So here’s a confession: C-VILLE’s two arts guys, Brendan Fitzgerald and John Ruscher, took some heat from a letter to the editor last week about the A-Z Music cover story from April 15. The letter writer, John Dove, didn’t like the W–Washed Up section of the story.
Well, neither Brendan nor John wrote that one. I did. So shots like this one were completely off target:
"Let me clue you in on something, Mr. Fitzgerald. When artists such as the ones you so smugly mock sell 50 or 60 or 70 million albums in their careers, that means people like them. A lot of people. People far less intelligent than you and the C-VILLE music critics admittedly, but nevertheless."
Never mind that the artists I picked out as not being washed up—some indie asshole name Bruce Springsteen and another guy with pigtails—have sold millions of records. And while this is absolutely the first time anyone has ever accused me of being intelligent about music, however tongue-in-check the accusation may be, Mr. Dove really shouldn’t take it out on our music critics.
I’m the one you want. Do what you want with me, but let the indie rockers go.
And speaking of the indie crowd … aw, shit … Mr. Dove went and pissed them right off. Please see this Nailgun post as exhibit A of why I’ve learned never to pick a fight about music with a skinny kid in tight jeans:
"Anyhow, back to the issue at hand; Mr. Dove may think it’s quite beneath his dignity to attend a 30-person warehouse show, but those of us who actually bother to venture outside of the narrow range of choices offered to us by mass culture and to get involved in the music community will have opportunity to be directly enriched by a shared artistic and social experience, while Mr. Dove and his ilk are paying hundreds of dollars to sit in the back of a stadium, hundreds of feet away from a tiny speck representing an artist whose creative peak happened several decades ago."
Now that’s all cleared up, let’s get back to the original thought that I had when I wrote the "Washed Up" section, namely that The Eagles are easily the worse band in the history of ever. I’m sure we can all agree on that.
Hey, everybody—Charlottesville has coffeeshops! Lots of coffeeshops. You can drink coffee all over this town. This serves as news peg for a fairly frothy piece in today’s Washington Post in which a reporter visits four of our local caffeine palaces to size up the flavor of each—in the cups and in the crowd. The “really interesting” hairdos of young Mudhouse patrons get a mention; Café Cubano is labeled “definitively cool”; Shenandoah Joe and C’ville Coffee get nods as well. It’s all rather dull, stimulants notwithstanding, but that could just be our jaded local viewpoint talking. Maybe next time the Post takes a touristy trip around the ‘ville, they’ll review the luxury stationery collections at various local gift shops!
Mudhouse, along with other local coffee shops, was featured in a Washington Post article today.
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The Hope Community Center’s role as an evening homeless shelter is coming to an imminent end, its founder revealed today at a 1pm press conference at the center on 341 11th St. NW. The official announcement followed comments he made at a 6pm meeting at Region Ten the night before. According to Pastor Harold Bare, their finances are beyond tight and continued opposition from the city has worsened the bind. Just last week, the shelter was cited by a city building official for a number of fire code violations and had their maximum guest occupant load set at 20 per building.
With only a couple more days to comply, Hope’s shelter director Josh Bare said over 30 men stay there on a regular basis. "How am I supposed to tell 10-15 guys they can’t sleep here tonight?" he asked.
Josh Bare, the closest thing we’ve seen to an angel on earth in a long time, could not keep Hope alive.
That is no concern of the neighborhood surrounding the shelter apparently. At the 6pm session at Region Ten with the city, 10th and Page residents blasted Hope for not getting their approval to house the homeless. "I’m sorry, I apologize, what else can I say," Pastor Bare offered, promising to close in a month’s time but begging for some leniency from residents who saw racism in the shelter’s defiance of proper zoning and the city’s seemingly tacit approval.
Today’s announcement makes it all but official. Now the Bares are focused on trying to find a place for the 45-60 residents they serve on a regular basis. At a 4pm session with area service providers yesterday PACEM’s Dave Norris proposed forming a committee—a "triage"—to help Hope’s homeless with their various issues, be they housing or mental illness. The Bares are also hoping to get a reprieve of sorts from the city so that they can stay open until the end of May. That availability will also depend on funding and according to Pastor Bare the offering plate is being passed around.
If you’re looking at The Spiral for the first time, welcome. This is the first day of what’s surely to be a long and glorious run of C-VILLE blogs. And man, we’d really love to hear what you think … but not quite yet.
I just got word from C-VILLE’s Grand Doo-Dah of the Internets that comments for the blogs aren’t up yet. Sorry about that. But comments are coming soon. We’ll let you know when that happens.
In the meantime, feel free to roam around here, and check out our other blog, This Just In.
And if you feel a burning desire to let me know what you think about a Spiral post (or life in general), hit me up via e-mail. And welcome.
We spotted the new Just Curry sign outside the Downtown Transit Center and just couldn’t resist the delicious (and inexpensive) meal that waited within. Fans of Just Curry’s Corner location from the day it opened, we knew just what we wanted: the vegan vegetable curry. With its juicy tofu, balanced mix of vegetables and spices and satisfying base of basmati rice, the dish was perfect for a quick but filling lunchtime bite. We also imagine that, with Fridays After 5 and Pavilion shows starting up, Just Curry will be a popular spot for pre-concert meals.
Spent any time in Charlottesville bars? If so, there’s a good chance you’ve bumped into Travis Elliott. Since he moved here from Richmond six years ago, he’s been taking his acoustic guitar around to local watering holes and gaining friends and fans with original tunes and a wide array of covers (“Happiness is a Warm Gun” is Feedback’s fav).
After getting settled in the ’Ville, Elliott teamed up with fellow strummer Rowe Webster and a couple other musicians to form the Travis Elliott Band. “We played a couple full band shows at West Main and certain places around town,” Webster says when Feedback sits down to talk with the two guitarists. “And I think literally our third or fourth show was doing the side stage for Dave Matthews.” That opportunity took the group out on the road to Raleigh and Pittsburgh. Not a bad start!
The Travis Elliott Band (bottom to top: Elliott, Sam Cushman, Rowe Webster and Teswar Wood) will rock Rapture on April 30.
C-VILLE Playlist What we’re listening to
“Thank You Friends,” by Big Star (from Third/Sister Lovers)
“Angel,” by Massive Attack (from Mezzanine)
“Blues Run the Game,” by Nick Drake (from Family Tree)
But after playing more around town and occasionally beyond, Elliott decided to take a break and work on his solo acoustic material. Recently, though, louder sounds have beckoned again. “I got kind of lonely,” he says with a laugh. “So Rowe and I picked up the electrics this time. I finally felt like it was time to plug in and make some noise. It really kind of puts it all together when you have a full group, when you have three other people that are telling people that this song is good. You’ve got backup. It’s kind of like having a gang.”
Drummer Sam Cushman and bassist Teswar Wood round out Elliott’s gang, who will bring the noise to the Charlottesville Music Showcase at Rapture on April 30, along with Space Cadet, a new project from B.J. Pendleton and Tucker Rogers. Elliott says that the band has plans to record a new album, but wants to play more shows first. “We’re still a baby band, as I like to call it,” he says. “I think in about two or three months we’ll be at the point where we have these 12 songs down and we’ll be ready [to record].”
Travis Elliott performing with Mariana Bell and Tucker Rogers at the Charlottesville Music Showcase.
Love of Satellite
In the immortal words of The Doors, “The time to hesitate is through.” Sure, we borrowed that reference from Empire Records, but that’s the message from the recently formed group Citizens for Local Culture, which has launched a campaign called Satellite Unite! that aims to keep Satellite Ballroom from being replaced by a CVS pharmacy in June.
We chatted up with Emily Sloan, one of the group’s organizers, about its efforts. “There’s still never been a definite statement on the fact that there is a CVS moving in and that Satellite doesn’t stand a chance of staying in its current location,” Sloan says. Hopeful words, but from our conversations with Terry Vassalos, the building’s owner, the CVS deal seems like a pretty sure thing. The group is working to get as many people as possible to show support for the Ballroom through letters and phone calls to Vassalos, Satellite investor Coran Capshaw and local media outlets. Sloan cites a Facebook.com group called “Coran Capshaw, Save Satellite Ballroom!,” which, as of press time, included over 1,600 members, as evidence that many people want to see the venue stay.
Last week, the group spread the word by setting up tables at Satellite shows and at Just Curry in the afternoon. When we talked, Sloan had not spoken with Vassalos, but said she would like to. “I don’t know him and I don’t know what he really feels, and I’m not sure how aware he is of the impact of what he’s doing,” she said. She hopes, though, that letters, phone calls and broader awareness of the situation can help save Satellite.
Plan 9 is headed out, but Citizens for Local Culture want to keep Satellite Ballroom in the Corner’s Anderson Brothers Building.
Feedback caught up with Vassalos to ask about the campaign, and he said that he has received a few letters and phone calls, but that they wouldn’t affect his decision. “They want to know what is going on,” he says. “But, you know, they make some comments, but they don’t know the inside story. I don’t feel like I have to explain the business to them.”
Ballroom booker Danny Shea told Feedback that he is flattered by the efforts to save the venue. “I don’t know if it’s a lost cause or not,” he says, “but the community definitely has the right to let Terry know.”
If the Ballroom closes, Feedback will miss it dearly, and we’re happy to see that other people feel strongly about the music spot as well. If Satellite does leave our orbit, we’re sure that Charlottesville’s mad musical energy will spawn something new. We’ll never trade in awesome live music for easier access to toothbrushes, condoms and nail clippers.
UPDATE April 29: A deal to bring a CVS to the Anderson Brothers Building is now official, according to NBC 29. Read more here.
To read a letter sent to C-VILLE about Satellite and CVS, check out this week’s Mailbag.
Digitalis
Feedback is excited about UVA’s Digitalis Under The Stars computer music festival, which will take place at UVA’s Amphitheater this Wednesday, April 30. The festival will include a performance by Professor Matthew Burtner‘s MICE ensemble, a laptop computer orchestra with over 180 members. You can be part of the ensemble yourself if you bring along your laptop. If you’re not already headed to Springsteen Wednesday night, don’t miss this great night of innovative, interactive sounds!
Lacking pep?
This past week marked the fifth anniversary of the UVA Athletic Department‘s ousting of the Virginia Pep Band from the school’s varsity sporting events. It’s been half a decade, but we have to say, we still yearn for the antics of the rag tag group ever time we find ourselves in the stands at JPJ, Scott Stadium or Klöckner. The band performed in UVA’s Amphitheater last week on April 24, exactly five years after the Athletic Department banned the group from performing at games due to a controversial performance at the 2002 Continental Tire Bowl.
Despite their continued state of exile, the Pep Band has kept things going. "The Pep Band deserves tremendous credit for the way it has handled itself since 2003," says Evan Macbeth, President of Friends of the Virginia Pep Band. "When some groups may have turned bitter and adversarial, the Pep Band reacted with characteristic creativity and looked for new opportunities to serve. The alumni are proud that the student leaders of the Pep Band have made the best of this challenging situation." Wahoowa!
So much news, so little space! First up is the Charlottesville Cooking School. It’s not a restaurant per se (although you do get to eat what you make in class). Still, Restaurantarama considers this part of our purview for two reasons: (1) more informed eaters demand more from our restaurants and that benefits all of us, and (2) some of you who attend a class just might decide the culinary world is the place for you, and we’ll get to say we knew you when you couldn’t tell a coarse chop from a chiffonade. The school is in the Meadowbrook Shopping Center, next to El Puerto, and it’s the brainchild of Martha Stafford, who says she’s been stewing about starting the thing since moving to Charlottesville 10 years ago with her husband, Philip—he’s the guy who started C&O and the Market Street Wine Shopbefore selling those businesses to their current proprietors. Recently, Philip has launched Virginia Wine Works with Michael Shaps (for more, see the February 19, 2008, Working Pour).
Dream the possible dream: After 10 years of thinking about it, Martha Stafford has at last opened the Charlottesville Cooking School, located in the Meadowbrook Shopping Center.
After graduating from Peter Krump’s New York Cooking School (now called the Institute of Culinary Education) in 1990, Stafford worked as a caterer, a food writer and an instructor, first at Peter Krump’s and then on the Kings Super Markets Cooking Studio circuit in New Jersey and finally, locally at the Seasonal Cook. Stafford says her classes at the Charlottesville Cooking School will differ from some of the other offerings in town, in that they’ll be entirely hands-on. In other words, you’re going to walk away with some skills. Stafford’s particular food philosophy is about eating fresh, seasonal and local. She says it sounds silly, but she spends a lot of time in her instruction “talking about how important it is for food to taste good.” For example, she says there’s a proper way to wash, rinse and dress greens for a salad, and that selecting fresh, local and seasonal greens makes a world of difference to your taste buds. Currently, the cooking school is offering three classes: The Basics of Spring Cooking, The Basics of Thai Cooking (from Ashley Clarke) and Cupcakes 101 (open to kids as young as 9). But there’s much, much more to come, including a class on Italian cooking from enoteca manager Marisa Catalano. Classes range from $75 to $100 ($45 for the cupcakes). For information visit www.charlottesvillecookingschool.com or call 963-COOK.
Top chefs
A big “Congratulations!” goes out to Bryan Emperor of Ten. The nationally recognized sushi chef was invited to compete in the Creative Sushi Competition presented by the National Sushi Society in Washington, D.C., a few weeks ago, and he won first runner-up. That victory qualifies him to compete at the international level in London this October. He’s going to be representing Charlottesville (oh, and the rest of the United States) in that competition.
As for the Clifton Inn’s chef Dean Maupin, he’s partnering with Linden Vineyards (recently recognized as one of THE places for Virginia wine by Travel + Leisure magazine) for a four-course vintner dinner this Wednesday.
Brunch and lunch
Add another spot to your Sunday brunch options: Beer Run now offers the lazy man’s breakfast (until 7:30pm!). For Downtown lunch, there’s now a quick but healthy alternative: Dragana Katalina-Sun, who owns Marco & Luca in York Place with her husband, has opened Nicola’s Veggies in the little window on Second Street that used to house the noodle shop. There, she serves lots of raw, organic and fermented fare.
Sammies!
If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em. Eppie’s now has sandwiches on the menu, including a ham “biscuit” on their signature pumpkin bread as well as other classics (e.g., tarragon chicken salad) served on Albemarle Baking Co.bread. Eppie’s menu says, “These should have been on the menu a long time ago.” That’s so diplomatic of them. We would have said, “Here are your damn sandwiches, you sandwich-obsessed Americans.”
You know, if we could pilot the political way-back machine to 1851 and change just one thing about Virginia’s cobbled-together Constitution, it would be the ridiculous prohibition against a governor “succeeding himself” (and no, that’s not code for some sort of pornographic act). Now don’t get us wrong—we have nothing against executive-office term limits (without them, the Oval Office would probably still be occupied, “Futurama”-style, by Ronald Reagan’s glass-encased head). But c’mon—this mandated ditching of our beloved (or beleaguered) leader after four years, whether we like it or not, has been a royal pain in the Commonwealth’s collective kiester for over 150 years.
Is it any wonder that Jim Gilmore (pictured) and Mark Warner, who could each only serve four years as Virginia’s governor, are looking for further employment in the U.S. Senate?
Yes, we know it could be worse. After all, Virginia’s original 1776 Constitution actually called for the General Assembly to appoint both a new governor and a “council of state” every year, and limited the executive to three successive terms. Now, we don’t now about you, but the idea of our dysfunctional Assembly trading out governors at a faster rate than they renew their concealed handgun permits chills us to our very soul.
Anyway, aside from making The Old Dominion’s top dog a lame duck from the get-go (mixed metaphor alert!), the other big problem with this four-years-and-out requirement is that our ex-govs are invariably tossed out of work way before retirement age, and are thus forced to rattle around the countryside, looking for something—anything!—to keep themselves occupied.
And that’s how we end up with oddities like this year’s U.S. Senate race, which features not one, but two former Virginia governors, locked in an increasingly yawn-inducing battle for the hearts and minds of the six people who actually care.
Of course, Democrat Mark Warner initially set his sights on a higher office, but ultimately decided that he didn’t have the stomach for a national presidential campaign (and watching Barack Obama try to beat back Hillary Clinton, who seems more and more like a cross between Anita Bryant and the liquid-metal killing machine from Terminator II: Judgment Day, he’s probably counting his blessings). Republican Jim Gilmore, on the other hand, is almost certainly looking at this as a step up from his current job as a Loch Ness Monster mop boy at Busch Gardens.
Regardless, watching the candidates share the stage at the recent Shad Planking political festival in Wakefield, you could feel the palpable yearning for the days when their every word was reported from Fredericksburg to Fancy Gap, and their every action was…well, summarily ignored by the General Assembly, but you get the idea. (And yes, the other Republican hopeful, Delegate Bob Marshall, was also there—but he was ignored so completely by the ex-govs that he must have felt a bit like a shad himself as he sat fuming in the sun: slow-cooked while nailed to a board.)
In the end, however, there can be only one successor to the retiring Senator John Warner—and we wouldn’t be so presumptuous as to say who that may be (although, just between pals, I think the Dirksen Senate Office staff might just be able to reuse one senatorial nameplate). But whomever emerges as the victor, he can rest assured that, as a sitting U.S. senator, he’ll finally be able to perform his duties as the founding fathers intended: lazily, with frequent extended breaks (it’s even called “recess,” just like in kindergarten!), knowing all the while that the power of incumbency (and lack of those pesky term limits) will likely keep him in office forever. God bless America!
In the foreword to her third collection, “Slowpoke” cartoonist Jen Sorensen, Charlottesville resident and C-VILLE regular, argues that political comic strips retain their relevance even years after initial publication. As if to underscore her point, one of the first few strips in One Nation, Oh My God! indirectly references the Swift Boat scandal that surrounded John Kerry in 2004. Thanks to Sorensen’s new book, the strip is being reprinted at the same time as North Carolina Republicans launch a commercial exploiting Dem presidential candidate Barack Obama’s connection to controversial minister, Rev. Jeremiah Wright. The more things stay the same…
While “Slowpoke” stands apart from other political cartoons because of Sorensen’s wit and creativity, One Nation, Oh My God! stands apart from other political cartoon collections because of one simple, yet ingenious invention: the comic strip commentary. Below every comic in this book, Sorensen has provided her own notes and reflections. Some illuminate the inspiration for a strip, others update the readers on the current whereabouts of various unsavory political characters, and more discuss initial reader reaction to the work. Many of them are quite funny in their own right, like the bit about the rodent-centric website Hamsterster in the social networking strip. It’s a lot like director commentary tracks on DVDs, but with a lot less back-slapping and ego-stroking.
The strips in “One Nation, Oh My God!” go back to just before the 2004 election and run until the fairly recent past, up to the Clinton/Obama race. There are too many insightful, hilarious strips to discuss, but a couple stick out in particular for perfectly summing up a rational person’s reaction to the unbelievable times we live in. The rest of the world’s (and galaxy’s) reaction to Dubya’s 2004 victory should probably be reprinted again just prior to November’s election, so we can remember just how awful we all felt the morning after. The Rid-Mex/Gay-Ban comic offers a good refresher on how insidiously the GOP turns Americans against each other to cover how shamefully it has run this country. Sorensen’s nonpolitical, pop-culture strips are just as astute; “Aesthetic Movements to Come” has me actually hoping for the advent of Pointillist graffiti.
Furthering the DVD connection, the collection wraps with some bonus materials, including reprints of actual documentation explaining why one of the strips was banned from a Texas prison, and a list of search terms that brought people to her website. One Internet user apparently found slowpokecomics.com by asking, “How many pubic hairs does Janice have?” I assume the list is fabricated, but knowing Sorensen, I’m not so sure. As evidenced by this book, she knows all too well how the best humor comes from the sad, screwed-up reality we live in. (The answer, by the way, is 11; I asked Janice myself.)
