Nothing to do this coming week? Head over to
Galax, Virginia to catch the
Old Fiddler's Convention, a mountain music festival & competition that has been ongoing since 1935.
Galax, located on Virigina's
Crooked Road is in the heart of Virginia's musical heritage trail, a
well mapped excursion that takes you way off the interstate's beaten path to experience old time Appalachian music in some of the most beautiful settings in the Blue Ridge Mountains.
If you take the trail outside Galax, make sure you stop at the
Floyd Country Store for daily (and nightly) jams inside the store, much like the Fiddler's convention's campgrounds' awesome
impromptu jams
posted by priested
on Aug 6, 2011 -
14 comments
The Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail is America’s first water-based national historic trail. It consists of the combined routes of Smith’s historic voyages on the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries in 1607-1609. Designated by Congress in December 2006, the trail stretches approximately 3,000 miles up and down the Bay and along tributaries in Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, and the District of Columbia.
[more inside]
posted by netbros
on Apr 16, 2011 -
5 comments
“It’s time to return America to the common sense conservative principles of limited government, free enterprise, and individual responsibility.
The Repeal Amendment would provide a check on the ever-expanding federal government, protect against Congressional overreach, and get the government working for the people again, not the other way around. In order to return America to opportunity, responsibility, and success, we must reverse course and the Repeal Amendment is a step in that direction.”
—incoming House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.), on a proposed amendment allowing a 2/3 vote by the state governments to overturn any federal law or regulation.
[more inside]
posted by kipmanley
on Nov 30, 2010 -
134 comments
Joe Mozingo had always been told that his family name was "maybe Italian." In a
three-part article in the L.A. Times, the "blue-eyed, surfing son of a dentist" journalist discovers that the Mozingo name actually traces back to an African slave freed in 1672.
[more inside]
posted by infinitywaltz
on May 19, 2010 -
41 comments
Music in the Digital Library of Appalachia provides an unprecedented resource for study of repertoire, technique, lore, and the musical interchanges among the region's traditional musicians. Once you know what you like, it's easy to find the music live with
Blue Ridge Music Trails. Meet musicians who have grown up with that music, visit settings in which Blue Ridge folk music thrives, see traditional dancing, and in many cases, take part in the festivities.
The Crooked Road, Virginia’s Heritage Music Trail, winds through the mountains of Southwest Virginia. Along the trail, the Bluegrass, Old Time, and Traditional Country music is as beautiful and rugged as the landscape itself.
[previous 1, 2]
posted by netbros
on Mar 8, 2009 -
12 comments
Powhatan's Mantle was the emblem of kingship worn by Wahunsenacawh, also known as Chief Powhatan, father of Pocahontas. A deerskin cloak ornamented with shell beadwork, it may at first appear to be only clothing but in fact it is also a map of the Powhatan Confederacy, which ruled most of eastern Virginia when the English first settled there. The mantle was acquired by one of the
John Tradescants whose
collection was the foundation of Oxford University's Ashmolean Collection and the mantle resides there
still today. The
first linked article is a fascination article about the mantle as well as a gallery of images of and related to Powhatan's Mantle.
posted by Kattullus
on Feb 12, 2009 -
5 comments
On ham, with a fascinating (well, unless you're kosher) history of colonial curing methods.
posted by digaman
on Oct 19, 2007 -
46 comments
Virginia woman could get 2 years in prison for throwing McDonald's bag - a jury in Stafford County, Virginia has recommended a two-year prison sentence for Jessica Julia Hall, a 25-year-old mother of three, for throwing a bag with a soft drink inside into the car next to her. She was convicted of a felony offense after getting into an altercation with another driver on
I-95 between Fredericksburg, VA and Washington, DC - widely considered to be one of the most congested stretches of
road on the East Coast. Anyone who drives in the DC area can tell you how
overcrowded the highways are. It gets worse in the summer when the tempratures rise and
tempers flare. This could be an example of excessive justice, or perhaps juries in this area
have had enough.
posted by smoothvirus
on Jan 5, 2007 -
146 comments
Vote for James H. "Jim"? Voters in certain Virginia precincts will see electronic ballots featuring only part of some candidates' names. For some reason this is said to be "unfixable", even though this has been discovered two weeks ahead of election time. This problem only affects voting machines made by... not the one you'd expect, but
Austin, TX-based Hart InterCivic, whose motto is "Always Accessible". Senatorial Candidate James H. "Jim" Webb (D) is, one may assume, not amused.
posted by clevershark
on Oct 24, 2006 -
56 comments
On January 1st, 2006,
Bryan Harvey was murdered along with his wife and two young daughters in the basement of their Virginia home. Smoke issuing from the house was spotted by
Johnny Hott, Harvey's bandmate in the terrific, late-80s duo
House of Freaks. The fire was apparently started by the
killers in an attempt to cover up the evidence. By all accounts the Harveys were a
well-liked family whose loss has left a city
stunned and saddened. Bryan once remarked, "
I have a lot of faith in humans. I believe we're capable of incredibly beautiful things (as well as incredibly evil)." Unfortunately the truth of that statement has become readily apparent. (more inside)
posted by ktoad
on Apr 18, 2006 -
20 comments
"Tim Kaine says Adolf Hitler
doesn't qualify for the death penalty." Or so say Republican campaign ads supporting
Jerry Kilgore, Virginia's attorney general, in his bid to become that state's new governor.
Tim Kaine, the Democratic lieutenant governor, says his moral objections to capital punishment are rooted in his Roman Catholic faith.
"Solidly pro-life" Jim Kilgore, endorsed by the
Virginia Society for Human Life and
National Right to Life political action committees, accuses Kaine of being an "
anti-death penalty activist who cannot be trusted to oversee the death penalty in Virginia." This is important to Virginians. Based on the number of executions carried out under the post Furman laws,
Virginians are second only to Texans in their
fondness for execution. As attorney general, Kilgore tried to
expand the kinds of crimes that would be eligible for the death penalty. Tim Kaine
reassured voters, "That's why I personally oppose the death penalty. But I take my oath of office seriously, and I'll enforce the death penalty . . . because it's the law."
posted by three blind mice
on Oct 15, 2005 -
42 comments
The State of Virginia (nyt) has provided judges with a checklist to determine whether or not nonviolent offenders should go to jail. 40 year old woman with a job and husband = no jail. 21 YO man without job or wife = see you in 3-5. Here are the
official guidelines (pdf) for sex offenders with a detailed explanation of the process.
posted by jmgorman
on Jan 2, 2005 -
38 comments
Only in 1967 did Loving v. Virginia overturn vigorously-enforced laws against interracial marriage in these 15 states--Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia. Only in 1964 did the
Civil Rights Act overturn laws against equal access to voting, public accommodation, and public education. Only in 1963 did the
Equal Pay Act mandate that men and women be paid the same wage for the same work at the same job.
History isn't a superhighway, leading us in straight lines toward utopia. We
fall back and we
move forward, but over the past fifty years, the United States has become considerably more inclusive and equality of access to opportunity has widened. Take a look at
this article from the
Atlantic Monthly in 1956--1956!--if you don't believe me.
posted by Sidhedevil
on Nov 4, 2004 -
190 comments
Va. Man Claims $239 Million Jackpot Note in passing that this took place during the Bush administration!
"A retired truck driver claimed a $239 million Mega Millions jackpot Thursday, calling the second-largest lottery payout in history "no big thing to me." His wife vowed to "shop till I drop.""
posted by Postroad
on Apr 1, 2004 -
27 comments
Isabel Blog. WVEC in Hampton Roads, Virginia creates a blog for Hurricane Isabel, and allows users to submit content. Users respond with pictures and stories that are a lot more interesting than what the media has to report...
posted by insomnia_lj
on Sep 18, 2003 -
14 comments
