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My favorite things Virginia
It feels like an eon since I have traveled, plus I have been at home with the sniffles and a nasty cough. So here goes:
1. Music: Right off the bat we are in trouble. Ella Fitzgerald was born in Newport News but she is overrated (overly mannered and too self-consciously pandering to the crowd). We do have Patsy Cline and Maybelle Carter, the latter was an awesome guitar player and a precursor of John Fahey, not to mention the mother of June Carter.
2. Writer: There is Willa Cather, William Styron, and the new Thomas Wolfe. Cather moved at age ten to Nebraska. Some of you might sneak Poe into the Virginia category, but in my mind he is too closely linked to Baltimore. If you count non-fiction, add Booker T. Washington to the list.
3. Deaf, Dumb, and Blind Person: I have to go with Helen Keller. If you choose her for "20 Questions," no one will hit upon her category.
4. Movie, set in. The first part of Silence of the Lambs is set in Quantico, Virginia. No Way Out, starring Gene Hackman and Kevin Costner, is set in DC and around the Pentagon.
5. Artist: Help! Can you do better than Sam Snead? George Caleb Bingham was born here, but I identify him with Missouri.
6. The Presidents. I'll pick Washington as the best, simply because he had a successor, and Madison as the best political theorist. Jefferson's writings bore me and Woodrow Wilson was one of the worst Presidents we have had.
The bottom line: Maybe you are impressed by the Presidents, but for a state so old, it makes a pretty thin showing. It has lacked a strong blues tradition, a major city, and has remained caught up in ideals of nobility and Confederacy.
Posted by Tyler Cowen on March 15, 2006 at 07:13 AM in The Arts | Permalink
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Comments
Maybe this is a good assignment for Tyrone.
Posted by: Sandy Smith at Mar 15, 2006 8:03:24 AM
Tom Robbins can be pretty cool. Missy Elliot, eh. Wayne Newton, nevermind. That is pretty slim pickens. We've more than our share of great atheletes, though. And maybe no blues, but bluegrass.
Posted by: joshg at Mar 15, 2006 8:19:41 AM
Helen Keller is a native of Alabama, and is most closely associated with that state. She even appeared on Alabama's quarter! If Helen Keller is a Virginian, then Robert E. Lee is from Vermont.
Posted by: Will at Mar 15, 2006 8:52:04 AM
Music--The Statler Brothers and Seldom Scene--both from Virginia, and both quite good.
Most Virginian thing about Virginia--it's one of only two states that have a real a real aristocracy and are proud of that fact (South Carolina is the other).
Posted by: SamChevre at Mar 15, 2006 8:58:02 AM
I'm not sure no major city is necessarily a negative. This reflects the Jeffersonian ideal. Also, had the south won the war, Virginia would have a very major city in Richmond.
Ironically, this morning I heard a song featuring a Virginia musician who had some success in the '80s - Bruce Hornsby. Not a great musician, though. By the way, Bristol was home to the first country music recordings made for national distribution and is officially designated as the birthplace of country music.
By the way, you left out favorite Virginia university. I can guess what your choice would be, but the state is home to some great schools.
Posted by: Ted Craig at Mar 15, 2006 9:00:25 AM
The dig against Ella borders on blasphemy. Certainly, she lacks Holiday's grit, but her mastery of shaping the lyrics, her crystalline voice, and her pure joy of the music make it near impossible to overrate her.
Posted by: Scott Scheule at Mar 15, 2006 9:42:15 AM
OK, so yes Virginia has presidents. But California has the Beach Boys and a whole host of West Coast Jazz people - plus all other kinds of music; Writers from John Steinbeck to Gertrude Atherton; best Deaf, Dumb and Blind person - pick almost any of our politicians (wait that does not make us special); movie set in (this is the place where 60% of the movies the rest of you watch are made) - plus we have to live with the Hollywood community - shouldn't that give us points; Artists - again a whole slew; Presidents - Nixon and then although he was not born here he certainly was identified with us - RWR - perhaps the greatest president of the 20th Century. And then an incredible diversity of opinion, backgrounds and people. Sounds to me like no contest.
Posted by: drtaxsacto at Mar 15, 2006 10:01:19 AM
I'm a native Virginian, so now we must be enemies.
First of all, you greatly undervalue Thomas Jefferson. Also, Patrick Henry was a tremendous orator and, of course, national icon.
Virginia was home to many great military minds: Lee, Jackson, Pickett, Mosby. Perhaps you are unimpressed since they lost.
Nice pick with Maybelle; June wasn't so bad herself. Let's not ignore Dave Matthews. Timberland, Missy Elliot, the Clipse - if you appreciate hip hop.
I don't care what he was "linked to" in "your mind." Edgar Allen Poe was a Virginian. There's Tom Robbins, of "Still Life" fame. Then there's me, but I forgive you for not knowing about me yet.
Moses Malone? Ralph Sampson? Michael Vick? More interested in academics than sports, you say? University of Virginia. College of William and Mary. I'm partial to George Mason University, myself.
Northern Virginia restaurants. Enough said. We lack a major city, but Arlington County isnt so bad, as is Charlottesville, the Berkeley of East. Any movies that show the Pentagon are at least partly set in Virginia. Or the CIA headquarters.
You can thank Virginians Sam Houston and Steve Austin for their role in Texas history. That gives us more a role in barbeque than every other state besides Texas and North Carolina. Don't forget Virginia is also the mother of Kentucky and West Virginia.
Virginia is one of the most naturally beautiful states. This is highly subjective, of course.
Posted by: Zac at Mar 15, 2006 10:03:37 AM
Artist: OK, I'm from Maryland, but living in Virginia (see my work at http://www.t11s.com)
Best things virginian: UUNET (now a Verizon brand), one of the first Internet service providers (founded in 1987). Add to that the revolutionary MAE-EAST Internet peering point in Tyson's Corner, as well as AOL.
Posted by: Tom at Mar 15, 2006 10:34:05 AM
Ella Fitzgerald overrated? Bwahaha.
Posted by: jult52 at Mar 15, 2006 10:59:17 AM
Dave Matthews and the ever-adorable Lauren Graham have to find a way on to the list somehow.
Posted by: R.J. Lehmann at Mar 15, 2006 11:08:55 AM
i'm so glad i left nova.
Posted by: will at Mar 15, 2006 12:17:06 PM
Surprisingly, few good baseball players.
Best position player is probably Willie Horton or Paul Hines. Others of note are Tony Womack, Billy Nash, or George McQuinn, Granny Hamner, Al Bumbry, Steve Brodie, and Todd Hundley.
Best pitcher is Eppa Rixey (1912-1933, 266-251), who is in the Hall of Fame but has a marginal record for a Hall of Famer; also Billy Wagner (1995-present, 284 saves).
Posted by: Bob Montgomery at Mar 15, 2006 12:35:34 PM
As a Mets fan, I must throw some recognition toward David Wright and Billy Wagner. And Wright also grew up a fan of Mets AAA team the Norfolk Tides.
Posted by: R.J. Lehmann at Mar 15, 2006 12:43:41 PM
Music: The Stanley Brothers - Blue Grass band from the deep SW.
Presidents: Washington is the best President. Not for what he did, but for what he did not do. He did not stick around. He walked away from power. I imagine our country would be far different he had stayed on an treated the office as his personal or familial right.
Movies: 'Patriot' with Mel Gibson was set in the Tidewater. I think 'Sommersby' was set in VA. Although perhaps it was just filmed here.
Posted by: Tflan at Mar 15, 2006 12:51:35 PM
I've never seen The Patriot, but wasn't that set against the backdrop of the Siege of Charleston?
Posted by: R.J. Lehmann at Mar 15, 2006 1:44:35 PM
I stand corrected. It was in SC.
Posted by: Tflan at Mar 15, 2006 2:26:01 PM
musician - Ralph Stanley. 'Nuff said.
Posted by: Bernard Guerrero at Mar 15, 2006 2:50:27 PM
And good god does Fairfax ever suck, I don't know how you guys stand it. Moving back to Denver was the best decision I ever made.
Posted by: Noah Yetter at Mar 15, 2006 2:54:34 PM
Re: Jefferson -- he was one of our best architects, and the UVa old campus would be on a list of Falling Water, the Salk Institute etc for best design.
Posted by: Bill Gardner at Mar 15, 2006 2:54:47 PM
Overrated??? If Ella Fitzgerald singing Cottontail with Duke Ellington's band in Stockholm is "pandering to the crowd," then pander away, baby.
Posted by: Sean Carroll at Mar 15, 2006 3:18:54 PM
For movies you may also add "1607", "Cold Mountain", and "Navy Seals".
E.A. Poe was a terrific poet and short story writer.
Woodrow Wilson was only born in Virginia, and not much else. It would be similar to associating George W. Bush with Connecticut.
Most beautiful state east of the Rockies.
Despite not having a big city, still some incredible restaurants. The Inn at Little Washington and Lemaire rival most anything else in the country with a few exceptions. Also on the food front, Smithfield ham is consistently underrated.
I also will echo Bill's argument, that even if Jefferson's writings bore you (I assume you're excluding the Declaration of Independence), his architecture shouldn't. His home, UVA, and the Capitol building are some of the most beautiful and thoughtful structures ever designed in this country. He wasn't such a bad president either.
Posted by: Shaun M. at Mar 15, 2006 3:43:49 PM
I like Ella Fitzgerald alot too. Even though she was a crowd-pleaser in Big Band era, I think it paradoxically takes more listenings to get used to her singing for people more used to the dionysian rock/soul tradition.
Posted by: joe o at Mar 15, 2006 4:11:48 PM
Ella Fitzgerald overrated? Get over yourself.
Posted by: Bernard Yomtov at Mar 15, 2006 5:19:58 PM
I'm sorry, but Woodrew Wilson was one of our worst presidents ever? I don't know too much about him, but I never gathered the impression he was a poor president, rather just the opposite. I'm curious, could you give your reasoning?
Posted by: Van at Mar 15, 2006 7:53:07 PM
