Not Too Late to Be Early

The 2013 Indianapolis Early Music Festival is well underway, but you still have two chances to catch performances in the Indiana History Center, 450 West Ohio Street, Indianapolis (map).

Wayward Sisters present the "naughty list" music at 7:30 p.m. 12 July and The Flanders Recorder Quartet offers "a chest of flutes" at 7:30 p.m. 14 July.

Naughty list? That's music by braggarts, hotheads, curmudgeons and snobs, according to the festival: not all composers were nice guys. The Wayward Sisters are the 2011 winners of the Early Music America/Naxos Recording competition.

The chest of flutes will include works by Cabezon, Scheidt, Gabrieli, Bach and Brahms.

Single tix start at $22.

Did you know that Indianapolis Early Music is America’s oldest continuous presenter of Early Music? This is their 47th season.

Swimsuits in Michigan

The Saugatuck-Douglas Convention & Visitors Bureau in Michigan has signed an agreement with the Indianapolis Colts to arrange for the Colts Cheerleaders to shoot their 2014 Swimsuit Calendar in the Saugatuck-Douglas area next week.

As the Visitors Bureau points out in a press release, the agreement will provide the CVB with "promotional opportunities for the Saugatuck-Douglas area".

This Indianapolis Observer wonders why the Colts aren't shooting their swimsuit calendar in their own home town. (Of course, she also wonders why the Colts aren't the subjects of the photos, but that's another discussion.)

Yeah, the realities are that the Saugatuck-Douglas CVB must've dangled significant cash before their eyes, but -- heck -- haven't we ponied up enough Indianapolis tax dollars for Jim Irsay? Why is he (and "our" team) promoting travel to Michigan?

(Photo, courtesy of Saugatuck.com, is not a Colts cheerleader)

New IndyGo Route Traverses 86th Street/82nd Street

On Monday (10 June), IndyGo will introduce its new cross town service on Indianapolis's north side.

The Route 86 will travel along the 86th St./82nd St. corridor with service between Traders Point and Community North Hospital every 30 minutes, Monday through Saturday.

This new local service route has stops approximately every 1/4 mile and connects with seven other IndyGo routes. Buses will use the curb lane to stop for passengers wanting to board or exit. Expect to see heavier pedestrian traffic and stopped buses along the route especially at local bus connection points:
*West 86th St. at Michigan Rd. for connections with Route 34.
*West 86th St. at Harcourt Rd. for connections with Route 28.
*West 86th St. at College Ave. for Connections with Route 18.
*Inside the Keystone Crossing development for connections with Routes 26 and 18.
*Inside Castleton Mall parking lot for connections with Route 19.
*Inside Community Hospital North campus for connections with Route 4.

This Indianapolis Observer is grateful for a long overdue bus route.

Indy's Ethnic Eateries

Great article in today's Indianapolis Star on the tenth anniversary of IndyEthnicFood.com, a volunteer-run website directory of ethnic restaurants plus reviews, recipes, foodie festivals etc.

Check it out here: Indy Ethnic Food.

This Indianapolis Observer wonders why the city's oldest still-operating ethnic restaurant was left out of the story. Yes, folks, I'm talking about the Rathskeller, which has been serving German food in the Athenaeum since 1898.

Preparing for the Zombie Apocalypse

The Indiana Historical Society doesn't want Hoosiers to be caught unawares by the rise of the living dead.

It has scheduled an informational session at 7 p.m. 19 June in the Indiana History Center, 450 West Ohio Street, Indianapolis, to help everyone prepare.

According to the notice, "representatives from the Indiana State Department of Health will share tools on how to prevent Virus-Z infection, while trained experts from Indiana's Department of Homeland Security will demonstrate coordinated response strategies to the brain-eating hordes."

If that weren't enough, "Indy Trade School will teach you how to barter in the new world order, and you'll also learn survival skills from zombie-fighting veterans with military and public safety experience."

The final session is perhaps the most crucial: IHS staff will prepare you with the needed tools to record the memories of zombie apocalypse survivors."

Admission is $30, and you must be 21 or older.

Are they kidding? There's no hint that it's all tongue-in-cheek: "preparedness is your best defense".

Trash Slide in Indy

Now that your Indianapolis Observer has your attention: remember that curbside recycling, residential and heavy trash collection will operate on a slide schedule next week due to the Memorial Day holiday.

All residential trash, heavy trash and curbside recycling routes will run one day behind for the entire week.

Monday routes will be serviced on Tuesday, 28 May; Tuesday routes will be serviced on Wednesday, 29 May; Wednesday routes on Thursday, 30 May; Thursday routes on Friday, 31 May, and Friday routes will be serviced on Saturday, 1 June.

All services will return to normal schedules on Monday, June 3.

Somebody Needs a New Job

This Indianapolis Observer wonders: Can't anyone spell correctly any more?

Interactive Intelligence needs to fire (or at least ridicule in public) the people who wrote the copy for and those who approved the final version of this humongous banner hanging in the Indianapolis International Airport.

C'mon, no one noticed the misspelling? Surely Don Brown didn't approve this before it went up....