The second annual Shenandoah Fringe Festival—“a culmination of the wild, wondrous and weird of our region,” according to creative producer Carmel Clavin—is upon us. In a way, the festival, set in downtown Staunton, functions as the Island of Misfit Toys for the arts, by providing a platform for disparate artists not affiliated with a formal […]
The second annual Shenandoah Fringe Festival—“a culmination of the wild, wondrous and weird of our region,” according to creative producer Carmel Clavin—is upon us. In a way, the festival, set in downtown Staunton, functions as the Island of Misfit Toys for the arts, by providing a platform for disparate artists not affiliated with a formal […]
Between the invasion of Poland in 1939 and the end of World War II, Antonina and Jan Zabinski used the Warsaw Zoo as a staging ground for hiding and evacuating Jews escaping Nazi persecution. Their story is a reminder that bravery takes many forms; sometimes it is picking up a weapon and confronting evil head-on […]
During his interactive, choose-your-own-adventure techno-rap show, Gavin Riley might drop his audience into a video-animated scenario about soft serve ice cream. When a video bully asks him if he wants to ditch his swirly cone for a drug called jazz, Riley’s audience can choose his reply: “Get jazzed up!” or “Just say no!” and Riley […]
Named after a town in Maine, folk quintet Parsonsfield formed by happenstance at the University of Connecticut around 2009. “I was beginning college and I really wanted to meet some people that had an interest in old songs like I did,” says member Chris Freeman. “I was playing guitar and discovering music from all eras […]
Thundercat Drunk (Brainfeeder) Thundercat (né Stephen Bruner) is a top-shelf guest artist, having loaned his six-string bass and falsetto to Kendrick Lamar, Kamasi Washington and Flying Lotus. With his solo albums, Thundercat has also carved out and completely inhabited his own patch of land, creating something distinct and stable within pop’s ever-shifting world. The opening […]
As a child in a working-class English family with no musical background, Paul Lewis borrowed books from the library and taught himself to play classical piano while his father worked the docks in Liverpool. Now, at 44, Lewis is one of the leading musicians of his generation, known for his mastery of Beethoven and Schubert, […]
9th Wonder’s fingerprints are all over hip-hop music. Not only has he released a series of acclaimed albums with trio Little Brother, he’s produced tracks for some of the biggest names in the game—Mary J. Blige, Erykah Badu, Jay Z, Destiny’s Child, Drake, Kendrick Lamar, Jill Scott, Ludacris, Big Boi and Anderson .Paak, to name […]
Producer-choreographer Brad Stoller and his team put a neo-Victorian steampunk costume on the classic musical Cabaret, while using the original themes and context to explore the effect of politics on everyday lives, and the parallels in the current political climate. Set in 1930s Berlin, Germany, the plot unfolds in song around the Kit Kat Club, […]
Guitarist Jeff Miller is loopy in the best way. His new release is titled Loops, he created a YouTube series “Loop of the Week,” and he operates as a one-man band with the help of a looping pedal that brings together his fingerpicking guitar style, astute vocals and creative rhythm, layering it into a live […]
Photographer Clay Bolt is drawn to species he calls the oddballs and little guys. Working internationally with organizations such as National Geographic and BBC Wildlife, Bolt is a natural history and conservation photographer. “What sets me apart from a ‘nature photographer’ is that a lot of my work records life cycles and tells stories of […]