Art and history a beautiful blend in downtown Aiken

Salsa Senior Project

The 'other side of Augusta' is like your city

The first week of April is nearly on us, and you know what that means.

ASU Division II Championship game updates

Per TV, we should be tipping off here about 2:36 p.m. CBS' Tim Brando is sitting on the court about 30 feet away. I bet he's wanting to know where to find some good sweet tea around here as well.

The teams are shooting around. The arena's not full. There will be a crowd probably north of 5,000 fans.

Here come the introductions. The ASU fans are chanting "A-S-U." The biggest game in Jaguar history is about to begin. 

Winona State 13, ASU 9, 15:21 until halftime

The Warriors drained their first five shots like it was a shootaround at the local YMCA. Winona just finally missed one. Ben Madgen's scored five points for the Jags. ASU may be trying to do too much to get the ball inside to Garret Siler. One good thing: Winona's John Smith has one foul.

ASU 17, Winona State 15, 11:53 until halftime

Jaguars are taking advantage of the Warriors' doubling up on Siler. Bowman just scored on a highlight alley-oop dunk on a feed from Daniel Dixon. Siler added a hook shot. Bowman then took another pass inside from Madgen and threw it in to give the Jaguars a two-point lead.

ASU 26, Winona State 24, 7:03 halftime 

The Jaguars are playing like they've been here before. How much did that game at Georgia earlier this season help?

Bowman and Madgen are playing outstanding. Siler has been on the bench now for a several minutes. The refs, on a very questionable call, gave him a second foul when John Smith spun around him and tripped over Bowman's leg.

But Luke Tambon came in for Siler and picked up a charge on Smith, giving him two fouls. That Tambon is one scrappy dude. He's not the most talented player, but he plays with energy and gives the team good defense.

ASU 34, Winona State 26, 4:46 until halftime

Bowman's playing like Michael Jordan. He has 18 points already. He's scored eight consecutive points. Bowman drained two free throws. He added a fadeaway jumper. He probably got fouled when he scored inside again. He then added a hook shot.

The Georgia towns of Tignall and Washington have to be going absolutely crazy right now.

Bowman also forced Winona State's other great player, Jonte Flowers, to pick up his second foul.

John Smith's about to re-enter.

ASU 44, Winona State 32, Halftime

Jaguar fans, you couldn't have asked for a better half. Albeit, it could've been better. The Jaguars led by 16 with 58 seconds left until halftime. But Winona State's Cutrel Robinson made one free throw. Then, Quincy Henderson drained a 3-pointer at the end of the half to cut the lead to 12.

Bowman's played out of his mind, scoring 20 points. He probably looks even better on national television. Madgen's added 12 points. Tambon and Jason Killeen have come in and helped contain Winona State's Smith. He has six points. 

Augusta shot 70 percent from the field in the first half. The Jaguars can't keep that up, can they? ASU is cutting a path to the basket. The Jaguars have only shot three 3-pointers.

Siler returns in the second half. If he can play well, ASU may wrap this thing up. Do not get ahead of yourself, though. Twenty minutes may seem like an eternity. But if the Jaguars can play well for one more half, they can take this thing. 

USC Aiken coach Vince Alexander and his East All-Stars are being honored at halftime. The East won last night's All-Star game. Alexander's getting nice applaus from the ASU fans.

Side note: The attendance figure is 5,628, the largest championship game crowd since 1994. The total Elite Eight attendance figure is the largest since 1973.

ASU 53, Winona State 41, 15:54 remaining

The Warriors' Flowers seems to be getting in a little bit of a rhythm, though he just picked up his third foul. If he picks up a fourth foul and has to sit significant minutes, that will severely hurt Winona State's comeback bid.

Siler's scored seven of ASU's nine second-half points.

ASU 58, Winona State 56, 10:50 remaining

Bowman is on the bench with four fouls. All the momentum has swung to the Minnesota school. The Warriors are on a 20-5 run. ASU has to survive this run to win the game. The Jaguars need to get Siler involved on offense.

ASU 65, Winona State 65, 7:16 remaining

The game is a dogfight. Winona State's Smith is heating up. Bowman and Flowers each have four fouls. Bowman goes to the line with a chance to put the Jaguars ahead. He has 26. If ASU wins, Bowman's the MVP. Of course, Siler's played phenomenal in the second half.

Winona State 75, ASU 68, 3:50 remaining

Flowers just drained consecutive 3-pointers. ASU needs to go at him. The Jaguars don't need to force the issue. Getting the ball inside to Siler will be key.

Winona State 87, ASU 76, Final

There's disappointment now, but it's been one heckuva ride for the Jaguars. They had their chance. That's all you can ask for. Press conference to come.

ASU pre-game Division II championship blog

ASU the day before the national championship game

Finally: Double Decker Cars

How soccer should be

GreenJackets logo approaching national recognition

ASU Final Four game updates

ASU Final Four pre-game update

Augusta State in the Elite Eight

The Credit Card Holy Wars

Clinton campaigned in Aiken under “heavy fire”

Seeing Yellow

It makes me proud to have a daughter...

Check out PBS on April 1. The network's long-running documentary series Independent Lens is showing a new film by Augusta's own Matthew Buzzell. Mr. Buzzell, who also directed Tell Me Do You Miss Me about the rock band Luna and Jimmy Scott: If You Only Knew, about the under-apprecitaed jazz singer Little Jimmy Scott.

His new movie is Companeras, about an all-female mariachi band that defied traditional gender and made the traditional Mexican music co-ed. It's a beautiful film, filled with incredible music and portraits of women making music not for money or fame, but for the love of making music. It's an amazing movie that I plan on screening for my own daughter in the hopes that she'll be enthused and moved to create. This one gets my highest recommendation. Check it out.

Motorists: Don’t say 'egad' over E10

If you think alcohol is made for drinking and not for pumping into your gas tank, you might be a little miffed at what’s going on around town: Ethanol-blended fuel has arrived.

Many fuel pumps in the area are sporting stickers proclaiming that the fuel they dispense might contain up to 10 percent ethanol, a blend known in many parts of the country – mostly the Midwest – as E10.

Ethanol, a type of alcohol produced mostly from corn, has been blended with gasoline for years but is just now beginning to become commonplace in the Augusta-Aiken area – and most other parts of Georgia – because of the federal Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007.

The legislation, approved in December, requires companies to sell 9 billion gallons of renewable fuels this year – 36 billion by 2022.

“You’re going to see ethanol blends in gasoline everywhere,” said Davis Cosey, the president of Perry-based Davis Oil Co. and board member of the Georgia Oilmen’s Association.

Andy Jones, the president of M.B. Jones Oil Co. in Wrens, which operates the Augusta-area Sprint stores, said customer response to E10 has been positive.
“We have not had any issues,” he said.

Regardless of how you feel about the political ramifications of ethanol (driving up the cost of food; not producing as much power as straight gasoline; etc.), it’s here to stay.

Here’s what you need to know about E10:

a) It’s not going to damage your gasoline-powered car, boat or lawn mower (pilots, stick to aviation fuel). All major automakers warranty their vehicles for the fuel, and some even say the cleaner-burning fuel can improve engine performance.

b) E10, as its name implies, is not E85, a high-ethanol blend that can be used only in flexible-fuel vehicles, or FFVs.

c) You’re not getting cheated. Though it’s true that ethanol produces less energy than gasoline, numerous government and private-sectors tests have shown E10 blend has virtually zero impact on a vehicle’s fuel economy. Only vehicles burning E85 get lower mileage than straight gas.

d) You won’t be paying any more for your gas … but you won’t be paying any less, either. That is, until the alternative fuels industry finds a way to mass-produce ethanol using something other than corn as a feedstock.

As to when that occurs … your guess is as good as mine.

Remember the Xethanol folks? The ones who said they were going to produce cellulose-based ethanol from paper mill waste at the former Pfizer plant in east Augusta?

The one thing they did, besides scrap a perfectly good pharmaceutical plant, was prove that making ethanol from low-cost feedstocks is easier said than done.

NOW THIS IS MY KIND OF ALCOHOL: I like bourbon.* I like jelly.

So, when Aiken resident Sheila Bowers sent me a jar of City Grocery Bourbon Jelly, what was I going to do, donate it to a soup kitchen?

The jelly is made by her brother, Jim Boklage, and his wife, Constance, in their hometown of Frankfort, Ky., a place any bourbon lover calls Valhalla.

It has already garnered somewhat of a cult following since they began selling it in October – Louisville’s landmark Brown Hotel carries it, and the governor of Kentucky includes it in his gift bags.

“It’s another connection between Aiken and Kentucky,” Ms. Bowers said, alluding to thoroughbred horses, the other link.

With a 7 percent alcohol content, I think the jelly makes a better ham glaze than a spread on your morning toast, but to each his own. Just don’t let your boss smell it on your breath.

Get a 9.2-ounce jar for $7 at ww.citygroceryfoods.com (you can also check out recipes there).

Or,you can actually move away from the computer and get a jar in “real time” at Aiken’s Plum Pudding store on Laurens Street or the Old Aiken Market & Smokehouse on Park Avenue.

NOT EXACTLY BREAKING NEWS, BUT ... : Hawk & Simpson Real Estate has merged into Larry Miller Realty.

That’s probably not a shock – the two Augusta Century 21 franchises have been in negotiations since last year – but hey, it might be news to you.

“I’ve known both Jerrell Hawk and Dennis Simpson as first-class real estate executives and honorable, worthy competitors for over twenty years,” Mr. Miller said in a prepared statement.

In the same statement Mr. Hawk said, “we can all now enjoy greater operational efficiencies and increased performance, primarily because of economies of scale and the seamless nature of our merger.”

HERE’S A DEAL THAT’S NOT QUITE DONE: Augusta’s Hull Storey Retail Group’s proposed sale of 11 shopping mall properties, originally set to close in January, has still not been completed.

Company principals said they are still working out the reported $214 million deal with Atlanta-based Hendon Properties, and said they are confident the sale will occur as announced in November.

None of the malls is in the Augusta-Aiken area.

ONE POINT OF VIEW: So, how do you feel about Augusta’s being in a recession? Huh?
A recent report from Moody’s Economy.com said the Augusta metro area is in a recession based on the market’s employment, income, industrial production and retail sales.

Augusta State University Economist Mark Thompson, who follows the same stats, disagrees , arguing that employment growth is still solid and unemployment has not skyrocketed.

Who’s right? Because federal gross domestic product figures for metro areas have a three-year lag, we won’t know until 2010.

In case you were wondering, Moody’s says Rome and Dalton are also in a recession, while Atlanta, Athens and Savannah are in the midst of an expansion.

SINCE WHEN IS RICHMOND COUNTY 'Rural’ ? Gov. Sonny Perdue’s office recently announced that Richmond County has been awarded $1.5 million in Economic Development, Growth & Enterprise grant funds to purchase equipment at the new(ish) T-Mobile call center off Wheeler Road.

The grants, administered by the OneGeorgia Authority, are “aimed at spurring economic development in rural Georgia.”

I don’t know anybody who would consider Wheeler Road a part of “rural Georgia” except for maybe folks in Atlanta. That being said, I don’t think we’re going to give the check back.

* I find Ezra Brooks and Old For ester to be exceptional values; however, if I’m over at your house, I’ll be looking for Buffalo Trace or Maker’s Mark. And a glass of ice.

Sneak peak at Augusta National

Phil Mickelson and others offer some feedback on what will greet the players and patrons at the Masters Tournament in three weeks.

New baseball stadium to include unusual features

A careful look at the drawings of the proposed downtown baseball stadium revealed some unusual features. Here’s a breakdown of some of the most unusual attractions:

Entrance:

Bordered by an incredibly out-of-place 50 meter lap pool, the Acme Brick Super-Sized Tetris Spectacular will welcome fans to the baseball game. Featuring gigantic blocks that will slowly fall into place on a gigantic Tetris-style board, optimistic estimates indicate an average of 14 crushing deaths per baseball season, based on an 82-game home schedule. Who knows what tragedies await if the team makes the playoffs? 

Either that or it’s the lamest life size maze I’ve ever seen.

From Left Field:

When I think Augusta Greenjackets baseball, I think giant palm trees, so I was excited to see left field will be full of them. Granted, I’m sure one of them will be a poorly engineered cell phone tower designed to look like a tree. Anyone who has been to North Augusta knows what I’m talking about.

Also very visible is the Maui-Wowie Fake Riverboat Experience. Fans who are not buzzed on marijuana will be puzzled to see a riverboat sitting on a concrete pad, while those on the chronic will delight in navigating the treacherous currents of the Savannah River for days on end. The Mets have a big apple that rises up after home runs, the Astros have a train that goes around a track, the Brewers have a guy that slides down a slide. We will have a random riverboat that sits there doing nothing. Maybe the paddlewheel will turn, how cool is that? 

Distant Helicopter View:

This view is too far away to see anything at all. Except for the fact that the eighth-grader that drew the picture was too lazy to color in the whole Savannah River. And the fact that, apparently, they’re going to tear down like half the buildings in downtown for no reason. They show the outlines of a bunch of buildings, but why are the rest of them missing? 

Helicopter Over The River View:

See, even the view descriptions are getting weird. From this view, you can see the eighteen boat slips that will make up the Greenjackets Yacht Marina. I say yacht marina because, if you compare the size of the marina to the size of the baseball field, it looks at least 350 feet wide. Divided by 18, that’s almost 20 feet per boat, and I don’t know of many normal sized boats that are nearly 20 feet wide. This 60 foot 2008 SeaRay 60 SunCruiser, for example, is less than 17 feet wide, and I don’t see many yachts cruising the Savannah.  

Overall:

The drawings are some of the most dull and depressing I’ve ever seen. Looks like we’re in the Dust Bowl or something, with all the browns and tans they incorporate into the design. When pale green is your accent color, you’ve got problems. Plans for a new baseball stadium are supposed to excite a population into investing millions of public dollars into a private business project. I sigh every time I see these photos.

Photos, article on new stadium:

http://chronicle.augusta.com/stories/031408/met_190973.shtml

Note: These are not actual features of the new baseball stadium, it's just a design that warrants a little abuse. If you don't see a column from me next week, it's probably because the Ripken Baseball goons went to work on me. 

Nerds can jam? Who knew?

The Why and How of a Household Inventory

Art going out of the galleries and on the road

Augusta State vs. Clayton State in the South Atlantic Regional championship

What's your favorite place to show off Augusta?

Trip to hometown elicits mixed emotions

Chipping away at the Paycheck to Paycheck Routine

Ferrell to star in indoor football movie

The King holds court

Guitars with multiple strings are overrated

Feed the hungry by playing a game

The best team name in minor league baseball is...

Minor league sports teams are, by definition, inferior to their major league counterparts in almost every way, but there is one exception to the rule - team names. There’s the Lansing Lugnuts (Class A, Toronto Blue Jays), Montgomery Biscuits (Class AA, Tampa Bay Rays) and Modesto Nuts (Class A, Colorado Rockies).
The creativity is in full swing in the Aiken-Augusta area with both the Augusta GreenJackets and Aiken Foxhounds. Starting today, those names are being put to the test.

Officials will be hoping to zap one another

Another way to view the market downturn

LIVE BLOG: Spartans vs. Tigers for the Class AAA state boys basketball championship

Glenn Hills boys go for the Class AAA state championship! .... LIVE from The Macon Coliseum.

USC Aiken-Lander quarterfinal game

Glenn Hills boys and girls at the Class AAA semifinals in Macon.

ASU-Clayton State Peach Belt quarterfinal game

Bowman missed two shots from the perimeter in the final eight seconds. ASU off until next week's Division II Tournament.

That Weird Rain Photo

Six Ways to Break Free of the “Purge and Splurge” Cycle

Williams, Holland denied seats on Technology Commission

Artists, performers and patrons make for a crowded calendar

What you'll find here is a  personal collection of cultural arts highlights – notes about arts people doing interesting things, important exhibits, patrons, performances, and maybe a bit of behind-the-scenes magic.

Modern customer service underwhelms

Glenn Hills sweeps its games in the state quarterfinals on Saturday.