Weaver Street Geoff: Weavestock 3, Pop Voxx, EP Update, Hugh Swaso

Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Weavestock 3, Pop Voxx, EP Update, Hugh Swaso

Another nudge to all my Weaver Street Market art, performance and musician co-workers. Discussions about ‪#‎Weavestock3‬ are underway. Please let folks know soonest if you want to take part.

Pop Voxx / Geoff Gilson will be appearing. The six-song EP is coming along in leaps and bounds. Last Friday, we laid down the first guitar tracks with Hugh Swaso (of Skinny Bag Of Sugar), on 'Road To Love.' 'Call Out My Name' this week.

We are building the sound, people. Forget Daft, Taylor, Katy, Ronson, Max and Pharrell. We are talking the heaviest drum and bass (stolen from the depths of Club Valhalla), overlain with piano and synth straight out of the Eighties, with a hint of, yes, is that Nintendo (?), matched with anthemic guitar, sax and magisterial vocals, all with a sprinkling of trademark Geoff twitch, pulse, dance, sass and humor.

All undertaken by the remarkable team at Nightsound Studios - Chris Wimberley, Adrianna Villa (it be they two, plus me, plus Hugh in the pics attached - ooh, arr!!), Meghan Puryear and Geneva Walata. Coming soon to an EP release party/showcase near you. Well, likely July/August. With a ... wait for it ... full band. Which I am just beginning to work on. Nerves. Asking people. I'm still doing the not-worthy thing. Me. Or the songs. Why do emotional issues have to plague everything?! Sigh. I will get there. Got this far! Don't you like how I share everything?

Anyways, and in the meantime, as I say, Pop Voxx will be at Weavestock 3. But for that gig, it will still be me, the Casio, you, the dances. Oh. And don't think that because PV is going uptown, it won't still be interactive. It will be. Just interactive with mega-wattage ... !!

So fellow Weaverites, don't be shy. Let Steve Carter or Linda Fullwood (Linda@weaverstreetmarket.coop) know you are interested, and let's get the party rolling ... !!

"be the co-op!" - Why?

Hi, I'm Geoff. I work in Southern Village, on the Hot Bar.

I'm standing as a Worker-Owner Candidate for the WSM Board of Directors because I love "The Weave," and I truly believe our co-op can be so much better than it is - as a real co-op!

Whole Foods has organic food. The Farmers Market sells local. Harris Teeter has a suggestions box. Even Wal-Mart makes community donations.

Surely, as a co-op, we should be better than all of them? But, are we?

Do we really pay attention to our workers and owners?

Do we all get a vote on the big decisions that change the very nature of our co-op?

Do we really have a bottom line that deals with our social health as a co-op as well as our financial health?

Do we really pay our workers a living wage?

Do we really 'own' our co-op - not just its capital; but the way it behaves? Do we really act like an 'authentic' co-op? Do we really treat 'co-operation' as a verb, that works both ways?

If you are are an owner or worker who feels that too often the answer is 'no,' and you'd like to start hearing 'yes,' then you might find some welcome solutions in this blog, and in my 'Tasty' candidacy for the Board of WSM.

If we want it, we can make it happen. Don't leave it to others. Get involved. Own. Vote. Reclaim. Be the co-op!

I really want to hear what you are thinking. So, please feel free to stop and chat, or post a comment on this blog.

If you have an issue or a question, which you want to raise in private, please feel free to contact me at: geoffgilson@hotmail.com.

We can be better than this!

[So, what the heck does all this reference to 'Tasty' mean, anyway?...ah ha!...you gotta read to find out!]

[Please Note: The views expressed on this blog are my own, and in no way represent the official position of Weaver Street Market Co-operative.]

"be the co-op!" - How?

Should we owners and workers be consulted about and have a vote on the big changes to our co-op?

Yes. It helps to smooth implementation of those big changes by workers, and their acceptance by owners and consumers. That's Business Management 101.

Plus, we're a co-op...we own it...we're supposed to be asked! We're supposed to have a say! That's Democracy 101.

And a suggestions box or a management presentation is not democracy!

Democracy is a two-way conversation. Democracy is a vote at the end of the debate. Democracy is when we treat 'co-operation' as a verb, working both ways.

Are you a worker or owner who feels a little left out of what is happening to our "Weave"?

Do you believe that we can be better than this?

Do you want to do something about it?

If your answer is 'yes,' then you've taken the first step - you've started thinking 'yes,' rather than hearing 'no.'

Next, become an owner by speaking with your unit manager, or by contacting board@weaverstreetmarket.coop - you have to be an owner to vote.

Then, make sure to vote in the Board Elections.

And if you want to reclaim your co-op, if you want "The Weave" to be a truly 'authentic' co-op, then I invite you to vote to make Co-operation a Verb.

"be the co-op!"

[Ok. Little explanation. This section was first written back in 2007. And has been added to over the course of the five WSM Board Elections in which I have presented myself as a Worker-Owner Candidate.

I thought of deleting it, since it doesn't really make any sense. But you know? It does make sense. It represents the frustration of highlighting the same lack of democracy in our co-op, over and over and over again.

It really IS time we worked together, to reclaim our co-op, and to make it and us all we can truly be.]

You can support the 'Tasty' ("Co-operation is a Verb!") Campaign for the Board of "The Weave" by wearing this 'Who Moved My Fish?' Of-fish-ial Campaign Button.

The point is not that there wasn't some reasonable rationale for moving the seafood and meat counter out of the Carrboro store [in 2007].

It's that there was no meaningful discussion with owners and workers beforehand.

Not about moving the meat and seafood.

Nor about implementing any other aspect of the huge expansion plans that have caused, and are still causing, so much agitation and financial distress throughout "The Weave" (what I call Expansion I: 'The Debt' [2007]).

Nor about the removal of the Consumer-Owner and Senior Discounts in 2009.

Nor about extending the opening hours in 2010.

Nor about demanding that workers work 15% harder in 2011 (what I call Expansion II: 'The Overload' - just when you thought it was safe ...).

Nor about current plans to build three more stores, at a cost of millions of dollars, in the decade leading up to 2020 (Expansion III: 'The Leap Too Far').

Of course, choosing The Fish as a symbol is a metaphor. But it is a powerful metaphor.

It is a metaphor that underlines the basic co-operative principle that is repeated on the front page of every one of our monthly newsletters, namely that owners are supposed to be the primary source of all authority in our co-op.

That principle can only have meaning in practice if owners are allowed democratically to control all strategic decision-making.

I believe passionately in the notion of the democratization of decision-making, and I think I proved this with my contributions to WSM's Elections Task Force in 2008.

Now I'd welcome your support in allowing me to take this a step further, and in ensuring that the Board has on it a Director who truly believes in democratically paying attention to the cares and concerns of owners and the workforce.

Who believes passionately that 'co-operation' is a verb that should work both ways.

If you feel we can be better than we are now, then together let's make the Board take notice of us. Let's reclaim our co-op. Let's make it a truly 'authentic' co-op.