ARTS Pick: Water or Glass

In 1943, Charlotte Salomon died in a gas chamber at Auschwitz. Leading up to her capture and unimaginable death, the artist produced 769 expressionist paintings while in hiding from the Nazis. The works came together as an autobiographical play through images called Life? or Theater?. Local playwright Bridget Mitchell opens a new era for the […]

Moonlight traces a powerful journey

Socially important and stylistically flawless, Barry Jenkins’ Moonlight is a beautiful film inside and out. Far more than a worthwhile message about LGBT visibility wrapped in a pretty package, Moonlight is a fully realized three-dimensional look at the evolution of a person from child to adult —changes that seem gradual are often direct threads visible […]

ARTS Pick: Locals Play Locals

The event name says it all. Locals Play Locals is a big ol’ Charlottesville music cover show. More than a dozen bands and solo artists—Tequila Mockingbird, Gina Sobel’s Choose Your Own Adventure, Genna Matthew, Phil West, Marchenko and others—will swap songs and even genres in this benefit concert for Charlottesville’s Music Resource Center. Friday 11/18. $8, […]

ARTS Pick: Willie DE

When guitarist Willie DE walks onstage to unveil his sophomore album, Thunder Train, he will be taking another big step on a musical journey that cuts straight through Charlottesville’s Downtown Mall. As a young aspiring musician, DE made his first bucks while busking on local streets, and credits his membership at the Music Resource Center […]

Refugees make new connections through art

Rarely do so many Americans feel divided, separated and isolated from one another as they have during this political season. Our inability to communicate and connect with one another as countrymen feels like an affront. For the thousands of refugees who flee violence, persecution, human trafficking or torture in their native countries in crisis, then […]

Album reviews: Lambchop, Shagwuf, MV & EE

Lambchop FLOTUS (Merge) Kurt Wagner might deserve this year’s indie Lifetime Achievement Award. While recording as Lambchop for more than 20 years, he has ably covered a waterfront of styles, from string-laden alt-country to hipster soul and mellow indie-pop. To boot, he’s given us a bounty of wry titles like “Cigaretiquette” and “The Petrified Florist,” […]

ARTS Pick: The Nth Power

Indebted to the legacy of soul music, The Nth Power offers a listener’s choice of “songs that will inspire audiences to dance, groove, make love or just stand there with goose bumps.” Bound by a belief in the spiritual power of music and the logical beauty of math (the group’s first EP is titled Basic […]

Mel Gibson uses Hacksaw Ridge to revive faith

Love him or hate him, personally or as a filmmaker, Mel Gibson has never made a movie halfway. Whether it’s reviving dead languages, plunging the camera into the heart of a bloody battle or crafting messianic imagery both metaphorical and literal, you can always trust that the image you’re seeing on the screen is precisely […]

Marine Special Ops vet makes tailoring his new mission

Men’s fashion and the military have a lot in common, if you ask Derek Questell. After serving in the Marines for 10 years and four deployments, Questell now tailors custom clothing from his Charlottesville home, calling the enterprise Tailored Quest. “It’s in my blood, my Italian heritage,” says Questell. “My dad gave me my first […]

ARTS Pick: United Nations of Comedy

In its sixth year, United Nations of Comedy continues to bring an unmatched variety of rising stars with Emma Willmann, Funnyman Skiba, Antoine Scott, Alex Carabaño and Jason Andors. Time Out magazine recently named Willmann one of the 10 Funniest Women in New York, and Jason Anders has been deemed the “comedy chameleon” for notable […]