In brief: City v. civilians, Bennett declines, memorial stomper, and more

City blasts Police Civilian Review Board A couple days after C-VILLE opinion columnist Molly Conger wrote about the importance of the still-developing but much-scrutinized Police Civilian Review Board, the board found itself the subject of another controversy. The CRB has been working for nine months to create bylaws to establish a permanent board that will […]

ARTS Pick: Parachute

It’s been over 10 years since pop group Parachute (formed at Charlottesville High School) found itself sharing a stage with the Jonas Brothers and Taylor Swift on New Year’s Eve in Times Square. The appearance was a promo for the band’s locally produced debut album, Losing Sleep, which climbed to No. 2 on the Billboard […]

ARTS Pick: Che Apalache

When North Carolina native Joe Troop moved to Argentina in 2010, the multi-talented musician carved out a niche in the local scene by teaching bluegrass and old-time music. Eventually Troop, along with a few of his quick-picking students, formed Che Apalache, and drawing on various musical styles from Argentina, Mexico, and the United States, recorded […]

ARTS Pick: A Night With Nina

When Nina Simone died in 2003, Elton John sent flowers with the message, “You were the greatest and I love you.” That sentiment has been echoed by countless others, and tributes to Simone aim to capture her seductive, hypnotic genius. Richelle Claiborne and Leslie-Scott Jones rekindle the vocal magic during A Night With Nina, with […]

ARTS Pick: Sun Sing

In a evening of art-inspired protest that includes puppetry, music, and video, Water is life. Protect it. and ARTivism Virginia members unite as the Sun Sing collective to premiere the song “To The River,” aimed at stopping the Mountain Valley and Atlantic Coast pipelines. The activists recently focused their creative energies around original songs dedicated […]

Water works

By Bonnie Price Lofton If rainwater doesn’t seep, sponge-like, into the soil around us, it runs away somewhere. In Charlottesville, where much of the ground is covered with impermeable asphalt, it runs into stormwater drainage systems, ditches, and streams that eventually lead into the Rivanna River. That creates two problems: first, without earth to filter […]

ARTS Pick: Phosphorescent

Milestone milieu: It’s been a tumultuous five years for Phosphorescent (née Matthew Houck, left). He fell in love, had two kids, moved to Nashville, and “somewhere along the way, he nearly died of meningitis.” This life-altering period also sourced his critically lauded new album, C’est La Vie, another set of tunes elevated by Houck’s signature […]