Night music
Floyd’s Friday Night Jamboree is known as much for the music played by musicians on the street as for the ones appearing on stage. When the weather is cool, as it was this past Friday night, some gather in the rooms upstairs (above) to jam, sometimes playing by the light of a single lamp. Others braved the cold and played outside but the night chill of early Spring has not yet passed and the sounds of music could be heard from the rooms upstairs. Downstairs (right), the dance floor was hopping. This week marked the return of the former Barbershop Grass band (below) with Abe Gorsky (below right) filling in for the departed Ralph Hayden on guitar. The band has a new name (Little River Grass or New River Grass — they were referred to both ways Friday night) but their sound provided many of the traditional selections that Jamboree fans enjoy. Todd Christensen, associate project director for the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development, brought some friends by Friday so see the Jamboree. Christensen’s agency is funding the downtown rennovation project for Floyd. It was his first visit to the Country Store since it reopened in February following expansion and remodeling. Christensen wanted to know how folks felt about the expanded story. The crowded dance floor provided the answer. 
You gotta be kidding me…
Tuesday’s voice mail brought a call from Haynes Chrysler-Jeep, yes the same Haynes Chrysler-Jeep that tried to screw me on a clutch repair when my Wrangler suffered a clutch slave cylinder failure in Richmond earlier this month.
The call was a survey that wanted to know if I was satisfied with my recent repair experience at Haynes. Satisfied? Hardly.
The caller said he was sorry he missed me and that Chrysler would be sending out a written survey so I could respond.
You better believe I will.
Escape from county tax hell
After two more phone calls, I’m no longer a tax scofflaw in the eyes of Arlington County and the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles.
Arlington County has admitted its mistake in trying to collect taxes for a business that didn’t exist for years I didn’t live in their county and has released its hold on my vehicle license plate renewals.
Duck & cover
Started down the driveway today for an appointment in town and ran into a traffic jam in my driveway — well, a duck jam. The ducks that take up residence in the stream in our lower front yard each Spring took their time moving down the driveway so I followed at a sedate 1 mph.
The boys of Spring
Seems like just two weeks ago that I was in Richmond photographing the Virginia High School League state basketball finals. Now I’m along the baselines of the Floyd County High School baseball field shooting the annual rite of summer. Baseball last week. Softball this week. Spring must be here.
So long George
Amy and I started watching George Michael’s Sports Machine on Washington’s Channel 4 right after we moved to Arlington in 1981. At that time it was only shown locally on the NBC affiliate in the nation’s capital.
Michael, in a half-hour each Sunday night, wrapped up the weekend’s sports activities. Unlike other Washington sportscasters, he gave us info on NASCAR events.
Back in the saddle
Our Wrangler is back on the road, thanks to the techs at Turman-Yeatts and the attention of Andrew Lewis.
They found a catastrophic failure of the clutch assembly when they took out the transmission. The hydraulic slave failed and the fork that controls the clutch action had a large gouge in it from the damage. Pieces of the clutch assembly lay in the bell housing of the transmission.
Taxing times
When we lived in Arlington County, residents there often referred to the local government as the “Peoples’ Republic of Arlington.” Arlington’s government is, if nothing else, aggressive when it comes to collecting taxes.
So aggressive, in fact, that they try to collect taxes you don’t owe for years after you leave the county.
Last year, we received a letter from Arlington County demanding payment of personal property taxes on our three cars for 2005, which was odd since we lived in Floyd County fulltime in 2005 and paid taxes on our cars to our home county government.
A little night music
Enjoyable evening at the Friday Nite Jamboree. Good music. Good hot dogs. Great company.
I never tire of spending an evening at the Jamboree. An evening with people who enjoy the music and the dancing and the ambiance can’t help but be enjoyed.
On the way home, stopped by Cafe del Sol where owner Sally Walker (below) belted out the blues. Different music, different atmosphere but the same level of enjoyment and good times. Friday night in Floyd. A ready formula for a good time. 
Revisiting a photographer’s work
Last year, we wrote about a visit to the Friday Nite Jamboree by New York photographer Jennifer Trausch and the mammoth 20 x 24 Polaroid Camera.
Jennifer and her assistant, Kim Venable (below) had loaded the giant camera into a truck and were touring the South shooting photos of small towns and rural life.
Her work is profiled on The Daily F’log, a fotoblog by Andrew Long. Raul Gutierrez interviews Jennifer and they talk about her experiences on the road with the 235-lb camera.
It’s a good read. I wasn’t familiar with Andrew’s blog until he contacted me about using a photo from our story on Jennifer’s visit. I’ll be sure to check it out more in the future. 