RTP-area local music and culture

["Todd Morman" <tmorman AT nc.rr.com>]

Thought it worth mentioning that Russ Stephenson, former bass player for UV
Prom, has just been elected to the Raleigh City Council. I dealt with him
briefly in my past life as a journalist and he seemed like a genuinely nice
guy - someone who just might turn into a fairly sharp left-leaning local
pol.

If he can keep his more kneejerk 'pro-neighborhood' supporters in check,
that is. You remember *them*; they were among the strongest voices a couple
of years ago calling for strict limitations on the number of unrelated
slackers who should be allowed to live together in Raleigh's apparently
'family-only' downtown neighborhoods. Geary at the Indy pooh-poohed the
resulting protest, in which a couple of hundred of us jammed the council
chambers to shoot the idea down, but it's obvious there are still
'neighborhood' advocates who'd like to see the limits happen, and a lot of
us whose antennae still become alert at (cough) 'pro-neighborhood' talk.

todd congratulations but with eyes and ears open morman