No Kidding

St. Augustine's Underbelly

Marshal Shoots City Councilman At Meeting

Bloody trail down St George Street

Argument over funding of Uniforms

Story here

The Monson Motel

On Martin Luther King Day, a group of about 35 listened to speeches and sermons at the gazebo in the Plaza de la Constitucion. Earlier, we walked over to the Hilton on the bayfront to look for a plaque commemorating Dr. King's 1964 protest at the then Monson Hotel swimming pool. The woman at the front desk had no idea where the plaque would be since the pool may have been located elsewhere at that time, she asked another who did not know either. Finally we found it but the gate around the pool was locked.(C'mon they never saw this?) Suvo climbed the gate and heavily heaved himself over for a closer view. He took the photo and climbed back again ripping his favorite khaki pants after crashing into the soda machine. You see....he thought that he was a limber 20 year old when he's three times that. Anyway,....here's the picture.

Ambassador Raymond Joseph

Haiti's Ambassador to the U.S. Raymond Joseph on a recent trip to our town ,visited with the Plaza artists . Ambassador Joseph responded eloquently to a question regarding Christian right leader Pat Robertson's contention that Haiti has a devil's pact. Here is a clip from Rachel Maddow's interview After the jump, Robertson's remarks on film are just below the first clip

Mayor Boles Engrossed in Research

See post below

No Response

James Nathaniel Eaton ..Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University

At the ciy's last Commission meeting Mayor Boles filled in facts regarding the formation of a national committee for the city's upcoming 450th anniversary. The esteemed and accomplished Dr. Eaton has been formally asked to be listed on the board. No reponse has been received and frankly we would be taken aback if Dr. Eaton would respond as he has been deceased for the past six years.

This is an example of the unenlightened attitude that goes like this. "We need a black face on the board and General Colin Powell has turned us down . Don't know this guy, but our black Republican Erroll Jones says he's a good choice.( Commissioner Jones is a graduate of Dr. Eaton's school)...... so send out the invite."

We still think that famous Spanish femme, Charo (Coochie, Coochie) would be a good fit and will probably accept a business class plane ticket to Jacksonville if they can find someone to pick her up there. We are told that she is very much alive.

Happy Holidays

No Sitting!

Plans for protective fencing around the Spanish Constitutional monument in the Plaza de la Constitucion were tabled until the next meeting by the Historic Architectural Review Board (HARB)
City employee Mark Knight reported that the monument has been the target of Sharpie markers, skateboarders and the bottoms of tourists attending downtown events like Nights of Lights.
The city proposed removing the chain between the vertical posts surrounding the monument and replacing the chain with powder-coated aluminum fencing.

"This is a very old, original artifact," said David Birchim, city planning manager. "We are not trying to keep people from looking at it, just from touching it."

Powder - coated aluminum fencing? That's in keeping with the historical motif!? This has led to the rumor that an electrical fence will surround the obelisk. Read carefully folks....it says powder coated, not power.

Here in St. Augustine we have three of these sacred upright phallic erections in and around the Plaza. General Loring's has the top lopped off. The joke is too obvious here so we will just not comment on that. Same with the cannons.

"Simple sex worship or the worship of phallic or sexual emblems have been reported in various parts of the (ancient) world. Existence of worship consisting of prostitution of women and emasculated priests was also found. Prostitution in these cultures was considered a sacred vocation. As civilization advanced, sex worship came to be carried on by means of symbolism. Upright objects were selected, because of their form, as the simplest expression of phallic ideas."
By Brown II, Sanger
The Journal of Abnormal Psychology. Vol 10(5), Dec 1915, 297-314.

Losing Public Spaces

Artist protester in Venice Beach, Calif.

The legal counsel for The City of St. Augustine feels that they can skirt the legalities of common public space by simply dubbing the public walkways, "proprietary city facilities". City Attorney Ron Brown will be proposing a resolution to do this at tonight's 5 pm commission meeting. The large amount of sidewalks and paths all around the Visitor Information Center and the Parking Garage will no longer be a public forum if this passes. Keep your city sidewalks, and parks public, or lose them. You St. Augustinians must decide or let complacency rule as tends to be the case here.

The resolution, if approved, will establish that such areas are not a public forum therefore vending activities should be banned. We strongly disagree in part and say that this promenade is a perfect example of public space for free speech. That said, it is clear that City Attorney Ron Brown is confused about what constitutes "free speech". Merchandising of non first amendment goods is NOT protected as a right of the citizens. ............Here is our message ........Do what you will with the flea market vendors....... do not lump the visual artists into that group. *

* Essentially , only one of our Art in The Market artists uses this area for display.

Solution

Memo from St. Augustine Police: One of these artists keeps trying to escape. Throw him in the county jail!

In Bondage for Life

Expect to see more schlock like this from Annie Liebovitz

Celebrity photographer Annie Liebovitz has sold her soul to the devil moneylenders and now is the time to settle up with those greedy minions. The attached story illustrates how avarice can affect the artist. Artist in Debt

Martin Johnson Heade

Had a home on San Marco Avenue

Henry Flagler was sponsor and patron

Painted in public throughout St. Augustine

Martin Johnson Heade as a Young Man, by Thomas Hicks, early 1840s,

Valuable Heade Painting Found at Flea Market!
(Maybe)
see previous story
Possibly valued at $200, 000+ Further inspection needed

Jacksonville, FL (Vocus) December 10, 2009 -- A retired military man in Jacksonville, Florida has recovered a Martin Johnson Heade nineteenth-century oil painting at a local flea market. The painting is signed by the artist, and features the now-extinct Dusky Seaside Sparrow (Black Shore Finch.)
Martin Johnson Heade was a prolific American painter known for his salt marsh landscapes, seascapes, portraits of birds, and still life. Art historians consider him one of the most important American artists of his generation.
While rummaging through paintings at a flea market, Mr. Victor Hazon Hall spotted the 18”x14” oil painting, among stacks of reproductions.
“I immediately noticed the beauty of this painting, and as I turned it around, I was shocked to see the signature of Martin Johnson Heade on the painting’s stretcher,” said Hall. Research proved the signature is consistent with other Johnson Heade works of art. “I am calling this painting the Last Dusky on Earth. I believe this painting is destined to be the greatest bird and floral work done by Johnson Heade,” said Hall.
The Dusky birds are prominent in Hall’s recovered composition. Throughout his life, Johnson Heade was devoted to protecting bird species. The Dusky bird is now extinct due to encroachment on its habitat. The Dusky was found in only one place on earth, Merritt Island near St. Augustine, Florida. St. Augustine was Mr. Heade’s home from 1883 until his death in 1904.
The recovered painting’s colors are consistent with other paintings by the artist, as evidenced in the identical color and structure of the hay in the bird’s nest. The dying flower in the painting may be a metaphor that this particular species’ days were numbered. The Dusky was the nation’s first bird to become extinct after the list was created in 1966.
Hall submitted the painting to testing by a well-known art conservation restoration center in Atlanta. The results confirmed the original integrity of the oil painting. The painting, ground, coating, tabbing and stretcher are consistent with confirmed works by Johnson Heade. Hall believes further forensic testing can provide written proof of his painting’s authenticity.

This Is America?

Our friends in Manhattan, artists Robert Lederman and Jack Nesbitt have been harrassed in NYC's newest park "The High Line". These arrests go nowhere since there is no legal basis. Robert Lederman, who won a supreme court decision allowing outdoor artists to set up and sell in any park in New York without a permit was arrested in Highline Park and issued five illegal summonses to the dismay of all fans of open air art and believers in the power of the US constitution , the courts, the laws of the land and those who enforce them.

The officers can be heard saying that this is a "special park". We have heard the same claptrap from the City of St. Augustine regarding the nation's oldest park, the Plaza de la Constitucion. These arrests as the are the arrests in St. Augustine of Suvo are eventually declared illegal by the Federal Courts but apparently the City administrations ignore Federal Court rulings ande make their own rules.

The Oldest European Documents

Sister Catherine Bitzer slowly opened a file box and carefully removed a brittle page, scarred by years of neglectful storage, mold and insects. At 415 years old, the marriage record written by a Roman Catholic priest is still readable and is one of the oldest known European records from the United States. AP story Cont'd

Night Of Lights

November 21. Concert watchers in the Plaza waiting for the "Night of Lights" to be switched on

A trip

You can listen online at http://www.1240news.com/

Criminalizing Ordinary Behavior

Photo by J.D. Pleasant

City Attorney Ron Brown and City Manager William Harriss

"En Plein air is a French expression meaning "in the open air"and refers to the act of painting outdoors with the artist's subject in full view. Plein air artists capture the spirit and essence of a landscape by incorporating natural light color and movement into their works." The Crescent Beach Paint Out Oct.2009.

For the past five years Island Fine Art in Crescent Beach has invited regional "plein air artists" to our town for a Paint Out. Artists scatter throughout the area setting up their easels in locations that they want to capture on canvas or paper. At the end of the day everyone meets and discuss their works over dinner and cocktails. At the end of the week works are hung and the public is invited to view and purchase those works done on location or plein air.

A watercolor artist from Winter Springs set up her easel in the plaza to paint the east facade of the Government House. In the midst of the painting, a police officer approached and told her that she must leave or be arrested. The artist first assumed that this was a joke...but no she found out that the law in St. Augustine prevents "artistry or the creation of art" in the Plaza de la Constitucion. The artist left with her watercolor unfinished.

Two days later she was perplexed when she saw a wedding photographer using the same view as background for the couple's album pictures. Surely the photographer considers his work artistry and so do we. Performances are also not allowed. The ordinance makes no exception, though the city has sanctioned Christian concerts and secular concerts almost every weekend. By the way, artists are now referred to in all documents as "street performers". The false logic of this is that street performers are not covered constitutionally as "fully protected" (it has to do with noise) while artists are fully protected constitutionally. Ergo...just call 'em something else.

Crime is caused by laws. Any action is simply an action until there's a law against it. "Criminals" are invented by legislators; fewer laws, fewer law breakers. Suvo

The Pursuit of Happiness

1. Ralph Waldo Emerson "Every actual State is corrupt. Good men must not obey laws too well."

2. Herbert Spencer "Society exists for the benefit of its members, not the members for the benefit of society."

3. Thomas Paine "A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong gives it a superficial appearance of being right. "

4. Victoria Woodhull "I shall not change my course because those who assume to be better than I desire it. "

5. Carl Shurz "From the equality of rights springs identity of our highest interests; you cannot subvert your neighbor's rights without striking a dangerous blow at your own. "

1851 Herbert Spenser's "Law of Equal Freedom" ..........Everyman is free to do that which he wills, provided he infringes not the equal freedom of any other man.

Everyman is a visual artist... The City of St. Augustine will now start arresting artists once again. "This (the Plaza) is not public property , this is City property" . So says St. Augustine Police Officer Protami

Blue Boy

No readers, we 're not kidding. This costume by Gainesboro is similar to St. Augustine Mayor Joe Boles' dress for "The Night of Lights" which has increasingly become the Mayor's own show. (Never mind that it is the low paid city employees who crawl through the trees hanging the two million lights) The Mayor and his Lady Jane will stand with other local luminaries above the crowd on the Governor's House balcony. His Excellency will bestow his good wishes to the common citizenry before escorting his entourage 100 yards to the Lightner Museum for a 300 dollar a couple dinner at the Lightner Museum. All funds (after considerable expenses) go towards removing the homeless from downtown.

Poor Joe, he seems to waver between the "good ole boy" act and posh Volvo drivin' metro sophisticate. All things to all people eh? When these kinds of attempts at acting are made, it usually comes off as ludicrous.

In his recent "Old City Life"magazine article, Mr. Mayor wrote about his personal significance with the number four. ( We suppose a monthly article can tax your imagination, coming up with stories).

Mr. Mayor....you forgot, in that article, to mention what City Attorney Brown calls "The Four Horsemen", Printers, Painters, Sculptors and Photographers. Would the taxpayers think that the $100, 000 spent on a lost Federal lawsuit insignificant? The citys illegal end run with lottery,licence fees and unduly restricted spaces will be met with more resistence.

Missed Perceptions

There are men too gentle to live among wolves

Who anoint them for burial with greedy claws

And murder them for a merchant's profit and gain.

There are men too gentle for a corporate world

Who dream instead of candied apples and ferris wheels

And pause to hear the distant whistle of a train.

There are men too gentle to live among wolves

Who devour them with eager appetite and search

For other men to prey upon and suck their childhood dry.

There are men too gentle for an accountant's world

Who dream instead of Easter eggs and fragrant grass

And search for beauty in the mystery of the sky.

James Kavanaugh