by Tom Loomer
“Cuppa Joe, please” will not get me a cup of coffee in
When: The First Friday of every month beginning December 5th, from .
Where: Downtown, from 5th to 8th on Felix and Francis.
Art, like the opposable thumb, it’s one of the things that separate us from the lower beasts. I don’t know what deep seated motivation made the Neanderthals (or was it the Cro-magnons?), draw pre-historic bison on their cave walls. Possibly they were documenting migratory patterns in ancient game animals, but then again, maybe that was just their version of the Dogs Playing Poker.
Whatever the reason, some of us are compelled to create art, and many of the rest of us are compelled to display it.
Art is subjective. One man’s paint by number on black velvet is another’s priceless masterpiece. Speaking of price, isn’t it interesting how two canvasses can be the same size and hold the same volume of paint, yet be priced as far apart as possible. The only real difference is how the pigments are distributed. The starving artist cliché is just as prevalent as the genius who isn’t appreciated until after his or her death.
I have no concept of what makes one better than another, but as the man once said, “I knows what I likes.”
St. Joe, for all the self deprecation we heap upon ourselves, has always had an appreciation for art. It’s just a theory, but maybe a lot of 19th century settlers left their art treasures behind when they swapped them for bags of flour and coffee before heading west in their covered wagons. (Full story)
By Jay Kerner
This holiday season will be one of the strangest in recent memory. Retailers are nervous. The stock market is in the toilet. The price of gas rose to an all time high this fall, before teasing us with lows not seen for several years, though projections call for it to go back up soon. Most people I talk to are re-thinking all the financial decisions in their lives, and certainly included in this is their holiday spending.
f you’ve been a regular reader of The Regular Joe, you know our position on buying local. Whether we’re talking tires or tenderloins, jeans or jewelry, spending your precious dollars here in town with locally owned, locally operated businesses, is vital to our community like never before. (Full story)
“There is more hunger for love and appreciation in this world than for bread.”~ Mother Teresa
What a profound thought! So many times, when people are asked what they would wish for our world, we often hear things like “world peace” and “solve world hunger.” However, Mother Teresa was wise enough to recognize our incredible need as humans to love and be loved. We should be so proud Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater St. Joseph volunteers and donors also recognize this innate need. Big Brothers Big Sisters strives to make a difference in the lives of children from one-parent and non-traditional homes by pairing them with adult mentors who show the love and appreciation that Mother Teresa spoke of. The love, appreciation and guidance that volunteers give to children helps establish their sense of self-worth and self-confidence. When children feel good about themselves it shows in everything they do. The show of love and appreciation is then passed on to those around them. It becomes contagious. The Big Brothers Big Sisters program benefits the entire community by providing prevention and intervention to at-risk youth. Children in our program are less likely to begin using drugs and alcohol, experience increased self-esteem, and are less likely to skip school. Everyone would agree that our children’s education is extremely important. Knowing the benefits that our program provides, the more children we have involved in the program, the better education every child will have. The program helps alleviate the burden that has been thrust upon educators over the past several years. Teachers will be able to spend less time handling behavioral issues in the classroom and be able to focus more time on teaching. (Full story)
Posted by: admin on Friday, November 28th, 2008
Filed under: Sounds Like St. Joe, General | no comments
Filed under: Sounds Like St. Joe, General | no comments
By Eavin Moore 
I got a call from a friend telling me about a new restaurant in an old restored house on South 10th. I remembered hearing something about a lady who was struggling to restore an old brick structure that had formerly been scheduled for destruction. Now after overcoming countless obstacles, The Gothic House Tea and Eatery is open for business. I called and made an appointment to stop by. That’s when things got confusing.
I mentioned the scheduled visit to my wife, who proceeded to inform me that I had the address wrong. Some friends from work had recently eaten there and had nothing but the most flattering things to say, but it was in the 1300 block of Felix not South 10th. Huh? I loaded up the CLAMS Van and decided to go on a little reconnaissance mission.
It turned out that I did have the address right for The Gothic House. The place on Felix is The J.C. Wyatt House, another lovingly restored 19th century home serving amazing food. I decided to combine my efforts and do a story on both.
The Gothic House Tea and Eatery, 720 South 10th (Full story)
Posted by: admin on Friday, November 28th, 2008
Filed under: Come look at my stuff!, General | no comments
Filed under: Come look at my stuff!, General | no comments
Dear Joe,
A late congratulations on your first year.
As I’ve been preparing for family to arrive, buying all of the groceries typical this time of year and putting out all of the extra bedding I thought a lot about some of the stories, features and events you have done in your first year.
I don’t always agree with what I read in your paper, but I have always been pleased with your position. This is a wonderful community and I, like so many of your readers, am proud to be just a Regular Joe!
Please keep us posted through this holiday season as to ways we can help take care of our other Joes. And keep pushing for the local organizations like Grace House and Second Harvest….they too are Regular Joes!!
A proud, yet Regular Joe,
Jessie Brown (Full story)
by Jay Kerner
If you’ve been reading us for a while, you might remember how some friends and I get together every fall for a little Bacchanalia fest we call “Caveman Weekend.” Our motto: booze, bikes and bullets, but never more than 2 at a time.
Many of the attendees are… let’s call them gun aficionados. Rifles, hand guns, assault weapons. Let me tell you, this little patch of the
As word of Caveman Weekend expands from year to year, new arrivals compete for precious bed space. To settle minor disputes without the use of the assembled arsenal in anger, Cave came up with a shooting contest to assign sleeping arrangements. It took me four shots to knock the Mr. Peanut can from the stump, which got me the couch. Whatever! (Full story)
Regular Joe’s First, “First Fridays” Dec 5thArtists and Venues – Sign Up Now!
As we mentioned in the last issue, we’re not above stealing good ideas. Apparently there’s a lot of that going on, because I’ve found out that a lot of cities do some sort of a First Fridays Art Crawl. I don’t know who originally came up with the brainchild or who first coined the phrase, but this is a concept used successfully all over the country. We were going to try to come up with something original on our own, but the best we came up with was “Wear Your Underwear on the Outside Day.” As intriguing as that idea is, we thought maybe we’d save that promotion for warmer weather, so all the unmentionables wouldn’t be hidden by parkas and overcoats.
First Fridays: The idea is that artists (painters, sculptors, photographers, etc) bring their work Downtown and show it in various locations within a small walking radius. The public (that’s you!) says “What a great idea! Let’s go look at some art!”
You go and you see some cool art. Maybe you find a nice piece to replace the “Dogs Playing Poker” over the sofa. (I know, its classic kitsch, but it’s time, really!) And then maybe you meet some friends and stop for an adult beverage, with some intelligent conversation at one of the fine establishments, which in a happy coincidence are right there, and nicely arranged for your convenience. (Full story)
By Jay Kerner
PBS had an excellent documentary a few years back called Whizzo, Old Gus and Me, about the history of children’s television in the Kansas City market. For a kid growing up in St. Joe in the 60’s and 70’s it brought back a lot of memories. They talked not only of the afore mentioned, but also of Torey Southwick, Bozo and
For kids back then, if you weren’t watching local programs, there were also the national shows like Captain Kangaroo and Mr. Rodgers. I just missed out on Sesame Street but for those 45 and younger, it was probably part of your childhood experience. The production values were quite a bit higher, but for local flavor you couldn’t beat the kids shows shot in your hometown.
Here in Joe Town there is one name that stands floppy-red-wig to gigantic-oversized-shoes above any other in children’s television history, and that is my good friend “Barney the Clown.” St. Joseph resident Al Smith portrayed the title character on St. Joe Cablevision through virtually the entire decade of the 70’s.
Cable television was a new technology in the 1960’s when it first came to town. A lot of people don’t realize that we got it here far earlier than other much larger cities. With only one broadcast station here, and the K.C. stations providing a snowy picture from “rabbit ear” antennas, cable offered not only a clear picture, but also a whole new palette of TV choices. Imagine, we now had 13 channels! (If you counted channel 3, which just had the camera going side to side past a clock, thermometer and weather gages.)
The FCC had rules back then requiring cable systems to provide a certain amount of local programming, so in addition to the exercise show and Bill Bennet’s Outdoor beat, we also got our daily dose of Barney. (No, we’re not talking purple dinosaur). But before the clown business, there was the music business.
Al Smith started playing saxophone professionally at age 14 and toured the
Posted by: admin on Thursday, November 13th, 2008
Filed under: Jay Kerner, Old Joe, General | no comments
Filed under: Jay Kerner, Old Joe, General | no comments
By Bob ShultzSpecial Movie; Special Event
“The Big Lebowski” kicks off Plaza 8 Theatres’ Cult Cinema Series: November 14 and 15, both nights. $6 admission, come in costume.
The beauty of having an independent movie house in town is that it can do A LOT of things that you don’t regularly see at other movie houses. Manager David Allison has been filling me in for months on some of the unique events that could be done with the revamped Plaza 8 Theatres… including bringing back films that have found an audience LONG after their initial release. (Full story)
Posted by: admin on Thursday, November 13th, 2008
Filed under: Joe's Screening Room, General | no comments
Filed under: Joe's Screening Room, General | no comments