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A BHM Report: Bi-Partisanship Reforms Housing in Big Sky Country Plus Christie Dasheil in The Jazz Room

Are We Here Yet Podcast

Release Date: 06/13/2024

AWHY? Music feature Extra: We Remember Saxophonist Lou Donaldson show art AWHY? Music feature Extra: We Remember Saxophonist Lou Donaldson

Are We Here Yet Podcast

Lou Donaldson passed away on November 10, 2024.  In a career spanning more than seven decades, the alto saxophonist began as a stylist devotee to the bop of Charlie Parker, quickly evolving into a soulful and bluesy player which became his signature. Joan Watson Jones, host of the AWHY? Music feature The Jazz Room sat down to interview Lou in 2020 at Studio 952 in Harlem, New York City. In Part 1 of their interview Lou tells us how he got started in the business and why he took up the Saxophone. In Part 2 he tells us about working with Miles Davis, Jimmy Smith and offers his own...

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AWHY? Music feature: Celebrating Gershwin in Jazz show art AWHY? Music feature: Celebrating Gershwin in Jazz

Are We Here Yet Podcast

Our music feature, The Jazz Room returns for a feature of the great American composer George Gershwin.  Host Joan Watson Jones features many great musicians from a long list of recordings featuring the work of George Gershwin, one of the most prized composers of the American song book. For jazz musicians, Gershwin represents an endless source to be mined to create great improvisations and has been for over a century.

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The Case for Incremental Development show art The Case for Incremental Development

Are We Here Yet Podcast

Our guest is Noah Harper.  I met Noah at the conference in Providence, RI. We were tasked by the organization to debate whether the Congress is positioned well as a leading voice in the current housing challenge before us all.  Thus sparked some great discussion.  Noah has been featured in   He is a community planner for the firm J.M. Goldson.  Noah is a strong advocate for incremental development and we're sure you will find inspiration in his seamless movement through themes of design excellence, craftsmanship to equity and democracy.   In his own words,...

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Celebrating the Life of Saxophonist Claire Daly show art Celebrating the Life of Saxophonist Claire Daly

Are We Here Yet Podcast

We’ve had the pleasure of featuring Baritone Saxophonist Claire Daly twice in the AWHY? Music feature, The Jazz Room.  Host Joan Watson Jones first sat down with Clare at Studio 952 in New York City to talk about her CD "Baritone Monk", recorded at the North Coast Brewing Company. In our second interview Claire spoke to Joan regarding her recording, "The Mary Joyce Project-Nothing to Lose" which tells the story of her father's cousin Mary Joyce who crossed Alaska on dog sled alone in the mid 1920's. Learn more about Claire and her music at www.clairedalymusic.com  

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The North Adams Opportunity Scene show art The North Adams Opportunity Scene

Are We Here Yet Podcast

Our guest, Andrew Fitch is Communications Manager for , a Venture Capital Source pioneered by founders and government in the city of North Adams, MA. The last decade or more has seen a resurgence in young professionals rediscovering opportunities in the western half of Massachusetts.  Opportunities in housing, urban development, entrepreneurship and life crafting. Much of Andrew’s time is focused on developing the capacity of the , centered in North Adams.  Along with other surging organizations working in collaboration, the northern half of Berkshire County is redefining its...

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Innova802: Activate with UVM’s Kendall Fortney show art Innova802: Activate with UVM’s Kendall Fortney

Are We Here Yet Podcast

Kendall Fortney is an artist and designer based in Vermont who is currently the Program Director for UVM's VERSO the open-source program centered at the University. Kendall spoke with the Innova802 crew on the power of the open-source community in shaping a society that delivers human-scaled, beneficial solutions in technology. VERSO offers a vibrant community of problem solvers engaged in their accelerator.  Also mentioned in our conversation

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Our Indigenous Peoples Day Special show art Our Indigenous Peoples Day Special

Are We Here Yet Podcast

For our latest Are We Here yet? podcast we offer four perspectives sure to keep you contemplating on this upcoming Indigenous People’s Day. Our Season III guest Doug Harris, retired archivist for the Narragansett Tribe spoke to us regarding .  We feature two clips here, the first focused on answering the question, ‘what is this place and who are we?’ The second which ends our podcast focuses on his groundbreaking work alongside Smithsonian documentarian , which has dispelled many falsehoods about the peoples of this part of North America.  How they lived, traded and thrived for...

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Making Pee Pay w/ founder of BrightWater Tools plus Orrin Evans in The Jazz Room show art Making Pee Pay w/ founder of BrightWater Tools plus Orrin Evans in The Jazz Room

Are We Here Yet Podcast

CEO Kimmerly Nace is dedicated to changing the narrative on how we see our waste.  She’s passionate about making this planet, or rather making its people work better for a sustainable planet for all of us, creatures large and small.  Imagine a world where our toughest waste issues become some of our most profitable revenue centers? Literally turning problems into profit; using our existing financial incentives for good and not greed.  We spoke about her team at of Brattleboro, VT and it’s origin story in the international mission organization she also founded the . ...

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Innova802 Series:  Why tech should START with employee ownership plus Orrin Evans in The Jazz Room show art Innova802 Series: Why tech should START with employee ownership plus Orrin Evans in The Jazz Room

Are We Here Yet Podcast

Startup founders: today’s audio plat savoureux from the Innova802 crew focused on our guest Matt Cropp, executive director of the  We discussed why you need to consider your future exit now at the onset of your enterprise and why you should take a serious look at forming an employee-owned enterprise and how. The history of tech and tech enabled companies since the post WWII years is a history of equity sharing so it’s often a short walk for companies to consider employee ownership (co-operative models, employee stock ownership plan (ESOP)).   We defined how these models work...

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Solving the Housing Crisis in Rutland, VT w/ the RRA’s Ed Bove plus composer Maria Schneider show art Solving the Housing Crisis in Rutland, VT w/ the RRA’s Ed Bove plus composer Maria Schneider

Are We Here Yet Podcast

We examine local real estate markets and the unique mix of property and economic development components at the local level here at the ‘Are We Here Yet?’ podcast so our listeners can find inspiration for their own local efforts back home.  This episode host Scott Graves sat down with Ed Bove, Executive Director of the in Scott’s adoptive hometown of Rutland, VT.  Scott found resonance with Ed in their shared interest in incremental development and generally a ‘Strong Towns’ approach to neighborhood building.   The discussion centered on how Rutland and the RRA...

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"I DON’T THINK THE ‘MONTANA MIRACLE’ IS A ONE-TIME FLUKE. I THINK IT CAN REPRESENT A NEW PARADIGM OF POLITICS IN MONTANA, WHERE THE LEFT AND RIGHT JOIN TOGETHER IN COMMON BELIEF THAT MONTANANS MUST BE FREE TO BUILD, INNOVATE, AND PROGRESS IN ORDER TO OVERCOME THE BIGGEST CHALLENGES FACING OUR STATE."

So we opened our Season Nine here at the ‘Are We Here Yet?’ podcast with this quote from Kendall Cotton.   He is Executive Director of the Frontier Institute. We met earlier this year after Kendall was interviewed by the New York Times.  What caught my attention and compelled me to reach out to him was his thoughts on the housing crisis. 

In our discussion we focused much time on how the current housing  market is affecting Big Sky Country and especially on the solutions this rural state has brought to the table including re-thinking zoning and passing Montana House bill 819 which offers developers funding in order they may pass savings on to the future homeowner. 

Additionally, Kendall and I spoke regarding other initiatives important to the institute and to Montana’s 21st century economy including #artificial intelligence, #dataprivacy and the government and how these sectors affect each other in the rural places we call home. 

The similarities with our other rural states abound.  The bipartisanship baked into the efforts of the Frontier Institute are an example to others working on substantive solutions to our rural development challenges.  

You’ll find Kendall on twitter @Cotton_MT

And in The Jazz Room…

We enjoyed our conversation with singer, Christie Dasheil. She talks about her CD “Journey in Black” and what it was like growing up in a musical family. 

Learn more about Christie by clicking here