Nourishment For The Heart And Soul; “Far From Sufficient”; Unboxed Freedom; Bookstores Galore; A Good Haul;
RVA 5x5 - ALT 5 - February 26, 2024
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Check out today’s “ALT 5” stories for a nice, leisurely, evening read. Enjoy!
This week check out our five stories on:
A an incredible “sequel” documentary premiering tomorrow night at the Byrd looking at the majesty, mystery, history, and beauty of paddling the James River.
Some quotes about the possible demolition of a historical landmark that stood for decades in the shadow of segregation and may now be razed for…apartments.
A look at the incredible and unlikely story of Henry “Box” Brown who mailed himself to freedom from downtown Richmond to Philadelphia.
A reminder that while Amazon might be able to deliver a book to your porch, Richmond’s great roster of local bookstores offer the personal touch and interaction you won’t get with one click — or a hundred of them.
A big trucking company born in Richmond almost 100 years ago just got a lot bigger a lot faster through savvy business acumen and bold calculations.
THE ALT 5
ALT #1 — OFF THE BEATEN PATH: Nourishment For The Heart And Soul
Nothing says Richmond more than the James River, and tomorrow night (Tue., February 27), the Byrd Theatre will host the premiere of “Headwaters Down: Tidal River,” the sequel to the award-winning environmental documentary, “Headwaters Down” that debuted in November 2021. The screening will start at 7:00pm and be followed by a Q&A with the crew and some of the experts in the film. Tickets are $15 and can be purchased via Eventbrite.
Davy Jones from Style Weekly has a deeper look into what looks to be a visually stunning and also thought-provoking work created by Justin Black, Dietrich Teschner and Will Gemma.
“Tidal River” picks up where the first documentary left off. Originally, the trio (along with two other friends) climbed in a canoe where the James begins, at the confluence of the Cowpasture and Jackson rivers west of Roanoke, and spent almost two weeks floating down to Richmond. In the summer of 2022, they climbed back in and floated down the tidal part of the James River all the way to where it mixes in with the Chesapeake Bay at Fort Monroe in Hampton.
“You slowly see this river become what feels like an ocean,” Teschner told Jones at Style.
The lack of rapids, vast distances between river banks and caution around taking on water combined to impose a deliberate pace. The five friends respond by taking their time when confronted with natural beauty. They drift unhurriedly toward a curious fox, converse with a barred owl and marvel at a colony of great blue herons and the cypress forest they call home.
“We live [nearby] so we take it for granted, but then there’s all these places that are kind of inaccessible unless you’re in a boat or paddling,” Justin Black says. “It felt like we were in a faraway land.”
Will Gemma, the narrative script writer noted that the first film was more about interacting with the river in a personal way and the sequel goes deeper into the history and environmental importance of the James that featured throughout their trip.
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