Dark side of the vroom.

Q: Dear Ace, My eyesight’s not as sharp as it once was, especially when driving at night. I can navigate the city roads, no problem, but put me out on the dark county highways—especially Route 29N and Route 250 Pantops—and watch out! Why doesn’t the County provide streetlights on these two major highways leading into […]

Pol position

Q: Ace, I feel like a terrible American for saying this, but I am sick of this Democratic presidential primary stuff. Every time I look at the paper, turn on the TV or listen to NPR all I hear is Dean this, Kerry that, Edwards something else. Has the primary hoopla always been this in-your-face? […]

25 tips to improve your love life

Maybe your last date was during the Clinton Administration. Maybe you refer to your spouse as That Guy Who Uses All the Toothpaste. Maybe you just need a little tenderness tune-up. Fear not. As Valentine’s Day approaches, C-VILLE gets to the heart of the matter. Enroll in our Woo U, listen up and find how […]

Pitter patter

Q: Ace, baby darling, we all know you’re a hopeless romantic. So tell us true: Is there such a thing as love at first sight?—Luv Shaq A: Shaq, baby darling, Ace is many things (daring, suave, terribly, terribly handsome), but Ace is not hopeless. Otherwise, what you say is right: Ace always tells you true, […]

Highways to hell

The intersection of Seminole Trail and Rio Road 2004 crashes: 155 Statistically speaking, the four blocks of Seminole Trail that include the Rio Road intersection constitute the most dangerous stretch of road in Charlottesville and Albemarle County. Not only do cars veer across multiple lanes to hit the entrances of several popular shopping centers, but […]

Candles in the windshield?

Q: I have noticed on Route 250E, on the north side from Sleepy Hollow Trailer Court to Floor Fashions of Virginia, there are several fields full of objects that look like candles. They have been there for a year or so, but nobody seems to know what these are. Please Ace, you’re our only hope.—Wicker […]

Odetta

How Charlottesville has changed. Ten years ago, the idea of hearing a 20th-century musical icon at a small club on a Downtown side street, not to mention on a Monday night in January, was inconceivable.

Practice round

The laws of pop music are beginning to resemble the laws of reproduction. Thousands of spermatozoa swim desperately to an egg to fulfill their destiny, but only one will get in. This kind of evolutionary pattern has ruined a number of rock ’n’ rollers: Alex Chilton, Phil Ochs, Johnny Thunders. Dreaming of the glory of […]

Stumped at the pump

Q: Hey Ace hole, I have an auto with a diesel engine and all’s been lovely ’til recently. Diesel has always been cheaper than gasoline, or about the same as regular. However, lately gasoline has dropped to as low as $1.64 per gallon while diesel is still over $2 at most stations. What gives? Has […]

Making light of herself

   It’s another busy morning in the Casey household on Rugby Road. John Casey, a celebrated local novelist and UVA creative writing professor, is already out back in his writing shed. Meanwhile, his wife, McGuffey Art Center President Rosamond Casey, has done T’ai Chi, made breakfast and lunch for their youngest daughter, Julia, a student at […]