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Concert in the Gardens, 2009.

I can't say that I have heard any of the bands playing this season at Concert in the Gardens, but it is an enjoyable venue to listen to music and to spend an evening. Those of you more accustomed to the chorale and classical music at "Concert" may be disappointed. The performers are a little different this season. It still looks good to me.

The location is the Botanic Garden and the shows begin at 8 p.m.

For detailed information on tickets go to:

http://www.fwsymphony.org/concerts/citg-tickets.asp

The Concert Schedule

Friday: Mingo Fishtrap
Saturday: Larry Gatlin and the Gatlin Brothers
Sunday: The Crawfish
June 12-13: Super Awesome Laser Adventure
June 14: Riders in the Sky
June 19: Cherryholmes
June 20: Jailhouse Rock: A Tribute to Elvis with Kraig Parker
June 21: Best of the Big Bands: Music of Glenn Miller and Friends
June 26: N’Awlins Gumbo Kings
June 27: Take It to the Limit: The Music of the Eagles
June 28: Stairway to Heaven: The Music of Led Zeppelin
July 2-4: Old-Fashioned Family Fireworks Picnic
July 5:1812 Overture

Tempus Fugit and the American Automobile.

1950 Pontiac

Things change.

We are watching the official demise of the Detroit-based auto industry. It has been about 100 years that automobiles and Detroit went together. No mas. There are causes for the failure, and like all failure, there will be a search for whose failures came first.

It is particularly troubling for those of us old enough to recall the golden years of the American auto, the cars of the 60's: GTO, Mustang, Corvette, the pick-up truck itself. Even if today's cars are more reliable and easier to use, they don't have the allure of those old ones.

Which is why many of us been in denial this last year. I hoped that someone, a modern day Lee Iococca, could save this dying beast, this whale washed ashore, gasping for air. But he can not. They will not. The present costs are too high: the pensions, wages, insurance and salaries are above the competitive scale. In economic terms, the market just won't bear it.

Cars will still be needed, they will be purchased, someone will be making them, and they will be made here as well as overseas. The jobs will be moved around, the wages and benefits will match the demand for the skill, and something good could come out of all of this. That is a difficult change. That is the sad reality for the thousands of workers in Detroit, and the auto dealers nationwide.

But this change carries a greater, more symbolic meaning and it is this: the auto industry is a symbol of the country. Its weakness reveals our weakness. An American currency default is as possible as a GM default, and in some ways is already occurring, and a nation with a weak currency and burdened with debt is a nation that will become a slave to the lender it needs.

Things do change -- but the laws, and consequences, of economics are as fixed as the laws of gravity. No matter who is President.