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22902
Worlds of difference: When it comes to wine, what’s special about old versus new?
Normally I try to avoid pigeonholing and categorizing wine too intensely; the thing about winemaking and viticulture is that they’re seemingly built to buck trends, to defy the accepted knowledge, to alter the industry’s trajectory one barrel at a time. And yet, one of the most overused categorizations in the wine world, “old world/new world,” [...]
Yolunda Armstrong came here for her career, and found a community
Yolunda Armstrong’s influences are layered like the floors of a hotel. First floor: her mother, telling her you have to give back to your community even if you’re living in the projects. Second floor: her dad, who’s never too busy to carve out an hour on Wednesday night to spend time with his daughter watching [...]
Housing symposium examines federal funding pinch
For Charlottesville, the shortage of affordable and public housing is a problem that must be tackled, and it’s an uphill battle. That’s the message delivered at a summit on housing issues at the Boar’s Head Inn on Friday, June 14, where federal, state, and local officials met to discuss the future in the light of [...]
A Recipe for Success
On March 1, 2013, Justin Drew Bieber tweeted that he had just experienced the “worst birthday.” It was later revealed that the vague message had something to do with a club’s owners throwing Bieber and his pals out because they suspected some were underage. Bieber disputed this, and I dispute that this qualifies as a “worst” [...]
Mailbag: Charlottesville’s housing crisis is self-inflicted
Free market housing Recently this paper published an article about the well-documented problem of Charlottesville’s housing unaffordability. It claimed that nearly half the city’s population now pays over 30 percent of income on housing, making it Virginia’s second-costliest city. To a degree this problem exists because many residents here are unemployed or hold low-wage jobs. [...]
Going dark: The closure of Random Row Books extinguishes a community light
After almost four years of serving the Charlottesville community, Random Row Books will close its doors at the end of the June. The building that houses the store—a former auto repair shop near the corner of West Main Street and Ridge/McIntire Road—will eventually be demolished, along with other buildings on the property to make room [...]
Editor’s Note: Across the digital divide
Editors have always lived inundated by information, but now everyone is. It makes me admire the simplicity of the Lakota, who recorded hundreds of years of history on a single buffalo hide, one picture for each year to cue the memory of a person who had learned the stories over the course of a lifetime. [...]
One year on: What’s changed at UVA since the meltdown over Dragas-gate?
This story’s publication date marks a year to the day that UVA’s Board of Visitors defied public outcry for the reinstatement of ousted president Teresa Sullivan by holing up in the Rotunda for 11 hours and doubling down on its decision to force her out. It took eight more days for the University’s governing body [...]
Say my name: When kids get to dub the family pet
This was his first visit after being adopted from the SPCA over the weekend. He was a bit pudgy at 40 pounds—a middle-aged Beagle mix with a lazy demeanor and drooping ears. He was adorable, but with his squat legs and lumbering gait, I could never describe him as dynamic. I glanced at his chart, [...]
Top cops respond to demands for details after recent shootings, stand their ground on flow of information
After an Albemarle County Police officer shot and killed 21-year-old Gregory Rosson on June 8—the third officer-involved shooting this year— public demands for information were immediate and fierce. It’s a reaction cops brace themselves for any time an officer fires a gun at a civilian, and even more so if there’s a fatality involved. As [...]
Overheard on the restaurant scene… This week’s restaurant news (June 18)
All good things come in pairs…er, pairs of pairs. Celebrate the fourth anniversary of tavola restaurant with Quattro: Four Courses and Four Arias. Tavola’s skilled chefs will prepare a four course pre-fixe dinner accompanied by performances from Ash Lawn Opera’s La Boheme on Saturday, July 13 starting at 6pm. Tickets are $100 per person, or [...]
Connecting the dots: UVA takes part in a nationwide autism study
Eight local autistic children are participating in a nationwide study that could change the way developmental disorders are perceived and treated. Most existing autism medications only treat the irritability and aggressive aspects of the disorder, and for the first time, doctors are testing a drug that could improve social interaction and communication skills. ConnectMe is [...]
Enemy at the baby gate: When grandparents go bad
As a new father with no significant prior experience with small children, I worry I’ve missed something big and obvious about infant care. I’ve taken classes and read a little bit here and there, but there’s no substitute for experience. I have a gnawing suspicion there are things I should know that were not covered [...]
Primary tie-breaker: Fenwick beats Bellamy by five votes
Bob Fenwick is officially on the ballot for the November City Council election, having beaten fellow Democrat Wes Bellamy for the spot by five votes after a dramatic second-place tie on Tuesday. “It’s the darndest thing I’ve ever been through, I know that for a fact,” Fenwick said after the final votes were counted on [...]
Album reviews: Slim Loris, Eluvium and Eisley
Slim Loris Future Echoes and Past Replays/Record Union Swedish indie Americana rock group, Slim Loris, has made one of 2013s most surprising albums thus far. Euphoric, humorous and bittersweet, Future Echoes and Past Replays is a success. The band ensnares you with the lively and whimsical “Fear of Flying,” or the subdued and contemplative “While I Breathe,” [...]
Five Finds on Friday: Tomas Rahal of MAS Tapas
On Fridays, we feature five finds from local chefs and personalities. Today’s picks come from Tomas Rahal of MAS Tapas, who focused on some of his current daytime favorites. Rahal’s picks: 1) Double Macchiato from Shenandoah Joe. “Sometimes this is a meal, others a reward. Perfect pitch by the baristas at Shen Joe.” 2) Blueberry [...]
LOOK3 Pick: Nick Nichols
Michael “Nick” Nichols’ years of work for National Geographic have taken him around the globe, providing an up-close look at some of the few corners of the world that remain untouched by human civilization. His recent work in the Serengeti uses state-of-the-art advances in photo technology to investigate lions, documenting their world and their behaviors [...]
Slumber Party Massacre: A Screaming Good Time
For the LOOK3 Festival of the Photograph, Rich Tarbell and Brian Wimer have created a series of charming and nostalgic narrative photographs. The series, “Slumber Party Massacre,” is essentially a remake of the 1982 film of the same name. Tarbell and Wimer have obviously altered the story and how we view it by shooting photographs rather than film. This [...]
LOOK3 Pick: Martha Rosler
Though Photoshopping and digital retouching have become common practices in both journalistic and creative photography, Martha Rosler’s recent work foregrounds the process, creating deliberately artificial digital collages that create jarring juxtapositions of familiar imagery. Her 1960’s collages combined imagery from the Vietnam War with domestic images from advertising, and her recent work continues that same theme, [...]
Adjusting the lens: Photographer Lola Flash deconstructs stereotypes
The Jefferson School African American Heritage Center encapsulates the seminal role played by the quest for and the denial of public education in the history of African-Americans. Promoted by Thomas Jefferson as key to the success of democracy, education was denied to black people in Southern states between 1800 and 1835. Despite this, African-Americans managed [...]
C-VILLE Busk Break: Joseph Franklin Hunt of Jimbo the Name
Joseph Franklin Hunt, a 26-year-old recording artist originally from Hollywood, California, was hanging around on the Downtown Mall on Wednesday and agreed to play his song “Successful Folks” to preview his show at The Hot Spot in Waynesboro with his acoustic hip-hop act Jimbo the Name. The band will open for Interscope recording artists The [...]
ARTS Pick: “Some Other Places We Missed”
Window to the soul In a project that mixes art with outreach to the incarcerated, Virginia-based artist Mark Strandquist asked prisoners “If you had a window in your cell, what place from your past would it look out onto?” Answers were collected, those sites were photographed, and prints were given to the prisoners to hang [...]





















