Tuesday, August 21
Bunch of turkeys descend on Blacksburg
The nine UVA students who battered (but did not deep fry) a Hokie statue were back in Blacksburg on Monday near the scene of their crime, The Roanoke Times reports. Awaiting a court date on charges of felony destruction of property for the March incident in which they ripped a fiberglass "Farmer Hokie" statue from its base in front of Blacksburg’s Municipal Building, the nine Hoos, all pledges to the Phi Society fraternity at the time of the bird-brained incident, started a week of voluntary community service by washing 15 other Hokie statues slated for auction on eBay. Though one student was quoted saying, "What we did was just really stupid," no one was reported to cry, excuse us, fowl!
Wednesday, August 22
Clinton accepts the summons to Charlottesville
 Hillary Clinton will not exactly be playing for pizza when she comes to the Paramount next month to campaign with John Grisham. Playing for Pizza, by the way, is the name of Grisham’s new novel, due on September 24, one day after Clinton’s Charlottesville visit. |
He did it for Webb; can he do it for Hillary? News comes today that John Grisham will host a fundraiser for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. The event, like the 11th-hour fundraiser that Grisham hosted for Jim Webb, who eventually wrested the Senate seat from George Allen last fall, will take place at the Paramount, where the New York Senator will address the faithful. It’s scheduled for Sunday, September 23, with tickets ranging from $50 ($25 for students) to $2,300. Top-tier buyers will be treated to wine and cheese ahead of curtain time with presumably a chance to mingle with the broker and the frontrunner themselves.
Thursday, August 23
Warner says bring ’em home
Virginia’s own Senator John Warner made waves today by calling for a drawdown of U.S. troops from Iraq by Christmas. According to NPR, it was today’s Iraq Intelligence Estimate that convinced Warner to call for the withdrawal of 5,000 troops, as a kind of message to the Iraqi government. This represents a shift in Warner’s originally supportive stance toward the war, and—given Warner’s 30 years in the Senate and his position as the longest-serving Republican in the Senate Armed Services Committee—carries weight that other calls for change may not.
Friday, August 24
Devon chats with a Brit
 Rapping with The Guardian, Devon Sproule confided this nugget about married life with Paul Curreri: "He’ll walk around the house playing guitar for six hours a day while I’m busy calculating what’s the cheapest way to get health insurance for two self-employed people. |
Fresh from a trip to the British Isles, Devon Sproule has given an interview to the British newspaper The Guardian, which appears today. The profile covers Sproule’s biography from her growing-up days at Louisa’s Twin Oaks commune to the release of her latest record, Keep Your Silver Shined. The story calls the album "deliciously unhurried, redolent of high-summer dog-day afternoons and balmy southern nights." And it quotes Sproule, regarding her lyrics: "You’re not quite sure what it means but you have a feeling in your body about its meaning."
Saturday, August 25
Father’s apron
Donald Antrim, who has often written about his family in The New Yorker, reminisces in this week’s issue about his father’s deepening interest in cooking during the late ’60s when the family was living outside Charlottesville. The elder Antrim was teaching literature at UVA at the time, though his "second occupation," writes his son, was buying ingredients in various markets around town, then preparing them with Gourmet-inspired presentation. (And we didn’t even have Feast! back then!) The father originally became interested in cooking, the essay explains, after Antrim’s mother served a hot tuna-and-mayonnaise casserole garnished with potato chips.
Sunday, August 26
Tickets? Please.
The Washington Post comments today on the fact that Ticketmaster has decided not to renew its partnership with Live Nation, which owns Crozet-based Musictoday and comprises the largest conglomeration of music venues (including the House of Blues chain). Apparently, Live Nation wanted to sell tickets through its own website, and Ticketmaster was having none of it. The Post is gloomy about fans’ prospects for seeing lower ticket prices as a result of this development. The partnership between the two companies is scheduled to continue through 2008.
Monday, August 27
To panic, or not to panic?
City engineer Tony Edwards is urging a quick replacement of the JPA Bridge in the Fry’s Spring neighborhood, reports today’s Daily Progress. Edwards is concerned by the abysmal federal sufficiency rating given to the 1932 structure (2 out of 100) and by cracks that he says could worsen before its scheduled replacement in 2010. The Progress, however, quotes a VDOT official calling the bridge "safe" in response. Discussion between VDOT and neighbors in Fry’s Spring had earlier resulted in a modified design for the new bridge. It’s to be both smaller (54′ instead of 78′ wide) and later (opening in 2011 rather than 2010).
