“The Civil War was a uniquely visual and literary war,” keynote speaker, Dr. Charles F. Bryan, explained Wednesday night at the Bradley T. Arms Detachment 1256 in Shadwell. The program, “Civil War Artist, Diarist, and Prisoner of War,” was sponsored by the Marine Corps League and featured the collection of Robert Knox Sneden, a Union [...]
Film Review: Star Trek Into Darkness
A great trick director J.J. Abrams and screenwriters Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman pulled with Star Trek (2009) was to shake the Etch-a-Sketch and start over. After all, how does one deal with the monster that is the Star Trek universe? One doesn’t. Abrams destroyed, on screen, nearly everything that came before him. It’s disheartening [...]
ARTS Picks: Charlottesville SOUP
Dig in to tasty, homemade fare, mingle with influential thinkers and makers from the local art scene, and help launch a new creative community project. Based on the successful Detroit Soup micro-granting dinner party model that was created by The Garage co-founder Kate Daughdrill, the first Charlottesville SOUP raised over $1,000 for the Textile Cooperative and turned away 200 hopeful [...]
Eli Cook Band
05/24/2013 9:30 pm Eli Cook Band Durty Nelly’s, Charlottesville VA
ARTS Picks: The Steel Wheels at The Southern
Entertaining audiences across the country with a heavy brew of original music, The Steel Wheels roll strong with influences from the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia and old-time musical weaving of four-part harmonies, upright bass, fiddle, and mandolin. Saturday’s show opens with a set by Ana Egge and serves as a sneak preview of the upcoming [...]
Warm welcome: Group show at McGuffey invites colorful observations
If you’re in need of an instant mood-elevator, I suggest you head straight over to the McGuffey Art Center where dazzling light and vibrant color (and some pretty nifty painting) is on full display at a group show featuring the work of Karen Blair, Jessie Coles, Priscilla Long Whitlock, and Krista Townsend. Still lifes, landscape, [...]
ARTS Picks: George Melvin Tribute at Fellini’s #9
It’s been four years since we lost George Melvin, but the mark he made on the local jazz scene remains indelible. An accomplished touring musician, bandleader, and all around entertainer, Melvin delighted audiences for over 40 years. Matty Metcalfe kicks off the George Melvin Tribute, followed by performances from Sammy Horn, Skip Haga and the Bees [...]
Diva Fatigue
Throughout her career, Beyoncé has been universally adored. But next month, when the extremely successful singer, songwriter, dancer, actress, and lady with fantastic hips brings her tour stateside, I imagine things will be different. It has been almost taboo—up until this point—to say you don’t like Beyoncé. She’s never given us any reason not to. But now [...]
Walking the talk: Buster Keaton refines the art of comic timing and heroism at The Paramount
“Chaplin or Keaton?” is one of those eternal questions, like “Star Wars or Star Trek?” “The Beatles or the Stones?” There’s no correct answer, but the side you pick can reveal fundamental aspects of your character. Charlie Chaplin is far more famous today, with his “Tramp” character’s iconic bowler hat, mustache, and cane making him [...]
Interlocken announces Neil Young & Crazy Horse among other big names
Interlocken Music Festival announced part of its line-up today with a promise to confirm additional acts. Neil Young & Crazy Horse, Further, Zac Brown, The String Cheese Incident and The Black Crowes will anchor the new festival in Nelson County. Early bird tickets are scheduled to go on sale on Thursday, May 23. Check out [...]
Hopeful musicians strut their stuff at Paramount Idol
After the judges’ individual attention and constructive feedback, the finalists set their sights on the audience’s votes this Friday and everyone is excited about a different aspect of the performance. Tufts is eager to have the “exposure in the musical community and to be making connections,” while White said, “I love to sing in a really cool space and I’m mostly excited to perform in the Paramount.”
Birds in TREES: The annual LOOK3 Festival Of The Photograph begins
One of Charlottesville’s most anticipated springtime events began today with the hanging of the LOOK3 TREES exhibit. The installation has kicked off Charlottesville’s LOOK3 Festival of the Photograph since it began in 2007. “It’s really our coming out party,” said LOOK3’s managing director, Andrew Owen. LOOK3 attracts an estimated attendance of 25,000 artists and observers [...]
ARTS Picks: Dr. Doolittle at Play On! Theatre
Human creatures large and small will enjoy Dr. Dolittle’s singing search for the Great Pink Sea Snail in Play On! Theatre’s final production at the IX building. This musical, based on the 1967 film starring Rex Harrison, is directed by Shelley Cole and features community youth and adult actors going wild as Dr. Dolittle’s famous animals—the Pushmepullyou, Chee-Chee the chimp, and Polynesia the parrot. $5-19, 7:30pm (2pm on Sundays).
Film Review: Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby forgoes substance for spectacle
Now that The Great Gatsby is out, there’s just one relevant question: To whom is this film targeted? It can’t be people who read F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel when it was first released. They’re dead. Is it for recent high school graduates? The millennials, who are plugged into everything all the time and don’t seem to have the attention span for Fitzgerald? Or is it for hip-hop lovers?
ARTS Picks: Multicultural Mosaic of Dance at PVCC
You don’t have to book an international flight or travel back in time to connect with cultural relevance—just buy a ticket to the ninth annual spring dance gala at PVCC.
Phishing for details: New Interlocken Music Festival spurs line-up rumors
Facebook postings and various message boards have announced that permits are in place and are fueling speculation about who will headline the Interlocken music festival’s two stages. Possible performances by Neil Young, Widespread Panic, Phish, and his purple highness, Prince have all been bandied about, but remain rumors.
Theater at new heights: Monticello High School’s urban musical is refreshingly diverse
A mass of jittery young actors crowded the stage on Thursday night, peppering drama teacher and theater director Madeline Michel with last minute concerns before rehearsing Monticello High School’s spring musical, In the Heights. Then the lights dimmed, the students found their stage marks, and the airy 850-seat auditorium filled with quiet anticipation.
ARTS Picks: Luke Winslow-King at The Garage
Drawing on lessons learned while busking on Frenchmen Street, training in classical music at the University of New Orleans, and working as a music therapist in New York City, Luke Winslow-King has a boiled-down, Delta blues, gospel, and jazz-themed new album, The Coming Tide, that has made fans of rock and blues heavyweights like Jack White and Robert Earl Keen.
The power of poetry: Christian Wiman fuels his writing with renewed faith
Christian Wiman is the celebrated author of three books of poetry whose work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Harper’s, and The New York Times Book Review. He is also the editor of Poetry magazine—a position he will relinquish in June to join the faculty of the Yale Institute of Sacred Music and [...]
ARTS Picks: August: Osage County
Live Arts takes an ambitious foray into the comically dysfunctional dark side of a pill-popping, secret-keeping Midwestern family in its spring production of August: Osage County, under the direction of Fran Smith. This Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning drama by Tracy Letts gives an all-access peek (the set is a literal cross section of a three-story Oklahoma homestead) into the lives of the estranged Weston clan as they are forced to reunite after their father goes missing.
Mountain magic: A wealth of talent with local roots graces C’ville stages
Despite the band name, Mountain Man is actually a musical group of young women: Molly Sarle, Alex Sauser-Monnig, and Amelia Meath. The trio began singing together as students at Bennington College in 2009, and quickly got the attention of the music world, first by touring alone, and later with The Decemberists, members of Sigur Rós, [...]
ARTS Picks: The Taming of the Shrew at Four County Players
Enjoy the verbal sparring and spirited courtship of Katharina and Petruchio as Four County Players closes its 40th anniversary season with Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew. Comedy ensues when a determined suitor (Martyn Kyle) pursues a strong-willed and resistant maiden (a fiery Mendy St. Ours) and the couple engages in a battle of wills, [...]
Theater for the people: The Black Box Players presents Annie
“‘Leapin’ lizards!’ You do not want to miss this show,” said MaryAnne Thorton, the director of The Black Box Players’ production of Annie, which will open tomorrow evening. Thorton has directed all of The Black Box Players’ shows since she founded the theater in 1986, and has also written scripts for several of its recent [...]




















