MULCH

Mt. Mulch at Homegrown Mini-Golf - Kerhonkson, NY





it is chopped wood (often old shipping pallets) that holds moisture in and (theoretically) keeps weeds from growing. been hauling wheelbarrels of the stuff around Wunder Gurl's mini-golf in Upstate NY. it's Splinter City to handle without gloves, but it does smell good. cedar, i think.

it can come in lots of colors...






















and it even comes in yummysmelling flavors...


















...and the Black Thumb Curse seems to be fading - seeds i planted actually sprouted and my babyplants now dot the golf course. strawberries i planted at DG are also looking good. and WG gave me a calla lily plant for my b-day that i have managed not to kill.








i like this gardening thing.



NP: roomie is playing Jerry Lee Lewis Live at the Star Club in Hamburg, Germany...when rock 'n' roll was dangerous.

PEEVE DE JOUR: Chase Bank has just become attrocious. everything they do is wrong, inconvenient and/or extremely inconvenient. i've been with them since the '80's (my accounts were with Chemical Bank, which Chase bought), and am seriously considering jumping ship. am also preparing a blog post on the death of retail banking...bitching to be continued.

JOIE DE JOUR: beautiful summer-y day. riding my bike and leaving the car parked.

ROSATI'S FLAVOR-OF-THE-DAY (Thursday 6/31):

Cashew Crunch

N.B.A.T.W.P.:









Come Join the Party!

GLENN MERCER is celebrating the release of his first ever solo CD titled "Wheels in Motion" on June 23rd at Maxwell's. We'll be playing songs from the CD and Feelies favorites.

For more info on the show go to: www.maxwellsnj.com

For info on purchasing the CD go to: www.pravdamusic.com

Hope to see you @ Maxwell's on the 23rd!


cb...where are you?






NEW JERSEY

BURNING RIVER ROLLER GIRLS!!!

okay...so i don't get out much. i'm completely dependent on those with better balanced work/fun ratios for my relaxtainment...and in AkroClevo the Ur source for said diversions is KS. he's collected a goodly number of hareems in various cultureartsportspolitics genres, and has been generous with sharing same.
















...and tonight it was Roller Derby. whaaaa?...you ask? yes...a full-blown national resurgence of this low-brow sport, seized upon by empowered/empunked girlsgurlsgrrls from all walks (skates?) of life who organize teams & leagues, invent tuffgirlpersonaeschtick, practice hard and gleefully knock the shit out of each other for the sheer fun of it.

















Coco Sparx & Roxie Monoxide


granted, i had to get past my "Boogie Nights"/Roller Girl fantasy...but once i did = big fun. i suppose i could go on about how uppityarty cities like NYC have amateur stripppppppping scenes, while working class urbs like Clevo have amateur rollerjammerwannabeesbecomingrealbees...but i'll leave that for the pop sociologists.

[ASIDE: well, I AM A POP SOCIOLOGIST, so I suppose I should comment.

A lot of referrals to my blog from Brewed Fresh Daily (click here to go to BFD), the best forum for economic and cultural issues in the NEO area. There is always much chatter there about how to revive Clevo, and I’m thinking that those who arguescheme to get jobsjobsjobs here might be overlooking another approach.

A la Richard Florida (yes, yes…I know, but let’s not get sidetracked by arguing re: him…okay?) START LISTENING TO YOUR ARTISTS. It’s project like the Burning River Roller Girls and the Double-Dutch Jump Rope Team that directly address Clevo’s real Numero Uno problem: it’s hangdoglosergloomnothing mindset. The last thing that anyone on the planet thinks of when (if?) they think of Clevo is FUN. Great housing stock/good grub/a rabid (but spreadout) hipstermusoarto subculture…all these are here already…and so are your losing sports teams, dead factories and grim vistas….and seemingly intractable socio-economic problems. Turn this place into Fun City/emphasize creativity and jobsjobsjobs will follow.

wtf...worth a shot.]

































Ruby Rebel (Cleveland Steamers) & Coco Sparks (Hellbombers)


me?...i'm hooked! see ya June 30th for the next bout!


for more info: http://www.burningriverrollergirls.com/


NP: The Waitresses/"A Girl's Gotta Do"...which the DJ played at the game.

PEEVE DE JOUR: camera didn't work so well, so limited number of usable pix.

JOIE DE JOUR: had the Dun Giggen house cleaned by Rev. Rosemary Traub and family.

ROSATI'S FLAVOR-OF-THE-DAY:

Higbees
Chocolate Malted

OR

Tin Roof

cb...where are you?






OHIO

VIVE LA FRANCE!

(from MP in Sarasota)

MY BEST EXPERIENCES IN FRANCE:

- all-time favorite thing to do = put a map in my back pocket, then wander aimlessly in Paris.

- went to a rock festival in Biot in 1970. the promoter ran off with the dough, and the kids rioted. they don't play there.

- staying w/pals Babette & Henri Vosch in Tourette-sur-Loup.

- camping out with LS on Canal St. Martin.

- skiing on Bastille Day in Tigne.

- swimming at Cannes, and seeing this Aryan couple in matching leopard skin swimwear cut thru the darkswarthyfrenchitalians and then disappear into the sea.

- driving the Corniche d'Or in a Renault 5 drunk on champagne and managing not to kill myself.

- best ice cream i have ever had...double dark chocolate gelato on the beach at Saint-Tropez.

- seeing a medieval Christian church carved out of a chaulk cave because the church was banned and had to go underground...literally.

- lunch on LS's farm in the Dordogne in mid-November.

- hitch-hiking from Nice to Monte Carlo...and getting a ride in a Lamborghini Countach.

- attending MIDEM when i had the Number One single.

- hanging out at the house in Cap Ferrat where the Rolling Stones recorded Exile On Mainstreet

- having Simone's mom make us ratatouille.

- taking the TGV to anywhere. and/or Le Tran Bleu to Nice.

- Nice in general

- staring up at the Eiffel Tower for hours on end with nothing else to do but stare up at the Eiffel Tower for hours on end.

- lunch in a Lyon park...simple, raw peasant food but, man...so good.

...i could go on and on.


NP: Jacques Tati's "Mon Oncle"

PEEVE DE JOUR: il fait froid...

JOIE DE JOUR: ...mais, il fait beaux...so am going to see the Monet exhibit at Clevo Muso of Art

ROSATI'S FLAVOR-OF-THE-DAY:

Bordeaux Cherie

(Bordeaux cherries & chocolate chips in vanilla custard)

N.B.A.T.W.P.:

RBW writes:

You are invited !

I am the curator of a small cool space in SlaviC Village called 5700.

Tomorrow we are having an artist's reception - FRIDAY NITE
how ? where ? when ? free drink & Snacks ?

THe Info :

Paintings by local artist William Gould
(works on Exhibit : April 1 - May 31, 2007)

ARTist's Reception: FRIDAY, MAY 18 from 6 - 8 pm
Please join us for an opportunity to meet the artist,
see the works and snack on some great eats

Where : Art in the Village - 5700 Gallery @
Neighborhood Housing Services of Greater Cleveland
5700 Broadway, Slavic Village, Cleveland, Ohio 44127

William Gould is nationally recognized professional in architecture, urban design and land use planning. He is currently principal-in-charge of Urban Renewal Planning; including Slum & Blight Evaluations for the city of Lorain, Ohio. He founded Artspace, an organization making downtown spaces affordable studios for artists to live/work. His studios are located within the 1400 Boxtop Building in Midtown where he lives with his wife Harriet Gould.

The series of works on display at AIV 5700 Gallery are reflections of the region's cityscapes. An artist working in the city, Gould captures familiar scenes and sites while injecting color and vibrancy into his pieces. Many of the works reflect neighborhoods, churches and unique viewpoints rich in community from within sections of Cleveland.

cb...ou est vous?






Le OHIO

GNOME ON THE GRANGE!

BEHOLD!!!!

meet Chomsky = the World's Largest Garden Gnome!!

a great weekend working on Wonder Gurl's agricultural-themed mini-golf course in Kerhonkson, NY.

some plantin'.

some weedin'.

some eatin'.

all funnin'.
















the Chicken Palace on one of the home-grown mini golf holes. one of the themes of this project is an emphasis on Slow Food/"eat locally and save the earth". to that end...that egg (can you see it?) had seconds to live before it was omeleted.

big yum.

for info on SLOW FOOD: click here

















young hydro-engineers beefing-up the water hazard hole

















the view from out The Job Shack door...Kelder's Farm

















The Job Shack...you should have a "shack" so cool!!


















still life w/fresh asperagus

GO PLAY SOME MINI-GOLF!: MAP

NP: Ahmet Ertegun & The Story of Atlantic Records on PBS. missed it the first time around. wow....tho that segment w/ Mick Jagger & AE laffing about the 'good times' as chronicled in Cocksucker Blues (heroin/rape/more heroin) is creepy.

PEEVE DE JOUR: dreadful drive home - trafficidiotsmissedturnsfeelingutterlystoopid.

JOIE DE JOUR:
















one less douchebag in the world. thank you, Jesus...good riddance.

ROSATI'S FLAVOR-OF-THE-DAY:

Higbees
Chocolate Malted

OR

Cookie
Dough

N.B.A.T.W.P.:

pal Tom Vincent writes:

I promised I wouldn't do this, but I managed to let a year go by without a single Romance Commandos' show.

The shame I feel can only be expressed musically, and so I'd like to invite you to our "The Romance Commandos Apologize for Letting a Year go by Without a Show" show.

Join us for a lively evening of musical mea culpas which will have you tapping your feet to our rhythmic sobbing.

Our remorseful lineup includes:
Terry Wetmore - Drums
Dave Post - Bass
Rob Focht - Keyboard
Andy Goessling - Reeds and Mandolin
Neal Pawley - Trombone
Annalee Van Kleeck - Vocals
Bianca Bob Miller - Vocals
Taura McKeekin - Vocals
Tom Vincent - Deeply Embarrassed Leader

Larry Capoli may also join us, tanned and refreshed from his Costa Rican vacation, but we can’t be sure just yet.

Newly recruited Commandos, Dave Post (of Swingadelic fame, among many other musical accomplishments) and Taura McKeekin (a swinging jazz singer from Seattle who will be tragically underused) bear no responsibility for our delay, and neither does Rob Focht since this, although his second time out with us, is doing the first Commando show that he will have known about before the actual night of the gig. The other members are equally free of blame as well, but all have agreed to help me in this undertaking because of their enormous hearts.

(Actually, I’m thrilled to tears about this lineup, their combined musical resumes would rival the D.C. Madam’s phone records for size and poundage.)

Here's the poop:
Thursday, May 17th, 2007
8pm - 11pm
The Goldhawk Lounge (back room, our favorite place)
936 Park Avenue (corner of 10th St)
Hoboken, NJ
201 420-7989

http://www.thegoldhawk.com/

Looking forward to apologizing in person,

TV

cb...where are you?






NEW JERSEY

IF YOU WERE THERE...(UPDATE 5)

The other day, I was trying to describe to Wunder Gurl the deep, absolute hatred for KSU students that existed (and still exists) in Portage and Summit Counties circa May 4th , 1970…the ‘shuddah shot more of ‘em’ mentality.

Perhaps this will do the trick = from today’s Akron Beacon Journal (a/k/a the Aching Leaking Urinal):

Wed, May. 09, 2007

What's the harm in probing May 4?

Thank you for offering online for Internet availability at Ohio.com audio versions of segments of the recording taken by Terry Strubbe of the May 4, 1970, shootings at Kent State University.

You perform an educational service for people everywhere seeking to hear this readily apparent historical evidence.

But the Beacon Journal does not always perform admirably regarding the misunderstood May 4, 1970, tragedy at Kent State University.

On May 24, 1970, you concluded, “There was no order to fire.'' You were wrong in 1970.

On May 4, 2000, you resurrected the long-rejected theory that a sniper fired the first shot at KSU in 1970. To quote the 1970 FBI investigation: “There was no sniper.'' In fact, all 67 gunshots were fired by the Ohio National Guard. You were wrong in 2000.

Why does the Beacon Journal continue such a cavalier attitude about a complex historical event, which occurred in nearby Kent?

I recently discovered a 1970 audio recording at the Yale University library archives. I dared to announce this undiscovered evidence proving the command to shoot unarmed students.

I welcomed new investigations.

On the same day your editorial board attacked my credibility (“The May 4 tape,'' Our Opinion, May 3), the Yale Daily News wrote: “Just before gunfire rings out on the tape, a barely audible male voice can be heard ordering what seems to be, `Right here! Get set! Point! Fire!' Immediately after that last command, a hail of gunfire breaks out, lasting for 13 seconds.''

Across America, many people are finally listening to these crucial 1970 sounds via the Internet. This was our intention when we revealed this recording in Kent on May 1.

Many people have contacted me by e-mail and telephone offering support. They also hear the 1970 shouted command clearly, as I do. I am certainly not alone in this regard.

But the Beacon Journal editorial board has misled readers once again. As in 1970, when your paper earned a Pulitzer Prize for an incomplete, premature “investigation,'' board members remain cynical about the undeniable fact there was an order to shoot at Kent State on May 4, 1970. Why?

I stated at our May 1 news conference, “The evidence speaks for itself.'' Inevitably, this long-overlooked evidence will be evaluated, analyzed and enhanced by digital sound professionals.

I encourage scientific analysis of the original Strubbe tape by the federal and state governments, legal experts in courtrooms, scientists, scholars, historians and, of course, the news media.

This includes the Beacon Journal editorial board. Have your esteemed editors actually listened to the recording at Ohio.com? Have you listened to the digital CD I provided to your reporter at our news conference? Have you secured the complete tape version from Yale University or Terry Strubbe? Have you hired audio professionals to do an evaluation? Why not?

As in 1970, why do you again mistakenly rush to judgment and now blame the messenger, in this case, me? Can your critical editorial viewpoint be interpreted as a sidelong glance of envy?

Why did I discover this evidence in 2007, and why didn't you in 1970?

A biased newspaper editorial board does not serve the interests of its readers or the community. I have complete faith in the patience and fairness of our citizens. Too bad the same cannot be said about your errant editors.

Concerning the misunderstood Kent State tragedy of May 4, 1970, you are wrong again in 2007.

Alan Canfora
Director Kent May 4 Center
Barberton


Shot once in 1970, potshots ever since

There have been a lot of attacks on Alan Canfora's character because he continues to speak about the May 4, 1970, killings at Kent State University.

I was too young to understand the Kent State incident when it took place. But as a Kent resident, I fully understand that a lot of people felt the students were wrong to protest the war in Vietnam, even though they were being drafted to fight and die over there. Several people have told me the students deserved to be shot.

Now that I'm twice as old as the students who were killed, I question whether such a use of force is ever justified. Were we so afraid of our kids that we had to point loaded guns at them? I think this would be very unlikely to happen on any campus today.

I can understand how witnessing the killings and being shot affected Canfora, and why he continues to speak about this issue.

For others, he continues to be a convenient punching bag for their hatred of the anti-war movement.

Maybe because we are in another long war, he has been vilified in editorials and letters to the editor. But rather than a villain, Canfora is a kind person, a gentleman, polite and well-spoken, a family man and a good listener. He's working to make a positive difference in our community.

You might want to meet and talk to him before throwing rocks.

Fred Pierre
Kent


Let's not forget who began the violence

I see the Beacon Journal has given a lot of space to Alan Canfora and the tragic events that occurred on the Kent State University campus in 1970. But I didn't see much space given to the events that led up to the shootings.

It should be noted that the rioters on the campus (Canfora and friends), prior to May 4, 1970, had set fire to university property and attacked the firefighters who tried to put out the fire, had set fires in downtown Kent, had broken windows and threatened store owners and had tried to tear down American flags in the downtown area.

If Canfora wants to find who was responsible for May 4, he should look in the mirror.

Harvey G. Brown
Kent


Silence of the dead

Alan Canfora says he can hear on the tape, ``Get set! Point! Fire!''

Anyone who honorably served in the military to defend this country would remember ``Ready, aim, fire!'' as a common order on the firing line. I would not expect a draft-dodger to understand the language of the military.

All I remember of that day in May 1970 was that when the shooting started, the rioting and fires went out.

Jerry Lamm
Akron

What IS clear to me from listening to the tape – and as pointed out in an email from pal DC in NYC – the firing was a barrage with a clean starting point vs. initial sporadic firing that would result from a few Guardsmen acting alone with others joining in a few seconds later.

it is the horrible sound of ammo clips being emptied.

in unison.

cb

NP: Walter Lehrman's '62 lecture series on The American Folk Song. am archiving/digitizing his tapes, and this morning's class is on 'negro' work songs. great stuff!

PEEVE DE JOUR: Richard Lloyd is leaving Television after 34 years. last show at Central Park Summer Stage 6/16. fyi - Tin Huey/Harvey Gold & Chris Butler are not to blame...

JOIE DE JOUR: Duane St. patisserie is run by Madeline Lanciani of Patisserie Lanciani = makers of THE BEST Lemon Tart on the planet.

ROSATI’S FLAVOR-OF-THE-DAY:

Brownie Batter

OR

Cherry Vanilla

cb…where are you?






NEW JERSEY

"DIRT" IS THE NEW BLACK

post-purplE k'niF gig...i morph from frantic surf band drummer (still wearing the stage clothes i arrived in) into the strappin' young field hand pictured above on site at Wunder Gurl's upstate NY mini-golf. when you start with 'beat', then throw in two days of physical work...well, something great happens - 'real' tired vs. just stressagitaworrieswoes = a much better head. endorphines roaring? misdirection? not sure, but i like it. a little sore, a lot smelly...but there is now a hillside of new strawberry plants ready to treat the Puttering Masses.

NP: WNYC was playing some fantastic Steve Reich piece as i was driving back to NJ. beautiful to listen to, tho the trance that this music induced had me on the shoulder several times.

also - SS sends "Butler Declared Seminal Influence on Stand-Up and Hip Hop:



PEEVE DE JOUR: busted my sunglasses. again. there is just no point in buying anything but the cheapestdorkiest pair if they have a half-life of like two days.

JOIE DE JOUR: fresh asparagus grabbed from the farm.

ROSATI'S FLAVOR-OF-THE-DAY:

Coffee

OR

Candy Collision

cb...where are you?






NEW JERSEY

IF YOU WERE THERE...(UPDATE 4)

BL writes:

"Canterbury was a Brigadier General, Sylvester T. Del Corso was an Adjutant General. I believe Capt. Srp was the guy with the baton and the soft cap on in the photos around the pagoda structure."
.....
For the info on Sgt. Pryor's nonverbal command read below the piece in this mornings Beacon Journal:

Was there an order to fire?

37 years later, the essential May 4, 1970, question remains
By William A. Gordon

The writer, formerly of Akron and a 1973 graduate of Kent State University, is the author of four books, including Four Dead in Ohio: Was There a Conspiracy at Kent State?

Fraud. That is the only word I can think of to describe Alan Canfora's attempt to convince us that he discovered a long-overlooked order to kill the students at Kent State on May 4, 1970.

Canfora, one of the nine students wounded by the Ohio National Guardsmen on that historic day, tried to convince us that someone yelled: ``Right here. Get set. Point. Fire.''

It was supposed to be audible in a tape recording of the shootings. However, neither I nor any of the members of news organizations that contacted me could hear the word ``Fire'' -- which is not surprising, considering the fact that none of the witnesses reported hearing this version of the shootings either.

The FBI interviewed at least 540 witnesses, and Canfora's own attorneys formally deposed or informally talked to at least 100 more while preparing for the 1975 wrongful death and injury trials. And do you know what? Not a single person at the trials reported hearing anything remotely resembling these words, which do not even sound like an order any military officer would even give.

This was, as I have been saying all along, probably a hoax.

There is no question Canfora tried to lead us down the wrong tracks. Which is unfortunate, because if anyone else tried to search for the truth, they might have found an intriguing circumstantial case that there was indeed an order to fire -- probably issued by a nonverbal command.

Why do I say that? First, we know that the Guard troops' claims of self-defense were wildly inflated. When the FBI took measurements of the scene, it discovered that the protesters were too far away from the troops to pose any real danger.

Second, we know that there was not any rock attack, despite what the soldiers claimed. The photographs failed to capture any rocks being thrown by protesters at the crucial moments, and the Guardsmen did not suffer any significant injuries immediately before or during the shootings (although there were some notable injuries due to thrown objects a few minutes earlier).

Third, dozens of witnesses reported seeing the Guardsmen turn in unison and start firing as if they were responding to a military command.

The evidence that there was a verbal order is completely underwhelming. But there were certainly tantalizing leads that there might have been a nonverbal command. This was a possibility that neither the FBI nor other investigators ever really explored.

During the 1975 trial of a $40 million wrongful death lawsuit against then-Gov. James Rhodes, Kent State and the Ohio National Guard, brought by the families of the four killed students, U.S. District Judge Don Young refused to allow jurors to hear previous federal grand jury testimony that contradicted the Guard troops' testimony in the civil trial.

The victims' families' attorneys wanted to introduce the federal grand jury testimony to impeach the Guardsmen's credibility, and were successful only in having the testimony read into the trial record.

The most shocking piece of withheld evidence was the grand jury testimony of Maj. Harry Jones, one of the senior officers at the scene. In the testimony read into the record but not heard by the jurors, federal prosecutors showed Jones a now-famous photograph of Sgt. Myron Pryor standing in front of his men, intently pointing a .45-caliber pistol directed toward the students. The federal prosecutors asked Jones whether that picture depicted Pryor giving a hand and arm signal to fire, and Jones testified that, yes, it could have. Jones testified that you give an order by ``tap(ping) a man on the helmet and point to a specific point or target.''

Two other witnesses, both former soldiers who served in Vietnam (Harry Montgomery and Charles Deegan) testified to seeing Pryor tap other soldiers right before the unit about-faced and fired in unison.

This raises the question: Were the Kent State shootings never solved because other Guard officers gave the FBI false testimony that hand signals to fire did not exist, and the FBI never investigated this possibility?

We will never know, of course, unless some Guardsmen decide to speak out, probably for monetary gain. As one Guardsman asked me when I tried to get him to speak on the record: ``What about the bucks?''
........
gee, big news: Alan Canfora has been a pain in the ass...but he's been MY KIND of pain in the ass = keeping a rawunresolvedunclosedtrulyhorrible event from becoming just another victim of our culture's Mass Forgetting. i am grateful to him for being the Designated Outrage Maintainer so that the rest of us could try to get on with our lives.

fraud? hoax? oh please...way to strongloadedbiased a term. GVC is right (see previous post below) - put the tape with the eyewitnesses who say the guard turned as a unit/the stills & film clips that show Sgt. Pryor having his men kneel and point at us from the practice football field (where i saw one...and only one...rock hit a Guardsman's helmet)/etc. and yer damn right there is a case for there having been an order to fire.

......

KH writes:

"As several folks have noted and recalled, those of us close enough to the guard out on the practice field saw Pryor go around to all the guys in his unit and speak with each of them, making them lift their gas masks so they could hear him, just before they moved back up the hill. When the reached the top and turned and fired it was plainly the implementation of an order he had given them, and his dropping his arm with his pistol in hand was the “non-verbal” signal which is clearly visible in the pictures of the shooting. There is a photo as well of a guard officer (see attachment), without a gas mask, and with his mouth open, in the near background behind the troops who are firing or about to fire, and perhaps he was shouting something at them as well, which may be what is heard on the tape. This tape, or at least a portion of it, was reproduced on the little flimsy recording which was included with the Chestnut Burr yearbook in 1970."
.....
GVC writes again:

"Thanks for the info everyone. As if I needed one more iota of proof that there is no justice. It confounds all logic and knowledge of military procedure that there was no order, verbal or otherwise, that day. So I guess what I saw was that the guard magically lined up, turned, and fired in unison - and Mary, mother of Jesus, was a virgin. Even more outrageous is that the technicality of not being able to prove that a verbal order was given bears any weight at all in this case."
...........

and once again i have to ask - as i've been asking for 37 years - where's Terry Norman?

cb

IF YOU WERE THERE... (UPDATE)

HEAR THE TAPE: http://www.wksu.org/news/story/20800

thru speakers, i can clearly hear the words "right here", "get set" & "point", but "fire" is fuzzy...

then i put on headphones...

anybody else care to comment?

for example, GVC writes:

"I don't mean to sound dumb but is the point here that the tape is the ONLY proof that there was an order to fire? Is there no footage that shows what many of us saw including myself? Of course there was an order. They lined up. The officer in the gas mask stood to one side of the line and he brought down his arm is a referee type "play ball" motion and they all shot together."

yep.

personally, i hope we finally get those bastards. they turned as a group...this is clear in the films, as well as my own recollection.

cb

IF YOU WERE THERE...

...as I was, you've always suspected that there was a coordinated order to fire.

i hope this finally proves it:













Apr 29, 11:35 PM EDT

Victim says tape of Kent State shootings reveals order to fire

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- A man who was shot when National Guard troops opened fire on anti-war protesters at Kent State University 37 years ago said Sunday the federal government should reopen its investigation because an audio recording taken on campus that day reveals an order to fire.

Alan Canfora, who was shot and wounded in the right wrist, said he requested a copy of the nearly 30 minute tape six months ago from Yale University, where a government copy had been stored in an archive. Just before a 13-second barrage of gunfire, a voice on the tape yells, "Right here! Get Set! Point! Fire!" Canfora said.

The FBI investigated whether an order had been given to fire on May 4, 1970, and said it could only speculate. One theory was that a guardsman panicked or fired intentionally at a student and others fired when they heard the shot.

"We think this is a troubling piece of evidence that was somehow overlooked," said Canfora, who planned to release CD copies of the recording Tuesday at news conference at Kent State, about 30 miles southeast of Cleveland. "We're not seeking revenge or a new prosecution of guardsmen, we just want the truth."

Canfora said he cannot identify the voice on the tape or say for certain that it belongs to a guardsman. The government should analyze the recording using new technology, he said.

Mark Wayda, spokesman for the Ohio National Guard, said Sunday he was unaware of the tape and declined comment.

Four Kent State students were killed and nine were wounded in a clash with students that followed several days of anti-Vietnam War protests.

In 1974, eight guardsmen tried on federal civil rights charges were acquitted by a U.S. judge.

Canfora said the reel-to-reel audio recording was made by Terry Strubbe, a student who placed a microphone in a window sill of his dormitory that overlooked the anti-war rally. Strubbe turned the tape over to the FBI, which made a copy and gave it back, Canfora said.

Sounds of the gunfire were played during court proceedings, but Canfora said he was unaware whether attorneys listened to the whole recording.

Strubbe, who still lives near Kent, keeps the original tape in a safe deposit box, said Canfora, who heads a nonprofit organization at Kent State that leads a candlelight vigil every May 4 to mark the anniversary of the shootings.

Strubbe has an unlisted phone number.










NP: Nikki Corda's excellent documentary film on rescuing feral cats on PBS.

more info: http://www.urbanrescuers.org/

PEEVE DE JOUR: still no morels.

JOIE DE JOUR: purplE k'niF's Tour-ette de Printemps was fabulous! four one-nighters with Los Straitjackets in Pittsburgh, Columbus, Clevo & Dayton. good times, good rock...and new good pals. go Big Sandy, go!







cb's PREMIER DRUM FLAVOR-OF-THE-GIG:

Root Beer Swirl (a/k/a Mahogany Duroplast)

ROSATI'S FLAVOR-OF-THE-DAY:

Cake Batter

or

Go Nuts!

cb...where are you?






OHIO