Led by teen singing sensation Alex Chilton and studio mastermind Chris Bell, the band name Big Star and the album title #1 Record were picked in jest, but the choice became increasingly ironic as the band failed to find any commercial or popular success. Though critics adored them, the group often played to near-empty venues. […]
In early July, The Southern Café and Music Hall announced that it had entered into a partnership with Starr Hill Presents, the concert promotion arm of Red Light Management, which also operates The Jefferson Theater and the Pavilion. The Southern closed for several weeks for minor renovations and re-decorating, and will re-open on August 22. “We’re […]
Ian Svenonius has been one of the major figures in D.C. punk for the past 25 years. He began in the late ’80s with Nation of Ulysses, who along with other Dischord label contemporaries like Fugazi, was rethinking what a “hardcore” band was supposed to sound, look, and act like. Ulysses was simultaneously backward-looking and […]
Vinegar Hill Theatre closed its doors on Sunday after 37 years in business. The decision came suddenly, just 6 days before closure. This was written as preparations were being made for the final weekend, and by the time you read this Vinegar Hill will be gone. The major reason that Vinegar Hill Theatre closed is […]
Charlottesville’s Bella Morte is one of the most successful contemporary goth bands in the world. But unless you can name any contemporary goth bands, there’s a good chance you don’t know this.
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 […]
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 […]
Woods may be from Brooklyn, but its music is utterly lacking in urbanity. The band’s sound comes from that place where the suburbs stop and the farmland begins. Since 2006, the prolific band has tempered its shambling garage fuzz with a homegrown, psychedelic folk flavor, finding surprising common ground between the Velvet Underground and CSNY. […]
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 […]
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 […]