Zyahna Bryant became an activist about three years before she wrote the petition to remove the Robert E. Lee statue and rename Lee Park in 2016. It was the day after George Zimmerman’s acquittal for second-degree murder charges in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, when Bryant, then age 12, organized her first protest. In […]
Zyahna Bryant became an activist about three years before she wrote the petition to remove the Robert E. Lee statue and rename Lee Park in 2016. It was the day after George Zimmerman’s acquittal for second-degree murder charges in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin, when Bryant, then age 12, organized her first protest. In […]
Blues on the side: A gospel singer as a child, Jontavious Willis made a life-changing discovery around age 14 when he came across a YouTube video of Muddy Waters’ “Hoochie Coochie Man.” The Georgia native became an instant fan, and began his mastery of the Delta, Piedmont, and Texas blues, honing his chops as a fingerpicker, […]
World classical: Conductor Benjamin Rous leads the Charlottesville Symphony at the University of Virginia through a whirlwind of global experiences, beginning with the slow processional dance of Maurice Ravel’s Pavane for a Dead Princess, followed by Siempre Lunes, Siempre Marzo (Always Monday, Always March), a piece by Venezuelan American composer Reinaldo Moya based on Gabriel […]
Waltz with me:Wes Swing says the intention behind his Fern Hill concert series is to present beautiful music in beautiful spaces, offering “qualities I’d like to see more of in the world of music.” His latest endeavor, A Tribute to Waltz, showcases the enchantment of the dance, and invites the audience to pair up, and […]
Art in a white-walled gallery can take on an aura of total separation from the person who made it, and the context in which that person worked. For that matter, so can murals seen from the car—so often, we’re looking at art in a vacuum. Here’s an antidote: Second Street Gallery’s current show, “Inside The […]
There’s been a quiet revolution happening in family entertainment for the last few years, where movies with broad popular appeal strive to be more than a way to distract your kid for 90 minutes. Whether children internalize it or not, animated films have been dissecting such weighty themes as willful ignorance and authority worship (Littlefoot), […]
Hollywood offscreen: In a throwback to the pre-pixel days of entertainment, the Pretty Things Vaudeville Show wows from the stage with sword swallowers, contortionists, and traditional magic. The Hollywood-based ensemble features the mind-reading dog Scraps, and the daring Rachel Atlas, whose special props include a bed of nails, razorblades, a machete ladder, and a human chopping block. Wednesday […]
DAWN New Breed (Young Action) Danity Kane veteran Dawn Richard has forged a reputation as an R&B iconoclast, collaborating with Dirty Projectors and working on Adult Swim. Here she puts forth her NOLA roots with wizened old- people’s voices at the start of several songs—though New Breed doesn’t sound particularly rooted in New Orleans, or […]
Based in blues: Musically prolific multi-instrumentalist David Bromberg has gigged with Bob Dylan, George Harrison, and Jerry Garcia, but he owes his eclecticism to blues and gospel singer Reverend Gary Davis. Bromberg studied under Davis in the ’60s, and developed the unique style of fingerpicking that led to more than 20 albums of his own, plus […]
Keeping it real: Big smiles all around with Whose Live Anyway?, a tour event starring actors from the Emmy-nominated improv comedy show “Whose Line Is It Anyway?.” Greg Proops, Chip Esten, Jeff B. Davis, and Joel Murray want the audience’s ideas, encouraging suggestions for on-the-spot skits and songs that elicit stomach-clutching laughter. Sunday 2/10. $40.50-60.50, 7pm. […]