Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Detours
Sorry to say I haven't been updating Sidewalk 208 in a long, long time. I'm still blogging like mad at my day job (for Everyday Democracy) and on my "hobby blogs" including the Boise Bus Blog and Red State Rebels. So have a look at those for now, and read some of my past posts for a look at why Boise is simply the most.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Bikes for Boise refugees
I loved this story in the Idaho Statesman last month, and I'm glad to see it's still online for blogging.
Working with the International Rescue Committee, three Boise High School students collected bicycles all fall, made sure they were all in good repair, then distributed them to local refugees.
Boise has a surprisingly high refugee population. Alas, our public transit system is so poor that for many people, bikes are their best bet for getting around - even in winter.
Anyway, it's wonderful to see students taking the initiative to meet the needs of our newest neighbors.
Working with the International Rescue Committee, three Boise High School students collected bicycles all fall, made sure they were all in good repair, then distributed them to local refugees.
Boise has a surprisingly high refugee population. Alas, our public transit system is so poor that for many people, bikes are their best bet for getting around - even in winter.
Anyway, it's wonderful to see students taking the initiative to meet the needs of our newest neighbors.
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
New Library! cards
The Boise Public Library is offering seven new library card designs for new patrons or as trade-ins. The only problem will be choosing which one you like best.
It also sounds like our first neighborhood branch libraries are on track to open soon - Collister in late January and Hillcrest by late February. Boise has been the largest metro area in the country without a branch library network. It's good to see that turning around.
Monday, December 10, 2007
Shop local
Spurred in part by a book club discussion of Bill McKibben's book Deep Economy, I'm trying to do most of my holiday shopping locally this season. A week ago tonight, I hit the annual Bonus Club sale at the Record Exchange. (What a scene that was ... I saw everyone from Curtis Stigers to Built to Spill's Doug Martsch to hip local artist Grant Olsen.) With the evening's discounts, I scooped up three CDs, one EP, and two DVDs for about $86. Just out of curiosity, I tallied up the same items at amazon.com. They were all cheaper online, but with the RX sale prices, shopping at amazon.com would have saved me only about $10.
Ten bucks is nothing to sneeze at, and if you missed the RX sale, you are looking at an even greater difference. But shopping locally helps keep our money circulating around our community, and it's just a cool thing to do. For an even more local experience, check out the Capital City Market on 8th Street from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. these next two Saturdays. You'll find locally made breads, wreaths, baby blankets, dog bandannas, soy candles, jewelry, and much more, all available direct from our neighbors. Happy holidays!
Ten bucks is nothing to sneeze at, and if you missed the RX sale, you are looking at an even greater difference. But shopping locally helps keep our money circulating around our community, and it's just a cool thing to do. For an even more local experience, check out the Capital City Market on 8th Street from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. these next two Saturdays. You'll find locally made breads, wreaths, baby blankets, dog bandannas, soy candles, jewelry, and much more, all available direct from our neighbors. Happy holidays!
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Take your pick
Last Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, people started lining up at 7 to await the Boise Towne Square mall's special 1 a.m. opening for so-called Black Friday.
Not 7 p.m. ... 7 a.m. In other words, thousands of Idahoans blew off Thanksgiving dinner to get in line to go shopping.
News coverage showed that once the mall opened, a mass of people pressed so hard toward the doors that one fell out of its frame. "When shopping hurts," the Idaho Statesman headlined its story. Check out the video here.
But just when you're tempted to think that our nation has hit a nadir of mindless materialism - not so fast. The same Statesman front page on Saturday, November 24, featured another story, this one telling of the festive yet low-key lighting of the downtown Christmas Boise tree. People held candles aloft and helped Mayor Dave Bieter count down to the moment when the tree lighting marked the official start of our city's holiday season. Many people also chose a card from the tree's lower boughs, each one printed with wish-list items from the Women's and Children's Alliance, which helps families torn by domestic violence.
So which scene truly represents not just the holiday spirit, but the essential character of our nation circa 2007? The pessimist in me says the Mallville tableau reveals the true America, where shopping is our top recreational activity and our highest aspiration. The optimist in me believes that - despite its much smaller attendance - the downtown tree lighting still captures our nation at its finest: reflective, generous, joyful.
I do know that I will do most of my holiday shopping downtown and at my neighborhood shopping centers this year, and I will avoid the mall.
Not 7 p.m. ... 7 a.m. In other words, thousands of Idahoans blew off Thanksgiving dinner to get in line to go shopping.
News coverage showed that once the mall opened, a mass of people pressed so hard toward the doors that one fell out of its frame. "When shopping hurts," the Idaho Statesman headlined its story. Check out the video here.
But just when you're tempted to think that our nation has hit a nadir of mindless materialism - not so fast. The same Statesman front page on Saturday, November 24, featured another story, this one telling of the festive yet low-key lighting of the downtown Christmas Boise tree. People held candles aloft and helped Mayor Dave Bieter count down to the moment when the tree lighting marked the official start of our city's holiday season. Many people also chose a card from the tree's lower boughs, each one printed with wish-list items from the Women's and Children's Alliance, which helps families torn by domestic violence.
So which scene truly represents not just the holiday spirit, but the essential character of our nation circa 2007? The pessimist in me says the Mallville tableau reveals the true America, where shopping is our top recreational activity and our highest aspiration. The optimist in me believes that - despite its much smaller attendance - the downtown tree lighting still captures our nation at its finest: reflective, generous, joyful.
I do know that I will do most of my holiday shopping downtown and at my neighborhood shopping centers this year, and I will avoid the mall.
Sunday, October 21, 2007
Concert review: Josh Ritter
Neil Young played the Morrison Center the other night, but with tickets in the $100 range, my husband and I decided to check out Josh Ritter instead. Ritter, the rising Moscow-based singer-songwriter, was playing for 20 bucks at the Egyptian. I am not sure that'll happen again anytime soon.
All my life, I've wanted to attend a big homecoming concert - you know, where an act makes good and comes home to wild acclaim. I thought a Built to Spill show might do the trick, and seeing them last summer (2006) at the Big Easy was big fun. But Doug Martsch and company aren't known for showmanship or even acknowledging their audience, so they may as well have been playing in Boston as Boise.
Ritter is different. At Saturday's show, he and his band not only treated a sold-out audience to a concert that was at turns gleefully raucous ("To the Dogs or Whoever," "Real Long Distance") and achingly reflective ("The Temptation of Adam," "Idaho"), Ritter just oozed appreciation for his home-state crowd. For one of today's most hyper-literate songwriters, a man who drops phrases like "the avalanche cascades" and "Episcopal philanthropists" into his lyrics, he seemed faintly overcome by the evening's energy.
"It's going to be an amazing night," he earnestly promised at the outset, and he used the adjective "amazing" several dozen more times in his ample between-songs banter. But he didn't deny his fans more personal fare, such as the story about how his family bought a hundred-pound sack of spuds from the Rotary each year. ("I don't need to tell you, that was protection money," he said.) He also recalled an eighth-grade class trip to Boise where he'd visited the Egyptian and saw "Outbreak" with Dustin Hoffman and Rene Russo. Yeah, he's that young. In fact, a birthday card for him went around some of the balcony seats, and we all sang to Ritter, who turns 31 today.
Ritter is frequently compared to Bob Dylan, but while Dylan's voice can be a blunt instrument, Ritter's is a strong, supple reed. Several times during the evening, he backed away from the microphone to sing a capella to a silent house, perhaps most memorably in his encore cover of "The River" by Bruce Springsteen, a song he said he listened to endlessly while driving an early-morning rural paper route on the Palouse many years ago. His band was in great form, too. I especially enjoyed the muscular rhythm section of Zack Hickman on bass and Liam Hurley on drums. A three-man horn section added depth to several songs including "Rumors," though the sound crew slightly shortchanged them in the mix.
My husband barely knew Ritter before this show, and I was little more than a casual fan. But we both left the show sure we had seen someone sure to attain, if not superstardom, a reputation as a wildly entertaining and thoughtful wordsmith who shines both on record and live. "He's the real deal," Bruce said. Indeed. Josh and his band treated us all to one of the most magical evenings of music Boise will hear this year.
Yes, we passed up the $100+ Neil Young show for Ritter's $20 gig. We'd seen Young years ago, and these days, I'd rather see someone as their career waxes than as it wanes - but the fact is, Ritter delivered a nearly priceless show. I just hope he never gets too big to play semi-intimate venues like the Egyptian.
P.S. Before the show, we made our first visit to the new A Taste of Memphis restaurant on Idaho Street, in the former Villano's location. We enjoyed tasty catfish, a spicy black-eyed pea casserole, buttery collard greens, and flaky-crust fried peach pie. If you are looking for great soul food, this place has it. We'll be back.
All my life, I've wanted to attend a big homecoming concert - you know, where an act makes good and comes home to wild acclaim. I thought a Built to Spill show might do the trick, and seeing them last summer (2006) at the Big Easy was big fun. But Doug Martsch and company aren't known for showmanship or even acknowledging their audience, so they may as well have been playing in Boston as Boise.
Ritter is different. At Saturday's show, he and his band not only treated a sold-out audience to a concert that was at turns gleefully raucous ("To the Dogs or Whoever," "Real Long Distance") and achingly reflective ("The Temptation of Adam," "Idaho"), Ritter just oozed appreciation for his home-state crowd. For one of today's most hyper-literate songwriters, a man who drops phrases like "the avalanche cascades" and "Episcopal philanthropists" into his lyrics, he seemed faintly overcome by the evening's energy.
"It's going to be an amazing night," he earnestly promised at the outset, and he used the adjective "amazing" several dozen more times in his ample between-songs banter. But he didn't deny his fans more personal fare, such as the story about how his family bought a hundred-pound sack of spuds from the Rotary each year. ("I don't need to tell you, that was protection money," he said.) He also recalled an eighth-grade class trip to Boise where he'd visited the Egyptian and saw "Outbreak" with Dustin Hoffman and Rene Russo. Yeah, he's that young. In fact, a birthday card for him went around some of the balcony seats, and we all sang to Ritter, who turns 31 today.
Ritter is frequently compared to Bob Dylan, but while Dylan's voice can be a blunt instrument, Ritter's is a strong, supple reed. Several times during the evening, he backed away from the microphone to sing a capella to a silent house, perhaps most memorably in his encore cover of "The River" by Bruce Springsteen, a song he said he listened to endlessly while driving an early-morning rural paper route on the Palouse many years ago. His band was in great form, too. I especially enjoyed the muscular rhythm section of Zack Hickman on bass and Liam Hurley on drums. A three-man horn section added depth to several songs including "Rumors," though the sound crew slightly shortchanged them in the mix.
My husband barely knew Ritter before this show, and I was little more than a casual fan. But we both left the show sure we had seen someone sure to attain, if not superstardom, a reputation as a wildly entertaining and thoughtful wordsmith who shines both on record and live. "He's the real deal," Bruce said. Indeed. Josh and his band treated us all to one of the most magical evenings of music Boise will hear this year.
Yes, we passed up the $100+ Neil Young show for Ritter's $20 gig. We'd seen Young years ago, and these days, I'd rather see someone as their career waxes than as it wanes - but the fact is, Ritter delivered a nearly priceless show. I just hope he never gets too big to play semi-intimate venues like the Egyptian.
P.S. Before the show, we made our first visit to the new A Taste of Memphis restaurant on Idaho Street, in the former Villano's location. We enjoyed tasty catfish, a spicy black-eyed pea casserole, buttery collard greens, and flaky-crust fried peach pie. If you are looking for great soul food, this place has it. We'll be back.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Anticipating a Nobel?
Downtown Boise's Egyptian Theater - presenting an ever-widening array of concert, lecture, and film fare - has a interesting choice for its movie this coming week. You can go see An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore's Oscar-winning documentary on global warming, on the big screen for $4 October 12-18, with showtimes at 3, 5:15, and 7:30 p.m.
Why this movie? Why now? Well, Al Gore is atop the short list for possible winners of the Nobel Peace Prize, which will be announced Friday in Oslo. And even if Gore doesn't take home the prize, we could all benefit from another viewing of this film before the winter inversion season hits. Hmmmm ... maybe I'll get tickets for the clueless neighbor who insists on warming up his big honkin' truck engine for ten minutes starting each morning, even when it's 60 degrees out.
Update: Gore won the Nobel, and tickets are only $2!
Why this movie? Why now? Well, Al Gore is atop the short list for possible winners of the Nobel Peace Prize, which will be announced Friday in Oslo. And even if Gore doesn't take home the prize, we could all benefit from another viewing of this film before the winter inversion season hits. Hmmmm ... maybe I'll get tickets for the clueless neighbor who insists on warming up his big honkin' truck engine for ten minutes starting each morning, even when it's 60 degrees out.
Update: Gore won the Nobel, and tickets are only $2!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
