The Tallis Scholars give voice to the Renaissance at Old Cabell Hall. Publicity photo
Hailed as “rock stars of Renaissance vocal music” by the New York Times, The Tallis Scholars are a British ensemble dedicated to the sacred vocal music of the Renaissance. Founded by famed choral conductor and musicologist Peter Phillips in 1973, the group has gained international acclaim by bringing fresh interpretation to historic pieces. Through Phillips’ guidance, the scholars blend their voices into a soaring soundscape as part of the Tuesday Evening Concert Series.
Tuesday, November 28. $12-39, 7:30pm. Old Cabell Hall, UVA. 924-3376.
Local club fixture Travis Elliott has a new album entitled Get In Love, and he’s making a holiday celebration of its release with his friends, who are also a talented group of musicians including Tucker Rogers, Joe Lawlor, Johnny Stubblefield (Parachute), Seth Green (former Sons of Bill bassist) and Kristen Rae Bowden. The evening also includes Lord Nelson, a band that’s developed its own brand of rock ’n’ roll, mixing pocket drums and funky bass with gritty, charged Southern guitar and mellow trombone.
Saturday, November 25. $10, 7pm. The Southern Café and Music Hall, 103 S. First St. 977-5590.
Combining puppetry and dance with dazzling visual effects, Lightwire Theater’s A Very Electric Christmas takes the audience through a neon tale of family, friendship and hope. Publicity photo
Combining puppetry and dance with dazzling visual effects, Lightwire Theater’sA Very Electric Christmas takes the audience through a neon tale of family, friendship and hope. The production’s creative team designed sculptures and costumes using electroluminescent wire arrangements to tell the story of a young bird named Max, who is on the annual journey south with his family for the winter when he is blown off course and ends up at the North Pole, where a great adventure begins.
Saturday, November 25. $14.75, 11:30am and 6pm. The Paramount Theater, 215 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. 979-1333.
Aaron Farrington’s portrait studio will open at McGuffey Art Center on November 29. Portraits from his “People of Charlottesville” series (like “Evan” above and “Rodney” below) will be on display during the Holiday Group Show at McGuffey in December. Courtesy of the artist
Aaron Farrington fell for photography in high school after his grandfather died. “My mom inherited his camera, so I inherited her camera and started taking pictures,” he says. Farrington became interested in making movies, too, and enrolled in a New York film school. But thanks to the expense, he dropped out and wrote a novel because, he says with his wry humor, “I wanted to do something cheaper.”
Farrington made his way to Charlottesville in 1997. “Moving here was great because it was cheap back then and it was easy to leave and come back,” he says. Inspiration came into focus on a road trip to Alaska and Los Angeles. Taking photographs along the way, Farrington returned with a lot of film to develop. “I learned how to do that and I was hooked,” he says.
Two years ago, he began shooting wet-plate photographs with a 1910 camera he found on eBay. Actually, he says, “The camera found me.” Wet-plate photography was invented by Frederick Scott Archer in 1851. It predates film and instead captures photographs on glass or aluminum plates. First Farrington sensitizes the plate by coating it with a mixture of a soluble iodide and collodion (cellulose nitrate) solution. Then he shoots the photo, which requires removing and replacing the lens cap because the camera doesn’t have a shutter. Using the portable dark box he built, he has to develop the photo before the plate dries. All of this happens in the span of 10 to 15 minutes. “It’s like a Polaroid,” he says. “Instant gratification…sometimes no gratification at all. It can be tricky.”
“Rodney.” Courtesy of the artist
Before purchasing the camera online, Farrington spent a summer shooting digital photos on the road with the Dave Matthews Band. He’d return to Charlottesville after two to three shows with about 5,000 photos to edit, but he found himself unhappy with this prospect.
“I didn’t get interested in photography because I wanted to sit in front of a computer,” he says. He recalls Nick Nichols (National Geographic photographer and founder of the LOOK3 Festival of the Photograph) saying to him when digital photography was beginning to take off, “The world is round in digital.” But Farrington has resisted this idea. “Creative constraints, I think, are good,” he says. “They can help focus us.” Now that photo editing software can give you any effect you want, he says, “It makes it seem maybe just a little less magic, and less a feeling of accomplishment.”
Farrington, who is opening a wet plate portrait studio at McGuffey Art Center this month, says the process appeals to him for a couple other reasons. One, he’s shy and it gives him something to talk about with his portrait subjects. “And the process is really fun to watch,” he says. “After you develop the plate in the dark box and bring it out into the light, it’s kind of a strange, milky negative image. You pour the fixer on it and slowly it turns into a positive and it just looks like magic and alchemy.” Another thing that makes it unique, Farrington says, is “it’s only sensitive to the blue end of the light spectrum. It means that people with really blue eyes end up with light or almost white-looking eyes.”
In an ongoing project, Farrington is documenting oral histories, shooting video portraits and making wet-plate portraits of Charlottesville residents in a series called “People of Charlottesville.” He recently exhibited some of the portraits at The Bridge, a selection of which will be on display during McGuffey’s Holiday Group Show in December. The series was born out of Farrington’s desire to record people’s stories in his own neighborhood. But his concept for the series expanded after the election, and again after August 12. “I wanted to celebrate who we are and what we are, for better or for worse,” he says.
The annual Blessing of the Hounds ceremony includes bagpipes, a soloist and, of course, horses and hounds. Cider, hot chocolate and donuts will be provided.
FAMILY Holiday open house Sunday, November 26
Get into the holiday spirit by ogling the decorations as you stroll through the first floor of Monticello. Don’t forget to stop by the Shop at Monticello for tastings and treats. Free, 9am-4pm. Monticello, 931 Thomas Jefferson Pwky. monticello.org
NONPROFIT Blessing of the Hounds Thursday, November 23
The annual blessing ceremony includes bagpipes, a soloist and, of course, horses and hounds. Cider, hot chocolate and donuts will be provided. Proceeds benefit the Rivanna Conservation Alliance and Wildlife Center of Virginia. Donations accepted, 10am. Grace Episcopal Church, 5607 Gordonsville Rd., Keswick. 293-3549.
FOOD & DRINK Holiday cupcake decorating Monday, November 27
During this hands-on class, Nicky Rose from Kraken Cakes will demonstrate how to decorate seasonal-inspired cupcakes or cakes using fondant. $55, 6-8pm. RSVP required. The Happy Cook, Barracks Road Shopping Center. thehappy cook.com
HEALTH & WELLNESS Boar’s Head Turkey Trot Thursday, November 23
Make room for turkey and all the trimmings by sweating off a few calories in the 36th annual Boar’s Head Turkey Trot. Bring the whole family out for the 5K race, which raises money for the UVA Children’s Hospital. RSVP required. $40-$60, 9am. Boar’s Head Inn, 200 Ednam Dr. turkeytrot.dominiondigital.com
You can find Earl Vallery’s Bowerbird Bakeshop’s creations, including matcha mint chocolate chip cookies and macarons in interesting flavors like Thai coffee, at the City Market holiday market. Photos by Paul Whicheloe
Pastry chef Earl Vallery is new to Charlottesville, and there are a few things you should know about him. 1) He loves bread. “I think it’s the most amazing food. I could eat it every day of my life,” says Vallery, who went to culinary school for bread-baking before turning to pastry (he helped launch Whisk bakery in Richmond). 2) His brand-new Bowerbird Bakeshop will sell matcha mint chocolate chip cookies (“if a Thin Mint and a chocolate chip cookie had a baby…” Vallery says) and double-chocolate vortex cookies (a naturally gluten-free meringue-based cookie that’s crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside) at the City Market holiday market. 3) Vallery loves a good French macaron, and 4) He’ll make macs for your holiday party. Vallery has a smorgasbord of interesting macaron flavors lined up, too, like Thai coffee (Italian buttercream filling flavored with coffee, condensed milk and cardamom); another with Earl Grey-infused chocolate ganache; and a classic pink-shelled vanilla macaron with rainbow sprinkles. Get at him at bowerbirdbakeshop@gmail.com for wholesale order info.
Pucker up
Charlottesville’s beer scene will get funkier this Friday, November 24, with the opening of Three Notch’d Brewing Co.’s sour house at 946 Grady Ave.
Most Americans are familiar with beers made from a very specific kind of yeast, says Three Notch’d founding brewer Dave Warwick—a yeast with a clean finish and a soft, fruity flavor. But other yeasts, such as wild yeasts, can add a funky flavor to brews. It’s fun for brewers to play with different yeasts and flavors, but it can be difficult to brew sours, Warwick says, because the yeasts required for sours are airborne and if not contained to a single room, can “go wild, so to speak, and infect” cleaner beers with that funky, sour taste.
Warwick says that for opening weekend, the sour house (which has been in the works for about a year) will have about a dozen sour beers on tap, including the Galaxy Table Beer, a low-alcohol, crisp, easy-drinking sour that gets its tropical fruit flavor from the Australian-grown galaxy hop, and Eat A Peach, a sour brewed with lapsang souchong smoked black tea, fermented on top of peach puree and aged in oak barrels.
Sours are “wonderful, wonderful, beautiful beers,” says Warwick, adding that they go well with many fruits, vegetables, herbs and spices. Fans of dry, red wines high in tannins might be surprised at how familiar the flavor profiles will taste, he says.
Cherry on top
A couple months ago, a C-VILLE reader said Cocoa & Spice’s triple chocolate chunk brownie was the best thing she’d eaten in Charlottesville all year (and she doesn’t even like chocolate). Get one of your own for $6—warmed up and smothered in two toppings of your choice, such as salted caramel sauce and toasted coconut—on Saturday, November 25, during the chocolate shop’s brownie pop-up fundraiser at the City Market’s holiday market from 8am to noon, and again from 3 to 6pm at Cocoa & Spice’s retail location at 506 Stewart St. One dollar from every brownie sold will benefit the Charlottesville Derby Dames.
If your aging dog loses his footing, don’t fret, but do get him to a vet. A dog with idiopathic vestibular syndrome usually recovers in a few days.
My client is in tears as she carries her standard poodle into the lobby. There was no appointment because the problem came out of nowhere. “It’s like he had a stroke,” she suggests as we hurry to an exam room.
And that’s certainly how it looks. The poor dog can’t keep his bearings. His head is cocked sharply to the right, and he stumbles in the same direction as if trying to brace himself on the deck of a storm-tossed ship. He scrambles to his feet just to pitch starboard again. I steady his head, and see what I’m looking for in his eyes. His pupils drift slowly to the right before darting back to the left, over and over in dizzy rhythm.
Despite the unsettling turbulence of it all, my response is surprisingly passive. Odds are good that he’ll be fine in a few days and will never suffer anything like it again. He’s almost certainly dealing with a peculiar disorder called idiopathic vestibular syndrome—a sudden disturbance in the balance center of the inner ear.
As far as these dogs are concerned, the world is spinning. If you’ve ever made yourself dizzy by twirling in circles as a child or, as an adult (you do you!), you’ve experienced the exact same symptoms. But unlike this poodle, you only had to put up with them for a few seconds.
Nobody really knows what causes this (which is what idiopathic means), but it tends to happen in older dogs. The symptoms appear instantly and without warning, and are frightening if you’ve never experienced them before. The first few days are the roughest, but most dogs are back to their normal selves within a week or so without any treatment at all. Care revolves around keeping them safe from injury and as comfortable as possible, and some dogs need a bit of encouragement to get them eating and drinking again.
It’s important to note that there are other diseases that can cause similar symptoms, and affected dogs should always be taken to see a veterinarian. Vestibular patients are examined for evidence of things like inner ear infections or other neurologic abnormalities that could suggest deeper disease in the brain. But unless there’s a compelling cause for alarm, it’s usually premature to begin talking about brain scans when the vast majority of these dogs go home and recover.
We may not know what causes idiopathic vestibular syndrome, but it’s common enough that I see a case every month or two. We can’t do anything to make it happen less often, but hopefully if more people know about it, they’ll be spared some anguish when it happens to their own pet.
Dr. Mike Fietz is a small-animal veterinarian at Georgetown Veterinary Hospital. He received his veterinary degree from Cornell University in 2003 and has lived in Charlottesville since.
Blondes really do have more fun. At least, that’s what I say. I’m Seabiscuit, and my best qualities include confidence, enthusiasm and energy. Let’s have a great time together!
I’m Desi, and if there’s one thing I love, it’s belly rubs. But I also like the park. And snuggling. And treats. Let’s meet up to see if we’re a match.
Maggie Moo here. I’m quiet (shy, some might say), but it doesn’t take me long to warm up to your everlasting affections. Still, I’d prefer a calm, peaceful home.
The name’s Zane, and I’m looking for a hiking buddy who can keep pace with me while exercising and relaxing. I’d prefer a home with only adults, please.
Charlottesville-Albemarle SPCA, 3355 Berkmar Dr. 973-5959, caspca.org, noon-6pm, daily
The city prepares for the anniversary of last summer's Unite the Right rally. Photo by Eze Amos
Almost immediately after the violent clashes in Charlottesville August 12, Governor Terry McAuliffe established a task force to review the events of that weekend, and consultants presented a preliminary report November 15.
The top two takeaways: This is a new era of protests—and a stronger permit process for those seeking to use public facilities could avoid the violence in the streets that left counterprotester Heather Heyer dead.
“People were coming in from out of state,” says Nicky Zamostny, the task force director who works in Secretary Brian Moran’s Office of Public Safety. In comparing videos, “we’re seeing a lot of the same faces. It’s a completely new sort of incident.”
The preliminary report notes competing, heavily armed groups of protesters out to harm one another, loaded with weapons and projectiles and using social media to coordinate efforts.
The other significant finding, says Zamostny, is a “strong permitting process” is the best way to avoid what happened at Emancipation Park. Among the recommendations is to restrict the length of time of the permit, change state law to allow the prohibition of weapons and have a protocol in place before the next Jason Kessler asks for a permit.
“We’ve worked with a First Amendment scholar,” says Zamostny. “Localities can absolutely have a strong permit process.”
The task force, made up of about two dozen top public safety officials from across the state—except from Charlottesville—heard a report from the consultants who actually did the review heavy lifting: the International Association of Chiefs of Police, which was paid around $46,000, and the Olsen Group, which cost $300,000, according to Zamostny.
“It’s not about finger pointing,” says Zamostny—several times in the course of a phone interview—perhaps mindful that the day the initial report came out, Charlottesville spokeswoman Miriam Dickler fired off a statement: “It is disappointing that, from what we have heard to date, the report lays fault on one organization rather than comprehensively considering the roles played by each participating agency.”
As much as the state’s review was not about placing blame, the initial report notes, “Recommendations communicated by the state to the City of Charlottesville were not accepted, including industry best practices for handling violent events.”
Among the concerns shared with Charlottesville were intelligence the participants were planning to be violent and a mass-casualty event, such as a car attack, was a possibility, according to the report.
The big question in Charlottesville since August 12 has been, where were the police and why didn’t they intervene when demonstrators were fighting. The governor’s task force does not address that issue, but it does note the “lack of a unified command.”
Virginia State Police appeared after an unlawful assembly was declared. Staff photo
Activist Emily Gorcenski says she has not read the entire report, but her impression is that it was more a presentation of tactics. “My question was, is this a review of what happened in Charlottesville or was this a case study for future events. My sense is it’s the latter.”
Zamostny likely wouldn’t disagree. She says the focus was public safety, and “to have necessary precautions in place” across the state to prevent future violent events.
The report also identified “a lot of things that went well,” she says. The state provided “an unprecedented level of resources,” including 600 Virginia State Police, 125 National Guard members and more than 400 on standby.
State police leave Emancipation Park after protesters were ordered to disperse August 12. Staff photo
But the recommendations suggest the state may have second thoughts about providing such a level of resources while allowing a locality to retain command. “The state should re-evaluate the extent to which it is comfortable remaining in a support role to local jurisdictions, particularly following a declared state of emergency and when large numbers state resources are allocated,” advise the consultants.
What went wrong: the state’s perspective
Charlottesville didn’t heed state recommendations
Charlottesville didn’t put restrictions on Jason Kessler’s Emancipation Park permit
Disparate incident action plans
Lack of unified command, unclear chain of command
Multiple command posts—and the one at Wells Fargo was “not functional”
Decision-makers weren’t trained on command post operations
Similar functionary units couldn’t communicate on the same radio frequency
No primary spokesperson
Criminal histories of participants not evident in operations plan
Veronica Fitzhugh waves to about 50 supporters outside the Charlottesville General District Court after Judge Robert Downer dismissed an assault charge. Staff photo
In her most recent court appearance, a judge dropped an assault charge against activist Veronica Fitzhugh after her accuser failed to appear.
Alleged victim Jason Turner blamed Fitzhugh for yelling at him and pushing him in Emancipation Park on May 21 as he attempted to take a photo of the General Robert E. Lee monument. Turner, who was carrying a Confederate flag, made a video that shows the activist, who fights for black and transgender rights, repeatedly order him to leave the park.
Turner reportedly works in D.C. and has missed a couple of court dates, causing the case to be continued several times.
When Charlottesville General District Court Judge Robert Downer called Fitzhugh’s name, about 30 people dressed in pink stood, until a uniformed deputy demanded they sit down.
Her supporters were once again reprimanded when they cheered as Downer made his ruling. The defendant exited the courtroom to the applause of several dozen other pink-clad fans.
Wearing a gray jacket with “FIND SAGE” printed on its lapels, Fitzhugh declined to give an interview, but plugged Violet Crown’s free screening of MAJOR!, a film about a transgender elder and activist,on November 20—the National Transgender Day of Remembrance.
Her blazer refers to Sage Smith, a local trans woman who was last seen in November 2012 on West Main Street. Earlier this year, police ruled her disappearance a homicide.
Outside the courtroom, Fitzhugh’s attorney made a brief statement about the assault charge. “I’m pleased by it being dismissed,” Jeff Fogel said. “It never should have been brought in the first place.”
He represented Fitzhugh in the same courtroom on October 20, when she was found not guilty of obstructing free passage at the summer’s July 8 Ku Klux Klan rally in Justice Park, where she laid down in front of the gate that white supremacists were scheduled to enter through, and was carried away by police.
Fogel will also stand by his client for another alleged assault that happened May 20, one day before the Turner confrontation. Homegrown right-wing blogger and organizer of the deadly Unite the Right rally, Jason Kessler, filed a charge against Fitzhugh that will be heard February 2.
Stephen Dalton Baril, second from right, appears outside Charlottesville General District Court November 16. A judge certified his rape and sodomy charges to the grand jury. Staff photo
During a preliminary hearing in which the alleged victim burst into tears and ran out of the courtroom, a judge certified rape and forcible sodomy charges against a former UVA student.
Stephen Dalton Baril, 20, is accused of pushing another student onto the bed of his Wertland Street apartment, taking her clothes off, performing oral sex on her and raping her while she cried out for help. He’s the grandson of the late John Dalton, a Republican who served as the 63rd governor of Virginia from 1978 to 1982.
The alleged victim—identified as M.H. in court—sat in the front row behind prosecutor Areshini Pather, staring straight ahead, and family members with their heads low stroked her back in support. Young women who appeared to be present in support of her lined the rows behind her.
Baril’s supporters also filled up several rows, while the defendant stood quietly at the stand.
Charlottesville police Detective Regine Wright-Settle testified that between late January 31 and early February 1, M.H. said Baril met up with her at Coupe’s, a popular bar on the Corner, and bought her a drink. She left with Baril, whom she met during a mixer between her sorority and his fraternity, with the intention of him walking her to her nearby apartment.
As she and Baril were walking from Coupe’s to her place, the young woman told Wright-Settle that Baril playfully picked her up and redirected her to his apartment. When they got there, she immediately asked to use the restroom, and when she emerged, the Richmond native was standing in nothing but his underwear.
Defense attorney Rhonda Quagliana asked the detective to show a surveillance video of the two walking down University Avenue and Wertland Street, which never shows Baril pick her up. When the lawyer noted that her account didn’t match the footage, the woman who brought the charges erupted in tears, turned to the person on her right in disbelief, and crying, she dashed for the door. A deputy followed her out.
Wright-Settle read a series of text messages from that night, in which Baril texted the young woman after the reported rape: “Sorry for being over excited,” and “ I hope you’re not mad at me. Let me know if I was being stupid.”
The next morning, he allegedly texted, “Haha. My head hurts,” and asked if she was on “the pill.”
To that, M.H. replied that it doesn’t matter because she “stopped [him],” and said it was a bad decision. Baril replied, “What was a bad decision? I hope you had fun. I did.”
According to the detective, the accuser told her that going to Baril’s apartment was the “bad decision” she was referring to, and that she told him to stop several times. She said as Baril forced himself on her, she called out for help.
In cross examination, Wright-Settle said she interviewed Baril’s roommates who were reportedly home, and none of them could attest to hearing someone call for help that night.
Defense attorney Quagliana, who also noted that the two appeared to be walking arm-in-arm and hand-in-hand in the video, said after the alleged incident, when M.H. was seen on video walking alone to her own apartment, she looked “neatly dressed” and her hair wasn’t messy.
Judge Robert Downer also amended Baril’s bond to allow him to leave his home in the presence of a parent.
Baril is scheduled to appear in front of the grand jury in December.
