Eric on The Road

Journeys into the offbeat, off the beaten path, overlooked and forgotten - by Eric Model

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Tear Down Stadium and Build Up the Bronx (NY Times)

From The New York Times:

By HARVEY ARATON
Published: January 24, 2009

"...When it is in the baseball team’s interest to demolish a stadium so there will be enough parking by opening day, the old ballpark can’t come down soon enough. When the existing stadium site has been designated for replacement park baseball fields, the community can wait — in the case of Heritage Field on the existing old Stadium site, until at least fall 2011, or three years after the last major league pitch...."

"...Having long ago learned that slogans are much cheaper than sympathy, now there is one on the River Avenue side of the new stadium. Building the Future of the Bronx, it says. All that is missing is Bombers after Bronx. The community’s future is parkland in piecemeal, with taxpayers picking up the ever-escalating tab...."

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/25/sports/baseball/25araton.html?scp=2&sq=yankee%20stadium%20&st=cse

In Montreal, the Civic Religion Enjoys a Revival (NY Times)

From The New York Times:

By LYNN ZINSER
Published: January 24, 2009

In Montreal people do not learn hockey as much as they absorb it through their pores.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/25/sports/hockey/25canadiens.html?_r=1&scp=3&sq=montreal%20canadiens%20lynn%20zinser&st=cse

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Born Again American - An Anthem for The Times

It's a time of challenge and a time of hope in the U.S.A.

The worst recession since the Great Depression. Two wars being raged. A time of profound uncertainty.

At the same time, millions are descending on Washington, DC to mark a monumental achievement.

Voices are being raised in word and song. We're moved and impressed with this one:
http://www.bornagainamerican.org/index.html

The First State is Now an NFL Swing State (NY Times)

From The New York Times:

JOHN BRAND
January 18, 2009

Delaware — suddenly relevant to people who might have long thought otherwise, if they thought about it at all — is atwitter for the inauguration on Tuesday, when the adopted Delawarean Jpe Biden becomes the vice president.

It could be just the start of an arc of rare attention. The state’s masses — if a population of 853,476 can be considered such a thing — also ponder the possibility of a Super Bowl between Baltimore and Philadelphia. Those football hotbeds are divided by 100 miles. And Delaware.

Talk about a swing state.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/18/sports/football/18delaware.html?_r=1&ref=sports

Friday, January 16, 2009

Passing: Andrew Wyeth, Artist (NY Times)

From the New York Times:

Anrew Wyeth, one of the most popular and also most lambasted artists in the history of American art, a reclusive linchpin in a colorful family dynasty of artists whose precise realist views of hardscrabble rural life became icons of national culture and sparked endless debates about the nature of modern art, died on Friday January 16 at his home in Chadds Ford, PA.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/17/arts/design/17wyeth.html?_r=1&hp

Hanging 10 (Degrees) on Icy Lake Superior (NY Times)

From The New York Times:

By STEPHEN REGENOLD
Published: January 16, 2009

Just north of Duluth, Minn., wave-catchers ride year-round in what is one of the world’s most unlikely surfing scenes.

http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/01/16/travel/escapes/16superior.html?ref=travel

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Motown Records Celebrates 50th Anniversary (NPR)

From NPR News:

Day to Day
January 13, 2009

Madeleine Brand takes a tour of Detroit's Motown Museum and hears from former Motown artists on what life was like in the city when it was the music capital of the world.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=99299275

After 160 Years, Fabled Yale Club Shuts Doors (NPR)

From NPR News:

by Brian Reed
Weekend Edition Sunday,
January 11, 2009

"...To the tables down at Mory's. To the place where Louie dwells. To the dear old Temple Bar we love so well...."
(From The Whppenpoof Song made famous by Bing Crosby & Rudy Vallee)

Mory's, a private club in New Haven, Conn., for Yalies, their guests and sometimes presidents, has nearly gone broke. The institution is in need of a loan from Yale or a wealthy alumnus in order to stay afloat.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=99174276

Bison make a new home on the range in Utah (AP)

From The Associated Press via USA Today:

By Mike Stark
Associated Press Writer

ANTELOPE ISLAND, Utah — For the first time in nearly 70 years, Utah has a new free-roaming bison herd.

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/destinations/2009-01-14-utah-bison_N.htm

Saturday, January 10, 2009

Original Six rivalry dies lonely death (Montreal Gazette)

From The Montreal Gazette:

By Red Fisher
Montreal Gazette


Are you as tired of reading and/or hearing as I am about the Canadiens-Maple Leafs rivalry? What rivalry? Are you kidding me?

File and forget it. It's dead......

http://www.montrealgazette.com/Sports/Original+rivalry+dies+lonely+death/1157459/story.html

General Motors cleans out the garage (Business Week)

From Business Week via msn.com:

By David Kiley
Business Week

General Motors is cleaning out the attic to sell some stuff at the auction house to raise some much needed cash.

Around 250 vehicles from GM's "Heritage Collection" will be auctioned by Barrett-Jackson, with the first lots going on Jan. 13 in Scottsdale, Ariz., and the second hitting the block in April in West Palm Beach, Fla.

Don't think that GM is parting with the family jewels to pay the mortgage. Though insiders can't recall such a big chunk of the collection being sold at once, 25 percent of the total, most of the vehicles are special show cars and one-offs that GM snapped together for the Specialty Equipment Manufacturers Assn. shows over the years, as well as some classic production cars that were duplicates of models GM still has.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28581960

Tuesday, January 06, 2009

Delta Queen nominated as endangered historic site (AP)

From the Associated Press via USA Today:

CINCINNATI (AP) — The historic riverboat Delta Queen has been nominated to become one of America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places.

Landing on the exclusive annual list could save the steamboat from likely decay. On Oct. 31, a congressional exemption that allowed the wooden boat to carry more than 50 overnight passengers expired.

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/2009-01-04-delta-provision_N.htm

Learn how to eat like a local in U.S. cities (AP)

From The Associated Press via USA Today:

BRENTWOOD, Tenn. (AP) — An updated look at Nashville's restaurant scene is just out from Where the Locals Eat, a series of dining guides.

The books look at restaurants by neighborhood, price range and category, which, depending on the city, ranges to everything from Asian Fusion to American Traditional to Brunch, Cafe, Diner, Dumplings, Steak House, Tex-Mex, Wine Bar and even Food Cart. The listings are based on ratings from readers whom the publisher calls "certified foodies," and supplemented by input from the series' writers and researchers.

You can also get recommendations for many other top U.S. metro areas at the WhereTheLocalsEat.com or in the series' national guide, published in 2007, Where the Locals Eat: The 100 Best Restaurants in the Top 50 Cities. An iPhone application is available as well, called LocalEats, for 99 cents.


http://www.usatoday.com/travel/destinations/2009-01-05-where-the-locals-eat_N.htm

Seeing America in Rented Shoes (msn.com)

From msn.com:

Author Mike Walsh went bowling in all 50 states. Here are seven highlights of what he learned in the alleys.

http://cityguides.msn.com/citylife/cityarticle.aspx?cp-documentid=16184408&GT1=24000

Saturday, January 03, 2009

Giant Chicken Nugget Rings In The New Year (NPR)

From NPR News:

Morning Edition
January 1, 2009

Of all the New Year's celebrations, the tastiest might have taken place outside a restaurant in McDonough, Ga. The town attracted thousands of people New Year's Eve. Instead of watching a giant crystal ball like in Times Square, they watched a giant chicken nugget drop into a vat of dipping sauce. While the 800-pound nugget may have looked good enough to eat, it was made of plaster.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=98931469

Eastern Ontario's churches pack a beautiful punch -- and they're historic, too (Ottawa Citizen)

From The Ottawa Citizen via canada.com:

Eva Holland, Citizen Special
Published: Monday, December 15, 2008

An article about classic looking churches. The author, Eva Holland is an Ottawa-based writer who has been fascinated with old churches ever since she spent a year living in the shadow of England's 1,000-year-old Durham Cathedral.

http://www.canada.com/topics/travel/canada/story.html?id=1078284

P.E.I.'s Green Gables still thrills

From The Calgary Herald through canada.com::

By Randall Shirley
For The Calgary Herald
Published: Tuesday, December 30, 2008

The recent airing of Anne of Green Gables: A New Beginning on CTV shows that Canada's best-known orphan is still crazy-popular. The real Green Gables on P.E.I. is still a travel destination that thrills kids and kids-at-heart.

http://www.canada.com/topics/travel/canada/story.html?id=1082355

Happily, no 'farewell to cats' in Key West (USA Today)

From USA Today:


By Chris Gray, USA TODAY
January 2, 2009

Cats roam the grounds of the Ernest Hemingway Home & Museum, where Hemingway lived with his second wife, Pauline, and wrote classics such as A Farewell to Arms and To Have and Have Not. Descended from Hemingway's cat Snowball, many are polydactyl, which means they have extra toes. The museum names them after famous writers, artists and celebrities.

The cats have been a popular tourist attraction in quirky Key West since the museum opened in 1964. But until September, their future was unclear. The museum was embroiled in legal wranglings with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which wanted to remove them to protect them.

Finally, an outside veterinarian came up with a compromise: Install a special fence around the 1-acre property that will keep the cats enclosed yet not mar the historic landmark.

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/destinations/2009-01-01-hemingway-key-west-cats_N.htm