Erika Howsare

“Charlottesville”? Sometimes it seems like they may as well call it “Musicville.” From eager bards lining up at open-mic nights to secretive electronica geeks hunkering in basements, this town has more than its share of musicians. With many would-be stars orbiting the community, perhaps it’s natural that someone would serve as a center of gravity. […]

Here’s one consequence of a pricey real estate market: Smaller dwellings will always be in demand. Locally, that means that even though the real estate market is officially in the cooler, condo sales continue to simmer along, nice and warm. As C-VILLE reported last week, third-quarter numbers from the Charlottesville Area Association of Realtors (CAAR) show a 20 percent drop in the number of overall sales compared to the same quarter last year. Still, anecdotal evidence shows that condos are still a fairly hot commodity.

After you’ve been to Disney World, the Tilt-a-Whirl at the county fair seems a little disappointing. Similarly, after the wild ride that was local real estate in 2005, this year’s tamer market would seem to signal that housing prices and sales are seriously slowing. But in its third-quarter market report, the Charlottesville Area Association of […]

Rock ‘n’ roll lives The Sandridge house in Ivy is an unlikely home for rock ‘n’ roll. A yellow Labrador runs laps in the backyard of this cedar-sided ranch home with a mountain view while two girls, just home from elementary school, bounce a kickball back and forth on the patio. The SUV and a […]

There’s a cliché in the art world: the reluctant teacher. Many artists take teaching jobs for the steady paycheck and to stay connected to art—not because teaching itself is their calling. And often these teachers are just a little resentful: students, grade books and faculty meetings come to seem like burdens that eat into studio […]

Once upon a time, Virginia had clear air. From the northern end of Shenandoah National Park, people often say, you could look east and see the Washington Monument, more than 65 miles away. Today that almost never happens. Average visibility from Shenandoah has decreased from 115 miles to just 25. Shenandoah perennially appears on lists […]

For a small Southern town, Charlottesville’s looking mighty international these days. Locals can taste chicken souvlaki, examine a Panamanian carving, sip Indian tea, and watch a weaver repair a Persian rug—all within a couple of blocks of the east end of the Downtown Mall. In fact, the area is growing into an enclave of internationally […]

They say that in Charlottesville, the guy who serves your coffee probably has a PhD. Increasingly, the coffeeshop where he works likely serves another function too: art gallery. In the past several years, all over town, new art spaces have proliferated—in restaurants and boutiques, and as cooperatives and nonprofits. The town’s concentration of visual art […]

There’s a truck with a trailer driving in the deep end!” says Pat Healy, looking out from a window in the clubhouse at Fry’s Spring Beach Club at the crater where a 100-meter swimming pool used to be. On this bright February day, it looks more like a giant, muddy hole, shored up with remnants […]