TV previews: “The New Normal,” “The X Factor,” and “Revolution

“The New Normal” /Tuesday 9:30pm, NBC You can’t peg creator Ryan Murphy. He’s been behind the seedy “Nip/Tuck,” the ridiculous “Glee,” the brilliant “American Horror Story”—and now he tries his hand at an unconventional conventional sitcom with “The New Normal.” The show follows the de facto family that emerges after Goldie, a small-town single mom, […]

The Bridge PAI explores the art of sound in Audio September

In 2008, The Bridge PAI hosted a month of sound-related programming entitled Audio January. The next year, January seemed unfeasible, so the Belmont-based arts organization followed up with Audio February. The joke amongst Bridge staff was that the annual event would cycle through the months of the year, and for three successive years (including Audio […]

ARTS Pick: The Battle of Chile

Half a decade of global cold war left us with no lack of dramatic subjects for documentaries. To wit, on September 11, 1973, a U.S.-backed counter-revolution and coup in Chile resulted in the assassination of the democratically elected president Salvador Allende. Chilean director Patricio Guzman chronicles the political tensions and outright violence of the events […]

Chris Corsano blurs the borders between jazz and noise

Chris Corsano is one of most restlessly inventive of contemporary improvisers, a jazz drummer reminiscent of Max Roach, whose work is thoughtful and open-minded enough to collaborate with noise and rock musicians as well as more traditional hard bop players. Corsano made his name as part of a loose scene from Northampton, Mass, attracting notice […]

TV previews: “Robot Chicken,” “Katie,” and “The Voice”

“Robot Chicken DC Comics Special” Sunday midnight, Adult Swim Meanwhile, at the Hall of Justice, a bunch of nerds and geek-loving Hollywood stars teamed up to bring us the dorkiest TV show this side of “Who Wants to be a Super Hero?” The permanent teenagers behind stop-motion pop-culture comedy show “Robot Chicken” have gotten official license […]

Dan Deacon taps your inner glee through crowd participation

I can vividly remember hearing Dan Deacon for the first time. His debut full-length album, released in the spring of 2007 (with the unfortunate title of Spiderman of the Rings) begins with a dense burst of buzzing electronic harmonies and sampled Woody Woodpecker sound-effects, and I was instantly a fan. Deacon’s music is exuberant and impossible […]

ARTS Pick: Picasso deconstructed

UVA art history professor Lydia Gasman spent countless hours studying, annotating, and deconstructing Modernist artwork and was a leading expert on Pablo Picasso. She was known for her unrivaled vision into the artist’s world, and amassed an enormous collection of analytic works. “Picasso, Lydia and Friends” pays tribute to Gasman’s passionate contributions with an exhibit and launch […]

Film review: Celeste and Jesse Forever

When you’re young and in love, “forever” is a word you dare to carve in tree trunks or wedding cakes. Getting older, if you’re not careful, that same word could mean a purgatory of codependence. Such is the wry wisdom of Celeste and Jesse Forever, a romantic comedy whose main characters spend the duration figuring […]

Raphael Bell previews the Charlottesville Chamber Music Festival

Now in its 13th season, the Charlottesville Chamber Music Festival has become a local institution: a fortnight’s worth of nationally and internationally renowned composers and performers sharing the most intimate and contemplative form of music stretching back through centuries of western civilization. It has been said that chamber music is a conversation amongst friends, so […]

Student work shines at Light House Youth Film Festival

On Friday, September 7th, Light House Studios will present a Youth Film Festival. The festival will showcase a selection of video work made by Light House students over the past year, including the Iranian Job, the winner of last November’s Adrenaline Film Festival (in which the Light House students were the youngest participants). “I’m so […]