Paducah vs. Cape

I'm sure you noticed it.

In Wednesday's print edition, a huge ad in the news section promoting David Crosby and Graham Nash at the Show Me Center. Oops, that wasn't the Show Me Center, it was the Carson Center in Paducah, Ky.

The show's not until October, but already the venue is putting out some big cash to promote the event, with mus-icians of the type people in Cape Girardeau have begged the Show Me Center to get.

So how is it Paducah gets Crosby and Nash (don't know what Stills is doing, but Young's on his own trip), but Cape Girardeau doesn't? Is it fair to compare the two cities and their cultural offerings?

Those are questions for which I have no answer. But there are tests coming that will determine pretty decisively whether Cape Girardeau can support talent of this caliber. In the past it hasn't happened. Where were the crowds for Bob Dylan or Willie Nelson? Well, they were there, but they weren't very big, certainly not enough to entice either artist to make a return visit.

But this summer we have a big rock band planning to visit our city -- Tool -- and outlaw country legend Merle Haggard might be coming in the same month. Right now the Show Me Center won't confirm the Haggard concert, as the whole deal isn't finalized, but local country station C106 FM has already announced the show over its airwaves. By the time you read this column, the Show Me Center might have announced it, too.

We've been over the argument already, so I don't want to make it too tired -- people have to show up for these shows if we want to see more, blah, blah, blah. What intrigues me more is the difference between Paducah, where the Carson Center seems to get people like Crosby and Nash, and the Show Me Center rarely does.

Of course, the Carson Center is more akin to the Bedell Performance Hall that will be part of the River Campus, except that the Carson Center seats twice as many people. How was such a thing built in Paducah, which has a smaller population than Cape Girardeau? The effort was a collaboration between 13 western Kentucky counties who wanted the center as an economic boost. I can't speak to the economic boost, but I can say 13 counties haven't come together in Southeast Missouri for such a thing.

A lot of comparisons are made between Paducah and Cape Girardeau by local people interested in either high art or pop culture entertainment, and their assertion is always the same -- Paducah is so much better than Cape Girardeau.

I've never spent a lot of time in Paducah exploring its art and culture -- just a few hours, really. I can tell you, upon first impression, Paducah is far ahead of Cape Girardeau in using art and culture as a part of its economy. As the discussion of the Carson Center illustrates, the River Campus may be a big part of changing things soon, but we're talking about the now.

Right now, you can take a walk in downtown Paducah and downtown Cape Girardeau and see the difference -- there's just a more welcoming, artsy feel to Paducah's riverfront downtown, a place where you can see concerts at the Carson Center or a display of National Geographic photography at the Yeiser Art Center.

A few blocks away you can find Lowertown, full of artists with studios and shops. The feeling is one of an artist colony, which is exactly what Paducah is trying to shape Lowertown into.

In Cape Girardeau there are great things happening in music and art, but right now they seem a little more underground. The artists aren't concentrated, nor can they make a living off having a studio alone. There's a large population of local musicians, but they perform behind doors in bars. I have no idea what Paducah's live music scene is like, but I've not heard much about it.

I'm not sure how fair the comparison is. As I've said, I haven't spent much time in Paducah, so all I know is the little slice I was shown by the city's Convention and Visitors Bureau, which, to tell the truth, is responsible for spreading only positive propaganda (that term is not being used in a negative way here) about what the city has to offer.

What I do know is that such comparisons force us to re-examine what's happening in our own city. Are there things about Cape Girardeau's arts climate that could improve? Yes, and comparing ourselves to a place we think is better can show us our own deficiency. Without identifying the shortfalls, how can you work to make them non-shortfalls?

We don't have to beat ourselves up, but everybody wants life in Cape Girardeau to improve. Sugarcoating things isn't the way to go about that.

msanders@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182