Thanks for the experience, Mike McMillan

Today I hope to get out to the people a press release about Poetry Scores' 2008 Experiential Auction, which will be held from 5-8 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 21 at Atomic Cowboy, 4140 Manchester Ave. in St. Louis.

This morning I just confirmed a good experience we can auction: Former Comptroller Virvus Jones takes you on a tour of St. Louis City Hall and tells you old war stories from the Schoemehl administration over a cup of coffee. I caught Virvus at a good time - he is high as a helium balloon over Obama's speech last night. Those old heads in black politics are all sort of levitating today, I know.

And I dug up this photo, submitted by Jamilah Jones, who won the bid last year for the tour of City Hall, which was donated by Mike McMillan. Mike was a highly popular alderman, and now he is a highly cautious license collector. He told Jo Mannies of the Post the other day that he isn't going to run for mayor in 2009, after Mike was busted in Denver doing a one-on-one with Mayor Francis G. Slay.

Okay, Mike. You can wait to run for mayor, but will the mayor's office wait for you? But ... I can say, "Thanks for the experience"- the experience you donated to our auction. Jamilah Jones said she had a wonderful time on the tour of City Hall. We spent her winning bid and the rest of our proceeds from last year's auction producing our poetry score to Go South for Animal Index.

Check back later for the final press release, and mark your calendars now. Admission to the auction is $10, which will be discounted from your first winning bid. All proceeds from the auction will go to Poetry Scores, a St. Louis-based arts organization that translates poetry into other media.

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Photo is of Mike McMillan and Jamilah Jones during their tour of City Hall, from the 2007 Experiential Auction