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Richmond doesn’t need fiction; the lore writes itself. We start with the city’s running list of urban legends—the Addison Street “gun hole,” the Church Hill tunnel collapse, the Richmond Vampire, the tank down Broad, Francine the Lowe’s cat—and ask why these stories stick longer than headlines ever do.

From there, the conversation pivots to “conductor” leadership: what it means to shape culture without playing every instrument. Think Rick Rubin and the Steve Jobs analogy—taste, curation, and ruthless editing over busywork. Even the internet’s favorite punchline, “Just Do It” Shia, becomes a lesson in reframing motivation.

We also bring the city into 32-bit: a love-letter game called Small Town RVA (Pump House quests, Pokémon/Zelda energy) that turns local landmarks into a playable map. Then a whiplash detour into conspiracy culture via an 11-page “manifesto” dropped on Perri's windshield—meme politics, hoax lists, and why receipts matter in a post-truth feed.

We loop back through the Richmond gun hole saga (sidewalk shrine, city fill-in, and the rescue of the concrete) before closing on Henry “Box” Brown’s audacious escape from Richmond—history as performance, and why clever shysters still fascinate us.

What we cover:

• Richmond lore roll-call: gun hole, Church Hill tunnel, Richmond Vampire, tank down Broad, Francine
• Conductor vs. specialist: Rick Rubin, Steve Jobs, and the art of directing without “doing it all”
• Motivation reframed: the Shia “Just Do It” meme and why some jokes age into mantras
• Small Town RVA: a 32-bit game turning local history into playable quests
• The 11-page “manifesto”: hoax lists, meme-era politics, and how stories get legs
• Point Five (Carytown): NA/functional bev lineup & why third spaces matter
• The Addison Street gun hole: sidewalk shrine, city response, concrete rescued
• Henry Box Brown: the crate, the route, the showman after freedom—and modern echoes

If Richmond is a story, this chapter is about who gets to hold the pen—the mythmakers, the editors, and the people who turn our city into a weird genre of lore.

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This podcast is produced by Vera House — a creative club and premium media studio based in Richmond, Virginia. Our studio exists to champion local brands, creative expression, rva culture, and produce high-impact content for founders, makers, and modern businesses.

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