This review contains mild spoilers, so if you prefer to avoid them, let your main takeaway be that Irresistible is an unfunny comedy, an uneven production, and a toothless satire with a message about as clarifying in the current political climate as a Check Engine light in a demolition derby. The second film from writer-director […]
This review contains mild spoilers, so if you prefer to avoid them, let your main takeaway be that Irresistible is an unfunny comedy, an uneven production, and a toothless satire with a message about as clarifying in the current political climate as a Check Engine light in a demolition derby. The second film from writer-director […]
Royal viewing: Queen is the theme of the 2020 Maupintown Film Festival, the annual showcase of narrative movies and documentaries by and about African Americans. It’s all online this year, and programming will honor the 100th anniversary of the passage of the 19th amendment, with a selection of women-centered films such as Byrdland: From Being […]
Double take: Sharon Harrigan’s debut novel, Half, tells the story of identical twin sisters who are so close they can barely distinguish the boundary between their minds. In Harrigan’s poetically crafted prose, the women narrate as one, and, through the death of a father that towers over their lives, as two separate people. Dealing in […]
Art smarts: Calling all Picasso, Harry Potter, and Bob the Builder fans who want to explore their creative potential at IX Art Park’s Creature Builder Collective camps. Dedicated teaching artists will engage imaginative 6-12-year-old minds in art workshops that offer everything from sculpture and painting, to puppet and stop-motion animation. Campers learn the technical skills […]
For fledgling artists, the Incubator Studio at McGuffey Art Center is an opportunity for growth. Each spring, renting artists Susan Northington and Eileen French select up-and-coming area talent to use the Incubator for a calendar year that runs from July to June, and ends with a group exhibition. “The studio has been set up to […]
Sip ‘n’ sizzle: Looking for a good way to celebrate America on July 4? How about listening to some Americana at Keswick Vineyards’ Reds, Whites, and Bluegrass, a socially distanced, in-person gathering, with tunes provided by the Tara Mills Band. Playing her self-described “original Blue Ridge mountain folk,” Mills and company will provide relaxing melodies […]
Steel yourself: The Steel Wheels had to postpone its annual Redwing Roots festival (now scheduled for July 2021), but fans can still enjoy the band’s acoustic grooves as part of The Front Porch’s Save the Music concert series. The Americana folk band (minus a few members) from Harrisonburg, delivers the “purity and power” of its […]
Crash in: The Dave Matthews Band needs no introduction. Known for its live performances and charming frontman, the globally famous jam band has been the musical pride of Charlottesville for decades. And with the pandemic prohibiting live concerts, DMB has found a way to fill the deafening silence of no summer touring. The DMB Drive-In […]
For UVA music professor Fred Everrett Maus, there is much more to music than meets the ear. It presents listeners with the opportunity to understand gender, sexuality, memory, and more. “Music teaching sometimes makes music into an object, studied by examining external properties,” Maus says. “In all my research and teaching, I have wanted to […]
Damani Harrison is done talking. The activist, musician, and all-around C’ville art community anchor recently orchestrated the release of an ambitious three-part creative project he calls “One for George,” and he wants the work—a hip-hop song, music video, and portrait series—to speak for itself. [slideshow_deploy id=’146739′] “Woke up this morning to a post / Another […]