Charlottesville’s Second Draw has declared a new style of acoustic rock it calls “bluejam.” Founded in a raw, energetic style, somewhere between country and jam rock, the group’s self-proclaimed genre blends driving guitar with bluegrass instruments including mandolin, banjo and accordion. The desire to break new ground is evident on SD’s debut album, White Dog, […]
John Waters is a man of many names. Dubbed the Prince of Puke, the People’s Pervert and the Pope of Trash, among others, the legendary filmmaker has made a career out of his personal brand of quirky, twisted humor. Although best known for bringing Hairspray to the big screen along with cult classics like Pink […]
“I see like an artist and think like a designer,” says Lisa Ryan about her stylish collages, on view in “Please Don’t Ask It Can’t Be Explained” at Studio IX. Unlike most collage artists, Ryan focuses on formal considerations, rather than narrative. Her work is fresh with an almost total lack of the whimsy that is […]
Ever seen a cake go up in flames, or bamboo bathed in blue beams? At PVCC’s Let There Be Light, an illuminating art gallery celebrating the winter solstice, 26 artists present 21 light-centered art installations, creating a magical glow that cuts through winter’s early nightfall. Bring a flashlight to find your way through the diverse […]
When the six-piece band The Apache Relay quietly ended, brothers Michael and Ben Ford decided to work as a duo, and Airpark was born. One year later, the siblings are creating forward-thinking pop music, mixing vocal harmonies with minimal instrumentation manifested in emotional vibes that target both the ears and the feet. Saturday, December 9. […]
When guitarist and singer-songwriter David Rawlings put together his third album, Poor David’s Almanack, he created a story written in the timeless language of American folk. Blending electric and acoustic guitar with twangy vocals, the album took shape in Nashville, where Rawlings was joined by fellow musicians Gillian Welch, Willie Watson, Paul Kowert and Brittany […]
After releasing a number of songs as a national recording artist and working with Tyler Perry on Madea Goes to Jail, Chad Lawson Cooper turned to theater for a project that combines passion, education and an emotional quest for slavery reparation in Justice on Trial: Black Lives Matter Too. Cooper’s Broadway production company presents a […]
Sitting on a cushioned bench in the back room of the Twisted Branch Tea Bazaar, Phil Green takes a drag from a hookah hose and exhales a stream of hazy smoke that hangs in the fading afternoon sunlight before recalling an early memory. In that memory, Green’s about 6 years old, riding around in their […]
Martin McDonagh’s Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri isn’t the only story about the blurred lines between doing the right thing and making a bad situation worse, but it’s the only one that matters. McDonagh has made a career of pitch-black satires that find the humor and humanity in characters who are experiencing genuine torment—the regret […]
Writer and performer Ann Randolph has lived an amazing life. In college, rather than paying to live in a dorm, she lived in the schizophrenic unit of a state mental hospital in exchange for writing plays with patients. She worked the graveyard shift at a homeless shelter for minimum wage for 10 years. And she […]