The video here is only a taste of the outside activity.  For a really good look inside, check the project’s photo gallery at its website. Some great photos here  – only problem is you can’t stop the slide show and the pictures change a little too quickly.  But you’ll still [...]]]>

Click here to view the embedded video.

The video here is only a taste of the outside activity.  For a really good look inside, check the project’s photo gallery at its website. Some great photos here  – only problem is you can’t stop the slide show and the pictures change a little too quickly.  But you’ll still get an idea of the scope of this wonderful project for the city of Elkhart.

I don’t agree with absolutely everything here, but 99% of it rings true. A couple of money quotes:

What about the role of government? Well, in the abstract, coming from my time and background, I thought it [...]]]> One of our best, if not the best playwrights writes about his departure from liberalism. In the Village Voice no less.

I don’t agree with absolutely everything here, but 99% of it rings true. A couple of money quotes:

What about the role of government? Well, in the abstract, coming from my time and background, I thought it was a rather good thing, but tallying up the ledger in those things which affect me and in those things I observe, I am hard-pressed to see an instance where the intervention of the government led to much beyond sorrow.

But if the government is not to intervene, how will we, mere human beings, work it all out?

I wondered and read, and it occurred to me that I knew the answer, and here it is: We just seem to. How do I know? From experience. I referred to my own—take away the director from the staged play and what do you get? Usually a diminution of strife, a shorter rehearsal period, and a better production.

The director, generally, does not cause strife, but his or her presence impels the actors to direct (and manufacture) claims designed to appeal to Authority—that is, to set aside the original goal (staging a play for the audience) and indulge in politics, the purpose of which may be to gain status and influence outside the ostensible goal of the endeavor.

Strand unacquainted bus travelers in the middle of the night, and what do you get? A lot of bad drama, and a shake-and-bake Mayflower Compact. Each, instantly, adds what he or she can to the solution. Why? Each wants, and in fact needs, to contribute—to throw into the pot what gifts each has in order to achieve the overall goal, as well as status in the new-formed community. And so they work it out.

Also:

The Constitution, written by men with some experience of actual government, assumes that the chief executive will work to be king, the Parliament will scheme to sell off the silverware, and the judiciary will consider itself Olympian and do everything it can to much improve (destroy) the work of the other two branches. So the Constitution pits them against each other, in the attempt not to achieve stasis, but rather to allow for the constant corrections necessary to prevent one branch from getting too much power for too long.

Rather brilliant. For, in the abstract, we may envision an Olympian perfection of perfect beings in Washington doing the business of their employers, the people, but any of us who has ever been at a zoning meeting with our property at stake is aware of the urge to cut through all the pernicious bullshit and go straight to firearms.

Read the whole thing, please.

The history piece has some of the photos from the print version, but some [...]]]> Today’s Elkhart Truth ran a great story by my friend Marcia Fulmer about the upcoming renovation of Elkhart’s Elco Theatre, along with a nice history of the venerable old building, it’s ups and downs, etc. The announcement of the $13.5MM project is here.

The history piece has some of the photos from the print version, but some of the really rare old historical photos are missing online, and there’s an odd conglomeration of photos from the Elkhart Jazz Festival instead. If you have a chance to look at the printed paper from today, do so. It’s a job well done by Marcia and The Truth.

As usual there are some naysayers who feel as though the Elco is not worth saving, or that the money should go to “help poor people” or some other thing. I say nonsense. Elkhart’s cultural life has suffered a good bit with the loss of companies like Miles, Whitehall and others. Arts funding has not been as strong since the town lost the upper-management types who patronized the symphony and other venues. Jack Boyd Smith and Gaska Tape, as well as Coachmen Industries, the Rex and Alice Martin Foundation and others have provided a lot of great support, but they can’t do everything, especially without a focal point in the community that says “here’s where the arts live — here’s where your money goes.” For years, the Elco (along with the late, lamented EHS Auditorium) was that focal point. With this project, it can be again.

The arts are a tremendous addition to quality of life in any community. When the quality of life is high, more industries and business will locate here, and more quality individual will do so as well. It’s a win-win for everyone. This is a no-brainer, especially when the alternative could be yet a nother vacant lot with nothing in it to attract people downtown.

The city owes a huge debt of gratitude to Jack Cittadine, who headed up the study group, as well as those on the study group itself, for providing some great direction and an actual plan of attack. Long live the Elco.

This picture, however, proves that camera phones without flashes are pretty [...]]]> Camera phone picture of tonight’s performance of The Man Who Came to Dinner at the Bristol Opera House. Nice performances from Dan Johnson, Scott Fowler Jeanne Drust, Carl Wiesinger and and several others whose names I can’t remember now (sorry folks, you really were good).

This picture, however, proves that camera phones without flashes are pretty much designed for daylight, not small, brightly tungsten-lit stages.

Elkhart Truth review of “The Man who Came to Dinner” is here.