Doughman got into filming music videos because he had to. The area music producer was handing out beats to rappers left and right, but they wanted more than just music. They wanted a visual component to match the aural experience created in the recording booth. They wanted music videos. This was back in 2012 or […]
An artist’s journey The night Alp Isin heard that his friend and fellow artist Gabriel Allan passed away, he couldn’t stop thinking about Allan’s sculptures. Though Isin had seen “a bunch” of Allan’s pieces, covering a range of times and places, he “wasn’t sure what the totality was. That day, that night, I got this […]
When Ebony Groove posted some old photos to its Facebook page in 2009, the comments came quickly. “Can we get a reunion please?!” “OMG what memories.” “Damn, now this brings back the real good ole days, cats!” “How about a reunion concert?” “You know I will be there if there’s a reunion!!!!” The band had […]
Twenty-two years. That’s how long Heron & Crane’s first record, Firesides, has been in the works, whether or not Travis Kokas and Dave Gibson were aware of it. Kokas and Gibson met at a sparsely attended rock show in 1997, while both were students at Ohio State University in Columbus. They got to talking and […]
Roland Wiggins taught his first music lesson when he was in elementary school. He was about 10 years old, and his music teacher, Helen Derrick, had written a series of notes and chord intervals on the chalkboard. As the lesson progressed, Wiggins noticed that Derrick had made a mistake. “Excuse me, Ms. Derrick. You’ve made […]
Saunter through the Floradise Orchids greenhouse, the sound of Puccini mingling with the scent of soil and vanilla in the air, and Janet Cherchuck and Steve Shifflett will happily tell you a tale. They’ve got thousands of ’em, one for every orchid in the place. There are Masdevallias, with their blooms like pointy, upside-down hearts—lipstick […]
Stephanie Nakasian grew up with the American songbook in her ear. You know the tunes: “Fly Me to the Moon,” “I Get A Kick Out of You,” and so many others. She sang them at home, and in choir, and played them on piano and violin, too. These melodies and lyrics were in her ear […]
These are a few of Ryan Trott’s favorite things Cups, mugs, hands, feet, flowers, water drops—these are just some of the everyday objects that inspire Ryan Trott. Simplified shapes repeat throughout “Things,” the artist’s exhibition now on view through the month of September at the New City Arts Welcome Gallery. The paintings, drawings, screen prints, […]
Lorenzo Dickerson is always chasing down stories that he heard as a kid. “Stories I heard who knows when,” he says, local stories he now feels compelled to share with local audiences. His fifth documentary film, 3rd Street: Best Seats in the House, tells one such story—that of the Third Street side entrance to The […]
Let’s pretend for a minute. It’s sometime in the not-too-distant future. Charlottesville is a thriving black kingdom, free of the white gaze and white corruption, and comprised of various hamlets, including Vinegar Hill, Starr Hill, and between them, Gospel Hill, the kingdom’s seat and center of spirituality. Such is the premise of Hambone, an original, […]