ARTS Pick: Brice Randall Bickford

Charlottesville expat and current North Carolina rocker Brice Randall Bickford’s recent release, Paro, takes its name from the term for labor strike that’s commonly used in Latin America. Bickford’s songs examine the complications humans unwittingly tilled into civilization 10,000 years ago when we adopted agriculture and systems of government. Bickford clothes his heady narratives—and his […]

Human/Ties celebration brings renowned speakers to Charlottesville

This week Sir Salman Rushdie, Junot Díaz and Alice Waters are among the impressive group of literary figures, activists and scholars assembling in Charlottesville for Human/Ties, a free, four-day celebration of the 50th anniversary of the National Endowment for the Humanities. Rushdie, the author and free speech advocate perhaps best known for his novel The […]

Peter Bjorn and John play to the beat of pop history

Haunted by spirits of recordings past, music studios are just as legendary as the work they’ve cultivated, and they often come equipped with their own folklore. Dolly Parton’s “Jolene” echoes throughout RCA’s Studio B in Nashville. Memphis’ Sun Studio gave us the first recordings of both Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash. Muscle Shoals Sound Studio […]

ARTS Pick: Frightened Rabbit

The name Frightened Rabbit is attributed to lead singer Scott Hutchinson’s shy nature as a child, but this is not exactly a band cowering in a corner. With cynically humorous titles and bracing, sonically voluminous pop, the group charges through on-your-sleeve heartache, family dysfunction and political observations. The highly anticipated new album Painting of a […]

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 […]