Album reviews: Keeping it surreal

Frank Ocean Blonde (Boys Don’t Cry) In the midst of all the think pieces analyzing Blonde as an event, it seems worth restating the bottom line: Frank Ocean is a brilliant songwriter, musician and producer, and Blonde is overflowing with sonic and compositional gifts; it’s almost embarrassing. So when I played this for my dad […]

ARTS Pick: Women Against Violence: Rise Up

An evening of solace and reflection brings the UVA glee club, chorus and a cappella groups from the university and the surrounding community together in concert for Women Against Violence: Rise Up. The healing, uplifting musical selections include “Still I Rise,” based on the poem by poet laureate Maya Angelou, and the event features various […]

ARTS Pick: Man on a Horse

Compiled as a supergroup of local players, Man on a Horse brings together drummer Stuart Gunter, harmonica world champion Gary Green and bassist Andy Waldeck, with guitarist and songwriter Peyton Tochterman. Riding a stampede of talent, this band plays pure, Virginia rock for a laid-back, raise-your-glass, head-swinging good time. Thursday, September 15,  6pm. $8-10. The […]

Sully awakens an understanding of human potential

On January 15, 2009, experienced pilot and aviation safety expert Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger saved the lives of all 155 people aboard US Airways Flight 1549, including his own, with only 208 seconds to turn what could have been a major disaster into the miracle the world saw. A collision with geese had disabled both engines, […]

Creative community finds support at The Farm House

For Lauren and Stephen Stonestreet, good hospitality runs in the family. As cicadas hum and the neighborhood sounds of 10th and Page reach the porch of their 1925 farmhouse on a Sunday afternoon, the siblings share stories of traveling missionaries and artists visiting their grandparents’ home near Charleston, West Virginia. They say these memories of […]

ARTS Pick: Chamomile and Whiskey

Charlottesville’s Chamomile and Whiskey mixes an intoxicating blend of Irish, old-time and gypsy music into its own brand of Americana. Since releasing its debut album, Wandering Boots, in 2013, the band, revered for its live performances, has played venues and festivals all over the U.S. The highly anticipated hometown show is bound to be a […]

‘Cville Galaxy’ challenges the Guinness World Record

According to Guinness World Records, the world’s largest cardboard sculpture, a massive 33′ x 33′ cardboard castle built in April and decorated by art students, is located in D-Park mall in Kowloon, Hong Kong, China. But probably not for long. Matthew Slaats has plans for IX Art Park to take over that honor on September […]

ARTS Pick: Capitol Steps

In a presidential election cycle where the real candidates have flipped the script on civility, you’d think that political comedy troupe Capitol Steps would be hard-pressed to wring more humor from the headlines. However, the group, founded as a holiday party gag in 1981 by former Capitol Hill staffers, is determined not to be upstaged […]

The Innocents challenges the structure of faith

Director Anne Fontaine’s The Innocents takes place in Warsaw in December 1945, when much of the world was ecstatic at the conclusion of World War II, yet those most affected were too deeply traumatized to feel anything close to relief. And for many in the occupied territory of Poland, the horrors continued long after hostilities […]