ARTS Pick: That 1 Guy

A kind of magic: After years of playing professionally in other people’s jazz bands, Mike Silverman, aka That 1 Guy, was frustrated by the instruments and touring schedules that stopped him from making all the rhythms and harmonies he dreamed about. That’s when he started making his own original instruments and formed his unique one-man […]

ARTS Pick: Lungs

Fatal thaws: The decision to bring a child into the modern world, with its escalating climate change and varying degrees of global unrest, is the foundation of Duncan Macmillan’s smart, funny drama Lungs. Set on a bare stage, the play unfolds through a heart-to-heart talk between partners who debate with ferocity and vulnerability the pros […]

ARTS Pick: WALE

Way to go-go: Grammy-winning, roof-shaking, innovating rapper WALE grew up in Northwest Washington, D.C., in the 1980s, in the heart of the go-go music scene. WALE says go-go “made me the man that I am today, and I will never let it go.” You can hear it in his platinum-selling records, like 2011’s Lotus Flower […]

ARTS Pick: David Schulman + Quiet Life Motel

Quiet time: Electric violinist and composer David Schulman has several soundtracks to his credit including NPR’s “The Big Listen,” and APM’s “Spectacular Failures.” He is a frequent collaborator with modern dance companies and museum programs, and his extensive musical training has led him to explore and preserve the traditions of charanga and mambo. The Charlottesville […]

30 years and counting

In 1989, Bill Chapman was a senior at Hampden-Sydney College and Hawes Spencer, a former student, was working in the communications office. Chapman had just completed a summer internship at Richmond’s Style Weekly, and “It seemed like Charlottesville needed a smarter, less reverent paper than The Daily Progress,” he says.   The two founded C-VILLE […]

ARTS Pick: Hoopla

Devilish details: While it has the best-loved components of most festivals—an extensive list of craft beer offerings and a groovy live music lineup (this one includes CAAMP, Ona, Larry Keel Explosion, Indecision, Gold Top County Ramblers, and Sarah White)—Hoopla goes beyond the party standards to bring all ages together for adventures between sets. A fun […]

In brief: New Hogwaller project, march on, cyberstalking arrest, and more

Hogwaller reset After City Council’s rejection of his zoning and permit requests earlier this year, Justin Shimp, developer of the embattled Hogwaller Farms project in Belmont, is back with fresh plans for a newly acquired parcel partially overlapping the site of his previous proposal. The name of the new project—Rootstock Farm Apartments—should be better received […]

ARTS Pick: Charming Disaster

Truly madly creepy: Charming Disaster’s storytelling songs have been described as macabre folk, but there’s light in the darkness for this Brooklyn duo. Racing through themes of love, death, crime, mythology, and the occult, Ellia Bisker and Jeff Morris enchant listeners with a combination of folk harmonies, smart lyrics, ukulele, guitar, and a sly sense […]