ARTS Pick: In Full

That first hour on Friday after 5 o’clock is special. The window to the weekend opens up, a breeze of freedom summons—the boss is off your back, deadlines are met, the deal has closed—and it’s time to tilt a few back. Rock-solid cover band, a jukebox come to life, In Full is right there with […]

Henry Hoke’s film work inspires a short story collection

Charlottesville native Henry Hoke remembers writing stories and poems while a student at Venable Elementary. “I think I always made things up,” he says. “I always came from places of imagination.” He left the city at age 18 to study film at NYU. After living in the world of film, first in New York and […]

ARTS Picks: Haus of Belle

The drag showcase Haus of Belle offers queens, kings and femme fatales primping, preening and performing in high style. Directed by Dreama Belle, the lineup features Beverly Bouver, Bunny Nicole, Ro’Three, Ivy Dripp, Jason Cox and Latashiya Shade in addition to headliner Bert Darling, who promises on his Facebook page: “I’ll be pulling out new […]

ARTS Pick: Kat Somers

Local singer-songwriter Kat Somers has been performing and writing music since sixth grade. Her earnest, original tunes float on sunny melodies, acoustic picking and lyrics sung from the gut in a voice that powers its message through. The recent college grad embarks on a busy summer schedule that finds her booked throughout the region, thanks […]

Breakers dabbles in the fifth dimension on new album

On a warm Monday evening, the four members of Breakers sit comfortably on wicker couches under a covered porch in Belmont. In the glow of multicolored Christmas lights, they share beers and take turns snuggling Batman, drummer Vicente Arroyo’s dog, clad in a red, yellow and green collar, in their post-practice ritual. It’s where they […]

Alien: Covenant fails to perpetuate the franchise

When a movie crash lands due to its own misguidedness, the common question is, “What were the filmmakers thinking?” In the case of Alien: Covenant, we know exactly what Ridley Scott was thinking because he won’t stop broadcasting the film’s metaphors or applauding the foreshadowing long enough to let it tell a worthwhile story. If […]

ARTS Pick: Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet)

In Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet), literature scholar and self-described old maid Constance Ledbelly has reason to believe that two of Shakespeare’s iconic tragedies, Othello and Romeo and Juliet, were not originally written as tragedies at all. Too timid to show her skeptical boss her findings, Constance withdraws into her subconscious mind and the two […]

ARTS Pick: Charlie Mars

Some scour the beach for shells, Charlie Mars went looking for songs. Called to the ocean on his latest album, Beach Town, Mars takes inspiration from the Gulf Coast in depicting salty characters, lost lovers and a search for redemption along the sandy fringes of our Southern border. His songwriting carries such vivid themes that the […]