For newcomers to Charlottesville and the University, DMB formed in Charlottesville way back in 1991 (before most of this year’s first-year students were born - gulp!) and played regular gigs around town before hitting it big. Charlottesville is still their home base, and they have played several sold-out shows here in recent years, in both the JPJ (which they opened with a concert in 2006) and Scott Stadium. They are also known for their generous philanthropic support of many local and national causes.
DMB violinist Boyd Tinsley even spoke at the 2007 Valedictory Exercises.
The November shows will benefit the Local Food Hub and Big Brothers/Big Sisters of the Central Blue Ridge.
We get a lot of e-mail here at UVA Today headquarters seeking publicity for this or that — well, maybe not a lot, but some — and it rarely makes it verbatim into the News Blog. But today, we make an exception.
This from the very enthusiastic Nick Rubin, over at WTJU (with a couple of minor edits):
U.Va.’s eclectic community radio station WTJU — on the radio at 91.1 FM and streaming live on the Internet at wtju.net — welcomes students back with a free concert in the U.Va. amphitheater, featuring three bands from Charlottesville whose reputations far exceed the boundaries of the World-Class City.
Invisible Hand, led by C’ville native Adam Smith, have been called the best, best-looking and hardest-working band in town, infusing tight, catchy, art-rock hooks with furious energy. They will rock your face off, grow you a new face, and rock off your new face.
Caninos are a bona-fide U.Va. band! Fresh-faced gentlemen who seem like your unassuming classmates until they transform into irresistible pop-country-rock charmers. Show up to wish them well before their NYC gig opening for Pavement! No lie!!
Kick off your Labor Day weekend with free rock in the amphitheater, this Friday, Sept. 3, from 5-7:30 p.m.!!
No word yet whether Student Health will offer face transplants afterward.
There seem to be dozens of college rankings out there, many of them appearing in August. This one, though, is truly skin-deep.
A website, ShermansTravel.com, included U.Va. as one of its “Top 10 College Campuses to Visit” in rankings released Tuesday. (Oddly enough, the site seems to have used only used one photo, from No. 4 Stanford, to illustrate its website, though an accompanying slideshow has shots from each school.)
The complete top 10, and a few more comments, after the break:
Meredith Woo, dean of the College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, made some interesting remarks to incoming students and their families on Saturday, which she has posted on her blog.
She recalled the experiences of noted American historian Henry Adams, and his observations about the quickening pace of American life at the turn of the 20th century. Adams fancied himself as being more of a creature of the 18th century than the 20th, and wondered about his place in the world — much as the students’ parents may be marveling at the pace of change in the 21st century and wondering if they will be able to keep up with their children and their children’s children.
“Adams heard the roar of the rushing waterfall at the turn of the last century. I hear it today, coming even faster, bringing with it a similar fear, terror, and exhilaration at the speed of new knowledge,” Woo said. “In what complexities will the Class of 2014 think? We don’t know, but we do know they will be twenty-first century men and women, people for whom (quite unlike us) the twentieth century is of the past.”
Judging from the media coverage and the hundreds of comments on the WTJU Forum website, there are lots of strong feelings about proposed changes to the format of U.Va.’s public radio station.
Just a reminder: If you want to be heard face-to-face, today’s the day. The public forum is scheduled from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. (doors open at 5) at Zehmer Hall, which is located off of Alderman Road sort of behind St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church. The address is 104 Midmont Lane; here’s a map.
PJM Interconnection, Virginia’s electric grid operator, has called for a load reduction emergency event from 2-5 pm today. The University has committed to reduce its electric draw by about two megawatts.
The reduction in electric use will come through a combination of conservation and switching sections of the University onto generators.
“We want people to turn off unnecessary lights, computers and monitors that are not in use and anything else people can do to reduce their electric draw,” said Armando deLeon, sustainability programs manager at Facilities Management. “Unplug chargers and other appliances not in use, and curtail activities that require electricity.”
DeLeon suggested reducing area light and relying on relying on daylight and task lighting.
Select generators will be run during the afternoon to replace electricity that would have been taken from the electric grid.
“There is a heat wave hitting the entire East Coast and the power grid is strapped,” said Nina Morris, sustainability outreach coordinator at Facilities Management. “Every little bit adds up and anything people can do will help prevent a blackout. Curtail, curtail, curtail.”
Just got a call from Facilities Management, and they’re requesting that University facilities please reduce their electrical use as much as possible — especially in the Central Grounds area. Thanks to yesterday’s storm, Dominion’s capacity appears to be reduced.
With the heat index anticipated to hit 101 degrees at about 3 p.m., the sustainability team at the University of Virginia’s Department of Energy and Utilities is asking employees to reduce their energy draw wherever possible.
“We don’t want to impede anybody’s work,” said Armando deLeon, sustainability programs manager at Facilities Management. “But if people could turn off non-essential lights and equipment they would not only be helping the University, but the entire state.”
With increased temperatures, there is more demand on electrical generation and transmission equipment. No electrical emergency has yet been declared, deLeon said, but the University is anticipating the increased demand and is working to reduce its draw on the system. The greatest draw on the grid is anticipated between 1 and 5 p.m. today and tomorrow, when the heat index is anticipated to hit 104.
“We will not be running our generators this time,” deLeon said. “We are just asking for voluntary cooperation. We don’t have a target figure, we are just going to do the best we can.”
The cover story is a very well-done feature on U.Va. President John T. Casteen III as he prepares to step down Aug. 1 after 20 years in Madison Hall; the online version includes a couple of videos, one a tribute from Virginia Tech and the other a recap of the picnic on the Lawn that honored Casteen and his wife, Betsy, earlier this spring.
If you’ve got no time to read, there’s a humorous pictorial essay of people spelling out “U! V! A!” with their arms all over the world.
If you happen to come across someone who looks a lot like Richard Dreyfuss tomorrow, it might really be Richard Dreyfuss.
The acclaimed Hollywood actor will be at the Darden School of Business on Tuesday to address the annual conference of the Journey Through Hallowed Ground partnership. He’ll be joined by director Ron Maxwell (”Gettysburg,” “Gods and Generals”); both have a keen interest in civics and history education.
Sixth-graders at Sutherland Middle School will have their chance to be discovered, as they will show off history films they produced with the help of the folks at Monticello.
Attendance at the conference is by registration only.
According to the organization’s website, “The Journey Through Hallowed Ground Partnership is a non-profit organization dedicated to raising national awareness of the unparalleled history in the region, which generally follows the Old Carolina Road (Rt. 15/231) from Gettysburg, through Maryland, to Monticello in Albemarle County.”
This is what the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico would look like if it were centered on the Rotunda.
(That assumes, of course, that everything around the Rotunda was water. An actual spill of that magnitude on land would certainly be a huge mess, but somehow I doubt it would flow to Charleston, W.Va. And it would be much easier to cap.)
If you want to play with this map at IfItWsMyHome.com, click here.
This just in from Alumni Hall, where they are no doubt feverishly gearing up for Reunions Weekend, which begins tomorrow:
For those who will be attending Reunions Weekend, we have developed a mobile-friendly site that can be accessed from any smart phone. This mobile guide to Reunions includes a schedule of events, news alerts and rain sites, phone numbers, and information about class events, parking, kids’ activities, and more.
So, readers, ‘Hoo wants to start? Anyone know where famous U.Va. alums lived while in the Hook? Which one was Katie Couric’s Lawn room? How about Ralph Sampson’s?
Click on the tiny little “comment” link at the bottom and leave your thoughts. Maybe we’ll even compile a list and do our own story on UVA Today sometime later.
We get a lot of e-mail here at UVA Today headquarters seeking publicity for this or that — well, maybe not a lot, but some — and it rarely makes it verbatim into the News Blog. But today, we make an exception.
Meredith Woo, dean of the College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, made some interesting remarks to incoming students and their families on Saturday, which 
We probably should have noted this sooner, but in case you haven’t seen it, the 
If you happen to come across someone who looks a lot like Richard Dreyfuss tomorrow, it might really be Richard Dreyfuss.
There’s 