Month: March 2009

Decisive snowfall calls for decisive action. Rest assured, folks, that this morning the City of Charlottesville launched what can only be described as a multi-tiered attack on the hazardous weather that threatens to overwhelm our hospitable hometown.

According to an e-mail from City spokesman Ric Barrick, tonight’s City Council meeting is canceled. Unfortunately, this announcement also cancels the plans of those residents mobilized by the Coalition to Preserve McIntire Park, which hoped to rally troops to speak in disfavor of current construction plans for the Meadowcreek Parkway. City Hall opens at 10am, CTS buses will run on a modified schedule, and the Circuit and General courts will remain closed.

In a two-part move that may result in a debilitating cycle of youthful celebration, city schools are closed, and trash and recycling services will run on a one-day lag this week. Beware, parents, lest your homes and streets be overrun with Campbell’s soup cans and empty hot chocolate pouches. These announcements also arrive courtesy of Barrick, our Howard Cosell of winter storm warnings.

And an e-mail from the Virginia Department of Transportation reminds the four-wheel drive daredevils out there to steer clear of I-64 and Afton Mountain if possible. "Snowplows are working on I-64," the e-mail promises, "but the high winds and blowing snow are covering the road even after the plows pass through." (Wax on, wax off.) For road conditions, call 511 or check 511Virginia.org.

Fortunately for you, C-VILLE’s dauntless reporting team made it to work today thanks to snowshoes and a helpful polar bear. Stay tuned to c-ville.com for more local news.

A view of the Downtown Mall from C-VILLE’s front door.

Longtime Charlottesville pediatrician and father of Congressman Tom Perriello, Dr. Vito Perriello died today after suffering two strokes this past week.

He practiced in the city and surrounding communities for over 40 years.

Tom Perriello released a statement about his father’s passing:  “I appreciate the hundreds of supportive calls and notes during this devastating week, and most of all your prayers for my family. My father’s legendary integrity and sense of service will be missed not just by our family and but also by our entire community. I hope to spend decades trying to match his ceaseless lived commitment to our common humanity. Please keep my mother Linda, his loving wife of over 43 years, in your prayers.”

Linda Perriello, Congressman Tom Perriello and Dr. Vito Perriello posing during Tom’s campaign.

(Photo courtesy of the Perriello Family)

There’s a good chance you heard one of Megan Huddleston‘s songs in the last year or so. You simply might’ve heard someone else singing.

Roughly a year ago, Paul Curreri and Devon Sproule recorded a version of Huddleston’s tune "The Things You Do" for their annual Valentine’s Day album. A few weeks ago, Sproule dropped by our office with her spooky reading of "One Eye Open." And a quick search turned up Paul Curreri’s brother, Matt, performing Huddleston’s song "Josephine" more than three years ago.

These tracks, along with eight others, pop up on Lucky You!, the first release from Huddleston’s band, Mister Baby. And this time, the menace and mirth comes straight from Huddleston’s sneering mouth. Mister Baby released Lucky You! with a gig at Blue Moon Diner on Friday night, and the record spent the weekend in my stereo. Thoughts after the photo.

Beginner’s luck: We’re totally in love with Mister Baby’s Lucky You!

It seems fitting that I heard a handful of Huddleston’s songs performed by others before I heard Mister Baby take ’em on. Huddleston’s songs are bare-bones standards at heart, waiting to be interpreted—six-chambered murder ballads like "One Eye Open" and album opener "The Things You Do," rueful love songs like "Before I Knew You."

Nearly every song is clear and sharp as a pistol’s report. Huddleston swears with a smirk on the title track, and has sufficient guts to back up her gall on songs like "20-Some Odd Years." ("I can run faster than a damn gazelle/ out on the open plain. Jump the Grand Canyon, catch bullets in my teeth/ dodge every single drop of a driving rain.")

What’s more, each track is simple enough in structure that the slightest flourishes—the Pixies guitar riff that sets off "Reuben," the way Huddleston’s voice wags a finger and her uvula when it warns you not to play games with her—spike the proverbial punch. It takes a fierce guy or gal to pull the trigger on tunes like these, and Huddleston proves herself a crack shot at interpreting her own tracks.

In short, you can have my copy of Lucky You! when you pry it from my cold, dead fingers. Any Mister Baby fans out there with me?