Sunny Ortiz of Widespread Panic on what’s next after 30 years

Widespread Panic is celebrating 30 years as one of America’s preeminent party bands. Holding the record for sold-out performances at Colorado’s Red Rocks Amphitheatre (48) and selling more than 3 million albums, the well-oiled machine comes to the nTelos Wireless Pavilion on April 28. Texas-born Sunny Ortiz has been WSP’s percussionist since the band’s genesis […]

The Great Outdoors

Going with the flow Rivanna River Company will launch Charlottesville’s first outfitter By Jessica Luck editor@c-ville.com When Gabe and Sonya Silver moved back to Charlottesville three years ago after various stints in other places working in the outdoor recreation field, they settled in the Woolen Mills neighborhood. The house they bought was a fixer-upper with […]

A new boost for the Charlottesville Mural Project

If you walk or drive past the Corner in the next few weeks, you may be surprised to see people suspended from the top floor of the Graduate hotel. These aren’t aerialists or stunt doubles for a local action movie; they’re muralists painting the latest installation of the Charlottesville Mural Project. Using a swing stage, […]

ARTS Pick: The Life of King Henry the Fifth

Witness the high drama, savagery and heroism surrounding the Battle of Agincourt in The Life of King Henry the Fifth, skillfully staged by the American Shakespeare Center. Explore the multiple sides of King Henry V’s passionate personality in the last of the Bard’s historic plays. Through 6/10. $29-54, 7:30pm. Blackfriars Playhouse, 10 S. Market St., Staunton. […]

ARTS Pick: Mark Erelli

Folk musician Mark Erelli is an accomplished performer who operates just outside of the spotlight. After building a reputation of excellence on Boston’s coffeehouse circuit, the multi-instrumental troubadour took a break from his solo career in 2010 and joined singer-songwriter Lori McKenna on the road with country music power couple Tim McGraw and Faith Hill. […]

Album reviews: M. Ward, Bleached, Boogarins

M. Ward More Rain (Merge) He’s covered Louis Armstrong, Daniel Johnston, David Bowie and Bach. He’s recorded Christmas albums with Zooey Deschanel. And for 15 years, M. Ward has also been one of the country’s best songwriters, though at times less a songwriter and more of a mood, something you put on and let drift […]

Barbara Kingsolver celebrates community and social change

Over the course of her writing career, which began at a weekly alternative newspaper like C-VILLE Weekly, Barbara Kingsolver has authored 14 books and won numerous awards, including the National Humanities Medal in 2000 and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize in 2011. Her novel The Lacuna won the Orange Prize in 2010, and her memoir, […]

ARTS Pick: Snow White

Taking a lighter approach to the Brothers Grimm’s telling of Snow White, Charlottesville Ballet tiptoes around the tale of a girl stalked by a murderous psychopath to present a forest fantasy made up of friendly animals and merrymaking dwarfs. The massive cast includes 60 local dance students in addition to 20 professional company members, and […]

Film review: The Jungle Book gets a magical restyling

No matter how cynical you may be about the Disney brand, no matter how aware you are of the manipulation of your sentimentality, five minutes in, The Jungle Book will make you forget or not care as you find yourself becoming a believer. The recent spate—and forthcoming slate—of Disney live-action remakes of its own catalogue […]

ARTS Pick: Hunter Gatherers

Peter Sinn Nachtrieb’s biting, sexy, satirical Hunter Gatherers offers up a dark look at contradiction and pretense in contemporary culture. Masquerading as a glimpse into a typical social evening, the drama ultimately reflects fragility in the manufactured sophistication of modern society, peeking behind the facade of civility and revealing animalistic impulses that have withstood the […]