Bells and Whistles

Ok, so here are some elements to work on....

==Definite==
blog ... content to be developed ... sceneonerichmond.blogspot.com

Tee shirt
-- Logo... working
-- Schedule of May events to wear your tee shirt to(Cinco De Mayo, Friday Cheers, )
-- official purchase location for tee shirts
-- should I charge for tee shirts?


Website ... still need to decide on a URL... stick with sceneonerichmond.blogspot.com?


==Possible==
myspace account?
Theme song?
______ contest?

Take the pledge! Draft list of charities

The challenge: Take the pledge! Under the consultation of friends, I have chosen a list of 30 charities that I would feel comfortable giving money to and that I feel do a great deal of good for the Richmond community. I am challenging everyone I know to give$30 to one of these charities... or $1 to all 30.... however you want to do it. Consider it a b-day gift. To take the pledge, simply let me know when you have sent your gift the charity(-ies?) of your choice. Obviously, I can't tally how much money you gave because I can't prove it.. but I am going by the NPR honor system... I only tally the amounts that people have pledged!!!

This is a start. (in no particular order)

Send suggestions to sceneonerichmond@ g ma il. com. At some point, I'll put together a tee shirt design.... still need to figure that out.

1 William Byrd Community House Help out the kids.

2 CARITAS Richmond End Homelessness in Richmond Check out their "donate" tab... pay online

3 Homeward End homelessness in Richmond heck out their "donate" tab... pay online

4 ART 180 - "ART 180 creates and provides art-related programs to young people living in challenging circumstances, encouraging personal and community change through self-expression. Our group is based in Richmond, Virginia."

5 United Methodist Family Services "By making a gift to UMFS you can touch the life of a child or family in deeply significant ways. Your financial support enables UMFS to be a world-class leader providing human services that enable children and families to realize their hopes for the future." (Adoption, Treatment Foster Care, Residential Treatment, Support Services, and Affiliate Services.)

6 The Giving Heart (Community Thanksgiving Feast) - Providing basic needs, assistance, acceptance and opportunities to the underprivileged, elderly and those who otherwise are hindered in their desire to move forward 7

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Arbitrary 2007 anniversaries

It seems like 2007 is the year for arbitrary celebrations of increments of time ending in 0 or 5.

For example:

* 400th anniversary of Jamestown
* 385th anniversary of the Indian Massacre of 1622
* 265th anniversary of the founding of Richmond (1742)
* 200th anniversary of Robert E. Lee's Birthday
* 175th (ish) anniversary of the Virginia Historical Society
* 10th anniversary of Bandito's Burrito Lounge

And, obviously, the 30th anniversary of me.

30 days Of 30 years: The concept...

It all starts with concept...

Premise 1: I am turning 30 in May... people who turn 30 often do something drastic on their 30th birthday...

Premise 2: doing drastic things doesn't need to be negative... I can do something drastically positive on my 30th birthday... like get people to donate to charity. It is right to help out the little guy.

Premise 3: tee shirts are awesome. Richmond is awesome. Raising awareness of Richmond charities by putting them on tee shirts is awesome...

Premise 4: Viral Marketing sucks but it works... and advertising for a good cause doesn't suck .

I think the conclusion follows... A 30-day Richmond Charity Pledge Birthday Festival Website Tee Shirt


Coming to a capital city near you in May of 2007.

I will keep you posted via this blog.

Walking into 2007...

I feel a little like Rip Van Winkle....

ok, so apparently I didn't make ANY blog posts in 2006. That tells you what sort of blogger I am. I am a very bad blogger.

So what did I do in 2006? I did exactly what I said I would ... I walked the Fan, and I promoted walking the Fan. For my birthday in May, I took the GRTC and walked to Brown's Island and joined 3500 of my closest friends for a Friday Cheers concert by Fighting Gravity. The highlight of that evening was when the lead singer (Shiavone McGee), shouted happy birthday.. to himself... but little did he know that he was playing my party... the biggest birthday party that Richmond had ever seen.. up to that time.

The best part of the whole year was December 31, when over 6000 people joined me in Carytown and that dude from RVAmag yelled something passionate about community and we all waited for the New York Deli ball to drop... err rise... and then we all went Fan walking into late into the night.

So what's next for 2007? Obviously, I have to throw a bigger birthday party than last year.

... and that's a pledge...

FanSpace

http://groups.myspace.com/RVAFanClub



Everyone else likes this one
http://groups.myspace.com/rva

Reading is the new trend, hepcats!

Romans 12:2:Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world,



but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

A Movement is Afoot

Kings Fest

Kings Fest is being held Thursday, July 7 through Saturday, July 9 at Paramount's Kings Dominion this year--

Three days of Christian music, speaking and teaching. Many performances are scheduled for this three day event.

Thursday: Third Day, Pillar, Hyper Static Union

Friday: Audio Adrenaline, Cameron Mills, Rebecca St James, Kutless, Building 429, Hawk Nelson, Stellar Kart

Saturday: Newsboys, Wes Hamilton, Tobymac, FFH, Jeremy Camp, Thousand Foot Krutch, Dizmas

Click here for the Upcoming.org event listing. It would be cool if you registered with Upcoming and dropped yourself in the Richmond metro group, and listed yourself as attending if you are...

Finding the Scene Part 1

I had a thought today. What if I subscribed to all the church newsletters in the Fan? I could compile a a list of the most interesting Young Adult activities and send it out to everoune through my account at sceneonerichmond@gmail.com.

Nah... too much work.

There must be an easier way to collect this information.

PS when I say Young Adult, I mean ages 20-30. We need a new word.

The Madness of Crowds

Crowds are trendy nowadays.
http://www.randomhouse.com/features/wisdomofcrowds/

I am skeptical. As I sit at World Cup Cafe on Morris Street, I observe to my left a rowdy group of 12 Christian young adults from a vibrant Fan-area church. They have colonized the entire East side of the cafe to the point that the Men's bathroom is blocked off. Their presence distracts the VCU kids trying to study, and their mass arrival and demand for every sort of fancy beverage and dessert creates a tremendous workload for the barista, which makes her grumpy. Is this a loving witness? It appears that this excursion into public space is also an intrusion, an invasion.

They are sincere in their relationships with each other, and I love them and respect them for it, but they represent a tremendous annoyance to everyone else in the cafe. Sometimes, the only contact some people have with Christians is through being lectured and talked-down-to, and through rude but oblivious groups such as this one. Where is the model of Christian fellowship in the world that gives people exposure to loving Christians without having us be the bull in a china shop?
http://www.litrix.com/madraven/madne001.htm

Scene Insider #1

This guy is basically WeeklyRant.com. While his position gives him the
scoop on RVA events, there may also be a bias to plug his sponsors.
That said, http://weeklyrant.com and its companion blog
http://riverrapids.blogspot.com/
are pretty good views to the RVA Scene.

On Band Names #1

I find myself making up band names and song names all the time. For a while, I started coming up with potential band names for religious rock bands, especially those containing lame puns. My favorite is Jonah and the Whalers, but I also like Noah Way and Allah Y'all. In the spirit of lame puns (that might actually be good bands), I present the following:

Pheer Knot plays Heavenly Grounds Cafe Friday, March 4, 2005. Oxbridge Square 9957 Hull Street. Call 647-9273 for more info.

Jah rules

Hasidic Reggae anyone? I heard Matisyahu on WRIR. It reminded me of the Matrix 3 where the people of Zion (the underground city) had their cathartic rave.
==================

Matisyahu comes to Alley Katz Wed., March 2nd from 8pm-midnight. $8 advance; $10 door. 18+. 10 Walnut Alley in Shockoe Bottom. 804-643-2816. http://www.hasidicreggae.com/

Matisyahu, who grew up in Brooklyn, New York, was raised on a steady diet of Bob Marley and early hip-hop. After several years of soul searching, Matisyahu began to explore his Jewish roots. More than realizing the depth and beauty inherent in his own religion that had remained distant to him until then, Matisyahu noticed the striking similarities Judaism shared with Rasta culture. The result of this is a Reggae sound unmatched in today's pop culture. Matisyahu draws heavily on the spirit of traditional Judaism, and juxtaposes it with the dub-wise sounds of Jamaican Reggae.

Craigslist

This is awesome.

http://richmond.craigslist.org/

Lenten Lunch at St Paul's

Saint Paul's Episcopal is one of Richmond's "historical" churches. Itis near the Capitol grounds (at 9th and Grace), and has been thechurch of hoity toity Richmonders ever since Jefferson Davis. Theyalso have a well respected community Lenten lunch series. Thedistinguished speakers give a sermon weekdays 12:30-1:00, and lunch isserved the 45 min before and the 30 min after the sermon. (If you arein a hurry, they operate a takeout counter from 11:45 to 1:30)Speakers include the pastoral director of Richmond Hill, the pastor ofFirst Baptist Church, the Dean of VUU school of theology, pastor ofSt. Paul's Baptist Church, the "bishop suffragan" of the EpiscopalDiocese of Southern Virginia, "rector emeritus" of Trinity church onWall Street (NYC), and the "consulting theologian" of Fifth AvenuePrez in NYC.http://www.stpauls-episcopal.org/2005Brochure_2004Brochure_1.pdf

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.