Stop Driving
Culture busting on Sunnyside
Saturday In The City
Our Saturday consisted of a forty year retrospective of Lee Bontecou’s imaginative, inspired work at the Museum of Contemporary Art, wine flights at Bin 36 in Marina City, and exquisite food and drink care of Mexican master, author and star of his own show, Rick Bayless and the wonderful Frontera Grill staff. We’ve been meaning to attend the MCA for a while now. We sort of stumbled upon Bin 36, the modernist wine bar in the lobby of House of Blues Hotel. Frontera was a celebration of my new job–Senior Writer at Slack Barshinger, a prominent b-to-b agency on N. Michigan Avenue with eBay, Underwriters Lab, AC Nielsen, Dean Foods, Harris Bank, American Dairy Products Institute, Tellabs, Smurfit-Stone, Silgan Containers, and Tetra Pak (among others) for clients.
Aussie Invasion On Sheffield
The Living End, Jet and The Vines
The Australian Invasion Tour came to The Vic on Sheffield for an early show on Friday night. First up, The Living End, a Strange Cats-like punk trio putting out some very loud sounds. Next up, pop rockers Jet, a four piece from Melbourne that dangles retro-influenced jams from the likes of BTO and ACDC in front of their hard driving delivery of short, catchy rock songs. The final act of the evening, The Vines, brought an acoustic guitar to the stage in the hands of their tortured artist, lead singer who spent a good deal of energy shouting down fans who dared to heckle him. At one point he responded to a growing chorus of boos with , “You can leave, you fucking moron.” I guess many in attendance were there primarily to see Jet, as many dissenters walked out, needing no admonitions from the stage to do so. To my mind, The Vines were the best act of the three, even with all the antics. They have a spacey, Jeff Buckleyesque presence, and it was strangely interesting to see them play through the boos and heckling of drunken, Friday-night-in-Chicago fans.
New Ideas Require Old Buildings
Urban Planning guru, Jane Jacobs, author of the seminal text, The Death and Life of Great American Cities , moved with her husband and two sons to Toronto in 1968 in opposition of the Vietnam War. She stayed and became a Canadian citizen. She had earlier rebellions, as well. In Greenwich Village she stood to fight the powerful Robert Moses, and his lame-brained road building schemes that threatened to wipe out good portions of lower Manhattan.
I first heard her name but one year ago, while attending a presentation at SXSW in Austin by Carnegie Mellon professor, Richard Florida . He said Jacobs said, “New ideas require old buildings.” This is a sentiment that strikes a deep chord in me. I have yet to read Jacob’s best works, but from what I have read , I know she gives voice to things I have long held to be true.
Mineral Point Is A Must
Darby and I ventured to Mineral Point, WI for the weekend. We were attracted to the area, known as the “Unglaciated Uplands,” due to its proximity to Frank Lloyd Wright’s ancestral country estate, Taliesin. Little did we know how much Mineral Point itself has to offer. We might have had a clue when locating Brewery Creek–a bed-and-brew–on the Web. But not until we arrived in town did we fully grasp the historic significance of this special place. Stone homes and commercial buildings from the 19th century abound. As do friendly residents, many of whom produce and sell art in one of the town’s several galleries .
Enter here for oatmeal stout and a steak.
With Good Publicity You Can Rule The World
Republicans zealously claim to be pro-business. So, why elect a Governor of Texas and then a President of the United States with a long and sordid history of failed business dealings? Because Dick Cheney is there to run things, but the VP has next to no charm. Dubya is a much better frontman for the oil industry. Much like Ronald Reagan, Dubya is a useful prop, an electable face. He’s been propped up by his cronies, his family, and various oil industry interests his entire life. Like any good servant, he recognizes just how much he owes his supporters. And he has no qualms about paying them back, no matter the cost in lives lost, the ruin of the American economy and democracy itself.
A carefully-crafted publicity shot can work wonders. Here we see that Dubya is one of us–a pickup truck drivin’, tobacco spittin’ good old boy (not a Harvard-educated MBA groomed for the top slot).
The Perseverance of Paul Pena
Paul Pena is a blind Bay Area musician who taught himself the arcane techniques of Tuvan throat singers. This is but one remarkable fact of his extraordinary life. For more about Paul’s throat singing abilities and his journey to Tuva, see the documentary film Genghis Blues.
Paul also put out a record on the Capitol label in the early 1970s and recorded another album, New Train , in 1973. New Train features his original, “Big Old Jet Airliner” (made famous by Steve Miller) and performances by Merl Saunders and Jerry Garcia. As often happens in the music business, the recording, although superb in every way, was not released. Not until Genghis Blues won at Sundance and created a new interest in Paul and his work did the album see the light of day. It was relased in September of 2000, 27 years after it was made. Fans of music can now hear for themselves this unique American voice.
Them’s Fightin’ Words
Embattled Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez tells it like it is. Over the weekend many thousands of people took to the streets in Caracas and other cities in this oil-rich nation to vigorously support (and to oppose) his leadership. Chavez openly blames the US for the failed coup attempt against him in 2002. Over the weekend, speaking to his supporters, he called Bush an imperialist “asshole,” questioned the legitimacy of his Presidency, and added, “I have to say to those here who would try to apply the Haiti formula, that Venezuela is not Haiti and that Chavez is not Aristide.”
Aristide Calls Maxine Waters
US Representative Maxine Waters , from California’s 35th District received a 15 minute phone call this morning from Jean-Bertrand Aristide and his wife Mildred, an American citizen. They claim they were kidnapped by American and French forces and taken against their will to Central African Republic. Waters further explained that Jesse Helms’s former chief of staff, Roger Noriega , is now at the State Department and in charge of “regime change” in Haiti, Venezuela, and Cuba.
Thanks to Amy Goodman and Democracy Now for this critical programming.
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
Haitians celebrate in the streets as President Aristide flees the country (with the “help” of US Marines) for the second time in his career.
As this former French colony and severely impoverished island nation erupts into unrest , we are left to wonder what is really happening on the ground in Haiti. It’s difficult to say, for the American mainstream press is not going to report the story honestly. It’s at times like these when concerned citizens need Pacifica Radio, and other alternate media channels more than ever. I began tuning in to KPFA in Berkeley, CA (a Pacifica sister station) in 1989. Today, their stream is available worldwide via the Internet.