Month: October 2008

Actually, this post is about random tidbits; I just wanted to say that. But it did occur to me the other night, while watching an Obama ad, that I’m down with the sans serif the campaign has been using.

Hey, speaking of design, have you seen the Republicans For Obama logo on the campaign website? For some reason it cracks me up.

Trotting pachyderms for change!

Um, in other news, a source told me today that some kind of permit has been issued for crowds gathering on the Downtown Mall on election night. I will try to find out more about this soon. Personally, I would love to see Charlottesville look a little like this if Obama wins.

So how about that 30-minute infomercial? At first I thought it a tad schmaltzy, then I found myself surprisingly moved, especially by the older couple being slowly bankrupted by the woman’s prescriptions. This country’s health care insurance system is utterly barbaric. I was also thinking how Obama could undo his whole campaign in an instant if he dropped his drawers and mooned the camera, but fortunately he didn’t do that.

On a wonkier note, I recommend checking out this article from McClatchy addressing the right’s disproportionate focus on the role of Fannie Mae in the financial crisis.

The humble bus seems to be gaining in popularity as a political instrument. Tomorrow, October 31, you’ve got not one but two chances to see how the big, lumbering vehicles are becoming surprisingly nimble as symbols of various issues—depending who’s driving, of course.

The first one that’ll be in town is the WhoFarm bus, described as a "double-decker upside down school bus with a garden on top" (you can see what that actually looks like here). WhoFarm stands for White House Organic Farm; the group at the wheel here is petitioning the next president to plant an organic farm right there at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

I love this idea. I was saying a couple weeks ago as my husband and I pulled up our tomato plants, "When are we gonna get a president who gardens?" I’d feel a lot more connected to the president as a person—regardless of party—if I thought we shared the experience of waking up in the morning and peering outside to check on the chard. And WhoFarm has a whole list of other great reasons for the next prez to do this. They and their bus will be at the Monticello’s Center for Historic Plants, Friday morning, then at UVA’s Madison Bowl starting around 2pm. (This is appropriate because they envision planting the WhoFarm with heirloom seeds passed down from Thomas Jefferson’s gardens. Woot!)

Then there’s the Bush Legacy Bus, which as you’ll quickly figure out if you go to its website, is not exactly a rolling shoutout to the ol’ lame duck. Nope, it’s a "museum on wheels" that aims to skewer Bush on the economy, the war in Iraq, health care and gas prices—and to connect Republican candidates like Virgil Goode and John McCain to Bush’s policies. This is a project of Americans United for Change and, though it doesn’t seem to include green issues on its agenda, the bus is running on biodiesel. I guess that’s basically de rigueur, at this point, for any lefty group that wants to push 28 tons of talking points down the highway. Enter and be inundated, 10-11am at Barracks Road Shopping Center.

No word yet from the Straight Talk Express.

Downtown businesses have been anxious about the long winter ahead: Starting January 2, the City of Charlottesville will commence rebricking the entire Downtown Mall, a construction project sure to deter many would-be shoppers. But restaurants with café space got cause to grow even more concerned when they received a letter today from Charlottesville’s zoning administrator, Read Brodhead, informing them that no cafés would be permitted on the Mall until the rebricking is complete. That means even if the rebricking is complete in front of a restaurant, it won’t be able to put out café space until the entire project is done.

The city says that the project will take four months, pushing back the café season until the beginning of May. Typically, café season begins in March.

Michael Rodi, owner of Rapture, is worried what impact that will have on his business. When the weather starts to warm, he projects that patrons will go where there are outdoor options, and eschew the Mall altogether. Together with a winter that promises to be slower than usual, he thinks it might be enough to push many Downtown restaurants out of business.

Rodi immediately responded to Brodhead with a letter asking the city to reconsider the policy or abandon the rebricking project altogether “rather than spending a tremendous sum of taxpayers’ money in order to make the mall a sad, depressing monument to economic failure.”

He asks that the city at least allow cafés to operate when not impeded by construction. “I suspect that this decision is motivated by a misguided attempt to be fair, and I can appreciate the concern,” said Rodi in the letter, which he shared with C-VILLE. “However, the result will be universal failure, and the City will have accomplished nothing but destroying the mall in its efforts to preserve it.”

Even when the weather warms up this spring, Downtown restaurants won’t be able to put out cafe space to lure would-be diners.

Brodhead says that, in order to finish on time, the work crews will need unencumbered access to the Mall. “As you know, this is going to be a very extensive project and there is going to be a lot of work to get done in such a small window of time,” explains Brodhead by e-mail. “The construction crews need to be able to work without any obstructions slowing down the process. Moving cafés on and off the mall on a daily basis just isn’t a practical option.”

But Rodi wonders whether four months is a reasonable time frame for the project. “You will forgive me if I take your projections with a grain of salt,” Rodi wrote in his letter. “The 3rd St NE rebricking was completed more than four months after the allotted timeframe.”

To be fair to the city, the Third Street project was complicated by utility work and putting down a concrete slab on which the bricks rest, and the slab is already in place for the main Mall rebricking. Still, the slab will have to be broken in certain places for utilities, and almost certainly some unknowns will surface as the bricks are torn up.

The city is holding a meeting with downtown restaurants on November 14 to discuss the changes.

Last night was the first bout of Brooklyn’s Classy Ladies Arm Wrestling Society, or "CLAWS." BUST, the female lifestyle and culture magazine published a post on its blog about the event, which featured 16 wrestlers and was held at Union Pool. Sound familiar? It should.

A commented attributed only to "Rosie the Wrist Twister" appeared on the blog and left the following message:

"Hey y’all, we ain’t classy but we’ve been doing this all year long in Charlottesville, VA. Our CLAW (Charlottesville Lady Arm Wrestlers) have been wrasslin’ under all kinds of amazing personas, raising thousands of dollars for women-initiated causes."

Rosie proceeded to invite BUST magazine down to Charlottesville to check out a match with some real claws—namely, our CLAW, not their CLAWS. Them’s fightin’ words!

The Charlottesville Lady Arm Wrestlers wrap up their series of monthly gals ‘n’ grips battles with a final tournament of champions, the CLAW "Smackdown!" at 8pm on Tuesday, November 11, at Blue Moon Diner. And while BUST may not show, C-VILLE is all over the event; pick up a copy of C-VILLE next week for an up-close and brutal look at CLAW!

Ready, set, wrassle! C-VILLE pumps up its CLAW coverage next week; grab a copy of C-VILLE on Tuesday for more on Charlottesville Lady Arm Wrestlers.

Cold weather to me is a bit like Coldplay: It might help maintain the natural order of the world, but it isn’t always pleasant. Unfortunately, like our office’s copy of Viva La Vida, it feels like frosty days are here to stay for approximately the next four months.

Of course, this means its time to make the seasonal record swap. My copy of Wilco’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot got its first fall play last weekend, a good indicator of the cold weather dip in my music thermometer, and left me feeling toasty, wrapped up in all the flannel fuzz of the record’s production.

And last night brought a few more logs to the local music fire. Billy Bragg put on one of the better rock shows I’ve seen recently at The Paramount Theater; his Telecaster filling the chilly acoustic nooks of the venue with warmth from "A New England" and the racy "Ingrid Bergman." A personal highlight, however, was a cover of "Ain’t No Sunshine" by opening act The Watson Twins, who used the song’s bridge (a smokey chant of "I know, I know…") as an intro that grew into a searing bonfire. The rest of the set was filled with country-soul takes on tunes from the duo’s recent Fire Songs. Warmer already.

The Watson Twins rang in the fall with piping hot harmonies and soulful country at The Paramount.

After Bragg’s set, I made it to Outback Lodge just as Jay Reatard went onstage and resurrected the raw power of The Stooges. My internal rhythm isn’t necessarily set to "Black Flag" during the colder months, but Jay and his band didn’t dip below "Damage," and it was a sight: Each song began with a title shouted by Jay, the same "Rat tat tat tat" countdown from the drummer, followed by two to three minutes of punk chaos and squirrelly guitar licks, then another title, and so on without the slightest break.

So, two musical heatwaves in one night! What music heats you up when the temperature drops? Leave some heat below.

Oh, and for those of you without mittens, here’s a way to thaw those paws:

Yes, posting this video was worth the "mittens" setup. It’s also the best thing to happen to Daft Punk since Kanye West.

Forget about what you’ve just read. Vinegar Hill Theatre is alive and kicking. Or, it will be soon.

Adam Greenbaum, owner of Staunton’s Visulite Cinemas, will take control of the venue starting November 14. The theater will be closed for two weeks following a few Virginia Film Festival screenings for audio and video upgrades, and will reopen with a screening of Rachel Getting Married, starring Anne Hathaway.

Greenbaum told C-VILLE that his “great love for independent films” is a great match for our city. “Charlottesville is an incredible market,” he says. “There is so much energy and diversity and I just jumped at the opportunity.”

Vinegar Hill won’t be going away after all as Adam Greenbaum bounds to the rescue.

The news of the probable closing of Vinegar Hill came to Greenbaun by way of a mutual film buyer. "He had informed me about it," he says, and Greenbaum decided to make the call. "It’s not something that happened overnight," he says. In fact, the takeover has been in the works for the last couple of weeks.

Greenbaum says he will “definitely” be involved in the everyday aspects of the business, including new marketing strategies. “We are going to get more involved with the University,” he says, stressing that there is an “incredible opportunity to generate excitement” in the community.

“It’s a big challenge and it gave me pause,” he says. “But I’ve got so much adrenaline. I can’t wait.”
 

UVA police are charging Rashawn Lamont Jackson, who starts at fullback for the UVA football team, with breaking and entering as well as grand larceny for an incident that took place November 22, 2007, at Cauthen Dorm.

Jackson, 21, was slated for a bond hearing in Albemarle County General District Court this morning, according to a statement issued by the UVA police department.

On the gridiron, Jackson has been important as a blocker, but also has been a go-to player on third and short for the resurgent Cavaliers. This season, he has gained 119 yards on 25 touches.

The University athletics department released a statement saying that Jackson will continue participating as a member of the football team. "This matter will be handled within the team and the athletics department, and his final status with the team will not be determined until such time as the legal process is resolved or additional information becomes available," said Athletic Director Craig Littlepage in an e-mail. "The athletics department will not have additional comment until this case is resolved."
 

Rashawn Jackson is UVA’s starting fullback. No word on whether charges affect his status with the team.