- published: 12 Nov 2014
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Charlottesville is an independent city geographically surrounded by, but separate from, Albemarle County in Virginia, United States, and named after Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the queen consort of King George III of the United Kingdom.
The official population estimate for the city, calculated in 2010, was 43,475. It is the county seat of Albemarle County though the two are separate legal entities. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combines the city of Charlottesville with Albemarle County for statistical purposes, bringing the total population to 118,398. The city is the heart of the Charlottesville metropolitan area which includes Albemarle, Fluvanna, Greene and Nelson counties.
Charlottesville is best known as the home to two U.S. Presidents (Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe), and nearby is that of James Madison in Orange, as well as the home of the University of Virginia, which, along with Monticello is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Monticello, Jefferson's mountain-top home, attracts approximately half a million tourists every year. . While both served as Governor of Virginia, they lived in Charlottesville and traveled to and from the capitol (Richmond, Virginia) along the 71-mile (114 km) historic Three Notch'd Road.
David John "Dave" Matthews (born January 9, 1967) is a South African-American musician and actor, best known as the lead vocalist, songwriter, and guitarist for the Dave Matthews Band. He performs mainly with acoustic guitar and favors rhythm rather than solos in his playing.
David John Matthews was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, the third of four children of parents John and Valerie Matthews. At two years old, Matthews' family moved to Yorktown Heights in Westchester County, New York, where his father, a physicist, started working for IBM.
In 1974, the family moved to Cambridge, England, for a year before returning to New York, where his father died from lung cancer in 1977. Biographer Nevin Martell argues that Dave's father's death may be an impetus for his "carpe diem" lyrics. At some point while residing in New York, Matthews attended his first concert, when his mother took him to a performance by Pete Seeger. The family moved back to Johannesburg, South Africa, in 1977.
Upon Matthews' graduation from St Stithians College high school in 1985, he was faced with conscription into the South African military just as civil disobedience to the practice was becoming widespread. A Quaker (and consequently pacifist), Matthews left South Africa to avoid service.
Tim Reynolds (born 15 December 1957 in Wiesbaden, Germany) is a Grammy nominated multi-instrumentalist known as both a solo artist and as the lead guitarist for Dave Matthews Band. One reviewer has declared Reynolds 'an under-rated master'.
Reynolds plays the guitar, piano, sitar, drums, violin, bass, keyboards, ethnic percussive instruments, solo djembe, harp, uses drum machines for special effects, and sings, although his performances are primarily instrumental rock music. As well as being the founding member of the band TR3, he is one of the musicians who performed at "Miller's", in Charlottesville Virginia, befriending and encouraging the bartender, a young Dave Matthews, to form a band of his own, introducing him to local musicians, several of whom make up the Dave Matthews Band. While Reynolds declined the offer to join as an official member, he recorded and toured as a sideman with the Dave Matthews Band from its inception until late 1998, rejoining them as a permanent member in June 2008.[citation needed] He often tours with Dave Matthews as an acoustic duo, in addition to performing as a member of Dave Matthews & Friends.