Photo of the Day, Too: Disruptive Force? Hardly

There has been some question whether protesters from the Plowshare Peace Center in Roanoke should be allowed to use the sidewalk in front of the Roanoke City Market to stage their anti-war protests. The building's managers say they are disruptive. Today--permit in hand--they proved that is hardly the case, even in the middle of a parade.

they were quiet, peaceful, and thoroughly un-intrusive. Fact is, they were quite pleasant and those owning the building are quite wrong to have believed otherwise.

Photo of the Day: The Day Before the Snow?

These two lovely people sat outside a yogurt bar in downtown Roanoke early this afternoon enjoying a cool delight after the Marginal Arts Festival parade. The forecast for Sunday is abut eight inches of snow. Unsettled weather, I'd say.

Marginal Arts Festival Parade: An Inside Look

Marginal Arts Festival's official orchestra.

Botticelli Baby arrives with her cupcake ...

... and the blue thing followed.

Marginal Arts Festival  Founder Brian Counihan.

Modern transportation.

Cat Woman ... of a sort.

The beautiful Viking Charisse Surayya.

Community High leads the parade.

Pepper-spray cop John Pike and his Chicken.

Artist Eric Fitzpatrick and Pearlie Mae Fu.

Kara, Evan and Oscar Smith photographing my granddaughter, Madeline, riding with Pearlie Mae.

Bugle boy.

The queen and his wife.

Viking Jeffrey Rigdon and his pretty daughter Kimberly.

Katherine Devine finishes off her mermaid.

Kimberly Rigdon toots her horn.

Crochet girls.

Grandbuddy Madeline and her buddy Pearl Fu (that'd be Pearlie Mae to some of us).

Jeff Pulls Madeline and Pearl.

Robin  Barnhill and a head celebrate "Occupy."

Vikings, Queens and Princesses.

We all smelled a rat.

Hitching a ride on mama.

Tracy Wassmer and Alisa Downey look fetching.

An irresistible young dancer.

Today's Marginal Arts Festival Mardi Gras Parade in downtown was an exercise in artistic chaos and anarchy and it was lovely.

The parade had about 30 entries, mostly creatively decorated people and occasionally a large animal, political poster, Queen of Hearts and her Princess and even Vikings. It was the kind of event that has marked MEF as one of Roanoke's premier goofball events, full of art, fun and laughter.

The little girl having so much fun in the photos with Pearl Fu is my grandbuddy Madeline. We both had a grand time.

Petition to Our Virginia 'Leaders' for Women's Freedom

So now, we have to petition our 12th Century leaders in Richmond to stop their Republican colleagues from removing a woman's right to birth control, abortion and god knows what else.

These people have slid off the right side of the planet and landed in the filthy pond where they began as scum. Now we have to say "pretty please" just to get back what belongs to half our citizens.

It is time to start throwing these crazies in jail. But the first step is to go here and overwhelm them with a huge number of signatures demanding they stop acting like damn fools.

Sign the petition. You're either a woman or you love one and by god they deserve every single right you have.

The Weirdness Continues: Virgil Goode for President?!?

President Virgil Goode? Oh, my Lord!

When I first saw the headline--in the Washington Post, for God's sake--I thought, "Oh, hell, I'm reading the Onion, not the Post." So I checked back to the top of the page and saw it really was the WP. So what's going on with this headline:

Ex Congressman Virgil Good Eyes Presidential Bid

Virgil Goode was the dumbest man in Congress while he was there--and we're talking about a bar so low that he had to dig a deep hole to get there--so now he believes he's qualified to be a Republican president. If you take a look at the current (and recent past) field, I suspect he has a point.

Here's what the Post says:

It remains to be seen whether Gov. Bob McDonnell will end up on the Republican ticket this fall, but it appears at least one Virginian has decided to run for president. Virgil H. Goode Jr. -- the former Virginia congressman and state Senator who switched from Democrat to Independent to Republican during his time in office — is apparently interested in the nation’s top job. Goode filed papers with the Federal Election Commission last week to create the Virgil Goode for President Campaign Committee. The form does not specify which party’s banner Goode will run under, but in 2010 he was named to the executive committed  of the Constitution Party, and last year the party unanimously adopted a resolution calling on Goode to run for president. He said at the time he would "consider it.'"

Who are these people and why are they so crazy?

Quote of the Day: So Who's Using Government Services?

"Cornell University’s Suzanne Mettler points out that many beneficiaries of government programs seem confused about their own place in the system. She tells us that 44 percent of Social Security recipients, 43 percent of those receiving unemployment benefits, and 40 percent of those on Medicare say that they 'have not used a government program.'”

--Paul Krugman in today's NYTimes

Drunk Driving and the Newly Found Wisdom

Doug Chittum

I feel bad for Doug Chittum this morning, but dammit! if you drink and drive, you're going to get caught and it's going to screw up your life. Simple as that.

Doug was sentenced yesterday, after pleading no contest, pretty much to time served (eight days in the county lockup), but the real punishment here is the loss of his reputation and his $115,000 a year job as director of economic development for Roanoke County. He is no longer eligible to work for a government, according to a story in a Roanoke daily paper.

I'm sure his family and friends are embarrassed and the county lost a good and loyal employee who was late in his career (he's 58). Doug still has a job with a private economic development company, but his salary dropped about two thirds.

Back during the bad old days when I was drinking and driving on a regular basis, I was caught three times and probably could have been caught 1,000 more. This was before drunk driving was considered a serious offense and I spent a total of two nights in jail (one a wedding night, but that's another seminar). I wish there was some way I could apologize to everybody who was hurt by all that, but I can't and never will be able to.

What Doug realizes today, and what I finally learned, is that justice comes at you quickly, unexpectedly and with an unemotional force that can be devastating. I'm sorry for Doug, but I am happy he was caught because my guess is that it will be good for him and for us in the long run. He's still a decent guy, but now he has another level of wisdom.

Blackmail from Amazon over Its Streaming Video?

Last night, I thought I'd give amazon.com's streaming video a shot and, in order to have a free one month trial, I had to submit a credit card number. and agree that if I didn't cancel at the end of a month, Amazon would charge me $79 a year for the service. Automatic. I didn't have to do anything unless I wanted to cancel.

I looked through its movies and found the selection to be pedestrian, so I figured, heck, I'd just go ahead and cancel. I went through about a dozen levels of instruction and finally found a place to cancel. But nooooooooo. This morning I get this threat:

Hello,

I want to make sure that closing your Amazon.com account won't cause problems with any open transactions or other websites you might visit.

Here are some things to keep in mind:

-- If you use your Amazon.com log-in on other sites (e.g., Endless.com, Audible.com, certain international Amazon sites, etc.), you'll also lose access to those accounts.
-- Any open orders you have will be canceled.
-- All subscriptions will be canceled (Amazon Prime, Subscribe and Save, etc.).
-- If you have a remaining Amazon.com Gift Card balance, you won't have access to use the funds.
-- Returns and refunds can't be processed for orders on closed accounts.
-- You won't be able to re-download the Kindle content purchased on this account.
-- You won't be able to access Amazon Cloud Drive content, Amazon Instant Video content, or Amazon Appstore content.
-- Your Amazon Payments account will be closed and can't be reopened.
-- You'll no longer have access to your Associates, Amazon Web Services, Seller, Author Central, and/or Mechanical Turk accounts.
-- If you have an Amazon Web Services account, please contact AWS customer support for assistance with closing your AWS account :
https://aws-portal.amazon.com/gp/aws/html-forms-controller/contactus/aws-account-and-billing

If you still want to close your Amazon.com account after reviewing the items above, please write back by visiting this link and state that you want to close your account:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/rsvp/rsvp-mi.html?q=acc1

I hope this helps. We look forward to hearing from you.

Thank you for your inquiry. Did I solve your problem?

To answer the last question, "No, ma'am, you didn't. You simply threatened me with loss of my Amazon gift card (a Christmas present) and the use of my Kindle." I'm waiting to hear back and I'm not happy.

Here's what I wrote the Amazon people:

Sirs:

This set of rules sounds very much like you are blackmailing me to keep me as a streaming movie customer. Your selection is tepid, which is why I want out almost before I begin.

I have an Amazon Kindle gift card given me for Christmas and I have a Kindle. Does this mean I will not be able to order with the card (which means you are stealing that money, already paid you) and that I will no longer be able to download on my Kindle?

Please advise asap.

Dan Smith

Country Song Title of the Day

Heard this one on my new favorite country radio station (96.9, WBRF in Hillsville) today: 

He's the Next Ex of My Old Used-To-Be

Boy-alive (or Boy Howdy as my pal Sarah Beth terms it), they don't write 'em like they used to.

Radio Appearance Scheduled Sunday on 101.5

Bruce Bryan and moi in the studio this afternoon.

Bruce Bryan of Roanoke Valley Conversations at 101.5 The Music Place radio had another lively conversation this afternoon and it will be broadcast Sunday morning 8-8:30. Bruce gave me the rare opportunity to do my best FM radio voice, the one I've practiced in the mirror for years and I came off with, "This is WDAN radio, home of the best of classic soft jazz" and it was lovely. What a voice! What a presence!

Tune in. We had a good time and talked about some fun stuff and some important stuff.

'Lake Effects' To Show on Hallmark Channel

"Lake Effects," Sara Elizabeth Timmins' movie made last year at Smith Mountain Lake will get its first wide circulation in May as a movie on the Hallmark Channel. Here's the press release:

The Hallmark Movie Channel has announced the World Premiere of the Hallmark Movie Channel Original film “Lake Effects,” starring Scottie Thompson, Jane Seymour, Madeline Zima, Eyal Podell, Sean Patrick Flanery, Ben Savage, Jeff Fahey and Casper Van Dien premieres on the network, Saturday, May 19, 8 p.m.

"Lake Effects” is the story of a high powered attorney Sara (Thompson) who while on her way to the top reluctantly returns to her childhood home on the enchanting Smith Mountain Lake to attend her father’s (Fahey) funeral and help her sister Lily (Zima) and mother Vivian (Seymour) settle the family estate. While there, Sara’s love for the lake and the townspeople is reignited, and with the help of her father’s ever present spirit, Sara looks inward, discovers the importance of love and family, and gives her all to save the family’s beloved home.

The inspiration for “Lake Effects” comes from the real community of Smith Mountain Lake in Southwest Virginia where the film was shot. Because Smith Mountain Lake residents were instrumental in the making of the film, producers of the film have pledged a significant giveback program which includes donations to clean and restore the lake and preserve its rich history.

Quote of the Day: The Overlooked

Frank Deford

"What is so dispiriting is to contemplate not only how many basketball players, but how many other athletes, how many artists and actors and musicians and writers, how many special creative talents never get fulfilled because the so-called experts are always looking in the same places."

--NPR sports commentator Frank Deford on the Jeremy Lin phenomenon. (I love that he broadened the base from sports, because this type-casting applies in everything we do.) Here's the essay in type and on the air.

The Radical Right Loonies Win the Day in Richmond

The despicable Marshall pretending he can read.

If you were under the impression that the nutty fringe of our society had taken some time off, consider this from Today's Richmond Times Dispatch:

"On a 66-32 vote, the state's House of Delegates has passed legislation to define life as beginning at conception. After a passionate debate, the House also voted 63-36 to pass legislation to require women to undergo ultrasounds before abortion.

"House Bill 1, sponsored by conservative Del. Robert G. Marshall, R-Prince William, would impart the rights of "personhood" to a human embryo at the moment of conception. Democrats railed on the legislation for the second day in a row, claiming it could be used to make it illegal to terminate a pregnancy or even allow women to use contraception that prevents the implantation of a fertilized egg."

You read that right: the bill would make the taking of the birth control pill illegal. The lying misogynists who voted for this bill are the same people who are saying those against it are exaggerating its consequences: the virtual enslavement of women. These women are enraged by this assault on their individual freedom and my guess is that the right-wing religious fanatics are poking a sharp stick at a sleeping giant. There is no exaggeration in the intent of these knuckle-dragging Cro-Magnons: they want to stop all birth control of any kind, and not just abortions. Of course, they say this bill has nothing to do with abortion or birth control. It's about them giving these poor dumb women the benefit of their vast experience and wisdom. They say that about every attempt to stop abortion.

It is time these people (Republican Dels. Robert Marshall and Jennifer McClellan are in the lead) are stopped, regardless of what it takes. And I think every alternative needs to be on the table. Let's take off the gloves.

Here's a response from my friend Betsy Gehman in Lynchburg, a woman who was a prominent part of the 1960s and 1970s women's rights movement. 

"The same people who so vehemently protest "the government sticking its nose into our business" seem to have no qualms at all about sticking their noses into the personal private lives of everyone else. Anyone with a brain and/or a conscience is aware that our population is staggering under the twin burdens of unemployment and rising numbers of people now living in poverty, due to that very unemployment!

"These careless elected officials might appeal to more voters when all those proliferating anti-abortion and anti-contraception bills include provisions for our state government to take on the financial burden of feeding, clothing, housing and educating all of the existing children now living (and dying) in the growing segment of official poverty.

"The concept of keeping women barefoot and pregnant seemed to work once upon a time. Will that subjugated position be forced on women& yet again? Stay tuned to the Reality Show currently playing in Richmond and - chillingly - in state houses all across America." 

(Photo: Richmond Times-Dispatch)

Jerusalem Restaurant: Mostly Italian, All Good

Discovered that Jerusalem Restaurant on Williamson Road (near the intersection with Hershberger Rd.) is as advertised by my friend Pearl Fu: an Italian/Mid-Eastern eatery that is run by a Palestinian.

Jerusalem, which is home for the owners (Fathi Jadid and Neadal Kanan), has a range of dishes from both cultures, but leans more heavily toward Italy. It features an active take-out business.

My guest and I ate calzone, which I adore, and the small calzone was too large (I got a to-go box), but so full of flavor. I had the vegeterian, she the Greek. There were few people in the restaurant tonight, but it's new and my guess is that word is not out yet. I hope this little restaurant can last because it fits nicely with the international flavor that Williamson has so enthusiastically adopted.

Go visit. I think you'll like the food.

fromtheeditr: 300,000 Visitors and Climbing

Yesterday, this blog passed 300,000 visitors. I'm pretty happy with that. It's an independent blog without the support of a corporation.

Thank you all for stopping by and please come again.

(Graphic: sodahead.com)

Roanoke Theater Just Keeps Getting Better

Writer Macher (from left) with Ristau, Young, Mullins and Moss during discussion following the play.

If there was any doubt that the drum I've been beating to salute the quality of theater in Roanoke was in tune, it should have been completely erased in the past few days. Three plays by three different companies in less than a week--all entertaining, wildly different and thoroughly creative--would tend to do that.

You've read about the two previous productions (and if you haven't, just scroll down) and the latest, Samantha Macher's "The Arctic Circle and a Recipe for Swedish Pancakes" opened with a preview tonight at Mill Mountain Theatre's Waldron Stage. It is part of this week's Marginal Arts Festival and was heavily dotted with Hollins University staff, students and former students--which is a good thing, a very good thing.

 Macher, who is part of the Playwright's Lab at Hollins, teams here with director Bob Moss to present this inventive, funny, clever, touching tale of a woman who loves too much without really having a clue what it's about.

The production presents some of a growing number of talented young Roanoke actors (developed by Hollins and Studio Roanoke), including Susanna Young (who steals this one), always solid Chad Runyon, and Drew Dowdy, he of wide enough range to play several roles in "Artic Circle," including two women.

Todd Risau, who heads the Playwright's Lab and has a lot of other local and regional credits, plays the narrator well. Even musician Shay Mullins, who has been around the stage here far too long to be as young as she is, is an important element to the mood of this play.

What is impressive beyond this small production--which is quite good and runs Feb. 14-18 at the Waldron ($15 at the door $10 in advance; order here or by calling 540-556-5396)--is the theater development on display in front of you. I've seen just about everybody who is associated with this play at other venues in Roanoke, where opportunities to be involved in theater are abundant. We're all being rewarded for those opportunities by being treated to a lot of good theater, much of it in premiers (everything at Studio Roanoke is a premier).

I've been attending theater in Roanoke since the early 1970s and have never seen a more exciting time or more interesting works.

(Photo: Gene Marrano)

Quote of the Day: The Severe Conservatives

Are you a Republican or a Dickhead or both?

Paul Krugman's most recent column in the NYTimes is a wealth of great quotables. Herewith:

Mitt Romney described himself as "severely conservative" and Krugman points out that "a list of words that most commonly follow the adverb 'severely' ... in frequency of use, are disabled, depressed, ill, limited and injured."

And there was this: "The long-running con game of economic conservatives and the wealthy supporters they serve finally went bad. For decades the G.O.P. has won elections by appealing to social and racial divisions, only to turn after each victory to deregulation and tax cuts for the wealthy — a process that reached its epitome when George W. Bush won re-election by posing as America’s defender against gay married terrorists, then announced that he had a mandate to privatize Social Security."

And this: "How did American conservatism end up so detached from, indeed at odds with, facts and rationality? For it was not always thus. After all, that health reform Mr. Romney wants us to forget [the one he implemented in Massachusetts, so similar to "Obamacare"] followed a blueprint originally laid out at the Heritage Foundation!"

(Graphic: guerillastickers.com)

OK, So Who Was That Team Playing Against Jeremy Lin?

Lin dribbles against Muskies'/Wolves' Ricky Rubio

With all the Jeremy Lin mania going on, my guess is almost nobody noticed that the team Lin's New York Knicks played last night had the name "Muskies" on the front of its jersey.

The team was the Minnesota Timberwolves, but the throwback jersey is from the Minnesota Muskies of the old American Basketball Association (ABA), the league that gave us the three-point shot, Dr. J, red-white-blue basketballs and small-market teams like the Virginia Squires, which played occasionally in Roanoke.

The Muskies played one season, 1967-68, and not much is remembered about them.

Lin, of course, is the Asian-American, Harvard grad who has led the Knicks to five straight wins and doesn't exactly fit the demographic of the NBA player. His bro-in-arms with the Knicks is a white Stanford grad. Strange times we live in.

A (Real) Fight for Shoes at Valley View Mall

As I made my laps at Valley View Mall this morning--walking inside to avoid cold and wind--I found it interesting that a long line of young African-Americans stood quietly outside one of the sports shoes stores at 9 a.m., awaiting a 10 a.m. opening. I asked what the deal was and one of the kids said, "Shoes," as if that told me everything I need to know.

A few laps later, I ran into a young fellow I know from Wendy's (one of the counter people with a sparkling, sunny personality) and got a better explanation: the new Air Jordans were apparently in Nike has public release dates for its Air Jordans; see here) and the store across the mall had sold out its February complement almost immediately, my pal said. This, I guessed, was these kids' version of a new iPad or fancy phone. The cost was well over $150, my buddy told me.

About 15 minutes later, as I was winding up my mileage, a large piece of plastic shot across the floor in front of me and I heard a commotion inside the store that had been open for an hour or so. As I neared the front door, I saw a group of boys huddled around two who were scuffling and two more off to the side who were slugging it out. They tore into displays, knocking them over, rolled around on the floor entangled and broke signs. Shoes flew around the room. The staff looked helpless, not wanting to get in the middle of it.

The ancient mall cop came over at his personal high speed (a slow trudge), talking on his shoulder-mounted communications device, reporting the disturbance, I guessed, to the Roanoke constabulary. He did nothing beyond watch and he followed the boys toward the exit as the fight moved away from the store, to the hall and then outside the building.

I didn't get a strong sense anybody was in any real danger (even the boys fighting didn't look all that mad at each other), and, frankly, the mall was almost empty except for the shoe buyers. It would seem to me, however, that security should be a smidge more secure.

A Few Thousand Votes and a Frenzied Media

So, let's take a look at the numbers and see just how many of are taking part in presidential politics these days. The Republican caucuses  are simply embarrassing with only Iowa having more than 6 percent of eligible voters participating. That stinks. Even the 6.5 percent of voters participating in a small state smells up the joint.

In states where there have been primaries, a few thousand voters are sending the national news media into a frenzy, reporting not on the vacuous nature of the Republican debate, but on the horse race, who's ahead amount hundreds of Republicans, the bulk of whom are certified nutcases.

The candidates are spending obscene amounts of money per vote and collecting said money from some of the shadiest figures in American business and industry, a veritable mafia of double-dealing, insider, fatcat, cigar-smoked, creepoids who expect that money back in many multiples.

Politics is not just broken in my favorite country; it has been shattered. I'm not sure it can be pieced together again.

A Pretty Good Day for the Kids

Pampa and the girls ready to paint.

The kids get help selecting their colors.

Gracie concentrates on her lizard.

Maddie paints away on her mirror.

Took my grandkid Maddie and her buddy Grace over to Glazed Bisque-It this morning for their ceramic painting session and these independent little ones took over from the moment we walked through the door. This was a perfect activity for them, one requiring a level of creativity and self-assured bull-headedness, which the kids have in spades.

They labored through a pretty snowstorm that subsided just as we left to go to lunch on City Market, where we ran into my pal Jeff Rigdon, the Viking who invited both of them onto his ship for the St. Patrick's Day parade in Roanoke next month (on Maddy's birthday, as it happens). They will be short Valkeries and the girls are ecstatic. Jeff also asked Maddie if she'd ride (as a princess) in Pearl Fu's rickshaw next weekend in the Marginal Arts Festival parade. Then, he topped it all off by requesting that the kids be in his Viking movie, a sequel to one made earlier.

Petty good day for the kids and it still had a lot of hours left in it.

'Alabaster McGill' at Studio Roanoke Is Hilarious

Even though "The Emancipation of Alabaster McGill," Jeff Goode's comedy about prejudice, is half an hour too long and is basically a one-trick pony, it's about as funny as anything I've seen at the theater in these parts in ages. It's playing at Studio Roanoke in downtown Roanoke.

If you want to see it, you'll need to hurry, since it runs only through Sunday. Get your tickets here.

Tonight's performance was sold out and I understand sales have been brisk. My guess would be that its look at Southern culture on the skids is bringing in the locals (excepting Republicans, who'd be uncomfortable with the attacks on some of their core beliefs, I'd bet) in droves. There are portions where the play slows from its own comedic weight, but those would be easily trimmed following this premier.

Basically, what we have here is seven old boys sitting on a porch being rednecks with a slight difference. To borrow a reference, there's a bit of a "light in the loafer" element among them. That's the one-trick pony and it's played all the way out.

The delivery of actors like Ross Laguzza, as something of a fallen preacher (and fallen is both literal and figurative here) and Brian O'Sullivan (whose face is made of rubber and who doesn't need to do much to bring a roar of laughter) give the play its heart and soul. This is a fine ensemble cast of local actors most of you will know: Simon Adkins, Michael Brickler, Stephen Glassbrenner, Owen Merrit and Blair Peyton. No women; just good ole boys who ain't so good.

Cheryl Snodgrass directed this piece with skill and apparent familiarity with the subject matter.

Most of the humor is predictable after the first few minutes, but the timing is good, the lines crisp and when Ross Laguzza is given time and space, he brings the house down. Even in the background, he's hilarious.

Catch it. A good laugh--especially a good political laugh at the expense of our brothers and sisters on the right--is not so hard to come by these days, given the Republican debates, but it's always welcome.

Anne Clelland's Book, 'Work: It's Personal', Is Here and It's Good

Valley Business FRONT Workplace Advice columnist Anne Clelland's collection of 30 columns is finally here and, for my money, it's the best business book you'll buy this year. You can take a look for yourself (and order) here.

The book Work: It's Personal takes a close look at some of the common and not-so-common problems of functioning in the modern workplace and Anne's advice comes from a counselor-journalist-teacher-business owner who knows what the hell she's talking about.

Anne's advice consistently strikes me as having the perfect balance between the practical and adventurous. She writes quite well and her reasoning is right there for you to examine. I've never seen her afraid of a topic, no matter how obtuse, delicate or controversial and, perhaps, what I like most about Anne is that she gives you a seminar on how to take responsibility for all you do and all that affects you. I like that a lot because it clears the garbage out of the way and allows the person with the problem to solve it.

Take a look (the Kindle version is really cheap) and I think you'll be sold on Anne's book and on her column, which appears monthly in FRONT.