Artist encourages debate When you walk into Jeff Rider’s studio at Mainframe Studios, you’ll find artwork with skeletons, a butterfly, candy corn and Monopoly play money. Glancing at the paintings, you wonder, “Is it surrealism? Modern art? Mixed media? Or (D) – none of the above?” “I don’t categorize my
Read More →‘My Year of Rest and Relaxation’ The unnamed narrator of “My Year of Rest and Relaxation” has one goal in mind: to remain asleep for as much of the day as possible. She accomplishes this goal by finding a quack psychiatrist who is willing to prescribe her an elaborate mix of sleeping and antianxiety medication. With
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Posted January 02, 2019in Stray Thoughts
We all have something we can give. We Americans are an impatient bunch. We typically don’t like to wait in line — unless there’s something we truly want, like much-sought-after concert tickets or whatever this year’s Tickle Me Elmo gift was on Black Friday. That’s why the scene last week was unusual — the thousands
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Posted January 02, 2019in Lunch With...
Brokering, fishing, skiing and gambling Dick Grangaard is a retired stockbroker. Active stockbrokers cannot talk to the media without jumping through hoops, so I recently asked Grangaard to lunch to discuss a lifetime of changes in the brokering business as well as in fishing, skiing and casino gambling. At the Manhattan Deli, Grangaard told me
Read More →After all the merrymaking over the holidays, 2019 starts a bit slow in the arena concert scene. This might be a good time to bundle up and check out smaller bar music venues. Local acoustic blues guitarist Matt Woods released his third album, “Tired and Dirty,” in December. He’s a threetime winner of
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Posted January 02, 2019in Collections & Hobbies
Nearly 6,000 memorials added to online archives such as www.findagrave.com and The IAGenWeb Project. Death is something all humans eventually accomplish. But on the way, many get to be mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, husbands or wives. Cemetery plots aren’t just rectangular pieces of dirt, and gravestones are more than start
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Posted January 02, 2019in Tech Talk
“The front page of the Internet” has everything in place to be the next YouTube. The Internet can be a fickle place when it comes to success. For years, a business can be gaining steam and acquiring users or customers and then suddenly, BANG! You’re MySpace. With many of these
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