508: A Show About Worcester

508 is a show about Worcester. This week’s panel is Jeff Barnard and Brendan Melican.[display_podcast]

Audio: mp3 link, other formats, feed

Video: Downloads and other formats

508 contact info

If you would like to boycott 508, please contact us at [email protected].

Various epic Worcester stories climaxed this week. [0:30] Unum signed a lease to became the “trigger tenant” for CitySquare, and Massport agreed to take over the airport.

[6:10] Also, the MA House passed CORI reform.

[9:40] The Worcester movie “Boy Band” will premiere locally next week.

[10:40] Mike looks at InCity Times issues from before and after Dianne Williamson called for a boycott of the paper, and finds, if anything, more ads now. Two contributors, Jim May and Doug Chapel, have said they are leaving the ICT.

[14:33] Brendan notices the many local construction projects are stimulus-funded.

[16:25] There is a new president of the local teacher’s union.

[18:15] A bear was captured in Worcester and died.

[20:48] The T&G website, as we have often discussed, has problems.

508 is a show about Worcester. This week’s panel is Brendan Melican and a mystery guest.[display_podcast]

Audio: mp3 link, other formats, feed

Video: Downloads and other formats

508 contact info

If you would like to boycott 508, please contact us at [email protected].

[1:18] Brendan and Mike went to stART in the Street. They speculate about Alec Lopez shirts.

[4:34] Mike talks about youth-led lead-safe landscaping in Worcester and wonders about levels of brain damage between generations.

[6:48] Our mystery guest talks about the life and legacy of Ronnie James (Padavona) Dio and the horns.

[11:29] A girl at Melican Middle School is a finalist in a contest to design a Google front-page doodle. You can vote in the contest.

[13:43] The InCity Times has threatened legal action against a critical blogger over “copyright.” Brendan complains about the InCity Times. The only person or advertiser we’ve confirmed has left the paper recently is frequent contributor Jim May.

[22:44] Jordan Levy complains that Councilor Palpatine is being a bully over this CSX expansion thing. Brendan supports the expansion.

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

Audio: mp3 link, other formats, feed

Video: Downloads and other formats

508 contact info

If you would like to boycott 508, please contact us at [email protected].

[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.

Just the interview with Jim:

Just the song “Dio”:

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

[display_podcast]

Audio: mp3 link, other formats, feed

Video: Downloads and other formats

508 contact info

[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.

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

[display_podcast]

Audio: mp3 link, other formats, feed

Video: Downloads and other formats

508 contact info

[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.[display_podcast]

Audio: mp3 link, other formats, feed

Video: Downloads and other formats

508 contact info

[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.

Also: Mike likes the video below.

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

Audio: mp3 link, other formats, feed

Video: Downloads and other formats

508 contact info

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.

508 is a show about Worcester. This week’s panel is Tim Hart, Pam Toomey, Brendan Melican, and Carly.

[display_podcast]

Audio: mp3 link, feed

Video:

508 contact info

We discuss proposed Worcester pit bull restrictions and think they are a bad idea. (You might enjoy this Malcolm Gladwell article about pit bulls.)

Clark students continue to support unionization of their dining hall workers; there have been two incidents in the past year when Leominster cops caused trouble in Worcester; it’s Holy Week; Mike is a little confused about how Michael Hlady is supposed to have scammed Venerini Academy; there’s now a documentary about Lemmy.

508 is a show about Worcester. This week’s panel is Janeezzii Nyamekye, Jen Burt, Matt Feinstein, Clifford Reiss, and Brendan Melican.[display_podcast]

Audio: mp3 link, other formats, feed

Video: Downloads and other formats

508 contact info

Today’s the 1-year anniversary of the Stone Soup fire. We talk about the past and future of the artist/activist center. Also: the Joe Martin murder trial is over, and Councilor Rushton reopened the panhandling issue at this week’s City Council meeting.

508 is a show about Worcester. This week’s panel is Brendan Melican and Jen Burt.

[display_podcast]

Audio: mp3 link, other formats, feed

Video: Downloads and other formats

508 contact info

CitySquare II, a subsidiary of Opus Investment Management, itself a subsidiary of Hanover Insurance, has signed a purchase-and-sale agreement with Berkeley Investments to take over demolishing the empty mall downtown and build something else. This announcement may or may not mean that, after 6 years, something will happen.

The Artichoke Food Coop is back in action with plenty of volunteers and plenty of food.

If you want to get involved with the effort to bring Google Fiber to Worcester, you can get started with this map. See also: How I Became (Mostly) Google-free in About a Day and Freedom in the Cloud.