ARTS Pick: Cirque Italia

Looking for an affordable spectacle? Try the Italian circus that tours city to city, sets up under a giant tent and presents aerial acts, hand balancing, contortionists and mermaids over a 35,000-gallon water tank. Cirque Italia creates a “vivid, dramatic and moving experience” without animals, despite the rumor of a dinosaur appearance. Thursday 7/21–Sunday 7/24. $10-50, […]

Living Picks: To-do this week

Family     Sweet Dreams Festival This family-friendly event features activities including a craft tent, rock climbing wall, laser tag, inflatables and more. Saturday 7/23. Free, 9am-4pm. Stuarts Draft Park, 96 Edgewood Ln., Stuarts Draft. sweetdreamsday.com. Nonprofit Restaurant Week Enjoy specially designed menus in local restaurants, with a portion of proceeds benefiting the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank. […]

ARTS Pick: Maupintown Film Festival

The Maupintown Film Festival showcases works of historical, educational and social value that address the achievements and plight of the African-American community. Included in the 12-film lineup is local filmmaker (and founder of Maupintown Media) Lorenzo Dickerson’s documentary Anywhere But Here, which examines the cause and effect of mass incarceration, as well as his Color […]

ARTS Pick: Red Wing Roots Festival

For decades, musicians on the road have been writing about home. So when touring was taking The Steel Wheels away from theirs too often, the group created the Red Wing Roots Festival near Harrisonburg as a way to stay close. The three-day extravaganza features dozens of local and national country-folk-Americana artists in a friendly community […]

ARTS Pick: Disco Risqué

A guitarist, drummer, bassist and trumpeter walk onto a stage. Separately they are talented musicians; together they are Disco Risqué, a unique collaboration of funk and rock ‘n’ roll emanating from bizarre personalities and experiences. Formed in Charlottesville in 2014 with the mission to “take over the world one sweaty, beautiful, borderline-psychotic music-lover at a […]

Celebrate the Fourth of July with a bang

The best thing about staying in town for the long July 4th weekend is that you can’t wave a sparkler without hitting a parade, concert or fireworks display. What follows is a list of some our favorite Independence Day happenings. July 1-4 July 4th Jubilee: The United States is having a birthday, and Wintergreen Resort is […]

The Power Issue

Discussions for this year’s list of the most powerful in Charlottesville turned not toward one particular person but an entity that truly affects Charlottesvillians’ daily lives—the Virginia Department of Transportation. Don’t worry, you’ll still see some familiar faces (last year’s power-topper Mark Brown remains embroiled in a battle with the city over the Water Street Parking Garage), […]

Living Picks: To-do this week

Family     Happy birthday, America A community celebration for America’s birthday includes food, cider, wine, a bike parade, games and live music. The orchard will remain open late for viewing fireworks. Monday, 7/4. Free, 9am-9:30pm. Carter Mountain Orchard, 1435 Carters Mountain Trl. 977-1833. Nonprofit 4th of July at Monticello Larry Sabato, founder and director of the UVA […]

Local rosé is a refreshing summer choice

Rosé wine can be made a few different ways. Some winemakers harvest grapes specifically for rosé and press them, keeping them on the skins for a short period. Other winemakers press their red wine harvest, and bleed off some of the initial pink-colored juice to ferment separately as rosé. This technique, called saignée, a word […]

ARTS Pick: Beach Blanket Bingo

The modern convenience of food trucks and a WTJU DJ accompany the Virginia Film Festival’s Moonlight Movies screening of the 1965 teen flick Beach Blanket Bingo. A singer’s agent uses publicity stunts against her will, so Frankie Avalon and his gang of beachgoers must save the day in the fifth installment of the “Frankie and […]