Barksdale Earns Raves from Richmond's Music Boosters

Posted by Bruce Miller

Tim Timberlake, former newscaster and current mover and shaper of Richmond’s authentic music scene, posted a rave review this week of Barksdale’s recent Stretchin’ concert with Justin Townes Earle. Tim is passionate about music the way I’m passionate about theatre—may God bless us both. Tim’s photo of Justin, taken in Barksdale’s lobby, and his thoughts on the Stretchin’ concert appear here with his permission. To read his entire post, check out his rousing and informative blog, My Music Journal, at http://www.timtimberlake.blogspot.com/. Tim’s the right guy to go to when you want to know the skinny on what’s what with music in Richmond and beyond. That's him, to the right and below.

“Sunday night we were among a sadly undersized crowd to witness a young man on the front edge of what should be a stellar career,” Tim writes. “His pedigree is enough to suffocate a lesser talent given that he’s Steve Earle’s son and the late Texas legend Townes Van Zandt was his godfather. So this wiry, way over six-foot-tall, twenty-something cowboy has something to prove and his 90-minute set at Barksdale’s Stretchin’ series offered all the proof any skeptic could want that Justin Townes Earle is the real deal!”

Tim continues to offer praise with evocative phrases like:
“Justin ran through a rich and varied set list of mostly original tunes that made me feel like I could’ve been in a time machine watching Hank Williams when he first started out of the gate,”
and
“Accompanying himself on guitar, occasional harmonica and a good helping of boot heel percussion, Earle the younger displayed a confidence and charisma that can’t be faked and made believers of this appreciative audience, most of us hearing him for the first time.”

A discerning commenter named Catherine added, “If you guys aren’t comin’ out to Stretchin’ every month you’re missing out,” prompting fellow annotator Ellen to add that Jason performed “one of the best shows I’ve seen in a while. All the shows in this series of Stretchin' are sure to be great ones.”

I don’t know about you, but praise like this from Richmond’s music insiders sure made me wish I’d been there. Terrie and I intended to go that night, but we’d just opened three mainstage shows in 15 days and so we decided to stay at home and crash. We’ve marked our calendars with the upcoming Stretchin’ dates, and we’re planning and hoping to join in the fun.

Barksdale is blessed to have great pal BJ Kocen, pictured to the right, creating and championing our Stretchin’ series. We provide the space and a little bit of extra stuff, BJ provides the heart, soul, blood, sweat and tears. And sadly, when the crowds are low, BJ and co-producer Glave Kocen Galleries take the financial hit.

In many ways, it’s likely that Richmond’s theatre and music scenes will thrive or fade together. I vote for “thrive.” That’s why we’re in the Stretchin’ business. I hope you’ll join me in checking out the upcoming events. You can learn more at http://www.barksdalerichmond.org/stretchin.html.

Quite simply, thanks to BJ Kocen and the terrific talent he assembles, Barksdale is now one of the best and most exciting music venues in town. Thanks to Tim Timberlake and fans like Catherine and Ellen, hopefully more Richmonders will soon start to know.

--Bruce Miller

Making the Most of Moonlight Memorabilia

Posted by John Steils

Moonlight and Magnolias was the original working title of the novel that you and I know and love as Gone with the Wind. Moonlight and Magnolias is also the title of a hilarious new comedy by Ron Hutchinson that is making the rounds of lots of regional theatres nationwide and will be opening in its Virginia premiere at Barksdale Willow Lawn tomorrow night.

This very funny new play is about an extraordinary rescue mission devised by film producer David O. Selznick, portrayed by Joe Pabst in the photo above and to the right with Joy Williams as his secretary Miss Popenghul. The making of Gone with the Wind was not going well, history tells us, so Selznick fired his original director, George Cukor and, playwright Hutchinson imagines, escaped for five days to his locked office with new director Victor Fleming (portrayed by David Bridgewater in the foreground of the photo above and to the left), and dramatist Ben Hecht to rewrite the screenplay and rescue the film.

Comic madness ensues.

We’re really excited about Moonlight and Magnolias, and we want Richmond to be excited too. We want coming to see Moonlight and Magnolias to be an EVENT, just like going to see Gone with the Wind was an EVENT in the early 40s.

So our marketing department contacted John Wiley, Jr., a great guy and Richmond resident who also happens to be one of the nation’s foremost collectors of Gone with the Wind memorabilia. John’s museum-quality collection has not been shown publicly in Richmond since 1989. But for the last week, John and Judi Crenshaw, our publicist extraordinaire, have been assembling the fascinating memorabilia in our lobby gallery.

Now there are two reasons to visit Barksdale Willow Lawn during the next six weeks—a great play AND a great exhibit. My camera doesn't do justice at all to the artifacts, so please imagine them in much better light.

The gallery display includes copies of nearly every book and biography ever written about David O. Selznick, Victor Fleming and Ben Hecht, the three major characters in the show. There are life-size color cutouts of Vivien Leigh as Scarlett and Clark Gable as Rhett, created originally as lobby displays for the film. There’s an autographed first edition of the novel, with dust jacket—signed by Margaret Mitchell herself.

There are actual front pages from The Atlanta Journal and The Atlanta Constitution on the days that Ms Mitchell was injured and died. Among a wealth of other Mitchell memorabilia, there are signed Christmas cards and the shiny green book band that was added to all copies of Gone with the Wind after it won the Pulitzer Prize.

Two Richmond women also figure in the collection. The first is Marcella Rabwin, a Richmond-native who wrote Yes, Mr. Selznick after serving as his executive assistant for 15 years. Ms Rabwin’s character is portrayed in the play by Joy Williams. And then there’s Em Bowles Locker Alsop, a Richmond native who was one of only 31 women to be brought to Hollywood for a screen test for the role of Scarlett. Photos and other mementos from both women are featured prominently in the display.

There are also original posters, an original film reel (complete with the film itself), a press badge from the opening of the film in Atlanta, and endless magazine covers, paper dolls and sheet music, many in different languages. Among my favorite items are a series of signed costume sketches.

So, if you enjoy comedy, if you enjoy history, if you enjoy having a great night on the town, don’t miss Moonlight and Magnolias, starring Dave Bridgewater, Joe Pabst and Scotty Wichmann (pictured to the left), and directed by Steve Perigard. And join us in thanking John Wiley, Jr. for sharing his remarkable and fascinating collection with all of Richmond.

--John Steils