September 24, 2008

Tech problems persist, but a friend of the blog has loaned me her laptop. Many thanks.

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You can now peruse Post-Gazette newspapers from 1926-1989 on Google

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Love My Librarian is a way to express your appreciation for your local librarian and possibly bring home $5K.

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Erie PA Today is shaping up as a competitor not just to Erieblogs, but also to the Erie Times News, albeit one with a strong socially conservative bent.

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Erie native and essayist Dinty W Moore will open the 2008-09 Creative Writer’s Speaker Series at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College, with a reading on Thursday, September 25. A reception for Moore will be held at 4:30 p.m. in the first-floor living room of the college’s Larry and Kathryn Smith Chapel. The reading will take place at 6 pm in the chapel worship space. Both events are free and open to the public.

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The Great Lakes Independent Film Festival runs Thursday, September 25 through Sunday, September 28.

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On Saturday, September 27, the Erie Art Museum will participate in the fourth annual Museum Day, presented by Smithsonian magazine. Museum Day is a day when museums and cultural institutions nationwide open their doors free of charge to Smithsonian magazine readers and Smithsonian.com visitors.

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Pittsburgh's Handmade Arcade is selling a limited number of passes to shop an hour before Handmade Arcade officially opens to the public. The passes cost $15 and are available online .

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Local poet Phil Terman has been named poetry editor at The Coal Hill Review.

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The 11th Annual Manhattan Short Film Festival will show at The Movies of Meadville - September 25, 2008 at 7:00pm Tickets $10.00

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Stream or download Michael Moore's new documentary, Slacker Uprising, for free.

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Free and Legal Downloads:

Mogwai Live at Granada Theater on September 13, 2008


Drive-By Truckers Live at Alachua County Fairgrounds on September 14, 2008

If you're in Butler tonight, why not drop by The Succop Conservancy for a poetry reading by Philip Terman from 6-8 pm. Free and open to the public.

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My review of lauren aidanblaise's get thee to the world is up on Indie Music Stop.

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Remora Deign has posted new songs in anticipation of this weekend's Brother Bean show.

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Clarion University–Venango Campus' Fall Independent Film Series continues this Saturday with Into the Great Silence in the Robert W. Rhoades Center Auditorium at 7:30 p.m. The film is free and open to the public.

Nestled deep in the postcard-perfect French Alps, the Grande Chartreuse is considered one of the world s most ascetic monasteries. In 1984, German filmmaker Philip Gröning wrote to the Carthusian order for permission to make a documentary about them. They said they would get back to him. Sixteen years later, they were ready. Gröning, sans crew or artificial lighting, lived in the monks quarters for six months filming their daily prayers, tasks, rituals and rare outdoor excursions. This transcendent, closely observed film seeks to embody a monastery, rather than simply depict one it has no score, no voiceover and no archival footage. What remains is stunningly elemental: time, space and light. One of the most mesmerizing and poetic chronicles of spirituality ever created, it dissolves the border between screen and audience with a total immersion into the hush of monastic life.

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The First Annual "Films For Food" drive to benefit the Second Harvest Food Bank takes places on November 9 and 10. Donors enjoy 24 continuous hours of the very best films the Erie area film community has to offer. See encore presentations of "Chasing Darkness" by Jason Hull, "The Beast In Me" by Jason McCann, "Two" by Jim Lechefsky plus new works by Monster Mark and classics from John Lyons. There will be a special advanced screening of Ryan Cavaline's "Dead Body Man Chronicles" plus "Virgin Pockets"!

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And then, suddenly, I knew what I wanted to be for Halloween.

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Michelle's Cafe's The Barbaric Yawp Performance Series ends Thursday with Philip Terman (poet phenomenon) and Herb Luthin (musical wonder) bringing the house down. Show runs from 6-8. No cover.

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Unless somebody comes forward with a gift of approximately $300,000, Conneaut Lake Park will not open this year.

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Don't forget to vote in The Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council's first People's Choice Award.

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Amazon has opened a Go Indie!store with $9.99 CDs, but wehat's really cool is that Smithsonian Folkways is one of the "indie" labels included.

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You can (and should) preorder Venango poet extraordinaire Phil Terman's new book, Rabbis of the Air

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Jerome Wincek will be playing at Slippery Rock's North Country Brewing tonight from 7 to 10 pm. While the rest of us have been getting fat(ter) over the winter, Wincek has been at work. His label, Meat and Potatos lists, not one, but two new albums from Wincek dropping this month: I'm my Own Jug Band and an as yet untitled solo album. I'm hoping he calls it Jerome Winecek so I can use the word "eponymous" a lot. In the meantime, purchase his work with the Old Hats, Astral Road .

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The Young People's Art festival featuring the artwork of Venango County High School students (like my daughter) is this Saturday at Franklin's Barrow Civic theatre - the exhibition runs from 4 - 7 pm the County Band plays at 7 pm and there will be a silent auction of some really nice stuff proceeds of which will go towards the scholarship fund. I'll be there goading people to bid on the books I donated, so say, "Hey aren't you that Venangago-go guy?" or just whisper about me after I leave.

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Seneca's Brother Bean (2803 State Route 257, Seneca, Pennsylvania 16346) is hosting Remora Deign this weekend. A local band that I really like quite a bit. Show starts at 7pm and is free with a tip jar. Here's a clip from a recent show:

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Charles Lockhart and John Franklin Carll have new PA Historical makers in Venango County whilst poor Hidegard Dolson's home still goes unacknowledged. Shame Venango County, when will you get over your robber baron crush and move on?

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The Venango Campus Activities Board is hosting singer-songwriter Adrianne live and for free, in Rhoades, 7:30PM, Friday April 13. A preview of her live show:

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The Venango Vegetarian Society is hosting a potluck Saturday Apr 14, 2007 at 6:30 PM at the Franklin Biketrail Adirondack Huts . Yes, meat eaters you are welcome. It will be a bonfire/cookout style potluck to start off the year, Plan on bringing a vegan picnic food and RSVPing.

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Anthony Zerbe's one man e.e. cummings show, "It's All Done With Mirrors", scheduled for Butler on April 14th has been cancelled.

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Five Chapters is anthologizing Still Life Amongst Partial Outlines by Meghan O'Rourke for National Poetry Month

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What would poetry month be without a good ol' poetry controversy. Read what happens in the comments section when Ron Silliman categorizes the Pitt Poetry series as a "cabal" and saves extra venom for Penn State prof Robin Becker:
It’s impossible not to guffaw at an opening sentence like that. Unfortunately, the rest of the poem makes plain that this isn’t a satire on bad writing, but rather is the real deal itself. Reading Becker’s selection in APN, however, suggests that “Sound View” represents some sort of lower limit of bathos toward which her work might descend.
Honestly though, as over the top this seems, it's the sort of commentary that's been missing from American Letters for decades. I think, as painful as it is, it's for the best.

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The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission is undertaking a survey to identify historic twentieth century public schools statewide.
We are looking for buildings constructed between 1920 and 1969. They can be school buildings still in use, adapted to other uses, or vacant, and any grade levels K-12. When the survey is completed, it will contribute to the preparation of a statewide study on historic schools and public education in Pennsylvania.
Contact:
Carol Lee
(717) 783-9918
calee@state.pa.us
Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
Bureau for Historic Preservation
Commonwealth Keystone Building
Second Floor
400 North Street
Harrisburg, PA 17120-0093

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Via the Great Lakes Film Fest
If you are a student, independent producer or a writer and have a good script or a great idea for a short movie, please send us a treatment or synopsis for consideration.
We will provide full production as long as it is good. Project must be no longer than 15 or 20 minutes and must be fully copyrighted to your name.
You must be willing to be part of the production process and agree to send this project once finished, to various film festivals and to the HBO Short movies competition.
For more information, please contact:
Julio Cesar Romero
Producer – Director
Enigma Productions Group, Inc.
P. O. Box 9266
Coral Springs, Florida 33075
954-865-0762
Or send an emailto:hk5ufo@usa.net

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Top Shelf comixs is having a huge $3 sale on graphic novels.

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What makes me dizzy? Seeing my teenaged self on YouTube:




I can just see young me turning towards me-me and saying, "Dude. What did you do to me?" Sigh. time to up the medication.

Gypsy Dave is right! That's the word from Joann Wheeler, who wrote in response to yesterday's post:
. . . May 26 is the date of a community-wide celebration of the arts in Oil City that will center on the unveiling of several pieces of public art by Dave Poulin and the Seventh Street Elementary School kids, a full schedule of performances by singers/songwriters [including Jerome Wincek]. . . Look for more details soon --

If you haven't written Venango County author, professor, and all around good guy Phil Terman yet and asked, politely, to be added to his daily poetry email, do so immediatly. Tell him you saw it on venangago-go

The Eerie Horror Film Festival has added a video game competition The competition is open to an international audience with a special discount for students ages 10 - 17. Deadline for the Video Game Competition is September 1, 2007. The fourth Annual Eerie Horror Film Festival takes place at the Erie Playhouse in Erie, Pennsylvania, October 10 - 14, 2007.

Speaking of such, a Pittsburgh area teacher resigned her position after school officials learned that she and her husband had filmed portions of a horror movie they are producing, The Killer Inside You, at the high school.

The first exhibition of the all-female roller derby Steel City Derby Demons Saturday at Bladerunners in Harmarville is sold out. I'm guessing that means a bigger crowd for the Meadville Area Senior High School which hosts the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association District Orchestra Festival Saturday at 1:30 p.m.

The performance will include the Star-Spangled Banner, a Russian Easter overture, and New World Symphony No. 9. The students will conclude with Pirates of the Caribbean . . . ,” the MASH graphic arts department created posters of pirate hats with the names of every student and the schools they represent.

via Erieblogs:
Erie Insurance Group donated $300,000 in corporate support of the Erie Art Museum's $9 million capital campaign. The planned $9 million capital project includes four major galleries, a number of smaller galleries, and a 250 person performance space

Mercyhurst College, Channel 19, will be one of four area television channels to air "Arts Unwrapped," a half-hour program produced by Community Access Television, on Saturday, Jan 27, at 7:30 pm. Venango residents can pick it up on WJET-TV 24. The program brings together several self-identified "arts amateurs" and exposes them to the wide variety of arts offerings in Erie. I'm nto sure what that means, but it sounds like they're building on that sort-of-annoying show that takes people from one area of the state and sends them on vacation in another. You know, Mercyhurst, Venango County isn't that far away. Let's talk, shall we?

Finally, not local, but still interesting:

Beneath Boston’s well-known literary roots lies a thriving, independent culture of poetry, spoken word and creative writing.

Butte Montana is attempting an arts revitalization project.