Musical loom: Dan Deacon weaves dense sonic delights

Dan Deacon is a busy man. Best known for his sweaty, gloriously fun concerts, his talents go far beyond the ability to get a crowd excited. Once you get past a surface-level wackiness his music is finely crafted, and sublimely structured, owing as much to Philip Glass or Aaron Copeland as it does to underground […]

ARTS Pick: Jamie Dyer, Dan Sebring, Cathy Monnes

Jamie Dyer is an unavoidable figure in Charlottesville music; a prolific musician and man-about-town, an animated conversationalist and renaissance man beloved by many for his long tenure as the sole consistent member of long-running rock-flavored bluegrass band the Hogwaller Ramblers. He’s often found at the Blue Moon Diner, but once a month he can be found performing […]

With a twist: Live music at the tea house flourishes under new booking team

The Twisted Branch Tea Bazaar (affectionately known to locals as the “tea house”) has been hosting live music since it opened a decade ago. The first concerts were organized by Jason Andrews (whose business card read “Hospitality Czar”). But since Andrews’ departure in 2006, a dozen different individuals have taken turns working out arrangements with […]

Garden state of mind: Andrew Cedermark’s ode to transience

For the past five years, Andrew Cedermark has consistently made some of the best and most vital rock music around: unpretentious and exuberant, quiet yet confident, messy and triumphant. But his career path has been a strange one, with several unexpected twists and turns, a story that is still being told as he cautiously finds […]

Tried and true: Dwight Howard Johnson rides an irresistible formula

The pun-named Dwight Howard Johnson is neither a hotel chain nor a center for the Lakers, but rather a Charlottesville band. It plays appealing and charming pop rock, drawn from the timeless well of all pop rock bands, while reminding one of the 1990s, when such pop music was actually popular. The most obvious comparison […]

ARTS Pick: The Rocketeer

The record-breaking success of 1989’s Batman green-lit a wave big-budget retro-adventure films, including the outlandish, neon ensemble piece Dick Tracy; the brash, moody grotesquerie of The Shadow; and the feather-light, straight-faced camp of latecoming entry The Phantom. Nestled amongst them is 1991’s The Rocketeer; though it was considered a modest disappointment upon release (Disney thought […]