Pick: Pigeons Playing Ping Pong

Psychedelic funk band Pigeons Playing Ping Pong has played more than a thousand shows across 44 states since its inception at the University of Maryland over a decade ago. “When touring shut down in 2020, we gained immense perspective,” says guitarist and vocalist Greg Ormont. “Now more than ever, we recognize that you only get […]

Flour garden

Chris Martin has baked in cities from Chicago to San Francisco, but she has rarely found local ingredients like those in central Virginia. That’s one reason bakernobakery, her pop-up bakeshop, boasts one of the most unique menus at the City Market. “Sourcing ingredients is really a delight here in Charlottesville,” says Martin, creator of delicacies […]

Sound choices

Mariana Bell  Still Not Sleeping (self-released)  In the 19 years since her debut album, Mariana Bell has matured. On her eighth studio LP, Still Not Sleeping, Bell’s voice, production, and songwriting talent shine as she blurs the lines of vintage pop and country rock in songs that celebrate life. Bell’s new songs evolved as she […]

Stretching the canvas

“One of the best things about collaborating with another artist is I learn a great deal about the other person’s sensibility to materials, aesthetics, and mark making,” says artist Diego Sanchez. His work is currently on view at the Quirk Gallery, together with fellow Richmonder Mary Scurlock. In “Conversations,” each artist has eight paintings on […]

December galleries

Baker Gallery Walker Fine Arts Center, Woodberry Forest School. “New Works,” landscape paintings featuring scenes from Charlottesville by Richard Crozier. Through December 31. First Fridays reception. The Center at Belvedere 540 Belvedere Blvd. A small-works open exhibit featuring over 30 artists, including Meredith Bennett, Susan Trimble, Joan Griffin, Frannie Joseph, and Judith Ely. Through December […]

Pick: Thankful Dead

Get ahead of the gravy boat by dancing your ass off at the Thanksgiving eve jam band party Thankful Dead. Grateful Dead tribute band Bigfoot County puts a unique spin on the Dead’s songs while staying true to its spirited jams. Sisters & Brothers, led by vocalists Andy Tichenor and Davina Jackson, draws from the […]

Pick: Elf, The Musical

Journey to the Candy Cane Forest, past the sea of twirly-swirly gumdrops, and through the Lincoln Tunnel at Four County Players’ production of Elf: The Musical. The beloved story of Buddy the Elf comes to life with laugh-out-loud humor and plenty of festive music, including songs like “Sparklejollytwinklejingley” and “Nobody Cares About Santa,” because the […]

Pick: Yevgeny Kutik and Anna Polonsky

The Tuesday Evening Concert Series features an elegant program of Brahms, Milhaud, Strauss, and Ravel performed by Yevgeny Kutik and Anna Polonsky. Violinist Kutik is known for his technical precision and poetic interpretations of standard works, as well as newly composed pieces. His recent release, The Death of Juliet and Other Tales, highlights Russia’s rich […]

Conjuring the curriculum

With the series of paintings that make up Kristopher Castle’s engaging show “Curriculum Vitae” at Phaeton Gallery, the artist explores Thomas Jefferson’s Academical Village and his innovative ideas for education. As the title suggests, the exploration is not a discourse on the UVA founder’s achievements, but rather the artist’s deeply personal relationship to Jefferson’s ideals […]

Saving Private Baumer

Netflix has elaborately revived Erich Maria Remarque’s classic World War I novel All Quiet on the Western Front, directed by Edward Berger. Remarque’s novel’s descriptions of trench warfare and mechanized bloodshed have lost none of their punch (likewise, Lewis Milestone’s 1930 film version), but in Berger’s take, many elements don’t fully coalesce into the potent […]