John Malkin interviews Chris Hannah of Propagandhi on location at their Vet's Hall performance on 11-30-05 in downtown Santa Cruz.

Propagandhi is a progressive punk rock/thrash band formed in Winnipeg, Canada in 1992 by Chris Hannah, Jord Samolesky and John K. Samson.

Featuring noticable political involvement especially taking on ignored topics and standing up against human rights violations, the band's political attitude includes anti-racism, anti-imperialism, anti-fascism, anarchism and anti-capitalism. Moral and ethical attitudes include pacifism and veganism.

Audio: Download the Interview (mp3) (50:12 minutes / 46 MB)

Tune in to The Great Leap Forward every Wednesday at 7pm on Free Radio Santa Cruz 101fm.

On Saturday, December 31, 2005, thousands of people celebrated the new year with a Do-It-Yourself Last Night Santa Cruz parade. Hundreds of ordinary folks, freaks, clowns, fire dancers, samba drummers, punks, pirates, artists, zombies, marching bands, moms, dads, kids, trash musicians, art cars, bikers and boaters began to gather at the Saturn Cafe parking lot at 5pm. After a bunch of drumming, juggling and poi dancing in the parking lot, the parade went up Pacific Ave and ended at the intersection of Pacific Ave, Front St and Mission St.

Police barricades were in place to discourage people from crossing Mission St. The Town Clock and the Veterans War Memorial eagle statue were completely fenced off. A large drum circle backed by the Santa Cruz Trash Orchestra provided music in the street and then on the corner by the Post Office.

The parade was very high in energy. You could almost taste playa dust in the air. For a few hours, Pacific Ave had a bit of the look and feel of an evening in Black Rock City. [Read more with photos]

Photos: PIX: "Last Night" DIY Parade on Pacific Ave

see also: A Letter to the Community About Last Night

see related: Police Infiltrate Peaceful Parade Organizers || An open letter to the Santa Cruz City Council in protest of police infiltration: || Police Infiltration of Parade Politically Motivated

There is a lot that still needs to be done for the Last Night Santa Cruz DIY Parade and Celebration. A quick list of critical Last Night needs:

1) Art & Revolution's Giant Puppets needs fifteen people to operate them. 2) The Trash Orchestra has more instruments than people to play them. We need ten more trash orchestra players (no previous percussion marching band experience necessary). 3) We need your help along with a half dozen people making Last Night banners. 4) We need a dozen people in the parade's Sweeping Tail to clean up after the parade. 5) We need two experienced people to serve as police liaison. 6) We need an experienced group for safety and security. 7) We need lawyers and legal support. 8) If you are an experienced videographer, we need you to document the parade. 9) We need still photographers to document the parade.

Check out this list of 7 ways you can get involved.

What Is This?

As opposed to the city sponsored First Night, Last Night is a decentralized, collective, spontaneous, open, public New Year's Eve celebration.

DIY stands for do-it-yourself. And that is what we are doing. A little bit of planning, a little bit of work, some getting together. This is our celebration that you and I make happen. This is not a paid gig, not something organized or well-planned. It's a people's event. We are doing this just for the love of it.

The latin root of the word amateur means to love (as in te amo or mi amor). So an amateur is one who does something for the love of it. And in that sense, we are all amateurs here. Let downtown be filled with music and dancing as we ring in the new year!

see also: Last Night Peace Walk || Call for CRITICAL MASS style bike ride in the Last Night Santa Cruz DIY Parade