Simply put, the Bakersfield Californian should fire Danielle Belton - By N.L. Belardes

I have been fighting for what's fair for the music community for some time. The KooKooNauts attack, The Jerry's Pizza Controversy, and so on... I silently fight for the music community each and every time I cover a show. And now, I fight for literary arts and what is right for me and other local authors, as well as including local music, theatre and art and events that she ignores. Yes, I can't go to a lot of shows. But I make more of an effort, without pay.

How about this for a statistic. Do you know, with all the shows I have covered in the music and art scene, only one time did I see entertainment writer Danielle Belton in an audience? Why is it I feel I can randomly pick any show on any given night and she not be there to see great local acts, theatre and events such as: Lostocean, American Standard, The Filthies, plays like The Hobbit, The Hurricane Relief Show, The War Days, Calico Sunset, The Dalloways, From Ritual to Romance, Exithead, Vanity Avenue, Mento Buru, Jimmy Holliday and Sioux City Sarsaparilla, Fatt Katt and the Vonzippers, Dusk Devils, Gramercy Riff, The Hips, Saboteur, Give Impulse, Throatshot, Relapse Trigger, Myndsick at the Condors Arena, the Filthies at the Condors Arena, Karmahitlist, LIKHYD2, Mordor, My Dysfunctional Me, Norfolk, Nunez, Blue Ruin, Black Jerks, Rocky Nash, The Binges, Liars and Thieves, Broken Record Gospel, Seven to the Right, Three Chord Whore, Pangolese, This Plain Morning, RidiKule, Whiskey Galore, Soul Damage (Sick Trigger), Another Year, Sunday nights at Rileys, big Montgomery World Plaza nights, Boiler Room nights, The Gate nights, and so on... As I stated. I might not be there too, but at least there's a chance of running into me.

I saw her at Rocky Horror. That was it.

Danielle Belton doesn't listen to what I have been writing about or she would have been out in the scene reporting about Nate Berg's alleged intimidation and not just celebrating that Bakersfield has a dirty basement where rock and roll is performed.

She would have cared about the impact of the Wing Wah's fire on a night in the music scene.

She would have written about the downtown music scene and how it was affected by the death of Daniel Sepeda.

It's official, Danielle Belton is full of hooey. Why? There's more...

Now I fight for me... who else will if I don't? People told me not to write about Jerry's. I did. And I was thanked for it. People told me not to write about downtown murder. I did. And I was thanked for it. People are telling me to leave the Californian alone. Hell no. I thank myself in advance if no one else will.

Read on about the Tehachapi history book, Three Valleys of the Tehachapi: Bear, Brite, and Cummings in today's Bakersfield Californian, "Local author puts together photographic history of valleys west of Tehachapi, hoping book sales will spur more interest in preservation of old schoolhouse."

Tehachapi's School House Restoration Task Force came up with a plan. Raise money, send money to publishing company, have book published. Not so different from Noveltown as a company publishing a book with funds kicked in from several sources. Correct, funds for Noveltown were raised from at least four different sources. Only, Noveltown is actually a company ready to serve the Southern San Joaquin Valley. The Tehachapi folks kicked in money to a company that does not fully serve the Southern San Joaquin Valley.

Read on a bit from the November 12th Erin Waldner article:

The estimated cost is $10,000 to renovate the schoolhouse, according to John Morgan, who's involved in the School House Restoration Task Force, which formed about a year and a half ago. The task force operates under the auspices of the Bear Valley Springs Cultural Arts Association, and consists of about seven people.

The group had raised about $4,000 when it decided to put that money toward publishing a book about the area's history, the idea being that a book might stimulate interest in renovating the schoolhouse. Morgan said most of the money went to the publisher, Arcadia Publishing in South Carolina, to publish the book.

So, what makes the Tehachapi book newsworthy are its aspects of raising funds for a historic project of interest to the Tehachapi community.

Apparently raising social consciousness and literary consciousness in Bakersfield with Lords: Part One is not newsworthy to the Californian's entertainment writer. But that's beside the point.

Clearly, Danielle Belton is eating crow in regards to her words to me, as she is either, 1) misinformed as to the rules of the Bakersfield Californian regarding writing articles about books published by companies where the contributors kick in funds (Is she not aware of the Centennial Bakersfield book as well? She passes by it every day in the Californian's lobby. Please tell me she is not that dumb.) 2) she is lying 3) she just doesn't support the literary arts (art being the key word, which makes her appear two-faced to the arts community). (read why I refused an interview about hockey songs)

I actually don't fully understand why a task force would spend their $4,000 raised for historical redevelopment on a book instead, when they were nearly half-way to their $10,000 financial goal. Why not just seek press and keep raising funds? And the Californian supports this? Still, that might not be a bad move depending on how much interest they garner...

Either way, yes, the entertainment writer is full of hooey for informing me the Californian does not discuss what 'she' considers self-published works. The Tehachapi history book article is clear-cut evidence that she is incapable of fully serving the literary arts community.

I have already proven that someone who doesn't even get paid with a full-time job and kids to raise can do a better job in the richly deserving art scene of Bakersfield, California.

Do us all a favor, Californian. Fire Danielle Belton.

This entry was posted by N.L. Belardes, on Saturday, November 12, 2005. You can leave your response.