Richmond Magazine: Rattle and Hum

All my rowdy friends are coming to Richmond, Virginia... for Electric Football. 

My Richmond Magazine feature article on the big 2015 Electric Football Championships and Convention -- and an accompanying art show on the tabletop sport at Richmond's ADA Gallery -- has been posted online. 

Ah, electric football. This once-frustrating electro-magnetic board game has been turned into a fast-paced competitive sport and thriving subculture by a new generation of 'ballers. And the best and the baddest from Electric Football leagues across the nation will be on hand to compete for bragging rights in host city Richmond on the weekend of July 31-August 2nd. The special art show will run throughout the month of August.

Read the article (and vibrate) by clicking here  

Find out more about the big Electric Football tournament in Richmond (a.k.a. Humfest) by clicking here.

Learn about the cool Electric Football show at ADA Gallery (and the art of modifying your bases) by clicking here.

(Photo by the mighty John Pollard!)

Virginia Living Magazine: Slick's Historic Hot Rod

Slick Patterson's 1951 roadster was the first known custom-built car ever made in Virginia. But what happened to it? 

Now online: My Virginia Living Magazine feature story on Virginia's first "hot rod" and how it was rediscovered and recently restored to full, beautiful Caribbean Coral-painted glory by folklorist Roddy Moore (from the Blue Ridge Institute at Ferrum College) and a team of gear-jamming experts. 

Take the article for a spin by traveling right here. 

And for more on Moore and the Blue Ridge Institute (which is the state center for Blue Ridge folklore) go right here. 

It should be noted -- for full disclosure -- that I have worked with Moore and the fine BRI staff on past projects, including VIrginia Rocks!, a CD box set and traveling museum that examined early rock 'n' roll and rockabilly music in Virginia.

(Also, don't forget to pick up the July-August print edition of Virginia Living -- on newsstands now -- so you can also read my separate feature on Surrey's historic Bacon's Castle.) 

Photo above by the mighty Sam Dean! Photo below courtesy of the Patterson family!

Coastal Virginia Magazine: Major and the Monbacks

It's time for some "old school party pop." 

My feature article on Norfolk's Major and the Monbacks has been published in the July issue of Coastal Virginia Magazine and is now online. The eight-piece Monbacks released a great new debut CD in May and are currently on tour with their high-octane live show. 

Get a dose of today's "Norfolk Sound" by reading the feature article, which can be found right here.

And for more on the band, their tour and the debut album, go here.

(Photo by the mighty Karla Espino!)

Richmond Magazine: Changing Reels

Is Richmond, Virginia becoming a film town? 

"Changing Reels," my latest feature for Richmond Magazine takes a look at all aspects of indigenous cinema in and around the city -- the outside productions, the hometown filmmakers, the growing number of film festivals, everything but the rising cost of popcorn.  

You'll want to get the June print edition of the magazine for the full spread (including the excellent accompanying feature by Harry Kollatz Jr. on the art of being a movie extra) but the article is available online by clicking right here. 

(Photo by the mighty Ash Daniel!)

Coastal Virginia Magazine: Roll Tides

Spit, rub a little dirt on your hands, and dig into my history of the Norfolk Tides, published in the latest issue of Coastal Virginia Magazine. 

The Triple-A baseball team and Baltimore Orioles affiliate -- once associated with the New York Mets and called the Tidewater Tides -- has seen a slew of legendary players and managers pass through its dugout in the past 50+ years: Mookie Wilson, Darryl Strawberry, Dwight Gooden, Bruce Bochy and more. 

Catch it by clicking right here. 

And for more on the Norfolk Tides, slide it over here. 

(Photo by the mighty Les Treagus.)

On the Radio: Open Source RVA and Radio Wowsville

I don't often plug them on this blog but my two radio shows, Open Source RVA and Radio Wowsville, are still going strong. And there have been some exciting changes of late.

Radio Wowsville, the music show that I program with Colin "Brother Breakdown" Powell, can be heard every Sunday night at 11PM on WTJU 91.1 FM in Charlottesville. The freeform, "anything goes" music program will celebrate its 20th anniversary this summer (what a long, strange trip it's been). And now you can hear the Wow (along with other great WTJU music shows, as well as content from Virginia Commonwealth University's radio station) in the Ashland / Richmond area on WHAN 102.9 FM. Of course, you can tune in on the net from anywhere by clicking right here, and you can listen to past broadcasts of Radio Wowsville by going right here and clicking on the Sunday menu. You really should.

Open Source RVA, the weekly news-talk program that I co-host with journalist Chris Dovi, can now be heard at a new time on WRIR 97.3 FM in Richmond: Friday afternoons at 2PM. You early risers can also catch a rebroadcast of the program on Sunday mornings at 7AM, and it is available online by going to this spot. You can hear previously-aired Open Source RVA programs by clicking here. Open Source RVA is WRIR's omnibus news hour, where we talk to area newsmakers, politicians, non-profit leaders, community activists, artists, advocates and other members of the community.

Yes, I have been told that I have a very good face for radio. 

Richmond Magazine: Interview with Carol Piersol

Here's another one that has been in the printed world for a spell and is now available online: my Richmond Magazine interview with award-winning theater director Carol Piersol.

Piersol, who had a controversial exit from Richmond's trailblazing Firehouse Theatre, which she co-founded and ran for years, is now the artistic director and founder of the 5th Wall Theatre Company. She takes the helm for a 5th Wall production of Jennifer Blackmer's "The Human Terrain" starting March 19 at HattTheatre.

To read the interview, make an entrance here.

And for more on Piersol's 5th Wall Theatre company, and to get tickets for "The Human Terrain," hit your mark here.

Photo by the mighty Jay Paul!