Album reviews: Novella, Chris Thile & Brad Mehldau and Chicano Batman

Novella Change of State (Sinderlyn) Perilous are the genres doggedly loyal to form in some way, like the blues or reggae. Just follow the chord progression, or chunk the guitar in a characteristic rhythm—and voilà: doing it. But what percentage of overall attempts to make reggae music have been horrific? Ninety? Novella courts disaster on […]

ARTS Pick: Chopiniana

Escape to the theater with Charlottesville Ballet as the company presents the airy, romantic Chopiniana, along with new works by Julia Mitchell, R. Colby Damon, Ty Cooper and Maggie Small. Presented in several variations over the past century tracing back to 1892, Chopiniana is revered as one of the earliest ballets to convey just mood […]

ARTS Pick: Chamomile and Whiskey

Nelson County’s Chamomile and Whiskey drove its inaugural release, 2007’s Wandering Boots, around the U.S. festival circuit to build a fanbase and define itself in the massive genre of Americana, leading to its current pace of more than 150 live shows per year. The band throws some extra Irish passion on its musical fire with […]

ARTS Pick: Mike Recine

Personal stories about fellow Jersey boys and Brooklyn hipsters color the dark wit of comedian Mike Recine, who got his start performing open mic standup at Panera Bread. Recine pokes fun at everyday people, but shows a softer side when he hands out jars of his homemade pasta sauce at shows. Saturday, March 18. $20, […]

ARTS Picks: Gritty City Records

High-energy Richmond hip-hop coalition Gritty City Records featuring nearly a dozen emcees and producers gets real and raw, spitting fiery verse influenced by ’90s artists such as Nas, Mobb Deep and Wu-Tang Clan. The group is joined by socially conscious lyrical mastermind Keese, Alex Brown of extraterrestrial-seeking Friends From Earth and spiritual hip-hop duo Lo$tnFound. […]

Movie Review: Kong: Skull Island stays afloat through visual effects

If you thought the only thing missing from Apocalypse Now was literal monsters, not just metaphorical ones, Kong: Skull Island is the movie you’ve been waiting for. To everyone else, it’s a flick with neat effects and lots of great creature design, spectacular visuals and a bevy of utterly forgettable, interchangeable characters who die with […]

Theater Review: Live Arts’ Peter and the Starcatcher hits the spot

In a new book due out in August, In Search of Stardust: Amazing Micro-Meteorites and Their Terrestrial Imposters, Norwegian musician and amateur scientist Jon Larsen explains how it’s possible for anyone with a microscope to find cosmic debris. He estimates that more than 100 metric tons of alien objects hit our planet every day—and thanks […]

DIY labels are music to our ears

We talk a whole lot about people who make music in this town, and rightfully so—Charlottesville has a robust music scene. Less visible are the people who help musicians make a record of their craft and send it out into the world. There are a number of small and do-it-yourself music labels here that do […]

Victory Hall Opera vocalizes the gay experience in Ghost House

At Juilliard, up-and-coming opera singers learn the art of method acting: channeling their personal experience into the emotions they express on stage. But for mezzo-soprano Brenda Patterson, the acting never stopped. “As a gay person, that’s sort of what you feel like you are doing a lot of the time in real life. You are […]

Arts Pick: Lúnasa

“St. Patrick’s Day is much bigger in America than it is in Ireland,” say the members of Lúnasa, an Irish supergroup who take the stage on Wednesday, for what guitarist Ed Boyd calls “a good night’s entertainment.” The group’s 20th anniversary tour is filled with stories and music, contemporary and traditional, in perfect preparation for the stateside honoring of […]