For singer-songwriter Caroline Spence, there’s no debate about where to find the best ice cream on the Downtown Mall. It’s at Chaps, and it’s the banana flavor. “It’s the only good banana ice cream in the entire world,” says Spence, who grew up in Charlottesville and used to open for touring artists like Joshua Radin […]
For singer-songwriter Caroline Spence, there’s no debate about where to find the best ice cream on the Downtown Mall. It’s at Chaps, and it’s the banana flavor. “It’s the only good banana ice cream in the entire world,” says Spence, who grew up in Charlottesville and used to open for touring artists like Joshua Radin […]
Friends since junior high, Josh Carter and Sarah Barthel have made their pet project Phantogram into a monolith in the pop scene. But as the duo gains popularity, it holds fast to what made it unique in the first place, cranking out dark, synthy hits that are too dreamy to break into mainstream. The definition […]
Five actors play 40 characters in Ken Ludwig’s Baskerville: A Sherlock Holmes Mystery. The madcap comedy pays tribute to Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Hound of the Baskervilles and its notorious sleuth, pushing beyond the mansion murder mystery into a who’s who and whodunit farce. Through July 29. $15-30, times vary. Ruth Caplin Theatre, 109 Culbreth […]
The release of films in select theaters and on demand simultaneously may be good news for cinephiles in overlooked parts of the country, but the experience of watching a movie as intensely visual and stylistically unrelenting as The Bad Batch can’t help but be diminished as a result. Nothing is different about the composition—every shot […]
Describing themselves as “a band that plays super-cool music,” Heartmeat is the collective effort of musicians Frank Storey, Lilly Hartmetz and James Rios, who bring a variety of experience, from folk and jazz to alternative and funk. “All in all though, it’s the thrill of songwriting that really fuels the band,” says Storey. Sunday, July […]
For more than two decades, Spoon has forged a path that embodies consistency. Across nine studio albums, the Austin quartet has dabbled in mainstream success (think “I Turn My Camera On” from 2005’s Gimme Fiction), but lives comfortably in the hook-laden, meticulous ebbs and flows that have solidified the group’s status as indie stalwarts. Comprised […]
Music has, at times, seemed to serve as a therapeutic venture for Tim Showalter, the voice and vision behind Strand of Oaks. On past albums, he’s used his songs to grapple with his inner demons, but the 2017 release Hard Love takes a different approach with a rollicking album that celebrates life’s delights, from sex […]
Since its sold-out premiere in 1851, Rigoletto has been one of the most popular operas of all time. Verdi’s interwoven tragedy follows father and daughter through scandal and curse to a bitter ending. While the Charlottesville Opera sticks to a traditional production, the opera’s themes remain so current it has been reimagined by other companies […]
South Korean pianist Hyojung Huh and the international duo PianoFlautée bring their talents together for a fundraising showcase of classical music billed as Corners of the Earth. Huh is an accomplished performer with two Carnegie Hall credits to her name, and the members of the duo—flautist and hometown prodigy Chelsea Meynig, who channels history and […]
Kasey Chambers has long been revered as one of Australia’s iconic roots-country performers, and her 2017 album Dragonfly shows why. Despite the fact that she’s been recording music since 1998, Chambers’ voice remains fresh and original, from sweet blues to sparkling jazz to twanging banjo. She shows off a sweeping range of musicality and emotion […]