Author: Mike

508 is a show about Worcester. This week’s panel is Jim Henderson, Nikki Erskine, Tina Zlody, and Brendan Melican.

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If you would like to boycott 508, please contact us at pieandcoffee@gmail.com.

[0:57] Jim is running independently for Secretary of the Commonwealth. He taught Mike to podcast back in the day.

[10:55] stART on the Street is coming to North Main on May 16 from 11am-5pm. Art and music, free of charge.

[15:50] This week, the Worcester City Council declined to discuss a boycott of Arizona.

[24:25] Mike ran the course of the upcoming Worcester Half Marathon.

[25:50] You can submit a city census form online.

[25:35] We recap this week’s InCity Times boycott/fiasco. You can find mp3s of the Jordan Levy interview on this page.

Continue reading “508 #112: Boycott”

508 is a show about Worcester. This week, Mike and Brendan talk with School Committee member Tracy Novick.

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[0:00] We start by talking about school funding, principal firing, and union negotiations.

[10:33] Brendan notices some anti-drug-dealer graffiti on a log.

[18:35] The T&G reported a circulation decline this week, and is planning to charge for some online articles. We discuss whether this matters and how Worcester’s bloggers are doing in picking up some of the slack.

Continue reading “508 #111: Principals”

508 is a show about Worcester. This week’s panel is Erica Getto and Brendan Melican.

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[0:30] Erica and Mike think the first annual Worcester VegFest was a triumph.

stART on the Street is May 15.

[9:36] Brendan thinks that violent incidents in the Tatnuck Square area do not constitute a trend and are not a reason to fear the neighborhood.

[16:08] A T&G columnist wrote about their legendarily awful online comments section—bloggers have been complaining about this for years and years, and the paper has yet to fix the problem.

[19:11] Mike had trouble today buying a Worcester gift.

[20:50] Jeff Barnard (rightly) won Worcester Magazine’s “Best Blogger.” We approve of WoMag’s devil-may-care attitude in composing this year’s “best” list. Brendan on WoMag: “They’re doing great without an editor. Don’t hire an editor!”

We endorse upcoming stuff at the Ecotarium and Energy Barnraising.

Are there blackflies in Worcester? We are not sure.

508 is a show about Worcester. This week we mostly talk about the Worcester Tea Party.

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[0:30] Turns out the skull found in the woods near the city likely was a black woman who “appears to have suffered a brain aneurism.” Update: Skull identified as “Tyra Wilkerson, 36, of Norwood,” missing since 2006.

[2:15] Clark cafeteria workers and their supporters are celebrating a victory in the union drive there.

[3:30] We both went to yesterday’s Tea Party, either to observe or counter-protest. The T&G thinks there were more than 2000 attendees. Jeff Barnard notes that the T&G liveblogged it. Mike remembers Father Bafaro’s remarks at a 2009 antiwar rally. Didn’t see any racist or misspelled signs.

[17:10] Worcester Magazine asked local small businessmen about Walmart and found they are not really concerned. Mike would like to see some “Jim Collins-style pseudoscience” in the coming years on the impact of the Worcester Walmart. Mike talks about how part of the reason there was not more substantial opposition to Walmart was that the opposition began very, very late into the process.

[23:50] “The Heist of Lion Bank” premieres Monday. The VegFest is Saturday, 12-5pm, at the Worcester State College Student Center.

[25:40] Some Tatnuck residents are worried about trouble in the neighborhood.

[27:55] Brendan and Gary Rosen are maybe going to do a radio show.

Continue reading “508 #109: Tea Party aftermath”

508 is a show about Worcester. This week’s panel is Greg Opperman and Brendan Melican.

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A skull was found in the woods near the neighborhood; not much more is known.

Some Atlantic Union students eschewed shoes for a day to “call attention to Third World children”. We talk about hookworms and the whole barefoot running thing.

As part of the Who Shot Rock & Roll photography exhibit a the Worcester Art Museum, there’s a side exhibit with local photos called “Wormtown Rocks.” Greg talks about the photos, Worcester’s Michael Jackson kid, and Louie’s bar photography. (Louie’s book is “Five Months”.) Today’s 508 is taped in the same room as the grand prize winning pic. (If you’re interested in this sort of stuff, you might also watch this video of a 2008 Bone Zone house show in Worcester. Sam’s prominent here, too.)

There will be a Tea Party protest in Worcester April 15; expect counter-protestors (thread here) and “local anti-capitalists”. (Also: Worcester Tea Partiers mentioned in TIME.) Mike spent Tax Day 2009 protesting in the same area as, though not with, the Washington, DC event.

Continue reading “508 #108: Items of interest”