Pictures at the Opening! Chris Steele Exhibits a Fabulous Collection of Antique Penny Scales

My eccentric friend Chris Steele is an artist, designer, model maker, inventor of of odd contraptions, spin-art virtuoso, founder of Citizens for a Better Skyline (pioneering the first murals to appear in the Short North), photographer, ceramist, and accumulator of assorted weird stuff. I first met him in 1972 when we opened Benchworks, a fine crafts collective in German Village. He brought an enormous old penny scale he had rescued from the then recent demolition of old Central Station. I agreed to let him place it at the entrance of our store and he came around regularly to collect his coins. The many scales he has kept on collecting throughout these past 4 decades now make part of the largest private collections of these once ubiquitous marvelous objects, sought by museums, history buffs and collectors all over the world. Find out how you can see that amazing collection by reading below.

-charlie 

The American Weigh: Christopher Steele Collection

The Ohio State University Urban Arts Space

50 W. Town St., Columbus, Ohio 43215

Phone: 614-292-8861

Show opens February 2 - closes March 7, 2010

Reception: Friday February 26, 2010 5-7pm

Hours: Tuesday–Saturday: 11 am to 6 pm

Thursday: 11 am to 8pm

Free Admission

Special Arnold Sports Festival Hours

Sunday March 7th 11am to 6pm

(Closest Arnold Shuttle Stop: #5)

The American Weigh: Christopher Steele Collection

For a half century, Americans relied on penny scales to watch their weight.

At their peak, over 10 billion pennies were dropped into these colorful machines annually.

“The American Weigh” spotlights 50 different penny scales and spans

100 years of industrial design.

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Pictures at the Opening Reception

Penny scale detail

Chris with a scale

Welcoming guests

Scales in-a-row

 

With good friend Candy

These functional, attractive scales were, at one time, as common as finding a wi-fi spot today. Who ever predicted they would become art pieces shown in galleries, museums or private collections?

 

"Gotta love them scales!" Chris and Trina each hugging a favorite.

Ceramic Artists Tom Radca & Brenda McMahon updates

my friends Tom & Brenda are in Florida for the next few months, doing art shows, gallery openings and conducting ceramic (clay) workshops. Drop by for a visit or take a class! -charlie

Gallery Opening Reception This Friday.
 
On Friday night, I will celebrate the Opening Reception of a month-long ceramic exhibit at St. Petersburg Clay Company in Florida with Brenda McMahon.  Our Opening Reception begins on Friday, February 19th from 7pm - 9pm.  The show of platters, vessels & tiles runs from February 19 thru March 27th. 

This exhibit is a preview of what you'll learn about if you sign up for our Southern Version of "Large & Loose, Polished & Poetic" at St. Pete Clay Company.  There are still spaces available.  Call St. Pete Clay Company at 727-896-CLAY for more information.

There's Still Time to Sign Up For Our Two-Day Workshop. Large & LOOSE, Polished & Poetic is gearing up for our Florida debut and there are still spaces available.  On February 27 & 28 our 2-day firing intensive and demonstration workshop will be held at St. Petersburg Clay Company.  The workshop runs from 10am - 5pm.  Here's a sneak peak of what you can expect. During the weekend, I will teach participants how to increase the amount of clay they can throw and how to loosen up while doing it.  Brenda McMahon will open her 'toolbox of skills' and teach students everything they need to know about saggar firing.  Bring 1 to 6 pots for the saggar firing...but if you don't have pots made, Brenda is making a bunch of spares for you to fire and take home.  This workshop is open to students of all skill levels.  The cost is $250.  Call 727.896-CLAY or email St. Pete Clay Company to register today!  For a more complete description, click here.

Snowscape Reality

 

Desolate snowed in street. Shot with iPhone

Looks deceivingly peaceful! Just found out about a 40 car pile up on the major freeway. Scary. The snow is so fine you can hardly see it falling, but each hour adds about an inch and it won't stop snowing until morning. Then comes the wind and high drifts. Oh what fun.

(It is kind of neat how the iPhone created sort of a fisheye-motion effect. )

This beautiful picture of Stan's house was shot with an iPhone again. The real story is: the white car in front right corner, barely visible, is the same car I had been hopelessly trying to move out of that parking spot. Gave up after trying for about one half hour and walked home. It looks calm but the white light is because the  air being saturated with millions of the tiniest sow flakes that have been falling like that for hours. The weatherman promises no let up until morning.  Our cars may not be able to move for days. Anyone out there with spare cross-country skis, snowhoes, or a snow cat? 

Our Founders Were NOT Fundamentaists -

by Harvey Wasserman | February 13, 2010 -

---

"God made the idiot for practice, and then He made the school board."
--Mark Twain
 The New York Times Sunday Magazine highlights yet another mob of extremists using the Texas School Board to baptize our children's textbooks.


This endless, ever-angry escalating assault on our Constitution by crusading theocrats could be obliterated with the effective incantation of two names: Benjamin Franklin, and Deganawidah.
But first, let's do some history:


1) Actual Founder-Presidents #2 through #6 -- John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe and John Quincy Adams -- were all freethinking Deists and Unitarians; what Christian precepts they embraced were moderate, tolerant and open-minded.


2) Actual Founder-President #1, George Washington, became an Anglican as required for original military service under the British, and occasionally quoted scripture. But he vehemently opposed any church-state union. In a 1790 letter to the Jews of Truro, he wrote: The "Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistances, requires only that they who live under its protection, should demean themselves as good citizens." A 1796 treaty he signed says "the government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion." Washington rarely went to church and by some accounts refused last religious rites.


3) Washington was also the nation's leading brewer, and since most Americans drank much beer (water could be lethal in the cities) they regularly trembled before the keg, not the altar. Like Washington, Jefferson and Madison, virtually all American farmers raised hemp and its variations.


4) Jefferson produced a personal Bible from which he edited out all reference to the "miraculous" from the life of Jesus, whom he considered both an activist and a mortal.


5) Tom Paine's COMMON SENSE sparked the Revolution with nary a mention of Jesus or Christianity. His Deist Creator established the laws of Nature, endowed humans with Free Will, then left.


6) The Constitution never mentions the words "Christian" or "Jesus" or "Christ."


7) Revolutionary America was filled with Christians whose commitment to toleration and diversity was completely adverse to the violent, racist, misogynist, anti-sex theocratic Puritans whose "City on the Hill" meant a totalitarian state. Inspirational preachers like Rhode Island's Roger Williams and religious groups like the Quakers envisioned a nation built on tolerance and love for all.


8) The US was founded less on Judeo-Christian beliefs than on the Greco-Roman love for dialog and reason. There are no contemporary portraits of any Founder wearing a crucifix or church garb. But Washington was famously painted half-naked in the buff toga of the Roman Republic, which continues to inspire much of our official architecture.


9) The great guerilla fighter (and furniture maker) Ethan Allen was an aggressive atheist; his beliefs were common among the farmers, sailors and artisans who were the backbone of Revolutionary America.


10) America's most influential statesman, thinker, writer, agitator, publisher, citizen-scientist and proud liberal libertine was -- and remains -- Benjamin Franklin. He was at the heart of the Declaration, Constitution and Treaty of Paris ending the Revolution. The ultimate Enlightenment icon, Franklin's Deism embraced a pragmatic love of diversity. As early America's dominant publisher he, Paine and Jefferson printed the intellectual soul of the new nation.


11) Franklin deeply admired the Ho-de-no-sau-nee (Iroquois) Confederacy of what's now upstate New York. Inspired by the legendary peacemaker Deganawidah, this democratic congress of five tribes had worked "better than the British Parliament" for more than two centuries. It gave us the model for our federal structure and the images of freedom and equality that inspired both the French and American Revolutions.
It's no accident today's fundamentalist crusaders and media bloviators (Rev. Limbaugh, St. Beck) seek to purge our children's texts of all native images except as they are being forceably converted or killed.
Today's fundamentalists would have DESPISED the actual Founders. Franklin's joyous, amply reciprocated love of women would evoke their limitless rage. Jefferson's paternities with his slave mistress Sally


Hemings, Paine's attacks on the priesthood, Hamilton's bastardly philandering, the grassroots scorn for organized religion -- all would draw howls of righteous right-wing rage.


Which may be why theocratic fundamentalists are so desperate to sanitize and fictionalize what's real about our history.


God forbid our children should know of American Christians who embraced the Sermon on the Mount and renounced the Book of Revelations...or natives who established democracy on American soil long before they saw the first European...or actual Founders who got drunk, high and laid on their way to writing the Constitution.


Faith-based tyranny is anti-American. So are dishonest textbooks. It's time to fight them both.


HARVEY WASSERMAN'S HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES is atwww.harveywasserman.com, along with PASSIONS OF THE POTSMOKING PATRIOTS by "Thomas Paine." This article is written in honor of the spirit of Howard Zinn.

The House Jazz Series 2010! Sunday, Feb. 21's the next one...

Greetings of the New Year from Annette and Dave!  (Well, belated New Years' greetings, seeing that this is the middle of February!)

Hope this finds you all well!

We've missed everybody, since it's been a while (December 27) since the last House Jazz Series.

WE HOPE TO SEE YOU ALL SOON!

Lots of stuff happening - GREAT NEWS!!

FIRST - The next House Jazz Series will be Sunday, February 21 from 5 PM - 9PM.

DP on piano, Chris Berg on bass, Louis Tsamous on drums...

Also, another e-mail notification will go out early next week with other confirmed House Jazz Series dates for 2010.

SECOND (should be first!) - 2 NEW CD RELEASES!! Available by Feb. 19...

"THE HOUSE JAZZ CONCERT SERIES, VOLS. 1 AND 2" Check out the pics above.

There was so much music recorded last year. Some was great, and some was not so great, but there was definitely lots of energy, creativity and enthusiasm in the performances, thanks to you and you and you and...

There will be more CD releases coming up later, too. Volumes 1 and 2 just barely scratch the surface of all the great music done!

THIRD - Dave will be featured with the Columbus Jazz Orchestra in a tribute to Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong on Feb. 24 thru the 28th at the Southern Theatre. Dave won't be doing the Ella (Carmen Bradford) or Louis (Byron Stripling) stuff - mostly people that sang with Louis like Sammy Davis, Jr., Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye and Perry Como. It's going to be lots of fun, so come on out! 

You can get more information at  www.jazzartsgroup.org

We hope to see you on Sunday, February 21st!!!

Annette and Dave

GENERAL INFORMATION AND DIRECTIONS:

The House Jazz Concert Series 5:00 PM - 9:00 PM 

Music by the Dave Powers Trio plus an occasional special guest 5:30 PM - 8:00 PM

Light appetizers and non-alcoholic beverages provided.

Bring your own favorite favorite bottle of wine if you like.
Minimum suggested donation $15.00

4320 Scenic Drive, Columbus, OH 43214  (across from Whetstone High School, next to the Park of Roses)

Rt. 315 to Henderson Road - go east towards High St. Turn south on Olentangy Blvd., take the first right at Overlook.

Overlook to Scenic. Left on Scenic. Plenty of parking in front...

We draw a great crowd of people and of course the music is awesome!

Hope to see you Sunday for great music and great people!
Annette & Dave

FreePress Second Saturday Salon

You are invited to the:

Second Saturday Salon

February 13 - 6:30pm (until midnight)

The band Miller-Kelton will play "on the stairs" at 8pm. Hear and read about the origins of the Free Press in honor of our 40th anniversary year. Art, refreshments and progressive political networking. Meet new friends.

1021 E. Broad St., side door, parking in rear.
253-2571, truth@freepress.org

A Recent iPhone Snowscape. Now, can we call off winter?

The iPhone is just-so-always-there. Sometimes, the "bad" pictures turn out to be the best.

MultiCordy

Cordy's toy kaleidoscope hand-held in front of iPhone camera lens.

The Arts Upstairs "Art and Soul" exhibition

My good friends Alan and Lynn Fliegel, live in Phoenecia, NY, upstate in the mountains, 10 minutes from Woodstock. The area has long been a refuge for many artists who have traded the hussle of the big city for the calmer, mellower life style found here. The monthly art openings at The Art Upstairs have become an important part of the arts and social scene in that enchanted part of the world. It is now also a successful art venue featuring talented and varried artists. The concept is very simple. Any artist can bring on or more pieces for exhibit and pays a very moderate entry fee per piece. A part of each sale goes to maintain and keep the gallery open. This time of the year the mountains are beautiful and an art outing promises a terrific adventure. Go! -charlie

The Arts Upstairs will host an Art lover's love-in in honor of Valentine's Day. The theme is heArt and Soul.  Opening Saturday, February 20th at 6 PM, with a romantic array of goodies and emboldening thirst quenchers.  The solo room featured artist is Verna D'Alto.

The Arts Upstairs, 60 Main Street, Phoenicia   845-688-2142   info@artsupstairs.com

"Sky Dance" By Verna D'Alto

Dancing at Lughnasa performed by Bread and Circus Theatre Company

Bread & Circus Theatre’s Latest Production,

Dancing at Lughnasa,

 is All about Love, Family, and Memories

February 5, 2010 Hilliard, Ohio – Love and family, and the entanglements of the two, are the themes intertwined throughout the Bread and Circus Theatre Company (BCTCO) production of Dancing at Lughnasa, by Brian Friel, which will be performed Fridays and Saturdays, February 12, 13, 19, and 20 at 8 p.m., and Sunday, February 14, at 2:30 p.m. at the Harmony Artistic Center, 3979 Parkway Lane, in Hilliard. Tickets are $15 for adults and $12 for students and seniors. For reservations, call 614-470-4895, or visit www.bctco.org. 

The Cast

Kate is played by BRITT KLINE, a veteran of numerous local productions, and recently seen on the BCTCO stage in last season’s The Chalk Garden. Playing Maggie is KATHY HYLAND, well known to Little Theatre Off Broadway audiences and artistic director of BCTCO’s Buckeye Youth Theatre. The roles of Agnes and Rose are being played by BCTCO newcomer CARLA CARPENTER and JESSICA JONES, last seen at BCTCO in The Chalk Garden. CATHY RINELLA, who last appeared with BCTCO in Little Women, plays Michael’s mother, Christina.

The men woven into the lives of the Mundy sisters are Father Jack, played by BCTCO veteran PETE SWINGLE, last seen in Major Barbara; Michael’s father, Gerry Evans, played by SAM BLYTHE; and, of course, ALLEN TALISIN, last seen at BCTCO in Little Women, who plays Michael himself, the young man whose memories bring this rich Irish tale to life.

Dancing at Lughnasa is directed by JASON SPEICHER, a BCTCO regular, who was last seen on stage in the season opener, Right Ho, Jeeves. Jason also directed BCTCO’s popular Alice in Wonderland and Little Women.

Bill Cohen's Free Concert Valentine Eve

“Love’s Many Faces”

When:  Valentine’s Eve    Sat. Feb. 13   from 7 to 9 p.m.

Where:  Areopagitica Book Store  3510 N. High. 
1 block N of North Broadway    

 For more info, call bill  263-3851

Playing guitar and piano, Bill Cohen will sing love songs from the past several decades.  Songs made famous by folks like John Denver, Simon & Garfunkel, Bob Dylan, Gordon Lightfoot, Judy Garland, Jimmy Buffet, Tom Paxton, and Peter Paul and Mary.

        Songs about all the things love can bring --- laughter, tears, joy, pain, betrayal, longing, and ecstasy.

        Plus --  Fun and laughs with trivia questions about famous and infamous couples and love songs.  AND light refreshments.  AND a couple surprises.

It’s a FREE and informal concert.  Bill will accept tips and forward them to the Central Ohio Folk Music Festival for its next annual event in May.