New Media from a Journalism Veteran
Happy birthday mom
My mother turned 88 today. We celebrated with a party at her assisted living home. A church choir sang “happy birthday” and hymns. She had a “Happy Birthday” helium balloon attached to her wheelchair. She wore a Harley-Davidson cap and a Harley scarf. Amy and I gave her a bottle of Chantilly perfume — the [...]
Seeking out Our America: One video at a time
In 2000, Amy and I set out on a long-term documentary project called “Our America,” an attempt to look at the first decade of the new century through stories, photography and video. The idea was to chronicle the American way of life. Our inspiration was the late O. Winston Link‘s seven years of documenting the [...]
Thanksgiving 2011: Upright and still going
A year ago, I spent Thanksgiving on the couch — down with severe back problems that threatened to put me in a wheelchair for the rest of my life. On Thanksgiving this year, Amy and I will pack her Liberty with food and head out of the county to spend the holiday with my [...]
Avoiding Black Friday
Many retailers — hoping to make the most of “Black Friday,” the busy shopping day that follows Thanksgiving — open at midnight Thursday. Best Buy in Roanoke and Christiansburg will offer $900 laptop computers for $199 and large flat-screen TVs for under $200 as “door busters,” which translate into limited quantities for those who line [...]
A bittersweet championship night for Floyd County’s Darian Grubb
Amid the hugs and tears of winning NASCAR‘s Sprint Cup championship Sunday night at Homestead Motor Speedway in Florida hung a bittersweet reality for Floyd County native Darian Grubb. The crew chief for Tony Stewart‘s incredible surge towards the title learned a month ago that he would be out of a job as soon as [...]
Buffalo Mountain Films is now on YouTube
Introducing the Buffalo Mountain Films channel on YouTube. Although all of our video work is normally available through Vimeo, we have launched a channel on YouTube as well, recognizing the commercial value of having our work displayed there. As part of that effort, we have been going back through our archives and remastering some earlier [...]
Music from ‘some guy with a ponytail and the old guy’
You often find Floyd County musicians in strange venues. Wander into Due South barbeque restaurant on Roanoke Street in Christiansburg on a Tuesday evening and you will find Bernie Coveney and Chris Luster performing amid the chatter, din and noise from the ice machine. Amy and I decided to enjoy some barbeque and music last [...]
Remixing and revisiting ‘Pistol Packin’ Mama’
As any regular reader of this site knows, I love shooting music — both with still and video. Changes in technology allow me to go back and remix some of my earlier video work on area music. Case in point: A video shoot in 2007 of Bernie Coveney, Chris Luster, Abe Goorskey and Mike Mitchell [...]
Democracy at work
Short video of last week’s board of supervisors where two hot topics — wind generators and and tourism — dominated the agenda. This video was shot for The Floyd Press and can be found on the paper’s web site as well.
Fred First: Storyteller
Fred First, the dean of Floyd County bloggers, is also a master storyteller. He read one of his essays on The Floyd Radio Show earlier this month. Watch and enjoy.