5 Things

Don’t let the depressing weather throw you off, folks. The weekend is looking mighty bright! We have the President coming to town on Friday and Sir Richard Branson will be here this weekend, not to mention all the OTHER stuff I have for your itinerary!

September 8, 2011; 6:00 AM • by Nathan Cushing

It’s true, President Obama will be speaking at the University of Richmond about his jobs plan. You (yes, YOU) can get tickets later today between 3pm-6pm at the Modlin Center on a first come, first serve basis. And if the President of the United States isn’t enough for you, Sir Richard Branson (you know, the guy that owns everything) will take part in the Richmond Unite initiative on Friday. Who says Richmond is a small city? IDIOTS that’s who.

Transitioning unsophisticatedly…

Want to know the weather? No need to look out a window, I can tell you right here from your computer screen: it’s raining—AGAIN. Yes, this weekend’s looking rather wet, but the weather doesn’t have to rain on our fun parade, does it boys and girls!?! We have food, football, music, and boobs! What more could we ask for without sounding like greedy ingrates.

1. Food Truck Festival

Who the frack likes food trucks anyways!?! Oh, yeah…EVERYBODY! If it’s one thing that Richmond has a surfeit of, it’s food trucks. Now, wouldn’t it be nice if…oh…I dunno…there was a place where one could partake of the various fruits of these food trucks’ labors??? My, what a world that would be…

Well, that world is NOW. Head out to Whole Foods in Short Pump this Saturday, bring the wee ones, and bring the fun. Free admittance, and there will be live music, face-painting for the kids (or the adults if you so wish), and food from such vendors as The Lunchbox, RVA Vegan – Bike Powered Food Cart, Espresso A Go Go, and Farm to Family, among many others.

• Sat., Sep. 10 • 12pm – 6pm
• Whole Foods, 11173 West Broad Street, Glen Allen, VA 23060
• FREE

2. RVA Music Fest

Apparently music is a thing????? I dunno…you kids today sure are a crazy lot. If you are a fan of live music, then this weekend will most certainly NOT suck. The RVA Music Fest isn’t the traditional single-venue parade of musical acts that we typically think of when we think of the word festival. Instead, scattered throughout the city this weekend are all sorts of venues hosting local, national, and world-traveling bands and musicians. The forecast isn’t looking so great, so what better way to escape lugubrious rain than by surrounding yourself with a sonic superpower of sonorous musical song!

Here’s a PDF with all of the times, bands, and venues.

• Sun, Sep. 10th & 11th • various times
• Various venues throughout the city
• Ticket prices will vary from show to show

3. UR Football

The Richmond Spiders, who bequeathed Duke a 23-21 loss on Blue Devils’ home turf, celebrate their 2011 home-opener Saturday night at Robins Stadium. They’ll take on the Wagner Seahawks.

If the Spiders had their druthers, I’m sure that they would have preferred NOT to have their former head couch, Latrell Scott, resign after a recent DUI arrest just before the season began. But the Offensive Coordinator, Wayne Lineburg, was named Interim Head Coach and is trying to move his team beyond the unfortunate fanfare caused by the resignation of their former coach to create positive fanfare on the field. The Spiders are ranked #9 in the nation. That’s right—THE NATION. This season looks to be rather remarkable, so you’ll want to be there during the home opener.

• Sat., Sep. 10 • 6pm kickoff
• Robins Stadium, 238 Boatwright Drive, Richmond, VA 23173
  Prices vary

4. Richmond Famous feat. Ryan Nobles

They say that laughter is the best medicine. My grandfather was hospitalized for overdosing on Viagra and he laughed a lot about it. Guess what? HE DIED.

Kidding!

OK, so I’m no Patton Oswalt, but that’s why the Richmond Comedy Coalition only allows funny people to join (and why they’ve rejected my application more times than I have both fingers and toes). This Saturday, NBC 12 and FOX Richmond’s Ryan Nobles will be the subject and inspiration for the latest round of the improvised comedy event, “Richmond Famous.” Artistic Director for the RCC says this about the event: “The goal of Richmond Famous is to not only highlight the talented people of RVA, but to offer quality comedy and a different way to bring Richmonders together…we’re really excited to have Ryan Nobles appearing alongside the RCC to share his true stories.”

• Fri., Sep. 9 • 8pm – 11pm
• Gallery5, 200 W. Marshall Street
• $7 ($5 for students)

5. 10th Anniversary of 9/11

It seems that the phrase “9/11” is so loaded and bloated with meaning and political wrangling that we forget the principal importance of what happened ten years ago: thousands of fathers, mothers, husbands, wives, sons, and daughters died because evil people halfway across the globe wanted them to die. The only fruit that came from such a tragedy was that it united this country in a way that it had not been united since the attacks of Pearl Harbor in December 1941. President Obama will be in New York City to commemorate the very historic and very tragic day. I will not say that you should do this, or think that, in order to properly observe the day—we each do things as we feel we should when it comes to these types of matters. But I will ask that you think, really think, about those whose lives were taken from them, and taken from the people that loved them. And be thankful that you are still here.

• Sun., Sep. 11 • All day

photo by rcubed

September 8, 2011 6:00 AM 0