In brief: Zoning talks, melting monuments

Map moves ahead   The process of rewriting Charlottesville’s Comprehensive plan—and, subsequently, reevaluating the zoning for the entire city—took a major step forward last week, when the Planning Commission unanimously recommended that City Council approve the most recent draft of the Future Land Use Map.  The Future Land Use Map shows which areas of the […]

Pick: Patrick Costello’s “Ceding Ground II”

Brick by brick: Transformative, collaborative, and rooted in intersectional and queer feminism, Patrick Costello’s “Ceding Ground II” is more than meets the eye. A slim, snaking wall reminiscent of Thomas Jefferson’s serpentine walls that were designed to hide enslaved workers at the University of Virginia, each brick is an earthy amalgam of native perennial grass […]

Pick: Poetica

More than words: Poetic lyricism, creative ambition, and layered, lush production are alt-folk-pop artist Rachael Sage’s specialties. For two decades, Sage has steadily released over a dozen albums, winning awards and touring with an eclectic mix of artists in the process. Created in lockdown, her new band Poetica has a spoken-word album of the same […]

Pick: Fire Shut Up in My Bones

On fire: Growing up in rural Louisiana, journalist Charles Blow never imagined his life story would one day be portrayed on the world’s most popular opera stage. His memoir, Fire Shut Up in My Bones, a treacherous story of dysfunction and abuse, opened the 2021-22 Metropolitan Opera season. The adaptation by Grammy Award–winning jazz musician […]

Go ahead, bake our day

By Chris Martin Based on the astonishing number of bakers and bakeries in Charlottesville, the city appears to have a voracious appetite for carbs. A quick search on Google lists almost 30 area bakeries, cake spots, bagel makers, patisseries, and farmers’ market stands that offer a wide variety of floury treats. What follows is a […]

For kicks

By Julia Stumbaugh To the average Charlottesvillian, a pair of Jordans probably looks like sneakers. To local engineering student Mylz, they are one crafting knife and an airbrush away from a work of art. SpeedyCustomz, Mylz’s online shoe design and customization business, began with a permanent marker on a friend’s Vans, and evolved into elaborate […]

Pick: Masterchef

Joy of cooking: Are you a great cook and a fierce competitor? Can you handle having your culinary creations judged down to the smallest leaf of parsley? The immersive stage show MasterChef Live brings past MasterChef and MasterChef Junior contestants together to take on live cooking challenges and demonstrations—and its family-friendly, interactive format means the […]

Pick: Every Brilliant Thing

Center stage: Live Arts welcomes audiences back inside the theater with Every Brilliant Thing, a story about depression that’s both deeply touching and laugh-out-loud funny. After his mother attempts suicide, a 7-year-old boy writes her a list of all the things that make life worth living, from ice cream to Kung Fu movies. As he […]

Pick: The Four Seasons

Going for Baroque: For its 11th season, the ensemble Three Notch’d Road tackles Italian composer Antonio Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons, as well as a sampling of his solo pieces, using historically authentic Baroque instruments. Acclaimed violinist Aisslinn Nosky leads the ensemble, with Fiona Hughs and Natalie Kress on violin, Maureen Murchie on viola, Jeremy David […]

Pick: Asha Greer

About Asha: A quote on Asha Greer’s website reads, “Consider the purpose of life as living.” This says as much about Greer’s artistry as it does about her deeply spiritual pursuits. Charlottesville peers refer to Greer as a legend in the community, and say her humanity has touched lives around the planet. “Celebrating the Work […]