FiddleFest This Weekend

Posted in Music on July 27th, 2011 by marklynn
FiddleFest This Weekend
Sierra Hull, Singer and Songwriter If you’re in the mood for a plingy-plangy good time this weekend, head out to FiddleFest 2011 at Hollins University in Roanoke. It’s an annual, two-day celebration of bluegrass and string music, complete with workshops, jam sessions, a beer garden, and a killer concert series, headlined by Sierra Hull. The Roanoke Times interviewed the nineteen year old Hull this week. A recent graduate of BostonR Read More »


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Pick Your Favorite Asheville Artist

Posted in Art & Lit on July 23rd, 2011 by marklynn
Pick Your Favorite Asheville Artist
When we visited Asheville a few weeks back, the work of local artists was everywhere–in galleries, in coffee shops, lining downtown sidewalks on tabletops, and even at a tailgate farmer’s market out by UNCA. We picked a few of our favorites. Now you can pick yours. Check out the below works and vote for the one you like best.   Take Our Poll   Linwood Wood Carving Just North of Asheville alongside the French Broad River Read More »


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One Voice: Stories and Histories of LGBT West Virginians

Posted in History & Culture on July 17th, 2011 by marklynn
One Voice: Stories and Histories of LGBT West Virginians
I am pleased to introduce a first for The Revivalist–a guest post. It is from Bradley Milam, Program Director for Fairness West Virginia, the state’s leading lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) advocacy group. Bradley is a recent graduate of Yale University who committed his senior year to researching a remarkable set of untold stories from his home state of West Virginia. * Bradley Milam, Program Director for Fairness West Virg Read More »


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We Have a Gift Card Winner

Posted in History & Culture on July 16th, 2011 by marklynn
We Have a Gift Card Winner
Thanks to everyone who took the recent Reader Survey. It’s great to get to know you all a little better and hear your ideas for growing The Revivalist. You may recall that a $35 gift card for Blue Ridge Mountain Sports was up for grabs. Those who completed the survey saw my strategy for selecting the winner – printing all of the entrants’ email addresses, pasting them side-by-side on a 3/4″ plywood sheet and then standin Read More »


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Secret History in Oak Ridge, Tennessee

Posted in History & Culture on July 10th, 2011 by marklynn
Secret History in Oak Ridge, Tennessee
Workers leaving an Oak Ridge plant at shift change Once again, my history teachers have failed me. If you’ve been reading the blog for a while, you know that this has been a point of outrage in the past. I was never told about the notorious Smith lynching, which was witnessed by nearly a third of my hometown’s population. They neglected to inform me about the battle of Blair Mountain, the largest armed insurrection since the Civil War Read More »


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Mountain Sized Muse: A Year of Blue Ridge Paintings

Posted in Art & Lit, Outdoors & Travel on July 5th, 2011 by marklynn
Mountain Sized Muse: A Year of Blue Ridge Paintings
There are people who know the Blue Ridge Parkway well–avid hikers, commuters who drive their given stretches daily, park rangers–but I doubt any of them hold a candle to Janet Wimmer. This Virginia artist doesn’t just admire the parkway. She reproduces it leaf by leaf. In 2009, Janet decided to paint a new scene from the Blue Ridge Parkway every single day for a year. Pounds of paint and hundreds of canvases later, Janet has pr Read More »


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