Photos by Douglas Imbrogno. Click photos to enlarge.

Some people dis the shape. But West Virginia is sorely lacking in distinctive architecture and Tamarack is one of  the few belles of the ball anywhere in the Mountain State, design-wise. Commentary and division continues on the op-ed pages surrounding Gov. Joe Manchin’s decision to move the arts and crafts showcase to the state Commerce Department and possibly to farm it out to a private company.

Anything that would diminish the center’s survivability would be a bonehead move. Yes, it has needed subsidies to survive, but there’s absolutely no other place like it in West Virginia. I am certainly biased as I’ve sold a music CD of my own from its racks and have performed on the center’s small, but very nice stage and will again later this year.

But Tamarack’s wide reach and range in showcasing West Virginia’s arts and culture has spurred a flowering of creativity in this state that has often made the difference in artists being able to survive here.  If the Create West Virginia folks are correct -  that the arts pave the way to economic vitality in a digital age in which people can work anywhere and hence a place’s quality of life is all-important - then Tamarack is part of the state’s current and future well-being. Plus, no building looks cooler in the golden light of a winter West Virginia sunset.

Photo by Douglas Imbrogno. Click to enlarge

Nothing could be finer than to be in Carolina… Oh, wait, I mean West Virginia with the sun aflame over the snowy fields of Mercer County in the January dusk.

In the podcast, article and slideshow links below, Budget Tapes and Records’ John Nelson dishes on some of Charleston greatest/most notorious rock concerts.
VIEW “MY WEST VIRGINIA, No. 5: “Still Havin’ Fun” audio slideshow on John Nelson, manager and music buyer at Budget Tapes and Records: (4 min).

……………………..
LISTEN TO MP3 interview featuring “My Rock Concert History of Charleston” by John Nelson (10 minutes). Listen or download mp3 (right click this text and choose ‘Save Link As’ )

…………………….
READ COMPANION ARTICLE on Nelson in the Dec. 21, 2008 Sunday Gazette-Mail (reprinted in the gazz section)

– By Douglas Imbrogno

Photos by Douglas Imbrogno (2008). Click to enlarge.

Empty, gaunt buildings are always a fascination. The many ghosts of a building’s past lives flutter about in the wind-whipped spaces. This old Carbide building in South Charleston has been stripped to the bricks before its upcoming demolition later this month.  Meanwhile, a visitor can get several angles on the building’s last stand in its final days.

Photo by Douglas Imbrogno (2008). Click to enlarge.

A line of lights that line the main road through Snowshoe Resort recede into a far longer line of the West Virginia hills in Pocahontas County. The view from atop Snowshoe Mountain is surely one of the grandest vistas in the state.

Photos by Douglas Imbrogno (2008). Click to enlarge.

The puzzle pieces of the new interstate 64 bridge near Dunbar have not yet been locked together yet. The result, seen at night from below, looks like some deep-sea monster about to gobble the gibbous moon for a snack. And if you think you have a tough job with lots of responsibility, imagine the project manager and crew responsible for: 1) making sure these monstrous pieces of concrete fit together seamlessly once they reach each other; and 2) stand up for decades carrying you and yours — and tens of thousands of other cars and trucks –  across the cold waters of the Kanawha River far below.

Photo by Douglas Imbrogno (2008). Click to enlarge

I was driving home one warm night in December, heading toward Dunbar on Route 25. And the door was open to Lee’s Studio of Dance, the building bedecked for the holidays. All these dancers were pirouhetting and shimmying in the brightly lit interior. Quite surreal. So I quick-snapped a shot out the window.

Photo by Douglas Imbrogno, 2008. Click to enlarge.

I’ve recently begun to gather up volume 2 of a new collection of photos of West Virginia skies. For years, I’d see McDonald’s signs (like this one at the Milton U.S. Route 60 East turn-off to Interstate 64) and not realize that these are not just golden arches but were supposed to be, um… an  ‘M.’ Oh. OK, I was, like 26 years old before I realized this.