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We are encouraging bloggers everyone to support One Laptop Per Child’s Give One Get One program. One Laptop Per Child’s mission is to help the world’s poorest kids to know, learn, and understand. OLPC provides a green, low-cost laptop that’s tough enough to withstand a child’s curiosity, and is full of educational content and software to help them connect to the world around them. Being connected to the web is something we feel passionate about at Six Apart, and being connected can fuel young imaginations for a bigger tomorrow.

Join us and thousands of others and get involved today:

    * Give One, Get One. You can buy a laptop for a child around the world and for a child near you with the Give One, Get One program. Purchase online at amazon.com/xo.

    * Spread the word. Learn more about OLPC and Give One, Get One and write about it. Your voice will help encourage others. Here are some great videos to share with your audience.

Thanks, in advance, for all of your support. Six Apart is proud to help bloggers continue to change the world. 

Last week Friday I had an interview for a job teaching Design Technology at a “technology college” in England. It lasted for an hour and a half. The agency who arranged the interview said it was much longer than normal and predicted a favourable outcome. On Monday I was offered the post - which I accepted.

When I told Nancy about it she laughed and asked me how I am going to manage it. “You might as well have accepted a job teaching Maths or Science”. I was quite upset by her response to be honest. I had been expecting her to say, “Well done you!”, and gush a bit. Still, Nancy knows me better than anyone and I wonder if she is right about me biting of more than I can chew with this job.

It is an all-boys school of nearly a thousand students, each one of them taking Design technology. This year I found the 20-odd students I had for art class enough, so how I will manage with 50 times that amount is something I cannot even imagine yet. I will have to deal with it when I am there.

So why did I accept the post? Well to begin with I don’t mind the challenge (albeit it a masochistic one). I will be learning new skills, like how to handle a variety of machines well enough to instruct others how to do so and how to use different CAD programs. I’ll also gain the confidence I currently lack to present myself to a large group of young people and maintain my ground. I’ll learn to be more organised and more efficient.

From a career point of view, Design technology is a good subject to be able to teach because it is a core subject in the UK with many available posts. So once I am okay with teaching it I will be able to cast a far wider net than I can with only Art and Design when looking for a job. In fact, it will probably stand me in good stead when looking for posts in international schools as well. Teaching in international schools is an excellent way to earn good money as a teacher, see the world and experience different cultures, and it is something I would like to do in the future once I have a solid base in the England. Accepting this post is a tactical step towards that goal.

Nonetheless, I am aware that the job might get the better of me after all. Despite all that I stand to gain the fact remains that I prefer teaching Art and Design, I prefer small classes and I prefer teaching girls. But if it really does turn out terribly I will simply leave it at the end of the semester in June when my probation period ends. Even so I will have gained valuable experience and by then I would have found my feet in England, saved some money and be in a better position to go after jobs without the need of an agency.

Time will tell how things turn out.  

Wow, this girl can SING! That’s all I could think watching Adele from master control.. This is the British singing sensation’s second appearance on MBE – her first was right after SXSW in March of this year. The difference was notable in her confidence and vocal strength. Even though the songs were the same, it was like watching a different person. Her album, “19,” got massive airplay across all our music shows, especially “Cold Shoulder” (my personal fave), “Hometown Glory,” and “Chasing Pavements.” Check it out here

RR

Hello everyone,

Here is the follow up to our announcement about Nic Harcourt stepping down as Music Director. Our new Morning Becomes Eclectic host is someone you should already be familiar with! Read on for details…

KCRW announces the appointment of Jason Bentley as Music Director and host of Morning Becomes Eclectic, effective December 1. Bentley will leave his current evening time slot to take over KCRW’s signature music program from 9am to noon PST, Monday through Friday.
 
"This is a wonderful KCRW story. Jason began as a phone volunteer in the front office when he was still in high school. He grew up on KCRW because his parents were listeners. When he returned from college he reconnected with the station and debuted on the air here 16 years ago,” said KCRW General Manager Ruth Seymour. “He has a passion for the music and a deep connection to the local music scene. Moreover KCRW is in his DNA."
 
“I’m immensely grateful for the opportunity and humbled by the task, which is to open a new chapter for the station. It's a reinvention of myself to match the gold standards set by previous music directors. It’s no longer the hypnotic pulse of the city at night – it’s the ever-evolving optimism of weekday mornings,” said Bentley.

“My show has always reflected the continual evolution of music and emerging artists. And while I built my foundation as a champion of dance and electronic music, this is a great opportunity for me to grow, a challenge I will take very seriously. “

"The other side to this position, no less important than MBE, is to work closely with the incredibly talented group of DJs we have at KCRW to inspire the best from these bright minds and celebrate the diversity of our music department. Together we will build on KCRW's stellar reputation in Los Angeles and around the world."

Bentley is widely respected, not just as a KCRW DJ but as a Music Supervisor for film (“The Matrix” soundtracks), a music executive (co-founder of the Quango Music Group and an A&R exec at Madonna's Maverick imprint) and as a music producer and remixer in his own right.
 
Jason has nurtured a thriving music scene in Los Angeles over the years, Producing events at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Museum of Contemporary Art, Skirball Cultural Center, and The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and consults for the LA Philharmonic on special events at the Hollywood Bowl and Disney Hall. He was the headlining DJ at Uptown Underground, a hugely successful public art installation that drew more than 8,000 people to the Music Center in Downtown LA and the Orange County Performing Arts Center.
 
Jason has served for two consecutive terms on the Board of Governors of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, and is involved in awards committees every year leading up to the Grammy's. Earlier this year, Jason became the first ever DJ for the Governor’s Ball, the celebration following the Academy Awards, and more recently, he headlined the official election night party for President elect Barack Obama in Los Angeles at the Hyatt Century Plaza to a capacity crowd.
 
Current Music Director Nic Harcourt will step down at the end of the month to pursue several independent projects and will continue as a KCRW DJ, hosting a 3-hour show on Sunday nights from 6-9 pm PST.
 
Further programming updates will be released in the next few weeks.

Some time ago I quit smoking. Nothing in particular prompted me. I was just tired of feeling guilty about it. Now I have one less thing that bothers me about me. In fact, I have gained one thing to like about me. I like the simple fact that I am a non-smoker.  When I go for a job interview or have a health check for example I am happy to say that I don’t smoke.  I regard giving up the habit as an improvement, which I am often conscious of and the feeling I have of self betterment is what keeps away any temptation to smoke again.

In retrospect I wonder why I did not give it up much sooner. Why did it take so many attempts over so many years when the benefits were so clearly apparent?

I don’t think addiction to nicotine is the answer entirely. I think it has more to do with leaving behind some aspect of who I perceived myself to be and being a smoker was a part of it. My best friends smoked. A great number of artists, writers and philosophers smoked. It was something that people I wanted to be like and be liked by did. In the end smoking became really difficult to give up (even though I knew it was bad for me) because it meant becoming someone slightly different to the person I had grown used to being.

The curious thing now is that despite the fact that I enjoy my new non-smoking self, I am just as reluctant to make other similarly positive changes. For instance, I know that drinking 10 to 15 cups of coffee a day cannot be good for me but I keep doing it anyway. I could quite easily drink the same amount of green tea, which I also enjoy, and actually benefit my health in the process - but I don’t.  I have resigned myself to being a “coffeeholic”. Sometimes I even joke about it, but the truth is I wish I could just have a cup in the morning like my colleagues at work and leave it at that.

I also have a tendency to eat too much. If there is a box of biscuits in the cupboard say, I can’t relax until I have finished every last one. Then I feel guilty about it and berate myself. The lack of control has left me with a flabby gut that I am not happy about, but not even that can motivate me to change my eating habits. It’s perplexing. The only conclusion I can draw is that it is difficult to change ingrained tendencies because in essence it involves changing who I am accustomed to being.  

What really concerns me about the difficulty I have making changes as simple as drinking less coffee is the comparative impossibility of making profound changes to who I am. If I don’t have the ability to have two biscuits instead of twenty, how am I going to resist the far more serious urge to be lazy and unproductive? These are the kind of things that don’t just make me feel guilty but worthless. I need to change them.

As such, from today, I endeavor to give up anything that does not contribute to my sense of wellbeing or self worth. I cannot think of a more obvious way of improving myself. I’ll start by changing the small things like fixing my diet, which will give me the fortitude to tackle the big things like being more productive.  In the process I’m sure to find a bit more to like about myself.

Upcoming Live Performances on MORNING BECOMES ECLECTIC with host NIC HARCOURT
 
Tuesday, November 18, Beck shares some of his favorite songs as guest deejay and performs songs solo and acoustic on Morning Becomes Eclectic at 11:15am.

Wednesday, November 19, R&B tinged Nikka Costa performs songs from her latest release on Morning Becomes Eclectic at 11:15am.

Friday, November 21, Singer and songwriter Gary Jules returns with his band to Morning Becomes Eclectic at 11:15am.

Tuesday, November 25, Sir Tom Jones seduces listeners with classic and new songs on Morning Becomes Eclectic at 11:15am.

Wednesday, November 26, Orenda Fink and Maria Taylor perform as Azure Ray on Morning Becomes Eclectic at 11:15am.

Friday, November 28, Catchy popsters Travis perform on Morning Becomes Eclectic at 11:15am.

KCRW PRESENTS IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

Sunday, November 16, MEXICAN INSTITUTE OF SOUND AT THE ROXY.
Tuesday, November 18, LUDOVICO EINAUDI AT LARGO AT THE CORONET.
Tuesday, November 18, HOTEL CAFE TOUR with Rachael Yamagata, Meiko, Thao Nguyen, Kate Havnevik, Lenka, Emily Wells, Jaymay at THE MUSIC BOX AT THE HENRY FONDA THEATER.
Thursday, November 20, RODNEY CROWELL AND JOE HENRY at LARGO AT THE CORONET.
Thursday, November 20, LITTLE DRAGON at THE BEAUTY BAR in SAN DIEGO.
Friday, November 21, LUCINDA WILLIAMS AT THE WILTERN.
Friday, November 21, LITTLE DRAGON at THE ROXY.
Friday, November 21, KRAAK AND SMAAK at THE MUSIC BOX AT THE FONDA.
Friday, November 21, RODRIGUEZ WITH SLEEPYSUN at THE ECHO.
Saturday, November 22, LITTLE DRAGON AT SOHO IN SANTA BARBARA.
Monday, November 24, THE DECEMBERISTS AT THE WILTERN.
Monday, November 24, POP LEVI (FILM SCREENING AND PERFORMANCE) at THE SILENT MOVIE THEATRE.
Tuesday, November 25, LITTLE DRAGON at THE DETROIT BAR.
Saturday, November 29, SERGIO MENDES AT CLUB NOKIA.
Sunday, November 30, AZURE RAY AT THE TROUBADOUR.
Monday, December 1, HERBALISER with J-BOOGIE AT THE ECHOPLEX.
Tuesday, December 2, OREN LAVIE AT THE HOTEL CAFÉ.
Friday, December 5, THE SEA AND CAKE AT THE GLASS HOUSE in Pomona.
Saturday, December 6, LOS AMIGOS INVISIBLES W/ WEST INDIAN GIRL at THE GLASS HOUSE.
Monday, December 8, MESHELL NDEGEOCELLO W/ THE COUP  AT THE HOUSE OF BLUES, Sunset.
Tuesday, December 9, GARY JULES at THE HOTEL CAFÉ.
Friday, December 12, PHANTOM PLANET WITH THE LIKE at THE TROUBADOUR.
Tuesday, December 16, MERCURY REV W/ IMAAD WASIF AT THE EL REY THEATRE.
Tuesday, December 16,  MISSY HIGGINS AT THE HOUSE OF BLUES IN ANAHEIM.
Thursday, December 18, OZOMATLI AT THE HOUSE OF BLUES IN HOLLYWOOD.
Friday, December 19, OZOMATLI AT THE HOUSE OF BLUES IN HOLLYWOOD.
Saturday, December 20, OZOMATLI AT THE HOUSE OF BLUES IN HOLLYWOOD.
Friday, January 30, ADELE AT THE AVALON .
Thursday, March 19, LADYSMITH BLACK MAMBAZO AT THE CONGA ROOM.
Saturday, March 28, MADELEINE PEYROUX AT THE NOKIA THEATRE.
 

Today’s episode of Tuned In showcases songs from Neva Dinova (“Supercomputer” from YOU MAY ALREADY BE DREAMING), Ida (“Road to Ruin” from MY FAIR, MY DARK), and Thom Yorke’s brother Andy Yorke (“Rise and Fall” from SIMPLE). Nic also features Tilly and the Wall with an in-studio cover of Erasure’s “Respect” and some really fancy tap dancing by Jamie Pressnall, the percussionist for the band. Download this video as well as daily free music tracks at http://www.KCRW.com.

Stream or download the videocast @ http://tinyurl.com/6horkg

created by 60Frames

DJ Mark Farina will drop by during Jason Bentley’s show tonight for a quick chat at around 8:30pm. You can see him spinning live THIS Saturday, November 15, at Avalon.

RR

As I’m sure all of you know by now, Nic Harcourt is stepping down as KCRW Music Director and the host of Morning Becomes Eclectic at the end of this month. He IS staying on at KCRW as a DJ and will host a show on Sundays from 6 to 9pm. AND the show Morning Becomes Eclectic will continue, although with another host in the “hot seat,” as Nic said.

 
We’ve created a page on KCRW.com where you can share your thoughts and feelings. A lot of you have a special relationship with Nic and MBE and we wanted to give you a place to share it with the world. Here’s the LINK

RR