Nicholas Hendrickx brings you The Adventures of Mr. Fly.
Year: 2007
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Gaping Void
Great cartoons, great philosophy, great consumer culture blog, great explorations of marketing in the digital world — all by Hugh MacLeod, at Gaping Void.
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Minnesota Noir
It’s about a year old already, but just in case you missed it, the economist explores the Twin Cities’ obsession with literary gore.
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MPR & Taxpayer Dough
(UPDATED WITH RESPONSE FROM MPR)
As certain as the cycle of the sun and stars is the question of how much money Minnesota Public Radio gets in state subsidies … and why.The issue bobbed up again in the context of Joel Kramer’s to-be-announced on-line news site. Thanks to Julie Dinger in the Minnesota Legislative Reference Library at the Capitol I can offer this
for those of you interested in how much Bill Kling receives/snookered the Capitol Hill turnips out of this past year:Subd. 6.Public Broadcasting
(a) $6,650,000 is for grants to noncommercial
television stations to assist with the continued
conversion to a digital broadcast signal as
mandated by the federal government. This
appropriation must be used to assist each
station to complete its digital production
facilities and interconnect with other
Minnesota public television stations. In
order to qualify for these grants, a station
must meet the criteria established for grants
in Minnesota Statutes, section 129D.12,
subdivision 2.
(b) $2,000,000 is for grants to Minnesota
Public Radio to assist with conversion to a
digital broadcast signal.(c) $2,461,000 the first year and $1,161,000
the second year are for matching grants for
public television.
(d) $200,000 the first year and $200,000
the second year are for public television
equipment grants. Equipment or matching
grant allocations shall be made after
considering the recommendations of the
Minnesota Public Television Association.
(e) $17,000 the first year and $17,000 the
second year are for grants to the Twin Cities
regional cable channel.
(f) $413,000 in fiscal year 2008 and $287,000
in fiscal year 2009 are for community service
grants to public educational radio stations.
(g) $400,000 in fiscal year 2008 and $100,000
in fiscal year 2009 are for equipment grants
to public educational radio stations.
(h) The grants in paragraphs (f) and (g)
must be allocated after considering the
recommendations of the Association of
Minnesota Public Educational Radio Stations
under Minnesota Statutes, section 129D.14.(i) $830,000 the first year and $190,000
the second year are for equipment grants to
Minnesota Public Radio, Inc.(j) Any unencumbered balance remaining the
first year for grants to public television or
radio stations does not cancel and is available
for the secondAs it is explained to me, the one-time $2 million is for upgrading MPR to all-digital transmission, which, as you can see is something that state has been assisting all public broadcasters in doing. The $830,000 figure is another one-time grant, this time for equipment, and the $190,000 figure is more or less MPR’s normal annual equipment subsidy.
(I’ve asked MPR for a breakdown of what exactly costs $2 million and how that is different from a one-time $830K for new equipment? When they respond, I’ll add it to this post.)
So, MPR’s take looks pretty fat this biennium. $3.02 million. Or, spun a different way, something like … 28 cents … for every man, woman and child in Minnesota … EVERY DAMNED YEAR!!!!! Well this year and next, I mean. But never mind! I am outraged, dammit! This is beyond Halliburton! Where’s the special prosecutor?
After that it drops back into single pennies.
[For those lacking an ear for facetiousness, I’m making a joke here. 28 cents … a year … come on. Would you even stop to pick that up if you saw it on the ground?]
Good lobbying help is one way that you keep your hand in the mix when the state starts doling out cash and I admit I missed the part where former Senate Majority Leader Dean Johnson has now registered as an MPR lobbyist.
As I’ve been saying in the “comments” section, in an ideal world the State would consider funding credible start-up news ventures like those proposed by Joel Kramer and former City Pages editor, Steve Perry. Likewise, considering MPR’s extraordinary financial success you might think someone would be making a more effective argument to fund non-MPR public radio operations more and MPR less.
But the reality is that no matter how much its blood enemies and frequent consumers, like myself, kvetch and squall about what they don’t do and how precious an attitude they take toward provocative stories, the public at large regards MPR as … well worth the comparatively modest money they get out of our pockets.
I mean, a couple months ago I blew the equivalent of almost 15 years of my share of MPR subsidies on one copy of the National Review. And that thing burst into flames right in my hand.
MPR spokeswoman, Christina Schmitt, replied Thursday morning, saying:
Hi Brian,
Thank you for being patient. State funding to MPR is used for capital purposes only; to extend, improve and maintain service outside the Twin Cities area, where the population is less dense and capital fundraising is more difficult. For example, MPR used recently appropriated State funding to install new signals in Hinckley and infrastructure improvements in Duluth, St Peter, Rochester, Worthington, Bemidji and Brainerd. The most recent appropriation will be used entirely for capital projects in greater Minnesota, including the construction of a new station to serve the Roseau / Warroad area of the state.
In the 2007 legislative session, MPR received a one-time appropriation of $2 million for its digital conversion project. During the 2002-2003 biennium, the State of Minnesota provided a special appropriation of $7.8 million to public television for digital conversion. Though on a station-by-station basis, digital conversion for radio is less expensive than that for television, there are more public radio stations. We estimate the total cost of digital conversion for MPR stations alone will be about $6.9 million.
MPR provides important public services to Minnesota in addition to offering multiple channels of public radio service to almost all residents. MPR is the backbone to the State’s Emergency Alert System (EAS), providing the EAS signal to all other broadcasters, including radio, television and cable stations in Minnesota. MPR also serves as the backbone to the State’s AMBER Alert System, the child abduction warning system. In addition, MPR provides the Radio Talking Book to the blind and visually impaired across all of Minnesota on subcarriers of MPR stations, which is produced by Minnesota State Services for the Blind.
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To Shop (and Sigh) Without a Wallet
Two great events to be aware of this week:
Soo Visual Arts hosts +/- (or “plusminus”) Thursday evening, an event at which locally hand-made clothing, jewelry, and household items will be available for sale and show. My picks of the lot are Labrador, a collective of local clothes-makers, and Milkypop, the pseudonym of a brilliant jewelry and clothing designer named Megan. This is the girl who stitched the white dress at left, which I own; and I am forever thankful to her for it. Although, uh, remember when I said I overcooked my Glamorama getup? I cropped out as much of the atrocity as I could. Sorry to have ruined your dress, if only for one evening, Megan …Second: Stephanie Lake of the Minneapolis-based Bonnie Cashin Foundation just emailed to announce a weekend rummage sale by her and her well-heeled friends Coco Iverson and Pam Mondale (that’s Ted’s wifey, I believe.) Will there be a selection of vintage Cashin, preferably that long, lime-green coat with toggle enclosures? Ms. Lake promises clothing, accessories, and decor with price tags ranging between $5 and $500. Here’s the address: 3800 France Avenue. The sale is open Friday, August 24 from 9 a.m. to noon and then 4 to 7 p.m.; on Saturday August 25, check in between 9 a.m. and noon.
Oh, and p.s. To the chump who stole my wallet yesterday and thereby made it difficult to shop at the aforementioned events: May the commerce gods (and the fraud alert on my credit report) strike down upon thee. May bad karma pour from the heavens and land atop your kepi. May your finger get severed by the industrial zipper of my go-go-gadget CK wallet, circa 1993. Jerk!
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Hairspray: A Strange Little Ray of Hope
by Ann Bauer
There are hundreds of movies that have informed, moved, touched, piqued, or entertained me, but only a handful that have filled me with unmitigated joy: Bringing Up Baby, an off-the-wall 1938 Katharine Hepburn/Cary Grant comedy; Bagdad Cafe, a film from 1988 that got mixed reviews but has one of the most haunting soundtracks I’ve ever heard; and strangely, last year’s biopic about Leonard Cohen, I’m Your Man, which caused me to leave the theater weeping and grateful for reasons I couldn’t even name.
Add to these the current release of Hairspray.
I’ll admit, I haven’t seen the original John Waters version. (I know, I know, this is an egregious omission in my own personal film education.) But I’ve been told that it’s “campy.” Come to think of it, that’s the only adjective I’ve heard applied to it. And the truth is that I’m not a big fan of camp. In my experience, life is odd and dissonant and colorful and wonderfully inconsistent all on its own; you don’t need to heighten these elements in order to make a point.
The 2007 release of Hairspray, still in theaters today, is not particularly campy. It’s remarkably sweet — so sweet, in fact, that I was leery at first. When the film opened with a robust, stiff-haired teenager bounding out of bed and dashing into the streets of Kennedy-era Baltimore to sing, I steeled myself for treacle. Somehow, though, despite scads of bouffy-haired young people crooning ballads, the film managed to avoid this. And halfway through, I realized it had become a tract on everything that is wholesome, righteous, moral, and good, while raising real issues about human dignity and cultural standards of beauty.
I’m not saying Hairspray is realistic — it isn’t. But that’s what’s so great about it. Sit down to watch this movie and you get to enter a world where black and white DO become equal, where the fat girl dances to wild applause, and where family means everything.
Also, there’s Queen Latifah, without a doubt that most fabulous female icon since Mae West, walking with golden hair and a flickering candle, singing in that scorching voice. And the tenderest, most romantic scene of the last decade played out between Christopher Walken and John Travolta — proving, at least to this mostly jaded viewer, that a great movie can open up and show you something new and unexpected. What a joy that is.
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Norm Coleman Fundraiser Video
Aaron’s Hotlinks led us to a MinneaPolitics video on the results of last night’s Norm Coleman Fundraiser.
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Music — Seen and Unseen
MUSIC & FILM
See the Unseen, Listen to the Sound
It’s not much of a secret by now, but the Sound Unseen Festival opens this evening. The 8th annual film and music festival brings together live music with music documentaries, rare concert footage, and music videos. Explore Minnesota’s rich music history. Tonight’s opening event includes a screening of 7 Nights in the Entry — a 1981 concert film with performances by The Replacements, Husker Du, Fine Arts, The Dads, Things Fall Down, Hypstrz, The Neglectors, Rusty Jones & The Generals, The Situation, Wilma & The Wilburs, Stagger Lee, and Peer Group — and the 2nd Annual Artist of Distinction Awards — honoring Trinidadian music master Tony Paul, rapper and poet Dessa (of Doomtree), and ConRad Sverkerson of First Avenue — with live music and tributes.FILM: 7 p.m., Riverview Theater, 3800 42nd Ave. S., Minneapolis; 612-729-7369; $7. LIVE PERFORMANCES: 9:30 p.m., 7th Street Entry, 701 First Ave. N., Minneapolis; 612-332-1775; $5.
MUSIC
Mexican Jazz
When we think of Mexican music, we tend to think of mariachis, rancheras, and norteño. Truth be told, like most other Latin American countries, Mexico also had a solid jazz core — however hidden. And this evening, you have a rare opportunity to explore and enjoy it. Mexico City’s seminal jazz group Sacbé, featuring Twin Cities bassist Enrique Toussaint and brothers Eugenio and Fernando, will be performing with guest artists for a triple celebration: the 30th anniversary of Sacbé, the release of Enrique’s latest CD Communidad, and Fernando’s 50th birthday. And if I know my Latino brothers at all, this will be quite a celebration! Special guests will include original Sacbé reed man Jon Crosse, percussionist Marc Anderson, Liz Kuivinen Toussaint, singer Stokley Williams, pianist Peter Schimke, Shai Hayo, Kathleen Johnson, guitarist Billy McLaughlin, Dirk Freymouth, Erick Toussaint, Chuck Smith, David Iwataki, and Kirk Johnson.7:30 p.m., The Cedar, 416 Cedar Ave. South, Minneapolis; 612-338-2674; $12.
THEATER & PERFORMANCE
Puppets, Music, Spoken Word
Still falling under the umbrella of today’s major music theme, is tonight’s opening of The Saint Plays. Written by Erik Ehn, and adapted and directed by Alison Heimstead, The Saint Plays uses puppets, masks, live music, and spoken word to explore the lives of five saints through vignettes that begin as modern human stories and burst out into ecstatic truths inspired by the saints’ rebellious and transcendent acts.7:30 p.m., Open Eye Figure Theater, 506 E. 24th St., Minneapolis; tonight only — pay what you can.