Take the Tour with Open Source RVA

It's Friday... and that means it's time for another episode of Open Source RVA.

On today's installment of WRIR's weekly news digest, we talk with Chris Maxwell and Cary Houseman about co-housing opportunities in Richmond, and present a frank discussion with former school board member Carol Wolf about the recently-released SOL test scores. We will also speak with Gregg Kimball of the Library of Virginia about the forthcoming WRIR Musical History Tour, a walking tour designed to educate about the city's prime musical hotspots and noteworthy musical figures (such as the great Bill "Bojangles" Robinson, pictured) from the past.

And there's so much more. Grab your ears and join us today at 4 PM on WRIR 97.3 FM, or log on at WRIR.org.

Open Source RVA is on the money!

It's the fundraising edition of Open Source RVA, on WRIR 97.3 FM.

Today's edition of Open Source RVA features a freewheeling discussion about the forthcoming Richmond Folk Festival, set to kick off on Oct. 12. We also present the second part in our series on Virginia's new abortion clinic regulations. And so much more.

The community-supported WRIR is in the middle of its fund drive. If you listen to and enjoy the station's daily news and talk programming -- including locally-produced shows like Open Source RVA -- call in your pledge at 649-9737 or give online.

Join us at 4PM today on WRIR 97.3FM and WRIR.org.

Open Source RVA: Aug. 17, 2012 Podcast

More housecleaning at Open Source RVA.

This still-timely episode of WRIR's weekly news digest features a conversation about bike safety concerns in the wake of the cycling death of Lanie Kruszewski, and a discussion about Shockoe Bottom baseball with city council candidate Charles Diradour and Venture Richmond's Jack Berry. We also present the much-requested first half of our two-part segment about Richmond's highest-in-the-nation water utility fee. Charles Pool from the Sierra Club Falls of the James group joins us for that.

It's a blast from the past that's a feast for your ears!

Click here to listen to the Aug. 17 edition of Open Source RVA. (Yeah, yeah, we know it says that it's the Aug. 31 episode, but it's not. Our interns have been spanked for the error).

And here are all of the Open Source RVA podcasts that are currently posted, with more to come from the archives:

Sept. 14 - Abortion clinics, open government, Mayoral candidate Michael Ryan

Sept. 7 -  The Route 5 controversy

Aug. 31 - A.V. Norrell's reopening, Richmond's Head Start program

Aug. 24 - Regional transportation, Water Rates Pt. 2, the Art Deco Society

Aug. 17 - Bike safety, Water rates pt. 1, baseball in the Bottom

Open Source RVA: Sept. 7, 2012 Podcast

Playing catch up with the podcasts on Open Source RVA.

In the Sept. 7 episode of WRIR's weekly news digest, we present a frank and lively discussion about the fate of Route 5 with Charles Gates from the Richmond Regional Planning District Commission and Nicole Anderson Ellis, director of the Henricocopolis Soil and Water Conservation District Board.

Is this historic passage worthy of rural preservation or is it fated to be a highway to progress for developers?

Click here to listen to the Sept. 7, 2012 edition of Open Source RVA.

... and we've got more to come from the OSRVA archives. 'Bout dang time, right?

Open Source RVA: Sept. 14, 2012 Podcast

The Sept. 14 broadcast of Open Source RVA, WRIR's weekly audio news digest, features an interview with Richmond mayoral candidate Mike Ryan and a talk with the candidate's lawyer Paul Goldman about Ryan's successful attempt to get on the November ballot. We also speak with open government crusader C. Wayne Taylor about a new petition that calls for city government to be more transparent, and we talk with Victoria Cobb of the Family Foundation of Virginia about why her conservative organization believes new restrictions on abortion clinics are justified. And more!

Click here to download / listen to the Sept. 14, 2012 edition of Open Source RVA.

And, yes, we are currently working on posting a podcast of the JAM-PACKED Sept. 7 program. It was so much show that it won't stop crashing our computers. As they say, stay tuned!

Back Again in Virginia Living Magazine

They say you can never go home again, but that’s not quite true in the media game. After weeks of intense negotiations (not really) with managing editor Erin Parkhurst, I’m going to be returning to the eye-grabbing pages of Virginia Living Magazine as a contributing editor, feature writer and columnist starting with the Nov. 2012 edition.

I was what you’d call a regular in the bi-monthly magazine’s pages from 2004 to 2008, working with the stellar likes of editor Garland Pollard, copy editor Tina Ennulat and art director Tyler Darden, not to mention great artists such as Kelly Alder. In addition to many feature articles – like this profile of Norfolk R&B legend Gene Barge (pictured) -- I also contributed a regular column on the music-makers of Virginia. I always liked the wide-angle focus of the Virginia music column and I’m excited to be back on the beat.   

Things have changed at VL since I was last there – it has added a vastly-improved website and there’s a whole new editorial team, including Erin Parkhurst, art director Sonda Andersson Pappan and editors Daryl Grove and Lisa Antonelli Bacon (a fellow 64 magazine alumnus). Author Dean King is also going to begin writing a regular VL column.  So I guess it’s time to order that subscription.

And hear ye, hear ye, performers and management of performers: Send in commercially available recordings to Virginia Living, c/o Music / Don Harrison, 109 E. Cary St., Richmond, Va. 23219. Or email me your music and download information at valivingmusic@gmail.com. While I can’t promise anybody anything, I also can’t write about it if I don’t know about it. Wasn’t that a James Brown song?

Here, at Kelly Alder’s excellent Popidiocy blog, you can read a comic book on the Jamestown Expo that Kelly and I created for Virginia Living.

Take a look at my Virginia Living article on Richmond gospel legend Maggie Ingram

Click here to read my VL feature article on artist Mark Cline, the man behind Foamhenge.

And here’s that interview with Gene “Daddy G” Barge again, in case you missed it the first time. Photo by the mighty Robb Scharetg

Listen to Open Source RVA on WRIR at 4PM!

On this week's episode of Open Source RVA, we talk to the Family Foundation of Virginia's Victoria Cobb on how today's ruling on new abortion clinic regulations may only be the opening round in a long fight. We'll also introduce you to Michael K. Ryan, the mayoral candidate who fought successfully to get on the November ballot to face Dwight Jones. And community activist C. Wayne Taylor will join us to discuss a new petition that seeks to make Richmond city government more transparent.

That, and much more, on Richmond's audio news digest. Listen in today (and every Friday) at 4 p.m. on WRIR 97.3 FM and WRIR.net.

Richmond Magazine: Single-Gender Studies

My feature article on the relevance of single-gender colleges has been posted to the Richmond Magazine website. The article, "Single-Gender Studies," is a part of the College Guide section in the magazine's current September issue (illustration by the mighty Arnel Reynon).

When Jo Ellen Parker hears the criticism that single-sex education doesn’t prepare young people for the real world, she has a ready response.

“I tell them that Hillary Clinton [Wellesley, ’69] attended a women’s college, and she seems to cope with the real world pretty well,” says Parker, the president of Sweet Briar College, which serves 760 female students in a bucolic campus setting near Lynchburg. “We can go down the list of prominent leaders who have gone to women’s colleges, and we can document from the outcomes that graduates can indeed cope with the real world — graduate school, politics, the arts — and do just fine.”

To read the rest of the feature article, click right here.

Radio Wowsville presents the WTJU Quiet Storm!

Procure the wine coolers, dim the lights, and curl up with your special lady or certain sir. It's time to turn the covers down and turn the radio up.

Yes, on tonight's episode of Radio Wowsville, there's going to be a WTJU Quiet Storm.

You know the kind of sonic cloudburst we mean: two hours of the best slow groovin', pelvic movin', smooch-behoovin' soul/funk classics, designed for intimacy and mixed for romance. Radio Wowsville's love doctors (damn right we're certified) will play sultry and steamy jams by the likes of Marvin Gaye, the Chi-Lites, the Delfonics, the Dells, Barry White, the Dramatics, the Floaters, Minnie Riperton, Isaac Hayes and, of course, Smokey Robinson.

Tell your special lady or certain sir that tonight is the night. Tune into WTJU 91.1 FM at 11 p.m -- or just click right here -- as we help to put you in an extended mix.

A stream of the WTJU Quiet Storm can also be heard after the show is over. Simply go to the station's bodacious tape vault and click "Radio Wowsville." 

Because sometimes you just want a good thing to last. And last. And last. Like the WTJU Quiet Storm.

On the Road Again with Open Source RVA!

Do a drive along with Open Source RVA today at 4 p.m.

Join co-hosts Chris Dovi, Amy Daniel and Don Harrison for a brand new episode of Richmond's audio news digest. On today's show, we will explore the ongoing controversy surrounding the proposed Route 5 corridor between Richmond and Williamsburg. We will also broadcast pt. 2 of our story on A.V. Norrell Elementary School, this time focusing on the proposed Head Start and Preschool programs that will be housed there. Last week, OSRVA took a hard look at the environmental concerns of kids moving back into that closed-down school location. We will also tell you about how a group of citizens is fighting to save the Westhampton Theatre.

All of that and more, starting at 4 p.m. on WRIR 97.3 FM and on the vast series of tubes at WRIR.org.

(... and to download a podcast of the Aug. 31 edition, do a click thing here. To take a listen to the Aug. 24 installment, put 'er right here.)

Open Source RVA: Aug. 31, 2012 Podcast

The Aug. 31 episode of Open Source RVA takes a look at the controversy surrounding the recent announcement that Richmond Public Schools will move children participating in the Headstart in Virginia preschool initative into A.V. Norrell School, a facility that was closed in 2001 because of serious environmental concerns.

Click here to download / listen to the Aug. 31, 2012 edition of Open Source RVA.

This installment of WRIR's weekly news digest features frank discussions about the environmental concerns, as well as the academic benefits, surrounding the move and the program. In the first interview, we are joined by  Vickie Oakley, the chief administrative officer for Richmond Public Schools, 2nd District school board member Kim Gray, and community leader Art Burton. We  also talk in detail about RPS' Head Start and Pre-School Inititive programs with Carolyn Tyler and Ron Robertson of Richmond Public Schools. Joining us again for that talk is Vickie Oakley.  For more on the controversy, click here.

Chris Dovi,  Amy Daniel and Don Harrison are the hosts. Jay Westermann is the producer. Gabi Schatzi is the associate producer.

The Aug. 24 edition of Open Source RVA is also available. Get it by clicking this spot.

And you can visit the new OSRVA Facebook page right here.