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THIS AND THAT
Unbelievable: The Athens Chamber of Commerce has announced
its annual meeting for Feb. 16 at The Classic Center. The
speaker? Saxby Chambliss. Rub it in our faces, guys. We
thought the Chamber was going to be the great uniter. Just
like he did against Max Cleland, Saxby ran a campaign of lies
and character assassination against Jim Martin. Martin beat
Saxby here by 62 percent to 38 percent, and we get Saxby as
the Chamber speaker? I'm going to throw my shoes at him.
Credit Where Due: We got the shop-local idea from the
Association of Alternative Newspapers, with member news
papers running similar campaigns in their cities all over the
country and Canada. But all we got was the idea. Publisher
and Advertising Director Alicia Nickles put it all together here,
and Advertising Representatives Anita Aubrey, Melinda Edwards
and Jessica Pritchard explained it to our advertisers and got
their willing participation in the prize packets. Ian Rickert put
together the interactive online form. Ad Designer Kelly Ruberto
designed the great ads and flyers that told the story, and the
crowning touch that emphasized the "local" in buying local was
Production Director Larry Tenner's suggestion, which he didn't
think would fly, but it did, for the slogan: "Shop Your Ath Off!"
Over 200 people made the pledge to spend at least $100 locally
doing holiday shopping, and the whole town was reminded to
shop your Ath off with local businesses, so go do it.
More Credit: In the recent run of Tom Stoppard's Arcadia put
on by the Town & Gown Players, audiences were buzzing over
the aplomb with which the actors tossed off the lengthy, com-
plicatedly witty dialogue. The production was a triumph for
director Ben Teague and the star-studded cast, who also built
the elegantly workable set. Just as integral to the staging, yet
more subtle, were the marvelous period costumes made by Amy
Miller, who is herself one of the best in T&G's stable of fine
actors. She'll be in Cabaret, coming in February.
Down Under: Comes the news in a New York Times story that
Major League Baseball has authorized team logos to be
embossed on funeral caskets. This is probably already standard
stuff for UGA, where discussions are under way to set aside
part of Oconee Hills Cemetery for deceased Bulldog football
players, so that the team can huddle throughout eternity. With
the casket logo idea for fans, so many Georgia fans are not
alumni of the school but merely following a winning team,
what happens after one more Florida defeat too many? Do rela
tives have to dig up the departed fan and affix a new logo,
depending on who's SEC champ?
The Economy, Stupid: What a weird time to be living through.
My parents and grandparents lived through the other
Depression of the 1930s and prior to that the hard times
brought on when invading boll weevils destroyed cotton farm
ing in the South. The stock market crash in 1929 meant little
down here, where people had already been coping for years
with the cotton crop crash. Cotton was the economy: every
thing was based on it—banking, retail business, etc.—and all
of a sudden cotton wasn't there anymore. Now, the stock mar
ket is much more pervasive—stocks are the new cotton in the
sense that everybody who had investments, at least through
mutual funds or IRA's, just assumed that they would keep on
growing, like cotton.
No wonder we don't understand our own economy. The same
Congress that cuts kids off health care because we can't afford
it can come up with unlimited billions for foreign wars that
have nothing to do with our security and then turn around
and start throwing money at Wall Street firms and soon at
Detroit while preparing to resist and complain when we try
once again to provide health care for our own people. Will
President Obama have anything left to work with by the time
he's inaugurated?
Back to Local: The shambles of the national economy, and the
state economy, too, will drive us all back to self-reliance and
helping each other out here at home. That's why we need to
be especially mindful of our local businesses, who have better
stuff, usually at competitive prices and where you shop with
somebody who appreciates you.
Pete McCommons edilor@flagpole.com
THIS WEEK’S ISSUE:
NEWS & FEATURES
City Dope ....
Athens News and Views
Nu$i's Space wins in court; yes, the city still wants your recyclables... and other news.
Comment
The Gift of "No Gift”
Local Sheridan Soileau explores an alternative way of celebrating the holidays.
. 5
39
A Secret Science 9
Local Comics Artist Eleanor Davis
Davis’ first novel-length comic is set to come out soon from Bloomsbury Publishing.
Art Notes 15
Landscapes, Love and Looms
The “hand.craft.it” exhibition is devoted to avant-garde craft-making.
Taking Back Sunday 21
A Whole Lotta Shaking (Up) Going On
New Again marks the rebirth and reinvention of this Long Island rock band.
Denied, Detained and Deported 22
Cars Can Be Blue’s Shocking Tour Horror Story (R. 2)
Nate Mitchell continues his account of his band's recent overseas debacle.
LETTERS 4
CITY DOPE.... 5
CITY PAGES ... j... i 6
, CAPITOL IMPACT 7
' ELEANOR DAVIS 9
ORT 10
GRUB NOTES 11
HOLIDAY GUIDE 12
ART NOTES...... 15
MOVIE DOPE 16
MOVIE PICK 17
, ’ THREATS & PROMISES 18
WU0G
19
TAKING BACK SUNDAY
21
CARS CAN BE BLUE, PT. 2
22
RECORD REVIEWS
: 24
DON’T MISS
25
THE CALENDAR!
26
BULLETIN BOARD
32
ART AROUND TOWN
32
COMICS
.:... 34
REALITY CHECK
.’....35
CLASSIFIEDS
36
COMMENT
39
COVER DESIGN by Kelly Ruberto
featuring artwork by Lou Kregel
EDITOR l PUBUSHER Pete McCommons
ADVERTISING DIRECTOR I. PUBLISHER Alicia Nickles
PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Larry Tenner .
MANAGING EDITOR Christina Cotter
ADVERTISING SALES Anita Aubrey. Melinda Edwards. Jessica Pritchard
MUSIC EDITOR Michelle Gilzenrat
CITY EDITOR Ben Emanuel
CLASSIFIEOS. DISTRIBUTION & OFFICE MANAGER Paul Karjian
AO DESIGNERS Ian Rickert, Kelly Ruberto »
ILLUSTRATOR Jacob Hunt. David Mack
CARTOONISTS James Allen, Cameron Bogue, Aaron Fu. Joe Havasy, Missy Kulik. Jeremy Long, Clint McElroy,
Brice Vorderbrug *
ADOPT ME Special Agent Cindy Jerrell
CONTRIBUTORS Hillary Brown. Rebecca Brantley. Jason Cugg, Ort Carlton, Tom Crawford, Tony Floyd, Michael Gerber,
Chris Hassiotis, John Huie, Gordon Lamb, Garrett Martin, Nate Mitchel, Rya-' Monahan. Cameron Raines,
Sheridan Soileau, Drew Wheeler t .
CIRCULATION Charles Greenleaf, Jimmy Courson, Mike Dempsey, Eric Mullins, Alex Whit®
WEB DESIGNER Ian Rickert
ADVERTISING ASSISTANT Maggie Summers, Aisha Washington
EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Jennifer Bryant
EDITORIAL INTERN Christina Downs
MUSIC INTERNS Bryan Aiken, Alex Oimiti ^poulos
ADVERTISING INTERNS Ginnie Carr
CONTACT US:
STREET ADDRESS: 112 S. Foundry St., Athens, GA 30601
MAILING ADDRESS: P.0. Box 1027, Athens, GA 30603
EDITORIAL: (706) 549-9523
ADVERTISING: (706) 545-0301
FAX:(706) 548-8981
ADVERTISING: ads@flagpole.com
CALENDAR: calendar@flagpole.com
COMICS: comics@flagpole.com
EDITORIAL editor@flagpole.com
LETTERS: letters@flagpole.com
MUSIC: music@fiagpole.com
WEB SITE: web@flagpole.com
VOLUME 22
ISSUE NUMBER 50
Flagpole, Inc. publishes Flagpole Magazine weekly and distributes 17,000 copies
tree at over 275 locations around Athens. Georgia. Subscriptions cost $55 a year,
$35 for six months. O 2008 Flagpole, Inc. All rights reserved.
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DECEMBER 17,2008 • FLAGP0LE.COM 3