Month: March 2010

Went yesterday to Richmond to see as much as I could of the Virginia Independent Film Festival. I rolled up to the beautiful Byrd Theater just in time to see the short features getting underway. The award for best short went, along with my audience vote, to two Charlottesville teenagers, Chris Yeaton and Jared Carlisle, who submitted "Paperchase," a cool piece of animation that they’d made at LightHouse here in town.

Wherein an animated man searches for his dog. More words below the clip.

Also featured in the festival was a wild, full-length film by Charlottesville’s own Brian Wimer Mantra (screened well beyond Feedback’s bedtime). But I did catch Blue Ridge, a feature shot entirely in Charles County over the course of a month on Super 16, which riffs heavily on Terrence Malick’s 1977 classic Badlands, but in the end was a cool, calm and ultimately impressive effort from director Vincent Sweeney. And it won best feature, as well as the audience award.

There’s even a character named Kit in Blue Ridge. More words about other stuff below.

Feedback also made the obligatory stop at Plan 9′s extensive vinyl vault in search of buried treasures. When the spelunking was done, I found myself before the bin of 7" singles, where there was a fresh batch of Leonard Cohen 45s sent from Columbia Records with minimal cardboard packaging that recalls the DIY cover work that makes some of my favorite records feel oh-so-special. On one of the corners a sticker read, "THINK INDIE,"—which led me to think, "HUH?"

After all, Columbia Records, is part of Sony Records, the second biggest of the four major music companies. For a moment I felt the way environmentalists must’ve felt when WalMart rolled out their broad line of organics. (The suits are engaged in a ploy to wrest the term from the pierced tongues of bohemians worldwide!) But when I caught my breath I went to the website and found that Think Indie is a "consortium of independent record retailers determined to bring true music lovers back to the stores that make a difference." In the end, it turned out to be an effort to sell stuff in independently owned record stores—do the corporate ones even exist?—on the fourth annual Record Store Day (April 17 this year).

Consider this far-too-long article that ran in PASTE this January, which asks the question of whether "indie", if it was ever alive, is dead. Like organics in supermarkets, it may be the case that independent record stores like Plan 9 need to stock the popular, less healthy stuff so Feedback can get the goods that cater to his often marginal interests. Whatever you think, let my near-brush with a corporate product be a warning: know yr labels.

This weekend, Charlottesville Ice Park owners Bruce and Roberta Williamson sent a letter to staff members, longtime skaters and local media announcing the sale of the local skating rink, which they bought for $3.1 million in 2003. After two years of improvements—from a new Zamboni and sound system to a rooftop humidifier—the Williamsons extended their lease of the rink’s building, at 218 West Main Street, through November 30, 2010. The Williamsons have the option to extend their lease through 2015, but write that they agreed to "allow cumulative losses up to $1 million."

"It is very clear to use that continuing to operate the Ice Park for even one more full year will mean that our losses since 2005 will exceed $1 million," their letter states. The couple adds that the rink, which now carries a price tag of $4.1 million, would need roughly 20,000 more customers during the course of a year to break even.

The loss of the rink would essentially put the UVA Club Hockey team on ice. (Final record for 2009-2010: 2-15.) The Ice Park plans to host the Coventry Commonwealth Games’ ice skating events in June, before it settles on a final day of business.

The Williamsons’ letter is posted in its entirety on a message board at SkatingForums.com.

A patron of the Charlottesville Ice Park puts the rink to use.

Patricia Kluge and William Moses won’t lose part of their Meadows Estates development in Albemarle. This morning’s foreclosure sale of Lot 5 of the estates, located at 2621 Coopers Lane, was ultimately anticlimactic.

Kluge and Moses, represented by Steve Blaine and managers of Clover Acquisitions, LLC, bought the lot back for a whopping $3.67 million (and presented substitute trustee James Schroll with a $150,000—lowered from $360,000—cashier’s check to legalize the sale). The property is assessed at $2.7 million, according to county records.

"For the last year we have been working to get control of the project back… and we had a substantial amount of problems with our partners," Moses told C-VILLE.

In fact, the property went through a modification of the Deed of Trust in 2007. In January 2007, Brian and Debra Helms purchased a 30-percent interest for $1 million and, in March 2007, Lehman Rockwell Evans, LLC, purchased an 18-percent interest in the property for $712,000.

"And we are hopefully about to conclude an agreement with other partners and we’ll finally get control of the project back, which will enable us to move it forward again," said Moses. "That’s what we are going to do."

William Moses (far right) chats with representing attorney Steve Blaine at this morning’s foreclosure sale of 2621 Coopers Lane in Albemarle County, part of Moses and Patricia Kluge’s Vineyard Estates.

Recycling dilemma of the month: old stereos.

I found out that Crutchfield no longer does an all-the-time recycling program. They used to have a trailer outside the store that would take most electronics (for a fee), but these days they just do periodic and kind of apocalyptic events in which people literally wait in line for long periods of time on 29N for the privilege of not putting their TVs and computers in a landfill. It truly does warm my heart, but I am rather too lazy to join that line. I’m hoping for a different solution for my own retired equipment—including a shelf system that I’ve had since I was a mere lass of 17!

Goodbye, old friends. Thanks for all those happy mixtape-making sessions.

I’d heard Staples did e-cycling, but I found out that they won’t take stereos. So I set off on a long chain of web links, looking for someone local who would accept these broken beasts. Someone who’d accept them for free would be even better.

My search began at Better World Betty, where "Stereos" is one of the many categories a would-be recycler can search, looking for local dropoff points. Betty lists five places to take stereos, but four of these are resale stores. I’m guessing even the Salvation Army does not want my crippled, if beloved, stereo. Betty also lists Crutchfield, so I went back hoping for clues.

At first I just found a dead end: a link from their site to CExchange, which will give you a Crutchfield gift certificate only if you trade in something "of value"—sentimental value not included—and doesn’t seem to take stereos at all. Another link, though, brought me to Digital Tips, where I put in my ZIP code to find recycling options. And lo and behold, I got a link to Best Buy.

The page for our local store on 29N isn’t clear about whether Best Buy will take stereos, but I followed yet another link to their Recycling page, where Virginia-specific info does seem to indicate stereos are fair game. I’ll give it a try. (Anyone done it before?)

The persistence required to figure this out is enough to make me want to spend more on my next stereo, just so it’ll last longer and I won’t have to do this again for a long time. More to the point, it would put a lot of people off. Here’s an official Green Scene wish for a municipal e-cycling program: simple, free and well-advertised. Who’s with me?

Fate smiled down on me tonight when I stopped by the Tea Bazaar to pick up some things I’d left there over the weekend. Inside, a couple of friends were sitting with an incredibly old man—who goes by T-Model Ford, an 89-year-old Delta curiosity from the Fat Possum roster—who was talking about what’s the right way to treat a lady. Ford stood and, with the help of a cane, walked to the stage and proceeded to pick and growl out two transcendent hours of blues.

Straight out of Mississippi: T-Model Ford made a welcome, unannounced visit to the Tea Bazaar last night.

It was one of those if-you-build-it-they-will-come kind of events that makes living in town feel special. Ford’s a charmer. On stage, he said that he refuses play the acoustic guitar so that his fingers would stay soft—that’s how the ladies like them, and even as he nears his 90th year, Model-T Ford is a ladies man. (Wikipedia alleges that he has 25 children. And judging by the way he was eyeballing the ladies, I’d be surprised if it weren’t true.)

While I was horrified to wake up on Monday to find that it was already March 2010, the bad feelings went away as soon as I realized that March 2010 means Audio March at the The Bridge. It’s the latest in their once-every-13-months music series. The first event is on Thursday, and it looks pretty awesome: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari with a live score by Matt Marshall and the Reel Music Trio. Check out the full schedule at the Bridge’s website for all sorts of other treats. I’ll be writing more about it as I get the chance to check out each of the events.

In November 2009, Delegate Rob Bell proposed an amendment to the state’s school funding formula which would subtract $2.6 million in school funding from Charlottesville’s budget, starting in fiscal 2012, and add $2.6 million to Albemarle’s. This week’s cover story outlines the tensions between the two entities and even details a possible solution. Read it here, and don’t forget to leave comments. And below, Editor Cathy Harding talks with News Editor Brendan Fitzgerald about some budget challenges the county is already facing.