Paul’s passion: Doctor Paul Koors was just beginning to make his musical talents known when he died tragically of an undetected heart condition at age 38. The ear, nose, and throat surgeon, who’d connected with musician Greg Howard during his residency at UVA, had just recorded a second album of country-tinged rock songs before his […]
Paul’s passion: Doctor Paul Koors was just beginning to make his musical talents known when he died tragically of an undetected heart condition at age 38. The ear, nose, and throat surgeon, who’d connected with musician Greg Howard during his residency at UVA, had just recorded a second album of country-tinged rock songs before his […]
Lynda Dawn At First Light (Akashik) The first sounds on Lynda Dawn’s debut EP—a fat keyboard bass line and synthetic handclaps and claves —come straight from the ’80s glory days of electrosoul. And as it turns out, so do all the other sounds, including the U.K. singer’s sultry, gospel-tinged vocals. On At First Light Dawn […]
By Charles Burns When Mia Lazar, a 17-year-old student at Blacksburg High School, first heard the news of Heather Heyer’s senseless murder at the hands of a white supremacist in Charlottesville, she was both rattled and ready to stand up for positive social change. Outraged by the rampant bigotry on display on August 12, 2017, […]
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 […]
Grand stage: A Stephen Sondheim and Richard Rodgers collaboration would appear to be a sure bet for any Broadway investor, yet 1965’s Do I Hear A Waltz? fell far short of critical acclaim. The redeeming factor is that it caused Sondheim to only accept projects where he could write both the music and lyrics, and […]
A kind of magic: After years of playing professionally in other people’s jazz bands, Mike Silverman, aka That 1 Guy, was frustrated by the instruments and touring schedules that stopped him from making all the rhythms and harmonies he dreamed about. That’s when he started making his own original instruments and formed his unique one-man […]
When two similar movies are made in close proximity, they are often described as “twin films.” Think Armageddon and Deep Impact, The Prestige and The Illusionist, and now Smallfoot and Abominable. The worst thing they can do is give you déjà vu, like you’ve seen this story before. The best is blaze a totally different […]
Fatal thaws: The decision to bring a child into the modern world, with its escalating climate change and varying degrees of global unrest, is the foundation of Duncan Macmillan’s smart, funny drama Lungs. Set on a bare stage, the play unfolds through a heart-to-heart talk between partners who debate with ferocity and vulnerability the pros […]
Way to go-go: Grammy-winning, roof-shaking, innovating rapper WALE grew up in Northwest Washington, D.C., in the 1980s, in the heart of the go-go music scene. WALE says go-go “made me the man that I am today, and I will never let it go.” You can hear it in his platinum-selling records, like 2011’s Lotus Flower […]
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 […]