PHC in Maine

If you didn't tune in to hear Garrison Keillor's Prairie Home Companion last Saturday night, you missed one of the great performances of the year. One of the featured guests was Maine's own David Mallett who provided an excellent performance. First was a work called Angel Standing followed by a new piece Fishing. Fishing is part of a project called The Fable True, based upon the words of Henry David Thoreau and celebrates the 150 anniversary of Thoreau's final trip to Maine. You can get more info about Dave and the new album on his website.

Mallett also closed the show with "the Maine state theme song," The Garden Song which itself is celebrating a 30th anniversary. There couldn't have been a dry eye in the house.

But not to despair! PHC is streamed on-line and can be listen to by visiting the website. Here is the link to the May 3rd show.

~jeb

Get Your Choo-Choo On!

Wwoooooooahooooooo!

National Train Day is May 10th.

"To raise awareness of the vital role rail plays in our nation’s transportation system, Amtrak will celebrate its first annual National Train Day during six weeks of celebrations culminating on Saturday, May 10, 2008.

"On May 10 Amtrak will host events at four of its largest stations, Washington, New York, Chicago and Los Angeles, where visitors may take part in a variety of activities including live musical performances, exhibits, trip planning, VIP appearances and trip giveaways. Serving as spokesperson for National Train Day is television personality Al Roker. Mr. Roker will experience, first-hand, the benefits of rail travel when he travels from New York to Washington, by train, for the day’s festivities."

Read all about National Train Day and join the festivities!

There is even a place on the website to vote on your favorite "train song." Sorry my two were not among the choices provided. My all time favorite is City of New Orleans written by Steve Goodman but made famous by Arlo Gurthrie and Pennsylvania Sunrise by Dave Mallett. More on Dave in another blog.

~jeb

It's the Economy, Stupid!

This was the phrase that set the mood in the 1992 election when Bill Clinton ran against, and beat, George Bush I. It should well be the theme for the 2008 elections, but apparently the issue is not the same everywhere.

On a recent trip to Connecticut a few weeks ago, I was amazed to see the local mall filled with people at 9:00 PM on a Friday evening. Here in Augusta, the Target that opened last month often looks like a ghost town.

As I had to wait for a table at the Ruby Tuesdays in that mall, I struck up a conversation with a local dude who was sucking down a few brews at the bar. "I guess you guys don't know there's a recession on..." I announced. He agreed, but we both noted that things in Connecticut looked a bit more green that in other places.

This insight has been confirmed in a series of news articles (and this article too) that have appeared in the last few days. It seems that if you live in an oil-rich state like Louisiana or Texas, you got money coming out of your ears. If, on the other hand, your state depends on others for energy - and you tend to use a lot of energy, as we do here in Maine - you're screwed.

I guess it should not come as a surprise when former Governor Angus King suggested we build a army of wind generators off the coast and get into the energy business ourselves. I'm sure his millionaire buddies who "own" the Coast are not happy with that suggestion.

Seems to me that there really is only one short-term solution for Maine. We gotta reduce our energy consumption - and we gotta do it real fast.

The long-term solution is to establish an energy policy in this country that eliminates, or dramatically reduces dependence on foreign sources of energy.

And I don't expect any former - or current - presidents from Texas to be helping Mainers out any time soon.

~jeb

King Korn

When I saw the coming attractions in my monthly Maine PBS viewing guide that there was going to be an independent film called King Corn shown, I quickly assumed it would be about King Korn trading stamps, those orange and gold flecks of paper that, as a youth, I had spent innumerable hours licking and sticking into trading stamp books. All the rage in 1964, the trading stamps were given away to patrons at grocery stores and gas stations all around America.

But the King Corn here is an independent film about...corn. I strongly encourage everyone to see this film if it comes close to your home or on your TV. It is a real eyeopener.

The film is about two young dudes who, upon learning that their bodies are made mostly of carbon made from corn, decide to move from Boston to Iowa and arrange with a local farmer to grow an acre of corn. After planting and fertilizing, the boys have plenty of time to discover what happens to the corn growing in their field. It is a fascinating discovery.

Not surprisingly, if you Google the words King Corn (or King Korn), you will find a paid ad from the Corn Refiners Association disputing the findings of the film. Geez, you'd think they would be thrilled by all of the free advertising. But Corporate America is obviously paranoid, and well protected by the powers in Washington.

In addition to MPBN, King Corn will be shown in Portland, ME next Friday, April 25th at SPACE

Can't wait, check out King Corn on You Tube.

~j

This will perk you up

glumbert - Lost Generation

My Footprint

I just finished watching the National Geographic Channel's special called the Human Footprint. I am pleased to say that overall I think I am doing better than most of the statistics they threw up on the show. There is no way I consume all that milk in one year.

The show got me thinking about my old buddy Al Gore and An Inconvenient Truth. I understand he has put his energies into supporting a new effort to combat global climate change. That effort is called The Alliance for Climate Protection. And their big effort is called We Can Solve It. Check them out. http://www.wecansolveit.org/

Now I have to go back to the National Geographic website and take the personal consumption test to see how well I am actually doing.

12,129 hamburger buns in one lifetime? Please!

~jeb

Where ya been?

I know, I know. I'm a fair weather blogger.

The problem is I am maintaining - or trying to maintain - three blogs and when things get crazy, the blogs suffer.

Anyway, I am sitting in a Marriott Courtyard in Farmington, CT. I'll be attending the memorial service for my Uncle Bob Brandt who died last month in Florida. Uncle Bob - or as we called him - Uncle Bobby - was the youngest in his family of four children and the last of his generation of Brandts. It will be an emotional day.

Anyway, I arrived here around 7:30 and headed over to the local mall, Westfarms, and had dinner at the Ruby Tuesdays.

I guess no one told the people of central Connecticut that there is a national recession and everyone is suppose to be hold up in their depreciating homes waiting for the end of the world. At 9:15 pm the mall is mobbed with people. Folks are still waiting in line to get a table at RT and the parking lot is still filled.

Strange.

~j

Sweet Caroline

I was traveling home from Washington, DC two weeks ago and picked up the Sunday New York Times at Union Station. First, I was a little freaked by having to pay over $5 for a newspaper, but I figured it would keep me occupied for several hours.

I used to read the Sunday Times when I lived in New York. We were initially a Herald Tribune family and only became a Times family when the Trib went out of existance. New York has two kinds of people: Times people and Daily News people. People don't read the Post.

So, there I was, streaming along in the Acela at 130 mph reading the Sunday Times and sipping on some orange juice.

And then I read something that brought tears to my eyes.

"OVER the years, I’ve been deeply moved by the people who’ve told me they
wished they could feel inspired and hopeful about America the way people did
when my father was president..."

My mind returned to a time many years ago. Thoughts of two small children on a cold day in late November who had just lost their father. A few years later they would lose an uncle. Both deaths were violent and crushed the nation's spirit. My interest in politics was born with the election of John Fitzgerald Kennedy. My sense of cynicism was born when Bobby was murdered.

Can I/we risk taking a chance on another charasimatic politician.

Caroline ends with, "I have never had a president who inspired me the way people tell me that my father inspired them."

In understand completely.

~j

I am a Patriot

I'm a New Yorker, by birth. I am a Giants fan, by birth. Nearly 30 years ago I moved to Maine. I became a Patriots fan about that time. I am a Patriot fan by design.

I love Bill Belichick. My family in NY hates Bill Belichick for "what he did to the Jets." New Yorkers hold grudges for a long time.

I love Tom Brady. I "dislike" the Mannings, especially Peyton. Tom's all about team, Peyton is all about himself.

It was a great NFL season to be a Pats fan. I watched some of the great football this season. I didn't really care if they went 19-0. In fact, I was hoping the streak would end at 16 or 15. I would have been fine if the Giants had one that game at the end of the season and the Pats entered into the post-season with one loss. It would have sparked something. Had the Giants one that first game in December, I am convinced the Patriots would be the World Champs again.

I am looking forward to next year.

I am a patriot.

~j

Where Ya Been?

I've been sick. I've had the crud for over three weeks and I sick of being sick. This has been the cold from hell. It started on the January 13th with a hacking cough that felt like my lungs were going to turn inside-out. By Monday I was in bed with a fever. But the killer part of this bug is that it comes and goes. By the following Saturday, I was just starting to feel better and on Sunday, I was back in bed with a 101 degree fever.

A trip to the doctors, antibiotic prescription, bad reaction to the meds, and another week of hacking and sneezing and I was feeling better only to have another relapse. And then another.

Others who have apparently had this same bug this winter are reporting the same results.

My advice - don't get it. Put on a surgical mask and don't go near anyone who is sick.

I turn 55 this week. I hope I make it.

~j