Author: Caite Hamilton

Caite has been at C-VILLE since 2007, when she started as a part-time proofreader. Over the last 16 years, she's held the positions of Online Editor and Special Sections Editor. Currently the Magazine Editor of C-VILLE, Caite oversees content in special issues and special publications (ABODE, Knife & Fork, C-VILLE Weddings, and Best of C-VILLE).

Categories
News

Footloose, not "Fancy" free

You know those two-for-one video sets available at Wal-Mart? Two movies for under $10? Usually, one of them seems really appealing and the other, well, you could maybe see yourself pulling it off the shelf on a rainy day… The “2 Worlds 2 Voices” might’ve been that way—except both Reba McEntire and Kelly Clarkson are equally appealing blockbuster hits.

We’ll try not to think about how the opening act, comedian Henry Cho from Nashville, Tennessee, wasn’t very entertaining (among the few funny jokes in his 30-minute performance: “My wife’s mom taught me that you can say anything about anybody…as long as you say, ‘Bless your heart.’”). We’ll even overlook the hokey set and unimpressive outfits. We’ll do that, in part, because we forget about it once we hear Reba’s twangy “Sweeeeet dreams” reverberate through the John Paul Jones Arena. Then the curtain goes up, and there they are.

It takes two, baby! Kelly Clarkson and Reba McEntire doubled up for a night of vocal bliss at John Paul Jones Arena.

They descend the staircase and launch into a girl-powered version of Eurythmics’ “Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This),” Kelly without her shoes and Reba practicing pas de bourrés. They follow that up with Reba’s “Why Haven’t I Heard From You?,” a distinctly country tune that, surprisingly, Kelly does a good job keeping up with. In fact, the “American Idol” winner does a good job keeping up with Reba’s country songs throughout the show—singing backup during “The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia,” and getting a little gospel with “Love Revival” toward the end of the night. Likewise, Reba’s drawl holds up against Kelly’s pop-rock numbers. Reba may have the big hits, but it’s Kelly’s youth that lends a new relevance to them.

The best portion of the show doesn’t come until the 11th song—after a two-song set by Kelly during which she does a very flirty rendition of the big-band song, “Stuff Like That There”—when both women take to stools at the center of the stage and sweetly sing Reba’s “The Greatest Man I Never Knew” and a beautiful version of “Up To The Mountain.”

At the 25th song, the first tune of their three-song encore, they rise from the center of the stage, decked out in shiny, sparkly black tops to belt out—well, Kelly belts, Reba twangs—“Since U Been Gone” and “Because of You.” And then it begins. The very last song—the one a certain reviewer’s mother wouldn’t let her listen to when she was younger because it was, as her mother maintains, “about prostitution”—starts up. “Fancy” elicited hoots and whistles from the audience and Reba and Kelly sass it up on stage for their grand finale. Then the curtain drops. It was a performance worth two thumbs up, even if the opening act was a dud. Bless his heart.

Obama supporters dare to wear campaign garb

Despite the mid-October ban of politically charged clothing by the Virginia State Board of Elections, voters are still wearing their desired candidates on their sleeve.

Reporting from the Dunlora precinct at the Charlottesville Albemarle Technical Education Center, C-VILLE’s Larry Banner says there have been the occasional political buttons and t-shirts to be turned inside out, but with no major issues. And, he adds, they were all in support of Barack Obama for president.

Of course, with the Board’s reiteration of the rules—no campaining within 40′ of a polling station—comes specific questions: Can an election worker park their car within 40′ feet of the polling station if they have a bumper sticker supporting a candidate? Can someone with a campaign bumper sticker drop off a voter?

Says Banner, at most polls, you cannot park a car within 40′ of the polling location, but the latter question is a non-issue.

 

Local restaurants provide food for hungry voters

Waiting in long lines is a pain. You’re impatient, your feet hurt, and you’re hungry. Luckily, local restaurateur, Chas Webster had that last problem covered tonight.

He organized donations from local restaurants, including The Box, which he co-owns, and made deliveries to each of the seven precincts.

C-VILLE caught up with Webster (literally—he’s quick with the deliveries!) and asked him a few questions about how he came up with the idea, who were the big donors, and how his efforts have been received.

UPDATE: 2008 Congressional Race: Still unclear

Charlottesville precincts aren’t yet reporting results, but CBS news reports Tom Perriello taking the lead in Albemarle, Fluvanna, Greene and Nelson counties. Albemarle, with more than 65,000 registered voters, is to Perriello what Virginia is to Barack Obama, in terms of election-turning results.

*NBC29 says, with 94 percent of precincts reporting, Perriello is ahead by more than 2,000 votes. However, CNN, saying 95 percent of precincts are reporting, has already called Goode the projected winner, though he’s more than 1,000 votes behind Perriello. All projections aside, Perriello might just be poised to win this race.

C-VILLE reported yesterday that Perriello was within three points, pushing the candidate to travel throughout the fifth district today in order to meet with voters and do some last-minute campaigning.

C-VILLE made some visits of its own, meeting with Delegate David Toscano and Senator Creigh Deeds  at the Recreation precinct this evening. The two local figures shared their own predictions.

*UPDATED 10:14pm.

Obama rally draws thousands to JMU Convo center

It was 150 years ago that Stephen Douglas, Democratic Illinois senator running for president against Abe Lincoln, came to Harrisonburg. That was the last time a presidential candidate appeared in the Shenandoah Valley town—until, that is, this afternoon.

Some 28,000 people showed up to watch Barack Obama deliver another of his stump speeches at JMU’s Convocation Center. Only 8,000, however, were able to get inside to see him. Some who had been camping out since the early morning hours.

"The police wouldn’t let anyone start camping out until 2am," said campaign volunteer and JMU professor Judith Reifsteck. "They had tents set up on the soccer field." To appease the "overflow" (as some of the other 175 volunteers were calling those who didn’t make it in), Obama took a large stage set up on that same soccer field to deliver a shorter, more succinct version of what he would later deliver inside the arena.

His speech, which took only 35 minutes, reiterated points on tax reform, investment in alternative energies, as well as job creation. And, just for good measure, he threw in a joke about JMU’s mascot, the Duke Dog, not being on the ballot.

Though there were the obligatory McCain supporters—including children holding signs with "I’m voting for the chick!" displayed in prominent type—watching the speech from a campus dining hall TV screen, judging by the "Amen"s some people called out during his closing statements, Obama may just turn this state blue after all.

"The energy was unlike any I’ve felt," Alexander Nemoytin, whose cousin, Irene, recited the Pledge of Allegiance before Obama took the stage, said. "He made a call to action…to maintaining action during these last seven days." Amen.

 

Twenty thousand people, some who’d been waiting in line since 2am, were cut off at the Convo Center door.

Students to protest sign-ban at Maryland game

This afternoon, Tees Overseas, a student campaign to promote University tradition and help those in need abroad, officially announced this afternoon its endorsement of the sign-ban protest at Saturday’s football game.

Students are encouraged to wear blue instead of orange in an effort to contradict the University’s recent "Power of Orange" campaigning. In addition to moral support, Tees Overseas will provide donation bins for those who want to do away with their orange apparel altogether.

The sign ban was announced in early September by the school’s athletic department, and was protested once before when students held up blank paper at a game against Richmond.

This latest protest attempt at Saturday’s game against Maryland promises to be a bit more colorful. The press release mentions, "If you don’t have blue, anything but orange will do."

 

 

In early September, UVA students executed their first sign-ban protest by holding up blank sheets of paper.

Categories
News

Not lacking in Flavor

In a crowd of poseurs—drunken college students pretending to have the time of their lives, 40-something couples in age-inappropriate outfits—Alanis Morissette is just herself: brilliant but comfortable, jilted but on the mend, sad but laughing. And she must be tired. Not in the sense that her performance last Thursday night lacked enthusiasm. In fact, quite the opposite.

Ninety minutes after the show’s start time (and 30 minutes after an hour-long set by opening act Alexi Murdoch), Morissette, a tiny, darkly clad figure in a sea of tall band mates, emerged to the booming electronic sounds of “Versions of Violence.” A track from her latest album, Flavors of Entanglement, with an eerie, almost frantic rock ‘n’ roll pace, “Versions of Violence” had Morissette galloping in her black boots from one end of the stage to the other. It was a good start, but one can’t help but feel like the show’s beginning was really 90 minutes and 13 years in coming.

Nineteen flavors of Alanis Morissette: Ms. Ironic kept her edge during a set of hits and new material at the Charlottesville Pavilion.

A veteran of angry chick music, Morissette nabbed four Grammy awards for her 1995 debut album, Jagged Little Pill, and “You Oughta Know”—her 11th song in Thursday’s 19-song set—became every girl’s post-break-up anthem. To make no mention of “All I Really Want”—number three— and “Ironic”—number 18, during which she replaced “wife” with “husband” in one of the song’s best lines. These were the real crowd pleasers, but the meaning of the show (and perhaps Morissette’s vulnerability, as most of her albums are a sort of dumping ground for emotional reconciliation) was in the newer songs.

Morissette picked up her own glittery electric guitar for “Citizen of the Planet,” a song with the familiar hard edge of “Versions,” but the same reflective lyricism found in “Thank U,” a track from 1998’s Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie, which ended the show. The 34-year-old singer slowed down the pace of “Moratorium,” the song from which Flavor gets its title, and pulses of light illuminated the stage during beats of the chorus.
 
Truly, light played a very important role in Morissette’s show, from the seizure-inducing flashes during “Uninvited” to a projected image of orchids during “Simple Together.” These beams, of course, were probably used to give the show a little visual interest—since, certainly, the sound for the first few songs was more bass than recognizable vocals—but a true Alanis fan might speculate that the illumination on stage is actually part of the artist’s grander metaphor of the healing process. But then again, a true Alanis fan oughta know to leave the heavy thinking to Morissette herself. If Thursday’s show is any indication, she seems to have it all under control.

Madison’s new Montpelier unveiled

To celebrate the completion of its five-year restoration project, Montpelier opened brand-new doors today, free of charge, to the public.

The no-fee admission was just part of the festivities, though. Visitors were also treated to tours of James Madison’s lifelong home and a program at 11am that featured U.S. Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. and Governor Tim Kaine, as well as descendents of Madison and Montpelier slaves.

The renovations, which began in 2003 and cost $24 million, were meant to return the mansion to its original 1820s style. To really drive the old-timey feel home, James and Dolley re-enactors welcomed guests to their new home at the end of the program.

A living flag, created by 2,600 area school children, filled the front lawn of Madison’s home during today’s celebration.

 

Categories
Living

Ears to you

Birds do it. Bees do it. Even teenagers (if they please) do it. And when we asked you where we should do it, you said the Downtown Mall was the Best Place to Eavesdrop on Cell Phone Conversations. So to the Downtown Mall we went, ears primed to hear the most outrageous, the most appalling, the most disgraceful conversations ever uttered through the tiny speaker of a Nokia.

Sure, we had lofty expectations. And we may have been overly prepared: a newspaper with a hole in it, a costume fashioned from a faux fichus and an emptied-out planter. But these are the moments journalists dream of: Just the mere anticipation of unsolicited undercover work is enough to send one into near-hysteria. Would we stumble upon the next big story? Overhear the details of a political scandal? Maybe listen in as a local restaurateur argues with an exterminator? It was hard to tell, but when we began to pound the pavement, we weren’t quite sure what to make of what we were hearing.

There was the woman who, while walking her very small dog, said, “I can’t wait to see how tall he is.” And the suited man who said, “If you keep calling me, I can’t leave.” And we laughed out loud upon hearing, “We need to find someone who’s gonna be really good at it,” spill from the lips of a Teva-wearing hippie as his wife marched beside him.

These were good, but they weren’t good enough. Where was the drama? Where was the excitement? Frankly, where was Alec Baldwin when you needed him?

So, we walked a little further up the Mall and got these gems (all from different people): “First of all, he didn’t even wear shoes during it,” “I think he felt pretty bad after it was all over,” and “Things are pretty strange in that area lately.”

But then, when we turned around and walked to the Pavilion, we knew we’d hit the jackpot:

“Did I just hear the toilet flush? What the hell are you doing?”

“It was weird, dude. …I didn’t even know what was happening until it got dark.”
 
And finally, “Someone died outside our office yesterday.”

Sure, the first one left little to be desired, but the last two were pure gold. Add to that the tail end of a very sassy conversation between a young lady and her father, and we’d struck it lucky.

Here’s what we caught:

“No. I didn’t…I don’t have time, Dad. …Can’t you do that?…I already told you that I—stop interrupting me! …Dad!…Dad, stop. You’re being a total ass right now. …No, please stop talking to me. You’re really getting on my nerves right now…I’ll call you later. …Yeah, I love you too. Bye.”

More details revealed in July 19 homicide

Details of the homicide that occurred Saturday, July 19 continue to unfold. According to the Daily Progress, which draws from search warrants and other filed documents, three of the four suspects charged with the murder of 19-year-old Joshua "Spanky" Magruder were present at the scene.

In the early hours of Saturday morning, Bobby Gardner went to the parking lot of a Sixth Street Southeast apartment building to fight someone named Jamal, with whom he’d had a three-year conflict, according to the Progress. Soon after his arrival, a green Honda (occupied by a woman who had heard about the fight) and a white Nissan (later identified to be containing two other suspects, Trenton Brock and Theodore Timberlake) pulled up to the scene and the shooting began. Gardner, believing Jamal was shooting at him, fired his handgun while running from the parking lot the DP reports. Shortly after, Magruder was found dead with at least one gunshot to the head.

Bobby Gardner, one of four charged in the murder of Joshua Magruder.

Sunday evening, a SWAT team arrived at the apartment of Luscious Lucas, where the suspects were supposedly staying, according to the DP. A search of the property revealed no suspects, but instead a bag of marijuana and .357 Magnum cartridge. After the SWAT team search, Gardner, who the Progress reveals to be Magruder’s cousin, drove to a police station.

The other suspects were found at the Super 8 Motel on Greenbrier Drive in Albemarle County. Upon learning of the police force’s arrival, Timberlake and Brock willingly surrendered. Rachel Turner, who has been charged as an accessory to the murder in addition to her First Degree murder charge, was found in room 214 and also surrendered. A search of the motel scene revealed another bag of marijuana, a box of .380 ammunition and a .380-caliber handgun.

Following the arrests, investigators searched Turner’s residence at 1074-A Reservoir Rd. and found a .38-caliber handgun. Police also allege that Gardner stayed at Turner’s home after the homicide.

Timberlake, Brock and Gardner are expected to appear in court August 14. Turner, who is currently released on bond, is slated to appear in court September 18.