1960's Coffeehouse to benefit Food Pantries

Civil rights sit-ins.  Bell-bottoms. Anti-war marches.  Student Power.  Afros.  Mini-skirts.  Hippies.  Riots.  Space flights.   The generation gap.

Those hallmarks of the turbulent 1960’s will be rekindled Friday November 13 at this year’s annual “Spirit of the ‘60’s Coffeehouse”:

       Friday November 13    7:30 p.m.

King Avenue Methodist Church 
299 W. King at Neil in Columbus

The show begins at 7:30 p.m. in the church basement, but get there early for a good seat.

Bill Cohen will lead a candlelit, musical, year-by-year journey through the era, with live folksongs, “news reports” of sixties happenings, displays of anti-war buttons and posters, and far-out sixties fashions.

Bill will also challenge the audience with sixties trivia questions, and he’ll award prizes (with a 1960’s theme).

Proceeds from the suggested $10 donations will go to the Mid-Ohio Food Bank.     Refreshments will be available at no extra charge.  Free parking is also available in the lots just South and West of the church.

The program is suitable for ADULTS and MATURE TEENS.

It’s the 24th year of sixties coffeehouses for Bill.  He’s performed the show more than a hundred times now at colleges, churches, synagogues, conferences, high schools, and middle schools across Ohio and beyond.

For more information, call Bill at (614) 263-3851.  Or go to www.spiritofthe1960s.com

Free Piano/Song Concert with Bill Cohen

Please join me Saturday October 24^th at 7 p.m. as we welcome the new piano to the Areopagitica Book Store’s cozy “back room.”  That’s at 3510 N. High Street near Oakland Park. 

To celebrate its arrival, I’ll play and sing some classic (not classical) piano tunes.  So far, the eclectic song list includes tunes made famous by folks like the Eagles, Bette Midler, Harry Belafonte, Judy Garland, the Beatles, Dan Fogelberg, the Everly Brothers, and even Jiminy Cricket.

To keep the spotlight on the new piano, we’ll also play a bit of “piano trivia.”  Light refreshments will be served, and we’ll have a couple of surprises for you.  The evening will end by 9 p.m. so you can go out for that pizza you’ll probably be craving.

It’s a totally free concert, but we’ll have a tip jar out, in case you feel like contributing to what we think is a darn good cause: helping send my wife Randi to the Dominican Republic for 10 days of volunteering with the International Medical Alliance.  As she did last February, Randi will once again be serving as an interpreter, helping a team of volunteer doctors, nurses, and medical students as they provide rare medical care to impoverished Spanish-speaking villagers.

And, back to that new piano.  It’s a generous donation to the Columbus Folk Music Society from Ann Fisher and her family.  Now that they no longer need it, the piano will be available to accompany the growing myriad of special events at the book store.  They include poetry readings, the monthly Columbus Folk Music Society Coffeehouse, the regular Saturday night mini-concerts sponsored by book store owners Rebecca and Doug Rutledge, a newly-relocated Thursday night musical jam session, and even dramas and musicals put on by the new Columbus Civic Theater.

First things first, though.  See you Saturday October 24^th at 7 p.m., and we’ll see if those piano lessons my parents paid for 50 years ago were a waste of money or not.

THE Four Bitchin' Babes New CD, DIVA NATION, Now Available!

 Full disclosure here: Sally Fingerett is my sister in law. So, she is also the local girl. I've met all three other Babes and I like 'em too. Fact: this is one bitchin" bunch of divas! (I couldn't help it) Each one is an individual creative seasoned performer. As a group, they soar. Look at their website for lots of info, including touring dates. If you can catch one of their shows, (hurry, they tend to sell out) go for it. It's fun, humorous, musical, innovative, witty and adult. -charlie

www.FourBitchinBabes.com

Hello all,

THE BABES NEW CD, "DIVA NATION," IS FINALLY HERE!!! TO ORDER YOUR COPY, HOT OFF THE PRESSES, GO TO www.cdbaby.com/cd/fourbitchin8!!

Enjoying the success of their 2006 recording, Hormonal Imbalance ...A Mood Swinging Musical Revue, Babe members Sally Fingerett, Debi Smith, Nancy Moran and Deirdre Flint have once again gone into the recording studio. Armed with a slew of new songs -- along with M & M s, Twizzlers, Chick Filets, and Chardonnay -- they let loose their whimsical, hip and sophisticated girl group harmonies, creating a new project sure to entertain their Babe and Man-Babe fans alike.

Now, as they approach twenty years of concert touring, The Babes are proud to announce the release of their eighth CD entitled, Diva Nation...Where Music, Laughter and Girlfriends Reign!

Producers Sally Fingerett and Debi Smith of Hem and Haw Productions returned to the home of many Bitchin' Babes' projects, Amerisound Studios in Columbus, OH, to work with veteran engineer Dan Green. Possessing a fine appreciation for their signature humor, social observations and poignant ballads, Dan helped create the backdrop to display the Babes' artistry.

Starting with the welcoming anthem, Babesland, each Babe takes a turn in the spotlight, offering up her take on life in "the Nation." From Nancy's sigh of relief in Elastic Waistbands, Sally's demand for Chocolate, Debi's salute to purses in Arm Candy, to Deirdre's emotional need for New Shoes (and her inner guy's need for New Tools, these award-winning songwriters know of what they sing! With musical shout-outs to hardworking gal pals doing the best they can in American Women, Long Lonesome Road and The Happy Song, the Babes also celebrate the soft, The Introvert Song, the demure, (No Such Things As) Girls Like That, the mother/daughter connection These Are The Things, and the hysterical, Viva La Diva.

The Four Bitchin' Babes began in 1990, as the brainchild of folk goddess Christine Lavin, who "just wanted to get together four girlfriends to tour." As cast membership changed and evolved, each incarnation has enjoyed a synergistic and magical chemistry. Their wildly funny, entertaining originality and stellar harmonies have become the hallmark of the Four Bitchin' Babes' music.

On this, their latest CD, The Babes continue that tradition as they take you on a royally hilarious journey to a place where chocolate is a vegetable, wine is in the food pyramid, and shopping for shoes medicinal. Welcome to DIVA NATION, where all songs are sung with pride, attitude and terrific accessories!

“How can funny sound this pretty?” ~Boston Globe

“Together they tell humorously observant tales of modern urban life, and harmonize like a heavenly chorus.” ~Chicago Tribune

“The BABES stir the heart as well as the funny bone” ~Billboard

All the best to you from your Babes,
Sally, Debi, Deirdre, and Nancy

www.FourBitchinBabes.com

Bread & Circus Theatre Company Looking for Performers

Bread & Circus Theatre Company is looking for performers for their Saturday Night Cabaret! The cabaret will feature coffee and desserts for our guests and the great atmosphere of the new Harmony Artistic Center (formerly the Tripleforce Artistic Center) just off Cemetery Road at 3979 Parkway Lane in Hilliard (behind Wendy's).

This month’s Cabaret Night will be held on Saturday, August 8th. The show will begin at 7:30 pm.

At this time we are inviting performers of all kinds to be included in the show. If you can sing, dance, tell a joke, or juggle - step up to the mic! If you have a monologue or small scene you've been working on and want to see how it would go over with a live audience - come on down. Other theatre, dance, music companies are welcome, as well as individuals of all ages.

All interested performers should contact Carolyn at ccstritzel@yahoo.com for more information or to book a time slot or two.

Aaron Einhorn launches Comic Hero News

T.H.U.N.D.E.R Agents to be integrated into the core DC universe.
Read more in ComicHeroNews.com

Aaron Einhorn's new blog, ComicHeroNews.com, contains comprehensive coverage of news relating to Comic heroes, no matter if you like 'em in comic books, gaming, or media (movies, TV, DVDs, etc.)

His brother Adam designed and created the actual blog while Aaron is in charge of providing content. (In the interest of full disclosure, Aaron and Adam are my sons.)

The current Comic Con in San Diego has been a wonderful source of many announcements and industry gossip and in the current issue, Comic Hero News covers that, as well as many other tidbits of related info.

Check out the website

Bread and Circus Theatre Auditions for Cabaret Night

Hello all!

We have had our first successful Cabaret night and we are ready for more. The Bread & Circus Cabaret night at the Harmony Artistic Center will take place the second Saturday night of the month. We are currently booking performers for our July 11th & August 8th performances.

YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE A SINGER TO DO THIS! You can do anything.

If you are available and interested in performing a song, skit, monologue or variety act please email Carolyn at ccstritzel@yahoo.com. We had wonderful performers for our first night and the audience wants more.

TRY OUT YOUR AUDITION MONOLOG! Tell a joke or two. Any SCHTICK is welcome!

If you have always wanted to perform but never had the opportunity - here's your chance. If you are a local actor or performer, please think of this as a showcase for you to introduce yourself to the arts community of Columbus. At our first Cabaret Night, we had directors from 4 different local theatre companies in attendance.

City Rec centers closing creates demand for volunteers at Central Community House

Olde Towne Neighbors:

In response to closing city recreation centers and rising needs in our communities, Central Community House is pleased to announce that it will EXPAND its programming to Saturdays, 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. beginning March 7. We CANNOT do this without volunteers to tutor, run programs, create fun activities and supplement staff in a variety of ways.

Can you play chess, run a cornhole tournament, teach basic computer skills (Word, email, etc.), set up a parent support coffee hour, play board games or tutor in elementary school subjects? Can you come on a Saturday for a couple hours, once a month or so? If so we need YOU!

We will have a volunteer orientation and Saturdays planning session this Saturday, Feb. 21 at 1:00 p.m. here at Central Community House, 1150 E. Main St. 43205. Please RSVP to Pam Argus (pargus@cchouse.org) or Liz Hughes-Weaver (lhweaver@cchouse.org) or call 614-252-3157 to sign up. (Please sign up ASAP so we know how many to expect!!).

Sorry for the late notice, but if you cannot attend the orientation but are still interested, please contact Pam Argus directly and she’ll get you on your way to volunteering at Central. Thank you!

Liz Hughes-Weaver

Development Director

Central Community House

614-545-2708

Raconteur Theatre Company presents premiere of Isaac, I Am

Stephen Woosley, Lorelei Moore, and Derek McGrath. Photo by Sam Blythe.
Raconteur Theatre Company is pleased to invite you to the regional
premier of Isaac, I Am by Mary Steelsmith.

We spend a lot of our time in cyber space but how do we know what is
"real" and what is "safe?" How do we learn to trust anyone? Isaac, I
Am (winner of the 2006 Helford Prize) explores these timely questions
as Angela (Lorelei Moore) "meets" Ben (Derek McGrath), a funny guy
who's single and Isaac (Stephen Woosley), a grieving father.

Don't wait till you arrive – buy your tickets online now for $12! (or
$8 for students & seniors) http://raconteurtheatre.com/tickets.html

For directions to MadLab's theatre:
http://raconteurtheatre.com/directions.html

Want to know more about the show? Check out our website!
http://raconteurtheatre.com/

Design Staff
Director: Mary Aileen St. Cyr
Scenic Design: Michael S. Brewer
Lighting Design: Andy Batt
Sound Design: Andrew Hartley
Costume Design: Jill C. Hartley
Stage Management: Patricia T. Jones

Cast
Angela: Lorelei Moore
Ben: Derek McGrath
Isaac: Stephen Woosley
Josh: Zachary Elgin Lape
Katie: Sela Williams
Ensemble: Bryanne E. Bornstein, Angela Cutrell, Suzanne Laird, Caliph
Scott, Ric Shoemaker, Anna Wang

Dates
8 PM Thursday, 2/26
8 PM Friday, 2/27
8 PM Saturday, 2/28
2 PM Sunday, 3/1

8 PM Thursday, 3/5 ***TALKBACK with playwright Mary Steelsmith
immediately following the performance
8 PM Friday, 3/6
8 PM Saturday, 3/7
2 PM Sunday, 3/8

8 PM Thursday, 3/12
8 PM Friday, 3/13
8 PM Saturday, 3/14

Photos by Sam Blythe

Was George Washington a gay pot smoker?

In this age of economic stress, is it time to re-evaluate the devastatingly expensive, unrealistic and unrealizable, unfair, infantile and totally failed War on Drugs? Harvey Wasserman poses a few provocative and timely questions in this article which he writes for the Colmbus Free Press. _charlie

Harvey Wasserman

Did George Washington raise hemp? Did he smoke it? Was he gay?

The easy answers are definitely, probably, and maybe.

The questions arise with pre-publication of the shocking satire PASSIONS OF THE PATRIOTS by “Thomas Paine,” which opens with Le General in the hemp-filled embrace of his beloved Marquis de Lafayette.

As Washington’s February 22 birthday approaches, his personal habits say much about today’s America.

Like virtually every Revolutionary farmer, the Father of Our Country grew prodigious quantities of hemp. It was (is) a profitable cash crop, easy to grow, with scant demands for cultivation, watering or fertilizing. As a hardy perennial, it needs no year-after-year replanting, nor pesticides or herbicides.

Early American farmers used cannabis for cloth, rope, sails, paper and much more. At various times its cultivation has been mandatory. Kansas was virtually carpeted with it during World War Two. In today’s conversion to a Solartopian economy, the cellulose of its stems and leaves, and the oil from its seeds, could be essential for green ethanol and bio-diesel fuels.

Washington and his fellow planter/presidents Tom Jefferson and James Madison would be astonished to hear that hemp is illegal. These early chief executives would certainly have told President Obama that a re-legalized cannabis crop would mean billions of dollars in desperately needed farm revenue throughout the United States.

As for smoking, I know of no significant communication among the Founders extolling their “great weed.”

But in one of his meticulous agricultural journals, dated 1765, Washington regrets being late to separate his male hemp plants from his females. For a master farmer like George, there would be little reason to do this except to make the females ripe for smoking.

The medicinal uses of cannabis were known to the ancient Chinese. Thousands of years later, it’s inconceivable American growers would not indulge in its recreational powers.

As for Washington’s sexual preferences, his marriage to Martha was sometimes suspect. Historians joke that he did not marry her for her money, but rather for her stocks, bonds, land and slaves. In a letter to a friend, he complained that there was “not much fire between the sheets.”

Ben Franklin, the ultimate liberal, loved so many women he joked that the great miracle in his life was that he contracted no related diseases. Tom Jefferson impregnated his slave mistress Sally Hemings as many as seven times. From Andrew Jackson to Bill Clinton, American presidents have been infamous for their sexual dalliances.

George Washington did not lack for female companionship. But his deepest affections may have been for his fellow warriors. His beloved brothers in arms included Lafayette and Alexander Hamilton. Both were married with children, but both excited his strongest comradely devotion.

That the general had no biological children of his own may have been due to a fever early in his life that could have rendered him sterile.

Or maybe not. It’s hard to imagine a gay George Washington in the 1790s. But in the 1990s, things might have been different.

The modern anti-choice assault, including California’s Proposition 8, flies in the face of all Washington and the Founders dreamed of for this nation.

Today’s Puritannical “sunshine patriots” seem hell-bent on running our personal lives. But America has NEVER been about that.

Let them contemplate an image of our first president, fresh from the battlefields and the hemp fields, desperate to marry his fellow winter soldier.

--
Harvey Wasserman’s HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES is at www.harveywasserman.com, as is PASSIONS OF THE PATRIOTS by “Thomas Paine”. This article was originally published by http://freepress.org.

David Krohn performs The Storyteller

Moments in a lifetime told through words, movement and music
Piano accompaniment by Leslie Kleen

Columbus Dance Theatre
February 1, 5, 6, 7, 8

592 E. Main St., Clumbus, OH 43215
ph: 614 849 0227

I first met David in the early 70s when he was a c0-founder of The Mime Troupe. He is a dedicated artist whose instrument is his body and mind. His performance is stretched to the extreme, physically and emotionally, as he takes great bodily risks while baring his most intimate feelings and thoughts. Support GOOD local arts and my good friend David. Go see this performance. _charlie

A $50 Billion Nuke Power Bomb is Dropping Toward Obama’s Stimulus Package

By Harvey Wasserman


The desperate, dangerous nuclear power industry has dropped a $50 billion stealth bomb meant to irradiate the Obama Stimulus Package.

It comes in the form of a mega-loan guarantee package that would build new reactors Wall Street wouldn’t finance even when it had cash. It will take a healthy dose of citizen action to stop it, so start calling your Senators now.

The vaguely worded bailout-in-advance provision was snuck through the Senate Appropriations Committee in the deep night of January 27. It would provide $50 billion in loan guarantees for “eligible technologies” that would technically include renewable sources and electric transmission. But the handout is clearly directed at nukes and “clean coal.”

The Stimulus Package is explicitly meant to create jobs within the next two years. But according to sources at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, no new reactors could be licensed for construction within that time. Nor could any new coal plants. And thus the funds in this rider are to "remain available until committed." That means their "stimulus" might not go into effect for many years.

But the nuclear industry does have the ability to spend large sums of money on “site preparation” and other busy work prior to being licensed. Though the guarantees could technically be used for truly green sources such as wind and solar, the provision’s backers, including Senators Robert Bennett (R-UT) and Thomas Carper (D-DE), have made it clear that this money is meant to go for new reactor construction.

In late 2007, nuclear power's Congressional Godfather, then-Sen. Pete Domenici (R-NM), stuck a similar $50 billion loan guarantee package into that year’s energy bill. A grassroots uprising, joined by virtually all national environmental organizations, helped defeat the package. Among other things, the fight inspired a music video from Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne, Graham Nash, Keb Mo and Ben Harper (www.nukefree.org).

In late 2008 the industry came back again with a blank check package that went down in flames along with the stock market.

Still unable to get private financing, the industry is back yet again. In the interim, the projected cost of building new reactors has soared to more than $10 billion each, and continues to climb steadily. Many of the previous generation of reactors came in hugely over budget. According to the Nuclear Information & Resource Service, one DOE study places the overall average overruns at 207%. But reactor projects such as Seabrook, in New Hampshire, New York's Shoreham, Pennsylvania's Beaver Valley, California's Diablo Canyon, and many others, far exceeded that.

The Congressional Budget Office now predicts that half the nuclear utilities using such a loan program will go into default. Some $18.5 billion in loan guarantees has already been approved, apparently for such use. But its legality is being hotly disputed, and the money has not been distributed by the Department of Energy.

Washington insiders believe this latest attempt at a pre-arranged bailout has again come from Domenici, who has stayed in Washington to lobby for his radioactive benefactors after apparently retiring from the Senate in January.

This guarantee package was not part of the Stimulus Package that passed the House. Its secretive, late night inclusion on the Senate side is reminiscent of how former Vice President Dick Cheney did business for the fossil/nuclear corporations that funded much of the Bush Administration. The reappearance of this kind of back door dealing has not been well received, especially in the House.

Numerous national groups, including the Nuclear Information & Resource Service (www.nirs.org) are providing sign-ins for sending e-mails to the Senate. They also urge that you call your Senator at 202-224-3121.

Time is fast slipping by for the nuke power industry. As the popularity of renewables and efficiency escalates, the most obvious source of new jobs and prosperity has become truly green technologies. Atomic power has long since been priced out of the market. Only massive federal and ratepayer subsidies could bring it back, to the direct detriment of the revolution in renewables.

Defeating this latest money grab will help drive another nail in the coffin of the 20th century’s most expensive failed technology. It is an essential step toward a truly green-powered future.

10 Sugestions to Obama from Harvey Wasserman

Harvey Wasserman is an environmental activist, political activist, author, contributor to the Columbus Free Press, History instructor at Columbus State University, and many more things, including a good friend I've known since high school. His latest book Solartopia, is available at his website www.solartopia.org and lots of other venues. -charlie


A Ten-Point Solartopian Starter Agenda for the Age of Obama by Harvey Wasserman
Amidst the ecstasy of the Obama Inauguration, there lurks great danger. Merely with his swearing in, our nation has broken an epic racial barrier. We are losing our worst president and getting one who was actually elected.

But the promise of change is not change itself. Inaugurating a brilliant young leader who speaks in complete sentences can only be good. But it is a fatal delusion to think this means we have gotten where we need to go.

Here are ten early tangibles that will be accomplished ONLY if we push:

1) Revise the Corporation: Corporations have hijacked the electoral process, the legal system, the 14th Amendment, the environment. They have human rights but no human responsibilities. They must be re-chartered and made to serve the public, rather than the other way around.

2) Restore the Bill of Rights: The first ten amendments to the US Constitution comprise a great guide for guaranteeing our basic human rights and liberties. The Constitutional lawyer entering the White House understands the issues; he need to be pushed to make sure these rights are enforced, including equal justice for racial/ethnic minorities and women, and reproductive freedom.

3) US out of Iraq and Afghanistan: These wars must end. The healing---moral, spiritual, economic, and in terms of violence---can only begin when the US leaves these useless battlefields and dismantles its global network of intrusive bases.

4) Slash Military Spending: We cannot continue to spend untold billions on detrimental weaponry. A 75% cut would be a good start; 95% would be a reasonable ultimate target.

5) Rid the World of Nuclear Weapons: Atomic bombs are instruments of mass suicide and of no tangible use. Even their production and maintenance is unsustainable.

6) TOTAL conversion to renewables and efficiency: We have the technology to run this Earth COMPLETELY on Solartopian green energy, with no fossil/nuclear fuels whatsoever. This means restoration of mass transit, and NO public funding, from taxpayers or ratepayers, for new atomic reactors or coal burners.

7) End Hemp/Marijuana Prohibition: This ancient plant holds the key to bio-fuels, as well as to sustainable paper production and much more, and must be restored to full production. And prohibition of a medicinal substance used by tens of millions of citizens makes for a police state. Pot must be legal; control of other substances must shift to treatment. The prison-industrial complex is as unsustainable as is the military.

8) National Health Care: Appropriate prevention and treatment is a basic human right. We must find the way to provide it.

9) Universal Hand-Counted Paper Ballots: Electronic voting machines are the nukes of the electoral process. Universal automatic registration, handcounted paper ballots (on recycled hemp paper) and workable campaign finance regulations are essential to the future of democracy.

10) Universal Free Education: In an information age, education through a college degree is essential to a sustainable society. Our public schools from K to the BA must be funded on a level now wasted on the military.

There is of course much more. But the greatness of this moment will be measured in history only by the extent to which we actually win on tangible issues.

This brief wish list should get us going. Send us more! But above all: remember that even with Barack Obama in the White House (and George Bush OUT of it) none of them will come without our hard---hopefully joyful---work.

Harvey Wasserman's HISTORY OF THE U.S., and SOLARTOPIA! OUR GREEN-POWERED EARTH, are at www.solartopia.org, where your suggestions are welcome.

"Mom & Pop" presented by Raconteur Theatre

Hi everybody!

This Thursday Raconteur Theatre Company opens Mom and Pop by Jill's
fellow teacher at Olentangy High School, Sarah Tobin. Jill directed
this piece and we would love to have you all come out to see our hard
work come together-- we built a hardware store in the theatre for this
one! We still have green in our finger nails from sponge painting.
It's at Columbus Dance Theatre, right at the edge of Olde Towne East,
so come support an OTE business (Raconteur Theatre) at a Main Street
venue!

See our promo video: http://raconteurtheatre.com/index.html
Purchase tickets online: http://raconteurtheatre.com/tickets.html

Hope to see you all soon!
Andrew & Jill
410 S. Ohio Ave.

Play Synopsis
In 1958, Ed (Sam Blythe) accepted the responsibility of taking over
the family hardware store despite his dreams, which would have
otherwise lead him to Memphis. Now he has passed the burden of choice
to his children—should the three take over the stores or sell them?
Gail (Danielle Filas) is determined to sell them, but Luke (JT Walker)
is aggressively advocating that the stores stay in the family. This
leaves Eda (Molly St. Cyr-Reid) stuck in the middle. Meanwhile, Ed is
nowhere to be found to help guide them in their choice. Despite their
decision, they are all forced to face one fact: mom and pop stores are
a dying breed, and they even find themselves choosing big business
over the little guy for convenience.

Mom and Pop runs December 4-20 at Columbus Dance Theatre (592 E. Main
St.). Shows are Thursdays-Saturdays at 8pm and on Sundays at 2pm.
Tickets are $10-15 at the door or can be purchased for $12 online at
http://raconteurtheatre.com/tickets.html
--
Keep up with Raconteur Theatre Company at www.raconteurtheatre.com!

Columbus Womens Chorus perform Traveling Together

Hi Charlie,

While the polls are about to close on the west coast, I am distracting
myself by sending you this message about our fall 2008 concert.

The Columbus Women's Chorus will be performing
Traveling Together
Sunday, November 23
Trinity Episcopal Church
125 East Broad Street
Columbus
(southeast corner of Broad and Third Streets).

The silent auction starts at 2:30 PM and
The concert begins at 4:00 PM.

We will be joined by WINDSONG (a women's chorus from Cleveland).

Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for students and retirees.

Please mark your calendar for this special show!
Thanks!

Krider and Smith Exhibit Photographs at Invisible Gallery

Chas Ray Krider: Days of Noir,
and
Kirk Richard Smith: Images from the Storm
November 7, 8, 9, 2008
10 - 5 pm
November 10 - 16, by appointment
614 327 2793
Opening Reception: Saturday, November 8, 2008, 6-10pm

Butterflies photographed by Mark Berger

Photographer Mark Berger, inspired by the yearly butterfly exhibit at the Columbus Conservatory, sent us the following three images. Enjoy!

-charlie

Green Vein Charaxes

Charaxes are among the fastest flying butterflies in the world, some reach speeds of nearly 40mph! They are nearly impossible to chase on the wing so catchers wait until they are at rest or sunning. Charaxes are highly desirable and they have extraordinary undersides richly designed and colorful.

Typically dwelling in medium and high altitude tropical African forests, members of the species prefer densely wooded areas and often fly high in the tree canopy. Such traits can make the species extremely difficult to catch unless one knows the secret to attracting the elusive butterflies.

Graphium agamemnon is a predominantly green and black tropical butterfly that belongs to the swallowtail family. The butterfly is also called Green Spotted Triangle, Tailed Green Jay or the Green Triangle. It is a common, non-threatened species native to India, Sri Lanka through Southeast Asia and into Australia.

Once found primarily close to wooded country where there is a fairly heavy rainfall, the Green Triangle is now very common at low elevations and regularly seen in gardens.

Strong and restless fliers, they are very active butterflies and flutter their wings constantly even when at flowers. They are seldom seen drinking from damp patches

Common Sargeant

Great Spangled Fritillary

Because we fought for them…

Harvey Wasserman is a friend I've known since high school days. He is also a well versed and often published author and social activist who often comes up with one or two wonderful ideas. Here's something he just recently came up with. Read below and enjoy.
-charlie

Harvey Wasserman

Because we fought for them my daughters have cast paper ballots
October 6, 2008

My daughters and I have cast paper ballots in the opening days of the 2008 presidential election. It was their first time voting in a presidential election.

That they have only voted with an African-American atop the Democratic ticket makes this doubly historic for them. The issue of race remains a great unknown in how things will turn out.

But so does the question of whether everyone who wants to vote can, and whether those votes will be accurately counted (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHiCFe2GBjk).

Four years ago this county tried to deny me the right to cast an absentee ballot. After four phone calls and some serious politicking, I finally did get a paper ballot, which I hand delivered to the election board. But was it counted?

My twins are now 21. On Friday, October 3, 2008, we drove to Veterans Memorial in downtown Columbus to cast our ballots under unique circumstances. For a full week, Ohio voters have been able to register and vote at the same time.

It took the focused efforts of thousands of election protection activists---and a legal defense team---to make happen this and other things suitable to a democracy. Such victories will define whether we get fair participation and a reliable vote count in November, and thus who will be the next president.

Since the stolen election of 2000 the Democratic Party and corporate media have studiously ignored the fact that we have been afflicted with an unelected president. A media-based recount in Florida showed Al Gore was the clear winner there eight years ago.

In violation of federal law, 56 of Ohio's 88 counties have destroyed election-related materials, making a comprehensive 2004 recount impossible. No one has been prosecuted. But those of us who watched first-hand how the 2004 election was conducted here know all too well that it was stolen in a "do everything" campaign that the Democratic Party still doesn't comprehend, and does not seem to want to acknowledge.

Nonetheless, we may be entering the 2008 contest in somewhat better shape. Independent reporting on the internet and some talk radio organizing, plus a few major books and articles in places like Rolling Stone and Harpers, have inspired a new grassroots movement for election protection.

We have won important victories, such as removing Ohio's infamous Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell, the critical point man for Karl Rove's 2004 hijacking. We are pursuing Michael Connell, a shadowy Bush IT operative who has been accused by a Republican insider of working to rig this and other elections.

In Ohio, as many as a third of Ohio voters are casting their ballots early. By law a quarter of those coming to the polls will be able to get paper ballots (we are working to make them available to ALL who want them). As my cohort Bob Fitrakis puts it, the choice will be between paper or the plastic of voting machines.

But the specter of disenfranchisement and electronic theft still hangs over this election as a twin curse to endemic racism. Millions of Americans are being systematically eliminated from voter rolls in as many as 19 states. Most of these are inner city and other vulnerable voters known to be heavily Democratic. Among them are African-American soldiers stationed overseas.

Some 300,000 Ohioans were deleted from the registration rolls prior to the 2004 vote count. Had they all voted, John Kerry might have been in the White House these past four years. Another 170,000 were eliminated after 2004 in Franklin County (Columbus) alone.

Throughout the US, Republican operatives are working overtime to decimate the Democratic turnout. The Bush Administration has already fired nine federal prosecutors for refusing to conduct a bogus witch hunt against legitimate voters.

But other attacks are proceeding, and could make all the difference. You who claim concern about our electoral process might spend at least some of this next month monitoring election boards and guaranteeing that those who believe they are registered do not show up at the polls November 4 only to find they have been disenfranchised for the "crime" of leaning left.

We must also have zero tolerance for electronic voting machines. There may actually be thousands more of these election theft devices deployed throughout the US this year than ever before. As always, the big vendors are hiding their software from the public, claiming it is "proprietary."

But as registration activists, poll workers, judges, official observers and Video-the-Vote workers (see "Be a Poll Worker and Save American Democracy,"http://www.freepress.org/ departments/display/19/2008/3205) you may be in a position to exert critical leverage on access to decisions on software, hardware deployment and vote counting that could save thousands of legitimate ballots thoughout the US.

In our next article, Bob Fitrakis, Sheri Myers and I will write in detail about the history of electronic election theft and its long-time master of disenfranchisement, Karl Rove.

In the meantime, it's crucial to remember that favorable polling numbers will not guarantee a fair election. Carefully manipulated racism, plus mass disenfranchisement, rigging of electronic voting machines and additional Rovian dirty tricks are what brought us eight hellish years of George W. Bush. Without taking drastic grassroots action, they could be used again to tack on four more, from which it is not likely this nation would survive.

The good news is that we have won some victories. My daughters have voted in a safe, secure atmosphere, and there's a reasonable chance their ballots will be counted---along with millions more.

But to guarantee a full voter turnout, and a safe reliable, vote count, YOU must get involved. Visit The Free Press (http://freepress.org) and Poll Workers for Democracy (http://act.credoaction.com/pollworkers/index.html).

This year, there is no excuse. We know what has happened, and we know the consequences of inaction. See you in the army….of election protection workers.

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Harvey Wasserman is co-author, with Bob Fitrakis, of four books on election protection which are available at www.freepress.org, where this article first appeared. His HARVEY WASSERMAN's HISTORY OF THE US is at www.harveywasserman.com along with SOLARTOPIA! OUR GREEN-POWERED EARTH, A.D. 2030.

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Riverfront Art Festival is new name & location for former Goodale Park Art Fest

Columbus, OH— This weekend there will be almost no empty space between COSI and the west bank of the Scioto in Genoa Park. That’s because the Riverfront Art Festival will debut with nearly 150 local, regional, and national artists along with plenty of food and entertainment.

The Riverfront Art Festival is the new incarnation of the Goodale Park Art Festival, which had been one of Columbus’s fastest growing festivals. After outgrowing the parking at its former location, the festival looked to the Riverfront, where parking is plentiful and attendees will have the opportunity to savor the artwork’s surprises while taking in the city’s skyline and mingling with fellow art lovers.

Organized by Jay Snyder, the former producer of Columbus Winterfair, the Riverfront Art Festival will feature every imaginable kind of fine art & craft ranging from decorative oil paintings and sculptures, to functional ceramics and jewelry. “With all of these artists, you are sure to find something that expresses your own unique taste,” said Snyder, “and every artist has a story - when you take that work home with you, you take home the story along with it.”

With free admission, you will have a hard time finding an excuse to miss this incredible close to downtown’s festival season. On Saturday, the incomparable WaterFire will be conducting its final burn of 2008 as a part of the Riverfront Art Festival’s full entertainment schedule. The amphitheater will also feature local and regional musical acts throughout the weekend.

The Riverfront Art Festival will be open Friday, September 19, 2008 from 5 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.; Saturday, September 20, 2008 from 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m.; and Sunday, September 21, 2008 from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. For more information log on to www.riverfrontartfestival.com or www.waterfirecolumbus.com.

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Free Press Salon meets at new Location

The Free Press Salon has a NEW LOCATION: 1021 East Broad Street (parking in rear)

Come join us this Saturday, September 13 between 6:30pm and midnight
for the Free Press Second Saturday Salon with food, drink, and progressive friends.

truth@freepress.org
253-2571

German Village Legends Fred and Howard Honored in Public Tribute

This is an invitation to a tribute to "Fred and Howard" , longtime residents and honorary mayors of German Village, and well known as the grand-fatherly curmudgeon characters who presided over the Hausfrau Haven, an emporium of unclassifiable assorted goodies and local needs. Their influence reached in the arts, theatre, music and their contributions, enormous enthusiasm and efforts toward promoting the city's arts and their own, unique neighborhood was far reaching.

Fred is the surviving partner and will be honoredat this public reception. All friends, admirers and curious are invited, at 6 pm, Tuesday September 9, at the Franklin Park Conservatory's Garden Pavillion.

More info at

http://thelegacyfund.org/newsite/