Do you know how you’re affecting climate change? What about how your city is? This week, Scott Weaver explores 12 ways Charlottesville is contributing to global warming, and some of them may surprise you. Read the cover story here, and don’t forget to leave your comments.
I don’t want to be telling people how to think, but I guess I’m about to do just that, so here goes: If you are complaining about the rain, please stop. Stop and reexamine your thinking.
Yes, it is raining. Yes, that means a darker noon, less convenient picnics, and rebellious coiffures. We know. Here’s what it also means: Food that is growing instead of dying. Groundwater that might actually continue to provide us with something to drink. Evidence that our weather systems are not yet completely screwed.
Happy evidence in the C-VILLE office.
With even the tiniest amount of perspective, one sees the goodness of rain. Unless you’d be happy to see Central Virginia turn into West Texas, don’t bitch about it. And if you really can’t muster up any forgiveness for a dripping sky, please move to San Diego so the rest of us can, in peace, enjoy the full range of experiences offered by a temperate climate.
That is all. Happy April showers.
This year’s Oxford American music issue just keeps on giving. Last night, I read a great profile of Elton and Betty White, an Arkansas couple that sang the quaintest, most affectionate songs about sex this side of—trust me, it’s in there—Carole King’s Tapestry. (Check their MySpace page for a sample of "Hard Deep Sex Explosion." Among other things.) The duo was something of a local secret, a pair whose legend might’ve spread as wide as the OA readership but whose influence didn’t really extend beyond Little Rock.
While our city’s musicians can’t claim to’ve penned a tune as perfectly titled as "A Jelly Behind Woman Blows My Mind," there are a few locals who I’d say add to the musical makeup of our city without necessarily contributing to the greater world of music. The rhythmless banjo player who used to lurk near Bank of America and Antics comes to mind, as does Harmonica Dave.
Who else am I missing? Tell me who belongs on the list of local legends who’ve stayed local. (The first person that so much as mentions a Matthews will suffer thusly.)
And, since we’re talking about local legends, Andrew Cedermark—former UVA student and current rocker in a band named for a play about cannibals—performs with Titus Andronicus and opening act Lucero at Outback Lodge tomorrow night. (Titus was in town not too long ago.) A preview:
A new UVA fraternity house will be built for the first time in 50 years.
The Omicron Chapter of Beta Theta Pi Fraternity, better known as Beta, has reached an agreement with the Virginia Chapter of Delta Upsilon Fraternity, DU, and together they will bring back one of the oldest University fraternities.
DU will begin construction for the new building, located at 135 Madison Lane, by demolishing an apartment building that currently stands at the location. The new fraternity house will feature 7,000 square feet of living space and 15 single bedrooms. The building will also include features of green design.
As DU will change its location, Beta will buy DU’s current house on Rugby Road. Beta, on the other hand, will begin extensive renovations to the historic building at 180 Rugby Road. These renovations will be the first in the home’s 82-year history.
The design of the new DU house at 135 Madison Lane is designed by local Daggett + Grigg Architects.
(Photo courtesy of DU and Beta fraternities)
Every city needs a house large enough to hold its biggest hero. For Dave Matthews Band‘s first of two gigs this weekend (and first in Charlottesville since September 2006), the John Paul Jones Arena nearly proved too small.
Not right away, of course: There were still gaping holes in the audience as I made my way to the floor for an opening set from Old Crow Medicine Show, who veered towards "Honky Tonk Women"-era Rolling Stones at its best moments and struggled to justify two nearly inaudible banjo players at its most difficult ones. Hell, I could’ve two-stepped without kicking a dancing Nancy (or any other dancer, for that matter) while the Crows pecked away at a few well-wailed tunes like "Hard to Tell" and "Humdinger" ("We got wine, whiskey, women and guns" is the sort of distanced bluegrass humor I can dig), and struggled with a gutless cover of Bob Dylan’s "Wagon Wheel."
But space became an issue as a long, black veil encircled the stage and swarms of fans—not "listeners," because no one comes to a DMB show to be won over—crawled out from under their seats, down from the rafters, materialized in groups of four and five around the arena. Red lights hit the black curtain and lit our heroes as sprawling giants, before the curtain finally pulled apart. [Full review after the photo]
Dave Matthews Band returned to Charlottesville for a two-hour-plus set at John Paul Jones Arena. (Photo by Ashley Twiggs for C-VILLE)
And there they were, fronted by a Matthews that looked more slim and shaved than in his recent press photos, already going knobby-kneed as he steered the band into the great one-two punch that opens Before These Crowded Streets—from the acoustic breeze of "Pantala Naga Pampa" into the American funk and African rhythms of "Rapunzel." Flanked on his right by the enormous shoulders of Boyd Tinsley and guitarist Tim Reynolds, on his left by lively bobble-bassist Stefan Lessard and a two-piece horn section, with drummer Carter Beauford grinning and riding his back, Matthews went for fan favorites early, following his opening combo with the sonic ascension of "Satellite," while a baritone sax sat, untouched, in its stand.
Not for long, however; the band peaked early in a set of more than a dozen tunes. "I hope that this evening finds everybody groovy," croaked Matthews, eyebrows waggling in mischief, before kicking off the night’s best group of songs—"You Might Die Trying," thick with Jeff Coffin’s goose-honk fills on the baritone sax; "Funny The Way It Is," the single from DMB’s upcoming Big Whiskey and the Groogrux King; and a simple, celebratory cover of Talking Heads’ "Burning Down the House" that got more cheers than David Byrne could possibly nab at the smaller Charlottesville Pavilion when he performs there in June.
For this writer’s first time in years, new DMB material seemed exciting, a bit edgy—as if the band stopped digging into its old comfort zone and spent more time finding new ways to engage its strengths: the offbeat punches on horns and drums, a few harrowing howls from Matthews. The key change in "Funny" felt a bit heavy-handed, but it was a welcome slap. And after a "Grey Street" that was by-the-book but inexplicably felt like a treat, another new track, "Why I Am," threw Matthews and his band headlong into accelerating choruses that doubled, stopped on a dime and took off again while gigantic trumpeter Rashawn Ross double-fisted his horns.
The band seemed to go a bit light on the first few songs of its encore, picking up only slightly for the double-timed choruses at the end of "So Damn Lucky." They’d already hit a few ecstatic peaks, after all—a searing sax and drums duel in a quarter-hour version of "#41," the for-the-crowd "Ants Marching," and a "People in every direction" cheer that strained against the ceiling of John Paul Jones Arena.
Yet bassist Stefan Lessard found a final minor key riff in him, and kicked up a dust storm of high notes to open the band’s cover of "All Along the Watchtower" in the arena, the only home left in town that could contain DMB’s crowd and noise. And as the wind began to howl, Matthews gulped air, huffed, puffed, and finally blew the house down. Hard to imagine that, tomorrow, he’ll do it again.
Several hundred people gathered at UVA’s amphitheater last night for the Stand Against Hatred. The vigil and public forum was in response to the April 4 attack on a UVA student that was apparently motivated by anti-gay bias.
Addressing the crowd, Associate Vice President and Dean of Student Allen Groves said he’d received e-mails asking why an attack motivated by perceived sexual orientation should be considered differently than other assaults. “Any assault on a UVA student is one too many,” he began. Crimes of hate, however, “strike at the most cherished values of society. If I am assaulted solely because of who I am, then I come to fear I will never be safe, for how can I change who I am?”
Groves also read a letter of support written by the Seven Society, a secretive and influential philanthropic organization on Grounds, and drew cheers by condemning the “not gay” chant at UVA football games, which has been an unofficial and controversial tradition for years. Finally, he told of confronting his own parents’ racism as he exhorted the audience to “talk to people who don’t see things the same way. It’s a very small step between a derogatory slur and a brutal assault in the middle of the night.”
More after the picture.
Everyone has a place in UVA’s rainbow. That was the message of yesterday’s Stand Against Hatred rally in response to an apparent anti-gay assault two weeks ago.
Other speakers reiterated this message. Seth Kaye, president of Queer and Allied Activism, helped organize the event: “We hope that you call out hatred wherever you see it in your life. It’s not just enough to attend vigils like this.”
UVA has experienced intermittent racist and homophobic attacks and vandalism in recent years. Many student organizations and other support structures have arisen in response. One event, Proud to Be Out Week, strives to increase awareness and understanding around issues of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer community at UVA, and it happened to coincide with the Stand Against Hatred. Edward Warwick, Coordinator of the LGBT Resource Center at UVA, noted after the vigil that “the attack on April 4th unfortunately provided a very real-life example of the unacceptable behavior Proud to Be Out Week tries to address. While faculty and staff members are still highly concerned about including gender and sexuality in our non-discrimination policy and securing domestic partner benefits, and students work diligently toward the establishment of a Queer Studies minor and greater awareness, horrific events like these shift immediate concerns to very basic human needs like health and safety for all members of the LGBTQ community.”
UVA police continue to investigate the attack, in which five men assaulted a UVA student and shouted anti-gay slurs at him. They ask anyone with information to call Crime Stoppers
At last night’s Thao & the Get Down Stay Down gig, Nicholas Liivak—guitarist for local metal act Horsefang—told me that a song by his band was used in a modern dance recital at a school in Maryland. So, before we get to your weekend preview, I ask you—nay (neigh?), command you—to join me in watching "River of Dead Horses: The Modern Dance Performance":
Wait for the dancers to start windmilling a la Pete Townshend.
And I thought I’d never see any results from a YouTube search for "Horsefang dance video." Well played, mighty stallions.
And now, your weekend preview:
(Disregard the title of this post; it’s an inside joke Brick Watch and Feedback came up with this morning. You had to be there.)
Today, dear bricksters, is April 17. Or, as we here at Brick Watch headquarters call it, Dave Matthews Band Concert Day 1. (Tomorrow, April 18, will be Dave Matthews Band Concert Day 2, naturally.) Now, we admit, until this morning (or, more precisely, yesterday at 8:17pm), we weren’t necessarily too excited about the show. But since obtaining a ticket last eve, we’ve been touched by the DMB spirit and decided this morning to search for a connection between Dave (you don’t mind if we call you that, do you Dave?) and our lovely bricks.
…We didn’t really find anything (except the obvious). But we did notice that Dave’s Bama Works Village Recovery Fund partnered with CARE to provide Sri Lankan villages with the opportunity to start or improve upon income-generating activities—one of which is skilled labor, like brick making.
And since everything on the Mall is running so smoothly, we set our sights on something bigger. We thought, we can find all this stuff about Dave online, but hey! We’re famous too! What of Brick Watch on the Internet?
First, we found this:
A "Brick Watch"…get it?
Then this…
Buh-WHAA?
Another Brick Watch? Say it ain’t so! And then we realized…they’ll never fill the same void in your hearts, lovelies. A house made of bricks is one thing, but a blog dedicated to a brick pedestrian mall? That really tugs at your heartstrings. So much, in fact, that we had a fan drop by this afternoon to tell us what a great job we’re doing. (We’re not even making that up.)
Speaking of heartstrings…Dave, if you’re out there: Brick Watch will be in the audience Saturday night. Now, we’re not saying you have to, but if you want, go ahead and give us the signal if there’s a bit of a lull. We’ll know what it means.
Ten years ago, I bought a tent at REI in Salt Lake City. I used it that same night and many, many more times after that. During those long happy tent-using years, one of the poles broke, and I mended it ineffectually with duct tape.
Now, I am confronting the fact that the broken pole, which should be such a simple problem to fix, could spell the death of my beloved tent. The local outdoor store I called told me it doesn’t sell replacement poles and doesn’t do pole repair. The REI store I called sent me to rei.com, which has a section for replacement poles and parts, but doesn’t actually sell replacement poles either. At REI’s toll-free number, an employee sent me to another company that sells made-to-order poles; I called there and learned that the pole I need will cost $32.50, plus shipping from Washington State—probably more than $40. The entire tent only cost $100, back on that sunny day in Salt Lake City.
One other option: If I still had my receipt, I could return the tent to REI and get a new one for free. That’s good customer service—notwithstanding the improbability of anyone saving a receipt for an entire decade—but a much better solution would be a cost-effective source for replacement parts. Even better than that would be a local source. It would certainly be greener than my acquiring a brand new tent, either by purchase or exchange.
So I am led to the conclusion that—as with so many other things—the best way to go is to do it myself. I’ll try to figure out a better way to mend the pole I have and leave it at that.
What’s the last thing you mended? Did it save you from having to buy something new?
Hello Bricksters. This morning, Brick Watch decided to take a quick tour around the Mall to see what was happenin’. Boy, are we glad we did! The Mall is thrumming, the weather is beautiful, and we saw so much…
On our jaunt, BW discovered a camera crew at Second Street east setting up to film. Not only that, but when we stopped to ask them what was going on, they asked us if we would want to be in the shoot! Now, all of you locals know BW is famous, and of course, incredibly talented, attractive, and pretty much the best. It seems, though, that the rest of the world will soon find out as well. We’re ready for our closeup. (Or wide-angle shot with us barely in the background, whichever.) Here are our autographs; after we’re internationally recognized, we’ll no longer have time for the little people. You’re welcome.
Somebody’s been practicing.
BW also ran into a horde of homeschoolers preparing to go see Flat Stanley at the Paramount Theater. Seriously, these kids were everywhere. Head Brick Watcher just found one in her shoe. …Totes kidding.
On our way back to the Brick Cave, we ran into Siips owner George Benford putting tables and chairs on the Mall. We love seeing the Mall recolonized by its rightful owners.
We also happened to notice the giant ditch at Third Street is filled, and concrete hath been poured to create a base for bricks. Chris Weatherford was right! Then, out of our brickly curiosity, we noticed they were spreading asphalt at Fourth Street. There’s just so much going on! Here’s a video (it’s about dern time!) for your bricking pleasure: