“Perhaps you are sick and fear you will never be well, the brochure said, more or less. Perhaps you spend your days off on the couch, half napping, half awake. Perhaps your thighs, stomach, feet, and arms have become not so much you but accessories to you, things to hold and prod. If any of […]
Are you a verbally pompous know-it-all? Prove it at Wordplay, the annual fundraiser for Literacy Volunteers of Charlottesville/Albemarle, where fans of vocabulary, pop culture, history, and literature show off their smarts to support adult literacy, one-to-one English lessons, and citizenship tutoring. Form a team, or play along in the audience, and take your chance on […]
Hailed as the bash of the year, the Tom Tom Festival’s annual Block Party is an all-in cultural event that allows partygoers to wander from one musical event to another—going gaga for the 100 Proof Band’s go-go at Ting Pavilion, soaking up the sultry soul of Richelle Claiborne and Friends at The Front Porch, shaking […]
What is it about music as an art form that pushes some people to demand authenticity from those they listen to? Honesty of vision is often expected of musicians in a way that visual or dramatic artists are generally free to ignore—at the very least, there’s supposedly a virtue in musical earnestness that audiences are […]
Maggie’s Midtown, the restaurant in the former Blue Moon Diner space from a three-person team that includes Smyrna’s Tarik Sengul is taking pub favorites to a new level. The elevated comforts include pub oysters with rarebit and guanciale (pictured); shepherd’s pie of braised lamb and short rib, red wine reduction, mashed potato; and the weekend […]
Speakers at the 2026 Tom Tom Festival have had six months to mull this year’s aspirational central theme: Courage. And mull it they have. Ahead of the festival—which runs April 22 to April 26 and will draw more than 27,000 attendees to various downtown Charlottesville venues for talks, music, dancing, food, and more—contributors ranging from […]
Ask vinyl enthusiasts what’s special about their collection—and then order another drink because you’re in for a passionate lesson on record-bin diving, rare releases, cover art, reissues, mint ratings, analog vs. digital audio superiority, and the nuances of the recording and pressing process. Every year, on the third Saturday of April, audiophiles get their own […]
Bluegrass badass Billy Strings is back for more. The Grammy-winning Americana musician returns with his repertoire based in traditional roots improvisation, peppered with elements from rock, blues, and country. Strings’ earnest voice and adroit instrumentation channels the greats of the genre, whether he’s carrying on mournfully about life’s rocky roads, or jubilantly praising the simple […]
To kick off WTJU’s Rock Marathon week, The North Country loads in for a high-energy show that blends indie-rock and art-pop. The experimental collective based out of Washington, D.C., pairs poignant and political lyrics with danceable beats reminiscent of ’80s synth-infused staples. Fronted by songwriter and singer Andrew Grossman, the band builds a big sound, […]
Screening as part of Virginia Film Festival’s year-round programming schedule, Erupcja (2025) offers an arthouse drama built around romance and driving dance music. On vacation together in Warsaw, Poland, Bethany (Charli xcx) discovers her boyfriend Rob (Will Madden) is about to propose. A volcanic eruption occurs, and Bethany uses the fallout from the event to […]