Sponsored by the Virginia National Bank, all proceeds will benefit The Haven. The 5k run and a 1-mile walk will both start on the downtown mall and go through the surrounding neighborhoods, rain or shine. Each participant will receive an official Run for Home cinch sack filled with goodies from local businesses and breakfast will be served afterwards at The Haven!

“We would love to see families come out and join us, so the event will be free for anyone under 10 years old. If you do have a friend or family member who is under 10 and you know will be participating, please let us know so we can make sure we have a cinch sack full of goodies for her/him as well!“

Register today! Or register before the start of the race.

Start: 7:30a

Pre-registration — {5k: $20, $15 for students // 1-mile walk: $15, $10 for students}

Registration day of the event — {5k: $25 // 1-mile walk: $20}

The AAFF receives more than 2,500 entries from independent and experimental filmmakers from more than 60 countries, and since pioneering the traveling festival concept in 1964, the festival has continued presenting collections of short films at different venues around the world.  This year, the collection is coming to Charlottesville as part of the year-round seasonal film series at The Bridge.

Since its founding in the summer of 2006, the series has featured a number of films ranging from short to long, from local to international, and from social to artistic, with a focus on the experimental, avant-garde and underground.

Jordan Taylor, one of the founders of the series and Film Events director, believes that  “this collection will be a great way for students, artists and community members to see how currently working filmmakers are recasting the world.”

Other upcoming Bridge film events include a showcase in March featuring the work of Robert Breer and Jordan Belson, as well as a showcase in April called “Flicker Poetry.”  For a more detailed schedule of events, visit their website, but for now, here is tonight’s schedule for the Ann Arbor Film Festival Shorts along with short summaries from the AAFF website:

• Michaela Müller’s Miramare (8 minutes; Zagreb, Croatia):  This is a look at life on the Mediterranean borders of Europe as tourists struggle to relax while immigrants struggle to live a better life.
• Mati Diop’s Atlantiques (15 minutes; France/Senegal):  This is a story about boys perpetually traveling – between past, present and future, between life and death, and between history and myth.
• Chema García Ibarra’s Protopartículas [Protoparticles] (7 minutes; Elche, Spain):  The experiment was almost a success: protomatter exists.
• Kei Oyama’s Hand Soap (16 minutes; Tokyo, Japan):  An AAFF Best Animation Award winner, this is a calm yet sultry animation about a family with a growing adolescent son.
• Simon Payne’s Point Line Plane (9 minutes; London, England):  The increasingly complex matrix of layers produces an illusion of depth, beyond the surface of the screen, but with positive and negative switching, the piece also illuminates the viewer.
• Michael Robinson’s These Hammers Don’t Hurt Us (13 minutes; West Danby, NY):  Winner of the AAFF Most Technically Innovative Film Award, this short film looks to a future beyond death in a combination of Michael Jackson’s “Remember the Time” music video, footage from Cleopatra and about a dozen other sources.
• Fern Silva’s In the Absence of Light, Darkness Prevails (13 minutes; USA/Brazil):  As the audience watches revelers in Salvador, Bahia, parade through the streets, a gnat-sized Mercury passes across the surface of the sun, and men slowly make their way up the giant steps of an ancient temple, it quickly becomes clear that this winner of the AAFF Best Experimental Film Award resides in a well of deep time, civilizational history swallowed by the life of the planet.

Tonight his series will once again make its way to Charlottesville, featuring an eclectic mix of  old and new, veteran and prodigy, country, rock and roll, pop, blues, and more as 9 talented songwriters take the stage.   Tonight’s show will take place at the Southern Café and Music Hall downtown and will include original songs by Trawick himself as well as locals Shanna Hoar, Scott Tiernan, Carl Anderson, Evan Hansen, Brent Peterson, James Moore, Jared Jones, and Susan Munson.

Doors for this seated show are set to open at 7 pm.  With nearly 30 songs planned for the set and tickets for only $9, you can’t miss this up-close-and-personal showing of some of Charlottesville’s finest singer-songwriters!

For a preview of tonight’s show, check out the video below of Justin Trawick performing with Adam Levy (known for his work with Grammy-winning artist Norah Jones) at the October 9, 2011 installment of the series at the City Winery in NYC.

No matter your skill set or experience in the kitchen, the Charlottesville Cooking School is “for beginners, individuals with a love of cooking, and professionals seeking to improve their skills.” From baking to cooking, kitchen skills and techniques, the cooking school calendar is always busy. And, the school accepts suggestions for future classes.

According to founder Martha Stafford, the Charlottesville Cooking School is… “warm, vibrant, informative, inspirational, practical, caring, creative, inviting and essential.”

Martha founded the Charlottesville Cooking School 4 years ago – the first class was on April 16, 2008. Classes have grown to include Everyday Cooking Skills, Knife Skills, Thai, North Indian, Italian, South American, French, and even kids programs, private parties, and Monday night skill demos.

“I am always on the look out for new teachers, and I try to ensure that our classes reflect the seasons in Virginia,” adds Martha in an email. “It is my goal that you leave here with new skills not just a set of recipes and that people respect the process of cooking.”

As a Christmas gift for my culinaryily-inclined boyfriend – and as a thank you for all of the (daily) meals he cooks for me – I took us both to a popular and consistently sold out class – The Flavors of Thailand, taught by Ashley Clarke Brooks.

Instructor Ashley Clarke Brooks prepared a four course menu for the 12-person max, 3 hour class. Ashley took the time to go through the – many! – Thai ingredients, and even shared where we can get the odd ingredients in town. All recipes are given to class participants, so all of your friends can beg you to make the dishes again, and again. Although the class was lengthy, the time flew by with smells and tastes and the many flavors and courses spaced out for nibbling and chatting while preparing for the next dish.

Tonight is no exception, as he brings to the stage Nashville-based garage rockers Natural Child, with local bands Red Rattles and Firetrucks to open.  Natural Child is a punk rock three-piece who cites Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, and Thin Lizzy as its influences.  For now they’re keeping busy lighting up small stages across the U.S. with their raw, relentless, energetic, and borderline ridiculous live show, but there’s no question there are great things to come for these three.  They have so far released a self-titled 7” record as well as a more recent full-length album titled 1971, which can be purchased on their Bandcamp site or tonight at the show.

Red Rattles is a two-piece hard gospel band based right here in Charlottesville.  They’ll open the show along with fellow locals the Firetrucks.  The show begins at 8 pm, and tickets can be purchased at the door for $7.  What better way is there to wrap up your long weekend (or sucker-punch those Monday doldrums) than with the loud, in-your-face punk rock goodness of Natural Child.

As for the Tea Bazaar’s future, if we’ve learned anything about Jacob Wolf it’s that he doesn’t mess around when it comes to bringing consistent, fresh talent to our town.  Word on the street is he has a protege or two to carry on his legacy.  Even so, no void in this town goes unfilled for long, so we can count on many more years of great music from the Tea Bazaar.  See you tonight!

Tonight, Commonwealth Restaurant & Skybar is hosting a trifecta event – a dance party, discounted food, and charity. All ticket proceeds will be donated to Sanejo.

Sanejo’s mission “aims to support communities transiting from war to peace or facing abject poverty” One of the ways Sanejo contributes to this mission is by building schools to ensure that children in these areas have a safe and happy place to learn.

Christine Mahoney, an organizer of be bad. do good., wanted to put on the fundraiser to support the consistent improvements that Sanejo makes in Rwanda each year. By teaming up with Commonwealth’s Executive Chef Alex George and many other dedicated Charlottesvillians to put on tonight’s event, the fundraiser will make a large impact and a big step towards building a new classroom.

Ticket prices for be bad. do good are $30 in advance and $35 at the door, and include admission to the dance party at Skybar, featuring local hit DJ Western Front, as well as 20% off dinner at Commonwealth. Tickets are going fast with 123 already sold in advance. With Skybar’s capacity at 150, don’t wait until last minute to purchase yours!

With 100% of ticket proceeds going directly to building an entire classroom in Rwanda, there’s no excuse not to dance the night away for this good cause. The party starts at 10:30p.

Being bad has never felt so good.

Every third Friday of the month, Grits ‘n Gravy will welcome a new special guest. This month: Blair Amberly of Speakertree Records. 

Bring your dancin’ shoes!

Tonight, 10pm.

{Black Market Moto Saloon is located at 1304 E. Market, at the corner of Market and Meade.}

Faith Levine holds $5 mat Pilates sessions Wednesdays from 5:30-6:15p at her studio on Carlton Road.

Faith has a BFA in modern dance and is a certified personal trainer and group exercise instructor. She’s been practicing Pilates for over a decade and is passionate about sharing her knowledge of strength, stability, and flexibility with others.

“I grew up in a modern dance studio, and by the time I was in high school I realized that it was something more than a hobby to me,” Faith says. “Dancing naturally led me to running, yoga, strength training and Pilates. I’ve always craved the endorphins of exercise, and from an early age I felt that there are few things in life as important as taking care of yourself through eating well and moving.”

Faith’s Wednesday evening $5 mat Pilates classes provide an intimate and supportive environment where students can learn how to improve their fitness and flexibility by focusing on proper form. Keeping a close eye on students’ form, Faith offers advice when she sees room for improvement.

“To do Pilates correctly you must really slow down and tune into your body, which helps reveal strengths, weaknesses and imbalances that may otherwise be ignored.”

“I love empowering students through education about how their body works. I want students to leave class with an understanding of why we did what we did, not just how to do an exercise.”

Faith’s $5 Pilates sessions are held Wednesday evenings from 5:30-6:15 p.m. at 224 Carlton Road. Also, starting on Tuesday, Feb. 14, she’ll be offering a four-week class called Introduction to Mat Pilates Fundamentals for just $30. She’ll be accepting registrations through Feb. 13 at gracefulfitness@live.com. Learn more about Faith by checking out her blog here.