Worst Urban Front Door Award: Alamo Plaza Hall of Shame

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Didn’t really want to go here again. Blame it on the Downtown Alliance. The organization has added a Best Urban Front Door category to its annual Best Awards. “Best” is important in this category, and I only wish they had established a “Worst” category as well to underscore just how important. Recognition in this category could be used to shame property owners into cleaning up their acts, similar to the strident efforts in Webster, Massachusetts, discussed on National Public Radio’s Talk of the Nation today.

In an earlier post (Okay, in post after post), I identified some of the welcoming signs and entrances found within the Alamo Plaza Historic District.  The “Welcome to the Basement” sign setting the upscale fashion tone for the club was my favorite for the opposite effect it has. The Basement now has added a second ugly, illegal sign that should make it a logical candidate in a rather competitive environment for the ugliest entryway (Please refer to earlier posts to view additional possibilities around the plaza.).

But its neighboring shop on the other side of Fuddrucker’s frontage absolutely blows away the multitude of contestants around the plaza seemingly vying for the Worst Urban Front Door award (The wart built to hawk audio tours at the Alamo does not count because it is not the Alamo’s front door.).

Nominations for the Best Awards are closed, but nominations for the Alamo Plaza Hall of Shame remain open until no qualified candidates remain.

Just when I thought it could not get any worse update at 9:58 p.m. on March 8, 2011:  Sarah forwarded photos to me of hawkers lurking around the entrance of the Alamo to solicit business for the Alamo’s new green screen.

Being squawked at by hawkers promoting fake Alamo photos at the door is a new low. Of course, one of the reasons you need to pose in front of the Alamo on a green screen is that is the only way to take photos out front without having them include Alamo staff at tables selling audio tours and, now, the hawkers. What is the selling point? “Hey lady, if you want a photo without me in it, you have to come pay for it around back?”

Is this a picture worth a thousand words? 99 cents?

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Another Say Si Small Scale Art Auction approaches, which reminds me I have been blogging away for almost a year. I wanted to make a statement.

At the end of 2009, I decided to mount a visual protest against the visual clutter surrounding Alamo Plaza. A picture’s worth a thousand words.

Had not Delacroix’s unveiling in Paris in 1824 of his monumental “Massacre of Chios” swayed public opinion in Europe toward intense loathing of the Turks for slaughtering 10,000 Greeks? If the painter had chosen instead to depict the earlier savagery of the Greeks at Tripolitsa, might Europe have supported the Turks instead?

Inspired to try to motivate someone in the world to clean up Alamo Plaza, I assembled two of the ugliest collages ever created by combining photos snapped around the plaza.

Well, to put it mildly, Delacroix was more successful. Maybe my works are too small in scale. Maybe it’s because I have no bare-breasted women up front and center. Okay, I admit it. You can’t have known Delacroix personally; yet you know I’m no Delacroix.

So I switched strategies to attack by blog. The press is a powerful weapon.  After much haranguing, not much progress to report. Okay, I admit it. I am no great poet either.

Alas, even Lord Byron thought the sword mightier than the pen and found himself among the inspired volunteers traveling in resplendent uniforms in 1824 to join Prince Mavrocordato at Missolonghi. Byron wrote:

                    The sword, the banner, and the field,
Glory and Greece, around me see!
The Spartan, borne upon his shield,
Was not more free.

Awake! (not Greece–she is awake!)
Awake, my spirit! Think through whom
Thy life-blood tracks its parent lake,
And then strike home! ….

If thou regrett’st thy youth, why live?
The land of honourable death
Is here–up to the field, and give
Away thy breath!

Byron perished soon after, and most of Europe then seemed to pay attention to his call to support Greece.

I’m just not willing to sacrifice my life for signage. So I’ve come full circle and have donated “We’ve Lost the Alamo” for Say Si to include in the benefit auction on February 25.

My initial thought was that someone would see it and be so offended he or she would buy this print and insist it be hung at City Hall. If first impressions are important, why is this what we show more than 2.5 million visitors every year? Maybe that person should order another print for the office of the Convention and Visitors Bureau to show them that no matter how sleek the ads are trying to sell San Antonio this is the reality of what is here. Why the pair of prints should be in the office of every city council representative, every member of the Historic Design and Review Committee, in the home of every officer of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas and every member of the board of directors of the San Antonio Conservation Society and in every office at the Texas State Historical Commission. Governor Rick Perry himself should have to look at this every single day. I never should have limited this edition of prints to only 25.

Okay, that is not going to happen. I decided to make my point, though, about the general appearance of Alamo Plaza by valuing the price of the print as that of the frame only – $20. As I drove off, I thought I should have requested its value be 99 cents.

As I felt guilty about using Say Si’s fundraiser as a political forum, I donated two more marketable prints based on “San Antonio Song” to make up for “We’ve Lost the Alamo.”

And, fortunately for Say Si, a multitude of artists stepped forward once again to contribute art you actually will want to have in your home. The work is all up for preview prior to the auction, or view it online in advance. Call 210-212-8666 to reserve a ticket for Friday, February 25 – $40 per person in advance, or $50 at the door.

Someone at Say Si felt sorry for the lowly valued print, “We’ve Lost the Alamo,” and decided to up its value to $45. Guess it’s coming back home with me to inspire me to keep typing. Here go another 700 words….

February 26, 2011, Update: Even “We’ve Lost the Alamo” found a new home, and the buyer really got the message without having to read the 700 words above.

John Gage: ‘I’m a young man now grown older….’

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How does it happen? Another year slips by. We might not even notice if mirrors (bad inventions) did not lie.

Some of us ignore the mounting birthdays, others do more than take it in stride. They celebrate each new candle exuberantly; the “Blues Twins” are among these.  In fact, Becky Yelderman and Charlotte Wilke take pleasure in planning their own party, the way they want it.

But the party is never just about them; it’s always about raising money to help someone else. This year is no different.

Will Owen Gage and John Gage

Slated to get underway at 8 p.m. on Saturday, January 29, at The Cove, The Sixth Annual Blues Twins Birthday Bash will serve as a benefit to help defray the recent heart-related medical expenses of a musician, John Gage. Featured musicians will be The Lavens, After Midnight Blues Band and Gage’s son, Will Owen Gage.

While the blazing blues guitar player Will, who did not get his own guitar until he was four, is well-known here, John is not. That’s because his folk-singing father is based in Louisville.

Although a regular on festival stages, John Gage is known for his willingness to play “anyplace where there might be a potential audience wanting to sing along.” With his flat-picking guitar-style, he draws on traditions of ancient balladeers and poets. Interesting the next generation in music is of great importance to him:

John has extensive experience planning collaboratively with classroom teachers for arts education programs and participating in curriculum planning. In addition, he conducts interactive workshops and motivational speeches throughout the southeast region in an effort to help educators and parents understand how personal involvement with music and other performing arts contribute to improved academic learning and overall personal well-being.

John is a repeat emcee at major festivals through Kentucky and hosts a regular radio show reminiscent of old-time radio programs, Kentucky Homefront, on WFPK. The “front-porch” broadcasts are meant to serve as:

a gathering place for friends and where strangers become friends; a place for sharing and creating traditions.

Which sounds a lot like The Cove. Will Owens Gage and the younger generation of The Lavens have grown up together right in front of us on The Cove’s stage. Drummer Karl Yelderman and bass player Daryl Chadick of the After Midnight Blues Band used to back up some of Will’s earlier bands and have played with him as a trio known as The Burning Sensations.

When Will was in high school and would sometimes sit in with After Midnight, his cellphone rang at the precise time the gig was supposed to end. Never eager to stop, the band would play on. Will would put the phone down on the stage so his mom could hear and not worry he was out late without a good reason.

While the name of Will’s father is not a household one here, he’s automatically part of the extended musical family fostered on the stage of The Cove through the years. And this family member needs your help. So plan to support The Blues Twins Birthday Bash and Benefit for John Gage on the 29th. A $5 donation at the door gets you in for an evening of great music in a place where there are no strangers once you walk through the door.

How brief is a lifetime
How restless is late
How bright is the sunshine
How long is the wait

excerpt from “How” by John Gage