Story sharing: UVA Drama’s 9 Parts of Desire breaks barriers

Actor, director and UVA Drama professor Kate Burke is on a mission to change American theater. “I’m very aware of how the American tradition has been influenced by Method acting,” Burke said in a recent interview. “There are some good things about it, but in distorted form it focuses on emotions and neuroses of both […]

ARTS Pick: Nora Jane Struthers

Virginia-born and Nashville-based, Nora Jane Struthers makes her country roots come alive on the energetic new album, Wake. The former high school teacher’s first self-produced record crosses Emmylou Harris with Pearl Jam in a collection of percussive panoramas and Southern-fried slide guitar. Struthers and her backing band, The Party Line, strip away the safety net […]

Roots meets grassroots: John McCutcheon pays tribute to Joe Hill

John McCutcheon is equal parts musician and storyteller, skilled with a variety of instruments but also engaging when telling tales between tunes. He is a Wisconsin native who called Charlottesville home for years before moving to Smoke Rise, Georgia. He is also an avid community organizer and political figure in folk music. Given this multifaceted […]

ARTS Pick: Wayne Shorter

Blue Note recording artist and composer Wayne Shorter has been a preeminent jazz saxophonist since the 1960s when he performed with Miles Davis and his Second Great Quintet. The 10-time Grammy-winner is joined onstage by Esperanza Spalding, the young double bass phenom who’s garnered four Grammys herself, including the award for Best New Artist in […]

ARTS Pick: Caroline Spence

Caroline Spence has taken Nashville by storm over the past two years, winning songwriting competitions at the Rocky Mountain Folks Fest, Kerrville Folk Festival and taking American Songwriter Magazine’s 2013 grand prize. The momentum encouraged Spence to crowdsource funding for the full-length album, Somehow, paving the way for the Charlottesville native to take her music […]

Old is new: Cary Oliva’s unique images sustain a waning format

“I feel like an old soul in general. If I’m shopping, I’d rather buy something old and upcycle it or do something that appreciates the value of what it used to be,” said Charlottesville- based alternative photographer Cary Oliva. “Things were just more beautiful back in the day.” The intrigue of age surfaces in the majority […]

Snap and chat: Photo walking meets the streets of Charlottesville

If you ever come across a herd of nerds walking around Charlottesville with expensive-looking cameras, do not fear. They’re just photo walkers. And while their numbers are growing, they’re mostly harmless. Charlottesville has at least two groups that regularly hold photo walks, and the phenomenon has gained worldwide traction. Scott Kelby, considered by some the […]

Film review: The new Cinderella doesn’t fill the shoe

There is a sneaky sort of rebelliousness in Kenneth Branagh’s Cinderella—in the way it pushes back against the tide of revisionism and misdirected irony that has overtaken family entertainment in recent years. Sincere instead of sarcastic, elegant instead of flashy, and wishing to enchant audiences with charm instead of hypnotizing them with antics, Branagh’s intentions […]

ARTS Pick: J. Roddy Walston & The Business

Up-and-coming Southern rockers J. Roddy Walston & The Business are on tour in support of Essential Tremors, an album that borrows its name from a nervous system disorder that’s plagued the band’s frontman throughout his career. Walston said that it makes sense to be more open about his ailment on this record because the album […]

ARTS Pick: Lily Tomlin

With a career spanning more than four decades, Lily Tomlin has earned her legendary status in American comedy. After becoming a household name on “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In” in the early ’70s, Tomlin went on to starring roles in TV, film and theater. In 2003, the comedienne extraordinaire joined Richard Pryor, Carl Reiner and Bob […]