There have been plenty of good/above average blockbusters in recent years that leave you thrilled, invigorated, entertained and properly conditioned to buy the eventual mega-deluxe Blu-ray special edition. But Mad Max: Fury Road is no ordinary blockbuster. You won’t just be entertained. You’ll wonder why anyone has ever bothered to make a movie that isn’t […]
Deadline extended to noon on Wednesday, June 17! Fiction writers, fire up your laptops (or sharpen your pencils, if you’re old school)—it’s time for the C-VILLE Weekly and WriterHouse short fiction contest with renowned author Jill McCorkle as final judge. One adult and one youth winner will receive a one-year membership to WriterHouse and a […]
The L.Y.A.O Comedy Showcase has made Charlottesville a more frequent option for smaller tours featuring up-and-coming comics. Nick Vatterott is one of them, and though you may not recognize him by name, chances are, you will soon. Vatterott’s comedy is quick and sharp, and he utilizes his improv experience on stage, acting out stories and […]
Hannah Miller Hannah Miller/self-released Hannah Miller is one of the most atmospheric singer-songwriters around. Her penchant for mixing dusty, molasses-thick vocals with stark imagery is evident on her new record, as well as the understated fashion in which the songs play out, making for a nice dichotomy. The slow-burning roots rocker “Help Me Out” mirrors […]
“The landscape around my Charlottesville home is remarkably like that of Oaxaca, Mexico,” muses Charlottesville-based artist Russ Warren. It has “a spirituality emanating from the atmosphere and the mountainous landscape that seems magical.” To be honest, despite having spent much of my life in the Blue Ridge Mountains, this is not a comparison I’ve heard […]
Since his rise to fame in the early ’90s, Beck has become something of a music icon. His breakout “lo-fi” sound had an air of lethargy, while revealing a staid, candid glimpse of Americana that no other artist had been able to capture. Beck’s music matured over the years, and the downright cool of his […]
Four County Players, in collaboration with the Hamner Theater, rekindles the neighborly drama and simple charm of last-century Americana in its production of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Our Town. Thornton Wilder’s play within a play showcases the appeal of everyday lives made extraordinary through observation, and remains exceedingly popular as it approaches its 80th anniversary. Through […]
Known for animated, angry facial expressions and loud, rambling rants, Lewis Black has emerged at the forefront of satirical, political comedy. Black’s been a regular on “The Daily Show” as well as starring in a number of his own comedy specials including “Black on Broadway” and “The Root of All Evil,” the latter in which […]
Call it an adaptation of Thomas Hardy’s breakthrough “Victorian realist” romance novel, call it a remake of John Schlesinger’s 1967 film starring Julie Christie, but whatever you do, don’t call Thomas Vinterberg’s Far from the Madding Crowd derivative. Like Hardy and Schlesinger before him, Vinterberg uses the relatively straightforward tale of an independent-minded woman caught […]
It was a mutual fondness for obscure artists like Randy Newman and Ry Cooder that originally sparked drummer Louie Pérez and guitarist David Hidalgo’s musical relationship in 1973. But it wasn’t until the ’80s that the massive soundtrack cover of Ritchie Valens’ “La Bamba” catapulted them into the mainstream. More than 40 years, and 20 […]