Tripped downtown today to see the Nashville Portraits: Photographs by Jim McGuire exhibit at the Art Museum of Western Virginia. Even though I’m not a huge country music fan, some of my favorite music artists are pure country. There’s Dolly Parton, Johnny Cash, Emmylou Harris, Vince Gill, and Doc Watson (who btw is playing at the Jefferson Center on March 7th…..got my tickets!). They were all in there. There was even a portrait of Carole King. Most were beautiful silver prints but there were a few digital prints in there as well. It was a small exhibit by most standards but if you’re into photography or country music or both, it is definitely one to see. McGuire’s career as one of Nashville’s premiere album photographers has spanned more than 30 years so it is a fascinating a walk down memory lane and some mighty fine portrait photography.
After the exhibit I checked out the new Mexican restaurant Alejandro’s, which took over the space vacated by the recent closing of the much loved Green Dolphin Grille on Campbell Ave. I gotta say that I have a new fave place for Mexican now. Great food and a total bonus with the Salsa Bar and its wide assortment of gourmet salsas. HOT! MMMmmm.
Of course today was just a little cold with temps in the 20’s and a wind chill dragging that down about 10+ degrees. Tonight is supposed to be the coldest of the year so far with temps dipping in the single digits. So, how appropriate it is to display this shot of a fine item I saw today in the window at Twists & Turns. All that glitters is not gold. Stay warm!
Thursday was a beautiful summer day and what a better way to spend it than in downtown Roanoke to participate in the celebration of our new Art Museum of Western Virginia by signing and then watching the last piece of structural steel be hoisted and fitted on the west roof.
I am a HUGE advocate of this generous gift and am certain that even the critics will be convinced that this is a great thing for Roanoke once the building is completed. It will be stunning as we can already tell by this artists rendering..
So here are a few shots of the signing and hoisting event and then I’ll close this blog with a few shots of the fountain in front of the #1 Fire Station. It was indeed a gorgeous day!!
Then, I wandered on over to the fountain in front of Fire Station #1 and took a few shots….
What do you think this one below looks like…….I’m thinking panther…
I will never forget the last two days as long as I live.
Yesterday was one of those surreal experiences most people never even experience, thankfully. It started out when I got to the gym and the news was tuned in on the locker room TVs. It started out with reports of one fatality and several injuries in a Virginia Tech shooting. But by the time I had finished swimming laps, there were over 30 people dead and numerous injuries in what turned out to be the deadliest shooting ever in the history of the United States. A shocking event that had stunned the country.
Yesterday I pretty much stayed glued to the TV and decided to go to Blacksburg today to see the campus and try to reconcile some of this so that it felt at least somewhat real.
I got to Blacksburg at about 8:30 am and came in on the Prices Fork exit, passing by the new Alumni Center which had turned into a sea of news satellite uplink dishes.
I proceeded downtown which was eerily deserted, then parked near Mike’s Grille and began to walk toward campus. When I got to Squires, there was the first indication of what had happened…a black poster with white lettering on the doors…..
On to the War Memorial which overlooked a near deserted Drill Field, a place which would normally be full of people crossing to classes at this time of the morning.
As the day progressed, I wandered about a campus that was deserted by students and filled with assorted media reps from all over the world. They were all looking for their story and apparently there was not much success to be had as the students who were milling about were reluctant to talk.
I spent a lot of time photographing those places that are so familiar to me. But today, they were just different. There was a feeling of sadness that dripped from the air, a stark contrast in mood to the backdrop of a beautiful sunny spring day complete with the usual Blacksburg wind whipped up by the tail of an almost passed Nor’easter. That storm had actually made the task of saving the lives of the most severely injured that much more difficult as it precluded the use of Lifeguard 10 to transport them to Roanoke.
I was photographing the lobby of Burrus Hall, trying to capture the two half staff flags framed by the front doors, when a figure quickly appeared in the viewfinder and rushed through the door. It wasn’t until I had taken the shot and looked up that I realized it was President Steger on his way to his office to begin what was likely the most difficult day of his career. I realized that I had captured Dr. Steger in one of the sequence shots. I always take sequences of flag shots because it is difficult to capture the best moment of their unfurl.
Later, as I was shooting the breezeway that tunnels through Burrus Hall from the exterior sidewalks, Dr. Steger left the building on his way to a meeting in Williams Hall and I got this shot. I just can’t help but think how alone he looks here. He’s did a great job yesterday answering reporters questions at the news conference, making it apparent that he is an accomplished leader.
The rest of these shots speak for themselves for the most part. As I finished up near the VT memorial set up for last night’s candlelight vigil, I signed the memorial and took this picture of it..
Afterwards, I got three requests to be interviewed by reporters who had apparently taken footage of me signing the memorial. Answering their questions really brought home what all this had meant to me. It has been a sad, sad two days and I’m pretty sure I will think about this everyday for a while.
This campus will never be the same.
Norris Hall is in the far background….Burrus Hall is to the far left…
I absolutely cannot believe that I have soaked up all of this beautiful weather the past week here in Virginia only to bolt to the land of the cold, cold north for a week!
Yes, fool that I am, we’re heading to New York for a romp in NYC friends Chip, Tommy and Dean ( take a look at their awesome film company Lucky Frog Films) where the weather channel is showing temperatures in the teens to thirties. How can THAT be!! Today….a mountain bike ride in Roanoke’s 80 degree spring weather and then tomorrow???? Freezing?????
Then off to Camp Dick at Broadalbin, NY to see what winter brings there and check on the old place. Camp, for the uninitiated southerner, is what northern folk call their summer cottage on the lake. It’s an endearing term, much better than “lake house” or “the lake”, and whenever I say it or hear it I think of summer, sunshine, family, friends and all kinds of fun and relaxation. Our camp is a great place where I try to spend a couple of weeks, usually around the 4th of July. The spectacular Great Sacandaga Lake is right at the front door. It is rented out the rest of the summer, but not again this year as the last tenant was booked just a month ago.
If you ever want to travel to some of the most beautiful country in the world and spend a week at a vintage 1932 Adiroandack NY lakefront camp (6 bedrooms and an oh so quaint wraparound front porch just 100+ feet from The Great Sacandaga Lake), then you need to check this out…here.
If you rent in August you can take a trip into Saratoga Springs for the flat track races and all there is to see there. Not that a trip into Saratoga isn’t totally worth it any other time of the year. Lots to see there. The natural springs located all over town are fun to try. The taste of the water at each one varies from deliciously fresh to mineral laden swill (but swill that is rumored to be GREAT for your health). Maybe you could even catch a great concert at the SPAC.
From Broadalbin, we’ll trip down to Schenectady to visit the historic Proctor’s Theater where we’ll see a road production of Rent, and the go on a visit to historic Cooperstown where we’ll see the Farmers Museum and brewery Ommegangg.
Last but not least, I really needed to share some pix I took a while back at the car show here in Roanoke at the Civic Center. I had totally forgotten about them, but I love old cars, and really the people who like old cars are pretty cool, too.
So here is what I saw.
Hope I’ll have some good shots from the trip to share in a week or two.
Stepford Husbands????
This father was totally reaching into his pocket to buy the kid a car!!
I was a bit late for the annual Roanoke City Parks & Rec Easter Egg Hunt which is always held in my Wasena neighborhood, so I camped out at the (abandoned) RR tracks and shot a few frames of the kids as they left with their parents and played a bit on the tracks.
Here’s just a few shots, not the usual EXCITEMENT associated with this event but the kids were obviously having a good time still.
Adults don’t always know how to play….
I love the community spirit that events like this help foster. Roanoke City is such a great place to live and this is just one example of why.
Next year, I’ll be early!!
