Roanoke vs. Greensboro (Entry 1 of 6)_ The Shadowbox or The Idiot Box

Today, we begin our first in a once-a-week (or perhaps once-a-month series) pitting my birthplace and hometown of Roanoke, Va., against my adopted city of Greensboro, NC. The cities' have interesting nicknames as Roanoke is called The Star City and Grensboro is called The Gate City.

The two zip codes are about 110 miles from each other, and in addition to the stateline, the cities are separated from Route 220, which is known for its radical church signs, pro-life billboards and even billboards proclaiming the world is going to come to an end on May 21, 2011 (oops!). There are also billboards with guns and strippers (hmmmm...), and the legaendary speedtrap of Boones Mill, Va., 15 miles outh of Roanoke, where I have somehow never been ticketed.

This week, there are two major events in both cities, and if I lived in Martinsville, Va., which is half-way between the two zip codes, I might need to flip a coin on this one.

The Shadowbox Cinema in Roanoke will be hosting a Donkey Kong tournament before screening the dcoumentary gem "The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters" (2007). The movie features a video game fanatic named Billy Mitchell, who actually made a fortune selling his own brand of b-b-q sauce. Mitchell always sports an American flag tie, much like the one we had in an entry earlier this week, and he seems very patriotic. The problem with Donkey Kong though is that he has no Boris Spassky (evil Soviet counterpart) as the late Bobby Fischer did when he faced Spassky in that famous Cold War chess showdown.

The tournament satarts at 7:00 p.m. and the film begins at 8:00 p.m., tommorow night.

In Greensboro, The Idiot Box, which is known for its improv troupe featuring Jennie Stencel, Steve Lesser and Bob Bob Beshere among others, will actually be foregoing their usual 10:00 p.m. performance on Saturday night to host the Found Footage Festival. The event will feature rare and supposedly hilarious vhs treasures.

After leaving Greensboro, the Found Footage Festival Tour heads to the Boulder Theatre in Boulder, Colo., one of our favorite cities--though it is very far from here, on June 16.

We discovered some interesting things about the Idiot Box while researching this piece. As it turns, Stencel, a blonde-haired woman who is a local celebrity from her years as a morning traffic reporter on a local tv station, has her own Wikipedia page. From what we gathered, she is also married to Lesser. We did not know that!

I should add that Jason Garnett, the manager of the Shadowbox Cinema, is a personal friend of mine, so while I enjoy the Idiot Box, I must profess a bias towards the Star City venue. Having said that, I would assuredly get my deriere kicked in any video game tournament! In addition, the Unknown Comic is not coming to the Idiot Box, but since he was popular in the 1970s, he is probably well past his prime, which of course means he should open a show in Las Vegas!

Lastly, we don't want to create false impressions as to our knowledge The Shadowbox is not showing a Bruce Lee film this month, but if Jason chooses to show "Enter the Dragon" I am so there....well, unless it's a school night.

We're Back on the Air- I Hope....

For the last three weeks, there have been many-a-snafus with my mom's personal home computer, and I have summoned to Milton, West Virginia*, to help assist her with it for more or less the last three weekends in a row. It looks they might perhaps very well be fixed. But, like the possibility of yesterday's federal government shutdown (which thankfully didn't go through) anything bad can happen even if you are optomistic as Cheech and Chong when they are high!

So, tonight I could sit back and watch "The Lawrence Welk Show" which airs on most PBS stations around the nation at 7:00 p.m., including North Carolina Public Television (unctv.org), Blue Ridge PBS in Roanoke, Va., (blueridgepbs.org) and Oklahoma Public Television, which syndicates the show.

(*-my mom does not actually reside in Milton, West Virginia).

Lawrence Welk (1903-1992) was born in Strasburg, N.Dak., which is not to be confused with Strasburg, Va., a little town some 75 miles south of Washington, DC, that we mention a lot on this blog.

While researching this entry, we found that American honky tonk singer Danni Leigh, who is my age (we're both a year older than Scooby Doo), resides in Strasburg, Va. On April 22 and 23, Leigh returns to her home state to perform at The Circle T Arena in Hamilton, Tex.

Wikipedia described Welk, whose originally ran from 1955 to 1982, as 'a musician, accordionist, bandleader and tv impresario.'

It should also be pointed out that all the people who watch Lawrence Welk's show tonight in places like Mount Airy, NC, can stay tuned to the British comedy series "As Time Goes By" afterwards. We can't imagine that the college students in Chapel Hill will be watching either of these shows, but then again I listen to Mozart and Metallica!

Status Update_ Perhaps, God Meant for Us....

I must profess that those who know me well, and perhaps all too many of you reading this actually do, know that I'm really not a religious at all.

But, since I can't remember the over-the-top church sign I saw as I was driving past a fundamentalist church near Boones Mill, Va., on Route 220- not far from a radical, in-your-face pro-life billboard, I was thinking what I might say if I were to put something on a church sign (obviously, it would have to be a Unitarian church).

And, since I was a lot of problems trying to watch the 1970 film "The Landlord," from the late director Hal Ashby ("Harold and Maude") via Netflix streaming, I think it would have to be this:


"Perhaps, God Meant 4 Us to Watch Movies in a Cinema and No Place Else!"

That would assuredly get some passer-by's attention....well, we hope!

As for old cinemas, The Lyric Theatre in Balcksburg, Va, (pictured here) is showing "The Black Swan" with Natalie Portman, which could my choice for the best film of 2010 (don't worry kids, I'm making a list as we speak).

And, another one of my favorite college-town cinemas, The Varsity Theatre in Chapel Hill, NC, which is one of the few zip codes in The Tarheel State without a hell-fire Southern Baptist church (well, there probably is one there too) is screening "The Social Network," which is also a film that I might designate as my favorite of 2010?!

Speaking of radical, hell-fire churches, I wonder what the Rev. Johnny Robertson of Martinsville, Va., is up to these days. He happens to be a real person; and he does actually match the stereotype of an over-the-top preacher! If you don't believe me, then just ask my good friend Chris Knight.

Lastly, one does not have to see films at an old cinema to be a devout cinemaniac. My friend Jason Garnett will be screening "Heathers," the vintage late-80s teen comedy that is definitely darker than your typical John Hughes flick at 8:00 at The Shadowbox in downtown Roanoke (damn, wish I could be there!).

Quote of the Week- Edvard Munch

Dagnamit! Well, that's what my friend Susan Paige from Bethesda, Maryland,(pse) said when she missed the Edvard Munch exhibit at the National Gallery in Washington, DC, that ended on Halloween. But, the good news is that she can now go to Rotterdam, Holland, to see an exhibit of the classic Norwegian artist's work!

Munch, best know for the pictured image ("The Scream") is perhaps the most famous Norwegian of all time although theatre people like my friend Sal Edmunds of Boones Mill, Va., (also a pse-fake name and fake residency for a real person living in a real place) would argue for Henrik Ibsen.

But, we never take sides here unless we're pummeling Sarah Palin!

The National Gallery, for its part, is now showcasing early Victorian British photographs until Jan. 28, so there's no need to kick a fire hydrant (which I actually did after narrowly missing a Norman Rockwell exhibit at The Corcoran Gallery, which is also in DC, some ten years ago).

Here is today's quip from Munch:

"But, can they (great works) get rid of the worm that lies gnawing at the roots of my heart? No, never."

One has to wonder if those sentiments were also felt by Australian artist Lloyd Graham and fellow painter Sarah Irani when they completed their 'masterpieces' which are hanging from the walls of The Museum of Bad Art (yes, it is an actual place) in the Brookline, Mass., area.

Irani's "Mama and Babe" looks like a picture of Cher with an orphaned child, while Graham's "Artist as a Young Man" appears to be a bad portrait of Bob Dylan.

Both paintings are a part of the museum's blue people series, which you can see on the net (if we showed those pictures here, they'd assuredly shoot us!).

I also love "Worried Guy," an anynomous painting of a man who looks like Medusa after a sex change, which was rescued from something like a trash can in Seattle.

Things We Learned on Twitter This Week- Chicago Sports Fans Are Loyal

Whether it is a liberal Hollywood actor like Jon Cusack or a right-wing political commentator with no sense of humor like George F. Will, Chicagoans seem to love their sports team irregardless if they are winning or not.

And, that was Reason #28 why "Chicago Magazine" said Windy City residents should love Chicago, according to a tweet posted by them on Wednesday.

The exact wording of the post was: "Reason #28 to love Chicago: Sports fans who stick with their teams (sometimes the devotion pays off).

They then linked to a photograph with several college-age Chicago Blackhawks fans painted in red (as if they were draped in blood) including Wes Zielinski and Nixon Flores.

The Blackhawks won their first Stanley Cup after many, many years last season.

Well, I would write more put I've got to play the piano at Chic's Antiques in Floyd, Va., this afternoon to entertain Black Friday customers (that is a joke actually as I don't play the piano, and if I did I would certainly not be as great as Liberache!).

Besides, last night while putting the finishing touching on an entry for our other blog "Politics, Culture and Other Wastes of Time," the computer crashed which almost made me curse like "Rolling Stone" writer Matt Taibbi who has been known to say some mean things about George F. Will, which we won't repeat here as most Republicans in the South tend to carry glocks with them to the Piggly Wiggly!

Silly Photo to Fill Space- The Hokie Bird

Initially, we were hoping to post a photograph of former Virginia Tech cheerleader Nichole Howarth from Chesterfield, Va. (near Richmond), who was named "Sports Illustrated" Cheerleader of the Week in October of last year.

Howarth posed for a series of photographs, which were made more interesting by the fact that she actually posed for them while barefoot which would make more sense if she was from a rural area like Boones Mill (we love tormenting folks from that Franklin County hamlet, some 15 miles south of Roanoke).

Though Howarth will not be with the Hokies, the team heads from Blacksburg to Chapel Hill, NC, (where Chapel Hill Comics happens to be hosting a free rap concert tomorrow night!) to face the UNC Tarheels in football tomorrow. The game will be broadcast by ABC and ESPN, and kickoff is set for 3:30 p.m.

I suppose this will mean bragging rights for either Gov. Beverly Perdue (D-NC) who reportedly has a 25 percent approval rating according to "Yes Weekly" in Greensboro or Gov. Bob McDonnell (R-Va) a right-wing Christian conservative extremist who is undoubtedly polling well in places like Boones Mill. But, assuredly those of us who are Democrats realize that Howard Dean had a point when he said we need to recruit more barefoot rebel flag-waving hillbillies (not his exact words) and perhaps by doing that we can somehow get some Congressional seats back!

As for the game, I expect Virginia Tech will win 24-17.

SIDEBAR: Our beloved Floyd County (HS) Buffaloes lost to Fort Chiswell by a 28-13 margin according to Channel 7 (WDBJ) in Roanoke. But, the Franklin County Eagles (their alumnus assuredly hate me for my swipes at Boones Mill) beat Woodbridge HS 17-14 tonight. In other Virginia scores, Stonewall Jackson High School from Quicksburg (Mount Jackson) beat fellow Shenandoah Valley school Page County 41-18.