Month: January 2011

Behind one of the most masterful performances ever seen in the John Paul Jones Arena, Mustapha Farrakhan (31 points) and the Wahoos whipped Howard University 84-63.

Farrakhan started the contest 10-10 from the field, and was one short (7) of Curtis Stapes’ record for consecutive three pointers (8). Farrakhan was also 11-12 at the charity-stipe for the Hoos.

Virginia was up thirteen at the break, and never looked back as they played (perhaps) the most complete game of their young season.

Freshman K.T. Harrell continued his stellar play pitching-in 14 points on 6/9 shooting. Joe Harris, also a freshman, played fantastically adding 16 points in just 21 minutes. The second-year Jontel Evans from Hampton did not score, but gave Virginia 10 assists on the evening in front of a tiny home crowd in Charlottesville.

Howard, just 2-10 on the season going into the game, had four players score in double-figures, with the sophomore from Fredericksburg Mike Phillips scoring twenty-one for the Bison.

The game was the seventh in a row for the Hoos at home, and they finish their eight-game home-stand when the dreaded Tar Heels from Chapel Hill come to Charlottesville this Saturday at Noon. Go Hoos!

Oh, how bout those damn Hokies last night in the Orange Bowl? Yes Hokie fans, I know that they kick Virginia’s ass every single year, but I still freaking loved it more than Christmas…

Not so much defense played by Bud Foster’s venerable defense, eh? I loved Stanford’s intensity. Nice game played by the Cardinal!
 

Dear UVA, you don’t have to turn on the "red light." In April, Adam Kissel—a vice president at the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE)—wrote UVA Dean of Students Allen Groves to inform him of a few university policies that raised questions about students’ First Amendment rights. According to FIRE’s year-end report [PDF], UVA made the changes necessary to achieve a "green light" ranking—one of only 12 schools to earn the accolade.

"A green light does not indicate that a school actively supports free expression," cautions FIRE’s Spotlight on Speech Codes report. "It simply means that the school’s written policies do not pose a serious threat to free speech."

According to the Washington Post, UVA received the green light for removing restrictions on language from a policy governing Internet use and from examples of sexual harassment listed on the UVA Women’s Center website. Dean of Students Allen Groves also adjusted his "Just Report It" bias reporting system to ensure students that constitutionally protected language would not be held against them, even if reported via the online system.

A few other Virginia schools didn’t fare so well in the FIRE rankings. Both Virginia Tech and Washington & Lee University earned "yellow light" finishes, while the University of Richmond and George Mason University received "red light" rankings.

Way I figure, the dawning of a new year is as good an excuse as any to look at some of the acts that are coming through town in the coming days, weeks and months.

The David Wax Museum is from Boston, but seems to play in town as often as many local acts. The band is first notable for their unbridled, contagious glee, and are the only band I know that flies the "Mexo-Americana" banner. That seems to have impressed the folks at All Songs Considered, over at NPR, who posted a new video for a song called "Born With a Broken Heart." Is there such a thing as having too much fun? Find out at The Southern next month.

"Born With A Broken Heart" from Anthem Multimedia on Vimeo. 

In tomorrow’s Feedback column, I preview the local cellist Wes Swing’s debut album, Through a Fogged Glass. In it Swing probes a bunch of styles—prim orchestrals in the vein of Carl Orff’s music for kids, Coldplayesque vocal rock, austere acoustic pop a la the Kings of Convenience—the latter being the strongest. In particular, I’ve been enjoying the song "Dilate" (below), a slow-burner that rewards the attention you give it, but also works if you’re looking for a cool, wintry soundtrack for, say, fomenting romance.

Listen to Swing’s "Dilate" on his Bandcamp here.

Swing releases that album next week at the Jefferson Theater with Devon Sproule, who releases a new disc of her own, Live in London. What more needs to be said about Devon Sproule? When she takes the stage one gets the sense that she was born what she does: redeem a genre that often feels tired with a precocious, undeniably charming delivery. The new disc captures her at the peak of her performative powers, and on the continent in which she is said to be exceedingly beloved and famous.

Buy Live in London here, or at the Jefferson on Friday, January 7. Listen to "Julie" here.

In December 2008, Bettye LaVette seemed to sneak through the back door onto the stage the Kennedy Center Honors only to steal the show with a rendition of The Who’s "Love Reign O’er Me." Across the pond, Keith Richards himself wondered, "How did Bettye LaVette slip thru the net for so long?" Last year became LaVette’s year, when a collection of British rock classics, Interpretations, occasioned an appearance on the Tonight Show and a profile in the New Yorker. In her attempt to bring British popular song to its roots in American R&B—remember that Smokey Robinson was among John Lennon’s idols—LaVette probes radio regulars like "Don’t Let The Sun Go Down on Me," "Maybe I’m Amazed" and "Nights in White Satin" for starker depths than perhaps even their composers intended. Rarely has reimagining old pop sounded so essential.

LaVette’s version of The Moody Blues "Nights in White Satin." She’s at the Paramount Theater with Booker T. in February.

Anyone else coming through town that you’re excited about?

Maybe he should have flown CHO? Late last week, 21-year-old Charlottesville resident Aaron Tobey was charged with disorderly conduct after he removed his shirt and pants at the Richmond International Airport to protest the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) new passenger screening procedures. According to multiple reports, Tobey scrawled this message across his upper body: "Amendment 4: The right of the people to be secure against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be violated." The story made the rounds from the Richmond Times-Dispatch to United Press International.

In November, Charlottesville Albemarle Airport (CHO) Executive Director Barbara Hutchinson told C-VILLE that the local airport had not been told that it needed full-body scanners.

"I am not sure how we would accommodate a body scanner from a construction standpoint," said Hutchinson. She added her hope that TSA would include local airports in a national dialogue about safety procedures.

Read C-VILLE’s previous coverage here, and background on the two types of scanners and associated discussion of health concerns here.

It’s back to the grind for city elected officials. Tonight, City Council will hear a report from Black & Veatch about the revised report the firm submitted to the City of Charlottesville on the cost of modifying the Lower Ragged Mountain Dam. The report was hailed by Mayor Dave Norris to be a “breakthrough” in the controversial water supply plan debate. (Click here for some background on the debate).

In addition, Council will also hear a report on the possible amendment of the city’s voting precincts. According to a staff report, registered voters in Charlottesville have grown by 10,036 voters in 11 years and some precincts have outgrown their legal limit. One precinct, Alumni Hall, is not contiguous, which is legally required.
 

This weekend we took a little time to move our red wiggler worms into their new home. Truly, it’s a palace: It’s got multiple stories, and it boasts a spigot on the bottom floor that will let us collect liquid from the worms’ castings–a super-nutritious substance for the garden.

Here’s the palace with just the first couple of layers in place, sans worms.

We added some layers of newspaper…

…then the worms, with their castings. On the right is their old house: a repurposed restaurant-size mayonnaise bucket.

Next we prepared bedding for the upper story, which stacks on top of the layer with the worms in it. The idea is that they’ll migrate upward toward fresh food and bedding, leaving their castings behind. The bedding consists of coir (the hair from coconuts!) mixed with compost. We put some food scraps in there too, to entice the hungry wigglers.

And finally, we capped it all off.

This is a great example of something we probably would never have splurged on for ourselves, but having gotten it as a gift, we’re excited to improve on our formerly primitive worm system. The castings really are magic in the garden, and after collecting the liquid, we can make a "tea" by diluting with water–thus getting more fertilizer for our buck.

Anyone else used one of these, or rigged up your own multiple-chamber worm house?

There are worse places to bury yourself than inside a book. And often there is no better place to find yourself. Scott Weaver has looked into the future, and with grim times approaching—or at least not abating—he recommends you dive into some Ralph Ellison or Lorrie Moore or T.S. Eliot. Maybe a little Joan Didion. Twenty-one timeless, humanizing reads make Scott’s list and when you look up from the last page of any one of them, you may conclude that worldly matters are more trivial than they seemed. Perhaps you have a few titles of your own to add. Read the cover story here, and don’t forget to make your own suggestions.

Virginia’s two-game losing streak is now over, as the Hoos beat LSU Sunday night at the John Paul Jones Arena. Freshman K.T. Harrrell led all players with 15 points on 4/9 shooting from the floor. Harrell also added six free-throws as he was six of seven from the line.

The Hoos continued to struggle from the three-point line, finishing just six of nineteen beyond the arch. On a positive note, UVA made sixteen of twenty-one at the charity-stripe.

Both Assane Sene, and Sammy Zeglinski failed to score a single point in the contest. Jontel Evans had zero turnovers, and eight points in thirty-two minutes of play.

Virginia led by four at the half, but LSU went more than seven minutes without a point in the second stanza as Tony Bennett’s Hoos opened up a double-figure lead and finished off the Tigers.

LSU (8-7) was led by 6-10 California native Garrett Green, who scored twelve-points for the Tigers. Green, not known for his scoring, looked pretty damn sharp at the offensive-end of the court for the Tigers.

The Hoos (9-5) next play Howard at the JPJ on Tuesday at 7 p.m. Plenty of good seats are still available. Go Hoos!