Downbeat Project, a local fusion band with a rainbow of influences, is technically broken up. Last year founder Clarence Green and his “core guys,” Zack Blatter and Gerald Soriano, decided to put things on hold. The band’s third album, begun in 2013, still hadn’t materialized, and to paraphrase Green, life got in the way. But […]
Downbeat Project, a local fusion band with a rainbow of influences, is technically broken up. Last year founder Clarence Green and his “core guys,” Zack Blatter and Gerald Soriano, decided to put things on hold. The band’s third album, begun in 2013, still hadn’t materialized, and to paraphrase Green, life got in the way. But […]
Jack-of-all-trades Philippe Bronchtein crafts rustic, witty Americana as the one-man folk band Hip Hatchet. His years on the road have fueled earnest lyrical examinations of classic folk tropes like hard life lessons and the trials of romantic love. While he currently roots himself firmly in the singer-songwriter tradition, Bronchtein’s style also shows traces of his […]
When I think of my father, I think of clipping down the Brooklyn Promenade, trying to match my 10-year-old legs to his 6’4″ New York stride. I think of running a wind-up toy race car down the swoop of particle board framing his Ikea armchair. I think of his proud smile at my high school […]
There have been plenty of good/above average blockbusters in recent years that leave you thrilled, invigorated, entertained and properly conditioned to buy the eventual mega-deluxe Blu-ray special edition. But Mad Max: Fury Road is no ordinary blockbuster. You won’t just be entertained. You’ll wonder why anyone has ever bothered to make a movie that isn’t […]
Deadline extended to noon on Wednesday, June 17! Fiction writers, fire up your laptops (or sharpen your pencils, if you’re old school)—it’s time for the C-VILLE Weekly and WriterHouse short fiction contest with renowned author Jill McCorkle as final judge. One adult and one youth winner will receive a one-year membership to WriterHouse and a […]
The L.Y.A.O Comedy Showcase has made Charlottesville a more frequent option for smaller tours featuring up-and-coming comics. Nick Vatterott is one of them, and though you may not recognize him by name, chances are, you will soon. Vatterott’s comedy is quick and sharp, and he utilizes his improv experience on stage, acting out stories and […]
Hannah Miller Hannah Miller/self-released Hannah Miller is one of the most atmospheric singer-songwriters around. Her penchant for mixing dusty, molasses-thick vocals with stark imagery is evident on her new record, as well as the understated fashion in which the songs play out, making for a nice dichotomy. The slow-burning roots rocker “Help Me Out” mirrors […]
“The landscape around my Charlottesville home is remarkably like that of Oaxaca, Mexico,” muses Charlottesville-based artist Russ Warren. It has “a spirituality emanating from the atmosphere and the mountainous landscape that seems magical.” To be honest, despite having spent much of my life in the Blue Ridge Mountains, this is not a comparison I’ve heard […]
Since his rise to fame in the early ’90s, Beck has become something of a music icon. His breakout “lo-fi” sound had an air of lethargy, while revealing a staid, candid glimpse of Americana that no other artist had been able to capture. Beck’s music matured over the years, and the downright cool of his […]
Four County Players, in collaboration with the Hamner Theater, rekindles the neighborly drama and simple charm of last-century Americana in its production of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Our Town. Thornton Wilder’s play within a play showcases the appeal of everyday lives made extraordinary through observation, and remains exceedingly popular as it approaches its 80th anniversary. Through […]