Month: May 2017

Categories
Real Estate

Cider Makes a Comeback

Cider with three sorts of apple, isolated on white

By Ken Wilson – 

It was a staple of the Colonial diet, the most common drink in 18th and early 19th century America. Thomas Jefferson grew two varieties of apples, Hewes’ Crab and Taliaferro, especially suited for making it, and served it with the main course. And then, on American shores, it all but disappeared.

Cider—not the sweet and simple stuff on the supermarket shelf, but the alcoholic, artisanal drink with tannins and acidity and suitably adult complexity to leaven the sweetness—is newly popular again, and it’s no wonder. We buy local now, and cook international. We drink microbrew beer, and wine matched to the food and the season. Cider is back because we’re ready for it, and now that we’re ready, we make plenty of it, especially here in Virginia, the sixth-largest apple producing state by acreage in the country. Apples are a traditional Virginia fruit. Nowadays we grow more than 30 different varieties specifically for the sake of cider.

Seventeen cideries are in operation here now, more than half of which have opened since 2006. A half a dozen more are in the works, and several wineries produce cider as well. This Old Dominion activity reflects a nationwide rise in the production of hard cider, accompanied by sales growth averaging 73 percent each year over the past five years.

Making artisanal cider starts with choosing the right varieties of apples—generally not the ones most popular for eating—then grinding, pressing and extracting them when their acidity and sugar content are just right. The resulting juice—as much as three gallons per bushel—is most commonly, though not always, blended. Fermentation is the final step. In Virginia, cider can be up to 10 percent alcohol by volume.

Albemarle CiderWorks
“There is nothing in our cider except apples,” says Charlotte Shelton of Albemarle CiderWorks in North Garden, which offers 12 different varieties of this popular drink. “No flavorings, no water. With one or two of them we add a tiny bit of sugar right at the end in order to modulate the acidity, but other than that there is nothing added.”

“Crabapples make excellent cider; they have a lot of skin contact, which is where you find tannins,” Shelton says. “The very best cider we’ve made was a Virginia Hewes Crab cider several years ago. Winesap is a classic American apple—the name tells you what is was originally used for—but it was also a culinary apple and you still see that in commercial orchards. We use those too.” Shelton praises the Albemarle Pippin, the York, a 19th century cultivar called Arkansas Black, and a late 20th century cultivar called Goldrush as well. “Harrison is probably the finest American cider apple ever grown,” she says. “It was believed to be extinct but was discovered in the late 20th century and we’re planting a lot of those. In fact we’ll have our first Harrison, a very small batch of it, this year.”

For their flagship cider, Jupiter’s Legacy, Albemarle CiderWorks chooses a blend of apples that changes in accordance with each year’s harvest. “We put into that all our best cider apples,” Shelton says. What they get is a drink with bright acidity with notes of citrus.

Bold Rock Hard Cider
One Bold Rock partner grew up in Virginia and the Carolinas, and owned farmland in Nelson County. The other grew up farming in New Zealand, bought an apple orchard, and after a devastating cyclone gathered his fallen fruit for what would become an award-winning cider. Southerner reached out to New Zealander, and the two sold their first bottle of Bold Rock cider, fermented in a timber frame barn in Nellysford, in 2012. Bold Rock is now the leading cider producer in the commonwealth, offering nine varieties year round and three more in season. The Virginia Draft is smooth. The Virginia Apple is crisp. The Blood Orange blends blood oranges and Blue Ridge Mountain apples.

Blue Toad Hard Cider
First dreamed up in 2013 “in the back of a cold garage in Scottsville, New York by three childhood friends with diverse backgrounds,” Blue Toad Hard Cider takes three to four different apple varieties grown in Nelson County and western New York and blends them at its cideries in Roseland and Rochester. Blue Ridge Blonde, a light, straw-colored cider that is “clean-tasting with a bright taste of fresh apples” and a pear note finish, is made from Golden Delicious, Red Delicious and Granny Smith apples. Harvest Blend, with notes of clove, cinnamon and spices, is made for cold weather. Each of Blue Toad’s six flagship ciders and three seasonal offerings can be tasted at its pub and tasting room in Afton, open Thursday through Sunday. The Cidery at High View Farm in Roseland is open the same days.

Potter’s Craft Cider
Two college buddies who loved brewing beer began experimenting with cider in 2009, got serious about it in 2010, and founded Potter’s Craft Cider in 2011 on a horse farm with views of the Blue Ridge mountains. Their 14 different ciders range from sober sounding creations like Oak Barrel Reserve, produced with traditional barrel-aging techniques, to more fanciful offerings like Mangose, inspired by Gose-style German beer and fermented with mangos, coriander and Vietnamese sea salt. Their Charlottesville tasting room, a collaboration with the Bridge PAI!, is open Fridays and Saturdays. 

Castle Hill Cider
Castle Hill is a privately owned, 600-acre estate in Albemarle County established in 1764 that has entertained Patrick Henry, Robert E. Lee, and seven U.S. presidents. Its cider makers take “an apple-centered approach” to its seven ciders, which include the brightly acidic Terrestrial and the full-bodied Gravity. Levity, the world’s only commercial cider made in clay amphorae, is aged and fermented according to an 8000-year-old process. Visitors to Castle Hill will find a Linden grove, an orchard, a lake, and lawns bordered by cherry trees and wisteria arbors. Its indoor and an outdoor tasting rooms are open daily, except on Tuesdays. 

Tradition
Each November a CiderWeekVA festival, at numerous locations across the state, celebrates the heartening revival of an old American tradition, and marks the swiftness with which it has found a market. “Cider is coming back,” Shelton says, and at Albemarle CiderWorks she’s determined to do even more to spur its resurgence.  “We think it’s important to look for those apples”—the rare and historic ones first ground, pressed and fermented—“many of which are going by the board. We work to encourage people who are growing orchards on a much larger scale than we can, to grow these varieties of apples that are excellent for cider.”

Categories
Arts

Chroma’s ‘Nesting Materials’ has an elegant science at its center

Suzanne Stryk’s “Nesting Materials” is on view at Chroma Projects through May 27. Courtesy of the artist

Local artist Suzanne Stryk has always been fascinated by nests.

“When I was 8, I loved to page through a Little Golden book, The Wonder Book of Birds. And then in fourth grade, my grandmother gave me Wonders in Your Own Backyard for Christmas,” writes Stryk in her artist’s statement.

“I never outgrew the ideas in those books—birds and wonder, going on nearly six decades now. I’m still awed by watching a bird construct a nest. A single feather—nothing could be more astonishing. And how do tiny coils in a bird’s DNA code its ability to navigate by the stars?”

‘Nesting Materials’
On display through May 27
Chroma Projects

A Chicago native who minored in biology and once worked as a scientific illustrator, Stryk is known for conceptual paintings that highlight the natural world. Her latest exhibit at Chroma Projects, “Nesting Materials,” focuses entirely on birds and—you guessed it—their nests.

“It’s not just birds’ nests as they are,” Stryk says. “It’s also our response to nests and birds and the natural world in general. The idea of nest building relates to our wish for security, for constructing things, for organizing and many layers of our personal experience.”

“I’m fascinated by the cross-pollination of two unrelated things. You put sheet music and birds together and it makes a new thing, a kind of dialogue between nature and culture.”  Suzanne Stryk

She invites viewers to dig into their own ideas by painting, sculpting and constructing nests from unusual materials. (“Doing so makes me all the more impressed that birds can build them without hands!” she says.)

In “Nesting Materials” one nest is made entirely of sheet music. Another is composed of strands from the avian genome.

“I’m fascinated by the cross-pollination of two unrelated things,” Stryk says. “You put sheet music and birds together and it makes a new thing, a kind of dialogue between nature and culture. And that could lead your thoughts anywhere.”

While encouraging viewers to make their own meaning, she often returns to favorite symbols, like genomes.

“I started with the DNA double helix in the ’90s, when I became fascinated with genetics as the nonfiction myth of our time,” she says. “I’m told by science that there’s an invisible genetic code behind the way birds look and behave, and the way I look and behave. You can kind of get genetics as coding the way something looks, but behavior like nest building and migration, it’s astonishing.”

Speaking of impulses, Stryk says she’s noticed a pattern among people who view her work: Nearly everyone is attracted to vortexes.

“A vortex is a kind of a spiral, and a nest is a kind of vortex. Many people can’t explain why they’re so attracted to them, but I have a hunch,” she says.

“As a shape, the vortex has a lot of movement, a lot of variety, and the sense that it’s going around like a cyclone. And yet it’s centered in a stable form. I think that that’s what we strive for in life: lively movement, and yet we want to be centered and stable.”

That’s also where the exploration of nests has led Stryk as an artist. Her thematically consistent body of work opens the door to reveal the mysteries inherent in what we think we know.

“I want to reveal the mysteries that are,” she says. “Because no matter how far we go scientifically, there are always unanswerable things out there. Science explains so much, but it doesn’t explain the why.”

Nor can science explain concepts like beauty and our need to connect with something deep and much bigger than us.

“Art is all the more important when it illuminates science and the natural world for us,” Stryk says. “Because so many of us are left cold by data. I mean, it’s very interesting, it’s very important. I can look at a genetic sequence and say, ‘Oh my God, this shows that life is all made up of the same things, like the Taoists said 2,000 years ago,’ but you know. Most people need a story to garner metaphorical meaning from things.”

That’s how a painting of a nest becomes a tool not just for exploration but activism and preservation of the things that matter most.

“Art gives us a story,” Stryk says. “When art connects to scientific data, when art connects to nature, we respond to it personally. And if we respond to it personally, it becomes much more important to us.”

Categories
Living

LIVING Picks: Week of May 3-9

Erin & The Wildfire will perform at Saturday's IPA Jambeeree. Photo by Milo Farineau

FAMILY

Jack Hanna’s Into the Wild Live
Saturday, May 6

Jungle Jack takes you into the wild with an array of incredible animals, including a baby cheetah, kangaroo, penguin, baby tiger and two-toed sloth. He’ll also share stories and footage from his adventures in Africa, the Amazon, Antarctica and beyond. $24.50-54.50, 4pm. The Paramount Theater, 215 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. 979-1333.

NONPROFIT

IPA Jambeeree
Saturday, May 6

A portion of the money raised from Virginia’s largest celebration of locally crafted India pale ales benefits Claudius Crozet Park. Also includes music from Major & The Monbacks, Erin & The Wildfire and Chamomile and Whiskey. $10-65, 1-6pm. Starr Hill Brewery, 5391 Three Notched Rd., Crozet. starrhill.com/ipa-jambeeree 

FOOD & DRINK

Thursday Evening Sunset Series
Thursday, May 4

An evening of live music from Jon Spear Band, wine and hard cider, hayrides and one of the best sunset views around. Bring lawn chairs and blankets, or come early for a picnic table. Free, 5:30-9pm. Carter Mountain Orchard, 1435 Carters Mountain Trl. 977-1833.

HEALTH & WELLNESS

Green Market at Stonefield
Thursday, May 4

Your one-stop destination for an array of seasonal fruits, vegetables, herbs, fresh-cut flowers, potted plants and homemade breads and pastries from dozens of local artisans. Free, 4-7pm. The Shops at Stonefield, 2100 Hydraulic Rd. stonefieldgreenmarket.com/

Categories
Arts

First Fridays: May 5

“Epitaxy,” featuring steel sculpture by Lily Erb and cloth sculpture by Annie Dunckel, is on view at the Welcome Gallery at New City Arts through the month of May. Photo by Martyn Kyle

First Fridays: May 5

Lily Erb spends a lot of time outside, taking stock of the natural world for images, information and patterns to use in her steel sculptures, some of which are on view this month in “Epitaxy” at the Welcome Gallery at New City Arts.

Sometimes she’ll focus on abstracting a certain natural form—for example, she held the image of a bulbous, papery wasp’s nest in her mind while creating the piece “Growth Rings.” Other times, she’ll pull multiple forms together to see what the fusion summons from her subconscious—waves, symmetries, spirals and more.

“Many of the pieces are incubating spaces, hard shells with room for interior growth,” says Erb. “They emphasize the physical and emotional strength necessary to bring forth and sustain life.” For “Epitaxy,” Erb shares gallery space with cloth artist Annie Dunckel. The two artists collaborated on a pair of pieces for the show, and Erb says the juxtaposition of materials—the steel against the cloth—“more directly articulates the incubating spaces” that she aims to create.

What’s more, Erb often makes a piece out of several small, similar parts that are distinctly different from one another but clearly belong together. “I like making communities in my work. It’s reaching towards the joyful togetherness I feel when I’m surrounded by people I love,” says Erb.

FF Albemarle Cabinet Co. 309 E. Water St. An exhibit of oil paintings by Logan MacKethan. 5-7pm.

Art on the Trax 5784 Three Notch’d Rd., Crozet. “Hidden Realm,” oil paintings and mixed media by Marissa Minnerly. Opens Saturday, May 6, 1-3pm.

BozART Fine Art Collective 190 Rockfish School Ln., Afton. “Color Vibrations,” works in oil, watercolor and acrylic, photography, photo transfer and cattle markers by Carol Kirkham Martin, Kelly Oakes, Caroll Mallin and other artists.

FF The Bridge Progressive Arts Initiative 209 Monticello Rd. “Macrocosmos,” Bolanle Adeboye’s immersive and interactive multimedia installation exploring the relationship between the inner voice and the vast universe that surrounds it. 5:30pm.

FF Central Library 201 E. Market St. An exhibit of work by mixed-media artist Sara Gondwe, who shaves crayon onto canvas and uses a household iron to melt, combine and shape the colors into a design. 5-7pm.

FF Chroma Projects Gallery 112 W. Main St., Ste. 10. “Nesting Materials,” sensitive bird paintings and mixed-media interpretations of avian activity by Suzanne Stryk. 5-7pm.

FF CitySpace Art Gallery 100 Fifth St. NE, Market Street Garage. “ArtQuest,” featuring work from Charlottesville City Schools’ art students. 5:30-7:30pm.

FF Crozet Artisan Depot 5791 Three Notch’d Rd., Crozet. Western Albemarle High School student art exhibit and sale, including clay, digital media, collage, photography and other media. Through June 1.

FF C’ville Arts Cooperative Gallery 118 E. Main St. “Reflections of the earth from within and beyond,” featuring the work of glass fusion artist Mary Ellen Larkins. 6-8pm.

FF Fellini’s #9 200 Market St. “Portraits in the Color of Life,” oil paintings by Kelly Oakes. 5:30-7pm.

The Fralin Museum at UVA 155 Rugby Rd.  “Collect, Care, Conserve, Curate: The Life of the Art Object”; “Grasping at the Ephemeral: Explorations on Change from the Permanent Collection”; “Imagining Antiquity: Italianate Prints from the Langhorne Collection” and “Oriforme” by Jean Arp.

Firefly 1304 E. Market St. “First Impressions,” a series of paintings and digital collage by Julia Spong.

FF The Garage 100 E. Jefferson St. “Field Notes,” mixed media explorations of line on paper by Laura Josephine Snyder. 5-7pm.

FF Graves International Art 306 E. Jefferson St. “Roy Lichtenstein & Company: Post War and Contemporary Art,” featuring handmade limited-edition prints and exhibition posters by notable artists such as Lichtenstein, Gerhard Richter, David Hockney, Keith Haring, Ellsworth Kelly, Josef Albers and others. 5-8pm.

Hot Cakes 1137 Emmet St. N. Ste. A. “Maine Scapes,” Karen Jaegerman Collins’ oil paintings inspired by the coast of Maine.

The Jefferson School African American Heritage Center 233 Fourth St. NW. “Through Darkness to Light: Seeking Freedom on the Underground Railroad,” Jeanine Michna-Bales’ series of photographs that imagines an Underground Railroad route.

FF Kardinal Hall 722 Preston Ave. Ste. 101. Paintings by Dave Moore. 6-9pm.

Kluge-Ruhe Collection 400 Worrell Dr. “Body Ornaments,” objects by indigenous Australian ceramic artist Janet Fieldhouse; “Art and Country,” featuring works on canvas, paper and eucalyptus bark drawn from the museum’s permanent collection.

Leftover Luxuries 350 Pantops Center. An exhibit of paintings by Nancy Wallace.

Les Yeux du Monde 841 Wolf Trap Rd. An exhibit of gestural abstractions painted by Peter Skinner. Opens May 12, 5pm.

Loving Cup Vineyard and Winery 3340 Sutherland Rd., North Garden. “Love the Virginia Landscape,” featuring oil paintings of central Virginia landscapes by Julia Kindred.

FF McGuffey Art Center 201 Second St. NW. “Broken Lines,” work by Renee Balfour in the Sarah B. Smith Gallery; “Diving Deep: The Cellular Patterns of Plant Life,” featuring work by Erica Lohan in the Lower Hall North; “As Time Goes By,” featuring work by Lee Alter in the Lower Hall South; annual high school art show featuring art from local high school students in the Upper Hall North and South. 5:30-7:30pm.

FF Mudhouse Coffee Roasters 213 W. Main St. “Looking Out, Looking In,” featuring mixed-media collage by Susan Greene. 6-8pm.

FF Piedmont Council for the Arts Gallery 112 W. Main St., Ste. 9. “Brought to Light,” large-scale moth portraits. 5-7pm.

FF Second Street Gallery 115 Second St. SE. “By the Ton,” mixed-media collage by Kirsten Stolle; and “School of the Abyss,” mixed media by Steve Miller. 5:30-7:30pm.

Shenandoah Valley Fine Art Center 26 S. Wayne Ave., Waynesboro. “Bumpy and Flat,” an exhibition featuring work from father/daughter artists Tom Elliott and Cheryl Elliott.

FF Spring Street Boutique 107 W. Main St. “Artists in Bloom,” featuring work by Trilbie Ferrell Knapp’s advanced art students. 6-8pm.

FF Studio IX 969 Second St. SE. “Interpret This,” featuring new, old and never-before- seen works by local artist and muralist Chicho Lorenzo. 5-7pm.

FF Telegraph Art & Comics 211A W. Main St. “Pantheon,” a series of four digital prints depicting figures of Greco-Roman mythology by Leslie Hung, Chris Visions, Sloane Leong and Chris Danger. 5-7pm.

FF VMDO Architects 200 E. Market St. “Murmurations,” photography from Robin Eshleman. 5:30pm.

FF Welcome Gallery at New City Arts 114 Third St. NE. “Epitaxy,” sculpture by Anne Dunckel and Lily Erb. 5-7:30pm.

FF WriterHouse Gallery 508 Dale Ave. An exhibit of paintings by Elyssa Zimmerman. 5-7pm.

FF WVTF & Radio IQ Studio Gallery 218 W. Water St. “hurtsmyeyes,” featuring mixed media work by Nina Frances Burke. 5-7pm.

FF First Fridays is a monthly art event featuring exhibit openings at many downtown art galleries and additional exhibition venues. Several spaces offer receptions.

Categories
News

Sunny skies ahead: Solar investments are paying off

Thanks to the sun, Jarrod Markley’s March electricity bill—which tallies energy used to power his four-person household and charge his electric car—was only $10. Photo by Eze Amos

Burnett Commons homeowner Jarrod Markley’s March electricity bill —which tallies energy used in a four-person household and to charge his electric car—was only $10.

He has the sun to thank for that low cost. The $18,000 grid of solar panels installed on his roof last winter supplies 94 percent of his annual electricity use, he estimates, and in seven years, they’re scheduled to pay themselves off. His current monthly payment is about $200—what he was paying for gas before he bought a Tesla.

While solar power is often sought by people living a green lifestyle, industry professionals say it’s becoming more attractive to people from an economic standpoint.

“You’re not talking to an environmentalist here,” says Markley. “From the first time I looked [at buying panels] two years ago until last year, the amount of energy the solar panels produced went up and the cost stayed the same. It became an even better deal.”

After receiving a $5,500 federal tax credit and a $850 property tax credit from the city, the overall cost of the panels—which are estimated to offset 297,500 pounds of coal over 25 years—was about $11,800.

Susan Elliott, the city’s climate protection program coordinator, says it’s a common misconception that solar power is pricey. “The upfront cost of it is, but the systems are paying themselves back within a third of the lifetime of the equipment,” she says. “If you’re going to pay your electric bill for the next 30 years, why not put up some panels so it’ll pay itself back in 10 years and then you’ll get free electricity for 20?”

Charlottesville’s zoning code doesn’t clearly address solar energy systems. On May 1, City Council initiated a process to clarify the code. And on Earth Day, the city announced its national designation of SolSmart Bronze, meaning it’s one of the first 50 communities in the country to adopt programs and practices that make it faster, easier and cheaper to go solar, such as using grant funding to install a small rooftop system of panels on Charlottesville High School. Most recently, the city has started supplementing electricity with solar power at the Public Works maintenance building and warehouse.

Though Charlottesville was the first city in the state to receive such recognition, the vice president of business development at local solar company Sun Tribe Solar says Virginia is still behind nearby states such as Maryland and North Carolina. Devin Welch, who is also a spokesperson for the new Charlottesville Renewable Energy Alliance, says one reason Virginia is behind the curve is because it’s being held back by a lack of qualified partners to design and install solar energy systems. Sun Tribe Solar aims to solve that problem by bringing a technical expertise that exists in larger markets to Virginia.

The company curates solar systems for businesses and big organizations, Welch says, often dealing with multiple facilities and complex electrical interconnections. Governor Terry McAuliffe was in town last month to cut the ribbon for a grid of panels that Sun Tribe Solar installed atop UVA’s Clemons Library.

“We’re working with the Stony Point developer right now on a really cool, innovative carport structure that will also feed some electric vehicle charging stations,” Welch says, adding that his company is also working with Riverbend Development on incorporating solar at Brookhill, a mixed-use development underway between Polo Grounds Road and the Forest Lakes community. “What we’re seeing that’s so exciting is that solar is more and more being incorporated in these designs from the very beginning.

“Charlottesville is well on its way to becoming the renewable energy hub of the Southeast,” he says.

Categories
Living

Ready to row: Keeping pace with the pull to stay fit

Members of the Rivanna Rowing Club tout both the physical and mental aspects of the sport. Photo by Ron Paris

Imagine a fitness regimen that combines the fresh air of running with the low impact of swimming. A form of recreation that can be social or solo, casual or competitive, for ages 13 to 103. Housed close to the center of town yet away from traffic or hubbub, the sport requires no prior experience or special equipment of one’s own, yet provides a total body workout like no other.

Welcome to the Rivanna Rowing Club.

While many people are familiar with ergs, the rowing machines situated among treadmills and stationary bikes in their fitness clubs, few realize that rowing on the water is a viable option in Charlottesville. Indeed, Albemarle County is the only area in central Virginia that has a public outdoor rowing club, open to experienced adults as well as juniors and beginners. Five miles of calm water on the Rivanna Reservoir, accessible just off Earlysville Road, provides an ideal venue.

Learn to Row Open House
Sessions at 9 or 11am Saturday, May 13
Meet at the rowing boathouse, 276 Woodlands Rd.
Open to ages 13 and up. Free; no registration required.
More info at rivannarowing.org.

Mary Maher, boathouse captain, is in her 23rd season with the club. She remembers returning from a rafting trip in Colorado and wanting to reconnect with the water here at home. She noticed an ad in C-VILLE Weekly for the Learn to Row program at the Rivanna Rowing Club, took a class and was hooked. These days, all sorts of folks try it out.

“Some people drive across the bridge over the Rivanna and see the boats below and think it looks peaceful,” says Maher. “Others just like to be on the water in a boat, any way they can. We get a lot of burnt-out runners who’d like to try something different. It’s the perfect sport for those who are physically fit and willing to train, but it’s not that hard on the joints.”

Rowing is a total body activity that tones your arms, legs, chest, back and abs. Though most observers assume the arms are doing most of the work, power comes from the legs, driving the body forward and back on a sliding seat as the oars pull through the water. While the training provides rigorous cardiovascular exercise, stabilizes the core and improves joint health, rowing advocates find the intangible benefits just as compelling.

Melanie Dick, 33, picked up the sport last summer and appreciates both the physical and mental aspects of rowing. “It’s very challenging,” she says. “There’s so much to focus on—your pace, your breathing, your hands—that you can’t think about other things like work deadlines or bills. It’s a rhythmic sport, very meditative, because for that hour or so you’re only thinking about rowing.”

Adding to the mystique, a time-honored lingo peppers the speech of rowers. “Weigh enough” is a command to stop rowing (as is “let it run”). You don’t want to “catch a crab” (get an oar caught in the water) or be the “anchor” in the boat (slow everybody down). Rowers enjoy the social camaraderie of the pastime whether they intend to relax or race, and most admit to a near-obsession with the quest to perfect their stroke. They are continually in pursuit of an elusive sensation: the “swing” of a boat in precise harmonic balance.

John Wray, captain of the Albemarle High School men’s rowing team, says it’s the kind of activity that gets in your head. “After you row a hard piece and put the boats up, even though you’re exhausted, all you can think about is going out again,” he says. “When you do it right, it just feels good.”

And feeling good, after all, is the whole idea.

Categories
Living

Master hot dog purveyor passes down trade secrets

As part of the Folklife Apprenticeship Program, Joey Mirabile (right) taught apprentice Logan Caine most of what he knows about life in the hot dog business. Photo by Pat Jarrett/Virginia Folklife Program

Joey Mirabile has been around hot dogs his entire life. His father, Tony, served them at Bacali’s Hot Dogs in Norfolk during World War II and even fed celebrities like Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. when they were in town to perform. Tony and his wife, Geri, opened Tony’s Hot Dogs in Norfolk in 1962 and later added a second shop in Virginia Beach. Joey Mirabile now has his own shop in Richmond’s West End, where hot dogs can be topped with mustard, onions and chili—no ketchup or chips—just as Tony made ’em, secret family chili recipe and all.

As part of the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities Virginia Folklife Apprenticeship Program that matches master artists with apprentices who want to learn a specific trade or craft, Mirabile, as a master hot dog purveyor, taught apprentice Logan Caine much of what he knows (but probably not that chili recipe).

Here are three things Mirabile has learned from life in the hot dog biz:

1. He’s in the people business—the delicious hot dogs are just a bonus.

2. A Chicago doctor once wrote about Joey’s Hot Dogs in a health article. “As I recall, he said tasting something he remembers from his childhood woke up memory sensors from long ago. In an older person, that can have a health effect of making one feel young again,” Mirabile says.

3. Nobody makes a better hot dog. “Our slogan is, ‘They Don’t Make ’Em Any Better,” Mirabile says. “One bite and we will make a believer out of you.”

See if Mirabile and Caine can make a believer out of you—and try some Brunswick stew, Liberian cuisine, fried apple pies and Virginia oysters while you’re at it—at the Virginia Folklife Apprenticeship showcase May 7 at James Monroe’s Highland.

Flaming Wok extinguished

Chinese food, sushi and hibachi spot Flaming Wok & Teppan Yaki on Seminole Trail will close its doors on May 31. An employee confirmed the closing over the phone and said the restaurant will not relocate.

Juicy location

Two weeks ago, we reported that the Juice Laundry would open a location on the Corner this summer, and now we know where, exactly, thirsty coeds will get their juice fix: 1411 University Ave., the former location of the Natty Beau clothing store, between Qdoba and The White Spot. The new location will function as a grab-n-go juice and nuts milk bar and express smoothie location, says owner and founder Mike Keenan. The full Juice Laundry menu will be available on the Corner, but all juicing will be done at the Preston Avenue location.

Minus nine

Eleven Months, the spot for restaurant-bar pop-ups that replaced Yearbook Taco on the Downtown Mall earlier this year, has closed. The restaurant wrapped its first theme—“Sorry It’s Over”—after just two months. In the coming weeks, owner Hamooda Shami will focus on opening Eleven Months’ Richmond location (featuring a “Best Friends Forever” theme).

Categories
Arts

Composer Kristina Warren channels vocal technology into art

Kristina Warren performs solo on the Abacus, a next-generation musical instrument she designed. Photo by Amy Jackson

The human voice is an extraordinary thing.

Even the softest, quietest sound is no small feat to produce. Here’s how it works: The lungs pump air through the trachea (windpipe) and into the larynx, where the vocal cords are located. The air makes the vocal folds—multilayered folds of tissue—vibrate, and they alternately trap and release air. Each release billows a small puff of air into the pharynx; each puff is the beginning of a sound wave that’s enhanced as it travels through the pharynx and out through the mouth.

Everything from how much air is pushed from the lungs, to the shape of the vocal folds and the mouth, affect how a voice sounds.

But the voice is not just extraordinary in its physical function. It’s used to communicate, to yell for help when we’re scared, to cry when we’re sad, to let someone know that we’re angry. We use our voice to sing “Happy Birthday,” soothe fussy babies and yelp with joy at good news. An indicator of individuality and identity, we want our unique voices to be heard, both literally and figuratively. 

Kristina Warren
May 4
UVA Chapel

Kristina Warren, a trained singer working on a doctorate in composition and computer technologies at UVA, knows plenty of techniques to control, expand and explore her range, how to exploit the texture, the quality and the weight of her voice. But at some point, she found those techniques limiting. There’s more to the voice, she says, than hitting certain notes.

While studying both science and music as an undergraduate at Duke University, Warren became interested in digital sound. Inspired by loop pedals commonly used for guitar and keyboards, Warren began experimenting with digital manipulation of the voice, using computer software linked to a microphone to change how she sounded. Tired of constantly stepping back and forth between the microphone and the computer or MIDI controller on stage, Warren decided to combine the two into a single instrument, one she created herself and named the Abacus.

The Abacus allows Kristina Warren to dig deeply into what the voice can do when combined with electronics and stretch it into new emotional and sonic territory.

On her website, Warren describes the Abacus as consisting of “eight toggles, two LEDs, one potentiometer and one Arduino Teensy, all molded in thermoplastic, which is shaped around a basic mic clip. It communicates with MaxMSP via USB connection and serial protocol.” Or, in short, the instrument, which looks like a souped-up microphone, is a series of toggles and knobs wired to a tiny circuit board that’s connected to a computer and controlled by software. Warren programs the software prior to performing or recording, giving each knob a particular sound or effect—like reverb, pitch, legato, staccato. When she sings into the mic and flips the switch programmed for reverb, the reverb (the persistence of a sound after it’s produced) effect will be applied to the audio signal coming out of the microphone.

The innovative Abacus was a semi-finalist in this year’s Margaret Guthman New Musical Instrument Competition held at Georgia Tech—the annual event seeks to identify “the world’s next generation of musical instruments.”

Warren keeps the software programming simple to focus on the feeling of the performance and less on controlling her arsenal of modular sounds. She likens the software to a box of Legos, where each sound effect available in the software is like a brick. When she’s programming, she’s building a Lego castle without the directions. The next time she programs the Abacus, she can dismantle that entirely and build a new castle, or perhaps a house, or use its windows in a space station. She can move the bricks around as she chooses.

The Abacus allows Warren to dig deeply into what the voice can do when combined with electronics and stretch it into new emotional and sonic territory.

She might sing a melody, then take a tiny part of that melody and loop or stretch it, perhaps granulate it so that it sounds cyborg-esque, not quite human. She might screech, or shriek—like a blues singer might shriek to emphasize emotion, but Warren will filter it to extend over a period of time, then filter it again to sound deep and rumbly.

Warren knows her music is unusual and she sometimes asks a lot of her listeners—on occasion, she says people have told her they’ve felt scared or anxious—and while she’s sensitive to that, her intent is to change how we think about singing and voice capability, moving away from beauty and toward “finding another metric of sonic quality.”

To Warren, the voice is about more than Maria Callas’ arias and Freddie Mercury’s falsetto. Even mundane sounds, such as throat-clearing, or “ugly” sounds like screeching and blubbering, can be beautiful if we’re open to perceiving them that way.

“A lot of singing has to do with conveying beauty in one way or another,” says Warren, who points out that singers—female singers especially—are expected to sound “good” or have “pretty” voices. But “beauty is a cage,” she says. “I can do a lot of cool, novel sounds that aren’t necessarily beautiful but are interesting in other ways.”

Categories
Arts

Colossal turns odd comedic plot into dramatic gold

Anne Hathaway (above) and Jason Sudekis give compelling performances in Colossal, one of the strangest storylines to hit screens this year. Courtesy of Neon

Everything about Colossal is a pleasant surprise. From its cute premise carrying actual dramatic weight, to every moment it made the choice to be better instead of safer, to the revelation of Spanish filmmaker Nacho Vigalondo demonstrating that his brand of humor and metaphor needs no further translation, it is difficult to recall a film that bends genres and tones so effectively while always remaining emotionally effective and uncompromisingly true to its own rules.

Anne Hathaway plays Gloria, an out-of-work writer who relies far too heavily on alcohol and partying while living in the city with her boyfriend, Tim (Dan Stevens). Tim loves her, but the constant lying about why she never comes home at night is too much. After being kicked out, Gloria returns to the house she grew up in—currently unoccupied—to decompress and figure her life out, and she encounters childhood friend Oscar (Jason Sudekis). Oscar owns a local bar and agrees to employ Gloria as a waitress, a decision that is good for her stability but bad for her sobriety, especially given Oscar’s habit of drinking all night with his friends after the bar has closed.

Colossal
R, 110 minutes
Regal Stonefield 14 and IMAX, Violet Crown Cinema

It’s around this time that a monster begins to appear in Seoul, South Korea, seemingly out of thin air and only for a few moments, but always in the same location and at the same time of day. Before long, Gloria begins to notice a direct connection with herself and the creature. This revelation is slightly amusing at first, but her actions—sometimes as she drunkenly stumbles home from the bar—could prove devastating to innocent people.

A premise like this can only be successfully done if the filmmaker goes all-in, which Vigalondo does. It’s an unusual decision to make a monster movie that focuses on the other side of the planet, but in doing so, many of the most distracting tropes are avoided. The victims of the attacks are never essentialized, nor are they faceless even if they are rarely seen. The weight of what it truly means to destroy a city and possibly kill many innocent people is always present, far more than in many PG-13 action/disaster flicks that treat the destruction of a city and subsequent death of millions as secondary to the emotions of the hero. Going even further, the exact nature of the relationship between Gloria, Oscar, their life decisions and emotional states, and the appearances of the monsters are all deeply intertwined in surprising and poignant ways.

Colossal is very often a funny movie, but the humor is never at its own expense; it grows organically alongside every other emotion that the characters face. Hathaway is stellar as Gloria, depicting her as more than the series of compulsive behaviors, which a lesser performer might have fallen back on.

We all attempt to bury the tragedy, depression, fixation, disappointment and self-loathing of our everyday lives as deep within us as possible in order to conceal these traits from others, yet they play such a significant part in our actions in times of uncertainty and vulnerability.

Sudekis, meanwhile, is a revelation as Oscar, a character who uses the actor’s winsome charm as a weapon of control, gaining the trust of those around him then manipulating anyone who challenges or abandons him. Sudekis has always been a welcome screen presence, but this award-caliber performance is the finest he has ever been.

The description of the plot and characters is perhaps best left there, as watching the unfolding is truly remarkable. There hasn’t been another movie quite like Colossal, perhaps ever. Intelligent without being smug, funny without resorting to cheap gags, emotional without unearned tearjerker moments, Vigalondo has performed nothing short of a miracle in turning the strangest premise in recent memory into one of the year’s must-sees.

Playing this week

Regal Stonefield 14 and IMAX
The Shops at Stonefield, 244-3213
Beauty and the Beast, Born in China, The Boss Baby, The Case for Christ, The Circle, The Fate of the Furious, Get Out, Gifted, Going in Style, Logan, The Promise, Sleight, Unforgettable

Violet Crown Cinema
200 W. Main St., Downtown Mall, 529-3000
Beauty and the Beast, The Boss Baby, The Circle, The Fate of the Furious, Gifted, Going in Style, The Lost City of Z, Their Finest, Your Name, The Zookeeper’s Wife

Categories
News

Mountaintop removal: Groups argue its definition

Drainage from a mountain named Big Ridge will affect two of the state’s remaining native brook trout streams, Townsend Draft and Erwin Draft. Photo courtesy of Rick Webb

In an April 27 telepresser, a number of environmental groups discussed Dominion’s alleged plans to decapitate 38 miles of ridgelines in Virginia and West Virginia to make way for the proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline. About 5.6 of those miles are atop Roberts Mountain in Nelson County.

Moderated by the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, spokespeople from anti-pipeline groups Friends of Nelson, Appalachian Mountain Advocates and the Allegheny-Blue Ridge Alliance discussed some key points of mountaintop removal, including that the majority of the mountains in question would be flattened by 10 to 20 feet, with some places along the route requiring the removal of about 60 feet of ridgetop.

Mountaintop removal also results in an excess of material, known as overburden. In this case, Dominion would likely need to dispose of about 2.47 million cubic yards of it, according to the environmental groups.

“The information that was put out by these groups last week is just totally inaccurate,” says Dominion spokesperson Aaron Ruby. “We’re not conducting mountaintop removal. That is a total mischaracterization of how we’re building this pipeline.”

According to Ruby, Dominion will “clear and grade a relatively limited area on certain ridgelines,” so workers will have enough space to dig a 10-foot-wide trench, install the pipe and fill the trench back in.

“It is astounding that [the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission] has not required Dominion to produce a plan for dealing with the millions of cubic yards of excess [overburden],” says Ben Luckett, a staff attorney at Appalachian Mountain Advocates. FERC will eventually approve or deny the project.

But Ruby says that claim from Luckett isn’t true, either. “We are required by federal regulations to fully restore those ridgelines to their original contours using the native material that is either graded or excavated. …For these groups to say we’re going to level the tops of mountains and remove 250,000 dump truck loads of material is completely inaccurate.”

Approximately two miles of ridgeline are proposed to be removed (and replaced) in western Highland County in the George Washington National Forest. According to Rick Webb, the program coordinator for the Dominion Pipeline Monitoring Coalition, drainage from a mountain there named Big Ridge will affect two of the state’s remaining native brook trout streams, Townsend Draft and Erwin Draft.

“The Atlantic Coast Pipeline could easily prove itself deadly,” says Joyce Burton, a board member of Friends of Nelson. “Many of the slopes along the right of way are significantly steeper than a black diamond ski slope. Both FERC and Dominion concede that constructing pipelines on these steep slopes can increase the potential for landslides, yet they still have not demonstrated how they propose to protect us from this risk. With all of this, it is clear that the pipeline is a recipe for disaster.”

Ruby says his company has extensively studied all of the steep slopes they will encounter while installing the ACP and have developed a best-in-class program for construction on those areas that goes beyond federal regulations and has been thoroughly evaluated by FERC, which confirmed its effectiveness.

“My company has built over 2,000 miles of underground pipeline through West Virginia and Western Pennsylvania,” he says. “How many pipelines has the Chesapeake Climate Action Network built?”

Updated May 3 at 4pm to correct a misquote.