There aren’t many things you can’t learn in school. You can learn to be a poet or a cake baker, a philosopher or an engineer, a composer or a chemist, a carpenter or a priest. But, in spite of Jack Black’s best efforts, you can’t learn to be a rock star. There’s irony, I think, in the notion that our identities are increasingly professional at a time when our professions are less likely than ever to satisfy our dreams of financial success. So there is satisfaction in writing about people in a creative industry in which the promise of money is fast evaporating. There is no bad weather for artists.
Our cover story this week focuses on five people who are trying to make a living singing and playing their own songs. It began as an exploration of our town’s musical ambitions, and it could have taken any number of forms, focusing more on the industry side, like the band managers, digital marketing crews, venue operators, and software engineers who are coping with a publishing landscape turned upside down. It could have focused on the different types of music that flourish here, jazz for instance, or electronica. Or it could have focused on a different subset of singer-songwriters than the one I chose, because for a small town, there are many. It went the way it did because I got interested in a question. People who stand up on stage alone with a guitar have no one to blame for their failures, and these days, little reason to expect a reward, or even a living for their efforts. So why do they do it?
It’s a deceptively simple question that can shake the foundations of heaven and earth if you let it. It might seem like a leap to link the file-sharing revolution in the music industry to the fact that, for the first time in generations, Americans are not likely to fare better financially than their parents, but there’s a sense in which every story I write comes back to one idea: We are all in the business of making dreams real.
Married librarians Dave Gibson (left) and Renee Reighart form the indie-rock project Weird Mob. Publicity photo
“We’re librarians by day, and indie-rockers by night,” said Dave Gibson.
“And because we’re librarians, we think in a very organized, compartmental way,” added Renee Reighart.
Gibson works for the Library of Congress in Culpeper, while Reighart is employed at the Fine Arts Library at UVA. The couple moved to Charlottesville a few years ago, and are perhaps best known to local music fans as members of the now-defunct indie-pop group The Hilarious Posters.
“Believe it or not, the Posters was actually the first time we had played music together,” Gibson said.
“We’ll I’d played trumpet on one track for one of Dave’s earlier bands,” Reighart said, “but we’ve been married almost 11 years, and it took us five or six before we could collaborate on anything without fighting.”
Since the Posters disintegrated, Gibson has played as a sideman in Borrowed Beams of Light, while Reighart has played with Mss.. They also kept busy by making music videos for a number of local bands, and soon got the itch to start another one of their own. In February they debuted their new group, Weird Mob, headlining an EP release show at the Southern.
Though Weird Mob is a new band, Gibson’s sunshine-y pop hooks, sung in a charming, boyish voice, are immediately recognizable. The songs themselves aren’t much different from earlier efforts, but this time they’re packaged in a synthesizer-heavy, new-wave-flavored format. “It’s pretty similar, in some ways,” he said. “I let a few of my more esoteric influences creep in. But it’s poppy and melodic. I think no matter what I do, I can’t escape doing that.”
“Dave wrote and recorded all the songs himself, that’s something he’s been doing for a while,” Reighart said. “That’s been a trend with some bands, to have a singular vision, one creative voice, with other players that help you realize that live, but where the recording is the purest form of that vision. So I’m kind of just a hired hand.”
“She’s selling herself short,” Gibson said. “She does sing on it, she wrote the lyrics, she plays bass. That’s why I didn’t want to sell it as ‘Me, a dude, and here are my four buddies who play with me.’ I wanted to sell it as ‘Renee and I,’ as part of the whole Renee-and-Dave artistic endeavor. We designed the cover together, the whole aesthetic just comes from what we’re both into.”
“I’m definitely the cinematographer,” Reighart added.
The band’s debut was a one-minute music video, edited to look like the opening credits from a fictional 1980s TV show starring the band, consistent with an affection for the entertainment of the late analog era.
“I had been watching a lot of this old TV show, the ‘Tomorrow People,’” Gibson said. “It was ITV’s attempt at making a kind of ‘Doctor Who.’ So the opening credits are really in that style—a lot of still images, crazy shots of brains and electrodes—and I’d written that little intro jam, which was my attempt at writing something like the theme from ‘3-2-1 Contact.’”
By the time Weird Mob played its first live gig, it had already recorded a seven-track EP and made several music videos, a reversal of the process common to most bands. “We’d seen a lot of bands self-destruct when they put out an album, or when they went into the studio to record,” Gibson said. “It’s kind of backwards, but I’m glad we did it this way. I’ve been in so many bands where the release show of our first album was also the band’s last show, so for once I wanted to be in a band where the release was our first show.”
The debut EP, They’re a Weird Mob, is also the first release for Hibernator Gigs, the pseudonym Gibson and Reighart are using for their home-operated record label, as well as their music video endeavors.
“We were ready to put out the EP, but didn’t even want to have to talk to record labels,” Reighart said. “With the way music distribution is, there’s no reason to wait. We recorded it here in our house, in our own time, and it was like—‘Hey, it’s ready.’”
“Hibernator Gigs is an anagram of both of our last names,” she explained, “But it also kind of stands for one of our goals, which is just to stay home and make as much as you can, and be productive. In the past our creative exercises took the form of project more than product, and we wanted to shift more towards creating a product, and not get bogged down in messing around.”
“Sometimes it’s hard to come home and do things after work, especially with the commute that I have,” Gibson said. “That’s the other reason I wanted to make sure that Renee was part of it. She’s very encouraging of not just sitting around. It would be easy enough just to sit down and watch TV every night, but instead we work together on cool shit.”
Hibernator Gigs is currently at work on a 7″ compilation entitled Guided By Bob, in which a half-dozen local bands contribute “fake” covers, paying tribute to Bob Pollard’s Guided By Voices. The label will also release a forthcoming Borrowed Beams record.
Weird Mob will next appear at the Twisted Branch Tea Bazaar on March 21, along with Brooklyn bands The So So Glos and Sunset Guns, as well as Typefighter, a Washington, D.C. group featuring former local Thomas Orgren. Tickets are $7 and the doors open at 8:30pm.
As a rule, Virginia’s statewide elections follow a fairly predictable pattern. The first thing you need to realize is this: Almost everybody wants to be governor. Maybe not this year, but eventually. Which means that whoever is running for lieutenant governor or attorney general invariably has one eye on the big chair (while the governor, more often than not, is gazing longingly toward the Potomac).
This dynamic is reinforced by Virginia’s one-term gubernatorial limit, which tends to result in a complete Capitol Square shake-up every four years, even though the LG and AG can theoretically stick around as long as voters will have them. (It should be noted that current Lieutenant Governor Bill Bolling has served two terms, but only because he made a deal with Bob McDonnell to postpone his executive ambitions until 2013).
The other peculiarity of the Old Dominion’s three statewide offices is that they are all elected independently, so that it’s not uncommon for Virginia’s governor and lieutenant governor to be from opposing parties. Now, when the LG and AG are from different parties, they usually end up facing each other in the governor’s race. But when they share party affiliation, things can get a little tricky.
Which brings us to the current cockamamie situation. As regular readers well know, Bill Bolling definitely wanted to be governor, but was outmaneuvered by current Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, who is now running unopposed for the Republican nomination (while also, in a break with recent tradition, continuing to perform his duties as AG).
And so, with Bolling retiring (after contemplating, then rejecting an independent bid for governor) and the Cooch facing Democrat Terry McAuliffe for the top slot, Richmond’s undercard races are as open as they’ve ever been.
For both Democrats and Republicans, the lieutenant governorship is the more important of the two positions. As the tie-breaking vote in an evenly divided senate, the LG could very well hold the key to an entire legislative agenda (especially for the elephants, who already have solid control over the House of Delegates). This fact explains why there are no fewer than seven Republicans currently in the race, running the gamut from relative moderates (former state senator Jeannemarie Devolites Davis) to the party’s rightmost fringe (Prince William Board of County Supervisors Chairman and noted xenophobe Corey Stewart). The Democrats, on the other hand, currently have only two declared candidates: America’s first “Chief Technology Officer” (no, seriously) Aneesh Chopra and state Senator Ralph Northam.
In the race to replace the Cooch, the field is much smaller, with just two Republicans (Delegate Rob Bell and state Senator Mark Obenshain) and two Dems (state Senator Mark Herring and former Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin Fairfax) currently running.
At this early date, we cannot begin to guess who will eventually triumph in these races, but we can tell you one thing: Since Virginia’s GOP has opted for a nominating convention over a primary, chances are the Republican slate will be the most conservative in recent memory. And thus, should Ken Cuccinelli actually become governor (an unlikely event, admittedly), he would almost certainly preside over a state government that would make the McDonnell administration look like the Conch Republic.
Sarah White and Josephine performing at The Southern Cafe and Music Hall during a WarHen Records artist showcase earlier this month. Photo: Martyn Kyle.
“Why isn’t Charlottesville Athens?” James Wilson said, repeating a question I had posed to him. “They have R.E.M. We have Dave Matthews. We both have about the same amount of venues, same size. It’s a tough one. It really is.”
It was clear, watching Wilson, that it wasn’t the first time he’d considered the subject. In a sense, he’s been living it ever since he got together with his brothers five years ago and started a band, Sons of Bill, named after their UVA literature professor dad. Wilson is a singer-songwriter. The kind of person who wakes up every morning thinking there’s a melody waiting for him and it’s his job to find it.
He’s also the kind of person who showed up late for an interview at his own house twice, once because he needed cigarettes and the other because he had to walk his parents’ dog. The second time, he unfolded his 6’2″ frame out of a weathered Jeep, apologized profusely in his mannerly and down-home way, before leaning up against the back of the truck, hanging his boot heel on the fender and turning his face to the sun to light a cigarette.
James Wilson is a sepia-toned hero of honky tonk stuck in a digital world that makes his literate head spin. Ask him a question, and you can see him turn inside out chasing the answer, like it’s as elusive as a song, or like you’ve asked him about Faulkner’s portrayal of the Southern man.
That morning, leaning back against his truck just off Avon Street, he treated the industry question with a practical philosophy, like working out how to get a truck out of a ditch.
“Dave could sell out Trax every single fucking Tuesday night. And then he’d go to the Flood Zone in Richmond on Thursday night and sell that out. Every week,” Wilson said. “We’re one of the bigger bands to come out of Charlottesville and we can only sell out the Jefferson three times a year. And that’s overplaying. Our agents are pressuring us to not play so much because it’s too hard to get people to come out.”
Sons of Bill frontman James Wilson says his new song “Bad Dancer” was inspired by John Cusack’s portrayal of Lloyd Dobler in the film Say Anything and by Homer’s The Odyssey. Photo: Jack Looney.
Sons of Bill got together when three of the four Wilson brothers (James, Abe, and Sam) found their way back to Charlottesville in 2007 for various reasons and picked up two friends who could play drums and bass (Seth Green and Todd Wellons). They entered a UVA battle of the bands contest after a couple of practices and won the contest, which furnished them three days of free recording time. Two weeks later they recorded their first record, paying out of pocket for four additional days in the studio. That spring they sold out Starr Hill Music Hall twice and unloaded the 1,000 CDs they made almost overnight.
In the wake of becoming the town’s new “it” band, Red Light Management swooped in and got their signatures. Fifteen years ago, that narrative could have been the prelude to a meteoric rise through the ranks of the music industry. But the Internet has changed the business. Sons of Bill recently broke with Red Light to go it alone. Wilson and his bandmates make what he calls “a very small living” playing music professionally.
“It was mutual,” he said of the management split. “We didn’t make enough money that it was affecting anything significant to them. At the same time it was our lives and we needed more attention that they couldn’t give us. It was in our best interest to go on our own.”
The band will release two brand new songs this month, recorded at White Star Sound in Louisa County and pressed as a vinyl 45 by Warren Parker and Michael Hennigar’s Charlottesville-based label WarHen Records.* They are still looking for new management, but in the meantime, they’re set to employ a new business strategy with the help of local digital marketing company Vibethink (who made C-VILLE’s new website and does digital marketing for The Festy Presents) to get their music to fans and promote their album Sirens, which was released last year.
I interviewed five singer songwriters with really different perspectives on the music business in a town full of musicians. All of them are working hard and none of them is getting rich. Is it the town? The painful and slow adjustment to a new model in the music industry?
The fact that we can even ask why Charlottesville isn’t Athens is probably a sign of the town’s musical ambition. The University of Georgia is quite a bit bigger than UVA and more connected to its downtown, but there is still the sense that because of the Dave Matthews Band and Coran Capshaw and Red Light, Charlottesville is poised to become a new industry hub, a place where singer-songwriters can come to meet the business folks who will take a chance on their talent. That would make it, the logic follows, the type of town where the top local acts might have a leg up on landing a space on a national tour with a big name act, or at least, a decent chance at building a regional following.
The question can also be used as a lens on the industry. Take the acts that put the two towns on the musical map a half decade apart. Thirteen years and nine albums after R.E.M.’s first record Murmur was named Rolling Stone’s Record of the Year, the band scored an $80 million record deal, the biggest in history at the time, when they re-signed with Warner Bros. in 1996. In the interim, bands like Widespread Panic, Indigo Girls, and Drive-By Truckers flourished, turning Athens into the “Liverpool of the South.”
DMB released a live album, Remember Two Things, on Bama Works in 1993, breaking industry rules by letting fans share nonprofit bootlegs and pre-empting the file-sharing issue. By the time they released Crash in 1996, they were the biggest band in the world. By keeping their publishing and merchandising rights and working each record on long summer tours, the band created a formula (not dissimilar to The Grateful Dead’s) that’s preserved its financial success across the file-sharing revolution. But another major act hasn’t come out of Charlottesville since then.
“When Athens really made its name, the music industry was still heavily fueled by record sales and success was gauged in that specific way,” said David Purcell, a professor of music business who also operates Music Royalty Solutions, a firm specializing in business management and financial solutions for independent recording, performing, and songwriting artists. “I don’t know that a scene is going to develop in the same way any more.”
Purcell has spent the last decade watching the music business change, as a professor at Berklee College of Music in Boston and then as part of NYU’s music business program before landing as an assistant professor at Columbia College’s Arts, Entertainment, and Music Management program. He preaches a mantra of new opportunity to artists that includes pushing subscription platforms, merchandise bundling, themed tours, sharing fan bases, and pursuing licensing opportunities in the U.S. and abroad.
He also delivers a healthy dose of reality. File-sharing platforms like Spotify and Pandora won’t ever generate revenue for what he calls “the super-majority” of artists and he doesn’t buy into the notion that there’s money for everyone on the road. Instead, he sees the file sharing world as a kind of primordial soup out of which to grow a new species of music success.
“The likelihood of artists getting famous because they’re on Pandora or Spotify is miniscule. That being said, it’s still important that they use all the platforms. They really need to have a checklist of all the different tools and platforms,” he said.
Ultimately, Purcell doesn’t have any magic bullets. Streaming, file sharing, YouTube videos. iTunes and BandCamp, Spotify and Pandora. Placements in film and TV, and international publishing deals. Artists need to push in every direction, but they also have to recognize that the scale of success isn’t what it used to be. May never be again.
“Do they aspire for it to be a primary vocation and revenue-generating part of life or not?” Purcell asked. “If it is, you need to look at the reality. There are opportunities to make money, but you have to really target your audience and the amount of money you can make has changed.”
When Wilson was a kid, his dad, also a singer-songwriter, was playing Shakey’s Pizza and James was trying to sneak into Trax. Now he’s playing the biggest venues in town, but he can’t figure out how to make money.
“Nobody knows what to do to make music profitable. It was boring in the ’90s but you knew what you had to do,” Wilson said. “You found a band, you signed ’em and you got ’em on the radio, and it either exploded or it didn’t. It all revolved around selling the disc.”
Even if you sell a venue out, smaller bands have a hard time commanding the price tag to make it worthwhile.
“It’s cool for bands to bash the venues and I get it. I’ve been screwed. I’ve gotten my teeth kicked in. But I feel for them. A lot of times when they take risks they take huge losses and they’ve got to kick in the teeth of the bands they can make money off of,” he said.
As a songwriter, though, Wilson is in high feather. He spent a few months dabbling in working for a Nashville publishing house, an effort that produced a joke country song called “50,000 Times More Country Than You Are” and he’s about to release a sensitive single inspired by John Cusack and, true to Wilson’s literary roots, Homer.
“Bad Dancer” is the story of the angst-riddled boy who will love you best, the type of guy who can’t dance necessarily but won’t ever let you go.
“Have you read The Odyssey? I haven’t read that book in years. How he killed off all her lovers and burst into tears,” the song ends.
“The awkward lover is actually the best lover, but he’s on the outside, just like Holden Caulfield,” Wilson said.
* An earlier version of this story omitted Michael Hennigar as the co-founder of WarHen Records.
Renaissance man: Blacksmith Corry Blanc creates everything from gate hardware to kitchen utensils to custom furniture. Photo: Christian Hommel
Corry Blanc can’t remember the first thing he ever made. “Making ‘things’ is all I’ve ever known,” he said. A native of Georgia (he grew up in the Appalachian foothills in the northern part of the state), the blacksmith began welding after high school when he took a job at his uncle’s welding and fabrication studio. That summer turned into a four-year apprenticeship, which built enough of a foundation to land Blanc a job with Stokes of England in Keswick. In 2009, he branched out on his own and has since tackled a range of projects—from custom exercise equipment for Clay Fitness & Nutrition to ornamental ironwork on gates and fences.
Describe your aesthetic in three words.
Functional, clean, organic.
What would you say is your “specialty”?
I make things for the house and home. Over the past few years that’s consisted mostly of custom hardware and ornamental ironwork. Most recently I’ve introduced furniture and a line of kitchen accessories.
Do you do a lot of work for individuals’ homes?
I do. Homes, barns, sheds, garages—basically anywhere on your estate that can benefit from a little custom ironwork.
What’s your favorite thing you’ve ever made?
I was lucky enough to be offered a gallery show at Chroma on the Downtown Mall last December. The desk I made for that show is by far my favorite piece.
What’s the process like for creating a new piece for a client? Does someone come to you with an idea and you run with it? Or is it more of a collaboration?
Both. If I’m working for a builder or architect, the design is usually laid out and all I do is facilitate it and make it real. If I’m working with a homeowner directly, I usually ask what they’re looking for, give my opinion, and see where it goes. The jobs I can run with are always my favorite.
GET IN TOUCH
Have a custom project in mind? Contact Corry Blanc by e-mail (corry@blanccreatives.com) or visit his website, blanccreatives.com.
Two men were wounded in an officer-involved shooting at this spot on 2nd Street NW near the Downtown Mall on March 16. Photo by Graelyn Brashear.
Check c-ville.com daily and pick up a copy of the paper Tuesday to for the latest Charlottesville and Albemarle news briefs and stories. Here’s a quick look at some of what we’ve had an eye on for the past week.
Police-involved shooting leaves two wounded, cop on leave
Two men were wounded early Saturday morning in the first officer-involved shooting in the city since 2006, according to the Daily Progress.
In a press conference Saturday, Charlottesville Police Chief Timothy Longo said a passerby who witnessed the 12:45am incident on 2nd Street NW near the Downtown Mall reported a man with a pistol standing over a man on the ground. Police officer Alex Bruner then rode up on a bicycle, and the passerby reported hearing “at least one gunshot.” Two men were later taken to UVA Hospital, and while police are not revealing whether Bruner shot either of the men, The Hook reported he acknowledged firing his weapon. The Hook later published photos online of the bloodied men lying handcuffed in the street surrounded by crowds.
Both gunshot victims survived, but details on their conditions weren’t available Monday morning. Bruner was placed on administrative leave, which police said was standard procedure after an officer-involved shooting.
Harding pleads guilty to fraud
Albemarle developer Michael Wayne Harding pleaded guilty to two counts of fraud earlier this month, ending a case involving forged documents and embezzlement that the prosecuting attorney said went “beyond what we usually see in this district,” according to a report in The Hook.
Prosecutors said Harding, who is the brother of Albemarle County Sheriff Chip Harding, defrauded at least 10 people by forging loan documents and invoices, and embezzled about $125,000 from a local investor. He also admitted to bankruptcy fraud.
Harding could face up to 25 years in prison, but according to The Hook, U.S. Attorney Tim Heaphy said Harding may end up serving around four years, though he may also face restitution claims from victims. Harding will remain free on $200,000 bond until his June 24 sentencing.
County proposes increased budget, lower taxes
Albemarle County’s proposed budget for 2013-2014 is $7.2 million higher than the last fiscal year, but the property tax rate of 76.2 cents per $100 of assessed value will remain level, according to news reports. The owner of a home assessed at the county’s median value will pay $2,104 in taxes in 2013, a decrease of $104 from last year.
The proposed budget is over $321 million. According to CBS19, the largest jump in expenditures support public safety, which will see a $1.8 million increase, and education, a $2.6 million increase.
If the budget passes the Albemarle County Police Department will hire four new officers, one of whom will be a School Resource Officer for a county middle school. Police say they also want to focus on traffic safety and the enforcement of traffic laws.
According to CBS19, the county school board is facing a deficit, which is not covered by the proposed budget. But according to Chief Operating Officer Josh Davis, the county is “not facing a crisis” this season, and county staff will continue to negotiate with the Board of Supervisors.
Cavaliers left out of NCAA Tournament
The University of Virginia men’s basketball team lost three of its final four games, and didn’t make the cut for the NCAA Tournament.
According to The Cavalier Daily, the team punched its ticket for a first National Invitation Tournament (NIT) trip under coach Tony Bennett, earning a number one seed and a first-round matchup against Norfolk State University. Virginia captured the NIT championship in 1980 and 1992, and this year marks the team’s 13th appearance in the tournament.
The NIT field consists of 32 teams, and will run from March 19-April 4, with the final three games played at Madison Square Garden in New York City. According to The Cavalier Daily, UVA will face Norfolk State University on Tuesday, March 19, at 9pm at John Paul Jones Arena.—C-VILLE writers
When social media site upworthy.com created a video with “pictures of women that make you feel better about yourself instead of worse,” local mothers Jennifer McDonald and Terry Beigie were inspired. Fed up with the media-supported charade of the ideal woman being 5’10” with “perfect teeth, huge Barbie bosoms, and beautiful long blonde hair,” McDonald said, the two mothers put together a blog called The Eleanor Project.
The Eleanor Project, inspired by Eleanor Roosevelt, features non-photoshopped images of local women, and the answers to four questions: How would you describe yourself? What inspires you? What makes you feel powerful? What is your favorite part of yourself and why?
Women of all sizes, shapes, ages, and backgrounds are featured in the Eleanor Project, and McDonald said she hopes it inspires young girls and women alike to stand up and be themselves.
“We’ve all been those teenagers who don’t feel strong, who don’t feel powerful, who don’t feel in control of our bodies,” she said. “A great many of us struggle with how we feel about ourselves.”
McDonald said she’s been surprised at how many women she perceived as having it all together who are actually crippled with self-doubt and insecurities. As a mother, she encourages her two teenage daughters to be active and confident, and said she never focuses on physical appearance. A running joke in her household is answering “Oh you look fabulous—but are also very smart, funny, and great at sports” when her daughters ask if an outfit looks O.K., or they’re concerned about their hair.
The Eleanor Project has been up and running since early January, and McDonald said she and Beigie hope to update it regularly with fierce and fascinating local women.
Each week, the news team takes a look at upcoming meetings and events in Charlottesville and Albemarle we think you should know about. Consider it a look into our datebook, and be sure to share newsworthy happenings in the comments section.
The Charlottesville City Council has a few big items on the agenda for its 7pm Monday meeting. There are public hearings on the proposed FY2014 tax rate and budget, and the Council will hear the latest on a transit study commissioned to examine needed changes in the city’s bus system.
The Albemarle County Planning Commission meets at 7pm Tuesday at the County Office Building on McIntire Road. Check out the agenda here.
On Wednesday, residents are invited to a 7pm discussion about the Rivanna River and the role it plays in the community at St. Mark Lutheran Church, 100 Alderman Road. Robbi Savage of the Rivanna Conservation Society will lead the free talk, which is sponsored by the Piedmont Chapter of the Sierra Club.
The county will hold an all-day open house on its Comprehensive Plan from 9am-7:30pm Thursday in the second-floor lobby of the County Office Building on McIntire Road. County staff will be on hand to explain the plan, answer questions, and take comments, which will be forwarded to the Planning Commission ahead of a public hearing on the plan.
Advocates for a Sustainable Albemarle Population (ASAP) will host a panel discussion called “The Local Costs of Growth” at 7pm Thursday in the library of Westminster Presbyterian Church, 400 Rugby Road. The free talk will focus on the need for better cost-benefit analysis of commercial and residential development in the area. Visit www.ASAPnow.org for more details on the research behind the presentation.
It might be too costly to plan an entire week’s vacation for your family over spring break, but might we suggest fitting in a few day trips? At less than four hours of round-trip travel time, you can make your way there and back and still be home in time for dinner. Which is a totally different problem, but you’re on your own with that. We can’t do all the work!
Virginia Living Museum
Newport News, Virginia
Travel time: 2 hours
The VLM combines a wildlife park, science museum, aquarium, botanical preserve, and aquarium, and showcases more than 245 different species. If you visit on a Friday, catch the alligator feeding around lunchtime. Become a member and you’ll get special access to caves, swamps, and fossil banks of Virginia.
Dinosaur Land
White Post, Virginia
Travel time: 2 hours
Admission: $4 for ages 2-10, $5 for ages 11 and up
In the dino biz since 1962, this popular park off Stonewall Jackson Highway is home to more than 30 life-size replicas of prehistoric creatures. Get your picture taken in the mouth of a 60′ shark, or palling around with a heavily horned styracosaurus.
Luray Zoo
Luray, Virginia
Travel time: 1.5 hours
Admission: $5 for ages 3-12, $10 for ages 13 and up
Boasting Virginia’s largest collection of cold-blooded reptiles (think snakes and lizards), the Luray Zoo doubles as a rescue facility for neglected, abused, confiscated, and retired animals like exotic cats, monkeys, and llamas. The privately owned facility houses more than 250 animals. While you’re in the Valley, stop by the caverns and have a mitey good time. (Sorry, we couldn’t help ourselves.)
Glow-a-Rama
Buchanan, Virginia
Travel time: 1.5 hours
Admission: $7 for children, students, seniors, and military; $8 for adults
Billed as “the ultimate blacklight experience,” Glow-A-Rama in southwest Virginia is nonstop fun in the form of 18-hole mini golf, a blacklight arcade, and “Scaryville” haunted house. Everything—literally—glows: the golf balls, golf clubs, scorecards, all the holes, the artwork on the walls and panels. Our advice? Don’t wear white!
Discovery Ridge Adventure Center
Wintergreen, Virginia
Travel time: 45 minutes
Admission varies depending on activity
Zip zip hooray! The big draw here is the Nelson resort’s 900′ zip line. But you’ll also find a climbing wall, fun park (with a teepee!), and a bungee trampoline, which can get jumpers more than 25′ in the air.
On Fridays, we and The Charlottesville 29 feature five food finds selected by local chefs and personalities. This week’s picks come from Michael McCarthy, chef/owner of Dr. Ho’s Humble Pie. McCarthy’s picks:
1) Hot Sicilian sandwich at Durty Nelly’s Wayside Deli. “Rye bread makes life better, plain and simple.”
2) Fried Chicken at GOCO on Cherry Ave. “There is a lot of fried chicken out there, but this is the BEST hands down.”
3) Crab Cakes at Duner’s. “The real deal, lots of lump crab and pleasantly seasoned.”
4) Pork Souvlaki Dinner at Tip Top Restaurant. “They know how to hook it up!”
5) Mustard Crusted Rack of Lamb at Ivy Inn Restaurant. “Everything Angelo touches turns to gold, but the rack of lamb at the Ivy Inn is perhaps his biggest culinary achievement.”
The Charlottesville 29 is a publication that asks: if there were just 29 restaurants in Charlottesville, what would be the ideal 29? Follow along with regular updates on Facebook and Twitter.
