Album reviews: The Voidz, Albert Hammond Jr. and Drinks

The Voidz Virtue (RCA) Albert Hammond Jr. Francis Trouble (Red Bull) It seemed the Strokes had already endured the breathless-hype-into-vicious-backlash cycle even before its debut full-length, Is This It, dropped in 2001. The band’s momentum, attitude and simply perfectly simple songwriting blew through that milestone with authority. But since then, the band’s output has been […]

ARTS Pick: Jazz concert seeks justice

John D’earth directs the UVA Jazz Ensemble in a three-way benefit for the Central Virginia Legal Aid Society, the Legal Aid Justice Center and the UVA jazz program. Jazz4Justice is a statewide, college-based series that raises funds and awareness about social justice issues through community partnerships. The Charlottesville performance features vocalist Stephanie Nakasian and the […]

ARTS Pick: Brent Cobb has Georgia on his mind

Over the past 10 years, Brent Cobb toured with some of country music’s biggest names, was personally invited to the Nashville scene by Luke Bryan, wrote hits for Miranda Lambert, Kenny Chesney and others and discovered that a distant cousin is an L.A. producer for outlaw musicians like Shooter Jennings. But with the release of […]

ARTS Pick: Metal Showcase prepares to crush it

Whether you’re a metal devotee or your knowledge of the current scene is rusty, Champion Brewing Company’s third annual Metal Showcase (part of the Tom Tom Founders Festival) is the place to exercise your nod and crush cans of brewery favorites as mutant-hardcore and grind noise meet nuts-core metal and power violence in a show […]

Wednesday Music Club keeps it classical for 95 years

Wednesdays usually mean two things—you’re one day closer to the weekend and, at the end of the day, you realize how much work stands between you and that weekend. In 1923, the founding members of the Wednesday Music Club deemed the midweek mark a cause for celebration. “They met Wednesday mornings because they had a […]

Melissa Cooke Benson explores life and body changes

Artist Melissa Cooke Benson’s explorations in portraiture, long inspired by her daily life, have aligned with geographical moves, new and different cityscapes and cultures and alterations in her interior life, too. “With each life transition,” she says, “I’ve had to digest what’s going on around me and think of a way of incorporating what I […]

The Alt unearths old songs and switches its lineup

Of the many roads that could be taken, The Alt—an Irish folk band comprised of John Doyle (guitar, bouzouki, vocals), Eamon O’Leary (guitar, bouzouki, vocals) and Nuala Kennedy (flutes, whistles, vocals)—chooses the beaten path on its music journey. The band’s self-titled debut is not, however, a collection of Irish tunes that are beloved by the […]

ARTS Pick: Bobby Bones is the face of country radio

One of the most popular syndicated radio shows in America is helmed by Bobby Bones, something that country music fans have known for years. The Arkansas native is funny, honest and unscripted—Bones once got Taylor Swift to offer dating advice to his show’s intern and do a reading from the Titanic movie script. Since 2013, […]