Eze Amos exhibits ‘Cville People Everyday’

By now you might know his name. You’ve seen it before in these very pages. Maybe you’ve started to put a face to the name. You see him on the Downtown Mall, holding a camera, watching. He is freelance photographer Eze Amos, whose first photography exhibition, “Cville People Everyday,” opens this month at New City […]

Album reviews: Vince Guaraldi, The Beths, The Love Language, Tony Molina, and Robbie Fulks & Linda Gail Lewis

Vince Guaraldi The Complete Warner Bros. -Seven Arts Recordings (Omnivore) In “Linus and Lucy,” Vince Guaraldi created one of the most universally beloved recordings of all time, but it’s hard to find his stuff besides A Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack. Omnivore helps with this nifty two- disc reissue, comprising three albums from 1968-69 plus four […]

ARTS Pick: Daniel Bachman

The music of Daniel Bachman is known as American primitive guitar, but some may consider that a misnomer. The complex, plucked arrangements distinctive to the Fredericksburg native are anything but simple. Many of his songs stretch past the 10-minute mark, and some are entirely instrumental. With any other musician, leaving your voice out of your […]

ARTS Pick: Sons of Bill

Overcoming injuries, battling “drinking issues” and months at a time on the road would change, possibly derail, most bands. But Sons of Bill put its collective heart on its sleeve and used these challenges to craft its newest album, Oh God Ma’am. Released in June, the record shows an increased maturity in the band’s sound, […]

First Fridays: August 3

“The root of my inspiration—pun intended—is firmly planted in the natural world,” says local artist Sam Gray. “When I’m feeling crazy, the best medicine is to go into the woods and be with the mosses, trees, herbs, fungi and critters,” she says. “I find a lot of magic in that connection.” That connection between the […]

ARTS Pick: Big country

Rob Cheatham is an ideal modern country artist—his twang echoes the sounds that currently dominate the genre, while his lyrics harken to the storytelling abilities of forebears like Willie Nelson or Merle Haggard and cover topics such as love, be it unrequited or shared, and hard drinking as a remedy for life’s ills. He shares […]

Pale Blue Dot makes the unknown beautiful

Ever since he was a kid, Tony LaRocco has been enamored with cosmos—both the Carl Sagan show and the concept powering it, seeing the universe as a “well-ordered whole.” It’s an obsession that permeates his musical life, from lyrics to sound choices to the name of his band, Pale Blue Dot, a reference to a […]

Taking the lead: Fallout is an MI franchise standout

For a series where every installment feels more like a product of inevitability than inspiration, credit is due to the Mission: Impossible series for its commitment to one-upping itself. If the cost of entry is an insane Tom Cruise stunt show every few years that’s punctuated with some spy silliness and a couple of laughs, […]