By Sean McGoey It’s easy to miss the Music Resource Center, hidden in plain sight inside the former Mount Zion Baptist Church, on Ridge Street at one of Charlottesville’s busier intersections. The MRC is one of the city’s best-kept secrets, and this week you’ll have a chance to see what you’ve been missing out on […]
Barefoot is history The executive director of the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society has resigned less than two years into his tenure. Coy Barefoot, a well-known local author and media personality, was hired in March 2018 after his predecessor Steven Meeks resigned amid questions of mismanagement. Barefoot told at least one person, who later described the […]
Exploring outdoors, whether in a city or the wilds, can be relaxing, exhilarating, ennobling—and sometimes, extremely dangerous. We’re not talking about the kind of danger one knowingly faces, for instance, during an extreme undertaking like climbing Everest, where 11 people have died in 2019. Most injuries and even fatal incidents occur during much more low-key […]
By Sydney Halleman Richie Edmond-Vargas sits on a shaded bench on the University of Virginia law school terrace. He’s digging into a vegetarian burrito bowl, enjoying a brief break from traveling. He pauses to point to some of the tattoos on his forearms—the Green Bay Packers logo, piano keys. “Eventually, I want to get bell […]
By Sydney Halleman It’s 10am on the Downtown Mall, and already the sounds of demolition flood the area. Pedestrians stream past Mudhouse Coffee and The Whiskey Jar, and a few glance at the tall fence erected recently across the walkway, and the signs that read, “Do not trespass. Construction site.” Machinery looms over the area […]
Cult of personalities: Almost 25 million people have visited Graceland since Elvis’ death in 1977; Beyoncé has 134 million followers on Instagram; and over 46 million adults read People magazine every week. Why do we care so much about famous people? In her new book, Sharon Marcus looks at The Drama of Celebrity, starting with […]
Axe grinder: Texas singer-songwriter Jackie Venson is starting to escape a tagline. Winning Best Guitarist at this year’s Austin Music Awards pushed Venson past all of the gender references that typically surround a woman with an electric guitar in her hands. Combining power, skill, and dreamy vocals, her music draws comparisons to Jimi Hendrix and […]
Water worlds: National Geographic photographers David Doubilet and Jennifer Hayes share their underwater experiences in Coral Kingdoms and Empires of Ice, a photographic journey that captures three unique marine environments—Kimbe Bay in Papua New Guinea, the icy waters of Antarctica, and Canada’s extraordinary Gulf of St. Lawrence. Doubilet jokes that he’s spent more of his […]
Inching closer Albemarle County staff is recommending the Board of Supervisors consider adopting an ambitious climate goal: to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 45 percent by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050, aligning themselves with the same goals as the city. Last month, county staff gave the Board of Supervisors a second update on […]
By Spencer Philps Four news organizations, including BH Media Group, which publishes The Daily Progress, are suing the Virginia Department of Corrections over procedures they believe violate the public’s First Amendment right to witness state executions in their entirety. Members of the public, including the press, are allowed to witness executions. But the plaintiffs argue […]