Heartening beats: With over a thousand years of cultural tradition, 400-year-old instruments, and 25 years of performing globally, the 12-member drumming group Yamato brings a dazzling exhibition of showmanship to the stage. Japan’s traditional Wadaiko drums serve as the foundation for tamashy—translated as soul, spirit, and psyche—which channels the basic elements of life into a […]
Get serious: Talking reparations, monuments, and more What does it mean to confront the truth? To not be complacent in an unjust system? To seek justice for those who’ve been oppressed by that system for over 400 years? Acclaimed New York Times Magazine writer Nikole Hannah-Jones grappled with these questions—and more—during a discussion with Times […]
By Eileen Abbott When her physician husband lost his life to suicide in February 2011, “there were days it took everything in me just to breathe,” says Jocelynn Crum Helmbrecht, a Charlottesville resident and mom of three. “It felt like everything was broken—my heart…my children’s hearts, my entire world,” she wrote in a blog documenting […]
Despite obstacles: Morgan McCoy, author and actor recently seen in the Oscar-nominated film Harriet, comes to town with a one-woman show, Evolution of a Black Girl: From the Slave House to the White House. Depicting the struggles and triumphs of fictional and real African American women across numerous generations, the play combines comedy and drama […]
Field Recordings: Music, poetry, and the English countryside merge for British Riches, Charlottesville Symphony’s curation of works by A.E. Houseman, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Thomas Middleton, William Wordsworth, Wilfred Owen, John Keats, and William Shakespeare. American tenor Zachary Wilder sings through an ambitious program that includes Elegy for String Orchestra […]
You and me both: From Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell’s “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” to Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga’s “Shallow,” stage magic is made when a duo has chemistry. After a nearly 10-year break (they both moved away), Richelle Claiborne and Ezra Hamilton reunite for Love Luxe, a rare performance sure to rekindle the […]
Fleeing the circus: Recruiting from his Fugazi lineup as well as his band The Evens, Ian MacKaye formed an unnamed trio with wife Amy Farina (drums) and bassist Joe Lally in 2018 for a Washington, D.C., benefit show. We still can’t confirm a name, but we happened upon an event post with the aforementioned lineup […]
Monumental movement in Richmond Bills allowing localities to move or remove Confederate monuments passed through the Virginia Senate and House of Delegates on February 11. The Senate bill passed 21-19, a party-line vote, and the House bill passed 53-46. The bills aren’t law just yet, but their passage represents a significant victory for those who hope to […]
In the days since a 74-year-old white man confessed to the theft of Charlottesville’s former slave auction block, city residents and officials have sought to make sense of his actions. On Friday, C-VILLE broke the news that Richard Allan, an amateur local historian, author, and environmental activist, claimed responsibility for prying the bronze marker out […]
KISS off: There’s a longtime rock ‘n’ roll rumor that Eddie Van Halen tried to break up Van Halen so he could join KISS when Ace Frehley left the band in 1982, citing the friction with VH’s wild frontman David Lee Roth (fate had other plans, i.e. Van Hagar). Today, DLR is back in Van […]