Chris Martin

On a winter night I heard horses on a country road

Tue, 22 May 2012 22:42:22 -0400

As for me, who came from Ireland, among other places, I hope someone reads this from the end of “The Ginger Man” by J.P. Donleavy, a classic of Irish-American literature, at my funeral:

He was walking down the slope side of the bridge past this this broken building, a straight dark figure and stranger. Come here till I tell you. Where is the sea high and the winds soft and moist and warm, sometimes stained with sun, with peace so wild for wishing where all is told and telling. On a winter night I heard horses on a country road, beating sparks out of the stones. I knew they were running away and would be crossing the fields where the pounding would come up into my ears. And I said they are running out to death which is with some soul and their eyes mad and teeth out.

Gods mercy

On the wild

Ginger Man.

Goodbye to my step stone

Tue, 22 May 2012 21:01:07 -0400

In a way, mother was my stepstone, always there, so her death is hard to deal with. I know a woman in her twenties whose mother died recently, so I suppose I should be grateful that she was with us for so long. It must be even harder for someone in that situation. There have been studies that any kind of significant life event takes its toll. Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook may be smart but it probably wasn’t a good idea for him to have Facebook roll out its IPO and get married at the same time. Don’t be surprised if he gets sick.

From a Woody Guthrie adaptation of a Dust Bowl anthem

I stood on the stepstone when school days was over
And longed for the time to go by,
Now that it’s gone I stand here tonight
To bid this old stepstone goodbye.

Goodbye to my stepstone, goodbye to my home,
God bless the ones that I leave with a sigh;
Fields will be whitening
And I will be gone to ramble this wide world alone.

I stand on my stepstone at eventide now,
The wind whistles by with a moan;
How did it start and I stand here tonight,
Good bye to my stepstone and home.

Goodbye to my stepstone, goodbye to my home,
God bless the ones that I leave with a sigh;
Fields will be whitening
And I will be gone to ramble this wide world alone.

It’s hard to be parted from those that we love,
When reverses in fortune have come;
The world’s strongest heart strings have broken in twain,
By the absence of loved ones and home.

Goodbye to my stepstone, goodbye to my home,
God bless the ones that I leave with a sigh;
Fields will be whitening
And I will be gone to ramble this wide world alone.
Beautiful song, but as is usual, a lot of people were chatting and not paying attention.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMqDY9ZEANg

Speaking of seismic shifts, it was somehow fitting that the same time mother died, Warren Buffett bought The Richmond Times-Dispatch. No doubt this will result in big changes in Richmond. I don’t have the same faith in the financial resilience of papers that Buffett does, but he can afford to run newspapers as a hobby or a philanthropy. The scumbags who ran it for years managed to exit without ever apologizing for their role in promoting Massive Resistance. To borrow a phrase, in their hearts they’re still convinced they’re right. In a way, they were just continuing a tradition that goes back centuries.

http://www.styleweekly.com/richmond/poisoned-pen/Content?oid=1373092

In some kind of karmic justice, James J. Kilpatrick, the point man for the Richmond newspapers in defending segregation and racial inferiority, received a severe beating at the hands of muggers later in his life.

I once came across the personal papers of Lathan Mims, who was Harry Byrd’s campaign manager and publisher of the Byrd newspaper in Harrisonburg at the Alderman Library at the University of Virginia. The archivist processing them dryly noted that they had been heavily redacted. Damn straight. Byrd, of course, was another architects of Massive Resistance.

“Mims was the former editor of the Harrisonburg Daily News-Record, owned by the Byrd family, and a political adviser and confidant of United States Senator Byrd. He helped Byrd in his first Senate campaign in 1966, when he ran on the Democratic ticket, and managed Byrd’s successful re-election bids in 1970 and 1976, which Byrd won as an independent. An obituary for Mims can be found in the control folder.”

Mims was a passenger in a car driven by Harry Byrd Jr. which struck and killed a James Madison University student.

From Wikipedia: Byrd served as Chairman of the Board of The Winchester Star that has been owned by the family for more than 100 years until 1990, and did not hire an African-American reporter until 2000.
I knew a Democratic politician who went up to Winchester to get Byrd’s blessing to run for the House of Representatives. Byrd was drunk. He described him as a nasty old man, which was mother’s description of J. Edgar Hoover, another racist with his hands on the levers of power. Mother worked for Hoover’s urologist.

All of this is worthy of an American version of “One Hundred Years of Solitude.”

Wikipedia: As nineteenth century Colombians explored, described, and colonized their interior, they mapped racial hierarchy onto an emerging national geography composed of distinct localities and regions. This created a racialized discourse of regional differentiation that assigned greater morality and progress to certain regions that they marked as “white”. Meanwhile, those places defined as “black” and “Indian” were associated with disorder, backwardness, and danger; technology and modernization became associated with race.

But things do change, and as John Lee Hooker noted in the album “Hooker ‘n’ Heat” in 1971, the old order passeth away:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2Ug8ia3kfU

I have learned from my sister that my father has dementia. Fortunately, he’s getting top-notch care. Thanks to our dog-eat-dog health care system, not everyone can say that. I occasionally go to a convenience store up the street. The clerk there must be the owner or a lifer because I remember him from six years ago when I volunteered for Jim Webb. He asked me what I thought of Obama after four years. I told him he was better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick or Mitt Romney. I told him Romney and his ilk would have him on a gurney, harvesting him for organs, if they thought they could get away with it. Nothing personal, just business.

Fair Trade Fashion Show TODAY in Carytown

Sat, 28 Apr 2012 10:41:08 -0400

wotbn:

Fair Trade Fashion Show Introducing our new spring/summer Fair Trade clothing lines for men, women and children from producers in Ghana, India, Indonesia, and Nepal. Modern designs. Natural Materials. Real People.

TODAY 4-7PM
3201 West Cary Street

Original Article

Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, Underworld: Awakening this week at the Byrd

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 07:23:05 -0400

wotbn:

Journey 2: The Mysterious Island and Underworld: Awakening are the features this week at the Byrd.

Original Article

Steve Zahn to host first-ever Laff Hat open mic Thursday

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 10:48:28 -0400

Photo by CB Wilkins

Steve Zahn is an upstart comic who continues to work his way into the Richmond comedy scene, appearing regularly at many of Richmond’s open mic nights. Outside of comedy, Steve can normally be found in restaurants, mainly because he works in one. Best known for falling off of a stage once at Cozzy’s Comedy Club in Newport News, VA, he has gotten back up and continued his journey towards developing as a comedian. His dreams include being able to out-eat Man V. Food host, Adam Richman and to make it to the grand stage in comedy and not fall off it. You can find him on Twitter @buffetbandit8 and facebook.com/szahn2.

Laff Hut’s inaugural open mic night. This is not your typical setting for an open mic. The Shop is a performing arts venue with seating for 90+, so please promote this show. We want to fill every seat. Bring friends, bring family, bring neighbors, bring people you don’t even know!

Sign-up for comics begins at 7 pm and the show starts at 8. Show up and you go up. If you show up later, you go up later. First come, first served. There is no save-a-spot. There are no floaters. It does a disservice to the comics who take the time and trouble to arrive on time. Don’t call, email or ask your brother’s dentist for reservations. We don’t have time to keep track. The MC for this show will be Steve Zahn. Help us get a new comedy room going. We look forward to seeing you there.

Stand-up comics: don’t demean, harass, humiliate or embarrass members of the audience while on stage. We are here to fill seats, not empty them. The audience is here to watch a show, not be a part of the show. Similarly, don’t demean, harass, humiliate or embarrass other comics during your set. Save your alpha dog BS for other venues. If you violate these rules, you will get hit with the light.

The show will be streamed live on the Internet. Showing up and signing up constitutes your permission to stream your set on the Internet. (Don’t worry, no one will be watching.)

The Shop is at 0 East 4th Street, off Hull St, just over the Mayo Bridge in the Plant Zero Arts Center in the Manchester district of Richmond. There is a free parking lot located behind The Shop as well as street parking (Turn on to East Fourth Street, make the first right and you will find The Shop’s parking lot) The big lot in front of The Shop is a pay-to-park lot.

CB Wilkins will MC second Laff Hut open mic

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 20:33:32 -0400

Laff Hut announces that Tidewater stand-up comedian CB Wilkins will MC the second stand-up comedy open mic at the Laff Hut 8 pm May 3 at The Shop in the Artspace Annex at Plant Zero, Manchester district, Richmond, VA.

CB Wilkins’ neurotic, ranting, cathartic comedy style has earned him a hometown following In Virginia Beach, and afforded him many opportunities to appear all over the East Coast. After his first road gig as a comic, he spotted Bigfoot on the side of a North Carolina highway.

In addition to his comedy career, CB is a screenwriter, film producer, and actor, a baseball blogger, and an author, with his debut novel, “Four-A”, garnering praise for its accurate portrayal of life in Minor League baseball. His debut comedy CD, “I’m A Bear! Raaaaaaaar!”, was released in January of 2012. Follow him on Twitter @cbwilkinstweets.

As with Chris Martin’s other projects, we launch the web...

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 09:14:34 -0400

As with Chris Martin’s other projects, we launch the web site for Laff Hut, just as MTV did, with the video of The Buggles’ “Video Killed the Radio Star.”

Hello, world

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 09:09:42 -0400

Testing one, two, three. The web site for Laff Hut, Richmond, Virginia’s newest comedy venue, is now on line.

Why EC=BC: Emergency Contraception is a Form of Birth Control

Wed, 28 Mar 2012 12:23:04 -0400

Why EC=BC: Emergency Contraception is a Form of Birth Control:

ecequalsbc:

An article by Andrea Miller - president of NARAL Pro-Choice New York and the National Institute for Reproductive Health - on emergency contraception, published as part of RH Reality Check’s 2012 Back Up Your Birth Control series.

ecequalsbc: Submit your own EC=BC image here!Learn more about...

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 03:13:44 -0400

ecequalsbc:

Submit your own EC=BC image here!

Learn more about EC. Visit BackUpYourBirthControl.org

yesterdaysmeme: If you know when this episode is airing tell me

Sat, 24 Mar 2012 22:22:12 -0400

yesterdaysmeme:

If you know when this episode is airing tell me

spdracerx: cutlerish: Guess whose HQ I am passing by. This is...

Sat, 24 Mar 2012 13:40:15 -0400

spdracerx:

cutlerish:

Guess whose HQ I am passing by.

This is perfect.

This could save someone. Just by you reblogging it.

Sat, 10 Mar 2012 23:59:55 -0500

Depression Hotline: 1-630-482-9696

Suicide Hotline: 1-800-784-8433

LifeLine: 1-800-273-8255

Trevor Project: 1-866-488-7386

Sexuality Support: 1-800-246-7743

Eating Disorders Hotline: 1-847-831-3438

Rape and Sexual Assault: 1-800-656-4673

Grief Support: 1-650-321-5272

Runaway: 1-800-843-5200, 1-800-843-5678, 1-800-621-4000

Exhale: After Abortion Hotline/Pro-Voice: 1-866-4394253

thelustylibra: Romina Power- born Oct 2

Sun, 04 Mar 2012 08:27:42 -0500

thelustylibra:

Romina Power-
born Oct 2

neighborhoodr-richmond: In case you missed Tim Bereika and...

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 11:49:38 -0500

neighborhoodr-richmond:

In case you missed Tim Bereika and Collin Wagner’s pop up restaurant named “Meddle” in Church Hill’s Roosevelt space Sunday or Monday night, Ploafmaster has a write-up on the food and the event.

Louis C.K.’s lesson for marketers: Honesty is the best strategy

Sun, 08 Jan 2012 03:21:23 -0500

Louis C.K.’s lesson for marketers: Honesty is the best strategy:

Comedian Louis C.K. recently self-released a video of his stand-up special, “Live at the Beacon Theater,” for $5 online. He personally paid for the production costs up front in an experiment to see if this was a cheaper, more efficient, and less restrictive method of getting his content to his fans. In doing so, he cut out paying the middlemen — including the marketing team — and avoided the red tape of working with studio executives.

RT @Connect804: 5th Annual Polar Plunge at Pony Pasture: See the photos of the 5th Annual Polar...

Mon, 02 Jan 2012 08:27:27 -0500

RT @Connect804: 5th Annual Polar Plunge at Pony Pasture: See the photos of the 5th Annual Polar Plunge into the James River on N… http …

The Mentalist is so perceptive he can actually tell the difference between Ryan Secrest and Carson...

Sun, 01 Jan 2012 02:42:57 -0500

The Mentalist is so perceptive he can actually tell the difference between Ryan Secrest and Carson Daly. #HappyNewYear

Why doesn’t Mitt Romney complain about Down Under actresses like Yvonne Strahovski and Anna...

Fri, 30 Dec 2011 21:21:58 -0500

Why doesn’t Mitt Romney complain about Down Under actresses like Yvonne Strahovski and Anna Torv taking good American jobs? #Chuck #Fringe

Sweden’s bizarre tradition of watching Donald Duck cartoons on Christmas Eve. - Slate...

Mon, 26 Dec 2011 06:28:41 -0500

Sweden’s bizarre tradition of watching Donald Duck cartoons on Christmas Eve. - Slate http://t.co/t8eW6Pc3