Our Outline for 2013

With a cheeky teacher's apple in hand, we give a scheduled run-down of what to expect from this blog during the spring semester. We should add that we feel slightly hipper than normal as we are listening to WXDU 88.7-FM (Durham, NC), the student radio station of Duke University, via Internet streaming which is actually working?!, while we are posting this.

A few minutes ago, they were playing a song by Dawn McCarthy and Bonnie Prince Billy, a band with actor Will Oldham, who starred in the indie classic "Old Joy" (2006).  Javier the Intern informs us that we are now listening to "One Million Lovers" by The Growlers. Aren't you impressed?

Here is our slate:


Sunday- (1st and 3rd) Weekend Tweets

Sunday (2nd, 4th and 5th)- Comic Strip Dialogue......hopefully, the creators of "Funky Winkerbean," which is still carried by "The Roanoke Times" in Roanoke, Va., won't sue us.

Monday (1st and 3rd starting in Feb.) Sports Update- gymnastics

             (2nd, 4th and 5th)- college basketball

Tuesday- Quote of the Week

Wednesday- Weather from Around the Whole World

Thursday- Silly Photo to Fill Space

Friday- Weekend Extra

Saturday- Weekend Extra

http://www.wxdu.org

http://www.bonnieprincebilly.com

http://www.thegrowlers.com

http://www.funkywinkerbean.com

http://www.roanoke.com

Special Quote of the Week- W.B. Yeats

Today since St. Patrick's Day was last week we thought we'd once again quote someone famous from Ireland. And, we've decided to quip the poet W.B. Yeats (1865-1939) whose quotes actually appear in the highly acclaimed Chinese film "24 City" (2008).

Yeats is known for poems like "The Second Coming" (1920) and assuredly a teacher at Patrick Henry High School in Roanoke, Va., is perhaps assigning a paper on his works as we speak (oh, I forgot school is out for today!).

Here is his quote:

"Being Irish, he had an abiding sense of tragedy, which sustained him through temporary periods of joy."

While we are speaking about all things Irish, we should mention that the 'not Irish' band Coyote Run (they are actually classified as Celtic) from Williamsburg, Va., that I saw perform live recently will be giving a concert in their home state at RavenCon in Richmond on Sat., April 9.

50 Beers from Around the World- Starr Hill (Charlottesville, Va.)

Today, we shift our focus from beers in sometimes obscure parts of the world, like Paraguay (yes, we did profile a beer from there!), to talk about beers that are closer to home.

Many Virginians are familiar with Starr Hill Beer, a brand that is brewed in Crozet, Va. (Charlottesville), and is extremely popular in Roanoke and Richmond. The beer can also be found in the Carolinas, Maryland, Georgia and Florida among other states.

I recently tried a Starr Hill (ironically I drink beer as often as Donny Osmond or Cat Stevens!) at the Kirk Avenue Music Hall in Roanoke the other night and I really liked it. The venue hosts Nashville-singer Megan McCormick tomorrow night.

Starr Hill was also featured on the reality tv show "Top Chef" and among its brands are the award-winning Jomo Lager which is made from Munich and caramel barley.

Silly Photo to Fill Space- Ghosts

It's that time of the year again!

The Grandin Theatre in Roanoke, Va., will be screening the comedy film "Ghostbusters" at midnight for Halloween on both Oct. 30 and Oct. 31.........

Silly Photo to Fill Space_ "Batman"

I used to watch this kitschy tv serial on reruns from WSLS-TV Channel 10 out of Roanoke, Va., all the time when I was a kid in the late '70s.

Like Bert and Ernie from "Sesame Street," there has been speculation that the dynamic duo was gay, but I suppose only Adam West knows if that is true.

Thankfully I have a job so I can't waste any time watching the show in its entirety on dvd, but then again why am I wasting valuable time on this blog?

Silly Photo to Fill Space

At first glance, one might assume this photo is an example of American zaniness, but amazingly enough this photo of a doga class (yoga with dogs) was apparently taken in Brisbane, Australia. I took some yoga classes here in North Carolina and in Roanoke, Va., a few years ago. My poses were quite limited though! (and, no I did not bring Mitzi the family dog).

Remembering the American Newspaper- Right Wing Letters to the Editor

Along with several entries here and our sister blog "The Daily Vampire," we will be publsihing a weekly mock tribute to the American Newspaper, which is vanishing like a bambi in a redneck's backyard.

Today, we take an actual fringe letter-to-the-editor that was published by "The Roanoke Times" in Roanoke, Va., on Sat., May 2. I must profess that I find some right wing letters-to-the-editor to be even more amusing than "Pearls Before Swine."

This is certainly one of that qualifies as the author, Darkas Mason of Roanoke, goes on a rant against homosexuals and the issue of gay marriage, using The Bible as the source of their hate:

"God didn't make Adam and Steve. He made Adam and Eve to have children and replenish the Earth. Nowhere have I found in the King James of the Bible where two men have had children together. 'Thou Shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind. It is abomination. Leviticus 18:22. Clear wording. Do not have sex with another man. That is detestable. I think this is pretty clear."

And, Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) is not a hypocrite.

True Confessions (10 of 11)_ The Camel Days

As I was walking on campus today, I held my nose with two fingers as I walked right past a smoker.

It's a bit ironic since I used to be a smoker myself!

For a brief while in 1989, I did actually indulge in this very bad habit.

My cigarette of choice was mostly Camels.

The habit formed purely from peer pressure. In the summer of 1989, I traveled to my father's country Turkey for the usual summer trek.

While there, my friend Muzzafer and his gang of friends would all smoke. After a while, it seemed socially appropriate to fit in and smoke with them.

I actually brought a whole carton of Maltepe-brand Turkish cigarettes from Ataturk International Airport in Istanbul which I brought with me to Roanoke, Va.

I would smoke these cigarettes and share them with friends who smoked when I attended Virginia Western Community College in Roanoke.

The story of how I quit smoking is perhaps the more interesting one though. A few years later, when I was attending Radford University, my friend Bahadir and I went to a bar in downtown Roanoke.

Though we were both smoking Camels, we told a couple of attractive women who saw us that we weren't really smokers. They didn't buy it. I quit smoking after that.

Alas, I now live in an area along the Virginia-North Carolina border where many people still smoke regularly.

True Confessions (8 of 11)_ Slamdancing Back in '88

We have changed the format of this series in that we are no longer going to present the info in the form of a quiz. Folks simply aren't playing along!

But, I did indeed participate in a men's bikini contest in Myrtle Beach, SC, some 15 years ago. I hope that info isn't read by a perspective future employer, but hey everyone is young and foolish at some point in life.

So, today I am freely admitting that once upon a time in the city of Roanoke, Va., I went slam dancing to a now defunct local heavy metal band called Nosferatu (undoubtedly named after the classic vampire film pictured here) at a now defunct place called the Iroqoius Club, which existed on Salem Avenue.

Ahh, those were the days!

I did start having back problems a few years after I participated in slam dancing, which was circa 1988- for all perspective future employers or FBI personnel who happen to be spying on me, but the chiropractor in Woodstock, Va., attributed that to moving and lifting heavy boxes........!

Know Your Mayors (Entry 3 of 12)

Today we turn our attention to the mayor of my hometown, Roanoke, Va., known as the Star City of the South.

He is David Bowers, 56, pictured here on the left with people who I believe are members of Roanoke City Council (sorry, no fact checkers here!).

Bowers defeated former mayor Nelson Harris last year. Bowers was previously mayor from 1992-2000, and he has also served on city council.

The mayor's day job is a lawyer. He is also a member St. Andrew's Catholic Church, the Knights of Columbus and the Kiwanis Club.

Bowers lost a congressional election to Cong. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va) in 1998. He graduated from Patrick Henry High School in 1970 (the year I was born).

Mayor Bowers' hobbies include reading James Lee Burke novels and hiking.

Know Your Mayors (Entry 1 of 21)

Today we kick off another series which might interest some folks, and perhaps bore other's to tears.

I recently wrote a short play called "The Mayor of Chapel Hill" which was performed at No Shame Theatre, an activity sponsored by Mill Mountain Theatre, in Roanoke, Va.

The real-life mayor of Chapel Hill, NC, is Kevin Foy who ironically teaches at North Carolina State University (Chapel Hill is home to UNC).

Foy was born in 1956, and he has been the mayor of Chapel Hill since 2001. He is chair of the North Carolina Metropolitan Coalition which brings together the mayors of the state's 25 largest cities (hmmm.......I don't think Eden, NC, qualifies).

Foy is also a member of the Mayors Against Illegal Gun Coalition.

When I am in Chapel Hill, I love to stop by Chapel Hill Comics and the Turkish restaurant/night club Talullas. And, when I actually have time there, it's nice to see a movie at The Varsity Theatre or take in a play at the Deep Dish Theatre.

And, with all due respect to my friends in Blacksburg, Va., the city of Chapel Hill has to be one of the nicest college towns in the nation.

21 Words in Norwegian (19 of 21)

theatre


teater






Larry Shue's "The Foreigner," the play pictured here, will be performed by Theatre Tuscaloosa in Tuscaloosa, Ala., from Dec. 5-14 with Glen Johnson as Froggy, Gary Wise as Charlie and Jacob Houghaboon as the irreverent Rev. Lee.

The play is among my personal favorites. I saw it performed at Mill Mountain Theatre in Roanoke, Va., earlier this year.

http://theatreusc.com

http://www.millmountain.org