The would-be new owners of 90.5 FM have unveiled a general manager for the station, and expounded on plans to launch July 1. As expected, the format will be heavy on "in-depth NPR news and information,"  including locally-produced journalism.

As for jazz lovers, who wanted to continue WDUQ's current jazz-heavy format? They should probably start shopping for newfangled HD radio receivers. 

Essential Public Media, which is seeking to acquire WDUQ's frequency, has released a statement detailing its plans today. I'll reprint the statement in full below. But here are the highlights: 

• Essential Public Media has selected Dennis Hamilton to be the station's interim President and General Manager. Hamilton's background is in public radio, and he's currently the director of consulting for Public Radio Capital. Public Radio Capital, you may recall, were the consultants brought on by the existing WDUQ management team to help them buy the station. Didn't play out that way: PRC created a new sister organization, Public Media Company, which ended up making its own bid for the station, in concert with local radio station WYEP. 
• Current WDUQ staffers can take some comfort in today's release, however. It notes that other hiring decisions "are being determined" and quotes WYEP head Marco Cardamone pledging to "hir[e] as many of the current WDUQ staffers as possible, since we believe there is extraordinary talent there."
• EPM has pledged to retain such NPR shows as Morning Edition, All Things Considered, Car Talk, This American Life, and Wait Wait Don't Tell Me.
  
• It's also promising new, locally generated content from a variety of sources. One of those sources will be "PublicSource," the name given to a foundation-supported journalism venture that we first began talking about last summer, and whose vision became clearer in Februrary. PublicSource will be a ProPublica-style organization, providing longer-form, investigative journalism that can be picked up by other outlets.  We'll have a bit more on this venture in the days ahead. 
• Other local programming will include Essential Pittsburgh, "a daily, hour-long interview/call-in program exploring critical issues impacting our region," and Sounds of the City,an "audio collage" of sound bites and stories local people and institutions.

And what about those jazz fans? The 90.5 frequency will carry six hours of jazz programming every Saturday night: That broadcast may carry recordings of jazz events taking place around town. Other than that, the station's jazz coverage will feature "jazz reports or stories" -- though it's not clear how often these will be aired. EPW will continue producing JazzWorks, a public-radio jazz program. 

EPM is offering jazz fans another enticement, however: The owners have pledged a 24/7 jazz broadcast on a companion HD radio channel, and over Internet streaming audio. HD radio, somewhat like digital TV stations, allows a broadcaster to split its signal, offering multiple programming options.

But HD radio doesn't have much of an audience yet. Picking up the HD channels requires a special receiever. And those aren't necessarily cheap.  Over at Best Buy, you can get an HD-equipped car radio for as little as $80, but more commonly for something in the $100-$200 range. Home recievers can cost much more.

EPM is apparently offering a "voucher program" to help current WDUQ members to purchase a receiver. But it's not clear yet how much the vouchers will be worth, or how many of them are being offered.

More details to come. In the meantime, here's the full release:

IN-DEPTH NPR NEWS & INFORMATION RADIO TO LAUNCH IN PITTSBURGH ON 90.5 FM

24/7 jazz programming to air on HD channel; focus is on sustainable business model

PITTSBURGH, PA –- Essential Public Media (EPM) today announced plans to launch a digital journalism hub on July 1, 2011, that features a public radio format emphasizing in-depth local news coverage and National Public Radio (NPR) programs, an expanded jazz schedule on a High Definition (HD) channel -- on-line and on-air -- and enhanced internship opportunities for student reporters, all built on a long-term, sustainable business model.

EPM, a local, wholly-owned subsidiary of independent public radio station WYEP-FM/Pittsburgh Community Broadcasting Corp., in partnership with Public Media Company (PMC), last January offered to buy WDUQ-90.5 FM from Duquesne University for $6 million in cash and other considerations. An asset purchase agreement signed on May 2 includes cash, a note, underwriting credits and paid internship commitments to Duquesne University journalism students, according to EPM chair Marco Cardamone.

The Richard King Mellon Foundation and Heinz Endowments previously announced investments of $1.5 million each toward purchase and operating costs. EPM recently received $250,000 from WYEP's strategic reserve and another $250,000 from a donor advised fund managed by The Pittsburgh Foundation (TPF). Additional requests have been made to TPF, and a dialogue is continuing with other leading foundations in Pittsburgh.

The new 90.5 FM radio station initially will be led by Dennis Hamilton, who will serve as interim President and General Manager. Hamilton is a public radio veteran with 25 years in executive positions at Minnesota Public Radio, experienced in station management, radio technology, business innovation and modeling, as well as program production and distribution. Hamilton currently serves as Director of Consulting for Public Radio Capital, a sister nonprofit of PMC.

"Dennis is a seasoned executive who will help us through a start-up transition period as we build-out our organization and recruit senior leadership," said Cardamone. "We are thrilled Dennis is with us to help shape this new venture."

"Working with Dennis for many years, I've watched him help build Minnesota Public Radio's 40-station network group," said Susan Harmon of PMC. "He's one of the most well-respected leaders in public radio and shares our excitement about this opportunity."

Other senior leadership and staffing positions are being determined. "Our goal is to build one of the best teams in public radio, and that includes hiring as many of the current WDUQ staffers as possible, since we believe there is extraordinary talent there," said Cardamone.

The new radio station will relocate to the WYEP Community Broadcast Center on Pittsburgh's South Side. At the request of Duquesne University, an application will be made for new call letters.

The 30-day Federal Communications Commission (FCC) public comment period regarding the purchase continues until June 9, 2011. Pending FCC approval of the license transfer application, the format change is planned for July 1.

Why News and Information

Pittsburgh is one of only two U.S. cities in the top 35 radio markets without a full-service NPR news and information station, according to NPR. National research also shows full-service public radio stations consistently outperform split-format stations in terms of community service and audience growth -- essential to long-term sustainability. WDUQ currently airs NPR news magazines and local news; about 60 percent of the programming is jazz music.

"Current business models for journalism are eroding as the traditional media landscape continues to be disrupted by the Internet, digital technologies and changing consumer behavior," said Cardamone. "Yet a significant need remains to provide listeners with in-depth coverage of local, national and global issues impacting their lives. It is our vision and intent to fill that void with cross-platform news and information programming.

"EPM will view local and regional life through a wide-angle lens to spot important stories that are not being told. Our focus is on quality, non-partisan news told by professional journalists that is accurate, comprehensive and compelling. We also intend to include stories offered by citizen and student journalists to engage the community in dialogue and action," said Cardamone.

Programming Highlights

Signature shows in development for 90.5 FM include Essential Pittsburgh, a daily, hour-long interview/call-in program exploring critical issues impacting our region, and Sounds of the City, a weekly round-up featuring stories and sound bites that will form an audio collage of Pittsburgh people and organizations. Other local programs are being planned.

Award winning NPR News magazines Morning Edition and All Things Considered will remain on 90.5 FM, as well as other acclaimed public media programs including Fresh Air, Marketplace, Car Talk, Wait Wait Don't Tell Me, This American Life and The Splendid Table.

Jazz programming, currently airing about 100 hours per week on 90.5 FM, expands to 174 hours per week through three channels; HD radio, on-air and on-line:

• Jazz will be broadcast 24/7 on a companion HD channel and Internet audio stream; EPM plans to offer a voucher program for member listeners to help them purchase HD receivers
• EPM will continue the production of JazzWorks, the U.S.'s only public radio jazz program originating from Pittsburgh.
• EPM will devote six hours of jazz programming every Saturday night on 90.5 FM
• Live jazz events will be recorded for broadcast, celebrating the city's jazz heritage and current scene
• A jazz calendar of events will be posted on-line
• Jazz reports and features will air on 90.5 FM

The core NPR news and information delivery will be through traditional "over-the-air" broadcast radio on 90.5 FM, but also include digital HD radio platforms, the Internet and mobile devices. EPM's primary web site, EssentialPublicMedia.org, will function as a digital journalism hub for up-to-the-minute news, information, insight, listener interaction and community engagement.

"The web site also will serve as a 'listening post' for user-driven journalism that will be encouraged and cultivated," said Cardamone. "EPM also is developing interactive delivery for mobile platforms including smart phones and tablet devices. News and information will be multimedia in nature, integrating voice, video, photos, information graphics, podcasts and 'widget-based' applications into the storytelling."

Partnerships, Leadership, Internships

EPM will be a news partner with PublicSource, a web-based public service journalism initiative conceived by The Pittsburgh Foundation and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, and administered by Pittsburgh Filmmakers, one of the oldest and largest media arts centers in the U.S.

PublicSource will be regionally focused, using long-form journalism techniques and utilizing text, audio, video and photography. Its web site will operate as a content warehouse and PublicSource will develop media partnerships with news organizations throughout the region.

EPM's Board of Directors currently consists of members of WYEP's board and Public Media Company's board. EPM bylaws call for a 9-12 member governance board, which will be broadly representative of civic, corporate and journalistic leadership in the Pittsburgh region. Experienced and business-focused, the board will build an efficient, sustainable cost structure, ensuring financial resources are properly managed and the station leadership operates EPM in concert with its mission. The board also will create editorial policy to ensure objective, balanced coverage with high ethical journalism standards and non-partisan news reporting.

An advanced internship program with Duquesne University will train aspiring journalists who want to report on in-depth stories, while providing listeners with a younger perspective and helping build public radio's next generation of engaged citizens and leaders.

"We are grateful that, with strong support from the foundation community, underwriters and member listeners, the new radio station and its digital technology platform will preserve a vital public resource in Pittsburgh that will benefit generations to come," said Cardamone. "We are public trustees of this resource -- not owners -- and we will continue to listen to the community's voice."

City officials often boast of Pittsburgh's designation as "America's Most Livable City." But next week, local activists plan to use hip-hop and a community discussion to prove Pittsburgh hasn't exactly earned the title.

On May 31, One Hood Media will premier activist/artist Jasiri X's latest music video, "America's Most Livable City," at 7 p.m. inside the Homewood Library. The video, the first of four to address Pittsburgh-related issues, scrutinizes the "Most Livable City" moniker, trying to square the designation with recent U.S. Census statistics showing that Pittsburgh has the country's highest rate of poverty among working-age African Americans.

"Welcome to America's Most Livable City / Please ignore the invisibles with me," goes the song's chorus. "See Pittsburgh rebuilt its economy / But we still lead the Nation in black poverty."

Directed by activist/videographer Paradise Gray, Jasiri tells City Paper the video shows Pittsburgh's two vastly different sides: "The side city officials roll out, and the other side" -- like Elmer Square, in the Hill District, and the streets of Lincoln-Lemington.

"Going door to door in Elmer Square makes me angry that people have to live like that in 2011," says Jasiri, whose music video "What if the Tea Party was Black" went viral after its release last summer. "What we're trying to do is really highlight the economic disparity in Pittsburgh."

Jasiri will moderate a panel discussion following the video premier. Focused on addressing the city's economic disparities, the conversation will feature panelists including: Bomani Howze, program officer of the Heinz Endowments; Brandi Fisher, chair of the Alliance for Police Accountability; and Khalid Raheem, president of the National Council of Urban Peace and Justice.

"We want people to come up with solutions," Jasiri says. "We recognize the disparity in Pittsburgh. Now what can we do about it?"

Howdy!

This week's MP3 Monday offering comes from longtime local garage legends The Cynics. The band releases its eighth studio album, Spinning Wheel Motel, next week, but we're giving you a preview RIGHT NOW.

The track is the first on the album, and it's blistering, and it's called "I Need More," and it's got a sweet video on Youtube right up in here, and, here: download it, OK?!

They're going on a tour to Spain soon, then when they get back they're promising an acoustic-duo release show locally.

PS: For extra credit, read Aaron's feature from a couple years ago on The Cynics and Get Hip Records.

Courtesy of Brian Holton

Distal at Brillobox

Friday the 13th, night of superstitions and all around strange occurrences, oh-so aptly marked the return of the Garden of Earthly Delights party hosted by DJ James Gyre at the Brillobox. The lineup included Lazercrunk resident Keeb$, followed by the party's host and headlined by special guest Distal (Atlanta/Embassy Recordings) with visuals provided by Jocklaw. It was a bill of heavy yet beautiful bass accompanied by a rainbow of trippy technicolor visuals.

The current climate of bass-heavy music has been dominated by brostep sounds proffered by the likes of Skrillex and Feed Me: all earsplitting screeches, high-pitched vocal samples and dirty, face-melting bass lines. The MO of some DJ's seems to be: play the dirtiest, wobbliest bass music possible, stuff that's often just plain too hard for human ears. Crowds go wild for it, which makes the pretty stuff -- the dubstep with substance and intricacy, weird time signatures and playful organic samples -- a straight-up risk to book.

There is, however, a sweet spot in dubstep that combines party jams with otherworldly, boundary pushing bass music. It's a challenging craft to sculpt a set that keeps the dance floor poppin' but isn't afraid to take the risks that often end up leading the dancers to new sonic terrain. The ever-elusive party-rocking dubstep sweet spot was certainly brought by Distal that night. From the moment he dropped Plastikman's "Spastik," a complex techno flavored track of pure, unadulterated percussive ecstasy, it was obvious that he wasn't going to let the dance floor occupants relax into a bob of mainstream bass concordance. He took techno, house, raw sound samples, emphasized the low-end and what came out was something akin to an aquatic spaceship, futuristic and weird but oh-so danceable.

Some highlights of his set included the tune "Typwriter Tune," a collaboration between Distal and Vancouver based producer Hxdb. The track was a symphony of the simple mechanical sounds of a typewriter mixed with aquatic "glubs," pieced together to make a fun catchy track. Also addicting was the track by Clicks and Whistles called "Cranberry Goose," which was released on Distal's label Embassy Recordings. It moves from elongated, throbbing synths that get blended into a quirky percussion layer featuring squeaks, yes squeaks, all to a chorus of 'Get loose, cranberry juice.'

The night ended at Istanbul, where Jason Burns treated the crowd to his recent XLR8R featured release, "Back 2 You"; an encore set by Gyre that dripped with his signature tendencies towards the elaborate sounds of Amon Tobin; and finally a shockingly unique set by FUZZ! resident Depth One that strayed from the straight up drum 'n' bass he so often spins into a grimier street-style that proved he's got some range behind the decks. Numerology and superstition be damned; no bad luck at this party, just really good bass music.

I don't know long your "Things To Do Before (Maybe?) Being Raptured" list is, but I suggest making a little time for My Idea of Fun. The Johnstown-based artist collective is celebrating the Glorious End of Days by releasing everything they've got –older recordings by Hit or Miss Engines and Higher Fives, new stuff from Narrow Berth, visual art from Jacob Koestler and Olivia Locher and lots o' other stuff -- via their new online store, which goes live May 21st.

If that's a bit too much media to consume on your last earthly day, sample from the My Idea of Fun Blog. Daily posts over the last three weeks have served as an apocalyptic count down, and a showcase for the various musicians, artists, and writers who fall under the MIOF banner. The countdown may seem a bit thematically loose at first, but Koestler explains that, as people who tend toward the esoteric, "it was our first crack at being informative, our first attempt at not being cryptic." While there are some brand new items, some of the more perplexing posts of yore are re-posted, and explained. I, for one, am glad I can cross "find Endless Mike's secret recordings" off my Rapture list.

Wilfred Santiago, the author and artist behind a terrific new graphic novel about Roberto Clemente, visits Phantom of the Attic Comics, in Oakland, tomorrow.

Here's the interview writer David Davis did with Santiago for CP back in April: www.pittsburghcitypaper.ws/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A93344. 

Santiago's 21 tells the baseball hero's life story, and not just his exploits with the Pirates and his humanitarian work. It also spends a good deal of time with young Roberto in Puerto Rico, partly to show what drove this proud athlete and partly to explore things like the Puerto Rican independence movement.

Santiago, you see, grew up in the very town where Clemente was born (though he was just 3 when Clemente died, in 1972).

For as ambitious as it is literarily, 21 might be even more engrossing visually. Santiago's playful stylizations powerfully render everything from the exploitation of Puerto Rico's cane fields to Clemente's own wildly kinetic prowess at the plate, on the basepaths and patrolling right at Forbes Field and Three Rivers Stadium. Its evocation of Pittsburgh during Clemente's early days here -- from the mid-1950s through the 1960 World Series -- are especially good.

Santiago, who's now based in Chicago, will sign copies of 21 from 1-4 p.m at Phantom of the Attic, 411 S. Craig St., Oakland. The store's phone number is 412-621-1210.

So. What did this week's primary election results really mean, in the cosmic sense, for city government? 

The simple answer is: We won't really know until 2012, when Corey O'Connor is sworn in. Since all the council incumbents who ran for re-election won, the only change is in District 5, where O'Connor replaced outgoing councilor Doug Shields. Shields, of course, was part of the a 5-to-4 council majority lined up against the mayor. So the future of both the mayor and his critics may well be decided by a guy who doesn't belong to either. And because O'Connor's election, fueled by a ton of cash and name recognition, was a foregone conclusion, he doesn't owe anything to any of them.

Even so, these elections mattered a bit more than some current punditry would have you believe.

Let's start with Tim McNulty, who  offers up this learned perspective at Early Returns:

There is a lot of crowing going on by Ravenstahl's critics after his challengers went 0/3 yesterday, but ... Pittsburgh's mayors have never been very good at getting their people onto council ...

Council races are not referenda on a mayor's performance, but rather about distinct issues and personalities. That's especially true in the district era (council members were elected at-large until the late 1980s) but it was true before then too.

... Councils have been driving mayors crazy for decades, and somehow they figure out a way to (sort of) work together.

McNulty's post cites a handful of examples in which particular mayoral favorites failed to win their election fights. 

I can't dispute any of that. (And a follow-up story in the Post-Gazette expands on the idea.) Hell, I used the election results from May of 2009 to reject the "coattails" argument. But I think something is different this time around. 

For one thing, those historic examples are cases where a mayor tried to affect a single race in a given election season. Ravenstahl's failure this time was much more sweeping. He  tried to oust three incumbents -- Darlene Harris, Patrick Dowd, and Bruce Kraus -- and failed all three times. One reason his coattails seem so tattered, in other words, is that he wore them so many places.

What's more, Ravenstahl's chosen candidates often did try to make this race about the mayor. A repeated talking point this spring was to bemoan the deterioriating relationship between council and the mayor -- and to blame the problem on the uppity council incumbent.

Consider, for example, this attack on Kraus by rival Jeff Koch -- the mayoral favorite in that district:

It is impossible to pass meaningful legislation without compromise. It has long been the case that childish fighting and disagreements have left the city of Pittsburgh with a government that doesn’t work ... With pension problems, budget gaps, and other economic challenges facing the city, residents deserve a strong working relationship between council and the Mayor.

This appeal did not succeed, obviously. And this is where things start getting funny. Ravenstahl's guys first tried to make this election about mayoral/council relations. And when they lost, Ravenstahl's guys began insisting the election wasn't really about the mayor at all.

Witness how Paul McKrell, Ravenstahl's former campaign manager, takes McNulty's consolation-prize blog posting and runs with it on Facebook. Lady Elaine at the Burgh Chair captures McKrell's take for those of us without access to his Facebook page:

Tim McNulty's right. In the end, Pgh is by definition a "strong mayoral form of government." With respect to some great people who make up the majority of council, that isn't bitter/obsessed with becoming mayor, & that will be augmented by an independent voice from the 5thCD, a Mayor doesn't need council to govern. Never has. Never will. But it sure does help to be able to have a conversation."

Actually, McNulty's post says nothing about a "strong mayoral form of government," and it's not clear who McKrell is quoting there. McNulty, in fact, was writing purely about politics -- the mayor's ability to affect elections. McKrell is turning that into an argument about policy -- the mayor's ability to govern. 

Which brings us to his baffling statement that "a Mayor doesn't need council to govern."

O rly? So how come council was able to thwart Ravenstahl's signature issue of 2010 -- the effort to privatize the operation of public parking garages?

Pittsburgh's charter, it's true, gives a large share of government power to the executive branch. But McKrell seems to think that because Pittsburgh has a "strong-mayor" government, every mayor must be strong. Which we've now seen isn't true -- either in politics or policy. 

Which brings us to the real impact of the 2011 primary.

The other striking thing about McKrell's post, as you may have noticed, is that it marks an early overture in the attempt to seduce Corey O'Connor. He is, of course, that "independent voice" McKrell is praising. You can already hear the sweet nothings that are going to be whispered in O'Connor's ear between now and when he takes office. 

Oh Corey ... you're so strong and ... and independent. You don't want to listen to those other councilors ... they're just bitter. You can show your independence by joining us. 

It might even work. O'Connor is, quite smartly, playing his cards close to his vest, promising to work with everyone. And God knows Ravenstahl's foes have miscalculated alliances before.

But here's the key point that I think is getting missed here. A lack of mayoral coattails is an old phenomenon. But as I wrote previously, there's also a new phenomenon at work: the rise of a rival progressive powerbase, a party-within-a-party that has its own resources and infrastructure to draw on.

Just a few years ago, I used to hear progressives mutter darkly about the Democratic Party "machine" ... the shadowy influence of guys like John Verbanac ... a whole host of forces that conspired against them at every turn. 

I've never been too impressed by that argument; belief in an all-powerful party machine, for one, rarely survives an encounter with an actual gathering of committeepeople. I always felt it was more an excuse for progressive failures than anything else.

But the progressives, it seems, increasingly don't need excuses.

Kraus, Dowd and Harris all had to run without the party's endorsement. And the Mysterious Mr. Verbanac and his pals threw cash into these races for the first time in anyone's memory. The machine took its best shot -- and failed.

2010 began with the mayor flailing in a fruitless attempt to stop prevailing wage legislation; the year ended with council rejecting his parking lease plan. Last year, then, council's majority has proved it could drive policy. This year, it has proved it can thrive politically.

That's not to say it's clear sailing from here on out. Despite breaking sharply with Ravenstahl on numerous issues, Dowd has squabbled with council's majority as well. That seems likely to continue, since he has earned a mandate to keep on keeping on. And it's not like the 2013 elections are a foregone conclusion. Both city controller Michael Lamb and progressive councilor Bill Peduto are clearly pondering mayoral runs ... raising the specter of the two men splitting the opposition vote, just as they did in 2005.

So yeah, this could all end in tears. In the end, O'Connor may not decide to line up with that majority. But when you take a look at the election results from 2009 ... and Ravenstahl's failures on the pension issue last year ... and this past week's results ... it's obvious that there's a new game in town. And when you're deciding what kind of player you want to be, that's a big deal. 

Even the most gifted student would have trouble trying to solve the math problem Gov. Tom Corbett has presented the Pittsburgh Public Schools.

That much was clear tonight as Superintendent Linda Lane outlined the city district's budget woes during a community meeting hosted by A+ Schools. Addressing nearly 100 parents, community members and school officials, Lane explained that the Pittsburgh Public Schools will be forced to make significant staffing and programming cuts to erase a projected $68 million deficit for the district's next fiscal year.

"We are going to look different on the other end," she announced during the meeting at the Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers headquarters, on the South Side. The district, she added, will have to achieve "Promise readiness [for students] on fewer resources."

Even before Corbett released his budget proposal, which included $1 billion in reductions to basic education, Lane said the district's books were already destined for red ink. "Right now we have a district that's spending more than it's taking in," she said, noting in a PowerPoint slide show that the school system's current operating deficit is $8.7 million. "So we already had a problem -- the governor's budget makes it worse."

As a result of Corbett's budget proposal, the Pittsburgh Public Schools will lose $34.1 million annually. That means a projected $23.9 million 2011 deficit for the district, and an estimated $68 million deficit in 2012.

"I want you to understand how big this problem really is," Lane said. "I want you to understand the magnitude."

In March, the district announced plans to cut the central office budget by 10 percent. But, Lane said, "We know now that just simply isn't enough."

Indeed, district officials are currently trying to figure out exactly what they need to cut to bring expenditures in line with the district's available resources. They are currently considering central office staff cuts as large as 50 percent, which could save $10-15 million annually.

In addition, Lane said school schools closings, course reductions and school-staff reductions could cut an additional $30-40 million. "That is a lot of money," she said.

And the $68 million annual deficit may only be the start. Lane said there's a chance it could grow to roughly twice that much should the state adopt a school-voucher plan, which educators fear would divert resources from public schools to private academies.

On the bright side, Lane said at the end of her presentation, at least Pittsburgh's fiscal problems aren't as bad as Philadelphia's, where the city school district faces a $629 million budget deficit.

"I'm glad I don't have to deal with that," she said.

After Lane finished her presentation, A+ Schools polled attendees on their own budget priorities. Asked which areas they would least like to cut, the audience selected "Instructional Supports in Schools," "Programs in Schools" and "Special Education." Areas where attendees were more amenable to cuts included "Central Office Administration and Business" and "Transportation."

Attendees were also asked if they would support a tax increase to fill the budget gap. The poll of the room showed that 37 percent voted "definitely yes," 16 percent voted "probably yes," 14 percent voted "not sure," 10 percent voted "probably not" and 23 percent voted "definitely no."

Here are two unrelated, except in that they both deal with local things and punk rock things, pieces of news for you to digest:

-- The local band White Wives announced today that their forthcoming album, Happeners, will be issued June 28 by Adeline Records, the label run by Billie Joe and Adrienne Armstrong. The band's previous EP was released by the local Lock & Key imprint; look for a release show June 24 at 222 Ormsby.

-- In a tangentially Pittsburghian punk rock story, it was announced today that a team of scientists, including Carnegie Museum of Natural History's Matt Lamanna, discovered a to-this-point-unknown bird, long extinct, described as a "three-dimensionally preserved enantiornithine bird (Aves: Ornithothoraces) from Gansu Province, northwestern China," and named it after ... Greg Graffin of Bad Religion. The punk rocker is, as you probably know if you follow Bad Religion at all, a Ph.D. in zoology/evolutionary science, and, according to a report on Epitaph's website today, and is lecturing this fall at Cornell.

The Bloomfield Bridge Tavern was packed early, uncharacteristic for a Wednesday evening. The weekly drum 'n' bass night hosted by FUZZ! 412 DnB DJ collective can always draw a crowd of the faithful, but on certain nights, with certain headliners, they can pack the little dance floor with raging bass junkies who get in early and stay 'til the very end.

Last Wednesday was one of those nights as they hosted London-based drum 'n' bass producer and DJ Klute for their 11th Anniversary celebration. The bartenders handed out pizza in lieu of pierogies to an appreciative crowd as one of FUZZ!'s resident DJ's, Depth One, opened up with some classic techstep. The atmosphere wasn't necessarily celebratory as it was just keepin' up with tradition.

FUZZ! is the longest-running electronic music event in Pittsburgh and stands out on a short list of longest-running in the country. Hearkening back to the late '90s and early '00s, the weekly platform for drum 'n' bass has moved venues a few times, tweaked its name, and seen its audience shrink and swell over time. Throughout the past 11 years it has remained steadfast and adamant about bringing quality drum 'n' bass to the Burgh both by cultivating local talent and by bringing world-renowned producers in to grace the stage of the BBT.

Resident FUZZ! DJ and local veteran of the ravey drum 'n' bass formalism days of yore, Geoff Maddock (Cutups) says of the group's collectivism, "We put all the money from the weekly nights into a pot so that we can afford to lose money bringing guests. It's just a sign of the love and dedication that the crew has for this music."

As a genre, drum 'n' bass has seen historical moments of ballooned underground acceptance as in the rave days, when raves were not the same as today's all-ages parties that feature hardstyle DJ's; a veritable sonic onslaught that often leaves those who saw the inception of rave culture scratching their heads in confusion. It has also seen moments of homelessness, and an interest and continuation by only a dedicated few who hung on to the fast-paced tempo while other purveyors of electronic music slipped into a more mainstream jazzstep sound.

But here, and now, 11 years after it's inception as a consistent event in Pittsburgh, FUZZ! has made the point that drum 'n' bass is entirely too vast of a genre to be broken down and their choice of a headliner in Klute does everything to prove that interest remains.

Klute's set was constantly in conversation with the speedy, intricate percussion lined drum 'n' bass that could now be considered 'classic,' and a more minimal, smoothed-out languid sound. He vacillated between hard-dark-speedy and soft-glistening dub with ease. His set was like dance floor time-travel, pulling up the sounds from the past and pushing them into the future. Pretty much the mentality that could give FUZZ! 11 more years.