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ARTS Pick: Natalie Cole

Award-winning vocalist Natalie Cole has refreshed standards out of the Great American Songbook from Sinatra and her own father, Nat King Cole. With boundless vocal dexterity and a wealth of soulful emotion behind her lyrics, Cole is on tour supporting 2009’s Still Unforgettable, which harkens back to her ’91 Grammy Award for Album of the Year, Unforgettable…With Love. Few things about Natalie Cole have remained constant, but her passionate, sultry vocals continue to captivate.

Sunday 10/28 $39.50-500, 8pm. Paramount Theater, 215 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. 979-1333.

Making her papa proud: Natalie and Nat King Cole, “Unforgettable”

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Arts

ARTS Pick: Eric Church

Country megastar Eric Church operates in threes. Hat, sunglasses, and stubble are his distinctive on-stage accoutrements. Blood, sweat, and beers are not only a lifestyle for the devout Church-goers who come to his concerts, but the name of his record-breaking arena tour. Chief, his recent platinum album, is his third studio output. Church seamlessly weaves country-fried rowdiness with a self-aware, smirking wit, and is just as comfortable penning chart-toppers like the emotive ode to youth “Springsteen,” as he is with the raucous “Drink In My Hand.”

Saturday 10/27 $35.50-45.50, 7:30pm. John Paul Jones Arena, 295 Massie Rd. 243-4960.

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The Dalai Lama visits Charlottesville to promote mindfulness and compassionate care

Tenzin Gyatso, better known as His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet, will stop in Charlottesville on October 11 for a day of cultural events and a panel discussion that will culminate with a talk at the Pavilion supporting the thesis of his latest book, Beyond Religion: Ethics For a Whole World. A preview of the talk’s focus comes from one of the religious leader’s Facebook status updates from earlier this month: “The reality of the world today is that grounding ethics in religion is no longer adequate. This is why I am increasingly convinced that the time has come to find a way of thinking about spirituality and ethics beyond religion all together.”

The spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism has long been a vocal proponent of compassion and peace as secular organizing principles (receiving the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize), as well as emphasizing creating dialogues between spirituality and science. He will be leading such a dialogue at the Paramount Theater, alongside a crew of UVA health care experts entitled “Compassionate Care in 21st Century Medicine” regarding the integration of mindfulness into the Western medical philosophy and practicum–a prescient local topic given UVA’s newly launched Contemplative Sciences Center.

This event will be followed by a sold out appearance of the Dalai Lama at the nTelos Wireless Pavilion.  This engagement will be streamed live online and broadcast to the Paramount Theater’s large movie screen.  More details can be found at www.theparamount.net.