Speaking, Singing & Painting Your Mind
The artist considered as a truth-seeking missile | WestVirginiaVille.com | may5.2021
1 | Truth-speaking music
The May 2021 issue of WestVirginiaVille.com features lots of folks speaking up, singing out, and asking, if not demanding to be heard. If you’re pressed for time, here’s an overview of the whole issue.
Our COVER STORY features two videos to view in sequence. The first is an interview with Lady D, one of West Virginia's finest singer-songwriters, on the occasion of her new CD, the heat-seeking, truth-speaking "Disturbing My Peace." Below is an interview in which the 61-year-old artist says of this stage in life,: “I feel like I’ll say what I want to say.” The interview features snatches from the the must-see “Disturbing My Peace” music video. Click the story link below to view that next.
READ ON: COVERSTORY: Lady D, In Her Own Unfiltered Words
2 | A Video Gaze
You wouldn't think Twitter would be a place to watch an artist's development. But that would be exactly the case with West Virginia artist Sharon Lyn. Here's a short, but pungent musical video look at some of her striking newest work.
READ ON: ART/WORK: A video gaze at new work by Sharon Lyn
3 | ‘Consuming Blackness’
One of WestVirginiaVille’s missions is to lift up excellent work rooted in the Mountain State found in other publications and social media hangouts. We’re glad to be able to reprint Crystal Good’s “Consuming Blackness in ‘progressive’ West Virginia,” published earlier this month in Scalawag magazine
“White women were laughing and grabbing for bites of sushi off a human body. That imagery doesn't fade. Instead, it continues to enrage me. It stands as both a metaphor and real evidence of oppression and silence."
READ ON: | RE/PRINT: Consuming Blackness in ‘progressive’ West Virginia
4 | Down by the river
Here’s what happened one day out near the Beautiful River in West Virginia, while I was pondering whether my father was correct when he got so angry and cried out: 'People are no damn good!'
READ ON: SHORT/STORY: ‘I can see clearly now’
5 | After shots are fired, questions are raised
On April 30, Charleston Police officers shot a 33-year-old Black man while attempting to make an arrest on Charleston’s West Side. The incident has left many in the community wondering why police, — responding with more than a dozen officers, guns raised — resorted to shooting an obviously disturbed man who had brandished a knife.
READ ON: RE/PRINT: Community Seeks Police Reform After Shooting On Charleston’s West Side
6 | I Dream of Jeannie and Chuck
In the debut of 'ARTIFACTS,' an occasional, fluffy feature showcasing oddball ephemera with a West Virginia connection, we explore the intersections of David Bowie, "I Dream of Jeannie," and Chuck Yeager in the Mountain State.
READ ON: ARTIFACTS: What brought a genie and WV icon together?
7 | Pills on trial
If the first day of a landmark trial in Charleston WV involving the nation’s three largest opioid distributors is any indication, a lot of fingers will be pointed elsewhere by those distributors in the coming weeks.
READ ON: SPOTLIGHT: Who is saying what as the Opioid Trial begins
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Send feedback and suggest stuff to: heythere@westvirginiaville.com. Or leave comments below. If this newsletter was forwarded to you, receive twice-monthly heads-up on stories and multimedia on West Virginia life, news & culture at: westvirginiaville.substack.com. To become a supporter/sponsor, e-mail: heythereATwestvirginia.com. Be well, stay safe. Don’t let your mask down until we get the all clear! | Douglas John Imbrogno, editor | WestVirginiaVille.com