Charlottesville - Tumblr Posts
Asian Landscape Richmond picture of a sizable, full-sun, gravelly backyard in the springtime in Asia.
Article in a local paper about Dreamgirls, the play I’m playing keyboard in.
Another article about Dreamgirls!
“Dreamgirls, which is very loosely based on story of the 1960s hit group The Supremes, took six Tony Awards after its 1981 Broadway opening, and may well be the most complex show Live Arts has tackled in a very long time. With 22 performers, most of them new to the stage, 30 musical numbers, and several subplots, this show required hard work, enthusiasm and dedication. And it shows.”
~Clare Aukofer
Another highly praising review!
Would you look at this? Both Live Arts (specifically spotlighting the recent run of Dreamgirls) and the IX Art Park are on C-VILLE Weekly’s “Best of” list!
About the violence in Charlottesville
First things first: Yes, I am okay. I am thankfully physically unharmed and was not near the violence that was happening in my town. For those of you who are also from Charlottesville, I hope you guys are safe, too.
Anyway, if you don’t want to hear political stuff, I would advise not reading this post—I’m going to give you the ugly truth of what happened
Now for the serious talk. As many of you are aware from the news, violent riots have broken out in Charlottesville today. All of this was sparked when the town voted in April to sell a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee and another of Stonewall Jackson from two local parks, as well as changing their names from Lee Park and Jackson Park to Justice Park and Emancipation Park.
There have been three rallies about this. The Alt-Right came a few months back. The Ku Klux Klan came last month. But the most violent rally happened today, when the KKK, the Alt-Right, the Neo-Nazis, and two other white supremacist groups (as redundant as that may sound) came to town to protest.
The city tried to stop them from coming or move them to a different park, but they still came. However, this time, they came early—starting to show up as early as last afternoon. Now keep in mind that a majority of these people aren’t even from Virginia. Most of them are from other states and are trying to claim that they know better what to do with Virginia than actual Virginians, who mostly supported the sale and removal of these statue. But I digress.
The first big upset happened last night, when the Nazis started protesting on the lawn of the Rotunda at the University of Virginia, a big historical landmark in Charlottesville. A good number of students were not happy about their intrusion and started counter-protesting. It took a while for the police to come and break things up, but things had already started getting violent. You can practice racist values all you want, but you do not invade our university.
Today, things escalated even more when the “Unite the Right” protest, as it was called, started two hours earlier than the permit they had to “rally.” Needless to say, the counter-protesters showed up, and needless to say, it got violent. From what I heard on local news, the riots included members of the Alt-Right throwing bottles of pepper spray and hardened cement at the counter-protesters. There is also confirmed footage of them with shields and clubs.
But the worst thing happened when some maniac drove a car right into a crowd of counter-protesters. At least one of them was killed, and many more were injured. The guy was finally apprehended, and racist fanatic Richard Spencer was also arrested by police—one of my friends who was at the rally, Damani Harrison, who some of you may remember from my “I Don’t Notice” music video, posted a picture of the police arresting Spencer.
I don’t know all the current developments, as I was only in town visiting close friends for their 50th wedding anniversary—two people who are the kindest, most loving and tolerant people I have ever known—but as you are probably well aware, I am not in support of this violence and am highly against racism on any front. I will say that anyone has the right to peacefully assemble, as granted by the First Amendment of the Constitution, but what they were doing is far from peaceful. Killing innocent bystanders and hitting people with clubs is definitely not peaceful.
Moreover, I don’t like that this is happening in my town of Charlottesville. I have lived here all my life and it contains some of the nicest people. Again, these racists coming to rally were not from Charlottesville; they came from other states. The actual Virginians were the ones fighting against the Nazis, the Alt Right, and the KKK. People who are friends of mine, who went there as an attempt of getting rid of them, who went to film and document what was happening, who closed down their stores so they wouldn’t have to serve these extremists, or simply stayed hidden in their houses for fear of being lynched, a fear that shouldn’t still exist in 2017, but here we are. And C’ville in no way endorses any of what happened today.
I hope all of you, in C’ville or simply with friends in C’ville, stay safe today.
Panorama before the Concert for Charlottesville.
Well, the cat is out of the bag--I am the newest member of Charlottesville-based absurdist rock band The Falsies!
I wear the space suit and play bass guitar, keytar, harmonica, and provide background vocals. Anyone who's seen my review of Eat Me: A Zombie Musical or listened to my radio show knows that I've always liked the Falsies.
Here are some pics from our recent shows at the Southern in C'ville and the Milk Parlor in Blacksburg. It is an honor to be in this legendary Charlottesville band and I look forward to working with them in the future!
Happy to announce that the Falsies will be returning to The Southern Cafe and Music Hall on Friday, April 28! I will be dawning the space suit once again and playing bass guitar, keytar, maybe even singing lead on a song, hint hint. Come join us!
You can purchase tickets here.
That's what we wanna do!
From the Falsies' debut at the Milk Parlor in Blacksburg!
Is this fun?
Is this fun? Isn't fun the best thing to have? The Falsies play "It's Not Fun (To Have Fun)!" at the Milk Parlor in Blacksburg.
The Falsies will be performing at C'ville Pride this Sunday, September 17 at the IX Art Park in Charlottesville, VA! Follow charlottesvillepride on Instagram for updates.
Lance has collapsed...
Oh no! Lance seems to have collapsed on stage at the Falsies' debut at the Milk Parlor in Blacksburg! Won't someone help him up?
You have bewitched me...
She is pride and she is prejudice! The Falsies debut "Naughty Jane Austen" at the Milk Parlor in Blacksburg, VA.