Community Concert with Joshua Nelson

I have to admit that I have never heard of Joshua Nelson before Moti Rieber mentioned the Mid Kansas Jewish Federation plans to bring him to Wichita for a December 6 concert at the Orpheum.

This is how Nelson is described

Dubbed "The Prince of Kosher Gospel," Joshua Nelson is an African American Jew who transcends race with Hebrew hymns sung in a gospel style. He spreads the sheer joy and fervent spirituality of his music from New Jersey to Jerusalem. He has performed for presidents, at music festivals, synagogues and churches, and on "Oprah," who called him "The Voice of Mahalia Jackson."

For his audiences, whatever their faith or heritage, his "kosher gospel" style music brings people and cultures together and dazzles audiences in joyous song!

Tickets on sale through Select-a-seat, 316-755-SEAT, and at all Dillon's Superstores, Plant Employee Clubs or at the door.

I've just played a Youtube video of Nelson and he sound great! (There are other youtube clips of Nelson, but there is at least one other Joshua Nelson who sings Jewish songs that may show up in your Youtube search--he sounds great too)


This should be an outstanding community event.

in reference to: Community Concert with Joshua Nelson! | Events (view on Google Sidewiki)

Eagle's bad mash-up BB preview

The Wichita Eagle had a terrible idea for their college basketball preview--a mash-up of sports and fashion. It didn't work for this basketball fan and I doubt it got more women to read the section or to follow college basketball.

Moreover, if they were going to do a fashion of sports twist, they should have looked at the questionable ethics of college sports and athletic apparel. Let us know just how much the workers the workers who make Nike goods are paid. Ask whether public universities should be signing deals with clothing manufacturers who exploit workers.

WSU panel on religion and homosexuality

	Thursday, October 22, 2009
	6:30pm - 8:00pm
	Wichita State University, RSC 203

Violence against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) communities are often exacerbated by fundamentalist interpretations of the Bible. The case becomes more nuanced for LGBT people of faith. The WSU Political Science Club invites you to an open dialogue around religion, faith, morality, and sexuality which will host three speakers that will explain their faiths understanding on these issues.

This event will feature 3 speakers:
Rabbi Moti Rieber, of Mid-Kansas Jewish Federation.
Father Eric Weldon, of St. Paul Newman Center.
Pastor Charles Claycomb, of East Heights United Methodist Church

I can't attend this program because of a conflict, but it looks interesting. Hopefully, someone will record it.

A tale of two on-line quizes

If like me you avoid those annoying polls and quizzes on Face book but have never overcome that school-induced infatuation with polls, you might be interested in two on-line quizzes I took today.
I scored great on one and lousy on the other.

The Pew Research Center periodically does a survey that measures what the public knows about events and they give interested folks an opportunity to take the quiz as well as reporting on the results of their scientific poll. I liked this poll--I got 12 of 12 right, better than 98% of the population.

Bill Clinton's foundation has a challenging 10 question quiz to determine what you know about urgent world issues. I only got 3 or 4 right. It's a tough one. Except for the last one, which is all about how great Bill is. Someone should a more cynical version of that question.

Tiahrt Goes Dirty in Campaign Against Moran

Image via Wikipedia

Appearing recently on a Wichita Christian radio station, Republican Congressman Todd Tiahrt attempted to paint Jerry Moran, his rival for the 2010 Republican Senate nomination, as soft on gays, and managed to distort the record of his party's 2008 standard bearer.

His evidence Moran has been endorsed by 2008 Republican Presidential nominee John McCain. McCain on October 7 signed the conference report for the 2010 Defense Appropriation, which includes the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Hate Crime Prevention Act.

According to Tiahrt, this means that Moran isn't fit to represent Kansas family values. According to Tiahr's logic, McCain and Moran are soft on homosexuals. Tiahrt claims the hare crimes prevention act will mean that Ministers will be prosecuted for reading 1st Corinthians from the pulpit.

There's a big problem with Tiahrt's guilt by association. At the time that McCain endorsed Moran, McCain was leading the fight against including the hate crimes bill.

Another problem: the bill protects military personnel against hate crimes because of their status.

Greatest Vocalists

NPR is having a contest to name the great vocalists, sans genre, unlike the (mainly) rock list compiled by Rolling Stones a couple fo years back. Though curiosly, the web copy asks people to name the most beautiful, which is not the same as the greatest.

Here are some I think should be named as greatest

Louis Armstrong
Joe Williams
Billy Eckstine
Frank Sinatra
Ella Fitzgerald
Sarah Vaughn
Jimmy Rushing
Billie Holiday
Johnny Hartman
Kevin Mahagony

Jimmie Rodgers
George Jones
Patsy Cline
Merle Haggard

Aretha Franklin
Muddy Waters
Bobby "Blue" Bland
Ray Charles
Dinah Washington

Van Morrison

Scare-mongering on KPERS refuted

A Koch-funded think tank came out with an alarmist report about the state employees' pension fund. Republican legislators after years of underfunding pensions and under-paying employees are talking about switching to a 401-K program. Harold Schlechtweg of SEIU 513 addressed some of the issues at a recent USD 259 board meeting.

RAJ GOYLE FOR CONGRESS RAISES $403,083.68

Very impressive figures for 4th District Congressional candidate Raj Goyle.

Just Three Months Into Race, State Rep. Goyle Sets Fundraising Record

Wichita, KS - State Representative Raj Goyle today announced he raised a record-breaking total of $403,083.68 during his first three months as a candidate for Congress in Kansas's 4th Congressional District.

After entering the race for Congress in July of this year, Goyle posted the strongest first fundraising quarter of all candidates in the race to date. Goyle's July-through-September total of $403,083.68 represents the most money ever raised in the first quarter by a challenger in the history of the district.

"I'm proud to have the support of so many people who are looking to bring some Kansas common sense to Congress during these challenging times," Goyle said. "I'm humbled and honored to have the support of business owners, farmers, teachers, medical professionals, and other hard working Kansans as we begin this campaign," said Goyle.

Goyle received contributions from over 800 individual donors. Half of the contributions to Goyle's campaign were $100 or less.

Tangled Up In Yule

(title HT: Moti)

I listened to the much anticipated Bob Dylan Christmas album today on the first day of its release. Christmas in the Heart is terrible. Is it the worst Dylan CD ever or the worst Christmas album ever.

I used my Rhapsody subscription to take a listen, thank goodness. I would have hated to have forked out the $16 or whatever for this disc.

Naturally, I expected and was ready to deal with Dylan's scraggly voice, but the arrangements are sacchrine, muzaky schlock that sound like they were stolen from the 1950s. There are a few exceptions. "It Must Be Santa" done as a Tex-mex polka and Christmas Blues done as a jazzy blues work just fine. Too many of the secular songs are light-weight, starting with the set opener "Here Comes Santa Claus" And, Bob just doesn't have the voice to tackle Mel Torme's "Christmas Song." But the religious songs just don't cut it.

Reportedly, Dylan swung a deal with Citigroup to relase the album early to its customers.

I guess the only redeeming feature of the album is that it will benefit charities that feed the hungry. My advice, be nice to yourself: don't buy the CD and give the full price to your local food bank.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Bob Dylan And Citigroup? New Album Released Early To Citibank Customers (huffingtonpost.com)

New Blog Follows Roeder Case

A new blog offers facts and information about Scott Roeder, who is accused of the murder of Wichita abortion doctor George Tiller.

Roederwatch likes like a blog worth following.

Laura Kelly To Run for 2nd CD (Ks)

State Senator Laura Kelly has confirmed that she will challenge rookie Congresswoman Lynn Jenkins for Kansas' Second Congressional District. Jenkins attracted national attention when she said Republicans were looking for a "Great white hope" to run against Obama and seemed blithly unaware of the racist history and connotations of her remarks. And that was just one of Jenkin's many failures.

Democratic state Sen. Laura Kelly confirmed Friday plans to campaign for the congressional seat now in the hands of Rep. Lynn Jenkins, a Topeka Republican who unexpectedly defeated an incumbent in 2008.

Kelly, a Topekan who is in her second term in the Senate, said she would share with voters her "reputation and history of working across party lines" to advance public policy in the Legislature.

"I actually walk the walk," she said. "Kansas families in the 2nd District deserve a representative who will energetically stand up for their most important concerns -- their pocketbooks, their jobs and their health care -- not sit back and block progress in Washington."

State Senator Tom Holland had been rumored to be interested in the race, but he seems to be fully behind Kelly's candidacy.

Kelly has a Facebook page, ActBlue account and a campain twitter account, which are good signs. Not so good, the twitter page isn't customized and has too many @ posts.

More seriously, unlike Raj Goyle who is running for the open 4th District, Kelly doesn't yet have a 2010 campaign website setup to gather email addresses and contributions.

Still, Kelly is a serious candidate and the 2nd District should be a real donnybrook.