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Alternative Features
Growing up in New Jersey, author, editor and photographer Michael T. Luongo traveled very little.
“As a child, my parents never traveled anywhere,” he says. “They couldn’t throw all the kids in the car and come back in the space of a day.”
Instead, Luongo referred to his parents’ art and archaeology books and began to discover a love for foreign places.
“It was something that started to develop ever since I was little,” he says. “I read a lot. I was constantly reading.”
The concert
The Yank Rachell Tribute Concert and CD Release Party happened June 8 in the courtyard of the Indiana Historical Society in downtown Indianapolis, along the banks of the newly renovated White River Canal. It drew only a moderate crowd, perhaps because of the $10 admission charge ($12 at the door), but nonetheless, was a delightful way to spend a sultry Sunday afternoon that featured a full five hours of music.
The mandolin was very much the dominating instrument among the music played, fittingly enough given that that was not only the instrument of choice of Rachell himself, but also given that he was one of the undoubted masters of the blues mandolin.
National artists Rich DelGrosso and Andra Faye sang and played mandolin, with mandolin also featured by several notable local and regional artists as well -- Jim Richter, Mike Butler (who played not only his electric mandolin, but also Yank's own acoustic-electric Harmony mandolin, which Butler plans on donating to the Smithsonian upon his death), and Steve Robbins.
Truly F. Obvious hasn't always skated. She started six years ago when she was 30 years old and has cherished the sport ever since.
"I liked it better than any other kinds of workouts because the wind that you make for yourself keeps you cool," she says. "Now that I play derby, I work a lot harder, and I do notice."
At Western Skateland two years ago, Obvious and Molly McFracture got the idea to start a roller derby league. They loved skating, and the roller derby flat-track movement was growing across the country.
"The Rollergirls TV show on A&E has inspired a recent resurgence on the flat track," says Obvious. "We use a flat track because buying and building a banked one takes lots of cash and months of labor."