Backstage pass: Musically connected transformations are the theme at Hoot & Holler’s Soundtrack of My Life, an evening of storytelling that draws from personal experiences involving songs, concerts, and listening. Find out what happened at an after-hours hotel room party involving The Replacements and way too much tequila; hear how a banjo literally saved one […]
Backstage pass: Musically connected transformations are the theme at Hoot & Holler’s Soundtrack of My Life, an evening of storytelling that draws from personal experiences involving songs, concerts, and listening. Find out what happened at an after-hours hotel room party involving The Replacements and way too much tequila; hear how a banjo literally saved one […]
Kent Morris stands in the lobby of the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection with a big grin on his face. He’s just in from a birding excursion through Charlottesville-area marshes, and swiping through photos on his phone: here’s a few of a bald eagle, and a few of its nest. Here’s one of a native bird […]
Many times, a film based on true events will inspire you to seek out the source material once it’s over. Not necessarily to test the movie for accuracy—facts are sometimes changed for clarity or artistic license—but as a way of further engaging with a story. Even a film à clef based on actual events but […]
Hosting an all-LGBTQ+ hip-hop showcase has been on Remy St. Clair’s mind for a while now. Over the past few years, while performing at various regional Pride events as rap duo Sons of Ichibei, St. Clair and Cullen “Fellowman” Wade kept hearing similar refrains from artists on these Pride bills: “We’d love to…but we don’t […]
There’s a lot of buzz about Shazam! for being the first DC Extended Universe movie that has a healthy sense of humor. Perhaps it’s a consequence of the audience’s exhaustion from grim years of Bats and Supes that the DCEU gives an individual filmmaker the freedom to do whatever he wants. DC initially tried to […]
After writer and UVA professor Sydney Blair died unexpectedly in December 2016 due to complications from pancreatitis, her children, Tom and Abbie Swanson, found a manuscript-in- progress titled Honorable Men: And Other Stories. When they revealed their discovery to their mother’s longtime friend, Sheila McMillen, she agreed to serve as editor to finish the work. […]
Eight days in the desert under harsh conditions with no permanent infrastructure, including a stable water source, sounds like a test of the human spirit worthy of a cable channel reality show. At the annual Burning Man, a gathering that began on a San Francisco beach 32 years ago and is now set in Nevada’s […]
Behind the smile: Equally Divine: The Real Story of the Mona Lisa is a true-crime musical that explores gender identity and the artistic genius of Leonardo da Vinci. The story is told through one actor, accompanied by music from the Italian Renaissance provided by the Core Ensemble, and follows the origin of the famous image, […]
Federico Cuatlacuatl began making art when he was 7 years old. It was a “survival instinct” that kicked in when his family moved from Cholula, Mexico, to Indiana. “I knew like, two words of English, and I needed a way to communicate that I felt sad and depressed, and that I missed home, and that […]
Hand to mouth: In a show built around bad behavior and puppets, Jeff Dunham dishes out political and cultural commentary through multiple characters. As a ventriloquist, Dunham has carved out a unique space in comedy, and his act is hugely popular—he’s the third-highest-paid comedian in the U.S., behind Jerry Seinfeld and Chris Rock. Peanut, Walter, […]