A glass act

Lizzy Trevor became wine director at Tilman’s on the Downtown Mall a year ago, coming to the position by sheer force of will. The oenophile, who recently aced the Wine & Spirit Education Trust’s level 2 examination, is completely self-taught and self-driven. She started working at Tilman’s two years ago as a team member and […]

New domaine

Most people think of their parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles as their family tree. For award-winning King Family Vineyards winemaker Matthieu Finot, it would be more accurate to call it a family vine. Finot’s relatives own vineyards and make wine in their native country of France. The recent launch of the Domaine Finot label in […]

Reason to believe

At first, making beer was just a hobby for Mark Fulton—when he finished punching the calculator during his day job as an accountant, he’d head home to his lab. Then, in 2010, the amateur beer enthusiast snagged a craft brewing apprenticeship with the American Brewers Guild. He untied his tie, quit his accounting gig, and […]

Water of Life

Sea anemones provide shelter and protection for clownfish; in turn, clownfish keep predators away from the anemones and stir up nutrients nearby. Red-billed oxpeckers eat pesky bugs off of rhinoceros’ backs. Nature is full of examples of symbiosis—two organisms living together in a mutually beneficial way. For a while, Charlottesville had its own example, down […]

Drink C’ville

By Carrie Meslar Bar seats around Charlottesville are filling up again, which means area bartenders are finally able to put pouches and to-go cups behind them and offer patrons in-person crafted cocktails. While making use of the abundance of locally produced spirits and ingredients is not new to our bartending scene, the opportunity to delight […]

PICK: Scuffletown

Orange we lucky: A chance encounter in a music store in Orange, Virginia, was the setting for acoustic duo Scuffletown’s auspicious start. The group’s name comes from a long-lost Orange County town, and for the past quarter century, the duo has traveled the country at large. Their signature blend of roots, jazz, world, and bluegrass […]

PICK: Standing in the Shadows of Motown

Backing it up: The Detroit record label Motown produced more hits than The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Beach Boys, and Elvis Presley combined. And much of that success had to do with its backing band, The Funk Brothers. From 1959 to 1972, the group of session musicians provided the distinctive sound for The Temptations, […]

PICK: Vax to the Future

Hit me with your best shot: No ’80s playlist is complete without songs by Madonna, Elton John, Sinead O’Connor, Bruce Springsteen, Janet Jackson, and The Pet Shop Boys. Yet while their sing-along hits were dominating the airwaves, each of these artists recorded lesser-known tracks to bring attention to the HIV/AIDS epidemic that was largely ignored […]

On deck

By Julia Stumbaugh In December 2020, a group of local youth took their case to a virtual City Council meeting. The goal: Keep the Charlottesville Skate Park open. The city had issued a release earlier that month warning that the park could be shut down if mask-wearing and social distancing regulations weren’t followed.  In response […]

Awoke to folk

Blake Layman’s solo offerings have been called “folk adjacent,” and he’s taken to the tag. Although the way he puts it is “almost folk.” The distinction’s subtle. But words are important to him. Layman, a Charlottesville native who plays bass for Richmond’s hot indie pop foursome Frames, has come a long way in the last […]