New territory: Men on Boats tells the story of four explorers’ heroic quest to chart the whitewater rivers that make up the Grand Canyon. Set in 1869, the play calls itself the “true(ish)” story of Civil War Captain John Wesley Powell and his brave crew’s attempt to map out one of our most magnificent national […]
New territory: Men on Boats tells the story of four explorers’ heroic quest to chart the whitewater rivers that make up the Grand Canyon. Set in 1869, the play calls itself the “true(ish)” story of Civil War Captain John Wesley Powell and his brave crew’s attempt to map out one of our most magnificent national […]
It’s lit: Billy Hunt at Studio IX Through dexterous utilization of non-traditional lighting techniques such as lasers, LED wands, programmed projections, and various other homemade light sources, photographer Billy Hunt creates transcendent images for his new portrait series. And he does it all without the use of digital editing techniques. Hunt is known for his […]
MC Yallah X Debmaster Kubali (Hakuna Kulala) The most frenetic moment of Kubali comes right at the top, like an intimidating bouncer. Once you get past the brief jabbery pattern of vocables, percussion, synthesizers, and unidentified sonic objects, Kubali just swaggers and bumps. Uganda’s MC Yallah spits in Kiswahili and Luganda, reveling in the stinkface […]
Best short-timers: The Indie Short Film Series includes highly regarded festival selections as well as local productions such as The Devil’s Harmony, Best International Short Film award winner at Sundance. A disquieting tale of a bullied teenage girl enacting revenge on her enemies and abusers, the movie promises to stick with you long after its […]
Circling back: Dan Deacon has been working his synth-pop magic for nearly two decades. From the self-released CD-Rs of his student days to the hyperactive live shows made legendary through audience participation, Deacon is an established trailblazer in electronic music. At a 2010 Charlottesville appearance, C-VILLE’s James Ford reported that the DJ/composer “led the sweaty […]
When I reach politically enraged comedian Lewis Black by phone on an early February morning following the Iowa caucus, I expect he’ll be ready with one of his signature rants, and after a polite exchange of salutations, he does not disappoint. Black immediately unleashes a torrent of frustrations. Clearly he wants me to listen—which is […]
Most musicians will tell you that Craigslist isn’t the best place to find bandmates. Sure, it’s worked for some groups (The Killers), but in a small town like Charlottesville, the odds of finding a copacetic match on the internet are especially slim. You’re more likely to meet like-minded musicians at a show. But Films on […]
Amber Zion started analyzing acting techniques when she was 5 years old. The only deaf child in her family, she grew up watching movies without captions, and she made up her own stories based on what she saw in the actors’ expressions and gestures. When she watched MTV, she’d ask her mother to act out […]
Since childhood, Nathan Colberg has nurtured the same, secret dream. It’s one shared by many born-and-bred Charlottesville musicians, but few ever see it realized. On February 28, Colberg, along with fellow local acts Grant Frazier and Spudnik, will take the stage at The Jefferson Theater. “It’s going to be new territory for everyone on the […]
Folk justice: Rachel Baiman grew up in Chicago with a radical economist and a social worker for parents. Everything was about social justice and left-leaning politics, she says, and folk music and bluegrass were an escape from the worries of current events. As an adult, she moved to Nashville and became a multi-instrumentalist, touring the […]