Category Archives: Entertainment

Really Really Free Market/Spaghetti Dinner with Bread and Circus Saturday

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This Saturday from noon to 3 pm in Monroe Park is the Really Really Free Market.

The RVA Really Really Free Markets provide people with a chance to share the excess that they possess, to prevent the landfills from filling with stuff that will never decompose and is nowhere near the end of its usefulness, and to offer the community a chance to come together for a day of free fun in the sun!

There are a wide variety of things that can be shared. There have been workshops led by community members and musical performances. Community members have brought games to play with each other at the market. Vegan cookies have also been known to make an appearance.

So the last Saturday of every month, dig through your closets, take the extra from your work, ask your parents and friends and neighbors to come to bring stuff and come to get stuff. Bring clothes, furniture, food, tapes, cds, office supplies, kitchen stuff, knick knacks & paddy whacks! Bring your music, your skills, your stuff, your food, and your friends and family, and help us prove that there is enough stuff in the world for everybody!

***PLEASE bring any and all warm weather clothing that you’re not using this year! We especially have a need for X-Large and up sizes!!***

And, Saturday evening…

All the Saints Theater Company, the folks who organize Oregon Hill’s Halloween Parade, are holding a spaghetti dinner at a Westover Hills church. Special guests are the famous Bread and Puppet Theater from Vermont, on tour to celebrate their 50th anniversary. They will be performing the Circus of the Possiblitarians:

The Circus of the Possibilitarians is a satirical horse and butterfly circus, addressing pertinent national and international issues in a clownish fashion, including rotten ideas, a wild dancing horse and some mellow lions, a solemn salute to the world’s casualties and much more! The Dire Circumstance Jubilation Ensemble provides a little bit of brass and a lot of noise. Please take note that if some of the circus acts are politically puzzling to adults, accompanying children can usually explain them.

Dinner starts at 7, show at 8. More details on the FaceBook event page.

Also, don’t forget the Main Street Library’s Knitting Sale Extravaganza on Saturday.

Weekend Reminders

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RVANews has ‘5 Things’, and while I am glad they included the RVA Environmental Film Festival, there are a few other things to keep in mind this weekend-

Clinton is speaking at the Landmark Friday, and if nothing else, be mindful of traffic craziness.

There are other opportunities to take advantage of this weekend, from more movies to classical strings, from a vicarious trip to Thailand and Cambodia to Peace Beast.

Also, cannon fire.

Lastly, an advance plug for an event happening next week at the Flying Brick–

On Friday, February 15th, at 6 PM, Alexis Zeigler will host a slideshow and discussion titled: Living Without Fossil Fuel: Living free of fossil fuel and corporate dependence. Taking charge of our future. Find out how. The event will be held at The Flying Brick, 506 South Pine Street, Richmond Virginia and is free and open to the public.
How do peak oil, climate change, and the limits of growth affect abortion rights, income equality, and civil liberties? The presentation will examine the hidden connections between ecology, economics, politics, and social justice, and how to use those connections to effect real, long-lasting change.

Former President Clinton At Landmark Theater on Friday

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As part of the Richmond Forum series, former President Clinton will be speaking at the Landmark Theater on Friday. The title of his lecture is “Embracing Our Common Humanity”.

Blurb from Landmark Theater page:

2013 marks the 20th anniversary of the inauguration of William Jefferson Clinton as the 42nd President of the United States of America. Today, President Clinton is a powerful voice for progress around the world as he shares his unique insights and observations with audiences around the world. President Clinton’s public speeches describe the challenge of globalization, emphasize our growing interdependence, and point the way toward a common future based on shared goals and values.
President Clinton’s presentation will be followed by an audience Q&A.

Flu Following Fiction?

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Although Norfolk hospitals are joining ones across the nation calling for masks, there’s been no emergency declared…yet…although this online novel, which was published earlier, might still entertain my flu-suffering, bed-ridden neighbors:

Harbor On The Hill…

A devastated nation, a determined people; amidst the rubble, a new beginning …

…In the ensuing panic, a second pathogen is mysteriously released; killing millions, crippling governments, and toppling the global economy like a house of cards.

As seen through the eyes of three people – a veteran detective, a medical intern, and an eccentric tinkerer – residents of a gritty urban neighborhood band together to protect themselves from the world-changing consequences of a society collapsed. Unprepared and defenseless, an eclectic mix of working class families, college students, and young professionals are forced to suffer the abrupt transition from inner-city community to fortified enclave as the Richmond district of Oregon Hill struggles to endure the first year of a dystopian nightmare. During that dark time, the specter of death appears without warning, desperate actions produce fatal results, and misplaced loyalties, careless mistakes, and half-measures end in tragedy. But an unusual alliance and unexpected windfall offer a glimmer of hope that the beleaguered community may yet survive.

Landmark Theater Sold-Out For Tonight’s Lincoln Event

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From the Times Dispatch article:

Director Steven Spielberg, screenwriter Tony Kushner and historian Doris Kearns Goodwin — whose collaboration created the multinominated movie filmed entirely in the Richmond area — will speak tonight at the sold-out Landmark Theater before an audience of 4,200 people.
“Lincoln” has been nominated for seven Golden Globe awards and is expected to pick up several Oscar nominations on Thursday. Kushner’s screenplay was nominated for a Writer’s Guild award for best adaptation.
The Richmond Forum program will be taped for broadcast on WCVE at 9 p.m. Jan. 17 to accommodate “so many more that we couldn’t possibly fit in,” said Bill Chapman, executive director of the forum.
When Chapman heard that “Lincoln” would film here in late 2011, he immediately thought of a program featuring Spielberg and Goodwin, who has appeared twice before at Richmond Forum programs. Her book, “Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln,” was an inspiration for the movie.
“The idea started as a pipe dream,” Chapman said. “She loved the idea. When she was in Richmond during the filming, she talked with Spielberg.”
Chapman’s own overtures to Spielberg’s DreamWorks Studios had begun in June 2011 and picked up during the filming, he said. “It was Spielberg’s idea to bring Kushner into the conversation. It was a great addition. Doris Kearns Goodwin is the beginning of the story as a historian. Kushner interpreted her work for the screen. It makes a nice continuum for the discussion,” Chapman said. “We were very excited about that.”
The forum’s season will continue with former President Bill Clinton on Feb. 8; former astronaut Capt. Mark Kelly with former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, his wife and survivor of an assassination attempt, on March 9; and Jane Goodall on April 13.

Tom Elliott’s Art

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As some Oregon Hill residents will head down to Broad Street for tonight’s First Friday Art Walk, former OH resident and longtime artist will be opening a show in Charlottesville.

Former Oregon Hill resident and neighborhood historian Tom Elliott has an exhibit of his ceramic sculptures in the Charlottesville Chroma gallery. This exhibit includes a tea-pot called “Richmond Burning” that was inspired by the mortise and tenon joints in the construction of his former home at 401 S. Pine Street, built in 1867 by Baylor Martin. According to the Chroma write-up:
Charlottesville’s building code inspector, Tom Elliott, unveils his secret life as a ceramic artist. Elliott transforms food, farce and politics into teapots, weaponry, and a few other household necessities and personal items in his installation Mad Tea Party Redux in the Black Box. Employing a playful anti-aesthetic rawness and a visual vocabulary of double entendre and riddle, Elliott upturns the traditional ceremonial refinement and polite countenance of the porcelain teapot.

Dominion Donates $2 Million To Landmark Theater Renovation

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Excerpt from Times Dispatch article:

Dominion Resources Inc. is donating $2 million toward the $50 million renovation of the Landmark Theater.
In return, the stage at the performing arts complex near Virginia Commonwealth University’s academic campus will be known as the Dominion Stage.
CenterStage Executive Director Richard M. Parison Jr., Dominion Resources CEO Thomas F. Farrell II and Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones announced the gift Thursday night before the Richmond Ballet’s performance of “The Nutcracker” at CenterStage’s Carpenter Theatre. Dominion Resources has sponsored the ballet since 2009.
The 3,565-seat playhouse will become the Altria Theater next year. Altria Group Inc., the parent company of Philip Morris USA, bought the 20-year naming rights from the city for $10 million in July.
Due to be completed in 2014, the building’s renovation will include new restrooms, fire alarm controls, façade repairs, emergency lighting, roofing work, box-office and office improvements, new elevators and concession areas, as well as seating and theater-system upgrades.
The theater is hosting performances during the renovation, with shows scheduled around the work.

Free holiday performance set for December 9 at Landmark Theater

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Editors’ Note: Attached photo is from the 2011 production.

From City press release:

Richmond, VA –The City’s Department of Parks, Recreation and Community Facilities will present its annual holiday gift to the city, its free production of “Amahl and the Night Visitors,” at 4 p.m. on Sunday, December 9, at the Landmark Theater.

The one-act family musical composed by Gian Carlo Minotti was commissioned by NBC and broadcast live for the premiere of Hallmark Hall of Fame on Dec. 24, 1951. A heart-warming holiday classic that will charm both children and adults, it tells the story of the mischievous shepherd boy Amahl and his mother and how their lives are changed forever after meeting three kings.

The work is thought by some to be the most frequently produced opera in the world, and this will be the 51st year that the department has offered this holiday production to the public for free.

No reservations are required, and seating is based on a first-come, first-served basis.