Month: June 2008

Categories
Living

We Ate Here

So what to eat at Bizou? There are the salmon cakes, which indeed was the choice of our companion, and there is a burrito and there is, of course, the meatloaf. But we were quite happy with our beet salad—it was a hearty (yes, hearty!) mix of beets, walnuts and various shredded veggies with succulent goat cheese and something—what was it?—distinctly hot lurking here and there. It’s a beautiful thing when a restaurant offers a salad that can stand up to the rest of the menu. Especially when said menu includes meatloaf.

Categories
Arts

Game show mania

“I Survived a Japanese Game Show”
Tuesday 9pm, ABC

There’s a great episode of “The Simpsons” where the family gets stranded in Japan and, to earn plane fare home, they subject themselves to the unspeakable humiliations of a Japanese game show. I’m guessing the producers of this series saw that one, since this is pretty much the same concept. Ten American famewhores sign up to be on a game show, unaware that the game show takes place in Japan, and that it will be insane. In addition to the assorted physical challenges, they’ll have to assimilate to Japanese culture with the aid of actor/interpreter Tony Sano (never heard of him) and have to contend with both a prickly house mother and the stereotypically nutso host. We can only hope that comes close to the awesomeness of “Most Extreme Elimination Challenge.” The good news is, after this, you’ll probably feel a lot better about what Americans watch on TV.

“Shear Genius”
Wednesday 10pm, Bravo

I’m one of the few who totally dug the first season of Bravo’s hairstyling competition. Sure, it climaxed too soon with the untimely ouster of catlike uber-bitch Tabatha in the penultimate episode, but it did give us some fantastic moments (Daisy totally frying/dying that one poor girl’s hair pink) and some pretty cool hair. Now it’s back with 12 sassy new contestants who are possibly even gayer than the last “Project Runway” crew. The judging panel has been almost completely overhauled, but sticking around are hunky Teutonic mentor Rene Fris (creator of the most inane catchphrase in pop culture history, “Go shag it!”) and host Jaclyn Smith, still foxy at 63 years old (really!).

“Singing Office”
Sunday 9pm, TLC

Another import of a successful British concept, this new show features hosts Joey Fatone (formerly of ’NSync) and Mel B (of Spice Girls fame) showing up “uninvited” to American workplaces and conscripting the workers into a week-long song-and-dance intensive. At the end there’s a choreographed sing-off, and the winners advance for a chance to win $50,000 in the season finale. I can actually see this catching on a la “Trading Spaces,” since there’s the whole “it could happen to me” thing mixed with our nation’s desperate need for attention. But I am concerned that, given our current economy, I don’t think American productivity should be sacrificed to keep Scary Spice in designer leopard print. But who am I kidding? I can never say no to you, Joey Fatone! (I’m not proud of it, but I accept it.)

Categories
News

Au revoir 100-percent financing

Just a few months ago, Micah Davis, a broker for Mahone Mortgage, thought he had a deal done. He had run the customer’s numbers through Fannie Mae’s automated underwriting system, and the system had blessed the customer with an approval for a mortgage. Then came June.

That was the month when Fannie Mae updated its system, making mortgages harder to come by. Davis ran the same customer’s numbers through this month—the very same numbers—and the system spat out a “refer,” meaning that Davis couldn’t do the loan.

“Nothing had changed,” says Davis. “I’m going to be able to do it because, until October, they’re honoring anything that was run before June. But all things being equal, it went from an approval to a refer.”


Micah Davis, a broke for Mahone Mortgages, says that loans with 100-percent financing and different degrees of documentation, "are essentially nonexistent."

This is just one local story of a larger lending market that has assumed a defensive posture in the wake of the credit crisis. Nearly a year ago, the subprime section of that market began its collapse. A year later, investors are still unsure how bad the crisis is and as a result, the national lending market has tightened up, making it much harder to get a mortgage now than it was a year ago.

But is the local picture as bad as the national?

Two things are certain. The days of 100-percent financing—no down payment—are gone. And the baseline credit score you need for approval has risen sharply.

“It is more difficult to qualify borrowers for loans these days,” says Peggy Deane, vice president of mortgage services for Member Options, which provides mortgages for the UVA Credit Union. Dean says the secondary markets, institutions like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac who buy loans from originators, have tightened up their guidelines around the county.

“Even a year ago, for credit scores in the 500s, I won’t say those loans were easy to come by, but they were certainly possible,” Deane says. “That’s not the case today. We’re seeing a migration to a minimum of a 620 on more programs.”

Borrowers in Charlottesville do have an advantage over homebuyers in larger cities like Boston, Washington, D.C., and Phoenix, says Doug Adamson of Bank of America. Because of the slump in housing prices, many larger cities are considered declining markets. That label limits some loan options.

While home prices in and around Charlottesville are stagnant, it isn’t considered a declining market. That means some loan options like 95-percent financing are easier to come by here than in larger cities.

Deane says that generally people are going to have to have some money saved to buy a house now that 100-percent financing has disappeared.

“And there’s going to be a whole lot more focus on how they manage their credit,” she says. “For those who have the income and credit history to qualify, I’d say it’s just as easy as it always was.”

But for those who haven’t saved any money and have some dings in their credit, Deane says, they’ll need to go through some local counseling programs to shore up their standing. “Even though lending guidelines have tightened, there are still a wide variety of programs out there. I certainly wouldn’t want to paint the picture that it’s all bleak.”

C-VILLE welcomes news tips from readers. Send them to news@c-ville.com.

Categories
Arts

“Sorry about that, chief”

Nostalgia is a powerful tool, and it’s one of the driving forces behind the new, feature film adaptation of the ’60s spy spoof TV series, “Get Smart.” Rather than totally reinvent the show (Mission: Impossible), slavishly re-create it (The Addams Family) or completely lampoon it (The Brady Bunch Movie), the makers of this action comedy chose to pay tribute to the original by cramming in as many in-jokes, guest cameos and familiar characters as possible.


Still a cut-up: Agent 99 (Anne Hathaway) stands by her bumbling man, Maxwell Smart (Steve Carrell), in a Get Smart that sticks a little too close to the original.

The original TV series, which ran from 1965 to 1970, was created by funnymen Mel Brooks and Buck Henry. (Neither of whom, sadly, are employed here.) The show was a slapstick-filled spoof on the then-popular James Bond film franchise. Decades of syndication, Nick at Nite reruns and the ever-reliable TV Land marathons have kept the show in the public consciousness long past its expiration date. Hence, even young viewers popped out of the womb long after 1970 are likely to get a lot of the references woven throughout this new iteration.

Popular comic actor Steve Carell (The 40-Year-Old Virgin) seems as good a substitute as any for the late, great Don Adams. The 2008 version of Maxwell Smart is a bit different, though. Instead of the overconfident boob of the ’60s, today’s Agent 86 is a surprisingly competent analyst working for the secret government spy agency CONTROL. Bored with his desk job, Max dreams of becoming a field agent like his idol, the supremely capable superspy Agent 23 (Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson). Unfortunately, Max is too good at his job as a data miner and the Chief (Alan Arkin) wants to keep Max right where he is. However, an untimely attack on CONTROL headquarters by the evil international criminal organization KAOS leaves the spy agency short on spies. Max is quickly promoted and teamed with sexy spitfire Agent 99 (Anne Hathaway) to help stop KAOS’ mad scheme.

Trailer for Get Smart.

The plot (some “24”-inspired nonsense about nuking the President) is a slim excuse to string together a few comic vignettes, most borrowed from other, more serious films (the “agents’ identities have been compromised” gimmick from Mission: Impossible, the “limbo under deadly lasers” sequence from Entrapment). Honestly, 1980’s long-forgotten “Get Smart” feature, The Nude Bomb, had a more intricate plot.

Most of the laughs here come from nod-and-a-wink references to the old series. Maxwell Smart’s catchphrases get recycled. There are a couple clever cameos. And even some of the show’s iconic props get their day in the sun. (“Cone of Silence,” anyone?) Most of this isn’t enough to raise more than a knowing chuckle, but it’s consistently fun to watch and see what will crop up next.

The only major complaint about this new Get Smart effort is that all involved seem a little too concerned with paying tribute to the source material. While it’s great fan service to see robotic CONTROL agent Hymie make a late appearance, for example, there’s no real reason for him to be in the film. Most of the people on screen, in fact, aren’t really given much to do. Techie agents Bruce and Lloyd (Masi Oka and Nate Torrence) basically stand around waiting for their chance to headline the soon-to-be-released direct-to-DVD sequel, GS: Get Bruce and Lloyd.

While it’s reassuring to see the reverence Get Smart has for “Get Smart,” a little more effort could have been put into crafting a more solid framework around which to hang all these loving references. Get Smart is entertaining—but, in the immortal words of Agent 86, the filmmakers “missed it by that much.”

Categories
Living

Mousing around [with video]

Back in 2002 local bluegrass fiends the Hackensaw Boys took off on a jaunt called the Unlimited Sunshine Tour. They found themselves part of a hodge-podge bill of diverse but impressive music acts, including Cake, De La Soul, Kinky, The Flaming Lips and Modest Mouse. It was a promising step for the band, and they were even invited back to be part of the following year’s lineup. For Pee Paw Hackensaw, a.k.a. Tom Peloso, though, the tour led to something even bigger.

“At one point during the tour [Modest Mouse frontman] Isaac Brock approached me and asked if I wanted to do something for the next record,” Peloso says. “I was very open to the idea.” So, when the time came, he met up with Modest Mouse and took part in the making of 2004’s Good News for People Who Love Bad News, an album that went platinum and was a breakthrough release for the band.


Tom Peloso, top left, and Modest Mouse take the Charlottesville Pavilion stage on Sunday, June 29.

Pretty soon Peloso was a full-fledged Mouse, touring with the band and helping write and record 2007’s We Were Dead Before The Ship Even Sank, which also saw the addition of former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr. On Sunday, June 29, Peloso and the rest of the band will bring their show to the Charlottesville Pavilion.

The video for Modest Mouse’s "Little Motel."


We caught up with Peloso, who resides in the Nelson County hamlet of Schuyler when not on the road, in the midst of the band’s current tour opening for R.E.M. “I had bought Reckoning on vinyl when it came out,” Peloso says, “so for me it’s pretty exciting to be on tour with a band that I grew up listening to and really enjoying. Every night they seem to pull out a song that I’m like, ‘Wow I can’t believe they just played that.’”

Being a huge Smiths fan, Feedback was also curious to hear what it was like to be in a band with Johnny Marr. “It’s a lot of fun working with him,” says Peloso. “The first night I met him I actually picked him up from the airport in Portland. When I first met him I felt really comfortable. He’s a really down to earth, genuine guy. And he’s just a great guitar player.”

He’s been keeping quite busy with Modest Mouse, but Peloso found some time earlier this year to get started on a solo album at Monkeyclaus in Nelson County. “It’s kind of funny for me, he says. “I’m Tom in Modest Mouse, and I was Pee Paw Hackensaw in the Hackensaw Boys. And this time the project is me, Tom Peloso, and I’ve never really done a project like that. It’s neat. I feel like I’m learning a lot about myself in doing this.” He hopes to finish up the album in August, once Modest Mouse has wrapped up its current tour.

There’s clearly something special about banging away at strings and tapping your toes on red bricks. In last week’s column, Pokey LaFarge recalled how much fun he had busking with friends on the Downtown Mall, and Peloso told us pretty much the same thing. “Probably some of my most favorite moments were playing on the Mall with the Hackensaw Boys,” he says. Peloso will only be a few steps away from there on Sunday, and the Hacks are playing just two days before (see below), so maybe they’ll meet up to jam like old times.

Happy Birthday, dear Gravity

With so much news lately of venues closing, we’re glad to wish Gravity Lounge a happy fifth birthday. The Lounge celebrates its half decade of existence this Friday, June 27, with a show featuring local favorites the Hackensaw Boys and Morwenna Lasko & Jay Pun. The venue has been bringing a variety of tunes to the Downtown Mall since the summer of 2003, and they’ve got even more good stuff lined up for this summer and fall, including Bill Kirchen on July 6, the Asylum Street Spankers on July 9, the Commander Cody Band on September 11 and Southern Culture on the Skids on November 22. So go party with the Morwenna, Jay and the Hackensaws this Friday and then mark your calendars for more good things to come.

Au revoir

This is the last time you’ll see the current incarnation of Feedback in these pages. Alas, we know! Your current music scribe has had a blast translating Charlottesville’s sonic reverberations into written words over the past year, but now he’s up and leaving to, you know, explore the world and find himself or something like that. Never fear, though, as Feedback will forge on next week, with C-VILLE arts and culture guru Brendan Fitzgerald taking over the reins and guiding it through its new, expanded presence as a blog on c-ville.com. Also, stay tuned for next week’s paper, in which Mr. Ruscher steps out of his Feedback shoes and recounts his many musical journeys.

Got news or comments? Send them to feedback@c-ville.com.

Categories
Living

Pigging out for the people

As a departure from our usual round-up of current events, Restaurantarama is going to take this opportunity to rave about a restaurant event that occurred in the recent past. Last Tuesday, we had the opportunity to taste the signature dishes of close to 20 of our best local restaurants. The occasion was the second annual Taste This! fundraising event held at UVA’s Alumni Hall to benefit the Salvation Army Food Pantry program. The admission cost of $35 in advance ($40 at the door) gave Restaurantarama and fellow attendees the ticket to a food tasting frenzy, and you’d be wise to mark this event on your calendar for next year. From samosas from the Shebeen Pub and Braai to steak tartare from Cassis, there was a smorgasbord of small plates to be sampled, and all of the gorging was for a good cause.


Display of talent: Executive Chef Angelo Vangelopoulos represented The Ivy Inn in the Taste This! fundraising event held at UVA’s Alumni Hall to benefit the Salvation Army Food Pantry program.

Restaurantarama began the evening of eating debauchery with a shot-glass-sized tasting of flavorful avocado gazpacho soup from Wild Greens, then proceeded to little lobster pancakes drizzled with a reduction of Barboursville Vineyards’ Chardonnay combined with vanilla bean and butter direct from the hands of Chef Dean Maupin of the Clifton Inn. We then consumed several morsels of down-home Southern dishes from the likes of Maya and Zydeco before heading in for a heady slice of melt-in-your-mouth New York strip, personally carved by the Downtown Grille’s Chef Gary Glaser. Believing ourselves full at that point, we ventured over to the Gearhart’s Fine Chocolates table for a wee morsel to end the meal, but then couldn’t resist walking the two extra feet over to The Ivy Inn’s table for a tasting of cherry cobbler scooped onto our paper plate by The Ivy Inn’s own Executive Chef Angelo Vangelopoulos.

Then, feeling satiated but defeated by the inability of our tiny stomach to devour more dishes, we longingly scanned the room for all the tables we’d missed. Places such as Sticks, Brix, Fossett’s, Palladio, Blue Light Grill and the Bonefish Grill definitely called out to us, but it wasn’t until we spotted a welcome surprise—a table from OXO—that we knew we had it in us to power through at least one more savory snack. OXO’s owners, John Haywood and Alice Kim, had just recently announced the restaurant’s closing, so we enjoyed a last sampling of OXO’s creative, French-inspired fare—a deconstructed take on steak and eggs—as a sort of swan song to that establishment. Then, of course, we needed another Gearhart’s chocolate to top that off, and short story long, our digestive system is still recovering from the entire evening.

But it was worth all the Tums to taste such a diverse array of dishes in one place. Plus, we always knew the local restaurant industry was fairly fraternal and often incestuous (what with all the staff poaching and bartender hopping that is known to occur), but it was highly entertaining to see such networking in action. Whether it was observing the Fossett’s team cheekily offering up some of their crab cakes to Downtown Grille’s chef Glaser in exchange for a few slices of his New York strip, or overhearing Palladio Executive Chef Melissa Close chatting it up with one of the OXO crewmates about his future plans, we were witness to the incredibly small and close-knit world that is the Charlottesville restaurant scene. And that was a treat.

Kudos to event chairperson Victor Millner for pulling off such a successful celebration of local food, which, judging by the crowd, raised a boatload for the Salvation Army, and to all the restaurants and chefs who participated in the event. Next year, we are totally going on a liquid diet for a full 24 hours in advance to take better advantage of the spread. 

Quick bites

If you missed Taste This!, you can still take advantage of another good dining deal through the summer—l’etoile is running a special three-course menu for $36 on Wednesdays and Thursdays. We’ll probably be there every week just for the truffled potato pierogies.

Got some restaurant scoop? Send tips to restaurantarama@c-ville.com or call 817- 2749, Ext. 48.

Categories
News

City of Angels

Gentlemen and ladies, open your programs: The 34-year tradition of summer theater at UVA is back after a hiatus last year due to construction of the Arts Grounds Parking Garage. One thing has changed: The somewhat stuffy name “Heritage Repertory Theatre” is now the more festive “Heritage Theatre Festival.” And another thing hasn’t: The audience still largely consists of senior citizens. The middle-agers and variations thereof, and the handful of college students, stand out like clichés in otherwise original sentences.

Which is a way to jump to City of Angels, the first musical offering of the Festival season. Larry Gelbart, of “M*A*S*H” fame, who wrote the book, asks theatergoers to indulge in the overdone trope of a film noir spoof, with all its attendant devices: sultry interior monologues in the form of voiceovers, characters changing their lines as a writer revises them on his typewriter, glaringly sexist witty banter, etc. 

His protagonist is Stine (Garen McRoberts), a young novelist in 1940s Hollywood writing a screenplay about a Sam Spade-like private detective (Rob Marnell) on the hunt for a missing heiress (Holly Williams). There are two parallel stories: the screenplay as it unfolds, and Stine’s many struggles with pea-brained movie mogul, Buddy Fidler (Geno Carr). The tension between illusion and reality mounts as the musical proceeds.

Sounds fun, doesn’t it? It is. Despite the more serviceable than electrifying music by Cy Coleman and lyrics by David Zippel, it all essentially works, thanks to Gelbart’s bad (i.e. good) ear for purposely bad one-liners, and the clever way he presents the competing stories, slicing, dicing and reassembling them. After a while, adding one more time to “I’ve seen this a thousand times” doesn’t seem like a big deal.

Heritage artistic director Robert Chapel has often been in the director’s chair for musicals over the years, and he’s in it again for City of Angels. His style, in tandem with whoever his choreographer is—in this case, Perry Medlin—is essentially not to take chances. Given his always rich resources—this time out, McRoberts, Marnell and company, some playing two or more characters, are fine singers and competent actors, and the lighting design by Ryan Bauer and scenic design by Shawn Paul Evans, featuring shafts of smoky light, swathes of shadow, seedy rooms, a sparkling mansion and more, is close to impeccable—Chapel is like a sports team with a big lead playing not to lose. The resulting blocking and pacing has a kind of chiseled stateliness. There’s a distinct pleasure in that, especially in Charlottesville, where musicals over the course of the academic year are often pretty ragged. Some, however, might find Chapel’s approach plodding, or even dull.

But “dull” is certainly not the word to go out with. It’s nice to have Heritage productions of musicals back, whether you’re looking to relax after a tough day or week at the office, or retired and itching for a fun night on the town—though the latter, apparently, don’t need anyone to tell them that.

Categories
Living

Huffing and puffing

Every week, I consider writing up something about the Huffington Post for this column, and every week I postpone it because, I tell myself, “It can wait. The HuffPo is a perennial.” And it’s true: “HuffPo” (as those in the know refer to it) is a good read for Internet newsies, 24/7/365. Its readability does not wax and wane with current events or time of year or fads or the popular people, because current events, fads, the popular people, and commentary on all of the above are precisely what the site covers.

“So, why now?” one might ask. To which I would respond that, with the presidential campaign nearing a fever pitch, the HuffPo is an excellent place to go if you’re looking for the latest news, gossip, or table scrap from the race. Especially if you’re liberally inclined, I should say. If you’re more conservatively inclined, maybe just check in with me next week…or never. The site has been monitoring Obama and McCain’s every move, and it regularly has opinion pieces and commentary on everything from dissecting the possible field of VP candidates to John McCain as a new Bob Dole figure.

The site is also known for its media coverage, and it’s got you covered when it comes to gossip, entertainment, and business, too. Really, the HuffPo is a good place to start in the morning as you’re drinking your coffee. It wakes you up; it gets your brain thinking beyond the cubicle.

Categories
News

Hunt is on for longer Mall bricks [with video]

The city has long been planning to rebrick the Mall—a $7.5 million exercise it says is necessary to keep it attractive to shoppers who otherwise might be lured to new shopping centers like the ever-in-the-works Albemarle Place. Mostly, it involves getting rid of the mortar method of joining the bricks with a side-by-side sand method. MMM Design Group had cooked up an elaborate master plan with additional fountains, a children’s play area and a sister city plaza. But City Council wasn’t game for the changes (and their potential costs), saying keep it simple.

The bigger issue now is whether size matters where Mall bricks are concerned. Lawrence Halprin’s original 1970s design has 4"x12" bricks, but newer sections, such as those on Third Street and at the Pavilion, have 4"x8" bricks. City staff has argued for bricks with that 2:1 ratio rather than the original 3:1 ratio because of stability and availability, saying they would have to come from Nebraska. But after the Board of Architectural Review and City Council balked at the change in Halprin’s design, consultants and city staff are talking with Virginia brickmakers to see if making the 4"x12" bricks is possible and affordable.


Not just another brick on the Mall: The $7.5 million rebricking will involve sand technique instead of mortar, but whether the new bricks will be 4"x8" or 4"x12" is still up in the air.

Regardless, the city has decided to do the rebricking all in one four-month swoop, starting in January 2009. Tolbert told Council last week, “[Construction manager] Barton Marlow has told us that they are confident that we can start this on January 2 and finish it on the end of April. They built the JPJ ahead of schedule and under budget.” Businesses, Mall aficionados and taxpayers sure hope that will be the case this time as well.

Anyone interested in adding 2 cents to the discussion can attend a June 30 “Design Reveal” at 6:30pm at 100 Fifth St. NE.

C-VILLE’s Jessie Abrams gives a summary of possible Downtown Mall renovations.

C-VILLE welcomes news tips from readers. Send them to news@c-ville.com.

Categories
News

Fines upped to $200 on three streets

Three city roads—Elliott Avenue, Brandywine Drive and Franklin Street—will soon join the ranks of those with $200 minimum fines for speeding, thanks to a 3-2 vote on June 16.

“I hoped the ordinance would begin to change the culture in the city, and make the city more pedestrian friendly, more bicycle friendly, and wheelchair friendly,” says Councilor Holly Edwards, one of the three to vote in support of the ordinance.


Old Lynchburg Road will soon get more company in the $200 minimum fine category.

Last year, City Council instituted $200 minimum fines for Old Lynchburg Road, Avon Street and Altavista Avenue. Though the fines have been in place since September, the data is mixed on their effectiveness. The 85th percentile speed was reduced only 2 miles per hour on those roads. Citations went down on Old Lynchburg by 31 percent, but went up dramatically on Avon Street. For all of the streets, time spent by police on traffic stops went up.

“I’m not totally convinced that a reduction in 2 miles per hour will make that much of a difference,” says Councilor Julian Taliaferro, who, with Satyendra Huja, voted against the fines.

Money collected from the fines goes into the city’s general fund.

C-VILLE welcomes news tips from readers. Send them to news@c-ville.com.