A special congrats goes out to The Select Group who recruited me for my current job (which I am really enjoying). I can attest that they are working hard to achieve those growth numbers and it’s great to see them get some recognition for their efforts! Congrats, you guys and to all who made the list!

Doesn’t look like the update has made it to the web-based Google Maps, but I’m sure that’ll follow soon. For those who have Google Earth installed, I’ve included the KMZ file below for the view of North Hills. For those who don’t have Google Earth installed, you should give it a try. It’s really quite amazing. I especially encourage the parents out there to do so. My nieces and nephews love me to take them on a “tour” of parts of the world. With the way it flies from place to place, it is a powerful tool for learning all about our world.

And hey, if you need a vacation but can’t get away, just take the occasional Google Earth cyber trip!

Download north_hills_mall.kmz

Another counter lady points me toward a wall of doors that lead to several meeting/conference rooms (which any Wake County group can use for free–just sign up in advance like the those industrious computer occupants have done). Through one door I see a woman gesturing, talking, instructing. She stands before a table laden with beautiful sculpted, collage and painted works of art that look like they used to be . . . . books.  This must be the place! 

If you don’t know where I am by now, then you need to be reminded of that tall, two story building in Cameron Village.  Now, you don’t need to be told about Cameron Village; you know that fun, 50′s sort of walkable shopping center– a shopping center! Right there practically in the middle of the city! Thriving, in spite of surrounding malls and suburban shopping center sprawl!  Don’t stop and shop yet.  Keep going, past Fresh Market, to the end of Clark Street.  That tall, two-story building?  The library?  You remember.

Oh, stop rolling your eyes and saying Geesh, a library?  First a movie theater and now a library?  Because this library–Cameron Village Library–did something extraordinary last week, quietly and without fanfare or splash (because it is the kind of thing they do all the time) this library introduced to about 20 people (for free!) an art form that is the latest hottest thing, an underground art movement, in other cities, spreading faster than kudzu roots; a new kind of art that several well known artists have taken up, whose amazing creations are now on display at MOMA in NYC and the like.   

I walk into the room. Immediately I’m aware of a bustling busy-ness at the several long tables, and realize the workshop already started, so I apologize to the instructor for being late and turn toward one of the tables to take a seat.  I stop, horrified.  People are tearing up library books.  They are furiously ripping the pages right out of books! As fast as they can, they rip pages and toss them on the floor.  Am I in the wrong room after all?  Did I misunderstand the tiny notice I spotted while scanning the A & E section as I do every week, searching for the unusual happening, the barely known but awesome band or writer or artist coming to Raleigh? That miniscule listing, entitled “Transform Old Books into New Art” had snagged my attention. Last winter, in Tucson, I saw artists of all sorts–sculptors, painters, print makers, multimedia artists–all of them applying their particular skill to make what is called “Altered Books.” 

This is the right place, the teacher says, laughing. She is Tracy Johnson, the manager of Panopolie, a beading store in Raleigh.  She says she instructed the class to rip out pages–to remove around 40 % of the book.  This is how you start an “Altered Book.”  Take an old book that has committed no crime other than to become very outdated and very unread, and is now sentenced to the landfill with about a hundred of its buddies (and that’s just in this room alone for this class; tons of them go into the landfill all the time) and you rip out a bunch of its pages, to make room for what you do to the remaining pages: you will paint, collage, pierce, fold, cut, twist, tie, punch, lace, sculpt, bind, glue, stitch, any thing at all, whatever your vision and artistic eye leads you to do.  And this former book is not only rescued from certain death; it becomes art, your art.

For two hours last Thursday, at no cost, I made an altered book, thanks to Cameron Village Library and Panopolie (in addition to beading supplies, the store sells material for book arts, and is starting to offer classes in altered books and handmade journals, taught by Dawn who brings this new art form to Raleigh all the way from her former city–New Orleans).

Coming up (for free!) at Cameron Village Library:

MYSTERY AUTHOR PANEL DISCUSSION June 5  at 6 PM, famous writers right here!

LOCAL AUTHOR PANEL DISCUSSION June 10 at 2 PM  More famous writers (of the local literary sort)

PRESS 53 PUBLISHING Sunday June 3 at 2:30 PM: a successful small press in Raleigh and the authors they publish will talk about writing, getting into print, etc.

So, turn off your 500 Cable/Satellite TV/Radio set, get off your $100 month phone/broadband digital gadgets and visit this sunlit spot with free books, free wifi, free computer use, free meeting space, free audiobooks, free workshops, free information on anything you want to know and I mean anything (and from far better sources than Google or Wikipedia).  That counter lady who knew what I wanted before I said it?  She is called a librarian.  Every librarian I have ever known loves to give information.  That is what they are there for.  Imagine.  A real person that is helpful, accurate, and kind; a human being with a talent for sensing what you want before you say it, the way a good auto mechanic just knows what your car needs by looking at it. This is healing stuff for people who are tired of automated menus and computerized programs that pretend to do what libraries really do. Get thee to the library.  Take a book cure.

1. Strawberries!!! Local strawberries that taste like strawberries, not like cardboard. You’ll never eat strawberries from the grocery store again.
2. Support local farmers and get to know them. Walk up and down the aisle and at each stall they call out to you, holding out a strawberry for you to sample. You can sample strawberries until they all start to taste the same, then you decide which stall to buy from according to other factors like which one had the cutest farmer boy or girl, or the friendliest grandfather/granny or the best stories.
3. Get out of the rain and under the open shelter and just gaze around at bright red strawberries and tomatoes, red-skinned potatoes, green asparagus, peppers, beans, and loads of blooming flowers of all colors, heavenly smelling herbs, and tall plants/trees/shrubs that will make you feel like you are in someone’s garden. You can get close to nature without getting wet.
4. You know how you get a bag of spinach at the grocery vowing to eat better and be healthy, but of course you go right on eating unhealthy, quick and easy food on the run? And a week later that bag of spinach in the produce drawer of your refrigerator has turned to a dark green glob of seaweed smelling like dead fish? And you have to throw it out. Well, last weekend I bought a huge bag of spinach from a farmer at the market, and it is still very nearly in the same shape as when I bought it, an entire week later–not even limp or wilted, still tender-crisp. Yes, I should have eaten it sooner but I am about to cook it now.
5. How did it last so long? No, the farmers don’t add special preservatives–this is fresh non-processed food picked just this morning–it lasts longer because the produce you get at the grocery is already about a week old by the time you buy it.
6. Not only is this produce more patient than the grocery’s, waiting and holding off decay until you have time to cook it, it tastes better (especially if you eat it right away!)
7. Now, here are two special farmers that are only at the market on weekends and are worth the trip there alone!
• L F C Honey A family from Hillsborough that keeps bees without using chemicals, and sells the best tasting honey, royal jelly, beeswax candles, and skin care items they make themselves. Their two long-haired sons handle the sales at the market and will tell you all about their mom who makes the wonderful lavender scented hand cream and orange scented lip balm from beeswax, oils, and other natural ingredients. No petrol! And their dad who keeps the bees and makes the candles from beeswax. The LFC stand for Little Flying Cows! Get it? Bees are little flying cows that produce the great stuff this family farm makes for us.
• In the Red Farmstead Cheese You have to go into the long shed for this one. Another family farm from Chinquapin, raising goats and pigs organically, chemical-free, allowed to roam. Their stall has a table loaded with samples of the best goat cheese I’ve ever tasted, arranged from the mild-but-delicious flavored and/or herbed (try the blueberry!) to spiced so hot and fiery people bring their friends and challenge them to try the one at the far end. This is a happy tiny space; everyone nibbling samples and swooning and some screaming and laughing and sweating, begging for water. I took home the rosemary and garlic cheese. Now that did not stay in my refrigerator for a week like the poor spinach. That little gem disappeared quickly, gone in just two days. I’ll go back for more. They also sell bread, chemical free sausage, eggs, and other organic items they grow themselves.

Have fun!

Raleigh State Farmer’s Market
1201 Agriculture St.
Raleigh, NC  27603

Well, looky here at this little happy nugget I stumbled upon today!  This is what I call a perfect antidote to the “Mondays!” 

Raleigh’s own The Rosebuds, who just so happen to be among my favorite bands, have a new album titled “Night of the Furies“ on the way with an official release date of April 10th.  Imagine my surprise and joy upon discovering that my online-music-subscription-service of choice already has the album available in an apparent “Exclusive” arrangement!  Woohoo!

I am currently sitting in Raleigh Times right now, so I haven’t even listened to it yet (aren’t I sweet for posting this already?). But based on the first single, “Get Up, Get Out,” which hit the internet a few weeks ago, I am excited to hear the album as a whole.  Ivan and Kelly are two of the coolest, most unassuming people around who just so happen to be indie-darlings loved by many critics and fans alike.  I am consistently amazed by the number of Raleighites I meet who have never heard of The Rosebuds while so much of the rest of the country has.  Silly, I think.  Don’t you?

NOTE:  For those of you who don’t have a subscription to Rhapsody, worry not!  You can listen to up to 25 tracks for free each month without even signing up.  So feel free to click the play button above and have a listen!  Enjoy!

Friends of Dorothea Dix Park, one of the accounts I work on, has achieved this rare cultural phenom. The group wants to save all 306 acres of property at Dorothea Dix in Raleigh for a destination park, like New York City’s Central Park.

You have seen their Dix 306 signs. You can’t miss them. Some streets have a sign in every single yard. The signs are not only inside the beltline, but there are Dix 306 signs from Asheville to Manteo. They are in such high demand, that it is a challenge to keep up the supply. So you might be thinking, how do I get one of these signs?

You can find the sign pick-up locations at the following URL, or just use the handy-dandy map Raleighing put together below.

http://www.dix306.org

While you are there, feel free to sign the online petition. Get this, Clay Aiken signed the petition. We thought it might be a hoax, but we checked with his publicist and he is a real supporter for preserving all 306 acres as a destination park. Sometimes, marketing campaigns take on a life of their own.

The Raleigh St. Patrick’s Day Parade begins at Noon and is the second largest in the Southeast with over 3,500 marchers. Of course, there will be floats, marching bands and this year’s Grand Marshal: WRAL-TV anchor Debra Morgan.

The parade starts at Noon at the corner of Cabarrus Street and Wilmington Street. The route will run up Fayetteville Street to the State House and then cut over Edenton Street and back down Blount Street to finish at Moore Square. You can view the official route here:

http://www.raleighstpats.org/route.html

Right after the parade, look up. The Green Beret Parachute Team will jump into the center of Moore Square and begin the festival. The Moore Square festival will actually be two festivals in one. The official festival will have a stage for live music, dancing and there will be plenty of food and vendor booths.

Tir Na Nog Irish Pub will also have an outdoor stage set up with live music including the sounds of The Battlefield Band and The Dickens.

The Tir Na Nog event will have a $5 cover after 4pm with plenty of green beer to be had.

Granted, I had a terrible run-in with a hot doughnut back in college, so I’m a bit jaded… 

Bleh…

The presenter of this lecture will be Bruce Katz, Vice President at the Brookings Institution.  Much of his work has apparently been focused on the competitiveness of metropolitan areas.  His publications and presentations can be accessed here.

The lecture is free and will be held from 6 – 8:30pm on February 8th at the Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts.  Information on the entire series can be found here (PDF).

Ok, perhaps I’m being a little too harsh here, but does anyone like this thing? Is this really the image of Raleigh we want to project to the rest of the world? Granted, I realize the primary audience for it is potential convention clients, but I’m not even sure they’ll get it.

Admittedly, I’ve seen worse “corporate” and “government” videos.  Much worse.  I guess I just wonder why anyone would spend the money to produce something like this when there are such better options, like a more interactive website.  How about a 3-D interactive rendering of downtown Raleigh that people could use to conduct either guided or manual tours of the city online?  How about including a timeline so the rendering changes when a slider is moved?

Anyway, post your comments here or on YouTube.  The folks at the Raleigh CVB Convention Center are interested in what people think and will be reading them.

This video is also available here:

http://www.raleighconvention.com/index.php/homepage/shine-video