IA Energy/Environment/Politics News for Tuesday, June 19


Burlington Hawk Eye Editorial: 'We get what we deserve'
http://www.thehawkeye.com/Story/Delaney_sub_6_16

Council Bluffs Nonpareil: 'An amazing day' - Google building server farm in CB
http://www.zwire.com/site/index.cfm?newsid=18494106&BRD=2703&PAG=461&dept_id=553867&rfi=8

Des Moines Register: Ben Folds/John Mayer concert - ReEnergize IA, below
http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007706190393

Ottumwa Courier: 'Commission to discuss landfill expansion'
http://www.ottumwacourier.com/local/local_story_170222309.html

Ottumwa Courier: 'Council can't agree on sewer bonds'
http://www.ottumwacourier.com/local/local_story_170233835.html

Quad Cities Online: 'Iowa City business cited for oil spill'
http://qconline.com/archives/qco/display.php?id=343077&query=

Quad Cities Online: 'At least 30 dead hogs found in Raccoon River'
http://qconline.com/archives/qco/display.php?id=343081&query=

Quad Cities Online(AP): the 'National' front runner means nothing
http://qconline.com/archives/qco/display.php?id=343136

Waterloo/Cedar Falls Courier: new water treatment plant for Waverly
http://wcfcourier.com/articles/2007/06/19/news/regional/be3946fe0e3cf9a5862572ff00418861.txt

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MSNBC: 'Climate scorecard ranks companies' - Canon, Nike good; Apple bad
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19315109/

MSNBC(First Read): 'Undecided' #1 among likely IA Dem caucus-goers
http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/06/19/230049.aspx

NY Times: 'Bloomberg severs GOP ties' - there go the independents...
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/20/us/politics/20mayor.html

NY Times: 'Iran won't rule out using oil as a weapon'
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-iran-energy-weapon.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Washington Post: 'Bloomberg leaves GOP' - ditto
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/19/AR2007061901769.html?nav=hcmodule

Washington Post: 'Senate debates $32.1 B in energy incentives'
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/19/AR2007061901618.html

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Mayer gives powerful but predictable show
By MIKE WELLMAN
SPECIAL TO THE REGISTER

June 19, 2007
	  5 Comments


The combination for Monday night's Ben Folds-John Mayer show in front of about 8,000 people at Wells Fargo Arena really was an "Odd Couple" sort of arrangement.

Folds is known for spontaneity and audience involvement, a reputation he reinforced when he climbed atop his piano and turned the audience into a choir with him as the director.

Mayer's set lists become predictable once a tour is off and running.

Folds reinforced his role with a song he wrote especially for the concert about ReEnergizeIA, the Iowa contingent of the Sierra Student Coalitions ReEnergizeUS campaign this summer. A campaign supporter had given Folds a brochure about it, duly impressing him.

By the end of his set, Folds was standing barefoot at the piano, banging away, then wielding his synthesizer like an accordion.

He comes off like an earthy Everyman next to Mayer's concerned Pop Star.

Folds has also recorded odes to his twin children, which seem more credible soundtracks for parenthood than the childless Mayer's smash hit "Daughters."

Mayer's portion of the show consisted mainly of generous helpings from his most recent CD, "Continuum," which is more substantial and gently rockish than his first two albums.

The truth about the multi-talented Mayer at this stage of his career seems to be that he is trying to break away from the pop constraints his previous successes have brought him.

He opened with "Belief." With his intensity on the guitar, Mayer immediately set about transforming the crowd and the mood from the laughter and smiles of Folds' set into sustained roars and dropped jaws.

Mayer may actually prefer that his fingers do the singing, but he'll never get away with that now. Three songs in, "Gravity" drew the crowd closer, and Folds' amusing antics already seemed long ago.

"Waiting on the World to Change" struck an interesting generational contrast between Mayer's and an earlier one that refused to wait and took it upon itself to force change.

Mayer's turn on "I Don't Need No Doctor" was a mesmerizing, rambling feast of strings, horns and percussion. The lyrics were only a brief introduction to what he really had to say, which apparently was that he's all right and then some.

Andrew Snow
Regional Representative
Sierra Club

603.361.0218
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