Someone in Minneapolis wrote a radio musical about us.

Above: Minneapolis, where actors are playing my assistant Marisha right now.

Marisha just came across some press clippings that seem to indicate that someone in Minneapolis (of all places!) has written a musical radio show about the Christmas Island case.

You can read about it here.

They've taken some real liberties, it looks like, changing Christmas Island to "Moon Island" and giving former councilman Sherman Larson a bigger part than he actually played. It looks like they changed the ending, too -- as we all know, our Christmas Island broke up before the trial ended and are presently working in and around town to pay off their legal fees. I feel bad for the kids, but so it goes. They probably won't be able to afford to fly out to Minneapolis to see the show that's about them. What a shame.

Marisha says she may fly out to see the show herself in October. We'll update you.

I've heard Minneapolis is a nice place. It's about the same size, roughly, as here, so maybe the people writing it will have a sense of what it's like being here. Of course, Minneapolis doesn't have a Zeppelin District or Delawaretown, does it?

If you're visiting for the first time from Minneapolis, feel free to look at this introduction to what's been happening on this blog since 2006.

Christmas Island relocation trial: Day 3.

Well, another bombshell today. After a grueling morning of expert testimony by economists, intellectual property lawyers, real estate agents, rock critics, demographers and Dr. Richard Florida, they finally called some of the members of Christmas Island to the stand to testify. First up was the guitarist, Jessica Cormany. She brought her guitar to the stand with her.

"I'm not really a verbal person," she mumbled. "So if it pleases the court, I'd prefer to sing instead."

Judeg Ranvek allowed it. "This is a song I wrote one morning on the water taxi between Fulton Ferry Landing and Pier 11, looking out at the Brooklyn Bridge," she explained, fighting back tears. "It's the happiest I've ever been in my entire life."

Then she played the song. It was the most beautiful song I have ever heard. It was the most beautiful song anyone in the room had ever heard. The whole room was blubbering by the second verse.

Now I'm not a songwriter, but I know good work when I hear it. And gosh damn it, these kids are really good.

Our Armitage Heights lawyers looked sad and nervous. Judge Ranvek looked tearful. My assistant Marisha, sobbing softly, leaned in to tell me this: "That's not even their best song. That wasn't even on the EP. That was only available on a vinyl benefit compilation for when the Lakesider closed. They've got a million songs that good. All the new ones are about New York City."

The tide may have shifted in the kids' favor.

We'll see how day four goes.

Below is the courtroom sketch of Jessica playing her song.

Christmas Island relocation trial: Day 2.

Above: Brooklyn's Councilman Yassky.

A big bombshell in the Christmas Island trial this morning. The Armitage Heights team brought in a surprise witness, David Yassky, who represents Brooklyn's 33rd Council District on the New York City Council. The 33rd Council District is comprised of Greenpoint, Brooklyn Heights, Boerum Hill, Park Slope and Williamsburg.

"As much as I appreciate the artistry of these kids, the 33rd doesn't particularly need another musical group of this sort right now," he said in his testimony. "Our resources are strained as is, and the idea that we might be able to offer your neighborhood some unspecifed renumeration for taking in these kids is ridiculous."

There was a gasp from the courtroom. Yassky waved his hand. "They're good. I've heard that EP they put out on KRS, they absolutely remind me of Of Montreal, in a good way. But we have plenty of equally great homegrown Brooklyn acts also reminscent of Of Montreal right in our city already. One more is not, from a strictly economic or cultural perspective, at all necessary." Yassky continued: "I'd advise these kids to stay right where they are, here in your wonderful neighborhood."

The court was audibly delighted to hear Councilman Yassky note that "Armitage Heights really does remind me a lot of parts of Greenpoint."

Looks bad for the kids. Their bassist -- I'll have to get her name from Marisha -- looked to be on the verge of tears. We'll see how day 3 goes.

The Christmas Island relocation trial begins today.

There's considerable activity downtown near the courthouse this afternoon, across from City Hall, where I am writing you from.

You'll recall that before Sherman left to be a part of the Clinton campaign, he initiated some (to my mind) questionable legal action against the beloved "indie-pop" music group Christmas Island to legally prevent them from relocating to Brooklyn to pursue their musical careers, arguing that they had become (to quote the brief) "an essential and indispensible part of the fabric of our city's economic and cultural well-being." Now a few months later, Case Number CV-95-297833, Armitage Heights Neighborhood Development Organization v. Christmas Island, L.L.C., et al., is finally coming up before the Pierce County Court of Common Pleas.

Christmas Island, as far as I've heard, is trying to get the City of Brooklyn and Kings County to intervene on their behalf, and in order to prevent an injunction, possibly work out a trade agreement with Armitage Heights of some kind. I'm not sure what precedent there is for this, as my law school days are well behind me. I just hope those Christmas Island kids have some friends that passed the bar after their bands broke up.

Anyway, this should be an interesting one. I'll post updates and what-not from the civil trial as they are available.


Above: Two members of Christmas Island outside the Pierce County Courthouse downtown.

Neighborhood Focus: The Trunnion District

Well, I get a lot of press releases faxed here, and sometimes there's some pretty interesting stuff. Take this, for example: something called Urban Beat magazine named the Trunnion District in Kendall Park the "most quickly gentrifying neighborhood in America" this month. Sherman used to do a thing called "Neighborhood Focus," so I guess I'll format this thing like one of those.

The Trunnion District, at its height in the 1870s, produced more trunnions then any city in the United States. Trunnions are critical to the manufacture of heavy artillery cannons, and no one made finer trunnions than our local companies -- United Trunnion, American Trunnion Works, Mishipeshu Trunnions. I remember it pretty well. My grandfather on my mother's side was trunnionsmith, a big, brooding Irishman. He hated trunnions to his dying day, but he used to say that trunnions kept his 27 children fed and clothed. "Charlie," he used to say, "I have dreams about feckin' trunnions every night. But those trunnions are what made us a family. Trunnions are what made this city great."

Anyway, the trunnion business fell on hard times after the Spanish-American War, and eventually, all the trunnion plants closed, leaving only the Mishie Trunnion Foundry by 1920. They hung on through the fallow trunnion years of post-cannon warfare by landing an exclusive contract with the Principality of Pinerolo, manufacturing the trunnions used for that city-state's elaborate bi-annual ceremonial battlefield drilling re-enactments, and occasionally landing lucrative one-off contracts with eccentric billionaires, historic arms dealers, artisanal artillery buffs, LARPers, producers for medium-budget BBC costume dramas, and miscelleaneous cannon perverts. The Pinerolo contract expired in 2003, and two years later, the plant was shuttered and its nineteen employees were laid off.


Mishipeshu Trunnion Foundry, 1856-2005

By 2006, the area was an urban wasteland, beset by arson, homicides and gang wars. Between 2005 and 2006, the Mishipeshu Police Department reported that violent crime in the precinct had skyrocketed 300%. The area was generally considered off-limits for residents of the city, and for several months in 2006 acquired the inelegant and stupid nickname the "Runnin' [From Gunshots] District." There was an influx of dozens of poverty-stricken native Esperanto speakers from the nearby Esperanto District, mostly separatists whose embrace of the Ido constructed language had lost them their jobs and homes in the more prosperous sections of Kendall Park. Average household income for the Trunnion District, a once fairly propserous working-class area, sunk below $9,000. The area continued to decay into 2007.


The corner of North 18th Avenue and East Wilson Street, March 2006.

Stories of cheap warehouse space, delicious ethnic Esperantan food, lax noise ordinance law enforcement and gorgeous brownstone Victorian architecture began to bring in a few dozen rock bands, artists, monogmaous gay couples, scooter enthusiasts and bohemians into the neighborhood in early 2007. Local zines and alternative media outlets began to declare the Trunnion District the "new Cassock District." By the end of 2007, a thriving new art and rock scene had sprung up along Wilson Avenue, much to the dismay of more conservative Esperantans and trunnionsmiths.


Free-Press noise-rock darlings Frost Creep at STORE, their rehearsal space/art gallery in the old Steve's World of Store Fixtures at 1800 East Wilson Street, April 2007.

"The Trunnion District, once known for something called 'trunnions' and then briefly for poverty and crime and now apparently for exciting new developments in twee-revival rock music and time-based media art is also now apparently the hottest new thing in upscale urban living!" crowed the Mishipeshu Herald-Tribune in a Lifestyles section editoral from early 2008. By early this year, construction had already begun on three new loft-style condo developments, a MINI Cooper dealership, two Starbucks coffee franchises and a Sonoma-Williams outlet.

The new Cannon Flats Lofts, set to open in July. The old Steve's World of Store Fixtures / STORE Gallery now houses a Mini Cooper dealership.

Urban Beat notes that this is an almost unprecendented opportunity for at least four generations of neighborhood residents to interact simultaneously. And believe me, they do, too. I get complaints from this neighborhood about everyone. I get probably a dozen variations on the "Those trunnionmakers/poor people/gay rock bands/condo developing yuppies are screwing this neighborhood up" email per week. "That this entire cycle could happen in the space of three years is nothing short of remarkable," says the magazine. I guess we'll take accolades where we can get 'em.

Upcoming ArtBuddies events schedule, November and December.

Law and Order's Ric Ocasek (left) meets Cars frontman Richard Belzer (right), at the Mishipeshu Center for the Arts.

Don't miss Mishipeshu Public Radio presents the ArtBuddies series at the Mishipeshu Center for the Arts! Every few weeks, MPR will be bringing together two great minds of our time and turning them loose to talk about whatever they want -- no gimmicks, no scripts, no limits, just fascinating conversation between some of the most interesting people in the arts today. These sessions will be moderated by Brad Lebree, contributor to such beloved public radio porgrams programs as SpinBack, Crosstalk, AfterWord, Lebensraum, The Alvin Blomgren Show, Vox Humana, Ecelectricity, Alvin Blomgren Presents The Buzz Treatment With Brad Lebree, Bookstorm, The Linkup, The Big Time, Sunday Voices, Sunday Voices: Saturday Edition, The Emphasizer, Audio Box, Station Break, Here Comes the Comptroller and the highly anticipated upcoming news and feature series Buzz Beat With Brad Lebree and Nancy Chakravarty.

11/3: Phillip Glass and Rick Dees
11/17: Peter Criss and Gore Vidal
11/27: Richard Belzer and Ric Ocasek
12/14: Joe Satriani and Joanna Newsom
12/21: Christopher Hitchens and Fab Five Freddy

Christmas Island must be retained, part one.

Indie-pop sensations -- and possibly soon-to-be-former Armitage Heights residents -- Christmas Island.

Well, I've been back in the neighborhood for about a week now following my experiences in Ireland and Dubai. It's been quite a journey. For the first few days back, I was having severe involuntary convulsions that resembled lay-ups, and I kept referring to Marisha as "Coach Red."

I'm feeling much better now, however, and it's time to get back to doing the work of this neighborhood.

There are a lot of very important issues coming up in the coming months -- land use policy in the Armitage Avenue corridor, the Zoning Appeal Commission's quarterly report on tax-funded mixed-use encounter pools, programmatic changes regarding the Committee on Zeppelin & Airship Policy, and community reinvestment in the Freemasonry District, but there is one issue facing our community that dwarves all of these for our area's future well-being, and that is indie-pop band Christmas Island's recent decision to relocate to Brooklyn.

I had my assistant Marisha draw up a chart in Excel this morning, and I think it's very instructive:



It's no coincidence that the year a neighborhood band got it's first 9.0+ rating on Pitchfork (Teenage Law Student's It's Hard To Figure What A German With An Enormous Moustache Does For A Living in 2003) was the same year that our local percent increase in real GDP growth rates were in the top quintile nationally for at least a decade. Christmas Island's last EP garnered a 7.8 rating. Is there any doubt the LP they are presently recording for Sub Pop Records will be at least a 9.0? And is there any doubt what economic factors will be positively affected? Good record reviews mean credibility, and in today's new econony, credibility is economic prosperity.

I am going to be proposing a plan to the city council in the next several weeks to make the case for keeping Christmas Island as permanent residents of our beautiful city. Stay tuned for the details!

Marisha here: I am taking a stand against Romney brothers, unsolicited bathroom decorations and the Killers.

Hello everyone, Marisha here. It is Friday night and I am going completely crazy. The Romney brothers are staying (uninvited) in Sherman's house, and he has requested I check up on them. I am -- I ride over on my scooter twice a day, and always expect the worst. It is hellish.

But it's hellish in a much different way than I am used to. I remember when I was in college I used to live in a loft in the Cassock District with a roommate that dated L'il Warsaw from the Kaos Krew for awhile, and those guys would come over and trash the place and listen 3rd Bass and House of Pain and all those other rap groups that used to have siren sound effects in all of their songs.

It's not hellish in that way.

I think it may be worse. It's more insidious. The Romney brothers -- Biff (right), Jake and I forget the names of the other three, Skip or Jason or Toby or something -- keep blaring the Killers, on a loop, all day and night, and they keep reminding me, over and over, that the Killers are LDS, just like them.

There are hardcover copies of A Mormon in the White House?: 10 Things Every American Should Know about Mitt Romney by Hugh Hewitt on every flat surface.

They spend all day making phone calls to wealthy Republican donors in the 8th and 14th wards, and cleaning Sherman's bathroom. I mean, cleaning it all of the time. Without his permission. Look, here is a picture of Sherman's bathroom:



Did I mention the Killers? I am serious. All day and night. It's even the same song. "Read My Mind."



They want to write "guest blog entries" about their dad and market-based solutions to the health care crisis and the Boston Red Sox and A Mormon in the White House?: 10 Things Every American Should Know about Mitt Romney by Hugh Hewitt. I told them no way. They have their own blog. This blog is for the 3rd ward. Councilman Sinderman has threatened legal action against me and keeps spreading rumors that I am a bisexual vegan socialist (only a third true), but I don't care. Megan Van Deest keeps hanging around flirting with the Romneys even though they've all been married to nice Utah girls since they were 20, and keeps trying to needle me about her going to Vassar and how I stayed in Mishipeshu to go to the University here instead, and is just generally acting unbearable in the sort of way that only a Vassar girl can act unbearable (and overlay that with the fact that she is psychotic about the "free market" in a way I didn't know people were anymore). I haven't even seen Reeves Sinderman for a week.

So I changed the Blogger password, and I am locking the five Romneys and Megan Van Deest and Reeves Sinderman out until Sherman is back from Ireland.

And that is that.

Vacation: Greetings from Dublin!

Hello, and greetings from DUBLIN, IRELAND! I can't write much, as I am using an internet pub on Grafton Street (and enjoying a delicious Guinness).

I arrived yesterday, and have been having a marvelous time. The tour guides are great, and it's very exciting to be meeting so many other Americans interested in U2. Our first stop today was at the National Museum Of U2 Art nearby on Grafton Street, which was remarkable. To the left is an outstanding painting I saw (I purchased a print for the office which I have shipped back -- at my own expense, of course -- to Marisha. Marisha, do you think we could put it over your desk in the reception area? It's about 3'x4'.). There was much more like it, including a full-size marble statue of Adam Clayton, and an impressive collection of The Edge's hats and bandanas over the years. He never seems to be without one!

We have a very full itinerary today, so I'd better get a move. We're taking a bus to see Bono's house in Killiney, and then the graveyard where Larry Mullen, Jr.'s grandmother is buried.

In the meantime, I representing our hometown well. I brought about thirty copies of the new October Revolutionists' album, which I hope to give to the Mr. Seamus Brennan, TD, the Irish Minister of Arts, Sports and Tourism. We'll be meeting him later in the week, and he'll give a short talk on the significance of Achtung Baby on Irish culture. I hope to schedule a few minutes with him afterwards to talk about some possible cross-cultural exchange program in the future. Perhaps we can appoint our own secretary of culture for our neighborhood.

I've enjoyed the posts from Reeves, as well! Be sure to email him and tell him what a great job he's doing in my absence!

City Council update, with guest blogger Reeves Sinderman (R.-8th Ward)

Greeting, faithful Clarion readers. As you may have read, I will be taking over this blog for Councilman Larson this month while he is on his privately-funded vacation in England retracing the footsteps of noted philanthropist Bono and his U-2 rock and roll band.

I have been reviewing Councilman Larson's previous posts, and I must say I am very surprised at what I have found. I had expected more updates from City Council meetings, practical community information relating to road closings and zoning ordinances, and other related matters. I know that the 3rd Ward and Armitage Heights is perhaps the most counter-cultural and youth-oriented group of neighborhoods in the metro, and that "Spin" magazine does not write articles on negotiations with municipal water service providers, but this is the business of our neighborhood, and if I may be permitted to editorialize for a moment, it deserves just as much attention as glowing write-ups on noted local rock and roll bands.

In that spirit, today's post will be a summary of the last City Council meeting's minutes, the sort of thing Councilman Larson has not typically been posting. I hope you will find them as informative as the types of posts you have been accustomed to reading about Oriental tacos and neighborhood Marxist film festivals. Please do not hesitate to contact me at reeves.sinderman@mishcitycouncil.gov with any questions or concerns.

Now, your City Council minutes:

The following items were acted on by one motion. No separate discussion or action occurred on any of the items. The consent items were approved on Council Member Remwick’s motion, Councilwoman Platt second on a 13-0 vote.

1. Approval of the minutes of the Mishipeshu City Council from the regularly scheduled meeting of July 28, 2007.
The minutes from the meeting of July 21, 2007 were approved.

2. Approve an ordinance authorizing negotiation and execution of a second amendment to the existing Water Cost Reimbursement Agreement with Harrison Pierce, L.P. to change the cost reimbursement payment schedule for both Phase One and Phase Two on the construction of a 24-inch water main and appurtenances with a cost not to exceed $3,428,000 to provide water service to the Harrison Pierce Tract located in the south corner of the Stanton Parkway and Gresham Road; and to waive the requirements of Section 25-9-67 of the City Code relating to cost reimbursement payments. No impact to the Capital Budget of the Mishipeshu Water Utility. To be reviewed by both the Water and Wastewater Commission and the Environmental Board on May 16, 2007. Recommended by the Water and Wastewater Commission.
Ordinance No. 20070517-002 was approved.

3. Approve an ordinance authorizing negotiation and execution of an amendment to the existing Wastewater Cost Reimbursement Agreement with Harrison Pierce, L.P., to increase the amount of City cost reimbursement for construction of an 18-inch and 30-inch wastewater main and appurtenances to provide wastewater service to the Harrison Pierce Tract located in the south corner of the Stanton Parkway and Gresham Road intersection for a new total actual construction cost for wastewater improvements not to exceed $3,696,000, and for the professional services costs for engineering, design and project management only for the original design, the aerial crossing design and the new wastewater tunnel alignment in an amount not to exceed $774,999, and cost reimbursement of the pump and haul operations in an amount not to exceed $150,000, increasing the original Council approval amount by $3,287,259 for a new overall total amount not to exceed $4,620,999; and waiving the requirements of Section 25-9-63 of the City Code relating to amount of cost reimbursement, waiving the requirements of Section 25-9-67 of the City Code relating to the schedule for cost reimbursement payments. Funding in the amount of $3,287,259 is included in the Fiscal Year 2006-2007 Capital Improvement Budget of the Mishipeshu Water Utility. To be reviewed by both the Water and Wastewater Commission and the Environmental Board on May 16, 2007. Recommended by the Water and Wastewater Commission and the Environmental Board
Ordinance No. 20070517-003 was approved.

4. Amend the Fiscal Year 2006-2007 Department of Aviation Capital Budget of Ordinance No. 20060911-002 to appropriate $1,750,000 for the Baggage Handling System Improvements and the Security System Upgrade. Funding is available in the Fiscal Year 2006-2007 Capital Fund of the Department of Aviation. Recommended by the Airport Advisory Commission.
Ordinance No. 20070517-004 was approved.

5. Authorize acceptance of grant funds in the amount of $71,147 from the United States Federal Emergency Management Agency, Department of Homeland Security, Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program for Fire Prevention and Safety; and amend the Fiscal Year 2006-2007 Mishipeshu Fire Department Operating Budget Special Revenue Fund of Ordinance No. 20060911-001 to appropriate $71,147 for the purpose of purchasing smoke alarms and publicizing the availability of these resources to a targeted population. Funding is available from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Department of Homeland Security, Assistance to Firefighters Grant Fire Safety and Prevention Program. An in-kind match of $17,787 is required and available in the Mishipeshu Fire Department Fiscal Year 2006-2007 Operating Budget. The grant period is April 13, 2007 to April 12, 2008. There is no unanticipated fiscal impact.
Ordinance No. 20070517-005 was approved.

6. Approve an amendment to the professional service agreement with Harrison Pierce, L.L.P., Mishipeshu, HU, in an amount not to exceed $170,000, for a total contract amount not to exceed $340,000, for legal counsel related to the City's Minority-Owned and Women-Owned Business Enterprise Program (MBE/WBE), including an updated availability and disparity study of minority-owned and women-owned businesses. Funding is available in the Fiscal Year 2006-2007 Operating Budgets of various General Fund and Enterprise Fund Departments.
The motion authorizing an amendment to the professional service agreement was approved.

7. Authorize negotiation and execution of an amendment to an outside counsel contract with Cox Smith Matthews, Mishipeshu, HU, for legal services related to City of Mishipeshu v. Knox Readwell, et al.; Cause No. 2403 in the County Court at Law No. 1 in Pierce County, Huron, in an amount of $50,000, for a total contract amount not to exceed $240,000. (concerns the City's condemnation case) Funding in the amount of $25,000 is available in the Fiscal Year 2006-2007 Operating Budget of the Mishipeshu Convention Center and funding in the amount of $25,000 is available in the Fiscal Year 2006-2007 Operating Budget of Mishipeshu Energy.
The motion authorizing the negotiation and execution of an amendment to an outside counsel contract was approved.

8. Authorize acceptance of grant funds in the amount of $8,000 from the State of Huron Governor's Division of Emergency Management, Fiscal Year 2007 Emergency Management Performance Grant Program; and amend the Fiscal Year 2006-2007 Public Safety and Emergency Management Department Operating Budget Special Revenue Fund of Ordinance No. 20060911-001 to appropriate $8,000 to improve the City of Mishipeshu's mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery capabilities. Funding is available from the State of Huron, Governor's Division of Emergency Management. An in-kind match of $122,000 is required and included in the Public Safety and Emergency Management Department Fiscal Year 2006-2007 Operating Budget. The grant period is October 1, 2006 to September 30, 2007. There is no unanticipated fiscal impact.
Ordinance No. 20070517-008 was approved.

9. Authorize an Interlocal Agreement between the City of Mishipeshu and Pierce County, in the amount of $5,800 per month, for funding a sixth Forensic Chemist Full Time Employee who will perform drug analysis at the Mishipeshu Police Department Forensic Science Division Laboratory. Funding for a sixth forensic chemist will be provided by Pierce County on a reimbursement basis at the rate of $5,800 per month; compensation for partial months will be prorated.
The motion authorizing an interlocal agreement was approved.

10. Approve a resolution authorizing the fee simple acquisition of Lot 23, Block J, Onion Creek Forest, Section 2, Amended Plat, a subdivision in Pierce County, Huron, located at 6908 Onion Crossing Court from Alice Hellstrom for the Gresham Creek Voluntary Flood Buyout-FEMA-1606-DR Project, in the amount of $35,000 for the land and improvements and $29,550 in owner assisted relocation benefits, plus moving related expenses not to exceed $10,000, for a total amount not to exceed $74,550. Funding is available in the Fiscal Year 2006-2007 Capital Budget of the Watershed Protection and Development Review Department.
Resolution No. 20070517-011 was approved.

11. Approve a resolution authorizing the fee simple acquisition of Lot 5, Block H, Gersham Creek Forest, Section 2, Amended Plat, a subdivision in Pierce County, Huron, located at 6906 Onion Crossing Drive, from Emma Harvey for the Gresham Creek Voluntary Flood Buyout-FEMA-1606-DR Project, in the amount of $40,000 for the land and improvements and $54,500 in owner assisted relocation benefits, plus moving related expenses not to exceed $10,000, for a total amount not to exceed $104,500. Funding is available in the Fiscal Year 2006-2007 Capital Budget of the Watershed Protection and Development Review Department.
Resolution No. 20070517-012 was approved.

12. Approve a resolution authorizing the fee simple acquisition for the Mishipeshu Clean Water Program: Govalle 1- West of Ellis Area Wastewater Project for a temporary working space easement comprising 127 square-feet of land and a temporary ingress and egress easement comprising 22,806 square feet of land out of a portion of Lot 31, Block A, Wallingwood Section II-A P.U.D., a subdivision in Pierce County, HU, located at 2800 Barton's Bluff Lane, from UDR Huron Properties, L.P., in an amount not to exceed $52,200. Funding is available in the Fiscal Year 2006-2007 Capital Improvement Budget of the Mishipeshu Water Utility. Recommended by the Water and Wastewater Commission.
Resolution No. 20070517-013 was approved.

ON THE SCENE! With my assistant Marisha: break-up edition.

Hi everyone, Marisha here.

I've been really busy trying to get my master's thesis together for my defense next semester, so I haven't been out to many shows lately. Sherman has been cutting articles out of Rolling Stone and Alternative Press about the neighborhood scene, though, and he says there's lots of momentum we need to capitalize on. That's probably true, but I was also thinking this might be a good time to think about some of the notable bands around town that have called it quits in the last year. I'll write more later about some going-on around town, but some my favorite groups have split recently, and I'd like to devote some space to remembering them.


Dance punk duo Spelling and Usage, who the Free Press once described as making "dance music so post-ironic it actually seems to twist back around into irony, stops for a cigarette, and then ducks back out again into post-irony," broke up in March after the release of their first album, this year's We Love Electroclash. In a press release, they attributed their break-up to being "bored." Keyboardist Aaron Kaplansky will still be spinning Thursday nights at the Lakesider. Keyboardist Sean Hall will continue to work at the Armitage Heights Co-Op on Stanton Avenue.


Beloved pop foursome Christmas Island didn't break up, per se, but have decided to relocate from here to Brooklyn, New York pending their signing to the legendary Kill Rock Stars record label. So we'll miss them -- they were certainly on their way to becoming big stars around here. Sherman unsuccessfully attempted to convince Mayor Underdahl to donate one of a number of old warehouses in the Cassock District to the band to use for tax-free rehearsal and living space in hopes of retaining them as Armitage Heights residents, arguing that their presence here was a "non-negotiable economic and cultural necessity." Of course, this plan didn't materialize, and Christmas Island is off to the east coast to strike it big. So good luck in Brooklyn, guys!


The Family of Birds, led by the singer known only as "Marianne" (above), charmed audiences with such lo-fi, shambling acoustic odes to nature, love and magic as "O Mr. Wind, Why Do You Blow So Very Hard?" and "All Of The Trees In The Woods," and were infamous for their gentle mid-show crying sessions. They recently announced, unfortunately, that they are too shy to continue performing live. The loss to our local musical scene is incalculable.

Other notable break-ups this year included The New System, This Island Earth, Camp Crook, The Census Bureau, He's A Bodybuilder Too!, The Tzimmes, State Pension, The Artinian Module ("indefinite hiatus" owing to lead guitarist Erik Shriner's acceptance to Brigham Young University), The Skin Game, Mobido Diakité, Liquid Candy and the Going Steadies, The Capris, "yacht rock" revivalists The Millionaire Billionaires, Cross Country Meet (not to be confused with the similarly-named Armitage Heights-based indie four-piece Cross Country, who just opened for the October Revolutionists on their last West Coast tour), Servant in Heaven, Toyo Carp, Wihinapa emo heart-throbs Small Things Cast Large Shadows, The Astronomiques, Mirror Dinghy, The Amritsar Massacre, Silver March, The Franklin W. Dixons, The Handsome Xenologists, Commons Club, Wolf Siege, Third Swamp Reserve, and ye-ye-core faves Murder A La Mod. They will all be missed.

Neighborhood focus: Delawaretown.

The bustling storefronts of "Little Wilmington."

Hello, everyone. With summer in full swing and the city council adjourning for a few weeks, I thought this might be a good time to continue a regular feature I began earlier in the year, Neighborhood Focus. In this section, I'll take a look at some of the interesting, notable parts of the Armitage Heights neighborhood that you may have yet to discover!

This next neighborhood we're going to have a look at is a personal favorite, another example of the richness of diversity in our community: Delawaretown (also known popularly as "Little Wilmington"), located on the border of Kendall Park and Armitage Heights. The neighborhood is generally defined as the area between 45th and 51st Streets, with Schofield Parkway to the north and Corwin Avenue to the south.

Delawaretown began as a hardscrabble blue-collar pocket of the neighborhood, inhabited primarily by the families of workers at the nearby Armitage Munitions Works, who set up operations in 1856. In 1901, Armitage was purchased by E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company (known generally as DuPont), who expanded the plant's output from munitions to include lacquers, cellulose chemicals and other non-explosive products. The plant became one of the most productive and innovative cogs in DuPont's empire, and beginning in 1905, huge waves of dozens upon dozens of Delawareans streamed into the neighborhood, searching to begin a new life away from their homeland. With them, they brought their customs, languages and ways of life -- early accounts of burgeoning Delawaretown are striking, like this, from a Mishipeshu Herald article on the area from 1910:

Strolling along 46th Street, one feels as if they have been transported hundreds of miles away to the Delaware River valley, with street vendors hawking what they call "tomatas," and everyone around carrying on in the puzzling dialect of the native Wilmingtonian. They dress in the native outfit of the Delawarian [sic], seemingly unaware of how odd their brown trousers, woolen coats and black shoes must seem to their non-Wilmingtonian neighbors...

One still gets that sense strolling down 46th Street on a busy weekend afternoon! You can still hear classic Delaware accents from the older shopkeepers ("wooder" for "water" -- still fascinates me!), who keep their shelves stocked with Delaware delicacies like delicious blue hen breast, peaches, crab puffs, chicken salad, carrot soup and mashed potatos -- all wrapped in DuPont cellophane, of course! The residents of Delawaretown are very proud of their unique heritage, and in fact, this small pocket of Armitage Heights has the largest population of Delawarean-Americans anywhere outside Delaware -- nearly 330. You'll often see storefront windows with pictures of noted Delawareans like George Thorogood, Pierre Samuel "Pete" du Pont IV, and Joe Biden (who, coincidentally, commands a 78% lead in Democratic primary polls in this area, as witnessed by the image to the left -- a common sight around this close-knit and politically vocal community).

And of course one can't forget the shopping! Though it's a small area, the Delawarean-American population in this pocket have managed to make their shops tax-free, much like their homeland. It's pretty easy to get a credit card, as well, since a number of major financial corporations have set up small incorporated storefront offices along 46th and 47th Streets.

This neighborhood, with it's great mix of seafood, tax-free incorporations, and phonemic æ-tensing, is a real gem. Be sure to visit for Thorogood Days in August, when the music of Delaware native George Thorogood and the Destroyers is celebrated in appropriately raucous fashion in a day-long street festival, or visit the Blue Hen, a charming tavern on Corwin Avenue at 49th Street that specializes in delicious Delaware microbrewery beers and seafood, and features live music on weekends, typically bands playing traditional Delawarean music. Listening to the music waft out into the streets, you can almost smell the salt-water and nylon in the air! It's not hard to feel the breeze coming off Lake Mishipeshu and feeling like it could be the Delaware Bay -- just like you're standing in the first state!

The road to recovery, Days 2-5.

Well, I'm very happy to tell you that I am writing this post not from my hospital bed at Mish Memorial, but from my offices at City Hall in Pierce Plaza downtown, and that tonight I'll finally be going back home to Wihinapa to get back to work!

My assistant Marisha thought it might be better to get me off of the laptop for a few days this weekend while I recovered. That's too bad -- while I was convalescing, I wrote some very interesting reviews of the new October Revolutionists album (it's excellent! It reminded me of U2 with fluegelhorns!), some reviews of the different jello flavors they had here (the green was the best, but the nurse didn't know if it was lime, cantaloupe or kiwi flavored. All those fruits are green, according to Wikipedia. My favorite all week was snapped for me by my nurse Carolyn, which I've posted above -- doesn't it look delicious? I'm not sure why some more of our great restaurants on Stanton Avenue aren't doing more with jello), a review of a 1970s-era action film I saw on cable television one night called The Man That Killed Tomorrow (I thought it was pretty exciting, especially the final scene where the cop, played by Armin Braganza, has a shoot-out with the corrupt bureaucrat, played by Walter Kerry, who is attempting to kill the Secretary of State, played by James Caan, on top of the Essex House, plus it was directed by Hanley native Robert Donald Salloway! Here's a shot of that scene I found on a fan website). I also outlined a new proposal for the infamous east metro rail transit plan, which I hope will help unite our core urban constituency here in the 3rd with our suburban friends in the 8th Ward (I'll reveal it soon, but here's a hint: "luxury box seats" a la the I-Line -- suburban luxury meets urban convenience!). I suppose all these things will be published at some point, but perhaps it's time to get back to work.

Thank again to everyone who wrote to wish me a speedy recovery -- I certainly appreciate it. I also wanted to take a moment to acknowledge the high volume of email I've received regarding the fate of Councilman Stephen Massey Keller. I want to say that though I am certainly not happy about being assaulted, I acknowledge that Councilman Keller is dealing with some very serious issues involving both alcohol and mass transit. It's no coincidence that he bopped me over the head with a model subway car, and it's no coincidence he was drunk while he did it. I want Stephen to find the help that he needs. What exactly that might entail we will see. I would be willing to drop the charges, of course, if he would seek treatment for his alcoholism and support my east metro rail transit authority plan to finally link up the 3rd Ward with points east.

I'll be at my desk, hard at work, in the meantime.

30 years of troublemaking. (Just kidding, guys!)

The first offices of the Free-Press, at 4220 Stanton Avenue in 1968. This building is now a P.F. Chang's Chinese Bistro.

Spring is finally here! I've finally been able to get my mountain bike out of cold storage and take her for a couple of spins around Lake Mishipsehu and Stanton Park! So if you see me out, be sure to say hello! There's also some great opportunities for outdoor dining -- check out the outdoor dining annex at triage (yes, it's all lower-case letters), the new restaurant at the new mixed-use space on the site of the old St. Aloysius Greek Orthodox Veterans Hopsital and Sanitarium.

The biggest party this weekend, though, will certainly be tonight's Heights Free Press 30th Anniversary Gala at the Evarts Avenue Tavern. In April 1967 in an old storefront on Stanton Avenue, novelist Kimball F. Burin, former Mishipeshu Herald journalist Gerber Schanfield, film and music critic Dan Lee Vondraczek, and entrepeneur Larry Forsyth released the first issue of the "Freep": fifteen mimeographed pages of political commentary (notably an attack by Burin on then-Police Commisioner F. Thompson Foster entitled "The Brownshirt in Blue"), reviews of underground records, new hippie poetry, a few wire reports primarily culled from Pravda, and an advice column written by an unnamed "blissed-out naked chick that's shacking up with Brother Larry" (she advises one letter writer to "turn on [his] lovelight and let it shine shine shine.") Looking back on it now, it seems impossibly quaint, but all the pieces are certainly in place for the "take no prisoners" attitude, surreal humor, rampant references to drug use, and in-depth writing that would become the paper's trademarks.

Of course, it's a long and complex history from there -- Burin left the paper in 1968 to focus on his novel-writing, Forsyth pulled his backing after joining the Moonies in 1971, and Schanfield was forced out in 1980 as executive editor after a running a series of articles detailing then-metro mayor Robert Snowden's supposed involvement in a cross-dressing ring. However, the paper has soldiered on, and has published nearly every noted local writer on the scene. The paper's eventual transformation from a mimeographed broadsheet to a slick, well-written, well-funded media giant is a true testament to the talent involved and the intelligence of the community. It has been a truly pioneering paper; for example, the Free Press was the first alternative weekly to publish an altered photo of President Reagan with a Hitler mustache (right).

Of course, I have been notably featured twice in the paper: once in 1988, when I wrote a brief review of U2's performance at the old Civic Center in Kendall Park (my only published music review!), and of course in 2005, when I managed to make the cover. Of course, they endorsed perennial Green Party candidate Dr. Thomas Jefferson Harding for the 3rd Ward Councilman seat in the last election, but I've always enjoyed working with the staff!

The anniversary corresponds, ironically, with the paper's recent sale to the Mishipeshu Media Group, LLC, who have vowed to keep the voice and spirit of the old Free Press alive and well into the 21st century -- and if you take a look at the recent articles they have run since the buyout, such as Snooze Alarm: Why Is the Legislature So Boring?, Hittin' it in the Heights: the Best Places to Get It On Around Your 'Hood!, and Get Your Dock Wet at These 6 Hot New Seafood Bars! you can see that they're just as dedicated to "edgy" writing as they ever were!

The gala will be held tonight, beginning at 8 PM at the Evarts Avenue Tavern, located at 3809 E. Evarts Avenue. There will be performances by Frost Creep, Teenage Law Student and a reunited The Dream of Horses, as well readings from Burin, the legendary "blissed out naked chick" advice columnist (in actuality, now the investment banker Katherine Mary Murray, who hasn't written for the paper since 1968) and popular and award-winning music and film critic Ted Norlander (left), who will read excerpts from his latest book, The Shah of Iran Keeps His Cool Side Cool: Essays On the Bloated-Out Carcass of Trans-American Culture In A Period I Do Not Actually Remember Much Of, 1979-1987 (called "brilliant and heart-breakingly insightful" by The New York Times and "the voice of a generation" by Slate.com). There will also be a few remarks by new majority shareholder and Mishipeshu Media Group, LLC chairman Ronald Malone. Billy Draeger of the October Revolutionists had been scheduled to give a solo acoustic performance, but his band has been scheduled to play The Jimmy Kimmel Show tonight -- way to go, guys!

Tickets are available at the Free Press's website for $25, or by calling Evarts Avenue Tavern at (436) 922-1928, or the Free Press's offices at (436) 661-0022 during regular business hours.

ON THE SCENE! With my assistant Marisha.

Hi everyone, it's me, Sherman's assistant Marisha. It's been pretty busy here on the Armitage Heights music "scene" (love those parentheses), but truthfully, I haven't been to as many shows recently as I might have. I'm serving on the new novelist laureate committee, plus I'm trying to wrap up my thesis at the University for next semester. And other things have been going on, as well.

If you want, I've set up a MySpace page at www.myspace.com/assistantmarisha. There's not much there yet, but I'll flesh it out when I have a chance. You can send me information there about any upcoming shows, albums, music news or anything else. Please note that this isn't my private MySpace profile. My private MySpace profile isn't viewable by the public at large at this time.

Anyway, the biggest news lately is the October Revolutionists have signed with Capitol Records, who will be putting out their new record next month. The Revs were also featured on the cover of SPIN Magazine this month, who called their new album "a fascinating melange of old-time genre music and late-model hipster cynicism," so everyone's pretty excited about that. Personally, I think their new work is more cynical than good, and it's a really tired formula that they've been flaying for a long time -- ooh, here's a reference to a Victorian book, sung like Gordon Gano over a bunch of accordians and glockenspiels. But, who am I to say anything. If you look at the comments from yesterday, the legendarily cranky novelist Kimball Burin put it rather pithily, even though I wish Sherman wouldn't approve every insane comment that floats by. Particularly when it's about me, which all of them seem to be lately.

Regardless, that's the news. There's some good shows coming up, including the Red Queen Principle at the Lakesider Tavern this Friday, local noise-rockers the Gold Journal are playing a record release show for their new album We Study Magical Destruction at Don's Liquors on Saturday, and finally, you can see Société Nationale play with the Four-Chambered Heart and Frost Creep next Tuesday at Spike's. All of those bands are pretty good, except for one, but Sherman asked me to stop saying "non-positive" things about local bands. So you'll have to go see for yourself which one I mean. I think it will be pretty obvious -- the answer will probably sneak up on you in the cold, so to speak.

Back in cyberspace!

Pardon me for my extended absence here in cyberspace, but it has been a crazy week here in the office!

My assistant Marisha has been sick with the flu for the last few days, and I believe she also broke up with her boyfriend Billy Draeger of the band the October Revolutionists. So hopefully she'll be getting through both of those rough spots in the next few days. On a related note, please stop sending emails asking for Marisha's contact information. The fact that she is now single does not mean she wants to hear from you or be your friend on "MySpace." You creeps out there know who I'm talking to.

Additionally, I was out of town for a few days to attend the annual meeting of the League of Metro City Councilpersons in Tempe, Arizona. It was a great time meeting with other city councilpersons from around the country and spreading the good word about Armitage Heights. It sure was warm in Tempe, and very pleasant, but their neighborhoods are nowhere near as vibrant as our own! For instance, Mitchell Park East, the neighborhood I was staying in, had a few nice restaurants and shops, but nothing like our own vibrant Armitage Avenue/Stanton Avenue commerical corridor! It may be colder here, but does Mitchell Park East in Tempe have:

• A historic gravy factory?
• Awesome non-emo rock bands?
• A Catholic parish with its own water park?
• The world's largest unbroken grouping of Queen Anne-style aircraft hangars?
• A Mexican amateur ice hockey league?

The fact is, they do not. But Armitage Heights does!

New feature! "ON THE SCENCE!"

Hi everyone.

My name is Marisha Ferguson. You may know me better as Sherman's assistant. I do a lot of the paperwork and research around here, as well as doing some freelance design work, a little acting and generally attempting to finish up my masters degree in urban planning and women's studies at the University of Mishipeshu. Anyway, Councilman Larson saw an article mentioning some of the recent activity in our neighborhood's music scene in The New York Times Sunday Arts section this weekend, and he got kind of excited -- you can read the whole thing through this link.

He asked me if I wanted to write a little feature for the blog every once in awhile about what he loves to call "the rock scene" in the neighborhood. In his words, "keep people appraised of what's rockin' where, and where's rockin' when, who's rockin' with whom, and what not." I said sure, because I like going out to shows and there are some good bands around these days.

Of course, there's probably better resources than the 3rd Ward councilman's blog for information about upcoming shows, but I digress.

Anyway, the Times article dealt mostly with the scene up around the north end of Armitage Avenue in the old Cassock District, you know, where the Lakesider used to be. The article says:

The hipsters are all in agreement that Silver Lake is the new Williamsburg, which means Chicago's Wicker Park is coming up as the new Silver Lake. That makes Austin, Texas the new Wicker Park, Echo Park is the new Austin, Hoboken is the new Echo Park, and both Chapel Hill and Armitage Heights are making definite inroads into being the new Hoboken, if Chapel Hill can break free from its perceived image as the new Mission District, which most older scenesters still think of as the old pre-"new Williamsburg" Silver Lake.

The article goes on to cite some our great local bands, such as I Promise To See You Die And I Will, the October Revolutionists, Witness to the Thunder, My Other Car is a Robot, Hell Is Other People, the Do-Overs, Teenage Law Student, Fear Death By Water, the Architects of Fear, Klaxon!, and the Upper Voltas.

All those bands are pretty good. So be sure to check them out. Klaxon! and Teenage Law Student are playing this Saturday at Spike's, so that'll be a good one.

Other than that, I should probably point out that although the Upper Voltas were indeed great, they sort of broke up last month -- Andy, the bassist, ended up leaving the band to replace Chuck in Witness to the Thunder because their original bassist Nick moved to New York, so the other guys in the Upper Voltas decided to just change their name to the Anna Kournikovas, and I hear Tom, who used to play in The Dream of Horses, might be joining on keyboards. Remember The Dream of Horses? They were pretty good. They were at the Lakesider all the time.

Anyway, on that note, here's a list of bands that have broken up in the last few months: A Factory on the Moon, the Boutonnieres, Phillips Cycles, Sepak Takraw, the Song Dynasty, National Trust, the Truants, Randy Scouse Git, Super Team Spirit & the Color Line, %!*@ (good riddance, too, I told them it was stupid to a.) name a band after a Beetle Bailey reference, and b.) not even have it be pronounceable), the Atari Jaguars, International Circle, and the Stoics. So good luck to all those people in their new projects.

And I suppose that's all the news in the world of the "rock scene."

Take care,
Marisha

Your letters and emails.

Freemason grand master, poet and alleged anti-Semitic cannibal Dr. Lucius S. Grotting, 1899.

Friday is a good day to drag out the old mailbag, and have a look at some of the letters you have sent me in the past month.

This blog is only less than a month old, but the response from the community has been overwhelming! It's good to know that so many of you are "web-saavy," and it speaks well of our community that so many of you are "plugged-in."

My assistant Marisha once again is telling me to stop putting so many words in quotation marks. In fact, many of your letters have touched on that very subject. Well, you may have a point, but may I say that there's nothing "lame" or "square" about putting words that may be unfamiliar to our community like "web-savvy" in quotation marks.

The bulk of mail I've gotten has been regarding the ongoing controversy regarding the Winter Parade disturbances. I am glad to say that most of it supports the capture and trial of the hooligans that instigated the tragedy. You have probably already heard that unlicensed, non-Muslim cleric the Ayatollah Martin Wisniewski was apprehended yesterday in Armitage Hill, and that only the mentally unbalanced clandestine Viet Cong operative and dangerous leftist agitator Dr. Thomas Jefferson Harding remains at large. A trial date for all nine defendants is due to be set later this month.

I would like to say that although I am absolutely all for recognizing and celebrating the diversity in our community, I would politely ask those of you in the Hanley Esperanto District to please include an English translation of your letters when you send them. No one on the city's payroll is a fluent speaker of this unique, beautiful and made-up language, and my assistant Marisha has had a terrible time translating the letters into English using an old Esperanto-to-English dictionary she bought with her own money at one of the used bookstores on the Stanton Avenue strip. Most of them come out sounding like this:

Mi diras al la rego: "via rego mosto, pardonu min! Malsagulon ciu batas!"

Which Marisha claims translates to:

"I said to the king, 'Your majesty, forgive me! Everybody beats a fool.'"

I do not know why someone would send this message to me.

And while we're on the subject of kings, dead languages and strange rituals, here is a letter from Grand Master Eldon Sommers, 33°, of the Novus Ordo Seclorum Chapter of Armitage Heights Lodge of Approved Freemasons No. 1, regarding my comments on the Armitage Freemason's March and Dr. Lucius S. Grotting from December 19:

You are perpetuating a tired, untrue old rumor with your irresponsible comments on Dr. Lucius S. Grotting. He was truly an inspiring, well-loved figure in turn-of-the-century Armitage Heights, and his railroading by anti-Masonic forces in the community is a blot on the neighborhood's progressive past. There is no proof that those rabbis were eaten, and even if they were eaten, which they weren't, there is no proof that Dr. Grotting was the one that ate them. Dr. Grotting was not an eater of rabbis, or an eater of people in general, except for in some ceremonial instances of Freemason ritual which are largely misunderstood and primarily metaphorical in nature.

From that same December 19th post, here is an email from Chucky Charlemagne, former lead singer of the Druids, whose 1979 punk-rock pro-heroin anthem "Stanton Ave. Cop" I made reference to:

In addition to "Cop," may I say we also performed a number of other neighborhood-specific songs, like "Wihinapa Deathwish," "Burn, Hanley, Burn," and "Let's Arm Armitage." In addition, may I also say that in our 1978 prime, the Druids would have wiped self-absorbed fake rock-and-roll weineys like I'm Going To Watch You Die or whatever the [expletive deleted] they're called off the stage completely, despite the fact that we didn't have any crappy corporate music magazines knocking around. So yeah, nice mascara job, you wussy little [different expletive deleted].

While I appreciate the community pride that Mr. Charlemagne feels, I must still maintain that I am adamantly opposed to death wishes, burning Hanley and providing weapons to the community. My assistant Marisha, however, would like me to mention that Mr. Charlemagne is correct in his thoughts about I Promise To See You Die And I Will, and that her boyfriend Billy Draeger agrees.

Keep those letters coming! I always enjoy hearing from you, who make the quality of life here in Armitage Heights so good.

Rock and roll rebuttal.

Local non-emo band I Promise To See You Die And I Will.

I received a rather irate email late last night from a young man named Natty Oglethorpe, who is the singer and principal songwriter in the local band I Promised To See You Die And I Will. He took exception with the fact that in yesterday's post on the local rock scene, my assistant Marisha referred to them as "weiney screamo drama queens." In the spirit of the sort of open debate that the "blogosophere" is meant to foster, I offered him space to make a rebuttal. Here is an excerpt from the email he sent.

Your assistant Marisha's ignorant remarks about my band were totally unfounded and unfair. IPTSYDAIW are not "weiney" and certainly not "drama queens." As far as being "screamo," that's just like Marisha to make such a ill-informed judgement. We have been playing our dramatic, engaging brand of music longer than any of these labels like "screamo" and "emo" have even existed. Our music draws on a wide variety of non-emo influences, like the Smiths, the Cure, and Morrissey's solo projects up to "Vauxhall and I." Anyway, if you want to talk about weineys, talk to Billy English Major or whatever his name is in the October Revolutionists. There's a tea-quaffing, lit-crit-reading-for-fun purebreed pinkies-up weiney if there ever was one.

I showed this email to Marisha, who rolled her eyes and told me that she and Oglethorpe dated for several months, and she is now dating Billy Draeger,who is the lead singer and songwriter for the popular local indie band the October Revolutionists, hence Oglethorpe's unkind remarks. Who knew my assistant Marisha was such a rock and roller!

On a personal note, I don't know why bands have such long, complicated names these days. Back in my college rock and roll days, all my favorite bands had short, simple names like The The, R.E.M. and U2. In fact, it is because of U2's hard-hitting anthems of social justice like "Sunday Bloody Sunday" that I was inspired to public service to begin with!

At any rate, this has all been a fascinating trip into the world of local rock music, but with all due respect, I hope this will be the last words on this particular subject. I ask you, the reader: is an online blog really the place for petty arguing about moderately well-known, highly genre-specific local rock bands?

Our rockin' neighborhood!

In the new February 2007 issue of SPIN Magazine, Armitage Heights is named the 12th Most Rock & Roll Neighborhood in America, right between University City in St. Louis (#11) and Copper Square in Phoenix/Tempe (#13)! The article gives a "shout-out" to such well-loved local indie rock bands like the October Revolutionists, the Twilight Parade, I Promised To See You Die And I Will, My Other Car is a Robot, Hell Is Other People, the Do-Overs and Teenage Law Student, none of whom I have heard but whom my assistant Marisha assures me are awesome (except for I Promised To See You Die And I Will, who she says are "weiney screamo drama queens," whatever that means). It also cites some of our great rock venues, such as Spike's and the Bazooka Room and some of our great, now-defunct rock venues like the Heights Cafe, the Buckaroo, the Lakesider and the old Armitage Orpheum, which apparently was having illegal punk rock shows in the basement up until last year (maybe the displaced punk rock bands will enjoy seeing an NBA game instead!).

So, way to rock on, Armitage Heights! Let's start attending some local rock shows and supporting our "scene"! Next year when the pollsters come around again, we can start creeping up on Wicker Park, Silver Lake, Williamsburg, Capitol Hill, South Street in Philly and Uptown Minneapolis!

Marisha is telling me that it looks "lame" when I keep putting words like "scene" and "shout-out" in quotation marks, but I'm just trying to put some of these rock and roll words in context for all our non-rockers out there.