Some fans of the stage are already feeling the loss of one of the state's largest theaters. With the loss of Theatre West Virginia, state theater buffs…
Some fans of the stage are already feeling the loss of one of the state’s largest theaters.
With the loss of Theatre West Virginia, state theater buffs are already feeling the pain. A former employee says he’s going to miss what it brought to Southern West Virginia.
Jim Stacy is a Morgantown lawyer, and Beckley native, who spent several years going to shows at Theatre West Virginia.
He even worked on its house staff for a short time. He says upon hearing the news the program is closing its doors, one emotion immediately came to mind.
“It genuinely made me sad. Living there, being a kid who started loving theater early, that was the first place I saw there. It was a very special place to see theater, because of the setting. That beautiful outdoor backdrop. To see that end, takes a little piece of me away, I think,” he said.
Stacy says it brought a great deal to not only fans of theater, but to all southern West Virginians.
“We have to be able to think about what’s going to be able to boost the culture of a state, of the region, of the nation, it’s the arts that always do that,” said David Beach, an English professor at West Virginia University and a director at M.T. Pockets Theatre in Morgantown. It’s a community theater company.
Theatre West Virginia flourished in the Beckley area for more than 50 years.
Irene McKinney, poet, editor, and teacher, published seven collections of poetry, six during her lifetime including Vivid Companion and Six O’Clock Mine Report, and the most recent, published posthumously, Have You Had Enough Darkness Yet? The recipient of numerous awards, she served as WV’s Poet Laureate from 1994 until her death early last year. During the final years of her life she founded and directed the Low-Residency MFA Program at West Virginia Wesleyan College, where she was Professor Emerita. Her life and works were celebrated this weekend at an event in Charleston.
Speakers for the program include Maggie Anderson, Jessie van Eerden, and Marc Harshman. West Virginia Public Broadcasting’s John Nakashima provided a montage of radio and video clips from some of Irene’s most memorable interviews and readings. Music was provided by Kate Long and Doug Van Gundy.
The audio postcard ends with a recording of the late Irene McKinney reading her title poem from her final book of poetry that was published this year, “Have You Had Enough Darkness Yet?”
A West Virginia native is finding success as a game show historian. Adam Nedeff grew up in Vienna and graduated from Marshall University in 2005. His first book has just been published. It’s called “Quizmaster: The Life and Times and Fun and Games of Bill Cullen.” Cullen was a popular game show host, first on radio beginning in the 1940’s and ending his career on television in the 1980’s.
Here’s Bill Cullen hosting the comedy quiz show “Walk a Mile” in 1952. A contestant named Greta is trying to explain how to make couscous.
0916GameShowBITE.mp3
Bill Cullen jokes with a contestant on the radio show "Walk A Mile" in 1952.
West Virginia, its culture and people are in a state of superposition, says writer poet and Kanawha Valley native Crystal Good.
Charged by her Affrilachian poet peers to combine her thoughts and observations of West Virginia with principles of Quantum Physics, Good delivered a lecture at a TedxTalks event in Lewisburg in July.
In an attempt to understand the state’s people, culture and history (and future), Good examines our complex nature:
"West Virginia, for example, is the Southern-most Northern-est and the Northern-most Southern-est state in the Eastern Time Zone. West Virginia isn't really even west of Virginia but kind of up and over. West Virginia was both Union and Confederate in the Civil War. Today, West Virginia is a democratic state that votes Republican. And West Virginia is a state sitting at the crossroads, teaming with billboards that read 'Coal Keeps the Lights On', yet we're one of the poorest states in the nation."
It’s through those dichotomies and the example of Schrödinger’s Cat, where Good argues that West Virginia can be viewed through the lens of Quantum Physics.
You can listen to Good’s interview with West Virginia Public Radio Broadcasting at the top of the page or stream a video of her TEDxTalk here:
Photographs depicting life in West Virginia and other parts of Appalachia have long been the subject of controversy. One documentary photographer with roots in the state’s southern coal fields is seeking to change that through his work but also has motives far more personal.
“The pictures have this visual context of Appalachia, or at least the mountains. Even if you don’t even know what Appalachia is, you can see this rural, country, mountain way of life,” said documentary photographer Roger May as he spoke about his project Testify.
He affectionately refers to the project as a “visual love letter to Appalachia.”
Credit Roger May
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“What you can’t see but you need some sort of back story is my looking for something to sort of hold onto from my childhood and something to sort of carry with me and identify these things that are often not exactly how we remember them,” he said.
Born across the river in Pike County, Kentucky and raised in Chattaroy in Mingo County, May has lived in Raleigh, North Carolina since the late ‘80s. He recalled his formative years in the southern West Virginia coal fields and his mother’s reasons for relocating the family to North Carolina.
“I was becoming more aware that we were poor and we were on welfare. And my mom, as a single mom of two boys, she didn’t want our only option to be to work in the coal mines. She felt like if we stayed, and if I stayed through high school, that’s pretty much what was going to happen,” said May.
Although he’s returned to the area often to visit family, just over six years ago May began what he calls “making photographs” of the people and the area he still calls home.
Credit Roger May
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“I try to be very deliberate when I say ‘I’m making pictures’ or ‘making photographs’ rather than ‘taking’ because, that one letter, so much hinges on that. These people have been taken—they’ve had enough taken from them already—I don’t want to be another taker in a long line of takers,” he said.
Initially compiling a body of work that protested mountaintop mining, May’s focus eventually turned into a reflection on his childhood and upbringing in the Tug Fork Valley.
The photographs from Testify document the spectrum of scenery in the state’s southern coalfields, from landscapes of the mountains to mining facilities—even the people May calls his own.
At its core, Testify, serves to champion the place where May is from, but also attempts to reconcile his memories of growing up with the reality of life in the area.
Credit Roger May
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“This project has just been a creative process to kind of work that out. I say ‘memory versus reality’ and memory is a real thing and reality is a real thing. Those don’t always line up. Somewhere in the middle is probably a more accurate reflection of what actually happened,” he said.
May’s limited edition collection of photos will be published by Horse & Buggy Press. It is scheduled for release in September and was entirely funded by a Kickstarter campaign he launched earlier this year.
Eight years ago three friends at Shepherd University started a band. The Demon Beat’s popularity grew from the restaurants and pubs around Shepherdstown to audiences across the state and region. The band just made a run around the state before taking a hiatus.
“Personally whenever I hear terms like ‘this is a garage rock band’ or ‘a back to basics raw sound’, those are just really tired phrases when you hear people talk about that,” said Morgantown musician and close friend of the band, Billy Matheny.
“When you listen to The Demon Beat and when you see them live, in both cases, I think it’s everything a rock experience should be. It is raw and it is immediate. More than anything, it’s fun to listen to. That’s kind of everything you want out of that experience,” he added.
Being so incredibly loud and raw musically speaking, it seems ironic the three members of The Demon Beat are so quiet and unassuming about making a last run of shows around the state.
But the band, formed in Shepherdstown in 2005 and currently living in Martinsburg, did just that at the end of this past week, performing at 123 Pleasant Street in Morgantown on Thursday, the Boulevard Tavern in Charleston on Friday, and Huntington’s V Club on Saturday. None of the appearances were advertised as final shows, though.
Matheny, whose own band The Frustrations played the show in Morgantown with The Demon Beat, comments on the band’s humble approach to hanging things up.
“This is a situation where most bands, like 90 percent of them would be, ‘Alright, I’m going to cash this in. We’ve got three big shows, last time to see us.’ Basically like kind of turning it into a cash cow thing and doing what KISS would do, or something like that. The big farewell tour. They’re cooler than that,” said Matheny.
The reason for the indefinite hiatus of one of the state’s most beloved rock outfits? Guitarist and vocalist Adam Meisterhans is headed to Nashville at the end of May to pursue other musical endeavors. While excited about the future, he admits stepping back is difficult.
“It’s hard not to do it. But, at the same time, I get more excited about what’s going to happen next than bummed out. Because it’s not like any of us are dying. We’ll still hang out and still talk a lot,” said Meisterhans.
Since its inception, The Demon Beat has toured and recorded relentlessly, garnering not only a following in their home state but throughout the region. But everywhere they went, they were quick to point out they were from West Virginia. Meisterhans notes the band’s sense of pride about West Virginia was met with stereotypical ignorance.
“Basically, we would hear the same question every night. People basically ask us about Jesco White, or Wrong Turn, or if we live near Roanoke,” he said with a laugh.
Aside from some sort of geographical or cultural chip on the shoulder, Bassist Tucker Riggleman says being from West Virginia instills a do-it-yourself ethic.
“I think it made us kind of have to learn how to do a lot more on our own, being from West Virginia. It’s not like it is New York or somewhere where you can play a million different places. You kind of have to get your butt in gear and figure out how to go travel and play other places and make connections and figure out how to record your own stuff and how to push it and make your own merch,” said Riggleman.
“There’s nobody to do it for you around here like there might be more opportunities in different places for that. I think you get a sense of pride from that,” he added.
Drummer Jordan Hudkins jokingly comments on the role each played in the success of the band.
“Tucker decided to try his hand at booking and, lo and behold, he’s really good at it. He’s awesome at it. It’s hard to do; it’s really hard to do. Adam started writing songs and, lo and behold he’s really good at it. Turns out I’m really good at buying a minivan,” said Hudkins.
Credit The Demon Beat / Funny / Not Funny Records
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Funny / Not Funny Records
Yet Hudkins is merely being modest, as his skills in visual art are responsible for the artwork on the band’s albums.
Meisterhans says virtually every facet of the band was a matter of trial and error.
“As we kept going, we kept wanting to do more stuff and then we had to figure out how to do that other stuff, whether it was making a record or booking a tour. We didn’t know anything about it, so we just tried to do it. Then, when we tried to do it and messed it up, we thought about what we did wrong and tried to do it again.”
Hudkins echoed those sentiments with a less serious tone.
“It’s like a recipe for a meatloaf or a casserole. You have all the ingredients there and you think you know what it is but, then you accidentally spill something into it or you don’t cook it right and it comes out and it tastes awful. But, it’s yours,” he explained.
As Hudkins’ comments might indicate, the band’s sense of humor is also worth noting. On their latest record, Less is Less, he Photoshopped all of the band member’s faces together for the album cover.
Titles of songs from the record mimic pop music hits, like Michael Jackson’s “Off The Wall”, Pink Floyd’s “The Wall”, and Oasis’ “Wonderwall”. There’s even a song called “Teenage Wasteland,” an obvious play on the often mislabeled Who song “Baba O’Reilly.”
While all three admit it’s difficult to hang things up for now, Meisterhans isn’t the only one with musical ambitions.
Hudkins has recently been switching focus to his project Rozwell Kid, which released an album in February. And Riggleman has been building up his own collection of songs with Bishops.
But even still, The Demon Beat is a band that will surely be missed. Dave Lavender, arts and entertainment writer for the Herald-Dispatch in Huntington, said the band’s prowess in the live setting left an indelible mark on the local scene.
“I think that The Demon Beat—I don’t think they ever kind of over thought their music. They always thought that it should punch you in the gut and bowl you over. Any time I saw them they just blew the roof off the joint, even if that joint was an open sky,” said Lavender.
The band plans to play a handful of one-off shows in the region before Meisterhans heads to Nashville.
