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Arts Culture

Bring you back

Blues guitarist Kenny Wayne Shepherd made his first hit record when he was only 16 years old. Now, almost 30 years later, the child phenom is relishing the past while looking toward the future.

Shepherd completed an exhaustive tour promoting the 25th anniversary re-release of his breakout album Trouble Is… in May. He’s back on the road, drumming up support for his newest effort, Dirt on My Diamonds, an LP he’s releasing one track at a time for the next several months.

Ahead of his October 3 date at The Paramount Theater, Shepherd talked to C-VILLE Weekly about music’s past, his present, and the blues’ future.

C-VILLE: I don’t remember you playing Charlottesville recently. Have you been?

Kenny Wayne Shepherd: I’m sure we have. I feel like I’ve been everywhere. But with the way my brain works—I’m more of a visual person and am really bad with names.

You gained popularity at a really important time in this city’s musical history. 

I was listening to all kinds of music when I was a kid. My dad was a disc jockey and program director for a radio station. If it was a hit, I was listening to it, and that definitely included Dave Matthews Band. Dave and I have crossed paths a few times over the years. I remember the first time, I spent like an entire day with him in the ’90s for one of Bill Clinton’s inaugurations. Before the main event that night, we spent the afternoon watching people like Stevie Wonder rehearse. I also spent some time with him doing Farm Aid and for a few other events over the years. He’s just a really nice guy—and obviously tremendously successful.

Out of all the music you were listening to as a DJ’s kid, what drew you to the blues?

It is just the kind of music that I connected with on the deepest level. And I would rather be happy playing my music than be unhappy playing music just to be more successful. People like Dave have both, but the blues chose me and I chose the blues. I never wanted to abandon the music I love, to try to pursue a genre that would net me more success. And I feel like I took a genre that wasn’t commercially out there and put it in a more commercial way. We had a lot of radio success and a lot of singles that charted very well.

What’s the current state of blues?

It hasn’t had all that much mainstream success because of the radio format today. Back then, I would put a single out and we would run it up the charts at rock radio. Now there’s no mainstream rock radio that supports this kind of music. I would release an album, and we would sell tens of thousands of them. I have multiple gold and platinum albums hanging on my wall because of it. But the way the business is set up now, album sales just aren’t there. I don’t know that that is in the cards ever again. Success is measured differently today.

What do you think about commercially successful post-blues bands like The White Stripes?

I think nowadays, more people talk about The Black Keys. But yeah, Jack White—both of those bands drew very, very heavily on blues. But they took it in a direction that connects with a younger fan base. You look at the older blues fans, they don’t think of any of those bands as blues. Some of those people don’t put me in the blues category either. But I think it’s great. At the end of the day, you have to have new people come along and take stuff like that and incorporate it into new music. If you don’t, eventually this connection is going to be severed between new listeners and that music. There aren’t going to be any dots to connect.

And what about your own music—how has it changed over the years?

I incorporate all kinds of things I grew up listening to. If you listen to my most recent albums—I have a new one coming out in November—you hear so many different genres sprinkled in there. Blues is the foundation, and we build on that. That’s how the evolution of music works, period. You take one thing, start experimenting with it, and create different things. As a guitarist, I think I’m actually faster now than when I was young. It just comes with practice, and there’s no better practice than being out on the road and being on stage in front of people. You play at a completely different intensity level.

I would imagine the intensity also changes as the years go by.

What I had then was a drive to prove myself. When you’re young and you get an opportunity, you have to take it. It was my moment to kind of establish to the industry that I am here for the long haul—why I deserve to be here. Every time you pick up that instrument, you want to show them why you belong. Now I‘ve been doing this so long, I’m just trying to make the best music I can make. There is a certain amount of maturity and satisfaction that comes along with that.

You wasted no time going from your Trouble Is Tour to the current tour. How’s that transition been?

There are some songs on Trouble Is… that we rarely played live, ever. We launched the tour not knowing how long it would last—maybe three months—but it ended up doing so well and selling out in almost every market. Now we are shifting gears, but we’re still doing some Trouble Is… . We generally don’t play a show without “Blue on Black.” But we’re also revisiting some of the songs on our first album and doing some of the more recent music. We want to remind the fans that we’ve been making music this entire time—30 years of music. 

Categories
Arts Culture

A fine pairing

The theme of Anton Chekhov’s 1898 play Uncle Vanya is captured by two words in the title of Aaron Posner’s 2015 adaptation: life sucks.

That message won’t have audiences leaving the theater downhearted, however, when Live Arts kicks off its 33rd season with a concurrent run of Uncle Vanya and Life Sucks.

Even if the journey of life is sometimes a slog for the characters in Chekhov’s and Posner’s plays, they learn to get as much out of the trek as they can. “It should not leave people with a heaviness,” says Live Arts Artistic Director Susan E. Evans, who directs Uncle Vanya. “It should leave people thinking, but not feeling that life sucks. Life Sucks is tongue-in-cheek, even the title.”

A Chekhov fan since she was a teenager who related to Three Sisters, Evans noticed a lack of the Russian playwright in Live Arts’ repertoire and decided to change it. In order to help Charlottesville audiences connect with a show originally meant to resonate with Russians in another era, Evans is running the classic play in repertory with a living American playwright’s comic take on it.

“We’ve had feedback from the community about definitely wanting classics in the mix,” Evans says. “To me, this is a nice way of making connections between a contemporary playwright who’s actually right next door, because he’s based in D.C., and also being able to present a classic I love.”

While Evans helms Uncle Vanya, Fran Smith, co-founder of Live Arts, is returning after a three-year hiatus to direct Life Sucks. After directing more than 60 shows at the theater since its founding in 1990, she says this production “might be my swan song.” 

“I’ve been waiting to do one more, and I just really love Life Sucks,” Smith says. “It’s about love, longing, and loss, but it’s also about hope. I think people will relate to it.” 

Uncle Vanya takes place in an estate in the Russian countryside, where a group of people lament lust, unfulfillment, and ennui as strained relationship dynamics and arguments over the management of the estate threaten to disturb the boredom of everyday life. Life Sucks surrounds a similar gathering of seven people in the United States, 126 years later.

Running these plays at the same time presented a challenge for scenic designer Tom Bloom, associate professor emeritus of scenic design in the UVA Department of Drama, who was tasked with designing one set for two shows taking place over a century apart.

Audience members who come to the Founders Theater on consecutive nights this fall will notice a pair of different settings on the same stage. Uncle Vanya takes place in period-specific costume on a porch, and includes a working swing and real trees. In contrast, Life Sucks focuses on its actors as they revolve around a spare stage that features just a table, two chairs, and a stairway.

Like the foundation of their sets, the bedrock of the plots in Uncle Vanya and Life Sucks are recognizably similar, but distinguished by embellishments, such as the Chekhov character who shows up as a puppet in Posner’s adaptation. Where a missed gunshot causes panic and fury in Uncle Vanya, it leads to mockery of the shooter in Life Sucks. Where one character soliloquizes on her loneliness in Uncle Vanya, she turns to the audience and asks for a show of hands as to who wants to sleep with her in Life Sucks.

“That’s the thing I love about Posner,” says Smith. “He’ll take a situation that could be very intense and serious, and make it funny.” As talks of estate management and deforestation in Uncle Vanya turn into characters lamenting student loans and climate change in Life Sucks, the two shows remain connected by similarities that run deeper than the ever-present drinking of vodka. Both plays challenge their actors, thanks to Chekhov’s disinclination to define characters as good or bad. He similarly does not make a judgment about the overall mood of Uncle Vanya, which is labeled as neither tragedy nor comedy, but rather as “scenes from country life.”

Although that country life takes place in a distant location and time, many of the problems the characters face in Uncle Vanya, from unhappy relationships to environmental destruction, remain surprisingly relatable to 2023 audiences. “It’s very accessible,” Evans says. “It’s like a midlife crisis play, in a way, and a lot of us can identify with that.” Posner then takes those conflicts and makes them instantly recognizable through Life Sucks’ seven characters, who grapple with timeless issues, like the fear of aging you feel when you find a gray nose hair.

“Everybody in the audience can relate to one of these characters,” Smith says. “That’s what I find really fun about this show. It doesn’t need a lot. It really relies on the actors to carry it.”

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News

In brief

Resilient Together 

To combat the local impacts of climate change and better prepare for natural disasters, the City of Charlottesville, Albemarle County, and the University of Virginia are collaborating on a new program, Resilient Together.

In a September 15 press release announcing the project, the group highlighted how each jurisdiction’s independent climate efforts will be boosted through the collaboration. “Locally, we are experiencing longer, hotter heat waves, more destructive storms, wildfire smoke, and invasive pests,” shared the group. “Collaborating will help us to produce better, stronger results.”

Anticipated to last approximately 18 months, Resilient Together will occur in five phases—Discover, Define, Design, Decide, and Do—with the goal of creating and adopting complementary action plans for both the city and county.

Beyond researching specific climate challenges faced in Charlottesville and Albemarle, the initial Discover phase will also be an opportunity for project members and the community to form connections. 

Throughout the process, the group plans to listen to and incorporate input from the community, nonprofits, businesses, and other local players. According to the press release, “Creating effective climate adaptation and resilience plans for the city and county that serve our community requires meaningful collaboration among local government, partner organizations, and you.” 

To jumpstart involvement in the project, Resilient Together will host a community kick-off and open house on September 26 from 4 to 7pm at Carver Recreation Center.

Recall runs ashore

The attempt to oust Don Polonis from the Lake Monticello Owners Association Board of Directors failed. Supplied photo.

After a summer-long recall campaign, the effort to remove Don Polonis from the Lake Monticello Owners Association Board of Directors has failed.

The recall election—which was prompted by a number of anti-LGBTQ comments and against-policy social media posts by Polonis—brought out a record turnout at the lake, with 2,480 total ballots cast in the election.

While a majority of voters opted to remove the director, the recall fell 143 “yes” votes short of the 2,256 required to oust Polonis from the board. Only 291 members voted to retain Polonis.

“This tally of votes, with 46 percent of households voting for removal, shows a clear rebuff to the conduct of Director Polonis,” said Board President Larry Henderson in a statement to LMOA News. “While it may seem undemocratic that a vote of 85-15 percent in favor of removal failed to succeed, the board reminds the residents that this is due to the rules laid down by the Virginia Nonstock Corporation Act.”

With no remaining avenues to remove the controversial director, Polonis will be allowed to serve the remaining two years of his term.

In brief

Funding futures

At A Black and White Affair on September 15, eight local minority-owned businesses received $40,000 in grants from United Way of Greater Charlottesville and the Minority Business Alliance of the Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Congress. This year’s list of recipients includes everything from fitness classes to food trucks, with bakernobakery, Beyond Fitness with Sabrina, Cavalier Barbershop, Eudamonia, justified by Netta, Khadija’s Kitchen, Loyal Beyond Beauty, and Rita’s Bright Beginnings all receiving funds. 

Closing time   

After 36 years of business, Rebecca’s Natural Food will close its doors on September 30. Founded in 1987, the health food and supplement store has been a staple in the Charlottesville area for years. Until closing, the business will offer 25 percent off everything in store. In a public statement, owner Norman Dill thanked the community and employees for their support. “Although we feel a sense of loss during this time of change, we are equally proud of our achievements in promoting well-being in our community,” he said. “Thank you for all your support over the years, and we hope to serve you to the end.”

Rebecca’s Natural Food will close its Barracks Road store on September 30. Supplied photo.

Fashion Square shooting

An Albemarle teenager was arrested for the September 13 Fashion Square Mall shooting, which resulted in two people and a dog seeking medical attention. The suspect, 19-year-old Jalontae Percer, has been charged with malicious wounding and use or display of a firearm in the commission of a felony. Percer is currently out on bond, and is scheduled to appear in Albemarle General District Court for a preliminary hearing on November 2.

Categories
Culture Food & Drink

‘What can I get ya?

By Mary Esselman, Maeve Hayden, Tami Keaveny, and Susan Sorensen

Walking in to a busy diner is an exciting sensory experience. The clang of silverware and dishes banging around, orders called from front-of-house to back, and air laden with the savory perfume of the kitchen. Trays go by filled with warm toasty waffles, deliciously greasy bacon and eggs, chicken-fried steak, Reuben sandwiches, turkey melts, and thick slices of lemon meringue pie. The anticipation builds until you’re seated, a server splashes coffee into a thick china cup, and asks, “What can I get ya?” Charlottesville has plenty of formal restaurants, but lucky for us, the city also abounds with (too many to count!) diners that deliver a nostalgic dream of American mealtime, where the food feeds the soul and the folks feel familiar. Here’s a roundup of some of our favorites. Post your go-to on our Facebook page and tell us why you love it.


Soul-filling station

Mel’s Cafe | 719 W. Main St. | facebook.com/MelsSoulFoodCafe

Mel Walker. Photo by Eze Amos.

Like its longtime proprietor Mel Walker, this legendary Charlottesville landmark exudes an aura of relaxed excellence. 

Stop by near lunchtime, and you’ll find a line out the door, giving you a chance to peruse the menu taped to the window. Will you opt for breakfast, served all day? Perhaps the George Omelette: ham, cheese, onions, green peppers, and diced tomatoes, topped with chili beans? Or is lunch calling you to the fried fish sub or that BBQ rib sandwich? 

Your stomach and heart rumble in anticipation of stick-to-the-ribs ecstasy, and already you know what you’ve heard is true: Mel’s, with its humble, homespun name, offers food for the soul.

Community photos cover the walls inside, along with tributes to beloved friends (and to the team formerly known as the Washington Redskins). A sign above the cash register reads: “Family, where life begins, and love never ends.” 

Life and love never tasted as good as the fried chicken you order once you reach the counter and ask for Mel’s most popular dish. Hot, moist, and crunchy, it’s made to order and worth the 15-minute wait. Creamy mac and cheese, followed by Mel’s famous sweet potato pie complete the out- of-body experience.—ME


The kindness of strangers

The Villa Diner | 1250 Emmet St. N. | thevilladiner.com

Photo by Tristan Williams.

Something wonderful is going on at The Villa Diner. And it’s not just the joy we felt when The Wahoo (buttermilk pancakes, eggs, and sausage) and Super Big Complete Breakfast (bacon, hash browns, biscuits, and cheese on the scrambled eggs, please) arrived at our table. 

We’re talking about an epidemic of paying it forward at the popular Emmet Street eatery. Just ask Mike, a local unhoused man. Or the Albemarle High School track team. Or the random person who’s caught the attention of a couple of UVA football players who regularly buy a stranger breakfast. 

“It happens all the time,” says Jennifer Beachley, who’s co-owned the Villa with her husband Ken since 2005. One long-time customer buys everything from a veggie omelet to a Philly cheesesteak or grilled turkey melt (three of the diner’s most popular items) for people she’s never met, several times a month. “She says it’s the best part of her week,” according to Beachley, who gave the woman a map of the restaurant so she could give the cashier specific table numbers when paying her bill.

As if a Reuben and fries for under 10 bucks isn’t enough, imagine your delight when, after polishing off a plate of steak and eggs, you get to the register and learn that the guy who might score the winning touchdown at Scott Stadium this weekend has picked up the tab for your meal.—SS


A new moon

Blue Moon Diner | 606 W. Main St. | bluemoondiner.net

Photo by Eze Amos.

Blue Moon Diner has evolved many times since its inception in 1979: owners Laura Galgano and Rice Hall took the reins, a lengthy closure, thanks to years of construction, COVID-19, and now a new service model. But some things never change. 

Last month, the midtown diner switched to a coffee shop-style service. No more reservations, just walk in and choose your stickered booth (during the weekend brunch madness you’ll still have to put your name on a waitlist), then order through QR codes or up at the counter using a self-serve kiosk—and don’t forget to drop your dirty plates in a bus bin when you’re done. 

Though ordering looks a little different, it’s still the same heavenly Blue Moon food coming out of the kitchen—like the ever-popular Hogwaller Hash with a side of home fries, or crispy beignets topped with powdered sugar—and the restaurant is full of familiar faces running food and making drinks, including Galgano. 

Blue Moon’s coffee selection continues to reign supreme, with bottomless Trager Brothers Blue Moon Blend for $3, and canned Snowing in Space nitro cold brew for $5.

And, of course, Wednesday evenings are still for Jim Waive. The local musician brings the classic country tunes, Blue Moon shakes the cocktails and not-tails, and diners enjoy eggs all night long.—MH


Don’t skip dessert

Doodle’s Diner | 1305 Long St. | facebook.com/p/Doodles-Diner

Hiding in plain sight just before the Locust Avenue exit off 250 West sits the best little diner you’ve never noticed: Doodle’s. Walk through the door, and you’re in an American time capsule of clean, comfy, country ease: brightly lit booths and tables, homey decorations, and a sweetheart of a server named Kim. 

Since she was 14, Melanie “Doodle” Lohr wanted to run a restaurant, she says, and for the past 10 years, she, her mom, and her Aunt Barbara have brought that dream to life. Morning regulars devour the breakfast combos and omelets, while evening folks come for the specials: salmon cakes, catfish dinner, hamburger steak, and Wednesday-night spaghetti. Popular desserts include three-tier cakes like the Sunshine (orange with mandarin oranges, whipped cream, and diced pineapple), chocolate chess pie, and bread pudding.

Almost as big a draw as the food is Kim, beloved for making everyone feel at home. When a grandpa comes in with his young grandson, Kim asks how their sleepover went the night before, and takes their drink orders. The boy asks for a soda, and Kim says, “Well, is that okay with Grandpa?” Grandpa smiles, “I don’t care, he won’t be with me today,” and Kim jokes back, “Oh, so a Mountain Dew then, huh?”—ME


Bucks and pucks

Moose’s by the Creek | 1710 Monticello Rd. | facebook.com/moosesbythecreek

Photo by Eze Amos.

If you’re looking for the classic country diner experience—with a twist—gather your herd and head to Moose’s by the Creek.

Tucked inside an unassuming building off Monticello Road, the family-owned eatery serves breakfast all day, juicy burgers, and specialty sweets for a reasonable price. Loyal patrons stop by every week to tuck into their tried-and-true favorites, like the Maine Moose (eggs, home fries, and your choice of meat and carb for $8) or the CVille Way (French toast topped with whipped butter, eggs, home fries, and a protein for $12). The pancakes are delightfully fluffy, the Mimoosas are bottomless for only $20, and it’s one of the few restaurants in town that serves scrapple as a side. 

You can’t talk about Moose’s without mentioning the elephant in the room, which in this case is a moose—and a bear, and a turkey, and a deer. Yep, you read that right. Moose’s multiple dining rooms are tastefully decorated with busts of taxidermied animals. If that’s not your thing, they do offer takeout.

In addition to housing racks of antlers (with one that patrons stand under for the ubiquitous Moose crown), the restaurant also has a hockey sports bar in one of its back rooms, complete with foosball, pool, signed memorabilia, and, come hockey season, a room full of Caps fans rooting for Ovi to score another goal.—MH

Stack ’em up

Tip Top Restaurant | 1420 Richmond Rd. | tiptoprestaurant.com

Photo by Eze Amos.

Somehow Tip Top manages to be both a Southern and a Northeastern diner. 

Head in for breakfast, and you’ll find corn cakes (“a true Southern delight,” declares the menu) and a country ham special that includes two eggs, home fries, and grits. A cheerful waitress greets you with “Good morning, honey!” and a hot mug of coffee (better than Starbucks but not as good as JBird Supply). You might try the popular buckwheat pancakes (“Tastes like you’re in Texas”), or the two biscuits with sausage gravy and two eggs, about as Southern as you can get.

Show up for lunch or dinner, however, and you’ll feel the “Seinfeld” vibe of Jerry, George, and Elaine’s NYC diner, Monk’s Café. Owner Terry Vassolous, originally from Greece, has crafted a menu full of Greek and Italian specialties, from grape leaves, souvlaki, and moussaka to lasagna, manicotti, and fettuccini alfredo. The meatballs are sublime, and the pizzas stand out for their Greek-influenced toppings, like the peasant’s feta cheese, fresh tomatoes, black olives, scallions, bell peppers, and pepperoni. There’s even a “big salad” (one Greek, one chef).

Any time of day, Tip Top feels sparkling and friendly, a haven for weary families, workers, students, and Route 250 travelers.—ME


Two Tammys and a side of love

The Korner Restaurant | 415 Roosevelt Brown Blvd. | korner-restaurant.business.site

Around the corner from UVA Medical Center, the Korner Restaurant has been feeding Cherry Avenue and Lee Street folks for over 50 years. “A good place to eat, where two streets meet,” proclaims the menu, and that’s what you find at the Korner, from 5:30am to 4pm, hefty, low-cost portions of hearty homemade food, with a side dish of neighborly love.

Philip Templeton runs the place that’s been in his family since 1950, arriving at 3:30am to prepare from-scratch dishes like macaroni salad, cole slaw, potato salad, and BBQ. Once the breakfast rush starts, he’s at the counter with his regulars, who show up every day.

Two Tammys and a core Korner crew keep the place humming. Tammy One greets you like your favorite aunt, bringing you heaping portions of home fries and grits, and keeping the strong coffee coming. A Korner mainstay for decades, she lights up describing customer favorites: the juicy burgers (fresh ground beef, never frozen), stuffed subs, tangy wing dings, and homemade chicken salad. Tammy Two handles the griddle, the register, and any diner thing that needs doing.

Wahoowa-proud, the Korner loves the community it serves.—ME


The OG with cocktails

The Nook | 415 E. Main St., Downtown Mall | thenookcville.com

Waiting in line for a table at The Nook during the weekend brunch rush is one of those quintessential Charlottesville experiences. One of C’ville’s OG diners, The Nook opened in 1951, and offers an elevated diner experience with local and seasonal offerings and specialty cocktails. 

A Nook brunch is best experienced at one of the coveted outdoor patio seats—just be prepared to wait in line (pro tip: Send one person to the restaurant 20 minutes before you’d like to eat to put your party’s name on the list). Though the wait can sometimes be up to 30 minutes, it’s not unpleasant. The hosts juggle and flip tables with ease, waiters bustle back and forth carrying steaming plates that make your stomach growl, and if you’re lucky, a busker’s accordion rendition of “Toxic” by Britney Spears will drift down the mall.

As you peruse the menu and begin sipping on your mug of coffee, keep these three things in mind: the breakfast potatoes, which are perfectly seasoned and served with peppers and onions, are some of the yummiest in the city, brunch pairs best with a boozy cocktail, like the Spiced Apple Mimosa, and you have to try the eggs benny at least once.—MH


Sing with your supper

Holly’s Diner | 1221 E. Market St. | facebook.com/HollysDinerCville

Photo by Eze Amos.

Holly’s is a nighttime diner, offering comfort food and friendly fun from 5pm to 2am, Tuesday through Saturday. The place is funky and cute, with an industrial-meets-farm chic, and a honky-tonk happy soul.

An older crowd comes early to claim swivel-stool seats at the long concrete bar, or to grab a spot at the hidden outdoor patio. There they throw back signature cocktails like the Belmont Sweet Tea (Southern tea with a kick), while enjoying Holly’s most popular dinner dishes—homemade meatloaf, chicken poblano pot pie, Brussels sprout hash, and fried green tomatoes. 

After 9pm, a younger crowd fills the tables and booths near the small stage that sparkles with live music on Fridays and Saturdays, Thunder Music Karaoke on Tuesdays, Open Mic Night on Wednesdays, Game Night on Thursdays, and, on occasion, Goth Takeovers with DJs. Folks who work and party into the wee hours love Holly’s late-night handheld options, like the catfish po’boy, Reuben sandwich, and the Hangover Burger (gently dressed with bacon, fried egg, pepper, pepper jack cheese, special hot sauce, and lettuce).  

Even the olds often hang around for dinner and “a show,” just to chat with beloved manager, Morgan, and to soak in the diner’s welcoming vibe.—ME

Categories
Arts Culture

Raising the bar

If you’ve never heard of Martin Clark, you haven’t read The Many Aspects of Mobile Home Living, a cult classic, at least in this reporter’s book group. And you probably aren’t aware that Clark, a former circuit court judge, was the first judge in Virginia to remove from his courtroom a portrait of a Confederate general—J.E.B. Stuart—in namesake Stuart, Virginia.

Now retired, Clark, 64, has more time to write, and to speak freely, with anecdotes about Rita Mae Brown, Jay McInerney, and of course, fellow legal thriller writer John Grisham. When The Many Aspects of Mobile Home Living came out in 2000, The New York Times called Clark “the thinking man’s John Grisham, but, maybe better, the drinking man’s John Grisham.”

“I’ve never asked him about ‘the thinking man’s John Grisham,’ which I’ve dined out on for years,” says Clark in a phone interview from Stuart. He’s a big fan of Grisham, and says that people tend to discount how talented he is, and how hard it is to write a “strong, compelling muscular story” every year.

Clark describes himself as a “slow pen,” and has just released his sixth novel, The Plinko Bounce. Corruption, fraud, and behind-the-scenes manipulation are common devices in legal thrillers, including his own, says Clark. However, he’s a big believer in the integrity of the legal system, and wanted to tell a story in which there’s no corruption, but because of a legal technicality or constitutional issue, “we get an outcome that doesn’t track.”

In the case of The Plinko Bounce, a confessed murderer and all-round reprobate may walk. “So many people believe the legal system is corrupt,” says the former judge, who spent nearly three decades on the bench and who received the Virginia State Bar’s Henry Carrico Professionalism Award in 2018. “It’s not corrupt when you get a decision that’s controversial. It’s a good system that works 99 percent of the time.”

Clark grew up in Stuart, in Patrick County, where all his novels are set, and after schooling at Woodberry Forest, Davidson, and UVA law school, he returned to practice law, and became the state’s youngest judge when he was appointed at age 32. 

But writing was always his first career choice, and he has 20 years of sometimes “hysterical” rejection letters before he got published. His favorite came from Rita Mae Brown. During those long years, he decided it would be “genius” to get a literary sponsor, and one night with a friend, put an early Many Aspects of Mobile Home Living manuscript in Nelson County resident Brown’s mailbox, along with a bottle of scotch.

Three weeks later, she replied: “It occurs to me you’ll either be a half-assed lawyer or a half-assed writer, because writing is a full-time profession.” 

“I got good vibes from that rejection letter,” he recalls.

The vibes weren’t so good when he removed Stuart’s portrait in 2015, a year before Charlottesville began to grapple with its own Confederate iconography issue. “It was the right thing to do,” he declares, calling it a “no-brainer,“ both legally and morally.

“That decision remains unpopular where I live and I remain a villain to many people in the community.” He points to other unpopular decisions—women’s and African Americans’ right to vote, gay marriage—that were also the right thing to do.

The day after January 6, 2021, Clark, a self-proclaimed “Barry Goldwater/Bill Buckley conservative,” wrote an open letter to his congressman, Morgan Griffith, also a lawyer, scolding him for supporting Trump’s false claims that the election was stolen: “Your feckless, self-serving actions in Congress have given vitality to a dreadful lie, and in doing so, you have damaged a bedrock institution in our country, the court system… Succinctly put, you have invited people to disregard the rule of law simply because they disagree with it. We got a nice dose of that yesterday in Washington. I am ashamed of you.”

“I could do that now that I’m retired,” says Clark.

Clark was so desperate to get The Many Aspects of Mobile Home Living published that he promised God he’d give all the proceeds to his church. Stuart Presbyterian has been the beneficiary of that book’s proceeds, a pledge Clark says he didn’t dare go back on.

The protagonist in Many Aspects is also a judge, albeit a heavy drinking, pot smoking jurist. Clark says many people showed up to his readings expecting the “fun, free-wheeling Judge Evers Wheeling,” not a “buttoned up, boring judge.”

Publisher Alfred Knopf sent Clark on his first book tour with Jay McInerney, author of the cocaine-fueled Bright Lights, Big City, to show him the ropes. Says Clark, McInerney was “a delight to work with,” who was very handsome, had groupies and stalkers, and who offered to let debut novelist Clark be the headliner.

At a reading in Atlanta, a camo-dressed guy informed Clark that he could tell he wasn’t a pot smoker, because “pot didn’t make you hallucinate,” recalls Clark.

“The reason I could write Many Aspects is because I live in such a small town that every­body knows me,” says Clark. “The folks who wiped my nose and tied my mittens are here. If I were a drinker and stoner, everybody would know it. There’s no way you could do my job and be Evers Wheeling.”

Categories
Arts Culture

Digging into sound

In Voice Machines: The Castrato, the Cat Piano, and Other Strange Sounds, Bonnie Gordon explores the castrato as a cultural phenomenon and a critical mode of inquiry into the technological relationships that have existed between humans, machines, sounds, and instruments, from early modern to contemporary times. We interviewed the UVA professor of music and co-director of the Sound Justice Lab to find out more about this gorgeously sweeping, multidisciplinary book that is equal parts historical and visionary.

C-VILLE: From Greek myths and Monteverdi to Donna Haraway and Nick Cave, from sound theory and queer theory to posthumanism and the politics of desire, your new book looks at the voice as a technological and theoretical intervention that has shaped history and culture. The book’s scope is immense, each chapter a divergent constellation that reads like it could be a book unto itself despite being deeply connected to the whole. You write that, “The castrato is a critical provocation for asking several questions about the interrelated histories of music, technology, sound, the limits of the human body, and what counts as human.” Could you describe how such expansive research evolved over time?

Bonnie Gordon: I gave my first academic paper on the castrato when I was pregnant with my twins. [Voice Machines] came out after their sophomore year of college. A book that takes so long must take conceptual twists and turns. I thought I was writing a book on castrati in 16th- and 17th-century Roman festivals. And then I took my first archival trip to Rome. I spent hours wandering the streets with little twins in a double stroller. I entertained them by chasing modern Roman spectacles, looking for il Papa, visiting the Swiss Guards, watching fireworks, splashing in fountains. The kids turned me on to the sensory world of Rome and enticed me to think about the city as a vibrant, living space. I found it endlessly fascinating to feel the multiple layers of history; to sit on a yellow plastic bench next to a Baroque church on top of an ancient building. The book had to incorporate those layers, it had to capture the sensory experience of castrati as somewhere between a mythological past and an imagined future.

You also note opportunities for “historiographical reharmonization” around the study of castrati, writing, “Sound in this book is not just acoustical resonance, much less is it just musical or vocal. Rather it constitutes an interface.” Could you discuss how musical metaphors as well as structures like harmonies and refrains influence your work?

The book digs into sound; not just music but the way the world sounded before car alarms and microphones, and it understands sound and listening as central to the way humans experience their worlds. But I don’t think of music-inflected language as metaphor. I’m trained as a classical musician and a traditional music historian, so my mind works in those terms. For example, if you reharmonize a tune you essentially play the same melody with a different chord progression. It can feel totally different and usually it’s a little more gritty; a bit more uncomfortable. This is what I do when I take a text from the 18th century that describes the castrato procedure that has been read as if it is a description of a medical procedure and instead read it as a satire directed against Italians.

But also, I suspect I’m drawn to theoretical approaches that seem musical. The concept of refrain comes from Giles Deleuze and Felix Guattari. They use the concept of musical refrain to think of history as a series of possible relations to the past. And in some fundamental way the castrato does—in this book at least—turn out to be a figure created by stories or refrains that sound across time and space.

Finally, you write about the effects that life, as well as local and world events, had on your work. You reflect, “I’ve been doing a kind of sonic witnessing… Knowledge production, it turns out, isn’t just what you read; it’s where and with whom you happen to be.” How does this show up in your work?

The most direct answer is that my scholarship pivoted when I started teaching at UVA in 2007, which was the 400th anniversary of the Jamestown settlement. I was organizing a conference at my former institution for a different 400th anniversary—the premiere of Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo—and needed a score of a Handel opera. The library search engine sent me to Special Collections, which seemed odd for such a popular tune. Unfamiliarity with a new search engine had led me to a piano reduction from Thomas Jefferson’s music collection. Since that archival accident, I’ve made a practice of collecting sonic snippets that connect the music history I study and teach to local history and the present. The phrase “sonic witnessing” came from my colleague and mentor Deborah Wong. In 2018, I gave a keynote lecture about Zora Neale Hurston. Then, as now, I found myself thinking about the experience of trying to do scholarship in the wake of the horrific white nationalist violence of 2017. I wanted to replace the sounds of white supremacy that I had witnessed with sounds of resistance. Deborah says, “Rather than store away such witness for my personal, liberal humanist interpretation and research, I walk, listen, and record, and then I do it again”. Or to put it differently: It is often easier to study the past than to contemplate the everyday. I try to do both.

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News

Following suit

On September 12, Albemarle County Public Schools representatives were in court to defend against allegations its anti-racism policies are discriminatory.  

Previously dismissed with prejudice in April 2022, the case, Ibañez v. Albemarle County School Board, went before the Court of Appeals of Virginia in the chambers of the Virginia Supreme Court for oral arguments after the plaintiffs—a group of local parents concerned about the curriculum—appealed the dismissal. The parents allege that ACPS’ anti-racism policies are discriminatory and indoctrinate children through critical race theory, a graduate-level framework for discussing the interactions between race and law.

The complaint against the anti-racism policy, first filed in December of 2021, asked the Albemarle County Circuit Court to issue a judgment effectively labeling the policy unconstitutional, ending enforcement of the policy, providing an option for parents to opt out of the anti-racism instruction, and providing compensatory and other damages to the plaintiffs.

In the complaint, specific content from the curriculum highlighted as problematic included a Courageous Conversations slide with text reading, “In the absence of making anti-racist choices, we (un)consciously uphold aspects of white supremacy, white-dominant culture, and unequal institutions and society.” The suit also takes issue with schools’ discussion of white privilege, and instruction that “the dominant culture is White and Christian and therefore responsible for racism.”

Though the suit was dismissed with prejudice—which means the complaint can’t be refiled—by Judge Claude Worrell, legal representatives of the parents immediately indicated they would appeal the dismissal.

The parents—Carlos and Tatiana Ibañez, Matthew and Marie Mierzejewski, Kemal and Margaret Gokturk, Erin and Trent Taliaferro, and Melissa Riley—are represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative Christian legal group. While the ADF describes its work as “advanc[ing] the God-given right to live and speak the Truth,” the organization has been labeled an anti-LGBTQ hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

In a client profile for the ADF, the Ibañezes shared their background and explained the impetus for the suit. Originally from Panama City, Panama, the couple said their daughter was distressed after watching an anti-racism video at school. “One of the videos said basically that you had to be white to be successful. People of color were not gonna be able to live in a big house or get a good education,” said Tatiana Ibañez. “Just based on the color of their skin.”

“We never agreed that we were going to co-parent our children with the school administrators or school policies or the school board,” said Carlos Ibañez.

“Albemarle Schools is violating students’ civil rights treating them differently based on race, and by compelling them to affirm and support ideas contrary to their deeply held moral, philosophical, and religious beliefs,” says ADF Senior Counsel and Director of Parental Rights Kate Anderson. “We are hopeful the court recognizes that parents have a right and responsibility to direct the upbringing of their children and that the Albemarle County School Board is trampling on this right. As we wait for a ruling from the court, Alliance Defending Freedom will continue to uphold the civil rights of parents and their children in school.”

At press time, both the Virginia court case information system and the ADF list the case as active, but no future hearings have been scheduled.

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Arts Culture

Joy Oladokun

Joy Oladokun documents her life in songs. Her new record, Proof of Life, takes stock of her journey thus far, from examining her experiences as a proud queer Black person, to celebrating the simple pleasures of being alive. “My lyricism is very open, and I’m able to dip my toes into genres and styles I’ve always loved,” says Oladokun, who collaborated with Mt. Joy, Chris Stapleton, Manchester Orchestra, Maxo Kream, and Noah Kahan on songs like the apocalyptically catchy “We’re All Gonna Die” and the earnest “Sweet Symphony.”

Saturday 9/23. $22–25, 8pm. The Jefferson Theater, 110 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. jeffersontheater.com

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News Real Estate

What’s in a name? 

When the first students arrive at new residence halls on Brandon Avenue next summer, they’ll move in to buildings that carry the names of two professors whose lives were entwined with some of the struggles of the mid-20th century. 

“It is the custom at the university to name residence halls after esteemed faculty members,” says Colette Sheehy, senior vice president for operations and state government relations at UVA. 

Historian Paul Gaston taught at the University of Virginia for four decades and helped create the Carter G. Woodson Institute for African American and African Studies. In 1963, Gaston was among the people beaten for staging a sit-in at Buddy’s Restaurant to protest the establishment’s refusal to serve Black customers. The owner would close the building four years later rather than desegregate. UVA tore down the structure and an adjacent gas station in late 2011 as part of its expansion. 

Gaston died in 2019 at the age of 91. 

Rouhollah “Ruhi” Ramazani and his wife fled persecution in Iran in 1952, and eventually arrived in Charlottesville where he received a law degree in 1954. He taught at UVA until 1998 and served as an adviser to former president Jimmy Carter during the Iran hostage crisis. Ramazani died in 2016. 

There will be around 350 beds in the two structures that make up the second student living space to be built in the Brandon Avenue corridor. The first new residence hall built there was named for Julian Bond, the late civil rights champion who was a professor in UVA’s history department for two decades before his death in 2015. 

The University of Virginia Foundation gradually purchased the land for the corridor’s expansion, the same way land on Ivy Road has been purchased to support UVA’s physical growth. The Board of Visitors’ Buildings and Grounds Committee signed off on the names of Gaston House and Ramazani House last week. They also cleared the way for more buildings on Ivy Road to be demolished to make way for the Karsh Institute of Democracy. 

The namings come at a time when other educational facilities in the community are in the process of re-examining namesakes. 

Several Albemarle schools have new names, such as Journey Middle School for the facility that honored Jack Jouett. The names Broadus Wood, Greer, and Murray remain on elementary schools, but the county dropped Meriwether Lewis and Paul Cale. 

Earlier this year, Charlottesville renamed Clark and Venable Summit Elementary and Trailblazer Elementary, respectively. When $90 million of renovation and additions at the lone middle school are complete in 2025, the building will carry the name of the city, after the school board voted unanimously on this in June.

“This recommendation follows the current trend to move away from school names that honor individuals,” says city schools Superintendent Dr Royal Gurley. 

UVA is currently in the midst of a planning study for an initiative to have enough space to house all second-years on Grounds. It has set aside $7 million for planning efforts. 

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Arts Culture

Go On, Be Brave

In 2014, Andrea Lytle Peet was diagnosed with ALS at 33 years old. She was told to get her affairs in order, so she did, and she waited. Eventually, Peet got tired of waiting and decided to start living. The documentary Go On, Be Brave follows Peet for more than three years as she sets herself an ambitious goal: to become the first person with ALS to complete a marathon in all 50 states. Peet will also take a tour of the town with Prolyfyck Run Crew on September 22, starting at Jefferson School African American Heritage Center.

Saturday 9/23. $17–42.50, 7pm. The Paramount Theater, 215 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. theparamount.net