No BS! Brass at The Southern Café & Music Hall 8/2

Richmond’s No BS! Brass has established itself at the forefront of live acts hailing from the commonwealth’s capital. Combining elements of James Brown, John Coltrane, Michael Jackson, and Led Zeppelin with the spirit of New Orleans into an original modern-funk sound, the energetic 12-piece outfit keeps audiences moving all night long. Bolstering its bona fides, […]

Emmylou Harris at Ting Pavilion 8/1

Legendary singer-songwriter Emmylou Harris brings her talents to the Ting Pavilion in support of a benefit show for Charlottesville’s Free Clinic. Not many other top-of-list names excelling in her chosen genres can outshine Harris—neither for the soft power of her inimitable voice or her laundry list of records and recognition as a Country Music Hall […]

The Pollocks at Batesville Market 8/2

To say that The Pollocks own Batesville Market would be false, but the band does have a comfort level on the venue’s stage that comes with being local and legendary in a small community. Led by Jason Pollock, whose hit songwriting propelled his grunge band Seven Mary Three up the charts in the mid-’90s, The […]

August Exhibitions

Friday 8/1through Friday 8/29 Chroma Projects presents two solo shows during the month of August. In the Micro Gallery, “Delta” features prints and printing plates by Tim Michel that consider the motif of the delta, using it as a metaphor for life as it gathers matter, stories, and experiences along its route, spreading its beneficence […]

Hot Water Music at The Jefferson Theater 7/28

If veteran Gainesville, Florida, band Hot Water Music is considered punk, then perhaps nothing is punk. In this stage of late capitalism and post-post-post-modern 21st-century rock, it may be pointless to even ask. We old people all realize our musical tribes have basically been absorbed by the monoculture of social media and the blurred boundaries […]

Sound choices: A sunny turn lights the way

MaySuns  Coloso (EP) (Matcatcher Music)  After snagging a Best Rock Album statuette at the Washington Area Music Awards for 2022’s The Oldlight, the band Hanoi Ragmen announced it would be renaming. In an Instagram post last fall, the MaySuns announced that its new name reflects “the identity of the band [it’s] turning into.”  In May, […]

Nickelodeon’s ‘The SpongeBob Musical’ at Four County Players through 8/10

For families—that is, people with kids—there may be no better local entertainment this summer than driving out to Barboursville for The SpongeBob Musical by Four County Players. Sure, you could go see the latest Pixar-y mega-movie, but films aren’t able to offer one critical element: real live humans performing with the thrill of theatrical danger. […]

Üga Büga with Greenhead and Diseased Earth at the Southern 7/26

The best thing about Charlottesville’s Üga Büga is that it’s hard to describe. I’ve seen it called “Southern sludge beard metal” and “hog rock” (likely in reference to its debut, 2024’s Year of the Hog), but neither seems entirely fair. It’s sludge-ish, but not like those who plunder the slo-mo riffery of early Black Sabbath […]