This Friday evening, April 28th, you can catch one of the series of music and arts shows put on by painter Lee Alter. Alter’s studio is located at 109 E. Jefferson St., in a building that is one of the oldest in town (and was formerly the site for town meetings and dances). The building, which is now owned by U.S. Senator George Allen, is on the block, and Alter is concerned that she may have to move. She would like to make the show a celebration of the work of young people with whom she has been working. The art show will feature a retrospective of Alter’s “Jacob’s Ladder” series of watercolors and a 6’x6′ group acrylic, as well as paintings and pregnant belly plaster casts by other artists. Two of the artists who are showing their work, Jack Carrig and Joe Piorkowski, are members of the local rock band Fountainhead, who will play upstairs in one of the larger rooms at 8pm. ”There should be dancing,” Carrig promises.
Fountainhead came together at UVA in 2000. Carrig was a member of the swim team and Piorkowski was on the dive team. Drummer Carey Sargent is at work on her Ph.D. in sociology and her dissertation is called “Authenticity: The Meaning of Music in the Post-Industrial U.S.” Despite all of the demands on their time, Carrig and his band members remain committed to their music. “Music is the thing that gets me out of bed in the morning,” he says. Fountainhead has recorded three CDs—at Sound of Music, Sandalwood Studio and Crystalphonic studios, respectively—and they are at work on a fourth disc at Sandalwood (with additional recording being done in a home studio using Pro Tools). Piorkowski and Carrig put a lot of time and energy into their show posters, many of which are hand-drawn. They have also played art openings in Richmond. The show should be a blast, but if you miss it, you can always catch Fountainhead at The Outback Lodge with Atlanta’s Elevado on May 2.
There has been a lot of talk recently about a documentary being shot in town centered around The Gladstones’ Bob Girard and Charlie Pastorfield. Entertain-ment lawyer Andy Herz says that he came out to support his fraternity brother Charlie Mayer, who opened Uncle Charlie’s in Crozet, and the idea came to him while he was standing listening to Girard’s band. Herz says that, initially, he conceived of the film as a document of Charlottesville’s music scene. As a member of the Class of ’84, he fondly remembers many of the bands that played in the clubs and frats. “Skip Castro extended every weekend of my college career,” he says. From that idea, Herz focused on the relationship between Girard and Pastor-field, who met in a UVA probability class in the late 1960s, played together in The Hawaiians and Captain Tunes in the ’70s, and currently play together in Alligator and The Gladstones. “First,” says Herz, “they are both excellent human beings.” But their story is, above all, the tale of every musician who does whatever they have to do to keep their passion for live music going. Herz also envisions a bit of The Big Chill, with graduates returning to their old college to reminisce on lives that were once more idealistic. Shooting will continue in town through the summer, culminating in a proposed Captain Tunes reunion this fall.
Speaking of Charlottesville movie stars, good luck getting into Schuyler Fisk’s performance at The Gravity Lounge Tuesday night.