vent magazine sep. 2009 - hollywoodnt edition

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05 Textual

06 Chad’s Mc Column

08 Hollywoodn’t

11 Music Reunion

12 Lighter Living: The Carcinogenic Cock-roach

13 Rothbury

14 “All The World’s A Stage”

16 Swami Aud

19 Tech: Mini Mobility

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VENT Magazine is proud to print in Owensboro withw w w . v e n t m a g o w b . c o m

Sushi | Hibachi

VENTMAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 2009 | SOLUTION #9 05.

Cell phones have become an appendage of the human body. They are our GPS, our email, our mobile Facebook and Twitter and our text mes-sage medium. Without our cell phones, we’re lost — sometimes literally.

And this is just the beginning. If computers keep getting smaller and cell phones keep becoming more functional, imagine what they will be able to do in five years or even 10.

In some countries in Europe, people are already paying at drive-throughs and bus terminals by waving their cell phones over scanners and making “contactless” payments. The memory card is embedded with a chip to adapt it for near-field communication. The cell phone is connected to the user’s bank account and acts like a debit card.

Owensboro-based Agent 511 is a mobile messaging solutions company, trying to stay at the front of a young, burgeoning market in which compa-nies across the globe are testing new ideas — ideas that seem limitless and are certain to change the way we do business and communicate.

Agent 511 is in the process of proposing projects with the state of Ken-tucky, including the Governor’s office, the Department of Tourism and the Department of Homeland Security. The company is also in negotiation with the City of Lexington and the City of Owensboro and three For-tune 500 companies, including a large pharmaceutical company, a large technology consulting company and a large grocery retailer. Other clients include one of the nation’s largest telecom companies, a billion-dollar hospital system and Comed, a utility company in Chicago. “If all those go through like we anticipate them to go through,” Ankur Gopal, COO of Agent 511 said, “then we’ve built something that’s become nationally recognized overnight.”

The mobile tech company has also formed partnerships with Motorola and Oracle, both Fortune 500 companies, as well as Boston Logic Tech-nology Partners. Other clients include Brown-Forman (owners of Jack Daniels, Finlandia Vodka and Woodford Reserve), Texaco, Chevron and City of Chicago.

Agent 511 is designed to connect consumers with retailers, restaurants, schools, police departments and news stations. With Agent 511, consum-ers can opt-in to receive text message updates from organizations in town. Or consumers can text a retailer’s or restaurant’s code to 511511 and re-ceive a text message response with the daily special or a mobile coupon. The options are limitless and 100 percent customizable for each industry and retailer.

This is not spam, though. Consumers must sign up for the free service. Gopal said that regulations on mobile messaging are so strict that if his company sent an unwanted text message to a consumer, he could be shut

down.“Mobile is the differentiator now in a marketing world that is saturated

by print, TV, Web and untargeted exposure,” Gopal said. “Mobile is tar-geted. People want the message. People say, ‘Hey, send me your coupons. I will read what you have to say and I will decide whether I’m going to act on it, but I want it.’”

Shane Vaughn, manager of Agent 511, said, the conversion rate for a text message advertisement, communication or coupon is 20 percent, while an untargeted print ad such as in the newspaper results in only a one or two percent conversion.

“The conversion is higher but the cost is cheaper,” he said. That con-version rate is the result of finely targeted advertising and communication and the fact that 94 percent of text messages are opened and read, and 85 percent of U.S. residents own at least one mobile phone if not more.

Agent 511 has also formed strategic partnerships with advertising agen-cies, including Jordan Chiles and Fire & Rain, a national ad agency lo-cated in Evansville, Ind. Agent 511 has also garnered interest and clients from the national market and from other regional organizations. While Agent 511 is to an extent competing with other marketing avenues, it also complements them: Retailers can mention their Agent 511 code on their print, TV and radio ads to increase exposure.

But mobile messaging is not all advertising. It is an immediate, mass communication tool for organizations.

Locally, Agent 511 is currently working with the Owensboro Police Department, the YMCA, WFIE-TV, WLEX-TV, Kentucky Lottery, the Western Kentucky Blood Center, City Subs & Salads, Blind Parrot, Valor Oil and the Kentucky Bisons, among others.

The OPD sends out alerts about road closings or wrecks or other infor-mation they want to communicate immediately to residents.

Office Manager for Agent 511, Kitty Jones, said, “On the 4th of July, they sent out really early that morning that the fireworks are going to be cancelled. That allowed people to adjust their schedules or make alterna-tive plans.”

During our interview, Gopal received a text from the OPD that a portion of Leitchfield Road was going to be closed part of the day, which is the route he takes to get to Kentucky Highway 54.

Residents can also communicate with the OPD. “Owensboro is the first city in the state to do two-way communication,” Gopal said. “They send out text blast alerts . . . but on top of that, you can personally send a tip to the police dispatch. Just text OPD + your message to 511511”

Jones said that recently, she saw a disoriented stranger in her back yard. “I sent a text to the police department. They responded to me immediately and within 20 minutes, they had a car in my neighborhood looking for him.”

Agent 511 spoke at the KY Chiefs of Police conference in August in Lexington, presenting its mobile law enforcement solutions.

The Western Kentucky Blood Center recently signed up with Agent 511. Residents can opt-in to receive notifications from the Blood Center about upcoming blood drives or emergency notifications about shortages of specific blood types.

While 95 percent of Agent 511’s business is from out of town, Gopal said, “We’re hoping Owensboro adopts it because we’d like to make Ow-ensboro mobile ready.”

Agent 511 is presenting a pilot proposal to the City of Owensboro, which has expressed interest in the company’s mobile technology.

“We know it takes some time to adopt and get used to this, but we know this is the way that technology is taking us. If it’s not our generation it’s the one behind us.”

By Matt Weafer

The line was longer than usual, and I was already feeling the urges, already attempting to block out the Red Man’s voices. He was hollering at me from a familiar position across the aisle, trying to persuade me to ignore all the warning labels and come back home.

It had been approximately 15,984,000 seconds since I had succumbed to such temptations. Over 185 days since I had stuck my fingers in a moist pouch and pulled out a beautiful and glorious wad of chewing tobacco and expertly positioned it against my cheek. Six months since I finally decided to help my eldest daughter’s wishes become reality and prove to her daddy’s promises were more than just empty words.

Still, as I stood my ground at the convenience store, I wasn’t sure I’d ever be able to boast I’d beaten the addiction.

Days earlier, I found half a pouch in a duffle bag that I hadn’t used in a while and I opened it up and breathed in the aroma. I took a giant whiff at what I’d been denying myself, and, despite the fact that the chew was dry and stale, I was tempted to snag it out of the bag and ruin everything I’d accomplished over the past half year.

The plan had always been to quit when my daughter was old enough to read the words, This Product May Cause Cancer, but she started reading when she was four so I used her premature aca-demic prowess as an excuse to deviate. The fact is I used anything as an excuse to deviate.

Things are really stressful right now. I’ll quit as soon as I fin-ish my Masters. When Sponge Bob passes his driver’s test, I’m through with it.

The funny thing is Nicotine should’ve been my worst enemy. Reading poems to my grandmother as she died from lung cancer had been one of the hardest things I’d ever had to endure, and us-ing any kind of tobacco should’ve been viewed as the equivalent of patting her murderer on the behind and congratulating him for a job well done.

Yet, there I stood, in a store built to make being an addict conve-nient, half-wishing that I was locked in a car full of smokers with a nicotine IV jammed in my arm.

Glancing around it was easy to see that I had plenty of com-pany. The lady at the head of the line was purchasing $60 worth of cigarettes, while only putting eight bucks worth of gas in a car that looked as if it would struggle to make it to Philpot and back. The guy directly in front of me was swaying from side to side with a 24oz coffee in each hand and I had already watched him burn the hell out of his mouth twice as he ignored the steam signals protrud-ing from each cup and attempted to get his fix. There was a two or three year old vigorously sucking on a pacifier, standing next to a lady chewing on an ink pen with an equal level of intensity.

I guess you could say I have an addictive personality. But, the truth is we all do to some degree. What’s absolutely critical is find-ing the right addictions.

I used to be seriously addicted to spending time with my wife. Just being within 10 feet of her gave me a high unlike any other I’d ever ex-perienced. Eleven years and three children later it’s a little more difficult finding the time to get close enough to feel that same type of rush, but she is one addiction I will take to my grave.

Being addicted to exercise wouldn’t be bad. Maybe every time I think about tobacco, biting my nails, or drinking a beer with a batch of Buf-falo wings I should sprint out the door and run a few miles instead. That way I’ll be ahead of the game when one of my daughters reads about cholesterol and heart disease.

Next in line now, waiting patiently as a man dressed in a Colonial bakers outfit is trying to figure out how to spend all of his daily wages

on scratch offs.I was biting my lip to keep myself from screaming out,

“Don’t do it,” when the store door swung open again to make way for the next addict. A man walked in with two little girls. One was hanging on the back of his neck, gig-gling, and the other had her entire body wrapped around her father’s leg.

“Sir,” the clerk blurted out to get my attention, “what else can I get you?” She had already rung up the bag of sun-flower seeds I was holding.

My eyes habitually stole a look toward the tobacco, before settling on the man feverishly using his penny to scratch away his paycheck on the counter to my left.

“You know what,” I said, “forget the sunflower seeds. I need to get something else instead.”

I walked in the direction of the candy aisle, past a guy who was about to purchase a case of beer at nine in the morning, on a mission to get each of the ladies in my life her favorite chocolate bar. The father who had just helped to turn a simple store entrance into a carnival ride had beaten me to the spot.

“Robot Dad thinks you should pick the starburst,” he said in a machine-like voice. His daughters cracked up, and they were much more interested in their father than the candy.

And as I reached for chocolate surprises with more en-thusiasm than I had ever reached for a pouch of chew, I couldn’t help but notice the dad’s smile. No drug, sub-stance, habit or temporary rush could make a man smile that bright.

His was the grin of a true addict. That “might as well face it” grin that Robert Palmer put to music back in 1985. And the beautiful thing was — his baby girls shared his addiction.

By Chad McCollam

06. VENTMAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 2009 | SOLUTION #9

VENT Magazine is proud to print in Owensboro with

By Casey Aud

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Think black. Think country singer. Think Ow-ensboro home grown. Confused? Think sons of

the city, Jerome “P-Nutt” Taylor and David Parks shooting movies and sticking the asinine right

where you don’t want it — your brain. In their first video, handsome Parks and suave Taylor create and follow Percy Jenkins (Taylor), a black country music star receiving no love in Owensboro, Ky.

The duo met at Sparkle Brite car wash in 1999, and started in the business as com-pletely different entities.

Parks is a broadcasting major with a double minor in film studies and writing at

Western Kentucky University. He first flexed his entertainment muscles as a

professional wrestler/commentator, but has not wrestled since 2006 and left

the business altogether in 2007 to return to college.

Taylor flexed his vocal mus-cles in a stint with the Vallie

Boyz in 2002. “Although it sounded like something from the early 90’s,” Parks added. Taylor spends his time in the hip hop realm, but now he hosts shows from Louisville to Nashville with gigs like the Young Buck and Plies concerts here in Owensboro.

The Gnarles Bar-kleys of filmmaking didn’t discover their calling until they shot a fake news

story for a class project featuring the Green Man (from “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”) that even enlisted the help of the mayor of Bowling Green, Elaine Walker.

“We shot a fake news story about people lobbying to make the Green Man the new mascot for Bowling Green,” Parks said. “We talked to her to get the city’s ‘of-ficial’ stance on it. She was a pretty cool lady.”

In April 2009, Parks and Taylor wrote the “Percy Jen-kins” script. Inspired by Sacha Baron Cohen’s Borat, Percy interacts with real people while skewering a part of their culture. Not until Taylor donned the Percy cos-tume, though, did the character really come alive. The film chronicles family members, seedy locals and Percy himself facing his inability to play the guitar and interac-tions of a black country music singer not just breaking the mold but killing and burying it. But does that stall Mr. Jenkins? Not at all.

Parks and Taylor wrote, filmed and edited the “Percy Jenkins” video in about 10 days as a final project for one of Parks’ classes. Parks said he sat around with Taylor pitching ideas for short films for the class and Taylor sug-gested the idea of a black country singer. “We immedi-ately started laughing,” Parks said.

And that sums up Taylor’s and Parks’ relationship with film. “We really just want to make people laugh,” Parks said. “That’s one of the main things. We sit here and we talk about this kind of stuff and if we can laugh about it, we know it’s funny or at least think it’s funny.”

After conquering Owensboro, Percy is Nashville bound to the CMT corporate office where he is sure to face the question “Who are you and is this some kind of joke?” One way or another, Percy will have a spot in the country music hall of fame, even if he has to do it himself.

“’Percy Jenkins’ has 3,300 hits on YouTube,” Parks said. “I don’t know what it is about it. I think there’s something to that whole reality kind of comedy. I don’t know if it’s the reality of it or if it’s because P-Nutt looks funny in a cowboy hat walking down 5th St.”

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Next, the team is focusing on “Wasted,” a Web series that follows two thweeners (that’s the age group between twenty and thirty), who are colossal losers who haven’t changed or accomplished anything since graduating high school. “Wasted,” which will be for mature audiences only, addresses our generation’s inactivity and hopeless-ness when facing the existential crisis of what we are go-ing to do with the rest of our lives.

“Wasted,” slated for a February release is in the cast-ing phase and will showcase local talent including Amber Acton, Marty Moorman, Steven Edds, Ken Cravens and Katelyn Sill. Taylor and Parks, as their alter egos P-Nutt and Godfrey, will star in the feature and Terrance Hall, Taylor’s brother will also have a lead role. “He’s (Hall) one of the funniest people I know . . . no script or any-thing,” Taylor said. Hall was featured in a scene-stealing performance in the “Percy Jenkins” video as Percy’s shifty brother Leroy.

“I’m almost done writing ‘Wasted’ right now,” Parks said. “We have a portion of the cast in place, and we’ll probably start shooting in October and maybe do some casting calls.” Parks said he’s going to need a lot of people to pull everything together.

“I worked on a movie this summer with people from Western in production class,” he said. “We actually shot a full length feature, and I never really grasped how much was involved until we did this. I’ve got quite a task ahead of me being the guy in charge.”

Between cigarettes and jeers at sitcoms, Parks and Tay-lor revealed the origin of the name for their production company, Hollywoodn’t Entertainment. “I came up with that name around 2003 when I was working on different scripts that never really came to fruition. I pretty much re-alized that a lot of the projects I was writing were things that Hollywood never really would do — or do right.”

“We hate those diluted network sitcoms . . . too cliché and corny, nobody talks like that,” Taylor added.

With “Wasted,” the duo plans to take on such subjects

as holding down a job, the internet, marriage and having children, video games and the paparazzi to name a few. The cozy genera-tion that has made a living of mooching off their parents and the government is in for a rude awakening with what “Wasted” will of-fer. The Web series will tentatively be eight epi-sodes, released once a week on their Web site, www.hollywoodnt-ent.com, which is scheduled to launch this fall and should be fully functional by the New Year.

Next year, once “Wasted” is under Parks’ belt, he plans to start filming a full length feature motion picture. “It will be me and P-Nutt,” he said. “But it will be totally different. It won’t be much comedy. It will be more gangster.”

He has some changes to make, though, as he was planning on shooting the movie in the Executive Inn Rivermont, which is slated for destruction before he will start filming.

Until then, though, Parks and Taylor are working on filming more “Percy Jenkins” and “Wasted” and promoting their films, selling their merchandise and spreading the word about Hollywoodn’t Entertain-ment as they attempt to build an empire of offbeat humor in a town that has never seen anything like this.

Visit www.hollywoodntent.com to watch Percy Jenkins

August marked the return of one of the most unique music fes-tivals in the area, the 2nd Annual Musicians Reunion. The brain child of local musicians David and Peggy Vanover, the Musicians

Reunion is a chance for local musicians to get together, jam and remi-nisce.

David Vanover has been playing and performing music in Owensboro and the Chicago area for about 40 years, and when he and his wife first started the Musicians Reunion, they held it at their home and invited friends and family. But the popularity of the event grew so tremendously in four years that the Vanover home was no longer large enough to sup-port it.

The Reunion was put on hold for seven years. But David Vanover want-ed to maintain that camaraderie. He wanted to open the Reunion up into a festival, welcoming all musicians, their families and friends and share food, but most importantly music.

Diamond Lake owner, Brian Smith, provided just that.For the past two years, Smith has donated the pavilion, electricity and

sound equipment necessary for the AMR every August. Smith said that in the event of rain, the festival can be moved into the newly remodeled 750-seat theater.

The weather was perfect this year. The Vanovers provided the bulk of the food and acted as the event’s emcees. Guests gathered and ate and shared a moment of silence for local musicians who were no longer with us and for our soldiers.

Charlie Bellamy, Gene Husky, Chris Armstrong, Jimmy Heep, Kenny Tucker, Smokey McCoy and David Vanover kicked off the event. Next was the southern rock sound of The Sundown Band with Alan Hamm, Tony Stinnett, Rob Wright, Donnie Wright, “Papa” John Pepple and David Vanover filling in on drums.

The make-shift band of Ron Miller and Christopher H. of Flat Stanley, Greg Kirby of Groove DeVille, Rob Wright of The Sundown Band, Jimmy Heep on steel guitar and John Vanover on drums did a few favorites in-cluding an improvised version of “Rock and Roll All Night.”

Next, Groove DeVille, featuring yours truly, Kirby and D.S. Lloyd took

the stage. John Vanover on drums, Josh Vanover on keyboards and Jimmy Heep on steel guitar joined us as we performed several songs from our set list. Later, 15 year- old Briget Payne did several country favorites in-cluding “Stand by Your Man.”

A relaxed and easy vibe flowed through the crowd. It made it easy to strike up a conversation.

“This is great,” Christopher H. said at the festival. “We’ve got a lot of local talent and it’s great to see them all in one place.”

Kirby, who helped set up the festivities said, “This event has given the local musicians of all ages and musical genres a chance to get together and share their experiences and music with one another. A good day, good friends and good music. That’s what it’s all about.”

The musical talent ranged from rock, soul, country, gospel and southern rock. Much of the talent was currently in bands or had played together before. The event was the perfect platform to create “super groups” with those who hadn’t shared the stage before.

“I thought the level of musicianship was fantastic — old school players and new school,” Josh Vanover said. “Everyone had an amazing time, and I was happy to meet other keyboard players.”

Performances lasted until around 10:30 p.m. And even though it was 30 minutes past quiet time, the resort manager gave permission to extend time so that all performers had a chance to play.

Mark your calendar for next August. Though the exact date for next year has not been set, this is a free event.

As a singer, the Reunion gave me the opportunity to catch up with mu-sicians I hadn’t seen for some time and to meet others I had only heard about. As Husky told me upon our meeting, “Once you meet a musician, you’ve made a friend for life.”

By Miss April


Did you know the foam cup out of which you drink your coffee is a known carcinogen and can damage nerve tissue, even compete with your body’s natural hormones? Well, it is.

Styrofoam is just one brand of polystyrene, a petroleum based product that has practically taken over the world. It’s in every home, every work place, every landfill and every restaurant. It’s like carcinogenic cock-roaches, only polystyrene is likely to outlive that resilient insect.

Polystyrene is composed primarily of styrene, which is derived from petroleum and natural gas by-products. Styrene is an organic clear liquid that occurs naturally — in food products and other plants, especially cin-namon, coffee and strawberries — but is manufactured on an industrial scale by processing petroleum.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, styrene can cause cancer, nerve damage, liver damage, depression, loss of concentration, weakness, fatigue and nausea. The EPA recommends that styrene levels in drinking water not exceed 0.1 ppm.

The EPA’s report stated, “The MCL (Maximum Contaminant Level) has been set at 0.1 ppm because EPA believes, given present technology and resources, this is the lowest level to which water systems can reason-ably be required to remove this contaminant should it occur in drinking water.”

The real issue for the average consumer, though, is the foam packaging in which restaurants stuff your leftovers and to-go orders.

Research varies regarding the level of danger of chemicals leaching from the container into food, but most researchers agree that reheating food in a microwave inside a polystyrene container can cause carcino-genic chemicals to leach into food.

A report by the University of Virginia argues that polystyrene and plas-tic containers do not absorb microwaves, therefore the microwave heat itself does not release dangerous chemicals. However, the food in the container may heat to above 212˚ Fahrenheit, the boiling point of water; polystyrene begins to melt at a temperature slightly higher than that of boiling water.

Perhaps you remember heating up some leftover Olive Garden and no-ticed that the lid to the foam container curved inward and shrank. That’s a good sign that the container just deposited harmful chemicals into your food.

Different foods affect the likelihood of leaching chemicals. The fattier the food, the more styrene will deposit into the food product.

Styrene appears in other plastic containers as well and is equally as likely to deposit into food products. The National Institute of Health pub-lished a report in 2005 about the effects of styrene on human development and the reproductive system. In that report, NIH showed the levels of styrene that appear in plastic packaged food products: milk and cream contained 134 ppb; beer had 32 ppb; yogurt had 26 ppb; and soft cheese had 16 ppb.While styrene does occur naturally in some foods, the report concluded that the amount of styrene rose proportionally with the fat con-

tent; the fattier the food, the more styrene. Products in smaller containers showed more styrene than the same product in larger containers, because the ratio of surface area to volume was greater, meaning the plastic made direct contact with more of the product — more opportunity to leach chemicals.

Employees of polystyrene companies are more likely to suffer from the harmful effects of styrene than consumers because they are exposed to the carcinogen in its raw form in mass quantities on a daily basis.

Regardless, though, you’re more likely to get cancer from hanging out with smokers, walking around a busy street or using artificial sweetener every day than you will by drinking from a foam cup.

The real issue is the fact that polystyrene is derived from a limited natu-ral resource, petroleum. Considering the amount of oil this world already consumes, why waste more oil and create more pollution on a product that has the potential to harm us and is easily replaced by paper cups, alumi-num tins or reusable thermoses?

The production of polystyrene is more likely to add carcinogens to the environment through air pollution and water contamination from by-products than the actual finished product. In its foam form, polystyrene is durable and can withstand most elements except for heat and citric acid. Citric acid from lemons and other citrus fruits can break down polysty-rene to its original liquid form, at which point the liquid may pollute the ground water.

Though more expensive, many companies are now manufacturing Earth-friendly, biodegradable versions of polystyrene packing material and biodegradable plastics.

Until those prices drop enough for restaurants to purchase easily, the only solution for the consumer is reduce your use. Travel with a reusable aluminum thermos. Aluminum is easily recycled, lasts a long time and typically brings a larger financial return to the recycling company where you drop it off. So it’s good for the environment and your local economy.

If you order food to go or ask for a doggy bag to-go, request an alter-native to foam containers, such as aluminum foil. If you buy disposable plates, avoid foam, stick with paper. Foam containers and packing ma-terials are such regularity in our daily lives that we don’t think beyond convenience.

Polystyrene is recyclable, though. Resource Recycling at 2401 Grimes Ave. as well as River City Industrial Services at 1114 Elsmere St. accept polystyrene products labeled as plastic type 6. So if you do acquire foam, don’t throw it out, stick it with the rest of your recycling.

By Matt Weafer


By Jim Decker

When I heard there was an opportunity to cover the Rothbury Music Festival 2009, I had no choice but to look into this a little more seriously. Let’s start this story with a little de-briefing. I love music. It’s in the blood. There was no way I could miss this nearly unheard of, up-and-coming music festival — four days of the best music around: Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan and Warren Haynes from Gov’t Mule filling in for Jerry Garcia of The Dead among many others. You bet we can drive to Michigan. How far is that? Eleven hours? No problem.

But this article isn’t about music; it’s about the unique efforts to cut the festival’s carbon footprint and encourage responsible participation from attendants. These people just want to do the right thing. 40,000 people showing up for a four-day weekend could leave a disastrous mess.

When we arrived in Michigan, I had to correct my lovely assistant’s press pass before the next day, so what better time to interview Megan McFann, director for Madison House Publicity. I couldn’t believe it. Me-gan McFann. Let’s just say she’s a pretty big name. Madison House Pub-licity represents such bands as Keller Williams, Railroad Earth, STS9, Umphrey’s McGee and events such as Rothbury and the Mile High Mu-sic Festival.

With a bit of good luck, I stumbled upon this busy lady with every reporter, roadie, entertainer, production assistant and who’s who looking for answers and directions.

I tried to be the smallest burden I could and then asked her, “If I could tell everyone what it takes to make this festival work, what would you say is the key?”

She paused for a moment, breathed a meaningful sigh and said, “There are over 630 volunteers, some working for the cost of a ticket, others not. Every piece of trash thrown away is separated by hand — every piece of trash! They’re wonderful. I can’t believe what some of these people have done for us.”

The emphasis placed on that last word stuck with me. She was talking about you, too.

I realized then how much care the volunteers and organizers put into this event. Some worked eighteen- to twenty-hour shifts to fill in the gaps. There was a sense of duty among the volunteers. I didn’t see any-one actually hugging a tree, but I’m sure a few of them had before.

The entire event was organized with the environment in mind, en-

couraging attendees to carpool, to bring old cell phones to recycle and to overall maintain a sustainable lifestyle while at the festival. And the festival organizers offset their carbon footprint in a number of ways, too, including investing in wind energy.

The trash cans were labeled RECYCLING, COMPOST and LAND-FILL. Every trash can was manned by an educator who sorted the trash into appropriate bins, trying to spread common sense and good will.

Solar-powered mobile phone charging stations were located through-out the festival grounds. The general store and other booths and stations around the festival offered disposable cigarette envelopes for free to limit the lazy litter of cigarette butts in the grass.

The Michigan Economic Development Corporation offered in part-nership, a series of Think Tank seminars and open forums prior to the event to generate ideas to eliminate excess waste and decrease the fes-tival’s carbon footprint. Educators, scientists, writers and corporate and political leaders talked and answered questions about the cutting edge technologies and solutions for the sake of our future.

Closer to home, R.O.M.P. has had a focus on our environment for many, many, years.

“We want our memories to be in the air, not on the ground,” Gabriel Gray, executive director for The International Bluegrass Museum said. “We try to re-use paper when possible, print on recycled paper and at-tempt to leave as small of a footprint as possible. When our fantastic crew of volunteers cleans up Yellow Creek Park, by Sunday 5 p.m. you can hardly tell we were there.”

The International Bluegrass Museum has explored several efforts to reduce energy usage, including the possibility of solar and wind power. However there are no programs mandated for energy buy back from a consumer (net metering), generating their own power in Kentucky. This is pretty much a necessity for an investment into solar or wind power in order to be cost effective.

I found many common underlying factors between R.O.M.P. and Rothbury. The most prevalent factor that surfaced was that it’s all about the people — the festival goers, the sponsors, the promoters and most importantly the volunteers who transformed a concert into a new species of musical events, one with common sense and good will in mind.


The New Style of Music Festival

By Lisa Taylor, Broker/Owner, Maverick Realty

When Shakespeare wrote the line “All the world’s a stage,” his audi-ence knew that life was like a play on a stage in front of an audience, just like life in the 21st Century is reflected in the old Nike slogan, “Image is everything.” Essentially, these two lines convey the same basic meaning — people make judgments based on first impressions.

This concept reigns in real estate. Often sellers struggle to understand why their well-priced home in that all important location, location, loca-tion isn’t selling. Most of the time, it boils down to the basic staging of the home. Following are some tips to get sellers started with successful staging:

Curb Appeal — Buyers may just keep on driving if you don’t have superb curb appeal, even if your house is a showcase inside. Consider power-washing, weeding and manicuring your lawn as absolute neces-sities.

Cleanliness — Sometimes sellers say, “Well, we do have to live here!” Of course, you have to live in your house, but make it look as if you don’t. Keep it looking like a model home with clean floors, counters, closets, windows and baseboards.

Depersonalize — More sellers are offended at this suggestion than any other, but it’s important to remember that buyers don’t come to see your stuff. They come to see if their stuff will fit in your house. The cleaner the canvas, the more apt buyers are to imagine their things in your house. Remove personal pictures and pack up everything you don’t absolutely need.

Update Fixtures — Update light fixtures with the most current styles (these often come in contractors’ packs and are inexpensive). Replace hardware on cabinets, and if your faucets are older than you, update them. Updating fixtures gives your house a much newer feel.

Fresh Paint — Nothing says clean and new like a fresh coat of paint. This gives you the opportunity to cover over colors or stains that might be turning buyers off. Neutralize your house with beige and taupe in liv-ing areas and neutral greens and blues in bathrooms. (This rule applies for your exterior, as well.)

Repairs — Attack your home like a weekend warrior on a mission. While you might like your squeaky floor, chances are, no one else will. Repair squeaky floors and doors, chipped paint, broken fixtures, etc. Buy-ers will see that even the little things are already taken care of for them and will probably write a better offer.

If sellers start with these items, they are well on their way to receiving a good offer from a potential buyer. Staging a home takes some work, but it can be accomplished without much expense. The listing agent will be able to tell his/her seller exactly which actions to take when staging a home for sale, and if sellers will listen to their agent, their home will probably sell in less time and for more money.


www.danhauers.com


ur plane of existence occupies the same space as other planes. As a mystic, I can tune into other planes and other times. When this occurs, I transform into Swami Aud, master of the astral plane. I can grant a handful of wishes, and this

month’s wish is to resurrect an establishment from Owensboro’s past and to interpret the impact of that establishment on life in the city today.

Bearing in mind that an $80 million master plan for downtown de-velopment is running its course, Swami has spoken to members of the community to delve into the past to see what could be included in the bill. Anut trat unwaga! I see deep into my crystal ball. I see your dreams I see it all!

Slowly, a shape resembling a far gone restaurant and dance hall mate-rializes. I see staff in tuxedos, silver ice cream dishes and the best food in the city. Swami sees men proposing to their wives and planning their receptions in the same place.

A personable owner walks the tables, meeting and greeting the pa-trons to create the when-you’re-here-fuhgetaboutit atmosphere. Slow jazz croons from the speakers as low lighting creates romantic ambiance. Gabe’s was the place that whether you were a family of four or the Ma-fioso, you were treated as royalty.

In close proximity, a tower rises above the property — a tower that serves the same wonderful cuisine, a pool on the 13th floor and a pan-oramic view of the city, a city, which during the prime of this establish-ment was growing strong. Gabe’s was the place to be.

But what can Swami do other than make your wish come true? I can show you what it would be like if Gabe’s were to resurface today. Was this the type of business that the fast paced people of today want? Do they prefer to be taken care of or just fed? Wedding receptions take place in reception halls now — a multipurpose, featureless space, not the glitz and glamour of a Vegas-style restaurant.

Back to the present, I command thee and what do I see? A BP station now stands in Gabe’s place with the once smiling and waving statue of Gabe relocated to the entrance of a self storage facility. A decrepit tower reminds the neighborhood just how we let something great fade in our town. A shopping center bears the name, and citizens beg for the tower’s demolition. Do we want a reminder of an era that slowly slipped into antiquity?

Swami says we will never be able to reconstruct or relive the past, but we must be mindful. Like the Executive Inn, Gabe’s was representative of another time that just doesn’t thrive today. The community now looks for the new wave of entertainment in different areas of the city. We can’t expect another Gabe’s but we can attempt to put the amount of care into all our endeavors that Gabe and his era ensured.

By Casey Aud


SWAMI

Computer crashes can lead to some serious venting, especially after a trip to the repair shop or after pricing a replacement. Lap-tops, renowned for their convenience and mobility among profes-sionals and students have failed to gain market share in the home, mainly due to a higher price point than their cousin, the desktop PC. Netbooks may change that.

A Netbook is a smaller laptop computer built originally for email and accessing the Internet. But today’s Netbook can be much more than just a means to access the Internet. Numerous models pack enough punch to be the primary computer in some households. Chances are if you purchased your home desktop PC prior to 2005, a Netbook would be an upgrade from your current home PC in terms of processor speeds and hard drive space and so on.

In fact, according to an NPS Group survey, 60 percent of all Net-book users never took their Netbooks out of the house. For some, it’s the perfect choice to serve as a primary computer in the home; for others, its mobility compliments a home PC; and finally, some Netbook owners also own home PCs and/or notebooks. One cata-lyst to their thriving popularity is several models with price points under $500.

Computers Plus of Owensboro has a few models to choose from and will soon launch the first Netbook with a 13-inch screen and optical/DVD drive — not to mention, local computer professionals to assist in your decision making process.

You can also browse Best Buy, Office Depot and Staples for Net-books ranging from $400 to 600.

To get into a new Netbook for even less, check out your wireless

carrier’s store. AT&T, Sprint and Verizon all offer a subsidized Net-book with a built-in modem to access the Internet via their wireless network. All three carriers offer a Netbook for under $300, how-ever there is a catch: To receive the lower up-front cost, all wireless companies require you to sign up for a data package and a two year agreement. Furthermore, only Verizon Wireless offers a 3G network in Owensboro, on which you could access the Internet at DSL-like speeds. Verizon offers two plans for mobile broadband, $39.99 and $59.99 a month.

$59.99 can be a bargain, especially if you can eliminate your cur-rent Internet bill. Verizon offers the HP Mimi 1151NR. This version touts a 10.1-inch screen, yet is light, compact and mobile, weighing just 2.45 pounds and an inch think. It has an Intel Atom processor, one gigabyte of memory and an 80-gigabyte hard drive. It also has a built-in Webcam and runs Windows XP. In addition to the built-in modem that accesses Verizon’s network, it also has built-in Wi-Fi.

Although accessing the Internet via the modem on Verizon’s net-work is more secure than Wi-Fi, the Wi-Fi option comes in handy for those heavy users, as the $59.99 plan comes with a 5-gigabyte monthly cap. Wireless Zone, our Owensboro Verizon Wireless Re-tailer, has locations on Kentucky Highway 54 and on Frederica St. with demo models and a knowledgeable staff.

If you are in the market for a new computer, think twice before you get into another desktop or laptop computer; consider a Net-book. It might just be the next big thing in technology.

TE

CH


By Chris Jourdan

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