Today is Election Day here in the U.S.A. It is not a presidential election year, so we are voting for state and local folks.
For the first time in a long time, I have a choice of representation on the ballot in my local supervisors' district. I have a choice in some of the state races - the ones at the top - but not delegate or senator. The incumbents are running unopposed.
I have never missed a vote. Even if I have no choice, I vote anyway. Sometimes I write in names when people are unopposed (because I can). At the very least, it should let the winner know not everyone is happy with his or her performance. Additionally, it means incumbents won't get 100 percent of the vote, not that 100 percent of the registered voters will have voted.
We have rain and it's growing colder by the hour, so I bet the turn out is abysmal. Will we even have a 30 percent turn out of voters? Stay tuned.
When you feel your vote makes no difference, I am not sure what you call it, but I do not call it democracy. In fact, I wear solid black to the voting both, to protest the death of democracy. Not that anybody asks.
Locally, the Republicans have a stranglehold on most of the seats. I expect my county will go Republican; it has for years. Folks seeking lower taxes moved in in the 1990s and brought with them their desires for more government services somehow paid for out of thin air. We've had some real winners on the local governing board in the last 15 years. They represented somebody, but they did not represent me. I was a news reporter at the time and had to keep my opinions to myself.
Why aren't there more people willing to run for office? For one thing, it's not a regular person's game anymore. Unless you're a millionaire plus, you may as well forget it. Even at the local level, you have to spend thousands to get what you're after. For another, the election process has become as vicious as vultures pecking out the eyes of a calf. If you have the least little crack in your life's history, the opposition will break it open until your guts are strewn all over the floor.
Who wants to deal with that?
Twenty years ago, the candidates for the local board ran as independents. And then the political parties crept into it, and all was lost. Once that game started, there has been nothing to do but sit back and watch the dive into divisiveness and derision. No amount of sanity is going to save us now.
So go vote. I vote to honor the women who lived before me, who died so that I might exercise my right to write-in the name of a candidate, even if that person will only receive the single vote I cast. It is your civic duty, even if you're as jaded and as regretful as I am over the way the process is handled today.
Go vote because it is the right thing to do. And don't hesitate to write in Yosemite Sam if you don't like the choice of candidates.
Showing posts with label Local. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Local. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 07, 2017
Thursday, July 27, 2017
Thursday Thirteen #510
In Petersburg, Virginia, is a private museum open to the public. Keystone Truck & Tractor Museum showcases one man's collection of old farm tractors, big diesel trucks, antique fire equipment, sports cars, and other oily things with gears.
Here are thirteen of the old tractors:
_________
Here are thirteen of the old tractors:
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| This is made from the parts of an old Indian motorcycle. |
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| No clue. I didn't take notes. My husband could tell you, but he isn't here. |
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| Most of these things were bigger than I was. I couldn't have climbed in the seat if I had to. |
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| This is an old road grader. |
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| I think this is what many people think of when they think "old tractor." |
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| Moline tractors are more popular out west, I think. |
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| This was my favorite. |
_________
Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here if you want to read other Thursday Thirteens and/or play along. I've been playing for a while and this is my 510th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday.
Monday, July 17, 2017
14 Santas Come to Dinner
Friday night my husband and I were at Cracker Barrel in Troutville. I was stunned to see Halloween decorations on the floor already. It's still July!
They had a butler with his head on a platter, plates, and other ghostly and ghastly items available for purchase.
We sat down at our table, and as I was complaining about the early Halloween decorations, Santa Claus walked in.
He was followed by another Santa Claus, then another, and another, until I counted 14 of them. They also had Mrs. Santa Clauses by their sides.
Unfortunately I had no camera with me, so I used my husband's flip phone. I had never used this piece of technology for photos before - and neither had he, except apparently by accident - so I had to quickly figure out how to make it work. The photos are not great but hopefully you can see that these are Santas, complete with real beards and white hair.
Apparently there was a Santa convention at Camp Bethel, which is a Christian summer camp (Church of the Brethren) with rental facilities tucked away in the Mill Creek area of the county.
On the way home, we saw a double rainbow. I took this as a good sign and stopped and bought a lottery ticket.
However, we did not win a single dollar. I guess rainbows and Santa Clauses do not bring good luck.
They did, however, make me feel better.
They had a butler with his head on a platter, plates, and other ghostly and ghastly items available for purchase.
We sat down at our table, and as I was complaining about the early Halloween decorations, Santa Claus walked in.
He was followed by another Santa Claus, then another, and another, until I counted 14 of them. They also had Mrs. Santa Clauses by their sides.
Unfortunately I had no camera with me, so I used my husband's flip phone. I had never used this piece of technology for photos before - and neither had he, except apparently by accident - so I had to quickly figure out how to make it work. The photos are not great but hopefully you can see that these are Santas, complete with real beards and white hair.
Apparently there was a Santa convention at Camp Bethel, which is a Christian summer camp (Church of the Brethren) with rental facilities tucked away in the Mill Creek area of the county.
On the way home, we saw a double rainbow. I took this as a good sign and stopped and bought a lottery ticket.
However, we did not win a single dollar. I guess rainbows and Santa Clauses do not bring good luck.
They did, however, make me feel better.
Wednesday, May 31, 2017
Is It the End (of the) Times?
I do not remember how I began stringing for The Roanoke Times back in the late 1980s and early 1990s. I don't know if I responded to an ad, sent in a story suggestion, or oozed my way into what was then the Neighbors section (a weekly insert) by sleight-of-hand or deft design.
Somehow, though, my byline found its way into the area's largest newspaper, not only in the Neighbors and special projects sections, but also in the main paper. That happened mostly at graduation time when extra bodies were needed to turn in hurried stories about caps and gown.
This was the time of no cellphones. I called in stories from phone booths, crouched down with my notebook on my knees, reading the copy into the mouthpiece so the words could go into the morning edition. There was a technique to that, lost now, I suppose, where you spelled out names and said "end graph" to denote a new paragraph, and even said "period" at the end of a sentence. I did so much of it that I took the folks who had to take my calls a few boxes of chocolates, because I knew they had a tough time of it, trying to make sure what I sent made sense before it hit the press.
Newspapers were peaking then, but we didn't know it yet. The Internet was not a common item; there were, I think, bulletin boards where nerdy guys hung out to talk about computer building and atomic death rays, but pre-1990 things were different and the world would not recognizable to today's youth. The Internet then wasn't something everyone plugged into. We were still autonomous individuals working within a society, not individuals plugged into our own little devices and lost in alternative fact worlds.
Folks read the news back then, in those dark ages before the Internet. They read things on paper, not on some electronic reader. They talked about the same stories and made note of the same news, and they did not pick and chose their facts because back then people knew what was a fact and what was opinion. I don't think that is the case anymore.
The newspaper business changed over my lifetime. I began reading the newspaper in 1967, when I was four years old. Yes, truly. I would sit at my grandmother's kitchen table and read the newspaper, front to back. I barely comprehended it, but I read it. I remember distinctly how my grandmother would fix dinner and I would spell out a word to her, asking her how to pronounce it and what it meant. Even though she had only a fourth grade education, she knew what I needed to be told. She read the paper front to back, too.
I knew when I was 10 years old that I want to write for newspapers.
When I was young, there were two edition of the paper, a morning edition and the evening edition. After my husband and I married in 1983, we took the evening edition. According to Wikipedia, The Roanoke Times & World News paper ceased its evening edition in 1991 (I thought it was earlier than that, but we'll go with Wikipedia). I remember having difficulty adjusting to reading at breakfast instead of dinner, as did my husband.
Around 1995, The Roanoke Times & World News became The Roanoke Times. In 2013, it became the property of Berkshire Hathaway (owned by Warren Buffet et al). I am not sure it mattered then who owned the thing. The paper had changed so much by 2013 that it was (and is) only a shadow of the journalistic endeavors I recall from my younger years.
I think I knew the death bell was tolling when they eliminated Prince Valiant from the funny papers, (not sure exactly when that happened and it's an odd thing to mark decline by), but I also found it painful to watch the quality of reporting diminish as the historical knowledge of the community left with older journalists who either moved on to other things or were let go in favor of youngsters who would work more cheaply. I'm sure other people have their own markers in time as to when they think the paper really began to falter.
It didn't help that I was married to a firefighter who came home and told me of things going on in the city that never made it into the newspaper. What, I wondered, was the paper for if it wasn't going to report on the reality of the world that makes up the City of Roanoke and its surrounding areas?
Yesterday the newspaper announced that it was moving its presses to Lynchburg (where the News & Advance is now a sister paper thanks to the Buffett purchases) and relieving 53 people of their jobs. The press release promises no change in delivery (we will see) and better reliability of printing.
I don't think the paper is dead. I expect it will last another decade, at least. Maybe it will last much, much longer. I am no fortune teller. But I must say, I have never seen a profession shoot itself in the foot like the newspaper business has.
It is as if the paper at its finest was a Ben & Jerry's, offering up 51 flavors of ice cream. Then it slowly cut back to 45 flavors, and it lost a few customers and advertisers, so it laid off a reporter or two. Then it cut back to 30 flavors, and lost more advertisers and customers. Instead of adding back the flavors, the bean counters cut the flavors back to 15, then to 10, and now they only serve Neapolitan ice cream and expect to remain in business.
When a product falters, good business demands you make the product better, not worse, but the newspaper business has not done that. They have made the product worse. They can blame the Internet all they want - and I am sure it has some culpability - but the decline started when money, not news, became all that mattered.
I shall hope this is not a bad sign for The Roanoke Times. I want to keep reading it until my eyes close and the casket covers me. But I fear for not only this paper, but others, including the little local paper for which I wrote for 30+ years.
Some things have value that is not monetary. The news is one of them. One cannot put a value on insight and truth, but we have tried.
And look where it has taken us - into the bogs of a no-mans land, where only devils dare to play.
Somehow, though, my byline found its way into the area's largest newspaper, not only in the Neighbors and special projects sections, but also in the main paper. That happened mostly at graduation time when extra bodies were needed to turn in hurried stories about caps and gown.
This was the time of no cellphones. I called in stories from phone booths, crouched down with my notebook on my knees, reading the copy into the mouthpiece so the words could go into the morning edition. There was a technique to that, lost now, I suppose, where you spelled out names and said "end graph" to denote a new paragraph, and even said "period" at the end of a sentence. I did so much of it that I took the folks who had to take my calls a few boxes of chocolates, because I knew they had a tough time of it, trying to make sure what I sent made sense before it hit the press.
Newspapers were peaking then, but we didn't know it yet. The Internet was not a common item; there were, I think, bulletin boards where nerdy guys hung out to talk about computer building and atomic death rays, but pre-1990 things were different and the world would not recognizable to today's youth. The Internet then wasn't something everyone plugged into. We were still autonomous individuals working within a society, not individuals plugged into our own little devices and lost in alternative fact worlds.
Folks read the news back then, in those dark ages before the Internet. They read things on paper, not on some electronic reader. They talked about the same stories and made note of the same news, and they did not pick and chose their facts because back then people knew what was a fact and what was opinion. I don't think that is the case anymore.
The newspaper business changed over my lifetime. I began reading the newspaper in 1967, when I was four years old. Yes, truly. I would sit at my grandmother's kitchen table and read the newspaper, front to back. I barely comprehended it, but I read it. I remember distinctly how my grandmother would fix dinner and I would spell out a word to her, asking her how to pronounce it and what it meant. Even though she had only a fourth grade education, she knew what I needed to be told. She read the paper front to back, too.
I knew when I was 10 years old that I want to write for newspapers.
When I was young, there were two edition of the paper, a morning edition and the evening edition. After my husband and I married in 1983, we took the evening edition. According to Wikipedia, The Roanoke Times & World News paper ceased its evening edition in 1991 (I thought it was earlier than that, but we'll go with Wikipedia). I remember having difficulty adjusting to reading at breakfast instead of dinner, as did my husband.
Around 1995, The Roanoke Times & World News became The Roanoke Times. In 2013, it became the property of Berkshire Hathaway (owned by Warren Buffet et al). I am not sure it mattered then who owned the thing. The paper had changed so much by 2013 that it was (and is) only a shadow of the journalistic endeavors I recall from my younger years.
I think I knew the death bell was tolling when they eliminated Prince Valiant from the funny papers, (not sure exactly when that happened and it's an odd thing to mark decline by), but I also found it painful to watch the quality of reporting diminish as the historical knowledge of the community left with older journalists who either moved on to other things or were let go in favor of youngsters who would work more cheaply. I'm sure other people have their own markers in time as to when they think the paper really began to falter.
It didn't help that I was married to a firefighter who came home and told me of things going on in the city that never made it into the newspaper. What, I wondered, was the paper for if it wasn't going to report on the reality of the world that makes up the City of Roanoke and its surrounding areas?
Yesterday the newspaper announced that it was moving its presses to Lynchburg (where the News & Advance is now a sister paper thanks to the Buffett purchases) and relieving 53 people of their jobs. The press release promises no change in delivery (we will see) and better reliability of printing.
I don't think the paper is dead. I expect it will last another decade, at least. Maybe it will last much, much longer. I am no fortune teller. But I must say, I have never seen a profession shoot itself in the foot like the newspaper business has.
It is as if the paper at its finest was a Ben & Jerry's, offering up 51 flavors of ice cream. Then it slowly cut back to 45 flavors, and it lost a few customers and advertisers, so it laid off a reporter or two. Then it cut back to 30 flavors, and lost more advertisers and customers. Instead of adding back the flavors, the bean counters cut the flavors back to 15, then to 10, and now they only serve Neapolitan ice cream and expect to remain in business.
When a product falters, good business demands you make the product better, not worse, but the newspaper business has not done that. They have made the product worse. They can blame the Internet all they want - and I am sure it has some culpability - but the decline started when money, not news, became all that mattered.
I shall hope this is not a bad sign for The Roanoke Times. I want to keep reading it until my eyes close and the casket covers me. But I fear for not only this paper, but others, including the little local paper for which I wrote for 30+ years.
Some things have value that is not monetary. The news is one of them. One cannot put a value on insight and truth, but we have tried.
And look where it has taken us - into the bogs of a no-mans land, where only devils dare to play.
Monday, May 29, 2017
The Lakeside Room
Continuing my mini-tour of the Salem Museum in Salem, VA, I present to you an entire room dedicated to Lakeside Amusement Park.
The park began in 1920 with a segregated swimming pool. Within a few years, the land owners added rides. The swimming pool use ended in 1967 but the rides remained. The pool was filled in so that the new roller coaster, The Shooting Star, could be constructed.
Lakeside was a summer destination for many families in our area until it closed in 1986. The park was flooded in 1985, and while it reopened briefly after repairs, it was not able to survive the flood and then a lawsuit that resulted from the death of a grounds worker after the reopening.
I visited Lakeside numerous times as a child, with my parents and also without them, and as a teenager I ventured to the park to listen to entertainers who played at the Pavilion there. I seem to recall hearing Conway Twitty, Loretta Lynn ( maybe?) and a few other country singers there, including Juice Newton who was popular at the time.
I remember bumper cars, cotton candy, throwing up from the Tilt-a-Whirl (I wasn't the only one), the Sky Lift, which went over the parking lot and gave an intriguing view of the area, a miniature train, a super slide (which would burn your legs if you wore shorts and slide down it in the summer), the Ferris wheel, a carousel, and an arcade area of some type.
The Lakeside Room at the museum has a huge miniature of the roller coaster along with lots of photos and other memorabilia.
This link takes you to a video from WDBJ7 showing the construction of The Shooting Star. It is five minutes long and includes footage of the flooding of the facility and the aftermath.
The park began in 1920 with a segregated swimming pool. Within a few years, the land owners added rides. The swimming pool use ended in 1967 but the rides remained. The pool was filled in so that the new roller coaster, The Shooting Star, could be constructed.
Lakeside was a summer destination for many families in our area until it closed in 1986. The park was flooded in 1985, and while it reopened briefly after repairs, it was not able to survive the flood and then a lawsuit that resulted from the death of a grounds worker after the reopening.
I visited Lakeside numerous times as a child, with my parents and also without them, and as a teenager I ventured to the park to listen to entertainers who played at the Pavilion there. I seem to recall hearing Conway Twitty, Loretta Lynn ( maybe?) and a few other country singers there, including Juice Newton who was popular at the time.
I remember bumper cars, cotton candy, throwing up from the Tilt-a-Whirl (I wasn't the only one), the Sky Lift, which went over the parking lot and gave an intriguing view of the area, a miniature train, a super slide (which would burn your legs if you wore shorts and slide down it in the summer), the Ferris wheel, a carousel, and an arcade area of some type.
The Lakeside Room at the museum has a huge miniature of the roller coaster along with lots of photos and other memorabilia.
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| The model of The Shooting Star roller coaster. |
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| Not only did this bring back memories, I was also fascinated by the detail and design of this model. |
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| A horse from the carousel. |
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| Pennants, postcards, photos and other items about Lakeside Amusement Park. |
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| A close of the Sky Lift (my favorite ride) and the Shooting Star. |
Friday, May 26, 2017
The Salem Museum
I took a little tour of the Salem Museum last weekend while I was attending the Read Local event. The museum is attractive, with exhibits set up with enough space so that you can actually see them.
There are many items on the walls, some of which I could not see because of the Read Local event, but nevertheless I enjoyed my visit.
Here are few items of note:
The Salem Museum also has an entire room set aside for Lakeside Amusement Park. I shall save that for another post.
There are many items on the walls, some of which I could not see because of the Read Local event, but nevertheless I enjoyed my visit.
Here are few items of note:
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| Intriguing artwork. |
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| I think this was from a collection donated by a local family. I didn't take notes about any of this. |
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| Interesting jewelry. |
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| Old spinning wheel. |
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| A large dollhouse built by a Salem man. I was quite intrigued with the detail as I have always been a fan of miniature items. |
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| An antique wheelchair. |
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| Andrew Lewis. He was a Revolutionary War hero who settled in the Salem area in the mid-1700s. Salem has at least one school named after him. He is buried in Salem. |
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| An 1821 map of Botetourt County, which interested me for numerous reasons. At that time Salem was part of Botetourt County (I think). |
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| An overview of the many photos and displays where one might spend a great deal of time. |
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| I wanted to take the Valley Dale pigs home with me. I remember watching the commercials when I was growing up. Plus, my grandmother and my great-aunt both worked there when they were young. |
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| This room was roped off; it appeared to be full of antiques. |
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| More of the roped-off room. |
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| This silver tea set was in the window of the roped-off room. I thought it beautiful. |
The Salem Museum also has an entire room set aside for Lakeside Amusement Park. I shall save that for another post.
Tuesday, March 14, 2017
Tommy Emannuel at The Harvester
Friday night my husband and I went to see Tommy Emmanuel perform at The Harvester Performance Center in Rocky Mount. He is a guitar player.
The Harvester
The Harvester Performed Center is about an hour and 15 minute drive for us if the traffic is light. This was the first time we had been to a show there. The Harvester seats 460 people - Tommy Emmanuel had a sold-out show. Some performances offer "gold seats," which basically means you get to sit anywhere you want in the first 10 rows. We had those and it was worth the extra money.
The chairs are very comfortable; however, the sides are not slanted toward the stage and the best seats therefore are in the middle of the venue. There are only a few poles to block views and the aisles were comfortably wide.
You can buy beer and wine inside ("adult beverages"), along with bottled water and a few things to eat. There was some kind of food truck parked outside for the early arrivals.
Parking, however, is not readily available and I saw no handicapped parking spots whatsoever. We found something close because we arrived at 6:20 and the doors opened at 7:00 p.m.; even then, there was already a line at the door. Most of the parking is on-street or perhaps a bank parking lot; there is a note on the venue's website that notes a few places will have your car towed if you park there.
The sound was great; the acoustics were good even though we were sitting to one side of the stage.
Tommy Emmanuel
I have been watching youtube videos of this guy for a while now. He is a fingerstyle guitarist who bills himself as a one-man band. He beats on his guitar for the drums, place the base notes on the upper two strings with his thumb, and managed to do the rhythm and melody lines all at the same time.
I have never seen anyone play guitar like he does. Here is a video of his version of Classical Gas, which seems to be his signature song. The crowd broke into applause and cheers as soon as he started it.
Emmanuel has been a soloist for a long time, but in the 1970s and 80s, he was a "sessions" guitarist (played on records of multiple bands/singers) and he toured at one time with Tina Turner.
Because I am still on the media/release lists, I had earlier received a press release request from Mr. Emmanuel's publicist. She sent me these stats:
We were not supposed to take photos but I had my Nikon Coolpix 3200S with me. (I have never been very good at following the rules, I'm afraid.) I hid the lighting from the back viewer on the camera with a piece of paper so I am lucky I managed to get any pictures at all, since I was basically guessing at the shot since I couldn't see what I was aiming at, but I did take a few that turned out OK.
The only quibble I had with the show was near the end, when he took out a drum brush and was showing how he used the microphone and guitar as percussion instruments. During this time, the lighting switched off and on to each beat, and I knew as soon as he began to speed up that this was not something I could watch. Lighting like that sets off migraines (and epileptic seizures in some people) so I shut my eyes and eventually had to take off my glasses and cover them completely with my hands because I could still see the lights going off and on through my closed eyelids. It is frustrating to run into things like this because people either are not aware of sensitivities like that or don't care. I was glad I realized what was happening before I ended up with a major headache.
He played for about two hours, doing a wide range of songs, including the first time I'd ever heard The Entertainer by Scott Joplin played on guitar instead of piano. Many of the tunes were his own arrangements.
Joe Robinson
Joe Robinson is a young man that Tommy Emmanuel is mentoring. He opened the show.
Here's a video of him playing and singing:
He was an excellent guitar player, too, though I had a hard time understanding the words to his songs. I don't know if that was because of where I was sitting or because I have slow southern ears.
He liked to do tricks, like play two guitars at a time:
He could lose the hat, I think.
All in all, an enjoyable evening. Will I ever play like that? I doubt it. I'm 53 years old and have let too much time slip through my fingers, literally. But maybe I can get a little better . . . if I practice.
The Harvester
The Harvester Performed Center is about an hour and 15 minute drive for us if the traffic is light. This was the first time we had been to a show there. The Harvester seats 460 people - Tommy Emmanuel had a sold-out show. Some performances offer "gold seats," which basically means you get to sit anywhere you want in the first 10 rows. We had those and it was worth the extra money.
The chairs are very comfortable; however, the sides are not slanted toward the stage and the best seats therefore are in the middle of the venue. There are only a few poles to block views and the aisles were comfortably wide.
You can buy beer and wine inside ("adult beverages"), along with bottled water and a few things to eat. There was some kind of food truck parked outside for the early arrivals.
Parking, however, is not readily available and I saw no handicapped parking spots whatsoever. We found something close because we arrived at 6:20 and the doors opened at 7:00 p.m.; even then, there was already a line at the door. Most of the parking is on-street or perhaps a bank parking lot; there is a note on the venue's website that notes a few places will have your car towed if you park there.
The sound was great; the acoustics were good even though we were sitting to one side of the stage.
 |
| The Harvester stage prior to the show. |
Tommy Emmanuel
I have been watching youtube videos of this guy for a while now. He is a fingerstyle guitarist who bills himself as a one-man band. He beats on his guitar for the drums, place the base notes on the upper two strings with his thumb, and managed to do the rhythm and melody lines all at the same time.
I have never seen anyone play guitar like he does. Here is a video of his version of Classical Gas, which seems to be his signature song. The crowd broke into applause and cheers as soon as he started it.
Emmanuel has been a soloist for a long time, but in the 1970s and 80s, he was a "sessions" guitarist (played on records of multiple bands/singers) and he toured at one time with Tina Turner.
Because I am still on the media/release lists, I had earlier received a press release request from Mr. Emmanuel's publicist. She sent me these stats:
• He is arguably the greatest living acoustic guitarist. Known for his unique fingerstyle playing, he frequently threads three different parts simultaneously into his material, operating as a one-man band who handles the melody, the supporting chords and the bass all at once.
• Has been nominated for two GRAMMY Awards, and two ARIA Awards from the Australian Recording Industry Association
• One of only 5 guitarists in the world who was named a Certified Guitar Player by guitar legend Chet Atkins
• Has averaged over 300 shows per year all over the world, including sold out shows in North America, Australia, Europe, South America, and Asia, including recent tours in Russia and China
• Voted “Favorite Acoustic Guitarist” in both Guitar Player Magazine and Acoustic Guitar Magazine reader polls
• YouTube channel has over 31,000,000 views and 192,000+ subscribers
We were not supposed to take photos but I had my Nikon Coolpix 3200S with me. (I have never been very good at following the rules, I'm afraid.) I hid the lighting from the back viewer on the camera with a piece of paper so I am lucky I managed to get any pictures at all, since I was basically guessing at the shot since I couldn't see what I was aiming at, but I did take a few that turned out OK.
 |
| Getting ready to head into Classical Gas (I think). |
 |
| Doing a little singing. He also told jokes. |
The only quibble I had with the show was near the end, when he took out a drum brush and was showing how he used the microphone and guitar as percussion instruments. During this time, the lighting switched off and on to each beat, and I knew as soon as he began to speed up that this was not something I could watch. Lighting like that sets off migraines (and epileptic seizures in some people) so I shut my eyes and eventually had to take off my glasses and cover them completely with my hands because I could still see the lights going off and on through my closed eyelids. It is frustrating to run into things like this because people either are not aware of sensitivities like that or don't care. I was glad I realized what was happening before I ended up with a major headache.
He played for about two hours, doing a wide range of songs, including the first time I'd ever heard The Entertainer by Scott Joplin played on guitar instead of piano. Many of the tunes were his own arrangements.
Joe Robinson
Joe Robinson is a young man that Tommy Emmanuel is mentoring. He opened the show.
Here's a video of him playing and singing:
He was an excellent guitar player, too, though I had a hard time understanding the words to his songs. I don't know if that was because of where I was sitting or because I have slow southern ears.
He liked to do tricks, like play two guitars at a time:
 |
| Joe Robinson playing acoustic and electric guitars simultaneously. |
All in all, an enjoyable evening. Will I ever play like that? I doubt it. I'm 53 years old and have let too much time slip through my fingers, literally. But maybe I can get a little better . . . if I practice.
Friday, December 02, 2016
Remembering Lakeside
Last night the local PBS had a documentary on Lakeside Amusement Park in Salem, VA.
I visited the amusement park many times as a child and a teenager. I think the last time I went, I was 19. Then this area had a major flood in 1985 and the amusement park went underwater. It never recovered and now the land houses a retail area.
The park opened in 1920 with a large football-sized segregated swimming pool. In time, it changed hands and ride attractions were added, such as a roller coaster (there were two; I only knew the last one, The Shooting Star).
These were the times when my mother could drop us off with my 14-year-old uncle (I would have been nine) and let us roam free. The uncle (her brother) would of course ditch me, my brother, and my other young uncle as soon as he could, leaving us to fend for ourselves amongst the rides and the pavilion.
I suppose it was here that I learned to love cotton candy and the huckster games that one finds at carnivals.
I recall riding The Shooting Star only twice. I was never a fan of the rides that made me sick. I was more of a Merry-Go-Round or bumper cars type of kid.
I did like the skyline, though, which circumvented the park. The long trip around the complex was relaxing, if not a little scary, and it was as if you could see the world from up there. That was a big deal when you were a kid.
After I received my driver's license, I would go to Lakeside with friends (even when I wasn't supposed). We loved to sneak into concerts and there I heard Juice Newton, Merle Haggard, Loretta Lynn (I think) and many other country and pop stars. We were under age but security apparently was not that good, because we never had any trouble getting into the shows. They were held in a pavilion area.
The documentary should be available for purchase at the local PBS station at some point. They were hawking it last night during the show, so I assume it will be available to the general public.
I visited the amusement park many times as a child and a teenager. I think the last time I went, I was 19. Then this area had a major flood in 1985 and the amusement park went underwater. It never recovered and now the land houses a retail area.
The park opened in 1920 with a large football-sized segregated swimming pool. In time, it changed hands and ride attractions were added, such as a roller coaster (there were two; I only knew the last one, The Shooting Star).
These were the times when my mother could drop us off with my 14-year-old uncle (I would have been nine) and let us roam free. The uncle (her brother) would of course ditch me, my brother, and my other young uncle as soon as he could, leaving us to fend for ourselves amongst the rides and the pavilion.
I suppose it was here that I learned to love cotton candy and the huckster games that one finds at carnivals.
I recall riding The Shooting Star only twice. I was never a fan of the rides that made me sick. I was more of a Merry-Go-Round or bumper cars type of kid.
I did like the skyline, though, which circumvented the park. The long trip around the complex was relaxing, if not a little scary, and it was as if you could see the world from up there. That was a big deal when you were a kid.
After I received my driver's license, I would go to Lakeside with friends (even when I wasn't supposed). We loved to sneak into concerts and there I heard Juice Newton, Merle Haggard, Loretta Lynn (I think) and many other country and pop stars. We were under age but security apparently was not that good, because we never had any trouble getting into the shows. They were held in a pavilion area.
The documentary should be available for purchase at the local PBS station at some point. They were hawking it last night during the show, so I assume it will be available to the general public.
Thursday, August 04, 2016
Thursday Thirteen: Canning Companies
Back in the late 1800s and early 1900s, local farmers had canneries. At one time in my area there were nearly 200 canneries. Most of them put up tomatoes. Around 1919, this area was the second-largest tomato-production area in the nation (a county in Maryland was first).A blight came through and killed much of the tomato crop, and in so doing made the ground unproductive for tomatoes (even today it is hard to grow tomatoes here). The blight crushed the industry, and those who survived the blight then suffered after World War II from government regulations as big farming and packaging companies took over and put the smaller farming industries out of business.
The Blue Ridge Institute and Museum in Ferrum, VA currently has a display of labels from these many companies. Each little cannery had it's own label for cans and packing crates. These labels are all from my little part of the world.
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| The labels were very colorful and unique. |
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| Each farmer created his own design and brand. |
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| Many of these family names can still be found in the area today. |
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| The labels described the product as "mountain grown" or used some other descriptive advertisement. |
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| This explains how the canneries grew and then collapsed. |
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| Farmers also grew and canned apples, sweet potatoes, and other fruits and vegetables. |
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| This is what a cannery looked like. Many of these old buildings can still be found in the area. |
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| These labels were used on packing crates. |
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| A tree of cans with the labels still attached. Each one is different. |
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| Three local cans from my community. |
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| The collection is on display courtesy of Mr. Charlie Woods, who has generously donated his collection to the Blue Ridge Institute. |
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| Many of the labels were made in nearby Bedford by the Piedmont Label Company. It is still in business under another name. |
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