2009 Year in Review…The Big Memes

Everyone else is doing it, so here it goes. As a compiler of news/real time historian/social media expert ;p , here were the big stories of 2009 (serious, silly, and in-between. So what’d I miss?):

January 2009

• Started with (perhaps) the last Carytown NYE celebration ever. Cheap bastards didn’t fill the donation boxes.
• Style Weekly names the “Whistleblower” as Richmonder of the Year. If you recall 2008 was the year of the VCU scandals.
• Wilder’s last days…Jones’ inauguration
• Xin Yang murder. The already psychically fragile Virginia Tech campus gets another tragedy.
• Obama’s BFF Tim Kaine is tapped as the new head of the DNC. Will he have enough RAM to multi-app?
• Kaine’s BFF Barack Obama gets inaugurated. Hardest ticket ever. History rejoices.
• The Shockoe Baseball development story begins to heat up. This story will go on and on and on until the squirrel.
• After 60 years in the business, Circuit City officially closes its doors. 2009 would be a sad year of homegrown businesses shutting down.

February 2009

• February started off with the VCU Police Chief sex chatroom scandal. The transcript of Hotcop2006 and Hannahmontana2012 (undercover Chesterfield PD) engenders shock and chuckles.
• Chris Brown gets arrested in LA for beating then girlfriend Rihanna. It’ll have a Richmond angle.
• While NYC was dealing with their Madoff scandal, Lord Allen Stanford hides out with his girl in Virginia.
• Movieland opens up to rave reviews. Nominal tax dollars used.
• Michael Rao is named the new President of VCU. So will we finally see football on Franklin St?

March 2009

• Phish returns from a long hiatus and they choose Hampton of all places to start their comeback tour.
• Some serious discussion around moving the National Slave Museum to Shockoe (as an add-on project to the Shockoe Baseball initiative)
• Toad’s Place closes its doors and Lady Gaga begins her first of many RVA show cancellations.
• Native Richmonder and Detroit Lion Corey Smith is lost in sea after horrofic fishing trip. Reminds us again that Nature is always in charge.
• Richmond issues $100,000 to study baseball proposal.
• Wal-Mart versus Wilderness Civil War preservation groups. Gee, I wonder who’ll win that one.
• CW films ‘Body Politic’ pilot (eventually not picked up) in Richmond.
• Tobacoo Avenue’s Girl Scout Cookie Chronicles…just because…
• Richmond School Board gets a public scolding for trying to institute a speech restriction policy.
• Chesterfield County’s anti-dancing ordinance. Now I gotta cut loose, footloose…

April 2009

• First Market Bank bought by Union Bankshares. The first sign of the #ukropalypse?
• Slaughterama.
• The Taliaferro trial opens up old wounds.
• Barely on the job for a year, state GOP chair Jeff Frederick steps down after an ugly fight.
• An 18 year media ban on US soldier coffins returning home is lifted as the body of Staff Sgt. Phillip Myers returns home to Hopewell.
• 2009 would be a painful transition year for the daily newspaper business. Media General lays off employees including many household name writers.
• Good friends at Gay RVA open shop.
• Eggleston Hotel Collapses. For me, this event really hit home the power of twitter (as coverage was occurring in real time)
• NYC Mayor Mike Bloomberg starts a media campaign going after Virginia’s loose gun laws. Times it with the one year anniversary of the Virginia Tech tragedy.
• The Richmond Tea Party is born.
• Swine flu is born.

May 2009

• Busch wins all three races in Richmond. To think, he would not make the cup race.
• Bear sightings!
• William & Mary students break the Guinness World Record for the most people doing Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” dance. This video will become viral again later in the year.
• SMCRVA is born.
• In another media sign o the times, Q-94 replaces local favorites Sid and Melissa for a (cheaper) nationally syndicated morning show.
• Lots of retail robberies. A crime wave?
• SaveRichmond’s Don Harrison essentially calls out the mayor for having no testicles (re Downtown Plan). Harrison would later become Style Weekly’s new Arts and Culture Editor.
• Richmond loses yet another significant national retail HQ in S&K. I guarantee it.
• Michael Vick released from Kansas prison, returns home to Hampton…Football and traditional media speculate his next move.

June 2009

• Democratic primary was as heated and covered as the actual November race. Creigh Deeds emerges victor of the triple threat match.
• Bill Murray just randomly hangs out in Richmond. Serious Delirium!
• Another successful Broad Appétit.
• Police temporarily shut down Rumors for hosting an “illegal” music show. “CAPs” enters the Richmond lexicon.
• Velvet’s Sam Moore puts up a banner protesting the Shockoe Baseball project. Yeah, he’ll be back.
• Conrad Stoltz wins XTERRA despite nasty foot injury.
• The VITA scandal begins. Director Lemuel Stewart falls on sword. Times Dispatch begins its relentless coverage.
• Austin’s Byron Marshall is recruited to be the city’s new CAO.
• Kings Dominion UFO sighting.
• Highwoods properties drops out of Shockoe baseball project, essentially, killing it.
• Two DC Metro Red Line Trains Collide Near Fort Totten.
• Pandora Founder Tim Westergren visits Richmond for town hall.

July 2009

• Eugene Trani’s last day as VCU president.
• The $100K baseball study is released anticlimactically.
• Michael Jackson dies. Richmonder Chad Brown live tweets from LA, once again, showing the awesomeness of Twitter.
• The legendary Black Dog joins Michael up in heaven.
• The City Hall Ford police car procurement mess.
• Ex-VCU star Brandon Inge voted to All-Star game. Would have an awful home run derby.
• Yellow Brick Road Daycare tragedy.
• Due to budget crisis, the state closes down a number of highway rest stops. Virginians piss their pants over this.
• Melendez-Diaz v. Massachusetts ruling to wreck havoc on state forensics lab.
• Richmond Fair to feature monkeys riding dog racing. Did the thing ever happen?
• The Ukrop’s sale rumor rocks RVA’s newsrooms. @Mr_Sterling coins the term #Ukropalypse.
• UR alumni Adnan Hajizada is taken political prisoner in his home of Azerbaijan. The Collegian takes local leadership in covering the story.
• The first debate between McDonnell and Deeds occurs in Deeds’ backyard. Mmmm, Hommestead butter.
• Michael Vick is now a Philadelphia Eagles wildcat QB.

August 2009

• Chris Brown Short Pump Town Center sightings.
• Robot Chicken’s Seth Green hosts a skate party in Richmond to move some DVDs.
• Richmond media institution Gene Cox steps down from 11 PM broadcast to get some sleep.
• Harris Teeter is kicked out of the #Ukropalypse.
• The Matko Trial.
• Best Friends Day 8.
• Chris Brown is sentenced in LA to serve community service in Richmond.
• The Robin Starr/Louie story explodes. Everyone and their dog has an opinion on this one.
• #hashbrownnetworking is born.
• Kings Dominion announces their largest roller coaster to date: the Dale Earnhardt inspired Intimidator 305.
• Balliceaux opens up. Probably, the hottest restaurant opening in 2009.
• Ex-Richmonder, Manhattahn socialite Tinsley Mortimer separates from husband.
• The Washington Post publishes Bob McDonnell’s Regent U thesis. It would be a tough couple of weeks for the future governor.

September 2009

• Redskins sue grandmother fan. This would be the straw that broke the camel’s back (at least for me)
• CenterStage finally opens.
• Fall NASCAR race. Say what you want about NASCAR, but no other event in Richmond gets this much national coverage.
• Reggae artist Buju Banton becomes toxic due to protests from the Richmond gay community. All Richmond shows cancelled.
• Defenders announce they are leaving Connecticut to play Double AA at the Diamond.
• Cleveland Show debuts. Stoolbend as Richmond.
• Doug Wilder does not endorse either candidate for Governor which is essentially not endorsing Deeds which is essentially endorsing McDonnell.
• Chris Brown performs community service picking trash. The media goes nuts trying to find the secret location.
• The Farmville Horrorcore murders.
• InLight 2009.
• River City video goes viral.
• Master media manipulator Sam Moore creates more controversy by hanging up a giant Obama/Joker banner.
• After multiple cancellations, Lady Gaga finally plays Richmond.
• City Hall shakeup. Rachel Flynn loses power.

October 2009

• U2 plays Scott Stadium.
• The new Richmond baseball team holds a naming contest (Rock Hoppers, Rhinos, Flatheads, Flying Squirrels, Hambones, Hush Puppies). Hilarity ensues.
• Busch Gardens is sold.
• The first non-black Miss Hampton U. Small race drama.
• Richmond Folk Festival.
• Three Lakes Park is the third local park to get hit with racist graffiti.
• Ladies and Gentleman, I give you the Richmond Flying Squirrels.
• Creigh Deeds will lose the election next month for multiple reasons. Washington Post pens a pre-mortem.
• The Morgan Harrington/Metallica concert saga begins.
• A manatee is spotted in the James River near Richmond. I could go with a number of fat jokes here but won’t.
• Drew Barrymore is spotted in Richmond re-creating the NY Times 36 Hours article.
• Swine Flu reaches its fall peak.
• Richmond Zombie Walk! When there is no more room in Hell.
• Robert Crumb visits.

November 2009

• Bob McDonnell destroys Creigh Deeds. GOP sweeps statewide elections.
• The Fort Hood shootings have a Virginia connection.
• Velvet’s Sam Moore’s ABC hearing is R-rated. The adage of no sex in the champagne room is challenged.
• DC/Ashland Sniper John Allen Muhammad is executed.
• Richard Kelly’s The Box doesn’t do too well at the box.
• Harry Shearer visits. For some reason, the celebrities dig the Carytown.
• Rains like crazy in Virginia. Massive flooding in Hampton Roads. Governor Kaine gets some grief for attending an Arkansas fundraiser in the middle of all this.
• Danville TEA Party considers then cancels effigy burning of Perriello, Pelosi. Bush league psych out stuff, man.
• City Projects $10 Million Shortfall.
• Richmond Sheriff Woody is under investigation for sexual harassment but is quickly acquitted for lack of evidence.
• Al Groh is fired as UVA’s head football coach. He could never beat Tech.

December 2009

• December 1 smoking ban (sort of) in the world capitol of tobacco.
• The Salahis aka White House party crashers.
• UVA hires Mike London.
• The Ballad of Col Barfoot
• The Time Square gunman story also has a Virginia angle
• Redskins fire Cerrato, hire Allen, court Shanahan.
• Ahold buys Ukrops for 89 million euros.
• Major snowstorm shuts down Richmond. snOMG is born.
• Barack Obama prank calls Tim Kaine’s last radio show as governor.
• The inventor of the Sports Machine, George Michael, dies.
• The media inundate us with Best of 2009/Best of the Decade retrospectives. Including this one!

That year, that decade, flew!