A Few Fax About Your Tax, Bill

Couple of interesting findings from a new poll on America's taxes, as we prepare to fork over on Tax Day:

• Most people say their taxes are fair (54 percent of them).
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• Most people would rather cut services than raise taxes to balance the budget (62 percent).
• Federal tax receipts are at their lowest level in 60 years when measured as a share of the economy.
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• Those younger than 30 and older than 65 are most likely to say taxes are fair.
• Eighty-five percent of individuals get tax refunds this year, averaging $3,000. (Forty-five percent of those people plan to invest the money.)

All this comes from an Associated Press-GfK poll, here.

Area Filmmakers Honored Again for Documentary

The movie “A Gift for the Village,” which was shot by filmmakers from Roanoke and the New River Valley, has won yet another award, this one from Hawaii.

Next month, the regional film team of Jenna Swann and Tom Landon of Lucky Dog Productions and Blacksburg artist, Jane Lillian Vance will be honored with the 2011 Golden Kahuna Award in the documentary category at The Honolulu Film Awards in Hawaii.

“A Gift for the Village” was selected by an international jury to win one of the top honors. The awards ceremony will be held on May 7 in Honolulu.

The film recently won Best Documentary and People’s Choice Award win at the Virginia Indie Film Festival.

What's Wrong With America, Part ... Whatever

The New York Times this morning has a behind-the-scenes look at the influences that went into the making--or maybe not--of the budget bill that the Congress has tentatively agreed to. It is a patchy, short-term budget at best and not likely to be of any significance after a few months, but it had all the effort behind it of, say, the Civil Rights Bill of 1964. Many consider that bill to be the last bill of major significance passed by Congress until the recent health care bill, which is being seriously threatened.

The Times reports the following damning evidence that our government is not just broken, it has been taken from us by interests that aren't always best interests: "But in the end, a handful of relatively small-bore line items affecting particular industries attracted some of the most aggressive lobbying behind the scenes, as business interests, health care providers and others fought to hold on to, or kill, proposals that affected their bottom line."

Here's the link. 

(Graphic: Adventure Journal.)

Science Museum to Tanglewood Mall in Roanoke

Looks like Tanglewood Mall will benefit from the renovations at Center in the Square in downtown Roanoke. Here's the press release from the museum:

The Science Museum of Western Virginia will continue operations at a Tanglewood Mall location for the duration of Center in the Square’s renovation efforts. The new location on the upper level, next to Payless Shoes, will allow the museum to continue public hours and to offer access to favorite exhibits and services such as day camps, birthday parties and regular educational programs. The museum opening date in this new location is June 14th.

J. Andree Brooks, interim executive director, said “Our educational programs are the true purpose of the Science Museum, and being able to continue meeting our mission goals during this period is the most important focus. We are looking forward to opportunities for summer camp, special Science Saturdays, and other unique events at Tanglewood.”
                        

Tanglewood recently became of Miller-Mott, a college, and the museum is likely to  bring still more mall rats in.

Architect Gregg Lewis Takes New Energy Job

Jennifer and Gregg Lewis

Salem architect Gregg Lewis, owner with his wife Jennifer, of SmithLewis Architecture, has been named director of Community Housing Partners’ new Energy Alliance of Southwest Virginia in Christiansburg. The appointment is so fresh, says Lewis, that he hasn’t figured out everything he will be doing yet.

Here’s what he says about the job: “I don’t start for another week. I got formal notice that it’s a go today (about 5 hours ago). We are winding down SmithLewis, closing out existing projects." (Jennifer Lewis, Gregg's wife and business partner, has a new job as project manager/architect for the Western District of Virginia U.S. District Court.)

Lewis continues: "Since before my MBA, I have been looking for a real 'impact' opportunity and I believe this is it. It is extremely exciting and has extraordinary potential to tackle a significant portion of our energy issues (among other things). There are a lot of moving parts and I’m not sure I’m prepared yet to describe them with an appropriate level of accuracy to make it clear to your audience what is entailed.

"To start, this will be all about energy efficiency in the residential sector. This is a pilot project that is intended to be taken to scale, nationally in 2013.

"Virginia is part of a four state consortium (Massachusetts, Washington State, Alabama) that is working to develop an [energy efficiency] standard that is measurable, cost-effective, and scalable. There are a wide variety of partners nationally, regionally, and locally. There’s a lot more to it but I want to be sure I’ve got my Ts crossed, etc., before talking about the details (unless, of course somebody else has already done so)."

Though the job is based in Christiansburg, he says, "a significant amount of my initial activity will be in the City of Roanoke and the Town of Blacksburg."

McCrumb, Kegley, Zulia Top Kendig Winners

George Kegley

Sharyn McCrumb

Jason Garnett

The 2011 Perry F. Kendig Awards--the top awards for the arts in the region--were announced today and winners include my distant cousin Sharyn McCrumb and virtual Roanoke Valley icons George Kegley and Ernie Zulia. Jason Garnett's Shadowbox Theatre was selected for Outstanding Emerging Arts Organization. They head an impressive listing of arts contributors who make this region a glory to behold with its cultural offerings.

A reception and award ceremony will be held at the Taubman Museum of Art on May 11, 2011. For information on tickets please call 540-342-5790.

Ernie Zulia

Sharyn is often a stranger in her own home, garnering far more national attention than local, but her books speak for themselves and the Council recognized that with the Literary Artist Award. Ernie's work at Hollins University's Theater Department is, likewise, exemplary. Some of the best theater in this region is at Hollins and is at the direction of Ernie, who won the Performing Artist award.

George is the octogenarian Energizer Bunny, a man whose driving force has been vital to Roanoke's quality of life on a number of levels, including the arts. He was named the winner of the Outstanding Individual award and I can think of nobody more deserving of that award in the arts and in a whole lot of other areas. The Shadowbox resulted when Jason was fired as general manager of the Grandin Theatre more than a year ago (some of us are still furious about it) and he emerged with the imaginative and unique Shadowbox.

The other winners include Roanoke Symphony Orchestra as Outstanding Arts and Cultural Organization, Woods Rogers PLC for Outstanding Business, Joanne Steele for Outstanding Arts Educator and Douglas Jackson as Outstanding Young Professional. Nancy Dahlstrom won the Visual Artist award.


The Perry F. Kendig Award, named for the late Roanoke Valley arts patron and a former president of Roanoke College, was established in 1985 to recognize examples of support, involvement, accomplishment in the arts, and to inform the community about significant contributions to the arts in our region.The Perry F. Kendig awards are chosen by a committee of community volunteers based on nominations from the public. A reception and award ceremony will be held at the Taubman Museum of Art on May 11, 2011. For information on tickets please call 540-342-5790.


I will mention here, just to keep the conversation open, that I was on the Arts Council board until recently and that I've won a couple of these awards. That last part should not diminish their value. These people deserve the recognition.

'NINE' Has Great Promise on Hollins Stage

My buddy Ernie Zulia of the theater department at Hollins University will present "Nine" beginning tomorrow night (Wednesday) and my guess is that this is another of his "can't miss" productions. Even though Ernie is working with student actors and crew, his productions consistently are at least the equal of even the professional theater that is available in the Roanoke Valley.

And the price is always right.

Here's the rundown:

"NINE" was inspired by Federico Fellini’s 1960’s cinematic masterpiece, "8½" and it sweeps you into the glamour of “cinema Italiano,” while capturing all the exciting ingredients of a great Broadway musical. Travel through the imagination of genius filmmaker, Guido Contini with 20 women who find him exasperating, annoying and utterly irresistible.

"NINE" plays the Hollins Theatre Main Stage Wednesday April 13-16, 7:30 p.m. and on Sunday April 17at 2 p.m. It's free to the Hollins community, $10 for the rest of us.

Facebook Limits Post Coverage: Here's the Fix

One of my Facebook buds, Sonya Chappelear, passed around the following note this a.m., telling all of us--or at least some of us--that Facebook is not sending our latest posts to all our friends and what we can do about it. The fix is simple, but the problem is large. Our posts are going only to the people we have had contact with recently and in my case, that would be a small percentage of the nearly 1,700 FB "friends" on the list.

Here's the problem and the fix from Sonya:

Facebook likes to make changes and not really tell everyone. This is an easy way to get the word out - and currently the only way to assure that everyone can see it.
...
Have you noticed that you are only seeing updates in your news feed from the same people lately? Have you also noticed that when you post things like status messages, photos and links, the same circle of people are commenting and everyone else seems to be ignoring you?

Don't worry, everyone still loves you and nobody has intentionally blocked you. The problem is that a large chunk of your friend/fan list can't see anything you post and here's why:

The "New Facebook" has a newsfeed setting that by default is automatically set to show only posts from people who you've recently interacted with or interacted the most with (which would be limited to the couple of weeks just before people started switching to the new profile). So in other words, for both business and personal pages, unless your friends/fans commented on one of your posts within those few weeks or vice-versa - you are now invisible to them and they are invisible to you!!

HERE'S THE FIX: On the homepage click the "Most Recent" title on the right of the News feed, then click on the drop down arrow beside it and select "Edit Options", click on "Show Posts From" and change the setting to "All Of Your Friends and Pages" (you can also access the "Edit Options" link at the very bottom of the Facebook homepage on the right) Note: Business pages do not have a news feed. Page owners should adjust the settings on their personal accounts.

The good news is: now you can now view all of your friends and fans again. The bad news is: you are still invisible to a large portion of your list. You must get the word out to all of your friends and fans by inviting them to this event or creating one of your own so they can read the post and adjust their settings. To invite your friends: Click on "Attending" at the top and then you will see an option to invite your friends at the top left. It’s public so everyone who logs onto facebook can view it and even the friends who can’t see your posts will see the event invitation. You can also tweet about it, create a blog post or send out an email to your subscribers in hopes of reaching them all.

It's Time To Drag Out the Bicycle

Ride Solutions in Roanoke, which is doing everything humanly possible to get us off our oversized asses and onto alternative transportation is pushing a number of events in May, which is Bike Month. There are rides, discounts and even free tune-ups for your bike (don’t underestimate the value of one of these, even if you haven’t ridden your bike in a while). Here’s a list of some of what’s going on:

Bike Ready at Roanoke’s Earth Day Celebration: Ride Solutions and Earth Day Roanoke will sponsorpresent Bike Ready on Saturday, April 23, 1-3 p.m. in the parking lot of the Roanoke Natural Foods Co-Op. Area bike shop mechanics and volunteer technicians will offer two hours of free 10-minute bike tune ups. Tune ups will provide a basic check of tires, chains, brakes and other safety equipment.

Mayor’s Bike Ride: Saturday, May 7-10. Roanoke Mayor David Bowers will lead a much-too-short, family friendly ride along the Roanoke River Greenway from the new Vic Thomas Park all the way to downtown Roanoke. You’re on your own once you get downtown. But there is plenty of ride left.

Bike Shorts Film Festival: The Shadowbox presents Bike Shorts Film Fest May 28.  Submissions are being accepted for locally made short films that center on cycling, anything from mini-documentaries up. The winner of the film festival will receive $100. Submission deadline is May 10.<

Discounts for Cyclists: Tudor’s Biscuit World is bringing back Casual Fridays, offering cyclists a thee-topping biscuit and large coffee every to counteract all that exercise Fridays in May. Fork in the Alley and Fork in the City will reward diners who arrive on bike with 15 percent off their meal every Friday during Bike Month.

Ride Solutions is trying to document every bike rack in the Roanoke and New River Valleys with a region-wide Bike Rack Hunt photo contest.Photos will be integrated into the Bike Roanoke interactive bike map.

Franklin County  Poker Run (that would be "Ride") begins on May 7  at the Franklin County Recreation Park. Cost is  $10 per rider and proceeds go to benefit the Free Clinic, which provides medical care for uninsured families of the poor. Registration between 9 and 11. Local bluegrass favorites will perform and you can eat barbecue chicken lunch afterwards, in order to put back the calories you lost.

A complete list of the growing roster of events can be found here.

Bill Brill Dies in Durham; Former Roanoke Times Sports Editor

Brill when I worked with him in the 1970s.

Bill Brill's death today in Durham following an intense illness (cancer of the esophagus) brought back quite a few memories of a man who defined sports writing for me for years. He was one of the best I ever knew, a thoughtful, opinionated, unafraid journalist who would likely have been uncomfortable with the current crop if he were still working.

Brill, 79, was one of a number of journalists I've worked with over the years that I would classify as fearless. They were the people who made me think "hero" whenever I heard the word "journalist." I don't think that way much any more. On occasion there's a Rex Bowman or a Mary Bishop and a few others I know, but there aren't many still working. (Here is the announcement of him being inducted into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame in 1999. It'll give you some background.)

Brill with author John Feinstein

Brill was the guy who brought Virginia Tech's athletic program to academic accountability. Tech has among the stiffest academic requirements around these days because of Brill's embarrassing reporting about 25 years ago. Tech had brought in basketball player from N.C. State named Russell Pierre, a guy who had flunked out of school there. He got into all kinds of trouble at Tech and I don't think he ever actually played a game, but he got Brill interested and Brill took action. He discovered Tech hadn't graduated a basketball player in 10 years and the crap hit the fan.

People will talk about Brill's golf game (he tended to fudge), his astonishing mind (one of the sharpest I've ever known), his cigar and a lot of other things that made him what he was. It was his old-style crusty journalistic streak that I'll remember because there's not much of it left, I fear.

Funeral services will be held Friday at his beloved Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham, where Duke played basketball.

A New Blog and Some Yummy Food

Here's dinner. The fruit salad is in the bowl at the center. Good stuff.

My buddy Trina Mastran, the public works director of Buena Vista, came over tonight so we could set up a blog for her. Trina's one of the best natural writers I know (she's an engineer, but she overcomes it) and it has been a near crime that she didn't have a blog. She has one now. It's here.

Trina owns five houses that she bought for around $15,000 each and she either has or is in the process of fixing them up for rent. That's the focus of the blog and it's a marvelous niche, one that she'll excel at because she's funny as hell.

So, while she's here, I feed her. Well. Grilled chicken breasts, kale with garlic and olive oil (and white balsamic vinegar), long grain and wild rice with a variety of spices and veggies and the capper, a fruit salad. The salad started with fresh mango and pineapple, was covered with lime yogurt and garnished with sliced lime and chopped cilantro. It was summer heaven. Yummmmmmm.

The Truth About Cutting Abortion Funding (It Increases Abortions)

New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristoff, in a column this morning, discusses the myriad ways a disingenuous and cowardly Congress is messing with our heads over this budget business. One of the more significant disgraces is this: "Republicans are posturing against abortion in a way that would increase the number of abortions," Kristoff writes.

He cites the following:

Conservatives have sought to bar federal funds from going directly to Planned Parenthood and the United Nations Population Fund. The money would not go for abortions, for federal law already blocks that, and the Population Fund doesn’t provide abortions. What the money would pay for is family planning. 

In the United States, publicly financed family planning prevented 1.94 million unwanted pregnancies in 2006, according to the Guttmacher Institute, which studies reproductive health. The result of those averted pregnancies was 810,000 fewer abortions. 

Publicly financed contraception pays for itself, by reducing money spent through Medicaid on childbirth and child care. Guttmacher found that every $1 invested in family planning saved taxpayers $3.74. 

As for international family planning, the Guttmacher Institute calculates that a 15 percent decline in spending there would mean 1.9 million more unwanted pregnancies, 800,000 more abortions and 5,000 more maternal deaths. 

You have to believe that, in light of the easily uncovered truth about what these cuts would do, our brothers on the right are posturing for a base that doesn't care about anything but cutting all social programs and stopping all abortions, regardless of the circumstance or the cost.

Nowhere mentioned in those Guttmacher figures is the fact that the world has far too many people and that population is the largest single contributor to almost every problem we have. Most abortions are experienced by poor women who can't afford more children. Who pays for them? One guess. Criminals and drug-addicted outsiders most often come from the poverty classes, the ones the Repubs want to deny abortions.

It's Congress' terrible cycle of ignorance, denial, wrong-headedness, playing to the lowest common denominator and a kind of philosophical puffery that is destroying our system.

What's Wrong With Our System: Part XXXVIII

The following is from Andy Stern of the Georgetown Policy Institute. It appeared here today:

"Rather than a strength … pluralism [is] a weakness of American democracy. The sum of all the group interests in a pluralist system … does not equal the general interest. Rather than allowing for dynamic development, pluralism has institutionalized individual, and group greed.”

(Graphic: stateofinformation.org)

Minority Rules: The Right Wing and the Budget Mess

It is fascinating to watch our crumbling government struggle to remain relevant, reaching deals that satisfy nobody at the last possible second, averting disaster narrowly and planning nothing beyond the next crisis.

Last night's budget deal, heavily weighted toward the political philosophy of a small minority of our citizens and a minute number of representatives, gives lie to the notion that "the majority rules in a democracy."

Congress, at this moment, is reacting to the perceived outsized influence of 16 percent of its members, the 87 freshman Republicans elected to the House of Representatives (half of Congress) in the most recent cycle. Congress represents a third of our government branches. The dollars the most conservative wing of Congress wants to cut from the nation's budget represent far, far less than 1 percent. The issue of negating abortion rights, according to the New York Times, is supported strongly by about 19  percent of Americans, but last night it came very close to the sticking point that would shut down the government of all the people.

Abortion has had a lopsided role in the worst divide in American politics in my memory--and I was a kid during the McCarthy era. Civil War scholars are saying that the mood of the nation closely resembles that in the 1850s, just before we were cast into a bloody mess for four years.

I sympathize with those who are opposed to abortion and who genuinely believe it to be the mass slaughter of defenseless children. I support bloody revolution--so did Thomas Jefferson--when the nation's policies become unacceptable. What we are getting here, though, is a passive-aggressive legislative process that satisfies nobody, legislates to no good purpose, becomes stalled on the slightest pretense and is, for all intents and purposes, locked tight without a possibility of becoming functional in the near future. Conservative Norman Ornstein of  The American Enterprise Institute says, "It is one thing to be deeply opposed to a policy and look at every vehicle you can for changing it. It’s another when you frame the entire narrative around the debt crisis we face.”

Congress is without significant leadership. So is the executive branch. Barack Obama abdicated his role in the budget battle early when he could have had a huge impact and his attempt to recover that primary role at the end was not successful.

Much of our difficulty has to do with those small numbers, the ones that give the most ardent, extreme and persistent of political junkies all the power. How else to explain the dominance of the loud, but still small, far right of a conservative party? They vote in the primaries and people like Susan Collins, a relatively moderate Republican from Maine, know their seats are in jeopardy, not from a Democrat, but from this tiny minority that votes in force and as a block. If her supporters did that, the voice from these revolutionaries would be stilled or at least turned down a few notches.

But, as a people on an individual level, we are too damn lazy to become informed, to get off our lard asses and vote in primaries, to become involved in any way. It is far easier to bitch about the result and go buy something we don't need.

(Graphic: North Carolina Letter Carrier Activist.)

'Cedar Rapids' a Delightful Surprise at the Grandin

Perhaps what many of us appreciate most about the Grandin Theatre in Roanoke is the small surprise, the un-birthday present that it gives us on occasion. It has one of those shining through right now in "Cedar Rapids," a comedy that is earthy, funny, self-parodying and uplifting in the way a good movie or a good book can be.

The plot concerns insurance man Tim Lippe, who believes those in his profession to be noble and heroic. He is naive, emotionally immature and almost totally inexperienced, never having been on a plane before he is sent to Cedar Rapids to the midwest convention of the group he represents. Everything is new to him: the hookers, the hucksters, the convention veterans and he is matched with three of those old-timers who show him the ropes.

Ed Helms (you know him from "The Office" and "Hangover") is droll, easily shocked, stuffy, straight-laced and  ready to become the life of the party in the hands of his new pals played by solid veterans John C. Reilly and Anne Heche, who are nearly perfect in their roles. Miguel Arteta's direction is superb and the movie flows beautifully from absurdity to laugh-out-loud absurdity.

A fine evening it is. See it.

Actress Jane Seymour To Speak at CVB Luncheon in Roanoke

Jane Seymour (right), the Hollywood actress who has the lead role in Sarah Elizabeth Timmins' production of "Lake Effects," shot recently at Smith Mountain Lake, will be the featured speaker at the Roanoke Valley Convention & Visitors Bureau's annual meeting and luncheon May 12. The event will be at the Hotel Roanoke & Conference Center ballroom. Seating will be available to the public beginning April 12. The CVB plans to announce the event Tuesday.

Seymour has a huge body of work, mostly lesser-known movies, and her "Dr. Quinn: Medicine Woman" was a long-running television series. Her most significant roles have been in the Bond thriller "Live and Let Die," "Somewhere in Time" and "The Wedding Crashers." She has won Emmy and Golden Globe awards, among others and has generally been considered one of Hollywood's most beautiful women.

In "Lake Effects," which is in post-production, Seymour plays the family matriarch, Vivian Tisdale, in a story about two daughters and their mother who embark on a journey of rediscovery after the family patriarch dies.

Another Racist Moment for Allen? Probably Not

A friend--and fellow liberal--sent me a couple of Salon magazine items this morning wherein the writer was apoplectic because George Allen asked a tall reporter what position he played, assuming to have been a basketball player at one time.

The writer made the assumption that Allen was a racist because of the question, asked of an African American. I think that's a stretch by somebody looking for another "macaca" moment to hang on a right-wing candidate for Virginia's soon-to-be-open Senate seat.

As I explained to my friend, "I'm going to disagree with you on this one. I don't think asking a very tall man what position he played is unusual, presumptuous or necessarily racist. People who played sports ask those questions of others who might have played. It's a male bonding thing [maybe female, too] and I don't have any problem with it. This is a case of looking for something to get George with. Let's get him on policy. There's plenty there to make us queasy."

'Privatize Profit, Socialize Risk'

Jeffrey Lacker (left), the president of the Federal Reserve Bank in Richmond, buried his lead this morning. He spoke for about 40 minutes during breakfast (DURING BREAKFAST!) at the Hotel Roanoke & Conference Center as part of the Ferrum College Forum on Critical Thinking, Innovation & Leadership, and the talk was about monetary policy.

I understood just about every fourth word of his talk and one or two of the concepts, but when he said, that one of the primary causes of the financial disgrace of the last few years came about because bankers wanted to "privatize profit and socialize risk" it all became clear to me.That is all of that complex mess in five words, a nice bumper sticker that anybody--even me--can understand.

We'll have a little deeper understanding of the talk and what Lacker thinks about other things later today over on the Valley Business FRONT blog, www.morefront.blogspot.com. Susan Ayers, one of our front-rank writers and a former mortgage banker (who sat at our table nodding approvingly throughout) will write it and you'll understand what she's saying.

Studying the Civil War? Virginia Tech's the Place to Start

Hey, Civil War buffs, your dream has come true. You can thank Virginia Tech. Here's the press release you've been waiting for:

The Civil War began 150 years ago this year. To quench the thirst for knowledge about the conflict that the sesquicentennial fosters, Virginia Tech has launched the Essential Civil War Curriculum Web site.


Housed by the the Virginia Center for Civil War Studies at Virginia Tech, the website is part of the center’s project commemorating the century and a half since the outbreak of fighting. The curriculum’s information, organized based on the model used by Wikipedia, is aimed at people of all ages whether they are scholars, amateur historians, teachers, or students. Eventually, the website will include more than 400 topics pertaining to the war.


“The aim of the Essential Civil War Curriculum is to increase interest in and knowledge of the American Civil War during the sesquicentennial,” said William C. Davis, professor of history in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and director of programs at the Virginia Center for Civil War Studies.  “The center’s mission is to be a formal entity for studying and sharing knowledge about the Civil War with both the academic and public community. The new website is an extension of that goal.”


Davis and James I. Robertson Jr., Alumni Distinguished Professor of history and director of the Virginia Center for Civil War Studies, are the sponsors of the Essential Civil War Curriculum website.


Civil War scholars are invited to contribute items to the website much as is done on Wikipedia. The Virginia Center for Civil War Studies’ Board of Historians, composed of eminent scholars in the field, will review all contributed content to determine whether it will be posted on the curriculum site. Davis and Robertson will make the final decision on inclusions of material.


“We have launched the website with a handful of topics that our Board of Historians prepared to encourage other scholars to participate in the process,” said Laurie Woodruff, executive director and editor of the Essential Civil War Curriculum. “We expect the content to grow rapidly and steadily. If readers don’t find the information they want to access initially, we encourage them to browse the items already published and then keep returning to the site as its database increases.”

(Photo: oldpicture.com)

Roanoke's 'Motor Madness' To Be on National TV

For those of you who can't get enough television in your lives, consider this: the SPEED Channel (which I didn't know existed) and its show "My Classic Car" (which I also didn't know existed) will feature a segment on the Star City Motor Madness (which I did know existed) April 10, 10 p.m., April 12 at 3 p.m. and April 24 at 9:30 a.m.

The show apparently is available to 79 million households and claims a million viewers a week (by contrast, Rush Limbaugh says he has 25 million a week for his radio show). The show was taped in June 2010 and examines some of the best of the 500 cars and trucks. that took part.

You can preview the segment here. According to a Roanoke City press release, co-chairman Tim Cox said, "It's been our deram to [use] people's nostalgia and great love of classic cars and trucks as a vehicle [so to speak] to bring visitors to Roanoke. In just 10 years, Star City Motor Madness has grown from a small show to a major East Coast event, attracting tourists who visit for the weekend--or longer--and really get to enjoy the star city." He did mention, too, that the whole deal is free.

Former Roanoke Times Sports Editor Bill Brill Dies

(Update: Bill Brill died April 10 at 4:45 p.m. More later.)

(Update, Friday, April 8: The latest report is that Brill had a restless night, is impatient with the fuss and bother and wants to go home. Sounds like Brill's getting better. We'll hope so.)


(Update, Thursday, 10 a.m.: Brill is reported to have improved overnight and his condition has improved from "critical," according to Doug Doughty. "Not unlike one of those mements when Brill mysteriously found his golf ball in the rough, he has rallied," Doughty wrote.)

 Bill Brill, the controversial or legendary (depending on your perspective) retired sports editor of The Roanoke Times, is apparently near death in a Durham hospital. Doug Doughty, a sportswriter for the paper for nearly 30 years, has been issuing health updates on Brill, who has been treated recently for a life-threatening condition.

His most recent blanket e-mail to friends and former colleagues of Brill's says Brill is in "very grave condition" and a Do Not Resuscitate order has been issued. He says Brill "has written his obituary ... reserved Cameron Indoor Stadium for his funeral and has arranged for a caterer." He added, "Let's hope and pray that he's got some time left and that there will be some quality to it."

Brill hired me away from the Asheville Citizen in 1971 to handle the high school beat in the sports department, sight unseen. I interviewed for the job for about five minutes during a long distance phone call and didn't meet him until I showed up for work two weeks later.

Brill was one of the most unusually intelligent men I've ever known. His memory is phenomenal. I once watched him fill out a full, seven column box score for a basketball game he had just listened to on the radio and the only error in it was one made by the announcer who gave a field goal to the wrong player. His knowledge and understanding of politics has always surprised people, as well. Brill was probably the fastest typist I ever knew and the speed with which he wrote on deadline was simply astonishing. His writing didn't suffer from the speed; he is one of the best I ever knew.

Brill did more than anybody else to popularize ACC basketball in this area, much to the chagrin of Virginia Tech fans who always felt--with some degree of authority--that he thought little of the Hokies. Frankly, I always felt like he didn't think little of Tech. He just didn't think about them at all. His notion, correct at the time, was that Tech was what has come to be known as a "mid-major" and that the ACC (and his beloved Duke Blue Devils) were the major leagues. They were. Now Tech is in the majors with them and competes quite well.

Brill was the last of the real sports editors at the paper, a working journalist who wrote regular columns, covered games, wrote feature stories and ran the department, making assignments, scheduling the staff, making travel arrangements, all the details that several people handle these days.

Brill is a nationally recognized college basketball expert and he wrote the definitive history on Duke basketball a few years ago. I always liked Brill and tried--sometimes in the face of a heated Tech fan--to defend him and what he stood for. He is an interesting man who represented an era in the newspaper business which has, sadly, passed.

Whole Wheat Toast Award: AEP Billing

Back in the salad days (love that term; it implies health) of the Blue Ridge Business Journal, I used to give an occasional Whole Wheat Toast Award for truly awful customer service, impenetrable bureaucracy, mindless red tape and the like.

Of course, the Whole Wheat Toast of the award is from the "Five Easy Pieces" scene when Jack Nicholson orders whole wheat toast and gets a long explanation as to why that is impossible, even though the restaurant has whole wheat bread and a toaster.

Anyhow, we did a customer service April cover story at Valley Business FRONT (our magazine which killed the BRBJ a while back) and I thought it would be a good time to revive the WWTA. The first one goes to American Electric Power billing in Roanoke. Following is an e-mail I got from a complaining customer who suggested I kick off another installment of the award. Here's the story:

The most recent AEP bill I received did not include a payment envelope. At one point I strolled by the office up at Franklin and First to see if they had a drop box I could use. Nada. They had a sign on the door with a number to call about in-person payment locations. Didn't write it down at the time, but looked it up in the book and called. Several times. Different times of day. Waited at least 5 minutes each time, which should be long enough.

The crazy thing is, the message system says "for information about in-person payment locations, press 2" or something like that. But when I pressed 2, it said, every time I tried, "your call cannot be processed; you will be connected with a customer service rep." Why don't they have a system where you can enter a zip code to access the correct list? I mean, this is the 21st century, right?

Today, after waiting on hold for about 20 minutes, I FINALLY got hold of a customer service rep to ask where the in-person payment locations in Roanoke are. Mind you, this was after wading through AEP's website, which, after plugging in my location information, indicated that there are no payment locations within 20 miles of Roanoke! Turns out there are 6, all at various convenience stores (which makes me a little uncomfortable, frankly). I asked why there's no drop box at the main office, and was told it's because they don't process payments there. What, they can't collect the payments once a week and send them to the processing center in Ohio? Would that cause the CEO to miss a boat payment or something?

Or you can pay by phone. For a $2 fee. Plus, you have to call a separate billing company to do this -- can't even do it as part of the call you just made.

At least the website had the correct mailing address for paying by mail in case the payment envelope was "unavailable." (The customer service rep I spoke with, who I have to say was very nice, confirmed this address.)

By the way, the bill that failed to include a payment envelope did include a flier about the new bill design. Yippee.

When you get this kind of service, let me know. We have a shelf full of awards to give.

'Hey, Let's Just Repeal the Whole Century'

This is just too good not to pass along. My friend Tom Cain sent it:

"If it does nothing else, the budget that House Republicans unveiled Tuesday provides the first real Republican program of the 21st Century and it is this: Repeal the 20th Century." --Harold Meyerson.

(Graphic: almostaccurate.com)

The Real March Madness: One and Done

Now that we've finished with the March portion of the Madness of college basketball, let's get to the real issue of the insanity of what should be a premier sport: the NBA and its pillaging of the best freshmen and sophomores in the game year after year.

It is about the money, of course, and you can't blame immature--or even mature--teenagers for wanting insane amounts of moolah for jumping high and putting a ball through a metal cylinder. The pilfering of some of college basketball's best talent leaves instability, uncertainty and a good bit of anger among fans. You see it at UNC, Duke, Kentucky and other big-time programs annually. Big signing classes, followed by big signing classes because the previous class is gone before finishing the second semester of its freshman year.

These kids are less legitimate "students" than adults who take non-credit courses for entertainment. At least they finish the courses. The situation is a ruse and a sham and it can easily be stopped by employing the three-year mandatory rule that college football uses. When a kid finishes high school, he can go straight to the pros if he wants, but if he signs with a college team, he is not eligible to be a pro for three years. The NBA would have to agree to this, but why would it when the college agrees to pay and train the kid for a season, then let him turn pro?

The NBA could send those fresh out of high school with no potential to be a college student to the NBADL, its developmental league (Roanoke used to have a team), but that would cost money the teams don't have to pay if the kid is in college.

Nobody, it seems, is considering the kids. And they are kids, teenagers. Will three years of college hurt them? No, it won't. They will grow up some, learn to adjust to being away from home, to travel, to a disciplined life of study, practice and a social life with limits? They likely will learn something--in class--about handling all that money they will have eventually. And they'll almost all be better pro players after three years.

Take a look at the stability in the women's programs (and their graduation rates, which are extraordinary) for some guidance here. Women rarely go to the pros until after they graduate. The money's not there to make it tempting. And they get a degree for that. Few people were ever hurt because they got a degree.

So let's give them a chance to get some education before going into a world they have little chance of understanding. If they get three in, the degree is only one away and my guess is that far more would earn it. Ask football player Emmett Smith who got his degree after finishing play for the Dallas Cowboys. Right now, men's basketball has the lowest graduation rate--by far--of any college sport. That's not likely to change under the current setup where the primary goal is the NBA asap.

Genealogy for the Beginner at Roanoke Main Library (It's Free)

One of the most popular features of the Roanoke Writers Workshop series through the Arts Council of the Blue Ridge last year and again at the Roanoke Regional Writers Conference in January were presentations on genealogy by Roanoke City library professional Laura Wickstead and historian Ellen Brown. The Virginia Room at the Roanoke Main Library will sponsor a “Lunch and Learn” series on “Genealogy 101: Family History Research for the Novice” in the coming weeks.

Each session in this six-part series will take place from noon to 1 p.m. in the Virginia Room Alcove, 706 S. Jefferson St., second floor. The series meets on the second and fourth Thursdays of the month in April, May, and June. The classes are free.

The schedule includes:

April 14: Getting Started on Your Family History: Begin at the beginning. Learn how to interview family and friends, cite sources, organize and back up your data, maintain good records, create a research strategy and logs, plan research trips and make notes for the future.

April 28: Exhaust the Census Records: The U.S. Census holds more family history information than any other source. Learn how to interpret the population and special census schedules.

May 12: Vital Records – Birth, Marriage & Death: Where are these records? What kind of data do they hold? Is it really necessary to get a death certificate? These are just a few of the questions that will be answered in this class.

May 26: Published & Unpublished Family & Local Histories: Uncover the wealth of information available in books, periodicals and manuscript collections. Learn where family papers are held and discover what has been written about your ancestors.

June 9: Courthouse and Government Records: Research deeds, wills and other court records for essential family information. Explore immigration and naturalization records to follow your ancestors back to the “old country.”

June 23: Directories, Maps and Gazetteers: Where were your ancestors when? These resources and related research tools such as place-name dictionaries and geographical sources may provide answers to that question.

Classes are free and open to everyone, and beginners are welcome. Participants may bring a lunch. Registration is required, either by the class or for the series. For more information, call 540-853-2073.

Cinnamon for Diabetes? It's Worth a Try

Those of us with Type II Diabetes are open to suggestion if that suggestion will keep us away from medicines a little while longer. I've been treating mine for more than two years with a regimen of diet and exercise and my blood sugar numbers have remained relatively steady in a healthy range throughout that period.

Occasionally, I hear of something additional I can do and today's suggestion is to ingest about half a teaspoon of cinnamon a day. It comes from Dr. Joseph Mercola, a health columnist at Huffington Post, and it makes as much sense as any of the other natural remedies--which I prefer. Here's the link.

Mercola insists cinnamon helps reduce blood glucose, reduces triglycerides (bad cholesterol) and total cholesterol levels. The aid with diabetes control is impressive, but that's not all. Cinnamon has broader health benefits, says Mercola.

It supports healthy digestion and relieves congestion; it relieves muscle pain and stiffness, as well as reducing inflammation and arthritis symptoms. It also helps with a troublesome urinary tract, tooth decay, gum disease, menstral problems and it stimulates circulation. Sounds like it should be called Dr. Miracle's Balm for What Ails You.

Garlic and vinegar have similar impressive health credentials, but this is the first I've heard of the benefits of cinnamon. The good doctor didn't mention the extra benefit of smelling good. Think I'll go have a dose.

While he is at it, Mercola takes on grains--even whole grains--in a diabetic's diet. He says stay away from them. I've heard nothing but positives about whole grains until now, so my jury is still out. He does make the point that broccoli, a Mediterranean diet, black and navy beans, green tea, almonds and cacao are beneficial. By the way, you can get cinnamon in pill form if you don't want to eat the powder. Try Puritan's Pride. It's pretty inexpensive: 500, 500mg tablets for $9.98.

There's just so much to know. Right now, though, my numbers are good, so I'm not looking at doing anything rash--like dropping my beloved whole grain bread and pasta. I love that stuff.

April Marcel's Coming Out Party: Three Films

April at the podium in front of her movie.^

Aretha Day (white) prepares to interview actors as they arrive.^

April's daughter and star LaFawn Johnson walks the carpet.^

April knows what a producer looks like.^

April Marcel's coming out party was tonight at the Dana Center at Hollins University and it had show biz written all over it, down to the ruffles on April's shoes. April tends to milk the drama out of whatever situation she's in the middle of and this one was a clinic in theatricality.

Actor-Daughter Winter Johnson (green) interviewed.^

You may remember April as the woman who emerged from a writing contest I judged several years ago and wound up as a theater student at Hollins, where she earned a scholarship. She's the single mother of seven kids and is now 43 years old and scheduled to graduate in a few weeks. The event tonight was the premier of three of her films, all short and showing her range from drama to comedy. (April, by the way, has adopted an old family name, Marcel. She had been Drummond until recently and I went to the podium tonight to introduce her just having learned that handy fact. My remarks precede this photo essay.)

Her films tonight were "The Way to a Man's Heart" (which is a small part of a play she premiered at Studio Roanoke a few months ago),  a faux documentary, and a drama dealing with spouse abuse. The atmosphere was pure revival and there was considerable religious fervor in the films. April believes that the best way to spread her deep religious belief is through film and she's about as subtle as a bazooka with it.

She is also talented in the ways that will serve her well in the future. She directs, acts, writes, sings, produces and takes her turn behind the camera. Her film professor, Amy Gerber-Stroh, another introducer, sat with me and talked admiringly of April's accomplishment, not just her promise. Amy is a woman with quite a film portfolio and knows whereof she speaks.

It was a lovely evening for a lovely women. Celebrating April was easy. I suspect it won't be the last time.

My Remarks at April Marcel's Red Carpet Event

April Marcel and me at the Red Carpet Premier tonight.^

Following are the remarks I made tonight as one of three speakers at April Marcel's Red Carpet Event & Movie Premier at Hollins University. Three of April's short films played before a packed house at the Dana Center. Here's what I had to say:

You have to wonder what in the world an old, fat, white guy is doing up here talking about a talented, beautiful woman who is bound for a Pulitzer Prize. Fact is, despite outward appearances, we have a lot in common, much of it revolving around a love of the written word and, frankly, a deeper love of getting a lot of attention.

I’m a writer because I love attention, love expressing my opinions, love hearing people agree with me, love meeting interesting and exciting people every day of my life—among them April Drummond.

I ran into April a few years ago because of a writing contest I was judging. She jumped out of the competition like Michael Jordan at a junior high basketball camp. Her writing was raw, riveting and real. It didn’t have much polish, but neither did Elvis Pressley in 1956 or Otis Redding in 1963 or Spike Jones in 1979. They all did pretty well.

April’s work was so impressive that I thought maybe it would be good to find her an audience outside the church that had enjoyed her work for years, so we put together a coalition of people who tend to get things done, found her a scholarship to this wonderful university and some writing tools, pointed her in the right direction and got out of the way. April has done the rest because she knows, perhaps as well as anyone I’ve ever known, how to recognize and take advantage of an opportunity. We all get those, but we don’t always recognize them for what they are and what they can mean to us. April doesn’t hesitate. She has that keen sense of recognition and it has led her to the point of near-breakout. Tonight, she emerges again.

My friend and April's colleague Kenley Smith, who owns Studio Roanoke and has presented one of April's plays, recently said, " "It's tempting to call April a great local talent, but what she has accomplished transcends boundaries and labels. She's a wonderful writer, period, and we'll be hearing about her for years to come." I've heard the same sentiments from a number of others who've worked with her and even from the president of this university.

April’s life has been one of emergence. Seven kids, learning to write on her own, keeping things together against all odds, learning a difficult skill in the most difficult of circumstances. Never wavering. Always having faith in her god and in herself. I’m not a religious guy, but when I see April’s faith and what has meant to her, her children and our community, I’m tempted.

She is the example I use when I talk about grit before audiences of very successful people. A lot of these people don’t have a clue what I’m talking about when I mention the specific challenges of poverty—which have almost nothing to do with material things. It’s about how the poor are perceived and how the poor perceive themselves. I grew up very poor and have first-hand knowledge of it. April knows about it, too, and she considers other things more important. That’s how you emerge from the psychological grip and conquer it. Face it. Challenge it. Defeat it. Get on to what’s important.

I think writers have an advantage in this little war because we have to face ourselves every time we sit at a keyboard and write something. It always starts out being about us, our values, our perceptions before it can segue into whatever the topic is. In order to do that, we have to think we have something to offer and in order to get there, we have to beat the very devil who tells us over and over that we’re poor and, therefore, worthless.

Ain’t so. And April proves that.

Ah, A Little Notice for UVa Baseball Team

It appears the local daily in Roanoke has discovered the University of Virginia's No. 1-ranked baseball team, but perhaps for the wrong reasons. The Cavaliers play at Virginia Tech, a struggling team that has won only one game in the league this year, three times this weekend, starting today at 5:30.

Doug Doughty's game advance is here. If you were watching yesterday, you would have noted that Virginia pitcher Will Roberts (who will not pitch this weekend) threw the first perfect game in the program's history Tuesday and that win was the program's 2,000th.

April Fool's Day: A Remembrance

Pals John Montgomery (left), Jim Lindsey and my Hall of Fame medal (was it all a joke?)

Tomorrow is April Fool's Day and I'd like to refer you back to this piece I wrote on here last year at this time, giving you a bit of a history lesson on this marvelous day.

Fool's Day was made especailly meaningful to me last year because I was inducted into the Virginia Communications Hall of Fame. Of course, I asked the bosses of the Hall if the date of induction was a comment on my desirability as wearer of the bronze medal. They assured me it wasn't. I remain skeptical.