The Virginia Beach Neptune Festival kicks off this weekend and goes all summer. It starts off with a wine tasting party in the 24th Street park and culminates in Boardwalk Weekend, September 26-28, 2008. We usually run in the 8K and check out what’s left of the Surfing Classic after. But the true gem of Neptune Festival has to be the North American Sandsculpting Championship. I remember going to see the sand castles starting at least 25 years ago. Twenty-five years later and we have digital cameras and this Internet thing. So it seemed appropriate to me to share today the pictures I took at last year’s championship. Perhaps ironically, there was a decidedly anti-technology theme going with a couple of the entries. I hope you will enjoy - Kevin.

Neptune_2007

WHO: Residents of King’s Grant Neighborhoods

WHAT: Waterways Clean Up

WHY: Look around. Our trash is all over our streets and side avenues. It flows heavily through our storm water runoff system.


A significant amount of our trash flows along our storm water ditches, drains, creeks, and lakes that flow directly into the Lynnhaven River. These waterways serve to protect our neighborhoods from flood and excessive rain by carrying the water out into the river. A negative side-effect of their utility is that these waterways also carry significant amounts of trash and debris. Effective water run-off channels are designed trap most of refuse before it makes its way out. But what happens next? Who cleans it up?

What happens next is we go out there and take care of our neighborhood!

HOW:

1. Sign Up:

1. Send email to kmcurry AT gmail DOT com, subject: “King’s Grant Waterways Clean Up,” and tell us how many in your group
2. All minors must be accompanied by an adult

2. Show Up: Meet at the Triangle in front of 7-11 at 8:45 AM

3. Clean Up:

1. You will be provided with equipment; gloves, trash bags, orange safety vests…that sort of thing

2. You will be assembled into clean teams and given a clean up route

3. Your team will walk your route filling up trash bags

4. We will come around and collect the trash bags and take them to the dump and/or recycling center

WHEN: Saturday June 7, 2008, 9 AM to 12 NOON (Clean the Bay Day)


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(This show review comes a little late due to the Easter holiday, but I wanted to write it because the show was worth remembering.)

My wife and I and a bunch of our friends caught Third Eye Blind at the Ted Constant Convocation Center at ODU (03/20/08). In case you aren’t aware, 3EB is promoting a best-of album, called “A Collection.”

We were pretty fired up going into the show. After a $40 cab ride (5 passengers) from V.B. to Norfolk we pregramed at a little spot across the back street called “The Boar’s Nest.” It’s a BBQ joint by day and a college bar by night. Pretty good place, definitely convenient.

When we walked over to the show we found make-shift signs on the doors announcing that the opener, Graham Colton, would not be playing. Oh well. But when we got inside it was clear that they had set up the arena for a small audience. Was this forshadowing? A friend at concessions told us only about 1200 people came out of an expected 4000+. Come to think of it, I couldn’t shake a distinct thirty-something feeling whenever I thought about the show in the weeks prior. I wondered if 3EB fans in Virginia Beach amounted mostly to listeners of “adult contemporary” radio (ironic given the subject matter of their lyrics) who are less likely to go out on a school night as their kids.

But regardless of the circumstances surrounding this show, I’m here to tell you that 3EB put on a helluva good one. Given it was a greatest hits tour it won’t surprise anyone to know they pretty much played all of them. I’m not a dedicated-enough fan to have recognized everything I heard, though. My notables were Semi-Charmed and Slow Motion. Semi-Charmed was just super-pumped. Our whole crew was rocking out in a big sing along. Slow Motion was the encore with only Jenkins on guitar and Fredianelli on piano. It actually wasn’t the best sounding rendition but the mood was right and I’ve always been captured by the intensity and tragedy in that song. I wasn’t going to be disappointed.

I hope these guys will continue to record and keep touring for many years to come. And if that’s the case I certainly hope the low turnout won’t keep them away from our area. They are definitely entertaining and I feel fortunate to have had the opportunity to see them locally. (Sure as hell wouldn’t mind seeing them in San Fran, either.) The Ted is a solid venue, but perhaps not the best venue for this band at this point. They’d be a great fit for The Norva.

Speaking of The Norva…anyone up for moe. on April 6?