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Nestled in the woods east of Charlottesville, this stone house says sweet relaxation. Check out that wide front porch (complete with rocking chair) and that lush wooded view. Any double-wide might boast those goodies, but this place has style too, in the brick accents hugging the windows and the substantial flared porch columns.
CvilleMUSE beat me to the organic, Fair Trade-certified punch by posting a link to Willie Nelson’s concert rider from The Smoking Gun. But hey, this shouldn’t be about competition. Especially when there are plenty of other concert riders to go around. I give you…
It’s enough to make a person wonder: How much is too much when you can make a living as a musician? Should the life of a musician on tour be one completely free of hardship? How frequently are the needs of musicians moderated? I mean, did the folks in the CSN dressing room, estimated to be 20 people on the rider, reliably power through 66 soft drinks a night? What do you consider to be too much? Not enough?
Better yet, what’s on your concert rider?
Anyways, look around The Smoking Gun’s list of riders a bit and dig up some acts that have performed here. My favorites at the moment are Gnarls Barkley (fried chicken, vodka, Dunkin’ Donuts and condoms) and Red Hot Chili Peppers, who joined the Bark at John Paul Jones Arena last year.
The first time I became aware that pre-fab housing could be something other than disgusting was a number of years back when the magazine Dwell sponsored a pre-fab home design competition, then sold—through the magazine—the winning blueprints. Since then, the idea of mass-producing good design (think Apple tech design applied to architecture) has fascinated me. So naturally, the next free moment I have will be spent at “Home Delivery: Fabricating the Modern Dwelling,” the Museum of Modern Art’s new architecture exhibit, the centerpiece of which is six prefabricated homes commissioned by the museum and constructed in an adjacent lot.
But not everyone wants to make the trek to New York in the dead of summer. (Who can blame them?) And so, for all you design nerds out there who prefer to nerd out from the comfort of Charlottesville, I recommend a visit to the exhibit’s blog. The site includes a history of the modern American prefabricated home, archival footage of early prefab homes being constructed, and installation videos (in fast-forward time) for each of the six MoMA-commissioned houses. Even without stepping foot in these houses and strict time limits (10 weeks total for design and installation), it’s clear that each residence is a feat of architectural ingenuity. No cookie cutter megamansions to be found: These are houses that could, if we let them, change the way we house ourselves. Ah, if only our national taste in housing were as good as our taste in iPod design…
Ms. Harding: I just returned from a week away from town to read the July 22, 2008 issue of C-VILLE. In your piece “Read this first,” I think you kindly referred to my fans and their praise for my work. However, I was not totally certain that you were referring to me, as my name is Cindy Janechild, and not Cindy Brainchild. However, it would not be the first time I have been called a different name…Lovechild, Brainchild and more. All very welcome, but incorrect. I self-designed my name in 1975 to honor my mother, Jane Coville. Therefore, the “child of Jane,” Janechild. I would be interested to know if the reference to Cindy Brainchild was to me. And if there was a way to make a correction so that my fans really know who you were talking about.
Cindy Janechild
Charlottesville
Due to reporting errors, in “Searching for Harvey Wallbanger” [The Working Pour, July 22, 2008], two misstatements were made regarding Cirrus Vodka founder and CEO Paul McCann’s background. He has a master’s degree in environmental health and industrial hygiene, and not industrial health and environmental hygiene. Also, he worked for the Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals, and Energy, and not the Virginia Department of Health.
Due to a production error, we ran the wrong photo with a story on a temporary music hall on Preston Avenue [“Red Light venue headed to Preston,” Development News, July 22, 2008]. Red Light Management plans a music hall for a building behind the King Lumber Building—not in the King Lumber building, which we pictured. The mistake is particularly embarrassing because the caption read “a building so ugly it’s hard for the Board of Architectural Review to love”—and the King Lumber building is beloved by both BAR members and developers, as C-VILLE has reported in previous stories on plans for its redevelopment. In the same article, due to a reporting error, we inaccurately gave the capacity of the Satallite Ballroom as 350. In fact, the capacity was 500 to 600.
Red Light Management plans a music hall for this building behind the King Lumber Building.
Yeah, this is a house and home publication, and your car isn’t part of your house. But, for one thing, lots of us practically live in our cars, and for another thing, most household budgets have been getting heavier in the “gasoline” column lately, and therefore lighter in the “cool stuff for the pad” column.
Therefore, we think it’s perfectly appropriate to let you know about hypermiling, a fancy word for the simple practice of changing one’s driving habits to reap better gas mileage. Check out hypermiling.com for full exposition of the geekitude possible when you drive a hybrid and spend a lot of time online. Or just save yourself some gas with these techniques:
*Accelerate slowly.
*Coast whenever possible. Put your car in neutral if you can.
*Avoid sudden braking.
*Observe the speed limit.
*Keep your tires inflated.
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Yeah, it all adds up to driving like a granny—and to surprising gas savings. I tried it and immediately upped my MPG by 20 percent—enough for, say, that Dwell subscription I’ve been wanting.—Erika Howsare
But straw is for houses. Yep, that’s right; plenty of people are taking a step toward ecological responsibility by using straw as a primary wall component in their homes. Apart from being an environmental do-gooder, other individual perks include: energy efficiency, sound proofing, lower cost and potential use of local materials.
O.K., let’s take a step back. What the heck is a straw bale home? For the most part these homes still look and, uh, smell similar to your average house. The bales are simply used like insulation, filling in the walls of an erected frame. Or they can take on the heftier task of load bearing—i.e., holding up the roof. Surprisingly, straw bale is actually fire resistant. After a layer of chicken-wire is pinned in, an earth plaster or cement stucco leaves the walls looking solid and cozy.
 Straw bale construction often has a sculptural, adobe-like quality; the Gyovai/Muehlman house also includes a “truth window” so visitors can see the straw. |
Reed Muehlman and Christine Gyovai, local permaculturists, took part in their own straw bale home construction. “We left a truth window,” says Muehlman, just in case visiting friends don’t believe the walls are actually jam packed with blocks of straw. Looks like the big, bad wolf can huff and puff at today’s straw houses, but he’ll have to pick his pork up at Kroger.—Suzanne van der Eijk
So you finally made the eco-friendly switch from incandescent to compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs). Good for you. But what are you going to do now that one of them has finally bitten the dust (after 8,000 hours of use)? If you’re thinking of tossing it in the trash, think again. These long-lasting lights aren’t that eco-friendly once unscrewed.
Like all fluorescents, CFLs contain small amounts of mercury, a neurotoxin that can be released into the environment upon breakage of the bulb. Not only should you be careful not to break a CFL, you should also make sure it doesn’t end up in a landfill.
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The Rivanna Solid Waste Authority collects unbroken CFLs Monday through Saturday at both its Ivy and McIntire Road sites, according to its executive director, Thomas Frederick. As for where the bulbs wind up, “we contract with a private firm that separates the components of CFLs and recycles them,” Frederick says. Drop-off details can be found on the RSWA website: avenue.org/rswa.
In the unlucky event that you have a broken CFL on your hands, make sure your home is adequately ventilated and avoid breathing any vapors from the bulb. The EPA website has further guidance: epa.gov/mercury.—Kathryn Faulkner
Zucchini and chocolate? Certainly not the first food combo I’d come up with, but Anne-Marie Parrish, local author of the new cookbook, From the Farm, demonstrates how culinary innovation can certainly lead to delectable surprises. Parrish and her husband farm in Fluvanna County (look for Randy’s Produce Farm at the City Market), so you know she knows her veggies. Her eclectic approach to ingredients may have made recipe development a significant challenge, but while the kids were asking, “What’s in this, Mom?” they were probably scooping up seconds.
Apart from all the necessary nourishment you get from fresh local produce, Parrish stresses the nourishment for the soul that comes along with it. My soul was undoubtedly nourished by the genuine kitchen guidance listed on the back of the section dividers—stuff like “Don’t freeze cooked egg whites” and a recipe for a baking-soda cleaner for Teflon.
 Eat your veggies? But how? A local farmer’s cookbook comes to the rescue. |
Parrish’s mother and sister also made recipe contributions to the book (which you can find at the City Market and Feast!). So this is definitely a family affair, with something for everybody—even if it means you have to try the beets.—S.V.
As you return to the classroom this month, don’t leave your eco-awareness at the door. Pack lightly for the sake of the planet and your pocketbook.
Experts say Americans will spend $600 on back-to-school shopping. But, my green friends, do you really need all that stuff? Consult the list, and look no further than the nearest junk drawer, where pens, pencils, crayons and highlighters abound. Dr. Denise Young, mother of five, recycles last year’s binders and notebooks, saving money and resources. When it comes to clothing, electronics, and supplies, embrace the concept of “share and share alike” among friends, family members, classmates and roommates.
Next on the list: paper products. Save a tree by minding your Ps and Cs: Look for PCW, Post-Consumer Waste, preferably 100 percent recycled, and PCF, Processed Chlorine-Free (Staples). The Blue Ridge Eco Shop carries pens and pencils made of leftover furniture wood, as well as recycled cardboard three-ring binders (no vinyl or PVC).
The popular Laptop Lunchbox (available at Rebecca’s) is lead-free, BPA-free, reusable, and easy to clean.
Don’t forget the quintessential back-to-school item: the backpack. “Buy something that lasts,” Young suggests. “A good backpack from Lands End or L.L. Bean can last years.”
Now enjoy the rest of summer vacation!
This summery salad recipe, courtesy of the Indian restaurant Milan, has one possibly hard-to-find ingredient: the Indian spice powder Chat Masala. If you can’t find it to buy, directions are available online for mixing your own.
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1 cucumber, peeled and cut into bite-sized pieces
1/2 small onion, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 large tomato, cut into very small pieces
4 branches cilantro, cut into small pieces
salt and pepper to taste
small amount of vinegar
2 tsp. Chat Masala
fresh juice from 1 lime
Mix ingredients together. Serves two.
ALONSO:
And Trinculo is reeling ripe: where
should they
Find this grand liquor that hath
gilded ’em?
How camest thou in this pickle?
TRINCULO:
I have been in such a pickle since I
saw you last that, I fear me, will never
out of
my bones: I shall not fear fly-blowing.
This exchange from Shakespeare’s The Tempest is the first written record of someone “being in a pickle.” Pickled or no, cucumbers are an unmistakeable herald of summer.
Cucumbers mature in the garden in high heat, just in time for scorching patio meals. Their sprawling tendrils are just as prolific as other garden- gobbling cucurbits such as squash, zucchini and melon, but cucumbers can be vined vertically to create shade and space. When small, spiky and firm, cucumbers are well suited to pickling whole (think gherkins and cornichons). As they mature, the seeds become larger, firmer and more bitter and can be removed by scraping a teaspoon along the inside of the cuke.
A locally grown cucumber will not be coated in food-grade wax, so try striping the skin using a peeler and enjoy the striking color combination. Dill, cilantro, mint, cumin, red onion, tomato, yogurt, sour cream, lemon, smoked salmon, and rice wine vinegar all show an affinity for the cool ruler; cucumbers can even be cooked, although doing so in the summer seems hot headed.—Lisa Reeder
Carrot matchsticks, waffle-cut sweet potatoes, wafer-thin disks of cucumber—you’ve seen them in restaurants and marveled at the precision, but how in the world is it accomplished? With a mandoline.
 This mandoline, available at The Seasonal Cook, represents the simple end of the spectrum; you can buy a much more elaborate mandoline if you like. |
A mandoline is a hand-powered slicing machine, similar in function to a grater but with sharper, interchangeable blades and meant for high volume production. For home use, try any of the OXO brand mandolines—they mimic the “professional” French mandoline, but have been made steadier on their feet and simpler to set up, clean, and put away.
Mandolines usually include several interchangeable blades; as soon as you buy the thing, find a little box or tin in which to stash the extra pieces so that they don’t disappear (taking with them your dream of waffle fries).—L.R.
The Dark Knight (PG-13, 140 minutes) Just as Batman (Christian Bale) makes real headway cleaning up Gotham’s streets, with help from a top cop (Gary Oldman) and an aggressive D.A. (Aaron Eckhart), some joker calling himself the Joker (Heath Ledger) decides to mastermind a terrifying criminal rampage. Out comes the heavy artillery—and the moviegoers who don’t usually bother with this superhero silliness but are morbidly curious about the late Ledger’s final full performance. Playing at Regal Seminole Square 4
The Fall (R, 117 minutes) A hobbled stuntman and a precocious youngster dream up a dazzling tale, realized in a film shot across 24 countries. Opens Friday at Vinegar Hill Theatre
Get Smart (PG-13, 110 minutes) The old TV show remakes just keep coming. Here, Steve Carell and Anne Hathaway take over as Maxwell Smart and Agent 99, one bumbling, one sexy secret agent who must join forces to stop the evil organization KAOS from destroying the world. The film does have fun resurrecting a lot of the original jokes and props—although how many people actually remember them is a legitimate question. Playing at Carmike Cinema 6
Hancock (PG-13, 92 minutes) Will Smith stars as the world’s only superhero. Unfortunately, his random acts of heroism, resulting in lots of collateral damage, mean he’s extremely unpopular. Drunk, bitter and mostly invulnerable, our hero tries to turn his life around after saving a public relations man (Jason Bateman) with a plan. Action, drama and a little comedy combine in this rather original take on comic book mythology. Playing at Regal Seminole Square 4
Hellboy II: The Golden Army (PG-13, runtime TBA) Hellboy (Ron Perlman) and his evil-smashing cohorts are back. This time, the mythical world of elves and fairies is considering a rebellion against humanity in a bid to rule the Earth. Guess it’s up to one reformed demon, a pyrokinetic and a fishman to save the day. Thankfully, writer/director Guillermo del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth) is back in charge of this fantasy-heavy comic book adaptation. Playing at Regal Downtown Mall 6
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (PG-13, 120 minutes) It’s been a few years since the last adventure—for us as well as for Indy. It’s now the ’50s and our aging adventurer is called upon to engage in one last globe-hopping trek. Teaming up with a James Dean wannabe (Shia LaBeouf) and his ex-girlfriend Marion Ravenwood (Karen Allen), Indy travels to South America to foil an evil Soviet plot. Seems the Russkies are trying to get their hands on a mysterious collection of ancient crystal skulls that might (possibly, maybe, who knows?) hold proof of extraterrestrial life. Playing at Carmike Cinema 6
Journey to the Center of the Earth (PG, 92 minutes) For better or worse, Jules Verne’s seminal adventure novel gets saddled with Brendan Fraser and a digital 3-D update. Juvenile and gimmicky in the extreme, this simple recreation of about five amusement park rides (runaway mine cart, water slide, etc.) still manages to be entertaining in a zippy, Saturday matinee kind of way. It ain’t high art, but kids will enjoy all the things popping out of the screen. Playing at Carmike Cinema 6
Kit Kittredge: An American Girl (G, 91 minutes) The much-beloved history-centric doll line comes to life on the big screen, no doubt enchanting thousands of doll-mad 9-year-old girls. Abigail Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine) is our gal Kit, a plucky pre-teen living in her parents’ rooming house in Depression-era Cincinatti. Apparently, there’s a murder mystery. And a bunch of guest stars (Joan Cusack, Julia Ormond, Chris O’Donnell, Stanley Tucci, Jane Krakowski). Playing at Carmike Cinema 6
Mamma Mia! (PG-13, 108 minutes) On a cute Greek island where she runs a little hotel, a single mom (Meryl Streep) prepares to give her daughter (Amanda Seyfried) away to marriage. Wedding guests include mom’s former bandmates (Julie Walters and Christine Baranski) and the three men who might be her daughter’s dad (Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Stellan Skarsgaard). Romantic mayhem and many ABBA songs ensue. Playing at Regal Downtown Mall 6
Mongol (R, 120 minutes) From Kazakhstan comes this Academy Award-nominated epic recounting the early life of Mongolian prince Temudjin (Japanese actor Tadanobu Asano), who grew up to be a guy named Genghis Khan. The film moves at a sometimes rapid pace, hop-scotching almost 30 years in just over two hours. But this is no dry history lesson. With its revenge-fueled storyline, exotic setting and blood-spewing battle scenes, this rousing biopic plays like Lawrence of Arabia crossed with Conan the Barbarian. Playing at Vinegar Hill Theatre
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (PG-13, 154 minutes) Brendan Fraser, again enjoying himself as a low-rent Indiana Jones, travels the world in search of adventure, with the wife (Maria Bello) and son (Luke Ford) and brother-in-law (John Hannah) in tow. He finds Jet Li as a resurrected Han emperor who wants to make us all his slaves. That should do, adventure-wise. Opening Friday
Space Chimps (G, 81 minutes) At least you know from its title what this movie is about. Chimpanzee astronauts, including one descended from the original chimp on whom outer space was first tested, travel through a black hole to a planet whose despotic leader they’ve been ordered to oust. The cast includes Andy Samberg, Jeff Daniels, Stanley Tucci, Cheryl Hines and cartoon voice-over maestro Patrick Warburton. Playing at Regal Downtown Mall 6
Step Brothers (R, 95 minutes) Reviewed here. Playing at Regal Seminole Square 4
WALL-E (G, 97 minutes) Animation giant Pixar returns with another sure-fire winner. This one’s a sci-fi tale set in the far future. Seems mankind has squandered the Earth’s resources with its rabid consumer addictions. The big blue marble has been abandoned as a junkheap to be tended over by a handful of waste allocation robots (among them, our titular hero). One day, after hundreds of years on the job, WALL-E meets a sleek robot named EVE and goes on a quest across the galaxy to find her—and unwittingly save Earth in the process. The animation is incredible, and damn if that boxy little robot isn’t the cutest thing ever. Playing at Carmike Cinema 6
Wanted (R, 108 minutes) Mark Millar & J.G. Jones’ hit comic book series gets (loosely) adapted to the big screen. James McAvoy (Atonement) stars as an apathetic office drone who finds he’s the heir to a secret society of super-powered assassins whose mission it is to shape the fate of the world by shooting a whole lot of people. Wisely or unwisely, the film dumps the costumed superhero angle of the book. Still, the cast (including Angelina Jolie, Morgan Freeman and Terence Stamp) is impressive and the action propulsive. Playing at Regal Downtown Mall 6
The X-Files: I Want to Believe (PG-13) Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny at last apparently submit to their destinies as the portrayers of special agents Scully and Mulder, together investigating a possibly paranormal or conspiratorial something or other, complete details of which are perhaps known only to director and series creator Chris Carter. Playing at Carmike Cinema 6
With a crowd of more than 150 people tossing about like salt-lipped waves and Jay Purdy, lead singer of The Extraordinaires, baring the whites of his eyes and shaking his beard like Ahab on the hunt, one wonders: “What do you do with a drunken sailor later in the evening?”
The beauty of The Extraordinaires is that the group has become so adept at steering through a stormy set of rock that catching the band live is more like a trip through the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Walt Disney World than an Atlantic cruise. Everything is vivid, almost cartoonish, in detail and sound, and would feel silly if the crew of the S.S. Extraordinaires weren’t so committed to their ship. The only way for an audience to enjoy itself as much as the members of the band is to commit whole-heartedly to their fantastic narratives, which is precisely what last Thursday’s enormous crowd at the Tea Bazaar did.
 The Extraordinaires packed the Twisted Branch Tea Bazaar for a night of memorable madness last Thursday. |
Of course, there’s an ocean of difference between being earnest and buying in. Staunton-based opening act Nelly Kate and her guest Wes Swing ran through a handful of entrancing, somber pop songs and a few Eastern-tinged incantations, but many of the songs fell under two minutes in length—catchy enough to command attention but too short to gratify it. Swing and Kate are exceptional at pairing potent lyrics with the gauzy atmosphere of cello and acoustic guitar, but the promising pair’s songs invited more attention than they could reward.
Second act Tavo Carbone was quite the opposite, a songwriter that repopulated early blues tunes and country waltzes with unsavory characters and sang with a voice that owed as much to Bessie Smith as Bobcat Goldthwait. Following one song, an audience member turned to me and asked, “Isn’t that what Tiny Tim sounds like?” Yet beneath a voice that might’ve seemed repellent were endearing lyrics about uncomfortable people, including a girl that “laughs in a way that drives lemmings from a cliff” and a second that danced “like a dog in May/ When the hydrants are out of range.”
I spent The Extraordinaires’ hour-plus set perched in my crow’s nest atop a chair while the most massive crowd to witness a concert in the Tea Bazaar swayed, swelled and burst at the group’s command, often at the provocation of focal point Jay Purdy. Wearing an airbrushed Batman t-shirt and a hairdo from Eraserhead, Purdy opened the set clutching his classical guitar—painted and amended to resemble a blue swordfish—with one arm and conducting his crew with the other, guiding the vessel of the Tea Bazaar through songs of lazy exploration (the riotously paranoid “The Neighborhood Watch”) and violent retribution (new tune “Man Versus the Whale”).
The Extraordinaires do right by their narratives of demons, cacti, ghosts and war, digging through genres like tackle boxes and finding nothing but hooks. Live, each chorus was simple enough to attract attention and each melody, drawing on everything from Beach Boys and Boston to The Unicorns, was familiar enough to command it. The Extraordinaires’ final anthem, “The Warehouse Song,” felt like finding land, the validation of some ill-planned, wildly entertaining journey launched long ago: “We never do a single dish./ We like our house the way it is.” So do we.
You hear a lot of dark chatter in bars—a lot of conversation fragments, jokes and rumors. After last call, however, you have to take the talk elsewhere. For Michael’s Bistro, the haven for Belgian beers and bison burgers on the Corner, last call was 10 days ago, on Friday, July 18. Now the bar talk has turned into rumor on the streets and the Web, and the doors are yet to reopen.
“I would say ‘closed until further notice,’” said Sean Chandler, a Bistro bartender. When asked whether he was still employed at the bar, Chandler responded, “I am. Well, I was…I’m not sure what’s going on as far as that’s concerned.” Chandler also said that the reasons for the closure seemed complicated and declined to elaborate further.
Bistro co-owner Chuck Adcock, however, explained that the restaurant closed its doors due to a disagreement with his partner, co-owner Michael Crafaik. “My business partner [and I] disagreed on how the operation of the business was going, and so we split our ways,” said Adcock in a phone interview. When asked why the restaurant closed its doors, Adock responded that the entire staff quit their positions at the same time, and that Crafaik needed to find a new staff.
“Michael did fire the manager, Bob Dorsey,” said Adcock. “That’s sorta what caused the riff in operations. The staff didn’t want to work for Michael—that’s what it comes down to.”
"The way [Crafaik] has been running the restaurant, it’s been hard to keep it running," said Dorsey in a phone interview. "If he has anything to do with the Bistro, I don’t want to go back and work there."
"Bob [Dorsey] getting fired was the beginning of the avalanche," says Adam Brock, another Bistro employee. Brock also mentioned that there was rumor of more firings to come, and confirmed Chandler’s smoky assessment of the situation. "I wouldn’t say we quit, and I wouldn’t say we were fired." Calls to Crafaik as well as the Bistro’s number were not returned by press time.
When asked for his future plans, Adcock responded that he’d “probably lay low for a little bit.”
“The restaurant business has left a bit of a bitter taste in my mouth,” said Adcock. “[But] at some point, I’ll probably try to open another restaurant.”