NANCY BAILEY: We Need Clarity and Consistency From the President When it Comes to Democratic Public Schools

We Need Clarity and Consistency From the President When it Comes to Democratic Public Schools

We Need Clarity and Consistency From the President When it Comes to Democratic Public Schools

President Biden has accomplished much in his first 100 days. He’s a caring President when this is especially needed. There’s much to like about the President’s ideas and, here, for education, but his speech did not highlight some major concerns. He talked strongly about democracy, but he missed the chance to make important points about democratic public schools and teachers.

Here is the transcript of the President’s speech.

Why are clarity and consistency about schools so important?

The President once told educators and parents that he would end high-stakes testing, teaching to the test. However, earlier this year, the Biden administration said states must still test even after a year of disruption due to the pandemic.

Also, preschool is important, but in his speech, President Biden emphasized competition and the workforce. Most teachers and parents dislike connecting the economy, the workforce to children, especially using preschool.

This is the same old talk of previous Presidents, pandering to business. It doesn’t solve the nitty-gritty problems facing schools and teachers, difficulties that need to be fixed if CONTINUE READING: We Need Clarity and Consistency From the President When it Comes to Democratic Public Schools

Rhetoric vs. Reality: Bill Lee School Funding Edition – Tennessee Education Report

Rhetoric vs. Reality: Bill Lee School Funding Edition – Tennessee Education Report

RHETORIC VS. REALITY: BILL LEE SCHOOL FUNDING EDITION

As the Tennessee General Assembly passed Gov. Bill Lee’s budget today which included maintaining the woefully inadequate status quo for school funding, the Tennessee Education Association (TEA) offered the following statement expressing their disappointment:

“The budget passed by the General Assembly is disappointing when we have a historic opportunity to get Tennessee out of the bottom five in education funding. With a record revenue surplus and hundreds of millions unappropriated, this was the time to stop underfunding our schools.

There were bills to provide for more nurses, counselors, RTI specialists and social workers that our students need today and moving forward to meet their mental and academic challenges cause by the pandemic and the problems of chronic underfunding. Instead, we saw a trust fund set up that will cover barely a fraction of the needs years down the road.    

It’s unconscionable for state leaders to not include significant increases for K-12 funding, especially at a time when the state has racked up $1.42 billion in surplus year-to-date. The money is there to make a significant increase to K-12 funding, but Gov. Lee and the General Assembly have instead chosen to continue stuffing mattresses full of cash. 

Elected officials love to claim that Tennessee students, educators and public schools CONTINUE READING: Rhetoric vs. Reality: Bill Lee School Funding Edition – Tennessee Education Report 

Teacher Tom: Our Raccoon Teacher

Teacher Tom: Our Raccoon Teacher

Our Raccoon Teacher

We were in the midst of circle time when a raccoon began climbing a tree behind me. I didn't see it, of course, but I knew it was there, or rather that something was there, because the eyes of every child were following it.

Maybe I knew that raccoons climbed trees before this moment, but wether I previously knew or not, I did now. We all did. It made its way up the trunk, apparently oblivious to the two dozen humans watching from below.

I wonder what we had been talking about or singing or reading before the raccoon began its assent. Whatever it was it was far less important, far less significant, far less educational than this. The evidence was in all those eyes, wide, curious, unable to look away.

I didn't try to recall them to our previous project, whatever it was. For one thing, I knew it would have been futile. Have you ever tried to get children, or pretty much anyone for that matter, to pay attention to anything else when there is a bee in the room? A giant house spider crawling up the wall? The rumbling approach of a thunder storm? 

Of course, we dropped whatever we were doing to attend, fully, to that raccoon, an emissary of Mother Nature, our first CONTINUE READING: Teacher Tom: Our Raccoon Teacher

CURMUDGUCATION: Guest Post: Dispatch from Beleaguered PA District

CURMUDGUCATION: Guest Post: Dispatch from Beleaguered PA District

Guest Post: Dispatch from Beleaguered PA District

 I've been following the story of Chester Upland School District in Pennsylvania. It's a long history featuring every imaginable problem that could afflict a school district. Currently the district is facing a charter takeover and a mysterious stack of vanished money.

The following post was sent to me from inside the district and written by a teacher who prefers to remain anonymous. It provides a picture of some of the issues within the district.

Promises made, broken and never even acknowledged…

This letter is penned from the desk of a frustrated and exhausted teacher within the Chester Upland School district. For months, if not years now, the district has made headlines in many news outlets for a variety of positive and challenging stories. The district has found itself under watch and scrutiny over the years, but this year seems to be holding nothing back. Surprisingly I have to write this to shed even more light on the conditions and lack of care by the district for its students and staff.

Let’s start with the Chester County Intermediate Unit. In the fall of 2020, the CCIU was awarded a 3 million dollar, 3 year contract to help oversee departmental operations of CUSD to aid in “righting CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: Guest Post: Dispatch from Beleaguered PA District

The Mind Trust in Indiana Gives $800,000 to Charter Operator, Ignoring Lawsuits, Multiple Financial Scandals and Fake Resume | Diane Ravitch's blog

The Mind Trust in Indiana Gives $800,000 to Charter Operator, Ignoring Lawsuits, Multiple Financial Scandals and Fake Resume | Diane Ravitch's blog

The Mind Trust in Indiana Gives $800,000 to Charter Operator, Ignoring Lawsuits, Multiple Financial Scandals and Fake Resume

The Mind Trust in Indianapolis has been the central engine of charter creation in that city and holds itself up as a model charter authorizer.

Until it was “deceived” by a would-be charter operator with a rosy vision, according to this story by Stephanie Wang in Chalkbeat Indiana.

She begins:

To launch a “transformational” middle school in an overlooked eastside neighborhood, Indianapolis charter advocates turned to a man students call Coach T.

For two decades, Tariq Al-Nasir ran his Stemnasium enrichment programs with a mission of helping Black and brown students realize their “superpowers” in science, technology, engineering, and math. With a resume boasting advanced degrees from MIT and Stanford, Al-Nasir put forward a vision of education in which hands-on lessons in coding, flying drones, and tinkering with robots could change children’s lives.

Calling him “brilliant” at working with students, the influential charter incubator The Mind Trust gave Al-Nasir a two-year, $800,000 fellowship last summer to develop CONTINUE READING: The Mind Trust in Indiana Gives $800,000 to Charter Operator, Ignoring Lawsuits, Multiple Financial Scandals and Fake Resume | Diane Ravitch's blog

New Statewide Campaign Pressures Ohio Senate to Pass School Funding Reform in FY22-23 State Budget | janresseger

New Statewide Campaign Pressures Ohio Senate to Pass School Funding Reform in FY22-23 State Budget | janresseger

New Statewide Campaign Pressures Ohio Senate to Pass School Funding Reform in FY22-23 State Budget

On Wednesday, four key organizations announced ALL in for Ohio Kids, a statewide campaign to demand that the Ohio Senate will pass a major a new school funding formula as part of the FY 2022-23 state budget.

The new coalition brings together four organizations: the Ohio Education Association and the Ohio Federation of Teachers, representing public school teachers; the Ohio Organizing Collaborative, pulling together public school parents and community members; and Policy Matters Ohio, adding the weight of complex policy expertise.

A new school funding plan, developed over several years, was passed on April 21st by the Ohio House of Representatives as part of the FY 2022-2023 state budget and submitted to the Ohio Senate. The Ohio Legislature must, by law, come up with a compromise by June 30.

With Ohio’s Republican supermajority House and Senate, you might suppose that members of the Ohio Senate would simply affirm the proposal forwarded by their colleagues in the House. You would be wrong. While the plan was originally sponsored by and developed under the guidance of House Speaker Bob Cupp and passed by the Ohio House in a stand alone bill in December by a vote of 87-9, the Senate Finance Committee Chairman Matt Dolan refused to bring the House bill forward for a vote by the full Senate. Therefore, the bill died at the end of the FY 20-21 legislative session.

The New All In for Ohio Kids Campaign and Policy Matters’ Wendy Patton Release Major Report

Outlining Ohio’s urgent need for the Fair School Funding Plan, Policy Matters’ state fiscal expert Wendy Patton released a position paper as part of the launch of the All in for Ohio Kids Campaign: “For many years Ohio lawmakers have provided neither sufficient nor fair CONTINUE READING: New Statewide Campaign Pressures Ohio Senate to Pass School Funding Reform in FY22-23 State Budget | janresseger

2021 CA Exemplary Arts Education Awards + Accessing Educational Data - Year 2021 (CA Dept of Education)

2021 CA Exemplary Arts Education Awards - Year 2021 (CA Dept of Education)

State Superintendent Tony Thurmond Announces 2021 California Exemplary Arts Education Awards

SACRAMENTO—State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond today announced that 33 California schools were selected for the California Exemplary Arts Education Award.

These schools engage students in quality arts education that meet California Arts Standards for Public Schools (Arts Standards) and demonstrate progress on indicators on the California School Dashboard. The awards are designed to celebrate successful efforts to engage students in arts through exposure to a variety of disciplines.

“This year has been especially challenging for our students and schools, but I commend these schools for recognizing that this is a time when the arts are more critical than ever,” State Superintendent Thurmond said. “These schools excelled in providing quality arts education, despite all the obstacles presented by distance learning. It is with great pleasure we honor these schools for their steadfast dedication to arts education that plays a powerful role in supporting wellness, bridging social divides, and expanding creativity and critical thinking in our students.”

Schools recognized as Exemplary Arts Education Awardees represent a broad cross-section of educational delivery models, including traditional comprehensive elementary schools, magnet schools, and district and independent charters. These schools serve diverse demographic populations of varying sizes, from a 2,700-student urban school to a 250-student rural school. Some schools serve primarily Title I students from lower socio-economic circumstances, and others serve suburban populations with strong district and community financial support.

In addition to meeting the Arts Standards and Dashboard eligibility criteria, to apply to be recognized as an Exemplary Arts Awardee, schools must offer sequenced instruction to all students in a minimum of three of the five arts disciplines identified in the Arts Standards: Dance, Media Arts, Music, Theatre, and Visual Arts. They must also show one level of improvement for at least one student subgroup in one of the following three areas based on the Dashboard: School Climate, in the area of Suspension Rate; Student Engagement, in the area of Chronic Absenteeism or Graduation Rate; Academic Achievement, in the area of English Language Arts, Mathematics, or College and Career Readiness.

These California Exemplary Arts Education Schools, along with California Distinguished Schools, National Blue Ribbon Schools, and recipients of California Department of Education (CDE) recognition programs, will be honored virtually later this year. For more information, please visit the CDE California School Recognition Program web page.

2021 California Exemplary Arts Education Awards

• Arcata High School, Northern Humboldt Union School District
• ArTES Magnet-Arts Theatre and Entertainment School, Los Angeles Unified School District
• Balboa High School, San Francisco Unified School District
• Burbank High School, Burbank Unified School District
• California School of the Arts San Gabriel Valley, Duarte Unified School District
• Cesar Chavez High School, Stockton Unified School District
• Claremont High School, Claremont Unified School District
• Champs Charter High School of the Arts, Los Angeles Unified School District
• Contra Costa School of Performing Arts, Contra Costa County Office of Education
• Culver City High School, Culver City Unified School District
• David Starr Jordan Middle School (Delores Huerta Middle School), Burbank Unified School District
• Fullerton Union High School, Fullerton Joint Union High School District
• Granite Hills High School, Apple Valley Unified School District
• ICEF View Park Preparatory Charter High School, Los Angeles Unified School District
• John Burroughs High School, Burbank Unified School District
• Katherine L Albiani Middle School, Elk Grove Unified School District
• LAUSD 32nd Street School/USC MediaArts&Engineering Magnet School, Los Angeles Unified School District
• Lincoln High School, Western Placer Unified School District
• Luther Burbank Middle School, Burbank Unified School District
• Marysville Charter Academy for the Arts, Marysville Joint Unified School District
• Marshall Fundamental Secondary School, Pasadena Unified School District
• Oakland School for the Arts, Oakland Unified School District
• Orange County School of the Arts, Orange County Department of Education
• Ramón C. Cortines School of Visual and Performing Arts, Los Angeles Unified School District
• Reginald M. Benton Middle School, Norwalk-la Mirada Unified School District
• Renaissance Arts Academy, Los Angeles Unified School District
• San Diego County Office of Education, Juvenile Court and Community Schools
• San Diego School of Creative and Performing Arts, San Diego Unified School District
• Santa Susana High School, Simi Valley Unified School District
• Sierra Preparatory Academy, Santa Ana Unified School District
• The School of Arts and Enterprise, SBE-The School of Arts and Enterprise
• Valley View High School, Moreno Valley Unified School District
• Windsor High School, Windsor Unified School District

# # # #

Tony Thurmond — State Superintendent of Public Instruction
Communications Division, Room 5602, 916-319-0818, Fax 916-319-0100

Accessing Educational Data

Accessing Educational Data

Obtain data collected by the California Department of Education (CDE), including enrollment data, demographic and student group data, staff data, school and district accountability, statewide assessment results, and directory information.

Overview

About CDE's Educational Data
Information about accessing data collected by the California Department of Education (CDE), including publicly available data, data-related communications, submitting research data requests, and data retention.

Data Reports and Files

DataQuest
DataQuest is the CDE's web-based data reporting system for publicly reporting information about California’s students, teachers, and schools. DataQuest provides meaningful data and statistics about California's K-12 public educational system that supports a wide variety of informational, research, and policy needs. Summary and detailed data reports are available for multiple subject areas at the school, district, county, and state levels.

Data Reports By Topic
Data reports about California's students, teachers, and schools by topic area, including enrollment, assessment and accountability, English learners, foster youth, free or reduced-price meal, graduates and dropouts, and staff and course data.

Downloadable Data Files
Downloadable files about California's students, teachers, and schools by topic area, including enrollment, assessment and accountability, English learners, foster youth, free or reduced-price meal, graduates and dropouts, and staff and course data.

Additional Resources

California School Directory
Information about California public schools, private schools, non public nonsectarian schools, school districts, and county offices of education.

CDE Educational Statistics - CalEdFacts
CalEdFacts is a compilation of educational statistics and information on a variety of issues concerning education in California. This includes the Fingertip Facts on Education in California web page, which provides various statistics about California's public schools and districts.

Data Requests
Information about how to request data that are not publicly available on the CDE website (e.g. DataQuest, the California School Dashboard, the CAASPP Test Results web page, or through the information provided on the Data Reports and Downloadable Files web page).

Geographic Information System (GIS)
Information about the use of Geographic Information System (GIS) in the visualization and analysis of educational data.

Ed-Data
Ed-Data is a partnership of the CDE, EdSource, and the Fiscal Crisis and Management Assistance Team/California School Information Services (FCMAT/CSIS) designed to offer educators, policy makers, the legislature, parents, and the public quick access to timely and comprehensive data about K-12 education in California.

Federal Data Resources
Information about data collected and publicly reported by the United States Department of Education, including information provided by the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES) and the Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC).

Questions: Data Reporting Office | dro@cde.ca.gov | 916-327-0219 

Accessing Educational Data

NYC Public School Parents: "Talk out of School" podcast with Council Member Danny Dromm, chair of the Finance Committee

NYC Public School Parents: "Talk out of School" podcast with Council Member Danny Dromm, chair of the Finance Committee

"Talk out of School" podcast with Council Member Danny Dromm, chair of the Finance Committee

Former teacher and NYC Council Finance chair Danny Dromm has been a champion for student rights and quality public schools. 

He spoke to Leonie about his experiences with large class sizes in Queens, why he risked his job by coming out as gay at his school, why he decided to run for the Council and challenge an incumbent, and why he and the City Council have made reducing class size a priority for next year’s budget. 

Dromm also discussed his views on restorative justice in schools, testing, charter schools, and the rights of ultra-Orthodox children to receive a sound basic education.

 Episode Notes

Resources:

• Danny Dromm’s activism in advocating for gay rights and on the Rainbow Curriculum
• Mayor de Blasio’s budget proposal for FY 2022
• City Council’s budget response
• Regent Kathy Cashin’s Daily News op-ed on the importance of lowering class size
• NYS Senate bill S. 6296 to require NYC to update their class size reduction plan
• Class Size Matters report on DOE over-payments for charter school rent and underpayments to NYC public schools in matching funds for facility enhancement

NYC Public School Parents: "Talk out of School" podcast with Council Member Danny Dromm, chair of the Finance Committee

A year ago – a mathematical giant fell to COVID-19 | JD2718

A year ago – a mathematical giant fell to COVID-19 | JD2718

A year ago – a mathematical giant fell to COVID-19

John Horton Conway died of COVID-19 on April 11, 2020.

This is two and a half weeks late. I have been looking for something profound to say. I will not find it.

I met Conway in the fall of 2013. I was on sabbatical, trying to take interesting math classes at Queens College. I was happy I found a class in Combinatorics. Logic made sense for me (it turned out to be both challenging and rewarding.) And I needed one more. Someone, probably Kirsten, let me know: “There’s still seats in Number Theory – you have to take Conway” – and I did.

Conway had retired, but I think Kent Boklan brought him out of retirement to teach at Queens College. They were part of the same mathematical genealogy, going back to Davenport and Littlewood. That was good fortune for me, for all of us. Conway’s stroke interfered with his mobility, not his mind, and he clearly enjoyed engaging with students.

Conway was the most famous living mathematician. Maybe. Probably. The Number Theory was fun. But the stories were wonderful. He knew. personally, the guys (almost all men) that we read about. He told CONTINUE READING: A year ago – a mathematical giant fell to COVID-19 | JD2718

CURMUDGUCATION: Falling Behind In An Actual Classroom

CURMUDGUCATION: Falling Behind In An Actual Classroom

Falling Behind In An Actual Classroom

The chicken littling about Learning Loss is just never going to stop. Today I came across yet another article (that I won't link to) warning that the Learning Losses from the pandemic pause will haunt students for the rest of their lives.

The worst of the Learning Loss panickers are revealing too much about what they don't understand, but what they especially don't understand is what goes on in an actual classroom, because the whole concept of "falling behind" is a layperson's oversimplification of what actual education looks like.

I think I was a pretty run-of-the-mill example of the teaching profession in my thirty-nine years, so let me explain what my year generally looked like. 

At the beginning of the year, I'd launch the dual processes of Trying To Teach Stuff and Figuring Out What This Batch of Students Knows and Can Do. At no point in my career were the Big Standardized Test results a useful part of this process because A) the results were nothing but a score and we weren't even allowed to see the questions, so had no way of knowing what exactly students got right or got wrong and B) the results don't come until the school year was already well under way. 

In my career, I mostly taught grades 9 through 12, all tracks, so September always brought students with a very wide range of tools. One of things you get better at with experience is assessing what the students bring to the table, both academically and otherwise. And then you go from there.

This initial assessment does not tell you anything CONTINUE READING: CURMUDGUCATION: Falling Behind In An Actual Classroom

Florina Rodov: I believed the charter school myth — until I learned about the reality and who was behind it - Alternet org

I believed the charter school myth — until I learned about the reality and who was behind it - Alternet.org

I believed the charter school myth — until I learned about the reality and who was behind it

I fell for the charter school hype. I agreed with former President Obama's education secretary Arne Duncan who advocated for "school choice." I trusted the research that said charters "close [the] achievement gap" for Black and Latino students. When I saw "Waiting for 'Superman,'" I rooted for the kids in the documentary to escape their failing public schools by snagging spots at charter schools. And though I encountered very few bad teachers in my four years teaching and 12 years learning at public schools, I never questioned why Time published stories about "Rotten Apple" teachers being swept out of classrooms by wealthy education "reformers."

I believed the hype so much that in 2012, knowing almost nothing about charter schools and having no administrative experience, I joined a friend in submitting a half-baked petition to the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) with the intention of starting our own charter school. When LAUSD denied it, we presented it to the Culver City Unified School District, which also, rightfully, rejected it.

Still intrigued by charters, in 2016 I interviewed for an English teacher position with a woman I'll call Ellen Peters, the principal and co-founder of Savior Academy, a charter school serving grades six through 12. (The names of the school, administrators and students have been changed for this story.) Her assertion that the close bond between students and staff made it feel "like a family" inspired me to sign a non-union contract on the spot, though the school had recently lost its co-founder Cathy Reynolds (name changed), who CONTINUE READING: I believed the charter school myth — until I learned about the reality and who was behind it - Alternet.org

The American Families Plan: Potentially the Most Important Proposal for Children Ever | by Bruce Lesley | Voices4Kids | Apr, 2021 | Medium

The American Families Plan: Potentially the Most Important Proposal for Children Ever | by Bruce Lesley | Voices4Kids | Apr, 2021 | Medium

The American Families Plan: Potentially the Most Important Proposal for Children Ever

There are moments in time when historic or transformational changes are made by our nation’s leaders to really make a difference for children and families in this country. If President Biden’s just released American Families Plan becomes law, today would be one of those moments.

Unfortunately, the reality we face is that children are often merely an afterthought of election officials, as kids do not vote, do not make campaign contributions or operate a Political Action Committee (PAC), and do not employ a team of lobbyists to demand that lawmakers hear their concerns and address their needs.

To overcome these barriers for children, we at First Focus Campaign for Children established a Legislative Scorecard to identify Champions for Children in the U.S. House and Senate who do positive things for children and families because it is the right thing to do and not because a special interest gave them a campaign contribution. We also created a Children’s Budget to identify and analyze all investments in the federal budget and to hold the White House and Congress accountable for whether they are succeeding or failing our children. In that endeavor, we have often quoted then Sen. Joe Biden and his words:

Don’t tell me what you value, show me your budget, and I’ll tell you what you value.

When candidate Biden was running for president, other candidates had a CONTINUE READING: The American Families Plan: Potentially the Most Important Proposal for Children Ever | by Bruce Lesley | Voices4Kids | Apr, 2021 | Medium

NewBlackMan (in Exile) TODAY #BLM #BLACKLIVESMATTER

 NewBlackMan (in Exile)

NewBlackMan (in Exile) TODAY

Big Education Ape: THIS WEEK WITH NEWBLACKMAN (IN EXILE) -

http://bigeducationape.blogspot.com/2021/04/this-week-with-newblackman-in-exile-blm_24.html

Left of Black S11 · E25 | Claudrena Harold on the Greats of Gospel

by Mark Anthony Neal / 14h

Who were the greats of post-Civil Rights era Gospel music and have they gotten their due for the major contributions they have made to Black music? What was the impact of such names as Rev. James Cleveland , Pastor Shirley Caesar, the Mighty Clouds of Joy , and many others? In this episode of Left of Black , host and Duke University Professor Mark Anthony Neal sits down with Dr. Claudrena N. Haro

Merry Clayton's Inspiring Gift to the World

by Mark Anthony Neal / 14h

' The gospel, rock and soul singer, renowned as a backup artist for some of the world's leading musical acts, got some long-overdue public awareness from the 2013 documentary 20 Feet From Stardom . Now, years after losing both legs in a car accident, Merry Clayto n has made a triumphant return to the recording studio for her new album, Beautiful Scars . CBS Sunday Morning correspondent Lee Cowan

Boston Review Heather McGhee Talks with Archon Fung

by Mark Anthony Neal / 14h

'Harvard Kennedy School professor Archon Fung talks with Heather McGhee about her new book The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together.' Boston Review · Heather McGhee talks with Archon Fung | Boston Review

New forms of Sweetness: Race, Science, Social Risk and the Biopolitics of Sugar

by Mark Anthony Neal / 14h

'Anthropologist James Doucet-Battle on sugar, diabetes, racialized science and his book Sweetness in the Blood: Race, Risk, and Type 2 Diabetes from University of Minnesota Press.' This is Hell! · New forms of sweetness: Race, science, social risk and the biopolitics of sugar.

Rickie Lee Jones' Memoir

by Mark Anthony Neal / 15h

'Two-time Grammy Award-winner Rickie Lee Jones has been called “the premiere song-stylist and songwriter of her generation" by The New Yorker. She joins All Of It to discuss her new memoir, Last Chance Texaco: Chronicles of an American Troubadour. '

Terri Lyne Carrington: Trailblazer, Advocate and NEA Jazz Master

by Mark Anthony Neal / 15h

'In her more than 40 years behind the drum kit, 2021 NEA Jazz Master Terri Lyne Carrington has built a reputation as one of the most dynamic instrumentalists, bandleaders and composers in jazz. But before she became an in-demand musician, she was a kid growing up outside of Boston, swinging behind the likes of Dizzy Gillespie and Oscar Peterson . On this episode of Jazz Night in America , we'll h

Butcher Brown: Tiny Desk (Home) Concert

by Mark Anthony Neal / 1d

' Butcher Brown takes to a restaurant's rooftop terrace in the band's hometown of Richmond, Va., for a home concert and sizzles from the first note. The band opens with "Sticky July," a tune every bit as catchy as its name implies; think rollerskating with a popsicle under a cloudless s

 NewBlackMan (in Exile)