“TV SoundOff: Sunday Talking Heads - Huffingtonpost.com” plus 4 more

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• TV SoundOff: Sunday Talking Heads - Huffingtonpost.com
• Gathering of EVOC Distributors and New Overseas Partners to be Held in ... - Newswiretoday.com
• Perrette, Pollando to run for Sayreville Borough Council - MyCentralJersey.com
• Tunica accustomed to tough times, takes trouble in stride - Memphis Commercial Appeal
• $2 million arts boost aimed at downtown Fort Collins - Coloradoan

TV SoundOff: Sunday Talking Heads - Huffingtonpost.com Posted: 20 Sep 2009 07:59 AM PDT Is President Barack Obama over exposed? In the sense that anyone selling magazines or newspapers or collectible plates needs to prominently feature his visage in order to maybe turn a profit in 2009, then, yes, very much so. But what about all the media appearances he's been making? Haven't we heard prominent media types inveigh against this? Yes. Yes we have. This is because nobody wants to book Obama for an interview and then watch him give that same interview again and again and again and again. And no one wants to plow through a day of coverage, watching him give the same speech to six different audiences. But it's likely the American people don't feel the same way about this as critics and pundits in the media. Part of the reason is that they're not as stupid, and part of the reason is that they do not wake up in the morning and watch 10 hours of cable news, then cap it off Sunday by watching three hours of this Sunday morning garbage. Nor should they. That's crazy. Tune in for the precise dose you want, and I'll assure you, you'll get precisely the right amount of your president. You have choices. I do not. Today, Obama is doing what is known as the Full Ginsburg or the Lindy Hop or the Dirty Sanchez or whatever it's called and going on Meet The Press and This Week and Grey's Anatomy and Ace of Cakes and Mad Men to promote, JESUS--probably health care reform. And, yes, I will get bored and want to start crying, probably. But you don't have to do what I have to do and I recommend you don't. Go to brunch or something! Anyway, overexposure of Obama is only happening to those of us who have jobs that require us to get overexposed. I really can't abide all those commemorative plates, however. Come on, people. Get a grip. Anyway, my name is Jason and this is your Sunday Morning Liveblog of OBAMA ON ALL SHOWS EXCEPT FOX NEWS SUNDAY -- and you know they'll be bitching about that! Please feel free to leave comments and send emails and follow me on Twitter as we watch Obama promote health care reform and, you know, probably, I'm sure end racism by the time David Gregory's hair is asking him if he's "gonnarunforPresident?-gonnarunforPresident?-gonnarunforPresident?-gonnarunforPresident?" half a million times. FOX NEWS SUNDAY HAHA. Fox is like: "We're the only people who won't be showing Barack Obama! Instead we'll have Darrell Issa and the lady from ACORN yelling at each other for a million hours! And then: the GUY WHO RUNS OFFICE DEPOT WILL GENEROUSLY ALLOW YOU TO THROW YOUR UNDERWEAR AT THE TEEVEE. Finally the same panel! And the HOPE DIAMOND? WOO. I'm glad I didn't get sleep in today! Anyway, ACORN! They have some employees that tried to set up sex traffickers, with tax shelters and what not. ACORN's Bertha Lewis insists that she will continue to "terminate" any employees who are "too stupid" to hew to professional standards. But Darrell Issa says they are history's greatest gangsters! They embezzled money, says Issa, who is bought and paid for by lobbyists who give him money that he, like all his colleagues, will never be fully honest about. Issa is calling for "fund accounting" of ACORN, which is a great idea--IF HE WOULD APPLY IT TO TARP, AND NOT ACORN. You do realize that Goldman Sachs received many many many many more money than ACORN. Lewis promises to ensure her corporate structure stays "above board" and will make "internal reform." She is attempting to make clear that her organization competes for service contracts that the government issues via RFP and which many organizations compete for --- this is the second edition of this show where FNS has willfully distorted the government contracting process in three weeks. Anyway, this whole thing is hilarious. SHOW ME YOUR FIREWALLS! OPEN YOUR BOOKS! STOP FRATERNIZING WITH WHORES! The TARP recipient parallel is OBVIOUS and SAD and HILARIOUS and -- also! -- cost America BILLIONS of dollars. Darrell Issa is still of the mind that Barack Obama was ACORN's personal attorney! This is like a Campaign 2008 flashback! Now Chris Wallace is yelling at Bertha Lewis for not posting information on her website on Sunday that she promised to on Monday. And now it's over. Maybe Bertha Lewis and Darrell Issa will have FIGHT CLUB in the green room or something. BUT, TO REVIEW: It's really important that organization that receive money from the government be open, honest, disclose where the money goes, reveal their connections to politicians, refrain from overt political activity that advantages their bottom line, and not assist whores in any way, unless they are giant banking institutions, in which case TAKE THE MONEY GO AHEAD NEED MORE MONEY JUST TAKE IT GIANT HANDFULS!!! Oh, boy! Now we have a meeting of the Plutocrats, including John Chambers of Cisco, Fred "My Son Likes To Go Wilding On The Campus Of UVA" Smith, and Steve Odland of Office Depot. Fred Smith says that the recession has bottomed out and that Federal Express is committed to being the incompetent boobs who repeatedly deliver packages across the street instead of to my apartment building. The guy from Cisco also says the his business is doing fine. Steve Odland says he has some great deals on toner cartridges. And also small businesses have been hurt, because everyone's mortgaging their homes to sell crap, and buy pens and stapler removers. "We won't see a recovery until we see small businesses get liquidity," says Odland. Someone maybe should $700 billion dollars to banks, or something, so that they can start lending! WHY HASN'T BERTHA LEWIS LED US OUT OF THE RECESSION BY LENDING TO ALL THE SMALL BUSINESSES, WITH THE $2.5 million she received last year? STEVE ODLAND HAS DESK SETS TO SELL. Fred Smith says that also the Federal Goverment needs to write a check, PAY TO THE ORDER OF "The Industrial Sector" in the amount of "ALL THE MONEY, ALL OF IT, RIGHT NOW, PLEASE." The guy from Cisco says health care reform is a great idea, as long as it uses Cisco Systems. The guy from Home Depot is worried that health care reform might "mess up the best health care in the world," which is like saying that Barack Obama's next barbecue might "mess up the tasting menu at Per Se." Also, many Americans are choosing to not get health insurance or see doctors, and this is a brave choice, for freedom. Fred Smith says everything's going to be awesome, Cisco Kid says it will be okay, and the guy with the huge inventory of Dry-Erase boards that are priced to move says that someone -- maybe SPACE MONKEYS FROM THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON! -- should start lending to small businesses. Chris Wallace says that it's good to hear from "three people who have to meet a payroll every week" but I guarantee that none of these guys even knows the name of the payroll company they use. Anyway, that's today's edition of THREE VAPID CORPORATE FIGUREHEADS TALKING ABOUT STAPLERS. OKAY, let's allow Fox to bitch about how Obama wouldn't go on their channel and give an interview. For the record, I think that the White House has proved their point about the Fox News Channel and really is not going to lose him anything, and there's no reason in the world to be afraid of going on and getting interviewed. Brit Hume says that he's overexposed and not persuasive. Mara Liasson says that it's okay that he's going in front of the people. Wallace says the White House are the biggest crybabies he's ever dealt with in thirty years, which must be of great relief to Juan Williams. Juan says that Obama could only make news by coming on the Fox network. Now Brit Hume is just imagining what it would be like for Obama to come on right now to be interviewed by Chris Wallace. It's like he's writing Fox News Sunday fan-fiction! Chris Wallace would ask tough questions and be searching and probing and they two men would would caress each other with their strong hands and also Mara Liasson would be there, maybe, with a gaggle of last weekends Tea Baggers, painting Hitler mustaches on one another and being "populist!" Then Juan Williams would deliver a pizza and fix the copy machine and say, "Oh! Things are getting awfully hot in here! With this exclusive Fox News Sunday interview with Barack Obama!" And Obama and Wallace would spank Bertha Lewis and then they'd all help Goldman Sachs set up tax shelters for "happy ending" massage parlors. Then the guy from Office Depot would come on screen, dressed as a baby, and would cry that he's having a liquidity crisis in his pants and needs stimulus. And then they'd all lend money to small businesses, who would buy filing cabinets and save the economy, the end. But what about the plan to scrap the useless and obsolete missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic. Hume says he "won't gainsay" Gates and the Pentagon for the military soundness of the move. But it has the perceptions of weakness, Hume says! BETTER TO ACTUALLY BE WEAK, and SEEM STRONG, then do something smart and sensible and strategically purposeful. Paul Gigot thinks that keeping weapons out of the hands of the Eygptians is dependent on having an arcane missile defense system in Prague. I love all the talk of caving in to the Russians. TOO MANY PEOPLE HAVE WATCHED RED DAWN IN THE WAKE OF PATRICK SWAYZE'S DEATH. Russia's not marching on Prague, anytime soon. Their slight incursion into Georgia's about as good as it gets from them, and even that came off only because Georgia's run by Central Europe's version of Representative Joe Wilson. Oh, and the panel, to varying degrees, thinks it would be best if no one who broke the law and tortured anyone should have to be punished for it. Mara Liasson is specifically off her nut on this regard, saying that hopefully, they will investigate the matter and then "DECIDE THERE'S NOTHING TO PROSECUTE." I'll also offer my condolences to the absent Bill Kristol, who this week lost his father, Irving. THIS WEEK Anyway, now it's time for President Barack Obama to sell commemorative issues of newspapers and talk about health care. He and George Stephanopoulos had a "spirited conversation!" But not as spirited as the one Brit Hume inagined. Okay, so, what about raising taxes on the middle class? Because Baucuscare as major suxxors and will raise taxes on the middle class. Obama "shares the concerns" of some of those critical Democrats, but notes that increasing insurance premiums may as well be thought of as a tax increase, and that the government should do something. Does that leave a door open to Baucus' plan? Obama restates his restatement of principles, but it's unclear is Baucuscare represents an acceptable "something" over the alternative of "nothing." Obama uses the same 80% versus 20% that all of the bills share, and that the Senate Finance Committeee is a "legitimate effort" that might even garner Olympia Snowe's approval. Obama disputes that requiring people to pay a fee if they can afford insurance and don't get it constitutes a "tax increase." GSteph busts out the dictionary! Obama makes fun of him for being such a poindexter. GSteph says you critics say it's a tax increase. Obama's riposte, "My critics say I'm trying to take over every sector of the economy!" Obama doesn't sound like he wants to negotiate with Ben Nelson, or endorse his ideas, which is actually a smart move, because Ben Nelson is a very dumb man. BUT WHAT ABOUT TEH RACISMZ? Is it frustrating when Obama's friends talk about racism, when Obama just wants everyone to be quiet about it? "Are there some people who don't like me because of their race? I'm sure there are," Obama says. But, he says, most people following the health care debate are tuned in to the issue itself, the issues it raises, the change involves, the cost, and not racism. "I think what I'm doing is a very modest attempt to help hard-working families get a measure of security," he says, adding that his critics who believe it represents a massive government takeover of the economy is wrong. "Sometimes, I think that frankly, the media encourages some of the outliers in behavior because, let's face it, the easiest way to get on television right now is to be really rude." Obama continues, "If you're just being sensible, and giving people the benefit of the doubt--" but then is interrupted out of the blue by Kanye West, who charges onto the set saying, "PRESIDENT OBAMA I'M HAPPY FOR YOU AND I'MMA LET YOU FINISH BUT CANADA'S SINGLE PAYER SYSTEM IS THE BEST UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE SYSTEM OF ALL TIME!" Obama says that he didn't know ACORN received a "whole lot of Federal money?" Well, again, COMPARED TO TARP RECIPIENTS, they haven't! Obama says that he asked for a refocusing in Afghanistan, that stands fast to why we went there in the first place -- fighting al Qaeda. He notes an earlier uptick in troop levels, and the relative recency of General McChrystal's arrival. I wonder if he's setting up a situation where he's sowing seeds to sell no troop increase. Obama says that there hasn't been a moment where he's lost control of the health care debate, just moments where it's been complicated and lots of moving parts and not breaking through and he's humbled, and YEAH, DUDE, HATE TO SAY IT, but it's like that part of Kill Bill: "You didn't think it was gonna be that easy, did you?" "You know, for a second there, yeah, I kinda did." ANYWAY, PANEL TIME! Please save us, Kanye! Will says that this media blitz will not be a big help, because the plan is terrible, not the packaging. Ed Gillespie says he's "dissipated the impact" and that talking about it is making things worse. So, two Republicans have now made BOTH arguments, just for good measure. Anyway, the real problem is that scumbag lobbyists are working hard to make the reform package less effective, and the more the voters recognize that they aren't getting the robust reform they voted for, the more the numbers plummet. Peggy Noonan, ASTOUNDINGLY, thinks that the "modern media environment" makes politicians like Obama look "boorish." YES. NOT THE CRAZY PEOPLE WITH THE SIGNS WARNING OF "NAZI SOCIALISTS" and PROMISING TO BRING GUNS NEXT TIME. No, no. Not the guy yelling in the middle of the joint session, "You Lie." Of course not. Your public servant, the President, talking to those he serves, who agree and who disagree, as if they were adults and deserved to hear from their public servants on a regular basis...THAT'S BOORISH. JESUS, PEGGY NOONAN. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Gathering of EVOC Distributors and New Overseas Partners to be Held in ... - Newswiretoday.com Posted: 20 Sep 2009 08:21 AM PDT EVOC Group, the domestic market leader in embedded and IPC industry, has started to tap into international market since 2007. Till present, EVOC has set up branches, subsidiaries and overseas technical service centers in many countries and regions around the world, and has done its utmost to identify prospective local distributors and establish mutually beneficial partnership. In 2007, EVOCs global sales volume reached US$458 million, ranked No.5 in the worldwide embedded computer industry. In 2008, the number went up to US$600 million, making EVOC the third largest and one of the most competitive brands in the industry. This gathering is the first of its kind held by EVOC to strengthen cooperation with its distributors and new overseas partners. During the gathering, EVOC will fully introduce its latest products and technologies, as well as its marketing strategy for Europe region. Other topics include what EVOC will bring to its European users, preferential policies and marketing support EVOC will offer to its partners. This gathering will be a great chance to boost understanding between EVOC and its distributors/partners, for EVOC to share its latest embedded technologies, and for all the participants to seek new business opportunities. EVOC (evoc.com) is one of the leading manufacturers of embedded and industrial computing products. It has over 1,500 types of products, including Fanless Systems, ETX/Com-Express, Full-size CPU Card, Half-size CPU Card, 3.5" Single Board, 5.25" Single Board, EPIC Board, Industrial Panel PC, Workstation, PC/104 product, CompactPCI, Network Application Platform, Rugged Laptop and OEM/ODM services. As a high-tech company, EVOC devotes itself to providing highly reliable and stable embedded products and system-integrated solutions for various applications, such as banking, electric power, electronics, energy, environmental protection, gaming, instrumentation, manufacturing, medical care, aerospace & aviation, networking, telecoms, traffic systems and transportation. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Perrette, Pollando to run for Sayreville Borough Council - MyCentralJersey.com Posted: 20 Sep 2009 08:35 AM PDT SAYREVILLE — residents have been selected to run for Borough Council this November, replacing two candidates -- a Democrat and a Republican -- who dropped out of the race. Nicholas J. Perrette will be on the Republican ticket with running mate Frank Bella. Perrette is replacing Maria Catallo on the ballot. Thomas V. Pollando, 57, will be running on the Democratic ticket with Dennis Grobelny, a former councilman. Pollando is replacing Councilman Stanley Drwal, who, for health reasons, has decided not to run for re-election. A newcomer to the political arena, Perrette, 63, has been a borough resident for 16 years and has more than 40 years of experience in the banking and brokerage industry. A licensed Realtor, he has served as president of the board of directors for the Park Village II Home Owners Association for the past six years. Perrette, who holds a bachelor's degree in finance and a master's degree in information systems, is a parishioner of St. Stanislaus Kostka Church and committee chairman of the church's 2009 census. He and his wife, Madeline, have three children. Perrette said his years of experience in finance and his service with the homeowner's association will be an asset to the council. My platform will be, 'What do the people of Sayreville really need,'" he said. I'm just looking to serve the people of Sayreville. I'll bring programs to the table that can help maintain a stable tax rate. I would also like to do something for the unemployed, maybe set up a job bank within the town. Perrette said he will strive to make Sayreville more business friendly and encourage younger generations to get involved. Democrat Pollando served on the Sayreville Borough Council from 2001-2007, five years of which he was Borough Council president. A Sayreville resident for more than three decades, Pollando is the founder of the Sayreville Athletic Association, serving as president for about 38 years. He is a member and past president of the Morgan Lions Club. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Tunica accustomed to tough times, takes trouble in stride - Memphis Commercial Appeal Posted: 20 Sep 2009 08:06 AM PDT ROBINSONVILLE, Miss. -- It's a Friday morning at Harrah's Tunica, and more than 120 people already are on the casino floor, hitting the slots. Flashing lights, electronic noise, and an inescapable soft rock soundtrack give the place a festive feel, but one wouldn't know from watching the players. Nobody talks or smiles when there are buttons to push and spinning reels to watch -- at least not at 9 a.m. Just a few miles south, at the WIN Job Center, the mood also is serious -- no music or flashing lights, just a couple of men stationed at the office's computers, quietly hunting for work. One studies a casino's Web site; another struggles to fill out an online application form. Just like patrons at a casino, these job-seekers are playing against the odds. Alan Spearman/The Commercial Appeal Freddie Brandon, 62, credits the casinos for positive changes on Gay Street in North Tunica. He grew up here and said most of the houses were once in the same condition as the old frame house above. Since the casinos' arrival, they have been upgraded, he said. Alan Spearman/The Commercial Appeal The disco at 856 Magnolia has been a fixture since the '80s. Before casinos brought big-time gambling, locals offered games that likely helped create a path for Tunica County to legalize casino gambling in 1991. Alan Spearman/The Commercial Appeal According to the Tunica County Chamber of Commerce, the nine casinos in the county employed 14,000 people in 2008, which is down from a 2007 high of 17,000. Alan Spearman/The Commercial Appeal Curtis Curry greets Sheila Lenz and Micki Anderson of Salem, Ind., outside the Paula Dean Buffet at Harrah's Casino. Curry is a natural greeter -- he claps, does an enthusiastic cheer and tells every soul who passes to eat at the buffet that he loves them. Curtis commutes from Clarksdale Miss., to the job he loves. In 2008, Harrah's spent $45 million for updates including the buffet. Alan Spearman/The Commercial Appeal At the WIN Job Center, Tarrian Black, 19, seeks assistance with his aspiration to become a bellman at a casino hotel. Office manager Janet Scott helps Black while many others fill out casino job applications. Alan Spearman/The Commercial Appeal Sporting clays whiz by at the Willows Hunting Center at Harrah's Casino. The 2010 U.S. Open Sporting Clays will be held at the Willows, and Harrah's will build more courses to accommodate shooters they expect to attract. Alan Spearman/The Commercial Appeal Lineman Mario Wooten guides in a jet carrying 117 casino visitors at the Tunica Municipal Airport. In 2008, 59,747 people arrived in Tunica at the airport, up significantly from the 14,500 visitors in 2006. Tunica's casinos -- once-mighty job-creation machines in the Mississippi Delta -- have been wrestling with a steady drop in revenues since the beginning of 2007. At least one has reported an operating loss this year; another casino is up for sale. And all of them have shed employees -- more than 2,000 casino workers have lost work in the Tunica region in the past two years, based on Mississippi Gaming Commission records. The casinos' difficulties have had a ripple effect, pushing unemployment in Tunica County and all but one of its neighboring counties back into double digits. Local government has had to deal with the first significant drop in revenues in recent memory. And social-service agencies report more requests for emergency assistance. The downturn wasn't all that apparent until recently, said Freddie Brandon, a longtime employee with Catholic Social Services in Tunica. As unemployment benefits began to run out and people fell behind on mortgage payments and car notes, requests for help started ticking higher. "It seems like it's getting worse," Brandon said. "And at the same time we have the greatest need, we have fewer resources." Nationally, the casino industry has marked almost uninterrupted growth since the expansion of legalized gaming in the 1990s. According to the American Gaming Association, commercial casinos accounted for more than $32 billion in revenues in 2008. Until recently, smart folks on Wall Street thought the business was recession-resilient. It sure seemed that way in Tunica County. Back in 2003, Thomas A. Garrett, now assistant vice president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, examined the economic impact of casino gaming in the Midwest and South. His report found Tunica County residents comprised 30 percent of the area's casino workforce, helping push the unemployment rate down to the 5 percent range. Garrett said he's not surprised that Tunica is feeling the effects of its casinos' difficulties. "If you think a casino is going to be a cure-all for your local economy, it's only going to be true if it becomes a major industry, as it did in Tunica," Garrett said. "But that also opens them up to the cyclical effects of the national economy." What's happening in Tunica mirrors other regional gaming centers; all are reporting revenue decreases of 5-10 percent, said William Eadington, professor of economics at the University of Nevada, Reno, and director of the Institute for the Study of Gambling and Commercial Gaming. Tunica's woes, however, don't compare to those in Las Vegas, which has been in a freefall for two years now, Eadington said. In Sin City, the collapse has been dramatic. There, a massive building boom, fueled by heavy debt, screeched to a halt in 2008 -- and many construction projects sit idle. The housing market has tanked, and for-sale signs and foreclosure notices are facts of life. Hotels and restaurants are offering deep discounts to lure customers. The Tunica area, however, faces different kinds of challenges. As a regional gaming center, it draws customers from a 200- to 300-mile radius. If gas prices climb too high -- as they did in the summer of 2008 -- some patrons won't make the trip. And with gaming opportunities continuing to expand all over the country, they have plenty of alternatives. Both Missouri and Illinois, states with casinos, recently liberalized their gambling laws. In November, Missourians repealed the state's $500 loss limit -- a restriction that kept high rollers, folks willing to risk big sums, away. And in July, Illinois legalized video poker -- so-called convenience gambling -- which has the potential of turning every local bar and tavern into a mini-casino. Over the years, those two Midwest states fed a small, but significant, number of customers to Tunica. The number of Missouri and Illinois visitors, however, has dropped dramatically -- down almost 40 percent in the past two years. A measure of the increased competition: Tunica, which at one time was the No. 3 gaming market in the country, behind Las Vegas and Atlantic City, is now No. 6, according to the American Gaming Association, and No. 7, St. Louis, is closing in fast. All of which points out Tunica's biggest challenge, Eadington said. Unlike other gaming centers -- many of them tourism destinations before they added casinos -- Tunica didn't offer much, except cotton fields, before the first casino opened its doors, in 1992. "With no insult intended, Tunica does not have natural amenities," Eadington said. "To become another Las Vegas or Atlantic City is quite difficult. Las Vegas, Reno, Niagara Falls, Biloxi, Lake Tahoe, Atlantic City, Palm Springs -- all of those areas already had a significant tourism infrastructure -- they had tourism before they had casinos." Lyn Arnold, president and CEO of the Tunica County Chamber of Commerce, said local officials have long recognized they couldn't place all their bets on gaming. "We are working very hard to diversify this economy," she said. "No one industry solves all your problems." Arnold said local officials are trying to do a better job of marketing the region, including Memphis, and promoting other amenities, including the county's three golf courses. County tourism officials also are pushing ahead with plans for the Gateway to the Blues visitor center and museum to capitalize on the region's rich blues heritage, which brings curious international visitors to places like Clarksdale and Indianola. "The culture and heritage of the Delta is something we need to be marketing," said Webster Franklin, president and CEO of the Tunica Convention and Visitors Bureau, who is leading the effort on the blues center and museum. "What I hope happens is that we'll draw the blues enthusiasts to the state and give them an authentic experience while they're here, and at the same time they'll stay in our hotels and hopefully play a few slot machines," Franklin said. Nobody, however, expects gaming in Tunica County to return to the level of just a few years ago. Tunica County government gets a portion of the state's 12 percent tax on gross gaming revenues; this year, the county's share was down nearly 10 percent, from $43.2 million in fiscal year 2008 to $39 million in the current fiscal year, said Clifton Johnson, Tunica County administrator. When Hurricane Katrina knocked out Mississippi's Gulf Coast casinos and depressed statewide gaming receipts, Tunica County saw a drop in revenue, but nothing that compared to this, Johnson said. "This is the first time we've had such a drop," he said. "In my opinion, we'll see things level off, but I don't think we'll see it where it was the highest peak. And I think it's because of the competition. Now we have casinos all over the country," Johnson said. Over at Catholic Social Services, Freddie Brandon, 62, remembers what it was like before the casinos came. "It was tough. The only work here was farm work -- chopping and picking cotton. It was a struggle trying to make it." Casinos changed everything in Tunica County, said Brandon. "They gave people the opportunity to step up in life. People were able to purchase homes, buy decent cars and everything," he said. While he's deeply concerned about people who've lost work, and are struggling for the first time in their lives to pay mortgage loans and car notes, Brandon said he's not worried that Tunica will revert to what it was before. "The casinos turned things around 100 percent," he said. Where the action is The Tunica casino market, which includes nine casinos in Tunica County and one in Coahoma County, ranks sixth in the nation, based on gross revenue (in billions) 1. Las Vegas Strip, $6.12 2. Atlantic City, N.J., $4.54 3. Chicagoland (northern Ill. and Ind.) $2.25 4. Connecticut $1.57 5. Detroit $1.36 6. Tunica and Lula, Miss, $1.10 7. St. Louis $1.03 8. Biloxi, Miss. $0.95 9. Shreveport, La. $0.84 10. Boulder Strip, Nev. $0.83 Source: American Gaming Association, based on figures provided by The Innovation Group (May 2009) -- Roland Klose: 529-3136 This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

$2 million arts boost aimed at downtown Fort Collins - Coloradoan Posted: 20 Sep 2009 08:14 AM PDT (4 of 6) "It frees up money that allows them to purchase more expensive rights from high-caliber, well-known playwrights with wider audience appeal, which could bring more people to shows in the downtown," Robenalt said. Assessing the need When you're a small Fort Collins a capella group, just finding a place to perform can be the biggest hurdle. "The Lincoln Center main stage is way too big, and the Mini-Theater is perfect, but between all the other groups using it ... it's tough to get on the schedule," said Kristi Siedow-Thompson, a member of Curious Gage. "And we're not really a band, so we can't really perform at clubs like Hodi's (Half Note)." The four-person a capella group recently took advantage of the DDA-Bas Bleu lease agreement, booking Oct. 20 for its annual Halloween-themed show. Since its inception in 2003, the group has been bouncing between area churches, CSU's Center for the Arts and the Lincoln Center's Mini-Theater, performing where it can and also where it can afford. Because their shows are about performing, not making money, Siedow-Thompson said ticket prices are kept very low, about $5 per person. At its Halloween and Christmas shows, Curious Gage can typically pull in 100 to 200 audience members, Siedow-Thompson said. A one-night venue rental (not including insurance, technical aid or equipment) is usually about $500. Between 30 and 40 nonprofit groups rent out space at the Lincoln Center each year, said Ty Sutton, the center's general manager. The DDA's $144,063 rental and tech fee underwriting will give some of these groups the opportunity to step back and formulate a plan that will make them sustainable later on, Sutton said. But even on modest budgets, entertainment has never been for the faint of wallet. One OpenStage five-week run costs approximately $2,900 just in rent, not including technical fees, Freestone said. The company also rents two warehouses - one for prop storage, set building and rehearsal and one for costumes. Both, Freestone said, are stuffed almost to overflowing and cost the company more than $2,600 a month to rent. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

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