Christmas Carols: The Odd and the New

Christmas is unique among holidays in the music we associate with it.

Just think: What other holidays bring to mind so many, and so many different, songs? Outside of church services, Easter has “Here Comes Peter Cottontail” and not much else. Patriotic commemorations like Independence Day or Memorial Day might be celebrated with “The Star Spangled Banner” or “America the Beautiful,” but those and other anthems are not identified with a single holiday. Diehard union organizers might sing “The Internationale” on Labor Day, but even that would be a rarity.

Christmas, on the other hand, has hundreds of songs – some spiritual, some secular, some a strange blend of both – dedicated to it. We hear them on the radio (almost every media market now has at least one FM station that plays Christmas music around the clock starting around Thanksgiving and ending only on December 26), in shops, on street corners, in school pageants, from wandering carolers, and in our own homes.

Christmas songs, it seems, are among the few – besides TV theme songs – that Americans have etched in our memories with the capability of singing by heart, without written notes or lyrics. We know them so well, we think they have been around forever.

Strangely enough, some of those “ancient” songs are newer than we might imagine. Not only that, but many of them became popular despite hardheaded resistance from religious leaders – and I am not talking about opposition to “Rudolph” or “Frosty,” but to deeply spiritual, Bible- or tradition-based hymns that today are more likely to be sung at Midnight Mass than heard on the radio or at the shopping mall. From 1700 until 1782, for instance, only one Christmas hymn – “While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks by Night” – was permitted to be sung during Anglican church services; in 1782, “Hark, The Herald Angels Sing” made the acceptable song list twice as long.

The stories of these, and 98 other, familiar (and some not-so-familiar) Christmas songs are told by church historian Ian Bradley in The Daily Telegraph Book of Carols, published in 2006 as a companion to his The Daily Telegraph Book of Hymns (Continuum, 2005). Many would be surprised to learn from Bradley that hymn-singing by congregations during church services is, historically speaking, a rather recent phenomenon. What’s more, “carols” (which used to be songs accompanied by dancing for almost any season of the year, including Lent, Easter, summer, and Christmastime) were particularly looked down upon by the official church.

Bradley explains:

“Yet although it now seems almost unthinkable to celebrate (or survive) the festive season without them, carols originally had nothing to do with Christmas, nor even with Christianity. They were among the many pagan customs taken over by the medieval church which used them initially as much in the celebration of Easter as of Christmas. The subsequent development of the carol as a distinctive genre standing somewhere between the hymn, the folksong and the sacred ballad and having as its subject matter the story and significance of Jesus’ birth serves as an interesting pointer to several major currents in religious, social and cultural history of the last five hundred years. Born out of late medieval humanism, carols were suppressed by Puritan zealots after the Reformation, partially reinstated at the Restoration, sung by Dissenters and radicals to the distaste of the established churches in the eighteenth century, rediscovered and reinvented by Victorian antiquarians and romantics, and re-written in the late twentieth century to fit the demand for social realism and political correctness. As well as reflecting the mood of their times, some of our best-loved carols also contain coded comments on contemporary events, including, perhaps, the 1745 Jacobite rebellion and the revolutions across Europe in 1848.”

Rereading that paragraph from the first two pages of Bradley’s book after having read the whole thing, it becomes remarkably clear that those 205 words serve as a near-complete summation of the 420 pages of text that follow. Bradley has put in a nutshell the whole history of carol-writing and carol-singing. In subsequent chapters, however, he highlights the origins of dozens of carols, some lost in the mists of ancient history, some by composers and lyricists still living in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. He offers tidbits of trivia and corrections of misconceptions that deepen our textural appreciation of much-beloved songs of the season.

In the latter category, misconceptions, for instance, the liner notes of many Christmas CDs attribute the words of “Away in a Manger” to Martin Luther. That’s historically unfounded. The first printed record of “Away in the Manger” was when verses one and two were published in Philadelphia in 1885 in the Little Children’s Book for Schools. Verse three was published seven years later in a book called Vineyard Songs. “Away in the Manger,” moreover, is sung to different tunes in Britain and in North America.

One of the favorite hymns on both sides of the Atlantic, “Adeste Fideles” (with its English-language counterpart, “O Come All Ye Faithful”) was long thought to date from the early Middle Ages. Not so, Bradley tells us:

“Until the middle of the twentieth century it was widely believed that this great Latin hymn calling the faithful to worship the newborn Christ was the work of the thirteenth-century mystic Bonaventura. However the discovery of a mid-eighteenth-century manuscript in 1946 by Maurice Frost, vicar of Deddington in Oxfordshire and a noted hymnologist, and research over the next three years by his friend Dom John Stéphan of Buckfast Abbey led both men to conclude that the author of ‘Adeste, fideles’ was John Francis Wade (1711-86).”

Here’s where the story gets even more intriguing. After it was determined that Wade wrote the song sometime in the 1750s – it first appeared in print in England in 1760 – more research led to the discovery of the song’s political overtones. Bradley continues:

“In 1990 Bennett Zon, a historian of music, gave a paper to the Catholic Family History Society in which he speculated that ‘Adeste, fideles’ might even have been written as a coded Jacobite call to arms on the eve of the 1745 rebellion. He pointed out that half-hidden Jacobite imagery, including Scottish thistles and the initials of the Stuart pretenders, often appeared in Wade’s musical transcriptions and manuscripts. Twenty years after the defeat of Bonnie Prince Charlie at Culloden, Wade was still writing ‘Domine salvum fac Regem nostrum Carolum’ rather than ‘Georgium’ for English Catholic congregations to sing.”

Such speculation – and, one must admit, the case remains to be proven – is of a piece with Clare Asquith’s theory of William Shakespeare’s crypto-Catholicism in Shadowplay (PublicAffairs, 2006). Asquith makes a persuasive argument that is based on more than marginalia in a few musical manuscripts, however.

Many of us have heard the touching story about the origins of “Silent Night,” perhaps the most beloved – and certainly the most-translated – of Christmas carols. (Even as I write this, I am hearing Tony Bennett sing it on the radio.) Supposedly mice ate the cables of the church organ and the parish priest and organist huddled together to write, as quickly as possible, a song that could be accompanied by guitar at Midnight Mass.

Well, sort of.

Bradley has done some digging and found out that there’s more legend than fact in that tale, though the song is no less delightful for it.

He notes that “Stille Nacht!” (as he calls it, using the original, German title)

“almost certainly deserves the accolade of the world’s favourite carol. It has been translated into 230 languages. It is often voted No. 1 in surveys of the most popular carols in Britain although it was pipped into second place by ‘In the bleak midwinter’ in the 2005 BBC Songs of Praise poll. A Gallup poll in December 1996 found that 21 per cent of respondents named ‘Silent Night’ as their favourite carol – more than twice as many as voted for the joint runners-up, ‘Away in a manger’ and ‘O come, all ye faithful,’ which each received nine per cent.”

The legend of “Silent Night” is that it was written and performed for the first time on Christmas Eve, 1818, in the Austrian village of Oberndorf, by musician Franz Gruber and the parish priest, Joseph Mohr.

It turns out, however, that Mohr had written the lyrics, and possibly the music, too, at least two years earlier, while he was still serving at a church in Mariapfarr. “It was there,” Bradley writes, “that he wrote his six-verse carol which is striking in its frequent references to fatherhood and complete absence of references to Mary or motherhood.”

That’s right: in the original German, there is no “round yon virgin.” That line is the invention of John Freeman Young, an Episcopal bishop who gave the song a very free translation in the 1850s, and that is the most familiar translation to come down to us. (Pace Evelyn Waugh, “Episcopal bishop” is not a redundancy, it’s just an Americanism.)

Another tidbit about “Stille Nacht” – it was the subject of what we now call copyright infringement litigation. Bradley continues his story:

“’Stille nacht’ might well have sunk without a trace, alongside hundreds of other Austrian folk carols, had a manuscript copy of it not come into the hands of Josef Strasser, a glove-maker and folk-music enthusiast who had a family singing group in the best ‘Sound of Music’ tradition. The Strasser family performed the piece as a newly discovered Tyrolean folk carol. As a result of a concert they gave in Leipzig in 1832 the carol was published as one of set of four Tyrolean songs. There was no mention of either author or composer in this first printed copy and it was only after recourse to the law that Mohr and Gruber were able to prove their authorship.”

The misidentification of a new carol as old and traditional comes up in another of Bradley’s sketches, this one involving “Calypso Carol” (also known by its first line, “See Him Lying On A Bed Of Straw”), written in London in 1964 by Michael Perry, an Anglican clergyman. Bradley reports that Perry “was amused to tune into the radio one day and hear a BBC announcer describe his work as ‘that traditional folk carol from the West Indies.’”

The number of well-known and well-regarded Christmas carols written by clergymen in the 19th and 20th centuries is quite stunning. During the Victorian era, Christmas celebrations were transformed -- depending on whether one was in the low-church or high-church tradition – from an austere day of prayer and mortification and/or a day of drinking and carousing to a family- and especially child-oriented celebration. Anglican priests, in particular, stepped in to write music appropriate to this new tone. A number of familiar Christmas songs were written also by Catholic priests (or Oxford movement Anglicans who later converted to Rome) and Baptist and Unitarian ministers.

In his introduction, Bradley explains:

“Carols played an important role in the Victorian reinvention of Christmas as a largely domestic festival full of sentimentality and good cheer. A huge number of new carols were written in the mid-nineteenth century, many in a pseudo-traditional style. Even the pioneer socialist William Morris provided a pastiche medieval carol with the refrain ‘The snow in the street and the wind at the door’ … It was the Victorians, rather than Bing Crosby, who invented the concept of the White Christmas, bringing snow into the Nativity story with Christina Rossetti’s ‘In the bleak midwinter’ … and Edward Caswall’s ‘See amid the winter snow.’”

That may be the primary reason for our assumption, ahistorical as it might be, that Christmas songs are older than old, even if they were written within our lifetimes: the composers have made an effort to make them feel ancient, and the artifice works. Is it doubtful that, a century from now, listeners will think “Do You Hear What I Hear” and “The Little Drummer Boy” are relics of the late Middle Ages?

In a way, I guess, they are.

Bill of Rights Day 2009

Each December 15 since 1999, the Jefferson Area Libertarians have celebrated the anniversary of the ratification of the Bill of Rights to the U.S. Constitution with a gathering in downtown Charlottesville. Last year and this year, the gathering took place at the First Amendment Monument near City Hall, an appropriate place for such a commemorative ceremony.

Charlottesville libertarians were not the only people marking Bill of Rights Day today. Cato Institute legal scholar Timothy Lynch put a sadly dismal assessment of the current state of civil liberties on Cato's blog, Cato@Liberty (ending, however, with a brief optimistic note). A blog named Bungalow Bill's Conservative Wisdom asked its readers to "take the time to read the Bill of Rights" and courteously provided the entire text, including the seldom-read preamble. (The whole thing -- preamble, too -- was recited in Charlottesville today as part of the celebration. You can watch the video, below.)

In the course of my research for this post, by the way, I found a satirical article about a Third Amendment advocacy organization and a reference to the only Supreme Court case litigating that provision of the Bill of Rights, Engblom v. Carey. As it happens, there are a number of Facebook groups devoted to the Third Amendment, including one called the National Anti-Quartering Association and another called 1,000,000 People for the Third Amendment, which has 3 members.

And, lest we forget the broad and inclusive reach of the U.S. Constitution, a colleague forwarded me a link to an article with a reminder the the Bill of Rights applies to everyone, even gay and lesbian students in government schools. Freedom of speech and freedom of association are basic human rights.

The program that the Jefferson Area Libertarians began, as noted, with an acclamation of the Bill of Rights, led by JAL's James Curtis.

Curtis was followed by radio talk-show host Rob Schilling of WINA-AM. Rob, who is also a former Charlottesville city council member, talked about freedom of speech and freedom of assembly, two elements of the First Amendment. He noted, in reference to free assembly issues, that MSNBC's Keith Olbermann named local civil-liberties champion John Whitehead of the Rutherford Institute as the "Worst Person in the World." The reason for this honor? Whitehead has asked Congressman Tom Perriello (D-VA5) to move his office to a place where citizens can peaceably assemble in order to petition the government for redress of grievances, without also violating the rights of the owners of the property where the office is located. (Perriello's current office is on private property where Tea Party-like protests disrupt the business of his neighbors.) Olbermann's left-handed compliment to the protection of property rights can be found here, on YouTube.

Other speakers included Dr. James Lark, the former national chairman of the Libertarian Party, who noted that the Bill of Rights limits democracy while protecting individual liberties and human rights, and local entrepreneur Paul Perrone, who spoke about the importance of the Tenth Amendment.

The keynote speaker was Christopher Horner, a scholar with the Competitive Enterprise Institute who specializes in energy and climate issues. Horner is the author of Red Hot Lies: How Global Warming Alarmists Use Threats, Fraud, and Deception to Keep You Misinformed and The Politically Incorrect Guide to Global Warming (and Environmentalism). Given his field of expertise, naturally, he addressed how proposed "cap-and-trade" legislation -- whether Waxman-Markey, which passed the House of Representatives in June, or Kerry-Boxer, which is happily languishing in the U.S. Senate -- will adversely affect the civil liberties of Americans. As John Munchmeyer put it in his introduction of Mr. Horner, by regulating carbon dioxide as an evil pollutant, "I guess this bill is going to regulate life at its basic core," because CO2 is what humans exhale and what plants use to make oxygen.

Here are the speeches from today's Bill of Rights Day celebration in Charlottesville, divided into six segments:

Part I -- Reciting the Bill of Rights:

Part II - Remarks by Rob Schilling:

Part III -- Remarks by Rob Schilling (continued):

Part IV -- Remarks by Jim Lark:

Part V -- Remarks by Paul Perrone:

Part VI -- Remarks by Chris Horner:

You can see video of the Charlottesville Bill of Rights Day celebration of 2007 here, and Bill of Rights Day 2008 is here. (Update: I also found video from 2006, with further information about that year's event here.)

Update: The Daily Progress had a nice front-page photo of the event, featuring John Munchmeyer passing out copies of the Bill of Rights, in today's paper. It is not, of course, available on the Daily Progress web site. There is, however, a page one story about John Whitehead and Keith Olbermann.

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You'd Better Watch Out ...

You'd better watch out for the 2009 Christmas Carnival, that is.

As the name implies, this is an opportunity for bloggers to showcase their blogposts about Christmas -- stories, poems, recipes, nostalgia, videos, podcasts, humor, spirituality, graphic art, photographs, songs, and more. Christmas lends itself to a flying sleigh-load of creative endeavors.

The first two Christmas Carnivals were hosted by Adam Graham in 2005 and 2006. Cathouse Chat took over in 2007.

Last year, Cathouse Chat hosted the Christmas Carnival for the second year in a row, and this year Kat makes it a three-fer. I was pleased to see two of my holiday-related posts listed in the 2008 Christmas Carnival, and I'm hoping to have at least one relevant item to submit this year.

The announcement for the 2009 Christmas Carnival sets out a number of ground rules:

first of all, absolutely no political or advertising posts. I want to make sure the Carnival remains focused on the season and that it celebrates the joy, solemnity and unity that the season ought to bring. Secondly, I earnestly request that all submitted posts be dated from November and December of this year, 2009. I really want to keep the Carnival fresh with new pictures, recipes, memories and meditations, so get cracking and send in some of that awesome creativity I know you all do so well!

The past two years that CatHouse Chat has hosted the Carnival, I have pretty much accepted as many entries as I've gotten and haven't limited people to one submission per person; I'd like to continue that tradition. However, bear in mind that the Carnival has gotten bigger each year (hooray!), and I may have to limit people to, oh, three entries per person *grinz*

The deadline for submissions will be Tuesday, 22 December, and I plan to post the Carnival no later than 3 p.m., ET, on Christmas Eve. Hopefully, I'll get it up by the 23rd, but I like to give myself that extra time just in case something crazy happens.

I will NOT be using the Blog Carnival tool for entries this year. Please send ALL submissions directly to cathousechat -AT- gmail-dot-com, and use CARNIVAL in the subject line. In the body of the post, please include the permalink to your post, as well as the trackback URL if you want me to send one when the Carnival is posted. Please also give a brief (one or two sentence) description of the post, and what category I should put it in.

You can read the rest of the rules, such as they are, here.

So, bloggers, start using your egg-noggin and come up with some appropriate ideas for Christmas posts. You may just wake up on Christmas morning and find yourself among the revelers of the Carnival of Christmas 2009.

'Show Boat' Weighs Anchor at Signature Theatre

This review of Signature Theatre's new production of Show Boat is scheduled to run in next Friday's edition of The Metro Herald in Alexandria, Virginia.

Signature Launches Show Boat

American Musical Theatre Classic in Fit Form in Arlington

Rick Sincere

Metro Herald Entertainment Editor

It seems to be Edna Ferber’s year at Signature Theatre. Late last season, the company offered the world premiere of a new musical adaptation of Ferber’s Giant (Perennial Classics), with a score by Michael John LaChiusa. Signature is currently presenting the Kern-Hammerstein adaptation of Ferber’s 1926 novel, Show Boat. (If anyone at Signature is looking to musicalize Ferber’s Come and Get It, I know the president of the local historical society in Iron County, Wisconsin, the place where that book is set and where Ferber wrote it.) Like Giant, Show Boat has a sprawling story and only a couple of hours in which to tell it.

In his 1997 book, Enchanted Evenings: The Broadway Musical From Show Boat to Sondheim, Geoffrey Block notes:

“By virtually any criteria, Show Boat marks a major milestone in the history of the American musical and has long since become the first Broadway show to be enshrined in the musical theater museum.”

A page or so later, Block adds:

“Beginning in the late 1960s historians would almost invariably emphasize Show Boat’s unprecedented integration of music and drama, its three-dimensional characters, and its bold and serious subject matter, including miscegenation and unhappy marriages.”

He also says that, “For the many who judge a show by how many songs they can hum or whistle when they leave (or enter) the theater, Show Boat offered ‘at least’ an unprecedented six song hits for the ages; moreover, nearly all of these songs according to [the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians], ‘are integral to the characterization and story.’”

It was no accident, one might conclude, that Ethan Mordden chose Make Believe as the title of his history of the Broadway musical in the 1920s, also published in 1997 and part of his multi-volume chronicle of Broadway through the 20th century, since “Make Believe” is perhaps the biggest of the hit songs from Show Boat, in addition to such (now) standards as “Bill,” “Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man,” and the sonorous, haunting “Ol’ Man River.”

Mordden writes of the show’s opening on Broadway almost exactly 82 years ago, just a few weeks after it had had its first tryout at the National Theatre here in Washington:

“The piece opened at the Ziegfeld on December 27, 1927, to almost unanimous acclaim as the Awesome Musical. ‘A work of genius,’ Robert Coleman called it in the Daily Mirror. It ‘shows that managers have not until now realized the tremendous possibilities of the musical comedy as an art form.’ Variety’s Abel Green, while praising the work, completely misunderstood its revolutionary nature: ‘Meaty and gripping, rich with plot and character, it’s almost a pity that the novel wasn’t dramatized “straight,” sans the musical setting.” Is he kidding? The point isn’t that the subject was too busy for a musical but that musicals had been getting by on thin subject matter. Show Boat was a wake-up call.”

Mordden and Block both describe the many (per)mutations of Show Boat, from its first revivals, in 1931 and 1946, through its three movie versions (1929, 1936, and 1951), through its most recent major recording and revival (by EMI and Hal Prince, respectively, in both cases trying to be “definitive”).

This all brings us to the Signature Theatre in Arlington, where artistic director Eric Schaeffer has directed a slimmed-down yet tonally ambitious revival that incorporates some but not all of the additions that date to the discovery, in the late 1970s, of musical numbers and scenes that had been dropped from the original Broadway production and were not used until the Houston Grand Opera’s 1983 groundbreaker.

Schaeffer has assembled a cast of actors who are almost uniquely suited to the roles they play. Will Gartshore was born to play Gaylord Ravenal, a man of questionable virtue but unquestionable charm. Harry A. Winter must have been waiting years for a chance to play Cap’n Andy and his tour-de-force set piece toward the end of Act One, when he gets to play all the parts in “The Village Drunkard,” a play-within-a-play. And could Terry Burrell have asked for a better opportunity than to play Julie, the mulatto whose life is ruined by the race-based legal structure of the Deep South?

Burrell rapturously captures the soul of Julie in her stunning rendition of “Bill,” the song made famous by Helen Morgan in the original Show Boat cast. Burrell starts the song with indifference – singing it is just a job for her – but adds layer upon layer of despair and irony as the number continues. By the time she is finished, both she and the audience are emotionally twisted. That she then sacrifices herself, quietly and anonymously helping her old friend, Magnolia, adds even more weight to the moment.

After so much time since it first opened, the story of Show Boat is well-known. Edna Ferber’s novel spanned more than five decades of American history with a focus on one family and the people they knew. On the surface, it is the story of Magnolia (Stephanie Waters), the daughter of Cap’n Andy and Parthy (Kimberly Schraf), and her husband, Gaylord Ravenal. This summary, however, sells Show Boat short. Mordden explains:

“This magnificent omnium-gatherum is – or was – a kind of container of everything that American show biz thought important in 1927. It was story-vaudeville, the comic operetta, the musical comedy. It’s not a tragedy, it’s a backstager. And it’s not Magnolia’s story; it’s America’s.”

Yet after more than eight decades, Show Boat still exercises power in its portrayal of racial prejudice and the “separate-but-equal” mentality that ruled during the 1880s through the 1920s, the period the show takes place. Joe (VaShawn McIlwain) sings, “Ol’ Man River,” the musical glue that holds the show together, with a somberness and vibrato that emphasize the burden that he and the other “colored folk” (as the modernized lyric has it – the original used a more degrading epithet that begins with “N”) must bear while “the white folk play.”

Show Boat is a kind of Russian nesting doll of musical Americana. Jerome Kern’s music is a compilation of operetta, ragtime, “coon songs” (or minstrelsy), jazz, and what we would now call Broadway standards. There are ballads, love songs, dance numbers, and comic turns. Oscar Hammerstein’s lyrics – keep in mind, he was just 28 years old when he wrote and directed Show Boat – nestle snugly with the musical shape that Kern gives the piece.

(There is a story told, perhaps apocryphal, that at a stuffy New York cocktail party sometime in the 1940s, Mrs. Oscar Hammerstein overheard someone say that “Jerome Kern wrote ‘Ol’ Man River.’” She interrupted and stated, perhaps a bit too haughtily, “Jerome Kern did not write ‘Ol’ Man River’; he wrote ‘da-da-DA-dum.’ My husband wrote ‘ol’ man river’!”)

Schaeffer wisely compresses some of the action in the second act (he drops, as Hammerstein did in 1927, “It’s Getting Hotter in the North,” a number for Gaylord and Magnolia’s daughter, Kim) to bring us to a conclusion that has always seemed a bit contrived: the reunion of Magnolia and Gaylord after 23 years of separation. (Ferber avoided this contrivance by killing Gaylord off before the book’s end.) Still, the raw sentimentality of this moment cannot be denied, and Schaeffer helps us hurry toward it.

Throughout the show, Schaeffer balances the melodramatic with the comic, the dramatic with the musical. Rapid scene changes, projections to let us know when and where the action is taking place, and a bare minimum of props and furniture – all keep the show moving so that when thing slow down, it is for a purpose, and all just so.

Even if one finds Show Boat’s libretto a bit creaky and, as noted above, contrived, the music alone is worth a visit to Signature Theatre. Not only the principals – I left out Bobby Smith and Sandy Bainum as Frank and Ellie, and Delores King Williams, whose Queenie’s stability holds the Show Boat family together despite rocky shoals along that river – but the chorus and orchestra bring (pardon the pun) just the right notes to the evening’s entertainment.

Show Boat continues its run through January 17, 2010. Take advantage of the opportunity to see an American classic on stage.

Show Boat, music by Jerome Kern, book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, based on the novel by Edna Ferber, runs through January 17, 2010, in The MAX at Signature Theatre, 4200 Campbell Avenue, Arlington, Virginia 22206. No performances on December 25 or January 1. Show times are Tuesday and Wednesday at 7:30 p.m., Thursday and Friday at 8:00 p.m., Saturday at 2:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m., and Sunday at 2:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. Added performances on Monday, December 21, at 7:30 p.m. and Monday, December 28, at 7:30 p.m. Ticket prices range from $52 to $76 and are available through Ticketmaster at 703-573-7328 or visiting www.signature-theatre.org.

Production photos courtesy of Signature Theatre; photo credit: Chris Mueller.

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Congressman Rob Wittman at Blogs United

Anticipating by just a couple of hours the appearance of two potential opponents at the Blogs United conference last weekend, U.S. Representative Rob Wittman gave a well-tailored presentation about the "new media" and politics to the participants, who were mostly bloggers and political activists. Wittman represents Virginia's first congressional district, which stretches from the Hampton Roads area in the south to Fredericksburg and its suburbs in the north.

As noted by Anita Kumar of The Washington Post, Wittman is a member of the Republican New Media Caucus.

Wittman spoke for about 20 minutes, followed by about 15 minutes of questions-and-answers with the audience. The video recording of his remarks (including the Q&A) is divided into five segments on YouTube.

In Part I, Congressman Wittman is introduced by J.R. Hoeft of Bearing Drift:

Part II:

Part III:

Part IV:

Part V (Conclusion):

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Journalists' Panel at Blogs United

Political candidates were not the only special guests at the Blogs United conference held at Christopher Newport University in Newport News last weekend.

Blogs United organizers also invited some journalists who cover Virginia politics for established news media outlets and who also blog as part of their jobs.

The participants in this lively panel discussion, which lasted for almost a full hour on the morning of November 21, were Anita Kumar of the Washington Post, Ryan Nobles of NBC12 in Richmond, Kimball Payne of the Hampton Roads Daily Press, and Julian Walker of the Virginian-Pilot.

In fact, Walker wrote about Blogs United on his own "Pilot on Politics" blog after returning from the conference:

In a role reversal of sorts, bloggers from across the ideological spectrum quizzed a panel of state government reporters who also blog: Anita Kumar of The Washington Post, Kimball Payne of the Daily Press, Ryan Nobles of NBC12 in Richmond and this Virginian-Pilot scribe.

Among the bloggers lobbing questions during a lively, engaging back-and-forth at Christopher Newport University were J.R. Hoeft and Brian Kirwin from Bearing Drift, Vivian Paige, Shaun Kenney, Lauren Victoria Burke at Crew of 42 and Article XI's Eileen Levandoski.

For her part, Anita Kumar wrote on the Post's "Virginia Politics Blog":

Did you know there's a Republican New Media Caucus in Congress? Neither did we.

But one of the group's chairmen -- Virginia's own U.S. Rep. Rob Wittman (R) -- was on hand to speak to dozens of bloggers today at the Blogs United conference at Christopher Newport University in Newport News.

I'll be posting the video of Congressman Wittman's remarks soon. For now, however, we can look at the video of the panel discussion featuring the journalists/bloggers. It is divided into eight segments.

The four panelists are introduced by blogger Vivian Paige in Part I:

The conversation continues in Part II:

Part III:

Part IV:

Part V:

Part VI:

Part VII:

The final segment is introduced with a question from newly elected Fluvanna County Supervisor Shaun Kenney, who also has a well-known blog. In Part VIII, Kenney asks about the Washington Post's nearly unique emphasis in covering gubernatorial candidate Bob McDonnell's graduate-school thesis:

More video from the 2009 Blogs United conference will follow.



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Asking for Whom the Bell Tolls?

Forget about the sacking of its top three business-side executives, or the "resignations" of executive editor John Solomon and editorial page editor Richard Miniter.

If you want the strongest sign that The Washington Times is teetering on the edge of self-destruction, consider this: The paper has dropped its comics page, which has not appeared in the past two days.

When a whole section of a newspaper disappears without comment, you know that trouble is at hand.

At least Mallard Fillmore -- which, oddly enough, started at the Daily Progress in liberal Charlottesville -- remains on page A2 of the Times.




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Candidates Speak at Blogs United Conference

Blogs United, a bipartisan group of Virginia political bloggers from throughout the Commonwealth, gathered in Newport News last weekend to talk about blogging ethics, legal matters, new media, technology, and politics. About three dozen individuals participated.

The speakers included U.S. Representative Rob Wittman (R-VA1) and eight candidates for Congress. I'll be posting video of Congressman Wittman's speech later, but I have already uploaded the eight people who seek to join -- or unseat -- him to YouTube.

The eight come from four different districts -- the First, Second, Third, and Fifth. Here they are, in district numerical order.

From the First District came Democratic candidates Scott Robinson and Krystal Ball, who are seeking their party's nomination to challenge Congressman Wittman in the 2010 general election:

From the Second District, there are four potential Republican challengers to incumbent Representative Glenn Nye: Scott Rigell, Ben Loyola, Kenny Golden, and Scott Taylor:

In the Third District, Coby Dillard is seeking the Republican nomination to face incumbent Congressman Bobby Scott (D-VA):

Finally, in the Fifth District, Michael McPadden is one of six or seven potential Republican challengers seeking to face off against incumbent Representative Tom Perriello (R-VA5):

For more information about Blogs United, check out its web site (a blog, naturally) and its Facebook group.



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