On location

Since 2019, local filmmaker Ty Cooper’ Indie Short Film Series has given aspiring Charlottesville filmmakers a valuable opportunity to showcase their work. “It’s a way for you to enter the business without having to spend a lot of money,” Cooper says. Shorts are traditionally novice directors’ best way of making a name for themselves, but […]

Pick: Walking Tour of Monticello’s Vanished Plantation

Tracing steps: In honor of Black History Month, archeologists are leading a Walking Tour of Monticello’s Vanished Plantation. The excursion focuses on the experiences of the enslaved people who lived and worked at Monticello, and examines how archeology informs our understanding of their lives. The walk makes stops at various hidden sites along the Fourth […]

Pick: Resilience, Recovery, and Rebirth

Local roots: Fluvanna music educator Horace Scruggs and his band, Odyssey of Soul, perform unique concert-lectures that cover topics such as the civil rights movement and African influences on American music. In 2020, Scruggs turned his attention to local history and released Resilience, Recovery, and Rebirth: Sustaining Hope in Trying Times, an emotional, humorous, and […]

Pick: Sun June

No regrets: Indie-pop band Sun June makes mesmerizing music with a hint of melancholy. The quintet formed in Austin, Texas, where lead vocalist Laura Colwell and songwriter/lyricist Stephen Salisbury met while working on director Terrence Malick’s Song to Song. After adding Sarah Schultz on drums, Michael Bain on lead guitar, and Justin Harris on bass, […]

A drink refresher

Do you find yourself stuck in a loop at cocktail hour? When it’s five o’clock somewhere and Miller time has arrived, many people reach for the same beverages again and again. Lucky for us central Virginians, it’s easy to find exciting, locally made products to vary our drink of choice.  Here are a few that […]

Pick: Wild Style

Art x cinema: Take movie night to the next level with this pairing of Wild Style and artmaking. The 1983 film follows South Bronx graffiti artist Zoro, who is commissioned to decorate a Lower East Side bandshell for an epic rap and break-dance concert. Starring greats such as Fab 5 Freddy, Lady Pink, Grandmaster Flash, […]

Pick: Wild Rivers

Into the unknown: Indie-folk band Wild Rivers’ new release is a coming-of-age album that captures all the uncertainties, longings, and struggles that young adulthood has to offer. The Canadian trio of Khalid Yassein, Devan Glover, and Andrew Oliver artfully blend pop, rock, indie, and folk on Sidelines, the 10-track record. “I got this friend I […]

Pick: Charlottesville Symphony Orchestra

Love is in the air: Looking for a perfect date night? You bring the chocolate and roses, and the Charlottesville Symphony Orchestra will provide the romantic melodies. Conducted by Music Director Benjamin Rous, the string orchestra kicks things off with Tchaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings in C Major. The four-movement homage to Mozart begins with a […]

Virginia lovers

What’s with the “company” in Kendall Street Company? If you know anything about the local band, an 8- to 9-year-old jam-rock outfit with a dedicated regional following, you know these guys are anything but stuffed shirts. Business casual for frontman Louis Smith and his colleagues doesn’t even come with socks and shoes. No, Smith says […]

It’s hotter here

By Chris Martin One of Charlottesville’s most buzzed-about restaurants in recent years, Guajiros Miami Eatery, arrived on West Main Street through a leap of faith, a series of coincidences, and, most importantly, a love of a mother’s recipes. “We have been dreaming of hospitality,” says the family-run business’ patriarch Harvey Mayorga Sr. “I have always […]