Dear Ace: At a buffet the waitperson only brings beverages and takes away the plates. Is a 20 percent tip recommended or do you leave less at a buffet?—Phoebe Buffet Dear Phoebe: Here at C-VILLE the tipping wars have definitely been a topic of conversation. Any conscientious Rant observer will remember the battle that continued […]
Are you lonesome tonight?
Elvis famously crooned “I can’t help falling in love with you” and millions of hearts beat a little faster. What has been unknown until now is the never-recorded refrain to that chart-topping song: “Yeah, but I can help falling in love with you, pal.” Aah, unrequited love. It sucks. Even more so around Valentine’s Day. […]
Got a match?
Yo Ace, Whatever happened to Yente the Matchmaker? I’m tired of the bar scene, personal ads don’t work, and now I’m the president of the Lonely Hearts Club. Where’s a matchmaker when you need one? Doesn’t anyone understand?—Anna Tevka Anna: Ace had always assumed that all of you out there in reader land understood Ace’s […]
What price history?
History matters a lot in this town, where people speak of “Mr. Jefferson” as if the third president were still running the show up at Monticello. This reverence for the past is perhaps most fiercely expressed in the debate over how Charlottesville ought to balance preservation of the old with construction of the new. The […]
The long and winding road
Ace: Jefferson Park Avenue maintains the same name even though it makes two sharp turns to the left. Can you help decipher why JPA runs as it does?—Street Cred Cred, confusing street maps have long been a contentious issue for Ace, who has often found himself lost when trailing a case down Main Street, which […]
Funny pages
Ever since the first cave dweller lifted the first flint to chisel an image onto a cave wall, there’s been a critic standing behind him saying, “That’s not funny.” Here at C-VILLE, we understand the impulse to second guess other people’s work. In sympathy, we’re turning the choice of our new comic strip over to […]
Bombs away
Ace: I was tooling around on Water Street the other day when I noticed a sign for a fallout shelter on the back of the Bank of America building. What’s up with that? Part of our homeland security strategy?—Ducken Cover Ducken: Wait, we have a homeland security strategy? Ace thought the government was just engaged […]
Eye cannondy
Hey Ace: What, in your opinion, transpired to make patrons of the Court Square Tavern the focus of the cannon in front of the courthouse? Don’t mean to stir up any trouble, but it does seem to be rather odd that a Southern city would have its courthouse cannon facing south. Is there something we […]
Finding Nirvana
Dear Ace: Soon after I moved to Charlottesville in 1988 or ’89 I went to eat at an Indian restaurant on the Downtown Mall called Nirvana. I am having a debate with a friend about the location. We both remember that it was in a basement. I clearly remember it being under the Jefferson Theater. […]
Brokeback Mountain
Based on a short story by E. Annie Proulx (she of The Shipping News fame), screenwritten by Larry McMurtry (The Last Picture Show, Terms of Endearment, “Lonesome Dove”) and directed by Ang Lee (The Ice Storm and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), Brokeback arrives on the big screen with the sort of pedigree that all but […]
Something for nothing
O.K., so you\’re broke. It doesn\’t matter why. Maybe you make minimum wage putting those infernal plastic seals on CD cases, or maybe you\’re too busy writing experimental theater pieces to go to work. What\’s important is that you live in Charlottesville, one of the pricier small cities in America, and you\’re tired of seeing the horse farmers and pop-music moguls have all the fun.
Pucker up, glamour puss –
There’s that moment, right around 11:55pm on every December 31, when the partner-deficient, which of course does not include either Angelina Jolie or Brad Pitt, start to panic. In five minutes that gaudy twinkling ball will drop in Times Square, people will start singing that stupid song they don’t really know, and you’re supposed to […]
CHEAP SHOTS ’05
As the year draws to a close, at C-VILLE we find ourselves with a queasy feeling. At first we just thought someone spiked our egg-nog, but no. Our sick feeling is something media types know as a “news hangover.” We’ve spent the past year covering the absurdity, scandal, crime and shameless self-promotion that goes on […]
Further notes on Trey
Dear Ace: Are you whack? What was all that crap last week about Dave Matthews and Trey Anastasio and Red Light? Every-body knows that Phish broke up because the band had lost its scales…—Sumthin’ Smelz Phunnie Let us take your questions in order, Smelz, as Ace is a rational fellow and likes nothing so much […]
SURROUND SOUND 2005
Two thousand and five was a lively year for music in our town, with CD sales down again, live music taking place at the theater level while struggling in the clubs, and being in a band, at least around here, seeming to be as much about music as about fame. One rock band that has been […]
See you next week
Here it comes!!
Growth. The word alone is enough to start an argument. We need more! We need less! Hardly anyone seems to think things are just right as they are. Despite all the concern about growth, no one seems to know exactly how much new development is in store for Charlottesville and Albemarle County. But after poring […]
Herb appeal
Dear Ace: I heard Virginia has a new No. 1 cash crop. Whatever happened to good old-fashioned Jamestown tobacky?—Mary Jane Noes Dear Mary: Ace knows Virginians love tradition, especially in Mr. Jefferson’s neighborhood. But tobacco, the mainstay crop of the Commonwealth since the 1600s, has been steadily declining and this year a new top crop […]
Wheeling and dealing
Hey Ace,Where do these people get off charging me taxes for my car? What’s the big idea?—Axl Rhodes Dear Axl: So, here in America, we pay taxes. It’s part of this little deal we have with the government where we give them some money and they give us free enterprise, private property rights and other […]
Fowl Play
’Tis the season to eat turkey. In honor of the holiday, and in deference to giving turkeys everywhere a voice of their own, C-VILLE’s resident turkey interpreter Nell Boeschenstein sat down with Tom “the Angry” Turkey for some heavy-hitting reporting, and to pluck Tom’s birdbrain for some sweet morsels of tender turkey wisdom. Needless to […]
Shades of faith
Dear Ace: Effort Baptist Church in Fluvanna County has just painted their chapel bright purple with green trim. Is anyone in the neighborhood as upset as I am? Why did they do it?—Blinded By the Light Dear Blinded: This is not the first time Ace has dealt with a bad paint job. Ace’s neighbor once […]
High tension on Little High St.
“There’s going to be no drama,” said Richard Collins, address-ing a crowd of about 40 people, mostly from the Little High Street neighborhood association. Collins, an expert in “environmental negotiation,” hoped for civil discussion, but that hasn’t been the tone so far between Little High Street residents and officials at Region Ten. A simple case […]
Nice ink
Dear Ace: I was walking through the neighborhoods near Martha Jefferson Hospital, and I found a graveyard. What’s up with that?—Morbidly Confused Dear Confused: The final resting place you refer to is Maplewood Cemetery. Officially established in 1827, it is Charlottesville’s oldest public cemetery, 3.6 acres of irregularly scattered gravesites and stones without any formal […]