Carbondale Bytelife

I know that I really don't post here anymore, but I hope Dave will forgive me-- this legislation will dramatically affect musicians locally, so I'm linking to my main writeup from here in the hopes that more folks will hear about this before the vote.

I'm not normally very political, and I know our tastes in music may differ, but I know that you also share a love of music ITSELF-- so be sure to read this. Thank you. --DaveX

Maybe you've seen the green machines around town, or one of the flyers advertising its service. Must say, the cabs look good, and the flyer is well-written and effective -- except for the hideous font for the phrase "The Service You Deserve."

Click on the image to read the details. ... A good business model, I'd say.

I happened by Abe Martin Field yesterday and caught some of the action as Dan Callahan recorded his 400th career victory as Salukis beat N. Iowa Panthers, 4-3. Three more victories will bring Dan's record to 403-403-1.

Also in the game, Duquoin's Bryant George tied the school record for Saves, with 19. Only a Junior, BG will surely hold the rocord to himself, by the time he graduates.

An email from SI online editor, Caleb Hale. yesterday called attention to The Southern's new blog, The Portal, which he calls

"a primer for all the topics, news stories, issues and other information from right here in Southern Illinois to the far corners of the world. TheSouthern.com keeps you abreast of breaking local news and gives you the access to find out what’s happening beyond our borders." -- About ‘The Portal’

Instead of being up about $100,000 over 2008, it looks like Carbondale's sales tax collection will run about $300,000 below projections. Not good, but certainly livable. Given the lousy economy, I guess we should be glad it's not much more than that.

Labels: Carbondale, economy, sales tax

Yesterday, I had to check an order at Horstman Cleaners & Furriers, and spoke to John Kirk, whose family's owned the business landmark on the corner of University and Walnut since the mid-60s. He says Horstman's itself has been in business 75 years! Which MUST make it the oldest in town.

Anyway, Horstman's doesn't have much web presence, only 13 listings, but I uploaded a photo to its Yahoo listing.

A new comment to a post from last summer about local dental service reminds me that I've got 4 wisdom teeth ready for harvesting. Must make an appt with Dr. Michael Clay over in Murphysbury, whom I haven't seen since blogging the blue tooth.

Labels: dental care

The vacant Hardee's building on 1201 West Main has been sold to BLP Development of Paducah, reports Blackwell Thomas, who got it from Kevin Baity

Another restaurant could put the space to good use ... give Subway some fresh competition for the lunch trade on that side of town. But who knows? BLP wouldn't say.

The FOR SALE sign is still in the window, though, (as of 15 minutes ago, when this photo was snapped) with a number to call: 889-9286.

Have you seen (thru) the new City of Carbondale website? In his "Dazettte" blog Scott T notes how Sunshine Review gives the site high marks in the government-transparency department. They call Carbondale “Transparency Capitol of The Entire State of Illinois.”

According to Mayor's press release, a key component to the site is Citizen Access, which Cole said he developed according to guidelines of Sunshine Review.

The DE sez the Arthur Agency got paid $15,915. One of the things a city site should have -- according to Sunshine Review guidelines -- is a checkbook register posted online.... I don't see it.

Another thing, I find no mention of the City's free wireless internet, but may be simple oversight (mine or the City's).

So far, the best thing to happen to me from Twitter is getting a great seat at the Wichita game last weekend, courtesy of Kelly Thomas, the SI Home Tours guy, who attended with his wife Trina, both sporting Saluki dawg ears.

Although we had great seats, I took a stroll around the floor to snap some pics from different angles, like <-- this one. Great game, too. SIU's 72-68 victory over Wichita assures them 5th place in MVC Tourney next weekend.

Meanwhile, today is the ground-breaking for Saluki Way -- at 2 p.m. ... Many details about the project are on the SIU Athletics web site, including video.

I'll try to be there and shoot some pics.

There hasn't been much activity in fixing the hole in the roof where the rain gets in and stop my mind from wondering. ... Word on the street is, the best music venue on "The (cough, cough) Strip" in C'dale may not be having a Raise the Roof Party, because the owners are approaching retirement age, and months of rebuilding is not an appealing prospect.

Perhaps the business or property will be sold.

Losing Hangar 9 would be a serious blow to the local music scene, because of its excellent stage, sound system, and spacious dance floor.

City Council candidate Kevin Clark has been hired as the Development Specialist for The Women's Center.

Perhaps an update of the The Women's Center web site is on his "to-do" list. The newsletter hasn't been updated since 2006. . . . (I should talk).

TheSouthern.com: More teams are needed for the American Cancer Society Relay for Life set for April 25 at the CCHS football field, with a goal of raising $91,000. In addition, a theme has been added to the event: "Blast from the Past,' with walkers urged to dress in styles from the '50s through the '80s."

Today, volunteers will distribute information and answer questions at local businesses and campus dorms. I'd like to ask if an outfit from 1992 would be acceptable.

The group's web site doesn't say, but other details about the event are there, including a snappy group photo.

# posted by Parentheticus @ 8:11 AM 0 Comments

Got a campaign letter from candidate/councilman Chris Wissmann outlining the issues he feels he has taken the lead on or that the council should act on if he gets elected for another term:

violent crime--organizing neighborhood watch groups and associations

alternative energy technologies--seeking ways to limit the effect of Ameren rate increases

job retention and attraction--fostering the development of home-based and service employers, i.e. Paducah's Artist Relocation Project

Rewriting of the Carbondale Comprehensive plan incorporating the New Urbanism concept

Assisting in SIUC's growth

Expand programming on the city's GOV-16 channel

Labels: Chris Wissmann, City council, election

Driving to The Cellar after tweeting Corny West lecture on campus Friday night, I stopped in the Varsity Center for the Arts (WARNING: The Stage Company's VCA web page graphic is huge & site isn't up-to-date) to get a gander at the new Carbondale Community Arts gallery where artists like Kathleen Shaffner can show their stuff.

House Manager, Mindy Beyke, is one of the leading ladies in the continued resurgence of the former Varsity Theater bldg as an entertainment venue.

Currently, in the smaller downstairs theater (the main screen theater is still under reconstruction), actors are performing Leading Ladies, a hilarious comedy by 2-time Tony Award winner, Ken Ludwig -about two actors performing Shakespeare on the Moose Lodge circuit in Amish Country. Show continues at the VCA next weekend, Feb 27, 28 and Mar 1.

In other artsy news, HeartlandArts.Net has announced the winners of its recent photo contest. And the winners are ...

I'm looking forward to tonight's Oscar show, and the twitterverse is abuzz.

Tulsa World:

"The city of Tulsa has joined the tech-savvy legions who are using Twitter to stay in touch.

Twitter, for those unfamiliar, is a free, social-networking, micro-blogging phenomenon that allows users to send and read other's 'tweets,' which are text posts of up to 140 characters meant to answer the question: What are you doing?

The posts are displayed on the user's profile page and delivered to those who have signed up to receive them via their computers or mobile devices.

Mayor Kathy Taylor said the city, by joining Twitter, is simply evolving with the latest in communication technology."

Will the City of Carbondale follow suit? Seems like something our own tech-savvy mayor would endorse.

Black American History month sponsors (see below) expect Shyrock Auditorium to be SRO for tonight's FREE lecture by Cornel West, the Princeton University professor and media talking-head. Dr. West's most recent book Hope on a Tightrope: Words and Wisdom can be previewed at Google Books.

According to his bio at World People's Blog,

West appears in both The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions as one of the elders, Councilor West, who serves on the council of Zion. West’s character advises that “comprehension is not a requisite of cooperation.”

In addition, West provides philosophical commentary on all three Matrix films in The Ultimate Matrix Collection along with integral theorist Ken Wilber. West also made multiple appearances on the popular political show Real Time with Bill Maher.[12][13][14][15][16] West was also featured on Starbucks Coffee Cups with The Way I See It #284 quoted- “You can’t lead the people if you don’t love the people. You can’t save the people, if you don’t serve the people”. .

More details about the lecture at Saluki Times website.

Dr. West did not come cheap. His book promotion is sponsored by:
Paul Simon Public Policy Institute, Black History Month Committee, Student Programming Council, Office of the Associate Chancellor (Diversity), Undergraduate Student Government, Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., Iota Phi Theta Fraternity, Inc.

Former C'dale landlord Henry Fisher will serve the remainder of his term for sexual assault after his appeal on the ground of ineffective council was denied by Williamson Co. judge Ron Eckiss

Labels: Carbondale, crime

Walking down Illinois, I took a peak inside Hangar 9, which recently had its roof collapse. Looks like a lot of work remains to be done, but a Raise the Roof Party is planned.

Yesterday, I got out to "The Strip" and walked its length -- all the way to the Interfaith Center, snapping pix and talking to folks, including:

Kristin Gregory Ward, the new Executive Director of the Chamber of Commerce, a local girl, a graduate of CCHS, class of 1999. I reminded her, I used to sub at CCHS back then, when it was on Oakland St. Then I gave her permission to use the restroom. ;-)

Last night, I did some shopping at the new Aldi, now that it's moved from its former location (next to Dollar General) across 13 from where Kroger West used-to-be.

Items were arranged "more or less" where they used to be in the old store. Same quality products.

I was told that Aldi is the Walmart of Germany .... but the Aldifoods website tells a different story, of opening its first store in Iowa in 1976.

The one picture here is located where Ponderosa used to be, behind Long John Silver.

From All Aboard Amtrak

Over at Scott Thorn's Daze-ette, there's call out for Artists who can paint these panels at the Amtrak station. There's more to this story -- how Mayor Cole stole this idea from me ;-) -- in my forthcoming blook, Karmadale After Blog. This project has been 2 or 3 years in making. I spoke to Nancy Stemper about his a year ago, and a call for Artists had been made back then, too. I wonder why the delay.

Out for a walk on Saturday and see Jay Cupp and brother Barry, and their friend Joe, and others, parading in red dresses, for the annual Hash House Harriers Red Dress Run, which has its origins in Hasher lore:

... a newcomer was invited to a hash run ran by the San Diego Hash House Harriers. Unbeknownst to her it was a running group and she attended the run in a red dress instead of running clothes. Upon being mocked for wearing such an outfit, she ran the trail and went into a hot tub with the red dress still on. Other Hashers began wearing red dresses as a joke, and the tradition soon became an annual event that spread across the world.

The Cupp brothers own and operate Midwest Cash in Carbondale and Marion. I'd put a link to their site, but it causes Firefox to crash.... (thank G for autosave).

Speaking of roofs, the one at Bucky's Dome Home is looking much better -- not quite a new roof, but a new plastic cover on the original -- and a new fence has been constructed. The Dome restoration effort still needs your support.

One of the casualties of the big snow two weeks ago - Hangar 9's roof - collapsed by weight of the snow. No one was in the building at the time. A "Raise the Roof Party" is planned, TBA.

Looks like the bitter cold snap has let up at bit... 34 degrees at this writing, and here I am in sunny Colorado where it's 60 degrees. Go figure... And I'm keeping up with goings in The Dale via the ShawneeNet site, including Scott's new "Daze-ette" on Blogspot, which I've added to the ShawneeNet feeds, although the atom RSS feed doesn't quite work. I'll email Scott about it.

Plus, connected on Facebook and MySpace, so, I was reminded by Jessica B about the upcoming WDBX "Midwinter's Night Dream" Ball., Saturday, February 14 at 6:00pm - 11:00pm @ Carbondale Civic Center.

Let's see, what else? Oh yeah "Carter Fredrick." The man with nothing better to do (apparently) than dump anonymous/pseudonymous drek on "DaveX" the WDBX deejay with his own blog. So here's the comment policy... Anonymous comments are fine ... but comments that are merely negative with no supporting info, will be REJECTED. So Carter, please stop wasting my time and yours.

And good news ... more photos coming on this blog. I got a new camera that I'm anxious to try out when I get back to The Dale next week.

In what some Council members are calling "a stunning overreach of power," Carbondale Mayor Brad Cole announced plans yesterday to shut down the Carbondale Bytelife.

"We're making way for progress," he said. "This so-called 'blog' has become little more than a platform for one loud-mouth to constantly remind us of his radio show. I'd rather have two more Sunset Motels than this digital stain on our community."

Former Carbondale activist Dick Gregory agreed with Cole, pointing to Carbondale's seeming inability to keep much of anything in business.

"It would only be a matter of time that the Carbondale Bytelife was going to go out of business," he said. "It's already well-known as a place for anonymous bums to drop in and urinate; why prolong the inevitable slide into obscurity?"

SIUC communications professor Bob Beeble said it could be years before Carbondale is able to produce its own Internet content again.

"We just haven't been able to crack that nut," Beeble said with a sigh. "By the time we got AOL to stop charging Carbondale's bank account every month, the rest of the world had moved on. Most folks around here still think MySpace is somewhere you can drive to-- it's practically hopeless."

With Scott Thorne launching his own blog Carbondaze Gazette, and me in semi-retirement in Twitterville, and DaveX busy with his "Too Damn Early" radio show and Startling Moniker blog, and the absence of contributions by others, I'd say Bytelife's "daze" are numbered -- unless some eager beaver with a digital camera and curiosity about The Dale steps up to post some updates. Don't look at me . . . I'm out of town.

Scott's move transpired while I was traveling to Colorado, so I did not have time to speak to him in person about his decision, although I managed to a bus-bumped text message to the effect that I thought it was a mistake, and I suggested changing the name of this blog to whatever he wanted, and the rest of us stepping out, so the Bytelife blog would become his, and his alone.

So we'll see what happens. ...

Wanted to give readers a heads up that I finally took a cue from dave and DaveX and started my own blog: The Carbondaze Gazette, so I'll be cutting back a lot on my posting at the Bytelife to concentrate on it.

Labels: blogs and blogging, Carbondaze Gazette

I see the Aldi's on the east side of town next to Dick's Sporting Goods has a sign up announcing they are open for business.

Labels: business, Carbondale

In case you missed this from last week, most of the charges against city council member Lance jack, including DUI and possession of marijuana, were dismissed on the 23 because the judge found the arresting officer lacked probable cause. Improper changing of lanes is still bad though and Jack paid a $75 fine.

Labels: City council, Lance Jack, police

Well, not mine exactly-- my radio show's 7th birthday at WDBX. Take a look at my latest playlist, and leave your nicest birthday wishes at Startling Moniker.

The committee tasked with drawing up the new guidelines for SIUC's plagerism policy has been accused of, wait for it, no not yet, almost, yes plagiarism.

Labels: ethics, plagiarism, siuc

In case you didn't catch this on the city's website or in the SI:

NEWS RELEASE
MAINTENANCE AND ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES

Due to the inclement weather and the icy road conditions, the City’s refuse, recycling and bag and bundle collection programs have been SUSPENDED for the remainder of this week. Residents are advised to not set their refuse or recycling containers at curbside this week. Please hold them until next week.

Weather permitting, refuse and recycling will resume normal schedules next week.

Questions may be addressed the Maintenance and Environmental Services Office at 618-457-3275.

Labels: Carbondale, city government

Carbondale's website was down from Monday through Thursday morning, plus no-one in the building had external email access which was driving a few offices crazeeee. Apparently, someone (accidentally?) cut one of Verizon's cables which played hob with any commercial user of Verizon broadband throughout southern Illinois.

Labels: Carbondale, city government, infrastructure

He's done. I won't abuse Bytelife readers with my journalist impression; go read the Trib if you're truly interested.

(However, I WILL be abusing listeners tomorrow morning-- tune in early to catch the fun.)

Rep. Costello sent out the following regarding his approval of a particular provision of the stimulus package.

COSTELLO PLEASED “BUY AMERICA” PROVISION FOR U.S. STEEL IS INCLUDED IN STIMULUS LEGISLATION

Washington – Congressman Jerry Costello (D-IL) today applauded the House Appropriations Committee’s approval of a “Buy America” provision for the use of U.S. steel as part of the economic stimulus legislation. The economic downturn has hurt the domestic steel industry, resulting in production declines and worker layoffs. In the Metro East, Granite City Steel has been idled and Alton Steel has also laid-off workers.

Labels: economy, Jerry Costello

Longtime Carbondale resident and activist for progressive causes (over 65 years) Lillian Adams died last Saturday at the age of 96. There will be a Memorial Service for Lillian on February 8 at 2 PM at the Unitarian Fellowship in Carbondale. Her family invites everyone to attend and celebrate her life. Also please visit the Lillian Adams memorial site:

http//lillianadams.blogspot.com

(info courtesy of the Arbor District mailing list)

Labels: Arbor District, Carbondale

The city's done a great job of cleaning up the streets but it would be a little more useful now for the plows to be clearing off sides streets rather than scraping the edge of Main like the one that just passed me. Main is free of ice and snow except along the edges while there are still dozens of side streets unplowed.

Labels: Carbondale, weather

The fix is in at the Illinois Senate, and Rod Blagojevich is certain to be our former Governor in a few days. Undaunted G-Rod gave Rachel Maddow an earful last night, including some self-incriminating statements. The entire transcript and damning video clip can be viewed at Maddow's MSNBC website.

Rep. Costello sent out the following press release today regarding his stance on the TARP:

COSTELLO OPPOSES RELEASE OF ADDITIONAL TARP FUNDS

Washinton - Congressman Jerry Costello (D-IL) today voted against releasing the remaining $350 billion from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). Costello also opposed the original financial bailout legislation that created TARP.

"I voted against the financial bailout because I was concerned that we rushed its consideration without adequately assessing how the money would be used or if there were better ways to proceed. The fact that Secretary Paulson did not use the money as he said it would be used validated my concerns. Now, the very banks that received the bulk of the TARP money are still mired in losses, with billions in bad loans still on their books, and refusing to account for how they have spent it. Given TARP’s poor record to this point, we need to reassess this plan of action, and that is why I voted against releasing the remaining funds.”

Labels: economy, Jerry Costello

It's already long and getting longer every time I look at it.

Update: Gotta love SIUC's optimism. 5:30 and they still haven't announced if the school is closing.

Update: 8 p.m and still no word on the website about Wednesday.

Labels: schools, weather

The Arbor District is hosting a meeting regarding several assaults that have taken place in the area in the past few weeks. Details from the email are below:

Labels: Arbor District, crime

WSIU-FM is broadcasting the Blagojevich impeachment proceedings live all day. The quotes from the tapes are amazing stuff. You gotta wonder how he expected to get away with some of the plans he was considering.

Update: Back to classical music while the Senate's at lunch. Testimony resumes when then get back.

Labels: Governor Blago, WSIU

Taking President Obama's recent inaugural speech to heart, particularly the "We will restore science to its rightful place..." line, Carbondale Mayor Brad Cole launched an all-out attack on Marion's well-known "Hub of the Universe" claim.

"As it turns out," Cole said, "there is no center to the universe. My advisers tell me that the Universe we inhabit is homogeneously expanding from all points, rather than radiating from a single center."

Cole acknowledged the futility of explaining this principle, which seems to go against common perceptions, to Marion Mayor Bob Butler.

"You have to remember that this man grew up in an age when the moon was still worshipped as a silver llama whose tears made the land fertile," Cole snorted. "How can I explain the curvature of the Universe to someone clearly using a two-dimensional Hub Model for his cosmological system? It's a fool's errand."

City Councilman Chris Wissmann said Carbondale's up-to-date understanding of cosmological principles would be great for boosting tourism.

"If there's no center, then Carbondale is just as good as anywhere else," he stated. "I hear The Met has a new Babylonian exhibit coming to New York City. That should be great for us. We're hoping to see some of those tourist dollars here in Southern Illinois."

But Marion city officials aren't planning to give up without a fight. Butler said Cole's protest was pure bunk.

"Look at that llama in the sky," Butler shouted as he pointed at the moon. "Whenever I ride in the car, it follows right along with me. If that's not proof, I don't know what is."



(This blog entry was written as part of the 5th Annual Rabbit Hole Day, a blog-holiday in honor of Lewis Carrol. Bloggers are encouraged to write in a different style, or in a fantastical manner, stepping outside our reality for the duration of the day. For more information, see the original post at Scribbles and Lies. Thanks also to Phil Plait, NASA's "Space Place," and Usenet Physics mod Philip Gibbs.

Due to bad weather conditions, SIUC will be closed Tuesday, January 27, 2009. For more information, call 618-453-5375 or 866-264-6420.

The list of school closings gets longer by the minute. But, by gum, we're not closing SIUC.

Update: SIUC announced it was closing sometime between 10 p.m and 6 a.m.

Labels: schools, siuc, weather

Vice Chancellor Larry Dietz was interviewed on NPR's All Things Considered yesterday regarding his recent trip to Iraq as part of the Iraq's government's Study Abroad initiative.

Labels: Iraq, Larry Dietz, siuc, students

Out of curiosity, I dug up the statistics for some other college towns: Rolla, Mo, Springfield Mo, Columbia, M0, Cape Girardeau Mo, Mattoon Il and Kirksville Mo. With the exception of Kirksville, all of them have poverty levels under 20%. Kirksville is most like Carbondale, in that it is a relatively small rural community, dominated by a college, and without direct interstate access. Not quite as steep as Carbondale, it still has a 30% poverty rate.

Labels: Carbondale, college, poverty

Here's your big opportunity, Mr. Anonymous-- the time slot from 2-4 a.m. Saturday mornings at WDBX-FM is now open. This is immediately prior to my own broadcast.

Now is your chance to play Jerry Lee Lewis to my Chuck Berry, and burn up the stage with your amazing knowledge of music, and effortless DJ skills!

I welcome you to try making me look like a complete hack; all you have to do is arrange for a little tryout with the station manager... I understand if you want to back out, so I made up some excuses you can use:

1) I'm sleeping in the Morris Library stacks at that time, and will be locked in.
2) Sorry, that's when the best infomercials are on.
3) My mom won't let me go out after the street lights come on.
4) I'll be raiding Valdemort with my WOW guild, while dressed as a dominatrix Ewok.

(But seriously, WDBX is open to ALL Southern Illinois residents and community members. If you're interested-- even a little-- come on in and talk to Brian!)

Looks like enrollment figures will drop about 1.5% from last year's numbers. Freshman and sophomore enrollment was up about 11% but it was more than counterbalanced by a 12.5% drop in upperclass enrollment. Unfortunately, this is part of the long term trend at SIUC:

Enrollment peaked in 1991 at 24,869 students, according to university records. By fall 2007, that number had fallen to 20,983. Enrollment numbers affect everything from faculty and staff salaries to building maintenance.

Labels: enrollment, siuc

Here's a bit of good news. For the first time since 1982, we're reading more.

Labels: education, literacy, United States

After looking at the figures more and considering some of the comments, something else became apparent. The student population at SIUC has remained pretty constant since the early 90s, fluctuating maybe a couple of hundred students a year or so. However, the Carbondale poverty rate increased by 5% during the period from 1999 to 2007, so whoever was getting poorer, it wasn't the students.

Labels: Carbondale, Economics, poverty, siuc