On (not over) the hill: The McGuffey Art Center looks back at 40

With its stalwart presence atop the hill at the northwest end of downtown, there’s no doubt that the McGuffey Art Center is a defining part of the local arts community. Its sturdy brick exterior commands respect while its large sash windows hint at the building’s original use as a school. Built in 1916, McGuffey was […]

Authentic stuff: The All Souls Tent Revival’s inclusive message of love

New Orleans blues-and-funk bandleader Adrian Duke is known around town for groove-worthy vocals and soulful love songs. Adrian’s wife, Holly Duke, grew up singing soul music, too. But for her, a Baptist-raised Alabama native, that soul came in the form of gospel—and it brought with it a faith that nearly prevented their marriage. “I met […]

ARTS Pick: Andrea Wolper Quartet

A New York jazz scene staple, Andrea Wolper Quartet has been praised in the industry press as “easily superior to the ever expanding population in the singer/songwriter category,” and Wolper has been named one of the “great jazz singers.” The group’s style combines poetry, text and improvisation to create  beautifully complex compositions, and when she’s […]

Album reviews: Darlingside, JR JR, Barrence Whitfield & The Savages

Darlingside Birds Say/Thirty Tigers Birds Say is one of the rare instances where a band completely avoids the sophomore slump, taking its prodigious talent and somehow magnifying it by 10. The string rock quintet-turned folk is at its best here, whether it’s the dizzying bluegrass—taken up a notch by the clever mandolin licks from Auyon […]

Film review: Black Mass is more rehash than revelation

Director Ridley Scott disappointed more than just his own fans when Prometheus was released in 2012. As it happened, Guillermo del Toro (Hellboy, Pan’s Labyrinth) had been crafting an adaptation of H.P. Lovecraft’s groundbreaking horror novella, At the Mountains of Madness, that apparently bore more than a passing similarity to Prometheus’ tale of humanity’s ancient […]

ARTS Pick: Tom Tom Fall Block Party

Looming sculptures and creative spaces serve as the landscape for the annual Tom Tom Fall Block Party featuring music, food trucks, crafts, performances and a beer garden. Music by Michael Coleman, Moonlight Circus, Disco Risque and Galaxy Dynamite will keep the event lively. Amid the groovy backdrop there will be a tech mixer where some […]

So damn local: Your guide to going native

What does it take to be a true local? We think a commenter on Facebook said it best: “The truly quintessential Charlottesville experience isn’t actually available to tourists. It’s having lived here long enough that you can’t go anywhere without running into someone you know, yet still feeling like you live in a decently sized […]

ARTS Pick: Greensky Bluegrass

From their home base of Kalamazoo, Michigan, the five members of Greensky Bluegrass have forged a defiant, powerful sound composed of seemingly irreconcilable elements. While rooted in classic string-band Americana, the tension and release between tradition and innovation, prearranged songs and improvisation, and acoustic tones and electric volume is what makes this act so thrillingly […]

Out of The County: Lord Nelson spotlights community on debut album

Growing up in Nelson County, Kai and Bram Crowe-Getty picked up instruments at a young age. Since then, they’ve each played on a variety of stages and in a handful of different bands—but they both agree that their current band, Lord Nelson, is different than the rest. And with this week’s release of the band’s […]

ARTS Pick: Strand of Oaks

Sometimes personal crises are the inspiration behind the most expressive art, as showcased on Tim Showalter’s recent album HEAL. Under the moniker Strand of Oaks, Showalter demonstrates through his love of ’70s, ’80s and ’90s rock and pop that the process of healing is often a combination of clarity, confusion and euphoria. Tying together three decades […]