Photo(s) of the Day: Backyard Fashion Show

Sometimes the back yard is trip enough to discover the season's latest and brightest outfits. This morning, my cherry tree wore what you see--in the mist. Pretty stuff.

Steve Brown Named Music Director at Roanoke Public Radio

Steve Brown, new music director at WVTF

WVTF Public Radio in Roanoke  has named Steve Brown as its new music director. Since October 2011, Brown has been host of the weekday "Morning" and "Afternoon Classics" from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., “a lengthy announcing schedule by any broadcasting standards,” says WVTF Program Director Rick Mattioni.

In his role, Brown now programs all the classical music for the weekdays and Saturday afternoons. In addition, Brown updates the playlists that appear on the WVTF website and maintains the music library. He posts to the station’s Facebook page and takes calls from listeners. He is also the producer and host of the live broadcasts of the Roanoke Symphony Orchestra (RSO) and “Inside the Music” podcasts. He will also continue to serve as the director of public service announcements.

Before joining WVTF ub 2991, Brown worked in the Office of Sponsored Programs at Virginia Tech. Brown served 21 years in the U.S. Navy. During his time in the service he worked in broadcasting and served as a choir director. He also did a stint at WUWF Public Radio in Pensacola, Fla.

Brown is active in local theater and serves as associate conductor and unofficial composer in residence for the Blacksburg Community Band. His original body of work in music and theatrer includes five musicals, three plays, and hundreds of compositions that have been performed by orchestras and bands both locally around the world. He lives in Christiansburg with his wife, Maureen, and children.

Quote of the Day: Just Worn Out

"Sometimes I get as tired of writing about stupid zealots as you tire of reading about them. So I'm taking today off, even if Rush Limbaugh says something thoroughly outrageous or another Republican nutjob introduces another absurd bill. I'm tired."

--Dan Smith, blogmeister

A Brief Review of the Republican War on Women

Republican view of American womanhood of the future

Soraya Chemlay, writing here in the HuffingtonPost, takes a breath and pauses briefly to review the fast-occurring events of recent days wherein Republicans are attempting to re-define the rights of women in the United States by taking them away.

Almost everything being talked about in these 10 points is happening in states where Republicans have a majority in one or both general assembly houses or in the U.S. House of Representatives where Republicans rule. In Virginia, the house is Republican and the Senate is split, but Republicans don't share power there and, because the Lt. Governor is a Republican, they have tie-breaking power, so they rule (on everything but the budget).

What we are seeing with these extreme bills is the true color of the Republican Party. These are the social contracts the far right wingers have made with each other, promising that some day ... Today is some day. More moderate voices have begged these people to slow down and to avoid overreaching, but they don't know what moderation means and soon, Virginia women could well be draped in burqas.

Here's a summerized breakdown on the Republican attempts to strip women of rights (all from Ms. Chemlay's column):

1. A bill would require women to carry still-born fetuses to full term "because cows and pigs do." The Georgia House has passed this and the Senate is looked at as a 50-50 possibility.
2. A number of bills would sentence women to death to save a fetus.
3. In Mississippi, there is an effort to criminalize pregnancy and miscarriages. Women would be arrested and imprisoned, charged with murder for miscarriages.
4. In several states, notably Pennsylvania (Virginia backed down after introducing a similar bill, mostly because of the governor's political ambitions) women would be forced to undergo involuntary vaginal penetration with an ultrasound probe.
5. Women could be disabled or killed by either withholding medical treatment or forcing them to undergo involuntary medical procedures.
6. In Virginia and other places, there have been efforts to give zygotes "personhood" rights. The zygote would, in effect, have more rights than the woman.
7. Bills have been introduced inhibiting, humiliating and punishing women for their choices to have an abortion for any reason by levying taxes specifically on abortion (including abortion in case of rape and threat to the mother's life). In Arizona, Kansas, Texas, Virginia, Colorado and Arkansas are among those states.
8. An Arizona bill would allow employers to delve women's private lives and only pay for insurance when they agree, for religious reasons, with how she choses to use birth control.
9. There is an effort to refuse funds that would help make low-income money healthier (Texas just turned down $35 million that would help 300,000 poor women with preventive care).
10. Some of the bills would deprive women of their ability to earn a living and support themselves and their families.

If you think this is not serious or doesn't concern or is being exaggerated, you're not looking closely. These zombies are coming for you and they are on the run.

Republican Reproductive Atrocities Just Keep on Coming

And murdering abortion docs isn't, right?

They simply won't stop. The Republican strutting brown-shirted storm trooper thugs, who populate general assemblies across the country, have come up with yet another way to harass women getting abortions. This time it's in Tennessee and it involves lists of names being made public so the anti-abortion fanatics can kill abortion providers and recipients. A gift to you from the Pro Life party.

That is, of course, an exaggerated (I hope) worst-case scenario, but it is hardly out of the question. Rep. Matthew Hill's (Jonesborough, site of the international Storytelling Festival) latest Republican atrocity is the "Life Defense Act," which like so many Republican atrocities has a distinct misnomer for a title.

Here's a report from the HuffingtonPost on the new bill (which follows an entire litany of assaults on individual rights by the party that considers itself anti-government):

"A new bill moving through the Tennessee House of Representatives would require the state to publish the names of each doctor who performs an abortion and detailed statistics about the woman having the procedure, which opponents worry will spur anti-abortion violence in the state.


"The Life Defense Act of 2012, sponsored by state Rep. Matthew Hill (R-Jonesborough), mandates that the Tennessee Department of Health make detailed demographic information about every woman who has an abortion available to the public, including her age, race, county, marital status, education level, number of children, the location of the procedure and how many times she has been pregnant. Each report would also have to include the name of the doctor who performed the procedure.

"Several health organizations, including the Tennessee Medical Association and Planned Parenthood, are concerned that the bill will make doctors and women vulnerable to attacks, especially considering the murder of Dr. George Tiller, a Kansas abortion provider, by an anti-abortion activist in 2009."

These people are extremists and murder is an extreme expression. I do not at all put it out of reach of the "Pro Life" gang that is pro-war, pro-death penalty, pro-gun, opposed to school lunch programs for poor children, opposed to health care for those who can't afford it ... It just never ends. But it will.

(Photo: blog.nj.com)

Photo of the Day: Performers of a Different Kind for Cirque

Britainy Dibbs and Karma Jane (I'm not making up these names, but Karma may be) put on a little hoola-hoop demonstration at noon today on City Market in downtown Roanoke, trying to get attention for Cirque du Soleil, which will play the Roanoke Civic Center March 28-April 1. You can get tickets here, starting at $35, which strikes me as a deal. Brit and Karma are "promotional performers" for the Cirque, which means they don't perform at the Civic Center, but "we could," insists Britainy.

'This Is Not a Protest, It's a Demonstration'

These guys were among several at the corner of Jefferson St. and Campbell Ave. at lunch today demonstrating to get out their message on Roanoke city bus service. They want you to be at a City Council meeting March 19 to tell council members that you want more and better bus service. The men, who would not tell me their names, are members of the transit union local 1493. The quote in the headline here is from the guy on the left.

Quote of the Day: Contraception the New GOP Achilles Heel

"There's a perception out there because of the way that this whole contraception issue played out … We need to get off of that issue. In my view, I think we ought to respect the right of women to make choices in their lives and make that clear and to get back onto what the American people really care about -- jobs and the economy."

--Sen. John McCain (talking about an Arizona contraception law. McCain voted for a similar law in the House of Representatives recently, so the protests of women is having an effect) 

For My Buddy Oz, A Comeback of Sorts

My little buddy Oscar, who was born Sept. 1, has had more difficulty in his short life than should be legal. It's been one physical problem after another and rarely a day with no challenge.

Last week, the Oz was in the hospital for a couple of days with a respiratory problem that was a mystery to the docs. I'm not sure they ever solved it to their satisfaction, but left his parents--my son and his wife--with the open-ended hypothesis that he was going to be catching things for a while.

Difficult as life has been for the little boy to this point, he has shown an amazing resiliency and good cheer. He bounces back from his discomfort with smiles and play in a way I doubt his grandpa could or would even want to do.

I haven't had enough time with Oz yet to become one of his inner circle and when I get close, his lower lip often starts to quiver. Today, though, he let me pick him up and even gave me a smile.

He's a stocky boy, a linebacker in waiting, as it were. We didn't last a long with our new best friend game, but it was nice to maybe get a short preview of what could be coming. I'm just hoping Oz can kick whatever it is that's holding him back at this point. He's too young to have to deal with that.

Light a candle for my little bud, if you would.

Photo of the Day: A New Bike for Maddy

Facebook came through again. Yesterday, I dropped a note on FB asking if anybody had a 20 inch girls bicycle, so I could give it to Madeline (my grandgirl, who turned 7 Saturday). It would be her Mads/Pampa bike, so we could go riding together when she's at my house.

I had spent part of Thursday scouting out bikes and was astonished at the price (one bike shop didn't have anything for under $225). Figured I'd try to find something good--and cheap. (OK, before you think I'm a cheapskate, I'd already picked up Mads' birthday present: a copy of The Velveteen Rabbit and two tickets to see the play at Roanoke Children's Theatre--with me.)

Finding both good and cheap looked like an improbability until I got a note from Kathie Northern, a grandma, who looks like a new bride. She said she had a bike sitting in her garage that her daughter never really cottoned to, so it was barely used and I could have it for ... well, a song.

Here's the bike and a beaming Madeline. Beautiful Schwinn. The girl and me are ready to hit the Greenway. Thank you Kathie.

Photo(s) of the Day, Too: More from the St. Paddy's Day Parade

Superhero? I'd say

The obligatory St. Paddy's Day bagpipe brigade (there were about four groups)

Roanoke Rollergirls (from behind)

Just don't let 'em go! They pollute

Big boy, big bike

There was lots of politics going on, some red, some blue, some white

Viking ship hood ornament

Japanese tourists do what Japanese tourists do when they tour

Another look. Believe it

The Norman Fishingtackle Choir (they nearly hit a note)

One of three or four Civil War Groups (one of them Yankees; nobody shot)

The Kazin boys and their caboose

Taller than the rest Cirque de Soleil

The day moved toward hot at one point

Occupy Roanoke, the parade did indeed

One final look; I'm obsessed

Roanoke Rollergirls in the middle of the track (I'm a fan of these smart, athletic and very nice women)

Sometimes you gotta wonder: Who's shootin' who?

Political statements from Occupy Roanoke

I liked this sentiment

If you couldn't hold it, you were in trouble

A garage perch for these spectators

The homely Buchanan Tartan is mine, too

Grayhounds wandered all over the place

Old Southwest won the Best Community Float

(Note: To view photos full-sized, click on them once.)

Here are a few more photos from today's St. Patrick's Day Parade. This is three posts and I've only gone through the shots on one of the two cameras I had. More later ... if you can stand it. Pretty good stuff, though. I just love shooting happy people and there were a lot of them at the parade.

Maddy's Birthday: Storming Downtown Roanoke in a Viking Ship

This is Maddie (blonde) and the troops hitting the Roanoke beaches

Viking and dog

Maddie's pal Jeff

Here come the ground troops

My hat won't stay on!

Land ho! Get ready to throw candy at the natives, gang!

Lovelies everywhere in Viking land

More pretty

Jeff scares the crap out of a little kid

Maddie offers money for prisoners

Highland dude and slave

Red-haired gal with the Vikings

Jeff explains how it all works to Charisse and Maddy

Maddy Smith, Viking warrior

Love this shot of Maddy and her buds

(Note: To view photos full-sized, click on them once.)

 Today is my grandgirl Maddy's birthday and, of course, there's this little parade that happens each year on this date in downtown Roanoke. Maddy has always thought it was because of her birthday. We have not disabused her of the notion.

This year, Jeff Rigdon invited Mads to join him and a pretty large group of Vikings--with their boat--to celebrate her birthday in real style and Maddy did just that.

Jeff is a hero to her and to me. The way he organizes people for a good time is impressive. Good guy, that one.