Took a ride down the Blue Ridge Parkway recently to the Blue Ridge Music Center at Milepost 213. OK, it was a nice weekend day and I needed an excuse to put some miles on my motorcycle. The center was well worth the effort.

Inside the display hall, you can find information on Southwestern Virginia music groups, including the Floyd County Ramblers, who gamed some fame in the music world with a song about a local tragedy.

If you haven’t visited the Center, the trip is worth it for both the scenery along the Parkway and the tour through the area’s musical heritage. The concert season is finished for the year but the fall colors are starting to come in on the Parkway, which provides another reason to go.

Citigroup today assumed the assets of failing Wachovia Bank, marking the latest failure among financial institutions with bad mortgage loans.

Reports The Associated Press:

Citigroup agreed Monday to purchase Wachovia’s banking operations for $2.1 billion in a deal arranged by federal regulators, making the Charlotte-based bank the latest casualty of the widening global financial crisis.

The deal greatly expands Citigroup’s retail franchise — giving it a total of more than 4,300 U.S. branches and $600 billion in deposits — and secures its place among the U.S. banking industry’s Big Three, along with Bank of America Corp. and JPMorgan Chase & Co.

But it comes at a cost: Citigroup Inc. said it will slash its quarterly dividend in half to 16 cents. It also will dilute existing shareholders by selling $10 billion in common stock to shore up its capital position.

In addition to assuming $53 billion worth of debt, Citigroup will absorb up to $42 billion of losses from Wachovia’s $312 billion loan portfolio, with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. agreeing to cover any remaining losses. Citigroup also will issue $12 billion in preferred stock and warrants to the FDIC.

Struggling banking giant Wachovia is on the ropes and on the market, hoping a deal with potential buyers.

If Wachovia fails, it will be the largest area bank to go down the tubes. Some who have dealt with the bank say the collapse is well deserve.

Wachovia is saddled with thousands of foreclosed properties, some from its own questionable lending practices and others from its foolish acquisition of troubled mortgage lender Goldenwest.

Reports The Associated Press:

At least two major banks were reportedly in talks Sunday to buy Wachovia Corp., the latest U.S. bank to be the focus of investor anxiety over mounting losses tied to toxic assets.

The New York Times reported on its Web site that Citigroup Inc. and Wells Fargo & Co. are bidding in a possible emergency takeover of Charlotte, N.C.-based Wachovia.

The Wall Street Journal also listed Spain’s Banco Santander SA as a possible bidder. Both papers cited people familiar with the talks who they did not name.

Wachovia spokeswoman Christy Phillips-Brown declined to comment on the reports, as did Citigroup spokeswoman Christina Pretto. Wells Fargo spokesmen could not be immediately reached for comment.

Wachovia’s shares fell 27 percent in regular-session trading on Friday, and shed another 15 percent in after-hours dealings to end the week at $8.50, as investor worries heightened.

We have friends who had to walk away from their home after Wachovia reneged on a commitment to a bridge loan to help them sell the home after real estate values plummeted in Northern Virginia. Last year, we were bombarded by calls from a high-pressure Wachovia mortgage rep, trying to con us into "leveraging the equity" in our mortgage-free home into a 30-year loan. We finally had to block Wachovia’s number to stop the calls.

Wachovia is counting on the $700 billion taxpayer bailout make make the sale possible, hoping the government will save it from its own stupidity.

I met Paul Newman in 1977 during a sports car race at Mid-America Raceway in Wentzville, Missouri, just outside St. Louis. He came to Wentzville late in the Sports Car Club of America racing season to try and qualify for the runoffs later in the year.

But his car lost a clutch and Newman gained no points that day. As both a media photographer and a race official for SCCA, I was able to get past the guards that surrounded his compound and spend some time with the movie star and acclaimed actor.

Newman was gracious, funny, witty and tired. His blue eyes sparkled with humor and vigor that belied his age. We chatted for about 30 minutes before I had to go out and work another race.

Amy met Newman in 1984 when we attended the pole qualification weekend for the Indianapolis 500. We were leaving on the Sunday following pole day qualifying and she was struggling with a suitcase at our hotel. A short, wiry man stepped up to help with the door. It was Newman, part owner of Newman-Hass racing.

When she got to the car where I was packing the rest of the luggage, her mouth was still open.

"My God," she said. "That was Paul Newman. He’s almost as short as I am."

Newman was short in stature but tall in the eyes of his fans. The 83-year-old legend died Friday after a long bout with cancer. Reports The Associated Press:

Paul Newman never much cared for what he once called the "rubbish" of Hollywood, choosing to live in a quiet community on the opposite corner of the U.S. map, staying with his wife of many years and _ long after he became bored with acting _ pursuing his dual passions of philanthropy and race cars.

And yet despite enormous success in both endeavors and a vile distaste for celebrity, the Oscar-winning actor never lost the aura of a towering Hollywood movie star, turning in roles later in life that carried all the blue-eyed, heartthrob cool of his anti-hero performances in "Hud," "Cool Hand Luke" and "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid."

The 10-time Academy Award nominee died Friday at age 83, surrounded by family and close friends at his Westport farmhouse following a long battle with cancer, publicist Jeff Sanderson said Saturday.

The experts who know about such things say a full fall foliage this year could be iffy, given the three-year-long droughout and the cooler weather lately that has fooled some trees into dropping their leaves ahead of schedule.

Still, there’s hope for a lot of color:

Reports WDBJ:

Chris Thomsen of the Department of Forestry says there is some evidence of stress on the trees, but the nearly four inches from Faye slowed that down.  However, it’s still unclear whether this year’s fall foliage will make a full comeback.

"The moisture may be the critical thing this year, and I’d say right now we’re kinda in limbo as whether it’s going to affect the fall foliage colors severely or not," says Thomsen.