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        I received my BMW Owners Association (BMWOA) 2008 booklet the other day. In this book are the phone numbers of other BMW owners who have volunteered to help their fellow Bimmers out if they need assistance. These are folks who volunteer everything from picking you up in the event of a breakdown, to someone you can call for advice, and if need be, a place to stay. The membership also gets you the BMW ON magazine each month.{mosimage}
        As I looked through the new book I thought to myself what I would do in the event of a breakdown while on a ride. I have towing insurance but don’t think that is sufficient in the event my bike breaks down someplace like Kitty Hawk and the closest dealership is in Raleigh.
        These days there are many towing services available through a variety of companies. I know that I can get roadside assistance from my cell phone carrier for an additional monthly fee but I have a hard enough time getting someone from America to answer directory assistance so I don’t want to try to deal with translations while I’m upset about the bike. I have towing on my car insurance but that will not cover my motorcycle. I checked AAA and KOA. I found that AAA will tow a motorcycle but only to the nearest motorcycle shop. However, the language in the KOA Web site reads a little differently and I found that KOA actually will pay to have your bike towed to the closest “capable” repair facility and provide minor repairs. As I navigated the site I was directed to Allstate Motorclub who is the provider for KOA.
        This is great news if you have a Harley and do not want a hack working on it. The KOA membership does not cover a particular bike so this is great if you own more than one bike.This is a great benefit if you own more than one bike. It also includes vehicles, RV, trailers and ATVs. I was also allowed to sign up an additional member for the basic cost. The membership also gives you Lock-Out benefit, arrest bond certificate, trip interruption benefit, legal defense benefit, KOA Kampground discounts, personalized Trip-Plan services and hotel, motel and car rental discounts.
         Although I hope I will never need roadside assistance, I thought the price of the KOA membership was worth the peace of mind knowing I have someone to take care of me and my bike.
         If there is a topic that you would like to discuss, please send your comments and suggestions to motorcycle4fun@aol.com. RIDE SAFE!

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        All that is required for a comedy like Get Smart (110 minutes) to succeed is a willingness to laugh. Written by Tom J. Astle and Matt Ember, based on characters created by Mel Brooks and Buck Henry for the original television series, the movie reads as a better than average satire of a 1960s spy movie. In other words, a kid-friendly version of Austin Powers, meaning Get Smartis a spy satire without the constant sexual innuendo. This really does make the casting of Steven Carell a bit of inspired genius, since he specializes in playing the sweet, goofy, well intentioned idiot types. Peter Segal, who first won my love with 50 First Dates back in 2004 seems fairly well suited to this lighthearted fare, and he makes no real missteps. If only one could say the same about Astle and Ember! The dialogue is fine, but the pacing could use some work, and the latter half of the movie seems to go on and on.
        Just as in the television series, Maxwell Smart (Carell) is a prize agent at Control. However, the U.S. spy agency is suffering from loss of funding and lack of government support due to the end of the Cold War and the supposed dissolution of KAOS, the evil spies Control was meant to, um, control. This updated version of Smart has failed the agents’ exam a number of times, but keeps a positive attitude. When KAOS somehow compromises Control, the Chief (Alan Arkin) promotes Smart to agent 86 and partners him with Agent 99 (Anne Hathaway). In the background works Agent 23 (Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson), who expresses his frustration at being stuck in the office in a number of ways (stapler to the head!). While Smart and Agent 99 attempt to unravel the intricate schemes of KAOS, the head of KAOS, Siegfried (Terence Stamp) plots with an unknown accomplice within Control to undermine democracy and assassinate the President of the United States (James Caan).
        {mosimage}The Good: Masi Oka plays Bruce the tech guy! He was in Heroes! The Bad: Masi Oka! He deserves a much bigger part! The Funniest: Completely random shot of an overflowing vomit bag. The Slightly Embarrassing: Steve Carell’s attempt to work the classic Maxwell Smart delivery made famous by Don Adams. He does it correctly sometimes, but he mostly just sounds like Michael Scott. 
        It was a given that Get Smartwould be funnier than the stale, clichéd, wreck that is Mike Myers’ new movie, and the box office certainly favors the former. However, I was still looking at my watch before the first hour was up. Anne Hathaway is a cutie, Steve Carell is very good at what he does, but something here isn’t working. Even so, just because this isn’t in the same league as The 40 Year Old Virgin and The Office doesn’t mean it’s a joyless exercise in futility either. Everyone laughed, and the number of cameos and guest stars made for an entertaining series of Hey! It’s That Guy! moments. Fans of The Naked Gun will find Maxwell Smart similar to LT. Frank Drebin, and this is a fairly nice redo for fans of the original             television series.  

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       Secret Diary of a Call Girlblends the two in a novel way

        Secret Diary of a Call Girl(Monday, 10:30 p.m., Showtime) is based on the blog of a high-priced London prostitute. Billie Piper plays Hannah, a legal secretary by day and call girl by night. It sounds like a familiar scenario, but a team of female writers bring a fresh perspective to the material. They get inside Hannah’s head and create a credible portrait of a smart, strong woman in a strange situation.{mosimage}
        Secret Diary of a Call Girlis billed as a comedy, but it’s melancholy rather than madcap. In this week’s episode, Hannah has sex with her accountant in exchange for his services, granting his wish to become an S&M slave. Even when the accountant strips down to a leather dog collar, though, the filmmakers avoid cheap laughs in favor of thoughtfully exploring the bond between these two professionals. The episode ends with each sincerely apologizing to the other.
        I order you to watch this series, slave.

    Shear Genius
    Wednesday, 10 p.m. (Bravo)
        A dozen hairstylists come to L.A. to compete for $100,000. It sounds like another high-stakes reality series for talented artists, à la Top Chef and Project Runway. But it’s hard to take this one seriously.
    For one thing, it looks like an exotic animal crawled onto each contestant’s head, then died a horrible death. How can you take them seriously as stylists when their own styles are so absurd? For another thing, snipping just isn’t too intriguing as an art form. “It really fails for me on all levels,” an Allure editor says of a styling job. But really, how many levels does a haircut have?
        In an attempt to generate excitement, the series dreams up bizarre challenges. The stylists have to re-create the hairdos of cartoon characters like Marge Simpson and Wilma Flintstone; they also have to cut hair blindfolded.
        It turns out that the blindfolded cuts don’t look much different from the eyes-wide-open cuts. Doesn’t that tell you something?

    The Singing Office
    Sunday, 9 p.m. (TLC)
        Colleagues from 16 companies take time off work to attend a song-and-dance boot camp, then face off against each other in a vocal competition.
        Instead of working, apparently, American employees are wailing “Proud Mary” at the top of their lungs. Now we know why the Gross National Product is heading south.

    Celebrity Family Feud
    Tuesday, 8 p.m. (NBC)
        Don’t get too excited by the word “celebrity.” This series features has-beens and wannabes like Mr. T and Kim Kardashian. Their families compete in a quiz format to win $50,000 for charity.
        How about donating the money to a charity for third-tier celebrities so that financial need won’t drive them to participate in demeaning TV series?

    America’s Got Talent
    Tuesday, 9 p.m. (NBC)
        NBC has the nerve to make the title a declarative sentence. Anybody who’s been watching the series will mentally place a question mark after the word “Talent.”

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        DL Token likes it loud and soft.
        The Fayetteville band plays both acoustic music and hard-driving rock, and is currently recording an acoustic album to be released concurrently with a completed, yet unreleased rock CD.
    Jeremy Strothers, lead vocalist and guitarist, says the new album — which he expects to release in two to four months — is a biographical tale of wanting to stop the world long enough to step off and take a deep breath. {mosimage}
        “I think I’m leaning towards calling the project An American Songwriter,” Strothers said. “And its theme is a biography of sorts about a young man at the turn of the millennium and his experiences and the kind of process everybody’s having to deal with making it through a world that’s so fast-paced and numbing, and somehow still stay in touch with your humanity.”
        The album is being recorded at Daxwood Productions — located in Fayetteville and owned by Doyle Wood — and its unreleased sister record was recorded three years ago by a previous incarnation of DL Token.
        “The second rock album was recorded three years ago — the original ensemble had broken up, everybody was just burned out — we had toured over 900 shows together.
        “At the very end of the first band’s run, we were recording our second release and we had mixed and mastered it and started sending it to radio stations,” Strothers said. “In fact, the first CD still gets played every now and again. Right at that time, the band disbanded and the tracks never got completely finished out. That album sort of sat on the back shelf. We just now got all the legal stuff down so we can release it and it’s going to be released in conjunction with the acoustic album. We will be self-promoting both albums as well as looking for a record company.”
        Strothers is accompanied by bassist Mike Daniels and percussionist Mitar Maraj. The band is serious about the “percussionist” label, as Maraj does not play a full drum kit, but rather a doumbek — a goblet-shaped hand drum used mostly in Arabic, Jewish, Assyrian, Persian, Balkan, Greek, Armenian, Azeri and Turkish music. Its thin, responsive drumhead and resonance help it produce a distinctively crisp sound.
    “I’m blown away by how he can make such a simple, small drum sound like a full drum kit,” Strothers said. “It’s a great supporting instrument for an acoustic guitar. Years went by and I heard he wasn’t doing anything and it just so happens my guitar player at the time left and everything just fell into place.”
        Bassist Daniels is a well-known musical figure in Fayetteville, having played with numerous bands.
    “We’re all full-time working musicians which is rare for this area,” Strothers said. “I look around and none of my peers make music full-time. And this is the best acoustic ensemble I’ve had in years.”
        All three say they love playing in Fayetteville, with Paddy’s being a particular favorite. However, Strothers says his very favorite place to play is an intimate bar down in Myrtle Beach called The Reef.
        “It’s just so laid back,” Strothers said. “It’s right on the beach and I can go and play in my swimsuit while bikini babes walk by. And it’s an acoustic venue, which I love. I’ve always played acoustic to supplement income. Working in an acoustic capacity opens up a whole new group of venues you can play to bring in income.”
        Strothers says the band gigs all the time, working five nights a week. The band is getting ready to play a huge, annual event — the Freedom Bike Fest in Parkton on July 4-6. DL Token will kick of the show July 4 at noon, followed by Rebel Son and Molly Hatchet; On July 5, the bands will be On Tapp, Crush N’ Run, Aftershock, Peacepipe, the DB Bryant Band, The Fifth and Blackfoot; finishing up the show on July 6 will Country Day, Dixie Highway, the Barry Brown Band, Daryle Singletary and Sammy Kershaw.
        “We’re looking forward to it,” Strothers said. “because of the number of people that will be there, it will be exciting.”
        Tickets are available at www.ticketmaster.com and are $25 for one day and $50 for the full three days.

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        The beach will meet the vineyard when the Embers take to the stage at J. Wesley Vineyards on Saturday, July 5 from 7-10 pm. 
        “We have played at several vineyards throughout the state,” said Bobby Tomlinson, leader and drummer of the Embers. “They usually draw a big crowd.” Tomlinson added that the band has a strong connection with the Fayetteville area and started performing in the area in the early 60s.   {mosimage}
        Bring your lawn chairs or blankets and enjoy the sweet mix of rhythm and blues of the Embers as they play on the vineyard’s lawn. Formed in 1958, the Embers have released17 albums and had numerous hits, and have manged to survive nearly 50 years of musical transition while continuing to take the stage as one of the most entertaining bands to ever perform. The group, from Raleigh, averages 300 dates per year ranging from Toronto to Florida and westward to California and Hawaii. The group has opened for the Rolling Stones, done commercials for Budweiser, played for the Olympics and President Clinton’s inauguration and created the soundtrack for endless summers. They were inducted into the South Carolina Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame and named North Carolina’s Official Musical Ambassadors of Good Will.  The members consist of Bobby Tomlinson, Jerry Tellier, Wayne Free, Stephen Pachuta, Debby Mac, David Dixon and John Ray.   
        Their brand new CD, The Show Must Go On, was produced by Charles Wallert and entails songs such as “You’re The Reason,” “Makin’ Love To You” and “This Heart.” The album exudes a strong message of love of life combined with vocal harmony and melody.     
         J. Wesley Vineyards has brought the spirit of winemaking back to Cumberland County. The family is growing three different varieties of muscadines. The summer concert series is designed to host good company and provide good food and fine wine.          
         Food, wine, beer and drinks will be available for purchase. J. Wesley Vineyards is located at 9340 Chickapee Drive in north Fayetteville. Ticket cost is $20 in advance and $25 at the door. There is a VIP section for $75. 
        For more information call 321-9463. 

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        Who was the greatest North Carolina general in the Civil War?
        Wait a minute, you say, we don’t play those games anymore. You think it’s time we put aside our glorifying the horrible Civil War that tore our country into two factions that waged war on each other for four terrible years. You want us to stop pretending that there was anything good about our region’s effort to protect a special social system based on slavery. We should, you continue, put it aside forever, and celebrate instead the historic efforts to overcome the legacy of racial inequality that war symbolizes to so many.
        Maybe we should. The only good thing about the Civil War, a friend told me the other day, is that our country learned a hard lesson, one that has kept us from ever again trying to settle our political differences with violence and warfare.
        Nevertheless, we just cannot give up these memories. We are fascinated with that violent confrontation, with the battle tactics, the personal sacrifices and suffering of people in all walks of life, and the amazing bravery and talents that extraordinary people sometimes demonstrated in those awful times.
    So, again, who was the greatest North Carolina general?
        Lincolnton attorney and historian Dan Barefoot has an answer.
        Major General Robert F. Hoke.
        North Carolinians of today remember Hoke, if at all, as the man who gave North Carolina’s 100th county its name. Hoke County, formed in 1911 from parts of Cumberland and Robeson County, took its name from the former general, then still alive and much admired for his wartime achievements.
        {mosimage}Today, he is mostly forgotten even by ardent Civil War buffs.
        It is for that reason, Barefoot says, that he wrote General Robert F. Hoke: Lee’s Modest Warrior.
    Arguably, the honor of naming a county for Hoke came about in large part because he was one of the very few general officers of the “Lost Cause” still alive in 1911. Or, it might have been because of his postwar achievements as a successful and public-spirited businessman who put the war behind him and concentrated on building a new South rather than looking backward to the war.
        But, as Barefoot points out, there was also a strong belief during that time that General Robert E. Lee, late in the war, had designated Hoke to replace him, should something happen to Lee. Barefoot concedes that this “disputed honor” has “never been authenticated to the satisfaction of many historians and scholars.” Nevertheless, a hundred years ago many North Carolinians accepted it as fact. When Hoke died in 1912, national newspapers spread the idea. For instance, the New York Tribune in its obituary stated that Hoke was “said to have been the personal choice of General Lee to succeed him in case he was killed in battle.”
    Whatever the actual truth of this report, its widespread acceptance had to be based on some extraordinary achievements.
        Hoke was, after all, a very young and very junior major general. In fact, he was the youngest major general ever to serve in the Confederate Army, being promoted when he was a month shy of his 27th birthday. He did not celebrate his 28th birthday until after the war ended.
        What accomplishments could support a belief that such a young general could ever be considered as a possible replacement for Lee?
        Here are a two, of a larger number, described by Barefoot:
        In April 1864 Hoke led the Confederate forces in the battle of Plymouth , which was the “first substantial defeat” for Union forces in North Carolina.
        In June of that year Hoke’s troops played such a substantial role in the Confederate victory at Cold Harbor, that years later U.S. Grant said that Hoke gave him “the worst drubbing I ever got.”
        Who was North Carolina’s greatest Confederate general?
        Don’t give any answer other than Robert F. Hoke until you have read Barefoot’s book.

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        Even in the homestretch of a legislative session, it isn’t typical to have two back-to-back rallies at the General Assembly attracting hundreds of people to send diametrically opposed messages to lawmakers. But that’s what happened when some 200 members of the State Employees Association of North Carolina (SEANC) rallied for bigger pay raises and then a larger crowd of more than 1,000 taxpayers and activists rallied Wednesday against burgeoning state budgets and government overreach.
        But, wait a moment. Are those two messages really at odds?{mosimage}
        SEANC has a beef with the General Assembly for years of poor treatment when compared to the state’s public-school teachers. The latter group has consistently gotten higher annual increases and more attention to working conditions. The former insists that the work of prison guards, mental-health professionals and other state workers shouldn’t receive a lower value when budget time comes around.
        There’s a case for their position. It’s difficult to find good evidence supporting the differential treatment. Recent teacher-pay hikes don’t appear to have moved the needle much when it comes to teacher quality or student outcomes. And while education is a priority, I would certain argue that public safety is an even higher priority, the core function of government. The labor market exists for district attorneys, parole officers, and corrections officials just as much as it does for educators.
        But is arguing for better treatment of state employees inconsistent with the fiscally conservative message sounded so largely by speakers and participants at the Take Back Our State rally?
        Not necessarily. To some extent, the interests of current state employees and future state employees are in tension. As state and local government has continued to grow, adding new programs and agencies, tax revenues that could have been dedicated to attracting and retaining good employees to carry out preexisting state responsibilities have instead financed the addition of new state responsibilities. In future years, with a larger state workforce, the fiscal impact is higher when lawmakers approve across-the-board pay hikes. Often, that means they propose smaller ones.
    Add to that the fact that one of the biggest cost drivers in the state budget in the past decade has been Medicaid, a program that primarily directs state funds to private and nonprofit health providers, and you can start to see some common interest between aggrieved state workers and outraged state taxpayers.
        Fiscal conservatives won’t always see eye-to-eye with SEANC, certainly. Thanks to its alliance with the Service Employees International Union, SEANC is adopting a labor-union mindset in its push for collective bargaining — a cause that is both doomed and deleterious. But when it comes to setting priorities for state funds, it does make sense to stop the unjustified preference for teacher pay and the legislature’s tendency to create new subsidy programs rather than ensure that existing government programs are staffed by committed, talented, enthusiastic state workers capable of carrying out their assigned tasks.
        Workers and taxpayers of the world, unite!

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        Dear EarthTalk: In renovating a vacation cabin, I discovered carpenter ants working their way through the walls. Is there any way to responsibly get rid of the pests without using noxious chemicals that could potentially harm my family?        
    — Curran Clark, Lummi Island, Wash.

        Carpenter ants may seem small and look harmless, but they can do serious damage to anything wooden in your home, including not only furniture but also the very framing and walls that hold up the house. If you are seeing a lot of ants or small piles of sawdust-like material in random spots in or around your home, you are most likely suffering from a carpenter ant infestation.{mosimage}
        Ants are very social beings and form large colonies before spreading out to find additional nest sites. They thrive by hollowing out wood, especially in moist or rotten spots, to build their nests and then use their new home in your walls and chairs as a base camp from which to forage for food and water in their nearby surroundings. Indeed, their very presence is a good indication of moisture or rot problems in the wood, so homeowners may have more work on their hands than simply exterminating carpenter ants.
        In the northern latitudes of the continental U.S. and in much of Canada, carpenter ants are the most common insect wood destroyer, surpassing even the mighty termite. But while many commercially available chemical pesticides will rid a structure of carpenter ants, homeowners are increasingly steering away from such toxins proven to impact the human nervous, respiratory and reproductive systems.
        Perhaps the most economical and effective way to get rid of carpenter ants is by applying boric acid (also known as borax) to their nest sites and surroundings. This natural nontoxic element, mined from below the Mojave Desert in southern California, has a long history of use in exterminating brazen populations of cockroaches, palmetto bugs, waterbugs, silverfish, termites, and, you guessed it, carpenter ants.
        Al Abruzzese, owner of the Web site Al’s Home Improvement Center, swears by boric acid to get rid of wood-boring pests. “This simple inexpensive, household chemical is deadly to all insects,” he says. “It has been shown to attack their nervous systems, as well as being a drying agent to their bodies.”
        Beyond just being effective as an all-natural insecticide, boric acid is nontoxic to humans. Abruzzese says it is safe enough to use around children — it has been used in ointments and salves for diaper rash on babies in the past — and can be an important part of eyewash solutions as well, albeit in very diluted form (don’t try it at home). One common brand name to look for is Nisus Bora-Care, but any pesticide with boric acid or borax listed as an active ingredient will do just fine.
        For those not into do-it-yourself pest control, calling in an exterminator that uses all natural products is a good option. Oregon’s All Natural Pest Elimination, for instance, services the entire four state region of the Pacific Northwest with products from Natureline — crafted from safe botanical extracts and essential oils, not synthetic chemicals — on all of its extermination jobs. Look in the yellow pages for exterminators in your area, and call each one you are considering to make sure they stay away from noxious chemicals.
        CONTACTS: Al’s Home Improvement Center, www.alsnetbiz.com/homeimprovement; Nisus Bora-Care, www.nisuscorp.com; All Natural Pest Elimination, www.nobuggy.com.
        GOT AN ENVIRONMENTAL QUESTION? Send it to: EarthTalk, c/o E/The Environmental Magazine, P.O. Box 5098, Westport, CT 06881; submit it at: www.emagazine.com/earthtalk/thisweek/, or e-mail: earthtalk@emagazine.com. Read past columns at: www.emagazine.com/earthtalk/archives.php.

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        Throughout the month of June, Fayetteville residents have had the opportunity to be exposed to terrific music and support the arts all in one fell swoop. On Sunday, June 29, the last concert in the series will pay homage to our nation’s birth, as the N.C. Symphony takes to the Festival Park stage for a rousing concert whose encore is a fabulous fireworks display.
        The June concert series at Festival Park came into being through a joint partnership between the Arts Council of Fayetteville/Cumberland County, The Fayetteville Observer, the City of Fayetteville and Reed-Lallier Chevrolet. The impetus behind the concert series was Mike Lallier, long a patron of the arts.
        “Mike Lallier’s dream was that every Saturday in June, there would be a concert in the park,” said Bo Thorp, artistic director of the Cape Fear Regional Theatre. The CFRT is one of of the local arts agencies that will benefit from the concert series. Last weekend, the cast of the latest show at the CFRT got together with the pianists from     The Keys Piano Bar, to make some beautiful music. Local arts groups receive the proceeds from the sell of concessions during the concerts, so the event becomes a win/win for both the community and the arts.
        “Mike Lallier has always been a patron of the arts in our community,” said Thorp. “He always is willing to help us out.”
        {mosimage}Thorp noted that for a number of years Lallier’s children were very active in community theatre, and even though they’ve moved on he continues to offer his support. “Mike has always been a great supporter of the theatre and of the arts in general,” she continued. “He’s a great citizen of our community.”
        The upcoming concert will include a little something to please the whole family. The symphony will perform a march, “Radetzky March,” written by Austrian composer Johann Strauss I. Although he is better known for his waltzes, the march is one of his most performed pieces. Movie buffs will thrill to the sounds of John Williams’ “Star Wars Suite.”  The collection of music, from all of the Star Wars movies, gains rave reviews wherever it is performed. Wrapping up the concert will a “Patriotic Overture,” which will set the tone for the spectacular fireworks show to follow.
        The June Concerts in the Park series is designed around and for families. Thorp noted, “This is a great opportunity for families to experience the arts without any cost to them. This series allows people to come to these artistic events and be exposed to a wide range of music.
        Keeping with the theme of family, grab your blanket or your chairs and pack up the family and head out to Festival Park at 8 p.m. for the symphony. But leave your four-legged family members at home, as no pets are allowed in the park, and leave your picnic baskets and coolers at home as well. Food, soft drinks, beer and wine will be available — and remember, all funds raised through the sell of these items goes to support the arts in our community. 

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        {mosimage}The Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra’s Conductor Fouad Fakhouri, better known as the Maestro, will orchestrate the FSO’s first Texas Hold’ Em Poker & Casino Night fund-raiser on Friday, June 27 from 6 – 10 pm. A prize raffle will take place from 10 – 10:30 pm.
         “The symphony has been looking for a signature fund-raising event for a couple of years,” said Linda Frenette, executive director of the Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra. “The Maestro is a poker fiend and has a love for this kind of event.” 
        Frenette added that Fakhouri proposed the idea to the board and offered to go beyond his conductor duties to help plan the entire event.   
         “I invite the public to come out and try to beat me at poker and help the orchestra with the fund-raiser,” said Fakhouri. “We are grateful that a flat screen TV and other items have been donated for this event.” 
        Casino Night will be held at the Eutaw Conference Center located at 2724 Bragg Boulevard. Patrons can try their luck at various game tables such as Blackjack, Craps, Let it Ride, Roulette, Money Wheel and others. Funny money can be traded in at the end of the night for raffle tickets for the big prize raffle.
        “The money raised will be used to fund some of the concerts that we will provide to the community during the year,” said Frenette. “We want to continue to establish relationships in the community between Fouad and music lovers throughout Fayetteville.”         
        The FSO serves the community in various ways: performing free concerts, providing speakers for meetings, acting as a resource for local school music teachers, donating music stands to Cumberland County Schools and providing free concert tickets to support other nonprofit organizations in the community. 
        “Hopefully, we have started a brand new tradition for the Fayetteville Symphony,” said Frenette. “We hope this event will be extremely, extremely successful.” 
        Admission tickets are $75 and include funny money and a beverage ticket. A seat at the Texas Hold’ Em table is an additional $50. For more information and to purchase tickets call 433-4690. 

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        Summer is finally here. It’s a time to throw the burgers on the grill and bask in those rich summer rays and enjoy your significant other, friends and family. But you can only barbecue so many times. There’s a better way to celebrate summer — downtown at this week’s Fourth Friday!
        For those of you who don’t know the drill, Fourth Friday is a sort of “gallery crawl” arranged by the Arts Council of Fayetteville/Cumberland County that takes place on, you guessed it, the fourth Friday of each month. Each Friday is centered around an unveiling of an exhibit at the Arts Council, which features refreshments and refreshing entertainment (this month proves big with the group Brothers Igniting a Groove), while other downtown shops host similar, and FREE, activities of their own.
        {mosimage}This month, the Arts Council aligned itself with nature and went green. It had a public call for art, though some might just consider it junk. Glass bottles, aluminum and steel cans, plastic bottles, newspapers, cardboard and even junk mail are just some of the items the city of Fayetteville is encouraging our community to recycle and the Arts Council wants to know what to “make of it.” So, on Friday, June 27, everyone can find out during the opening of the art show Recycle! It’s Second Nature, from 7-9 p.m. at the Arts Council, 301 Hay St.
        That’s not the only green of the picture — cash awards will be presented to the best pieces of “Recycled Art” in three different age groups. The show will feature works of art made by residents of Cumberland County, Fort Bragg and Pope Air Force Base.
        “This is a great way to kick off our citywide recycling program and explain the importance of helping our environment,” said Jackie Tuckey, public information officer for the city. As the Fourth Friday sponsor, the city will provide educational displays with Dottie Bottle and Recycler the Robot teaching how easy it is to make recycling a part of your everyday life.
        Recycle! It’s Second Nature will run through July 19. A list of the other participating shops is listed on www.theartscouncil.com/4th_Friday. For more information, contact the Arts Council at (910) 323-1776.

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        Campbellton Landing, a development along the Cape Fear River near Person Street, is changing hands.
        The family of Sol Rose, who started Campbellton Landing about four years ago, turned over the operation of the restaurant to Kevin Summers and Campbellton Landing Property, LLC on June 15. Renovation and expansion of the restaurant is currently underway. The new restaurant, containing an oyster bar, is expected to be open in mid-August by which time Summers expects to close on the sale of the balance of the 33-acre property.
        Sol Rose visualized a community gathering place “down by the river,” where local residents, young and old, could come together to eat, drink, play and enjoy nature and history steeped in local Fayetteville tradition. As Sol used to say, “bringing the people to the river and the river to the people.”
        {mosimage}Nestled between Lock’s Creek and the banks of the Cape Fear River, this beautiful and historic site offers 33 acres of pristine real estate development with convenient access to I-95 and Fayetteville’s historic city center. The Campbellton Landing site currently hosts a full-service restaurant, an outdoor recreation/fishing/game retail store and an outdoor amphitheater. It also features a convenient boat ramp for easy public access to the beautiful and swift Cape Fear River, as well as original Confederate breastworks constructed by soldiers during the Civil War to defend the landing against General Sherman and his advancing troops.
        Kevin Summers was a cofounder and owner of Rocky Top Hospitality, a company responsible for six middle- to high-end restaurants in the Triangle and the Mash House Chop House and Brewery in Fayetteville. Summers sold his ownership in Rocky Top Hospitality to his partner in March 2008 in order to pursue this exciting venture in downtown Fayetteville.
        “I am looking forward to continuing my restaurant, hospitality and development career here in Fayetteville. I have recently completed the North Carolina Real Estate Brokers criteria to fulfill my interest in commercial real estate,” noted Summers. “This multifaceted venture is an excellent way to bring all of my talent and experiences together to carry on Sol Rose’s dream of bringing people and families down to the Cape Fear River for a fun and entertaining experience.”
        Summers is currently assembling a small group of local investors. Summers and the investor group will own the property and some of the businesses at Campbellton Landing. It was extremely important to Summers to have local residents and business people involved in this project.
        “It truly is a local business endeavor designed to make Fayetteville and Cumberland County a better place to live, work and raise a family,” said Summers.”
        The local investors are very excited to be a part of this historic property renewal. They, too, envision a community gathering place and popular destination point where history and nature come together to embrace the Cape Fear River. Campbellton Landing will be an exciting, fun, family entertainment complex that all of Fayetteville and Cumberland County will be proud of and embrace.
        The Campbellton Landing complex will be developed in four phases. The first phase includes the opening of Lock’s Creek Seafood Grill & Oyster Bar later this summer. Overlooking scenic Lock’s Creek, this fresh and bold concept will bring residents and visitors a unique dining experience. The outdoor amphitheater at Campbellton Landing will also be improved and will showcase a variety of musical concerts, shows and other community venues, such as outdoor movies on the river. A full schedule, with 30 shows, is expected for 2009. The boat access and Riverside Outdoor Store will continue to operate in the friendly and professional manner its regular customers have come to expect. However, a grill will be added for early morning breakfast and lunch, expanding the line of products and services, which include river tours and canoe/kayak rentals.
        “We’re glad to see something in harmony with my dad’s dreams with how he wanted the property developed,” commented Gordon Rose, board chairman of the Cumberland County Business Council. “He had big dreams for Campbellton Landing.”
        “The vision of Sol Rose and his family was extraordinary. Our mission is to continue and expand his dream by making Campbellton Landing one of eastern North Carolina’s premier family and tourist entertainment destinations,” explained Summers.

  • Details
        If you ever once said, “Fayetteville needs more culture,” then it’s time to boot up the old PC or Mac and let the Arts Council of Fayetteville/Cumberland County know you want public art, and lots of it.
        For about a month now, the Arts Council — at its Web site, www.artscouncil.com — has posted a public online art survey to get your input about what kind of public art you want to see in the community.
        {mosimage}The Arts Council is partnering with the Cumberland County Chamber of Commerce to develop a Public Art Master Plan for Fayetteville/Cumberland County, and your feedback is needed for this ambitious project.
        “We’ve only had about 100 surveys filled out so far,” said Deborah Martin Mintz, executive director of the Arts Council. “We’d love to have about 1,000 filled out.”
        While most people confine their idea of what is public art to statues and sculpture, there really are many classifications of public art, said Martin Mintz.
        Public art can be defined as anything designed or created with the assistance of an artist and located in a public place.
        It can be:
        • Temporary or permanent, inside or outside;
        • Part of a building or freestanding;
        • Sculpture, murals, lighting effects, electronic or video art;
        • Street furniture, utility covers, paving, railings, posters, bridges and signs;
        • Be sophisticated in its ideas and fabrication or simple in its form and content.
        Most of all, public art reflects the personality of the community. 
        Included on the survey, which is completely anonymous, are “yes” and “no” questions such as, “Have you seen public art in other cities?” and, “Have you used any transit systems with art in the stations, noticed it in any airports, along highways or integrated into bridges?”
        It’s a short, two-page survey that can be finished in minutes, yet is so important to improving not only the quality of public art here in Fayetteville, as well as the culture.
        “Public art builds and reflects a town’s culture,” said Michelle Horn, assistant curator/director of the Fayetteville Museum of Arts. “And it can be anything, such as a sign or a bench or a lamp post or even a trash receptacle. Public art improves the perception of a town and the people who live there.”
        Gallery 208 is testing that theorem by hosting a trio of new sculptures at the offices of Up and Coming Weekly on the day the artist, Paul Hill, was in town to put the pieces together.
        “I love the big giraffe,” said 7-year-old Raheem McMillan, son of Roberta McMillan, both of Fayetteville.
        The 11-foot-tall giraffe, called, Natural Progression, also caught Roberta’s eye as she and her child walked to a nearby convenience store for a cold drink on the hot day.
        “It’s just beautiful,” said McMillan. “We need more stuff like this in Fayetteville.”
        Natural Progression is one of three sculptures now on display at Gallery 208, including Once Too Often and Insatiable. All three pieces are by Paul Hill of Wilmington.
        To keep more art like this coming to Fayetteville, don’t forget to go to the Arts Council Web site and fill out your free survey.

  • Details
        Water, water everywhere, and not a palatable drop to drink... or any way to get to the source if you could.
        The Cumberland County Board of Commissioners approved its $276 million budget Monday, June 9, but issued warnings that there are a number of issues not addressed in this budget that are rolling down on the county like a runaway train — particularly the issues of providing enough clean water and providing transportation for county residents, including the influx of military families that will flood the area when the Base Realignment and Closure gets going full tilt.
        “We’re going to have to do some serious soul searching during next year about what, if anything, we’re going to do about transportation in this county,” said Commissioner Billy King. “Our partners in the city are talking but no effort is being made and we’re just going to have to decide if we want some type of authority or do we not want to get into the business at all. But it seems to me we have to answer that question up or down. We are growing; BRAC is coming, there is intense discussion about transportation and so I think in years to come, perhaps the next budget, there will be a hard discussion about transportation.”
        {mosimage}The commissioners are waiting on a state-sponsored study on transportation before they throw themselves headfirst into the fray.
        Despite the dire warnings of trouble on the horizon the commissioners unanimously approved the budget — a budget that includes a 2-cent property tax reduction, with the rate dropping from 88 cents to 86 cents per valuation. The reduction will save property owners of a $200,000 home about $20.
        The commissioners also moved $142,000 into a fuel account to prepare for ever-rising gas costs.
        The commissioners also put some heat on the county’s Fire Chief’s Association, which wants to raise the fee for fire district members. However, that was not voted on by the commissioners who said that state law requires the members of a fire district to approach the commissioners with a petition asking for a 5-cent increase in the fire districts.
        “The onus is on them (Fire Chief’s Association) to get the petition for a special election,” said Chairman Breeden Blackwell, “an election we (the county) would have to pay for. We’d have to pay for that election.”
    In the end, all the commissioners agreed it was the best possible compromise for a budget they could come up with, though King suggested numerous issues that need to be discussed months before next year’s budget process so the commissioners will be ready to make some hard decisions.
        “We’re going to have to decide if we want good water for all our citizens,” said King, “which I see as a right. The Parks and Recreations needs attention, and I don’t think the county can continue to receive money from the hospital in the long term.
        “And if we’re going to have a transportation system, we need to go ahead and say so,” said King. “If we’re not, we need to go ahead and say that.”
        Blackwell suggested the commissioners start getting together in January to discuss the issues facing the county.
    “I hope the citizens understand that it’s going to be at a snail’s pace,” said Blackwell. “We’re going to have to take baby steps.”

  • Details
        Lee Greenwood is even prouder to be an American today thanks to New York Congressman Anthony Weiner. Hat’s off to Tony Weiner for introducing a bill which will increase the number of free-range international super models roaming our fruited plains. Weiner bravely confronted America’s most pressing international crisis — the looming shortage of foreign-born super models moon walking across the fashion runways of New York. Forget the middling issues facing America today — $5 a gallon gas, a collapsing real estate market, an endless war in the Middle East and the inability of the L.A. Dodgers to get above .500. “Piffle” says Congressman Weiner. Why worry about war, peace, inflation, recession and other such trifles when America needs more super models?
        I could not agree with Tony more on America’s tragic shortage of super models. Wars and rumors of war abound. Polls report that the vast majority of Americans think the USA is on the wrong path. The country is hip deep in the big muddy of malaise. What will once again make America a shining city on a hill? The shining hills of more super models that’s what! America needs more 6-feet-tall, 90-pound women with the facial expression of a red ant to cheer us up. To heck with balancing the budget, bring on the super models.{mosimage}
        Through some horrible bureaucratic snafu, foreign-born super models and foreign-born computer geeks are tossed into the same immigration category called H-1B visas. These visas are issued to “highly skilled workers.” Only about 85,000 H-1B visas are available each year. Computer geeks are hogging most of these visas. A mere 350 H-1B visas are granted annually to the anorexic angels of fashion. To rectify this horrible injustice, Congressman Weiner has introduced HR 4080 entitled “To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to establish a separate nonimmigrant classification for fashion models.” This is a law all Americans should get behind and offer their unflinching support to foreign super models. Tony’s Law will create a new Fashion Model visa category for 1,000 — count ‘em 1,000 — super models to come to the U.S. of A. to strut their stuff. If that doesn’t raise the spirits of American men what will?
        Right now you are probably asking yourself, who qualifies as a super model under Tony’s Law and how can I get me one of those super models? To quote from the bill, a super model is “a fashion model who is of distinguished merit and ability and who is seeking to enter the United States temporarily to perform fashion modeling services that involve events or productions which have a distinguished reputation or that are performed for an organization or establishment that has a distinguished reputation for, or a record of, utilizing prominent modeling talent.” Tony’s Law is a paragon of legislative classiness. The definition of super model uses the term “distinguished” three times in the same sentence while avoiding using the terms hooters, mindless and vapid. The definition is a hat trick of politics and pulchritude. Donald Trump could not have written it better.
        Who is a distinguished model? Distinguished is in the eye of the beholder. What are the objective standards for being a distinguished fashion model you might ask? As Justice Potter Stewart explained regarding pornography: “I can’t define pornography, but I know it when I see it.” Identifying a distinguished fashion model can be done the same way. You’ll know a distinguished super model when you see one.
        If you want to obtain your own super model under Tony’s Law, you too have to be distinguished. That means finally installing the underpinning under the old double wide and chaining the Rottweiler to the pump in the backyard instead of the white, painted tire garden out front. Get your pickup truck detailed so you don’t embarrass yourself when the next load of super models gets dropped off at the Greyhound station. If beauty is only skin deep, distinguished is just a coat of Turtle Wax away.
        Keep America beautiful. Write your Congress people and tell them to support Tony’s Law. You’ll be glad you did.


  • Details
        We Americans love our lists, and we love to keep track of all sorts of things.
        Recently, I have seen rankings of the latest top grossing movies, the most successful movies of all time, vehicles which use the most gas, vehicles which use the least gas, communities with the highest foreclosure rates and those with the  cheapest, 10 things to do to vacation in one’s own home and our nation’s colleges and universities with the toughest admission standards.
        I am sure I have seen others as well, but those came readily to mind.
        We also love anniversaries of all sorts, and 2008 has a wealth of them. Because 1968 was such a pivotal year in American history and American culture, we have already commemorated the lives and deaths of American icons Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy along with cultural markers like the Broadway musical Hair and the marriage of Jacqueline Kennedy and Aristotle Onassis.{mosimage}
        All of which got me thinking of a sad anniversary looming in the Dickson household.
        We lost our almost 15-year-old Jack Russell terrier, Nicky, last July, and I know I will be thinking of him often over the next several weeks. Nicky was a smart, independent and feisty little dog who generally got his own way and who, unfortunately and embarrassingly, bit several of our friends. In his old age with his sight and hearing fading, he mellowed into the sweetest fellow, loved by everyone in the household and beyond, at least among folks who had not suffered his snapping displeasure.
        Thinking about Nicky inspired me to do the natural American thing — I made a list of all the dogs in my life since my sister and I were little girls growing up in the Fayetteville of the 1950s and 60s.
    Sam.
        Sam was a gun shy Weimaraner, given to our father by a friend who hunted and who had no use for a dog terrified of loud noises. Sam was wonderful with children, though, standing patiently while my sister and I and our neighborhood friends tried to ride him like a horse. I remember him sleeping in the backyard shrubbery in his old age.
        Angel.
        Angel was a present on my ninth birthday. He was a Pekingese, who had no idea he was not a German Shepherd. In the days before leash laws, Angel, his pale hair dirty and sometimes matted as my mother let me learn the responsibility of dog ownership, led the pack of neighborhood pets including Sam and another Weimaraner named Blitz, a black German shepherd named Mr. Henry, a Dalmatian named, yes, Domino, and assorted others. I think my father took considerable ribbing from his friends about Angel.
        Joshua.
        Josh was a bouncy and none too bright terrier who often escaped from the fence installed in our back yard to contain him. My father spent a good bit of time chasing him or searching for him, until one day Josh bounced out of our lives altogether.
        Toto.
        Toto was my mother’s West Highland Terrier, whom she adopted when his first family could no longer care for him. Large for his breed, Toto was originally named Hoss after one of the Cartwright brothers on the then-hit television program Bonanza. I inherited Toto after my mother’s death, and he lived out his years in relative quiet with only one major incident. He bit our first child in the face when the baby crawled over to the snoozing old critter.
        There have been others, as well.
        Fanny, the high-strung Schnauzer who once ate half a buttery pound cake and suffered for it as did we. Brownie, the chocolate Lab who will forever be remembered in our family as the Best Dog Ever. She defined our children’s young lives, and her ashes are in our living room today. Maggie, the faux Lab we adopted after Brownie’s death, whose hips were those of a Greyhound and whose astonishing speed took her through the electric fence one day, never to be seen again.
        And now, Lilly, a yellow Lab whose sweetness and enthusiasm for life may give Brownie a run for her title as Best Dog         Ever.
        In true American fashion, I have also made a list of some of my favorite quotations about dogs,
        In no particular order, here goes.
        “The average dog is nicer than the average person.” Andy Rooney.
        “No one appreciates the very special genius of your conversation as the dog does.” Christopher Morley.
        “There is no psychiatrist in the world like a puppy licking your face.” Ben Williams.
        “Don’t accept your dog’s admiration as conclusive evidence that you are wonderful.” Ann Landers.
        “If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you, that is the principle difference between a dog and man.” Mark Twain.
        Aldous Huxley really nailed it, though.
        Said Huxley, “To his dog, every man is Napoleon, hence the constant popularity of dogs.”

       

  • Details
        I love the Fayetteville Museum of Art’s Fayetteville After Five concert series and, as one of the original sponsors, I know the recipe being used to nurture its success. However, this past event which featured the local and talented musical group DL Token and legendary national artists Nantucket fell flat as if someone or something was left out of the “original” recipe.
        Something was left out. Matter of fact, two somethings were left out. Intimacy and a relevant venue. Let me explain. The FMA not actually having a facility at Festival Park strips this event of its personality and excitement. After all, it was created as an “art” venue. Even though it was well attended, the people were spread out over the vast, treeless greenscape making it nearly impossible to socialize and get that traditional contagious “party” feeling.
        {mosimage}Now, concerning lack of relevant venue, consider the following: What would Fourth Friday be without the Arts Council; the Singing Christmas Tree without Snyder Memorial Baptist Church; Cape Fear Regional Theatre’s River Show without the river; or Dickens’ Holiday without downtown Fayetteville? The reality is that without the Museum of Art actually being on site in Festival Park the event falls flat. As wonderful as it is, Festival Park is not the “be all” and “end all” of downtown Fayetteville and Cumberland County entertainment. This was evident with the Dogwood Festival and the International Folk Festival.
        The FMA is the venue and destination point. So what Fayetteville After Five and Festival Park need is a “new” $15 million dollar Fayetteville Museum of Art. This will breathe life and excitement into its grassy knolls and bring relevance and pride to every event held there.
        With no intention of criticizing Councilman Ted Mohn’s position on the park or our municipal leadership and their positions or opinions on where the FMA should be built, I have to ask, why do these civil servants think they know more than the industry experts we hire and pay to do the job? And, to what end? Let’s review some past decisions on building locations our city and county officials passed judgment on:
    Crown Coliseum? Wrong place.
    J.P. Riddle Stadium? Wrong place.
    Cumberland County Jail? Wrong place.
    Festival Park Building? Not only is it in the wrong place, it serves as a visible and blatant obstruction to Festival Park.
    Parking Deck? Pending with 50/50 change of it being built in the … you guessed it, wrong place. Note: There is a very “right” place but may be too conspicuously correct.
        Festival Park is not a Regency Park of Cary, nor will it ever be. It is what it is. And, it needs the $15 million dollar Fayetteville Museum of Art to secure and anchor its success. Up & Coming Weekly recognizes Festival Park as the newest jewel of our community, and we support it. We also support it as the new home of Fayetteville Museum of Art. This structure will bring meaning, art, culture and vitality to our community and be a very important gateway into the city.
        Thank you for reading Up & Coming Weekly. Also check us out online. If you have something to say concerning this or any other issues, pro or con, send them to editor@upandcomingweekly.com. We welcome all opinions and points of view. I can be reached at bill@upandcomingweekly.com.

  • Details
        Three artists who interpret their individual environments open at Gallery 208 and the McLeod Gallery at Up and Coming Weekly on Rowan Street, June 26. The outdoor sculptures by Wilmington artist Paul Hill are installed in front of the business; inside the gallery hosts Raleigh printmaking artist, Ashley Worley. Local artist Noreda Hess opens in the McLeod Gallery with an exhibit of photographs.
        The work of all three artists can be enjoyed by visitors to Gallery 208 during the opening reception, each artist will be introduced and talk briefly about their work. All three will briefly reflect on what inspires their work and ways they individually interpret personal themes. The gallery opening is free and open to the public.
        {mosimage}Paul Hill is exhibiting a series of life-size fabricated sculptures. Visitors to the gallery will see selections from his animal series. Made from a mixture of fabricated metals and found objects, Hill’s sculptures result in seemingly fanciful interpretations — until one reads the titles! 
        In the sculpture titled Insatiable, a goat fabricated out of metal, carefully balances on a decaying and bent barrel. Hill shared with me how Insatiable is a mixed-media sculpture that addresses the oil crisis. Knowing the artist’s intent puts a whole new spin on the meaning.
        Natural Progression is a giraffe-like animal, somewhat zany, and stands 11 feet tall. Hill said it “originated from my many sketches that I do when thinking about works to create. The giraffe is a direct representation of my sketch.” Natural Progression is a superb example of the way Hill can integrate many different types of metals and found objects into a seamless work.
        Hill says on his Web site: “As a metal sculptor who works primarily in steel, stainless steel, bronze and copper. I prefer to engage the direct-metal approach to sculpture. In this particular discipline of work, steel, found objects, etc., are added, piece-by-piece, moving the sculpture to its final form. Working this way lets me and the work become spontaneous, exciting and boundless. In my mind, there is a decisive idea of what the completed piece will represent, but I am constantly amazed and thrilled at its final outcome.”
        A full time artist and owner of Paul Hill Sculpture Studios, Hill explained most of his sculptures arrive through “private commissions and are in homes, businesses, corporations and public forums from New York to Florida.” (To see more of Hill’s sculptures, visit his Web site at www.absolutearts.com/metalforms/)
        Like Hill, Ashley Worley is another artist who has exhibited quite extensively in the region and nationally.  Worley, a printmaker from Raleigh, has shown her figurative works in a group exhibit at the Fayetteville Museum of Art. Those who have seen Worley’s work will remember this artist — the one who created exaggerated figures in an interior, interactions between women friends in a moving car — all her figures were extremely foreshortening to evoke the an unnerving state of tension.
        For the Gallery 208 exhibit, Worley has included a series of urban scenes. Large in scale, her relief prints have shifted from the more direct way of involving the figure in space to an inference, the figure is present by its absence in the stark black and white large relief print.
        In one of Worley’s relief prints, a series of utility poles are set against a lit sky background; the tops of trees balance the open space, a tower looms to the left side of the print. We are reminded of the function of the telephone lines, the pattern of the distant tower competes with utility poles — by absence, human-ness is present.
        Worley states her intent clearly in her artist’s statement: “Over time, my inspiration has shifted. Rather than interactions with other people, I have found inspiration in the interaction with my physical environment. My neighborhood, like many urban neighborhoods, is comprised of residential and industrial properties side by side. On outings, I pass beautifully manicured lawns directly next to noisy businesses. I am inspired by the diversity in my neighborhood and I begin to imagine the stories that take place all within the buildings or streets around me. So my works, which are specifically landscapes, have a subtle narrative component.”
        Like Worley, Noreda Hess’s photography focuses on finding new meaning in the overlooked. Hess, a local artist who has exhibited her photographs in local and regional galleries, is exhibiting a series of photographs of the overlooked places and exterior still lifes in her surroundings. Paint and rusted boxes become abstract compositions, decaying paint on the front of a building’s doorway becomes a reminder of time, ever present and creating its own pattern of passage. The mundane, something we would pass by without a second glance becomes an abstract painting for Hess — painted by the eye of a photographer.
        Whereas Gallery 208 is coordinated by the Fayetteville Museum of Art to predominantly bring in artists from out of the local area, the McLeod Gallery, considerable smaller, highlights only local artists. Hess is only the second photographer who has been invited to exhibit in the McLeod Gallery since Up and Coming Weekly relocated to its Rowan Street location.
    Showing the photography of Hess, the sculpture of Hill and the prints of Worley is a testimony to the variety of mediums an artist can explore to express themselves.
        Up and Coming Weekly welcomes the community to Gallery 208 and the McLeod Gallery to attend the reception, meet the artists, see their work and celebrate the arts in Up and Coming style, Thursday, June 26, between the hours of 5:30 and 7:30 p.m.

  • Details
        I’m a 46-year-old woman who just started seeing a 55-year-old man. He’s always telling me how excited I get him, how he’s your typical horny male, and how I’m asking for trouble if we make out at the door after lunch. Frankly, he seems all talk. For example, on our much anticipated weekend away in San Francisco, we had two hours to kill at the hotel before dinner. He suggested window shopping. I suggested we “make out on the bed.” (I wanted to say “have wild sex.”) We kissed, and when things started heating up, he said we should head out. When we returned, he said, “So, should we get to it then?” It was so crass, I suggested a movie. He seemed relieved, and we watched “Juno.” Afterward, we started fooling around, but it was bland — as was sex the next morning. I’m frustrated but hoping things will improve over time. Am I too focused on sex? I should say something, but it’s so awkward, and I don’t want to hurt his feelings.
                                               — Lustbucket

        Here you are on a weekend getaway with a guy you just started seeing, and all he can think to do is get away from the bed: “Shall we totter down to Neiman Marcus and stare at the displays?” Now, there is that chance he’s freezing up out of performance anxiety or because he sees sleeping together as an I.O.U. for commitment. But more than likely, his favorite sex positions are spooning, snoring, and doggie-style — as in, rolling over and playing dead.
        This sort of bedroom bait-and-switch — the dud billing himself as a dynamo — is pretty common with older guys who are embarrassed that they don’t want sex like they used to. Perhaps this guy’s had a drop in his testosterone level (as men do, usually after 40), or perhaps there never was much “T” to go around.     What’s especially worrisome is that this a brand new relationship — the time when you should be having trouble making it out of the elevator with clothes on. “In The Truth About Love,” Dr. Patricia Love explains, “During infatuation, with the help of PEA (phenethylamine), dopamine, and norepinephrine, the person with the low sex drive (the low-T person) experiences a surge in sexual desire.” Uh-oh. What’s he experiencing, a surge in window shopping?
        As for whether you’re “too focused on sex,” you are what you are — probably too focused on it to be satisfied with a guy who’d rather watch “Juno” than...you know...but who finally blurts out, “So, should we get to it then?” What, clean the hog pen? Yeah, let’s get this chore over with. You can hint a guy into expressing himself more appealingly, but what matters is whether that’s how he really feels: if he’d really rather be napping.
        You hear people say stuff like, “Sex is best in the context of a loving relationship.” No, sex is best when the two people having it are sexually compatible. You can ask a guy to do more of what you like, but you can’t get him to be more of what you like. Go ahead, hang around a little longer, maybe try initiating, and see whether he’s just a bit slow to come out of hibernation. Ultimately, the person in need of your honesty is you: whether the man for you is one who’s always got Mr. Happy at the ready, or whether you can make do with a guy who should probably pet-name his entire sex drive Nuclear Winter.

  • Details
        Austrian director Johann Kresnik’s re-interpretation of the classic Verdi opera “A Masked Ball” opened for a limited engagement in Berlin in April, aimed at America’s “war and the excesses of American society today,” he said. In one scene, against a backdrop of the ruins of the World Trade Center, 35 naked senior citizens danced, wearing Mickey Mouse masks.
        “Art is no longer just a painting on the wall,” said the curator of the Museum of Bat Yam, near Tel Aviv, Israel, in April. “Art is life; life is art.” He gave that as an explanation for why he had accepted, as a live exhibit, seven young people from Berlin whose art is merely to live in the museum for three weeks with lice on their heads. The artists denied they intended a Holocaust expression based on Nazis’ references to Jews as “parasites.”
        Worth Every Penny: At an April auction in Beijing, artist Liu Xiaodong’s large (8 feet by 30 feet) oil painting, part of his Three Gorges series, brought the equivalent of about $8 million. The work, “Breeding Ground No. 1,” depicts 11 men in their underwear playing cards.
        In May in New York City, a buyer spent $15.2 million at a Sotheby’s auction to acquire sculptor Takashi Murakami’s “My Lonesome Cowboy,” which is of a naked man holding his penis and creating a long, curly lasso out of his ejaculate.

    The Continuing Crisis
        In May, eighth-grader Michael Avery of Thousand Oaks, Calif., told the hometown newspaper “The Acorn,” that he was undecided which area high school he would attend next fall. This was a matter of interest in that Avery, 15, is a basketball prodigy and, though undecided on high school, he knows exactly where he will go to college because he had just accepted a full scholarship at the University of Kentucky beginning in 2012. The following week, Kentucky offered another one, to ninth-grader Jeremiah Davis III, to enroll in 2011.

    Fetishes on Parade
        Martin Turner, 39, of Blackpool, England, pleaded guilty to four counts of harassment in May, specifically, pestering several workmen by telephone over a three-year period to please come by and stand on his face, his fingers and his genitals while wearing their heavy boots. [His lawyer said it had something to do with “domination.”]

  • Details
        So the Fourth of July is coming up and gas prices are coming up as well. What is there to do? Fayetteville residents have only to travel 15 miles for one of the rockingest Fourth of July festivals around — Freedom Bikefest.
        Freedom Bikefest, sponsored by the corporation that owns The Doghouse, will bring motorcycles and music together for a three-day festival that will rock your socks off. Now, you might be wondering why we’re talking about concerts in this space — well that’s simple, as the name of the festival points out, bikers and their bikes will be at the center of the event.
        Throughout the course of the event bike shows will be held on a daily basis. In addition to the shows, the event will include a vendor city with more than 100 vendors on hand to sell their wares, a biker Olympics, an FMX Stunt Riders Demonstration, Food Vendors, Extreme Skydivers, celebrity bike builders and daily benefit rides. The event will also bring a reality star to the area in the form of a real artist — a tattoo artist. Ami James is an Israeli-born American tattoo artist. He is the co-owner (with Chris Nuñez) of the Miami, Fla., tattoo parlor known as LoveHate, and is the subject of the TLC reality television program Miami Ink. {mosimage}
        If all of that isn’t enough to entice you, how about the fact that the festival is being held on more than 30 acres of land outside of Parkton (in between I-95 and U.S. 301.) The property is open for camping; however, campsites are on a first come, first served basis. Staying at Freedom Bike Fest at Southern Comfort Campgrounds gives you and your friends the best of both worlds: Enjoy the ease of accommodations right next to the action and still surrounded by the natural landscaping of the great outdoors. Campground space is still available — call Dave at 1-843-267-3477 to reserve your spot today.
        And, of course, there’s always the music. Fourteen bands will perform over the three-day period, including some top national acts and some great local acts. On July 4, the entertainment will kickoff at 7 p.m., with the sounds of D.L. Token and will wrap up at midnight with the rocking sounds of Molly Hatchett.
        On July 5, music will start at noon and will run throughout the day, featuring On Tap, Crush and Run, Aftershock, Peacepipe, D.B. Bryant, The Fifth, and Blackfoot. To wrap up the night is a fabulous fireworks show.
        On July 6, the festival goes a little bit country, welcoming some of country’s big names, as Dixie Highway, Daryle Singletary and Sammy Kershaw light up the stage.
        Tickets for the event are $25 for one day and $50 for the full three days. Tickets do not include camping. For more information, visit www.freedombikefest.com or purchase your tickets at Ticketmaster.

  • Details

    Finally, Shyamalan bounces back (Rated PG-R)

    Rated Five Stars

        OK, M. Night Shyamalan, we used to have a good relationship. I trusted you. I paid good money to see The Village, and even though that sucked, I invested my time in Lady in the Water. I was this close to breaking up with you completely, but I decided to give you one more chance. I admit, after so many bad experiences with you, I was worried. Before The Happening(91 minutes), I crossed my fingers, held my hands out to the big screen, and pleaded with the world itself for your film not to disappoint me and break my heart for the last time. Despite the people sitting in front of us making fun of everything that made your movie great, I am happy to say that this didn’t suck. Good job. You may have gotten drunk with star power for a few years, but you seem to have gotten over it.
        The film opens in New York. People are acting funny, although animals seem unaffected. I am instantly struck with intense dread that at some point, a sweet little kitty or puppy is going to be mauled and devoured. As shown in previews, people begin dying. We switch to high school science teacher Elliot Moore (Mark Wahlberg) discussing how useless science is for explaining the world around us. Eventually, Elliot and a large, blue-eyed china doll named Alma (Zooey Deschanel) head for a train, along with Elliot’s friend Julian (John Leguizamo) and daughter Jess (Ashlyn Sanchez). I am now concerned that at some point Jess will be kidnapped or poisoned.  {mosimage}
        Throughout the movie, Elliot’s group composition changes as various ideas about the causes of the increasing human mortality are advanced. Eventually, Elliot and his considerably reduced number of followers arrive at the home of everyone’s favorite gramma, Betty Buckley, who plays Mrs. Jones. Mrs. Crazy represents the kind of loony common to rural Pennsylvania (I grew up there and I would know). Of course, if Shyamalan wanted to really capture the essence of the Pennsylvanian hermit he would have given her a shotgun and a jar of moonshine. While she serves our survivors a nice homemade meal, the viewers are offered a series of newscasts that reveal the parameters of the event that they are attempting to escape. Unfortunately, Mrs. Crazy doesn’t have a TV or radio, nor does she have any interest in hearing about the event currently taking place in the outside world.
        If this were another kind of movie, more plot details might be welcome. This, however, is a Shyamalan movie. Any more plot description is only going to ruin it. Suffice to say that this is indeed the great comeback we have been waiting for. While it is true that the dialogue was a little bit ripe, and buying Mark Wahlberg as some kind of science genius who figures out what is going on requires a little bit more suspension of disbelief than I am prepared to offer, I don’t care. The plot doesn’t disappoint, the pace is just right, and the shocks are placed for maximum effect. As always, the cinematography is moody, the use of color is carefully planned, and the ending comes way too soon for a spellbound audience. Finally, If I might be allowed one moment of self-congratulation, I totally spotted Brian O’Halloran (Dante from Clerks) based only on his puffy-faced profile seen on screen for approximately 10 seconds.

  • Details

        I hope The Factory (Sunday, 10 p.m., Spike) doesn’t get overlooked in the middle of the cable dial. It’s a working-class answer to The Office, featuring four regular Joes who run the machines in a dreary factory. They banter in the break room, hash out their marital problems and attend the occasional wake for a coworker ground up in the gears.
        These guys aren’t the brightest bulbs, but “The Factory” doesn’t make the mistake of looking down on them. Like  The Office, it finds the perfect tone of deadpan absurdity, so that our heroes are ridiculous without being objects of contempt. The cast is attuned to the script’s eccentric comic rhythms, which get you smiling without the aid of a laugh track.
        I plan to clock in at The Factory at 10 p.m. sharp every week.

    “The Baby Borrowers”
    Wednesday, 8 p.m. (NBC)
        In this reality series, five teenage couples are shown what the future may hold. After being set up in a home, they’re asked to care for an infant, then a toddler, then an adolescent, then a senior citizen. They stumble through every challenge and learn about the responsibilities associated with adult life.{mosimage}
        Interesting. But one can’t help wondering what happens to the infants, toddlers, adolescents and senior citizens once The Baby Borrowers is through with them. Are they simply returned to the prop shop and made available to other reality series?

    “AFI Lifetime Achievement Award”
    Wednesday, 9 p.m. (USA)
        Every time you turn around, Warren Beatty is picking up a lifetime-achievement award. He gets another one here, despite the fact that he hasn’t directed a film in 10 years or acted in one in seven.
        Maybe if Beatty skipped a few lifetime-achievement ceremonies he’d actually have time to achieve something again.

    “The Secret Life of an American Teenager”
    Tuesday, 8 p.m. (ABC Family)
        This family series from the creator of 7th Heaven is set in a high school obsessed with sex. Good girl Amy has shocked her friends by getting pregnant at band camp. Meanwhile, the football star lusts after his cheerleader girlfriend, but both are Christians committed to abstinence … for now. The new nerdy kid has his eye on Amy, but so does the cad who knocked her up. The adult characters can only stand around and wring their hands, including one time teen-sex-movie star Molly Ringwald as Amy’s mom. (The fact that Ringwald is now tormented by her own screen daughter can only be called poetic justice.)
        I’d welcome a series that offered insight into adolescent sexual activity, but this isn’t the one. Oddly, none of the teenage actors comes across like a real teenager. Blame a script that makes the nerd too nerdy, the slut too slutty, the jerk too jerky, etc. Nothing rings true, and the tone veers awkwardly from earnest to satirical.
        The only line delivered with real passion comes from a friend of Amy’s, speaking to another friend: “You’d better not be suggesting she get an abortion!” This is clearly something the filmmakers feel strongly about, since an abortion would spoil their trumped-up scenario.

  • Details
        {mosimage}Tha Carter III has finally arrived. After months of pushing back release dates, numerous mixtapes, dozens of cameo appearances (over 70 in the past year or so) and braggadocio from one of hip-hop’s biggest stars, the long awaited record is finally here. Tha Carter II was a platinum selling disc and critically acclaimed which caused fans to vault Lil’ Wayne into the upper echelon of hip hop’s elite superstars. With all of the excitement and promotion over Tha Carter IIIexpectations are that it will make a big splash commercially and take him to an even higher level. Ever the cocky superstar, Lil’ Wayne aka Weezy F. Baby (please say the Baby) has insisted that he is the “best rapper alive“ over the past few years, and his latest project hopes to support his claim.
        On the opening track, titled “3 Peat,” Wayne states “they can’t stop me, even if they stopped me.” Of course, this might sound like an absurd, redundant statement from anyone else, but Wayne and his infectious delivery and charismatic personality allow him to spit crazy lines such as this and make you listen. “3 Peat” features Wayne at his fiery best and starts off the album with a bang. The next track features Jay-Z on the epic “Mr. Carter,” where the two flaunt their rap heavyweight status, over some pounding keys and a smooth sample provided by Drew Correa. “Got Money” with T-Pain and the lead single “Lollipop” featuring Static Major are also definite hits.
        Lil’ Wayne also throws listeners a curveball by venturing outside his usual musical realm, and offering crooners Robin Thicke and Bobby Valentino a chance to shine on “Tie My Hands” and “Mrs. Officer,” respectively. The two songs are typically laidback and slow down the momentum of the album from the pounding drums and hard basslines of some of the earlier tracks but they are welcome additions that grow on you after repeated listens.
        However, the true gem of the album is “Dr. Carter,” featuring Wayne playing the part of a doctor trying to heal patients from various “ailments” rappers suffer from such as lack of concepts, weak flow, lack of style, etc. Swizz Beatz laces the track exquisitely by flipping a sample from David Axelrod’s “Smile” and allowing Wayne to perform his “surgery.” The concept is so well developed that there is even dialogue from Wayne and his nurses in between the verses, and the music even takes an upward tone when he appears to be “saving a victim.”
        This track is simply Lil’ Wayne at his best, and is one of those songs driven by a concept that a rapper like Nas or Ghostface would bless us with on their album. As great as Lil’ Wayne claims to be all too often, he would truly be timeless if he offered more memorable tracks such as this, but Tha Carter III has its downsides as well.
        As creative as it was for him to play a doctor on the aforementioned track, Wayne falls flat on another concept song “Phone Home,” where he plays the role of a Martian. As stated, “Mr. Carter” is a great song, but unfortunately Jay-Z steals the show with a stellar verse, and guests Fabulous and Juelz Santana also outshine Weezy on “You Ain’t Got Nuthin.” The latter track features a trademark sinister, brooding beat from the Alchemist, but Weezy wastes the heat and comes in third place providing better support on the song’s hook than his actual verse. Truly, the best rapper alive shouldn’t get shown up repeatedly by his featured guests on his own album right?
        He also falls flat on the Kanye West track “Let the Beat Build,” but thankfully, Lil‘ Wayne he finds his niche on “Comfortable,”  a melodic serenade also produced by West featuring R&B legend, Babyface
    Fortunately, for all of the flaws that Tha Carter III suffers from, the bonus disc that many received when purchasing the album make up for some of Wayne’s miscues on the main disc. The bonus disc features seven songs with our hero at his best going back to his usual musical backdrop and swagger of hard basslines, braggadocio lines and crazy metaphors that we are familiar with from his past efforts. No crooning singers or lackluster hooks on this one. Not saying that Wayne trying to stretch his creative boundaries should be frowned upon, but songs such as the pulsating “Gossip” where he spits “I graduated from hungry and made it to greedy,”  and the moving “Love Me or Hate Me,” are what make Lil’ Wayne a star. If some of the songs from the first disc were cut and replaced with a few of the bonus cuts it definitely would have fared better for him.

  • Details
        Dear EarthTalk: I’ve heard that there are plans to build a large repository for nuclear waste in Yucca Mountain in Nevada, but that plans have been slow and are very controversial. Where is our nuclear waste kept now and what dangers does it pose?              — Miriam Clark, Reno, Nev.

        Plans to store the majority of our nation’s spent nuclear fuel and other highly radioactive waste at a central repository underneath Yucca Mountain in the Nevada desert 80 miles from Las Vegas were first hatched in the mid-1980s. But the project has languished primarily due to opposition from Nevadans who don’t want to import such dangerous materials into their backyard. Critics of the plan also point out that various natural forces such as erosion and earthquakes could render the site unstable and thus unsuitable to store nuclear isotopes that can remain hazardous to humans for hundreds of thousands of years to come.
        But the Bush administration is keen to jump-start the project and recently submitted a construction license application to develop the facility — which when completed could hold up to 300 million pounds of nuclear waste — with the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). In announcing the filing, Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman said that the facility being proposed can “stand up to any challenge anywhere,” adding that issues of health safety have been a primary concern during the planning process.
        {mosimage}But the administration has still not submitted a crucial document declaring how protective the facility will be with regard to radiation leakage. Bush’s Environmental Protection Agency concluded that the facility needs to prevent radiation leakage for up to 10,000 years. But a federal judge ruled that to be inadequate and ordered the administration to require protection for up to 1 million years. The White House argues that the NRC should press on with its review process and that the standard can be settled on later.
        Currently, without any central repository, nuclear waste generated in the U.S. is stored at or near one of the 121 facilities across the country where it is generated. Nevadans like Democratic Sen. Harry Reid, who has doggedly opposed the Yucca Mountain repository, say it makes more sense to leave such waste where it is than to risk transporting it across the nation’s public highways and rail system, during which accidents or even terrorist attacks could expose untold numbers of Americans to radioactivity.
        But others say that the current system, or lack thereof, leaves Americans at great risk of radioactive exposure. The nonprofit Nuclear Information and Resource Service concluded in a 2007 report that tons of radioactive waste were ending up in landfills and in some cases in consumer products, thanks to loopholes in a 2000 federal ban on recycling metal that had been exposed to radioactivity.
        As with all issues surrounding nuclear technology, where and how to dispose of the wastes is complicated. While some environmental leaders now cautiously support development of more nuclear reactors (which are free of fossil fuels) to help stave off climate change, others remain concerned that the risks to human health and the environment are still too high to go down that road. Whether or not the NRC approves plans for Yucca Mountain won’t resolve the larger debate, of course, but perhaps the greenlighting of other promising alternative energy sources could ultimately make nuclear power unnecessary altogether.
        CONTACTS: Nuclear Regulatory Commission, www.nrc.gov; Nuclear Information and Resource Service, www.nirs.org.
        GOT AN ENVIRONMENTAL QUESTION? Send it to: EarthTalk, c/o E/The Environmental Magazine, P.O. Box 5098, Westport, CT 06881; submit it at: www.emagazine.com/earthtalk/thisweek/, or e-mail: earthtalk@emagazine.com. Read past columns at: www.emagazine.com/earthtalk/archives.php.

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