Yeah Ok is an American Indie Pop band formed in Portland, Maine in 2006 and has been writing and playing in it's current 4 piece formation since January of 2007. The band plays style of smooth indie pop based around guitar, drum, bass, and rhodes piano, that owes inspiration to acts such as Yo La Tengo, Steely Dan, and Dinosaur Jr.
Formation
Yeah Ok was initially formed in the fall of 2006 by the members of a number of local Portland acts who met at the now defunct but still legendary Portland cafe/club Acoustic Coffee. Originally a backing band for a Steven Williams solo project, the band played its first shows as a 7 piece at venues such as Acoustic Coffee and Bubba's Sulky Lounge. By January of 2007 Frank Hopkins had joined the Portland soul band Adam and the Waxmen; Gabby Raymond formed Anna's Ghost with former Bluestone bassist (now drummer) Ian Riley; and Steven Bacon moved to Boston to focus on solo performance.
The resulting 4 piece had Katrina Abramo (ex-Subject Bias) on Bass and vocals; Matt Hansen (of Dear Claudia, also of Line of Force and formerly of Strange Pleasure) playing Rhodes Piano; Elliot Heeschen (Dead Man's Clothes) on drums; and Steven Williams (Dead End Armory) on guitar and vocals.
Past & Future Recordings
The 4 piece Yeah Ok began writing new material almost immediately and by May of 2007 had released a well-received 5 song EP entitled "Pick Me for Kickball", recorded at Sweet Dream Recording in Portland by Frank Hopkins. The recording defined Yeah Ok as creators of bittersweet pleasing indie pop music based around strong songwriting and arrangements and Williams' simple, unadorned vocals. The band also contributed a track to the 2007 Cat & Mouse Records Compilation CD.
The band, though inactive since summer 2007 due primarily to Williams' involvement with Dead End Armory and Abramo and Heeschen's college class schedules, has not broken up; plans are in the works for a follow up EP.
Discography
*Pick Me for Kickball EP, (2007)
*Cat & Mouse Records 2007 Compilation Single Track, (2007)
Formation
Yeah Ok was initially formed in the fall of 2006 by the members of a number of local Portland acts who met at the now defunct but still legendary Portland cafe/club Acoustic Coffee. Originally a backing band for a Steven Williams solo project, the band played its first shows as a 7 piece at venues such as Acoustic Coffee and Bubba's Sulky Lounge. By January of 2007 Frank Hopkins had joined the Portland soul band Adam and the Waxmen; Gabby Raymond formed Anna's Ghost with former Bluestone bassist (now drummer) Ian Riley; and Steven Bacon moved to Boston to focus on solo performance.
The resulting 4 piece had Katrina Abramo (ex-Subject Bias) on Bass and vocals; Matt Hansen (of Dear Claudia, also of Line of Force and formerly of Strange Pleasure) playing Rhodes Piano; Elliot Heeschen (Dead Man's Clothes) on drums; and Steven Williams (Dead End Armory) on guitar and vocals.
Past & Future Recordings
The 4 piece Yeah Ok began writing new material almost immediately and by May of 2007 had released a well-received 5 song EP entitled "Pick Me for Kickball", recorded at Sweet Dream Recording in Portland by Frank Hopkins. The recording defined Yeah Ok as creators of bittersweet pleasing indie pop music based around strong songwriting and arrangements and Williams' simple, unadorned vocals. The band also contributed a track to the 2007 Cat & Mouse Records Compilation CD.
The band, though inactive since summer 2007 due primarily to Williams' involvement with Dead End Armory and Abramo and Heeschen's college class schedules, has not broken up; plans are in the works for a follow up EP.
Discography
*Pick Me for Kickball EP, (2007)
*Cat & Mouse Records 2007 Compilation Single Track, (2007)
Kanapathipillai Subramaniam Balachandran ( Karaveddi, Jaffna) is a Sri Lankan radio, television, stage and film actor, writer and director. He was a broadcaster working with the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) for more than 20 years.
Actor
He and acted initially in the monthly comedy programs in Tamil produced in front of the live audience at SriLanka Broadcasting Corporation. From 1970, he was in the actor's pool of the Tamil National Service of SLBC and became very popular with the listeners through the radio plays broadcast every Wednesday and Saturday. He played the main role "Somu" in the famous Radio serial play "Thaniyatha Thagam". This play written by famous poet and writer Sillaiyoor Selvarajan was sponsored by Peoples' Bank and broadcast for more than two years. He acted in many other serial plays like " Kiramathu Kanaugal", "Vizuthugal" and also in a comedy serial titled" Vaaththiyar Veeddil". The last play written and acted by Balachandran has helped Indian Actor Kamal Hassan in his film "Tenali" to speak Jaffna dialect.
Writer
He wrote many comedy skits for "Kathambam","Maththappu", "Kuthukalam" programs recorded with live audience at Studio 6 in SriLanka Broadcasting Corporation. He wrote many plays for broadcast in National Service. The popular serial play titled "Kiramathu Kanavukal" was written by him for Commercial Service and this play was released in Audio Cassettes at a grand function held at Ramakrishna Mission Hall, Colombo. Another comedy serial written by him, "Vaththiar Veedil" was broadcast for more tha two years and as Audio cassettes sold in many countries. He wrote series of articles in magazines like "Chirithiran" and "Eelanadu Sunday Magazine". His short stories were published in national dailies like "Thinakaran" and Veerakesari. He wrote scripts for television plays like "Thiruppankal" and documentaries for Rubavahini in SriLanka.
In Canada he wrote screenplay for films like" Engo Tholaivil", "Menmaiyana Vairangal" and "Uyire Uyire". He wrote and directed more than 20 stage plays in Canada. He wrote and produced "Maname Maname" , a radio serial play for CMR Radio, Toronto.
Producer
He produced and presented "Kalai Kolam", a popular magazine program with reviews of movies, stage plays, books and dance recitals broadcast by SLBC.
He is recognised as a forerunner in Canadian Tamil filmmaking.
Actor
He and acted initially in the monthly comedy programs in Tamil produced in front of the live audience at SriLanka Broadcasting Corporation. From 1970, he was in the actor's pool of the Tamil National Service of SLBC and became very popular with the listeners through the radio plays broadcast every Wednesday and Saturday. He played the main role "Somu" in the famous Radio serial play "Thaniyatha Thagam". This play written by famous poet and writer Sillaiyoor Selvarajan was sponsored by Peoples' Bank and broadcast for more than two years. He acted in many other serial plays like " Kiramathu Kanaugal", "Vizuthugal" and also in a comedy serial titled" Vaaththiyar Veeddil". The last play written and acted by Balachandran has helped Indian Actor Kamal Hassan in his film "Tenali" to speak Jaffna dialect.
Writer
He wrote many comedy skits for "Kathambam","Maththappu", "Kuthukalam" programs recorded with live audience at Studio 6 in SriLanka Broadcasting Corporation. He wrote many plays for broadcast in National Service. The popular serial play titled "Kiramathu Kanavukal" was written by him for Commercial Service and this play was released in Audio Cassettes at a grand function held at Ramakrishna Mission Hall, Colombo. Another comedy serial written by him, "Vaththiar Veedil" was broadcast for more tha two years and as Audio cassettes sold in many countries. He wrote series of articles in magazines like "Chirithiran" and "Eelanadu Sunday Magazine". His short stories were published in national dailies like "Thinakaran" and Veerakesari. He wrote scripts for television plays like "Thiruppankal" and documentaries for Rubavahini in SriLanka.
In Canada he wrote screenplay for films like" Engo Tholaivil", "Menmaiyana Vairangal" and "Uyire Uyire". He wrote and directed more than 20 stage plays in Canada. He wrote and produced "Maname Maname" , a radio serial play for CMR Radio, Toronto.
Producer
He produced and presented "Kalai Kolam", a popular magazine program with reviews of movies, stage plays, books and dance recitals broadcast by SLBC.
He is recognised as a forerunner in Canadian Tamil filmmaking.
GOOOH Political Action Committee represents a new political party in the United States. It is responsible for overseeing a self-funding selection process enabling everyday Americans with modest means to be chosen by the populace of their congressional district as federal Congressional candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives, as well as financing their congressional campaigns in the national elections.
The GOOOH Political Action Committee filed with the Federal Election Commission on November 26, 2007 and it was recommended it operate as a PAC until it had multiple candidates identified and met all other National Committee standards.
GOOOH stands for "Get Out of Our House" and is pronounced like the word "go". As the name implies, the organization aims to replace the 435 career politicians of the U.S. House of Representatives with its own non-partisan representatives, ostensibly to serve in the House as citizen statesmen that return to their private lives after a limited number of terms (currently proposed as 2).
Its main counterparts are the Republican National Committee, the Democratic National Committee, the Libertarian National Committee and the Green National Committee.
Campaign role
The GOOOH Political Action Committee is a newly formed and rapidly growing group of American patriots concerned with the impact career politicians are having on America. It is responsible for promoting its candidate selection system and coordinating party organizational activity. It plays no role in Presidential Elections and focuses solely on Congressional Elections for the U.S. House of Representatives. It also supervises its own "convention" and raises funds, commissions polls, and coordinates campaign strategy. Following the selection of a party nominee, the public funding laws permit the PAC to coordinate certain expenditures with the nominee, but additional funds are spent on general party-building.
Candidate Funding System
All qualifying citizens wishing to become GOOOH Candidates on their district's ballot will participate in funding a collective national campaign via the fee they submit to participate in the candidate selection sessions. The aggregate of fees collected from all participants will not be directed to an individual candidate's campaign, but rather to primarily promote the system as a whole with ancillary local campaigning on behalf of each district's selected candidate.
Candidate Application Process
Candidates are almost any persons interested in participating in the candidate selection process with the goal of becoming an elected representative. Candidates will be required to complete a six step process:
1. Become a member (for free) on the GOOOH website.
2. Pass a Candidate Screening Exam to ensure eligibility.
3. Fill in an online Candidate Questionnaire to publicly record personal platform.
4. Sign a Commitment Agreement stating they will legislate according to their questionnaire answers.
5. Pay a Campaign Support Fee.
6. Submit their entry, thus registering to attend a candidate selection session in their district.
Candidate Screening Exam: Certain categories of people may be screened from the process based on Constitutional requirements, over-representation in government or other factors. Examples of groups excluded, but not limited to: non-U.S. citizens, those under the age of 25, felons, politicians and men of wealth.
Candidate Questionnaire: Candidates’ submitted answers will be made available to other candidates assigned to their selection pool, and possibly to the public at large. The responses of the selected candidate will become public record. Input to the questions will be accepted via an online Web site. Modifications to the final Questionnaire may be made based on this input. The final Questionnaire will be posted so that candidates may enter their responses online.
Commitment Agreement: A legally binding document that each Candidate will be required to sign in which each candidate promises they will resign from office if they vote against any answer given in their Questionnaire.
Campaign Support Fee: A modest fee may be required from each Candidate. The fee is required to 1) seed the national campaign fund, 2) to eliminate those who are not serious candidates, and 3) pay for expenses of the system.
Candidate Selection Process
The GOOOH system invites Americans to participate in the selection of a single candidate, within each district, for the U.S. House of Representatives. Further, by participating in the process to select candidates, all participants become candidates themselves within the selection process.
The GOOOH system proposes that politicians, active prosecuting attorneys, and individuals whose family has assets valued at more than $11.5 million (250 times the median income) are not invited to participate. These three groups are proposed to be excluded because they are overly represented in government today and, generally speaking, no longer represent the interests of the average American citizen.
Selection Sessions
Candidates who apply to participate in the process will be randomly grouped with other candidates from their district into a Selection Pool. One or more candidates will advance to the next round from each pool. A single nominee will advance from the final round of Selection Sessions in each district. The nominee for that district will be placed on the ballot as that district’s representative candidate.
Goals
• To select nominees that best represent the views of each congressional district.
• To replace career politicians with citizen statesmen from each congressional district.
• To eliminate the control that predominant political parties have on their members.
• To eliminate the dependence/influence special interest financing on the election process.
Post-Election Candidate Accountability
Commitment Agreement
Candidates will sign an agreement letter stating that they will voluntarily resign from office within 72 hours if they legislate contrary to their answers on the Candidate Questionnaire.
Override Clause
Given that each representative will be required to vote on a per-issue basis as he declared in his Questionnaire answers, he can either abstain from voting or he can invoke the Override Clause if he wishes to vote counter to the way he responded to the Candidate Questionnaire. A Representative must seek approval from the members of his district through online blogs/forums/surveys submitted to his district constituents via the GOOOH website. A predetermined portion of the district’s population will be required to submit a survey vote, and a predetermined percent of the voters who respond will be required to approve the change.
Summary
The GOOOH system allows almost every American with modest means an opportunity to run for Congress via a participant-financed campaign fund, allows the electoral body in each congressional district to understand in advance how candidates will legislate on a variety of issues prior to their selection, allows the electoral body in each congressional district to select the candidate that best represents their district's unique political views, and provides a mechanism to hold candidates accountable so that they vote in a manner that fulfills the legislative promises they made to their district constituents.
Current GOOOH National Committee leadership
* Founder: Tim Cox References Tim Cox. (2007). Get Out of Our House: Revolution!, Bridgeway Books. ISBN 978-1-934454-03-9
The GOOOH Political Action Committee filed with the Federal Election Commission on November 26, 2007 and it was recommended it operate as a PAC until it had multiple candidates identified and met all other National Committee standards.
GOOOH stands for "Get Out of Our House" and is pronounced like the word "go". As the name implies, the organization aims to replace the 435 career politicians of the U.S. House of Representatives with its own non-partisan representatives, ostensibly to serve in the House as citizen statesmen that return to their private lives after a limited number of terms (currently proposed as 2).
Its main counterparts are the Republican National Committee, the Democratic National Committee, the Libertarian National Committee and the Green National Committee.
Campaign role
The GOOOH Political Action Committee is a newly formed and rapidly growing group of American patriots concerned with the impact career politicians are having on America. It is responsible for promoting its candidate selection system and coordinating party organizational activity. It plays no role in Presidential Elections and focuses solely on Congressional Elections for the U.S. House of Representatives. It also supervises its own "convention" and raises funds, commissions polls, and coordinates campaign strategy. Following the selection of a party nominee, the public funding laws permit the PAC to coordinate certain expenditures with the nominee, but additional funds are spent on general party-building.
Candidate Funding System
All qualifying citizens wishing to become GOOOH Candidates on their district's ballot will participate in funding a collective national campaign via the fee they submit to participate in the candidate selection sessions. The aggregate of fees collected from all participants will not be directed to an individual candidate's campaign, but rather to primarily promote the system as a whole with ancillary local campaigning on behalf of each district's selected candidate.
Candidate Application Process
Candidates are almost any persons interested in participating in the candidate selection process with the goal of becoming an elected representative. Candidates will be required to complete a six step process:
1. Become a member (for free) on the GOOOH website.
2. Pass a Candidate Screening Exam to ensure eligibility.
3. Fill in an online Candidate Questionnaire to publicly record personal platform.
4. Sign a Commitment Agreement stating they will legislate according to their questionnaire answers.
5. Pay a Campaign Support Fee.
6. Submit their entry, thus registering to attend a candidate selection session in their district.
Candidate Screening Exam: Certain categories of people may be screened from the process based on Constitutional requirements, over-representation in government or other factors. Examples of groups excluded, but not limited to: non-U.S. citizens, those under the age of 25, felons, politicians and men of wealth.
Candidate Questionnaire: Candidates’ submitted answers will be made available to other candidates assigned to their selection pool, and possibly to the public at large. The responses of the selected candidate will become public record. Input to the questions will be accepted via an online Web site. Modifications to the final Questionnaire may be made based on this input. The final Questionnaire will be posted so that candidates may enter their responses online.
Commitment Agreement: A legally binding document that each Candidate will be required to sign in which each candidate promises they will resign from office if they vote against any answer given in their Questionnaire.
Campaign Support Fee: A modest fee may be required from each Candidate. The fee is required to 1) seed the national campaign fund, 2) to eliminate those who are not serious candidates, and 3) pay for expenses of the system.
Candidate Selection Process
The GOOOH system invites Americans to participate in the selection of a single candidate, within each district, for the U.S. House of Representatives. Further, by participating in the process to select candidates, all participants become candidates themselves within the selection process.
The GOOOH system proposes that politicians, active prosecuting attorneys, and individuals whose family has assets valued at more than $11.5 million (250 times the median income) are not invited to participate. These three groups are proposed to be excluded because they are overly represented in government today and, generally speaking, no longer represent the interests of the average American citizen.
Selection Sessions
Candidates who apply to participate in the process will be randomly grouped with other candidates from their district into a Selection Pool. One or more candidates will advance to the next round from each pool. A single nominee will advance from the final round of Selection Sessions in each district. The nominee for that district will be placed on the ballot as that district’s representative candidate.
Goals
• To select nominees that best represent the views of each congressional district.
• To replace career politicians with citizen statesmen from each congressional district.
• To eliminate the control that predominant political parties have on their members.
• To eliminate the dependence/influence special interest financing on the election process.
Post-Election Candidate Accountability
Commitment Agreement
Candidates will sign an agreement letter stating that they will voluntarily resign from office within 72 hours if they legislate contrary to their answers on the Candidate Questionnaire.
Override Clause
Given that each representative will be required to vote on a per-issue basis as he declared in his Questionnaire answers, he can either abstain from voting or he can invoke the Override Clause if he wishes to vote counter to the way he responded to the Candidate Questionnaire. A Representative must seek approval from the members of his district through online blogs/forums/surveys submitted to his district constituents via the GOOOH website. A predetermined portion of the district’s population will be required to submit a survey vote, and a predetermined percent of the voters who respond will be required to approve the change.
Summary
The GOOOH system allows almost every American with modest means an opportunity to run for Congress via a participant-financed campaign fund, allows the electoral body in each congressional district to understand in advance how candidates will legislate on a variety of issues prior to their selection, allows the electoral body in each congressional district to select the candidate that best represents their district's unique political views, and provides a mechanism to hold candidates accountable so that they vote in a manner that fulfills the legislative promises they made to their district constituents.
Current GOOOH National Committee leadership
* Founder: Tim Cox References Tim Cox. (2007). Get Out of Our House: Revolution!, Bridgeway Books. ISBN 978-1-934454-03-9
Saul H. Benjamin (Saul Hillel Benjamin) is an American educator. He served as headmaster of the Verde Valley School(VVS) where he served from 1996 to 1998 and in 2006 was the Director of Liberal arts and civic education at the Bennett College for women where he also coordinated institutional, administrative and student career activities. He is the author of a manuscript entitled 'what is the new academy?'. In 2000 he was involved with the Connections, the Journal of the Coalition for a Livable Future.