Economic times are tight in Virginia. And when axes start falling on State budgets, funding for the arts is often the first to be slashed. The Charlottesville-based Piedmont Council of the Arts hopes to dodge the blow by proving that, in Director Nancy Brockman’s words, “The arts are a producing segment of the economy.” That […]
Just over the crest of the hill, you see a plume of smoke escape. Instead of the low, familiar, chugging sound, however, you hear infectious music, a sound you haven’t heard before. Slowly Old School Freight Train comes into view—and begins to pick up steam. The band, which is based in Charlottesville, has recently enjoyed […]
This little light of mine/I’m gonna let it shine.“ The rehearsal hadn’t officially started yet, but the Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Mass Choir was already singing. On a frigid Monday night, January 6, a jumble of people filled the black box theater at Charlottesville High School. Tight clumps of fidgety teenagers waited in line […]
In the wake of last summer’s Enron and WorldCom disasters and other corporate malfeasance along the way, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have been busy trying to restore investors’ confidence. Their reach has extended to Charlottesville, where SNL Financial, a publishing company covering various financial services sectors, […]
Flashlights, GOP handbooks and dirty shirts: very, very costly. This will not be an O. Henry moment.In what follows you will find no stories of bartered hair and pocket watches. If there is sentimentality in these tales of best and worst gifts, we didn’t put it there. Deploying the sharpest investigative tools, by which […]
Ice, snow and frigid temperatures be damned, 275 well-heeled patrons and artists pile into the stately University of Virginia Art Museum on Rugby Road on Saturday, December 7. Anticipation, tuxes and formal gowns surround the 55 donated pieces to be silently auctioned at “Seeing Double,” the fete sponsored by the Young Friends of the Museum. […]
What purpose does a gate serve but to limit access? Depending on the setting, a gate can forbid freedom or promise a new horizon. Or, if you live in Keswick, Glenmore, Lake Monticello or any of the ersatz gated subdivisions around Charlottesville, a gate can rise as a shining symbol of such lifestyle amenities as […]
Since Andrew Holden went to jail last month for staging a sit-in at a local hotel, he’s often been asked, “Was it worth it?” Despite suffering from what he calls “the worst medical treatment” he’s ever encountered, Holden says he actually found incarceration liberating. He admits most people won’t understand that feeling, but, he says, […]
Before long, family vacations may take you to the “redeemed” site of a former toxic dump. The unnatural history of such a park won’t necessarily be posted along the trail, either. More likely, the truth will be trapped beneath “cap and cover” vegetation and other peek-a-boo devices. Landscape architect Julie Bargmann refers to that process […]
A serial rapist is on the loose in Charlottesville––police suspect the same man is responsible for at least five sexual assaults in the past six years, including a November 11 attack in the Willoughby subdivision. The violent nature of the attacks has attracted local media, but City and UVA rape counselors say rape, in all its […]