Congressional opinions during the blackout
(St. Cloud, Minn)—During a day of online protest, U.S. Congressional representatives from South Dakota and Minnesota have taken varying positions on widely contested legislation regarding online piracy and the dynamic nature of the Internet.
![This is a copy, not a stolen object. [cc 2.0, Sheila Tostes, flickr]](http://thepegleg.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/pipa_flickr_cc_SheilaTostes.jpg "This is a copy, not a stolen object. [cc 2.0, Sheila Tostes, flickr]")
Three area co-sponsors of the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA; S 968) in the U.S. Senate have remained steadfast in their support, including original co-sponsors Al Franken (D-MN) and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN).
“He is in favor of the Protect IP Act,” a representative for Franken said from his Washington office Wednesday, adding, “This is a bill to give law enforcement the tools they need.”
“It isn’t going to create any additional penalties,” the staff member said.
Senator Tim Johnson (D-SD) “wants to make sure its something that works for everyone,” according to a staff member in his Washington office.
Since October, when he sponsored the legislation, Johnson’s position has remained the same: skeptical but supportive, concerned that the law remains a “tool to prevent piracy as opposed to use for something else,” the staff member said.
The congressional phone operator in Klobuchar’s office claimed Wednesday that the Minnesota senator had “not taken a public position” on PIPA, though she has sponsored the legislation since its introduction last May. [The Peg Leg Update also has an information request filed with Brigit Helgen, Klobuchar's press secretary, but as of 11:30 p.m. Wednesday, no additional information was available.]
Senator John Thune (R-SD) had not taken a position concerning PIPA, a staff member in his Washington office said Wednesday.
The phone operator did comment that Thune’s office “had a lot of calls about [PIPA],” especially today, she said, when popular websites Wikipedia, Google, Craigslist, Mediafire, Wired and others shut off services or displayed protest messages against the bill and its House relative, the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA; HR 3261).
House members representing all of South Dakota and Minnesota’s 6th district, which includes St. Cloud, have released cautious opinions to the public on SOPA.
A staff member in Michele Bachmann’s (R-MN) Washington office said the former Republican presidential candidate had “very strong concerns about government interference with the Internet.” A worker speaking for Kristi Noem (R-SD) said she was “aware of the wording and potential dangers that come with that piece of legislation.”
The phone operator in Noem’s office commented that, “Really, within the last 24 hours, this movement has started up and gained real steam.”
I had not mentioned anything about Internet blackouts or protests before asking Noem’s own representative about her position.
The Senate version of the intellectual property-protecting legislation is scheduled for a procedural vote next week, while the House bill is currently in a congressional hold.
–
Update Update: This article is slightly different than its original version. I altered the piece to reflect Senator Klobuchar’s status as co-sponsor of PIPA, as well as making some stylistic changes.
Update Update 2: Friday morning, Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) postponed a Jan. 24 vote on PIPA. “In light of recent events, I have decided to postpone Tuesday’s vote on the PROTECT IP Act,” he said in a statement Friday morning. The press secretary for Sen. Amy Klobuchar also replied to my inquiry last night through email. This is Klobuchar’s latest statement on PIPA (as of Jan. 20): “This morning Senator Reid called off the vote because we need a better balance in any legislation that we consider. I will continue to work to address concerns that have been raised going forward.”
Who raised those concerns and what, in particular, a legislative balance is weighing in this case remains to be seen, heard, felt, etc.
Why we’re different now
When I announced the return of The Peg Leg Update last night, I said I would explain a bit more about our recent move away from a certain less-than-awesome domain registrar. Here is that explanation.
About a month ago, when rabble concerning the proposed Stop Online Privacy Act (SOPA) and Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA) started to populate web sites and news providers’ content, GoDaddy.com’s corporate leadership voiced their support for the controversial legislation. A short while later, after sites registered through Go Daddy began protesting and moving their domains, those controllers of Go Daddy changed their position. They now oppose the legislation, however, the company remains lame:
In changing its position, Go Daddy remains steadfast in its promise to support security and stability of the Internet. In an effort to eliminate any confusion about its reversal on SOPA though, Jones has removed blog postings that had outlined areas of the bill Go Daddy did support.
“Go Daddy has always fought to preserve the intellectual property rights of third parties, and will continue to do so in the future,” [Go Daddy General Counsel Christine] Jones said.
They self-censored their mistake from earlier and vowed to continue “preserv[ing] the intellectual property rights of third parties,” something of which I am not too fond.
I do not believe intellectual property is legitimate property, and while this may be a secondary concern in regards to SOPA, PIPA and any other presently proposed legislation, it certainly does not bode well for my opinion of Go Daddy.
These facts, along with the company’s history of commercials promoting domain registration with womenmeat and a registration coming due, helped make my decision to transfer ThePegLeg.com away from Go Daddy.
This site is now registered through Hover, and hosting takes place through Laughing Squid, an arts- and culture-supporting company (and entertaining blog) with a solid tech record.
I wish to promote no political position or advocate no particular course of action concerning this or any other legislation. If you care to spend your time influencing political processes, so be it. ThePegLeg.com concerns itself with providing you with original material, interesting links and a look at the burgeoning subculture of the Upper Midwest.
In response to the proposed SOPA and PIPA legislation, a large number of websites will perform a “blackout” this Wednesday, Jan. 18. For more info on the legislation itself, see this discussion.
- ed.
It’s the return.
What’s up with these peg-legged people?
Are they in a cult? Are they on drugs? Are they gay?
When are you all going to break up? When are you all going to wake up?
We’re feelin’ better than ever—what’s wrong with you? You: get down.
Hello there, digital friends. Long time no type.
We had to work out a few kinks, but we’re ready to serve you again. Some things have changed, yes, but the cold, dead, determined heart of Wilmot Brookings has kept our peg legs kicking. Here’s what you missed:
- We transferred servers from a (much-appreciated) basement setup to Laughing Squid.
- We transferred domain registrars from a (muy-disagreeable) GoDaddy to Hover.
- We lost all posts from mid-April 2011 through the end of that year. Sorry. (Back up your databases often, kids.)
I will soon give a lengthier update on the Update, which will include a discussion of my reasons for leaving GoDaddy. One of them has become a popular anagram.
For now, two final comments:
- If you want to be involved in The Peg Leg in any way, whether submitting original work, distributing hard copies or donating cash money, please leave a comment or send us an email [thepeglegupdate {at} gmail {dot} com]. For a direct way to reach the editor (me), see my website.
- Near-future plans include: Printing an eighth edition (in a new flashy zine format), focusing on original reporting in the Upper Midwest (especially the communites of St. Cloud, Minn., and Brookings, S.D.), continuing to tweak and improve this website, smiling.
For now, enjoy our print archives and some of our past content. If you come across a dead link or broken page, be a friend and alert us. Gracias!
Far Out, Man: “Pretend Friends”
So the internet’s interesting – you probably know that by now. After all, if I’ve gotten you to actually read past the end of this line, never mind all the way to the bottom (if you decide you don’t want to read all this text, just skip to the bottom line for a tl;dr; if you don’t know what tl;dr is, google it; see what I mean?), you can consider yourself to be a relatively literary person for most on-line readership. After all, the average web site gets a little less than five page views over a little less than five minutes, and during that time you probably slipped into another tab to change the song on grooveshark or answer an instant message, than (hopefully) looked at a few advertisements along the side of this page as well. So, pretty much, you are definitely now really reading this full text article, and that’s above average, so good job.
What makes the fact that you’re reading this even more interesting is that most of those page views I was just mentioning definitely are not pages of static text. They are pictures, or videos, or surveys, or message boards – so frankly, I’m really grateful to you for dealing with this big wall of text in the midst of your internet browsing. Like I said: you’re a special person.
One interesting trend I’ve noticed popping up in my surfing lately is an abundance of virtual intelligence interfaces: chatbots, essentially. A simple example of this can be found at akinator.com, where a software-generated “wizard” plays 20 questions with you and can seriously guess any character you have in mind – he got Margarita, from Master and Margarita, as well as the rage-comic meme, “Megusta Face.”
Software capable of pulling this off has existed for a while. As a kid (about a decade ago or so), I remember having a little electronic pocket game that did the same thing. What’s interesting about Akinator is that he is a simple version of a quickly growing on-line presence of these chatbots, such as Google’s Cleverbot, or any entertaining “Ask Santa” game, such as that found on northpolar.com (I asked him: “How can I stop a hepatitis outbreak?”, he answered, “With my reindeer”. Of course). Cleverbot’s responses are based on what the program has been messaged by other users, so it will come at you with some random, but oddly insightful, conversations; for example:
Cleverbot: I’m always looking for her but will probably never find her.
Me: Lost your lady?
CB: Always.
Me: I’ve got my lady; I feel lucky 
|
CB: How can you have feelings, you are a computer.
Me: No – I am a human. You are virtual intelligence software.
CB: I think you mean that the other way around. I’m at home, you are the virtual one.
Apart from having a disconcerting ability to make you question what’s real and whether or not you are in the Matrix, Cleverbot, I’ve noticed, asks a lot of questions about lack of relationships; for example (this came out-of-the-blue): “So you’ve really never had a girlfriend?”. It seems likely that this is a reflection of the individuals who generally use Cleverbot: someone killing time by surfing the web, and incapable of enticing any “real” people to engage in the interpersonal version of crack-rock that is instant messaging in any of it’s various forms from Facebook, Chatroulette, and message boards like 4chan (or, alternatively, private video “conferences” with a pair of silicone breasts and a cigarette in an ashtray on the bed in front of a webcam for 99 cents a minute). I don’t want to imply that every person who resorts to live chatting with artificial intelligence is desperate for human relationship that could be more healthily satisfied with a relaxed conversation over a coffee or beer, that’s just usually the condition I’ve been in.
What’s more interesting is that, contrary to what all those sweet 1980′s science-fiction blockbusters like Blade Runner or Robocop had us guessing, is that before we flooded our planet with physical replications of humanity like androids and robots, our species has quietly created virtual intelligence in some ways that are very creepy in their usefulness and pleasant companionship. When you expand the point to consider how much the internet already knows you based on browsing preferences and marketing data, how many people go to a sight like astrology.com to run basic programs helping them figure out what to do today, and the enormous presence of content engineered to satisfy or replace physical activities necessary to interpersonal contact (porn), the idea of online, virtual intelligence as a close companion neither seems like a novelty or a resort for the desperate: it seems normal. Far out, man.
(for a deeper look at what forming relationships over the internet means, why more marriages from match.com make it than from “real life”, and what happens when you type in the wrong url when looking for porn, come back and read tomorrow’s “Far Out, Man”)
TL;DR – Most people don’t read, but they browse a lot. The internet can be your friend.
Oakwood Launch Party Preview
Each year, South Dakota State creative writers and graphic artists collaborate to produce Oakwood Literary Journal – a collection of the best amateur writers and designers on the campus. Next Saturday (April 2, 7 P.M. ) several select Oakwood contributors will be reading poems, short stories, and creative non-fiction at an open-mic launch party at Cottonwood Coffee’s downtown location. In anticipation, here is some video of a few selections; come on down next weekend for a live experience of more great creative writing.
Performers:
Allison Crisler, “Heart Breaker”
Sarah Harris, “Catch And Release”
Steve Snyder, “Friday Night, Grocery Store Parking Lot”
Eye of the Tiger’s Blood
“Now that I have your lazy f***ing attention world, sit back and rejoice. For the Malibu Messiah, the Condor of Calabasas, the f***ing warlock of the jealous face that is before you. Undigested hummus trading real estate for this fire dance. I beg you all to stay glued for this raving wise, Gibson shredding napalm poet before you. Alone and unshackled as the desperate cries of the soon forgotten echo freely in my lair.”
Wow. Strong words from our favorite celebrity psycho, if you believe everything you hear. Sheen’s everywhere right now, giving us a decade’s worth of quotables and his boss the finger, getting paid more than everyone else (on television) and above all else … winning. This guy speaks, and people make money. Ex.: Google search “Charlie Sheen T-Shirt.”
The situation as I see it, goes something like this. We have the highest-paid man in television doing a media-blitz tell-all, inviting us into his tiger’s-blood-infused daily life of banging seven-gram rocks, porn stars and possibly his head into walls. He goes on talk shows and renders snarly voiced diatribes on everything from his distaste for Chuck Lorre (producer of Two and a Half Men) to his extra-terrestrial mind, then signs up for Twitter and breaks records for the most followers (1 million) in 25 hours with 140 characters to spare. And this is all before lunch.
He’s gone “full-retard” and become Rick “Wild Thing” Vaughn. He’s been in and out of the news regularly for the last few years through various entries to rehab and celebrity marriages followed by divorces. But the big question here is “Why do we care?” It’s just another crazed celebrity having a meltdown for our viewing pleasure, and we have earthquakes in Japan and turmoil in Libya.
The answer is that much of what Sheen says is the truth, or can be interpreted in another way than psychosis. The higher you climb, the more they wanna see you fall. Sheen has climbed to one of the highest heights possible in the modern world: doing and saying whatever you want and facing the consequences, because there are none. Sheen doesn’t have to lift a finger for the rest of his life should he be so inclined.
He didn’t like his boss. Tells him to take a hike. He claims to have done an amount of drugs that would kill a mortal man and told us all about it while smugly puffing on a cigarette. In watching his interviews, reading the stories, and taking all this in, there is certainly one common thread. It’s spoken with true conviction. This isn’t an act; he believes it.
We care what Sheen and his celebrity cronies do, because we live vicariously through them. If you’ve attended a “Jersey Shore” party, you’re guilty, so wipe that scowl off your face. The daily life of the average American is a stumbling doldrum of boredom and want while each day we take one step closer to the grave. Here’s something fun to try: take all the bad things you have to say about Sheen and @tweet him. If the guy who runs his feed feels like dealing with another insignificant twat, I’d be willing to bet that he’s got a decent answer for your qualms.
What amazes me is how there can be so much said in complaint about the situation of pop media in the U.S. right now. It’s a simple formula — I think you’ve heard it before. Give the people what they want. You whine and cry all day about everything that’s so wrong with the media then turn around and inhale every little bit of it.
The notion that his actions are deplorable is in itself deplorable. Remember that not every nation in the world has as archaic and draconian views on drugs as North Americans. In fact, drugs are legal in some places. By no means, however, is it proper to take naps on cocaine pillows, but I’m not losing sleep because some wealthy actor does. The entire music industry is high as shit off cocaine, and we get drunk and karaoke their songs. As far as the sex addiction: welcome to mammalia.
Celebrities are just like your friends. They’re cool until they do something you don’t like. The collective chugging of hatorade needs to end. Redirect all the energy spent on dissecting everything celebrities do wrong and apply that energy to your life and doing right. Charlie Sheen doesn’t need our help — we need his.
“Can’t is the cancer of happen.” – Carlos Irwin Estevez
Spicy Asian Southwest Manning Stir-Fry
Resist [some things (but defnot this food)].
And remember to keep your head up, for things in your life could be quite a bit worse. You probably have the freedom to wear shoes, interact with your loved ones and walk around in large circles with larger-than-a-few-foot diameters.
For a bit of information on the inspiration for this recipe, please research Bradley Manning. Glenn Greenwald’s blog and BradleyManning.org are two great resources, the latter being an “official” gateway to Manning. Synopsis: The United States government has accused Manning of leaking information and data to Wikileaks, leading to the release of the Collateral Murder video [see here or CollateralMurder.com], war file “dumps” and the latest string of international messages sent to and from U.S. officials. The government has imprisoned him for more than 300 days and recently subjected him to punishment procedures including forced nudity [older info here, updated info here (audio)]. The government has not convicted Manning of any crime.
Because of my personal feelings towards the use of force in any context, the mass of cabbage in my refrigerator and a growling stomach, I present to you a spicy Asian southwest Manning stir-fry. [Nutrition facts at end.]
❖
Keys to success:
1 lb ground meat/meat alternative (like tofu, or spam)
1 clove garlic
2 carrots
6 cups cabbage
1 cup sliced pepper (peperoncini, probably)
spices (s&p, paprika, oriental five spice, cumin, cayenne)
Keys to freedom [of mind]:
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 T soy sauce
1 cup water
❖
Rules of engaging taste buds:
- Listen to Rise Against. (This will work.) Or, if you’re lame, but still want to be unlame, send this Animal Collective remix through your speekors. Or, find some Johnny Hodges.
- Brown meet, onion and garlic in your largest fry pan. Drain fat if necessary.
- Slice carrots, add to mix along with peppers and 1/2 cup water.
- Contemplate your personal definition of justice, legitimate human detention and imprisonment.
- Stir up the brown goodness in the bottom of the pan, cover and cook until carrots are nearly tender.
- Create PB mix while carrots are tenderizing, add to mix when they’re g2g.
- Add salt and pep, other spices and cabbage. Cook for about 10 minutes. Stir occasionally.
- Ponder: do non-violent actions that result in knowledge dissemination and no proven injuries justify a more-than-300-day-long prison stay based on nothing but accusation?
- Divide portions of stir-fry into about four servings. Consume one, two, three or four of those servings.
If you make and enjoy this food, or if Manning’s story alone compels you, please consider making a donation to his case or to similar efforts.
[nutrition facts (calculated using this tool): Calories 559.5; Total Fat 40.5 g (Saturated Fat 12.8 g, Polyunsaturated Fat 5.6 g, Monounsaturated Fat 18.2 g); Cholesterol 85.1 mg; Sodium 1,282.3 mg; Potassium 898.1 mg; Total Carbohydrate 20.2 g (Dietary Fiber 4.9 g, Sugars 5.2 g); Protein 31.4 g; Vitamin A 108.8 %; Vitamin B-12 44.2 %; Vitamin B-6 34.3 %; Vitamin C 76.7 %; Vitamin E 18.1 %; Calcium 10.3 %; Copper 12.2 %; Folate 21.3 %; Iron 26.4 %; Magnesium 24.4 %; Manganese 30.8 %; Niacin 52.4 %; Pantothenic Acid 8.9 %; Phosphorus 32.8 %; Riboflavin 21.9 %; Selenium 30.5 %; Thiamin 10.5 %; Zinc 57.8 %]
Local Suds: Backyard Grill
I started coming to the Backyard Grill, because my friend and employer knew the manager and frequently liked to come in the evening after work. Soon we had all set up a deal — my boss and I were already cutting wood out at Hillside Cemetery, west of Volga.
Most of the wood was dead, dry, Ash trees (one of the better woods for smoking food), and it was a good bargain for everybody involved to simply trade the wood for food vouchers. We essentially got all the Backyard Grill we cared to eat, and Allen, the owner and manager of Backyard Grill, got cheap wood, a commodity of which he needs quite a bit, since he smokes all the meat served at BY Grill.
The experience of eating juicy, smoked meat is one of the most delicious, but Allen goes far beyond simply smoking the meat to ensure mouth-watering flavor in every bite that goes into your mouth at Backyard. They start with freshly chopped beef brisket, pulled pork and chicken (not frozen or prepackaged) than prepare all the meat with a custom dry rub depending on the meat and desired flavor. After marinating, the meat is smoked, placed on a fluffy, sesame seed bun and topped with whichever of the custom sauces you may want.
It’s not just the meat that is given individual attention to ensure the best taste; the sauces, also made in the restaurant, have a flavor that single-handedly won the 2009 taste of Brookings. They can either leave your mouth watering at the tangy sweetness or burning with a habenero heat. My other favorite homemade item at BY Grill is the cornbread; finishing your meal with a piece of hot, fluffy cornbread drizzled in honey is worth jamming in every last bite, no matter how full your stomach is. Along with this, Backyard serves excellent sweet potato fries and fresh-cut french fries — that’s right, fresh cut — both sprinkled with some sort of custom seasoning that involves just the right amount of sugar and and the right amount of spice.
The atmosphere inside of Backyard Grill is down-home, efficient and wholesome. Concrete floors and wooden benches cover up a surprisingly comfy vibe in the small dining room, which used to be the locally famous Zesto’s, the burger and ice cream stand that satisfied SDSU students for decades. Each table has a bucket or two of peanuts waiting for the diners who would prefer to take some time, chat over their meal and crack a nut or two rather than packing mouths full with the juicy, satisfying sandwiches. BY Grill is a certainly a value meal; expect to pay only a dollar or two more than if you were eating at Wack Arnold’s, but also expect to get a lot more food and a lot more taste. Along with sandwiches, BY Grill also offers breaded catfish and chicken wings in a wide variety of original flavors crafted in-house: flaming wings, sweet chili, mango habanero, Carribean, teriyaki, sweet barbeque, zesty orange, bourbon style and honey-roasted garlic.
Fellow Peg Leg contributer Ely Madden has thrown down his glove, declaring to me that BY Grill has the best wings in town. While I’m still a little too up in the air to use such dynamic superlatives, I will tell you to go check out the sweet chili and honey-roasted garlic wings for a treat that will, without-a-doubt, have you returning to the Grill.
Backyard Grill is the kind of restaurant that is all-at-once efficiently small-scale but also a high-quality eating experience, one that feels relaxing, hearty and welcoming all at the same time. The manager is friendly, the food is obsessively hand-prepared and the signature grill billowing wood-smoke out front has been known to stop interstate travelers on the highway — I personally witnessed a foursome of SDSU football recruits from Illinois, along with their “athletically” built fathers, eat the equivalent of an entire hog one Saturday afternoon. They had been lured from blocks away by the olfactory siren of wood smoke and barbequed meat.
Due to my deal from work, I’ve enjoyed a lot of BY Grill over the past few months, although I’ve backed off as I’ve become increasingly, although not strictly, vegetarian. Most of my meat intake is fish and eggs now, but I still stop in for the occasional beef brisket sandwich. So take that for what it’s worth — the place is great enough to get a bleeding-heart hipster who generally doesn’t eat large animals to chow down a sandwich like a relapsed Hindu, and all my low-carb considerations fly out the window when faced with the mouth-watering cornbread and big bottle of honey. I guess if I had one request for the restaurant, they could expand their lineup a little bit to include more vegetables, and perhaps even offer something like a smoked tofu/mushroom/broccoli sandwich for those of us who like to eat veg.
Backyard Grill does almost as much business catering as they do in-house. I’ve had the opportunity to have BYG-On-The-Go twice: once when Allen catered a year-end banquet for Dakota Rural Action, and once at the Taste of Brookings event. As I mentioned above, Backyard won the Taste of Brookings contest when they entered, which should tell you something about their ability to pack up their smokey, down-home flavor and bring it wherever you would like to eat. Over all, I appreciate BY Grill for their stripped down approach to eating. Delicious condiments, a good value for the wallet and sincere attention to quality make for an all around great eating experience.
Jami Lynn > Introversion
[Clark Young, local legend and close friend to all-things Peg Leg, thinks your attendance to a certain show this Saturday would be a good idea. I can vouch for his praise of Jami's skills {listen} and I'm guessing you'll have a good time — especially because the Pheasant is a damn classy place. My only advice for any ladies planning on going: don't talk to the guitar player from Buckskinner's Fur and Trade Co. — his charm makes him a prairie siren. - ed.]
A little over a year ago I was invited to an open mic event here in Brookings, S.D. I was a little apprehensive to go. At the time, not only had I never heard any decent local music, but I was battling my ever-present introversion. Thankfully, my friends convinced me to attend the show.
This open mic ended up being one of my best Brookings experiences to date. Not only did I get to watch my friend’s band Doppelgarten play, but I also had the pleasure of experiencing something I did not know existed in this state. Jami Lynn is a local musician specializing in traditional music who hails from the Milbank area. She put on a jaw-dropping show that night.
One of my friends told me that every time she heard Jami Lynn sing, she would cry. I was skeptical, but as I listened, I felt the depth and beauty of Jami’s music stirring inside me. Along with her crystalline voice, Jami plays a mean guitar and banjo that one cannot help but enjoy. Additionally, she typically employs a freakishly good sidekick — Josh Rieck — who plays the mandolin and upright base.
It is sometimes hard to tell how much a single experience affects a person, however, in this case, I can look back and see what changes that open mic night had on me. I hadn’t had a night of pure fun and enjoyment for who knows how long, and because of the music that night, I developed a new taste in folk music, strengthened bonds of friendship with existing friends, made a new friend and was even inspired to pick up playing mandolin as a hobby. It really is amazing how new experiences bring a whole new part of oneself out of the shadows.
That’s enough praise and reminiscence — now to the point.
This spring, Jami will be releasing her new album Sodbusters. To share her new music with others, she is currently on tour, stopping in Omaha, Boulder, Portland and throughout the West. She will play a CD-release show in lovely Brookings at The Pheasant, one of my favorite watering holes, when it hosts Jami and Buckskinner’s Fur and Trade Co. on March 19.
Buckskinners is another local band consisting of a trio of young and heavily bearded men. The best thing about watching Ross, Johnny and Paul play a show is how in sync they are with each other.
I had an opportunity to chat with Jami and ask her a few pre-tour questions. I wondered how a young lady from rural South Dakota was able to make her mark in the Midwest music world.
Clark: So, Jami you have an super cool tour coming up. Are you nervous?
Jami: Yeah, a little. But I have experienced this feeling before, and it disappears when I get on stage and realize what I am doing. I’m more excited. Omaha is my first show, and I am not too nervous.
C: What are some difficulties you face as a Midwest musician, especially as a young woman?
J: The hardest part is getting people to come out for shows. A lot of people are interested in rowdy cover bands, which isn’t a bad thing. It is always a good feeling when I am approached after a show and am told, “Wow, that was cool. I did not know there was much for original music in these parts.”
C: Where are some of the locations that you will be playing?
J: I have my first show in Omaha. Next I play a few locations in Colorado. Eventually I will make it out to the East Coast, where I will be playing a great show that just fell into my lap. The band I am playing with has a big following, so that should be a fun show. Of course I will be making some stops in South Dakota too.
C: Your last show is here in Brookings, right?
J: Actually, no. It was, but I just booked another show in Sioux Falls a few days after my show up in Brookings. However, Brookings is my CD-release show.
C: What do you think of Buckskinners Fur and Trade Co.?
J: Each time I see them they get better. In fact, the last time I saw them, I was blown away.
C: Well, I’m not much good at interviews and whatnot, so I’m going to wish you a happy tour, and I will see you in Brookings.
J: Thanks, see you then.
Readers: Come check out this sure to be extraordinary show on 19th of March. Why? Because shows like this don’t come around too often and provide an excellent reason to get out and experience something new. They have taught a hermit like me that there are reasons to push my comfort zone. Not only will there be good beer, but also great music and even greater people. So, don’t miss out on an opportunity to experience some Grade-A, non-pasteurized, local talent.
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