ARTS Pick: Riley Baugus
Lucky strike: North Carolina blacksmith Riley Baugus was a craftsman by day and a master musician by night, playing his self-made banjo with friends in old-time string bands, when he […]
ARTS Pick: Tim Summers
Digital strings: Reflecting on the 20 years since he co-founded the Charlottesville Chamber Music Festival, violinist Tim Summers hosts a discussion about the shifts that classical musicians and composers face […]
ARTS Pick: “Welcome to Night Vale”
Live cast: The popular podcast “Welcome to Night Vale” launched in 2012 as “A friendly desert community where the sun is hot, the moon is beautiful, and mysterious lights pass […]
World of difference: ‘A Quick and Tragic Thaw’ chronicles the implications of a hotter Earth
Escapism or activism? Should a work provide respite from pertinent problems, or is it art’s duty to provide commentary on these political and social issues? More and more, this seems […]
Killer obsessions: Rachel Monroe explores women’s attraction to true crime
By Benjamen Noble When Rachel Monroe began writing Savage Appetites: Four True Stories of Women, Crime, and Obsession, she had a driving question that fueled her—why are we, as a […]
Clown downer: IT Chapter Two is not very scary or funny
The problem that has always plagued adaptations of Stephen King’s IT is that the two halves—kids and grown-ups—are not equally interesting. Nostalgic coming-of-age tales of scary monsters and friendship are […]
Grace by design: Walé Oyéjidé uses fashion to tell stories
“The way that a story is told is just as important as the story itself,” designer Walé Oyéjidé told a National Geographic Storytellers Summit audience in January. Oyéjidé, who’s also […]
Articulating ‘Mexican Heaven’: Poet José Olivarez illuminates both bruises and bliss in Citizen Illegal
Most people avert their eyes when the world gets messy: they scrunch uncooperative hair into the safety of ballcaps, kick dust bunnies conveniently under couches, and dunk ugly memories into […]
ARTS Pick: Midsummer 90
Bite-sized Shakespeare: An abridged version of the iconic Shakespeare comedy, Midsummer 90 drops the Night’s Dream and retains all the humor and wonder of the original script without sacrificing its […]
ARTS Pick: Interpol
Rounding the corners: In the run-up to recording Interpol’s latest release, Marauder, drummer Sam Fogarino repeatedly asked himself: “How can I make shit swing?” The post-punk veterans were six albums […]