The push for greater representation in cinema, both in front of and behind the camera, is sometimes derided as an academic one that places statistics ahead of quality, of checked boxes over realism. What these critics miss is that representation means greater diversity of perspectives. People of different races, nationalities, genders, religions and sexual orientations […]
It began in a crowded Richmond parking lot. Local novelist Erika Raskin had an appointment to re-enroll in the master of social work program she had begun at VCU, and couldn’t find a parking space. As she drove in circles something shifted within her. She laughs and says, “I was like, ‘You know what? Screw […]
The Stevens Good (Chapter) The Stevens are from Melbourne, Australia, sharing a member with Twerps and sounding pretty similar. They invoke classic Aussie/New Zealand indie heroes like The Clean, cut with Pavement and Guided by Voices (and on “Purple and Grey,” Syd Barrett). It’s almost suspicious how effortlessly the 18 songs on Good unfold, but […]
Whether it gets the acknowledgment it deserves, we are currently in what might be called a golden age of action filmmaking. Aside from the superhero flicks that seem to be holding the industry afloat, the last few years have seen sea changes in the genre’s presence in the culture. There are the high-profile blockbusters like […]
The King of Navarre and his three friends have signed an oath to avoid the company of women for three years in Love’s Labour’s Lost. This should be easy: Who needs women when you have your studies and fasting to focus on, right? That is, until the arrival of the Princess of France and her […]
For fine artist Caroline Nelson, a person’s face speaks volumes. “The smallest details, the wrinkles and the pores, are very telling,” she says. “There are people who I see and I immediately want to paint them. It can be their eyes or their skin tone, but there’s always something that I’m drawn to.” Her large-scale […]
Imagine this supergroup: Chris Thile, Chris Eldridge, Paul Kowert, Noam Pikelny, Gabe Witcher, Sara Watkins, Sarah Jarosz and Aoife O’Donovan. The biggest bluegrass high of the summer rolls through town with the proggy, hypnotic stringmasters Punch Brothers joining female triple threat I’m With Her—playing sets of their own and together—for acoustic bliss. Tuesday, August 8. […]
Christopher Cross didn’t know it at the time, but when his massive hit “Sailing” blew through the speakers of car stereos and beach radios in the summer of 1980, it was charting the course for a niche musical genre to emerge 25 years into the future. Three Sheets to the Wind rides the current wave […]
What is there to do to pass the time when you’re living at sea on a tiny sailboat with only your partner for company? Starting an award-winning band is always a good option. Alaina Moore and Patrick Riley, the duo that comprises Tennis, began writing songs to document their adventures on the ocean. Now, their […]
Sperryville artist Adam Disbrow isn’t interested in mimicking realism; after all, “a camera can do that,” he writes in an email. Instead, he communicates with his audience through abstract, minimalistic images, using layers of objective symbols to create a wholly subjective piece of art. His latest exhibition, opening at the Music Resource Center on August 4, […]