Drummers Converge on Indiana

An estimated 6,200 drummers and percussionists from around the world are in Indianapolis for the Percussive Arts Society International Convention, which runs through Friday. Indianapolis is playing host to the event for a third time, reports Inside INdiana Business.

An Electric Violin?

Experience the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra cabaret-style with electric violinist, Drew Tretick, featuring great movie scores. The evening begins at 8 p.m. 20 November in the Athenaeum Auditorium, 401 East Michigan Street, Indianapolis. Tickets are available online.

An Indiana native, Tretick is well known for his expressive performances as a weekly featured attraction at the Downtown Disney Resort in California.

Following the performance, join in the ICOnic After Party at the Rathskeller, also in the Athenaeum.

Butler's Nutcracker

The Butler University Ballet’s annual performances of The Nutcracker will be staged 2-5 December Clowes Memorial Hall on the Butler campus.

Attending the holiday ballet is a family tradition. Both children and adults will be dazzled and delighted by glorious scenery and costumes, spectacular dancing and magical moments. Envision twirling with the snowflakes and waltzing with the flowers while waiting for the dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy and the Nutcracker Prince. Enjoy Tchaikovsky's magnificent score performed by the Butler Ballet Orchestra and the Indianapolis Children's Choir under the direction of Richard Auldon Clark.

Tickets ($17-$28.50) are sold at the Clowes Hall box office and through Ticketmaster.

Why the Public Supports the Merit Commission

"[T]he public is concerned about what they perceive is a growing crime problem in this city, notwithstanding statistics the administration is constantly spewing in an attempt to convince them otherwise." (from Advance Indiana)

Uh, huh! Watch your back, Mayor Ballard!

Note to the IBJ Fact Checkers:

Add this info to your database:

Eugene Collins Pulliam (3 May 1889 - 23 June 1975)

Eugene Smith Pulliam (7 September 1914 - 20 January 1999)

Myrta Jane Pulliam (born 20 June 1947) is the granddaughter of Eugene C. Pulliam and the daughter of Eugene S. Pulliam.

Which isn't the genealogy you published for her in today's Indianapolis Business Journal supplement.

Mayor Jets Off to Austin

According to Inside INdiana Business, the Greater Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce is sending a 70-member delegation to Austin, Texas this weekend as part of a leadership exchange program. Mayor Greg Ballard will open the event with a speech about the Central Indiana Council of Mayors.

Dick Cady Nails Indy

The only thing missing from Deadline: Indianapolis is an index.

The first thing any of us want to do when we pick up such a detailed exposé of our hometown is check for our name and then look for the names of all the people we think should be in there. But, Deadline: Indianapolis has no index, so you've just got to read it.

And what a page-turner it is, full of money, sex and power games -- yes, these are the "stories behind the stories at the Pulliam press".

No, your Indianapolis Observer didn't make the cut (whew!), but Cady (a former reporter and editor at The Indianapolis Star) includes lots of familiar names: Richard G. Lugar, Steve Goldsmith, Keith Bulen, Winston Churchill (no, not THAT one), Morty Dock, ESP and ECP, Virginia Dill McCarty, Barry Goldwater, Ed Delaney, Bill Moreau, and many, many more. The connections outlined and the stories told are chilling (the FBI entanglement in Indy corruption is an eye-opener).

There's a Pulitzer and other journalism awards involved in this tale, but the unfortunate take-away is that political corruption is the default state for big cities such as ours. Exposing it requires a watch-dog press -- something Indy hasn't had since the Pulliams tossed their newspapers into the Gannett maw and walked away with their millions.

Note to Evan Bayh: You might want to check out what Cady says about your time as governor.