We're Going to the Final Four in Indy......

Great, exciting news: Since a friend of mine in Charlotte, NC, has a very sick puppy (a Yorkie named B.B. King), I have been given tickets to the Final Four in Indianapolis.

To be honest, I'm not sure which section to sit in. The Michigan State Spartans defeated the UVA Cavaliers early in the tourney, so I will not be sitting beside Magic Johnson (his alma mater). The Wisconsin Badgers have a great mascot in Bucky the Badger (top image), but I've only been to that state once and it would feel awkward sitting with their fans.

It would be nice to sit with the Kentucky Wildcats fans, especially if I were somehow close to sitting by actress Ashley Judd, one of the team's superfans, but I'm sure even if that happened, she would have a body guard who looks like Kevin Costner as well as a boyfriend who looks like Kevin Costner. Also, I'm not sure what to make of the team's coach John Calipari. While he is amusing enough to follow on Twitter, he comes across as a narcissist.

This leaves the Duke Blue Devils, coached by Mike Kryzewski who has been with the team since I was ten years old, which was when "Mork and Mindy" was still on the air. They are from the ACC. They are from North Carolina, a neighboring state. Durham, NC, is a pretty cool town, they even made a movie about their baseball team "Bull Durham," which starred Kevin Costner. But, Coach K is a Republican and he's already won four NCAA titles. The Badgers haven't won since Benny Goodman and Woody Herman were on the radio during the Big Band era. But, Coach K did write a letter to little boy in Oklahoma. Somehow, I doubt the other three coaches would have done that.

But, in reality, Kentucky will probably beat them in the NCAA finals, and go 40-0; that's just the way the world works. At any rate, I'm looking forward to driving through West Virginia, Kentucky and Ohio to be at the Final Four. It truly is a dream come true!

Note: The bottom image is the jersey of Kentucky basketball great Jamal Mashburn

Top Ten Comic Strips from Sunday, Feb. 8th edition of "Herald-Journal" in Spartanburg, SC: We Love Bizarro

Greetings to our beloved blog readers in Latvia, Ireland and Mexico.

What do Marvin the Martian, Lily Tomlin and U.S. Olympic skier Bode Miller have in common? Well, they each relate to three of the comic strips than we rank in our top ten of strips that appear in the Sunday edition of "The Herald-Journal" in Spartanburg, SC, not to be confused with newspapers with same or similar names in Durham, NC, and Huntington, WVa.!

Marvin the Martian is our ode "Bizarro" in which aliens present a cat to their leader and promise he will make for some nifty Youtube videos. Aliensand UFOs  were also featured in "Ziggy," a strip not carried by the "HJ."

Second place goes to "Doonesbury" which takes in an office. We thought it was somewhere like a call center which made us think of Lily Tomlin though when she did these comedy skits for "Laugh-In" circa 1968, they probably didn't have call centers.

Third place went to "Dustin," where the title characters decide to go skiing over the title character's mother's strong objections. Perhaps, they headed to Telluride, Colorado, or Park City, Utah...........


Here is our top ten:

1) Bizarro

2) Doonesbury

3) Dustin

4) Get Fuzzy

5) Garfield

6) Dilbert

7) Close to Home

8) Snuffy Smith

9) Gasoline Alley

10) For Better or For Worse.....

University of Mississippi Theatre Play Disrupted..............and, a cell phone is not to blame

In case you are wondering, the image above is apparently of a quilt to stop homophobia.

It was homophobia, rather than a cell phone, which disrupted a since-concluded production at the University of Mississippi of "The Laramie Project," a play being performed in Washington, DC http://www.nocturnalguy38.blogspot.com by Ford's Theatre at an alternative venue due to the federal government shutdown.

According to various students, the disruptive students, which consisted of some 20 Ole Miss football players who were taking a freshman introduction to theatre class, heckled the actors on stage which various hateful, homophobic profanities.

Garrison Gibbons, the only gay student in the production of a play about the murder of University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard who was gay, said the incident reminded him of how much intolerance remained in the Magnolia State.

"The Laramie Project" was also protested by the radical, fringe Westboro Baptist Church, based in Topeka, Kan. Members of the cult held up homophobic hate signs up in front of a venue that was performing the play in Durham, NC, in 2005.

The play was written in 2000; Shepard's murder occurred in 1998.

SIDEBAR: The federal government shutdown which has closed many national parks, including tours of the Ford's Theatre in Washington, DC, did not stop the Air Force-Navy game which was played in Annapolis, Maryland, on Saturday. Navy won the game 28-10 thanks in large part to quarterback Keenan Reynolds who ran for 126 yards and scored three touchdowns.

http://www.nohomophobes.com

http://theatre.olemiss.edu/

http://www.fordstheatre.org/

http://www.navysports.com/sports/m-footbl/

In Honor of Banned Book Week: Passages from Six Books (not all of them were banned)

WARNING THIS ENTRY CONTAINS ONE VULGAR WORD.

Books by William S. Burroughs, Jim Thompson and Bret Easton Ellis are among the books we will be citing here. Banned Book Week concludes tomorrow. Of the books cited, we are pretty sure "Junky" by Burroughs (pictured top) and "Motorcycle Diaries" by Che Guevara were once banned. The other authors have each written controversial novels, including Ellis, who is best-known for "American Psycho," but we quip a sentence from "Glamorama" (pictured bottom) here.

For this project, we are taking the fifth sentence from page 52 of each work. The answers will be at the very end of this entry:


1. "She pulled her mouth away from his and pushed it against his neck, then pushed one of her hands down between them and the buckle of his pants."

2. " 'Uh-hah,' he nodded: "Miss Ruth told me she thought you might be here, but you was already gone when stopped by. Got you a job, eh?"

3. "He sounds terrible."

4. "How long this present order, based on an absurd idea of caste, will last, I can't say, but it's time governments spent less time publicizing their own virtues and more money, much more money, funding socially useful projects."

5. A gambling-house dealer from East Saint Louis was describing a method for cooking the carbolic acid out of a phenol, seet oil and tincture of opium script."

6, "No myths. M-y-t-h-s. Like a fag was gonna introduce you to Miss America, what would he say?"




1. "The Graduate" by Charles Webb (yes, it's the novel that was made into a Dustin Hoffman movie)

2. "Savage Night" by Jim Thompson (pictured middle)

3. "Trainspotting" by Irvine Welsh

4. "Motorcycle Diaries" by Che Guevara

5. "Junky" by William S.. Burroughs

6. "Glamorama" by Bret Easton Ellis (yes, that has our one vulgar word).


http://www.nocturnalguy38.blogspot.com (Our sister blog)

http://www.regulatorbookshop.com/ (bookshop in Durham, NC)

http://www.kramers.com/index.html (book store in Washington, DC)

http://www.tatteredcover.com/ (book store in Denver, Colo.)

http://www.richmondpubliclibrary.org/ (Richmond Public Library, Richmond, Va)

http://www.provlib.org/ (Providence Public Library in Providence, Rhode Island)

http://www.bannedbooksweek.org/

Return of Friday Night Tweets: Bad Weather, Baseball and Politics

As of last report, the Durham Bulls (Durham, NC, pictured top) are losing badly in their home game against the Charlotte Knights. The score was 8-1 in the third inning. Here's hoping you are having a somewhat better night.

From the left and the right, here are the tweets:

1. National Review @NRO ( The National Review is a right wing publication, this is a center-left blog, the late Dale Carnegie would say that they should send us a thank u card): "Major Hasan's attack at #FtHood was terrorism, not workplace violence, and he'll be the first one to say so."

2. WXII 12 News @WXII (A tv station in Winston-Salem, NC): "Thunder and lightning right now in Winston-Salem. Keep an eye on the interactive radar.)

3. Durham Bulls @DurhamBulls: "Prior to tonight's game @DukeU Nobel Prize winner in chemistry Dr. Robert Lefkowitz threw out first pitch."

4.Erin Cunnigham @erincunnigham: Ugh, you have to show ID now when buying nail polish remover at CVS? Seriously America, stop cooking so much meth."

5. Portland Sea Dogs @PortlandSeaDogs_ a minor league baseball team in Portland, Maine: "First pitch set for 8:00 p.m. Henry Owens to make his Hadlock Field debut against Bowie."

6. The Onion @theonion_ for those of you in Azerbaijan, "The Onion" is a fake news publication: "Corpses of 'Lone Ranger' producres hung from Hollywood Blvd. street lights as warnings to others."

7. Tom Perriello @tomperriello_ pictured bottom, Perriello is a former Democratic congressional rep and now a CEO for a progressive lobbying firm: "Passing by Sylvania, Ohio, thinking of my grandfather Thomas Gillooly who spent his career there as teacher, coach, fireman, WWII vet, hero to me."

8. Mustafa Akyol @AkyolinEnglish_ Akyol is a Turkish journalist for "Hurriyet" newspaper: "If you are around Detriot, you are welcome this Sat to my debate on Islam, democracy and religious freedom."

For more tweets, check out my other blog "The Daily Vampire" http://www.nocturnalguy38.blogspot.com


http://www,nationalreview.com (We are amused by their story: "Norway's right turn." So, if you find a couple of Norwegian right wingers, this means the country is turning to the Bergen Tea Party? Perhaps, "The Nation," should write an article called Iran's Left Turn).

http://www.wxii12.com/

http://www.theonion.com

http://www.americanprogress.org (Perriello's group)

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com

http://www.thewhitepath.com (Akyol's web site)

Our Outline for 2013

With a cheeky teacher's apple in hand, we give a scheduled run-down of what to expect from this blog during the spring semester. We should add that we feel slightly hipper than normal as we are listening to WXDU 88.7-FM (Durham, NC), the student radio station of Duke University, via Internet streaming which is actually working?!, while we are posting this.

A few minutes ago, they were playing a song by Dawn McCarthy and Bonnie Prince Billy, a band with actor Will Oldham, who starred in the indie classic "Old Joy" (2006).  Javier the Intern informs us that we are now listening to "One Million Lovers" by The Growlers. Aren't you impressed?

Here is our slate:


Sunday- (1st and 3rd) Weekend Tweets

Sunday (2nd, 4th and 5th)- Comic Strip Dialogue......hopefully, the creators of "Funky Winkerbean," which is still carried by "The Roanoke Times" in Roanoke, Va., won't sue us.

Monday (1st and 3rd starting in Feb.) Sports Update- gymnastics

             (2nd, 4th and 5th)- college basketball

Tuesday- Quote of the Week

Wednesday- Weather from Around the Whole World

Thursday- Silly Photo to Fill Space

Friday- Weekend Extra

Saturday- Weekend Extra

http://www.wxdu.org

http://www.bonnieprincebilly.com

http://www.thegrowlers.com

http://www.funkywinkerbean.com

http://www.roanoke.com

Quote of the Day_ Vladamir Nabokov

Today, we quote the Russian emigre novelist Vladamir Nabokov (1899-1977), who is most famous for penning the highly controversial novel "Lolita" (1955). We presume one can find this novel at the Regulator Bookstore in Durham, NC, one of our favorite independent bookstores.

Here is the quote:

"You can always count on a murderer for a fancy prose style."

http://www.regulatorbookshop.com

Politics vs. The Olympics_ A Battle of Tweets

Before we start our round-up of tweets from earlier in the day, let us explain the three images; they are of: 1) Cobi, mascot of the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, which Mitt Romney was responsible for putting together (forgive the political humor), 2) American Olympic gymnast McKayla Maroney who two medals in London and is now a popular meme on the web and 3) A young Mitt Romney.

We should point out that we had a real task in finding an image of Maroney that could be used as the term "McKayla Maroney meme" has gone viral.

We also want to issue a SPOILER ALERT for those of you in Denver, San Diego or Honolulu as these Olympic events have yet to air in your areas at press time.

There will be an explanation of info in the tweets at the end of this segment:

1) @newsobserver: "Former Riverside High School star Megan Hodge helps U.S. win indoor volleyball silver." *

2) @TheFix: "Paul Ryan in Manassass currently doing a better job than Mitt Romney of telling the Mitt Romney story." **

3) @InsideGym: "Also how amazing was @TomDaley1994?! Terrific performance and handled all the pressure incredibly well! Nicely done, sir!"***

4) @BarackObama: "FACT: Paul Ryan would ban all abortions, even in cases of rape or incest."

5) @WashingtonPost: "U.S. women's basketball wins 5th straight Olympic gold in a rout." ^

6) @GymnasticsView: "McKayla Maroney without MakeUp: The Olympic gymnast goes Bare-Faced."

7) @BorowitzReport: "Paul Ryan being sworn in as President would be a great last scene in Planet of the Apes remake."

*-Brazil upset the United States to win back-to-back gold medals in women's volleyball. Megan Hodge played at Penn State and Riverside High School in Durham, NC. Japan won over South Korea for bronze, but Korean volleyball star Kim Yeon-Koung aka Queen Koung top all scoring in the Olympics with 185 points.

**-For those of you in a cave in Mongolia, Mitt Romney chose Paul Ryan as his running mate today.

***-British diver Tom Daley took bronze

^- Team America beat France 86-50; Australia beat Russia 83-74 for bronze

Quote of the Day- Charlton Heston

Today, we quote the late actor Charlton Heston (1923-2008), as we continue quoting actors who played real-life presidents. Heston had the distinction of playing three presidents: One as Andrew Jackson, the seventh American president, in the feature film "The Buccaneer" * (1959, dir: Anthony Quinn) and he played Thomas Jefferson in the tv movie "The Patriots" and later in life he played Abraham Lincoln in the tv mini-series "The Great Battles of the Civil War."

Today, on our other blog, we have a quote from Nick Nolte who played Jefferson in the 1995 film "Jefferson in Paris." 

The following quote is a bit ironic in that Heston was not only one of the few Republicans in Hollywood, he also became a right-wing icon when he headed the controversial, but powerful gun lobbying group The National Rifle Organization (NRA). Here is indeed referring to a president who was a Democrat:

"Jackson was one of my favorite presidents. One mean son of a bitch."

*-Heston actually plays a young Gen. Andrew Jackson in the film

SIDEBAR: In sports, we mentioned the Durham Bulls, a popular minor league baseball team in Durham, NC, a few nights ago. Well, as it turns out, they did finish their series against the Rochester Red Wings in spite of their home game being rained out on Saturday. On Monday night, the Bulls beat the Red Wings 4-0 as shortstop Tim Beckham and outfielder Jose Feliciano hit a pair of doubles in a game which saw a much-heralded Australian prospect Liam Hendricks (7-1) taking the mound for the visitors.

http://www.charltonhestonworld.homestead.com

http://www.twitter.com/durhambulls

Things We Learned on the Internet Tonight_ What is an Axehole??

We learned tonight from The Urban Dictionary that an axehole is: A person who uses an obscene amount of Axe body spray.

Here were some things we found out through Twitter, apparently folks in the urban parts of North Carolina are dealing with major rainstorms:

@WXII (tv station in Winston-Salem, NC): Several thunderstorms warning for Davidson and Randolph County in NC until 9:15 p.m.

@DurhamBulls (minor league team in Durham, NC, image of mascot in the middle): "Thanks to everyone who's sticking with us through this delay. Tarp still on field, but we expect to play!

@WVUgymnastics: "Morgantown Magazine is thrilled that Morgantown tops Forbes list of Best Small Cities! (Morgantown, West Virginia, is where West Virginia University is).

@SunDC (this will be helpful for Muslims in the DC-area celebrating Ramadan, which makes me wonder what my late Turkish father would make of me eating turkey bacon; since we couldn't find a Washington, DC, sunset, we settled with an image of nearby Annapolis, Maryland): "Sunset 8:29 p.m. Sunset tommorow 8:26 p.m."

@VisitMaine: "Tomorrow, Sunday, July 22 is the last day of the Yarmouth Clam Festival! Don't miss it."

@TVGMDebra: "Martha Stewart on whether she's ever had fast food: I've eaten one Burger King, two McDonald's & today I ate an In-and-Out-Burger."

http://www.urbandictionary.com

http://www.marthastewart.com

http://www.visitmaine.com

http://www.mdisfun.org

http://www.twitter.com/DurhamBulls

http://www.wvusports.com

http://www.muslimmatters.org

Quote of the Day/Week_ Pablo Picasso

Today's quote of the day comes from the great Spanish artist Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) who would be celebrating the fact that his country will play against Italy in the Euro Cup 2012 Championships, but if he were alive today, Picasso would be 110 years old (he was born in October, yeah, we double-checked on Google).

We are quoting Picasso because he is one of the subjects of the Unemployed Philosophers Guild plush toy doll series; these items usually retail for circa $17.95.

Since we spent way too much time quoting Andy Warhol on our sister blog "The Daily Vampire," which gets more traffic than this blog, except in Slovenia and Ukraine, we will go ahead and just quote Picasso here:

"Every positive value has its price in negative terms....the genius of Einstein lead to Hiroshima."

SIDEBAR ONE: We learned today from the Urban Dictionary that one of the new words of the moment is 'dorkus malorkus,' which is Latin for dork. The term originated in an episode of "The Simpsons," where Bart, who would now be 31 if he aged in real time, uses this term to express disdain towards his sister.

SIDEBAR TWO: Among the topics trending on Twitter as of 8:00 p.m., Belfast, Maine*, time, are: Obamacare, John Roberts, a trio of NBA draft basketball players: Andre Drummond, Austin Rivers and Harrison Barnes as well as Bill Bell, the mayor of Durham, NC, where "The Herald-Sun" is the local newspaper. Ok, the last one is a joke, Mayor Bell, who is a real person with his own Wikipedia page, is not trending on Twitter, but his hometown minor league baseball team the Durham Bulls host the Norfolk Tides for the Fourth of July. The city is also home to Duke University where Austin Rivers played college basketball.

*- We are not actually in Belfast, Maine, as of this posting, but it is a lovely town, and we see that the Colonial Theatre (a historic cinema there) is screening "The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel."


http://www.colonialtheatre.com

http://www.cinematreasures.org

http://www.pablopicasso.org

http://www.philosophersguild.com

http://www.durhamnc.gov

http://www.heraldsun.com

Virtual Postcard from Washington DC_ The National Zoo

Since we just got back from Washington, DC, we thought we'd share a Virtual Postcard with you of the National Zoo, even though we did not go to the esteemed zoo; in fact, we've never been there?!

To make this fun for you (thanks for those of you who are reading this in Bulgaria, we walked past your embassy), and quick for me, we thought we'd do a DC By the Numbers entry. We think most of these numbers are at least fairly accurate.

In addition, we threw in figures from some silly things we noticed, like the number of women wearing unseasonable shoes (one was even in flip flops?!), but we did not count the joggers or dog walkers, though a part of me wishes we had.

Here we go:

310- Number of miles between Politcs and Prose, an independant bookstore in Washington, DC, on Connecticut Avenue and The Regulator, an indy book outlet in Durham, NC.

61- Number of people we saw riding bicycles, motorcycles or vespas!

32- Number of museums in Washington, DC, this includes the National Zoo, the National Cathedral and Ford's Theatre

31_ Number of women wearing unseasonable shoes. In addition to the woman in flip flops, there was another woman in sandals.

27- Ah, yes, the annoying cute young couples, one can see them everywhere in DC. One couple who smooched as we were approaching Farragut North on the Red Line really took the cake. The girl looked like a fashion model, the guy looked like a chemistry lab geek. Go figure!

13_ Number of players on the Georgetown Hoyas' men's basketball roster.

10_ Number of Starbucks in Washington, DC, alone

7_Number of Starbucks in the DC suburb of Fairfax, Va.

5-Number of Starbucks in another DC 'burb of Bethesda, Md.

3- Number of animal shelters in DC, according to the search engine we used (ok, so it was Google). We certainly hope Helga, a gorgeous, spayed female black cat who is 5 years and two months old, finds a home soon. It has been reported that many pets, like people, are now homeless in DC. Go to warl.org to find out more Helga and other cats and dogs in the city.

2- The number of hours I expect to actually sleep tonight.

Casualties of Modern Technology- Newspapers (2 of 12)

Since I was once a newspaper reporter, declaring my old profession to be a 'casualty of modern technology' may not go over well, but it has been a full decade since I was covering Shenandoah County Board of Supervisors meetings in Woodstock, Va.

According to Wikipedia, there were 6,580 newspapers in the world which sold 395 million copies a day. But, a steep decline has occured since then. As Gene Weingarten, a humor columnist from "The Washington Post" stated a few years ago (this is a paraphrase): 'how can you exist as a business when you give away your product for free on the Internet?'

And, many newspapers across the United States have been hit hard, including "The Herald-Sun" in Durham, NC. The daily newspaper owned by the Paxton Group in Paducah, Ky., had over 50,000 daily subcribers in 2003. As of 2010, it has just over 25,000. As a result, the newspaper fired 81 of its 350 employeees, including prize-winning cartoonist John Cole, in 2008. There have been even more layoffs at the newspaper since then.

The newspaper traditionally consists of features, such as comic strips, classified ads, advice columns, obituaries, recipes, horoscopes and editorial cartoons.

But, newspapers have not lost their value when it comes to informing the public, especially on local issues. This is particularly true today, which is Election Day here in the United States.

Both "The News and Record" in Greensboro, NC, and its alt weekly competitor "Yes Weekly!" will have major stories tomorrow regarding the outcome of a highly contested local mayoral race between the incumbent Republican mayor of Greensboro Bill Knight and his challenger Robbie Perkins, a candidate endorsed by "Yes Weekly!."

According to the PRI show "The World," a radio program that airs on many NPR stations in America, Chinese-language newspapers, including the Hong Kong-based "Sing Tao Daily," are playing a vital role in the likely election of Ed Lee, who would become the first person of Chinese heritage to become the mayor of San Francisco.

But, as to the future of newspapers, that is an open question. In fact, as I was typing this, someone was asking if this household would be interested in getting the local paper in the zip code I am presently at (it was not "The News and Record" or "The Herald Sun).

Things We Learned on Twitter Today- Syria is Still a Mess

The following disturbing tweet came from "The New Yorker" this afternoon:

"Reports from inside Syria: "There was nothing but shooting and sound of explosion, no water, no electricity."

Turkey, my late father's country, has brought in 8,500 refugees from Syria so far. Many of the refugees are staying at a camp in Boynuegin in the Hatay province. I was not aware that actress/humanitarian activist Angelina Jolie had visisted the camps back on June 17.

The image above is a mosque in Aleppo, Syria, the country's second largest city.

SIDEBAR: I just finished reading comic writer Jane Borden's debut memoir "I Tottally Meant To Do That," which I got from the Regulator Bookshop in Durham, NC. The book is about Borden's transition as she relocated from Greensboro, NC, to New York. In an interview with "The New York Daily News," Borden said: "Moving to New York City is an adjustment for anyone. But it's particularly a tough transition when you come from the South."

Quote from The Composers_ J.S. Bach

Yes, we do have an odd sense of humor, hence we are posting an image of a '70s disco ball with our entry with a quip from the great Baroque period German composer Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750).

Bach has been more in the news lately as New York musician Simone Dinnerstein (daughter of painter Simon Dinnerstein) has just released "Bach: A Strange Beauty" which is the combination of two keyboard concertos to Bach. The recording and Dinnerstein's album were recently featured on NPR.

Dinnerstein will be performing close to home at Duke University in Durham, NC, with Tift Merrit on Jan. 21 and 22.

Among Bach's great works are "The Brandenberg Concerts," "The Goldberg Variations," "The St. Matthew Passion" and "The St. John Passion."

Here is the quote from Bach, which I personally adore:

"If I decide to be an idiot, I'll be an idiot on my own accord."

At Cat's Cradle, Abbey Road Live

The Athens, Ga., Beatles tribute band Abbey Road Live! returns to The Cat's Cradle in Carrboro (Chapel Hill), NC, for a concert on Sunday, Sept. 5. Tickets in advance are ten dollars, while they will twelve bucks at the door.

I saw the band perform at the same venue earlier in the summer, and they gave a stellar performance. According to the band's web site, Abbey Road Live has played up to 100 Beatles covers during their stage performances over the years.

This reminds of a very surreal Turkish arabesque version of "Yesterday" which one see on Youtube, it is vintage Turkitsch, a term a Facebook friend of mine used after seeing the video which I had posted (by the way, I am not the one singing "Yes-tir-day" which sounds more like an homage to Turkish singer Ibrahim Tatlises- the king of arabesque than John, Paul, George and Ringo!).

Those hoping to 'come together' (we couldn't resist!) for the Abbey Road Live show can call the venue at 919-967-9053 or buy tickets from catscradle.com

The Cat's Cradle is also hosting blues singer Corinne Bailey Rae on Sept. 9, and another Athens, Ga., band Dead Confederate on Sept. 30.

Those living near Baltimore or Washington, DC, may want to see Abbey Road Live perform Sept. 3rd and 4th at Oxon Hill, Md.

SIDEBAR: The African-American bluegrass/string band Carolina Chocolate Drops from Durham, NC, continue to make a proverbial name for themselves. The band that I saw perform in tiny Eden, NC- of all places, will be at Miller Plaza in Chatanooga, Tenn., on Sept. 3. The band plays The Capitol Theatre in York, Pa., on Sept. 8 before heading down to Nashville for a show at Ryman Auditorium on Sept. 9. Those of you in New England can see them at Iron Horse Music Hall in Northampton, Mass., on Sat.,Sept. 11th.

Silly Photo to Fill Space- Summer Jobs (Baseball Mascots)

We picked on the fine folks in Altoona, Pa., last week with our Silly Photo to Fill Space entry (with a picture of a gas station attendant), so this week we couldn't resist poking fun at them again_ even though I have nothing but love and admiration for the folks in Blair County!

The city's minor league baseball team The Altoona Curve has one of the more interesting mascots around.

Steamer (pictured here) made his first appearance in 1999. According to the Curve web site, the mascot's favorite tv shows are "Thomas the Train Engine" and "Bob the Builder."

His hobbies include four-wheeling, riding roller-coasters and signing autographs for the kids (awwww!).

The Curve lost to the New Hampshire Fisher Cats on the road Sunday by a 5-4 count.

Tonight, they hope to get revenge when they host the Harrisburg Senators from the Pennsylvania state capital at 7 p.m.

We would be there, but Altoona is like a seven-hour drive from here in Durham, NC (not really where I am at, but that town has its own famous minor league team The Durham Bulls) and the game starts in like an hour and a half!

Twitter Updates- Lucky the Wonder Dog Retires

We came across a few tidbits on Twitter today that I thought we'd share.

For starters, WRAL, a tv station in Raleigh, NC, is reporting that Lucky the Wonder Dog (pictured here) is retiring. The current/former Durham Bulls mascot, last year's minor championship baseball team, is nine years old. Perhaps, he will take in some shuffle-boarding in Sarasota, Fla.

'Course, fellow movie people know da Bulls were the focus of the hilarious 1988 film "Bull Durham" with Kevin Costner, Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon--(the mere mention of her name will probably lure a fervent, right-wing death penalty advocate to our blog, but oh well!).

We also want to congratulate the University of Minnesota gymnast Alexis Russell on her graduation as was announced through a tweet from the school's women's gymnastics team. Since college women's gymnasts, with a few exceptions, don't generally make a living at their sport, we imagine Alexis will go on to other ventures. Somehow, I don't think she will blog for a living (no, this is not my day job though some wonder about that--in fact, I've never made any money doing this!).

We also learned that the Trenton Devils (minor league hockey team in Trenton, NJ) is offering a "Buy one replica jersey, get one free deal." Alas, the team's season is over, but it looks like the Cincinnati Cyclones, who are up two games to none over the Idaho Steelheads, will hoist the Riley Cup soon.

And, Cincy residents who have no interest in minor league hockey can take their kids to the Cincinnati Zoo as they are offering discount tickets (two dollars off for adults, one dollar for kids) to visitors. So, perhaps your six-year-old boy can get his first whiff of elephant 'bok.' (I suppose it's ok to use the Turkish word for........well, never mind!).

Know Your Mayors (12 of 21) Joe Riley of Charleston, SC

Today we feature one of America's longest serving mayors as we profile Joe Riley (D) of Charleston, SC, who was first elected in 1975.

Riley was born in 1943, and he is an alumnus of The Citadel, a military college located in Charleston.

Now in his ninth term, Riley--- according to The City of Charleston's web site--- has helped the city increase its commitment to racial harmony and progress, achieve a substantial decrease in crime and assisted in the revitalization of the city's downtown.

Riley has won many state and national awards, including being named Municipal Leader of the Year by American City and County in 1991.

Riley is also a member of the bipartisan Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition, and he was mayor when Charleston was struck by the devastation of Hurricane Hugo in 1989.

UPDATES- There are some changes to mayors that we have previously featured in this series. While Bill Bell (D) remains the mayor of Durham, NC, Yvonne Johnson (D) was defeated in a shocking upset by Republican challenger Bill Knight. Charlotte, NC's new mayor-elect Anthony Foxx (D) will replace retiring Republican mayor Pat McCrory, who unsucesfully ran for governor last year.

And, Mark Kleinschmidt (D) takes over as Chapel Hill, NC, mayor replacing Kevin Foy (D) who chose not to run for another. Foy endorsed Kleinschmidt in that election.