Quickies: VastLane back up; GF artists feeling suppressed?

The City Beat played hooky Friday and went tubing with some hot-looking TV news women -- this must be why I got into journalism -- so the blog has been sparse. So here's some quickies to make up for it.

* I've been wondering what the heck happened to VastLane, one of Grand Forks' first discussion group. They're back up now and they gave a plug to the entire local blogosphere.

There's a funny quote too (emphases mine):

I believe there are some Fargo sites out there, but they represent the Johnny-come-lately in this little foray of the digital status quo. Interestingly, a diverse range of ideologies seem to exist within the GF blogs, but they all seem to rally together against their shared geographical foe.

* Thanks to VastLane, I found out about the CulturePulse blog. The latest post is by Benjamin Klipfel, who asks the question: Why is the city trying to suppress the artistic community?

I didn't know you have to have a transient merchant license to play music and accept tips. On the other hand, if you stand in the road with a cardboard sign asking for money, you're left alone.

The main CulturePulse Web site, by the way, is a community events calendar.

* I checked out the National League of Cities Web site the other day, Grand Forks being a member and all. The league has a neat Cities 101 reference section with all kinds of information about how other cities around the country conduct their business. Good compare and contrast possibilities.

Update 12:25 p.m., 7/17/06: What a curious lapse in etiquette. I forgot to give GrandForksGuy credit for pointing out that VastLane's back up.