Radio serial by AFP editor to premiere Jan. 20
The January River City Radio Hour will feature the opening chapter of Judge Not, a new mystery serial by AugustaFreePress.com editor Chris Graham. The Jan. 20 Radio Hour is at 6:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. at WTA’s Gateway in Downtown Waynesboro.
Judge Not is the tale of a misplaced newspaper reporter who finds himself in a small Southern town. When he is sent to cover a possible terrorist attack, he finds himself mired in the undercurrents of local politics.
Graham is an award-winning writer and the author of three books – Stop the Presses, a collection of humorous short stories; Mad About U: Four Decades of Basketball at University Hall, a book chronicling the history of the former home to UVa. basketball; and Judge Not, a novel from which the River City Radio Hour serial was adapted. Continue reading “Radio serial by AFP editor to premiere Jan. 20” »
Jason Ajemian at the Gateway
Jason Ajemian, a Waynesboro native, will return to his hometown to play a concert at WTA’s Gateway on Saturday, Dec. 17 at 8 p.m.
Ajemian has spent the last 15 years performing folk, improvised jazz and new music on the stand-up bass in over 20 different countries. For eight years he was central part of the music scene in Chicago. For the last five he has made his home base New York City. For his December performance, Ajemian will present an intimate picture of his musical world. Continue reading “Jason Ajemian at the Gateway” »
Mojo at the Gateway
The November Mojo Saturday Night is ready to groove with some real deep blues on Saturday, Nov. 19th.
Fourteen-year-old Emma Leigh will perform her first blues show accompanied by John Hoy and some of the Li’l Bill Band. Barb Martin will bring her soulful blues to the stage and The Li’l Bill Band returns “post-graduation” from their gig with Big Bill Morganfield with some new stuff and some big news to share … featuring Robert Ballard (drums) Andy Burdetsky (bass), Kevin Chisnell (harmonica and vocals), Dale Roller (keyboards) and Jack Roy (guitar). Should be a rockin night – you won’t want to miss!
Although Emma Leigh (aka. Emily Henline) is not thought of as blues singer, the Mojo audience will gain a new appreciation for her musical range. Emma has established herself as a professional in the Central Virginia music scene. She performs throughout the region as well as being a regular on WHSV-TV’s “Virginia Dreams CenterStage,” a regional TV show that promotes local talent in the Shenandoah Valley.
Barbara Martin on the other hand is a well-known blues and jazz singer whose soulful voice reveals the essence of what makes the blues live. Shaped by listening to Bessie Smith, Sippie Wallace and Billie Holiday and working with bluesman Steve Wolf, Barbara found her musical raison d’etre, the place that is most compelling and comfortable for her.
Also featured on the November Mojo Blues Nite is The Lil Bill Band. The band made its premiere performance at the September performance and then went on to be backup backing Big Bill Morganfield (son of Muddy Waters) at the September Chili, Blues and Brews Festival. Their success at that venue has moved them into the next phase of their career. No longer Li’l, the band will graduate to “The Big Bill Band” at the November performance. The band is still a collection of incredibly talented musicians from all walks of life: Dale Roller (keyboards), Jack Roy (guitar), Kevin Chisnell (harmonica and vocals), Andy Burdetsky (bass) and Robert Ballard as The Beaver (drums)!
The Saturday, Nov. 19 performance is at 8 p.m. Doors open at 7:30 p.m. Dominos pizza will be available by the slice. Beverages and food are available. Tickets are $10.
Tickets for the performance are available online at www.WayensboroGateway.com or at the box office.
Blues at the Gateway
Mojo Saturday Nite with Bluesman Kevin Chisnell will return to the Gateway at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 22.
The show is becoming popular for a place to spend the third Saturday of the month. The Gateway provides not only an eclectic range of blues talent, but offers food and beverages that make Mojo Saturday Nite a true evening out.
The Oct. 22 show will be headlined by The Pure Blind Luck Band and Chris Yung. Pure Blind Luck is a contemporary electric blues band comprised of musicians from all over Central Virginia. The band plays a variety of styles of blues cover songs by artists such as Big Mama Thornton, Koko Taylor, Susan Tedeschi and The Allman Brothers Band as well as their own upbeat originals. The years of experience combined with the copious amount of talent of all six members is sure to leave their audience hungry for more.
Chris Yung is another popular blues performer who calls Central Virginia home. He brings is a unique style to the genre.
Performances begin at 7 p.m. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.
Tickets are $10 and can be obtained online at
www.WaynesboroGateway.com or at the box office. Beverages, snacks and pizza are available.
Bryan Elijah Smith and The Wild Hearts at The Gateway
Taking the audience by storm at the Gateway Opening Gala, Bryan Elijah Smith and the Wild Hearts brought the audience to its feet for an encore. The demand to bring them back for an evening of their own prompted the Gateway to engage them for a performance on Saturday, October 15 at 8 p.m.
Leading the band is Bryan Elijah Smith who was raised in the small town of Dayton, Virginia. After a stint in New York City, he returned to the Valley. In 2009, Smith won 1st place at the Shenandoah Valley Acoustic Roots Songwriting Festival and Songwriting Contest in Luray, VA and released his debut album entitled “Forever on my Mind”. While performing as a soloist in Virginia, North Carolina, New York and Florida, Bryan also continuing writing and producing his own and others releases.
Jay Austin and Jeff Miller reconnected to Smith and formed The Wild Hearts. Austin started playing violin 12 years ago after watching a VHS tape his parents had made of Peter Ostroushko performing on Prairie Home Companion in 1986. After 8 years of playing mostly classical music (including two years playing with The Danville Symphony Orchestra), he went back to his roots in folk, bluegrass and old time fiddle playing, while playing classical guitar and mandolin and performing with several bands. His energy on stage wowed the Gala audience. Jeff Miller is a classically trained pianist, singer-songwriter, guitarist as well as a VCU graduate with a major in Psychology and minor in music He picked up the banjo in December 2009 and has not been able to set it down since. His skills on the stringed instrument are a perfect match with Austin’s fiddle playing.
Tickets for Bryan Elijah Smith and the Wild Hearts can be purchased online at www.waynesborgateway.com or at the door. Admission for the 8 p.m. performance is $12.
Richard Adams Variety Show at The Gateway
The Gateway’s zany Richard Adams Variety Show will take a detour to Germany for its October performance at WTA’s Gateway on Friday, October 14 at 7:30 p.m. The show promises to top any Octoberfest you have ever attended.
Richard has recruited a host of specialty acts to celebrate the season. William Von Hayes and the Oom Pah Boys will bring their repertoire of Germanic drinking songs. The German opera sensation, Samuel Johnson, will give a bit of class to the musical entertainment and the tap-dancing wonder, Fraulein Diane Roberts, will trip the uber-light fantastic.
Also featured will be the ersatz German folktale “The Three Little Pigs Meet Kermit the Frog” along with the Schwarzenneger-Reagan Press Conference.
Audience members will have the opportunity to star in the “You Can Be on a Talk Show” and as “the German Weather Guy”. Whole new media careers may be opened for the unsuspected. The new floor manager, Herr Wilhem Martin will warm up the audience and help select the willing and unwilling.
Tickets for the Richard Adams Variety Show can be purchased online at www.waynesborogateway.com or at the door. Admission for the 7:30 p.m. performance is $9.99.
Gateway’s Top Comic opens Friday night
WTA’s Gateway will present the first round of the Top Comic Competition on Friday, Sept. 23, at 8 p.m.
The Charlottesville Comedy Roundtable will organize the Gateway Top Comic Competition. The best new comics from Richmond, Charlottesville and the surrounding area will descend upon Waynesboro to battle it out for the title of Top Comic.
Round One is on Friday, with 16 comics bringing their best five minute sets and going head to head with audience deciding the winners. The remaining 8 will return in October for round two with the audience deciding which four will advance to the finals at the end of November.
Make your reservations now and prepare to help decide who really is the TOP.NEW. COMIC.
Tickets are $10 and are available online at
www.WaynesboroGateway.com or at the door.
Community Mourning: Waynesboro loses local arts icon
The Waynesboro arts community is in mourning today over the sudden passing of artist, dramatist, author and retired Waynesboro High School teacher Duane Hahn.
“Duane … how can we imagine creative Waynesboro without you? I’m heartbroken,” wrote author and friend Elizabeth Massie on a Facebook post Thursday morning.
Hahn was an icon to the local cultural community. He taught in the Waynesboro school system for 33 years, and in 2000 was named the Virginia Secondary Communication Teacher of the Year. Former Waynesboro mayor Tom Reynolds noted on Facebook today that Hahn had taught all three of his children. Former vice mayor Nancy Dowdy said on Facebook that Hahn had taught her and her husband, Steve.
“Waynesboro will be less without him, but heaven is smiling. R.I.P. Mr Hahn!” Dowdy wrote.
A native of Waynesboro, Hahn earned a bachelor’s degree in education at Morehead State University. For several years Hahn developed and directed children’s theater for elementary schools in Waynesboro, and after his retirement from teaching continued work in children’s theater with the development of a series of plays focusing on social issues affecting children today.
His most recent children’s theater project, The Queen’s Fairy Quest, commissioned for The Lost Colony Waterside Theater, opened in June 2010.
Hahn was a long-time member of the Waynesboro Players community-theater group – joining the Players in 1976 and acting, directing and producing a number of productions, including Shenandoah Moon, a fictional account of the forced migration of natives of the hollars of the Blue Ridge with the development of the Shenandoah National Park in the 1930s, and Tuesday Mourning, the story of the Bedford Boys who lost their lives in the D-Day invasion on June 6, 1944.
Hahn was the primary author on Shenandoah Moon, which he also published as a book with Augusta Free Press Publishing, and on Tuesday Mourning, which is set for a revival production with the Waynesboro Players in June.
An accomplished ceramic artist, Hahn was also a member of the Artisans Center of Virginia and had recently had works on display in an ACV exhibition in Waynesboro.
“He was the kind of person who always had something going on,” said Crystal Graham, who had known Hahn since their days together on the board of directors of the Wayne Theatre Alliance and had worked closely with Hahn on the Shenandoah Moon book project – and had recently been in contact with Hahn about another project that he had in the works for the coming weeks.
“The Shenandoah Moon will be so much dimmer tonight,” wrote Massie, who collaborated with Hahn on the Shenandoah Moon project, on Facebook. “I truly believe you are with God now, safe and loved. Paint the heavens for us, sweetie. We’ll see you later.”
Tribute
Books/Plays
Art
Video
Tall Tale Tellers: A children’s theater production by Duane Hahn that takes us backstage at a Wild West show where Annie Oakley, Paul Bunyan, Calamity Jane and others try to outdo one another with stories of their most famous exploits.
From the AFP Archives
- Mourning in Bedford subject of new play, Nov. 5, 2009
- Author explores forced relocation of mountain families in ’30s, Jan. 15, 2009
- Tuna embraces, satirizes small-town South, Feb. 28, 2008
Dominion contributes to Wayne campaign
The Dominion Resources Inc. Foundation announced its third grant to the Wayne Theatre Alliance’s Capital Campaign. The Foundation has given a total of $11,000 to the campaign to restore the 1926 Wayne Theatre in downtown Waynesboro.
“The Foundation is pleased to contribute to the ‘Count Down to Curtain Up’ campaign,” said Emmett W. Toms, External Affairs Manager for Dominion’s Central Region, who presented the Foundation’s check. “Dominion applauds the community’s effort for the Wayne Theatre project. Revitalization of the historic theatre building will continue the cultural heritage for the enhancement of the area’s quality of life.”
In accepting the check from the Dominion Resources Inc. Foundation, John Curry, Chairman of the Wayne Theatre Capital Campaign said, “I am very pleased that Dominion Resources Inc. Foundation has shown the confidence and understanding of our effort to restore the Wayne Theatre by making a generous gift to our community. We are working diligently to complete our remaining fundraising goals, so that final reconstruction can be completed.”
“Count Down to Curtain Up” was launched in May, 2010 for the purpose of raising the remaining private donations needed for final construction to commence. Please contact the Wayne Theatre Alliance if you are interested in making a new or additional donation to the Theatre at 540.943.9999 or by e-mail at director@waynetheatre.org.
Edited by Chris Graham. Chris can be reached at freepress2@ntelos.net.
WayneTheatre.org: A Night at the Wayne
Photographer Mark Miller filed a photo essay on the Aug. 20 River City Radio Hour outdoor performance for the WayneTheatre.org website.
Mark Miller Photography is online here.
Wayne effort taps into school, community spirit
The trend in political fundraising has been to tap into the power of the $10 and $20 and $50 donor. it takes a lot more of those size donations to add up, but they add up, and as they add up, the people who buy in add a weight to the momentum of the effort that they support far beyond their dollar power.
Gayle Mapstone, new to the board of directors of the Wayne Theatre Alliance last year, took note of the new trend in political giving and wondered if there wasn’t something to be applied to the ongoing effort to raise money for the renovation of the Downtown Waynesboro landmark.
“I felt like we needed to find a way to get the average citizen involved and to both increase the level of community pride for the project as well as find a way to make it comfortable for people to contribute who don’t have thousands and thousands of dollars to give, but they want to be a part of it, and their $25 or $50 is just as significant to the success of the project as someone else’s $1,000,” said Mapstone, who on her own initiative spent a snowy weekend in February writing and mailing letters to members of her graduating class of 1969 at Waynesboro High School encouraging them to contribute toward a class gift to the Wayne that is closing in on reaching a $10,000 goal.
The success there has in turn led to a fundraising campaign that the Wayne Theatre Alliance is calling Class’n the Wayne, with several class captains representing graduating classes at WHS, Wilson Memorial High School, Stuarts Draft High School, and local alums from the University of Virginia and Virginia Tech soliciting their classmates.
Augusta Free Press Publishing has pitched in to the effort. AFP Publishing donated web-design services to launch a new website for the Wayne Theatre Alliance and a page at ClassntheWayne.org that serves as the Internet home to the fundraising campaign.
The approach put into action by Mapstone seems uniquely Waynesboro.
“I have so many fond memories of Waynesboro growing up in the ’50s and ’60s, and remember with a great deal of pride being able to grow up in a small-town environment, where you knew all the local merchants, where you knew all the folks walking up and down the street. The people I wanted to reach out to were people I had gone to school with who I had grown up with,” Mapstone said.
“I can’t speak for later generations, but the people that I went to school with in the ’50s and ’60s had a lot of school pride and a lot of community pride. That’s what I think we can really tap into here,” Mapstone said.
Story by Chris Graham. Chris can be reached at freepress2@ntelos.net.
Chris Graham: So much smoke and mirrors
Posted by afp on December 16, 2011 · 5 Comments
Looking here at my hometown of Waynesboro, where the City Council suddenly wants accountability from its School Board when it comes to budgeting. I’m all for enhancing accountability from any and all in government, so at first glance, I want to say, Good for you guys. Except that it’s not really about accountability. What we’re seeing here is yet another power grab from a City Council that has done pretty well for itself in that department.
Consider the politics that led to the current makeup of the City Council. All five can attribute their seats to campaigns that made early and often reference to votes by previous City Councils in favor of $700,000 in city funding for the $7 million Wayne Theatre redevelopment. We can now see that the repeated claims that those City Councils were engaging in the diversion of public money for a special-interest group were nothing more than a smokescreen considering the boondoggle that is the $3.4 million purchase of scrub land from key campaign donors ostensibly to go toward a 20-year plan to develop a city commerce park. Continue reading “Chris Graham: So much smoke and mirrors” »
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