Dear Ace: Forgive me, Professor Atkins, but my American history is spotty. Basics I got. Jefferson? Check. Madison? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Monroe? Old news. But what about this Claudius Crozet I’ve been hearing about? With a town (and a pizza joint!) named for him, he must have been someone pretty special. But special how, when […]
Dear Ace: Forgive me, Professor Atkins, but my American history is spotty. Basics I got. Jefferson? Check. Madison? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Monroe? Old news. But what about this Claudius Crozet I’ve been hearing about? With a town (and a pizza joint!) named for him, he must have been someone pretty special. But special how, when […]
Jerry Falwell started Liberty University (Lynchburg Baptist at the time) in 1971. In 1988, I arrived on campus and stayed for the next two years, as a student and a guest of his, as I
words Memoirs—such a hot genre in the current book biz that a certain James Frey was willing to pass off fiction as fact in his notorious A Million Little Pieces—tend to come in two forms: 1) dramatic personal events that demand expression, and 2) ordinary personal events made dramatic through description and analysis. Beatrix Ost […]
game After three mega-successful Spider-films, it’s safe to say that even non-comics-geeks grasp the whole “with-great-power-comes-great-responsibility” thing. It appears, however, that Treyarch, the team responsible for creating the Spider-Man 3 videogame and its predecessors, missed the follow-up memo about great power and great expectations. Instead of giving us a spectacular next-gen web-slinging adventure, they’ve given […]
stage Satire, it’s said, is a pretty mocking of life. And satire is exactly the word to describe The Book of Liz, a play penned by the famed brother-sister duo of David and Amy Sedaris. There’s little else you could call theater that puts on the same stage an Amish-like religious sect, a Colonial-themed chain […]
comics In 2003, the “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” TV series was canceled after its lackluster seventh season. Now creator Joss Whedon has returned to his cult occult property by telling the continuing adventures of Buffy Summers and her “Scooby Gang” in comic form. Whedon has increasingly turned to the comic industry in recent years, having […]
There is a cacophony of music in Charlottesville: At any given moment during any given day,
a DJ is setting a needle into the vinyl grooves of a scratched Marvin Gaye record or a band is
“You can play almost anything —somebody’s going to like it.” This kernel of equal parts wit and wisdom comes courtesy of one of Charlottesville’s premier working musicians, guitarist Vernon Fischer. And after almost 30 years here, teaching music and doing a few regular jobs but mainly gigging, gigging, gigging (and gigging) solo and with various […]
As a three-year resident of Grady Avenue, I used to live right up the street from New Covenant Pentecostal Church and would drive past the narrow white structure, hearing the booming sounds from inside, wishing I was in there, too. When I finally met Bishop William Nowell and told him this, he smiled, revealing a […]
UVA’s Old Cabell Hall brings to mind piano recitals, string quartet performances, and the occasional comedian or lecturer, but the historic building also houses one of the University’s newest and most eccentric programs. Tucked away in the room B012 on the basement level is the Virginia Center for Computer Music. Strange but inviting noises often […]