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A streaming FOLK FESTIVAL is the latest LATE ADDITION...
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Lots added, up-top, since 2021 arrived! More live streaming concerts this weekend — plus a workshop and the events happening throughout January, already in this edition!
(Quick note — with the publishing tools we always had before now unavailable or simply always broken since Google the Conqueror took over this platform, we cannot repair anything once it is published. Nor can we see in advance whether some imported text will appear in some color that is too light to read. You can highlight that text, like you would to copy it, and read it that way. This is far more frustrating for us as longtime content publishers. Especially since Google refuses to restore what they destroyed. Happy New Year. Please remember that we DO continue to bring you content you won’t find in any other source.)
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LATE ADDITION
Saturday session and free download from VOCO leader MOIRA SMILEY
She begins,
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Moira’s Saturday session... she asks
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LATE ADDITION
Catch acoustic string wizard RICK SHEA live Saturday
Rick tells us:
I'll be on FaceBook Live this Sat Jan 2nd, 5pm PST, Live from Casa de Calora. I'll be going to shows on the first and third Saturday of the month instead of the weekly shows I've been doing since last March.
Many many thanks to all who've been tuning in, I really appreciate it. Wishing everyone a very happy and safe New Year
Facebook Link: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Rick-Shea/142382979141066
You can see last week's show here:
https://www.facebook.com/561251772/videos/10158336184526773/
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LATE ADDITION
Tune-in Friday, Jan 1st, 4:30 pm Pacific for “JAMIE LAVAL’S CELTIC CHRISTMAS”
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Happy New Year, friends!
Just a last minute invitation to join me on Zoom this evening.
You do not have to preregister for this one. Just click the Watch button and you'll go straight into the online meeting room. It's free – my way of sharing holiday cheer with all of you.
January 1
7:30 PM and 8:40 PM
Eastern Standard Time
If you already have Zoom installed, simply click here and begin watching:
(if needed, the meeting ID is 950 7111 1385, passcode is 141468)
If you do not already have Zoom installed on your device, please follow these steps in advance of the show:
• Sign up and download the free Zoom app:
• Check your Email for Zoom's confirmation
• Return to this Email and click Watch above
Hints for the best experience:
• Update your version of Zoom (current is 5.4.7 released just this morning)
• Position your device near WIFI or connect with an ethernet cable to ensure smooth playback
• Please forward this Email to your friends - the more the merrier I always say! (capacity is 500 at any one time)
• The events are free. If you would like to offer a donation to the artist, you may do so here:
I'm looking forward to a great musical experience together. I'll share thoughts and favorite clips from my Celtic Christmas show.
JAMIE
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LATE ADDITION
(And a correction we can’t go back to fix in the text: her online live concert is SATURDAY, not Sunday.)
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More, and tix for her Sunday, Jan 3 concert, at: www.lissafiddle.com
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New Years marks a new beginning! Carpe Diem!
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Late addition: NYE “Best Medicine” show by ukulele maven Victoria Vox in her duo, JACK & THE VOX (bottom link); their new music vid is: https://youtu.be/VNG2WctksTY
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daz46q12HyU
Here’s the word on music from the streamosphere on New Year’s Eve, over the weekend, and way into January. Plus the news. It’s in no particular sequence, since the ineptitude of Google the Conqueror has crashed the platform’s publishing tools (again). But it IS all here for you!
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Andy & Renee New Year's Eve Bash Celebrate the New Year in the East Coast, Central, Mountain, and Pacific Time Zones! Dec. 31st, 8:30p-Midnight PT |
Andy & Renee play live "In Studio"...Plus Past Performances by Hard Rain & Friends Watch on Youtube: https://youtu.be/e6sls0nIU3M A portion of the proceeds goes to The Midnight Mission Show is free to watch... |
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ALASDAIR FRASER and NATALIE HAAS
So many of our readers miss live performances of this music. So we decided it’s okay off this feature looks like a commercial.
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Remembering Dave McNary
Brian Lowry writes: "In a shock to those of us who knew him, Variety reporter Dave McNary suffered a massive stroke and died over the holiday. As Variety's Michael Schneider noted, "Dave owned the Hollywood labor beat. OWNED it. I remember my awe at seeing him back in the office, hard at work, after having camped all night at SAG or another HQ, waiting for vote results." Part of that had to do with McNary putting in the time of covering the guilds year round, not just when contracts lapsed and they went to war with the Hollywood studios. The trades have changed dramatically over the years, but McNary was a throwback to their earlier days in the best sense of it." Read Variety's obituary here...
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BONDO WYLSPOLSKI did a Dec 31 piece for Easy Reader News (www.easyreadernews.com) the Los Angeles’ South Bay newspaper where he works. Since it includes the “what happened to” stories of Andy & Renee and their 2020 “Dylanfest,” and of musician/bandleader Jessica Fichot — and news of them and their music appears regularly in The Guide — this would be a must-run, even without the totality of its rich content.
Less than Zorro: The river ran dry for the arts in 2020
“Abruptly came the foreshortening of much” was one of the pandemic-inspired paintings that Scott Trimble created early in the year, and long before we knew what was in store for us. Visually, it kind of sums up the year that was, doesn’t it?
The Great Intermission
Postponed, delayed, cancelled… but the show will go on
by Bondo Wyszpolski
This wasn’t at all what we expected a year ago, but life deals the cards and we play the hand we’re given. Many individual artists were able to adapt, whereas galleries, theaters, and other venues struggled to find ways to deliver the goods. It was a big year for Zoom, although for most people Mr. Computer Screen was a poor substitute. I’ve tried to give a snapshot in the images that follow of what tried, succeeded, or failed to materialize in 2020. Despite the paucity of events, I’ve had to be randomly selective. It could have been an even worse year, right?
In retrospect, some people see the untimely death of Kobe Bryant as a premonition of darker times to come. “Bi Kobe” is Frank LaMantia’s tribute to the Lakers’ legend. LaMantia lives locally but because of the pandemic he and I have never met in person. When we communicated, in June, he wasn’t sure how virtual art shows would go over: “I think people have to actually see, feel, and smell art,” he said
Surf City Theatre’s production of Neil Simon’s “Rumors” ran through March 8, so unlike many theater companies it wasn’t shut down at the start of a long run. Until then, the Hermosa Beach-based company was routinely mounting four plays each season. Here’s most of the cast of “Rumors” in a crucial scene: L-r: Sabrina Guyll, Christopher Yearwood, Marquel Skinner-Rogers, Drew Rogers, Jennifer Dellapina, Mitch Feinstein, Jessica Plotin, and David Brown. Photo courtesy of Surf City Theatre
During the second week of March, I met up with Jessica Fichot, whose first two albums were in the French chanson tradition and whose third album is a paean to 1940s Shanghai jazz. She and her quartet were scheduled to perform on Friday, March 13, at El Camino College. Just as my interview with Jessica appeared in print the show was cancelled. Photo by Andy Sheng
Randy Berler’s South Bay Film Society screened films almost every week at the AMC Rolling Hills 20 in Torrance. Virtually all of them were sold out. “Antigone” was screened on March 11, and there were lots of cancellations. We knew it would be the last one for a few months, but thought, or rather hoped, we’d be back before the end of the year (Note: The South Bay Film Society continues to screen films online… go to their website to learn more)
Early during the pandemic, South Bay-based Brian Hawkins created a short film called “Distant” that gave us a bird’s-eye view of empty streets and beaches. This is an image of the crosswalk at the intersection of Hermosa and Pier Avenues in downtown Hermosa Beach. “Distant” is meditative, thoughtful, even brooding, although it ends on an upbeat note. Now, at the very end of 2020, I think any upbeat finale may still be premature
Back in February, Humble Harry presented his annual “Johnny Cash Birthday Tribute” at the Hermosa Saloon in Hermosa Beach. Humble Harry was ailing and said that his homage to the man in black might be his last one. But, he noted, “The show must go on,” and, quoting Johnny Cash, “I’m gonna sing till the day I die.” Photo by Kevin Cody
Another thing sorely missed after the middle of March? Art shows, their receptions, and the chance to mingle with old friends and new acquaintances. This is from an event in February. Photo by Bondo Wyszpolski
The 30th annual Dylanfest, presented once again by Andy Hill and Renee Safier, emerged as a live-streamed event over the last weekend in May. The duo, and their countless musicians, had hoped for a live performance in September. Now we’re keeping our fingers crossed for 2021. Photo courtesy of Andy & Renee
Families across the Southland missed this year’s annual tour of new productions by Shakespeare by the Sea. All local theater companies were forced to put their seasons on hold during what the Torrance Theatre Company’s Gia Jordahl called “the great intermission.” Pictured: “Henry V” when Shakespeare by the Sea presented it during the summer of 2019. Photo by José Cordon
Acclaimed body painter Paul Roustan, frequently showcased at Resin and Shockboxx on Cypress Avenue in Hermosa Beach, scored high points in the annual, Austria-based World Body Paint Festival this past summer. Out of 416 U.S. participants in the World Category, he was ranked number one. The theme was “Psychedelic Circle.” Pictured, Roustan and his model, Shadia Elise. Photo by Paul Roustan
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14 Degrees Below Zero in the Grocery Store Parking Lot
by Hayden Saunier
A dog and I stare at each other
from our separate cars, waiting for our people to return.
He’s a shepherd mix, big head, big ears,
like me, he’s riding shotgun.
Heat blares inside my car,
exhaust plumes from the pickup truck he’s in,
so I know he isn’t freezing but I don’t know
if he’s a he or a she, so I just think he.
He watches doors slide open and closed, open and closed.
So do I.
We look at each other, then back to the doors and I wonder
who will come back first—his owner or my friend?
I watch the doors, then the dog. I watch
two girls walk to their car, chuck frozen A-Treat soda cans
out of the dented trunk, make room for beer.
I look back to the doors, then the dog, and I see
a man in the driver’s seat—his owner has come back!
He’s won!
But I can’t see the dog.
I want to see the dog.
I want to see that he’s happy he won,
even though he didn’t know there was a contest,
even though he might not be a he,
I want to know he loves his owner, even though
I am assuming all this, I assume things, I assume, I do.
I assume he’s a he, I assume his owner loves him,
I assume my friend is coming back,
(milk, she said, just milk).
The man in the truck sits head down, cap down,
rolling a smoke, or checking his phone but
something’s not right. I watch.
I see the stripe on what I think is the man’s cap
turn into the collar on the dog,
and I realize it’s the dog in the truck, not a man in the truck,
it’s still the dog, like it’s still me, waiting,
only he moved over to the driver’s seat. If he’s a he.
I’ve confused a dog and a man. Oh god, I think,
I’m getting carbon monoxide poisoning from a faulty heat vent,
but that’s when my friend gets back in the car
with milk, bread, jello, toothpaste, laundry soap.
She begins a story about some guy at the checkout counter
as she backs the car away from the dog
and the truck and the doors and I’m suddenly sad now,
that churned-up-torn-inside-the-chest-feeling sad
because we’re leaving and I wish I hadn’t won,
I wish he’d won, but he didn’t, I won,
and he might not be a he, and I keep twisting, looking
back, hoping for a glimpse of the owner,
but no one’s walking toward the dog in the truck
who could get carbon monoxide poisoning,
and there’s nothing I can do
but watch as long as I can,
because I need to know that he’s all right,
because we were the same back there,
we were the same.
“14 Degrees Below Zero in the Grocery Store Parking Lot” by Hayden Saunier from How to Wear This Body. Terrapin Books © 2017.
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There's no denying that 2020 has been a difficult year. Far too many people have lost their lives to COVID-19, and the pandemic's economic toll has been staggering. The relief bill we just passed provides a vital lifeline, but American families will need more support. I'm confident Joe Biden will provide the leadership the nation needs to see us through the pandemic, and Congress must work together to deliver additional support as long as it's necessary.
Working together to get things done isn't a pipe dream. I work on lots of bipartisan legislation, and we've had a good legislating year at Team Whitehouse, even in a Republican-controlled Senate. Here are some of the bills that became law.
I consider international corruption a serious national security risk, as you can see in my recent interview with The Atlantic's Anne Applebaum and this op-ed I coauthored with General Petraeus. My bill to punish foreign conspiracies to dope athletes, the Rodchenkov Act, was signed into law earlier this month. At last, we passed a version of my TITLE Act to begin cleaning up the mess of American shell corporations being used to conceal corruption by foreign criminals and kleptocrats. That's a really big deal.
Protecting our oceans remains a high priority, and we got my bigger, better ocean plastics cleanup bill, Save Our Seas 2.0, passed, along with a new $75 million appropriation for an ocean plastics remediation fund. We got a number of provisions into the defense bill to boost enforcement against pirate fishing ships on the open seas. And we got both another round of appropriations for my coastal resiliency fund and more Army Corps focus on flood control in coastal areas.
On climate and clean energy, we got a boatload of stuff. A big local victory was five years of tax benefits for offshore wind (to make up for siting delays) and renewed tax credit extensions for wind and solar energy. We reauthorized the SEA FUEL Act, my Navy research program on alternative fuels. We landed a trio package of climate bills: USE IT for carbon capture; a diesel emissions reduction law; and the hugely important HFC bill implementing the Kigali Amendment - a full half-degree Celsius of global warming reduction. We extended my carbon capture tax benefit, created a demand response program for natural gas, and launched for a new Biden Department of Energy both my Clean Industrial Technology Act and a Technology Transition Act. We have a lot in the queue for next year, too: my agriculture climate credits bill, the Blue Carbon for Our Plant Act to restore coastal ecosystems that absorb carbon dioxide, and the BLUE GLOBE Act to better understand and monitor the oceans. These bipartisan bills all have forward momentum.
On health care, we got my law passed to give people diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease) immediate access to Social Security Disability Insurance. The new law will make life a little easier for ALS patients and their families as they navigate the diagnosis.
So, yes, I'm a fighter, and I really annoy the dark-money climate denial and court-capture operation (just did another Supreme Court brief on that). But where I can find Republicans to work with me, I'm also ready to be productive and bipartisan. This turned out to be a particularly good legislating year. Thanks for all your encouragement and support, and happy new year!
Sheldon Whitehouse,
US Senator, Rhode Island
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LEE CAMP of “Redacted Tonight” and “Moment of Clarity” will be on-air tonight for NYE, and meantime he has a scathing review that is much funnier and all-around more entertaining and meaningful than what he is reviewing.
He says, “I have a brand new video for you in which I reveal how the new movie "Wonder Woman: 1984" is neo-liberal garbage.”
[i.e., a wallow in justification of the military-industrial complex and corporate America in general as the “leaders” of social change that would make our society more fair and equitable. If you have not encountered the word “neo-liberal,” do not confuse it with the New Deal or modern Progressivism. - Ed.]
Although there have been plenty of bad reviews of this film already, I haven't heard any that have dug into how terrible the politics is and how dangerous it is for our culture. CLICK HERE to watch my review.
I will also be live-streaming at some point tonight. (Sorry I don't know the exact time yet.) It will be available at Youtube.com/MomentofClarity - so if you haven't yet, please go there and click "subscribe" and then click the bell icon.
Keep Fighting in 2021!
- Lee
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Every charity, museum, and nonprofit has faced unprecedented and existential challenges as a result of the pandemic. From key staff, leadership, and members of vital volunteer cadres, to the inability to host events and welcome admission-paying visitors, all have had it bad.
We are taking a moment to look ar just one of them: Ocean Institute, in Southern California. On top of everything else, their iconic “tall ship,” the square-rugged, wooden-hulled oceangoing sailing ship “Pilgrim” sank at her dock. The new came the heartbreaking news that she could not be raised and refloated. Still, the resilience of the folks there continues as an example of the hopeful, forward-looking celebration of the human spirit that we can find on display worldwide.
This comes from
Wendy Marshall, their
President & CEO
She writes:
This is a year that will be etched into our memories and the history books… We have endured, adjusted, and accepted more than we could have expected at the start of a year with such an auspicious ring to it: 2020.
Ocean Institute was challenged beyond what we could have ever imagined, but we learned about ourselves and more importantly, we learned about our community.
We learned we were resilient, creative, and relentless in finding ways to continue to deliver on our mission. We turned our attention to what we could do – knowing that this work is too important to let the pandemic slow us down.
We had heartbreaking moments, including the loss of the Pilgrim, and heart-warming moments when we were able to see children’s faces light up as they participated in virtual animal feedings and field trips.
We lost sleep – but we never, ever lost hope. We didn’t have a chance…. Each step of the way, the community lifted us. Donations, participation, feedback, and encouragement kept us doggedly focused and committed to returning the gift with the very best programs that conditions would allow.
Virtual learning, virtual field trips, small scale camps, tidepool hikes, kayak tours, and more continued… and most importantly, thanks to the support of the community, EVERY school or group that wanted to access our programs were able to- regardless of their ability to pay.
From Children’s Hospital Orange County to Thomas House Shelter for homeless families, underserved schools to child care programs that supported the children of essential workers- we delivered… and YOU enabled that.
We couldn’t have imagined the support we would receive. It has been a reminder to us of what we are here to do. We promise you, we will continue to do it with full fervor and excellence for many years to come.
Thank you – and please know we are celebrating every one of you today. You have made 2020 the year that we will define as more than we expected in the most positive and beautiful way.
Enjoy our 2020 story and celebrate with us:
https://issuu.com/ocean_institute/docs/oi_year_in_review_2020
With profound gratitude,
Wendy Marshall
President & CEO
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Stay healthy, stay safe.
Honor the health care people who are, in the words of one COVID unit ER doctor, "Not the front line first responders, but the last line of defense, if it comes to keeping you alive."
How to honor them?
Don't be a maskhole who joins the Branch Covidians.
This will all be over and we can brag about how well we came through -- if we don't get reckless in these final days of great risk.
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in this new world of the improbable unknown...