The poster for George Clooney’s The Monuments Men has that wow factor. Not the poster itself—a bunch of guys standing next to each other smirking or stony-faced is kind of dull. But look at the names on the left. Clooney. Matt Damon. Bill Murray. John Goodman. Jean Dujardin. Bob Balaban. Hugh Bonneville. Cate Blanchett. Now, […]
American roots band Annalivia gathers from the various branches of influence on folk music’s family tree. As the band tours in support of its latest album, The Same Way Down, Liz Simmons’ and Flynn Cohen’s vocals draw on a combination of Irish, Scottish, and old time Appalachian music, while Charlottesville native Bronwyn Keith-Hynes backs up […]
Bid boredom adieu with seven subtitled screenings at the University of Virginia’s French Film Festival. Award-winning Cameroonian director Jean-Pierre Békolo leads discussions on his filmmaking practices in the sci-fi erotic thriller Les Saignantes and the controversial political drama Le Président. Additional films run the gamut from a star-studded melodrama (De Rouille et d’Os, featuring Marion […]
This Friday, volunteers from Community Bikes will be distributing Valentines via bicycle, as part of an annual event called Bake ‘n Bike. It’s the tenth anniversary for this annual Valentine’s Day tradition, in which the lovestruck and the lonely alike can send a box of fresh-baked choclate-chip scones and a letter-pressed card to a sweetheart or […]
The cover art on singer-songwriter Joe Pug’s latest album, The Great Despiser, shows a nearly naked man barely hanging on to the end of a rising balloon. Who knows what it means? Pug says his lyrics are somewhat autobiographical, but they have enough metaphor and allegory thrown in to create some space between the man […]
After appearing on a pair of reverb-soaked and long sold-out cassettes, Angel Olsen made a proper full-length debut in 2012 with Half Way Home. Simple, confident, clear, and cohesive, it’s an instant classic. The album is an arresting record in the tradition of cult ’70s folk artists like Linda Perhacs—though Olsen’s aesthetic is far closer […]
The centennial celebration of Woody Guthrie’s birth is more than the remembrance of a great man’s life. It is a testament that his music endures, that the art has outlasted the artist. A wide range of musicians have paid homage to Woody Guthrie over the years, indicating the breadth of his legacy and the extent […]
The setting is 1960s rural North Carolina and two little girls have come to stay with their batty Aunt Patty in the wake of a younger sibling’s death. Y. York’s play adaptation of Getting Near to Baby offers a poignant look at grief through the eyes of children and adults, as Willa Jo and Little […]
Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings Give the People What They Want/Daptone Records Give the People What They Want is an apt title because this 11-piece outfit knows its audience through and through. Once again, Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings deliver the goods by skillfully combining ’60s-era Motown, soul with the verve of ’70s-era funk, and R&B […]
It’s too early in the year to be making predictions about next year’s Academy Award nominations for Best Animated Feature, but let’s go ahead and put The Lego Movie at the top of the list. In a time of lackluster animated films (see—or don’t: The Nut Job) it’s refreshing to watch animation that works on […]