for some of that and some other of the Afro-Cuban ilk. Also I'm thinking Sonny Clark, bop pianist from the 50's as well as the Doc & Dawg record from David Grisman's Acoustic Disc label on which the Dawg buts his mandolin virtuosity up against the solidly, deftly picked guitar and mellow, grounded vocal of Doc Watson.

In between the music it may be necessary to air out this whole thing with Iran. Does anyone else feel as though we've already been through this bullshit. From the doublespeak and ironic posturing of the Ass-Hole-in-Chief et al, to the sparrow fart of an opposition by the opposition party, to the complicity of the "liberal" New York Times it's looking like here-we-go-again time for a humanity held hostage by the agenda of Skull & Boneheads and the Retards For a New American Century. There was even a photo in the Times of various cylindrical casings billed as Iranian "captured explosive devices" and looking a bit too eerily like tubes. How do they keep a straight face?

Post Script for 02/09/07 Webcast

2007-02-11T12:32:00.000-05:00

There is little in print and wide distribution which is more fun to read aloud than the various, iconic adventures of Sherlock Holmes, especially if one attempts to do so a la Basil Rathbone / Lt. Commander Data. The unique intellect of Arthur Conan Doyle's title character aside, Holmes' often casual though piercingly acute belittlement of Dr. Watson balanced by his generosity with the choice seat by his warm parlor fire is itself enough to inspire a reader to both loathe and swoon. That being said I hope there are at least one or two (among my total three or four) listeners who found half as much pleasure in having been read as I in reading the introductory pages of The Hound of the Baskervilles last Friday evening.

Those who soldiered through were rewarded by Sonny Rollins and his Blue 7, one of the brightest gems in what many see as his crowning achievement, the 1956 record Saxophone Colossus. Half a century later Rollins, as hip a septuagenarian as ever scratched a beard, is still making records. His just released Sonny, Please is high-up on my "to acquire" list. So far I've been able to keep it in my pants (my wallet, that is), though I'm sure that record will be gracing the Brown Samana time slot before long.

We did spin some bluegrass which led unexpectedly to Stephane Grappelli through Mark O'Connor's Heroes, a must have for any fiddle-o-phile. On the 1992 release O'Connor collects duet sessions he played with each of his many, you guessed it...heroes. We selected for the webcast a Bill Monroe tune Gold Rush on which O'Connor teamed with Byron Berline, one time fiddler in Monroe's Bluegrass Boys. We also heard O'Connor and Grappelli take on the Rodgers and Hart composition This Can't Be Love. There was also some Buddy Guy, Neil Young, Boris Garcia, Lucinda Williams and a set of tracks from the Richard Linklater film Dazed and Confused. For full details on the evenings set please vist Jojo's playlist.

Music! Music! Music! I tell ya' there's a world of social commentary welling up inside. Stay tuned.

Tonight on Brown Samana

2007-02-09T17:38:00.000-05:00

As promised, I remain of a mind to play some bluegrass music this evening. The Seldom Scene, Bill Monroe and the Country Gentlemen will certainly work their way in among others. As per tradition however, no genre will ever be allowed a monopoly. Count on a mix-up.

I'm not supposed to be buying any music right now as part of a push by my wife and myself to simplify and live a sustainable life within our means. Be that as it may, I find myself drawn to the new Sonny Rollins on this iTunes Music Store. Will I cave? Will I remain strong or give in to the dark side? And if it be the latter then how will I hide it from my wife? Tune in this evening to the Brown Samana webcast and find either a guilt ridden Jojo spinning the new Rollins record or a responsible man of the new millennium groovin to some Saxophone Colossus or Way Out West (old Rollins).

There's an outside chance of a Shelock Holmes reading as well.

Post Script for 02/02/2007 Webcast

2007-02-03T11:21:00.000-05:00

So Bill and I ended up featuring the jazz guitar, from Django Reinhardt to Charlie Christian to Wes Montgomery, Grant Green and Kenny Burrell. See Jojo's Playlist for full playlist details. And though the weather had us involuntarily skiing the back roads of Warren County and Bill spent most of his off-mic time either doubling over in pain or popping heart meds, we made it through to the end. I know the Hudster (that's Bill) thinks I portray him in these entries as older and more feeble than is actually the case. That being so I feel bound to state that despite his years, which are advanced quite beyond my own, he could probably still kick my ass. Though admittedly I'm no Ultimate Fighter and I feel pretty confident he won't try anything.

The stand-out sides for me were the Charlie Christian tracks taken from Jerry Newman's 1941 recordings made at Minton's Playhouse in Harlem, where Christian along with Thelonious Monk, Dizzy Gillespie and many other ground breaking artists, during countless after-hours jam sessions laid the foundation for what would become the most important evolution in jazz history, be-bop. At one point toward the end of the webcast the Hudster tried to dis my boy Grant Green, but the music spoke for itself and Hud was forced to admit off-mic, "That boy can play."
After such a strong jazz show I feel driven to play bluegrass next week so look out for that and some commentary as well. I'm interested in what Hugo Chavez is doing in Venezuela, but for that discussion I might need Beth and Jules. Keep checking this blog for programming developments.

This Friday on the Brown Samana

2007-01-31T17:00:00.000-05:00

Tune in this Friday 02/02/2007 to the Brown Samana webcast as I'll be welcoming back to the program special guest co-host Bill Hudley. Bill is an author and a jazz aficionado who came of age along with the bop and hard-bop movements of the 1940's and 1950's. He sat ringside as one of the most exciting evolutions of the great American art form played itself out in the clubs of Chicago and New York City. Our specific musical focus is yet to be determined though I feel I can guess the drift of it. This will be Bill's 4th visit to the HGRNJ Studio.

What is Brown Samana?

2007-01-31T10:50:00.001-05:00

Brown Samana is a RADIO SHOW, a BLOG, an INDICTMENT of the prevailing global culture of oppressive greed and a METAPHOR representing the one possible road to the salvation of humanity. Which is of course the sober divination and incessant communication of TRUTH in service of freedom, equality, sustainability and joy. "Whew!" The truth? So what? What's the big deal? Well, the thing of it is, the big deal is, that the truth is something we almost never hear. We are often too caught up in the distractions incumbent upon our lives as citizens of a "free" society to notice or, more to the point and more profoundly to our own detriment, to care.

But let's take these one at a time. First the RADIO SHOW. It airs (or perhaps ethers) live every Friday evening from 7pm until 10pm on HomeGrownRadioNJ.com. HGRNJ is a streaming only, internet based radio station which features a line-up of nearly 50 weekly, self-produced shows. Brown Samana is one of these fortunate programs, all of which enjoy a unique play-whatchya-want, say-whatchya-want freedom that grows from the convergence of self-production, hands-off station management and an uncensored broadcast medium (the World Wide Web). As host of Brown Samana, Jojo Americano exercises this unique freedom by drawing his play list from an eclectic pool of musical genres, mixing bop and hard-bop jazz from the 1940's, 50's and 60's with traditional bluegrass, alt-country Americana, classic rock, rootsy blues, Cajun, Latin, ska and mountain music and 1970's AM radio pop in a way you won't hear anywhere else, especially on Clear Channel. In short the mix is a reflection of the man. And the man is of a mind to make some mischief, so in between the play-watchya-want you're gonna hear some say-watchya-want. A staunch anti-capitalist, Jojo believes in freedom, democracy and a Utopian ideal where social responsibility is balanced by social reward. Call him a humanist if you need to label it, a liberal if that's your preference, a pinko, a hippie, a tree hugger. These are all valid. Hell, call him an asshole if it makes you feel better. He's that too.

The BLOG supports the radio show, inviting listeners to peek behind the curtain. Also it calcifies certain aspects of the live webcast, fluid and ephemeral by nature, providing listener and host alike with an opportunity to reflect and even respond. These reflections are free to develop and evolve in longer thought out blog entries and listener/reader comment. It is within the blog format that the say-watchya-want element of Brown Samana can truly flower.

Which brings us to the INDICTMENT. The architects and stewards of our society are nothing more, NOTHING more than the soldiers and captains in a syndicate of organized crime who have sold and continue to sell out our life, our hope and our humanity for profit and power. That needs to be said out loud and often. The Brown Samana webcast is one of the places where that happens. Why? Because saying it, leads to accepting it, leads to wondering about the causality, leads to speculating about an alternative, leads to believing that change is possible; and there in lies our only chance. Learn the truth. Decide how you feel about it. Tell your neighbor, your brother, the UPS guy.

But how does one see the truth in a hurricane of lies? The answer is to step into the eye, to mentally unplug oneself from the consumer culture in order to take an objective look at our sacred cows of capitalism and growth. If one is willing and thorough, a truly honest assessment will have the most complacent among us reaching for the ax.

(to be continued)