The Iceman is special to the Mirror by Michael C. Jordan

As the boy entered the massive icehouse door facing the Cabin Branch tributary of the Chesapeake Bay, the brutally cold air stunned him.  The shock reminded him of how his skin felt last November, when on a dare, he dove into the frigid water of a swimming pool.

As his eyes became accustomed to the poorly lit chamber, he focused on the large cakes of ice stored there.  Each one weighed at least three hundred and sixty pounds; three times his own weight.  The task at hand was dangerous for a grown man, let alone a twelve-year-old boy.  He had seen these massive cakes fall and break into chunks of ice capable of doing great bodily harm.  If one of these whole cakes fell on him, it would kill him or cripple him for life.  He was afraid… but he had something to prove.

He had the equipment he needed:  heavy gloves, ice tongs and an ice pick that was sharp, straight, and true.  He thought of wearing his steel-toed boots, but he knew that if a full cake of ice fell on those boots as he was lowering it to the floor, it could collapse the steel and sever the toes from his feet.  Crushed toes could heal, but severed toes were… well… severed.

Photograph unknown

Earlier that morning he had asked for a pay raise.  He had been working at the icehouse for several months, alongside men who made twenty times his rate of pay.  He felt that if he did the same work as the men, he should receive the same pay.  But his employer did not share his logic.

His employer, who also happened to be his father, shared very little of his son’s logic or few of his opinions on life in general.  When the boy approached him, armed with what he thought to impeccable logic concerning the disparity of the current pay scale, he was rebuffed with an opposing impeccable logic.  To wit, “Son, if you want to be paid like a full-fledge Iceman, you must be able to do all the work required of one”.  He told the boy that when he could lay down a cake of ice and cut it into twelve equal pieces without breakage, then and only then, could he hope to be paid as a full-fledged Iceman.

Not long after their conversation, the boy stood alone in the frosty room, facing the great dangerous masses of frozen water.  He had witnessed the procedure used to lower these heavy monoliths many times, but with varying results.  Sometimes the cake was lowered with ease and grace, if the ice tongs bit sharply and deeply into the top section of the ice before it was lowered, and the Iceman was strong enough to gently place it on the floor.  He had also seen those three-hundred-and-sixty-pound-giants slip from a man’s hands and crash to the floor as the man scrambled to avoid the ice from crushing a part of his body.

The boy blinked. . .then, with the aid of his tongs, he pried one of the cakes loose from the others.  Each of the cakes of ice stood about four feet high, were two and one-half feet wide and ten inches deep.  After securing the tongs to the top edge of the cake and placing his left foot at its base, he pulled.  The cake tilted, its forward edge became a temporary fulcrum balancing its own massive weight for just an instant before the strain of hundreds of pounds of ice were transferred to the boy’s muscles.  He took up the strain of the falling mass and lowered the ice gently and gracefully to the floor with no breakage.  This was followed by the laying down of two other cakes with similar results.  Finally, by multiple thrusts of his ice pick he completed the job of reducing the three cakes of ice into separate piles of twelve equal pieces.  He had met, and then exceeded, his father’s challenge.

He attempted to a second time that day to secure an increase in pay.  But again, he was refused based on his inability to perform all the duties required of an Iceman.  At that point in the conversation, he led his employer to not one, but three successfully lowered and dissected cakes of ice, whereupon he was granted a pay raise.  Not equal to the men, but a raise tripling the amount of is current salary.  No longer would he receive one dollar per eight-hour workday; he would now receive three, in recognition of his ability to execute gently and gracefully the duties of a full-fledged Iceman.

Note:  The boy in this story is, of course, me growing up in Baltimore.  It is an account of my psychological passage to manhood.  Additionally, my paternal grandfather was witness to this vignette, and only chuckled in delight at my achievement!

On May 11 thru 13, Arts Enter and the Palace Theatre will present the musical Don’t Stop Believen’. The Ethel Lampert Community Center has seen better days and may soon see its final days unless the teens, volunteers, and staff find a way to save it. Some sleazy town council members want to bulldoze the place to redevelop and commercialize the neighborhood and bring them gobs of sales tax revenue, but that’s not stopping the teens who frequent the community center. From basketball players to computer nerds to artists, these down-on-their-luck kids have no place else to go, and losing the center would mean losing their home away from home. When they hear of a new television reality contest for glee clubs, they decide to form their own and try out. If they win the top prize, they’ll earn enough money to keep the center open.

Also at the Palace,  a screening of the Aviva Kempner documentary “Rosenwald: The Remarkable Story of a Jewish Partnership with African American Communities” at the historic Palace Theatre on Saturday, May 12th at 1pm. DVDs of the documentary will be available for purchase.

The Rosenwald taken circa 1928-29, while the school was under construction. The Cape Charles Elementary Rosenwald School was built for the education of our community’s African American children during legal segregation, and still stands today. It, along with Rosenwald Fund schools throughout the Commonwealth, has been on Preservation Virginia’s list of most endangered historical sites since 2013

The Orchestra of the Eastern Shore, under the direction of Dr. Paul Kim, will perform George F. Handel’s Water Music and Johann Strauss’ On the Beautiful Blue Danube for the spring concert.

The first performance will take place Friday May 4th at 7:30pm at Cokesbury Church in Onancock. A second performance will take place on Sunday May 6th at Hungars Episcopal Church in Bridgetown at 4:00 pm.

There is no cost for admission however donations are welcome.

Taschen Publishing has released a book of photography by Dennis Hopper (1936-2010) the acclaimed artist, actor, screenwriter, and director who first impressed audiences with his performances in Rebel Without A Cause (1955) and Giant (1956). He changed the face of American cinema with Easy Rider (1969), which he co-wrote, directed, and starred in. Hopper went on to act in hundreds of memorable films and television shows, including Apocalypse Now (1979), Blue Velvet (1986), Hoosiers (1986), True Romance (1993), Basquiat (1997), Elegy (2008), and the TV series Crash (2008).

During the 1960s, Dennis Hopper carried a camera everywhere—on film sets and locations, at parties, in diners, bars and galleries, driving on freeways and walking on political marches. He photographed movie idols, pop stars, writers, artists, girlfriends, and complete strangers. Along the way he captured some of the most intriguing moments of his generation with a keen and intuitive eye. A reluctant icon at the epicenter of that decade’s cultural upheaval, Hopper documented the likes of Tina Turner in the studio, Andy Warhol at his first West Coast show, Paul Newman on set, and Martin Luther King during the Civil Rights March from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama.

From a selection of photographs compiled by Hopper and gallerist Tony Shafrazi—more than a third of them previously unpublished—this extensive volume distills the essence of Hopper’s brilliantly prodigious photographic career. Also included are introductory essays by Tony Shafrazi and legendary West Coast art pioneer Walter Hopps, and an extensive biography by journalist Jessica Hundley. With excerpts from Victor Bockris’s interviews of Hopper’s famous subjects, friends, and family, this volume is an unprecedented exploration of the life and mind of one of America’s most fascinating personalities.

The book is now available in a standard edition.

The Tiny Desk Contest began in 2014, and according to NPR, they did it for one simple reason:  discovering new music. And since then, this contest has done just that.

Scott & Melinda perform “Bittersweet” (Youtube photo)

Three previous winners, Fantastic Negrito, Gaelynn Lea and Tank and the Bangas have gone on find success. Fantastic Negrito won a Grammy; Gaelynn Lea went on to play at renowned venues like the Kennedy Center; and Tank and the Bangas toured internationally and even headlined NPR Music’s 10-year anniversary party.

Our own local stars Scott and Melinda have taken up the challenge and entered the 2018 contest with a brilliant new song entitled “Bittersweet”.

Here’s the video:

The culinary arts are becoming a major driver for the Cape Charles economy. Modern Culinary Arts students study many different aspects of food. Specific areas of study include butchery, chemistry and thermodynamics, visual presentation, food safety, human nutrition and physiology, international history, the manufacture of food items (such as the milling of wheat into flour or the refining of cane plants into crystalline sucrose), and many others. For those hoping to help take Cape Charles cuisine to the next level, state of the art training will be available through Tidewater Community college just across the bay in downtown Norfolk.

TCC to Take Over Greyhound Station and Glass Wheel in the NEON
March 9, 2018 By City of Norfolk

Mayor Kenneth Cooper Alexander announced today at his annual State of the City address an innovative new partnership with Tidewater Community College that will transform Norfolk’s NEON District by providing increased educational and economic opportunities for the community and all of Hampton Roads.

Release via the City of Norfolk and TCC.

The City of Norfolk is donating to the TCC Real Estate Foundation the site of the Greyhound bus station at the corner of Brambleton and Monticello avenues to make way for a dynamic cultural and academic building in the heart of the NEON District.

The 47,000-square-foot Patricia & Douglas Perry TCC Center for Visual & Culinary Arts and Hospitality Management will be a jewel, he said.

“This is an incredible opportunity to build on the vibrancy and opportunity that is being created in the NEON District,” said Mayor Alexander. “We are extremely grateful for the support of the Perry family, and their ongoing efforts to make Norfolk a destination for the arts and culture.”

The project, with an anticipated completion date of summer 2020, will be funded entirely by private donations raised through Go Further! TCC’s Campaign for a Competitive Workforce. Norfolk’s Patricia and Douglas Perry are the lead donors in the initiative.

The Perrys were early patrons of the NEON District. They created the Glass Wheel Studio on Olney Road and supported the Hurrah Players’ move to their new headquarters on West Wilson Avenue in 2017.

As part of the TCC project, they have agreed to donate the Glass Wheel Studio to the college, which will house its renowned glass-blowing program, newly developed glass fusing program, ceramics, sculpture and public exhibition spaces there. The TCC Pat and Doug Perry Glass Wheel Arts Center @ NEON could open as soon as summer 2019.

The collaboration among the city, the Patricia and Douglas Perry Foundation and the college is “a transformative moment for TCC and Norfolk,” said college President Edna V. Baehre-Kolovani. It will further energize the NEON District and nearby St. Paul’s area by:

Expanding TCC’s one-of-a-kind visual arts education program
Training the next generation of chefs with a comprehensive culinary arts program
Creating opportunities for collaboration between culinary and visual arts programs
Providing, among five culinary program kitchens, a test kitchen open to the community and prospective entrepreneurs
Inaugurating a program in hospitality and restaurant management
Providing dual-enrollment opportunities for Norfolk high school students and workforce education to residents
Creating a vibrant and inviting dining and arts experience for students, residents and visitors
“TCC, the Perrys and the City of Norfolk share more than a vision for the arts,” said President Kolovani. “As wonderful as this new building will be, this is a venture that relies on community engagement and collaborative partnerships that are all integral to the effort to revitalize the NEON District.

“Nothing we have talked about today would be possible without the generous support of the Perrys.”

TCC has long sought a new home in which to expand its culinary arts program, the only nationally accredited one at a public institution in Hampton Roads. Currently located in the Stanley Walker Technology Building at 350 Granby St., the program currently has 224 students.

This is a rendering of what the “Patricia and Douglas Perry TCC Center for Visual & Culinary Arts and Hospitality Management” may look like. The center will sit on the site of the Greyhound Bus Station, currently located at the corner of Granby and Brambleton in Downtown Norfolk (Courtesy of the City of Norfolk)

Governor Ralph Northam announced today that ESO Arts Center in Belle Haven, Virginia received $1255 from the Virginia Tourism Corporation Marketing Leverage Program grant fund. In total VTC awarded more than $840,000 for 56 tourism marketing projects across the state to help increase visitation and revenue for Virginia’s localities through tourism.

The grants are designed to help local and regional tourism entities attract more visitors by leveraging local marketing dollars, and will ultimately impact at least 232 other statewide tourism entities. The local organizations match the state grant funds by a minimum of 2:1 in order to support marketing projects. This funding cycle, the local partners will match the VTC grant dollars with more than $3.1 million, providing more than $3.9 million in new marketing to increase visitation to Virginia.

ESO Arts Center received a $1255 grant for its Craft Beer & Music Festival- weekend in Exmore, VA. ESO Arts Center partnered with The Town of Exmore and new restaurant Rancho Relaxo to supply $1255 in matching funds for the 6th Annual Craft Beer & Music Festival hosted by ESO Arts Center with the goal of extending the festival fundraiser into a weekend of exploring downtown Exmore, enjoying new restaurant Rancho Relaxo and experiencing all that Northampton and Accomack Counties have to offer.

The VTC Marketing Leverage Program is designed to stimulate new tourism marketing through partnerships by leveraging limited marketing dollars, resulting in increased visitor spending. A minimum of three entities must partner financially to apply and may consist of Virginia towns, cities, counties, convention and visitors bureaus, chambers of commerce, other local or regional destination marketing organizations, private businesses, museums, attractions, cultural events, and other tourism-related entities.

Research shows that every VTC dollar invested in grants resulted in $16 of direct visitor spending. Marketing campaigns that received Marketing Leverage Grants increased visitation by 15%.
“Virginia’s tourism industry is a key pillar of our economy and growing it is a great way to create new jobs and opportunity in every corner of the Commonwealth,” said Governor Northam. “These grants help communities across the Commonwealth discover new ways to market themselves to travelers by creating new tourism products and enhancing existing attractions and destinations. These efforts improve the visitor experience, making it easy for travelers to discover why Virginia is for Lovers.”

“The Marketing Leverage Program grants continue to provide critical funding for our tourism businesses across the state, and demonstrate the power of public-private partnerships,” said Esther Lee, Secretary of Commerce & Trade. “These dollars are injected into local economies across the Commonwealth, helping to create vibrant communities and premier destinations that attract travelers from all over the world. These efforts help to ensure that Virginia remains the best state in the nation not only to visit, but to live, work, and raise a family.”
Tourism is an instant revenue generator for Virginia. In 2016, tourism generated $24 billion in revenue, supported nearly 230,000 jobs and provided $1.7 billion in state and local taxes. Dollars invested in tourism are proven to provide a 7:1 return in tax revenue for Virginia, and the grant awards and matching funds provide a stimulus to localities seeking to increase tourism visitation and revenue.