Debated issues come and go with each session of Virginia’s General Assembly—this year’s fan favorites are sure to include mental health reform and bad driver fees—but there is at least one topic ripe for debate among the state’s legislators year in and year out: abortion. With the new session on the horizon, organizers on both […]
It was nearly 7pm, time for one of the year’s last City Council meetings to begin, and the crowd hushed in anticipation. Four councilors sat on the dais. The fifth, Kevin Lynch, was nowhere in sight. Mayor David Brown looked at the audience and said, "You’re all quiet, but Kevin’s not here yet." He then […]
As any Comcast cable subscriber who regularly tunes in to Channel 10 knows, city meetings can rise to the stuff of Shakespeare—except that everybody involved doesn’t die at the end. Well, get ready for more prime-time city drama. The Charlottesville City Council is looking at the possibility of televising even more of its meetings. City […]
"We invite you to dance," says conductor Leo Mallek almost as soon as we sit down at a fold-up table off to the side of the wood floor. "1-2-3-4," an older lady on keyboards counts off as the big band—three clarinets, two tubas, a trumpet and drums—lurch into Glenn Miller’s "In the Mood." Couples stand […]
Dear Ace: The city distributes free plastic bags for leaf collection. Where do these bags go once the leaves are dumped out? To the landfill?—Liv N. Green Liv: Ace wasn’t sure he should uncover the truth to this one. After all of his good tidings, he feels like maybe he’s dropping the ball a little […]
Due to a reporting error, in last week’s Restaurantarama column ["Family affair"], we identified Dick and Linda Oliva as owners of Richard A. Oliva & Sons ceramic tile company. In fact, they are owners of Ceramico Tile Co. We apologize to the Olivas for this mistake.
Inside the warm wooden belly of the Outback Lodge, a crew of local rap musicians named Heavy Hustle Entertainment has finished its set of tunes and roams the floor in a pack, their homemade black t-shirts bearing the words "Heavy Hustle Ent." on the front and, on the back, stage names like "Big Mike" and "Young Shotti," baseball caps sporting the abbreviation or outline of their home state, Virginia.
Violence has made it hard to hear live hip-hop in Charlottesville, but many local artists, including all of the Stack Boys, have MySpace pages where they share their music. We checked out some of their tracks, and below is a list of some of our favorites, along with a taste of the rhymes that they […]
cd When gangsta rap ensemble Wu-Tang Clan recorded "Da Mystery of Chessboxin’" for 1993’s Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers), they opened the track with a clip from a 1981 martial arts film called Shaolin & Wu Tang. In the film, members of rival kung-fu clans are pitted against one another by a government official that […]
cd In 1988, N.W.A. changed the course of popular music with their debut album, Straight Outta Compton. It wasn’t the first or the best "gangsta rap" album, but Straight Outta Compton sold two million copies, proving that white American teenagers hungered for profanity-laden, hardcore rap music. This month, Priority Records is celebrating their lucrative discovery […]