“He had learned to step to the side of the day.”
Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day
“And I’m pretending that it’s paradise”
Van Morrison, “Golden autumn Day”
This was back before “back in my day” turned into “back in the day” (which, according to Nathan Bierma, occurred in the mid-90s); that is, before our personal nostalgia had to be [...]
I’ve been writing so much about art politics lately, some of you might have forgot that Art Scatter also writes about arts and culture. That’s our main goal, actually. It’s just that all this politics stuff keeps happening.
In fact, between bouts with the Oregon Legislature (which didn’t seem to notice I was in the ring) [...]
Enough is more than enough, The Oregonian’s editorial board declared this morning.
In an editorial headlined Hard times no license to rob the arts, it takes the Oregon Legislature to task for its hijacking of $1.8 million in donated money to the Oregon Cultural Trust, in addition to other failures to respond to the multiple crises [...]
I’m tired of the Oregon Legislature-raiding-the-Oregon Cultural Trust story. You’re tired of it. We’re all tired of it.
Unfortunately, as the Legislature moves on from the distress of trying to plug an $855 million budget hole to the mind-boggling challenge of filling an estimated $3 billion shortage for the 2009-11 cycle, the pattern’s been set. [...]
Friend of Art Scatter Martha Ullman West got back to Portland from a lengthy stretch in Kansas City, where she’s been researching a book on ballet legend Todd Bolender, just in time to take in one of the Rose City’s busiest dance weeks in quite a while. Here’s her report — and thanks, Martha, for [...]
It’s over. As Oregonian political writer Harry Esteve reports here on Oregon Live, the Oregon House has just passed its down-to-the-skeleton emergency budget by a vote 0f 37-22. The vastly pared budget, identical to the version passed Tuesday by the Senate, includes the expected raiding of $1.8 million in direct donation — not tax [...]
Over at Culture Shock, which has been keeping a close eye on the Oregon Legislature’s efforts to bridge the budget gap, Culturejock has just reported the state Senate has OK’d a budget that, among other things, grabs $1.8 million specifically donated to the state for use by the Oregon Cultural Trust — money that was [...]
This is exactly what was never supposed to happen. This is the breaking of the devil’s deal the Oregon Legislature made to keep the culture lobby off its back.
This is what happens when an entire state thinks that “fiscal responsibility” means tax kickback checks to citizens in flush times, $10 corporate income taxes in [...]
“I’m mumbling mumbling
And I can’t remember the last thing that ran
straight through my head”
Van Morrison, “Ballerina”
Every Monday, new music lightens our dreary drive to Eugene and back. New releases come Tuesday so there’s a week’s delay and anticipation that figures into the mix, too. Yesterday it was “Sweet Thing,” the fourth song on Van Morrison’s [...]