“This stage is for you. You don’t have to be an artist to share a story.” This is Ty Cooper’s message to anyone attending his One Mic Stand shows, a live series staged for more than 10 years at Piedmont Virginia Community College. “We just wanted to provide a platform for artists to express themselves […]
“This stage is for you. You don’t have to be an artist to share a story.” This is Ty Cooper’s message to anyone attending his One Mic Stand shows, a live series staged for more than 10 years at Piedmont Virginia Community College. “We just wanted to provide a platform for artists to express themselves […]
The New York Daily News once called it “The death that won’t die.” On September 14, 1983, Michael Stewart, a 25-year-old artist and DJ, was taken into custody by a transit officer who claimed Stewart was graffitiing a subway wall. Half an hour after his arrest, Stewart arrived at Bellevue Hospital hogtied, severely bruised, not […]
Aiyana Straughn will be challenged to take audiences from a Manhattan playground to a Crimean battleground in the Virginia premiere of Jackie Drury’s Marys Seacole, a play based on the real-life story of a Jamaican-born nurse who cared for British soldiers during the Crimean War. Staged at Live Arts February 14 through March 2, the […]
It’s all too easy to get disgruntled about some of the usual entertainment in a tight town like ours—that is, if you close your eyes and ears too tightly and just stay home all the time. Here are some of the events that made me glad I got my ass off of the couch. Please […]
By Dave Cantor Bill Frisell is a cypher for American music, ping-ponging among genres for the past five decades. Like most jazz musicians, the guitarist keeps his ears wide open. But encountering vibraphonist Gary Burton playing what at one point was called “jazz rock” sent Frisell’s understanding of the genre down a new path. “The […]
We humans are social animals, which is one reason why theater endures as a way for people to share space and feel something together. In a time when our nation feels quite divided (ahem: understatement), any opportunity to learn from history and engage with challenging subjects in thought-provoking ways is a good opportunity. The current […]
By Ella Powell Pianist/composer Dan Tepfer says his earliest memories on the keys are of improvising as a toddler. “It seemed like a very natural thing for me to do, to just make up music,” he says. “My classical piano teachers would say, ‘don’t do that,’ but I knew it was okay because granddad did.” […]
By Dave Cantor Early in Garcia Peoples’ run, there was a four-year break between albums. It’s an almost unthinkable span of time in the digital age, but it was spent devising material for a clutch of future albums that includes five studio efforts and several live recordings. It’s an avalanche of music, one that revels […]