Rob Tarbell and Douglas Boyce fuse visual art and musical composition

A collaboration between visual artist Rob Tarbell and composer Douglas Boyce, “Bird-like Things in Things Like Trees” was conceived two summers ago during an artist residency at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts in Auvillar, France. While there, both men became captivated by a distinctive birdsong. Their unsuccessful quest to identify the bird became […]

The Amazing Spider-Man; PG-13, 136 minutes; Carmike Cinema 6

Odd that a movie about an arachnoid teenager coming of age and falling in love and doing battle with a lizard-man to save Manhattan should be so forgettable. What to blame but reboot-itis? Sam Raimi’s trilogy of just a few years ago was after all just a numbered series of spider-men, but this new movie […]

Funk DJs Grits n Gravy want to rock your soul

Robin Tomlin has one of the most recognizable voices in local radio. He barks a mile a minute in a rapid British accent, breathlessly reading back a list of obscure soul and funk songs on The Soulful Situation, his Monday afternoon radio show. Colin Powell (no relation to the former Secretary of State) is comparatively […]

C-VILLE Arts Beat: Top Picks for Jul 3-Jul 9

Thursday 7/5 Say cheese Local indie-pop quintet, The Anatomy of Frank, sing sweet melodies with catchy lyrics that are sure to charm even the dourest listeners. With memorable song titles such as “Bill Murray,” the band’s EP, Relax, There’s Nothing Here But Old Pictures, is a promising sign of things to come. After making the […]

Interview: Comedienne Cocoa Brown discusses the ride of fame

Tyler Perry’s “For Better or Worse” star, Cocoa Brown, brings down the house on Saturday at Play On! Theatre. (Publicity photo) Farah “Cocoa” Brown, a Newport News native and VCU graduate, has serious entertainment chops. She has appeared on a slew of TV shows, including “2 Broke Girls,” “ER,” and “Breaking Bad,” and acted in […]

To Rome With Love at Vinegar Hill Theatre

The eternal city hosts an aspiring cast that includes Alessandro Tiberi, Roberto Della Casa, and Penélope Cruz in Woody Allen’s To Rome With Love. (Sony Pictures Classics) For some of us, Woody Allen could film the phone book and we’d find pleasure in it: How nice all those listings might look in his signature white-on-black […]

Independence Day, “Insane Coaster Wars,” “Perception”

Independence Day Wednesday 8pm, AMC Celebrate our nation’s birthday by watching Will Smith, Jeff Goldblum, and President Bill Pullman save the world by taking out a bunch of squid-looking aliens. Believe it or not, the blockbuster popcorn flick is 16 years old. If it was a person it could be getting a driver’s license. This […]

The Arts: Creativity’s top players

The Arts The Charlottesville arts community, with support from the Charlottesville and Albemarle Convention and Visitors Bureau, recently took part in Arts & Economic Prosperity IV, the largest-ever national study of “the economic impact of nonprofit arts and culture organizations and their audiences.” The study, which included participation from 112 arts organizations and thousands of […]