This bit of news made me do a double take upon opening my regularly scheduled newsletter from Radio Radio: On May 21st, 2008, Pete Best will be at Radio Radio performing with The Pete Best Band. Here's a chance for any rock aficionado to watch one of the founders of rock 'n' roll in a very intimate setting that simply should not be missed.

Local staples Bigger Than Elvis will open the night and tickets are only $10 in advance.

The Marion County Public Library booksale continues through this week-end, with Friday being the half-price sale day and Saturday being the "$5 For A Bag Of Books" day. Even without these great deals, prices start at $1 for a book, so there's no reason not to do a little browsing.

Book sales are held at the Library Services Center, which is located at 2450 N. Meridian. For more information, visit the Marion County Library website.

Slashdot is reporting that GenCon is filing for Chapter 11. For those who don't know, GenCon is a multi-day games exposition convention, where industry giants set up shop to display their wares and hundreds upon thousands of gaming enthusiasts gather to experience the latest role-playing, card and video games. GenCon is held in several cities through out the year, and for the past several, it has made a home in Indy.

And we all know that ginormous conventions mean ginormous revenue for the city. Downtown businesses prosper, jobs become available and everyone wins. While the early word is that this move will not affect the convention for its stay in Indy during August of 2008, it certainly bodes ill for future years. We'll have to see how this particular game plays out.

After several years at its Broad Ripple location, Sunflower Market will be closing up shop in February. However, it's not just this particular location, it's the whole chain.

http://www.bizjournals.com/twincities/stories/2008/01/28/daily11.html

A company spokeswoman said that the division did not meet the company's goals. Supervalu had planned to expand the stores nationally as a competitor to larger organic chains like Whole Foods and Wild Oats.

http://www.wishtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=7787557

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - The Sunflower Market is closing its chain of grocery stores including its location in Broad Ripple.

The stores are known for their organic foods but Officials say it could not compete with other organic stores.

The Sunflower Market will close the week of February 18th.

IndyScribe reader Mark Oehler contributed the following review:

I was inspired to finally make the trip by a friend. She has developed the habit of taking out-of-town guests to the restaurant at Trader's Point Creamery. Like Shapiro's or the Brickyard, it is a unique Central Indiana experience - something you can't find everywhere.

Continue reading "Trader's Point Creamery"

My first thought was "you've got to be kidding me". It's hard to believe, that these works of art are indeed paper. And not just paper, but paper snowflakes. Yes - paper snowflakes.

Ryan Hoffar, one of Indy's own, possesses the unique talent of taking the old snowy-day afternoon kindergarten art class project of making a paper snowflake and turns it into intricate abstract designs, motifs and even silhouette images. Instead of the traditional scissors, Ryan switched to using razor blades, but the effect is stunning nonetheless.

You can see (and purchase) some of Ryans incredible work on his website.

Just over two years ago, I wrote some hopped-up bit about Carmel and its corporate built arts district. So obviously this little tid-bit in the news could not have escaped my notice.

Carmel orders 10 more outdoor sculptures Public arts funding to provide nearly $1M for 1 current, 10 new lifelike sculptures

CARMEL, Ind. -- Mayor Jim Brainard has ordered 10 more lifelike sculptures for his outdoor public art display in the Arts & Design District.

He'll use public arts funding to pay for the J. Seward Johnson Jr. pieces, which come with a price tag of about $1 million. That also includes the cost of a statue already in the district.

The Norman Rockwell-style statues depict scenes such as a boy riding on his father's shoulders and a woman walking a dog.

....

Brainard said the statues will attract businesses to the Arts & Design District and enhance the quality of life in Carmel, making it easier to draw corporations to the city.
"It creates economic activity in this area that for many years wasn't doing well," Brainard said.

Some criticize spending taxpayer money on the statues.

"To take away people's tax dollars and spend it on art that usually is funded by private benefactors is just unbelievable," said Mark Rattermann, a city councilman who proposed cutting arts funding from this year's city budget. "The mayor believes that we should spend tax dollars for entertainment and culture. And he calls himself a Republican."

Sue Maki, president of the Hamilton County Tourism Commission, said the statues will be worth the investment because of the tourism they'll bring to Carmel. She said the statues would provide an impetus for people to come to Hamilton County and explore its offerings.

"It just adds to the tourism product we have here," Maki said. "It's a place-making type of action in this city. Ten years from now, we'll be very thankful."

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071214/LOCAL/712140457/1006

Continue reading "Brainard and Seward"

Listening to internet radio does interesting things to you. First of all, it makes you realize the passion and dedication that many people outside of the mainstream have for their craft. Take Ghostly Talk for instance. I stumbled upon this show in October and I'm hooked. It turns out this gang is from Michigan and takes ghost hunting trips to Indy - neato!

But it was also through this radio program that I learned about Weird Indiana. Written by a slew of folks, including Troy Taylor (Weird Illinois, Weird Virginai, Ghosts of the Praire, etc), the book catalogs the myriad of oddities around the state. But what caught me was the mention of... The World's Biggest Ball of Paint! Exciting...

Wow, it's been a while.

If anyone hadn't noticed, we've been in a rather large dry spell. No new posts, no new reviews - no new anything! Well darn it, that's life on the web I suppose.

Continue reading "We're Sorry Norm!"

The concept is simple. Librivox is a collection of audio books created from public domain works. Volunteers from all over the internet record themselves reading books (or just chapters). They then upload these recordings to Librivox. Visitors to to the site are able to download these recordings for their listening pleasure. Project Gutenberg serves as the source of the public works materials.

Continue reading "Why Librivox Rocks"

It's not often that you really get your money's worth from a big name rock act these days. I've waited longer, paid more and gotten less from bands too many times. Tuesday night at the Music Mill was not one of these times.

Continue reading "Black Rebel Motorcycle Club"

Continue reading "Scenes from the Broadripple Art Fair"

Thanks to Christopher Nunn for the tip about Irvington's agriculture share program. This is an incredibly cool idea: Through this arrangement, you know where your food comes from and how it was grown.

Irvington Community Supported Agriculture Shares are going fast! Don't miss out.

Irvington Community Supported Agriculture is a partnership between our farmers and the Irvington community. Our farmers supply the Irvington community with season-long, fresh produce, and the community - in turn - supports the farmer by pre-paying for the entire season. Our farmers gain some economic security for environmentally-friendly farming. Shareholders get a reliable, wholesome food source. Through this arrangement, you know where your food comes from and how it was grown.

The Irvington Community Supported Agriculture project has been hosted by the Myers-Nunn family on East Michigan Street since its founding in March 2006. A local committee of shareholders handles the details. Our 60+ annual crops are farmed by Levi Fisher and family in Montezuma, Indiana and are delivered each Saturday for 25 weeks beginning mid-May.

A limited number of shares are available for the 2007 season. For additional information you can visit their blog at http://irvingtonagriculture.blogspot.com or contact the volunteer coordinators by email at irvingtonagriculture@gmail.com.

Hey, Indy made a national Top Ten list, yay! But it's for having crappy air quality, boo.

Blame Indianapolis' dirty air—attributed mostly to our dependence on the car—for the state's capital landing in the top 10 of the American Lung Association's most polluted American cities. The association today gave Indy a failing grade for particulates—soot and chemicals—in the air. The city received a D for ozone or smog pollution.
—Indianapolis Star, May 1, 2007

Here are a few things the Star article says we can do to reduce our impact:

• Carpool
• Fill your car with gas after 6:00 p.m.
• Urge funding for mass transit programs

I'd like to throw out another idea, swiped from a city nearby: a Green Roofs initiative. Check out the Chicago Green Roofs program to see how that city is working to improve air quality, lower heating and cooling bills, clean and retain rainwater, lower air temperatures, and more. I wish someone with power would be forward-thinking enough to bring an idea like this to our city—and to rise above the idea that clean air is a "Democrat vs. Republican" issue.