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Date Story
2010-04-04 The Anxiety of Opinion
Irish director Jim Sheridan made the film In America (2002) after he'd already received some renown in the United States…
2004-11-10 "70 percent" of Fallujah under US control
A stunningly swift advance by American forces seized control of "70 percent" of the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah, while in Baghdad, kidnappers abducted two members of interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi's family.
2008-09-22 "A step — or leap — into this century"
In many professional fields these days, the trend is towards specialization, with any particular field divided up into segments or boxes. But Fort Wayne Ballet artistic director Karen Gibbons-Brown says the current world of ballet and dance is more like a wheel, with no distinct lines separating one form of dance from another.
2007-04-10 "Alexander, Who’s Not (6x) Going to Move"
Last year, Fort Wayne Youtheatre’s production of Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day was the most successful production in Youtheatre’s entire 73 year history…
2008-12-09 "Christmas Shoes" and Other War Crimes
For someone who loves music as much as I do, it's somewhat embarrassing to admit that I'm still the last guy on my block without an iPod. It's true — I'm that relic from the past, the Luddite who still has that ancient CD crate in his car, the guy who nearly causes 10-car pile-ups by constantly changing discs while he's maneuvering through traffic.
2007-08-19 "Crazy Entrepreneurs" help spur downtown development
There’s a section of downtown Fort Wayne which, on any given weekday afternoon around lunchtime, can make you think you’re experiencing that vibrant downtown atmosphere a lot of people seem to want here.
2009-03-23 "Dead Man Walking" around in my head
Darrell Madden. Skinhead. His tattooed eyebrows told you so. White supremacist. His Web site was an Aryan nightmare. Murderer. The evidence was irrefutable.
2007-05-08 "Dream with a Window" debuts at Cinema Center
"The way I describe the film is a meditation on suicide, depression, psychosis," offers fima-maker Townsend, "It's a different approach to narrative…"
2006-09-18 "Heroes" and "The Nine" – Early Reviews
I couldn’t wait to see the pilot episode to the series Heroes, set to premiere this fall on NBC. Unfortunately, Heroes wasn’t worth the wait.
2009-03-10 "It's Alive!"
Some people spend years trying to figure out what they want to do with themselves. Not Steve Blanchard. In high school, Blanchard decided that acting would be a great way to make a living, and set out to do just that…
2009-04-21 "It's like normal high school… except with singing and dancing"
The young cast of Youtheatre’s production of High School Musical 2 all tell me the same thing when I ask too many questions about the story, or their characters, or certain scenes in the musical. Hunter Debolt, who plays pianist Kelsi Nielson, sums it up: “I don’t want to ruin what happens,” she says. “You’ll have to come see it.”
2006-09-04 "Jericho" and "Studio 60" on the Sunset Strip – Early Reviews
Just when you thought the threat of nuclear war on television screens had evaporated in the mushroom clouds of The Day After (1983) comes the “post-apocalyptic drama” series Jericho on CBS.
2005-10-31 "Just a Bunch of Potters" gather for annual showcase
The name says it all — Just A Bunch of Potters. After all, what else are you going to call yourselves when you’re essentially a dozen or so artists who work in the medium of clay, get together every few weeks to hang out and talk pottery, and once a year put on a holiday show to display your work?
2007-02-06 "Live On Stage" kicks off second season
The second season of Fort Wayne Reader presents Live On Stage kicks off February 11 at 1 a.m. with a performance from Fort Wayne’s top party band, The Freak Brothers.
2006-04-10 "Lost" on "Gilligan's Island"
I can’t imagine anything more horrible that being trapped alone on a deserted island. I’m not sure what would get me first, the loneliness or the absence of a working toilet. Time and time again, television producers use the stranded-on-an-island theme as the plot to their shows.
2007-02-21 "Lost" on the decline?
I've been a big fan of the television series Lost ever since I saw the pilot episode of the show back in the summer of 2004. To me, Lost was a bit of a revelation – a well-written drama that wasn't on HBO. I evangelized Lost to my friends. I gushed over Lost in previous columns and on my web site. As the series progressed, I found myself to be more and more excited about Lost, and waited in anticipation for each new episode.
2007-02-06 "Something to Believe In": Something to get stuck in your head
I remember it as if it were only yesterday, stumbling home in the bitter cold a few hours past midnight after one too many gin gimlets, brushing all the past due notices and utility bills aside to slump onto the couch and fall asleep to some television. As I was bathed in the light from the TV screen, the room filled with a holy chorus. Images of school children and blue collar workers, basketball nets and local landmarks danced in front of my eyes to the uplifting music. Suddenly, Ryan Elijah, Curtis Smith and Linda Jackson were looking back at me and smiling. Behold: Something to believe in!
2009-08-25 "Twilight" of the Dummies
As a fire-breathing young writer, I thought it was my duty to be as offensive as possible, so I wrote a bunch of short stories aimed at shocking the great unwashed out of their bourgeois sensibilities.
2010-05-10 "We don't keep it serious, we keep it funky"
“If we don’t always have something in the bag, I feel like we’re slipping,” Ryan Messmann, of local hip-hop group Third Frame, told me when I sat down with him and Derek Quandt the other night. Over the past decade, Messmann and Quandt have released an album every two years, like clockwork.
2006-05-08 "Word." & Art on East Main
Three months ago, Beckie Stockert had an idea. The senior fine arts student at St. Francis wanted to bring together visual artists, spoken-word performers, and musicians to celebrate the word. Written, painted, smeared. Rapped, spat, or sung. Whatever the manner of delivery, the connection between the artists would be, simply, the word.
2008-03-10 "…and at least one of them lived unhappily ever after."
Giselle is one of those fairy tales where a beautiful, charming young woman meets the man of her dreams and falls in love. Unfortunately, her love interest is a jerk who betrays her affections, and though he’s redeemed, he’ll spend the rest of his life knowing he has missed his chance at happiness. Still, in the end, he probably has it better than his love, Giselle — she’s dead.
2007-02-06 #5-Ranked Volleydons Are On a Roll!
Last weekend was a great time to be a part of IPFW Athletics. Our Men’s Volleyball team, under the capable leadership of Coach Arnie Ball, played Stanford University (yes, THAT Stanford!) both Friday and Saturday nights.
2010-04-04 ...Remember, He's on Your Side
When I was in high school my favorite film was Road Warrior (1981). I think the reason that film appealed to me is that it presented a sort of nihilistic view of the near-future that I've always found interesting…
2007-05-21 10 Video Games DU’s Bert Ehrmann might like
This article is a tribute to my friend and fellow FWR columnist, Bert Ehrmann. I've known Bert Ehrmann for almost four years now. I've followed his blog, DangerousUniverse.com, for as long as I've know him (and Bert was blogging long before they were even called "blogs"). We've had many discussions about movies, TV, comics and everything in between. I've also read EVERY one of his columns in FWR. So whereas I don't always agree with Bert, I feel I can guess with at least 75% accuracy what he will or won't like. To put that into perspective, I can only guess with about 25% accuracy what my wife will like at any moment.
2010-04-04 100 days. 100 paintings.
After 12 years of running his custom framing business Northside Galleries in Fort Wayne, Charley Shirmeyer realized that not enough people knew — really knew — how many talented artists were working in Fort Wayne and the surrounding area.
2007-03-20 1938
Fort Wayne, 1938: a single truck car going north on a rain slicked Calhoun Street at Washington, heading out to Lakeside.
2007-04-24 1950s editorial cartoon
From the “more things change…” file
2006-06-05 1st Annual Artists Against MS Art Sale
This June, dozens of Fort Wayne artists will use their creations to aid in the battle against Multiple Sclerosis (MS), an incurable disease that affects thousands of Hoosiers.
2010-03-22 2 inches with Dave
You may have just heard of local band Mister Doctor Professor, but the fact is that they have been around for a few years now. The reason they’ve been under the radar for so long is that they used to only play a small handful of shows every year (usually no more than half a dozen at the most).
0000-00-00 2004 TV pilots on flight to nowhere
It’s that time of year again - time for the television networks to begin production on next season’s slew of shows. If you’re unfamiliar with a television pilot - it’s essentially the first episode of a comedy or drama (or the made-up word “dramedy”) that introduces the characters, indicates what the tone of the show will be like, and demonstrates how the stories will unfold in a given show.
2006-06-05 2006 Biennial: Contemporary American Realism
Realism was a dirty word in the art world during the twentieth century. Faithful representation of the “without” gave way to the dynamic possibilities of expression of the “within.” Is the art world ready once again to embrace clear representationalism?
2007-07-09 2007 Maumee Music Festival
The Three Rivers Festival really does have something to offer the music lovers — the Maumee Music Fest! The 2nd annual Maumee Music Fest takes over downtown Freimann Square on July 21 from noon-midnight, delivering an eclectic mix of Fort Wayne’s best original music. You’ll find everything from hip-hop to hard rock, pop to alt-country, folk to blues is represented at this totally free event.
2007-01-10 2007: sounds like a good year for music
The start of each new year brings with it a sense of excitement, and for music fans, 2007 is shaping up to have more than its fair share of new releases and live shows to check out. There’s also a couple new ways to find new music… but more on that in a minute.
2010-01-11 2010 Winter/Spring Preview: What to Expect In the Next Few Months
Now that the new year is here, it’s time to stop looking back on 2009 and start looking forward to what’s on the table for 2010, in regards to who will be releasing new albums, and who will be touring our region in the coming months.
2004-06-28 24Hour Playhouse thrives under pressure
There's usually one major psychotic episode amongst company members in every production of the 24Hour Playhouse, so choosing the single greatest meltdown in the history of the company provokes some lively debate.
2004-08-14 2nd annual NIPR Bikenic closes out the summer
Long-time Fort Wayne residents might remember the WBNI Annual Classic Bike Tour, a 15-year summer traditon featuring a scenic bike tour through the countryside. Though very popular, the Classic Bike Tour had to be retired in recent years because, says Karen Fraser of Northeast Indiana Public Radio, “it was no longer a scenic country road.” Increased traffic made the route risky, and organizing the tour became more time-consuming.
2004-09-24 3rd Annual Corned Beef on Rye Fundraiser!
When you think of authentic deli, what comes to mind? For most of us it’s a huge, hot pile of thinly-sliced corned beef slathered with mustard on two slices of Jewish rye bread. Don’t forget the side of cole slaw, a thick kosher dill pickle and a tempting dessert.
2006-09-04 44TH Regiment during the Civil War
Fort Wayne had tasted its share of victory and defeat with the Thirtieth and Forty-fourth.
2005-06-27 4th of July edition
Rainbows aren’t usually associated with the Fourth of July but go to www.capitalweather.com and check out this weather blog. The post on June 18th is entitled “Chasing Rainbows” and one look will tell you why they were worth the chase in our nation’s capital.
2006-07-24 5 Bands You Should Know
The ear-melting hardcore of Saints Never Surrender, the Beatlesque rock of The Orange Opera, the deft flow of Sub-Surface… there are plenty of original bands in Fort Wayne that you don’t hear enough about. FWR’s music critic Sean Smith seeks out five of the bands in Fort Wayne that you should check out. FWR's music writer Sean Smith brings you 5 local bands you should know.
2010-08-08 50 recipes. 50 days. No additives
Erica Justice is on a mission. She wants to show you that preparing healthy, nutrient-dense meals can be easy, inexpensive, and taste a whole lot better than you might imagine.
2009-10-05 50 Years of The Twilight Zone
I'm about to make a bold statement; The Twilight Zone (the first episode of which aired 50 years ago on October 2, 1959) is my favorite TV series of all time. Period. I may love Arrested Development and think that The Wire was one of the best TV dramas ever, but when it comes to BEST TV SERIES OF ALL TIME I'd cast my vote for The Twilight Zone (Zone) every time.
2005-11-28 70's Saturday Morning Television Really WAS Educational
A while back, I was over at a friend’s house, waiting for more friends to come over so we could go out for breakfast. It was a Saturday, and while we were waiting, we had the television on. My friend doesn’t have cable, so we surfed the local channels. We discovered Saturday morning television isn’t the same.
2004-10-11 80 years old and still terrifying
The advent of DVDs has acted as a kind of great equalizer as far as film goes. Every movie from Battleship Potemkin to Meatballs gets the reverential treatment, restored, refurbished, and packed with enough extras and commentary to constitute a mini-course on film. On one hand, we have instant access to some cinematic masterpieces. On the other, it has also robbed us of something. Watching a cinematic masterpiece at home with a bag of Cheetos can’t recreate what it was that first captured the imaginations of movie goers, or why the film is still considered important decades later.
2009-10-05 911 is no joke
The Earth spins on its axis, the seasons change, continents crumble into the sea… and the issue of 911 consolidation between the City of Fort Wayne and Allen County remains unresolved.
2004-11-08 A Christmas Carol: the Musical launches Fort Wayne's Holiday season
Charles Dickens' classic tale explodes with the full Broadway treatment on the Civic Theatre stage…
2004-11-22 A Faith For Grown-ups wants baby boomers to look at Catholicism with “adult eyes”
“Basically, I like to call this my ‘cocktail-party book,’” says Bob Lockwood, referring to Faith For Grown-ups: A Midlife Conversation About What Really Matters, recently published by Loyola Press. Not that he necessarily goes to a lot of cocktail parties, but Lockwood says the book was inspired by countless conversations he has had with Catholic baby boomers who had “drifted away” from the faith.
2009-03-23 A Midsummer Night's Dream
The floor of one of the rooms at the Fort Wayne Ballet is littered with $80 shoes that can not be worn again, and every dancer has contributed to this mess. Even though most of the members of the Fort Wayne ballet seem to spend their life at this studio, none of them mind. This kind of dedication and passion is rarely seen in adults, let alone teenagers…
2007-11-20 Battlestar Galactica: Razor
To call the Sci-Fi channel’s television series Battlestar Galactica (BSG) a “modern television masterpiece” would not be an understatement. Since its debut in December, 2003, BSG has used science fiction as a guise to examine what it’s like to live on 21st century Earth.
2008-04-08 Battlestar Galactica: The End
It seems a bit odd writing about the upcoming final season of Battlestar Galactica (BSG), especially since the debut of the series was one of the first things I (almost) covered for The Fort Wayne Reader. Back in late 2003 I had been approached by the publishers of The Reader to become their entertainment columnist. I accepted their offer and was given a pre-air DVD screener of the then upcoming new BSG mini-series for review.
2008-02-18 Cloverfield and the problem of viral marketing
A few weeks back the “giant monster attacks New York” movie Cloverfield opened to huge numbers at the box office, earning over $40 million and the number one spot in its first week in release. Cloverfield opened so big that most assumed Paramount had another movie franchise on their hands and that a sequel would soon be in the works. Director Matt Reeves reportedly said of a sequel, “Only time will tell.”
2010-03-22 Collision: The Movie
Collision is a recent independent film documenting the unusual collaboration between Christopher Hitchens — a renowned atheist and “contrarian” — and evangelical theologian Douglas Wilson, traveling together and debating the merits or demerits of Christianity…
2004-08-14 Driv3r is a sequel you can swerve to avoid
Before Grand Theft Auto ruled the streets of cyberspace, a well-known game called "Driver" let its participants perform seedy deeds while behind the wheel. One lackluster sequel and more than five years later,"Driv3r" crashes its way into the limelight.
2007-06-05 Expired magazine
Like any city its size, Fort Wayne has many different cultures — punk, Hip-Hop, skateboarding, graffiti art and others — bumping up against one another. Some of these tend to be overlooked or ignored altogether. Recently three local artists have joined forces to change all of that. They are doing their part to bring these cultures and those spearheading them to the forefront and into focus. Eric Stine, Daniel Dienelt and Julie Morrison have created Expired, an on-line magazine which made its debut in May and spotlights all of the above and more at www.expiredmagazine.com and also offers exclusive music and video content.
2004-10-25 Fable likely to become a legend in the role-playing genre
“Fable” is a beautiful, action-packed game that features intense, real-time combat enhanced by excellent controls.
2004-06-14 Hot Cat In A Dog's World
Most major-label compilation albums with six-number budgets and international release dates don’t come close to having the consistent quality you’ll find on Hot Cat In A Dog’s World.
2010-06-07 Lost is Over and I Feel Duped
I've been a fan of the TV series Lost since the first episode was broadcast on ABC back on September 22, 2004. Since then, I've devoted several columns to the series as well as too many blog posts to count. Lost was unlike anything I had ever seen on TV and seemed to be written and acted by some smart, funny and adept people.
2008-07-21 Mad Men, The Best Series on TV?
I have to admit that when I first heard about the AMC TV series Mad Men last year I was skeptical. How exactly could a show on AMC, which up until that point had been known as a cheap knock-off to TMC, turn out ANYTHING of quality? Surly if a show like Mad Men were any good, it would have premiered on a “real” network like HBO or FX. Right? WRONG! AMC did the impossible last season in producing the best series of the year on a channel other than HBO.
2010-08-08 Mad Men: Good or Great?
The fourth season of the most critically acclaimed drama on TV, Mad Men, returned to AMC a few weeks back. I’ve been a huge supporter of the series since it debuted, but the fourth season of any TV series is unusually important for the long-term viability of a show.
2004-04-05 Night Shift returns with a twist of reality
If comedy is a science, then Kevin Ferguson and his crew have it down. Well, almost.
2010-05-10 Not Buying It: I Should Not Have Bought It
I’ve been trying to cut back on my spending and focus more on the joys of saving money. So when I came across Not Buying It: My Year Without Shopping at Goodwill, I bought it (it was only a dollar.)
2008-11-06 Poor Fat Woman magazine promises to "keep it real"
Since I’m trying to watch my money (and doing a poor job of it, thank you very much) I’ve restricted my magazine reading to the checkout lines at the grocery store and places where I have to sit and wait, such as car-care places and doctor’s offices. I exhausted the supply of Newsweek and skimmed through the Woman’s Day at a local tire repair joint, so I reluctantly picked up the November issue of Money magazine. It proved to me that I live in an alternate universe, but then, so does everyone else who lives in Fort Wayne.
2009-10-05 Quilt: a musical celebration and a timely reminder
For nearly three decades now, HIV/AIDS had been such a prevalent national and global health issue that many people under 40 might find the sort of fear and paranoia that surrounded the disease when it first began to creep into the national consciousness back in the early/mid 80s hard to believe.
2008-03-10 Really old Berry Street
Recognize it?
2008-12-23 Shopping for Memories visits downtown Fort Wayne’s retail past
Jim Barron doesn’t quite know how he came to be the chronicler of downtown Fort Wayne’s glory days.
2008-03-24 Sicko: The Sequel
I confess—in the past I’ve complained about people who don’t dress well for winter; who bitch about it being miserable here from December through March—but now, I’ve joined your ranks. I’m sick of winter and can’t wait for it to be over. What’s caused my change of mind? Pneumonia.
2008-08-04 Spaced: A cultural touchstone you might have missed
I had heard of the UK TV series Spaced years before I ever saw an episode. It was a series so popular with those who had already seen it that they used it as a reference point for critiquing other shows. Before I saw Spaced, I figured the series was a sci fi drama based on the title alone, but in reality Spaced is a modern day comedy that deals with a group of twenty-somethings living and (sometimes) working in London.
2007-11-01 Stacked: Artwork Inspired by Reading Material
From deformed sock monkeys and bluish shadow women wielding knives to goddesses and labyrinths, the art show, Stacked: Artwork Inspired by Reading Material, has images for any mood and sensibility. A vast array of genres of visual art is on display in the Jeffrey R. Krull Gallery at the new downtown library. This juried show consists of artwork accompanied by artist’s statements describing the reading material used as inspiration.
2009-11-24 The Nutcracker '09 offers new spectacle and special guests
Fort Wayne Ballet opens the 2009 holiday season with its classical rendition of Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker for nine evening and matinee performances from December 4 through December 13, 2009.
2004-09-27 The Prince & the Pauper kicks off Youtheatre’s 71st season
At first glance, Fort Wayne Youtheatre’s 2004 – 2005 season might seem to have a distinct theme running through it — The Prince and the Pauper, The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, Secret Garden. It may sound like a middle-school reading list, but Youtheatre director Harvey Cocks says it wasn’t intentional. “We came up with the season, and someone said, ‘hey, we’ve got kind of a literary season going on here,’” he says. “It just happened by accident.”
2004-11-22 Warbird Digest devoted to the aircraft of World War II
The P-51 Mustang. The F4U Corsair. The B-17 Flying Fortress… The technological marvels of their day, World War II-era aircraft hold a special significance for a huge, international movement of people who study, restore, and fly these unique machines. For Tim Savage, editor and publisher of a new, Fort Wayne-based magazine called Warbird Digest, this restoration movement is a way to keep history alive.
2004-12-06 Wolf & Dessauer offers a poignant glimpse of a bygone era
Once upon a time, downtown Fort Wayne wasn’t the near-desert it is these days. Right up through the 60s, it was a bustling center of commerce, where people could take a trolley to work, shop, have a meal, or see a movie or a show. To many long-time area residents, one of the centers of downtown life, especially during the holiday season, was a department store called Wolf & Dessauer, that closed 35 years ago this Christmas.
2007-11-20 A 20-year holiday tradition
The 2007 production of The Nutcracker marks the 20th year in a row that the Fort Wayne Ballet has produced the holiday classic in its entirety, and the ballet’s artistic director Karen Gibbons-Brown (this is her 9th production in Fort Wayne) says she is asked all the time why they do The Nutcracker every year. “The answer is, of course, that it’s a community holiday tradition,” she says. “Not just in our community, but in communities all around the US.”
2004-05-17 A Twilight Zone kinda day
It was one of those Twilight Zone type of days: striking resemblances and kindred spirits in the strangest places.
2007-04-10 A Brief History of Touch…
When playwright Jack Cantey jokingly refers to "A Brief History of Touch and other plays" as a “big bowl of theater,” don’t mistake the collection of original one-act plays as the dramatic equivalent of comfort food.
2009-03-10 A Brief Introduction to Some of The Best Local Bands You’ve Probably Never Heard Before
Never in my wildest dreams could I ever have imagined that there might be too many great bands in town. With just a few acts seeming to get most of the attention around here, one might be tempted to think that there really isn’t much to be found beyond the usual suspects. The fact is, however, that there is quite a lot of talent hiding out in Fort Wayne, and I thought I’d use this week’s column to talk to you about a few local acts that you may or may not be familiar with.
2008-05-06 A case for the arts
Marfa. This miniscule city in the far west of Texas has interested me for the last 5 years. A city of approximately 2,500 people, sitting on 1.6 miles of land interests me, Marfa is far more progressive and has a better standing in the international art community than Fort Wayne, a city with more than 100 times its population, and sitting on about 50 times as much land.
2010-03-08 A cast of many talents
I could cite the broken box office records, the chart-topping soundtrack albums, the many hit revivals that Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat has racked up since it debuted some 40 years ago — the first collaboration between Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice to hit the big stage, by the way…
2009-01-05 A Christmas You Can Bank On
One more holiday-flavored old school photo for you.
2007-05-21 A columnist looks at 40
By the time you read this, I’ll have turned 40. Big freaking’ deal, you say…
2009-04-21 A Depression-era fable in Southern Indiana
Jim Leonard’s Depression-era play The Diviners — which begins its run at IPFW on April 17 — won the National American College Theatre Festival Playwriting Award in 1980 and, later that year, was produced professionally at the Circle Repertory Theater in 1980, earning rave reviews.
2005-05-16 A Freak goes to Holland
Fort Wayne audiences might know Matt Cashdollar as a member of the Freak Brothers, a consistent crowd favorite around town with a very enthusiastic following. But the Freak Brothers is just one of several musical projects Cashdollar is involved with.
2007-07-09 A fun ride
Six years ago, the Journal-Gazette asked me to sit down with the Sports Editor and discuss my plans for IPFW Athletics. I talked about my initial impressions of IPFW Athletics and NCAA Division I in general. I talked about the Goals that I had set out for our Department. Finally, I told the Journal-Gazette that I really wanted to take IPFW Athletics on a “fun ride.”
2008-10-21 A Halloween Double Feature! Zombies, Zombies, Zombies!
Over the last several Halloweens I’ve profiled some of my favorite horror movies. This year I’ve decided to profile two of my favorite, and quite different, zombie movies.
2005-11-14 A legendary story
In 1954 a book was released which still has a cult following along with scores of movie directors trying to adapt it to the big screen. Though the general public might not have ever read (or heard of) Richard Matheson’s (The Twilight Zone, Somewhere in Time, Duel) book I Am Legend, they no doubt have felt the effects of I Am Legend on modern horror through the years.
2009-02-10 A Local Government Makeover
It’s the issue that just won’t die: local government consolidation. After incremental movement over the last several years, plans to restructure local government appear to be on the fast track at the Indiana Statehouse.
2004-08-30 A look back at the Games
ATHENS, Greece - In the midst of a monotonous monologue, at the close of the Olympic Games, the long-winded chairman of the Chinese delegation stumbled upon a concise comment.
2004-08-30 A middle-aged man and his dog
Now that their two grown children out of the house, Greg and Kate are looking forward to enjoying all the rewards of a comfortable middle-class life, with enough time, enough money, and enough energy to do all those things they had always meant to do. For Kate, she finally completes her Master’s degree and is looking forward to teaching Shakespeare.
2004-05-03 A night at the Coliseum
I went to a hockey game the other night. The contest itself was like watching a slice of someone’s life: lots of missed opportunities, stumbles, falls, hits and questionable judgments by the men in charge.
2009-01-16 A night at the Rail
I’m trying something a little different this week. Instead of doing some formal interview or band profile, I thought I’d take this time to to give you a warts-and-all picture of a typical show night at the Brass Rail from start to finish.
2010-07-04 A Night of Murder
The body sits slumped in a chair at the center of the stage in the spotlight, wearing sunglasses and impaled by, of all things, an airplane propeller.
2007-08-06 A polarizing Polaroid moment
The above photo might just turn out to be the strangest memento of perhaps the strangest mayoral race in Fort Wayne history.
2007-04-24 A Shared Life on Display: Pamela de Marris at Artlink
The idea of an artist’s spouse playing the role of the muse is well founded in art history. René Magritte had Georgette. Harry Callahan had Eleanor. And, for the past three decades, photographer Pamela de Marris has had James Meadows.
2004-08-14 A trip around the Great Lakes leaves nothing out
Whether it's a hunting lodge straight out of a high-end men's magazine, a rustic log cabin in the woods, or a tropical cottage on the sand, spending a vacation in your own private dwelling far from the crowds is special experience.
2005-02-07 A trip around the rink
A few weeks ago, I returned from a trip to Toronto Ontario. It was there that I put on my sidewalk-sale hockey skates for the first time in years, and made my way shakily around Nathan Phillips Square. I didn’t fall, despite my lack of skating ability.
2006-11-21 Aaron Sorkin and the Myth of an 8-hour Workday
The characters in television shows written by Aaron Sorkin don’t live by the union mantra “eight hours for work, eight hours for play and eight for what we will.” They live their lives through and for their jobs. Outside of work these characters have no life, no identity. Sorkin’s world is like our own, but with snappier dialogue: when people can be in constant communication with the office via e-mail, cell phone or Blackberry, there is no escape.
2008-08-18 AC-D, 1977
Auction crowd
2007-07-23 Accentuate the Positive...And Pay the Price
I saw a classified ad in a local paper for a dating coach. I had to smile. As someone who worked with a life coach for the past few months, I need to warn people about paying for such services.
2005-02-07 Accentuate the positive…
Last issue, we gathered a few of the gripes people had about Fort Wayne, and explored them a little further. We talked about lack of all-ages concert venues, the fact that it takes forever for non-mainstream movies to get here, and the old fort just sitting there, among other things. We’ve also heard a few new gripes since then.
2006-08-21 Acclaimed Australian rocker shows off his singer/songwriter skills in rare Fort Wayne show
On Wednesday, August 23rd, Fort Wayne music fans are in for a rare treat when two of Australia’s most acclaimed modern singer-songwriters — Tex Perkins and Tim Rogers — drop by Columbia Street West for an acoustic show.
2004-08-11 ACPL scores high marks on national library ranking
The Allen County Public Library system has a lot to cheer about these days — a massive, multi-million dollar renovation project well underway, and just last month, the Hennen’s American Public Library Ratings (HAPLR) index ranked us 5th in the entire nation among library systems in our population category.
2010-06-22 ACPL, 1968
The man with his head bowed diligently over those boxes and boxes of files is Richard Elmer…
2004-10-11 Actor and activist Christopher Reeve dies
"Superman" actor Christopher Reeve, who turned personal tragedy into a public crusade and from his wheelchair became the nation's most recognizable spokesman for spinal cord research, has died. He was 52.
2004-04-05 Ad nauseum — Pathetic efforts from Madison Avenue
After viewing some awful commercials recently, I’m convinced I could make it in advertising. I honestly think I couldn’t do any worse than these recent 30-second disasters I’ve seen:
2009-07-06 Addicted to Exuberance
Jason Reitman's Thank You For Smoking (2006) is a pitch-black satire about the perversities of tobacco lobbyists, yet there is a moment in the movie that rings all too true for real-life smokers.
2004-04-05 Aerosmith
Blues purists won’t find much to like on Honkin’ On Bobo, Aerosmith’s long-awaited album of blues covers. But for Aerosmith fans, it might be the album they’ve been waiting for since Pump.
2001-12-20 After the election
By all accounts, Fort Wayne’s 2003 Mayoral Race should have been a nail-biter. After all, when the same candidates went up against each other in 1999, Republican Linda Buskirk lost to Democrat Graham Richard by a mere 129 votes. Analysts predicted another tight race for 2003, especially after the loss of many manufacturing jobs during Richard’s first term in office.
2009-01-05 Age of Anxiety
When I first sat down with Lindy Doster and Cory Troyer, the two people responsible for bringing Zeitgeist: Addendum to the Fort Wayne Museum of Art on Jan. 25th at 2:00pm, I expected to have a brief chat about the movie, their motivations for wanting to show it, and perhaps a little insight into the broader meaning behind the film. What I was not prepared for was the hand cramps that were to come from trying to capture absolutely everything they had to say. Obviously, these were people who’s knowledge on this subject went far beyond the film’s content.
2008-05-06 Age of Conspiracy
I commit social sins on an almost daily basis, but the one that I really have to change is that I make eye contact with strangers. I'm naturally interested in people and I love to see what's going on in their faces, but in modern, paranoid times this practice comes across as a challenge and violates some established protocol about appropriate public interaction. I'm not looking for trouble, I swear, but I'm irreducibly curious and sometimes I put myself in tricky situations I should learn to avoid.
2004-08-20 AIHS to launch new ‘Grandparents Raising Grandchildren’ Program
Aging and In-Home Services of Northeast Indiana, Inc. (AIHS) will soon launch its new ‘Grandparents Raising Grandchildren’ Program. The program is designed to help grandparents adjust and cope with the stresses of raising their grandchildren.
2004-11-18 Airports might return to private screening
WASHINGTON - Two years after the federal government took over all airline passenger and baggage screening following glaring lapses in security, some airports are considering a return to privately employed screeners.
2006-02-20 Al Stiles: "I was part of that"
Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Josephine Baker, Louis Armstrong, Charlie Parker, Count Basie, Duke Ellington and Bill “Bojangles” Robinson are all among the list of pioneering entertainment legends who ushered in a new era of American music and paved the way for future Black performers. But that list isn’t complete without the name of a legend right here in Fort Wayne: Al Stiles. Stiles was part of the jazz era of the 1930’s, the struggle for civil rights in the 1960’s and the ongoing effort to develop our youth. “I’ve done it all. I’ve been on Broadway. I’ve played the World’s Fair. I’ve made records. I’ve been in a movie,” Stiles recounted. “But I’ve still got more to offer.”
2004-08-14 Album covers were once a hip canvas for iconic art
It was never a full-blown romance. Perhaps an on-again off-again relationship is more apt. But the second half of the 1960s was a luminous juncture in the long relationship between art and pop music.
2006-04-10 Alexander… closes Youtheatre’s season honoring a legacy of the Fort Wayne stage
Youtheatre’s production of "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day" — adapted from Judith Viorst’s book about the eponymous five-year-old hero navigating a day packed with indifferent pets, misplaced chewing gum, lunch bags with no dessert, and other childhood dramas — wraps up the theater’s 72nd season with a special tribute to the family who was instrumental in starting this Fort Wayne institution.
2004-08-23 All deliberate speed — reorganizing national intelligence agencies
There are good reasons for Congress to move carefully in reorganizing the nation's intelligence agencies. But preserving Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's control of the U.S. intelligence budget should not be one of them.
2006-10-23 All Nite Skate: Confident in Their “Western Shame”
To put it simply, All Nite Skate are one of Fort Wayne’s most unique bands. Omar (guitar), Cole (bass, banjo and keyboards), Darcy (keyboards, bells, and accordion), Bob (guitar and harmonica) and Kay (drums) create the sort of music you would normally hear after road-tripping two or three hours in any direction.
2006-10-09 All the leaves are brown…
Summer’s fading. And according to my calculations, when you read this, it will be gone. I look forward to summer’s arrival each year. To me, summer is the season of hope, even though hardly anything big or good happens to me in the summer. Things seem easier. You don’t have to bundle up to go outside. There’s lots of stuff going on, from concerts to festivals to amusement parks. Then, there’s the private stuff, like hanging out in your backyard or on the porch, enjoying a summer afternoon breeze, or the pleasantness of twilight, which for us this year didn’t come until late in the day.
2007-08-19 All You Need Is Cash
I went to Beatlefe…er The Fest For Beatles Fans for the first time in two years. If you've never been, I highly recommend attending one. There are three a year, one in Vegas, one in the New York metro area and the one in Chicago. It's not quite like going to Liverpool, but anything Beatle-related can be found there. Not that it's affordable, but if you want to order a Beatle-themed jukebox, you can.
2009-05-18 ALL-AMERICA CITY
The City of Fort Wayne hopes local citizens and businesses will chip in to help the community bring home the title of All-America City.
2008-08-04 All-star line up at Roots & Rhythm festival
The Roots & Rhythm Festival — an all-day event happening Saturday, August 16 at Headwaters Parks — showcases a diverse line-up of national and regional talent, and festival organizer Bruce Lehman is still reeling at how quickly the show came together. “We just came up with the idea eight months ago,” he laughs. “Now it’s just a few weeks away.”
2009-04-07 Allen County Courthouse
Allen County Courthouse shot from West Berry.
2005-05-16 Allen County History Book seeks family stories
The last time anyone bothered to keep a record of Allen County’s history, Pancho Villa was raiding New Mexico and America had just entered World War I.
2008-12-09 Alt-country icon Tim Easton plays the Brass Rail
If you need an idea of how highly regarded singer-songwriter Tim Easton is, you need know nothing more than Wilco served as the guy’s backing band his second solo album The Truth About Us (2003). Among alt-country fans, Easton is considered one of the brightest talents out there, with four albums to his credit, (his first, Special 20, came out in 1998) and the fifth, Porcupine, due in April 2009. Last August, he released an album with fellow songwriters Leeroy Stagger and Evan Phillip that, like much of Easton’s work, has received an enthusiastic response from critics.
2005-02-07 Ambitious Project Inspire snares national prize from among 19,000 entries
Ideas happen. Or sometimes, they almost don’t. Janette Luu, an anchor at channel 21, was unaware of Visa’s Ideas Happen contest until a friend pointed it out to her. Ideas Happen is a nationwide contest that awards $25,000 dollars to 12 winners in the categories of Entrepreneur, Community, and Self-Expression. As the deadline was closing in, Luu submitted her idea, Project Inspire. It was chosen from over 19,000 entries to become one of the winners in the Self-Expression category.
2006-01-06 Ambitious Allen County Historical Book project finally complete
After nearly three years, the Allen County Historical Book project is complete and ready to ship off to the publisher.
2010-07-04 America vs. Americana
The most popular vacation week of the summer for American families is the final week in July, and it's not a coincidence that that same week is also the hottest week of the year (on average) for most regions of the country.
2004-08-19 America's foreign troop redeployment overdue
The major American troop redeployment, announced Monday by President Bush, is probably overdue. The Soviet threat and the Cold War effectively ended 15 years ago, but U.S. soldiers remain positioned to combat the last war, not the next one. This may help to correct that.
2008-07-07 American Bicentennial
The American Bicentennial in Fort Wayne.
2005-09-20 Americanization, syndications, and the art of making money on TV
Question: why do Hollywood television producers “Americanize” (recast with American actors and rewrite with American tastes in mind) British television shows? It’s a common enough occurrence. Over the years there’s been some 60 odd shows converted from Queen’s English to American Slang including Three’s Company, Sanford and Son and All in the Family, all based on British television shows.
2004-09-13 An "underground" update
If an underground scene can be said to have a main event, it might be the Art Attack series of shows. Organized by John Commorato Jr. and a musician/artist who goes by the name “Cornfed Johnson,” the Art Attack shows were an amalgamation of edgy, sometimes confrontational art work and punk rock. They rented “raw space” (rather than white-walled, perfectly lit galleries), solicited work from area artists, got a few local bands, charged a couple bucks, and had a show. “We’re not here to show the type of stuff that could make it into other exhibits,” says Commorato. “Oil paintings and traditional art is fine, but there’re more than enough venues for that.”
2005-06-27 An actor's notebook
I remember it like it was yesterday. Saturday, July17, 1976. A defining moment that would change my life forever.
2006-03-06 An Actor’s Notebook
“I keep a list of options,” declared Holly Kaplan, in the last scene of playwright Wendy Wasserstein’s Uncommon Women and Others. “Just from today’s lunch, there’s law, insurance, marry Leonard Woolf, have a baby, bird watch in Bolivia. A myriad of openings.”
2008-04-21 An altogether different pet
For some, the hairless tail is what triggers the squirm factor. For some, it's the beady eyes or the scuttling in the shadows. For others, it's the reputation as disease-carrying vermin. We're talking about rats. Their depiction in movies and on television (the murderous hordes of Willard and the sequel Ben come to mind) hasn't helped. But some people think rats are getting a bad rap.
2007-09-07 An Emotional Tour of Castle Gallery’s Summer ’07 Show
I will readily admit that my emotions usually trump my reason. Although I do claim a healthy slice of logic and my right and left brain seem to coordinate nicely with each other during the work day, somehow when it comes to the enjoyment of the visual or performing arts I have a hard time remembering an artist’s name, song or picture title or any other trivia game details of a song, sculpture, painting or dance. But just ask me what I was feeling when I took it in, and you may get a novel in response.
2007-09-24 An Emotional Tour of the Castle Gallery’s Summer ’07 Show, Part Two
The Castle Gallery, built in 1905, is on the National Register of Historic Places, but you don’t have to be a history buff to fall in love with it, inside and out. According to the Gallery literature it was built as a wedding gift for B. Paul Mossman and his bride, using granite boulders from fields hundreds of miles away.
2006-03-06 An Evening With Roberta Flack
After trying for several days to secure a phone interview with Roberta Flack, I was on the verge of giving up when her personal assistant called me. I answered the phone as my children and I were preparing to say grace over dinner and was told Ms. Flack was on the line. I told the children to give mom about ten minutes. On the other end of the phone, I heard Ms. Flack say, "No Terra... say grace with your children." We did.
2006-11-08 An Inspector Calls
In all for One’s productions’ performance of An Inspector Calls, the members of the Birling family learn the hard way that the saying about not being able to hide from the ugly truth is more than just an old cliché.
2004-10-14 ANALYSIS: After final debate, race still too close to call
TEMPE, Ariz. - President Bush turned in probably his strongest of three debate performances Wednesday night, but not enough to outshine determined Democrat John Kerry and probably not enough to regain the momentum he lost after a shaky first outing.
2007-08-12 And Now a Message From Our Savior
To: Certain members of “The Flock” From: Jesus Christ, CEO Christianity, Incorporated Re: Our corporate image First of all I want to start out by wishing you all a Happy Holiday season. Wait. Let me rephrase that: what I really want to say is “Merry Christmas.” After all, I AM the reason for the season.
2006-10-23 And Our Next Mayor is…
As Political Animal predicted in our last issue, Fort Wayne Mayor Graham Richard is calling it quits after this term. He announced that he will not seek a third term and will instead focus on some key projects for the remainder of his time in office including downtown development and urban re-investment plans like the Renaissance Pointe housing initiative.
2004-09-27 And you are ...?
During one night at the Three Rivers Festival, someone said, “Buenos Diaz!” to me twice. At first, I thought he was a friendly Mexican. However, after a few minutes of conversation, it sunk in he was referring to this column. Tom Blacketor, if you are reading this column, (and you should be) I apologize for being an airhead.
2007-04-24 Andromeda unleash the ambitious Blue Collar Music
D.J. Polaris and Brainstorm, the production guru and emcee (respectively) that make up the hip hop duo Andromeda, were friends long before they started making music together in high school. They honed their skills while they were both students at Howard University in Washington D.C., putting out two cassette-only releases under the name Original School.
2008-05-20 Andromeda, Trixie, Captain Tripps, Motaba, KV and Rage (Oh, my)
At the end of this month, the cable channel A&E will premiere a two-part remake of the film The Andromeda Strain (1971). Though I’ve never been much of a fan of that particular film, I’ve always been intrigued by the central premise that humanity could be put into peril by something as seemingly innocuous as a microscopic virus.
2008-04-21 Andy Friedman — the “Hillbilly Leonard Cohen” — stops by The Brass Rail
The songs on Taken Man, the first studio album by Brooklyn-based country artist Andy Friedman, boast the kind of lyrics that you have to pay attention to. They don’t so much demand your ear as draw you in and make you eager for what he’s going to say next. Literate, world-weary, and a little sardonic, and set off by stark, simple arrangements, the songs on Taken Man have lead to Friedman being described as a “Hillbilly Leonard Cohen” and an “erudite redneck.”
2006-11-21 Andy Pauquette
Andy Pauquette discovered photography while touring as a professional musician in the mid 1990's.
2004-10-25 Angelina Jolie: The Sexiest Woman Alive
You would never guess that beneath Angelina Jolie's biker-chick tattoos and naughty image, there lurks a compassionate and dedicated humanitarian.
2008-11-06 Anonymous art
Like most other art scenes, Fort Wayne is the busiest in the fall and spring, usually starting off with the University of St. Francis’ gala exhibition and continuing with numerous shows until the Trolley Tour, organized by the Fort Wayne Museum of Art, and is the collection of numerous galleries around downtown. This has been continued since then with another batch of shows, including Daniel Dienelt’s solo show at Device Tattoos, Steph Leyden’s first solo show at Pint and Slice and St. Francis’ Contemporary Craft show in November, and “By the Numbers”, the group show opening at the Dash-In on Friday, November 7th.
2010-08-23 Another Hooters, but in Plaid
I saw in the paper recently that another sports bar is coming to town. Great, just what we need. Bring on another wings and beer joint.
2008-08-04 Anthony Hotel bar, February 1947
The bar of the Anthony Hotel…
2008-11-25 Anthony Hotel, 1947
The old Anthony Hotel seen from Berry Street, February 1947.
2009-04-21 Apocalypse of Reason
I'm a pretty hard guy to shock, but I have to admit I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw a copy of The Turner Diaries at the Allen County Public Library last month.
2004-11-09 Arafat’s condition worsens
Yasser Arafat is in a coma and his condition worsened overnight, a hospital spokesman said Tuesday, as top Palestinian officials met with doctors and sought to visit their critically ill leader over his wife's angry objections.
2005-10-17 ARCH tour unveils haunted Fort Wayne
If you were looking for the archetypical ghost story, you couldn’t do better than Fort Wayne’s very own “Lady In White.”
2004-12-06 Are media people happy?
One would think that media folks would love their jobs – fair salaries (generally), nice exposure (television and radio staffers), and cushy environments (usually).
2005-01-24 ARE WE THERE YET?
We are there, in comedy hell. Ice Cube melts as a cute chump, a sports freak who wants to woo dishy Nia Long but must endure her obnoxious kids on a motor trip from Portland to Vancouver.
2004-08-14 Are you paying 'made-up fees'?
Anyone with a cell phone knows that a $39.95 monthly plan really costs more like $45.
2005-06-13 Area high school students unleash the “Demon Barber of Fleet Street” on Fort Wayne
Theater is a cut-throat business. Just ask any actor. And Fort Wayne audiences can see just how wicked things can get on stage when the Summer Music Theater, an organization made up of area high school students, serves up Sweeney Todd, Stephen Sondheim’s popular take on the legend of the “Demon Barber of Fleet Street,” on June 24th and 25th.
2004-06-28 Area musician gives back to her influences with Hopefest
Good ideas can sometimes start in the weirdest places. For Megan King, an area musician who performs original blues and folk-inflected material, the idea for Hopefest began with a random encounter with her elementary school music teacher, Karilyn Metcalf, in a supermarket.
2004-06-14 Area organizations give Allen County residents incentive to get on their bikes and ride
If there’s one thing Fort Wayne residents love more than their restaurants, it’s their cars. We drive everywhere — two miles to the store to pick up a loaf of bread, a mile to school to pick the kids up, half-a-mile to go to a friend’s house… This reliance on cars is one of the reasons traffic congestion and gas prices are favorite topics of conversation around town. It’s also one of the reason’s the Center for Disease Control ranks Fort Wayne in the top five of the country’s fattest cities.
2007-04-24 Arf for Art's Sake
Larry Wardlaw has been Master of Ceremonies for countless events over the years. He’s M.C.’d the Junior Achievement annual meeting, functions for IPFW, several mayoral events… name an awards ceremony or recognition banquet held in the Grand Wayne Center and Wardlaw says he’s probably done a stint behind the podium as M.C. at one time or another.
2010-02-04 Armin Mersmann’s "The Veiled Narrative" at the Saint Francis Galleries
Photorealistic renderings have been done since the mid sixties, but Armin Mersmann's highly technical drawings turn the somewhat dense photorealistic style, and create attenuated, flickering images which retain the lifelike quality which defines a successful portrait.
2007-05-21 Arnie’s Army Puts Fort Wayne on the Map!
The dust has settled somewhat from the NCAA Men’s Volleyball Championship game on May 5, but the effects of a tremendously successful season will linger for quite a while! As you know by know, IPFW’s Men’s Volleyball team upset #1 Pepperdine on May 3, and we suddenly found ourselves playing for an NCAA Championship for the first time in IPFW’s history. We fell a little short against #2 University of California-Irvine on Saturday evening, but that doesn’t diminish a great season by some extraordinary men.
2010-03-08 Arrivederci, Old Friend
The building stands vacant now at the corner of Fairfield and Kinsmoore. A once vibrant and bustling restaurant now a shell of memories given over to the ravages of time and awaiting an uncertain future.
2007-04-10 Arrogance a plus for "Stones In His Pockets"
Chris Colcord has some choice words for the two actors he’s directing in Stones In His Pockets. “They’re kind of arrogant,” he says.
2005-08-08 Art Attack at the Fort Wayne Museum of Art
Fort Wayne artist John Commorato has built a reputation for work that, to simplify a great deal, could be described as non-traditional.
2006-03-06 Art collective e4 “back from the dead” with a strong show at Charlie Cummings Gallery
e4 is Seth Harris, Tracy Row, Jason Stopa, and Eric Tarr. This talented quartet of Fort Wayne artists has worked under the e4 moniker since soon after they met in 2002. They have exhibited their solo and collaborative mixed media work at numerous local galleries and underground venues, including 1911 Gallery, Art Attack 2, and Avant-Garde Gallery. An exhibition of their latest work, Remember Black Shoes, opens at Charlie Cummings Gallery on March 05.
0000-00-00 Art goes to the dogs.....and cats
On Friday, February 25, art will be going to the dogs. And cats. And other animals as well. But it’s for a good cause -- in this case, it’s the Allen County SPCA Art Auction. 2004 was the first year for the event, which raised $15,000. The amount stunned event organizers, particularly Jeanne Leita Stump.
2004-08-27 Art heist paints thieves in corner
SAN DIEGO - So, you've just swiped one of the most prized and recognized artworks on the planet. Good work, Mr. Brazen Thief Man! Now, wealth beyond your wildest dreams is just one eBay listing away.
2008-08-04 Art Journal: NYC
As far as summer road trips go, I tend to stick with the nerdiness of museum going. This year, it happened to take the form of the New Museum and MoMA in New York City, and a temporary project done by Creative Time. All of these institutions are known for their directives of advancing the ability of the contemporary artist to connect with the art world and the public at large with an increasing degree of intimacy.
2009-02-10 Art Off Main
With all of this dreary Fort Wayne winter weather, the people of our great city need some kind of artistic opiate (in addition to the great shows currently available at FWMoA, Artlink, and elsewhere) to take their minds off of the reality of at least four more weeks of cold.
2009-09-21 Art World Fall Census
Traditionally, the Fall is one of the most active time for the arts. As the galleries unfold their '09/'10 exhibition schedule with the FWMoA Trolley Tour, and with the performing arts venues gearing up as well, arts lovers have busy weekends ahead of them.
2004-09-30 Arthritis drug Vioxx pulled from market
New data from a clinical trial caused pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co. to pull its popular arthritis drug Vioxx from the market worldwide. The trial found that after using Vioxx for 18 months, users had an increased risk of heart attack and stroke. The company’s stock price plunged more than 25 percent.
2008-01-21 Arthur Cislo: visual psalms
I spent a rainy Friday afternoon with Fort Wayne’s resident Renaissance man Art Cislo, chatting about everything from politics, education, Bob Dylan, the idea of “the city,” and one of the only topics that covers all of the above: Art.
2008-02-04 Artist Michael Israel brings his “Art In Concert” to the Scottish Rite
At every one of his “Art In Concert” shows, artist Michael Israel gets the kind of rapturous reception from his audience that most performers would chew on glass for. They sing, they dance, they scream… there’s even a few tears. And what exactly does Israel do at these “Art in Concert” shows to elicit that kind of overwhelming response?
2010-05-10 ARTLINK 30th Annual National Print Exhibition
Once again, Artlink is pulling out all of the stops with its 30th Annual National Print Exhibition. The exhibition has the loyal and generous support of the Lincoln Financial Foundation, allowing Artlink to create an unparalleled exhibition of printmaking that includes a small catalogue of works, and over $2,200 in cash awards.
2005-05-30 Artlink gets new Executive Director
Deb Washler remembers her first encounter with Betty Fishman, Executive Director of Artlink. Washler was an art student at Saint Francis, and she had dropped off her first piece for the annual Artlink member’s show. “Betty called me at home and said ‘You need to come back in.’” Washler says. “So, she takes me to the back room, and proceeds to take my whole piece apart, instructing me the whole time. She puts it back together, looks at me and says ‘can you do it right the next time?’”
2007-07-23 Artlink Member Show Highlights Variety of Visual Arts
If Artlink’s current member show is any indication, the state of the visual arts in Fort Wayne is definitely healthy. “Usually, we have 50 to 60 pieces in a show,” points out Deb Washler, Artlink’s executive director. “This year, we have 170.”
2006-07-24 Artlink Members' Show
For nearly three decades, Artlink has been one of Fort Wayne's greatest success stories in the arts. Artlink has served the community as a not-for-profit organization since 1978, and has resided in its current home in the Hall Community Arts Center since 1991.
2009-08-09 Artlink Member’s Show
July is known not only for Three Rivers Festival, but also Arlink's Annual Member's show, which opened July 17th and runs until August 11th. Sponsored by NIPSCO, 816 Pint & Slice, Arts United, and Artlink Members, this exhibition is known not only for its diversity of work, but also its great attendance, bringing in just about everyone in Fort Wayne's arts scene, and even a lot of the fringe art world. An interesting note to also mention is the incredible bargain that so many of this year's entries are going for.
2005-10-31 Artlink offers retrospective of local artist and teacher George W. McCullough
The Fort Wayne art world lost a great painter and a great teacher when George W. McCullough died on October 15 of this year at the age of 82. The Artlink gallery was already preparing a retrospective of McCullough’s work at the time of McCullough’s death. The retrospective opens with a reception from 7 – 9pm on November 11th, and features 53 pieces from George W, McCollough, mostly paintings, drawings, and etchings.
2009-12-19 Artlink Regional Exhibition
Every two years, Artlink presents an exhibition highlighting three of the region's most active and vibrant artists. Last year at the Artlink Biennial Regional Exhibition, Joshua Witten, Wendy Norton, and Andrew Lemmon were awarded $500 and the opportunity to be a part of a three person exhibition. "Regional Award Winners" is the culmination of work over the last year for those three artists.
2009-04-30 Artlink’s 29th Annual National Print Exhibition
Every year, Artlink exhibits a both technically and aesthetically well-crafted exhibition of artist's prints, with an extremely diverse group of printmaking techniques and styles represented. This year was no different with the "29th Annual National Print Exhibition", which was made possible through the generous support of the Lincoln Financial Foundation.
2010-03-08 Artlink’s Regional University Exhibition
Artlink has been exhibiting the work of Fort Wayne area art professors for many years now, and with the "Regional University Exhibition," Huntington University has been added to the usual roster of IPFW and University of Saint Francis professors.
2006-09-18 Arts United Center
In 1959, world-renowned architect Louis I. Kahn was commissioned to create a downtown cultural complex for Fort Wayne.
2010-08-23 Arts United's Taste of the Arts Festival
Arts United of Greater Fort Wayne presents the second annual Taste of the Arts Festival in downtown Fort Wayne on August 28th from Noon. to 7 p.m., followed by “Dessert,” a showcase of local bands.
2009-10-20 Arts Weekly
Chuck O'Connor is an amazing asset for the city of Fort Wayne. Being relatively new to the Fort Wayne arts scene, O'Connor is the Dean of the College of Visual and Performing Arts at IPFW. He has a great vision for the institution, and the ways in which it can interact with the community at large.
2008-11-25 As the ax falls
The sordid soap opera that was the 2009 City of Fort Wayne Budget debate appears to be settled. City employees will have to go without raises, but no one will be laid off due to belt tightening.
2005-01-24 ASSAULT ON PRECINCT 13
Bashing, ammo-driven remake of the 1976 John Carpenter pulp hit, with cops improbably mired in a decrepit Detroit station, under siege during a snow storm. On action-game terms it delivers, despite absurdities (why the tunnel surprise held towards the end by one figure?).
2007-11-01 Assuming you’re elected…
We asked Republican Mayoral candidate Matt Kelty and Democratic Mayoral candidate Tom Henry five questions on what they would do if they were elected. Here are their answers.
2009-03-10 At Least “Wifeswap” Makes Your Family Look Normal
I’m watching “Wifeswap” right now and I’m chuckling at the domestic train wreck they’ve put together for this week. It’s a highly educated, worldly, driven California family vs. a paintball playing, junk food eating Missouri clan. It’s always amusing to watch these freaks clash. Whoever the producers of this show are, they manage to pick some seriously weird families to mix it up.
2005-05-17 At Old Crown, it's all about the coffee
Step into Old Crown Coffee Roasters at 3410 North Anthony and the first thing you’ll notice are the bins: over a dozen bins filled with freshly-roasted coffee, bearing names as evocative as their aromas — everything from French-Kissed Kona to a particularly potent brand of bean labeled the 9th Degree of Darkness. Behind the bins, toward the back of the shop, a huge, metallic machine that looks vaguely like a big bass drum rattles and sizzles as it turns raw coffee beans into one of the many tasty offerings you’ll find behind the counter and in the bins.
2004-08-14 Athens unites to disprove myth of disorganization
Four years after the International Olympic Committee threatened to move the Games elsewhere, a year after the main sports complex was a pile of dirt and rubble, a month after the new rail link and tramway were still under construction, a week after downtown Athens' central square was still closed for renovation, everything is open and operational.
2009-06-04 Audrey Riley: Double Time
Audrey Riley has proven herself as one of the most prolific, capable, and ambitious artists to come out of Fort Wayne in a while. I last covered the progress of this artist a little over a year ago as she was getting ready for her first solo show with Spurious Fugitive Gallery in South Bend, which later picked her up as a represented artist. Riley, the former creative director and owner of the ad agency Riley+Company, has gained further momentum exhibiting her vast and growing body of work, expanding into new genres, new galleries, and new collections.
2008-01-07 Audrey Riley: form follows function
Audrey Riley’s Fine Art career has exploded over the last four years. In fact, to miss her art in Fort Wayne during this time, you almost had to be purposely avoiding it.
2004-05-03 Author and illustrator Claire Ewart conjures prehistoric skies in Fossil
You may not think that the rocks and stones littering the bottom of a dry river bed or scattered across a field hold much mystery, but to Fort Wayne-based children’s book author and illustrator Claire Ewart, those stones represent a world of wonders, a world she recreates with stunning vibrancy in her third picture book, Fossil.
2004-11-24 Author Bob Lockwood to speak at Mitchell Books November 27th
Bob Lockwood, the author of A Faith for Grown-ups: A midlife Conversation About What Really Matters, will appear at Mitchell Books on Saturday, November 27th, at noon.
2006-05-18 Avett Brothers: Raucous Boys from North Carolina
Few bands have taken the credo ‘less is more’ to heart moreso than the Avett Brothers. Consisting of Scott and Seth Avett, on banjo and guitar respectively, and Bob Crawford, on upright bass, the Avett (pronounced AYE-vett) Brothers create songs more rockin and foot stompin than bands twice their numbers.
2005-01-24 AVIATOR, THE
A fabled movie maniac, Scorsese adores the young Hughes as Hollywood wildcatter and his amateurish, "visionary" plunge into the business. Old news footage and film clips merge into gorgeously edited re-creations of the era, the color often imitating early color processes.
2007-09-24 Award-Winning Poet Karla Kelsey to Visit University of Saint Francis
Southern California-native and UCLA alum, Karla Kelsey, will give a reading at the Bass Mansion on the University of Saint Francis campus, 2701 Spring Street,Fort Wayne. Kelsey won the Sawtooth Poetry Prize for her book, Knowledge, Forms, the Aviary. Her work has appeared in numerous magazines and journals. Kelsey did her undergraduate work at UCLA, and received an MFA in Poetry from the Iowa Writer’s Workshop, and a PhD from the University of Denver.
2005-10-03 Award-winning thriller Keep Your Distance premiers at Cinema Center Tech
No one can say Stu Pollard isn’t persistent. When the Louisville-based independent film-maker’s first feature, Nice Guys Sleep Alone, was released, Pollard realized that the biggest challenge wasn’t necessarily raising money, shooting the film, or post-production work; it was getting the thing seen.
2004-08-30 Back in the habit of going to school
Getting up each morning during the school year can be tough. Getting up that first morning after a long summer of late nights and late mornings is even tougher. But that is exactly what millions of children will soon be doing.
2009-05-18 Back on track
The last passenger train rolled out of Fort Wayne’s Baker Street Station during the fall of 1990, but it seems that ever since then, rumors of Amtrak’s return to the city have popped up every few years or so. But in early April, a rally at the Baker Street Station in support of renewing passenger rail service through Fort Wayne was the strongest sign yet that the idea might become a reality sometime in the very near future.
2008-08-18 Back to school blues
I think I'm one of the few sports fans in America who believes that spoiled-brat, millionaire pro athletes are underpaid for what they do and that most of them deserve huge raises in their next contracts.
2005-08-22 Back to school in the Blogosphere
Back to school also means shopping and the blogs have got you covered…
2004-10-21 Backlash hits Sinclair on disputed 'news event'
SAN DIEGO - The nation's largest chain of TV stations is feeling a political and financial backlash over its controversial plan to broadcast a "special news event" highly critical of Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry.
2004-10-12 Balance U.S. energy policy
The news that heating bills will be going up this winter should serve as a reminder and a warning. It's a reminder to members of Congress to get off the proverbial dime and come up with a national energy policy aimed at, in the long term, reducing the nation's addiction to foreign sources of oil and traditional fossil fuels. And it's a warning that a national policy needs to be balanced in the short term so that not all of the nation's energy eggs are in one basket.
2009-03-23 Barking Up the Pet Peeve Tree.
Someone at work (Hi Sarah!) asked me if I’d ever done a column on pet peeves. There’s plenty of stuff that makes me mad, but I guess I’ve never done a list of them. Until now.
2007-10-08 Barr Street
Barr Street from Washington Blvd., Fort Wayne IN: showing site of Barr Street Market, with Hobby House Restaurant, Cottage Flowers, part of Foellinger building, city hall.
2010-03-08 Barr Street Market
You can see some of the Barr Street market in the lower left of the photo…
2008-05-06 Barr street market demolition
Barr Street Market being torn down.
2006-03-20 Barr Street Market — 1957
This rare photograph shows shoppers at Fort Wayne's Historic Barr Street Market in 1957…
2008-06-23 Barr street market, 1974
People buying vegetables…
2010-08-08 Baseball at Municipal Beach Park
A baseball game at Municipal Beach Park…
2004-04-05 Basement What?
Anyone who misses the days when the likes of Blind Melon and Blues Traveler ruled the airwaves will love the melodic anthems on Basement What?’s self-titled CD.
2006-05-22 Battle at the BMV; and (don't) smoke 'em if you've got 'em
BMV Battle Fort Wayne Mayor Graham Richard is experiencing major road rage over Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles Commissioner Richard Silverman’s decision to move the Southgate BMV branch to Waynedale.
2007-07-09 Battle of the Bike
The Roman god of war wants to cure diabetes. He’s also from California. Wild black hair falls slightly in the young man’s eyes, shading others from the full intensity of a strong but friendly gaze. His birth name is Mariano Deneken, but he’s known as Mars to those around him. And though the 24 year old isn’t really a god, he’s been fighting as hard as one.
2004-11-09 Battle to retake Fallujah met with sporadic resistance
On the second day of fighting, U.S. Army and Marine units pushed through the center of the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah, fighting bands of guerrillas in the streets and conducting house-to-house searches.
2006-10-09 Battlestar Galactica: Nothing’s ever gonna’ be the same again
When Battlestar Galactica returned to the airwaves this fall, it marked the end of a 210-day absence of new episodes. Somehow, the wait seemed longer.
2005-01-10 Battlestar Galactica: Who would have thought this show had legs?
Early in 2003, the Sci-Fi Channel announced that its re-make of the late 70s cult TV show Battlestar Galactica would be a little different from the show fans of a certain age might remember. The heart of the show would be there, but the interstellar shoot ‘em ups would be toned down in favor of a more realistic approach to space travel, more 2001 than Star Wars. The re-make would focus on the survival aspects of the story, with more of an emphasis of what it means to be the last members of an entire race. And Starbuck would be a woman. For a show that wasn’t around very long, Battlestar Galactica garnered a surprising number of fans, and their protest came fast and furious. Writer/producer Ronald Moore took all the flak – or feldergarb, but it takes stronger stuff than that to faze the man who killed Captain Kirk.
2010-08-08 Be prepared… or else
Some people who know me tell me I’m negative and pessimistic, but I prefer to see myself as being more of a realist.
2005-01-24 BEAR CUB
Not at all a Disney nature comedy - instead, a Spanish film about a big, cuddly gay dentist in Madrid (appealing Jose Luis Garcia-Perez) who inherits his sister's son, who might be gay.
2004-06-28 Beastie Boys
I suppose if you’re out of the spotlight for six years and come back sounding like you’ve never left, that’s sort of a triumph, isn’t it?
2005-11-28 Beatallica
There are probably a dozen clever ways to describe Beatallica, but the concept sounds so bizarre on paper that I’ll just lay it out for you: Beatallica does Metallicized arrangements of Beatles songs. They basically reinterpret the tunes the way Metallica might, with a heavy dose of humor thrown in.
2004-08-14 Becoming A Tiger
If only the animals among us could talk, they might tell us how they learned to knock a clam with a rock, shove a stick in a termite nest, mob a hungry cheetah and sing a new song every spring. But they can't, so we have animal behaviorists, who study the comings and goings of creatures great and small, to arrive at some answers.
2006-08-21 Bee’s Knees: Catch Their Buzz
Whenever I see Bee’s Knees, I think of the Barenaked Ladies’ song “If I Had $1000000,” because I would love to make a standing offer to the greater Fort Wayne public: Double your money for cover charge and/or first round of drinks if you can manage to keep from movin’ along to the music at any of their shows.
2008-06-23 Before Marvel movies were cool
Movies based on Marvel Comics characters/titles seem to be dominating the box office the last few years. Be it the Spider-Man and X-Men franchises that have earned more than $1.7 billion dollars combined worldwide, or the release of Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk this summer that is sure to take that number well north of $2 billion by years end, things couldn’t be better for Marvel.
2004-05-03 Behind the camera on RV1
I was skeptical at first: a reality show about Republican gubernatorial candidate Mitch Daniels traveling through Indiana in RV1. First of all, it sounds too much like an infomercial; secondly, it sounds pretty gimmicky; and finally, I really doubted that anyone would put a camera on a politician during an unscripted, unorchestrated moment. But somehow, I got hooked. Sure, it’s a commercial, but all politics aside, RV-1: On the Road with Mitch Daniels makes for pretty interesting and entertaining viewing, and judging by its consistent ratings, lots of viewers think so, too.
2004-01-12 Behind the gun
For anyone who enjoys the thrill of knowing the inside scoop, the Smoking Gun website is Mecca. Via copies of legal documents and official memos, the Smoking Gun offers a peek into a side of public figures and current events normally off-limits, from J-Lo’s insistence on an all-white dressing room to mug shots of legendary gangster Bugsy Siegel.
2006-07-24 Behind the scenes at Seussical
With Seussical the Musical, the Fort Wayne Civic Theatre does what anyone who has ever read Horton Hears A Who or The Cat In the Hat or The Grinch Who Stole Christmas would probably consider impossible — bring the bizarre, goofy world of Dr. Seuss to life on stage.
2006-07-24 Behind the scenes at Seussical
With Seussical the Musical, the Fort Wayne Civic Theatre does what anyone who has ever read Horton Hears A Who or The Cat In the Hat or The Grinch Who Stole Christmas would probably consider impossible — bring the bizarre, goofy world of Dr. Seuss to life on stage.
2004-10-13 Belief and the ballot box
SAN DIEGO - In an election year dance that has seen Roman Catholics swaying toward the GOP and Muslims stepping to the Democratic ticket, pollsters are scrambling to keep up with the choreography.
2005-07-11 Belle of the ball
Fort Wayne’s Civic Theater presents its take on one of Broadway’s modern classics Beauty and the Beast begins its run on July 22. It’s a live-action stage version of Disney’s Academy Award winning animated feature, and features all the songs by Alan Menken and the late Howard Ashman that made the film so memorable, as well as several new songs that Menken and the seemingly ubiquitous (when it comes to blockbuster musicals, at least) Tim Rice penned for the stage.
2008-02-04 Ben Laatsch: Trip out west creates Magic
When it came time for singer-songwriter Ben Laatsch to get some of his songs recorded for a demo, he chose to work with his friend James Musselman a.k.a. Longsleeves. Sure, Laatsch could have had his pick of numerous studios here in the Fort Wayne area, but he made the decision to work with Musselman for a variety of reasons.
2009-11-09 Benjamin's Cure
Imagine you are a healthy and vibrant eight-year-old. Suddenly you find yourself in the hospital being poked and prodded by insensitive doctors, unable to figure out what ravaged your immune system to the point where even the common cold is lethal…
2009-03-23 Berry Street
Berry Street, taken southeast from courthouse…
2008-01-07 Best & Worst of 2007
Our opinionated and highly arbitrary rundown of things we liked and didn’t like in 2007 reflects nothing more than the fact that we spent a lot of time thinking and talking about these things in FWR Towers this year. A lot of them have to do with local politics, and why not — it was a good year for it.
2009-01-05 Best & Worst of 2008
The end of an old year and the start of a new is the perfect time for an opinionated and arbitrary rundown of a few things we liked and didn’t like in 2008, because for the most part, real stories are difficult to come by in late December — everyone is out of town.
2008-08-04 Best Christmas Pageant Ever
There's a great story going around Fort Wayne theatre circles, based on a real incident, that sounds so much like a made-up parable about smalltown stupidity and censorship that you'd swear it was invented by the guys who wrote Footloose. Fortunately, though it's all too true, and it goes like this…
2006-03-20 Betrayal, tragedy… and a wedding
It starts with a devastating betrayal, follows that up with a tragic suicide, and finally ends the way all fairy tales should… with a “happily ever after” wedding.
2005-08-08 Better education through blogs
The middle of August signals that a new school year is about to begin in the Mid west. Blogs are also a great place to get an education.
2007-05-21 Between the Rooms: Transmobile
Duo can sometimes seem like a dirty word. Being a solo musician means never having to answer to anyone else and the examples of such are a mile long. Trios have the stream-lined thing down: Guitar, bass and drums. Power trio usually comes to mind, as do groups such as Rush or Sugarplastic. But duo? Duo usually causes names like Seals & Crofts or Loggins & Messina to spring to mind.
2005-01-24 BEYOND THE SEA
One of the most genuine tributes ever offered by one artist to another, Kevin Spacey's "Beyond the Sea" tops the retro fever that has revived Bobby Darin. Spacey, the actor whose love of Darin's music began with his boyhood LPs and his late mother Kathleen's enthusiasm for the singer, stars as Darin.
2007-10-08 Bhavna Shah: Renaissance Woman
Born with an abundance of energy and creativity, Bhavna Shah, a native of India, started drawing, painting and creating unique crafts from coconut shells at the age of six. Many years before she moved to Canada, and then to Fort Wayne, she was exploring a vast array of visual art techniques.
2006-03-06 Big cable vs. big telephone
Down in Indianapolis, state law makers and lobbying interests are hurling accusations of lying, obfuscation, and public deception at each other. The cause of all this discord isn’t a Democratic walkout or a Republican monopoly. It isn’t about time zones or the sale of the toll road or legalizing electronic gambling. No, what’s stirring up all this heat are two pieces of legislation dealing with telecommunications deregulation.
2006-11-08 Big family time
Anyone who remembers the plot of Big, the 1988 box office hit starring Tom Hanks, can recall that one of the story’s themes is the seemingly huge gulf that separates the world of children and adults, kids and parents. So there’s a little bit of irony in the fact that the Civic Theater’s production of Big: the Musical has so many family members in the cast.
2008-01-21 Big snow
Main street and Van Buren
2005-05-16 Bikes-And-Boards appeals to serious cyclists and skate boarders
When Jerry Seifert retired from IBM a few years ago, the idea of “sitting around” didn’t really appeal to him.
2006-03-20 Black
At a time when we're all looking forward to the possibilities of next-gen gaming systems, Burnout developer Criterion Games reminds us that our old horses still have some kick in them. Black is a Hollywood-style, all-out-action First Person Shooter triumph. Although it's short and its gameplay wears thin after a while, it is no less than the most playable and best-looking shooter on the PS2 and XBOX consoles.
2005-01-24 Blizzard`s 'World of Warcraft' a multiplayer masterpiece
The genre known as MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role-playing game) has changed online gaming from a solitary hobby into an addictive social community. Now, no matter who you are and what you do, be prepared to say goodbye to your real life as you delve deeper and deeper into Blizzard's latest masterpiece, World of Warcraft.
2007-07-23 Blog Banter
Blog aggregator BlogNetNews Indiana (www.blognetnews.com/Indiana) regularly compiles a list of what it deems to be the state’s most influential political blogs. BNN Indiana doesn’t go so far as to suggest that these blogs have great influence on politicians or voters, but they are deemed the “most powerfully influencing the direction of the Indiana political blogosphere” - whatever that means exactly. However, you might still be scratching your head wondering, “What on Earth is a blog aggregator?” It’s like a headline news service that collects and posts the hottest stories/commentaries from some of the state’s most-read blogs.
2004-12-06 Blog Hunter
‘Tis the season to be blogging…. Christmas cards are great, for those who have the time and inclination to scrawl their news and best wishes to those on their list. For the digitally connected a weblog can take holiday greetings and really make them pop.
2005-01-10 Blog Hunter: Health and Resolutions
It’s over a week since New Year’s Day. Do you know where your resolutions are? For those of us faltering in our new found ambitions for weight loss, early rising, and other resolute behavior the blogosphere has come to the rescue again. Get to the point with www.putdownthedonut.com and follow their team of bloggers on the quest for healthful eating. Another interesting site is www.balance.divaflava.com. You can follow the diva herself on her journey to slim and trim. There’s even a celebrity to share your pain. Kirstie Alley’s weight loss blog debuts January 10, 2005 on the Jenny Craig website at www.jennycraig.com.
2005-01-24 Blog Hunter: Pundits, haggis, Mark Cuban, and a cartoon rabbit
Last column’s riddle about Chinese New Year and Robbie Burns Day jumped the gun by about two weeks or so. Or did it? The Blog Hunter is always thinking ahead, because this puzzle involves a trip.
2004-11-22 Blog Nation
The business and political worlds know the power of networks, and right now they are taking note of blogs. Short for weblogs, blogs are personal web sites updated frequently with opinions, links, comments, or whatever else strikes the bloggers fancy. They’re a conglomeration of urban e-sleuths, pundits, chroniclers, and plain-old venom spewers. Even people with the most casual relationship with the internet know that blogs have been around for a while now, but recently, this niche has exploded.
2005-09-20 Blogging for Katrina
The aftermath of Katrina has made the term "disaster" seem almost quaint…
2008-04-21 Blue Mountain: Alt-Country Pioneers still standing strong
Blue Mountain might not be a household name, but oftentimes the best bands aren't. Founded in 1991 by Cary Hudson (guitar and lead vocals) and Laurie Stirratt (bass and vocals), Blue Mountain are one of the few bands that are still active from the burgeoning alt-country scene of that era. They released their first album, Blue Mountain, in 1993 and followed it up with four more albums, before releasing their fifth and 'final' album, a live recording titled, Tonight It's Now or Never.
2010-02-04 Blues with a feeling
When harmonica player Bill Lupkin and the Chicago Connection take the stage at the First Annual Blues & Soul Food Bash at the Arts United Center on February 20th, they’ll be bringing a whole lot of history with them.
0000-00-00 Bodily Funktions keeps the art of street dance alive
I suppose it’s a sign that you’re growing old when trends you had assumed passed with your youth become not just popular again, but respectable.
2008-02-04 Bon Iver:For Emma, Forever Ago
When Justin Vernon a.k.a. Bon Iver isolated himself in a cabin in northwestern Wisconin during the winter of 2006/2007, creating an album was the last thing on his mind. The plan was to simply get away and get some space between him and the series of losses he'd endured throughout 2006.
2004-09-09 Book dramatist Barbara Rinella presents
Book dramatist Barbara Rinella portrays a range of characters from literature and history in a program called "Celebrating Heros."
2004-08-30 Book dramatist brings literature to life
Barbara Rinella’s biography is clear enough. It says she’s a book dramatist whose popular one-woman shows have earned her rave reviews. Okay. Sounds good. But when I get the opportunity to interview Rinella about her upcoming performance in Fort Wayne, my first question isn’t hard to formulate, even for me: what the heck is a book dramatist, exactly?
2007-07-23 Book Review "Love Is A Mixed Tape" by Rob Sheffield
I usually don’t read memoirs because I’ve learned it’s hard to trust people when they talk about themselves. Writing about the major events in your life is tricky business, and it is a rare artist who can resist the impulse to distort the truth about what really happened to them. I’ve heard friends relate a story that I was a participant in, and, on the re-telling I couldn’t help but think, It wasn’t like that. This doesn’t make them liars, necessarily, it just illustrates how capricious memory and perception can be.
2006-07-10 Books Oprah Would NEVER Endorse!
It’s time for more wacky book reviews! Oprah, eat your heart out!
2004-08-24 Border personnel feel unprepared to fight terrorism
Most of the front-line federal personnel on the nation's borders "do not believe they have been given the tools to fight terrorism," according to researchers who surveyed 500 Border Patrol agents and Customs and Border Protection inspectors.
2007-08-06 Bourne Again and Again
Though I've been interested in movies as far back as I can remember, it wasn't until the late 1990s that I seriously began following films. And though I'd consider the Summer of 1998 as a benchmark of my movie-mania, I didn’t really start going to movie theaters on an (almost) weekly basis until 2002.
2004-08-25 Boxer Ward clinches medal with win over Russian
ATHENS, Greece - Andre Ward could sense the scorn when he boarded the bus.
2006-06-20 Brad Ferrier
Fort Wayne native Brad Ferrier earned his B.A. in Fine Art with a concentration in Photography from the University of Saint Francis.
2005-05-16 Brain drain — more than a clever catch phrase
The phrase “brain drain” has popped up so often recently on editorial pages and in mission statements that merely seeing the phrase again might try the patience of even the most dedicated civic cheerleader.
2009-08-09 Brandanza 2009
On April 26, 2009, Brandon Minier was tragically killed in a motorcycle accident on his way home from a friend’s house, leaving behind a wife and 2 children, ages 10 and 6. Brandon was a good friend of many of the area’s local musicians, and, as a benefit and fundraiser for Brandon’s children’s educational fund, a special show will be held on August 22 at Portside Pizza, 5310 N Old 102 in Columbia City (near Tri Lakes).
2006-02-06 Branding Fort Wayne
300 – 400 people in Allen County received something in mail during the first week of January that probably provoked discussion and quite a few laughs. Under the title “The Destination Brand Initiative Strategy Vision Survey,” recipients were asked questions about Fort Wayne such as…
2010-07-19 Brass Rail's Shift From Dive Bar to Music Haven
Last summer I wrote an article about a string of shows that happened at The Brass Rail. Since then, things have changed around there. What was once a bar that also hosted shows seems to have moved up a level, and is now a serious music venue that also happens to be a bar
2004-05-31 Brett Moore's house of horrors
From the outside, it looks harmless enough: a big square garage-like structure tucked in the midst of an unassuming residential street somewhere near downtown Fort Wayne. Step inside, and there’s lots of light, lots of space… and what appears to be hideously deformed heads lining the wall from floor to ceiling. Everywhere you look, you’re met with bulging eyes, open wounds, discolored skin, and rotting teeth. And those are just the heads that look vaguely human. There are plenty of gargoyles, goblins, demons and werewolves leering from the walls and shelves, too.
2009-04-07 Bringing Spring
You can probably take the pulse of the art market by what’s happening in New York in the Spring. The Armory Show, as well as a number of other fairs like the Pulse, Volta, Scope, and Bridge New York, bring hundreds of large collectors, and thousands of smaller ones to the city to buy up the best of the years available contemporary art.
2009-09-08 Broadway & Creighton, 1947
This photo show…
2010-02-04 Broadway, 1944
Workers board trolley coaches…
2008-01-07 Broadway, 1950s…
Broadway, sometime in the 1950s,
2007-10-22 Broadway, 1960
Broadway Street looking north from Wayne, 1960
2004-08-25 Brokaw in a Speedo? Now that's all wet
Oh dear, what have I missed? There are Matt Lauer and Al Roker in the pool, cavorting with the American women's synchronized swimming team, and I'm wondering what else has been going on when I wasn't watching the nonstop Olympics infomercial that NBC's "Today" has become.
2006-03-21 Brooke Sprunger
Artist bio
2009-05-18 Brookview Beautiful 2: the City responds
FWR #124 featured a cover story on improvement and development projects in and around Fort Wayne’s historic Brookview neighborhood, and the efforts of the residents there to have a say in the various changes the City of Fort Wayne and the Indiana Department of Highways have planned for their area.
2009-04-21 Brookview beautiful?
Last summer, Michelle Briggs Wedaman, a resident of Fort Wayne’s historic Brookview neighborhood just north of downtown, called David Ross at the City Engineer’s office, seeking some information about a proposed project on State Boulevard that had recently hit the local media.
2004-05-31 Brother can you spare a job?
Everywhere you look, people are looking for jobs. While watching the news recently, a job fair was highlighted. Baby boomers vs. the young and hungry, willing to work for less. People thinking about returning to school. Here’s some advice from yours truly: don’t major in English. Trust me on this.
2009-08-09 Bruce Lehman and Vincent Village bring the Roots and Rhythm Festival back to Headwaters Park
August 15th will bring the second annual Roots and Rhythm festival at Headwaters park, an all day music festival designed to raise money for the area’s homeless population. Specifically, the proceeds from the event will go to Vincent Village, an organization that has been dedicated to assisting homeless families for the past 20 years. I had a chance to talk to Bruce Lehman, the organizer for the event, to find out the origins behind the event, why it is important to the community, and what attendees can expect while they are there.
2009-06-04 Budget battle
With state lawmakers headed back to the Indiana Statehouse after failing to pass a budget during their regular session, Governor Mitch Daniels has unveiled his new budget proposal. Daniels' plan calls for huge cuts in state spending and dipping into the state’s rainy day fund.
2009-07-06 Budget Battle — part two
After a bitter battle over a state budget, Republicans and Democrats in the Indiana General Assembly along with Governor Mitch Daniels are all applauding the passage of a new two-year $28.5 billion state budget.
2008-10-07 Budget time
Let the budget battle begin…
2004-08-30 Building a Better Election
Remember waking up the morning after the 2000 presidential race, flipping on the news, and discovering that we still didn’t have a new president? As Americans prepare to return to the booths for the first presidential election since the 2000 rumble in Florida gave us the phrase “pregnant chad,” and neither candidate seems to be able to maintain a decisive lead, the possibility of a replay is on everybody’s mind.
2004-01-28 Building Fort Wayne’s Technological Future
Bill Westrick’s story is familiar to anyone who has tried starting their own company. A Fort Wayne native with experience in several technology-based companies in the area, Westrick and three other partners formed Photosphere, a software company that produces visualization and color-theory software for the home improvement and interior design industries. Westrick and his partners incorporated in early 2003, then set about trying to get equipment for the new business.
2005-11-14 Built to Shine Arts Collective benefit showcases a wide range of local artists
Ceramics and jewelry, paintings and photographs are among the diverse range of pieces on display at the Built to Shine Arts show on November 19 at Convolution Records. Dozens of local artists are gathering for the event in support of local charities.
2005-09-20 Bunheads go bad
I learned a new phrase while writing this article about the Fort Wayne Ballet’s 2005 edition of Blue Jean Night…
2004-10-25 Bush and Kerry take different tacks on immigration
WASHINGTON - The thorny topic of illegal immigration has received scant attention during this year's presidential campaign. But President George W. Bush and Sen. John Kerry were obliged to handle the issue, if only briefly, when moderator Bob Schieffer raised it at their Oct. 13 debate in Arizona.
2004-08-31 Bush attempts to showcase agenda
NASHUA, N.H. - President Bush on Monday sought to showcase an agenda to address the concerns of economically stressed Americans, but his campaign found itself forced to explain why he told a television interviewer earlier in the day that it might not be possible ever to "win" the war on terror.
2004-09-02 Bush heads for New York and a general election campaign
NEW YORK - Buoyantly optimistic, President Bush arrived here Wednesday night eager to begin the final stage of a campaign that he hopes will be the capstone of a remarkable political career.
2004-09-27 Bush holds strong hand in upper Middle West battlegrounds
LA CROSSE, Wis. - John Medinger, the Democratic mayor of this Mississippi River city, has grown increasingly frustrated waiting for John Kerry's presidential campaign to catch fire. "I'm shocked that this is even a race. Every significant economic indicator is headed in the wrong direction, and that should favor Kerry," said Medinger as he appraised the presidential contest in his county. "Every Democrat I know is wondering what's going on."
2004-11-11 Bush honors vets, meets with Blair
As U.S. troops battle insurgents in Fallujah, President Bush pays his annual Veterans Day tribute to the armed forces Thursday.
2004-11-05 Bush outlines agenda for 2nd term
Twenty-four hours after Sen. John Kerry admitted defeat in the presidential election, Bush met with reporters to sketch out an ambitious four-year plan for his administration that includes pursuing peace in the Middle East, revamping Social Security, simplifying the federal tax code, curbing liability lawsuits, restructuring the nation's intelligence agencies, additional education reforms and disciplining federal spending.
2004-11-22 Bush reiterates support for immigration reform
SANTIAGO, Chile - President Bush on Sunday assured Mexican President Vicente Fox of his continued desire to ease the predicament of millions of foreigners working illegally in the United States.
2004-08-17 Bush tells backers he'll win vote in California
President Bush got a re-election boost from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger as Bush told supporters he intended to compete and win in California.
2004-08-26 Bush touts record on security
WASHINGTON - Perhaps no question is more important to President Bush's re-election than whether his policies have made America safer than it was before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
2004-08-24 Bush's first-term foreign policy earns mixed reviews
WASHINGTON - It was a campaign waged almost totally on domestic issues, one in which the Republican challenger never mentioned "terrorism" in the televised debate focused on foreign policy and only said it in passing in his major speech discussing international issues.
2004-10-14 Bush, Kerry clash on domestic issues in final debate
TEMPE, Ariz. - President Bush and Democratic challenger Sen. John F. Kerry went toe-to-toe on domestic issues Wednesday night, attacking each other's positions on Social Security, national health care, immigration and abortion in a spirited and lively debate that sends the too-close-to-call national election into its final phase.
2004-10-01 Bush, Kerry face off in first debate
CORAL GABLES, Fla. - President Bush and Sen. John Kerry clashed at length over the war in Iraq Thursday night with Bush maintaining that Iraq is an integral battleground in the war against global terrorism and Kerry denouncing it as a "colossal error in judgment."
2004-10-15 Bush, Kerry launch a final round of slugging
LAS VEGAS - With their debates behind them, President Bush and Sen. John Kerry turned up the heat on the campaign trail Thursday as they began what is shaping up as a suspenseful stretch run for control of the Oval Office. Nipping at each other's heels in the battleground state of Nevada 19 days before the election, Kerry described Bush as a threat to the middle class and Social Security while Bush portrayed Kerry as liberal outside the mainstream.
2004-09-15 Bush, Kerry spar over qualifications, Iraq progress
LAS VEGAS - President Bush and Sen. John Kerry clashed Tuesday about whether conditions are improving in Iraq as the president continued to question his opponent's ability to lead.
2007-01-10 Busy Times for IPFW Athletics
Psychologists tell us that it’s common to have a “Holiday Hangover” – and not the alcohol-induced kind, either. After rushing through November and December with the thousands of tasks necessary to accomplish between Thanksgiving and Christmas, entertaining friends and family during the Holidays, and trying to keep the children occupied until they return to school, we should all be completely worn out. Couple that with short days and long, cold nights, and the urge to hibernate really grows this time of year.
2007-11-20 But if I had been elected…
If you are reading this and voted for me, thank you. I never expected to get the number of votes I ended up with and I’m willing to bet the majority of them came from FWR readers who live in the third district. However, I want you all to know, you dodged a bullet…
2008-10-21 But of COURSE she's pretty!
I called a trucking friend of mine in Pennsylvania to see how her job search was going and what she thought about McCain picking Sarah Palin as his running mate. Her answer was interesting. I’ll have to paraphrase it, but she basically said the Republican Party knows middle-class America better than middle-class Americans do.
2008-12-09 But what have you done for me lately…?
Late last year, the outgoing Richard administration left the incoming new guard a sort of welcoming gift — the High Performance Government Network, a nonprofit corporation created by the former mayor himself, designed to help city government work more efficiently.
2005-08-08 Butch Black takes on trouble in Circle City!
Crooked detectives, desperate criminals, greedy underworld bosses… and a disgraced cop on the edge! All this and the women who love them in Butch Black: the M.E.A.N. Man, a locally-made movie premiering at Cinema Center Tech on Saturday, August 20 at Cinema Center Tech on the Indiana Tech campus.
2010-05-10 Butcher, baker, candlestick maker
It’s probably a lot easier to tell you what Working: the Musical is not than to attempt to describe what it is. You’d probably get the wrong impression.
2009-04-07 Buy Now, Pay Later, Eventually Declare Bankruptcy
I went through my own financial meltdown a few months ago, so I look at the bailouts and stimulus packages with some mixed feelings. I don’t think CEO’s should be rewarded with bailouts. I’m sorry, but if you make five million a year and get a million dollars as a “bonus,” and you’re still broke, you are too dumb to deserve that kind of money
2009-05-18 Buying Songs Not The Same
I don’t really jump on new technology all that quickly. I had my computer for two months before I realized I could burn CDs on it.
2009-12-06 By the people, for the people
With mid-term elections looming in 2010, two Republican candidates have stepped forward to challenge incumbent Mark Souder for Indiana’s 3rd Congressional District. The most recent candidate, Fort Wayne attorney Phil Troyer, served as an aid U.S. Senators Dan Coats and Richard Lugar and campaign manager for Rick Hawks during Hawks’ 1990 congressional race. The other candidate, Rachel Grubb, a self-described “blue collar mom” from Auburn, says she has very little experience in politics, and is betting that that’s exactly what voters in the 3rd district are looking for.
2010-02-20 Cabin Fever? There’s a Playlist for That
Are you as sick as I am of being trapped indoors due to the sheer nastiness of the winter weather? Do you need something to help you cope? Well, even if YOU don’t, I do, and I’m sure that there are many others out there like me who spend every winter staring at their calendars waiting for April, while cursing the groundhog for seeing his shadow.
2009-02-10 Cable TV, the Circus and the Crap
I’m one of the few people I know who don’t have cable. One of my managers at work asked me why I don’t have cable, and I said it was because I could either eat out, or watch TV.
2009-04-21 Calhoun and Main
That’s the Transfer building at Main, with Shine Shoes…
2009-08-25 Calhoun conversion
Plans to reconfigure the one-way section of Calhoun Street that runs between Washington and Berry have been floating since 2006, but as expected it only took a few days after Fort Wayne City Council’s 6 – 3 vote in favor of the project for construction crews to get busy.
2008-04-08 Calhoun noir
Believe it or not…
2007-12-11 Calhoun Street
Calhoun Street near the southeast corner of Washington,
2009-04-30 Calhoun Street
A bustling Calhoun Street back in… well, we don’t have a date for this one.
2007-09-24 Calhoun, 1955
Calhoun, 1955
2004-09-10 Campaigns bracing for another photo finish in Florida
WASHINGTON - When Susan MacManus recently invited volunteer coordinators for the Bush and Kerry campaigns to talk to her state politics class at the University of South Florida, she wasn't sure which campaign got the warmer reception from her students.
2004-10-25 Can media be liked?
In fifteen years of observing media, with at least one fax a week, about and to media, I’ve yet to come across a media construct I’d like to work for or a media person that I’d like to hang out with.
2004-08-19 Cancer Educational Seminar tonight: 8/19
Presented by the Goshen Center for Cancer Care.
2004-09-30 Candidates finally face each other for first debate
After months of hurling verbal grenades at each other from afar, George W. Bush and John Kerry will share the stage tonight in the first of three debates where nothing less than the presidency could be at stake.
2006-06-05 Candidates' web sites
This issue, Political Animal decided to check out the websites of four local candidates in what promise to be hotly contested races…
2006-04-10 Cara Lee Wade
I am an Oklahoma native but lived most of my adult life in Savannah, Georgia.
2010-05-25 Cara Lee Wade: Through the Glass Nightly
The invention of modern photography would leave our concepts of daily life, historical moments, and times of human intrigue forever altered. Artists were quick to adopt the photographic medium, and haven't looked back since. Today, fine photography comprises a sizable portion of the art market’s total volume…
2005-03-21 Careers, taxes and the Pope
Spring is just around the corner, my yard had little purple flowers to prove it. Still it is a time for renewal and there’s no better place to start than the blogosphere.
2005-10-17 Carl Kolchak is the father of modern TV
As this year’s Emmy Awards drew to a close one thing became apparent; the American television audience is really into a drama about a group of plane-crash survivors stranded on a desert island. Not only did the series Lost win seven Emmy awards but also, and probably more importantly, its second season opened with a whopping 23 million viewers, an all-time high for the year-old drama.
2010-03-08 Carnival Barkers in the Arts
Criticizing poor cell phone etiquette is rapidly becoming a pointless exercise today, similar to crying about the weather or complaining about the earth's gravitational pull.
2009-07-21 CasiNO
Mayor Henry’s hopes to have a special referendum on a casino in Fort Wayne were disappointed last June when the bill necessary to set up the referendum did not make it through committee during the extended legislative session in Indianapolis.
2009-01-16 Casino boogie
Rumors of a casino in Fort Wayne pop up every few years, but gambling talk reached a fever pitch in late 2008. Stories appeared in local media, the question came up at a city council meeting, and a local businessman announced plans to develop a casino, waterpark, hotel and theater…
2009-11-09 Castles Made of Rock
Local band Castles, comprised of John Cheesebrew on drums, Ty Brinneman on Bass, and Omar Afzall and Bob Haddad on guitars, just released their first self-titled EP, which is available at their shows and (soon) your local Wooden Nickel. I sat down with Omar and Bob to talk about how the band has progressed from their formation to where they are now, and here’s what I got…
2004-08-14 Catwoman
Halle Berry's "Catwoman" is a dog. And no amount of tight black leather outfits, nauseating CGI effects and good-looking actors and actresses is going to change that.
2004-09-22 CBS mistake a blow to journalism
Dan Rather, the CBS News anchor and correspondent, is not the first journalist to be misled by a source. And CBS News is not the first news organization to be duped by phony documents. But not in recent memory has a journalist as prominent as Rather, or a news organization as respected as CBS, so defiantly stood by a story about which serious doubts were raised.
2004-09-15 CBS News faces credibility questions
Dan Rather devoted one-fifth of his CBS newscast Friday to defending a report, aired on "60 Minutes," raising questions about President Bush's Vietnam-era service in the National Guard.
2010-01-11 Ceramic artist Joe Pelka
“Hand made means a lot out here,” says ceramic artist Joe Pelka, explaining why he and his wife, Kathleen, decided to move from California to the mid-west and set up shop here in Fort Wayne…
2010-05-25 Chain Smoking Records Brings Harley Poe and Furious Frank to Town
If the midwest was suddenly to be overrun by hoards of the living dead, there’s not a doubt in my mind that Harley Poe would provide the soundtrack…
2005-09-20 Charity Scams
It wasn’t even 24 hours after the Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans and the levees broke when the vultures came out.
2009-09-08 Cheap Shots, Personal Fouls
It happens so subtlety every year; one minute we're sweltering through a typically vicious Indiana August and then, shockingly, we wake up and discover the floor is chilled because the windows were left open all night.
2004-09-10 Cheney's scare tactics
A more crass, wrong-headed and vicious turn in the campaign can hardly be imagined.
2010-04-22 Chicago-based Rocker/Raconteur Ike Reilly Returns to Fort Wayne
On February 16th of this year Chicago-based musician Ike Reilly released his latest album Hard Luck Stories, and on Saturday, May 1st, he will be performing two shows here in Fort Wayne.
2010-06-22 Chick Code#17
Once upon a time, in my opinion the perfect guy was one who owned no clothing, shoes or kitchen utensils.
2006-09-04 Chris Dodds
Chris Dodds used to play to a crowded house and not get home until four in the morning. On a good night. These days you’ll still find him playing to a room filled to capacity, but he’s more than likely getting home at a more reasonable hour. Oh, and there is one other slight difference these days as well: He’s playing more shows than he ever did before.
2008-12-23 Christmas at the library, 1950
The lobby of the ACPL…
2005-12-12 Christmas fear
Complaining about Christmas songs has become as much a part of the holidays as last-minute shopping and re-gifting. There are annoying novelty songs we can’t get rid of, like the dogs barking “Jingle Bells,” “Grandma Got Run Over by A Reindeer,” and any version of “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus.” Complaining about these songs is futile. They will never go away, and we should simply accept the fact.
2007-12-11 Christmas goes to the wild Herdmans
For a story that centers around a church Christmas pageant, there’s not a lot of harmony, generosity and seasonal goodwill going on in the Fort Wayne Youtheatre’s production of The Best Christmas Pageant Ever.
2009-12-06 Christmas isn't just for the good kids
In The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, Imogene Herdman (Hannah Moore), the young hellion who winds up portraying Mary in the annual church Christmas pageant, has her own take on being refused a room at the inn. “I don’t get a room at the inn? This ain’t fair! I’m going to just go to these people and say ‘I’m sorry, it’s the middle of winter and I’ve got this baby so you’ve got to get out or move over!’"
2004-10-07 CIA report on Iraq stirs controversy
WASHINGTON — Saddam Hussein did not produce or possess any weapons of mass destruction for more than a decade before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq last year, according to a comprehensive CIA report released Wednesday.
2009-02-10 Cigarettes & Guitars: Anthony Fanger of Chainsmoking Records
It’s hard to conduct an interview while firing a pulse rifle at bloodthirsty aliens hell-bent on obliterating the human race, but that’s exactly what I did recently with Anthony Fanger, owner and founder of Chainsmoking Records, a punk-oriented record label located here in the Summit City.
2004-11-24 Cinema Center's ORNAMENTS takes place Sunday, December 5th
Cinema Center presents a unique take on the typical art autction with Ornamnet, a fund-raiser for the organization.
2004-11-22 Cinema Center’s ORNAMENT not your usual silent art auction
Cinema Center presents an interesting and fun twist on the standard silent art auction with Ornament, a fund-raiser for the organization on Sunday, December 2nd.
2010-06-07 City County Building, 1971
An aerial view of the dedication ceremony…
2009-06-18 City locations, 1898
A few more photos taken from the time capsule discovered in the wall of the downtown Hall’s/Takaoka restaurant during the recent renovation.
2010-06-22 City of Ships
On July 4th, City of Ships will be making a tour stop in Fort Wayne to play an all-ages show at 1624 N. Harrison St. The band formed in Florida’s Gulf Coast area in 2005, but now its members are spread throughout the country.
2007-06-05 City Spirit Week, 1976
America Bicentennial, Fort Wayne, IN…
2008-11-06 Civic Irresponsibility
I registered to vote for the 2008 election 18 months ago. The reason I did such an uncharacteristically timely and responsible thing had nothing to do with my precognition that 2008 would prove to be an epochal election year. The fact was, as an indigent sort with no bank account or credit cards, I needed a second form of identification to cash checks with, and instead of forking over the $25 needed for a Hunting and Fishing license, I decided it was more prudent to hustle over to Calhoun Street and get signed up to vote.
2006-06-20 Civic Theater honors this year’s best with the 54th Anthony awards
As the entire nation breathlessly watched the Tony Awards on the evening of June 11 (okay, maybe “entire nation” is overstating the case, but I’m sure plenty of people outside New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut care a whole bunch. I don’t know any of them, but…), a Fort Wayne theatrical institution was holding its own awards ceremony for the best stage performances of the past theater season.
2004-10-25 Civic Theater presents Indiana premier of A Christmas Carol – the Musical
A Christmas Carol is as much a part of the Christmas season as snowmen and houses covered with blinking lights. Every Christmas, someone somewhere brings us another take on the classic story of the sour Ebenezer Scrooge, visited on Christmas Eve by the ghost of his dead business partner Marley, and the three spirits of Christmas past, present, and future.
2004-10-07 Civic Theater seeks Sharks and Jets for West Side Story
The Fort Wayne Civic Theatre to hold Auditions for the upcoming production of "West Side Story" on October 17, 2004
2009-01-16 Civic Theater's The Glass Menagerie
Tackling a play like Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie means shedding a lot of baggage. The story of the Wingfield family, stuck in somewhat emotionally and economically desperate circumstances after Mr. Wingfield abandons them, is one of the most famous plays by one of the most famous American playwrights of the 20th century.
2006-06-21 Clinton
In this drawing, you’re looking south on Clinton street…
2004-10-27 Clinton campaigns for Kerry, Bush attacks on national security
PHILADELPHIA - Former President Bill Clinton interrupted his convalescence on Monday to give a campaign boost to Democratic nominee John Kerry and to chide President Bush for using 11th hour scare tactics.
2004-11-08 Coalition forces begin assault on Fallujah
U.S. troops fought their way into the western outskirts of Fallujah on Monday, seizing a hospital and two bridges over the Euphrates River in the first stage of a major assault on the insurgent stronghold.
2004-11-23 Coaltion forces launch new offensive in Iraq
Some 5,000 U.S. Marines, British troops and Iraqi commandos launched a new offensive Tuesday aimed at clearing a swath of insurgent hotbeds south of Baghdad, the U.S. military said.
2004-08-14 Code 46
The offspring of "Blade Runner" continue to mutate, and Michael Winterbottom's "Code 46" also has a small gene transplant from "Lost in Translation."
2008-05-06 Coffee clash
What does Fort Wayne need? A thriving downtown? A baseball stadium? Lower taxes, clean water, and job opportunities? Sure. But Fort Wayne also needs doughnuts. Lots of doughnuts. And we’re going to get them.
2006-07-10 Colcordia
“It’s going to a little bit of a love letter to the artists I know in (Fort Wayne), who stay and work in the city,” says Chris Colcord, describing one of the pieces he’ll perform as part of his one-man show at the Firefly on July 20: “It’s going to be about being an artist and doing your stuff, even though no one may be listening and no one’s going to care.”
2004-09-16 Colleges hope online music access keeps kids honest
To-do list for today, the first day of classes at University of California Berkeley: 1) Get textbooks; 2) Find out about campus "Lunch Poems" series; 3) Sign up for legal, online music downloads.
2009-03-10 Collision, 1930
An accident at the corner of Broadway and Wayne,
2004-06-28 Colonized by box stores
We hear it constantly: Fort Wayne is a growing city. In fact, we don’t need to be told. We see it everyday. Housing developments seem to pop up overnight like fresh crops; new construction projects are as much a staple of the summer months here as humidity, mosquitoes, and the Three River Festival; and enormous grocery stores cover what was formerly farmland.
2009-02-24 Columbia Street East, 1970
The 200 block of Columbia Street East, 1970.
2008-11-06 Columbia Street West, 1975.
“Hey! You’re going the wrong way!”
2004-05-31 Come for the caber toss. Stay for the ceilidh.
You might expect a member of Fort Wayne’s Scottish Historical Society to bristle at being repeatedly asked about people in kilts hurtling tree trunks into the air. Not Mike Huth.
2009-03-23 Comics as Good as Watchmen
The Watchmen movie opened in theaters in early March generating nearly $60 million in ticket sales and capturing the number one spot opening weekend. Even though the movie was a little over two hours in length, there was no way that it could have ever come close to the depth of the original 380 page Watchmen series of comics originally published back in 1986.
2008-09-10 Comics in the Fort
A few of Fort Wayne's finest cartoonists…
2010-03-22 Comics worth collecting
I've been collecting comic books in one form or another for as far back as I can remember. The early ones I recall having were a few issues of Spider-Man and Batman along with a oddities like Mad Magazine and the Star Trek comic from Gold Key all tucked away in a box in our toy closet
0000-00-00 Coming Soon: Hollywood's history of the world
If there’s one thing that Hollywood can teach all of America, it’s that success breeds, well, imitation. A few years back movies based on the second world war were all the rage. Remember Saving Private Ryan which begat The Thin Red Line which begat Windtalkers? Then there were the two comet verses the Earth movies of Deep Impact and Armageddon. The mantra in Hollywood seems to be we can do it better, or at least make more money trying. You can count on if one studio has a movie in the works based on the life of the Buffalo Bill then another is working on one about Billy the Kid.
2006-09-04 Coming this holiday…a gaming revolution
There have been many revolutions in our Country’s past. The American Revolution. The Industrial Revolution. The Internet Revolution. Perhaps you haven’t been paying attention, but there’s another (admittedly less important) revolution going on right now. It’s a gaming revolution and it’s coming from Nintendo this holiday.
2004-09-28 Companies should pay their fair share
When it comes to statistics as to whether corporations are paying their rightful share of taxes, it's difficult to get at the truth.
2004-10-25 Concerns running high about voting problems on Election Day
WASHINGTON - Allegations of voter intimidation. Concerns that election laws are being manipulated to tilt the outcome. Fears of violence aimed at influencing votes. Teams of international observers on hand to monitor polling places.
2008-02-04 Concordia swingers
Concordia Swingers outdoor show
2004-09-22 Congress grows more polarized, less polite
WASHINGTON - With partisan rancor at a high in this election season, House members seem to have given up any pretense of speaking politely to each other.
2009-10-20 Congressional rematch
For a U.S. Congressional campaign, there’s really no such thing as too soon. This past August, Dr. Tom Hayhurst, a former member of Fort Wayne’s city council, announced that he would once again seek the Democratic ticket to challenge Mark Souder for Indiana’s 3rd Congressional District in 2010, giving those who follow Indiana politics something to chew on during the non-election year of 2009.
2010-04-22 Conley for Council
“I love Northeast Indiana, I’ve lived here my whole life, and I feel as though I can make a difference,” says Mike Conley. “It’s a pretty simplistic answer, but it’s the truth. What more do you need beyond that?”
2010-03-08 Conservative contender
We’re told that the 2010 mid-term elections will be a bad one for incumbents. Democrats will probably bear the brunt of voter dissatisfaction with government — after all, there’s more of them in there right now — but members of Congress sitting on the other side of the aisle shouldn’t rest easy: many Republicans, the argument goes, are also spending a little too freely, talking like conservatives on social issues but throwing taxpayer money around like liberals.
2007-04-10 Conservative Street Cred
With the May primary less than a month away, local candidates for public office are picking up the pace. That means collecting and capitalizing on key endorsements. In the high-profile GOP primary contest for the Fort Wayne mayor’s office, Allen County Commissioner Nelson Peters and architect Matt Kelty are hoping that their respective endorsements solidify their conservative credentials.
2004-08-26 Consumers in tune with digital music
It definitely looks like a hit summer for digital music. Consumer interest in and spending on digital tunes and music players continues to grow, as do the number of offerings in both areas.
2007-11-01 Contemplate the "ifs"
On Tuesday, November 6th, Fort Wayne voters will choose either Tom Henry (D) or Matt Kelty (R) to be the city’s next mayor. As of this writing, at least three opinion polls (including one commissioned by the Kelty campaign) show Henry with a commanding lead. That’s not to say that it’s all over. In the final days of 1999’s mayoral race, polls showed Linda Buskirk with a double-digit lead over Graham Richard. We all know how that turned out.
2010-08-08 Continuum Gallery's Grand Opening
Friday, July 30th, the Continuum Art Gallery (CAG) officially opened its doors for the first time, making it the first of many new arts and culture offerings to come to the newly deemed Fort Wayne Cultural District, downtown.
2004-09-03 Convention aide recalls staring down the 'face of evil'
NEW YORK - Shane Wolfe has stared down Saddam Hussein, literally. So when President George W. Bush talked about Iraq Thursday night in his nomination acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention, the Baltic native and 1991 Garaway High School graduate could reflect on his "experiences of a lifetime" in that country.
2004-09-01 Convention keynote speaker a turncoat to Dems, hero to GOP
NEW YORK - Southern Democrats used to be called "yellow dogs" for their unyielding party loyalty. This year, some Democrats are calling one just plain "yellow" or "dog."
2010-04-22 Conversation killer
When Chris Colcord signed on to direct the Arena Dinner Theater’s production of Dial M for Murder, he wasn’t really prepared for what he was getting into.
2005-10-17 Convolution Records continues to buck the odds
We first did a piece on Kimberly Seslar, owner of Convolution Records, back in February, 2004. At the time, Convolution Records had been open a few months, and Seslar was still working her regular day job while trying to increase the selection of CDs she offers.
2007-06-05 Cookies, comics, and chords
How many times have you heard someone say they would love to have a job doing something they love? And I mean something they really love. Not just something they find interesting, challenging, or exciting — though of course, something you love probably involves all of those things, to some extent. But I mean something they really have a passion for.
2007-05-08 Corpse Cinema
Is it just me, or does it seem as if America is under the spell of some zombie-fetish movement? By my count, there will be five major films out this year, not to mention a slew of books, books and even a television series in the works for next fall that all feature the walking dead.
2004-09-27 Countdown begins for historic X Prize launch
POWAY, Calif. - With the countdown at T-minus five days and counting, SpaceDev founder Jim Benson says his small company is ready to usher in a new era in space exploration. He calls it the era of the nonexploding rocket motor.
2004-09-29 Counterfeiters getting wiser, more aggressive with bills
Every seven years or so, the federal government makes our money look funny as a way to cut down on funny money.
2008-02-18 Court Street and Main, 1950s
Court Street, viewed from Main, late 50s.
2008-11-25 Creating the magic of a holiday tradition
Karen Gibbons-Brown, the executive director of the Fort Wayne Ballet, knows exactly when she started work for this year’s production The Nutcracker — December 9, 2007.
2007-08-06 Critics in Fort Wayne
I received my first bit of honest, literary criticism in college, and it happened like this: I had been working on a short story for weeks, constantly revising it, and no matter how much effort I put into it, the story never caught fire. I showed it to a few friends, and they praised it to the skies, but I couldn’t tell if they were just being nice or if they truly thought it was worth a damn. I decided, finally, to be done with it, so I wrote a final draft and put the pages in a yellow legal pad.
2007-11-20 Crossing Berry…
Crossing Berry at Calhoun November 27, 1979.
2009-08-09 Crosstown Traffic
While a final vote isn’t expected until the Tuesday, August 11th meeting of the Fort Wayne City Council, plans to convert a downtown portion of Calhoun Street from one-way to two-way appear to be a done deal.
2004-09-28 Crude oil tops $50 a barrel
Crude oil topped $50 per barrel Tuesday for the first time. In an effort to stabilize prices, a Saudi Arabian official said the kingdom would increase its production capacity by 15 percent.
2010-07-19 Cruel Summer Cinema
It's been 35 years since Jaws introduced the summer movie phenomenon to American film goers, and no matter how enjoyable the film remains, you can't help but hate Steven Spielberg for what he's wrought.
2008-02-04 Curators among us
Most art viewers, even the seasoned and educated, are unaware of the importance of the curator. This somewhat mysterious position in the art world can include art historians, artists, critics, and even lay people. Museums are usually seen as the competitive market for the curator’s services, but many galleries, collectors, and alternative art spaces also employ them. The curator’s job description can sort of be boiled down into the definition of “caretaker of art.” However, this phrase includes many things, from event planning, aesthetics and art history, design, and personal relations (which can be especially difficult when working with artists).
2006-08-08 Custom rides
Stepping into Jason Roberts’ shop Revolution Cycles at 1122 Broadway is a bit like stepping back a couple decades, maybe more. It’s packed with the kind of bikes they just don’t make much anymore, like old tandems and Schwinns, from the days when helmets weren’t required and a gear change was the exception rather than the rule.
2009-04-21 D-Day for EACS
The April 21st meeting of the East Allen County Schools Board could prove to be explosive for the district. Some parents are bracing for Superintendent Kay Novotny to endorse a cost-cutting plan that calls for the closing of Paul Harding High School.
2007-05-21 D.I.D. launches packed series of events this summer
School is out, TV is in re-runs… and the Downtown Improvement District thinks Fort Wayne is ripe to try something a little different this summer…
2004-09-13 Danger! High voltage!
During the summer of 2003 the northeast corridor was hit with a blackout of enormous proportions. At 3pm elevators, subways, traffic lights, and your favorite daytime soap all shut down as the lights went out throughout the northeastern United States and Canada. Those of us who still had electricity watched thousands of New Yorkers stream out of offices into the streets of Manhattan.
2007-10-22 Darth Vader Banks, Watches, Televisions and Foam
The late summer installment of our twice yearly association garage sale was coming up, and since I hadn’t met my quota of moving heavy, awkward furniture in over a year, I decided it was time for not just a little extra money, but a hernia as well.
2007-05-08 David Blackwell: Making Music is His Life
David Blackwell would rather be playing his clarinet and tenor saxophone with his Music Express dance band, arranging music for the group or making music with the Fort Wayne Area Community Band than just about anything else in the world.
2007-03-07 David Fincher, A Career in the Shadows
You may not recognize the name David Fincher, but I can almost guarantee that you've seen at least one of the movies he's directed. Though Fincher started his career overseeing music videos in the late 1980s and early 1990s, many consider several of the feature films he’s directed since, me included, as modern-masterpieces.
2007-11-20 David Krouse's "Anti-Trophies"
When David Krouse first told me about his fish art he called the pieces anti-trophies, because they weren’t real fish, just clay replicas. But these life-like replicas of local fish are so realistic that some folks viewing his current showing think they might be real fish preserved like a proud fisherman would do before hanging them on the wall, on a wooden plaque.
2007-12-24 Daytime Cable TV Really Is Worth The Money
On a recent trip, I arrived too early at my hotel to get a room. It didn’t matter that I’d called twice in three days to let them know I needed a room—I had to wait. Fortunately it was morning, and I had cable TV. I set up shop in the lobby and took command of the remote.
2009-01-05 Dead of winter
I used to have the utmost contempt for those traitors who left Fort Wayne in the winter, the people who had the freedom and the resources to bolt out of town during the truly bleak months of the new year.
2006-06-05 Deadwood. A nice place to visit…
For this column, I had originally planned to wax poetic on the television series Deadwood. But as the saying goes, plans are easy; it’s the execution where things get difficult.
2009-04-21 Dear Mr. President: Where's MY Bailout?
Dear Mr. President: I’m writing to you about the bailout. Frankly, I’m pissed off. If someone rewarded me for performing poorly on the job and mismanaging my money, I’d be laughing my ass off right now. Instead, I’ve got bill collectors bugging me. So where’s MY bailout?
2004-09-27 Death wears pointed shoes
The stories that form the basis of a lot of classical ballet have an element that is often overlooked — there’s a lot of death haunting all those fairy tales, legends and myths. Think of all those poor mice that meet their demise at the hands of the toy soldiers in The Nutcracker.
2004-10-11 DEBATE ANALYSIS: Bush improves but Kerry still strong in round two
ST. LOUIS - After eight days of unrelentingly bad news, President Bush needed some good news. In his second debate with challenger John Kerry Friday night, though, the best the president got was that he held his own.
2009-01-16 Deck the Halls, 1938
Okay, one more holiday-related picture…
2006-03-20 Definitely Gary’s Kinda Sorta New Deal
When Definitely Gary took the stage at Columbia Street to premiere their new album The New Deal, it wasn’t just the audience that was hearing the album for the first time…
2004-05-17 Delays
Britain’s Delays share a lot of characteristics with about a dozen English guitar-playing pop bands of the past 15 years. Chiming guitars, high-pitched harmony, infectious melody lines… it’s all here.
2009-04-30 Delicate Art of Lying
One of the hazards of being on Facebook is that there's always the chance that someone you've blithely dismissed from your past will hunt you down and try to be friends again. This is inevitably painful — after a few sessions of "remember whens," the conversations dry up and you remember, precisely, why the old friendship couldn't sustain itself.
2007-08-19 Delightful Dangerous Deadly Deceitful Dexter
Up until last year, it seemed as if the HBO had the market cornered on quality pay-cable drama and comedy series. Beginning with shows like Sex and the City, The Sopranos and continuing with Six Feet Under it appeared as if the cable giant could do no wrong as each new show became a bigger hit than the previous. Even series like The Wire and Deadwood that didn't garner as many viewers as shows like The Sopranos still managed to bring the channel lots of positive "buzz" from the critics and overall good word of mouth to HBO.
2004-12-06 Delish Dish
While living in California, I had a large group of single friends. Some were rekindled friendships from college (which was in Rensselaer Indiana), and many new friends. Among a few married couples I found they would go to a restaurant instead of taking the time to prepare their own Holiday meals. Friends had other single friends, so the circle grew. That was part of the fun. Some of my newly acquired friends were not as lucky as others, and would spend Holidays such as Thanksgiving, Christmas, or Easter home alone, or maybe at a restaurant with a buddy or girlfriend. I soon put an end to that.
2005-03-21 Delish Dish: Chinese Parcels in Rice Paper
I recently shared a Chinese pepper steak recipe with you. Along with serving a very simple, yet delish salad of greens lightly tossed with rice wine vinegar and a little sesame oil, below is a wonderful appetizer that you can make prior to your guests arriving and it will add to the oriental feel of the meal, as well as impress your friends and family.
2005-03-07 Delish Dish: Chinese Pepper Steak
Since the weather can’t decide what it wants to do, which is making us all a bit stir crazy, fix a wonderful meal, rent a good movie or just have some friends over for a game of cards. But don’t fret about what to serve; the following has been a long time family favorite, much do the ease-factor. It is a wonderful dish for a dinner gathering. You can make everything ahead of time which will allow you to enjoy your company and not be stuck in the kitchen.
2004-11-08 Delish Dish: Comfort food. We all have our favorites…
With the weather getting colder, meals are getting warmer and heartier. There is always a personal enjoyment for those “comfort foods” that we all hold dear to our hearts. But
2005-01-24 Delish Dish: Dinner after a day in winter wonderland…
With all of this crazy winter weather, there is nothing better than warming up with comfort food. The following is a meal that can be prepared beforehand. It’s great if you plan a day of sledding, skating or even cross country skiing and want something to warm your insides.
2005-02-07 Delish Dish: Eating the table decorations
You know, after the holidays are over, there always seem to be some of those decorations that never seem to get put away.
0000-00-00 Delish Dish: Jamaican-Spiced Pork Tenderloin
You don’t see as many of those "Pork, the other white meat” commercials nowadays. I wonder if that is because it really took and people realize just how delish it is. There are many times you can get a pork loin for less per pound than boneless chicken breasts….go figure. So, needless to say, we enjoy pork quite often.
2004-10-11 Delish Dish: Roasted Salmon Fillet
Wonderful meals can be prepared in less time that you think………
2005-01-10 Delish Dish: some of the best recipes are ones that are shared by friends and family…
While living in California, I had a large group of single friends. Some were rekindled friendships from college (which was in Rensselaer Indiana), and many new friends, both married and single. I found many would go to a restaurant for more meals than they would prepare for themselves. So I thought it would be fun to have a monthly “Group Meal” with all of my “non-cooking” friends. Many friends had other single friends, so the circle grew. That was part of the fun. There is nothing better than having a few dozen people, most of whom do not cook, over for a formal meal. I was even the host to a few “vegans” and felt no fear there, for my meals always had a plethora of veggie dishes on the table as well as the token meaty dish.
2004-10-25 Delish Dish: What to do with all those veggies you had to clear out of the garden this fall…
We ran out the other weekend amid the sleet that fell for about 20 minutes to clear out any of the remaining vegetables that have been just too stubborn to grow any faster this summer. I found myself with a load of beautiful, yet small, eggplants and red peppers. There were even some tomatoes that had been trying to get a bit bigger for the last week…..So, with the chill in the air, I decided to make a big pot of soup. Try this, and don’t think that any other veggies you may want to add won’t work, because you won’t know until you try!!
2005-10-17 Democrats and Republicans and Greens, Oh My!
On September 24, the face of America showed up at the White House. Hundreds of thousands of anti-war protesters came to Washington D. C. in what was called the biggest rally and march since the war in Iraq started. Did your stereotypical war protesters show up? Yes, the aging hippies who protested about Vietnam were there, but so were infants, grade school children, teenagers, punk rockers, college kids, thirtysomethings, fortysomethings, fiftysomethings, librarians, Puerto Ricans, grandmothers, military families, members of the military, Caucasians, African Americans, Hispanics, Asians, Democrats and even Republicans.
2004-08-14 Dental veneers can improve embarrassing teeth
Amy Aumann has something to smile about. The 41-year-old schoolteacher from Decatur, Ill., recently transformed her not-so-pearly whites into a dazzling, perfect smile, all in just about a month's time.
2007-03-20 Depressing Literature Makes One Woman's Life Not Seem So Bad
There are certain books I like to read when I want to know someone is in worse shape than I am. I've faced a very stressful last few months, and escaping into someone else's misery makes me realize, "okay, things COULD be worse." Here are a few books I turn to when I'm depressed or feeling hopeless:
2004-11-08 Despite smooth voting Tuesday, experts press for more reforms
WASHINGTON - While the nation avoided a repeat of the 2000 election debacle Tuesday, disputes that erupted over provisional ballots, voter registration and touch-screen voting show that further reforms are badly needed, poll watchers and election experts say.
2008-09-22 Detoxing Determined Demented Dexter
I’m not sure what’s up with HBO, the channel that once proclaimed of itself, “It’s not TV, it’s HBO.” Other than the mini-series Generation Kill that ended a few weeks back, there hasn’t been any drama series of note on that channel since the end of The Sopranos more than a year ago.
2007-04-10 Devon Sproule: Making Her Own Path
Defining Devon Sproule is not in the least bit easy. Unique? Warm. Quirky? Getting warmer. What is certain is that since an early age she has released three very entertaining and energetic collections of songs. Sproule is just days away from releasing her fourth record, Keep Your Silver Shined, and lucky for Fort Wayne she will be here to perform on the eve of that release.
2006-06-05 Diaz finds marriage leads to kids, divorce, cold wet butts
My birthday is very close to Mother’s Day, and with the passing of those two dates, it makes me realize I’m a rare species. I’m a woman in her late 30s who doesn’t have kids. And I’m glad.
2004-08-26 Digital scrapbooks now rival paper versions
A new breed of modern-day scrapbook artists is ditching paper, scissors and glue for a mouse and computer screen.
2007-10-22 Dis-endorsement
“My endorsement of Matt Kelty does not stand.” With those words, U.S. Congressman Mark Souder, the area’s highest ranking Republican elected official, effectively threw GOP mayoral hopeful Matt Kelty under the bus…
2004-04-05 Disney bets the mouse ears on going it alone in 3D animated features
Earlier this year contractual negotiations between Disney and Pixar broke down leading to a split between these two companies. Pixar will find another company to partner with to distribute their films and Disney will open a competing 3D animation studio to produce Disney features.
2008-12-23 Diverse talents on display at Artlink’s Fort Wayne Photographers
Although the dead of winter descended upon Fort Wayne early on December 12th, Artlink was filled with artists, collectors, and admirers, keeping warm while admiring some great photography. The show, “Fort Wayne Photographers”, a survey of over 60 area photographers, was preceded by a gallery talk by Cara Lee Wade, photography professor at the University of St. Francis and an accomplished photographer in her own right. The show included works from notable locals like Stephanie Leyden, Joel Hernandez, Stephen M. Perfect, Nicole Croy, Tom Galliher, and Christopher Crawford.
2004-10-11 Do bad movies brain your rot? What was the question again?
Lately, I’ve been watching a lot of movies. My usual habit of viewing a few movies a week has suddenly turned to a sick addiction. In the past week I’ve managed to watch twenty movies as well as my usual television schedule of six hours a day. Some of these movies include “Bloody” Sam Peckinpah’s masterpieces Bring Me The Head of Alfredo Garcia and Ride the High Country, the classic King Kong, Smokey and the Bandit (“The first thing I’m gonna’ do when I get home is punch your mamma in the mouth.”), Deliverance and Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow to name a few.
2010-07-19 Do You Recognize Yourself in this Column?
Back in the mid-90s, I discovered a great ‘zine called Answer Me!. Chock full of hate, it was also well-written. It was notorious in the ‘zine community; you either loved it or hated it. What impressed me about the publication is that it put most other DIY rags to shame.
2004-11-22 Domestic violence expert to speak at YWCA’s Circle of Women fundraiser
On December 2nd, the Circle of Women fundraiser for the YWCA will feature Mike McCarty, a former police detective in Nashville, Tennessee and now at the Public Training Institute in Danville, Indiana, where he conducts seminars and workshops on responding to domestic violence.
2010-01-25 Don't call it a comeback
Those of you still sporting an “anti-John Crawford” sticker on your car’s back bumper from 2007 (you know the ones we’re talking about, where there’s a bold, red slash through the “W”) may not want to scrape those off yet. Or maybe you will, depending on how you feel about things now.
2009-12-06 Don’t ya wanna live with me?
“The dream of a joint solution to City of Fort Wayne and Allen County space needs through co-location just died today,” said Mayor Henry in a statement on November 19, referring to the Allen County council vote to not pursue co-habitation of the building at 200 East Berry (Renaissance Square).
2004-08-14 Doom 3
After literally years of obsessive anticipation by fans over the return of the id Software’s Doom franchise, the wait is over…Doom 3 is here. But was it worth the wait?
2009-10-05 Dorian Gray Redux
I had a chance to see U2 at Soldier Field last month, which presented me with a curious ethical dilemma — I've always hated the band, yet I was kind of interested in seeing the techo light-and-sound gizmos that a big deal rock and roll tour unleashes. The ticket was free, too; a friend owed me a favor and was willing to clean the slate with a choice, high end, $250 seat he scored through his company.
2004-05-03 Double Barrel Darrel
Double Barrel Darrel wear their Americana influences on their sleeve. This five-piece from Goshen play roots music, a textured blend of old-time country, folk, and rock, and the roots run very deep.
2005-10-17 Down among the “Peaceniks”
The two Iraqis tied up Kindy and two of his male co-workers, and had the women sit over on a couch. “He said, ‘I don’t want to kill you people. I like you people. But there are two guys out in the street with automatic weapons. If we don’t carry it out, they’ll see that it’s done.’”
2008-02-18 Down the Line 2
Generally, I don't enjoy cover bands and would prefer a band play original material, but when bands perform a solid block of songs by a particular artist, like at Down the Line 2, all bets are off. I can't argue with hearing some of the top local talent tackling material by rock icons.
2009-08-09 Down the Tube
Medical technology is really cool, if you can pay for it. Because I have a little white card in my purse that designates me as one of the chosen ones, I recently had an MRI to check the fibroid tumor I’ve been growing in my uterus for probably the last five years. I knew it was big, but didn’t really know how big. I’d had several ultrasounds, but those seem rather vague. No ultrasound is as impressive as an MRI.
2009-02-10 Downtown development, 1969
40 years ago, there was a different massive crater in the center of downtown Fort Wayne.
2008-10-21 Downtown Fright Night 2008
On Saturday, October 25, zombies, ghosts, goblins and monsters of all stripes — as well as a few superheroes and princesses — will descend on downtown Fort Wayne for the 2nd annual Fright Night, a family-friendly evening of Halloween activities hosted by different downtown organizations.
2010-04-22 Dr Gloria is in the House
Doctors sometimes think they’re God. But they aren’t. God wouldn’t cure my heartburn with a pill. And he wouldn’t charge me a co-pay either.
2006-02-06 Dr Who, an introduction
It’s been a long wait, but the Brit import series Doctor Who is finally returning to our shores after a decades’ absence. Originally broadcast here in the America via syndication from the 1970s to 1990s (in Fort Wayne on PBS), Doctor Who vanished from the cultural landscape after an aborted attempt at Americanizing the show in the mid 1990s.
2007-05-08 Dr. Gloria, Medicine Woman
I was chatting with a friend of mine on the phone a while back and the conversation shifted to the shrinking middle class. After a few choice words about Bush, my friend said the middle class was in a difficult place: they weren’t earning much, but they earned too much to get any real help. My friend is attending school full time, but in order to get maximum financial aid, she can’t take a summer job, because that would knock her family out of the income bracket eligible for assistance.
2007-10-08 Dr. James Colonna takes up the baton for the Fort Wayne Area Community Band
Fort Wayne Area Community Band will kick off its 28th year in a new location with a new conductor. Wielding the baton is Dr. James Colonna, director of instrumental music and bands at Indiana University Purdue University at Fort Wayne (IPFW). The new concert venue is the Auer Performance Hall in the brand new $25 million John and Ruth Rinehart Music Center on the campus of IPFW.
2009-04-07 Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Poopdeflex
If ever there were a situation where it is necessary to separate the art from the artist, this is it. When he is performing as Poopdeflex, Scott Snyder’s personality takes on a brash, crass, vulgar, and often hilarious tone. Off stage, however, it’s a completely different story. The real Scott Snyder, I found, is so nice a guy that I walked away from our recent meeting hoping that I hadn’t somehow offended him.
2009-10-20 Drag Me to Hell
I can't say that I’m a fan of many modern horror movies. I thought the first Saw (2004) film was decent enough but have been disappointed to see that just about every other horror film since the has copied much of the structure of that movie; namely an uncomfortable focus on pain, torture and suffering.
2009-05-18 Drag Me To Terminator
There are a few interesting movies opening up this month – one is the fourth film of a 25 year old franchise and the other is also the fourth film of a 28 year old horror movie franchise. Only not quite.
2006-04-10 Driving Ms. Diaz
When things get too rough, I get in my car and drive. And things were rough. A former friend has been ripping me apart on her blog, and that same week, I got into an argument with my boss over control and rebellion, and how it tied in with her husband’s health and dietary habits. Add in various other stressful situations, and it was time for a road trip. A junk food and movie marathon just wasn’t going to cut it. People could come over. The phone could ring. I needed plenty of real estate between myself and my stressful situations, so I drove to Chicago. By myself.
2004-11-02 Drug cost solutions exist here at home
For anyone seduced by suggestions in the presidential election that imported drugs from Canada are a cure-all for rising prescription drug costs in this country, guess again.
2010-07-19 Dying on stage
As recent Broadway musical comedies go, Curtains may not be as household a name as, say, The Producers, but it comes with an impressive pedigree — much of the music is from the songwriting team of John Kander and Fred Ebb, the same duo that gave musical theater Chicago and Cabaret, among many others.
2004-01-28 Dylanfest
Four Fort Wayne bands will team up for a tribute to Bob Dylan at Columbia Street West on Thursday, January 29th. The brain-child of Matt Kelley, guitarist for Go Dog Go, and Richard Reprogle at Columbia Street West, Homesick Blues — Celebrating the Songs of Bob Dylan is the first of what Kelley hopes will become a bi-monthly concert series.
2010-01-25 East Berry Street
An aerial view of East Berry Street, taken from the courthouse looking southeast…
2009-10-05 East Columbia Street, 1930s/40s
We’re not sure of the year here (probably 30s/40s era)…
2008-01-21 Eccentric in Fort Wayne
Back in 2004, when the state of Indiana felt compelled to relieve me of my driving privileges, I walked everywhere, and in doing so I discovered two things about the city that I never previously noticed.
2004-11-08 Eclectic mix of styles makes Rue Melange stand out
When Mark Turney isn’t working his grueling eleven to sixteen hour days, or spending time with family, he and his wife Gwendra make beautiful music together and with their band Rue Melange. The couple make an impressive stage presence – he, tall and striking; and she, with long black hair, dark beauty and a gorgeous smile.
2004-11-08 Editorial: Spending political capital
A garrulous President George W. Bush reiterated on Thursday his support for bipartisanship but left no doubt that he will spend all the political capital he earned in the election. Bipartisanship will be tough given the items on his wish list.
2007-10-08 Education mayor
Republican Matt Kelty wants to be the education mayor. During a recent news conference, Kelty promised to create a partnership between the Mayor’s Office and Fort Wayne Community Schools declaring that the mayor must take a “hands-on approach to public education and the difficulties faced by the city’s urban schools.”
2008-09-22 Eero Saarinen's Fort Wayne Village
When you’re talking about great architecture in Fort Wayne, the usual suspects tend to include the Allen County Courthouse — created from 1897-1902 by Brentwood S. Tolan — or one of Alvin M. Strauss’s many accomplishments like the Lincoln Tower, or the Embassy Theatre and Indiana Hotel. But rarely does the Concordia Theological Seminary designed by the world-renowned Finnish American architect Eero Saarinen come to mind.
2009-09-08 Eight is MORE than enough
I’ve never watched Jon and Kate Plus Eight (the title alone sounds like something a restaurant host would hear in his worst nightmare) but I have to wonder if any old-school Catholics do. When I say, “old-school,” I’m talking about those folks in their 70s, 80s, and 90s who cranked out at least eight kids (sometimes more) and didn’t think that much about it. Certainly, they probably never dreamed that while they enjoyed their golden years, reality television would spotlight out-of-the-ordinary people and/or publicity hogs.
2004-08-20 Eight Women Needed for Talking With... at Williams Theatre
The IPFW Department of Theatre will hold auditions for the play Talking With…on Sunday, August 29 at Williams Theatre. Theatre majors will present monologues starting at 12 noon with public auditions starting at 1:30 p.m. Actors from the community are highly encouraged to audition. There are a variety of women’s stories told during the performance requiring women who can play ages 18—60.
2008-10-21 Election Day
Democracy in action! Can’t you feel the electricity?
2006-08-21 Election Investogation and more…
The Allen County Election Board tossed the names of 11 townships candidates - all Republicans - from the November ballot when it was learned that the candidates’ names were forged on election documents. Douglas Foy was fired from his job as Allen County Republican Party executive director for his role in the matter, and election officials are asking Allen County Prosecutor Karen Richards to launch a criminal investigation.
2004-10-07 Election year fails to excite investors
For the past half century, the stock market has usually risen in an election year, bolstered by the stimulus the White House injects into the economy as the president campaigns to keep his job.
2005-01-24 ELEKTRA
Jennifer Garner got into her sexy action rig as Elektra in 2003's "Daredevil," but she seems trivialized by starring in "Elektra."
2009-12-19 End of the Year As We Know It
I'm always astonished at how quickly cable television is able to take current events and repackage them into historical perspective programming — it's a full three weeks before 2010, and I've already seen a 2009 restrospective of shocking/notable events that happened the past year.
2009-05-18 End Times Spasm Band puts the Hot in Hot Jazz
There is a very large difference between “traditional” jazz and what is known as “hot jazz.” For that reason, the members of The End Times Spasm Band are a little hesitant to label their style as hot jazz. That is to say, they don’t want to confuse anyone unfamiliar with this offshoot style into thinking that they’ll be playing “Caravan” or “All Blues” at any of their shows. Think Squirrel Nut Zippers as opposed to, say, Coltrane.
2006-07-10 Eric Stine
Born and raised in Fort Wayne I currently work as an Art Director/Graphic Designer at Boyden & Youngblutt Advertisng & Marketing.
2009-04-30 Erik DeLuca: The Deep Seascape
The SEAMUS conference hosted at Sweetwater in early April (see FWR #123) lead to an interesting collaboration and workshop/lecture at the Fort Wayne Museum of Art.
2005-01-10 Essentials V.8: X102 unleashes its annual compilation of local bands
I have to admit, when X102 began releasing its Essentials compilation CD of local bands playing original music years ago (though the station wasn’t X102 then, and I think they were called the Edge), I thought it was a gimmick that would peter out pretty quickly. Not that the quality of music was bad, or that I doubted the sincerity of the people involved, but I just thought… well, I can’t remember what I thought, and it doesn’t really matter since apparently — with the eighth Essentials CD just hitting the streets — I was totally, completely, utterly wrong. The release of a new Essentials CD is a highly-anticipated event among many local rock fans, and the X102 Sunday night local music show that serves as its on-air equivalent is still going strong.
2005-08-22 Establishing FW's Image: Gloria Lends a Hand
Fort Wayne used to be known as the “City of Churches,” but not anymore. St. Mary’s doesn’t tower over downtown quite the way it used to, and they tore St. Paul’s down. A local blogger thinks the city needs a new nickname. So I propose some new images/slogans for the city, keeping in tune with reality:
2007-03-20 Et tu, Kelty?
“I don’t need the government telling small businesses how to do business.” That’s what Republican mayoral candidate Matt Kelty told The Journal Gazette late last year. His remarks were in opposition to a far-reaching smoking ban in bars and restaurants in Allen County. “It’s not about new government regulation to make opening a business more difficult,” Kelty was quoted as saying.
2008-02-04 Everyone, everyday, everywhere
If you’ve ever enjoyed a Philharmonic concert, a Civic Theater performance, or checked out a “hot buzz” independent film at the Cinema Center, you have Arts United to partially thank for that.
2006-11-21 Everything you’ve always wanted to know about ballet dancers but were afraid to ask
It’s Christmas, and if you’re a ballet dancer, that means one thing: The Nutcracker. With the Fort Wayne Ballet on the verge of launching its 2006 performance of the holiday classic, we thought it might be interesting to do something a little different.
2007-04-24 Extra Innings
The Tuesday, April 24th meeting of the Fort Wayne City Council could easily go into extra innings. During their last meeting - a marathon session itself—council members voted to hold a public hearing regarding the much-debated Harrison Square project for downtown Fort Wayne.
2004-08-14 Eyes on the X Prize
The early days of the space race nearly half-a-century ago evoked images of a high-tech, off-world future that, we were assured, was just around the corner. Putting men in orbit and sending astronauts to the moon was just the beginning. By the 90s, we were going to have colonies on the moon. By the end of the century, men would be on Mars. Traveling by rocket was going to be as common as traveling by bus, or at least airplane.
2008-03-24 Faces of Fort Wayne
The mission statement for Faces of Fort Wayne tells you that the event will showcase the artistic talents of the city’s diverse international community.
2004-10-11 Fahrenheit 9/11: does this movie matter, or is Moore just preaching to the choir?
This summer’s blockbuster movie featured two middle-aged men, neither one of whom could be considered movie star handsome. Both are wealthy and powerful, but one more so than the other. One set out to make the other look like a buffoon. Depending on your viewpoint, he either succeeded or slandered. Of course, the movie in question is Fahrenheit 9/11, slammed as propaganda by some. Others hailed it as confirming their suspicion that the war in Iraq is a huge mistake.
2005-12-12 Fair game
For years, Cherry Masters and other electronic gaming devices in Indiana bars and clubs existed in a weird legal netherworld.
2005-10-17 Fall blogs: food, fashion, and other fluff
John Roberts sailed through the nomination process but what do bloggers have to say about the Harriet Miers nomination? www.huffingtonpost.com has among its tabloid style links a scathing commentary by George Will on the president’s latest choice. Perhaps conservatives will demand some intellectual effort from this administration yet.
2007-11-20 Fall Brawl
The Saturday after Thanksgiving, a small army of women decked out in skirts and kneepads and boasting names like Whiskey Soured, Malice Cooper, and Chainsaw Mary will converge on the Memorial Coliseum for a day of no holds-barred, knee bruisin’, lip bustin’, roller derby action.
2005-08-08 Fall from the inside of a movie theater
As summer slowly burns the green grass of Indiana yellow, it's time to look ahead to the slate of movies due in theaters this fall. Generally, summer is a time for movies designed to lure the crowds into theaters (read mindless fun) whereas fall movies tend to be a bit more adult oriented (read "Oscar contention”).
2009-08-25 Fall TV preview
The 2008-09 TV season was one that the broadcast networks are probably trying to forget. Overall viewership was down last season compared to the previous and has been steadily declining the last few years.
2009-11-24 Fall/Winter Movie Preview
It seemed as if a lot of good movies came out last spring/summer. Be it an indie gem like Moon or a more mainstream film like Inglourious Basterds, from May until August I found myself to be quite entertained at the cineplex. However overflowing with interesting movies the first two-thirds of the year might have been, latter third of 2009 seems to be a bit more bleak.
2007-11-01 Fall/Winter Movie Season
After a so-so summer movie season passed us by a few weeks back, what does this fall/winter movie season have in store for the viewing public? Unfortunately, out of the dozens of movies all set to open between now and next spring, only a few seem as if they hold much promise.
2008-11-25 False controversy
Leave it up to Fort Wayne to create a false controversy surrounding the arts. The exhibition in question is IPFW’s current Visual Communication and Design Senior BFA show. The specific art pieces in question are William Baulkey’s series of bloody fashion photographs entitled “Fashion Victims.” Baulkey describes the body of work as “a blend of crime scene and fashion photography, with four stories intertwined by a serial killer character named Casanova.”
2006-12-05 Family Play Time
Family plays a big part in Youtheatre’s production of The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, both on and off the stage. Based on Barbara Robinson’s funny and very popular children’s book, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever tells the story of the six wild Herdman children “crashing” the town’s usually prime-and-proper Christmas pageant. Rude and obnoxious, the Herdmans are the kind of people who think it would be really cool to rewrite the nativity story as a Kill Bill-style payback epic against Herod entitled “Revenge at Bethlehem.”
2008-11-06 Family tree
In the summer of 2005, while vacationing on Michigan’s Leelanau peninsula, Fort Wayne attorney Tom Shoaff happened to see a massive, gnarled elder box tree lying on the ground, felled by storms the night before.
2008-01-07 Famous in Fort Wayne
I was in a play in Fort Wayne a few years ago and after a performance a woman approached me in the parking lot and asked me to sign a program from the show. I figured she was related to someone in the cast, and was just collecting signatures as a memento, but no, she just wanted mine. I found this to be radiantly bizarre, but I complied, anyway, and signed the program.
2007-09-07 Fan clubbed
The last time I talked to actor Robert Scrimm, he was preparing for Stones In His Pockets, a full length play with a two-person cast. Now, several months later he’s preparing for the Civic Theater’s production of Misery, another full length play with a two person cast. “I’m a glutton for punishment, apparently” he says. That would be especially true in this case…
2009-12-06 Fan is Short For Fanatic
I just saw on the news how the Komets have more “enforcers” (a.k.a fighters) because the IHL has changed some rule; the organization is encouraging fighting.
2006-09-04 Fantasy author Terry Brooks visits Mitchell Books
Visit the fantasy/sci-fi section of your local bookstore and take a look at all those multi-volume epics and cycles and series and chronicles. They all owe a huge debt to fantasy novelist Terry Brooks.
2007-02-06 Fantasy worlds collide in Fort Wayne Youtheatre’s "Dorothy Meets Alice"
Pity poor Judson, the young hero of "Dorothy Meets Alice, or the Wizard of Wonderland." As if dealing with one bizarre world isn’t headache enough, he has to deal with two.
2007-08-06 Faster, Higher, Stronger: Steroids To The Rescue!
As you read this, Barry Bonds will have probably broken Hank Aaron’s homerun record. A lot of people seem upset about this, because they think Bonds used steroids to get to where he his now. Bonds himself has never publicly admitted to taking steroids. However, his personal trainer, Greg Anderson, is in prison for refusing to testify against him during the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (BALCO) grand jury investigation.
2005-01-24 FAT ALBERT
TV-taste snack from producer and main writer Bill Cosby, based on the cartoon show. As Albert, Kenan Thompson drops his bulk load of charm into an insipid plot, in which he emerges from a TV to help a lonely girl, then is more involved by her popular friend.
2007-11-20 Fatima Washington: One-Time Wallflower Steps Into the Spotlight
Fatima Washington was once shy. You'd never know it to see her on stage now, but when she first began singing she was more than happy to be in the corner, or as she puts it, "an actual piece of the wall." But to hear her these days is to realize that the wallflower has most certainly bloomed. Through her weekly performances at the Blu Tomato, Washington has gained a loyal group of fans and has plans to win over more with an album she has in the works.
2004-10-05 FDA in credibility crisis
When pharmaceutical giant Merck unexpectedly recalled its blockbuster arthritis drug Vioxx last week, its stock took a beating. It dropped nearly 27 percent before the end of business.
2010-05-25 Fear of the Airport Bestsellers
In the late 70s, film director Stanley Kubrick decided that his next movie following Barry Lyndon would be in the horror genre, and he had his assistants gather source material for him to examine for the project.
2004-09-14 Fed chairman paints encouraging economic picture
"The most recent data suggest that, on the whole, the expansion has regained some traction." So said Federal Reserve Board chairman Alan Greenspan, during recent testimony before the House Budget Committee.
2010-06-07 Fetishist Fans, Charter Club Members
The Replacements were my favorite band in the 80's, a scruffy, sloppy, post-punk Minneapolis group who always managed to screw it up just as they were about to get famous.
2004-09-03 Fiesta Fort Wayne this Friday and Saturday
Free annual festival downtown this weekend.
2006-06-20 Filling station at Lafayette and Washington Streets in Ft. Wayne in the 1930s
The work of Jacobs and other Fort Wayne entrepreneurs went largely unnoticed in the car business because their work was under the hood. Sylvanus Bowser became the first local entrepreneur to a step out of the shadows through the importance of his invention: the first modern gasoline dispenser.
2004-09-09 Film-maker/designer Terry Izumi visits IPFW
Terry Izumi has a resume that most young artists and designers can only dream about.
2007-02-21 Fire Prevention Elephant in 1951
This elephant doesn't forget…
2007-11-01 Fireworks, 1958
Fourth of July crowd awaits a fireworks show in 1958.
2004-11-10 First changes to Bush's cabinet as Ashcroft and Evans resign
In the first of what many analysts believe will be several changes to President Bush’s cabinet during his second term, Attorney General John Ashcroft, the face of the administration's tough tactics against terrorism, and Commerce Secretary Don Evans, a longtime friend of the president, resigned Tuesday, the first members of the Cabinet to leave.
2004-09-01 First lady and Schwarzenegger headline second night of RNC
NEW YORK - On a night devoted to displaying the "compassionate" side of President Bush's policies, first lady Laura Bush joined with California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger at the Republican National Convention Tuesday to salute the president as a leader who agonized over going to war and cries over its casualties but has the strength needed to prevail in the battle against terrorism.
2005-11-14 Fixing the Festival
Mountain ranges may crumble into dust. Glaciers melt, the continents shift, civilizations rise, fall and rise again… and through it all, the question of what to do about Fort Wayne’s Three Rivers Festival remains.
2010-04-04 Flood, 1913
This photo shows the old Fort Wayne Baseball Park partially submerged. Unfortunately, we’re not quite sure where exactly the Fort Wayne Baseball Park was located…
2004-11-03 Florida appears to avoid repeat of 2000 voting problems
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - In Broward County, numerous voters complained that they never received absentee ballots in the mail but were turned away from their polling places Tuesday, after being told they were listed as having voted already.
2004-10-06 Flu-shot supply to fall short of need
SAN DIEGO - Healthy adults across the nation were asked Tuesday to forgo flu shots this season so those in high-risk groups can get vaccinated following the stunning disclosure of a major shortage of doses.
2004-08-14 Flynt hustles to expose hypocrisy
Of course Larry Flynt's new book has a subtitle with the word "naked" in it. He is what he is - and would be the last to pretend otherwise. But anybody hoping for nudity will be disappointed. The only photo is on the cover, and it's of Flynt in a suit and tie in his gold-plated wheelchair, an American flag behind him. Larry Flynt, patriot?
2007-08-06 Foellinger Building
A rainy night shot…
2005-10-31 Food, politics, and terroists: Happy Halloween
Trick or treat! Start with the treats and go to www.maverickeats.blogspot.com and check out a North Carolina cooperative farm’s view on slow food and sustainable agriculture. The sentiments may be admirable but it’s the food I’m after and the blog comes through with quick and easy recipes that don’t require a fully staffed kitchen to prepare.
2008-05-20 Foot traffic
Fort Wayne fears a lot of things. Flooding. Change. A Democrat in the White House. And walking. Ask what the biggest impediments to downtown development are and on the shortlist will be “lack of convenient parking spaces.” By this we usually mean we might have to walk an entire city block or two to get where we want to go.
2004-08-14 For cycling enthusiast, it's all about the bike
Brian Potter's cycling fascination began in earnest when he was 3. Pedaling a tricycle down a steep hill a block from his New Zealand home, Potter careened out of control rounding a corner, fell, bonked his head and spent the night in a hospital, nurses monitoring his concussion. He lost the race to a 4-year-old, but not his enthusiasm.
2010-02-04 For Entertainment Purposes Only
Here is a sure-fire, winning strategy for betting the Super Bowl in 2010: identify the team that has the most heartwarming storyline, and then, coolly, calmly, bet the house on the other team.
2006-11-08 For This I Went to Class?
In an ideal world, teachers would be supportive of their students; academic cheerleaders if you will. They encourage you when the going gets rough, offer some food for thought, and willing to let you do extra credit while guiding you through ancient history, or Shakespeare, or whatever.
2005-07-25 Foreign exchange
Say you’re from Seoul, South Korea. Or Paris, France. Or Reading, England. And say you’re about to visit the United States of America for the very first time. Where would you go if you wanted an accurate glimpse of average American everyday life? Would you go to one of the nation’s cultural and historical hubs — New York, Washington D.C. Boston, Los Angeles, Chicago…
2004-09-27 Forget drugs, I’ve found the real threat to our nation’s youth.
On my recent trip to the comic book convention in Chicago, I got into a discussion with people attending the con with me about the things they were most frightened of as kids. I related a few of my best ghost stories and they told me about how scary it can be to test out a snow sled with several dozen bottle rockets attached to the sides. (In homage to Calvin and Hobbes of course.)
2010-05-10 Formal Sacraments
When I was fourteen, I was confirmed in a Catholic church in Fort Wayne, and while I didn't quite understand the severity of the occasion, I was pleased that I was given an additional name at the ceremony.
2004-12-03 Former New York police commissioner to lead Homeland Security
President Bush picked former police commissioner Bernard Kerik, the former military man who helped New York get back on its feet after the Sept. 11 terror attack, to head the department of Homeland Security.
2004-08-14 Fort Wayne after midnight
Fort Wayne isn’t known as the city that never sleeps, but a handful of businesses operate 24/7, and that means people are hard at work making sure the emergency room is ready for your mishap, the grocery store has plenty of munchies stocked for your midnight snack, you can copy that presentation for work, even if it is 2 a.m., and that you can go downtown for a burger and actually eat it in the restaurant, not the driver’s seat of your car.
2004-10-11 Fort Wayne artists offer original take on the Day of the Dead tradition
Through November 28th, the Fort Wayne Museum of Art is offering an exhibit that celebrates the Mexican Day of the Dead, a tradition which honors deceased loved ones and ancestors. During the Day of the Dead (November 1st and 2nd), the living invite their dead to join them in a festival of communion. In tribute of their love for the deceased, people create altars filled with photos, mementos, flowers and food offerings.
2006-09-18 Fort Wayne Ballet celebrates 50 years of history
The Fort Wayne Ballet marks a milestone when it kicks off its 2006-2007 year — during the weekend of September 29, two “Director’s Choice” gala performances and a special children’s matinee mark the 50th anniversary of the ballet.
2009-09-21 Fort Wayne Ballet leaps into '09/'10 season
Whenever FWR checks in on the Fort Wayne Ballet, one of the favorite topics of conversation we have with artistic director Karen Gibbons-Brown is the misconceptions, myths, and just plain bizarre rumors about ballet and ballet dancers that tend to get passed around.
2007-09-24 Fort Wayne Ballet's Director's Choice delivers variety
The Fort Wayne Ballet launches its 51st season with “Director’s Choice,” an eclectic program that offers something a little different. It begins with the tried and true — Act II of “Swan Lake” — and from there takes off in a few directions you might not expect, touching on Hungarian folk dancing, jazz, Christina Aguilera… and dodge ball, to name a few.
2009-06-04 Fort Wayne Ballet, Too
When choreographer David Ingram arrives in Fort Wayne the second week of June, he’ll have about two weeks to put together the program for the Fort Wayne Ballet Too performances scheduled for June 24 at the Cinema Center. And Ingram isn’t 100% sure of what he’s doing yet…
2005-03-07 Fort Wayne Ballet’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream offers different interpretation of classic comedy
When the Fort Wayne Ballet’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream hits the stage on March 19th and 20th, Fort Wayne audiences will have the opportunity to see a completely different interpretation of this classic story of mistaken identity and the sometimes ridiculous entanglements of love.
2010-04-22 Fort Wayne Baseball Park postcard
Last issue we showed you a picture of the old Fort Wayne Baseball Park semi-submerged in a flood.
2004-09-23 Fort Wayne Civic Theatre to hold auditions for "Westside Story" on October 3
Director Becky Niccum, Musical Director Eunice Wadewitz, and Choreographer Stefan Zubal seek a large cast. All but Shrank, Krupke, Doc, and Gladhand must be able to sing, dance and act.
2007-08-06 Fort Wayne Expo Days
Summer in Fort Wayne means festivals. Colorful art displays and music performances. People of all ages congregating to enjoy shared experiences. The smells, flavors and decadence of elephant ears and other festival foods and drink. It means Three Rivers Festival, GermanFest. Greek Fest and Expo Days.
2007-10-22 Fort Wayne Fright Night
On Saturday night, October 27, the streets of downtown Fort Wayne will be swarming with ghosts, goblins, witches… and probably a few pirates, princesses, dinosaurs, and Jedi. But don’t worry: they’ll all be the friendly type.
2007-02-21 Fort Wayne Hip-Hop Dance: Anything But Routine
When I was eight years old I saw the movies Breakin', Breakin' 2: Electric Boogaloo, and Beat Street and quickly became determined to learn and recreate the moves I had seen in those films. My cousin and I would take a sheet of cardboard to the local grocery store and lay it down on the linoleum floor next to the video games and vending machines where mothers left their children while shopping. We would try and cram as many moves together as we could, while also trying to impress one another with something new we had thought up to try, before our parents were done picking up everything they needed. Things sure have changed since those days and it's been a change for the better.
2007-11-01 Fort Wayne horror writer David Russell finds a home in e-publishing
David Russell remembers very clearly the day he decided to get serious about being a writer. A fan of the horror and sci-fi genres (he counts Stephen King, early Anne Rice, and Harlan Ellison among his favorites), Russell had written stories for as long as he could remember, but it wasn’t until he had graduated Wayne High school and found himself in the army that he realized that that was what he really wanted to do.
2005-09-05 Fort Wayne Kid’s Marathon helps kids go the distance
Confucius said that a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. The same holds true of a 26.2 mile run, except most people probably find a thousand mile walk a lot less intimidating than running a marathon.
2006-08-07 Fort Wayne Music in 2006: So Far, So Good
With another year half gone, it seems like a good time to review what we’ve seen and heard in the recent past. The music and the overall scene have really grown considerably and it looks like it isn’t going to slow down anytime soon. There have been some tremendous albums released, some fantastic shows put together, and some real growth in different genres. There’s no better time than now to reflect on what has been and what shall be.
2009-12-06 Fort Wayne Public Library, 1922
“Kids, let me tell ya about something called the Dewey Decimal System…”
2005-02-07 Fort Wayne Radio
Aside from the one or two stations programmed in your car radio (maybe at home too), who or what stations can you name, with certainty, that dominate AM/FM broadcasting in this area?
2006-10-07 Fort Wayne Reader Presents Live On Stage brings some of Fort Wayne’s best original bands to a T.V. near you
Some of Fort Wayne’s finest bands have a regular gig in your living room at 1 a.m. every Sunday morning with the launch of The Fort Wayne Reader presents Live on Stage. The half-hour music show showcases original local bands performing live at Come2Go ministries, as well as exclusive interview segments with the featured artists, and local music news. You can catch it on WISE 33, Fort Wayne’s local NBC affiliate, every Saturday night/Sunday morning right after Saturday Night Live.
2005-02-21 Fort Wayne to Indy in 28 minutes?!
Imagine this: you’re a student living downtown with a 10:30 am class out at IPFW. So, you walk a few blocks to a central terminal in the city center, and hop on a “people mover” that carries you out to campus. After your classes, the same conveyance takes you to work, or a shopping center, or back home again.
2005-03-21 Fort Wayne TV Takeover — the Sequel
When Fort Wayne tuned into WISE 33 for the early evening news cast on March 8th to see Linda Jackson anchoring the news all by her lonesome in front of a 21 Alive logo, viewers reacted as though they had been jolted from a peaceful slumber by a slap in the face. Why was Linda Jackson, who has channel 33 practically written all over her, broadcasting from 21? What happened to WISE 33?
2008-01-07 Fort Wayne welcomes internet radio: Remedy.fm
In Fort Wayne there many radio stations that play different types of music. We have access to iTunes and other programs that allow us to browse our favorite genres and discover new artists. But what about a completely internet based radio station that plays music 24/7 without any on-air advertising and chooses songs from almost every category as long as they speak a positive message? Yep, Fort Wayne has one of those too!
2005-02-07 Fort Wayne Women’s Bureau brings back The Vagina Monologues
If the purpose of a title is to grab attention, then The Vagina Monologues could be seen as a huge success. Since Eve Ensler’s series of monologues and dialogues about women opened in 1996, it’s had its fair share of controversy, most of it focused on the title.
2005-05-16 Fort Wayne's German chorus hosts the 55th annual Saengerfest
Fans of traditional German music from choral to folk will have plenty to cheer about when the Fort Wayne Meannerchor/Damenchor hosts the 55th District Saengerfest. An event which comes to Fort Wayne every ten years, the 55th District Saengerfest features a free concert at the Scottish Rite Auditorium on May 21. 300 singers from 12 German choirs (including a choir from Gera, Germany, Fort Wayne’s sister city) take the stage for an evening of music.
2007-07-09 Fort Wayne's Music Veterans
Fort Wayne has always been fortunate enough to have a varied and vibrant music community, but how does the present compare to the past? Have the amount of venues increased? Has public support decreased? What pitfalls should today's musicians avoid? These were the questions I put to some of the area's veteran musicians. Thanks to Bob, Duane, Geo, George and Michael for the stories, the laughs and most of all, the music.
2005-08-22 Fort Wayne-based acoustic guitar virtuoso Kevin Hiatt releases 2nd CD
Fort Wayne-based guitarist and composer Kevin Hiatt sometimes says that he makes music for “guitar geekheads.”
2006-08-08 Fort Wayne: City of Poets?
Justin Robinson is trying to bring a different kind of entertainment to the land of the monster truck rally and the professional wrestling bout. That different kind of entertainment? Poetry. This past summer, Robinson has been the organizer and curator of the Summit City Poetry Slams, events full of poetry readings, music, and performance. The first one took place at the Kachmann gallery in late May, and featured poets Robin Lucas (known as Michele Michelle for performances), E. Scott Smiley, and Curtis Crissler, among others.
2006-01-23 Fort Wayne: CSI
In the mid 70s, the movie All the President’s Men triggered an avalanche of applications to the nation’s journalism schools. A decade later, Top Gun inspired young men to sign up for the Air Force in the hopes of becoming a pilot and, if they were really lucky, picking up a goofy nickname…
2008-04-08 Fort Wayne: Hotbed of Higher Education
Many moons ago, FWR took an informal survey for an article on what residents of Fort Wayne liked about their city. People mentioned the low cost of living, the arts, and how folks here were generally “nice” (hey, that’s what they said). But the response we did not see coming: the number of great educational opportunities for working adults.
2005-02-21 Fort Wayne: Prettier than Detroit, but not as Pretty as Toronto
Imagine walking around in a city, downtown, late at night. Imagine you can walk and not be afraid of being mugged. Imagine shopping late on a Sunday night, and after browsing, stop at a donut shop for a snack. Imagine riding the subway and not worry about crime. Imagine a big city full of friendly strangers who are genuinely sorry if you ask them something they don’t know the answer to.
2005-06-27 Fort Wayne’s answer to School of Rock
For decades, there have been a few tried and true rehearsal spots that rock n’ roll bands have turned to in times of need — the garage, the basement, even the living room, if your family or housemates are especially understanding, or at least absent during practice time. But any musician knows that for band practice, these spaces are hardly ideal. They present all kinds of problems, including (but not limited to) acoustics, inadequate electrical outlets, and shouts of “turn it down!” from the neighbors.
2006-04-10 Fort Wayne’s poker underground
“There is a poker game in Fort Wayne any hour of the day, seven days a week,” says John. “There’s probably half-a-dozen regular poker games in Fort Wayne, and one of them is usually going at any given time.”
2008-06-10 Fort-4-Fitness
Tim Kenesey, CEO of Medical Protective and the Chairman of the Fort-4-Fitness health festival taking place in September, is trying to come up with a tactful way of addressing the big elephant head that pops up anytime the words “Fort Wayne” and “health” are mentioned in the same sentence.
2008-07-07 Fortunate sons
As a classic solipsist I've refused to believe that the world exists except in its relationship to me, so, consequently, it's taken me quite a while to realize how profound many social crises have become in my city. I have to have everything happen before my eyes before I can register what's been obvious to everyone else.
2006-04-24 fortwaynemusic.com gets its act together
Back in 1999, when Chris Wallace started the Fort Wayne Music web site (www.fortwaynemusic.com), his basic goals were pretty simple — to provide a community-oriented network environment to benefit musicians and fans in the area, a place where bands could post news, fans could hear about upcoming shows, and everyone could exchange information on local artists.
2010-05-25 Foster Park
An aerial view of Foster Park, looking over the St Mary’s with Bluffton Road in the foreground.
2004-08-17 Free Press: A questionable start in Iraq
A free press is an essential part of living in a democracy. Interim Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi has raised concerns that perhaps he doesn't fully accept that ideal by shuttering Al-Jazeera, the leading Arab satellite TV network.
2004-10-27 FREE Taylor Guitars workshop at Sweetwater with guest Pat Kirtley
Sweetwater and Taylor Guitars present a special workshop by acoustic guitar expert Pat Kirtley.
2008-07-21 Freimann Park, 1976
This unidentified choir is performing in Freimann Park for the American Bicentennial event…
2010-02-20 Fresh Coats?
Even in today’s polarized, give-no-quarter, “with-us-or-against-us” political climate, where common ground is almost impossible to find and the word “compromise” is usually uttered with a Cheney-esque sneer of derision…
2010-07-04 Friend of the River
When Dan Wire takes City luminaries, policy makers, and other local public figures out on his pontoon boat for a cruise down the St. Joe river, he can usually count on a certain reaction. “After a while, they’ll say ‘Wire, why do you want people to know about this? There’s nobody here. It’s all yours!’” Wire laughs. “And I always tell them ‘just as you’ve enjoyed it, we need to have a lot of people enjoy it’.”
2006-04-24 Friends in high places, and more…
A FRIEND INDEED In addition to his full-time jobs as pastor of a church and president of the local NAACP, Rev. Michael Latham has yet another gig: he’s the new chaplain for the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration. It’s a newly-created, $60,000 per year position responsible for providing counseling to state mental health workers. Given the state’s ongoing money problems, the creation of the new job has raised some eyebrows. But what’s really interesting is how the local NAACP head’s relationship with the GOP contrasts to the struggles of the national NAACP.
2005-10-31 Friends of the Parks and the Fort Wayne Parks Department launch the 2005 Great tree Canopy Comeback
Fort Wayne: City of Churches, All-American City… Apparently, there’s a good reason why, say, “City of Trees” isn’t on that list. Not yet, at least. A Cultural Landscape Report commissioned by Friends of the Parks and the Cultural Landscape Committee of the Fort Wayne park board several years ago found that three of Fort Wayne’s major parks — Lakeside, Memorial, and Swinney — had lost nearly 50% of their tree canopy since 1949.
2006-04-10 Fries in action, Brown's Best Week Ever, and more
Mayor proclaims consolidation support After years of sitting on the sidelines of the debate, Fort Wayne Mayor Graham Richard dove head first into the consolidated government controversy.
2009-10-20 FRIGHT NIGHT SCHEDULE
A schedule of events…
2009-10-20 Fright Night, 2009
Only the brave will want to weather the chilling and electrifying streets of Downtown Fort Wayne on October 24 for 3rd Annual Downtown Fright Night…
2004-09-13 From 9/11 to Iraq war, it's all unreal, almost
Now it's three years and a few days since the anniversary of the unforgettable day.
2006-02-06 From Blu Tomato to Blue Note:
Ask Fort Wayne R & B and jazz lovers about Ty Causey, and eventually you'd probably hear someone say he's the guy who sings on Friday nights at The Blu Tomato. It's a weekend gig that affords him many opportunities as a highly sought after singer in the local entertainment circuit, a "regular" if you will, but Causey is anything but regular.
2010-05-25 From page to stage
For nearly 25 years, playwright Nancy Carlson has known a group of five women who take an annual vacation to a run-down lake resort. But she just met them, in the flesh, a few weeks ago…
2005-07-25 From Philly to Fort Wayne
From the big city skyscrapers of Philadelphia to the small town atmosphere of Fort Wayne, Amanda Stevenson Lupke’s “From Philly to Fort Wayne” is a collection of landscape paintings and photography on display through August 26 at Avant-Garde Gallery, 1301 Lafayette St.
2007-03-07 From the bargain bin to the belle of the ball
When the Fort Wayne Ballet first launched as an incorporated not-for-profit organization in 1956, its premier full-evening ballet was Cinderella. And to celebrate its 50th anniversary, the Fort Wayne Ballet is performing Cinderella over a two weekend run starting March 16 .
2009-01-05 From the mind of Sterling Clark
Professional comic book illustrator Sterling Clark became fascinated by comic books as soon as he was able to read. He was first exposed to them at local drug stores, department stores and vending machines. His favorites were published by Marvel Comics…
2004-08-30 Front Mission 4
Fans of giant combat robots (mechs) looking for something other than the standard action game will be pleased with the nearly endless customization and unusual game play found in Front Mission 4, a turn-based strategy title.
2009-04-07 Full House
The Dance Collective brings Wonderboy to town; the Fort Wayne Civic Theater presents the edgy work of Christopher Durang in 5 in 1; and Sweetwater hosts the other-worldy sound of the SEAMUS conference.
2006-02-20 FWDC’s Homegrown Rhythms spotlights unique collaborations between local dancers and musicians
One weekend afternoon in early February, while a group of dancers and musicians was rehearsing a piece for the Fort Wayne Dance Collective’s 2006 edition of the Homegrown Rhythms show, the lights abruptly went out and plunged the rehearsal space into near darkness.
2006-11-08 FWMoA Heats Up with ¡Arte Caliente!
This winter, visitors to the Fort Wayne Museum of Art will have the good fortune to meet dozens of Joe Diaz's best friends. And they've got quite a lot on their minds. ¡Arte Caliente!: Selections from the Joe A. Diaz Collection – an exhibition featuring over 70 works by contemporary Chicano artists – opens Saturday, November 18.
2009-07-21 G.E. Broadway Plant, 1963
Like the title says…
2009-08-09 G.I. Joe: What’s The Other Half of the Battle?
When I was younger, my absolute favorite TV cartoon and toy line was G.I. Joe. I have fond memories of buying my very first two Joes back in '82 (Breaker and Short Fuse) and for a time I was so into the line that I subscribed to the comic series. But as the years went by I found myself less interested in G.I. Joe and more interested in other things. I held onto a few of the figures and comics left from my childhood, but honestly up until the movie version of G.I. Joe was announced last year I hadn't thought much about the series in the last 20+ years.
2005-03-07 Game off
I was reading an article about a few NHL players who were playing in the UHL the same day the NHL canceled its season. Seems that a former Komet player and a few fans interviewed for the story were a bit perturbed at this development. Why come down to the UHL and take a job away from a hockey player who probably could use the cash when the NHL player is supposedly standing up for his rights by NOT playing was one of the concerns. I would have to agree with this.
2006-04-24 Game time
It’s an election year in Fort Wayne, and everywhere you go, you can see campaign signs from candidates for public office, begging for your attention in the upcoming primaries. But right now, there are probably few public figures in Fort Wayne that come to a job under more scrutiny and with more expectations than Dan Carmody.
2004-09-13 Garage rock veterans play the Brass Rail
For Matt Cotton, it’s been a dream of his to bring one of his favorite bands through Fort Wayne. “You know the movie Fitzcarraldo, where Klaus Kinski wants to build an opera house in the middle of the jungle?” he says. “This is my version of hauling the riverboat over the mountain.”
2004-09-10 Garry Shandling: the 56th annual Emmy Awards
When it comes to hosting awards show, nobody does it better than Garry Shandling - a man who knows the thrill of victory and the agony defeat, year after year after year.
0000-00-00 Gay Marriages
As I write this, the race for gays to get married continues out in California. A very small percentage of the population is getting hitched, and by the reaction of certain people, you’d think aliens have landed, abducted our children and destroyed our SUVs. Don’t we have more important things to worry about? And please, enough with the “gays are making a mockery of the sanctity of marriage.”
2010-06-07 GearFest 2010 Schedule
At GearFest 2010's FREE workshops, scores of industry veterans will share their experiences to help build your music-making skills. In addition, you can take in more than a dozen product demos featuring some of the best players in the business.
2010-06-07 GearFest 2010: Kurth & Taylor
The music industry has more than its fair share of improbable success stories and “happy accidents,” and one of the more interesting of these will perform at Sweetwater’s 2010 GearFest on June 26.
2006-01-06 Gen X
What happened to Generation X? Over a decade ago, they were in the spotlight as the generation born after the “Baby Boomers” of the post war years. They’ve been classified as being whiny, spoiled, lazy, and apathetic.
2010-01-11 General Electric, 1915
This old, Old School Pic…
2004-09-30 Genius comes in many forms
So you woke up this week to be told, once again, that you are not a genius. Bummer.
2009-11-24 Genius of perversion
I've always been afraid of reviewing any of James Ellroy's novels on the off chance that he might read it, hate it, and then hunt me down and kill me.
2009-09-08 Germs and Skulls
The University of Saint Francis' annual gala exhibition is always a key event on Fort Wayne's art calendar. Starting off the Fall semester and gallery schedule, the gala is usually a solo exhibition of a regionally or nationally known artist, accompanied by a smaller exhibition in the Betty Fischmann Goldfish gallery or throughout the winding hallway of the Ian and Mimi Rolland art center in the Artist Spotlight Gallery.
2004-09-13 Get 'em while they're young
During this summer, my brother was complaining that his son was doing nothing but playing video games and riding his skateboard. I’d have to agree with my brother. After all, my nephew should be working a full-time job, and doing research into what careers he’s interested in. Then, after school starts, he should look into a job-shadowing program after school. I mean, he’s 11 years old, he’s not getting any younger, you know.
2009-03-10 Get the word out
It was a new year, and things seemed pretty bad, then we received a new president, and things seem to have stayed on the “negative” side…. now its March, Spring is on the horizon, and the art world is generally terrified at the prospect of hiking up its sleeves, looking this economic threat head on and making some hard decisions.
2006-03-21 Giant candidates, blog ballots, and more…
Attack of the 40-Foot Woman While you could argue that most people have no idea what a county commissioner does, at least one office-holder should be a familiar face at least. Allen County Commissioner Marla Irving launched her re-election campaign with a bang earlier this year - and we do mean early. In February, three months before the May Primary, Irving for Commissioner billboards started appearing all over the area. On the giant display, Irving, arms crossed, poses in front of a red background as she smiles down upon the masses.
2007-07-09 Give me liberty…
Four years ago, the Libertarian Party of Allen County (LPAC) didn’t field a single candidate for local political office. That all changes in 2007. “We are growing thanks to our incumbents regrettable waste of taxpayer dollars,” says LPAC secretary Doug Horner. “We want to give our neighbors the opportunity to vote for candidates who believe in smaller government, lowering property taxes and protecting our property rights and civil liberties.”
2004-09-09 Gloomy forecast for U.S. economy
SAN DIEGO - The U.S. economy is running the risk of another recession just as California seems to be climbing out of the last one, economists at the UCLA Anderson Forecast warn in a quarterly forecast to be released today. The report runs counter to the thinking of Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan and other national economists. They say the country has merely run into a rough patch and will soon resume its expansion.
2009-11-09 Gloria Couldn't Feed 'Em, So She Didn't Breed 'Em
It seems like the harder things are economically, the more we as a nation point fingers and become cold-hearted.
2009-01-16 Gloria goes to the movies
I can’t afford to go to many movies, and to be honest, it seems like few of them are worth going to. However, I’ll give you reviews of the movies I did see this year, in chronological order (or close to it):
2006-05-08 Gloria Takes Off On Taking It Off
I got another free paper from the person who handles the JG route here on my street, and this time there was an article about Heather Veitch, the “Holy Hottie” who used to be a stripper, but now is an evangelist. Her shtick is she and a few female volunteer church members go to strip clubs, pay for lap dances, and when they are alone, skip the lap dance and pull out their Bibles.
2006-05-18 Gloria talks to the kids
I’m getting more recognized because of my column, but so far no one has asked me to speak at any college graduation ceremonies. And that’s a good thing. You don’t want me there. Why? Because my speech would probably go something like this:
2006-01-23 Gloria's Book Club
I have strange tastes in literature, but the stuff I read is pretty damn interesting. Here are a few of my favorite books. I’ve read these time and again, and will continue doing so. But if you’re looking for some “Chicken Soup For the Columnist’s Soul” crap, keep looking.
2004-11-22 Gloria's Column Commandments
I’ve been lucky enough to have space given to me by the publishers of Fort Wayne Reader to write about whatever I want. I’m both excited and scared by this as my writing is something that people seem to react strongly to, either positively or negatively.
2009-04-30 Gloria's Gift Card of Guilt
I got gift cards for Christmas this year, probably the most I’ve ever received in my life. Bookstores, bowling alleys, and grocery/general merchandise stores. And Walmart.
2005-09-05 Gloria's Plan For a Better USA
I’m deeply concerned about this country. It’s not my mom and dad’s America anymore. People are rude, corporations eliminate thousands of jobs at the drop of a hat, housing is unaffordable, and don’t get me started on the health insurance problem. I don’t profess to have all the answers, but let me tell you something: if I’m in charge, things are going to be different…
2009-09-21 Gloria's Surgery Saga
Since all three of you are breathlessly awaiting my surgery saga, I’ll say right off the bat there were no complications. Everything went as planned. The REAL drama happened the day before the surgery.
2008-05-06 Gloria's Trucking Saga: Part One
One thing I’ve learned in the past year is that you really can’t count on a timeline when you’re trying to achieve something. I once worked with a woman who was sure that her house would be finished on time. She ended up moving into a house where the floors were pressed wood board because, not surprisingly, the house wasn’t finished when the builders said it would be.
2008-05-20 Gloria's Trucking Saga: Part Two
February 2007: I’ve lost the first battle, so I retreated. It was obvious I couldn’t go on any longer without working, so I went back to the temp agency which originally got me work the year before. I expected it to be the usual temp nonsense, and it was. However, a few of my co-workers were so much fun, there were nights that I actually looked forward to going to work. The place was a sweatshop, but I consoled myself with the fact that it was only temporary. I planned to leave as soon as I passed my commercial driver’s license test.
2006-02-20 Gloria’s New Year’s Resolutions for… certain people
It’s more than a month into the new year, and like everyone else, I’ve got resolutions of my own. They are pretty mundane (watch more boxing movies, add to my barf bag collection, stay away from annoying, life-draining people) but I’ve also got resolutions for people who probably don’t even think they need resolutions. Here now, is my list of resolutions for certain people:
2008-07-07 Gloria’s Trucking Saga: Part 5
Mid-January, I score a great trucking gig; great, that is, for someone just out of training. I was assigned a route where I was out and back every night. I mostly ended up in either Ohio or Michigan. I had a brand-new truck and was eager to get started on my job. I had visions of working steadily, saving up a few bucks, and making headway on some bills. Unfortunately, the best-laid plans…
2008-06-23 Gloria’s Trucking Saga: Part Four
My first trainer was upset that I decided to get off her truck. For the first time all week, I was happy. I even did a decent job of backing up the truck to our final delivery point, but as usual, my trainer finished the job. I didn’t care, though. I was going home.
2008-06-10 Gloria’s Trucking Saga: Part Three
July 2007: I’d told “The Man” to shove it mere hours after I’d passed my CDL and was planning to take some time off before starting training. I called the trucking company that had hired me and told them when I wanted to start. Thankfully, they didn’t make a big deal out of me passing the test six months after I’d graduated from my second trucking school. So I bum around the house for a few weeks, enjoying home life before heading out. I had no idea what would happen once I completed training…
2004-04-05 Go Dog Go
Go Dog Go’s Long Story Short is an instantly likeable album. What makes it a tricky album to talk about is that it doesn’t make a big deal about what it does so well.
2005-10-31 Go tell these movies to the marines
On November 6, Universal Pictures will release Jarhead. Directed by Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Road to Perdition), Jarhead is based on Anthony Swooford’s book on his experiences as a Marine through boot camp, to Kuwait and eventually taking part in the first Gulf War.
2008-10-07 Godless liberals and fatso Republicans
In the aftermath of George W. Bush's close victory over John Kerry in the 2004 presidential election, exit polling and subsequent interviews determined that the deciding factor in the election might have been the nebulously worded "family values" issue, the catch-all phrase for divisive social topics like abortion or gay marriage.
2004-12-06 Godzilla gets his gold star at 50
It was fifty years ago that Godzilla rose from the ashes of a nuclear test to wreak destruction and terror upon the world.
2008-02-18 Going off the Rails
Robert Davis is a troubled man. Despised by his wife and harangued by his boss, Davis is on his daily train commute when he loses his briefcase full of documents concerning the merger of his contracting firm. A stress-induced panic attack leaves him unconscious on the platform, and when he wakes up, he’s all alone, the station deserted and a disembodied voice on the PA speakers announcing the arrival and departure of trains that don’t seem to exist.
2008-05-20 Golden landmines
When Fort Wayne Mayor Graham Richard left office in January, he didn’t take a golden parachute - the windfall bonus that some CEO’s take with them when they leave a high-profile, high-paying job. However, it does appear that Richard did leave something of a golden landmine.
2007-06-05 Good rockin’ with The Bel Airs
Back in high school, a few months after I got my driver’s license, I saw a rockabilly band called The Bel Airs tear up the stage at a place called the Blue Mountain Café downtown on the Landing. This was the mid-80s, when revisionist history insists we were all listening to The Cure and Joy Division and U2. But you didn’t hear that stuff on Fort Wayne radio in those days (well, maybe a little U2), and honestly, I don’t think I would have “got it” even if I did. The rockabilly though… I got it. To my un-jaded ears, this was real rock n’ roll, not the turgid stuff that was already being called “classic,” and The Bel Airs smoking through a collection of choice rockabilly tunes proved an effective antidote not only to “classic rock,” but whatever Phil Collins song was being played 74 times a day.
2008-10-21 Good, better, and best
In an art world of gigantic national and international biennials, those who keep up with all of these goings on may look over the smaller shows like Artlink’s 7th Regional (biennial) Exhibition which includes artists within 100 miles of Fort Wayne, but shows like this are an important bridge for early and emerging artists to cross on their way up and out into the larger art world.
2004-08-30 GOP convention set to open
NEW YORK - Demonstrators flooded the streets of New York protesting the war in Iraq and assorted other Bush administration policies Sunday as Republicans prepared to nominate George W. Bush for a second term later this week.
2008-09-10 Goshen: City On The Go
Few would believe it if they were told that a small city just an hour and a half away from Fort Wayne was currently booming culturally, with art galleries, avant-garde performance venues, a First Fridays program, and scores of trendy shops and restaurants. However, due in no small part to Goshen’s “Downtown Goshen, Inc.” — which is something like Fort Wayne’s Downtown Improvement District, and Gina Leichty, DGI’s director.
2004-09-14 Government needs to get serious on deficits
Sustained budget deficits and national debt do matter. They represent the absurd notion that there is no sacrifice too great - as long our children and their children end up doing all the sacrificing.
2008-07-07 Government restructuring hits the airwaves
It might not be the most riveting television, but it might be the most impactful. Anyone who thought the issue of local government restructuring was dead and forgotten should tune in for a series of programs discussing how city, county and township government might change in Indiana.
2004-08-14 Grabill gift shop offers tools for spiritual growth
A Nebraska native and wife of a Navy veteran, Marjorie Coe has been running the Catalpa Tree Shops in Grabill since 1986. Coe describes the Catalpa Tree Shops as a metaphysical bookshop and gift store, selling spiritual self-help books, CDs, cards, crystals, and other gifts. That’s one part of it. But on a larger scale, Coe sees what she does as provide people with a center for spiritual self-development.
2006-06-21 Grand Wayne, etc.
A rendering of the proposed park at Webster between Jefferson and Washington, facing the Grand Wayne Center and the Library…
2008-02-18 Grassroots Green moves beyond the bad news
To hear John Steinbach tell it, he was just one of millions who had their eyes opened and their hearts shaken by An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore’s award-winning 2006 documentary about global warming.
2008-03-10 Grave Robber: Be Afraid, be very afraid
Larry Norman, 'the father of Christian rock music,' recently passed away, but in his lifetime he influenced everyone from Bob Dylan and David Bazan to Frank Black and Bono. In 1972, he famously quipped 'Why should the devil have all the good music?' In the here and now, Grave Robber — Wretched (vocals/guitar), Dementia (bass) and Dr. Cadaver (drums) — are doing everything they can to even the musical score.
2009-04-30 Great Explorations
In 2005, IPFW English Professor Troy J. Bassett began answering a question: “Just how many three-volume novels were published in the second half of the 1800s?”
2009-10-20 Great Fall Destinations
I used to go to Florida every spring and stay at a friend's place, and I was surprised to discover how many familiar faces I encountered every time I was there. Most trips to the grocery, to the restaurant, to the beach included an impromptu conversation with someone I recognized from Fort Wayne. It wasn't until a few years later that I saw that this was hardly coincidence…
2005-07-11 Green City
Forget what your well-meaning parents may have told you: looks do count, at least when it comes to city planning. When it comes to attracting businesses to an area, low cost-of-living and economic incentive can only get you so far when you’re faced with neglected bike trials, traffic thoroughfares with nothing but concrete and rust-colored noise barriers to look at, and ozone levels at non-attainment with the EPA’s standards.
2004-11-19 Greenspan warns about impact of trade deficit
The persistence of bloated U.S. trade deficits over time can pose a risk to the U.S. economy, which thus far has proven resilient, warned Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan on Friday. Policy-makers must not get lulled into a sense of complacency, he said.
2008-08-18 Greg Locke: Easin’ Down the Road
After working in record stores for nearly a decade, Gregory William Locke III began a career as a music writer, first, as a critic of albums in 2003 and then, three short years later, as a weekly columnist with the ever acerbic, “Ease Down the Road.” But, all good things must come to an end and Locke will soon be heading west and planting roots in Seattle. My friend, former roommate, fellow music journalist and Stage Banter co-host was kind enough to share his thoughts on the recent past and our mutual love for the artistic side of life.
2004-10-11 Ground war heats up as election nears
DOYLESTOWN, Pa. - As the presidential campaign nears zero hour, the outcome may well hinge on the competing efforts of volunteer armies deployed to get out the vote in key battlegrounds around the country.
2007-03-07 Group Exhibition Presents Moving Works of Art
Movement is defined, primarily, as “the act, process, or result of moving.” A secondary definition states it as an “abundance of events or incidents.” A new exhibition downtown offers viewers a gallery full of visual “results” and “events” based on this most kinetic of themes.
2004-08-19 Group faults Ohio pollution reporting
WASHINGTON - Industrial plants in Ohio, including the Marathon Ashland Refinery in Canton, provide less information on accidental releases of pollutants than other states, making it harder to evaluate the potential harm of the emissions, an environmental group said Wednesday.
2009-06-18 Guide to Making Enemies
During the Bush/Clinton election season of 1992, I took a road trip to Madison, Wisconsin for a friend's wedding, and what I encountered there left a lasting impression on me. I'd heard that the city was strongly liberal but I was surprised to learn how stridently leftist it really was. I went to school in Bloomington and the political climate at I.U. was noticeably less charged — Liberal Lite compared to Madison. Odd, to me, for much of Wisconsin is fiercely conservative, right in the heart of NRA country.
0000-00-00 Guilty Pleasure Movies of 2004
Every year movie studios release a group of movies that can best be described as “guilty-pleasures.” These are the sort of movies that serve no purpose other than to fill a few hours with (sometimes forgettable) enjoyment. Not all movies can be considered classics and the following movies don’t even pretend to be.
2006-04-24 Guitar Hero
I've been trying to decide for about a week now whether to do this review on the new Godfather or Elder Scrolls game. They're both fine games and are excellent additions to their respective genres. But something started to aggravate me…While playing these games I constantly found myself switching them off (they're both very long) and picking up a game that I've played every day since last November. How many games in your collection have you played every day?
2004-09-13 Guitar Summit II showcases masters in ‘Slide, Loop, and Shred’ styles
When local musician Kevin Hiatt organized the first Guitar Summit in early June at the Cinema Center, the concept was simple. He wanted to create a venue for people to hear virtuosic guitar playing in an informal, concert-like setting rather than a bar or restaurant.
2010-01-11 Hail to the Chief
In a unanimous vote that came as no surprise to people who follow such things, the Fort Wayne City Council approved Marty Bender (R-at large) as council president for 2010.
2006-06-21 Half-Life 2: Episode One
When it comes to the Half-Life series, I have an unyielding case of fanboyism. I’m not sure if I’m even capable of being fair in a Half-Life review. The fact of the matter is that the Half-Life is the Sopranos of video games. Like our favorite TV mob story, everything after it changed because someone (somewhere) figured out how to really tell dramatic stories in the “shooter” format.
2004-10-25 Halloween, strange things seen. Skeletons talk, ghosts may walk.
I am in love with Halloween and she is a harsh mistress. As a kid, I loved dressing up in costume and on many occasions wore my Halloween costumes to school – even if I had to break school policy to wear my “duds”. (If you went to Blackhawk Middle School in the late 1980’s, I was the kid who dressed up as a zombie year after year who moaned and shambled his way down school halls during Halloween. Apologies if I tried to bite you so that I could “spread the zombie disease from person to person.” I was obviously a confused kid.)
2004-04-05 Hamburger and Radio
The thing Fort Wayne people like most, besides eating, is their radio stations.
2004-08-23 Hamm won't budge on gold medal controversy
ATHENS, Greece - There are high-minded idealists trying to appeal to his conscience, to his sense of sportsmanship, to his belief in the Olympic spirit. They will judge him, not by what he did on the high bar last week, but by what he does next with the resultant gold medal.
2005-06-27 Hard Knox
Chances are you’ve visited, or at least heard of, Phort Knox. What you might not know is that this successful business is owned by a young self-starter named Jubbar Jefferson. Jefferson, 32, is the founding father of Phort Knox, a small clothing shop located at 5023 Decatur Road.
2007-08-19 Hard times for the Kelty Campaign
At 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday, August 15, Mayoral candidate Tom Henry held a press conference at a residence on South Anthony Boulevard. The prospect of the Democratic nominee for mayor finally doing some active campaigning probably would have gotten the media out anyway. The conference was very well attended, and the occasion was to announce Henry’s call for an initiation of a citywide safe house program. But not surprisingly, no one seemed to want to ask Tom Henry about that…
2008-11-25 Hard times in Fort Wayne
It’s no secret — times are tough. As of this writing, gas prices have dropped, but that followed months where the cost of fuel climbed past $4 per gallon. Add to that a credit crisis, rampant foreclosures, bank closings, general Wall Street mayhem…
2006-04-10 Harmar School rubber drive, 1940s
A group of children collect rubber in a drive at Harmar School during WWII.
2005-07-25 Harper brings his special blend of roots rock to Columbia Street
Mix up some blues, rock, and folk, and back it up with a strong Stax-style rhythm section, and you’ve got the perfect description of Harper. When the Australian musician stops by Columbia Street West on Wednesday, July 27th, Fort Wayne will have a chance to check out this award-winning harmonica player doing what he does best — performing in front of a crowd. He even plays the didgeridoo, the native Australian wind instrument. Harper has toured extensively in the U.S., Europe, and Australia, and released several acclaimed albums as a solo act and with his former band Blue Devil. The Columbia Street gig comes in the middle of a U.S. tour that lasts through November, with a touring band made up of Fort Wayne musicians — bassist Lee Lewis, guitarist Tyler Mac, and drummer Ken Garr — that Harper originally hooked up with when he played a gig at the late, great Hot Spot on Fairfield several years ago. We had a chance to talk to Harper about his latest album, Down to the Rhythm.
2008-06-10 Harrison Squared
Even as construction on Harrison Square moves full-steam ahead, an aura of skepticism, second-guessing and near-paranoia still hangs over the hotel/condo/stadium project. With keen-eyed doubters looking for any possible flaw in the financing package for the $130-million development, the media dissecting every comment by public officials, and bloggers weighing in pro and con, the debate over Harrison Square isn’t exactly boiling over, but it’s definitely simmering.
2007-09-24 Harrison Squared…
Downtown’s Harrison Square is plowing ahead - literally. Demolition crews are busy tearing down buildings to make way for the new hotel, condos, retail shops, parking garage and baseball stadium. Fort Wayne City Council gave preliminary approval to an $18-million gap loan to fund part of the project until the state approves bond financing for the development.
2006-06-21 Harrison street
A rendering of the future Harrison street, looking north towards the proposed downtown hotel…
2008-10-07 Harvey Cocks: A Life in Theater
Harvey Cocks is struggling to remember the very first play he ever directed. He knows it was in summer stock theater during his time in New York in the 50s. He remembers Melvyn Douglas was in it, and he remembers the play was about the first girl to play on a football team. “Oh, it was a terrible, terrible play,” he laughs, before adding. “You’ll have to forgive me. I’m having a senior moment.” Hardly. With nearly seven decades of show business memories to draw from, Cocks can be forgiven for forgetting the name of a play here or there.
0000-00-00 Has Hollywood gone remake crazy?
Dreamworks is planning on a sequel to last year’s hit “The Ring.” Although there is no definite storyline set yet, I would assume that the sequel has something to do with an evil VHS tape that brings death seven days after viewing – and I’m not talking about old bootlegged copies of “Red Dawn” either.
2006-10-09 Hazing: A Growing Crisis
We’ve all participated in a hazing ceremony at one time or another. Whether you were “visited” by Seniors when you were a freshman on a high school team, or a member of a fraternity or sorority, or even your first job – everyone has been subjected to demeaning actions by those who were allegedly “older or wiser.”
2008-04-21 He fights and smites with repulsor rays!
Be forewarned – this may be my “nerdiest” column to date. Let me start by saying that I have nothin’ but love for the characters of Batman or Superman and mean no disrespect to them in what follows. (That sentence alone had a nerd factor of +20.)
2010-06-22 Headwaters Junction
Kelly Lynch has trains in his veins. Or maybe it’s the steam from a 1940’s locomotive that chugs through his bloodstream. Whatever, Kelly Lynch loves trains, and at 24-years-old probably knows more about the massive engines that used to thunder across the United States delivering freight and carrying people than most septuagenarians who actually bore witness to the era.
2006-11-08 Health secrets from the dead
Jon Brandenberger’s careers as both a family practice physician and the Allen County Coroner would seem like a dichotomy of sorts. In one career, he’s taking care of the living. In the other, he’s investigating the dead.
2009-08-09 Hear No Noise
In 2008, Metavari, a Fort Wayne-based instrumental “post-rock” band, was performing at Down the Line 2, an annual fund-raiser for the Embassy boasting a line-up of original local bands paying tribute to their influences…
2004-05-31 Heartland Security
Considering how much time we spend thinking about terrorism, talking about terrorism, and theorizing about when and if terrorists will strike in the US, you’d expect more people would be aware of what we’re doing about terrorism on a local level. But most people in Fort Wayne don’t even know that Fort Wayne has its own Director of Homeland Security…
2008-04-21 Hearts, Minds, and Delegates
No matter what your political affiliation, your political beliefs, or even your level of interest in the 2008 campaign, you’ve probably woken up at some time in the past month and thought — what kind of upside down bizarro world are we living in where Indiana is playing a significant role in Democratic national politics?
2008-10-07 Heavy weight exhibition: Valerio and Tomasula at USF
Fort Wayne’s highest profile exhibition currently is the University of Saint Francis’ show “ James Valerio: Recent Paintings and Drawings” which also happens to be the first in the school’s current year of exhibitions. Valerio is a master of the meticulous photorealistic or superrealistic style of art, which came to great attention in Great Britian and America in the late sixties and early seventies. Some better-known artists such as Chuck Close or Duane Hanson exemplify this style.
2008-12-23 Hedging his bets
“We are living in difficult, and for far too many, desperate economic times.” With those words, Fort Wayne Mayor Tom Henry launched into a carefully worded explanation of his stance on a potentially highly-charged issue for the city: casino gambling in Fort Wayne.
2009-11-24 Hell is an awfully big city
David Russell made a promise to himself many years ago when he served in the military during the first Iraq war: if he made it out of that experience, he was going to pursue his dream of becoming a horror writer.
2007-10-22 Hell night in Fort Wayne (part 1)
Socially, I'm a pretty intrepid guy, but I have to admit there are some bars and restaurants in Fort Wayne that look like such depraved hell holes that I've always been too scared to walk through their doors. For years, friends and acquaintances have assured me that some of these places aren't so bad, but I've never trusted them. These places are radioactive to me, and no matter how popular these establishments are with their regular clientele, I had no desire to ever set foot in any of them. Until last week.
2007-11-01 Hell Night in Fort Wayne, part 2
The following is an account of the middle portion of my recent excursion into Fort Wayne's seven circles of hell. The journey began at 8:00pm with dinner at Hooter's (part one), and ended seven hours later at a dive bar just south of downtown (part three.) This report follows the second, third, and fourth legs of my night, which began at 10:00pm and ended approximately three hours later.
2007-11-20 Hell Night in Fort Wayne, part 3.
The following is a record of the final stops on my recent "heart of darkness" journey into some of Fort Wayne's most notorious night spots. I deliberately scheduled these stops for last because they made me the most anxious and I wanted to put them off until the very end.
2007-09-07 Henry speaks
Mayoral hopeful Tom Henry says that early in his campaign, his staff considered creating a contest based on the “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon” game. For those of you who are unfamiliar, “Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon”challenges you to hook up any actor or actress with actor Kevin Bacon in six steps — actor X was with actor Y in this movie, who was with that actor in this other movie, who starred with so-and-so in movie Z, who was with Kevin Bacon in whatever. In the Tom Henry version, you would need to “know” the Democratic Party’s candidate through a similar chain of friends and acquaintances. “But we were going to make you do it three steps,” Henry laughs.
2009-10-05 Hey you! Yeah, you! Listen to goodbyewave; you’ll like it
John Hubner wants you to know that he is a Sagittarius. He enjoys Wes Anderson movies, architecture, and Hunter S. Thompson books. He is also the songwriter, guitarist, bassist, and pretty much everything guy for Warsaw’s goodbyewave, along with drummer Jack Long.
2007-04-24 He’s 19. Get over it.
“Everyone is talking about what they don’t have and what they don’t got,” says Ivan Hood, the 19-year-old candidate for the Republican nomination for Mayor of Fort Wayne. “People should stop complaining and just go out and try to get it.”
2004-08-30 He’s worked with “The Mouse.” He’s worked with Spielberg. He’s worked with Singer.
With over 20 years in the entertainment industry, Terry Izumi has a resume that most young artists and designers can only dream about.
2009-12-06 Hidden In the Fort: Lynn Rowe Reed
While Fort Wayne may not be a cultural Mecca, yet, it certainly has a strong knack for having hidden treasures which are quiet locally, and incredibly vocal abroad. One such hidden treasure is Lynn Rowe Reed, a brilliant and highly acclaimed illustrator, fine artist, and published author.
2007-09-24 High School Musicals
One of my favorite jokes in Wes Anderson’s Rushmore happens at the end, when the prodigiously talented main character Max produces an original, blood and guts Vietnam War epic on the high school’s stage, complete with helicopters, automatic weapons, and explosions.
2007-12-11 High Visibility
During his re-election campaign four years ago, an attack ad branded Graham Richard the “Invisible Mayor.” However, over the last few weeks, the city’s outgoing chief executive has been anything but invisible. In fact, it’s been hard to escape the mayor’s beaming face over the last several weeks as he has been the subject of several retrospectives in local broadcast and print media (like the last Fort Wayne Reader, for example). However, even more significant have been Mayor Richard’s triumphant launches of perhaps the most important and potentially long-lasting initiatives of his administration.
2005-01-24 Highly-buzzed film Indigo premiers in Fort Wayne
Fort Wayne’s Ringing of the Rivers Project is pleased to announce their participation in the world premiere showing of the film Indigo.
2008-05-20 Hillgrass Bluebilly Entertainment
If you've been paying attention to the local music community in the last six months, there's a pretty good chance you've come across the name Hillgrass Bluebilly Entertainment. Perhaps you've seen the logo on show flyers, numerous websites, t-shirts or hats. And more than likely, you've been a tad curious just what exactly HBE is. The answer, much like HBE, is quite simple. They are a promotional company.
2009-04-07 His Dark Materials
One of the reasons I like live theatre so much is that occasionally I'll see a moment onstage that is so powerfully rendered that the audience can only respond with stillness. This may sound contradictory, but often the silence of a rapt audience provides the most charged, electrifying feelings in theatre, for both actors and audience members alike.
2008-06-10 Historical Truth
By all accounts, Sojourner Truth cut an incredibly charismatic and powerful figure. Born into slavery in Swartekill, New York in 1797, Truth went on to become one of the most prominent abolitionists and women’s rights crusaders in the 1800s. She supposedly stood nearly 6’ tall and possessed a deep, resonant voice that, while not especially loud, seemed to command attention, and her speeches and lectures brought her the attention of the era’s most powerful figures, including Abraham Lincoln.
2005-07-25 Hockey, politics, and conspiracy theories
If you still care about hockey, go see the Komets. www.puckupdate.com will take care of the long-suffering NHL fans. www.hockeypundits.com has opinions on who should stay and who should go in the re-organized NHL.
0000-00-00 Hoffman Karate focuses on leadership
We’ve seen the movies: marital arts is all about flying fists, shattering wooden boards with your head, and plucking flies out of mid-air with chopsticks, right?
2005-11-28 Holiday 6 Folds…
The story has all the makings of a Hollywood thriller. You have the powerful heavy using strong-arm tactics and intimidation, an unsuspecting populace subjected to a cynical experiment, and a “little guy” struggling to hold on to years of hard work in the face of corporate greed.
2010-06-22 Holidays in the Sun
The 4th of July falls on a Sunday this year, which is a total gyp: nobody gets an extra day off.
2009-07-21 Hollywood Death Trip
It's been a couple of weeks now since you went scrambling to the computer on a hourly basis to see which new famous person had died, so I figured that this would be a good time to reflect on how truly ghoulish your behavior was.
2005-06-13 Hollywood Shuffle: the art of the background artist
Kelron Mixon. Fort Wayne Native. Actor. Rapper. Best friends with Jamie Foxx. Okay, maybe he’s not best friends with the Oscar winner but he did meet the actor after moving to Hollywood to pursue his dreams for stardom. In town for a short sabbatical from LA, Mixon found time to chat with Fort Wayne Reader.
2010-01-11 Hollywood's Obesity Problem
Every January, Entertainment Weekly publishes a comprehensive list of the best and worst reviewed movies of the past year, and though the 2009 issue hasn't come out yet, it's a cinch that the top-reviewed movie will be Up, Pixar Studios remarkably popular summer animation blockbuster.
2009-07-21 Home Made
Creating art while living in the Midwest can sometimes seem like a secluded and disenfranchising task. Every corner the artist turns, they find another sign pointing to the coasts and the larger cities to find a more developed art market and all of the venues in which to engage the contemporary voice of the art world.
2009-05-18 Homestead High School
With graduation season approaching…
2009-02-24 Horn of Plenty (of trouble)
Once upon a time, in an era known as the 1940s and 50s, giant, flashing neon signs loomed over the cityscapes and highways of America like resurrected prehistoric beasts in a drive-in movie…
2009-06-18 Horsing Around at the Zoo Is Family Thing for Hooleys
Ponies and horses have been part of retired Fort Wayne Community Schools teacher/coach/administrator Byron Hooley’s life since he was a kid. In fact, he was in the saddle before he could walk.
2004-10-25 Hot Shots Golf: Fore!
If you have grown tired of the extreme realism of other golf games, then the high jinks found in Sony's “Hot Shots Golf Fore!” will please you. Sony's “Hot Shots Golf Fore!” has 13 courses that can be played in any of four seasons. In addition, they can all be modified to appear backward or mirrored, multiplying the playable courses.
2005-03-07 Hot Stuff
Chile peppers are healthy to eat and sometimes even dangerous. They can also be fun to feed to your dog or a macho man type just to watch them squirm. Okay, just kidding about the dog but my Lab has gotten a little too close to the habanero shaker on occasion and was disappointed with the results.
2009-03-10 Hotel Hustle
While construction moves ahead on Parkview Field, the downtown baseball home of the Fort Wayne Tin Caps, no dirt has been shoveled on the most important part of Harrison Square: the new hotel.
2005-01-24 HOTEL RWANDA
During the 1994 massacre of Tutsis in Rwanda, hotel manager Paul Rusesabagina sheltered more than 1,000 refugees, repelling murderous boarders with bribes, bluffs, charm and subterfuge.
2004-09-10 House blocks overtime regulations
WASHINGTON - The House voted to block the Bush administration's controversial overtime regulations Thursday, despite arguments from Rep. Ralph Regula that the action could leave workers with no overtime pay at all.
2005-01-24 How Fresh are your Spices?
Ever wonder just how fresh those spices are sitting in your cupboard? If you're cooking with some spices bequeathed to you in your Grandma's will, you might as well be cooking with sawdust.
2007-06-18 How to build the perfect superhero
Superman, Spiderman, Extra-perceptive Olfaction man… They all started in someone’s imagination, and if in the mind of every child resides a superhero, a faster, braver, stronger version of themselves just waiting to don a flashy outfit and go leaping across cityscapes to battle evil doers, then Dominick Manco is here to help the kids bring that superhero out — or at least get it down on paper.
2005-10-03 How well do you know Gloria?
How well do you know me? Put your skills to the test by correctly answering all the questions on this test and win a dinner with me at any Fort Wayne restaurant of your choice! Please note: Unfortunately for both of us, “Fort Wayne area” does NOT include Indianapolis, or Chicago. Email your answers to the Fort Wayne Reader, ensuring that Mike Summers will get a major headache wading through all your answers. If you try bribe me or my friends for information, be sure to make it worth your while.
2006-05-08 Howard Dean, D.N.C. Chairman and former presidential ticket contender, weighs in on Indiana’s “voter I.D.” law
A new Indiana law requires you to produce a government-issued photo ID in order to cast your vote. This new law is ostensibly to prevent voter fraud, but it’s been a very contentious issue, with Indiana Democrats claiming it’s one of the toughest voter laws in the country, and a big problem for people who don’t drive and don’t have convenient access to a BMV branch — a sizeable number, considering there are fewer BMV branches across the state than ever before.
2005-07-11 I have a "thing" for Jack Ryan
I’ve had a “thing” for Jack Ryan for quite some time now. Jack Ryan is the man who saved America, if not the world from nuclear destruction several times now – not unlike that copy “weenie” Jack Bauer from TV’s 24. Jack Ryan is the same man who traveled to the jungles of South America in order to battle drug dealers while fighting Irish terrorists on our home soil after they attempted to take his life and the lives of his wife, daughter and unborn child. And let’s not forget the time Ryan came close to stopping terrorists detonating a nuclear device in Baltimore in order to try and start World War III.
2006-03-20 I miss the "Pathetic Life"
When I was first asked to write a blog, I didn’t leap into it. I thought about it for a while. It’s flattering when someone asks you to write something in addition to the writing you already do, but the concept of a blog would be somewhat new territory for me. I’ve ranted online before, but I wasn’t sure as a blogger that I would be contributing anything new to the blogosphere. It seemed like most bloggers didn’t have anything more to say than, “the line at Starbuck’s was way long today. It was sunny. I came home, and my cat threw up.” Other people’s lives can be really interesting, if they say stuff the right way.
2005-07-25 I remember a Fantastic Four movie that wasn’t all that fantastic.
I've seen the Fantastic Four movie, but probably not the one you're thinking of. Sometime in the early 1990's, a Fantastic Four movie was shot and never released – a rarity in an industry that will do almost anything to recoup an investment. The movie was promoted in specialty magazines, and fans waited for a release date that would never come, wondering whether they’d ever get to see this movie.
2008-07-07 I Want to Believe in The X-Files
It makes me feel old to think that the first episode of the TV series The X-Files aired almost 15 years ago. Before The X-Files became a bonafide 90s pop culture phenomena spawning a series of fan conventions, comic books, magazines, toys, a feature film, etc., etc., etc. it was an unknown show premiering one Friday night on FOX. I was excited about that but I figured no one else would watch.
2004-08-14 I, Robot
The makers of "I, Robot," from a famous story by Isaac Asimov, have stayed true to subject in the very texture of their approach. Their movie seems made of metal that breathes.
2006-11-08 I, Wombat: the Real Thing
Depending on which definition you go by, a wombat is either an Australian marsupial or an act involving narcotics taking place in any given college dorm on any given day. In this instance, we will be using the former as the word meaning. Yes, the wombat, unlike the jackalope, is real. Boy, is it ever!
2004-08-14 Ice cool Cruise
Tom Cruise is an ice cool, grey-haired psychopath in his latest action thriller, "Collateral." Though Cruise is no stranger to playing shady characters (as he did in "Interview With The Vampire," "Taps" and "Magnolia"), this merciless contract killer is a real piece of work. Sporting a look that Cruise calls "rough trade in a good suit," his character forces a cabbie played by Jamie Foxx to act as getaway driver during a nightlong Los Angeles murder spree. Director Michael Mann keeps the action crisp as the body count rises.
2007-12-11 If I Ever Get Rich, I Promise Not To Change
I have a lottery fantasy. I think everyone does. I don’t play the lottery very often, only when the jackpot is $50 million plus or so.
2007-06-18 If It Bleeds, We Can Kill It – Predator
I'm not sure what the deal is with years that end in seven, but it seems as if a lot of interesting sci-fi movies/TV series debut in years ending in this lucky number. This year the movie Starship Troopers (1997) celebrated its tenth anniversary, later this fall Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987) will celebrate its 20th and last month Star Wars (1977) turned 30. But there's another important movie most people overlook that also turns 20 this year – Predator (1987).
2010-04-22 In Between
Nothing should ever come between you and your best-est friend. Unless it's a pair of Christian Loubadin heels…
2005-01-24 IN GOOD COMPANY
This comedy sinks small, sharp teeth into corporate politics, though finally filed down by niceness.
2007-05-21 In the Studio with Andrew Lemmon
I am uncertain if there is a definitive, conventional path one can take to become a working artist. One thing of which I am certain, though, is that sculptor Andrew Lemmon has followed a definitively unusual route to the fine arts.
2007-02-21 In the Studio with Gregor Roth
Gregor Roth, a freelance graphic designer and design professor at Taylor University, dubs his abstract painting style “Linea Waveform.”
2007-03-20 In the Studio with Neil Wiffill
Neil Wiffill has been making scagliola at 625 Cherry Street for the past six months. Don’t worry – it’s not contagious and it is quite legal.
2006-08-21 In the Studio: Kay Gregg
Within five minutes of my arrival at her Indiana Avenue studio, screen printer Kay Gregg had read me an audacious quotation (by legendary music producer Steve Albini, writing about artist Jay Ryan), introduced me to her aesthetic mantra (“no fetishization of guns, boobs, cars, and guitars”), and offered me a can of beer (Miller High Life). Talk about starting things off on the right foot.
2008-09-22 In Tom we trust?
Twice in two weeks, Fort Wayne Mayor Tom Henry found himself the recipient of a public smackdown.
2009-06-04 In Which Gloria Admits Her Addiction
I’m a word junkie. I’m serious. Some people go through nicotine withdrawal if they go without cigarettes, but if I’m stuck in traffic, I read. If I’m at the doctor’s office, I read. Once, my boyfriend and I went to Barnes and Noble, and stopped for a snack at a nearby restaurant. Did we chat? Did he whisper sweet nothings into my ear? Not on your life. He pulled one of his books out and started reading. I did the same.
2009-07-06 In Which Gloria Reaches For Her Calculator
At a family gathering a couple of months ago, I found out there’s another member of my family who is as bad at math as I am. Welcome to the club, Alex. You have my condolences.
2010-01-11 In Which Gloria Self-Delivers a Tumor
Those of you regular readers know I’ve been dealing with a fibroid tumor and a procedure to make it shrink, since the doctors informed me removing it would be dangerous. Firstly, because it was growing right in a muscle, and secondly, I would probably lose a lot of blood. Both physicians declared me too young for a hysterectomy, so I chose a less invasive procedure. All seemed well—at the beginning.
2005-12-12 In Youtheatre’s Best Christmas Pageant Ever, the “bad guys” have all the fun
If you want evidence that The Best Christmas Pageant Ever isn’t your typical Christmas story filled with holiday cheer and treacle, look no further than what Erin Kucker, who plays one of the baby angels, has to say when asked what her favorite line is. “I get to say: ‘I heard they wrote this really terrible word on the back of Courtney Brown’s favorite turtle, and now she can’t take it to the 4-H pet show.’”
2007-04-10 Indiana Dance Festival
During the weekend of April 13, one of the most exciting places to be for contemporary dance in the Midwest is Fort Wayne, when nationally-recognized dance companies and dance professionals converge on the city for the Indiana Dance Festival.
2009-09-21 Indiana Service Corporation, 1931
According to the info we have…
2005-10-03 Indiana’s Most Wanted
On any given day, there are literally thousands of active warrants in Allen County. The charges range from public intoxication and missed court dates to domestic battery and armed robbery. Local law enforcement relies on the general public’s help to track down, arrest, or clear up these thousands of suspects. But until recently, only a handful of “Allen County’s Most Wanted” ever made it in front of the public eye, via some local papers and Crime Stoppers spots on television.
2004-08-31 Infomercials: look before you buy
Stay up late at night? Do you find yourself channel surfing, running into one infomercial after another?
2008-07-21 Inner city blues
Late one October night in 2006, a Molotov cocktail exploded on the back porch of Phil Marx’s house. Another burst in the back yard, while a third smoldered in the front.
2010-06-07 Inner space
Every summer, the Fort Wayne Ballet presents a performance of an original work under the moniker Fort Wayne Ballet, Too. It’s a showcase for experimental, new work by an emerging choreographer, and the program is designed to highlight the types of dance or movement that a typical performance season may not have room for.
2008-06-23 Inside the Mind of Dr. Fawver
Dr. Jay Fawver’s call-in television program Matters of the Mind hasn't been on the air for more than five minutes and already the lights on the phone banks are flashing bright green. Some lines lit up minutes before the show even started. There's a call about someone suffering from fibromyalga. Another caller asks about a combination of drugs to treat bipolar disorder that isn’t working effectively. It's another Monday evening and Dr. Fawver is in.
2007-02-21 Inside the mind of Matt Kelty
When Mayor Graham Richard announced last fall that he would not be seeking a third term, there were high hopes that an open field might lead to an exciting campaign year, with perhaps a nail-biting finish akin to the first Richard/Buskirk match-up in 1999.
2009-09-08 International Blast Explodes onto Wayne Street for the 3rd Year
The Downtown Improvement District and JK O’Donnell’s have partnered up again to bring you International Blast on Wayne Street. International Blast is an all ages block party with no cover right in the middle of downtown where we will celebrate the vibrant mix of cultures that find their home in downtown Fort Wayne.
2004-08-14 Intimate Strangers
Patrice Leconte's "Intimate Strangers" is about an affair that, in never quite happening, becomes obsessive. For you can talk your way right around sex but feel the heat.
2009-06-18 Introducing Snap Captain Non-Stop Action
I thought I’d dedicate this week’s article to introducing you to a local band that you probably haven’t heard of before, Snap Captain Non-Stop Action. Consisting of Ryan Hartman on guitar and vocals, Nate Weitzel on drums, and Josh Watson on bass, the trio plays a style of rock that can best be described by naming their influences. According to Weitzel, some of the bands that have helped shaped SCNA are Planes Mistaken for Stars, Cursive, and Kings of Leon.
2004-10-25 Investigating the spirit world
Live in Fort Wayne long enough, and you’ll hear plenty of people complain about how they feel trapped, stuck, unable to move on… You don’t know the half of it. According to Betsy Cox, Fort Wayne and the surrounding areas are boiling over with all kinds of people who haven’t moved on yet. She calls them ghosts.
2005-06-27 IPFW at 40
1965. Forty years ago. Forty. Whatever age you currently claim, it’s a good bet that 40 years has drastically altered you and your family. That is certainly the case on the campus of Indiana University Purdue University Fort Wayne—or IPFW. What began as one building (now called Kettler Hall) on a farmed field has sprouted into a crop of campus classroom facilities that no one dares call ‘Bypass High’.
2010-04-22 IPFW presents Noises Off
To put it simply, Noises Off has been called one of the funniest plays ever.
2006-02-20 IPFW’s Comedy of Errors presents Shakespeare as burlesque
Larry Life is a man on a mission. To hear him tell it, the Artistic Director of IPFW’s Theater Department is on a crusade to save Shakespeare from the academics and “purists” who are seemingly intent on draining all the life and vitality out of the Bard.
2004-09-27 IPFW’s Talking With… lets audiences get close to some unusual characters
Lila’s collection of lamps is so enormous is borders on the ridiculous. Homeless Anna Mae confesses that her one wish in life is to be able to live at McDonald’s. Big Eight has been a rodeo performer since she was nine. And Alain, a “plain Jane” cursed with an utterly unremarkable appearance, suddenly becomes interesting to people after her face is cut.
2005-01-10 IPFW’s Community Arts Academy offers a chance to explore your creative side
Since its inception a few years ago, the Community Arts Academy at IPFW has provided area students in grades pre-Kindergarten through high school (and a few adults, too) with a fun and affordable way to explore their interest in drama, art, music, and dance, and an excellent opportunity to work with some of the area’s finest teachers in the arts.
2004-11-24 Iran demands to alter nuclear "freeze" deal
Iran is demanding that it be allowed to make an exception in its commitment to freeze all uranium enrichment activities so it can operate about two dozen centrifuges, diplomats said Wednesday.
2004-11-18 Iraq working to build nuclear missile, says Powell
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said the United States has intelligence indicating Iran is trying to fit missiles to carry nuclear weapons, partially confirming claims made by Iranian opposition group that Tehran is deceiving the United Nations and is attempting to secretly continue activities meant to give it atomic arms by next year.
2004-12-02 Iraq's democracy
Iraq now confronts its first big obstacle on the rock-strewn path to democracy: whether to hold national elections in accordance with its new constitution, or delay the balloting in the face of insurgent violence.
2004-09-23 Iraqi interim minister addresses U.S. Congress
WASHINGTON – In an address to the U.S. Congress, Iraqi interim prime minister Ayad Allawi stated that his country is moving successfully past the war that ousted Saddam Hussein and vowed that elections will take place on schedule in January.
2005-03-07 Irish blogs, and Condi for President, 2008?
St. Paddy’s Day is just around the bend so Irish blogs were just begging to be found. An Irish blog needs an Irish name or at least a good stereotype so we’ll start with www.planetpotato.blogs.com. The site itself is full of thoughtful commentary from a twenty-something perspective on the IRA Sinn Fein saga. However if you want to know why Irish ballads get so melancholy, go to the archives of November and scroll down to the crane rescue photos. I can tell you I’d be asking for a pint.
2007-09-24 Is Cable TV Finally Worthwhile?
I usually look forward to this time of year. Sure, I'm a sucker for changing leaves and cooler weather, but it's during the fall that the television networks begin premiering their slew of new comedies and dramas. At this time last year there were so many new shows I was interested in I had to carefully schedule my time each weekday evening in order to catch everything I wanted to see. Shows like Smith and Studio 60 and The Nine captured my imagination, though perhaps not as many other viewers as needed to sustain a successful show.
2006-11-08 Is it real? Or is it… a Fauxcumentary?
Over the years a sort of sub film genre has emerged – the faux documentary. These films aren’t quite fiction nor docudrama, they’re something else altogether. Blending fictional elements with a documentary style, these films can best be described as the “fauxcumentary.”
2008-01-21 Is the ’07-’08 TV Season Dead?
As the television writer's strike threatens to obliterate most of the 2007-08 TV season (not that the season was that great to begin with), there seems to be little left to watch other than re-runs of Seinfeld or episodes of Holmes on Homes on Discovery Home Channel. However, with the start of the winter TV season set to begin later this month, there are some alternatives to the parade of knock-off reality TV the networks have been serving up these last few weeks.
2004-06-14 Is there more than corn in Indiana?
At around 10 pm on Thursday, April 8th 2004, several residents of Rochester, IN saw something they couldn’t explain. A large disc-shaped object, approximately 100’ long with two rows of bright, white/yellow lights, hovered about 40’ to 50’ feet off the ground. It made no noise at all, and after a short time, seemed to vanish without a trace.
2004-09-13 It may be up to the independents
It's good to get out of town in August, normally a quiet month, and take the pulse of people in other places. It has been a bad year for the country up to now, and I wanted to hear how others feel about it.
2008-01-21 It was a very good year
December 20th I was sitting at Au Bon Pain in the Boston Design Center feeling melancholy. And it was Judy Garland’s fault. The P.A. system was playing “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas,” and for some reason, that is the one holiday tune that can bring me to tears. I didn’t bust out crying, but I came awfully close. I don’t know if it was because my job training is about to be over, or thinking about future plans that I’ve had and wondering if a different path might be in store, or what.
2004-10-06 It's doubtful debate changed many minds
CLEVELAND - The first words out of Democrat John Edwards' mouth, after a few perfunctory thank yous, set the tone for a highly combative vice presidential debate.
2007-07-09 It's Just Not My Bag
I like purses. I’m a purse junkie. I’m a jacket junkie too. My dad was a camera, radio and stereo equipment junkie. We all have our “thing.” I’ve been a purse junkie since I was a little girl. Sometimes, instead of toys, I just wanted purses. A few years ago, I was in an antique shop and came across the exact same style of a purse that my dad got me when he was in Mexico. I had to buy it. No matter that I had that same style purse at home. My dad had been dead for a few years, and I figured seeing that purse in the shop was his way of saying, “hi there!” It was an omen.
2007-11-01 It’s not easy being green
“Love will make you do things you’d normally thought you wouldn’t do, and that’s all in this play,” says actor Dwight Wilson, one of the stars of the Civic Theatre’s production of Little Shop of Horrors. “The underlying story of this play is that everything has a cost and a consequence. What are you willing to sacrifice or do to get what you want?”
2005-01-24 It’s not the TV series; it’s where you look.
Late last year here at Dangerous Universe, I talked about two of the best television shows on TV right now – ABC’s Lost and UPN’s Veronica Mars. However, these two shows aren’t the only good episodic series currently being aired on TV. There are a few other options for people wanting to watch good television.
2008-01-07 IU's Opera Theater
Lights dim, the auditorium becomes hushed, the five-story tall purple curtain rises, stage lights reveal an elaborate set as the orchestra smoothly starts the overture and elegantly attired cast members filter onto the set. At the appropriate moment, the ensemble breaks into a powerful chorus. English subtitles flash above the stage.
2004-08-17 Jackson prosecutor has courtroom showdown
In a high-drama showdown, Michael Jackson, dressed with his family members in symbolic good-guy white, watched Monday as his attorney grilled the combative top prosecutor who has pursued the singer in two child molestation cases over 11 years.
2010-08-23 Jake Saunders: Coded Scenes
Many artists use narrative element in their practice. Some artists are capable of actually telling a story. Jake Saunders uses sequestered images culled out of contemporary culture to create sometimes bizarre, but always engaging work that blurs the line between melancholy and apocalyptic.
2006-08-07 Jamie Hahn
Jamie Hahn graduated Anderson University in 200 and joined the Orchard Gallery of Fine Art in November of that year. In addition to being the publicity director for the Orchard Gallery, she works as an artist and a wedding photographer, showing work in her studio and in Fort Wayne.
2006-05-08 Jarrid Spicer
Steve Perfect, one of my first professors, taught me the difference between an "image-maker" and a photographer.
2006-09-18 Jason Swisher
I like to consider myself as a documentary photographer.
2005-03-21 Java & Jazz Café seeks to offer live entertainment seven nights a week
A new restaurant/music venue in the Avant-Garde Gallery on 1301 West Lafayette street hopes to become the premier spot for local jazz lovers and fans of live entertainment.
2005-05-30 Java & Jive: the rise and fall of the Java & Jazz Cafe
It was an intriguing idea – a downtown nightspot featuring a variety of exotic coffees and an eclectic mix of live music nearly every day of the week. However, less than three months after its debut, The Java & Jazz Café, 1301 Lafayette St., is locked up tight – its owner evicted and facing a full menu of legal challenges and accusations including fraud, check deception, forgery, vandalism, harassment and more.
2008-10-07 Jay Reatard: Discovering the new American Dream
Since releasing his first song as a teen, Jay Reatard (born Jay Lindsay) has pursued his goals on his own terms. Eschewing the traditional path towards success - college, corporate job, marriage, yada yada yada - Reatard chose to chase down every musical genre under the sun and give it his own personal spin. Whether it was country or punk or rap, he created and dismantled a handful of bands along the way in order to learn and grow as a musician.
2009-01-16 Jazz Hands, People!
Being a perverse so-and-so I find that I like to take ridiculous, contrarian stands on social issues, and I recognize that many of these positions make me look morally suspect.
2004-08-14 Jeff Foxworthy - Blue collar man
Jeff Foxworthy - the king of redneck jokes - did well in the Hills of Beverly, living in a mansion with a large cement pond perched on top of a knoll overlooking lush canyons and all the little people in Hollywood living just beyond reach.
2006-06-21 Jefferson street plan
You’re looking at a map of the Jefferson street area, and that vaguely triangular structure at the bottom there is the relocated ballpark…
2008-08-18 Jessica Baisden: Fashion Forward
The worlds of Fine Art and Fashion have traditionally been something like feuding cousins, both obviously of similar nature, yet each camp demands a separate life, distinguished by both terminology and aesthetic principles.
2008-10-20 Jet
This Australian four-piece has benefited from probably one of the best kinds of promotions a rock band can get these days: TV ad placement. It’s their “Are You Gonna Be My Girl” you can hear on Apple’s iPod commercial (it’s the “one, two, three. . .” song). Their credibility has taken some blows, but on Get Born, their debut album, Jet’s brand of greasy, beer-soaked rock n’ roll offers a pretty good argument for credibility being sometimes over-rated.
2006-07-24 Jim Cameron’s Guide to Being Silent
It’s been nearly a decade since writer/director James (Jim) Cameron proclaimed himself the “king of the world” at the Academy Awards after receiving the Best Picture Oscar for his film Titanic. Grossing nearly a BILLION dollars in ticket and VHS/DVD sales and winning a total of 11 Academy Awards, Titanic is still a benchmark of film success.
2004-10-08 Job growth in September below expectations
U.S. businesses added 96,000 jobs to payrolls in September, the government reported on Friday, a weaker-than-expected total.
2004-11-05 Job growth soars in October, but unemployment still high
U.S. job growth hit a six-month high in October, surpassing even the most optimistic forecasts on Wall Street.
2004-09-08 Job losses in Michigan pose difficulties for Bush
WASHINGTON - The news that Michigan lost 7,000 jobs in July underscores the importance of the economy in the battle over the state's 17 electoral votes in this fall's presidential contest.
2009-04-21 Joe Buck Me? Joe Buck Yourself!
May 2 will mark the third appearance of Joe Buck at the Brass Rail. Having first gained notoriety as a member of both Th’ Legendary Shackshakers and Hank III’s band (an impressive pedigree if ever there was one), Buck has gone on to have a successful solo career as a one-man band, and tours under the name Joe Buck Yourself.
2004-05-17 Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros
The music world was taken aback when former Clash front man singer/guitarist Joe Strummer passed away last December due to a heart attack. His post-Clash outfit, The Mescaleros has left us a discography of classics, containing Strummer’s folk-protest singer tradition.
2008-12-09 Joel Hernandez: “Quizas”
With identity politics not seeming to slow down in either the art world or the real world, the term “Identity” has taken on a great deal of importance in many artist’s minds as they explore the relationship between themselves and the world, the concepts behind the term itself, and ways to engage the audience through it. Joel Hernandez, an artist who is currently living in Fort Wayne, has a unique approach to this dialogue between the self and society.
2004-09-09 Joey Marks of Fort Wayne to compete at 2004 Gravity Games
STAMFORD, CT – Joe Marks of Fort Wayne, Indiana will compete in the Bike Dirt competition at the 2004 Summer Gravity Games. The Gravity Games will return to Cleveland, OH, Sept. 15-19. This will be Joe’s first Gravity Games appearance.
2010-03-22 John F Ross Exhibit, 1971
A library patron checks out an exhibit of artist John F. Ross’ work…
2006-07-24 John H. Bass in his factory.
Fort Wayne changed significantly as a result of the Civil War. Though it had been a town of promise in the mid-1850s, it became an industrialized metropolis at the war’s end.
2008-04-08 John Myers: Turbulence
The work of John Myers first caught my eye probably about three years ago when I saw one of his paintings while visiting my friend Beckie Stockert, who was renting from Myers at the time. I remember thinking that his paintings looked oddly tormented and happy at the same time, but had a specific sort of anxious happiness. I was then impressed when I saw his paintings twice last month in the “Alphabet Show” and “Phantasmagoria.” While still being fraught with chaotic forms and cartoonish colors, I could see a clear advance in technique taking form in virtuoso brushwork, creating frothing water, glassed interiors, feathers, and translucent cloths, in incredibly rich compositions, done fully in oils.
2008-10-21 John Shaffer: genre-hopping musician lands on MTV
When John Shaffer was growing up in, he heard all kinds of different music playing throughout the house. His brothers listened to Boston, Journey and Yes, while his parents were often playing music by country artists like Kenny Rogers and Johnny Cash.
2010-08-23 Jon Keller: “Sideman” goes solo
Guitarist Jon Keller has been a major part of the local music scene for quite some time. He’s been a member of Alabaster Fox, Wooden Satellites, Lee Miles & the Illegitimate Sons, and (sometimes) Thuderhawk…
2006-07-10 Jon Ross: Does He Ever Sleep?
They say that James Brown is the hardest working man in show business, but ‘they’ have never met Jon Ross. Ross is currently entertaining folks in seven different bands, six of which he plays drums for, and he shows no signs of stopping anytime soon. Heck, in the time that it took you to read these first few sentences he sat down with a few other local musicians and discussed starting another band.
2006-10-09 Josh Rossiter
Josh Rossiter is a local artist who works primarily with oil on canvas, but has been experimenting lately with pen and watercolor drawings, sculptures, and other mediums.
2004-10-15 Judge denies defense bid to throw out Jackson case
LOS ANGELES - A judge rejected a defense bid to dismiss the molestation case against Michael Jackson Thursday, in a written ruling that described how the singer allegedly threatened and falsely imprisoned his accuser and the boy's family over the making of a video.
2007-08-19 Judicial Restraint?
This issue’s cover story gives you the lowdown on the latest setback for the Matt Kelty for Mayor Campaign, so we’ll forgo detailing the nine-count criminal indictment against the Republican candidate. We’ll also defer comment on the all the possible political ramifications of that development. Our main story does an excellent job examining both.
2009-01-05 Juke Joint Duo's deep blues roots
Cedric Burnside is the real deal. The grandson of the late blues legend R. L. Burnside, Cedric began backing up his grandfather on drums at age 13, and in this way was able to see the world one stage at a time. Since then, he has drummed for a wide range of acts from Junior Kimbrough to North Mississippi Allstars and Widespread Panic. Additionally, Burnside was recently featured in the movie Black Snake Moan. The film is a tribute to his grandfather, and Burnside can be seen playing drums for Samuel L. Jackson.
2004-05-17 Julia Meek brings Folktales to the classroom
Julia Meek, the host and producer of Northeast Indiana Public Radio’s Folktales on WBOI (88.7 FM), has long wanted to add something to her popular program. “One thing that I’ve always found missing (on the radio show) is spoken word folktales that are not in my voice,” she says.
2010-06-07 June Music Shows
Summer is here (finally, right?), and with it comes another great batch of shows from both touring and local bands. Here are some of the June highlights as I see them…
2006-11-08 Just A Bunch of Potters
“Just a Bunch of Potters” — what an appropriate name for a group of artists, all working in clay!
2005-09-05 Just compensation
In November of 2004, Diana Kruse was raking leaves in the front yard of her 11-acre farm property on Rothman Road in Northeast Fort Wayne when she was approached by a representative from Fort Wayne’s Water Resources Program. The property next to her had been sold, and a housing development was going in. The city needed 1/3 of an acre off the front of her property to put in a sewer and water line.
2005-11-28 Just four, that’s it – no more
In recent weeks, I’ve made a startling discovery – something so explosive that it threatens the entire fabric of the entertainment industry. That something? There are really only four types of sitcoms on television. That’s it.
2007-01-23 Kachmann Gallery Offers Viewers a Dream World
Kelly Metzger is determined to bring something fresh to Fort Wayne this year. As the director of the Kachmann Gallery (1301 Lafayette St.), Metzger has taken her first step towards her goal with Modern Dreams, a group exhibition featuring Amy Falstrom, Susan Hodgin, and David Skalicky, three emerging Indiana artists. "Dreams," which is on view through February 24, 2007, is an assemblage of paintings, prints, drawings, and photographs that address the desires, hopes, and frustrations of waking and sleeping life in the twenty-first century.
2007-05-21 Kan-tis: Here to Rock Your Face Off
"We met at a Star Trek convention and noticed a void in the time and space continuum. After that there was no other choice."
2009-09-08 Kantis rocks your face off
On September 25th, local act Kantis will release their first official full album on Chainsmoking Records. That night will see shows at both The Brass Rail and Harrison House, with another release party the following night in Indianapolis. To try and classify this band within a specific genre of music is tricky at best…
2010-01-11 Karen Gibbons-Brown in On Technique
New York, London, Monte Carlo… Fort Wayne? One of those things is not like the other, maybe. But a common denominator can be found a book called On Technique by dancer Dan Speer and published by the University Press of Florida.
2006-05-22 Kat Rohrbacher
Before finding my birth parents and four brothers about two years ago, I was lacking a sense of origin and identity.
2009-01-05 Katherine Rohrbacher: Fort Wayne Expatriate
Although it would be wonderful if young contemporary artists could find a hungry market for their work in Fort Wayne, reality must take over at some point, and they must look to other markets that provide room for them to grow, and opportunities that, currently, just are not present here. Katherine Rohrbacher is one such artist who has not only been fearless in her aesthetic and geographic explorations, but has also not forgotten her roots.
2004-06-28 Keane
A British trio with an interesting line-up — drums, piano, and vocals — Keane stake claim to musical territory somewhere close to the atmospherics of Coldplay on their debut album.
2010-05-10 Keep the change
Full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.
2007-03-07 Keep Your Smoke To Yourself, and I'll Do The Same With My Salt
I'm sure a lot of people will be pissed when they read this, but I'm glad the smoking ban passed.
0000-00-00 Keeping Fort Wayne's thriving arts community strong
If you’ve ever enjoyed a Philharmonic performance or Youtheater production, or checked out a “hot buzz” independent film at the Cinema Center, just to name a few examples, you have Arts United to partially thank for that. The third oldest arts fund in the United States, Arts United is a private, non-profit organization that helps fund various arts organizations in Fort Wayne.
2009-02-24 Kelty Komeback?
As incredible as it might seem, failed mayoral candidate and admitted felon Matt Kelty is back in the news…
2004-09-02 Kerry assails Bush handling of Iraq and vets programs
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Sen. John Kerry fired a barrage of criticism at President Bush's handling of the war in Iraq Wednesday during an address to veterans and in the middle of the Republican National Convention.
2004-09-04 Kerry blasts Bush on jobs, war
NEWARK, Ohio - On a bus tour across Ohio on Friday, Sen. John F. Kerry blistered President Bush for failing to provide the jobs and the health care he promised four years ago and for "misleading the nation" into war in Iraq.
2004-09-24 Kerry calls for world leaders to help Iraq
COLUMBUS, Ohio - John Kerry called for a summit of world leaders Thursday to map out a plan for Iraq and said the president's miscalculations about the war "are costing lives, costing America's reputation in the world."
2004-11-03 Kerry concedes presidential race
President Bush won a second term from a divided nation, his promise of steady, strong wartime leadership trumping John Kerry's fresh-start approach to Iraq and joblessness.
2004-09-04 Kerry targets swing voters while Bush targets core Republicans
NEW YORK - President Bush and Democratic challenger Sen. John Kerry find themselves in a virtual dead heat as the 2004 presidential campaign roars past Labor Day, the holiday that used to mark the start of the fall contest but in today's non-stop race is just another frantic campaign day.
2004-08-16 Kerry touts his economic plan, promises to slash deficit
Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry Thursday denounced President Bush's tax policies as "the creed of greed" and promised to slash the deficit in half and boost middle-class incomes through tax cuts and credits.
2009-12-19 Kevin Hambrick and the Orange Opera
With over 400 songs written and recorded over the past 15-20 years, local songwriter Kevin Hambrick, leader of The Orange Opera, could easily be described as “prolific,” if nothing else. Luckily, though, he has the talent to go with his proclivity, even if he admits that he’s still not sure if he knows what he’s doing. “I’m just a crazy OCD recovering addict who has all these songs in his head,” he says.
2007-10-08 Kevin Hambrick: Full time musician/part time promoter
Kevin Hambrick, singer/songwriter for The Orange Opera and a solo artist, has had one busy, yet successful, year so far…
2009-01-16 Key Lane auctions off old treasures
“Proper attire, including shirt & shoes, is required at all times in this center.” This was the sign that originally greeted Key Lane bowlers on 2200 Goshen road. Now after 50 years, a new sign will greet a somewhat different crowd. That sign will say, “Liquidation sale, January 31st, 2009 at 10:00 a.m.”
2004-08-14 King Arthur
Jerry Bruckheimer's "King Arthur" is far, far from Tennyson's poem, and even farther from Camelot - this is more like "Killalot." British actor Clive Owen plays Arthur, not yet a king.
2005-05-30 King of Comedy
“He was persistent. We couldn’t get rid of him.” Kevin Ferguson says that’s probably how his tombstone will read. For a guy who personifies determination and capitalizing on opportunities, he seems pretty relaxed and comfortable with this time in his life.
2006-12-05 Kristy Jo Beber and the Business of Art
Like many fine arts graduates, potter Kristy Jo Beber had a strong grasp of her craft when she finished school in 2004, but only a set of vague notions regarding what to do with her artwork once it was completed. Beber knew how to make art. It has taken two years of hard work, trial and error, and commitment to a modest living, though, to teach her how to be a working artist.
2008-06-23 Kyle Morris: Steady Diet of Strange
Kyle Morris is sitting across the room while telling me about a strange film he's recently seen. This is the first time we've talked and it's the first thing he discusses with me. The movie starred Peter Fonda and it involved all sorts of counter culture behavior. The more he recalls, the more I'm fascinated. Fascinated by the film and his storytelling abilities. Fascinated, even more so, that he took the time to watch, as it turns out, the entire thing. But, as it also turns out, this is the sort of thing that fuels Morris and has resulted in his full length debut album, Pica.
2005-09-05 Labor, the political spectrum, and the tribulations of a mother of seven
In honor of labor day it’s only fitting to highlight the labor blogs. www.nathannewman.org/laborblog and www.spewingforth.blogspot.com are two zealously pro-union blogs. Their dislike for President Bush alone should earn them a spot on the blogroll over at www.dailykos.com
2009-03-23 Land of the Lost
Whenever I am at a loss for inspiration, I try to remember that great stories can be fashioned from the most unlikely news sources. My favorite movie of the 90's, Fred Schepisi's Six Degrees of Separation, was famously based on a curious, true-life story that happened in the early 80's.
2004-08-30 Latin Grammys arrive at a critical and cultural crossroads
It's been more than five years since Ricky Martin gave his breakthrough performance at the 1999 Grammy Awards, sparking a so-called Latino cultural revolution and a musical-crossover craze.
2009-03-23 Laura Lydy and the IPFW guitar department prove that it doesn’t have to be rock n’ roll to rock
When people fist think of IPFW, I’m willing to bet the first thing that comes to their mind is not “hey, I hear they have a great classical guitar program!” However, each year that passes shows the department growing in maturity and notoriety. In fact, the guitar ensemble section will be participating in the Mid-America Guitar Ensemble Festival in Chicago, where some of IPFW’s best will be performing.
2004-09-16 Lawmaker fights proposal to categorize "fast food" jobs as "manufacturing" jobs
WASHINGTON - Call it the McManufacturing amendment. Rep. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio (Lorain), Wednesday won House approval of a measure barring the administration from listing fast-food jobs as manufacturing jobs in an upcoming economic report.
2005-01-24 Lawton Skatepark caught in Catch 22
Whatever your opinion of skateboarders, they’re here to stay. With our nation saddled with obese adults and an ever-increasing number of obese children, one would think Fort Wayne would applaud the skateboard and inline skating facility near Lawton Park.
2007-03-20 Leader of the Opposition
As dangerous firebrands go, Evert Mol doesn’t really fit the stereotype. A retired chemical engineer who volunteers at Elmhurst High School and Indian Village Elementary School several days a week, Mol is one of the last people you can imagine perched on the proverbial soapbox. Yet his measured and reasonable criticism of Fort Wayne Community Schools’ $500 million building project has put him in the spotlight as one of the leaders of a remonstrance against the project, and earned him a ban from FWCS buildings.
2010-08-08 Lee Miles Opens His Grievous Heart
Just out is a new EP from local singer/songwriter Lee Miles, titled Open Your Grievous Heart, on the Sixty Years War label. This is being released in anticipation of a new full-length album, titled Fought and Won, and includes some songs that he couldn’t fit on that album, as well as some songs that were specifically written for this release.
2006-12-05 Lee Miles' House Party
Everyone from Grant Lee Phillips and Peter Stuart to Martin Sexton and some guy named Jeff Tweedy have been known to sit down in someone's living room and play some tunes armed with nothing but an acoustic guitar. House shows in Fort Wayne are not very common, but if Lee Miles has his way that's about to change.
2008-05-20 Lee Miles: Singer-songwriter prefers discussing politics over music
As I knocked on Lee Miles' door, I couldn't help but feel a bit hesitant. The last time I talked to Miles, he threatened to punch me in the mouth. Instead, he put his muscle to his music and came up with a more varied album in the form of Heathen Blux. The hushed tones and careful strumming that dominated his previous album 1000 Lions has been replaced by thicker melodies and a fuller sound.
2009-08-25 Left Lane Cruiser Gives You All You Can Eat
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past few years, chances are you’ve at least heard of Left Lane Cruiser, the local blues-rock duo, comprised of Joe Evans on guitar and vocals, and Brenn Beck on drums, misc. percussion and various other sonic items, who have a lot to do with why Fort Wayne seems to be getting some more attention lately.
2006-06-20 Left Lane Cruiser: Fat Possum or Bust
What do R.L. Burnside, The Black Keys and Left Lane Cruiser all have in common? They all play North Mississippi Hill Country Blues and if Left Lane Cruiser has their way they will sign with Fat Possum Records, home to Burnside, the Keys and many other masters of the genre.
2004-06-14 Lenny Kravitz
I’m a sucker for every 60s/70s wannabe band that comes down the pike: the Black Crows, Oasis, the Singles, Sloan, even Jet… Give me a band with dopey haircuts and vintage guitars and I’ll give you my $14.99. So why do I find Lenny’s retro shtick about as compelling as soggy bread?
2004-08-14 Leo Kottke
There are artists who never achieve mainstream success but who are granted the consolation prize of cult hero status. Such has always been the case for Leo Kottke who emerged in the 1970s as the prototypical acoustic guitar hero, the six and twelve string acoustic guitar playing doppelganger to the electric heroes of the day…
2010-02-20 Leonard Bernstein, Leonid Brezhnev, Lenny Bruce, and Lester Bangs
In 1979, the great rock critic Lester Bangs took a lot of heat from punk fans for writing "The White Noise Supremacists," a blistering attack on the racism prevalent on the American punk/new wave scene.
2007-03-07 Leprechaunapalooza
Jonah Sod, lead singer of local band The Sods, describes his group’s sound as “traditional Irish music with a little bit of punk attitude.”
2007-04-10 Letter to the Editor — It's Our Turn to Support FWCS
This letter is in response to the March 20 Fort Wayne Reader cover story on opposition to the Fort Wayne Community Schools’ $500 million Capital Improvements Program.
2005-01-24 LIFE AQUATIC WITH STEVE ZISSOU, THE
Fun if you're in the mood for fluff-hip comedy about a preening Jacques Cousteau ocean celebrity, tuned to the antic wavelength of star Bill Murray and director Wes Anderson.
2005-01-24 Life during wartime
Alan Furst writes spy novels set in Europe amid the chaos of World War II, but in describing his brand of espionage story, it’s always easier to say what it’s not. Furst’s characters are never hardened warriors or trained intelligence agents, and they’re never involved in sensational plots, like thwarting an assassination of Winston Churchill or stealing the plans for a Nazi atom bomb. His characters are ordinary people fulfilling their duty in an extraordinary time, operating on the war’s fringes.
2008-03-24 Life lessons
Talk to Harvey Cocks and Richard Marchbanks about their roles in the Civic Theater’s production of Tuesdays with Morrie, which begins its run on March 28, and they’ll both tell you how honored they are to be able to play these parts, how they’re discovering more and more about the characters during rehearsals, and how much they’ve grown to admire the two people they’re portraying on stage. All of which is true.
2007-04-10 Life Should Imitate Art, But Often Doesn't
I don't watch "Lost," but I saw a promo for it and it left me wondering how on earth that really fat guy manages to stay so fat on a deserted island? Is anyone else wondering about that too?
2006-04-24 Likeable (exceptional) media
Media isn’t all bad. MediaWatch has been dancing with media for 17 years now, so it’s not toxic apparently. And I have to admit that I like, really like, almost everyone in Fort Wayne media. Here are some examples of media and the people who excel….
2009-09-21 Lincoln Life Insurance Exhibit, 1974
In exciting color!
2004-09-13 Lincoln Museum exhibit explores the “lost” history of African-American baseball
Opening September 19 and running through January 7 at the Lincoln Museum, The National Pastime in Black and White: The Negro Baseball Leagues, 1867 – 1955 offers a world of integrated and segregated baseball years before Jackie Robinson joined the Brooklyn Dodgers. It’s a world that, for the most part, has been lost to us, with inadequate records, a constantly shifting field of minor league teams, and racial segregation that denied many fantastic athletes their place in sports history.
2009-11-24 Lincoln Tower, 1929
This one probably needs no introduction…
2009-12-19 Lincoln Tower, 1977
A nice shot of the Lincoln Tower at night…
2006-10-23 Linda Young
My muse, my soul and I collaborate every Sunday night to have fun and entertain ourselves by playing with color.
2006-05-08 Lingua Franca
Lingua franca is the term applied to a common language meant to help communicate ideas among persons using different languages. But the Lingua Franca I’m referring to here was (it’s now defunct) a magazine published during the decade of the 90s, geared to intellectual journalism.
2006-05-08 Lions and Tigers and Bears… in Albion
About 45 minutes North of Fort Wayne, there’s a little neighborhood in Albion where the residents can look out their back windows during the warmer months and see two camels lounging in the grass just a few hundred yards away, with a miniature horse grazing next to them, and an ostrich named Ginger strutting close by. If they listen closely, they also might hear a lion bellowing in the not-to-far distance, competing with the ear-rending squawks and shrieks of a gaggle of Amazon parrots.
2007-06-05 Little Brother Radio: It’s Broadacious
It couldn't have been more than five minutes into my conversation with Rich Lee and Rob Wood when I realized what excellent people they were. Lee recalled Rob and himself traveling out of state for a music festival and witnessing a performance by The Fixx. Most people might be troubled by that sort of thing, but they weren't. That is, not until they didn't perform, 'A Letter to Both Sides,' their contribution to the Fletch soundtrack over two decades ago. At that moment I decided I was buying whatever they were selling and it turned out to be the deal of the century. (I apologize for making two Chevy Chase references in as many sentences.)
2005-06-27 Livin' Good in the Neighborhood
I’m proud to say I live in an old school neighborhood. If you want to put up a clothes line to use the sun and wind to dry your clothes, go right ahead. If you want to have an above-ground swimming pool in your backyard, that’s great.
2006-06-05 lo.automatic: high expectations
Lee Miles’ favorite comedian is Neil Hamburger. This is essentially all you need to know about Miles. It speaks volumes that his funnyman of choice has made a career out of being patently unfunny. Such is the un-rock n roll lifestyle of Miles. He doesn’t smoke, doesn’t drink, doesn’t stay out late. What does he do? He writes amazing songs.
2008-12-23 Local artist’s faves of 2008
Sean asks to local musicians about their faves of 2008.
2008-12-23 Local artist’s faves of 2008
Sean asks to local musicians about their faves of 2008.
2005-08-08 Local classical musicians mobilize to boost awareness and community commitment
On August 11th, the Foellinger Theater will play host to a special free concert by the Fort Wayne Philharmonic Players Association to benefit Habitat For Humanity, the non-profit organization that builds and rehabilitates housing for families in need. There is no required admission for the concert, but free-will donations will be accepted at the door.
2005-02-21 Local musicians and choreographers create Homegrown Rhythms
The basic idea behind the Fort Wayne Dance Collective’s Homegrown Rhythms production is simple: match local musicians and composers with local dancers and choreographers, and let them create an original piece of work. “We haven’t done anything like this before,” says Liz Monnier, artistic director of the Fort Wayne Dance Collective (www.fwdc.org). “This is the first time we’ve tried to collaborate with musicians.”
2008-01-21 Local performers' favorites of 2007
A few of the folks we talked to in 2007 list their favorite musical moments from last year
2004-08-14 LOGO, the gay TV channel, an MTV enterprise, will debut in February
After more than 25 years of cable TV, the first channel exclusively aimed at “gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender” viewers is preparing to beam its way into homes.
2009-11-24 Lollipop Factory Returns to The Brass Rail
Saturday, November 28th will mark the return to The Brass Rail of glam rock duo The Lollipop Factory, with local openers I, Wombat. I thought I would use this occasion as an opportunity to both get some inside info. on The Lollipop Factory, and do some catching up with I, Wombat.
2008-11-25 Lonesome bachelors, holiday orphans
Even though the rest of the holiday season fills me with dread, I must admit that I'm a total sucker for the annual Santa lighting ceremony in downtown Fort Wayne. That day, that Wednesday, has always been my favorite moment in the holidays — the prodigals have all returned to the city, liquor stores are jumping, the bars are packed, everybody's got a little kick in their step because of the imminent four-day vacation. And the lighting ceremony is the centerpiece of the day.
2010-01-25 Looking back, looking forward
2009 proved to be an eventful year for Fort Wayne's art scene, even in the face of what seemed like a number of large hurtles. As "The Great Recession" continued to push on, which most think of as squeezing art dollars from both a production and consumption standpoint, we saw a real emergence of using restaurants/bars/coffee shops for legitimate art venues.
2004-05-17 Loretta Lynn
It has probably been a decade or two since a new Loretta Lynn album got the kind of attention that Van Lear Rose is garnering. Why? Well, the CD’s superstar producer, Jack White of the White Stripes, certainly helps, but the truth is that White’s presence is only a hook: Van Lear Rose is simply a darn good album.
2004-08-19 Loss to the Swiss another blow to U.S.A.
ATHENS, Greece - Consider this our national comeuppance. Think of American pride getting pelted, repeatedly, with pies in the face. That's where these Summer Olympics seem to be headed.
2004-12-06 Lost about what to watch on television this season?
Earlier this year, I reviewed a smattering of television pilots some of which hit the airwaves this fall. Most of the shows I profiled were never shown on television screens – as the fate of most television pilots produced these days. Still, one of the shows I reviewed last spring turned out to be one of the most successful dramas this fall.
2010-04-04 Lotus Gallery/Karen Moriarty: In Full Bloom
Just in time for Spring, Fort Wayne's art scene is beginning to get very active.
2010-02-20 Love and memory
To put it the simplest way possible, Eurydice is playwright Sarah Ruhl’s take on the Greek myth of Orpheus. But Jeffery Cassazza says not to let that scare you.
2005-02-07 Love leaves a mark
They say true love lasts forever, and perhaps there’s no greater proof of your eternal devotion — to your spouse, to your significant other, heck, to your favorite make of automobile — than displaying a permanent reminder of it on your skin. Grade A Tattoos is giving people a unique opportunity to show their affection with Heart for Heart’s Day on February 14th. “We’re going to open at 12:01 a.m. and we’re going to be tattooing for the next 24 hours,” says Jackie Gould, co-owner of Grade A.
2005-01-10 Loving and Hating the Fort Wayne Reader
“When are you guys going to do a letters page?” We can’t tell you how many times we’ve heard that over the past year. The answer has always been “soon.” Or, more accurately, “when we can catch up.” Well, we never really did catch up. So, seeing as this issue marks the one year anniversary of the Fort Wayne Reader, we thought now would be a time to sort through some of the responses