Underground: The Next Generation

I was reading Wadi magazine, which sucks, and I happened to see Grace Brethren Church listed as one of the band venues. Apparently, bands play there on the fourth Saturday of each month 7 - 10, and they have a coffeehouse (a.k.a Black Hole Coffeehouse) there on off-weeks. Two drawbacks: (1) it's near Midlo = Southside (2) Pictures on the site indicate it may be a teeny-bopper thing. Even so, I am reminded of the old adage that the Church is always one generation away from extinction. You have to start somewhere, and adolescence is the age when musicians generally start to play guitar. It is sweet that we have at least one Richmond church hosting and advertising bands. That creates a scene-- a separate and legitimate alternative culture. That's the essence of the RCU.

http://www.fgbc.org/richmondgbc/blackholecoffee/index.htm

Turn Turn Turn

I have always maintained that Richmond has two unique weather seasons. The first is Hurricane Season (Mid-September), and the One-Week-of-Winter (Late January).

As I write, The National Weather Service is warning of "MIXED SNOW... SLEET... AND FREEZING RAIN" Saturday night and Early Sunday. Last week most churches in Richmond were cancelled because of a monster ice storm that kept schools closed for days. This happens every year in a predictable fashion... predictable in that I anticipate it, but unpredictable in that the it comes as a surprise to everyone else.

Ok so here's my call for 2006: Two road-crippling storms in Richmond, less than a week apart, in late January. Don't say I didn't warn you.

(oh, and July and August will be unbearably hot and muggy)

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
1 There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for every affair under the heavens.
2 A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to uproot the plant.
3 A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to tear down, and a time to build.
4 A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.
5 A time to scatter stones, and a time to gather them; a time to embrace, and a time to be far from embraces.
6 A time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away.
7 A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to be silent, and a time to speak.
8 A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

Tsunami of Love

Got this from the Plan9 weekly email...

1) Sunday, January 30th music lovers of all ages can enjoy a day of live music from some of Richmond’s best bands while also donating money to the victims of the devastating earthquake and tsunamis in South Asia. It's “The Sound of Help: A Benefit Concert for the Red Cross International Tsunami Relief Fund,” at the Canal Club downtown. Doors open at 2:00 pm, with live music from 2:30pm-8pm. Tickets, sold at the door, are $20, $10 for kids 14 and under; children under 3 get in free. Cash, checks and credit cards are welcome. Live performers include: The Susan Greenbaum Band, Page Wilson and Reckless Abandon, Plunky and Oneness, Robbin Thompson, The Taters, The Honky-Tonk Experience, The English Channel, Janet Martin Band, Lee Harris 3, Steppinstone, Farewell, Dave Pahanish. There'll also be a silent auction featuring art, jewelry and recorded music by a wide range of local artists.

2) FUSION JAZZ LOUNGEShockoe Slip, 109 S. 12th St.Saturday, January 22, 1:00 PM TO MIDNIGHT This benefit concert is a gift from Fusion and the musical Community to the Red Cross Tsunami Aid Fund. Jared Stone has moved quickly to put together an amazing lineup of over a dozen groups of local and regional musicians for this event from different genres of music, from jazz to funk, from blues to swing, to pop-rock.Scheduled to appear: The George Melvin Experience, Stone Stew with Jared Stone on drums and Alan Parker on guitar, the John D'earth Band, Howard Curtis & the Percussion Discussion, the Modern Groove Syndicate, D.J Williams (funk), Terry Garland (blues), Susan Greenbaum (acoustic pop-rock), Chez Rouee' and others
For more information call (804) 249-2338

Sweet Richmond

Christians sitting around informally talking… the Richmond hobby that
became a national phenomenon.

http://www.styleweekly.com/article.asp?idarticle=9703

http://sweetmonday.com/

PS -- Ladies can go to the World's Largest Tea Party May 16 at the University of Richmond’s Robins Center. No Boys Allowed, apparently.

The Future is Now

People from all over Richmond watching plays about faith and then going somewhere to discuss them. Not A pipe dream. It's happening right now. Get involved.

http://www.actsoffaith.org/
http://www.actsoffaith.org/cs.htm

PS Thanks MonAve. Thanks for introducing the world to my theory of coagulation... also known as Modular Assembly Theory. More later...

"Radio for the Rest of Us."

Richmond's indie radio launched today after an extensive testing phase.

97.3 on your FM dial.

http://wrir.org/x/modules/news/

"If I had a radio /for every time you loved me so/ I wouldn't have a radio at all" - One Ring Zero

Coffee Talk

Three bits of News:
1) Upper Room Cafe (in Carytown) recently announced that they wil no longer be open on Saturdays. New hours are Tues- Fri from 8 a.m. to noon. What will people do after going to the Byrd?

2) Two cafes reopen this week in Shockoe Bottom after the flood. Cafe Gutenburg's entire first main floor was essentially destroyed along with what was at the time the largest antique book collection in Richmond Support them by buying good books. Visit http://www.cafegutenberg.com/ Also 17.5 cafe opens Wednesday. They're a little bit more cramped but it's eclectic for sure.

3) Other cafes in Richmond can be found at at http://www.restaurant-info.us/coffee/VA/Richmond.asp