Month: May 2008

DP announces annual awards for…”respect”?

The Daily Progress’ website is currently accepting submissions for the 2008 Readers’ Choice Awards, soliciting votes in a slew of categories under the heading "Vote for your favorite in the Charlottesville area!" But for those of you who don’t like playing favorites, don’t worry – the Progress’ contest is all about R-E-S-P-E-C-T.

So, let’s find out what it means to them! In the category of "Community Features," wedged between boxes for "Favorite Golf Course" and "Favorite New Business," readers are asked to submit their choice for "Most Respected Place of Worship." A few spots down, after "Favorite Art Gallery" (better vote fast before they close, folks!) is another box for "Most Respected Retirement Community" and, later, "Most Respected Funeral Home."

Speaking for myself, I find it odd to jump from evaluating food on a scale of personal preference to evaluating the care of dead bodies and places of worship on a spectrum of respect (or, as I like to refer to it, "The Respectrum"). But maybe that’s just me. Take a look at the Progress’ submission site here, then leave a comment below about what barbecue joints and patio furniture retailers you respect.

Also, the annual "Best of C-VILLE" ballot will be published in upcoming issues of C-VILLE Weekly. Don’t forget to cast your votes according to whatever rationale you prefer.

Film added to Festival of the Photograph

The second annual LOOK3 Festival of the Photograph starts the show nearly a week early with a screening of Control, a biopic about the Manchester, England, punk act Joy Division and the life and death of the group’s lead singer, Ian Curtis. The film will screen at Vinegar Hill Theatre on Friday, June 6, at 9:30pm, for a ticket price of $10.

The film is quite a score for the photo fest, as Control hasn’t been released in the U.S. yet (though it has already racked up a fair share of awards in Britain). And while director Anton Corbijn won’t attend the festival, his film shouldn’t have too much trouble finding an audience among the photophiles: Corbijn is one of the biggest names in rock photography and has snapped for magazines from Spin to Rolling Stone.

Watch the trailer below:

If you’re going to panhandle, you gotta know the rules

NBC 29 had a story a couple of days back about people sitting on the mall, asking you for money. Apparently there is city code for this sort of thing. Take it away, 29:

"Now the question has become one of rules. Section 2831 of the city code spells out what can and cannot be done. According to the code, panhandlers can’t be aggressive in their approach. For example, they cannot make physical contact or use obscene language.

It’s illegal to panhandle in public transportation or at a station or stop. Panhandlers have to be 15 feet away from a bank or ATM. They also can’t solicit in outdoor cafes or on private property."

Apparently the city has also set up some panhandling-free zones, four intersections to be exact. You can’t panhandle within 300 feet of Emmet and Barracks, Emmet and Hydraulic, the Free Bridge, and Main Street and Ridge/McIntire.

Working on the Mall, I get hit up for change roughly once or twice a day. And I can say with great certainty that Charlottesville has the most polite panhandlers of any city I’ve lived in. Perhaps they’ve read the city code.

Really, the most aggressive guy I’ve met wasn’t so much aggressive as passive-aggressive.  A couple of mornings ago, I was walking to get some coffee. I had two dollars on my person (end of the month, you know?). Weathered-Looking Bearded Guy is hunched motionless under an umbrella in front of the old A &N store. I walk past, wondering if he’s dead.

He is not. He asked for some change.

And here I messed up. I lied. I said I didn’t have any, which was true in a way, because without at least two cups of $1 coffee my cortical synapses don’t transmit for shit, in so many words. But I did have money right then. I had an extra dollar. Usually, if I can’t spare any money, I tell folks, sorry, I can’t help you out right now.

He goes back to looking dead. I go grab a coffee. And a minute later, I walk past him, cup in my hand. He shows signs of life once again, muttering loudly about liars and such in that way people have of talking about you without having to talk to you.

So, sorry Weathered-Looking Bearded Guy. I shouldn’t have lied to you. I should have told you that I was a little short then. But you kind of startled me by being alive.

World financial leaders to invade Charlottesville

This September, Charlottesville will become ground zero for global financial leaders. The Miller Center of Public Affairs at UVA announced today that it will host The New Financial Architecture: A Global Summit on September 7-9.

Former Treasury Secretary John Snow, now the Chairman of Cerberus Capital, will participate with more than 12 former financial ministers from Europe, Asia, Africa, South America and the Middle East. For three days, these financial leaders, who represent three quarters of worldwide economic activity, will tackle the issues involved with Sovereign Wealth Funds, global financial stability, changes in the world economic power and influence, the credit crunch and the future of the new financial architecture.


Former Treasury Secretary John Snow (left), pictured with Miller Center Director Gerald Baliles, has invited some of his pals to Charlottesville to wax poetic on global economies.

Both Snow and Miller Center Director and former governor Gerald Baliles said that these financial leaders will come unfettered by official government positions and therefore will be able to address these issues in a more open and honest way.

The summit will be covered by CNBC and is scheduled a month prior to the fall meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. At its conclusion, summit participants will issue a joint statement that assesses global economic challenges and offers ways to address them. The Center is billing the delegate’s recommendations as "a blue print for global and economic management in the 21st century."

VCU has secret deal with Philip Morris

Thanks to a Freedom of Information Act request, The New York Times today reveals a restrictive agreement in place since 2006 between the Richmond tobacco company Philip Morris and Richmond’s public university, Virginia Commonwealth. In exchange for undisclosed millions of dollars from Philip Morris for tobacco research, VCU agreed not to publish or even discuss research without the company’s approval, according to the Times. In addition, nearly all patents would belong to Philip Morris, not VCU—a direct violation of the university’s own policies.

“In the end, it was language we thought we could agree to,” Francis L. Macrina, Virginia Commonwealth’s vice president for research, told the Times. “It’s a balancing act.”

Last year, UVA received $25 million from Philip Morris. Rick Solana, Philip Morris’ senior vice president for research and technology, told the Times that the company had arrangements with other universities that are similar to the one with VCU, but he wouldn’t name names.

University spokesperson Carol Wood says that UVA isn’t one of those universities.

“Our agreement strongly encourages the University of Virginia to publish the results of research before sharing the results with Philip Morris,” she says. The agreement does stipulate that UVA attribute the funding source for its research.

Wood says that she was contacted by The New York Times prior to the story’s publication and walked the reporter through UVA’s agreement with Philip Morris. UVA wasn’t mentioned in the story.—with additional reporting by Scott Weaver

Marlboro producer Philip Morris gives money to VCU, but VCU promises in exchange to consult the cigarette company before publishing certain research—or even discussing it with the media.

Hope homeless shelter shuts down for good

By the time (a little before 8pm Wednesday) that I got to the Hope Community Center for its last night as an evening homeless shelter, the place was packed. In the grass courtyard, round fold-up tables were surrounded by people both sitting and standing. An NBC29 news camera filmed while shelter director Josh Bare addressed the crowd of onlookers (many seemed to be Covenant churchgoers where Harold Bare is pastor), recounting the travails of the shelter over the last five months, as well as its successes. The homeless were also sprinkled about, waiting to eat the hotdogs and hamburgers spread out banquet style.

After Josh wrapped up, I stood in back when a man in a mesh baseball cap came up. He walked with a wooden cane and had eyes so deep set they were hard to see. Once we established that I wrote for a newspaper he started to explain that he was from out of town, Manassas. He was here in Charlottesville to get hip surgery and had only been staying at Hope since the previous night. "I personally want to thank them," he said. "Me being an outsider I thought that might be important. Just to show my support."

Writer George Garrett dies at 78

It is widely reported today that George Garrett, writer and former UVA English professor, has died at his home in Charlottesville. According to the Washington Post, Garrett died on May 26 of bladder cancer. At one time the director of the creative writing program at UVA, Garrett published dozens of books of criticism, biography, poetry and fiction in his lifetime, and served as Virginia’s Poet Laureate from 2002 to 2004. He was 78.

Born in Orlando in 1929, Garrett began his publishing career by placing numerous short stories in a Princeton University litmag when he was a student there. He went on to publish more than 30 books in a variety of genres, including political drama and the trilogy of Elizabethan historical novels for which he was best known: Death of the Fox, The Succession and Entered from the Sun.

Garrett was never a household name, but he is beloved among his colleagues and former students as a consummate editor, mentor and man of letters who had a notable sense of humor. He impacted many young writers during his years as a fixture of UVA’s writing program. Garrett is survived by his wife of 54 years, three children, two sisters and two grandchildren. According to the Daily Progress, funeral services are scheduled for 11am on June 7 at St. Paul’s Memorial Church.

C-VILLE Weekly’s John Borgmeyer interviewed Garrett for a cover story reflecting on his career in 2002.

George Garrett, locally beloved writer and UVA professor, died on Monday.

Local food markets keep branching out

More happy news from the local food front: Another farmer’s market has joined the roster, and this year’s Buy Fresh Buy Local guide is now hitting the streets.

The new market is in Forest Lakes, in the parking lot of the South Recreational Facility, and runs Tuesdays from 4pm to 7pm. It’ll open June 3 (with a ribbon-cutting and a magician—"Arrested Development" fans, we’ll see you there!) It’s been organized by the Forest Lakes Community Association and the Piedmont Environmental Council.

PEC has made its mark on the locavore movement here in Charlottesville, notably by publishing its first Buy Fresh Buy Local guide last spring. The sequel’s out now, mailed to many local mailboxes and available online, too. It’s got all your markets, your local food producers and your restaurants that are good about serving local ingredients. All very helpful info—plus every Subaru worth its salt has one of the matching bumper stickers. Kohlrabi, anyone?

Veggie lovers can now get fresh local goodies on 29N.

News Quiz, the answers

1. Where does most milk bought in this area come from?
    a. Nebraska.
    b. Virginia.
    c. New England.
    d. Underground milk black markets.

2. How much would a wind turbine for individual properties run you?
    a. $5,000.
    b. $10,000.
    c. Surely no more than $25,000 … right?
    d. $30,000!

3. Who will knock the UVA tennis team out of the NCAA tournament next year?
    a. Georgia.
    b. Valparaiso.
    c. Reconstituted USSR team.
    c. Reconstituted Jimmy Connors.
  

Categories
Living

A not-so-new dawn fades [with audio]

A change of speed, a change of style, a change of scene, with no regrets,” Joy Division’s Ian Curtis once sang. The Dawning, Charlottesville’s long-running local goth and industrial dance night, might take those words as a motto, since it will be joining Satellite Ballroom and 214 Community Arts Center in the search for a new home this summer. Feedback caught up with Dawning organizer Chad VanPelt, a.k.a. DJ Rift, via e-mail to learn more.

VanPelt, who’s been spinning tunes at The Dawning since 2001 and running the night since 2004, tells us that Outback Lodge, the night’s host, has decided to use its downstairs space for something different on Saturday nights. “We’re not quitting, we’re not shutting down,” says VanPelt. He and the Dawning crew are working to find another place, but the search is still on. Such a hunt is not a new experience for The Dawning, as a previous search landed it at Outback in 2004, after six years at the Tokyo Rose ended with a knife incident.

UPDATE May 27: The search is over! Feedback has learned that The Dawning has found a new home at ourspace, below the Tea Bazaar on the Downtown Mall. The first night in the new space will take place on Saturday, June 7.


Synthetic Division will play at The Dawning’s final downstairs throwdown at Outback Lodge on Saturday, May 31.

Listen to "Sign" from Synthetic Division‘s Get with the Programs:


powered by ODEO
Courtesy of Synthetic Division – Thank you!

Make sure to catch The Dawning’s last throwdown at Outback on Saturday, May 31. Local new wave/electro duo Synthetic Division, featuring Shawn Decker on vocals and Marshall Camden on synths, and Richmond’s Myotis will provide exciting live sets, and DJ Rift himself will man the decks.

C-VILLE Playlist
What we’re listening to

“Your Lips Are Red,” by St. Vincent (from Marry Me)—It starts harsh and guttural with a cacophony reminiscent of New York on its worst days. Then three minutes in, the noise disappears, and Annie Clark’s fragile voice crones “Your skin’s so fair it’s not fair.” Can’t but love the contrast.

“London Homesick Blues,” by Jerry Jeff Walker (from Viva Terlingua)—It’s a song about missing Texas, but anyone who’s been far from home and lonely can relate.

“(She Don’t Use) Jelly,” by Drugstore (Flaming Lips cover)

“Black and Brown Blues,” by Silver Jews (from The Natural Bridge)

“Heart Like A Wheel,” by Linda Ronstadt (from Heart Like A Wheel)

 

Upscale Outback

So what’s this “something different” that Outback Lodge has planned? Venue owner Terry Martin invited Feedback over to have a look. Martin plans to start an exclusive dance club in Outback’s downstairs space and has been working on revamping the upstairs as well. The downstairs club will be open on Fridays and Saturdays and entry will require membership or sponsorship from a member. “It’s going to be a very upscale dance club, the closest thing to private we can do,” Martin says. “It’s going to be like a city nightclub where not everybody gets in.”

When we dropped by, new faux brick paneling had already spruced up the dark walls both upstairs and downstairs, and the formerly grimy bathrooms had been fixed up nicely. Martin is also working on a new sound system, lights, leather couches and fancy drinks for the downstairs space, which will be nonsmoking except for a designated area in the back. That designation doesn’t seem to have begun yet, though, as Martin puffed on a cigarette as he showed us around.

We were happy to hear that bands will still play downstairs on some weeknights, as we’ve seen some great rock shows in the room. If the new downstairs venture is a success, Martin may expand into an adjacent vacant room in the building.

“I hated to oust The Dawning,” he told us, but cited lower attendance at the night as one reason. “The room has to make money on the weekends,” he says. “I’ll still work with them on doing some shows upstairs.”

Martin plans to open the new downstairs on June 6 with an open-house night to let people see what it’s all about, so mark your calendars and start getting that classy outfit ready.

Mountain music

Feeling like you need a dose of nature, but don’t want to leave the tunes behind? Well, Feedback has the solution. Last week Humpback Rocks Mountain Farm, located on the Blue Ridge Parkway at milepost 5.8, kicked off its Sunday concert series, and on June 1 Charlottesville blues slide guitarist Ralph Rush will perform under the farm’s walnut tree. The series runs each Sunday from 2 to 4pm through October and offers a wide array of traditional Appalachian music acts, including Lexington’s Breakin’ Nu Ground, who started things off last weekend and perform again on July 6, Sunnyside with Carol Phillips, who perform old-time and “Carter-style” tunes on June 8, and more local and regional acts throughout the summer and fall. Check the C-VILLE calendar each week to see who will be picking and strumming away in that wonderful mountain air. Then grab the family and a picnic and make your way to the mountain.