Author: Shea Gibbs

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Arts

Son Volt’s Jay Farrar defines success on his own terms

Jay Farrar (front) formed Son Volt in 1994 after the break up of Uncle Tupelo, the seminal alt-country rock band that also featured Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy. Publicity image.

Boy meets boy. Boys start band. Boys break up. Boys start new bands.

That pretty much leads us to today, with Jay Farrar fronting Son Volt, an alt country/Southern rock band with a relatively strong cult following—and there is also the story of the other boy, Jeff Tweedy, who formed Wilco, a band so popular it’s been called the midwestern Radiohead. But this isn’t a competition, right?

Truth be told, the two boys’ careers have gone along so differently that comparing them is like weighing the merits of a tennis shoe and a baseball cap because some guy once wore them together. But such has been Farrar’s plight. Unfairly or no, his accomplished career has been overshadowed by the success of the other guy that started Uncle Tupelo with him (along with Mike Heidorn) in 1987.

Ahead of his September 24 show at The Jefferson Theater, Farrar took time to talk to C-VILLE Weekly about Son Volt, his career —and answer a question or two about Tweedy.

C-VILLE WEEKLY: Son Volt’s been reshuffled in recent years. What does this lineup have going for it?

Jay Farrar: The idea with this recording (Honky Tonk) was to focus on the pedal steel guitar. There is also a lot of twin fiddle, a sound I found captivating from listening to old 1950s country music recordings, but we are not duplicating that so much live.

Honky Tonk sounds less rock ‘n’ roll to me than past records. Was that intentional?

There are elements of the more high-energy rock stuff live, but not so much on this record. It was a conscious effort to focus on the more country elements from Son Volt’s past. I had been learning to play pedal steel guitar with a local band, and we were playing this country music from the 1950s and ’60s in a honky tonk that’s been in existence since the ’30s. I was just immersed in country music, and when it came time to write songs for this record, that was the natural course.

Is that indicative of where Son Volt is going?

That remains to be seen. There has always been an inspirational duality to Son Volt, and even going back to Uncle Tupelo, there was the electric side and acoustic side. With the last two Son Volt records, we have been more concentrated on the acoustic side, but as long as there are amplifiers and electric guitars, I will always be using them.

So many artists these days are blending genres. Are you consciously going the other way?

From a songwriting perspective, it’s good for any writer to follow whatever genre is inspiring them. Without that, where would The Beatles have been? They followed the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi around and wrote some great music.

I find there’s something healing about folk music. What do you hope people get out of your music? 

It’s difficult to say what I expect people to get out of my music, but I agree there is an inherent redemptive spirit in folk music. Early country music falls along the lines of blues in my mind. There is a culture of commiseration associated with both, and by listening to that music, you just feel better.

You guys are in the middle of some time off of the tour. How are you using it?

I’ve been doing a lot of painting, not so much writing, but I’m beginning to think about the next project. While I’m touring, it’s more of a process of gathering ideas. After this tour, I will settle into some serious writing. It won’t be specific to any project. I usually just dive into the process and see where it wants to go.

You don’t seem to be a person that has been driven by commercial success over the years.

What was always paramount to me was to have a creative outlet. I feel fortunate that I have been able to do that for as long as I have. I consider having a creative outlet to be success.

What are your thoughts on modern mainstream country, and how does alt-country fit in with it?

It’s important that people still find out about and foster an appreciation for country music from what I consider the most productive and exciting time for country, the ’50s and early ’60s, when there was a convergence of a lot of innovation. In a contemporary sense, country music is essentially any style of music that will sell. Incorporating other genres and styles should be a good thing. It doesn’t always seem to be a good thing, but it could be.

Is there a different response to country music in different areas of the U.S.?

I think early on there were cities that were more conducive to playing music, like Austin, Texas, and San Francisco, and even Athens, Georgia. But now there is an appreciation of country music across geographic and cultural lines. It was the music of the people for so long, and it left an indelible mark that’s still there. It may not always sound the same, but the impact is there.

What’s your relationship with Jeff Tweedy like these days?

I think our relations ended amicably enough. In some ways they could have been better. I was asked by Gary Louris of The Jayhawks to join Golden Smog at one point, and I said sure. I knew Jeff was in that band, and my thinking at the time was that would have been a good opportunity to redefine our relationship. But Jeff didn’t allow it, so here we are. We’ve spoken quite a few times over the years, but we travel in different circles.

You said the two of you have buried the hatchet. Does that mean we’ll see an Uncle Tupelo reunion anytime soon?

Yeah, we’ve buried the hatchet. I don’t see a reunion happening, and it’s not particularly something I would want to happen. But those were the formative years, so they were very important for everyone involved in that band.

 

Son Volt performs on September 24 at The Jefferson Theater

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Arts

Mayer Hawthorne talks about reaching for the next level

Stylish soul singer Mayer Hawthorne turns up the pop on his new album Where Does This Door Go?.

Indie artist Mayer Hawthorne wants to go pop. For those who remember his first full-length record from five years ago, the change in direction is obvious, and Hawthorne’s publicist says as much.

“He’s relaxed his DIY ethos of crafting every song from start to finish,” reads the multi-talented R&B musician’s bio. “Now, he’s motivated to create soul music that can win—win on the radio, win on the charts, win over clubs.”

Hawthorne emerged on an obscure hip-hop record label in 2008, singing throwback R&B tunes that sounded like extended rap track hooks. It was a comfortable, eccentric niche for a self-taught singer with a good voice that lacked refinement.

With his latest release, Hawthorne is upping the stakes. His eyes are on the prize, and the prize is male vocalist super stardom. Will he make it? Hard to say. But it’s probably worth checking him out at The Jefferson Theater on September 18 just in case he does blow up.

Hawthorne spoke to C-VILLE Weekly by phone to promote the upcoming gig.

C-VILLE Weekly: I’m going to say the names of a couple singers. Give me your first reaction. Justin Timberlake.

Mayer Hawthorne: Awesome. Amazingly talented. I wanna do a song with him.

Bruno Mars.

I am going on tour with him for eight weeks in Europe. I can’t wait. Those guys are some of the hardest working dudes out there, and anytime I see Bruno perform, I am like, ‘I have got to go rehearse.’ We really push each other.

Robin Thicke.

I just deejayed a party with him—the pre-party for the VMAs. This was the first time I had met Robin, and he was super cool.

What do you think about all this “Blurred Lines” controversy?

I think a little controversy is good. Is it a good song? Yeah, it’s a good song. And that’s all I really care about. Any time a song is as big as “Blurred Lines,” there are going to be haters and people trying to discredit it. That’s a sign you’re doing something right.

You started out as an oddity on the primarily hip-hop indie label Stones Throw. What’s the ride been like going from that to being on Leno?

It’s been incredible. It’s always nice to see your hard work paying off. I am a work hard, play hard dude and I just want to make sure we keep growing. It is nonstop work, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I wake up every day and am so thankful I get to make music for a living.

How would you explain your growth in popularity?

I think it is about moving the music forward. Obviously people will always have love for classic music in general, but it’s the people that create something new that are the most successful.

As you transition to the mainstream, how do you stand out from other pop acts?

I try to make sure I am doing something nobody else sounds like. That’s one of the reasons that on this new album I wanted to do everything different. It was time to switch it up. You’ve got to keep evolving. There are always going to be people that want you to make the same album over and over, but you can’t do that.

How specifically do you make sure you keep evolving?

Singing is the thing I work hardest at. It’s a learning process. I was not a trained singer when I started, and it’s something I’ve learned how to do in the public eye. It’s not an easy thing to learn. It’s like playing a saxophone or piano—you have to treat it like an instrument. They say it takes 10,000 hours to master something, so I’ve got a long way to go.

How do you use your different skills at this point in your career?

It’s always a balance of everything. There is more deejaying on this new album than ever before. I went back to my roots and did all the scratching on the album. When I’m deejaying, it’s all about getting people to move and have a good time. I have definitely applied that knowledge heavily on this album. These days, I only rap along with my favorite Mobb Deep songs in the car.

Tell me about the songwriting/producing process for you.

I recorded over 45 songs for this new album, and one of the things I tried to do was throw all the rules out. The only rule I had was that it had to be fun. Every situation was different. Sometimes I would walk in the room and say, “Hey Greg Wells, nice to meet you for the first time ever, now let’s write a hit song.” I got a lot of help from some unbelievably talented people on this album. Pharrell Williams is on the record. He got me to focus on telling stories in the most detailed manner possible. Two heads are always better than one.

I’ve heard you say you’ve moved away from some of the musicians you used to cite as influences.

I grew up just outside of Detroit, so obviously the Motown influence is super heavy there. It’s something we are really proud of. But there are so many different types of music in that area, and it’s a really diverse place musically.

The name of the new album is Where Does This Door Go. Tell me more about the meaning of that.

The album is all about a journey into the unknown. It’s about going through that door where you don’t know what’s on the other side. The cover is a representation of the fear of not knowing what is through that door but also the excitement of going on a new adventure.

I think sometimes it’s hard for R&B acts to translate live. How will you make sure the Jefferson audience has a good time?

We work harder than anybody to make sure nobody ever wants their money back when they come to see Mayer Hawthorne live. Our audiences get a real show, not just a concert. It’s a party, and I’m in charge of leading the party. Part of having this incredible live band is that I can be spontaneous. You never know what you’re going to get, but it’s always going to be fun.

At the risk of this ending awkwardly, I think the ladies of Charlottesville might be interested to know if you have a girlfriend.

I’m single and looking to mingle, as James Brown says.

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Arts

Folk royalty: Pegi Young warms up for festival

Fans are hoping for a surprise appearance by her legendary husband when Pegi Young & The Survivors play three local shows this week. Image: Jay Blakesberg

If you were devastated by the news that Neil Young won’t be playing at the Lockn’ (nee Interlocken) music festival this weekend, here’s some good news. You’ll still see a member of the Young clan at the fest.

Pegi Young, Neil’s wife of 35 years, launched her own solo singing career in 2007 and has since cranked out three records along with her legendary bandmates, piano player Spooner Oldham and bassist Rick Rosas. Pegi Young & The Survivors will take the stage early on September 6 and deliver its own brand of eclectic Southern rock in front of the Arrington, Virginia crowd.

Here’s some more good news. The trio, along with guitarist Kelvin Holly and drummer Phil Jones, both new to Young’s latest record Bracing for Impact, will bookend their Lockn’ appearance with Charlottesville gigs on September 4 at The Jefferson Theater and at Monticello on September 7 for the Harvest Heritage Festival.

“My band is just phenomenal,” Young said. “We keep moving forward. We go out and play music we feel satisfied with and put forth our best show every night.”

Young and the Survivors do a mix of tracks, written collaboratively among the band members, and covers of classic Americana tunes. While Young pens most of the lyrics for the originals, the latest LP also features Neil’s bar house romp “Doghouse.” It’s a contribution that works particularly well, according to Young, because she and her husband have similar songwriting styles.

“Some musicians might write strictly autobiographically, but neither one of us do,” she said. “There’s usually some inspiration that sparks the idea, but then they take off from there. They’re fiction.”

Young’s songs often are inspired by the darker side of life. Doom-and-gloomers “Flatline Mamma,” “Trouble in a Bottle,” and “Daddy Married Satan” each grace the new record. But there’s also a hint of hope in Young’s lyrics, not to mention plenty of jaunty melodies and horn runs to keep the audience upbeat and bouncing.

“That’s my specialty,” Young said. “My daughter calls them sad bastard songs. Sad songs with happy melodies.”

Young said her band’s covers have to be inspired, as well. Whether it’s her or one of her mates that brings the idea to the table, she insists the covers are always songs she can get inside and “deliver with conviction.” Over the years, that’s included tunes by Irma Thomas, Lucinda Williams, and Devandra Banhart, as well as rearrangements of her husband’s contemporaries.

“We take some liberties and hope the songwriters are O.K. with it,” Young said. “The other members of Crazy Horse have been very complimentary. Lucinda Williams—I got good feedback from her, as well as Devandra Banhart. It is nice that some of the artists we choose to cover have reached out.”

Young said her late-blooming music career and eclectic style have been inspired by her early days listening to music on the West Coast, when different genres started exploding in the U.S. She grew up fascinated by the public and college radio stations that were playing obscure music in styles she didn’t even know about.

“I loved that there were not such defined lines,” she said. “When FM radio started, it was all over the map. That was back in the day before it became a business. Everything has changed completely.”

Young has also changed a lot over the years. In addition to launching her music career, she and Neil founded The Bridge School in 1984 to help developmentally disabled children like their son Ben, who was born with cerebral palsy. It’s yet another cause for a duo devoted to an exhausting list of causes.

“It’s not really fatiguing to us because it’s such a joy and is having such a huge effect,” Young said. “The mission is to enable the students to achieve a certain level of competency. The big, over-arching goal is to enable participation through communication.”

Young said she’s had to deal with her own share of communication issues in her life. A self-described “really shy person,” she spent a decade singing back-up for her husband before gathering the gumption to put out her own release. Of course, having the backing of the guy who wrote “Old Man” is a pretty good way to ensure success.

“Neil has always believed in me,” Young said. “He’s a big supporter. I had written for years and he knew I did this when not a lot of other people knew. He just encourages people to express themselves in whatever their art form might be or their manner might be.”

Although they’re on the road separately these days, Young and her husband do still find opportunities to hit the stage together. And while what was lining up to be a great reunion opportunity at the Lockn’ festival won’t materialize, Young promises there will be other chances.

“We just celebrated our 35th wedding anniversary—we manage to find time together,” she said. “We try to intersect on the road as much as possible.”

So, any predictions about when those intersections might deliver fans a Young family sing-along?

“I learned a long time ago about trying to cast predictions.” Young said. “There is no cheese down that hole, as a friend used to say. Surprises are better.”

September 4 at The Jefferson

September 6 at Lockn’ Music Festival

September 7 at Heritage Harvest Festival 

 

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Living

Turn to stone: The scoop on soapstone’s rising popularity

Photo: Courtesy Alberene Soapstone Co.

First it was granite. All granite, all the time—people had to have their granite. But as the kitchen/bath upgrade revolution has aged, other materials have gained a foothold.

So it is with soapstone, now the third most popular natural stone countertop material behind granite and marble, according to the International Surface Fabricators Association.

“At one time, we put soapstone only in older homes,” said Dave Trimbur, owner of countertop fabrication outfit Virginia Soapstone. “That’s not necessarily true anymore. I think it is more widespread now.”

The Schuyler-based Alberene Soapstone Company has made a hefty bet there is something to the trend. The company relaunched the only U.S.-based soapstone mining operation three years ago and began marketing the material in earnest. According to a company representative, soapstone appeals to the modern consumer because of its natural appearance and reduced carbon footprint, in addition to its density and heat and bacteria resistance.

“You can’t hurt it. Nothing penetrates it,” Trimbur said. “You can put a boiling pot of water on it, and you cannot burn the stone. Yet it has a soft texture, a natural look.”

With the proper care—rubbing with mineral oil or beeswax—soapstone can look like new for decades, according to Trimbur. Other stone counters require chemical sealants and occasional buffing to keep their sheen. Plus, soapstone doesn’t show seams as badly as other stones, due to its uniform color.

The material does have some drawbacks, Trimbur admits. Its consistent color, a slate gray with some green or blue tinges and lighter veins running through it, limits the diversity of cabinets it can complement. And the softer makeup of the stone makes it more susceptible to scratching and dinging.

“Still, I would say the advantages to the disadvantages are 10 to one,” Trimbur said.

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Living

New to school: How to help your kid handle being the fresh face in the hall

Illustration: Jared Boggess

Wendy Fisher was forever the new kid. Twelve times she started at a different elementary school. Twelve times she had to figure out how to fit in. She got pretty good at it.

“As a kid and as a family, the best thing to do is to join something,” she said. “Join a team, the drama club, anything you can do to shrink your circle of acquaintances.”

Now, as head of Charlottesville’s Mountaintop Montessori, Fisher sees a lot of new kids. And she’s not the only one. In a university town like Charlottesville, it’s especially common to have students moving in and moving away.

“I think it is important for everyone to acknowledge it is hard,” Fisher said. “As parents and educators, we like to say, ‘You’ll be fine, you’ll be fine,’ but it is a worry. The people around the new kid should take steps to make it an easier entrance.”

So what are those steps? If you’re lucky enough to make your move when your child is young, you probably won’t have to worry much about it. According to Albemarle County Schools guidance counselor Ashley Johnson, younger children think of everyone as a friend and welcome the new kid with open arms. But parents with older kids may have more trouble. First, to the extent you can control the timing of a move, it’s best to introduce kids to a new school at the beginning of the year.

“When you get a new student in the middle of the year, it’s hard on the kid and hard for the teacher and the rest of the kids in the class. We’ve already established our routine,” said Adam Mohr, a third grade teacher at Agnor Hurt Elementary School.

Routine, according to Mohr, is critical —at home or at school. By making sure things happen on a regular schedule with no surprises, you can minimize the stress of a new situation.

“Try to mimic the routine of school at home,” Mohr said. “Whether your kids are saying anything or not, the mercury is rising, and they feel stressed.”

Fisher agrees school and home life have got to work together for the transition
to a new place to go smoothly. That can be easier in Charlottesville, where you run into people you know at every corner, but it can also be out of some parents’ comfort zones.

“I have to force myself to be outgoing because I am so shy,” Fisher said. “The parent has to get past that and make the way for the child. Take those hard first steps, get the class list and make those new relationships.”

Communicating with your child’s school is also key, according to Mohr. A lot of new kids act out as a defense mechanism or to gain attention. But you’ll never know what‘s going on if you don’t engage the “triad” of communication between yourself, your child, and your child’s teacher, he said.

Fortunately, it’s not all on you to make your family’s transition to a new place seamless. The community and school system can play a big role. Mohr said when students that need extra attention leave his school, he’ll reach out to the next institution to tell them what to expect. And when new kids arrive, he’ll sometimes encourage his more “non-judgmental” students to take them under their wing. For the most part, though, he just tries to set a good example for his classroom.

“My job as the teacher is to not make a big deal out of it. The kids are the ones that are all like, ‘We’re getting a new kid!’” he said. “I keep it really low key. A calm teacher has a calm classroom.”

Most schools will have a formalized program in place that helps socialize new and existing kids alike. Albemarle County schools, for example, practice the “Responsive Classroom,” which gives students a weekly open forum to talk about what’s going on with them. It’s a chance to give kids a voice in a safe environment and make them feel more in control.

Johnson said at Agnor Hurt, she also offers “friendship groups,” get-togethers specifically designed for children who have more difficulty making friends than others. While not every school in the city or county will have those types of programs, almost all guidance counselors are equipped to deal with tricky social situations, so it’s a good idea to seek them out when your son or daughter goes to a new school.

Johnson said most of the time, the new kids she deals with find a group of friends—however small—in much less time than she anticipates.

“Kids say they don’t have any friends when they aren’t friends with everybody,” she said. “But I do think there is a kid out there for everybody.”

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News

Selena O’Shaughnessy turns obstacles into opportunities

Selena Cozart O’Shaughnessy thought she’d be an educator for life, but had to learn to forge a new path midcareer—which includes working as a resident services coordinator, and making and selling soap. Photo: Elli Williams

Selena Cozart O’Shaughnessy, Ph.D., is a career learner. But even her extensive education couldn’t save her from losing her job as a public school administrator when the economy tanked in 2008.

Now, the Philadelphia native and UVA alumna puts her experience and love of community to work from 9 to 5 as the resident services coordinator for the Piedmont Housing Alliance, and satisfies her creative and entrepreneurial itch with her own soapmaking company.

“I have reinvented myself in several ways,” O’Shaughnessy said. “But I have always been in the helping fields. I am a catalyst of sorts, not the person to tell people what to do but to help them discover what they need to do.”

Still, it’s all a sharp turn for someone who has been grooming herself to be a fixture in the public education system for as long as she can remember. As a teenager, O’Shaughnessy attended the Philadelphia High School for Girls, an exclusive, multi-cultural prep school, then enrolled at UVA, where she earned a bachelor’s degree, master’s in teaching, and a Ph.D. in education.

“The doctorate was not my goal,” O’Shaughnessy said. “It was the skill set I was after.”

She joined the Charlottesville City School Division, serving as an educational evaluation consultant before going back to UVA as an assistant professor in the Curry School of Education from 2003-2007. During her four years teaching at her alma mater, O’Shaughnessy founded SEEDS for Change, a student organization still in operation today that brings together people from different cultures and communities within Curry and around Charlottesville.

“I don’t even know if she is aware of all the good it has done,” said Curry School Associate Professor Stanley Trent. “Every year, the students pass the baton. It’s wonderful, and it was her brainchild.”

When the grant O’Shaughnessy was working on at UVA expired, she went back to the public school system, this time finding what seemed to be her ideal niche—equity and diversity coordinator for Albemarle County Public Schools. But about a year later, the housing bubble burst. The economy took a nosedive. People in all sorts of industries, with all sorts of high-profile qualifications, began losing their jobs.

“I was kind of the last one hired, first one fired,” O’Shaughnessy said. “The market for diversity experts was dwindling. Resources dried up, and people weren’t hiring.”

Which brought her to PHA. In addition to being program and service coordinator for Friendship Court, O’Shaughnessy is PHA’s fair housing program manager. She also acts as lead diversity consultant for the University Community Action for Racial Equity (UCARE), an organization devoted to changing systemic racism and discrimination at UVA and beyond.

But the thing that most excites O’Shaughnessy these days is “making stuff with her hands” after she goes home to her husband, dog—and kitchen. It’s there that she becomes two parts scientist and one part artist, mixing lye and fatty acids together with fragrances and botanicals to produce the soaps she sells on her website and in markets.

The impetus behind her soapmaking company, Salome’s Creations, was a desire to use only natural products on her body, a habit she says she picked up from her mother.

“I started making my own shampoo, and in researching recipes and techniques, I was always returning to soapmaking websites,” O’Shaughnessy said. “I fell in love with the process.”

Indeed, through all her training in education, one of the people O’Shaughnessy most likes to teach is herself. But five years after being laid off from the job she was all but destined to do, and five years into establishing her boutique business, she is at another crossroads. Salome’s Creations is currently only covering costs. O’Shaughnessy believes she could make the business profitable; the question is how to find the time to push it over the hump.

“I have a lot of balls in the air, so what has to come off the table?” she said. “I kind of do this all or nothing thing. If I can’t do it all now, then forget it.”

That’s something she is learning to correct. In part owing to her recent education in the Community Investment Collaborative, a program for minority entrepreneurs, O’Shaughnessy is trying to grow her business a step at a time. She’s looking to move into new farmers’ markets and is launching a series of soapmaking classes to share her love of craft and teaching.

Of course, there is still the issue of all those balls in the air.

“I’m also training to be a personal coach, which hearkens back to my days as a teacher at Curry, when I did some undergraduate advising,” O’Shaughnessy said. “It’s something I want to weave back into my life.”

It’s a complex pattern she’s weaving, but she wouldn’t have it any other way. O’Shaughnessy recalls that when she was teaching high school, on the first day of school, she would ask the kids to share their names and one defining trait. When she participated in the exercise, she would always say, “I like to try new things.”

“I remember saying in the third grade, ‘I know I am going to college,’ even though I didn’t grow up in a neighborhood where that was the expectation,” she said. “I think the thing that has always been present for me is that love of learning.”

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Arts

Friendly foe: Kurt Vile pulls dark lyrics from a light heart

Solo act Kurt Vile takes an enlightened approach to writing his dark, sometimes comical, psychedelica founded in a blues gospel tradition. Publicity photo.

Prepare to have yet another of your rock star illusions dismissed. Kurt Vile is a pretty happy guy.

Vile’s dark, sometimes raunchy lyrics belie the upbeat, irreverent manner that was on full display in his recent phone interview with C-VILLE. At one point in the talk, during which he was headed backstage for a show, Vile said out of nowhere, “Mountain Dew.” No, it wasn’t some psychedelic non sequitur or euphemism. He was just excited about an ice-cold bottle of soda that someone offered him.

But there is one thing that rankles Vile. He’s often defined by the media through his longtime friend Adam Granduciel’s band, The War on Drugs. So while his solo career took off in 2011 when his fourth full-length studio album Smoke Ring for My Halo charted on the Billboard 200, Vile had been making music alone in his living room since long before backing Granduciel.

Touring on his current critically acclaimed LP, Wakin on a Pretty Daze, Vile is bringing his solo act, along with his band, The Violators, to the Jefferson Theater on July 19.

 

C-VILLE Weekly: React to the following phrase: middle school band.

Kurt Vile: “Classic. Marching band, jazz band, concert band—yes. In fourth grade, there was a demonstration on instruments. They played the trumpet, and it seemed cool cause there were only three valves. I played it all through elementary school, middle school, and up through 11th grade. I quit a couple of times. It wasn’t like I sat home and practiced much. I was a natural, but sometimes it was like, ‘aw fuck, I have to go after school to band practice.’ You’re young and self-conscious, and the trumpet was kind of dorky. Girls would ask me to play, and I would get paranoid that they were staring at me.”

 

There are a lot of people staring at you now. How would you define what they’re looking at?

“Kurt Vile—a fucking guitarist, solo musician, songwriter. Music is what I do. It’s what I love. I love so much other music around me. I breathe it. I am always listening to it, I’m always thinking about it. I’ve been doing my solo thing for a long time. Forget The Violators and The War on Drugs. Just think of me and Adam jamming in his house, recording, being tight bros, developing styles together, having like-minded philosophies. We were just in the city, talking about how we know what’s going on and everybody else doesn’t—young kids honing in on this unique thing.”

 

How do you go about writing songs?

“I can’t really explain. I pick up my guitar and play. It’s just me. I’ve played my whole life. Somewhere along the way, I found my own voice. I’ve been doing it so long at this point that it’s just my personality. It’s not a stage act. It is totally zen. It’s like walking down the street. But it’s not like I just pick up my guitar and write lyrics right away necessarily.”

 

So you typically start with a riff and then write lyrics?

“I pick up my guitar and make shit up as I go. Some people want this like exact thing, but it’s not that way.”

 

I think of your lyrics as being like a movie trailer. You offer just enough of what you’re thinking about to keep us interested.

“It’s not like I tell a story from beginning to end. It’s more introspective, but I guess relatable, when it is some kind of depressing—or non-depressing—sentiment. Then I move on to more psychedelic imagery.”

 

The song “Society is My Friend” always interested me. What was the process behind writing it?

“I had a dark riff in one of my signature open tunings, and it just came out: ‘Society is my friend/it makes me lie down in a cool blood bath.’ It sounds dark and poetic but a little funny too, in a dark comedy kind of way. But it’s also a subconscious thing from listening to music. It sounds like, ‘society is a hole/it makes me lie to my friends,’ which is from a Sonic Youth song. They got it from a Black Flag song.”

 

I hear a lot of religious references in your songs. What’s the source of that?

“I don’t know how many religious references there are on the new record, but I grew up in a religious family. Plus, there is the blues-gospel tradition. That’s just like the earliest music: people in the fields, singing gospel. It’s a traditional thing. But everybody—Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen —references religion. And it’s a little more than that because I was surrounded by it my whole life.”

 

You’re clearly a student of music.

“I study just naturally. Everyone in my band is always listening to music and talking about it, but it’s not like we have this roundtable discussion. We all have that sort of idea that this is what we’re supposed to be doing.”

 

Does it ever feel less natural and more like a job? What are your thoughts about music sales these days?

“You have to play the game and adapt to new times. It’s fine for someone like Neil Young to say giving a song to a commercial cheapens it, because he has sold millions of records. No disrespect to him, but you do what you have to do. I never experienced the ’90s where records were selling like crazy.”

 

I think a lot of people in Charlottesville’s music scene can relate. Are you familiar with the city?

“We’ve been there twice, and it was awesome. The first show was better; the next time we just kind of set up and played. This time should be generally a well-oiled rock show with peaks and valleys, a couple of climaxes.”

 

Kurt Vile & The Violators  The Jefferson Theater, July 19

 

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News

Independent streak: How Martina Payne turned tenacity into a career

Martina Payne built her hairdressing business from scratch 20 years ago, making ends meet for her family and keeping one eye on the future. Photo: Eli Williams.

Martina Payne admits she was a hardheaded teenager. So when her mom said “get out of my house” during a fight when she was 15, she took her at her word. She packed a bag. She walked out the door. She never went back.

Supporting herself from such a young age took its toll sometimes, Payne said, but it was a decision that put her on the path to where she is today: a 41-year-old, self-made businesswoman who’s been running her own Charlottesville hair salon for 20 years; a strong-minded single mother people turn to when they’re in need. It also allowed her to live a full life before most people even hit their stride.

It was Thanksgiving Day, 1987, when Payne left her mother’s city home. She moved into her older sister’s place nearby, but quickly decided she wanted a whole new life. Before she had even turned 16, she started working two jobs. Her employers, Morrison’s Cafeteria and Watson’s Department Store, wouldn’t give her more than about 20 hours per week each, but with the two jobs together, she was able to make enough to pay rent every month.

Then there was the little problem of the law. Payne wasn’t old enough to rent an apartment legally. But, she said, “it was a different time.”

“I lucked up,” Payne said. “I saw a ‘for rent’ sign and went to the landlord. He rented me the place and never asked my age.”

Over the course of her young life, Payne had to do a lot of things for herself. She learned to make a couple bucks in spending cash by doing the neighborhood kids’ hair when she was 11. She succeeded in high school and went to beauty school all while working 40 hours a week. She made her own prom dress.

“I was serious with my school work,” Payne said. “I didn’t want the school system to interfere. It wasn’t as bad as it seems, but I was protecting my family. The other kids thought I was mean, but I wasn’t mean. I just had to focus a little more.”

After high school, Payne got her hairdressing license and went to work as a shampoo girl for a large local salon. Within a year, she was doing hair and building clients. She then moved to a smaller salon where she could get more attention for her styling. She also had the opportunity to manage the salon and learn what it took to run a hairdressing business. All the while, her client list grew.

Payne opened her first salon in 1993 at 21 on a single $3,000 loan. She stayed in that space on Preston Avenue almost 14 years before moving to a slightly smaller shop across the street. Then, after four more years, she saw an opportunity to go to an even smaller space on Allied Lane just off McIntire, decrease her costs, and stop “killing herself” to make ends meet.

“Hair was like a hustle for me,” Payne said. “It was money, it was positive, it was something I liked, and it was legal. It was survival mode for me.”

Nowadays, the hustle is streamlined. Payne works four days a week, about 10 hours a day, and sees more than 10 heads of hair daily, mostly on top of folks she has known since she was 17. Her newest regular client started seeing her 10 years ago. She doesn’t take walk-ins. Where she was once spending about $2,000 a month on rent alone, Payne now has her monthly expenses, including rent, equipment upkeep, hair products and cable, down to about $2,400. That lets her keep her prices reasonable.

“I don’t charge what most salons do,” Payne said. “I know what the basic salary is around here, and I’m not going to try to take half that.”

The end game? Make enough to cover expenses, save to send her daughter to college and retire from doing hair in 10-15 years. Then she’ll be able to pursue her passions—decorating and cooking. “My dream is to one day open up a restaurant,” she said.

Her logic goes like this: She got in early; she should be able to get out early.

“I still don’t really know what I want to be when I grow up,” she said.

Payne’s family gives focus to the rest of her life. On a Wednesday afternoon at her salon in late June, her middle sister, Nicole Washington, sat in a chair waiting for a style, recalling how Payne was there for her son when Washington couldn’t provide for him.

“I look at her and say to myself, why can’t that have been me. She’s amazing,” Washington said. “She got what she wanted.”

Payne tries not to dwell on the negative parts of her past. She and her mother have patched things up. She regularly talks with her daughter’s dad—her high school sweetheart, whom she never married—to make the right decisions for their child. She’s on good terms with her own dad, who divorced her mother when she and her siblings were young.

“I could hold grudges, but I don’t. You are only taking away from yourself if you have a negative mind like that,” Payne said. “I have a big heart. In order for me to be the woman I am now, I had to forgive and let go.”

Once a month, Payne takes her daughter on a trip, just the two of them. She saves her tips, and they hit the road, to D.C., Richmond, wherever. They sightsee. They spend time together. Her daughter is planning to head off to college next year, but in the meantime, Payne is happy keeping her right where she is.

“I am hard on her, and we have our blow-ups,” she said. “But she better not be going near that door with a bag.”

 

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Arts

Showtime, Charlottesville: Japandroids are in town

Vancouver band on the rise, Japandroids (David Prowse, Brian King) maximize the power of town and put name recognition first. Photo: Burdett/Shiek

Let’s get this out of the way: The name Japandroids doesn’t mean anything. Both members of the Vancouver-based rock band happened to come up with two-word names before their first billed show. Neither of them liked the other’s suggestion, so they combined them. The result is a play on words that Brian King and David Prowse expected to change before their next event.

Eight years later, the name Japandroids has stuck with the garage rockers like a bad riff. In a recent phone interview, guitarist and vocalist King said if he and Prowse had it all to do over again, they’d aim for something less futuristic ambient and moredirty punk. But at this point, their brand has grown too strong to ditch the name.

In less than five years, Japandroids has gone from a near breakup to doubling the size of the live venues it plays, and garnering critical acclaim for the full-length studio albums, Post-Nothing and Celebration Rock. On June 20, King and Prowse will bring their act to The Jefferson Theater.

C-VILLE Weekly: You guys are known as a killer live act. What can the crowd at the Jeff expect?

Brian King: “We pride ourselves on our live show. That’s the part of playing in a band we love most. So the crowd can expect from us a pretty loud, energetic rock show. The other half depends on them. Our band has a very symbiotic relationship with the audience, and typically the audience likes to participate in the show. It can get pretty wild, pretty crazy, so the more the audience gives the band, the more the band gives back.”

So this is kind of a performance for Charlottesville, as well?

“This is going to be the first time we’ve ever played in Virginia. We don’t know what the crowds are like. They don’t necessarily know what happens during a Japandroids show. In many ways, it’s like going on our first tour again.”

Do you have any advice for the crowd?

“We write songs that are meant to be played live, with audience participation in mind. If you know the words to the songs, sing along. I don’t like to instruct the audience, but feel free to be enthusiastic because it makes us play even harder and wilder than we normally would.”

Tell me about the timing of this tour. It’s been almost a year since you released a record.

“We have been touring pretty much nonstop for a full year now. We are going to tour through the summer, then take time off to work on a new record. I am quite certain if people in Virginia have never seen us play before, they’re not going to care when we come as long as we eventually come and play the songs they like.”

Your manager said you guys are rehearsing to shake off rust. How can you be rusty?

“Even taking two or three weeks off, it makes us not sloppy, but nervous. When you’re playing five or six nights a week, you feel a certain confidence. We want to be as tight for the first show as we were the last show.”

You wrote in your bio that you guys “rip off too many different bands to sound like any other duo making music.” Was that a joke?

“We’re not necessarily a really innovative or original sounding band. We are a rock band with guitars and drums. It’s more or less everything you have heard before, but we just mix together all of our favorite bands into this one sound that ends up sounding at least just like us.”

One of the things that is unique is you’re a two-piece. Does that limit you?

“You are taking this thing two people have been doing for 100 people and doubling the size of the venue, and you have to maintain that energy. At the same time, you hear an obvious progression in the playing and songwriting on our records. You hear us figuring out how to maximize what we do have.”

I hear more radio-ready elements on the newest album. 

“I hear that too, but I think it is a fairly organic thing. This is our first band, and the first EPs we did, we didn’t know anything about writing songs and were learning to play together. That was the best we could do at that time. If we could have written arecord that had great hooks, we would have.”

I think of garage rock as being age-specific. Do you worry aging will make what you do more difficult?

“Dave and I are both 30 now, but I think there is a way to get older and still make exciting, dangerous rock music. One of our favorite bands of the last few years is Grinderman, Nick Cave’s side project. It’s wild and out of control, oozing bravado and sexual energy. Even though it is by guys that are my parents’ age, this music would scare the hell out of my parents. I would like to think we can find a way to do that.”

Charlottesville has a lot of struggling singer-songwriters. You guys aren’t far from that yourselves. Any advice for them? 

“If you want it bad enough and work hard enough, something will happen. It’s taken eight years to get where we are. It’s not like we are giant rock stars, but anyone who is concerned things aren’t happening with their band can look at us.”

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News

Yolunda Armstrong came here for her career, and found a community

Yolunda Armstrong, a businesswoman since age 16, with her latest venture, the food truck she’s launching with her business partner Quinton Harrell. Photo: Elli Williams

Yolunda Armstrong’s influences are layered like the floors of a hotel.

First floor: her mother, telling her you have to give back to your community even if you’re living in the projects.

Second floor: her dad, who’s never too busy to carve out an hour on Wednesday night to spend time with his daughter watching “Criminal Minds” over the phone.

Third floor: her older sister, calling her her “big little sister” in one of their daily conversations, because she’s the responsible one.

Fourth floor: her business partner Quinton Harrell, introducing her to other civic-minded African-Americans in Charlottesville.

The floors continue to climb, but Armstrong only has so much time to go into them all. As manager of the Red Roof Inn on the well-trafficked Corner and co-owner with Harrell of A Taste of Home Southern Cuisine, a catering company and food truck, she’s busy. And that’s before you take into account the volunteer work she does for organizations like City of Promise, a local nonprofit working to improve outcomes for disadvantaged youth.

“I want to see other people go higher,” Armstrong said. “That is my passion and what keeps me wanting to stay in this community. I want to be more than just someone who is making money on the community.”

Armstrong, 41, has been working on going higher for 25 years. She got her first job at 16, starting in the microfilm department at Blue Cross Blue Shield in her hometown of Columbia, South Carolina, then moving into printing. After a couple years studying psychology at the University of South Carolina after high school, she used her knowledge of printing to pursue a job in management with Xerox Business Services. The company offered her a position in Charlotte, North Carolina, and gave her two weeks to decide whether to accept.

She took the job. At age 23, Armstrong found herself in charge of 25 people. It wasn’t always easy. She was handed a few customer contracts that were absolute dogs.

“When we took over the [printing] contract for Mecklenburg County, we were billing them $32,000 a month for the entire county,” she said. “We had to sit down and think, how can we make this make money?”

Within a year, Armstrong and her team had increased the revenues generated from the contract to $100,000 a month by partnering with the county on its newsletter printing and becoming its sole paper supplier. It was a shining star on her then-short resume as a manager. But it also got her thinking. What if she could do the same for a business of her own?

Armstrong took the next logical step to learn what it’s like to manage the bottom line for yourself—she went to a more performance-based management job. With Kinko’s in Savannah, Georgia, she found the fiscal pressure she wanted and then some. Her new boss showed her how not to manage, turning to profanity-laced tirades when things went wrong, and she failed to hit her quota in the first month the performance-based salary structure kicked in. It was the reality check Armstrong needed.

“I was like, O.K., this cannot work,” Armstrong said. “The next month, I did make a profit, and then after that I started making a profit consistently. I had to get it fixed quickly because it affected my ability to support myself. I enjoyed that about it.”

Knee deep in management experience, Armstrong set out to learn sales. She took on two commission-only positions, selling water treatment devices and later vacations for Marriott Vacation Club in Hilton Head, and found the confidence she needed to talk directly to customers. Still, you need money to start your own business, so she went back to management. She landed with Red Roof Inn in 2002 and took over several chalet-style properties before coming to Charlottesville in 2007 to oversee one of the company’s larger hotels—a 138-room high-rise doing $3.3 million in annual revenues.

“The night I was driving into Charlottesville, it was raining,” she said. “I saw the hotel, and I thought, that is a big building, can I do this? But I got in there, and I realized I could do it. I just had to take it a piece at a time.”

That she’s done. The hotel lacked a sales team; she installed one. Revenues dipped below $3 million during the recession; she drove as much as 20 percent year-over-year growth. The hotel needed a renovation; she impressed the higher-ups enough to earn a place on the short list for $2 million in improvement funds.

But she’s done more than just manage a hotel in Charlottesville. She’s finally realized her dream of owning her own business—she and Harrell are just weeks away from rolling out their first food truck—and she finished her bachelor’s degree at Averett University.

Along the way, she also became part of a community. She’s not only given back through her volunteer work, she’s also leaned on others. A Taste of Home is one of the success stories of Charlottesville’s Community Investment Collaborative, a nonprofit designed to assist minority businesses. Once things really get moving with her truck, Armstrong hopes to use the business to lift others up, hiring primarily individuals with blemishes on their resume, such as a criminal record, giving training to those who need it, and helping entrepreneurs launch their own food trucks.

“We need people like Yolunda here,” Harrell said. “Our business model is truly built on employing people in our community and helping develop people, really playing an important part in the economic development of this town. That is something I am proud and excited for, and I can’t think of a better person to be doing it with.”