Last year for the month of October, fiber artist Jill Kerttula lived in Great Smoky Mountains National Park, lodging for free in a furnished apartment alongside three neighbors, among whom was a man who used paintball guns to track bears. Kerttula came to be there after being selected for the artist-in-residence program at the park, […]
Self-proclaimed “trippy trio” Ruckzuck digs live shows, feeding off of spontaneity and grooving on audience energy. The band’s loping sets are part psychedelic, part Krautrock and unlike any other fusion of musical forms. And although the group’s lyrics are sometimes dark and emotional, nothing makes brothers Nick and Matt Bedo and Faith Kelly happier than […]
In the culmination of a tease that began with Ryan Reynolds’ pointless and tonally inconsistent cameo in 2009’s disastrous X-Men Origins: Wolverine comes the psychotic, violent, traumatized, fourth-wall-breaking and utterly hilarious Deadpool. Hilarious, that is, if you have more than a passing familiarity with the tropes of comic book films. The jokes in Deadpool tend […]
Inspired by the poetry of Maya Angelou at a young age, Staunton artist Lady Taij delivers thought-provoking, silky rhymes that detail a rarely observed female perspective on a scene filled with “sex, drugs and rap.” Her edgy lyrics float over an infectious R&B accompaniment and confident social commentary. Thursday 2/18. $5-8, 8pm. The Ante Room, 219 […]
Jason Huber and Jordan Kelley burst out of a tiered cake wearing cowboy hats. Kelley pops and pours champagne. Both men strip down to nothing save metallic underwear, hats and boots. So begins the NSFW video for “Doses and Mimosas,” the Nashville-based electro-pop band Cherub’s breakout 2012 hit. As the video plays on, it’s clear […]
Playing with the art in a gallery is not always the viewer’s first instinct. “I always worry that video [art] is intimidating, but then you put on a lab coat and it changes things,” says multimedia artist Fenella Belle. In an exhibition this month with photographer Stacey Evans, Belle’s lab coat is both symbolically and […]
Take five of Virginia’s finest singer-songwriters, pair them with some of country music’s most poignant love (or lost-love) songs and put them onstage for the annual Country Sweethearts Valentine’s Day show. Be it single and looking, or fed up and freedom-bound, there’s no way to deny the pure passion that emanates from these authentic voices. […]
The Beatles taught us that “All You Need is Love,” and they’re probably right. “The tricky part is how to get it, keep it, give it, know it,” says indie-folk songwriter Devon Sproule. Learn more at Lovefest, where Sproule and her friends Mira Stanley and Chuck Costa of The Sea The Sea play sets about […]
Signature styles Cross Record Wabi-Sabi/Ba Da Bing Records Emily Cross’ sophomore release is equal parts creepy, beautiful and utterly haunting. From the unusual opener, “The Curtains Part”—with its orchestral flourishes, off-kilter jazz horn, in-and-out ambient acoustic guitar and breathy, airy vocals—to “Wasp in a Jar”—with its plodding, thick-as-molasses bass and distorted electric guitar led by […]
In the art world, every overnight success will tell you there’s no such thing as overnight success. Playwright Sharr White knows this better than most. “I’ve been very lucky that it only took me 25 years to get established as a playwright,” he says with a laugh. “When The Other Place was produced at MCC […]