Month: December 2008

Categories
News

Your tax dollars at work

Job title: Training and accreditation supervisor for the Emergency Communications Center. Wade trains the folks who handle all of our emergencies, and keeps our area on the cutting edge.

Worked for the county for: 24 years

Resides in: Fluvanna County

Best of times: Receiving national accreditation. “I spent two-and-a-half years working to have our department meet national standards. It’s good to know we don’t only talk the talk, we walk the walk.”

Debbie Wade

Worst of times: Unsuccessful training, which takes up to a year. “It’s hard to be spending months and months with someone, spending a lot of our energy and their energy and time, and not have them succeed. There are no indicators—we’ve had people with high school diplomas, bachelor’s degrees, even master’s come in here and not make it.”

Strangest moment on the job: Man who called during a blizzard who said he was trapped and needed some pot. “He said that he needed it for a prescription for pain management. When I told him we couldn’t do that, he asked, ‘Don’t you have some in the evidence room?’”

If she were any superhero, she’d be: A super-duper accreditation supervisor to improve the national emergency response system. “We’ve got it pretty great around here, but I would like to help the whole country.”

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

Categories
Arts

Capsule reviews

Australia (PG-13, 175 minutes) Moulin Rouge! director Baz Luhrmann directs Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman in a romantic historical western. Playing at Carmike Cinema 6

Bolt (PG, 96 minutes) In Disney’s 48th animated feature, a Hollywood dog who plays a canine superhero on TV, and thinks he actually is one, winds up in New York by mistake and must make an incredible journey home. John Travolta, Miley Cyrus and Malcolm McDowell, among others, lend their voice talents. Playing at Carmike Cinema 6

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas (PG-13, 93 minutes) At a concentration camp during World War II, the son of a Nazi befriends a Jewish boy. Playing at Regal Downtown Mall 6

Cadillac Records (R, 108 minutes) Read C-VILLE’s full review here. Playing at Carmike Cinema 6

The Day the Earth Stood Still (PG-13, 92 minutes) In this update of the 1951 sci-fi staple, Keanu Reeves and his robot visit Earth from afar with a message of “Knock off the violence or you’ll see some something fierce.” Jennifer Connelly and Kathy Bates co-star. Opening Friday

Delgo (PG, 90 minutes) Freddie Prinze Jr., Val Kilmer, Eric Idle, Jennifer Love Hewitt and Burt Reynolds together in one movie? And an epic animated teen fantasy tale at that? You know what to do. Opening Friday

Fireproof (PG, 122 minutes) A firefighter played by Left Behind star Kirk Cameron tries not to get burned in his disintegrating marriage by turning to God. Playing at Carmike Cinema 6

Four Christmases (PG-13, 82 minutes) Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon play a couple accustomed to sneaking away together for Christmas but compelled this year to visit all four of their divorced parents on that one day. Regal Seminole Square 4

Happy-Go-Lucky (R, 118 minutes) Poppy, an eternal optimist-type teacher, has a series of adventures that tinker with her personality in various ways. Intrigued? So are we. Playing at Vinegar Hill Theatre

Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (PG, 89 minutes) Having made it from the Central Park Zoo to Madagascar, Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer and the gang (as animated animals, you understand) brave the wilds of mainland Africa and get in touch with their roots. Playing at Carmike Cinema 6

Nobel Son (R, 102 minutes) After a chemist (Alan Rickman) nabs a Nobel Prize, kidnappers take his son hostage and hold him for ransom. Well-rounded cast of dudes includes Ted Danson, Danny DeVito and Shawn Hatosy (Familiar Strangers). Playing at Regal Downtown Mall 6

Nothing Like the Holidays (PG-13, 99 minutes) One family’s Christmas reunion in Chicago, with John Leguizamo, Freddy Rodriguez, Jey Hernandez, Alfred Molina, Melonie Diaz and hopefully not too many clichés. Opening Friday

Punisher (R, 107 minutes) After accidentally killing an FBI agent and doing a number on a few other dudes, Frank “The Punisher” Castle (Ray Stevenson) squares off against a villain named “Jigsaw,” played by Dominic “McNulty” West. Playing at Regal Downtown Mall 6

Quantum of Solace (PG-13, 106 minutes) Daniel Craig takes a licking and keeps on 007-ing in the latest James Bond flick. Playing at Regal Seminole Square 4

Rachel Getting Married (R, 113 minutes) Jonathan Demme’s latest throws Kym (Anne Hathaway), fresh from a decade of rehab, back to her roots for her sister’s day of marital bliss. Chances of it going awry seem pretty good. Playing at Vinegar Hill Theatre

Role Models (R, 100 minutes) Paul Rudd and Seann William Scott play a pair of comically obnoxious energy drink sales-man-boys who mess up their company truck and pay for it with community service—namely, mentoring young misfit kids.  It’s not saying that bitterness and vulgarity for it’s own sake is funny. It’s saying that bitterness and vulgarity from children is funny. Playing at Regal Downtown Mall 6

Transporter 3 (PG-13, 100 minutes) Jason Statham drives a car. Kicks some ass. Gets the girl? Playing at Carmike Cinema 6

Twilight (PG-13, 120 minutes) Director Catherine Hardwicke (Thirteen, Lords of Dogtown) adapts Stephenie Meyer’s bestselling novel about the romance between a teenage girl (Kristen Stewart) and a well-coiffed vampire (Robert Pattinson). Playing at Regal Downtown Mall 6

Categories
News

Empty retail abounds on east end of the Mall

Unable to find a tenant for the former Order from Horder space on the east end of the Downtown Mall, the Masonic Corporation that owns the building is asking the city for permission to partition the space into two roughly equal units that could be rented out to gift shops or other interested businesses.

“The Mall project is scaring people away,” says Andy Keller, building manager for the Masonic Corporation. Keller is referring to the Downtown renovation project, which involves rebricking the original Mall in sand rather than with mortar, as well as other upgrades to the electrical and plumping systems. Though some test work has already been done, the real work will commence January 2. The city says that the project will finish in May—a schedule that many are greeting skeptically, including Keller.

“We talked to two national chains, but we had to tell them what was going on,” he says. “We couldn’t pull the wool over their eyes.”

“A couple of the [possible tenants] said that if they are right, they will come back in the summer,” says Keller, “but we can’t operate between now and June. Our monthly

Morgan MacKenzie-Perkins, owner of the Sage Moon Gallery, can’t afford to remain in her Downtown Mall space location and is closing shop on December 15. "It’s heartbreaking for us to have this happen, but it’s the economy," she says.

bills are pretty high. We don’t charge the various Masonic groups that use the building.”

The Board of Architectural Review will consider the Masonic Corporation’s proposal at its December 16 meeting.

Across the street from the former Order from Horder is the empty former A&N building that recently housed an Obama campaign office. A few doors down from there, Morgan MacKenzie-Perkins is about to close shop on the Sage Moon Gallery that she owns with her husband.

“It’s been a hard decision, but it was a decision that we didn’t have a choice about because, financially, we could not afford to maintain this space,” says MacKenzie-Perkins, who will shut it down December 15. “This kind of an economy is not for sissies, and maybe I’ve turned into a sissy,” she says, with a laugh.

Sage Moon leases the space from Chuck Lewis, who also owns York Place and several other commercial spaces around Charlottesville. Lewis did not return calls for comment, but MacKenzie-Perkins says he was a good landlord who made an effort to keep her in the space. However, “in this financial climate, I can’t take the risks that it would require to do those things.”

Instead, she will exhibit some of the gallery art a few blocks down at Siips, a wine restaurant.

MacKenzie-Perkins doesn’t put any blame on the Downtown renovation, which she sees as necessary. “You cannot let something like this deteriorate,” she says. “We love the Mall, so we’re going to love it no matter what, but when people fall down and hurt themselves on the Mall, they don’t love it a whole lot.”

Sage Moon isn’t the only gallery closing shop on the Mall. Migration, an art gallery on Mall sidestreet Fifth Street SE, will shutter in January, according to a press release from owners Laura and Rob Jones. (C-VILLE’s music blog, Feedback, has the full scoop.)

Another art shop on the east end of the Mall, L’Affiche, is also closing, though owner Zulema Weinschenk says, “It’s not because of the economy, and not because of the bricks or anything. I am just retiring. I have been here since 1980 when there were hardly any businesses down here. I truly believed that the Downtown Mall would become something special, and it has.”

The bus is getting crowded (but free)

So a couple of major news outlets are reporting on this wee ray of sunshine: More people are getting out of their cars and onto transit! Here’s the source: a report from the American Public Transportation Association stating that crazy gas prices have compelled Americans to ride transit 6.5 percent more frequently in the third quarter of this year than we did in the third quarter of 2007. That’s the biggest quarterly increase in 25 years.

I must say that this summer’s gas-price spike caused the biggest, swiftest groundswell of eco-change on a personal level that I’ve ever witnessed. People’s kids were walking to school, cops were walking their beats, home-buying patterns changed…we really got smarter about a whole bunch of things, simply because of $4 gas.

Of course, gas doesn’t cost four bucks anymore. It’s not quite down to the levels I fondly remember from my college years, when we’d pay 88 cents a gallon to fill up the minivan tank, hop in, and drive to New Orleans for the hell of it. But it’s mighty low, and I have found myself thinking some bad thoughts. "Hmm…might be a good time to go camping in West Texas…wouldn’t cost that much to drive out there…"

Meanwhile, the Charlottesville Transit System is offering a (not-very-well-publicized) Fare Free Day tomorrow (that’s Wednesday, the 10th) in hopes that people will put aside their bad thoughts and renew a commitment to greener transportation. I know this is the right thing to do. I know it’s good that we’ll probably get some money for a regional rail system. I really am glad. But cheap gas is just so seductive, y’know?

Anybody taken a gratuitous road trip lately? Stopped carpooling? Or did the pricey days of summer get you started on new habits that you’re sticking with, even though prices have dipped?

Bricks come up to repair pipes, but rebricking project is still not officially underway

It may look like the mall rebricking is way ahead of schedule, but, alas, it’s not.

Construction workers this morning are in the process of digging up bricks on the Mall to fix a leaking water line. They started right in front of the C-VILLE office and will expand the operation a few yards.

Technically, workers are inserting 1-inch pipelines into the existing 2-inch pipelines, a much easier task than completely replacing the existing pipelines.

As for the aged bricks, they will be brought to the city yard to be ground and recycled. For the time being, the holes will be covered with concrete, to be jackhammered up again when the “real” rebricking begins in January.

Does pouring concrete only to dig it up again seem wasteful? Workers say no. What do you think?

Ani Difranco to perform at The Paramount

The news hasn’t quite hit the web yet, but songwriter/Righteous Babe Records founder Ani Difranco will grace The Paramount Theater‘s stage on Wednesday, March 4. What’s more, her gig follows a performance the previous day by kindred righteous babe Joan Baez. Tickets for both shows go on sale on Friday, December 12 at 10am and can be purchased here (it’s a Starr Hill Presents gig).

According to C-VILLE’s review of Ani’s latest, Red Letter Year, Dame Difranco may be at her best in a live setting. What do you think?

Ani Difranco: Still badass after all these years.

The last year was my big introduction to Difranco, incidentally—fell in love with "Overlap," caught two wildly different and equally enjoyable sets (a seated show in Maryland, a standing gig in Norfolk, Virginia). I’m far from being a "Righteous" dude, but I can say that she puts on a steamrolling live show whether you know the lyrics like the back . You can get a taste of some recent Ani activity at Daytrotter, where she recorded a few songs. (Go here; skip the material from Red Letter Year and listen to "Coming Up" first.)

So, Ani Fan-is, compile your dream setlist here! Then, answer me this: Twenty albums into her career—not far from Baez’s 33, and in a career half as long!—what’s Ani Difranco’s lasting imprint on music?

This too shall pass: Danny Schmidt correction

Danny Schmidt writes the sort of songs that make some of us here at C-VILLE go all slack-jawed and soft-hearted. The man’s descriptive skills and narratives could put other writers to shame. But we’re hanging our heads for another reason entirely.

For reasons I won’t get into—namely, because it wasn’t anything exciting like sabotage—the preview blurb for Schmidt’s show on page 25 of the current C-VILLE features the songwriter’s handsome mug along with a writeup about Blackfriars Playhouse’s Santaland Diaries. To be clear, this was not intentional.

Below is the original text for Danny Schmidt’s sure-to-be-awesome show at Gravity Lounge on Thursday, December 11:

Return of the dark-eyed prince

Whole worlds rise and fall in the songs of Danny Schmidt: Bridges and leaves are burned, cities and churches are broken down and built up, love is forsaken and then found. And with little more than his guitar and careening voice, Schmidt becomes the architect, preacher and magician behind each of those worlds. Do not miss this gig. $10, 7:30pm. Gravity Lounge.

Danny Schmidt performs at Gravity Lounge on Thursday night. Really.

Lucky for us, Schmidt is basically happy all the time; I dialed him up and explained the mistake, and he accepted the apology because, well, the guy’s a gentleman and a prince. Be sure to catch his show on Thursday at Gravity Lounge, or his opening set for Carrie Elkin at Rapunzel’s Coffee on Saturday.

And for those of you who enjoy sabotage, here you go:

 Funny? Or was I overthinking the whole "Sabotage" thing?

Julian Bond seeking re-election as NAACP National Board Chairman

UVA History professor and current NAACP chairman Julian Bond has changed his mind.

On November 18, Bond announced that he would not seek re-election as NAACP National Board Chairman, but, according to The Daily Voice, he is now indeed seeking re-election when his term ends in February.

The Daily Voice reports that in an interview with Jeff Johnson on The "Tom Joyner Morning Show" this morning, Bond said his decision to stay at his post was a response to the overwhelming support from people who contacted him recently.

According to the article, Bond sent a message to board members about his change of heart. Last week, Johnson argued for Bond to stay as NAACP chairman because of his experience and asked supporters to call the organization.

 

Julian Bond has served as chairman since 1998.
 

Life gets better for Obamas, even if they don

For all the Obamas out there: your life has changed forever. From handshakes and smiles to avoiding parking tickets. 

Just ask Denise Maye Obama, a UVA freshman.

"I signed up for a Harris Teeter card the other day, and the woman was, like, Obama?," she told the Washington Post. "She said: ‘That’s a first. Are you related to the president?’ Everyone asks if I’m related to the president now. One of these times I’m going to say yes, just for the fun of it."

Obama, however, said her name hasn’t helped her get inauguration tickets yet. Last time she saw the President-elect was when he was still running against Hillary Clinton at a Charlottesville rally. "My name didn’t do me much good that time," she said. "I didn’t even get to shake his hand."

The name Obama is rare, writes reporter Steve Hendrix (humm…can he play “Purple Haze”?). According to databases, there may be fewer than 20 families in the country, compared with more than 11,000 Clintons and 60,000 Bushes.

Anyone out there with a “celebrity” last name?

Mike Groh ousted as offensive coordinator

Just about everybody saw it coming, and now it’s official: Football Head Coach Al Groh has fired his son, Mike Groh, from his position as offensive coordinator.

“Since the end of the season, I have done the annual review of every aspect of our program in order to make our plans to move forward to the next season,” said Groh in a statement issued this afternoon. “Part of that moving forward will involve changes in our systems and staff.

“The change in systems will be made to utilize the player talent available to us from our current roster and incoming players, and the changes in the staff will be made to accommodate those schemes.”

Rivals.com broke the story last night, and The Daily Progress, Richmond Times-Dispatch and other outlets quickly followed up. But the action had seemed imminent since the football team ended the season 5-7 after losing—yet again—to Virginia Tech. UVA Athletic Director Craig Littlepage announced last week that Al Groh’s contract wouldn’t be extended. Virginia and Duke are the only squads out of the 12 ACC teams that won’t go to a bowl game this year.

Since Mike Groh, an acclaimed UVA quarterback in the 1990s, took over the role of offensive coordinator, the offense has never finished the season higher than 101 out of 119 division I-A teams.

In addition to Mike Groh, Levern Belin, defensive line coach, is also leaving to “pursue career opportunities.” Steve Bernstein, assistant head coach and defensive backs coach, will retire. Bob Pruett will move to the position of assistant head coach/defense, while Bob Diaco will become defensive coordinator. Anthony Poindexter will move from running backs coach to defensive secondary coach.

Groh will conduct a “national search” to replace his son and the other vacancies. Jeff White of the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that former offensive coordinator Ron Prince, who was fired earlier this year from his position as head coach of Kansas State, hasn’t been contacted yet about the job.