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, […]

ARTS Pick: War & Treaty duo plays together nicely

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 […]

ARTS Pick: UVA Drama takes on Urinetown

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 […]

ARTS Pick: Shenandoah Fringe Festival takes center stage

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.” […]

First Fridays: April 6

“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 […]

Art in Odd Places explores matter and historical interpretation

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. […]

Movie review: Ready Player One turns brain games mindless

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 embarks on a brief reunion tour

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 […]