Top Ten posts at NA Confidential for January 2018.

Sad about Shawn's Southern BBQ.

Thanks for reading NA Confidential, where we enjoy reconnoitering the neglected periphery for uniquely local perspectives on life in New Albany.

City Hall's allegations to the contrary, it can be seen quite clearly that hundreds of you are reading, and we believe this fact attests to a keen ongoing interest in grassroots New Albany stories, perhaps because they're being chronically under-served elsewhere.

After all, fawning stenography and inexorably multiplying religion columnists can get one only so far.

The January list begins with ten "honorable mention" posts, before concluding with the Top Ten, escalating to No. 1. These statistics are derived from Google's internal numbers listings.

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JANUARY  HONORABLE MENTION

710

THE BEER BEAT: Have a look at this Pints&Union pub buildout progress report.

When the work is finished, it will become Pints&Union, the forthcoming pub being sketched by Joe Phillips and yours truly. Our shared vision takes the traditional Anglo-Irish pub as a starting point. It might be described as "progressively old school," although this phrase lamentably is being used by someone else.

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733

Fourth Estate on the skids: News and Tribune's incomprehension about Jeff Gahan's hostile takeover of public housing remains mind boggling.

Let's take the News and Tribune's credulous editorial board gently by the hand and lead them as a group to the sweet water of genuine fact, hopeful they'll be able to drink deeply and perhaps as yet make some semblance of a contribution to what we're experiencing in New Albany as Year Seven of Dear Leader's social engineering experiment dawns.

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735

ON THE AVENUES: Opposition? It is defined as resistance or dissent, expressed in action or argument, and in New Gahania, now's the time for it.

Dear reader, you may or may not agree with the tone of my political pronouncements here at NA Confidential, but you simply cannot say I don’t doggedly pursue my deranged oppositionist beliefs with persistence and passion. Accordingly, while recognizing the many solid actions in community service performed by Republicans, I’m having a hard time understanding why they aren't taking on (and talking) a more conspicuous role.

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760

A kitchen incubator is the sort of idea that might work in that big building at 336 Pearl Street.

What sort of use could be spread through all hours of the day and wouldn't require hundreds of people to pass through the doors (and park their cars curbside) while still generating enough value to justify the selling price and remodeling costs?

Well, you'll notice that Chef Space uses 13,000 square feet, which (I believe) doesn't include public event areas, one of which is used by a member caterer (Lucretia's Kitchen) to serve lunches and a Sunday buffet. Members come and go throughout the day, and while there are small parking lots on the property, plenty of area parking is available.

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763

THE BEER BEAT: "Dives and hives" in Nawbany, a new brewery coming to Floyds Knobs, and other tales of the drinking life.

Sara's pub crawl also took her to Jack's, Brooklyn and The Butcher and Hugh E. Bir Cafe. Taken as a whole, her wanderings testify to a rich diversity of drinking options in New Albany, and in spite of my own personal trials and travails, I have to admit I'm proud to have played my role in it -- and look forward to doing so again.

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791

86 or 7 to 18? Another update in the accumulating lawsuits of Haymarket Whiskey Bar's owner Matthew Landan.

Pertaining to the ongoing saga of Matthew Landan and his Haymarket Whiskey Bar, as currently embroiled in lawsuits and countersuits, reporter Jason Riley of WDRB-41 recently posted two relevant tweets about judicial decision-making. We missed them, but here they are.

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794

30 years ago today: The aftermath of the 1987 European jaunt, and many changes on the road to 1989.

There was no turning back for me. The 1989 Mach III trip would be bigger and better than ever. The planning for it began long before I returned home from the 1987 expedition, perhaps in Prague, Budapest or Skopje -- or most likely, every waking moment. In part, this was because I’d gradually been made aware of opportunities on both sides of the Iron Curtain to volunteer my time to help with worthy objectives (clean-ups, archaeological digs, beautification) in exchange for lodging and three squares.

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835

Gospel Bird is closed TODAY for renovations, but will be open on the bar side with food for the remainder of the week.

"We'll probably be open the rest of the week (after tonight) but just on the bar side only. So long as we leave a path to bathrooms for the guests."

Food will be served in the bar as renovations proceed.

"It'll be a full interim menu -- a mix of old and a little new."

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929

SHANE'S EXCELLENT NEW WORDS: Gahandescently we glow amid the Gahanaissance.

It is said that the sticky bun of enlightenment never sets on New Gahania, and that's just as well, because beaks are waiting to be wetted, but today we have our old friend J to thank for some highly creative coinage.

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1,029

LIVE TO EAT: Lunch hours at the Redmen Club and new hours at Taco Steve, where Eh Cumpari Pizza popping in on weekends.

JANUARY TOP TEN

1,053

ON THE AVENUES: David Duggins’ violent “jokes” will continue until the New Albany Housing Authority’s morale improves – or Duggins is fired. We advocate the latter.

After the board’s Monday meeting, David Duggins threatened a client by suggesting that a New Albany police officer “shoot” the client, who is a resident of a New Albany Housing Authority (NAHA) property ...

... Only with power comes the “right” to say it was all a joke, and make no mistake: Duggins’ threats to Brown were all about power. So was Gahan's hostile takeover of public housing. People? They're just in the way. Perhaps you remember the entertainer's explanation last fall of why he masturbated in front of women ...

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1,059

NFL Follies: "Billion dollar teams choosing to fail rather than sign Kaepernick is a scandal for reasons beyond wins and losses."

I'm told that the national concussion league's playoffs begin this weekend, moving from wild cards and betting lines toward the inevitable Stupor Bowl, which exists for otherwise intelligent people to indulge their childlike glee while comparing the merits of advertisements designed to relieve them of their money.

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1,110

Just in case you're wondering what Katie Toupin's been doing.

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1,129

Chins up, Mt. Taborites. Your comments may be "unlikely" to produce change, but in 2019, your votes will help forcibly detach Jeff Gahan from the public teat.

Last night's public information spoonfeeding gave Gahan's functionaries the opportunity to taunt the rubes who stand in the way of auto-centric enrichment. You don't know what's best for your neighborhood. Dear Leader does. but remember that paybacks are hell -- and 2019 draws ever closer.

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1,163

Puzzlement compounded: How smoking kept cigar smokers away from the cigar bar, and other tales of the just plain weird.

Your LLC owns a building and leases space to a plush cigar lounge of proven merit, the major selling point of which is that it's a comfortable place to ... um ... smoke (and buy, and venerate) cigars, and then when it is decided that the cigar lounge can't cover the massive nut you've incurred from purchasing a building in the hope that a transplanted City Hall across the street will return your investment with compounded gravy, suddenly smoking becomes the root problem.

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1,196

"Show Me the Money" (video): Jeff Gahan's campaign contributors provide a who's who list of buying and selling a city.

It's why we're here. Back in 2015, The Bookseller pored over Jeff Gahan's official campaign finance report to the state of Indiana and produced this video. In light of more recent developments, the video takes on whole new relevance. Wait -- did someone just mention Gahan's hostile takeover of public housing in New Albany?

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1,271

THE GREEN MOUSE: Match Cigar Bar NA is no more, but what's up with the restaurant rumored to be coming to the space?

I'll skip the post mortems, because I feel absolutely awful about Match Cigar Bar closing after only seven months in business. The original Match/Riverside location remains open in Jeffersonville, and so all the best to Jeff Mouttet and his team, both now and in the future. I'm a tremendous fan of what he's accomplished in Jeffersonville, and I wish it had turned out differently here in New Albany.

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1,695

"City of New Albany Under Fire Amid Accusations of Ignoring INDOT Policies" as Transparency for Mount Tabor group issues scathing press release.

We've just received this press release from Transparency for Mt. Tabor. Take note of tonight's meeting, and best of luck to the insurgents.

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2,904

VIDEO: "That's why we're here," Gahan flails amid a pack of lies in this classic footage from last night's Mt. Tabor project meeting.

There's a reason why the forever agoraphobic Jeff Gahan's handlers keep him secured in the bunker, and it's because the moment any public scenario strays from the script, he cannot improvise. The more he tries, the worse it gets -- and the angrier he becomes.

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4,889

Sadly, Shawn's Southern BBQ is no more.