Where to go (and what to fear) this Halloween weekend

Thursday 10/30 Bent Theatre’s Ghost Walk. A night of terrible tales on a candlelit walking ghost tour. $15, 8pm. Albemarle CiderWorks, 2545 Rural Ridge Ln., North Garden. albemarleciderworks.com Friday 10/31 Area 51: Halloween Invasion. C’ville’s own Whistlepig Band touches down to rock the roof at an out-of-this-world party featuring a cosmic costume contest and interstellar […]

Local songwriter offers deeply personal debut

Turn on Erynn McLeod’s debut EP, Man of the House, and the first thing you’re likely to hear is a clear musical theater influence—the cabaret crooning, the overt metaphor, the complex characters, the ebb and flow of emotion. That’s all by design, the Charlottesville resident and Front Porch music teacher says. Growing up in New […]

Tried it in C’ville: Blue Ridge Mountain Maze

While some mourn summer’s passing, I’m dancing in my sweater. These brisk mornings conjure fond memories of attending fall festivals and carving jack-o’-lanterns. Searching for a way to celebrate my favorite season led me to the Blue Ridge Mountain Maze. I’ve wanted to venture through a legit maze ever since seeing Labyrinth in 1986, so […]

The Jervey glows up Belmont and the Peter Chang era ends

If you’ve caught The Jervey’s virtual tour on socials (@thejervey on Instagram), you know this new Belmont steakhouse in the former service station across from Mas is pure mid-century chic—think starburst chandeliers, wall-to-wall windows, and a martini list to match. The menu dazzles beyond steak, with brick-pressed chicken, black truffle pasta, and a spread of […]

Michael Che at The Paramount Theater 10/29

Comedian Michael Che steps away from “Saturday Night Live” to tour his stand-up comedy. The “Weekend Update” co-anchor and “The Daily Show” alum honed his comic career by lampooning news correspondents and political reporting with acerbic observations and deadpan delivery. Ages 18+. Wednesday 10/29. $30.25–67.75, 8pm. The Paramount Theater, 215 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. […]

The Virginia Film Festival brings filmmakers, stars, and audiences together for a five-day celebration of cinema

Big-deal film fests are synonymous with location. Toronto, Telluride, Cannes, and Sundance evoke industry accolades and red-carpet credentials. Our own Virginia Film Festival has gotten pretty buzzy over the years, with marquee names, tentpole previews, and movie deals cut on the Downtown Mall. The VAFF has become “one of the nation’s leading regional film festivals […]

Monster mania

As a Halloween warm-up, the Virginia Film Festival’s After Hours collection offers four monster movies, even though none are being screened particularly late at night. Curated by Igor Shteyrenberg of the Miami Jewish Film Festival and horror fest Popcorn Frights, this thematic group of what the VFF calls “films that walk on the wild side” […]

Our picks for hot flicks

Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere Every artist who hits it big faces an inevitable question: What do I do for a follow-up? Bruce Springsteen confronted it after his fifth album, The River, topped the charts in 1980. Instead of trying to create another commercial smash, he produced Nebraska, a deeply personal acoustic album that surprised […]

Pep in step: ‘Pep Banned’ at Culbreth Theatre 10/26

The University of Virginia is often described as Jeffersonian, as academically elite, as a public Ivy. Less often used: cool. The Virginia Pep Band, during its nearly three-decade heyday, was cool. Pep Banned, a documentary that premieres at the Virginia Film Festival, captures the joyful subversion of the student-run band that took to the football […]