Buttermilk & Molasses

WORDS AND EXPRESSIONS

Link: James River Writers

Keep up with events for and by writers in the Richmond area with the James River Writers' calendar.

MAKE THE GRASS GREENER

Link: Farmer's Market Survey

If you're living in Richmond and want to see the 17th Street Farmer's Market turn up its charm, take 15 minutes and complete this Southeastern Institute of Research survey.

SCRAMBLED

Link: eggs

If you spent any time yawning in a smoky nightclub in Richmond during the 1990s, you might have been at an Eggs show at Twisters. The kids in Eggs were part of a cluster of smart musicians who seemed to spend a lot of time perfecting their craft and gazing at their shoes -- making good pop music for some periphery of the masses. Eggs have reunited for the big Teenbeat anniversary show next weekend.

GET THE LIST

Link: craigslist: richmond

We're right up there with Omaha now. Richmond has its own Craig's List -- the Internet's trendy classified section.

I WANNA BOOM, BOOM, BOOM

Link: Style Weekly

Ripped from the headlines:

Natural causes, pop-bottle bombs, punishments, investigations, apologies and mysteries. In the case of the messiness of the North Side booms, sometimes it’s good to put on a T-shirt and tell the world to bring it on! You need the right T-shirt, though. Jim Johns is happy to offer one to you for $19.99 or less, plus shipping and handling. The message he’s selling, emblazoned in red and black, declares: “I am not afraid of the Richmond unaboomer.”

Is he? Of course not. Then again, he lives in Manakin. Far enough away that pictures won’t fall off his walls, but close enough to make a sales pitch. “People can be a part of yet another mysterious turn in Richmond’s history,” Johns says.

After the noise erupted late last year, Johns decided he could approach the commotion from a lighter side. He came up with a slogan — one at least good enough for a T-shirt, if not a bumper sticker. Shortly before Christmas, he made a few shirts and shopped them around. Alas, the stores didn’t bite. He heard all kinds of excuses: The timing wasn’t right, they were doing other things, or they were squeamish about selling them. So he took his wares online.

He found www.cafepress.com, a site that takes graphic designs from entrepreneurs and creates merchandise — with “just-in-time manufacturing,” Johns says. That means the T-shirt’s not made until a customer places an order.

His online store opened last week: www.cafepress.com/jimjohns.

Johns, 33, works in internal communications for Luck Stone Corp. He received a degree in mass communications from Virginia Commonwealth University and was part of the team that put out the local comedy mag Caffeine in the mid-1990s. So perhaps he’s suited to find fun in the strangeness of the city — and capitalize on it.

We’ll see if anyone joins in. As of Feb. 4, it was too early to tell how orders were going. “I haven’t even gone back to check,” he said. — Jason Roop

RICHMOND'S UNABOOMER

Link: Jim Johns | CafePress

Last fall, Richmond's Northside was rocked by a series of tremors and booms that shook walls, startled sleeping babies and toppled water heaters in the basements of the elderly.

All eyes were on the lookout for Richmond's mysterious Unaboomer. What sort of nefarious criminal mastermind was seeking to bring our homes crashing down around us?

Within weeks, police announced the arrest of some young hoodlums, who they said were blowing up bottles of household chemicals in the sewers. Pfah, we said. There is no way a bottle of Ajax with aluminum foil could shake houses in a two-mile radius.

We were right. It turns out we were suffering from a series of microseisms -- small earthquakes. Or so they say.

Richmond wordsmith Jim Johns still believes in the Unaboomer. And his baby doll t-shirts will rock your world.

VIRGINIA SENATE GOES BONKERS

Link: Richmond Times-Dispatch

There are a few significant things that have shaped Virginia's culture in disappointing ways. Take the Civil War, as an example -- a tragic event that ripped a nation asunder, killed hundreds of thousands. No one can deny that it was a devastating event in American history. Unless you're from Virginia, in which case it was only devastating to you and your kinfolk. Whatever.

Tobacco is another mythological beast for Virginia -- for years Philip Morris USA has feathered its nest in Richmond, most recently moving their entire New York City staff to this semi-backwater. Tobacco is king. Tobacco has clout. Tobacco litters our streets, our air, our lungs, and no one complains. And Philip Morris lines the pockets of the arts community, the schools, the politicians. Virginia has been good to Mother Tobacco, and Mother Tobacco has been good to Virginia.

Could there be a change in the wind? The Richmond Times-Dispatch (motto: You need to wrap stuff) reports today that a Virginia Senate subcommittee managed to move a bill to the full Senate that would prohibit smoking in most public spaces in the state. I know that sounds odd to folks in California and New York, but walking into a smokefree bar in Virginia would be freaky. And really pleasant.

The legislation, sponsored by Sen. Bill Mims, R-Loudoun, was approved by the Senate Education and Health Committee on an 8-7 vote, reversing an earlier Senate subcommittee vote that narrowly rejected the bill.

Mims predicted the bill would face another close vote in the full Senate. "You can tell this one is going to be difficult every step of the way," he told reporters after the committee vote.

The legislation would prohibit smoking in most indoor public places, including offices, restaurants, and common areas of apartments and condominiums, with few exceptions. Hotels could permit smoking in some rooms, as long they do not exceed 25 percent of the total rooms. Smoking would be permitted in "private, separately enclosed areas" in bars and offices, but proprietors would be required to post "Warning: Smoking Permitted" signs in those areas.

OREGON HILL

Link: Mark Holmberg

Since the early days of Richmond, the Oregon Hill community has had a reputation for its hard-scrapple, rough-and-tumble attitude. When my mom volunteered with the neighborhood's youth center in the 1950s, the kids tied her up to the tether-ball pole. When my friends rented ramshackle houses in the neighborhood during our college years, there were certain streets we avoided -- the children of the kids from the 1950s were as likely to hurl a beer bottle at you as not.

One Saturday morning, my friends Leigh and Ben were having a yard sale. We stood in the front yard and watched as a young boy and his little sister duked it out. Their parents sat on the front stoop, early morning 40-ounce bottles of malt liquor in hand, cheering the boy on. Oregon Hill has been Richmond's white, working class, urban neighborhood for generations -- a little slice of Appalachia in the heart of the city.

Location and time have taken their toll on the neighborhood, as Mark Holmberg details in a recent column in the Times-Dispatch. One sign of gentrification can be found inside of the old Chuck Wagon Bar -- once the most likely place to be stabbed in Richmond by someone you know. It now goes by the moniker of The Hollywood Grill.

"We're trying to get rid of the Chuck Wagon image -- the old rough and rowdy," [owner Brock] Burns said. "These people living here now aren't interested in coming to a place where they're you know -- not safe."

"We're not allowed no more," said Scott Smith, an Oregon Hill denizen who is among those who camp on the James River for the whole summer, when parties at "Dead Rock" last forever. "For some reason, Brock said no more River People."

That's correct, Burns said. "You don't want to walk into a restaurant and pay $20 for a steak and sit next to him."

Smith, 45, said when he heard that he and his friends were going to be barred from the new place, "we decided to stage a fight so we'd get thrown out."

River People have their pride, too. "You've got a fancy bar, so what?" Smith scoffed.

Burns said those among the old crew who can play well with others are welcome in the Hollywood.

But most of the old crew have already left the neighborhood, or the surface of the Earth.

"Ain't many Oregon Hill people left -- just a few of us," said 70-year-old Melvin "Pupie" (pronounced poopy) Glenn, who spent his working life crawling through, and inspecting, Richmond's sewers. "Ain't nothin' like it used to be."

He said all the new condos and renovations have doubled his property taxes in recent years. The house next door, which used to rent for $300, he said, now rents for $1,200 and is filled with college students.

Pupie spent many a year in the Chuck Wagon. "Seven days a week," he said. "Budweisers. About 12 a night."

Pupie has been in the new place only once.

"I had a heart attack last winter," he said, puffing on a cigarette inside his Laurel Street kitchen. "I had to quit drinking."

He pointed to an array of prescription vials on his kitchen table. "There's all my medicine right there."

He's looking a little worn, like a pile of leaves raked into the shape of a human being. He's feeling pretty depressed, too, he said, which is why he rarely leaves the house. He just sits around the kitchen table, smoking cut-rate cigarettes and watching bad TV.

Pupie ran down a list of Oregon Hill guys who died, moved out or have cancer.

"Everything is gone," Pupie said. "I don't have anything for me anymore -- don't care about living."

 

EVERYBODY LIKE KUNG-FU FIGHTING

Link: Chop Suey Books

The hepsters at Chop Suey Books finally have their website up. It's one of Richmond's tastiest bookstores, and is a veritable powerplant of culture.

BACKGROUND FOR WORK

Link: The Bopst Show WCLM 1450 AM

You really should be listening to Chris Bopst's radio show after lunch at work, either on your AM dial for those who have them or streaming directly over the Internet. Bopst's musical taste is to radio listeners what a tapas bar is to fans of tasty, little treats.

BACK IN THE BOTTOM AGAIN

Link: Cafe Gutenberg

At least one of the handful of destinations in Richmond's Shockoe Bottom has rebounded from the wave of water that was Hurricane Gaston. Cafe Gutenberg reopened weeks ago, but its renovated downstairs is now fully back-in-business with a slew of February events in place. Wine tastings, showings of the BBC show The Office, a Sunday film classics night and more are on tap.

We've been by a few times the past few weeks -- once for a late lunch and once for breakfast -- and are more impressed than we were before the flood. Points for quality, service, decor, mood and just for being a relaxing spot to hang out during a snowstorm.

JUST FOR GIGGLES

Link: Richmond.com

Let me say, for the record, I've always liked, admired and been jealous of Kathryn Harvey, even when she first set up shop in the creaky second-floor of a Grace Street walk-up. After not finding a single item of punk-thrift clothing in Exile that matched my awkwardly unhip collegiate mood of gloom and cynicism, I would often wander upstairs to World of Mirth where I would fail to find any second-hand home furnishings that would work in my spartan apartment. Several times, I went home with mexican prayer candles -- usually ones focused on acquiring wealth or women.

So, it's nice to see Kathryn get her due in Work Magazine this month. One of the best things about the hipper, more upscale version of the original World of Mirth concept is that it matches my hipper, more upscale lifestyle -- and I still never find anything I really want. Except for the jet-black, baby onesy that reads, "Can't sleep. The clowns will get me." I could buy a hundred of those.

THANKS FOR THE REMINDER

Link: Jimmy Page's Sweater Vest

Andrew Beaujon reminds me off the glory days when musicians in Richmond actually believed that they were <b><i>about to break!</b></i> Oh, yes -- The Dads, Ten Ten, Honor Role, Sliang Laos and more. They all danced to the edge of success with varying degrees of talent and sass, and then wandered home without a trophy.

I FEEL THE EARTH MOVE UNDER MY FEET

Link: Times-Dispatch | New Booms

The earth is shaking again in Richmond. A week after the city police announced they'd arrested a local kid for blowing up Tide bottles with Draino and aluminum foil, two more explosions shook a large swath of North Richmond. They jolted us awake at 5:25 in the morning, sending the cats scurrying for cover and rattling the windows.

DEATH, BE NOT PROUD

Link: Richmond.com - Feature Story: "Hollywood Days"

Like a blue moon, you've got to be paying attention to catch Richmond's PBS affiliate producing an actual feature. Which is one reason why the documentary "Hollywood: Richmond's Garden Cemetery" is worth watching. Another reason, for anyone who passed through Richmond at any point during adolescence, is that Hollywood Cemetery is the romantic home of art students and young lovers.

More importantly, Hollywood is one of the most beautiful, old cemeteries around. It boasts a few dead presidents, a great view, and finds its origins in the nation's "rural cemetery" movement. And who knew there was ever such a movement? Not me.

UNABOOMER

Link: Richmond.com - Feature Story: "Booming Arrests"

I was sound asleep when the first earth-shattering booms hit North Richmond, but when a subsequent round of explosions shook the house more than a week ago I was more than awake. Nikole and I were so intrigued by the mysterious explosions -- they varied in intensity and left the media and Richmond officials mystified -- that we joined hundreds of our neighbors at a community meeting where we heard official after official announce that they knew nothing. Nothing.

It struck me as a bit odd several days later when it was announced that the booms -- Did I mention they were earth-shaking? As in our house actually lost its moorings momentarily. -- were caused by some teenagers with plastic soda bottles and common household chemicals.

SLAP, SLAP, SLAP YOU AROUND

Link: Richmond.com

It's not even January 1, and Mayor-elect Governor L. Douglas Wilder is acting like he owns the city. Thank God. One thing about Wilder is that he's learned that if you want power that no one has given you, just act like you already have it.

Wilder says he is also looking into how much power he will have as Mayor. Currently, the Mayor's role with education is cloudy at best. His role in hiring city officials is also limited. In addition, Wilder says he wants limited veto power, especially when it concerns budget issues.

So far, Wilder says he has or is planning to meet with the members of Council. During his campaign, he cited that there was a need for younger leaders in Richmond.

"We need to attract young people to participate," he said last week.

One of the impacts of the past election, Wilder says is a changing of the guard in the city's influence structure.

"The clearest thing about the election is that the power brokers are gone," he commented.

DINING WITH DAVE

Link: Richmond.com

What does GWAR frontman and creative genius Dave Brockie do for the holidays? When he's not in Canada eviserating a replica of the President, he cooks.

HEY, SILVESTRI! HERE'S A TIP...

Link: Richmond Magazine - Media Column.

The recent issue of Richmond Magazine turns its attention to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, which will have a new publisher at the turn of the new year -- former TD editor Tom Silvestri. Greg Weatherford offers all sorts of advice for the seasoned journalist, but I'd suggest that Silvestri's first move involve ditching the TD's branding effort.

Current tag line: The Times-Dispatch. Because you want to know stuff.

Possible alternative: Fuck stuff. We've got news.

His second step would be to cull the newsroom of the slackass cadre of hangers-on, and beef up the TD's crime, local government, state government and features staff. Which is to say, find some people to get some news in the damn paper.

HOW RICHMOND, INDEED

Link: Richmond.com

Richmond.com decided to glue together a way to evaluate exactly how "Old School Richmond" people are. Pshaw. I'm a shoe-in.

You bought your first computer at Best Products. Nope, but my first watch and my mother's first Christmas gift from me came from Best.

You ever purchased anything at the 6th Street Marketplace. Purchased? I was arrested and photographed for stealing empty gift boxes from the Christmas tree at 6th Street!

You sat on the lap of the Miller & Rhoads Santa while actually in Miller & Rhoads. I have a framed photo of my mother dragging me, kicking and screaming, toward Santa's lap. My sisters looked on with prim smiles.

You watched a 78 year-old Frank Sinatra collapse face first while performing at the Mosque on March 21, 1994. I was called in to help deal with the media relations crisis it created for MCV Hospitals; fortunately, I missed the call.

You took a train from Broad Street Station, home of the Science Museum of Virginia since 1975. Check.

You were in town for the 1992 Presidential Debate held at the University of Richmond. The event is memorable for two reasons: giving rise to the town hall, audience-participatory format, and George H.W. Bush’s infamous glance at his wristwatch. If memory serves, I watched the debate in the basement bar of The Jefferson Hotel.

You went to the Flood Zone to see the Dave Matthews Band before they were The Dave Matthews Band. No, but I deliberately did not go to see them after being invited.

You yodeled along to Natalie Merchant’s live lyrics in the mid-'80s, when she and her 10,000 Maniacs band members played, lived and hung out in the Fan. I yodeled on the front porch of a friend who lived across the street from Natalie Merchant on Floyd Avenue.

You remember when, after nearly forty years of decline and dormancy, the 17th Street Market Place was reborn when the current open-air structure was built in the mid-‘80s. Yes, but I only noticed it because I was going to punk shows at P.B. Kelly's (before it became Havana '59).

You love GWAR. Not really, but I love my friends in GWAR, I love the GWAR concept, and I love the GWAR replica of Princess Diana with a French license plate imbedded in her forehead.

You remember when Cloverleaf and Regency Square were Richmond’s new malls. Dude, I bought my first and only rainbow glitter marijuana leaf t-shirt at Cloverleaf when I was in 5th grade.

You have a relative buried in Hollywood Cemetery. Two plots. Multiple relatives.

You remember, or have forgotten, the Grateful Dead’s two Richmond appearances -- May 25, 1977 at The Mosque (now Landmark Theater), and Nov. 2, 1985 at the Coliseum. My sister was probably busted at the second one.

THE PEOPLE IN YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD

Link: Richmond.com

Many moons ago, Doug and I poured coffee together -- along with a handful of other offbeat Richmonders. Today, Doug spends his time welding metal and checking to see that his customers hit rewind on their DVD players. Richmond.com digs into the lanky gizzards of the owner of the city's most interesting video store.

FRY 'EM UP

Link: Mise En Place

Richmond's newest cooking school is officially in business. Class schedules are up at Mise en Place for November and December.

GET ON THIS

Link: Richmond.com / River District.

Join Cracker and Camper Van Beethoven in Richmond this Sunday and help raise some much-needed cash for businesses in Shockoe Bottom struggling to recover from Hurricane Gaston.

RICHMOND'S GETTING WILDER

Richmond's Mayor-elect, former Governor L. Douglas Wilder is the kind of man who can simultaneously inspire hope and bemusement -- which makes him the perfect person to lead a city that has been represented in recent years by a principal who has shot himself in the hand (twice -- while cleaning his gun), a minister who claimed that Richmond was the new Jerusalem (because it sits at the intersection of an interstate and a river that form the shape of a cross), two convicted felons, and a man who prognosticated that, "People who read from crystal balls often end up eating ground glass."

Welcome to Richmond, Governor. Enjoy your stay.

THE RESURGENT SOUTHSIDE

Several generations ago, the Westover Hills and Forest Hills neighborhoods of Richmond anchored the southbound line of the city's once-expansive streetcar system. Now, after decades of struggling through a series of identity crisis', the area is looking to be on the rebound.

The new Seven Hills Market, and its neighbor -- Crossroads Coffee and Tea -- are the new social hub of the young, professional class who have headed across the James River in search of inexpensive, charming homes where they can make babies and plant azaleas.

ZERO IS A PLUS

We spent a few hours at Plant Zero Cafe in Richmond's Manchester District yesterday morning, and it now officially resides on my great places to eat list. The cafe is run by Cathy Emerson, who owned and managed 17.5 Cafe and Bookstore in Shockoe Bottom, and is part of the Ground Zero, Artspace, Plant Zero cluster housed in an old warehouse. Between the coffee, the bread and the fresh blueberry oatmeal, I'm sold. The lunch and dinner menu looks outstanding, as well.

BOTTOM COOKING

Despite Hurricane Gaston's economically destructive deluge, Richmond's new cooking school, Mise En Place, is slated to open its website (and classroom doors) to registration in October.

RICHMOND'S HIP GLOSSY

Chew On This Magazine surveys both Richmond's own small creative bubble, and the vast world of hipness beyond. Download each issue as a PDF, or dump it onto your iPod. And check out Page 18 of Issue 13 for a mini-feature on my favorite GWAR artist-cum-handyman, Bob Gorman.

WATER, WATER, EVERYWHERE

Richmond's Cafe Gutenberg was literally washed out by Hurricane Gaston, but the good news is that the bookstore/coffee shop should be opening their second floor for business this week. Take a look at their site for some depressing photos of the damage wreaked by the Shockoe Bottom flood, then head down to the Bottom to support Cafe Gutenberg and the other businesses struggling to recover from the devastation.

ROCK FOR THE ARTS

Since Hurricane Ivan doesn't seem likely to drop its drama on Richmond this weekend, going to the Virginia Music Festival and Art Expo at Plant Zero/Artspace this weekend is the obvious thing-to-do. One of them. Dim Sum Dance, Tulsa Drone and Chippy/Dave Brockie are on my short list -- from the 30-some performers scheduled.

THE NEW ALLEY KATZ

Since the Floodzone closed, Alley Katz has been Richmond's mainstay for live, alternative music. The club somehow escaped major damage from last week's Shockoe Bottom flood, and has a new website with a jam-packed calendar of upcoming shows.

THE TERROR OF GASTON

There really is nothing like a little rainfall to remind us how unprepared -- psychologically and otherwise -- we are for large-scale trauma. Not that the last vestiges of Tropical Storm Gaston could be described as "little" -- 14 inches of rain fell at my house, strangers whose cars were washed out slept in the spare bedroom, I plowed my way through three foot rivers of water to get home from work. Still, what if we lost power for six months, or if 40 strangers had knocked on the door demanding, not asking for, shelter? What if tens of thousands of motorists had died, instead of being inconvenienced for four or five hours? As most of Central Virginia sat glued to their TV screens last night, or as they recounted their own personal dramas once arriving home, the obvious became unimportant: The sun is going to come up tomorrow. The ground will dry. Your car will be repaired. This winter, one good snowstorm will wash these dramatic memories away.

WELCOME BACK, KIDS

Richmond.com gives returning students (among others) the skinny on what to do, where to eat and where to burn the midnight dance oil when you get tired of sleeping at one of Richmond's universities.

Q AND NOT U AT VCU

Dischord Records' new darlings Q and Not U will be performing live on what passes for a lawn near Virginia Commonwealth University's Business Building next Friday, August 27. V-neck sweaters recommended.

DELISH

Richmond seems to have lost a little of its food panache in recent years, but what really seems to have happened is that some of the innovative dining culture has spiraled out to the suburbs. Style Weekly's annual take on the places to dine veers back into the city proper, though.

Six Burner is the slightly more casual cousin of Carytown's Acacia, and both are tended by one of the handful of celeb-chefs, Dale Reizer. Style says Reizer "still drives to the Northern Neck to make sure his customers get the freshest crabs and other local seafood. It’s not just the freshness that sets Reitzer’s food apart. It’s his delicate touch in the kitchen, which results in memorable dishes that range from appetizers of white anchovies, scallop tartar and fried oysters to entrees of soft shell crabs and rockfish."

Buz and Ned's is a hop and a jump from our Northside abode, and remains one of the best places to land after a hard Saturday in the yard. They do barbecue. That's it. And some really good sides. The meat is slow-cooked over wood, and the results rank among the best I've tasted anywhere.

Comfort ranks among the best of our low-cost, high-flavor dining options, and appeals whether we're hankering for meatloaf and salmon, or simply looking for a plate of homecooked (and fresh) okra, beets, snap peas, corn and cheese grits.

Limani can be defined as simply as its main dish: fresh fish with a dash of salt and olive oil. That's all there is to it. And there's not a single place in town I'd suggest for a fish lover.

Edo's Squid is the friendlier sister of Oregon Hill favorite Mamma 'Zu. Outstanding Italian food, heavy on the garlic and low on the price. The lentils and the pasta with broccoli rabe can't be beat.

What Style underlooked in their "Rest of the Best" were The Kitchen Table for a feel of the Lower East Side, Stella's for a taste of Greek, and the Grapeleaf for Lebanese food.

BLUE BABY BONNET

Andrew Beaujon takes on Richmond's manliest band, Flannel, by way of fond rembrances. It amazes me that I still have Flannel tunes trapped in my brain after a decade, and that Andrew shares the same halcyon love for their music. Andrew also provides three songs for your listening pleasure. And Hunter's living in Northside, Andrew, just down the street from me.

WHO RULES THE ROOST

Enter your zip code, and the Center for Public Integrity will show you the breakdown of media ownership in your state or city. In Richmond, the results are surprisingly independent. While Clear Channel owns a solid 16% of the media in our fair, conservative bastion, a full 63% is independent or educational. And in reality, even that number is low -- the FCC info used by the CPI doesn't include a raft of smaller print and online media sources, such as the Richmond Free Press.

RAISE THE ROOFTOP, WILLOW LAWN

I've stuck with Willow Lawn through thick and through thin -- beginning with late autumn trips to Woolworth's when it was an open-air mall with my grandmother to buy candied fruit for fruitcakes, through the shabby days when Barr-ee Station was the only anchor worth visiting, and into its resurgence in the 1990s. As sprawl headed west, the city's first suburban mall was reinvented as the city's only quasi-urban mall. By the end of the 90s, it was struggling to hang on.

Now the owners are ready to give it another face-lift.

WILDER IS A STUDY IN CONTRASTS

Former Virginia Governor L. Douglas Wilder is an ego wrapped within an enigma. I remember being at an REM concert in Hampton, Virginia, when Michael Stipe paused to announce that Wilder had been elected governor of Virginia, the first elected black governor in U.S. history. I was stunned when a sizable chunk of the crowd erupted in boos, and emotionally revived when Stipe launched into "King of Birds" -- "standing on the shoulders of giants leaves me cold... a mean idea to call my own..." -- dedicating it to Wilder.

Since then, I've seen Wilder at his best and worst -- announcing his failed bid for the Presidency in 1992, emerging from a fender bender in a local grocery store parking lot, pontificating from the sidelines, gladhanding with Virginia Republicans. And now, running for Mayor of Richmond -- his hometown.

Once again, I find myself marvelling at his audacity, nodding in agreement with his running commentary, and wondering how many more times he can upset the apple cart.

"I'm not satisfied with the status quo," Wilder said. "I have two platforms; crime and education."

With the city's increasing criminal activity, including 50 homicides so far this year, Wilder says that there has been a lack of teamwork in combating crime. He also cites a lack of discipline and consequences for juvenile offenders.

"They can't hide behind their tender years," Wilder said. He added that he will seek tougher punishments through the General Assembly for juvenile and repeat offenders.

His other primary platform, education, goes hand-in-hand he said.
"How much are our dollars going into the classroom?" he asked.

The Wilder-Bliley Commission II has been investigating and looking into how Richmond's government works. Wilder said he plans to implement the commission's findings when he takes office. Another goal is to set a blueprint for the next mayor.

One of the anticipated election topics will be the possible relocation of the Richmond Braves from the Boulevard district to Shockoe Bottom. Although Wilder said he intends to talk to every party involved and possible affected by the possible move, he questioned the issue's importance.

"We need to establish a list of priorities," he said. "How does [moving the baseball stadium] it fit into the city? What is the overall interest?"

Another one of Wilder's goals is to bridge the gap between the regions.
"Why can’t Richmond, Chesterfield and Henrico get along?" he questioned. "This problem has to be addressed. Regional cooperation is mutually advantageous for all of us."

FILMED IN VIRGINIA

This Sunday, Richmond's oldest movie palace, the Byrd Theatre, will be screening classic movies filmed in Virginia. Yes, it does stretch the meaning of "classic" to toss in 'Dirty Dancing' or anything produced by Alan Alda, but "Dominion Film Sundays at the Byrd," leads off with the James Dean, Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson classic "Giant." Tickets are $5 and will be available 30 minutes before each show.

Dominion Virginia Power is sponsoring this series, and the movie showings will benefit the Byrd Theatre Foundation and the Virginia Production Alliance, said Mary Nelson, the communications manager at the Virginia Film Office.

"It’s absolutely the first time [for an event like this] and we hope that it continues indefinitely," Nelson said. "The next time around, we’re going to have some new films and we’re going to expand the series to include any connections to Virginia. The possibilities are amazing and endless."

[snip]

The series also aims to highlight the need for the Byrd Theatre’s restoration and raise funds to add to the Byrd Theatre Foundation’s $3.2 million funding goal, said Todd Schall Vess, the general manager of the Byrd Theatre.

"[The Byrd Theatre’s] most unique nature is that it’s one of the genuine movie palaces, but it’s still a movie theatre," he said. "So many places are torn down, and the majority of which have been restored are performing arts centers, and the thing that is truly unique is that we’re still doing what we’ve always done, and we don’t want to transform ourselves into something else.

"Going to the Byrd Theatre is a unique experience and we want to make sure that it’s still the same experience it’s been for the past 76 years."

Bickford encourages attendees to arrive between 12 p.m. and 12:30 p.m. for the series’ opening film, "Giant." Dr. Irby Brown of the University of Richmond will introduce the movie, and those who were present or participated in the movie’s filming are invited to enjoy the film, free of charge.

PARK IT

My alma mater, Virginia Commonwealth University, is renaming its academic campus. Calling it the Monroe Park campus of VCU just sounds odd, though, since my strongest memories of Monroe Park involve people sleeping on benches, and graffiti sprayed on the fountain that read, "Fuck me beneath the overnight bridge." That, and the elderly, avant composer Dika Newlin beating on a kettle at a Greenpeace rally in 1989, screaming at the top of her aged lungs, "Save the whales! Save the whales!" Maybe the Monroe Park campus works after all.

YOUR MIND STEPPED ON A CRACK

Tragedy or comedy? That's what I'm pondering at the moment as I read an invite from Richmond Renaissance. Sadly, I must decline their invitation to eat "scrumptious" sushi and listen to "hip" music as they pick my "young and restless" brain. Here's the pitch:

You're invited to join us for a presentation and celebration of the culmination of a national, six-city research study - "The Young and the Restless", those twenty and thirty somethings who are critically important to the future of our region.

The study addresses Richmond's ability to attract and retain this demographic in a national context. Come learn how we compare to other regions, what they think about Richmond and how to appeal to this demographic.

Main Street Station
1500 East Main Street
Monday, June 21
5:30-8:30 p.m.

Scrumptious Sushi (catered by The Kitchen Table) Cash Bar, Hip Music & Lively Conversation

• 5:30 p.m. Party Starts
• 6:00-6:45 Presentation and Discussion About What's Next
• 6:45-8:30 Party and Conversations Continue

Spread the word and RSVP by e-mail to rsvp@richmondrenaissance.org by Wednesday, June 16, 2004 Limited Space.

Consider this your invitation, if you're in town. I'll be in Toronto, or I'd actually skip 'Fear Factor" to attend.

But as for appealing to the 20- and 30-year-old demographic, one thing Richmond doesn't need is another study. All studies seem to do is bring us Sixth Street Marketplaces, Valentine Riversides and Biotech Parks. Oh, right. And Mayor Doug Wilder.

If you want to draw the young, hip, chic, flamboyant, dazzling urban kids of tomorrow, Richmond, you've got to stop thinking big and remember how to think small. It's the niche that makes the city glow -- the Floodzone, the original World of Mirth (the current version is lovely, mind you), Exile, Plan 9, 17.5 or Cafe Gutenberg, Ipanema.

Anyway, we'll have a mammoth Performing Arts Center soon. That's bound to shake things up.

NO LO SO

Swing by Richmond's Cafe Gutenberg on Wednesday evenings starting June 23 and learn yourself un poco Spanish.

COFFEE, POETRY AND MORE

Caf? Gutenberg continues to build on its success with readings, slide shows and foreign language throw-downs. Next week, Michele Maria Surat will be reading from her poetry. I was in a workshop with Michele last year, and can't wait to hear her read.

BOPPING ALONG WITH BOPST

If you're in Richmond, or on the Internet, you owe it to yourself to listen to the Bopst Show. Chris Bopst fills the AM airwaves with punk, funk, rock, reggae, jazz, blues, gospel and rock every Thursday and Friday night. He's got his groove on, for sure.

CHEAP EATS

If your wallet isn't already exploding with worthless plastic, pick up a Richmond Region Rewards card. It gets you discounts at various merchants, including my personal favorite the Embroidery King. As well as some slightly hepper places like La Difference and Patina Grill.

WHAT'S SHAKING IN RICHMOND

Richmond Renaissance has been promising a revival in Richmond since Plan 9 Records was Bob's Hobby Shop. (Does anyone else have fond childhood memories of those little boxes of ant-sized army men?) Next Thursday, RR is inviting the public (reservations requested) to swing by the snazzy, new Plant Zero Art Center to hear vignettes presented by the glistening luminaries we call "people who do things" -- you know, artists, researchers, drug dealers. You can glean more details and register at the link above. Get to it, Sparky.

HEY SKINHEAD! WANNA BOWL?

I didn't actually like Camper Van Beethoven until after they broke up in 1989, so it's nice to have a chance to be a fan again. The reformed Camper Van plays with CVB's frontman's more popular band Cracker on Brown's Island tonight. It's free. It's fun. And you'll probably wonder who all the people in the audience wearing acid-washed jeans are.

COOKING IN THE SLIP

I have been tapping my toes impatiently for the opening of Mise En Place. Hopefully, they'll be kicking off classes in time to teach me everything I ever wanted to know about fresh vegetables. And creme brule.

GUTENBERG IS GUT

The new website for Cafe Gutenberg is up and running, and it is chockful of photos, events and details on the still-relatively new space in Shockoe Bottom. It's definitely a bright light in Richmond's social scene.

THE BOPST SHOW

Ah, DJ Chris Bopst, what truth you speak. This week, Bopst ponders some recent interactions from live remotes his radio show has been doing around town.

Since I have been on the station, I have never felt whiter in my life. It is good for white people to be the lone Caucasian in a room, which sadly doesn't happen enough as far as I am concerned. Often, I am in the position of being the lone white dude in a group of people and you know what, its not nearly as horrifying as some of you racists might think. Truth be told, I hardly notice it anymore. I'm just another human being in the room. This city doesn't have enough intermingling of cultures and frankly, I believe that's why this former capital of the confederacy is, excuse my French here, so fucked up. Just from looking at some of the reactions Jay got, some of you people need to get out more often.

This ridiculous segregation is painfully evident on our airwaves as well. No station in Richmond other than WCLM has black and& white DJ's. What's with that? Are we to believe that only specific tunes appeal to specific races of people? Are we wrong to assume that good music has universial appeal? If you listen to Richmond, they believe, judging by their "race exclusive" broadcasts, that this is in fact so.

The best thing about these live remotes for me was to be broadcasting in front of a live audience as opposed to being left to my own devices in the studio. People came up and requested songs and, by golly, they were played regardless of genre. "Will you play Muddy Waters?" an African American gentleman in his, and I'm guessing here, early 50s asked me. "Sure, which tune do you want to hear?" I replied looking for it in my collection without thinking. "You would play it for me?" he responded seemingly mystified at how easy it would be to get his request played, "You don't have to clear it with anyone first?" I looked up at him and said, "Of course not. I'll play whatever you want me to play. I play everything and anything on my show as long as it's good. This isn't corporate radio." "Well, then play 'Hootchie-Coochie Man' for me. I love that tune" Thankfully, I had packed away some Muddy Waters before I left the house that day and I cued up the tune to follow Public Enemy's "Don't Believe The Hype." When the Muddy Waters came over the speakers, I looked over at the gentlemen and gave him the thumps up. He responded by putting his fist in the air and started singing along.

In my book, radio doesn't get any better than that.

UN GRANDE ART

Tomorrow night, three new galleries open in Richmond. Artspace has its grand opening of its new space in Manchester, while some of the original Artspace founders hold down the fort in the old space, giving it the new name of art6. And Curated Culture opens its doors just off of Broad Street, near the Downtown Library.

SAD BISCUIT JONES

Ever wonder what happens to aging hipsters? Wonder no more! The members of Sad Biscuit Jones have opened their hearts and MP3 vaults just for curious people like you.

LOCAL SURPRISES

I tend to view Style Weekly as Richmond's predictable source of local flavor, sort of like I turn to Pepperidge Farms blackberry pies during the off-season -- it's almost good, but there are too many things missing to pretend it's what you really wanted. So call me pleasantly surprised when I picked up the March 3 issue -- it actually had brief, interesting snapshots of people and events.

PICTURE THIS Photographer Wendy Ewald has been working with students at Carver Elementary School, exploring their dreams and aspirations through imagery -- both visual and written. The children's photos will be mounted on banners throughout the neighborhood later this spring in an open-air exhibit.

ART GOES SOUTH This week, Artspace Gallery officially relocates to the fledgling Manchester Arts District. Housed in the Plant Zero Art Center, Artspace will share 90,000 square feet with a cafe, about 60 art studios and eventually apartments.

TAKE A LOOK AT A BOOK Cafe Gutenburg is introducing Richmond to the fine art of book collecting. Looking for ways to spotlight the new cafe's collection of rare books, the owners decided to start holding monthly educational chats. Housed in a completely renovated space best known as the restaurant formerly known as the Main Street Grill, Cafe Gutenburg is also bringing back that institution's Slide Night.

SPEAKING OF ART Drummer, artist and muralist Ed Trask will be making an impression in the Manchester District with a series of removable murals on the side of the ArtWorks building.

BON VIVANT Entering its 12th year and known as the largest outside of France, VCU's French Film Festival returns to the Byrd Theatre at the end of the month.

CHOP CHOP Chop Suey has beaten the odds, returning in April with its 2nd Annual 24-Hour Bookman, which fills the entire span of a day with books, readings, art, music, yoga, animal blessings and Chinese tea ceremonies.

And that's just six of the 22 snippets Style offers up this week. If only the tabloid was this good every week.

NO STARRY-EYED REAR-WINDOWING

Former Richmonder Mark Nelson, like a handful of his artistic and intellectual peers, landed in Chicago in the late 1990s. I was acquainted with Mark through the La Bradford/Plan 9 social network, and always liked him [though in the first 30 years of my socially awkward development I usually came across as an ass to people I liked or admired], but was surprised by his recent essay, "The Soft Return," in which he draws some keen distinctions between Chi-town and the River City. Surprised by his perceptiveness, his gentleness and his honesty.

Richmond is a difficult town about which to be honest. Descriptions of life here, of the landscape, of the culture, are usually rife with excuses and apologies. This is especially true of the significant minority who have attempted or succeeded in carving out their own, unique space here. And of those who left, then returned, then found themselves unable or unwilling to be comfortable with either decision. If you're involved in any aspect of culture or art and you live in Richmond, contrasts come easier to your lips than comparisons -- it's no New York, no L.A., certainly not Austin, and, gods above, it's even not Baltimore or Asheville or Portland.

No, it's not. But for many Richmonders there is far too much acceptance and not enough understanding in such a realization. Because until a community understands why it is not something, it will be challenged to embrace what it is. Nelson is right to call Richmond's softness a recipe for stagnation, which makes it all the more wonderful when you find people here developing new recipes.

In Richmond the softness goes beyond the surface and affects human interactions as well. Maybe it's just the nature of a small town, but in Richmond you learn to be forgiving of the fortysomething ex-rocker still working as a line cook. You look the other way when your old girlfriend takes up with the guy you shared an apartment with ten years ago. Instead of senility then, maybe it's a generous amnesia. Unless you 're ready to accept judgment for your own weaknesses and indiscretions, it's probably best just to acknowledge things as they are, crack a pessimistic joke, and head to the Taphouse for a couple microbrews.

This is the Richmond I imagine when I think about moving back. Life in Chicago is hard, and I know it'll never feel like home; at the same time living in Richmond can seem so much like subscribing to a delusion. Is it right to always be shrugging your shoulders? Aren't there consequences for the constant cultural backpedaling? I know I'll always forgive my old hometown in the end, and maybe that's my delusion. When the grind of the big city gets to me, I can escape to the Richmond of my imagination.

But even in my most idealistic moments I can see that there's a price to be paid for all this softness. Certainly the infinite tolerance shown to the crooks and morons at City Hall has had a devastating effect on Richmond's ability to generate new energy and compete in the outside world. Likewise VCU, the Fan District Association and the ABC board create an axis of evil, pursuing their own agenda at a considerable cost to the city's cultural life. Also, there is a smugness and an insularity there. Social life can feel like a willfully turned back, and there's a sense in Richmond's art circles that if you can make it here, why bother trying anyplace else.

So here's the point I get to when I think about moving back. It's the question I can't answer yet: Is the softness worth the stagnation?

LILAS ROCK FOR UNHCR

They'll be opening for Mary Lou Lord tonight at Nancy Raygun, or catch the Lilas at the Canal Club in Richmond on Friday. They'll be playing a benefit for the U.N. High Commission on Refugees. The Lilas feature the astounding Lauren Hoffman, who was last in September 67.

ART TRAVELS

In about two weeks, Richmond will have a new art district. This time south of the James River. Artspace, one of the anchor galleries on Broad Street, is splitting -- a chunk of the membership heading to the Manchester District, and a smaller collective holding court in the current space under a new name. There's been a lot of chest-beating about the whole affair, but people keep forgetting those days when Richmond couldn't support more than one public art gallery -- now there are more than a dozen. Plus, there's better beer in Manchester.

THE MAKING OF A CAFE

It took the opening of Cafe Gutenberg to remind me what a real coffee shop should feel like. Housed in the former Main Street Grill space in Shockoe Bottom, Cafe Gutenberg is bright, open, relaxed -- and it is chockful of new and used books, magazines and sparkle. The coffee is good, and the food and desserts are better. There is wine. There is free wireless access. There is life here.

MMM... COFFEE...

The hardest thing about my move to Northside is the absence of coffee shops. I'd heard rumors that Rostov's Coffee & Tea was going to open a location nearby, but I didn't realize it would be just five blocks away. Spring suddenly looks more lovely.

COMFORT[ABLE]

The end-all and be-all of casual, urban, inexpensive Southern dining is Richmond's Comfort Restaurant. It's home of the $40 dinner for two with wine tango, satisfying everyone's desire for simple home cookin' balanced with a toned-down buzz rarely found in restaurants these days. Cha cha cha.

THE DAY THE MUSIC DIED

Local DJ Chris Bopst explores the demise of AM station WXGI's roots formatting in his Richmond.com column this week (and wrestles with the role of Satan in the spreading of the Gospel of Local Rock). WXGI is where I first heard a grown man discuss drinking a "40" and was so down-home I sometimes felt like I was intruding. It'll be missed.

There have been some major changes on the local AM airwaves as of late with the biggest change being the change in formats at WXGI 950, which switched to a sports talk format after nearly 50 years as the region's oasis for country music and bluegrass fans. Apparently, the switch, which came as a shock to the station's longtime listeners this past Monday, had XGI handing out pink slips at a rate that would have made Clear Channel proud and as of this writing, the new programming schedule is still yet to be determined. At this point, weekends are the station's lone concession to long time listeners looking for what used to be XGI's defining brand of "All American" music as their new alliance with the ESPN Radio Sports Network, starting the day with Al Coleman and his "Sportsphone with Big Al" program replacing the country & bluegrass shows that have endeared XGI to generations of music lovers to the station during the weekdays.

MUSICAL GENIUS GONE SUPERNOVA

Several of Richmond's penultimate Legends of Rock reunite this weekend with what promises to be an explosive show at Legend Brewery Company. American Grizzly brings Mike Bishop (of GWAR fame, but who can forget his origins in Geek Maggot Bingo?), Ed Trask (artist and drummer extraordanaire, who also plays with Avail and Corntooth) and Tim Harriss (another artist, and masterful guitar player) back together in a loud way. The trio last played together in the early 90s as Kepone, which took the local mantle of heavy, rocking punk music away from Richmond's Sordid Doctrine, gave it passion and a touch of groove, and released it to the world in a series of three recordings. Kepone easily ranks on any Richmond list of musical greats. Now American Grizzly has a chance to make an impact.

"It's an exciting project for me," Harriss says. "It's the first time I've been in a band with two guitarists. It's a different thing altogether. You have to be a lot smarter about what you're doing." Harris calls American Grizzly "a lot more straight-forward rock," and cites influences as diverse as Booker T & the MG's and Bad Brains.

"I wouldn't say we're less angry, just more focused. Our songs have a lot more groove to them" he says. American Grizzly has one show under their belt to date, and is currently working on their pre-demo recordings. "We're hopefully be working on a demo in March."

Working around everyone's schedules is the biggest challenge so far. Both Trask and Harriss are members of the country band Corntooth, who will be releasing their debut sometime in the near future. Bishop is working on his Masters degree in musicology at UVA. And last month Trask became a father for the first time. There are more outside responsibilities than in the days of Kepone perhaps, but the musical muscle is still there. So is the fire.

"It's gonna rely on some juggling of schedules," Harriss admits. "But we're serious about this band. It's not just a middle-aged thing to do to pass time."

IN THE MIDDLE OF A STREET

If you start at the beginning, you'll see the transformation of an old Church Hill house into a Church Hill home. Makes me happy that mine had already been gutted and renovated.

TRAIN YOUR EYES

Style Weekly takes a gander at the public art planned for installation in the renovated Main Street Station, and provides some perspective on public art in Richmond over the years.

ART, UNDERGROUND

Good art scenes usually thrive amidst adversity, and some recent changes in Richmond's art community are destined to test a historically placid group of creatives. First Fridays has formed a non-profit to help drive that monthly gallery hopping event; Artspace is moving across the river to the Manchester District; and the fine hipsters at Save Richmond continue to push the largely unartistic team driving the new Performing Arts Center complex downtown to think about the details.