8 O'Clock Buzz

You may have asked yourself this morning when you woke up: “What’s a pioneer in alt-country music doing making a bluegrass record?” We take that question now to international troublemaker Robbie Fulks. Robbie has blasted the boundaries of traditional and hardcore country music for years—with attitude, humor, irreverence, and general wise-guy-ness over the course of 20+ albums and EPs. His 2017 release “Upland Stories” was nominated for two Grammys, one for best folk album and one for best American roots song. The latter was for the beautiful track called “Alabama at Night.” Robbie joins host Andy Moore on the Friday Buzz to discuss his musical journey, the creation of his first bluegrass album and the evolution of the bluegrass genre.

LA-based singer-songwriter and alt-country music hero Robbie Fulks’ new album “Bluegrass Vacation” will be released to the world on April 7 on Compass Records. More information on Fulks’ discography can be found at www.robbiefulks.com/

Photo courtesy of Robbie Fulks via Bandcamp

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Last month, Madison East High School senior Kadjata Bah was named the 2023 Wisconsin Journalist of the Year. The title is awarded by the Wisconsin Journalism Education Association, in partnership with the Milwaukee Press Club, to one outstanding high school journalist. The winner also receives a $1,000 scholarship and is forwarded to the National High School Journalist of the Year competition. Kadjata Bah has written for the Simpson Street News, interned at Madison Magazine and the Cap Times, and is the editor of the school paper at Madison East High School. On this edition of the Friday Buzz, she joins host Andy Moore to talk about the award, what inspired her to pursue journalism, and what the future holds for her.

Kadjata Bah is a senior at Madison East High School. Her award-winning portfolio can be found at https://sites.google.com/view/kadjatajoyportfolio/home 

Photo courtesy of Kadjata Bah via her portfolio site

Correction: On-air, Andy stated in his introduction that the winner is awarded a $3,000 scholarship, when in fact they are awarded a $1,000 scholarship and are nominated for the national competition. They receive $3,000 if they win the national competition.

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A recent story run by Wisconsin Watch revealed that 95 people in Dane County who were deemed to be incompetent to vote had cast ballots in past elections. No, these are not citizens who are necessarily ill informed or have fallen prey to the lies and fake news of unscrupulous politicians, that would be a much higher number, but rather people who have been adjudicated incompetent by a judge due to mental incapacity resulting from an accident or other impairment. Scott McDonell, Dane County Clerk, joins the Thursday morning edition of the 8 O’Clock Buzz to speak to this issue and give his thoughts on how this can effectively be fixed. As Scott points out, this pertains to a relatively small number of cases, but it does expose a flaw in the voting system in Wisconsin that should be addressed.

Photo courtesy of Pixabay

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No, we’re not covering a new production of Hamlet; rather, we are treated this morning to a visit with a couple of Wisconsin filmmakers just prior to the release of their new low-budget indie horror film, The Headmistress.

Join Thursday 8 O’Clock Buzz host Tony Castañeda and producer Eli Wilz as they learn about the genesis of this Wisconsin-based movie set in a haunted convent. Written and produced by Chris Micklos, Jay Sapiro and Glenn Chung of Three Tortured Minds, the film takes place entirely in an old nunnery located in Oconomowoc and from all accounts, promises to provide lovers of horror with an onslaught of scream-worthy action and blood-curdling chaos.

The Headmistress, which won Best Screenplay and the Audience Awards Best Feature Film from the 2022 Milwaukee Twisted Dreams Festival, was picked up by Marcus Theaters and will be opening at their Sun Prairie and Big Sky locations on 4/7.

Photo courtesy of creatifrankenstein on Pixabay.

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The Internet started as an idealistic project, but corporate interests and profit motives have dragged it to a monopolized gathering of extremist content, according to Pia Malaney, Director of the Center for Innovation, Growth and Society at the Institute for New Economic Thinking. In her recent article, “Ayn Rand vs. Elinor Ostrom: The Fight for the Future of Social Media“, Malaney explores the decentralized web social media platforms such as Mastodon, DWeb, and others, which attempt to break from the capitalist, profit-driven models that lie at the heart of many of the current problems of social media. Can this be the future of social media?

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The biomedical solution for action on upcoming pandemics, the “Global Health Emergency Care” as proposed by Bill Gates, misses a large portion of problem when it comes to controlling spread, according to Anne Sosin, Public Heath Practitioner, researcher, and policy fellow at Dartmouth’s Nelson A. Rockefeller for Public Policy. Sosin says the real problem in the spread is social issues with spread by “essential workers” and problems in rural areas.

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Today on the Tuesday 8:00 Buzz with Tara Wilhelmi and 1neofmani (Breyon Sommerville), First Wave director Sofía Snow, Arts Residency Programs Coordinator, aryn kresol, and artists Diya Abbas and Azura Tyabji join us to talk hip hop, First Wave’s groundbreaking work, and the upcoming Line Breaks Festival, March 31st-April 1st in Madison.

More about Line Breaks Festival: https://omai.wisc.edu/line-breaks-festival/ 

Follow First Wave on Instagram: @omaifirstwave 

Listen in Madison at 89.9FM or online anywhere at wortfm.org.  Support your community radio with a donation online at wortfm.org.

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WORT 89.9FM Madison · Overture Art Exhibit Explores Democracy

In 2022, the Economist Intelligence Unit’s global Democracy Index showed that less than half the world’s population lived under a government that qualified as a democracy.  According to the index, the number of world democracies plummeted at an alarming rate starting in 2016, and have only just started to slow their descent.  With that as a backdrop, Madison’s Overture Galleries decided the time was ripe to ask artists what they thought of the idea.  Overture’s new exhibit entitled, simply Democracy, is the fruit of that exploration, and features the works of nearly 50 artists.  Beth Racette is Overture’s director of Galleries and Community Programs, and she joined the Monday Buzz on March 27, 2023.

 

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WORT 89.9FM Madison · Wisconsin DNR Seeks Help Counting Frogs

As spring – eventually – comes to Wisconsin, the morning and night air starts to fill with trills, peeps, croaks and grunts.  That annual cacophony emits from the throats of the twelve species of frogs and toads that call Wisconsin home.  Back in 1984, concerned about declining amphibian numbers, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources put out a call for volunteers to help identify the croakers near them.  That annual Frog and Toad Survey has grown over the years, and now encompasses over 100,000 sites.  Andrew Badje is a conservation biologist with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, and he joined the Monday Buzz to tell us more about this long-running effort at citizen science.

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WORT 89.9FM Madison · Wisconsin Governor Seeks to Mandate Parental Leave

In Bulgaria, by law, new mothers get 26 weeks of paid parental leave. In the United Kingdom and Canada, they get 18 weeks. In Germany, they get 14 weeks, and in Pakistan and India, mothers get 12 weeks paid leave. In the United States, mothers get zero. Oh, new moms and dads in the U.S. can take 12 weeks off under the Family and Medical Leave Act, but they have to burn their sick leave and personal time off, or else go unpaid. In fact, the U.S. is the only country in the world that does not guarantee some amount of paid parental leave. In his 2023 biennial budget, Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers includes a proposal to provide for twelve weeks paid parental leave for all public and private sector workers. In addition, the governor is renewing his call to expand the state’s Badger Care program. Sara Rodriguez was elected Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin last November. Before that, Sara worked as an emergency room nurse, an epidemiologist for the Center for Disease Control, and as an analyst for an employee benefits consulting firm. Sara Rodriguez joined the Monday Buzz on March 27, 2023.

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