Building a groove: Willie DE may be the hardest-working musician in local show biz. As a determined teen he formed his first band, The Wave, at age 13, and busked on Charlottesville’s Downtown Mall and in the parking lots before UVA football games. Following his education in jazz guitar at VCU and extensive touring on […]
Building a groove: Willie DE may be the hardest-working musician in local show biz. As a determined teen he formed his first band, The Wave, at age 13, and busked on Charlottesville’s Downtown Mall and in the parking lots before UVA football games. Following his education in jazz guitar at VCU and extensive touring on […]
Lana Del Rey Norman Fucking Rockwell! (Universal) Lana Del Rey takes a turn at pillow- soft rock on NFR, the product of a partnership with Jack Antonoff—late of the annoyingly-named fun., and an erstwhile Taylor Swift and Lorde collaborator. The songs here are slow and subdued, dominated by patient piano—they’re well suited for Del Rey […]
The first time Umphrey’s McGee played in Charlottesville—in 2002, upstairs at the old Starr Hill brewery on West Main Street—a few dozen people showed up. The band was in its barnstorming phase, with its six members, fresh out of college, charging around the country in a crowded van. The Starr Hill show was one of […]
Behind the hits: Chart-topping songwriter Pat Alger says, “It never grows old hearing a great singer perform one of my songs.” Alger brought his skills to Nashville in the ‘80s, and made a name penning hits for others including Nanci Griffith and Garth Brooks. His songs have been performed by Peter, Paul and Mary, Dolly […]
Dance together: Charlottesville’s annual Latin American cultural festival, Cville Sabroso, offers authentic food, music, and fine art, plus dancing from traditional to contemporary, accompanied by Grupo Folklorico Villa Sabrosa, Mariachi Garibaldi, La Maquina de El Salvador, MC Chris Hypnotyc, and more. All ages are welcome to join in the community celebration of different parts of […]
Sweethearts of the road: It can be tough to stand out in the field of bluegrass with all the talented players currently on the road, but The Way Down Wanderers have found a sweet spot in the mix. The Peoria, Illinois, band relies on exceptional musicianship and a family-like bond with fans to get heard […]
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 […]
One of the most refreshing things a film can do is focus on characters who need no introduction but have never been in the spotlight themselves. Strip clubs and strippers are everywhere in popular culture, but it’s hard to think of any film or series that fully appreciates and understands their work as deeply as […]
Sonia Nazario knew she wanted to be a journalist when she was a teenager. Growing up in Argentina in the 1970s, she witnessed the country’s “dirty war,” during which a terrorist military tortured and murdered 30,000 citizens. Nazario remembers asking her mother why the dead included reporters. “My mom said these reporters were trying to […]
Nina Frances Burke really hates titling her pieces. So when she had to settle on a name for her solo show at McGuffey Art Center, she turned to her tried and true method: “I’m an obsessive Radiohead fan. And when I need a title and I can’t come up with one, I just comb through […]