To be honest, I’m not certain, and I feel it would be hypocritical to feign interest retroactively by checking now.  Still, it’s great that our region’s sportier residents got to talk smack when matched against foes from clearly inferior sections of New York situated in different relative compass directions.

What’s not as inspiring is the uncompetitive nature of a portion of the festival’s endowment.  Specifically, taxpayers backed it whether or not they attended it.  Nobody is that pro-volleyball.

Citizens don’t get good value for their mandatory athletic investment.  For one, Games-affiliated recipients of New York’s confiscated largesse should be able to put together a better website.  Their Angelfire-style front page is only missing a Bill Clinton’s first term-era “under construction” icon.  An animated one would be awesome.

The lone useful bit of information provided notes that “The Empire State Games is a program of: Office of New York State Parks, Recreation & Historic Preservation.”  To clarify, they are one of countless bureaucratic clusters that get to spend what you earn.  Sadly, the state perpetually medals at the event.

Thankfully, many of the subsidies were voluntarily.  In particular, First Niagara generously kicked in a large portion to compensate for state funding being at its lowest level ever this year.

But New York’s contribution should be at an even lower level next time, namely zero.  Financing a statewide intramural contest is exactly the sort of expenditure that ultimately encourages our athletes to dash out of New York when they can’t find work after the final whistle. 

The amount of the state’s contribution is irrelevant.  Everyone shouldn’t have to pay so some may play or watch ball-chasing games.  Such active promotion is well outside government’s domain, even if that’s tricky for the particular government in question to recall.

And the timing couldn’t be better for a game change.  Of course, this state perpetually faces financial calamity.  But lawmakers have remarkably gotten even worse than awful at frittering away capital in the capital.

Still, at least some good may come of it on the slim chance that they collectively gain wisdom.  Namely, their dire profligacy makes this an ideal moment to spin off extraneous spending into the hands of interested private parties.

Taking money from earners so that Hudson Valley residents can prove how proficient they are at fencing relative to their state’s mates epitomizes frivolity.  Alternately, New York can set an example by showing that its athletes can excel without state aid.

People who enjoy the Games needn’t fret: they can just buy tickets.  Those who already do can cough up a bit more.  At the recently-concluded Games, an adult could see everything for 30 bucks, which is too good a deal.  Attendees can spend their tax savings on reasonably pricier seats.

It’s nothing personal: I swear I don’t resent the event just because I was scandalously left off both the track and rugby teams for no good reason except my utter mediocrity in each respective sport during my hazy school days.  To prove my lack of bitterness, I’d support any athletes who rang my bell and asked me to buy chocolate bars in order to fund their clashes.

They can enhance lessons about self-reliance and dedication provided via sweaty contests by obtaining funding for their events themselves.  If they sell enough, they could even reduce or eliminate their own surcharges.

Meanwhile, I can live vicariously though the competitors as I watch us make the other state sectors our bitches while inhaling my chocolate.   I can say “us” as long as I contribute financially; the candy would merely be a bonus.

Specifically, their site notes that Hallwalls gets “major support” from the New York State Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts, both of which my extensive research indicates are governmental agencies.  In essence, the public is paying for someone else’s idea of “art,” which should trouble all involved.

Artists’ output is by definition subjectively appealing.  What some find interesting or fun is junk to others.  You’re free to dislike the poker-playing dogs and velvet Elvises if you’d like, snob, but that’s the point: it’s a personal decision that should lead to a voluntary purchase.

But guess who doesn’t care?  The web gnomes at Hallwalls are too busy being self-righteous to worry themselves about how you would spend your money.  A passage from their history section illustrates how they equate restriction of expression with having to earn livings on their own:

After a spurt of growth in the late 1980s, public arts funding at all levels of government was cut drastically, accompanied by attacks on artists’ free speech. Hallwalls—like all organizations nationwide—was forced to cut back, both its overall budget and its staff size, while simultaneously embracing a new additional role as a fearless advocate for artistic freedom as well as innovation.

That’s nice, although the paragraph could have used some humorlessly tedious bitching about the vileness of Republicans.  Other than that, the author is rather demanding about his or her sense of entitlement to state and federal money without state and federal restrictions.  The only thing worse than a panhandler is a mugger.

What the paragraph producer doesn’t get is that the cuts took place for good reason: it’s not the public’s job to finance any particular expression.  Freedom of speech is worlds different from the freedom to have your speech subsidized.

The group’s forays into partisanship aren’t helping, either.  Take a recent event where Hallwalls screened Stop Loss, a thoroughly antiwar film that also tanked at the box office.  But they had their heart set upon pushing an agenda, as indicated by the beginning of their event description:

This first in a series of events sharing the stories of war resisters and their struggles for justice

…And so forth.  It’s always nice when groups that get your money tell you how to think.  Such brazen disregard for drawing an audience is unacceptable yet sadly understandable given the circumstances.

Ignoring commercial potential is to be expected from a group that’s set up shop in Babeville, Ani DiFranco’s clubhouse.  That company’s site also brags about the public currency it received, which is for some reason is a common theme among people with fierce aversion to authority:

Babeville is in fact two buildings: the sanctuary, which faces Delaware Avenue, and the parish house, which faces Tupper. Viewed from outside, they appear to be a single entity—which is not a bad metaphor for the way that Babeville brings together past and future, art and commerce, private and public funding.

What a rebel!  Oddly, the purportedly autonomous DiFranco wouldn’t get a loan to cover the entire cost of setting up her own business.  Antiestablishment types should be opposed to receiving government checks, but they seemingly only hate The Man until the electric bill arrives.  Meanwhile, they’ll undoubtedly suggest that Carl Paladino is a hypocrite for taking available tax credits.  Perhaps insisting on direct grants would have been preferable.

They also want the state and nation to continue propping up artists who want to inflict their work upon the community, even though many consider much of what’s produced to be a study in weirdness.  Of course, you’re free to like anything made by any creative type, as fondness for art and music is as personal as any other human experience.  That said, if you like Ms. DiFranco’s music, you’re wrong.  To be fair, she at least cornered the market on staccato feminist anthems.

But it’s still up to you whether you listen, as is your fondness for the art group in question.  It’s not that there’s anything inherently wrong with Hallwalls, as they should be free to sponsor and produce whatever they’d like.  And many people undoubtedly appreciate having such arty outposts in the city even if they don’t patronize them.  But they should get to opt out: the sole issue is with the mandatory backing by workers in the state and country.

Money taken from the general populace shouldn’t back a nonessential function during boom times, and the dole should certainly dry up during an era of continuous economic teetering.  Cutting funding would force Hallwalls to work harder to attract donations and an audience willing to compensate them for what they generate.  And that’s as it should be, just as with every other business.

It might mean higher admission fees for next year’s Artists & Models, which is fine and desirable, too: ticket buyers would merely be paying market rates.  Only attendees having fun ought to be charged, just as you shouldn’t have to pay for a piece you wouldn’t hang in your den.

It’s no better to use public cash to fashion supposedly edgy installations than it is to buy Thomas Kinkade calendars for everyone.  If he is indeed the Painter of Light, then it’s best to wallow in the darkness.

With that in mind, Senator John McCain should have his way with the Woodstock Film Festival, which might be the only event more pretentious than a regular film festival.  The New York State happening drains funds from the national pile, which, according to Washington Times writer Amanda Carpenter, angers a quite straight-laced elected official:

The Woodstock Film Festival wasn’t very happy that Sen. John McCain, Arizona Republican, used an earmark to help fund its operations as an example of government waste in a speech on the Senate floor.

After Senate Democrats broke a Republican filibuster last Saturday over an omnibus spending bill with $446.8 billion in discretionary money, Mr. McCain blasted the thousands of earmarks contained in it. One of them was the money for the Woodstock Film Festival.

“In order to really do a lot more research on that great cultural moment, we’re going to spend $30,000 for the Woodstock Film Festival youth initiative,” he said sarcastically.

The Arizonian merely opposes using federal money on a wholly superfluous program with parochial appeal.  For that, he gets grief from someone apparently terrified of self-sufficiency:

“The Woodstock Film Festival is a small, fiscally responsible non-profit organization that provides an enormous amount of economic development through tourism, the film commission and many of our other efforts,” (Woodstock Film Festival Co-Founder and Director Laurent) Rejto said in an e-mail to The Times. “We’re saddened and demoralized by the fact that Sen. McCain did not have the wherewithal to do a little research before misleading the public about our worthy program.”

“A little research” would have let McCain know that they are getting public funding to run an entirely superfluous event.  If the movie marathon foundation is “fiscally responsible,” why do they need to beg to Washington for assistance?  They also amusingly brag on the banner that tops their site’s front page that they’re “Fiercely Independent,” which is only true if followed by the phrase, “Of paying bills.”

This state continues to suffer negative vibes inflicted by a three-day plague four decades ago.  The people involved never changed.  It’s literally true: the advisory board includes Woodstock producer and promoter Michael Lang. Those staging the event are the same tie-dye adherents who wallowed in their own filth during the most infamous of rock gatherings.  McCain couldn’t attend and act self-righteously indulgent due to a scheduling conflict.

It goes without saying that everyone respects McCain’s service, including people who didn’t vote for him last year or did because he was marginally the better default candidate.  Additionally, voters who have qualms with his positions or style can nonetheless admire him opposition to ladling bacon fat on everything that passes through Congress.  He’s further trying to stop Democraticare, so even those on the right who thought McCain’s campaign felt like a sequel to Bob Dole’s can feel grateful he’s still in the Senate.  Ultimately, he’s defending the interests of people who own at least one suit.

Stimulus junkies will whine that the movie bash only gets 30 grand, which is an easy statement to make about other people’s money.  It’s especially so since Woodstock fans are the sort who enjoy sharing everyone else’s things.

But festival enthusiasts can promote their collective values on their own dime.  As with every other motion picture event, this one doesn’t deserve 30 bucks of collective funding, much less a couple extra zeroes.  Aren’t they worried that taking money from The Man will generate unwanted karma?

Besides, if the amount is so little, the Ben & Jerry’s brigade should cover it themselves.  Most obviously, organizers can raise funds by soliciting checks from a handful of participating celebrities. Failing that, they can just run a co-op for 20 years or so.

Taking an outing from Western New York and giving it to a city that wants to steal the team is the worst of both worlds.  The deal to relinquish sovereignty to Ontario for one-eighth of the home schedule is wholly worthless for all parties if it results in lousy games that leave targeted fans listless. It’s the equivalent of signing a talented horse’s ass who plays largely crummy football after the gamble. They’re on outburst alert for a player who isn’t even producing; as with the team’s failing dual citizenship experiment, there should be at least some upside.

Home field advantage has been one of the few encouraging aspects regarding the Bills over the past decade.  Local fans cheer on a team that often doesn’t deserve it. Simultaneously, the same loyal backers constantly fret about what the future holds for this oft-infuriating squad. It’s important to realize that improving Erie County’s economy will keep the Bills as a tenant in their home and native land.  No, not that one.

For one, subsidizing any private business is ultimately a mistake, no matter how much certain residents have wrapped their psyche around a home team’s success.  There’s an unconscionable amount of money leaving fans’ pockets thanks to the rabid interest in watching NFL games either live or on television paired with an insatiable desire for merchandise.

Partisans wear jerseys after renting seats for the afternoon at exorbitant prices or endure hideous commercials featuring, for example, boneheaded former players and smart-mouthed babies; at the same time, the league’s preferred light lager flows incessantly.  With such prodigious sums flowing in, there’s no reason for any franchise to be on the dole.

Everyone can get behind opposing NFL welfare.  Liberals should hope to see tax receipts spent on other governmental programs besides corporate subsidies; meanwhile, conservatives don’t want the money collected at all, preferring that workers keep it.  The Bills unite people of all political backgrounds, whether in support of the squad or in opposition to having Erie County pay to maintain Ralph Wilson Stadium so that Ralph Wilson can avoid the charge.

A sliver of fans often moan about market size as a crippling factor, casting the Bills’ billionaire owner as the little guy.  But the solution isn’t to tear down the strong: it’s to figure how to compete with them.  We should instead determine what keeps Buffalo from becoming a large market team.  The biggest factor takes the form of high taxes which are spent on non-essential causes such as, oh, a football franchise that should be paying its own tab.

Forcing the stadium’s namesake to cover his team’s upkeep would eventually help the club.  Less money spent by the government on the Bills means more money for locals to spend on, um, the Bills.  The private influx of cash provoked by a less confiscatory state, county, and city would more than overcome the franchise’s loss of public financial support.

That might mean higher ticket prices; fortunately, there would be far more people who could afford them.  A more hospitable economic situation would not only be pleasant in itself: it would also make the Treaty of Toronto a bland, failed experiment instead of an ominous forerunner to the club’s potential relocation.

The tightwad owner can at least provide fans and taxpayers with a better product.  Maybe Wilson can finally hire an experienced, successful coach this offseason; it’s not a literally impossible outcome, however improbable it might seem.  He can also cough up some of his fortune and acquire an actual general manager instead of a letting a marketing man run the player personnel department. He just needs to uncover qualified football people willing to accept a senior discount.

For example, I made the mistake of watching a recent edition of Channel 2 News where it would have been easier to count the number of times anchors and reporters didn’t utter the phrase “Extreme Makeover.”  It’s beyond excessive: everyone likes ample helpings of sugary treats until they notice all their teeth disintegrating.  Worst of all, the alteration pageant has provided self-important busybodies with a chance to dubiously portray themselves as useful:

Buffalo ReUse will begin a green demolition of another property in the same west side neighborhood. Work will get underway at 369 Normal, a house already slated for demolition.

They’re going to prove their value by turning a vacant house into an empty space.  P.S. This is urban progress.  The filmed affair has also offered liberals a chance to see pet projects at work:

The city says the makeover show helped kick-off the creation of future green jobs in the area. The project trained men and women from the Minority Contractors Alliance to track the material of the makeover home to be resold later.

But forget environmental agendas pushed through de facto affirmative action.  You better enjoy the episode when it airs: you’re paying to help produce it, taxpayer.  The government’s brigade of paid volunteers thanks you in The Buffalo News:

“It’s really ‘Extreme Makeover: Neighborhood Edition,’” said Mark Lazzara, chief executive of WNY AmeriCorps, which has 300 members involved and is coordinating the thousands of volunteers – about 800 a day, Lazzara said.

PUSH Buffalo has also weaseled itself into the action; you can guess who helps fund them. And they couldn’t be happier, according to paper’s account:

Community organizer Eric Walker of PUSH Buffalo. . . called it “an amazing week in the West Side.”

“Who would have thought that several thousand people would have come in and gone full blast in rebuilding the fabric of this neighborhood,” Walker said.

For some reason, wholly impartial News reporter Mark Sommer never bothered to follow up by asking why the fabric was torn in the first place.  Failing that, any curious journalist could have found a dissenter, even if they’re tough to hear alongside the rather grating cheerleading.

The grumps must be heard.  Despite the feel-good prime-time narrative being incessantly peddled by every media outlet in town, residents remain unconscionably burdened by taxes and regulations.  The proof is in neighborhoods like the one that sunk to such depths that a construction-themed reality show had to take up temporary residence in order to implement improvement.  The one-time magic wand usage won’t fix the curse’s cause.

Unfortunately, Extreme Makeover can’t modify the circumstances that led to the city’s initial devastation.  And they can’t control what happens after they pack up and leave.  What’s to keep the neighborhood from falling apart again?  The area will revert to more of the gloomy same once the cameras are gone.  Those who vaulted a community organizer into the White House now sadly presume that government-themed initiatives will compensate for government-created messes.

It’s certainly not to knock those who helped.  The quantity of volunteers offered heartening proof of the interest in bettering this area.  But the situation wouldn’t have gotten this dire without the incredible drag on the economy at the state, county, and city levels.

Western New Yorkers are demonstrably willing to help during grave situations.  Now, the goal should be reducing the frequency and severity of those tough times through a drive for economic liberty.  It beats waiting for a television program to swoop in and repair everything.

It’s now been ten years since their breakthrough album “Everything You Want,” one of my top ten favorite albums of all time, so I was very excited to learn they had a new album and they’d be coming to Buffalo.

Opening for Vertical Horizon was Howard Jennings a solo-acoustic guitarist/singer and Clayton Senne, a pop/blues/soul trio. Both openers were entertaining, and we even bought a CD from each.

Vertical Horizon put on a great show. The set list contained a good mix of songs off their past three albums. The show lead off with “All Is Said And Done” off the new album, and was following by “You’re A God” off of “Everything You Want.” It really was a great mix of old hits and new favorites that, as a fan, I couldn’t have asked for more.

The crowd was probably less than two hundred people, which, combined with the atmosphere, created an intimate setting with the band. At times, the band prompted participation from the crowd, who still remembered the lyrics of songs ten years old by heart.

There were a few obnoxious fans in the crowd, unfortunately, but that didn’t detract from the show much at all.

One song I didn’t expect to hear was “Shackled,” which is not sung by lead singer Matt Scannell, but by the other founding member of the band, Keith Kane. This song is actually one of my favorites off of “Everything You Want.”

Between sets, the founding members did a two-song acoustic set, playing songs from the band’s early, early days. It was an unexpected change of pace that was met with praises from the crowd.

The second set contained two of my favorite songs from the new album, “The Middle Ground” and “Save Me From Myself.” They ended set with, as leader singer and guitarist Matt Scannell put it, “The song that changed everything.” That song of course was ”Everything You Want,” which was exactly what the crowd wanted.

They came back for an encore with, appropriately, “I’m Still Here,” off of their previous album “Go.” The last song of the evening, “We Are,” included an interlude of Pink Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb,” which was awesome.

It was, to the say the least, a great show. It was great to see a mainstream band in such an intimate setting. Fans ranged from teenagers to folks in their 40s and 50s. It seems like bands I like don’t come to the Buffalo area often, so this was a very exciting show for me. Hopefully more bands will come around here more. Buffalo is not lacking in fans of great music.

In my opinion, the skit itself isn’t very funny. That said, I think Governor Paterson is being over-sensitive about it.

Paterson and advocates for the visually impaired didn’t appreciate stock blind jokes that had Armisen pretending to be disoriented and wandering aimlessly.

“I can take a joke,” Paterson told reporters.

But he called the SNL spoof a “third-grade depiction of people and the way they look” that could lead others to believe that “disability goes hand-in-hand with an inability to run a government or business.”

Now, I saw the skit just before blogging this… I didn’t find it to be any more insulting to Paterson than Saturday Night Live is to anyone else they mock.

The Jamestown Post-Journal has a review, and captures the essence of the show spot on:

With laughs abounding and smiles throughout the ampitheater, Cosby showed that he can segue through anything without missing a beat.

He related so many stories, the performance was more like catching up with an old friend than a formal and distant recital, and the crowd enjoyed it.

Seeing Bill Cosby perform in 2008 seemed like an honor to the hundreds he entertained.

Indeed it was.