Joseph

Indie-pop trio Joseph, comprised of sisters Natalie, Meegan, and Allison Closner, is stepping into an era of self-realization through sound. Their new record, The Sun, is a 10-song pop journey full of three-part harmonies, moody grandeur, anthemic sing-alongs, and deeply personal storytelling that explores past relationships, gaslighting, and self-celebration. “All of our therapists were a […]

How Pirates Changed the World

Ever wondered what pirates did with their booty? Or what life at sea was really like? Learn all about the life and legacy of pirates at Profs & Pints: How Pirates Changed the World with speaker Joshua M. White, an associate professor of history at UVA and author of Piracy and Law in the Ottoman […]

Charlottesville Players Guild’s 24/7

Talents unite as playwrights, directors, and actors team up for a series of epic performances at Charlottesville Players Guild’s 24/7 fundraiser. Seven playwrights—Ti Ames, Zaharra Colla, Richelle Claiborne, Derick Williams, David Vaughn Straughn, Edward Warwick White, and Davey White—write a play overnight, then pass it on to seven directors—Ike Anderson, Chris Evans, Mercedes Herrero, Edwina […]

Addiction and identity

Poet Kaveh Akbar’s debut novel, Martyr!, explores themes of addiction and sobriety, grief and grace, trauma and love. Rich with Daedalian prose, this semi-autobiographical bildungsroman tells the story of Cyrus Shams, a young Iranian American poet and recovering alcoholic.  Born in Iran but currently living in an Indiana college town, Cyrus is drifting, purposeless, and […]

The Big Picture

Plastic bags, candy wrappers, puzzle pieces, and leaves don’t usually top the list of materials used to create the fancy frocks we see on catwalks and red carpets. Except, that is, at the annual St. Anne’s-Belfield Wearable Arts Runway Show, where upper-school students like Annie Yuan (left) repurposed and recycled existing materials to create the […]

Page numbers

Landscape photographer Karen Duncan Pape turns her lens to the page in “De-Circulated,” an exhibition of reconstructed covers of banned books on display at McGuffey Art Center through January 28. “Growing up in Southwest Virginia, books were extremely important to me, as they exposed me to other worlds and broadened my perspective,” says Pape. “I […]

Black Fiddlers

Take a deep dive into the culture and legacy of African American violinists in director Eduardo Montes-Bradley’s Black Fiddlers. The 60-minute documentary shares the stories and sounds of Black men and women throughout American history, like the late old-time fiddler Joe Thompson (pictured) and 18th-century Richmond virtuoso Sy Gilliat, an enslaved man whose opera melodies […]

Maura Shawn Scanlin

Boston-based fiddler Maura Shawn Scanlin is putting her own inventive twist on traditional Celtic tunes. An award-winning musician, Scanlin incorporates classical chamber music and traditional sounds from the American South, along with Irish and Scottish fiddle playing into her fluid compositions. Scanlin is touring her new self-titled record with Conor Hearn on guitar, Adam Hendey […]

Trae Crowder

Funny guy Trae Crowder sounds off to live audiences during his Just Me and Y’all Tour. The comedian first went viral in 2016 for his porch rant-style “Liberal Redneck” videos. He’s since co-written two books, The Liberal Redneck Manifesto and Round Here and Over Yonder: A Front Porch Travel Guide by Two Progressive Hillbillies, hosted […]

Starvation diet

Director-co-screenwriter J.A. Bayona’s Society of the Snow is a well-made, engrossing story of survival told straightforwardly and conventionally. The film deftly depicts a horrifying, real-life tragedy and, although it is vivid, it avoids being sordid. In October 1972, Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 to Chile, carrying a rugby team of young men and some of […]