Save Richmond

I’m very pleased to announce that Andrew’s long-awaited book, Body Piercing Saved My Life: Inside the Phenomenon of Christian Rock, has been published by Da Capo Press and is now available at booksellers and retailers nationwide. [Andrew's got a book blog up here] I understand that early reviews have been very positive and that it was just namechecked in Entertainment Weekly, of all places. We knew him when.

Send kudos and salutations to the man and let him know we are all proud of him. And buy the book!

Is it over yet?

OK, OK… I agree with Janet at And Another Thing for the most part (everything but the cheap shot at D’Angelo). She writes about the fervor that accompanied Elliott Yamin on his trip to Richmond last week, and the collective fan fever that she has called “Yaminfluenza” (not so fast, bub - I heard she’s already trademarked it):

…May I say that the taped piece on Elliott’s trip home should be packaged and used by Richmond’s economic development mavens. I could not have been more proud of how Richmond looked in that piece. Even the Diamond didn’t look half bad! But what looked best of all was the enthusiasm of Richmonders, who didn’t come off like yokels but like a vigorous, passionate community. (Where are all these people when we’re trying to get consensus on a performing arts center or baseball stadium?)

Later:

Thank you, Elliott, for lifting this town — at least for a while — out of its murder spree, bear-killing, ballpark drama blues.

And OK, Anonymous, I hear you. Yes, I’ve written mostly about Elliott lately but truthfully I was getting pretty drained from writing about people getting killed and bears getting killed and arts center plans getting killed. This entire town needed a collective palate cleansing. Elliott Yamin was our sorbet.

Personally (and I know it is blasphemous), I haven’t been following “American Idol”— chiefly because it interferes with NBA Playoff viewing time (great games this year, by the way). And so you haven’t read much about Elliott Yamin here at Save Richmond. Mucho apologies but, frankly, everybody else in this town has been going completely BONKERS over him, and it, so there has been little need for anyone else to add to the deluge. I mean: Is there a local angle yet to be uncovered, a position untaken, on Yamin’s Wild Ride?

But, like Janet says, let’s give it up for Elliott anyway: Anyone who can reintroduce the great Donny Hathaway to millions of Americans is OK in my book no matter where he’s from [But, um, Journey — now that I'm not so sure about]. As for Richmond’s brush with Elliott’s fame, and with “idoltry,” the city sure had a bad start to its year and this mass rush has helped many to blow off steam and follow a star. Janet’s right — “Yaminfluenza” has been cathartic.

And one can only hope that it will dawn on the downtown boosters that she was referring to — the ones who are editing together those promotional packages on the hometown boy as we speak — that it was popular music that helped to draw thousands of enthusastic people to downtown Richmond. And sell out a Braves game to boot.

I haven’t read all of the 2006 Style Weekly Music Issue yet but I can already tell you it looks like (to paraphrase Captain Beefheart) “the best batch yet.”

Great variety - useful info - interesting debate fodder - hopeful signs - new music (including a review of the very latest disc from our fave-rave Aaron Binder). Now if they had only edited out that long-winded dude at the end….

The interim report from the performing arts committee is in and Caine O’ Rear is on the scene at Richmond.com.

Some highlights:

The Performing Arts Committee commissioned by Mayor L. Douglas Wilder released its first interim report Thursday, which set the fall of 2009 as the completion date for renovations on the Carpenter Center.

The Carpenter Center, once renovated, would meet the demands for the original performing arts center, Wallace Stettinius, chairman of the group’s Design Sub-Committee, said yesterday during the commitee’s news conference at City Hall.

The committee said it had $45 million for the following renovations to the Carpenter Center: an extended stage house; acoustical improvements; expanded lobby, concession areas and restrooms; expanded seating; upgraded electrical systems; and new HVAC systems.

The mayor, who announced the formation of the committee in November, praised the report, saying his administration would be working in the future to implement its recommendations.

During the conference Thursday, the committee also announced a 120-day time period in which it would determine the feasibility of raising an additional $20 million by the year’s end to develop an “enhanced” Carpenter Center. The additional funds, the report stated, would allow for expanding the theater into a 155,000-square-foot performing arts complex. The “enhanced” project would include a 75,000-square-foot addition to the Carpenter Center, along with a 200-seat community playhouse and a multi-purpose performance space on the Southeastern quadrant of Grace Street.

The chairman acknowledged the lack of any public input into the project to date, even as he refused to totally shut the door on the Virginia Performing Arts Foundation’s original plan.

Robert Grey, chairman of the committee, said in the next 120 days the committee would solicit the public’s input “to make sure we are on track and are accountable to those whose funding we’re asking for.”

Grey later added that development of a Music Hall at the site of the Thalhimer’s block, as originally envisioned by the foundation, was an option, but still in the “consideration stage.”

The arts groups are supportive but understandably guarded — “enhanced” depends on private fundraising.

Committee member David Fisk, chairman of the Richmond Symphony and also a member of the Alliance for the Performing Arts, said the APA was encouraged by the committee’s report. “It is the best plan that can be devised for the funds that are available,” he said.

In a press statement, the APA said the committee’s “enhanced” plan better suited the needs of the City’s performing arts groups.

Fisk added that the committee did a good job in consulting performing arts organizations both large and small that had a vested interest in the project.

This is interesting:

The report also recommended that the CCPA (The Carpenter Center for the Performing Arts) be managed as a non-profit group consisting of public and private board members. The board, once formed, would then hire a staff to run the venue, the report said.

… and the winner of the “Sounds Good To Us But It’s Already Happening” Award goes to:

The report also details the committee’s desire over the long-term to create a “Center City Arts District,” a region of Downtown Richmond bustling with arts venues, hotels, retails and restaurants. “It will further distinguish Richmond from other places,” Wilder said.

The committee’s final report to the mayor is due Dec. 31, 2006. It plans to issue another interim report Sept. 1.

Hopeful signs? A stall job? At this point, after all the deal-making — and with VAPAF board members sitting on the committee — it is anybody’s guess. Didn’t the Virginia Performing Arts Foundation already pledge to restore and renovate the Carpenter Center? What happened to that deal? And why did it take six months for this committee of insiders to finally recommend — to itself basically — that someone should keep their word? Curiouser and curiouser…