Let it hereby be known that director Antoine Fuqua and Denzel Washington are the only team in Hollywood capable of making middle-of-the-road action scripts into movies that are way better than they have any right to be. Before Training Day became the legendary character study it is and the first film in decades to feel […]
Let it hereby be known that director Antoine Fuqua and Denzel Washington are the only team in Hollywood capable of making middle-of-the-road action scripts into movies that are way better than they have any right to be. Before Training Day became the legendary character study it is and the first film in decades to feel […]
Based on its sound, Nashville’s Scythian could be pegged as a band of Riverdancing Irish folkies. With their unique blend of Celtic bluegrass rock, the quintet fires on dueling fiddles, banjos, and mandolins in an unparalleled high-energy weave. The self-proclaimed “immigrant rockers” are on tour in support of the new album Jump at the Sun […]
In a 21st-century world that pushes education in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, anyone studying philosophy or English has likely gotten bashed with the question, what are you going to do with that? Rob Vaughan, president of and co-founder of the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, has spent a career defending and demonstrating the value […]
Of Montreal’s Kevin Barnes is officially off the grid. After two weeks and about a half dozen phone calls, the only response I could get from the avant garde indie rocker was his odd outgoing voicemail message—an eerie instrumental tune—and apologies from his publicist that he had “no service at the place he is staying.” […]
Big laughs come out in small spaces when improv is the stage—at least that’s what Smallprov sets out to accomplish. The Big Blue Door comedy gathering focuses on powerful bursts of wit rather than long-winded monologues. The brief skits are unrehearsed and based entirely on audience suggestions, adding an edge of anticipation to every gut-busting […]
Even though Adrian Duke is based in central Virginia, his bluesy roots music lives in the heart of New Orleans. His funk and jazz prowess on the piano is matched by raw, expressive vocals, and elevated by a tight backing band that shares the work in bringing down the house. Duke has received critical acclaim […]
If a high seas adventure delivered in iambic pentameter isn’t enough to get you off the couch, then maybe the added splendor of seeing it performed on an authentic Shakespearean stage—in the same manner that the bard himself would’ve produced—will get you searching for your shoes. Staunton’s famous replica theater is staging Pericles, Prince of […]
The Head and the Heart have the holy grail of indie rock band success: One good male singer, one good female singer. It’s a combination, along with a well-timed whistle or catchy chant, that has made Peter Bjorn and John, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, Gotye, and a handful of others huge overnight sensations […]
Having spent most of the last decade punching wolves and shooting whomever in pursuit of something or other, Liam Neeson’s career resurgence has been a mixed bag. On the one hand, he’s remained relevant in a genre that usually condemns talented performers to straight-to-DVD purgatory. On the other hand, there is now a very strong […]
Celebrate 40 years with the Charlottesville Symphony at the University of Virginia at its inaugural season performances. Kate Tamarkin directs the masters of classical music through a specially commissioned piece entitled “Fanfare for a Ruby Celebration,” composed by Randol Alan Bass, and Emmanuel Sejourne’s “Concerto for Marimba and String Orchestra,” featuring intrepid percussionist I-Jen Fang. […]