October 31, 2008 - Jim Kronmiller Top 10, Venangoland, Dr. Atomic

It's the last Friday of the month which means it's time for a local artist Top 10 List. Each month a different local artist drops off a list of the top ten things that currently fascinate them. Interested in playing along? Drop me a note and we'll figure something out.

As a tyro photog (check out the 50s beatnik lingo) I do my best to steal, I mean learn, as much as possible from the local masters - people like Jerry Sowden, John Karian, and this month's Top 10 lister, Jon Kronmiller.

Jim's photographic career started at a very early age, developing his first roll of film and making his first photographic print at the age of 10. During school in the Pacific Northwest, he studied graphic arts, and photography, under a vocational style curriculum under the watchful eye of Master photographer John Owens. Aside from working with various other professional photographers, the rest of his training has been self-taught.

Jim has received numerous awards for his work on environmental issues. He also has specialized in glamour and portrait photography.

While being totally disabled has stopped him from doing most of the things he cherishes, he is still quite passionate about nature, and the beauty of the earth. He remains quite concerned about the environment, and the creatures that we share this earth with.

Jim Kronmiller's October Top Ten List

#1: The people in this area. I have lived in many places around the US, and the world, and never have I found so many incredibly caring, friendly people!

#2: Brother Bean Global Coffee House

The most incredible tastes and aromas! Healthy eating and drinking in a very relaxing environment! The best!

#3 The Howling Dog Café. (219 Seneca St, Oil City, PA 16301 (814) 677-2490)

Charlie and his crew serve up some incredible sandwiches, exotic coffees and teas. Great soup too!

#4: The fall colors of our area.

Every year they just get better and better

#5: The arts colony in the Transit Building and Annex.

What incredible talent our local artists have.

#6: Two Mile County Park.

It’s ours again and we need to take care of it. Nothing like sitting there on a warm day and admiring the beauty around us!

#7: Freedom Falls.

Such a great place to take the family or a special one to visit and picnic. The old iron furnace there is amazing.

#8: Clarion University - Venango Campus.

We are really lucky to have this campus here locally. Its small enough to make you feel you are not a nameless face in the crowd, but large enough to attract first rate professors and staff.

#9: Oil City's Pipeline Alley

Lee Mehlburger did an incredible job of beautifying this area. Now they have concerts and a beautiful garden there.

#10: Seeing the younger members of our community getting involved with national causes, charities, and just becoming more involved in our global world. It gives us hope for our future!

Kronmiller Creative Photography Studio is located at 206 Seneca St, 2nd Fl Suite 25, Oil City, PA 16301

You can sign up for upcoming classes with Kronmiller such as the Ice Is Nice workshop and the Be Bold Shoot the Cold! by calling (814) 673-0900


Past Top 10 lists:

• Justin Parson
• Jerome Wincek
• Brother Bean Coffeehouse
• Remora Deign

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Reverse graffitti

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Doctor Atomic plays as part of Erie's Mary D'Angelo Performing Arts Center as part of the Met's HD series Saturday, November 8, 2008 | 1 p.m. Drawback? Ticket prices are blindingly high for a fancy television broadcast.

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At Venangoland, Pete Greene writes about cutting off his cable.

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International author Horacio Castellanos Moya Horacio Castellanos Moya will do a reading at Clarion University, Nov. 4, 7:30 p.m. in the University Gallery, Level A, Carlson Library. He currently resides in the United States as writer-in-residence of City of Asylum/Pittsburgh.His presentation is part of the Spoken Arts Reading Series. The reading is free and open to the public.

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Marvel Entertainment, Inc. is looking for MLIS students interested in an internship for school credit. Potential candidates must be local to or able to commute to New York City. Interested
candidates should apply online

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Free and Legal Downloads:

Mountain Goats Live at Middle East on September 30, 2007

Ben Sollee Live at Fourth Street Live on November 9, 2007

Ben Sollee Live at 91.9 WFPK Studios on November 16, 2007

September 26, 2008

Brother Bean has been bringing in local, national, and international bands for free shows for almost three years now. It's the epicenter of music talent in Venango County, one of my favorite places to while away a few hours and is breaking my heart.

First was the announcement that shows were moving from Saturday to Friday night which with my schedule meant that I would miss 40 out 52 shows per year. Then came the coup de grace, co-owner Gwen Kahler emailed me to tell me that she and her husband Bruce were preparing to pull up stakes and head out West. And while I'm delighted they'll be able to spend time doing what the want to do, the news left a big emptiness not only in the prospect for quality local music, but in my heart as well. I'm close to making it to the Kubler-Ross stage of acceptance, but I don't like it. Not one bit.

Gwen Kahler of Brother Bean's Top 10 List for September:

Top ten favorites in no particular order

1. Sweet Potato French Fries at The Villa in Oil City. The yellow dining room booths make them even better! And with butter and brown sugar they are amazing.

2. The Bike Trail. We don’t get on it often enough, but really do appreciate having it nearby and love taking walks along the river. (well, Bruce does a version of wobbly roller blading while I walk; I always see people approaching him with a look of wonder and alarm…”I wonder if I should take cover? Is this guy gonna fall over on me?”)

3. All the places to swim for free around here. Swimming holes in the river and creeks.

4. All the different colors of green in the spring. I think it’s amazing how many shades there are when all the trees and plants are recovering from their winter sleep.

5. The small town wonder of being in a store and knowing so many people that you spend your time talking instead of shopping.

6. The sense of community that is growing in the music and arts “scene”. I am so excited over the growing cooperation between venues especially.

7. Local musicians (who are legion!) that have so graciously helped us build the brotherbean music venue.

8. The brucchetta at the new Italian place in Oil City's Arlington Hotel.

9. Watching people watch some of the strange looking young adults that come to stay with us! Musicians and artists get pretty creative and I like to watch people observe them.

10. And, of course, hanging out at brotherbean. I have the coolest job in the world. It’s like all my friends come over to hang out with me in my giant living room!

Brother Bean is located at 2803 SR 257, Seneca, PA 16346 814-677-0232 HOURS: Mon.-Fri. 7:30 am to 9:00 pm, Sat. 9 am to 9 pm

This Friday, October 3rd, Hello Tokyo rolls in from Brooklyn for a no-cover show from 7-9pm.

SOLID ROCK CAFE PA SYSTEM FOR SALE

$2400
matched pa system
mackie 16-channel board in rack
qsc - 1220 - amp
pa amp with connector cables
balanced main and subwoofer speaker (electrovox)

contact Gwen at 814-677-0232

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I took my daughter to see Wicked(again) for her birthday, while at Pittsburgh's Benedum, I couldn't help but notice that SRU prof Steve Hawk was playing in the orchestra.

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A new exhibit opens today at the Erie Art Museum. Beginning today through March 2009, the museum will feature the first North American museum exhibition of East African textiles and will host guests from Kenya and Tanzania, who will be participating in a variety of events scheduled in October. Admission is $10 per person with a free public opening reception is scheduled for Gallery Night Friday, October 10, 2008 from 6 - 10 p.m. (via)

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At Venangoland, Pete Greene says don't believe everything you read.

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Critical Mass has come to Erie. I'm delirious with joy.

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Trying to find an artist to play a house concert?

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Today is the final day that AT&T is streaming Experience Austin City Limits Music Festival

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Free and Legal Downloads:


Okkervil River at The Showbox at the Market in Seattle, WA on September 17, 2008

Drive-By Truckers Live at Charlottesville Pavilion on September 20, 2008

My Morning Jacket Live at Marquee Theater on September 23, 2008

The 2006 Top 10 Arts and Culture events in Venango County

Tis the season for year end lists, so lest I be left off the bandwagon, I give my completely impartial 2006 Top 10 Arts and Culture events in Venango County in 2006:

Venango Campus Film Series – If there’s a hidden arts and culture secret in Venanago County, it’s this film series. The fall brought us Everything is Illuminated, Water, Tsotsi, Paperclips, Vozvrashcheniye, to name just a few, all free, all open to the public, all at the Rhoades Center Auditorium. I am waiting anxiously to see what the spring lineup will be.

2. JoAnn Wheeler – Funding controversy aside, Arts Champion Joann has brought a breath of fresh air to the region (although, yes, I understand her work is primarily in Oil City, what’s good for the OC is good for the region). Although I still think her job is full time no matter what the description says, she’s stepped up to the plate repeatedly in a very short time.

3. Silver Cornet Anniversary
Once upon a time, every town in America, large and small, boasted a band of its own. In one small Northwest Pennsylvania town, those days still live on. This is the story of the Franklin Silver Cornet Band, the men and women who have filled its ranks, and the town that has been its home for 150 years–
What do they do right? Everything. Although I’ll admit that I don’t sit around listening to the genre at home, the SCB understands that they are a community band. Their anniversary this year saw a contest to design a commemorative pin, a community wide party in Franklin’s downtown park ,and the publication of Pete Greene’s history of the band, Musical Service

4. DeBence’s museums mini lecture series – another overlooked gem. Debence brought us informative, entertaining lectures of nickelodeons, music boxes, fairground organs, bringing guests speakers from as far away as New Philadelphia OH and as close as our own Nancy Simpson. A request though: please post the 2007 schedule on your web site.

5. Theatre in the Little Theatre (TiLT) Yes I help out with the plays, so I might (OK am) biased. But TiLT is the perfect sort of theatre for those us not so much into musicals. For no more than five bucks you can see cutting edge plays; gothic tales like The Weir and hilariously funny pieces like Art while sipping a beer or drinking a glass of wine (please, though, can’t we get some local products in there? Wouldn’t it be nicer to drink a Wilhelm winery red or a Four Sons Brewing Pale Ale, rather than Franzia and Coors Light? Yes, yes it would.).

6. Presbyterian Shows – Every couple of years there is an explosion of local DIY shows in our area/ There were the VFW shows in Franklin, the Victory Township Hall shows out on South Route 8 and even, when the Chumpire guy was teaching in Conneaut Lake, a couple of pretty hot punk shows in downtown Oil City. In that proud tradition, The RickDan Band has started a series of shows at the Franklin Presbyterian Church. Good work guys, now, keep up the good work and avoid all the pitfalls of a scene – infighting and insularity. Leave the place in better shape than you found it, and in a decade, old guys like me will be looking back at your DIY fervor with a good old days smile

7. Carmen Jones – Yes, I too heard the rumors that a lot of the audience left at intermission, and yes I would have liked to have seen a more opera-y opera, but it was risky move on the part of John McConnell and the Barrow to bring in a show that was promoted as being opera. Beyond that, establishing a regional partnership with a flagship company like the Opera Theatre Pittsburgh is a pure genius move for the area. Let’s hope we can get the Ring Cycle in 2009. Even if I would be the only one there.

8. Franklin On Ice – Franklin’s most underrated festival. Period. Lately it’s been slipping a bit in quality – (“Aren’t these the same exact sculptures as last year?”), but it brings back a bit of happiness during what (in pre-global warming days at least) is the last gasp of a long cold winter – a request here though – bring back the old fire and ice theme – nothing says family fun like wagon rides, ice sculpting combined with chili contests lining the street.

9. Venango County Symphony - What's not to love - beautiful music, shows short enough to bring children to and begin to expose them a larger world, and an admission price by donation.

10. Ed Ramage's chamber of Commerce mural in Franklin -- For a long time, Franklin has been looking for a marketing hook - we're the bike trail city, no the Victorian city, we're festival town USA. All that's fine, but nothing is as nice as pulling into a town and seeing that combination of art and ground level history that murals do so well. The fact that that artist lives in the area and is a leading unsung resource makes his work all the more sweeter.

The top 6 arts and culture events I'm hoping for next year:(and yes, I’d be glad to help with any of these, thanks for asking).

1. Shakespeare in the Park comes back to Franklin
2. an all-ages no smoking venue opens that actively books shows, both local and touring
3. a CD compilation of local artists
4. a healthy and growing Oil City theatre group
5. more networking among regional artists
6. a Venango gift Basket available year round