Suppose for a moment you live next door to a drug house. Cars queue up in your street. Drug abusers loiter in front of your house or apartment. Gunfire occasionally disturbs your sleep, and in the morning you might find derelicts sleeping it off in your front yard. Whether you’re a yuppie rehabber, downwardly mobile […]
Author Archives: Dan Liberty
Posted inNews & Politics
Special security: fed-up Uptowners hire their own cops
They’re fed up and they’re not going to take it anymore. In an effort to counter crime and mayhem in their streets, four community groups in Uptown have banded together to hire a private security force to patrol their neighborhoods. This unusual response was a long time in the making. Back in 1985 Turk Glazebrook, […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Music Notes: the Oriana Singers’ not-just Christmas concert
“I do like Christmas,” says William Chin, director of the Oriana Singers. “There’s nothing wrong with it, but you get tired of it, don’t you? “Back in 1981, when I was planning this particular program, I thought, well, everybody has a Christmas program in December, and it’s usually Christmasy music. It’s just carols–it’s things that […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Club Dates: the eclectic boogie of Souled American
At a rock ‘n’ roll cattle call last year in Austin, Texas, one band really caught the ear of Robin Hurley, managing director of Rough Trade, England’s independent record label. Over three days, he heard many of the 100 or so bands that had shown up to perform for company bigwigs, but Souled American, a […]
Posted inNews & Politics
Saying NO to Fundamentalism
For thousands of Americans, Fundamentalists Anonymous has been a crucial first step on the long road back from a debilitating affliction.
Posted inNews & Politics
Working for Amnesty
A few weeks back, Marianne Philbin, the director of the Peace Museum, mentioned to me that Ruth Barrett, the museum’s program director, had given notice. She was going to be taking a position with Amnesty International. She get a good offer? I asked. Marianne said it was. More money? I guessed. It pretty much had […]
Posted inNews & Politics
At the Fringe
Adventures in Edinburgh: A Local Company Takes on the World’s Largest Theater Festival