Richmond Magazine’s annual Best/Worst of Richmond has been on the newstands for a little bit and I finally got around to getting a copy.  Nice to see the following H&H representatives getting some kudos from fellow Richmonders.

• Kathy Graziano was voted Future Mayor and tied for first as Best Local Public Servant.
• Barry Bless was a Staff Pick by Harry Kollatz Jr. for “making Richmond a happier place”.  Accordion artist extraordinaire, Bless is the driving force behind Happy Lucky Combo, which is just one of his many musical efforts.
• Mexico took Best Mexican restaurant. Joe’s Inn was Best Neighborhood Restaurant with O’Toole’s coming in second.
• Plaza Bowl was voted Best Bowling Alley.
• Legend Brewing came in 2nd for Best Outdoor View losing justifiably to The Boathouse. Why aren’t there more restaurants or bars with river views?
• Blanchard’s Coffee while not directly a winner is the coffee served at The Best Local Coffee, Ellwoods Cafe and Crossroads was 2nd.
• Lastly, I am proud to say that Hills and Heights placed second in the Neighborhood Blog Category.

Thanks to all those that voted for our little blog and congrats to other local winners. Buy the magazine to check out some more Southbank & Southside winners that I didn’t cover, such as chains, Stony Point Fashion Park, Martin’s/Ukrop’s and far Southside.

Stop by O’Toole’s which hosts one of the biggest brawls on St. Pat’s. Richard is the one wearing the straw hat, green soccer jersey and the auburn muttonchops. Stop by, say hi, he’ll be there until 4pm at least.

Nearly every Wednesday at O’Toole’s a few of us gather to play chess and drink beer. It is an informal gathering and lately our numbers have dwindled, so I thought I would send out a request for those that play and never have an opponent or are looking for an excuse to drink beer. All levels, ages, sexes are welcome so pull up a chair and join us. We’ll be the geeks with the chess boards, you can’t miss us.

A quick random related story, a couple of weeks ago in a bit of randomness a mom and her young daughter both with British accents asked if they could play. We of course said yes. The younger of the pair thoroughly beat us all. As the pair were leaving we found out that we had been beaten by the 16 year old champion of England. I may have the age wrong since I tend to focus on the beer aspect of the chess and beer part of the equation. The point is that you never know what is going to happen.

Not only will O’Toole’s be blessed with Bless and the rest of the Happy Lucky gang but there are rumblings of even more accordion fun. From the Happy Lucky Communique we hear;

A while back Pippin and I made a vow to play with people who are better than we are. So in that spirit, Bob Jacobs will join us this Wednesday at O’Toole’s. Bob plays locally with Gypsy Roots and has had a long and fruitful accordion career. My favorite story is when he played for Lawrence Welk at a book signing.

That’s right two accordions for the price of none. I say none because no cover charge means free music so get out there. Emily Avesian, baritone sax, may also join the gang but that is still in the rumor stage.

The Happy Lucky Combo plays this week, Wednesday, June 24 at O’Toole’s. Also featuring fellow Southsider John Winn and Emily Avesian.

Bad news accordian fans, The Happy Lucky Combo will not be performing at O’Toole’s this evening. I’m not sure how well I can play my weekly game of chess without the soothing sounds of klezmer music!

The traditional raising of the white tent that marks  St. Patrick’s arrival into town is missing this week. That is because the addition at O’Toole’s will be open and all the revelry will be inside this year. As always O’Toole’s is not content with a one day celebration and instead goes for 3 straight days of allowing everyone to pretend to be Irish.

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Two musical guests Jonathan Greenberg on trumpet and John Winn on clarinet. As always the music starts around 8:00 at O’Tooles.

If you see some people playing chess stop by and say hello. A group of us gather every Wednesday to play. We don’t take chess too seriously and welcome all levels, unless of course you are really good, our egos can’t take that kind of abuse.

The walls seperating the expansion from the current dining area are down so you can see into the new area. I didn’t have a camera so you will have to check it out yourself. A good amount of work remains to be done but what I can see looks great. The new taps are up, I counted 10, but I didn’t think to ask if all ten were active. Some of the new beers that I could spot were Magic Hat #9, Yuengling and Blue Moon.  I couldn’t tell if they were going to expand the selection of Legend beers beyond the Brown but I am hopeful. The new seating is not set up but did see what looked like a high booth. The rumor floating around is that the expansion will be open in time for St. Patrick’s Day. Next week I will have a post on the traditional O’Toole’s St. Patrick’s Day celebration.

From the Happy Lucky Communique:  Come celebrate BIG FAT WEDNESDAY, February 25, @ O’Toole’s with The Happy Lucky Combo. Special guests this week include Jarene Fleming and trumpeter Jonathan Greenberg.

As always we give Happy Lucky Combo two thumbs up and encourage all our readers to stop by O’Toole’s

Brick Weekly posted an article in January discussing the power of the drum in a band. The article then goes on to highlight 8 great drummers in Richmond.  At the top of the list is Pippin Barnett local Hills and Heights resident and member of The Happy Lucky Combo.

Richmond has spawned many great drummers over the years. Here are but some of them.

1. PIPPIN BARNETT: Pippin is the Art Blakey of Richmond and probably the most influential drummer the capital city has ever known. His forward moving approach to percussion is similar to the wide-open styles of Bill Bruford and Billy Higgins with 1970’s No Wave sensibilities. He is one of the few drummers that I have seen perform that plays his drums as a lead instrument without sounding smugly pretentious.
Suggested listening: The Orthotonics: “Luminous Bipeds” (Cuneiform Records)

The Happy Lucky Combo will be playing at O’Toole’s tonight at 8:00.

Hills and Heights received the good news earlier today that Happy Lucky Combo will be continuing their Wednesday night performances at O’Toole’s for the next two months. The music starts at 8. If you aren’t familiar with the group take a listen to one of their songs here.

If you are already a fan make sure and check out their blog Happy Lucky Commuique.

Richmond Magazine blog reported awhile back that the expansion of O’Toole’s will be completed by March 1st. The delay has been due to zoning issues.

Today’s T-D briefly mentions the work underway. The Snelson’s signs have been down for some time now, and work seems to be moving along quickly…

…the big white tent in front of O’Tooles. Their annual St. Patrick’s celebration runs tonight through Monday with all sorts of live entertainment, Irish and otherwise.

The “South of the James” section of this month’s Richmond Magazine has a nice article on the retail state of Westover Hills. Much of this is old news to the neighborhood association folks, but for the rest of us, some juicy tidbits are there. More below the fold…

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In an article on the proposed statewide restaurant smoking ban, Today’s T-D talks with John O’Toole, whose own O’Toole’s went smoke-free in 2007.

“Our food business has increased,” he said. Sales have grown 6 percent since the Irish pub started asking smokers to step outside last March. “We lost a few customers,” O’Toole said. “But for every one we lost, I think we gained 10.”

Yet O’Toole said he does not like the idea of a state-mandated smoking ban in restaurants. “I still think it should be up to each owner. Some of them cater to smokers, and they shouldn’t have to stop.”