Bloglanta

Overheard on WABE… Instructions on what to do if your car skids! Hilarious! They  actually felt it necessary to tell tell people to take their foot of the accelerator and NOT put on the brake! Hello? Anyone else take Driver’s Ed?

Oh… wait, we’re in Atlanta! This is the city where too many people think that passing on the right is just fine and that  turn signals are completely optional.

Atlanta is also the city where the number of the road seems to be the speed limit too. Briarcliff? That’s route 33. I-85?  Pretty obvious. People on the city’s one toll way really do seem at least to want to travel 400 miles an hour.

Okay, so with the possible winter weather coming, be smart. Warn your boss that you might be a little late tomorrow and take it slow. Slow, relaxed, and easy. That’s the key.

Macon, a veritable Justin Timberlake of a city, is bringing First Night Back.

For those of you unfamiliar with First Night, it’s a roughly 15 year old tradition in which, rather than getting snookered out of your skull and freezing to pieces, you go to a wide variety of artistic events and then see fireworks at midnight.  Fun for grownups, great for the kids.

Atlanta should have one of these events. They did in the days when John Briggs was in town. We have the artistic companies, we have the venues (though the lack of close proximity is what makes this a difficult process) and we have a population looking for interesting and affordable things to do.  Even if the folks downtown or in midtown did not want to pick it up, a city such as Decatur or East Point would get such an infusion of people and popularity from an event like this.  That they don’t amazes.

Gainesville picked up the mantle for Georgia, but after a couple of good years, their effort began to substantially slide.  They have decided not to do a First Night this year.

Now Macon is giving it a shot.  Their publicity has not been great.  There have been no artist profiles, no area map; just a website mention which clicks through to a word document of events.  Still, it’s better than nothing and, if you live in town or just south, it’s easy to make it down and back!  Plus, one of the venues is St. Joseph’s Cathedral, a century old building which has been completely restored.  Beautiful.

Dear Lois….

You hot sexy mama!!!!!!! You did it! You are the stuff. Will I give to WABE this year? You bet!

Why didn’t you tell us you were broadcasting in HD? Three different streams all the time! A feed for the news junkies? Yes! One for Classical Music to keep broadcast access to one of our greatest art forms? Yes. Plus the regular stream! These same streams are echoed on the Web.

All in HD Radio! Absolutely terrific! Thank you very much!

For those of you unfamiliar with HD radio, it’s a digital signal which new HD radio receivers can pick up and it sends out a digitally encoded signal. The standard allows for up to three formats in roughly each frequency range. WABE is using HD1 for it’s regular signal, HD2 for its classical music stream, and HD3 for the all news channel. Best of all, this is in the broadcast band! It’s free! All you need is a receiver.

Right now, for the most part, HD radios are a bit pricey, but more and more manufacturers are making them. However, Radio Shack has a model which if you purchase before Christmas 2006 is less than $150 with Rebate. It’s not the fanciest, but you’ll have 40 channels of radio in FM alone and no monthly fee to pay!

Now… if I could only get an HD radio card for my treo….

So the best selling book in the world, every year in fact, is the Bible.  Ironically, it’s also the most widely stolen book from Walden Books at Lenox.  It’s stolen so much that they had to move the bible section right next to the check out.

This is incredibly ironic since the Bible condemns thievery and since you can read the bible for free on line and any number of churches will give it to you.

Still, there is something heartening to know that of all the books to be stolen out of the very center of  feeding our material needs, it’s the Bible and not something by Donald Trump.

In the final analysis, people should vote for Mark Taylor to be the next Governor of Georgia.  He is more likely to develop regional rail.  He is more likely to fully fund educational progress in this state.  He’s more likely to veto silly bills from the legislature, and PeachKids is a good idea.  He’s better than the current Governor.

That being said,  Taylor is running a lousy campaign.  He never mended fences with Cathy Cox.  His idea for eliminating parole is crazy.   He has not talked about how he will fund his new initiatives and he never put the muscle behind registering the 100,000 new voters he challenged Georgians to register.

Still, unlike the current Governor, he has not lost 3 car plants.  He did not promise a regional train line and fail to put his political muscle behind it, nor did he have his friends in the legislature pass a law specifically designed to benefit him.  He was always for changing the flag and did not deceive the people who elected him after he won.

There is also the larger sense.  Sonny Perdue has no vision.  That’s why his campaign is based on “What’s on Your Sonny Do List”?

That’s followship, not leadership!

Georgia needs a strong hand at the helm.  Roy Barnes was certainly bombastic, loud, and perhaps even a little arrogant, but he had a vision and a plan.  Perdue won precisely because he didn’t have a plan.  His has been a governorship of minding the store not making it stronger and more vibrant.

Mark Taylor wants improved educational access to schools, affordable prescriptions, and comprehensive health care for all Georgian Children.  Like it or don’t like it, but the guy has an agenda.  You know what benchmarks he’s using and how to measure them.  He believes he knows how to make Georgia better and that confidence alone sets him ahead of Perdue.

What gives with the AJC?  The election is approaching and the Constitution is making endorsements.  However, they are endorsing nearly all the incumbents.  For a paper whose editorial board (both left and right) constantly decries current policy and seems to want new visions, the consistent endorsement of incumbents is odd.

For Cobb County, they’re headline is explicit: “Incumbents the Better Choice”.  Huh?  Though the paper has yet to make all it’s endorsements, the only statewide incumbents it has not endorsed are those running for the Public Service Commission.

What should be different?  State School Superintendent for one.  A Republican intendant with a Republican legislature has led to less total per pupil funding for schools and a drop in Georgia’s rankings.  Who knew they could drop?  Yet Kathy Cox (with a K) found a way!  Either opponent has a better chance at making waves and progress!  Even if the paper did not want to be seen as endorsing Democrats, this is a race where Libertarian David Chastain would have been a reasonable alternative.  His plan is to get the office appointed with a rigorous set of requirements for the selection process.  At least there is some sense then that the person running knows something about education!

Why almost all incumbents almost all the time?  There is an obvious meta reason.  The AJC editorial board is now a two paned (pained?) window on the world.  The board is still made up of the remnants of the Atlanta Journal and Atlanta Constitution boards.  Because of this, members for both sides seem to feel as though they have to stick up for their ideologies and the folks who represent them.  This makes it hard to have a cohesive vision of what’s ‘good for Atlanta’.  When it comes time to compromise on an endorsement, it becomes easier to support the known devil.

It’s also the case, that this ideological split has made quantitative judgments more important in the decision making.  Incumbents are far more likely to be able to give detailed information about office they hold than those who are on the outside trying wrangle the keys away for the current holder.

What then is needed?  In the short term, a defense.  Surely they must have noticed the number of incumbents they support.  Why?  Cynthia Tucker’s recent column does not answer.

Long term, the members of the board may need to change so that there is a cohesiveness of vision.  Bring back Marilyn Geewax to associate edit and you have a plan!

In the meantime, it will be interesting to see who Creative Loafing endorses and whether the Sunday Paper reacts the exact opposite way!

Does Anyone have a problem with the Masthead of the Atlanta Journal Constitution on June 04?  Look Closely.  That’s not Atlanta!!! The AJC folks put the Seattle Skyline on our paper! 
Can you imagine any New York Paper doing this?  The Daily News?  Not a chance!  The Post?  Forget it.  Chicago Papers too!  The Sun Times would never put Atlanta’s skyline above the lead story.  The Empire State Building will not be part of the Tribune Masthead.
Yes.  I know there is an article about the Seattle art scene.  That’s great.  Really!  Arts coverage is fantastic. 
But when you put their skyline on your mast head, you’re admitting you have no civic pride.  The Atlanta Constitution is a paper with a noble past and has historically tied itself to the city.  It has great reporters who work hard and try to be incisive.  Somewhere, it’s leadership have lost the clarion call as the bully pulpit that moves Atlanta toward a better future. 
Again, look at the stories above the fold.  What is the first story?  The lead?  Whale Sharks.  Not examination of the City of Atlanta or the choices voters will face in the upcoming primary season, but hey!  More Fish!  Even the political story on the front page is not a piece of public journalism, but a process story.   The publisher is not even a known force in Atlanta!  Think about.  Names 6 things about John Mellott right now.  Go ahead!  Try Googlism.  It won’t help! 
Julia Wallace, the Editor, is trying various programs to improve the paper, but she’s not focused on leadership of the city.  Newspapers do more than report.  They have a leadership role.  Ken Edelstein at Creative Loafing understands that.  The Newspaper represents the city.   Ours apparently represents Seattle.

Too many Atlantans have Idol time.  Theaters across town saw their attendance dip on Wednesday, May 24.  Why?  American Idol.  People stayed home to watch Fox rather than seeing live actual people in plays, comedies, dramas, and yes, musicals.  Even the Atlantix Booths showed significant drop off in people buying theatrical tickets.  One local theater saw a night that usually draws 30 to 50 people, draw 3.  Yes.  3. 
Other cities did not suffer the same fate.  Hot Tix in Chicago had a normal night and sold out of its allotment for several shows.  Theaters in Detroit and Boston had normal nights.
So what about Atlanta makes people stay home?  Traffic?  Not on a Wednesday.  Braves, Force, Gladiators?  Not in town on the 24th.  Too some degree, we’re just a Fox kind of culture here.  Perhaps, Atlantans have been operantly conditioned to watch more TV than folks in other cities. 
In any case, this event is disturbing.  No non-news television program should have that large an effect on a populace or arts scene.
Hey!  You!  GET OFF THE COUCH and hear Really Talented People Sing!!!!

At least someone is trying to do something about Genocide in the Sudan.  Our unsung hero this time is Temple Sinai.  They have actively trying to put pressure on the Bush Administration to get involved.  They’ve printed postcards for everyone in their congregation and anyone else who is interested to send to the White House.  Within this congregation they have even paid postage.  Everyone else can easily sign, stamp, and at least raised their voice.

As places in America lose their individuality and meaning, names too mutate into meaninglessness. The American corporate mind has a moronic genius for this kind of thing.

– James Howard Kunstler, 1993

In the beginning, there was Terminus. Five years later, there was Marthasville. Everybody except the governor and his daughter, Martha, hated that name. So, two years later J. Edgar Thomson, chief engineer of the Georgia Railroad gave our city a new name: Atlanta.

Apparently the feminine form of “Atlantic,” our city’s Name has since had an attractive mystique to it. When you think about it, the Name, especially when spoken in a native Atlantan tongue, carries the sound of optimism within it. Go ahead, say it out loud like you’re explaining your birthplace to a yankee. Who in their right mind would utter “aT-lan-Ta” in such a blasphemous tone?

Juan Antonio Samaranch.

That probably explains what really happened when Samaranch announced who would be hosting the 1996 Olympic Games. You remember that moment when the entire Atlanta delegation stood up. All they could do was look around the room and ask, “Who?”

It’s “a’-Lan-ah,” or in its two-syllable form: “Lan-ah.” You say the “a’” like you’re not really sure where you’re from, probably because you grew up in the suburbs. You say the “Lan” like you’re talking about a computer network. We’re a city always on the move, except when there’s traffic. You say “ah” like you’ve just taken a sip from a refreshing bottle of Coke on a steamy summer afternoon, but without making a big deal over such a little syllable. After all, with all that sugar and caffeine, Coke can’t really refresh you — it only creates that perception.

The Name is among the first corporate gifts bestowed to Atlanta, and it’s no doubt fitting for the city that inspired the regime theory of urban governance.

Embedded in our name, the strongest syllable, Lan, gives us our soul and sustenance. Driven by an insatiable appetite for pavement, our state pioneered the Department of Transportation as the fourth branch of government. With little fanfare or accountability measures, the State Constitution bypasses the legislature and appropriates money for building a system of roads and bridges. When the network is jammed, all we can say is, “so much for transportation.”

More to the point of our dominant syllable, Lan also gives us one of the world’s busiest airports. We are part of a wider, global network. In fact, we are a hub in that network. With a perception of gracious accommodation, we’ve built for ourselves a place where other people flock for jobs and mobility.

In the early ’80s, Atlanta was the “City Without Limits.” The branding campaign of those days reflected our geography. Landlocked with only political borders to split us apart, we used nearly unlimited cash funds to pave our way without regard to borders. The optimism following the 1970s era oil crisis led us to believe we would never face such a nightmare again. It’s all so 20th century.

Today, Atlanta is the place where “Every Day is an Opening Day.” With our limits defined by our own boredom from driving, there is a new spirit of optimism. There must be something better we can create for ourselves. And now, there’s plenty of room to do that. Every day, new land developments will open. It won’t happen because there is so much space to fill out in the nether-regions of our metro. It will happen because there is so much space to fill right here in the center. It’s all so 21st century.

For all times, Atlanta is a place defined by its own Name, history and geography. The Name retains its attractive mystique, no matter how the place is shaped. For the future, the network must be made more efficient. Lan is in our heart. Lan is in our Name.

Atlanta: The World Lands Here