Freight Train jumps the track
Six Years marks an evolution for Charlottesville’s Old School Freight Train, in which the band leaps from the well-traveled track of “newgrass” onto a blend of pop and traditional music that’s all its own. Place your bets on the new Old School Freight Train record, the long-awaited Six Years. The album will be released during […]
Straight Outta Compton [with video]
cd In 1988, N.W.A. changed the course of popular music with their debut album, Straight Outta Compton. It wasn’t the first or the best "gangsta rap" album, but Straight Outta Compton sold two million copies, proving that white American teenagers hungered for profanity-laden, hardcore rap music. This month, Priority Records is celebrating their lucrative discovery […]
Out of the ordinary
It’s a good time to be Gomez. The British quintet is all over America’s telly, rocking Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien, even landing a song on the hit show “Grey’s Anatomy.” In Charlottesville, they will appear in the flesh on Tuesday, January 23, at the Charlottesville Pavilion.
Growing up in public
When Joy Johnson moved into Westhaven, the City expected public housing residents to follow the rules, not help make them. With little else besides willpower and her own commanding voice, she has given residents unprecedented influence in the notoriously raucous world of Charlottesville housing politics. As an activist, Johnson has relished her role in the mix, but as a mother, she is ambivalent about the challenges her family has faced as a result.
Trey bien
With his latest release, Bar 17, gui-tarist Trey Anastasio begs a metaphysical question: Just how close, exactly, can one come to Phish without actually becoming Phish? A few years ago, that Vermont-based quartet reigned as one of the highest-grossing live acts in the world—but then, in 2004, Anastasio turned the band belly-up. Loyal fans had […]
Idlewild
Idlewild Outkast LaFace Records cd Outkast fans worried about breakup rumors will be happy to see Andre “3000” Benjamin and Antwan “Big Boi” back together on Idlewild—their first truly collaborative effort since 2000’s Stankonia. However, only people who really, really like Outkast should actually part with their hard-earned cash for this one. Dre and Big […]
Judge dismisses Collins suit
A former political candidate who sued over his right to distribute leaflets in a local parking lot hit a roadblock last month, when a judge effectively dismissed his case. Now Richard Collins is trying to figure out the best way to get his case before the State Supreme Court.
Progress parent company sued for libel
Frank Lucente, a member of Waynesboro City Council, is suing the editorial board of the News Virginian and the newspaper’s parent company, Richmond-based Media General, which also publishes The Daily Progress. Lucente alleges that the paper’s editorial board libeled him when on May 1 they published an editorial accusing him of unethical conduct. Lucente seeks […]
Downtown Mall turns 30
On Monday, July 3, Charlottesville’s Downtown Mall turned 30. The City is celebrating with speeches, bands and a slide-show retrospective to commemorate the Mall’s commercial success. Here at C-VILLE, where several former Mall deadbeats have joined the ranks of the productively employed and regularly showered, we note the Mall’s birthday with a bittersweet air as our favorite stretch of brick sets aside childis
Restructuring arrives July 1
On July 1, UVA’s much-ballyhooed “restructuring” will finally come to pass. The change, codified in the Restructured Higher Education Financial and Administrative Operations Act, is just as complicated as its name suggests. Basically, the new law gives UVA more freedom from State oversight in exchange for fewer State dollars. Restructuring gives UVA more flexibility when […]
Bring that beat back
It’s a sunny Friday afternoon in late May, that time of year when school is almost over and the days begin to feel like summer. Ari Berne, a 16-year-old junior at Charlottesville High School and a rapper who goes by the name Ghetti, has no time this afternoon to either study for finals or enjoy the fine weather.
House recommends $2 million for South Lawn
Earlier this month the U.S. House Appropriations Committee allocated $2 million for a pedestrian bridge to cross Jefferson Park Avenue, part of UVA’s $105 million South Lawn project.
Two Cops plead guilty to corruption
Two Charlottesville Police officers have pleaded guilty to charges of lying to federal agents, which could send each of them to prison for five years.
Webb will challenge allen in November
On June 13, Virginia Democrats elected James WebbâRonald Reagan\’s former Navy Secretary\-o challenge Republican incumbent George Allen for his Senate seat in November.
A mere 3.3 percent of Virginia\’s 4.5 million voters turned out for the contest between Webb and former telecommunications lobbyist Harris Miller.
Caravati reflects on his council legacy
Construction contractor Blake Caravati has worked in local government since taking a seat on the Planning Commission in 1989. After losing a Council race in 1996, he won two years later; voters re-elected him in 2002.
A good walk, spoiled
The McIntire Golf Course “clubhouse” consists of a tiny brick bungalow, a small office and a public restroomâoutside, a single picnic table sits on a shaded patio. There\’s a metal door spraypainted: “Honor System 20006 (sic) $5.00 City $5.00 County.” Credit-card-size manila envelopes on a hook, with blue tickets stapled in each corner. A hand-lettered sign: “Put money in the envelope. Take ticket as your receipt. Envelope with money goes in the slot. Thanks!”
Dems ready for Senate primary
Poor George Allen. Back in March, The New York Times reported that the Virginia Senator is bored with his job. The paper quoted him telling a crowd in Iowa that the Senate is “too slow for me.” Well, be careful what you wish for-he Republican pseudo cowboy now has a pair of Democrats injecting some real excitement into his life.
Building a homeless day haven
Another Virginia summer is about to slam us with triple-digit temperatures and Ecuadorian humidity, and local neighborhoods are abuzz with the sound of central air-conditioning. But what about the homeless?
Get happy with ancient wisdom
Are you happy? The question blares at us from magazine covers and pharmaceutical commercials, but most of us realize that true happiness isn\’t as simple as a fad diet or a popped pill.
CHRA looks to build new housing
After years of tumult, the Charlottesville Redevelopment and Housing Authority seems to be stable and moving toward some long-stalled projects.
Major Hollymead investor sells
A major investor in the Hollymead Town Center plans to sell more than half its interest and beat town with a tidy profit.
Rain eases drought fears
As summer approaches, City and County officials are supposed to be coming up with a coordinated drought-management plan that will set usage restrictions in case of a water shortage. They haven\’t gotten the job done, but recent rains have eased fears of a summertime drought.
Two Men arrested for robberies
Police arrested two Charlottesville men on Wednesday, May 24 following a pair of robberies that happened late Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning.
Diversity chief: more needs to be done
When William Harvey arrived at UVA in November, the campus was still in full boil over a series of racial incidentsâepithets yelled from a passing car, racial slurs anonymously scrawled on dry erase boards.
Students punished for frat brawl
When a brawl involving UVA athletes broke out at the Delta Upsilon fraternity house in early March, some local officials fretted about an increase in criminal incidents involving students and predicted a forum to address bad behavior. Now, however, most of the students involved have been punished or at least passed through the court system, and any furor raised by the scuffle seems to have subsided. Below is an up-to-date list of students arrested in the fight, and the outcome of their court appearances.
The Caravati code
June will mark the final month on City Council for Blake Caravati, Charlottesville\’s premier rhetorician. For the past eight years, Caravati has baffled supporters and opponents alike with more non sequitur folkisms than H. Ross Perot.
Assembly still deadlocked on $74B budget
You know how we elect qualified people to make decisions for us? That whole representative democracy thing? Well, it’s not working out so well here in Virginia.