Dear Neko Case,
First of all, let me say that I have enjoyed your music for a while now. While many fans may have first heard of you through the New Pornographers, I first heard you from your work with with one of my all time favorites, John Doe. I was lucky enough to have been tipped off last minute about a show you did years ago with the Sadies down at a Shockoe Bottom club in Richmond, Virginia, called Alley Katz (an old alley warehouse turned beer hall with a small stage.) The energy, your voice…I am not exaggerating when I say it is one of the best shows I have ever seen.
I also had the pleasure of seeing you more recently at Richmond’s National Theater, an excellent show though the venue was not nearly as personable. So, I’m excited to hear that you’re scheduled to make another appearance in Richmond at the end of June. I’m looking forward to it and hope you are too. I’ve purchased your new album “The Worse Things Get, The Harder I Fight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You (Deluxe Edition), locally, at Plan 9 Records and have enjoyed it very much. I’ve found the personal stories on it touching.
The reason I am writing to you now and making this an open letter is to let you and others know about a local controversy related to the venue for your upcoming Richmond show (June 27). Don’t worry, I am NOT asking you or anyone else to boycott it, but I’m hoping that you’ll choose to treat this matter with due sensitivity and understanding. There’s a lot to it, so please take a moment to gather your concentration before reading further…
I live in a very special place, a small, “historic white working-class neighborhood in Richmond, Virginia” called Oregon Hill. There are many reasons why it’s special, including that it has survived the Civil War, tornados, highway construction, suburban flight, corporate hegemony, university expansion, and other threats. It’s also known as place that many local musicians have called home, including The Rock-A-Teens, GWAR, The Cowboy Junkies, David Lowery (Camper Van Beethoven, Cracker), Tim Berry (AVAIL), the No BS! Brass Band, and countless others. There have also been many songs written about it, including The Cowboy Junkies’ “Oregon Hill”.
Perhaps because of this affinity for musicians, Oregon Hill was delighted when the National Folk Festival set up tent for a few years in a closely adjacent riverfront location. After the National Folk Festival travelled on to other cities, a private local nonprofit group called Venture Richmond went on to hold “The Richmond Folk Festival” in that location. I’ll note here that I personally attended and volunteered for both the National and Richmond Folk Festivals. I even won the Volunteer of the Year Award in 2010. So, you can imagine my happiness at having some of the best musicians in the world playing within walking distance of my home.
It’s a special kind of hell when something you love is used to threaten your community, but that has sadly become the case with The Richmond Folk Festival. Oregon Hill residents did experience some noise/trash/crowd issues over the years due to a few especially rowdy, loud acts in close proximity to our relatively quiet, residential neighborhood, but we’ve largely tolerated this, because we understand and want people to enjoy the music and riverfront. The Folk Festival is only one weekend a year and more of ‘a family event’.
However, Venture Richmond has now proposed building a new, 10,000 person amphitheater at that location. It’s called Tredegar Green and is a fragile, historic site directly adjacent to Oregon Hill and the Virginia War Memorial. Venture Richmond wants to be able to rent out their proposed amphitheater year round. The Richmond Folk Festival and other concerts have been at initially held at another river-adjacent location called Brown’s Island (where I believe you’ll be playing later this month) which is more appropriate in its proximity to residential/natural areas.
The Tredegar Green location is what our neighborhood Association (as well as numerous historic preservationists nationwide) want to preserve. The reason is that through that location runs a segment and boat basin of the The James River and Kanawha Canal. This waterway was built in 1785 to facilitate river travel upriver beyond Richmond’s rocky fall line, effectively creating a travel and trade route prior to the inception of the railroads. The canal was built with slave labor and the company that built it and managed it was founded and presided over by no one less than George Washington.
Even before Venture Richmond’s proposal was fully announced, a historic stone wall built adjacent to the canal by Washington’s company was illegally demolished while the site was under Venture Richmond’s stewardship. I’ve worked for over the last few years with our Oregon Hill Neighborhood Association to carefully document and present the history of the Kanawha Canal, focusing on the portion threatened by Venture Richmond’s proposed amphitheater. Despite our continued attempts to broker compromise (keeping the proposed amphitheater on Brown’s Island, for example) and mitigate damage, Venture Richmond (which is really a very powerful mix of local corporate and political leaders, including our own Mayor) continues to bulldoze ahead, ignoring neighborhood and historical preservationists’ concerns.
In short, Venture Richmond’s plans are threatening not only our quality of life, but the very historic and structural integrity of our city. They’ve deceptively told the media and general public that if we force them to adjust their plans, the Folk Festival will have to be cancelled. Personally, I think this has more to do with future development plans for the location and very little to do with amphitheaters, Folk Festivals, music, or public interest.
They see the historic Canal and Oregon Hill as public impediments that must be diminished to attain their private plans. Sadly, this group and their supporters pretty much own the mainstream media in this town and those they don’t own are afraid to speak out against them. I’ve been writing about this for a while now, if you want, you can read more on my website, www.oregonhill.net.
I appreciate your time and don’t necessarily expect you to step in on this mess. You have a contract to perform and I do want the best for ‘RVA’. I will pray for good weather, but I want you to know about this controversy, so when Venture Richmond’s representatives start talking to you about what they’re doing for ‘downtown living’ and their future plans, you understand that there’s more to the story and that there’s a lot more at stake.
Hold me to the line.
Sincerely,
Scott Burger
