Phx on the air: Catch it the second time around

Look, we know you missed the first broadcast of Portland Phoenix local-music writer Sam Pfeifle on Charlie Gaylord's Greetings from Area Code 207 show on WBLM talking about our list of 2008's top 20 local albums. (Also don't miss Chris Gray's list of things you might have missed when they were first released.) We forgive you, because it was at 8 pm New Year's Eve, and we're not surprised the drinking started early. (And we had an extra second of boozing - plus the extra hour the city of Portland bestowed upon us.)

In any case, the show  will be rebroadcast Sunday morning at 9 am on BLM - that's 102.9 FM. Check it out then!

Scott Davis: Seeing an IFO

IFO (Arrival), the big (six by nine feet) 2004  Scott Davis painting often on view at the Portland Museum of Art, is a difficult one and takes some getting used to.

Fixing the economy - a spreading meme

You may have seen Lance Tapley's story in this week's Portland Phoenix - with four ideas on how Maine can fix its economic problems by increasing government spending - and by funding those increases with tax policies that will make Maine a fairer place to live, work, and do business.

And while he cites nationally renowned and award-winning economists (some of whom are also referred to in this story with a similar bent, published by the Seattle Weekly),  the idea that any federal stimulus package could be hamstrung (at least in part) by state budget-slashing is gaining momentum. In fact, on Monday, Paul Krugman at the New York Times announced his support for fixing the economy through government investment - not slashing spending, as Maine and many other states are poised to do (or are already doing).

We need to make Maine and America better - not worse. We need to invest in our communities, our schools, our economy. And we can take important steps - not all of them, but major ones - while still balancing our state budgets. But only if we make our tax policies fairer.

Wait a second!

Back in February, I wrote about all sorts of ways humans adjust our clocks to more closely match the natural world. Here's an example of how bad we are at doing this stuff. Back then - ten months ago - scientists whose job it is to do this stuff were predicting that the next "leap second" would be added at the end of 2009.

WRONG! It's tonight. We get a leap second - one last dying gasp of 2008 - before we get to begin 2009. So when the ball starts dropping and the corks start popping, check your watch - and wait a second.

Press Herald sale delayed - again

The purgatory stay of the Portland Press Herald has been extended until "early next year," mainly because the financing hasn't come together yet for the purchasers, according to an article in today's Press Herald. The Blethens may be upset, because they had hoped to use the capital losses on the PPH sale to offset gains on real-estate sales. Except, as I wrote back on Christmas Eve, the real-estate deal in question may not be finalized either. So it's possible the tax situation will just happen in 2009, rather than in 2008.

Of course, as the markets continue to tumble and newspapers nationwide continue to lay off workers and otherwise founder, both the offer itself and the financing needed to back it may be harder and harder to stomach for the prospective buyers. And the delay may be harder and harder to handle for the suffering Blethens.

TC Munjoy, the pseudonymous blogger who has tormented the Blethens and their local management for a while now, has posited that the interest of the prospective buyers could be a bit of a charade, in which they hope to (as Munjoy suggests they should) wait for the Blethens to default, and then buy the largely worthless papers and their very valuable real estate at a fire-sale price.

My offer stands - $20 cash for the whole kit and caboodle.

Maine medical marijuana activist wins in court (and other pot stuff)

Don Christen, a marijuana activist and Maine resident (whose Hempstock festivities I wrote about in August) was acquitted last week on charges of illegally cultivating and furnishing marijuana. The jury decided that Christen, who is also the founder of the marijuana-legalization activist group Maine Vocals, had the proper documentation to show that he was growing the cannibis for not only for medical purposes but for one specific pot-prescribed patient, Carroll Cummings. Christen and his lawyer, as well as marijuana activists around the Internet, hailed the outcome as a victory for their cause.  

District Attorney Evert Fowles, who prosecuted the case, told the KJ/MS that on medical marijuana, "we need to go back to the drawing board. We need to first have a discussion as to whether there is any medical viability of marijuana." In other words, people who say they smoke pot for therapeutic reasons are full of it. 

Maine author Wendy Chapkis (I wrote about her book, Dying to Get High: Marijuana as Medicine, earlier this month) would likely disagree with Fowle. In a mid-December phone interview, Chapkis admitted that she too she used to harbor the doubts about medical marijuana -- "I assumed that medical marijuana was kind of a joke," she says -- until she started talking to patients. In doing so, she learned that it's not just the physical effects of marijuana that help these patients -- it's also the "psychoactive effects of the drug," which the medical marijuana movement downplays for fear of living up to the stereotypes its worked so hard to dispell. Now, Chapkis sees "the value [for medical marijuana users] in having their consciousness altered -- how crucial it was to their sense of well-being to get high."

In other local pot news, the Maine Marijuana Policy Initiative, which aims to "decriminalize, tax, and regulate marijuana," recently announced that it has gathered enough signatures to qualify for the ballot in 2009.

The Painted Hype: Clifford Still and Andrew Wyeth

The news of the release of the bulk of Clifford Still's work to a museum in Denver dedicated to his work reminds me of the hype machine of another wildly overrated painter, Andrew Wyeth a number of years ago.

What you really need to know about Digital TV

With MASSIVE hat-tips to Consumerist and the Spike Feresten Show, I'll offer you these tidbits about Digital Television.

First, since most non-old-people fit in (at least) one of four categories (to be enumerated in a moment), there is an extremely good chance you don't need to do anything at all to account for the DTV "transition."

Those four categories are:

-you don't own a television

-you only own a television to watch movies on videotape or DVD (or to play video games)

-you have cable or satellite TV

-you watch TV only on the Internet.

Now, if you are, in fact, not in one or more of those four groups, first watch this video from the Spike Feresten Show:

 And if you're still confused, check out this decision-making flowchart from Consumerist.

Can the Press Herald last beyond December 31?

For a while, the Press Herald has been saying that a sale needs to close before the end of the year to work for the Blethens. Part of this is related to the fact that the Blethens will take a capital loss on the deal, and the loss can be used to offset some of the Blethens' tax obligations from their capital gains on the sale of some property in Seattle earlier this year.

And while the financing for the Press Herald sale appears to be down to the wire, the finish line might be moving - Bill Richards over at Crosscut.com is reporting that Blethen management has told some staffers that the real-estate sale in Seattle isn't done yet either - which means the capital gains haven't been realized, and therefore don't need offsetting. If both deals take into 2009, the Blethens may be in a similar situation - but with a year to spare to finalize both arrangements.

On the other hand, Richards is also reporting that the Blethens owe at least $91 million and are being pushed by creditors to sell both the land and the Maine papers. And if the creditors aren't happy, the clock may run out entirely. It's hard to know, but if the Seattle real-estate deal isn't done yet, there may be a glimmer of holiday hope for the Blethens to eke out a deal.

Innovative leadership

A little gimmicky, but still, creative -- freshman state senator Justin Alfond (D-Portland) is asking his constituents to submit their ideas of good legislation. He'll pick one (or more?) winning ideas; the winners will have the honor of having their bills submitted to the legislature during the 2009 session, plus they'll get to have lunch with Alfond in Augusta. Here's more info, from Alfond's Web site:

"Some of Maine's best laws originated with you, the voting public. I invite you to propose ideas to create a new law, or get rid of an old one for my "Your State. Your Way." contest. At least one contest winner is chosen, giving you the chance to directly participate in your democracy. The winner(s) will have their bill submitted for the 2009 Session, are invited to join me for lunch at the State House and, if the bill proceeds to Committee, will also have an opportunity to speak on behalf of their bill in a Committee hearing.

Submissions for the 2009 Session due on January 9th. Apply online with our web form, or print and mail the document to my office. (PDF) (DOC)"

(Hat tip: TMB.)

Joe's NY 'Za

Joe's New York Pizza opened a couple weeks ago where Granny's Burritos used to be (420 Fore St). I stopped in this afternoon to try their slices; which cost $3.25 and up. The cheese slice was fine. Thin crust, a bit greasy, and light on the sauce. Not undercooked or doughy, like some gross pizza can be. The BBQ chicken slice was heavy on the (probably not homemade) BBQ sauce, and loaded with chicken. That said, it was missing the roasted red peppers that make Leonardo's roasted bbq chicken so marvelous. Overall, I'd rate Joe's as a serviceable place to score a traditional lunchtime slice. At some point soon, they'll also have beer, pizzeria-type appetizers, and buffalo wings. Their pies range from $11-ish to $24-ish, depending on your choice of toppings and size. 

Jeff (who tried the cheese and Super Meaty [pepperoni, sausage, ham, bacon, and hamburg] slices) says:

"Everyone has a favorite pizza from their youth - against which any other pizza, no matter how yummy, can never possibly measure up. The pizza of my youth was made and served by a small Italian man with greasy hair and a growing bald spot in a pizzeria on the Jersey Shore. The crust was thin and crunchy, and the toppings were chewy without being sticky - and just a little greasy. The sauce - the unsung hero of pizza-making - was thin yet robust, smoothed on lightly so as neither to overwhelm the toppings nor sog the crust.

I am a devotee both of Flatbread and Portland Pie, and won't stop patronizing them. But when my family hits town for Christmas, I'll be taking them to Joe's New York Pizza for a slice of memories."

Hey, we take our pizza serious around here. 

Mainer likely to be Obama's intel head

A Kittery native, Dennis Blair, is likely to be tapped as the Director of National Intelligence in the Obama administration, according to the New York Times and ABC News. Blair, a retired four-star Navy admiral, is a former commander of all US Navy forces in Asia and the Pacific. Sadly, according to the Nation, he made the US (more) complicit in the 1999 violence in Timor. And the NYT reports that he tried to waterski behind a destroyer he commanded in Japan.

Taking Back Barack on the radio

Many of the comments about Take Back Barack so far have been from conservatives shouting with glee, calling Obama a "snake-oil salesman" and a "con man," and apparently suggesting I'm a sucker for believing his promises. But it appears the progressive community might be paying some attention. Early tomorrow morning (East Coast time) - so early it's late at night Pacific time - I'll be on the Phil Hendrie Show talking about the Take Back Barack effort.

It starts at 1 am Eastern, 10 pm Pacific. You can listen live here, or find out what station in your area is broadcasting it here.

A couple of samples for the Phoenix's coverage area - Maine: WLOB 1310 AM and 96.3 FM. Massachusetts/Rhode Island: WTKK 96.9 FM and WSAR 1480 AM. Both from 1-4 am.

It's time to Take Back Barack!

If you've seen the latest issue of the Portland Phoenix, you know it's time to Take Back Barack. But you should also know that you can follow our efforts on a new blog, at thePhoenix.com/TakeBackBarack. Check it out!

Reserching the basicks

Self-described "crap speller" David Wolman sets out in a literary-historical-travelogue across the English-speaking world to discover who, exactly, made the rules that have tormented him since primary school, and why. In Righting the Mother Tongue, Wolman (whom I went to college with) is humorously both descriptivist and prescriptivist, not only saying what happened and how, but also expressing frustration at the confounding results of "orthographic renovation." (Spelling revisions often make things worse, even when in search of allegedly easier or more historically accurate spellings - as in the 15th century, when "words like sissors, coud, and ancor were turned into scissors, could, and anchor.") Including protestations from today's Simplified Spelling Society, and testing himself in a local spelling bee, Wolman doesn't fix the problem, but he clearly spells it out.

Righting the Mother Tongue: From Olde English to Email, the Tangled Story of English Spelling | by David Wolman | Smithsonian Books | 211 pages | $24.95