by David Burn | Aug 9, 2005 | Nebraska
USA Today is running a favorable piece on my hometown in today’s edition.
Omaha has tremendous wealth, industry and influence for being in the middle of nowhere. It ranks eighth among the nation’s 50 largest cities in both per-capita billionaires and Fortune 500 companies. San Francisco is the leader in billionaires per 1 million people, even after the dot-com bust trimmed the list. Atlanta is the leader in Fortune 500 companies per 1 million people. But no city, not even the major coastal giants, can claim a ranking as high as Omaha on both lists. Not San Francisco. Not Los Angeles nor New York — nor Houston. Philadelphia and Baltimore haven’t a single billionaire between them, nor do 15 other cities in the top 50 by population. Honolulu has no Fortune 500 companies, nor do a dozen other cities among the largest 50.
by David Burn | Aug 8, 2005 | Lowcountry
Last night we ate dinner with a group of Darby’s coworkers inside the “Herb House”—the oldest existing building in Georgia and part of the modern day Pirates’ House restaurant in downtown Savannah. The Pirates’ House occupies the spot where Trustees Garden, the first experimental garden in America, was located.
When General Oglethrope and his little band of colonists arrived from England in 1733, they came ashore in the vicinity of the present City Hall on Bull and Bay Streets. By the end of the first month, a suitable site of land was located on the eastern boundary of Oglethrope’s city plan on which an experimental garden would be developed. The plot of land was dedicated as Trustees Garden in honor of Oglethrope’s men, the Trustees of the new colony. The garden was modeled very closely after the Chelsea Botanical Garden in London. Consisting of ten acres, it was bounded on the north by the Savannah River, on the south by what is now Broughton Street, on the west by what is now East Broad Street, and on the east by Old Fort Wayne.
Botanists were sent from England to the four corners of the world to procure plants for the new project and soon vine cuttings, fruit trees, flax, hemp, spices, cotton, indigo, potashes, cochineal, olives and medicinal herbs were all taking root on the banks of the Savannah River. The greatest hopes; however, were centered in the wine industry and in the Mulberry trees which were essential to the culture of silk. But both of these crops failed due to the unsuitable soil and weather conditions. From this garden, however, were distributed the peach trees which have since given Georgia and South Carolina a major commercial crop and also the upland cotton which led to the creation of such great wealth for the 18th- and 19th-century planters.
by David Burn | Aug 4, 2005 | Music
Sunday morning we woke up to more rain after what had been an already soggy, but delightful, weekend of live music in the Blue Ridge mountains. We opted to drive south and east to Myrtle Vegas for Ben Harper at House of Blues. Mainly to see our friend, Evil Vince, Ben’s merchandise manager and official tour photographer.
photo courtesy of Evil Vince
We entered our private box on the side stage, and inside we were pleasantly surprised to greet Kate Newcomer, another friend from Chicago and one who, like us, recently migrated to the Carolinas. Thanks to Evil’s generosity we were given the VIP treatment?–hang time on the bus, introductions to Ben and Leon Mobley, backstage beers, after show access and free admission. Even I can like the House of Rules when the carpet is rolled out to that extent.
The show was one of Ben’s better performances (that I’ve witnessed). The first set featured an irie Steal My Kisses/Pressure Drop closer and the second encore ended with Ain’t Too Proud To Beg > With My Own Two Hands/War. During War, Ben did a Bob Marley spin that would have dizzied the best of us. He also lept from the top of an amp over the keyboards to the front of the stage. He’s quite athletic.
by David Burn | Aug 3, 2005 | Place
We were in Myrtle Vegas Sunday night for Ben Harper at House of Blues. We had ideas about visiting the beach, grinding at a seafood buffet and playing miniature golf, but alas the dripping cheese was too much and Monday morning we motored in a southerly direction as fast as possible. Twenty minutes past historic but industrial Georgetown, we stumbled upon the small seaport town of McClellanville.
McClellanville, along with Awendaw and the surrounding area, is located in The Cape Romain community between Charleston and Georgetown in Charleston County. It is surrounded by the 350,000 acres of The Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge, The Francis Marion National Forest, and the Santee Coastal Reserve.
Given its natural beauty, arts scene and proximity to Charleston, one has to wonder how long this town can remain sleepy. We inquired locally and there are some newcomers, and resentment about that fact among the denizens, who we understand are mostly related.
by David Burn | Aug 2, 2005 | Music
Floydfest, situated on private property just off the Blue Ridge Parkway near Floyd, VA is a totally sweet phest. Right when you walk in, there’s a small stage known as the Workshop Porch. This turned out to be our favorite stage. Seeing Jim Lauderdale with his old buddy Zan McCloud in this intimate setting on Friday night was, in a word, spectacular. Jim is one funny, talented and interesting guy. I’m sad to say I only learned about him recently, and then only because he worked with Robert Hunter on his Headed for the Hills release.
Larry Keel, Jorma and Corey Harris at the Workshop Porch.
See my Flickr set from the weekend.
We saw Railroad Earth twice, in the Dance tent and on the Main Stage. They’re tight. I can see them going phar. We saw Xavier Rudd and Donna the Buffalo on the Main Stage, as well. Xavier is a madman in the best of ways, belting out aborginal rythms and conscious messages on his array of instruments, including his voice. Donna the Buffalo from upstate New York had a certain presence about them, maybe it was a rock star thing, but it didn’t make me dislike them. I liked them just phine. However, we did ditch out of DTB early to see Porter Batiste Stolz at the Hill Holler stage. When Nawlins is in the house, you move to it. Know what I’m sayin’?
We also saw Larry Keel & Natural Bridge with a guest appearance from none other than Jim Lauderdale, DJ Williams Projekt and Zan McCloud with Fred Boyce.
by David Burn | Jul 28, 2005 | Politics, The Environment
Nine months ago I wrote this, “Bald eagles, egrets, herons, alligators, manatee, dolphins and panthers make Florida their home. For sure, increasing human population is a dangerous threat to pristine nature. Which makes it all the sweeter to visit places in the state that are hard to reach and therefore relatively untouched. The Ten Thousand Islands are such a place, as is Keewaydin, a barrier island between Naples and Marco Island. Keewaydin is accessible only by boat. There are homes, but very few. You can walk the beach and see no one. That’s a true joy in modern times.”
Tonight I heard from a concerned citizen in Naples who informed me Keewaydin is in danger of being opened to resort-type development. Some Collier County mucky mucks want a new place for another private club, is the short of it. To their credit, the developers say they want to do it right. But that’s not the point. The point is once you give an inch the game is lost, for some other jackasses will be lined up to take a mile.
Naples News: Basil Street Partners LLC, a company making a redevelopment mark on downtown Naples, wants to build a 2,925-square-foot beach club on land the company owns on the barrier island within the boundaries of the Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve.
The club would serve as a private amenity for as many as 750 club members and their guests. Members would be condominium and boat slip owners at Naples Bay Resort, a collection of Basil Street Partners projects at the former Boat Haven site, at the intersection of U.S. 41 and Sandpiper Street and at Grand Central Station. The general public also might have a chance to buy memberships.
Basil Street Partners, which is managed by developer Jack Antaramian, needs approval by Collier County commissioners to build the beach club.
Please voice your opposition by August 19, 2005, to:
Linda Bedtelyon, Community Planning Coordinator
Community Development and Environmental Services Administration
2800 North Horseshoe Drive, Naples, FL 34104
Phone: (239) 213-2948
Fax: (239) 403-2395
email: lindabedtelyon@colliergov.net
by David Burn | Jul 27, 2005 | Literature, Nebraska
Metafilter picked up on a SF Weekly article on writer and artist, Weldon Kees.
During the 1940s and ’50s, Kees was a moderately famous artist, known mostly for his poetry, who quit the New York literary scene in 1951 and moved to the Bay Area, where he played piano in San Francisco jazz bars, wrote newsreel scripts, and produced a North Beach poetry and music revue before disappearing in an apparent Golden Gate Bridge suicide 50 years ago this past July 18.
One of Kees biggest fans is none other than Dana Goia—music critic emeritus of San Francisco magazine, former General Foods marketing vice president, opera librettist, laureled poet, translator of Latin, Italian, German, and Romanian literature, university instructor, widely published literary essayist, and current president of the National Endowment for the Arts. Gioia has published essays on Kees, edited books on and by Kees, written poems fashioned after Kees’ style, and discussed Kees at symposiums, in classrooms, and with journalists.
1926
by Weldon Kees
The porchlight coming on again,
Early November, the dead leaves
Raked in piles, the wicker swing
Creaking. Across the lots
A phonograph is playing Ja-Da.
An orange moon. I see the lives
Of neighbors, mapped and marred
Like all the wars ahead, and R.
Insane, B. with his throat cut,
Fifteen years from now, in Omaha.
I did not know them then.
My airedale scratches at the door.
And I am back from seeing Milton Sills
And Doris Kenyon. Twelve years old.
The porchlight coming on again.
Of course, I was interested to note to that Kees is another in a long line of famous writers from my home state, Nebraska. Kees is a native of Beatrice, atttended Doane College and graduated from Univ. of Nebraska at Lincoln.
University of Nebraska Press has been instrumental in collecting and distributing Kees’ work and keeping his flame alive for future generations.
by David Burn | Jul 24, 2005 | Music
Assembly of Dust appeared on NPR’s World Cafe last January. The file is in Real Audio, which I usually wouldn’t bother with. But in this case, the contents make launching a redundant and inferior application worth doing.
The studio set from A.O.D. includes performances of “Bootlegger’s Advice,” “Speculator” and “Man With a Plan.”
Thanks to TMNS for the pointer.
by David Burn | Jul 23, 2005 | Art, Music
photo by Evil Vince
Our friend, Chris May, a.k.a. DJ Evil Vince, is out on tour with Ben Harper this summer and his photos are being showcased on the Ben Harper site, under On The Road (on the nav bar). When you get to the tour page, click the letter [P] in brackets for the photos to pop up.
It’s nice to see Evil’s work get this type of high level exposure.
by David Burn | Jul 22, 2005 | Go Big Red
“California is a garden of eden. It’s a paradise to live in or see;
But believe it or not, you won’t find it so hot,
If you ain’t got that do re mi.” -Woody Guthrie
Despite Narayan Nayar’s best efforts, he now regularly uses the word “dude” in conversation and even in writing. Academics tend to shy away from such colloquialisms, but living in Santa Cruz, CA can break down a person’s natural defenses, even a well educated person’s.
The local lexicon is far from Nayar’s only issue with the place.
There’s many things to like about (northern) California, but in no way do I consider it the pinnacle of civilization that its real estate prices would suggest. The fact that real estate prices in the Bay Area rose 22% last year evinces the kind of self-delusion a place which serves a tofu-everything can induce. It won’t be too long until the only people who can afford to live in the Bay Area are the CEOs of Apple, Oracle, Google, Adobe, Industrial Light & Magic, and Yahoo, all of whom will feast daily on a diet of ego and wheatgrass, and use the houses of regular schmucks like myself as mere parking sheds for their fleet of Segways.
I wonder if the dude’s watched Joel Coen’s The Big Lebowski, a movie which appeals to coolest of all dudes (male and female).
