Thanks for the article Ranjit. Re: the reference to LINK WRAY & 'the Power Chord': Here's an update:
Legendary guitarist LINK WRAY is going to be recognized in Fredericksburg with a state historical marker dedication ceremony this fall 2026.
The Virginia Department of Historic Resources approved the marker to commemorate the location where WRAY and his band, the Ray Men, originally improvised the groundbreaking rock instrumental "Rumble".
This moment occurred during the July 12 1957 sock hop that Fredericksburg native and James Monroe HS grad and former Councilor Billy Withers spoke about at the 8-15-26 Historic Fredericksburg Foundation/HFFI LINK WRAY 'Rock, Roll, Rumble & Rebellion" Tribute Party hosted by the WRAY family at the Colonial Tavern.
The MC for that night suggested to LINK WRAY that the teens usually ask for a 'stroll' (a slow dance rhythm). LINK wasn't familiar with it. And instead improvised an aggressive, edgy instrumental track right on the spot. The teens couldn't get enough of it, and asked for more of it throughout the rest of the sock hop.
This Power Chord and heavy distortion, ultimately altered the course of rock, punk, and heavy metal.
The marker will be erected just east of the intersection of U.S. 1 and Fall Hill Avenue (the former site of the Fredericksburg Arena, sometimes called Armory), where the dance took place. While the official ribbon-cutting and dedication for the physical highway marker will take place this fall, no date/time has yet been announced.
Monitor the following sites for the announcement: The Historic Fredericksburg Foundation (HFFI) events calendar, as they are actively involved in promoting the commemoration.
• The Virginia Department of Historic Resources press page, which regularly updates public unveiling logistics for newly cast markers.
• The City of Fredericksburg's official Government Newsflash, where public attendance details for municipal dedications are posted.
As part of HFFI’s LINK WRAY Tribute Day on 8-15-26, we took a trolley ride through Fredericksburg, tracing the path to where the Fredericksburg Arena once stood. As our driver pulled into the back of the lot, on Rt. 1 near Fall Hill Ave, we rolled through a cloud of smoke from a mobile BBQ—a surreal moment that made us feel as if we had stepped straight back in time. The driver played 'Rumble' on the spot.
I admire and share the intent, to a certain extent, but not the diagnosis, nor the strategy.
Much akin to the idea that the solution to racism is more language police, rather than substantive policies changing the economic and civil liberty harms done due to racism - I'm not sure more catchy jingoes are the cure for addressing environmental concerns.
In fact, I've come to believe such tactics have done more harm than good for most issues which people care about. IN the amount of energy wasted upon them, then celebrating them, and then feeling like the problem has been solved.
You know, like a successful fund raiser for poor, likable Timmy's sick Aunt's chemo treatment, rather than asking why we suffer a system where choosing between the house and chemo is an everyday choice.
Thumping each other's back when we provided 500 turkeys for Thanksgiving, rather than asking why 500 hundred families don't know where their next meal is coming from.
Pablum for us rather than realistic solutions.
Wouldn't we do better if we solved it like we did ozone depletion?
If you figure out what matters, look at what's being gotten rid of, and what is being tolerated by those in power.
No one's going after your Marvin Gaye. (Though I notice few venues giving Natalie Merchant's rendition of "Which Side Are You On?" much play time - but maybe I missed it on American Idol or the Super Bowl halftime show).
Still, I can download it if I want to (and have).
What IS being systematically destroyed ARE regulations that protect not only the environment, and the people who happen to live in it, which, it turns out, is most of them (giving exceptions to some members of the Musk, Bezo's, and Stephen Miller families, of which I'm not so sure).
Civil liberties, inspector generals, rule of law, treaties, the Constitution.
The problem with focusing on marketing rather than policy, is that - as we found when those hippies aged and got their 4001k's tied to the stock market more than the farmer's market- they started voted with the end of their body closest to their wallet, rather the one near their hearts and brains.
Solutions?
Fair question to a man who criticizes.
No one magic potion, certainly. Neither a song nor dance, though there is a time and place for both.
I would first suggest more objective diagnoses of the problems.
When you start your basis on the time of your youth as being some halcyon day of yore, rather than a time which was different, but not necessarily better - it may fit well in a poem, but the data may not back you up.
I've never read Anne Dillard's ode to Tinker Creek, but from what I've heard, its moving - in a back to nature sort of way.
I did grow up a few miles downstream of Hollins College though. And while it may have been more pristine back then in that protected environment - I remember that stream of blessed memory a little differently.
Yes, we got to fish the creek a couple of times a year for the put and take trout provided at the insistence of the local legislator who just happened to own a convenience store along the bank.
It was grand. As were the fried bologna and egg sandwiches he made.
Great guy.
But just upstream of the dam they quit stocking pretty quick. The water wasn't as choice. Slower, muddier,
Also filled with peculiar floating mossy blobs that strangely related to the open sewer pipes discharging.
Smelled funny too, never could figure out why.
Upstream a little farther, the fish were more stunted than you would expect in a stream that large. Caught a yellow mudcat there one time, about the ugliest fish I ever seen. Swam crooked. Threw it back.
That was just below the Eli Lilly discharge pipe which folkds weren't encouraged to get to close to, you know, for "security" concerns.
And if the wind came from the south or east - the views around the Singer Furniture plant may not have been that breathtaking, but the VOC's certainly were.
Of course, closer to home, if you were young, bored, and looking for amusement - you could peel the lead paint chips off of the new aluminum siding as long as your Mom didn't catch you.
Much, much of that has changed since that time.
Some would say for the better.
My grandsons don't feast on lead chips. The factories have closed, and their worst damages were addressed long before then.
Some would say they closed because we traded our jobs away to China. I would say we did so without compelling China to have a fair playing field. We made sure Tinker Creek ran pure, but not the Yangtze. But that was a failure to make our policies apply to all of our products, not because the policies weren't worthwhile.
Likewise for wages, civil liberties, and rule of law.
And in many cases, us "liberals" are just as guilty as anyone else. Maybe worse, because we ought to know better.
We say we're enlightened, and if we'd been alive back in the day we'd been dead set against slavery. We prove it by melting a stature here, taking a license plate there, making sure everyone knows the proper term du jour.
Yet we shop at Walmart or Amazon, same as anyone else - giving little thought to those Uighurs slaving in the factory near Tibet, But that's different, right?
So I would suggest on all of these things, including the environment - the first thing is not a catchy tune.
But rather a clear, objective diagnosis of suspected problems, with clear metrics.
As was done for particulate matter. PCBs, leachate, whatever.
Then how do we fix it?
Again, with hard, solid plans that involve continual feedback.
Here's a key part, which everyone one of us now labeled as "communists' should embrace.
Insist the solution involve capitalism. With both the damages and solutions monetized and again, continually monitored for return on investment.
Will it work?
I would say based upon how much programs like Project 2025 wanted them destroyed, and how Republicans such as Youngkin attacked RGGI, and the Republican SCOTUS, Congress, and President are attacking our civil liberties, environmental protections, treaties, civil service, Constitution, and rule of law - they have already told us what is worth protecting.
Respectfully, I would say those are the things we should focus on.
If you want to hum a tune while doing so, by all means - do. There's plenty of work to go around in the meantime.
"If a tree falls in the forest, does anyone hear?......"
"In the year 2525...."
Moving.
Thanks for the article Ranjit. Re: the reference to LINK WRAY & 'the Power Chord': Here's an update:
Legendary guitarist LINK WRAY is going to be recognized in Fredericksburg with a state historical marker dedication ceremony this fall 2026.
The Virginia Department of Historic Resources approved the marker to commemorate the location where WRAY and his band, the Ray Men, originally improvised the groundbreaking rock instrumental "Rumble".
This moment occurred during the July 12 1957 sock hop that Fredericksburg native and James Monroe HS grad and former Councilor Billy Withers spoke about at the 8-15-26 Historic Fredericksburg Foundation/HFFI LINK WRAY 'Rock, Roll, Rumble & Rebellion" Tribute Party hosted by the WRAY family at the Colonial Tavern.
The MC for that night suggested to LINK WRAY that the teens usually ask for a 'stroll' (a slow dance rhythm). LINK wasn't familiar with it. And instead improvised an aggressive, edgy instrumental track right on the spot. The teens couldn't get enough of it, and asked for more of it throughout the rest of the sock hop.
This Power Chord and heavy distortion, ultimately altered the course of rock, punk, and heavy metal.
The marker will be erected just east of the intersection of U.S. 1 and Fall Hill Avenue (the former site of the Fredericksburg Arena, sometimes called Armory), where the dance took place. While the official ribbon-cutting and dedication for the physical highway marker will take place this fall, no date/time has yet been announced.
Monitor the following sites for the announcement: The Historic Fredericksburg Foundation (HFFI) events calendar, as they are actively involved in promoting the commemoration.
• The Virginia Department of Historic Resources press page, which regularly updates public unveiling logistics for newly cast markers.
• The City of Fredericksburg's official Government Newsflash, where public attendance details for municipal dedications are posted.
As part of HFFI’s LINK WRAY Tribute Day on 8-15-26, we took a trolley ride through Fredericksburg, tracing the path to where the Fredericksburg Arena once stood. As our driver pulled into the back of the lot, on Rt. 1 near Fall Hill Ave, we rolled through a cloud of smoke from a mobile BBQ—a surreal moment that made us feel as if we had stepped straight back in time. The driver played 'Rumble' on the spot.
Is that the problem?
Really?
I would posit that it is not.
I admire and share the intent, to a certain extent, but not the diagnosis, nor the strategy.
Much akin to the idea that the solution to racism is more language police, rather than substantive policies changing the economic and civil liberty harms done due to racism - I'm not sure more catchy jingoes are the cure for addressing environmental concerns.
In fact, I've come to believe such tactics have done more harm than good for most issues which people care about. IN the amount of energy wasted upon them, then celebrating them, and then feeling like the problem has been solved.
You know, like a successful fund raiser for poor, likable Timmy's sick Aunt's chemo treatment, rather than asking why we suffer a system where choosing between the house and chemo is an everyday choice.
Thumping each other's back when we provided 500 turkeys for Thanksgiving, rather than asking why 500 hundred families don't know where their next meal is coming from.
Pablum for us rather than realistic solutions.
Wouldn't we do better if we solved it like we did ozone depletion?
If you figure out what matters, look at what's being gotten rid of, and what is being tolerated by those in power.
No one's going after your Marvin Gaye. (Though I notice few venues giving Natalie Merchant's rendition of "Which Side Are You On?" much play time - but maybe I missed it on American Idol or the Super Bowl halftime show).
Still, I can download it if I want to (and have).
What IS being systematically destroyed ARE regulations that protect not only the environment, and the people who happen to live in it, which, it turns out, is most of them (giving exceptions to some members of the Musk, Bezo's, and Stephen Miller families, of which I'm not so sure).
Civil liberties, inspector generals, rule of law, treaties, the Constitution.
The problem with focusing on marketing rather than policy, is that - as we found when those hippies aged and got their 4001k's tied to the stock market more than the farmer's market- they started voted with the end of their body closest to their wallet, rather the one near their hearts and brains.
Solutions?
Fair question to a man who criticizes.
No one magic potion, certainly. Neither a song nor dance, though there is a time and place for both.
I would first suggest more objective diagnoses of the problems.
When you start your basis on the time of your youth as being some halcyon day of yore, rather than a time which was different, but not necessarily better - it may fit well in a poem, but the data may not back you up.
I've never read Anne Dillard's ode to Tinker Creek, but from what I've heard, its moving - in a back to nature sort of way.
I did grow up a few miles downstream of Hollins College though. And while it may have been more pristine back then in that protected environment - I remember that stream of blessed memory a little differently.
Yes, we got to fish the creek a couple of times a year for the put and take trout provided at the insistence of the local legislator who just happened to own a convenience store along the bank.
It was grand. As were the fried bologna and egg sandwiches he made.
Great guy.
But just upstream of the dam they quit stocking pretty quick. The water wasn't as choice. Slower, muddier,
Also filled with peculiar floating mossy blobs that strangely related to the open sewer pipes discharging.
Smelled funny too, never could figure out why.
Upstream a little farther, the fish were more stunted than you would expect in a stream that large. Caught a yellow mudcat there one time, about the ugliest fish I ever seen. Swam crooked. Threw it back.
That was just below the Eli Lilly discharge pipe which folkds weren't encouraged to get to close to, you know, for "security" concerns.
And if the wind came from the south or east - the views around the Singer Furniture plant may not have been that breathtaking, but the VOC's certainly were.
Of course, closer to home, if you were young, bored, and looking for amusement - you could peel the lead paint chips off of the new aluminum siding as long as your Mom didn't catch you.
Much, much of that has changed since that time.
Some would say for the better.
My grandsons don't feast on lead chips. The factories have closed, and their worst damages were addressed long before then.
Some would say they closed because we traded our jobs away to China. I would say we did so without compelling China to have a fair playing field. We made sure Tinker Creek ran pure, but not the Yangtze. But that was a failure to make our policies apply to all of our products, not because the policies weren't worthwhile.
Likewise for wages, civil liberties, and rule of law.
And in many cases, us "liberals" are just as guilty as anyone else. Maybe worse, because we ought to know better.
We say we're enlightened, and if we'd been alive back in the day we'd been dead set against slavery. We prove it by melting a stature here, taking a license plate there, making sure everyone knows the proper term du jour.
Yet we shop at Walmart or Amazon, same as anyone else - giving little thought to those Uighurs slaving in the factory near Tibet, But that's different, right?
So I would suggest on all of these things, including the environment - the first thing is not a catchy tune.
But rather a clear, objective diagnosis of suspected problems, with clear metrics.
As was done for particulate matter. PCBs, leachate, whatever.
Then how do we fix it?
Again, with hard, solid plans that involve continual feedback.
Here's a key part, which everyone one of us now labeled as "communists' should embrace.
Insist the solution involve capitalism. With both the damages and solutions monetized and again, continually monitored for return on investment.
Will it work?
I would say based upon how much programs like Project 2025 wanted them destroyed, and how Republicans such as Youngkin attacked RGGI, and the Republican SCOTUS, Congress, and President are attacking our civil liberties, environmental protections, treaties, civil service, Constitution, and rule of law - they have already told us what is worth protecting.
Respectfully, I would say those are the things we should focus on.
If you want to hum a tune while doing so, by all means - do. There's plenty of work to go around in the meantime.
"If a tree falls in the forest, does anyone hear?......"