The question comes from a cherubic young face, blue eyes framed with neat blonde hair, a boy wearing a basketball jersey four sizes too big for his preteen frame. “Can you ball on me?” replies White Chocolate, a.k.a. 26-year-old Randy Gill, slouching behind a folding table set up near Santa in Fashion Square Mall, outside […]
The question comes from a cherubic young face, blue eyes framed with neat blonde hair, a boy wearing a basketball jersey four sizes too big for his preteen frame. “Can you ball on me?” replies White Chocolate, a.k.a. 26-year-old Randy Gill, slouching behind a folding table set up near Santa in Fashion Square Mall, outside […]
—Bob Humbug A: I hate to be the bearer of bad tidings, Bob, but perhaps ‘tis the season to finally purchase a faux Christmas tree—at least in the Old Dominion. Seems like the State agrees with PETA that fir is dead, at least in public places. Last October the Virginia Board of Housing and Community […]
On November 9, 1620, the Mayflower bobbed in choppy brine off the Cape Cod coast. On board were 101 puke-green Puritans, seasick and starving after an Atlantic crossing that had taken more than two months. Although they’d hoped to land further south, on the more temperate beaches of Virginia, the passengers and crew soon decided […]
—Rude Thaw A: Well, Mr. Thaw, news of Mrs. Madison’s entertainment talents is news to Ace who, until today’s research proved otherwise, thought that Dolley Madison and Betsy Ross were the same person. Personally, Ace’s favorite dead Dolly is that sheep clone from Scotland, whose entire life’s advice regarding everything from entertaining to kilts can […]
Perched on a wooden stool by the front door and holding a microphone with one hand, Conley Jones belts out “Better Man” to a tinny, digitized arrangement with angst enough to make Eddie Vedder proud. With his free hand, he casually checks IDs as those in search of Baja Bean’s Tuesday night special—$3 margaritas and […]
—Fli-Curious A: Well, Fli, though practically Lilliputian in physical dimension, the Charlottesville-Albemarle Airport is hardly a stagnant, small airfield. Total passenger traffic this year had reached 301,122 as of November 19, an increase of 13.7 percent compared to the same period last year. So you’d be wise to wear your steel-toed shoes when braving […]
Those words, declared by CBS, were used to promote the brick-throwing explosion of punk idealism and rebellion that was The Clash. There’s hardly a more compact statement of the scale and impossibility of rock’s sometime ambitions and pretensions than that. With the November 23 release of U2’s 11th studio album, How to Dismantle an Atomic […]
—Scared Shifflett A: Well ’fraidy cat, Ace delved into the annals of Virginia Colonial history seeking answers to your query. But before Ace regurgitates his research findings, yours truly, being a well-integrated member of Charlottesville’s social circle and acquaintance of many a Shifflett, can tell you that the names Shifflett, Shiflett, Shifflette, can I […]
Anise Labrum was 20 years old and living in Los Angeles not long before the 2000 presidential election. She had been seeing her boyfriend for about a year. Back then, Labrum, a fashion stylist, loosely considered herself a Democrat. Her sweetheart, on the other hand, was a Republican. They knew they differed on politics, but […]
—Faith Chill A: Ace advises you to have faith, Faith. Most of the ministers who signed the quarter-page ad are retired clergy, so they were not breaking any congregational rules and they weren’t speaking for anyone but themselves. The one exception, Rev. David Takahashi Morris, who leads the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Church-Unitarian Universalist, is allowed […]