HOMER’S BEST BETS </MCC HEAD>

Story last updated at 7:30 PM on Wednesday, February 14, 2007

HOMER’S BEST BETS

In New York they’ve got a public safety problem. To escape the roar of the crowds, some people have taken to walking around wired. No, not extremely caffeinated, like we do here in the Specific Northwest — wired as in listening to iPods, chimping away on Blackberries or playing video games. So what? It’s a free country, and if an urbanista retreats into an electronic cocoon while strolling down Broadway, who the heck cares?

Photo by Michael Armstrong, Home
Last stop Skiers sample wine, mead and cheese at the old Reuben Call cabin during the Kachemak Nordic Ski Club Wine and Cheese Tour on Sunday.

Only some of ’em so zone out, they walk into crosswalks and right into the a bus or limo. You can’t have that. People could get hurt or Donald Trump’s Mercedes could get dented. So a New York state senator has introduced a bill banning the use of electronic devices while crossing a street.

And you thought we had problems getting around. Alaskans can yammer away on cell phones, suck down a quad latte, put on makeup, eat a sandwich and solve the morning Sudoku puzzle, all while driving on twisty-turny icy roads on studded tires ground down to nubbins. New Yorkers apparently can’t listen to Beethoven and walk at the same time.

Sheesh. City slickers.

We don’t need to stuff speakers in our ears to drown out the world. In big wild Alaska we don’t need a soundtrack. Here in Homer, the growl of the surf, the screech of eagles or the sigh of a snowfall offers music enough.

Except for our solitary stoplight, there’s not even a crosswalk to pay attention to. OK, while in theory stepping foot into one of those zebra crosswalks is supposed to command traffic to yield, sensible souls make eye contact with drivers. We know to stop, look both directions, pound on the hood of someone a bit too slow to yield and then cross. Don’t New Yorkers know anything?

Well, if they did visit Homer, New Yorkers would know that even this far from the Big Apple, hey, there are cool things to do, like these Best Bets:

BEST BACKROOM BET: Who knows what treasures lurk in the catacombs of the Pratt Museum? You can find out Friday when museum guides conduct a Behind-the-Scenes Tour from 5-7:30 p.m. Join a Community Conversation afterward on what the museum should collect. Bring your own pith helmet.

BEST ROCK LOBSTER BET: Well, the B-52s won’t be there, but everybody will be rockin’ starting at 6 p.m. Friday for a concert at the Best Western Bidarka Inn. A benefit for South Peninsula Haven House, and the first event of Bella Luna, Homer’s finest bands put the pedal to the metal for full-bore rock ’n’ roll.

BEST THE BARD THAT MADE MILWAUKEE FAMOUS: Beer isn’t the only good thing coming out of Milwaukee, Wis. Native son Peter Mulvey learned his music there. He plays at Duggan’s Waterfront Pub starting at 7:30 p.m. Friday.

BEST THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT BET: World over, kids have the same problems: mean parents, fitting in, how to get a horse for Christmas. The Homer International Film Festival for Children starts this weekend with “Winky’s Horse” at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Homer Theatre. Cool films continue; see the schedule on page 18.

BEST BIG WILD BET: One of Anchorage’s best-kept secrets is its amazing youth orchestra scene. Homer High might have a jazz band, but at Dimond High, they have an entire orchestra. Hear how the Big Wild does it at 7:30 p.m. Monday for a concert by the Dimond High School Orchestra at the Mariner Theatre.