July First Fridays Guide

Local poet Judy Longley often feels like she’s drowning in words. After years of letting her poetry consume her, she’s learning how to revel in silence with a new skill set and a new name. Working as Juliet Da Luiso, Longley unleashes her joy and curiosity in highly abstract oil paintings rather than verses or stanzas. […]

ARTS Pick: Antony and Cleopatra

Best known for the love story of Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare did not stop there. Antony and Cleopatra, one of his last romantic plays, is an epic unravelling of life and death, passion and hatred, filtered through peace and war in a narrative that circles the lives of two prominent figures during the dictatorship of Octavius […]

ARTS Pick: Loop 2.4.3

Experimental percussive duo Loop 2.4.3 intertwines globally influenced drumbeats with electronic tones and creative vocals. From its current base in Brooklyn, prolific, award-winning composers Thomas Kozumplik and Lorne Watson merge tribal grooves with futuristic melodies and highly contemplative lyrics covering the nature of time, sound, emotion and everything in between. The minimalist ensemble conveys a […]

Marquee moments: Light House Studio moves in to Vinegar Hill Theatre

The popcorn machine remains silent and the box office window is still tightly closed, but signs of life are returning to Vinegar Hill Theatre this summer. After the arthouse cinema and adjacent restaurant closed in 2013, the building remained vacant for almost two years. In that time, someone stole the chalkboard by the front door; […]

ARTS Pick: Zomes

With the addition of vocalist Hannah, the duo Zomes has embarked on a musical journey far richer than it’s doubling of size could predict. After a chance meeting in 2012, one man band Asa Osborne decided that Hannah’s lilting improv vocals were something his droning synth compositions couldn’t live without. The pair is currently touring […]

ARTS Pick: The Audience

From the Oscars to the Oliviers to the Tonys, the performance world can’t throw enough awards at Dame Helen Mirren for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II. The legendary actress reprises her royal role in the National Theatre’s encore HD screening of The Audience, an original West End play that draws back the curtain on […]

Beatle landing

Paul McCartney performed at John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville on Tuesday. The rock ‘n’ roll pioneer, who turned 73 last week, showed no signs of age and blasted through a set of 30-plus familiar songs that kicked off with “Eight Days a Week,” leaving nothing to prove as one of the most influential musicians in the […]

ARTS Pick: Parker Milsap

Soulful storytelling steals the show when Oklahoma native Parker Milsap takes the stage with his unique blend of rock, country, blues and whatever genre you think Tom Waits plays. At age 21 this ambitious Americana musician has come a long way from the fire-and-brimstone preaching of his religious childhood and he’s already racking up critical praise and award nominations […]

Film review: Pixar makes an emotional breakthrough with Inside Out

After several years of leaning heavily on sequels and good-but-not-great properties, the Pixar we all know and love is back with Inside Out to reclaim its title as a beacon of emotional honesty in the spastic, cynical world of family entertainment. Its long history of tugging at audience’s heartstrings by making us empathize with unlikely […]