Woody Guthrie Legacy: An Electrifying Music Video

--Back in the ‘30s, the Bonneville Power Administration in Washington state hired folk singer Woody Guthrie to write songs about the agency, and such classics as “Roll On, Columbia, Roll On” and “Grand Coulee Dam” were born. Now, the Snohomish County Public Utility District figures that what’s good for the goose is good for the gander. It is producing a music video in an effort to persuade the BPA to lower its proposed electric rate increase. “The Bills of the BPA” is a twanging folk tune written by Bob Flick, a member of the Brothers Four, a Seattle folk group prominent in the mid-’60s. More than 50 of the district’s commissioners, employees and rate payers joined voices to denounce the federal agency’s proposed 9.5% increase. Utility district officials said the song and video will cost $10,000 to produce, but they contend that the increase would cost about $10 million.

--James Stephen George Boggs calls it art. Scotland Yard calls it counterfeiting. The 32-year-old American artist said he has paid for airplane tickets, hotels, food and drinks worldwide with currency he has sketched himself. “I tell them I’m an artist, show them the drawing and ask them if they’ll honor it at face value,” he said. “If not, I’ll pay in cash with real money.” He draws the money only on one side of paper, signs the bills “JSG Boggs,” and adds the title “art treasurer” by his signature. Instead of describing his bills as legal tender, he writes: “If this is not real then what is it? Art.” Boggs said the bills haven’t caused any trouble except in England, where he faces trial on charges of counterfeiting. “This has nothing to do with counterfeiting,” he insisted. “It’s a matter of censorship.”

--An Anderson, Calif., family has been grappling with a familiar problem: what to do about an uninvited guest. In this case, the visitor is a 100-pound, adolescent male black bear that has taken to frolicking in Rich and Sheryl Garnero’s pool, lounging on a pool-side love seat and peeking through their windows. He has paid the Garneros four visits in the last two weeks, staying for about 45 minutes each time. State Fish and Game officials have issued a kill permit to Garnero in case the bear attacks. But wildlife biologists say the permit is a last resort and that the family should be able to scare it away with loud noises. “It doesn’t bother me as long as he doesn’t bother the neighbors,” Rich Garnero said.