CAAR to write neighborhood Wiki entries

Once a novelty and now a rather pedestrian online encyclopedia, Wikipedia triggered its news avalanche when someone rewrote the entry about Sarah Palin shortly before she joined McCain’s presidential bid. The Charlottesville Area Association of Realtors (CAAR), however, doesn’t anticipate that much controversy when it creates Wikipedia entries for the area’s neighborhoods. CAAR President Judy […]

The "X" miles

“The project that really gets my fancy right now is that I am building one of those X Prize cars,” says Oliver Kuttner, one of Kenny Shreves’ early employers and a race car enthusiast himself. The goal of the Automotive X Prize competition, sponsored by Progressive Insurance, is to “think about a cleaner, safer, more […]

Lean, green racing machines

It was bound to happen: even racing has “gone green.” The American Le Mans Series (ALMS) announced in January its commitment to using alternative fuels in motorsports and partnered with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Energy and the Society of Automotive Engineers International. According to the ALMS’s President and CEO Scott […]

YMCA: More softball questions than Larry King

Bob Fenwick sat on a bench in front of McIntire Park’s softball fields. “This is such a beautiful place,” he says, pointing to the trees that stretch into the horizon. “It’s the Central Park of Charlottesville.” Fenwick is the founder of Savemcintire.com, a website focused on combatting City Council’s decision to “get rid of the […]

"I am just worn out"

December 12 is the last day for Noah Schwartz, executive director of the Charlottesville Redevelopment Housing Authority (CRHA). After three years at the agency, he is leaving the area to jump back into the nonprofit world working for a company that “does things I’ve done in the past.” Schwartz’s resignation is one more dent into […]

Your tax dollars, at work

Job title: Animal Control Officer. Durrer keeps the city’s animal population, both wild and domestic, under control. Has worked for the city for: 27 years Resides in: Charlottesville Best of times: Variety. “We deal with a lot of different things. It’s different from day to day. We see domestic animals a lot, but we also […]

The cat in the hats

Dear Ace: Who is “Rives” of Rives Park?—Parker Nosey Parker: In these uncertain political times, it’s kind of comforting to be reminded of Virginia’s—and Charlottesville’s—rich historical, you know, history. It’s also kind of comforting for Ace, on a personal level, when he’s able to dispense a morsel of his intelligence simply by reaching into his […]

Danny Shea's greatest hits

  Every gig that Danny Shea books in Charlottesville is a labor of love. From amp-melting metal from Japan to indie hip-hop to a batch of Swedish Led Zeppelin freaks, Shea’s concerts—within the Satellite Ballroom and beyond—exposed us to phenomenal bands that might’ve never reached us. They also provided Shea, the epitomal fan, with his […]

Behind the music

The Girl Talk concert at Satellite Ballroom in September 2007 had all the makings of a Danny Shea-promoted event: an artist with more critical buzz than record sales; a total of 500 tickets that vanished before you could say, “Sold out;” a crowd that danced like a single, soaking wet mass. And the promoter himself, […]