Turning on the television is all it takes to realize that the housing market is in a slump and that it will probably be awhile before it picks up again. With so many people having received bad loans or suffering a job loss, there are more foreclosed homes on the market than ever before. If you are on the side of the coin, now could be an ideal time to buy.
Foreclosed homes are homes that have been repossessed by the bank because of prior owner’s inability to pay the mortgage. Because the bank’s primary concern is to get the money they lent back, they do not mark them but simply sell them at cost. This is especially true of houses that have been damaged. As a buyer this is a prime opportunity for you. You can get into a decent house for considerable less than it is worth; however, you might be in for some repairs. Have your inspector look over everything very carefully and provide you with a list of anything that needs to done so you will be fully prepared.
One thing that is typical of foreclosed homes is that they appliances are gone; either stolen or damaged by the previous owners. But this allows you to pick out some nice new Kenmore appliances yourself. Before you head out to the stores, take a stroll through the house and see if there is anything missing. Your list might possibly include a dishwasher, oven, microwave, washing machine and dryer. Before you have them delivered you will want to work on any painting, carpeting, and tiling that can needs to done. This is the time to get any interior damage fixed that the house inspector might have found.
Once you are assured that everything is repaired and replaced, it is time to start moving things in. If you ordered any new furniture, set up a time to have it delivered. Also, if you have appliances coming now would be a good time to have those delivered as well.
To put the finishing touches on your new home consider some blinds from next day blinds. Blinds, shutters, shades; next day blinds has them all in a variety of colors and styles.
With your renovation complete sit back, relax, and enjoy your new home.

There are few scientists in the world who have generated as much mystery and legends as Nikola Tesla, who spent his last days of life in New York City.  He’s been the inspiration for movies and television programs, including but not limited to The Prestige and Tesla: Master of Lightning.  He’s the inventor of the Tesla Coil, and some people connect him with the Tunguska Event, an explosion over Siberia in 1908.  The Tunguska Event is generally believed to be the a large meteroid or comet fragment that came apart with terrific force in mid-air, flattening trees for miles, and releasing energy equal to that of five to thirty megatons of dynamite.  Some people suggest wilder theories, claiming everything from an impact with a black hole, the crash of a UFO, or a collision with antimatter.  Some, though, suggest it was Nikola Tesla, experimenting with a death ray at the Wardenclyffe Tower in New York, a facility that’s now on the National Historical Registry.  This actually is a confusion of a number of stories about Tesla, taking place over a decade.  The Tower itself was supposed to be a way of harnessing electrical current as a means of world-wide communication.

Today, one of the sites you’ll see in New York, is a plaque on the side of The New Yorker building, declaring this spot as the place in which he died in 1943.  The plaque, placed on the building in 2001 by the Yugoslav-American Bicentennial Committee.  The plaque honors Tesla for the discoveries he made in the arena of alternating electric current, praising him for advancing the U.S., along with the rest of the world, into the modern era.   While Yugoslavia no longer exists, the plaque remains, to commemorate a scientist and inventor who some claim to be the equal of Einstein and Edison.  If you’re planning to check into one of the hotels New York USA keeps available for its visitors, then this is one of those spots you should at least take a walk past.

New York is filled with the sights that everyone knows about — The Statue of Liberty, The Empire State Building, Central Park — but not everyone takes time to check out the history enshrined in the buildings by these simple plaques.  Be sure to keep an eye out for them.

For those who were hoping to hear my review of Echo and the Bunnymen in NYC in November, unfortunately, there is no news.  And no news is not always good news.  In this case, the whole US part of the tour was cancelled, because of tax problems with the band.  So they say.  With front men as cheeky as Ian McCulloch, it sometimes seems like their might be more personal reasons, or maybe just plain bad moods on a bad day.  However, some artists can get away with it.  When the things they create are as magical as their behavior in public can be offensive, we will excuse the tantrums of musicians.

It would even be all right if I had to cancel a reservation at a suite in a New York hotel, as long as I got to see the band.  Those who were lucky enough to be in the small crowd last October could see the Bunnymen at their best, and by all accounts, it was a show worthy of a decade of forgiveness for any time and money lost.  They still have it, so it seems.  Even though I have to say, I’m kicking myself for deciding to take that weekend to visit my cousin in Rockport, so he could test me with his new tattoo job.  It was not a big success, and eventually I will have to return so he can cover up the vampire that looks more like a sick squid after a bad night with robitussin.

Speaking of that, McCulloch has been looking a little down in the mouth himself lately.  But he’s the kind of hero that we can forgive, because when he’s clear, his mouth makes beautiful sounds.  And if it all holds together, and things sort themselves out long enough, we might get a chance to meet in Coachella, which should prove to be one of the best year’s of that festival.  The 80s were coming back, but the new decade does suggest that we’re going to be looking less at Echo and more at reunion tours of the survivors of the 90s.  So it goes.

For more than one hundred years, the city of Tampa has had to defend itself from Pirates.  Well, in the imaginary sense, as the battles are staged and there is quite a celebration.  This year the event will take place on January 23rd, and the children of the city just can not wait.  The festival of “Ye Mystic Krewe of Gasparilla” began in 1904, and has been growing ever since.  Along with the one hundred year old traditions, a new tradition was started in 2005.

This is called the Gasparilla Preschoolers Stroll.  It is a great place to take children under the age of five, and a great way for them to experience the festivities in a totally kid-friendly and safe environment.  This is a half mile walk, where the children are part of their own parade, if full pirate regalia, some even on decorated bicycles and tricycles.  Parents of the younger children decorate the strollers and the carriages, and as there are no motor vehicles allowed, parents can be certain of their children’s safety.

This event is sponsored by IKEA, and many of the restaurants and Tampa Bay hotels join in the fun and offer their support.  The Air Invasion takes place soon after, and features precision flying and parachute jumps of the US Special Ops Command Jump Team.  Next on the schedule is the parade for the older children, and has included marching bands and dance troupes and floats presented by the community organizations of the city.  The end of the night is topped off by the Extravaganza.

The finale is one of the largest displays of “Piratechnic” fireworks in the United States, representing the fictional battle with the terrible “Krewe of Ye Mystic” bandits.  The show takes place over the Hillsborough Bay,beginning at 7pm.  The fireworks are choreographed to a soundtrack, and the scene is vibrant and just simply incredible.  For an entire day of pirate shenanigans, head down to the Bay in Tampa, and get ready to give the pirate sentiment of “Arrggh!”, for there will be many opportunities that day, to speak the speak of pirates.

Anyone who gets to spend a little time in Phoenix, and has the curiosity to brave the heat and escape from the country clubs, and the Scottsdale bars, usually ends up on Mill Avenue in Tempe at some point.  In truth, some of the Scottsdale bars are fairly cool, much more interesting than they were a decade ago.  Phoenix has been a city with multiple layers of culture, for many generations.  It seems as though the more we remember the original citizens, who still live here, the more cosmopolitan we become.  Intelligence attracts intelligence, and some of the new ideas in the local pubs embrace a larger community that’s connected to the global and the local.

These things make it a lovely place to visit, and offer more reasons to book time and space in Phoenix’s luxury hotels, who have hospitality down to a splendid art form.  Even first-time visitors will get to hear about Mill Avenue in its heyday.  There are stories about how Mill was the coolest place in town.  Central in downtown Phoenix was closed for cruising sometime in the early 80s, and things popped up in Tempe.  This was the place where all the alternative kids went to hang out, smoke clove cigarettes, and listen to the Del Montes, aka the Gin Blossoms, play at Long Wong’s.

Things went badly after the Superbowl came here, and the rents became too high for the mom and pop places.  It was bought out by businesses who could not force artificial connections to this very delicate community, and it has not been the same since.  However, with MadCap Theatres moving in, revamping a former cineplex for multiple cultural uses, including experimental performance, and events featuring the likes of Gil Scott Heron, there seems to be a new energy here again.  It’s worth visiting in person, because there’s no chance this revolution will be televised.

When I was twelve years old, I saw my first musical.  It was a production of “Annie” at the Orpheum Theatre in downtown Phoenix.  At that time, the downtown area did not have many venues, it was the Orhpeum and the Symphony Hall.  I had been to the Symphony Hall many times, to see the Phoenix Symphony and then to perform a few times a year with the dance company I grew up in.  But I had never seen a building such as The Opheum, with the gilded gold columns, the winding staircases and the heavy red velvet curtains.  It was one of the first, best nights of my life.  Later on, when I was seventeen, I saw REM play there.  It was an intimate space as the band had not yet become the mega-stars they are today.  Again, another very fine night.

The construction of the theatre began in 1927, and when in 1929 the theatre opened its doors and the history of downtown had begun.  Throughout World War II and the Depression, the theatre presented live shows and “talkie” movies, and provided relief for the people suffering through those times.  Following 1949, many people began moving out to the suburbs, a situation still occurring today which has made it difficult to build up the downtown entertainment districts to this day.

During the mid-eighties there were considerations to tear down the building and put up a new and modern commercial building.  But the residents of the city, and the mayor at that time, Terry Goddard, succeeded in adding the building to the National Register of Historic Places, and the Orpheum was saved.  Downtown has now become a place for entertainment from the Bank One Ball Park and other corporate sponsored large venues, sitting up right next to some of the best Phoenix Hotels.  There is modern architecture now, but the charm of the city and the history has been preserved with the renovation of the Orpheum, and when you walk around downtown now, you will see projects under way that are restoring many of the other beautiful and older buildings of the city.  It is become quite an eclectic and interesting downtown hub.