Morgantown Magazine - February/March 2015

Telling West Virginia’s Story Venture inside West Virginia Public Broadcasting.

The Pizza King The story of Pizza Al.

Bring Back the Warner

Will downtown’s historic movie theater ever be saved?

The finest dining, the best bars, the widest variety of clothes—this year’s contest saw more than 40,000 ballots cast to determine the people, places, and events that make Morgantown the place to be.

volume 4

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issue 3

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New South Media, Inc.

709 Beechurst Avenue, Suite 14A, Morgantown, WV 26505 1116 Smith Street, Suite 211, Charleston, WV 25301 304.413.0104 • morgantownmag.com

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Nikki Bowman, nikki@newsouthmediainc.com Editor

Laura Wilcox Rote, laura@newsouthmediainc.com contributing editors

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Becky Moore, becky@newsouthmediainc.com Operations Manager

Sarah Shaffer, sarah@newsouthmediainc.com web manager

Elizabeth Roth, liz@newsouthmediainc.com Katie Willard, katherine@newsouthmediainc.com Staff writer

Mikenna Pierotti, mikenna@newsouthmediainc.com photographer

Carla Witt Ford, carla@newsouthmediainc.com intern

Jordan Carter integrated marketing & Advertising

Season Martin, season@newsouthmediainc.com Bekah Call, bekah@newsouthmediainc.com contributors

Dina Colada, Rachel Coon, Morgan Grice, Elizabeth Roth, Smoke N Mirrors Photography

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Morgantown • FEB/MAR 2015

editor’s note

This Issue’s Featured Contributors

W

Meet some of our Best of Morgantown winners on page 50, including Pathfinder, Bella Fiore, and The Beauty Bar.

Come midFebruary, most of us are over it—the gray skies and dirty snow piles, our cars kerplunking deep into pothole after pothole. We’re out of windshield wiper fluid and we’re ready for a change, something to look forward to. Thankfully there’s a lot.

New things are happening everywhere you look in Morgantown—and look you must. Sometimes it can be hard to keep up with or, if we’re honest, have faith in new business. I don’t know how many times I’ve heard someone say, “They’ll be closed within six months” about a new restaurant or store. That’s a shame because, while keeping a small business afloat is undoubtedly difficult, this small city is fortunate to have dozens of start-ups that show real staying power. In January I finally stumbled into Retro-tique, a new vintage store downtown, for the first time. I immediately zeroed in on a must-have necklace, but then there were eyeglasses, and then a large shelf of cameras.

“OK, you need to get us out of here,” I said to our assistant editor. We were there on assignment—pick up a few neat things for Love This on page 18. Selecting just a few items proved to be the hard part (suffice it to say the necklace didn’t make it in the magazine—I bought it).

Some new businesses are attracting even more attention as of late, like The Beauty Bar in Star City. Open since October 2013, The Beauty Bar is one of a few fresh faces in this issue’s Best of Morgantown awards (page 50), taking home not one but two “best of” titles for mani/pedi and day spa.

But it’s also important not to forget about the Morgantown mainstays, and some great longtime local businesses like Classic Furniture and Exotic Jungle also took home Best of Morgantown designations for the first time this year. Voting for the fourth annual Best of Morgantown awards began in October and closed in December, garnering

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Morgantown • FEB/MAR 2015

more than 40,000 ballots and obliterating past voting records in two rounds of voting.

For this issue of Morgantown we also spent time talking with and about other pillars of the community. We learned about the amazing leatherworking talents of Charles McEwuen at Tanner’s Alley (page 19). Did you know he has a years-long waiting list for handmade leather bags? But don’t worry, you can drop off those worse-for-the-wear boots and have them conditioned and repaired by next week. We also tried our best to get to the bottom of the seemingly forever-empty Warner Theatre (page 44) on High Street. Rumors abound about what lies ahead for that historic downtown building. And no talk of local anchors would be complete without telling the story of Pizza Al (page 64).

So don’t despair about these last cold days of winter. Cozy up with our February/ March issue and make plans to visit a few of the shops and restaurants your fellow readers swear by. Spring will be here before we know it.

lau r a w ilcox Rote,

Editor

Follow us at . . . facebook.com/morgantownmagazine twitter.com/morgantownmag instagram.com/morgantownmag

Dave Bruffy, a West Virginia native, has called Morgantown home since 1981 when he attended West Virginia University, earning a bachelor’s in political science and a master’s in public administration. David had an interest in photography since childhood but didn’t officially begin his professional photography career until 2012 with the opening of Smoke N Mirrors Photography, now housed at 107 High Street in Morgantown (The MAC). Subjects include nature, wildlife, events, boudoir, and portrait photography. smokenphoto.com Rachel Coon earned her master’s degree from West Virginia University while working for New South Media as a writing intern turned associate editor. For three years she had the great fortune of living in the Mountain State and traveling extensively to discover its incredible people and places. She now lives in San Antonio, Texas, with her husband, Mark, a U.S. Air Force JAG officer, where she is assistant editor for San Antonio Weddings magazine and freelances for Fort Collins magazine.

Morgan Grice is a writer and reporter relatively new to the Mountain State. She graduated from Harvard University in 2006, where she was editorial chair of The Harvard Crimson, the school’s daily newspaper. She spent the next seven years in New York, working as a journalist and film critic at Bloomberg News and Popular Science. Morgan grew up in Houston, Texas, but now loves calling Morgantown home.

When she’s not exploring the wilds of West Virginia, she can be found working on her never-ending children’s novel.

Our Social Circles

Find us on Facebook

facebook.com/ morgantownmagazine

Facebook Fury January 19

Devon Boyles Wow. The sites may be full but the answer shouldn’t be to dump your trash out on the ground to blow around. I drove to four different sites last week to finally find one that was not full, but before I would just dump my garbage out, I would rather take it home and put it in my own garbage. At one site, the workers were working hard to clean all the trash off the ground. I hate to put it in the garbage but littering is not the answer.

Philip Spangler I recently relocated back to town after a two-year stint over in the Eastern Panhandle and one thing I always missed was the ease with which I could recycle in Morgantown. I can say that I’ve been extremely disappointed and frustrated my first three weeks back in town!

I too drove around Saturday in hope of responsibly discarding my recyclables. Don’t really understand why anyone would think it is OK to just dump it.

The government subsidizes everything ... C’mon man!

In mid-January, some recycling drop-off sites started to look more like garbage dumps. While recycling pickup continued for city residents, county services deteriorated for people living outside the city and for businesses in the city, as drop-off sites closed.

In late January the Monongalia County Solid Waste Authority announced that at least four recycling drop-off locations would remain open.

@MorgantownMag Are you affected by the reduction in Mon County Solid Waste Authority Services?

@jzwvu07 The recycling is getting out of control. We need a revamp of this program. Either offer curbside pickup in the county or open one large recycling center for drop-off. I hate that the recycling has started piling up and just looking like a garbage dump at every location! It’s so sad that when people try and do something right for the planet solid waste can’t keep up. #noexcuses

Where can I take glass?!

Chucking the glass in dumpster is my favorite part of recycling.

Brian Pickens The one at Pierpont is beyond full, and every time I drive by it I see people there just piling stuff on. It’s pathetic.

You can follow us on Twitter, too. Just add @MorgantownMag for links to stories, breaking news, event reminders, and more.

morgantownmag.Com

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FEBruary/MARch 2015

Carla Witt Ford

In This Issue

Bring Back the Warner

The Best of The Pizza Morgantown King

Will the historic downtown theater ever be saved?

The fourth annual awards garnered more than 40,000 ballots and some surprise upsets.

44

50

We uncover the untold story of Pizza Al and the empire he created.

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morgantownmag.Com

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February/March 2015

In This Issue 26

80

19

34

32

70 Departments

This Matters 14 Support This Dive into the cold Mon River in support of the Special Olympics.

15 Eat This Jersey’s Subs & Sandwiches on the Mileground is the real deal for New Jersey-style specialties.

16 Watch This Have a laugh with WVU’s production of Arsenic and Old Lace.

18 Love This Lighten up with these fun finds from Retro-tique.

9 Who’s This 1

Meet the man behind the fine leather goods at Tanner’s Alley.

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Morgantown • FEB/MAR 2015

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22 What’s This

Superior Photo continues a longtime commitment to photography while adding quick, quality framing to its services.

24 Do This Step into the art of Rothko with this award-winning local performance of Red. 26 Shop This Pinocchio’s overflows with creative books and toys in downtown Morgantown.

28 This Matters To . . .

WVU’s Kirk Hazen talks the talk.

32 Hear This West Virginia Public Broadcasting tells the state’s story from Morgantown.

6 Editor’s Note

76 Calendar

34 Scoreboard A classic bowling alley with an active bowling league brings people together.

80 Then & Now The tradition of greatness continues for WVU’s women’s basketball team.

38 Across County Lines Harrison County group The Fearless Fools brings improv comedy to the region.

41 Dish It Out Fill up on southern comfort food at Dirty Bird on High Street.

70 The U WVU’s Center for Black Culture and Research empowers students with real-world knowledge.

73 The Scene Find out what you’ve been missing around town.

Eat / Love / Wear / Shop / Watch / know / Hear / read / Do / Who / what

Unmasking

Murals

Carla Witt Ford

January 2015

A mural that dates back to the 1930s was uncovered in early 2014 when the former BB&T Bank building at the top of High Street was demolished next to Chico’s Fat. The old Coca-Cola ad dates back to a time when six-packs of the glass soda bottles were distributed door to door by deliverymen.

The Coca-Cola Bottling Corporation has taken on the project of restoring these historic murals across the region. The Coca-Cola mural also advertises the old Comuntzis Restaurant, which dates back to the early 20th century. The building that used to house Comuntzis is now Gibbie’s Pub & Eatery.

But Morgantown also has its share of other murals.

Another of our favorites is the O.B. Fawley mural toward the south end of High Street, just north of Iron Horse Tavern. This advertisement can be traced back to the mid1930s. The mural was covered up for decades before it was revealed after an adjacent building caught fire. While Fawley Music is no longer downtown, the mural gives Fawley’s “a presence on High Street even after we left,” says owner Casey Rhodes. Today Fawley Music is located on Earl Core Road in Sabraton and continues to sell everything from musical instruments to speaker systems.

Another mural, visible from the deck or parking lot of Morgantown Brewing Company downtown, advertises Loving Furniture Co., which dates back to the early 1900s.

—Jordan Carter

morgantownmag.Com

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THIS MATTERS SUPPORTThis

Splash and Dash

Nothing refreshes like the annual Polar Plunge into the Mon River—and it also benefits the Special Olympics.

Tips For Plunging Do it with a friend or organize a team at work. Friends motivate each other.

Costumes are applauded and judged in competition.

Wear shoes for a river plunge.

Take a comfy robe and a warm change of clothes—changing tents are provided.

Raising the minimum $50 donation is easy. “People will gladly pay not to have to do it themselves,” laughs Special Olympics West Virginia CEO John Corbett.

➼ Come on, you know you’ve wondered—what’s it like to jump into frigid waters for one of those extreme midwinter fundraisers? The jumpers we see on TV news somehow look more eager than hesitant. But to hear it from past plungers, it’s a little like childbirth: nervous in the anticipation, invigorating in the memory, and totally worth it. Morgantown-area supporters of the Special Olympics for mentally challenged athletes will get their annual chance to try it out at the February 28, 2015, Polar Plunge.

Photographs tell the story of Special Olympics cross-country ski coach Gary Abbate’s first plunge, seven or eight years ago. “I’ve seen pictures of my face afterwards and I do look cold,” says the Bridgeport resident, who participates in the Morgantown event every year. “But my memory is that it wasn’t bad.” Skier and basketball player Nate Critchfield took his first plunge in 2014. “I was like, ‘Oh man, this is cold!’ But I especially enjoyed it. I really wasn’t shivering after—I just had to change clothes real fast.”

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Morgantown • FEB/MAR 2015

As Special Olympics West Virginia CEO, John Corbett plunges every time and says he always feels “strangely good” afterward. He helped set up the very first event, in 2005. “Other states’ Special Olympics organizations were organizing plunges as fundraisers and we said, ‘Why not in West Virginia?’ We had a strong volunteer base in Morgantown so we decided to do it there,” John recalls. “I think we had 140 the first year and 300, 400 spectators. It was electric—a good time was had by all.”

That first event and several more took place at Cheat Lake, but there were challenges. “You never know what the water levels are going to be. And one year there was a thick coating of ice on the lake and we had a safety boat out there, trying to break ice with a sledgehammer and shovels to get folks safely into and out of the lake,” John says. After a few years they moved the event to the Mon River at Star City for a more predictable experience.

The Morgantown plunge has matured in its first decade and reliably takes in $18,000 to $25,000 in support of the large annual

Spring State Morgantown Basketball Polar Plunge Tournament in Saturday, February 28 Morgantown.

Star City Park and Marina “We bring in Registration begins at noon Costume contest, 1:30 p.m.

500 to 600 Plunging, 2 p.m. athletes from sowv.org all over the state and they spend a couple days in the city competing in team or individual skills, and in both basketball and cheerleading,” John says.

These days, plunge events in Charleston, Beckley, Parkersburg, and Summersville support the organization’s winter, summer, and fall games, encompassing 18 Special Olympics sports in all.

“These athletes long to play sports just like other individuals long to play,” John says.

“They’ll go back to their communities and proudly show their medals and ribbons to families and friends and at church and school. It’s their moment to be heroes and I think they relish that opportunity.”

Even with five events now statewide, Morgantown’s is perhaps the most popular; 125 to 175 typically participate, and the statewide plunge record of 250 took place in Morgantown several years ago. Asked if he’ll plunge again this year, Special Olympics athlete Nate says he’d like to.

“I think so. Unless I have basketball practice, I’ll be there.” written by Pam Kasey photographed by Elizabeth Roth

THIS MATTERS EATThis

Garden State Flavor

A little sub and sandwich shop on the Mileground has been serving up New Jersey specialties for 20 years. ➼ New Jersey native Matthew

Crimmel was not your typical college student. In 1995, at the age of 22, he took all the money he’d scrimped and saved from summer jobs and part-time work and started a restaurant in Sunnyside. While his friends were out finishing their degrees, job hunting, and enjoying their last few months of pre-nine-to-five life, Matthew was already running his own business.

“Twenty years ago there were very few good places to eat. It was mostly chains,” he says.

“I knew there were a lot of kids from New Jersey who went to school here and that’s where I’m from.” He also knew people in West Virginia rarely experienced true New Jersey-style cuisine—and that they were missing out. “That’s how it all started.”

Matthew had no business experience, had limited knowledge of how to establish a restaurant, and hadn’t yet finished his degree in nutrition and foods from WVU. But he had passion. “I was eager,” he says.

“I started out very humbly. It was just me in the beginning and I worked open to close seven days a week.” Of all the things to bring to the hills of West Virginia, a taste of the Garden State didn’t seem like a ticket to success. But it caught on fast.

Now 20 years later, Jersey’s Subs & Sandwiches has become synonymous with fresh, simple ingredients, knockout flavors, and catchy names like the Jimmy Hoffa, a hot meatball sub with the perfect ratio of meatballs to marinara, topped with melted mozzarella and served on a toasted roll. The cold subs—made with fresh sliced Boar’s Head meats—are also a hit, as are the classic specialty pizzas, baked to perfection in New York-style brick ovens.

New Jersey natives especially seem to find their way to Jersey’s, lured by the

smell of grilled Jersey’s Subs & Taylor ham, also Sandwiches called pork roll, 1756 Mileground Road best served on a 304.292.2796 toasted roll with a fried egg and good old American cheese. “As soon as they find out about us they’ll start dragging themselves in,” says Dana Papanicolas, a Jersey’s manager and Matthew’s longtime girlfriend. “First they’re surprised we’re here, then they order the pork roll, then we’ll start seeing them three times a week.”

From a one-man show in Sunnyside to a cozy, Jersey-themed diner on the Mileground, Jersey’s has expanded to keep up with Morgantown’s changing tastes.

Along with cold and hot subs, the shop also serves fresh salads, generous sides, pizza, and New York-style desserts like chocolatedipped cannoli and tiramisu. You can also get specialty three- and six-foot subs for parties and events. If you can’t make it to the Mileground for a bite before rush hour traffic, you can get Jersey’s delivered.

You can also find the shop’s signature cheesesteak at the Jersey’s concession stand on game days at Milan Puskar Stadium, and you can buy from the food truck at special events like the West Virginia Wine & Jazz Festival and MountainFest.

With 20 years under his belt, you’d think Matthew would be tight-lipped about the key to Jersey’s success. But he isn’t. He points to the shop’s authentic Philly cheesesteak sub—Jersey’s most popular item—as the perfect example. “A lot of places will just put Steak-umms down and throw cheese on top and call it a cheesesteak,” he says. “We use fresh ingredients. We slice fresh steak every day, we use expensive products, and we chop and mix it all by hand—that’s honestly the reason. And you can see us make it. We aren’t hiding anything back there. It’s wide open. It’s more work, more labor-intensive, but the end result is worth it. Anything good is worth the wait.” written by mikenna pierotti photographed by elizabeth roth morgantownmag.Com

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THIS MATTERS WATCHThis

Laughter with a Touch of Cyanide WVU’s School of Theatre and Dance takes on Joseph Kesselring’s classic dark comedy, Arsenic and Old Lace, in March 2015.

➼ Sometimes it’s more fun to root for the bad guy. TV shows like Dexter and Breaking Bad have taught us as much. “We love Hannibal Lecter and Richard III because we know it’s safe to love them. We know it’s not real. There’s a kind of taboo we can transgress. It’s like the violence in Road Runner cartoons. You’re laughing at things people don’t normally find funny. It sneaks up on you,” says Jay Malarcher, associate professor of theater at WVU. Turn down the lights, pull back the curtain, and in the recesses of our minds even murder and mayhem can make us laugh. That’s what Jay is counting on in March 2015 when he and WVU’s School of Theatre and Dance put on one of the most beloved dark comedies in Broadway history, Arsenic and Old Lace, a witty, wicked production that takes the most seemingly banal setting— the home of two sweet old ladies—and transforms it into a horrific yet sinfully entertaining madhouse.

Written in 1939 by Joseph Kesselring, Arsenic and Old Lace opens with an elderly woman named Abby Brewster pouring tea for her nephew and a local minister. She could be your grandmother, a favorite aunt, or your harmless next-door neighbor. And her little house in Brooklyn, New York, with its frilly curtains and kitschy knick-knacks, is as familiar and reassuring as childhood. It only takes a few lines of dialogue for audience members to peg Abby, and later her sister, Martha, as charitable, courteous, even admirable for the way they patiently handle their nephew, Teddy’s, mental illness. Jay, director of WVU’s production of the play, says those knee-jerk first impressions are the key to sinking the comedic hook. “If you remember the Warner Brothers cartoon character Tweety, you remember Granny. That’s my touchstone. I want them to be as sweet and charming and innocent as anyone you’ve ever met.

That’s part of the seduction. Yet they have this unsavory habit,” Jay says. “At the heart of this play are these two little old ladies who seem not to hurt a fly, yet they are actually poisoning these lonely old men who come to their house. It’s their hobby.”

With murderous matriarchs, a nephew who imagines himself to be President Teddy Roosevelt, another nephew on the run from the law, and a relatively normal protagonist—nephew Mortimer Brewster—and his fiancée stuck in the middle, Arsenic is a play about a homecoming gone terribly wrong.

“There’s a whole genre of these black comedies that deal with horror stories or murder, but the true reason to do this show is 16

Morgantown • FEB/MAR 2015

that we’re coming out of the holidays and everyone has spent far too much close time with family,” Jay says. “You think your family is crazy until you meet the Brewsters.”

Set to run March 6 through 15, 2015, Arsenic will test the comedic range of WVU’s best theater students with plot twists, multifaceted characters, and fast-paced dialogue. “That’s the whole purpose of doing the show, giving our students the chance to have that experience onstage. Arsenic and Old Lace has some fairly basic characters—young lovers, little old ladies—but then that spins up to mass murderers. It could be very cartoonish, but I want to keep it as real as possible. I think that’s much more fun for audiences. You don’t want to give the audience any chance to check out,” he says. “This is probably the funniest play about serial killers ever written.” The cast includes Stephanie Freeman, Brianne Taylor, Isaac Snyder, Dominic Massimino, Ben Forer, Nick Ryan, and Stefanie Lemasters.

written by mikenna pierotti art courtesy of wvu school of theatre and dance

morgantownmag.Com

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THIS MATTERS TryThis

4 Tips to Single Bliss ➼ Do you ever feel like a third wheel? Do all your friends seem to have the perfect house and family? It may seem like your married friends have it all, but there is one thing they don’t have that you do—freedom and the opportunity to live your life in the way you choose, right here in one of the country’s best small cities. Make the most of being on your own with these four tips to single bliss in Morgantown.

1

LOVEThis

Let There Be Light Lighten up with these bright finds at Retro-tique, open on Walnut Street since August 2014.

1

Breathe. Being single can leave you feeling like you are on a tightrope. The unknown awaits—it can be exciting or stressful. But you can steady yourself by getting centered.

BlissBlissBliss is the perfect peaceful place where you can learn to become grounded with guided meditations from Marilyn Hastings every Wednesday at 7 p.m. Meditation will help you decrease stress, feel more relaxed, and unleash your creative juices. theblissblissbliss.com

1. Vintage jeweled purse, $60

2

Flash bulbs, film, and cameras of all varieties and price points can be found at Retro-tique.

This Kodak Pony comes with a case.

Be a kid again. Do something new. This will not only create more passion in your life, it will give you something different to talk about. One Morgantown favorite is ice skating at the Morgantown Ice Arena. It will give you an energy boost and keep you in the moment. It’s hard to dwell on being lonely when you are focused on keeping upright, and who knows who you might bump into. boparc.org

3

Give your body dessert. Recharge your brain and body.

Check out Mountain People’s Co-Op on University Avenue and get the ingredients to make your own raw sugar body scrub for a five-star spa treatment at home. Mix two cups of raw sugar, one cup of almond oil, 20 drops of eucalyptus oil, and 10 drops of lavender oil. Use in the shower for exfoliated, moisturized, and shimmering skin. facebook.com/mountainpeoplescoop

4

Cultivate healthy friendships. Old friends are fabulous and gaining new friends will help you expand your social circle. Create a network of supportive relationships that make you feel alive and not exhausted. One of the best places to meet new people for business and pleasure is the Morgantown Social Networx Group hosted by Mary Lynn Ulch. These great events take place in Morgantown’s hottest venues for fine food and drinks. You can find the calendar on Facebook for upcoming events.

Dina Z Colada is a blogger, author, and speaker living in Morgantown. If you are looking for love and ready for online dating, you can get the free tools you need when you sign up for Dina’s dating and love newsletter at dinacolada.com. written by Dina Z Colada

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Morgantown • FEB/MAR 2015

Sparkle and shine with this or one of many other flapper-style purses at the boutique.

2. Cameras and accessories, $30

2

3. Pair of lamps, $24 Spruce up your home in time for spring with antique lamps, or choose from among many other lamps, lights, and candleholders in the store.

3

4. Lantern lamp, $125 Add texture to any space with this old Dietz kerosene lantern lamp. We love the old industrial feel.

4

5. Matchbooks, $5 each Strike up a conversation over your vintage matchbook collection.

5

6. Lighter, $50 Let sparks fly with this pinup girl lighter.

Retro-tique 243 Walnut Street 304.292.0950 facebook.com/ retrotiqueboutique

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THIS MATTERS

WHO’SThis

The Life of a Craftsman

Charlie McEwuen, a Morgantown business patriarch, tells the story of his leatherworking. ➼ An orderly shop greets customers walking into Tanner’s Alley on High Street, a longtime feature of Morgantown’s small business scene. The friendly jingle of a bell calls a front shopkeeper to the register desk, surrounded by neatly arranged rows of leather wallets, luggage tags, and other small items. The back wall holds a row of handmade briefcases, a signature item of store owner and craftsman Charlie McEwuen.

In the back of the building sits a cavernous workshop hidden from shop customers.

Less orderly, stacks of metallics, earth tones, and pebbled and smooth leather tumble from shelves waiting to be stitched into something new. A row of long alligator skins, freshly tanned, stretch ceiling to floor next to order sheets. Boot horns, leather stamps, and drawers filled with all sorts of workman’s tools line the walls and shelves leaving little free space. The smell of the

skins, warm Tanner’s Alley and organic, is a connoisseur’s 416 High Street 304.292.0707 dream. There in tannersalleyleather.com the back workshop, Charlie sits at an industrial sewing machine stitching together a custom bag. Its future owner likely sat on a waiting list more than a year to have something made that Charlie can only describe as a glorified lunch box.

It’s a rectangular shape with handles, reminiscent of a brown paper bag. But like everything else in Charlie’s store, attention to detail and high-quality leather are the keys to differentiating this custom creation from mass-manufactured designer labels.

“This didn’t strike me as something I would spend my life doing,” Charlie says, during a pause in his stitching. His first introduction to leatherworking was in a junior high school shop class in 1960s Morgantown. He finished shop class and went on to WVU to major in geology for a morgantownmag.Com

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THIS MATTERS

short time before joining the armed forces in 1972, where those old skills would come in handy. “They had a craft shop on post, and I had a hunting knife that needed a new sheath,” he recalls. “I remembered my leather working skills from junior high school and went down to this craft shop to make a new sheath. Pretty soon all these guys in my unit were wanting me to make things for them.” He had a business going while still in the army and, after leaving the service in 1976, a choice to make. “Should I go back to school and finish my geology degree, or should I open a leather shop?

Of course, opening a leather shop sounded much more glamorous than a degree, and the rest is history, so to speak.”

The first Tanner’s Alley opened in 1976 on Walnut Street, near where The Blue Moose Cafe is now. “It was about 6 feet wide and the building owner at the time told me it was, in fact, an alley that they had put a front, a back, and a roof on.” The location inspired his store name. After a couple years there, Charlie says it became 20

Morgantown • FEB/MAR 2015

apparent he needed more space when he had to lay hides out on the floor to cut out patterns and stitch products. He moved to a shop on Spruce Street for several years before entering his current location on High Street in 1988.

“When I started I was doing things I knew about and liked—guy things,” he says. “Knife sheaths, holsters, belts, that kind of thing. But as time progressed I got into a much wider variety of things, adding employees, getting into handbags, luggage, briefcases, and all sorts of things like that.

If you can think of it, I’ve probably made it.” As his business grew, Charlie became a bit more discerning, choosing to focus on items he enjoys making. Tanner’s Alley repairs and conditions leather shoes, but doesn’t make them. Coats are for sale, but they’re not made in the store. Hats aren’t Charlie’s favorite things to make, and while belts were a focus at the beginning of his business, those are usually from a third party now, too. Bags, large and small and made for all sorts of purposes, are the main

focus. Still, he and his two leatherworking employees, apprentices of sorts, are always up for trying something new. “I read somewhere that the key to a rewarding career is to never linger too long in a job you’re qualified for,” he says. “In my case, although I’ve been doing this for 40 years, hardly a week goes by that something comes up I haven’t tried before—some variation of something I’ve done. It’s always interesting.”

One of his most enjoyable learning experiences took place a few years ago when one of the young women from the WVU fashion department applied for an internship, he says. She came in with ideas for more fashion-forward handbags and the two hit it off. “At the time you could call me Mr. Earth Tone. Black, tan, brown, that was it for me. She had some ideas that used different colors of leather and I thought, ‘This isn’t going to sell, but it will be a good experience for her.’” The two produced the bag, her designs and Charlie’s craftsmanship. “Of course, they sold immediately.

I realized there was a market for this. Every idea she had was wildly successful.” Some of those designs, he says, made it to the arms of celebrities like Tatyana Ali and Jennie Garth. That intern graduated and moved on, but the two still collaborate every once in a while. Her influence can still be felt in the shop, where a metallic gold leather sits next to a bright red. “Before she came, I wouldn’t have looked at any of this. Then it got to the point that I was searching for purple metallic whatever. That really opened my eyes and made me a little more flexible in the things I do.”

Speaking of flexibility, 10 years ago he says he never would have thought he’d be stocking women’s party dresses. When he decided to outfit a few window mannequins in dresses to show off his handbags for the New Year, young students started coming in asking to buy the dresses. There were so many requests, he started stocking them and now the front of Tanner’s Alley features cocktail-length party dresses as well as party bags. “It really has brought in a lot of young women who might never have come in here otherwise. And once they come in to see what we have, the opportunity is there to sell them something else,” he says.

And consider those alligator skins. There’s not a whole lot of demand for alligator in landlocked West Virginia, but there sure is in Florida. “About five years ago some guy saw my website and, though there’s nothing on it about working with exotics, he thought I had the skills to do what he wanted. He sent me a couple of alligator skins with ideas in mind and I made up what he wanted.” That customer was more than pleased with Charlie’s work and posted photos of the products on an alligator hunters’ forum. “The flood gates opened,” Charlie says. “I started getting them from all over the place. It’s a completely new facet of my business that now consumes a pretty good amount of time.” Now in the market for another apprentice, Charlie says his business only continues to grow and change.

“It always amazes me when we get an international order,” he says. “If you search leather briefcases on the Internet, you’ll get a million results. There are thousands of companies that do this. But ours have a certain look and we use a certain type of leather that most people don’t use. We have shipped all over Europe, Singapore, Australia, Hong Kong, all over the place.” There’s also the special quantity orders for stores around the country, instrument cases, travel bags, and even key fobs. Back in Morgantown, it’s work enough to keep his popular briefcases and satchels in stock during peak business times like graduation and Christmas. “The thing I look at whenever I make a bag is how I can make it the best possible with the best materials,” he says. “People will bring back our briefcases they’ve had for 20 years to get refurbished and they’ll say, ‘I just love this bag.’ It’s good to see those things come back in that have become part of a person’s life.”

Charlie jokes that, had he gone back to WVU to finish his geology degree, he could be retired from Exxon by now, but he doesn’t have any regrets or plans to slow down. With both of his children out of the house and with their own careers, Charlie worries about who might take over the store and leatherworking, but the concern is a distant one. “I sometimes wish I didn’t have to work 80 hours a week, but I’ve always been, I guess you could say, creative,” he says. “This is a wonderful outlet for me. You get an idea for something and in the space of a day you can turn it into a finished product.” written by Katie Griffith photographed by Carla Witt Ford morgantownmag.Com

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WHAT’SThis

A New Era for Superior Photo An old favorite gets a new owner and a new outlook.

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Morgantown • FEB/MAR 2015

➼ Walk into Superior Photo on Brockway Avenue near Marilla Park these days and things will look a little different.

It’s slight. The layout is mostly the same, Nikon cameras and equipment are still for sale, and a collection of antique cameras still engage waiting customers with oddly shaped bodies. The back is still a hobbyist’s dream with mazes of antiques, stacks of equipment, and processing labs shoved in corners to make room for newer technologies. But after more than 60 years in business, the Lorenze family decided to sell the longtime Morgantown store to a couple with fresh ideas.

Dan and Stephanie Estel took over Superior Photo in July 2014, changing the name of the business to Superior Photo and Framing and adding a couple of new concepts to the photography store. The two had been longtime customers of previous owner Jim Lorenze, a well-known face in Morgantown’s photography scene who retired after 40 years working his

family’s business. “At first it was hard to let go,” Jimmy says. “I wasn’t sure how I was going to like retirement, but I found two good people to step in. I wanted the tradition to continue.”

The hand off has gone well, he says.

Dan, known across county youth sports, is a half-amateur, half-professional photographer who is happy to stop and chat with customers. He decided to purchase the business as a sort of retirement venture from a day job in the health care industry.

“I thought that once we got this rolling it would be something to tinker with that I like to do,” Dan says. “It’s not a job to come here. It’s not work. I enjoy it.”

Dan and Stephanie are still doing the same things Jimmy and his family have always done—selling camera equipment, image printing, format conversion, photo restoration, and, yes, 35 millimeter film processing. “Two great assets we have are Luke and Bob,” Dan says, referring to longtime Superior employees Luke Smith

THIS MATTERS

and Bob Tokarcik.

“Luke and Bob 641 East Brockway Ave. have been here 304.292.8434 a combined 70 years,” Dan says.

“They came with the store. If it hadn’t been for those two, we wouldn’t have been able to do it.” With a small staff of five, Dan and Stephanie have also added event photography, a studio, classes, and custom matting and framing to the store’s offerings.

The recent addition of a computerized mat cutter and a dedicated framer has allowed Superior Photo to do some creative things with framing—precisely cutting letters, stacked colors, and odd shapes out of the matting sheets, something that would be much more difficult with the more common hand-cutting technique. “We cut all of our own frames and our own glass,” Dan says.

“We do everything on-site.”

He and his wife seem to live and breathe customer service, and they’re not opposed to making a deal every now and Superior Photo

again. “If you want to dicker, we like to dicker,” Dan says. “We’ll trade, we’ll do whatever you want to bring you through the door and get your business.” It can be difficult to come down on some of the prices, particularly on cameras with prices tightly controlled by their brands, but Dan offers customer incentives, including free printing after the purchase of a DSLR camera and while-you-wait framing. One customer in late 2014 came in looking to frame a large, oddly shaped photo for his mother’s birthday. “I said, ‘When’s your mom’s birthday?’” Dan recalls. “And he said, ‘Today.’ We framed it for him in about 45 minutes. He went out the door tickled to death.”

So how’s the business doing? Superior Photo has sat between Greenmont and Sabraton, off the beaten path for many in Morgantown, for more than 50 years. But while Dan and Stephanie are still getting the hang of running the business, Dan says he has no plans to move. He thought

Superior Photo and the spot would be a hindrance, but as history Framing does it all.

An employee runs has shown, the opposite the recently puris true. “If you’ve been chased precision mat cutter, which in town for very long, most people know where allows for complex matting and framSuperior Photo is,” Dan ing options. says. “The nice thing about being here, too, is that you don’t have to fight downtown traffic. You can get a place to park and walk through the front door.” The business gets a lot of online traffic as well, allowing customers to upload photos to print, which can be mailed back to their doors. “Business has been good,” Dan says. “Relying on camera sales and printing, it was tough to keep the doors open, but the framing has added that extra piece that really magnifies the business and brings more people through the door.” written by Katie Griffith photographed by Elizabeth Roth morgantownmag.Com

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THIS MATTERS doThis

Seeing Red Morgantown actors find deeper meaning in a play headed to regional competition. ➼ Cue the classical music, and splashes of paint—red—transform a large canvas. It’s but a moment in abstract expressionist Mark Rothko’s life, but it speaks volumes. “Good theater always teaches us something about ourselves,” says David Beach, who plays Rothko and co-directs the local production of John Logan’s Red. “This teaches us about our role at a moment in time. I think all of us can relate to that. We affect people all throughout our lives, but at a specific point you affect people in a particular way. That’s what this show is all about.”

In November 2014 the Monongalia Art Center’s production of Red won Best Play at the West Virginia Theatre Association’s Community Theatre Festival. In March 2015 the local group will represent the state at the Southeastern Theatre Conference (SETC) in Tennessee.

The play focuses on the painter Rothko and his assistant, Ken, when Rothko was asked to paint murals for the Four Seasons Restaurant in New York in the late 1950s.

Morgantown’s Shenendoah Thompson, who played Ken and co-directed, took Best Actor in the state competition, and this is the second year in a row a Morgantown community theater group has represented West Virginia at SETC. David was involved in both, having directed last year for M.T. Pockets Theatre Company.

Both David and Shenendoah immersed themselves in Rothko’s work to prepare for the two-man show. David read his biography, and both spent time up close and personal—as close and personal as museum guards would allow—to his art. David saw Rothko’s paintings most recently at The Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C. “They have a Rothko room. There are four Rothkos in there, 24

Morgantown • FEB/MAR 2015

and I spent almost an hour in the room.

The guard kept looking in,” he laughs.

“Rothko’s art has sometimes been classified as ‘these rectangles,’ but there’s nothing rectangular about it. They are really fluid pieces.” He says spending time with the work gave the actors a greater appreciation, and David sees Rothko’s influence in everyone from Robert Rauschenberg to Andy Warhol.

Red is a snapshot of two hours of Rothko’s life and uses Ken—a fictional character and amalgamation of his assistants—as a vehicle in part to talk about art. David says, “Rothko is at a point where he’s stuck in the present. He understands the past and how the past has led to where he is, but I think, like all of us at middle age, we tend to idealize the phase we’re in and sometimes don’t look to the future until

Good theater always teaches us something about ourselves.”

David Beach, co-director of Red

we’re rattled to our core. That’s what Ken does to Rothko. He rattles him.”

Though they started digging into the Feb. 28, 2 & 6:30 p.m.

WVU Creative Arts Center play in late April 2014, the actors still think about it nonstop. David looks at the script at least once a day—sometimes even falling asleep to a recording of it. For competition, Red had to be edited down from 95 minutes to an hour. The crew was small—the two actors who also co-directed, an associate director, and a few others working on props, production, and all of the logistics.

The team for the regional competition is slightly larger, and David looks forward to the challenge of a bigger stage.

The conference is a chance to be critiqued, see others’ techniques, and test their chops even more. “I know the productions that make it to the regional festival are going to be very good, and I’m looking forward to seeing them,” David says.

Red was written by American playwright John Logan and first produced in London in 2009. David says it’s simply a really good play—well written and constructed—while Shenendoah says it’s unlike anything audiences have seen in Morgantown. For Shenendoah, the highlight is the painting itself, choreographed to music. “It’s driven and it’s impactful— think ‘1812 Overture,’ cannons going off—and it just excites you from within. That’s sort of what the painting scene is,” he says. “In the three lines preceding it Rothko describes what art means—what is a piece if it’s become a commodity? If it’s become something you are willing to buy, does it still have its original meaning?” He has the story memorized, but it doesn’t matter. “Every time we get to that point, even just saying it now, there’s this chill that flows through you. You’re like, ‘Holy hell, here I am.’”

The play is about how time passes for all of us, David says, that we’re here for a moment and can try to leave a mark—but some will stay and some will pass away. Shenendoah says it’s about a love of art and humanity. “It’s about a love of life and what are we all here for? We’re here to figure it.”

Red will be performed at the Monongalia Arts Center on January 30 and 31 at 8 p.m. and at the Falbo Theatre at WVU’s Creative Arts Center on February 28 at 2 and 6:30 p.m. for a suggested donation of $10.

Red

written by Laura Wilcox Rote photographed by Dave Bruffy, Smoke N Mirrors Photography morgantownmag.Com

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ShopThis

A Downtown Toy Story

For more than three decades, Pinocchio’s has handpicked specialty toys and children’s books for downtown shoppers. ➼ Stepping into Pinocchio’s Books & Toys is a little like stumbling down Alice’s rabbit hole. The 37-year-old specialty store in downtown Morgantown is a veritable maze of childhood sweetness, with crisscrossing aisles overflowing with toys, gadgets, and often obscure goodies, utilizing every inch of the shop’s roughly 800-square-foot space on High Street.

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Morgantown • FEB/MAR 2015

Behind Pinocchio’s counter stands Jeanne Hagan, the store’s owner and its one fulltime employee. Jeanne, who has a degree in early childhood education and more than 20 years of teaching experience, is responsible for the store’s delightfully quirky and kidfriendly layout, replete with tiny tables in the shop’s back enclave that make anyone over 4 feet feel like an instant giant. “I consciously

put the play areas in the back so the kids are entertained while the parents can take their time to wander and shop,” Jeanne says.

“We really encourage play, and 99 percent of the things in here are not breakable. Kids instantly feel at home.”

Jeanne is Pinocchio’s second owner, having bought the store in the summer of 1996 after she and husband Joe D. Hagan, a political science professor at WVU, moved to Morgantown from Wyoming with their four children. “I really had to learn about business while running a day care center back in Wyoming, so I got the bug for owning my own business,” Jeanne says. When she saw the opportunity to buy Pinocchio’s, she jumped on it.

Since day one Jeanne has taken a handson approach to keeping the store’s shelves stocked with goods she can get behind. “I have a lot of fun ordering products for the store. I try to keep some of it retro, to make sure the treasures of the past still have a place, while still carrying the super popular

THIS MATTERS

stuff,” she says.

Sure enough, perusing 322 High Street Pinocchio’s 304.296.2332 labyrinthine pinocchiosbooksandtoys.com aisles reveals old-school Spirograph sets and Etch A Sketch toys alongside the “super popular stuff” that makes most adults long for a time when toys were simpler. “We still have metal jack-in-the-boxes,” Jeanne adds.

She also keeps child development in mind when ordering and deciding how to lay out her inventory. “I try to never categorize in terms of ‘boy’ or ‘girl’ toys,” she says. “Girls aren’t the only ones who like arts and boys aren’t our only scientists.”

Of course, Jeanne has also dealt with the same headaches as other small businesses— particularly competition against price-cutting superstores that influence her product purchasing. Luckily she hasn’t found that influence to be too limiting; rather, it’s allowed her to become a big distributor of Pinocchio’s Books & Toys

specialty brands like Playmobil, Melissa & Doug, and Calico Critters as well as be a great champion for Morgantown small businesses. “I try to find things that aren’t available at big-box toy stores. Because of their ability to buy in bulk, I can’t compete with them in terms of price. So I buy a lot from specialty-only vendors,” Jeanne says.

“Our prices are fairly reasonable, and I’d like to keep it that way.”

Though Jeanne says about 75 percent of the store’s business comes from toy sales, she is very partial to its book business and the relationship she’s fostered with book vendors—both locally and online. “Because of the store’s size, I can’t stock a ton of books.

But I’m extremely glad to be able to provide the service of ordering any book in print and having it shipped within one to two days.”

Devoting time to books has also given her the opportunity to do a lot of work with local Head Start programs and early education teachers. Jeanne fields a lot of requests from local teachers looking for books or

Jeanne Hagan has educational materials been filling Pinocfor students. “I love chio’s downtown partnering with federal with the most programs like Head Start unique toys since to do purchasing. It’s nice 1996. to use your expertise once in a while,” she says.

Jeanne says her busiest time begins the weekend after Thanksgiving—particularly around Small Business Saturday, during which she says Morgantown residents come out in droves—and lasts throughout the holiday season. During the rest of the year, she often pairs up with Main Street Morgantown, an organization dedicated to small business success and the revitalization of downtown Morgantown, with events like the annual MedExpress Kids’ Day in July. “We have a very customer-friendly downtown,” she says. “It’s a great place to shop, particularly in the warmer months, and we have lots of regulars.” written by Morgan Grice photographed by Carla Witt Ford morgantownmag.Com

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Kirk Hazen ➼ Kirk Hazen hails from Michigan by way of North Carolina, but for more than a decade he’s studied West Virginia’s dialects—everything from accents to word usage to grammar structures—as the WVU English department’s resident linguist. His project, the West Virginia Dialect Project, is funded primarily through the National Science Foundation, which provides grants allowing Kirk to hire a staff of undergraduate researchers to help him with his work. What is that work?

Studying things like the a-prefixing found in he’s gone a-hunting and was-leveling like in we was out late last night, or demonstrative them in she wants to see them movies.

Kirk and his team listen to hours upon hours of recorded interviews, searching for specific dialect features and breaking them down to find the rules governing their use. While things like was-leveling and a-prefixing may, to many, sound like terrible mistakes, they are actually complex and natural parts of an ever-evolving language. Kirk came to WVU in 1998 after completing his Ph.D. in linguistics at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and participating in the award-winning North Carolina Language and Life Project at North Carolina State University.

At WVU he’s won numerous teaching and research awards for his work that now focuses on accent studies. “We have all kinds of maps created from data in the ’20s, ’30s, and ’40s. Traditionally there are four regions of West Virginia,” he says, but those accents are changing.

“We’re just getting into analyzing vowels, which are where people make the distinction of who has which accent. One of the distinctions we think is going to be a big one is the difference between townsfolk and rural folk.” written and photographed by katie griffith

On the importance of studying language It’s to see how language is evolving and how are people in the south and the north and the town and the country using that language variation to create their identities.

To create social meaning. In high schools, what cliques are using what language variation to create who they are? What are the emerging West Virginia identities out there? It has a big influence on education and overall community development.

On social acceptance of language variation The general public’s understanding of language is about where the understanding was of biology in 1900. It’s really not caught up with modern understanding of language and that’s not something that’s going to be finished within my lifetime.

On West Virginia’s language change West Virginia is a lot like other regions in the nation.

There’s been a decline in stigmatized dialect features.

Not that they’ve disappeared entirely, but their widespread use is simply not as common.

On dialect features Language variation is natural. When you have different dialects in an area, that’s perfectly normal. All languages go through change. English is a living language, we have native speakers, so therefore it’s undergoing change. And that’s not a bad thing. It just is. There is such a vast difference between documenting languages, documenting usage in a dictionary, and the beautifully complex systems within people’s brains.

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sayThis

Say

What?

Wait, what did you say? ➼ It’s how townies differentiate from newcomers, how WVU students pick out the new transfers and the freshmen from the rest of the student body. Check your pronunciation of these common Morgantown words with our guide below. If you’re putting an “r” in “Patteson” when you say “Patteson Drive,” you’re doing it wrong.

Monongahela Ma-NON-ga-HEE-la

Monongalia MON-on-GALE-ia

Van Voorhis Van-VORE-iss

Zackquill Morgan

We just call him Zack.

Willey WILL-ee

Patteson PAT-is-son

Puskar PUSH-car

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Morgantown • FEB/MAR 2015

For the Love of Writing WVU’s new literary journal, Cheat River Review, aims to capture the best writing and share it with the world. ➼ Strip it down to the bones and a good magazine or journal is just a collection of images—scenes painted in words or rendered in pixels—with the power to draw emotion, compel action, even change minds.

Drop headfirst into the world created on those pages and—if it’s been done right—you’ll surface as someone else, someone who sees the world just a shade differently. That’s why Clint Wilson, English graduate student at WVU and editor-in-chief of a new online literary journal based out of WVU’s MFA in creative writing program, and his staff spend their precious free time hunched over writing submissions and traveling to literary conferences across the nation. They do it to promote and share powerful writing with the world and to attract new writers to submit work. They certainly aren’t doing it for fame and fortune. “To be successful as a magazine you have to love doing it, without the promise of accolades or karmic repercussions,” Clint says.

Still, the Cheat River Review’s 10-person editorial staff get to read some of the highest quality work in poetry, fiction, and nonfiction submitted by writers across the country.

So although a job on the journal’s editorial board is currently unpaid, it’s still one of the best ways for the MFA students who make up its staff to gain exposure to the writing and publishing process. “Everyone in the magazine loves writing and many of us want to be writers or consider ourselves writers,” Clint says. “So the greatest gift we get is to be able to read as widely and deeply as possible.”

Inspired by the natural beauty and tenacity of the Cheat River and the Appalachian landscape and culture it runs through, Cheat River Review made its debut as a biannual publication in fall 2013 with a table of contents that included Pushcart prize-winning poet and professor Laura Kasischke and Susquehanna University professor Gary Fincke, whose work has appeared in publications like Harper’s

Magazine and Newsday. Click through any issue since the journal’s inception—all available for free online—and you’ll find an impressive body of work, from dark, humorous flash fiction to visually rich poetry from award-winning authors and new writers alike.

The journal’s staff also chooses each issue’s cover art from dozens of submissions.

Although the magazine aims to include at least one piece in each edition featuring the West Virginia landscape, people, or culture, Clint says any writer is welcome and encouraged to submit work—with the exception of current and recently graduated WVU students. “The journal itself is regional in name and inspiration, but we don’t give any special consideration to West Virginia writers per se. We also only accept WVU students who have graduated and been out of WVU for at least five years,” Clint says. “Undergraduate and graduate literary journals across the country have long been considered somewhat cliquish. We consider this magazine to be part of that move to represent a broader voice.”

With support from WVU’s Council of Writers and award-winning poet and WVU professor of creative writing Mary Ann Samyn acting as faculty representative, the journal’s reach and impact are already growing in the literary community. The journal has so far had little trouble attracting writers to submit, though the editorial staff only accept about two percent of the pieces that cross their desks. “Like any journal or magazine, our primary goal is to publish the best work we can find. We’re looking to establish this magazine as a legitimate source of great poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. And the staff really believes in the English graduate programs at WVU,” Clint says. “We want this journal to speak to the quality of those programs.” written by mikenna pierotti art by mckinley bryson

Cheat River Review will accept submissions for the spring 2015 issue through late March 2015.

Visit cheatriverreview.com for guidelines and follow the journal at facebook.com/cheatriverreview or twitter.com/cheatriver.

morgantownmag.Com

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Telling West Virginia’s Story

West Virginia Public Broadcasting—90.9 FM in Morgantown—gives audiences a window into politics, culture, and news across the state. ➼ Like a lot of great ideas, public radio came into being out of necessity.

“West Virginia Public Broadcasting grew out of a series of small stations throughout the state that joined together to become a network,” says Scott Finn, executive director of West Virginia Public Broadcasting (WVPB). More than 50 years ago people in West Virginia, especially rural areas, were clamoring for media. They wanted a window into politics, culture, and news across the state and nation. And they wanted a voice.

“All over the state these small stations were popping up. The creators of public broadcasting thought they could do a better job if they consolidated all that into a network,” he says.

What started out as a few stations often sponsored by universities and proactive 32

Morgantown • FEB/MAR 2015

communities later become part of a network operating on multiple platforms reaching thousands more people than ever before.

West Virginia Public Radio is now called West Virginia Public Broadcasting, and Scott says approximately 100,000 people listen to WVPB radio every week. But these days public broadcasting is about a lot more than tuning in to your local station. “West Virginia Public Radio came first,” Scott says. “But we don’t see ourselves as only radio or only TV anymore. A lot of our energy is devoted to our digital offerings and our website.”

Listeners across the state can now hear live WVPB programming on 16 radio stations—from Bluefield to Wheeling—and in Morgantown it all takes place just off of Interstate 68 on Scott Avenue. Audiences

can also find live streaming radio online at wvpb.org and on iTunes. But this isn’t your grandfather’s radio. “We can share content between radio, TV, and the web,” Scott says. That means news and other programming is often socially sharable and interactive, engaging audiences in ways WVPB’s founders never dreamed possible.

“What that allows us to do is efficiently reach all the West Virginians we can.”

Morgantown listeners can tune in for shows like West Virginia Morning around 7:30 a.m. and get the latest local and state news from expert reporters across West Virginia. If a story on water quality piques listeners’ interest, they can go online, follow the story’s specific tags and read, listen, and watch everything WVPB has produced on that topic in recent months. Varied radio programming throughout the day— from news in the morning to WVPB original programming—allows listeners to pick and choose what they want to hear.

Audiences can also access breaking news, music, interviews, and stories they’ve missed online. Even the most rural West Virginia residents can find ways to access the content that interests them through WVPB. “For example, we do a show called The Legislature Today. It’s all about what

THIS MATTERS In the newsroom, 98 percent of us are from West Virginia. And often we’re from the regions we’re reporting on.”

Glynis Board, reporter

happened that day in state government and it shows up on TV, radio, online, and we tweet about it,” Scott says. “We use it all to tell a bigger story about West Virginia.

We have had people tell us in places like Martinsburg that this is really the only broadcast medium where they can hear and see their legislature at work. We figure that’s a really important service we provide.”

In addition to offering National Public Radio programming, WVPB original productions run the gamut from breaking news to stories about leaders in science and business to explorations of diverse music.

Scott says, “People who listen to public broadcasting are the type who want to know more about their world. Our listeners tend to be curious, educated—either self-educated or formally educated—and they’re invested in their communities. I think people would be surprised by the diversity. We’ve got the octogenarian who loves Eclectopia (a program celebrating progressive music) and we’ve got young people who love the old-timey music. West Virginians are actually hard to stereotype once you get to know them and our listeners are real West Virginians.”

Working out of Morgantown’s local WVPB station—WVPM 90.9 FM—Glynis Board is a veteran reporter and Northern

Panhandle native who sees the effect of WVPB on those real West Virginians every day. “As reporters in public broadcasting, people have come to trust us,” she says. “I recently traveled out to Doddridge County and met with people there who are dealing with certain realities of oil and gas drilling in their community. They welcomed me into their homes and told me their stories,” she says. “It’s nice to be embraced by community members. There’s often a feeling that people in the media will take words out of context. Yet everywhere I go, there’s trust.

Having that kind of trust and rapport with people, it’s been an honor.”

Glynis says WVPB’s major role in producing balanced news—stories and coverage that show both sides of an issue— is a responsibility she takes very seriously.

“We are trying to bring an unbiased look—an oasis in news journalism. There are many different camps of people across the state and we really don’t want to isolate anyone. We are public employees and we want to serve everyone. It’s a challenge, but it’s what we are trying to do, and I think we really get there.”

As both a producer and reporter, Glynis covers arts and culture, women’s issues, and developments in the oil and gas industry. And if something big is going down in

her native Northern Panhandle, Glynis is probably there “taking photos, recording, writing, and weaving that all together into a story that people will want to hear,” she says. “In the newsroom, 98 percent of us are from West Virginia. And often we’re from the regions we’re reporting on. That gives us an insight into the community and the mindset, the narrative and values that you can’t have parachuting in.”

Want to hear in-depth musician interviews, the untold backstory of your favorite band, or tunes in every imaginable genre— indie to pop and classic to folk? Turn on A Change of Tune hosted by Joni Deutsch.

Rather spend a Saturday morning or Sunday evening hearing stories about rich regional history, food, music, and culture?

Give Inside Appalachia hosted by Jessica Lilly a chance. And don’t forget Mountain Stage with Larry Groce, a national favorite for more than 30 seasons and the longest running two-hour live performance radio of its kind, featuring renowned performers, musicians, and songwriters.

WVPB has evolved to become a multifaceted way of reaching every citizen— whether it’s to entertain or inform. “We help knit the state together,” Scott says.

“It’s about the people who actually live here. It’s about how we are proud of our heritage—sure we’ll play the old-time banjo, but people here love hip-hop, too.

We’re trying to tell the story of who we really are.” For Glynis, WVPB’s ever evolving role in telling West Virginia’s story—even in the remotest parts of the state—is what makes public radio so important. “It’s opening doors. Years ago you couldn’t bring a voice to those people, but that’s changing.” wvpublic.org written by Mikenna Pierotti photographed by Carla Witt Ford morgantownmag.Com

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Scoreboard

A Test W of Time Westover’s bowling alley has been a community gathering place for 50 years. ➼

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Morgantown • FEB/MAR 2015

ooden lanes oiled to a shine, slick-bottomed shoes gliding over the floor, laughter and the clatter of a perfect strike—for many these are wormholes into the past, into childhood wonder and excitement. For others bowling is an art, a stress reliever, and a way to reconnect with friends and family. That’s what people love about Sycamore Lanes, Westover’s one and only bowling alley, and a fixture in the community since the 1960s.

Standing sentinel at the top of a small rise off of Fairmont Road, it isn’t flashy.

The no-nonsense brick walls and strong construction are remnants of an era when things were built to stand the test of time.

Yet the humble exterior belies the color and laughter you’ll find inside—children having birthday parties; pizza, cake, and presents piled on tables; local seniors gathered for coffee and a few frames;

friends kicking back and enjoying beer and hot dogs. It isn’t hard to wander around, past the framed family photos, the murals, and brightly colored décor, and imagine you’re a child again.

For owner Paul Gutta, Sycamore Lanes was his dream, an opportunity to strike out on his own. “We had this property and eventually he decided to try his own business on it. He wanted to do something for himself,” says Elizabeth Gutta of her late husband. “So he built the bowling alley and opened it in 1965.”

Paul was a builder. Born to a loving Italian family, he grew up on a nearby farm, joined the army, spent time in Japan near the end of World War II, and ended up in construction when he returned, building homes in the community. A people-loving person, Paul worked long hours to support his family. Ask any of the old-time bowlers what they remember about the owner and they’ll tell you he was one of the hardest

Scoreboard

working men they’d ever known. But it wasn’t until the mid-1960s that he decided to try his hand at building a new business from the ground up. Once he made the decision, Elizabeth says he threw himself into the work, starting and finishing the alley in about three months.

Although not an avid bowler at first, Paul saw Sycamore Lanes as the perfect mixture of recreation and relaxation for the tight-knit community of Westover.

A growing university population and a blossoming neighborhood helped the alley’s popularity take off, and it quickly became a local tradition for birthday parties, reunions, and weekly gatherings of friends. Paul dedicated himself to his new business, joining several men’s leagues and working open to close with his wife at his side every night. It was hard but rewarding work. “My husband had a lot of friends he met at the bowling alley. I think he loved it because it was

great exercise and because he enjoyed the people—that was the biggest part. Paul went into the business because we had the property and because he could build it all himself. He stayed with the business because he just loved the people.”

With real wood lanes (employees there say such a thing is rare among today’s alleys), electronic scoring, tasty snacks, and flat screen TVs, this Westover establishment caters to bowlers at all levels, whether they’re taking it easy at open bowl or learning pro tips and tricks in one of the alley’s leagues. If you do decide you’re ready for competition, you’ll be in good company. Many local businesses have sponsored teams, and employee Michael Tinker, better known as Coach, says the family atmosphere is one of the alley’s biggest draws. “The family that bowls together stays together,” he laughs as he hands out tiny bowling shoes to a birthday boy, the son of a league bowler who proudly

announces to all Sycamore Lanes within earshot that 755 Fairmont Road he just turned 7. “All Westover the leagues are a big 304.292.0504 family and everyone helps each other improve. It’s a network. Of course it’s a competition, but it’s also a big family,” Michael says. Spend an evening at Sycamore Lanes and you’ll meet the family. Some have been coming to this alley since childhood and nowadays their kids, grandkids, and great-grandkids join them.

Michael has been working at Sycamore Lanes for seven years and started bowling a short time before. He’s also a league bowler. If you go to try your hand at a 300 game, you’ll likely find him doling out those essential blue and red shoes in the front or filling up frothing pitchers of beer in the back. Even when the bowling alley isn’t open, he’s there, oiling the lanes and helping the alley’s other employees keep the place and all its moving parts morgantownmag.Com

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Scoreboard

Bowling 101 Talk like a pro and who knows? Maybe your next game will be a 300.

Address - bowler’s starting position or stance.

Approach - area of the lane from the back of the ball return machine to the foul line.

Channel - the gutter.

Crawler - a strike made by missing the head pin and causing the other pins to fall in on each other.

Bedposts - a wide-open split with both pins on the same line. It’s also known as 7-10 split, fence posts, and snake eyes.

Bender - hook or curve shot that comes close to the channel before breaking into the pocket.

Big five - spare of three on one side and two on the other.

Foul line - the line marking the beginning of the lane. Touching this line or going beyond it is called a foul.

Grab - the friction between the lane and the ball.

Grandma’s teeth - a random assortment of pins left standing.

Oil pattern - the way the oil or conditioner is laid on the lane.

This can affect grab and strike consistency.

Pocket - the ideal place for the ball to contact the pins with the highest potential for a strike. If you’re a righty, this is between the 1 and 3 pins. For lefties, it’s between the 1 and 2 pins.

Turkey - three strikes in a row.

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Morgantown • FEB/MAR 2015

humming away. He also maintains the business’s Facebook page. Like Paul, he didn’t start out an avid bowler. But something about the sport, and this particular alley, got under his skin. “It’s the chaos of the pins, the competition, the sound of a good strike. When you learn a curve, it turns it into an art,” he says.

Watch a good bowler, the kind with graceful form, a pro who can release the ball in such a way that it will turn at just the right moment, seemingly with a mind of its own, scattering pins like confetti time, and you can’t help but agree. Sport or art, bowling can be beautiful. Michael insists all it takes is a little time and effort to nail down your technique. “I know a guy who’s only been bowling three years and already bowls a 300 game,” he says.

If the crash of pins is music to your ears, you should probably head to Sycamore Lanes on an open bowl night—come Tuesday or Thursday for $2 frames.

Grab a chili dog and fries with cheese or a hot soft pretzel. You’ll probably meet Coach. Bowl a few frames and he might even offer a free lesson. That’s why they call him Coach, after all. “I think the best way to get more people to bowl is to teach them how to throw a curve,” he says.

After that, you may want to join a league.

Ten Pin Posse, Jazz Turkeys, Pin Heads, or Grease Monkeys—Michael says you can call your team pretty much anything. There are leagues in summer and fall, for four-person teams and five-person teams, for novice bowlers and those looking for a challenge.

Who knows, you might even go pro like Sycamore Lanes veteran and professional bowler John Cale, Jr. Curves, crawlers, bedposts, and benders—if you want to get good, you’ll have to learn a few terms. Don’t worry, bowlers like Michael are happy to welcome and instruct new converts. Even with Saturday birthday parties and friends blowing off steam after work, old-school bowling alleys like Sycamore depend on the regulars and leagues both to keep their doors open and to maintain that family feel. “It’s what this place is all about,” Coach says.

Elizabeth says the regular bowlers and loyal employees like Michael have helped her keep the family business alive since Paul’s passing a decade ago. “We always worked side by side at the bowling alley, Paul and me. When he died I was just so familiar with everything and the employees were so helpful, it wasn’t too difficult to take it over,” she says. These days Elizabeth is at the bowling alley each night making sure things run smoothly. Become a regular at Sycamore Lanes and you might meet just the woman who carries on her husband’s dream. She’ll probably encourage you to join a league if you haven’t already.

Whether you bowl a 300 game or you’re more of a 100 wonder, she says there’s room for anyone. “I’ve made a lot of friends down there, believe me. That’s what keeps me alive. Just being around the people.” written by mikenna pierotti photographed by carla witt ford

“They listened.”

“We moved Mom to The Suites at Heritage Point from her apartment 2,000 miles away to have her closer to us. From the very beginning, the staff and residents at The Suites listened, responded and went out of their way, not only to make her feel comfortable, but also to welcome her into the community. Her apartment is decorated with her favorite things, she loves playing Scrabble® with her new friends and looks forward to Chef Nader’s three delicious meals each day.”

“Best of all, she still maintains her privacy. We have the peace of mind knowing help is just steps from her apartment whenever she needs it.”

Call today to arrange a personal tour 304-285-5575 or toll-free 877-285-5575 One Heritage Point • Morgantown, WV 26505 www.heritage-point.com

morgantownmag.Com

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Across COunty Lines

A Tale of Fools A Harrison County-based improv comedy troupe entertains audiences across North Central West Virginia. ➼

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Morgantown • FEB/MAR 2015

It’s not just a bunch of random people going up onstage attempting a pun about grandma’s kittens and a juicer. Each member of the troupe was vetted through an audition process with an experienced coach. The Fools have gone through several incarnations since the team formed in 2012.

It all began three years ago when local artist and former Fools coach Steve Goff was inspired to bring improv to the local region. At the time, anyone craving an evening at a comedy club had to drive to Pennsylvania, North Carolina, or travel to see the state’s only known improv troupe

courtesy of the fearless fools

T

wo young women stand in the middle of a crowd at Heston Farm in Fairmont, one shoving a scarf down her shirt while the other stands guard. Someone in the crowd giggles. The two women are whispering about shoplifting. A man in the crowd shouts “Kung Fu,” and the two women begin circling one another, preparing to fight. They growl challenges in imitations of a poorly dubbed martial arts film, but before the first high kick is thrown the man shouts “Sound of Music,” and immediately the two scarf-stealers are transposed to the Austrian Alps. The audience chuckles and claps the whole way through a Julie Andrews impression.

The Fearless Fools, a seven-person improv comedy group in Harrison County, has been making waves around North Central West Virginia since its first show two years ago. The improv concept is game-based—think Whose Line Is It Anyway? Seven players begin with an outline for a bit, called a game, and they come up with skits based on suggestions from the crowd. “We could play the same game for you two days in a row and, based on the suggestions of the audience, it will go in completely different directions,” says troupe co-founder Jason Young. “We try to keep audience favorites in each show, while adding new games they have never heard of—games that don’t appear on Whose Line, so they stay fresh. It’s a mix of old and new, but the thing that keeps it fresh every single show is that it is improv. We’re making it up beginning to end.”

Across COunty Lines

This group was really good from the get-go. They’ve been keeping me laughing for two years. If we have a huge crowd they are good.

If we have six people they are still good.”

Steve Goff, former Fearless Fools coach

in Charleston, the No Pants Players. Steve headed to Chicago for 30 hours of training with improv studio Second City, “the Harvard of improv,” he says. One year into the workshops, Jason approached him about beginning improv classes at the Vintage Theatre Company (VTC), a Bridgeport-based community theater.

Jason, who owns VTC, wanted to start comedy classes as part of the theater’s educational offerings and invited Steve to organize the curriculum.

Very quickly the two had the idea to start a team, but Steve was hesitant. It was still early. He wasn’t sure if the talent was there. “In an improv team chemistry is important,” Steve says. “It was scary because I didn’t know who was going to show up, I didn’t know how good they were going to be, and we didn’t know who was going to book us.” Once auditions got rolling, though, he realized there wasn’t much to worry about. “This group was really good from the get-go,” he says of the Fools. “They’ve been keeping me laughing for two years. If we have a huge crowd they are good. If we have six people they are still good.”

In addition to Jason, the current lineup includes Christian Cox, whom Steve describes as a versatile character actor; Steven McElroy, “a quick-witted smartass;” Liz Rossi, a “queen of physical comedy” and an audience favorite; Kasey Kesner, a stand-up comedian with a writer’s sense of storytelling; Craig Snider, whom others call the most valuable fool and the anchor of the unit; and Lauren Swann, whom Steve pegs as one of the most solid improv players he’s ever seen.

“In improv you’re supposed to make your

partner look good, and she just does it very naturally.”

The basic rule in improv is summed up in one phrase: “Yes, and…” Team members are never to shoot down a partner’s idea. It makes them look bad, and it’s painfully awkward for the audience.

“You don’t try to be funny and yuck it up,” Lauren says. You try to make your scene partner look good. You set that person up for a joke, and they serve it. “My favorite is when I’m playing a game with someone and they say something that is so funny that it just floors me and the audience just loses it. I love sharing that moment where they just killed,” she says. There’s a certain kind of trust required to stand in front of strangers with no script and hoping you won’t bomb. “The more comfortable we are with each other, the more we know where someone will take a scene.”

Lauren had no formal comedy training before auditioning for the troupe in March 2014. She was a fan before she became a Fool. “When I saw them perform at the Monongalia Arts Center (MAC) in Morgantown, it immediately grabbed me,” she says. “How quickly they thought on their feet, the relationships they formed with each other—you could tell how much fun they were having.” From that point on, Lauren says she was determined to become a Fool. “A big reason I went was that improv wasn’t something that was around,” she says. “It was new—completely different from just going to see a movie.”

The group’s very first show in 2012 had a crowd of 17 people in a venue that could have seated at least 100. “But we just kept plugging away,” Jason remembers, “and we’ve sold that venue out several

times now.” This year the Fearless Fools performed around 30 shows, including the West Virginia Writers conference, the West Virginia Equal Employment Opportunity conference, and a Christmas party for the WVU business school. The group’s shows often take place during a spring-to-winter season at the MAC in Morgantown, Heston Farm in Fairmont, or at the VTC home theater in Clarksburg. “If you see us one time you’ll want to see us a second time,” Jason says. “It’s an energy like no other, and we’re pretty good at making people laugh.

Every place we’ve returned to we’ve gotten a bigger audience.”

Big Laughs Come spring 2015, West Virginia will get its first comedy festival led by the Fearless Fools and VTC. West Virginia has never had a successful comedy festival, Jason says, and the group wanted to create one.

“Vintage wants to be igniting artists in West Virginia,” Jason says. “We want to host events and festivals and weekends to let people network and perform for each other.” The festival will open at the Bridgeport Conference Center on March 26 for three days of laughs, headlined by storyteller and championship liar Bil Lepp. “He’s an extremely funny guy, and we wanted somebody who was on that national level to be our first headliner,” Jason says. Vintage Theatre is taking audition submissions through February.

The Fearless Fools will also perform at Heston Farm in Fairmont on March 21, 2015, at 7 p.m. vintagetheatre-wv.com written by katie griffith

morgantownmag.Com

39

The Chicken and the Egg

Southern comfort food and college town character come together at this corner diner on High Street. ➼

“I

’m not really sure what came first—the idea for the chicken sandwich or the idea for the chicken restaurant,” says Kim Nobile, co-owner of High Street’s fried chicken oasis, Dirty Bird. Perched on the corner of High and Walnut streets, this little diner has become one of Morgantown’s favorite lunchtime indulgences in less than three years. Some might say its growing popularity is due to one sandwich, the

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restaurant’s namesake—eight ounces of southern fried chicken, crispy bacon, crumbled and melted cheddar jack cheese, a fried egg, and two kinds of gravy all heaped on a warm buttermilk biscuit.

An idea hatched by Kim’s husband, Greg Palmero, the Dirty Bird sandwich is soul food Nirvana for less than the cost of two greasy burgers at a fast-food joint. Think college kids won’t walk the extra blocks from the Mountainlair for a great sandwich? Stop by Dirty Bird at noon during finals week and

you’ll bite your tongue.

Dirty Bird Sometimes the line 301 High Street of professors, jocks, 304.284.9599 and sorority girls goes out the door. “It’s the chicken,” Kim says. “A lot of WVU kids are from southern states and are used to the comfort of fried chicken.”

The diner is small, even for High Street, with just enough seating to fit a decent crowd at less than a dozen tables decked out in classic black and white check tablecloths with shiny red napkin holders. The space is an ode to the American mom-and-pop, with framed photos of small, family-owned fried chicken places across the country dotting the walls. Even the menus are a tad whimsical, each coming complete with a specially made “Bacon Flowchart” to help patrons decide if they should add some crispy smoky goodness to their meal (the answer is always yes).

And did we mention all Dirty Bird chicken is cage-free, fresh, and never

Dish It out

Should I add bacon?

Is it breakfast?

Yes

Is it lunch?

Is it dinner?

Yes

Yes

Is it dessert?

Yes Should I really add some?

Greg Palmero

Add bacon!

Uh, yes!

dishes it out

Dirty Bird-Inspired White Sausage Gravy 1 pound breakfast sausage, ground 1 cup scallions, chopped 1 quart whole milk 1 quart heavy cream 1½ cups all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon pepper ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper 1. In a large saucepan, brown sausage and onion over medium high heat, then drain oil from pan.

2. Add milk and heavy cream to pan and simmer on medium low for 30 minutes.

3. In a small saucepan, melt butter on medium heat and slowly add flour, stirring constantly.

4. Add butter and flour to milk mixture and bring to a slow boil, stirring often.

5. Add salt, pepper, and cayenne.

Serve hot over homemade biscuits.

Yield: Serves 10–12

frozen? Whether it’s in a Buffalo Chicken Sandwich topped with blue cheese, pepper jack, and jalapeño ranch or a Blue Ribbon Chicken Sandwich with shaved country ham, mushrooms, melted Swiss, gravy, and mustard, all the restaurant’s chicken ships fresh five days a week from an Amish farm outside Wexford, Pennsylvania. “It was always part of the plan to do fresh chicken.

It’s an animal thing and it’s a health thing.

It’s the freshest chicken you can get. It’s not being processed with hormones or antibiotics, and it’s cage-free, so the poor chickens are treated better,” Kim says.

Comfort food at a great price with a side of feel-good and a pinch of humor?

You might think Kim and Greg have had their finger on the gastro-pulse of the city for years with that golden goose of an idea.

But these New Jersey natives alighted on Morgantown somewhat by chance. For 22 years Kim had a towing business in New Jersey, but when her partner unexpectedly passed away, she decided to make a change.

“My stepsons went to school here and we had started buying rental property about seven or eight years ago,” she says. “Greg’s son got a scholarship here for ice hockey and we used to come to the games. One day we were driving home and I said, ‘You’re

going to think I’m nuts, but I really like Morgantown.’ But he said, ‘You know, I do, too.’ For us it was like blue cheese. We had to acquire a taste for it.” When the couple started brainstorming for their new start in Morgantown, they turned to Greg’s experience in the food industry for ideas. “Greg had been in the restaurant business his whole life and has worked in Philadelphia, Manhattan, and New Jersey.

He said, ‘You know, there’s no good fried chicken place in Morgantown. There’s KFC, but it’s not like what we’re used to.’”

Opened in March 2012, Dirty Bird took its name from the idea of a fried chicken sandwich so rich and piled so high you have to dig in with knife and fork to eat it.

“Greg wanted something similar to the messy chicken sandwiches he’d made the last 20 years in other kitchens. He’s always changed it with the times. It’s gone from fried chicken to grilled chicken to rotisserie chicken. He’s just added to that,” Kim says.

Since the diner’s opening, Greg has also created more than 30 other items for the diner’s menu—every one of which he makes by hand. “He makes every single sandwich himself and does all the cooking. He never leaves,” Kim says. “He won’t let anyone else make them because they just won’t taste morgantownmag.Com

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Dish it out

the same.” Among Greg’s creations you’ve got the classics—like Plain Jane, a chicken sandwich with bacon, melted Swiss, lettuce, tomato, red onion, and honey mustard— and you’ve got creative constructions like the Vera Cruz, a chicken sandwich with jalapeños, pepper jack cheese, sliced avocado, bacon, lettuce, tomato, red onion, and cilantro lime mayo. But this little diner has yet another side to its menu—including deli sandwiches piled high with Boar’s Head meats and swoon-worthy sides like macaroni and cheese made with four cheeses. Kim says Morgantowners also flock to Dirty Bird’s doors for specialty sandwiches like the Monty Ray Turkey, with oven-roasted turkey breast, pepper jack, sliced avocado, bacon, lettuce, tomato, red onion, and mayo, and the Big Tahuna, a massive helping of solid white albacore tuna, dirty slaw, tomato, melted Swiss, and avocado on toasted rye bread.

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Morgantown • FEB/MAR 2015

Not surprisingly, Dirty Bird’s success has been fueled largely by word of mouth.

“We don’t go to food shows. We don’t really advertise,” Kim says. “But we’re close with the basketball team and the football team.

They come in to eat all the time. We do catering for the basketball team. And the coaches are here like every day.”

Collegiate youth aren’t the only ones who love a hearty meal. In fact if you’re smart enough to come to the diner at an off hour (say 11 a.m.) and grab a good seat by the window, you’ll probably meet the other regulars—local business owners, young couples, mothers and fathers with babies on their hips. Kim will probably know many of them by name. She’ll fill their sodas before they ask and bring their kids crayons and drawing paper. Spend a few lunch hours at Dirty Bird, watch Kim buzz around the diner delivering food, ringing up customers, helping the two other employees, answering

the phone, and taking to-go orders, and you’ll soon discover there’s a dual reason for this restaurant’s success. That is, great food and great service. Although Kim insists the business isn’t really a labor of love—first and foremost it’s their livelihood and they take it very seriously—it’s obviously a job the couple put heart and soul into. “Every day we’re open we’re both here open to close,” Kim says. “We stay busy.”

Because Greg and Kim vow to serve only the freshest chicken, Dirty Bird has “prima donna hours,” based on its chicken deliveries, Kim says. The restaurant is open Tuesday through Friday 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. (ish) and Saturday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. (ish). It’s closed Mondays and Sundays. written by mikenna pierotti photographed by elizabeth roth

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Morgantown • FEB/MAR 2015

Will Morgantown’s historic Warner Theatre ever come back to life? written by Katie Griffith

Carla Witt Ford

morgantownmag.Com

45

f you spend much time in downtown Morgantown you’re likely to come across the Warner Theatre on High Street. Built at the cost of nearly half a million dollars at the first shock of the Great Depression, the Warner illuminated High Street with a 50-foot marquee and more than 6,000 light bulbs advertising the Warner Brothers’ cinematic features. The art deco movie house boasted one large movie screen, seated more than 1,000, and offered a plush lobby decorated in reds and golds. Today the same theater sits boarded up. Its lights are out. Its film reels and customers are long gone.

Plaster falls from the walls while mold grows from the lack of adequate ventilation.

The theater closed in 2010 because of the costs associated with upkeep, including the replacement of the heating, cooling, and projection systems. Saving the building now will take more than a fresh coat of paint. It requires deep pockets and even deeper dedication. “I ran that theater for years and there was never a month that it broke even,” says Susan Riddle, chief operating officer of Round Table Corporation, which owns the theater. “I’ve had to board it up because there have been vandals repeatedly, and they’ve just destroyed it on the inside,” Susan says. The building was boarded up in late 2014. It is listed for sale at an asking price of $1.2 million.

While cities like Huntington, Fayetteville, and Wheeling are working to revitalize their iconic buildings, in Morgantown no one has stepped forward to rehabilitate the downtown business district’s only movie theater—one that’s been listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Since closing, the theater’s heating, cooling, and projection systems have not been replaced, and the theater has not been maintained, according to Preservation Alliance of West Virginia research. The marquee needs to be restored, the brickwork is deteriorating, and moisture, ever the enemy of old buildings, is creeping in. If the status quo continues, the Warner almost certainly faces demolition, whether by neglect or razing.

Talk of the Town

When the Warner opened in 1931 under the operation of Warner Brothers Circuit Management Corporation, it was the talk of the town. Designed by internationally acclaimed architect John Eberson, the theater featured state-of-the-art equipment and the largest screen in the region. “Every Saturday night the place was filled with returning servicemen,” says Morgantown resident Dorothy Moore, remembering the theater in its 1940s heyday.

On movie nights the local bus was full of area residents heading to and from a show. The most resplendent part of the theater was the lobby to the side of the bathrooms, filled with art deco lighting and gilded mirrors. Some of West Virginia’s most storied celebrities fell in love with the silver screen at the Warner. Don Knotts ushered at the theater in his youth, while Paul Dooley of Breaking Away and Sixteen Candles fame recalls watching films like The Adventures of Robin Hood there. “The Warner had its own style,” Paul says. “Of the theaters there at the time, it seemed to be the most modern.”

By the mid-2000s, the theater had changed hands a few times and had already undergone renovations to turn the onescreen movie house into a three-screen complex. In 2004 the Morgantown-based Round Table Corporation purchased the theater and added new temperature control systems, projection 46

Morgantown • FEB/MAR 2015

It has a feeling you don’t get from a regular multiplex. It was clear that this place was made for watching movies. It was old, it had a rundown quality to it, but it still had the feeling of being a majestic movie house.”

Justin Channell, filmmaker

equipment, and a fresh coat of paint. All of this was done to keep up with the big chain theaters popping up in shopping malls and developments left and right. But over time the Warner stopped getting mainstream first releases. Slowly its reputation changed from that of a blockbuster theater to a home for indie films.

“I grew up in Fairmont and I always heard of the Warner as a place where independent movies played,” says former Warner employee and independent movie producer Justin Channell.

“When Bowling for Columbine came out, the Warner was the only place that got it. House of 1000 Corpses, it was the only place nearby that got it. It was amazing that there was a theater that got the movies that didn’t make it to the multiplexes—it was an art house.”

Justin, who has written and filmed two full-length features, began creating movies in junior high school when he ran with the school audio/visual crowd. His first film, an independent horror/comedy, was shown at a local film festival when Justin approached the Warner for a job in 2005. Later, his second feature had its 2006 premiere at the Warner and sold several hundred tickets. It was the only movie theater in town that would allow someone to have an independent screening, Justin says, and it was the only place with the right atmosphere, too.

“It has a feeling you don’t get from a regular multiplex. It was clear that this place was made for watching movies. It was old, it had a rundown quality to it, but it still had the feeling of being a majestic movie house, despite being bastardized by a lot of different architectural changes.”

Grandeur to Grime

When the Warner was split from one screen to three in the 1970s, the resulting picture and sound quality left a lot to be desired.

“There was a lot of sound bleed-over,” Justin says. If you sat in Theater Two at a time something was playing in Theater One, you could hear muffled explosions and yelling from sound effects. “In the upstairs theater, you lost image quality because the projection slanted in a weird way. Had they just left the theater as one screen,

courtesy of morgantown history museum

it would have been perfect, but they were competing with all the multiplexes coming up and the theater may not have been able to stay open as long.”

Despite the screen split, upgrades to keep up with an aging building fell by the wayside. “There are so many structural problems with that building, inside and out,” says former general manager Ron Davis. Leaking roofs and heating and cooling were the biggest problems. “We always dreaded winter,” Ron says.

“People couldn’t get out because of the weather, and we had to run the heat.” Heating bills in the winter got as high as $13,000 in one month, according to Susan.

As bills increased, the customer count on any given night began to dwindle with the advent of stadium seating and extralarge cup holders just miles away. New theaters began to pop up around town offering comfort and new releases, hurting the Warner’s ability to get the first-run movies that draw crowds and ticket sales. “If a movie theater is within X miles of another theater, then there are factors involved saying which theater will get which movie—it’s one of the reasons we were told we could never get first-runs,” Ron says.

From a movie distributor’s standpoint, Morgantown was oversaturated with theaters. “When we closed in 2010 there were 27 movie screens in town,” Susan says, and that’s not counting other competition from online entertainment providers like Hulu and Netflix. A Hollywood Theater opened near University Town Centre in 2005 with 12 screens, later

purchased by Regal, while an addition to the Carmike theater at the Morgantown Mall in 2005 increased it to 12 screens.

“Morgantown is a very generous community, very generous.

But [running the Warner] was a challenge,” Susan says.

Attracting Crowds

“Everyone loves the idea of the Warner, but as far as day-today and weekly support, it just wasn’t there,” Ron says. He had come to the theater as volunteer counter staff after Round Table purchased the theater, and he was eventually hired on to a parttime position. “I was there for six months or so when they called us all into the theater and said it was closing. I went to Round Table and pleaded to them to give me a crack at it.” He had a few ideas to draw in crowds, focusing heavily on independent movies and offering community events. Round Table agreed and Ron was promoted to general manager at the end of 2006.

“The biggest things we did were probably the free summer movies,” Ron says. “We’d fill the theater every time we did one.”

Those included family-oriented titles like Shrek 2 and Alvin and the Chipmunks. Regular showings of the more adult-oriented Rocky Horror Picture Show on weekends would do better than many of the movies the theater ran during the week. “Generally the weekends were big for us. The new movies that came out on Friday would get a good crowd. But through the week it was pretty light.”

Whether a movie selection took off or bombed was up to fate.

Ron says he and the staff would select movies they thought the morgantownmag.Com

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Morgantown • FEB/MAR 2015

Curtain Call

Round Table issued a press release in August 2010 announcing the Warner Theatre’s closure. The theater would show movies for one more week, including one last showing of Rocky Horror, before locking the doors for good on September 6. “The Warner has always had a very loyal following of patrons, whom we appreciate greatly, but there just aren’t enough of them to sustain the business operation and the ongoing building issues,” Susan wrote in the press release. “The small independent movie theater business model simply does not work in the face of the issues we face at the Warner.”

The theater’s last few movies were packed. “Everyone was coming in, taking pictures, and telling stories and sharing experiences at the Warner. It’s a part of Morgantown history,” Ron says. Years of movies have left their mark on the building.

Legends abound of ghosts and treasures hidden in the depths of the building, passed down from one generation of theater staff to another. Some are true. “The silver spoons. I don’t know what crew did it, but there are supposedly seven silver spoons hidden in the theater. I only found six. They’re glued in various places,” Ron says.

Though the community was outraged at the thought of the theater closing—a Save the Warner group launched on Facebook with hundreds of supporters and many a letter was written to Round Table—Warner employees say the support was more conceptual than anything. “In the last week before the Warner closed, and everyone knew it was closing, there were so many people coming in saying how horrible it was that the Warner was closing. But I only saw maybe 15 percent of those people come in to buy a ticket in the four-and-a-half years I was there,” Justin says. “People ideologically support it, but not financially. Good words don’t pay the bills, and they don’t keep the doors open.”

Jessica pyles

area wanted to get. Cult classics like Ghostbusters and Rocky Horror were no-brainers. The theater’s first-run showing of 2007’s Aqua Teen Hunger Force, a release that none of the major theaters in town wanted but was perfect for a college crowd, sold out two theaters on opening night. But more regular releases were harder to predict. “We would get a phone call from our agent with a list of movies he could get us, and we’d get a Magic 8 Ball, shake it up, and try for what we thought would do the best,” Ron says.

With three screens, the most the Warner could take on was six movies.

“It was hit or miss. Some of the ones I thought would knock them out of the park—they tanked and fell flat,” Ron says. Opening night for a second-run film could draw 20 to 30 people. A really good night could see up to 300 people. But some nights attracted 10 customers. At times it was even difficult to draw people out for old favorites, especially when production companies started charging more for film reels and the Warner went digital. “People liked the idea of seeing Back to the Future on the big screen, but they could sit at home and watch it,” Ron says.

The issue wasn’t just ticket sales. It was concessions.

Similar to gas stations that don’t make money from selling gas and newspapers that don’t stay in print with subscriptions, theaters don’t pay the bills with ticket purchases. The money is in concessions. “The free movies, even though we weren’t charging for tickets, they still did well because of the increase in concession sales,” Ron says. The movies are just a way to get people in to buy food. The theater tried selling pretzels and other hot foods, and according to Ron concessions was a major reason Round Table opened a Carvel Ice Cream store next door.

“See a movie and have ice cream after.” Ultimately that didn’t work. The Warner closed first, and, shortly after, Carvel turned off its lights, too.

Many, including this magazine, have suggested using the Warner as a dinner and movie space that serves alcohol, à la the Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas that started in Texas. Alamo Drafthouses began when locals decided to revamp a historic theater to include dinner with a waitstaff, second-run movies, and unusual productions like silent films accompanied by live local bands. Between 2001 and 2004 the Warner Theatre had a license to serve beer, but the license lapsed by the year Round Table purchased the theater and the company did not get it back.

With or without food and drinks, the simple fact is no one was coming. “When the roof goes bad and you’re hit with an enormous bill but only 20 people come out to a movie, how do you justify replacing that?” Ron says. The Warner stayed open for a few more years after Ron was hired as general manager, but when the announcement came that Round Table would close its doors, the end came quickly.

Jessica pyles

Back to the Future

The Warner’s doors have stayed locked since it closed, and the condition of its storefront, sitting on prime real estate in downtown Morgantown, has only worsened. Photos on the Save the Warner Facebook page show one last glimpse of the theater when vandals smashed the glass in the front doors in September 2014. Shortly after, the theater was boarded up.

High Street frontage isn’t the only thing hurting. The arts community has felt the sting of the theater’s disappearance, too.

“To be able to see something that’s not a mainstream release, there is no option now in Morgantown,” Justin says. The Gluck in the Mountainlair and the Metropolitan Theatre downtown both offer independent screens, or allow rentals for them, but it’s not the same as having a dedicated theater, he says. “It limits the ability for people to see these movies in the theater, where they’re meant to be seen—on the big screen.” Justin says the lack of a venue for his films doesn’t dissuade him from pursuing projects, but it is disheartening. He’s currently working on a documentary on the Warner, as well as a few other side projects. “I know now that I won’t be able to do a screening of the next film I do like in the old days. I don’t know where I’d show it, except for Pittsburgh, but I don’t have a local audience there.”

Will the Warner ever be a theater again? Susan says no. “I’ve had multiple meetings. I have answered all kinds of inquiries.

It’s never going to be a movie theater again,” she says. Former employees say it wasn’t supported when it was open. The city isn’t sure. “I’ve heard ideas, but there’s never been anything definite,” says Morgantown Mayor Jenny Selin. “The ideas have been some kind of a potential theater use, classroom use, use as a bar or restaurant, daytime and evening uses. I’ve heard so many different stories, but it’s never coalesced into one plan.”

The city has no plans to take over the Warner itself. In 2003

the historic Metropolitan Theatre, a couple of blocks north of the Warner on High Street, was acquired by the city, which put in about $1.5 million dollars to restore it, according to City Manager Jeff Mikorski. “The city just doesn’t have the funds available to take on the Warner,” he told Morgantown magazine in 2014.

Susan says no serious purchase offers have come forward. And a state-level attempt to draw attention to the theater was rebuffed by the owners. “Some AmeriCorps volunteers wrote an Endangered Properties List nomination for the Warner Theatre for inclusion in our 2015 list,” says Lynn Stasick, statewide field services representative for the Preservation Alliance of West Virginia.

“Unfortunately, the owners didn’t really respond back to them for permission, so it’s not being listed this year,” Lynn says.

But city leaders remain hopeful. “If there are people out there who are willing to be partners, I’d be willing to sit with anyone to work on putting together a productive plan,” Jenny says.

“People have been willing to be a second partner, but I haven’t seen anyone come forward to be a primary partner.” Staff of The Benedum Foundation, a large philanthropic organization, have been involved in discussions for redevelopment of the Warner Theatre, but no application for funding has been made, according to foundation administration.

“There are two halves of me—the Warner fanatic hopes that the theater opens again someday. I’ll be the first in line to buy a ticket,” Ron says. “But the business side of me says I know the kind of money and effort put into it.” Ron is a small business owner himself, having launched Four Horsemen Comics and Gaming in the Morgantown Mall in 2010. “I’ve always said that if I hit the lottery or if the store takes off, I’ll buy the theater.

I love the Warner. I would love to see it thrive and prosper.” morgantownmag.Com

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More than 40,000 votes. Sixty-plus categories. Two rounds of voting.

The fourth annual Best of Morgantown awards was unlike any other, to say the least. This year, in addition to the paper and online write-in ballots we always do, we made it even easier for readers’ voices to be heard. You didn’t even have to type— just click. We calculated your many write-in votes and posted the top three in each category on morgantownmag.com for easy voting. The results blew us away. Some categories—best vegetarianfriendly restaurant, for example—stayed the same as tens of thousands of ballots were cast, while other races—media personality, place to buy women’s apparel, hair salon, and even bank—were downright nail-biting. The competition was tough, to be sure, and you’ll notice a few more new faces this time around. From the best bartender to your favorite new place for a mani/pedi, here are the people and places you’re sure to love in 2015.

Food & Drink Personalities DownTime Shopping Services Photographed by Carla Witt Ford

Food & Drink Our readers have great taste, from barbecue to a drink or two.

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Morgantown • FEB/MAR 2015

BEER SELECTION

Apothecary Ale House & Café shows no signs of slowing down. Packed on weekends and most evenings with craft beer drinkers in the know, this bar off the beaten expanded in August 2014. “We needed the space anyway, and when football season begins it gets crowded. On weekends it’s hard to find a table,” said owner Grace Hutchens before the expansion. Now you can sidle up to Apothecary’s main bar for a pour of something new or take your favorite bottle into the adjoining room and kick back on the couch or at the long wraparound booth with friends. Apothecary’s selection has nearly doubled since 2012. The bar has 12 unique beers on tap and more than 130 handpicked bottles.

Cheers! 227 Chestnut Street 304.291.2291, facebook.com/ apothecaryalehousecafe BURGER

Tailpipes

With an interior straight out of Grease, this High Street eatery specializes in uniquely souped-up burgers with your choice of beef, turkey, chicken, or grilled portobello. Pictured (4): Barracuda Burger. 417 High Street, 304.225.2535 Ethnic Food

Chaang Thai

Serving the finest Thai food around, Chaang Thai is well known for offering a range of stirfries, noodles, and curries for everyone from vegans to diehard meat-eaters. Pictured (5): Veggie Chaang Thai. 361 High Street, 304.241.5374 chaangthai.com

elizabeth roth

Apothecary Ale House & Café

PIZZA

BREAKFAST

Pizza Al’s Terra Café

Pizza Al’s reigns supreme as Morgantown’s pie of choice—made from traditional recipes with a perfect blend of cheese, sauce, and toppings.

Pick-up only. 2952 University Avenue, 304.599.4040; 1403 Earl L. Core Road 304.225.2222; pizzaals.com

This café offers hearty, healthy, and downright tasty fare—from French toast bites to the Healthy Start, with a poached egg, house-made chicken sausage, Swiss cheese, and avocado on an English muffin.

Pictured (2): Sante Fe Egg Wrap. 425 Industrial Avenue Star City, 304.554.2233

BBQ Joint

Atomic Grill

Morgantown was hit hard with a hometown barbecue craze when Atomic Grill opened on Greenbag Road in 2013. Since then it’s become the must-stop eatery for anyone looking for tangy-sweet, mouthwatering comfort food in a cool atmosphere with great service.

Pictured (3): Rodeo Sandwich. 595 Greenbag Road 304.241.1170 facebook.com/ atomicgrill

OUTDOOR DINING

Oliverio’s on the Wharf

This family-owned restaurant has been on the Wharf since 2001. With a covered deck on the rail-trail overlooking the Monongahela River, it’s no wonder this eatery is packed.

Pictured (1): Italian Caprese Salad with Salmon. 52 Clay Street, 304.296.2565 oliveriosristorante.com

FINE DINING & ROMANTIC RESTAURANT

Stefano’s

You’ll want to make a reservation for this intimate restaurant. Candlelight, soft music, and attentive service— not to mention the best in Italian-American cuisine, a seasonal cocktail list, and vast selection of wine—make this a top choice for an elegant date night. 735A Chestnut Ridge Road, 304.581.6930 Neighborhood Bar

Mario’s Fishbowl

A highly contested BOM race year after year, this year’s contest saw Mario’s pull ahead with more than 1,500 votes. The Morgantown staple celebrates 65 years of frosty beer-filled fishbowls in 2015. 704 Richwood Avenue, 304.292.2511 mariosfishbowl.com morgantownmag.Com

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Sweet Indulgence

The Cupcakerie

This sweet eatery is still holding strong as the go-to place for treats, special occasion or not. You don’t know what you’re missing until you’ve had the P’Nutty for Chocolate cupcake— chocolate mousse cake filled with a chocolaty peanut butter surprise, topped with creamy peanut butter frosting and sprinkled with dark chocolate shavings. 194 Willey Street, 304.212.5464 thecupcakerie.com WINERY

Forks of Cheat

BREWERY

Mountain State Brewing Company

Whether it’s the classic, easy to drink Cold Trail Ale or the hoppy Seneca Indian Pale Ale, folks all over the state love a cold brew from Mountain State Brewing Company. It’s the largest fullscale microbrewery—all of the beer is brewed from home base in Thomas—and distributor in West Virginia, with locations in Thomas, Morgantown, and Deep Creek Lake, Maryland. In Morgantown you can also catch live music many nights and enjoy a packed house for trivia on Tuesdays. 54 Clay Street, 304.241.1976 mountainstatebrewing.com Sports Bar

Kegler’s Sports Bar & Lounge

Boasting more than 20 TVs and food and drink specials to keep any sports fan full and happy, Kegler’s has become the top spot to watch professional and NCAA sports from hockey to football to baseball to basketball. 735A Chestnut Ridge Road, 304.598.9698 keglerssportsbar.com 54

Morgantown • FEB/MAR 2015

VEGETARIAN-FRIENDLY & POWER LUNCH

Black Bear Burritos

Where’s the first place many folks go when they return to Morgantown after years away?

Black Bear Burritos. Fill up on food of all ethnic cuisines in a laid-back setting complete with live music, or call ahead and pick up a tray of strollers to go. 132 Pleasant Street, 304.296.8696; 3119 University Avenue, 304.777.4867 blackbearburritos.com

Katie griffith

This award-winning winery produces more than 20,000 gallons of fine wines every year on its 16-acre plot. From the beautiful tasting room and spacious deck you can enjoy light snacks and sample anything from a peppery merlot to a sweet Niagara to one of many fruity libations made with West Virginia produce.

2811 Stewartstown Road, 304.598.2019, wvwines.com

Place to Caffeinate

The Grind WV

Whether you like your caffeine fancy with a splash of something sweet or down-to-earth with a simple dark roast, The Grind WV on Willey Street has you covered. A longtime staple right next to campus, the little coffee shop stays busy morning through afternoon offering coffee, espresso, sweet treats, breakfast, and lunch.

168 Willey Street, 304.296.5297, facebook.com/thegrindwv

Personalities These culture-makers are charismatic, influential, and fun.

Chef

Simon Poulin

MEDIA PERSONALITY

1. Kevin Connoley

With knowledge of international cuisine spanning from European to Caribbean to Asian, this Canadian-born executive chef is responsible for a truly unique menu at fine dining mecca Sargasso. 215 Don Knotts Boulevard 304.554.0100, sargassomorgantown.com

2. Tony Caridi

Just over 50 votes separated these two in what was perhaps the most entertaining race to watch—and listen to—in this year’s Best of Morgantown competition. WVAQ’s Kevin Connoley in particular waged a seemingly all-out war against his closest competitor, runner-up Tony Caridi—WVU play-by-play announcer and a well known voice on WV MetroNews—on the airwaves at 101.9. You can catch The Kevin Connoley Show on WVAQ in the mornings from 5:30 to 10 a.m.

morgantownmag.Com

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Politician

Perry Bennett photog

dale sparks, wvu intercollegiate

athletics

Amanda Pasdon

A bright future awaits this young leader—the youngest chair of a major committee in the House of Delegates, serving as chair of the WV House Education Committee. Amanda represents Monongalia County in the House of Delegates.

She was first elected in 2010. amandapasdon.com

Coach

Bob Huggins

courtesy of david merrill

What can we possibly say that hasn’t been said before? He’s easily one of Morgantown’s favorite sons, and as head coach of WVU’s men’s basketball team since 2007 you can’t doubt his skills. He secured WVU’s first Big East Championship and second Final Four appearance in 2010. As of late January, he continued to lead the team (17-3) well into another great season.

Artist

David Merrill

He’s often considered the state’s artist, having been commissioned to craft symbolic representations of past governors, state landmarks, and iconic figures like the Mountaineer. Through a variety of mediums—including oil, acrylic, and watercolor—his work captures both the beauty and harsh reality of Appalachian life, from coal miners emerging into the light to Civil War soldiers reading letters from home. His pieces are owned by senators, governors, and celebrities alike.

304.276.1608 davidmerrillstudios.com 56

Morgantown • FEB/MAR 2015

Bartender

Brook Verbosky

Brook Verbosky has been bartending since she was 18.

For the last two years you’ve been able to find her at Mario’s Fishbowl in Suncrest, where she’s built up a following large enough to crown her Best Bartender. The Morgantown native took up the trade when she started college at WVU. “I got my degree in English, but I’ve been in the restaurant industry ever since, and I love it,” she says. You can find Brook behind the bar most nights of the week.

“Everyone knows me here,” she says. “And I try to know everyone who walks through the door a second time.” Her signature drink is an OldFashioned. 3117 University Avenue, 304.599.4309 mariosfishbowl.com

DownTime Music, yoga, the arts—it’s time to unwind.

Festival

West Virginia Wine & Jazz Festival

Join thousands at Camp Muffly every September, as this festival is always a good time.

Pack a blanket, grab your commemorative wine glass, and enjoy two days of the state’s best wine, jazz, and food. 1477 4-H Camp Road, wvwineandjazz.com

Band

Davisson Brothers Band

Fusing country, bluegrass, and southern rock, West Virginia natives the Davisson brothers, Chris and Donnie, together with cousin Sammy Davisson and longtime best friend Aaron Regester, have taken Morgantown—and the nation—by storm with their unique sound. “Our sound comes from being true to ourselves and what our family passed down,” Chris says. “The rest of the sound can be credited to years of touring in a lot of different environments ... mostly off the beaten paths of West Virginia.” The band has a self-titled album available for purchase

online, with edgy lyrics and a foot-stomping vibe like that in “Found Dead on a Fence Line,” as well as the single, “Jesse James.” The Davisson Brothers Band, affectionately acronymed DBB, appeals to country music lovers from all corners of the globe, but the group holds a special place in the hearts of Morgantowners. “We love the feeling of pride and heritage we get when we play Morgantown,” Chris says. Catch DBB February 6, 2015, at Snowshoe Resort and February 14, 2015, in Morgantown at Schmitt’s Saloon. davissonbrothersband.com

THEATER

The Metropolitan Theatre This regal theater was restored to its former glory in the last decade, and it now hosts everything from West Virginia Public Theatre performances to local dance troupes to comedians. 373 High Street, 304.291.4884 morgantownmet.com GOLF COURSE

Lakeview

david robinson

Lakeview is a special place.

Overlooking Cheat Lake and off the beaten path in Morgantown, the golf resort and spa is home to not one but two championship golf courses on 500 acres of rolling green. One Lakeview Drive, 304.594.1111 lakeviewresort.com morgantownmag.Com

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Schmitt’s Saloon & Davisson Brothers Music Hall has had quite the success story since opening in late 2013, with packed shows across genres three to four nights most weeks. Country, rock, alternative, metal—General Manager Vladimir R. Laruta-Davalos says the venue hosts everything.

While locals’ favorite group, the Davisson Brothers Band, can be found there often, patrons have also packed the house for everyone from Shooter Jennings, Outshyne, and Confederate Railroad to Uncle Kracker, Bobaflex, and Saving Abel. On Tuesdays the saloon hosts Songwriters Showcase, a free show that gives locals a chance to take the stage.

Schmitt’s Saloon started when Owen Schmitt, former fullback for the Mountaineers, felt it was time to do something big in Morgantown.

After retiring from the NFL, Owen got together with business partner Todd King and the Davisson Brothers Band with the idea to start a music venue. “They decided to put something together and open up a place they could call home,” Vladimir says. “Everyone knows and loves Owen Schmitt in West Virginia. Ever since he played here he always wanted to come back and share some of his passions with West Virginia. He’s a very talented musician as well. He plays in a band (The Easy Riderz) here all the time.” Upcoming shows include Tantric, Alien Ant Farm, Ty Herndon, and Jamie Lynn Spears. 245 Cheat Road, 304.291.9001 schmittssaloon.com 58

Morgantown • FEB/MAR 2015

Color Me Rad 5K

This colorful race raises funds for the Rosenbaum Family House. The 2015 5K will take place October 3 at Mylan Park. colormerad.com

amberlee christey photography

Schmitt’s Saloon & Davisson Brothers Music Hall

Local Run/Walk

Local Fundraising Event

WVU Children's Hospital Gala

For more than a decade, this special event has been raising funds for WVU’s Children’s Hospital in style.

The 12th annual black-tie event takes place February 7, 2015, at the Morgantown Event Center, complete with fine dining, live music, and dancing. wvuchgala.com

Tattoo Shop

STICK Tattoo Company

STICK Tattoo Company, the latest branch of the rapidly growing STICK LLC family tree, is the newest tattoo shop in town and has already made quite an impression. The experienced, certified staff offer quality piercings and tattoos to match any personality or desired style. From colored ink to cover-ups and everything in between, these creative and friendly artists make patrons feel at ease from the moment they walk through the door. This shop is conveniently located in Suncrest Towne Centre, and while appointments are encouraged, walk-ins are also welcome.

304.212.5543, 408 Suncrest Towne Centre Drive, sticktattoo.com

Museum/ Gallery

Monongalia Arts Center

For nearly four decades, the big columned building toward the south end of High Street has been a haven for the creative, itself a more than 100-yearold work of art. Today the Monongalia Arts Center, lovingly known around town as the MAC, is home to a myriad of rotating local art exhibits as well as being a host for everything from poetry nights to standup comedy. In February 2015 the MAC will host a new exhibit from Morgantown native Steve Pavlovic. Steve’s work uses the theme of darkness as a metaphor for isolation, loss, and the search for individuality in a chaotic world. His exhibit will be on display in the Benedum Gallery from February 6 to 28. 107 High Street, 304.292.3325 monartscenter.com

jared callahan

Music Venue

YogA Studio

Power Yoga Morgantown

In the heart of downtown, Power Yoga Morgantown offers a variety of classes for all skill levels. Specializing in Power Vinyasa Flow Yoga, this studio encourages each “Mogi” to find his or her edge while building strength, balance, and flexibility in a heated environment. Owners and instructors Jared Callahan and Amanda Love welcome all ages and abilities and inspire each student to live his or her yoga on and off the mat. Power Yoga dove headfirst into the Morgantown community from its start—not only hosting classes but also offering new student discounts, hosting workshops and overnight retreats, and providing free podcasts for home yoga practice. Power Yoga will also begin yoga teacher training in fall 2015 for those who wish to deepen their practice.

235 Spruce Street, 724.208.0045, poweryogamorgantown.com

Shopping These retailers offer up the stuff we love.

Place to Buy Shoes

Place to Buy Women’s Apparel

The Shoe Story

1. The Finery 2. Park & Madison Boutique 3. Contemporary Consignment

From a children’s shoe store to a hub of high quality footwear— this little shop has evolved.

Choose from brands like Teva, UGG, and Dansko, or Stride Rite for the kids. 749 Chestnut Ridge Road, 304.599.7443 PLACE TO BUY A WEDDING DRESS

Coni & Franc

From the moment you walk into Coni & Franc, you can expect attention to detail.

Beautiful gowns line the walls of the back bridal rooms, while sparkling shoes, purses, and jewelry dazzle as soon as you step through the door. You can bet owner Connie Merandi will make sure you look your very best before you leave, too. 422 High Street, 304.296.9466 coniandfranc.net

The narrowest race of all, this competition was almost too close to call. With The Finery’s mature style, Park & Madison Boutique’s young, trendy looks, and Contemporary Consignment’s designer brands at affordable prices, the style landscape in Morgantown is diverse. As you can see from the looks prepared by each fine clothing shop, fashionistas across the city can find everything they need, from fun, chunky jewelry to sharp blazers to shoes and purses in every color of the rainbow. The Finery, 709 Beechurst Avenue, 304.291.2161, the finery.com; Park & Madison Boutique, 486 Suncrest Towne Centre Drive, 304.381.2411, shopparkandmadison. com; Contemporary Consignment, 1756 Mileground Road, 304.284.8070, facebook.com/ contemporaryconsignment The Finery Contemporary Consignment

Park & Madison Boutique

PLACE FOR MOUNTAINEER GEAR

The Book Exchange

There’s more than textbooks to The Book Exchange. Get everything you need before the next big game or Mountaineer party with apparel, décor, and more. 152 Willey Street 304.292.7354; 342 Patteson Drive, 304.598.2225 bookexchangewv.com morgantownmag.Com

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Place to Buy Kids’ Apparel & Consignment Store

Cool Kids Consignment

Kids and women of all ages can find high quality, gently used items here, all for 50 to 90 percent off retail.

Find everything from brand name looks to books to baby gear. 1706 Mileground Road, 304.292.7467 coolkidsconsignment.com PLACE TO BUY MEN’S APPAREL

Daniel’s

Get suited up in style and experience the best in customer service at this longtime men’s store in Morgantown.

2908 University Avenue 304.296.7202 LOCAL RECREATION STORE

Pathfinder

Kayaks, snowboards, mountain bikes, outerwear— downtown Morgantown’s only outdoor adventure store has everything you need for your next adventure. 235 High Street, 304.296.0076 pathfinderwv.com GROCERY STORE

Kroger

It’s hard to get out of this market mecca in Suncrest Towne Centre with just milk and bread, especially as the large store offers up everything from organic produce to fresh flowers to even, sometimes, elaborate home and kitchen décor.

500 Suncrest Towne Centre Drive, 304.285.6780 kroger.com

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Morgantown • FEB/MAR 2015

Furniture Store

Classic Furniture

“We’ve been serving the greater Morgantown area since the turn of the century,” jokes Ed Keepers, partner at Classic Furniture—winner of best furniture store in Morgantown. Located in the Sabraton area, Ed says Morgantown businesses and individuals flock to Classic because of the personalized, professional service as well as the creative flair at the store. “Our specialty is creating really unique interiors for really affordable prices,” he says. “From selecting paint to rugs—we do total custom work. We also have excellent customer service. That’s why we have a loyal customer base that keeps coming back.” With a dedicated staff of talented designers and window treatment specialists, Classic Furniture gives true attention to detail. This store offers original oil paintings, an ever-changing assortment of wall décor, custom commissioned art, hand-woven fine rugs, stylish furniture, and accessories of all kinds. Open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily and Sundays and evenings by appointment. 1537 Sabraton Avenue, 304.284.8890, classicfurnituremorgantown.com

BOOKSTORE

Barnes & Noble

You could spend an eternity inside Barnes & Noble. Even in an age when more and more people are buying books online, this mega store keeps customers coming back for top recommendations and friendly service in an inviting setting where customers are welcome to sit and stay awhile. 3000 University Towne Center Drive, 304.599.1294 barnesandnoble.com

Elegant Alley Cat

If you’re looking for something unique, you can’t beat Elegant Alley Cat. The adorable store in the heart of downtown Morgantown overflows with all of your gift-giving needs, including Vera Bradley, Trollbeads, and quirky items you didn’t even know you needed. 358 High Street, 304.292.4433 elegantalleycat.com JEWELRY STORE

Joyce’s Jewelry Boutique At Joyce’s Jewelry Boutique, shopping is just plain luxurious. Here you’ll find high-end designs and never-before-seen creations like that of owner Joyce Katzeff’s signature line.

Joyce’s has more than 30 years of experience spanning two generations. 1070 Suncrest Towne Centre Drive, 304.599.6981 joyces-jewelry.com

Elizabeth roth

GIFT SHOP

PLACE TO BUY HEALTH FOOD

Morgantown Farmers’ Market

Find plentiful fresh produce at the corner of Spruce and Fayette streets on Saturdays from May to November and on select Saturdays from January through April at Wesley United Methodist Church downtown. morgantownfarmers.org Local Pet Store

Exotic Jungle

For 30 years Exotic Jungle on the Mileground in Morgantown has been providing services and expertise for lovers of every animal—amphibians to puppies.

“Our biggest thing we’ve always tried to strive for is customer service,” says owner Emily Sanders. “Not just throwing an animal at customers, but educating them about both products and animals so they’re not in the dark. I think we’ve been pretty successful.” Emily says she and her staff are always available to answer customer questions and concerns, saying no question is too trivial. The store sells pets ranging from snakes to chinchillas to birds and fish and also participates in a cat rescue. 1716D Mileground Road 304.296.8552 morgantownmag.Com

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Services These bright businesses have everything you need.

Doctor

Troy Krupica

This Georgetown University grad completed his chief residency at WVU and has been practicing for five years. He’s now an internal medicine hospitalist at Ruby Memorial Hospital Health Sciences Campus, associate program director for residency, and co-chair of the Global Health Program, which provides opportunities for WVU students to complete rotations in medicine and public health in developing countries and international settings like Guatemala, Fiji, and Brazil.

Mani/Pedi & Day Spa

The Beauty Bar

A winner in two categories, The Beauty Bar has been making waves with its communal setup and mission of health, beauty, and happiness since opening in 2013. The bar-style salon sets customers around a large u-shaped bar while they receive salon services, Bellini or wine in hand. Owner Hollee Temple says the atmosphere encourages conversation and camaraderie among guests. “To have won in two categories speaks to our mission. Our tagline is ‘You deserve to feel beautiful,’ and I have repeatedly heard our guests responding to that,” she says.

“There’s so much pressure on women to be so many things to different people, we explicitly give our guests permission to 62

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take care of themselves.”

3484 University Avenue 304.598.9200, morgantownbeautybar.com VETERINARIAN

Cheat Lake Animal Hospital

Cheat Lake Animal Hospital has everything you and your furry friends—or not so furry friends—need. This fullservice veterinary, boarding, and grooming facility is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, providing everything from annual vaccinations to orthopedic surgery. Cheat Lake Animal Hospital also offers services for exotic pets, and you can even keep up with your vet via the hospital’s blog. 286 Fairchance Road 304.594.1124 cheatlakevets.com Workout Spot

Viking Performance Training

This strength and conditioning fitness center was opened

by Jerry Handley, who boasts more than 10 years’ experience training Division I athletes, professional sports draft picks, and Olympians. 139 Greenbag Road, 304.216.7496 vikingperformancetraining.com

FLORIST

Bella Fiore

Offering custom flower arrangements for everything from weddings to gift baskets to special occasions, the designers at Bella Fiore in Suncrest Towne Centre only have customer service on their minds. “We’re first and foremost about taking care of customers,” says owner and designer Jason Savage. The business has operated a boutique, high-end floral service for years but opened a storefront in 2014 because of high customer demand.

“We were getting so many requests from customers to do everyday floral arrangements other than the parties and galas and weddings we’re most known for.” Jason and the designers at Bella Fiore are celebrated for their European-style design. “It’s more of a garden arrangement,” he says. “Things you would pick out of a summer garden versus thing that you would have imported.” 484 Suncrest Towne Centre, 304.381.4697, morgantownflowers.com HAIR SALON

1. Nico Spalon

80 South Pierpont Road, 304.594.1550, nicospalon.com

2. Tonique’s Trilogy

130 Fayette Street, 304.291.4050, tonique.com This race was no blowout. By a handful votes, Nico Spalon held onto the crown for best hair salon in Morgantown, edging out runner-up Tonique’s Trilogy. Both inspire deep customer loyalty.

RADIO STATION

Local Hotel

WVAQ

Waterfront Place Hotel & Conference Center

Tune in to 101.9 FM on your daily drive or listen live online anytime for all of the best pop and rock hits as well as a healthy dose of friendly banter.

Morgantown’s favorite local radio station also hosts some of the area’s best events and contests, like Working Women’s Wednesday. wvaq.com BANK

United Bank

It seems United Bank has been around forever. For more than 175 years its commitment to serve the community has carried on. Locally you’ll find United Bank in Suncrest, the Wharf district, Cheat Lake, on Fayette Street, and in Sabraton, Westover, and Star City. 304.598.2000 bankwithunited.com CAR DEALERSHIP

John Howard Motors

Find the best selection of Subaru and Nissan models at this Mileground dealership, open 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday to Friday and until 6 p.m. on Saturday. 1730 Mileground Road, 304.292.0171 johnhowardmotors.com MASSAGE

Spa Roma

Treat yourself to a massage from Spa Roma, but make your appointment early. This past winner of many Best of Morgantown awards is überpopular, even with locations in Cheat Lake and Suncrest.

170 Lakeview Drive, Suite 1, 304.594.9782; 1054 Suncrest Towne Centre 304.241.4057; sparoma.com

Head down to Morgantown’s waterfront district and you can’t miss it—a pristine tower of glass and brick emblazoned with Waterfront Place Hotel & Conference Center’s signature WP logo. Inside you’ll find all the amenities you might expect of a hotel that’s been given TripAdvisor’s Certificate of Excellence. Overlooking the Monongahela River and the rail-trail, Waterfront Place offers guests more than 200 comfortable rooms and suites starting at $129 per night, an indoor pool, a hydrotherapy pool, a fitness center, and a spa. And you won’t go hungry with the culinary delights and high-class ambience offered at Regatta Bar and Grill and the Rat Pack Lounge. Two Waterfront Place 304.296.1700 waterfrontplacehotel.com PERSONAL TRAINER

John Mouser

John Mouser has been providing personal training and strength and conditioning services for six years—everything from getting championship athletes ready for a big competition to boot camp classes right after New Year’s. “I do a wide variety of things,” he says.

“I train athletes and regular people for general fitness.

Everyone I work with gets what they pay for. Customer service is one of the most important things in any business you’re in, and I always go above and beyond.” John accepts oneon-one clients, makes house visits, and also trains out of Viking Performance. mouserpower.com

DRY CLEANER

Massullo’s Cleaners and Tailors

For four years straight Massullo’s Cleaners has taken the title of Morgantown’s best dry cleaner. The iconic institution located on High Street in downtown Morgantown also offers services out of a store location in Suncrest Towne Centre. Known for cleaning, tailoring, and timely, quality service, Massullo’s has gained a wide following among Morgantownians.

447 High Street, 304.296.5210; 1068 Suncrest Towne Centre 304.225.5210 Real Estate Agency

J.S. Walker

If you’re looking to buy or sell real estate in Morgantown, Best of Morgantown voters will point you to J.S. Walker, four-year winner of the BOM real estate agency category. “Our clients come first, and we strive to provide top quality service,” says J.S. Walker broker and owner, Steve Walker. “In doing so we secure their loyalty. We emphasize professionalism and excellence in all the services we provide.” The agency primarily assists buyers and sellers with residential real estate, but is also involved in commercial and industrial property and property management.

148 Fayette Street, 304.296.0074, jswalker.com Dentist

The Landing Dental Spa

A two-time BOM winner, The Landing Dental Spa creates a place where even the jitteriest patient can relax. The practice opened in 2011 under the direction of doctors Heather Ayers and Carly Lemley. “We wanted to make a place where people wouldn’t mind going to the dentist,” Heather says. “We focus on making our patients comfortable and happy.” Each dental chair is equipped with massage capabilities and the practice provides spa-grade warm neck wraps, personal flat screens, and warm towels to clean up with. “We get to know our patients,” Heather says. “They’re not just another mouth we’re working on.” 6260 Mid Atlantic Drive, 304.594.2200, thelandingdentalspa.com

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Hard work, a little mystery, and a big heart turned Albino Roperti into Pizza Al, the head of Morgantown’s unofficial pizza empire.

written by Mikenna Pierotti photographed by Carla Witt Ford

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t’s the early 1960s—the tumultuous era of John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr., and the Vietnam War. For Albino Roperti, a young Italian immigrant setting foot in Pittsburgh for the first time, the fluctuating political and cultural climate in the United States is overwhelming. Though the much smaller Steel City is a far cry from Albino’s native Turin, a heavily populated urban center in the shadow of the snowcapped Italian Alps, Albino still has his work cut out for him with a new language, a new landscape, and a new career. “In Turin my father worked in a Fiat factory when he was young but his family had always made wine,” says Rachel Roberti, Albino’s daughter.

Although Albino’s wife, Rosarina, a native of Calabria, and her family had moved to Pittsburgh years earlier and Rosarina had already learned English, Albino has some trouble adjusting. Nevertheless, he works hard to establish a foothold. “He came to this country and he didn’t speak any English. But a friend of his had a pizza shop, so he started working there,” Rachel says. He didn’t know it yet, but pizza making would soon become his life. “Little by little he started doing it on his own. That’s where it started.”

Elbow deep in dough, learning to prepare fresh sauces and work a hot oven, something clicked. Just a few years after making his home on American shores, he opened his own pizzeria in Pittsburgh.

Little by little he started doing it on his own. That’s where it started.”

Rachel Roberti

La Storia (The History) But Pittsburgh isn’t where the story ends. More than 50 years after coming to the United States, Albino has been transformed into the unofficial pizza king of Morgantown. Affectionately known as Pizza Al by his fans, his pizzerias—now called Pizza Al’s—on University Avenue, on Earl L. Core Road in Sabraton, and in McMurray, Pennsylvania, are wildly popular, and his 20-inch, $11 pies have been winning awards for years. Ask anyone in Morgantown, from the freshman in her second semester to the townie family, where to find the best pizza in a 100-mile radius, and they’ll probably tell you to head to Al’s.

Despite the acclaim, John Kennedy, a manager of Pizza Al’s on University Avenue, says Al doesn’t see himself as anything more than a typical, hardworking businessman. Making great pizza at an affordable price? It’s just his job. “He doesn’t want a pat on the back for something he thinks is his responsibility,” John says. “He never did it for the money. He did it

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Our pizza is universal. It fits everyone, but at a college price.”

John Kennedy, manager

for the people.” Rachel says that humility and passion for quality are part of his character. “He always says he’s honored that his business gave him the chance to meet the people of Morgantown.

He says there are no better people anywhere.”

Al’s pizza kingdom in Morgantown began in 1969 with the opening of Pizzeria Italia on Beechurst Avenue. Although his original Pittsburgh shop (allegedly called Al’s Pizza) closed, Morgantown looked ripe for the picking. “A friend of his took him for a ride and brought him here to Morgantown and my dad fell in love with it,” Rachel says. Morgantowners quickly made the feeling mutual. “When I first started at the shop beside Suburban Lanes we were selling 18-inch pizzas for $5. You couldn’t get that anywhere. Back then there wasn’t much competition, either,” John says. “Other than franchises.”

Pizzeria Italia didn’t stay put. From year to year it grew and followed demand, bouncing around the city (see the pizza tree on page 68 to trace some of Pizza Al’s storied past). Along the way Al learned even more about the pizza business and happily passed that knowledge on to his employees. Daniel Keefe, manager and part-owner of Pizza Al’s in Sabraton, says even though the pizzerias operate independently these days, with only minimal supervision from Al, anytime a manager needs advice, he calls Al first. “Most of the time Al is pretty hands-off. He knows we do a good job,” Daniel says. “But at the same time, he’s probably seen all the problems I might have 20 or 30 times in his career.

If something breaks here, I call him instead of a plumber or mechanic. Really, he’s part handyman and part businessman.

He has to be.”

Between teaching his protégés how to properly raise or toss dough, how to run the register, or how to take orders, Al made something of an empire. “The way I see it, Al had an opportunity to come to America and he did it and made the best of it. He came here, opened a very successful business, and made a life for him and his family. Not to mention that he’s made a life for a lot of other people because of the businesses he’s opened. He lived the true American dream,” John says.

After decades of being Morgantown’s favorite pizzaiolo (pizza maker), Al felt ready to try other things. By the early 2000s he sold Pizzeria Italia and was settling into retirement— but Morgantowners would have none of it. John, who started working with Al 20 years ago, stayed on with the new owners

for a short time after Al’s retirement and says the change was too drastic. “He sold the place to another Italian family and immediately started hearing a lot of complaints from dissatisfied people.

The new owners started changing ingredients and products that Al had used for years. That’s how you lose customers,” John says.

“It didn’t taste the same.” Fearing the loss of his hard-earned empire, Al donned his apron once again and opened Pizza Al’s on University Avenue around 2005.

La Ricetta (The Recipe) Today Pizzeria Italia is gone. But Al’s pizza lives on. His thin, New York-style crusts with just the right mixture of sauce and toppings layered on a pie big enough and affordable enough to feed a true Mountaineer have been the go-to for athletes, college students, and locals alike for decades. And with fresh salads, antipasti, calzones, and sandwiches on the menu, Al can satisfy every taste with his made-from-scratch creations. Just don’t expect to have your pie delivered. Like any pizzaiolo in Italy, Al considers pizza art.

“We like to say we do everything but milk the cows,” Daniel says. “We make the dough, we cut all the ingredients, we grind our own cheese, we slice our own meat. Everything is done the old way. It’s just the best way. It takes a little more work and effort, but the final product is better for everyone.”

Al didn’t start out knowing the secret to a great pizza. “He learned it all by himself. Being that he didn’t speak English, it was hard for my father when he started,” Rachel says. Years of trial and error have shaped Al’s—and his managers’—palates. Al’s creations call for nothing but fresh ingredients, many of which Al has purchased from the same companies for 40 years. But there’s a certain aura of mystery surrounding his actual recipes. Not even his managers know everything. Take the sauce, for example.

“That’s an Al specialty,” John says. “There are certain things he does himself and we all understand why he does it. We don’t interfere in that department.”

Rumors abound over whether Al came upon his techniques in the old country or whether he’s formulated them over time.

John says Al’s particular blend of spices is so hush-hush it’s literally kept under lock and key. But Rachel insists the true secret is Al’s attention to detail. “I know everyone says there’s this secret recipe, but there really isn’t. It’s just the pride that he takes in his product. The love that he puts in when he makes a pizza, he is so sincere. I really believe that.”

Al doesn’t mess with success. Walk into any Pizza Al’s location, order your favorite—we recommend the white pizza or a traditional pepperoni pie—and you’ll not only taste quality, you’ll find consistency. Whether your pizzeria is the student favorite in Evansdale, with its oddly humorous signs warning against bringing in outside food or drink, or the townie hangout in Sabraton, you’ll always be greeted with the same mouthwatering smell of rising dough and simmering sauces and the same towering stacks of pizza boxes. “Our pizza is universal. It fits everyone, but at a college price,” John says. That’s what keeps the same customers lining up at the doors week after week. “The regulars keep our doors open, the people who’ve been coming since the ’70s and ’80s and still love it.” morgantownmag.Com

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.

c i r c a 1964

Albino leaves his hometown of Turin, Italy (Turino), and settles in Pittsburgh, PA.

m i d 1960 s

Opens Al’s Pizza in Pittsburgh

1969

Opens Pizzeria Italia on Beechurst Avenue Moves to Chestnut Street Moves to University Ave Moves to Van Voorhis Rd Moves to Chestnut Ridge Rd

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Pizza Al retires

2006

Al comes out of retirement and opens Pizza Al’s on University Ave

Al opens second Pizza Al’s in Sabraton c i rc a 2013

Al opens Pizza Al’s in McMurray, PA, outside Pittsburgh

Pizza Al has made his mark across the city and the region.

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Al briefly opens Pizza Al’s near downtown campus on University Ave

While you aren’t likely to find a crazy new pizza flavor on the menu anytime soon, Al’s employees don’t mind preparing something special for their customer base. Whether it’s an extra thick crust for Freddy, the patron who likes to dip a bit in his coffee; a special white pizza made with tomatoes, green olives, hot peppers, and ricotta cheese called the Zia, named after a longtime employee; or simply making sure Happy Thursday Sue’s favorite pizza is boxed and ready each week when she drops by, Al’s managers and employees work hard to earn their customers’ appreciation. “It’s gotten to the point where I know most customers more by their pizza than by their name,” Daniel says.

La Famiglia (The Family) Pizza Al himself is too modest to do interviews. If you’re lucky enough to spot an older gentleman tossing dough or working the ovens behind the counter when you’re ordering your next pie, a man of about 72 in a white apron who has a tendency to call his customers “honey” and “buddy,” you’ve probably found the mysterious Al. Just don’t let on you know who he is. He likes to maintain his anonymity. In fact, if you drum up the courage to ask him if he is Al, he’ll probably point to one of his other employees or insist he’s just Al’s brother.

But his daughter and managers will let you in on a little secret, something Al’s best customers already know. “My dad’s got a big heart,” Rachel says. They’re also quick to insist he

isn’t a hard guy to get to know. Not only did Al create a life for himself and his family—Rachel still helps her father run his businesses and Rosarina was a regular sight in the kitchen until her passing—and create a generous scholarship at WVU in his wife’s name, but Al has also welcomed many an employee under his wing. “I’m his only child, but these guys (Al’s managers), these are his adopted boys,” Rachel says.

Daniel insists that this camaraderie is what makes working with and learning from Al such a rewarding experience. “He’s not one to mince words,” Daniel says. “He’ll tell you how it is, and if something isn’t right he’ll tell you how it should be.

But he’s always nice, always understanding. If I need time off, he’ll cover me. If he sees a pile of dirty dishes, he doesn’t just tell someone else to do it, he does it. You aren’t a subordinate.

He’s the boss, but you’re working side by side with him. I really bought into that aspect of the business.”

John says Al isn’t just an employer. He’s a mentor, a friend, and a father figure. “He’s always been there to give me advice and he’s always been one of the first to yell at me when I do something I shouldn’t do,” he laughs. “All the years I’ve done this, it doesn’t feel like a job to me. It feels like I get to come here and hang out with my friends and do a hobby. Having Al as a boss is one of the biggest perks of working here. He’s one of the funniest, coolest, most relaxed people I’ve ever met in my life. It’s like working with family.” pizzaals.com morgantownmag.Com

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The U

Spaces at WVU’s Center for Black Culture and Research display donated items from missionaries who traveled to Africa.

Part of History

WVU’s Center for Black Culture and Research explores the black experience in America—empowering students and the community through knowledge. ➼

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ou can’t know who you are until you understand where you’ve come from. At its heart, that’s the foundation from which WVU’s Center for Black Culture and Research (CBCR) operates.

Since 1987 the center has worked to support, educate, and empower not only the university’s black students, but all of the students, faculty, and staff as well as the Morgantown community. “The most 70

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common assumption people make about the center is that we are only on campus to serve African-Americans,” says Marjorie Fuller, director since 2008. “We are here to provide many different kinds of services and programming to support the study of black culture and to promote cultural awareness and understanding.”

Once you study your own heritage, you come to know yourself, and that can change everything. “You are much more accepting and understanding of

everyone else and better able to navigate any environment,” Marjorie says. Each year the center takes anywhere from 10 to 30 students on a research study tour to uncover and rediscover history. “A lot of our students who have taken these trips internalize that new knowledge, and the things they’ve learned aid them immensely in their studies and the disciplines they pursue.”

For example, it’s not every day you get to walk in Martin Luther King Jr.’s shoes. WVU students did just that on a recent tour of the American South with the CBCR. Beginning in Atlanta at Ebenezer Baptist Church where King was baptized, students followed King’s life to Tuskegee Institute in Alabama where they met with Fred Gray, King’s attorney who also worked for Rosa Parks during the bus boycott. From there they

The U

The center provides programs and services for anyone interested in exploring black culture.

“We have made it our priority to promote cultural awareness and understanding,” says Director Marjorie Fuller.

traveled to Montgomery and then Selma, where they walked the historic Edmund Pettus Bridge. In Birmingham they toured a civil rights museum at the site of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing before ending in Memphis at the Lorraine Motel, where King was assassinated.

“We really got to see what a lot of times you don’t read in the history books,” says Ellis Lambert, a 2013 WVU graduate, of the center’s trips. Past research study tours have taken students to Harlem to study the Harlem Renaissance, New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, and the Gullah islands off of the coasts of South Carolina and Georgia to study the dying Gullah culture. In 2014 Marjorie took students to Washington, D.C., to meet archaeologist Tony Browder, the first African-American to fund and coordinate an archaeological dig in Egypt. Plans are under way for

another D.C. trip in spring 2015.

While the tours take students all across the U.S., the center’s location on Spruce Street in downtown Morgantown is also a hub of activity. In 2012 the center underwent major renovations, improving and adding a student lounge, study and research areas, and offices for student leaders. “I was always there,” Ellis says. “I was very involved with the center through multiple programs and other student organizations that were in alliance with the center.” He was also a member of the first class of Academic STARS (Students Achieving and Reaching for Success), the center’s leadership and retention program for incoming freshmen. “The Academic STARS program affected me so much I continued to be a part of it after I finished,” Ellis says. “I was a mentor the summer of 2011 and a head mentor the summer of 2012. I loved

working with WVU Center for students.”

Black Culture and Research STARS students are high 590 Spruce Street 304.293.7029 achievers who cbc.wvu.edu want to dig into their culture and become leaders. “Many of these students have never had the opportunity to become a part of and learn about their history and heritage,” Marjorie says. The fiveweek program held the summer before freshman year includes room and board, one credit-bearing course, workshops, and a trip to the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati.

At the end of the program, students are taken through an African rite of passage led by David Whitaker, a Ghana chieftain and founder of the Ashe Culture Center in Ohio, and Mwatabu Okantah, director morgantownmag.Com

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The WVU Center for Black Culture and Research is known for bringing unique performances and big names to campus. Kicking off Black History Month in 2015, the center hosted “I Am Change,” featuring keynote speakers Ndaba Mandela, Nelson Mandela’s grandson; Donisha Rita Claire Prendergast, Bob Marley’s granddaughter; and Jasmine Rand, one of the Trayvon Martin family attorneys. The program was part of The Freedom Project, an initiative sponsored by the center, and WVU’s David C. Hardesty Jr. Festival of Ideas.

Earlier this year the center celebrated Martin Luther King Jr. with a commemoration speech by Anand Giridharadas, a columnist with The New York Times and author of The True American: Murder and Mercy in Texas, and the 25th Annual MLK Breakfast featuring keynote speaker Sheila Coleman-Castells.

Coming up: Wednesday, February 18, 7 p.m.

George Green, former assistant national director of marketing for Roc-A-Fella Records and former tour manager for Jay-Z, speaks in the Mountainlair Ballroom.

Co-sponsored with the Muslim Student Association.

Thursday, February 26, 7 p.m.

A music showcase of hip-hop, soul, gospel, and folk featuring WVU students, faculty, and staff in the Mountainlair Ballroom.

March 27, 28, and 29 The 2015 Research Study Tour in Washington, D.C.

Thursday, April 23, 7 p.m.

The Paul Robeson/Mahalia Jackson Gospel Choir performs in the Mountainlair Ballroom.

Friday, April 24 The Dr. Carter G. Woodson Black Graduates Recognition Celebration honors the academic achievements of WVU’s African, African-American, and black graduates. This celebration will include a luncheon as well as the annual evening gala, open to the campus community.

The Center for Black Culture and Research is open to everyone, and programs and events are free.

of the Center of Pan-African Culture at Kent State University, one of the few places in the country with a program like WVU’s STARS. The guest facilitators stay in the dorms with the students and immerse them in their culture for an entire week, taking the students through an African rite of passage. “It’s a life-changing, life-altering experience,” Marjorie says.

Ellis says the center’s efforts to expand its audience are yearround and far-reaching. “For any major event throughout the year, the center had something going on and was responsible for bringing so many profound African-American speakers, educators, and entertainers to campus,” he says. He remembers Cornel West, Michael Eric Dyson, and Roland Martin coming to WVU, while the center has also hosted speakers like Yolanda King, Martin Luther King Jr.’s eldest daughter, and Ilyasah Shabazz, daughter of Malcolm X. The center’s signature events are also popular, including the MLK commemorative events every January, Black History Month events in February, and a welcome barbecue and homecoming tailgate each fall. Students can always find a myriad of events on the center’s calendar, from panel discussions to musical performances like that of the Paul Robeson/Mahalia Jackson Gospel Choir. Started by the center in the late 1980s, Ellis says the choir was nonexistent by the time he got to WVU, so he recruited a handful of students and organized a new choir.

By the time he graduated, the group had grown to nearly 50 students, faculty, and staff, and today the choir performs frequently on campus and travels to neighboring states.

The Center for Black Culture and Research is open to anyone interested in learning more about black culture or history. With a diversity of programs and services, as well as staff who offer critical support—financial, academic, and otherwise—it’s worth a visit, Ellis says. “Don’t overlook the center,” he advises.

“Don’t think it’s not important, don’t think it’s not relevant, and don’t miss your opportunity to be involved. Utilize the center—to learn, to meet people, to become more active, and to give back to the community.” written by rachel coon photographed by carla witt ford

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out & about in the mountain city

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jan 10 • Children’s Discovery Museum of WV

Free Healthy Saturday

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In January the Children’s Discovery Museum of West Virginia (CDMWV) offered two free Healthy Saturdays to inspire kids and their grown-ups to be healthy. The museum is open every Saturday and focuses on everything from health to science. Regular admission is $4 per child, and children under 12 months and adults are free.

CDMWV will host Free Healthy Teeth Saturday on February 21, 2015. Visitors can enjoy free admission, crafts, and experiments that will teach the importance of oral health care. On February 28, the museum will hold its annual Space Day event. Children and adults can see a show in the inflatable planetarium and do experiments and crafts about space. All programs are from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Supporters may make donations online or by mail to CDMWV, P.O. Box 104, Morgantown WV, 26507. The museum is looking for volunteers for fundraising events, to work on the board, and participate in other projects. Anyone interested should email cdmwv@gmail.com. The museum is located at the Mountaineer Mall. cdmwv.org 1 Kids make music in the Imagination Station. 2 The Nano exhibit encourages experiments with ferrofluid. 3 Children love to create with large Tinkertoys.

4 A girl opens a dentist bag to check a puppet’s teeth. 5 Kids can also build a ball ramp in the Engineer It! exhibit.

6 Explore oceanography. 7 Find a plasma ball in the Space Weather exhibit.

8 Museum assistant Mira Core loves working with kids. 9 Children of all ages love the museum. 10 Magna-Tiles are a popular toy. photographed and interviewed by Gingham Photography

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jan 10 • lakeview resort

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KeyLogic Holiday Party This year’s holiday party for local, award-winning company KeyLogic took on a Mardi Gras theme as employees celebrated at Lakeview Golf Resort & Spa. The celebration recognized 16 years of continued growth for the company, as employees also took home four annual portfolio awards and two annual corporate awards.

Live music was provided by the Soul Miners, and guests also enjoyed TapSnap photos and tarot card readings. keylogic.com 1 Tim Husson, Andrea Ware, Kelli Snedegar, and Logan Wheatcraft have fun with accessories. 2 Glenn Copen and his wife, Deb, celebrate the evening in true Mardi Gras style.

3 Tracey Irving and Benjamin Morris don fashionable masks.

4 Rachael Brady and John Tatta pause for a photo. 5 Gary Shears and his wife, Judy, smile for the camera. 6 Crystal Wilfong models a feather boa and mask to bring a little of New Orleans to Morgantown. 7 Ryan Kuehn and Gabe DeWitt sport festive masks for the party. 8 Amanda Baker and Bryan Shamblin pose during cocktail hour. 9 Brian Fleak, Todd Lewis, Teresa Adams, and Jenny Friend enjoy the Mardi Grasthemed evening.

erin newmeyer

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out & about in the mountain city

1 jan 17 • Mylan Park

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Thousands came out to the second annual West Virginia Grand Bash at Mylan Park in January.

The fundraiser included live music by local bands like The Bradley Shaw Band and The Marshall Lowry Band. Food was provided by Boston Beanery.

With more than 100 raffles, attendees had the chance to win everything from a new Cadillac to a trip to Italy to an array of rifles. The event benefited the WVU Children’s Hospital at Ruby Memorial.

WVU Children’s Hospital serves patients throughout West Virginia, southern Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio, and western Maryland, providing care in Morgantown at the hospital, in outpatient clinics, and at eight other locations around the state.

1 Mission for Miracles founders John, Meg, and Dolly Throckmorton pose with key supporters.

2 The Bradley Shaw Band features a special guest performance

by Owen Schmitt. 3 Bobby Nicholas and Brent Wilmoth make announcements. 4 Cheryl Jones, director of WVU Children’s Hospital, smiles for the camera.

5 Jeremy Posey, president of Charity Auctions Unlimited, works with a volunteer. 6 The Marshall Lowry Band takes the stage.

7 Meg Throckmorton sits in a side raffle item. 8 Thousands attend the event for food, raffles, and live music, all for a good cause.

WVU Children’s Hospital

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WV Grand Bash

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courtesy of WVU arts & Entertainment

Your local guide to life, art, culture, & more Feb/Mar 2015

February

February 22 Get tickets early for Sister Act, one of Broadway’s most enjoyable musical comedies. $28 and up

WVU Lyell B. Clay Concert Theatre, Sun., 7:30 p.m., 304.293.7469, events.wvu.edu

February 5–7 Dance Now! WVU Creative Arts Center, Lyell B. Clay Concert Theatre, Thurs.–Sat., 7:30 p.m.

The 60th annual dance concert celebrates the work of dance students, student choreographers, faculty, and guest artists with an array of dance styles.

February 6 Steve Pavlovic Opening Reception Monongalia Arts Center, 107 High Street Fri., 6–8 p.m., monartscenter.com Support local art by attending the opening reception of Steve Pavlovic’s exhibit, “Walking, Standing, Searching, Dreaming,” on display through February 28. Steve’s work has long focused on the theme of darkness as a metaphor for isolation, loss, and the search for individuality in a chaotic world.

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Morgantown • FEB/MAR 2015

February 7 Fourth Annual Winterfest at Coopers Rock Coopers Rock State Forest, Sat., 10 a.m.–4 p.m.

Try cross-country skiing or snowshoeing for the first time with free rentals or take the kids down the sledding hill and through an obstacle course. Activities also include a downhill slalom, slingshot paintball biathlon, and more. Free Heart Hustle Dance-A-Thon National Guard Armory, 99 Everlasting Lane, Sat. noon–10 p.m., hiydance.webs.com Morgantown High School’s Hi-Y Club presents the Morgantown Heart Hustle Dance-A-Thon to benefit WVU Children’s Hospital and the Children’s Miracle Network. Similar to a Walk-A-Thon, participants raise money by dancing, with different genres demonstrated every hour, plus door prizes, raffles, face painting, refreshments, and a photo booth. $12 in advance, $15 at the door

WVU Children’s Hospital Gala Morgantown Event Center, Waterfront Place Hotel, Sat., 5:30 p.m.

The 12th annual fundraiser for WVU Children’s Hospital, this black-tie event includes a silent auction, live entertainment, and dinner and will begin with a cocktail reception.

Tantric Schmitt’s Saloon, 245 Cheat Road, Sat., 8 p.m. schmittssaloon.com Rock band Tantric takes the stage at Schmitt’s Saloon for a show that’s sure to be memorable. $12 February 9 The 5 Browns WVU Creative Arts Center, Mon., 7:30 p.m. events.wvu.edu The 5 Browns all attended New York’s Juilliard School, becoming the first family of five siblings

to be accepted simultaneously. Now they bring their complex five-piano arrangements to the stage at the Creative Arts Center. $23 and up February 11 WVU Men’s Basketball vs. Kansas State WVU Coliseum, Weds., 7 p.m., wvugame.com The Mountaineers take on the Kansas State Wildcats in this Big 12 matchup.

Darik Santos from America’s Got Talent Monongalia Arts Center, 107 High Street Thurs., 8–10 p.m., monartscenter.com Stand-up comedian Darik Santos takes the stage at the MAC for a night of big laughs. $10 February 13 Karma to Burn 123 Pleasant Street, Fri., 10 p.m.

123pleasantstreet.com One of West Virginia’s favorite rock bands returns to Morgantown to share the stage with Sierra and Horseburner. Doors open at 9 p.m. $15

courtesy of WVU arts & Entertainment

February 12

February 15 Celebrate Valentine’s Day weekend with

Richard Marx. His career spans nearly three decades, with hits

February 14 Davisson Brothers Band Schmitt’s Saloon & Davisson Brothers Music Hall, 245 Cheat Road, Sat., 8 p.m. schmittssaloon.com The namesakes of this award-winning music venue are sure to pack the house for this Saturday night show in Morgantown.

NEARBY Johnny Staats & The Delivery Boys Preston Community Arts Center, 123 South Price Street, Kingwood, Sat., 8 p.m.

304.329.6336 Take your sweetheart out for live music as part of the Laurel Mountain Coffeehouse Music Series. Reservations recommended. For show reservations, call 304.329.6336. For dinner, call Foxfire Coffee at 304.441.2133. Dinner begins at 6:30 p.m. with concert doors opening at 7:30 p.m. $15 for adults, $7.50 for students

February 16 WVU Men’s Basketball vs. Kansas WVU Coliseum, Mon., 9 p.m., wvugame.com Cheer on WVU’s men’s basketball team as the players go head to head against the Jayhawks.

February 17 Artist Networking Event Monongalia Arts Center, 107 High Street, Tues.

5:30–7 p.m., monartscenter.com This networking event is open to artists from all disciplines. Free February 18 WVU Women’s Basketball vs. Oklahoma State WVU Coliseum, Weds., 7 p.m., wvugame.com Don’t miss the record-breaking WVU women’s basketball team as they play at home against Oklahoma State.

like “Hold Onto the Nights” and “Right Here Waiting.” $33 and up WVU Lyell B. Clay Concert Theatre, Sun., 7:30 p.m., 304.293.7469, events.wvu.edu

George Green WVU Mountainlair Ballrooms, Weds., 7 p.m. cbc.wvu.edu, events.wvu.edu The former assistant national director of marketing for Roc-A-Fella Records and former tour manager for Jay-Z speaks in this special event sponsored by the Muslim Student Association. Free February 20 Shooter Jennings with Waymore’s Outlaws Schmitt’s Saloon & Davisson Brothers Music Hall, 245 Cheat Road, Fri., 8 p.m. schmittssaloon.com Southern and country rock outlaw Shooter Jennings brings his tour through Morgantown for this 21+ show. $25 in advance, $30 at door February 20–22 NEARBY Prickett’s Fort 18th Century Firearms and Accoutrements Show Prickett’s Fort State Park, 106 Overfort Lane Fairmont, Fri.–Sun., 304.363.3030 marioncvb.com Explore and shop while visiting some of the best craftsmen in the region. The show takes place from 1 to 6 p.m. Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Sunday. $3

Same Time, Next Year Monongalia Arts Center, 107 High Street Fri.–Sun., monartscenter.com The MACplayers present Same Time, Next Year, with shows at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. on Sunday. This romantic comedy will be directed by Seret Cole and will star Megan Smith and Roger Banks.

February 21 WVU Women’s Basketball vs. Iowa State WVU Coliseum, Sat., noon, wvugame.com Pack the Coliseum and wear pink to support breast cancer awareness in this exciting free game in Morgantown.

Women’s Track Gold/Blue Open WVU Natatorium, Sat., 9 a.m.–5 p.m.

Don’t miss the ND Alex Wilson Invitational at the WVU Shell Building behind the Coliseum.

NEARBY Disc Golf Ice Bowl Challenge Seth Burton Memorial Disc Golf Course Morris Park, Fairmont, 304.816.3664 Join disc golfers from all over the region for the 11th Annual Fairmont Ice Bowl Challenge. $15

Healthy Teeth Saturday Children’s Discovery Museum, Mountaineer Mall, Sat., 10 a.m.–1 p.m., cdmwv.org The Children’s Discovery Museum of WV celebrates National Children’s Dental Health Month with free admission and special programming. At the museum, kids and their grown-ups can explore how to keep teeth healthy with crafts and demonstrations. Kids can also dress up as dentists and care for puppets’ teeth. Free February 24 WVU Men’s Basketball vs. Texas WVU Coliseum, Tues., 7 p.m., wvugame.com Don’t miss the Mountaineers as they play Texas at home.

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February 27 & 28

March 5

Same Time, Next Year Monongalia Arts Center, 107 High Street Fri. & Sat., 8 p.m., monartscenter.com The MACplayers present Same Time, Next Year, a romantic comedy directed by Seret Cole.

J. Bernard Schultz Endowed Lecture in Art History: Roger Crum WVU Creative Arts Center, Bloch Learning and Performance Hall Thurs., 5–6 p.m.

Roger J. Crum, art history professor at the University of Dayton, lectures at WVU during this special event. His major publications include Donatello Among the Blackshirts: History and Modernity in the Visual Culture of Fascist Italy and Renaissance Florence: A Social History.

Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra Performs Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev WVU Creative Arts Center, Lyell B. Clay Concert Theatre, Fri.–Sun., 800.743.8560 pittsburghsymphony.org/wvu The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra performs music from Swan Lake and Romeo and Juliet at 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and 2:30 p.m. on Sunday. $25.75 and up February 28 Space Day Children’s Discovery Museum, Mountaineer Mall, Sat., 10 a.m.–1 p.m., cdmwv.org Children and adults are invited to enjoy the inflatable planetarium show and space related activities and demonstrations. $5 per child, $2 per adult Empty Bowls Soup & Bread Luncheon Hazel & J.W. Ruby Community Center 500 Mylan Park Lane, 11 a.m.–2:30 p.m. information@emptybowlsmon.org, ebmon.org Enjoy great soup from a beautiful handmade bowl and help fight hunger in Monongalia County.

Purchasing a ticket in advance reserves a bowl on the day of the event. Tickets will be sold to walk-in patrons as available. $15 Morgantown Polar Plunge Star City Park and Marina, Sat., 2 p.m., sowv.org Registration begins at noon for this annual event that benefits the Special Olympics. Don’t miss it. A costume contest begins at 1:30 p.m. and plunging takes place at 2 p.m.

Red WVU Creative Arts Center, Falbo Theatre, Sat. 2 & 6:30 p.m., monartscenter.com David Beach and Shenendoah Thompson bring John Logan’s Red to life again. The Monongalia Art Center’s production of Red—which tells the story of Mark Rothko—won Best Play at the West Virginia Theatre Association’s Community Theatre Festival in 2014 and the crew will represent West Virginia at the Southeastern Theatre Conference in March 2015. $10

March March 1 WVU Women’s Basketball vs. Texas WVU Coliseum, Sun., 1 p.m., wvugame.com WVU’s women’s basketball team takes on Texas.

Anything Goes WVU Creative Arts Center, Sun. 7:30 p.m., events.wvu.edu Don’t miss this nationally touring production and winner of three 2011 Tony Awards. $28 and up

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Morgantown • FEB/MAR 2015

March 6 The Spinners WVU Creative Arts Center, Lyell B. Clay Theatre Fri., 7:30 p.m., events.wvu.edu Take in the sounds of the best soul group of the early ’70s.

March 6–8 Arsenic and Old Lace WVU Creative Arts Center, Gladys G. Davis Theatre, Fri.–Sun., 304.293.7469 theatre.wvu.edu WVU theater students bring Joseph Kesselring’s play to life. Performances take place at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. on Sunday.

March 7 Blue Jean Ball Benton Grove Bed & Banquets, 154 Benton Grove Road, Sat., 6 p.m., wvlandtrust.org Dress up your jeans for an evening complete with a southern meal, open bar, live music, and silent auction. The Mon River Trails Conservancy partnered with the West Virginia Land Trust to raise awareness and funds to support protecting public recreational green space in the Mon Valley. Proceeds will benefit a green space project in Morgantown. $50 March 8 moe.

The Metropolitan Theatre, 369 High Street Sun., 7:30 p.m.

This beloved jam band has been playing music for decades and brings its improvisational rock sound to Morgantown in March. $29 and up March 10 Sleepy Eyes Nelson, Slate Dump, Evan Johns 123 Pleasant Street, Tues., 10 p.m.

123pleasantstreet.com Rock out with local live music as these musicians take the stage.

March 10–15 Arsenic and Old Lace WVU Creative Arts Center, Gladys G. Davis Theatre, Tues.–Sun., 304.293.7469 theatre.wvu.edu

Dale Sparks, wvu intercollegiate athletics

February 27 & 28, March 1

March 7 Cheer on the ’eers as the WVU Men’s Basketball team takes on Oklahoma State. $28 and up WVU Coliseum, Sat., 2 p.m., wvugame.com

March 21 NEARBY A Bit of the Blarney St. Patrick’s Day Celebration Preston Community Arts Center 123 South Price Street, Kingwood, Sat., 7 p.m.

304.329.6336, mountaineer@atlanticbb.net Aurora Celtic, a Preston County band featured on NPR, performs as part of this special event, which will also include a performance by WVU’s Irish Dance Club, a sing-along, and Irish dinner. Irish beer can be purchased. Call for reservations. $30 with dinner, $15 without

courtesy of WVU arts & Entertainment

Yellowdog Union, The Cheats 123 Pleasant Street, Sat., 10 p.m.

123pleasantstreet.com Local punk rock band Yellowdog Union returns to the stage. $5 March 28

March 20 Rock out with four-time Grammy Award winner and former lead guitarist of The Eagles Don Felder. He co-wrote one of rock music’s most celebrated tracks, “Hotel California.” $28 and up WVU Creative Arts Center, Fri., 7:30 p.m.

Joseph Kesselring’s Arsenic and Old Lace comes to life in this production by WVU theater students. Performances take place at 7:30 p.m., with the exception of Sunday’s show at 2 p.m.

Soul Miners 123 Pleasant Street, Sat., 10 p.m.

123pleasantstreet.com Dance the night away with Morgantown’s favorite soul band.

March 14 NEARBY The Nerd Herd Pi-Mile 5K Run I-79 Technology Park, 1000 Technology Drive Fairmont, Sat., 9 a.m.–noon, 304.333.6777 nerdherd5k@gmail.com This race kicks off in the Alan B. Mollohan Innovation Center parking lot. It will be a typical 5K, though runners will have the option to run an extra 0.04 miles to reach 3.14 miles, honoring the “pi” theme. Proceeds benefit the United Way of Marion County.

NanoDays!

Children’s Discovery Museum, Mountaineer Mall, Sat., 10 a.m.–1 p.m., cdmwv.org Take the kids to learn about nano science through hands-on demonstrations and activities. Children who visit all of the tables will receive prizes. $4 per child, adults free The Fabulous Hubcaps Lakeview Golf Resort & Spa, Sat., 8 p.m.

304.598.1337, harnd@monhealthsys.org lakeviewresort.com This oldies band brings the songs you know and love to Morgantown. Dress in your St. Patrick’s Day best for the show—best themed attire wins $100 prize. This event is sponsored by The Foundation of Mon General. $22

March 14 & 15 Collograph Printing Class with Eddie Spaghetti Monongalia Arts Center, 107 High Street Sat. & Sun., 11 a.m.–3 p.m., 814.322.6463 morkthedork@hotmail.com, monartscenter.com Make a large stamp from found materials like cardboard, paper, glue, and string. The first day of class will be spent assembling the plate, while the second day will be dedicated to printing. Open to all ages. Register by email or phone. $30 March 17 Art Up Close! Michael Blumenthal Evansdale Campus, Museum Education Center Tues., 5:30–7:30 p.m.

Visiting professor of law and published author Michael Blumenthal lectures as part of Art Up Close! This series of lectures is designed to give an in-depth look at a single work of art from the WVU Art Collection. Each presentation is followed by a question and answer session and light refreshments.

African Style Batik Fabric Printing and Dyeing with Eddie Spaghetti Monongalia Arts Center, 107 High Street, Sat. 11 a.m.–5 p.m., 814.322.6463 morkthedork@hotmail.com, monartscenter.com Eddie Spaghetti brings the Batik printing and dyeing he learned in Ghana to Morgantown.

Participants will create a cotton scarf as well as several other fabric pieces. Open to all ages. $40 Jamie Lynn Spears Schmitt’s Saloon & Davisson Brothers Music Hall, 245 Cheat Road, Sat., 8 p.m. schmittssaloon.com That’s right. Country music singer and little sister of pop sensation Britney Spears is bringing her southern sound to Morgantown. $20 in advance, $25 day of show

Upcoming April 9 Bela Fleck and Abigail Washburn WVU Creative Arts Center, Thurs., 7:30 p.m. events.wvu.edu These beloved artists bring their different banjo styles and more to Morgantown. $23 and up April 16 Harlem Globetrotters WVU Coliseum, Thurs., 7 p.m.

Tickets to this family-friendly event are sure to go fast. Don’t miss out on the fun. $24 and up

Got a hot date?

Send your events for consideration in our calendar to morgantown@newsouthmediainc.com with the subject line “Calendar.”

morgantownmag.Com

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Then & Now

WVU plays Seton Hall

Georgeann Wells

For more photos

of Morgantown’s past, check out wvhistoryonview.org

WVU Women’s Basketball during a winter’s night in elkins in 1984 a tiny crowd of basketball fans huddled into a small town armory to watch the Mountaineer Christmas Classic between the University of Charleston (WV) and WVU. The game pitted a powerhouse university team against a smaller program, and while many likely predicted the WVU win, none knew that evening would also make history. With just minutes remaining in the game, Georgeann Wells, a young All-American player for WVU, became the first woman to dunk in NCAA basketball history. Already a standout player towering at 6 feet, 7 inches tall, Georgeann became an instant star.

She went on to score nearly 1,500 points in her WVU career, pulling more than 1,000 rebounds and blocking more than 400 shots.

Georgeann’s legacy is still felt, particularly for the WVU women’s basketball team, which rocked its 2013-14 season with

30 wins and 5 losses, setting the record for the most season wins in program history. “Georgeann helped WVU women’s basketball grow as a program,” says Coach Mike Carey. “Although she never made the NCAA Tournament while she was at WVU, we have since made 10 tournaments. Her presence helped put WVU on the map for women’s basketball. Georgeann helped other young women realize their potential.” This year the WVU women’s team is starting off with a new roster, having lost five seniors from last year’s squad. “We have a young team, but we are getting better each game,” Carey says. “We had our strongest showing at nationally ranked Texas. If we continue to work hard and get better, we’ll do well in Big 12 play.”

Then & Now is published in partnership with WVU Libraries’ West Virginia & Regional History Center. wvrhc.lib.wvu.edu

written by katie griffith 80

Morgantown • FEB/MAR 2015