In Red Sparrow, a fallen Russian ballerina (Jennifer Lawrence) is given an impossible choice—to sacrifice her free will and dignity for her country by becoming a “sparrow” trained in the art of exploiting the sexual vulnerabilities of her targets, or lose the apartment and medical coverage provided by the Bolshoi. That is, until the plot […]
Jessica Lea Mayfield is done apologizing. The Nashville-based artist made her solo debut in 2008 with the album With Blasphemy So Heartfelt, produced by The Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach. Known for towing the line between straight-ahead roots (she grew up playing in a bluegrass band with her family) and snarling alt-rock, Mayfield delivered languid vocals […]
Kyle Craft Full Circle Nightmare (Sub Pop) Portland’s Kyle Craft is about to rock, and you may salute him. Craft writes perfect nü-classic rock songs with pounding piano, pealing slide guitar, and sucking-in-the-’70s horn charts—all present on “Exile Rag,” naturally. And a ubiquitous musical element that also happens to describe Craft’s constant state of hot […]
The Wind and The Wave has been quietly and unassumingly sweeping the alt-indie rock music scene since its debut album dropped in 2014. Made up of singer-songwriters Dwight Baker and Patty Lynn, who began making music just to see what would happen, The Wind and The Wave ended up with a serious following of rabid […]
Canadian chamber-folk group Beyond the Pale formed in 2001, employing expert musicianship and dynamic song-crafting to create a sound that takes from jazz, reggae and classical music, while being heavily accented by Balkan and Romanian tradition. The group crosses musical borderlines on instruments from around the world, including fiddle, accordion, guitar, mandolin, hammered dulcimer and […]
In The Parking Lot Movie, the role of attendant goes beyond transactional and becomes a rite of passage. From their seat in the payment booth at The Corner Parking Lot on UVA Grounds, grads and undergrads spend their shifts intellectualizing and lamenting societal ills, from capitalism, anger and justice to car culture, privilege and the […]
Aging does not come gracefully in William Shakespeare’s tragedy King Lear, in which familial power struggles, corruption and a descent into madness mark the unraveling of a king and his kingdom. Sean Prunka takes on the juicy lead role, one that’s coveted by actors around the world, in Gorilla Theater Production’s staging of original family […]
After years spent living abroad and around the U.S., Annie Temmink thought something was missing from her native Charlottesville. “I miss really great dancing and really wild visual clothing and adornment,” she says. “They’re rich opportunities for people to have moments of unbridled, creative expression, and they’re really critical for connection, and happiness, and all […]
Game Night is a funny, exciting thriller-comedy with fun performances and a story that keeps you guessing. Who in the world saw this coming? Certainly not whoever edited the trailer, which sold it as another underwritten yarn with an on-the-nose title about insufferable schmucks who get in over their heads and shout about things seconds […]
During the month of March, local artist Judy McLeod exhibits work from her oeuvre at three different galleries, each individual show representing a different phase in her 40-plus years of art-making. “An artist works in series whereby an idea is pursued visually for months or years in terms of a medium,” says McLeod, and while […]