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JAMES MACPHERSON

Jim Deitz believes he's creating a landmark, but the downtown apartment house he's painting one polka dot at a time is making a city planner in the US cringe.

The retired house painter in Bismarck, North Dakota, has been putting the final polka dots on his home-turned-apartments, where passers-by have been gathering to watch him work and to request colors from his palette of a dozen cans of brightly coloured paint.

"Pizza delivery drivers won't have any trouble finding this place," Deitz said of the century old-two story home that houses six apartments. "You can't miss it."

The house is next to a church, a fraternal organisation building and a new low-income apartment complex. Deitz and the city had negotiated a deal to buy out the property to expand the low-income housing facility.

Deitz said he was offered US$100,000 (NZ$122,000) for the home a year or so ago.

"They were going to buy me out and they backed out," Deitz said. "I want US$150,000 for it now."

Ryan Brooks, the city's senior planner, said the polka dot house is an eyesore and that he thinks it's Deitz's way of protesting the city's decision not to buy the property.

"It's hard to say what this gentleman's true motives are," Brooks said. "I think my opinion is the same as everybody - I wouldn't want to be living next to it."

Brooks said the city doesn't have a code that forbids homeowners from painting their houses in certain colors or schemes, however garish.

More here:
Polka dot house an 'eyesore'

Dot Hacker frontman Josh Klinghoffer wasn't really sure how he'd celebrate the release of his band's debut album, Inhibition: "Um, I probably won't, really. It'll be a quiet celebration. Maybe... where will I be on May 1?"

For the past three years, Klinghoffer's been the lead guitarist of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, a career-defining gig that's taken him to stadiums around the globe and, just last April, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It has also made it difficult for him to promote Dot Hacker, his independent project with Jonathan Hischke, Clint Walsh, and Eric Gardner, all Los Angeles-based "session musician types" who spend much of their lives on the roads as well. It's no wonder that the album, an architectural-yet-intimate collection of songs recorded in 2009, is just now being released through ORG Music.

Klinghoffer phoned in from a RHCP tour stop in Toronto to talk the band's genesis, his fears as a front man, and injuries sustained in the name of rock.

Josh Klinghoffer of Dot Hacker and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. (Getty) Zimbio: Dot Hacker is a group of really talented musicians best known for working with extremely famous people. How did you find each other?

Josh Klinghoffer: I met Clint, the other guitar player, when we were touring together with Gnarls Barkley in '06, and we sort of quickly became really good friends and talked about always wanting a bandhe has a band, but I never really did, so we talked about trying to pull it together, if we could. I met Eric through him, and I introduced him to Jonathan, who I had met when he was touring with the band Hella, coming out of California, I had known those guys for a long time. We just kind of threw it together and it worked instantly.

This album has been finished since 2009, but it's just now being released. Why the delay? Did you ever consider a self-release?

JK: So initially, people started going out of town, doing their tours here and there to support themselves, and then I got asked to join the Chili Peppers, so that kind of took me out of the equation. So then it kind of sat there, and we were always hoping to keep it alive, and looking for someone to put it out, I guess we weren't too proactive about it... It's kind of hard to sell someone on putting out a record by a band that's unavailable to tour or promote it or anything like that.

Then there were periods of delays. We tried to get it out before the Chili Peppers, then something or the other didn't happen... We thought it was probably better for it to come sometime after the Chili Peppers rather than putting it out right on top of it.

Zimbio: Do you have any plans for touring now? Is there any time and space for that?

JK: There is. There's nothing planned at the moment, but the Chili Peppers' touring schedule is pretty solid. I'm pretty certain where I'll be for the next year or so, because everyone in the band has families. Our schedule's pretty solid, two weeks on, two weeks off, so I can potentially book shows with Dot Hacker any break. I'm sure we will at some point. I'm sure this summer we'll do stuff. Really any time we can I'd love to.

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Zimbio Exclusive Interview: Josh Klinghoffer of Dot Hacker and the Red Hot Chili Peppers

Im not sure how many readers are aware of this, but Im currently the subject of a documentary for CBC Television. As such, they are in Orange County to film a few days in my life, and that means attending Dot Com Pho!

The John Chow Story (working title) started a few weeks ago at Dot Com Pho Vancouver. CBC picked up the lunch tab to ensure a good turn out. Since Dot Com Pho Orange County is a lot bigger than Dot Com Pho Vancouver, no such bribery was required. Besides, the last time I offered a freebie to attend Dot Com Pho OC, only four people showed up.

We had a record turn out of 25 people squeezing into five tables for this edition of Dot Com Pho. Anyone is welcome to join us. Follow me on Twitter to find the time and location of the next one. We meet most Saturdays at the patio of Pho Ba Co in sunny Irvine, California.

In addition to the Dot Com Pho, I was also at Dot Com Cars and Coffee. Instead of combining the two events into one video like Ive done in the past, Ive decided to separate them into their own video. Enjoy!

Read the rest here:
Dot Com Pho – CBC Documentary Edition

SAKONNET AREA The state cant afford to properly care for its roads and bridges and needs the estimated $27 million that tolling the new Sakonnet River Bridge might provide each year.

So says Michael P. Lewis, director of the state Department of Transportation, who visited this newspaper last week to defend the toll proposal.

Governor Lincoln Chafees 2013 budget includes a plan that would hand over the Sakonnet River and Jamestown-Verrazzano bridges to the Rhode Island Turnpike and Bridge Authority and allow RITBA to place tolls on the Sakonnet span when it is finished.

He is aware that people in this corner of the state feel strongly about the subject, Mr. Lewis said, but the state has about run out of transportation funding options.

We dont have the money, plain and simple, to maintain our bridges, he said. And he predicted that, with the present climate in Washington, the situation will only get worse. There isnt a status quo option. Without tolls, the day the new bridge opens, we wont be able to adequately maintain it it will go the way of the old Sakonnet Bridge.

The administration is pushing the toll issue now because there is a window of opportunity that will close forever in about 12 months, he said. Once the new bridge is complete and the old one removed (the Coast Guard permit requires that the old bridge be gone within 18 months after the new bridge is done), it will be too late to add tolls.

Mr. Lewis said the DOT thinks the Sakonnet River Bridge is the best candidate for tolls in part because it sees one-and-a-half times more traffic than the Newport Bridge. He said there would be no need for toll booths since tolling could be automatic.

Local lawmakers have already pledged to fight tolls either on the Sakonnet River Bridge or the Mount Hope Bridge. Rep. Raymond E. Gallison Jr., Rep. John G. Edwards and Sen. Walter S. Felag Jr. introduced bills earlier this year aimed at preventing the Rhode Island Turnpike and Bridge Authority from instituting tolls on the Mount Hope and Sakonnet River bridges.

And Senator Louis DiPalma told the Senate Finance Committee recently that another toll would isolate Aquideck Island and hit county businesses hard.

Mr. Lewis acknowledged that people in Newport and Bristol counties believe it is unfair to toll only bridges here while their tax dollars have assisted projects throughout the state like the Iway.

Continued here:
DOT chief pushes Sakonnet Bridge toll

SHES as much an institution at Olympians as the inspiration behind the clubs name is and this year will see Dot Burgess surpass a half-century of service.

Burgess has been there almost from the clubs beginnings and is a testament to longevity, with this season her 51st of grade hockey in Tamworth and for Olympians.

We (family) came up here in 1956 (from Mayfield), Burgess recalled.

I played juniors down at No. 3 Oval in those days (now Bicentennial Park).

Then in 1961, Beryl Griffiths, who had founded the Olympians club a few years earlier, asked her to play for Olympians.

Dot was still a teenager at the time and over the years has enjoyed her share of success with the club, winning a handful of titles in the 20 plus years she played in first grade.

There were a few years too they were minor premiers but beaten at the final hurdle.

We had two or three years when we went through undefeated and got beaten in the grand final, Burgess said.

It was a different game back then rules, equipment and even the competition.

We used to go to carnivals, Burgess recalled.

See the article here:
Dot's a sticker for her sport