And it doesn’t really fit here, but I’d like to wish the great John Keel, author of “The Mothman Prophecies,” a happy belated 79th birthday.
And, for what it’s worth, I love the name “Demon with a Glass Hand” for a band.
Connect
Something to watch while I’m writing: Demon with a Glass Hand
Posted in Art and Culture Tagged band names, cool name, Demon with a Glass Hand, Doug Skinner, John Keel, Outer Limits 3 Comments
The mystery of the Woman Without a Face
I can’t remember if we’ve discussed it here before, but, for the past several years, German authorities have been hot on the trail of a mysterious serial killer. Called “the woman without a face,” the killer was thought to have murdered dozens of people over a span of 15 years. Here, by way of background, is a recent clip from the UK paper The Guardian:
…And now, Bad Kreuznach finds itself at the centre of one of the most bizarre, high-profile murder mysteries in the country’s history – the search for an apparent serial killer whom police and prosecutors call, simply, ‘The Woman Without a Face’. They have no fingerprints to go on. No witnesses. No description. What they do have is a trail of DNA, now stretching back 15 years and across three countries – as well as a grisly new reason to put a face to her double helix. A case that had for years been gnawingly disturbing, yet still fairly obscure, has leapt on to the front pages of German newspapers. For it appears now that the mystery woman may not only be a killer, but a cop-killer.
In April 2007, Michèle Kiesewetter, a 22-year-old policewoman from an elite drugs squad, was taking a lunch break with a colleague in their BMW patrol car in Heilbronn, nearly 100 miles from Bad Kreuznach. Two people climbed into the back seat and shot the officers from behind, killing the woman and seriously injuring her 25-year-old partner. The assailants struck so quickly their victims had not even drawn their weapons.
As dozens of green-uniformed officers, carrying a smiling portrait of their murdered colleague, paraded at her funeral, the case shocked and moved the country. It also sparked one of the largest criminal investigations in German history – with results that at first puzzled, then stunned, the investigators.
The only clue was microscopic traces of DNA, found on the centre console and the rear passenger seat of the BMW. And when the samples were finally fully secured, tested and compared with Germany’s central crime database nearly three months later, there was an extraordinary match – from two quite different murder scenes stretching back a decade and a half. The ‘Woman Without a Face’ had, it seemed, struck again…
Well, the case broke wide open yesterday as law enforcement officials announced that they had found a woman whose DNA matched perfectly. And it wasn’t someone that you’d expect. It seems as though this brilliant, ghostlike assassin spent her days as a factory worker, making the cotton swabs police used at crime scenes.
Yup, that’s right – the police tracked a phantom killer for a decade, overlooking the possibility that they themselves supplied the DNA, and letting up to 39 killers go free in the process.
Science Fail.
Posted in Other Tagged bad police work, contamination, DNA, Germany, phantom killer, science fail, serial killer, the woman without a face 8 Comments
Sidetrack goes Hollywood
Looks like Hilary Swank and company will be shooting at the Sidetrack on Tuesday and Wednesday. Apparently, in the film, Swank’s character, Betty Anne Waters, puts herself through Law school by working at a bar called Adens Pub. So, for a few days, the Sidetrack will be Adens Pub, and the delightfully assed Ms. Swank will be either waiting tables or tending bar. As a regular at the Sidetrack, I expect to be asked to participate in some capacity, but, so far, there haven’t been any formal offers. (One just hopes that they didn’t take any offense at the whole Pencil Paparazzi thing.)
According to the MRI, the back pain is real
According to the doctor, I have a “left para-central disc protrusion which effaces the left lateral recess and exerts mass-effect upon the left S1 nerve root.”
And that, my invisible friends, is my excuse for not blogging tonight.
Where does Street Art stop and Vandalism begin?
A man and a woman were arrested last night while tagging the vacant Smith Furniture building on Washington Street. Many in the business community are obviously pleased about this. The feeling, however, isn’t unanimous. The following note, sent to the Director of the Ypsilanti Downtown Development Authority today, comes from James Marks, the owner of the screen-printing shop VG Kids:
I suggest we pause for a moment and take a real look at our priorities and vision for downtown.
We talk about being bold, taking risks, being unique, and supporting our alternative culture. And yet here we are applauding the arrest of 2 community members applying those goals in a very real, tangible, and in my opinion, valuable manner.
The two people who were arrested are not thougtless destroyers of property, and it’s important to distinguish their work from those that are. They are artists, and if all our talk of ‘we’re not Maybury’ is true, they’re on our side.
They understand and accept the risks they take to better our city. But as it will ultimately be the stakeholders who will benefit from their investment, it would be wise to show, if not outward appreciation, the occasional blind eye.
It’s a complicated issue. Personally, I detest what I perceive to be vandalism. But, at the same time, I really like the tags I consider to be art. It’s subjective. Ypsi has a vibrant tagging and sticker culture, and, I know I’ll take a lot of shit for saying so, but, for the most part, I appreciate it. I don’t think it belongs on residences, or on the fronts of commercial buildings, but I enjoy most of what I see in alleys, on sidewalks, and on the backs of signs around town.
I think there’s a place of it. I think it’s legitimate art. And, I agree with James, that it, to some extent, is the price you pay for living in a vibrant, young community in which new ideas are constant percolating. And, given the amount of sanctioned advertising that we’re all forced to accept and consume each and every day, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to suggest that we the people be given an opportunity to advertise what it is that we find worth promoting.
Why is the wolf image above vandalism, and the liquor ad on Michigan Avenue OK? Because they pay money, does that make it right?
I don’t know what the answer is, but I don’t think we as a community can just come out and say, across the board, that tagging, stickering and posting flyers is vandalism. I know it’s a slippery slope, but I think we’ve got to find some kind of compromise that we can all live with.
Posted in Art and Culture, Observations, Rants, Ypsilanti Tagged Eltoo, James Marks, slippery slope, Smith furniture building, spray paint, stencils, street art, vandalism, VG Kids 70 Comments
