Gun Club – Our favorite place for live Blues music

I’ve stated elsewhere that high on the list of things I enjoy about older neighborhoods is that you can walk to places. It was a surprise and bonus that upon moving here we discovered that we could walk to what’s become our favorite venue for live music. And on top of that it’s live BLUES music.

If you’ve not been to the Gun Club on Thursday nights you’re missing out. They’ve got music other nights as well and it’s wonderful and the energy is great. Thursday nights for the Blues though…. that’s where it’s at for us. Glenn Davis heads this up and Matt Goodwin is typically right there with him. Now the two together are worth the trip but on a regular basis there are others sitting in and the spontaneous creativity of different mixes of personality and talent are what makes the magic IMO. Anyway this is the only pic I could find. I’ve never seen the GC like this though. It’s always dark out and full of friends when we’re there.

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The Buzz in Beloit

Just happened to see this on YouTube. I -think- this was produced by the folks over at Visit Beloit. I see it’s had a lot of views since posted roughly this time last year so it may be old news to some.

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Beloit Pics

Some of you may recognize some of Mark’s (OldOnliner’s) masterful photography work on this site. I really appreciate his pics of and around Beloit. I wish I could see things through his eyes. His sharing what he sees though I guess is the next best thing. Anyway, evidently he just posted this slide show and thought I’d just pass it along.

Wanted: Before/After pics & stories

Don’t know about you but I love before/after pics of old house projects. When we moved into our own old house among the first things we did was archive the current state. Additionally I try to remember to take a ‘before’ pic before we take on new projects. Sometimes I forget, jump in and it’s too late by the time I remember. All the same, when we do though it really reinforces the sense of accomplishment so helpful when the over all feeling is that there’s still so much to do and it’s taking forever.

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Beloit WI Historic Districts

College Park (Near East Side) Historic District

Click here for the higher resolution PDF doc.

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Beloit Janesville Symphony of Homes

$20. Proceeds benefit the Beloit Janesville Symphony.

Enjoy the Spirit of the season. All homes feature beautiful holiday decor and live music!

More Pics & Details:

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Pumpkins In The Park 08′

A fundraiser for the Horace White Park. In it’s second year and sponsored by the neighbors on Church Street and friends.

After cleaning out over a hundred pumpkins they were stenciled, carved and put on display in Horace White Park for sale. These neighbors are actively involved in supporting the ongoing improvements to the oldest city park in Beloit. Proceeds will go to the purchase of either a park bench or a tree.

Next year we would invite you to join us. Have to tell you it was a great time. The level of creativity on many of the pumpkins was amazing. Plans for next year’s event are already being discussed. I’d lobby for having it judged. I think the pumpkins were that cool.

Volunteers carving the pumpkins

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Later that evening…

Questions? Ask the Beloit NPA folks.

Monday evening someone was talking about their difficulty in finding a solution for or someone who could repair or tuck-point her brick home given that she has ‘weeping brick’ mortar joints. She wants to maintain the weeping mortar aspect.

Another service this member contributed website/blog can provide is for the posting of such questions to the rest of us. It’s likely, given the wealth of talent assembled that someone either knows or knows-who-knows what you may need. And if registered they could reply directly here on the website for both the question originator as well as for the general enlightenment of the rest of us.

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A rose by any other name…

Among the first orders of business… What the heck are we to call ourselves?

While I appreciate the work the earlier iteration of NESNA had done I’m inclined to think the name a bit more exclusionary then inclusionary (not sure if that’s a real word). While at least for me, I’d like to focus on the needs of the owner occupied old house home owners living within the registered College Park Historic District I’d also like to include other owner occupied old house home owners living in the surrounding neighborhood. Inevitably that then begs the question… well then out to what street or ‘neighborhood’. That’s where it gets tougher. I simply don’t have an answer for that and do not want to exclude anyone who might benefit from association. Seems everyone has differences of opinion on this. In fact, I would welcome the participation of owner occupied old house home owners from the registered Bluff Street historic district. What you say? Seems some would think that going just too far! I’m inclined to think it nieve to not welcome the owners of the rental properties to join us. I think we need that perspective too.

Wait wait… dogs sleeping with cats?

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NESNA S.W.A.T.

It came up last night, the concept of members coordinating and showing up to help someone out in the neighborhood who evidently needs a hand. The example offered was that of perhaps an older individual or someone in need who’s unable to keep up. It’s a case of hardship or inability, not apathy or stubbornness. Who would grouse about a home’s condition when it’s known the home owner is in a tough spot. Rather then complain perhaps we could offer to do something positive for someone and the neighborhood.

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