Downbeat Project, a local fusion band with a rainbow of influences, is technically broken up. Last year founder Clarence Green and his “core guys,” Zack Blatter and Gerald Soriano, decided to put things on hold. The band’s third album, begun in 2013, still hadn’t materialized, and to paraphrase Green, life got in the way. But […]
The first time I saw frog legs jump onto a local menu was early last fall. Public Fish & Oyster was doing an appetizer of the gams all fried up crispy like, and I had to have them. For some odd reason, the typically French delicacy was a favorite of my childhood, and I hadn’t […]
Ashley McMillen was born in West Virginia. Now, she’s a resident of Nashville. But somewhere in between, Charlottesville helped launch the country musician’s accelerating career. A rising star on the singer-songwriter circuit in Music City, McMillen will play a homecoming of sorts when she graces the stage of the Dogwood in Palmyra on May 16. […]
Hate to break it to you, but that tin roof on your love shack is rusted. Time for a replacement. What are your options? Bruce Martin, an estimator and project coordinator for Charlottesville’s Blue Ridge Roofing, said metal roofs, created by paneling together solid sheets at junctions called “standing seams,” are actually quite popular in […]
The old Coca-Cola bottling plant, currently undergoing a massive art deco renovation, has a new tenant, and the effects are being felt beyond Preston Avenue. Timbercreek Farm, the local beef, pork, lamb and poultry supplier that services some of the best farm-to-table restaurants in town, will make its first foray into retail at the Coke […]
There’s a new wine expert in town, and he’s helping a Belmont eatery stay on top of its already well-respected vino game. Wells Blanchard came to C’ville last year with plenty of experience on the vine—a coveted viticulture/oenology degree from the University of California, Davis, several years of winemaking experience and an extensive background as […]
Sam Bush wanted to take what was cool about The Garage, the improbably small music venue in downtown Charlottesville for which he books acts, and smear it all over the city. He wanted to take the great bands he was attracting, and make something in addition to the quirky little concerts they were playing to […]
Webster’s dictionary defines jazz guitarist as a virtuoso strings player who refuses to make a decent buck on his or her talents. O.K. not really. But consider the case of Stephane Wrembel. The Frenchman started playing the piano when he was 4 years old. He studied under a renowned classical pianist and began dabbling in […]
It sounds like something a strung-out hippie might have muttered after two straight days of Dead jams and strong acid. “The music is all around us. It’s in the clouds, man.” Music ownership has gone something like this over the past decade and a half: Physical media turned to digital media, digital media turned to […]
Dave Fafara says he bought coffee roaster Shenandoah Joe 15 years ago because he couldn’t get a decent cup of coffee in Charlottesville. My how times have changed. Shenandoah Joe recently opened its fourth retail location, adding a Harrisonburg outlet to its formerly three-store roster. After selling the beans wholesale and at City Market for […]