Hotseat
HOTSEAT- The Brennan-ator: Nelson supe takes on Watkins Abbitt
Published on Oct 11th, 2007
0 comments Connie Brennan PHOTO BY JEN FARIELLO Watkins Abbitt has reigned supreme as the 59th District's delegate to the General Assembly since 1986. So why in the world would Nelson County Supervisor Connie...
HOTSEAT- Mission district: DNA dude explains his sheriff quest
Published on Sep 27th, 2007
7 comments Chip Harding. PHOTO BY JEN FARIELLO Chip Harding has pounded the pavement in his 29 years as a cop. Now he's hitting the streets again, but this time, he's looking for registered voters. A captain...
HOTSEAT- Supe's on: Former farm manager runs organic campaign
Published on Sep 20th, 2007
0 comments Kevin Fletcher PHOTO BY JEN FARIELLO A southern Albemarle farm at the end of a long dirt road in the middle of fields– with a barn, no less– may serve as the perfect venue for meeting...
HOTSEAT- Outspoken: Squeaky wheel runs for Council
Published on Sep 13th, 2007
0 comments Peter Kleeman PHOTO BY JEN FARIELLO Peter Kleeman's decision to run for City Council has already cost him. For one, he had to give up his job as the Hook's "Squeaky Wheel" columnist. And he had to...
HOTSEAT- Natural history: Mallek runs roots campaign for BOS
Published on Sep 6th, 2007
0 comments Ann MallekPHOTO BY JEN FARIELLO A visitor driving across a cattle guard and a meadow, and up a hill to the shaded house on top spies a sprinkler going on the very day the Albemarle Board of...
HOTSEAT- Sparky's Anderson: Flaw frontman poised for big time
Published on Aug 30th, 2007
0 comments As lead singer and songwriter for Sparky's Flaw, Will Anderson says he and his bandmates are comfortable with him being the face for the band.PHOTO BY JEN FARIELLO To hear him talk about himself,...
HOTSEAT- Psych! Indie Haskins analyzes Council run
Published on Aug 23rd, 2007
4 comments Barbara HaskinsPHOTO BY JEN FARIELLO Barbara Haskins deals every day with dysfunctional and unbalanced people. So when she read about the city's last budget, she decided to apply her psychiatric...
HOTSEAT- Psych! Haskins analyzes Council run
Published on Aug 23rd, 2007
0 comments Barbara HaskinsPHOTO BY JEN FARIELLO Barbara Haskins deals every day with dysfunctional and unbalanced people. So when she read about the city's last budget, she decided to apply her psychiatric...
HOTSEAT- A wiz: Richelle Claiborne bids town adieu
Published on Aug 16th, 2007
0 comments PHOTO BY JEN FARIELLO It was more than five years ago that Richelle Claiborne landed the role of the Scarecrow in Live Arts' production of The Wiz. Since then, she's evolved into not only a...
HOTSEAT- Full throttle: Ferrari shifts gears
Published on Aug 9th, 2007
0 comments Lisa Ferrari PHOTO BY JEN FARIELLO If you've been a reporter in town the past three years, then you've been scooped by Lisa Ferrari. That's how long she's been here, and even changing careers from...
HOTSEAT- The funeral singer: And Joseph's other coats of many colors
Published on Jul 26th, 2007
0 comments Marcia Joseph PHOTO BY JEN FARIELLO Don't make the mistake of calling Marcia Joseph's diminutive donkeys, Zorro and Jellybean, dwarfs. "They're miniatures," she insists, and they're part of the...
HOTSEAT- Worlds traveler: Friedman connects her causes
Published on Jul 19th, 2007
0 comments Sue Friedman PHOTO BY JEN FARIELLO Sue Friedman is resplendent in turquoise at Shenandoah Joe's, where she seems to know many of the customers. There's Ned Michie from her School Board world–...
HOTSEAT- Cooper's town: Last dance for Club 216 founder
Published on Jul 12th, 2007
0 comments Clyde CooperPHOTO BY JEN FARIELLO Here's a surprise: the manager of Charlottesville's only after-hours club is... a morning person. Club 216's Clyde Cooper hasn't missed a day (or night) of work in...
HOT SEAT- Catlin's meow: Talking the county's talk
Published on Jul 5th, 2007
0 comments Lee CatlinPHOTO BY JEN FARIELLO As Albemarle County's spokesperson, Lee Catlin is the connection between the people and their government. She handles press conferences, attends public meetings,...
HOTSEAT- Better late than...Willner's the king of taking your time
Published on Jun 28th, 2007
0 comments MATTHEW WILLNERPHOTO BY JEN FARIELLO From the "It's never too late" department, we bring you the story of Matthew Willner, who has recently become one of the most active guitarists in town. Right...
HOTSEAT- Artist in wonderland: Beatrix Ost authors bestseller
Published on Jun 21st, 2007
1 comments   Beatrix Ost PHOTO BY JEN FARIELLO Beatrix Ost is not a woman partial to neutrals. She has blue hair and wears magenta lipstick and jade green earrings accessorizing a lime green/orange/blue/...
HOTSEAT- Life isn't fair: But Szakos is doing something about that
Published on Jun 14th, 2007
1 comments Joe Szakos PHOTO BY JEN FARIELLO The fresh-faced student protestors lock themselves here and there, camp out on the President's lawn, but Joe Szakos keeps quietly demanding that UVA and various...
HOTSEAT- Nagle's nest: SNL founder not foundering
Published on Jun 7th, 2007
0 comments   Reid Nagle PHOTO BY JEN FARIELLO Reid Nagle has one of the best offices in Charlottesville. Perched on the fifth floor of the former National Ground Intelligence Center building– about...
HOTSEAT- Smokin': Shelby Marshall leaves paper trail
Published on May 24th, 2007
0 comments Shelby MarshallPHOTO BY JEN FARIELLO Shelby Marshall may be one of the most popular locals in office these days. When the Albemarle Clerk of Court announced she was not seeking reelection to the...
HOTSEAT- Seaman-ship: School Board vet tackles Council
Published on May 17th, 2007
0 comments Linda SeamanPHOTO BY JEN FARIELLO Back in March, Linda Seaman got an inkling of what it could be like to be on City Council, when the interfaith organization IMPACT sat local elected officials...
HOTSEAT- Pursuing perfection: Niesslein's year of self-help
Published on May 10th, 2007
0 comments Feeling fat? Stupid? Broke? Broken hearted? Whatever ails you, someone's written a self-help book to fix it. In fact, there are so many human repair manuals that mocking them has become a genre of...
HOTSEAT- Leap of faith: Edwards takes it to the next level
Published on May 3rd, 2007
0 comments Holly Edwards PHOTO BY JEN FARIELLO The woman with the long dreadlocks is on the phone in the Westhaven Clinic, talking to someone who needs to find housing for two teenage relatives. "I spend a lot...
HOTSEAT- McKeever's run: Not on the mommy track
Published on Apr 26th, 2007
1 comments Any woman with a two-year-old, a three-year-old, and her own law practice might hesitate to volunteer on local boards, much less run for City Council. Jennifer McKeever doesn't seem like "any woman...
HOTSEAT- Which scene? Larry Claytor, CSI, tries again
Published on Apr 19th, 2007
0 comments Larry Claytor announces he's running for sheriff and almost immediately lands in the hot seat. Not because of the race– this is the third time he's run– and not because of his day job as...
HOTSEAT- Restyling: Carden returns to first love
Published on Apr 12th, 2007
6 comments Carden's soundHere's the first track from his new album, Journey on Tuesday, "In the Storm of Your Burning Mind." Career columnist Penelope Trunk calls a job change "a chance to address...
HOTSEAT- Switching teams: Defense attorney wants to prosecute
Published on Mar 29th, 2007
0 comments Denise Lunsford is a familiar figure in local courtrooms: over the past 17 years, she's defended clients accused of crimes from mundane to heinous. But now she's hoping to switch sides. Lunsford...
HOTSEAT- Obsessive love: Lee Smith happy to be back in town
Published on Mar 22nd, 2007
0 comments Lee Smith spent Valentine's Day in a shack in north Florida with her husband, Hal Crowther, and two big dogs.  "We decided to run away," she tells The Hook. "We met on Valentine's Day 25 years...
HOTSEAT- Six million man: Mendelsohn moves from reviewer to reviewed
Published on Mar 15th, 2007
1 comments When UVA grad Daniel Mendelsohn wrote The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million, he didn't find himself dissuaded by the thousands of Holocaust books already out there. "It was a story I wanted to...
HOTSEAT- Life of Brian: Wheeler hoards his hats
Published on Mar 8th, 2007
0 comments Sometimes Brian Wheeler has to check and see which hat he's wearing. Is it the Charlottesville Tomorrow hat, the one he wears when he's a nonpartisan watchdog attending three or four local government...
HOTSEAT- Gary's charge: Getting 'tough-auditioned' singers
Published on Mar 1st, 2007
0 comments Talking with Judith Gary about music in general, and the Virginia Consort in particular, is like being exposed to the high beam of a New England lighthouse. Gary founded the Consort 17 years ago and...