Base Image Courtesy of Hu Chen
Oh Gee Pee Oh Gee for February 9th, 2025
TRANSCRIPT
Broadcasting with gratitude, sorrow, and love from the rightful lands of Cowlitz, Multnomah, Kathlamet, Clackamas, Tumwater, Tualatin Kalapuya, Wasco, Molalla, Ita'xluit, Watlala, and other original peoples
of the big river
This is Kay Bee Oh Oh 90.7FM Portland's community radio.
This show's called Oh Gee, PeeOhGee, I'm your neighbor, Jeremy, hanging out with you for the next hour as we consider this moment from a variety of perspectives amidst a variety of good music.
Like the track beneath my voice, that's Alexander Borodin’s masterpiece In The Steppes of Central Asia, performed by the Ukraine National Radio Symphony Orchestra
Theodore Kuchar conducted
And the song we just heard at the top of the hour was Comin’ and Goin’
by Portland's own Jim Pepper
master of the tenor sax, innovator of jazz fusion and advocate for Indigenous Rights.
His modest home in Portland’s Parkrose neighborhood is on The National Register of Historic Places
His family moved into that house after losing everything in the VanPort flood.
Jim was a born survivor, it's an attitude that saw him through some really tough times
And his legacy lives on in all those who knew him and the mountain of music he left behind
The most memorable it seems was Witchi-Tai-To
his rendition of a sacred peyote song from the syncretic tradition of the Native American Church
Jim learned that song from his Grandfather Ralph Pepper, an elder of the Kaw tribe and Road Man of the Church who approved of his grandson sharing it with strangers.
The song displays influence from many cultures making it
a jazz fusion hit
in a literal sense
And it’s also become a passage song,
much like the intertribal dance at a powwow
there are steps you must learn
but all are welcome to leave anger behind
as they turn
and the circle widens then winds
round a new center
while friendship renews
and goodness there enters
Witchi-Tai-To
Rise In Power, Jim Pepper
And thanks for all you gave
In addition to remembering the days of farewell
We're also celebrating days of arrival
In this next set we'll be wishing some happy birthdays to some of the many artists born this day, February 9th
Like Portlander and wise woman Liz Vice, whose current life began breathing air in 1983
She's danced with death but she is still here
and continuously brings to bear
her great talent to the world thru message music
Here she is with the title track from her
Masterful 2018 album, Save Me
Right now on
KayBoo
[PLAY LIZ VICE TO BRENDAN BEHAN]
KAY BEE OH OH Portland
ad-free community radio supported by members like you.
Thank you
Well in that last set we were wishing some happy birthdays to those enjoying a slice and two scoops today
Like Irish poet, writer, and freedom fighter Brendan Behan who we heard there singing The Zoological Gardens that's off the album from the time and it ties in with a regional anniversary as well
It has to do with The Oregon Zoo
Who once purchased an unborn infant then let a commerical radio station, KPOJ, hold a contest in which a randomly selected stranger was given the authority to name the child.
Packy was the name chosen
Probably because the child in question was a pachyderm
The owner of the elephant herd offered to keep the family together if the price was right
Oregonians collectively paid up and the entire herd was moved to the Oregon Zoo.
Unfortunately within a few years Packy’s father would be killed by zoo staff in an accidental over application of anesthesia
Then Packy's mother would die from a neglected foot infection
Leaving him without parents to comfort and guide him, isolated in an unnatural enclosure with every subtle personal action observed and scrutinized by daily crowds of adoring cocaptors.
In many ways the story of Packy is the story of every child celebrity
Eventually Oregon’s most beloved elephant, Packy, was infected with tuberculosis then euthanized by zoo staff in a purposeful over application of anesthesia on this day,
February 9th 2017
Which raises the question: If you were to be reincarnated would your prefer to be born behind bars or into your own wild habitat?
Rest in Peace Packy
Prior to Brendan Behan we heard Marina Kaye
En français with a track titled
Merçi Quand Même, Thanks Anyway
Marina Kaye sings in both french and english with a perfect accent in each and she was born this day 1998 in the port city of Marseilles
And before Marina Kaye
we heard the late, great
jazz pianist Nate Morgan play
a beautiful piece called Morning Prayer
that was off his 1983 opus release Journey Into Nigritia
And before that we heard the unique vocal talents of Brazilian countertenor Edson Cordeiro perfectly singing every part in a choral piece titled Alle Psalite Cum Luya, a lengthening of the phrase alleluia
Alleluia in turn is a Greco-Italic
transliteration of the Hebrew compound word
Halleluyah
which combines Hallelu,
the plural form of to praise
with the first syllable of the hebrew name for God, Yahweh
Hallel-u-yah
The reason for including only the first syllable is due to a taboo in ancient Hebrew belief which forbade speaking the full name of God.
So instead God's name was shortened to Yah, whose first letter is yod, the smallest letter in the Hebrew alphabet and the source of the word jot
You may recall that when Jesus declares that he did not come to destroy the law or the prophesies but to fulfill them
He also states that until heaven and earth pass away not one jot will pass from the law until all is fulfilled
The jot he refers to is the yod and it played an important role in the reading of ancient Hebrew texts.
For the original hebrew writing system contained only consonants which caused a lot of ambiguity for later readers, particularly gentiles who were trying to make sense of mysterious words with half their data missing
To address this shortcoming three consonants were assigned additional duties as vowel indicators. One of these was yod, the smallest letter in the alphabet and one that looks more like punctuation.
Its small size made it perfect for the job of discretely indicating the missing vowel sounds. Using dots in this way is called Matres Lectionis, mothers of reading and it removed much of the uncertainty that permeated earlier texts.
So when Jesus was saying not one jot will pass from the law until all is fulfilled he's also saying that none of the clarifying indicators that help to reduce confusion will be lost until all is fulfilled. A subtle but perhaps important point of context
Particularly to all you helpers out there
Prior to sopranist countertenor Edson Cordeiro we were also wishing a happy birthday to Viennese composer Alban Berg
who favored the twelve tone technique
making wonderful, emotive music
beyond the need for keys
Alban Berg was born this day
Eighteen eighty five
And we'll keep the birthday vibes alive–in this next set
With distinctive Japanese Dub artist and man of many hats, Rankin Taxi
Birth name Takashi Shirahama
who turns seventy two years young today
お誕生日おめでと
So o tanjoubi omedetou
Here’s a Rankin Taxi track titled
Nebigiba Chura Shima
Never Give Up Beautiful Island
Right now on KayBo0
[PLAY RANKIN TAXI TO BARRY MANN]
You're on 90.7FM
Kay bee oh oh,
this show's called
Oh Gee PeeOhGee,
my name's Jeremy
and we just heard
I'm A Survivor by Barry Mann, whose birthday
it is today
Barry Mann was part of the same small group of professional songrwiters who worked out of the infamous Brill Building in the 1960s. He worked with folks like Linda Rondstadt and Nicolette Larson.
With the industry behind him Barry Mann cranked out the hits, as did his colleague Carole King one of the most prolific songwriters in history. It’s also her birthday today and we heard her there preceding Barry Mann on a track titled You’re The One Who Knows. She cowrote that one with her husband Rick Evers in 1977. Tragically only one year later Rick would die under disputed circumstances.
Prior to Carole Klein we heard Joe Ely singing “When The Nights Are Cold” off his 2015 release Panhandle Rambler
And he followed Stephen Merritt who was also born this day, from The Magnetic Fields we heard Village In the Morning
So Rest in Peace Jim Pepper, Packy the Elephant, Nicolette Larson and Rick Evers
and happy birthday to Stephen Merritt, Joe Ely, Carole King, Barry Mann, Rankin Taxi, Brendan Behan, Marina Kaye, Nate Morgan, Edson Cordeiro, Liv Vice, and you too
if it is your birthday, I hope it’s been a good’n!
Well I've enjoyed spending this time with you and as it draws again to a momentary close I want you to know
that you are an important part of this community and I'm glad we're neighbors.
If you'd like to learn more about what we heard or you just wanna have another listen you can go to kay bee oh oh dot org, select audio then list of programs and scroll down to Oh Gee Pee Oh Gee which is written phonetically
Papa Echo Echo
Oscar Hotel
Golf Echo Echo
That's how ya spell PeeOhGee
Going to see us out now with a track by the late, great Jesse Bernstein but first, remember friends:
You can dodge a thousand fast hands
But when you feel the one that lands
You may reel, need help to
stand
And recover before your next fight
So make sure your reasons are right and
your corner is full before ya teeth-pull
those glove laces tight
We're rooting for you
Until next time:
Be Well; Do Good
- KBOO