23
April 2008
10:41 AM
About Us
The Butter Room is where you will find the view from and of Virginia.
A Virginian view on music, the arts, culture, technology, food, sports and …
A Virginian view on the best (and maybe not so best) of Virginia.
The residents of the Butter Room are Virginians, who do this for fun. We live in Charlottesville, the New River Valley, Richmond, Roanoke, and Virginia Beach. When we recommend something, we mean it.
Thanks for taking the time to look into the butter room!
Resident Writers of The Butter Room
Beth Deel / Roanoke
Beth Deel is an intra-disciplinary artist living and working in Roanoke, VA. She recently completed her MFA in Dance this summer at Hollins University and American Dance Festival and holds a BFA in painting and printmaking from the Kansas City Art Institute in Kansas City, MO. Since 2000 Beth has been flying off tall buildings in aerial dance productions, organizing art exhibitions, teaching, and contributing to design projects. Most recently, Ms. Deel is teaming up with design maven, Wendy Schuyler, to create Roanoke’s first ever intra-disciplinary design firm, upUPperiscope.com. Their most exciting and popular project to date is the brilliant interactive online calendar www.myScoper.com. Beth is excited to be part of The Butter Room Crew and blogs the world about art, performance +music, design, technology and sometimes rock climbing. In her spare time, Beth LOVES to rock climb, improv everywhere and play with her Weimaraner, Dixie. Also, KUDOS to the significant other, Mark Kary, who goes along with all of Beth’s antics and run amok shenanigans.
You can also find Beth on the web at:
Brian Chenault / Charlottesville
Brian is a Senior Systems Analyst for a regional telecommunications company, and a part-time software developer for Growing Technologies. Brian is also active in the Charlottesville music scene, recording and gigging with Sam Wilson and Shannon Worrell as well as freelancing on guitar and bass.
After graduating from James Madison University with a B.M. in 1994, Brian moved to New York City to pursue a music career. Not exactly one for the traditional route, he was a co-founder of the band Bicycle, whose shtick was, you guessed it, riding bicycles from gig to gig. It took one cross-country trek (NYC to Seattle), several back and forth from NYC and Portland, ME, and one from NYC to Atlanta for Brian to realize that he would rather be focusing on performing rather than pushing pedals. Bicycle went on to sign with Capricorn Records, releasing a debut album and landing major press coverage such as CNN and People Magazine, and Brian headed back to Virginia, landing in Charlottesville. Tired of temp work and realizing it might be time to get serious about having a career alternative, Brian took an entry-level position with a local tech firm. He has been creating and maintaining websites and writing software ever since, including a 3 year stint at Musictoday, where he met Todd and Dylan.
Brian was raised in Lynchburg, VA and has been a Charlottesville, VA resident since 1997.
You can also find Brian on the web at:
Dave Donohue / Charlottesville
Dave Donohue is a director of media strategy at OutCast Communications, a NYC- and San Francisco-based public relations agency that represents technology companies. He works in technology PR because he isn’t good enough at math to be an engineer, and talking with reporters about engineers’ achievements is the next best thing in his mind. In past lives he has served as communications director for a tech startup, editor of the wireless industry’s first online news service, independent PR consultant, and mailing list salesman. He spends his days trying to master telecommuting and visiting interesting clients on both coasts.
Dave is a graduate of the University of Vermont, where he graduated an embarrassingly long time ago with a degree in Political Science. UVM made him many friends and afforded him the opportunity to see Phish in local bars, which became a habit that resulted in attending 150+ shows through the years. He likes Phish. A lot. He is a founding director of The Mockingbird Foundation, a non-profit organization of Phish fans that has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for children’s music education around the world, but that work is mostly done by people who are more organized than he is these days. He uses his spare time to struggle with his email inbox, read trashy detective novels, and - when he can get away with it - watch science fiction TV shows and movies. He believes that reality TV is dooming America to idiocy. He owns an Xbox 360 but it has far too many buttons for him to know how it works.
A native of Albany, NY, which should not be held against him, he has bounced between Vermont, Washington DC, San Francisco, and Virginia throughout his adult life. He currently resides in Charlottesville, VA.
You can also find Dave on the web at:
Dylan Fulmer / Charlottesville
Dylan is the Director of Operations at Darim Online, a non-profit technology consultancy. Prior to working at Darim, Dylan worked for Musictoday for 3 years, which is where he met Todd. Prior to Musictoday, Dylan lived and worked in New York for 7 years, most notably in the capacities of webmaster at Blue Note Records, and in various IT capacities for the Bertelsmann family of companies. Bertelsmann/BMG was very kind to Dylan, and even sent him to work in London for a year on an SAP project.
Dylan is a graduate of Fordham University, with degrees in Philosophy and Classical Languages, but started down the path of a career in technology while working in the computer lab on campus during the infancy of the internet, and for a time being sucked into LamdaMOO, an early online community/game/waste of time that was played on the VAX machines in the computer lab. It is from this experience that Dylan has not yet allowed himself to get into Second Life. While not sat in front of a computer, Dylan most enjoys food (cooking, eating, watching food shows, reading food mags and books), music (listening and playing), Your Atlanta Braves (but can’t bring himself to do the chop), and humanity (people are boundlessly fascinating). Finally, Dylan is extremely happy that his previously biggest achievement in life, appearing on the Jeopardy! Teen Tournament, has at last been eclipsed - he is the father of an extremely cute son, Aaron Junegee Fulmer.
Dylan is more a gypsy than a native of anywhere, and a resident of Troy, Virginia.
You can also find Dylan on the web at:
Gary Cope / New River Valley
From TV sports anchor to self-taught Web designer and developer, Gary Cope has had quite the professional career since graduating from Virginia Tech in 1997. Armed with a degree in Communications, Gary moved to Michigan to work as the Iron Mountain bureau chief for WLUC-TV. After a short, and very cold, stint in the Upper Peninsula, Gary returned to Virginia where landed a videographer gig with WSLS-TV in Roanoke, but quickly worked his way up to sports reporter and anchor. He also co-produced Virginia Tech Sports Today during the 1998 season.
Gary left WSLS in September 1999 to take the sports reporter and weekend anchor job at WVIR-TV in Charlottesville. He spent two and half years at NBC29 before leaving television to become the sports editor for The Culpeper Star-Exponent and as a sports talk radio show host at WKAV in Charlottesville. After the managing editor of the paper abruptly resigned, Gary interviewed for the job, but Media General dragged their feet, so he accepted an offer from the state’s top weekly paper, The Fauquier Citizen, where he went on to earn a Virginia Press Association award for his sports feature writing and two more VPA awards for layout and design. Gary joined the corporate world as a communications specialist at SRA International, Inc., in Fairfax, VA. He moved back to the New River Valley with his wife and son. Gary currently works as an In-House SEO professional for a company in Roanoke, Va., and as web developer. Gary also founded CWI Media & Marketing, a small business providing Web, graphic and marketing development for small- to mid-sized businesses and organizations - though his wife, Donna, runs the day-to-day operations.
Gary also founded VTHokieFans.com, an independent website covering Virginia Tech football.
Gary is a native of Newport News, Virginia, but lives in Pulaski, Virginia.
You can also find Gary on the web at:
Kevin Curry / Virginia Beach
Kevin co-founded Bridgeborn in 2002. Prior to Bridgeborn, Kevin earned at B.A. in History (1992) and an M.S. in Computer Science (1999), for which he conducted research in human-computer interaction in tele-immersive virtual environments. After graduate school, Kevin worked for the Center for Coastal Physical Oceanography at Old Dominion University Research Foundation where he used super computers and high fidelity 4D models to support the study of hurricanes, littoral battle spaces, and collaborative engineering at NASA. Kevin spent a brief time at VRCO before joining an simulation entertainment company, Mariah Vision 3. MV3 had just transitioned from full-motion NASCAR simulators to “3D-on-the-Web” at the precisely the same time the web went belly up. From those ashes rose Bridgeborn, where Kevin created and continues to lead the production of the Bridgeworks visualization platform.
Kevin is a native and current resident of Virginia Beach, Virginia.
You can also find Kevin on the web at:
Matt Blum / Richmond
Matt Blum is a director of Client Serivces at Ultrastar, a subsidiary of Live Nation. He heads a team of client managers who build and manage official websites and fan communities for an array of top selling entertainers and athletes. Matt has worn a lot of hats throughout his career, from serving as an accountant and site manager for Haz Waste cleanups to finding creative ways for peddling credit cards to serving as COO of his own communications and branding agency.
Matt obtained an undergraduate degree from Virginia Tech in 1995, where he pursued a marketing management degree and linked up with some good friends that would eventually form The Butter Room. After graduating and spending a few years working for the man, Matt decided to pursue his graduate degree in Mass Communications-Advertising at VCU Adcenter (now VCU Brandcenter) in 1999. From there, he started his own agency called Arnika with some classmates which achieved a great deal of critical success. In 2003, Matt left the company to follow his love of music which landed him at his current job.
Matt has lived in 9 states since 1995 but currently resides in his hometown of Richmond, VA where he spends his free time playing sag nuts, taking naps and chugging V8.
You can also find Matt on the web at:
Todd Wickersty / Charlottesville
Without a job and a business plan, Todd Wickersty founded Business Bullpen, an online services firm that provides application development, online marketing, and web design solutions in July 2005. Three months earlier, Todd left his post as Director of Online Fan Clubs & Project Management at Musictoday to take an internet commerce position in the sports industry. Three days before his start date, the eCommerce line of business was dissolved and so was Todd’s new job. Business Bullpen was then formed, purely to survive.
Since graduating from Virginia Tech in 1993, Todd has been fortunate enough to work on a variety of projects in the music, sports, and tech sectors. Todd has selected video clips for Titleist commercials, piloted an indoor blimp at college basketball games, and managed 15 Virginia Tech football players for a telemarketing campaign in the press box of Lane Stadium. The highlight of Todd’s stint in the sports world occurred in 1995-96 when he coordinated the 1996 NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championships in Chattanooga, Tennessee. It was Tiger Woods’ last collegiate event, and it set records for attendance and ticket sales. After finding out that the indoor blimp cost more than his salary, Todd left the sports industry for business school in 1996, launching a career focused in technology. After his MBA, a consulting gig with Accenture followed and then Todd joined AOL in the Interactive Marketing department three days before the announcement of the AOL-Time Warner merger. After surviving the first two rounds of layoffs during the dot-com bust, Todd moved to Charlottesville, Virginia and worked for Musictoday from 2001-2005. During that time, Todd oversaw many of Musictoday’s most critical projects from the migration and construction of the Grateful Dead online store to the advent of the Musictoday digital download platform and online fanclub business.
Todd also founded TechHoops.com, a website devoted to covering Virginia Tech basketball for the hardcore Hokie hoops fan.
Todd has lived in Arlington, Blacksburg, Falls Church, Williamsburg, Winchester, and now Charlottesville.
You can also find Todd on the web at:
Wendy Schuyler / Roanoke
Wendy Schuyler is an intra-disciplinary designer living and working in Roanoke, VA. Most recently, she and Beth Deel (aka mini think-tank), created upUPperiscope, inc., a revolutionary, interactive design firm in Roanoke, VA. Their most exciting and ambitious project to date is myScoper.com, a dazzling interactive calendar of events for Roanoke and beyond. Wendy started her graphic design career in Poland at the McCann Erickson advertising agency, one of the world’s largest and most influential. She also worked in traditional publishing for several years prior to leaping into business ownership. Wendy holds a B.S. in Advertising/Communication Arts with a minor in Dance from Appalachian State University. Still a lover of dance, Wendy hits the floor when she gets a chance; her other loves include traveling to far-flung places and hangin’ with her wuzzles (aka dog and cat). Wendy also loves sunny days, hiking in the mountains, swimming in “real” water (she’s a native of Smith Mountain Lake, VA after all), and painting her house, which she shares with her husband Travis, every color of the rainbow.
You can also find Wendy on the web at:
Since you made it this far, we will reward you with a photo of the real Butter Room.
A Virginian view on music, the arts, culture, technology, food, sports and …
A Virginian view on the best (and maybe not so best) of Virginia.
The residents of the Butter Room are Virginians, who do this for fun. We live in Charlottesville, the New River Valley, Richmond, Roanoke, and Virginia Beach. When we recommend something, we mean it.
Thanks for taking the time to look into the butter room!
Resident Writers of The Butter Room
Beth Deel / Roanoke
Beth Deel is an intra-disciplinary artist living and working in Roanoke, VA. She recently completed her MFA in Dance this summer at Hollins University and American Dance Festival and holds a BFA in painting and printmaking from the Kansas City Art Institute in Kansas City, MO. Since 2000 Beth has been flying off tall buildings in aerial dance productions, organizing art exhibitions, teaching, and contributing to design projects. Most recently, Ms. Deel is teaming up with design maven, Wendy Schuyler, to create Roanoke’s first ever intra-disciplinary design firm, upUPperiscope.com. Their most exciting and popular project to date is the brilliant interactive online calendar www.myScoper.com. Beth is excited to be part of The Butter Room Crew and blogs the world about art, performance +music, design, technology and sometimes rock climbing. In her spare time, Beth LOVES to rock climb, improv everywhere and play with her Weimaraner, Dixie. Also, KUDOS to the significant other, Mark Kary, who goes along with all of Beth’s antics and run amok shenanigans.
You can also find Beth on the web at:
Brian Chenault / Charlottesville
Brian is a Senior Systems Analyst for a regional telecommunications company, and a part-time software developer for Growing Technologies. Brian is also active in the Charlottesville music scene, recording and gigging with Sam Wilson and Shannon Worrell as well as freelancing on guitar and bass.
After graduating from James Madison University with a B.M. in 1994, Brian moved to New York City to pursue a music career. Not exactly one for the traditional route, he was a co-founder of the band Bicycle, whose shtick was, you guessed it, riding bicycles from gig to gig. It took one cross-country trek (NYC to Seattle), several back and forth from NYC and Portland, ME, and one from NYC to Atlanta for Brian to realize that he would rather be focusing on performing rather than pushing pedals. Bicycle went on to sign with Capricorn Records, releasing a debut album and landing major press coverage such as CNN and People Magazine, and Brian headed back to Virginia, landing in Charlottesville. Tired of temp work and realizing it might be time to get serious about having a career alternative, Brian took an entry-level position with a local tech firm. He has been creating and maintaining websites and writing software ever since, including a 3 year stint at Musictoday, where he met Todd and Dylan.
Brian was raised in Lynchburg, VA and has been a Charlottesville, VA resident since 1997.
You can also find Brian on the web at:
Dave Donohue / Charlottesville
Dave Donohue is a director of media strategy at OutCast Communications, a NYC- and San Francisco-based public relations agency that represents technology companies. He works in technology PR because he isn’t good enough at math to be an engineer, and talking with reporters about engineers’ achievements is the next best thing in his mind. In past lives he has served as communications director for a tech startup, editor of the wireless industry’s first online news service, independent PR consultant, and mailing list salesman. He spends his days trying to master telecommuting and visiting interesting clients on both coasts.
Dave is a graduate of the University of Vermont, where he graduated an embarrassingly long time ago with a degree in Political Science. UVM made him many friends and afforded him the opportunity to see Phish in local bars, which became a habit that resulted in attending 150+ shows through the years. He likes Phish. A lot. He is a founding director of The Mockingbird Foundation, a non-profit organization of Phish fans that has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for children’s music education around the world, but that work is mostly done by people who are more organized than he is these days. He uses his spare time to struggle with his email inbox, read trashy detective novels, and - when he can get away with it - watch science fiction TV shows and movies. He believes that reality TV is dooming America to idiocy. He owns an Xbox 360 but it has far too many buttons for him to know how it works.
A native of Albany, NY, which should not be held against him, he has bounced between Vermont, Washington DC, San Francisco, and Virginia throughout his adult life. He currently resides in Charlottesville, VA.
You can also find Dave on the web at:
Dylan Fulmer / Charlottesville
Dylan is the Director of Operations at Darim Online, a non-profit technology consultancy. Prior to working at Darim, Dylan worked for Musictoday for 3 years, which is where he met Todd. Prior to Musictoday, Dylan lived and worked in New York for 7 years, most notably in the capacities of webmaster at Blue Note Records, and in various IT capacities for the Bertelsmann family of companies. Bertelsmann/BMG was very kind to Dylan, and even sent him to work in London for a year on an SAP project.
Dylan is a graduate of Fordham University, with degrees in Philosophy and Classical Languages, but started down the path of a career in technology while working in the computer lab on campus during the infancy of the internet, and for a time being sucked into LamdaMOO, an early online community/game/waste of time that was played on the VAX machines in the computer lab. It is from this experience that Dylan has not yet allowed himself to get into Second Life. While not sat in front of a computer, Dylan most enjoys food (cooking, eating, watching food shows, reading food mags and books), music (listening and playing), Your Atlanta Braves (but can’t bring himself to do the chop), and humanity (people are boundlessly fascinating). Finally, Dylan is extremely happy that his previously biggest achievement in life, appearing on the Jeopardy! Teen Tournament, has at last been eclipsed - he is the father of an extremely cute son, Aaron Junegee Fulmer.
Dylan is more a gypsy than a native of anywhere, and a resident of Troy, Virginia.
You can also find Dylan on the web at:
Gary Cope / New River Valley
From TV sports anchor to self-taught Web designer and developer, Gary Cope has had quite the professional career since graduating from Virginia Tech in 1997. Armed with a degree in Communications, Gary moved to Michigan to work as the Iron Mountain bureau chief for WLUC-TV. After a short, and very cold, stint in the Upper Peninsula, Gary returned to Virginia where landed a videographer gig with WSLS-TV in Roanoke, but quickly worked his way up to sports reporter and anchor. He also co-produced Virginia Tech Sports Today during the 1998 season.
Gary left WSLS in September 1999 to take the sports reporter and weekend anchor job at WVIR-TV in Charlottesville. He spent two and half years at NBC29 before leaving television to become the sports editor for The Culpeper Star-Exponent and as a sports talk radio show host at WKAV in Charlottesville. After the managing editor of the paper abruptly resigned, Gary interviewed for the job, but Media General dragged their feet, so he accepted an offer from the state’s top weekly paper, The Fauquier Citizen, where he went on to earn a Virginia Press Association award for his sports feature writing and two more VPA awards for layout and design. Gary joined the corporate world as a communications specialist at SRA International, Inc., in Fairfax, VA. He moved back to the New River Valley with his wife and son. Gary currently works as an In-House SEO professional for a company in Roanoke, Va., and as web developer. Gary also founded CWI Media & Marketing, a small business providing Web, graphic and marketing development for small- to mid-sized businesses and organizations - though his wife, Donna, runs the day-to-day operations.
Gary also founded VTHokieFans.com, an independent website covering Virginia Tech football.
Gary is a native of Newport News, Virginia, but lives in Pulaski, Virginia.
You can also find Gary on the web at:
Kevin Curry / Virginia Beach
Kevin co-founded Bridgeborn in 2002. Prior to Bridgeborn, Kevin earned at B.A. in History (1992) and an M.S. in Computer Science (1999), for which he conducted research in human-computer interaction in tele-immersive virtual environments. After graduate school, Kevin worked for the Center for Coastal Physical Oceanography at Old Dominion University Research Foundation where he used super computers and high fidelity 4D models to support the study of hurricanes, littoral battle spaces, and collaborative engineering at NASA. Kevin spent a brief time at VRCO before joining an simulation entertainment company, Mariah Vision 3. MV3 had just transitioned from full-motion NASCAR simulators to “3D-on-the-Web” at the precisely the same time the web went belly up. From those ashes rose Bridgeborn, where Kevin created and continues to lead the production of the Bridgeworks visualization platform.
Kevin is a native and current resident of Virginia Beach, Virginia.
You can also find Kevin on the web at:
Matt Blum / Richmond
Matt Blum is a director of Client Serivces at Ultrastar, a subsidiary of Live Nation. He heads a team of client managers who build and manage official websites and fan communities for an array of top selling entertainers and athletes. Matt has worn a lot of hats throughout his career, from serving as an accountant and site manager for Haz Waste cleanups to finding creative ways for peddling credit cards to serving as COO of his own communications and branding agency.
Matt obtained an undergraduate degree from Virginia Tech in 1995, where he pursued a marketing management degree and linked up with some good friends that would eventually form The Butter Room. After graduating and spending a few years working for the man, Matt decided to pursue his graduate degree in Mass Communications-Advertising at VCU Adcenter (now VCU Brandcenter) in 1999. From there, he started his own agency called Arnika with some classmates which achieved a great deal of critical success. In 2003, Matt left the company to follow his love of music which landed him at his current job.
Matt has lived in 9 states since 1995 but currently resides in his hometown of Richmond, VA where he spends his free time playing sag nuts, taking naps and chugging V8.
You can also find Matt on the web at:
Todd Wickersty / Charlottesville
Without a job and a business plan, Todd Wickersty founded Business Bullpen, an online services firm that provides application development, online marketing, and web design solutions in July 2005. Three months earlier, Todd left his post as Director of Online Fan Clubs & Project Management at Musictoday to take an internet commerce position in the sports industry. Three days before his start date, the eCommerce line of business was dissolved and so was Todd’s new job. Business Bullpen was then formed, purely to survive.
Since graduating from Virginia Tech in 1993, Todd has been fortunate enough to work on a variety of projects in the music, sports, and tech sectors. Todd has selected video clips for Titleist commercials, piloted an indoor blimp at college basketball games, and managed 15 Virginia Tech football players for a telemarketing campaign in the press box of Lane Stadium. The highlight of Todd’s stint in the sports world occurred in 1995-96 when he coordinated the 1996 NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championships in Chattanooga, Tennessee. It was Tiger Woods’ last collegiate event, and it set records for attendance and ticket sales. After finding out that the indoor blimp cost more than his salary, Todd left the sports industry for business school in 1996, launching a career focused in technology. After his MBA, a consulting gig with Accenture followed and then Todd joined AOL in the Interactive Marketing department three days before the announcement of the AOL-Time Warner merger. After surviving the first two rounds of layoffs during the dot-com bust, Todd moved to Charlottesville, Virginia and worked for Musictoday from 2001-2005. During that time, Todd oversaw many of Musictoday’s most critical projects from the migration and construction of the Grateful Dead online store to the advent of the Musictoday digital download platform and online fanclub business.
Todd also founded TechHoops.com, a website devoted to covering Virginia Tech basketball for the hardcore Hokie hoops fan.
Todd has lived in Arlington, Blacksburg, Falls Church, Williamsburg, Winchester, and now Charlottesville.
You can also find Todd on the web at:
Wendy Schuyler / Roanoke
Wendy Schuyler is an intra-disciplinary designer living and working in Roanoke, VA. Most recently, she and Beth Deel (aka mini think-tank), created upUPperiscope, inc., a revolutionary, interactive design firm in Roanoke, VA. Their most exciting and ambitious project to date is myScoper.com, a dazzling interactive calendar of events for Roanoke and beyond. Wendy started her graphic design career in Poland at the McCann Erickson advertising agency, one of the world’s largest and most influential. She also worked in traditional publishing for several years prior to leaping into business ownership. Wendy holds a B.S. in Advertising/Communication Arts with a minor in Dance from Appalachian State University. Still a lover of dance, Wendy hits the floor when she gets a chance; her other loves include traveling to far-flung places and hangin’ with her wuzzles (aka dog and cat). Wendy also loves sunny days, hiking in the mountains, swimming in “real” water (she’s a native of Smith Mountain Lake, VA after all), and painting her house, which she shares with her husband Travis, every color of the rainbow.
You can also find Wendy on the web at:
Since you made it this far, we will reward you with a photo of the real Butter Room.
permalink | posted by toddwickersty | Comments (View) |
