KCCK is expanding our presence in social networking. We've had a Facebook page for awhile, but haven't really promoted (but thanks to the 50 people who found us on their own!). Become a Fan of KCCK on Facebook, and you can check out pictures from the Corridor Jazz Project recording sessions, view a video from Jazz To The World, and comment on our programming.
I've been writing a Twitter feed for several weeks now, (@dgreencr if you'd like to follow me) and we've recently set up Twitter for KCCK as well. "Follow" KCCK on Twitter (@jazz883kcck) and our "tweets" will include plugs for upcoming programs, last-minute updates and changes that occur after this email goes out, and maybe a chance to win a prize!
Click on the highlighted text above to connect with us in these new regions in cyberspace. And, if you have no idea what we're talking about, click on the links anyway and learn something new!
Friday, January 30, 2009
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Remembering Paul - Lisa Baum
One of my favorite jazz fans passed away January 22. Paul Hemingway, 51, a West Branch farmer listened to KCCK in his combine, tractor and at his home. Have you ever met someone and at that very time had a feeling of true familiarity? That was my experience when I met Paul. We were church friends, both attending Quaker Church in West Branch.
A busy husband and dad, Paul was dedicated to his family and was involved with Boy Scouts. He was the guy who kept the scout bus running. He was selfless and self reliant. He taught that to his young brood.
He introduced me to Chris Botti, expanded my interest in Latin jazz with our two trips to Cuba and was excited when he learned of the Grammy going to Herbie Hancock for his production of River, the compilation of Joni Mitchell pieces.
Farming is a day and night profession. Paul listened to Jazz 88.3 out in the field and doing his book-keeping by the wood fire. He was a dedicated and generous KCCK supporter, too. And he remembered the station even in his last days, asking friends remember his favorite jazz station in considering memorials for him. He was a man of action, living his faith and life to the fullest.
Thanks for being part of my life, Paul.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Elling in Iowa City--Bob Stewart
One of my favorite jazz singers performed at the Englert Theater in Iowa City January 24. Kurt Elling is the premiere jazz vocalist on the scene today, and he featured music from one of my favorite vocal cds in his concert.
Hearing John Coltrane for the first time back in high school was what got me hooked on jazz, those great sides of his from the late '50s. My first exposure to Johnny Hartman didn't happen until I began working at KCCK, and I immediately became a fan of his smooth baritone voice. Their collaboration from 1963 is a jazz classic,and Mr. Elling will bring a unique spin to the songs on that disc, along with other pieces, as arranged by Elling and his longtime musical partner Laurence Hobgood. Veteran saxophonist Ernie Watts fills the Coltrane chair for the concert, with the Ethel String Quartet filling out the sound.
I had chance to talk with Mr. Elling ahead of his concert. You can hear that conversation by clicking here. Find out Mr. Elling's interesting connection to President Barak Obama!
Bob Stewart, Program Director
bobs@kcck.org
Hearing John Coltrane for the first time back in high school was what got me hooked on jazz, those great sides of his from the late '50s. My first exposure to Johnny Hartman didn't happen until I began working at KCCK, and I immediately became a fan of his smooth baritone voice. Their collaboration from 1963 is a jazz classic,and Mr. Elling will bring a unique spin to the songs on that disc, along with other pieces, as arranged by Elling and his longtime musical partner Laurence Hobgood. Veteran saxophonist Ernie Watts fills the Coltrane chair for the concert, with the Ethel String Quartet filling out the sound.
I had chance to talk with Mr. Elling ahead of his concert. You can hear that conversation by clicking here. Find out Mr. Elling's interesting connection to President Barak Obama!
Bob Stewart, Program Director
bobs@kcck.org
Sax legend Ernie Watts appears with Kurt Elling - Gordon
Saxophonist and composer Ernie Watts is perhaps the most recorded of all living saxophonists. This two-time Grammy Award winner is equally at home in rock, pop, and jazz. Over the last 40 years he has recorded with everyone from Cannonball Adderly to Frank Zappa.
Watts joined singer Kurt Elling, The Laurence Hobgood Trio, and the Ethel Sting Quartet in “Dedicated to You,” a tribute to the legendary John Coltrane/Johnny Hartman collaboration at the Englert Theatre in Iowa City January 24.
Prior to the concert, I spoke with Ernie by phone from his home in California about his career, his influences, his latest CD and the concert with Kurt Elling.
Click here to the hear the interview.
Watts joined singer Kurt Elling, The Laurence Hobgood Trio, and the Ethel Sting Quartet in “Dedicated to You,” a tribute to the legendary John Coltrane/Johnny Hartman collaboration at the Englert Theatre in Iowa City January 24.
Prior to the concert, I spoke with Ernie by phone from his home in California about his career, his influences, his latest CD and the concert with Kurt Elling.
Click here to the hear the interview.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
CR Native on CD of the Month - Gordon
Cedar Rapids native Rusty Jones was the former drummer for jazz giants George Shearing and Marian McPartland. Rusty was also was a member of the band that backed-up the legendary trumpeter Chet Baker on a previously unreleased 1986 recording session that is now available as “Chet in Chicago” and featured as KCCK’s
“CD of the Month” for January.
I spoke with Rusty by phone from his home in Chicago about his early years as an
up-and-coming musician in Cedar Rapids and his experiences and recollections from performing with many jazz greats including Chet Baker.
Click here to the hear the interview.
“CD of the Month” for January.
I spoke with Rusty by phone from his home in Chicago about his early years as an
up-and-coming musician in Cedar Rapids and his experiences and recollections from performing with many jazz greats including Chet Baker.
Click here to the hear the interview.
Monday, December 22, 2008
Christmas 1968, One of My Most Memorable - Cary J. Hahn
It was 40 Christmas’s ago. In December 1968 I was a young Navy Journalist, in only my second year in the service, but on Christmas Eve I would experience one of the biggest stories and most memorable days of what now is my over 40 years of reporting.
I was stationed at Miramar Naval Air Station in North San Diego California which would be seen in the 1980’s movie “Top Gun”. I was reporting stories for the “Jet Journal” the base newspaper.
On January 23, 1968, a half a world away, the USS Pueblo, an American intelligence ship, was seized by military forces of North Korea in what American officials called International Waters. The ship was fired upon and U.S. sailor Fireman Apprentice Duane Hodges was killed. Captain Lloyd Bucher and his crew of 82 men, were taken away and held in captivity, starved and beaten, until December 23rd.
This incident, during the Vietnam War, is all but forgotten now by most Americans, but during the year that saw the Tet Offensive waged by the Viet Cong, the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy the declaration by President Lyndon Johnson he would not seek reelection, the clubbing of students outside the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, the presidential race of Richard Nixon and Hubert Humphrey, the story of the capture of the USS Pueblo and it’s crew remained a constant.
After a year of negotiating and waiting, the news of the release of the American sailors came at a fast clip with our base notified they would be flying home to Miramar on a Starlifter C-141 airplane. In quick order, preparations were made for a ceremony.
My job was to prepare press credentials and sign in the dozens of national media at our office. A young Tom Brokaw, then with NBC News Los Angeles, is one face I remember, because he was a familiar face that we saw on local television.
On December 23rd, 11 months to the day of their capture, the crew of the Pueblo walked, one every 15 seconds, across the Bridge of No Return at Panmumjon. They were taken to a hospital for medical treatment at Seoul, South Korea. They would fly home, refueling at Midway Island, and then landing late in the day on Miramar’s tarmac.
Welcoming them home would be California Governor Ronald Reagan and his wife, Nancy. Waiting for their arrival was family members flown in from around the country along with a large crowd of spectators and news reporters beaming their story around the world. I was one of the witness’ to this moving event. Imagine being held prisoner, captured and tortured for 11 months and then in 36 hours whisked home.
Growing up in the Midwest, this was my first winter without cold temperatures. So I stood on the tarmac in my navy blues without a coat. I acted as a liaison of sorts and a reporter for the base newspaper. I’ve since stood in similar situations waiting for Presidents and other dignitaries to arrive but never with the anticipation that surrounded me that day. Here it was Christmas Eve, of all days, and the prayers of these crewmembers families and the whole of the United States were being answered. Their boys were coming home.
But people were being cautious. They wouldn’t believe it until they saw it. Finally, an announcement came over a p-a system that the plane was near, and you could feel the crowd sigh in unison. But still they were holding their collective breath until the plane was cited on the horizon and then a gradual cheer came up from the crowd.
Then it seemed another forever as the plane taxied the runway. Finally, the silver plane pulled up and the doors would open. As the crew left the plane a military band played "The Lonely Bull". Families enveloped their sailors. They were now home….on Christmas Eve.
Their faces were gaunt. Their bodies appeared frail. But you could see determination, pride and eventually smiles on their faces when they realized all of this was real. I did recognize Captain Bucher as he stood out from his enlisted men with his billed officer’s cap.
Official words of welcome were spoken in a short ceremony and then the crew boarded buses to Balboa Naval Hospital. There weren’t too many dry eyes.
And if that wasn’t enough to experience in one day, that night three other men made civilization’s first orbit around the moon. The Apollo Eight crew circled the moon, with pictures beamed via live television to Earth while they read from Genesis. “And God created the Heavens and the Earth.”
It was that Christmas Eve orbit that gave us that first view of a colorful marble Earth hanging in a black sky seen from the desolate moon. How can I not forget that Christmas Eve?
On this Christmas of 2008, the Navy still lists the Pueblo as a commissioned warship, even though it's docked on the Taedong River in Pyongyang where North Korea holds it as a tourist attraction and as a symbol of resistance to what they call “American aggression.”
Today 68 former Pueblo crew members are still alive. Forty of them held a 40th reunion this past September .
After defending his and the crew’s honor for three decades, Pueblo skipper Captain Lloyd “Pete” Bucher died in 2004 and is buried in Fort Rosencrans National Cemetery on Point Loma in San Diego looking out on San Diego Bay. The crew’s dream is their ship will sail home into San Diego Bay one day.
Note: Cary has reported for several radio and tv stations over a 4 decade career. He was the CBS 2 Iowan Traveler for 25 years. He began writing for the Marion Times in October.
I was stationed at Miramar Naval Air Station in North San Diego California which would be seen in the 1980’s movie “Top Gun”. I was reporting stories for the “Jet Journal” the base newspaper.
On January 23, 1968, a half a world away, the USS Pueblo, an American intelligence ship, was seized by military forces of North Korea in what American officials called International Waters. The ship was fired upon and U.S. sailor Fireman Apprentice Duane Hodges was killed. Captain Lloyd Bucher and his crew of 82 men, were taken away and held in captivity, starved and beaten, until December 23rd.
This incident, during the Vietnam War, is all but forgotten now by most Americans, but during the year that saw the Tet Offensive waged by the Viet Cong, the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy the declaration by President Lyndon Johnson he would not seek reelection, the clubbing of students outside the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, the presidential race of Richard Nixon and Hubert Humphrey, the story of the capture of the USS Pueblo and it’s crew remained a constant.
After a year of negotiating and waiting, the news of the release of the American sailors came at a fast clip with our base notified they would be flying home to Miramar on a Starlifter C-141 airplane. In quick order, preparations were made for a ceremony.
My job was to prepare press credentials and sign in the dozens of national media at our office. A young Tom Brokaw, then with NBC News Los Angeles, is one face I remember, because he was a familiar face that we saw on local television.
On December 23rd, 11 months to the day of their capture, the crew of the Pueblo walked, one every 15 seconds, across the Bridge of No Return at Panmumjon. They were taken to a hospital for medical treatment at Seoul, South Korea. They would fly home, refueling at Midway Island, and then landing late in the day on Miramar’s tarmac.
Welcoming them home would be California Governor Ronald Reagan and his wife, Nancy. Waiting for their arrival was family members flown in from around the country along with a large crowd of spectators and news reporters beaming their story around the world. I was one of the witness’ to this moving event. Imagine being held prisoner, captured and tortured for 11 months and then in 36 hours whisked home.
Growing up in the Midwest, this was my first winter without cold temperatures. So I stood on the tarmac in my navy blues without a coat. I acted as a liaison of sorts and a reporter for the base newspaper. I’ve since stood in similar situations waiting for Presidents and other dignitaries to arrive but never with the anticipation that surrounded me that day. Here it was Christmas Eve, of all days, and the prayers of these crewmembers families and the whole of the United States were being answered. Their boys were coming home.
But people were being cautious. They wouldn’t believe it until they saw it. Finally, an announcement came over a p-a system that the plane was near, and you could feel the crowd sigh in unison. But still they were holding their collective breath until the plane was cited on the horizon and then a gradual cheer came up from the crowd.
Then it seemed another forever as the plane taxied the runway. Finally, the silver plane pulled up and the doors would open. As the crew left the plane a military band played "The Lonely Bull". Families enveloped their sailors. They were now home….on Christmas Eve.
Their faces were gaunt. Their bodies appeared frail. But you could see determination, pride and eventually smiles on their faces when they realized all of this was real. I did recognize Captain Bucher as he stood out from his enlisted men with his billed officer’s cap.
Official words of welcome were spoken in a short ceremony and then the crew boarded buses to Balboa Naval Hospital. There weren’t too many dry eyes.
And if that wasn’t enough to experience in one day, that night three other men made civilization’s first orbit around the moon. The Apollo Eight crew circled the moon, with pictures beamed via live television to Earth while they read from Genesis. “And God created the Heavens and the Earth.”
It was that Christmas Eve orbit that gave us that first view of a colorful marble Earth hanging in a black sky seen from the desolate moon. How can I not forget that Christmas Eve?
On this Christmas of 2008, the Navy still lists the Pueblo as a commissioned warship, even though it's docked on the Taedong River in Pyongyang where North Korea holds it as a tourist attraction and as a symbol of resistance to what they call “American aggression.”
Today 68 former Pueblo crew members are still alive. Forty of them held a 40th reunion this past September .
After defending his and the crew’s honor for three decades, Pueblo skipper Captain Lloyd “Pete” Bucher died in 2004 and is buried in Fort Rosencrans National Cemetery on Point Loma in San Diego looking out on San Diego Bay. The crew’s dream is their ship will sail home into San Diego Bay one day.
Note: Cary has reported for several radio and tv stations over a 4 decade career. He was the CBS 2 Iowan Traveler for 25 years. He began writing for the Marion Times in October.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Pizzarelli, "Radio Deluxe" Profiled in Washington Post - Dennis
John Pizzarelli and Jessica Molaskey, along with their show "Radio Deluxe" were profiled recently in the Washington Post. There's also a video that includes a portion of a show taping and a musical performance. Check it out at this link.
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