Author: Craig Carlson
Richmond supergroup Piranha Rama cut through pandemic headwinds to make their new album, “Omniscient Cloud Cover.” Want to get away? As the COVID-19 pandemic set in, John Sizemore sure did. The Piranha Rama guitarist and co-founder, who is immunocompromised, searched for a musical escape from life in lockdown. “I was definitely looking for something to take me away from the current state,” he remembers. So began “Omniscient Cloud Cover,” an eight-song Piranha Rama offering out Sept. 30 on Pavement percussionist Bob Nastanovich’s Brokers Tip Records. Colorful and collaborative, the album provides a genre-expansive psych-pop escape while showing how to cut…
“A Love Song” is a simple, understated film about human connection in a world with increasingly less of it. Every once in awhile, I’ll see a film that makes me want to be outside in what I consider to be humanity’s true church: nature. The quiet and simple little indie picture, “A Love Song,” written and directed by Max Walker-Silverman, is such a movie – even if its two main characters are mostly car camping by a lake the whole time. The movie is set in a gorgeous campground out West, it was shot early during the pandemic in southwestern…
Many events still to be announced for this month. NOVEMBER Uke Fest Virginia at the Cultural Arts Center in Glen Allen, Friday, Nov. 4 Enjoy the art of the ukulele. Features the Aloha Boys, Bumper Jacksons, Gerald Ross, and Amy Ferebee. 8:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. For registration and more info, visit ukefestva.com. Comedian Taylor Tomlinson at the Carpenter Theatre, Friday, Nov.4 You’ve probably seen this smart, rising comedian on Netflix (“Look at You”) or Jimmy Fallon. She brings the “Have It All” tour to town. 7 p.m. The 15th Anniversary of InLight, Friday, Nov. 18 and Saturday, Nov. 19…
OCTOBER The 2nd Street Festival in Historic Jackson Ward, on Saturday, Oct. 1 and Sunday, Oct. 2 One of the greatest block parties of the year is back with true hip-hop royalty as DJ Grandmaster Flash returns to RVA as the festival headliner on Saturday. Then on Sunday, “I Would Die 4 You: A Tribute to Prince” featuring Anthony Cosby Jr. Also on the bill. Free. Yo-Yo Ma with Richmond Symphony, Tuesday, Oct. 4 The great cellist, one of modern classical music’s few household names, comes to perform with the Richmond Symphony, performing Elgar cello concerto in E minor, op.…
SEPTEMBER The 62nd Armenian Food Festival at St. James Armenian Church, Friday Sept. 9 and Saturday, Sept. 10. A time-honored tradition, enjoy dishes from shish kabobs to stuffed grape leaves and Armenian meat pies, as well as wine and dancing. Held from 11:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. on both days. For more information armenianfoodfestival.com. Free to attend. Pay as you go with the food and drinks. 43rd Street Festival of the Arts at 43rd in Forest Hill Ave. on Saturday, Sept.10 A selection of “contemporary artisans, and great food in the Forest Hill neighborhood.” Benefits Caritas. 10 a.m. to 4…
We’ve got a pulse! A monthly breakdown of fall season events. We don’t know about you, but we haven’t heard much about COVID stopping anyone’s plans lately. Not to jinx us or anything, but the fall seasonal calendar has filled up quickly with a packed slate of things to do around Richmond. Sure, there could be another outbreak as we move into flu and cold season, but it seems as if we’re finally back on the path to some sense of normalcy when it comes to the arts and culture scene in RVA – notwithstanding large increases in the cost…
The Broadway tour of “Wicked” flies a broomstick into town on Aug. 31. Sitting in the Gershwin Theatre during the original Broadway run of “Wicked” less than a year after it opened, Jennafer Newberry turned to her parents and told them she’d be in the show someday. In May 2019, her declaration became a reality when she joined the ensemble of the national Broadway tour of “Wicked”; this past March, she took over the role of Glinda the Good. “It’s always been there,” says the actress of her association with “Wicked.” “We literally sang ‘For Good’ at my high school…
Gun violence victim Krissa A. Henderson-Burruss honored, criminal justice scholarship given. A celebration of life took place at Virginia Union University this morning for Krissa A. Henderson-Burruss, a VUU criminal justice major, who was a victim of gun violence in 2018. Four years and one day later, she was honored by a placement of an inscribed boulder near Henderson Hall with the students, administration, and her mother Kristy Burrus in attendance. Burrus presented VUU junior Alexis Westbrooks, a criminal justice major, with a scholarship from the Krissia Ansara Foundation. Burrus created the foundation after her daughter’s death to support VUU…
“Breaking” is lost in its own forgettable messaging, while the shaggy, coming-of-age film “Funny Pages” finds a real voice. Abi Damaris Corbin’s “Breaking” is undeniably virtuous. It has important issues on its mind, particularly the American government’s treatment of war veterans and our lack of empathy toward the mentally ill. It also features a notable young actor who is looking to stretch his wings after a stint in the Hollywood franchise circus. And it is as boring as ever-living hell. “Breaking” is the kind of movie that certain people, those for instance who think the words “based on a true…
Peaches and Kalifa at the National on Thursday, Aug. 25 What else is in the teaches of Peaches? Huh, what? Come to the National on Thursday night and find out when the boundary-pushing feminist musician, producer, and performance artist, Merill Nisker (aka Peaches), brings the circus to town for what surely will be a memorable performance with flashy dance moves, fried guitar and myriad costume changes. The Berlin-based, Canadian musician has collaborated with artists from Yoko Ono and Kim Gordon to Daft Punk and the Flaming Lips, and on this tour she’ll be celebrating the 20th anniversary of her electro-rock…