April 01, 2008

Exciting New Venture

If you read the Almanac through an RSS feed, you might miss today's exciting announcement.

Click here to find out about the exciting new face of Tube City Online.

Did I mention it's exciting?

Posted at 12:00 am by Jason Togyer
Pointless Digressions | two comments | Link To This Entry

March 31, 2008

'Barackaque' on Shaw Avenue

The Mon Valley is Hillary Clinton country, according to national experts. Statewide, many polls give the New York senator and former First Lady a double-digit lead among likely voters in Pennsylvania's April 22 Democratic primary.

Such overwhelming odds matter not at all to Jaala Nesbit, 24, of McKeesport, who's helping run the Mon Valley for Obama office on Shaw Avenue. A grassroots effort, the office opened in February in an old mansion across the street from the Rainbow Temple Assembly of God (the former Temple B'nai Israel).

Nesbit and other organizers held what was billed as a "Barackaque" Saturday afternoon to thank volunteers and educate visitors about the Illinois senator and his positions on the issues.

If anything, the fact that Obama remains a longshot to win Pennsylvania is making his local volunteers more excited.

"I don't like working on a campaign where there is no challenger --- where the candidate is a shoo-in," says Nesbit, a substitute teacher at the city's Cornell Intermediate School and a graduate student in instructional leadership at Robert Morris University, Moon Township.

. . .

Though the air was cold, the sunny skies helped boost the spirits of about 100 Obama supporters (and several undecided voters) who gathered Saturday.

Their mood was also lifted by the important endorsements their candidate picked up last week, including those of U.S. Sen. Bob Casey Jr. and state Senator Sean Logan of Monroeville. (Last week, state Rep. Marc Gergely of White Oak told Tube City Almanac that he is also supporting Obama.)

City Councilman Paul Shelly Jr. and David Adelman, a state senator and Democratic whip from Decatur, Ga., spoke Saturday in support of Obama, along with longtime local civil-rights activist Major Mason III.

"We have the power to organize the community like it has never been organized before," Mason told the audience, adding that "all I want to see in April is that Allegheny County went for Barack Obama."

. . .

Nesbit became aware of Obama after his stirring speech to the 2004 Democratic National Convention and his election to the U.S. Senate in 2006. Earlier this year, she volunteered to work for Obama during the South Carolina primary.

"It was a great opportunity to network with political leaders, and we felt we had to bring that type of energy back here to McKeesport," Nesbit says.

One of her companions on the southern trip was Al Washington of McKeesport, a former city council candidate and community organizer who works in the telecommunications industry.

"I like his proposals on health care and especially on education," says Washington, another leader of Mon Valley for Obama. "He believes in early education and early intervention. All of the testing we're doing is fine, but first you've got to teach the students, and you've got to pay the teachers."

. . .

Obama's focus on education plays well with young people, who are a big part of Obama's campaign, nationally as well as locally.

Some of the Mon Valley volunteers aren't old enough to vote --- including Washington's nephew, Darnell Davis, 15, a student at Boyce Campus Middle College in Monroeville. Davis made an informative and impassioned speech on behalf of Obama to small groups of people watching videos supplied by the candidate's campaign.

Washington says he's bringing to the local Obama office lessons he learned while working on Bill Clinton's successful 1992 presidential campaign. One of them is that TV commercials and speeches are useful, but they're no substitute for personal interaction.

"People base their decisions upon people they know," he says. "The candidate's (ads) are going to help, but it's the next-door neighbor who's going to win them over."

. . .

Like other Bill Clinton supporters who are now backing Obama, Washington has been disappointed by some of the former president's statements on behalf of his wife's campaign. Washington writes Bill Clinton's comments off as "one of those things you have to say when you're trying to win an election."

Nesbit thinks Obama's background as a community organizer should speak to many working-class Pennsylvanians.

"He's not a rich man," she says. "He doesn't come from money. As someone who comes from McKeesport, I know we're hard-working people who have to earn our money. I feel like we need someone like that representing us in the White House."

Though much has been made of the historic nature of the Democratic race --- a female candidate versus an African-American candidate --- Nesbit hopes the campaigns transcend old lines.

"I don't think it's about race or gender any more," she says. "I think it's about economic status, and we need someone who's going to work for us."

. . .

Still, Nesbit and others aren't blind to the deep-rooted prejudices that still exist in the Mon-Yough area. One white Obama volunteer, knocking on doors in Versailles, was supposedly told by an elderly woman that she would never vote for the Illinois senator. "I don't want it to be the 'Black House,'" the lady reportedly said.

Combine that with Clinton's commanding leads in statewide polling, and Obama's enthusiastic volunteers face a serious uphill battle.

"We've still got a lot of work to do," Washington says.

. . .

Mon Valley for Obama is located at 539 Shaw Ave., downtown. Office hours are 5 to 8:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, and 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturdays. Call (412) 628-5462.

. . .

Editor's Note: In the interest of full disclosure, I made a donation to Mon Valley for Obama after these interviews were complete. But this website remains independent, and no special consideration was made by Obama supporters to me or this website in exchange for a contribution, and I will happily cover any McKeesport-based Hillary Clinton activities, if I'm available.

Posted at 07:46 am by Jason Togyer
Events, Politics | one comment | Link To This Entry

March 29, 2008

Saturday Funnies

From Tom Tomorrow's "This Modern World," in Saturday's Post-Gazette.

As my friend Larry Slaugh used to say, "Laugh? I thought my pants would never dry."

Posted at 10:00 pm by Jason Togyer
Cartoons, General Nonsense | No comments | Link To This Entry

March 27, 2008

Memo to Slate.com

Finally! An actual mention of Our Fair City by the national political writers!

The conversation was about how tiring it must be to run for president, and someone --- a woman --- said that on top of everything else, Hillary Clinton has to spend an hour and a half getting ready for each day's campaigning. She didn't mean studying her notes and making sure she knows the name of the mayor of McKeesport, Pa. (Michael Kinsley, Slate.com)

Mike: His name is James Brewster. He was even on PBS. (You know PBS. The thing with Jim Lehrer.)

Also, thanks for the shout-out to us blighters in the sticks. It's nice to know that when you need to name the most obscure, misbegotten place in the United States of America, you think of us.

P.S. If Sen. Clinton really can't remember the mayor's name, feel free to pass my note along.

. . .

Where's Groucho Marx when I need him? Katharine Seelye of the New York Times said the secret word, and the duck came down to give her $100:

When he steps aboard a campaign bus in Pittsburgh on Friday, Senator Barack Obama begins a six-day journey across Pennsylvania and its complex political landscape, one that is largely favorable to his rival, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Mr. Obama will travel from the gritty western part of the state to the more prosperous east, at times riding straight into unfriendly territory, like that in Johnstown, the hardscrabble, blue-collar base of John P. Murtha, the powerful congressman, who is one of Mrs. Clinton’s staunchest allies.

(Tip o'the Tube City hard hat: Brian O.)

. . .

Lots of good news from Penn State McKeesport Metropolitan White Oak Campus. More than 150 students will receive awards for academic achievement at the local campus' 25th annual Honors Convocation.

The ceremony will be held at 7 p.m. April 17 in the Wunderley Gym, with campus Chancellor Curtiss Porter serving as master of ceremonies.

Among the awards to be presented are scholarships in several categories. In addition, the alumni society will present the 2008 "outstanding alumni" award.

In addition, two sophomores from the McKeesport Upper Versailles Campus have been named to the university's "all-conference" basketball team. Justin Hamilton will represent the men, while Ashlee Wygonik will represent the women.

. . .

Happy Trails: The Palisades ballroom at the city marina is slated to become one of the rest stops on the hiking-biking trail between Pittsburgh and Cumberland, notes Norm Vargo in the Post-Gazette.

In addition, work continues to acquire the former Pennsylvania Railroad bridge between the city and Duquesne for use by the trail.

Posted at 12:00 am by Jason Togyer
Hardscrabble Mon Valley Watch, Mon Valley Miscellany | three comments | Link To This Entry

March 26, 2008

Back in Vogue

Hugh Geyer, original lead tenor for The Vogues, has rejoined the group.

That means that Geyer is no longer singing with The Vogues.

Huh?

Yeah, it's confusing. The original members of the Turtle Creek-based quartet lost the rights to the name and trademark in the early 1970s.

Opinions differ on what happened; some people claim that dishonest managers and agents cheated the group, while others claim that one of the members was greedy. Possibly the answer lies somewhere in between.

A lawsuit ensued between the new owner of the trademark and Chuck Blasko, the original Vogues' second tenor. The courts awarded Blasko the right to perform with a group called "The Vogues" in 14 counties around Pittsburgh, while the owner of the national trademark was allowed to use it everywhere else.

For years, if you saw a show by "The Vogues" around Pittsburgh, you saw a group with one original member (Blasko), but if you saw "The Vogues" anywhere else, including Las Vegas, you saw no original members. When Blasko's group toured nationally, it was billed as "The Five O'Clock World Tour," named after one of the group's biggest hits. (Sadly, it's not an unusual situation, and it's happened to other rock groups of the 1950s and '60s.)

Several years ago, after The Vogues were spotlighted in a Rick Sebak WQED-TV special, Geyer, who still lives in the Mon Valley, joined Blasko's group. I saw them at a outdoor concert in Turtle Creek a few years, and they swung --- they really laid the crowd out. I've seen a few reunited 1960s groups that could no longer perform, but this group sounded good, and a lot of that was due to Geyer, who sang the soaring, high passages on many of The Vogues' hits.

Then a week ago I heard an ad on an out-of-town radio station advertising an appearance in Cincinnati by "Hugh Geyer and The Original Vogues," and I said --- huh? I didn't think Blasko's group was allowed to tour under that name.

I emailed my friend Tom, Geyer's stepson, who maintains a website about The Vogues and also hosts tubecityonline.com. Tom says Geyer has left Blasko's group and joined The Vogues.

If you want to see them, the bad news is that you'll have to leave the Mon Valley. The nearest upcoming shows are in Mingo Junction, Ohio (that's just south of Steubenville) on Saturday, April 19 and in Mentor, Ohio (east of Cleveland) on Saturday, April 26.

But that Mentor show might be worth the trip --- Frankie "Sea Cruise" Ford and Shirley Alston Reeves of the Shirelles are also scheduled to appear. Plus, it's good news that Geyer (who's a nice guy) is getting some national publicity.

And even if "The Vogues" is no longer all original four guys from Turtle Creek, it looks like they put on a pretty good show.

. . .

Chiaverini's Closes: One of McKeesport's nicest restaurants that you didn't know about is no more. Chiaverini's Family Restaurant on Walnut Street in Christy Park, near Enamel Products, has closed. I found out Saturday, when I stopped for dinner.

A note on the front door thanks customers for their 22 years of patronage. I'm getting old, because I didn't think they had been there that long.

Too bad. The service and the food was always good, but in recent years a limited operating schedule had sometimes made it hard to make time to eat there.

(more)

Posted at 12:10 am by Jason Togyer
Local Businesses, Mon Valley Miscellany | one comment | Link To This Entry

March 25, 2008

The Continuing Hardscrabble Warch

Mike Littwin of Denver's Rocky Mountain News has really outdone himself in this profile of Clairton:

(S)ure enough, just as I'd been warned, there was the white smoke belching from the Clairton Works mill, on the banks of the Monongahela River, one of the few working mills left in the region.

And long-abandoned storefronts were, in fact, boarded up --- ghostly reminders of what was and what would never be again.

And, yes, as the whistle blew, men in hard hats, many carrying lunch pails, headed home to their company-built houses, constructed in the days when the mills ran up and down the river, or maybe they went to a nearby bar for a well-earned beer or two after a hard shift.

This is the largest coke-manufacturing plant in the country, producing, the U.S. Steel literature says, 4.7 million tons a year. You can see the smoke, and smell it, for miles.

I hadn't come in search of a cliche, but here it was awaiting me.

Make sure to read Littwin's piece. Although he quotes every element of my parody, he deftly avoids mentioning Tube City Almanac, giving all of the credit instead to the Post-Gazette.

Hey, thanks a lot, pallie. I hope the Broncos choke.

. . .

I think we do have, however, a new marketing slogan: "Come to the Mon Valley, where cliches await you."

. . .

It's the newspaper of record in the nation's largest city. That means you can count on the New York Times to hit all of the correct (sour) notes in this profile of Jeannette:

Once known as glass city, when 70 percent of the world's glass was made here, this town is probably better known now as the home to Terrelle Pryor, the No. 1 college football prospect, who signed a letter of intent on Wednesday to attend Ohio State.

Beyond that, though, this economically battered city of 10,000 is fairly unremarkable in southwestern Pennsylvania. Like many cities in the region, it has lost a third of its population, and Clay Avenue, its downtown, is a shadow of its former self.

Again, none of this tells me much. After all, lots of things are shadows of their former selves. My hairline. CBS' prime-time lineup. Jeannette's downtown. Journalism.

. . .

Of course, the Times' story isn't about politics, and the Hardscrabble Mon Valley Watch is about political stories that work in as many "rusty steel town" cliches as possible.

Dante Chinni of the Christian Science Monitor does a good job weaving hardscrabble images into this piece about the April 22 Pennsylvania primary. He discusses our "old industrial economic base," uses the terms "blue-collar," "Rust Belt" and "lunch-bucket," and calls Pittsburgh an "industrial metropolis."

The Monitor has even colored Allegheny County "charcoal" (as in smoke) on their national political map, while the surrounding counties are "rust" (!) colored. The colors signify "industrial area" and "service workers," respectively.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to stop here. I have to go wash my steel-toe boots and pack my lunch bucket.

(more)

Posted at 12:00 am by Jason Togyer
Hardscrabble Mon Valley Watch | four comments | Link To This Entry

March 24, 2008

Whip it on Me, Baby!

It's Dyngus Day! Have you checked your dyngus today?

Wait! Stop! Before you disrobe, you need to know that the day after Easter is known as "smigus dyngus" in Poland and "pomlazka" in the Czech Republic.

Until I started working part-time at a radio station with a bunch of polka shows, I had never heard of this tradition, which is kind of surprising, considering the number of Poles and Czechs in the McKeesport area.

There is a "Dyngus Day Dance" at 6 p.m. tonight at the American Legion hall in Jeannette. North Huntingdon's Frank Powaski, who hosts one of Pittsburgh's most popular polka shows Sunday afternoons over WKHB (620), is the emcee, and Ray Jay and The Carousels will be performing.

Other than that, the Mon Valley is shockingly short on Dyngus Day activities --- which I find surprising, since we have so many dinguses around here. (Rimshot)

OK, enough with the jokes. According to the website Dyngus Day Buffalo, the word "dyngus" comes from the medieval Polish word "dingnus," which means something that's "worthy or suitable" as a ransom to protect a village. It also has its roots in the German word "dingen," which means "come to an agreement."

As with so many festivals, this one started as a pagan tradition. An article in the Polish American Journal explains:

The custom of pouring water is an ancient spring rite of cleansing, purification, and fertility. The same is true of the complimentary practice of switching with pussy willow branches, from which Dyngus Day derives its cognomen "Smigus" --- from "smiganie" --- switching.

The pagan Poles bickered with nature --- "dingen" --- by means of pouring water and switching with willows to make themselves "pure" and "worthy" for the coming year. Similar practices are still present in other non-Christian cultures during springtime.

In the 10th century, "Dyngus Day" was adopted by Polish Catholics as a religious holiday celebrating the baptism of Prince Mieszko I, the first Christian king of Poland.

"Tradition states that Prince Mieszko I along with his court were baptized on Easter Monday," Dyngus Day Buffalo says. "Thus, Dyngus Day and its rites of sprinkling with water have become a folk celebration in thanksgiving for the fact that the first king of Poland was baptized into Christianity, bringing Catholicism to Poland."

Naturally, the festival didn't stay a religious holiday.

"In more modern times, the tradition continued when farm boys in Poland wanted to attract notice from the girls of their choice," the website notes. "It was custom to throw water and hit the girls on their legs with twigs or pussy willows. Cologne was used instead of water by the more gallant lads. The ladies would reciprocate by throwing dishes and crockery and Tuesday was their day of revenge, imitating the same tactics."

Apparently, in Buffalo (also known as "The McKeesport of Western New York") they go all out on Dyngus Day. In fact, National Public Radio's "All Things Considered" reported on Dyngus Day in western New York two years ago.

Powaski tells me that many schools in Buffalo have Easter Monday as a holiday --- if they didn't, kids might not show up for class anyway.

(I did check some Buffalo-area school districts, and he's right. All of the ones I looked at --- West Seneca, Springville-Griffith Institute, Cheektowaga Central and Williamsville Central --- are all closed today for a "holiday," while Buffalo City Schools are on spring break all week.)

Poles in Chicago and northern Indiana also hold Dyngus Day parties and dances, where it's customary to squirt people with water or, if you're feeling really cheeky, to dump a bucket of water on their heads.

The Czech tradition is similar. Radio Prague reports:

Whipping brings good luck, wealth and rich harvest for the whole year. The strength from the rods is passed onto the person whipped. The whip or "pomlazka" is made from willow rods. The easiest variety is made from three rods, but it can be braided from 8, 12 or even 24 rods.

In Hungary, my countrymen call it "Dousing Monday" or "Ducking Monday":

Boys surprise the girls by dousing them thoroughly with buckets or bottles of water all the while reciting a little rhyme: "Good day, good day, my lily, I water you to keep you from withering," or "Water for your health, water for your home, water for your land, here's water, water!"

Formerly this practice was much rougher, for young men literally dragged girls to ponds, wells or streams at dawn and threw them in.

It was expected that the girls accept this all good-naturedly and reward their tormentors with decorated eggs, bread and a glass of brandy/wine --- or all three. The dousing was supposed to make of them good future wives with many children.

If that's what passes for foreplay in Hungary, it's a wonder the population hasn't died off completely.

The Hungarian women I know wouldn't like it if you tried throwing them into a creek at dawn.

In other words, it's a good way to lose your dingus.

Posted at 12:00 am by Jason Togyer
Mon Valley Miscellany, Pointless Digressions | No comments | Link To This Entry

March 22, 2008

Adventures in Consumerism

First the good news: Paul Elliott, the California real-estate agent selling the People's Building, called Tube City Online Thursday night to say that he's received a solid offer from a developer who is experienced in historic preservation.

While he can't name the potential buyer yet, Elliott says the party has rehabbed other older buildings and is excited about the People's Building. The preliminary sales price is $495,000, Elliott says.

We could use some good news around here, so keep your fingers crossed. Spring has sprung, and Easter is a time for rebirth. I don't mean to be sacrilegious, but the resurrection of the People's Building could bring the rest of that block of Fifth Avenue back from the dead.

. . .

Now the bad news: Much of the upper deck of the parking garage at Century III Mall is closed, as this picture taken Saturday afternoon shows. I suspect this is because the mall management doesn't want to pay to patrol the lot and plow the snow for the handful of customers still using it.

But remember what the marketing manager said a few months ago: "Century III Mall is lively and well ... it is very much business as usual there." She called the mall "a central shopping destination."

Um, yeah. Right. That's why they've got most of the garage closed.

And here's a story from a few weeks ago, in which the mall manager says the facility is "going all out" to attract new tenants, particularly doctors and other professionals.

Well, here's one of the entrance ramps off of Clairton Boulevard. It's roped off because of all the potholes.

I'm just an ignorant layman, but not filling potholes doesn't seem like a strategy that will attract more tenants to their mall. In fact, if I were a doctor looking for space and I found half the parking garage closed, and the entrance road was more holes than pavement, I would run --- not walk --- to another facility.

Just to gild the lily, I also shot some extremely crummy video.


(Yeah, it's pretty poor, but in fairness, I was trying to dodge the mall cops.)

I predict there will be a flea market in the parking lot of Century III before the end of this year. And when that happens, prestigious tenants will flock to Century III.

Remember, nothing says "quality retail and professional destination" like a parking lot full of people flogging troll dolls and mismatched socks from the back of Chevy vans.

. . .

I did have a real reason for visiting the vibrant, lively shopping destination known as Century III Mall. Sears, Roebuck & Co. --- the official underpants supplier of Tube City Online --- sent me a coupon good for $10 off my next purchase, but it's only good through the end of the month.

I've been mulling over purchase of a DVD recorder for some time, and I decided that the balance on the old Sears charge is low enough to risk it. I've found Sears to be surprisingly competitive on electronics. They beat Best Buy and Circuit City on a lot of items. (There's your shopping tip for today.)

Sure enough, Sears had a nice selection of DVD recorders, including a swell looking Panasonic job with a built-in four-head VCR and a digital TV tuner. Hot diggity! That would enable me to watch digital TV signals with my old TV.

I was reading the instruction manual when a clerk came over. "Do you have any questions?"

"How does the editing work on this one?" I said.

"Oh, we don't have any of those," she said. I must have looked dumbfounded, because she said, "we're sold out ... we've been out of those for a while."

"Are you selling the floor model then?" I asked.

"No."

"When are you getting any more?"

"I don't know."

I moved over to a cheaper Toshiba model. "We're out of that one, too," she said. "Actually, we don't have any DVD recorders."

"Why are you displaying them if you don't have any?" I said.

"Sometimes we have them, but they sell out as soon as we get them," she said.

"Well, I'm kind of disappointed," I said, "because I've got this coupon, and it expires at the end of the month."

"Oh, those coupons aren't good for electronics anyway," she said. "Read the back."

. . .

Sure enough, the coupon isn't good for home electronics, car or home repairs, most appliances, special-order merchandise, brand-name clothing or a bunch of other items. That leaves ... well, basically store-brand underpants.

I'm fixed for Sears, Roebuck underpants right now, so I left empty-handed.

That's a heck of a business model they've got at Sears' TV department. It's basically a museum of DVD recorders, but they don't sell any. (They make it up in volume, I suppose.)

Between Sears sending out coupons you can't use on merchandise they don't have, and Century III's owners refusing to maintain the parking lot, it's no wonder that the mall remains such a "lively" central shopping destination.

Did I say it'll have a flea market before the end of the year? Maybe I should have said the end of the month.

Posted at 10:28 pm by Jason Togyer
Local Businesses, Mon Valley Miscellany | eight comments | Link To This Entry