speaker for "Gallery 5 After 5," will talk on Sept. 8.
This is one of the more unusual of the five eight presenters arranged for the “Gallery 5 After 5” series that debuts on Sept. 8. Part happy hour, part dance party, part talk, it grew out of a conversation between administrators of the downtown arts venue and CultureWorks leader John Bryan.
Prabir Mehta, president of the Gallery 5 board, co-organizer of the series and, yes, musician, says that he and Gellery 5 founder Amanda Robinson approached Bryan in April about how to celebrate the gallery’s fifth anniversary. A lecture series was one idea.
Bryan says, “But when you think of the terms ‘Gallery 5’ and ‘lecture series,' they seem at opposite ends of the spectrum: One is hot and cool, the other is studious and still. So the thinking then became how to shake up this concept.”
of "Gallery 5 After 5."
“I was totally entranced. He was fascinating, and he had scorpions, and it was amazing. We’d thought about whether to have a lecture in either December or January, and I heard [Harrell] and thought to myself, ‘Me-rr-y Christmas!’ ”
Mehta and Bryan split up selection duties. Bryan thought that Tom Silvestri, publisher of the Richmond Times-Dispatch, who is quite capable working a room, would be placed before an audience that may not have seen him before. He’ll be up on March 9, 2011.
“And I wondered if they’d ever gotten the real story behind the Arthur Ashe statue on Monument Avenue,” Bryan says. “And so I said, 'Well, how about if I get the guy who actually did it?' ” Thus, sculptor Paul Di Pasquale, on Oct. 13.
The first speaker on Sept. 8 is Tracy Wilson of the Independent Label Collective, whose topic is “The State of The Music Industry Today and What It Means to You. AKA Don't Quit Your Day Job. No Really.” Music will be provided by DJ Sara Gossett of Cherry Bomb and the Climbers featuring Adah.
The lectures are free, each event will be accompanied by musical entertainment befitting the evening's theme, and all participants are contributing their time. Mehta says that while some of the speakers may not think of themselves as educators, their way of presenting their knowledge lends itself to this format. He explains, “It’s a way to celebrate our anniversary and say to Richmond, come on in and let’s learn something about our town and have some fun.”
The lineup:
Sept 8 - Tracy Wilson - Independent Label Collective
Oct 13 - Paul DiPasquale – Arthur Ashe statue artist
Nov 10 – Andrew Chesnut – VCU Department of World Studies
Dec 8 – Wade Harrell – president of The American Tarantula Society
2011
Feb 9 – Patrick Godfrey – Velocity Comics
Mar 9 – Tom Silvestri – Richmond Times-Dispatch publisher
Apr 13 – David Olli – Science Museum of Virginia
May 11 – Mark Wood – VCU Department of World Studies
I found this during my ramble to work, and the backside of the headgear bears the printed commercial inscription: “I Threw Boring Overboard at LONG JOHN SILVER’s.”
I don’t know what gave rise to the query.
Seems like our concern for undue outside influence on our Internet infrastructure is overshadowed by our own ability to bollix things up to a royal fare-thee-well. As the IT guys are wont to say of bad programs — GIGO.
If you ask me.
From 2 to 7 p.m., in five shifts, some 75 artists will create on the spot and sell the resulting artwork for $65 to benefit the gallery. This ain’t like those amusement-park caricatures. You don’t even have to pose. Just watch.
There’ll be so many artists in one place at one time (including — full disclosure — my own partner in art, Amie Oliver) that it may — I’m not saying for sure — cause nearby art to pull slightly away from walls or tilt. Be not alarmed. The effect is temporary.
There’ll be kids' activities, Boka Truck tacos and a cash bar. Admission is five bucks, kids under 12 free.
But you've got to come Saturday, not Sunday.
After you’ve gotten your original work of art on paper, you can go out to the Goochland Drive-In’s one-year anniversary for a triple feature of Toy Story 3, Nanny McPhee Returns and Predators. The Diggity Dudes, with “hip music for hip kids,” are performing before every show, which starts at 8:10 p.m. All this, a moonbounce and an appearance by Herbie the Love Bug. Be aware: There's limited space, so arrive early — gates open at 5:30 p.m, there's no admittance after the first 30 minutes of the first movie and you need an FM radio to hear the films' audio.
It’s got a cast of some of our more accomplished actor-entertainers, including Michael Hawke, Billy-Christopher Maupin, Steve Moore, Stephen Ryan, Gayle Turner (back after a long absence) and Aly Wepplo.
Don’t tell me you’ve not nothing to do.
Given the state’s political climate and recent incidents, it seems that such an endeavor could be an uphill struggle. Yet despite this, Jay White, director of Word. Marketing, says that in the 2000 census, the Richmond region was 16th in the nation with a population self-identified as LGBT.
Jay Squires, president of the GCCR says, “Politics is one thing. People are another.” He emphasized that there is misinformation out there about Richmond’s openness to LGBT people. Fact is, here — and elsewhere — they are numerous and they spend money. The RBA says it wants to counteract misconceptions with the truth.
But another practical aspect, says Kevin Clay of GayRVA, is introducing LGBT newcomers and longtime residents to important service providers, such as general-practice physicians and lawyers, that are sensitive to the needs of this community.
A business seeking to get on the alliance’s roster gets a free listing or a premium listing for an annual $150. This week, the listings will also be available through GayRVA.com and VisitRichmondVa.com/rainbow, an LGBT-friendly tourism site adminstered by the Richmond Metropolitan Convention & Visitors Bureau. And there’s also a sticker a firm can put on its front door.
“It’s not just nightclubs and entertainment,” Clay said. “We want to take the opportunity to advertise businesses that are inclusive and consolidate this information in one place.” This goes from Realtors to communities of faith.
“Confrontation isn’t the point,” Squires says. “It’s information — what’s out there.”
And, naturally, there’s a party. The official launch of the Richmond Business Alliance will be held Sept. 9 at 8 p.m. at The Empress, 2053 W. Broad St.
There’s also a raft of events heading up to the horizon and Gay Pride Month in September.
On Aug. 29, Emmy-award winning filmmaker Stu Maddux's documentary Gen Silent, about the aging LGBT population, is premiering at the Richmond Triangle Players. In some cases, elderly gay people who fought to come out are now going back in the closet in order to receive long-term care without discrimination. Richmond is the smallest market the film is getting shown in.
On Sept. 19, at the GCCR gallery, a national exhibit, "Nazi Persecution of Homosexuals 1933–1945," on loan from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, goes on display. The story of homosexuals in Nazi Germany was more than two years in development and is the first major presentation on the subject for English-speaking audiences.
And for Gay Pride Month, there'll be 60 events in 30 days. On Sept. 25, for the Gay Pride event at Kanawha Plaza, expect to see the To the Bottom and Back Bus redecorated in rainbow hues.
Like sudden bursts of blossoms emerging from the cracks of a sidewalk, talk of regionalism regularly emerges in the media. I’m a guilty perpetrator myself. You can see here and here. Oh, and yes, here.
And now I’m wearying.
Yet here is a man I greatly respect, VCU urban-studies professor Morton Gulak, leading a study at the behest of the Greater Richmond Chamber and the Richmond Regional Planning District Commission through the nice people at the Capitol Region Collaborative.
An exercise in which 55 planners from throughout the region participated included asking them (among other things) to name recognizable features: 71 percent singled out the James River, a whopping 31 percent mentioned Short Pump and a mere 15 percent apiece gave props to downtown or the Fan District. (The italics are mine.)
Gulak is quoted as saying, “The region is not ‘imageable’ at all. In order to have a basis of cooperation, we’ve got to have an image of what we’re talking about.”
Some have tried. But the Easter Island heads of the region haven’t really warmed to the notion of pushing our collective stories as an epic in which we all share. Neither the history nor the future belong to any one person or group, but to all of us.
I keep thinking about Vizzini, “The Smartest Man in the World” played by Wallace Shawn in The Princess Bride, and his consistent use of the word “inconceivable.” Which is what happens in a collective manner whenever regional identity is bruited, and the snorted retort is something like Richmond needs to turn in its city charter and admit failure.
My mind, too, goes back to a post about a talk given by then (and still, I guess) mayor Dwight C. Jones (Remember him? I wrote a feature on him back in the heady days of last year.)
During that talk, the mayor sounded some quite fine phrases that I praised, but almost two years later, there’s not much substance following them. Don’t get me wrong. You don’t turn a supertanker around on a dime.
The kind of change the Greater Metropolitan Area (or “A-ree-ya” if you’re speaking old Richmondese) needs — deep, paradigm-shifting, fundamental alterations — likely won’t occur short of two things: 1) A massive catastrophe the likes of which we cannot imagine nor would we wish to occur. This would, however, make provincial differences look like just what they are: imaginary, based in ego. 2) A neuralizer device to alter synaptic firings and, with surgical precision, change people’s modes of thought.
Of course, if such a device existed, those who created the thing would likely choose circumstances that seemed more important than snapping the Richmond region’s mind-forged manacles.
We have done the same thing for so long that it often seems as if our politics cannot conscience an alternative. But, as someone once said, real political change comes as if through the slow grinding of boards. All this said, I don’t mind these conferences and reports, if they can get us a little more down the road to policies that work on a regional basis.
Problem is, I have just one lifetime, and the region's challenges won't wait. We need some actual change that is growth, and some progress that is forward, not as singular entities but together.
