Canasta layers up

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 20, 2012

CONTACT
Christopher Lackner
chris@lacknerandrews.com

CHICAGO INDIE BAND CANASTA TO TOUR MONGOLIA AS PART OF
U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT PERFORMING ARTS INITIATIVE

Next month, Chicago indie band Canasta heads to the hinterlands of Mongolia as part of the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ Arts Envoy Program.

The tour begins on February 3rd in Mongolia’s capital city of Ulaanbaatar and continues on to Sainshand and Dalanzadgad, finishing back in Ulaanbaatar on the 10th.

The Arts Envoy Program shares the best of the U.S. arts community with the world to foster cross-cultural understanding and collaboration and to demonstrate shared values and aspirations. American arts professionals, including performing artists, visual artists, poets, playwrights, directors, and curators, travel overseas to perform, conduct workshops, and mentor young people. Programs seek to connect with international audiences that might not otherwise have the opportunity to engage with American arts professionals. Arts Envoy exchanges last from 5 days to 6 weeks and take place worldwide.

In addition to live performances, Canasta will conduct classes and seminars for local music students, lead jam sessions, and discuss the creative process they use to bring their music to life.

“One of the more interesting things about us is our “craftsman” approach—combining our music schooling background with our love of pop and rock, and then adding a lot of Midwestern hard work to craft our songs, rather than a virtuoso technique or inspiration from the muses,” said Elizabeth Lindau, violinist and vocalist for the band. “I hope we can inspire people to think about their musical heritage and perhaps new ways of combining instruments to create a sound that is unique to their country and culture.”

Canasta has toured the United States significantly, sharing the stage with Wilco, Grizzly Bear, Devotchka, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, Menomena, Sloan, Kaiser Chiefs, White Rabbits, and The Delgados. They even played a set for President Obama during his campaign. This is their first tour outside the country.

Canasta is Matt Priest (lead vocals, bass, trombone); Elizabeth Lindau (violin, vocals); Jeremy Beckford (guitar); Brian Palmieri (drums); Ryan Tracy (keyboard, piano, bass); and Sarah Kneebone (piano, keyboard).

More at canastamusic.com/mongolia

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While the Food Desert has declined nearly 40 percent over the past five years since the firm’s original 2006 landmark study, serious health and retail challenges persist, Gallagher said. The Drilldown provides details including:

• Nearly 384,000 Chicagoans live in food deserts.
• 70 percent are African American.
• More than 124,000 are children.
• Nearly 70,000 households are headed by single women with children.
• 40,000 households do not own cars.

Based on the Drilldown, Gallagher said the target date to eliminate the Chicago Food Desert completely should be 2015, as more and more grocers have announced plans to enter the Food Desert and strategic data can identify the highest impact sites. The firm will repeat the analysis every six months beginning in early 2012 until this is accomplished.

Gallagher also stressed that over $880 million from the USDA Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP – formerly known as Food Stamps), flowed through Chicago in 2010, and that many of the Food Desert SNAP stores are “fringe” meaning that they sell very little if any healthful food.

“SNAP is a vital program, but we need to both enforce and raise the standards,” Gallagher said. “Especially at a time when budgets are being slashed everywhere, we must ensure that SNAP promotes good food, public health, and is an economic development engine.”

Gallagher’s original Chicago report found statistically significant relationships between Food Desert conditions and more premature diet-related death after controlling for other key factors. That report motivated Congressman Bobby Rush to enter Food Desert language into the Farm Bill and helped popularize the term Food Desert nationally.

Visit www.marigallagher.com/projects to download the report.

Mari Gallagher Research and Consulting Group has enjoyed a national reputation for diverse, high impact projects across the United States. Our expertise includes quantitative and qualitative research projects; financial services, housing, community development, community planning, workforce issues, the economy, immigration, and community health; commercial site assessments and hands-on redevelopment consulting; business strategies; mapping; and facilitation and public forums.

“Broadband drives everything from our economy to educational opportunity, helping businesses connect to new markets and students connect to education anywhere in the world. Those opportunities should be available to every family and business in the state, no matter where they are located,” said Larry Ivory, co-chair of Internet Innovation Alliance Illinois.

Joining Ivory as co-chair is Ron Honse, Illinois Representative for the Communications Workers of America (CWA). Additionally, 982 grassroots members have signed the alliance’s petition in support of broadband expansion.

Members of the coalition will spend the coming months educating state leaders and others about the importance and value of mobile broadband. A recent IIA study demonstrates how broadband can save Illinois families thousands of dollars each year due to price comparison, access to deeper markets and the power of group-buying from websites like Groupon and LivingSocial.

The new Illinois coalition is dedicated to promoting policies that foster expanding broadband throughout the state. The alliance supports reforming the Universal Service Fund to include broadband and deploying a more efficient use of spectrum. The group has also thrown its support behind the proposed $39 billion merger of AT&T and T-Mobile, a move estimated to provide broadband access to an additional 55 million more Americans than are covered under pre-merger plans.

“Our common goal is ensuring everyone has access to high-speed broadband Internet,” said Ron Honse, co-chair of IIA Illinois.  “Until we meet that goal, businesses that want to innovate and expand and their communities will be at a disadvantage.”

Find out more about the IIA at www.internetinnovation.org.

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Peter wanted to reorganize his website with a new layout that emphasized his blog writings and Twitter activity. For the visual design, Peter called on his friend, illustrator Chris Ware, to provide custom artwork, which became the basis for the look and feel of the rest of the site. Peter’s blog posts are always a good read, so bookmark the site and enjoy!

Press release and more information here. And as you can see, video below.

You’ll notice at the 1:26 mark in this video, a fighter pilot states: “You cannot tell there is biofuel in the plan. And I absolutely mean that.”

I wonder if there might be a bit of a difference. Not so much in plane performance, but in quality of life for the pilot and crew.

Five years ago, I managed a press conference for a startup energy company that provided vegetable-oil based fuel for a pilot program in Hammond, Indiana. In addition to elected officials, environmental specialists, we showcased one of the garbage trucks that was using the new fuel. Our point, of course, was to show that the truck performed just as well as before but with significantly less harm to the environment. Another added benefit, of course, was that the trucks smelled pleasantly of french fries instead of diesel fumes.

There was one other benefit that we hadn’t realized: No more headaches for the drivers. Apparently, chronic headaches are an occupational hazard when driving a truck. As soon as they switched to the vegetable oil fuel, the headaches were gone. According to the drivers I spoke with, that alone was enough to convince them to switch to the new fuel.

Given the huge amount of diesel fuel used by the military, one has to imagine that increase the use of alternative fuel is going to have a huge impact on quality of life for thousands of personnel. Just one more reason to encourage clean energy.

“Green Scissors” brings together an unlikely alliance of conservative, taxpayer, consumer and environmental groups united behind one message:  The place to start trimming government spending is where Congress is subsidizing environmental harm.

WHAT:

Press conference to announce the release of “Green Scissors 2011: Cutting Wasteful and Environmentally Harmful Spending.” Report details how Congress can cut $380 billion from the federal budget simply by cutting unneeded subsidies that actually harm the environment.

WHEN:

Wednesday, August 24, 11:00 a.m.

WHERE:

Hotel Monaco
225 N. Wabash Avenue
Chicago, IL 60601

WHO:

- Ryan Alexander, Executive Director, Taxpayers for Common Sense
- Eli Lehrer, Vice President, Heartland Institute
- Representatives from local free-market and environmental organizations

Green Scissors 2011 is being released by four organizations: progressive environmental group Friends of the Earth, deficit hawk Taxpayers for Common Sense,  consumer watchdog Public Citizen, and free-market think tank The Heartland Institute.

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A second legal challenge has been filed to new congressional and General Assembly maps passed by the Legislature, this one contending that the new districts violate free-speech rights.

Tom Geoghegan, attorney for the league, said this is the first time to his knowledge that a remap has been challenged strictly on First Amendment reasons. But the action is consistent with recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions banning limits on donations by corporations and wealthy candidates as an affront to First Amendment guarantees, he said.