Recorded in San Francisco's wonderful South Beach/South of Market area.

The opening theme song is taken from General Fuzz's song Throwdown.

This episode features a song by Love Is Chemicals called Claw Your Sweater.  By the way, Love Is Chemicals is playing at 12 Galaxies on February 1st if you would like to check them out live.

PC Munoz provides the other two songs on this episode. The first is called California (featuring Jackson Browne w/p-tac). The second is a country sounding ditty called She Gave Me a Bit of Heaven But I Hope She Goes to Hell.

All the music on this episode of SOMAcast was found on the Podshow Podsafe Music Network.

Some of the other issues discussed:

• Murders in San Francisco going unsolved - about 25% solved now compared to around 50% under Willie Brown's administration. Also of note, burglaries and robberies.
• Handicap placards outnumber City parking meters by a ratio of 4-to-1. No wonder we (citizens who make up San Francisco's electorate) aren't making much money on parking meters.
• $1 billion boon doggle waiting to happen in the form of a proposed Central Subway MUNI line to run from Caltrain at 4th and Townsend north on 4th Street to Chinatown.  The underground section would begin around Brannan, I believe, as currently proposed.  This is just stupid - the MUNI bus system works fine through this route (granted, 3rd street is a block over in SOMA, but a $1 billion Big Dig is just dumb at this stage).
• I'm concerned about pedestrians getting hit by vehicles way to often in the City. More specifically, the intersections on streets that feed the Bay Bridge traffic are very dangerous considering the new residential units being built in the area (Rincon One and Infinity).  I posted my concern on Yelp.com, and I got some good suggestions. The best came from Alissa W who, along with some others, suggested that pedestrians and vehicle traffic take turns entering the intersections, similar to what happens at Stockton and O'Farrell or Montgomery and Sansome.  These are the streets that would be good to change to this vehicle/pedestrian traffic light system:

• Main and Folsom

• Main and Harrison

• Fremont and Folsom

• 1st and Folsom

• 1st and Harrison 

• 2nd and Folsom

• 2nd and Harrison

• 2nd and Bryant

• Please write to Gavin Newsom at gavin.newsom@sfgov.org along with your Supervisor to ask that this be set up.  This is our City, and we need to be safer when walking or driving around town.
• Chris.Daily@sfgov.org
• Michela.Alioto-Pier@sfgov.org
• Tom.Ammiano@sfgov.org
• Bevan.Dufty@sfgov.org
• Sean.Elsbernd@sfgov.org
• Ed.Jew@sfgov.org
• Sophie.Maxwell@sfgov.org
• Jake.McGoldrick@sfgov.org
• Ross.Mirkarimi@sfgov.org 
• Aaron.Peskin@sfgov.org
• Gerardo.Sandoval@sfgov.org

Be involved in your community - it is your investment/money that runs this place, so you need to take responsibility and manage these folks elected/employed to spend it wisely and to keep San Francisco the beautiful, wonderful attraction it is to folks around the world.

Have a good week - Go Chicago Bears! - jamie

Recorded in San Francisco's gorgeous South Beach neighborhood.

Holy cow - the Presidential race is getting fierce with Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton throwing in their hats.  I am anxious to see the candidates develop, especially Senator Obama.  In the meanwhile, I do encourage you to get involved in the political process - especially if you're a younger person!

Let's listen to some tunes....

The first song is Fireworks by Cameron Ember. Song #2 (after I lament our health care, prison, and democratic participation stats) is Subimage playing Hardwire.  By the way, see Subimage at Bottom of the Hill on February 13, 2007!  Finally, I wrap up this episode with a cool, new reggae sounding tune from Dream Art Science called Wizard.

All of the music on this episode was discovered at the Podshow Podsafe Music Network.  I encourage musicians to sign up and upload some tunes at the Podsafe Music Network, and then let me know about your tunes by emailing SOMAcast@gmail.com.

Ciao for now! - jamie

Recorded in San Francisco's South Beach neighborhood.

I start this episode off by getting some thoughts on George W. Bush's desire to escalate the war in Iraq off of my chest. The bottom line for me is that we've spent nearly 4 years in Iraq, over 3,000 American soldiers' and many more Iraqis' lives, and billions of dollars of our tax money that cannot resolve a conflict between two religious groups by brute force.  Look at Israel and Palestine - do they happily get along under a single government?  The quick answer is no, one of the two groups clearly dominates the other - and there is little freedom or democracy in that.  How can George W. Bush and the Republicans think that Americans have any business fighting one or both sides of a conflict that has existed (or at least required domination of one of the two by the governing group) for hundreds of years?  If the Worst President Ever cannot figure out the simple equation that this is not worth it to America, then we need to impeach him and get someone who does listen to others.

On to the music...

This show features 3 tunes from Bay Area band Little Yellow Perfect. They have a new album coming out in April, but you can download a pre-release on iTunes now.  I'll keep my eyes peeled for live performances by the band around San Francisco...

The songs that are played:

1. Automata
2. C'mon
3. For Your Safety and the Safety of Others

All three songs were found on the Podshow Podsafe Music Network.

The show wraps up with a movie review contributed by a listener to the show. Enjoy the review of The Cinemaphiliac of the movie Children of Men.

Go check out Yelp!  Tell them Jamie W. from SOMAcast sent you!

Stay warm!  - jamie

Recorded in the fabulous South Beach neighborhood of San Francisco.

If you are in a band with some upcoming shows in San Francisco or nearby that you would like me to possibly announce, please email me at somacast@gmail.com and supply a link and permission to play your song(s) on a future edition of SOMAcast. I also strongly recommend you add your song(s) to the Podshow Podsafe Music Network, the source for all of the songs played on this episode of SOMAcast.

Congratulations to Madam Speaker Nancy Pelosi from San Francisco!  I'm proud to be represented by the first Speaker of the House from the state of California and the first female ever to hold the job.  I'm looking forward to America's progress after years of falling behind the rest of the industrialized world due to the Worst President Ever and his rubber stamp Congress. 

On to the music...

The first song is Matthew Ebel playing Every Color.  He's a great songwriter, and I do encourage you to check his songs out on his web site and on iTunes.

The second song is a piano instrumental by Rob Costlow called Bliss. Another great artist - check his music out!

The last song is called I Want to Be Good by San Francisco resident Susan Govali who fronts the band Trapped in Paradise.

Have a wonderful week! - jamie

Recorded in the South Beach neighborhood of San Francisco on the first day of 2007.

If you are in a band with some upcoming shows in San Francisco or nearby that you would like me to possibly announce, please email me at somacast@gmail.com and supply a link and permission to play your song(s) on a future edition of SOMAcast. I also strongly recommend you add your song(s) to the Podshow Podsafe Music Network, the source for all of the songs played on this episode of SOMAcast.

On this episode, I play the song Plastic by The Dont's. They have a show at Hotel Utah on January 4th and El Rio on January 6th. Check 'em out - they've got a fun, impulsive sound.

The second song is Angels and Aeroplanes by Peter James. The third is a bit of a trip, brought to us by Christopher Willits and called Yellow Spring. The final song on this episode is Beyond Curfew by Aegis.

Hope you enjoy the tunes - and please do get in touch if you have upcoming events in the City of San Francisco or nearby that SOMAcast listeners might enjoy.

Happy 2007 (officially)! - jamie