Dum Dum Girls is a throwback band that’s a force to be reckoned with. Take spitfire riffs, increase the attitude, and spice generously with talent for an adrenaline rush coupled with a healthy dose of introspection. Moving beyond simplistic ballads, frontwoman Dee Dee Penny explores a wealth of emotion, defining rebellion in life, love, and the freedom to rock it out.
Sunday 11/2. $15, 7pm. The Southern Café and Music Hall, 103 S. First St. 977-5590.
Indulge in a cornucopia of autumnal activities with local food and artisans at Albemarle Ciderworks’ Apple Harvest Festival. Take a hayride over the mountain, taste local hard ciders, or test your baking mettle in an apple pie contest. Gallatin Canyon, Jim Waive, and The Get Rights keep the honky tonk tunes going all day. Free, 10am. Albemarle Ciderworks, 2545 Rural Ridge Ln., North Garden. 297-2326.
To “educate and engage audiences on the art of film.” To “promote discussions between artists, students, academics, and audiences about the films and how they relate to the world in which we live.” And, not to forget, to “support the films and filmmakers of the Commonwealth of Virginia.” At the Virginia Film Festival, watching Oscar winners and Oscar contenders is only part of the fun, and part of the idea. Now in its 27th year, the increasingly popular event derives its unique-to-the-U.S. mission from its presenting body, the University of Virginia.
It’s a film festival with guest talks by stars and directors, or an unusually exciting academic conference with illustrations by Godard and Chaplin. Take your pick – and do it this November 6-9 from more than one hundred screenings and numerous panel discussions, plus parties, competitions, and a day’s worth of educational fun for the whole family.
“Once again this year, I think we have an incredibly strong program of films that entertain and engage us in addition to inspiring important dialogue around the issues we face every single day,” says Festival director and UVA Vice Provost for the Arts, Jody Kielbasa. “We are thrilled to welcome an extraordinary lineup of special guests who include all-time acting and directing greats, some of today’s most talented actors, leading cultural figures and personalities, and the largest collection of filmmakers we have ever brought in for the Festival.”
The greats come to town starting Thursday, November 6, as the festival kicks off at the Paramount Theater with a 7:00 p.m., world premiere screening of Big Stone Gap, written and directed by bestselling author Adriana Trigiani. Based on Trigiani’s popular series of novels and filmed on location in Big Stone Gap, Virginia, the film stars Ashley Judd as the small town’s self-appointed, middle-aged spinster who keeps countless secrets before discovering one of her own that will change her life forever. Cast members Patrick Wilson, Jenna Elfman, and Jasmine Guy will join Trigiani for the post-film Q & A.
That same evening, the man who’s been called “the first black action hero,” actor Richard Roundtree, will be the special guest at UVA’s Culbreth Theatre for an 8:00 p.m. screening of Shaft, the seminal 1971 Blaxploitation film by Gordon Parks, perhaps best known for his documentary photography. Parks’ 1948 Life magazine photo-essay, “Harlem Gang Leader,” is on exhibit at UVA’s Fralin Museum of Art.
“The report of my death was an exaggeration,” Mark Twain once quipped to the New York press. Tony Award-winning actor Hal Holbrook has been playing Mark Twain in an acclaimed one-man show for 60 years, so perhaps it’s fitting that he too – just this October – has been denying reports of his demise. Concerned parties can ascertain the truth for themselves when the 89-year-old actor comes to town for a performance of Mark Twain Tonight!, 7:00 p.m. Friday at the Paramount, and a screening of the acclaimed documentary Holbrook/Twain: An American Odyssey, 4:30 p.m. Saturday at Piedmont Virginia Community College’s Dickinson Center.
Mark Twain Tonight! has been seen in all fifty states, in twenty countries, behind the Iron Curtain, and by five U.S. Presidents. Filmed in classic black and white, director Scott Teems’ 2014 film documentary features excerpts of the show, plus interviews with Sean Penn, Martin Sheen, Emile Hirsch, and Cherry Jones among others. A discussion with Holbrook and Teems will follow.
Williams Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury is a 20th century masterpiece, the chronicle of a once proud aristocratic Southern family as told by an idiot, a suicide, and their bitter, scheming brother. Director James Franco’s adaptation was produced by Festival advisory board member Lee Caplin, and stars Franco, Seth Rogen, Joey King, Danny McBride and Scott Haze, with Loretta Devine as the wise and longsuffering maid, Dilsey.
“James Franco is a guy that really constantly surprises me,” Kielbasa says. “It seems every time I turn around he’s doing something that is period or new and exciting and different, from doing Of Mice and Men on Broadway most recently, to popping up in more commercial fare. Danny McBride hails from the Fredericksburg/Spotsylvania area as well, so it’s a really interesting cast.” Miller School graduate Scott Haze was one of Variety’s Top 10 Actors to Watch for 2013. He will discuss the film following its 6:15 p.m. Friday screening at PVCC.
Television journalist and talk-show host (and UVA alum!) Katie Couric will be at Culbreth Theatre at 2:00 p.m. Saturday to screen and discuss Fed Up, a new documentary by Stephanie Soechtig with the startling claim that “everything we’ve been told about food and exercise for the past 30 years is dead wrong.” Examining the epidemic of childhood obesity through interviews with food and nutrition experts and the heartbreaking stories of overweight kids, “the film the food industry doesn’t want you to see” blames the corporate juggernaut “Big Sugar” and its allies in government for a problem they didn’t want to control.
Longtime festivalgoers know to expect an exciting new release on Saturday evening at the Paramount. This year’s Centerpiece film, November 8 at 8:00 p.m., is 5 to 7, a “cinq-a-sept” romance between an aspiring novelist (Anton Yelchin), and the sophisticated wife of a French diplomat (Bérénice Marlohe). Lambert Wilson plays the diplomat and Frank Langella and Glenn Close play the writer’s disapproving parents. Langella will be interviewed after the screening, along with director Victor Levin, and 5 to 7 producers Julie Lynn and Bonnie Curtis.
“One of the first things I wanted to focus on when I started working for the university and the film festival,” Kielbasa says, “is how we could more effectively engage with the community.” With this his sixth Virginia Film Festival, he notes, “the growth of the festival these past couple of years, and the impact that it’s had on our community, is something that makes me proud.” Part of that impact has been achieved through partnering with other public-spirited institutions – showing classics with the Library of Congress, for instance, and works of political import with the Miller Center.
As part of its own mission to introduce indigenous artists to new audiences, UVA’s Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection is joining with the Festival this year to show three new films: an Australian Aboriginal documentary, a Navajo feature-length drama, and a vampire comedy from New Zealand.
The documentary Ringtone, 6:15 p.m., Thursday, November 6 at UVA’s Newcomb Hall, looks at Yolngu Aboriginal families through their choice of cell phone sounds. Drunktown’s Finest, 9:00 p.m., Friday, November 7 at PVCC, follows an adopted Christian girl, a rebellious father-to-be, and a promiscuous transsexual on the Navajo reservation where director Sydney Freeman grew up. The “mockumentary” What We Do in the Shadows, 9:15 p.m., Saturday November 8 at Newcomb Hall, charts the daily travails of vampire roommates, all from different historical periods, as they try to adapt to 21st century life – finding fresh blood is the easy part.
What We Do in the Shadows “is solidly in my top three vampire films at Sundance this year,” cracks Festival programmer Wesley Harris. Not just funny, the film “is also wicked smart in how it deconstructs the genre tropes and the mythos of the vampire as it’s evolved in the pop version. I think it’s going to go on to be a pretty big film in the long run.”
Harris has high expectations as well for two films that shared the Jury Prize at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival: 25-year old director Xavier Dolan’s emotionally-charged Mommy (“deeply character-driven, experimental in unexpected ways; maybe a future cult hit”), and revered 83-year old director Jean Luc Godard’s Goodbye to Language 3D, the story of a married woman and a single man who fall in and out of love, told in typically experimental, pastiche fashion. Mommy will be shown Friday at 8:30 p.m. at the Regal Theater on the Downtown Mall. Goodbye to Language will be screened at the Regal on Sunday at 2:30 p.m.
Godard is most celebrated for his radical 1960s films that demonstrate a deep knowledge of film history. Charlie Chaplin was an English actor, comedian and silent film director whose bumbling, mischievous vagrant is one of film history’s most beloved characters. It was a hundred years ago that Chaplin first donned a black bowler hat and an ill-fitting suit to become the Little Tramp. At 2:15 p.m., Saturday at the Regal, the Library of Congress joins the Festival in offering a series of short films to celebrate the centennial of the silent film icon.
In the annual school screening, students will see Stanley Nelson’s stirring documentary Freedom Summer, about the efforts of more than 700 student volunteers, black and white,
to help black citizens register to vote and secure access to good schools and legal aid in segregation-era Mississippi. A panel discussion will follow, with civil rights leader and former national NAACP chairman Julian Bond, and Deborah McDowell, Director of the Carter G. Woodson Institute for African-American and African Studies at UVA.
“It seems like each year we receive more films, and more impressive films, that highlight Virginia filmmaking – and by that I mean films that were either made in Virginia or by filmmakers with distinct Virginia ties or roots,” Harris says. “This year’s crop was exceptionally strong.”
The Winding Stream, 7:45 p.m., Saturday, at the Dickinson Center, traces the career of old time country music’s legendary Carter family, from their first recordings in Bristol, Virginia in 1927, to June Carter’s marriage to Johnny Cash, and the efforts of family members today to keep their musical legacy alive.
This documentary Big Moccasin, 4:15 p.m., Friday at the Regal, explores faith and tradition along Big Moccasin Road, a 25-mile stretch in the Appalachian Valley in Southwest Virginia.
Besides celebrating Virginia filmmaking, the festival also nurtures the next generation of film pros and film fans with Family Day, a free, all-day Saturday affair, now on UVA’s Betsy and John Casteen Arts Grounds. This year the red carpet leads directly to the yellow brick road in a 75th anniversary screening of one of Kielbasa’s favorite films, The Wizard of Oz, 10:00 a.m. at Culbreth Theatre.
“We’ve engaged the arts programs and departments on the Grounds to create interactive workshops for the kids to look into the art of filmmaking,” Kielbasa says. That means fun-filled sessions on everything from audition techniques and dance routines, to make-up, stage combat and computer animation, plus a Musical Petting Zoo courtesy of the Charlottesville Symphony. Winning entries in the Young Filmmakers Academy contest for elementary and middle school students will be shown at Campbell Hall.
Results of the 11th annual Adrenaline Film Project, in which small teams of filmmakers write, cast, shoot, and edit their films in a mere 72 hours, will be shown 9:00 p.m. Saturday at Culbreth Theatre. Winning short (really short) films in the statewide “Action!” contest for high school students, will be screened at 1:30 p.m. Sunday at the Regal, preceding Run Boy Run.
On Closing Night the Festival will celebrate the 25th anniversary of one of the most iconic films of the last quarter century, Dead Poets Society, starring the late Robin Williams. A discussion with producer and UVA alum Paul Junger Witt and screenwriter Tom Schulman, who won an Academy Award® for the film, will follow the 7:00 p.m., Culbreth Theatre screening.
Under Kielbasa’s leadership, the Virginia Film Festival has enjoyed extraordinary growth, almost doubling audience attendance and setting a box office record of over $120,000 in 2013, while continuing its mission to educate and inspire as well as entertain. Now in its 27th year, it’s a film lover’s delight – and a Virginia tradition.
By Ken Wilson
From two Albemarle County Fire Rescue Press Releases:
At 0839 hours on January 31, 2014, units responded to the report of a wall in flames inside a residence. The cause is classified as a chimney fire. The Fire Marshal’s office estimates the loss from this fire at $100,000.
At 0047 hrs on March 4, 2014, units responded to the report of a residential structure fire. The cause of the fire is a malfunctioning chimney. The Fire Marshal’s office estimates the loss for this fire at $130,000.
While the releases didn’t disclose whether these chimneys had been safety checked and properly cleaned, Assistant Albemarle County Fire Marshal Mel Bishop says, “During the winter months, half of all heating fires are in chimneys, stovepipes, and heating apparatus. Especially in rural areas, about 39 percent of winter fires are chimney fires.”
What does a chimney do?
Chimneys are necessary for any solid-fuel burning system such as a fireplace, woodstove, pellet stove, or coal stove. Non-electric furnaces also need venting which is sometimes combined in a chimney.
Chimneys carry the byproducts of combustion safely from the house. These byproducts can include smoke, unburned fuel particles, hydrocarbon, minerals, gases including carbon monoxide, and other substances.
Chimney fires can be frightening, sending flames and smoke pouring from the top of the chimney. They can also be slow burning when there is a meager supply of oxygen. “Sometimes a smoke alarm goes off,” says Bishop, “and homeowners finally discover fire in their attic from a chimney.”
In either case, high temperatures can cause damage to the chimney structure or even ignite the house. If you ever have a chimney fire, call 9-1-1 immediately!
While codes can vary from one region to another, in general they address the height of the chimney above the roof, the thickness of the chimney walls, the construction of the flue or chimney lining, and other safety requirements. In older construction, chimneys may be unlined and thus don’t meet current safety codes.
Factory-produced metal chimneys for venting woodstoves or metal fireplaces must generally withstand flue temperatures of over 2000 degrees Fahrenheit. However, the pipes connecting a woodstove to the flue may not withstand such temperatures and can warp or even separate in the event of a chimney fire.
When a chimney fire occurs, temperatures can exceed 2000 degrees, disintegrating mortar, cracking or collapsing tiles or liners, providing space for flames to ignite combustible materials of the house itself.
Why do chimney fires happen?
“The cause of chimney fires is the buildup of creosote,” explains Bishop, “often because of green wood.”
Creosote is all about those byproducts going up the chimney. It can be black or brown, flaky, sticky, crusty, or hardened to a dark gloss—sometimes all in the same chimney. In any case, it is highly combustible.
Creosote buildup can be fostered by burning unseasoned wood which uses a lot of its energy to vaporize the sap instead of producing heat. Another cause is a restricted air supply such as a partly open damper, glass doors on the fireplace being closed, or the fuel box being overloaded. These all result in a “cooler” fire with “cooler” smoke staying in the chimney longer, making creosote formation more likely.
“To make sure you don’t have a fire,” says Assistant Fire Marshal Bishop emphatically, “be sure you have a clean chimney.”
Both homeowners who choose the do-it-yourself route and professional sweeps use stiff wire brushes on an extendable rod to break creosote free, knocking it down into the fireplace or solid-fuel burning device. It can be a messy business. Stovepipes connecting to a chimney must be removed and reinstalled.
A professional chimney sweep should have the right tools as well as thorough training. “When you have a reputable sweep, the word will get around,” says Bishop. “A lot of times you can check with different businesses or people you know who have chimneys and have used a sweep.”
“Ask potential sweeps if they are certified,” suggests Jonathan Schnyer, co-owner of Wooden Sun in Charlottesville. “This requires an expensive and comprehensive course. The sweeps must follow best practices and continue classes to maintain credentials. There’s a lot more to sweeping than just a wire brush. A certified sweep can inspect for proper installation or chimney problems.”
The bottom line? You don’t get fires in a clean chimney.
##
In their previous house, Marilyn Pribus and her husband cleaned their chimney each fall before wood stove season began. Their Albemarle County home near Charlottesville, however, has a much higher chimney and they employ a sweep who arrives wearing a traditional top hat
The collaboration between Killer Mike and El-P, the two indispensable and bomb-throwing emcees who form the uncompromisingly raw and forward-thinking rap duo Run the Jewels, has been as perfect as it was unexpected.
They seem, at first, like odd bedfellows: El-P’s a noise-loving Brooklyn firebrand with an independent streak as long as Bedford Avenue; Atlanta emcee Killer Mike is a boisterous Dirty South soldier who’s flirted with major labels and burst into consciousness via his Outkast guest features. But their similarities run deep—they both make loud, abrasive rap music that often features painful introspection alongside pointed political and societal critique.
While searching for beats for his superlative 2012 record R.A.P. Music, Mike was so enamored with El-P’s skittering, synth- clamored instrumentals that he enlisted the former Definitive Jux head to produce the entire project. Mike returned the favor by dropping a guest verse on El-P’s “Tougher Colder Killer,” from the latter’s own stellar 2012 record, Cancer 4 Cure.
The two have been seemingly inseparable since, in the process creating one of music’s most potent partnerships.
“Musically, I feel like I’ve found my soulmate,” Killer Mike said. “I’ve tried to explain it a thousand different times and given a thousand different answers. But I think it just comes straight down to—it was just meant, you know?”
“There’s no mathematical equation to friendship, you know?” El-P added. “And beyond anything, I think both of us really fucked with what was happening when we combined our influences and combined what we were doing. That was exciting to us, because we were making music together that we weren’t making ourselves. It wasn’t just, like, this works with what I do, it was like, we might be creating a sound that’s completely different for us.”
Run the Jewels was supposed to be a low-stakes, shits-and-giggles slack-off, a free download victory lap following a banner year for both. It turned out to be the most cohesive hip-hop team-up in recent memory, a hysterically hyperbolic and baldly menacing shot of rap adrenaline by turns playful and polemic and set to bumping, boombox-shredding beats. It was also perhaps the most affable thing either emcee had done: Mike and El catapulted off one another, trading eight-bar verses filled with back-and-forth, knuckles-first smack talk and upping the stakes with more protracted 32-bar stanzas filled with rich storytelling (Mike’s psilocybin-induced love story on “No Come Down”; El’s poignant coming-of-age confessional on “A Christmas Fucking Miracle”). Throughout, there’s a palpable sense of friendly, unspoken one-upsmanship between the two emcees, and their rapport’s enough to raise questions as to why this team-up was supposed to be unusual in the first place.
“This whole thing is our relationship extended into the creative endeavor,” El-P said. “It has to be about that. And I think you can hear the difference when you hear our music. You can hear it. We’re not mailing it in. We’re vibing off each other.”
RTJ2, Run the Jewels’ late-October sophomore release, runs louder, harder and nastier than its predecessor. “Last album voodoo/proved that we was fuckin’ brutal,” Killer Mike boasts on “Blockbuster Night, Part One,” before reminding us what Run the Jewels is all about: “This Run the Jewels is murder, mayhem, melodic music.” It’s angrier, too, pointing its invective at any and all authority figures: “Fuck the law/they can eat my dick,” El-P seethes on “Darling Don’t Cry.” “Close Your Eyes (And Count to Fuck)” evokes the blistering anti-cop ethos of N.W.A.’s “Fuck Tha Police,” at one point, Killer Mike wonders aloud to various prison gangs, “When you niggas gon’ unite and kill the police, motherfuckers?”
But any resemblance to a direct response to the charged riots in Ferguson, Missouri—despite CNN making Killer Mike a key voice in the political crisis—is purely
coincidental.
“I mean, the album was done when that was happening,” El-P said. “The fact that it sort of has become more relevant to more people on a national scale who maybe weren’t keyed in or tuned in to that type of thing just is a coincidence to some degree. We always weave that stuff in and out of our music. So [RTJ2], I think it’s still a Run the Jewels record, but there’s a little bit more of that, you know, fuck-the-system vibe than there was on the first one.”
But RTJ2 nonetheless keeps what made Run the Jewels’ eponymous effort so winning—the rapid-fire rapport between two beastly rappers who really enjoy each other’s company. Hip-hop’s storied lineage is filled with tremendous tag-teams—Eric B. & Rakim, Gang Starr, UGK—that have remarkable chemistry. Just two albums in, Run the Jewels is already etching its name in those annals.
“I think that me and Mike have a very rich sort of fandom of all the stuff that we grew up on, and a lot of it was during a time when groups were way more common,” El-P said. “So, you know, someone growing up right now, maybe they’re looking at Run the Jewels as that. That’s what I hope. And I think that it would be cool if we could spark that idea. My hope, secretly, is that we can become the EPMD for a kid listening to hip-hop now.”
Sunday 11/2. $20-23, 9pm. The Jefferson Theater, 110 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. 245-4980.
If you need a little extra motivation to hit the track, try adding food and wine at the finish line in the Race & Taste 10K. Participants will enjoy a scenic run through Trump Winery’s 1,300-acre estate and end at the vineyard’s pavilion for included brunch and wine tasting with live entertainment. All proceeds benefit St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital.
Sunday 11/2. $125, 9am. Trump Winery, 100 Grand Cru Dr. 977-3895.
The Rural Alberta Advantage
Mended with Gold/Saddle Creek
The Rural Alberta Advantage’s newest project will make you sweat. Between the perpetually chugging drum beats, driving guitars, and lead singer-songwriter Nils Edenloff’s singing, there’s no aspect of this album that doesn’t scream, “Dance, dance, dance!” Oddly enough, however, this is not a happy record, and much of the album focuses on struggle. “Our Love…” and “…On the Run” bookend the album nicely with the age-old subject of how to make relationships work. “On the Rocks” is a self-explanatory ode, and “To Be Scared” is an examination of negative thinking. Many of the tunes have a frenetic energy that makes them easy to bounce to, and despite being a downer, the record as a whole fits into the anthemic indie rock category along the lines of the “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” proverb.
Boy + Kite
Blueprint EP/self-released
No two ways about it, the three-song Blueprint EP is absolute gold. The opener, “Either Way,” marries a tight indie rock sound with thoughtful meditations on the nature of life from singer Darvin Jones, and Beth Puorro adds some breathy harmonies—both here and throughout the EP—that are spine-tingling. This is atmospheric rock that sounds like it’s drifting down from the heavens, while it slightly pokes its head into shoegaze territory as on the echoing, beautiful “Turned Sideways.” And the closer, “Touching the Sun,” paints a picture of euphoria on a bright sunny day completing the trio of near-perfect tunes.
Bill Frisell
Guitar in the Space Age!/Nonesuch Records
Legendary jazz guitarist Bill Frisell has never been shy about his desire to explore or to pay homage to the greats who came before him, and so it is fitting that his newest record is a combination of both. Comprised mainly of instrumental covers that were in vogue during his youth in the ’50s and ’60s—mixed with two original songs—the album is a blast from the past. His take on “Surfer Girl” is dreamy, and Merle Travis’ ragtime classic “Cannonball Rag” is every bit as boogie-inducing without the brass band in tow. “Turn, Turn, Turn” somehow becomes more wistful in Frisell’s hands, while “Tired of Waiting for You” ambles into freestyle territory—thus augmenting the song’s theme. The low-key shout-out to the songs that were part of Frisell’s musical education is striking and enjoyable.
To celebrate the first birthday of her online literary journal Full Grown People on October 4, editor Jennifer Niesslein published a book.
“Full Grown People: The Greatest Hits, Volume 1 gives you a good idea of our breadth,” she said. “It covers a lot, from parenting issues, when you’re looking at maybe your kids leaving soon, to an essay on loving and leaving an addict. There’s one about going rafting with a blind person. One is about dealing with aging parents. It’s the whole glorious smorgasbord of what adulthood can bring in your life.”
Last year, the former editor of literary magazine Brain, Child started Full Grown People (FGP) as an outlet to publish essays about the transitional moments of adulthood. “It grew out of my own personal existential crisis about what the hell am I doing now [after leaving Brain, Child],” she said. “It felt like an awkward age.” Since its inception, one FGP essay was listed as a notable essay in the newest edition of The Best American Essays and another was published in Best Food Writing 2014.
For Niesslein, who creates collaborative editorial experiences with her authors and teaches essay writing courses at WriterHouse, publishing an FGP anthology made sense for two reasons: as a revenue source for the ad-free website and a means to extend its audience. “The book is a great introduction, and if you’ve just found the site and don’t want to slog through back essays, this is a great way to catch up,” she said.
Available only through fullgrownpeople.com, book sales have been good so far. “Only three were to blood relatives,” Niesslein said with a laugh. “The most gratifying thing about being an editor is that when you publish, someone is going to think, ‘God, I needed this right now.’ People I know will say ‘God, that one essay, it just blew me away.’ And because I’m part editor, part fan girl, really, I’m always like ‘Yeah, wasn’t that awesome?’”
The feeling is mutual. “It’s an honor to be included and great to work with [Niesslein] because she has such a fresh take on very honest and intimate storytelling,” said Gloucester County resident Jennifer James, whose essay “Under the Table and Dreaming at Hillside House” appears in the new anthology.
A fiction writer at work on a novel, James said non-fiction writing “is actually a lot more fun for me,” a source of connection between deeply personal moments and the universal truths beyond them. “When my first son was born and my husband’s grandmother died,” she said, “it was a juxtaposition of the worst that could happen and how, in life, unexpected joy can happen, too.”
Local contributors to FGP online described additional forms of connection. “I write a lot about my children, and one of the reasons I relate to them so well is I can remember very clearly what it was like to be a kid,” said Browning Porter, a local poet, storyteller, and graphic designer. “But it feels like there’s something in my mid- to late-40s that’s really interesting too, and maybe deserves its own kind of attention. It’s kind of like the idea that we never stop growing up. Even though we’re grown ups we’re dealing with the same stuff.”
Angel Gunn, a novelist and freelance writer, said her essays voice the identity crisis that she went through as a mother. “In some ways I think writing your darkest fears exorcises them. I worried I would be judged for it, but I connected with so many people who got how it felt to sacrifice parts of yourself to take care of other people.”
Susan McCulley, a blogger and movement instructor, said her non-fiction reflects the mindfulness she teaches. “Mundane things that happen to us can be transformed if we really notice them,” she said. “There’s something to me about paying attention to our experiences and allowing them to be meaningful even if they are seemingly small,” McCulley added. “That’s what [Niesslein] chooses. These pieces, even when they’re about a man with alcoholism or a breakup, they’re about me on some level. These aren’t just people sharing their stories but what connects us in those stories.”
Hear short readings by local FGP writers Erica S. Brath, Angel Sands Gunn, Jennifer James, Susan McCulley, Browning Porter, and Miller Murray Susen on November 2 at WriterHouse.
“Yeah, that’s a Special Order Item. You need to submit a Special Order form.”
“I know, I submitted a Special Order form eight months ago.”
“You’ll have to submit a Special Order form for any Special Order Items.”
“I did—eight months ago—and I’ve been requesting the item every week since. Any progress on that request? “
“Once an item comes in, we’ll call you. In the meantime, you should fill out another Special Order form.”
Being a bar manager at a place with a list of obscure bottles featured on a cocktail menu makes the Special Order process (and other, similar, bureaucratic ABC processes) both a necessary evil and a weekly irritant. On the one hand, the good folks at my local store are dutiful state employees, trying not to annoy their superiors. On the other hand is a set of archaic liquor laws, largely unreformed since the end of Prohibition almost 100 years ago. Nearly a century has passed since the ABC was formed in 1934 and its goal is still that “The return of the saloon, whether in its old form or in some new form, must be prevented.” Furthermore, ABC “should discourage use of hard liquor and give relative encouragement to use of lighter alcoholic beverages.” That might explain the structural propensity to be unhelpful in all things requiring obtaining spirits and making drinks—a process that is a huge part of the local restaurant industry.
Most folks don’t see the rusty cogs of the ABC, or care too much for that matter. The fact is this: The laws are old, puritanical, and still bear the alcohol paranoia of the Prohibition era. Furthermore, penalties for ABC violations are utterly draconian. They make access to craft spirits and liqueurs exceptionally difficult and exorbitantly expensive (compare prices next time you’re in D.C.). They put a great burden on ABC employees trying to simultaneously keep customers happy and keep their own jobs, and similarly burden ABC licensees trying to stay in the good graces of the state.
One of the few glimmers of hope in reforming this ancient machine has been the recent legislation that legalized the practice of infusions (Section 3VAC5-50-60;F). Prior to 2014, if a bar wanted to make its own cinnamon-infused whiskey, it risked a hefty ABC fine. For 80 years—since the founding of Virginia ABC in 1934—this has been illegal. Now, bartenders all over the Commonwealth can dabble with infusions without fearing the excessive fines of an ABC violation.
Here in town, a few folks have been busy at work crafting cocktails that push the creative boundary into this newly legal area of freedom. I checked in with a couple folks who are whipping up some tasty infusions with cocktails to boot.
Liz Broyles, bar manager at C&O Restaurant
House infusion: Black Currant Tea Vodka
For the infusion, add about 1/2 cup black currant tea to 750ml bottle of vodka (type is not important) and steep for 24 hours. Strain and bottle in original vodka bottle.
Cocktail: Honey and Black
Combine 1 ½ oz. black currant vodka, ½ oz. honey syrup, and ½ oz. lemon juice. Shake over ice, serve up with a lemon twist.
Liz’s tasting notes: “The black tea infusion gives the Honey and Black a deep tannic and bitterness, balanced out by the silky sweetness of the honey. Fresh lemon juice elevates the concentrated berry flavor of the dried black currant. A vigorous shake over ice makes the Honey and Black frothy with a slightly creamy texture.”
Justin Ross, owner and sommelier at Parallel 38
House infusion: Barberry Infused Blue Coat Gin
For the infusion, steep 2 oz. of barberries in a 750ml bottle of Blue Coat for two weeks. You can get them locally from Bantry Bay or from The Spice Diva in the Main Street Market.
Cocktail: Faux-Groni
Combine 1 oz. Barberry infused Bluecoat Gin, 1 oz. Aperol, and 1 oz. Lillet Blanc in a single rocks glass over ice. Stir, and garnish with an orange peel.
Justin’s tasting notes: “Our Faux-Groni is a play on the Negroni, a classic cocktail invented in Florence, Italy in 1919. The classic Negroni is made with equal parts gin, Campari, and vermouth. Our recipe uses Blue Coat Gin, which has a soft juniper note that is spicier and earthier than similar style gins. Once the barberries begin to soak up the gin, they plump up and release an amazing crimson color and flavors similar to lemony currants. The Aperol adds mandarin and spiced orange peel, and with half the alcohol and higher sugar content than Campari, it balances the tart apple and honeysuckle notes of the Lillet Blanc. All of these ingredients produce an amazingly approachable aperitif that is both slightly bitter and refreshing.”
Fun arcane ABC law fact
From Section 4.1-311 of the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Act: Moving from North Carolina to Virginia and moving your home bar? Bring six bottles of whiskey back from the Kentucky Bourbon Trail? Buy three growlers of beer from a brewery in D.C.? If you transport more than one gallon of any alcoholic beverage from outside of Virginia into Virginia, you “may be arrested, fined up to $2,500, and sentenced to a year in jail. In addition, the vehicle involved may be impounded and confiscated.”
Far from the ordinary costume party, TRIX at Ix promises to up the ante on All Hallows’ Eve with a jam-packed live music lineup featuring Chamomile & Whiskey, We Are Star Children (above), Shagwüf with Sally Rose, EurythmIX with Lauren Hoffman, and Girl Choir. Local artist Russell Richards demonstrates his trademark mask creation while the inspired can work on their own masks at a DIY craft table. Pay penance for your tricks at a mock confessional booth and load up on treats from Champion Brewery and a variety of food trucks.
Friday 10/31. Free, 6pm. Ix Art Park, 955 Second St. SE. 249-7661.