"Blogs" via Matt Chandler

Is there something in the water in Louisville? For some reason, it continues to attract a core group of innovators and creators who operate at the absolute highest level in the world.

One of the things this has produced for the city is the IdeaFestival, a major international event attracting top international talent across a wide range of disciplines. To keep the excitement going year around, they publish an IdeaFestival blog. A recent article included a video featuring Kris Kimel, who founded the festival. This guy shows in about two and a half minutes exactly the way that cities need to be thinking in order to thrive in the 21st century economy. Among his points:

• He wanted the IdeaFestival to be the "preemient event in the world for convergent innovation", covering the intersection of science, business, the arts, design, and philosophy.
  

• He wanted to use it as a vehicle to extend the brand of Kentucky and Louisville into the innovation space. His vision was that when people on the streets in LA, Paris, or Banaglore ran into each other and asked "Are you going to be in Louisville this fall?" they'd associate it with the IdeaFestival. That the conference would have a brand recognition in its space similar to Sundance in film.

The IdeaFestival has gone a long way towards achieving that vision, though I don't know how much it has really changed the city's brand image. That takes more than a conference. It takes output. That's one reason I'm so sad to see Museum Plaza dead. But that sort of change is a longer term gain.

What does this illustrate? A couple things. Firstly, you never achieve great things unless you aspire to achieve great things. Setting a lofty objective like "being the preeminent event in the world" can inspire and motivate people in a way that mediocrity never will. Just putting on another ho-hum conference wouldn't have amounted to anything. Also, Kimel didn't spend his time saying, "Gosh, I wonder if lil' ol' Louisville can do something like this." Rather, he said, why not us?

Successful cities out there in the US and the world have a healthy amour-propre. It takes a certain degree of self-regard to muster the will to compete in the world. The Midwest has long been an understated, modest sort of place. That has its charms, but the whole "nail that sticks up gets pounded back down" routine is not good enough anymore to make it in the 21st century. The IdeaFestival shows that when smaller Midwestern or Southern cities decide they want to compete out there in the 21st century realm of ideas, they can actually do it and be successful. This is an example for other cities and other innovators to emulate.

You can watch the full video here:

Tonic Ball VII is this very evening, spanning the vast distance between Radio Radio and the Fountain Square Theater.  Enjoy songs from Elvis and Queen tonight.  Tomorrow, Mandy Marie and the Cool Hand Lukes play Radio Radio.  Although they’re also playing tonight.  Probably just sleeping on Radio Radio’s couches tonight.

Sam’s Saloon has Ten Foot Blues Band, Chet O’Keefe, Gary Applegate, and Terry Hickman tonight. Save The Radio and the ubiquitous TBA take the stage tomorrow.

Deano’s Vino hosts the Shirtless Biddles tonight and the Last Drop Juggers tomorrow.

Off to Tonic Ball, then.  I’m looking forward to seeing how everybody interprets Freddie Mercury.  Maybe Elvis.  Definitely Freddie Mercury as Elvis.

Well, we had to reschedule our interview with the Juan MacClean, but never fear, Rob and I smack you around with an awesome episode of rock this week, featuring tracks from the Podsafe Music Network.

This week’s playlist:

• The Descendants “Everything Sux”
• The Sword “Winters Wolves”
• Blackalicious “You Move”
• Death Cab For Cutie “Title and Registration”
• The Duke Spirit “Cuts Across The Land”

Episode 25 - November 21st, 2008

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Image via WikipediaI just wanted to write a quick post saying thanks to everyone who came and saw our presentation “The Semantic Web in Practice” last week at the Museum Computer Network conference. It seemed I couldn’t turn around all week without someone commenting positively on our presentation; your compliments were warmly received by both Don and me. Thanks.

The upshot of all this is that we have now officially formed a special interest group around the idea of creating truly “semantic” museums. More on this as it develops, but for the time being, you can join the discussion in the Semuse Google group.

In addition, the slides from Thursday’s presentation can be downloaded here. I’m not sure how useful the slides are without the accompanying narration, but hopefully the notes added to each slide will help clarify things somewhat. And, just so you don’t have to go to the slides for the list of resources mentioned in the presentation, here they are:

• Dean Allemang & Jim Hendler, “Semantic Web for the Working Ontologist“
• w3c’s RDF Primer
• About SPARQL
• Halo extension for Semantic MediaWiki
• D2RQ (tool for rendering SQL dbs as RDF)

There are a few more resources listed in the slides, but I thought these would be the most helpful.

Feel free to sample the new Indianapolismusic.net Podcast or listen at the site or WFYI.

Incidentally, WFYI’s HD2 channel has officially been branded “The Point,” and they’ve got a full list of programming and social network goodness available here.

Finally, there’s a really good article on one of Indy’s living legends of jazz courtesy of Nuvo. Dick Dickinson threw a few gigs my way when I first got into town and was more than kind and generous in doing so.  Cheers!

Wilderness absolutely owned. They played their new record, (k)now(w)here, in its entirety, beginning to end. While the album is ostensibly separated into eight songs, it's actually one long piece divided by ebbs and flows in movement and tone. If you're not hip to Wilderness, one could draw comparisons to Bauhaus, The Birthday Party, Lungfish and Explosions In the Sky and come reasonably close. Their dark, repetitive songs lull the listener into submission with a creeping, evil beauty. Related posts:

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Guess which city is growing its foreign born population at a faster rate than Chicago? That's right, it's Indianapolis. Now it is easy to get a high rate on a low base, but as with population, jobs, and other stats, Indy is leading the pack in the Midwest in terms of an increase in its foreign born population. And that is reason to celebrate locally. This was discussed in a major article in Sunday's Indianapolis Star. (There are plenty of companion articles linked off the main one, so don't miss them).

The foreign born population of the Indianapolis area is up 69% since 2000, to about 100,000 people. My math says this is about 40,000 people added in the last few years. This outdistances regional peers like Louisville, Cincy, Cleveland, Milwaukee and St. Louis, and beats even Chicago and Detroit. Indy's not a truly polyglot city by any means, but it is definitely getting more diverse. The Midwest challenge now is to bring other similar sized cities up as well while Indy keeps improving its own game.

This superior performance in immigration is clearly linked to the city's economic out performance. Jobs attract immigrants. Immigrants attract jobs. And in the process, these newcomers are transforming the city in a positive way. Imagine what the state of Lafayette Rd. and West 38th St. would be without all of the ethnic businesses there. Clearly the immigrant communities have already done a huge service to Indianapolis by pumping life into this failing retail zone.

You don't yet feel the change in the city's demographics on the streets of downtown. But that's not unusual these days. The way immigrants settle in the 21st century is different than it was in the 19th. Even in places like Seattle, it's become a truism that if you want good ethnic food, you need to head to the suburbs. So it is with Indy as well, though many of those "suburbs" are the older suburban areas of Marion County.

The really good news here is that this is a very diverse immigrant population. It's not just Latino. There are 26,000 Asians and 10,500 Africans as well. The Indian population has doubled to 6,000. The Pakistani and Nigerian populations have tripled to hit 1,000. There are close to 1,500 Burmese. There are about 5,600 Chinese. Even among Latinos, the city is not monolithically Mexican. There are many Central American nationalities represented, for example. In Pike Township Schools alone, children speak 74 languages from 63 countries.

Why is this level of diversity good? First, these immigrants bring a diversity of skill sets with them. And it boosts the number of types of ethnic retail offerings out there, a boon to those non-immigrants who might be interested in the product. But most importantly, what draws immigrants is other immigrants - friends, countrymen, etc. The more communities that exist locally, the more groups that can be leveraged to attract others. If I were the city, what I'd encourage these various immigrant groups to do is tell all their friends about Indy. The most important thing these new arrivals can do is bring a bunch of their fellows along with them. The war for talent is fierce, and other cities are fighting hard to lure immigrants.

The cloud on the horizon is that immigration appears to have slowed after 2006. In part this may be a reaction to the economy, and thus prove a short term blip. But it is a bit worrying.

To pivot in a totally different direction, and one I normally stay away from since it smacks of the political, this article really highlighted to me one of the elephants in the room of Indianapolis: the incredible lack of official recognition given to gays and lesbians.

Gov. Daniels took time out of his busy schedule to pay a visit to a local Sikh temple. Mayor Ballard served as the grand marshal of a cultural parade in the Lafayette Square area and has a department of international affairs. But have either of these two shown up at Indy Pride? Lest we think this is a partisan affair, Mayor Peterson never put in an appearance either, IIRC. Supposedly he sent some letter in his stead, but that's virtually no gesture at all. Again IIRC, Gov. O'Bannon likewise did nothing.

I think it is fair to say that there are more gays and lesbians in Indianapolis than there are Sikhs or Chinese. The figures I've seen put the local gay and lesbian population at between 4-5% of the local population, which is comparable to the total foreign born numbers above. But where is the official recognition? Where is the mayor or the governor on this one?

I'm no Floridian. I don't suggest that gaydar be added to the metro index of leading economic indicators. Creativity and tolerance are clearly very important in a city's success, but they are only two values among many that go into a successful city. Yet when you consider how invisible Indy's robust gay and lesbian population is, it's troubling.

Indy is doing well, and out performing most of the rest of the Midwest. But its growth badly trails national growth leaders like Charlotte and Austin. And IMO the city has not yet reached the point where it has a self-sustaining critical mass for the new economy. It's not inconceivable that Marion County could ultimately implode, taking the region and probably the state with it. The city and region need to be firing on all cylinders. It is going to take everything the place has got to put it over the top. That means immigrants of all stripes, gays and lesbians, African Americans, life sciences, motorsports, conventions, a new airport, high tech, distribution, traditional white Hoosier families, religious people, advanced manufacturing, non-profits, arts and culture, and things we probably haven't even thought of yet. The city needs everything and everyone. Slighting the gay and lesbian population is like trying fight with one hand tied behind your back. The places that don't make this mistake are going to have a big advantage.

So I'm going to encourage the governor and mayor to use some the political courage that they've shown they have to step up to the plate, and bring the same level of official recognition to the city's LGBT community that they have to the various immigrant groups that now call Indianapolis home. No one is asking for a personal endorsement of a lifestyle politicians might disagree with. But when you are the chief executive of a government, your duty is to all citizens, not just those who share your personal views. And I think the public ultimately get it on that point. I don't think anyone believes Gov. Daniels is about to covert to Sikhism just because he showed up at that temple, for example.

If you are the mayor and the governor, why not ask to serve as co-grand marshals of Indy Pride 2009? There is probably nothing that would cost so little that would do so much for the city's image. As much as any new airport terminal or sports stadium, this is how you send a signal about being a real 21st century city.

Bonus Transit News

Christopher Lineberger had an op-ed in the Star this week exhorting the city to implement transit. While I'm certainly a fan of better transit for Indy, this op-ed did not make an effective case for it, relying on traditional but weak arguments. Consider:

1. He never once talks about transit in terms of mobility for riders. It's all about changing urban development patterns. Clearly, transit is something he sees as a means to an end, not anything with inherent value itself. But if you don't create a compelling mobility solution that gets people where they want to go in a manner that is competitive with alternatives in terms of cost, end to end journey time, and quality of experience, people aren't going to ride.

2. He gives the "brain drain" rationale. "Ever wonder why so many of your young adults move to Chicago? If you do not build what the rising generation wants, it will leave or not be attracted to Indianapolis in the first place. Losing young adults also will hurt the economy if people in their most entrepreneurial time of life go elsewhere to start new businesses." As I've said before, the entire concept of brain drain is flawed. The real challenge facing places like Indianapolis is not retaining home grown talent. Chicago didn't get to be Chicago by keeping its talent at home. It did it by hoovering up everybody else's talent. I've yet to see any Midwestern city outside of a tiny handful like Chicago that even dreams that someone without a pre-existing connection to the city might want to live there. But as with the immigrant example, that's what it really takes to succeed. You have to get people to choose to move to your city for reasons apart from an existing connection or a too good to pass up job opportunity. Then they'll bring their friends and family along with them. Indy has to find a way to do for domestic talent what it is doing for immigrants.

3. The idea that Indy will be a competitive city with Chicago in terms of urban walkable neighborhoods if it builds rail transit, and that this will cause people to choose to live there instead of Chicago, is not realistic. By any measure, no matter what Indy does, it will never match Chicago's dense, transit oriented, walkable neighborhoods. In fact, Indy is among the more poorly positioned Midwest cities to even try because it is among the lowest density. Unlike say Cincinnati, it never had dense urban neighborhoods to rival Chicago, even in its urban heyday.

You simply cannot compete against an entrenched competitor by taking them on at their strongest point head on. Saying that you'll take Chicago on by trying to out transit them and out walkable neighborhood them is to decide to fight the battle on Chicago's terms. That's a losing strategy. Rather, you've got to put out a differentiated offering that is unique to you and let Chicago try to beat you at your game. Indianapolis will never be Chicago. But you know what, Chicago will never be Indianapolis either. Great cities, like great wines, have to express their terroir. To be a world class city, Indy has to first and foremost be a world class Indianapolis, not a wannbe Chicago.

Having said that, I do think the city needs to densify and needs to have more walkable neighbhorhoods. But it isn't about linear "streetcar suburbs" of the types of find in larger cities. Rather, it is a complex web of nodes. I don't have to go into my proposed vision here, but it is something along the lines of "100 Monument Circles". Think about the nodes at 56th and Illinois or 52nd and College and you get what I'm thinking about. But those neighborhoods are not the core of a competitive response to Chicago. Again, designing that responses is beyond the scope of this post. But I do want to highlight the flaws in the model of thinking that the Midwest's small cities can only be successful by imitating the largest urban centers in America. That just ain't so.

So while I agree with some of Mr. Lineberger's prescriptions, his rationale is dubious at best.

Finally got this three DVD set the other day. Over the course of two nights, I watched the whole thing, and there's a lot here to digest. Unfortunately, there isn't much of the 60s covered and the title is a bit of a misnomer. But what's here is pretty essential for serious James Brown fans.

This set could almost have been called James Brown in March-April 1968 as aside from bonus footage on the third disc, that's really what the focus is on. More specifically, the important date is April 5th, 1968, the date of the concert on the second disc and, as the title of the documentary on the first says, "The Night James Brown Saved Boston."

Context is everything here, as April 4th was the day Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. Riots had broken out all over the country and the major cities were breaking out in flames. Boston hadn't been hit yet, but, as luck would have it, there was a big James Brown concert scheduled.

At first, the city leaders considered canceling the show to keep people off the streets. Then, they had a better idea. Televise the concert. Hopefully, people would stay home and watch the show and the city might make it thought the night. A risky plan, but they didn't see many other options.

Too bad they couldn't get a hold of Brown before hand.

Needless to say, when James touched down in Boston, he was furious first at the attempt to shut down the show, then at the idea that the city was going to have it broadcast. Two things you could say about JB, he was a capitalist and he wasn't going to be used by anyone, and it looked like he stood to lose a lot of money and be used by the government of Boston.

Anyway, I won't recount the whole thing for you. It's an interesting story and the documentary covers it well. I'd always heard the Boston thing mentioned in JB lore, but this was the fullest I'd heard the story told. It's not only a pretty amazing piece of history, but it's a pretty good look at how much influence James had in the late 60s. The fact that televising a concert of his contributed to one of the quietest nights in Boston's history, is pretty amazing.

The second disc is the video of that concert. There are a couple of spots where there's missing video, but luckily there's still audio. The circumstances of the filming are unfortunate in more ways than one. WGBH was commissioned to do the telecast with little notice and no prior expirence filming much other than classical concerts. Their director jokes about not using the good mics and sadly, it's apparent, especially in James' vocal mic.

Still, they did a pretty good job. It's just odd how for most of the show, all you see is James in the spotlight. I don't know if that's a combination of early videotape equipment and the lighting in the Boston Gardens, but the effect is kind of eerie. Later in the show, James calls for the house lights while he's trying to keep people off the stage and you get a good look at how few people actually did come out.

Speaking of, the climax of the concert hasn't anything to do with the music. Near the end of the show, some kids jump on stage. A white cop pushes one back into the crowd. Then the stage is filled with people. James orders the cops to back up and handles the situation. It's pretty impressive stuff.

In spite of it all, they turn in a smoking performance. 1968 was kind of a turning point for James music and this show is a great example of what it was like at that time*. It's a shame that none of the other performers in the revue are featured. I would have loved to see Marva Whitney's set, but I'm assuming they only filmed James.

The third disc is kind of odd. The packaging trumpets the footage being from the Apollo in 68 and while it is, it's really a TV special called James Brown: Man to Man. The footage is heavy on the crooner stuff and there's a lengthy sequence of James walking around the ghetto. This special was shot about a month before the Boston show and while it's in color, the picture quality isn't as good as the black and white Boston footage.

The rest of the 60s is apparently represented by two clips from Paris in 67 and the famous TAMI Show appearance from 1964. Shame there wasn't more, but that's it.

Going into this, I knew it was pretty much about the Boston show so I wasn't disappointed. But, to someone who didn't know much about this release, Shout Factory's curious title might be misleading. While it's easy for a hardcore Brown fan like myself to ask for more, I have to say I'm pretty pleased by this set. I hope there's more to come, as I really think Shout did this right and there's still the whole half of the decade to cover. (Not to mention the 70s...hey, Shout Factory! How about a Future Shock box set?)

* Sidenote: another reviewer mentioned something about James starting off the show slow as a tribute to MLK or something like that. The fact of the matter is, James had been starting his shows off with a crooner set for most of the 60s. Based on other recordings around the same time, this is pretty much the same show they did every night on the road.