Hypes and Gripes

Name-brand personal items, April Fool's bloggin', smoke-free Murphy's and more.

• Hypes to Fedora Social House for offering women an unheard-of perk: A container of complimentary, name-brand (and that’s key) tampons in the ladies’ room. What a brilliant touch. Women were raving about it after the opening weekend. Downstairs is definitely a boys’ club, but Fedora may have just won the heart of every club-going lady in Springfield, too.

• Gripes, though an amused Gripes, to Jason Wert. The winner of blog of the year for his Life of Jason recently sent people into an April Fool’s Day tizzy when he jokingly announced he’d run for mayor. The thing is, Jason blogs a lot of serious stuff, and that joke on the heels of three posts about the dire state of the city’s budget made people fall hook, line and sinker. We should have seen through the ruse, but we think Jason now understands the potential power of the electronic media.

• Hypes to Nathan P. Murphy’s and owner Bob Martin for winning an award from Breathe Easy Springfield. The music club/bar went smoke-free last summer and hasn’t lost a beat. We’re not bullish on a citywide smoking ban, but we applaud any business owner who makes an individual decision to clear the air.

• Hypes to the Gillioz Theatre and FM Productions for a packed-house, first-rate experience at the Brian Regan comedy show March 30. Big-time events at the Gillioz are truly grand experiences… we need more of them.

• Gripes to Missouri State University’s Student Activity Council for giving our art director and marketing department the run-around regarding artist photos and GO Team publicity at the recent Ben Folds concert. The show was a great thing, but when you make it hard for the media to cover it, you’re just making life harder for yourself.