By Karen L. Mulder What do Clinton’s secretary of health, the founder of Netflix, a prominent African American sculptor, and one host of “This Old House” have in common? Each served in the Peace Corps: Donna Shalala in Iran, Reed Hastings in Swaziland, Martin Puryear in Sierra Leone, Bob Vila in Panama—and don’t forget Jimmy […]
Learning IRL: Want to learn how to build a robot? Would you like to jazz up your cooking prep with chef-level knife skills? Or maybe you’re interested in the medicinal properties of the herbs in your kitchen spice rack, learning to ride a unicycle, or caring for goats? The How-to Festival trumps YouTube, advice columns, […]
Playing well with others: Genre is meaningless in the best way for locally based rock-soul group Wild Common. After collaborating informally for a fundraiser gig in 2017, the talented friends—including vocal powerhouse and former member of The Wailers Davina Jackson; Galax Old Fiddler’s Convention prodigy Nate Leath; accomplished reggae drummer Rob Hubbard; jazz bassist Dhara […]
Stark vision: Tennessee Williams arrived as a playwright when The Glass Menagerie premiered in Chicago in 1944, and then quickly moved to Broadway where it won the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award in 1945. Williams’ semi-autobiographical story of a struggling family, set in a St. Louis apartment, gets a stripped-down black box treatment by […]
Speaks volumes: Todd Snider has an impressive history with legendary musicians—his discovery by a member of Jimmy Buffett’s band led to a long kinship with John Prine (and helped shape Snider’s smart, witty folk tunes). So it’s perfectly natural that he would dream about Johnny Cash after a co-writing session with Loretta Lynn at Cash […]
By Sean McGoey arts@c-ville.com Star Wars enthusiasts have a lot to be thrilled about this year: The first trailer for Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker dropped in April, setting the table for the conclusion of the latest trilogy and sparking speculation over the inclusion of Emperor Palpatine’s sinister laugh at the end of the […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]