Black Lives Matter? Here PAVING is what matters -- and NAWBANY WEEK IN REVIEW, presented by the GREEN MOUSE.

That's right. Corbin, Kentucky.

Good job, Corbin, Kentucky. By the way, do any of the pretend-progressives in Nawbany have a pulse?

Why The Small Protests In Small Towns Across America Matter, by Anne Helen Petersen (Buzz Feed)

People who’ve watched and participated in the Black Lives Matter movement say that this time feels different. And the prevalence of these small protests is one of many reasons why.

... All over the country, people are showing up — often for the first time in their lives — to protest police brutality and injustice. In tiny ag towns like Havre (Montana) and Hermiston, Oregon, but also in midsize cities Topeka, Kansas, and Waco, Texas; on island hamlets (Friday Harbor, San Juan Island; Nantucket, Massachusetts; Bar Harbor, Maine); and in well-to-do suburbs (Lake Forest Park, Washington; Darien, Connecticut; Chagrin Falls, Ohio). They are showing up at the courthouse. They are kneeling and observing eight minutes of silence — a reference to how long Floyd was pinned to the ground in a knee chokehold by the Minneapolis police officer who was later charged with his murder. They are marching down interstates and waving signs on street corners. Sometimes, like in the town of Alton, New Hampshire (population 5,335), where one woman organized a protest just two months after being hospitalized with COVID-19, only seven people come. Sometimes, like in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, there are thousands ...

... There have been protests in Belfast, Maine. In Farmington, New Mexico. In Tuscaloosa, Alabama. In Bentonville, Arkansas. In Lubbock, Texas. In Idaho Falls, Idaho. The biggest anyone can remember in Paducah, Kentucky, in Bozeman, Montana, in Pendleton, Oregon, in Frisco, Texas, and in Ogden, Utah. In Tacoma, Washington, pastors knelt in the rain, pleading with God. In Bowling Green, Kentucky, three rolling days of protests. In Owatonna, Minnesota, a student-led protest lasted for 10 hours. In Tulsa, Oklahoma, thousands gathered on the 99th anniversary of the Tulsa Massacre. In Myers Park, one of the wealthiest neighborhoods of Charlotte, North Carolina, where black people were prohibited from owning property for decades. And in Petal, Mississippi, where protesters have spent days calling for the resignation of Mayor Hal Marx, who tweeted last week that “If you can talk, you can breathe” ...

Here in the campaign finance paradise of New Gahania, we don't care shit for no damn revolution, because it's street sweeping season!

To which I answer:

Street “sweeping” should not be expanded. It should be ended. The physical process of “sweeping” is largely futile, and there is no United Nations storm water “law” stipulating dust cloud creation as a workable corrective to anything. Genuine drainage impediments like leaves and garbage barely are addressed by “sweeping.”

Until you've seen the townies on their front porches chasing Hostess doughnuts with iced tea and waving at the street sweeper drivers, you've no idea why people like Bob Caesar are elected to office.

Read more here:

ASK THE BORED (IN EXILE): It appears that street sweeping is suspended through April 7, although it should be eliminated altogether.

But there's more: The 4th of July on the 3rd of July is postponed!

New Albany postpones July 3 event following extension of public health emergency (at Hanson's Folly)

Well, at least there's still Harvest Homecoming ... what's that?

Nope. There'll be no waves of orange coursing through the streets this October, because New Albany's civic celebration also has fallen victim to pandemic public health logic. A very tough call for the committee, but absolutely the correct one.

Organizers cancel 2020 Harvest Homecoming Festival amid coronavirus pandemic (at WDRB)

And, there was a primary election and less than 25% of us bothered. This being a presidential year, the voter turnout percentage will increase tremendously in November, and Donald Trump probably will win Floyd County again.

In the interim, the big news out of the primary was the NA-FC school corporation's safety referendum defeat, by a margin of around 5%. Consequently, let's get something straight: Black Lives DO Matter, the COVID pandemic is absolutely real, street sweeping is a horrendous boondoggle, and Van Hagar was better than Van Halen.

Taking all this into consideration, do you really believe the Green Mouse has anything to say at all in the nature of a post-mortem about the referendum?

That'd be plain dangerous. Following are a few headlines.

What budgetary crisis? Nawbany nickel-and-dimes 50K for the homeless, then awards $2.2 million in tax abatements for Sazarac NOD.

LIVE TO EAT: Those new clothes you're wearing, well, they're a tad threadbare. That's regrettable.

Councilman Phipps' future council meeting emergency reduction resolution is another Team Gahan mess. Can it be tossed out with the rubbish?

Floyd County DemoDisneyDixiecrats issue courageously mundane statement about racism, then return to fundraising.

July 4 flashback: 30 years ago today, "Can someone please explain how the stars and stripes got up THERE?"

Barrie waiting to be weighed.

The following first appeared in 1987 as part of my summer-long revisit of the 1987 Europe trip.

---

Previously: 30 years ago today on THE BEER BEAT: Changing an empty keg the Soviet way.

It is with much confusion that I attempt to describe the events of July 3 and 4, 1987.

My notes insist that the tour group arrived in Leningrad on the morning of Thursday, July 2, after a largely sleepless overnight train trip (described previously). The party began again on the evening of July 2, spilling over into Friday morning, July 3.

On Friday morning, we boarded a hydrofoil to Peterhof (Petrodvorets). Hangovers were rampant, but at least it was a lovely summer day to cruise the Gulf of Finland.

One of St. Petersburg's most famous and popular visitor attractions, the palace and park at Peterhof (also known as Petrodvorets) are often referred to as "the Russian Versailles", although many visitors conclude that the comparison does a disservice to the grandeur and scope of this majestic estate.

Photos follow, below.

Upon returning from Petrodvorets, there was a tour of the Hermitage Museum at the lavish former Winter Palace of the Romanovs, and in the evening, some of us went to the Baku restaurant to celebrate Nick's birthday.

By evening on Saturday, July 4, the group had wrapped its Leningrad tour in the morning (Piskaryovskoe Memorial Cemetery and museum of the WWII siege) and flown to Riga, Latvia for the next stage of liver damage.

The timing matters, owing to one of the most famous episodes of the journey, wherein an American flag abruptly appeared atop the Leningradsky Dvorets Molodezhi Hotel in honor of July 4, U.S. independence day.

It had to have happened at night on July 3, into the morning of July 4.

Seeing as I remember nothing about the Baku meal, it will come as no surprise that details about the circumstances of this flag's novel appearance in the USSR also completely elude me.

Furthermore, I've no idea how the flag was reclaimed, because at some point thereafter it was traded to a cooperative Soviet railway attendant for a tin of caviar the size of a football.

No photos survive of this flag, unfurled atop the brutalist architecture in Leningrad, and tolerated with remarkable equanimity by hotel staff. I wonder if we bribed them?

From July 3, two views of Leningrad's old Tsarist waterfront.

And incredible Petrodvorets, the Versailles of Peter the Great.

I believe the game was to see which stones activated the water jets when trod upon.

Next, Dom Knigi (Singer Company Building), where we loaded up on dirt cheap propaganda posters.

St. Petersburg's largest and most famous bookshop, Dom Knigi ("House of the Book") occupies one of the most beautiful buildings on Nevsky Prospekt - the Singer Company Building, an innovative and richly decorated Art Nouveau masterpiece.

The Neva River.

From July 4: 

Even today, St. Petersburg's Piskaryovskoe Memorial Cemetery continues to speak eloquently to the experience of Leningrad under siege by the Nazis in WWII.

It was a Saturday afternoon, and so we were able to witness the Soviet custom of newlyweds visiting the cemetery to honor the sacrifice of the populace during the siege.

The most significant monument to those who died during the Siege of Leningrad, this enormous memorial cemetery on the north-eastern outskirts of the city holds the graves of around 420 000 civilian victims of the siege, the majority of whom died of cold and starvation, and 70 000 soldiers who died in the defense of the city. On Victory Day (9 May), the cemetery is a centre of activity for the relatives of those who are buried there and anyone who wishes to commemorate the thousands of victims of what is undoubtedly the greatest tragedy in St. Petersburg's history.

In 1987, it had been only a little more than 40 years, and most families had suffered losses: "Nobody is forgotten, nothing is forgotten."

A final memento of WWII is this preserved sign, still intact today, reading "Citizens! In case of shelling, this side of the street is most dangerous."

Next: A brief Kvass digression.

Gahan's Public Housing Putsch: Free speech breaks out at the Chinese sparkler show, and Dear Leader is none too happy.

It was Deaf Gahan's signature showpiece event, that one special red, white and blue day each year when it's worth his time to feign interest in the amphitheater, and what happened?

Unauthorized people possessing far more lower-case "d" consciousness than Deaf's upper-case local Democrats showed up, intent on leveraging the turnout on our Turd of July Fireworks to talk about the mayor's public housing putsch ... and circulate petitions.

You know, like in a free country or something.

In reality, these advocates were raining on Deaf's reign. He'll nurse this grudge until the end of time, won't he? Just wait until he sees the names.

With a newspaper reporter seemingly (at long last) intent to extract a quote from Gahan, the mayor unleashed a characteristic stream of poorly rehearsed bureaucratic prattle, surely spoon-fed to Deaf by his ever-doting party chairman.

"I have a lot of confidence in the newly appointed board, as well as the interim director, to produce a comprehensive plan to reveal to the public exactly how the transition will take place,” he said. “And I am confident that the new plan will vastly improve the living conditions for all residents.”

Don't worry; I'll translate:

“I have a lot of confidence in the new board of trusted and lubed sycophants I appointed to return precisely the decision they were programmed to deliver, as well as the interim director who has absolutely no experience with any of it, though he sure needs the money, and I am confident that no subsidized luxury apartment will be left behind."

One can see Gahan's body language: a full frontal grimace, even as he recites the platitudes. Only one thing is missing, and that's sincerity, a quality utterly missing in Dear Leader's bountifully evasive game.

New Albany Housing Authority residents seek answers on housing plans, by Aprile Rickert (God Bless Ourselves, Over and Over)

Residents, coalition petitioning City

NEW ALBANY — Residents of the New Albany Housing Authority have teamed up with an outside coalition in asking what the City's plans are for the future of public housing.

The coalition, which includes the Louisville/Southern Indiana chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, Louisville Socialists and Hoosier Action, connected with residents about a month ago.

“We're trying to make sure the residents are being heard,” Josh Goodnewt, member of the Democratic Socialists of America, said.

The partnership comes after concerns from both residents of public housing and other community members, over a plan to overhaul housing that was approved by the NAHA board in April. That plan calls for approximately half the city's roughly 1,100 public housing units to be demolished over a period of time — some to be rebuilt, some existing ones to be renovated and housing vouchers to make up the difference.

But some residents are worried that there won't be enough affordable housing in the city to support the vouchers.

30 years ago today: Can someone please explain how the stars and stripes got up THERE?

Barrie waiting to be weighed.

Previously: 30 years ago today on THE BEER BEAT: Changing an empty keg the Soviet way.

It is with much confusion that I attempt to describe the events of July 3 and 4, 1987.

My notes insist that the tour group arrived in Leningrad on the morning of Thursday, July 2, after a largely sleepless overnight train trip (described previously). The party began again on the evening of July 2, spilling over into Friday morning, July 3.

On Friday morning, we boarded a hydrofoil to Peterhof (Petrodvorets). Hangovers were rampant, but at least it was a lovely summer day to cruise the Gulf of Finland.

One of St. Petersburg's most famous and popular visitor attractions, the palace and park at Peterhof (also known as Petrodvorets) are often referred to as "the Russian Versailles", although many visitors conclude that the comparison does a disservice to the grandeur and scope of this majestic estate.

Photos follow, below.

Upon returning from Petrodvorets, there was a tour of the Hermitage Museum at the lavish former Winter Palace of the Romanovs, and in the evening, some of us went to the Baku restaurant to celebrate Nick's birthday.

By evening on Saturday, July 4, the group had wrapped its Leningrad tour in the morning (Piskaryovskoe Memorial Cemetery and museum of the WWII siege) and flown to Riga, Latvia for the next stage of liver damage.

The timing matters, owing to one of the most famous episodes of the journey, wherein an American flag abruptly appeared atop the Leningradsky Dvorets Molodezhi Hotel in honor of July 4, U.S. independence day.

It had to have happened at night on July 3, into the morning of July 4.

Seeing as I remember nothing about the Baku meal, it will come as no surprise that details about the circumstances of this flag's novel appearance in the USSR also completely elude me.

Furthermore, I've no idea how the flag was reclaimed, because at some point thereafter it was traded to a cooperative Soviet railway attendant for a tin of caviar the size of a football. Nick, do you remember?

No photos survive of this flag, unfurled atop the brutalist architecture in Leningrad, and tolerated with remarkable equanimity by hotel staff. I wonder if we bribed them?

From July 3, two views of Leningrad's old Tsarist waterfront.

And incredible Petrodvorets, the Versailles of Peter the Great.

I believe the game was to see which stones activated the water jets when trod upon.

Next, Dom Knigi (Singer Company Building), where we loaded up on dirt cheap propaganda posters.

St. Petersburg's largest and most famous bookshop, Dom Knigi ("House of the Book") occupies one of the most beautiful buildings on Nevsky Prospekt - the Singer Company Building, an innovative and richly decorated Art Nouveau masterpiece.

The Neva River.

From July 4: 

Even today, St. Petersburg's Piskaryovskoe Memorial Cemetery continues to speak eloquently to the experience of Leningrad under siege by the Nazis in WWII.

It was a Saturday afternoon, and so we were able to witness the Soviet custom of newlyweds visiting the cemetery to honor the sacrifice of the populace during the siege.

The most significant monument to those who died during the Siege of Leningrad, this enormous memorial cemetery on the north-eastern outskirts of the city holds the graves of around 420 000 civilian victims of the siege, the majority of whom died of cold and starvation, and 70 000 soldiers who died in the defense of the city. On Victory Day (9 May), the cemetery is a centre of activity for the relatives of those who are buried there and anyone who wishes to commemorate the thousands of victims of what is undoubtedly the greatest tragedy in St. Petersburg's history.

In 1987, it had been only a little more than 40 years, and most families had suffered losses: "Nobody is forgotten, nothing is forgotten."

A final memento of WWII is this preserved sign, still intact today, reading "Citizens! In case of shelling, this side of the street is most dangerous."

Next: A brief Kvass digression.

Fireworks, postponements, and that time last year when he got it right.

Photo credit: Portland (Maine) Press Herald

Owing to heavy rain, New Albany's corporate fireworks were postponed from July 3 to August 6. For excuses to view fireworks on August 6, consult this list. Perhaps the mayor and I can agree that Cara Lott's birthday is the most solid reason of all to blow things up on this later date.

At least two local news outlets reported that today's fireworks were cancelled and postponed. Plainly, this is bad usage. What is it about the meaning of the word "postpone" that throws them?

To cause or arrange for (something) to take place at a time later than that first scheduled.

As I write, the neighborhood amateurs are busy making noise, and there is some consolation in the fact that being waterlogged reduces the likelihood of something catching fire.

In turn, it reminds me that last year about this time, Chris Morris finally encountered a topic he could wrestle successfully to the ground -- and he did.

Amateur fireworks shook his house, scared his dog, and roused his elder bile. Turns out that Tip O'Neill was right, and all politics is local, after all. Morris got it right.

But the irony still resonates.

Let me make precisely the same arguments with regard to the heavy trucks on Spring Street shaking my house, and one-way arterial traffic depressing revitalization in my neighborhood, and the interests of small business being maligned by City Hall's streets timidity, and Morris immediately and instinctively sides with the oppressors.

"What's Padgett supposed to do, Rog -- move?"

That's certainly one option, as is undertaking to fight the fireworks lobby and impose a few basic rules out of considerations of public safety, these being the very same considerations of public safety arguing quite persuasively for a two-way, calmed street grid.

As I said, he got this one right. Now he merely needs to work on his consistency, and we may yet gain a street reform advocate.

MORRIS: It’s time to ban the big boom, by Chris Morris (Clark County Thymes)

... I think some fireworks should remain on the market. I think the big stuff that explodes in the air, over my house, or rattles windows and threatens mankind should be left to the professionals.

The fireworks law in this state needs clarification. Basically, some items need to be banned. I am as patriotic as the next guy, but I don’t have to light explosives near my neighbor’s front door in order to prove that. I know fireworks are big business and generate needed tax revenue for the state, but there has to be a law that is fair to everyone.

In case you were wondering how much it costs for the city to hire quality bands ...

From the minutes of last week's Board of Public Works and Safety meeting.

Make no mistake: The Crashers are top-flight, and musicians should be paid when they perform. Too often, they're not.

I merely dream of the day when a fraction of the money being spent by City Hall on temporary downtown entertainment facilities is devoted to investing in amphitheater infrastructure.

That amphitheater over there? Let's use it for a change.

New Albany's Riverfront Amphitheater is a valuable but sadly underutilized physical asset. Yes, it has issues, though they certainly are not beyond repair.

As tonight's music and fireworks event (below) once again will illustrate, folks are disposed to enjoy the amphitheater when given a good reason to do so.

The city has spent much money in recent years staging temporary events at temporary venues downtown, but what we really need is a master plan for reinvestment in the amphitheater. Apart from special occasions like tonight, it simply isn't the city's job to be a concert promoter.

Rather, the city's job is to maintain the civic infrastructure suitable for others to plan and stage such events, and this is what I propose to do as mayor.

City belatedly gets around to releasing concrete information on Boomtown, summer concert series, etc.

Boomtown Ball.
Bicentennial Park Concert Series.
July 3 Fireworks at the Amphitheater.

You should know that for several weeks, questions about these city-sponsored events have been asked of the city by previous local vendors, and answered vaguely or incompletely, if answered at all.

Why is it so frustrating for these businesses not to get timely information? It's because food and drink businesses like those involved in the past with these specially staged events must budget, make schedules, staff and plan ahead. They always have done so -- and they have always come through and delivered for event attendees.

Only this week on Tuesday morning, as City Hall's persistently poor communications skills started being discussed yet again, loudly and publicly on social media following the downtown merchant meeting, did the ice finally begin to thaw.

This morning I reported what (was) known about Boomtown amid the fog, and then later in the afternoon, through a miraculous and surely coincidental communications breakthrough, this press release (below) suddenly appeared.

In it, we learn the "preferred" and "professional" caterer's name that David Duggins forgot to remember on Tuesday: It's Festival Cuisine & Spirits, with a primary office in Louisville and a storage warehouse on Pearl Street in New Albany (note that this year, it's beer and wine only at Boomtown).

All we've been told by the city in way of explanation is that the city placed alcoholic beverage catering in the hands of Louisville-based Production Simple, and Production Simple hired Festival Cuisine & Spirits.

Also, it is revealed for the first time publicly that while Boomtown's primary components are Louisville based, localism will be observed during the Bicentennial Park Concert Series and July 3 Fireworks show, via something called the Downtown Bar and Restaurant Association.

Perhaps City Hall means the New Albany Restaurant & Bar Association, unless NARBA already has a rival non-profit. In this city, anything is possible.

And, as revealed previously, local bricks and mortar retailers will have their booth fees waived by the Louisville-based Flea Off Market, and that's good news for retailers.

Why has Team Gahan sought so assiduously to make Boomtown such a Louisville-centric event, when local building blocks might be used -- when the band curating the event, Houndmouth, hails from New Albany and environs?

That's anyone's guess. Maybe it's Greg Fischer's idea. So, read the tea leaves, break out that dusty Ouija Board and spin a bottle ... or flip a coin. Mayor Jeff Gahan's administration is the single most furtive, secretive and non-transparent administrative entity in living memory, as well as the one most willing to award credit to itself. In fact, the most surprising development this year came on April 9, when Gahan chose not to celebrate his victory over General Lee at Appomattox Court House.

Verily, we all have become dentists, merrily pulling teeth. Novocaine, anyone?

July 4 on July 3 was a great success.

They gathered atop New Albany's prize-winning facsimile of an abandoned coastal defense installation to watch the Juice Box Heroes, the Louisville Crashers and the fireworks. The weather was ideal, and it was a huge and well-behaved crowd.

What interests me is that three years ago, when NABC first licensed and worked the July 3 event, our draft beer was outsold roughly 4 - 1 in favor of mass market lager. Last night, the ratio was 2 - 1, which represents obvious shift in the context of a generalized audience. Perhaps good beer really can conquer the world.

The amphitheater could be a very good thing for New Albany. We need only consider how to make it more usable on an everyday basis, as opposed to a "special" time once or twice a year. As last night's event showed, give people a good reason to come to the amphitheater, and the levee is no impediment.

Tonight: Waterfront fireworks with NABC’s Progressive Pints and some bands.

Read all about it here: Tonight: Waterfront fireworks with NABC’s Progressive Pints and some bands

Riverfront Amphitheater tonight: The Crashers, fireworks and NABC's Progressive Pints.

And remember, when it comes time to look for Quality of Life bond issue bonuses, there's the Amphitheater. It wouldn't take all that much ...

The story and beer list are at the NABC web site.

Crashers, fireworks and NABC — Wednesday, July 3 at the Riverfront Amphitheater.

The story and beer list are at the NABC web site.

ON THE AVENUES: Beer, lawn and sheep.

ON THE AVENUES: Beer, lawn and sheep.

A weekly web column by Roger A. Baylor.

Night was a wonderful time in Brooklyn in the 1930s. Air conditioning was unknown except in movie houses, and so was television. There was nothing to keep one in the house. Furthermore, few people owned automobiles, so there was nothing to carry one away. That left the streets and the stoops. The very fullness served as an inhibition to crime.
--Isaac Asimov

When these overheated denizens of Asimov’s nostalgic borough took their beers out of the fridge and onto their stoops, what were they drinking?

Probably Schaefer or Rheingold, two locally-brewed golden lagers in New York City that survived Prohibition, or maybe Ballantine Ale, a throwback top-fermented style far rarer back then. Like Fehr’s and Falls City in Louisville, the original incarnations of these brands didn’t last into contemporary times.

Unsurprisingly, there is no evidence to suggest that newspaper beer columnists during Asimov’s youth were recommending Belgian Wit or Bavarian Hefe-Weizen as seasonal beers ideal for warm weather quaffing, although there may have been immigrants residing in Brooklyn who recalled such Old World styles from childhoods spent abroad.

In 2012, enough of us are sufficiently aware of vastly expanded beer choice that I needn’t explain terminology in the preceding paragraphs to any great degree. As with wine, the rudiments of craft beer are understood more widely than ever before, and you catch my drift even if the details are elusive.

Of course, considerable numbers of beer drinkers in America (“Land of the Free, Home of the Mass Market”) remain depressingly brand-loyal, mechanically opting for the same flavorless golden lager beer they’ve always consumed -- rain or shine, heat or cold, indoor or outdoor. It saddens me.

I noticed quite a few of them at New Albany’s Independence Celebration on Tuesday. Docile to the end, they willingly stood in a long line to drink Bud Light, when craft beer service was faster, and many of them looked at the NABC kiosk as though we were little green men in space suits … or even an African-American president. Some of them looked confused, while frankly, others appeared absolutely terrified.

It was entertaining and instructive phenomenon, but to be honest, I felt sorrow and empathy for the truly frightened ones, stuck on hamster treadmills of bland, confining habit. We sold four kegs of craft beer, anyway, so I must think in positive terms. Like the French who saved our bacon in the Revolutionary War are apt to say, “Viva la difference.”

---

The ubiquity of air conditioning leaves me to question whether the term “lawnmower beer” still matters. It is an umbrella, implying brews suitable (read: wholly insubstantial) for the higher temperature extremes of summer. They are lighter in body, milder in flavor, lower in alcohol, and make for faster swallowing overall.

Lawnmower beer is a creative, descriptive term, one never intended as a subliminal suggestion to drink gallons of it while operating machinery in the act of cutting grass, even if one’s padded seat atop whirling blades of vegetation decapitation comes equipped with a handy cup holder and dorm fridge in the sidecar.

Whether air-conditioned or open-air, when it comes to lawnmower beer, the styles I prefer more closely resemble the higher octane of liquid poured into the fuel tank, as diametrically opposed to analogies with dainty, refreshing splashes from the garden hose in the wading pool.

However, there is a case to be made for user-friendly seasonal beer styles with integrity, so long as the fruit wedges are reserved for rum drinks, this being because fruit as a garnish on a beer glass is always wrong, period.

Always!

Apart from a few higher-gravity specialties, the use of wheat in the brewing process almost axiomatically declares lawnmower beer status. When the cute little girl on “Despicable Me” finally comes of age, my guess is that she’ll gravitate toward ales made with wheat.

After all, they’re so “fluffy.”

If based on the Belgian brewing tradition, wheat ale will be light-bodied, cloudy golden, and spiced with coriander and orange peel. Not unexpectedly, these ingredients yield a citrusy, consummately refreshing character. A common local example is Upland Wheat, brewed in Bloomington, Indiana.

Both Blue Moon and Shock Top are cynical variants of the Belgian wheat brewing ethos, but because they are the products of multi-national brewing conglomerates in pressing need of anti-trust dismemberment, I do not recommend them.

German-style wheat ales are cousins to the Belgian, yet very different; generally unfiltered (“Hefe-”), golden but sometimes brown (“Dunkel”), and redolent with distinctive flavors of clove and fruit that derive entirely from the strain of yeast used to ferment them. The best examples are Bavarian: Franziskaner, Weihenstephaner, Erdinger, Tucher, and the best of all, Schneider.

Closer to home, if microbrewed wheat ale is not otherwise tagged as Belgian or German, chances are it is what we now refer to as “American-style” wheat, fermented with ordinary ale yeast not specifically cultured for the nuances that identify continental variants. These wheat ales come to your glass to be light, inoffensive, effervescent and poundable. A familiar regional example is Bell’s Oberon, and most brewpubs produce one in summer.

---

To me, the supreme oddity of lawnmower beers is this: Not once in my life can I recall my consuming beer while actually engaged in the act of mowing the lawn.

It took a long time before I developed a taste for beer as a thirst quencher, and the connection remains somewhat tenuous. Just plain and unfermented water always sufficed for sporting pursuits, putting up hay and trimming the hedges. Beer of any sort just seemed superfluous while working, and better reserved for the cooling reward time after work was through.

However, lately I’ve taken to deploying hop-forward Pilsners and American Pale Ales as thirst quenchers at selected summertime intervals. For me, wheat ales lack heft, and it’s the bitter hop contrast (not a relentlessly sweet character like that of soda pop) that satisfies.

On Tuesday, more than one NABC customer was heard to say: “Shorter lines, better beer, and only a dollar more than Bud Light … what’s not to like?”

Summer or winter, I resemble that remark.

That's what I always say: Nationalize the railroads.

The Riverfront Amphitheater is separated from downtown by more than a levee.

Tonight's 2012 Independence Festival at the Riverfront Amphitheater is a go.

The city's annual fireworks and music show is today. Follow this link for the city's prospectus:

"The City of New Albany and The Horseshoe Foundation proudly present the 2012 Independence Festival" Tuesday July 3rd 2012 at the scenic Riverfront Amphitheater.

For those so inclined, adult refreshments will begin around 4:00 p.m., and last call will be no later than 10:45 p.m.

The inner "beer garden" dispensing area is restricted to those 21 years of age or older, although drinks can be carried into the all-ages area, but not outside the perimeter of the venue's fencing.

I know that the city has a vendor for ice cream, and there'll be a truck with potable water on hand. There may be other food vendors present. Know that there's nothing  illegal about bringing food to the event; all this talk of fencing is necessary because of state law governing temporary alcohol permits. Unfortunately, the state alcohol regs are not European, and that's regrettable.

NABC hopes to see you there tonight. We'll be selling Progressive Pints of Black & Blue Grass, Tafel, Yakima and Extra Ordinary Bitter. Wick's will be on hand with domestic beers, and River City Winery's there, too.

June 29: The heat is on, and so Live @ Five is off.

This means Live @ Five takes two weeks off, returning on July 13.

---

PRESS RELEASE
June 27th, 2012
For Immediate Release
Contact: Michael Hall

Due to the extreme heat expected to hit the area this coming weekend, the City of New Albany has decided to postpone the Live@5 concert scheduled for this Friday, June 29th.

With temperatures expected to reach between 100-105 degrees on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, Mayor Jeff M. Gahan is urging residents to stay cool, hydrated, and indoors during this heat wave. Given this fact, city officials thought it may be best try to reschedule at a later date for the safety of the attendees, event staff, and musical acts.

“With temperatures over the 100 degree mark, serious precautions need to be taken,” stated Mayor Gahan. “Be sure to drink plenty of fluids to remain hydrated, and do not forget to use your sunscreen if you have to go outside. In addition, please check on your neighbors throughout the weekend – especially the elderly.”

Mayor Gahan also stressed the importance of taking extra precautions while transporting infants and young children in vehicles during the summer heat.

Coming up on the City of New Albany’s Summer Entertainment Schedule is the annual Independence Celebration hosted at the scenic Riverfront Amphitheater. The event will take place on Tuesday, July 3rd, and will feature five musical acts and a large fireworks display. The event starts at 5pm, and is kicked off by Uncommon Sense, a Rock School band from Jimmy’s Music Center in New Albany. Fenderilla, another Rock School band from Jimmy’s will follow, with local band Violet Knives taking the stage after that. Olivia Henken will take the stage for an hour and twenty minute set, followed by The Louisville Crashers.

Live@5 will return regularly on Friday, July 13th. For more information, be sure to keep up-to-date with the City’s website and Facebook page.

More about double wides.

On a hot summer night: Diffie, Kershaw and Tippin to play free show Sunday in New Albany (Suddeath; N and T)

Yee hah ... it's country music on the waterfront on July 3rd for the 4th.

Bluegill broke the story on Twitter almost two weeks ago, and now it's official.

Country stars line up for New Albany Independence Day concert; Joe Diffie, Sammy Kershaw and Aaron Tippin to play July 3 show, by Daniel Suddeath (News and Tribune)

... “I would say this is the biggest show we’ve had in awhile,” said Shelle England, chairwoman of the city’s riverfront committee and wife of New Albany Mayor Doug England.

Indeed, this acoustic country music three-way performance is being called The Big Music Show as it tours this summer.

The equally huge, long-awaited Confederate "Trashy Women" Railroad family-friendly show at the Amphitheater is on August 19, and a cursory web search uncovers Younger Than Noah (contemporary Christian) and the Monarchs (June 17) as being among the groups slated to perform this summer.

Note that the annual Celts on the River concert takes place on Saturday, June 18, and remember that all city-sponsored events are free to the public. NABC will be there for the Celtic celebration, but otherwise, at this precise moment, I have no further information on catering or craft beer status at the Amphitheater this year. No worries; it's still early.

Looking for ethnic/cultural/musical diversity beyond boot, scoop, booger, Jesus and oldies? Worry not: The complete Amphitheater schedule should be released very soon, and I'm sure it will be a good one.

Let's hope for better weather this year ... now that the flood waters have receded.