PICK: Reggaelicious

Rock and talk: Gather friends and family (but not too close) for the next live-streamed installment of Save the Music with local groovin’ and movin’ band Reggaelicious. When the dance party wraps, you can ask questions of band members, and learn more about the group’s songs and musical history. Proceeds from the gig benefit Meals […]

PICK: Randy Johnston

Blues and sky: Acclaimed jazz guitarist and vocalist Randy Johnston, who’s played with the likes of Etta Jones, Houston Person, and Lionel Hampton (to name just a few), has wowed audiences all over the world. Lucky for us, he’s coming to our corner of it, where his originals and blues standards will provide the perfect […]

Kudzu defies no-trespassing warning

What do you do when “the vine that ate the South” takes up residence in your neighborhood—and your neighbor doesn’t get rid of it? One concerned Crozet resident pulled up some vines in a nascent kudzu infestation last year on property owned by the Rockbridge homeowners association—and was reprimanded by the HOA president for her […]

Behind the masks: Jason McLeod Jewelry updates its inventory for 2020

Jason McLeod’s artisan jewelry career path was informed by car crashes. Back in the early aughts, McLeod was living in Oakland, California, and running an advertising and graphic design business when a pair of back-to-back fender benders laid him up long-term in the hospital. He needed something to fill the hours, and “I just started […]

Not-so-happy endings: The messy frustration of happy tail

“There’s blood on the ceiling,” says my frazzled client as her retriever thumps his massive tail against the wall in joyful appreciation of nothing in particular. The metronomic sound is only slightly muffled by a makeshift bandage cobbled together from a T-shirt and some masking tape. Spots of blood are soaked through the material and […]

PICK: Maupintown Film Festival

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 […]

PICK: Sharon Harrigan

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 […]

PICK: Creature Builder Collective camps

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 […]