Tag: Arts & Culture

'Out of the Furnace' Throws Morgantown Actor into the Spotlight

The new movie Out of The Furnace is making waves in theaters this holiday season for its bleak revenge-laden storyline, but most importantly, for its performances. The movie stars six actors who have either won or been nominated for Academy Awards. Christian Bale, known more recently as Batman, Woody Harrelson, Casey Affleck, Willem Defoe, Forest Whitaker, and Sam Shepard. But there’s another male actor in the film that you probably haven’t heard about, at least until now: Morgantown native Bobby Wolfe.

“I just like to entertain, I don’t care if I’m in front of the camera, if I’m on stage, or whatever. If I can make someone laugh, or just have some fun,” he said.

Wolfe left Morgantown in 1988 to go to Nashville Tennessee. He says he wanted to be the next Hank Williams, but that didn’t quite work out. Instead, he started acting in community theatre, and performed in more than 400 performances of a Christmas show. He was also doing commercials and had a role in a movie called Letters from a Wayward Son, with Harry Connick Junior. But the movie wasn’t released, and Wolfe went to Hollywood.

Wolfe eventually scored a big break in 2007 with a role in two episode of the sitcom My Name is Earl, but the writer’s strike kept it from becoming a recurring one.

He decided to move back home to Morgantown and started working with a local community theater company, which took him to new heights. Wolfe won the award for Best Actor at the Southeastern Theater Conference, a few years ago, for his performance in the play I Am My Own Wife. Then as soon as that show ended, he landed a part in Out of the Furnace.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClzRVlMhU2E

“It was different than what I had seen my first time on television,” said Wolfe.

“When I was watching My Name is Earl, I was really nervous before they came on. But when I was sitting up there at the premiere, I was just sitting back and saying, ‘Yeah this was right. This was right; this is where I was supposed to be have been!'”

The film is out now in theaters and was shot in the Pittsburgh area but also in the northern panhandle. The house where Woody Harrelson’s character lives is actually just a few miles outside of Weirton. Wolfe says the house had a lot of ambiance that made it perfect for the movie.

“They didn’t have to dress it. This was an old house on some guy’s farm property, it was like nine miles east of Weirton. It had newspapers on the floor, it had old furniture, the wall paper was coming off the wall. It looked like a house where someone would set up a meth lab or whatever,” said Wolfe.

“They had a newspaper, from 1963, they had old books, a couple of them were from the 1860s, it was just an abandoned house. But it was a great house. It was out on a perfect hillside out of the way. Scott said they were just driving out along the road one day, looking for places and they just drove up on it.”

Photos: Wednesday Morning on The Slopes of Snowshoe

Here’s a quick peek at what it looked like on the slopes at Snowshoe Mountain Resort Wednesday morning.

Resort officials say the area received five inches of snow overnight Tuesday, which created prime conditions for skiing, snowboarding and snow tubing during the first week of the 2013 Holiday period.

Reconnecting McDowell Board Approves Location for Teacher Village

The Reconnecting McDowell board of directors approved a plan today to purchase property in downtown Welch, W.Va., on which to build much-needed,…

The Reconnecting McDowell board of directors approved a plan today to purchase property in downtown Welch, W.Va., on which to build much-needed, affordable housing for teachers and other professionals.

“This is a huge milestone for a greatly anticipated endeavor intended to help retain teachers in McDowell County and to spark economic development,” said Gayle Manchin, chair of the Reconnecting McDowell board.

Since Manchin and the American Federation of Teachers started the partnership in December 2011, it has grown into a vibrant effort to improve the county’s schools, provide more social and healthcare services, and encourage economic development. Reconnecting McDowell now has 125 partners from government, nonprofit organizations, labor, corporations, the community and the school system engaged in providing sustainable programs and services to improve the quality of residents’ lives. 

Community Housing Partners, the architecture firm that is designing the housing, presented the board with a few options for a Teacher Village in downtown Welch. The board chose to enter into a purchase option on the property of the long-closed Best Furniture and Katzen buildings. The partnership will pursue in the next several weeks whether to renovate the existing buildings or construct a new building. The housing would include approximately 30 apartment-style units, group areas for teachers to collaborate, work out and relax, and community amenities such as a coffee shop on the street level for the general public. The board also agreed to explore the viability of other housing options throughout McDowell County.

“Reconnecting McDowell made new housing a key piece of its plan to revitalize the county. A Teacher Village will attract and retain teachers, provide good jobs and encourage more economic development,” said AFT President Randi Weingarten. “We are helping this proud community reclaim the promise of great schools and access to the services and programs they need to thrive.”

Manchin said the partnership will be working on obtaining financing this winter and expects groundbreaking this spring. Reconnecting McDowell would own the building and hire an outside firm to manage it.

 
 

West Virginian Cites Video Game Experience in Application for Coaching Job

Marshall University graduate and systems integration analyst Chris McComas wants to become the next head coach of the North Dakota Fighting Sioux football…

  Marshall University graduate and systems integration analyst Chris McComas wants to become the next head coach of the North Dakota Fighting Sioux football team. The way he went about applying for the job is genius.

He began his pursuit for the position by emailing Brian Faison, the athletic director of the university. In that email McComas attached a hilarious Powerpoint presentation detailing his coaching philosophy that wasn’t short of brazen confidence.

Sports websites like Deadspin began picking up the story.

McComas even landed an endorsement to become the coach at North Dakota from another popularsports website, SB Nation.

Local media personalities around West Virginia began to rally him on, using the hashtag #chuckthepigskin.

And then media in North Dakota began showing their support.

As did other locals and football enthusiasts.

And then national mainstream media, like ABC World News and CBS Sports, got in on the story.

Thursday morning, McComas was keeping the dream alive, mapping out his go-to Hail Mary.

Even EA Sports, the maker of the Madden and NCAA Football video games, has been getting in on the fun:

Book Lovers of Charleston Celebrate 90 years

In December, 1923, 13 African American women in Charleston met to discuss their love of books.  The club these women formed would continue to thrive for the next 90 years.  The Book Lovers of Charleston is celebrating this weekend with a party.  Membership to the book lovers club is by invitation, but this party is open to the public as the group’s gift to the community.

Yvonne Moore was asked to join the Book Lovers of Charleston 16 years ago.

“Mrs. Ruth Stevenson Norman, who died not too long ago, was the last was the last remaining founder. I met her. She met me not long after I came to Charleston in 1972 so I can honestly say that I knew and visited in her home and had tea with her.  She was an unbelievable educator in this valley.” Yvonne Moore, member of the Book Lovers of Charleston The Book Lovers of Charleston will celebrate its 90th  anniversary with a party at the Women's Club on Virginia Street in Charleston on Sunday afternoon at three o'clock.  The public is welcomed to attend.

Parents of Children with Special Needs Lean on Each Other

Often referred to as, ‘the greatest job in the world’, taking care of a child with special needs can be challenging for parent. Parents of children in Mercer County have formed their own support group. 

Living in rural areas often means living significant distances from medical specialists, and sometimes treatment. For example the best form of treatment for Autism is applied behavioral analysis. While there are limited specialists across the state, there is not a single specialist south of Charleston in West Virginia.

Support groups are no different. There are very few in the region. 

“Unfortunately where we are in a very rural area there’s not a lot of access to support groups like you would see in bigger cities,” Carla Poseno said.

Carla Poseno is the Vice President of the K.I.D.S Project.

“So what we decided to do is make an all-inclusive special needs support group to work in the community,” she said.

While the support group is meant to help parents and caregivers of children with special needs, the group is also to help remind the children that they are kind, important, determined, and strong … which is what the “KIDS” in “K.I.D.S Project” stands for.

“It’s really helped me because my daughter is kind of my full time job,” she said. “Best job on earth but at the same time it can be stressful.”

Poseno knows that raising a child with special needs isn’t always easy.  

“Sometimes it can be hard it can be stressful,” Poseno said. “You have sleepless nights there are days that sometimes you are lucky to get a shower because your child needs so much from you.”

“It’s worth the fight to fight for your kids when they have special needs.”

Children with various diagnoses and disabilities are all welcome and so far parents of children with special needs that range from autism, to spina bifida, to bipolar have attended meetings.

Kristal Jones, coincidentally a McDowell native, is the president of the group.  

“The very first meeting it struck me that this is something that we really need in our area,” Jones said.

The group is also a place for parents and caregivers to share resources and advice. Jones’s daughter has A.D.H.D.

“If you don’t request certain things they may not know that your child needs that additional help on testing per say,” she said.

The group meets every fourth Monday of the month at Princeton Public Library. The next meeting on December 30, however, will be at the Glenwood Green Valley Fire Department. The K.I.D.S project is hosting a holiday party for families with members with special needs.

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