January

January…

It has taken a while for winter to arrive, but the winds have blown winter in.  It is definitely here today… at least for the rest of the week.

We have had many days in the 40s and 50s. Not too many of those frigid below freezing days.  The big story has been the rains. Full days of rain and cloudy skies. Inches of rain. I don’t know how much rain we have received but it has wiped out those dry summer months and we are now above average in the rain department.  

Although it has been warmer and wetter than most, the winter of 2024 is finally here.

Now bundle up and choose a book and enjoy the quiet repose.

Before you know it the skies will clear and daffodils and forsythia will be starting the cycle all over again.

The James River out of its banks – January 2024.

Checking Out

I was reminded today that the community of artists, musicians, dancers, shop owners, restaurant workers, actors, DJs, club owners and fearless bike riders that helped shape what Richmond has become today goes back a long way. Many relationships go back 50 years or more, and that community is large. Many of these folks making up this community are no longer with us and many are now reaching an age where they are slipping away at an increasing pace. So many folks have left us over the past few years.

Here is one of the latest who has stepped off the planet, Wayne Shields of Shields Collectables. For many years his store was at 822 W. Broad Street where he sold his wares and where this photo was taken in the early 1980s.

He was one of a kind.

Rest easy, Wayne.

Obituary

2019

Driving home from work there was more traffic than usual.

Inching along, bumper to bumper,

Looking for an accident, a reason for the backup.

As I got closer to the bridge I saw the reason for the slow down.

It was one in a series of January sunsets that were magnificent.

Feeling good for the first time all day.

44 Years Ago Today – December 27, 2016

Forty-four years ago today I moved to Richmond Va. My 1963 Valiant with the push button transmission was borrowed from my mother, and packed with all of my possessions. I remember getting off 95 at the Boulevard exit near Parker Field and traveled south passing diagonally parked cars down the middle of the street heading towards Broad Street.

I saw on the left the Peoples Drug Store with its all night lunch counter and right in front of me down 2 blocks the statue of Stonewall Jackson. At that point I had only begun to realize that I had not only just traveled the longest 100 miles in my life but had found a new home.

Photo and text © 2016 Kozmicdogz

The Longest Hundred Miles

It was 43 years and one day ago that I moved to Richmond, VA. 100 miles from Northern Virginia which I have described many times over the years as the longest hundred miles you will ever travel. It was not the distance, not the traffic like it is now, but it was the trip back in time. Richmond was a different place in 1972 then it is today in December 2015.

I put everything I owned in my 1963 white Plymouth Valiant with a push button automatic transmission. Above is a photo of my first room in Richmond Va. I was renting a room from a friend of a friend on 8 N. Allen Avenue. It was a small room. I slept in a sleeping bag which I rolled up every morning. I made a desk out of some old wood I had brought with me. You can see records, my glass covered book shelf, my super 8 movie camera, stereo speaker, and my black note book with blank pages which I was to fill with notations, poems, drawings, and dreams.

Also in the photo is my monkey bank which I still have unlike the movie camera which was stolen from my Floyd Avenue apartment years later by my neighbor known around Richmond as “8 Ball”. He was eventually convicted of murder in a drug deal gone bad.

When I moved here in December of 1972, I did not know that I would still be here, living happy and pretty healthy 43 years later. I almost left once in 1981 but never did. I guess I am here until the end. Or course unless something better turns up.

© 2015 Kozmicdogz

The Tattoo Show @ the VMFA

For more information click here.

Poe At The Library

Richmond Folk Festival This Weekend!

Michael Ducet at the 2008 Richmond Folk Festival

We have waited all year for this! The Second Annual Richmond Folk Festival starts Friday, October 9th at 6:00pm. On and around Brown’s Island, this free concert is absolutely the best thing that Richmond does all year.

There is a small chance of  rain so dress appropriately and put some money in the damn bucket so we can keep getting this wonderful music festival for free.

I am always surprised and hear something unexpected, so wander around and take some chances. This is a great music festival.

This is the fifth year Richmond has had a music festival, the first 3 years it was the National Folk Festival (this July the 72nd festival was in Butte, Montana), then Richmond took up that banner and had its’ own Richmond Folk Festival, this being the second year.

Tenor player Roger Carroll from Chez Roue’ will be playing with Swamp Dogg on Friday at 9:00 at the Ukrops Stage, Saturday at 1:00 again at the Ukrops Stage, and later at 3:45 at the RTD Dance Pavilion.

The Richmond Indigenous Gourd Orchestra will be playing Saturday @ 1:00 and Sunday @ 2:00 Up the Hill.

I may try to learn how to yodel this year and of course you can always find me near the cajun music!

See you there!

Gumbo And Tofu.

The 2nd Annual Broad Appetit was more fun then expected! We ate pickled shrimp, a tofu sandwich from Cafe Gutenberg, gumbo, and fresh squeezed limeades! All the food was partitioned out in $3.00 portions.

We checked out the show and shop at Quirk, Metro Sound, and the Ghostprint Gallery.

Lots of people and not too hot. A very successful Richmond event! Can’t wait ’till next year.

Jazz In A Rainy Week…

We caught the Chez Roue’ quartet on Thursday evening at Cafe Diem. Roger Carroll on sax and vocals, Debo Dabney on keyboard, Big Brian on his skinny bass, and Johnny Hott sporting a new Mohawk hair-do for the summer. They were heating up when it was late and we had to depart.

You can catch Roger Carroll and Andrew Dowd at Que Pasa on North 25th Street this evening. Good Food, Great Music.

This afternoon is the second annual Broad Appetit featuring food, music, art, and some good people watching. Starts at noon east of Belvidere Street. The Broad Appetit website has a nice photo of Barry Bless from the Happy Lucky Combo last year.

BTW, If you happen to see “Harold and Kumar 2 – Escape from Guantanamo Bay” the scene with Doogie Howser and the policeman is worth all the other inane shenanigans.