Gearharts desire

There is something magical about chocolate. I used to spend every Sunday with my Nana, and these visits included a chocolate treat or two from her sweets jar on the gold-speckled white Formica counter. In my youth, my dad was my best Valentine (yes, I’ve been to therapy)—he bought Mom, my sister, and me fancy […]

Haikus from the heart 2025

Again this year, C-VILLE asked readers to capture the beauty, agony, or mystery of love—in just 17 syllables. They signed, sealed, and delivered haikus that both broke our hearts and put them back together. Here’s our winner and 10 runners-up. Happy Valentine’s Day! FIRST PLACE The wise wind sighs, timeTo soar, sweetest butterfly;I’ll never let […]

Jay and Silent Bob: The Aural Sects Tour

New Jersey’s most famous slacker-stoners roll up for a smokin’ spoken-word show with Jay and Silent Bob: The Aural Sects Tour. Jason Mewes and Kevin Smith have appeared as the eponymous ne’er-do-well duo in eight films over the past 30 years, but this live show gives them a chance to shed their on-screen personas and […]

Steep Canyon Rangers

Grammy Award winner and purveyor of mountain music, Steep Canyon Rangers builds off traditional bluegrass to bring its Americana sounds to the stage. Hailing from the Appalachian and Piedmont regions of North Carolina, the group honed its songwriting craft through 14 studio records—including three collaborative albums with actor and banjo aficionado Steve Martin. Additional collaborations […]

WTJU Folk Marathon

Riding radio waves and stacking the stage with diverse acts, the WTJU Folk Marathon returns with lively local sounds. Evening and Saturday live performances include sets from regional acts Red & the Romantics (pictured), Scuffletown, Buzzard Hollow Boys, Richelle Claiborne & Friends, Please Don’t Tell, BRIMS, and Mama Tried, among others. You can listen online […]

Virginia’s spirits come to life in the glass

Vitis vinifera and native apples soak up the praise for the nationally acclaimed pressings that fill Virginia’s cellars. For every drop that makes it to the vintner’s bottle, loads of wine and cider base are blended out or sold in bulk, in order for producers to stay under target case counts. Spoiled bits and trimmings […]

Billy F. Gibbons and the BFGs

Friday 2/7, The Paramount Theater The voice and blues-riffin’, trademark long beard-wagglin’ leader of Texas rock trio ZZ Top, Billy F. Gibbons hits the stage backed by the BFGs, Mike Flanigin and Chris Layton. Gibbons—who presumably added the F. to his moniker to distinguish himself and his solo career from his 50-some-odd-year tenure with ZZ […]

A.D. Carson drops groundbreaking composition with open access publisher

Clemson University was proud of its doctoral student. It was 2017, and the university announced the achievement with fanfare: A.D. Carson had produced an original piece of music as his dissertation and successfully defended it to receive a Ph.D. Carson went on to receive tenure in the University of Virginia’s music department. At UVA, he’s […]

February Exhibitions

February 7–March 21 Second Street Gallery presents two new exhibitions from artists with local ties engaging the overlap of abstraction and figuration. In the Main Gallery, “Liminal” offers mixed-media works by Charlottesville-based artist Cassie Guy (artwork pictured above). In the Dové Gallery, “Signs of Life” shows paintings and drawings exploring grief and the cyclic nature […]