Reimagine The Leslie Park Pool

Ok, we all may remember the The Accordion Pool Party, an outpouring of energy last summer meant to get people thinking about the neighborhood's small outdoor swimming pool.

Now a series of meetings will be held seeking more input and ideas. I think this is from a letter being sent around.

"A pool again?" she writes. "A skate park? A spray park? A community arts center? The planning team wants YOU to share your dreams for the park site, and have a meaningful discussion and move forward. Everyone is welcome! Bring a neighbor, your teenager or grandparent. We want to hear from as many residents as possible!"

We all have our preferences but honestly-- I think pool works best but this is a sweet and potentially useful, well located and interesting space that could be adapted for an outdoor amphitheater or a skate park or perhaps allow many uses. But once again the root problem emerges of a lack of a good transit system capable of bringing the wider community there and the general lack of density in the neighborhood itself (related problems). Lawrenceville has a much smaller population than it once had.

Notice the somewhat threatening use of the term "residents", which is discouraging. Would a little input from a Bloomfield, Stanton Heights or Garfield resident be that out of line? I may be reading too much into that.

Read more on City Walkabout.

Yinz Links Thoughts

Followers of this blog quickly become aware of it's often chaotic nature. Projects are often started and not followed up on and continuing themes like Merge's weekend posts and my Yinz links come and go. There are three main reasons for this.

1) No blogger on this site gets any compensation beyond a very occasional free museum pass. You get what you pay for. At some point in the future we may be able to work in a few revenue generating ideas, but they are not likely to result in significant cash.

2) The blog has no editorial or "management" team. The blog flows with the whims, energy and interest of it's most active posters.

3) One of the leading posters is has ADHD and perhaps a number of other serious mental disorders. (and it's not Susan)

Anyway, the Yinz links series I did for a while may occasionally return in a random and evolved form broken up into categories like Yinz Arts Links; Yinz Economics; Yinz Weird News or something like that. It will not be on every few days.

Spell check doesn't recognise yinz as a word.

Art Inter/National @Boxheart

I took a break from studio work today and wandered up Liberty Avenue to see Boxheart's Art Inter/National today. Lovely day for it. It's great to have such an amazing venue so close to my workspace.

The Art Inter/National is an annual exhibit at Boxheart. From their show statement --

The Art Inter/National Exhibition began in January 2002 with the concept of exploring space, how the immediate environment impacts the artistic process and influences what each artist creates. Inspired by the prestigious Carnegie International, Box Heart Gallery is thrilled to offer the Pittsburgh community an intimate, yearly alternative. Over 275 entries, from regional, national, and international artists, were received this year. Of these entries, 20 artists were selected for participation and 29 works of art in a variety of media will be exhibited.

A variety of media indeed! On exhibit are some very fine works ranging from sculpture to painting.


Watercolor on Paper: Brian Shaughnessy

There is something very compelling about Shaughnessy's works. They are a little on the violent side, but that wasn't why I was drawn to theem. Rather, it was the richness of the work. For all that these are watercolors, there was a real density to the images. Very difficult to achieve with watercolors.


Encaustic: Ariela Steif

I'm a sucker for encaustics. The images above don't really do justice to the works on display at the gallery. As with any encaustic, there is considerably more depth to the works. These have a very interesting surface character, too. The imagery implies violence as it depicts strands of barbed wire.


Mixed Media : Jane Notides-Benzing

This was a sweet little work. There is an airiness to it, no doubt. The colors catch and toss your eye all the way around the work. A very energetic work with a lot of implied movement to it.

As always, a very fine show. Please stop by and find your own favorite among the works.

Art Inter/National
Boxheart
January 5 - January 30, 2010
GALLERY HOURS:
Tuesday: 11 am - 6 pm
Wednesday - Saturday: 10 am - 6 pm
Sunday: 1 pm - 5 pm
4523 Liberty Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15224
P. 412.687.8858
F. 412.687.6338

Jeffrey Deitch Press Conference @ LA MOCA

I found this youtube video of the Deitch press conference on the great blog, Culturegrrl.

Yes, I know this is a Pittsburgh Arts blog but one of my major goals is to try to raise awareness in the city of trends and happenings in the world outside.

Most of the systems and things we counted on in the past are in crisis. An old world is dying and we need to think about what will replace it. The museum director as aloof elitist prince in an ivory tower funded by a few government checks and a grants from a tiny number of supporters is over---thank god! Institutions must be loved, relevant and connected to their communities and the wider world on many levels to thrive.

More thoughts to come.

Good luck, Jeffrey!

Winter In Copenhagen

Copenhagen January Cycling - Your Country from Copenhagenize on Vimeo.

Contrary to popular belief in many places like Denmark and Scandinavia lots of people still bike in the cold and snow if they possibly can. Check out the whole video and the custom mini plow used to clear bike paths.

Found this on Streetsblog.

Update: It's Official, Deitch Projects Will Close

I suppose it's sort of self evident, but Jeffrey's appointment to head LA Moca will result in the closure of his gallery. As of June, this important innovative space which played a big role in the contemporary and street art community will be closed for good.

Not to insult Jeffrey on any level, but one has to wonder if he would have done this in a stronger and less freaked out and conservative art market. A most elegant way to bail and yet live on as a power player.

Transformazium co-founder, and street art creative genius, Swoon as well as CMU alum, Jonathan Borofsky both showed at Deitch.



A few words from Jeffrey about the auction houses and role of fame and money in today's world.

Mover Shaker Art Dealer, Jeffrey Deitch To Head LA MOCA

No time for a big post on this.

After the long boom/bubble, many, many institutions like LA's once leading contemporary art museum are in crisis. People are scrambling and fur is flying, but even so, I doubt many saw a move like this coming.

Once LA's leading venue for new contemporary art, Moca had been eclipsed by the revival of The Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Hammer Museum.

"These two had galvanized their institutions and their boards, siphoning attention, trustees, art and money away from their competitor. Meanwhile, the Museum of Contemporary Art was in debt and was just surviving by drawing down its endowment. In late 2008, to loud objections from the art-loving public, its board contemplated closing the museum and selling its collection or merging with the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The temporary solution was only slightly more palatable: accepting $30million from Eli Broad, the former chairman of the museum’s board."

The Times article shows that Deitch's background as a curator and writer goes beyond just being a wheeler dealer. He may in fact be a great choice who can bring global Art World connections to the table. Keep posted for updates on this fascinating story.

The Power Of 32

Awesome, a new regional project aims to build links among 32 counties in Eastern Ohio, Northern West Virgina and Western Maryland.

A new day has dawned heralding dialog, creativity, transparency, connectivity. They want your input. We can talk, share, collaborate, build together a bright new world. Yes We Can!

Um......... Never mind.

Hat tip to Burgh Diaspora

Great Blog Profile: City Walkabout

I will be randomly throwing up posts about blogs I find of personal interest, most of which shine a light on the Pittsburgh cultural scene, urban oriented design or architecture.

First up is City Walkabout, a blog on the Post site touching on Pittsburgh's neighborhoods and streets from a more personal, practical and pedestrian perspective. One flaw so far is that this blog has to slim comment thread. It would be great if more people would join the conversation.

Check it Out.

City Walkabout

Downtown Pittsburgh in January

The last Gallery Crawl of 2009 was on New Year's Eve. I did go downtown, very briefly, for the crawl. I wanted to head out of town before the "festivities" started. I did get into several venues, thinking that I would return the following Wednesday with camera in hand to take a real good look at the work.

Only a handful of galleries were open, however. Future Tenant, 707 and 709 Penn Avenue galleries were closed for installation. Some, unfortunately, were only open for the crawl. My first stop was the Stories exhibit, at 925 Penn Ave.



Stories is a first-time exhibit of Emphasis Interiors. The concept for the company is to incorporate art into the interior design process. Christine Dregalla plans to produce more of these exhibits in different locations throughout the city. From the show statement --

Stories is an exhibit of art-filled interiors inspired by the narratives of our lives and the meaning we assign to the places we call home. Whether one is a thrilling mystery, an epic saga or an esoteric poem, a customized home reflects the lives unfolding there.

As you can see from the above image, Ms. Dregalla has admirably combined art as well as fine crafts into an interior presentation. Stories is available for viewing Wednesday - Fridays, through the end of January. There is a closing reception planned for February 1 as well as other events and artists talks throughout the month of January. Check here for details and contact information.

One of the venues that I visited on New Year's Eve was 937 Liberty Ave. The third floor was open, with an interesting mix; there was a gospel band, tables of books and a collection of Teenie Harris' photographs. I have seen some of Teenie Harris' burlesque and cabaret photographs before, but never such an extensive collection of them in one place. These were particularly wonderful images,mostly take at the Little Paris Club in the Hill District. I checked the online database for some of the images from this exhibit, but only found the tamer ones. I don't have any images to show you, but the venue is open every Friday for Reverand Deryck Tines' Lunchtime Gospel at 12:15. If you are downtown, try to swing by. It was an amazing collection of drag portraits.

My last stop for the day was SPACE gallery for the Behind Our Scenes exhibit. From the show statement --

Our goal for Behind Our Scenes was twofold. We wanted to both give the artists working 'backstage' in Pittsburgh's art scene their own chance in the spotlight as well as provide an opportunity to celebrate and further unite this community of artists.

I know a lot of artists in the Pittsburgh area. For the life of me, I can't think of a single soul that is supporting themselves solely on their pursuit of the creation of art. All of them are engaged in activities, including teaching, sales, construction or working in a non-profit, in order to pay their bills.

Artists don't create in a vacuum; their art is influenced strongly by their experiences. In some ways, it is more difficult to express your own aesthetics and themes when your day is spent surrounded by the works generated by other artists. In some ways, working for a non-profit arts provider and still creating your own work is one of the most difficult things that you can do as an artist. Many of the artists in this exhibit are surrounded by strong work by masters for a majority of their time.

Another general note about the exhibit: There were a few works that incorporated audio, all of which were playing at the same time. It was a little distracting and difficult to isolate those works so that you could appreciate them on their own merits.



The above work, Nathan Hall's Stalactite, is beautiful. It is this softly glimmering work, with a subtle sound component. I won't try to project a philosophical interpretation on this. For me, it was purely an aesthetic enjoyment of a beautiful object.



Nicole Rosato displayed a series of portraits, If you were a place you'd be..., for this exhibit. There were twelve of these little gems. They are lovely.



This was a very energetic work by Jim Dugas.



Curt Riegelnegg Housing Plans for the New Fiscal Year, Page 1

Mr. Riegelnegg had three works in this series. There was something very appealing about them.



Loved this Exquisite Corpse. It was created by Katherine Young, Jocelyn Horner and Molly Weaver, all of whom work at the Mattress Factory.

Space
Behind Our Scenes
December 11 - February 13, 2010

*Behind Our Scenes artists represent the following Pittsburgh art museums and galleries:The Carnegie Museum of Art, Oakland
The Mattress Factory, North Side
The Andy Warhol Museum, North Side
Fe Gallery, Lawrenceville
Future Tenant, Downtown
Wood Street Galleries, Downtown

Local Film : Blanc De Blanc

Local director Lucas McNelly and his team took a two-week filmmaking challenge and created an intimate poem of a film. I'd love to tell you the story; this would, of course, ruin the viewing experience for you. An unlikely love story between Jude (Rachel Shaw), a young ER nurse working at UPMC Shadyside, and Dave (Jason Kirsch), a stranger without a past who synchronicity brings into her life.

Pittsburgh is the third party in the relationship. The informal visual intimacy we Pittsburghers experience day to day in our neighborhoods are echoed in shots of Shadyside, downtown, the Roberto Clemente Bridge. Cinematographer David Eger captures Pittsburgh's neighborhoody depth of field in precicely-framed, close, yet relaxed shots.

Blanc de Blanc is a rare thing, a nesting-box film that succeeds. Its about love stories and process of relationship itself as much as it is the narrative that unfolds in Jude's life. I'm glad I had the opportunity to watch it privately, to test it as hard as any one tests a suitor.

I found Jude's lack of tests for Dave an exquisitely unbelievable aspect of the plot. My unbelief is, I think, precisely the point - exactly what I needed for the larger functions of the film to become clear.

Within the narrative, the love story unfolds with very real moments of struggle and intimacy. Jude argues with her belief in the possibility of the relationship in a way that is very real, I think, in our own couplings and uncouplings. It is our belief in the very possibility of it that gives any relationship its legs. Lose that belief, and lose the relationship.

Depth of field again ... highly detailed moments contrast with the larger visual & poetic structure making an extraordinary piece of work, regardless of production time. McNelly establishes Dave's character through a short series of images, a brief set of details that open the film. There is exactly enough there for us to struggle with the ambiguity of him - the ambiguity allows a lover's projections of character; the ambiguity provides fuel for the audience to argue with Jude and Dave's choices in the way we would argue with our partners; the ambiguity found in poetry.

Very well-acted - watching the actors dissolve into the story was a pleasure. Their work resonates with ordinary life in just the right way.

My only quibble : sound design. I'd love it if the musical presence took a back seat. Perhaps the constant audio presence is meant to create the sense of closeness that the characters are enduring in their shared environment. Perhaps it points to the persistent unreality of their relationship. The music felt too close to the dialogue. I wanted a little more room, the music pushed a little farther back. Give the visuals a little space. But, that's just my aesthetic talking.

McNelly's been getting a fair amount of attention for the quality of the work here, particularly given the brief production time. I'll forego the pile of links and instead send you to the horse's mouth - http://www.blancdeblancfilm.com/

I certainly hope he's able to line up some of the non-traditional screenings in town to support the film. At an hour and seventeen minutes, its at tightly-edited piece worthy of a few opening short films and a lot of audience.

Keep an eye on where this one goes. Its a gem.

More Pittsburgh Envy

With more and more people aware of Pittsburgh's relative (not absolute) economic strength, more and more are casting envious eyes at our cities deep stock of assets. Yes, we had slums and relatively poor neighborhoods and towns, but we also had a deep middle to wealthy housing stock and an array of majestic parks, museums, libraries, theaters and assets rare for a city of it's size. Pittsburgh in many ways was built to last.

Null Space has a link to an article in Arizona bemoaning the small number college choices in the Phoenix area and in the state as a whole. While, the state grew and grew and grew, few noticed or cared but now some (like me) wonder just how hollow that growth was. It's a slight exaggeration to say Florida, Arizona and Nevada have shell economies but the number of people in those states who built houses, or sold lumber, or made loans, or built stores or paved new roads based on the needs of new residents is pretty staggering. That's the nature of a bubble--no one thinks it will stop. Why look for alternative investments or different businesses to be in when it's so easy to concentrate on what's booming? Why build communities and wonder if your area is "sustainable'? It must be cause people keep comming.

"That doesn't sit well with Mayor Scott Smith, who is working to lure a major medical school or other college to the nation's 38th-largest city.

"We could put five colleges in here and we wouldn't even begin to match what cities our size in other areas of the country have," Smith said.

He cited Pittsburgh, which boasts a population of slightly more than 300,000 - 160,000 fewer than Mesa - but which is home to prestigious schools such as Carnegie Mellon University, Duquesne University and the University of Pittsburgh, as well as several smaller schools."

This is the comment I left on Null Space.

"I think shows that our much maligned "robber barons" and early Pittsburgh leaders made some pretty sound investments in Pittsburgh's colleges, museums, parks and other city assets. (They also left us some very profitable companies)

Say what you will about Carnegie, He didn't skimp on leading edge technology and efficiency upgrades in his plants and he left a flawed but fairly wise legacy."

What's happened since is very much another story.

Great Steeler Shrine In Post Gazette

Believe me, if you live here, you've seen your share of Pittsburgh Steeler shrines and Man Caves (not all made by men)but the one in today's post is above average for sure and likely borders on good folk art. It includes a good story too.

Like all real shrines, it combines holy relics, objects of devotion, proof of sacred moments or miracles and the physical manifestation of it's creator's love and devotion.

"More hand-painted miniatures. No. 92 is body-slamming a Browns fan. Several years ago, linebacker James Harris (who wears 92) did just that to a drunken Browns fan who ran onto the field."

Two seats from Three Rivers Stadium

Steel beam from Three Rivers Stadium

Chef's hat that was signed by former Steelers wide receiver Antwaan Randle El

Huge photo of the Ice Bowl signed by some of the greats who played in the game

"And then there's the pickle slice that one of the DeLuca boys tossed against the stadium wall one day after removing it from a hamburger. It, or a facsimile, stayed there for years. Before Three Rivers turned to dust, "we scraped it off the wall, took it to Kinko's and had it laminated," Mr. DeLuca said.

There's a red-white-and-blue football that his mother, the late Violet DeLuca, hid in 1965 to stop him from throwing it against the walls.

"The day she was on her death bed, she told me there was a football hidden inside a plastic seasonal coat bag" in the closet, he said."

The photos are great but I wish for more closeups of Deluca's hand painted figures and other stuff.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10009/1026824-30.stm##ixzz0c8npQUs5

Another Note About Links

I'm gradually piling in a few new links, perhaps 6 or 7 in the last week and a good number before that. A lot of them are long overdue things like the City Walkabout blog on the Post Gazette site and the three City Paper blogs.

I just want to repeat that a link from this blog to your site is not complete endorsement of it's content. For example, I just added the Transportation for America site which is mostly a high pressure sales pitch and advocacy campaign for major government mass transit and rail funding. While I strongly endorse mass transit and even more importantly a return to the denser more walkable communities and design concepts that once made transit viable--as a Libertarian or Libertarian Republican, I don't think this is an area government should be in at all-- most especially the Federal Government. After holding my nose and looked further I had to admit they can be a good source of tips, articles, studies and links about transit issues as well as critiques of our flawed car oriented highway policies. I know it sounds nuts, but I actually think self funding privately owned mass transit and rail networks could become viable----if they didn't have to compete with the mostly "free" government highways. Freight Rail is coming back and hanging on in spite of a very unfair playing field and In Hong Kong a private company has made running a subway into a very profitable business. (while keeping fares pretty afordable)

I also hold an even more fringe view that a return to dense, mixed use urban design will make feet the primary transport mode.

Hollywood Dormont January Film Schedule

To the extent there's a theme to this blog or at least my post's on it, it's that the little things in the city that often matter most. And cheap ones are even better.

So in keeping with that, I celebrate the rebirth of Dormont's Hollywood Theatre, a good cheap place to watch classic, old, forgotten or just weird fun films in an actual theater. (Um, haven't been there yet)

This Month's schedule is very full and includes

The Original Batman Movie
Rocky
Casablanca
North By Northwest
Grand Torino
Abbott & Costello
Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Rocky Horror

See the full schedule here.

And yes, cause it's a suburb in the South Hills and not in the city-- you can take the T there! Well, actually it's more a little town just at the edge of the city with what could be a sweet but very small business district with a nice used bookstore, a good deli, small good diner; good Pizzaria, I think a cool looking pool hall and some other stores. I lived there for a few months off Potomac just above Banksville Road (really a nasty highway) The Hollywood was empty then. (Funny how we so often call nasty highways, roads or better yet "parkways". Are we ashamed?)

Hey kids, go play in the parkway!

More on the Theatre's history here.

Palm Springs Modern @ Carnegie Museum Of Art

Visual Acoustics: The Modernism of Julius Shulman [trailer]
Uploaded by dstroii. - Discover more animation and arts videos.

Most people including myself don't always think about architecture, but as Julius Shulman says in the video above, it's something that affects our lives in the deepest way.

Anyway, the Carnegie has an absolutely fantastic show up right now of photos taken by the master photographer, Julius Shulman of the modern architecture of Palm Springs. Most are photos of the private second homes built for relaxation and enjoyment in a beautiful natural setting. A very high percentage of the masterworks of modern architecture are private homes and few places have as many as Palm Springs. Seeing these homes through the eyes of a master photographer who photographed the area over a lifetime takes things to another level.

The show is very well put together and includes a great film about Shulman in Palm Springs that puts things in perfect context.

Here's a blurb from Justin Hopper's review in the City Paper.

"In Palm Springs Modern: The Photographs Of Julius Shulman, at the Carnegie Museum Of Art, we can see Shulman's oeuvre in yet another light: as an attestation to the strange sublimity that defined the postwar American Dream.

Shulman's photographs of Palm Springs depict a time period readily identified. As second homes for movie stars and "mad men"-- houses for Sinatra and Doris Day join Kaufmann's in the exhibit- these were designs uninhibited by desire for privacy or workspace. They were "machines for relaxing in"."

Show closes Jan 31st.

Almost all amazing shows at the Carnegie right now. Be back with more thoughts like it or not.

Beware Of Feds Bearing Gifts

While doing research on another much more in depth post, I came to realise how much our current cities and landscapes had been shaped by projects born in the last great economic downturn when the Federal Government offered to "stimulate" and improve cities.

Few were as eager for the cash as Newark, New Jersey. "Newark pursued Federal Funds".

"The city made serious mistakes with public housing and urban renewal, although these were not the sole causes of Newark's tragedy. Across several administrations, the city leaders of Newark considered the federal government's offer to pay for 100% of the costs of housing projects as a blessing. The decline in industrial jobs meant that more poor people needed housing, whereas in prewar years, public housing was for working class families. While other cities were skeptical about putting so many poor families together and were cautious in building housing projects, Newark pursued federal funds. Eventually, Newark had a higher percentage of its residents in public housing than any other American city."

No doubt, there was a short "boom" and and many jobs tearing down neighborhoods and constructing "transportation improvements", like the mass of Highways that cut through the city.

"Billed as transportation improvements, construction of new highways: Interstate 280, the New Jersey Turnpike, and Interstate 78 harmed Newark. They directly hurt the city by dividing the fabric of neighborhoods and displacing many residents. The highways indirectly hurt the city because the new infrastructure made it easier for middle-class workers to live in the suburbs and commute into the city."

Not sayin this what's in store-- thankfully because government's at all levels are too broke, but watch out for that "free stuff". It often costs more than you think.

Polish Hill Photo exhibit at Carnegie Library in Oakland

A great chance to see a display of historic photos documenting on of Pittsburgh's little gem neighborhoods, Polish Hill.

"Late in December, we got an invitation to show selected items from our small-but-growing Polish Hill photo archive at the small gallery at the main Carnegie Library in Oakland. The time frame was short but we couldn’t pass up the opportunity! We picked a few of our favorite photos, printed and mounted them. The show just went up and it will run until the end of January.

To visit the gallery at the Carnegie Library, enter though the main doors and go left down the hall; the gallery is the last door on the right."

More info about the show and a project to build an archive of neighborhood photos can be found on Blogski.

Physician, Heal Thyself

Don't know all the facts about this yet but it looks like a major county health department building may have a major health hazard on it's hands.

"The lead tests done by Ms. Ewall in the second and third floor offices of Building One found lead dust levels of up to 32,800 micrograms per square foot -- 150 times higher than the 250 micrograms per square foot that would trigger a remediation and cleaning recommendation in a residence. The highest lead dust level -- 337,000 micrograms per square foot or more than 1,300 times higher than the residential threshold -- was detected in August 2009 on a window sill in lead program's second floor office by Ms. Ewall's supervisor Jeff Jozwiak, who could not be reached for comment.

All the tests done by Ms. Ewall and Mr. Jozwiak were analyzed and reported by the Pennsylvania Health Department's Division of Chemistry and Toxicology laboratory in Exton, Chester County. She said a supervisor, Bruce Good, recently told her to stop doing those tests in Building One and elsewhere in the seven-building Clack Health Center complex."

Robert Caro Talks About Robert Moses

I'm really sorry once again for throwing up this video about one of the greatest figures (for better or worse) in New York state and perhaps in American history.

Please watch it if you can.

"That Robert Caro’s book is alive and being read a generation and a half after it first appeared bespeaks its pertinence to Americans who have never set foot in New York. It is the classic description of what happens when the power to raise and spend money is placed in government entities beyond the reach of the voters, when government institutions are designed to be impregnable to outside clamor."

NICHOLAS VON HOFFMAN

Street Bike Parking

Sorry for not posting more. Here's a film about taking the next logical step in bike parking by actually using the street. You get some idea, of just how much space is being used for so few people.

Generally, I think a city street has to work on a pedestrian level, first and foremost and then logically be well suited to truck and emergency vehicles. Bikes can play a role too.

A Wonder! "Gods, Love, and War: Tapestries and Prints from the Collection" Carnegie Museum of Art through June 3rd

I found this exhibit to be, in a word, jaw-dropping. While the exhibit also contains wonderful drawings and prints by masters such as Durer and Bruegel, the tapestries are the star. They are wall size and stunning. I found myself briefly wishing that I was a small child. I think that the combo of the size of the works and the ability of a child to suspend reality for a bit would give a child a real "you are there" experience. I had some of that myself. You are there in front of a castle with the nobles ice skaing. There at Alexander the Greats triumphal entry into Babylon. There with the harvesters stomping on their grapes, and an ancient god in the sky in his chariot. Note: There are many mythological themes as kings liked comparing themselves to the ancients. The successful ancients, that is.

I am probably being too fussy, but the images I found on the web just didn't seem to do justice to the exhibit. So I did not post one here.

A description from the Carnegies web site reads:

The rooms of Renaissance castles in Northern Europe typically were lined with immense and colorful wall hangings often highlighted with threads of silk, silver, or gold. The ideas dramatized in these monumental pictures—religious, historical, or mythical—not only glorified their owners, but also reflected and reinforced the artistic, political, and social values of the age. This exhibition, highlighting a selection of tapestries and prints from Carnegie Museum of Art’s collection, explores the historical popularity of these engaging pictures in textile; the patrons, artists, and studios that created a taste for tapestries; and the thematic intersections between tapestry and print imagery, such as masterworks by Albrecht Dürer, Andrea Mantegna, and others.

I found this exhibit to be one of the best that I saw in 2009, and that is including two extensive trips to NYC. I am looking forward to seeing this again, hopefully several times, before it goes down in June 2010.

Tribune review and pictures here:
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/ae/museums/s_658985.html

Pittsburgh Post Gazette review and pictures here:http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09358/1023176-437.stm

Two other excellent exhibits currently at the Carnegie are Palm Springs Modern: Photographs by Julius Shulman and Forum 64: Cecil Balmond.

Some Great Shows @ Carnegie

Visited Carnegie and saw some great new shows yesterday. Will post later.

Body Of Evidence: Government Freeways

Los Angeles



Los Angeles



Los Angeles



Dallas



Houston



Houston

Highways around Chicago from Krzysztof Pakula on Vimeo.

Chicago

Interstate 5 from Tim Bonnemann on Vimeo.

California



Virginia--- golly we need more!



Cleveland--- shot during a National Alliance of Highway Beautification Agencies conference.

Yadda, Yadda, Yadda, it what we see every day. I gotta pay for you building this crap and then I have to pay for a conference on how to slap lipstick on this pig, while I pay for a conference in Copenhagen to discuss the alleged damages, while...
we talk abou how free markets, individual liberty and private property have F-d up the world.

Be back to add more and connect a few dots

Body Of Evidence: Housing Projects In Chicago, New York, Detroit, Atlanta, New Orleans

Chicago



Detroit



Brooklyn, NY



Bronx, NY



Atlanta



New Orleans

It should be somewhat obvious where I'm going with this, but I'll be posting some of my "evidence" first in random order. The projects above, were I think not built by aliens. More and more of this evidence has been destroyed in the last few years.

Connect more dots later.

My point being that we can't have an open, honest or productive discussion of how governments can "help cities", without being upfront about what they've already done.

Suckers Needed : Fast!!

Via Null Space comes the news that the Rivers Casino Debt is now rated by S&P at CCC, a drop of two notches, from B-. For folks who don't know this---there is no F given.

A D rating means currently in Default, which gives one some idea how precarious things are.

From the Post Gazette.

Unless there's a "significant improvement in operating performance from that observed to date" the casino might not be able to generate enough cash to meet fixed charges, which include the arena payment, in excess of $55 million next year, S & P stated.

It said it expected a $56 million interest reserve account set up as part of the casino's financing to be depleted in the first quarter of 2010, putting more pressure on the facility to boost revenue.

No doubt they are watching the same sharp declines in weekly revenues, that Chris at Null Space has charted at the end of his post.

If they fail to make the arena payment, we may get to really see the naked scum on the bottom of this pool.

Beyond The Motor City Documentary

Early next year a new 90 minute documentary about what went wrong in Detroit and the latest scheme to revive it. The consensus among even the dullest bulbs out there seems to grasp that something happened beyond just the decline of the big three car makers, which is pretty obvious since the city has been in drastic decline for years.

Most place racism and "white flight" at the top of the list, noticing the openly toxic trends in the region's social and political culture and a large number now acknowledge that-- perhaps the city's sacrifices to the car played a big role.

Gotta love the self important, "Yes We Can" beat to the trailer. It's part of The "Blueprint America" series!

What planet are these people from? Detroit, is the visible evidence left after the last two great hopeful, helpful, "Yes We Can" projects, the National Highway System and Lyndon Johnson's Great Society and Urban Renewal programs. Yes, they did.

Near as I can tell from the trailer, the latest plan is to undo the last ones with major taxpayer "investments" in mass transit. (probably a better Blueprint than the last one)

But will, the film take an honest look at what really happened? Detroit, more than even most American Cities handed itself over to be experimented on by the nation's "best and brightest" urban experts and engineers who replaced it's normal street grid, street car lines and all the self organizing aspects of it's social fabric with central planning.

Remain calm, fair citizens of Detroit -- more help is on the way.

Hat tip to Rust Wire.

Sorry, can't seem to embed video.

Streetsblog News Gadget

You can see, I put a new gadget which feeds news and editorial items off the Streetsblog network of urban oriented blogs.

I don't come close to agreeing with all stories and content, most especially the constant push for more taxpayer transit funding, however they are a fountain of good info on basic street level, pedestrian issues as as well as aggressive sceptics of the one thing even more insane than government mass transit --government highway and road infrastructure funding.

Still More Jane's Walk Talk

More general buzz and discussion popping up about bringing some kind of Jane Jacobs related events and walks to Pittsburgh and other former Rust Belt cities.

Diana Nelson Jones, who hosts one of the few blogs focusing on Pittsburgh from a pedestrian perspective did this post, which quotes one of my comments on Null Space. She also links to a number of other Jane related sites, articles-- and we can add to this the previous talk on Rust Wire, all of which point to some building support for doing something in the Spring.

Using the inevitable football metaphor, living here is often like watching a terrible coaching staff leaving almost all your best running backs on the bench, refusing to block, refusing to tackle while wasting time and resources on ever more bizarre hail Mary passing plays or relying exclusively on kickoff returns.

Not only do the coaches and owners, not put the best people on the field, we can't even let them practice and even worse, one always has to live in fear of which reasonably good or potentially great players might be traded away or cut next, whose property might be seized, whose street cut off and taxes raised for another "special teams operation".

It's not like Pittsburgh doesn't have some great walkable neighborhoods-- and it's not like they ain't successful-- there's plenty of game tape out there that shows what's working on a social and economic level as well as plenty of red ink, empty streets and failed shells to show us what hasn't worked. Yet almost all major government policies repeat these failed plays over and over. Don't pee on my leg and tell me it's raining!

Team is a good word to use, since as Jane pointed out city's are continuous experiments in social interaction.

Just one more thought, Jane always left a cop out for bad coaches looking for excuses when she said "no two cities or streets are alike". Obviously, this is self evident, but one just has to look at Death and Life's chapter titles, listed below to get the idea that she thought some things worked and some things didn't or only look at a few cities closely to see she was mostly right.

The uses of sidewalks: safety
The uses of sidewalks: contact
The uses of neighborhood parks
The uses of city neighborhoods
The need for mixed primary uses
The need for small blocks
The need for aged buildings
The need for concentration
The curse of border vacuums
Gradual money and cataclysmic money
Erosion of cities or attrition of automobiles

May not be sexy enough to always make the highlight films.

What About The Ref?

Watch CBS News Videos Online

I found this amazing story on a great blog called Extraordinary Observations that is interesting on so many levels and brings up things we should think about a lot more.

I'm gonna take a flier and say that this case of an NBA ref betting on his own games is a close to one in a million case. But by digging a little deeper some big issues come up, you see this guy won his bets over 70% of the time even though there is almost no evidence that he skewed his own play calling or favored any particular team.

What was his secret? He likely knows the normal game variables like player match ups pretty well and occasionally may have had inside dope on things like injuries; however, this wasn't the factor that usually determined his bets. Instead he keyed in on something that few people even think of by guessing who would win by knowing the personal preferences, moods and biases of the referees calling the games. It worked like crazy!

Now keep in mind that these are events seen by hundreds of thousands or millions of people, and taped and watched by expert broadcasters and observers. Even so there is more than enough slack in how a a game is called for referees to be affecting outcomes.

In the wider world that is still mostly not "on film", one can only guess the influence little known government agencies and bureaucracies have on the game of life.

Opening Reception Sunday 13th 1-4, Gallery Sim Southside

This is going to be a very worthwhile exhibit. I do have to say that the images on the card and the website do not in any way do the artists justice.

The exhibit features the work of painters Joe Shepler, Bob Robinson (I'm pretty sure it's Bob, deducing this from the other artists in the show), Jim Dugas, Frank Harris, David Goldstein and Lilli Nieland. I don't know Lilli Nielands work at all. The other 5 artists are excellent painters. I know them personally from the old Carson Street Gallery days of the 1980's, and their work has been shown in Pittsburgh and beyond for decades. I am really looking forward to this exhibit: it is a chance to see work by some very strong artists simultaneously. In addition, these artists don't seem to show all that much lately.

Gallery Sim is a new venue.

Gallery Sim 1735 E. Carson Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15203 (South Side)

Opening Reception Sunday, December 13th, 1-4 pm

Insolvent By Design Part One: Pittsburgh Promise Problems

I hate to gloat, but one of the good things about the economic recession is it's blown sky high a lot of the convenient lies public figures have been telling us. As Warren Buffet said, when the tide goes out you learn who's been swimming naked.

Poor Luke, he's likely far from being our worst mayor, but the tide is out and more and more inconvenient truths about our budget are being revealed. Don't look to anyone else for help, like the county, state or feds, they're naked too.

The cash strapped city received a firm no from a coalition of almost all the colleges, to a "request" by the mayor for 5 million annually from non profits towards the city's general fund. The rejection letter contained this quote.

"a. When you solicited significant contributions to the Pittsburgh Promise from the non-profit community, you significantly diminished that community's capacity to support the City, a fact that you have acknowledged on other occasions."

Ever since the mayor announced the ambitious Pittsburgh Promise program, people have been wondering if there wasn't a wink agreement that contributions would replace tax payments to the city's general budget. It sure looks like that's what many non profit's thought.

The ironic thing is that the mayor needs the money, mostly to fill a massive hole in it's employee pension fund. In other words, we didn't have close to enough money to pay for our previous "promises", and yet Luke piled on some more.

The whole situation is IMHO, likely the product of a long chain of public policies that have worked to put more and more of Pittsburgh's land area in the hands of non tax paying uses.

How did this happen? It's a long story, many details of which I don't know but it sure as hell should be an area of study.

Be back with more thoughts.

Dangerous By Design

High School Bike Bus from Keri Caffrey on Vimeo.

This video I found on Streetsblog New York about kids who are working together to create a "Bike Bus" to ride safely to High School in Orlando is both moving and sad.

A recent study called "Dangerous By Design", ranked American City's risk level to pedestrians, runners and cyclists. Orlando Wins!

"a recent AARP poll of adults 50 years and older found that 40% reported inadequate sidewalks in their neighborhoods and nearly half of respondents reported that they could not safely cross the main roads close to their home."

The words "by design", tells the story. It took trillions in American city, state and local tax dollars as well as an untold number of eminent domain enabled land grabs, parking mandates, zoning laws and building codes to create the world we have today.

I also have a theory these same policies have helped make the city of Pittsburgh, Insolvent by Design. I'll get back to that later.

Some Thoughts About The Blog

Hi, it's John. Many of you might have been wondering about the turn my posts have taken over the past month which since I'm the most active poster, have shifted the direction of the blog.

I have only so much time I'm refocusing my energies on the areas where I think I might be most helpful.

When the blog started there were far fewer blogs and online resources, no blogs giving art announcements or reviews, few blogs about things to do; almost no coverage of grass roots organizations and galleries and virtually no connections or interactions with the wider world outside Pittsburgh.

It's far from perfect, but more of these holes are being filled, making what I'm doing somewhat redundant. I think more and more people are increasingly aware of the many small things that make the city great.

However, in spite of what should be the obvious facts, far too people are thinking about what may be going wrong, that may threaten what's left of our social and economic fabric. You don't have to travel far around the Rust Belt to see how far we can still fall.

Matter & Memory at Wood Street Galleries -- through 12/31

Matter and Memory the US debut of French installation artist Julien Marie at Wood Street Galleries through 12/31/09



Both images of LES INSTANTENES [1998] in the 3d floor gallery.

This piece resonates with the Gregory Barsamian works seen at Wood St. in 2003 (my response to that show can be read here). Slides of actual glass objects are projected on the gallery wall, animating because they cross the threshold of motion in the mind's eye. The work in this show dances elegantly around the issue of re-presenting reality.

Why do we trust this media we have made?

Exploding Camera [2007] uses a historical event (a Taliban assassination of a northern Afghan warlord using a video camera that was ostensibly present to interview him) as a starting point for a complex installation evocative of too many things to describe here. Signals of violence, control, memory, communication, authority, authorship, and the power of story, all emanate from the work.

Model for the Apocalypse [2008] is a confounding, sensual, participatory piece that reminds us of Eliot's admonition, "The world ends not with a bang but a whimper." I'm not going to physically describe this because I want you to go see it and play with it - it does some very strange things.

Take a break from your holiday shopping, spend some time in the Wood St. Gallery with this remarkable body of work. You won't stop thinking about it for quite some time.

A Critical Game Against The Browns: How Humiliating

Standing in the bitter cold wind, with our backs up against the lake with our season on the line-- against Cleveland. Who would have thought it would come to this?

Jane's Walk Update

Since I first brought up the "Jane's Walk" idea, there's been a bit more buzz and talk about it,on this blog, Rust Wire and Null Space including several people interested in guiding a walk or helping in some way.

The official "Jane's Walks" are held in early May in cities and towns across mainly North America, so there's plenty of time to plan things out.

The central site's for info are:

Jane's Walk USA
JanesWalk.Net

All walks are free and there are no limits to how many a city can have.

Here's the comment I left on Rust Wire

"If I had to pick one walk, I think choosing an area with a variety of positive and negative issues might be best. For example, a functional or semi functional neighborhood divided by a major highway or a functional street grid cut off by a senseless mega block office park or even a poorly thought out park.

Also from my general knowledge, the issue of minimal concentration and population density is a big issue like it is on Pittsburgh’s North Side and Hill District both of which have big troubles supporting a supermarket, shopping district or mass transit.(even though both once had thriving shopping areas)

Remember, some of Death & Life’s chapter titles.

The uses of sidewalks: safety
The uses of sidewalks: contact
The uses of neighborhood parks
The uses of city neighborhoods
The need for mixed primary uses
The need for small blocks
The need for aged buildings
The need for concentration
The curse of border vacuums
Gradual money and cataclysmic money
Erosion of cities or attrition of automobiles

Sadly, I think in both Pittsburgh and Cleveland the best plan might be to walk the streets with a really old person with a memory of their neighborhoods before they were “improved” by government highways and politically organized mega projects.

Stay tuned, it looks like this will happen.

Pittsburgh Art Events: 12/ 11-12/09.

Friday

Space Gallery (812 Liberty Avenue, downtown) has a group show of creators who have somehow affiliated themselves with the monolithic complex of institutional arts organizations throughout the area. "Behind Our Scenes" includes 34 artists who work in a variety of mediums, and is curated by Laura Mustio & Nicole Rosato. The opening runs from 6-10PM.

You can see a variety of student productions at the Melwood Screening Room in North Oakland (477 Melwood Avenue) this evening by attending an event unveiling thesis screenings. Not only will you have no idea what you might see, but you can also avail yourself of a free reception to follow (7PM).

Saturday

Artists Image Resource (518 Foreland Street on the North Side) is opening its doors for a preview of "Pittsburgh 250 Portfolio, 2009 Projects Portfolio", from 7 until 9:30PM. Along with the output of its 2009 Resident Artists, there will be work from Pittsburgh 250 Portfolio artists (Delanie jenkins, John Ritter, Glenn Kaino, Nick Bubash, Hiroki Otsuka and Shepard Fairey) . If you don't know about the services that AIR offers, or what the organization has done for the past 13 years, this is a good chance to find out.

The Battle Of Brooklyn

Battle of Brooklyn Trailer
Uploaded by rumurtv. - News videos hot off the press.

Please watch the video. It's relevance to Pittsburgh and my recent posts should be obvious.

Be back with more tomorrow.

Are You Unemployed?

Should be a simple question-- but the government has a way of making nothing simple.

The Igloo From Hell

I'm really sorry for not doing more local arts posts. There are lots of great things about Pittsburgh, great people, offbeat projects, some great neighborhoods, history etc.... which luckily now you can hear more about in places like Pop City, the City Paper, The Post Gazette and great new sites like Bittersweet Harvest and City Creative.

However, the city is small, fragile and cannot survive the kind of taxpayer supported clusterf--cks it's had to go through in the past.It's not fun but someone has to stand with a sign saying-- not again, and I guess that's my job.

In spite of all the promises made when they built the new Penguins Arena, to tear down the old one and build a normal mixed use, residential, retail development to help reconnect the Downtown and The Hill, a curious number of people are showing up with honestly bizarre excuses to keep old "Igloo" standing-- few are Hill District residents.

No doubt is was an interesting and significant building and even less that it holds a lot of great memories for many people. But, almost nobody who remembers the old Hill, or has an even passing knowledge of urban issues, thinks the area was improved by the huge steel shell, massive block of parking space and highway interchange that made it very difficult and unpleasant to walk from the Hill to Downtown or that the city was made better off by the loss of several blocks of potential tax generating property.

Even the Post thinks it's wacky.

"Pursuing them would produce real harm by placing significant constraints on the development of the plot that surrounds the arena and, at least from the vantage point of the Hill District, a large steel shell -- albeit smaller when fully opened -- would remain standing between the neighborhood and Downtown."

Keep it up Pittsburgh. You still have a shot at being Detroit. Just follow these tips.

"Tear holes in your city and stick in as many highways as you can. Highways that will divide and cut through existing business districts are the best. You must have major highways cutting into your downtown!! Remember, you don’t want people to live in the city especially wealthy people.

Raise Taxes in the city to pay for it and your other plans. Well, just raise taxes for any reason really.

Cut and remove as much mass transit as you can. Transit is needed to have a dense city and you don’t want that.

Add as much parking as you can. You can build huge garages to help waste tax money but you mainly need huge areas of plain old surface lots.

Put huge Sports Stadiums in or near the key areas of the city. Since they are usually empty, they are are like putting extra fancy holes in the town. they waste lots of tax money and best of all they need tons of parking!!! (remember you don’t have mass transit.)The key is to put these holes in or just near the downtown and make sure that a sea of parking lots sit on the most useful city land."

Hat tip to Pittsburgh Comet.

Some Tips On How To Destroy A City

This was something I wrote two years ago on the Pittsburgh Metroblog which seems worth putting up again. It relates to a few future posts.

One bunch of people who are likely to want to come to Pittsburgh are urban planners. This isn’t a complement; Pittsburgh is almost a lab experiment in poor government and bad urban design and It’s kind of famous for it. So,it may be that people may want some tips on how too screw up their towns too. These tips are most useful if you are looking to screw up a city with a small land area (by which I mean -in the city limits) and are great for places with lots of hills, rivers or other barriers.

Here are just a few. I will come back with more.It’s a two part strategy to destroy the value of urban land; quality of life and tax base while at the same time making it easy and cheap live outside the city.It’s proven and has worked great here.

Tear holes in your city and stick in as many highways as you can. Highways that will divide and cut through existing business districts are the best. You must have major highways cutting into your downtown!! Remember, you don’t want people to live in the city especially wealthy people.

Raise Taxes in the city to pay for it and your other plans. Well, just raise taxes for any reason really.

Cut and remove as much mass transit as you can. Transit is needed to have a dense city and you don’t want that.

Add as much parking as you can. You can build huge garages to help waste tax money but you mainly need huge areas of plain old surface lots.

Put huge Sports Stadiums in or near the key areas of the city. Since they are usually empty, they are are like putting extra fancy holes in the town. they waste lots of tax money and best of all they need tons of parking!!! (remember you don’t have mass transit.)The key is to put these holes in or just near the downtown and make sure that a sea of parking lots sit on the most useful city land.

Try to remove as many mixed uses of land as you can. Say that offices should not be near homes or stores etc… This requires more driving, more and wider highways and more and more parking holes in the city. It also will likely cause lots of traffic and pollution which will chase people out of town. Remember to raise taxes or borrow to pay for the roads.

Use all kinds of anti walking policies. Shoppers usually walk and you don’t want that. Get rid of sidewalks and use highways with walls to cut up areas.

Basically, It’s a progressive strategy. You set in motion a chain reaction that requires more and more of the same–more holes and lower densities require more driving and more holes in the city and so on. For example, chances are that your downtown retail will start to die off– so you say you need to add more parking or perhaps pay the retailers to stay. Some people might start to feel bad about their town as you destroy it (by now your suicide rate might be up) so they need cheering up with some other new stadium.

You can do it to!!!

Not Again

Crap--- they left the door open and we have the Kansas City game all over again. All credit to Oakland which clearly has a team with some real talent.

The other thing that's clear is that Rashard Mendenhall is the real deal.

Georgia O'Keeffe at the Whitney til January 17th

The Georgia O'Keeffe exhibit at the Whitney through January 17th focuses on her early groundbreaking work. Abstract, powerful, and no skulls, thank goodness.

To quote the New York Times "There are two Georgia O’Keeffes. They’re closely related, but one is far more interesting than the other. Not so interesting, except maybe as a marketing phenomenon, is the post-1930s cow-skull painter and striker of frontier-priestess poses. More interesting, and less familiar, is the artist found in “Georgia O’Keeffe: Abstraction,” a vivid and surprisingly surprising show of more than 130 paintings and drawings at the Whitney Museum of American Art." For the rest of the review, go here

The exhibit makes it clear that O'Keeffe was a pioneer, and a monumental figure in 20th century art.

The exhibit gives justice to the artist who said: "One day seven years ago I found myself saying.. I can't live where I want to -- I can't go where I want to go -- I can't do what I want to -- I can't even say what I want to... I decided I was a very stupid fool not to at least paint as I wanted to".
Georgia O'Keeffe, 1923

New Blog Links

I'm getting caught up adding some links.

The recent batch which I will be adding to includes a number of blogs focusing on Urban issues, planning, transportation and related themes. A number, also have a generally pro capitalist, freedom oriented approach to cities, a minority viewpoint that's coming out of the closet.

Anyway, one of my favorites has to be Urbanophile. Check it out, I've been reading it a lot.

Also, check out the growing Streetsblog network.

One Of Cleveland's Biggest Banks Fails: FDIC Get's Poem

Can't keep on stealing all these great haiku from Calculated Risk.

Wow, a bright comet...
Giant "Amtrust-Rex" looks up.
Annihilation

Soylent Green Is People

Another, bank failure Friday bringing us to 130 this year. Amtrust, which had 12 billion in assets and 8 billion in deposits hits a bit closer to home, another big smack Cleveland doesn't need. The failure also points out a recent trend; unlike troubled National City which quickly found a buyer in PNC, AmTrust had been shopped around and couldn't attract any interest.(or at least anyone who would pay any cash)This is happening more and points to larger losses for the FDIC.

New York Community Bank will be taking over the entire branch network, but from what I can tell they are not putting money in since the banks losses are so great.

Remember-- Depositors are protected up to $250,000!

Taxpayers don't fair so well. Estimated cost to the FDIC for this failure--2 Billion.



"Among the nation's 8,100 banks, AmTrust was the 92nd largest as of June 30. At its height, it was the 68th largest in 2006 and 2007. In the last two years it's lost nearly 40 percent of its assets and deposits as its loans lost value, CDs matured and customers left. AmTrust was simply into mortgage lending too deep, much of it risky or in markets that were about to implode."

To bad for them, they never became "too big to fail".

From what I have read, the company was far from the worst bank out there. To pursue growth it moved into the then hot, speculative markets in Florida and Arizona-- Yadda, Yadda, Yadda.

But,the bank's problems were hardly a secret either.

"The move comes more than a year after AmTrust's federal regulator said the bank was guilty of "unsafe and unsound banking practices," including making risky loans with no documentation of income a year after most banks had stopped such loans.

The Office of Thrift Supervision essentially told AmTrust to shape up, or else. Instead, AmTrust's finances got worse every quarter and the bank had lost money for seven of the past nine quarters. The bank tried to cut costs and raise money by laying off nearly 40 percent of its workers -- more than 1,000 people -- in the past two years and by holding a fire sale on various branches."

Honestly, the FDIC is probably overwhelmed. The plug was also pulled on 5 other banks on Friday including one with almost $900 million in assets.

Greater Atlantic Bank, Reston, Virginia
Benchmark Bank, Aurora, Illinois
The Tattnall Bank, Reidsville, Georgia
The Buckhead Community Bank, Atlanta, Georgia
First Security National Bank, Norcross, Georgia

Lies And Other Government Statistics

I'd like to get the blog back to more locally oriented posts but I feel compelled once again to try to point out what should be obvious facts and areas of discussion not covered or often even mentioned by the major media or what I call the Zombie Media.



"How can you spot Zombie Financial Media?
No Memory
Contradictions between reports are not recalled or noted.
Previous reports are forgotten shortly after release.
No comprehension:
No two events are related to a shared root cause"

Remember those words every time you hear a widely reported economic figure. Kick the tires, look under the hood, even if you are bad at math, and dazed by numbers like I often am, you will probably be better at it than the government and mainstream media.

Another tip is to write these figures down--- and compare them to later and earlier numbers. Above all-- watch for "revisions".

Initial numbers are always fuzzy estimates and are later revised as harder figures come, like tax and Social Security receipts.

Funny thing is that initial numbers are always page one and revisions on page 28.

"No Memory"

For example here are the headline unemployment figures some months last year and early this year next to the later revised figures.

August 2008: Initially 84,000, revised to 175,000

September 2008: Initially 159,000, revised to 321,000

October 2008: Initially 240,000, revised to 380,000

November 2008: Initially 533,000, revised to 597,000

December 2008: Initially 524,000, revised to 681,000

January 2009: Initially 598,000, revised to 655,000

If you were watching or listening to the news at work or on the drive home, you likely were cheered to hear that the BLS, the main federal agency keeping economic stats says the unemployment rate is down to --- only 10%. The dollar and stocks rose, gold fell and the president called it "encouraging".

But in the same report-- they say 11,000 jobs were estimated to have been lost. This is a small clue! So if 11,000 jobs were lost then the unemployment rate went up right-- unless perhaps the population fell? Well, actually they assume it went up by a small amount so one really has to look under the hood.

But before we start lets get to the mother of all revisions in a little bomb dropped by the BLS in October-- and of course not widely reported.

"The Labor Department said that it planned to revise the job figures by subtracting more than 800,000 jobs that it had wrongly estimated were filled by workers.

The planned revision indicates that this has been by far the worst recession since World War II, causing a 5.8 percent reduction in the number of jobs in this country since employment peaked at the end of 2007.

The decline in private sector employment was even greater, at 7 percent.

The so-called “benchmark revision” that was announced today will not formally be incorporated into the job figures until February, and could be revised. But the figures indicate that last March the government overestimated the total number of jobs by 824,000, or 0.6 percent. Its overestimate of private-sector employment was even greater — 855,000 jobs, or 0.8 percent."

Yes, that's right, these changed figures hack off more jobs than most economists think the so called "stimulus" created. One has to ask why, the government is admitting their numbers are very off while only promising to fully adjust them in February.

Why wait and allow numbers they know are wrong to be widely reported by our Zombie Press?

"Contradictions between reports are not recalled or noted."

"Previous reports are forgotten shortly after release".



Click to enlarge

Even more disturbingly, the BLS or B.S. for short is still putting out data using the same flawed thinking as before.

The key here is the last line on the table labeled, Total Nonfarm Birth/Death Adjustment. Really, this is a number number pulled out of thin air, in an attempt to guess how many businesses are being born and dying in a given period and the number of jobs created by them.

The underlying problem is not hard to figure out, people extrapolate from trends. In normal or "boom" times, the net number of jobs created by new businesses is greater than the number lost by closing ones. But, hello--- every statistic and figure available shows we are in a very serious recession that has hit small businesses particularly hard. It doesn't take a genius to guess that the birth death adjustment should be assuming net job losses among small businesses.

But it's a mighty convenient mistake isn't it?

Now getting to the other big factor in today's reported number. As stated, Even after the 30 thousand jobs the BLS imagines small businesses created, one still has a loss of 11,000 jobs.

But, here the BS people have a different spin. See, according to them only people who actively looked for a job in the last month are counted as part of the "labor force". After all the long term unemployed are conveniently removed, they can report this hopeful and encouraging decline in the unemployment rate.

As a reality check a survey of small business owners released today provides a grim contrast.

The mood of small business owners generally has soured in November for three straight years, as economic confidence dropped from October to November in 2007 and 2008. The November 2008 index of 67.5 is the low point for the Watch since it started in August 2006.

52 percent of owners say they have experienced cash flow issues in the past 90 days, up from 44 percent in October. Forty-one percent of owners say they have not experienced cash flow issues, which is the lowest response in this category since the Watch began. The remaining 6 percent said they weren't sure.

53 percent of small business owners see conditions getting worse in the next six months, up from 43 percent in October; while 19 percent report that conditions are improving, a sharp decline from 29 percent in October; 23 percent see conditions as the same, and 5 percent weren't sure.

62 percent of small business owners rate the economy as poor, an increase from 55 percent in October; 30 percent rate it as fair, and 8 percent say it is good or excellent.

53 percent of small business owners think the overall economy is getting worse, up from 44 percent in October but still significantly lower than the 69 percent of owners who felt that way in February 2009, the last time the Watch index was this low. For November; 28 percent say the economy is getting better, down from 35 percent in October; 16 percent see it staying the same, and 3 percent are not sure.

Pittsburgh Art Events: 12/ 4-5/09.

Friday

The calendar informs us that it is once again time for Unblurred, on Penn Avenue. Instead of giving you a full rundown here, I'll merely divert you to the official website of the Penn Ave. Arts initiative, which has ALL the details. I do, however, insist that you make it a point to stop at Most Wanted Fine Arts to see the work of fellow Unicorn Mountain denizen Tibi Chelcea.

If you have a taste for a bit of music, I recommend you check out Slim Cessna at Club Cafe (in the SouthSide) at 10:20PM. While his legendary Auto Club is a burst of mad energy and revelation, his local band is shaping up as a formidable act to be reckoned with. Sure, there's gospel and country roots included... but don't fool yourself- these guys rock. Believe me, you need a dose of this to get yourself in the mood for the holiday season.

Saturday

Sometimes it's kind of pleasant to have something to do midday, before its time to head out for your particular brand of nightlife. So why not grab a cup of coffee, and peruse some art by Hannah Reiff at the Morning Glory Coffeehouse (1806 Chislett Street) in Morningside from 5-8PM? She's advertising "wintry prints / drawings / collages". While you are at it, check out the neighborhood's new Sprout Fund mural nearby.

Over on the South Side, the Michael Berger Gallery (30 S. 6th St.) has an opening for your enjoyment earlier in the day (12-5PM). It's entitled Sundown of the Last Dynasty Hung Liu: Tapestries & New Prints. That's an explicit enough title to give the prospective viewer at least an inkling of what one might see.

Opens Friday at Unsmoke Systems in Braddock

Opening this Friday at Unsmoke Systems in Braddock. One night only.

E.Q. Show
Dec. 4, 2009 Reception @7:00 Screening @ 8:00 A one night multimedia extravaganza brought to you by the staff of the Pittsburgh Filmmakers Equipment Office.Featuring new films, videos photography and installation by:Tess AllardSam BoeseMike BonelloMatthew R. DayJulie GonzalezAnna HawinsLaura Jean KahlTom McConnellGretchen NeidertMarina PfenningChristopher Smalleyand surprise guests