Move Over, Pirate Radio: SomaFM Plays Tunes For The World

July 9, 2004Radio, Web & TechRaymond Tomlin

Ran across this San Francisco Chronicle story the other day.
SomaFM is a commercial-free, listener-supported, underground Web radio network broadcasting from a garage in the Bernal Heights neighbourhood of San Francisco.
Dedicated to high quality MP3 internet broadcasts reaching across the globe, SomaFM’s founder, Rusty Hodge — working with four other Bay Area residents whose music tastes have spun off stations like the indie-rock — broadcasts six RealAudio webcasts 24 hours a day.
The radio stations available range from the ambient beats and grooves of Groove Salad (RealPlayer / WinAmp required for each link), indie pop rocks, and the post-modern mysterioso of secret agent, to the blips ‘n’ beeps (backed w/beats) of cliqhop, the very tasty, atmospheric textures of drone zone, and the deep-house and downtempo chill of beat blender.
Among the salient features of the site (apart from the great music): a song history for each of the webcasts, linked to artist information; introduction to music you won’t hear elsewhere; and … the broadcasts are all perfectly legal, given an arrangement SomaFM has negotiated with the RIAA.
Donations to SomaFM, through Paypal or Amazon.com’s Honor System, are gratefully accepted.

New On DVD: The Dog Days of Summer

July 8, 2004Video & DVDRaymond Tomlin

All and all, this is a relatively slow week for new DVD releases, although not entirely without merit.

An unabashed, even old-fashioned humanist film, Monsieur Ibrahim tells the story of a grizzled, white-haired grocer (Omar Sharif) in a Paris working-class neighbourhood in the 1960s, a gentle man who provides the wisdom of his 70 years to a lonely and depressed young Jewish boy. Surprising and ironic at times, the movie insists that what is important is the interior life of the individual, the cultivation of a deep spirituality. The best new video release this week.

Less worthy, but bound to find an eager group of renters (given that it’s star is teen heartthrob Ashton Kutcher), The Butterfly Effect is, as the Hollywood Reporter suggests, “an entertaining piece of supernatural nonsense whose sheer audacity disarms all (well, nearly all) skepticism.” With off-putting subject matter (maiming, murder and kiddie porn), The Butterfly Effect is maybe not a movie for the whole family.
Otherwise, this may be the week to consider renting a DVD that you missed earlier in the year. VanRamblings offers the following for your consideration: the sweet, funny and empowering Calendar Girls; the magnificent Oscar nominated film, In America; the engaging and understated period drama, Girl With A Pearl Earring; as well as the magical new version of Peter Pan, and the compellingly watchable epic, The Last Samurai.

A Triumphant Return To TV: Fiona Forbes and Michael Eckford

July 8, 2004Media, VancouverRaymond Tomlin

Mike and Fiona: ‘Happy Together’

By far, the single most frequent Google search bringing visitors to VanRamblings concerns longtime Urban Rush, and recently deposed CITY-TV Breakfast Television, hosts Fiona Forbes and Michael Eckford.
In a Vancouver Province e-entertainment news story published today, columnist Dana Gee reports that “Fiona Forbes and Michael Eckford have agreed to terms with Shaw TV and will return in October to host Urban Rush, a show they last helmed almost two years ago.”

“It’s great. I won’t have to get up in the middle of the night,” says Forbes, referring to the 19 months the pair spent on Citytv’s BreakfastTelevision. “When we met with our old bosses (at Shaw) and they made us an offer, Mike and I left the meeting and looked at each other and immediately high-fived. We really are excited about this.”

Forbes and Eckford will replace current UR hosts Erin Cebula and Russell Porter, whose contract expires July 16th.
The new Urban Rush will remain a one-hour talk show, and will be broadcast from the almost completed Shaw Tower in Coal Harbour, affording viewers a background vista (and here) of Vancouver’s magnificent harbourfront.

B.C. Liberals’ Popularity Continues To Plummet

July 8, 2004BC PoliticsRaymond Tomlin

Mustel Group polling data, released July 8 2004

With only 313 days to go to the next election — May 17 2005 — just released Mustel Group polling figures for the popularity of provincial political parties show that the British Columbia Liberals are in freefall, having dropped 24 points, from 57% to 33%, since the last provincial election.
In other figures released by the Mustel Group, the polling firm reports that for the first time in several years, men tend to support the NDP rather than the B.C. Liberals (44% versus 36% supporting B.C. Liberals). Among women, 45% would vote NDP and 28% would support the B.C. Liberals.
Geographically, the NDP leads in every region of the province except the Lower Mainland suburbs (outside the City of Vancouver), where support for the B.C. Liberals and NDP is almost equal (38% BC Liberals, 40% NDP).

In more heartening news for those of us who would like to see the B.C. Liberals consigned to the dustbin of history, Premier Gordon Campbell’s approval rating remains at only 28%, with a full 60% of the province’s electorate finding fault with his performance and that of his government.
According to a story posted yesterday at Public Eye Online, editorial director Sean Holman wrote that the Ipsos-Reid polling company will also set about to publish B.C. voter intention and leadership approval numbers shortly.
Update: The just-released Ipsos-Reid poll states that “with 10 months to go until the next British Columbia provincial election … the NDP (38%) and B.C. Liberals (37%) are in a statistical dead heat among decided voters. The NDP is down 6 points since May, with all of the benefit going to the Green Party (18%, up 7 points). The B.C. Liberals are unchanged from May.”
According to the poll, leadership disapproval ratings for Premier Gordon Campbell continue to fall, with 62% of British Columbians either moderately or strongly disapproving of the Premier’s performance, as compared to a 54% approval rating for New Democratic Party leader Carole James.
Still, if the Ipsos-Reid poll results hold up, and the B.C. Green Party is in fact resurgent, the Greens look to re-elect the B.C. Liberals.