Help yourself: Even with COVID-19, the show must go on—online that is. Help Desk: A Stay-At-Home Play is a one-act comedy that magnifies the funny-not-so-funny frustration we’ve all faced while working with a help desk. And it doesn’t take long for the ironic to spiral into the absurd in Don Zolidis’ livestreamed play. Make sure […]
Breaking walls: Miley Cyrus, watch out: multidisciplinary Australian artist Tony Albert comes in swinging with his latest work, Like A Wrecking Ball: Using Art and Humor to Confront Racist Statues in Australia and the USA. Scholar-activist Jalane Schmidt will moderate as Albert and Native American artist Nicholas Galanin address problematic colonial legacies. The virtual workshop […]
First crush: Juli Delgado Lopera’s debut novel Fiebre Tropical tells a coming-of-age story that combines visually rich prose with characters who are as colorful as their Miami setting. Fifteen-year-old Francisca narrates as her Colombian family’s American dream decays after arriving from Bogata. She seeks survival strategies amidst alcoholism, evangelical rituals, and the pressure of coming […]
A documentary about the life and work of Frank Zappa is so obvious that it seems like there should already have been four or five of them. Watching Alex Winter’s Zappa, it becomes clear why no one attempted it before, and why Winter is the right filmmaker for the job. How can any one film […]
Plate as canvas: When Julia Child hit the airwaves as “The French Chef” in 1963, she single-handedly launched a cult of culinary celebrity that still inspires us to attempt complicated food preparations in our home kitchens. Art in Life: Food, the next installment of The Fralin Museum of Art and Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection’s virtual […]
Drawn out: The local comic art scene is brimming with girl power and a desire to connect. Cartoonists Laura Lee Gulledge (The Dark Matter of Mona Starr), Hannah England (Strawbunny), and Mariah Bryant (Six-Petal Pyramid) present Wom Con, a pop-up gathering for those who can’t sit home anymore. The socially distanced event offers family-friendly activities […]
Lighting the way: United States Poet Laureate Joy Harjo began writing poetry as a college student in the ’70s in support of Native empowerment, drawing inspiration from her Muscogee Creek background. The prolific author, educator, musician, and playwright has just published her ninth book of poetry, An American Sunrise, and her Native nations anthology, When […]
Ruth Good Haunt EP, Citrus City Records Richmond/Brooklyn-based Citrus City Records has served as a platform for marginalized and lesser-heard voices from all corners of the scene since 2014. One of the tape label’s latest offerings comes from Ruth Good, the moniker for brothers Jonathan and Wes Parker. The duo teamed up with older brother […]
Invest in the arts: Love art? Worried about the effect of a pandemic on our area’s art scene? Art Unlocked brings together seven organizations in central Virginia, including McGuffey Art Center and The Bridge, to support the work of over 65 artists. The gallery is currently open online, and the show culminates in a November 14 […]
Wild and crazy pickin’: Made famous through collaborations with actor/comedian/banjo player Steve Martin, the Steep Canyon Rangers’ raucous bluegrass is serious business. The band has nine albums on its own, three of which were released in the past 12 months, and two with Martin—including the 2012 Grammy-nominated Rare Bird Alert. But this is no backup act: When […]
Maker’s mart: Believe it or not, it’s time to get started on your holiday shopping. Support local artists at Craft C’ville’s Fall Market, where you’ll find a variety of homemade goods, from pottery to jewelry to baked treats. Over 40 Virginia-based vendors will be onsite, including Carved in Mud Pottery, Chrisinger’s Cuts, Our Two Bostons, and […]
This spring, just as people were grappling with the new normal of living in a pandemic, George Floyd’s homicide threw a Molotov cocktail of anger, frustration, and heartbreak onto an already stressful situation. After Rodney and Eric, Trayvon and Sandra, Breonna and Elijah, and countless other African American lives were taken by aggressive policing, Floyd’s killing […]
Ken Coomer seems to have a crush on Charlottesville bands. The former Wilco and Uncle Tupelo drummer produced Sons of Bill’s 2014 Love and Logic, and his latest local connection is to the new LP from Chamomile and Whiskey, the rock-country band that Nelson County natives Koda Kerl and Marie Borgman founded in 2011. “I […]
Best of what’s around: The Agents of Good Roots have a long history of jammin’ in Virginia. Founded in RVA in the early ’90s, the group rolled through the same mid-Southern musical trenches as the Dave Matthews Band, signing with RCA, and touring the college circuit extensively (see their music archive for early Trax and […]
On the list: You cannot be an arts lover in Charlottesville without running across the work of Darryl Smith. The always-smiling actor, singer, dancer, and box office manager with the patience of a saint, is a longtime fixture at Live Arts—and he’s missing! Where’s Darryl?: A Mystery on Water Street is a Halloween week challenge […]
DragGing it out: Local drag legends are ready to go the social distance for a good time at Hallo-Queen, hosted by Arione DeCardenza. Dance and sing along to joyful hits and songs of the season with Sabrina Laurence (The Crayola Queen), Dezerayah D. Taylor, Crimsyn, Jayzeer Shanty, and London BaCall. Friday 10/30, 18-plus. Masks required. […]
Mixed-media artist Brielle DuFlon’s work speaks of comfort in bold ways. Imagine putting on your favorite sweater, wrapping up in a fuzzy blanket, or donning a lacy garment. DuFlon takes those emotional aesthetics to a textile reality in her show, “huddle,” at New City Arts. Using repurposed and reclaimed materials, DuFlon’s dramatic pieces are a […]
When Maisie Ellen Crook was studying forensic science at Teesside University in England, she never thought she’d one day use her skills to photograph the undead. But that’s exactly what she found herself doing on October 24, when she took clients out to an Earlysville farm to take pictures of them fending off a zombie […]
Stage to screen: For the second year in a row, the Virginia Film Festival is screening works by local hip-hop video directors and rappers during the 9 Pillars Hip Hop Music Video Showcase. Curated by Cullen “Fellowman” Wade, who compiles a wide variety of styles within the genre, the showcase connects some of the most prolific […]
Urine for a treat: More than 40 contributors dug into the dark recesses of their art closets to assemble the “deep-dive into the most peculiar parts of our community’s collective wonder” that is the Gallery of Curiosities. In other words, you’ll be offered a peek behind the curtain, past the sensical and the visually accessible, […]
When Melodious Accord, Inc., reached out to Charlottesville-based documentarian Eduardo Montes-Bradley and asked him to craft a film about the life of musician and composer Alice Parker, Montes-Bradley knew he had to meet Parker before he said yes. He headed up to Boston, and the two drove together to Parker’s 17th-century New England cottage home, […]
HBO’s hit series “Watchmen” presents a universe where high fantasy collides with horrible reality, a world where an alternate world replete with superheroes and interdimensional creatures shifts to a very real American atrocity. Building on the 1985 graphic novel Watchmen, writer/executive producer Damon Lindelof (“Lost”) has crafted a frequently askew viewing experience around the 1921 […]
Many of us have found safe, socially distant ways to do the things we considered normal before the pandemic, such as drive-by birthday parties or outdoor, masked haircuts. When and how we might go to the movies like we once did is a tougher issue to resolve, because there’s no getting around the problem of […]