Saturday, May 12, 2007

Gettin' My Colonization On

If you live anywhere near our part of Virginia, you might have heard that this weekend is the 400th anniversary of the settlement of the Jamestown Colony, the first permanent English settlement in the New World. Suck on it, Plymouth....

It's only about 40 miles west of where we live, so I went up there to have dinner with the correspondent Saturday night. She's deployed up there for a couple days.

I don't know what I really expected, but she reports that the event is no better/worse than a county fair. Funnel cakes were sighted; no word on whether they had a barbecued turkey leg stand or not. Also waiting to hear whether they had airbrushed t-shirts for sale.

Headlining the show tonight are local boy Bruce Hornsby and Ashland, Ky.'s own Ricky Skaggs.

Anyway, here are some other memorable items from the Jamestown 2007 schedule:

William the Conjuror
Penn Russell from Williamsburg presents a 16th & 17th century illusion and manipulation show featuring magic and costuming authentic to the time period.

Nothing witty comes to mind about magic in the 15-1600's. However, I'm wondering how wacky this show would be if he did tricks from around the time of the REAL William the Conqueror.

"And now, ladies and gentlemen, I will have this woman drawn and quartered." Or, "For my next trick, I'll make the Saxons disappear."

Richmond Indigenous Gourd Orchestra
A band from Richmond, VA who grows gourds, make instruments from them and create their own unique music. Tables will be set displaying dozens gourds, with instruction on how to grow them and how to make instruments etc.


Thank God someone is keeping us safe from all those IMPORTED gourd orchestras.

Flute Frenzy
A 16 member youth flute choir from Williamsburg, VA performs original works, classical music and folk and popular tunes.


Take it away, Ron Burgundy.

Posted by Unclejbird @ 6:12 PM :: (1) comments