Dispatches from the University of Virginia….

By Bonnie Gordon It’s getting really noisy here.  In a few days local and national news cameras will capture pictures of a large Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville. Right-wing spokesmen say they demonstrate against a City Council vote to move two statues of confederate generals. But really, the demonstration will transform generalized white resentment […]

ARTS Pick: Summer in Paris

Longing to escape the bright, hot, cheery sunshine? Violet Crown Cinema welcomes you into the dark by way of the first installment in its Summer in Paris film series. Focusing on crimes of passion and anchored by Panique, the 1946 murder mystery starring Michel Simon as a loathsome Peeping Tom framed for murder by the […]

ARTS Pick: Broadway at The Paramount

Sing along as 40-plus Charlottesville kids perform with theater pros in Broadway at The Paramount. Guest actors include Jennifer DiNoia (currently Elphaba in Broadway’s Wicked), Tony Gonzalez (former dance captain for Mamma Mia!) and Matthew Steffens, a UVA graduate who has performed in everything from Broadway musicals to film and television (including an appearance on […]

ARTS Pick: The Chris Robinson Brotherhood

The Chris Robinson Brotherhood began as a Los Angeles band that just wanted, in Robinson’s words, to “have a good time.” All in the name of having fun, the former Black Crowes frontman created a bluesy, quintessentially Californian psychedelic jam sound that central Virginia can’t get enough of. Five albums in, the Brotherhood stops by […]

ARTS Pick: The Addams Family: A New Musical

Whether you’re looking for an empathetic evening out with your goth teen or the days of UHF TV channels, The Addams Family: A New Musical is sure to engage the quirkiness in us all. The familiar setup of trying to appear normal is channeled through song (begin earworm theme now) as a teenage Wednesday Addams […]

LIVING Picks: Week of August 9-15

FAMILY Peach Festival Saturday, August 12 Enjoy everyone’s favorite summer fruit in cakes, pies, cobblers and crêpes. Bring the whole family for a variety of children’s activities, including a bounce house. Free, 8am- 3pm. Westover United Methodist Church, 2801 Fredericksburg Rd., Ruckersville. 985-3299.   NONPROFIT Barks & Barrels Saturday, August 12 You and your dog […]

ARTS Pick: Love’s Labour’s Lost

The King of Navarre and his three friends have signed an oath to avoid the company of women for three years in Love’s Labour’s Lost. This should be easy: Who needs women when you have your studies and fasting to focus on, right? That is, until the arrival of the Princess of France and her […]