Month: November 2017

Categories
News

Latest chapter: New lease for New Dominion

Julia Kudravetz is the new owner of New Dominion, one of the last independent bookstores standing. Photo Natalie Jacobsen

New Dominion Bookshop owner Carol Troxell’s sudden death in January sent shock waves through Charlottesville’s literary community—and left some wondering what would become of the downtown institution.

Established in 1924, one of the oldest businesses on the mall is now in the hands of a new generation. Charlottesville native Julia Kudravetz signed the papers November 15 to buy the bookshop, but it didn’t happen the way she might have imagined.

She left Charlottesville for higher education, and returned with an MFA in poetry from Johns Hopkins, where she taught future neurosurgeons “how to write a sonnet,” she says.

Growing up, Kudravetz, 37, a self-described “mall rat,” was a fixture downtown, where her mother was a founding member of McGuffey Art Center and her father had a law office. “This was always a place I felt most centered,” she says.

At Piedmont Virginia Community College she taught freshman composition, and at William Monroe High School in Greene County, her students learned how to write a five-paragraph essay. She co-founded the Charlottesville Reading Series at the Bridge, and that led in early 2016 to doing social media for Troxell, whose shop was still hand-writing receipts.

“I had talked to her,” says Kudravetz, about some day acquiring the business, but “not in any serious way, because it was hard to imagine the store without Carol.”

“Julia seems meant to take New Dominion Bookshop to its next manifestation,” says writer Jane Barnes. “She knows Charlottesville having grown up here. She has lots of youthful energy, an offbeat sense of humor, a racing brain. She’s ready to try new things.”

Barnes lists Kudravetz scheduling unexpected combinations in the reading series, which has moved to New Dominion, staging Donna Lucey’s reading at Common House “amid exotic cocktails” and playing ’20s jazz great Bix Beiderbecke as background music for Brendan Wolfe’s book signing.

Gift wrapping is still free at New Dominion and the Christmas list is coming, albeit with poetry rather than books on Virginia, says Kudravetz. Photo Natalie Jacobsen

Kudravetz realizes that implementing her vision has to be done “slowly and thoughtfully,” she says. The cash register has been updated with a Square credit card reader, she added cordless phones so staffers could walk around the store, and she’s got Vibethink designing a new website that’s scheduled to launch this week.

And she wants to have more events, particularly for children and young adult readers.

It turns out her experience as an educator has been invaluable for running a bookstore. “Everything’s easier than teaching public school,” she says. Even on the hardest days in the store, “my grumpiest customer is not worse than a 15-year-old having a meltdown.”

Kudravetz is aware there are a lot of stakeholders—and an intense loyalty to the shop. A customer came in recently with a list and ordered hundreds of dollars of books. “It’s never going to be cheaper than ordering from Amazon,” she says. “We offer something different.”

She wants the feeling of the store to stay the same: “thoughtful, comfortable, alive.” But there will be some changes, she warns: “There’s going to be a lot more poetry.”

Categories
News

Kessler calls for Unite the Right redo

Jason Kessler's permit for the anniversary Unite the Right rally was denied. Photo by Eze Amos

It’s a day those living in Charlottesville would rather not relive. That it left three people dead and countless injured, or that it was shut down before it was scheduled to begin last August 12 has not stopped Jason Kessler from planning a second Charlottesville rally—on the one-year anniversary of Unite the Right.

While many may wonder why the homegrown right-winger, who’s been denounced by several former conservative comrades, would bring that kind of hate back to Charlottesville, he explains in a November 29 post on his blog, Real News w/ Jason Kessler: “I simply will not allow these bastards to use the one year anniversary of the Charlottesville government violating a federal judge’s order and the U.S. Constitution, in conjunction with violent Antifa groups, to further demonize our activists.”

For citizens in Charlottesville still recovering from this summer’s violent invasion of neo-Nazis, the reaction was one of shock and dismay.

“Immediate repulsion,” says activist Don Gathers when he heard about Kessler’s anniversary plan. “People say they throw up in their own mouth. That’s what it was like.”

He wonders, “What kind of mentality does it take to have that kind of gall to say you’re going to do that again, especially on that same weekend?”

City spokesperson Miriam Dickler has confirmed that Kessler’s application, filed November 27, for what he calls a “rally against government civil rights abuse and failure to follow security plans for political dissidents,” is under review, and says the city has no further comment.

The organizer, currently awaiting trial for perjury in Albemarle County, says 2018 Unite the Right attendees oppose any changes to Emancipation Park and are “memorializing the sacrifices made by political dissidents in Lee Park August 12, 2017.”

But on his blog, Kessler claims that this one, called Back to Charlottesville, will be different.

“At Unite the Right, I was just coming into my own as an event organizer and had faith in the Charlottesville Police Department to abide by the terms of the security arrangement and keep hostile groups separate,” he writes. “Obviously, that is no longer the case. Whereas I once took it in good faith that authorities were keeping the security arrangements secret so that hostile groups like Antifa would not learn of the plans and therefore create a security risk, I now understand that they did that to screw us over.”

The white nationalist continues, “They did it to ENABLE the Antifa to attack us while claiming that WE actually screwed this up by not following the security plan, which, oh-by-the-way, they refuse to release to the public so people can judge for themselves.”

Kessler, also known for his unfavorable reaction to being called a “crybaby” by local attorney Jeff Fogel, says he already has lawyers lined up for his latest event—because when he organized “UTR 1.0,” he was “flying by the seat of [his] pants”—and now when “Charlottesville rejects [his] permit, as [he] fully expects them to do,” he says “we will push back.”

The pro-white advocate also promises better organization at this rally than the one where white supremacists and counterprotesters clashed in the streets with weapons, shields and helmets.

“This time around I worked my ass off,” he says, critiquing his reliance on existing infrastructure—or passing off security to others—earlier this summer. “I don’t like that I didn’t have a megaphone on August 11 to warn marchers that Antifa were waiting for us at the base of the Thomas Jefferson statue. …the morning of August 12, I should have been notified that police didn’t show up to escort our VIPs. That was a huge red flag that I should have been able to use to warn people.”

The new permit requires special event liability insurance of at least $1 million. Insurance Kessler obtained online for the 2017 event was canceled after underwriters learned more about the Unite the Right rally.

Insurance professional Harry Landers says, “If anyone understands all the facts of who he is and what he’s doing, the chances of him obtaining insurance are nil.”

The governor’s task force on the events of August 12 recommended Charlottesville tighten its permit process and restrict weapons and the length of events. Kessler is requesting a two-day permit for a festival from 7am to 11pm Saturday, August 11, 2018, and from 6am to 11pm Sunday.

The announcement comes on the eve of the release of former U.S. attorney Tim Heaphy’s independent review of the city’s handling of the summer of hate, which is on the agenda for the December 4 City Council meeting.

Though traveling outside the country, Mayor Mike Signer says in an email, “I believe public safety should be our paramount concern, with the benefit of the recommendations from the Heaphy report and upcoming advice from our counsel on how to reform our permitting for public events.”

Says former mayor Dave Norris, “The city needs to revisit its ability to manage situations where there’s no assurance of peaceable assembly. This is an organizer who has clearly demonstrated a propensity for unpeaceable assembly.” And because of that, Norris says Kessler has ceded his right to hold public events in Charlottesville

“We need to prove to them that we are the good guys,” Kessler writes. And reiterating his “commitment to nonviolence,” he quotes Ecclesiastes 3:8: “There is a time for war and a time for peace.”

Says Gathers, “White supremacy: the gift that keeps on giving.”

This is an evolving story. We will update it as we get more information. Additional reporting by Lisa Provence.

Updated at 4:15pm November 29 with Mike Signer’s comment.

Updated at 5:24pm.

 

Categories
Living

LIVING Picks: Week of November 29-December 5

The Charlottesville Symphony at the University of Virginia, University Singers and trumpeter John D’earth join forces for family holiday concerts conducted by Michael Slon. Photo by Jackson Smith

NONPROFIT

Grand Illumination!
Friday, December 1

This community event includes musical performances, kids crafts, a visit from Santa, a free movie screening and the main event—the lighting of a tree decked out in more than 20,000 LED bulbs. Don’t forget to bring your Toy Lift Charities donations. Free, 5:30pm. Central Place, the Downtown Mall. charlottesville. org

FAMILY

Family holiday concerts
Saturday, December 2, and Sunday, December 3

The Charlottesville Symphony at the University of Virginia, University Singers and trumpeter John D’earth join forces for family holiday concerts conducted by Michael Slon. $10-45, 8pm Saturday and 3:30pm Sunday. Old Cabell Hall, UVA. 924-3376.

FOOD & DRINK

Holiday Market
Saturdays, through December 23

Fuel your holiday shopping with treats for yourself, or grab the perfect local artisan-made gift for your loved ones. Free entry, 8am-1pm. City Market space, across from the Water Street parking garage. market. charlottesville.org/holiday market.htm

HEALTH & WELLNESS

Santa Fun Run & Walk
Sunday, December 3

Get into the holiday spirit by donning a provided Santa suit (for adults) or elf ears (for children) before running or walking to raise funds for Arc of the Piedmont. Free-$20 registration, 9:30am-noon. Race starts and ends at the Sprint Pavilion, 700 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. arc pva.org

Categories
Arts

Album reviews: Mavis Staples, Sharon Jones, America and R.E.M.

Mavis Staples

If All I Was Was Black (Anti-Records)

I haven’t been checking out the Jeff Tweedy- Mavis Staples collaborations of the last few years—apparently, I have been a fool. If All I Was Was Black is a nearly-miraculous alchemy of Staples’ gospel-soul and everything Tweedy throws at her. The swampy opener “Little Bit” includes a Byrds-y raga flavor in the bridge and skronky guitar solos; the title track sounds a little like Staples fronting Crazy Horse; and twitchy Velvets-y guitar noise flutters in and out of “No Time For Crying.” Somehow, it’s all of a glorious piece. Of course, Staples’ mastery over her voice is complete, as seen when she effortlessly downshifts to match Tweedy as he brings his laid-back rasp to “Ain’t No Doubt About It.” Staples’ galvanic force provides something like sustenance in these trying times, and this album delivers it, deliciously.

https://mavisstaples.bandcamp.com/album/if-all-i-was-was-black

Sharon Jones

Soul of a Woman (Daptone)

This final Sharon Jones album, recorded while Jones faced down a grim pancreatic cancer diagnosis, is an exultant triumph. Jones didn’t turn to downtempo reflection—Soul of a Woman is taut and intense, and her vocal performance is endlessly inventive and inspired on standout cuts like the preemptive breakup song “Pass Me By.” As usual, the Dap-Kings’ meticulous revisionism is a little distracting—I find myself thinking what they’re thinking instead of feeling what they’re doing—but nobody does retro-soul better or more flexibly, from Sunday-morning joy (“Come And Be a Winner”) to hot-buttered psychedelic soul (“You Got to Forgive Him”) to nimble, jazzy funk (“Matter of Time”). Soul of a Woman is a thrilling testament by one of the finest and most beloved singers of our time.

https://sharonjonesandthedapkings.bandcamp.com/album/soul-of-a-woman

America

Heritage: Home Recordings/Demos 1970-1973 (Omnivore)

For anyone who enjoyed “Ventura Highway” and “Horse With No Name” the first thousand times but subsequently discarded America on the light rock trash heap, this terrific collection might come as a revelation. I speak from experience—as the opening “Riverside” sparkled like a country-rock version of Big Star’s “Watch the Sunrise,” my first thought was “Oh great, so now I like America?” But why resist these Air Force brats who met in England and were barely out of high school when they stormed the charts? These demos prove there was more depth to the band than its hits—but speaking of, the trio’s effortless vocal blend is on display in an a cappella version of “Horse With No Name,” and the early take of “Ventura Highway,” featuring Wrecking Crew drummer Hal Blaine, straight cooks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QGHxe5fLiY

R.E.M.

Automatic for the People 25th Anniversary Deluxe Edition (Craft Recordings)

Following the shiny happy Out of Time, Automatic for the People was dubbed “the death album” for thematic preoccupations and general murk, the songs nearly drowning in John Paul Jones’ swirling string arrangements. Automatic has since been recognized as a classic, perhaps the last great R.E.M. record (I’m actually a Monster fan but we won’t get into that). Added features here are an oft-bootlegged live set—from a Greenpeace benefit at Athens, Georgia’s venerated 40 Watt club—and 20 tantalizing, previously unreleased demos. Few of the demos are outtakes; sadly, most are thin sketches of album tracks that mostly demonstrate producer Scott Litt’s prowess in fashioning the formidable finished works. Turns out that the live set is the more welcome bonus, a loose and fun show in an intimate home-turf setting.

Categories
Real Estate

Why Home Buyers Love The Walkable Downtown Lifestyle

By Celeste M. Smucker –

If the idea of walking to work, eating at close-in trendy restaurants, browsing an interesting array of shops and heading out to entertainment venues near where you live appeals to you, then ask your agent about downtown Charlottesville.

The lively pedestrian mall is the heart of downtown and an area that also draws employers who love living in Charlottesville and recognize the value of locating where their employees can peruse boutiques during lunch, meet friends for a drink at day’s end or easily pick up their favorite coffee concoctions and snacks as they walk or bike their way to work in the morning.

Individuals and families who live near downtown enjoy a contemporary lifestyle in a walkable, urban setting that offers a range of prices plus housing styles that include condos, cottages, and  historic homes. Downtown is truly a place that has something for everyone, and its popularity is reflected in an active real estate market that is keeping agents very busy.

The Downtown Real Estate Market
There is no question that the downtown market is doing well, although it is limited by a lack of inventory.

The market is “ridiculously busy,” said Rob Alley with RE/MAX Realty Specialists describing it as the best it’s been in the last ten years.  “If a home is remotely priced well, it will sell,” he said.

The market is “strong,” reported Inessa Telefus with Loring Woodriff Real Estate Associates who joined her fellow agents in lamenting the lack of inventory, although this situation definitely helps sellers. She described an open house where 40 buyers came through in a short period of time producing a quick sale with multiple offers and a sold price that was significantly higher than the home’s list price. 

The market in the City continues to be “strong and very active,” said Cynthia Viejo with Nest Realty Group who is happy to report that not only are homes moving quickly but even the higher priced ones are selling. She gave as an example downtown area condos with $500,000 to $1 million price tags that are moving. “This is a big change from a couple of years ago,” she added calling the downtown area “the soul of Charlottesville.”

While many downtown homes are older, buyers that want the benefits of new construction also have a few alternatives. For example, Viejo recently sold a detached, new construction home in Belmont in the half million price range.

Downtown is also an area that is profitable for investors, even in north downtown where Viejo has observed buyers (investors and owner occupants) renovating and reselling homes. 

Alley explained that investors seek out properties that show evidence of deferred maintenance that are not move-in ready and would not pass muster with a mortgage company’s requirements  preventing typical buyers from acquiring them.  Once the home is fixed up and updated to meet the lender’s standards a buyer can get a mortgage on it and move in.

He cited a recently renovated two bedroom, one bath home on Druid Avenue that was spruced up and given an open floor plan to make it more contemporary and livable.  The investor paid $105,000 and sold it to a happy first time buyer for $245,000 in what Alley called “a win-win for everyone.”

Downtown is also in demand from people who buy and hold properties for rental as easy access to the University and local hospitals makes the area a popular place for medical residents and other young professionals looking for a convenient place to live. 

Living the Downtown Lifestyle
If you ask residents and agents why downtown is popular, all of them will state that walkability is the number one reason. In some cases families that live very close-in can even give up one of their cars and choose to walk or bike to work, to shop, or to meet a friend for coffee.  Others enjoy using their cars a lot less than they would in other parts of town.

The centerpiece of downtown Charlottesville is the pedestrian mall, the first phase of which was completed in 1976. Today it is recognized as one of just a few such attempts at this model of downtown renewal that has survived. Charlottesville’s mall is longer than most, comprising seven blocks closed to traffic with over 30 restaurants and 120 shops and boutiques of all varieties.

“When you live downtown you can walk to restaurants and entertainment,” Telefus said. Viejo added that the downtown area is a “happening” place where people enjoy meeting up with friends and checking out the shops before they decide which of the many local restaurants is most appealing for lunch. 

Another downtown feature that she says adds “vibrancy” to the area is the Charlottesville City Market, open Saturdays from 7 a.m. until noon from April to October and from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.in November and December. And of course, just south of downtown is the IX Art Park described on its website as: ” a walk-through, sculptural, mural-festooned Mecca that’s free and open for the public to wander, night and day.”

The Art Park is the venue for a host of activities and joins the Mall as a magnet that draws people to downtown.  It is recognized for the events that take place there throughout the year and attracts happy participants who look forward to everything from concerts to festivals—like the Virginia Craft Brewers Fest—plus art shows and civic events. And unlike the Mall area, visitors enjoy free parking while they sample a variety of eating establishments without leaving the property. Ix property manager Erin Hill encourages everyone to come join the festivities stating that  “the Art Park is busy every day.”   

Walkability is the “key” to most people’s buying decisions, said Bob Hughes with Nest Realty Group.  He added that as prices on properties close to the mall continue to climb many buyers will be forced to move further out and predicts that Preston Avenue with its shops, restaurants and what has been called “a downtown vibe” may be the next popular area.

“It’s the convenience,” Alley said, that brings people to downtown neighborhoods where they can shop in boutiques and enjoy walking to restaurants and entertainment venues. However, he suggested  that for first timers it is often their employment near downtown or at the University that makes this area an especially attractive place to live.

Home buyers with green values also appreciate downtown neighborhoods.  Not only can they drive less and walk more, many enjoy the process of renovating an older home to make it more energy efficient and livable. And if that doesn’t appeal, they can always opt for the energy savings that come with new construction.

“However,” said Charif Soubra with Southern Development Homes, “while sustainability and walkability both add value to a home, walkability trumps it all.”

Downtown Buyers
Families who love a walkable lifestyle are willing to pay higher prices and possibly compromise on amenities to be as close as possible to downtown.  They come from out of the area, from out of state, and even from out of the country, but many come from as close as Albemarle County or the Route 29 corridor. These are people looking for an “urban community,” said Robert Ramsey with Roy Wheeler Realty Co.

Ramsey, who grew up in the downtown area,  has observed many changes there over the last 60+ years. His family’s home on Park Street was just three houses from the country, predating the bypass or the Downtown Mall.  He reflected on some of the  people who today call this area home, prominent among them being Boomers who once moved out to Ivy and other outlying areas, but now want to live close in and give up a car. 

“Cutting down on drive time saves on gas, mind and soul,” Ramsey said, adding that they also relocate to be free of home and yard maintenance by moving into a condo or perhaps into a home on a small lot requiring much less maintenance.

People from out of the area also gravitate to downtown like some clients of Telefus who recently relocated to Charlottesville from the northeast and rented for awhile before deciding where they wanted to buy.  The idea of an older home had a lot of appeal for them,  but they found many they looked at were not in good condition and they didn’t want the hassle of renovating.  Now they are happily ensconced in their maintenance-free condo loving their downtown, walkable lifestyle.

Downtown neighborhoods draw the “full gamut” of buyers, Viejo said.  However she too has worked with her share of clients who are retirees and pre-retirees ready to live closer in and spend less time mowing and weeding.  Recently some of her clients sold their million dollar home on 10+ acres and bought a place in town at “the heart of it all.”  She sees this trend continuing and looks forward to a strong market in 2018.

Charlottesville’s many cultural activities are very attractive  Telefus noted, but added that the City’s spectacular views are not to be overlooked. She has had clients who, after they viewed different homes and locations, chose to buy downtown. They said it was because they wanted the convenience and the walkability, but Telefus added that, it was often  the beautiful views that finally clinched the sale.

Historic Charlottesville
For many home buyers, part of the allure of living downtown is Charlottesville’s long history and the multitude of historic buildings within a few blocks of each other.  Telefus cited “historic charm” as a significant element of downtown living that is important to many buyers.

The original City dates back to 1762 when the Virginia General Assembly set aside 50 acres of land around the Albemarle County Courthouse and named it in honor of Queen Charlotte Sophia of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the wife of King George III of England.  The site was laid out in half acre lots on four east-west and five north-south streets that today form the heart of downtown.   

In 1982, Charlottesville’s entire Historic District—88 structures—was added to the National Register of Historic Places, an official list of properties considered worthy of preservation and administered by the National Park Service. The City also recognizes these properties and requires their owners to seek approval from a Board of Architectural Review before changing their exteriors.

This carefully preserved part of Charlottesville’s history gives local residents a continuing connection to the past, at the same time that many of them are part of a  growing tech sector that is moving our city firmly into the future.

If you want to live close in and walk to the Mall and the IX Building with all of their amenities, ask your agent about living downtown and join the vibrant arts and restaurant scene, buy vegetables at the City Market and, most of the time, leave your car at home.

Celeste Smucker is a writer and blogger who lives near Charlottesville.

Categories
Real Estate

Belmont: Charlottesville’s Popular, Walkable Community

By Celeste M. Smucker –

Belmont home buyers love their neighborhood for many reasons, but its location near jobs, restaurants and entertainment venues is high on the list. And that includes attractions in downtown Charlottesville as well as those at Belmont Village that are even closer to home.

Belmont’s short commute to downtown, UVA or the Medical Center is also appealing to employees who work in these popular spots but choose to walk or ride a bike to work because they don’t enjoy hunting for parking places or traveling a long distance to work. This continues a long tradition from Charlottesville’s earliest days when a combination of factors including access to work made Belmont a popular and convenient place to live.

Today a diverse population of families from first-timers to down-sizers who are willing, in many cases, to renovate and update older homes, can enjoy all of the benefits of a walkable, downtown lifestyle when they choose to live in Belmont. 

However if you are a buyer, don’t wait too long. Like many local neighborhoods, inventory is in short supply and competition is bidding up prices.  This means now is a great time for sellers to give their agent a call and learn what may be surprising news about what their house will bring in today’s market where there are many eager buyers ready to make an offer.

Belmont’s Real Estate Market
Buyers from Millennials, who work downtown to retirees ready to give up the headaches of maintaining a large house and lot in the suburbs, are all prospects for Belmont area listings that are going fast.

Cynthia Viejo with Nest Realty Group, a 37-year veteran of the real estate business explained she always thought Belmont had potential, but it wasn’t until the year 2000, when investors began buying and flipping homes and buyers priced out of the close-in market north of downtown began looking in Belmont, that things really started to change.

Today’s Belmont market is “very hot,” said Inessa Telefus with Loring Woodriff  Real Estate Associates.  She listed nearness to the Downtown Mall and Belmont Village as two huge benefits, explaining that Belmont Village has its “own character, very relaxed with an artista feel,” making it very attractive to buyers.

Belmont’s downtown has a number of trendy spots, Viejo said, that keep people on that side of the bridge.  She described this area as “an extension” of what is attractive about the Downtown Mall, a place that is “fun and vibrant,” where people can enjoy amenities without ever crossing the bridge. 

Telefus recently helped some clients moving here from Chicago who fell in love with Belmont for all of these reasons.  Unfortunately, after looking at lots of properties, they didn’t find what they wanted, but then they lucked out.  It was while they were on their way to the airport that they got a call from Telefus who described the perfect property for them. She had just previewed it—with them in mind—after learning it was due to come on the market very soon.

With a plane to catch the clients were not able to return to Belmont and look at the house, but based on what they had already seen, they took a chance and made an offer on the property “sight unseen,” Telefus said.  They are glad they did.  Today they are living in the home and enjoying the Belmont lifestyle.

Belmont Buyers
It is the “community feel” that many buyers discover after they move into Belmont  that makes it an even more appealing place to live.  Walkability may have brought them there but it is also walkability that gets people out and about on foot and brings them face-to-face with their neighbors, a big change for relocated suburbanites accustomed to walking only as far as their cars prior to driving somewhere else.

Robert Ramsey with Roy Wheeler Realty Co. explained that often Belmont buyers are people who don’t like the suburbs but “march to a different drummer.” Many can afford to live elsewhere, but choose Belmont for all of its benefits. 

Of course, many of the homes need renovation to accommodate a more contemporary lifestyle, something that doesn’t deter Belmont buyers or current residents who choose to update their homes to enable them to enjoy their home even more and age in place with greater ease.

Keith Smith, with the Zion Crossroads office of Roy Wheeler Realty, described a recent renovation completed by some of his clients on a Belmont home built in 1902.  The owners were much younger when they purchased the house and knew they needed a more livable floor plan to stay there into retirement years.  While moving to a more contemporary home further out was an option, they weren’t willing give up their close-in lifestyle. 

The property didn’t lend itself to putting on a downstairs master suite, but they were able to extend the living space on the back of the house and add a half bath and laundry area on the first floor, both huge conveniences.  Smith described the newly renovated house as not only more livable, but as a place that will be more marketable in the future with a great deal more equity.

If you are in the market for a home and like the charm of an older house in a neighborhood with a genuine sense of community, consider Belmont.  Then enjoy walking to the Downtown Mall or Belmont Village to meet new friends for brunch.  But don’t wait.  Call your agent now before the market pushes prices even higher. 

Celeste Smucker is a writer, and blogger who lives near Charlottesville.

Categories
Arts

Short stories spark discussion of guns in American culture

Deirdra McAfee and BettyJoyce Nash collaborated on Lock and Load: Armed Fiction, which brings writers’ voices into the gun conversation. Courtesy of the artists

Deirdra McAfee and BettyJoyce Nash first met 10 years ago as teacher and student (respectively) in a creative writing class in Richmond, where they both lived at the time. Nash, a journalist who had recently turned to fiction, was surprised when a gun turned up in a story she was writing. “My palms got sweaty, my mouth got dry,” she says, “and I realized it’s a powerful metaphor and I had to be very careful with it.” This sparked a conversation between Nash and McAfee about how difficult guns are to handle, even in literature.

“They’re so powerful as metaphors and meaningful as objects that you have to be careful about how you introduce them and use them in the story,” McAfee says. “If you throw them in in the beginning, people are transfixed by them. If you pull them out at the last minute, you stop the story and the gun isn’t as useful if you’d introduced it more skillfully.”

Nash eventually enrolled in the MFA program at Queens University of Charlotte, where she wrote her thesis on the role of guns in fiction. Her adviser, Pinckney Benedict, said to her, “If you’re an American writer, you’re going to have a character eventually pick up a gun.”

Indeed, it was the ubiquity of guns in American culture that fascinated Nash and McAfee. American language, McAfee points out, is steeped in its metaphor, with such expressions as: “He took his best shot” and “Someone shot him down.”

The two writers became “interested in [guns] from a literary standpoint,” McAfee says, and decided to build an anthology around them. They solicited stories, such as one from Benedict and another from Pulitzer Prize-winner Annie Proulx. Others came to them in response to a nationwide call for stories. The editors used a residency at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts to sift through submissions and find “the best contemporary stories,” McAfee says. The result, published last month, is Lock and Load: Armed Fiction.

Their work on the anthology began shortly after the mass shooting in Aurora, Colorado, in 2012. “We thought, we have to talk about this,” McAfee says. “The loud debate about rights and restrictions was obscuring the larger conversation about how do we as a nation feel about guns and how do we understand them.” Nash, who relocated to Charlottesville that same year, says both she and McAfee believe that “art, and fiction in particular, can help people think about these things in a different way.”

There’s something mysterious about the short story form, she says, that helps bring the reader “to a larger consciousness,” and a collection of such stories offers a wide range of experiences. “The idea,” McAfee says, “was to take people into 19 different worlds and look at 19 different ways of using a gun.” As they write in the introduction, the stories vary from “tender to violent, from chilling to hilarious. Love stories, war stories, coming-of-age stories and revenge stories, they occur in landscapes familiar or ordinary, distant or dystopian.”

Five years after they began their project, mass shootings continue to happen. On October 1, the day of the book’s publication, 58 people were killed by a mass shooter at a concert in Las Vegas. The editors hope the anthology will help readers find common ground. “Almost nobody in the U.S. thinks that these shootings are the price of freedom,” says McAfee.

Based on what they’ve witnessed on their book tour so far, the anthology is accomplishing what they had hoped, sparking significant discussion. “As people think about their own experience with guns they move beyond ideological divisions and talk about what they really mean,” McAfee says. “And what they really mean is the starting place. In a way they’re like statues and flags. They are objects but they’re also symbols. They mean different things to different people. But there are ways to talk about symbols that don’t involve dissension and violence.”

Categories
Arts

First Fridays: December 1

Ivy Naté’s large installation of stuffed animals of various shapes and sizes is featured in “Drawn to Charlottesville,” a show on view this month at Second Street Gallery. Courtesy of the artist

First Fridays: December 1

“Every artist starts with something inside themselves that feels true to them,” says sculptor and installation artist Ivy Naté. “I’m not sure what came first for me…balancing chaos and order, or reinventing the obvious.”

“I feel lucky that at times I am able to take some abstract shit in my head, interpret it and project it,” she says. Some artists work it out through song, through words, paint or clay. Naté works it out through stuffed animals.

For her large installations (the one she’s installed at Second Street Gallery this month is 13.3 feet long and 8.6 feet tall), she gathers stuffed animals of various shapes, sizes and personality that have been donated or discarded, and groups them together by color to create a massive wall hanging of furry, neon-colored, big-eyed nostalgia that Naté hopes will take viewers back to happier times, or to a past that has not yet been resolved. 

Strawberry Shortcake, sock monkeys, Miss Piggy, Paddington Bear—they’re all there, with Minions, Bart Simpson, a nameless green seal and a plush banana with eyes on its peel. Naté likes the idea of giving these discarded toys a “chance at a new life and bringing a fresh perspective on what most considered garbage.”

But what really intrigues her is why some stuffed animals become beloved friends and keepers of childhood secrets (inanimate furry family members, or IFFMs, as Naté calls them), while others don’t even have the tags removed before they’re handed down, given, or even thrown, away. What is it, she wonders, that makes people connect? —Erin O’Hare

GALLERIES

FF Angelo Jewelry 220 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. An exhibition of Cass Kawecki’s recent watercolor and mixed-media paintings of Italy, exploring architecture, seascapes and memory. 5:30-7:30pm.

Annie Gould Gallery 121B S. Main St., Gordonsville. An exhibition of work by Jane Angelhart, Jenifer Ansardi, Fax Ayres, Hallie Farley, Alex Gould, Jennifer Paxton and Peter Willard.

FF The Bridge PAI 2019 Monticello Rd. Eighth annual Gift Forest, featuring holiday gifts from more than 75 artists, designers and makers from all over Virginia. Open 11am-7pm weekdays, 10am-6pm weekends and 10am-4pm Christmas Eve.

FF Chroma Projects 103 W. Water St. “Various and Sundry Items,” featuring oil paintings of iconic objects on scrap metal by Michael Fitts, and fantastical hybrid characters made from scrap material by Aggie Zed. 5-7pm.

FF CitySpace Art Gallery 100 Fifth St. NE. “Memories from our Home Country,” a world art exhibit. 5:30-7:30pm.

Create Gallery at Indoor Biotechnologies 700 Harris St. An exhibition of work by the Fiber and Stitch Art Collective, which uses fiber and thread in a variety of ways to create two- and three-dimensional works.

Crozet Artisan Depot 5791 Three Notch’d Rd., Crozet. “Our Big Dream: Creating the Dandelion Seed’s Story & Art,” highlighting the creative process behind Cris Arbo and Joseph Patrick Anthony’s children’s books, The Dandelion Seed and The Dandelion Seed’s Big Dream. December 9, 3-5pm.

FF C’ville Arts Cooperative Gallery 118 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. “Magical Patterns with Wood,” featuring patterned and ornamented wooden jewel boxes, backgammon sets, chess boards, decorated serving boards and marquetry pictures by Dave Heller. 6-8pm.

FF Dovetail Design + Cabinetry 309 E. Water St. “Aspen Series,” featuring oil paintings of aspens and landscapes by Melissa Malone. 5-7pm.

Farfields Farm & Center for Georgical Jubilism 40 Farfields Ln. “Mysterium Georgicus: The Inter-Dimensional Plow,” a multimedia installation by Masha Vasilkovsky and Ruah Edelstein, an artist duo known as Lumen Animae. For more information email gallery@farfieldsfarm.com.

FF Firefly 1304 E. Market St. An exhibition of watercolor and charcoal abstractions by Emma Brodeur. 5-8pm.

The Fralin Museum of Art 155 Rugby Rd. “Dealer’s Choice: The Samuel Kootz Gallery 1945-1966,” an exhibition that examines the critical role Kootz played in establishing modern American art as an international force (through December 17); “Oriforme” by Jean Arp; and in the Joanne B. Robinson Object Study Gallery, a set of objects including Chinese bronzes, ceramics and sculpture, ancient Mediterranean coins, African masks and figures and more.

The Gallery at Ebb & Flow 71 River Rd., Faber. “En Plein Air,” an exhibition of plein air landscape paintings by V-Anne Evans.

Jefferson School African American Heritage Center 233 Fourth St. NW. “Karma,” featuring work by Lisa Beane that addresses privileged racism.

FF Kardinal Hall 722 Preston Ave. “[tran-sekt],” an exhibition of aerosol and acrylic works on cradled birch panel by Monty Montgomery. 6-9pm.

Les Yeux du Monde 841 Wolf Trap Rd. “New Paintings and Works on Paper,” featuring work by Dean Dass.

FF Malleable Studios 1304 E. Market St., Suites T and U. “New Work,” featuring jewelry by Mia van Beek, Tavia Brown, Nancy Hopkins and Rebecca Phalen, and paintings by Karen Eide and Martha Saunders. 5-8pm.

FF McGuffey Art Center 201 Second St. NW. McGuffey holiday members show and gallery of gifts, featuring art and small handmade gift items, such as blown glass ornaments and textiles, for purchase. 5:30-7:30pm.

Northside Library 705 Rio Rd. W. “Abstract Landscapes‒Somewhere You May Live,” acrylic paintings with collage by Judith Ely.

FF Second Street Gallery 115 Second St. SE. “Drawn to Charlottesville: A Group Exhibition of 12 Local Artists,” featuring work by Bolanle Adeboye, Chris Danger, Brielle DuFlon, Murad Khan Mumtaz, Clay Witt and other artists who moved to Charlottesville from elsewhere. 5:30-7:30pm.

Shenandoah Valley Art Center 122 S. Wayne Ave., Waynesboro. “Subversive/Domestic Textile and Fiber,” featuring cutting-edge textile and fiber pieces by American and Canadian artists; in the Members’ Gallery is “Small Works,” a show featuring work in a variety of media by SVAC member artists. December 9, 6-8pm.

FF Studio IX 969 Second St. SE. “Please Don’t Ask It Can’t Be Explained,” an exhibition of new collage works by Lisa A. Ryan. 5-7pm.

FF Telegraph Art & Comics 211 W. Main St., Downtown Mall. “Picture Show,” featuring ink and crayon originals and digital prints by Todd Webb. 5-7pm.

FF VMDO Architects 200 E. Market St. A show of plein air watercolor paintings by Janet Pearlman; and “This is Charlottesville,” a photographic and story-based project by Sarah Cramer Shields. 5:30-7:30pm.

FF Welcome Gallery 114 Third St. NE. “Transient Places” oil on canvas by Kristen Hemrich. 5-7:30pm.

FF The Women’s Initiative 1101 E. High St. A group multimedia exhibit featuring work from Terry Coffey, Julia Kindred and Carol Kirkham Martin of the BozART Fine Art Collective. 1-4pm.

FF Yellow Cardinal Gallery 301 E. Market St. “Postcards from Italy,” featuring petite watercolors by Jane Goodman, and an exhibit of oil paintings by Goodman and Elizabeth Dudley. 4:30-7pm.

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
Arts

Movie review: Pixar’s Coco is an emotional, musical triumph

The story of Coco plays out around the Mexican holiday Dia de los Muertos, and stars the voices of Anthony Gonzalez, Gael García Bernal, Benjamin Bratt, Alanna Noel Ubach and Renée Victor. Courtesy of Walt Disney pictures

Before you ask, yes, you will cry at Coco. No matter how many Pixar movies you’ve seen, no matter how much tolerance you’ve built up to their brand of touching sincerity, and no matter how far into this particular outing you get without shedding a tear, you will have a small puddle at the bottom of your 3-D glasses by the time the movie ends.

Coco is Pixar’s newest effort of injecting magic emotion into every conceivable idea, from inanimate objects (Toy Story, Cars) to creatures in your closet (Monsters, Inc.) to even emotions themselves (Inside Out). Everything we create as humans, and attach meaning to, is fair game, as it should be. A toy is nothing without part of you believing that it’s real, monsters are figments of our overactive imaginations and culminations of our anxieties, and emotions with no human vessel cease to exist. As Pixar’s stories become increasingly abstract and unpredictable, their astounding success appears to be rooted in a keen understanding of why we have emotions at all. Pixar simply taps into the narratives we, as individuals and a society, have already created for ourselves, leaving the studio to simply remind us why they matter.

Coco
PG, 109 minutes
Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, Regal Stonefield 14 and IMAX and Violet Crown Cinema

The story follows Miguel, a young boy in a small Mexican town who comes from a tight-knit family that has dedicated itself to the art of shoemaking for four generations. Miguel is a talented musician, but he keeps his guitar in a secret room along with pictures and videotapes of his favorite musician, Ernesto de la Cruz. Miguel hides his skill and passion because the whole reason the family began shoemaking was as a rejection of music after Miguel’s great-grandfather left to pursue a life in music—singing and playing instruments has been forbidden ever since.

Miguel comes to believe that de la Cruz, the superstar himself, is that very same great-grandfather who left, and that it is his duty to his ancestor to pursue music. So, on Dia de los Muertos—the Day of the Dead, when families honor their members who have passed on—Miguel, against his family’s wishes, goes to borrow de la Cruz’s guitar to compete in a music competition. The guitar is in the singer’s tomb, and when he picks it up, he is transported to a place where the dead actually walk among the living, collecting food and artifacts left for them as part of Dia de los Muertos celebrations. Miguel then has to return to the land of the living before sunrise while also procuring the blessing of his family to pursue music.

Any story involving the memory of loved ones is ripe for emotional exploration, and the fear of being forgotten is possibly more terrifying than death itself. Coco is a terrific celebration of the culture it represents, featuring an A-list cast of Mexican and Mexican-American performers (Gael García Bernal, Benjamin Bratt, Renée Victor and Edward James Olmos). It condenses the meaning of the holiday then fully embodies it with its story and visuals, without oversimplifying or essentializing. The film follows a few predictable beats, though even the most cynical observer will not be able to resist the power of its emotional resolution. With Coco, Pixar continues to prove that no idea is off-limits to a good storyteller.

Playing this week

Alamo Drafthouse Cinema
377 Merchant Walk Sq., 326-5056

Justice League, Lady Bird, Murder on the Orient Express, The Room, Thor: Ragnarok, Wonder

Regal Stonefield 14 and IMAX
The Shops at Stonefield, 244-3213

A Bad Moms Christmas, Daddy’s Home 2, Justice League, Lady Bird, Murder on the Orient Express, Roman J. Israel, Esq., The Star, Thor: Ragnarok, Wonder

Violet Crown Cinema
200 W. Main St., Downtown Mall, 529-3000

Justice League, Lady Bird, Loving Vincent, Murder on the Orient Express, The Man Who Invented Christmas, Mark Felt: The Man Who Brought Down the White House, Thor: Ragnarok, Wonder

Categories
Living

Kebabish sizzles with fusion dishes

Kebabish Sizzling and Fire Grille offers authentic, fast dishes, including gyros (both meat and veggie), dumplings, curries, fried noodles and, of course, kebabs. BELOW:  Did you know: Hardywood Park Craft Brewery’s Gingerbread Stout is the first commercially brewed gingerbread stout? Photo by Paul Whicheloe

By Erin O’Hare and Sam Padgett

Kebabish Sizzling and Fire Grille, a new restaurant that fuses Turkish, Indian, Nepali and Mediterranean cuisines, is now open at 111 W. Water St. downtown, in the space most recently occupied by Downtown Thai.

The restaurant, owned by Uzzwal Khadka (who also owns Taste of India located at 310 E. Main St. on the Downtown Mall), promises fast, fresh, authentic food. Kebabish offers a wide range of dishes, including chicken, lamb and vegetable gyros (a gyro is a dish made from meat cooked on a vertical rotisserie and sliced and wrapped in pita with tomato, onion and tzatziki sauce); mo-mo, a spiced chicken dumpling that’s a popular street food in Tibet and Nepal; and shawarma, curry dishes, churrascaria kebabs and filets, fried noodles, fried rices and more. There’s also the “lovely meat ball” appetizer, a dish of chicken or lamb that, according to a member of our art department, is “kind of like a falafel, but with meat in it.”

All of Kebabish’s food, from the naan breads to the sauces, are made in-house. Additionally, Khadka says the restaurant has bought a lot of its fruit and vegetables from the City Market in an effort to ensure freshness while simultaneously supporting other local businesses.

Stout’s honor

When Hardywood Park Craft Brewery’s Gingerbread Stout beer burst onto the scene in November 2011, it received a rare perfect 100 score from BeerAdvocate magazine, which in 2012 declared the spiced stout “freagin’ Christmas in a bottle.” The brew also received bronze in the 2012 World Beer Cup herb and spice category. And earlier this month, six years after its initial release, The Beer Connoisseur named GBS the No. 1 Christmas and Holiday Beer. Made with baby ginger from Casselmonte Farm and wildflower honey from Bearer Farms, Hardywood Gingerbread Stout is the first commercially brewed gingerbread stout. Hardywood has brewed eight different GBS variants for the 2017 holiday season—the original GBS, bourbon barrel, Christmas Morning and Kentucky Christmas Morning, plus four found only at Hardywood breweries: rum barrel, apple brandy barrel, rye whiskey barrel and double barrel.

Eater’s digest

Every Wednesday from 4pm to midnight at Graduate Charlottesville’s Heirloom Rooftop and Bar, chef Frank Paris dishes out ramen specials. Paris is the former chef and owner of Miso Sweet Ramen + Donut Shop, which closed its doors on the Downtown Mall earlier this year. “I definitely miss Miso Sweet and it was tough to close,” says Paris. “We made a lot of friends and fans in the short two years [Miso Sweet was open], and as we were closing, we were constantly asked if we were going to do ramen at our new location. When we were brainstorming ideas for Heirloom, ramen was a no-brainer. It’s the perfect weather for it, and it gives me a chance to reconnect with fans of Miso Sweet and hopefully make some new fans here at Heirloom.”

CAVA, a fast-casual Mediterranean chain restaurant, will open a Charlottesville location in summer 2018. It’s one of two restaurants planned for Emmet Street Station. Located at 1200 Emmet Street N. (across from the Barracks Road Shopping Center, in the empty lot that once held an Exxon station), Emmet Street Station is currently under construction.

Downtown Mall denizens may have noticed that the popular Catch the Chef food cart took a recent hiatus from the Third Street SE/Downtown Mall junction (it was back on Monday), and that’s because Catch the Chef has grown into full-fledged food truck zipping to a different location daily. Check the truck’s Facebook page for more info.