ARTS Pick: Joseph Arthur

Don’t fret if you missed Joseph Arthur’s well-hyped recent album Boogie Christ, because the highly regarded musical talent has just released a follow-up entitled The Ballad of Boogie Christ Act 2. Arthur is a poet, artist, and musician from the Midwest who got his first record deal after sending Peter Gabriel a demo. Add on […]

ARTS Pick: Nutcracker Mini-Suite

No need to wait until Christmas Eve for visions of sugarplums to dance in your head. This weekend, Clara and her beloved nutcracker doll take center stage in the Albemarle Ballet Theatre’s Nutcracker Mini-Suite. Twenty-four local dancers populate the Land of Sweets for selected scenes from the seasonal ballet, embellished by handmade costumes and Tchaikovsky’s […]

Film reviews: The rundown on holiday films worth your dough

It’s December, and that means the awards-fodder movies are out. And guess what. Some of them are good! Here’s a list of five movies that range from near-great to head-scratching (but worth seeing) to one guilty pleasure. The Book Thief If Life is Beautiful is absolutely the wrong way to make a non-military World War […]

ARTS Pick: Brooke Annibale

For Nashville-based singer-songwriter Brooke Annibale there was never any doubt that a career in music was in her future. “My family owns a music shop in Pittsburgh,” she said. “I started taking lessons and as soon as I knew enough chords, I started writing songs.” Annibale has four self-releases to her name including 2013’s Words […]

The Charlottesville Mural Project unveils a tribute to the Rivanna River

On a chilly Friday in late November, Ross McDermott of the Charlottesville Mural Project gathered a large group on the railroad crossing at First Street to dedicate the organization’s newest mural, designed by local artist Kaki Dimock. The mural’s theme is the Rivanna River, a subject originally proposed by Rose Brown of the organization StreamWatch, who […]

ARTS Pick: San Fermin

Named after the Spanish festival in Pamplona famous for the running of the bulls, San Fermin is the pop music outlet for Brooklyn-based composer and songwriter Ellis Ludwig-Leone. Along with vocal contributions from Allen Tate, Jess Wolfe, and Holly Laessig of Lucius, Leone brings baroque stylings to the indie arena in an operatic composition that unites familiar […]

ARTS Pick: Srikanth Reddy

Harvard graduate, University of Chicago professor, and literacy director for the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Trust, Srikanth Reddy shares selections from his two books of poetry, Facts for Visitors (2004) and Voyager (2011). Using a variety of methods, including prose, syllabic, and terza rima, Reddy’s form plays like a pop-up book of images and ideas that feel odd and inclusive. Monday 12/2. […]

ARTS Pick: A Christmas Carol

Four County Players’ production of A Christmas Carol has been a local favorite since 2008, but in this go-around director Joncey Boggs and local playwright Miller Murray Susen are keeping it fresh by taking a step back and using Dickens’ age-old text while adding some musical numbers for originality. Through 12/15. $12-16, times vary. Four County Players, 5256 Governor Barbour St., […]

ARTS Pick: The Santaland Diaries

“I am a 33-year-old man applying for a job as an elf,” wrote David Sedaris at the outset of his career. Like most great writers, Sedaris has worked a variety of menial, often humiliating, jobs to support his literary career, and the humorist’s turn as an elf at Macy’s in New York City may be […]