{play}http://media.krcb.org/audio/nbr/5-22-12.mp3{/play}

Ben Boyce of the Accountable Development Coalition observes that the already completed area plan for SMART station in Old Railroad Square will serve as a model for other areas, and a community asset, one funding to begin building it becomes available.

{play}http://media.krcb.org/audio/nbr/srrrplan.mp3{/play}

 The "SMART Step Forward" discussion  will be held from 6:30-8:30 Thursday evening, ay 17 at the Steele Lane Community Center in Santa Rosa. The study area that will be covered by the plan is shown in the map below.

{play}http://media.krcb.org/audio/nbr/5-15-12.mp3{/play}

Sam KeenIf there is a way to get past the widespread drive to find and attack an enemy, suggests Sonoma writer Sam Keen, it lies in examining and questioning the logic and the reasons for that characterization, and seriously seeking to understand what might be motivating the other party in that incipient conflict.

{play}http://media.krcb.org/audio/nbr/skinvert.mp3{/play}

In the mid-1980s, when Keen was writing Faces of the Enemy, Iran was the dominant "threat" to America in the Middle East, a role into which it is again being cast now. Keen will address that cyclical pattern in a presentation he's titled, "Iran:  The Making of An Enemy."

{play}http://media.krcb.org/audio/nbr/whyiran.mp3{/play}

Keen will offer his talk at 7:30 pm on Tuesday, May 15 at 7:30 in the Sonoma Community Center.The event is sponsored by the Praxis Peace Institute.

The remodeled flagship Goodwill store on Stony Point Road in Santa Rosa

{play}http://media.krcb.org/audio/nbr/5-14-12.mp3{/play}

Mark IhdeThe Goodwill outlet store on Yolanda Avenue is a hive of constant activity, one that begins even before the doors open each morning.

{play}http://media.krcb.org/audio/nbr/gweager.mp3{/play}

There are rules that govern the frenzy at "The Dig," explains Goodwill staff member Jesse Ramirez. But they are not always followed.

{play}http://media.krcb.org/audio/nbr/gwrules.mp3{/play}

Bargain hunters comb the bins in the no-fills outlet storeAmong the regular shoppers is Brian Gallegos, who brings a shrewdly informed eye to his searches through the bins.

{play}http://media.krcb.org/audio/nbr/purses.mp3{/play}

{play}http://media.krcb.org/audio/nbr/5-11-12.mp3{/play}

Bernie Krause has approached his decades of natural sound recording primarily as an archivist. Now he's pleased to see others finding new applications for employing these sorts of sounds.

{play}http://media.krcb.org/audio/nbr/bkpigs.mp3{/play}

It's hardly necessary to travel great distances to find compelling natural audio. Krause captured this morning birdsong chorus in the hills overlooking the Valley of the Moon.

{play}http://media.krcb.org/audio/nbr/dawnchorus.mp3{/play}

Lincoln Meadow, north of Truckee (right), was the scene of the selective logging operation discussed in this report. It still looks like it did in this photograph from 1988, but now sounds very different, even many years after the timber harvest was completed.

In his most recent book, Bernie Krause traces of origins of music in the sounds of our natural environment

{play}http://media.krcb.org/audio/nbr/5-10-12.mp3{/play}

In addition to virtually inventing his field of live nature recordings, Bernie Krause has also coined the term he uses to describe the living sounds he captures—"biophony."

{play}http://media.krcb.org/audio/nbr/bkterm.mp3{/play}

Over the past 40-odd years Krause has traveled to many remote places on the planet to record the sounds of their habitats, such as this African jungle soundscape.

{play}http://media.krcb.org/audio/nbr/zimbabwe.mp3{/play}

{play}http://media.krcb.org/audio/nbr/5-9-12.mp3{/play}

This time last year, one of the final obstacles to the resumption of the freight rail service—which had been inactive for the previous 10 years—was the City of Novato, which raised questions about noise and other issues. Answers were negotiated at some length, and Mitch Stogner, director of the North Coast Railroad Authority says now that everyone seems satisfied with the results.

{play}http://media.krcb.org/audio/nbr/rrnovato.mp3{/play}

So far, the new Northwest Pacific trains have rarely ventured north beyond Petaluma, so most of Sonoma County has yet to see the colorful new engine that pulls them. John Williams, President of the Northwest Pacific Railroad, describes his rolling stock.

{play}http://media.krcb.org/audio/nbr/rrengines.mp3{/play}

KRCB News also covered the first run of the revived freight service last July for North Bay Voice. See that report here.

One of the many hazards that awaits unwary travelers on Lichau Road

{play}http://media.krcb.org/audio/nbr/5-8-12.mp3{/play}

Michael Troy (left) and Craig HarrisonThe multitude of potholes and stretches of degraded pavement are not just a problem for motorists, notes SOS Roads co-founder Michael Troy. And he doesn't buy the argument that a rural county isn't able to maintain its roads.

{play}http://media.krcb.org/audio/nbr/sosrural.mp3{/play}

While SOS Roads was formed with an eye toward affecting the dialog in the current electoral season, co-founder Craig Harrison says they are looking beyond June and November to see their issue through.

{play}http://media.krcb.org/audio/nbr/sosfuture.mp3{/play}

The county has prepared detailed maps of all the roads it is responsible for maintaining, color-coded to indicate the condition of each. How do the ones you regularly travel on rate?

Rob Kapilow

{play}http://media.krcb.org/audio/nbr/5-7-12.mp3{/play}

The unbridged Golden Gate is shown in this drawing which views the span looking north from what is now known as Fort PointOnce he recognized the Golden Gate as a geographical feature that has endured for centuries, composer Rob Kapilow discovered he could develop an ancient starting point for his new piece.

{play}http://media.krcb.org/audio/nbr/rkbeginning.mp3{/play}

Building the Golden Gate Bridge required overcoming enormous resistance. Kapilow says he sought to embody that aspect of its history in his composition as well.

{play}http://media.krcb.org/audio/nbr/rksuspended.mp3{/play}

In our interview, Kapilow used his iPad to play samples from his sound collection and his composition. He explained that digital technology is also being employed when the piece is performed. Of course that also meant a steeper learning curve for the keyboardist whose job it is to "play" those sounds.

{play}http://media.krcb.org/audio/nbr/rksamples.mp3{/play}

{play}http://media.krcb.org/audio/nbr/5-4-12.mp3{/play}

Sani RifatiAlthough there is a strong thread of cultural education running through the annual Roma Festival he stages in Sebastopol each spring, Sani Rifati knows that isn't what draws the crowds. [See schedule below]{play}http://media.krcb.org/audio/nbr/romafestival.mp3{/play}

Along the way, Rifati adds, you might also discover some Roma connections to the arts, some that have been widely popularized, others that are less known.

{play}http://media.krcb.org/audio/nbr/romaarts.mp3{/play}

 Friday May 4 - Romani Education Night
Veterans Building, 282 South High St., Sebastopol, CA7:30 pm Presentation by Romanichel activist Mario Williams of Austin, Texas, founder of the new website Gypsy.com. Topics include Romani unity, diversity, identities, civil rights, education, plans for a Romani-centered online school and for a Romani civil rights/education non-profit organization. University of Oregon professor Carol Silverman will moderate the discussion that follows.
9:00 pm Live music and dancing, festival performers.
$12-15 suggested donation.

Saturday May 5 - Herdeljezi Stage

Ives Park, Sebastopol, CA - RAIN OR SHINE !

(if rain, next door in Veterans Building, 282 South High St.)

11 am Romani Music and Dance Workshops $20:Violin - Hüsnü TuzsuzSinging - Beni Kurtis and Ferdi DemirDrumming - Amdi SeyfedinovClarinet - Sal Mamudoski

12:30 -9:00 pm Live music and dancing, plus authentic Romani/Balkan food by Julia Pecak and her crew, handcrafts by "Threads That Connect Us" (VoR sewing project).
Performers and teachers include: Sazet Band (NYC Romani), Ruzsa Nikolic-Lakatos (Vienna), Stevens Brothers "Gypsy Boys" and Danny Lee Fender (Los Angeles), Vadim Kolpakov and "Via Romen" (Russia), Inspector Gadje (Bay Area Balkan).
$15 advance, $18 at gate. Children under 12 free.

{play}http://media.krcb.org/audio/nbr/5-3-12.mp3{/play}

Biologist Francis Hourigan inspects the young fish in one of the tanks at the new hatcheryCritics complain hatcheries are bad for wild fish populations, diluting the genetics of wild stocks. Senior biologist at the California Department of Fish and Game, Eric Larson, explains what is different about the Russian River Coho Salmon Captive Broodstock Program.

{play}http://media.krcb.org/audio/nbr/conservation-hatchery.mp3{/play}

Congressman Mike Thompson wields the symbolic scissors at the ribbon cutting ceremony to officially open the new coho hatchery at Warm Springs DamBen White, fisheries biologist with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, who oversees daily operations at the hatchery, talks about the building's inhabitants -- nearly a quarter million young coho.

{play}http://media.krcb.org/audio/nbr/hatchery-inhabitants.mp3{/play}