Butler / Local Interest

The Allegheny Health Department and the Pennsylvania Resources Council will be conducting a “Hard To Recycle” Drop Off Collection Event this Saturday, 7/26/2008, at the Mall at Robinson, from 10AM to 2PM. Items being collected include old TVs, tires, computers, etc. There is a recycling fee for each item. For more information, please click on this link. There will be two more events in 2008 after this one: 1) Saturday, 9/20/2008 at the North Park Pool parking lot and 2) Saturday, 11/15/2008 at the Mall at Robinson. I have an old dehumidifier (with Freon), computer, and CRT monitor that I would like to dispose of properly. Even though I live North of Pittsburgh, I plan on going to this event in case I can not go to one of the later events in 2008. Be Green.

Last Friday, the Pittsburgh Post Gazette first reported that KDKA TV had fired meteorologist Valerie Abati and hired freelance, veteran meteorologist Dennis Bowman to replace her. I check my blog stats from time to time with Statcounter, and I was amazed to see the number of page loads on my blog was well over 100 last Friday and yesterday, Monday. My normal daily page load is somewhere between 25 and 35. The most visited post on those 100 plus page load days was a post from last October when KDKA first hired Abati. I did not realize how much Pittsburghers were interested in who presents the local TV weather forecast. The article in the Post Gazette does not state a specific reason why Abati was fired, but it does mention that viewers were critical of her coverage of thunderstorms on the 11:00PM June 29 newscast. Also, some viewers on a local TV chat board complained about her voice. Pittsburgh is a tough media market for TV personalities. When KDKA TV announced the hiring of Abati in October, I always wondered why they did not hire Dennis Bowman instead. Bowman has a lot of experience, is well respected, and his voice is clear and crisp.

After a big project is finished, I like to reflect on it a bit. Guess Whose Hair I'm Wearing turned out very differently than I had planned. I don’t mean that in one of these effete writerly ways of, “Oh I just started writing and the characters took over” (which I find incredibly annoying), but rather in the scope of the play’s subject – Hildegarde and Franklin. I had originally imagined this as a play of Dolson talking about Dolson. A reveal, if you will, of how, what we now call, the Oil Heritage Region had shaped her as a person and a writer. But when people asked me what project I was currently working on, I would say a one woman show about Hildegarde Dolson I was usually, even here in Franklin, met with blank looks.

So, for the record, Hildegarde Dolson Lockridge was a poet, playwright, and novelist who wrote 14 books, including the one that people locally had heard of, if they had heard of any at all, The Great Oildoarado. She was born and grew up here in Franklin, Pennsylvania. August 31st would have been her 100th birthday. After a stint at Allegheny College, she moved to New York City, where she wrote hundreds of articles for the major magazines of the day New Yorker, Harper’s, and dozens of others.

San Francisco Chronicle critic J.H. Task wrote of her 1955 book, Sorry to be So Cheerful, “She can pick any subject, take a brief highly personal look at it and when she puts it down again it will never be quite the same. . . Dolson [writes]deftly, wittily and with just the right dash of residual common sense which makes a funny piece stick in the reader’s mind.”

Yet, today, she is largely forgotten in her hometown. So, with the help of the Barrow Civic Theater, my wife Amy, my daughter Paige, The Franklin Public Library, John McConnell, Rosie Petulla, Ronnie Beith, Senator Mary Jo White, Roland Davis and his wife (who gave me a personal tour of Dolson's childhood home)and others, I began to put together both the research, the writing, and the funding to write and produce the play.

As I began haunting online rare bookshops, buying and reading everything I could find the Dolson had written, I began to change my outline for the play. There seemed something very poignant in the years 1959-1964 in Dolson’s life. In retrospect, readers can see it as a beginning of a turning point in her career, where she will quit writing the sort of essays that brought her fame and adoration and switch to murder mysteries, when she will abandon her free-wheeling “That Girl” persona for marriage to a fellow writer in 1965 and acting as his literary agent. What, I began to wonder, what would it have been like if she came back to her hometown as an honored guest (with all the internal stress of returning home and being expected to perform, both as an artist and in the role of small town girl made good), that was actually a last huzzah before she moved into a new place in her life. I drew largely from her own published writings, adapting them for the stage, cutting out references that were too obscure while attempting to preserve the unique feel of the time, linking them together and trying to tease out the themes that connect all of her pre-detective story writings.

By 2010, this play will be published with a critical bibliography of Dolson’s work. By that time as well, a request for a Pennsylvania Historical Commission marker to acknowledge Dolson and her contribution will have been submitted. If anyone is interested in helping with either of these projects, please feel free in contacting me. Some of you already have and I was deeply heartened by it. Here in Western Pennsylvania, we do a great job of saving the Great White Males, but many other voices have been largely forgotten. It’s my hope that this project will be the first of many that help to reclaim those lost voices of the Oil Heritage Region.

DIY Image Transfer


Yesterday, I saw three people (all in different locations) wearing local band t-shirts (the RickDan band, Veteran Status, and Newmen to be precise). It really made me feel incredibly hopeful about the little nascent scene here.


Golly, wouldn't a Venango Zine Fest be fun?


Thirteen years ago, William Dranginis saw Bigfoot. Fifty grand, a van, and a camera in a log later, the quest continues.

Foot doctor Richard Dunlap has photographed a wide variety of the detritus left by the oil boom. Now, several of the pictures are featured in a new Oil 150 exhibit in the Venango Museum of Science, Industry and Technology in Oil City. The public unveiling is set during an open house from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday , tonight, at the museum.
I've become strangely entranced with Slinkachou's art.:

I can personally vouch for these two; pros through and through and nice people to boot. So why not spend 3 nights and days honing your photographic skills, taking great fall images in the Appalachian mountain area of North East Pennsylvania.

Instructors Jim and Jessica Kronmiller, nationally known photographers, will share their years of experience capturing stunning nature images with a limited class size of 6 students. Allowing for plenty of one on one instruction time.

This workshop will be held October 9th thru the 11th, on the Buck Valley Ranch, a year round resort, and will include lodging (2 or 3 students to a ranch room), a horseback ride, and meals. If you like country style images; old barns, country churches, beautiful landscapes, scenic streams & mountain views, this is the workshop for you. Come enjoy a great fall experience!

Costs: Only $599.00 - includes; meals, lodging, 2.5 hr horseback ride and in-depth instruction.

Reserve your spot for this years workshop before August 30, 2008!

For more information call : (814) 673-0900 or email

Yesterday, Paul Westerberg made available a 44-minute single MP3 file of a dozen-plus songs, dubbed "49," for 49 cents. Amazon.com is handling the commerce via a link from the Westerberg Web site Men Without Ties.


Free and Legal Downloads:

Tor.com lists free and legal downloadable science fiction and fantasy e-books. (via)

Mike Doughty Live at Artscape on July 19, 2008

Grace Potter and the Nocturnals Live at All Good Music Festival on July 11, 2008

Explosions in the Sky Live at The Grey Eagle on March 14, 2007

The Black Angels Live at The Grey Eagle on July 4, 2008

Mission of Burma Live at The Bohemian National Home on July 19, 2008

Venangoland previews the Thursday's Silver Cornet band concert which will feature Jim Self:
This week's Franklin Silver Cornet Band concert will feature an appearance by tuba pro Jim Self.

Self was born in Franklin and raised in Oil City. Consequently, though he's come back and appeared in the area a few times, I'm not sure that people in these parts get how enormous he is in the biz. He's the heir-apparent to the great Tommy Johnson, the go-to guy for film scores-- Self has appeared in everything from his famous mother ship solo in Close Encounters to more recent films like Lemony Snicket, War of the Worlds, & Sin City. He has way over a thousand film credits, as well as recording credits with everyone from Leon Redbone to Maynard Fergusun to Barbra Streisand. He has worked with orchestras and jazz groups around the globe. He is without a doubt one of the top low brass players in the world.
Meadville's skate park needs some repairs. And no wonder:
According to the attendance report compiled by the complex, a total of 1,500 users made use of the skateboard facility during June. . . . far ahead of the 875 who used the baseball fields and the 750 who made use of the tennis courts during public sessions.

I guess it's really not a crime. Who knew?



I'm reading Museum of the Missing: A History of Art Theft by Simpon Houpt for the Franklin Public Library's Summer Reading Program for Grown-Ups - it's an exploration of art theft, both thuggy and institutionalized.


What's the future of photojournalism?

Art makes better doctors.


Yeats in the Digital Age

Tomorrow's father daughter project? A papercraft steampunk x wing kit.


Free and Legal Downloads:

Fiery Furnaces Live at East River Park, NY NY July 17, 2008

Retribution Gospel Choir Live at Bottom of the Hill on July 8, 2008

Hayseed Dixie Live at Stella Blue on May 7, 2008

Yesterday I went and got my new 4 year mugshot - my new Pennsylvania Photo ID Drivers License. I took a late lunch and strolled into the Driver License Center around 1:00PM. A greeter met me and asked me what service was I there for. He then gave me a numbered ticket - it was like I was at the deli in Giant Eagle. There was no waiting at all and my number was called almost instantly. The signature capture pad device which captures your John Hancock was pretty bad, I opted not to try it again. The photographer then took one head shot. He asked if I wanted to try again and I said not really, but he insisted, so I took another one. The photog even encouraged me to flash my pearly whites. The second photo looked better than the first one, so I went with the second one. Compared to my previous license, the older license had more of my upper body in the pic. My new photo license is more of a head shot. My signature is so small, I am not sure why it is on there. Can I live with this for the next 4 years? Yeah, it is not too bad, not too good.

If you're coming to Guess Whose Hair I'm Wearing tonight or tomorrow make sure that you say "hi". I'll be the short fat ugly guy wearing black, a frantic expression on his face and a glass of box wine in his hand.

The Franklin Barrow Civic has made a fantastic move in offering a family friendly price package for all remaining shows in the current season. You can buy 2 adult tickets and 2 children's tickets for $50. About $12 per ticket. While I'd like to see a drop to $10 per ticket and maybe even a student rush program (Tickets drop to $5 for students in the last half hour before a show). This is a fabulous step in the right direction of making the arts available and accessibly to everyone in Venango County.

Speaking of the Barrow, Dave the tech guy (no last names please) is moving to a new position at Joy Manufacturing (with the very talented Linda Henderson of the Latonia Theatre). He will be missed.

The two most fabulous things I saw in downtown Franklin this week?

A fully-loaded for-touring Rivendell Atlantis bicycle bizarrely leaning in front of Spanky's Tobacco Emporium and a guy with a homemade prison style Tippy the Turtle Tattoo

I wonder if they were related somehow?



Venangoland has been updated with an essay on "Schools vs the Real World".



Aluminum Lego Key Chains? Yes. Yes. And yes.



The Erie Times News profiles the Chaffee Gathering Music Festival.



Pittsburgh's Irish and Classical Theatre is presenting the complete plays of John Synge. Wow.



Chatham University has announced thier "Bridges to Other Worlds: An International Literary Festival." from Oct. 4-5 will feature Robert Hass and, one of my daughter's favorite writers, Naomi Shahib Nye.


A new music festival in Pittsburgh is founded in memory of Alexander Berkman -- the anarchist who tried to assassinate Henry Clay Frick.


Pittsburgh's Brillobox, recently profiled in the NYTimes, has gone to an all vegetarian menu.


Upcoming Shows Of Interest:

Guess Whose Hair I'm Wearing? at the Barrow Civic Theatre Little Theatre 91223 Liberty St, Franklin, PA) Doors open at 6:30, show starts at 7pm. Tickets $5 at the door - free for students and seniors with ID.

An Evening of Ragtime And Klezmer - 8pm Saturday and 3 pm Sunday at Foxburg PA's Lincoln Hall. $15 at the door.


The Butler Art Center's open mic Spirit Cafe runs Friday from 8-10

Gypsy Dave and the Stumpjumpers play Meadville's Artist Cup Cafe Fridy at 9 pm. No cover.

Newmen play a free show at Meadville's at 9 pm Saturday.

The Cellar Dwellers bring improv to Seneca's Brother Bean Saturday night from 7-9 pm. No cover.

Free and Legal Downloads

Grace Potter and the Nocturnals Live at All Good Music Festival on July 11, 2008

Animal Collective Live at Lux Frágil on May 28, 2008

Spin Doctors Live at Fiesta Days on July 12, 2008

Slammed by work, just a quick one.

I have iminta beta invites. If you want one, email me.

Oil Heritage is going regional.

indie.tv streams independent films, documentaries, and more.

Writer's Mug is a collection of woodblock print portraits of writers.

It's good to see that nice Feist girl getting some work


Free and Legal Downloads:

..And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead Live at Illini Media Building (WPGU 107.1 Studios) on November 9, 2007

The Black Angels Live at Logan Square Auditorium on June 20, 2008

Three more stores have been confirmed for the Shoppes at Adams Ridge according to notices and the companies' websites. This is in addition to other stores and restaurants that were announced in earlier posts. Cribs to Teens - Offers infant and teen furniture as well as specialty clothing and gift items. According to their website, "We are the areas largest independent children's specialty

The Pittsburgh Post Gazette reported yesterday that former ESPN 1250 sports talk host Mark Madden may join WXDX FM. Madden was fired from ESPN 1250 after making derogatory remarks about Senator Edward M. Kennedy.

If Madden returns to WXDX, he would most likely be on the afternoon drive time slot from 3PM to 6/7 PM. The format of the show would probably be a mixture of music, talk, and sports.

What about the time slot that was vacated on ESPN 1250 when Madden was fired? No decision has been made yet, but it seems like ESPN 1250 would like to have a permanent solution for their afternoon drive time slot near the opening of Steelers training camp.

Even though Madden was let go in late May, I still listen to ESPN 1250 on my way home from work. To me the content of the afternoon sports talk show is more important than the host of the show. Since Madden was released, ESPN 1250 has used a variety of hosts. It has actually been refreshing listening to different opinions and analyses.