Before War & Treaty’s Michael Trotter Jr. was a touring musician, he was a soldier in Iraq. There among the brutalities of war, in a dictator’s palace, Trotter taught himself to play on a piano believed to have belonged to Saddam Hussein. It was in this extraordinary setting that he wrote his first song, which […]
Before War & Treaty’s Michael Trotter Jr. was a touring musician, he was a soldier in Iraq. There among the brutalities of war, in a dictator’s palace, Trotter taught himself to play on a piano believed to have belonged to Saddam Hussein. It was in this extraordinary setting that he wrote his first song, which […]
UVA Drama takes on satire, politics, capitalism and social justice as man’s desire to pee in private leads to revolution in the Broadway smash Urinetown. When a water shortage occurs, a lockdown on toilet flushing requires citizens to use paid public facilities, but not everyone can afford the fee to pee. A hero emerges, and […]
The force and fearlessness of art takes center stage with Shenandoah Fringe Festival’s diverse lineup of film, theater, music, puppetry and more. Local and national artists unite with the declaration, “We can be students and painters and refugees and baristas and mothers and mimes and waitresses and vaudevillians all in one without invalidating the others.” […]
“Nobody understands an artist like another artist,” says local portrait artist Frank Walker. And so Walker, who has drawn all his life—first imitating the figures in Sgt. Rock comic books and later working in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers graphics department, earning a BFA in painting and printmaking from Virginia Commonwealth University and working […]
This week, New York-based artist Ed Woodham brings his Art in Odd Places festival to Charlottesville in a two-day, intensely collaborative event with the theme of “matter.” Sponsored by the UVA Studio Arts Board, the mission of AiOP, Woodham writes in the program guide, “is to engage and activate the everyday places in our lives. […]
Before we get into just how much Steven Spielberg’s Ready Player One misses the mark, it’s worth noting that its badness has nothing to do with video games and the people who enjoy them. Critics often come down harder on movies about subcultures they disapprove of or simply haven’t taken the time to understand, which […]
Cry Cry Cry is back together, but not for long. A collaboration between established folk singers Dar Williams, Richard Shindell and Lucy Kaplansky, the harmony-based trio formed two decades ago to release one album before members went their separate ways to focus on individual careers. The project mostly sat dormant until last summer, when an […]
Last April, A’nija Johnson walked into the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center auditorium ready to speak her truth at the Nine Pillars Hip Hop Cultural Fest’s freshman class competition. Wearing a floor-length skirt, a Tasmanian Devil “I need coffee” T-shirt and a pair of sunglasses, the local high schooler found herself in a room […]
Van Hunt Popular (Blue Note) The “great lost” album by the vastly undersung Van Hunt is no longer lost, but it’s pretty great. The Ohio savant caught notice in 2004 with his self-titled debut and Grammy-nominated single “Dust,” then took a leap forward with On the Jungle Floor, and its agile mix of soul, funk, […]
First-timers get a chance on the mic and a warm welcome from host Remy St. Clair as the Nine Pillars Hip-Hop Cultural Fest invites local middle and high school students to show up at Cville’s Freshman Class for a chance to become Charlottesville’s next breakout hip-hop artist. Last year’s winner, Zeus4K, won time in the […]