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Showing posts from May, 2009

Where would the roots have grown?

Someone I know vaguely from childhood sent me a "memory" thing on Facebook. The message that notified me of this had the text of what she had said, but I quickly accepted it because I was enthusiastic, knowing I would want to reply soon after. However it got lost. Tonight, though, I wanted to think back to that time. We moved into our street in Campbell County, just outside Lynchburg, in 1980. 29 years ago. I've lived in Virginia for most of the time since then. I remember when we were looking for houses, I had said I liked the street we picked because it seemed to have the most kids. The house was on a cul-de-sac that bordered woods. I was so fortunate to have an entire forest to play in, complete with trails. At the time, it was all public space as far as I was concerned. While my dad would end up buying the land in the 90's, when I was kid, those six acres were owned by Mrs. Weinbarger. There were several trails, and several places that had special significance. Ch

Firmly ensconsed behind the bar

As I type, thousands of people are preparing to descend upon Charlottesville's Downtown Mall . Considered by many to be the jewel of our region's social crown, a splendid time is likely to be had by many. However, Noel the cook and I are sitting in what many would considered to be one of the region's many aglets. That's the word used to describe the plastic tip on the end of your shoelaces. Court Square Tavern's glory days as a Friday happy hour hotspot are more or less over, but yet we're still here, keeping things together. But, here we are at 5:30 PM, sitting and hoping for people to come in. There's no marketing campaign to get people in here, more or less. ABC regulations prevent me from telling you what we have on special. It is in the middle of May, and this isn't the most appealing place to be for most people. For me, though, I'm ecstatic to be here. I hope we'll get busy. I'm standing behind the bar and will be here until close, no m

The Notes That Were

I am not yet ready to fully announce the weird audio project I've been working on but mostly off for the past four years. The Notes That Were consists of a mixture of "music" from bands I've been associated with, plus weird sound collages taken from the interviews I've conducted over the past several years. I love playing around with audio, and always have. I started when I was 8. But, here's a little preview of something that I did about three weeks ago, just as a little throwaway production. I finished it up tonight, and there's not much to it except a sense from me that I want to revamp the creative things I do, especially now that I have a studio again. So, take a listen if you want a sample of this silliness. Notes That Were Episode 13: A little one to prime the pump"

Court Square Tavern news

Well, circumstance has me back at the Court Square Tavern this Friday, but this time I'll be back bartending the place. I'll be there for the foreseeable future, and boy do I have my work cut out for me. The crowds simply aren't there like they used to be. Now that it's summer, everyone wants to be downtown. I'd rather be downtown, too, but I have bills and they have to be paid. And, I like a challenge. For starters, I have to figure out a way to convince people to come up for food and perhaps a beverage. I'm not enough of a draw, though I do look forward to chatting with anyone who comes up to the bar. That was always one of my favorite parts when I was working there back in the day. One new rule under my second stint as a bartender will be that I'm not closing the place on Friday nights until the last person is ready to leave. We have to build up a clientele again because we've closed way too early on Friday night. At this point in my life, I don't

Eating and exercise

Now that I've lost 40 pounds, it's time to think about building back up by adding muscle. Which means I have to eat more. Lately my body is letting me know when it is not getting enough to eat. If I do not eat, I have massive mood swings. This can have disastrous consequences. Just now, I've had to step out of a meeting for a bit so I could get a bite to eat. Waiting another three hours would have been ill advised, and likely would have ruined the rest of my day. The last thing I need is to crash into depression because my body isn't getting the nutrition it needs. But now, I've just eaten, and already, I want to eat again but I'll need to stay here for at least a couple more hours. Then I'll go home and fix myself a quesadilla in order to make sure I have energy for tomorrow. In order to do this right, I'm going to need to come up with a nutrition plan, and I'm going to have to get used to enforcing some discipline when it comes to eating. Today I