Podcast by RVA Dirt
We're baaaaAaaaaack! And better than ever! Fran and Melissa are joined by new education correspondents Becca and Emily. And fan favorite Taikein Cooper returns to give us his insight on the state of education in the Commonwealth. Original air date: January 19, 2023
It's #WomensHistoryMonth and we are so inspired by today's guests. We're talking cannabis law with two of the hardest working women in the game - Sheba Williams of Nolef Turns, Inc. and Ngiste Abebe of Columbia Care. Both are also on the board of Virginia NORML.
On this week's episode of our Black History Makers series we welcome Renaissance woman Amy Wentz to the show to talk Richmond Black Restaurant Experience, BLK RVA, Southside Releaf, and all things good for Black Richmond.
Melissa tries to figure out the driving force behind #rvacouncils casino obsession.
We are so pleased to honor and amplify the voice of Duron Chavis on #MUNICIPALMANIA to kick off our #BlackHistoryMakers series this month!
We talk Virginia Solidarity Economy Network with Matthew Slaats. Who needs capitalism when you could have CoOps?
Melissa is back turning #rvacouncil tweets into radio. Chronicling the January 10, 2022 meeting of Richmond City Council.
Today begins the 5th season of #MUNICIPALMANIA! We are excited to be back after a heckin long hiatus. As is tradition, our first guest of the year is #rvamayor Levar Stoney. Fran & Melissa also give y'all a little life update.
Last Wednesday evening I was supposed to sub on Midtown Swing for the lovely and amazing DJ Ginger. Well, the Universe had other plans and thwarted me by borking everything in my path. LOLSOB. Anyway, I really wanted to share my not-so-normal holiday show with all y'all, so here it is, in it's entirety, as it would have aired on WRIR-LP 97.3FM RICHMOND. Please enjoy HOLIDAY MIDTOWN SWING: XMAS CHEER & BAH HUMBUGS, TOO! Playlist: Keenan Thompson (SNL) - Sump'n Claus Rebel Cats - Santa Claus Llego A La Ciudad (Santa Claus Is Coming To Town) The Killers - The Cowboy's Christmas Ball Holly Golightly - Christmas Tree's On Fire Carol of the Bells - Trans-Siberian Orchestra (my absolute fave carol EVERRRRR) DropKick Murphys - The Seasons Upon Us If 50 Cent's 'In Da Club' Was A Christmas Carol - Ali Spagnola and Chriss Rupp DOKKEN - Santa Claus Is Coming To Town Emmy the Great & Tim Wheeler - Zombie Christmas Bootsy Collins - Boot-Off The Flaming Lips - Christmas at the Zoo Corey Taylor - X-M@$ Stephen Colbert - Just Another Christmas Song God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen - Ronnie James Dio The Waltons - Christmastime on Waltons Mountain Star Wars Christmas - R2-D2, We Wish You a Merry Christmas Erin McKeown - Santa is an A**hole The Squirrel Nut Zippers - Sleigh Ride Skaza - Last Christmas Bobnoxious - The Police Nabbed My Dad Sesame Street - Counting The Days Save Ferris - Christmas Wrap Amon Amarth - Viking Christmas Akim & Teddy Vann - Santa Claus Is A Black Man Lemmy Kilmister, Dave Grohl & Billy F. Gibbons - Run Rudolph Run Pledge Drive - Christmas Rhapsody The Killers - Joel the Lump of Coal (feat Jimmy Kimmel) Joe Satriani - Heavy Metal Christmas Bob Rivers - Be Claus I Got High Sum 41 & Tenacious D - Things I Want Arleisha - Pop That Booty For Santa (feat. Scholar Kuwgi) Big Dumb Face - Christmas in the Cave of Dagoth
Melissa Vaughn speaks with Brian Palmer, a descendant and volunteer with Friends of East End Cemetery, a non-profit organization working to restore, preserve, and archive the lives interred in this and neighboring Evergreen Cemetery, both historic African American burial grounds located in Richmond, VA. This piece is part of KCRW's 24 Hour Radio Race.
Melissa chats with creator/host/producer of Richmond's only locally produced children's radio show & podcast, RPS parent Mario Brown of Mr. Dad's Storytime.
Melissa welcomes the Friends of East End Cemetery back to #MUNICIPALMANIA! Thank you to Brian Palmer, Erin Hollaway Palmer, Melissa Pocock and everyone else involved for their continued dedication to uncovering and telling the stories buried here.
Fran and Melissa round out Pride Month with friends Melanin Monroe, Identity Crisis, and Jasmen ClitO'patra. Just some gals having a shit chat.
Fran and Melissa chat with 5 members of the LGBTQ+ small business community -- Natasha McKeller Crosby, Emmett Wright, Lilith Zarling, Bethany Frazier, and Luise 'Cheezi' Farmer.
Fran and our guest Taikein Cooper dish the dirt on Virginia's Democratic Primary.
Welcome to our #MUNICIPALMANIA #Pride2021
Fran and Melissa welcome back multiple time guest Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney to get an update on his priorities for the City.
The gals speak with Dr. Eli Coston and Angela Fontaine, co-chairs of the Task Force to create a Civilian Review Board for the City of Richmond.
We speak with Richmond's Democratic Candidates for Commonwealth's attorney Tom Barbour and incumbent Colette McEachin ahead of the June 8 primary.
Melissa chats with Sam Schwartzkopf, Peter Briel, and Tina Haney about the newest in new when it comes to Citizen Services by the City of Richmond for the people. Give us a listen then go play on RVA.gov and the RVA 311 app!
We sat down last month during Women's History Month to talk about ALL THINGS GRTC Transit System with CEO Julie Timm and Marketing & Comms Director Carrie Rose Pace.
A truly accurate recap of the April 12, 2021 meeting of Richmond City Council.
Fran and Melissa needed to blow off some steam so they invited some of Richmond's hottest Drag Queens to join them for a kiki. Chicki Parm, Melanin Monroe, Identity Crisis, and Javon Love fill us in on what they've been doing to survive and thrive during this endless pepperoni pandemonium.
Melissa and Fran open up about Melissa's breast cancer diagnosis and Fran's cancer caregiver role, plus we speak with Erin Steigleder, Kirsta Millar, and Tara Daudani with the Virginia Breast Cancer Foundation. More information on this absolutely fabulous resource for anyone affected by breast cancer can be found at vbcf.org
Melissa is feeling generous and not gentrifous on this week's Q&D, chronicling the March 22, 2021 meeting of Richmond City Council.
We wrap our Women-Led Supermajority of Richmond City Council special with some truly powerhouse gals! Stephanie Lynch (5th), Council Vice President Ellen Robertson (6th) and Council President Dr. Cynthia Newbille (7th) Check out our upcoming Youtube channel for an extra 20 minutes on Municipal Mania Uncut! Just search RVA Dirt on Youtube!
We talk with Katherine Jordan (2nd), Ann-Frances Lambert (3rd), and Kristen Nye Larson (4th) about the lady-led supermajority on #rvacouncil and what it's like for women in Richmond politics. Happy Women's History Month.
Quick&Dirty City Council Roundup 01.21.2021 by RVA Dirt
Fran and Melissa talk some sh*t about current events.
Fran and Melissa check in with RPS Superintendent Jason Kamras to see what the kids are up to these days.
It's the last episode of #MUNICIPALMANIA for 2020‼️‼️‼️ Today's guest: recently reelected #rvamayor Levar Stoney checks in with us on his continuing Rona priorities and what the next term holds. #MaskItOrCasket
An historically accurate recounting of the December 14, 2020 meeting of Richmond City Council, thankfully the last of this turdburger of a year.
Fran and Melissa talk election fatigue, self care, and current events in their return to the air after a loooooong and much needed break.
What in the H-E-L-L? A recounting of the November 9, 2020 meeting of Richmond, VA City Council.
We are so excited to wrap our candidate forum series with the Mayoral Forum. Such a pleasure speaking with incumbent #rvamayor Levar Stoney and challenger Alexsis Rodgers. Justin Griffin and Tracey McClean couldn't make our deadline and Kim Gray sent us a robo campaign message and no actual reply. Shocker. Enjoy and remember, if you haven't already, VOTE!
Our last district forum is here! We welcome 1st district #rvacouncil candidates incumbent Andreas Addison and his challengers Mike Gray and Mike Dickinson, plus bonus appearance by uncontested #rpsboard incumbent Liz Doerr. It's a good one and it should gear you up for our grand finale.... The Mayoral Forum! Next week!
Bringing a bit of pumpkin spice magic to the 2nd District Candidates Forum! Today Fran and Melissa speak with Scott Barlow the #RPSBoard incumbent, as well as Katherine Jordan and Tavarris Spinks who are both running to fill the #RVACouncil seat, which will be vacated by Kim Gray who is running for #RVAMayor.
The 3rd is up as we near the last few episodes of our Candidates Forum series. Francesca and Melissa are joined by #rvacouncil candidates Willie Hilliard, Ann-Frances Lambert, and Elaine Summerfield, plus #rpsboard incumbent Kenya Gibson and her challenger Sabrina Gross.
Today we are joined by 4th District candidates Deanna Fierro for #RPSBoard and unopposed #RVACouncil incumbent Kristen Nye Larson to discuss their platforms and why they deserve your vote November 3rd.
This week Fran and Melissa are joined by the 5th district candidates for #RPSBoard and #RVACouncil -- Stephanie Rizzi, Jenny Aghomo, and Decardra Jackson for School Board and incumbent Stephanie Lynch and her challenger Jer'Mykeal McCoy for Council.
It's another candidate forum! This time candidates for the 6th district #rvacouncil and #rpsboard join us to convince us to vote for them! Ellen Robertson and Allan-Charles Chipman for Council and Shonda Harris-Muhammad and Lynette Plummer for School Board.
We are joined by multiple time guest, Superintendent Jason Kamras, who lets us in on the state of Virtual RPS!
MUNICIPAL MANIA EPISODE 105 - "7TH DISTRICT CANDIDATE FORUM" - AUGUST 19, 2020 by RVA Dirt
We are excited to continue our Candidate Forums, this time with the 8th District! We are joined by Amy Wentz and Regie Ford, vying for the council seat held for 17 years by Reva Trammell. And also, school board incumbent Dawn Page joins us to let you know how she plans to continue improving life for the 8th District's children. **Councilwoman Reva Trammell and School Board challenger Dana Sally Allen were contacted for this show, but neither replied to multiple requests.**
IT'S OUR #ELECTION2020 CANDIDATE FORUMS!!! We begin with the 9th District. School Board Candidate Nicole Jones and City Council Incumbent Dr. Mike Jones join us and let me tell you, IT IS A FIRE EPISODE!
It's the return of the Quick and Dirty Council Roundup, hosted by RVA Dirt's Melissa Vaughn. Get all the dirt on the July 27, 2020 meeting of Richmond City Council and a heavy dose of shade, to boot.
We're back from hiatus! We missed you! Join us for a much needed discussion about the state of policing in Richmond w/special guest Dr. Eli Coston repping RTAP.
This week we welcome 2 of our faves to Municipal Mania for the first time! Artist Hamilton Glass tells us about his new project Mending Walls and the 2019 National Teacher of the Year Rodney Robinson chats with us about the state of education. Music by Poor Righteous Teachers "Each One Teach One"
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