Allison's Wonderland

By my title you probably couldn't tell what I am about to write about. So, I will elaborate. If you haven't guessed, it's February and that means another concert. After researching over twenty artists that I would love to see in concert I came up with zilch. Big fat goose egg. Every band/singer I wanted to see was either in Europe or Australia on tour. I contemplated buying a plane ticket to Munich, Germany just to see Maroon 5 along with Sara Bareilles. Money is a little too tight for a trip like that so I reverted to something a little closer to home. My friend Shaun approached me with the idea of seeing Josh Radin, a singer you could say I was pretty unfamiliar with at the time, in Charlottesville at the historic Jefferson Theater. I researched and found out that Josh is a pretty cool guy and had a hit I really liked off of the "Dear John" soundtrack. For two weeks straight I tuned into Josh Radin Radio on Pandora and discovered my new love. We left work early on Friday the 11th and took the journey to what the locals call CVille. We got dressed up in our best hipster apparel and headed downtown. Thanks to my handy GPS we found it in a jiffy. We contemplated where to eat and decided on the C&O Restaurant(www.candorestaurant.com). One of my favorite things in life is trying out a new restaurant. Three things I look for in order to meet my restaurant standards is character, atmosphere and good food. What started out as a railroad bunkhouse, has blossomed into one of the “must eats” in Charlottesville. Let me tell you what. Best meal I’ve ever had. Like seriously. Maybe not ever had, but one of the best. It was wonderful. I had two glasses of their cheapest wine (cheap wine tends to be the best) and then ordered the Steak Chinoise with garlic mashed potatoes and asparagus cooked to perfection. I was in edible heaven. Shaun ordered the rabbit which was good, but not as good as my steak. We stayed at the restaurant for almost two hours enjoying the atmosphere and the obnoxious couple sitting behind me who, whenever they spoke to each other where in a constant state of arguing and hostility. Awkward. Next was the concert.The Josh Radin concert was held in the historical Jefferson Theater (www.jeffersontheater.com) located on the downtown mall. Beautiful theater. Simply beautiful. One of my favorite acts was Andrew Allen who opened for Josh. I actually ended up buying his CD and I’ve already listened to it way too much www.myspace.com/andrewallenlive). I also loved Anya Marina (www.anyamarina.com) who was the second act. She was so different than anything I ever heard before and sang her rendition of “You can Have Whatever you Like” originally by TI, and her song “All the Same to Me” which incorporates the children song “Old McDonald” with a line in the chorus containing“E-I-E-I-O”.I had to buy that song as well..She was awesome. Josh Radin was everything I hoped he would be. We moved to the balcony to watch his act so we could see better. We got out of there at like 10:30, made our mark on the downtown mall chalkboard and headed back to the hotel. Next day we had lunch at the Michie Tavern(www.michietavern.com)which was established in 1784.Charlottesville is the home of Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the United States, and showcases his home, Monticello as one of the main attractions.The Michie Tavern is a mile down the road from Monticello and has some wonderful, home-cooked, soul food. While we were there they had a cozy fire and we were able to eat off of pewter plates and mugs. So awesome! After our time at the tavern, we once again ventured to the downtown mall and visited antique shops and the quaintest book store where John Grisham,(www.jgrisham.com) writer of best sellers such as “A Time to Kill” and “The Rainmaker, frequents often. All in all it was a wonderful weekend and I can’t wait to do it again! Next concert…Josh Ritter! Not sure what the “Mystery” part of my title really was…but hey, it rhymed 