Month: April 2009

TV on the Radio’s Kyp Malone performs in town on Friday

As part of the First Friday reception for Adriana Atema’s "Bright Face (People You Should Know)" exhibit, The Bridge/Progressive Arts Initiative will host a set of music by Rain Machine, the solo project of Kyp Malone, best known musically for his work with TV on the Radio. Music will begin between 7pm and 8pm.

The last year has been a big one for TVOTR, whose gorgeous third album, Dear Science, hangs heavily on Malone’s edgy (and Edge-y) guitar work and honey-and-helium vocals. But Malone’s been busy elsewhere, prepping a release from his band Iran and playing a few shows as Rain Machine.

Former local Max Fenton, who helped to coordinate the show, writes that Rain Machine’s music is "about as far from TVOTR as you can get: slow, feedback, distortion, political, dark, guitar songs.  But it should be a blast [and] a good reason for folks to come out on Friday." We say: Make it rain, Kyp!


Kyp Malone performs at The Bridge/Progressive Arts Initiative on Friday, April 3.

Local unemployment double since last year

The Charlottesville metropolitan area, long renowned for its low rates of unemployment, has seen the rate double in the past year. The Virginia Employment Commission pegs Charlottesville’s unemployment rate at 5.6 percent in February 2009, up from 2.8 percent in February 2008 and 5.3 percent in January 2009.

Still, that’s better than the Commonwealth as a whole. Virginia’s unemployment rate for February 2009 increased to 7 percent compared to 6.4 percent the month before, according to the VEC. The total number of unemployed was 291,100, up 27,000 from January. Virginia’s rate is still below the national number of 8.9 percent.

Though it has the dubious distinction of having the highest unemployment rate, Danville is the only metro area that saw improvement in the unemployment numbers, dropping to 12.3 percent in February from 13.9 in January.

The lowest unemployment rate belongs to Northern Virginia, with 5.2 percent. Albemarle County’s rate is among the lowest of any locality, at 4.9 percent.

Here’s the breakdown:
Blacksburg-Christiansburg-Radford: 8 percent
Charlottesville: 5.6 percent
Danville: 12.3 percent
Harrisonburg: 6.6 percent
Lynchburg: 7.5 percent
Northern Virginia: 5.2 percent
Richmond: 7.9 percent
Roanoke: 7.4 percent
Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News: 7.2 percent
Winchester: 9.2 percent.
 

A light touch on eco-travel

Most of the serious environmentalists you’ll talk to have spent the last year or so feeling uneasy about all the press and publicity that the green movement is getting. There’s a "When will the other shoe drop?" sensation, given that the public’s attention span for any one crisis is so short. It sure doesn’t help when the whole topic gets watered down and pressed into service as a marketing pitch at every turn.

Exhibit A might be the Virginia Tourism Corporation’s "Virginia Green Travel Month," which is what they’re calling April. Governor Kaine is in on the act, as is the Department of Environmental Quality. Hotels and restaurants can earn a green certification by "committing to waste-reducing activities." And would-be tourists can go to this site for, it’s said, green travel ideas.

Problem is, what they’ll find there is an unfortunate combination of the vague and the puzzling. This promo line for Floyd County, for example, is vague: "Come and get close to the land in Floyd, and see what it’s like to be nurtured by nature." Vague, also, is the idea that just being outside is in itself a green activity. It can be, sure, but if you drive alone in your SUV to the trailhead parking lot, drink three disposable plastic bottles of water during your hike, and step on a salamander near the top of the mountain, your hike is not that green.

Similarly, the fact that one can walk to stuff on the Downtown Mall does not necessarily make Charlottesville a "green" destination, and golfing at Wintergreen is really not a legitimately eco-friendly activity. Yet these are both ideas mentioned on the Virginia Green website.

Green? Well, maaaaybee….

As for the puzzling, the notion of gas discounts being included in any notion of green travel is extremely puzzling.

I’m all for encouraging people to green up their vacation plans, but not if it means actually leading them astray. You feel me, greenies? Want to post some ideas for a truly sustainable getaway?