Author: john-ruscher

We have to say, we were a little disappointed in our readers’ choice for Best Place To Get It On. Home? How boring is that? But we suppose it is good to keep that sort of thing private. We certainly aren’t eager to run into anyone bumpin’ uglies in the Alderman stacks or dancing the back seat mambo in the Water Street Parking Garage. So, since your living room or bedroom seems to be the sensual stage of choice, we asked a few local musicians and DJs to help us put together a soundtrack for your amorous endeavors. Plug in those iPods and, er, we’ll leave the rest up to you.

"Earth Angel" by Bella Morte "Perfect for upping the romance."—Shawn Decker (Synthetic Division)

"Building Steam With A Grain of Salt" by DJ Shadow "From his legendary Endtroducing… album. This whole album is just a perfect ‘leave it on all the way through’ downbeat mood album."—Brad Savage (DJ on 106.1 The Corner)

"On The Couch" by Prince "From someone like Prince you’d expect something like ‘baby let’s do it on the…’ but here the Purple One gets down on one knee and pleads ‘don’t make me sleep on the…’ Brilliant. The smooth rhythm section and wailing choir seal the deal. If she does kick you out of the bed, the pillow won’t even be cold by the time she’s joining you in the family room."—Seth Green (Sons of Bill)

"Hidden Place" by Björk "Her voice is quietly expressive and sensual. The arrangement is lush and full of strange wonder. A hidden place is indeed the best make-out spot."—Lance Brenner (The Falsies, The Naked Puritans)

"She Has No Time" by Keane "My husband and I don’t listen to a whole lot of current music, so [our neightbor] John sort of keeps us up to date on that stuff. For example, I would’ve never listened to that band Keane… too pop for my taste. But drifting through the window at 1am, a few of those songs, um… well, I can’t say that they, like, totally ruin the mood…"—Devon Sproule

"Metal Machine Music" by Lou Reed "Widely regarded as a goof. While I find the jarring sheets of feedback exciting and sensual, going so far as to figure out what key they’re in (Side 3 is in A-flat, I believe), I also have a great deal of congenital neural damage. Have this come on a couple minutes before consummation and not only will it delay orgasm, it will very probably render it completely moot."—Tyler Magill (DJ on 91.1 WTJU)

"The Pink Room" from the Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me soundtrack "Grinding, sweaty, brutal, but in the most passionate film-noir way possible. Just feel the drums and you will be just fine."—Nicholas Liivak (Horsefang)

"The Beautiful Ones" by Prince "Starts off slow and sexy, then it gets heavy for the REAL pounding!"—Tim Clark (This Means You)

Best Personal Trainer: Justin Tooley of ACAC (pictured with John Ruscher).

"It’s very important that you eat breakfast, or else the workout could turn into a very bad experience. Do you usually eat breakfast?"

"Well…" I wasn’t sure if it was worth mentioning the strawberry Nutri-Grain bar that I usually nibble once I get to the office, but he already had things planned out for me.

"O.K., here’s what I want you to eat. Ready to write this down?"

"Yep." I grabbed a notepad.

"A half cup of oatmeal, a quarter cup of pineapples, a quarter cup of chopped English walnuts, at least one egg and two more egg whites."

"All right," I said.

"Try to eat this around 7:30, so you have some time to digest it before we start. And drink plenty of water."

This was my first conversation with Justin Tooley, winner of our Best Personal Trainer category. "Wow," I thought, "this will be interesting." My typical exercise routine is a stroll on the Downtown Mall and maybe (if I’m feeling particularly ambitious) a bike ride to the Corner.

My next interaction with Tooley started with the stair-climb machine. A few steps and I was already past my usual exercise quota. But it didn’t feel so bad, and I quickly saw why his clients voted for him. With a winning combination of encouragement, distraction and explanation, the guy does an amazing job of keeping one’s mind off of physical exertion. Even though my legs were getting tired (I think I prefer escalators), Tooley directed my thoughts toward a future goal.

"Next time you can put it on a little higher setting, and then after that, go for a little longer. And once you get used to it you won’t have to look down. You can just get in the rhythm and look ahead."

Then came the stability ball. I never imagined that a blow-up rubber ball could be such a vital exercise tool, but Tooley emphasized how the simple sphere can be just as effective as all of the gleaming gears of stainless steel.

"Some people come to the gym and they are intimidated by all of the machines. But there is a lot you can do without that." As he led me through an intense series of crunches, squats and leg lifts using the ball, I discovered muscles that I never knew existed (these muscles would soon become extremely sore).

From the ball we moved on to the machines. I was eager to work with some real weights, but apparently my body was not. After a turn on the leg squat machine, I started to feel dizzy and lightheaded. It was disappointing not to make it through the entire workout, but Tooley was reassuring and positive.

"We shouldn’t go any further today. Your body is telling you that it’s out of energy. I want you to come back next week, and this time you should probably eat an even bigger breakfast, probably twice as much, and we’ll try this again. If you make this a regular thing, you can really do anything you want."

I seriously considered giving it another shot. Ultimately, though, I think I’m just not the type for serious physical training. But, if I ever have the urge to get abs of steel, run a marathon or, God forbid, train for the World’s Strongest Man competition, I know where to turn.

A few years ago Feedback spotted some arty types lugging cello cases around the Downtown Mall. Who are these guys? we thought. They’re too sharply dressed to be busking (no offense, Mall musicians). Turns out they were headed to the Jefferson Theater for the Charlottesville Chamber Music Festival.

Come autumn, Timothy Summers and other virtuosos will bring sweet chamber  music sounds to Old Cabell Hall

You won’t run into those virtuosos Downtown anymore, but you might spot them amidst UVA’s fall foliage. Last year, with the ol’ Jeff getting a face lift, the festival relocated to Old Cabell Hall, and, come September, it’ll return there for its eighth year.

The move has been good, according to festival co-founder and violinist Timothy Summers. "The location has to have a strong sense of place," he says. "The Lawn is beautiful, so it’s no problem."

Speaking to us from across the pond (he was traveling in Germany), Summers, who was raised here, got us psyched about this year’s concerts. The five performances, he says, will progress from initial minimalist stylings (Terry Riley, Philip Glass) to an improvisational, free-form ending (Penderecki, Finnish tangos). "The middle concert will be very focused, almost like a vanishing point," he says. "It should be very different by the end from what it was at the beginning."

On August 7 (tonight!) Satellite Ballroom brings an unusual act to town. In case their name doesn’t ring a bell, we’ll tell you that Negativland is best known for sampling U2‘s "I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For" on the 1991 single U2.  Island Records swiftly smacked them with a lawsuit, one of the first of many copyright head-butts that, with the proliferation of mash-ups and mix tapes, are now par for the pop music course. "We never had a hit record," member Mark Hosler tells Feedback with a laugh. "We had a hit lawsuit."

But what has the group been up to in the last decade and a half? Oh, you know, radio programs, books, art installations, corporate criticism, robots, films, websites…the collective (they shrug off the term "band") is like an amusement park of experimental and political art. "Negativland has always been this umbrella under which we get to do whatever we want, and that’s what keeps it interesting," says Hosler. "If I was a guitarist in a band, I think I would have quit a long time ago."

Now the group is touring for the first time since 2000. "The world has changed a hell of a lot since we last toured," says Hosler. That’s for sure. When they last hit the road, Clinton was still in office, the first iPods were hitting the shelves and Feedback was in driver’s ed.

Perpetual champions of the new and provocative, Negativland will present "It’s All In Your Head FM," a live "radio show" examining the hefty subjects of monotheism and fundamentalism. It’ll be, as the title says, all in your head. "We even hand out blindfolds to the audience," Hosler says. Your typical rock show this is not. Feedback still isn’t sure what the experience will be like, but that’s the point, says Hosler. "We always like to do something totally unexpected."

Here goes Feedback’s first mention of the man of many restaurants, local brews and music venues. Yep, we’re talking Mr. Capshaw. We feel his presence around town daily, but the man has also made a pretty big digital splash. In its August issue Blender magazine ranks Capshaw, who started Crozet-based ticketing and merch website, Musictoday.com, at number 10 on the "Powergeek 25," a list of online music’s big dogs. He’s up there with the creators of YouTube, MySpace and Apple CEO Steve Jobs. Congrats, Coran, congrats.

Capshaw-managed Dave Matthews Band (maybe you’ve heard of them?), John Mayer, Phil Vassar and Nas (yes, Nas) will play a concert at Virginia Tech’s Lane Stadium on September 6. You’ll have to befriend a Hokie or be a member of DMB’s Warehouse fan club, though, because there’s no sign that tickets will be available for the general public.

And breaking news: Capshaw’s Red Light Management has taken on literate rockers The Decemberists, the angsty Alanis Morissette, and Band of Horses. Only so long before we see them at the Pavilion, no?

Got news, comments, or, ahem, feedback? Write to feedback@c-ville.com.

Fiona Apple and Nickel Creek? Seductive songstress and sweet ‘n’ proper newgrass? Really? That’s what we thought when we saw the bill for the Pavilion‘s August 4 show. But Nickel Creek’s Sean Watkins tells Feedback that when Fiona began sitting in on the weekly gig that he and his sister have at LA’s Largo, they quickly hit it off. "She’s one of my favorite musicians and singers," he says. "She’s really willing to take a chance." The collaboration went so swimmingly that the two acts decided to join up on tour.

"Why not?" Watkins asks. "We’ve got nothing to lose." True, as the band will go on hiatus after this 2007 fall jaunt, appropriately dubbed the "Farewell (For Now) Tour."

Apple-picking: Nickel Creek celebrate their last hurrah (for now) and invite Fiona along for the ride.

Feedback is excited for the Apple-Creek collaboration, but we’re also eager to see what cover songs the band has in store. In the past they’ve pulled out everything from Britney Spears’ "Toxic" to Pavement’s "Spit on a Stranger." Maybe some Kelly Clarkson? Bowie? Our fingers are crossed.

When Starr Hill closed, the remaining music hall shows moved to Satellite Ballroom. But what happened, Feedback wondered, to the cocktail lounge shows? Whether packed in like a sardine for Sarah White‘s amazing CD release party or sipping a Jomo and watching Adam Smith and the Invisible Hand, we loved the lounge’s vibe, so we asked Jeyon Falsini, who had been booking those shows, what’s up.

It was tough, he says, since the venue’s closing orphaned about 20 confirmed dates (and left him jobless), but Falsini has valiantly found new homes for most of those gigs at Outback Lodge, Miller’s and Mono Loco. With booking as a full-time commitment, he plans on setting up more shows at those venues and possibly others.

Seeing Falsini carry on without missing a beat warms our music-loving hearts, but what’s his inspiration? Awesome live shows, of course. Some of his favorite memories include RPG while he was bartending at Atomic ("It took a few tries to remove the footprints off the ceiling"), the late great Phil Gianniny keeping his cool amidst more Atomic chaos ("Have you seen those Westerns where the piano player keeps playing during an all-out bar brawl?") and up-and-comers The Business of Flies rocking the cocktail lounge.

Shawn Decker is all over the place. In a good way. He’s an author, traveling AIDS awareness speaker and vocalist for local synth pop duo Synthetic Division. Feedback met him for a late breakfast to talk about the group’s debut full length, Get with the Programs, and their August 4th CD release show at Outback Lodge. Everything is set for the gig, except maybe the t-shirts. "Hopefully they’ll come in time," Decker says, laughing. "The CDs will be there, though."

T-shirts or not, Synthetic Division (Decker and Richmond-based beat-master Kyle Wiggins) will get you moving. Feedback is really into our copy of the album. It’s got a heavy Depeche Mode vibe (we dig) and includes a Tori Amos cover and a guest appearance by In Tenebris‘ Christina Fleming ("We were inspired by Lauren Hoffman‘s vocals on Bella Morte‘s record," Decker says). The CD even comes with Synthetic Division condoms, a nod to Decker’s HIV education advocacy, but also, we think, to the fact that the tunes are quite sexy.

Nelson County blues prodigy Eli Cook just keeps sizzling. He’s featured in the latest issue of Guitar Player magazine and has landed another gig with B.B. King at Portsmouth’s Ntelos Pavilion on August 10 (he opened for the "King of Blues" back in February at the Paramount).

Charlottesville’s Ryan Adams craving has only grown since his July 10 show fell through, so much so that Starr Hill Presents has added a second Paramount show on September 14, the day after the rescheduled gig. Tickets go on sale August 3 at 10am.

Got news, comments or, ahem, feedback? Write to feedback@c-ville.com

Feedback loves going to shows, but it’s also refreshing to stumble across interesting music. That’s literally what happened on July 12 when we came upon a group banging gongs and other metal instruments on the Downtown Mall. Falling somewhere between a drum circle and wind chime ensemble, these folks mesmerized us with their peaceful, droning warble.

We caught up with one of the members, Paul Brewer, after the concert, and it turns out that these mallet-wielders are the Charlottesville Gamelan ensemble and they play traditional music from the Indonesian island of Java. Brewer says the group, led by Cindy Benton-Groner, has been around for more than 25 years and includes around 10 regular members. Though they say it was more of a practice than a performance, we feel quite lucky to have caught the ensemble out in public, as they play formally only a couple times a year. You are lucky, too, because Feedback was able to capture some video of the event. Check it out at c-ville.com and, if you’d like to learn more about the group, contact Benton-Groner at cbgroner@gmail.com.

All is full of love: The youngsters of Love Tentacle Drip Society celebrate the release of their first album, Some Kind of Cowboy.

Local folk-pop foursome Love Tentacle Drip Society is poised to release their debut album, Some Kind of Cowboy, and when we met up with them to talk about this momentous occasion, our first thought was, boy, these kids are young. Second thought (upon chatting with them and listening to the copy of the album that they slipped us)? Man, they’ve really got something. Though still teenagers, the four boys have pulled from influences far and wide (Talking Heads, Tom Waits and Madison County bluegrass are a few that they mentioned) to craft a smart and intricate record.

They weren’t without help, though. The ubiquitous Lance Brenner (of The Falsies and The Naked Puritans) was producer, engineer and, as the boys put it, “fifth member of the band.” The CD release party will be at Gravity Lounge on Saturday, July 28, and Brenner’s other other band, Thrum, will open. The first 50 people through the door will get a limited edition of the album with handcrafted packaging, so expect to find Feedback at the front of the line.

Whether he’s playing with pop star Mandy Moore, eccentric experimentalist Jandek or leading his own ensemble, drummer Brian Jones has the skills to pay the bills.

Every city has a few of those musicians that turn up everywhere. We have Tucker Rogers and John D’earth; Richmond has Brian Jones. No, not the Stones guitarist, he died back in ‘69. We’re talking about the former Agents of Good Roots drummer and current jazz and experimental guru who will roll into town on Wednesday, July 25 with his self-titled guitar-jazz four-piece. The Brian Jones Quartet usually includes another of our own musical regulars, Sam Wilson (High Society, Thompson/D’earth, Helen Horal), but since he’s busy sailing the high seas with his brothers in Sons of Bill, Alan Parker, another Jones-approved guitarist, will take his place. “It’s a little different,” says Jones, “but super cool.”

The quartet recently recorded an album, and Jones cites jazz guitarists Bill Frisell, John Scofield and Pat Metheny as inspiration, saying, “The record is kind of a love letter to those guys.” Feedback is excited to see Jones’ group, but it is merely one stalk in the man’s vast field of musical endeavors. In addition to countless projects on his own Slang Sanctuary label, he played drums on Mandy Moore’s latest album and sat in with obscure outsider musician Jandek for a show back in March. Feedback was lucky to catch the latter, and, we must say, put a pair of sticks in his hands, and Jones will tear it up.

Two final news bits. Sarah White won the regional finals of Mountain Stage’s NewSong competition and will head to NYC for the national finals in late September (Feedback roadtrip?). And Ryan Adams’ Paramount show, which fell through on July 10, has been rescheduled for September 13.

Got news, comments or, ahem, feedback? Write to feedback@c-ville.com.

“I’m a Reverend, I gotta have my own church so I’m not a chump,” explains Tim Clark, guitarist for local metal quintet This Means You. O.K., but why did he become an ordained minister? “It’s always funny to offend someone and whip out my license to shut ’em up.” And what’s the name of his church? The Church of Heavy Metal.

Preaching the teachings of metal: This Means You spreads the word with a new record and a live show.

The church’s teachings include esoteric things like slaying unicorns and “ridding the world of all things that are deemed ‘unmetal,’” but the band doesn’t seem to mind a little help from the mainstream crowd. Their new debut album, Reviving the Apparently Dead, was produced by Kevin Murphy and Brian Craddock, who both now play with former American Idol contestants (Josh Gracin and Chris Daughtry, respectively.) “Not that it has anything to do with us or our music,” says Clark. “I just think it’s funny.”

“The studio stuff is a blast,” he says, “we have a lot of fun, but for me it’s all about the live show.” See for yourself when they play the Outback Lodge on July 21. Joining This Means You on the night’s bill are instrumental decibel crushers Horsefang, who have been scarce lately, but tell us their own debut album should be out in late August.

Noisy metalheads: Horsefang joins This Means You on July 21 and prepares its  debut album for the fall.

Feedback remembers being blown away after discovering WTJU’s eclectic airwaves back in middle school, but UVA’s college radio station was broadcasting enlightening sounds to Charlottesville long before that. The station was going to let listeners in on its ongoing 50th anniversary celebration this Sunday with a party at McIntire Park. Sadly, as we went to press, the party was cancelled. Though the Internet has challenged college radio for the title of “Place to Find New Interesting Music,” WTJU is still going strong, and the event will be rescheduled for the fall. Feedback has been told to stay tuned…

“What happened to Live from The Hook?” asks a reader.  Well, we’ll tell you, but first let’s recap what Live from The Hook is for those who don’t know (and those with short memories). The documentary on Central Virginia’s music scene in the ’70s and ’80s debuted at last year’s Virginia Film Festival, and a DVD release was planned for June. It’s mid-July, and there’s still no sign of the discs, so we asked producer Andy Herz for the latest. He told us they should be good to go by the end of the year. Check back to this space, and we’ll let you know when they are ready to ship.

Got news, comments or, ahem, feedback? Write to feedback@c-ville.com.