ARTS Pick: An Evening with Mollie O’Brien, Rich Moore and Todd Burge

The Prism Coffeehouse fall series kicks off with An Evening with Mollie O’Brien, Rich Moore and Todd Burge. O’Brien stands out as an accomplished vocalist who challenges musical boundaries, while Moore’s onstage commentary and seasoned guitar skills string together an intuitive, high-quality set. Burge draws from his rich life experiences, writing songs from a different […]

Ghost muse: Singer-songwriter Anthony D’Amato finds inspiration in creative legacy

In 2010, upon the release of Down Wires, an album described as gritty, soulful and startlingly Dylanesque, Anthony D’Amato exploded onto a revitalized folk music scene. While his brethren were busy cashing in on a highly produced, four-on-the-floor-driven sound (think the throbbing undercurrent of Mumford & Sons’ 2009 Billboard-topper Sigh No More), D’Amato was stripping […]

Love all ways: What it means to be gay in Charlottesville right now

For those in the LGBTQ+ community, there are still challenges ahead. Legally, Virginia law doesn’t prohibit the discrimination of gay people in areas of housing or employment. Gay seniors are ducking back into the closet as they enter conservative nursing care. Homosexual (and pansexual and gender queer and transgender…) teens still feel ashamed to be […]

ARTS Pick: Gaelic Storm

The name evokes a tempestuous clan of freckled redheads taking no prisoners as they blast through a set of fiddle-driven pub rock in the heart of a Celtic village, but, in reality, Gaelic Storm is a group of friends who met in Santa Monica, California, and made it big after appearing as the steerage band […]

ARTS Pick: Xilent

  Xilent’s rise to prominence has been meteoric, to say the least. At just under two years since his debut release, Choose Me II, marked the arrival of a serious new talent, he’s become one of the most talked about names in dubstep. Maintaining a global DJ schedule alongside his production and remix work, Xilent is […]

Perfect landing: Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady on Jefferson Airplane’s golden anniversary

In 1965, amid the notorious counter-cultural hub of San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury district, began what would prove to be one of the most influential experiments in rock history: Jefferson Airplane. As headliners of those now legendary festivals—Woodstock, Altamont, Monterey Pop and Isle of Wight—like the roaring sound of the zeitgeist itself, the music of the Airplane […]

ARTS Pick: Low Cut Connie

The electrifying duo Low Cut Connie formed in 2010 when singer-songwriters Adam Weiner and Daniel Finnemore got stuck in a freight elevator together for four hours. The unlikely pair joined forces to create their own variety of righteous rock ‘n’ roll and have enjoyed adoration from NPR, Rolling Stone, MOJO and even President Obama, who added the […]

ARTS Pick: Guy Gilchrist

Nashville singer-songwriter Guy Gilchrist has enjoyed a very colorful career—literally. An accomplished illustrator, Gilchrist got his first big break when Jim Henson hired him (along with brother Brad) onto The Muppets comic strip creative team. In 1995, he took over the popular American cartoon Nancy, sketching the daily antics of a curious girl recognized by […]

ARTS Pick: Will Overman Band

The hum of American life reverberates throughout the hills and valleys of Virginia in the form of the Will Overman Band, a passionate quartet whose music is simultaneously rooted in the folk song spirit of a Blue Ridge mountaineer and filled with an energetic dynamism. The band delivers sincere music with all the comfort of […]

ARTS Pick: Charlottesville Chamber Music Festival

High quality music gets local exposure for the 16th year at the Charlottesville Chamber Music Festival. Co-founding musicians Timothy Summers and Raphael Bell bring familiar names and rising stars from across the globe to perform around town in a broad program of modern and classical works ranging from the sublime to the strange. Through 9/20. $6-100, […]