Yesterday, I thought, was a perfect day for a little public art -the sun was shining, it was a Friday, and it's almost time for school to be out. So, Thursday night, I bought a Fujifilm Waterproof disposable camera and wrote a note on a piece of comic book backing board that read:

Hi - We live in a small town, but I feel like I barely know any of you. To help remedy this situation, use this camera to take a portrait of yourself. I'll be back at nightfall to pick it up and have the photos developed. Look for them Saturday at venangago-go.blogpost.com.
Thanks-
Michael Dittman (simpub@hotmail.com)

"What do you think will happen?" I asked my wife

"Someone will steal it", she said.

You have to understand , this is a complete role reversal in our relationship. My wife believes that everyone is good hearted, whereas I know the truth - people are animals, evil, evil animals, only one step up from ferrets with disassociative disorder.

But, Friday morning, at 6:45 am, I trekked down to Franklin's Fountain Park, chose a bench that was close to the West Entrance and secured the camera and the note to the arm of the bench with some paracord knotted skillfully, if I do say so myself.

You can probably see where I'm headed with this.

When I walked down to the gym at around10 am, it was still there, but when I went to the Post Office at 12:20, it was gone. The cord had been cut and left. I figured an overzealous police officer had deemed it a threat to homeland security so I checked all the surrounding trash cans in the park - nothing. Someone had taken both the camera and the sign.

I'm not upset - I'm only out $10 and a half an hour of time, but I am amazed. This project was done in Brooklyn and no one stole the camera, and yet here, it didn't even last six hours. I'd be interested to hear any insight or if you think this would have worked in your hometown.

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The Titusville Summer Theater celebrates their 40th anniversary with...Titantic. You know, something cheerful and frothy.

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Three weeks ago, when Pete Greene wrote about the ranking of the Oil City School District as one of the poorest in the state, I wrote in a comment on his blog:

Although I have no doubt that this will be an incredibly unpopular sentiment, I'd love to see the systems around here contract proactivly rather than waiting until there are 8 students in a class to realize that the number of schools we have in the region is unsupportable in the long term.

If Oil City School District could absorb all of the students from Franklin Schools and Valley Grove and still be smaller than it was a generation ago, then perhaps it should. (or rather, perhaps a brand new regional high school should be set up. And as long as I'm dreaming, how about some magnet schools as well? Last month, I did a guest gig at a 2 year old gleaming creative and performing arts high school (http://www.lppacs.org/curriculum.html) in a former mill town that brought students (and their dollars) from three states and four PA counties. There's no reason that couldn't work here.

Not that it will ever happen, witness the silly hospital debacle, but some leaders with backbone and regional vision would go a long way to injecting some juice into the area.

To be honest, I didn't think he would agree with me, but on Venangoland, he lays it on the line, "Venango County does not need four separate school districts."

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The NYTimes takes a look at this summer's comic book books

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Bell's Comics has revamped their website.

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Nancy Mosser Casting is casting dayplayers and extras for the feature film Hollywood and Wine starring Norm MacDonald, David Spade, and Chris Kattan.

They are also casting extras for the film remake of My Bloody Valentine. This film is casting on a day to day basis.

Make sure that you are registered on their online database and list on the availability area the dates in June and July that you are able to work. Questions? Call 412.434.1666.

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Tikatok is a Publish on Demand service aimed at children.

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Boston's Emerson College has started a Graphic Novel Writing & Illustration Program

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Free and Legal Downloads:

Chicago Afrobeat Project Live at The Cedar Cultural Center on May 9, 2008

Drive-By Truckers Live at 9:30 Club on May 10, 2008

North Mississippi Allstars Live at Paradise Rock Club on January 27, 2008

Last night, when I couldn't sleep (which is happening more and more...old age? depression? anxiety?) I watched the fabulous We Jam Econo; a documentary about one of my favorite bands, The Minutemen. At one point, the were showing concert footage from the 9:30 Club and during "ack ack ack " as d. boon stuttered jumped all around the stage in those crazy pointy slip ons and Mike Watt 's planted legs shook seizurelike and the music ripped through the crappy PAs, the audience stood stock still, staring, chatting, and staring off away from the band. Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.
Minutemen Live at Folk City West on March 9, 1983

Wow, do I wish that The Derrick would post its letters to the editor online, because, my friends, there is a helpful heaping of nuts on the ol' sundae this morning. One of those nuggest is, what seemed to me, to be a not too subtle threat towards columnist and blogger, Peter Greene, because, wait for it, he criticized country music.

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The Pittsburgh Trib-Review gives me (and others) some love in their profile of Pittsburgh's upcoming Festival of Mystery where I'll be all day Monday. Attendance is capped at 500, but if you really need a ticket, drop me a line.

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The "Tooth Beary" sculpture has been returned to its Clarion home, unscathed. Something tells me photos of its escapades will pop up shortly.

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Erie professor and filmmaker Mark Steensland is hoping to sell his film Lovecraft's Pillow at the Cannes Film Festival's Short Film Corner, next week. BTW, did you know there's a HP Lovecraft film fest?

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Pittsburgh writer, professor, editor of Creative Nonfiction and mastermind behind the 412 literary festival will be on Comedy Central's The Daily Show on May 7th.

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The NYTimes profiles tomorrow, Free Comic Book Day.

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The Derrick assesses quilting as an art form . Great work unbylined author! Arts coverage makes us very, very happy.

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The region's year long celebration of glass art has its own webpage. I'll be covering parts of the celebration for Pennsylvania magazine this summer.

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Pittsburgh's City Theatre has announced its ambitious new season:

It includes:

• the U.S. premiere of Mother Teresa is Dead (Oct. 4-28)
• the world premier of The 13th of Paris (Jan. 24-Feb. 17)
• Comedy Central's Lauren Weedman's one woman show "Bust" (April 3-May 11, 2008)
• Murderers (Nov. 8-Dec. 16)
• Flight (March 13-April 6)
• A Marriage Minuet (May 1-25, 2008)
• Robert Dubac's one man show The Male Intellect: An Oxymoron?
• and Sister's Christmas Catechism (Dec. 4-30)
  
  

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Speaking of the City Theatre, The Trib Review (sigh) interviews Intimate Apparel's costume designer, Pei-Chi Su.

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Preemptivly ruining the summer for children everywhere - Scholastic previews the summer's best books for kids.

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Fanboy artists continue to ruin DC comics for oh, almost everyone, with their disturbing depictions of women.

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Saturday is free comic book day. Bell's Comics in Grove City is your closest and best bet, or if you want to drive, might I recommend the stunning selection of Books Galore on Peach St. in Erie?

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Why aren't there any good, living American playwrights?

The NYTimes takes a look at the dearth of book reviewers contracted by major publications.

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The National Magazine Awards have been announced.

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In honor of the weather last night, why not download the Drive By Trucker's song 'Tornadoes" and Cursive's "Dorothy Dreams of Tornadoes" ? And yes, I did try to find the two most divergent songs I had on severe weather, thank you very much.

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Thanks to fourth grader Casey Hall 450 people showed up to see RL Stine at SRU. To put it into perspective, yesterday, 250 people showed up at Sen McCain's rally to announce his presidential candacy. Now, can we get the kid to come back to the area when she grows up and book shows?

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Looks like a roadtrip kind of weekend. First and most important is Friday's Jerome Wincek show at Erie's Avalon Hotel (16 w. 10th st., Erie, Pennsylvania). The hardest working man in show business is playing from 9-1 .

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The Meadville Market House is hosting Emil & the Palookas on Friday, April 27th 8:00PM - 11:00PM, $4.00 cover (or "donation"as they put it, which I guess means I can write it off.) On Saturday in the Market House, it's the Blue Planet Cafe with Gaffer, Sally Wilcox, and Title Me Wrong playing from 7:00PM to 10:00PM. Another $4.00.

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While I'm a die-hard Seawolves fan (all right, I really just like drinking Railbender Ale in the stands on sunny days.) it was great to hear that SRU will host two professional sports teams this summer. The New Castle Thunder of the North American Football League, a minor league football organization, will play its home games at Bob DiSpirito Field at N. Kerr Thompson Stadium. The Thunder will hold practice sessions at Thompson Stadium, and out of its 10-game schedule will play five regular-season home games. Home games are scheduled for June 16 and 30, July 14 and 28, and Aug. 4.

Earlier, I wrote about the Slippery Rock Sliders, one of the newest teams in the independent Frontier Baseball League, calling SRU home for the upcoming season. The Sliders' home opener is set for May 29.

I'm kind of surprised that a place like Oil City hasn't tried to score a farm team.

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The line up for the Firefly Music Festival has been announced.
The Jul 27, 2007 festival on The Arthur Farm (28555 White hill RD. Cambridge Spring, PA 16403) features:
The Recipe, Big Leg Emma, Grassfire, The Yankee Zydeco Company, Sage, Gypsy Dave and the Stump Jumpers, Jay Hitt, Salmon Frank, The Sofa King Cool Band, Milo Page, Jim Froman's Hot Rhythm Club Band, The Great American Gypsies, Peppertown, Gaffer, Little Country Giants, Claire Stuczynski and Dan Wilcox.
That's a whole lot of hippie love, people. More acts will be announced.

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Seneca's Brother Bean has announced their upcoming Saturday acoustic shows. Shows start at 7 pm and are cover free:

4-28-07 Jesse Lavery
5-5-07 Psalters
5-12-07 Big Tone
5-19-07 Bruce and Sean
5-26-07 Donna Donahue
6-2-07 Newman
6-9-07 Jime Teifer
6-16-07 Jon Felton and his Soulmobile
6-23-07 Bruce Squared
6-30-07 Ryan Waterman
7-7-07 Dennis McCurdy and the Lonesome No More Band.

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The Monongahela Review is seeking submissions of poetry, prose (fiction or nonfiction), and photography/art. It's a .pdf publication which I think is a stunningly good idea for a small press lit mag.

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I wish I was headed to the 2007 Symposium on Lensless, Alternative and Adaptive Photographic Processes a four-day, Pittsburgh wide series of talks, workshops and exhibits on lensless, historic and adaptive DIY photography conference. It started today and is sponsored by f295.

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The six-day Russian Film Symposium, co-presented by the University of Pittsburgh and Pittsburgh Filmmakers, begins Mon., April 30, and offers a dozen films, to be shown on the Oakland campus and at the Melwood Screening Room, in North Oakland.

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The Three Rivers Arts Festival, taking place June 1-17, recently announced its music schedule. --Cowboy Junkies, Robert Randolph and Los Lonely Boys.

The local main-stage night will feature local psychedelic heroes Black Moth Super Rainbow and indie rockers Race the Ghost on June 4.

The Market Square stage, meanwhile, hosts the Circuits of Steel experimental/electronic showcase June 8, featuring Grand Buffet, Rein[Forced], Discuss and Xanopticon. Arts collective Unicorn Mountain's Storybook Wonderland is there on June 9, and new TRAF partner FLUX, the multi-disciplinary arts party that recently re-debuted in Braddock, will be held on June 16.

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My daughter and I were torn about going to the Pittsburgh Comicon. In the end, we decided that we would be more annoyed than amused and nixed it. But if your tolerance is higher than ours, head to the ExpoMart, Monroeville.When: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday; 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday; 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday

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It took an Australian to remind me that yesterday was Col Drake's birthday.

The Foxburg Winery is expanding their operation.

I loathe the Pittsburgh Trib Review, but, give the devil his due, no other paper is reviewing New Castle's Hoyt Institue shows including the current show; Thomas G McNickle; Recent Oil, a collection of Western PA landscapes in oil.

Thye also, sigh, did a nice piece on the resumption of commercial recording of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra by PentaTone.

The City Paper reviews Pittsburgh opera's edition of The Magic Flute:
In short, if blood courses through your veins, Mozart's The Magic Fluteis for you. It's the musical equivalent of a big slice of chocolate cake. So, go ahead, indulge. As a bonus, I believe that one viewing of the work fully licenses you to be a practicing Freemason. Just don't forget the secret handshake.

Chabad-Lubavitch lists seders all over the world.

Venangago-go readers can save $10 off an Adult/Senior Ticket on tickets to any of the remaining Erie Playhouse performances of I Left My Heart,A Salute to the Music of Tony Bennett! this weekend. You must make your reservations Thursday, March 29th between 9:00 am and 4:30 pm to take advantage of this special offer. Call the box office at 814.454.2852 ext. 0 and mention this code: TB329. May not be combined with any other offer.

Erie area professor Mark Steensland is creating a movie of the popular (yet Logan's Run-esque) series of graphic novels Dead at 17 and is looking to cast the leads locally:
Sean Benjamin is performing at Seneca's Brother Bean at 7 pm on Saturday

The Gypsy Dave is playing tomorrow with the Slabtown boys at The Sportsman's Club Ryan Road, Meadville, Pennsylvania 16335. Cost : $5

Heritage Auctions is looking to add a Comics expert with extremely well-honed grading skills. The ability to identify, pursue and close outright purchase and consignment deals in the Comics market is essential to this position. Individual will be expected to sort raw and graded books and create auction lots based on designated lot values. The right candidate should also have strong organizational skills and deep knowledge and contacts within the comics industry. Salary and incentive package commensurate with experience and qualifications. Please e-mail your resume, references and salary history/requirements to Jared Green.

Broken Frontier interviews Trina Robbins, comic writer and, ahem, herstorian:
Anne and I (I call us the Stan Lee and Jack Kirby of girls' comics) are working together on a comic about Beat woman artist Jay DeFeo, for a TPB comic anthology on the Beats.

NPR is streaming tonight's Washington performance of Ted Leo and the Pharmacists starting at approximately 9:40 ET. I'm hoping for a download later.

The Butler Little Theatre is seeking submissions of original adaptations of Charles Dickens' classic "A Christmas Carol". The script selected will receive a full stage, eight performance run as the holiday production in Butler Little Theatre's 2007-2008 season. More info here.

Poets and Writers undertakes a Q & A with Ed Ochester, editor of the Pitt Poetry series:
I remember—and this goes back a number of years—when we published Ted Kooser. It amazed some friends of mine on the East Coast that there was this guy in Nebraska who was writing good poems, and I think a lot of them at the time didn't really believe that people could be living there and doing good work.
Kooser, BTW will be at Pittsburgh's International Poetry Forum on April 11.

Michael Wurster and poet and editor Judith R. Robinson are assembling an anthology of work by area poets and photographers, entitled Along These Rivers. Submit up to four poems on any subject; send two copies of each. Photographers can submit up to four black-and-white prints (as close to 8" x 10" as possible), also on any subject. All applicants must include their contact info and an SASE. The deadline for submitting both poems and photos is June 1, 2007. Address: Quadrant Publishing, LLC, 4712 Bayard St., Pittsburgh, PA 15213. Questions? 412-681-3018.

Rick Sebak's new documentary Underground Pittsburgh premeris tomorrow at 8pm on WQED

You think PA wines have a tough time building respect? Try being an Ohio winery.

You know how a couple of weeks ago, I posted the "Captain America is dead" link? Here's the Cap has already died link. Many, many times

Don't forget to show up at Franklin's Little Theatre (1223 Liberty St) tonight for a reader's theatre edition of the comedy, Orson's Shadow. $3 at the door which opens at 7:30. There's cussin' in the play, so as you might want to leave the yung'uns at home.

Venangoland has been updated.

The NyTimes profiles theatres that have MySpace presences. Locally, that would include The Erie Playhouse

I couldn't help by notice in the NYTimes Sunday edition , while reading the article about Leroy Nicholas Barnes (the guy who became rich and famous by flooding African American neighborhoods with heroin in the 70s) that a former "associate" of Barnes said:
If he runs a Laundromat in Dubuque or a grocery store in Slippery Rock, that’s one thing,” the associate said. “But the man has a tremendous amount of charisma and intelligence. I don’t think he’s going to be innocuous anywhere.

Now I just have to decide if I should feel proud or offended...

"No one in comics stays dead except Uncle Ben". The NYTimes eulogizes Captain America.

Iggy Pop is the voice of the revolutionary uncle in the film adaptation of the graphic novel, Persepolis. (Which is also one of the book selections this year at Youngstown State's English Festival)

Phil Terman has passed on the registration form for his Chautauqua Writers' Festival which runs June 14-17.

This Friday's cult horror film at Bulter's Penn Theatre is The Brain That Wouldn't Die. Show starts at 8 pm -- $4 admission or $10 for the whole series.

Patchouli alert! GY Productions has announced Firefly Music Festival to held in Cambridge Springs and featuring The Recipe, Big Leg Emma and more in July.
Downloads:
Big Leg Emma's Peanut Farmer. (mp3)
The Recipe Live at The Purple Fiddle on December 31, 2006. (MP3, ogg, flac)

Starting Mon., March 5, the Film Kitchen screening series invites local filmmakers to participate in a unique competition. On that date, tracks by 10 noted local musicians, sound artists and spoken-word performers will be available for download on www.filmkitchenpgh.org as part of Film Kitchen’s “Our Sounds, Your Pictures” Music Video Contest.

HearYa has an extensive MP3 downloadable list of the acts at this year's SXSW

Grovel is a blog dedicated to Graphic Novels.