by SCOTT C

If you’re like me, at least once a month you get this wave of creative ideas and ingenuity that is so exciting and overwhelming that you just have to tell somebody about it. Then you tell them and they call you an idiot, and you realize that you’re probably the only one who can see the merits of such a longshot. The other day I was listening to the radio, wasting a perfectly good afternoon lying around in bed, when this really engaging documentary came on. It was this 15-year-old kid from Bushwick, New York, who had decided to interview a bunch of people in his neighbourhood about guns. He was part of this New York University initiative called Radio Rookies, which had graduate students and interns teaching kids between the ages of 10 and 19 how to make radio documentaries about issues that were important to them. Although most of the segments were no more than five to eight minutes long, it was really great to hear these firsthand accounts from various kids on various topics. It’s the kind of thing that I would have shit my pants to be a part of when I was 15. And don’t get it wrong. Adolescents make these documentaries, but these are not exactly all for kids. The power of a young Latino girl interviewing her heroin-addict father, asking him the questions he doesn’t want to hear, isn’t easy to listen to. My mind started racing, just thinking of the prospect of building something like that here in Montreal, and I called in to the station. If this sounds half as exciting to you as it did to me, then check out www.radiorookies.org. There are oodles of archived documentaries spanning all types of topics, as well as information on all the kids that contribute and information about the program itself. If this sounds like something you might want to get into, e-mail me at the below address, and we’ll build.

Nice to see Dibondoko getting into the Nuits d’Afrique vibe this year as part of the annual festivities. The locals opened for Manu Dibango earlier this week, and also play Friday, July 11, at Belyza. If you don’t catch them there, you can try again July 20 at Place Émilie-Gamelin starting at 5 p.m.

I got the heads-up on an MC battle in Brossard on Friday, July 18, called Battle Me 4, but I couldn’t find anyone who knew where it was going on. If you’re interested, call 882-3712 for sign-up and info. Judges include Ken Dawg and Mike Mission, and the lovely Cypher Queenz. I’ll see what I can find out in the meantime.

Seven reasons the kids are all right:
1. Larry Gold feat. Floetry “And I Hope” (BBE)
2. Stark Reality Now (Stones Throw)
3. Pavel Kostiuk “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” (CDR)
4. Yam Who “Skyy, Can You Feel Me” rub (bootleg)
5. KRS-One “Gunnen’ Em Down” (Koch)
6. Frankie Valentine “Nana Reprise” (Treacle)
7. Ms. Cannonball “Our Way” (DEP)

Out of the mouths of babes… fathead@videotron.ca

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