Walter Witschey and The Temples of Doom

Not actually Walter Witschey

Have you ever wanted to be an armchair Indiana Jones, discovering lost cities in the jungle? Explore the ancient ruins of Mesoamerica with Walter Witschey, Maya archaeologist, professor of anthropology at Longwood University, and director emeritus of the Science Museum of Virginia. In this class, Dr. Witschey will share his ongoing research from numerous visits to Mesoamerica and with modern remote-sense data. He will also present new findings in deciphering the ancient Maya script that, until now, has hidden from us the life and times of the Maya kings and dynasties.$25/VHS members; $30/nonmembers

September 17th

5:30-7:00 pm

Virginia Historical Society
428 North Boulevard,
Richmond, Virginia 23220

Phone:
804.358.4901

Hours:
Tuesday-Saturday 10-5
Sunday 1-5 (galleries & shop only)

The Grand Opening of Richmond CenterStage

Host:
Richmond CenterStage
Type:
Music/Arts - Opening
Network:
Global
Date:
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Time:
4:00pm - 4:30pm
Location:
Grace Street, between 6th and 7th streets
Email:
www.richmondcenterstage.com
Description
Hope everyone can make it! Sure to be an awesome evening. The Ribbon Cutting will take place at 4 PM on the sidewalk, with performances by Richmond's nine resident companies at 8PM. Restaurants, nightlife and arts galleries along Broad Street and downtown should keep you busy in the meantime.

Downtown Dinners

Deveron Timberlake takes a look at the dining options near CenterStage.

"In general, the drinking is better than the eating in the short radius from CenterStage, but most everything is affordable and therefore more palatable. Here’s where to go now for before — and after — theater sloshing and noshing:"

• Gibson’s Grill
  700 E. Broad St., 644-2637
  http://www.gibsonsgrill.com/
• Café Rustica
  414 E. Main St., 225-8811
• Capital Ale House
  623 E. Main St., 780-2537
  http://www.capitalalehouse.com/
• O’Neill’s Penny Lane Pub
  421 E. Franklin St., 780-1682
  http://www.pennylanepub.com/
• T-Miller’s Sports Bar & Grill
  500 E. Broad St. in the Marriott, 648-2255
  http://www.tmillerssportsbar.com/
• Coming Attraction
  Pie is the newest in a local restaurant group that includes the Fan’s Si Tapas and downtown’s Bank and Vault. This Italian restaurant in the former Berry-Burk building, at 525 E. Grace St., is under construction with an anticipated late-fall opening.

This is only a partial list. Others that I can think of are:

• Louisiana Flair (Open late from 10:00 AM to 3:00 AM Friday and Saturday)
  322 E. Grace St 612-9066
• Kenn-Tico Cuban Bar and Grill - Opening early October
  2nd & Grace next to Chic Chapeau
• LeMaire @ The Jefferson

Since you will most likely drive you could take in any of the great restaurants on Broad east of Belividere

• The Belvidere at Broad
• Tarrants Cafe
• Tarrantino's Pizza
• Twenty-Seven
• Popkin's Tavern

• Comfort

As the season picks up expect more restaurants to start opeing late. Downtown should soon be full of places to eat and stroll. Given enough traffic, may some of the many art galleries will extend their hours making downtown a true arts and entertainment district.

See the full coverage of CenterStage in this week's Style.

River District Canal Cruises

Enjoy 40-minute historically narrated tours of the James River and Kanawha Canal along the historic Canal Walk. These covered boats accommodate up to 35 passengers and depart on the hour from the Turning Basin in downtown Richmond’s River District.

Richmond’s canals were first begun in 1789 after George Washington lobbied the General Assembly to proceed with his vision of a canal and turnpike system that would connect the harbors of the east to the trade and market opportunities in the west.

For more information call 804-788-6466 or 804-649-2800 or visit http://www.ventirerichmond.com/.

Canal Turning Basin - Dock and 14th Streets

$5 adults, $4 seniors & children 5-12,

Age 4 and under Free

Thursday-Saturday Noon-7pm,

Sunday Noon-5pm

Through September 27

Flown the Coop

From the DGIF weblog:

All three have flown

"Following the first successful flight of the young male, the two juvenile females were somewhat more cautious. One of the females slowly scaled the roof line using a strand of holiday lights (the lights are unplugged) and finally reached the apex of the roof. The other perched on the box that houses the camera equipment. Both females practiced getting the wind under their wings for some time before finally taking flight. Both of the two females flew strongly and were able to gain altitude."

Read More...

Visual Arts Center Reception

The 2009 Visual Arts Center of Richmond Faculty + Staff + Board Exhibition finishes with a closing reception on Friday, August 21, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m., to which the public is invited.

This annual display of work by the Center’s talented array of teachers offers the community an opportunity to get to know the individual artists who make the Center a dynamic place. The show, entitled [work], also include entries submitted by several staff and board members who work as artists in addition to their professional roles. This exhibition remains on view through August 23, 2009. For more information, contact the Center at 804-353-0094 or visit the website at visarts.org.

Located at 1812 W. Main St. in Richmond’s Fan District, the Visual Arts Center of Richmond engages the community in the creative process through the visual arts. For more information, call 804-353-0094 or visit www.visarts.org online.

Opening Ceremonies

From Stephen Living - Wildlife Biologist for the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.

"We have a number of volunteers with experience in Identifying birds - along with dgif staff experienced with handling raptors. While all of our "official volunteer" spots are filled you can still feel free to join us downtown in the area around Riverfront Plaza (951 East Bryd Street) tomorrow and Wednesday. You'll be able to ID DGIF staff by our bright orange hats and green polo shirts. Hopefully we will see the young birds fly well and need no assistance. In this case volunteers will help us track where the young birds perch so we can monitor them. Should the fledglings have any problems biologists will be on hand to intervene as necessary.

We'll be placing the door opening mechanism on at about 9:15am (give or take) the door will open 1-3 hours later and then the waiting begins. Our fledge watch effort will last until about 8 pm and start again at about 9 am on Wednesday through 8 - that evening."

Flight Preparations

Looking more and more like adult birds, the three falcon chicks are almost fully fledged. This In years past DGIF biologists have taken the young birds to remote locations in the Blue Ridge mountains to hone their flight skills. Since the nesting pair have been so successful breeding here in Richmond, the chicks will be allowed to run the fledge downtown in hopes they will imprint on the city and return to start nests of their own.

The chicks are very active now. This may be the best and maybe last time to see them up close and personal.

From the DGIF website.

"Our three young falcons have grown quickly. Only a few scattered tufts of down remain and their juvenile plumage is almost fully grown in. Peregrine falcons typically fledge between 40-45 days after hatching.

The door-opener apparatus will be installed on the pen door on Tuesday morning, August 18th. This will mark 47 to 48 days since hatching for these falcons. The extra time ensures full feather development, and allows these birds to strengthen their flight muscles before attempting their first flights. The “apparatus” is comprised of a weight, bungee cords, and a plastic bottle of ice attached to the pen door. As the ice melts it releases the weight and the door is slowly pulled open by the bungee cords. Depending on the temperature on the release date, the door should open about 2-4 hours after the trigger is attached. We have used this method successfully for three years. Though the adults become aggressive when we attach the device, they quickly calm down after we leave. Past releases have gone very smoothly, with the chicks typically walking from the pen or flying to the ledge, surveying their surroundings for a few minutes or hours, and then taking successful first flights.

DGIF personnel and skilled volunteers will be stationed in the area surrounding the nest building. This will allow us to track the young birds’ first efforts and ensure that they are capable of sustained, controlled flight. This monitoring effort will continue until we are confident in the flight abilities of the fledglings. Should one of the fledglings encounter difficulty and end up on the ground, DGIF staff will recover the fledgling and either return it to the ledge or ensure prompt treatment and transportation to a licensed rehabilitation facility if necessary. "

An Invitation to a Wake

I got this odd email the other day.

You are all invited to join me in mourning the voluntary, but permanent, expatriation of a painting that has always been too heavy to hang, but has appeared on numerous occasions below one's ordinary sightline. ...

It will sail out of Richmond toward an obscure New York State hamlet on August 27th, never to be seen (except THERE) again.

When you consider it was from sometime Richmond artist Brett Busang, it's not so odd. A casual reading of this email led me to believe that Brett was departing along with his painting.

I am clearly more broken up about this than any of you can ever be, so your collective function will be to feel my pain for a moment

Rather than mourn his departure, we celebrated an all too rare visit to Richmond and a chance to chat and critique. Brett's paintings are a historical record of our city as it was. Many of these locations no longer exist. I am moving his paintings back into feature rotation. He's been a good friend and fortunately we haven't seen the last of Brett Busang.

Here's a couple of paintings that were posted previously. Brett's promised to provide more. I look forward to sharing them here.

Bridges Raised and Bridges Fallen

Bridge Over the Kanawa Canal

Used by permission.
© Brett Busang