Pick: Treasure Trunk Theater

Mother’s big helper: One silver lining of our new stay-at-home society is that it’s provided hours of quality family time. Hours and hours—with no end in sight. Luckily, Live Arts’ Online Treasure Trunk Theater offers parents some guilt-free virtual assistance from Edwina Herring. New stories, games, crafts, and more arrive weekly in your inbox, and kids […]

Pick: BlkFrs TV

Much ado about Shakespeare: Shakespeare scholars have been dominating online arts outlets with clickbait headlines about the Bard’s burst of creativity during a bubonic plague quarantine in 1606. He’s said to have “churned out King Lear, Macbeth, and Antony and Cleopatra that year,” which may have led to his takeover at the original Blackfriars Theatre in Elizabethan London. In […]

Album reviews: Quarantunes

More than ever, we’re treating pop music functionally—we choose and use tunes to get us going in the morning; to set the right vibes for cooking; to get amped for a night out. But creating a functional playlist for others can be perilous. Consider the wedding DJ, who takes responsibility for the entertainment of everyone […]

Focused group: Porchraits capture residents at a distance 

Two weeks ago, Eze Amos was “bored as hell.” Usually the photographer is running around Charlottesville at all hours, snapping candid shots of everyday life in the city—buskers, beer drinkers, sidewalk chalkers, protesters—shooting weddings, or completing assignments for this newspaper. But with everyone staying home for social distancing, Amos and many other photographers have lost […]

Small Bites: April 6

Stepping up to serve free meals In these trying times for the restaurant industry, chef Harrison Keevil of Keevil & Keevil Grocery and Kitchen is using his talents to serve others. What originally started as a free lunch (about 20 meals each weekday), has expanded to include breakfast and dinner, and by April 13, Keevil is […]

Food web: Local farms find new ways to connect with customers

At this point in the season, farmers have planted potatoes and strawberries. They’ve sown radishes, carrots, beets, and kohlrabi. They’ve transplanted broccoli and onions from interior pots to outdoor beds, and any day now, they’ll put  in the warmer-weather crops like corn and peppers.  But as the COVID-19 pandemic spreads throughout Virginia, Governor Ralph Northam’s […]

Pick: Publishing pivot

It goes without saying that the coronavirus pandemic has altered life as usual, but for area creatives the show must go on. Taking the place of her scheduled book release appearances, local author Laura Lee Gulledge is hopping on Facebook Live to discuss The Dark Matter of Mona Starr, a YA graphic novel that explores […]

Pick: Fly at home

Don’t let social distancing deny you the benefits of feeling strong and present in your own body. FlyDog Yoga is offering three to four live classes a day, plus on-demand Power Vinyasa, Yin, Flow, Barre, Power Sculpt, Yoga Nidra, Meditation, and more. In addition, studio co-owner Brad Whiteman, an Army veteran who learned to manage […]

Pick: Concert on your couch

Live music in the comfort of your own home? Sounds too good to be true, but rest assured, it isn’t. As a temporary replacement for in-person concerts and events, The Front Porch streaming series Save the Music welcomes Charlottesville native Genna Matthew, whose bittersweet lyrics and soothing folk-pop vocals earned her the 2019 grand prize […]

Pick: Art lessons

“The world always seems brighter when you’ve just made something that wasn’t there before,” says graphic novelist Neil Gaiman. Second Street Gallery has brightened our community for over 45 years, and while we cannot currently enjoy its compelling displays in person, SSG offers us plenty to look at through its digital initiatives and art exercises […]