In brief 10/02/2024

In memoriam August 12 survivor Marissa Blair died on September 19 at the University of Virginia Hospital due to complications from pneumonia related to metastatic colon cancer. She was 35 years old. Blair survived the August 2017 deadly car attack that killed her friend and co-worker Heather Heyer when her then-fiance Marcus Martin pushed her […]

Soul of Cville Festival

The fourth annual Soul of Cville Festival is a celebration of Black excellence across disciplines. Dance? You know it. Fashion show? For sure. DJ sets? Yup. Live music? Hell yeah. Beyond the performances, dozens of vendors and community partners will be on site. There’s awesome apparel, creative arts and crafts, meaningful mentorship, and a wide […]

Chloë Ester

Sometimes you’re in the mood for that mysterious alchemy of nostalgia and masochism that drives you to read your high school journal entries, love letters from exes, or hometown obituaries—searching for a good kind of sadness, a pain that reminds you of how precious and fleeting this life can be. And along comes Chloë Ester. […]

Juneteenth celebration

To commemorate the ending of slavery in the United States, Charlottesville’s Juneteenth Celebration kicks off with an early-morning parade followed by a welcome address that includes the Negro National Anthem. The afternoon features an Emancipation Concert with the soulful sounds of singer Ezra Hamilton and the trumpet-heavy tunes of the Ellis Williams Band, plus performances […]

Support system

By Erin Lyndal Martin “Charlottesville is in the heart of why I do what I do because of the Dave Matthews Band,” says Ruston Kelly. “They, Kurt Cobain, and Jackson Browne are why I make music. I ended up signing to Red Light Management because the owner, Coran Capshaw, called me and said they wanted […]

Give it a spin

Record Store Day was initiated in 2007 to strengthen the independent record store scene and celebrate collecting, communing, and listening to music on vinyl. “Independent record shops are a pillar of cultural exchange and music discovery,” says Lindsay Fitzgerald, co-owner of Hello Goodbye Records, which will feature special releases, crates of vintage vinyl, and additional […]

In brief

Taxed for time Charlottesville City Council worked down to the April 15 statewide deadline to approve the city’s budget for fiscal year 2025. Tax increases were a topic of hot discussion, with council reworking and amending levies repeatedly during the months-long budget process. Coming in at a whopping $253,335,298, the city’s general fund will finance […]

Greener pastures

By Laura Vogel The Southern Environmental Law Center has fought—and won—some mighty environmental battles in its 35 years of existence. Right now, though, it’s in the midst of one of its biggest legal challenges: Pulling Virginia away from the brink of leaving the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative for good, after Governor Glenn Youngkin encouraged the […]

What’s shakin’

It’s impossible to deny the Grateful Dead’s place in the rock music zeitgeist. From Steal Your Face and dancing bears artwork, to concert tape trading and tie-dyed T-shirts, love for the Dead spans multiple generations—all stemming from the reliably mind-blowing live shows the band pumped out over the course of 30 years. John Brackett puts […]

Rule of three

boygenius The Record One of the most anticipated albums of 2023, thus far, surely must be boygenius’ The Record. The band, which formed in 2018, is composed of Lucy Dacus, Julien Baker, and Phoebe Bridgers. Prior to meeting in 2016, Dacus and Baker had released a few EPs and albums, while Bridgers was relatively new […]