Building character: Actor Dennis Christopher on Breaking Away
In his 50-plus year career, actor Dennis Christopher has defied typecasting. His wildly varied characters include an Olympic runner in Chariots of Fire (1981); tormented Eddie Kaspbrak in It (1990);...
View ArticleFest bets: Making the most of your Virginia Film Festival schedule
Every year, the Virginia Film Festival brings the best in films past, present, and future. Critics and writers appearing at VAFF include Jamelle Bouie of The New York Times and CBS, Soraya McDonald of...
View ArticleARTS Pick: The Haunting of Hill House
Ghost writing: When Shirley Jackson decided to write a ghost story, she took inspiration from a real-life 19th-century scientific investigation, and created The Haunting of Hill House. Jackson said it...
View ArticleRap videos get a boost at the Virginia Film Festival
Doughman got into filming music videos because he had to. The area music producer was handing out beats to rappers left and right, but they wanted more than just music. They wanted a visual component...
View ArticleAlbum reviews: Allah-Las, Julien Chang, Various artists, Gong Gong Gong, and...
Allah-Las Las (Mexican Summer) On their fourth LP, L.A.’s Allah-Las don’t seem in any hurry to alter their psychedelic slacker twang. In fact, they don’t seem in any particular hurry at all; the...
View ArticleStar gazer: Bruce Springsteen goes to the desert in support of new album
With a career spanning nearly 50 years, Bruce Springsteen has long been a part of the fabric of American music. And his live performances? They’re nothing short of legendary. So it was a bit out of the...
View ArticleHomecoming: Filmmaker Ricardo Preve returns with a discovery story of a...
It started with a chance remark. In 2014, former Crozet resident Ricardo Preve was off the coast of Sudan to film sharks. At the end of his stay in the treacherous shallow waters surrounding thousands...
View ArticleBigfoot sighting
“The Elvis Presley of taxidermy.” That’s what fans call Ken Walker, the star of the documentary Big Fur. Part conspiracy theory, part environmental commentary, and part obsession, this “love story”...
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Grunge reprise: Local musicians pay tribute to Nirvana’s legendary...
The fuzzy, sage green granny cardigan hasn’t been washed in more than two decades. It’s missing a button, and the knit is stained in spots and cigarette-burned in a few others. That sweater fetched...
View ArticleARTS Pick: The Flamin’ Groovies
Shake it away: Under the radar since their formation at the height of the acid scene in the ’60s, San Francisco’s The Flamin’ Groovies are still delivering the edgy rock ‘n’ roll that circumvented the...
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First Fridays: November 1
ARTCHO festival makes art available to all Home. It’s sweet. There’s no place like it. It’s where the heart is, and it’s where charity often begins. “Moonrise,” by Laura Aldridge The same can be said...
View ArticleBerlin bust: Jojo Rabbit loses its satirical footing
The good news is that you’ll love writer/director/actor Taika Waititi. The bad news is there’s no charming your way out of a misfire as big as Jojo Rabbit. You can see that this is an “anti-hate...
View ArticleARTS Pick: Blues Traveler
Fired up: New Jersey band Blues Traveler is on the road in celebration of the 25th anniversary of its Grammy-winning album, Four. The blues-rock group broke into the mainstream with the record in 1994,...
View ArticleARTS Pick: Armida
Tale spin: Miriam Gordon-Stewart and Victory Hall Opera take on Hadyn’s 1784 opera Armida with a fresh perspective. The original is a love story of a crusader and enchantress, and Armida’s mission is...
View ArticleARTS Pick: Spin Cycle and Gina Sobel’s Gold Sounds
Jazz combo: A night of jazz brings New York City’s freewheeling quartet Spin Cycle—playing everything from Coltrane and improv to New Orleans funk and raw punk—together with local flutist Gina Sobel’s...
View ArticleARTS Pick: Lawrence Jackson
Magnetic moments: “Eight years in the White House went by so fast,” says Barack Obama in the forward to Yes We Did, the new book by former official White House photographer Lawrence Jackson. (We feel...
View ArticleARTS Pick: Miranda Lambert
Nashville smash: Superstar Miranda Lambert has a powerful voice, and a striking capacity for emotional depth. She sings female rage songs like “Gunpowder and Lead” and “Mama’s Broken Heart,” aimed at...
View ArticleARTS Pick: Wilco
Been there: Regardless of which collaborative era in Jeff Tweedy’s career got you on board—Jay Farrar, Jay Bennett, Billy Bragg, Nels Cline—you’ve likely heard the frontman of the revered alt-country,...
View ArticleAlbum reviews: Velveteen Rabbit, Shana Falana, Wished Bone, Yukihiro...
Velveteen Rabbit Velveteen Rabbit (Hozac) Rising from the ashes of NYC power poppers The Jeanies, Velveteen Rabbit do up the ’70s glory days of glitter rock in a stripped-down way. They don’t try to...
View ArticleARTS Pick: Kishi Bashi
Playing into it: Athens, Georgia-based multi-instrumentalist Kaoru Ishibashi, who uses the stage name Kishi Bashi, makes a unique brand of indie pop. In some songs, his mastery of violin and guitar...
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