ARTS Pick: [title of show]

With an open script and generic name, [title of show], the “musical about two guys writing a musical about two guys writing a musical,” by Jeff Bowen and Hunter Bell, has become a work-in-progress with each production crew adding updates and changes based on its experience. The one-act play takes a comical look at the […]

Movie review: “Snatched” gets all dressed up but goes nowhere

Be wary of any comedy with such a conspicuous amount of talented performers as Snatched. Maybe it’ll be the star-studded movie event of the decade, but more than likely it’ll be an exercise in coasting, with a few laughs here and there but occupying much of the running time with mugging and lesser gags hogging […]

Takin’ care of backstage business at area music venues

If Gary Green does his job well at the Paramount Theater, nobody will know. As the theater’s audio production manager, he analyzes how sound waves produced by artists will be affected by rising temperature and humidity as audience members fill the space. He knows how voices sound in each microphone, and where the Paramount’s resonance […]

Animal Collective is ‘Kinda Bonkers’ in the best way

As one-fourth of experimental pop band Animal Collective and a solo artist in his own right, Noah Lennox (who creates under the moniker Panda Bear) has been making music professionally for nearly 20 years. Along with Dave Portner (Avey Tare), Brian Weitz (Geologist) and Josh Dibb (Deakin), Lennox and the Collective made their mainstream crossover […]

Devon Sproule shares her songwriting process

While singer-songwriter Devon Sproule’s sound has evolved over time, she continues to write thoughtful and compelling lyrics. This month her eighth album, The Gold String, will be released. The record is themed on the idea of an invisible string connecting all things, and the possibility of finding “spiritual togetherness in everyday life,” Sproule says. For […]

ARTS Pick: The Mavericks

Raul Malo, the Grammy Award-winning leader of The Mavericks, loves to joke about his human compassion and self-proclaimed “hippie speak.” The Cuban immigrant wants his band’s eclectic blend of classic country, cow-punk and standards to unify audiences.“Maybe it’s the hopeless romantic in me, but I’d like to make a place where all people can come […]

ARTS Pick: Death of a Salesman

Widely considered one of the greatest American plays of the 20th century, Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman was the first to hit the trifecta with a Tony Award, New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award and the Pulitzer Prize. The story centers around the broken dreams and despairing family of salesman Willy Loman, as he […]

C-VILLE music writers share can’t-miss concerts

Please Don’t Tell IX Art Park 5/25 Please Don’t Tell might be the Charlottesville music scene’s best-kept secret. This duo plays dark and often humorous Berlin cabaret with piano, cello and vocals.—Jackson Landers Future Islands The Jefferson Theater 5/30 On the movie soundtrack of your life, Future Islands delivers the mellow, moody, cinematic synth-pop for […]

Listen up: C-ville’s hip-hop scene is on the rise

It’s a gray Sunday evening, 50-something degrees and drizzling when The Beetnix step onto the outdoor stage at IX Art Park. It’s been raining all day, but a crowd of more than 100 has gathered on the graffiti-painted concrete ground in front of the stage. Many of them hold their phones and tablets in the […]

ARTS Pick: Old Salt Union

Old Salt Union’s hipster looks and laid-back attitude pair well with its love of high-energy, foot-stomping Americana music. But the band does all it can to buck tradition with unique arrangements and an original newgrass sound that recently earned the group Best Bluegrass Band and Best Country Band titles in the Riverfront Times’ Best of St. […]