There are bad movies, there are really bad movies, there are atrocities committed against the intelligence of paying crowds that call themselves movies, and then there’s The Gunman. Watching it will make you forget that movies that aren’t this bad exist at all. It’s so godawful that even calling it bad is an insult to […]
If you are a parent of a millennial there’s a good chance you can sing along to the tunes of “kindie rock” songstress Laurie Berkner. Her hits “We Are The Dinosaurs,” “Bumblebee (Buzz Buzz)” and “Victor Vito” (made popular on Nick Jr. TV channel) offered a welcome alternative to the catchy banality of Barney and The […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
“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 […]
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 […]
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 […]