Month: January 2012

Categories
Living

Diane Cluck and Ken Garson bring new sounds to town

It’s always exciting to see some fresh new faces in the local music scene, so we’d like to give a warm Feedback welcome to Diane Cluck and Ken Garson. Recently arriving in town from Brooklyn (where yours truly, a Feedback veteran, currently resides), these two bring musical talents that’ll satisfy fans of both folk and experimental sounds. Cluck’s unique strain of folk resists categorization, with her guitar, voice and songwriting all leading you down unexpected paths. Garson’s work is just as hard to pin down. For the past 17 years he’s been creating improvised, experimental sound collages both on-stage and on-air under the name “Ken’s Last Ever Radio Extravaganza.”

Catch Diane Cluck Saturday, January 21 at the Tea Bazaar, where she’ll team up with Philadelphia songwriter Elliott Harvey of a Stick and a Stone. (Photo courtesy Ken Garson)

Since 2000, Cluck has made six of her own albums and contributed to many other releases, including the popular Devendra Banhart-curated compilation The Golden Apples of the Sun, CocoRosie’s Noah’s Ark and the soundtrack from Noah Baumbach’s Margot at the Wedding. One of her first collaborators was New York songwriter and comic book artist Jeffrey Lewis. “It was easy with him because it was like a game or treasure hunt,” she said. “It was fun.” More recently she’s been performing with drummer Anders Griffen. “He’s an expressive drummer with a beautiful, textural style—a gifted accompanist,” she said.

Cluck’s latest endeavor is her Song-of-the-Week project, in which she’ll write, record and present subscribers with a new song each week for six months. Using a Kickstarter-like fundraising approach, the project offers fans a range of perks depending on the amount that they pledge, from a basic digital subscription to an intimate home concert by Cluck. The idea for the project came to her one night while she was packing for Charlottesville. “I experienced a pang of fear around leaving my steady day job,” she said. “I literally sat down on a rolled-up rug and began thinking out ideas for Song-of-the-Week.”

In addition to being a creative alternative to a day job, the Song-of-the-Week project will give Cluck a chance to focus on her music and let her inspiration flow. “The circumstance of starting over in a new place has brought out a lot of creativity in me,” she said. She also hopes to collaborate with some new musicians. “I’m very active as a songwriter and always on the lookout for instrumentalists with an interesting touch or tone,” she said. “Harmonica usually makes me cringe, but I love that player who sits out on the Downtown Mall!”

Speaking of collaboration, Cluck will team up with Philadelphia songwriter Elliott Harvey for a show at the Tea Bazaar this Saturday, January 21. “Elliott contacted me several months ago, asking if I’d be interested in working with him on his cross-nation musical collaborations tour,” she explains. “He’ll arrive here three days before our show. We’ll spend that time getting to know each other’s songs, perhaps adding instrumentation or vocal parts.”

For Garson, the roots of “Ken’s Last Ever Radio Extravaganza” can be traced back to both his childhood fascination with sound and his early experiences as a radio DJ. Getting bored with just hitting play on a new song every few minutes, he started hitting it more often. “In a sense, my show is now entirely song changes and transitions,” he said. “And it’s a response to a lifetime of having been fed popular music. I can sample, re-contextualize and transform those sounds I grew up with, changing my relationship with that music into a two-way conversation.”

Garson has more than 400 shows under his belt, including many broadcasted by famed New Jersey freeform station WFMU, but he tells us that each one is a completely new experience. “It still seems to come out of what feels like total randomness, and yet it’s like some kind of message and form channel through me and out the speakers,” he explained. “It’s a surprise every time.” His most memorable moments range from dangling microphones out of the radio station window to performing in a tree house while the sun set over a lush Manhattan garden. Though Garson doesn’t have any shows scheduled at the moment, his website boasts a massive audio archive of his past performances.

Garson and Cluck have been enjoying Charlottesville so far. “I’m glad to be settling here,” Cluck told us. “It’s a very healthy change of pace for me.” She’s also happy that some things are the same, like being able to get around on her bike. Garson does miss his old neighborhood’s member-run food co-op, though. “Our prices are so much lower that I still shop there every month and save enough money to pay for my train ticket,” he told us. He also acknowledges that he and Cluck seem to be bucking a trend. “I keep meeting people here on their way to Brooklyn,” he said.

Former UVA President Casteen earned $250,000 from Altria in 2011

Former UVA President John Casteen, who retired in August 2010 and previously bypassed a salary bump when in-state tuition costs rose, earned $251,823 as a board member for Altria, according to a study by the Chronicle of Higher Education. Altria is the parent company of Philip Morris USA, and announced a net revenue of $24.3 billion in 2010, according to reports. 

In a study of board appointments for "presidents at colleges with the 50 largest endowments," the Chronicle placed Casteen among the top 20 individuals who earned the most from board appointments. That $251,823 represents roughly 36 percent of his $700,000-plus salary as president of the University of Virginia.

Altria has made several multi-million-dollar financial contributions to UVA, including an electron microscope and a $25 million contribution to the school’s capital campaign. It should also be noted that Altria and Philip Morris USA support the website Citizens for Tobacco Rights, which encourages smokers to speak out against cigarette taxes.

Daniel de Vise, an education reporter for the Washington Post, notes that Casteen made an additional $150,000 from Strayer University last year.

Abundance in the winter garden

Not since we were renting a house and gardening in a former cow pasture have we had a winter garden like this one.

Here’s one of our several cold frames, stuffed with lettuce (front) and claytonia (back). We’ve got other beautiful salad greens right now, too, including this rockin’ mache:

I tell you, it’s downright gratifying. We’ve gardened most seasons for the last decade, when we first moved to Charlottesville, and a patch o’ salad like this makes me realize how much we’ve learned in that time. Beginning and/or discouraged gardeners, take hope! Keep on planting and eventually, you’ll be rewarded.

We have learned, for example, how to build a low tunnel for our kale that won’t blow away in the winter wind:

It’s simple: use a sheet of plastic that’s big enough to be weighed down with rocks all around the perimeter; anchor those ribs into the ground with deeply sunk pieces of rebar; and lash that cross-member tightly over the top. The climate protection, plus a couple applications of Sluggo, have kept our kale safe and healthy.

We also have nice carrots and turnips right now–two crops that took many, many tries to get right.

Meanwhile, our seed catalogs have arrived and we’re dreaming big for spring. The abundance outside gives us extra confidence as we map out the vast acreage that we’ll apparently–going by the size of our seed order–be cultivating in coming months.

Anyone else curling up with the catalogs right now? What are you going to grow in 2012?

Local groups sponsor forum on human rights commissions

The Quality Community Council, UCARE, the Charlottesville/Albemarle Chapter of the NAACP, and the Legal Aid Justice Center are hosting an informational meeting on human rights commissions with Sandra Norman, executive director of the Virginia Human Rights Commission in Richmond.

The Dialogue on Race Policy Action team has proposed to City Council the creation of a human rights commission that would investigate instances of discriminations in housing and private employment and enforce anti-discrimination laws.

The proposal calls for an initial investment of $300,000 and a subsequent $200,000 per year for the employment of an executive director, an investigator and an administrative assistant. Some Councilors have said that although they support the idea of a commission, allocating $300,000 in a tight budget climate is daunting.

The proposal now rests with the City Manager, who is expected to give City Council his recommendation. Councilors will pick up the discussion in early February.
The forum will be held on Wednesday, January 25 at 6:30pm in the City Council Chambers.

For more on the Dialogue on Race and on the commission, read tomorrow’s cover story.
 

Learn more about Zero Garbage

I got impatient and threw out those plastic clothes hangers this weekend during a minor household purge. This is the kind of thing that, if you’re undertaking the Zero Garbage Challenge like local eco-hero Rose Brown, you just don’t do.

I wrote about Brown a month ago–she’s the one who produces essentiallly no trash at all. I remain in awe of this feat, which basically rejects a major tenet of American life (the idea that all of us, almost unconsciously, produce a continuous stream of waste).

Brown is someone we can learn from, so it’s lucky that she’s giving two workshops this week to go over some of the specifics of her no-waste lifestyle. Should be utterly fascinating.

The first is Thursday, at noon, at the main library downtown. Bring a lunch and learn about how you could have transported that sandwich instead of using a Baggie. The second is Saturday, 1-3pm, at the Ivy Creek Natural Area.

Check ’em out and let us know what you’ve learned!

“A new sense of hope”: Martin Luther King, Jr. audio at the Miller Center

Thanks to the Miller Center’s Presidential Recordings Program, conversations between U.S. Presidents and prominent Civil Rights leaders, including Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., are preserved online and are available for listening and perusal. Below, a few to commemorate Martin Luther King Day.

  • "We feel that the Birmingham situation is so serious that it threatens not only the life and stability of Birmingham and Alabama, but of our whole nation."—King to President John F. Kennedy, September 19, 1963, following the 16th St. Baptist Church Bombing
  • "I’m fearful that if something isn’t done to give a new sense of hope to people in that area—and they are poverty-stricken—that a full-scale race war can develop here, and I’m concerned about it, naturally, because I know that violence and a riot like we had the other day doesn’t help anything."—King to Johnson about the Watts riots and a nonviolent step towards equality, August 20, 1965

 

 

Around the Bend: The name game

Each year there is published a listing of the most popular names in the United States. My boomer generation from WASP suburbs matched the list in my day: John, Mary, Tom, Mike, Susan, etc., all the standards. In this era of very creative African-American names, the names of previous black generations match mine. I know black women named Sharon, Cynthia, and Janice.

They have become distinctive (and a lot easier to spell!). With the homogenization of this country’s culture, one would think that this would apply to names. However, since living in the south all these years, I have been repeatedly surprised by names I had never heard of and I have a sense that they go way back. I would characterize them as first names that sound like last names. Gender is indicated. Here is a sampling of a long list I have compiled: Hawes (m), Pryor (f), Thane (m) Tarpley (f), Clarkson(f), Tupen (f), Archer, Morgan (f), Tucker (f), Kendall (f), Tryon(?), Watts (?), Ames (?), Grier (?), Cabell (m), Willoughby (f), Struthers (f), Stoner (?).

The gender unknowns could go either way based on the others! I am glad for these staunch, regional names. And,I am sure that in New England one could compile a similar list of character names.
Viva la difference.
 

Welcome to Cavalier Roundball Roundup

Over the coming weeks and months this blog will follow the University of Virginia’s quest to return to the NCAA Basketball Tournament.  I will recap the previous week’s games along with any other notable occurrences in the Atlantic Coast Conference.  What I won’t do is regurgitate all the stats and play-by-play you have countless other sources to access.

I’ll tell you upfront I’m a big fan of Coach Tony Bennett.  Three years ago I proclaimed it the "best hire" by Virginia in the 23 years I’ve been in Charlottesville (baseball, tennis, and lacrosse fans may disagree — in fact, with the coaches in place throughout UVA athletics currently it figures to be a prime topic at water coolers, bars, and gyms for years to come).  But, that said, I won’t hesitate to question in-game decisions or the allotment of playing time should I see reason.

I hope to bring you a slightly different perspective, sprinkled with some facts or ideas you won’t find elsewhere.  Mostly, I want this to be fun, for you and for me. 

Let’s start with a quick review of the Cavaliers’ season to date:

Coach Tony Bennett, in his third season at UVA, returned a strong nucleus of seniors along with the four remaining players from his heralded recruiting class originally known as the "Six Shooters".  Add to that a couple of promising freshmen and the battle for playing time figured to be intense.

The ‘Hoos "stepped on a pop top" early on in the Virgin Islands, losing to TCU, 57-55, in the Paradise Jam.  But after that they reeled off 12 straight victories (their longest winning streak in 30 years) to go 14-1, the best start to a season since a tall, skinny guy named Sampson used to roam the Grounds. 

Included in that run are a couple of notable victories including a 70-58 defeat of then #15 Michigan in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge and a 57-52 win over LSU in Baton Rouge, the first road win over an SEC opponent in UVA history.

The ‘Hoos opened ACC play with a tense one-point win over Miami, a team that haunted UVA last season.

This past Thursday night the ‘Hoos traveled to what has been historically one of the most difficult venues for visiting teams to emerge from with a victory in the history of college basketball.  Cameron Indoor Stadium on the campus of Duke University only holds 10,000 (notice I didn’t say "seats" and there are two reasons for that:  First, the Duke students, known as the "Cameron Crazies" have a student section located at floor level that seats 1100 but, because no one EVER sits down has been known to contain as many as 1600 bouncing, jumping, yelling future captains of industry.  And secondly because there actually is sufficient standing room for seven hundred people), but the proximity of the fans to the playing floor creates an atmosphere unlike any other in major college basketball.

UVA’s last win at Cameron came back in 1995 and is notable because it remains the largest half time deficit ever overcome in an Atlantic Coast Conference game.  The Cavaliers trailed by 21 points, 40-19, before rallying to win in double overtime.

Unless you’ve been living in a cave you know by now that the ‘Hoos came tantalizingly close to snapping their 15 game losing streak at Duke and extending their own winning streak to 13 games before falling, 61-58.

This is a team that figures to be successful enough that no one left Durham thinking "moral victory". 

But it is worth noting that the win was Duke’s 44th straight at home, a streak second in Division I only to the University of Kentucky’s.  And, during that streak, their margin of victory has only been smaller than the other night’s one time.  Lastly, although Tony Bennett is 0-5 versus the Blue Devils in his three seasons at UVA, he has managed to slow the Dookies down and be competitive.  Over the past three years Duke is averaging just over 80 points a game against the rest of the world.  "Bennettball" has held Duke to an average of under 63 points a game.  That difference hasn’t gone unnoticed by the winningest college basketball coach in history.  Duke’s Coach K has actually called Virginia’s defense "beautiful".

This Virginia basketball team is very easy to root for.  Football is usually thought of as the ultimate team sport.  In basketball or baseball one or two individuals can often make or break a team’s success.  UVA basketball has such a talent in Mike Scott.  I likely wouldn’t be writing this and you wouldn’t be reading it if he wasn’t a Cavalier.  But Scott doesn’t handle the ball and is dependent upon his four teammates to get it to him where and when he wants it.  The other seven or eight players in Bennett’s rotation range from useful to very good players.  But make no mistake, as Coach Bennett has acknowledged, there are a number of teams in the ACC with better talent.  But, there may not be a number who are actually better teams. 

"Bennettball" emphasizes defense, not always a favorite aspect of the game for highly recruited high school stars.  It also stresses sharing the ball and moving without it, two more things scorers aren’t always thrilled about.  But this group has bought in to all the premises.  They work extremely hard on defense, a defense, in case you don’t know, that was invented by Bennett’s dad, Dick (and is known as the "Pack Line").  Tony played for him in college and then sat next to him as an assistant at Wisconsin-Green Bay and then Washington State before assuming the reins there.  On the offensive end these Cavs are extremely unselfish.  They share the ball, some might say, too much.  

All these characteristics, as I’ve said, make this a very easy team to invest yourself in. 

So, make a note to come along for the ride.   It should be an exciting ten weeks. 

This whole exercise will work best if there’s interaction.  I want to hear from you.  Whether it’s praise (my mom’s gone so I don’t get much of this), criticism (my wife isn’t so I have all I need, but don’t let that stop you), or just your opinions.   Mi soapbox es su soapbox.

Catch ya along the way,

Rog 

Charlottesville hires Chris Engel as new Director of Economic Development

In November, Charlottesville human resources director Galloway Beck said the city would move fast to appoint a new economic development director. The position, held by longtime Chief Operating Officer Aubrey Watts, carried an enticing salary and the goal to have someone in the seat by the end of 2011. 

Turns out that Charlottesville was close to its mark. According to a news release from the city, assistant economic development director Chris Engel has been named the new director. Engel has been in that seat since 2005, sits on the board of the Thomas Jefferson Partnership for Economic Development, and is chair of the Charlottesville Albemarle Convention and Visitors Bureau.

As we noted last year, that seat carries a good deal of power.

Categories
News

Much Ado opens Renaissance Season at Blackfriars

Watching the audience is one of my favorite parts of the experience at the Blackfriars Playhouse in Staunton. Unlike with most Shakespeare companies, the crowd is normally eclectic, representing a range of ages, ethnicities, and fashion sensibilities. The packed house on opening night of Much Ado About Nothing—the first of five shows that make up the company’s famed Actor’s Renaissance Season for 2012—was no exception, and the place simply buzzed with anticipation.

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING plays on select dates at the American Shakespeare Center in Staunton through April 6.  For more information visit ASC online or call 877-682-4236.

The “Ren” season, as it is lovingly called by regulars, is particularly fun for theatergoers, because it offers a taste of the shear madness that was common in Shakespeare’s time. Plays are produced with no special lighting, no sets, and no electronic sound (which is standard practice for American Shakespeare Center productions), but the ‘Ren’ season shows have no director, no costume designer, and entail only two days of rehearsal time before their opening nights. Much Ado is glorious, hilarious, magical mayhem, and the audience gobbled it up like a favorite dessert, rewarding the actors with six curtain-less curtain calls and a standing ovation.

Miriam Donald played a feisty, somewhat snarky, Beatrice as a foil to Benjamin Curns’ puffed up, overly emotional Benedick, making an irresistibly dynamic pair as the couple warred with words before being tricked into love. One audience member laughed knee-slapping hard during the scene where Benedick complained about Beatrice as she, unknown to him, stood directly behind him. In that scene Donald was so physically strong and present and Curns so perfectly comic in his expressions and movements that the contrast was like sea salt sprinkled on caramel.

Taken as a whole, the show was clever—the text so expertly delivered, the acting so attuned to the audience that it was almost as much fun to watch the audience reactions as it was to watch the actors. Two young boys seated to the left of the stage were rapt the entire show and almost fell out of their chairs laughing along with the rest of the audience as Benedick dove over a rail into a seating aisle as he eavesdropped on a conversation about himself.

Brandi Rhome played the ingenue, Hero, with the regal bearing of a young Michelle Obama. Aiden O’Reilly, as the evil Don Jon, practically slithered on the stage in his Johnny Cash black suit and rock star shades. He made a cool, hip villain and somehow broadened a character who often comes across as one-dimensional because he has so few lines. John Harrell gave the verbally-challenged Dogberry such an authoritative air that the irony of his insisting “I am an ass,” was doubly funny.

The only difficulty I found with the production was the distraction caused by Donald’s obvious pregnancy. With such a glaring baby bump on Beatrice, how to explain Benedick’s worship of her, when the play itself is a game about the purity in virginity. I know, I know, it’s irony, and she was spectacular in the role, but her “condition” made it hard for me to suspend disbelief the way I would like.

The key to the overwhelming success of this version of one of Shakespeare’s classic folly comedies is the clarity and power of the playwright’s words as delivered by these highly talented actors.

The audience engaged because they could understand what was happening on the stage, whether they were used to the diction or not. I heard the script with fresh ears and glancing around the theater, it was clear I wasn’t alone.