Hey everybody, Happy President's Day! When I was a kid they used to call it George Washington's Birthday, but then someone got the lame idea of making the holiday honor ALL the presidents. You mean like President Nixon? Or Clinton? Or Chester Arthur?
Westfield State Senator Mike Knapik noticed this oddity today at a McDonald's President's Day display. Along with George Washington and Abe Lincoln we have - President Ben Franklin!
Actually Ben Franklin probably should have been president, and might well have been had he been younger at the time of the revolution, but somebody needs to tell Micky-D that wise ol' Ben was never a President, nor did he ever even attempt to run for the office.
Speaking of State Senators, Northampton's Stanley Rosenberg is taking some well-deserved flack for his latest attempt to make more difficult the process for putting policy questions on the ballot. Every few years he claims that the ballot questions favor special interests, but the truth he just doesn't like the causes that the public puts on the ballot.
Lovers in a Northampton alley.
Local musical treasure Jim Armenti has a new solo album out.
You can listen to some of it by clicking here.
Another local musical talent is Tom Pappalardo, although he's best known for his Valley Advocate cartoons, such as this one mercilessly attacking Valley hipsters. (click to enlarge)
Here is a sticker on a car parked in Springfield last night. Is it meant as a warning or a threat?
The reason I was in Springfield was for the last "bike night" concert. I went to three of the ten this summer, and for all the reputation of Springfield as a city of crime, I never once felt a single moment of concern for my safety while attending those events.
I did however feel a twinge of sadness as I passed the vacant site of the old Cafe Manhattan. I had many a fun night there back in the day.
Among the bikes present was this new model Indian, once manufactured in Springfield but now built down South. Notice how they play up the vintage angle.
Last night's concert featured Kal David, best known in these parts for his days with the Fabulous Rhinestones. Just the kind of show to bring out a historian of the local music like Rick Knightly and his wife Sherri.
Back in Hamp, my neighbor is a parrothead.
Flag over Florence.
The students are returning to Amherst this weekend, and these UMass fratboys have already started the fun with this sign outside their partyhouse.
Big concert this week at Northampton's Look Park, where all the major local bands performed as various nationally known groups. I didn't go, but the ever intrepid Bill Dwight did, with his camera in hand. Here's a shot he took showing the good turnout.
Radio dude Monte Belmonte.
Big Ed Vadas prepares to take the stage.
Paul Rocha and Jim Armenti.
Word is that Spouse stole the show with their impression of Tears for Fears. On the basis of this video I'm inclined to agree, but notice how only the little kids have the sense to dance.
Well I'm off to Saratoga again for the races and hope to return a millionaire! Have a Happy Labor Day and I'll see you in the Big Time.
Back in 2007 I wrote a piece about a haunted house (above) on the corner of Snell Street in Amherst near the rail trail. It had a creepy appearance and scary looking bushes like something from a Stephen King movie. .
The other day I went by the house for the first time in years and was shocked by what I saw - the menacing bushes had all been stripped away and the house itself stood restored to a gleaming whiteness by its new owner Amherst College.
Here is the front door as it appeared in the house's haunted past.
Nothing threatening about it now.
Obviously no self-respecting ghost could reside in that house today. Where did the spirit go? Do they have homeless shelters for the undead?
I've noticed some unusual activity underway lately on King Street in Northampton. This is the Hampshire Frame and Art Shop or at least that's what it was before it went out of business and the "T" fell off.
I was intrigued by the fact that weird stuff started appearing in the window, like this William Burroughs book and a suitcase full of oddities.
Then yesterday I was walking past and the door was open. Looking inside I saw this familiar face - Nick from the avant-garde punk band CaVE BEaRs!
It turns out that he and a friend are opening a record store/music space that will be called Feeding Tube Records. It will be opening in September and I predict it will quickly become a Hamp hotspot.
I forgot that today was President's Day, so I arrived at the bus stop at the wrong time, the schedule having changed to reduced service because of the holiday. Instead of just standing at the bus stop doing nothing, I decided to wander around downtown a little bit.
I used the clock on First Church to make sure I didn't lose track of time.
They had a "naughty needles" sale at the wool store for Valentine's.
This is a picture I took of my friend Zak last summer. He likes tattoos.
Soon Zak will be opening this restaurant downtown. Everybody's really excited about it.
Bulbs were blooming in this window.
However it will be some time yet before they bloom outdoors - especially with snow predicted for tonight. Then it was time to head back to the bus stop.
Campaign Developments
Howie Carr mentioned the local congressional races in his Boston Herald column yesterday:
Is there a Republican revolution in Massachusetts? Maybe, but so far there seem to be a lot more generals enlisting than privates.
Consider how many Republicans have taken out nomination papers against Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Worcester and Havana). The answer is five. Five!
Richie “the Sheik” Neal has three Republicans officially eyeing his seat. Ditto, Niki Tsongas. The ancient John Olver, in the bluest of the blue First Congressional District, has two Republican challengers, plus an independent.
Who are the three challenging Neal? Well of course there's libertarian Republican Dr. Jay Fleitman and social conservative Tom Wesley, but who is the mysterious number three? Everyone is whispering that it will be former State Senator Brian Lees.
Meanwhile, Neal challenger Tom Wesley has started a new website designed to highlight Neal's role as a loyal foot soldier for the congressional establishment in Washington, voting with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi over 98% of the time. Wesley also points out that Neal has had many fundraisers outside the district, even having a post office box to collect the cash down in Maryland. From Wesley's press release:
Why is there a post office box for the “Richard Neal for Congress Committee” in Chevy Chase, Maryland? Because it is closer to Washington, D.C.?
Funny
Multi-media artist Kelsey Flynn strikes an Ed Sullivan pose with her parents in anticipation of The Really Big Show at the Academy of Music February 28th.
I generally don't like redneck jokes, but this poem is cute:
Susie Lee done fell in love; She planned to marry Joe. She was so happy 'bout it all And she told her Pappy so. But Pappy said, 'Susie, gal, You'll have to find another I'd just as soon ya Ma don't know, But Joe is yo' half brother.'
So Susie put aside her Joe And planned to marry Will. But after telling Pappy this, He said, 'There's trouble still .. You can't marry Will, my gal And please don't tell your Mother, But Will and Joe and several mo' I know is yo' half brother.'
But Mama knew and said to her, 'My chile, do what makes ya happy. Marry Will or marry Joe, You ain't no kin to Pappy.'
Today's Music Video
More newness from Northampton's School for the Dead.
The Springfield Newspapers have announced that their publisher Larry McDermott is retiring, ending an interesting and often controversial journalistic tenure in Valley history.
McDermott first arrived in the Valley in the early 90's, when the Springfield Newspapers were being denounced by an array of critics for its alleged distorting of local news to protect a small insider's cartel of politicians and businesses who were exploiting the city for their personal gain. The difficulty in getting useful and accurate news about local affairs from the paper once prompted the Valley Advocate's Al Giordano to call their Springfield headquarters "Pravda on the Connecticut." McDermott had little to do with that reputation, but still walked into that firestorm of criticism and immediately made a bad impression.
The way most people were introduced to Larry McDermott was through a memo that was leaked to the Valley Advocate by someone who worked at the newspaper. In that memo, McDermott gave a very unflattering appraisal of the Pioneer Valley and its citizens, saying that based on his first impressions, the area lacked character and vision. The newspaper never commented on the leaked memo, but also never denied it was real.
At first McDermott was mostly in the shadow of the paper's controversial publisher David Starr. But when Starr retired to the gentleman's do-nothing position of newspaper President, McDermott came into his own and began making some long overdue reforms. He shocked everyone by reversing the paper's often strident support for casino gambling, doing so without apology or explanation but pleasing reformers who had seen casino interests as simply one more corrupt special interest trying to bleed the city dry. He also promoted the career of staffer Tom Shea, who had been under-utilized for years, until Shea blossomed into their star writer. McDermott also repealed the paper's longstanding ban on their reporters appearing in any other media but their own paper by granting Tom Shea permission to appear on the Dan Yorke Show.
Some critics were not impressed, complaining that the paper still coddled its pet people and institutions. As activist Sheila McElwaine once wrote on Heather Brandon's blog Urban Compass.
Larry McDermott and Heather Brandon
I got a letter from Larry McDermott in the mid 1990s saying the paper wasn’t about to look into how the Springfield Library and Museums Association used Springfield tax dollars because they didn’t want to drag this fine institution into politics–as if it wasn’t knee deep in politics already which was exactly the problem. There’s a real defender of public access for you.
Informing the public and encouraging civic participation aren’t even on their radar screens. As we see so often in the morning paper, Larry is passionate about the right of the PRESS to know anything that interests them, but indifferent to the right of the PUBLIC to know more than journalists, in their infinite wisdom, feel we are entitled to. He gave lip service to “feet on the street,” but it’s been a long time since any reporter’s feet have been down my street. Instead, they are tucked under desks down at the paper where their owners are banging out stories which conform to the AP style book and editing prom photos.
But probably the most damning incident of the McDermott era came to light in the deposition by Springfield Library Association head Joe Carvalho in a lawsuit in which the Advocatereported:
According to Carvalho's timeline, in February, Albano informed SLMA leaders that there would be cuts to its budget. The conversation took place via a conference call, Carvalho testified, with the mayor out of town, and Carvalho, Don D'Amour and Larry McDermott in McDermott's office at the Republican. Albano told the group that the cuts were prompted by major reductions in local aid; he also told them, Carvalho said, that Springfield was "going to be in receivership most probably" by that summer.
Think about that for a minute. The mayor personally informs McDermott that the city is "going to be in receivership" and what is McDermott's response? If ever there was a Perry White moment in which to scream, "Stop the presses!" that was it. Instead, nothing was printed, and the paper continued to back the Albano Administration. Through their silence they protected the politicians responsible for the fiscal crisis and delayed necessary reforms. The Springfield Newspaper's stubborn support of the local establishment insiders ultimately proved to be a major embarrassment, as the FBI raided City Hall within 24 hours of Albano's last re-election.
McDermott wrote an often interesting and entertaining weekly column in which, despite his allegedly negative first impressions, he seemed to develop a genuine fondness for our Valley and its people, so perhaps in retirement he will stick around. But nothing can change the fact that McDermott's legacy is definitely a mixed one. He inherited a newspaper whose credibility was basically shot and made an honest effort to rebuild it. Indeed the paper's reputation has risen somewhat in the last several years, as the staff seemed to learn some valuable lessons from Springfield's terrible fall.
Yet it was still a fall which they had done much too little to prevent when they had the chance, and Larry McDermott has to take some of the responsibility for that.
Roundabout
Someone sent me this great shot of downtown Springfield from high up in Monarch Place.
More and more Democrats are becoming concerned about the moral fitness of Martha Coakley to serve in the United States Senate. They would like to vote against her, but are wishing they had an alternative to casting their vote for Republican Scott Brown. While Brown is clearly superior to Coakley in many respects, the fact is he is still a Bush Republican, and many Massachusetts Democrats just can't bring themselves to pull that lever. But now comes the happy news that Joe Kennedy has made it on the ballot! No, not the Joe Kennedy who as a congressman was once famously described by Howie Carr as "dumb as a post and mean as a snake."
Although initially considered a contender for his Uncle's seat, that Joe Kennedy was quickly dismissed as unelectable because of his close ties to South American dictator Hugo Chavez. Happily, there is Joe Kennedy the libertarian! Yes, his legal name is Joe Kennedy, and while that fact is worth a chuckle, there is nothing unserious about his campaign. Just look at this sampling of where he stands on the issues:
Afghanistan - This region of the world has been at war for centuries and it is presumptuous of us to think that we are going to stop it any time soon. Moreover, the role of the American military should be to defend against attack or the imminent threat of attack, not to act as an ongoing police state on foreign soil. Democrats often claim to oppose foreign wars. But after ten months in total control of Congress and the White House, Democrats have done nothing to end the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. If elected I would do everything I could to pass legislation to end the war in Afghanistan and bring our troops home.
Healthcare - Just 50 years ago low-cost health insurance was obtainable by almost every family. Doctors still made house calls, hospitals were dramatically less expensive and charity hospitals were available for those who could not afford to pay for care. Today, health care is significantly more expensive largely due to government regulation and liability insurance required to be held by our physicians. The government healthcare programs we have today are heading for bankruptcy. The same methods and people who got us into this mess can not get us out.
Drug War - Regardless of whether you are for or against the various uses of marijuana, my belief is marijuana regulation is an issue that each state can address independent of Federal intervention. The Federal Government should have no say in how each state treats the various uses of marijuana.
Now that there's a credible place for Democrats to cast their protest votes against Coakley, this race, once considered a shoo-in for the Democrats, is about to get interesting!
Parade of Progress
These public toilets called "peepods" are sweeping Europe.
However, if they become available in the United States do you think feminists will declare them discriminatory?
God's Justice
Saint Mary's Catholic Church in Northampton is scheduled to close next year. It's a priceless historic structure, but what can it be used for except a church?
Even more unimaginable is that Springfield's Our Lady of Hope is closing. Who can imagine Hungry Hill without it?
It is hard to feel sympathy for the dramatic decline of the Catholic Church in this area, considering the terrible sex crimes the church covered up for so many years. It wasn't the child abuse scandals that drove so many to quit the church, after all, anyone who thinks pedophiles can be found only in Catholic Churches is kidding themselves. What was unforgivable was the church's lack of response and evasiveness when the abuse was discovered. When confronted with evidence of outrageous crimes, they were not outraged. That is hard to overlook.
More Snow
Yesterday morning on the dawn bus into Amherst I took this pic through the window of these clouds pregnant with snow.
When I left the Robert Frost Library around noon the snow was falling like crazy.
It's a miracle I didn't break my neck walking down this icy hill.
Soon it turned into the dreaded "wintry mix" of snow and sleet that requires one to use an umbrella in a snowstorm.
And of course it all froze overnight, so that this morning the streets were slick sheets of ice.
How many days until Spring? Oh wait, the first day of winter isn't even until the 21st! Good grief, it's almost enough to make you wish that global warming was real.
Two Music Videos
Something gentle from Northampton's Calvin Coolidge Museum.
Early spring at UMass?
