View the new exhibitions at the Gamborg Gallery.

Regular readers know that from time to time, I reintroduce my friend Allan Gamborg, Danish by birth, and a longtime resident of Moscow. Allan has enjoyed much success in his "second" (third? fifth?) career as a purveyor and advocate of Soviet-era art and artists. You can use the handy Blogger search feature with "Gamborg," and see previous postings.

The format's usually the same, and it's always worth a few minutes to peruse the art. You need not be a Commie to enjoy the links to Allan's on-line galleries.

As in the past, permit me to thank Allan for his boundless hospitality and to share his latest posting.

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Dear Friends,
We have a series of new exhibitions on the Gamborg Gallery on the web:

THEMES

Olympic Sports

A series of artwork showing the Olympic games in Soviet Art.

Anti Smoking Campaign
A series of Soviet posters and artwork propaganding against smoking.

ARTISTS

Boris Derzhavin (born 1921)
Boris Aleksandrovich Derzhavin studied at the Moscow textile insitute in the early years after the war, and later he became a teacher of graphics on the 1950-1960s at the same institute. Both his oils and his gouaches show that he was not educated in the classical socialist realism of the time, but with more freedom of expression.

Nina Shirokova (Born 1934)
Nina Ivanovna Shirokova was born in Tarusa, in a family of a carpenter and a teacher. She was always fond of drawing, and from her early years she took private classes in drawing. From 1956-62 she studied at the Moscow Textile Institute (MTI), which she favoured particularly because of the controversial non-conformist teacher Eliy Bilyutin.She specialised in textile design. Amongst her professors were Pochitalov (painting), Aleksandr Ivanov (graphics), and Aleksandr Dubinchik (drawing). Before and during her studies, she took private classes in painting from VKhuTeMas artist Konstantin Lekomtsev, where she also made friends with his wife, famous Moscow artist Natalia Gippius. During the 1960s she held different positions in relation to industrial and interior design, for example her design of the ideal Soviet one-room flat in 1963 and the interior of Aeroflot planes in 1964. In the later 1960s she did a series of scarfs and textiles at the Schyolkovo textile manufacture. During the 60s and 70s she regularly visited the studio of Eliy Bilyutin, who was famous in the period for his teaching of non-socialist realism methods of drawing and painting (formalism). Her personal works of that period are strongly inspired by Bilyutin and by the style of the non-conformists. Thematically, she paints landscapes in bright and powerful colours, still-lives, as well as nudes and portraits. She is a highly skilled and inspired draughtsman, with a simple and bold line. Her favourite media are pencil, gouache, tempera and watercolour. Nina Ivanovna’s works are a bright example of the artistic freedom that many former students of the Moscow Textile Institute were able to take advantage of. They were not educated according to, and consequently not artistically limited by, the dogmas of the Socialist Realism. Her personal works were very rarely shown publicly in the 1960s-2000, particularly the works painted in her Bilyutin period. Nina Ivanovna now lives in Moscow.

Galina Ivanova (1937-2009)
Galina Ivanovna Ivanova was born in Moscow in 1937. In 1959 she graduated from the Moscow Pedagogical Institute named after V.P. Potemkin. She participated in her first exhibition in 1961, and in 1967 she joined the Artist Union, the graphics section. During the 1960s and 1970s she travelled extensively in the Soviet Union, depiction the old cultural centres of Russia, and the ancient churches. During the 1970s, she printed a large series of images of the old Moscow, around the Patriarch's Ponds and the Garden Ring. Her favourite media were lithography and watercolour. In particular her lithographs are very recognisable, in her personal soft and pastel-like style.

Vera Orekhova (1907-2007) -
Vera Andreevna Orekhova studied at the Famous Moscow VKHTUMAS art institute in the late 1920s, amongst here teachers were Gerasimov, Rodionov and Konchalovsky. Her favourite media are watercolour and lithography, and she is famous for her images of Moscow in the 1940s-1970s, and of her wonderful still-lives, inspired by the French impressionist and post-impressionist school.

David Borovsky (1926-2004)
David Borovsky was a prominent graphic artist, active in Leningrad. From 1945-1952 he studied at Repin State Institute of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture of the USSR Academy of Fine Arts under K. Rudakov. His graduation work was the series of illustrations Maxim Gorky. He began exhibiting in 1952 and participated in major art exhibitions in the USSR. Borovsky illustrated books for Goslitizdat, Detgiz and Iskusstvo publishing houses. His most known works in book illustration are: Compositions by I. Turgenev (1954-55), Mountain Nest by Mamin-Sibiriak (1955), Who Lives Well in Russia? by N. Nekrasov (1960), etc. Borovsky created the series of color lithographs: Leningrad Choreography School (1955), V.I. Lenin (1957) and works in book illustration, a series of colour monotypes (1961-1963). He produced a famous series of lithographs depicting the workers of the electricity industry.

Dilyara Varlshina (Born 1937)
Dilyara Khalilovna is a well-known Moscow graphic artist, specilalising in linocuts and lithography. She finished the Moscow Polygraphic institute in 1971, and in 1977 she joined the Artists' Union, the graphics section. In the early years after graduation she worked in the theatre doing stage designs and costumes, and later she started working with Moscow publishing houses as a book illustrator. The favourite theme is sports, and many of her prints depict cycling, voleyball, fencing, and gymnastics.

BOOK ILLUSTRATIONS

Master and Margarita, illustrations by Mihai Brunea
A series of illustrations to the famous novel Master and Margerita by Bulgakov. The main character wakes up after a heavy night of drinking and finds himself in the company of Voland the devil, who moonlights as a foreign consultant. The book was issued in Kisnyov, Moldova in the 1980s.

From Morning to Evening (С утра до вечера) – Illustrations by Evgeniya Endrikson
A series of original illustrations to the book "From Morning to Evening" (С утра до вечера) from 1945 by Evgeniya Endrikson. The book was printed right after the war, with lack of paper and printing facilities, so the illustrations should comply with those requirements, i.e. it should be black and white, and with simple detail.

Summer In the Kolkhoz (Лето в колхозе) – Illustrations by Evgeniya Endrikson
A series of original illustrations to the book " Summer In the Kolkhoz " (Летом в колхозе) from the early 1950s by Evgeniya Endrikson.

The Childrens’ Bus (Детский автобус) - illustrations by Marina Uspenskaya
A series of original illustrations by Marina Uspenskaya for the book " Детский автобус " (The Childrens’ Bus), by Zinaida Aleksandrova. Published by Detgiz in 1957, in 310.000 copies. Price was 2 roubles.

Enjoy the shows !

REWIND: Will work for something real.

For Labor Day, a thoughtful piece about economic development from YES! Magazine's David Korten, reprinted in its entirety under a Creative Commons license.

10 Common Sense Principles for a New Economy
It’s time we the people declare our independence from the money-favoring Wall Street economy.

by David Korten

I find hope in the fact that millions of people the world over are seeing through the moral and practical fallacies underlying the Wall Street economy and-—by contributing to the creation of a New Economy--are taking charge of their economic lives.

Here are ten common sense principles to frame the New Economy that we the people must now bring forth:

1. The proper purpose of an economy is to secure just, sustainable, and joyful livelihoods for all. This may come as something of a shock to Wall Street financiers who profit from financial bubbles, securities fraud, low wages, unemployment, foreign sweatshops, tax evasion, public subsidies, and monopoly pricing.

2. GDP is a measure of the economic cost of producing a given level of human well-being and happiness. In the economy, as in any well-run business, the goal should be to minimize cost, not maximize it.

3. A rational reallocation of real resources can reduce the human burden on the Earth’s biosphere and simultaneously improve the health and happiness of all. The Wall Street economy wastes enormous resources on things that actually reduce the quality of our lives— war, automobile dependence, suburban sprawl, energy-inefficient buildings, financial speculation, advertising, incarceration for minor, victimless crimes. The most important step toward bringing ourselves into balance with the biosphere is to eliminate the things that are bad for our health and happiness.

4. Markets allocate efficiently only within a framework of appropriate rules to maintain competition, cost internalization, balanced trade, domestic investment, and equality. These are essential conditions for efficient market function. Without rules, a market economy quickly morphs into a system of corporate monopolies engaged in suppressing wages, exporting jobs, collecting public subsidies, poisoning air, land, and water, expropriating resources, corrupting democracy, and a host of other activities that represent an egregiously inefficient and unjust distribution of resources.

5. A proper money system roots the power to create and allocate money in people and communities in order to facilitate the creation of livelihoods and ecologically balanced community wealth. Money properly serves life, not the reverse. Wall Street uses money to consolidate its power to expropriate the real wealth of the rest of the society. Main Street uses money to connect underutilized resources with unmet needs. Public policy properly favors Main Street.

6. Money, which is easily created with a simple accounting entry, should never be the deciding constraint in making public resource allocation decisions. This is particularly obvious in the case of economic recessions or depressions, which occur when money fails to flow to where it is needed to put people to work producing essential goods and services. If money is the only lack, then make the accounting entry and get on with it.

7. Speculation, the inflation of financial bubbles, risk externalization, the extraction of usury, and the use of creative accounting to create money from nothing, unrelated to the creation of anything of real value, serve no valid social purpose. The Wall Street corporations that engage in these activities are not in the business of contributing to the creation of real community wealth. They are in the business of expropriating it, a polite term for theft. They should be regulated or taxed out of existence.

8. Greed is not a virtue; sharing is not a sin. If your primary business purpose is not to serve the community, you have no business being in business.

9. The only legitimate reason for government to issue a corporate charter extending special privileges favoring a particular enterprise is to serve a clearly defined public purpose. That purpose should be clearly stated in the corporate charter and be subject to periodic review.

10. Public policy properly favors local investors and businesses dedicated to creating community wealth over investors and businesses that come only to extract it. The former are most likely to be investors and businesses with strong roots in the communities in which they do business. We properly favor them.

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David Korten is co-founder and board chair of YES! Magazine, co-chair of the New Economy Working Group, president of the People-Centered Development Forum, and a founding board member of the Business Alliance for Local Living Economies (BALLE). His books include Agenda for a New Economy: From Phantom Wealth to Real Wealth, The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth Community, and the international best seller When Corporations Rule the World.

(Originally posted by Bluegill on Sept. 6, 2010)

Erika unleashed: "Eye" before "eeee!" except after "see."

At least Erika has a sense of humor.

To celebrate America's purported Labor Day (most for the rest of the planet observes the concept on May 1, but I digress) by suggesting the little people of New Albany hoist tiny, thimble-sized cans of Coors is brilliantly ironic, and likely will zoom over the heads of both her regular readers.

The Dark Side of Coors Light, in Know Your Right Wingers by Annika Carlson.

... As then-president of Adolph Coors Co. Jeff Coors said in a Los Angeles Times article agreeing to union demands is like “inviting the Russians in to take over America.” Until 1986, prospective Coors employees were sometimes required to take lie detector tests, answering questions about their sexual orientation, communist leanings, and how often they changed their underwear.

Gads, is Erika trying to tell us that Hillary Clinton drinks Silver Bullet?

I always knew the Bridges Politburo had no intention of conducting an economic impact study.

As Matt pointed out on Twitter, publishing this story on a holiday weekend doesn't seem to be the optimal way for the C-J to assure readership. Speaking for myself, I keep remembering the promise that the Bridges Politburo would not neglect the economic impact of tolls on Hoosier small business. The Green Mouse reiterates: Posterity simply is not going to be very kind when it comes to gauging the performance of this body.

Study of Ohio River bridges' impact stalled; Work would include gauging tolls' effect, by Marcus Green (Courier-Journal).

Authority officials are at a loss now to say if the final study will consider the potential impact of tolls on the region’s economy.

New Albany First upcoming events include information session, entrepreneurship seminar and a special guest.

(Submitted)

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I wanted to fill you in on a few upcoming events that New Albany First will be hosting.

This Thursday, September 8th from 6p - 8p, we'll be hosting a public information session at the New Albanian Brewing Company on Grant Line Road in the Prost room. Many of you have attended one or more of these already and we certainly welcome to you to stop by and meet each other and potential members.

On Thursday, September 22nd we'll be having the first of our local entrepreneurship seminars again to be held at NABC Grant Line Road from 7p - 8:30p. NA First members Gary Humphrey of River City Winery and Roger Baylor from NABC along with Allen Howie of Idealogy will be discussing the issues facing opening a restaurant in New Albany with Allen talking about branding and marketing. One of the main goals of any independent business alliance is the encouragement of new locally-owned independent businesses in our area. This is one way we hope to fulfill that goal and with more seminars already in the works, we feel this is a great way to do that.

Finally, on October 28th/29th, we're very pleased to welcome Jeff Milchen to New Albany. Jeff is the co-founder of the American Indpendent Business Alliance (AMIBA) which is based in Bozeman, Montana. Jeff will be giving a keynote presentation on Friday night, Oct. 28th (time to be determined) and then a workshop the next morning. Both of these events are being hosted by the River City Winery. Jeff is an internationally known advocate for independent businesses and is highly sought after, so we're really happy he's going to come to New Albany to talk with us. More details on this to come.

Thanks to all of you for believing in this project and for your support.

Andy Terrell
Director, New Albany First

Bob Edwards at the Carnegie Center on Saturday, September 24.

The following was submitted by Laura Wilkins, Director of Marketing & Outreach at the Carnegie Center. To make this day even better, the band Cabin is playing at the Riverfront Amphitheater in the evening, and NABC will be selling progressive pints in lieu of the usual Dudweiser.

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Join us as we welcome award-winning radio personality Bob Edwards at the Carnegie Center for a live interview and book signing on Sat. Sept. 24, 6 - 7:30 pm.

The Carnegie Center is pleased to welcome radio personality Bob Edwards, best known for his tenure as the host of Morning Edition on National Public Radio, for a live interview and book signing on Saturday, September 24, from 6:00 - 7:30 pm. In his new book A Voice in the Box: My Life in Radio, Louisville native Edwards recounts his career as one of the most important figures in modern broadcasting, describing his journey on the radio waves through his exit from NPR in 2004, the launch of The Bob Edwards Show on XM Satellite Radio and his induction into the Radio Hall of Fame.

Edwards got his start in radio in New Albany in 1968 at WHEL, located on the second floor of a building at the corner of Pearl and Main Streets. Of his time at WHEL Edwards writes, “The Louisville stations were loath to hire beginners, so I had to go across the river. It was like working at a little paper where you learned to set type, sell ads, do obituaries, cover fires. That’s what working at a small radio station is like. You have to spin records, fix the plumbing, try to sell ads. It’s a good place to learn. The audience is small so you can be bad.”

Edwards will share similar anecdotes about his time in New Albany during the program. Edwards will be interviewed by Roger Whaley, Director of Technology for the New Albany-Floyd County Consolidated School Corporation (retired) and the first radio instructor at Floyd Central High School. The interview will be interspersed with audio clips from Edwards’ career.

A question and answer session for audience members will follow the interview, and a book signing with Edwards will conclude the evening. Copies of A Voice in the Box will be available for sale at the Carnegie Center by Destinations Booksellers before and after the event.

The cost of the program is $10 per person and free to Carnegie Center members. Click HERE for information on becoming a Carnegie Center member. Proceeds from Edwards' program will benefit the New Albany Public Art Project: Bicentennial Series. This event is sponsored by The Filson Historical Society and the Carnegie Center, Inc.

Seating is limited, and reservations are required and must be made by September 20. Please call 812-944-7336 to make your reservations, or you may click HERE to email your reservation to Delesha Thomas (please include your name, telephone number, and whether or not you are a Carnegie Center member). Reservations are confirmed only after payment in full.Thank you and we hope to see you Sept. 24!

Live together or die alone.

Saturday, October 1 is going to be a fun day in New Albany.

For one, there'll be a renewal of the Harvest Homecoming parade party institution (in a local election year, no less) at the Confidential domicile. 2011 will be the seventh edition, and for complete information, merely change the date in last year's preview to October 1, and read:

Let's protest tolls, heckle 1Si, and drink beer at NAC's Harvest Homecoming Parade Gala at 1117 ESSNA.

October 1 also is the day NABC has chosen to release ThunderFoot 22-oz bomber bottles for carry-out purchase by the general public. ThunderFoot bombers will be available all day on the 1st (only!) at both NABC locations, and if there's any left over, Southern Indiana commercial accounts get the next stab, then our friends at Cavalier Distributing Inc.

But there's even more. After the NAC bash and parade has concluded, there'll be a pig roast (all ages, with burgers and hot dogs, too) and an NABC cash beer bar at Something Different II on 3rd Street by the floodwall. A percentage of the proceeds from beer sales will go to 1st District Councilman Dan Coffey's annual Christmas Party for children in his neighborhood.

Plan on a moveable feast: 1117 East Spring Street Neighborhood Association for the parade, a stroll to Something Different for food and drink, and then an afternoon/night cap at Bank Street Brewhouse and carry-out ThunderFoot. Verily, Gregg Seidl might graft the events of the day onto his walking accounts of nefarious (or ironic) New Albany.

Nash: "Strategic planning has never been a strong point in this community."

Matt Nash's column appears weekly in One Southern Indiana Newspaper (or OSIN, as we've referred to it since the merger), but he also publishes it at his blog site on Friday, and linking to the piece there pleases me. I'm in no mood currently to provide OSIN with traffic via NAC-generated links, at least for so long as pop-up ads continue to plague readers of the newspaper's web site.

As for Matt's column, it's another winner.

When it comes to unchecked development and sprawl's pavement producing proclivities, we as Americans all know how to generate it, but like Matt, we assume that there can be no reversal once the ugliness becomes reality.

Perhaps it's time to ask: Why not?

It reminds me of the debate about Communism back in 1990, in the sense of knowing how it was implemented, but having no blueprint for undoing it. And yet, it was undone. How do we undo past planning disasters, even as we prevent Floyd County government from pursuing more of the very same mistakes?

My Friday Column: Smart Growth Would be Progress, by Matt Nash

After the land is developed and the grass is no longer there, it will never come back again. It will forever be a strip mall or a box store or an empty building that sits and gathers trash. Of course I am sure that drainage will no longer be a problem, since we always trust our developers to manage the extra runoff water so well.

Hey, bartender, how old is that bean soup in the freezer bags?

The lawyers can correct me on this one, but my reading of Indiana's ridiculously huge collection of statutes pertaining to beverage alcohol -- regrettably, soon I'll no longer be able to compare it to a phone book because phone books are becoming as obsolete as Indiana's approach to beverage alcohol regulation -- uncovers only two sections pertaining to food on licensed premises.

This matters only because last night, New Albany's city council voted 8-1 in favor on the first reading of an ordinance to expand the boundaries of the city's riverfront development area westward. Think of it as the Holiday Inn Express Law, and note that I'm in favor of doing it, and furthermore believe the scope of the state's enabling legislation should be expanded to require inexpensive three-way permits be issued to any acreage adjacent to a church, without exception.

In short, riverfront development areas constitute exemptions to the quota, and make possible inexpensive three-way permits. In the run-up to last evening's vote, there was much discussion about booze versus food, and the desirability of restaurants as opposed to bars. Council member and mayoral candidate Jack Messer voted against the expansion, citing public safety concerns relating to the fearsome possibility that dive bars will proliferate.

But as the Indiana State Police already has proven with its incessant poaching over the past few years, the availability of food at targeted establishments makes no difference whatsoever.

In fact, all licensed establishments are compelled by law to offer food. As I suggested earlier this week, past judgments by visiting ATC officers have included the advice that an unopened package of weenies in a freezer compartment is sufficient to meet the requirement. Whether this is right, wrong or indifferent, it's still a matter for the ATC to enforce, and not local cops. I doubt the constitutional veracity of any city council effort to add food requirements to those already in existence, although I'd cherish the sight of council members with clipboards poking their noses into kitchens.

I cannot find any reference to food sales percentages, which I believe formerly were part of the system when it came to Sunday opening hours, and later were discarded when regulations were made slightly more reasonable (Hoosier fundamentalism precludes universal reasonableness owing to something Moses once said). There remains an obligation for some licensees to report food/alcohol percentages on the annual renewal application, although my understanding is this applies to the existence of separation in barrooms and family rooms, i.e., how under-21-year-olds and over-21-year-olds co-exist (or do not) in proximity.

However, I'm a publican, not an attorney, and surely I'm missing an esoteric something or three here, so please correct me if you find it. Following are the two ATC regs I found mentioning food:

IC 7.1-3-20-9
Restaurants; general requirements
Sec. 9. Restaurants: General Requirements.
In order to be considered a "restaurant" within the meaning of this title and to be eligible to receive an appropriate restaurant permit under this title, an establishment shall meet the following requirements: (a) It shall be provided with special space and accommodations where, in consideration of payment, food, without lodging, is habitually furnished to travelers; and, (b) It shall have accommodations at which at least twenty-five (25) persons may be served at one (1) time.
(Formerly: Acts 1973, P.L.55, SEC.1.)


905 IAC 1-20-1
Minimum menu requirements
Authority: IC 7.1-2-3-7; IC 7.1-3-24-1
Affected: IC 7.1-3-20-9
Sec. 1. Under the qualification requiring that a retail permittee to sell alcoholic beverages by the drink for consumption on the premises must be the proprietor of a restaurant located, and being operated, on the premises described in the application of the permittee; and under the definition of a "restaurant" as "any establishment provided with special space and accommodations where, in consideration of payment, food without lodging is habitually furnished to travelers,"–and "wherein at least twenty-five (25) persons may be served at one time;" the Commission will, hereafter, require that the retail permittee be prepared to serve a food menu to consist of not less than the following:

Hot soups.
Hot sandwiches.
Coffee and milk.
Soft drinks.


Hereafter, retail permittees will be equipped and prepared to serve the foregoing foods or more in a sanitary manner as required by law.

(Alcohol and Tobacco Commission; Reg 36; filed Jun 27, 1947, 3:00 pm: Rules and Regs. 1948, p. 58; readopted filed Oct 4, 2001, 3:15 p.m.: 25 IR 941; readopted filed Sep 18, 2007, 3:42 p.m.: 20071010-IR-905070191RFA)

ON THE AVENUES: Deity building, American-style.

ON THE AVENUES: Deity building, American-style.

A weekly web column by Roger A. Baylor.

To begin, I recommend “Washington: A Life,” Ron Chernow’s recent biography of George Washington, but with appropriate cautionary notes, prime among them being that these many years later, there exists no sure, non-speculative way to know what was in the mind of a man who was Colonial America’s most impenetrable sphinx.

Whenever Chernow is able to augment scant primary testimony with contributing evidence from record provided by outsiders, the results are good. He is especially skilled at evoking the time of Washington’s childhood and early adulthood in colonial Virginia; in these instances, Chernow corrals an impressive array of surviving accounts, and weaves it masterfully.

Unfortunately, as the narrative progresses, the author frequently opts for pure guesswork, which amounts to the usual litany of phrases like, “He must have felt,” “Perhaps it was the case” or “Maybe there came a twinge of regret.”

Chernow cannot resist them, and in honor of our eternally prurient bedazzlement with sex, most of this amateur psychology comes in periodic analyses of Washington’s purported dalliances with Sally Fairfax, wife of a fellow planter further up the social chain of the Virginia planter’s aristocracy than Washington himself.

Was the Father of Our Country in love with Fairfax, both before, during and after his marriage to the immensely wealthy widow Martha Custis? Can we read between the lines of frequent classicist references in his letters? Was the relationship consummated?

(As a side note, perhaps no other prominent male Colonial figure profited as early and as often from his richer and better placed relatives marrying properly, and then dying prematurely. Washington inherited early and often.)

As for love and carnal happiness, there remains not a scintilla of evidence to suggest wayward, greased naked play between Washington and Fairfax, occurring in the fetid grove out back of the slave quarters at any of his four or more plantation properties.

Nor do we know whether they met illicitly in a rough-hewn cabin located somewhere in the middle of the tens of thousands of acres Washington connived to be awarded as compensation for his service in the French and Indian War -- not that Washington would have left used condoms for “Smoking Gun” to find.

That’s because Chernow persuasively describes a man with an unusually defined sense of self, possessed with propriety from a very early age, constantly obsessed with how he appeared to the eyes of others, and performing the nuanced role of Geo. Washington at all times. While we cannot know about Fairfax, it is clear that Washington anticipating the personal “brand building” of later times.

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It certainly helped to be “Geo. Washington the Mythic Deity” when debt was high and pocket change fleeting, as was the case throughout his adult life, reflecting the land-rich, cash poor existence of the founding baronial planters. Periodically, Washington was obliged to pause from nation-building to hector his tenants and collect rents, but even this tenure as Slumlord Papa, borne of the aforementioned calculated grab of prime acreage in “new” western territories, did not help the household ledger to balance.

Washington and family customarily lived large, simultaneously complaining and indulging incessant impositions from guests. With most pre-war finished goods imported very expensively from England, therein is found a significant (and grubby) portion of the rationale for independence.

Later, while serving as the country’s first president, Washington launched what we would refer to now as a “buy local” campaign to reduce America’s dependence on imported goods. How would he view our addiction to China and Saudi Arabia today?

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In terms of military accomplishment, Washington had a lopsided losing record, with more defeats in battle than victories.

This lifelong devotee of the theater achieved martial success not as a tactical genius, but as a thespian, portraying himself as the calm rallying point amid the storm, one underfunded by an inept, willfully impotent political structure that he freely criticized for effect, his stature remaining constant as each year’s Continental army came and went after their bare-bones, one-year enlistments expired, and overall, always just barely staying alive – living to stall and sometimes fight another day, and waiting stolidly for the Brits, who never committed themselves entirely to the cause of keeping the Colonies, to grow weary of their losses.

It worked … when the French came aboard.

All the while, Washington carefully hoarded all letters and dispatches in huge trunks for the purpose of burnishing posterity’s judgment of his performance. However, what succeeded in uniform was less beneficial in civilian’s clothes, and at this juncture, with a new nation imploring its idol to serve, matters become more factual, and also muddied.

Chernow’s persistent characterization of the early Federalists versus Republicans struggle as a fundamentally unfair fight, pitting the lofty and irreproachable ideals of Washington and Alexander Hamilton against the shrill, self-serving machinations of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, grows tiresome as the pages turn.

Granted, America’s political honeymoon of intellectual content over supercharged hyperbole barely lasted through Washington’s first administration (he was twice unanimously elected by the pre-suffrage Electoral College), but the author’s propensity to depict Washington’s saintliness wounded by the evil, conniving Jefferson veers ever close to sheer hagiography.

More balanced accounts surely exist, and readers are asked to recommend such choices.

In the end, tottering on the edge of an insolvency compounded by his many years of military and political absence, and unable to square the circle of slavery either theoretically or at Mt. Vernon, Washington endeavored to enjoy a truncated two-year retirement before dying at the age of 67.

Had his doctors (and Washington himself) not extracted multiple pints of blood in search of an elusive cure, he might have survived a bit longer. As it stands, his departure from humanity’s mortal coil merely set into motion the process of deification that continues more than 200 years later with founding father pop psychology, in which Chernow’s biography snugly finds a place.

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As an addendum, it appears likely that Washington, who fancied himself the thinking’s man’s planter and agriculturist, managed to grasp early on that slavery was a losing proposition economically, and perhaps to a lesser extent, also was unacceptable in the sense of human rights as informed by the inescapably and hypocritically Christian atmosphere of the age.

While humane by the standards of his contemporaries, Washington generally internalized his views and did nothing more about slavery until just before his death, when a revised will stipulated the freeing of his slaves – that is, only those owned by Washington himself, as opposed to “dower” slaves legally attached to his wife’s estate.

I am familiar with the exculpatory apologetics: Those folks simply could not be expected to think outside the constraints of their milieu, etc, etc.

And yet, when it comes to deities, I prefer mine to be a tad more prescient. By knowing and not acting, Washington falls short, although two centuries of worship constitute a hard habit to break.

This one goes out to our friends at kitchen tables everywhere.

Calendar check: STORIES BEHIND THE STONES -- Tour of Fairview Cemetery.

This just in ... thanks, B.

STORIES BEHIND THE STONES: Tour of Fairview Cemetery
Friday September 23, 2011 & Saturday September 24, 2011
(Rain Date-Sunday September 25, 2011)

Enter the Fairview Cemetery at the main entrance on Culbertson Avenue between East 5th and East 7th Streets. The one-hour tour is a ½ mile walk around the Cemetery - First tour starts at 6pm with tours every ½ hour until 9 pm

Tickets may be purchased at Great Harvest Bread Company, 4214-5 Charlestown Road, New Albany, IN 47150

Purchase early so you can choose your tour time.

Advanced Tickets are $10 for Adult and $5 for Children – K-8th Grade.
(If available - $12 & $6 at the Cemetery)

50% of the net proceeds will go to the Fairview Cemetery Restoration Fund and 50% to the Living History Committee of the 2013 Bicentennial Commission.

http://www.facebook.com/newalbany200

Any questions, contact kkessinger@juno.com or 812-987-2132

Riverfront three-ways: Alcoholic beverages vs. square meals?

Earlier today, the discussion turned to legal esoterica, and as I should have known, it wouldn't be simple.

CeeSaw whiffs on a fat pitch as council considers expanding the booze zone.

Having now received a copy of G-06-15 from the city attorney, I may need help from a legal mind (not Legal Bagel, mind you).

I recall at the time of G-06-15's passing in 2006 that council members mentioned "50% food sales" language in the ordinance as making it difficult for those seeking a riverfront area three-way permit to run a booze-only joint (bearing in mind that all permit holders must have foodstuffs available at all times), as opposed to a restaurant dedicated primarily to meals.

Disregarding how convoluted these variations of "bar" and "restaurant" can become, such language is not stated in the ordinance passed by the city council, although reference is made to following the procedures and stipulations included in the state of Indiana's legal playbook:

IC 7.1-3-20-16
Airport restaurants; restaurants in certain economic development areas; redevelopment projects or districts, historic river vessels, cultural centers, historic districts.

However, the only mention I can find of 50% food sales comes under the heading of "service bars" at IC 7.1-3-20-17, which does not seem to apply to the topic at hand.

And yet I trust my memory, and recall council members assuring themselves that the legal language therein would preclude evil dive bars from brandishing cheap three-ways. I'm throwing this out for discussion and clarification, because I'll be tied up with work most of the day:

Exactly what, if anything, exists to prevent a special riverfront three-way permit holder from operating a gin mill, wherein the bare minimum foodstuffs required by the state (and seldom witnessed by customers) are theoretically available, and practically all revenues come from liquor?

CeeSaw whiffs on a fat pitch as council considers expanding the booze zone.

In today's One Southern Indiana Newspaper*, reporter Daniel Suddeath provides coverage of a proposed amendment before the city council. The amendment to G-06-15, which established the Riverfront Development Project Area's boundaries five years ago and made possible the issuance of special three-way licenses, would expand the area as pictured and described above.

We all agree: Apart from developer/builder Steve Resch, G-06-15 is the primary reason for a downtown dining district evolving in New Albany.

“Let’s make no bones about it — the riverfront liquor license program has been an excellent, effective incentive for New Albany to establish what we’re now referring to as our downtown dining district,” (Carl) Malysz said.

Not unexpectedly, councilman Bob "Downtown by Accident" Caesar, while expressing tepid support for the expansion measure, displays confusion as to the reasoning for it:

Councilman Bob Caesar said he will likely vote in favor of expanding the district, but added city planners and officials should be wary of the state’s intentions for approving the riverfront licensing program. He added that while he’s not opposed to patrons safely enjoying an alcoholic beverage, he believes the “city wants to see families with their kids walking out on the street.”

“The need here is restaurants, not more bars,” Caesar said. “This was done so that restaurants could serve liquor, that’s what you want. It does no good at all to have bars that can serve a bratwurst.”

Perhaps I might begin dispensing professional advice about diamonds, seeing as I comprehend so little about them. Let's go down the list ...

First, not only does G-06-15 contain language about food sales percentages at establishments using the special three-way (I'll provide exact wording once I've located the ordinance, which does not seem to be on-line), the state of Indiana always has stipulated that permit holders, including bars, must have foodstuffs available at all times. Given that these mandated edibles might constitute a moldy package of bologna, having bratwurst available would be a giant leap forward for foodie (and New Albanian) civilization.

Second, while it is touching to note Caesar's concern for families, I'm not sure that "kids walking out on the street" has as much to do with three-way alcohol permits as with the overall state of the street grid in the context of systematic traffic control and calming, which of course would be greatly facilitated by two-way streets -- and (surprise) Caesar has yet to publicly clarify his oddball, self-aggrandizing position on such matters as it applies to his own commercial interests versus the remainder of the city's.

Third, rather than Caesar resorting to perpetuating the stereotypical teetotaler's notion that bars somehow are guilty of malicious intent from inception, while steadfastly refusing to define his terms (i.e., are we talking dive bar or specialty martini bar?), Caesar might ask harder and better questions: With an ongoing shortage of housing conversions and retail, do we really need more restaurants downtown?

If so, why, and for what purpose? Suddeath's article provides a hint from the mouths of City Hall:

" ... There are some projects in the works that would benefit from having liquor licenses at the ready."

Sounds to me like a follow-up question waiting to happen, one that Mike Kopp would be able to answer -- and I'll wager Dan Coffey asks it come Thursday evening's meeting.

*Over the years, NAC has directed a huge volume of web traffic toward OSIN's web site via links, but this morning, feeling surly, I don't feel like providing a link that will result in the reader being afflicted by a pop-up ad.

Interested in community gardening?

From Ted Fulmore and Midtown New Albany comes this:

Area resident Michele Finn working to get a Community Gardening effort underway in New Albany. Interested? http://t.co/a3e2v1O

"No Tolls" was great, and "No Funds" applies to 1Si, too.

New Albany's city council led the way in denouncing bridge tolls, and now Jeffersonville's legislative body points to a bright future of defunding One Southern Indiana. Let's hope New Albany's council follows suit in 2012. It would be great fun to deliver the "no funds" verdict to 1Si's compound by bicycle messenger, seeing as we know one currently living in Ohio.

Jeffersonville City Council to cut funding for One Southern Indiana; Group’s decision to endorse candidates called a ‘conflict’, by David A. Mann (OSIN)

The Jeffersonville City Council plans to cut funding for One Southern Indiana, the area’s economic development agency. The cut is being made as the agency plans to make political endorsements of candidates in the upcoming mayoral election.

Having an agency that takes public funding make such endorsements could create a conflict of interest, council members said. No vote was taken but the action was proposed and a majority polled after the meeting said they would support the cut.

Your continuing beer education: "Here's to Beer" non-credit IUS course returns this Fall, 2011.

My "Here's to Beer" Indiana University Southeast non-credit course returns on Wednesdays this fall, with sections starting in September and November. Enrollment is underway now. Both sections are identical, designed for "beginners" just coming to the sunny side of beer enthusiasm, so don't fear the dark, and consider picking one of them and attending.

September 21, 28; October 5, 12

November 2, 9, 16 & 30

Yes, you must be 21, and classes take place at the NABC Pizzeria & Public House at 3312 Plaza Drive (just off Grant Line Road) in New Albany. For $69, you get four class sessions, generous beer samples, and a mode of presentation that hasn't yet devolved to power point. It's oral history, sometimes incisive, other times rambling.

Official Course Description: Here's to Beer! (101).

Is beer the new wine? It's definitely no longer your grandfather's fizzy lager, and you'll learn why with the help of NABC's longtime brew guru, Roger A. Baylor, who will guide you through the brewing process, discuss beer's history in society and culture, and survey beer's many styles from Dark Mild to India Pale - all with appropriate samples.

Note: After successfully completing 101, students become eligible to register for Even More to Beer (202), an advanced beer education class that will be offered in Spring, 2012.

Get on board by visiting Indiana University Southeast’s web site via the links above, and for more, read this IUS Horizon newspaper article from spring, 2010: "Non-credit course educates students on history of beer."

Thinking "local," and ROTFLMAO.

I glanced at Think Local Southern Indiana's page at Facebook, and noticed a tout (from Think Local's very own page administrator) for networking:

Networking Opportunity: Connect Clarksville's September meeting will be at Chuy's, one of Clarksville's newest dining hot spots!

A quick web search revealed this January bit from Business First:

Chuy’s, a Texas-based restaurant chain that opened its first Louisville location last fall, already is expanding its local presence. The company is slated to open one of its Tex-Mex restaurants on the Clarksville side of Veterans Parkway in April, said Chuy’s marketing manager Hilary Delling.

Good work, One Southern Indiana! Your embarrassingly faux "buy local" group apparently has no clothes, either ... and your former honcho is bicycling to work.

Bob Ostrander, his book & a pub quiz at the Public House on Wed., Aug. 31.

Check out the retro Public House signage!

This Wednesday, August 31, Bob Ostrander will be in New Albany to discuss his new book. Stay tuned for further details, and get the scoop on Bob's book.

One bridge? No tolls? No kidding.

The obvious is just as obvious when written down in the permanent record, especially the Bridges Politburo doing exactly what's expected of it when it gets the answers it didn't want to the questions it didn't dare ask out loud.

Comments favor one Ohio River bridge now - Tolls not popular in feedback after project adds possibility, by Marcus Green, Courier-Journal

Build one bridge now. Make it in eastern Jefferson County. And don’t ask us to pay tolls.

That’s the public’s early reaction to the most recent proposed changes to the Ohio River Bridges Project, according to a Courier-Journal analysis of hundreds of public comments obtained under the Kentucky Open Records Act.

Outside, it's New Albania.

We take the staircase to the first floor
We turn the key and slowly unlock the door
A man breathes into a saxophone
And through the walls we hear the city groan
Outside it's America
Outside it's America
-- "Bullet the Blue Sky" by U2

Downtown New Albany's ongoing revival is profiled in a Business First article from July 29.

Historic downtown New Albany comes back to life with new shops, restaurants opening in wake of Scribner Place’s arrival, by Sarah Jeffords Pister (Business First)

"(River View) is going to be a public space we think will be on the order of a square or plaza you typically see in Europe,” (Carl) Malysz said.

When it comes to whoppers, questioning eases stress, and so one's first query of the deputy mayor should be this: Which Europe? NAC provided one such answer, a full two week's prior to the Business First reference.

Stop the presses: Exciting new plan for Trickle Platz at River View.

We also offered a vision of Reaganomics Platz with a human face:


Come to think of it, no one connected with River View ever so much as attempted to modify the unfortunate analogy wherein the benefits would "trickle out" to the community at large.

Any of them want to give it a belated shot? We're all ears.

Two in the eye for 1Si.

Does the man on the left look familiar? It's One Southern Indiana's former president Michael Dalby, who now holds the same position with the Columbus (OH) Chamber of Commerce. Out from under the regressive 1Si thumb, the photo shows Dalby in Columbus celebrating a Bike to Work day in support of 2 BY 2012, an initiative whose slogan is "Change your commute. Change your life. Change your city."

As explained on the Consider Biking web site:

The goal of 2 BY 2012 is for each citizen of central Ohio to bicycle to work 2 days per month by the Columbus bicentennial in 2012.

2 BY 2012 is both a challenge and a movement. If we can rise to the challenge of changing how we get to work, we can start a movement that will significantly benefit our lives and our community.

And it all begins with you: the individual. Whether you are already a cyclist, or are interested in using cycling to improve your health, choose now and join 2 BY 2012.

We can achieve this goal! And when we do, it will mean that Columbus successfully increased its green transportation by 300% — and Columbus would surpass Portland, Oregon as the greenest transportation city in the U.S.

And as noted on the Two Wheeling blog whence the photo came:

It speaks volumes for our CEOs to get out on a day like today to show their friends, families and colleagues that it's not only ok to bike to work, but that biking is a viable, even preferable, form of urban transportation in the 21st century. We all love our cars, but we don't need to use them for short urban trips of 2-5 miles. The Columbus CEO community knows that biking to work and other forms of active transportation are good for their employees and their companies' bottom lines--studies show that employees who bike and walk to work are healthier, happier, more productive and miss less work. Check out http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/story/2010/08/20/walk-cycle-obesity.html. And new economy workers, and the companies that wish to employ them, are increasingly attracted to cities with vibrant, active transportation systems--that's why 2 by 2012 is important to the economic development of our region.

Of course, Dalby's path to such an encouraging stance was smoothed by other civic groups in the region like the League of Women Voters and other Columbus Chamber folks, who facilitated and released a transportation study a little less than a year before he took his newfound reins:

Mobility is a growing priority for consumers—and a growing source of frustration.

Ideally, people should have at least five choices as to mode of transportation: feet, bike, transit, taxi, and private vehicle, along with the ability to mix and match them. It was recommended by Ohio’s 21st Century Transportation Priorities Task Force to “give Ohioans more options for getting where they want to go...by developing a balanced and efficient system that ensures connectivity among all modes of transportation.” The Ohio Department of Transportation website is currently featuring ODOT’ s 2010-2011 Business Plan, which is a follow-up to the task force report.

Steve Tugend of the Columbus Chamber of Commerce told members of the committee that the economic advantages of transit are: 1) It attracts business to the area, 2) It helps retain and grow business, and 3) It builds the capacity for growth by attracting skilled young people to the area. A survey was conducted for the Chamber that found that a good transit system, especially one with fixed guideway, is an important factor in attracting young workers to an area and in keeping them there. (A “fixed guideway” refers to any transit service that uses exclusive or controlled rights of way or rails, entirely or in part. The term includes heavy rail, commuter rail, light rail, monorail, trolleybus, aerial tramway, inclined plane, cable car, automated guideway transit, that portion of motor bus service operated on exclusive or controlled rights-of-way, and high occupancy vehicle [HOV] lanes.)

It is estimated that every $10 million in capital investment for public transportation yields $30 million in increased business sales, and that every $10 million in operating investment for public transportation yields $32 million in increased business sales. Further, every $1 taxpayers invest in public transportation generates $6 in economic returns.

At any rate, it's refreshing to see Dalby advocating for something sensible for a change. Let's just hope the rest of us don't have to take jobs in other cities to experience the positive results.

Coe: "If you’re going to argue 'no tolls' be fair and honest."

Blogger is glitching (imagine that), and Spencer Coe has made three stabs without success at posting this as a comment. He agrees to have it lifted to the marquee, and so here goes. Let the discussion begin!

Spencer Coe has left a new comment on your post "Fetter: "Clere should represent the will of the people, business, and local government entities (as to) how tolling will negatively affect them."

Vocalizing support for actually building the bridges project with alternative financing, whether it be tolls (which I support), public private partnerships (which I support) or any other means is immediately countered by a plethora of comments about oligarchs and insinuations that supporting infrastructure and creating jobs is some how evil. This is immediately followed by flowery comments about “local business owner” Paul Fetter, “ Clark County Business” and their dedication to the poor and oppressed.

Let’s set the record straight, if there is an Oligarch it is Mr. Fetter. Manheim, Inc., his employer/partner (whatever the arrangement) has over 26,000 employees, over 100 locations in more than 15 countries and sold more than 10 million vehicles last year representing sales of over 50 billion dollars in 2010. Its headquarters is not in Clark County or in Indiana it’s in Atlanta Georgia and it is against tolls, the Bridges project, and moving our community forward. Manheim is about one thing, selling cars and they oppose tolls for one reason, they feel tolls will have a negative effect on their business. Obviously, Manheim/Fetter feels that if there are tolls fewer people will drive to Indiana and buy vehicles at his facility which will adversely affect his profitability. It’s not about driving to Louisville, or Indiana paying a disproportionate share of tolls. It’s about money. The “no tolls” group fears that a toll will adversely affect them financially.

On the opposite side of the argument there are those of us which support the Bridges Project. There are several reasons I support this project. These are the points that the “no tolls” folks over look or refuse to admit. The first and foremost being the economic development the project will bring to the area. This project will create jobs. The project will allow companies, including the one I work for and hundreds more in the region, to keep and hire workers. The project will stimulate home sales, commercial sales and encourage investment in our region. It has been consistently estimated that the construction alone will provide in excess of 4000 new jobs to the area during the 8-10 years of construction. These are good, skilled labor jobs paying, $25-$40 per hour federal wage rate jobs with benefits. These are jobs with which people can raise families, not minimum wage service industry jobs. Moreover, after construction the economic development benefit will be thousands more.

Contrary to the “no tolls” folks contentions, this project can not be built without some source of funding other than normal transportation funds. It is disingenuous to suggest that an additional one billion dollars can be cut from the project and no one can specify where these additional cuts will occur.

If you’re going to argue “no tolls” be fair and honest. If you’re against tolls you are against the bridges project, against new high paying jobs for our community, against economic development and against progress.

SIProgressives.

I've been made aware of this new web site: SIProgressives.com. The group is looking to have regular discussions, perhaps at the NABC Public House, and I will keep readers posted.

We are not sponsored by any party--in fact, we are disappointed by both parties in many ways. We are also not directly associated with any of the national organizations--we are local, southern Indiana residents trying to form a real grassroots organization to represent our progressive positions.

Moss: "Community Park is under attack, by (Scott) Klink’s reckoning."

Earlier this week, Dale Moss picks up where my recent column, ON THE AVENUES: The usual suspects, and a future held hostage, left off.

Scott Klink's defining moment for Floyd County

Does Floyd County have enough park land? Can it have enough? Scott Klink is certain of the answers.

He feels fairly sure of yours, as well.

In any event, Klink wants to believe that people believe a county must be more than its storefronts. Business matters but so does getting away from business. Klink asks that his county believe it is high time — the clock ticks — to stand up for a better quality of life.

“It’s not about taxes and revenue all the time,” Klink said. “At some point, it needs to be about what’s good for people.”

The county is considering the future of land on and around its to-be-shuttered annex — its one-time poor house — on Grant Line Road. Options seem to include selling some, most or perhaps all of what Klink said totals 18 acres.

Klink is involved officially as president of the New Albany-Floyd County Parks Board, which operates Sam Peden Community Park right behind the annex. He is involved unofficially as a citizen who, when traveling, marvels at how well some places make the most of nature. They appreciate that more and more pavement is not the only sign of progress. Anyway, Community Park is under attack, by Klink’s reckoning.

Fetter: "Clere should represent the will of the people, business, and local government entities (as to) how tolling will negatively affect them."

Paul Fetter responds to "Dave" on the OSIN thread mentioned yesterday, and we thank him for his valuable input, seeing as no one has done more than Paul during the battle against proposed bridge tolls.

Respectfully, tolling is a serious issue for Southern Indiana. It is easy for someone in Floyd County to say they want tolls, because the Sherman Minton Bridge is no longer going to be tolled. Well Dave, you can thank our group No2bridgetolls.org and Roger, Jeff, and friends for that, because it was through our efforts that tolling for the Sherman Minton was removed.

The tolling issue is still out there and is a serious concern for Clark County residents and businesses. We in Clark County appreciate that Roger and Jeff are still staying involved with the topic, because it is now less relevant for them.

Representative Clere may not feel that this is his problem anymore, but his own New Albany City Council, with 8 other municipal councils, and the Southern Indiana Tourism Bureau passed resolutions opposed to tolling. Over 11,000 people and 200 businesses signed petitions opposing tolling. Both of these things happened in about 2 months last fall. If we had continued looking for signatures on the petitions, there would easily be over 50,000 signatures by now. People are still asking for them. We felt 11,000 signatures in 2 months was a very telling statement and no further action was necessary. Tolling is a very serious concern for Southern Indiana, and I think Representative Clere should represent the will of the people, business, and local government entities that understand how tolling will negatively affect them.

Our two states have $1.9 billion pledged to build a bridges project. What makes the most sense for Southern Indiana is making the rest of the necessary reductions to the Ohio River Bridges Project and build it with the money the states have available. If we are going to spend $1.9 billion, this should be project we can all get behind. This can happen if our politicians like Representative Clere will help by representing this to our state and federal leaders.

No further comment here necessary. I will gladly discuss the Ohio River Bridges Project with anyone interested anytime. You can reach me through our website or Facebook page.

Paul Fetter, Co-founder, www.No2bridgetolls.org

Give 'em hell, Matt: 1Si's candidate endorsements "unethical."

In his column today, Matt Nash offers clear thinking on One Southern Indiana's controversial candidate endorsements. It continues to amaze me how many of 1Si's own people oppose the oligarch enrichment organization's star chamber approach to interfering in the governmental process, but cannot offer an opinion openly for obvious reasons.

It's more than ironic ("hypocritical" springs to mind) that 1Si now purports to support localism with one hand (Think Local, or some such ineffectualism), while the other hand endorses candidates and positions actively designed to deter localism.

Perhaps 1Si thinks we don't notice, but we do. Too bad the same cannot be said of local politicos like Councilman CeeSaw, whose conflicts of interest v.v. 1Si continue to embarrass.

NASH: Who is paying for 1si

... I cannot stop One Southern Indiana from making whatever endorsements that they see fit. I believe it is unethical for them to ask local governments for money if this is the path that they have chosen.

On Def Leppard.

Def Leppard is a favorite of mine, and I’ve seen the lads from Sheffield UK perform live on four separate occasions, most recently last Friday night (August 19) at Freedom Hall.

The show was good, and the crowd energy was high, a condition that might well have derived from low-quality, high-priced alcohol flowing through many of the attendees’ bloodstreams. After all, the Kentucky State Fair is not an institution noted for top-shelf discretion, and ironic detachment is as unwelcome on the grounds as bicycles.

However, as has been the case at all my previous shows, I found the Lepps’ version of my favorite song, Hysteria, to be wanting. That’s curious, given the band’s well-earned reputation for recreating heavily produced studio tracks with precision while performing on stage, but perhaps its difficulties with Hysteria reveal more than one flawed conception.

First, for all its deafening guitar hero riffs, Def Leppard has been perpetually miscast as heavy metal. The band itself always has described its aim as uniting AC-DC’s music with vocals by the Beach Boys, and on the 1980’s version of “Hysteria,” on the hugely triumphant album of the same name, legendary producer Mutt Lange steered the group’s pop shadings into compelling subtleties of wistfulness and longing that make the listener feel the ache of yearning in his or her gut, even these many years later.

Second, the instrumental metal and massed vocal choruses required to give Hysteria its unique sheen must be played at stadium volume for full effect, thus rendering the necessary subtleties all but inaudible. Acoustically unplugged is not an option, and with octaves already dropped to accommodate singer Joe Elliott’s aging voice and a slightly speedier pace, Hysteria simply doesn’t translate into an easy number to pull off.

And yet, how can Def Leppard omit Hysteria from the set list? When the economy is bad, the fans want the hits, and when the economy gets better – the fans still want the hits. At Friday night’s show, only one album the group has recorded since 1991 was represented, and with a solitary cut: Rock On, a cover of the 1973 David Essex hit, which appears on Def Leppard’s 2006 all-covers album, Yeah!, which I heartily recommend.

Yeah! is a loving homage to the glam and glitter that inspired the founding members of Def Leppard, and unlike many collections of covers, there is a method to connecting the dots of influence; the mature professionals rediscovering the music that filled their youthful heads and propelled their meteoric rise. From the Kinks to Thin Lizzy, and especially T Rex, the cover love is palpable.

Def Leppard’s members are no longer young, and the group’s well-documented trials, tribulations, deaths and dismemberments hopefully are all in the past, yielding to a well-oiled touring machine with a work ethic to match. Music is a business like any other, and it remains fascinating to me to go “behind the music,” not in the tabloid sense, but to examine the plan of operation. How do musicians like these survive and even prosper in a rapidly changing market? The answers are many and varied, and often compelling.

Until next time – and as Elliott always reminds the audience, “There WILL be a next time” – I’ll retain my credentials as a Def Leppard supporter, hoping the band makes new music, content to hear the familiar material yet again, and gauging the mysteria of hysteria as we grow older.

ON THE AVENUES: A multiplicity of toxicity.

ON THE AVENUES: A multiplicity of toxicity.

A weekly web column by Roger A. Baylor.

It’s been almost exactly one year since the infamous Clere Channel Facebook Massacre, and it appears the statute of insinuations has at long last expired, because on August 21, in a comment posted at One Southern Indiana Newspaper’s web site, a public explanation for the X-ACTO brand stiletto attack finally was offered by State Representative Ed Clere’s wife, Amy Clere.

But first, here’s a brief reprise from my News & Tribune column last year:

In the aftermath of the New Albany city council's wondrous resolution condemning tolls on existing bridges, I decided to canvass local politicians to learn their views on tolling, and to publish these at the NA Confidential blog. Of prime importance are those candidates on the November ballot, whose position on tolls obviously is important for informed voter choice.

Consequently, I was delighted to see that Chuck Freiberger and Ron Grooms (candidates for State Senate, District 46) and Shane Gibson and Ed Clere (candidates for State Representative, District 72) all have campaign pages on Facebook.

Social media sites represent immediacy and two-way communications, something especially valued when it comes to politicians. Once you are a “friend,” or in certain cases “like” a Facebook page, you may post comments and interact. I followed social media protocol, and posted my question at three of the four candidate pages, omitting Gibson, who'd already taken an anti-toll position in his Tribune guest column.

"Can you explain your position on tolls for the Ohio River Bridges Project? Thanks."

Only now, twelve months later, can I offer eager readers the reasoning for the deletion of my question and the expunging of my “like.”

Here is some information for the record.

Ed has never written any comment on the News and Tribune website and certainly not on his own column. As someone who sees how very busy Ed is, I can attest that he has little time to even look at his column online, much less post comments. In addition, Ed is a former newsman who would only write on this or any other newspaper site using his own name.

If you look back at Ed's columns online, you will see that comments come from a wide array of individuals. As far as we can tell, most of these are people with whom neither Ed nor I are acquainted. Ed appreciates all constructive comments on this site whether or not they are complimentary. The same is true of Ed’s Facebook page.I am the administrator of the State Representative Ed Clere Facebook page. I set up the page so that people could get information, link to Ed's columns or write comments. In order to write comments, you must first 'like' the page. This language suggests that FB intends that this be a positive medium. Again, Ed welcomes constructive comments.

On only one occasion have I deleted any comment from Ed's FB page.

It occurred late one weeknight. One individual posted a comment intended to politically undermine Ed and to engage him in an argument that this individual and his cohorts were working hard to create. A couple of other people copied and pasted the same comment and posted it on Ed’s FB page. Over the course of several minutes, additional identical comments lined the “wall” of the page, some written by outside agitators who do not live in Ed’s district or even in Indiana. Before 24 hours was finished, I fully expected to see additional disingenuous comments lining the page.

Like Ed, I have precious little time to mind a FB page and cannot log on at the school where I teach. Therefore, I took immediate action. I deleted the copied and pasted comments and denied some individuals access to the page. I did the deleting, and Ed has never deleted anything on his FB page.Bullying Ed or any other public official is not a productive way to communicate. Ed appreciates constructive conversation and provides easy ways to reach him.

Amy Clere … August 21, 2011, 11:21 PM

Apparently, when you’re the hardest working, most selfless power couple in two centuries of local politics, there’s just no time for any activity requiring the subtlety and discernment necessary to sense the fundamental difference in asking a question and “politically undermin(ing)” someone whose job description as legislator includes tasks like answering questions.

The doo doo’s gotten deeper and deeper during the intervening year, as the layers of Rep. Clere’s expedient centrist deceptions have been peeled away to reveal the ideological right-wing extremist behind the mask, and the reason NAC stays in the crosshairs of the smitten is that we remain among the only coherent voices of opposition in town where business-as-usual is terrified to point openly to the emperor’s terminal nudity -- politically speaking, of course.

---

But, dearest reader, please know that cults of personality are no mystery to me, for they are just as useful to publicans as politicians. Consequently, the fact that Rep. Clere is electronically trailed by a loving band of adulatory groupies, long since identified as fluffers in the finest traditions of the urban dictionary, comes as no surprise, but we must strip away their superfluous praise and the choreographed, regimented hosannas borrowed from the playbook of Kim Il Sung to burrow into the very diseased heart of the matter – clerely, paranoia of a breathtaking and locally unprecedented intensity.

---

From the first moment last August when NAC and others began publicly questioning Rep. Clere about tolling and the attendant idiocies of the Bridges Project, his reaction has been consistently and aggressively Nixonian – the immediate circling of wagons, the vilification and censorship of honest questioners, the unfounded suspicion that a vast oppositionist conspiracy has been arrayed against him, and the sheer, pervasive, unnecessary “they’re all out to get me” bile of it all.

It is very important to note that I intentionally use “his reaction” to describe the phenomenon, rather than “her” or “their.” That’s because as an elected official, the buck in such matters stops with Ed Clere himself, and as such, onlookers are advised to look past the “good cop, bad cop” black comedy routine, wherein Mrs. Clere defines and redefines what her husband knows and does not know, about what is said or not said.

Rather, it’s time to understand that he damn well knows the score, because if he’s as bright as we’re told, then he’s too bright not to know it, and anything less than perpetual brilliance would be more than a disappointment: It would be utterly divorced from the marketing program for the ascendant cult of personality, as was the case with Richard Nixon, as well.

As deities go, you simply cannot be all-knowing without being all-knowing, or else you’re not all-knowing ... and the genie leaps back into the bottle.

---

Meanwhile, the questions that have been peremptorily shunned, sneeringly dismissed and excised outright remain just as valid as when they were first asked.

Haven’t we every bit as much a right as other voters and taxpayers to ask legitimate questions about the legislative agenda an elected official pursues?

Haven’t we the right to offer evidence in rebuttal, and to explain our position to others in the community?

How does the mere act of asking questions – of articulating our disagreement – qualify us as disrespectful, conniving enemies of the true gospel?

Yes, we find the legislative positions espoused by Rep. Clere repugnant and at odds with our core system of beliefs, and so we articulate and perpetuate lawful opposition to them. At root, that’s what the Clere Channel detests the most: That we refuse to be obedient, when disobedience represents not only our civil and governmental philosophies, but embrace personal, ethical imperative.

What infuriates Rep. Clere, and what has succeeded in exposing the nannying, hectoring bully lurking just beneath the “aw, shucks” public façade, is that we dare to openly occupy roles as oppositionists at a time when subservience is being mandated by the ruling junta as a means of squelching dissent.

Moreover, we insist on being true to our core system of beliefs at the expense of new age patriotism, Indiana-style, defined as saluting via auto-tumescence in the presence of icons like Mitch Daniels, Tony Bennett, Ron Grooms, Ed Clere, Kerry Stemler, One Southern Indiana and all the other architects of theocratic, reactionary, class-war-encouraging Hoosierstan, circa 2011.

During the run-up to last year’s election, the Clere Channel Network’s genetic paranoia was manifested in identifying any question as an overt threat, invariably linked with the incumbent’s opponent, Shane Gibson, as though it was unimaginable that principled dissent in matters of tolling, teaching and taxpaying might exist apart from partisan electoral prerequisites.

And yet it does, and speaking for myself, muzzles qualify as neither viable alternatives nor fashionable accessories.

I'll content myself with truth-telling.

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One final point, to which I’ll return in greater depth another time: When it comes to purely partisan attitudinal “bullying,” perhaps it takes one to know one, seeing as Rep. Clere is not above practicing this delightful art himself whenever the paranoiac mood seizes him.

Evidence? Let’s just say that I know of which I speak, and so does he, and because such tactics have been directed against me, I suspect that our harried hero comprehends far more of what is uttered in cyberspace than either he, she or their Clere Channel operatives let on.

Then again, maybe it’s just the toxicity in me. You know how we dissidents can be, so is it time for Tiananmen Square NA?

"Business owner urges no tax dollars for 1Si."

Paul is one business owner who feels this way. I'm another.

It is both funny and sad that now, on cue, one of 1Si's functionaries will deny there's any connection between oligarch enrichment and the star chamber's political endorsements.

Anyway, who else is with us? Kudos to Paul for being a business owner who is not afraid to elucidate a core values system that differs from the unelected Kerry Stemler's.

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Business owner urges no tax dollars for 1si

Last week’s article by Daniel Suddeath in the News and Tribune reaffirms that One Southern Indiana — a special interest group that works most specifically for the benefit of local big business — is backing political candidates. This, by definition, also makes them a political lobbying group.

Jeffersonville and New Albany have given tens of thousands of dollars to One Southern Indiana in the interest of economic development. It is terribly wrong for our tax dollars to fund any lobbying group that publicly backs candidates. Our communities must cut 1si’s funding if they continue this practice. Call your local councilman and mayor and demand that they do not fund One Southern Indiana as long as they continue publicly supporting candidates.

One Southern Indiana’s No. 1 topic for endorsing a mayoral candidate mentioned in this article is the Ohio River Bridges Project. This is a mirror of last year’s election in their backing of candidates. They will pressure their chosen candidate to go along with their goal of building the project at “whatever cost.”

The chosen candidates tend to reciprocate by not listening to what the citizens are telling them. A candidate that goes along with this is only representing the special interest groups that will profit from this project at “whatever cost” and not representing their constituents.

If tolling is used as a funding mechanism on this project, Hoosiers representing a little more than 10 percent population of the Louisville Metro Area will be paying a disproportionate amount in tolls. One of the reasons is far more workers commute from Southern Indiana to Louisville than vice-versa.

Hoosiers know this, and this is why:

• In nine short weeks last fall, 11,000 people in Clark County signed petitions that said they were opposed to tolling.

• During the same period of time, nine local representative councils passed no-tolls resolutions.

• Southern Indiana’s Tourism Bureau passed a no-tolls resolution.

• The Jeffersonville Main Street Association passed a no-tolls resolution.

Our community is overwhelmingly in favor of an East-End Bridge and whatever other parts of the project that can be built without tolls. We need leaders that listen to their citizens and stand up for our community. Do not support candidates that will not.

— Paul Fetter, Clarksville