Smokin' Hot In Richmond
A weekend of heat, history and physical and technical mishaps



Billion-eyed audience, little time and too much to tell, really.

First, the BBC site which is my Internet home page has become so glitchy that none of my browsers can bring it up, nor can I alter it in Preferences. HAAAAALP!

Second, I have a scratched right knee, a wrenched ankle and until this morning a bent temple on my glasses. All were unrelated and occurred while I was sober. The knee injury occurred when I slid down the side of my porch while wresting vines creeping across the living room window. The ankle got twisted while walking along in Carytown alongside Double-T's along. This patch has some uneven spots and I think while momentarily distracted I brought my foot down onto what I thought was an even place, but it was depression instead, and OOOFFF, there I went. The glasses got bent when I fell asleep watching Knocked Up.

Third, the weather here has gone from balmy to brutal. Friday we even had smoke pumped up here from an East Carolina forest fire that draped gauzy clouds across the region, and the mercury's rise mirrored the price of gas.

On Colonial Avenue, the cats splay their bodies against the wood floor in an effort to find some cool. I've had to turn on one of the air conditioners that we almost always refrain from until July, or later. But this is for humanitarian, and feline, relief.

The torpid temperture didn't stop the congregants of First Friday. The House of Praise brass band played near Art6 and that alone was worth the bus ride down. Between the heat and the festive character of the gathering, one couldn't help but feel transported to New Orleans. Except they are ours, and we are theirs.

I encountered artist Gillian H. Brown who has a small show upstairs in the Todd Hale rooms of her haunted, tormented and whimsical, funny acrylic-on-paper faces. You can see more of them on her blog, here. Gillian's the coolest, even in this unforgiving torrid zone. By the way, that's her, from her blog portrait.


Finally, I want to thank the Valentine Richmond History Center and Linda Krinsky and Bill, the bus driver, who guided my intrepid hard core history group around town and allowed me to preach before the the Christopher Newport Cross. I forgot my sure fire obscure laugh, "This marker has nothing to do with bearded balladeers who sung themes for Arthur movies." Four people would've gotten it out of the 50 and I would've loved this.

I also want to thank the Lady Susan who tied my bow tie, and surprised her husband of 30 years by knowing how to do so. You learn some things on these tours.

I can almost guarantee that I am the only history tour leader who marched his group in front of the Walnut Alley mural in Shockoe and regaled them with the story of Urban Artists Amalgamated, as recounted in True Richmond Stories. Or, as I referred to the slender volume, 'The greatest book of Richmond history published in October 2007 and republished in March 2008."

The heat further gummed up my synapses because people took pictures and I should've passed out cards and had them sent to me. Duh!

Amie and I spoke Sunday, she in Germany, me in the over warm breakfast nook with overhead fan whirring on Colonial Avenue. She kicked my butt about remembering to tell a story with Ragtime In Richmond. Which is about to rag me out.

I hope to figure out a way around this glitch on the BBC site; if I'm having this problem, I'm not the single one.

I leave you with some posts from James Howard Kunstler's blog. His peak oil-surburbs are crashing-world is ending tropes are consistent, and often eloquent, but in the end, the back-and-forth of the long, trailing comments are what keep me coming back. Of these, I really like montysano's take on the politics of the day.


I've been making book on how the U.S. public takes the coming financial Tidal Wave.

Homicial rage vs Suicidal Rage

Tough call.

Apathy will Not be a choice.

Just read an article (I'll try and find the link) on how many current and recent soldiers are on prozac and similiar drugs, just to cope on a daily basis.

Butt Boy Ben Bernanke should be dropping Prozac out of the helicopter, Not worthless Phunny Money from the Fed 'discount lending window'
Posted by: Lost Horizon | June 09, 2008 at 09:52 AM

Obama will probably be elected president, but if he does he will inherit the wind vis-á-vis Herbert Hoover in 1929 and we will have to wait four years for his successor—either a Democrat or a Republican or even a “Progressive Party” president—(e.g. Henry Wallace)— to start another World War after a similar eight years (1933 – 1941) as was the case with F.D.R., of failing to solve what will come to be seen by future historians as the Second Great Depression. For that reason alone I would have loved seeing Hilary [sic.] as Chief Executive.
Posted by: irahan | June 09, 2008 at 09:59 AM

John McCain can dodder and bumble around the country, without a new or original idea in his head. He does so with the baggage of an heiress wife with a fondness for pharmies, and with the putrid carcass of the Bush administration hung around his neck. And yet, at the end of the day, he still owns 40% or more of the vote. A country this stupid deserves whatever comes its way.
Posted by: montysano | June 09, 2008 at 10:07 AM

Kollatz response: Is it that the country is this stupid, or that we're prevented from having more than just two choices for its highest public office? As DeGaulle said of France, in a nation of 300 cheeses, how can we have just two political parties? I don't think this is as much stupidity as media narco-zation of our thought processes.
Bad habits are difficult to break, even when we know they are detrimental to us, because sacrificing what we regard as normal, means bringing some pain upon ourselves.

Anybody who thinks McLame is totally out of the race has not bothered to dig into the irregularities that occurred during the past 4 elections.

There was a greater statistical probability of having lightening destroy your winning lotto ticket before you could cash it in than there was of obtaining the Ohio 2004 results.

Despite reams of solid, testable data, and a juicy story rife with drama, nary a peep was heard from the Main Stream Media.

And so America will get what it deserves.

And remember to try and act surprised when, against all polling, a McLame victory is plucked from the statistical noise.
Posted by: MaryW | June 09, 2008 at 12:07 PM

Kollatz response: Well, I hope for our sake Mary is wrong. But my fear is, should Obama win, he'll be Carterized or Hoovered by events and poor advice. In a way, maybe for his sake, having McCain left with this rasher of scheit is preferable and perhaps poetic justice.

The Great Deleveraging of the 00's is well underway. (What the heck do we call this decade anyway?) Just read the carnage over at the housing bubble blog (the weekly "local observations" column & commentary is pretty good) and you'll see how fast things are swirling around the bowl...

According to the AAA/OPIS numbers, regular unleaded gasoline went up by 1.8c today to $4.023, and diesel went up 1.1c to $4.773. Diesel was in fact higher-priced at the end of May but had been recovering, while the gasoline price is a new record.

My neighbor's recently-purchased Yukon Denial XL hasn't moved since sometime last week. Besides the repairs it needs, it may have simply burned through the free tankful of gas included with the thing.
Posted by: Nudge | June 09, 2008 at 12:25 PM

Kollatz Responds: Should we call this the "The Aughts of Naught?" "The Awful Aughts."