Drew Pace

Straight out of Scottsville, singer-songwriter Drew Pace is making his mark in country music. Pace rekindled his passion for music at age 13, after a devastating injury ended his football career. The multi-instrumentalist, who plays drums, acoustic and electric guitar, recently signed a record deal in Nashville, and released his debut single, “Heart of an […]

Will Overman

Will Overman may be based in Nashville, but his music is still a dynamic and nostalgic ode to his time in central Virginia. The country Americana artist tackles personal and fictional narratives with a powerful voice and heart-worn lyrics on his recent Heart Pine EP. The ballad-like title track focuses on Overman’s own struggle with […]

One-string wonder

The TinkerTar, a kids’ guitar trainer widely available for about a month now, is in many ways the synthesis of Charlottesville instrument and board-game maker Brian Calhoun’s eclectic career. Calhoun’s craftsmanship has been well known around town, and beyond, for many years. Through Rockbridge Guitar, he makes high-end instruments and has worked with renowned musicians […]

Dear Jack, Dear Louise

Two strangers meet by letter and fall in love in award-winning playwright Ken Ludwig’s Dear Jack, Dear Louise. Set during World War II—and inspired by Ludwig’s parents’ real-life courtship—Army captain Jack Ludwig and aspiring showgirl Louise Rabiner prove that time, distance, and war are no match for determined hearts. Jeffrey Meanza directs, and Suzannah Herschkowitz, […]

Charlottesville Reading Series

Poet Mary Brancaccio, prose writer Zak Salih, and poet Chapman Hood Frazier share their work at the Charlottesville Reading Series. Enjoy poems from Brancaccio’s Fierce Geometry, a lyrical  search for healing and rebirth in the face of devastating losses, and Frazier’s The Lost Books of the Bestiary, a collection that explores the psychic connections between […]

Crash Test Dummies

It’s been 30 years since Crash Test Dummies released its multi-Grammy nominated album God Shuffled His Feet, and the Canadian band shows no sign of applying the brakes. The rock outfit’s new single, “Sacred Alphabet,” is an off-beat exploration of sound, anchored by lead singer-songwriter Brad Roberts’ distinctive deep vocals. “Touring again was not something […]

Quieter than the cacophony

“It is one thing to understand in theory that our healthcare system is broken … and an entirely different thing to have your hands in the leaky dam of that broken system every day,” writes Sarah DiGregorio, author of Taking Care: The Story of Nursing and Its Power to Change Our World. Beginning with a […]

Retirement of a lost art

James Mangold’s Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is innocuous summer entertainment full of cliffhangers and hairbreadth escapes—but for all of its expensive spectacle, the film is just decent. The final entry in the wildly popular movie franchise starring Harrison Ford (and the only one Steven Spielberg didn’t direct) recaps many familiar notes from […]

Jay Yñiguez in the HotSeat

When the curtain goes up at the opera, it’s easy to get swept up in the glamorous costumes, impressive sets, and sweeping high notes. Perhaps less noticeable, but equally worthy of attention, are the supernumeraries. They move silently throughout the production, playing important, non-speaking roles, filling out crowds, and adding to the grandeur of the […]

Surveying the lands

A pair of shows on view at The Fralin Museum of Art at the University of Virginia shine a spotlight on arts, culture, and the very existence of two groups of Indigenous people in North and Central America. “N’Dakinna Landscapes Acknowledged” and “Look Three Ways: Maya Painted Pottery,” curated by Adriana Greci Green, The Fralin’s […]