By Adriana Wells The Virginia Film Festival (VAFF) returns to Charlottesville this fall with a lengthy list of standout films and special guests for its 31st annual festival, to take place November 1 through 4. Highlights of the event will include a tribute to the late actor Orson Welles, led by Welles’ friend Peter Bogdanovich. […]
By Adriana Wells The Virginia Film Festival (VAFF) returns to Charlottesville this fall with a lengthy list of standout films and special guests for its 31st annual festival, to take place November 1 through 4. Highlights of the event will include a tribute to the late actor Orson Welles, led by Welles’ friend Peter Bogdanovich. […]
Michael “Doc” Doyle believes that the hardest thing you experience in life is your best chance to find out who you are. For Doyle, a carpenter who studied metal sculpture in art school, that chance came in the form of jail time. After battling addiction and depression, Doyle attempted suicide in such a way that […]
By Leslie M. Scott-Jones Walking into the downstage theater at Live Arts, the sounds are familiar. Vocal warm-ups have begun, and musical director Kristen Baltes shouts from the balcony that this is “real life,” signaling to the actors to fill the space with their voices (not easy to do in that room). Seated in the […]
What happens when two artists walk into a bar? Ask textile artist Tobiah Mundt and painter Kim Anderson and you’ll get the same answer: It’s an immediate connection. Both women relocated to Charlottesville with their families, Mundt from northern Virginia and Anderson from Nebraska, and sought a stronger connection to the art community. This past […]
If you’re going to shamelessly mine classic films for plots, there are worse choices than Planet of the Apes. And if the goal is to keep a child occupied for two hours, you can do worse than Smallfoot. It’s the ultimate synthesis of what makes kids’ movies good without resorting to the lowest common denominator: […]
Nathaniel Star gets most of his ideas in the shower. It’s where he ruminates on a beat, hums melodies, and devises lyrics. When he knows he has something good, he’ll hop out of the shower, wrap himself in a towel and dash, water dripping all over the floor, into his studio to record it. “I’ll […]
When your dad and his brother and most of his friends are musical legends, the pull of the stage is in your blood. Devon Allman answered the call with a punk band at age 13, and by the time he forged a relationship with his famous dad, Gregg, at 17, he was a skilled guitarist […]
It’s not often that you can learn about mushroom cultivation, experiment with the didgeridoo, get an acupuncture treatment, and take a yoga class while the Hackensaw Boys, Gillian Welch, and Ricky Skaggs belt it out in the Blue Ridge Mountains. The Festy Experience is defined by three days of Americana music in a family-friendly, comfortable […]
Evan Felker is full of stories, Southern twang, and soul. As frontman for the Turnpike Troubadours, Felker delivers tales of loss and love bolstered by the fiddling and electric strumming of his Oklahoman bandmates in tunes that swing from listening moments to dance-your-ass-off numbers. Playing bigger stages hasn’t changed the band’s accessible, laid-back approach to […]
Through his unique gift of gab, Eddie Izzard can deliver off-color punchlines and move on to European politics without skipping a beat. In celebration of his 2017 memoir, Believe Me: A Memoir of Love, Death, and Jazz Chickens, Izzard takes the stage to reflect on childhood, alternative sexuality, and personal loss with humor and candor. […]