The interim director of the UVA Art Museum, Elizabeth Turner, left, is having a little Final Friday chat this evening between 5:30 and 7:30pm to talk about the museum’s future. But will she address the question everyone is really wondering about: what happened to former museum director Jill Hartz, right, who abruptly disappeared from sight without explanation shortly after Turner’s appointment to the new position of vice provost for the arts was announced December 11?

The Hook was unable to reach either Turner or Hartz, but Hartz is still listed in the university directory. A recording at her university extension idenifies it as Beth Turner’s number.

The minutes from the January meeting of the General Faculty Council do shed a little light. Hartz, who was (more)

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After backing out of their original date at JPJ only hours before showtime on Friday, February 22, Van Halen announced today that they have rescheduled their Charlottesville show for Tuesday, March 11, sandwiched between gigs in Baltimore and East Rutherford, New Jersey. The band will also make fans in the Atlanta area happy by taking the stage on Wednesday, March 19 to make up for the show they bagged on Monday.

So why did the rock legends put the ix-nay on arlottesville-Chay in the first place? The press release doesn’t say. When asked for an explanation this afternoon, Van Halen publicist and Eddie Van Halen squeeze Janie Liszewski declined to comment.

Tickets are still available for the show and can be purchased through the JPJ website.

Will Van Halen manage to finish what they started the second time around? For an indicator, Virginia Van Halen fans should keep their eyes on Dallas on Monday, March 3, the band’s next scheduled performance.

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Fresh off his recent Grammy success, country singer-songwriter Steve Earle is coming to the Paramount Theater Tuesday, April 15. Tickets for the performance go on sale tomorrow at 10am.

With his 1986 debut album Guitar Town, critics hailed Earle as the next great singer-songwriter in the vein of Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen. But soon his life began to imitate his outlaw-themed lyrics, and time in prison kicking heroin led to a two-year hiatus in the early ’90s. But Earle soon returned with the critically acclaimed Train A-Comin’, which earned him the 1996 Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk Album.

As renowned as Earle is for his music, he’s equally if not more famous for his left-leaning politics. In 2002, he raised his profile by attracting both cheers and jeers for “John Walker’s Blues,” a song written from the perspective of captured American Taliban fighter John Walker Lindh and featuring such controversial lyrics as (more)

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One day after serial rapist Nathan Antonio Washington was sentenced to four life terms plus 20 years, Crimestoppers announced payment of a $60,000 reward to the tipster who “provided the single largest break in the case,” says attorney Fred Payne (pictured here), who announced the reward yesterday, February 27.

Crimestoppers’ policy is not to identify people who provide tips, so Payne would not confirm that the tipster is one of Washington’s victims, a woman who was raped August 18, 2004, in her Webland Drive residence and who later provided police with a license plate number that led to Washington.

In court on December 10, the prosecution described how the woman, who works at UVA Aquatics and Fitness Center, saw a man in the parking lot who reminded her of the man who had fondled her at work November 12, 2002�€“ one day after a brutal rape in the Willoughby subdivision. The woman got the license number of the vehicle�€“ a Mitsubishi Galant that was registered to Washington’s wife.

“This tip was the real turning point in the case,” says Payne. Washington, a father of four, had no history of arrest and had not fallen under police scrutiny until the tip. The reward is the largest in Crimestoppers’ history, Payne adds. (more)

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In one month, Charlottesville Transit Service passengers can look forward to electronically equipped kiosks to let riders track bus locations and arrivals in real time. Unfortunately, the new “bus finder” system wasn’t unveiled in time to help a handful of students left waiting outside in a cold rain for a bus that never came.

Devin Benson, a 17-year-old Murray High student, took the last bus to Piedmont Virginia Community College February 12 for his practices-of-criminal-investigations class– and wound up with no class and no return.

Benson arrived around 5:20pm. Because of bad weather, the college canceled its evening classes at 5:25, says Benson, and he waited with three or four other students at the bus shelter.

“I waited at least an hour,” he says. “Someone else with a cellphone called and was told the bus was canceled. Ice started forming on the back of my backpack.”

When the students heard the bus was canceled, “We tried to go back (more)

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The song that put ATO Records (formerly based here) on the map, is also apparently one song that drives terror suspects crazy. According to Mother Jones magazine, David Gray’s “Babylon” is one of several ditties used in military prisons and on bases to deprive prisoners of sleep, disorient them during interrogations, or “drown out their screams.” The list was compiled from leaked interrogation reports, previous news articles, and firsthand soldier and prisoner accounts.

When Dave Matthews and Coran Capshaw founded ATO Records in 2000, “Babylon” was the first hit single for the fledgling label, receiving repeated play on MTV, VH-1, and Top 40 radio, and propelling Gray’s ATO debut album, White Ladder, to sell 6 million copies.

According to the article, Gray is in eclectic company on the so-called “Torture Playlist.” Interrogator tastes range from (more)

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Yesterday, NFL scouts confirmed what UVA football fans have known for the last four years: Chris Long is a rare physical specimen. At his performance at the NFL Scouting Combine yesterday, where scouts attempt to objectively measure prospects’ athletic abilities, Long put on a show that led NFL Network analyst Mike Mayock to tell die-hard pigskin fans watching at home “This is a freakishly athletic kid.”

Officially, Long entered the Combine standing 6′ 4″ and weighing 272 pounds (15 12 lbs. less than his official playing weight for the Cavaliers). He turned in a 40-yard dash time of 4.75 seconds, a 34″ vertical leap (third best among all defensive linemen), a 10′ 4″ broad jump (second among all defensive linemen), and ran a 20-yard shuttle run in 4.21 seconds (best among all defensive linemen).

In terms of athletic performance, it’s the last impression Long will leave with the NFL until the draft on April 26, when (more)

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Hollywood set guru and Albemarle resident Jack Fisk came into Oscar night as one of five nominees for Best Art Direction for his work on the eight-times-nominated California oil drama There Will Be Blood. While he lost in that category to the art directors from Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, later in the evening he got to share in a colleague’s Oscar glory.

When There Will Be Blood’s Robert Elswit won the award for Best Cinematography, the first thank you out of his mouth was to his colleague in the art department, saying that “80 percent [of the Oscar] belongs to Jack Fisk and his production crew.”

The nomination was the first in Fisk’s 30-plus years in the movies. Should he have to wait another three decades remains to be seen, but Fisk is working with his share of Academy-savvy folks on his next project. According to IMDB.com, Tree of Life will be written and directed by twice-nominated filmmaker Terrence Malick, with whom Fisk worked on previous films Badlands (where he met future wife Sissy Spacek), The Thin Red Line, and The New World. The film will star Oscar-winner Sean Penn and possibly Brad Pitt.

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The brown paper covering the former Atomic Burrito location on Second Street for the past few months– you know, the stuff on which some trickster had written “Hooters - Coming Soon”– has finally been pulled down, revealing not jiggly young ladies, but rather wiggly little noodles.

The Box features Asian-inspired cuisine such as noodles and dumplings, and exotic drinks like sake and watermelon juleps. In addition, we now have three sushi joints within a block or two; whether that sufficiently qualifies as another Charlottesville shark-jumping is entirely up to you.

The “sleek, sedated Jetsons” environment of Atomic has been given a full makeover, with much more sensible seating arrangements, a wall-size mural of Mr. Miyagi from the Karate Kid, and a giant gong behind the register, which co-owner Chas Webster has suggested might come in handy for last call.

If that’s the case, you’ll definitely want to get down here before then!

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With nothing to do now that Van Halen’s JPJ gig has been postponed for the time being, opening act and neo-soul star Ryan Shaw will play a hastily-scheduled show tonight at Outback Lodge.

“He came in for an interview earlier today, after the show had already been postponed, at around noon,” explains Brad Savage, the programming director of 106.1 The Corner, “and he was asking us on the air if there was someplace else he and his band could play tonight. Within a half hour, we had put it together with the Outback Lodge.”

Corner listeners are already well familiar with Shaw, whose singles “Nobody” and “Do the 45″ were among the most often played on the station in 2007, and is already a favorite of Ellen DeGeneres.

The cover charge is $10 and the show gets started at 8pm.

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Just hours before Charlottesville police stopped a sexual assault in progress in the early morning hours of Thursday, February 21, Albemarle County Police made an arrest of their own. At 11:29pm on Wednesday night, February 20, Albemarle County officers responded to the 100 block of the Turtle Creek Apartments where they met a female juvenile who said she’d been abducted and sexually assaulted.

Police arrested 34-year-old James Gardner Dennis of the 100 block of Woodbrook Woodlake Drive in Four Seasons in connection. Although the incident is still under investigation, Dennis has been charged with four offenses: rape, forcible sodomy, abduction, and enticement of a minor through the use of communications systems.

According to Albemarle County Police Lt. Greg Jenkins, the case is still being actively investigated.

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Charlottesvillians hoping to “Jump,” “Dance the Night Away,” and go “Running with the Devil” tonight will have to wait a little longer. Van Halen’s concert at John Paul Jones Arena scheduled for tonight has been postponed to an as-yet-undetermined date in the future, according to a press release from JPJ officials.

A call to Arena manager Larry Wilson was not immediately returned, so there’s no word yet on whether the icy forecast, the not quite 100 percent ticket sales, or something else is to blame for the last minute postponement, but reviews from Wednesday night’s show at the BankAtlantic Center outside Palm Beach, Florida indicate that the band is still in fine form.

12:37pm update: The Richmond Times-Dispatch reports that Van Halen’s equipment trucks were already at the arena at the time the show got postponed. In other, most likely unrelated Van Halen news, actress Valerie Bertinelli admitted to Oprah Winfrey in an interview to be aired Monday that she cheated on Eddie Van Halen during her 20-year marriage to the guitar god. Bertinelli is also the mother of 16-year-old bassist Wolfgang Van Halen.

1:39pm update: According to the band’s website, Van Halen has also postponed their show at Gwinnett Arena outside Atlanta, which they had scheduled for this Monday, February 25.

Until the real thing arrives, here’s a taste of what JPJ has to look forward to via YouTube:

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The list is deep: Albemarle, Augusta, Buckingham, Culpeper, Fluvanna, Greene, Louisa, Madison, Nelson— all closed. Even Charlottesville, where ice-melt was liberally slathered last night on roads and sidewalks, has told students and teachers to hang back a bit with a 2-hour delay. Sure, decks and railings in some areas are a little icy right now— but roads?

Last time there was a threat of ice, Albemarle opted for a 2-hour school delay, but this time they’ve opted to close even their own administrative offices. All day!

This action appears to stem from a strongly-worded document from the National Weather Service, a “Winter Weather Advisory” that forecasts a thin sheet of ice from freezing rain falling during much of today, and the Advisory won’t be lifted until 10pm.

So roads could be slick.

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April 12 update: CANCELLED

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Pollstar is reporting that soul queen Gladys Knight will be one of many acts heating up summer nights at the Charlottesville Pavilion this season.

Knight began singing as a child with the Pips as a sort of family-band affair, but the backup group followed her well into her adult career. She signed with Motown in her early 20s and proceeded to nail a bunch of hit singles, including “Neither One Of Us” and a pre-Marvin Gaye, pre-CCR version of “I Heard It Through The Grapevine.”

She eventually moved on to other labels and a smoother sound after only five years. The Pips have long since retired, but Knight (more)

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A quick-thinking friend, an alert neighbor, and fast-acting Charlottesville police helped end an alleged sexual assault– in progress– happening on Grady Avenue early this morning.

At 1:25am, a female UVA student walking home in the Rugby Road area and talking on her cell phone was assaulted. Hearing the attack begin, her friend called 911, and police immediately began looking for the victim. A second 911 call reporting an assault in the 1600 block of Grady Avenue allowed police to home in on the victim– and on her assailant, who was assaulting her when police arrived but immediately ran from the scene.

Charlottesville Police Officers C. Hockman and J. Carper pursued on foot and apprehended the suspect, 39-year-old Christopher Allen Noakes (pictured here). He has been charged with robbery, attempted rape, forcible sodomy, and abduction and is being held without bond at the Albemarle-Charlottesville Regional Jail.

The victim sustained non-life threatening injuries and remains at UVA hospital.

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While you were snoozing, cruising, or tubing last night, Charlottesville photographer Tom Daly was busily capturing the last total lunar eclipse for nearly three years.

Despite a light drizzle of rain yesterday afternoon across much of Albemarle County, the clouds thinned and parted in time for the eclipse to begin (when the moon entered the umbral shadow) at 8:43pm. Daly stuck with it and rendered some pretty pics, as you’ll see when you click on the photo here.

If you were busy watching Project Runway, you blew your last chance to see this amazing natural phenomenon until December 21, 2010 (or later, because it might be cloudy or snowy that night). The Hook staff was so moved by the sight that we named the eclipse Oliver.
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More frequent service, better on-time performance, and free rides for Wahoos. The head of Charlottesville Transit Service says these are three factors that led CTS to a ridership spike of 11.5 percent from this time last year and to log its one-millionth passenger of the fiscal year with five months to go.

“I feel encouraged,” says CTS transit manager Bill Watterson. “We’re demonstrating that we can make ourselves work better.”

At our request, Watterson provided the Hook with route-by-route ridership figures that show that 69 percent of the rides occur on just two of CTS’s 18 routes: the Free Trolley, which connects UVA and downtown, and the #7 bus, which links downtown to Fashion Square Mall, passing such hotspots as the Corner, Barracks Road, and K-Mart/Seminole Square.

“Those two routes,” explains Watterson (no relation to the famous cartoonist), “provide (more)

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