Roadway designated to honor Ray LaHood
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- Published on 04 November 2013
- Written by Paul Gordon
For Ray LaHood, public service has always meant giving back to the community, doing whatever it takes to make the community better. That's what he tried to do during his 34 year-plus as a public servant.
But, he said Monday, he never expected the community to ever give back to him the way it is doing now.
"I am very humbled by this, to say the least," LaHood said during a ceremony in front of the Federal Building at Main and Monroe streets in downtown Peoria. "The last thing I ever wanted was to have something named for me."
The ceremony was to officially designate that corner as the Honorary Ray LaHood Roadway and the unveil the sign proclaiming it as such. The sign is attached to a traffic light pole on the corner in front of the Federal Building, where LaHood's office was when he was the 18th District Congressman.
The choice of that corner, LaHood said, seemed appropriate. "This is Main Street. This is where we tried to make things happen for the region," he said.
LaHood had much of his family at the ceremony, including several of his grandsons who were sitting on the steps of the building during the event. He pointed to the boys and said, "This is why we care so much about what we do, the next generation."
He thanked those in attendance, numbering close to 100, for their support during his time in public service, including the past nearly five years as U.S. Secretary of Transportation in the President Obama administration and the 14 years before that as a member of Congress.
When you include his time as chief aide to former U.S. Reps. Bob Michel and Tom Railsback, LaHood has spent most of his adult life in public service.
"I have been delighted to have to many people allow us to do what we've been able to do," he said.
LaHood retired recently from the Department of Transportation but said he doesn't plan to retire altogether just yet. He said he has kept busy, co-writing a book, teaching at Bradley University and "going to a lot of soccer games" to watch his grandchildren play.
Mayor Jim Ardis hosted the event and spoke about "how much we appreciate how somebody was able to serve for so long with such distinction."
A common theme for Ardis and other speakers was LaHood's gift for making things happen in a bipartisan manner. As if to illustrate that point, two speakers were State Sen. Dave Koehler and State Rep. Jehan Gordon-Booth, both Peoria Democrats.
"We are proud to have Ray as our favorite son," said Koehler.
Gordon-Booth recalled a time when she was young that she asked her mother, a lifelong Democrat, why she voted for LaHood for Congress. "She said it was 'because he's a good man who is doing the right things for Peoria.' Now, when I think of the bipartisanship this community requires, I realize Ray LaHood embodies that."
Gordon-Booth has sponsored legislation in the state General Assembly to have a portion of I-74 named after LaHood, as well.
Doug Oberhelman, chairman of Caterpillar Inc. spoke about LaHood work for the community and for its employers, including Caterpillar. "Ray has always been very loyal to Peoria; to his city, his state and to his country. Transportation was one of the top performing cabinet posts during his tenure and we all will miss his bipartisanship," Oberhelman said.
In a brief chat with reporters after the ceremony, LaHood railed against Congress because of the recent government shutdown, calling the inaction on Capitol Hill to avoid the crisis "an embarrassment" and "a disgrace."
"We need to get back to having a Congress that solves the problems of the country. People are getting elected to Congress to do nothing and the stop everything. America is tired of it. Let's move the country forward," he said.
Frizzi: Mourning the passing of one scary dude
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- Published on 31 October 2013
- Written by Donn Frizzi
This past summer thousands of Midwestern baby boomers mourned the passing of an Indianapolis music store owner named Bob Carter.
Carter, a native of Decatur, IL and a graduate of Millikin University, was at one time a weatherman on Peoria local TV. He later became better known by his alter ego, a creepy TV ghoul named "Sammy Terry".
Every Friday night at 10 p.m., kids would gather around the family Philco or Admiral console TV set, itself the size of a casket, tune in WTTV Channel 4 in Indianapolis, and wait for the creak of Sammy Terry's (Get it? Cem-e-tery?) coffin lid. He would emerge, chuckle a sinister chuckle and tell you all about the movies you would see that night on "Nightmare Theater".
The show was campy. Sammy's makeup was funny and he wore a black windbreaker for a cape. The set was a cheap looking dungeon. The casket initially was a coffee table. You could see Sammy's pet spider George dangling from a string. And they played two movies from a catalog of old black-and-white scary movies from the '30s and '40s, old Vincent Price-Roger Corman movies or really bad monster or sci-fi movies from the '50s. We were glued to them. We'd have sleepovers as the show lasted until 2 in the morning. I remember promising my folks that I would only stay up for the first movie. Then, after the first movie, I'd turn off the lights, turn the volume way down and sit practically on top of the TV to sneak in the second movie. I'd be in bed by 3 a.m., only to be awakened a scant four hours later by my folks who suddenly decided that the yard had to be mowed or the garage had to be cleaned.
Creature Features, as they were known throughout the broadcasting industry, were a staple for TV stations in major metropolitan areas in the 1960s through the 1980s. Back then, cities may have had only five TV stations — three network and one, maybe two independents. In the hours when the networks didn't broadcast programs it was up to the local affiliates to supply programs such as old TV reruns, kids cartoon shows, daytime movies, homemaking shows and syndicated talk shows.
A station would purchase the Creature Feature package and then sell air time for it to local sponsors. Many times, the sales staff would also design the set, get the props and costumes and create the format. With networks airing programs until midnight on Friday, many stations ran their Creature Feature programming on Saturday nights.
These shows would introduce us to a whole new generation to movies that our parents grew up with. I remember my Dad was as excited as a kid when Sammy Terry would run the original Frankenstein, Dracula, Mummy and Wolfman. He had grown up seeing those movies with his buddies at his neighborhood theater, The Plaza, in Bloomfield, PA. To me, even back then, those movies seemed tame. After all, I had sat through the graphic "Mark of the Devil"; you were given your own barf bag before entering the theater.
Pittsburgh also had its own "Chiller Theater" on Saturday nights on the NBC affiliate, WIIC. It was hosted by Bill Cardille, an announcer by day who became "Chilly Billy" on the weekends. Opening to Henry Mancini's (also from Pittsburgh) "Experiment in Terror", "Chiller Theater" had its own cast of characters, such as "Terminal Stare" and "Stefan the Castle Prankster". The show was so popular, that it for years it was aired instead of NBC's Saturday Night Live. Joe Flaherty, a Pittsburgh native who appeared on NBC's SCTV, used Bill Cardille as an influence for his character "Count Floyd" on "Monster Chiller Horror Theater". Cardille also appeared as an announcer for WIIC in George Romero's "Night of the Living Dead". The cult classic was filmed just north of Pittsburgh in Evans City, where I still have family.
Peorians were part of the "Chiller Theater" crowd when they would tune into WEEK-TV to watch the "Acri Creature Features". The show was sponsored by Chuck Acri, a local home improvement business owner in the Quad Cities whose wares were advertised between movies by such characters as Vincent Hedges, the vampire, Beauregard the Werewolf and Fang, the Wonderdog.
Local versions of the Creature Feature seemed to fade out by the 1990s. While cable channels such as AMC and TMC will show horror classics, they seem pale without the cheap set or the campy horror host. Nowadays, syndicated shows such as "Creepy KOFY Movie Time" and "Lord Blood-Rah's Nerve Wrackin' Theater" can be seen.
However, the area's best kept secret is on Friday and Saturday nights on East Peoria Community Television (Comcast 22). The show is called "Saturday Fright Special" and airs on Channel 22 Friday nights from 9 to 11 p.m. and Saturday nights from 10 to 11 p.m.. Based out of Keene, NH, the show is a throwback to the local, low-budget creep shows from our youth. The host, Scarewolf, is a guy with a werewolf mask, a top hat and a trench coat. He would parade around the woods or local graveyards until they could afford to build a set.
"Saturday Fright Special" airs a campy horror or sci-fi movie, usually intertwined with old Popeye and Little Audrey cartoons, old commercials, drive-in intermission clips and those old health and safety films we used to see in class. They play the old Roger Corman, Vincent Price", American International, "Bucket of Blood", "Beach Girls and the Monster", "Mothra" movies that I enjoyed back in the good-ol' "Chilly Billy"-"Sammy Terry" days. I sit up and watch them knowing full well that I don't have to mow the yard or clean out the garage until well past noon.
http://www.indystar.com/article/20130701/LOCAL18/307020003/Sammy-Terry-Indianapolis-late-ni ght-television-dies-83-public-viewing-Friday?nclick_check=1
http://www.houseofjitters.com/acri.htm
Coo-coo-cachoo: 'The Graduate' to open at Corn Stock Winter Playhouse
- Details
- Published on 29 October 2013
- Written by Paul Gordon
By day, she teaches middle school in Germantown Hills and is known by everybody as that sweet, nice, funny Mrs. Ballard.
At night, she puts on a hot little black dress, grabs a cocktail and a cigarette and becomes a sultry, sexy cougar known as Mrs. Robinson.
Coo-coo-cachoo!
"I am a little nervous about being on stage in my underwear, but I am loving it," Trish Ballard said recently before starting rehearsal for "The Graduate," which opens Friday, Nov. 1 at Corn Stock Theatre's Winter Playhouse.
"I am excited and thrilled and I feel honored to play Mrs. Robinson. It really is one of the most iconic roles a woman can play. She was a cougar before there really were cougars. I hope I can do it justice," Ballard said. "I've really had to separate myself from Trish Ballard the middle school teacher, but I've enjoyed the challenge."
The show starts at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, then at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 8 and 9 and at 2:30 p.m. Nov. 10 at the Winter Playhouse in Upper Bradley Park. Tickets are $10 for adults and $7 for students (parents, keep in mind the sexual subject matter of "The Graduate") and can be reserved by calling 676-2196.
While "The Graduate" in the book, film and play refers to Benjamin Braddock, the role of Mrs. Robinson is the best known from the show and Simon and Garfunkel wrote a song about her. Patrons of the show will hear quite a bit of Simon and Garfunkel, starting with "The Sound of Silence" as the drama unfolds on a stark, yet functional set.
Director Chip Joyce knew he had to find just the right actress for the role that was made famous in the 1967 film by Anne Bancroft. "I ended up with five serious contenders, any of which could have done the role. Each had something to offer, but I am confident I made the right choice. Trish is great," Joyce said.
"The whole cast is great. I ended up with 20 people auditioning for the 11 roles, which is a lot for a non-musical. And I have some seasoned veteran actors playing smaller, non-lead type roles. I lucked out," he said.
Tim Jenkins portrays Benjamin Braddock, made famous in film by Dustin Hoffman. "Tim does a great job. He isn't trying to do Dustin Hoffman doing Benjamin Braddock. He has been a pleasure to work with," Joyce said.
Jenkins said he is honored but nervous to play a role that has no local exposure other than the film portrayal. "The Graduate" didn't become a stage play until 2002 and this is the regional premier, "so most people will relate this role to Dustin Hoffman if anybody. Of course, a lot of things come to mind when it comes to thinking about Benjamin Braddock and Chip has allowed me to shape the role for me, to use my artistic ability to make it mine."
Jenkins said he believes "The Graduate" was ahead of its time as far as the older woman-seduces-college boy aspect. "But it took place right before the hippie era began in the 60s but with Benjamin, you get to see some of the rebelliousness of that era start to happen. It has been a challenge, but a very enjoyable one," he said.
Other actors in the show include Laura Miller-Mansoori as Elaine Robinson, Tim Drew as Mr. Robinson, George Maxedon as Mr. Braddock and Laura Johnson as Mrs. Braddock. Playing multiple roles are Nathan Irwin, Mariah Thornton, Jeff Craig, Dustin Strickland and Jo Street-Blume.
Joyce said he submitted "The Graduate" for more than one reason. "I wanted to direct a non-musical, for one thing. This is my first one and after directing about every genre of musical I wanted to do something different. But I also wanted it to be a show I knew and liked, while having broad appeal. Everyone know 'The Graduate' movie, but not many realize it became a Broadway hit in 2002. Nobody here has seen the stage version, and that appealed to me," he said.
The stage version written by Terry Johnson combines the book by Charles Webb and film script by Buck Henry and Calder Willingham and also adds some original scenes.
"So much of the movie includes quiet montages that obviously don't translate well to the stage so it was important to draw more from the book. But it remained a challenge because it was not written for a space this small. But I was determined to make it work in the round and the cast has been really enthusiastic about what we're doing," he said.
Joyce said that the show takes place in the 1960s is an important element to the story line, "which you will see if you come to the show."
Joltin' Joe may have left and gone away, but Mrs. Robinson is around forever. This weekend and next, you can find her at Corn Stock Theatre.
Frizzi: Sweet Lou (Including the Three Minute Intro)
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- Published on 30 October 2013
- Written by Donn Frizzi
We baby boomers are at the age when we're starting to lose people we've admired through life, whether we've met them personally or through their achievements. Many of those folks were 10 to 20 years older than us. Most of these folks gave their bodies a hard ride over time.
Their art, be it sport, music, comedy or the written word continues to live on. It's their legacy. And when you view it or listen to it, it takes you back to a certain time in your life.
That's what happened to me and countless others when Lou Reed died. The musician made it to 71, which was amazing considering the way he ravaged his body with smoke, drink and drugs back in the day. He'd been clean. He'd recently had a liver transplant. According to his doctor, Lou was fighting to stay alive and was doing his tai chi exercises within an hour of his death.
Most of us, I was 16 at the time, first heard of Lou Reed on the radio with his one and only Top 40 hit, "Walk On The Wild Side". It hit as high as number 16 on the charts in 1972. This tune was a stroll through the seamy underbelly of life where a guy plucked his eyebrows and became a girl, "Little Joe" was hustling and Jackie was speeding away. Meanwhile, "the colored girls were going Do-do-doo-do-doo-do-do-do." And this was the abbreviated version allowed on the air, which didn't include everybody's darling, Candy, and her "head games".
Everybody had the album, "Transformer", which was produced by David Bowie and Mick Ronson. You'd hear it at parties. I liked to announce my presence by driving up with the screeching guitar of "Vicious" blasting through tinny car speakers. We tried to tune our cheap guitars to Lou's "Ostrich Tuning" (all strings are tuned to the same chord). I bought the albums "Berlin", "Sally Can't Dance", "Coney Island Baby" and the live album "Rock and Roll Animal" with its great 3:20 intro to "Sweet Jane". Then, somebody played "Metal Machine Music", which introduced us unexpectedly to "noise music".
Being a late bloomer, I started to get into The Velvet Underground's "White Light, White Heat" about that time. Released in 1968, the album led off with "The Gift", a story told in spoken word about Waldo Jeffers and his ill fated attempt to visit his girlfriend by packing and sending himself in a cardboard box. "The Velvet Underground and Nico", co-produced by Andy Warhol and released in 1967, was rated by Rolling Stone magazine as 13th in their list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. It was the first album to mesh avant-garde with rock and roll. Side one began with the simple and melodic "Sunday Morning". Side two began with "Heroin", starting with a slow strumming of guitar and then picks up in tempo, simulating a heroin rush.
Whether with VU or by himself, Lou Reed's songs were a simple, gritty, stark and bleak look at life through society's misfits. He was a victim of homophobia. His parents sought to cure his bisexuality through shock therapy. He turned the horror into the song "Kill Your Sons", which appeared on "Sally Can't Dance".
Lou Reed appeared at the first Farm Aid concert, which was at Champaign, Illinois in 1985. A friend of mine offered me an extra ticket. I turned him down because I had plans to go out of town to meet some other friends. We spent the weekend watching the concert on MTV. My friend who did go to the show brought me back a T-shirt.
Facebook is basically a community newspaper. Most use it as a way to share with friends what you're doing, how you're feeling, what your grandkids look like and so on. Many share cartoons, jokes and recipes. I like to share music. If I have a song bouncing in my head, I'm prone to find it on YouTube and post it on Facebook. When Lou Reed died, we were all posting our favorite Lou Reed/Velvet Underground songs. I hadn't heard many of these songs in years. It felt good.
Lou Reed wasn't as well known to the masses as Lennon-McCartney, Jagger-Richards, Pete Townshend or David Bowie. But the music industry looks at him as a visionary. Lou's subject matter was more than provocative. It was grimly realistic and honest. His music was innovative, groundbreaking in its raw minimalism. "Heroin" was just two notes. The Velvet Underground was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996. They are the sperm donors to the punk, glam and New Wave music that followed.
Reed described his minimalism with this quote: "One chord is fine. Two chords are pushing it. Three chords and you're into jazz."
In an interview with Kristine McKenna, Reed stated, "I've always believed that there's an amazing number of things you can do through a rock 'n' roll song. And that you can do serious writing in a rock song if you can somehow do it without losing the beat. The things I've written about wouldn't be considered a big deal if they appeared in a book or movie."
One of Reed's musical contemporaries, Brian Eno, summed it up as such: "The first Velvet Underground record sold 30,000 copies in the first five years. I think everyone who bought one of those 30,000 copies started a band!"
That a pretty good legacy in anybody's book.
For more, visit:
www.nytimes.com/2013/10/28/arts/music/lou-reed-dies-at-71.html?_r=0
www.post-gazette.com/ae/2013/10/28/Lou-Reed-walked-on-the-wild-side/stories/20131028022
www.cnn.com/2013/10/27/showbiz/lou-reed-obit/
www.cnn.com/2013/10/27/showbiz/lou-reed-appreciation/
www.cnn.com/2013/10/28/opinion/matos-lou-reed/
www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/lou-reed-dead-14-velvet-2647614
Miller: Stock markets affect the economy, so what lies ahead?
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- Published on 29 October 2013
- Written by Bob Miller
As a financial advisor, I get asked a lot of questions. People expect that I will provide quick yes or no answers, whisper the name of the next big stock, or be able to predict the major market events.
It's not that simple. I can look at indicators, look at the past, and give you my opinion based on experience and knowledge. Here are a few questions I get asked a lot.
(Q.) What's the market going to do? (A.) It will go up or down.
(Q.) What do you think of gold? (A.) It looks nice as a necklace or bracelet.
(Q.) What are your favorite stocks? (A.) The ones that make money!
(Q.) What do you think about Jim Cramer? 
(A.) . . . . . .
Those are fun answers to serious questions. But financial advisors must be careful what they say and how they say it. For example, I may say we really like Caterpillar stock. But a person on a fixed income, spending down their principal with no way to earn additional income, should probably not buy Caterpillar stock no matter how much we like it. Such a person may not be able to afford the possibility that we may be (gulp), wrong. So, as we share our opinions on things, especially in written form like this, know that you should not heed any of our advice on your own without first doing a complete financial plan with someone you believe knows what they are doing and has your best interest in mind.
What is on investors' minds these days? For one, the U.S. stock market as represented by the S&P 500 has been going up. Will it continue? If you are not in yet, should you invest? Or will it drop 10 percent as soon as you put your money in?
I believe the stock market will continue to rise over time as it has over the last century, as long as the rules of the game don't change dramatically. In the short term (one to 12 months) the major market averages appear fairly valued. I base that on the reasonable price-to-earnings ratio and an attractive earnings yield versus the 10-year treasury.
I also believe that stable to rising interest rates will not go high enough to stop economic growth to the point of recession any time soon and that the Fed will quickly re-stimulate if economic indicators start leaning that way.
Finally, there is the advantage of a cash-heavy balance sheet in both the corporate and retail investor arena. With interest rates low it makes little sense to leave it there. As long as our stock market is stable to higher, confidence should continue to build and more cash will likely find its way there, supporting prices.
Indeed, for the first time in years there have been positive money flows into equity funds. Money is also moving to alternatives (investments other than stocks and bonds), and non-U.S. Government fixed income (global and corporate bonds, etc.). That is good to see. The perceived "safest" asset is currently at risk of losing value – that being U.S. Government bonds. They go down in value when U.S. interest rates rise, which they did significantly over a recent six week period when the 10 year treasury went from 1.6 percent to 2.6 percent. In light of the recent changes in the bond markets, it is important check your investments to see if a rebalancing makes sense for you.
Back to the market, I don't expect anything more than normal stock market corrections of 10 percent to 20 percent. No one knows when that will happen, you won't know it happened until it happens, and by then it is usually too late to take action to avoid it. Reactionary and emotional impulse after the fact can be as damaging as the event itself and usually worsens the affect. It also tends to be worse when you have more in the market than you should.
Determining how much you should have in the stock market is an exercise that requires a full financial review. If that has been done, you may consider the following strategy: Invest half of what you think you would like in the market now and dollar cost average in with the remainder. An example of dollar cost averaging is to add 1/12th of what you want to invest every month for the next year. But if the market declines 10 percent go ahead and put in the remainder.
Dollar cost averaging involves continuous investment in securities regardless of fluctuation in price levels of such securities. You should consider your ability to continue purchasing through fluctuating price levels. Such a plan does not assure a profit and does not protect against loss in declining markets.
I hope you enjoyed this read and will find ways to personally benefit from it. I'll leave you with the answer to that other commonly asked question. What do I think of Cramer? I like him! And if Seinfeld didn't want him barging through his door, why didn't he lock it?
The opinions expressed in this material do not necessarily reflect the views of LPL Financial and are for general information only. This is not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual. Securities referenced are for illustrative purposes only. To determine which investment(s) may be appropriate for you, consult your financial advisor prior to investing. All performance referenced is historical and is no guarantee of future results. Indices are unmanaged and cannot be invested into directly.
