The snooze world

Wow, I'm incredibly shocked that tickets for the Jamestown 400th-anniversary celebrations aren't selling. It's almost as if pinning the economic hopes of a region on a historical commemoration--glassblowing! talks! geneological research!--was a completely freaking stupid idea.

Here's the best part:

So far, about 37,000 of the available 90,000 single-day tickets have been purchased, the vast majority of them by Virginians, said Kevin Crossett, a spokesman for Jamestown 2007, the state organization coordinating the event.

When I lived in Richmond, the Jamestown anniversary was touted as impetus for all sorts of Springfield monorail-type projects. The one I got involved in was a proposed performing arts center that, despite the handicap of its organizers constantly lying about how much money they'd raised to built it, planned to use this anniversary as a sort of rebirth party for Richmond, with a gleaming arts center at the center of an event that would draw people from around the world. Seriously.

Well, that didn't really work out as planned, and I'm proud to have played a small part in that saga. I don't really have a lot of time to follow how things are going down there now, but I understand that the city's getting involved in reopening the Carpenter Center. I've got mixed feelings about that, not least because the phrase "Richmond government involvement" doesn't exactly engender feelings of confidence.

In a sick way, I think the smoking ruins of that plan are a good thing for the city--the hole in the middle of town (the Virginia Performing Arts Foundation's oh-so-poetic legacy) should remain there forever, a monument to the jackassery that created it as well as a reminder that history, while not an especially great draw, does have a few lessons to teach.

Image taken from Mountain City Elementary School, Mountain City, Tenn.

My once-a-year nod to the Advanced Theory

Idolator's post about Killing Joke today, in addition to letting me rock out to "Requiem" at work, made me wonder whether this band was Advanced from practically the beginning of its career. Some evidence in its favor:

• Initially mistaken for fascists
  
• Entire band relocated to Iceland to wait out apocalypse
  
• Fluid membership (including, for three days, a former member of the Smiths)
  
• One member went on to become a sought-after producer
  
• Singer's solo album embraced, among other genres, rap, and he delivered a lecture defending this album and subsequently retired to a tiny island in New Zealand
  
• Litigiousness
  
• Original lineup reunited and got back to basics
  

Over to you, Jason.

Math jazz

I wrote a review of the Bad Plus' new album, and you can read it here.