Getting a lift: Nine Pillars’ female showcase is brimming with talent

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 […]

ARTS Pick: C’ville’s Freshman Class takes the mic

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 […]

ARTS Pick: Jimmy Buffett brings the beach ballads

For local Parrot Heads looking to waste away again on a seashore in their minds, Jimmy Buffett brings his easy listening island tunes and beach ballads to the stage. Combining country, rock and pop, Buffett is often referred to as the “king of Gulf and Western” sound. From his start as an easygoing beach bum […]

ARTS Pick: Americana rockers The Black Lillies stop in C’ville

For the past eight years, Americana road warriors The Black Lillies have been chasing success like hounds, pushing musical boundaries on tour and in the studio. The independent roots-rockers inspire with a rich mix of tight harmonies cut with country blues, but it’s the group’s chemistry that keeps it rockin’ from festivals and clubs to […]

ARTS Pick: Cigarettes After Sex fans show some ‘Affection’

Cigarettes After Sex formed accidentally in 2008, according to the group’s founder, Greg Gonzalez, who says he was experimenting with the dreamy, languorous sound that defines the band. A move to Brooklyn and the release of the single “Affection” resulted in millions of internet clicks, and catapulted the group to its current success with a […]

‘Feminine Likeness’ explores two sides of the canvas

Standing in The Fralin Museum of Art at UVA, surrounded by paintings from across the 19th and 20th centuries, you notice something about the passage of time in the museum’s current exhibition, “Feminine Likeness: Portraits of Women by American Artists, 1809-1950.” There’s a subtle shift as years slip by, a transformation in the representation of […]

Movie review: Pacific Rim Uprising stomps through subplots

Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim—like pretty much all of his films, including The Shape of Water—was a tribute to the genres he loved that lack mainstream recognition, in this case a fusion of Toho kaiju monsters and mech suit anime where there is as much drama inside the suits as there is out, most notably […]

Live music venue The Ante Room folds for now

A music venue is a strange place to be in the middle of the day. A club is designed for the nighttime, with its dark walls, ceilings and stages meant to be illuminated not by the sun but by bright lights, coming alive when bodies are in the room and music is in the air. […]

ARTS Pick: Going paleo at the Paramount

Paleontologists meet puppeteers for a trip to Erth’s Dinosaur Zoo Live!, a theatrical journey through 65 million years of dino history told by life-like creatures that entertain as they educate. Kids will freak while parents geek. Sunday, March 25. $14.75-49.75, 4pm. The Paramount Theater, 215 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. 979-1333.