Playing it out: Stray Fossa is a new band with a long history

Nick Evans sometimes wakes at “god-awful hours of the night” to find his brother, Will, in the living room, sitting quietly amid microphones, coiled cables, amps, guitars, and drums, his shoulders hunched toward his computer, the blue-white glow of the screen illuminating his face, laser-focused, with headphones covering his ears. Nick laughs as he describes […]

Listen Up: Classical music is alive and well in Charlottesville

As Charlottesville’s character has broadened, so has its classical music scene, which is now largely driven by community efforts to build the culture. When Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach began transforming the sounds we were used to hearing, 250 years ago, people said it was the death of classical music,” says Benjamin Rous, music director of […]

ARTS Pick: Let There Be Light

In the shorter days leading to the solstice, things can get gloomy, but for the group of artists featured in Let There Be Light, the darkness offers inspiration. From glowing jellyfish constellations to the hidden world of woodland creatures, the art installations and performances at the annual event are a testament to the bright artistic […]

ARTS Pick: The Goat, or Who is Sylvia?

When Martin, a 50-year-old husband and father, confesses his love for a goat, it sets off a wild chain of events in the architect’s successful and seemingly perfect family life. Edward Albee’s The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? reflects on moral judgment, crisis management, and sexual psychology, in an absurdly harrowing story that is subtitled […]

ARTS Pick: The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

In The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, the Herdman kids—a bunch of foul-mouthed smokers, thieves, and drinkers—are uncontestedly the worst choices to cast in their church’s annual Christmas play. Other children are shocked at the news of their involvement: There’s no way these six unruly delinquents can lead the production to success, short of a miracle. Released […]

ARTS Pick: Rufus Wainwright

When Rufus Wainwright’s second album, Poses, came out in 2001, the singer-songwriter extraordinaire was in the throes of critical adoration, collecting awards and accolades, but lacking commercial success and struggling with addiction. Good pal Elton John helped him into rehab, and Wainwright quickly got back on track, defining himself over the next 15 years through […]

First Fridays: December 7

While working on her newest series of paintings, Uzo Njoku learned the importance of telling a story through portraiture. The story Njoku tells with “Out of the Shadows,” on view this month at the New City Arts Welcome Gallery, is one that has global reach and widespread effects, and is perhaps not told—or heard—nearly enough. […]

Owning it: Comedy performer L.E. Zarling finds happiness in improv

It’s a Saturday morning in Richmond, and L.E. Zarling has ordered a chocolate croissant to go with her latte at Lamplighter Coffee. She looks at the pastry, covered in a heavy-handed sprinkle of powdered sugar. Then she looks at her black turtleneck sweater. “Fuck it,” she says before taking a bite. “I’m going to enjoy […]