5 things

The weekend after Independence Day has a lot to live up to. I mean, fireworks? Endless amounts of cookout food? Days off of a work? That’s a hard act to follow. Hopefully these events will help you get through your Post-July-4th Blues.

July 8, 2010; 12:00 PM • by Valerie Catrow

The weekend after Independence Day has a lot to live up to. I mean, fireworks? Endless amounts of cookout food? Days off of a work? That’s a hard act to follow. Hopefully these events will help you get through your Post-July-4th Blues.

1. David Karsten Daniels & Fight the Big Bull

Come celebrate the release of I Mean to Live Here Still, an album capturing the collaboration between David Karsten Daniels and Richmond’s own Fight the Big Bull. The album includes songs adapted from poems written by Henry David Thoreau, so this is show can be appreciated on several different levels. To learn more about the album and the process that made it possible, check out RVAJazz’s coverage of it from last month (and listen to a sample track).

• Thursday, July 8 (8pm to 11:30pm)
• The Camel (1621 W. Broad Street)
• $8

2. VMFA Film Series: O Brother, Where Art Thou?

The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts is now open on Friday nights, and to help bring people out they’ve created a great new film series guided by monthly themes. July’s focus is “The South” and the choice for their second installment (the first was Fried Green Tomatoes) is sure to please. The music is great, the story is wonderful, and George Clooney is still dreamy even with that hair net.

• Friday, July 9 (6pm)
• Cheek Theater, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (200 N. Boulevard)
• $7 ($5 for members)

3. Hanover Tomato Festival

Whether you like them red, green, stewed, or fried, this weekend is the time to show your love for the most delectable of local fruits: the Hanover Tomato! Head on out to Mechanicsville for a day spent enjoying tomato-centric cuisine of all types, catch performances from local favorites (like Susan Greenbaum, Jonathan Austin, and more), and find out whose got the best tomato recipe in these parts. There’s also a Best Dressed Tomato contest and a Little Miss/Tiny Miss Hanover Tomato competition for the little ones. Awwwwwww.

• Saturday, July 10 (9am to 4pm)
• Pole Green Park (8996 Pole Green Park Lane in Mechanicsville)
• Free!

4. Moonbounce Mania

Surely your children have a little extra energy pumping through their tiny persons after being kept inside due to this godforsaken heat. Perhaps a day spent moonbouncing it up and getting their faces painted will help things a bit?

• Saturday, July 10 (10am to 4pm)
• Children’s Museum of Richmond (2626 W. Broad Street)
• Free with admission ($8 for adults and kids over 1; $7 for seniors)

5. Live at Ipanema: Homemade Knives

Our favorite music series is back with a performance from Homemade Knives, a really wonderful band which happens to feature Live at Ipanema veteran Jonathan Vassar. Stop by their myspace page to see what they’re about — I think you’ll find it a pleasant experience.

• Sunday, July 11 (10pm)
• Ipanema (917 W. Grace Street)
• Free!

(And be sure to check RVANews tomorrow for sounds and sights from The Florentine’s performance last month.)

None of these sound good? Check out our Events Calendar for more fun stuff going on around town.

As always, if you know of something that deserves a shout out, please do so in the comments OR submit it to the calendar yourself!

As the editor of RVANews, Valerie Catrow spends most of her time wrangling people over email and muttering to herself about the content calendar. She also contributes to our parenting column while maintaining her own blog, Made in Richmond. It should be noted that she loves tots, both the potato and child varieties.

July 8, 2010 12:00 PM 1