SLANTblog

Thursday, January 12, 2006

Kudos to Buttermilk & Molasses

A tip of the cap to writer John Sarvay, former editor/publisher of Caffeine Magazine -- a local mid-1990s 'zine which swam up the same bohemian stream as some other "alternative" publications have in Richmond. In the last 10 days Buttermilk & Molasses has done a noteworthy job giving its readers, who wanted to keep up with the tragic story of the slain Harvey family, a reliable source for good/useful information. That without them having to see a lot of the trash that’s been slung around. Keeping a cool head in this stretch hasn’t been easy.

Wednesday, January 11, 2006

Memphis Rockabilly Band

An excellent saloon Rock 'n' Roll act, the Memphis Rockabilly Band was from Boston, of all places. Richmond was one of their favorite towns, as they toured the East Coast for about ten years, beginning in the late-1970s. Perhaps there was an extra appreciation here then for Rockabilly music. There was a handful of popular bands based here playing in that style. The Bopcats and Shake and the Drakes were among the Fan District groups feeling/riding a revival wave of interest in Buddy Holly, Gene Vincent, Jerry Lee Lewis, Rick Nelson, et al, driven in great part by Brits such as Dave Edmunds and Nick Lowe (Rockpile).

Bill Coover

Memphis Rockabilly played at Hard Times a bunch of times. The band, fronted by Jeff Spencer, appeared at High on the Hog in 1980 and ‘81, when the annual throwdown was still being staged in the alley behind Chuck Wrenn’s house. Every year, it seemed, they would show up with a new bass player, as a fourth. Bill Coover (guitar, saxophone) and Terry Bingham (drums) were the other two regulars for the whole ride.

HOTH, each second Saturday of Hogtober since 1977, moved across the street into Libby Hill Park in 1983 to go legit; MRB returned to appear there in 1984, ‘85, ‘86 and ‘87. Six times, that’s got to be the record for HOTH appearances.

Over the last week, like many of my readers, I’ve given much thought to those salad days. I've seen so many faces from that time at the Harveys memorials. Bryan Harvey’s band then was The Dads. Dancing was enjoying a revival then, too. The Dads were a peppy band with quite a following among the region’s young Rock ‘n’ Rolls girls. It was a happening scene. Like any scene, I suppose you had to be there...

Here’s a link to a Memphis Rockabilly Band web site. I don’t know who put it up, but the facts look close to the truth. I did the illustration of Bill Coover above in 1984 for a series of Fan District trivia cards.

...tears, phone calls, vigils

At Three Wheels the Richmond-based blogger, Triscula, captures the feelings of many in her neighborhood with her heartfelt piece about living through the last week, "All Things Must Pass..."

"...The days that followed that terrible news were filled with tears, phone calls, vigils and obsessive attention to the local (and national) news. Terrible details of the brutality of the crime. Terrible images in my imagination of their final moments. Endless speculation about the identity of the killer(s) and their possible motives. I struggled mightily to try to understand who could do such a ghastly thing to such lovely people. I think everyone who knew them, and many that only knew of them, were engaged in the same.

"Time seemed to stop.

"Despite the terrible sadness I was feeling in that week that followed, I was amazed and deeply touched by the beautiful things that were revealed around me. The love and care between the people in my community, the loyalty to the dignity and memory of the Harveys, the diligence of the local print media in covering the story with the same sense of dignity and care, and the determination of those that were suffering to push ahead and make a beautiful legacy for these people and push off from the images of the horror that Bryan, Kathy, Stella and Ruby suffered."

Bruce Olsen & friends to play

The following notice came in today (Wednesday) from Adrian Olsen:

Subject Line: Time for the Music Again (Olsen Family Band)

Text: We apologize for having to cancel last week's Shenanigans show, but we are on for tomorrow, Thursday the 12th at 8:30 p.m. I hope everyone's new year is improving daily and that I see ya'll there tomorrow.

Tuesday, January 10, 2006

Harvey Memorial Fund Established

Note: The following notice was received from friends of the Harvey family at 10:50 p.m., Jan 10 (Updated 11:45 a.m., Jan 11):

Bryan and Kathryn Harvey Family Memorial Endowment Established Locally

(RICHMOND, VA)… At the request of family and friends, The Community Foundation Serving Richmond and Central Virginia (Tax ID# 23-7009135) has created the Bryan and Kathryn Harvey Family Memorial Endowment. The Fund is established in memory of Bryan, Kathryn, Stella and Ruby Harvey and will be advised by a committee of their family and friends. Bryan and Kathryn shared a love of music and art, and they were known to their family and friends as kind and generous people. Thus, it is appropriate that the purpose of the Bryan and Kathryn Harvey Family Memorial Endowment is to provide music, visual art and performing arts enrichment in the Richmond area, which may include but is not limited to educational scholarships.

For anyone who wishes to memorialize the Harvey family through a contribution to this fund, please make your check payable to the Bryan and Kathryn Harvey Family Memorial Endowment and send it to the following address:

Bryan and Kathryn Harvey Family Memorial Endowment
c/o The Community Foundation
7325 Beaufont Springs Drive, Suite 210
Richmond, VA 23225

To reach The Community Foundation by telephone call (804) 330-7400.

Furthermore, I'm told by those same friends that we will soon have more news about, "some major musical events," to begin the fund-raising effort. Further developments will be posted, ASAP.

National's Curtain to Rise Again

Dark for over 20 years the National Theatre, at 704 E. Broad St., is in the process of changing hands. The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports today that Historic Richmond Foundation, owner of the 1923 vintage theater since 1989, has agreed to sell the National to RIC Capital Ventures. It is slated to become a concert hall.

“‘Aggressively, we’d like to open before the end of 2006,’ said Brad Wells, a partner with the company. ‘We’ve got a great theater shell. There’s a lot we’re going to preserve.’ The sales price is nearly $1.6 million, Wells said.

“RIC Capital Ventures is affiliated with James River Entertainment, which produces the Innsbrook After Hours concert series and the Loudoun Summer Music Fest and other concerts. Wells said James River Entertainment plans to book events at the National in consultation with Rising Tide Productions, which owns and operates the NorVa, a restored 1,500-capacity theater in Norfolk. While details about the planned restoration are incomplete, the National is expected to accommodate 1,500 patrons with no fixed seating, much like NorVa, Wells said.”

The National’s volunteer caretaker Jim Whiting (mentioned in the RT-D’s story) deserves to get a medal for his 15-year effort to watch over/preserve that wonderful old theater. Although the news piece didn't mention if the theater's ghost was thrown into the $1.6-million-deal, there is a nice nine-picture slideshow at the RT-D site.

Sarvay at Buttermilk & Molasses has more on the story and some links for background.

Monday, January 09, 2006

Remembering Well, But How? When?

by F.T. Rea

Artists of every stripe in the Fan District and environs are starting to think about just how to act upon remembering the Harvey family murdered on Jan. 1, 2006 in their home. We’ve had the memorial service(s). With our fingers crossed that the cops really do have all of the real murderers locked up, please, what’s the right way to express the loss we are feeling, and our hope for a better day?

World of Mirth, early in the process of being transformed
into a people's work of art, a shrine with toys at the heart of it.
Photo Credit: J.C. Wilmore (Jan. 2, 2006)

At the Saturday afternoon (Jan. 7) Byrd Theatre memorial we were asked to follow songwriter Bryan Harvey’s plea expressed in the title of his 1991 House of Freaks song “Remember Me Well,” by always remembering to laugh.

OK. Mission accepted. Bryan and Kathy loved to laugh and to make us laugh. They lived their lives in the middle of what some might see as Richmond’s most lively/creative crowd.

On Sunday afternoon, sculptor/educator Joe Seipel characterized the throng assembled at the Byrd’s ceremony the day before, in this way: “...That was quite a roomful of people, I’d say the cutting edge of the Richmond arts community for the last 25 years.” Maybe Joe, as a problem-solving artist, is already mulling it over -- hmm, what should be done to satisfy both an individual's and the community’s need to create joyous reminders of, and tributes to: Bryan, 49; Kathy, 39; Stella, 9; Ruby, 4?

Every mood-swinging mind in the ad hoc community brought together by this tragedy is probably grinding its gears over the same, too. It's an escape from the horrors. Local musicians and filmmakers must be chewing on the concept, big-time. Richmond’s artists/storytellers are feeling called upon to document the light moments of the Harvey family -- instead of dwelling on their last dark seconds -- and tell about the awkwardness of trying to laugh again at life's absurdities, and even the grim reaper.

OK: Let’s all make our own Bryan and Kathy dolls, or draw comic strips with them as characters. Name every girl born for the next year, either Stella or Ruby. Let’s blow-up the family's best goofy pictures -- we saw a bunch of them at the Byrd, many in silly costumes -- and slap them on selected billboards in town. Let's resist our fear to be funny, again, to remember them as they were at their funniest.

Let’s buy a theater and rename it The Harvey. We could show the James Stewart classic comedy, “Harvey” (1950) at the opening party. Why not create a World of Mirth toys-for-tots-like program to give toys to needy children?

Let’s set up fully-funded scholarships in the names of the Harvey girls, Stella and Ruby, to go to the arts educations of deserving children. Let’s name sandwiches and desserts after the Harveys. Let’s start calling a certain subtle hue, perhaps her most favorite color, after Kathy.

Let’s do have a giant costume party/dance on 2007’s New Year’s Day, and thereby reclaim that symbolic day for our community by having a special band on stage that Johnny Hott might be able to put together for such an occasion. It could raise some dough for the Harveys’ favorite charity.

Some have already said they want to convert the Harveys' Woodland Heights property into some sort of park. Hey why not? And, if there are reasons why not, do something else to establish a park elsewhere. Got a better idea? Let's do it! Arrggh!

OK. Put the straightjacket away, I'm feeling calmer again.

If the community of caring, talented citizens in the Byrd Theatre for that Harvey memorial pulls together, we can do a lot of things in this town. Especially, if we help one another.

If a bona fide arts renaissance blossoms in Richmond, on the heels of the most bitter tragedy ever to befall this generation of Richmond artists, writers, musicians, etc., how would that suit you, dear reader?

That would be a happy tribute to those same playful personalities we are still struggling, for the moment, to remember without crying. Now, mood-swings notwithstanding, we must remember who we are... well.

-- 30 --

Picking Up the Pieces

by F.T. Rea

Sunday morning I woke up still exhausted. Six whole days and nights of jolting aftershocks, which seemed to be shaking to pieces what matters most, wore this grizzled scribbler out. With the arrests in Philadelphia of Ray Joseph Dandridge and Ricky Gray an anxious Richmond, Virginia now prays for calm.

At this writing it appears the apprehended pair of murder suspects, both 28, may have killed the innocent Harvey family -- Bryan, 49; Kathy 39; Stella 9; Ruby 4 -- as part of a wider crime spree. It’s not at all clear how the true murderers selected their victims. Dandridge and Gray remain in Pennsylvania, for now, held in connection with killing seven people in Richmond's Southside.

So, we’ll wait to learn more, as we try to get back to something akin to normalcy. Hopefully, these arrests will stick and reduce the flow of ghoulish gossip-mongering that's been rampant. At the same time let's have the unvarnished truth from our police department and news agencies, ASAP. Let’s hear the worst of it, and get it over with.

Since we learned of the Jan. 1 Harvey murders we have been breathing shallowly, caught in the grip of fear. Guessed-at reasons for the Harveys to have been selected for slaughter dominated too many conversations, as if that's what mattered most. Now it appears the dark speculations about how the crime had to have been personal, and thus had to have been committed by psychotic fiends who knew them, was mostly a matter of too many of us playing “profiler,” trying to make sense out of the senseless.

Those who knew Byran best for his much-admired music figured it had to be about that. His song lyrics were mined for clues; old events and connections were revisited. Others closer to Kathy feared it had to do with her life as a prominent Carytown merchant. The couple's Woodland Heights neighbors surely suspected the bloodletting had to do with the neighborhood.

Thus, everyone saw the crime scene itself through their own prism. Which means, of course, the terrified children at Stella’s and Ruby’s schools must have thought it was about their little world.

Now, we’re told the Harveys may indeed have been picked at random. OK. Is that worse that our squirming-toad-imaginations conjured up, or not? Does it matter?

Of course, for those looking for sensationalism, the lyrics to Bryan Harvey’s songs will now conveniently be converted from clues into premonitions. So, don’t expect that aspect of this story to ever stop completely.

It won’t surprise me if we eventually learn the Harveys weren’t picked totally at random, either, or that there's more to come out. Perhaps these murders were something like the Clutter family's killings in Capote’s “In Cold Blood,” in that the crime started out as a robbery of people thought to be rich, but that easy motive was an excuse to do more. Or not. Maybe we’ll never know why.

After all, should we ever believe anything the sub-human culprits tell us? Hell, they may be so wicked they don’t really know why they did it, except it was a thrill.

In the crucible of this shared ordeal for the community grieving the painful loss of the Harveys a truth more important than base motives is being forged: We know much, much better than before that we absolutely cherish our ordinary lives, just as they are -- our children, our friends, our history together and our community.

There were 1,399 of us at the Byrd Theatre yesterday afternoon for the memorial ceremony. Let me tell you, being in that room was a powerful experience. We were told by speakers to “remember the Harveys well,” by remembering them as who they were -- generous, talented people who gladly took the risks to make us dance and laugh.

Right now we still feel fragile.

This terrible experience in the process of transforming us. But into what? Let's hope we're being changed into a community of individuals a little quicker to take risks to follow their hearts and laugh sincerely.

-- 30 --

Saturday, January 07, 2006

Arrests Made!

The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that two men have been arrested in Philadelphia in connection with the murdered Harvey family:

"Monroe said Richmond police believe Ray Joseph Dandridge, 28, and Ricky Gevon Gray, 28, are responsible for the New Year's Day slayings of four members of a family on West 31st Street in Woodland Heights and last night's slaying of three members of a family on East Broad Rock Road. 'The senseless killings of these seven people -- two families -- was disturbing, not only for the families of the victims, the community, as well as the police department,' Monroe said."

Here's the AP story.
CNN's version

Nobody Told Me There'd Be...

For the Harvey family memorial service inside the old friend that is the Byrd Theatre, its 1,399-seat auditorium was filled with suffering people who had to be there. The presentation was to-the-point and uplifting, with a great emphasis put on their love of music and devotion to making us laugh, to promoting good times. We left feeling better; we still have a long way to go. The display pictured above was in the lobby.

The mainstream press will have its take on what happened. For a different look at the story, in the last week writer John Sarvay (at Buttermilk & Molasses) has done a splendid job of serving the community as a responsible publisher, at large, working with his own sense of how to tell the story. With the role blogs have played in living through the last week, I guess we've just seen yet another way the Internet is reshaping our notion of reality. Anyway, Sarvay's view of the event is worth reading.

Photo: F.T. Rea

Right; Rite; Write...

by F.T. Rea

Walking home from the bar the air was seasonally crisp. Back inside the place I had found myself explaining to a good friend, who was a little worried about me, just what I’ve been doing for the last five days -- functioning as a self-appointed, round-the-clock editor of what is the most terrifying/compelling story I’ve been close to in my life -- the Harvey murders.

But why? Maybe, my friend suggested, some in their grief could resent what they see as my using or even magnifying the tragedy. OK. My sobering walk’s thoughts on that topic have been gathered, here they are:

What I’ve been doing with my series of posts on SLANTblog is trying to present a restrained version of this story, with background, useful to people I care about. That, while I’ve been trying to keep my wits about me. I've suddenly broken down in tears every day, absorbing the dreadful deatils of the story as they came out. I've tried to avoid the gossip. Work has been my only balm.

In front of World of Mirth on Thursday

It’s this way -- newspapers do their job, their way. Likewise the local broadcasters. They all have their intentions, as do the pushy national media types who've been roaming about the Fan District today. And, I have mine. Every publisher is obliged to define and perform for a specific audience. Each has his agenda.

My aim, however, has been to be useful to a smaller audience -- people who knew and cared about the Harveys. The little Fan District-centered world I know best is changing as I write these words. We won’t be the same again. This bizarre grief spell is unprecedented. Those who understand what I mean with that -- you are my audience, wherever you are as you read this.

We are, for a time, a community. This is our Kennedy assassination. This nightmare is our 9/11. Our Katrina.

The fog of pain in the air I’ve been breathing is the collective pain felt by decades of associations -- many longtime friends, people I’ve worked and partied with, people I’ve insulted, people I’ve schemed with, people I’ve played sports with, people I’ve helped and people who’ve helped me, people who’ve created a generation’s music and danced to it. Then there are our community’s children; my granddaughter, as was little lost Stella, is a nine-year-old at Fox Elementary.

As a pair, Bryan and Kathy Harvey were naturally cool and talented in ways few people are. He was a gifted musician/songwriter. He had a style that was risky, yet easy to like. As an artist, he was respected because he went his own way, rather that try to ride some artificial wave. In her professional realm, she was also an innovator, a trend-setter. She didn’t much need someone else to tell her where the boundaries were to do with style and aesthetics. Within a copycat world of retailing cookie cutters, she fashioned a World of Mirth.

They had two beautiful daughters, whose horrific deaths will haunt us forever as our ultimate standard for evil. No, we weren’t prepared to accept such a level of depravity existed in our midst. We pray our cops can soon deliver genuine relief.

In the morning I’ll go to the Byrd Theatre for the ceremony, hopefully early enough to get inside. And, using my job’s tools as unobtrusively as possible, I’ll make a record of what I think calls for it.Yes, I know some well-meaning people, who see things differently than I, might say I should do no such a thing, that it’s exploiting grief, framing ritual as spectacle. OK. I’ll take my risk with that. I have to trust my instincts not to let my audience down.

After my coverage of the service at the Byrd, I’ll continue to post new information about the Harvey killings and various reactions to them. However, SLANTblog will also begin to have stories about other subjects, along the lines of its usual fare before Jan. 2. A gradual return to normalcy -- we’ll see how it goes.

Soon, it will give me great pleasure to use SLANTblog to spread the word on what gets going to establish fitting remembrances to a family that represented the best in us: Four beings I’ve chosen to believe remained brave and felt the vibe of one anothers' love to the very end.

-- 30 --

Friday, January 06, 2006

World of Loss, Grieving and Tribute

The growing display in front of Carytown's World of Mirth is something to see. To remember the slain Harvey family -- parents: Bryan and Kathy, daughters: Stella and Ruby -- toys, flowers, notes, candles, and all sorts of things have been left off on the sidewalk in front of Kathy's shop.

There’s a large board for people to leave off their written comments. So much of the stuff there was obviously put out by children. Even as still more brutal, hair-raising details about the crime scene itself emerge, the tenderness of what's on that city sidewalk is palpable.

Photos: F. T. Rea

Tuesday, January 03, 2006

Harvey Ceremony

Candles and Shared Grief

The service for the Harvey family at the Unitarian Church tonight seemed to help many of those who attended -- strength in numbers. The mood of the ceremony itself was understated. There was no music. That will come later. And, when it does, I’ll be there, come hell or high water.

Many of the faces in the overflow crowd were familiar, the local arts/music community was well represented. There were tears and hugs aplenty. After the simple ceremony a candlelight vigil was held outdoors, behind the church. Some testified through sobs, most just stood and felt the vibe. I was surprised somewhat that the television crews actually showed restraint -- no bright lights or microphones in peoples’ faces until it was over.

Who can remember a blow to this city's collective psyche as bitter and difficult to grasp as this? As for me, I went to the memorial service with my daughter, Katey, who grew up in the Fan District, her husband Brian and their two children, Emily, 9, and Sam, 7, who both go to school at Fox.

Now I’m so glad we went as a family and had dinner together later. Emily and Sam are doing OK. I hope Stella Harvey's other schoolmates are taking it as well. Like so many other children familiar with Carytown, the funhouse mirror in front World of Mirth, Kathryn Harvey's shop, is a playful memory my grandchildren will probably carry with them forever.

Photos by F. T. Rea

House of Freaks

A million hearts a million minds
Have lived and died in 40 years
Pray for yourself and for your memories
And be thankful we've had 40 years
-- Bryan Harvey from "40 Years"

Bryan Harvey (left) and Johnny Hott were House of Freaks.
Art: A detail from the House of Freaks' "Monkey on a Chain Gang"
album cover.

It was in 1986 at the Jade Elephant that I first saw and heard what became the House of Freaks. At that time I already knew both Bryan Harvey and Johnny Hott, from their previous musical endeavors. SLANT was then a handbill-style periodical, in the midst of fighting the City’s anti-handbill laws. The Jade was one of SLANT's early advertisers, so I ran ads for the bar touting "Bryan and Johnny live at the Jade," or something like that. The name House of Freaks came later.

However, I liked their two-man act right away and went on to do what I could to encourage/support what they were doing. All that existed in a time in which you probably have to be over 40 now to remember. Hell, some of us are pushing 60, these days.

Thinking of those two guys, stubbornly resisting everyone who told them to get a third player -- because a duo can’t be a band! -- takes me back to that rambunctious time on West Grace Street, when it was the main strip for live music and nightlife in Richmond. In the early- to mid-80s the Shockoe Bottom club scene was still in its formative stages. Watching Johnny sob on television last night, as he tried to tell a newsman the story of finding his longtime friend's home engulfed in smoke on Sunday afternoon, tore my heart out.

As I contemplate the memorial ceremony at the Unitarian Church in a couple of hours, and who might be there, names of people, bands, and places flash through my raw nerves and into mind -- they are listed below in no particular order. Twenty, twenty-five years ago the Fan District still had a thriving hell-bent-for-leather, artsy music scene in which there was probably no more talented an individual operating than Bryan Harvey. Certainly, there was no nicer guy.

The Dads, Throttle, Michel’s, Benny’s, Orthotonics, Hard Times, The Bowties, Beex, The Village, Offenders, Megatonz, Chuck Wrenn, The Pass, Death Piggy, Millionaires, R.A.W., Red Cross, Prevaricators, Casablanca, Rockitz, Barriers, Shake & the Drakes, Main Street Grill, Grace Place, New Horizons, Chelf’s, Biograph Theatre, The Insinuations, I Remember Reality Review, Plan 9, Bopcats, Good Humor Band, Single Bullet Theory, Theories of the Old School, Shafer Court, The Pass, Lamour, 1708, The Clubhouse, Domino’s Doghouse, Faded Rose, J.W. Rayle, Toronados, Insect Surfers, Soble's, Gatsby's, X-Dux, Tom and Marty Band, Boys and Girls Grow Up, Cha Cha Palace, The Good Guys, Texas-Wisconsin Border Cafe, The Rage, The Jade Elephant, Hababas, The Back Door, Non Dairy Screamers, Color Radio, Floodzone, Joe Sheets, Don' Ax Me... Bitch!, Page Wilson, "Z," Steve Payne, AAE, The Copa, Rick Stanley, Bruce Olsen, 353-ROCK, House of Freaks...

Feel free to send in suggestions, as I'm sure I've left plenty of names out.

The Harveys Story: Updated Info and Links

Painting by Laura Loe on the Harvey family memorial page

This section consolidated links from earlier posts, it was started at 3:09 a.m. on Jan. 3, 2006. Links to other web sites offering background or reactions to the story of the slain Harvey family have been added and removed, as needed, since this post went up. Readers should feel free to comment, report broken links, or make suggestions. And, thanks to those readers who are helping with the updates, you know who you are. The last update was made on Thursday, June 10, 2008.

Monday, January 02, 2006

Family Found Murdered

In a quiet Southside neighborhood near the river, as well as Carytown's business district and the greater Richmond pop music scene, the worst of news spread on the first day of 2006 -- a family of four brutally murdered. The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports what is known at this writing (the morning of Jan. 2) about the mind-boggling story of the Harveys, parents and two daughters -- as attractive and well-liked a family as one can imagine -- being found dead in their home yesterday afternoon.

"A well-known Richmond couple and their two young daughters were found bound with their throats cut yesterday afternoon in the basement of their South Richmond home. Richmond firefighters made the discovery about 1:45 p.m. after responding to a 911 call reporting a fire at the home of Bryan and Kathryn Harvey at 812 W. 31st St. in the Woodland Heights neighborhood. Investigators said the family members had invited friends for a New Year's Day chili party that was to start about 2 [p.m.]."

Bryan Harvey (circa 1988)
Photo: Greg Allen for Rolling Stone

My own memory of Bryan goes back 25 years, or more, to when he was a member of the Dads, a popular Fan District-based band. Later he and Johnny Hott performed as the House of Freaks, a two-man band that was quite well-received in alternative circles. Harvey has been part of a number of other Richmond bands, most recently including NrG Krysys.

Kathryn Harvey (2005)
Photo: Chris Hancock for Work Magazine

Kathryn, I first remember as a VCU art student, who waitressed at the Texas-Wisconsin Border Cafe in the late-80s. The first location for her World of Mirth shop was on the 800 block of W. Grace St., a few doors west of the old Biograph Theatre (now Hyperlink) location.

Check more recent posts for updates.

Drafting James Webb

A web site devoted to boosting James Webb, a former Secretary of the Navy, into running against Sen. George Allen has been launched. Webb, a one-time Republican who is now an outspoken critic of the Bush war policy in Iraq, could make for an interesting player in Virginia politics. Here are a few biographical tidbits from the web site:

First in his class at the Marine Corps Officer’s Basic School in Quantico, Virginia; earned the Navy Cross, the Silver Star Medal, two Bronze Star Medals, and two Purple Hearts in Vietnam; has a JD from Georgetown University; has written six best-selling novels; has even won an Emmy Award as a journalist.

Sunday, January 01, 2006

'Skins in NFL Playoffs

In the last week of NFL regular season action the fast-finishing Washington Redskins won their fifth straight game -- Washington 31, Philadelphia 20 -- to qualify for a postseason playoff berth for the first time since 1999. In the doing, Washington (10-6) also slammed the door on the hopes of the Dallas Cowboys (Ho! Ho! Ho!) to make the playoffs. Next up for Washington is a rematch with the Tampa Bay Bucs (11-5) on Saturday afternoon.

Hail to the Redskins!