Folkmoot 2014 in Hickory

One of the best I’ve seen.  It had a rough start with problems getting the audio system hooked up.  It was almost an hour late beginning and that’s probably why about a quarter of the audience left at the intermission.  Too bad.  They missed a real treat.  

The highlight of the first half was the Hoop Dance by one of the Hawaiian group.   It was mesmerizing.  A glance around the audience showed breathless participation with people holding a hand to their open mouth, others tapping or quietly clapping in rhythm to the drum beat.  And then it got better.  And then it got better yet. 

The second half began with dances by the Romania group.  They were quiet (by comparison) and decorous. But their presentations reminded me of one of the great values served by Folkmoot, and that is the preservation of the costumes, dances, traditions and sometimes even the language of national units as world cultures continue to change.

The next group in the second half was the Turkish contingent.  The dances performed by some of the men dancers were wild, free, and soaring.  There was some “sailing” through the air, spinning around the stage on the knees,  great turning whirls that tightened into oblivion.  Then they treated us to the 

 Dancing Bellies, all this with the women dancers shrieking.  Then the Bellies came down into the audience!  

The show concluded with Hawaii.  Dances presenting the Hula Hands were followed by Tahitian Swaying Hips, and THEN came the flaming Fire Torch display featuring thrown flaming torches, some fire-eating, then wild dancing to throbbing drumbeat music with whirling, twirling batons with fire from each end.  It concluded with the audience learning to sing one of the old, great goodies from the islands.  

TEDxHickory, 2014

First of all, the moderator for this edition, Alan Jackson, was a great improvement over the 2013 performance.  Alan moderated; he didn’t put on a different show from what was already going on. 

LOT’s of volunteers.  Good.  Great job.  Impressive.

The theme for the presentation was “Curate and Elevate”.  Not a good beginning. It tells people that they really don’t need to attend this “thing” because it is all going to be either over their heads or beside the point.  Those words don’t REALLY mean anything –  not even to your average sharpie.  It’s a head-scratching, yawn-begetting-page-turner.

Repetitious behavior:  If the presenters constantly call for a show of hands, that process runs aground after the first 3 or 4 do it.  Also, tying the subject of the presentation into a moving personal story can be  impressive once, coincidence twice, “what’s going on here?” third, “Fourth?  What time is it getting to be now?

The constantly moving reel of other shows on the wall to the right of the audience is simply a distraction.  You keep thinking it is going to play a part in the presentation at some point.  But it never does.   An artist might call it a weed, or a distraction.   Doesn’t contribute to the story or subject.  It is a junkie.  Seems to be telling the audience “SOME of these presentations in the past have had some really good spots!”

Lunch.  Chicken or hummus.  Hmmmm.  Imaginative?  In 2013 interesting sandwiches were presented by Hatch Restaurant.  I don’t know who prepared these, and they were OK, but the Hatch presentation was imaginative.  

Best part of these shows is the networking during breaks.  Did not know about the after show snacks and had already scheduled other things.

Watched the Self-Driving Cars with much disbelief, then came to see how it could work.  After it was all over, I was disappointed I couldn't app-up one to go home in.  It seemed to make SO much sense!  Yet, the idea that Nobody would be able to drive a car after about 2027 seems strange to me.  OK perhaps if you live in a big city, but what about the rancher driving across Kansas?  

By the way, I have volunteered to speak at all three of the TEDxHickory events and have not even been  asked to present any of my concepts.  I can definitely understand not being selected, but when my offer receives NO response at all, when nobody on the selection staff even knows what I think is so important to share with other people, then I begin to pick up the smell of books cooking.  I wonder how many others have experienced the same thing and wonder if it is all a game of pretension and preselections. 

So – if you are just looking for a good show on a Saturday, and maybe even how to make Hickory a better town in which to live, then TEDxHickory might be an option.  If you are seriously trying to make a difference in the world, and find other people who are of like-minded nature, then well, maybe you might want to confine your participation to the break periods and look beyond.  

Hickory's Symphony

 The Western Piedmont Symphony, Hickory's own professional symphony, presented its spring performance downtown at Union Square on April 27, 2014

The show consisted of 18 different songs played before an enthusiastic crowd.  I don’t do crowd estimates but I asked a number of people what they thought and got answers ranging from 500 to 800.

Most of the songs were lively and were clearly designed to blow the last vestiges of winter and its long, cold, pollen-filled spring mess out of the city.

A lot of people brought their own lawn chairs, a large number also brought picnic food and the local restaurants were also serving food.  Wine and craft beers were available and it all added up to a festive occasion.  Audience members “conducted” along with the maestro, kicked back, swayed, sashayed and even danced.  

Reynolda House in Winston-Salem

Winston-Salem is about an hour and ten minutes north of Hickory, and the Reynolda House is right off the interstate when you get there.  The price of admission is $14 each, but if you are members of the Hickory Museum of Art, and have your membership card with you, admission is free.  

We spent about four hours touring the house on Thursday, April 21 of this year.  We watched a short video about the history of the house and then explored the place under the guidance of an hand controlled audio tour guide.  Places of interest inside the large house are marked with a number on the wall.  You press that same  number on your audio device and listen to a description and explanation of that area.  

We enjoyed the Aeolian Organ and marveled at its 2,500 small pipes.  Unfortunately, photography is not permitted inside the house.   There was a lot of art work throughout the house and adjoining areas including an art studio with original art work from Norman Rockwell and Georgia O’Keeffe.  There were many more artists work present in clouding Morris Hirschfield and Grandma Moses.  Oddly, photography IS permitted in the art museum.  

Lots of places to eat.  Snacks, entrees, gelato and ice cream, wine and beer including local craft brews.  We ate at the Village Tavern and enjoyed our meal.  We

asked to share both the meal and the small salad.  The salads were delicious, and we not only shared the meal, and enjoyed it very much, but we had MOST of it still left over.  

The Reynolda House was not only fun and good food but also educational.  We were amazed to find out that people used Sleeping Porches even in cold weather!  Wow!  Why?  Well, you can go there and find out why.  Also why this enormous house was – and still is – called a “bungalow”. 

Buddhist Flower Festival 2014 at Peace Pagoda.

 Great Smoky Mountain Peace Pagoda, Newport, Tennessee, USA, 2014.0419Sa.  We drove over in rain and arrived in rain.  We parked on a road in the forest and were driven to the top where the temple is by a Buddhist angel named Christian in her 4-wheel drive Subaru.

Greeted warmly by Utsumi and Denise.  Beautiful temple, Buddhist service, then payed tribute to Lord Buddha on his birthday by pouring three ladles of sweet tea over a statute of him standing with one finger of his left hand pointed toward earth and a finger of his right hand pointed toward heaven.  

Everybody who attended brought food which was spread out on a table as a magnificent, organic, vegetarian and delicious buffet.  Some of the produce was grown in the Peace Pagoda garden right under the deck on the south side of the mountain.

Talked to  Utsumi briefly about my book and particularly the question of where did the gods come from.  He had ideas that will be present in that book soon to be seen. 

Later we walked through the emerging skeleton of the Peace Pagoda-to-be.  It’s going to be big.

Then a ride down the mountain side by Denise in her 4-wheel drive Subaru, and on to our car, then two and a half hours back home where our doggies were patiently waiting on a cool rainy day.  Our pet-sitter, Pat, had come to let them outside to romp and stomp.  When we arrived home later, they were waiting for us in ecstatic Buddhist nature.

Scottish Heritage Games.

An hour's drive out of Hickory will take you to Rural Hill, the North Carolina Center of Scottish Heritage, just outside of Huntersville, NC, to see and take part in the Scottish Festival & Loch Norman Highland Games.  We went on April 17 and enjoyed  the 2014 event.

We heard lots of good music, and very different music, saw lots of tartans and Scottish clothing for sale,  witnessed Border Collie's at work, and saw Scottish athletic exercises. The great march of the clans circled a huge parade field in front of the stands.  The march alone took 25 minutes to complete.  I didn’t count the clans but they were 25 minutes worth.  

Lots of kiosks with lots of Scottish stuff for sale,  best part were the people behind the tables.  We talked with perhaps 20 or so, and found them to be VERY knowledgable of the items they were selling .  There was a lot of research-on-the-spot as large collections of Tartans and books of clans were available, and very knowledgable people were present to help you locate some of your Scottish ancestors.

Many of the people who staffed the kiosks were from other places in the United States – many were obviously from Scotland, and they spend much of their summers traveling from show to show across the country.  LOTS of Scottish brogue!  Drumming, piping, and the constant skreering of bagpipes.

This is a yearly event, just a little over an hour from Hickory.  Get your fill of Scottish food.  There is “Scottish Bar-B-Q”, lots of Haggis and plenty of Shepherd’s Pie.  You can get Scotch Eggs, Meat Bridies, and Pies, and Homemade Shortbread. You can even try the old North Carolina pork barbecue, but this one is  cooked over a Peat Fire!   Yo ho, me laddies!

http://ruralhillscottishfestivals.net

Hickory's Footcandle Film Society and Tim's Vermeer

The movie for April, 2014, which we saw last night, was “Tim’s Vermeer”   http://youtu.be/CS_HUWs9c8c   It is a hard movie to describe but it apparently amazed everybody who was in the Carolina Theater.  Not at all your ordinary movie.  No, this was a wedding of modern technology, ancient art and a lot of very high level detective work spanning hundreds of years.

After the movie, the Footcandle Film Society always continues with a discussion of the presentation just concluded.  The discussion is led by Alan Jackson and Chris Frye.  This movie generated a lot of comments about the perceived gap between technology and art.  Does this “gap” showing signs of narrowing or does it appear to be widening?  Certainly, this movie indicated a coming reunion – or did it?  Opinions varied considerably about answers to that question,  but there was general agreement about what the movie had depicted and what that meant for the future of both art and science.

Hickory Community Theatre "Lying in the Winter"

King Henry (Honsaker) and Alais (Meredith Potter)

The art of the actor dominated the stage in the Fireman’s Kitchen in the Hickory Community Theatre Saturday night as Rage, Cunning, Naiveté, Stupidity, Remorse, Lying and other personifications of human depravity ruled, fought and consumed each other in increasingly rapid succession.

Those of us sitting in the audience, who try daily to remember a few important things in our lives (like our grocery lists) watch in amazement as these incredible beings strut about on stage, shouting loudly an endless series of words that are far longer than any of our grocery lists ever could be.  We mortals, sitting in the audience, might assume they just made these words up.  But the other actors on stage react to them and carry on with a stream of their own.  How can they possibly do this?  Again, the art of the actor amazes.  I am not even sure I remember the title of the play.  Was it actually "The Lion in Winter"?  Not really sure.  

But – If I EVER saw anyone walking about the streets of Hickory looking like the actor (Joshua Propst) who was playing Richard, I would immediately take cover.  When I thought I safely could, I would call the police and told them there was a mad man stalking the town.  And tell them not to come alone.

Christopher Honsaker, who played King Henry, got so worked up a couple of times that I thought he was going to act out a heart attack and have a staged collapse.  But he didn’t.  Then later, he went WAY beyond that first effort but still didn’t collapse.  Then he did it again! Better than before – his face was bright red, veins leaped out on his neck and across his face and I remember thinking that if he had a real heart attack and died on stage he would receive a standing  ovation.  I would have leaped to my feet and applauded! I would have been sorry later, of course, but wow.

Now it is over.  We all survived.  Even Henry, even Richard,  and EVEN Eleanor – who clearly did not deserve to live – (played by Carys Bowen) made it through to the end and are probably studying for their next new role.  Hope they play nicer people next time.  But then -– that probably wouldn’t require as much art.

Elliott Engel in Hickory.

Last night we were stunned!  The absolutely unexpected happened!  And it  happened again and again and AGAIN!  Those of us who were there looked at each other in amazement! “Wow” we said, with out mouths wide open.

We learned things nobody else ever knew.  Things everybody has heard about but NObody knew  what we had just learned.  We found out what a “Boxoffice” really is, and we found out about the most expensive product in the world (popcorn), and  . . . BUT – I can’t go on.  Oh yes, I could tell you what Elliott Engle told us last night, I could tell you the same thing he did.  But I  can’t tell it the same way.  

He was talking about a guy named William.  He talked about how William later became known as Shakespeare.  And how that William became the greatest writer in the entire history of mankind.  We were in awe. Especially when we heard a few of the examples Elliott Engel told us.  Most of us had never heard about little pig bladders filled with blood, for example just before the play begins, or . . . but I digress  . . . You really need to hear Elliott Engel explain these things to you so you can get it straight. 

Isabel Wilkerson, Visiting Writer at LRU in Hickory, NC

Isabel Wilkerson, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist spoke on the campus of Lenoir-Rhyne University, in Hickory, NC, on 20 February, 2014 about  her book “The Warmth of Other Suns” which describes the “great migration” of blacks from the American south into the cities of the the north.  

Ms. Wilkerson spoke in the auditorium of the Belk Centrum which was filled with spectators, and two other rooms were also packed with people watching her presentation on closed circuit television.

Hickory Community Theatre, "On Golden Pond"

James Best, AKA Rosco P. Coltrane, new resident of Hickory, NC, appeared in the play “On Golden Pond” at the Hickory Community Theatre in March of 2014.

He played opposite Norma Frank, another Hickory resident, as Ethel and Norman Thayer, and they and the audience had a blast.  James’ wife, Dorothy (another new Hickory resident) played his daughter.  Good job, good performances, a marvelous time and lots of fun.  

LRU Visiting Writers Sherman Alexie

Tonight we went to the Visiting Writers presentation at Lenoir-Rhyne University.  It featured Sherman Alexie, a Native American who is also a writer, poet, movie maker and obviously an exquisite stand-up comedian.  

This was our third trip this year to see a Visiting Writer at LRU in Hickory.  Two of them were in the 230 seat Belk Centrum, one featuring Isabel Wilkerson, and like tonight, the place was also packed with two closed-circuit theaters also filled.  The other one was in the Monroe Auditorium and it was also filled to see Jon Meachum.  

I could recite some of Alexie’s punch lines, but won’t, because he delivers them so beautifully.  He has stories to tell, stories that won’t quit, stories that really can’t even get started good because they take flight and morph into something else.  You sit there wondering what on earth he is talking about, and then suddenly you realize he’s talking about you!  And by then, he’s already on to something else that you probably never thought of until you realize where he is going.  And then he goes some place else.  And the crowd loved it.  And Alexie loved it.  Obviously, I loved it.

The producers asked we not take photographs and that was a shame because there were so MANY wonderful opportunities.  

After his presentation he received questions.  I asked the first one which was about the Native American’s concept of God or Spirit or Energy.  He obviously missed my focus because he clearly interpreted it as being a religious question.  His response was that all tribes had their own concept of god and they were all different and he didn’t want to talk about his own concepts.  The second questioner asked him if he ever had considered “stand-up” comedy  work.  His response to that was excoriating, lengthy and  humorous.  The third, and last questioner asked a question that went on and on, assuming the nature of a statement or two and finally led into a question that I don’t think was ever even asked because Alexie began getting involved in the thing. 

So this season for the Visiting Writers at LRU comes to an end.  It was a great year and next year promises to be even better.  It’s another thing that Hickory does really, really good.

Art of Poetry, Spring 2014 at the Hickory Museum of Art

The Art of Poetry reading was held at the Hickory Museum of Art, Saturday March 8, 2014 at 2:00 p.m.  Eleven poets read aloud their poems in front of the art which had been the inspiration for the writing.  The presentation was seen by about 40 people who attended the event.  

Before reading, I pointed out that my father had worked for the railroad as a foreman for 46 years, most of that with steam locomotives, and the railroad had been an intimate part of my life.  Also it was the first place I ever worked, beginning as a laborer in 1947.  My reading is reprinted here:

            The Railroad Soul

The railroad’s soul screamed out at me,

shrieking through its white-hot whistle.

The conductor shouted “ALL Aboard!” and swung

on the train, the last one to leave the platform.

The locomotive belched and it roared and snorted

and white steam shot across the ramp.

Like a mighty sledge hammer hitting the ground, it 

thumped and clobbered and pounded its way,

dragging its cars and the people on board, 

out of the railroad station.

Later in a different part of the land

its whistle sailed out through the night.  Wild! 

Free! Going Somewhere! Making a brand new world!

The first time I heard it was before I was born,

and I’ve heard it every night since.

My daddy was a foreman for the railroad gang

and the trains and the workers performed for him.

He made them always run on time.   And

They didn’t like his iron hand on them, insisting that

they do everything right.   That’s why the railroad

shrieked and screamed!   And why I still run on time.

©John Womack, 2014.  All rights reserved.

Severe Weather Checklist

Current weather forecast reminds me of several weather events when we lived all alone, out in the forests of the western North Carolina Smoky Mountains.  Twice we lost power for six days, once for seven.  Trees that fall over roads not only take down your power lines, but they also block your access to and from your property.  Even worse, all our water came from a well 216 feet down – so – no electricity; no water!

Also, being a veteran of the Air Force as a member of flight crews and commander of a missile crew, I am VERY familiar with checklists.  We were required to use them every time we operated a piece of equipment, even if it was the thousandth time we had fired it up.  The main purpose is to remind you of some simple thing that NEEDS to be done at a certain time - it's a lot like following a recipe.  These checklists also permitted us to perform a lot of pretty tricky and potentially dangerous procedures safely. 

So, putting together the recurrent problems with power outages, and the longing for a non-existent checklist, I built my own.  Here it is for anyone who might be interested:

Severe Weather Checklist Master

Preparation Phase:

kerosene acquire

kerosene lanterns

kerosene heater

Oil lamps 

Oil - verify amount

dog food

wash clothes & dishes

batteries (D and 6v dc)

verify lighters available

check camera and video tape status (for insurance claims)

Corded telephone prepare

Warning Phase: OR NIGHTFALL

Plug-suckers charge

kerosene lanterns prepare

lawn furniture in

garbage and compost out

deck & yard secure

verify 7 bags of ice in freezer 

(3 stay in freezer, 2 for ice chests  on Day 2; 2  more on Day 3) 

cars fill with gasoline

back cars in garage/car port

recharge battery in camcorder, cell phones, iTouch, 

Siege Phase:

animals in

monitor radios and tv

items from refrigerator-freezer to big freezer 

distribute kerosene lanterns and oil lamps

I'm sure that anyone who tries this will come up with necessary and important additions.  Please let me know if you do.  I can add them to my own!

The Hickory Community Theater and "Trying" – Magnificient.

Hickory Community Theatre, Fireman’s Kitchen, in Hickory, North Carolina presented tonight the play  “Trying”, starring Charles Jeffers and Emma Lee Mayfield Kurts.  

“Trying” is a two-character play based on the author's experience during 1967-1968 when she worked for Francis Biddle at his home in Washington, D.C.   Judge Biddle had been Attorney General of the United States under Franklin Roosevelt. After the war, President Truman named him Chief Judge of the American Military Tribunal at Nuremberg. The play is about a young Canadian girl and an old, Philadelphia aristocrat, "trying" to understand each other in what Biddle knows is the final year of his life.

The play presents two very different characters, and it chronicles a dynamic development in both of their personalities as they encounter together the twin challenges of  changing Life and Technology.   In the period which followed World War Two,  many of civilization's historical foundations were being replaced with new patterns being born and many of the old traditions dying at the same time.  The characters carried this rebirth and passing-away beautifully and the actors presented it magnificently.  Most of the people in the Fireman's Kitchen, including those at my table were enthralled. 

Birthday Party for Robert Burns with the Belfast Boys

For what more could one possibly wish?  Tonight we had a great gathering to honor an anniversary of the birth of one of the great poets of the English – more or less – language.  Yes, Robert Burns was born 255 years ago tonight in Alway, Scotland.  Burns later became the national poet of Scotland by sending messages to generations still unborn in his magic phrasing of emotions such as “A Red, Red Rose”, “Is there for Honest Povertry”, “Scots Wha Hae”, and even “Auld Lang Syne”.  There are more statutes of Robert Burns around the world than for ANY other non-religious character except Queen Victoria and Columbus!  Such is the fame a great poet can achieve, but – the poor chap WAS a poet, after all, and it is estimated that upon his death that his total net worth was approximately 1£.

BUT.  All that is now history.  Tonight is a night for celebration!  And so we all gather at the great Scots pub of . . . well, actually McCroskeys Irish Pub in Hickory, North Carolina, and listen to the great Scotsmen of hmmm . . . well, actually, the Belfast Boys!  But hey, what do the Scots, the Irish and Americans all have in common?  Yeah, England!  So let’s go gather together for song, ceremony, food and drink!

Haggis was served well.  Marched in with an escort, presented with a  prayer, carved with a flourish, and then reverently dispersed in tiny serving cups to the grateful? crowd.  

So we had it all.  Burns, poetry, prayer, ceremony, haggis, and music by Adrian Rice and Allyn Mearns, “The Belfast Boys”.  Good music, great songs, well presented.  A good evening.  Hickory, The Friendly City, at its best. 

Congratulations, Juliana!

Hickory International Council and the Great Decisions Meetings.

The Hickory International Council is another great reason to live in Hickory, the Friendly City in North Carolina. 

The council sponsors many different items, one of which is the Great Decisions meetings which take place on six Tuesday evenings beginning in September of each year.

We’ve been meeting now for three years, and while we haven’t really made any decisions yet, we sure have talked about many of the great decisions that are now knocking on our national and International doors demanding to be let in or responded to.  In these discussions we have several study guides, including a small book from the Foreign Policy Association of America, and roughly a 25 minute film about the topic for the evening shown before each meeting.   Here we find out what is behind and underneath the current news  stories, you know, the important stuff.  Those details that are often not covered very well on TV or on the net.  

The Hickory International Council also meets on the third Thursday of each month on the second floor of Patrick Beaver Library beginning at 5:30.  Come on by, find out what you have been missing, meet some new friends.  Reach out and touch the world.

Hambly and Jackson, Harp Artists in Chapel of Rest, Lenoir, NC

Gráinne Hambly and William Jackson are perhaps the two most accomplished and famous harpists in the world, and Sunday afternoon September 13, 2013, they delighted a full audience in the small Chapel of Rest in Happy Valley, North Carolina, just north of Lenoir.  

                                                    She played Irish harp, he played a Scottish harp.  I couldn’t tell the difference and didn’t ask them later when we had an opportunity while talking with them, but I remember that she used more dramatic gestures while playing and he used almost none in his work.  I did ask why they did not use sheet music and they said, smiling,  that was "the way they did it".

 Besides playing both solo and duets, Gráinne also accompanied William on a concertina, and William accompanied her on a penny flute and with an Irish bouzouki.  Gráinne pointed out how the harp is often used with other instruments, but it also has music that is unique to it alone.

     The Chapel of Rest has a reputation of being haunted, and it IS haunted – at least by the story that a former pastor was distraught over his wife’s affair with another man.  The preacher had gone to the church to pray about the matter on a Saturday night, and then hanged himself from a beam on the ceiling of the church.  He was found, hanging there the next morning by the arriving congregation.   We also have it on good faith that that did not happen.  But then the person who discounted that story had other stories to tell that sent chills up the spine almost as good as the music produced by two of the most famous harpists in the world.  

Today, the chapel was clearly haunted by beautiful music and a cool breeze drifted through the open windows carrying the slight tang of apples in its air.  

http://champlainvalleytradarts.com/grainne-hambly-william-jackson/

http://www.harpagency.com/artist1.htm

Oktoberfest in Hickory, 2013.

Wow.  What a show!  Another of the great things about living in Hickory, the friendly city.  Somebody said that Hickory’s Oktoberfest had been rated one of the best in the US.  Don’t know HOW that scoring came about but If you go there, you will know WHY it happened.

(These pictures will enlarge if you tap on them)

It’s big.  Especially big for a town the size of Hickory.  And it’s even bigger than it IS, because all the stuff is going on all the time and all at the same time.  

There’s a lot of food here.  My wife and I got bratwurst with sauerkraut and mustard at the Berliner Kindl pavilion.  The sausages were not good and neither of us could eat the meat.  Would be interested in hearing from others to find out what experience they had.  Normally I wouldn't mention this but since we paid $16 for the 2 sandwiches, the Berliner Kindl should be interested in some feedback from their clients.

Alcohol is definitely present.  Beer, especially some good craft brews are available.  Under the big tent where the Oompah Band presents their magic, there is both bottle beer and draft.  The Wine Shop has tables in front of their shop where wine and beer are obviously enjoyed and yes you can hear the music.

Music is the heart and soul of the big Oktoberfest and you can’t get away from the sound of music if you are in downtown Hickory.  That’s why everybody is “dancing” as they walk along the sidewalks, “conducting” with the mementos they have bought as they walk along or perhaps just tapping their toes if they are sitting and eating.

And for me, the greatest treat of all is the Oompah Band, playing polkas and dance tunes and marching music, on and on into the smiles of the enthusiastic audiences seated and standing and dancing in front of them.

They will be there again TODAY, Sunday October 13, 2013, so what are you doing reading this now?  You can do that tomorrow!  Get downtown!! Now!!!