December 15, 2008 - Gingerbread Houses, Bluegrass, and Regional Art Criticism at Risk

The results from the Franklin Library's Gingerbread House contest will be on display in the Children's Room this week. A detail from the entry my daughter and I submitted which was a bit more...conceptual than the others:


As well as a shot of the $9 DIY lightbox I threw together to take the photos:




You can see other detail shots of the house here.

---

Jeff Fonzo is the Franklin Fine Arts Council artist of the month.

---

The Oil City Arts Council and United Way of Venango County are again teaming to host Oil City’s Second Annual Oil Country Bluegrass Festival. This second annual event will be held on February 13, 14 and 15, 2009 at The Arlington Hotel in Oil City, PA. All proceeds will benefit United Way of Venango County and the Oil City Arts Council, both non-profit organizations.
This year the Oil Country Bluegrass Festival will include a songwriting competition that your band may wish to enter. The winning band will receive $300 and the runner-up band will receive $100. For an application or to schedule a performance time. contact Ron Shoup at (814) 676-3465 (e-mail: rshoup@csonline.net.) or Bob Flath at (814) 797-1504 (e-mail: flabas1@hotmail.com)

---

What little girl wouldn't want a Zombie Barbie for Christmas?

---

Christopher Rawson, theatre Critic at the Post-Gazette is accepting a buy-out package as part of the paper's attempt to stop bleeding money. While I've never hid the opinion that I almost universally dislike all of the PG's art criticism (full disclosure: I unsuccessfully pitched a comic/graphic novel themed criticism column for the PG's online presence several years ago) , finding that it tends to spend more time talking about the writer than the art and has tastes that reflect the aging boomer demographic of the staff (and readership one would imagine...) I do find it interesting that while Rawson goes into detail tracing his "chosen one" lineage, he makes no statement as to who will be taken his job over. Leading me to fear that, like the travel section before it, it will be mostly wire reports with an occasional (e.g. Sunday) PG Staff review, or worse that the paper will replace thoughtful criticism with "blog' entries like the ones they're currently sponsoring:

I was blown away by the Jupiter String Quartet last night at Carnegie Music Hall. Tell me what you thought about it. If you didn't get to the Pittsburgh Chamber Music Society concert (and the hall was only half full), please read the review and put this group on your radar. They will be big.

That deftly written exploration by PG Classical Critic Andrew Druckenbrod.

That's not healthy. The City Paper does a great job covering the artistic sub-stream of the Burgh arts, but I think there still needs to be some voice talking about the shows that attract a more settled audience.

---

The Pittsburgh Hip Hop Awards have opened nominations - all of Western PA is eligible. So let's represent the 814!

---

Tilly & the Wall on Sesame Street from Team Love on Vimeo.

---

Free and Legal Downloads:

4AD Sampler (includes Mountain Goats and TV on the Radio)

Team Love Library (includes full free and legal download of Rabbit Fur Coat)

User name: venangago-go
password: venango

Greased Lightbox

→←+-↻

Loading image

Click anywhere to cancel

Image unavailable

Greased Lightbox

→←+-↻

Loading image

Click anywhere to cancel

Image unavailable

A lack of posting as I was off competing against other old fat people, as well as some old in-shape people who just make me sick.

The Mystery Lover's Bookstore and WDUQ's Festival of Mystery has their list of authors (including yours truly) posted for the Monday, May 7, 2007 par-tay. Tickets are a reasonable $7 and hundreds have all ready been purchased. Attendance is capped, so you may want to make your purchase now.

I’m not too big on charities – in fact I avoid the people who call on the phone and scoff at the Save the Children commercials. But, when the Muscular Dystrophy Association asked me to be part of their annual “Behind Bars for Good” campaign, I agreed. Why? Quite simply, they asked. It’s been a good year for me, and I believe that those who have a lot of good luck in their careers, health, and family have an obligation to step up to the plate.

So, yeah, I’m asking you to donate some cash to the group, but since I know you, you heartless animals, I’m sweetening the pot a little.

Make a $25 donation and I’ll write a poem for you – you specify the setting, style, whatever. You want a love sonnet to give to your special friend. Done. A ghazal about a gazelle? Super. A haiku about Western PA roadkill? Already working on it. No filthy limericks though. Even a guy like a me has some standards.

For $50 you get an inscribed copy of any of my books – the noir Small Brutal Incidents, or the more scholarly Jack Kerouac: A Biography or The Beat Generation.

$150 buys you a full on reading for you or your group – no amount of participants too big or too small. Want me to bring my dog and pony show to your Easter dinner so you can ask where I got my ideas as you scarf down spiral cut ham? I’ll be there. Need a speaker for your rotary, elks, moose, water buffalo lodge or whatever? Pony up the cash and watch me dance.

Finally, big spender, if that’s still not enough, $500 buys you an appearance as a character in my next book, another brooding noir set in Erie, PA. Amaze your friends when you casually turn to page 48, say and point yourself out, or “mistakenly” leave it out on coffee table (confidentially, I hear Philip Roth does the same thing with Harlot’s Ghost all the time).

So call 724-742-1710 and make that donation now (making sure that you tell them it’s for Michael Dittman’s bail). If you have questions or comments, shoot me a line at simpub@hotmail.com or give me a call at 724-827-8711 X 8251
Click here to visit my Participant Page.

If I could go to only one faith based concert this year, it would be Calvin College's Festival of Faith and Music 2007. Insert your own pre-destination joke here.

The Pittsburgh Post Gazette has collected the city's Poetry Month events.

Bob Hoover profiles Pittsburgh's poetry publishers.

The Pittsburgh Chamber Music Society has announced their 2007-08 season

How does one get to sing at the Met? How about an audition?:
If you can type your application, you can sing for us,” said Darren Keith Woods, the general director of the Fort Worth Opera and, on Feb. 3, one of three judges at the Philadelphia district round of an event that has been called the “American Idol” of the opera world. The Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions offer tremendous exposure and, for up to five winners, prizes of $15,000.

While this article on photography expert Dusan Stulik is interesting, what's more telling is that the NYTimes has adopted the phrase "pre-digital" photography rather than "traditional" photography.

What's the difference between pork and well deserved earmarks? Your editor, I guess. When USA Today singled out the Oil Region National Heritage Area as a boondoggle, the News Herald slugged it as "Oil region captures media interest" while the Titusville Herald reported, "USA Today: Oil Region reliant on ‘pork’ .

An organization is being formed to protect, preserve and promote the education and study of prehistoric artifacts in the county.

Finally, let's load up with new music for the week ahead. I listen to a lot of "latin" music and while my tastes run more towards Cuba and Mexico, it's hard to avoid the guilty pleasure of a Dominican boy band.

Download "Effa y yo" (mp3)
from "God's Project"
by Aventura
Premium Latin Music

• Buy at iTunes Music Store
• Buy at RealNetworks / Rhapsody
• Buy at Napster
• Stream from RealNetworks / Rhapsody
• Buy at GroupieTunes

Tony O'Neil and I share a publisher. He was also a sideman for the Brian Jonestown Massacre which has just released Tepid Peppermint Wonderland: A Retrospective

Download "Open Heart Surgery" (mp3)
from "Tepid Peppermint Wonderland: A Retrospective"
by The Brian Jonestown Massacre
Rubric Records

• Buy at iTunes Music Store
• Buy at eMusic
• Buy at RealNetworks / Rhapsody
• Buy at Napster
• Stream from RealNetworks / Rhapsody
• Buy at Insound

You can also check out the train wreck that was their band in the documentary DiG!

and this was really hard to ignore when it ended up in my mailbox (POB 1082 Franklin PA 16323 for those of you craving the exposure that only Venangago-go can provide):
Academy-award nominee and two-time Emmy winner Mare Winningham blazes a trail into the world of Jewish country bluegrass music. With a back-up band straight out of 'O Brother, Where Art Thou?' territory, Mare delivers an unprecedented take on traditional Jewish themes with a voice that's part Alison Kraus[sic], part Aimee Mann, and part Jewel.

Download "Valley Of The Dry Bones" (mp3)
Download "My Fixed Point" (mp3)
Download "The World To Come" (mp3)

by Mare Winningham
Craig 'n Company

• Buy at iTunes Music Store


• Buy at eMusic


• Buy at RealNetworks / Rhapsody


• Buy at Napster


• Stream from RealNetworks / Rhapsody

The Northwestern PA Maple Association has announced the dates for their Spring tour and tasting.

The 17th Annual Silberman Recital Series at Allegheny College continues this month with a performance by the Manhattan Piano Trio on Saturday, Feb. 24. The concert, which begins at 7:30 p.m. in Ford Memorial Chapel, is free and open to the public.

It's hard to go wrong with a headline like: Former Miss Crawford County trades baton for garb of pharmacologist

The Post Gazette reviews Colson Whitehead's lecture.

The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust is raffling off $100,000 toward a condo in the Cultural District.

T Shirt of the day: Poet Trees

Lit2Go is a free online collection of stories and poems in Mp3 (audiobook) format.

Finally, since it's Fat Tuesday, might I offer you an MP3? Professor Longhair - "Mardi Gras in New Orleans