I’m packing to go to Chicago and, from there, to fly to the Hawaii Writers Retreat and Conference. Originally, I wanted help with finishing my genre nonfiction novel, and the person for that seems to be a man named Gary Braver, whose class I did not gain admission to (it was full). I was then assigned to Ron Powers, who won the 1973 Pulitzer Prize for his TV criticism when he wrote for the Chicago Sun Times. I was thrilled, as my book is movie criticism. I received a lovely note, inviting any of us to write with questions, and, in the original “Welcome to the Class” e-mail, the suggestion was made that perhaps I should EXPAND the book I am bringing. (Anyone who knows me knows that EXPANDING is not a good idea for me.) Since I have been working diligently to cut the book down from about 500 pages to 250 for some time, I did write back, saying that I didn’t really see myself expanding, at this late date. From there, I have received 2 phone calls from Hawaii, and, in one of them, the suggestion that I move to a different class has been made. I like the sound of the instructor I have now, so I am hoping that this “flies,” At any rate, I shall attempt to post from Hawaii, where names like Mitch Albom are going to be present and Nora Jones is singing in a special concert.
We’re here in Nashville, Tennessee, awaiting the Belmont University graduation ceremony to take place on Friday, August 14th, at 7:30 p.m. The daughter will graduate (after 4 years) with a degree in Business, with a Music emphasis. So far, we’ve given her half of her presents and taken her out to dinner. The boyfriend (Austin) went to dinner with us and Austin’s parents are in town, so we may have the opportunity to meet them, as well. It’s sultry and warm here. We saw two serious accidents on the highways while driving here.
Bob Schieffer, the host of “Face the Nation” on Sunday, August 9, 2009 reported the “Wall Street Journal” story originally written by Brady Mullins ([email protected]) and Timothy Farnam ([email protected]) of the “Wall Street Journal” about Congress authorizing one-half billion dollars to enlarge the fleet of private planes that carry Congressman on junkets.
It seems that 2 of the planes were old and did need replacing. Two more were being leased. But the House wants FOUR more planes beyond that.
Why?
Well, it seems that its members are spending more and more time overseas…. 3,000 days at last count…and the cost has been $13 million, which, by the way, is a four-fold increase from just 10 years ago, and a 10-fold increase since 1995.
Since 1995, the cost of flying Congressman to Timbuktu (or wherever) has increased 10-fold and now, in these dire economic times, the House has approved a measure to buy half a billion dollars more in private planes so Congressman (and their wives) can spend more than the current 3,000 days flying hither and yon. The Defense Department is on record as saying that more planes are not needed, but Congess has other priorities, apparently,.
Case in point: Brian Baird (D, Washington) not only took a trip to investigate climate change that saw him diving and snorkeling off the Great Barrier Reef of Australia but also had the group visiting a penguin rookery and the South Pole. Six members of Congress took that 11-day trip over New Year’s of 2008, with their wives. The cost to taxpayers was $103,000, but it would have been $500,000 if the flights to the South Pole (South Pole for Congressmen, only; wives had to stay in New Zealand) had not been on Air Force planes. Brian Baird is on the House Science Committee on Research and Science Education.
It’s reassuring to learn that Baird also visited the Galapagos Islands on another trip.
Then representing Alaska, Ted Stevens flew to Paris with 4 others for the Paris Air Show. Cost? $121,000. Excuse: It’s hard to get to Alaska any other way than by flying and this kept him up-to-date…(until his recent legal troubles for some unethical conduct while in office made keeping up-to-date less of an issue).
Two days in Australia cost the American taxpayers $50,000. $32,000 was spent on hotels and meals. $7,000 was spent on transportation. $10,000 was spent for “other purposes” and, we learn, each member of such a trip gets a $350 a day per diem allowance for such “other expenses.” And, on the way back, the plane stopped to refuel in Hawaii and the Congressmen were housed at the Royal Hawiian Hotel.
To co-opt a famous drug ad: “This is your Congressman. These are your Congressman on private jet planes flying to the South Pole and asking for $550 million to fly more such trips?”
Any questions?
The second in a trilogy of ghost stories set along Route 66, Ghostly Tales of Route 66: Arkansas to Arizona from Connie (Corcoran) Wilson, is due out momentarily from Quixote Press. Volume II is a solo project by Wilson (see YouTube video for first volume) and she will be the featured speaker at the Old Chain of Rocks Bridge Second Annual Route 66 Festival on October 3rd in St. Louis, Missouri. A website (www.ghostlytalesofroute66.com) is being mounted at this time, and the book will be available from Amazon.com and/or by contacting Quixote Press at 1-800-571-2665 ($9.95 plus postage).
Some musings from Chicago, where much is happening.
First of all, Harry Belafonte is in town tomorrow night (Saturday, August 1st) at the Gene Siskel Theater in honor of a Film Noir fifties movie he made many years ago. How cool is that?
Second, the Chicago Cinema is planning a “salute” to Quentin Tarantino for fall. He will bring his misspelled movie (Inglourious Basterds) to Chicago and there will be a film montage of his more famous films. Only problem is the cost, which, at the low end, is $50 for the film alone and at the higher end is about 3 times that for the complete social night out.
Third, a review by Art Winslow of a book entitled Methland by Nick Reding (Bloomsbury, 255 pages, $25) is set in Oelwein, Iowa, 12 miles from my old hometown. The title of the section 3 article on Thursday, July 30 in the Chicago Tribune was “How Drugs Destroyed an American Community.” I’ve ordered the book, so I’ll report more on it in the future.
Fourth, apparently The Dead Weather, the new Jack White (The White Stripes) band, played here at the Vic just a few nights ago. Those who want to know more about this band, made up from members of The Killers, Queens of the Stone Age, and, of course, the White Stripes, can access my comments on their new CD, “Horehound” and on their first ever concert in New York in April by going to it on www.associatedcontent.com.
Four restaurants in 3 hours for $50. Four drinks, four signature dishes. One birthday celebration. No parking woes (a trolley for 30).
Restaurant Number One: Gioco’s in the South Loop at 1312 S. Wabash (Ph 312-939-3870). Check out their sunday brunch and their home-made Italian ices.
Restaurant Number Two: The Red Light (Asian/fusion) at 820 W. Randolph (Ph 312-733-8880). Try the signature martini.
Restaurant Number Three: Marche (French/American) at 833 W. Randolph (Ph 312-226-8399).
Restaurant Number Four: Opera (Chinese/Asian) at 1301 S. Wabash (Ph 312-461-0161). Try their Italian ices and the crystal prawns. Tonight’s offering: shish-ka-bob of shrimp, beef and chicken with a signature drink.
One well-fed birthday group and no parking woes.
The Tim Stop Trio (www.timstoptrio.com) played Market, a trendy new tri-level restaurant/bar that opened May 1st. The restaurant at 1113 W. Randolph is the brainchild of White Sox General Manager Kenny Williams and partner of Mod Construction, and features a 2,500 outdoor garden seating area, an inner dining area with 20 flat screen TVs, and an upstairs roof garden, which is where Tim Stopulus and his Trio held forth on July 22, 2009.
The restaurant offers American cuisine, some served in unique ways. The popcorn shrimp appetizer is served in a look-alike popcorn box, and you can order cotton candy for dessert. The ribs were great, although the side dishes for the ribs (Peruvian corn; gack) were not. I had a girl from Columbia and a girl from El Salvador with me this night, and none of us recognized the Peruvian corn as anything even remotely like “corn.” It tasted mealy, like lima beans. On the bright side, the build-your-own pizza was very good. Waitress Brittany worked very hard to get our table done by the time the band started at 9 p.m. She cannot be faulted.
As mentioned in online reviews, it is noisy inside, so, if the weather is nice, try for the outdoor garden seating or the tables in front of the establishment. [A layer of acoustic ceiling tile might help.] When I called in the afternoon to try to make reservations for four people at 7 p.m. on a Wednesday night, whoever answered the phone said they did not take reservations, which, later, turned out to be incorrect. That person also did not know if there was any entertainment that evening. In fact, after arrival, when we asked our server about the band, she had to seek out a manager to find out that, yes, the Tim Stop Trio and a second entertainer, Chris Buehrle, a very good one-man band, would be playing that night on the rooftop. I had been told on the phone that no food was served on the rooftop but that patrons were welcome to bring a drink to the roof. This last bit of information turned out to be totally incorrect. When I attempted to take a full Diet Coke (in a glass) and a half-full Mojita (excellent) to the roof, a large bouncer outside the elevator refused to allow me (us) to take drinks from the ground floor to the roof, unless the drinks were in a plastic container. The bar said it had run out of plastic entertainers. A four-story walk upstairs was the solution (doors to the roof in front), which was not a bad idea as the elevator may be the slowest elevator in the city of Chicago. (I’ve experienced an elevator this slow once before, but it was in Paris on L’Isle de la Cite and appeared to be at least 75 years old.)
The group is touring behind this released statement: “With all these questions swirling around about Obama’s Economic Stimulus Package and its effectiveness, we, the Tim Stop Trio, decided that maybe it’s time we did our part in boosting the economy. Sometimes, you can’t wait for your elected officials to do the right thing.
In that spirit, the Tim Stop Trio has been proud to announce a series of live free shows across the Midwest, beginning in Iowa City at the Piano Lounge on Wednesday, July 15 and continuing on to the Voodoo Lounge in Cedar Falls, Iowa on July 16 and July 17. On Saturday, July 18, the group performed at Headliners in Ames, Iowa, before moving on to Chicago for the rooftop show at Market on Wednesday, July 22nd.
Said the release, “We are tired of hearing about people missing concerts due to lack of funds. Live music is not a luxury, my friends; it’s a necessity. Like food, clean water, and SUV’s. We’ve left you no excuse. It’s time to set things right in America, and it starts here.” Brave words! And clever ones.
Group members Seville Lillie (always excellent) on keyboards, Tim Stopulus on guitar and vocals and Justin Hooke on percussion delivered enjoyable background music to a full house. It was difficult to understand the patter in between songs, however. The songs were great, but the talking was hard to hear or understand, if you could hear it.
Among those in the audience were all age groups, enjoying the excellent mojitas and a variety of other signature drinks. The crowd seemed largely to be an affluent group, attired in casual to dressy clothing and it was very much a place to meet and greet.
The songs were often original compositions by group leader Tim Stopulus, a Wake Forest graduate, who said, “Our whole goal right now is to just play as much as possible and make the best music we possibly can.” Later in the evening, a very weird band played on Jimmy Kimmel’s television show. The Tim Stop Trio (especially when the full band is involved) was at least ten times better than the strange guy in the Mohawk with the silver crap on his right cheek who sang in a voice an octave higher than Michael Jackson in his youth on live TV later that night. (Jimmy Kimmel scouts: listen up!)
The group was moving on to Milwaukee, Wisconsin to Mo’s Irish Pub for the weekend of July 24 and July 25 saying: “Remember, these are all free shows. In fact, we went to take it one step further. As many of you know, my last name is Stopulus. We cut off the last half of that name (‘ulos’) because nobody could spell it. Well, this week, we’re bringing it back, and we’re dropping the ‘Stop.’ After all, we want you to go see music, not stop. And since we are doing this in the name of the economy, we will be known as the Economic Timulos Package for the remainder of the tour.”
As the group says, “If you love freedom, cone see the Economic Timulos Package in the next few weeks. It’s going to be awesome. And you can take that to the bank.”
You can read up on the band at www.timstoptrio.com and on http://www.facebook.com/timstoptrio. As we walked away…listening, in the distance, to the strains the Beatles “I Saw Her Standing There”, one of the few covers of the night (along with ‘If I Ruled the World,” we all remarked on a totally pleasant and enjoyable musical evening, with a fantastic view of the city from the rooftop venue.
From “the running of the bulls” in Pamplona comes the news that a charging bull gored a young Spanish man to death Friday at the San Fermin festival. It was the first such fatality in nearly 15 years. Nine other people were also injured, but 27-year-old Daniel Jimeno Romero from Alcala de Henares (outside Madrid), who was vacationing with his parents and girlfriend, will not be running with the bulls—or anything else—ever again. He was gored in the neck and lungs by a rogue bull named Capuchino which separated from the pack. The festival ends tuesday.
A huge flap arose in Chicago, Illinois on July 10th over Burr Oak Cemetery, which had been double-selling burial, plots and, often digging up buried corpses and simply dumping them in a field. The cemetery was owned by absentee owners who live in Texas, (according to Channel 7, ABC affiliate, whose reporter, Paul Meincke, once reported in the Quad Cities for Channel 4, the CBS affiliate…actually the Channel 7 source said Arizona, but it appears that Texas is accurate). The Tribune reported that the owner since 2001 was Melvin Bryant of Richardson, Texas, President of Perpetual Holdings of Illinois, but his part in the sale was downplayed on the news, with blame falling more at the local level. Two famous people buried in the cemetery were civil rights martyr Emmet Till and singer Dinah Washington.
The four people who have been arrested and charged and are being held on large bonds ($250,000 and $200,000). They include the woman who ran the cemetery and 3 employees: Keith Nicks, Terrence Nicks and Maurice Daily. Former cemetery manager Carolyn Towns, 49, foreman Keith Nicks, 45, and dump-truck operator Terrence Nicks, 39, are all of Chicago, and back-hoe operator Maurice Dailey, 59, is from Robbins. They were each charged with dismembering a human body, a Class X felony and face up to 30 years in prison.(www.chicagobreakingnews.com). Other news reports indicate that it appears that 2 other employees of the cemetery alerted authorities to the crimes being indicated; they are identified only as Employee “A” and Employee “B”.
The images on the evening news were of distraught relatives of those buried in the cemetery showing up in droves, wandering about trying to find evidence of their deceased loved ones. One African American woman showed a small postcard she had received, which, she said, notified her that a second body had been buried atop her mother’s casket in the same grave plot. (Apparently, this did not ring an alarm bell for the grieving relative.)
A hot line was set up for inquiries from out-of-state. In fact, on television, a request was made that relatives not show up at the cemetery at all, as the situation is so uncertain, with potentially more than 300 bodies missing, that it will take months, (if not longer), to sift through the remains of previously buried people whose remnants are being found in a variety of unmarked mass graves with remains even found alongside the roadside of the remote field. Experts who helped identify skeletal remains in mass graves in the Balkans were being brought in to try to help identify the bodies.