The joke is that hell froze over, life all but ceased in Shepherdstown, but Minnesota schools were on a two-hour delay.
From Snow Drops
to Snow
Who’d of thunk that a Shepherdstown day that hit 20 degrees Fahrenheit would be considered a welcome warming—after the beach weather in January, February came in like a lion and most of us lambs wished we’d got outta Dodge.
What a difference a month can make, which is also true of Army basic training.
Speakeasy Boys
Sell Out
They sold out their CD release concert at the Opera House, that is.
According to band spokesperson Matt Robinson, Opera House spokesperson Rusty Berry also said that he had never before sold so many beverages and snacks at an Opera House event.
People not only hunger for the Speakeasy Boys, they thirst for them. Imagine a 140-seat tailgate party.
According to a Sweet Shoppe spokesperson, early in the afternoon of the performance the bakery had 18 tickets for sale there. According to a spokesperson for a local homeowners association, Phil and Lily Hill got the last two tickets.
Congratulations, Phil and Lily.
You see how many spokespersons it takes to carry off and report on a Shepherdstown event?
Several discriminating patrons bought the tickets just to get the artwork by Lindsay Guild (rhymes with mild), only to find they could get a larger version of the artwork on the Boys’ eponymous CD. Hey, art and a concert for way less than half the admission fee to the Museum of Modern Art in the Big Apple.
One somewhat arthritic diehard fan of the Boys joined the crew shaking a leg down front and was sore for four days. It was like early parenthood: “tired but happy.”
Someone asked a closet journalist, “Why are there so many kids here?”
Well, the Boys have very mature groupies.
The band played very tight—I know that should be the adverbial form, but this is music criticism—at the concert. They played so tight they had a hard time tightening up the next Friday evening for a gig at the Mecklenburg Inn pub. But tighten up the Boys eventually did at the Meck, too—just like Archie Drell and the Drells used to do.
Sociology Thesis Wannabes Note
There were seven WHSC radio show hosts at the Speakeasy Boys Opera House concert. Dallas Alice, Vinyl Tap, the Extended Porch, etc. Go figure. There’s bound to be a Ph.D. thesis lurking in that tidbit of social datum.
Parthenogenesis
Do not try this at home, but a Komodo dragon at London’s Chester Zoo recently gave birth to five little lizards even though she’s never had, as they say, “contact” with a male.
“Have you ever had contact with him?”
“Why sure. I bumped into him at a NASCAR race once.”
This gives new meaning to “single-parent household.” Or zoohold.
You can’t argue with the DNA test. She did it spontaneously with her own cells.
Parthenogenesis is partheno for the course in some asexual plant, insect, and fish species. But Komodo dragons? Usually they’re way beyond that.
Or did the zoo keepers forget to monitor a lizard?
Almanac Right on Track
The Old Farmer’s Almanac for our region got February 1–7 right with its forecast of “very cold.”
Wine Festival at the Arts Centre
Put the Arts Centre of Martinsburg’s Wine and Arts Festival on your to-do list. Held May 26 and 27 at historic Boydville Estate, it is one of the precious few good reasons to step outside Shepherdstown in the merry month of May that Shakespeare so praised.
The Arts Centre is a truly grand architectural space. A great place for shows or other events. You must check it out: open Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Closed Sundays.
Besides, you can see what Boydville—that lingering locus of loquacious discourse—is all about.