“Silhouette, proportion, and fit.” Three simple words for Tim Gunn’s unofficial guide to style. Of course, his official Guide to Style could be seen on the Bravo network until recently, in addition to his ongoing role on the hit show Project Runway where he acts as a liasion between judges and contestants. His famous inspirational catch-phrase, “make it work” is on the tip of every reality TV junkie’s tongue.

Gunn spoke at UVA’s Old Cabell Hall last night to an eager crowd of fourth year students, among them his niece, who introduced him. The audience even appeared to larger than the one Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) drew when she took UVA students questions in the same venue last Monday.

The main purpose of the lecture was to give advice to impending graduates on making the transition from cozy college campus attire (flip flops, sweats, and, horror of horrors, Ugg boots) to appropriate workplace attire. While maintaining that each work environment has its own set of rules, for Wall Street it’s (more)

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Two days away from the Charlottesville show, Van Halen has still not sold out the house at John Paul Jones Arena. A JPJ official concedes that the facility expects a crowd of “upwards of 12,000-13,000,” well short of the venue’s capacity of 16,000. Indeed, the Hook’s own attempt at purchasing tickets through the JPJ website this morning reveals that there are still seats available at all price levels, which climb from $61.55 in the nosebleeds to $170.10 for a seat in range of getting splattered by sweat from David Lee Roth.

This non-sellout represents something of an anomaly for the reunited rockers, as they have been filling arenas across the country and were the fifth-highest grossing tour of 2007 behind only the likes of Justin Timberlake (who also failed to sell out his JPJ show) and the Police (which sold out its JPJ gig at the last minute).

This lack of a clamor for Van Halen tickets comes just on the heels of Blue Man Group’s JPJ performance this past weekend, at which one Hook reporter observed (more)

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The 20 charges of child pornography possession against former Peace Lutheran associate pastor Gregory Briehl (shown here) are now down to 16 counts. Albemarle Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Jon Zug asked that four counts be dropped today because a doctor who’d examined the photos was pretty sure those women were not under 18 years old.

Zug also asked for a continuance because he forgot to subpoena witnesses he says are experts: Dr. Nancy McLaren and Dyan Aretakis from UVA’s Teen Health Center.

The hearing in front of Judge Paul Peatross was to determine whether testimony from those witnesses would be admissible at trial. Peatross granted a continuance.

No trial date has been set for Briehl, who was arrested July 18, 2006, and has already been found guilty of two counts of surreptitious videotaping in his home and sentenced to 60 days in jail.

The defense contends that it’s not obvious that the females depicted in the images are under age, and objects to the testimony of Dr. McLaren, who has examined the pictures. Her determination of age would be based on foot, hip, and breast size, says Briehl’s attorney, Rhonda Quagliana.

“You can’t see any pubic hair,” Quagliana said. It was not clear in court whether that was because the models were clothed or because, like many 21st century women, they favored the popular [warning: graphic nudity in this link] Brazilian look.

Zug contended that the witnesses may not be able to say whether a female is under 18, but can testify about developmental stages.

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It’s been over three months since Gerry Mitchell was struck in his wheelchair by an Albemarle County Police cruiser and then ticketed by Charlottesville Police, but the feelings of outrage linger. At tonight’s City Council meeting, councilors will be presented with a petition reminding them that some of their constituents want to see the Charlottesville Police Department investigated for its handling of the case.

“People are asking what council is doing,” says Jim McKinley-Oakes, (more)

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This Friday marks the two-year anniversary of the slaying of 22-year-old Danielle Howard, killed on a dark Gordonsville street, and family members are upset that no arrests have been made.

“What the hell’s going on?” wonders her brother, Michael Howard, as the second anniversary approaches. “[Police] tell you to be patient. We were asked to be quiet. Nothing has moved along, and we sit here with another anniversary of her death, with nothing happening.”

At the time of the killing on February 22, 2006, “Dani” Howard had just bought a Saab, broken up with her boyfriend, an older man named Curtis “L.A.” Waldron Jr., and, according to her brother, was getting her life together. She’d moved her clothes and computer into her mother’s house, and had asked Michael to bring his truck to remove the rest of her belongings.

At 12:27am February 22, Gordonsville police received reports of gunfire on a residential street. The engine (more)

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Seven Oaks, the historic Greenwood estate owned by DMB manager, Musictoday founder and real estate magnate Coran Capshaw, is for sale for $12.5 million. The 1840s, 6,870-square-foot house is on the National Register of Historic Places and is a Virginia Historic Landmark.

Capshaw bought the Greek Revival manse and accompanying 100 acres in 2000 for $2.25 million. The property, protected from development by a conservation easement, is currently assessed at $4,380,800.

According to the Virginia Department of Historic Resources, the estate is significant for its well-preserved collection of outbuildings, the oldest of which is a log structure known as Black’s Tavern. Those buildings once housed another Capshaw enterprise, Red Light Management, which moved to town to the former SNL building in late 2005.

Among the dependencies are four tenant houses and a 2,870-square-foot pool house with outdoor kitchen, home theater and vanishing edge pool. A studio, gym, stables and vineyard are part of the package.

Calls today to Capshaw and listing agent Ross Stevens were not immediately returned.

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While Albemarle County tightens its belt and tells schools to soldier forward under an ever-growing shortfall, Charlottesville’s coffers are still flush. Its school budget will be fully funded, and most likely will have a few extra million thrown at it, despite a recent study indicating the city has one of the lowest-achieving, highest-cost school systems in the state.

City Manager Gary O’Connell, left, presented his fiscal year 2008-2009 budget Wednesday, stressing that the $6.33 million increase in spending is the lowest– 4.21 percent– Charlottesville has seen in a decade. Certainly, the $127.3 million operating budget represents a smaller hike than last year’s hefty 12 percent increase.

Of course, that was the same year real estate assessments rose an average of 15 percent, and O’Connell acknowledges the correlation between higher taxes and higher city spending.

The good news for beleaguered city homeowners is that while the average assessment went up 4 percent, one third of those residents saw no increase or (more)

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Late last year, homebuilding legend R.D. Wade announced he was closing the construction side of his 42-year-old business in the face of the housing market slump. Now there’s another high-profile victim of the market downturn: Ron Martin Appliance.

In a letter sent to the store’s creditors (including the Hook), Ron Martin’s new owner David McKenney explains the decision. “The home building business has all but disappeared,” he writes, “and consumer spending has dropped dramatically, thus creating a significant decline in our cash flow that has not allowed us to get out from under our significant operating losses.”

McKenney did not return calls to his West End Richmond home, but the letter suggests the business failure has been personally devastating as well: he has also filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. His Richmond-based attorney, David Spiro, did not return the Hook’s call. (Full disclosure: McKenney’s bankruptcy puts the Hook in the hole more than $6,000.)

For a business that once seemed the local appliance leader, the decision to close marks the final chapter in a tumultuous six years. (more)

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The second of two men charged with capital murder in the death of a Charlottesville woman in November waived his right to a preliminary hearing this afternoon in Charlottesville District Court.

Twenty-two-year-old William Douglas Gentry appeared in court in standard prison garb– shackles and a striped jumpsuit– and spoke softly as Judge Bob Downer asked him to confirm his desire to have his case go directly to Grand Jury on February 19. Gentry joins his fellow accused and cousin Michael Stuart Pritchett in making the decision to waive the preliminary hearing.

Gentry has not, however, joined Pritchett in admitting the details of the night he and Pritchett (more)

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A bill which would have eased environmental restrictions for a controversial wind farm slated for construction in Highland County has stalled in committee. As previously reported in the Hook, Senate Bill 324, introduced by State Senator Frank Wagner (R-Virginia Beach), would have exempted all electric facilities that generate and distribute renewable energy with a capacity of no more than 50 megawatts.

The bill would have affected the proposed wind farm planned for the mountainous rural area 70 miles northwest of Charlottesville in Highland County. If completed, the project would be the state’s first utility-scale wind generation facility. Highland New Wind LLC, the company planning the development, has faced harsh criticism from (more)

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Update: According to a news release from the U.S Attorney’s office in Roanoke, store owner Reynold George Samuels, 39, and seven others were charged with dealing drugs and pirated DVDs out of the store, which is only a stone’s throw from the Charlottesville Police station. It’s unclear what drugs were discovered when FBI Agents and members of the JADE Task Force raided the store, as the indictment charges that the alleged drug ring “conspired to acquire and distribute” 100 kilos of marijuana, 500 grams of cocaine, and 50 grams of crack cocaine. It’s also unclear if any of the pirated DVDs were discovered.

Apparently, the charges are the result of a years long investigation, as the indictment alleges that Samuels began his criminal enterprise in 2001. Agents did, however, find Samuels, already a convicted felon, in possession of three semi-automatic handguns. If convicted, the release states, Samuels could face a mandatory life sentence and a fine of up to $4 million.

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FBI agents swarmed Sexshuns, an urban apparel shop at 505 E. Main, around 3pm today. An agent said he was not at liberty to say what drew the FBI to the Downtown Mall store– and then he locked the door.

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Veteran newsman Roger Mudd comes to Charlottesville March 25 to read and discuss his memoir, The Place to Be, at 7pm at the Senior Center.

Virginia Festival of the Book organizers announced this morning the addition of Mudd to this year’s program (although he’ll be here one day before the event officially kicks off March 26), and touted many of the Festival’s 155 programs for adults.

Tickets are still available for Walter Mosley, the Festival’s most requested author, March 30 at the Paramount (tickets range from $38 to $65, and $125 gets you into (more)

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Students at the University of Virginia had a lot to say following Sen. Hillary Clinton’s (D-NY) question-and-answer session with UVA professor and political pundit Larry Sabato on Monday. While some may have had their personal loyalties to other candidates before Clinton’s visit, there was a broad sense that they were also impressed with her poise and expansive knowledge of issues. Students were eager to share their reactions with anyone holding a microphone or a pen and paper. Here’s a smattering of reactions: (more)

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6:35pm update: The curious part was when a City Public Works truck arrived an hour ago, called in the ice, and that was the last we saw of the City’s effort. Fortunately, a Hook staffer felt compelled to stand there for an hour with a sign and calling out to pedestrians to be careful and then tossing out handfuls of our own stash of ice-melt!

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DOWNTOWN— From the Hook offices on the Downtown Mall we’ve watched a half-dozen people slip and fall on the ice-covered bricks in front of the Regal Cinema and the Ice Park. We’ve called the City telling them about the problem, but be careful!

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[youtube width="225" height="150"]NawDCPnmt1w[/youtube]It’s already been viewed over 210,000 times, and since the Gordonsvillian’s win at the Grammys, Ann Marie Calhoun’s YouTube audition to play with the Foo Fighters will be seen many more times over, as it is featured on YouTube’s homepage today. You can also check out Calhoun’s big moment on Sunday’s Grammys at right.

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Normally, UVA professor and political pundit Larry Sabato is the one teaching the University’s Introduction to American Politics class, but today his students belonged to Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and her lesson for the day, on the eve of the Virginia Democratic presidential primary, was to take their voting responsibility seriously.

“Politics is not a game,” she warned, before an audience that included some 500 students, plus a traveling press corps that included reporters from such far-flung locales as Japan and Italy. “It’s not what you see on TV. It’s not who’s up and who’s down, who’s in who’s out. That’s entertainment. There is a deep desire in our country to get back to believing in our politics. I’m running for president because I believe with all my heart that we’re up to the task.”

Such was the former First Lady’s thesis statement for her 70 minute question-and-answer session with the 500 students assembled, who asked Clinton mostly (more)

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The city of Charlottesville is proposing a series of amendments to its noise ordinance in an attempt to address concerns about late night noise “emanating from such establishments as the Buddhist Biker Bar, the Outback Lodge, LaTaza and Saxx, reported noise incidents on the Downtown Mall, and complaints in residential units,” according to a memo from Neighborhood Development Services Director Jim Tolbert.

Indeed, the Hook wrote about such noise issues at La Taza and Saxx last June.

“After previously considering imposition of uniform restrictions in all mixed use corridors within the City to address the first issue,” writes Tolbert in the memo, which is addressed to Police Chief Tim Longo and City Attorney Craig Brown, “we now believe a more effective method for regulating such noise is to impose a reasonable nighttime restriction upon restaurants and bars within the City.”

Essentially, instead of imposing a noise restriction on a particular area, the city has decided to impose uniform noise restrictions on all restaurants. According to Tolbert, this will make it easier for police to enforce, as they won’t have to spend time determining if a restaurant is within a restricted zone.

The new ordinance would limit sound levels to 75 db(A) when measured outside a restaurant between 10pm and 6am. Tolbert’s memo also calls for a daytime noise restriction in the Downtown Business District. Currently, there is a nighttime restriction of 75 db(A) from 10pm-6am Sun-Thurs, and 12:01am-6am Fri-Sat. The memo also asks if noise restrictions should be stricter in residential areas downtown, based on complaints the NDS has received.

Of course, some might wonder what this means for the Pavilion, a notorious noise maker, which is neither a residence or a restaurant. Would this let the giant clam off the hook?

A public hearing on these proposed noise amendments will be held at the next City Council meeting on Tuesday, February 19.

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