The Lord of the Rings

Order extra popcorn and pop, because the extended edition of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring clocks in at just under four hours. Peter Jackson’s fantasy classic is back on the big screen for a special screening to ring in the new year. Follow along as Frodo and his Hobbit friends […]

The good Berman

Kylie Wright spent a lot of time with late indie rock icon David Berman while they were students at the University of Virginia. They both hosted radio shows in WTJU’s not-so-coveted 2 to 6am slot. His: “The Big Hair Show.” Hers: “Jane Fonda’s Blackout.” But when asked about her time with the poet and singer-songwriter, […]

Illiterate Light

Illiterate Light ends the year on a high note in a year filled with high notes for the Harrisonburg duo. The band’s critically acclaimed album Sunburned came out in January. In summer they played to sellout crowds as openers for The Head and The Heart. With Jeff Gorman on synth bass pedal and guitar, and […]

Sarah White’s Country Christmas Show

Sing along among the trees at Sarah White’s Country Christmas Show, a festive evening full of twinkling lights, tons of ornaments, and honky-tonk holiday tunes. The Virginia-based singer-songwriter is joined onstage by a sleigh full of local musicians, including Michael Clem, Ian Gilliam, Charlie Bell, Matty Metcalfe, Anna Matijasic, and The (All New) Acorn Sisters. […]

Quirk’s New Year’s Eve Bash

Count it down at the Quirk’s New Year’s Eve Bash. Festive cocktail attire is encouraged at this chic soirée, which takes over the hotel’s lobby. Snack on hors d’oeuvres, grab your drink of choice, and dance the night away to a funky rock ‘n’ roll set by Disco Risqué. At midnight, watch the ball drop […]

Godzilla 1, Tokyo 0

Writer and director Takashi Yamazaki’s Godzilla Minus One is easily among 2023’s most engaging, exciting, and poignant films. This isn’t some pulp monster movie to be casually dismissed by snobs—it’s a compelling post-World War II drama that periodically features a monster rearing its huge head, and it gives its big, scaly, radioactive leading man his […]

Sounds like Charlottesville

By Erin Lyndal Martin In 2023, Charlottesville’s music scene thrived with blurred genres and an array of music venues. The year saw bands incorporating ’80s pop hooks, ’90s synths, and other welcome blasts from the past. With continued fallout from the pandemic, Twisted Branch Tea Bazaar stopped hosting shows, leaving punk and indie bands to […]

Taking care of our own

In considering the bookish highlights of the past year—the breadth of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and zines read and shared with others; the bookstore shelves browsed and little free libraries visited; the virtual and in-person readings, discussions, and book clubs attended—a theme emerges. Books by queer writers, about queer characters, and curated by queer booksellers are […]

Go with the glow

My Christmas spirit sense starts tingling early and often here in Charlottesville. Way before Carter Mountain Orchard serves its first apple cider donut, I’m half-deranged with holiday anticipation, eager to push past the trick-or-treating munchkins on the Lawn and the dry forkfuls of Thanksgiving dinner, just to get to the good stuff:  Call me Buddy […]

Photo finish 

The results are in! In November, C-VILLE readers submitted the best photo they captured in 2023, each illustrating the theme “What a day!” Our judges—Ézé Amos and Stacey Evans—reviewed more than 80 submissions, and what follows are the best of the bunch. The final list features gorgeous landscapes, bustling wildlife, and captivating shots in and […]