Concerts of the Week

Uncle Earl and The Devil Makes Three
Friday Aug 10
Iron Horse, Northampton Mass

This all-woman string band brings a new energy to traditional old-timey, bluegrass and Appalachian music, and weave a traditional approach into their original songs. Uncle Earl has already sprung a young superstar, Abigail Washburn, onto the scene. The Devil Makes Three takes old music from many decades and spins them into an appealing new sound.

The Devil Makes Three and Pariah
Saturday Aug 11
Charter Oak Cultural Center

Rock Yer Socks is injecting new music energy into a decades-old musical dormancy in Hartford. This not-for-profit production company is unconcerned with musical labels, or with their audience's ability to move readily from punk to folk. As a result, they have brought some of the most adventurous billings to Hartford in the past two years. This appears to be a night of retro-ragamuffin and insurgent country music. And it sounds like fun.

Testosterone jungle

As baby boomers, age, and I'm one of them, we all seek different methods of proving our immortality. I had twin boys at age 51.

Another trend was on display in grand and explosively loud way last evening in Middletown as every 50 year old who's too embarrassed to ask for a prescription for Viagra arrived in town on a 700 pound phallic symbol bedecked with chrome and leather. All this big boys with disposable incomes are reliving the days when they were driving Chevelles and wished they had the money and the nerve, and their parent's permission to ride a Harley.

It was noisy. Lord it was noisy, as the faux outlaws roared up and down the sidestreets with their illegal straight pipes, and their disrespect for peace and quiet. For some reason, Middletown has become a biker's town. Part of it may be it's location on the summertime route to the shore. Some of it might be the welcome the Chamber of Commerce lays out for them on occasions like this. Some of it might be that despite the doubling of motorcycle deaths over the last decade, our town's chief emergency responders, the Fire Department, auctioned a Harley to raise money for the department. Some of it might be the Police Department's collective shrug as dozens of bikers a day scream through town with hellishly noisy illegal pipes.

But they are patriots. As the Courant noted, they protect families of fallen soldiers from anti-war protestors. Although there has never been a report of an anti-war protest at a single service person's funeral. There have been religious zealots who have protested, but the anti-war movement actually is sensitive and smart enough not to torment the families of fallen soldiers. In fact, the anti-war movement cares just as deeply about the young men and women who are sent to fight in the unjust and futile war of the Bush administration.

Liberty Square to be built as planned

Despite the fact that the Common Council put the onus for negotiating concessions to design plans for Liberty Square, the Planning and Zoning Commission approved the design as presented.

The design does feature a slightly longer building than the one originally planned, but three major points of criticism were not addressed by the commission. Critics of the plan, including me, pointed out that the entrance/exit across a Main Street sidewalk was a pedestrian hazard and an accident waiting to happen. We also criticized moving a 150 year old house, with historical significance, to lay blacktop for 10 parking spaces. And we argued that the parking lot built along Main Street would create a gap between buildings which is in direct opposition to all acknowledged design concepts for downtown streetscapes.

With very few questions even raised, the panel voted to accept the design. They even rejected a design modification recommended by the Police Department for a curb bump out at the entrance/exit on Main. Police said the bump out would signal pedestrians and autos that the area was a caution zone. Lawyers for the developer and the P&Z thought it would be too difficult for snowplows to negotiate.

In good news, developer David Nyberg was granted permission to develop apartments in an unused industrial building on Stack Street in the North End. Nyberg is a noted developer whose philosophy is to re-use old buildings, and has done so to great effect in New Haven, Hartford and Worcester. The P&Z almost rejected the plan when a neighboring connected industrial building complained about parking. Nyberg interrupted a motion, promised to make good on parking problems with neighbors, and came out a winner. Ironic that this developer who is creating dense housing, with his own money, and is passionate about Middletown's possibilities, was almost sent packing by a panel that seems to be operating out of a 1960's concept of urban development.

Today's lesson in video editing...we make the truth, or "Night of the Living Republican"

I know, it's not funny anymore, but sometimes it is.

The universal call of the chickenhawk

Oh how they love war. Oh how they love to push the bodies of those unrelated to them onto the firing line. Oh how they soar, away, away, swiftly away from danger. How they love the freedom they don't have to pay for. How they love their country, so much, that they would never leave its shores to fight in a war they support.

They are, the chickenhawks, proud, free, unencumbered, alive.

Braaaawwwkkk.

My psychosis, his psychosis

Jim Vicevich has forced me to face a conflict about my love of music.

Vicevich is a bellicose, shallow, misinformed, Rush-worshipping, conservative water carrying, divisive, radio talk show host on WTIC-AM. He's a classic chickenhawk, and a basher of all things progressive, liberal and Democratic. And, he spews his venom while professing to be open-minded and fair.

You've heard it before, right.

But, he has great taste in music, and much of the music he likes is very progressive in its lyrical message to its audience. Listen to his favorites like Todd Snider, Will Kimbrough, Adrienne Young, Rodney Crowell, John Prine, and Chip Taylor, and you'll find artists who sing out against war, the Bush administration, greed, power, and many of the other things that Jim so obviously loves.

The only way to consider this extreme case of "love the artist, hate the art," is to think about my own love of gospel, spiritual, country and bluegrass, which all feature a healthy dose of loving a Jesus whom I consider more myth than fact.

What's more, he's hosting a summer music festival, which features some of these very artists, and benefits ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease), and he's paying for upfront costs out of his own pocket.

So, who but a mean-spirited crank could not support it. And still...and still. Well, hell, maybe some of his listeners will hear a message in the music that changes the way they think. Maybe Jim will. As John Hiatt sings, "it hasn't happened yet." So I won't hold my breath.

Finally, after I heard Colin McEnroe encouraging listeners to attend what he calls "Budstock" (because he calls Vicevich "buddy"), I figured, I can do this. I can support musicians I love, and a good cause. I'm holding my nose, and asking you to attend.

And hell, maybe the music will bring us together. Just not too closely together.

Congressperson, is that a skeleton in your closet?

Or is it a bogeyman. Either way, you seem to be afraid of something that the rest of us are brave enough to face.

Hiding a resolution in plain sight or the parliamentary two-step

Middletown's Common Council played a bit of a parliamentary trick on the public Monday night when it introduced a resolution as an amendment to the agenda, thereby avoiding public notice of the resolution and the vote.

In adding this resolution to the agenda as an amendment, it circumvented the right of the public to examine pertinent materials, formulate and ask questions, and attempt to influence council members to vote appropriately.

The resolution reads as follows:

10-19 Resolution: Authorizing the Mayor to sign all documents between the City of Middletown, White Rock Holding Associates, LLC and Kleen Energy Systems, LLC regarding the River Road Collector Wells and Storage and Treatment Facility.

The Council held a workshop in July on the matter which raised many questions, without satisfying answers. And despite the fact that very little new information was available, the Council slipped the resolution onto the agenda, virtually unnoticed, and voted its passage.

The problem of skipping public oversight is vexing. This particular deal, negotiated by mayor Sebastian Giuliano, is a key element in allowing Kleen Energy to build it's power plant along the Connecticut River in Middletown's Maromas section. Without the water promised through this deal, the plant could not operate.

As resident Shannon Brown noted, the deal might be good, or it might be bad, the problem is the public can't decide because the details have been witheld.

The original deal was struck by the previous mayoral administration, and Giuliano originally was not in favor of the plan. Something changed his mind, though he hasn't shared the epiphany with the public.

And there are questions about how much the city gets in the deal, how much it will eventually cost the city, and the effect this project will have on the environment. There are also questions about a man who originally brokered the deal, and has now been called a "silent partner" by the Hartford Courant. The Courant also reported today that Philip Armetta owns the land on which a leased pump drilled into the Connecticut River aquifer will be built. Armetta was indicted last year in a major investigation conducted by the U.S. Attorney's office into racketeering by Connecticut trash haulers . Recently he pleaded guilty to misprision of felony, which means he knew about felony but did not report it. Is this an ideal business partner for a long term deal with the city? It doesn't seem to be a question the city wants to consider.

The Councilors were provided with some financial information by the city's financial director, An those who voted for it glowed with praise for its virtues, calling it the type of plant that any community would welcome (although most of the power generated will be for Fairfield County and Long Island, and neither locales is clamoring for the plant), and a plan that will provide a free industrial well to the city, and a source of income through potential water sales (though details of water rates, and cost of operation were not available.

Councilman David Bauer who spoke at length about the hidden costs of the project, was treated with polite derision by those in favor of the plan.

It makes one wonder why such an important deal was voted on as an amendment, with little public oversight, at midnight, as the second-to-last item on an agenda, at a meeting in August at the height of vacation season. A cynic would suggest that the timing was completely intentional.

Disheartened, disappointed and disgusted

It's almost beyond comprehension how Congress, which has been belittled and stonewalled by the president, and the entire executive branch, have capitulated, before running off for an extended vacation, and provided George Bush with more power than he has ever proven worthy of.

I don't see how they can face constituents, and I dare mine to come within shouting distance of me. They are absent spines, principle and the good sense that god gives everyone who doesn't go to Congress.

May the gods smile on us a bit longer, but I'm afraid we are an empire running our of clock.

Music and a cup of joe

There was no doubt that Dunkin Donuts was sponsoring the Newport Folk Festival, the pink and orange logos were everywhere.

An early-arriving Rani Arbo found the inside of Fort Adams State Park nearly empty except for six Rhode Island state policemen gathered around the donuts in the backstage Dunkin Donuts booth.

While the heat was heavy and humid on Saturday, Sunday the weather was nearly as glorious as the music. I saw a bit of the Carolina Chocolate Drops on the mainstage, and delighted to their cross-generational approach to old time African American folk music. Much of my time was spent at the harbor stage where the above-mentioned Arbo and daisy mayhem, open the day with an extraordinary set that had the crowd standing and calling for an unheard of, early-day, encore.

Arbo and her band played a soulful version of the chestnut, "O Death" which was later reprised by bluegrass master Ralph Stanley.

Alejandro Escovedo hit the main stage early with a big band, but brought his "symphony" to the smaller harbor stage where the crowd was enraptured (except for one drunk woman who harassed Escovedo who was telling a story about his family and music. He tried to brush off her rudeness, but when she continued, six people in the crowd shouted, "Shut up!" simultaneously and the woman finally did). On the main stage, Emmylou Harris sounded beautiful, as did Alison Krauss and Union Station.

It was a bittersweet festival for some of the Festival Production staff, since the festival (and perhaps the entire company) has been sold to new producers for next year.