Richmond Squirrel causes Richmond power outage!!!!!

RICHMOND, Va. - A squirrel caused a massive power outage in Richmond that eventually led to thousands without power. 

The curious animal short-circuited a Dominion Virginia Power substation on Friday morning and crews making repairs to that facility caused a second substation to shut down. 

At the height of the outages, about 6,000 Dominion customers in Richmond were in the dark. 

Power was out along a significant stretch downtown, disabling traffic signals at several major intersections for most of the day. 

Signed Sealed Delivered!!!!!!

" TOWN CALLED MALICE"

It was a double A-side single release featuring "Precious" as the flip side. The song has a very similar introduction and bassline to "You Can't Hurry Love" by The Supremes. A 12" version was also available with a live version of "Town Called Malice" backed by an extended version of "Precious".

Released as the first single from the album on 29 January 1982, it entered the chart at number one on the British music charts, staying at the top for three weeks,^[3], and preventing "Golden Brown" by The Stranglers from reaching number one. EMI, the Stranglers record company, objected to the sales of both formats of "Town Called Malice" being aggregated, arguing that Jam fans were buying both versions and thus preventing their band from reaching the top of the charts.

In common with all of the Jam's singles, the record failed to chart in the United States. It was the band's third #1 single in the UK. Paul Weller has said that it was written about his hometown Woking as a result of his teenage experiences there.

SHEPARD FAIREY

DESPITE HOW YOU FEEL OR WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT THE ELECTION,I REALLY DIG SHEPARD FAIREY'S ART!!!!!!! 

SHEPARD FAIREY ON OBAMA: THE SUPERTOUCH INTERVIEW

THE DYNAMIC DUO'S

NoRfOlK VA's OwN ThE m80's

One of my favorite bands growing up here in the 7 cities was the M80'S!!!!!!!! What a great band u would have never thought these guy's would have come out of Norfolk VA!!!!!! ThesE guys had a real depth and understanding of good rock n roll!!!!!! Those old Kings Head shows!!!!!!! GOOD TIMES!

From the Swamps of Virginia, the M-80s were born in an era of terrible hair bands and the dawn of the Seattle grunge scene. Nevertheless, the band remained true to their call, playing some of the best garage punk music ever recorded. Raw power and emotion echoed in every chord struck and every verse sung. Killer shows of intense forces culminating in a true sound of rock n roll in its purest form. Rock n roll that made you shake your ass and move your feet, and continue the party into the next afternoon. A band that rehearsed constantly to perform their magic in venues such as the Kings head Inn and Friar Tucks. The M-80s remain an outstanding moment in musical excellence and execution. 

THE THROB!!!!!!!!!

I WAS LISTENING TO MY IPOD TODAY AND THIS GREAT SONG CAME ON AND SAID WHO IS THAT? WELL THAT BAND IS A BAND NAMED THE THROB FROM AUSTRALIA A GREAT NAME!!!!!!!! The Throb are mostly famous for their better-than-the-Stones cover version of Fortune Teller, but to my ears the band’s finest recorded moment came six months later, when they transformed the bittersweet traditional folk song Black into a violent feedback-laden Gothic masterpiece.  UnfortunatelyBlack was not a substantial hit and the band soon disintegrated.  Nonetheless, the Throb still had one of the best band names ever, and even better... they looked exactly liked they sounded!

DIG THEM HEAR!!!!!

OUR RIDE TO TITTY CITY!

This past Saturday morning I left my house here in Va Beach at about 615 and meet up with a couple of my scooter pals and headed to Richmond VA via old highway 60! The weather channel said rain,but the whole ride up was pretty clear until we got into Richmond! It rained its ass off! We went to Richmond for THE 2008 INDIAN SUMMER SCOOTER RALLY! GOOD TIMES!! Hopefully next year it will be a little dryer!!!!!!Met Some Cool Cats,drank some good beer,and ate some good food! Sunday morning we left our friends and headed home on a true VA byway!!! route 5! What a ride!!!!!Route 5 follows the mighty JAMES RIVER all the way to Williamsburg which at that point we jumped on the James Town Ferry, and headed back to the 7CITIES!!!! WHAT A GREAT TIME!!!!!!

DEE DEE WARWICK R.I.P.

SOUTH ORANGE, N.J. (Oct. 20) - Soul singer Dee Dee Warwick, who herself was a highly accomplished soul singer who gained acclaim both solo as well as with her sister Dionne, has died at the age of 63 after being in poor health for months.

Warwick died Saturday at a nursing home in Essex County, said Kevin Sasaki, a family spokesman. She had been in failing health in recent months, he said, and her sister was with her when she died.

OCTOBER IN NORFOLK!!!!!!!

 THE OTHER DAY MY LADY AND I WENT OVER TO CASA ULSH,WHERE WE DRINK FINE BEER, JOOZE,AND WINE,LISTEN TO SOME RECORDS AND ATE A A BIG BOWL OF CHILI!!!'LOOKOUT" THEN WE TOOK A STROLL IN THE WONDERFUL GHENT AREA THE TREES ARE TURNING,LEAVES ARE FALLING,AND THE AIR WAS CRISP!!!HERE ARE A FEW PICTURES OF OUR DAY!

Nitro-Retro!: October Mix Up!

Nitro-Retro!: October Mix Up!

MATT YOU HAVE DONE IT AGAIN OLD BOY!!!!!!!!! CHECK OUT MY BUDDY MATT'S BLOG!

CRAZY!! Board Track Racing!!!!!!

Board track, or motordrome, racing was a type of motorsport, popular in the United States between the second and third decades of the 20th century, where competition was conducted on oval race courses with surfaces composed of wooden planks. Although the tracks most often used motorcycles, many different types of racing automobiles also competed, enough so as to see the majority of the 1920s American national championship races contested at such venues.
By the early 1930s, board track racing had fallen out of favor, and into eventual obsolescence, due to both its perceived dangers and the high cost of maintenance of the wooden racing surfaces. However, several of its most notable aspects have continued to influence American motorsports philosophy to the present day, including: A technical emphasis on raw speed produced by the steep inclinations; ample track width to allow steady overtaking between competitors; and the development of extensive grandstands surrounding many of the courses.The first board track opened at the Los Angeles Coliseum Motordome near Playa del Rey, California, onApril 8, 1910. Based on and utilizing the same technology as the French velodromes used for bicycle races, the track and others like it were created with 2-inch (51 mm) x 4-inch (100 mm) boards, and banked up to 45°, and some venues, such as Fulford-by-the-Sea and Culver City, boasting unconfirmed higher bankings of 50° or more. Around a half dozen tracks up to two miles (3 km) long had opened by 1915. By 1931 there were 24 operating board tracks, including tracks in Beverly Hills, California, Atlantic City, New Jersey, and Brooklyn, New York. The board tracks popped up because of the ease of construction and the low cost of lumber.The banking in the corners of board tracks started at 25° in 1911, like bicycles tracks were. The banking was increased until 60° was common. The effect of the banking was higher cornering speed and higher G-force on drivers. Fans sat on the top of the track looking down at the racers. When a driver lost control of a racecar in a corner, he could slip up off the track and into the crowd. An incident often killed a half-dozen competitors and spectators at a time. On September 8, 1912, Eddie Hasha was killed at the New Jersey Motordome near Atlantic City. The accident killed 4 boys and injured 10 more people. The deaths made the front page of the New York Times. The press started calling the short 1/4 and 1/3 mile circuits "murderdromes". The 1913 motorcycle championship races were moved to a dirt track because dirt was safer. The national organization overseeing motorcycle racing on board tracks banned all competitions on board tracks shorter than 1-mile (1.6 km) in 1919.

Board tracks slowly faded away by the 1920s and 1930s. Notable driver fatalities on board tracks included four Indianapolis 500 winners, three of which occurred at the Altoona course in Tipton, Pennsylvania, and three in the same years in which the driver won at Indianapolis. 1919"500" winner Howdy Wilcox died in an Altoona race on September 4, 1923, while co-1924 winner Joe Boyer and 1929 winner Ray Keech both suffered fatal accidents at the facility in the same years as their 500 wins, Keech's occurring only seventeen days after, on June 15, 1929.Gaston Chevrolet, winner of the 1920 Indianapolis 500, perished that same autumn, on November 25, 1920, at a Thanksgiving Day race at the Beverly Hills Speedway.

Another contributor to the demise of board tracks was the expensive upkeep. Tracks needed new 2x4 boards every five years. During the last decade of board tracks, carpenters would repair the track from below after the cars raced down the straightaways at 120 miles per hour.  A further factor was that as speeds rose, overtaking became increasingly difficult; as long as it held together, the fastest car would almost always win the race. This led to spectators turning their attention to the less-predictable racing taking place on dirt tracks. 

THE TOKYO MODS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HERE'S TO A CULTURE THAT KNOWS HOW TO LOOK SMART!!!!!!!

TIME IS ON MY SIDE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

TIME IS ON MY SIDE!!!!! 

Born Irma Lee, as a teen she sang with a Baptist church choir, auditioning for Specialty Records as a 13-year old. By the age of 19 she had been married twice and had four children. Keeping her second ex-husband's surname, she worked as a waitress in New Orleans, occasionally singing with bandleader Tommy Ridgley, who helped her land a record deal with the local Ron label. Her first single, "(You Can Have My Husband but) Don't Mess with My Man," was released in spring 1960, and reached number 22 on the Billboard R&B chart.

She then began recording on the Minit label, working with songwriter and producer Allen Toussaint on songs including “It’s Raining” and “Ruler of my Heart”, which was later reinterpreted by Otis Redding as "Pain In My Heart". Imperial Records acquired Minit in 1963, and a string of successful releases followed. These included "I Wish Someone Would Care” (her biggest national hit), its B-side " Break-a-Way” (later covered by Tracey Ullman among others), "Anyone Who Knows What Love Is”, and "Time Is on My Side" (a song previously recorded by Kai Winding, and later by the Rolling Stones).

Although her first four Imperial singles all charted on Billboard's pop chart, later releases were less successful, and, unlike her contemporaries Aretha Franklin, Gladys Knight and Dionne Warwick she never managed to cross over into mainstream commercial success. She recorded for Chess Records in 1967/68 with some success, the Otis Redding song "Good To Me" reaching the R&B chart. She then relocated to California, releasing records on various small labels, before returning to Louisiana, and in the early 1980s opened her own club, the Lion's Den.

After several years’ break from recording, she was signed by Rounder Records, and in 1991 earned her first-ever Grammy nomination for Live! Simply the Best, recorded in San Francisco. She subsequently released a number of traditional gospel albums, together with more secular recordings. The album Sing It! was nominated for a Grammy in 1999.

Thomas is still active as a performer, appearing annually at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. She reigned as Queen of the Krewe du Vieux for the 1998 New Orleans Mardi Gras season. She often headlined at her own club, which is now out of business due to the effects of Hurricane Katrina. Thomas relocated to Gonzales, Louisiana, 60 miles from New Orleans, after Hurrican Katrina, but, according to her web site, she is now back in her home in New Orleans.