On Friday night, New River Voice Managing Editor Taryn Chase and I traveled to Roanoke’s Kirk Avenue Music Hall to catch an infrequent rock show at the venue. Kirk Ave. has developed quite a reputation for bringing in great acts in the folk, Americana, and bluegrass genres, but Gary Jackson and the gang from Kirk Ave. stayed local for some loud guitars and drums. (more…)

Radford University alumnus Justin Oliver was awarded the Best Documentary award and finished second in the Audience Choice category at this year’s Highlander Film Festival for his short film on mountaintop removal:

You can check out the other entries on the Highlander Film Festival’s YouTube channel.

From noon to 12:30 p.m. on March 18, supporters of the new Gay-Straight Alliance gathered to protest the Attorney General’s move to remove “sexual orientation” from state universities’ non-discrimination policies. Dr. Theresa Burriss led the group in the following chant at five-minute intervals:

“We are Virginians dedicated to protecting the Constitutional Rights of all individuals. We are committed to abolishing any type of discrimination in our Commonwealth and in our Nation.”

Dr. Moira Baker began the group’s singing of “We Shall Not Be Moved” and a call and response. Afterward, Baker informed the group that she would be presenting a strongly worded motion to the Faculty Senate, which would advise the administration to keep the current Equal Opportunity statement inclusive, as it has been since 1986.

The Virginia Paranormal Society (VPS) originated in 2006 amid an intense curiosity in founders Nick Ferra and Ron Thorne.

“I have just always been interested in things that seemingly can’t be explained,” Ferra said. “I wanted to seek out some answers for myself, so Ron and I thought a good way to do that was to form our own investigative organization.” (more…)