ARTS Pick: Mariana Bell

Dream team: Most of the music made by Charlottesville-raised Aussie Mariana Bell can be comfortably described as indie rock influenced by jazz and folk. But in 2017, her collaboration with Sander van Doorn, DubVision, and Mako led to Bell’s name rising on the EDM charts with the single “Into the Light.” To celebrate her birthday, […]

ARTS Pick: MarchFourth Marching Band

Brass tactics: Circus-like characters, eye-catching costumes, and a blend of big-band-friendly musical styles make up the exalting sensory overload that is the MarchFourth Marching Band. The 20-member troupe from Portland, Oregon, is a festival staple, and has been tapped for high-profile gigs at the Kennedy Center, The Fillmore, and ESPN’s “ESPY Awards” show. The band’s […]

ARTS Pick: Irene Kelley

Bluegrass beginnings: Loving Dolly Parton may have gotten Irene Kelley kicked out of her first rock band (she was fired for bringing a Dolly album to practice), but in the 30 years since, her bluegrass sensibility, songwriting talent, and instrumental know-how have made her an accomplished musician. Moving from Pennsylvania to Nashville at the start […]

ARTS Pick: Max Frost

Gone west: Max Frost’s polished brand of indie pop has scored him alt-rock radio hits, a collaboration with Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy, and an opening slot for Awolnation and Twenty One Pilots. His recent album, Gold Rush, focuses on the newfound vulnerability that coincided with his move from Austin, Texas, to Los Angeles, where he had […]

In brief: Not the Daughters of Confederacy tour, City Council is back, no confidence in Cumberland, and more

Tour de force For the past couple of years, Jalane Schmidt, UVA professor and activist, and Andrea Douglas, Jefferson School African American Heritage Center director, have been conducting tours of our downtown monuments, providing new context for the Confederate statues that have long dominated Court Square and Market Street parks. Now, those who haven’t seen […]

ARTS Pick: Films of the Outside, Watched in the Outside

Night watch: A series revolving around how we perceive the natural world, Films of the Outside, Watched in the Outside, features 10 short movies including 1953’s Daybreak Express by DA Pennebaker, and 2019’s fryar hole punch v.1 by Will Jones, who will be in attendance to discuss his work. Screened using a projector in a […]

ARTS Pick: Small Island

Crossing the pond: Small Island, Andrea Levy’s prize-winning novel, brought to the stage at London’s National Theatre, traces the stories of three people in post-war Britain, all trying to reinvent themselves. Hortense and Gilbert are Jamaicans moving to the U.K. with hopes of a new life, and Queenie wishes to escape familiar Lincolnshire. Their stories […]

ARTS Pick: GTP Summer Shorts

Short break: Gorilla Theater Productions continues its commitment to diversifying theater with Summer Shorts, an opportunity for five local playwrights to get their work produced and performed. The unique series of plays gets a boost from five of GTP’s experienced directors, who draw from a group of 13 actors to bring the stories to life. […]

ARTS Pick: Julius Caesar

Building Rome: Political intrigue and deception run deep in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, part of American Shakespeare Center’s Roman trio. The characters struggle with their own humanity and morality, as they try to justify power grabs and shady deals. Initially performed in 1599, more than 1,500 years after Caesar died, the historical epic may have been […]