Watch Some UVA Basketball

If you find yourself in Charlottesville between the months of November and March and don’t have tickets to the game at John Paul Jones Arena, you should definitely check out the game somewhere in town.

Champion Brewery, located pretty close to the nTelos Wireless Pavilion, is the old standby for this author, but there are several places to go depending on the type of atmosphere you want. Of course the UVA Corner (which is located right across from Grounds) has a dozen different places to watch the game: Boylan Heights is probably one of the more popular spots. It’s huge, capable of comfortably housing hundreds of basketball fans with (relative) comfort. They’ve got great burgers! The TVs are huge and they play the games with the sound on.

Places like that are popular destinations for the college crowd, but I prefer to be on the Downtown Mall. Citizen Burger Bar serves up huge, half-pound burgers locally sourced from Timbercreek Farm, an organic farm in Charlottesville (notice a burger trend yet?) It doesn’t matter if you’re not a huge fan.

Even folks from the outer reaches of Albemarle, Nelson and other parts of the Greater Charlottesville come out in droves to support UVA. There’s just something so invigorating about UVA’s playing in recent years. It’s a refreshing take on basketball and in many ways it’s what makes college ball so different from the NBA. These are kids…they haven’t lost their passion, they’re still coming into their own.

The defense is exhilarating to watch; guard Malcolm Brogdon’s tenacious man-to-man coverage, center Mike Tobey’s explosive rebounds, or the look in Justin Anderson’s eye when he “turns on” and morphs surreally into a true playmaker. The team hasn’t been this good in a very long time… the last time was in 1981 for Pete’s sake! And the difference among the community is palpable. The air is thick with inflated expectations,dashed hopes and wide-eyed longings.

Check out the 2015/2015 Schedule for game times.

Charlottesville Star Power, Part II

We’re doing it again…if you live in Charlottesville, you probably know (and have likely seen) some of these familiar faces. But if you’re thinking about moving here and buying a home in Charlottesville, it’s only fitting you get to know some of your neighbors. Without further ado, here’s another list of famous faces ‘round the way.

John Grisham, Author, philanthropist
If you didn’t know, you’d hardly expect it out of the private, reserved Grisham, but he is one of the best-selling authors of his generation, alongside people like Agatha Christie, Dan Brown, and J.K. Rowling. Many of his works have been adapted for screens big and small, most notably The Pelican Brief, The Firm, and his first novel, A Time to Kill. He started out as a small-time lawyer in Mississippi but found a true calling in his thrilling legal dramas. He’s also a mainstay at the Virginia Festival of the Book, which comes to Charlottesville in March every year. Grisham is also a philanthropist and activist, sitting on the board of directors for the Innocence Project, donating a million annually to his alma mater Ole Miss, and, in recent years between $1 and $2 million annually through his charity, Oakwood Foundation. That is, by the way named after Oakwood, his farm in Albemarle County, in Covesville. It’s a majestic, 240-acre central Virginia estate with a horse farm and several gardens. He also owns another farm in central Virginia called Riverside. And, in the tradition of Faulkner, he is a former resident of Oxford, Mississippi who now lives in Charlottesville.

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Actor, wrestler
A farm in central Virginia…not quite the place you’d expect a multimillion dollar wrestler-turned Hollywood action hero to inhabit. But if you can smell what the Rock is cookin’, it’s probably because you’re in Fluvanna, near his sprawling property east of Charlottesville. Little is known about this domicile, because years of living in the public eye has given Johnson a good idea of how to avoid it. A legion of kids grew up watching the Rock on World Wrestling Entertainment, and in addition to making him the most successful performer in that business, it helped him get the highest salary for a first-time actor in The Scorpion King. From there he was king of the The Fast and the Furious franchise, a bonafide blockbuster series in its time. Since then, the Rock has won over all the hearts that weren’t beating inside the chests of wide-eyed, angst-ridden young boys with their own TVs. He’s done this with a series of roles, some comedy, some action. We can’t tell you what the Rock really does on his Charlottesville farm, but we can tell you that he’s been spotted a few times at Gold’s Gym by various giddy locals, all of whom now have a story about how they beat the Rock in a pickup basketball game. Yea right buddy…us too.

John Kluge, Businessman, philanthropist
It’s difficult to drive through Charlottesville without seeing the Kluge brand somewhere in town. As a philanthropist and entrepreneur, John Kluge gave a lot to this city. He hailed from Chemnitz, Germany and studied economics up at Columbia University. He made most of his money in media and broadcasting, selling the television stations of his Metromedia company in 1986; these went on to form the core of Fox’s television programming. He is remembered today as a philanthropist, giving over $510 million to his alma mater. Most of that money goes to financial aid for underprivileged students, as he was once the beneficiary of scholarships. In Charlottesville, his presence is felt across a broad spectrum of public works. In 2001, he donated his 7,378 acre rural estate in Albemarle County to the University of Virginia. It remains the largest gift ever given to the university. UVa uses Morven Farm to hold classes and seminars, making the most of an opportunity to have agricultural instruction there. As an avid collector of indigenous Australian art, he helped found the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Museum at UVa. It’s considered one of the finest indigenous Australian collections in the world, even rivaling some in Australia itself. There’s also the Kluge Children’s Rehabilitation Center (the facilities of which were recently moved by UVa and renamed the Battle Building), and the Kluge Vineyard and Estates, primarily run by his ex-wife and widow Patricia Kluge until it was bought by Donald Trump a few years ago and renamed Trump Vineyards.

Jessica Lange, Actress
Jessica Lange is routinely acknowledged as one of the finest actresses of her generation. She started out in a 1976 remake of King Kong, putting on a string of powerful performances that reinterpreted the role of the damsel-in-distress, the victimized heroine in film. She brought depth to these characters and in many cases restored a sense of autonomy that was rare in the male gaze-ridden Hollywood of the 70s and 80s. In 1982, she became the first performer (male or female) in 40 years to win two Oscar nominations in one year, for Best Actress in a Lead Role (for her portrayal of Hollywood actress Frances Farmer in Frances) and Best Supporting Actress (for her role in Tootsie). After several film roles, she made her Broadway debut playing Blanche DuBois in the Tennessee Williams magnum opus A Streetcar Named Desire. She and actor husband Sam Shepard settled down on a huge Charlottesville farm, raising their children for ten years before moving up to her native Minnesota. They also grew chickens and veggies.

Edgar Allen Poe, Author, poet
Charlottesville’s most famous dropout, Edgar Allen Poe was a master of the macabre in literature, captivating audiences with thrilling, gripping short works wherein the familiar becomes strange and uncanny shapes and characters create a distorted version of reality. Poe is widely considered to have invented the “detective mystery” genre, so someone call John Grisham and tell him to pay homage. His work is dark Romanticism, a response to the burgeoning transcendentalist aesthetic of the time; let’s just say Poe was not making any trips to Walden anytime soon. The poem “The Raven” is probably his most notable piece of work; it tells of a sentient raven and his conversation with a man in distress over unrequited love. These common themes unravel as the poem details the man’s slow descent into madness. The young Poe was orphaned early in life and bounced around places in Virginia before matriculating at UVa in 1826. He was unable to afford tuition and left after a year. There is some speculation as to where exactly his dorm at UVa was located, but most agree it was at 13 West Range. It has been preserved, and its upkeep is seen to by a collection of faculty and students known as the Raven Society. Unlike many of the members on this list (most of whom own Charlottesville farms) Poe died penniless and alone in Baltimore; the life of an avant garde artist.

Eduardo Montes-Bradley, Director, photographer, author
Now a long-time resident of the Ville, award-winning documentarian Eduardo Montes-Bradley grew up in Argentina amidst the political turmoil of the 60s and early 70s before relocating to the U.S. when he was 16. He uses various pen names for different projects. Montes-Bradley dabbled a bit in fiction in the 90s, publishing his last film in that style in 1995 and returning to documentaries in 1997 with a biographical sketch of Osvaldo Soriano, an Argentine journalist and novelist who was exiled from his home country. This eventually grew to become his signature style; indeed Montes-Bradley has crafted many of these biographical profiles, covering a wide range of figures in different fields. He’s lived in Charlottesville for a few years now and is at the helm of the Heritage Film Project at UVa. The Heritage Film Project features biographical essays of varying lengths, all about humanists, scientists, and places at the university. The most recent entry in this series is Monroe Hill, a film which traces the historical context of James Monroe’s first home on land in Albemarle County, and the thirty-year overhaul which led to the estate becoming the center of UVa. It premiered at the Virginia Film Festival earlier this year. He also did a profile of another member on this list, the poet Rita Dove entitled Rita Dove: An American Poet. It talks about the poet’s formative years and details her career in eleven parts including a “prologue” and “epilogue.” This is similar to the formal structure that Dove prefers, evident in her later works. He also contributes heavily to the Writers Made in Brazil series which profiles Brazilian authors, and the Argentine Writers Collection which does the same for Argentine authors. Of these, his film Harto the Borges is quite notable. It’s a documentary on the poet Jorge Luis Borges and includes a rare TV interview with the author. Eduardo Montes-Bradley’s work is also consistently featured in the Virginia Film Festival. Doing Cville proud, to be sure.

Rita Dove, Poet
Rita Dove is deft and versatile. Besides the throwaway designation of “contemporary poetry,” her work really does defy categorization with its breadth and scope. She writes on a variety of topics, some historical, some related to the black experience, some transcendent ideas of maternity, family, the human memory, and love. She is the first African-American Poet Laureate (Robert Hayden held the title before they changed the name), and she’s also a Pulitzer Prize winner and Poet Laureate of Virginia. Her work is very aware and definitely addresses subjects that aren’t very easy to discuss, like bodies and body image. As far as Charlottesville goes, she started teaching here in 1993 and has held the chair of the Commonwealth Professor of English since then. On Grounds (the Charlottesville word for “campus”) she is known for being friendly and approachable, especially with regards to English students, to whom she gives thoughtful, constructive advice. She and her husband Fred Viebahn, a German writer live together outside Charlottesville, on land in Albemarle County.

Chris Long, Pro NFL Defensive End
It was tough to decide between writing about pro Hall of Famer Howie Long or his son Chris, but only one of these men has a Little John’s sub which bears his name, and upon that consideration, the choice was much easier. Chris had some big shoes to fill, but he appears to be doing just fine as the second overall draft pick for the St. Louis Rams in the 2008 NFL Draft. He attended St. Anne’s-Belfield, an independent K-12 day school on 49 acres of land in Charlottesville. In addition to football, he played basketball, lacrosse, and baseball. He matriculated at UVa in 2004 and quickly matured into one of the premier defensive forces in the country, ending his college career all-ACC honors, as team captain, and with 8.3 tackles per game…did we mention they named a sandwich after him? On the Rams, his sheer athleticism is utilized as both defensive end and linebacker, and he got his first sack ever against N.Y. Giants QB Eli Manning. To our knowledge, Eli Manning does not have a sandwich named after him. Manning could not be reached for further comment.

Rob Lowe, Actor
Rob Lowe is a Charlottesville native, born here while his father was attending UVa’s law school. From there it was Dayton, Ohio, Malibu, California, and the life of an actor. His breakout role was in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Outsiders, and he went on to cultivate a pretty successful career on both screens. Everyone remembers his role in The West Wing; he played Deputy White House Communications Director Sam Seaborn, who starts out as the main protagonist of the series for the first few seasons until Martin Sheen’s President Bartlet character took over the focus of the show. He was also in Brothers and Sisters, and more recently he’s enjoyed a resurgence of popularity after being cast as the high-energy Chris Traeger in NBC’s hit show Parks and Recreations. Not bad for a guy who spent his early years crawling around Charlottesville in his poopy diapers.

Selling Your Home? Resist These Costly Renovations

If you’re reading this, we assume that maybe you have a home in central Virginia that you’re thinking of selling. If so, you want to do everything in your power to make your house look attractive, and it’s hard to compete with some of the other homes in the Charlottesville area. But go overboard on your pre-sale renovations and you run the risk of alienating potential buyers and losing thousands of dollars in the process. The key ideas expressed in this article relate to a) making modest but effectual improvements while maintaining the spirit of the house and b) depersonalizing the space as best as possible without compromising its attractive features. Let’s begin.

Leave the garage alone
A garage is more than just a place for high school bands to sound terrible. It’s a valuable reservoir for seasonal storage, a place to keep stuff dry, and oftentimes the place where your cars and lawnmowers live. If you’re considering a garage overhaul, you may want to think again, and carefully. Is the resultant space going to be more attractive to buyers than a huge space devoted to junk storage and safe, dry parking? Consider the volatile rainy season that could land in Charlottesville at any point…it’s nice to have a place where you can toss wet stuff in a hurry. There are, of course, some instances in which a family would prefer the garage to be a living space, but that option will still exist if they decide to move in, and you will have spent zero dollars on costly garage renovations. You may be contemplating a home office or TV den in the space where your garage is now, but what if your prospective buyers are neurosurgeons (can’t work from home) who hate television and drive convertibles? You get the idea…let the garage be what it is, and if people want to change it, they can. Chances are if the house has a garage, it probably has a sufficient amount of bedrooms. At the very least, leave the garage doors on…that way buyers have the option to change it back.

Keep the outside in check
Some people believe that potential buyers make up their minds as soon as they see the outside of a house. Whether or not that’s true, it’s pretty crucial that the outside of your home maintains a certain standard. You want your grass cut and hedges trimmed and all that, but you want to avoid anything too showy or flamboyant. We’re talking about that army of garden gnomes and flamingos, or that expensive fountain; anything that may come across as excessive, you know? The lawn could come across as high-maintenance, which isn’t what you want. You want the house to stand out, but you don’t want it to look markedly more expensive than other places in the neighborhood; this affects the resale value, as the biggest, most elaborate looking house on the block is often the most difficult to sell.

Avoid excessive bedroom conversions
People like bedrooms…after all, they are great places to sleep, and they provide storage for beds.
Thinking about knocking down that wall and making those two small rooms into one big one? Generally speaking, quantity is more important than quality, plus for some, a bigger bedroom isn’t necessarily better than a smaller one. People tend to react favorably to big master bedrooms, but not as much as they used to. And buyers generally want separate rooms for all their kids and a guest room if possible. But there are no hard and fast rules here. If the house has a substantial number of bedrooms already (over five or six) then it may be wise to break some walls down, but always be thinking, “Does the amount of money I could potentially add to the asking price outweigh the cost of these renovations?” And if you can’t give a definitive “Yes,” then keep thinking. This also speaks to the idea of depersonalizing the home. If you’ve converted your college-aged kid’s old room into a home gym or music studio, emphasize that it was a bedroom first and if possible, convert it back. This is the same logic we employed when advising against eccentric wallpaper choices in an earlier article…prospective buyers are looking to buy their house from you; present a blank canvas where possible, and allow their own ideas and aspirations to inhabit the space.

High-end renovations are not always great
It’s been said before (even in this very blog) that when you’re selling a house, you’re really selling a kitchen (insofar as the kitchen is often the most memorable room and the one that makes or breaks a potential buyer’s relationship to your place). Even so, think carefully about springing for those expensive upgrades right before selling. These have the potential to show a house’s age, especially if the new improvements clash with the existing feel or vibe of the house. Consider your dad wearing backwards hats and picking up on some of the youthful colloquialisms…more often than not, this will only serve to reinforce his quintessential “dad” characteristics. This applies to everywhere in the house but especially the kitchen and bathrooms, often the areas of the house that need a facelift. The $3,000 built-in coffee/espresso system is probably pretty cool, but if it’s next to a dishwasher and sink from the 90s, it may do more to make the house look dated than to make it look fresh. This goes double if your potential buyers prefer tea. Stainless steel looks good with granite and marble but maybe not with all shades of porcelain? Hard to say…choose wisely. It’s always a good call to update cabinets, countertops, and sinks by the way.

If you are thinking about selling your home and want suggestions, feel free to give us a call!

Charlottesville Star Power: A Few Famous Friends

The land in the Charlottesville area is fertile ground for more than a few special individuals. Besides being home to U.S. Presidents Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe (who are, by the way not included in this list, as we’re trying to keep it to the last hundred years or so), the central Virginia farms and towns in the area helped foster some genuine talent. You’ll definitely recognize some of these names, and some you may not, but each one has touched Cville at some point in their life.

Dave Matthews, Singer-Songwriter, Vineyard Owner
If you’re a music fan, you probably saw this one coming. But we simply had to mention Dave, for a few reasons. Born in South Africa, the two-time Grammy Award-Winning singer/songwriter moved to Charlottesville in 1986 where he soon became part of the local music scene. And it was quite local at that time; since then, Charlottesville has acquired a handful of key venues and regularly attracts nationally-touring acts passing through the east coast. This is in no small part due to Dave, who started the Dave Matthews Band in 1991 with Cville musicians LeRoi Moore, Carter Beauford, and others. Their first show was that year at Trax, a now-defunct music venue downtown. Dave was a Charlottesville fixture during this time, working at the bar Miller’s downtown and collaborating with notable musicians like guitarist Tim Reynolds and trumpeter John D’earth. He and the Dave Matthews Band soon propelled to superstardom, selling millions of records and playing to sold out crowds in arenas. A testament to his love for the area: in 1999, he bought more than ten acres of land in Albemarle County, Blenheim Vineyards. It’s situated within both the Virginia and Monticello viticultural regions, and Dave wanted to preserve a piece of local history. And the wine is good, too.

Charles Wright, Poet, Professor
To be fair, the current United States Poet Laureate was not born or raised in Charlottesville. He was born in Tennessee, educated at Davidson, the University of Iowa, and schools in Rome. But he’s become a fixture, celebrated by English students at the University of Virginia. In between, he’s managed to craft some of the most compelling poems in the contemporary canon, interspersing Southern landscapes with everyday ruminations on the nature of life and God. Before becoming Poet Laureate last year, he had received almost every other conceivable honor, from Pulitzer to National Book Award to the Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize. To hear him talk about the latest honor displays his humility. To follow in the footsteps of literary giants like Edgar Allen Poe and William Faulkner (the latter counted among one of Wright’s early influences), he is one of the greatest minds to land in the city of Charlottesville. And unlike Edgar Allen Poe, he stayed here!

Tina Fey
From humble beginnings in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, Tina Fey has emerged as one of the brightest voices in modern comedy. We don’t want to brag, but we like to think it was her time studying playwriting and acting at the University of Virginia in the early 90s. She didn’t stay and make her home in Charlottesville though…she went on to hone her craft in Chicago’s Second City. While in Chicago, she wrote and submitted several scripts for Saturday Night Live, leading to her career as a writer on the show. She penned several great skits and eventually became the show’s first female head writer in 1999. She started appearing in the show’s Weekend Update alongside co-host Jimmy Fallon and later Amy Poehler; she’s still remembered for her classic impression of Governor Sarah Palin during the 2008 presidential election. She also wrote the screenplay for Mean Girls starring Lindsay Lohan. Fey’s magnum opus was arguably starring in and writing the hit NBC show 30 Rock alongside Alec Baldwin, Chris Parnell, Tracy Morgan and several other hilarious individuals. 30 Rock is, in this writer’s opinion one of the best primetime comedy shows in recent history, maybe since Seinfeld. The show’s trademarks, its wit and its caustic, self-aware humor made it a breath of fresh air at the time and have inspired many other shows. In 2013, Tina came back to the Charlottesville area to be the inaugural presidential speaker for the arts. Tina on UVA’s website before the speech: “I am very excited to come back to Charlottesville to participate in the President’s Speaker Series for the Arts in September,” Fey said. “When I left Charlottesville in the early ’90s, there was a large sign on Route 29 that said, ‘The bagels are coming!’ Did that ever happen?” It did, Tina…it did.

William Faulkner
One of America’s most celebrated authors, William Faulkner came to Charlottesville in 1957, serving as the Writer-in-Residence for two years and teaching until his death in 1962. It was the end of an illustrious career, one of the greatest in American history. Publishing The Sound and the Fury in 1929, he was writing at the cusp of modernity in English literature; he and his contemporaries were reinventing the form and structure, the shape and scope of the novel. His work played with temporality, using non-linear plotlines and a splintered, stream-of-conscious narrative technique. He grew up in Lafayette, Mississippi and as such, his writing is filled with themes and characters that reflect the Southern United States, including the burden of history stemming from the destructive Civil War. Faulkner is the spokesperson for the Southern Renaissance of literature in the period after the First World War.

Sissy Spacek
Born in Texas, Mary Elizabeth “Sissy” Spacek currently calls Charlottesville home after a rich and illustrious career in film. Her farm in Albemarle County is the perfect place for a star with her type of personality; indeed, she has a significant aversion to the public eye, preferring to hover over the spotlight, leaving the tabloids for more attention-seeking folk. Her early breakout role was that of a telekinetic, often-bullied teenager in Brian DePalma’s Carrie. She is also celebrated for her role as country music legend Loretta Lynn in 1980’s The Coal Miner’s Daughter, which netted her an Academy Award for Best Actress. Legend has it Lynn herself chose Spacek for the role. Little is known about Spacek’s private life, but she must love her farm in Albemarle County…she’s been here since 1982!

Ralph Sampson
We’ve got a soft spot for UVa basketball, especially with the overwhelming success of the men’s team in recent years. But it’s hard to talk about basketball here in Charlottesville without mentioning Ralph Sampson, one of the most dominant and versatile centers in college basketball history. At a towering 7-foot-4 inches, Sampson led the Cavaliers to an NIT title in 1980, a Final Four appearance in 1981, and an Elite Eight appearance in ‘83. He was a phenom, both tall and dominating but also lithe and agile. He was drafted first in the NBA draft of 1983, although the peak of his career came during his days at UVa, where he was College Player of the Year three separate times. And he has a sandwich named for him at Little John’s. Not bad Ralph.

53 Reasons Why Charlottesville is the Best

Charlottesville Virginia in the AutumnWe all know it’s one of the best places to live; this much has been confirmed by both domestic and international sources. We love it so much we couldn’t limit it to 50 items. So if you happen to land in Charlottesville, keep this master list in mind.

 

#53 The Fall Okay so granted, this one is a little vague. I mean it’s not like it’s the only city with autumn, but property in central Virginia is perfect for watching the leaves change, and there are some truly gorgeous fall days. Other items on our list further prove this point, so read on!

 

#52 Festival of the Book An annual Charlottesville tradition, the Virginia Festival of the Book takes place on the Downtown Mall every March…and has for 22 years going strong! The literary wave brings celebrated authors to be guest speakers and features workshops and book sales. No matter how good this list is, it’s not a substitute for a good book.

 

#51 Secret Societies Secret societies have been a part of student life almost since UVa’s beginning. While the idea connotes an elite aristocracy, groups like the Z, 7 and IMP societies have extensive records of philanthropy and do a lot of wonderful things for the community.

 

#50 Musician-friendly Not every town is guaranteed this, and Charlottesville was recently hit with the loss of maybe its best store a few years ago, when Cville Music closed its doors for good. But there are still great places to grab some gear, scope out some deals or buy a high-quality instrument. There are also a wealth of places offering private lessons, renting out recording studio space, and providing crucial repairs. Stacy’s Music is a great place to get lessons, chat it up with some pros, and especially to get repairs and tune-ups for your instruments with a personal touch (ask for Rob). There is also Specialty Guitars Plus, which has an exhausting amount of equipment, including a land of lore and fable known only as “The Bass Room.” You’ve got Universal Electronics for repairs, Bay1 Studio for recording, and Music and Arts for everything else.

 

#49 Fridays after 5 Held during the warmer months at the nTelos Wireless Pavilion, Fridays after 5 is a weekly concert series featuring local and regional acts from all over the Greater Charlottesville area. The music is free, and local vendors serve up tasty food and cold beer for the duration of the show. TGIF indeed.

 

#48 Morven Farm John Kluge was a businessman and philanthropist who contributed much to city. He donated over 7,000 acres of farmland in Albemarle County to UVa in 2001. The UVa Foundation retains 2,913 acres, called Morven Farm where a variety of programs–from agricultural classes at the Summer Institute to leadership classes at the Mandela Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders–are held.

 

#47 La Michoacana Authentic Mexican cuisine at extremely reasonable prices? If it sounds too good to be true, you haven’t been to this classic spot on Little High Street, the midpoint between downtown Cville and Pantops. Everything on the menu is good, especially the tacos: $2.50 for chicken, barbacoa, carnitas, al pastor, beef tongue and many choices…topped with chopped onions and cilantro.

 

#46 Bluegrass The land in central Virginia falls smack dab in Appalachia and so bluegrass is the lay of the land in Charlottesville. From local groups like Mando Mafia or the Weedeaters to more established players that pass through town (Sam Bush, the Travelin’ McCourys etc.), Cville is something of a bluegrass oasis.

 

#45 Monticello Thomas Jefferson’s historic home at Monticello is located a few miles outside Charlottesville, on land in the Piedmont region. It’s been restored and rebuilt for more than 40 years and you can tour everything from Jefferson’s house, to the gardens to old slave quarters year-round.

 

#44 Atlas Comics Every town needs a solid comic book store and Atlas claims to be the premier brick-and-mortar comic book store in central Virginia. They’ve got over 75,000 comics in stock at one time, and employees who can answer virtually every question about your favorite super hero, sci-fi series, or conspiracy theory.

 

#43 The Brew Ridge Trail This self-guided stretch of hoppy highway is in the shadow of the Blue Ridge Mountains. A scenic drive includes some of Charlottesville’s favorite local beers: Blue Mountain Brewery, Starr Hill, Devil’s Backbone and Wild Wolf. Bring a driver.

 

#42 Bike country While we aren’t quite as bike-conscious as our neighbors to the east in Richmond, Charlottesville is taking steps to integrate the cyclist into its road plans. There are already bike racks on city and UVa buses and plans to address bike corridors on some of the more crowded roads. There are also some spectacular bike trails, like the Rivanna, O-Hill, or Walnut Creek that can be challenging for even experienced bikers.

 

#41 CLAW The Charlottesville Lady Arm Wrestlers (or CLAW) are a fierce group of femme fatales who engage in friendly competitive arm wrestling. It started out as a joke league between some friends and took off in 2008. The inception was held at Blue Moon Diner and that’s still the headquarters as far as we know.

 

#40 Shenandoah Joe Every town has their coffee merchant. Shen Joe is near-ubiquitous in Charlottesville, sold in many stores and restaurants in addition to having three locations on the Corner, on Ivy Road, and on Preston Avenue. Each batch of sludge is individually roasted with meticulous care, and you can bring home several different types of coffee from the world over. Many of these are fairtrade and organic certified.

 

#39 Live Theatre The Ville has a couple of places to enjoy live theatre, and you really get to enjoy the range of performers, from students putting on shows at UVa’s Culbreth Theatre to locals producing shows at Live Arts downtown or at the newly-established Gorilla Theatre. The material is also pretty varied, from student-written and produced plays to some of the classics.

 

#38 The Lighting of the Lawn A more recent UVa tradition, “Lighting of the Lawn” is a celebration of the winter season. In early December, a student-written holiday poem is recited and around 22,000 lightbulbs are hung around Grounds, lit up each night until the end of the semester.

 

#37 The Lawn Especially with the Rotunda undergoing perpetual restoration, the Lawn is perhaps UVa’s most prominent symbol. It’s the site of graduations, commencement speeches, and other events. There are also 47 rooms available for fourth year students, and living on the Lawn is one of the highest honors a UVa student can have. Tradition also designates the Lawn as the place where inebriated college students go streaking…thanks Jefferson!

 

#36 Virginia Film Festival The Virginia Film Festival (this year Nov. 5-8) has been held in Charlottesville since its inception in 1988. Put on by the College of Arts and Sciences, the festival does a good job of bringing the school and community together. It also gives film fans in the the Ville a chance to catch unreleased and limited release films at many different venues.

 

Charlottesville Vineyards and Wineries#35 Wine country Charlottesville is something of a Mid-Atlantic wine mecca. There is a rich viticultural tradition in the area, in no small part due to Thomas Jefferson’s passion for the beverage. Monticello American Viticultural Area is located on land in central Virginia and provides ample terroir for some excellent vineyards including Blenheim Vineyards, Jefferson Vineyards, Trump Vineyards and many more. Drink up.

 

#34 Burgers Charlottesville is consistently lauded for its stellar cuisine, and there are many different types of food here. But there is a seemingly endless stream of burger joints: Citizen Burger Bar, Rapture, Miller’s and Jack Brown’s, Boylan Heights and the White Spot on the Corner, Riverside near Pantops and probably about a dozen others that we missed. Hungry yet?

 

#33 First Fridays On the first Friday of every month, various art galleries in Charlottesville open up their doors and showcase featured artists for First Fridays. It’s generally more crowded during the warmer months, but the truly dedicated can enjoy original work at least once a month. Participating galleries include the McGuffey Art Center, UVa’s Fralin and Ruffin Galleries, 2nd Street Gallery and many others. Wine and food are usually standard.

 

#32 Walnut Creek A veritable outdoor wonderland, Walnut Creek sits on 525 acres of land in Albemarle County, specifically North Garden. The park has everything…canoes, fishing (with a healthy supply of channel catfish and largemouth bass), 15 miles of trails for hiking and biking, and a disc golf course with 18 holes! You’ll never want to go back inside.

 

#31 Fireworks at McIntire Park You can always count on a beautiful, bombastic fireworks display at McIntire Park on the 4th…Cville definitely does this right. Watching from different spots in the downtown area, literally thousands of people can bask in the revelry, completely free of charge.

 

#30 The Quarry Cliff-diving has never been this close. Located 30 minutes south of Charlottesville, off of 29 South, the quarries have jumps of various heights. Some of these quarries are tough to get to and some are literally in people’s backyards, so be discerning. Some of the jumps are 40 feet high! But don’t worry, there are baby jumps too, and we won’t tell anyone you got scared when you did the 15 foot jump.

 

#29 Late-night grub Call it a perk of living in a college town but for a city this small, Charlottesville has a surprising number of places to grab a late night bite. There are old standbys on the Corner like the White Spot, Christian’s Pizza and LittleJohn’s N.Y.-Style Deli (which is open 24-hours and has a severely underrated breakfast menu). Then you’ve got options like Jack Brown’s Burgers, Benny Deluca’s giant pizza, Waffle House, Wings Over Charlottesville (delivery chicken wings until 3am on weekends??) and more.

 

#28 Local chains Definitely not unique to Charlottesville, but still pretty cool. There are a handful of restaurants around here that are littered in different spots around the city. This has a very unique effect…you get your small-town, hyperlocal feel, but you can get it at multiple places. And each location does it a little bit differently, so everyone has their favorite spot. There are three incarnations of Bodo’s Bagels, Christian’s Pizza, Sticks Kebab, and Shenandoah Joes, four places to get Mudhouse Coffee, and two Little John’s locations.

 

#27 The Paramount Theater The Paramount is a diverse, flexible venue where anything is possible. On any given night you may go see a contemporary bluegrass group like the Punch Brothers or a jazz legend like saxophonist Wayne Shorter. The next morning you could go in to catch a UVa basketball game or Virginia Film Festival screening. One of the older venues in the city, it was recently restored and has a diverse cultural offering.

 

#26 Farmers’ Market With its proximity to so many central Virginia farms, Charlottesville offers a quality farmers’ market 7am to noon in the warmer months and 8am to 1pm in the colder times of the year. Fresh, organic produce, pork, poultry and provisions as well as handmade arts and crafts and live music. It’s a great start to the day, and a reason to hop out of bed on Saturday morning. If you’re an early riser, it’s the place to be.

 

#25 “Ethnic food” If you cruise through Charlottesville expecting BBQ, fried chicken, burgers, and subs….you got ‘em. But you also have half a dozen Indian places to choose from. You can pick up some green curry or pad see ew from Pad Thai, Lemongrass, Monsoon or a host of other places. There are even a few places with the Vietnamese soup pho,Caribbean cuisine and even Ethiopian. Dig in.

 

#24 Lampo Noun. Italian for “lightning”; also the name of an authentic Neapolitan pizzeria, certified Vera Pizza Napoletana. The owners shipped in a 3-ton brick oven from Italy and serve up pizzas at a rapid-fire, using only wood to get the oven up to 1,000 degrees. You can’t go wrong with this level of dedication.

 

#23 Twisted Branch Tea Bazaar In a land where coffee is king, the Twisted Branch Tea Bazaar is a refreshing alternative. Browse a huge selection of teas: aged teas, blooming teas, white teas, Chinese and Japanese greens, black teas, house blends and yerba mate. They are also one of the town’s only hookah bars, and a site for several kinds of alternative music. They  help host a month hip-hop showcase that features several underground rappers. Cool spot for sure.

 

Hiking in Charlottesville#22 Hiking It’s our belief that the rural land in central Virginia is some of the most beautiful on Earth. The area’s has so many spots in which to disappear for a weekend, and many are very accessible. Check out Walnut Creek, St. Mary’s, Sugar Hollow, Shenandoah National Park, and a host of other scenic spots.

 

#21 Fried Chicken Central to our love of this city. It boasts a wide and delicious selection of fried chicken joints scattered throughout the city. Yes, some of them are gas stations but eat before you judge. The Shell station on Preston Avenue, the Trading Post south of town, Brown’s Chicken on Avon street, Wayside Chicken on JPA, the GoCo and BlackJack’s Soul Food Kitchen on Cherry.  Venture out to Madison County and try the Wolftown Store’s Chicken or in Nelson, the Chicken Coop…are we forgetting any?

 

#20 Music Resource Center The MRC is a unique accession for the town; a recording studio/practice space available to anyone between 7th and 12th grade who has a passion for music. It was started in 1995 in the old practice space for the Dave Matthews Band and lets many kids live out their musical aspirations at a young age, with help from some experienced staff.

 

#19 UVa Basketball UVa’s basketball team has started to heat up in recent years, becoming a serious powerhouse in the ACC and a nationally-ranked squad known for their tenacious defense. Coach Tony Bennett has mentored stars like Joe Harris and Justin Anderson while helping the team grow as a unit. It hearkens back to the days of heavy hitters like four-time College Player of the Year Ralph Sampson, or more recently explosive point guard Sean Singletary.

 

#18 Farm-to-Table The farm-to-table movement is big in Charlottesville. It’s the marriage of talented chefs, enthusiastic restaurateurs and patrons to acres of central Virginia farmland and a multitude of small, sustainable organic farms. The result is a culinary aesthetic centered on locally sourced food and healthy, open relationships between restaurants, farmers, and customers. Wouldn’t you like to know where your food comes from?

 

#17 IX Art Park Located in Belmont (affectionately known as the “Brooklyn of Charlottesville”), this open air sensory oasis is rife with sculptures, murals, gardens, exhibitions, and eye-catching crafts. It’s free to walk around and a great place to bring kids. At night there are shows at Henley’s Auction House. Great slice of culture.

 

#16 Skyline Drive Beauty is beauty no matter where you’re from. Spanning a transcendent 105 miles, Skyline Drive is the crown jewel of the Shenandoah National Park. For most of the drive, it follows the ridges of the surrounding mountains east of the Shenandoah River. The views are majestic year-round, but Skyline Drive is especially inspiring during the fall, when the leaves are changing. A smattering of bright orange and rusty red hues tumble down from the boughs as if meandering drops of rain, coloring the Blue Ridge terrain in kaleidoscopic visages. A great place to bike or drive.

 

#15 Carter’s Mountain This is a must for Charlottesville newbies and remains one of our favorite spots, despite its popularity. It’s a good hike with some nice views of Charlottesville, and it has fruit. Like tons of it. Fruit for all seasons. Apples are the flagship, and they make delicious treats like apple butter, salsa, fritters and cider. They also have peaches, pumpkins, and more depending on time of year.

 

#14 Community Supported Agriculture The land in and around Charlottesville and Albemarle County is home to a plethora of small, organic farms tended by hard-working, dedicated farmers. The best way for these farmers to bring their crops to us and keep money coming in year-round is to start up a CSA program where the consumer gets cheap produce in exchange for paying a wholesale price at the beginning of the season, when a farmer’s expenditures are high and their funds are low. Farms like Bellair and Radical Roots offer CSA’s and most times you can come to the farm and literally pick your own produce. Now that’s fresh.

 

#13 Dogwood Festival Started in 1950, the Dogwood Festival has been going strong in Charlottesville for a while now. The entire month of April is a celebration Charlottesville’s beauty including carnivals, parades and breakfast benefits. Next year will be the 67th annual!

 

#12 Mix of Local and Corporate Grocery Stores. Charlottesville is at a great place right now with regard to its mix of homegrown and chain businesses. The city has all your beloved big chains. You can grab some Chipotle or Starbucks or patronize inside joints like La Michoacana and Shenandoah Joes (included on this list). We have the mega grocery stores like Whole Foods, Costco, and Wegmans (coming soon!) but you can also pick up some locally-sourced meat and produce from places like Integral Yoga or Market Street Market. It’s a have-your-cake-and-it-eat-too kind of feeling.

 

#11 The Main Street Arena/The Ante Room We combined these two establishments since they technically share the same building, although they are pretty different places. The arena is maybe the only ice rink in Charlottesville proper and features ice skating, curling, hockey and anything else you can do on the frozen water. On the other side of the building facing Water Street, the Ante Room is one of Charlottesville’s up-and-coming music venues. They look to cover underrepresented ground in Charlottesville, taking a chance on the goth, punk, noise, metal and hip-hop shows that the mainstream venues are reticent to host. And they offer delicious Haitian cuisine, which is something else you don’t really see too often.

 

#10 UVa This one almost goes without saying. Founded in 1819 by the country’s third president, UVa is Charlottesville’s premier institution. It’s responsible for most jobs in the city, provides reliable healthcare, and helps direct a lot of attention to the area. The steady revenue and influx of new students also helps insulate Charlottesville from less-than-favorable economic climates. That’s not to say Charlottesville doesn’t have its own cultural identity, because it does. But Mr. Jefferson’s University is a big part of what makes this town so great.

 

#9 Jazz scene Jazz music is alive and well in Charlottesville, with young players emerging from UVa’s program as well as from some of the local high schools. There are also plenty of seasoned vets in town, people who have been playing for decades. The hour drive from Richmond probably has something to do with the level of talent in this town. “Like” the Charlottesville Jazz Society on Facebook; they do a great job chronicling the different gigs around town.

 

#8 Observatory Hill Ever wanted to see the stars real close? Observatory Hill is located in Albemarle County, just outside of Charlottesville and on the peak of Mt. Jefferson. It’s home to the Leander McCormick Observatory and a telescope that, at the time was tied for the largest overall telescope and second-largest refractor. The observatory is generally used to teach classes and inform the public about astronomy and its history in Charlottesville. It’s open to the public on the first and third Friday of each month for a couple hours.

 

#7 Spudnuts Potato bread doughnuts. Really, that is the only explanation necessary, but we’ll go on and tell you a little more about Spudnuts, located just over the Avon bridge in downtown Charlottesville. Get there early because this place tends to sell out before noon. Their delicious fluffy disks of cake come in cinnamon, blueberry cake, glazed, chocolate.

 

#6 Record stores Records may be archaic now, but it was never just about the vinyl. It’s also about community. With their big, bulky presentation and trademark crackle, vinyl records once tethered the music lover to the physical plane. It put her/him next to other music lovers, and in a position to learn something about what they love. Sure, we have the Internet for that, but the brick-and-mortar record store has a special place in the heart of the music lover. Sadly it’s generational. Fortunately, Cville keeps one of the oldest American musical traditions alive with some quality record stores, all of which offer different things. Go to Plan 9 for the range and the deals. Sidetracks has cool folks that’ll talk your ear off and some pretty good bargains as well. Melody Supreme has  some rarities and a bunch of new releases (yes people are still putting music out on vinyl). And finally Low, (which is also a vintage shop) has those hidden gems of which you’d never heard.

 

#5 Proximity Sometimes the best part about home is your ability to get away. It makes coming back home all that much better, and really lets you appreciate the things that make your home special. Living in Charlottesville means you’re only an hour away from Richmond, two and a half hours (tops) from D.C., and pretty close to Raleigh, Asheville, and other Southern cities. There’s a bus that takes you directly from Cville to New York City as well as direct flights out of the Charlottesville Airport. So many other hangout spots makes Charlottesville that much better to come home to.

 

#4 WTJU We thought about making this category “Local Radio.” After all, there are a wealth of options across the dial, covering many different genres including (mostly country) sports, talk radio, and others. But WTJU is one of the best radio stations this writer has ever come across, in any city, and the fact that it’s completely user-supported means you don’t get any of the annoying ad spots that make the radio so unbearable and drove humans to invent mp3 players in the first place. They have a diverse, varied offering: jazz, funk, folk, classical, punk, noise, electronic…really anything you could think of. And the DJs know their stuff…they’ll surprise even the most discerning listener with choice gems from forgotten eras or new and invigorating tracks.

 

#3 Accessibility Getting around this place is a cinch. People get by using bikes and public transportation, so you know a drive through town will never take you more than 15 or 20 minutes (traffic notwithstanding). Every city has its rush hour hangups, but the land in Charlottesville is only about 10 miles across. It makes life in the country that much easier when going into the city doesn’t take all day.

 

#2 Bodo’s Bagels Quite possibly the supreme realization of Jeffersonian ideology, Bodo’s is a veritable mecca for the bagel enthusiast, an oasis for those expatriates who maybe once called New York City home. Founded in 1988, the franchise has three locations: near downtown Charlottesville on Preston Avenue, on the Corner near right across from UVA Grounds, and on Emmet Street. Open at 6:30 am during the week, Bodo’s is known for schlepping an incredible amount of coffee and bagels of all different varieties. They feature authentic, NY-style “water bagels,” which are boiled just before baking to make them moist and delicious. These bagels are made several times daily, completely from scratch. Despite the incredible taste and texture, Bodo’s does not use fats or preservatives. Their flour is always unbleached and unbromated, for health and taste reasons. Their wheat bagels will make you feel better about your choices, and they actually taste great. This quick, fast-casual restaurant boasts many offerings, from breakfast fare to cold cut sandwiches, soups, salads, and dinner omelettes. Grab a pastrami and onion bagel and some cold lemonade for lunch, or a bacon, egg and cheddar and a cup of joe if you’re racing off to work in the morning.

 

#1 Good people Save the best for last, right? People in Charlottesville are awesome, and that’s the best part about being here. It mingles everyday small-town Southern charm with metropolitan sensibilities and a thriving sense of culture. People will stop and talk to you, but it might be a conversation about a local organic co-op or the Stevie Wonder show coming up. Bottom line is they’ll talk; people here are free of that brisk, big city way of interacting. They have the time to converse. And so do we. If you have any questions about farms or homes in Charlottesville, food, music, or any of the items on this list…talk to us!

Violet Crown Cinema

Charlottesville's Violet Crown CinemaEat Your Dinner at the Movies at Violet Crown Cinema

When Vinegar Hill shut down a couple of years ago, it prompted reactions ranging from mildly disappointment to utter devastation. It was one of the most unique institutions to land in the Charlottesville area, with its penchant for art house films and first-runs. It looked like our only options were the Regal Cinemas on the Downtown Mall and at Stonefield (multiplexes with all of the latest Hollywood flicks) or digital streaming services that kept us at home. Were we doomed to consume big-budget blockbusters for the rest of our days, or else wither and atrophy in front of the Netflix screen?

Not so! Violet Crown Cinema has opened up in the building where the Regal used to be, downtown on some of the best real estate in Charlottesville. This is the third Violet Crown location (the other two are in Santa Fe and Austin). It’s save to say that, compared to multiplexes like the Regal chain, this new theater offers a completely different cinematic experience. The open, inviting space has deep purple walls and invigorating light. Walking past it on the Mall, you can see clearly into its open bar and cafe-style restaurant. That’s right, the cinema has a full bar, featuring a couple of novelty pun-ridden cocktails like the Bloody Carrie (a take on the Bloody Mary named after the 1976 film Carrie, whose star Sissy Spacek owns a farm in Albemarle County).

The establishment also has a restaurant that aims to use locally-sourced ingredients from Charlottesville farms and other area farms in central Virginia. Right now on the menu you can get beer brats and hotdogs made from Wagyu beef, as well as fries and pizza with more culinary innovations to come. They’re also working with Albemarle Baking Company for fresh bread and Feast! for delicious cheeses and charcuterie and aim to reach out to many other Charlottesville businesses, incorporating the town’s local food ethos.

The cinema itself has 10 screens; three smaller screens tucked away behidnd the bar and seven larger ones upstairs. Each room seats between 60 to 160 people at a time, and all the seats are pretty solid, (even those annoying front row seats that you get when you’re seeing a crowded film…you know, the ones where you have to crane your neck to get a good look). As far as films go, the cinema offers substantive films, many of them independent art house flicks or foreign films. These are the types of pictures celebrated at the film festivals in Tornto, Berlin, or Cannes…so naturally they are not the types of films you could see at the Regal. This writer’s favorite offering is Jafar Panahi’s Taxi, a 2015 documentary-like portrait of the city of Tehran. But there are several other great films to check out, and you can enjoy a drink and a bite all at the same time. Your one-stop-shop for dinner and a movie!

Don’t Miss the Virginia Film Festival!

18930870259_0f5a2cf8b8_zThe Virginia Film Festival is coming up! Throughout the entire weekend of November 5-8, you can immerse yourself in a wide range of cinematic pursuits, from original short films to some of the oldest classics, documentaries, dramas and everything in between. Created in 1988, the Virginia Film Festival is one of the most enduring recent traditions to land in Charlottesville. If you live in Albemarle County, you probably know firsthand how disparate the interests of the University of Virginia and the interests of the rest of the city and especially the county can be; but the film fest always does a great job with community integration.

The festival screens films from all over the world, spanning multiple genres. Some of them, like The Maltese Falcon or Murnau’s Faust are classics, but there are also many recent pictures, some of which haven’t been widely released. One of the biggest features of the festival is its inclusion of actors, actresses, directors, and other personnel who worked on the featured films. Oftentimes these figures will provide commentary and answer questions before or after the screening of the films which really does make seeing a film at the fest a unique experience. We’ll talk here about some of the things we’re most excited for, from individual films to program events and workshops.

I Saw the Light is one of the first on our list. An appreciation for country and folk music is definitely the lay of the land in Charlottesville and central Virginia, and so a biopic about the legendary Hank Williams is especially exciting. Directed by Marc Abraham, and starring Tom Hiddleston as the iconic country pioneer, this picture is scheduled to be released next March. Presumably in the tradition of films like Ray (about singer/pianist Ray Charles) or Walk the Line (about Johnny Cash). I Saw the Light spans 29 years, the length of Williams’ life. The film covers his humble beginnings, ascension to fame and turbulent relationships. Writer-director Marc Abraham and actresses Cherry Jones and Maddie Hasson (who plays his mother and second wife, respectively) will be present for discussion. Playing Thursday, Nov. 5 at 7pm, at the Paramount Theatre on the Downtown Mall.

Mercy Street is an upcoming PBS Civil War medical drama, produced on land in central Virginia, mostly in and around Richmond. It’s a character-based series whose first installment will play at the festival. Beginning in the spring of 1862, it follows the lives of two volunteer nurses on either side of the war. They collide at the Mansion House, a luxury hotel in Alexandria that has been converted into a Union Army hospital. Due to its location in Northern Virginia and its proximity to the capital, Alexandria was considered a border town…indeed it was the longest Confederate-occupied city of the war. Since several properties in central Virginia are colored with Civil War-era history, this is a fitting accession for the film festival. There will be a panel with actresses Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Tara Summers, and Hannah James, co-executive producer Lisa Wolfinger, and UVa history professor Gary Gallagher as a moderator. The series premieres on PBS on January 17, but the first episode is screening at the film festival 6:30pm on Friday Nov. 6 at UVa’s Culbreth Theatre.

Ithaca is Meg Ryan’s directorial debut. She also acts in it, alongside Alex Neustaedter, Sam Shepard, Tom Hanks and others. Neustaedter plays Homer Macauley, a determined bike telegraph messenger who sets out to be the fastest and most reliable member of his field. His older brother is out fighting in the Second World War and so the 14-year-old Homer is left to help care for his widowed mother and his younger siblings; he assumes responsibility for them while also dutifully delivering telegraph messages all over his hometown of Ithaca, California. Set during the spring of 1942, the messages young Homer delivers are replete with the wartime sentiments of love, longing, and despair, all of which echo his own personal struggles as he comes of age during this uncertain period. This is another film that was shot and produced on land in central Virginia, this time in Petersburg, VA. It is based on The Human Comedy, a novel by William Sayoran. Director Meg Ryan will be around after the screening for a panel discussion with producer Janet Brenner, and actors Alex Neustaedter and Lois Robbins. 7:00pm, Friday November 6 at the Paramount Theatre downtown.

Born on the Fourth of July is a critically-acclaimed and commercially successful film that originally debuted in 1989. It’s directed by Oliver Stone and co-written with Stone and a fellow Vietnam War veteran Ron Kovic, on whose autobiography the film is based. It stars Tom Cruise in his first Academy Award-nominated role. Cruise plays Kovic, a young, idealistic American man who enlists in the Marines and fights in the Vietnam War. The film depicts Kovic’s struggles with reconciling his principles and vaguely Christian morality with the horrors of the war. He makes mistakes, sustains injuries, (both physical and psychological), and has to come face to face with himself and the people he has harmed. His disillusionment with both the war and America’s reasons for taking part, crops up steadily after he returns to America, to the youthful dissatisfaction and societal upheaval of the late 60s and early 70s. Born on the Fourth of July is considered part of Stone’s Vietnam “trilogy” along with Platoon and Heaven and Earth. Stone himself will be in attendance at the film festival, and he will be part of a discussion with UVa history professor Robert Toplin. 1:30pm, Saturday Nov. 7 at the Paramount Theater.

Faust is probably the oldest film that will be shown at this year’s film festival. Debuting in 1926, the German film was directed by F.W. Murnau. It’s an adaptation of Goethe’s Faust. The demon Mephisto makes a bet with an archangel, contending that he can corrupt the soul of a pious man. Satan inflicts a village with a terrible, sweeping plague and the righteous alchemist Faust is filled with despair at his inability to stop the destruction. Mephisto swoops in to tempt Faust, offering the alchemist youth a cure for the plague, in exchange for his eternal soul. This timeless story is depicted with hazy, somnolescent surrealism by Murnau who directed films like Nosferatu. In a unique, interdisciplinary offering, this silent film will play along with an original score, written by local trumpeter John D’earth and performed by the UVa faculty jazz band The Free Bridge Quintet. 8:00pm, Saturday in Old Cabell Hall on UVa Grounds.

In addition to many other films, (some old, new, borrowed and blue) the Adrenaline Film Project has been an integral part of the Virginia Film Festival for awhile. 10-12 teams of three filmmakers are given 72 hours to write, cast, shoot, edit, and screen a short film (3-5 minutes in length). Everything (except for music) must have been generated during this 72-hour period…meaning no found footage or B-roll from previous sessions. They are supervised at each of these stages by “mentors” who work in the film industry. The process ends with a competitive screening of the selected films at UVa’s Culbreth Theatre on Saturday, November 7, 2015, at 9:00 p.m.

If you’ve got some younger film critics in attendance, it’s good to know that Saturday, November 7th is Family Day at the Virginia Film Festival. This segment of the festival takes place during the day on Culbreth Road, between Rugby and University Avenue. Some of the events include a free screening of Pixar short films. If you’ve ever seen a longer Pixar picture, you’re likely aware of some of the innovative short films that have preceded films like Up! or Wall-E. The screening includes Pixar short films from 2007-2012; it’s completely free and unticketed. There are also some free workshops led by UVa faculty and students and community members. They go over topics such as audition techniques, music in movies, make-up and style, etc. There’s also a “Musical Petting Zoo,” put on by the Cville Symphony and UVa Orchestra, and a host of other events. We hope you’re as excited as we are about one of Charlottesville’s most exciting annual events!

Charlottesville Home Inspectors

Charlottesville Home InspectorVirginia is a caveat emptor (buyer beware) state, so we encourage all of our buyers to do their due diligence as a contingency in their purchase contract. One of the most common inspections is the home inspection. We thought it would be of interest to run a series on the various home inspectors in the area, so that when the time comes, you will easily be able to select the inspector that meets your needs and you feel the most comfortable with. This quarter we are introducing Jim Quisenberry of Cavalier Home Inspections located in Charlottesville.

1. What is your background as it relates to conducting home inspections?

I spent 30 years in the building supply and lumber business as well as I built my own home.

2. How long have you been inspecting homes?

I have been inspecting homes for the last 11 years have done approx 2700 inspections.

3. What is the most common problem you see around Charlottesville when conducting home inspections?

The most common things we see are safety issues, maintenance issues and water intrusion issues.Examples: Smoke detectors not working, Filters not being changed regularly or no service on heating and cooling systems. The water intrusion issues are generally landscaping problems or gutters not working.

4. What are the three things that you would suggest all homeowners to do to keep their home in good shape?

Have HVAC systems serviced. Keep the landscaping and trees trimmed off of the house and perform general maintenance.

5. What areas do you cover? Do you have any specialties?
The area I cover is where ever I’m needed. I have done inspections in as far away as Culpeper, Staunton, Amherst and Goochland.

TRID and Your Real Estate Mortgage

TRID stands for TILA (Truth in Lending Act)-RESPA (Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act) Integrated Disclosure Rule. Despite having such a convoluted name, the measure’s espoused aims are pretty simple: to improve the transparency and clarity of the mortgage processes, with respect to the consumer. It’s been in the works for a while, and its scheduled date of institution (August of this year) was pushed back to this month. As of October 1, 2015 there are a few important changes to mortgage process, mostly in the form of new paperwork and new time constraints. We’ll break down what to expect.

  • The new Loan Estimate form consolidates the Good Faith Estimate and the Truth in Lending Disclosure forms into a shorter, “easier-to-understand” text.
  • A check on lender fees. Lenders can’t impose any fee on a consumer until said consumer receives a loan estimate and indicates an intent to proceed. The only fee a lender can impose is a “reasonable” fee for gathering a potential buyer’s credit information.
  • ○ This makes it easier for buyers to shop around and gives them a better grasp of interest rates. Consequently, it takes lenders longer to pre-approve prospective buyers.
  • The new Closing Disclosure form consolidates the Truth-in-Lending statement and the HUD-1 settlement statement into one shorter text, and disseminates the information therein with language that is easier for a buyer to understand. It also requires a detailed account of the whole real estate transaction, including closing costs and other fees and loan terms. The goal is to make the experience at the “closing table” easier to manage, especially for first-time buyers.
  • Now that the lender is giving out more information ahead of time, both s/he and the title company may have to adjust their roles and normal ways of doing things.
  • Disclosures must be provided within a specific time frame.
  • Lenders must make the Loan Estimate Form available to the consumer within three business days of the consumer’s loan application–three days after the consumer provides Social Security #, property value estimates, etc.
  • The buyer must get a Closing Disclosure Form three business days before the loan is consummated and s/he has contractual obligations to the mortgage.
  • Any significant term changes (changes in the loan product, the addition of a prepayment penalty, or increases in the APR) will start a new waiting period of three days.
  • Both of the aforementioned forms can be delivered in person or electronically.

The TRID’s new rules are not retroactive–they only apply to applications received after October 1. It’s important to stay sharp and review procedures to make sure you’re staying within its guidelines. The National Association of Realtors contends that if even 1 out of 100 closing transactions experience TRID-related issues, it’ll amount to about 4,000 botched transactions in a month alone! The new legislation will make lenders extra careful when providing mortgages, and it will likely result in extended mortgage times and delayed closing dates. It’s essential that the new forms are accurate and carefully evaluated, if you want to ensure that the mortgage process is carried out smoothly and your settlement occurs on time. Last minute negotiations may impact the three day rule and delay closing, so make sure that everything is in order with all parties far in advance of the scheduled settlement date! If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to contact us!