ARTS Pick: Charlottesville Chamber Music Festival

If pop songs are the texts of the music world, then surely chamber music works are its literary masterpieces, and you can appreciate them fully at the Charlottesville Chamber Music Festival. Hosted by the Virginia Chamber Music Foundation, the seven-day celebration provides incredible renditions of classical pieces performed by a variety of local expert musicians. […]

Playing it forward: Lockn’ 2014

In almost every interview with a person of notable artistic accomplishment, no matter the medium, there is of talk inspiration or the impetus for creativity. As fans, we are eternally curious about the artist’s muse. All musicians pay it forward. Elvis stood on the shoulders of bluesmen, before The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and Michael […]

ARTS Pick: Jon Pardi

Nashville may be the capital of country, but the music of Jon Pardi proves that country and western are still a potent mix. Staying true to a classic Southern twang, the California-born musician delights with traditional riffs on acoustic guitars, banjos, and fiddles. His narratives are rich with the trials of human experience, and coupled […]

Yonder Mountain String Band looks ahead to new record

Yonder Mountain String Band hasn’t produced a full-length record since 2009. It’s the longest stretch that the band’s gone without an LP since it formed in 1998. If that news isn’t bad enough for fans, now this: Founding member, mandolin player and vocalist Jeff Austin split with YMSB in April. When Yonder plays the Jefferson […]

ARTS Pick: Cheap Whiskey

The words Cheap Whiskey don’t usually go well together, but if they’re referring to Nelson Johnson and his band of Southern rockers, then it’s a welcome combination. The group embraces a medley of styles, dabbling in rock, country, and blues to deliver performances high energy performances. And despite the name, the hard drivin’ tunes go […]

ARTS Pick: Lindustrial Revolution

If you’re looking for some movement that challenges the monotony of modern dance, then take part in the Lindustrial Revolution, a three-day dance fest that celebrates the glamor and freedom of ’30s swing. Hosted by a core of expert dancers determined to get you hopping with instruction in two classic American styles: Balboa and the […]

Film review: Love story gets muddled in If I Stay

Saying that If I Stay, adapted from Gayle Forman’s blockbuster young adult novel, is bad because it’s overwrought and pretentious is to dismiss a crucial stage of growing up when you yourself are overwrought and pretentious by no real fault of your own. The entire young adult experience is completely unfair. You’re long on feelings […]

Multimedia exhibit brings the forest to Ruffin Gallery

What does it mean to digitally broadcast the ‘experience’ of a tree? Is satire inherent in such an act?” These are just a couple of the questions that Charlottesville-based artist Peter Traub hopes you’ll contemplate while viewing “WoodEar” at UVA’s Ruffin Gallery. The exhibit is a recent collaboration between composer and multimedia artist Traub; dance […]

ARTS Pick: Sensations’ Fix

For more than three decades, the obscure Italian band Sensations’ Fix has been pleasing audiences with its energetic brand of progressive electronic rock. Success lies in the group’s original mix of genres, blending shrill electric chords with a psychedelic rhythm in a unique sound entirely its own. Not only does SF stand the test of […]