Wordless Wednesday: Who Holds the Future--GOP, Dems or Jeff Bezos?

MEANTIME LIFE GOES ON... 

Vamos a ver.

Ibsen's An Enemy of the People Questions the Validity of Democracy

A couple months ago I watched a film dramatization of Ibsen's powerful play An Enemy of the People. Like many influential works, most people have heard of them but never read them, and in this case I number myself among the majority. Until this autumn.

I'd just finished reading a biography of James Madison, who authored the Federalist Papers and was instrumental in creating the founding documents that created the foundations of the United States, a beacon of light for Democracy. We elect our officials and the people have power in the voting booths and caucuses, in the process of electing a representative government.

Ironically, Madison may have been an advocate for democracy, but he also expressed private doubts about how it would work out in reality. This was eye-opening for me, but then again that is why many scholars call it "the American experiment."

Within a week of reading the Madison bio I watched An Enemy of the People, and it became apparent that the ideal of Democracy (with a capital D) has flaws that must be faced with honesty. Some of the drama in this year's mid-term election centers around this overabundant exuberance for democracy that we feel. And for this reason I share a brief overview of Ibsen's 1882 play.

* * * *
The story takes place in a small town in southern Norway that has earned its reputation as a tourist destination because of its spa baths. Though it's an economic boon for the community, the medical officer for the baths has become suspicious about the safety of the waters and upon having them tested he confirms that they are contaminated with bacteria and not healthy. He writes an article about the issue to be published in the papers.

The response is quite contrary to what he expected. Instead of people being happy that people will no longer get sick from the waters if they avoid them, they are angry that it will have a negative impact on jobs. Instead of being a hero who saves the town he is told he will be ridiculed for ruining the town. Local leaders make it known to him that there will be "terrible consequences" if he doesn't retract his article before it goes to press.

The newspaper itself begins to waver as regards printing the article. They wish not to be blamed if the town's economy craters. So Dr. Stockmann takes his message directly to the people in a public oration in which he gives it his all. Here are some excerpts from this speech and this section of the play.

At the opening of his speech he lays down the gauntlet: "The majority never has right on its side. Never, I say! That is one of these social lies against which an independent, intelligent man must wage war." Naturally the crowd of townsfolk gathered to hear him is incensed, but he goes on to defend his position in this manner:

"I have already said that I don't intend to waste a word on the puny, narrow-chested, short-winded crew whom we are leaving astern. Pulsating life no longer concerns itself with them. I am thinking of the few, the scattered few amongst us, who have absorbed new and vigorous truths. Such men stand, as it were, at the outposts, so far ahead that the compact majority has not yet been able to come up with them; and there they are fighting for truths that are too newly-born into the world of consciousness to have any considerable number of people on their side as yet."

How often have we seen this. New ideas do not have a majority behind them because the masses are stuck in old ways of thinking. The earth as center of the universe, for example. Or that the earth is flat. So Stockman declares, "I propose to raise a revolution against the lie that the majority has the monopoly of the truth."

* * * *

I myself do not consider myself a revolutionary and I really do not wish to see the fabric of society upended so that we have to start over. It gets very cold here in Minnesota and most of us are pretty dependent on the energy grid to warm our homes.

On the other hand, no matter who wins today's elections, let's not run around declaring the best man or woman won. The winners will only be those who got the most votes this time around.

Over the years many new ideas have emerged to address issues of poverty. The idea of a Flat Tax had merit, but like many new ideas it is squashed before it gets examined. In our government and in our board rooms, if a good idea comes from someone else, especially an opponent, we feel obligated to kill it lest our adversary become more powerful. That is, we no longer "work together" for solutions, and claw one another to maintain power.

UBI (Universal Basic Income) is another new idea and I see foaming at the mouth from some adversaries because it goes against an old idea that "he who doesn't work shouldn't eat." Well, there are other older ideas about the dignity of man that could be brought forward rather than letting people starve as the Brits did during the Irish Potato Famine in which the government let them starve because "it must have been God's will to bring them into submission." (That idea was put forth with seriousness in the British Parliament.)

So, Ibsen's Dr. Stockmann continues:
"What sort of truths are they that the majority usually supports? They are truths that are of such advanced age that they are beginning to break up... These "majority truths" are like last year's cured meat—like rancid, tainted ham; and they are the origin of the moral scurvy that is rampant in our communities."

I encourage you to read the whole of it, if you have time. Here are a couple more juicy bits, though.

"The theory that culture demoralizes is only an old falsehood that our forefathers believed in and we have inherited. No, it is ignorance, poverty, ugly conditions of life, that do the devil's work! In a house which does not get aired and swept every day."

and...

"Lack of oxygen weakens the conscience. And there must be a plentiful lack of oxygen in very many houses in this town, I should think, judging from the fact that the whole compact majority can be unconscientious enough to wish to build the town's prosperity on a quagmire of falsehood and deceit."

* * * *
My appeal is that our legislators, who theoretically more informed than the public on most matters they wrestle with, armed with more information than can fit on a bumper sticker, will have the courage to make wise decisions based on what they know, and stop pandering to constituencies.

I don't know how many of the politicians on our ballots today are that kind of leader, but we can hope and we can pray.

First Thoughts On More Blood More Tracks, the Latest Dylan Bootleg

We take so much for granted in life. As one who has worked in marketing I am continually impressed by the orchestration involved in a new launch from the team. Quite a ways before the launch the publicity machine begins. Then the website, BobDylan.com, is re-arranged to feature the new album, CD, series or product line (e.g. Heaven's Door).

The PR machine goes to work and an article by Jeff Slate, who wrote the liner notes, appears in The New Yorker days before. Links to many of the tracks from the Deluxe edition appear on NPR's website, deliciously selected to amplify desire.

All the ducks are in a row so fans can pre-order, and a launch date is set. Finally there is the "execution" phase, which is coordinated with Amazon and shipping entities so that Bootleg Series #14: More Blood, More Tracks arrives at my door precisely on the day they said it would more than a month ago.

It's all first class, a model of execution, year in and year out. Any company with an established fan base could probably get an education from watching the machinery here. Can the company you work for, if you work for a company that has new products, accomplish this?

* * * *

After several listens I feel obligated to make a few observations based on first impressions.

1. If Dylan had not re-recorded half the album at Sound 80 in Minneapolis, Blood on the Tracks would never have been a Double Platinum album. I may be wrong, but my impression is that the stripped out version of these songs leaves them lacking in some way. Dylan may have captured what he was looking for in New York, but after he got it he must have felt it was missing something, though he couldn't put his finger on it.

2. My immediate thought here after a few listens was that the original New York sessions had produced something akin to John Wesley Harding, itself critically acclaimed with a lot of very good songs, conscientiously avoiding overproduction.

3. Being intimately acquainted with the backstory of the December sessions here in Minnesota, I can't help but feel that like so many things in Dylan's career serendipity proved to be a key factor, and that by trusting his "better angels" or that "Dylan instinct" we ended up with something so magical that one of the songs itself is about the twists of fate that sometimes serve as a form of saving grace.

EdNote: Napoleon Bonaparte was one of the great strategists and commanders in the history of warfare. Of the top 20 battles of all time more than half were conceived and executed by Napoleon. When it came to planning, he was very thorough in his planning, yet simultaneously he "recognized Chance as a variable and believed every plan should allow a period of time to remedy or exploit the unpredictable." Dylan's career seems to have been repeatedly  a beneficiary of the element of Chance. 

* * * *

Jeff Slate's liner notes are a good read. I liked the inclusion of this Dylan quote on page 6:

"The thing about rock and roll is that, for me anyways, it wasn't enough. There were great catch-phrases and driving pulse rhythms, but the songs weren't serious or didn't reflect life in a realistic way. I knew that when I got into folk music, it was more of a serious type of thing. The songs are filled with more despair, more sadness, more triumph, more faith in the supernatural, much deeper feelings."

That quote, from when Dylan turned 50*, is pure Dylan.

I admire Tony Attwood's effort to write on Untold Dylan about every song (that he could find) that Dylan has recorded. Though I've covered quite a few Dylan songs on this blog over the years, there are some I've desired to tackle but felt inadequate to the task. "Ballad of a Thin Man" is one of these that I still desire to offer my own spin on someday; "Tangled Up In Blue" has been aanother I've shied away from. And so it was fun to see Jeff Slate's Culture Desk piece in The New Yorker this past week.

In the liner notes Slate, which is such a cool name that it ought to be a magazine, notes that Dylan drew inspiration from the painting classes he'd been taking, as well as the stories of Anton Chekov. I

I found this sentence to be pretty cool, having seen some of Dylan's handwritten lyrics that are in the possession of Bill Pagel, keeper of BobLinks.com and collector of artifacts: I listened while perusing Dylan’s fabled “red notebook,” in which he’d written the lyrics to the ten songs on “Blood on the Tracks” in his tiny, precise scrawl. I love that description at the end of the sentence. So precise.**

Slate also noted: A decade later, in 1984, on the album “Real Live,” Dylan felt he’d finally found the song he’d been looking for. “On ‘Real Live’ it is more like it should have been,” Dylan told Rolling Stone in 1985.

Yes, that was a great concert, and yet another great version of "Tangled Up In Blue." (Carlos Santana joins Dylan and band for the encore in that one.)

Slate continues: Dylan has performed “Tangled Up in Blue” 1,546 times during his Never Ending Tour, which began in 1988 and is still going. Like any good Dylan obsessive, I’ve seen many of those performances. It’s a guilty pleasure of Dylanologists to trainspot the tweaks—both large and small—that Dylan makes to the lyrics from year to year, or sometimes from night to night.

That observation also rings true, as long time Dylan fans well know.

4 of the 6 players from the Mnpls sessions on set of Paul Metsa's Wall of Power
L to R: Billy Peterson, Gregg Inhofer, Kevin Odegard, Paul Metsa, Peter Ostoushko

Related Links
More Blood, More Tracks -- The Bootleg Series Thunders On
Bob Dylan's First Day with Tangled Up In Blue, in The New Yorker
* Los Angeles Times, Pop Music: Bob Dylan Turns 50
* * Bill Pagel's "Einstein Disguised As Robin Hood" Exhibition
BOTT players on the set of Paul Metsa's Wall of Power two weeks ago.

The Unexpected Gambler Robert Asiel Shares Insights on the Old Days of Cheating Casinos

In the wild west, sometimes cheats had an ace up their sleeve.

I was introduced to the world of gaming cheats through Terry Roses, "The Honest Cheat." Roses is a lifelong magician who, according to the magicians code, will not use his skills (sleight of hand, etc.) for crooked purposes. This never stopped Terry from studying the ways of the wilier wayward ones. In this manner Roses has become an expert who trains casino surveillance personnel on how to recognize cheats. In addition to giving seminars related to "Optical Warfare at the Gaming Table" (in which he shows the variety of techniques used to mark cards, among other things) he has also invented a device called the Inspecta Card Scanner which enables casinos to maintain a level playing field for their customers by eliminating marked card cheats. (Visit: DetectMarkedCards.com)

I first wrote about Terry Roses in 2016 after a visit to his secret laboratory. More recently I have met with Terry a few times, each time coming home with fascinating stories, including introductions to a couple writers whose memoirs detail highlights of their lives "on the muscle," an expression explained below by Robert Asiel, author of The Unexpected Gambler: A History of Casinos Cheating the Public and One Gambler's Revenge.

I'd love to share how Terry gave me a card-reading lesson in which I learned to see a "mark" on a card that was previously not there till I learned how to see it, but this is Robert Asiel's story, so we'll save that for another day. All gambling involves odds and risk, but the more those odds are shifted in your favor, the lower the risk.

My interview here with Mr. Asiel is aimed at informing about, not glorifying, the cheater's life. If at times you see here echoes of The Sting and its sequel, I wouldn't be surprised. I've included a link to his book at the end.

EN: You began your gambling career as a 17-year-old blackjack dealer in Vegas. What year was that? And how quickly were you aware that some of the gaming was rigged?

Robert Asiel: I began dealing blackjack in 1963 at the Lucky Casino on Fremont Street. Before I dealt there, I worked there as a shill and witnessed craps dealers shorting winning players their payoffs, and picking up “sleepers.” Sleepers were winning bets that bettors forgot to pick up.

One week after I began dealing 21, I was taught by a senior dealer how to cheat the public on the money wheel (The Big 6 Wheel). I was warned by him that if I couldn’t protect the game I would be fired. Several weeks after I began dealing, I met a 21 dealer, through a friend, who worked at the Lucky but on an earlier shift. He told me he was working for the casino as a mechanic, meaning he was cheating the public for the casino, for an extra $100 per day plus his salary and tips. He showed me his cheating techniques and I had no reason to disbelieve him. He and my friend were trying to recruit me to do business (cheat) against the casino which I agreed to do. They introduced me to two middle-aged crossroaders who were people that cheated casinos full-time. We made a plan to beat the casino which was successful.

Before I witnessed cheating at the Lucky Casino, I was aware that casinos cheated through newspaper articles about casinos caught cheating and closed and through friends who worked as 21 dealers.

EN: How many years did you stay in Vegas and when did you begin taking your revenge on the casinos by cheating yourself?

RA: I stayed in Vegas just over three years. I had made several 21 cheating plays against two casinos with two 21 dealing friends of mine before I went to work at the Lucky Casino. While a dealer at the Lucky, I made several successful cheating plays. After leaving the Lucky, I became a successful crossroader.

EN: What did you feel inside when you first started down that path? Were you afraid early on? How long did it take to become a pro at cheating?

RA: I felt guilty but got over it. I never felt afraid because what I did was safe. I always felt nervous until years later after some other than casino life experiences. I considered myself a professional crossroader when I returned to Nevada in 1969.

This ordinary card has been marked and a pro can read it.

EN: How did the casinos address cheating in those days?

RA: If a casino suspected an employee of cheating, or caught him, he would be fired and possibly black-balled from working in other casinos. I knew one dealer who was fired for cheating but did get a job in another casino. I never heard of a dealer being arrested for cheating in my early casino career. There were rumors of dealers and crossroaders being roughed-up, but none that I knew except one. He was the first crossroader I had met who told me that one time while waiting in a casino’s back-room for a sheriff deputy to arrive to arrest him, a casino security guard stomped on his foot breaking a few toes. He told me he had been arrested numerous times for cheating in Vegas but paid a local bondsman who would have the charges dismissed. Gambling offenses were misdemeanors in Nevada until around 1980. A personal experience of mine being back-roomed happened was when I was nineteen-years-old. It was in a mob-run casino in the Bahamas where a boxman had nailed me switching dice on his game. The casino manager there threatened me with a warning but I was soon released unharmed.

EN: One of the things that aided in your success was working with confederates. How did you find confederates whom you could trust?

RA: I met my confederates through others I had worked with. I was immature and trusted everyone I met. I was betrayed twice but choose not to mention that in my book. Most crossroaders I met had been casino dealers who were black-balled, or found it more lucrative to work “on the outside” rather than “the inside.” Outside meaning “on the muscle.”

EN: Can you describe some of the ways you would signal one another so that the “eyes in the sky” were unaware of what was going on?

RA: The signals that crossroaders used that I learned were universal. Touching your nose means trouble. Same with a closed fist on a table. Touching your chin means everything is OK. Crossing one arm across your chest also meant OK as well as an open hand on a table. Brushing off your sleeve meant to exit. Brushing quickly meant to leave quickly. Touching an eye meant you want to talk to someone in private. Same for pulling your ear. There were verbal signals as well. George meant everything is OK. Tom meant bad. Mr. Long meant a high-roller, etc. When I formed my own crew we invented our own much-improved set of signals.

EN: What is the biggest mistake cheats make that gives them away?

RA: Greed. Going to the well too often or winning too much money on a play.

EN: Today’s casinos are run by corporations. How did Nevada clean up the mob connections to the casinos?

These are all "crooked dice" from Terry Roses' private collection.

RA: It was a long, complicated process because of political, economic, and other considerations. Nevada had to clean-up their act when FBI undercover operations against mob-run casinos succeeded in convicting nationwide mob members and associates. Nevada legislators found legitimate owners to take over the corrupted casinos to keep those casinos from closing and throwing hundreds of people out of work. Most of the casino bosses who had run the casinos for the mob kept their jobs.

EN: What about cheating today?

RA: It’s impossible to totally stop casino cheating — casinos couldn’t hire enough employees to watch every single transaction that continuously takes place in a casino. There will always be money leakage in casinos everywhere. Employees discover new methods to steal chips and cash, and will work with crossroaders using new moves. Today’s crossroaders are more geek than magician that use modern technology to assault casino games and slot machines. To combat the cheaters, the casinos buy state-of-the-art surveillance cameras and hire private experts to train their casino surveillance personnel on how to police crooked employees and crossroaders. One expert invented a device called the Inspecta Card Scanner that will discover any type of marked cards in a casino.*

Today, it’s unlikely that any U.S. land-based casinos are cheating the public. Most casinos are owned by multi-million dollar corporations that couldn’t afford to be caught cheating and lose their gaming license. Quasi-cheating is practiced openly in some smaller casinos and riverboats. What I mean is this: a dealer will keep track of how many aces and ten-value cards have been dealt. If the deck has proportionately more big cards and aces than normal, the dealer will shuffle the remaining cards early to take away the 3-to-2 bonus for a player having a blackjack, and to lessen his chance of busting his hand. If those cards are dealt early, the dealer will then deal out all the cards before shuffling.

* * * *

If this kind of thing interests you, let me know. I have many more stories to share.

Related Links
The Unexpected Gambler
* Inspect Card Scanner
The memoirs of Fast Jack: The Last Hustler

History and Myth in the Sunshine State: Boca Raton Museum of Art Celebrates History of Florida

In the land of pink flamingos and pink sunsets.

November 13, 2018 through March 24, 2019

Because my parents wintered in Florida, and after my father's passing my mother continued, I've had an opportunity to see a lot of art there over the years. The City of Tampa has a wonderful museum where we saw a Norman Rockwell exhibition in 2015. The adjacent St. Petersburg is home to the incomparable Dali Museum. In fact, the nearby Warehouse District is awash with public art and galleries. Another favorite art space on the Western coast of Florida is the John & Mable Ringling Museum of Art in Sarasota. It's part of the campus that includes the Ringling Bros. Circus Museum and Ca' d'Zan, the majestic home Mable built for her husband John, youngest of the five Ringling brothers.

In less than two weeks the Boca Raton Museum of Art will be hosting a massive exhibition called:

IMAGINING FLORIDA:

HISTORY AND MYTH

IN THE SUNSHINE STATE

With art spanning three centuries, Boca Raton Museum of Art aims to present the untold story of Florida through the eyes of Florida artists. It's billed as the most comprehensive and all-embracing Florida themed show of its kind, with more than 200 works of art that celebrate how the Sunshine State has inspired artists across three centuries.

In Spanish boca means mouth, and raton means mouse, so you might think it funny to name a city in that way. The name comes from the words' navigational origins in which "boca" was used to describe an inlet. Raton pertained to the sharp rocks which ship captains had to steer clear of. Today, Boca Raton is associated with wealth and beauty, and their beautiful art museum reflect this.

The exhibition features paintings, drawings and photography.

This anthology of art made in and inspired by Florida and its people, places, flora, and fauna was three years in the making, guest-curated by Dr. Jennifer Hardin and Mr. Gary Monroe. The show features not only Forida artists but renowned painters who visited Florida and were enticed by its beauty. From natural landscapes to frontier outposts to burgeoning towns, the scenes featured in Imagining Florida portray many different aspects of the state, including its deep-rooted Seminole and Miccosukee heritage, its historic African American communities, and its identity as a tourist destination.

According to the Boca Raton Museum website:
Many of their selections have rarely been seen and are from some of the leading museums and collections throughout the United States. Artists and photographers include: Milton Avery, Martin Johnson Heade, John Singer Sargent, Winslow Homer, Laura Woodward, Purvis Young, Henri Cartier- Bresson, Bunny Yeager, Louis Comfort Tiffany, Doris Lee, Robert Frank, Garry Winogrand, John James Audubon, Frederic Remington, William Bartram, Sally Michel, Thomas Moran, George Catlin, Frederick Frieseke, and George de Forest Brush. Imagining Florida is accompanied by a fully-illustrated catalogue.

Here are some additional images from Imagining Florida, the first being a famous bridge to St. Petersburg that I have crossed many times:

The Hunt

Betty Page, with the Prey.

John Singer Sargent was here.

Getting a little yard work done before we play, Florida style.

One more shout out: https://www.bocamuseum.org

Meantime, art goes on all around you. Get into it.

Susie's Bags & Tags Available Saturday @ the Holiday Craft Sale

Now that the garden is in and the berry bushes mulched for spring, our attention is turning to a number of upcoming Holiday Craft Sales. Tomorrow Susie will have a table at the Holiday Craft Sale inside the Holy Rosary Campus Gym, 2801 E. 4th Street, here in Duluth. Admission is free. If you are out and about at some of the other sales taking place Saturday, or the AICHO Open House at Positively Fourth Street Market, then make sure you drop by.

Jewelry, ceramics, glass, soaps, garden items, photography, water colors, books, clothing, glass art and cards are some of the items you will likely find available from various vendors. In my opinion, you can never buy enough cards from local artists. Yes, it's nice when your Facebook "friends" wish you a Happy Birthday, but nothing says it like a card or gift, especially original, hand-made-with-creativity-and-love kinds of cards and gifts.

I don't know everything that will be on display there, but I do know there is usually something for everyone. Susie's gift bags and tags are just one more way to personalize your Christmas giving.

Susie's Gift Bags

EACH GIFT BAG HAS

A STORY TO TELL

Some bags use colorful print feed sack material from the 1930s. Others use B&W prints from old family photos. Many use Susie's hand-painted paper and block-print designs. Each is individually crafted and unlike any other.

Gift Bag Themes include:
-- Baby Showers & Kids
-- Wedding Shower themes
-- Gifts for a guy
-- Christmas
-- Women's Friendship
and more...

WE ALL KNOW FROM EXPERIENCE how much fun it is when someone walks in with a gift. Unlike wrapping paper, which is often torn off and thrown away, gift bags can be used again and again. I'm thinking here of wine or culinary delights. Gift bags are a great way to hold several smaller gifts, like a year-round Christmas stocking. Eyes light up when you walk into the room with a gift bag...

Gift bags are handy, too, because you can place your card right in the bag so you don't forget it in the car, or on the counter when you leave for the party or luncheon.

For the record, she also has some new things in the works that are especially cool to me. Maybe you should come and see.

SPEAKING OF CARDS, Susie also makes original cards with Art-velopes, each a unique down-home creation.

Here's a Tip: When you go to arts and crafts fairs, buy extra cards to have on hand for the many occasions where you need a card at the last minute. Birthdays, graduations, holidays, sympathy and friendship cards... Cards are also memorable way to expressing gratitude.

Here's Another Tip: If you have blank cards with no message inside, Google can help you find words that capture the feeling you are striving to convey.

This blog post is essentially a continuation of yesterday's
Blog Post About November Arts Happenings.

OTHER REMINDERS INCLUDE TWO JAZZ RELATED EVENTS.

TONITE FROM 6 - 8 is the Grand Re-opening of Duluth Fine Pianos in its new location at 331 E Superior Street. They will begin their Monthly Jazz Concert Series. Ryan Frane, an accomplished Jazz musician and UMD Professor, will showcase his improv abilities on a Yamaha Grand Piano. He will be joined by Matt Mobley, bass, and Randy Lee, reeds. Come for the music, or to browse the artwork of certified Zentangle teacher and pattern artist Esther Piszczek. This event is free and open to the public.

Next Weekend Bruce Henry is back, Cookin' at the O. Ryan Frane and Matt Mobley will be back as well. Here are some details. You'll need reservations.... The venue is intimate, the food is stellar.

Meantime life goes on all around you. Get into it.

Local Arts Scene: November Happenings in the Twin Ports

Butterflies and Such by Jeanne Marie Reise

Let's start with Local Art Seen. Monday I missed the opening for The Thin Veil at Zeigeist Cafe, but managed to swing by Tuesday evening to  see the variety of works on display this month both upstairs and down. I was actually surprised at how many artists participated and the variety of works displayed, as you can see here. It was billed as poetry and art, and many of the artists included poems with their work. If you can find time, make your way to the Zeitgeist and leisurely stroll about till you've taken it in. All the images on this page are from the Cafe with the exception of the Zentangle design on the invitation at the bottom.

Last month Esther Piszczek created a website to serve as a calendar of sorts for local arts activities. If you are interested in what's happening in the visual arts or with regard to art fairs and other activities, I encourage you to bookmark her site, which can be found at https://twinportsart.blogspot.com. I myself didn't bookmark it last month because I simply keep the tab open at all times so I can quickly check to see what's happening the next few days. Between my calendar and hers, I always know where I'm going.

The Boatman at Twilight by Paulette A. Pashbin

We're closing in on the holidays here and it's a good time to start selecting the holiday sales you want to not miss. Buy local. We have so many talented regional artisans that are creating such a wide variety of items, I can't imagine not finding gifts and stocking stuffers at nearly every one you attend. There are several this coming Saturday alone including the annual Coppertop Craft & Bake Sale (9 a.m. till 2:30), the Rainbow Bazaar at the Rainbow Community Center (9 a.m. till 1:00), the Holiday Craft Sale at the Holy Rosary Church in Lincoln Park (9:00 a.m. till 3:00 p.m.) and the Duluth Women's Club Bazaar on 2400 East Superior Street (also 9:00 a.m. till 3:00). Heck, maybe you can get half your Christmas shopping done three weeks before Black Friday!

The Grand Re-Opening at Duluth Fine Pianos promises to be a fun kickoff for their monthly Jazz Series Concerts. The Northland has a hankering for jazz, and its nice to see more venues popping up. Last night I wrote about Oldenburg House and the classy players and performers they've brought in from the Twin Cities and Chicago. Ryan Frane and Matt Mobley have both contributed to making that new venue come alive. Bruce Henry will be back next week at the O.

Tenants, an oil pastel by Chris Monroe.

A fascinating Eric Dubnicka wire design.

Through a Thin Veil by Kathryn E. Lenz

She Brings Down the Moon by Sarah M. Brokke

Two Heads are Better Than One by Penny Perry, who curated this show.

Empty Seat at Sandy Hook. A memorial by Kris Nelson

Messenger by Christie Carter Eliason

Meantime art goes on all around you. Get into it.