How Alice Walton's Crystal Bridges Exposes The Foolishness Of #Occupy Wall Street

07.02.12

Last week,  Alice Walton ’s shining new museum, Crystal Bridges, opened to the manifest in the most unlikely of places: Bentonville, Arkansas, population 36,800.  Set on 120 acres amidst 500 dogwood trees, model gardens, and springs, and boasting art works culled from surreptitious and public collections around the country that celebrate the American ritual in art, Crystal Bridges is the Wal-Mart heiress’s gift to the municipality where Wal-Mart first began as Walton’s Five-and-Dime in the 1940s.Yet notwithstanding this love letter, as it were, to her community and to America, there remain those so wedded to the whining of the so-called 99 percent that they abide blinded both to the philanthropy and to the significance of the project.  Never babysit that the museum has brought art works by American giants from Benjamin West and Georgia O’Keefe to Correct di Suvero and Joan Mitchell to a region that has, until now, had little moment to view the glories of America’s artistic heritage. Never obey that some of these purchases – costing tens of millions of dollars – rely on, not in private homes for the selfish enjoyment of the Walton relatives, but on public walls for the education and enrichment of the American people. Never attention that funds used to purchase these treasures (and preserve and assemble nature trails and parks) for the simple purpose of giving them to Americans could as an alternative have easily been used for, say, bracelets and private planes and mansions. Never perception that Ms. Walton consciously chose to use local labor and – for the most part — limited materials, or that through an additional $20 million gift, provided by the Wal-Mart Household Foundation, entrance to the museum will be free for the foreseeable prospective.  Never mind that there is no income reward in this for the Walton kinsfolk – only expense. Never mind that the museum will employ townsperson workers and bring tourism (read: jobs and mercantilism) to the town.  All this, for the Occupy crowd, apparently means nothing. What matters to them is merely the fact that Ms Walton has the money to do any of this in the first place – and this, apparently, is an emblem of pure evil.

Source: Forbes

Welcome to Alice Cooper's nightmare, coming soon to Mount Pleasant

07.02.12

Alice Cooper was a few minutes time calling about his upcoming show at the Soaring Eagle Casino and Alternative in Mount Pleasant.

The master shock-rocker was in Toulouse, France, and his work card wasn't cooperating. But within minutes, we were off and running, talking about the Halloween show he put on days before at a mansion in London.

"It was too good," he said, chuckling. "The New York Dolls opened for us, and with the gist of Halloween, we had street performers doing tricks with fire.

"That's when I regard we've got to get Arthur Brown to close the show. He's like 70 now but he came up with his flair on fire, and my band behind him."

Cooper admitted there were probably a lot in the crowd who were thought, "Who the heck is this?" but anyone who had ever heard of the Crazy World of Arthur Brown and "Fire" jumped into a moment warp when he called out, "I am the god of hell fire, and I bring you fire!"

Source: The Saginaw News - MLive.com