Menu-gate

Dear Ace: What’s the deal with those cute little racks of restaurant menus that are at the Visitors Center and in hotel lobbies? Who’s putting them up and how do restaurants make the cut?—Food Man Chu Food: Wow, this sounds like an infomercial setup if Ace has ever heard one. “Hey Ace, why is this […]

Charlottesville—a “CITY OF ONE”

This spring the Charlottesville City Council joined over 50 other American cities in proclaiming that we are a “CITY OF ONE.” What does this mean? This is a part of a campaign called “ONE: The Campaign to Make Poverty History.” It is an effort by Americans to rally Americans—ONE by ONE—to join the United Nations’ […]

Strange fruit

“Personal” is a word often applied to Sally Mann’s photographs (along with others—“intimate,” “startling,” and sometimes that chestnut of wary critics, “disturbing”). And “personal” also describes the atmosphere of Steven Cantor’s documentary about Mann, What Remains,

Caroline Spence

music Caroline Spence took the stage in blue jeans and a simple white blouse. Her brown hair falling over her shoulders, she flashed a broad smile to the audience. She cradled the acoustic guitar slung in front of her and played her first song of the night, “Happy Go Lucky.” A hearty round of applause […]

Animal Collective, with Sir Richard Bishop

music By the end of Animal Collective’s performance at the Satellite Ballroom on May 30th, the condensation on the room’s air ducts was dripping onto the audience like a refreshing indoor rain shower—a telling sign of the group’s typical live experience. Animal Collective saturated the evening in almost every way. They easily filled the Ballroom […]

In the Streets of Vinegar Hill

words The English poet Philip Larkin once remarked, “Form is nothing. Content is everything.” Sounds straightforward enough—except that Larkin was famous for writing poems that are both formally pleasing as well as chock full of substance. The cheeky bastard was just trying to be clever. Most readers would stand by the notion that good writing […]

Assessments for beginners

Taxes are due in city and county on June 5, and as you’re struggling to make out that check, we’re wondering: How does the magic happen? How do those cats in the assessors office formulate the numbers that translate into our—and businesses’—fair share for county services? How much is Target worth? $12.8 million, according to […]

More charges for white supremacist

Dressed in the standard black and white prison stripes and girded in shackles, Kevin Alfred Strom strode into the U.S. District courtroom with a beatific smile, and then noticed an elderly couple amid the 10 or 15 people in the audience. “Thanks for coming,” he said to them. “I love you. Tell the kids I’m […]

Cook assault case ends in second mistrial

Prosecutors can’t catch a break in their assault case against Kerry Von Reese Cook. Charlottesville Circuit Court Judge Edward L. Hogshire granted a mistrial last Wednesday after a juror announced that he knew one of the people involved in the August 2004 domestic dispute at Friendship Court that led to Cook’s arrest. Cook was convicted […]