Ghost muse: Singer-songwriter Anthony D’Amato finds inspiration in creative legacy

In 2010, upon the release of Down Wires, an album described as gritty, soulful and startlingly Dylanesque, Anthony D’Amato exploded onto a revitalized folk music scene. While his brethren were busy cashing in on a highly produced, four-on-the-floor-driven sound (think the throbbing undercurrent of Mumford & Sons’ 2009 Billboard-topper Sigh No More), D’Amato was stripping […]

Local ties: Harmonica player Gary Green hits a familiar stage

As audio engineer for Charlottesville’s Paramount Theater, it’s Gary Green’s job to make musicians sound great. What many people don’t know is that Green is an accomplished musician in his own right. A virtuoso harmonica player, he won the Hohner-sponsored 1987 World Harmonica Championships, and by his own estimate has since played on recordings for […]

ARTS Pick: Gaelic Storm

The name evokes a tempestuous clan of freckled redheads taking no prisoners as they blast through a set of fiddle-driven pub rock in the heart of a Celtic village, but, in reality, Gaelic Storm is a group of friends who met in Santa Monica, California, and made it big after appearing as the steerage band […]

Album reviews: P.O.D., Joe Satriani, Vintage Trouble

P.O.D. The Awakening/T-Boy/UMe P.O.D. ended its previous record, Murdered Love, with singer Sonny Sandoval dropping f-bombs and checking off a list of the many forms of baggage that Christians bring to the table. The Awakening takes up the cause by way of a concept record featuring a drug-addicted, alcoholic, home-wrecking, neglected man going through a […]

Cracking up: Kurt Braunohler likes big butts (and he cannot lie)

When it comes to making people laugh, comedian Kurt Braunohler goes big. Really big. He once hired a skywriter to scrawl “How do I land?” in the sky over Los Angeles. He has donned a tuxedo wetsuit and rode a Jet Ski down the Mississippi River, doing stand-up gigs along the way. Most recently, he […]

ARTS Pick: Xilent

  Xilent’s rise to prominence has been meteoric, to say the least. At just under two years since his debut release, Choose Me II, marked the arrival of a serious new talent, he’s become one of the most talked about names in dubstep. Maintaining a global DJ schedule alongside his production and remix work, Xilent is […]

Film review: The Transporter: Refueled gains little traction for the franchise

If one were feeling particularly generous, parallels could be made between the recent spate of French-produced English language action films and the heyday of the spaghetti Western. Between the campy play at sophistication, the stylistic exploitation of genre tropes and the strange juxtaposition of gritty Anglophone leading men battling actors whose onscreen dialogue appears to […]

Updated: Lockn’ adds to its infrastructure and allure

Updated: Due to a powerful storm, the opening of  Lockn’ campgrounds has been delayed until further notice and Thursday performances have been canceled. When gates open to the show field  on Thursday, returning campers and daytrippers will find what should be an improved experience at Lockn’ Music Festival, the four-day music bash on Nelson County’s […]

Perfect landing: Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady on Jefferson Airplane’s golden anniversary

In 1965, amid the notorious counter-cultural hub of San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury district, began what would prove to be one of the most influential experiments in rock history: Jefferson Airplane. As headliners of those now legendary festivals—Woodstock, Altamont, Monterey Pop and Isle of Wight—like the roaring sound of the zeitgeist itself, the music of the Airplane […]

ARTS Pick: Low Cut Connie

The electrifying duo Low Cut Connie formed in 2010 when singer-songwriters Adam Weiner and Daniel Finnemore got stuck in a freight elevator together for four hours. The unlikely pair joined forces to create their own variety of righteous rock ‘n’ roll and have enjoyed adoration from NPR, Rolling Stone, MOJO and even President Obama, who added the […]