I just finished writing a "Pick" for this week's paper on the June 6 Talib Kwelishow at The Paramount. I'm very excited about this show, and even more excited that there's been so much great hip hop during a year when we're doing this event. At the De La Sol show, I spoke for a while with Joan Javier of the New Voters Project about the connection between a political action and hip hop. The New Voters Project has been one of our co-sponsors and did voter registration at the show. At least I think it was Joan I was talking to about this subject. At any rate, we (or me and someone) were discussing about how the incredible energy that hip hop engenders is the perfect place to politicize people. It makes sense when you think about certain hip hop artists that you'd have that connection, but I forget, sometimes, how much of contemporary hip hop is really just pop music disguised as rap saying as little as possible. I'm not really knocking that either—I'm as much of a trash head and junkie for that stuff as anyone else, and it's not like I change the station when Beyoncee is singing Naughty Girl, but I definitely prefer the underground stuff.
I learned yesterday, from Don Hazen, who runs Alternet.org, that SFR is going to have the opportunity to participate in some of the national efforts they will be promoting to inform people on a variety of issues relating to national politics and policies. This fits well with SFR's plans for the next six months as well. It's my goal that we can write about education, nukes and civil liberties in such a way that voting in November has resonance. It's not just voting for the sake of voting, it's voting because the decisions made at the federal level have such a grave impact locally, particularly for New Mexico when it comes to nuclear issues. Our cover story next week will help elucidate what I'm saying. And for those of you reading (is anyone reading out there), we are working on getting our stories onto our website! Hello; 21st Century anyone?

The next Hip Hop Voter Project will be Friday, June 4 at 10 pm at The Paramount, 331 Sandoval Street. I had so much more to say, but had so many insane technical difficulties getting back into this blog that I'm a little traumatized.
OK! Where to start? Today, SFR published its endorsements for the June 1 primary elections in Santa Fe County. I tried to frame all the endorsements within the context of new energy and vision in local government. Some of the races really were quite competitive and I was impressed with the candidates. Others, well, you know. Sometimes I think filming the endorsement interviews would be a great service to the public, but I'm not sure they would enjoy it very much. Still, I certainly learned a lot in the process, and was pleased to note that in a year where national and international affairs are so disturbing, there's still a sense of urgency surrounding issues locally. This doesn't surprise me, but it was good to remember. Last week's De La Soul show, cosponsored by The Hip Hop Voter Project, was a huge success. It was quite gratifying and exciting to see so many people out for live music, hip hop and just, generally, psyched. We are still working on plans to make the last voter project night in October a blow-out, and all suggestions are welcome.