#Wisconsin Public Radio

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

As I leave the land of my spotty youth and leave behind most of the 2022 midterm elections, I do so with a real nostalgia for the following provision of the U.S. Constitution:

Article IV, Section 4: The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic Violence.

This was placed into the new Constitution as a further device to exorcize the evil spirits of the Articles of Confederation, which blew goats. The passage has gone largely unexamined almost since it was adopted with the rest of the Constitution. (For example, it’s hardly mentioned in the Federalist Papers, and the Supreme Court, when it has taken up the subject at all, is incoherent on it.) But whatever “a Republican Form of Government” means, it cannot possibly mean the situation as it stands in Wisconsin.

On Tuesday, the Democratic Party got 51% of the vote statewide. This got the Democrats…30% of the seats in the state legislature. Any reasonable definition of “a Republican Form of Government” cannot possibly include this kind of result. It is completely and utterly a product of grotesque partisan gerrymandering sanctioned by the Supreme Court in its disgraceful decision Rucho v. Common Cause three years ago.

The die was cast on this atrocity last April, when the state supreme court ruled that this year’s elections would be contested on the ludicrous maps produced by the state legislature, itself the product of past gerrymanders. The U.S. Supreme Court was a critical accessory after the fact. From Wisconsin Public Radio:

"It was a reversal for Hagedorn, who joined the court's liberals in early March to choose a legislative map drawn by Gov. Tony Evers. But after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Hagedorn's ruling based on the way it applied the federal Voting Rights Act to draw Black-majority districts in Milwaukee, it sent the case back to the Wisconsin Supreme Court to consider all over again."

You will note that the carefully manufactured conservative majority on the court was not shy about meddling with maps in this instance.

"'We could construct one ourselves or with the assistance of an expert, but time and our institutional limitations make that unrealistic at this juncture,' Hagedorn wrote. 'The remaining option is to choose one of the proposed maps we received as the baseline. Only one proposal was represented as race-neutral in its construction: the maps submitted by the Legislature.'

For Democrats, the decision was likely the worst-possible outcome. For the past decade, they've felt the sting of the 2011 map, which Republicans drew when they controlled all branches of state government. Even during years when Democratic candidates have performed well statewide, Republicans have maintained large majorities in the Legislature, thanks in part to a map that political scientists have said is among the biggest partisan gerrymanders in modern U.S. history. The new map, drawn by Republicans and made law by four justices on the state Supreme Court Friday, further entrenched that advantage, giving Republicans a realistic shot at a two-thirds majority that would let them override a governor's veto. It took effect despite being vetoed by Evers last year and being initially rejected by the state Supreme Court last month."

The best chance that Wisconsin has to un-fuck itself here comes next April, when an election could bring a Democratic majority to the state supreme court, which theoretically could open the door to maps that less closely resemble a game of three-card monte. Of course, John Roberts and the gang put the kibosh on the last attempt at un-fucking last April. The roundness and completeness with which extreme conservatism has deformed the American republic is occasionally stunning.

Maps are an indispensable tool for outlining natural features, human boundaries and transportation networks. But when it comes to depicting how many people are in a given place — how populations are distributed —a traditional map has distinct drawbacks. Mapmakers have sought to offset this limitation through an innovation that's known as a cartogram.

There are two types of cartograms. Distance cartograms are often used to show stylized bus or subway routes. They depict networks without strict adherence to location or range. The other type is called an area cartogram. In these graphics, the size of each shape making up the map — like counties, states or nations — is adjusted to represent a different variable, often the number of people living there.

Cartograms can highlight the difference between places with large populations (or large amounts of whatever variable is replacing area) and places with large amounts of land and/or water, but which have small populations. In other words, a cartogram shows population density in a graphic format.

There are many different ways to develop an area cartogram. In a contiguous cartogram, the shape of a specific area is altered to account for differences in population (or another variable), but shapes retain their positions relative to one another. This approach leads to distortion of the basic shapes. Another is a non-contiguous cartogram, which means that the shapes can move and resize without remaining in position with their neighbors. Rather, the shapes keep their usual form, and are scaled in size based on population (or other variable).

Cartograms can be helpful in interpreting data when the number of people is important. For example, area cartograms are often used to display election outcomes when the variable of interest is total number of votes — not some rate or percentage. An election results cartogram is an increasingly common tool used to help highlight dynamics related to population density. In conventional maps showing election results large areas that are sparsely populated take up the most space, and thus have the most visual impact, while more densely populated areas that take up very little land area have far less visual impact despite representing many more people.

In an non-contiguous area cartogram of Wisconsin, the state's counties have been resized according to their their populations. Counties with large populations grow bigger than they would appear on a standard map, and counties with sparse populations shrink in comparison.

These two maps of Wisconsin's counties highlight a few key points about the distribution of the state's population. First, the cartogram emphasizes how overwhelmingly large Milwaukee County's population is, relative to all other counties in the state. Dane and Waukesha counties stand out as the next two largest after Milwaukee. In addition, the other counties on the southern and eastern edges of the state together represent a preponderance of Wisconsin's total population. Another takeaway is just how different an area-based map and a population-scaled map look. It's easy to think of Wisconsin's rural areas as making up a lot of the state, but in terms of population they are quite small.

A cartogram can help make sense of any topic where the important information is in the number of people, and there is wide variation in population density in a region. For example, cartograms can be useful illustrations of economic activity, immigration, school enrollment, votes, jobs or housing numbers.

[wausaupilot]

Backyard weather forecasts on next 'Route 51'

WAUSAU – The weather forecasts we see each day are based on an array of meteorological sensing networks and intensive computer modeling. But before the rise of these technologies, forecasts were made by understanding cloud formations and wind directions – something anyone can learn to do.  At 10 a.m. May 10, “Route 51” presents an encore presentation of host Shereen Siewert’s conversation with…

[don-lichterman]

Conservative blocs unleash wave of litigation to curb public health powers

Conservative blocs unleash wave of litigation to curb public health powers

Through a wave of pandemic-related litigation, a trio of small but mighty conservative legal blocs has rolled back public health authority at the local, state and federal levels, recasting America’s future battles against infectious diseases. Galvanized by what they’ve characterized as an overreach of COVID-related health orders issued amid the pandemic, lawyers from the three overlapping…

[shcherbatskya]

goodnight mutuals happy for you or sorry that happened. i love you <4

[justinspoliticalcorner]

S.V. Dáte at HuffPost:

WASHINGTON ― Would Donald Trump ever have become president if he hadn’t paid off porn star Stormy Daniels to keep her quiet in the days before the 2016 election? The answer is impossible to know, but the premise of the question forms the basis of the very first criminal trial of a former president in American history: whether Trump’s scheme to keep Daniels’ claim of a 2006 affair with him under wraps was, in fact, a crime for which the coup-attempting former president should be punished. While “hush money case” has become the shorthand to describe the first of Trump’s four criminal cases to go to trial, particularly among Trump defenders who wish to diminish it, that is not how it will be described to prospective jurors Monday at the scheduled start of jury selection. Judge Juan Merchan’s first sentence of a 223-word summary describing the case to jurors reads: “The allegations are, in substance, that Donald Trump falsified business records to conceal an agreement with others to unlawfully influence the 2016 presidential election.”

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who brought the 34-count indictment against Trump just over a year ago, will argue that the ledger entries and other business documents Trump created claiming that he was paying lawyer Michael Cohen for “legal services” when in reality he was repaying him for the $130,000 check he delivered to Daniels, were felonies under New York law. “The core is not money for sex,” Bragg told New York’s public radio affiliate last year. “We would say it’s about conspiring to corrupt a presidential election and then lying in New York business records to cover it up.” Trump’s campaign did not respond to HuffPost’s queries for this report. He has primarily argued on social media and in his campaign speeches that the case was brought to hurt his efforts to regain the presidency, another piece of the “witch hunt” that he claims the “deep state” is conducting against him.

He repeated those claims Friday during a brief news conference. “It’s not even a crime,” he said. “It’s very unfair that we have this judge who hates Trump.” It’s unclear precisely how long the trial will last or even how many days it will take to seat a jury, although estimates suggest it could stretch into June. Merchan, in an April 8 letter to prosecutors and defense lawyers, noted the logistical challenges involved in trying a former president and presumptive major party nominee who travels with a substantial Secret Service detail. “In a case where security concerns are implicated every time anyone enters or exits the courtroom, or mingles around the corridors, moving the entire jury panel is no simple task,” Merchan wrote.

Bragg’s filing accompanying the indictment lays out the plan Trump and his ally David Pecker, publisher of the National Enquirer, developed to “catch and kill” stories that could hurt Trump’s presidential campaign. The scheme also involved paying off a doorman at a Trump building, who claimed Trump had a fathered a child outside his marriages, as well as a Playboy model, Karen McDougal, who also claimed she’d had an affair with Trump in 2006 and 2007. Neither of those payments, though, were made by Cohen, and the actual indictment only involves Trump’s reimbursements to him.

To what extent Trump’s successful pre-election silencing of Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, played a role in his narrow 2016 win is unclear. Trump lost the national popular vote by 2.9 million ballots but won Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania by a combined 77,744 votes, which gave him a healthy Electoral College victory. After watching his poll numbers crater after the Oct. 7, 2016, release of the “Access Hollywood” tape, in which he bragged that his celebrity allowed him to grab women by the genitals, Trump slowly recovered over the coming weeks as Russia’s spy agencies and their ally, Julian Assange, on a near daily basis released stolen emails designed to hurt Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

[...]

Whether it would have cost Trump the election, of course, does not matter in terms of his criminal trial. Prosecutors must only prove that Trump had Cohen make the payment to Daniels for the purpose of influencing the election and that he subsequently created fake business records to disguise the purpose of the reimbursements.

“I think the case is strong as a matter of both evidence and New York law,” said Norm Eisen, a White House lawyer under former President Barack Obama who recently published a book about the New York prosecution. “If Bragg proves that theory of the case, and I think he will, he will establish this was no minor hush-money peccadillo but a serious democracy crime.” Trump faces three other felony criminal prosecutions ― two of them based on his attempt to remain in power despite having lost reelection in 2020. A federal indictment could go to trial as early as late August, depending on the timing of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on his claim that he is immune from prosecution. A Georgia state prosecution based on his attempt to overturn his election loss in that state could also start later this year. An unrelated second federal prosecution based on his refusal to turn over secret documents he took with him from the White House to his South Florida country club has not yet been set for trial.

Today is the first day of Donald Trump's first criminal trial in New York v. Trump to determine whether the hush money payments to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal made by Donald Trump to falsify business records in order to influence the 2016 elections leads to convictions for Trump.

If Trump is convicted on even one charge, he'll be forever known as Convicted Felon Donald Trump, and that would hurt him at the polls come election day because people who are hesitant on voting Joe Biden again but don't like DJT likely won't vote for a convicted felon to lead the nation.

See Also:

HuffPost: Trump’s Hush Money Trial: What To Expect

The Guardian: Donald Trump’s hush-money trial: a timeline of the case

[copperbadge]

Radio Free Monday

Good morning everyone, and welcome to Radio Free Monday!

Just a note because I've had some inquiries lately -- it's always fine to include more than one way to give when submitting an item for RFM! It's always best to have a crowdfund page of some kind (gofundme, fundly, etc) and only list a direct payment processor like paypal or venmo as a secondary, but including multiple payment methods is okay, as long as you don't mind your paypal/venmo/etc being public.

Ways to Give:

hi-this-is-ali-rae is getting top surgery, scheduled for January; they're preparing for the surgery and the healing after, and raising funds to cover out-of-pocket costs and make their recovery as comfortable as possible. You can read more and support the fundraiser here.

Anon linked to The Big Gay Market, a LGBTQ+ owned-and-operated pop up maker's market in Madison, Wisconsin, which has been in operation for nearly a year. They're looking to move into a bigger venue after receiving fantastic community support, and are crowdfunding via Kiva loan for a down-payment to reserve the space for their next market. (When you support organizations and people via Kiva it's a no-interest loan from you, so the money eventually comes back to the lender.) You can read more and contribute to the loan fund here.

nehirose's cat Winston had to go to the emergency vet last night for pyometra; they were able to get antibiotics and fluids, but she's fundraising for the visit fees and follow-up and spay with a non-emergency vet, which is a struggle with rent looming this week. You can read more and support the fundraiser here, read more and reblog here, or give via paypal here.

News to Know:

Anon wanted to remind folks that the US government is offering another round of free COVID tests; you can order four tests per household, and if you didn't order tests in September during the previous round, you can order eight per household. You can order tests via the post office or the COVID.gov website.

Recurring Needs:

Anon linked to a fundraiser for Alchemia and Bugland, who have urgent financial needs after the loss of their home, and are also looking for media contacts who would be interested in covering their story, or advocacy and legal support in Illinois, particularly support for people with disabilities, autism, blindness, and/or who are LGBTQ+. You can read more at Dreamwidth here and support the fundraiser at GoFundMe here.

gwydion's very elderly car broke down in late October; the repair, to a cooling hose, has cheap parts but expensive labor, and ate most of zir budget for the month. Ze can't do without a car, being disabled, but can't afford to replace it either; ze's raising $280 to help cover bills and the repair. You can give via PayPal here.

gwydion linked to a fundraiser for Squirrel, a good friend who has recently lost his job and needs to raise about $800 to cover bills and food; Squirrel has had a lot of interviews and believes he will have an offer but won't start work until December. You can give via paypal here.

gwydion linked to a fundraiser for a friend, whose dog Rosie needs medical care, dental work, and special food; you can read more and give here at gofundme.

mid-nighttiger linked to a fundraiser for a friend, Katherine, a cosplayer (501st and Rebel Legion, among others) who was in a serious car accident and has had a gofundme set up for her medical expenses; you can read more and reblog Mid-Nighttiger's post here or support the fundraiser here.

rilee16 is raising funds to cover utilities after having to use bill money to cover rent and late fees; Rilee also needs to be able to pay for medication. You can read more, reblog, and find giving information here.

And this has been Radio Free Monday! Thank you for your time. You can post items for my attention at the Radio Free Monday submissions form. If you're new to fundraising, you may want to check out my guide to fundraising here.

[hit-song-showdown]

Year-End Poll #30: 1979

[Image description: a collage of photos of the 10 musicians and musical groups featured in this poll. In order from left to right, top to bottom: The Knack, Donna Summer (x2), Chic, Rod Stewart, Peaches & Herb, Gloria Gaynor, Village People, Anita Ward, Robert John. End description]

More information about this blog here

We have made it through another decade, everyone. As we reach the end of the 1970's, we are also reaching the end of disco. This is something that makes this genre stand out in a historic sense. Because while we've covered many genres tied to their decade (traditional pop with the 50s, doo-wop with the 60s, etc), those didn't necessarily end the moment the decade switched over. We're still in disco's peak (the dance party before the storm), and many of the songs and artists featured on today's poll are still considered classics. Fun fact, the original name for Chic's Le Freak was called Fuck Off!, which in my opinion is the correct way to sing along to it. The song was written after the band couldn't get into Studio 54, the disco hot spot of the 1970's.

Which brings us to the first crumbling pillar that will send disco collapsing. As disco became mainstream, the aesthetics of disco became less about marginalized people surrounding themselves with opulence and luxury as an escape, and more about...the opulent surrounding themselves with more luxury. The communities who had built this subculture were getting priced out of their own hot spots as the upper class and the celebrities flocked to the hot new thing.

But the disco backlash wasn't just marginalized people and disco purists frustrated with the gentrification and commodification of their subculture. In fact, I think it's safe to say that they were the minority. In reality, the disco backlash had two main prongs: the general music-listening public who was sick of hearing disco on every station, and/or bigots who would hate any kind of Black or gay music they heard no matter how commercialized it became.

So, let's talk about Disco Demolition Night.

July 12th, 1979, the rock vs. disco conflict reached its ugliest peak as tens of thousands of people stormed Comiskey Park in Chicago. Disco records were crushed, burned, and even blown up. The event soon broke out into a riot and thankfully no one was killed, but the demonstration still casts an unpleasant shadow over this moment in music history.

I don't want to diminish the ugliness of this event. As Craig Werner, a professor of African American studies at the University of Wisconsin put it:

"The Anti-disco movement represented an unholy alliance of funkateers and feminists, progressives and puritans, rockers and reactionaries. None the less, the attacks on disco gave respectable voice to the ugliest kinds of unacknowledged racism, sexism and homophobia." (A Change Is Gonna Come)

And to quote Chic's Nile Rogers:

"It felt to us like Nazi book-burning. This is America, the home of jazz and rock and people were now afraid even to say the word 'disco'. I remember thinking - we're not even a disco group."

So I don't want to imply that Disco Demolition Night wasn't a shameful moment, because it was. However, it didn't kill disco. I see a lot of music retrospectives use this event as the one climactic moment that killed the genre and forced music itself to change. And I get why; it's an exciting and narratively satisfying conclusion to come to. But I don't want to say that, because I don't want to give Steve Dahl, the anti-disco shock jock radio DJ who organized the event, the credit in taking down an entire subculture.

Commercialization killed disco. White executives and artists cramming disco into everything without appreciating its roots killed disco. Gentrification killed disco. Changing tastes killed disco. Homophobia and racism killed disco. Capitalism killed disco.

A radio DJ and his angry drunk white boy fans storming a baseball stadium didn't kill disco. But it was the symptom of a disease that was already coursing through the system.

And despite the genre's historic death, disco would actually continue to live on past this decade in a variety of ways. Much like most other genres, disco was able to change and evolve with the times -- it just couldn't do so under the "disco" label as even the name itself became poison.

Also, as I said I keep these polls focused on the U.S. charts because that's where I'm from so I have a better understanding of the musical and historic context. However, it seems like disco's death was mostly contained to this country. When I glance at the various European charts (and any European followers can feel free to correct me), disco didn't seem to drop off in the same way. This will become relevant when we cover some of the European crossovers in a few decades.

So as we celebrate/mourn the end of the seventies with its last dance party, we can all come together and agree that whether you're a rock fan or a disco fan, at least most of your music has aged better than talk radio.

See you all in the 80's.

[beardedmrbean]

A University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire staff member sued her employer over being ousted from a position in a campus diversity office allegedly for being "White."

The lawsuit alleges that when Rochelle Hoffman was promoted to UW-Eau Claire's interim director of the campus's Multicultural Student Services office, the school's former Vice Chancellor for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion and Student Affairs Olga Diaz was told by students that a White woman was not fit to preside over a position intended to serve students of color. 

"You hired a white woman as the Interim Director?" one student was cited in a federal complaint against the university.

STEM HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS STAGE SIT-IN PROTEST, URGE HARSH PUNISHMENTS FOR BIAS INCIDENTS, IMPROVE DEI POLICY

Per the complaint, another student asked, "Do you personally feel white staff can do as effective a job as a person of color, within a space for people of color?"

Hoffman said she felt compelled to resign last year after eight months of intense hostility and staff questioning her "legitimacy" after being promoted to interim director of the campus's Multicultural Student Services office, the complaint states.

Hoffman worked for the campus's Blugold Beginnings office for six years prior to the promotion. According to Wisconsin Public Radio, the "office served underrepresented, low-income and first-generation college students." 

Reportedly, the office merged with the UW-Eau Claire Office of Multicultural Affairs last year.

"Despite Hoffman’s exceptional qualifications, however, students, faculty and staff opposed her appointment to Interim Director of MSS solely because she was white," the complaint claims. "It was exclusively Hoffman’s identity as white that was the issue; criticism was about her race and color, not her qualifications."

The complaint also says that while Hoffman was working in Blugold Beginnings and the Multicultural Student Services, her ratings on a performance review praised her as "exceeds expectations" and "Outstanding."

The complaint states further, "Despite Hoffman’s exceptional qualifications, however, students, faculty and staff opposed her appointment to Interim Director of MSS solely because she was white. It was exclusively Hoffman’s identity as white that was the issue; criticism was about her race and color, not her qualifications."

After suing her employer on Dec. 14 in the Western District of Wisconsin, Hoffman now works as a senior academic advising coordinator for the university.

The lawsuit lists the University of Wisconsin Board of Regents, UW-Eau Claire Chancellor Jim Schmidt, and Assistant Chancellor for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Teresa O'Halloran.

A spokesperson from UW-Eau Claire sent Fox News Digital a statement about the lawsuit.

"As is the case with all pending litigation, UW-Eau Claire will not offer a statement or comment on the lawsuit. UW-Eau Claire does not discriminate based on race in any employment decisions," the spokesperson said. 

The UW-Eau Claire Board of Regents sent Fox News Digital the following statement, "We do not comment on pending litigation."

[jules-has-notes]

2016 VoicePlay spring events — love all around

A busy winter for VoicePlay rolled into equally packed spring months, full of concerts, educational outreach, personal projects, and growing families.

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Here, there, and everywhere

The guys began their spring with a few weeks working on new music at home, during which they fit in a colorful corporate gig alongside Layne's sister- and brother-in-law.

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The second weekend in April was an absolute whirlwind. They started just outside Denver at the annual CHSAA music festival, where they got to spend two days with student vocal groups, and found a reminder of a friend.

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From there they headed east for the Boston Sings festival and the CARA ceremony. They didn't win for their "Phantom" video, but they did get to see Deke receive his well-deserved lifetime achievement award in person.

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The next day, they drove out to Worcester for a matinee concert and a radio interview with Bonnie Johnson on "Colors of Jazz" before flying back home.

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Snow-verdue

The next weekend, the boys traveled back to Wisconsin to make up the second show that had been cancelled by winter weather earlier in the year. One stalwart young fan was so determined to see them that she and her prom date skipped the big dance in favor of the show.

a sleepy soundcheck, but a lively show

audience participation — photos by Sarah Kay

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Love you lady, bye bye

During a brief few days back at home, Eli proposed to his girlfriend Ashley before the boys hopped on the Disney Magic for the first of four cruises they'd booked over the next couple of months.

The other work didn't stop just because they were at sea, though. Some of their downtime was spent creating new arrangements and rehearsing for upcoming video shoots. (They did get up to some shenanigans on board, of course.)

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A post shared by VoicePlay (@thevoiceplay)

After the Magic ended, they had a few days at home before hopping aboard the Disney Wonder.

Give it up for auditioner Tom and his well-timed platypus!

During the few days between the second and third cruise gigs, they filmed the video for "My Shot". Also, Eli and Ashley acquired a new little buddy, a pup named Anna (after the Frozen character).

Then during the three weeks between the third and fourth voyages, VoicePlay recorded their "Aca Top 10 — Bro Country" video with Chris Rupp, released the "Aca Top 10 — Old School Rap" video, and held a launch day event for "My Shot" at Full Sail University.

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Hey, baby

Just before they were scheduled to set sail again, Layne and Cyndi welcomed their daughter Doris to the world. (Her new uncles were pretty excited, too.)

the Steins welcome their littlest little one

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A little help from their friends

With that happy event, the contingency plans for Layne's paternity leave kicked in, including a few local friends. On their final cruise of the season, Max Herskovitz stepped in on percussion. Erik Winger also subbed for Tony so he could focus on finishing preparations for the impending public launch of PattyCake Productions.

onboard with Erik and Max // in Tampa Bay with Antonio

The weekend after they returned to dry land, the guys scooped up buddy Antonio Fernandez once more and trundled down to the Gulf Coast for a concert in Pinellas Park.

By the time they were ready to head up to Ohio for camp at the end of June, Layne was back in the mix (at least for non-oceanic matters), but that's a story that deserves its own post.

[wausaupilot]

Milwaukee-based Klement’s Sausage Co. sold to Chicago company

By Joe Schulz– Wisconsin Public Radio Milwaukee-based Klement’s Sausage Co. has been purchased by Chicago-based Amylu Foods in a move that could grow the sausage maker’s workforce. The companies announced the acquisition Tuesday. The terms of the sale were not made public. A spokesperson for Amylu Foods said via email the company plans to retain all of Klement’s roughly 300 employees.  The…

[jazzandother-blog]

GENE KRUPA

(English / Español)

Gene Krupa (January 15, 1909 - October 16, 1973) was a famed and influential American jazz musician and big band drummer, known and recognised for his energetic and brilliant playing style. His parents were Polish immigrants to the USA and he was born in Chicago, Illinois. He began his professional career in the mid-1920s with bands in Wisconsin. He emerged on the Chicago music scene in 1927, when he was selected by the MCA to become a member of the orchestra of Thelma Terry and Her Playboys, then the most notable American jazz band led by a woman.

Krupa made his first recording in 1927, with a band led by banjo player Eddie Condon. Krupa also appeared on six records by Thelma Terry's band in 1928. In 1929 he moved to New York City and worked with the Red Nichols band. In 1934 he joined Benny Goodman's band, where his unique drumming made him a national celebrity.

In 1938, after a public falling out with Goodman at the Earl Theater in Philadelphia, he left Goodman to launch his own band, with which he scored several big hits alongside singer Anita O'Day and trumpeter Roy Eldridge. Krupa made a memorable cameo appearance in the 1941 film Ball of Fire, in which he and his band played different versions of the hit song Drum Boogie.

In 1943, Krupa was arrested for possession of cannabis and briefly imprisoned.

Krupa retired musically in the late 1960s, although he played occasionally in public until his death from leukemia in Yonkers, New York. He was buried in Holy Cross Cemetery in Calumet City, Illinois. He became the face of Slingerland Drums, which later launched a "Radio King" series in Krupa's honour.

Krupa is considered by many to be the most influential drummer of the 20th century, especially for the development of the drum instrument itself. His main influence began in 1935 in the company of Benny Goodman, where he excelled as a true star, but above all for his use of the bass drum pedal. This particular method of playing was published in 1938 and became a standard text for the study of the instrument.

*****

Gene Krupa (15 de enero, 1909 – 16 de octubre, 1973) fue un afamado e influyente músico estadounidense de jazz y un gran baterista de big band, conocido y reconocido por su energético y brillante estilo de tocar. Sus padres eran polacos emigrantes en USA y el nació en Chicago, Illinois. Comenzó su carrera profesional a mediados de la decada de los años 1920s con bandas en Wisconsin. Emergió en la escena musical de Chicago en 1927, cuando fue seleccionado por la MCA para convertirse en miembro de la orquesta de Thelma Terry y Sus Playboys, entonces la más notable banda americana de jazz liderada por una mujer.

Krupa hizo su primera grabación en 1927, con una banda liderada por el banjista Eddie Condon. Krupa también aparece en seis discos de la banda de Thelma Terry en 1928. En 1929 se mudó a New York City y trabajó con la banda de Red Nichols. En 1934 se unió a la banda de Benny Goodman, donde su particular forma de tocar la batería le convirtió en una celebridad nacional.

En 1938, tras una pelea pública con Goodman en el Earl Theater en Filadelfia, dejó a Goodman para lanzar su propia banda, con la que obtuvo diferentes grandes éxitos junto a la cantante Anita O'Day y el trompetista Roy Eldridge. Krupa hizo un memorable cameo apareciendo en la película de 1941 Ball of Fire (Bola de Fuego), donde él y su banda tocaban distintas versiones del éxito musical Drum Boogie.

En 1943, Krupa era arrestado por posesión de cannabis siendo brevemente encarcelado.

Krupa se retiró musicalmente a finales de los años 1960s, aunque tocaba ocasionalmente en público hasta su muerte por leucemia en Yonkers, New York. Fue enterrado en el Holy Cross Cemetery en Calumet City, Illinois. Se convirtió en imagen de las baterías Slingerland, fábrica que posteriormente lanzaría una serie "Radio King" en honor a Krupa.

Muchos consideran a Krupa como el más influyente baterista del siglo 20, especialmente por el desarrollo del propio instrumento de la batería. Su principal influencia comenzó en 1935 en compañía de Benny Goodman, donde sobresalió como una auténtica estrella, pero sobre todo por su uso del pedal del bajo de la batería. Este particular método de tocar se publicó en 1938 y se convirtió en un texto estándar para el estudio del instrumento.

fuente: last.fm

[don-lichterman]

Wisconsin GOP lawmakers ask EPA to lift fuel blending requirement to save drivers money

Wisconsin GOP lawmakers ask EPA to lift fuel blending requirement to save drivers money

Dozens of GOP lawmakers are asking federal environmental regulators to lift a requirement for Wisconsin drivers to use reformulated gasoline to save people money. The request comes as gas prices have surged to record highs. Yet, clean energy advocates and physicians said waiving the requirement would lead to poor health outcomes or cost lives due to worsened air quality. A letter sent Tuesday and…

[audiofictionuk]

New Fiction Podcasts - 6th September

Villain Mutants New Audio Drama! Villain Mutants is a science fiction audio drama series about a bunch of criminal mutants being captured and brainwashed by HEAL. They were named a number when recruited. The mutants were used as weapons to frighten any human criminals that dares to not follow the law. The first 10 criminal mutants have escaped and are in hiding. https://villainmutants.weebly.com/ https://anchor.fm/s/e39ebbd0/podcast/rss

400 Words A Horror New Audio Drama! 400 Words A Horror is a bi-weekly anthology horror-themed podcast by audio drama enthusiasts who want to get into the audio drama world as creators. We are a group of people who wants to do audio dramas but have no idea how. The showrunner Gem decided to make this podcast to learn the 'how'. Why 400 Words a Horror? The idea came to me while practicing with the Pratchett method called ‘400 words a day.’ My friends and I are here to have fun, spook up a little, experience, experiment, and learn the hardships of audio drama creation. So this space is a learning experience for my friends and I. Any feedback -as long as it is feedback- is more than appreciated. You can leave feedback through our socials. If you want to stay anonymous, our Tumblr ask box awaits you. https://shows.acast.com/400-words-a-horror https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/400-words-a-horror

The Theater of the Midnight Sun New Audio Drama! Fun and thought-provoking audio dramas of sci-fi, fantasy, mystery, & comedy - with dynamic soundscapes full of music & special effects. https://TheateroftheMidnightSun.podbean.com https://feed.podbean.com/TheateroftheMidnightSun/feed.xml

Can't Relax New Audio Drama! Over stressed? Overworked? The Peace and Mind app will put an end to that. Forever. On the weekend before their ACTs, Anya and her friends download a new mobile relaxation app to take the edge off, unaware that it secretly plants murderous subliminal messages into the brains of its listeners. When people start dying, Anya must figure out who planted the corrupted malware on their phones and how to stop it before she becomes a killer herself. https://glistenplus.com/scripted/cant-relax/ https://feeds.megaphone.fm/cantrelax

The Devil's Antlers New Audio RPG! A Homebrewed TTRPG Actual Play Cryptid Campaign, with voice acting, sound FX, and original music. Set in the mid 1950s, this story follows four citizens around Pembine and Marinette, Wisconsin, as they begin to unveil some strange occurrences in the area. https://www.timetodierpg.com/ https://feeds.transistor.fm/the-devils-antlers

La traversée du siècle New Audio Drama! Victoire, Albertine et Thérèse : ces prénoms vous semblent-ils familiers? Suivez l’odyssée de ces trois femmes fascinantes et incroyablement résilientes dans l’œuvre de l’un des plus grands écrivains québécois : Michel Tremblay. Portée par 18 interprètes, cette saga familiale nous fait vivre les grands bouleversements qu’a connus la société québécoise au cours du XXe siècle. Plongez dans l’univers de trois générations, où la place des femmes se fortifie au fil du temps. La traversée du siècle est un projet monumental, la plus grande fiction sonore originale jamais réalisée au Québec, avec six saisons et plus de neuf heures de contenu original. Tout le texte est de Michel Tremblay, dans une adaptation et une dramaturgie d'Alice Ronfard, à partir d'une idée d'André Brassard. Ce projet hors-norme est une production du Théâtre Espace Libre, en production déléguée par Zoé Gagnon-Paquin. https://espacelibre.qc.ca/balados/la-traversee-du-siecle https://feeds.podcastics.com/podcastics/podcasts/rss/6123_4583f3239eb223783366204080342b0d.rss

Lantern Cove New Audio RPG! An actual-play RPG podcast in which 6 high school students are the only ones who can face down murder, eldritch magic, and the coming end of the world. https://www.www.lanterncovepodcast.com https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/2194093.rss

EDWINA BERGMAN: RADIO VENTRILOQUIST New Audio Drama! In this fiction comedy-mystery, a young 1920s radio ventriloquist finds herself hosting a radio variety hour and cohosting a podcast in 2023. While attempting to figure out a way back home, she receives a tempting offer from a reality TV producer. https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jonmeyersscripts https://anchor.fm/s/e8270ec8/podcast/rss

Part-Time Thrills New Audio Drama! Welcome to Part-Time Thrills! Where tall tales are told in short stories rooted in horror and comedy! Time to clock in for a thrill! https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/part-timethrills https://anchor.fm/s/e7dd02ec/podcast/rss

WitherBurn After School News New Audio Drama! An anonymous teenage girl starts a gossip radio show to report on the events of her small southern town. In her quest to uncover the latest scoop, she becomes entangled in the midst of a mystery. https://www.witherburnnews.com/ https://anchor.fm/s/e7e701e8/podcast/rss

Sur la route : Podcasts pour enfants / histoires en voiture pour enfants / En voiture New Audio Book! Retrouvez les plus belles histoires pour faire voyager vos enfants de tous âges en voiture. Des histoires pour chaque âges qui vont passionner vos enfants. Podcast et histoire pour enfants. https://podcasts.360.audion.fm/QzJsUCNoGsXLHDad4TWjR https://feeds.360.audion.fm/QzJsUCNoGsXLHDad4TWjR

Nearly Departed New Audio Book! A ghost story anthology sewn together with a very cozy thread, from the mixed up files of Kathryn R. Wiggins.  Katy hopes to create a space of permanent October, here to revisit whenever you're in need of a safe harbor to contemplate the living and the dead and the terrors in-between. While it may look cute and whimsical, these stories can be very scary and/or disturbing and are not intended for kids. For fans of history, melancholy, pumpkin pie, dusty mansions, flirting with terror, atmosphere, coziness, plastic skeletons, and real ones too. Katy is a writer and improviser in Austin, TX and co host of popular podcast Scary Stories from Camp Roanoke, which has over 40,000 listeners.  Katy adores history, and ghost stories are one of the ways the past echoes into the future in its own active voice. It's a way that the people of bygone eras literally come alive, and that possibility has never gotten old to her. Katy is also fascinated by the unprovable nature of ghosts--how one person can have years of their life tormented by a spiritual force and another person thinks it's all a bunch of hocus pocus. Paranormal or not, it's a fascinating reflection of the invisible struggles we each move through the world with. https://www.buzzsprout.com/2233839 https://feeds.buzzsprout.com/2233839.rss

TIDLØS New Audio Drama! Vildræven er verdenshistoriens største tyv. Det mener han i hvert fald selv, men verden har ikke opdaget ham endnu. Derfor stjæler han en tidsmaskine og rejser tilbage i tiden for at stjæle Guldhornene, så han kan få den berømmelse, han er berettiget til. Til at hjælpe med tyveriet har han skytten Richard og den hyper-intelligente Ingeborg. Men tyveriet går ikke som planlagt, og før de ved af det, er de med i en hæsblæsende jagt gennem historien forfulgt af betjente, bankfuldmægtige, advokater og vikinger. TIDLØS er det største danske hørespil i nyere tid, skrevet af Troels Bering, klippet og instrueret af Jacob Octavius Jarlskov, og produceret af Audiorama. https://audiorama.dk/ https://pinecast.com/feed/tidl-s

Murder Manor New Audio Drama! When ten people are invited to spend the weekend in a mansion on a remote island, they each start dropping like flies. Can they solve the mystery of who's behind it all or will they die trying? The series is heavily inspired the critically acclaimed novel "And Then There Were None" by Agatha Christie. https://shows.acast.com/murder-manor https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/64dc022f00649a0011d48c8c

La Bóveda de Evo New Audio Book! Lo que realmente perdura en nosotros, anidando un profundo recuerdo en nuestras mentes, es aquello que se asemeja mucho a lo cotidiano. Pero luego de una mirada más reflexiva, no tiene nada de común. Lo cotidiano tiene tantas formas como individuos: Es caótico. Azaroso. Transitorio. Atemporal. Confuso. Voraz. Aquí, cada semana una historia original e independiente nos muestra una cotidianeidad absolutamente fuera de lo común. https://linktr.ee/labovedadeevo https://labovedadeevo.podigee.io/feed/mp3

[meret118]

A 16-year-old boy was killed while working at a sawmill in Northern Wisconsin. It appears that he was illegally employed there, according this this article from Wisconsin Public Radio:

. . .

Since 2018, there has been a 69% increase in children being employed illegally, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

What they appear to care about is businesses having a larger pool of vulnerable workers to exploit at a time when worker demands for higher wages and better working conditions are rising and strike activity has increased. Who’s more vulnerable than children, particularly undocumented and low-income ones?