Long Haired Freaky People (Will Be...)

I used to do Saturday Playlists. 

Tonight I drove from a Little Fox Creek in the land of the Hatfield's and the McCoy's and my kinfolk.

To Staunton.

Crackled mountain radio started it. An 'ugh' immediately rewarded with the rooftop performance of The Beatles' "Get Back." Winded the four-lane through some classic rock and bluegrass and random bursts of NPR and country preachers. Zeppelin, Janet Jackson, Pearl Jam, TI, Stones, Cake, Marley (4 songs from Exodus!),  Stars, Jovi, Cat Power...WNRN is the absolute best station in Virginia. 

I'm going to miss Virginia, as I always do. Glad she's a forever friend. 

Last time I was here was buzzing. 

Time before that I went to a 100-year old juke joint with a room of stand-up basses in the back for their bi-weekly open jams. 

Heather's living rooms have always inspired blog posts.

December 2009 (2nd generation iphone, no editing at all)

February 2011 (Canon Rebel, rudimentary editing)

(above) December 14, 2012---aka: brand new day (Samsung Galaxy, Pixlr-Omatic)

Third year, third living room, third device. Nonetheless always happy to be here.

(pic: New Orleans Home & Neighborhoods)

Tonight we talked New Orleans (see you in March!).

We agree The Sopranos is the best tv show ever.

Mind alteration was discussed. 

Off to Norfolk tomorrow. Will miss Colonial Place & hope she's a lifelong friend too.

Love Local Music

Greetings and Salutations. I've been working with the good folk over at Veer Magazine over the last couple of months as a member of the judge's panel for their upcoming Local Music Awards on February 15. By "working" I mean listening to lots of music and telling the powers that be what I'm digging....and interviewing local trio DJP & Mr T for their cover story about local bands and the show. Read it here.

OK Back to the Awards Show:

The contest works like this: 

There's some judges (like me and many other bloggers, promoters, musicians, writers, DJ's, etc. involved in the local scene). 

Those judges name a bunch of stuff we like. 

Those results are tallied and sent out to YOU: the eyes and ears of 757 Music.

You vote HERE.

The judges also vote on those finalists--but with some fairness and rules so we can't just promote our friends and interests. 

The results come in and are announced February 15 at The Naro. The show is going to be awesome. You should go go go if you're in town.

The performing bands are following the show's mantra "Love Your Local Music" and its proximity to Valentine's Day. Their only song requirement is that the title must contain the word "love."

Come! Enjoy some Starr Hill Love, some "Love Me Do" and some Love from your fellow music nerds.

Suburban Vid

Here's an awesome video from local band Suburban Living shot around Norfolk. Enjoy the sound and then check out more of their sweet tunes here. It's so pretty.

N: Word.

Saw a Facebook post just now asking for a cool local picture. I don't have a current one. I've been shooting sporadically and mainly bands lately. But I do have some favorites from previous blogs...just some things I've noticed in my frequent local wanderings...

*My city houses my people.*

Two things we got. Hula hoopers and Crosswalks. 

Sticker on an old rusty trash can at Haven Creek boat launch.

Suffolk Center for  Cultural Arts

Christopher Newport University

Waterside summer on a foggy day.

This was not Halloween. It was a spring night in the Freemason.

And here's something I made last week with some of my shots and amazing ones from other locals' work. It was inspirational to scour the internet looking for cool images of our city. I used the image in an introduction video to describe my city to the greater Airbnb community.

Glimpse

I had to make a sign for work that had my market's name on it. I made this instead. 

It takes the AltDaily t-shirt campaign I worked on last year (ie: Naw-fuk) a step further, as the assignment's purpose is to make an introduction between Norfolk and the Airbnb community.  

Man, if only all our city pics were as cool as these. We'd be s-e-t.

(pics by me, John Cachero, Sam Shinault, ODU and Pilotonline, AltDaily)

First Photowalk

The awesome photographer (and guy) John Cachero led me and many more photographers (and wannabes) along the streets of Downtown Norfolk last Sunday afternoon for his second annual photowalk. Stay tuned to AltDaily, as I'm going to interview him about all things photog, Norfolk, and such sometime soon.

In the meantime, here are some of my pics.

Here's one of all of us by John.

Art Over Here, Art Over There

Last week was Art|Everywhere's opening night. Here are some highlights. You can view the rest of the pictures I took here.

Busknews

WVEC Channel 13 interviewed me today regarding all the busking work I've been doing over the last year or so. The best part? We were done with the interview and the guy says "too bad there aren't any buskers out here right now" and, literally, two appeared at the end of the same block we were on. Karma!

Here's a link to their story as well.

Legalize It. Publicize It.

pic: jESiO

Tomorrow's a big day, folks! SPIN (Street Performing in Norfolk), the pro-busking "group" I've been organizing for the last year is finally becoming legit. To make busking officially "legal" in Norfolk, the City Council will vote on the ordinance tomorrow night at 7pm. Click here to read all about the last year in busk, what started it, what continued it, where it's going. And if you're local, come out and support it!

I Get the Message Out

What do you do to renew your city? I was asked that question as part of a video promo for the upcoming Renewal Art Show this Friday. See the video (shot by  Nick Savides) below, which features me (quoting Rocky Horror!) and other creatives who try to make a difference.

About Renewal: The brainchild of Symphonic for the City, the show is always scheduled as close to Easter as possible and asks artists to submit work dealing with themes of creation, resurrection, and transformation. It's a juried show with all perspectives and mediums welcome. I'll post some of the work next week.

...with my little eye

I took a walk around Colonial Place (my neighborhood) this afternoon...