Aaron Freeman drops the Gene Ween moniker and steps out solo at The Southern. (Publicity photo)
In the cloud
Former Ween frontman Aaron Freeman’s first solo release, Marvelous Clouds, is comprised of songs originally penned by singer-songwriter/poet Rod McKuen. McKuen’s songs, once popularized by artists as diverse as Frank Sinatra and Johnny Cash, get a contemporary shot in the arm with everything from tonal experiments from the Ween days to quieter, acoustic treatments. His live shows incorporate classic numbers from the Ween discography alongside cuts from the new record, which he frequently plays in its entirety.
Saturday 12/1 $17, 9pm. The Southern Café and Music Hall, 103 S. First St. 977-5590.
On Fridays, we and The Charlottesville 29 feature five finds selected by local chefs and personalities. In honor of the recent Virginia Cider Week, today’s picks come from Tim Edmond, co-owner of Potter’s Craft Cider, which, in its short existence, is already winning praise far and wide. Edmond’s picks:
1) Soft Pretzel at Early Mountain Vineyards. “If you haven’t ventured to Madison to check out this winery, the soft pretzel is reason enough. They also have an awesome selection of Virginia wines and partner with wineries from across the state. The fact that it is beautiful, they are steadfast supporters of Virginia wine and have committed to donate all profits to the Virgina wine industry, those are good reasons to check it out too.”
2) House-made Sorghum Butter at The Whiskey Jar. “I could eat it by itself but usually put it on hush puppies or ham biscuits. Love this place, love the food and the understated local ingredients.”
3) Goat Pasanda at Milan. “I order this extra spicy with garlic naan.”
4) Ginger Kombucha from Barefoot Bucha with a Hot Donut from Carpe Donut. “A favorite Saturday morning ritual is to walk the dog to Carpe Donut. The kombucha is awesome and I love that you can also find Barefoot Bucha on draft at places like Blue Mountain Brewery, Whole Foods, and The Whiskey Jar.”
5) Dinner at Forage. “This is a ridiculously awesome supper club from chefs Megan Kiernan and Justin Stone. They cook some of the best food in Charlottesville that is either foraged, bought, or bartered from local sources.”
The Charlottesville 29 is a publication that asks, and answers: if there were just 29 restaurants in Charlottesville, what would be the ideal 29? Follow along with regular updates on Facebook and Twitter.
(VIDEO) You might have seen the members of Les Grosses Erreurs (The Big Mistakes) on the Downtown Mall over the past few days. The Cajun musicians are in Charlottesville from Lafayette, Louisiana, after a stop in Asheville. They’ll be busking and playing house shows until Monday. Here they play “I have a broken heart.” For more information about the band, contact them directly at lesgrosseserreurs@gmail.com.
Silverchair Learning Systems, a local designer of online training products for the senior care industry, announced this week that its Charlottesville branch is closing. According to Mike Mutka, the company will merge with Essential Learning, LLC, and consolidate in Cary, North Carolina.
Vista Equity Partners acquired both Essential Learning, LLC, and Silverchair Learning Systems earlier this year, and Mutka said by the latter part of 2013, they will become Relias Learning. The Charlottesville office will close, but Mutka said it’s not all bad news for the company.
“We are actually growing the number of employees in the organization, we anticipate by about 25 percent in the next six months,” he said. “We had two growing companies with employees scattered all over, and we needed to get everybody in one place. So we had to make the difficult decision of choosing one place.”
That means Charlottesville staff are moving or are out of a job. Most all Silverchair Learning Systems employees will have the option to relocate to Cary and keep their current jobs, Mutka said. For those who opt out, severance packages will be distributed.
Silverchair Information Systems, the principal business of Silverchair Holdings, is no longer affiliated with Silverchair Learning Systems, and is still operating in Charlottesville on the Downtown Mall.
Fill 'er up! Nick Crutchfield, of Commonwealth Restaurant & Skybar, has been working on an impressive cocktail menu. Photo: John Robinson
As a younger bartender, I became captivated by the history, myths, and mystique of the finer and quirkier sides of mixology. I clearly remember one of my mentors telling me that I should know everything that I can about everything behind my bar. (Little did I know that that Jack in a Box contained oddities like Zirbenz and rarities like Black Tot Rum.) Research began, technique-driven consciousness developed, and I became more and more passionate about my craft. Grapes and grain, the bases for all things spiritous, became my favorite ingredients, and what followed was long nights chasing the perfect cocktail and therapy for bar regulars.
Now, the fields and vineyards have been harvested and put to rest for the season. The grapes that will make your wine have been processed and the grain that’ll make your beer has been milled, transforming them into wine and beer. Traditionally, it was during the winter months that tanks of grape and grain would go one step further: The fresh, frothy beer and the complex, earthy vino changed into smooth, crisp, and clean distillates.
The switch from low-proof alcohol to higher proof spirit is part chemistry part alchemy part art lecture. The distilling process involves kettles, swan necks, and boiling points (among other things), but in a nutshell, you take beer or wine, then boil them to catch the steam. Finally, it’s cut and bottled or put into wooden barrels to transform over time.
How about circumstance? How about the ingenuity to produce an amazing product from a “machine” that was used to produce medicines and perfumes? It starts there. It begins with smelling better and feeling better. The bases of perfumes are spirits, the primary ingredients for aromatherapies. The base of many medicines in the western world and beyond is also spirits. Stomach upset? Sip some amari. Sore throat? Honey, bourbon, and hot water will do the trick.
The French were the first to double distill. (They built the infamous Charentais stills that are used to this very day.) They were one of the first cultures to blend aged spirits from different barrels. So many firsts that one could claim cognac (of French origin), or brandy, as whisky’s mother. But the Dutch played a role, too. They’re responsible for turning the very prized French wines into “brandewijn,” a.k.a. brandy, for safe ocean voyage.
Fast-forward to the late 1800s. A voracious louse, phylloxera, wiped out the majority of all vineyards in France, and brandy and cognac ceased to exist for decades. Boom! The spread of Whisk(e)y begins! Rye, Scotch, Irish, blended, bourbon, oh my! Classic cocktails that were originally made with grape spirits started to turn up as rye- and whiskey-based drinks. Tipples like the sazerac and the julep began to use grain spirits such as bourbon and rye. It’s to be noted that these may, in my eyes, have been improvements to the original.
So, do we credit a louse? The Scots? Our pioneers, barmaids, and barkeeps? Our pharmacists? It seems all are responsible for the design of this ardent spirit. And so I’ll raise my glass to those who have, through time, given us so many ways to transport such beloved elixirs into our vessels. Be it the aforementioned juleps and sazeracs or the crustas and sidecars, you can’t really go wrong in how you deliver them.
Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park. File photo.
Each week, C-VILLE’s Green Scene page takes a look at local environmental news. The section’s bulletin board has information on local green events and keeps you up to date on statewide happenings. Got an event or a tip you’d like to see here and in the paper? Write us at news@c-ville.com.
Solo safe: Whatever the season, safety training is an essential accessory for hikers. Blue Ridge Mountain Sports is offering several two-day wilderness first aid courses
in Virginia this winter, giving adults and teens the know-how needed to save life and limb in case of an accident far from help. Participants will receive a certification good for two years. Visit www.outdoorsocial.com/wfa.htm for details on local offerings, which include a single-topic lecture December 12 and a full course January 12-13.
Paths to parks: The City of Charlottesville announced this month that it’s opened up several new stretches of paved bike and pedestrian trails into and around city parks, the latest step toward implementing its long-term trail plan. The Parks Department has tapped grant funds to help pay for a number of projects, including paved access to Azalea Park from several residential streets, a multi-use trail through Greenbrier Park that serves as a route for schoolkids, and a walkable off-street entrance to Pen Park.
Meat movie: UVA is hosting a free screening of the documentary American Meat at 6pm Monday, December 3 at Newcomb Hall. The movie examines the history of industrial farming in the U.S., and focuses on several farmers—including Joel Salatin of nearby Polyface Farm—who are working to change the system. A panel discussion with Salatin and others will follow.
The Charlottesville Jazz Society brings Joel Harrison’s String Choir in Concert to the Haven. (Publicity photo)
Style council
If you’re rolling jazz, country, rock, and world music into improvisational and classical chamber performances, you’ve earned the right to defy categorization. Joel Harrison has made a career guitar-playing, singing, composing, arranging, and songwriting across genres. He has a stylistically diverse repertoire at his disposal from his 14 albums, and his string choir of internationally-renowned instrumentalists such as cellist Dave Eggar further add to his skill set. Who says chamber music doesn’t work equally well in a concert hall as in a dive bar?
Thursday 11/29 $10-20, 7:30pm. The Haven, 112 W. Market St. 973-1234.
Discover the local connection to Life of Pi when Charlottesville-based film consultant Kho Wong discusses her role as assistant to the producer in the Makers Series on Thursday.
Fantastic journey
Ang Lee’s Life of Pi is a rich and wondrous 3D interpretation
This Life of Pi is something of a miracle. It’s a 3D-enhanced movie based on a much respected novel and set mostly on a life raft. Given that 3D is often more trouble than it’s worth, some great novels have become terrible films, and not even Alfred Hitchcock could make a life raft interesting, Life of Pi’s goodness and near-greatness is all the more impressive.
Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised. Director Ang Lee more often than not makes movies that are great (Brokeback Mountain) or border on great (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon). Even his misses are interesting—who else would dare to make Hulk, a movie based on the Marvel comic, into something resembling a Greek tragedy?
And now Lee tackles Life of Pi. The movie creates a clever framing device that successfully sidesteps one of the novel’s few problems, namely its clumsy humor concerning the translation from Japanese to English of a conversation between two insurance agents.
That’s where the dissimilarities between the novel and film largely end. This adaption works from beginning to end. The fantastic setting—in the truest sense of fantastic —helps, and Lee’s choice of bold and rich visuals is a risk that pays off. There’s only so much computer animation can do, and Lee recognizes the strengths and limitations of CGI. Richard Parker, the tiger with whom Pi spends most of the story adrift on a life raft, always looks real, whether he’s played by a living tiger or a computer.
Pi ends up on a raft with Richard Parker as his companion through some of the best and worst luck possible. Pi’s father, who runs a zoo in their home country of India, decides to sell the animals to other zoos in North America. While making the journey across the world to Canada, the freighter on which Pi and his family are traveling with the animals sinks in an unexplained accident. Pi ends up on a raft with a zebra with a broken leg, a hyena, an orangutan and Richard Parker, the Bengal tiger, after the freighter sinks.
How Pi survives without killing Richard Parker, himself, or dying of starvation is a fascinating allegory on faith and primal instincts. None of the allegory feels overwhelming or forced, and viewers will probably find themselves taken in by the story and forget they’re wearing bulky 3D glasses.
Suraj Sharma, in his first film role as Pi, faces the daunting task of carrying an entire movie. That he does it without sinking under the weight of the material—or looking lost playing opposite a computer-generated image—is another of the film’s small miracles. The great Irrfan Khan plays Pi as an adult.
Life of Pi is filled with humor and wonderment, but also has its share of heart-stopping drama. Despite its PG rating, Life of Pi isn’t really for kids. Richard Parker is fierce, and Pi’s loss of his entire family is hard to take. Nonetheless, it’s excellent end-of-year fare, and signals a return to form for Ang Lee after the underwhelming Taking Woodstock.
Have your say. Drop a line to mail bag@c-ville.com, send a letter to 308E. Main St., or post a comment at c-ville.com.
Playing
this week
A Late Quartet
Regal Downtown Mall 6
Argo
Regal Stonefield 14
and IMAX
Atlas Shrugged: Part 2
Carmike Cinema 6
Brooklyn Castle
Regal Downtown Mall 6
Farewell My Queen
Regal Downtown Mall 6
Finding Nemo 3D
Carmike Cinema 6
Flight
Regal Stonefield 14
and IMAX
Fun Size
Carmike Cinema 6
Holy Motors
Regal Downtown Mall 6
Lincoln
Regal Stonefield 14
and IMAX
Looper
Carmike Cinema 6
The Other Son
Regal Downtown Mall 6
The Perks of Being
a Wallflower
Regal Downtown Mall 6
Pitch Perfect
Carmike Cinema 6
Red Dawn
Regal Stonefield 14
and IMAX
Rise of the Guardians
Regal Stonefield 14
and IMAX
The Sessions
Vinegar Hill Theatre
Silent Hill: Revelation
Carmike Cinema 6
Skyfall
Regal Stonefield 14
and IMAX
Taken 2
Carmike Cinema 6
Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 2
Regal Stonefield 14
and IMAX
Former Boy Scout troop leader and Keswick resident David Watkin. Photo courtesy Albemarle County Police.
Police say the former Boy Scout leader they arrested yesterday for allegedly sodomizing a boy in his troop several years ago could be at the center of more charges.
The Albemarle County Police Department arrested David Brian Watkins, 49, of Keswick, for forcible sodomy Wednesday, saying the victim, now an adult but 13 at the time of the 2005 abuse, came forward the day before Thanksgiving. At a press conference yesterday, police said Watkins was a Scout leader in Albemarle County from 2002 to 2008, and that they suspect he may have abused others during that period.
Additional charges are under consideration, police said, and if anyone in the community has information that may help the investigation, they’re encouraged to call 434-972-4045.
Watkins is currently in custody, and faces a bond hearing at 1:30pm today in Juvenile Domestic Relations Court. Albemarle County Commonwealth’s Attorney Denise Lunsford told the Daily Progress that her office intends to request Watkins be held without bond. If convicted, he faces a penalty of five years to life in prison.
Members of Charlottesville’s Outdoor Adventure Social Club trek through the snowy Blue Ridge. The temperature has been dropping, but local outdoor lovers still have plenty of options to stay active. Photo courtesy OASC.
Charlottesville is crawling with outdoor and nature enthusiasts, and who wouldn’t want to be outside when it’s 75 degrees and sunny? As the days get shorter and colder, though, it’s tempting to stay indoors and save the outdoor action for springtime. One group of local adventurers sees no reason to slow down.
The Outdoor Adventure Social Club boasts more than 200 members, and while the club’s trips aren’t as frequent now as they were during the summer, several leaders are still taking groups on outdoor excursions, from day hikes to underground expeditions.
“I actually really love hiking during the winter,” said Melissa Levy, the liaison between the club and prospective new members. “You don’t have the bugs, you can see more because the leaves are off the trees, and you don’t really even stay cold because you’re so active.”
Levy came to Charlottesville in 2004 as a graduate student at UVA, and wanted a social outlet outside of school. Outdoors at UVA—a group that provides similar trip options and volunteer opportunities like trail maintenance and river cleanups—was available to her as a student, but she said she wanted a club with a broader age range.
Members of the OASC can also sign up for service projects in the area. Levy said the group often travels to nearby Bellair Farm for a day of volunteering: weeding strawberries, spreading mulch, and working on fences.
Trip leader Dallas Branum has been involved with the OASC since this summer. He saw the club’s sandwich board advertisement on the Downtown Mall, and being a new guy in town with years of experience leading outdoor adventure trips, he was eager to sign up. For months, he led rock climbing trips and hikes, and he said he’s seen some drop off in participation over the last several weeks.
“With the sun going down earlier and inclement weather, people aren’t as likely to go out,” he said.
Safety is also a concern, as the cold rain and rapid darkness make rock climbing more dangerous. But more and more people are signing up for the opposite adventure now: caving.
“It’s dark all the time anyway, and the temperature in a cave doesn’t change year-round,” Branum said.
When Branum takes groups to places like Hamilton Cave in West Virginia or Virginia’s Crossroads Cave, he said he likes to spend part of the drive talking about the local geology, and answering questions about underground formations and sea fossils.
“It’s not the primary focus of the trips, but there’s always a geological aspect,” he said.
OASC’s calendar is full of events to keep members active and involved indoors, too, from cocktail hours and yoga classes to broomball games on the ice at Main Street Arena. But lest you think they’re shying away from high adventure for the next few months, take a look ahead. There’s a three-day mountaineering course in New Hampshire’s White Mountains scheduled for late January, perfect practice for the trek of a lifetime: A two-week trip to Mount Everest base camp in Nepal.
Levy said leaders organize trips based on their own interests and favorite areas, and the club is always looking for new people to participate and lead. For information on December memberships, contact Melissa Levy at outdoorsocial.com.
