Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit are touring on the band’s 2023 album, "Weathervanes," a compendium of Isbell’s facility with words, guitar strings, and musical IQ.
Photo by Danny Clinch.
By L. Kent Wolgamott
arts@c-ville.com
Pushed off the road by the pandemic, Jason Isbell spent a good chunk of 2021 in Oklahoma, where he was acting in director Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon. That experience, from meeting Oklahomans in the rural areas where the movie was shot to watching Scorsese work, figured into Isbell’s latest album, Weathervanes.
So how and why did Isbell end up in the Oscar-nominated movie?
“I didn’t really want to be an actor, but I think I wanted to act,” says Isbell in a recent phone interview. “I was looking for a way to help somebody tell a story. We were locked down; COVID kept us from touring. So I asked my manager to see if there were any television shows or movies I could get on. I’d never done that before. I played myself on an episode of ‘Billions’ and was an extra on the Deadwood movie on HBO because I loved ‘Deadwood.’”
That opportunity for Isbell came by way of Scorsese’s adaptation of the 2017 bestselling non-fiction book about a series of murders that took place in the Osage Nation after oil was discovered on tribal land, triggering an FBI investigation.
“I just kept auditioning. I knew I didn’t have any experience,” Isbell says. “But I told them if they gave some instruction, I could do it. And I wound up on set with Scorsese, (Robert) DeNiro, and (Leonardo) DiCaprio. It was terrifying. I was scared to death. That felt really good. It is important to challenge myself as I get older and do some new things creatively.”
Isbell landed the role of Bill Smith (spoiler alert: He was one of the murder victims back in 1917) and found himself on set observing Scorsese and meeting folks who lived nearby. Some of them made their way into the songs that populate Weathervanes.
While he’s known as a great guitarist from his days with Drive-By Truckers onward, Isbell knows it’s the songs that have made him a six-time Grammy-winning Americana star and one of the most respected musicians of any genre over the course of the albums he’s released since leaving the Truckers in 2007.
“That’s the part that really matters for me,” Isbell says. “There’s a whole lot of great singers and guitar players on my street in Nashville. I have to be able to write to stand out.”
Like much of his earlier work, the songs on Weathervanes are often sad character studies: a depressed suicidal woman (“Death Wish”), a copper-stealing, pain-killer addict who can’t go back to work (“King of Oklahoma”), and a kid kicked out of foster care who winds up living in a KOA campground (“Volunteer”).
“Suffering builds character, and it also builds characters if you’re trying to tell a story,” Isbell says. “That’s what’s interesting to me in other people’s songs, and they’re the kind I write myself.”
The time in Oklahoma not only influenced the songs on Weathervanes, it filtered into Isbell’s process.
“It definitely influenced how we made this album, just seeing the way Marty (Scorsese) worked and the fact that he had such confidence in his vision. He would accept ideas and collaboration,” he says, equating the role of a movie director with that of a record producer. “Just to watch somebody work like that, he was able to create a whole universe with his vision. He’d keep some ideas and throw some out.
“I had a vision for how I wanted the record to sound. With that direction, we let the band have some freedom,” says Isbell. “My production style is I try to get the right people in the room and let them play. We viewed it more as a band record than a solo project. I wanted to make it feel more like a live show.”
Given that creative aim and their finished sound, the new songs were immediately ready to be plugged into the live shows Isbell and his band, the 400 Unit, were playing.
“I thought about that a little in the studio,” Isbell says. “We’ve got a pretty big catalog at this point. I can play a whole lot of shows without playing the same song twice. I don’t want it to be in there because it’s the newest song. I don’t want it to be when everybody goes to the bathroom or the bar. It has to be in there for a purpose. I’ve never made promotion my priority, maybe it’s the third or fourth reason. I want to make a show that’s meaningful and moves people.’”
A rendering of the future UVA Credit Union headquarters to be located at 1201 Fifth St. SW just over the line in Albemarle County.
Image via Glave & Holmes Architecture.
One of the area’s oldest financial institutions is preparing for the future with plans to move its headquarters from Albemarle’s central urban area to one emerging in the south.
In 2026, the UVA Community Credit Union will move from 3300 Berkmar Dr. to a large six-acre tract at 1201 Fifth St. SW at Interstate 64’s Exit 120.
“To ensure handicap accessibility, we’ll be demolishing the existing building and constructing a modern Jeffersonian-style structure, with occupancy targeted for summer 2026,” reads the 2023 annual report for the Credit Union.
Founded in 1954 with service restricted to employees of the UVA hospital, the Credit Union has steadily expanded. In 2021, a charter update spread its potential membership to Lynchburg in the south and to Harrisonburg in the north. The expansion paid off: The Credit Union welcomed more than 80,000 new customers in 2023.
The Credit Union bought the six-acre property in October 2021 for $8.9 million from the Christian Aid Mission, which has since moved its headquarters to 1807 Seminole Trail. The existing building was constructed in 1986 to be the headquarters of Virginia Power’s western division. Christian Aid bought the property in September 1997 for $3.6 million.
The Credit Union recently sold the building that contains their branch on Arlington Boulevard as well as two other properties for $10.5 million. The purchaser is the University of Virginia Foundation, which tends to continue to rent to existing businesses until it’s time for UVA to use the property. None of their other branches are currently listed for sale.
The northern portion of the property abuts Moores Creek and serves as part of the route for the Rivanna Trail.
The Credit Union plans to demolish the existing building and construct a new two-story structure with almost the same footprint as the present one with 41,086 commercial square feet. The Albemarle Architectural Review Board will take a look at the plans in the near future.
This section of Albemarle County has been steadily growing with the opening of 5th Street Station in late 2016 after being rezoned for commercial development in March 2008. Since then, traffic volumes have increased and there are several transportation projects in the works. One of them could be the conversion of Exit 120 into a diverging diamond. Albemarle Supervisors endorsed that plan last week.
While there are no residential units associated with this project, Albemarle classifies this area as Neighborhood 5, one of Albemarle’s designated growth areas. There are 1,453 dwelling units approved but not built as of April 1. Most of those units are in the Southwood Mobile Home about a mile to the south down Fifth Street Extended.
The A24 film Sing Sing by Greg Kwedar tells the story of Divine G (Colman Domingo), a Black man who was held at NYPD’s Sing Sing maximum security prison for a crime he didn’t commit. Part of the 2024 Virginia Film Festival at Violet Crown series, the film features a cast of formerly incarcerated actors who bring humanity to their roles. Sing Sing is a story based on the true events surrounding the Rehabilitation Through the Arts organization, through which Divine G finds a sense of belonging in a theater group.
Tuesday 6/25. Free with RSVP, 7pm. Violet Crown, 200 W. Main St., Downtown Mall. virginiafilmfestival.org
Founder of Out and About Jason Elliott
says the organization’s newsletter will
soon cross 1,000 subscribers.
Photo by Eze Amos.
Charlottesville doesn’t have a gay bar, but the local LGBTQ+ community is thriving in less traditional spaces.
With the closure of Club 216 in 2012, Escafé in 2018, and Impulse in 2020, Charlottesville’s Queer nightlife and drag scene has become increasingly transient, with pop-up events at various restaurants and businesses in the area. The fate of Umma’s, a Korean- and Japanese-American restaurant downtown that quickly became an unofficial gay bar, is currently up in the air. Owners Anna Gardner and Kelsey Naylor explicitly worked to make their restaurant a haven for the local LGBTQ community, but the possible sale of Umma’s after its owners move later this year leaves questions about the future of the space.
The closure of these Queer spaces in Charlottesville mirrors broader national trends, with roughly 50 percent of American gay bars closing between 2012 and 2019 according to Greggor Mattson, author of Who Needs Gay Bars?.
“When I first moved here, we did have those dedicated bar spaces, and so it does impact … how the community functions in the area,” says Jason Elliott, founder of Out and About Charlottesville, a group that hosts LBGTQ-centric social events. “But I don’t think that it prohibits us from still having a strong community here.”
While the current lack of a permanent, traditional gay bar in Charlottesville does have some drawbacks, Elliott says it also has a lot of benefits.
“The shortfall of not having that dedicated traditional space in a brick and mortar setting is that we can’t just show up. We’ve got to plan,” he says. “Ironically, that planning … is also one of the benefits of not having that space, because when we get together, it becomes a lot more intentional.”
Beyond intentionality, the lack of a go-to space has led to a wider range of community events. This month alone, Out and About’s list of goings-on includes trivia nights, game nights, workouts, drag brunch, and a silent disco.
For local drag scene performers Cherry Possums and Bebe Gunn, the lack of an established venue has opened doors—literally.
“It gives us more of a freedom to go into different places, and if something’s not working out, we just shut that one down and move on to another place,” says Possums. “If there was one specific gay bar, our business would have to be more tied into another individual business.”
The lack of a gay bar has led to the drag duo performing at some unconventional venues, including Solid Core Fitness and Common House. “None of the crowds are the same people,” says Gunn. “The people that come to The Southern are totally different than the people that come to [The] Hidden Leaf. And they are totally different than the people that would come to brunch.”
It was exactly this flexibility that originally drew Possums and Gunn to Charlottesville rather than the established drag scenes in Richmond and their hometown of Roanoke. While the roommate duo is currently living in Richmond, they’ve been looking for a place in town.
“Basically, we’re running this like a business, honey,” says Gunn in half-drag before a show at The Hidden Leaf, passing a blunt with their drag daughter and Possums. All three are heavily painted, sporting elaborate makeup—and Possums her signature goatee.
Across the board, Elliott, Gunn, and Possums emphasize the power and importance of local businesses embracing LGBTQ+ events.
“I think it’s also really important that while we’re talking about the spaces that we don’t have, we do have allies that we wouldn’t be here without,” says Elliott. “That may be the business owner who says we can do a drag show somewhere, the business owners that say, ‘Yes, we’re going to pay our drag queens what they deserve.’ The spaces that say, ‘You know what we want to do something special for your community,’ or, it doesn’t have to be special, but it is safe.”
Summer gloom is the perfect setting for a visit from doom trio Le Morte and two accompanying punk groups based in Richmond. Well-timed on Halloween of 2023, Le Morte released its first full-length album, Midnight in The Garden of Tragedy, featuring husky screamo vocals and guitar riffs that kill. Their entire discography flirts with death and religion through songs like “Last Dream of a Dying God” and “Sanguine Repose.” Opener Future Projektor, a heavy metal instrumental trio, joins The X-Smash Casters, who blend English punk, New Wave, and rock ‘n’ roll—and have ties to Charlottesville punk outfit The Halfways.
Friday 6/21. $10, 8:30pm. The Southern Café and Music Hall, 103 S. First St. thesoutherncville.com
Baroness gets heavy into genre-hopping at The Jefferson on Saturday.
Publicity photo.
A metal band in that they definitely sound “heavy” across a large swath of their six album, full-length catalog (big riffs, distorted guitars, emphatic and aggressive vocals), it’s helpful to think of Baroness in terms of pre- and post-bus accident. After the tragic descent of a bus near Bath, England, in August 2012, things changed as the band’s approach and personnel evolved. Lead vocalist/guitarist and main visionary John Baizley broke his arm and leg in the bang-up, and the other injured members eventually left. Some time around 2017, the current lineup was nailed down as captured on 2019’s Gold and Grey and last year’s Stone.
Taking genre-hopping as far as a metal-leaning band can—that is, the gist never gets as obscurely frenetic as what John Zorn’s Naked City accomplished in the ’90s with country-to-surf-to-death metal in mere seconds—the results feel honest and firmly connected to Baroness’ overall aesthetics and pristinely adept craft. For example, a song like “Cocainium” from 2012’s Yellow and Green mists with the quiet entry of a meditation soundtrack only to turn on you at multiple points: Unassuming soft-stepping trippy ’60s-stained disco sonics follow with a full-on, fuzzed-out premium distortion drive—the kind that makes heads bang. On their most recent record, “Beneath the Rose” carries the faintest echoes of Megadeth’s cynical “Peace Sells” vocal, but Baizley’s spoken delivery shifts to layered atonal harmonies, eventually giving way to surprising acoustic guitar overlays, only to swivel again, unleashing the melodic drama of throaty shouting and gnashing rhythms.
Despite hurling the power of 1,000-pound steel riffage Baroness proves capable of, they also pour out a wealth of softer dynamics. Stone is bookended with downhome finger-picking and sweet, calm harmonies on “Embers” and “Bloom,” where Baizley and lead guitarist Gina Gleason meld together in a folksy way that would not sound out of place at The Front Porch.
You could call the band prog in that they play really well and don’t shy away from occasional noodling. On the other hand, they don’t sound like they’re trying to scare you, or worse, bore you with their fluency. Having said that, when Baroness is in attack mode, there are familiar touchstones that make for inevitable comparisons; saying they’re like Queen or Metallica or Tool when relying on strong guitar takes, or stepping into Pink Floyd territory when they get introspective, is probably oversimplification. Bluntly put: They don’t have one sound, so if you don’t like what you’re hearing, wait two minutes and you might find yourself in love.
While openers Ruby the Hatchet may not match the genre-switching facility that Baroness flaunts, the band is proudly content to make up for it in both feel and spirit. A darkly mystical hard rock defined by Jillian Taylor’s gutsy singing and powered by Sean Hur’s organ motor, it recalls the type of late ’60s and early ’70s hazy, pulsating grooves that make it all too easy to give in and zone out. Doom/stoner tracks lit up their excellent Valley of the Snake (2015), and for their most recent work, Fear Is a Cruel Master (2022), Ruby the Hatchet streamlined its approach somewhat, chugging onward majestically gilded by promises of more anthemic music to come. Get to The Jeff early.
At the Magnolia House Revival Show, everyone is invited to celebrate the release of Under The Table And Screaming, a zine series on the Charlottesville DIY music scene (of which Magnolia House was a landmark) by local journalist and former C-VILLE Weekly writer Erin O’Hare. The all-day party features sets from 15 musicians on a bill put together by Sam Roberts, the final keeper of Magnolia House, a DIY music venue and community space that existed from 2008 until 2020 before it shut down due to COVID-19. “The pandemic took away Magnolia’s chance for a last hurrah, so we’re doing it now,” says O’Hare.
Saturday 6/22. Donation suggested, music at 1pm. Visible Records, 1740 Broadway St. visible-records.com
Leaders from Habitat for Humanity of Greater Charlottesville, Piedmont Housing Alliance, and city council joined Sen. Warner at the affordable housing roundtable.
Supplied photo.
Money matters
Local housing advocates and city leadership sat down with Sen. Mark Warner at Kindlewood on June 14. The senator delivered a $650,000 check from Congress, which Piedmont Housing Alliance will use to establish a permanent Financial Opportunity Center and Housing Hub in the affordable housing community.
Formerly known as Friendship Court, Kindlewood is in the middle of a massive resident-led redevelopment, with support from PHA, numerous nonprofit organizations, and local government. Beyond structural improvements, the project will add more community resources, including the FOCHH.
“The Financial Opportunity Center and Housing Hub … serves Charlottesville City residents, Albemarle County residents, Nelson County residents, the whole range, and it’s a one-stop shop for people to come for housing- or financial-related opportunities,” said Sunshine Mathon, CEO of PHA.
Benefits of the center include access to HUD-certified housing counselors, financial and housing coaching and information, and down payment support opportunities. The FOCHH has been operating out of a temporary location on High Street, but the plan has always been to have a permanent location at Kindlewood.
“A lot of our residents don’t have cars,” said Mathon. “Having access to walkable or busable locations really removes a barrier.”
Beyond the FOCHH, Sen. Warner and local leaders spoke about potential next steps to address Charlottesville’s housing crisis.
While Warner is proud of several Democratic accomplishments in recent years, he lamented the lack of action on affordable housing.
“If we step back and we think about over the last four or five years, particularly coming out of COVID, the one area the federal government didn’t do that much on was housing, and now we’ve got housing shortages everywhere,” said Warner. “The most important thing we could do today is get the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates.”
In addition to calling on the Fed to reduce rates, the senator spoke to the benefits of Community Development Financial Institutions and the LIFT [Low-Income First Time Homebuyers] Act introduced by Warner and Sens. Tim Kaine, Raphael Warnock, Chris Van Hollen, and Jon Ossoff.
The LIFT Act—first introduced in 2021—would allow first-time, first-generation homebuyers to purchase a home with a 20-year mortgage at a 30-year rate.
Legislation like the LIFT Act and other federal efforts aimed at addressing affordable housing are crucial, according to Mathon.
“Where we really need to see scaled investment is in affordable homeownership, and the local and state level have some resources to support that, but at the federal level, it’s pretty minimal,” he said. “If we’re going to really make a dent in the homeownership disparity rates between Black and white households in our community, we have to invest federal-level resources to unlock that.”
Shots fired
Around 5:30am on Wednesday, June 12, Charlottesville Police Department Officers dispatched to the 100 block of Harmon Street following reports of shots fired. A total of 41 shell casings from a pistol and rifle were found at the scene. A single home was struck along with a vehicle parked in the driveway. No one was injured in the incident. Police Chief Michael Kochis believes this was a targeted offense connected to other shots-fired investigations and community feuds.
Heading home
Photo via UVA Athletics Communications.
The Hoos have been knocked out of the College World Series. After a nailbiter 3-2 loss to the University of North Carolina in the opening game of the tournament, the Cavs entered into an elimination game against Florida State on June 16. The Seminoles quickly pulled ahead, with the score at 7-0 at the end of the sixth inning. Virginia finally got onto the board with two runs in the seventh inning, but was not able to catch up to Florida’s lead, culminating in a 7-3 game.
Cooling off
The City of Charlottesville is reminding residents to stay cool ahead of a major heat wave hitting the area this week. With humidity bringing the heat index over 100 degrees, those looking to escape the hot temps can head to the cooling centers at Herman Key Jr. Recreation Center and the central branch of Jefferson-Madison Regional Library. For more information on cooling center hours and tips for managing the blazing weather, visit charlottesville.gov.
Dean Dass’ exhibition “Passenger Manifest” is on view at Les Yeux du Monde through June 30.
Photo by Stacey Evans + LYDM.
Art has the power to transform us, to transport us through time and space. Sometimes it takes us to other worlds or allows us to see our world differently. In short, art is powerful, and I haven’t seen enough of it lately. Aside from attending an interesting art exhibition at Visible Records a few years ago, I haven’t done enough to explore Charlottesville’s thriving art scene. When someone told me about Les Yeux du Monde gallery (the French translation is “the eyes of the world”), I knew how to sate my art craving. The current exhibition, from renowned artist and local legend Dean Dass, is titled “Passenger Manifest,” and it runs to the end of June.—Kristie Smeltzer
What
A visit to Les Yeux du Monde art gallery.
Why
To let my soul wander (and wonder) in the presence of moving visual art.
How It Went
Magnificently—I see the world a bit differently now, and you can, too.
My journey began as most do these days … with GPS guidance. It’s worth using GPS, even if you know the way, just to hear how the bot pronounces “Less Yucks duh Mond.” Somewhere a Parisian citizen just toppled over in pain, and I’m sorry—but the pronunciation is solidly funny.
The silliness ended there (mostly) because as I drove the long, winding lane flanked by trees, it felt like entering a different world. Sculptures appeared in clearings: whimsical, brightly colored constructs that invited the imagination to play. As I crested the hill, the gallery came into view. The unique structure looks both foreign to the verdant setting and completely at home, nestled into the surroundings with abundant windows to let in the outside world.
Gallery Director Hagan Tampellini welcomed me into her mother Lyn Bolen Warren’s vision. Hagan continues her mother’s legacy, running the gallery since Warren’s passing in 2021, and based on her enthusiasm for art and the artists the gallery represents, I can only extrapolate the magnitude of her mother’s passion for modern art. The gallery is open Thursday through Sunday from 1-5pm and by appointment. Exhibitions change every other month. The building looks deceptively small from the outside, but inside the high ceiling and vast number of windows make it feel expansive yet intimate. Hagan staffs LYDM with the help of interns, and visitors can explore exhibitions solo or get insights from the knowledgeable staff.
As Hagan led me around, I marveled at Dass’ dedication to his craft. The collection features oil paintings of various sizes and other works that include drawing and collage techniques. But here’s the thing: Dass invests his effort and expertise into every stage of the act of creation. The paper? He makes that from flax and hemp that he grows himself. Even the frames are Dass originals, and their subtle differences in size and color add to the character of the collection. The work feels both cerebral and approachable (I say like I know much of anything about art).
This exhibition includes imagery that frequently appears in Dass’ work, such as clouds, helmets, tents, orbs, and landscapes. Its central idea is that we’re all vulnerable beings traveling through life, which sometimes (or often, according to Dass’ big, beautiful brain) means one should wear a helmet. Some pieces burst with kinetic energy, while others invite a sense of stillness that feels spiritual. Beyond the power of the art itself, the space enhances its impact. Thoughtfully placed windows perfectly frame trees outside, and you can shift your gaze from one of Dass’s ethereal landscapes featuring floating pink orbs to the natural world beyond the gallery, each view enhancing the other.
I’d never experienced an art gallery with so much natural light before, and Hagan explained how the light shifts through the day, as well as with the seasons. You could visit the gallery many times and each experience would be subtly different. I plan to do just that.
With the passing of Mel Walker, the fate of his cafe hangs in the balance.
Photo by John Robinson.
Mel Walker wasn’t much for reporters. He was a busy man. When asked to go on the record—about his chicken, one of his trendy new neighbors on West Main Street, or C’ville soul food in general—he’d offer a look that was one part “I don’t have time for that” and two parts “you’ve never written about me before; why now?”
From the other side of the counter at Mel’s Cafe, the folks Walker had time for were his family, his friends, and his diners. Indeed, many of Walker’s regular diners became his friends over the years.
Walker’s death on May 28 due to still-undisclosed causes has brought with it an outpouring of emotion from Charlottesville’s Black community and beyond. It has brought with it a celebration of a legendary local life.
But it has also brought with it many questions about the future of a restaurant that has long stood as both a community gathering place and a symbol of local African Americans’ tenuous hold on their space in a changing cityscape.
“It is a staple for the Black community,” says Tanesha Hudson, a close personal friend of the Walker family who refers to Walker as her “uncle” but is not related to him. “To be there for 39 years, to make it this far not leaning on any type of help from … grants or anything, that is why it is so important. We are fighting for a space in this city. We fight for a space here, and we shouldn’t have to fight. Mel gave us that space.”
The past, the legacy
Photo by Eze Amos.
Hudson says Mel’s Cafe is the “only Black business located on Main Street,” and, while it’s not entirely true, it’s close.
According to the United Way of Greater Charlottesville’s 2023-2024 Black Business Guide, five other Black-owned businesses have a West Main Street address: First Baptist Church, Davenport Strategic Innovation, York Property LLC, The Pie Guy, and The Ridley. Additionally, Ty Cooper’s Lifeview Marketing & Visuals is headquartered at 513 East Main.
Another two dozen or so of the 141 Black-owned businesses in the United Way guide are situated within about a mile of Mel’s, but none of them are the type of sit-and-stay-awhile draws that the cafe was. And the volume of Black-owned businesses in the former Vinegar Hill area of town is certainly not what it once was.
“We don’t have much, and what we do have, we want to maintain,” Hudson says. “We are being run out of this city.”
The history of Vinegar Hill has been told and retold, but here it is again: According to the “Brief History of Vinegar Hill” published by Vinegar Hill Magazine, the neighborhood that was bordered on the south by Main Street, home to Mel’s Cafe for nearly four decades, became the economic center for Charlottesville’s Black population in the early 20th century. Segregation was still a way of life, and businesses in the Vinegar Hill neighborhood were a respite for patrons of color.
History suggests the strength of the area helped Black people overcome some of the challenges they faced across the larger City of Charlottesville. Many of them struggled with poor living conditions—including a lack of running water, indoor plumbing, and electricity—but Vinegar Hill was a place to band together, to meet and greet, to discuss problems and plans. Vinegar Hill Magazine says “residents lived and worked among their homes, schools, and churches in a close-knit community, [with] over 55 of the homes and businesses in Vinegar Hill owned by African Americans at that time.”
In 1960, the City of Charlottesville voted to redevelop the Vinegar Hill area. According to Urban Renewal and the End of Black Culture in Charlottesville, Virginia, a book on the area’s oral history, the vote was stacked against Black people.
The book’s authors, James Robert Saunders and Renae Nadine Shackelford, suggest that one of the issues plaguing the neighborhood was the inability of restaurants to stay open. And the balance of the area’s structures, mostly Black-rented residences and a handful of other businesses, had fallen into disrepair.
The neighborhood was razed in 1965. “By the time the demolition part of urban renewal had been completed … 29 businesses had been disrupted,” Saunders and Shackelford write. “They consisted of Black restaurants and grocery stores, as well as furniture stores, barbershops, antique shops, an insurance agency, a clothing store, a shoe repair shop, a drugstore, and a hat-cleaning establishment.”
The city’s highly touted redevelopment project was slow going, though, and it wasn’t until around 20 years later that it gained momentum. A centerpiece was the Omni Hotel, which opened on May 1, 1985, the year after Walker opened Mel’s Cafe at 719 W. Main St.
The man, the food
With the passing of Mel Walker, the fate of his eponymous West Main Street cafe is uncertain—as is the fate of Black space in Charlottesville. “[The restaurant] is a staple for the Black community,” says Tanesha Hudson, a close personal friend of the Walker family. “We fight for a space here, and we shouldn’t have to fight. Mel gave us that space.” Photo by Eze Amos.
Melvin Walker was born on August 24, 1954. His parents, Marie Walker Scott and Arthur Morrison, lived in Vinegar Hill. According to an obituary first published in the Daily Progress, Walker graduated from Lane High School in 1972. He is survived by his mother, two children, two brothers, and three sisters.
Reports indicate Walker started working in hospitality at a young age, most notably at The Virginian. He opened Mel’s Cafe in 1984 when much of the former Vinegar Hill area remained underdeveloped. The cafe was conceived as a traditional diner, but a slow start made him shut down after several years. He reopened and stayed open in 1995. According to some accounts, Walker initially served beer, wine, and liquor, but the late nights weren’t to his liking, and though he’d remain open for dinner as long as he owned the place, booze came off the menu.
In addition to diner staples like breakfast plates and hamburgers, Walker cooked the cuisine that he knew. Mel’s Cafe quickly came to be known as the top spot for soul food in Charlottesville.
At Mel’s, everyone has their favorite. For Hudson, it’s the hamburger steak with grilled onions, keep the sides coming: extra green beans, mashed potatoes, mac and cheese, pinto beans. Shaun Jenkins, who recently moved his own Soul Food Joint from Market Street to Rio Road, was partial to the fried fish when he moved to C’ville in the early 2000s. “In high school, I ate that a lot,” he says. “That fish sandwich was definitely on point.”
Local top chef Melissa Close-Hart, whose latest project Mockingbird is an homage to her own southern cooking roots, says Mel’s is the ultimate comfort food, just the stuff to eat when you’re feeling down. “It’s a Charlottesville institution, and it is really kind of the only place like that here,” she says. Her Mel’s order? Much like Hudson’s: hamburger steak with gravy and onions, mashed potatoes, green beans, rolls.
For others, Mel’s was the joint for its cooked-to-order fried chicken, Meta’s burger with swiss on rye, or sweet potato pie.
Ask anyone about their favorite dish, though, and they’ll offer a side helping of their own—namely, that Mel’s Cafe was about more than just the food.
Mel’s was about Walker’s mom working the house with a smile and a hug. It was about the regulars discussing events of the day over the low drone of a TV tuned to sports. It was about Walker himself, a quiet, confident type who remembered your name if you came in enough, usually offered a smile, and always reveled in cooking folks a meal with love.
Reverend Alvin Edwards of the Mount Zion First African Baptist Church, located just a few blocks from Mel’s, says he always enjoyed Walker’s cheeseburgers and fried pork chops, but what he’ll remember most is the man’s kindness. “One of the things I could do was, I could ask him to feed a hungry person for us,” Edwards says. “He would run a tab, and sometimes he would call on it, or sometimes he wouldn’t. But he would always make sure the person had a full meal. I was appreciative of his trust.”
Jonathan Coleman, a longtime Charlottesville resident and acclaimed author of multiple books, including Long Way to Go: Black and White in America, developed his own unique relationship with Walker from his regular seat at Mel’s Cafe. While dining on patty melts or fried chicken, the author developed a cross-racial bond with Walker that he cherished.
“The greatest sadness, for me, is that Mel and Mel’s were an essential part of the scaffolding of Charlottesville without a lot of people knowing it,” Coleman says. “For me, Mel’s was so successful not only for the consistency of the food, but for the fact that you could count on the owner being there. It is all part of being recognized as somebody who belongs there. Mel’s gave you that.”
The place, the people
Photo by Eze Amos.
The only thing you couldn’t count on at Mel’s Cafe, according to Edwards, is a seat. “You had to know how to beat the crowd,” he says. “It was just a meeting place, period.”
In the wake of Walker’s death, his family hasn’t answered repeated requests for comment, and for good reason. Hudson says they’re grieving hard; people need time when faced with the unexpected death of a man like Walker.
That hasn’t stopped other folks from talking. On social media, he’s been called “an icon and a pillar in our community that will never be replaced.” In nearly a dozen articles about his passing in various outlets, his friends have told of how much he was loved, how no one ever had anything but good things to say about him, and how he “shared love with the community, no matter who you were.”
Walker’s funeral was held on June 8 at First Baptist Church on Park Street. The restaurateur had been a longtime parishioner at Pilgrim Baptist Church, but the larger space at First Baptist was needed to hold the crowd.
Hudson organized a block party outside Mel’s Cafe after the funeral. It, too, was flooded with attendees. “The community just came out to show love. That is what it is about,” Hudson says. “I’m not surprised at all that it turned out the way it did, because Mel has done so much for so many people.”
Coleman says Mel’s Cafe just worked as a place to sit, talk, and share a meal. He and Walker bonded over Motown music, he says, but The Temptations rarely played in the diner. “Some places don’t lend themselves to constantly playing music,” Coleman says. “I always had mixed feelings in that I wished that I saw more white people in there. That is not necessarily what Mel cared about one way or another, but the idealistic part of me always wished that more people would see it as a gathering spot through the medium of food and conversation.”
Jenkins, who as a young person didn’t get to know Walker over his fish sandwiches, says that even if you didn’t go to Mel’s, you knew who the restaurant owner was. You knew of his impact on the community. “He will never be forgotten,” Jenkins says.
The community, the future
Photo by John Robinson.
Walker’s family has made it clear, despite avoiding the spotlight: They want to keep Mel’s open. The restaurant is posted as closed until further notice, but an online fundraiser titled “Help Keep Mel’s Cafe Open” is doing well. As of June 17, 140 donors had given $9,788 to the campaign.
One concern for continuing the legacy is the lack of Walker’s own outsized personage. Coleman notes that many mom-and-pops like Mel’s Cafe struggle after they lose their founder, their heart and soul.
Hudson refutes previous reports that she said the restaurant would definitely reopen, but she bristles at the suggestion that Mel’s couldn’t go on without Walker.
“I really don’t want to think about it like that,” she says. “The family has to make that decision. I would think that because it is such a cornerstone, after they deal with the grief, it will reopen. Mel has children. He has family, and his family knows the restaurant.”
None of Walker’s children, nor his mother, could be reached for comment. His oldest son, 19-year-old Emoni Brock, is listed as organizer on the GoFundMe.
Another option for the future of the diner would be to find a buyer. Close-Hart, who’s always wanted to run a restaurant called Mel’s, says she has too much going already. Jenkins says he’s thought about some possibilities, as well, but doesn’t want to offend the Walker family.
“I’m not doing too much investigating or searching. I’m leaving it up to God,” Jenkins says. “People got to keep on pushing forward, and I hope someone is able to step up and keep it rolling.”
Williams, too, says he hopes for the best. But, like Coleman, he wonders whether anyone is in position to carry on Walker’s legacy.
Hudson thinks of Mel’s Cafe as an imperative.
“When you have someone work so hard to maintain Black space in this city, you hope and pray someone wants to maintain it and hold onto it,” she says.
