AIDS Awareness Week at Virginia Tech

It’s AIDS awareness week, it seems like this kind of thing happens every year and to some, it’s just another week of some club trying to push their agenda on everyone else on campus to make money. However, the LGBTA at Virginia Tech and the LGBT Caucus have both banded together to design a full week of events to educate Virginia Tech students and whomever is willing to listen about AIDS and the issues that are associated.

Matthew Stoll, a sophomore in Biology at Virginia Tech and an active LGBTA member, explained how AIDS awareness week has evolved over the years. “It used to e AIDS awareness day. In the early 2000’s it was changed to AIDS awareness week, because it just seemed like one day was not enough,” said Stoll.

As a part of AIDS Awareness week Barbara Maberry, an independent social worker, was invited to speak at the Colonial Hall on Tuesday to students about implications of STDs and HIV, sex offenders and social issues surrounding each of these topics.

Maberry is a former health educator for the Council of Community Services in Roanoke. She decided to leave her job to earn her Masters in Social Work degree from Radford University in 2005 in addition to her Associate’s degree in Mental Health from Virginia Western Community College. She has spoken to other students at Hollins University, Virginia Western Community College, Roanoke College, Ferrum College, Radford University and two local high schools. “When I talk, I’ll talk to anybody who will listen,” Maberry said.

Before her speech, she displayed thirty-some pamphlets accompanied by other resources that were free for the attendees to pick up and use. She opened up the speech with a few jokes to capture the audience’s attention, then went straight to the facts.

“When two people who have HIV have sex, they make a new kind of HIV,” explained Maberry during her efforts to dispel myths about the virus. Maberry also explained how this also applied to different types of STDs; when two types are combined, a new unidentified kind is created. “HIV and STDs are not limited to what science knows,” she added.

Mayberry also expressed her worries about increasing rates of STD and HIV infection. She mentioned that there are both anonymous and confidential HIV and STD test sites all over the state.

Club Red Ribbon, The final event for AIDS awareness week, is scheduled to take place in Squires at the Commonwealth Ballroom at 9 P.M. tomorrow night, where free HIV testing will be available. The event is meant to attract those who are not usually reached by AIDS awareness week events.

You too can be a folk musician

A middle-aged woman opens the door to a vegetarian restaurant in the heart of downtown Blacksburg. She reclines props the door open with her arm because she is trying to load in what seems to be a fiddle case. She pulls up a chair, comfortably sets down her belongings on the opposite side of the table, she exchanges a smile and a familiar nod with a waiter and sits down.

She opens up her case, pulls out an antique fiddle and starts to play. No one objects. She does not ask for permission to begin playing her fiddle, because she has obviously done this many times before. A couple of minutes later a few more people trickled in only to follow the same suit, but with different instruments. Eventually, what seemed to be a band formed by the end of the night, making the corner of College avenue and Draper road echo with reminiscent tunes of old time music.

A group of some of the most dedicated musicians has been keeping the Open Jam session tradition alive at Gillie’s vegetarian restaurant every Tuesday night for the past four years. However, its history reaches far beyond 30 years. In order to stay true to tradition, music practiced during the Open Jam session has been limited to old time music only, rarely allowing bluegrass to be played. “Playing old time music is my way of connecting to all of the music that people have been playing for years and years,” said Bill Richardson, the most experienced musician in the group.

Bluegrass music and old time music are similar, but to an extent. Seeing as bluegrass was derived out of old time, it tends to have a greater variety of instruments and vocals. Old time is more restrictive in instrument use; for example, it would be complete blasphemy for any old time band to have an electric guitarist or a drummer, something that today’s modern bands would have a lot of trouble relating to or even imagining. “It’s within a tradition, it’s about continuity. It’s not self-made or self-invented, it’s very restrictive in that way. Which doesn’t mean it’s not evolving, but you’re always kind of looking into what you learn from it. You don’t try to change it, you have to let it change you, because if you try to change it it’s not Old Time,” added Richardson.

People have gathered around this tradition long enough to give birth to a small subculture in Blacksburg, wrapped around the desire to reminisce about times when things were a lot simpler and purer. The oldest open jam musicians credited the Hoorah Cloggers Virginia Tech campus club for bringing them together as dancers and cultivating their energies to make them the musicians that they have become.

Before the open jam migrated to its current location, it moved around quite a bit. “In the ‘70s, it used to rotate one day a week from house to house and Bill was the one who brought it out to Roni’s,” said Randy Marchany, fiddle player, as he reminisced about the now closed pizzeria which had become the first downtown venue for the Open Jam session.

“It’s moved around town businesses for 25 years. We played any place that would let us have music,” said Cindy Cook, another fiddler who joined in on that evening’s session.

After the Open Jam moved out of Roni’s, it made its way to Champs, Top of the Stairs, South Main Café (currently known as Cabo Fish Taco) and has currently settled at Gillie’s.

But it seems that the forced constant movement of this tradition has affected the way audiences perceived the music, because the dancing aspect was forgotten somewhere along the way.

“People that have had the money never saw the need for more music venues, the university was just intractable when it came to creativity. Good ideas go to the petty bureaucracy,” commented Richardson

Regardless of what hardships this tradition has gone through to stay alive, the Open Jam session has paved and still continues to pave the way for the creation of bands such as The Jugbusters, The Full Nelsons, The Bubbatones, Wild Turkeys and many more to come.

So if you’re interested in witnessing or being a part of the Open Jam subculture, you can find it every Tuesday night at Gillie’s vegetarian restaurant in downtown Blacksburg at 9 p.m., since it is not restricted to those who are already a part of it according to the tradition’s motto, “Music belongs to those who persist at it. You too can be a folk musician.”

(This article has been cross-published at the Collegiate Times' online and print editions)

The Evens Get Even in Blacksburg

This past saturday night, might have just been one of the most defining moments of my show-booking career; I had the opportunity to host Amy Farina of The Warmers and Ian MacKaye of Fugazi at the Blacksburg YMCA.

This duo wins the "most self-sufficient band" award in my book. They had their own PA, they setup their own equipment, ran their own merch table, packed their own things and it only took them a few minutes. It was simply amazing to see them at work. When they were done setting up, they put two tall lamps on each end, making it look like a living room.

I was still outside and still collecting money at the door when the show started, so I sadly missed a couple of songs. But I guess that sometimes there's a price to pay when you're the person putting the show up. A few members of my staff and some close friends I used to book shows with in the past also showed up, so it was somewhat of a nice little reunion.

I guess my favorite parts of the show were when the 3 and 6 year olds kept on running up and down the hall and when the band asked the audience to sing along when they performed "You Won't Feel a Thing."

I think the interactive portion of the show, in addition the the intimate living room-like setting just made the show for me

I don't mean to toot my own horn when I say this, because having personally put up the show or not, I still think that it was a show that Blacksburg will not forget for a while. It was my first show at the YMCA and will hopefully be followed by many more to come!

I just wish I hadn't forgotten my own camera...

Make Magic sounds

The Mystic Fortress almost sounds like a fort that a child has built out of toys and boxes. The Magic Twig collective would tell you that this would be a close, but not accurate description of what this place is.

The Mystic Fortress is where Roanoke’s Magic Twig community meets regularly. It is where this community has produced a great number of bands such as the Sad Cobras, Young Sinclairs, Power Animals and Boys Lie. Supported by money made from playing events, selling C.D.s and some personal donations from within the community, members of Magic Twig hope to keep playing music and inspired others to do the same. “We’ve been meeting a lot of curious kids at shows who have heard some of the things we’ve put on C.D.s and they seemed to be really interested. I hope that we influence them a little bit to make sounds,” said Joe Lunsford, seasoned Magic Twig member.

Within this tight-knit community of musicians, artists and producers, Do It Yourself ideals have been emphasized, making it almost self sufficient when it comes to creating, producing and packaging music. This community that could be predominantly be described as a music label, has given a home to creative minds around the area. “We’ve got a lot of material that we’re trying to put out and Magic Twig is a good vehicle to get that out there and to have a name to associate all the projects together,” said Lunsford.

Even though the Magic Twig name has only been established for about a year, members Indianface and John Thompson said that they have been playing with the idea for a while. “We’ve known each other since we were in grade school. I think Daniel and I have known each other for a long time, we grew up in the same town, the same schools. We’re both from Franklin County. We started playing music together around 1998, ” reminisced Thompson. Through networking and regular show attendances, Indianface and Thompson began to meet several like-minded individuals, namely brothers Joe Lunsford and his brother, Sam.

“When Daniel and I were right out of high school, there was stuff going on in Roanoke like 63 Crayons were playing, Joe and Sam were doing The Red Skulls at the time. I remember seeing that and thinking it was different, it was something different and it kind of maybe sparked us a little bit. Then meeting Sam and Joe made it really come to a head. So it made us think about younger kids who are into music or art might come and see us and pick something up from here and it empowers them to maybe do what they want,” commented Thompson.

Lunsford had some recording equipment with no space to use it, while Indianface and Thompson had an empty practice space. So naturally when they all met in 2004, they were able to put the pieces together and form their practice space, which is now supporting a little over eight members and is known as the Mystic Fortress.

It was not until 2006 that all of the collaborative projects in that space were adopted under the Magic Twig name. “I just thought since a lot of us are from the country and I think that magic is fun and trees are fun, so both of them together really work,” said Indianface.

Lunsford, Thompson and Indianface all seemed to agree that the Magic Twig community has no plans of leaving the area anytime soon because of familiarity, creative and financial reasons. “We’ve talked about moving to a city before, but I think a lot of us would just want to be in the country again,” said Indianface.

“I think a part of what lets us do what we do is being isolated. With fashion, style and whatever musical trend is happening, you get beat over the head with that enough on the TV and the internet and stuff like that. I think maybe if we lived in a different place, we would be pressured to maybe follow some trends. Where we are right now, we can pretty much do whatever we want,” elaborated Lunsford.

“I think Roanoke’s pretty affordable and none of us are well off, so to be able to afford the two rooms that we have to do all this stuff is relatively cheap compared to a city,” said Thompson.

In the spirit of confirming that the Magic Twig community’s projects all seem to have a theme of youthfulness about them, “We’re kids. Being a kid is a blast and I don’t want it ever to stop,” said Thompson.

The Sad Cobras, The Young Sinclairs, Sunking and many more of the Magic Twig Community’s bands will be showcasing their talent at the Roanoke Library on Dec. sixth at 6 p.m.

Pinks Turns to Blue

You know what I find most fascinating about this video? Is that it was filmed the year I was born.

I know, it pretty much boggles my mind too!

The Evens Blacksburg flyer