Tag: Third Friday

A day in a campaign

It wasn’t my personal campaign, but having a couple political events scheduled the same day and a few extra dollars in my bank account (thanks to new advertisers) allowed me to make some of these gatherings and assist these great candidates.

District 38B candidate Carl Anderton, Jr.

For example, District 38B candidate Carl Anderton, Jr. held court downtown at Main Roots Coffee with a few supporters and friends. It was a relatively intimate gathering as it served as a way station between a parade in Mardela and door knocking in the morning and an afternoon Vietnam veterans event in Salisbury.

The parade was the beginning of the day for these two candidates, Christopher Adams of District 37B (holding the Coke) and District 2 County Council candidate Marc Kilmer. You’ll see Marc again in a few paragraphs.

Carl made sure to thank me for telling the truth about the MSEA Conway/Mathias flyer, although another attendee brought up the irony that the budget Conway and Mathias voted for also robbed millions promised to teacher pensions. The discussion was interesting and it allowed me to meet and speak with a person I’d not previously met who is a fan of this site.

I also spoke to Jackie Wellfonder, who introduced me to Tweetdeck. Maybe I’ll start making heads and tails of Twitter now, although the 140 characters is a problem for me. Consider that the previous sentence was just a little over 140 characters by itself and you’ll see my issue.

This afternoon’s event was the latest of a series of coffees Anderton has had at Main Roots, which ironically lies a short distance outside Carl’s crazy-quilt gerrymandered district.

But the story isn’t over yet, as I went home for a couple hours before heading over to my Central Committee cohort Bob Laun’s new place to be greeted by this spread.

I’m told that Bob and his lady friend prepared it all themselves. Complements to the chefs – it sure beat rubber chicken.

The event was on behalf of Marc Kilmer and drew about 30 people. It would have drawn one more but he couldn’t make it and I was told to relay a message to Marc and crew, which I did. (I know the sender reads this site, so I can be cryptic like that and know it was received.)

Unlike some other fundraising events, there weren’t formal remarks by the host – instead, Marc smartly circulated between the gatherings which naturally sprung up in various areas inside and outside the house. Having two young children to look out for helps in that regard as well.

I did catch up to Kilmer, who’s on the left in this photo, with host Laun in the center and Delmar Commissioner Bunky Luffman on the right. Bunky is Anderton’s campaign manager so I saw him at both events, too – same goes for Anderton, Shawn Jester, Jackie Wellfonder, Christopher Adams, and Muir Boda.

As I noted, many of those there had also been at the Mardela parade in the morning, so we were regaled by tales of several candidates and how they fared there.

While there wasn’t anything earth-shattering said at either event, I did get a good quote from Anderton at his coffee. We were discussing how I was frustrated about Larry Hogan’s reticence to address more than a few issues, and I noted I wasn’t a one-issue guy. Carl isn’t either: “I’m not a one-issue guy, I’m an eighty-issue guy,” he said, referring to the number of tax and fee increases we’ve endured over the last several years.

And while it’s not necessarily related, watch me tie this in to my point. I was walking over to Main Roots from where I parked down Main Street, when I saw this development.

If that building looks familiar to my readers, let me remind you of where I was on a Third Friday two years ago. Ironically, I wrote then about another failed restaurant that begat yet another failure before its current iteration as Roadie Joe’s.

But we face a choice this year. Surely the owner of this new enterprise has tied his dreams – and probably a fair share of borrowed money – into this forthcoming restaurant, slated to open in June per this piece at the One Salisbury blog. (That’s how I knew to look for it.) There’s no doubt the business will sink or swim on the quality of its food and service, but the question is how much of an incentive or boost can the state and local government give this entrepreneur by assisting him as needed, staying out of the way the rest of the time, and not penalizing him if he’s successful by punitive taxation? After all, he could have just as easily opened in Delaware.

If we stay on the same old path we’ve trod over the last eight years, it’s likely to act as an economic headwind which will make success far more elusive. But going in a different direction might just open the door enough for him to break through and make Echelon a success. Those candidates I supported today – and other conservatives of like mind – will be the ones who can help him be successful if the other ingredients are present.

A Salisbury New Year

At the risk of sounding “so last year” I’m going to talk about where I was last night. I wasn’t there from start to finish, but I saw the most important part.

For the first time, the city of Salisbury had its own New Year’s Eve celebration on the Plaza. Observers I spoke to said the crowds were somewhat modest early on when the celebration began at 8:00, but by the time we arrived shortly after 11 they were gathered throughout the downtown Plaza.

On stage at the time were The Bonedaddies, the second and final band of the evening. (Test Kitchen opened the proceedings.)

As you can also see, the ball was suspended directly above the stage, which had a running time clock through the event.

From the little I saw, it seemed like a well-run event. Yes, a number of people were celebrating with potent potables in open containers but no one seemed too much out of control. I noticed that domestic beers were running $3 a cup with Fat Tire and wine for $5 per serving, so there wasn’t exactly a cheap buzz to be found – unless you shelled out $20 for the 150 available Pub Crawl tickets, good at any of several downtown watering holes. I think they had champagne on sale, too, which may have helped a flagging business – if you believe my blogger friend Becca Lower, at any rate.

Around 9:00, as I was told, there were around 1,000 people in the Plaza but by midnight I would guess there were somewhere between 2,000 and 5,000 people down there, based on some of the estimates I heard and my own figuring of the crowd. It wasn’t wall to wall people, but you couldn’t just casually stroll freely through there either. Given the Plaza is a couple blocks long and perhaps 60′ to 80′ wide and that some of the space was taken by the stage, beer tables, and so forth I would say there were maybe 3,000 down there. It was more crowded than I’d seen at any Third Friday, but there is less room to move around at those monthly events because of the artisan spaces.

Many of the city’s political officers were reportedly there, but politics wasn’t center stage at the event. The average partygoer looked to be in their 20s or 30s, with a sprinkling of families around – the voices you hear on my recording (aside from my countdown starting at about 15 seconds) were those of a family with a couple small children standing next to us.

Overall, though, I thought it was a very good event. Fortunately, the weather was good – if a little chilly – and it seemed like the only hitch was that the ball was a couple seconds late to the bottom. I also didn’t see any food vendors there, but then again surely several of the restaurants facing the Plaza were open – down the street we noticed Mojo’s was fairly busy. So we’ll see if the event comes back for year two; my guess is that it will.

A monoblogue year in review

Having a holiday schedule based on Wednesday holidays seems to play havoc with the news cycle, as there’s not much going on with Maryland politics right now. By the time the holiday hangover is done, it’s the weekend.

So over the next four days I’m going to provide for you a look back and look forward. As part of that, tonight’s post will be the look back, with some of the highlights of my political coverage – and a couple other items tossed in for fun as well. This is the first time I’ve tried this, so I’ll see how it goes.

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The year began, as it always does, in January. As will be the case even moreso this year, political fundraising was in the news as there was a surprise leader in the gubernatorial money race on the GOP side. Another highlight of the month was a spirited and enlightening discussion of state issues at the Wicomico Society of Patriots meeting – something all too infrequent this year, unfortunately.

But the highlight of the month was my two-part coverage of the Turning the Tides conference in Annapolis. which had a plethora of good speakers and discussion. It was so good I had to post separately on the morning and afternoon events.

In February my attention was turned to several topics, particularly providing coverage of the financing and the events surrounding the Salisbury municipal elections, for which the primary was February 26th. A key issue brought up was a state mandate for the city to help pay for cleanup of Chesapeake Bay, to the tune of $19 million a year.

Another state mandate took center stage in February, as the Wicomico County Council held a Tier Map forum to find out citizens weren’t exactly enamored with the idea. As part of that I read from my written testimony on a Tier Map repeal bill, which wasn’t the only testimony I wrote – I also put in my two cents on the gun grab bill.

We also found out that month that the Maryland GOP would get new leadership following the resignation of Chair Alex Mooney.

March found me continuing my coverage of the Salisbury city elections, but only backing one candidate. More important were local developments on the state level, where the Second Amendment was a hot topic for a local townhall meeting and our county’s Lincoln Day Dinner.

But the highlight for me, by far, was my day at CPAC. That turned out to be a two-part set of posts.

As the area began to wake up from a winter slumber in April, so did the political world as it turned from the General Assembly session to the 2014 campaign. The Salisbury city elections went as expected, so I turned my attention to the race for state party chair. Interim Chair Diana Waterman ran a campaign which was at times embroiled in some controversy, but prevailed on enough supporters to make it through the lengthy grind of campaign forums (including one in Cambridge on the eve of the state convention) and win the remainder of Alex Mooney’s unexpired term. But even the convention itself had its share of ups and downs, particularly a chaotic ending and a rebuff to new media.

While that was happening, the 2014 election was beginning to take shape, with familiar names both trying their luck again and trying for a promotion. Others had interesting endorsements as feathers in the cap.

But it wasn’t all political in April. The outdoor season began with two local mainstays: Pork in the Park and the Salisbury Festival. I also found out I was immortalized on video thanks to Peter Ingemi, better known as DaTechGuy.

Those things political slowed down in May, with just a little reactionary cleanup to the state convention to begin the month, along with other reaction to the recently-completed General Assembly session. In its wake we also had turnover in Maryland House of Delegates GOP leadership.

But one prospective candidate for governor announced other intentions, leaving another to confirm what we knew all along.

On the fun side, I enjoyed Salisbury’s Third Friday celebration with some friends and stopped by to see them at another barbecue festival, too.

June began with a visit from gubernatorial candidate David Craig, who stopped by Salisbury and in the process gave me an interview. And while he didn’t make a formal tour, fellow Republican Ron George made sure to fill me in on his announcement and establish tax cutting bonafides. We also picked up a Republican candidate for an important local seat and found out political correctness pays in the Maryland business world.

A local doctor gave us his perspective on Obamacare and our area celebrated the chicken in June, too. I also learned of a special honor only a handful of political websites received.

As is often the case, our wallets became a little lighter in July. In the aftermath, we found out who David Craig picked as a running mate and welcomed both of them to our Wicomico County Republican Club meeting. I also talked about another who was amassing a support base but hadn’t made definite 2014 plans at the time.

On the other side of the coin, we found the Democratic field was pressing farther away from the center, a place the GOP was trying to court with the carrot of primary voting. Meanwhile, the political event of the summer occurred in Crisfield, and I was there.

There were some interesting developments in the new media world as well – a plea for help, a shakeup in local internet radio, and my annual monoblogue Accountability Project all came down in July.

The big news in August was the resignation of State Senator E.J. Pipkin, and the battle to succeed him. And while one gubernatorial candidate dropped out, another made his intentions formal and stopped by our Wicomico County Republican Club meeting as well. Even Ron George stopped by our fair county, although I missed him.

It seemed like the gubernatorial campaign got into full swing in September – Charles Lollar announced in an unusual location, the Brown/Ulman Democratic team came here looking for money, Ron George tangled with Texas governor Rick Perry and showed up to make it three Wicomico County Republican Club meetings in a row with a gubernatorial candidate, and Doug Gansler decided to drop by, too. On the other side, Michael Steele took a pass. I also talked about what Larry Hogan might do to fill out the puzzle.

Those up the Shore made news, too. Steve Hershey was the survivor who was appointed State Senator, and I attended the First District Bull Roast for the first time. I’ve been to many Wicomico County Republican Club Crab Feasts, but this year’s was very successful indeed.

September also brought the close of our local baseball season. As is tradition I reviewed the season, both to select a Shorebird of the Year and hopefully improve the fan experience.

October was a month I began considering my choice in the gubernatorial race. That became more difficult as Larry Hogan took an unusual trip for a businessman and Charles Lollar’s campaign worked on self-immolation, while Doug Gansler needed his own damage control.

I also had the thought of going back to the future in Maryland, but a heavy dose of my political involvement came with the tradtional closing events to our tourist season, the Good Beer Festival and Autumn Wine Festival.

Most of November was spent anticipating the Maryland GOP Fall Convention; in fact, many were sure of an impending announcement. Honestly, both may have fallen into the category of “dud.” But all was not lost, as the month gave me the chance to expound on manufacturing and share some interesting polling data.

Finally we come to December. While the month is a long runup to the Christmas holiday, I got the chance to again expound on manufacturing and come up with another radical idea for change. We also got more proof that our state government is up for sale and those who are running for governor place too much stock in internet polling. My choice is still up in the air, even after compiling an 11-part dossier on the Republicans currently in the race.

Locally, we found a good candidate to unseat a long-time incumbent who has long ago outlived his political usefulness. And the incumbent will need to watch his back because Maryland Legislative Watch will be back again to keep an eye on him and his cohorts. I’ll be volunteering for a second year,

And while I weighed in on the latest national diversion from the dreary record of our President and his party, I maintained two December traditions, remarking on eight years of monoblogue and days later inducting two new players into the Shorebird of the Week Hall of Fame.

You know, it was fun going down memory lane for 2013. But tomorrow it will be time to look forward, beginning with the local level.

Third Friday May 2013 in pictures and text

Due to a prior commitment, I missed the April edition of Third Friday – which marked its return outdoors, where it thrives by being able to use the whole downtown plaza – but Friday evening turned out to be a winner weather-wise and because of that hundreds came out for this month’s edition of the event.

I had seen the crowd was a good one on approaching the event, but arriving on the Plaza it looked quite healthy.

It didn’t hurt that my friends from Semiblind were playing down there.

In and of itself, that’s not unheard of as they’ve played Third Friday before. But they seemed to lend a different flavor to the event you may not get with an acoustic act.

One big difference I noticed this year, though, is that the scope of the event seems a little smaller. If you look at that link, you’ll notice there were bands all the way down Main Street, but now the event seems to be concentrated just on the Plaza and the unit block of North Division Street.

In fact, there was a second band at the courthouse called the Edge-ucators but I didn’t make it over in time to catch them. There were other activities over there, though, which seemed to cater to kids and support the overall theme for the month of flight and things which go up in the air. As they said, “If it flings, flies, or floats… we are all about it!”

The open space of the courthouse yard lent itself to activities like disc golf as well.

And the kids had their own little space.

For the little ones, it was perfect: a bounce house, nearby snow cones, and plenty of sidewalk chalk. What else could a child want?

The local artistic community has also taken the event to heart, with Salisbury University getting in on the act by using a nearby building as exhibition space. Two new exhibits opened yesterday.

If you didn’t see “Immortals” and “Young Philly” yesterday, you have a little more time to check them out.

Let me just say I’m not an art critic and this question didn’t dawn on me until I went through my pictures this morning. But who actually sits at the exhibit during the time it is open? The artists? Seems like a lot of time out of a week to man an exhibit for 24 hours (Wednesday to Saturday 12-6, according to the flyer.)

Maybe if I went to this party I could find out. This is to benefit the fine folks at SWAC.

But accompanying the 3F theme of flight were several other exhibits. Posters similar to this were spread around the Plaza.

You could try your hand at making a paper airplane and seeing how far you could make it sail.

Even human-powered flight was encouraged.

Salisbury Mayor Jim Ireton was contemplating this one.

I can tell you he made it just shy of 9 feet. My bad knee and extra ballast left me a little short of 8.

But these guys were a draw without leaving their feet.

Why were they so successful? Well, there was the element of danger.

In all, the crowds seemed to hang around for the evening, making the Plaza a busy place. This picture was sort of random – I found the walking bush taking a rest!

It wasn’t all fun and games, though. Shortly before Third Friday got underway, these two businesses had a ceremonial ribbon cutting.

Both have been open for some time, but the local Chamber of Commerce wanted to give them an official sendoff.

As the evening progressed, the action began to shift to other places.

One eatery taking advantage of the weather and adjacent crowd was Roadie Joe’s, with a nice group of alfresco diners.

As it turned out, Kim and I enjoyed our late dinner outside at Roadie Joe’s as well, where Paul Brion was playing his final set of the evening.

The food was great, although the service was a little bit slow. But if the idea was to allow us to enjoy our evening without leaving downtown Salisbury, mission accomplished.

There were a couple times I overheard people say something along the lines of “I wish they did this more often.” I understand that part of the attraction of Third Friday is its uniqueness on the calendar, since it’s a single day each month where people can plan on enjoying downtown Salisbury. But in order to maintain a vibrant, thriving downtown that seems to be what’s envisioned by the city fathers, this needs to be a seven-night a week affair with several hotspots at once.

There’s also the argument that the Plaza should be permanently closed to traffic as it was for several years decades ago. For an event like Third Friday, which is kid-friendly, this makes perfect sense. It might not be a bad idea to close off North Division Street as well in order to better integrate the open space in front of the Government Office Building. Again, though, it depends on the vision for the Plaza – if it’s to be retail-focused then parking near the stores would be desirable, but something which is more of an entertainment district where nightspots may locate themselves up and down the block probably is best served with a pedestrian-only Plaza, with a taxi stand on the short street which runs off the Plaza toward Business Route 50.

Any such effort, though, is probably several Third Fridays away so enjoy the art-focused events and the nice weather while you can.

Meanwhile, for another perspective along with a little more Semiblind love, check out Jonathan Taylor and his Lower Eastern Shore News site. He and his wife April were busy taking a lot of photos.

2013 Salisbury Festival in pictures and text

After missing the event last year because I was out of town, I got to return to the Salisbury Festival this year for one occurrence. (Unless the date of the MDGOP convention is changed for next year I’ll miss the SF again in 2014.)

I had to be there early to help set up our space, so I happened onto the annual firemen’s awards. It’s always neat to see Old Glory raised up this way.

Once the firemen were finished, the color guard paraded to the intersection by which I was standing.

Having helped to set up our place (after the mixup we had was resolved) I first wandered the Plaza looking around.

A staple of the Salisbury Festival is its emphasis on artistic forms of all sorts. A number of craftsmen and artisans had set up shop hoping to make a little money from their efforts. But it was slow going on the far end.

This is the same locale where just a week and a day before Third Friday had set up shop outdoors for the first time this year.

Art of all sorts was on display, with an emphasis on the youngest attendees.

Many of them were hard at work chalking the Plaza at its entrance.

There were also performers on the Plaza, trying to instill us with culture.

Talented as they were, for me they were no match to the appeal of Detroit iron.

For those of you under around the age of 35 – notice something missing in this picture?

Look in the trunk.

Yes, the Corvair was a rear-engine vehicle which was rather popular back in the day until Ralph Nader killed it. It certainly wasn’t all that expensive.

It’s also fun to see what restorers go through. This was an unusual display for a car show.

But from this shell may come something which looks a lot like this.

For all I know, these cars could have been on the line at the same time – both are 1968 Pontiac Firebirds.

Yet I’m now of an age when the cars of my childhood are joined as “classics” by the cars of my formative years. Believe it or not, this car is nearly 30 years old – but I drove a similar model in my drivers’ ed class.

And I wasn’t the only one walking down Memory Lane, er, Main Street.

Now something I skipped in my little narrative was the block or so between the Plaza and the car show. That was fraught with fun and frivolity as well.

I talked about this group awhile back, and the local chapter of Move to Amend was out adding to the minor amount of political goings-on.

I had an interesting discussion with the guy, but obviously our end goals are different: he wants to erode the power of corporations in government by stifling their rights to contribute money (which, to me equates with their right to free speech.) I’d rather just limit corporations’ power and influence by limiting the size and scope of government. Of course, this guy made the classic mistake of assuming I wanted no government.

Speaking of people who make classic mistakes, the Democrats were mixed in with a group of private interests. I thought they should have been next to Move to Amend.

One piece of advice I gave to my Democratic friends: Tootsie Rolls and warm, sunny days do not go well together.

But they were right across from one of the two City of Salisbury setups, where my Council member Laura Mitchell was sitting. I should have asked if she was going to sit on the other side of the street, too.

But I was getting hungry and decided to check out the food court. I was also wondering where my fiance was.

You know, it really helps to turn your phone off silent when you are done with the event you turned it off at. Turns out she (and her daughter and friend) were down by the river, where I took this shot.

It was empty at the time, but this lot on the other side from downtown is where the Salisbury Festival hosts many of its evening activities. Later on Saturday there would be an international beer festival.

I almost took a photo of the rockfish I had for lunch, but I decided not to share.

Now when you have kids in tow your priorities change a little bit. Normally I would pretty much ignore the carnival portion of the SF, but that doesn’t happen with two teenagers.

A few rides, a basketball and couple (live, in a plastic bag) goldfish later, they were happy and Kim and I went our separate ways as I relieved a relieved Jackie. The Plaza was abuzz with activity by then.

Meanwhile, we soldiered on in our modest little space. The biggest problem, as it turned out, was having our tent banner paired up with a small table. We made it work.

The final photo is of two presidents: Ellen Bethel of Republican Women of Wicomico and Jackie Wellfonder of the Wicomico County Republican Club.

GOP table 2 (640x480)

It was nice to see our downtown alive and vibrant for a day, at least. Come Monday after 5 it will be back to its sleepy self, save for a couple pockets of activity.

Third Friday August in pictures and text

It certainly is the dog days of summer, and for the first time in over a year I found myself at a 3rd Friday celebration downtown. Here are the artists preparing for the event beforehand.

I’ll admit there was a specific reason I came downtown for this particular event, and I didn’t stay for the whole thing as I generally try to do. I also had Shorebirds seats for tonight.

Thus, the crowd pictures I took around 5:30 or so up and down the Plaza may be deceptively small. I know in a couple cases I let people pass to move them out of the foreground.

I’m not saying there was a crush of people on the Plaza, but my (admittedly limited) experience with 3F is that the crowds peak around 6:30 – 7:00 and I was at the stadium by then.

I did have some time to poke around and find out some interesting things, though. For one, the groups you can find at the event are constantly changing. Gone were the roller derby ladies of last year and in were those who want a bike route, dubbed the Orange Route.

If it doesn’t cost me as a taxpayer, knock yourselves out.

Still gone was the Escape Restaurant, which I remarked last year was set up like a ghost eatery with everything still in place at the time.

But the good news might be that a change is on the horizon, an Italian restaurant which may replace the late lamented Flavors of Italy in the hearts and minds of downtown denizens.

It’s worth noting, though, that the best laid plans of mice and men seldom last long – even if they are etched in stone.

Perhaps that’s not the segue John Robinson would be looking for, but as a means of supporting one of my loyal advertisers I attended the ribbon cutting ceremony at his newest venture, Delmarva Crossroads.

As you can see, John had quite a few well-wishers. Most prominent among them were Salisbury Mayor Jim Ireton and Council member Laura Mitchell.

Finally the time was near to officially christen the new business venture.

In the front row from the left are Delmarva Crossroads Editor Sarah Lake, Mayor Ireton, Councilwoman Mitchell, Delmarva Crossroads owner John Robinson wielding the scissors, and his wife Tracy.

Inside there were finger foods and drinks, and outside Flannery’s was giving away hotdogs and pop.

Now this isn’t Robinson’s first foray into media, as a few years ago he hosted an hour-long afternoon radio talk show where I occasionally found myself as a guest or a caller. And having read the first edition of Delmarva Crossroads, it seems to be a promising entrant in the local media. I wouldn’t see it wiping out the Daily Times (for one thing, the print edition is currently a weekly) but it can fill a void in Salisbury.

I found this among the most interesting items inside, as opposed to the artwork peppered throughout the first-floor suite. This is in Lake’s office.

I think I do pretty well by that myself with this little old website.

Since there was only one band I saw at the event, it’s not going to get its own Weekend of Local Rock post. But the Muddy Hole Band was playing in the Plaza and I have to say they have a unique instrumental take on some classic rock songs. Imagine Journey’s ‘Faithfully’ with an acoustic guitar, acoustic bass guitar (not a stand-up bass, but a four-string acoustic) and a mandolin – the band from the western fringes of Wicomico County played it.

They had a bluegrassy feel to the music but they kept the crowd entertained from what I could hear.

I have to close with this picture, which is a private joke of sorts. Those who follow Salisbury blogging would understand.

For the rest of you: this has been a public service announcement from the Mayor, who is perhaps Third Friday’s biggest cheerleader. Coming in second place may be John Robinson, whose newsroom will have a front-row seat to the festivities for the foreseeable future.

Weekend of local rock volume 40

You know, I promised this edition about a month ago and completely forgot.

To be honest, I have no idea if Third Friday came off tonight because of the storms which rolled through town (by several accounts.) I was actually up the Shore for my job so I couldn’t make it to 3F this month anyway.

But these bands were featured at last month’s Third Friday, so better late than never I suppose. Let’s begin at the Plaza with alex&shiloh and the Hot Mess.

alex&shiloh played the Plaza stage for July's Third Friday.

A second shot of alex&shiloh from July's Third Friday.

I’ve seen alex&shiloh together as a duo but this was their full-band debut. There was definitely a nice variety of instruments and sounds in the few songs I heard from the band as I was strolling the Plaza – they seemed to have something of a folksy vibe to them in this arrangement.

Moving around the corner to the courthouse, I came across The New Standards.

Despite the intriguing dual-percussion lineup, they played the most classic rock. While there’s nothing wrong with that at all, perhaps I was expecting more of a jam band feel to them and that may have been the case in those times I was out of their earshot. Still, if I were out to see any of the three bands in a more formal setting this would be my first choice.

The last band along East Main Street was Skyway Nine.

I have to admit that of the three I heard by far the least of Skyway Nine so they didn’t have a lot of opportunity to make an impression on me. But the one thing which did stick out was that the singer needs to find songs to better complement his voice. Sometimes the wrong song makes all the difference.

As I noted up top, tonight was supposed to be another Third Friday but I don’t know if it went off as normal because of the rain. On the bill were three local acts, in order of stage from Plaza to East Main the slate was The Hot Meals, Bigtimeshipwreck, and The Tent Pins. I’ve heard Bigtimeshipwreck before and enjoyed them so I was bummed to miss out on their show.

Oh well, next month is another chance although I have plans to see a big show the night before.

Third Friday July in pictures and text

I think the attendance was pretty good as the weather was arguably about as perfect as someone can ask for.

I took this shot standing toward the west end of the Plaza looking east. Noteworthy is the fact the west end of the Plaza is usually not all that busy on Third Friday. It’s the more sedate side of things, like this gallery shows.

I wonder, though, why it’s Gallery 101 when the building is 224 West Main?

But good weather brought the crowd farther down. That and free snow cones at the Carriage House.

The minicar was a cute attraction for the relocated Robinson’s Skate Shop, which now resides in that classic building. (The Carriage House probably needs a good carpet cleaning now, though. Egg Custard snow cones and light colored carpet = bad combination.)

While I appreciate that John Robinson has made an effort to bring a successful business to downtown, I have to quibble with the sign. Don’t leave it up to the politicians to create a skate park because I don’t think that’s a necessary function of government. John seems to be good at finding markets and ways to fill them, so why not secure a nice piece of property and do it right? Where the politicians can help, though, would be figuring out ways to expedite the process for all those who want to develop.

A twist to this month’s edition was the inclusion of the Wheels that Heal car show, although it was a more modest version than the one normally held at the Salisbury Festival.

Of the classics parked there, this 1961 Chevy Impala was my personal favorite.

My parents owned the 1960 Impala model when I was a wee lad. It’s amazing to see the differences between consecutive model years back in that era compared to now, when body styles tend to last three to four years without much change.

The other car I liked down there wasn’t parked on Division Street. This owner wanted to shine on his own, I suppose – but it’s a sweet street rod. Notice there’s no back seat for the owner had wide racing slicks for the back tires.

Back on the Plaza, this shot was more representative of the gathering. It was taken about 7:00.

I just liked the pop culture reference on my friend Chris Lewis’s sign.

By the way, the chicken salad IS really good. I didn’t have it Friday night, but I have tried it before and I can vouch for it. Yet I can’t necessarily say it’s the best on the Shore because Kim’s mom makes a pretty mean chicken salad, too.

In case you’re wondering, I did check out at least a little bit of the three bands set up there, and that’s an upcoming Weekend of Local Rock post.

The Third Friday crew should get a tip of the hat for taking the event as far as they have. But at some point I believe they’re going to need a little more participation from artisans and artists. And until something anchors the end of East Main Street where Flavors used to be, it may be a good idea once fall arrives to cluster the proceedings on the Plaza proper. (Of course, I would assume the musical acts move inside once fall arrives.)

Until I see a Plaza which looks like the Plaza does during the Saturday of the Salisbury Festival, I’m not sure I can call the event a true success. Since we’re not what one would call a tourist attraction (aside from having the Shorebirds) the support may have to come from within.

We have a lot to offer, but need more to come and take advantage of it.

Friday night videos – episode 68

I have a couple new videos at the end which come from last week’s Third Friday performances. But I wanted to start off with a video I used awhile back from the late Flavors bar downtown. The Permilla Project did a jam called ‘Black Beans and Rice’ there.

Just for fun I poked around Youtube to see what other music videos I could find shot at Flavors, and there’s a nice little sampling herein. One is the local duo of Chris Demone and Chuck Cook, better known as Test Kitchen. This was shot in 2008.

Another local band which developed a following there was Slim DeNunn and the High Rollers. This was from a 2009 performance there.

Little did the person who took this video of Chester River Runoff just four months ago know that may have been their swan song in the facility.

The venue definitely attracted a wide spectrum of bands, as you can see. It will be missed.

Shot just down the street from Flavors was this video, featuring local classic rockers Pugsly and their rendition of the Monkees’ hit, ‘Steppin’ Stone.’

I certainly wasn’t going for sushi. And the Sex Pistols weren’t the only punk band to do the song; I have a version from the band Minor Threat on tape. In either case, this one was a little slower.

Around the corner in front of the old courthouse was Semiblind. Here’s a solid version of ‘Gimme Shelter.’

Once in awhile my old camera catches a song just right. Michele does a good job with their sound.

By the way, I didn’t mean to slight the Zen Monkeys, who also played at Third Friday. I didn’t get a video of theirs and unfortunately I’m not sure how to embed a video from Facebook.

Well, that’s a wrap for FNV this time around. Hope you enjoyed the tunes.

Third Friday June in pictures and text

I may not be first to post, but I’ll bet I have the most to add to the conversation. The local bloggers were crawling all over this one.

There are those who knock the event for low participation, but still vendors come to the Plaza or open along Main Street to peddle their wares at Third Friday. I’m including the next picture to make a point about one particular vendor and downtown in general.

I have no idea why this building is “coming soon,” when the property records for 224 West Main show the units are sold. (The website doesn’t work either.) So there are a few people living downtown.

Yet there were a pair of realtors at Third Friday trying to sell the 29 remaining units at River Place (of 42 built) for a fire-sale price. Since I was looking at property records anyway, I noticed units there have sold for anywhere between $236,000 and $650,000 (for a larger penthouse unit.) The most recent sale was the $236,000 unit last fall.

I’m not trying to disparage the ladies doing their job or the people who bought high. But in order to bring people to the downtown area to live, perhaps the sights should have been set lower. Does a young professional – the type who would tend to not mind living downtown – really need a 1,600 square foot condo like River Place? Perhaps the reason these units on West Main sold was their size and affordability. (It appeared many in the Brickshire were sold after being bank-owned.)

As for the crowd down there, you can judge for yourself. I took these shots between 7 and 7:30 around the Plaza. Note the weather was looking more threatening as time went on.

Again, I guess anyone who comes downtown on a sultry night either wants a bargain or just to participate in a fun community event in an All-American City. When did they put these banners up?

I think it’s a little ironic that Delmar Pizza is a sign sponsor, but I suppose they want to advertise too.

And the artists were there, inside.

They were selling beer there, but you couldn’t take it outside. What good would that be? Sometimes I think the nanny state goes a little too far with alcohol-related regulations – why not allow open containers in this case since the Plaza is closed to traffic?

Maybe it was better in the end, though, since the rain hit about 8:30. I’m sure the passing shower didn’t do wonders for the impromptu Flavors Memorial put up for Third Friday.

People were leaving impassioned messages, too.

It makes you wonder why the business closed if so many were interested in it. Then again, I don’t know what the margin on beer is as opposed to the margin on pizza. I thought their pizza was pretty good on the three or four occasions I went to Flavors and I can vouch that at least The Permilla Project drew a crowd there.

But now it’s just another restaurant casualty in Salisbury like Checkers, English’s, and many others through the years which are missed to a varying extent.

Of course, the problem whereas Third Friday is concerned is that Flavors served as an anchor and draw at the eastern end of the festivities. Now they don’t have much to draw people down that way, and it creates a scenario where businesses along East Main may not have as much incentive to participate. Perhaps Third Friday needs to retrench and just concentrate on participation by Plaza businesses unless someone else steps up to create an attraction in the area where Flavors was.

Yet as long as someone is interested in taking a little time and trying to make a little money I suppose Third Friday will survive a little longer.

You may have noticed I didn’t talk about the musical aspect of 3F – well, what do you think my Weekend of Local Rock series is for? Look for that in the near future.

A Third Friday report and review

For some time, the city of Salisbury has highlighted its downtown Plaza one day a month, as the powers that be chose the third Friday of each month for the event.

The new Third Friday logo.

As they promoted their new logo, it was my first opportunity to enjoy the festivities. Normally I’ve had one of two conflicts: league bowling or a Shorebirds game. Since neither was in effect Friday night, my significant other and I went down to see what it was all about.

Looking west down the Plaza.

It was a sort of sparse crowd when we arrived, as folks were just getting set up. This picture was taken just before 6:00 and, as you can see, there wasn’t much going on.

The local artist whose professional moniker is “Y-Hate” was making the rounds with a bucket of mud. Why? To do these temporary sidewalk paintings. They’ll be gone and off to the storm sewage system with the next good rain; ashes to ashes and all that.

Floral mud art by Y-Hate.

The mud art in context with the landscape.

The second picture was taken roughly 6:45 and you can see business picked up a bit.

I guess when the Third Friday concept was hatched, it was based on the “Arts on the Plaza” portion of the Salisbury Festival. Just like at the Salisbury Festival, 3F was promoting themselves at this event too.

Third Friday had a table at its own event.

Indeed, there was an art show indoors at the building which used to house the Escape restaurant (more on that building later.) I didn’t get any pictures of the artists’ work, but I did scope out the shows.

Also, there was music. Ben Rayne is a guitarist who picks out a location in the Parker Place lot and sets up most warm months.

Guitarist Ben Rayne, playing at Parker Place.

Yet he wasn’t among the ‘featured’ artists. J Guy and Carter were the two acoustic musicians set up on the makeshift stage in front of the WMDT-TV studios.

The acoustic duo of J Guy and Carter, from Easton way.

Meanwhile, way down the street at Flavors one could find the acoustic sounds of Goatbag vocalist Josh Pryor.

Josh Pryor relaxes after his set.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t aware he was playing until after he was finished. But I imagine it was a departure from his other job singing with what could be best categorized as the goth metal stylings of Goatbag.

And that leads me to my first complaint. Maybe it’s because I’d not been to Third Friday before, but my perception was the activities would be conducted within the Plaza and perhaps a bit around the corner. Maybe these signs were a bit confusing.

Signs were there to point out the 'schtuff.'

Then again, it pointed into the Plaza. But other vendors were farther down Main Street and I had no idea until I wandered down to the Flavors end of the block. That’s where I found this guy.

Mayor Jim Ireton enjoying the festivities.

He was holding court in Flavors, and was nice enough to pose for this shot after briefly discussing the disagreement between a $78 parking space and a $100,000 condo before retreating inside to reunite with his rapidly-warming beer.

As I mentioned last night, both featured artists were selling their wares.

The tip jar and CDs of J Guy and Carter were right by them on stage.

Josh Pryor worked on building up his contact list.

Gee, were they figuring the sales tax on their tip jar or CDs? I should be careful though, since I may get Josh Pryor ‘Cold Busted.’ (Inside joke.)

Yet that’s a serious omission if done with enough volume.

And speaking of sales and songs, peace sells – but who’s buying?

The Peace Alliance of the Lower Shore had a table - I bet they do every month.

I had a brief disagreement with one of the women handling this table because she had a flyer that claimed 39 cents of each federal dollar went to fighting wars and handling veterans affairs. This pie chart by the Concord Coalition begs to differ. Sure, I know, to these guys 20 cents out of a dollar is too much, but we do need to “provide for the common defense” somehow.

Let’s go back to the pretty pictures, shall we?

Looking west in the Plaza again.

I took this one as the sun was setting and lighting turned from natural to artificial.

Again, the crowd managed to increase as the evening wore on – I took the top one about 6:30 and the bottom about 8:00. One nice thing about the Plaza is the photographic opportunities different lighting scenarios provide.

Obviously the focus of the event is on the arts. So what were these ladies doing here?

The Salisbury Roller Girls.

Promoting their upcoming matchup, of course. Then again, this poster does have artistic elements in it.

A spiffy poster to promote an upcoming bout.

I could see that hanging in someone’s den, particularly if they’re interested in sports memorabilia.

Keeping my promise of earlier in the article, I wanted to share something I noticed about the Escape restaurant. It almost looked like the Rapture hit there a few months early.

The vacant Escape Restuarant looked like it was set for another night's business. It's been closed since last fall.

It sort of creeped me out that the place looked like it was ready to open for another night’s business, as if the owners expected to be back later that evening and never arrived. Maybe that’s intentional (because who needs to see yet another obviously vacant space downtown) but the care didn’t extend outside the building.

The porch for Escape no longer is a musical venue - at least until someone makes it so.

It’s a place begging to be a musical venue but no one was there.

Still, a lot of merchants downtown get a share of the revenue brought in by the additional foot traffic. Here’s a nice young lady in Mike’s Downtown Deli closing up shop after what was hopefully a successful evening for them. It was a successful night for me, too, as I snagged a former advertiser once again (see sidebar.)

Mike's Downtown Deli closes for the evening.

While I was down there, I spoke to one business owner who’s attempting to solicit financial support for a second day per month where downtown stays open through the evening. Some have even suggested we do this every Friday night, but I don’t think the concept would last if done too often.

The way I see it, what makes Third Friday work to the extent it does is the fact it stands out from the other days of the month. It seems to me that the concept could be expanded to a second day of the month only if the weather is conducive for strolling (as it was on Friday) – in the wintertime this may not be enough of a draw to convince people to leave their homes for an event with multiple indoor venues.

My other suggestion would be to simply put out the information on where musicians are playing and artists are setting up. Had I known Josh Pryor was down at Flavors I may have wandered down to hear a few songs. Like this article in spots, Third Friday has a certain disjointed character which may appeal to some but not others. Since I’m not really a member of the arts-and-croissant crowd, the main draw for me would be the music so I want to know who’s playing where.

The flowers set the stage for this shot.

As the event closed up, most people packed up to go home while a few others drifted down to Flavors to catch the ‘after-party.’ And while 3F was an interesting event, I’d like to see it supported better by the local community since I don’t think there’s going to be any city money involved hereafter. (The businessman spearheading the effort for a second day per month is going the private donation route – the only city involvement would be to close down the Plaza to traffic.)

I’ll likely drop by next month to see what’s new and unusual, so why not do so yourself? The Plaza looks better with a few hundred people in it than it does when it resembles the vacant patio of Escape. Obviously there’s a lot to do in the summer, what with Shorebirds games, various festivals, and the draw of Ocean City nightlife, but it wouldn’t hurt to take a little time and support some local businesses either. Once the crowds come down, the buzz will follow and the event will kick into a higher gear.

The next Third Friday is June 17. There is no Shorebirds home game that night, festivals usually run two nights, and Ocean City isn’t going anywhere. You have no excuse.