text:
Last year I was lucky enough to finish work on Mondays early enough to be able to go to quite a few live concerts.
Unfortunately most touring acts do their concerts on weekdays and start and finish early, and this year all my lessons finish late in the evenings.
It's been a while since Aerosmith came to Japan last (2002), and they're one of the classic rock bands I'd been wanting to check out. I thought it'd only be worthwhile if I could get an arena ticket for Tokyo Dome.
I was almost prepared to spend double the face value for a B area ticket, but luckily I found one that was cheaper than the selling price and still a reasonable D section one.
So how was it?
Although my seat wasn't the closest in the house, I was pleased where I was positioned, a little off centre on the right-hand side. I mirthed when I saw the advertising for the language school I work at high above in the stands.
The show was polished, and judging by the setlists online they don't change their presentation too often.
For a band being around this long I guess it's hard to please everyone. My favourite songs are the ones from Pump and Permanent Vacation. I liked the harmonies of "Love In An Elevator" and "Janie's Got A Gun".
I kinda wished they played "Rag Doll" and "Dude Looks Like A Lady" or "Pink".
The mix was sometimes lost, losing some of the punch in the choruses, but I guess that was probably due to the less than ideal acoustics of Tokyo Dome. Still I got into "Jaded", "Cryin'" and "Sweet Emotion". Like usual, I listened to a mixtape of Aerosmith to be psyched up for the concert.
I think there was a lull in the performance when they went on a prolonged blues trip, and sometimes the songs went longer overstaying their welcome. And drum solo? While the drummer is a fine player my eyes and ears glaze over when there's this 80's self indulgence.
The crowd revived itself when "I Don't Want To Miss A Thing" was played. I get the feeling the band doesn't really like to play this one. Among their other songs it feels almost completely out of place.
Having said that, I had a fun time, and was happy enough to endure the crazy merchandise stand line to get myself a t-shirt.
Everyone should have an Aerosmith T.
Wednesday, 30 November 2011
Aerosmith In Tokyo
Last year I was lucky enough to finish work on Mondays early enough to be able to go to quite a few live concerts.
Posted by Jimmy In Japan at 11:01 pm 0 comments
Sunday, 27 November 2011
Mt Mitake Take Two
We came here last year a little earlier in November.
Although there wasn't as many colourful leaves from what I vaguely remember last time, it was a pleasant walk through the wilderness. This time we caught the cable car both up and down to maximize our walking time.
In doing so we covered a much wider area over six hours. By the end my calf muscles would be aching for another day or two.
Well worth a day trip out this way if you like hiking.
Posted by Jimmy In Japan at 10:45 pm 0 comments
Sunday, 20 November 2011
Yoyogi Park Sunday
Usually if I go here, it's usually a Thursday. It was too late to go to the mountains, so the next best thing was Yoyogi Park.
It's been a while since I came here so I was surprised to see how many people were here. Especially so as it's getting colder and colder these days. We walked around the back end of the park to find a dog running fenced-off area.
We watched as the dogs were chasing each other, barking, and sniffing their asses. Dogs being dogs. One black dog was adamant to mount a girl dog which was quite fun to watch the owner prying him off.
Going out an alternative exit we made our way towards Shinjuku. Along the way we ran into an 88 yen shop. This place was quite cool. Not only did they have 88 yen stuffs, but also a lot of secondhand gear like um.. music gear.
I've been wanting for a while now to see Aerosmith live in concert, but getting a desirable Arena ticket was nigh on impossible without paying an exorbitant markup.
As luck would have it, I managed to score one at a bit of a discount as well!
To "celebrate" we had some sushi. Good way to end a Sunday, ne?
Posted by Jimmy In Japan at 10:32 pm 0 comments
Sunday, 13 November 2011
St Mary's Cathedral and Seoul Market
She wanted to go hiking, to see the Autumn leaves around Mt Mitake, but.. as usual I was drinking the night before and I didn't get up early enough to make it worthwhile to do a pleasant hike among the browns and yellows.
So.. What to do eh?
At the Metabolism exhibition I was wondering which of these places would be cool, (and not too far away) to go check out.
One such place was St Mary's Cathedral in Waseda. It just so happens that it wasn't too far away from where we live, so getting there wasn't going to take too long.
The church was designed by Kenzo Tange. What makes this church particularly different is that the walls ARE the ceilings and the whole building is shaped like a cross. With the silvery shine of the roof, it looked a bit Guggenheim to me too.
Inside the place was very peaceful. It was calming and relaxing. I wanted to stay longer. Although there were signs not to take photos, I snuck one in. I hope God didn't see that one. I'll have to do a few Hail Marys I suppose.
I wanted to go to Shin-Okubo to get a few Korean things. Along the way we came across a Korean market selling good luck ornaments and yummy food. I got a cheap ¥120 cheese-filled cake. Yummy indeed.
Shin-okubo is SO busy on Sundays. We went to the main Korean supermarket. I was looking for sauces to do my own yakinuku, but somehow I ended up with Topokki spicy korean snacks, and drinking vinegar.
For some reason drinking vinegar seems to be the next big thing. With popularity with Korean girl's groups, their image on the bottle helps to sell the overpriced bottles.
I bought some. Not the ones with the girl's faces on it. The cheapest one ;) The pomegranite flavour tastes pretty good and it's supposed to be healthy too.
I saw another guitar I liked and tried it. Got to be strong.. Or a least sell one of my other ones.
Posted by Jimmy In Japan at 11:59 pm 0 comments
Saturday, 12 November 2011
Cheese Day
I've done Cheese Day twice before in the past.
This year was QUITE different. Last time I came on a Thursday, but this year, Thursday was invite only, of which I didn't have :(
As soon as I got there on Saturday, I noticed a line! While it didn't take THAT long to get in, it was a sign of things to come.
This year they decided to make it more orderly. In other words more "Japanese". I mentioned before how people were like animals getting the cheese when it came out in past years.
This time it was queue time, and I panicked at the length of the lines, that I used all my tickets in the first round that I went in. Initially I was disappointed that they used this system, but later it made sense.
I watched a talk I didn't understand in order to get more samples, and even snuck back out and in to get more tickets. I went back AGAIN, but this 3rd time I just asked. I played dumb gaijin so it wasn't too difficult.
In the end I bought some Dutch smoked cheese and American Pepperjack. It's been a while since I finished the Swiss cheese I bought in America, so this was a welcome return to that sweet cheese taste.
Posted by Jimmy In Japan at 11:59 pm 0 comments
Thursday, 10 November 2011
Number 5 Is Alive
If there was a Jeopardy game show question about a word that comes into your head when you think of Japan or Tokyo, I'm sure one of the top answers would be "robots".
And so it is, when the International Robot Exhibition rolls into town, you better have a good excuse not to go, right? I first saw a poster with a gorilla with it's robot equivalent, when we were in Yokohama for the Music Fair last week, and decided then and there that I had to go.
I was ably informed that it would run from today till Saturday only, so I had little choice but to go today. This year it's being held at Big Sight, a suitably futuristic venue if there ever was one.
It's open from 10-5 every day. I didn't leave my apartment till around 1ish so I had to rule out my usual Rainbow Bridge walk, instead catching my trains to link up with the nearby Rinkai line.
As soon as I walked in, I was surrounded by salarymen in suits. I was tragically underdressed, but revelled in my individualism.
I was quite disappointed at first to see the "robots" were merely mechanical arms performing menial tasks. In the most cases quite yawn inducing. There were few booth babes, but even if there were it would've felt truly perverted to ask any of the girls for a photo.
The first exhibit to catch my interest was an air driving demonstration. It used the wii concept without a controller like kinect. Myself, and all the other geek boys wanted to have a go, but I didn't bother to wait.
After all the industrial machinery I finally found what I had been looking for.. *real* robots!
They were cute, voice responsive, and in some cases freakingly life life. A few gave me the flashback from "Short Circuit". I can't watch that movie again. It'd totally destroy my childhood memory.
I took a long time to see everything. Even once they played the closing song ("Auld Lang Syne *natch*) a lot of people were still milling around the exhibits.
Before I went back I decided to look around Venus Fort. I vaugely remembered the Lego shop, and decided to get a ¥500 Buzz Lightyear keyring.
Yeah they had cool Darth Vader, Jack Sparrow, Spongebob, and Indiana Jones that I also wanted, but being a "robot day" Buzz seemed the right choice for this occasion.
Posted by Jimmy In Japan at 9:05 pm 0 comments
Wednesday, 9 November 2011
Running With Scissors
It's been over two years since I got my hair cut, and recently there's been some pretty big changes in my life. So..
They say a change is as good as a holiday, but I want a f*ing holiday!
I did it myself. I tied my hair back and proceding to
cut, hack away. It was much harder than I expected. My hair was so thick it was literally like slashing my way through a forest.
Maybe it was not the best time to cut it seeing as we're heading towards Winter here, but I really needed to do this. I needed to react against what is happening around me, and it's an act of regeneration.
I kinda needed a new me.
And I had way too much hair.
Posted by Jimmy In Japan at 8:47 pm 0 comments
Thursday, 3 November 2011
Yokohama Music Fair 2011
I had an almost all-nighter last night. Against my better judgement, I thought I'd do something different and go with some co-workers to small bars in Dogenzaka and Shinjuku.
Preceding a public holiday you'd expect them to be a little better patronised. Both places we went to were quite sparse in people, but made up for it in exorbitant beer prices. The loud Belgians in the Shinjuku bar convinced me NEVER to do this again. I got shortchanged on my beer too which didn't make me happy either.
We DID make a deviation beforehand at my favourite English bar in Shibuya, so not all bad. I got home around the 430am mark.
I woke up slightly later than my usual at 1030am to the sound of right wing extremists blaring their propaganda from their vans. I wanted to go to the biannual Yokohama Music Fair at Pacifico in Minato Mirai. I've been good and haven't bought any more guitars (for now). But not so good for other musical things.
By the time I could drag myself out of bed and make my way, we'd arrive there a little bit after 2pm. Because I was going to a music exhibition I thought I'd do the rockstar thing and wear my hair out which I rarely do. Always worth repeating a bit of the Halloween scares I did last week!
Like last time ESP had the most impressive guitar display with weird shapes and colours. Fender also had an interesting stand with some very nice flower-cloth covered telecasters inspired by the paisley Fenders, or Flower pattern JEMs. It's surprising I've never seen Ibanez at these events. I REALLY liked the black one, so I tried it out.
I also tried the Moog guitar. I expected it to be a better version of my Sustainiac-equipped Steinberger, but it was overly complicated, and for the money I like what my guitar does more than this did. Good. A guitar I can cross off my "want" list.
While most of the gear I could easily have tried already in a music shop, it was nice to try them here without the added pressure to buy. I saw the new Boss RC-300 loop station. I didn't get to try it, because a Japanese guy was hogging it for a long time. Korg has a few interesting new virtual analog toys.
I haven't touched the guitars I already have for a while now, but this Fair has encouraged me to get off my ass (for a while at least). After we left Pacifico we walked in the dark into the adjacent Rinko Park.
It's funny that I've never been here before. By night it looked quite nice. My camera is with Panasonic to clean a bit of dust behind the glass in the EVF that was bothering me, before my warranty was up. They say that's going to take 3 weeks!
Sometime after I get it back I'll come back here during the day to take some photos. The Music Fair is on till Sunday. It's not just guitars, so anyone musically inclined should take the opportunity to check it out.
Posted by Jimmy In Japan at 11:39 pm 0 comments


text:
This an an archived version of the documentation for SonarQube version 4.3 and below.
See https://docs.sonarqube.org/display/SONAR/Documentation for current functionality
The web interface has been designed to help you quickly find what you are looking for.
It can be displayed in various languages.
Interface Layout
The web interface is divided in three areas:
Top Bar
Wherever you are, you can access the top bar:
- Dashboards to go back to the Home page
- Projects to access the complete list of Projects, Views, Developers, etc. or to access previously browsed projects:
- Measures to access the Measures service
- Issues to access the Issues service
- Quality Profiles to browse and manage quality profiles
- Settings to access the system settings (access restricted to System administrators)
- Log in / <Name> to log in. Depending on your user rights, you will have access to different dashboards and services. Logging in also allows you to have access to your own customized web interface. From there, you can modify your profile and log out.
- Search for a component: project, file, view, developer, etc. to quickly access it. Press 's' to quickly access the search box.
- Keep track of where you are thanks to the breadcrumb trail. This breadcrumb trail is clickable, so you can quickly reach an upper level dashboard.
- <Star> to flag the current project as favorite
- Configuration to access the current project's configuration pages
Left Menu
The left menu is a contextual menu that depends on the area you are in and on your user rights. It provides access to different dashboards and services.
Data Display
The main kinds of page:
- Dashboard:
- Global dashboards display high level (instance level) data
- Project dashboards display project data
- Component viewer displays detailed data on component
- Tools and services: issues drilldown, measure service, etc.
- Configuration pages:
- System configuration for the system administrators to administer the SonarQube instance
- Project configuration for the project administrators to configure their project settings (setting analysis properties, creating action plans, etc.)
Drilling Down
The motto is that you will need three clicks maximum to go from a quality indicator to a corrective action in the source code.
Example #1: Issues Drilldown
Example #2: Duplication Drilldown
Quickly Accessing your Favorites
The web interface provides the ability to flag components as favorite. You can then quickly access your favorites by displaying them on dashboards through filters.
The web interface is displayed in the preferred language that you set in your browser settings.
If it is not, just ask your administrator to add the corresponding language pack. Have a look at the available bundles.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Magnetic Super-Paper Can Shrug Off Water and Bacteria [Science]
Source: http://gizmodo.com/5902300/magnetic-super+paper-can-shrug-off-water-and-bacteria
Without changing its physical or functional properties, researchers at Italy's Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia have created the superhero of papers that's waterproof, antibacterial, and magnetic. Which will completely revolutionize how your kids can stick their artwork to the fridge.
The secret lies with a special mixture of individual molecules, or monomers, in paper fiber and the future of seemingly all technologies—nanoparticles. The resulting compound, known as a polymetric matrix, is actually made with different types of nanoparticles, and when applied to regular paper it completely covers the fibers on the microscopic level, creating a protective shell.
When iron oxide nanoparticles are added to the mix, the resulting paper has magnetic properties. And when silver nanoparticles are added, the paper fights off bacteria and other microscopic organisms. The paper can even be turned fluorescent using the right particles, and is completely waterproof making it ideal for high security applications like bank notes, or for printing long-lasting historical documents. We particularly like the idea of special waiting room wallpaper which helps stop the spread of disease in a doctor's office. [Journal of Materials Chemistry via Forbes]


text:
The GOP dangling from the fiscal cliff?
Less than one week remains until this nation goes off the "fiscal cliff," and yet that's apparently just fine with a minority of House Republicans who embarrassed Speaker John Boehner last week when they rejected his "Plan B." Their logic is beyond understanding.
Plan B never had a chance of getting through the Senate, but at least it was a proposal that signaled Republican willingness to pass a tax plan incorporating rate hikes for some high-income Americans -- in this case with incomes above $1 million -- while not going as far as President Obama proposes. Meanwhile, it also demonstrated a spirit of compromise by lawmakers whose opposition to tax hikes for any income group is all but legendary.
Finally, passage of Plan B might have put pressure on President Obama to counter with something new of his own lest he be seen as inflexible.
Incredibly, however, a minority of Republican lawmakers, resolved to hold the line on taxes, have maneuvered the GOP into the scapegoat's role in the fiscal negotiations. Meanwhile, they appear strangely complacent about the fact that once the nation goes off the cliff, almost any plausible scenario that follows is unlikely to result in a deal as favorable as Plan B from their point of view.
Once tax rates go up on everyone, as they will on Jan. 1 if nothing is done, it will require an act of Congress to lower them again. And at that point the White House and Senate Democrats are likely to possess even more leverage than today.
After all, Republicans will presumably be as eager as Democrats to restore lower rates for taxpayers making up to $250,000, and be in just as much of a hurry, too. Are hard-line Republicans honestly prepared to balk at restoring lower rates for 98 percent of American wage earners unless upper-income Americans are included in the deal?
Talk about a political death wish.
Although a trip over the fiscal cliff appears increasingly likely, it is still not inevitable if the president and Boehner could cut a deal that appeals to some House Democrats, too. However, the likelihood of that seems pretty slim, too. Boehner had resorted to Plan B in the first place, he contends, because he'd despaired of negotiating with the president.
Perhaps the most unfortunate aspect of the intransigence among some Republicans is that the drama has diverted attention from spending issues. Even Obama's plan to raise taxes on income of 250,000 and up would collect less than $25 billion in additional revenue next year -- a relatively paltry sum when compared to our trillion-dollar deficits.
Serious plans to trim the deficit require less popular medicine -- as well as fiscal conservatives willing to do more than indulge in theatrical gestures that undermine their credibility.
Editorial courtesy of The Denver Post, www.denverpost.com.


text:
Got Medicine Hoodie
Our original Blaze and Leaf designed Hoodie is made from 50% cotton, 50% poly and printed in the USA. Made with innovative air jet yarn to create a smooth, low-pill surface. Build to last with double needle stitching and designed with you in mind with features including a front pouch pocket, a matching drawstring and ribbed cuffs.
Snuggle up and get blazed in cotton rich, fleecy, super soft, comfort.
Size Chart
Questions & Answers
Have a Question?
Be the first to ask a question about this.


text:
- News
- Arts
- Life
- Shopping
- Community
- Nightlife
- Scene
- Social
- Magazine
- Support
Eric E. Richardson's first trip to Washington, D.C., was for a job interview in the late 1990s, when a local radio station had taken an interest in him based on his work as a DJ in Baton Rouge, La. As fate would have it, the station flew him to D.C. over a Memorial Day weekend.
That weekend, of course, was host to the annual D.C. Black Lesbian and Gay Pride Day festival. The Louisiana native quickly found himself immersed in a gay community unlike any he had known, even in New Orleans.
"I said to myself, 'I don't care if I don't get the job, D.C. is the place for me,'" Richardson laughs.
A few years later, he now finds himself as head of the Black Pride weekend, which in its 15th year is the oldest and largest Black LGBT pride celebration in the nation. This weekend the city will fill with participants from as near as just around the block to as far as Europe.
Still working in broadcast communications in D.C., Richardson says he's passionate about participating in the community he so eagerly came to join. In addition to his work with the D.C. Black Pride board, he's a board member of Damien Ministries, one of the district's oldest providers of HIV/AIDS services. "There's a great need and I love the mission and the idea and the thoughts that they have for the community, so I wanted to be a part of it," he says of his service there.
But as the Black Pride weekend approaches, Richardson has his hands full welcoming participants both new and old. And from his enthusiastic approach and energetic style, you can tell he relishes the opportunity.
METRO WEEKLY: How was it growing up gay in Louisiana?
ERIC RICHARDSON: It was quite interesting. One of the reasons I came to D.C. was that it was a different world from that. I love Louisiana for the food, the fun and my family and friends, but it's nothing compared to D.C. I can actually be myself in D.C. and not be looked at strangely — or not too often anyway [laughs]. It's just a more progressive city.
Louisiana is so Bible-belt. My family — my father especially — is an "every Sunday morning go to Sunday school and church" person. It's that whole situation, and if you're gay you're going to hell. I've gone through that with not only my family, but my friends as well. Now they understand, and my father has realized that I'm not just going through a phase as he thought this was. This is real. I was a senior in high school, about 18 [when I came out]. That was very difficult. But my family knows who I am, and I try not to disrespect them in any way, shape or form. They act as if it doesn't exist.
MW: Do they know you're president of the board for Black Lesbian and Gay Pride Day?
RICHARDSON: Yes, they do. But I don't think they have an idea that the event is this huge. They're like, "Well, that's nice," because I'm a strong advocate for being a part of your community. I'm a member of the local chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. I'm on the board of Damien Ministries. I'm an advocate for getting out and being involved, no matter what. If you are a part of that community, I think you need to take an active part and participate in that community.
MW: What first got you involved with Black Pride?
RICHARDSON: As I saw Black Pride going on it was very different from what I'd seen in Louisiana — it was people [coming together] to make something happen in a nice, positive way. I wanted to get involved with that and I told [former BLGPD president] Earl [D.] Fowlkes [Jr.] that I wanted to help them with some entertainment, because working in radio and television I had some entertainment connections. And that started the whole process. I came on to do vending and entertainment for the first year and eventually became a board member.
MW: Already having worked on the event as a member of the board, what made you want to take it further and become president of the board?
RICHARDSON: People say to me all the time, "Why do you do this?" I was on the phone a minute ago and they said, "You don't get paid for that?" The reason I do it is that there's such a dire need for it. I don't want to say anything that would slight what people are doing, but I think as the face of AIDS has changed. The face of the gay community has changed. And we needed to make a change, to kind of pass the torch in our community. I don't see a lot of that. It's the same 10 people, and while they're doing an excellent job, we need to bridge the gap between young and old, black and white, and all these other things.
People constantly say, "Why is there a need for a Black Pride?" There's a need for a Black Pride because it's our experience, it's our culture, it's all these wonderful things. Just like there's a need for Mexican restaurants, but you're not going to get great Italian pasta in a Mexican restaurant. No one is going to complain about that. You know what you're getting and it's a way for that restaurant or that community to embrace their culture and share with the world. I think it's just a wonderful experience — I can't stress that enough. It's needed so badly.
MW: What are your responsibilities with the board?
RICHARDSON: It's overseeing, guiding and directing the events. And importantly, it's the fundraising — building communities, networking, bringing people on board and engaging sponsors and the community to participate.
MW: What are the biggest challenges for Black Pride, particularly on fundraising? Is it a challenge to pull in sponsors?
RICHARDSON: I would say yes. It's one thing when we call and say "Hi, this Black Gay Pride" — that's enough to get you to hang the phone up, isn't it? [Laughs.] But I believe that we can cross those barriers, because when people come to the event they go, "Wow, are you sure everyone here is gay?" Because they have this image and this stigma in their mind that it's going to be one way and then they find that it's totally different. We're the largest and the oldest and most inclusive Black Pride. We reach out to every community and I think we've done a great job of that this year.
MW: Was your first Black Pride festival at Banneker Field?
RICHARDSON: Yes.
MW: Was it a rainy one?
RICHARDSON: [Laughs.] Yes, it was.
MW: What are your memories of the festival in its outdoor days?
RICHARDSON: I loved the Banneker Field thing. I think it was a wonderful idea but it limits people because, you know, people can pass by [an outdoor event] and see who's there. And in our community that's a big issue, because we want to be all these things — some people don't want to be out for some reason. I don't know what that is — I'm just as gay as a picnic basket in July. So the outdoors event was very interesting but I think it was somewhat limited. Now [with the festival at the convention center] we have the opportunity to do things differently. That's part of the progress. After 15 years, we can't do the same things year after year after year. Next year, God willing, and if we're financially able, there are things that will be different. I want something different every year. No one wants to come to D.C. and know that it's always this on Friday, and that on Saturday. It has to cater to the needs of that audience and the needs that we have in our mission. So that's what we look forward to doing.
MW: What is the big difference this year?
RICHARDSON: This year as we're celebrating 15 years, so we're having a wonderful event at the City Museum on Thursday. And, because we always have people who want to go outdoors, on Monday we're having an outdoor picnic in conjunction with Daryl Wilson Promotions. We're giving people everything they've told me they wanted. I've taken it into great consideration. We've discussed it as a board and we've come up with a schedule where there's something for everyone.
MW: What's something you want to change for next year?
RICHARDSON: D.C. Black Pride has to be more than just Memorial Day Weekend. Since I took over as president in September, we've partnered with One In Ten to help with Reel Affirmations as one of the presenters with the African-American films they've screened. We've done a number of things and I think we have to do things throughout the year. It may be workshops throughout the year. It may be a black-tie affair. But I think we need to do things a little differently.
MW: When you talk about it being a year-round organization, what do you see as its mission? Where do you see yourself fitting into the broader structure of African-American GLBT organizations in the city?
RICHARDSON: I think our main mission is our HIV/AIDS platform. We want to build awareness, we want to eradicate HIV and AIDS. Our great and wonderful founders came up with this idea to raise funds for HIV/AIDS, but that was a few years ago and things have changed. I think we also want to deal with some of the other issues in the community. Lesbians are not as engaged in the whole HIV/AIDS scare to some degree and that's why there's a disconnect there. We need to start looking at other issues that affect them, be it breast cancer, be it substance abuse. We also have issues when it comes to education — I think we should have a scholarship fund. I think we should work with other organizations in the city to network with one another to build wonderful things and make this more than just "I'm proud to be black and gay every Memorial Day weekend."
This is a celebration of you — if you are a black man who is out, or in the closet, or however you identify yourself, this is a celebration of you. If you're a woman, if you're transgender, we want to celebrate you. That's a thing that's very special to me because D.C. Black Pride has empowered me. It's not about me — I'm just a small little part of this thing we call D.C. Black Pride. But I think if we live our lives in a certain way and we go out and reach out to each other, it helps the community as a whole, and not just the black community — it's across the board. It's for everyone.
MW: Weather played a role in moving the main event indoors. Is moving the location back to an outdoor venue something that comes up every year?
RICHARDSON: Yes, every year. That's one of the reasons we decided to do the picnic on Monday. And that's the element for people who want to go outside. There are some people who — no matter if it's raining — still want to go outside. We try to make everyone happy. The amazing thing is that even when it comes to the outdoor thing, this year we looked at doing something outdoors. We looked at several different venues rather than the convention center, but it was quite costly to do the Festival. We looked at other locations, but there's no outdoor location that's available. When you look at the permits and the zoning and all this other crazy stuff and you have to do the setup, we're spending about the same amount of money.
MW: What's the part you look forward to the most?
RICHARDSON: I have two things that are just wonderful. I'd have to say the convention center because that's my baby and I've worked with pretty much every aspect of it. It's a time where people come together, they're excited to see each other and it's hugs and kisses and shopping. It's just a nice, wonderful family day. And since that's kind of our closing event, that means for me that it's over and I can get my life back [laughs]. But equally as important as the convention center is the opening reception we do every year, because you see the people coming in and they're excited and looking forward to this new adventure. Some people have been here every year, for others it's their first year, but they look so intrigued, like "What's going to happen next?" To see that is a wonderful thing.
The Black Lesbian and Gay Pride Day festival will be held Sunday, May 29, at the Washington Convention Center, 801 Mt. Vernon Place NW. For a complete listing of official Black Pride Weekend events, workshops and festival activities, visit www.dcblackpride.org, or pick up a copy of the official 2005 D.C. Black Pride Guide, available at various locations around town and at the D.C. Black Pride Hospitality Suite in the Wyndham City Center (the event's host hotel), 1143 New Hampshire Ave. NW.
These are challenging times for news organizations. And yet it's crucial we stay active and provide vital resources and information to both our local readers and the world. So won't you please take a moment and consider supporting Metro Weekly with a membership? For as little as $5 a month, you can help ensure Metro Weekly magazine and MetroWeekly.com remain free, viable resources as we provide the best, most diverse, culturally-resonant LGBTQ coverage in both the D.C. region and around the world. Memberships come with exclusive perks and discounts, your own personal digital delivery of each week's magazine (and an archive), access to our Member's Lounge when it launches this fall, and exclusive members-only items like Metro Weekly Membership Mugs and Tote Bags! Check out all our membership levels here and please join us today!