ARTS Pick: Mitch Wise

Local rapper, emcee and producer Mitch Wise lays down rhymes from his under-ground, independent rap album, Saturn Return. His complex beats laced with folk and electronic influence add an unexpected layer to the wild dichotomy of grounded lyrics and a soaring rhythm. Wise is joined by rap artists Keese, B Cope and Brian Moon for a […]

Connecting the pieces: Haitian handicrafts meet high fashion at Mi Ossa

“There’s plenty of artisanal food in Charlottesville, so we were just trying to find out what was missing,” jokes Shannon Worrell. Together with Nora Brookfield, Worrell is co-founder of Mi Ossa, a design lab and fashion line that’s located in Charlottesville’s Tenth Street Warehouse. Their business model focuses on fair trade and environmentally friendly ways […]

ARTS Pick: An Evening with Mollie O’Brien, Rich Moore and Todd Burge

The Prism Coffeehouse fall series kicks off with An Evening with Mollie O’Brien, Rich Moore and Todd Burge. O’Brien stands out as an accomplished vocalist who challenges musical boundaries, while Moore’s onstage commentary and seasoned guitar skills string together an intuitive, high-quality set. Burge draws from his rich life experiences, writing songs from a different […]

Film review: Shyamalan and Blumhouse collaborate for The Visit

In some ways, the uniting of M. Night Shyamalan and microbudget horror production company Blumhouse for The Visit couldn’t be more perfect, and not just because audiences groan at the sight of their names during previews. Both camps are fully capable of greatness—Shyamalan’s first two and a half films and Blumhouse’s Insidious, Creep and even […]

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 […]