Category: Culture

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Arts

D’earth tones

Dawn Thompson and John D’earth are releasing the second CD of music by The Thompson D’earth Band. When the Serpent Flies will be available for fans at the band’s performance at Fridays After 5 this week, and you can find it at their Thompson D’earth website and Musictoday. TDB’s first CD, Mercury, came out the weekend that Dave Matthews Band first played at Scott Stadium, and it featured Carter Beauford on drums. This time around, the band consists of Pete Spaar on bass, pianist Daniel Clarke, guitarist Jamal Millner, J.C. Kuhl on tenor sax and drummer Brian Caputo. D’earth says that the new CD aims for a live feel, with an even split of original vocal and instrumental tunes. D’earth also says that Thompson likes the band to be as free as possible, “which is unusual for a singer.” Recorded without extra production in order to get the live sound of the band, D’earth credits Crystalphonic engineer Jack Gray as “absolutely fantastic” to work with, and says that Crystalphonic is out to support local bands, an approach that D’earth applauds. Thompson D’earth is also scheduled to play at Blues Alley in D.C. on May 30. If you do not mind a short road trip, you can catch the band at a venerated club.
    Producer Greg Howard says, “John and Dawn’s collaboration in life and music are really played out in this record. They’ve found a way to fuse the high-energy instrumental jazz that John has always composed so well and Dawn’s image-laden dreamlike lyrics into a very creative and accessible sound. Dawn is not your typical jazz vocalist. She’s singing about life.”

Howard has always been closely connected to D’earth and Thompson, both as producer (he also worked on D’earth’s Live at Miller’s) and as a performer (he plays the Chapman Stick) with bands like Code Magenta. Howard has recently taken time off from gigging locally to rethink what he is doing with his music. He recently played a festival in Marseilles, France, and he has been working with Stick Enterprises out of California, creating a new instructional book and video, as well as producing a CD for a Stick player from Michigan. Howard will perform in Ann Arbor at The First National Stick Festival this July. You can sample Howard’s musical stylings on his latest CD, Ether Ore, (as well as any of his other CDs), by going to his website, www.greg howard.com.
    Locally Howard has also been working with harpist/storyteller Eve Watters on a project, as well as recently remastering a recording from the golden age of Tim Reynolds’ TR3.
    It is amazing the number of great, young musicians who have come through D’earth’s bands. For drummers alone, Thompson D’earth has featured Robert Jospé, Carter Beauford and Robbie Sinclair. But also in the Miller’s band (which is distinct from Thompson D’earth), great drummers Aaron Binder and Eric Stassen have sat in, as well as Howard Curtis. Stassen is on his way to graduate school in conducting, and Curtis just got a tremendous job as full faculty member at a conservatory in Graz, Austria. And I just saw Clarence Penn playing in New York with Dave Holland. Penn was a student of D’earth’s at Virginia Commonwealth University, but D’earth says, “I probably learned more from him [than he did from me.]” According to D’earth, Penn showed up at every rehearsal with one or two pieces of fully conceived original music for the band to play, some of which he would crumple up right after the band performed it. In any case, D’earth deserves a ton of credit for giving jazz musicians a forum to play regularly and expand their talent.

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Arts

Tanya K gets out of Utah

Tanya K grew up an hour from Salt Lake City, where her upbringing definitely influenced her musical palette. She picked up guitar “as a reaction to piano lessons” and moved to California at 17 where she played in the bar where Steinbeck wrote The Grapes of Wrath. She also met her husband there, who was playing in Lacy J. Dalton’s band, and together they moved to Nashville where she played music for 10 years before relocating here. Her band, Two Red Shoes, plays blues and originals around town, and she is musical director (her fourth time in that role) at Live Arts for Urinetown, which opens in mid-July. I asked Miss K about her wild mix of influences.

Spencer Lathrop: Earliest influences?
Tanya K: The Mormon Tabernacle Choir singing Handel’s Messiah and musicals like The Music Man. Musicals were really big where I grew up, part of the Utah culture, because they are considered wholesome. My mom is an operatic soprano who sang with the Utah Opera Company and was also the choir director at church. And we all listened to Led Zeppelin. And we really thought we were getting away with something when we listened to David Bowie. The first song I learned on guitar was Neil Young’s “Down By The River.” My mom used to yell up the stairs, “Have you shot your baby yet?!”
Women songwriters?
I love Rickie Lee Jones. Her first record with “Last Chance Texaco” on it just kills me. I love Nina Simone, but I can’t touch her. And Lucinda Williams, I liked Car Wheels, but now it seems like you are just getting into one of her songs, and then you realize it is all about drug abuse which is a bit of a turn off. Joni Mitchell’s record Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter was revolutionary. And I think Tina Turner is very gutsy. Private Dancer. What happened to Edie Brickell? I used to love her. And I had a brief Sheryl Crow thing, but I think I was just depressed. Her new stuff is just pasty.

Heroes?
Dickie Betts was my hero. Before I had my Tele, I used to play a red Les Paul that weighed as much as a refrigerator plugged into a twin reverb. And Chris O’Connell, the guitar player in Asleep At The Wheel, was an idol of mine for a while. I respect her a lot.

Blues?
Janis Joplin’s Essentials album, KoKo Taylor’s Royal Blue, and Etta James. But you know I like guys best: Slim Harpo’s rhythmic dittys, Howlin’ Wolf’s howling, and Freddie King’s Texas shuffles.

Tunes?
I think that “Sunday Morning Coming Down” is my absolutely favorite tune of all time. It is so lyrically sound. That and “Starry Starry Night.” And my favorite Mormon hymn is “Put Your Shoulder to the Wheel.”

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Arts

Poseidon, Art School Confidential


Poseidon
PG-13, 98 minutes
Now playing at Carmike Cinema 6
For times call 817-FILM

What’s the rush?
That’s the thought that crossed my mind as Poseidon, a mere 15 minutes in, began to take on water—lots of water. One minute I’m sitting there, getting to know the passengers who, like rats, will spend most of the movie trying to escape from a sinking ship. Then, all of a sudden, the first mate (or maybe it’s the chief petty officer), says to someone or other, “Do you feel that? Something’s off.” Something’s off, all right. Director Wolfgang Petersen was given $160 million to rebuild that great slab of cheese, 1972’s The Poseidon Adventure, and he’s already blowing his wad. Heck, the whole thing’s over in 98 minutes. At that point in King Kong, Peter Jackson hadn’t even shown us the monkey.
Of course, King Kong was a complete bore for the first hour or so. Petersen, who knows his water—he battened down the hatches in Das Boot and documented the fishing expedition from hell in The Perfect Storm—may have wanted to run a tighter ship than Ronald Neame did in the original. With all those Oscar-winners aboard, The Poseidon Adventure was something of a beached whale, groaning with disaster-film clichés. And you can’t blame Petersen for wanting to speed things along. But he’s in such a hurry to get to the end that you wind up wondering why he took the job. Why not linger over the deaths, since that’s presumably why we’re there in the first place?
Or at least linger over the lives, since watching the outrageous deaths is otherwise about as much fun as reading the obituary page. Kurt Russell, determined to earn his paycheck, does what he can with Robert Ramsay, a former firefighter and former mayor of New York City (rather gilding the 9/11 lily, wouldn’t you say?) whose sole aim in life is to protect his daughter’s virginity. And Richard Dreyfuss is quietly effective (you heard me, quietly effective) as a gay man with an extraordinarily large earring who’s just been short-timed by his longtime companion. But that’s it for characterization—and these are the fleshed-out ones. Where’s Shelley Winters’ Mama Rosen when you need her?
A finely cured ham, Winters was god-awful in The Poseidon Adventure (though she picked up an Oscar nomination for her trouble), but still, you can’t help but wish that somebody in the current cast had been encouraged to take things similarly over the top. Kevin Dillon comes the closest as (irony alert) “Lucky” Larry, a tuxedo-shirt version of the cad he plays on “Entourage.” But Josh Lucas, as a reluctant Moses leading his people to the (above-water) promised land, is a pale imitation of Gene Hackman’s church-of-what’s-happening-now preacher man in the original, whose liberation theology included using the Lord’s name in vain. And you may miss the rivalry that Hackman got going with Ernest Borgnine, who added a heaping side of bacon to Winter’s cured ham. Compared to them, Russell and Lucas are like childhood sweethearts.
I know, I know: Other than that, how was the tsunami? I found it rather cartoonish—a 150-foot-high wall of roiling pixels. At least the ship itself has some weight, and even some grandeur—the lobby’s glass-enclosed elevators evokes a Hyatt Regency. And Petersen gives it the requisite hey-look-me-over treatment in an opening heli-cam shot (computerized, of course) that promises more than the movie can deliver. But after flipping the thing over—wonderful tagline for the 1972 version: “Hell, Upside Down!”—he doesn’t know what to do except scratch people off the passenger list. Some are crushed to death. Some are electrocuted. Some turn a little crispy on the outside, thanks to flash-fires. As a result, there are a lot of dead bodies lying around and floating by…
…and more where those came from. Like the original, the remake turns into a watery labyrinth as a small group of survivors, disobeying the captain’s orders, tries to find a way out of this leaky coffin. As for the message embedded in who makes it and who doesn’t—well, I can only say this: Don’t even step on a boat if you’re Latino. Also, don’t expect an easy time of it just because you’re a kid. Poseidon combines two of our favorite phobias: fear of drowning and fear of tight spaces. And Petersen knows how to exploit both of them, often at the same time. What he lacks is James Cameron’s feeling for the esthetics of destruction—the sublime terror that Titanic invoked at its best.
Shipwrecks aren’t exactly at the top of our things-to-worry-about list these days. (The Towering Inferno, anyone?) So it isn’t clear why Petersen didn’t try to have a little more fun. The last time out, Stella Stevens, as a former prostitute, had me choking on my Milk Duds with a quip about suppositories. And the ‘70s hairstyles alone are enough to guarantee irony-fueled DVD rentals for years to come. But Petersen plays it straight. He’s in too big a hurry to stop and tell a joke—he’s going to sink that ship, come hell or high water. But we’re not just there to see a ship go down, we’re there to see the captain go down with the ship. We want dead people, not just dead bodies.

Art School Confidential
R, 102 minutes
Now playing at Vinegar Hill Theater
For times call 817-FILM

A spitball that clings to the blackboard longer than I would have expected, Art School Confidential blows the lid off what scriptwriter Daniel Clowes (an art-school grad himself), has called “the biggest scam of the century.” Clowes—who apparently spent his “draw Blinky” years in a morose funk, quietly recording his classmates’ various peccadilloes—would go on to pen-and-ink the underground comics that have made him a worthy successor to R. Crumb. And after the success of Ghost World, which was also derived from his work, he and director Terry Zwigoff have teamed up again to transfer his four-page exposé to the big screen. Set in one of those toxic environments where, if the paint fumes don’t get you, the French-based theory will, it’s a middle-finger salute to the posers and losers, misfits and dimwits who engage in the academic pursuit of art.
And as long as it sticks to Clowes’ syllabus, nailing the various archetypes—Vegan Holy Man, Boring Blowhard, Angry Lesbian, Kiss-Ass—to the wall, it’s on solid ground. But actual characters and an actual plot had to be added, and Clowes ended up throwing in an unfortunate subplot about a serial killer, the Strathmore Strangler, who may consider his victims part of his artistic oeuvre. Less an exposé than a once-over-lightly satire, Art School Confidential is now mostly about Jerome (Max Minghella), a budding artiste with sensitive eyebrows who’s entered the Strathmore Institute both to meet women and to become the next Pablo Picasso. That he actually knows how to draw would seem to disqualify Jerome from a place in the contemporary art world, but not in this Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man on the Move. With his sensual lips, Jerome was meant for the cover of Art News.
But why do Zwigoff and Clowes pull for him? Compared to Thora Birch’s Enid in Ghost World, Minghella’s Jerome is a bowl of vanilla ice cream. And Minghella apparently doesn’t know how to add any other flavors. Nor does Zwigoff: Art School Confidential is almost devoid of technique. The screen seems numb, narcotized. And the exterior scenes are like outtakes from someone’s old home movies. Unable to capture the mock-outrage tone of Clowes’ comic, Zwigoff might have at least come up with one of his own. And yet, somehow, this doesn’t sink the movie altogether. The subject matter—that ultra-fine line between art for the ages and utter bullshit—is just too promising. Tom Wolfe went after this phenomenon years ago in his own art-world exposé, The Painted Word. But that’s one of the great things about art school: there’s a fresh crop of bullshit artists every year.

Categories
Arts

Our “House”

“House” Tuesday 9pm, Fox
If you’re tired of the Asian bird flu overkill, and need some really freaky new diseases to obsess about, look no further. This medical drama, which wraps up Season 2 tonight, never disappoints with the truly horrific, obscure ailments it inflicts on its patients each week. (Example: Last week a young woman’s fungus-filled body started shutting down, and she began literally crapping out of her mouth. Delightful!) Brit Hugh Laurie continues to impress as the non-British Dr. House, a morphine-addicted jackass who takes the Hippocratic Oath as more of a vague guideline than actual ethical contract. Well, tonight he gets shot, and six months from now he’ll be winning an Emmy.

“Lost” Wednesday 9pm, ABC
It’s season finale time, which means something’s actually happening on “Lost.” I swear, you could watch only the first and last two episodes of any season and still follow the sluggish plot (such as it is) perfectly. To its credit, the show has offered up a few surprises of late, specifically Michael’s betrayal and the deaths of both Libby and Ana-Lucia. In this two-hour send-off Jack and Sayid finally make a move against The Others, while Locke and Eko tussle over the bunker button (will somebody just smash that damn thing into pieces, already?). Doesn’t sound terribly exciting, but there’s supposedly a scene so shocking even the actors involved didn’t know until the last minute, so that’s promising.

“Karate Dog” Monday 7pm, ABC Family
My 5-year-old nephew asked me to write this up. Who am I to refuse? As he pointed out, it features a dog that knows karate, and that is apparently “cool.” More specifically, the dog is named Cho Cho, and he is a black belt who can also talk to humans. He helps a detective (ex-MTV VJ Simon Rex, proving karma exists) track down the man who murdered his master. Jon Voight and Chevy Chase are also involved, which makes me a little sad. The “special effects” sure are…special. But it’s on ABC Family, and features a talking, high-kicking dog, so your kids will love it. And Hong Kong Phooey could certainly use the copyright infringement settlement.—Eric Rezsnyak

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Arts

Alphabetical list of all venues in our database

Categories
Living

Minor affair


There’s nothing better, from a hard-core investigative reporter’s point of view, than when a story just…appears. Out for a leisurely Friday night in Scottsville recently, Restaurantarama stumbled across not one but two breaking developments in that town’s dining scene, which seems to churn along as frothily as the nearby James River. 

    Breaking development number one: That very evening, May 12, was the grand opening of one Minor’s Diner in a pink-hued wedge-shaped storefront that used to house a place called China Moon. Using our razorlike
observational skills, we noted a cheery sandwich board out on the sidewalk and a certain hustle-and-bustle around the door. But it wasn’t until we got owner Clinton Minor on the horn that we really got the inside scoop.

     Minor and his wife, Morgan, took over the spot in late April and did a quick renovation on the tiny space (it seats around 14, plus nine or so at outside tables). The idea, says Minor, is to bring back the old-fashioned diner. But don’t think chrome, busboys in paper hats, or doo-wop sung by bobby-soxers. Instead, think intimate neighborhood hole-in-the-wall. “A diner is a social zone,” says Minor. “There’s not enough diners around. Other businesses want to make everything real big.”

    Minor, who’s previously cooked at Blue Light Grill and Wild Greens, says part of the concept is that he as the cook is a visible, personal presence in the business. “In most diners you only have one cook. I interact with everybody and they can see me cooking. It’s like ‘Hey, how you all doing?’” Better, thanks, now that we can get black-and-bleu burgers, catfish sandwiches, and mozzarella sticks on Valley Street.

Good morning, John-Boy

Breaking development number two: The Dew Drop Inn has a sign posted in its window saying it’s undergoing an “extreme makeover” and will reopen June 1. The Dew Drop closed last October, but with six decades of history behind it and immortalization on the TV show “The Waltons” (which is set in a fictional town based on nearby Schuyler), it somehow makes sense that the Dew Drop saga will continue. New owner Fran Milstead says she and her husband Billy are making extensive updates to the space to appeal to a family crowd, but that the menu will be largely the same as before. Fixtures like the James River platter (featuring a half-pound burger), Wednesday night open mic, and bands on Fridays will be duly reinstated.

    Poke around online for the Dew Drop, and you quickly realize that this place does have a bit of a legend surrounding it. Here’s a bit of dialogue from “The Waltons,” spoken (according to one fan site) by the character Grandma: “That Dew Drop Inn…. [you] might just as well be in Sodom and Gomorrah.”

    Says Milstead, “I get calls every day for reservations.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A summer away

Back in mid-March, a fire shut down the Court Square Tavern, and owner Bill Curtis has since been running Court Square in exile over at his other place of business, Tastings. He calls the displaced eatery “The Elba Room” (get it?) and says it’s doing all right. Meanwhile, Court Square itself won’t reopen until late summer, but Curtis says he’s taking the opportunity to upgrade the kitchen and thus the menu: “It’s going to be more elaborate food. I’ll be able to have things on the menu I can prepare with large convection ovens, not just under a fireproof hood.” Come the dog days, when we see a menu, you’ll be the first to know.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Categories
Arts

Dumpster and dumpsterer

This week is graduation weekend, a perfect time to find out if American Dumpster can toss its tassel from left to right, and make a name for itself outside of our comfortable university town. The band’s management team, AfterParty Artist Management, is going to make sure the answer is yes, yes, yes! AD has the tunes and the talent, and already has a commitment to provide at least one tune to the soundtrack of local indie film Deer Baby, which is scheduled to show at Sundance. (AfterParty, by the way, also recently signed Ian Gilliam’s excellent Fire Kings to a management deal.)
    The Dumpsters are having their CD release party this Thursday night at the Satellite Ballroom. Besides the band playing tunes from its deep repertoire, the evening promises a lot of sit-in musicians and bon temps. (Out of sheer coincidence, the same evening, Ivan Neville’s band—get this—Dumpstaphunk will be appearing at Starr Hill.) You can also catch our Dumpsters at Fridays After 5 the next day.
    The Satellite Ballroom sure is presenting an interesting array of musical acts in the next couple of weeks, and not all of them will be at their usual location. Tonight on the Corner, you can see British rockers Art Brut, who will play two nights at The Knitting Factory immediately after the Satellite that are said to be sure sell-outs. This Friday, the Satellite is putting on a special midnight show with avant-garde punk rockers The Liars at the Jefferson Theater. Thom Yorke’s blog site says that their most recent release, Drum’s Not Dead, is one of his favorite new releases. This show was moved Downtown because of graduation weekend hysteria, but would also make the start of a nice summer series. Openers The Apes are a “guitarless quartet from Washington, D.C., who create a raw and primal bombast of hard-rock mysticism and thunder.” Van Halen Morrison.
    And later this month, a hip-hop side project of RJD2, Soul Position, will be appearing at the Satellite. Club booker Danny Shea says that RJD2 sells out the 9:30 Club in D.C. on his own, and that the Charlottesville performance is possible because the DJ wants to get his project with MC Blueprint out on the scene.
    And coming in June, The Coup, a very funky and very political hip-hop group on the ever-interesting Epitaph label will land at the Satellite, as well as the Swedish prog/psychedelic band Dungen. Get out and support a truly independent club bringing all kinds of music to town.
    Word has it that John Adamson of The Mellow Mushroom is one of the investors in a big new club in Richmond. Located Downtown near the River Walk, Toad’s Place is a sister of the long-standing and revered New Haven club of the same name. With its new digs in the Lady Bird Hat Factory Building, Toad’s 1,500 capacity venue will be bigger than the 9:30 Club. The Richmond music scene has always been fairly eccentric, so it will be interesting to see how the new club shakes out.
    Josh Rogan has just returned from recording in Nashville with Scott Kidd, son of local drummer and producer Curtis Kidd, who has a nicely appointed studio of his own here in town. After listening to the rough mixes, I have to say that, minus the music business weirdness, Rogan could do really well on the songwriting circuit there. His stuff is made for modern country music, which is really not country at all.

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Arts

Film Reviews

Akeelah and the Bee (PG, 112 minutes) In case you hadn’t noticed, Hollywood is in the midst of a red-hot spelling bee craze. In the wake of Spellbound and… um, Bee Season, comes this drama about an 11-year-old girl from South Los Angeles who tries to make it to the National Spelling Bee. The story is, as expected, cute and inspirational. It’s also predictable, emotionally simplified and filled with clichés. Think The Karate Kid with a little girl taking over for Ralph Macchio, Laurence Fishburn doing the Mr. Miyagi thing, and words instead of crane kicks to the head. (Devin O’Leary) Playing at Regal Downtown Mall 6

An American Haunting (PG-13, 90 minutes) Donald Sutherland and Sissy Spacek star in this historical horror film about the Bell Witch, the very same rural legend that gave birth to The Blair Witch Project. Sutherland and Spacek are a pair of landowning parents in 1817 Tennessee who find themselves besieged by a nasty poltergeist. The film looks classy and has a few lightweight scares, but director Courtney Soloman (Dungeons & Dragons) doesn’t know quite how to take full advantage of his fine cast. Like The Exorcism of Emily Rose, this one feels more like a made-for-TV drama than a full-on horror story. (D.O.) Playing at Regal Downtown Mall 6

Art School Confidential (R, 102 minutes) Director Terry Zwigoff and comic book creator Dan Clowes reunite once again (after the indelible Ghost World) for this colorful graphic novel adaptation. The film introduces us to a cast of oddball characters, all inhabiting the titular world of art school. Max Minghella, Sophia Myles, Jim Broadbent, Anjelica Huston, Ethan Suplee, Steve Buscemi and John Malkovich certainly make for a stand-out indie cast. Unfortunately, the broad and ultimately insubstantial script is so busy snidely lampooning college-age poseurs, artistes and druggies (plus throwing in a random serial killer for good measure) that it doesn’t offer many likable characters to root for. (D.O.) Playing at Vinegar Hill Theatre

The Da Vinci Code (PG-13) What do you want from me? Dan Brown’s book has sold slightly less than the Bible. This is the most eagerly awaited film of the year. Nothing I say is gonna make dollar one difference. Personally, I think the book is silly and director Ron Howard (How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Edtv, Willow) is often a mediocre filmmaker. That said, the film does make Brown’s talky book quite a bit more action-filled. Plus, the cast (Tom Hanks, Audrey Tautou, Ian McKellen, Alfred Molina, Paul Bettany) is worth watching. (D.O.) Coming Friday; check local listings

Hoot (PG) Hollywood finally gets around to following up Carl Hiassen’s infamous novel-to-movie Striptease with, oddly enough, this adaptation of the writer’s award-winning kids’ book. A young boy (Logan Lerman from “Jack & Bobby”) moves from Montana to Florida where he joins forces with a few other kids to stop an evil land developer (Tim Blake Nelson) from destroying the habitat of some endangered owls. Luke Wilson shows up as the clueless but good-natured sheriff. Sun-damaged crooner Jimmy Buffet (who produced this film) also makes an appearance. The film has a good ecological message, but isn’t much fun for the adults. (D.O.) Playing at Regal Downtown Mall 6

Inside Man (R, 129 minutes) Spike Lee tries his hand at a more mainstream thriller with this intermittently successful heist drama. A gang of bank robbers led by Clive Owen takes over a bank in Manhattan. Hostage negotiator Denzel Washington is called in to handle the situation. Naturally, there are lots of twists and turns along the way as the bank robbers scheme to get out with the dough. Do they have a secret plan? Will it be patently obvious to most viewers? Washington does good work (and Jodie Foster drops by for a short time), but Lee isn’t quite prepared for this sort of adrenaline-filled cinema. At least he avoids some of the more egregious genre clichés. (D.O.) Playing at Regal Downtown Mall 6

Just My Luck (PG-13) Lindsay Lohan, backsliding to her lame Disney days, stars in this juvenile romantic comedy about a Manhattan girl with the greatest luck in the world. After a chance encounter with a cute but down-and-out young man (Chris Pine, The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement), she realizes that she’s swapped her fortune for his. From the director of Mystic Pizza, Miss Congeniality and My Favorite Martian. If you’re 14 and female, this will be a very profound movie experience. (D.O.) Playing at Regal Downtown Mall 6

Mission: Impossible III (PG-13, 126 minutes) J.J. Abrams (the guy behind “Alias” and “Lost”) takes over as director for this third outing. Tom Cruise, Ving Rhames, Laurence Fishburne, Keri Russell, Billy Crudup and Philip Seymour Hoffman (doing bad guy duty) make up the impressive cast list. Unfortunately, it’s scripted by the guys who wrote The Island. As in previous Impossible outings, the plot is baroque to the point of nonsensical. The explosions look pretty, though. (D.O.) Playing at Carmike Cinema 6

Munich (R, 164 minutes) After a PLO offshoot murdered 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics, the Israeli government created a secret hit squad that set about assassinating anybody who’d been involved in the massacre; director Steven Spielberg examines the question of whether counterterrorism does anything other than breed more terrorism.  The movie is often as serious as a heart attack but also thoroughly entertaining. (Kent Williams) Playing through Thursday at Jefferson Theater

Over the Hedge (NR, 96 minutes) An all-star voice cast (Bruce Willis, Garry Shandling, Steve Carell, Wanda Sykes, William Shatner, Nick Nolte) lends its talents to this CGI toon adaptation of the popular newspaper comic strip. Willis plays a mischievous raccoon who helps his forest buddies adapt to the encroaching sprawl of suburbia. The animation is fluid and the writing has a bit more spark than most of the recent computer toons we’ve been subjected to (The Wild). From the director of Antz. (D.O.) Coming Friday; check local listings

Poseidon (PG-13) Mere months after the TV movie remake of The Poseidon Adventure (starring Steve Guttenberg) comes this big-budget theatrical remake. This one tries to match the B-list starpower of the 1972 original. But Josh Lucas, Kurt Russell and Richard Dreyfus aren’t enough to make up for the loss of Shelly Winters and Ernest Borgnine. Still, director Wolfgang Peterson (Das Boot) knows his way around underwater and manages to craft a respectable, tension-filled disaster flick. (D.O.) Playing at Carmike Cinema 6

Pride & Prejudice (PG, 127 minutes) Keira Knightley stars in this umpteenth version of Jane Austen’s marriage-minded romance. The film looks sumptous and the cast members—including Donald Sutherland, Brenda Blethyn and Judi Dench—all fit their roles as if tailor-made. Still, how many times can swooning Jane Austen fans fret over whether or not spunky young Elizabeth Bennet falls for snobby Mr. Darcy. (D.O.) Playing through Thursday at Jefferson Theater

RV (PG) Steve Martin must have been busy, because it’s fallen to Robin Williams to star in this pathetic, plotless excuse for a “family” comedy. Williams stars as a hapless dad who tries to pass off a business trip to Colorado as a family vacation. Along the way, the annoying clan has lots of wacky misadventures in a rented RV. That’s it, folks. Williams was starting to get annoying on screen, now he’s just sad. Go rent National Lampoon’s Vacation instead. It’s pretty much the same movie, only 20 times funnier. (D.O.) Playing at Regal Seminole Square Cinema 4

Scary Movie 4 (PG-13) David Zucker (who pioneered this sort of spoofy genre back in 1980 with Airplane!) returns for yet another outing in the Scary Movie franchise. Anna Faris returns as well as the intrepid reporter trying to find out why so many wacky things are happening. There are send-ups of Saw, The Grudge, War of the Worlds, and others too numerous to count. Expect plenty of cameos as well, including a fairly clever sequence involving Shaquille O’Neal and Dr. Phil. The rest revolves around the usual lowbrow sex and potty humor that the kids so dearly love. (D.O.) Playing at Regal Downtown Mall 6

See No Evil (R) Porn king Gregory Dark (New Wave Hookers, Let Me Tell Ya ’Bout White Chicks) tries his hand at directing a mainstream horror film. Naturally, he hooks up with professional wrestler Kane (who used to grapple under the name Dr. Isaac Yankem DDS). The story (such as it is) concerns a group of troubled teens (nobody you’ve ever heard of) who are assigned to clean up an old hotel. Wouldn’t you know it: There’s a serial killer living there. It’s produced by World Wrestling Entertainment Films. My work here is done. (D.O.) Coming Friday; check local listings

The Sentinel (PG-13) Kiefer Sutherland, taking time off from his TV gig as a government agent in a frantic race to save the president from assassination, signs on for this theatrical thriller as a government agent in a frantic race to save the president from assassination. Michael Douglas is Sutherland’s foil and former mentor, a disgraced special agent to the White House, who is being framed in the murderous conspiracy (or is he?). Eva Longoria (“Desperate Housewives”) tags along for eye candy. (D.O.) Playing at Regal Seminole Square Cinema 4

Silent Hill (R) For those of you who already have BloodRayne and Doom on DVD (or, more likely, PSP), here’s the latest videogame to make the leap to the silver screen. Radha Mitchell (Pitch Black) stars as a woman searching for her sick daughter in the creepy, fog-enshrouded environs of a mysteriously deserted town. (Deserted, of course, except for all the demons, monsters, ghosts and what-have-you.) At least Uwe Boll (Alone in the Dark, House of the Dead, BloodRayne) is not involved. French director Christophe Gans (Brotherhood of the Wolf) lends some polish to the rather predictable goings on. (D.O.) Playing at Regal Seminole Square Cinema 4

Stick It (PG-13, 103 minutes) The rather rude title is meant to lead a certain air of attitude to this film’s subject, the world of competitive gymnastics. Seems we’ve got a rebellious teen (“Life As We Know It”’s Missy Peregrym) who gets herself enrolled in an elite gymnastics program run by legendary trainer Jeff Bridges. Naturally, our gal brings some of her street-smart ‘tude to the balance beam, making this the Bring It On of gymnastics movies. Unfortunately, it’s already been brought. (D.O.) Playing at Carmike Cinema 6

Thank You for Smoking (R, 92 minutes) Based on Christopher Buckley’s satiric novel about a tobacco-industry lobbyist (Aaron Eckhart) who seems to feel good about what he does for a living, Jason Reitman’s refreshingly un-PC film lets both sides of the smoking/anti-smoking debate have it with both barrels. Encompassing a trip to Hollywood as well as a kidnapping, the movie gives off a caffeinated buzz, capturing the book’s slightly giddy tone. (K.W.) Playing at Regal Downtown Mall 6

United 93 (R, 90 minutes) Whether people are actually ready to watch dramas about the events of 9/11 remains to be seen. Director Paul Greengrass (The Bourne Supremacy) keeps it pretty close to the vest with this film about the doomed passengers of United flight No. 93 (the ones who provided Bush with his “Let’s roll!” catchphrase). A cast of unknowns dutifully acts out the events of that tragic day in real time, providing not so much dramatic insight as unflinching recreation. You witnessed it on the news, you relived it in the TV movie “Flight 93”. Now, you can see it some more. (D.O.) Playing at Carmike Cinema 6

The Wild (G, 94 minutes) Despite the fact that this computer-animated toon features a group of animals (including a lion and a giraffe) escaping from the New York City Zoo and making a madcap trek to the wilds of Africa, Disney would like to inform you that this is nothing like last year’s Madagascar. Which, of course, it is. The voice cast (including Kiefer Sutherland, Janeane Garofalo, Eddie Izzard and William Shatner) has fun at least, and there are enough fart jokes to keep the kids laughing. (D.O.) Playing at Regal Seminole Square Cinema 4

Categories
Arts

GALLERIES AND EXHIBITIONS

Abundant Life 201 E. Main St., Suite Q (Above Zocalo). Monday, Tuesday and Thursday, 9-11am; Monday and Thursday, 1-5pm; Tuesday and Wednesday, 1-6pm. 979-5433. Through May 31: Drawings by Laura Lee Gulledge.

Albemarle County Courthouse 501 E. Jefferson Court Sq. Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm. 804-362-3792. Through July 31: Central Virginia Watercolor Guild Members Awards Show.

Angelo 220 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. Monday-Saturday, 11am-6pm. 971-9256. Through June 30: “China: People of the Heartland,” photographs by Sharon Beckman-Brindley.

Art Upstairs 316 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. Wednesday-Saturday, noon-5pm. 923-3900. Through May 29: “Our Fine Furry and Feathered Friends,” oil, graphite, colored pencil and watercolor works by Luther Y. Gore.

Bank of America 300 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. Monday-Thursday, 9am-5pm; Friday 9am-6pm. 977-9997. Through May 31: In cooperation with Sage Moon Gallery, oil paintings by Nancy Wallace.

Better Than Television 112 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. Wednesday 3-5pm; Thursday 6-9pm; Friday 6-10pm; Sunday 5-9pm. 295-0872. Through May 31: “Portraits, Landscapes and Cityscapes of Chile and Argentina,” digital images by Rachel Signer.

Boutique Boutique 411 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. Monday-Saturday, 10am-5pm. 293-8400. Through May 31: “Reflecting Women’s Wellness,“ paintings by Buck Mountain artists Judith K. Townsend, Alice Cannon, Nancy Dejarnette Frye, Eloise Gardiner Giles and Anne Warren Holland; pottery by Cri Kars-Marshall.

BozArt Gallery 211 W. Main St., Downtown Mall. Wednesday-Thursday, noon-6pm; Friday-Saturday, noon-9pm; Sunday 1-4pm. 296-3919. Through May 28: “2D vs. 3D—Two Perspectives,”oils and mixed media by Betty Brubach and a series of old photographs from the 1920s by an unknown photographer, presented by guest artist Lillian Baird.

Café Cubano 112 W. Main St., York Place, Downtown Mall. Monday-Tuesday, 6:30am-5pm; Wednesday-Saturday, 6:30am-10pm; Sunday 8am-5pm. 971-8743. Through May 31: Oil painting abstracts by Glenn Bangley.

C & O 515 E. Water St. Sunday-Thursday, 5:30-10pm; Friday-Saturday, 5:30-11pm. 971-7044. Through May 31: Paintings by Amy Varner.

Charles L. Brown Science and Engineering Library Clark Hall, McCormick Road. Monday-Thursday, 8am-2am; Friday, 8am-9pm; Saturday 10am-6pm; Sunday 10am-2am. 924-7200. Through June 5: Nature photography by Conservation International photographers Russell A. Mittermeier, Patricio Robles, Christina G. Mittermeier and Piotr Naskrecki.

County Office Building Second Floor Lobby McIntire Road. Monday-Friday, 8:30am-4:30pm. 295-2486. Through May 31: Charlottesville-Albemarle Art Association presents watercolors by Christine Rich and pastels by Cindy Haney.

Creature Gallery 824 Hinton Ave. Monday-Friday, 11am-5pm. 284-1800. Through June 30: “Habitat and Inhabitant,” and wildlife babies and their mothers, wildlife photography by Hal Brindley.

Fellini’s No. 9 200 W. Market St. Tuesday-Sunday, 5-10pm. 979-4279. Through May 31: “Motion Emotion,” oil paintings by Darrell Rose.

Fifth Floor Gallery at Keller Williams Commonwealth Building, Downtown Mall. Monday-Friday, 8:30am-5:30pm. 220-2200. Through May 31: Photography by Jenn Henderson and oil paintings by Ruth Lancaster.

Finn & Thatcher Children’s Emporium 4405 Ivy Commons. Monday-Friday, 10am-6pm; Saturday 10am-5pm. 293-3004. Through May 31: “Mother and Child,” photographs by Diana Keeton.

The Gallery at Fifth and Water Henderson & Everett, P.C. and Stoneking/von Storch Architects, 107 Fifth St. SE. Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm. 979-9825. Through May 30: “Seasonal Changes,” landscape paintings by Priscilla Long Whitlock.

The Glass Palette 110 Fifth St. NE. Tuesday-Saturday, 11am-6pm; Sunday 12-5pm. 977-9009. “New Works in Glass,” stained glass by Cara Dimassimo and Maria Dimassimo.

Glo 225 E. Main St. Monday-Saturday, 10am-6pm; Sunday 1-5pm. 295-7432. Through May 31: New oil paintings on canvas by Christian Peri.

Home 126D Garrett St. Monday-Saturday, 10am-5pm. 293-1362. Through May 31: Contemporary abstract paintings by David Boley.

Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection 400 Worrell Dr., Peter Jefferson Place. Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm. 244-0234. Through August 19 : “Mysterious Beauty: Edward L. Ruhe’s Vision of Australian Aboriginal Art;” Through August 23: “Manta Wiru (Beautiful Land): Paintings from Amata.”

La Galeria 218 W. Market St. Monday-Friday, 11am-6pm; Saturday 11am-3pm. 293-7003. Through May 31: “Spring Art Fling,” works by Nga Bui Katz, Mary Porter, Meg West, Chris Rich and others.

Ladd Fine Arts 701 W. Main St. Tuesday-Saturday, 10am-6pm. 977-4147. Through May 31: “Recent Works,” original drawings and paintings by British artist Thomas Coates.

Laughing Lion Gallery 103 E. Water St. Wednesday-Friday, 1-5pm. 984-4000. Through May 31: “Angels in America at Live Arts—a Montage” by Terrence Pratt.

Lee Alter Studios 109 E. Jefferson St. Call for viewing. 760-9658.

Les Yeux du Monde 115 S. First St. Tuesday-Saturday, 11am-5pm. 973-5566. Through May 27: “New Paintings,” works in acrylic by John Borden Evans.

Luminous 414 E. Main St. (underneath Twisted Branch Tea Bazaar). Monday-Thursday, 11am-8pm; Friday 11am-11pm; Saturday 10am-11pm. 974-4527. Through May 31: New paintings by Nicole Truxell.

Lush Life 309 E. Water St. Tuesday-Saturday, 10am-6pm. 979-0002. Rotating local and national exhibitions. Call for more information.

McGuffey Art Center 201 Second St. NW. Tuesday-Saturday, 10am-5pm; Sunday 1-5pm. 295-7973. Through May 28: “Where Cattle Still Graze,” recent paintings by Nancy Bass; “Half Lives & Half Truths, or Living with Chernobyl 20 Years After the Accident,” photographs by Gabriela Bulisova; “A Year at McGuffey,” fabric collages by Diane Siebels; “Not Just a Pretty Face,” digital portraits by Blake Hurt; “H20,” paintings and sculpture by Rob Browning, Robin Braun and Nini Beackstrom.

Migration: A Gallery 119 Fifth St. SE. Tuesday-Saturday, 11am-6pm; First Fridays, 11am-8:30pm; Sunday and Monday by appointment. 293-2200. Through June 1: “Journey Home,” work by 20 contemporary artists from Virginia and across America, with new works by Reed Slater, Arturo Mallman, Alan Dehmer and others.

NaTara Art Gallery 112 W. Main St. Monday-Friday 10am-4:30pm; Saturday 11am-4pm. 970-2787. Through May 31: “Woodstork,” paintings by Rosemary Sheuchenko; three-dimensional relief art by Tara N. Ingram.

New Dominion Bookshop 404 E. Main St. Monday-Wednesday and Saturday, 9:30am-5:30pm; Thursday-Friday, 9:30am-8pm; Sunday noon-5pm. 295-2552. Through May 31: “Charlottesville Vistas: Distant and Domestic,” oil paintings by Werner Sensbach.

Northside Library 300 Albemarle Sq. Monday-Tuesday, noon-9pm; Wednesday-Thursday, 10am-6pm; Friday-Saturday, 10am-5pm: Sunday 1-5pm. 973-7893. Through May 31: Teen Summer Reading Program Drawing Contest entries on display.

Piedmont Virginia Community College Gallery 501 College Dr. Monday-Thursday, 9am-10pm; Friday 9am-5pm; Saturday 1-5pm. 961-5203. Through June 1: “Vessels,” ceramics by Tom Clarkson; “Picture This,” photographs by Rob Garland, Jen Fariello, Anne Holland and Bill Holland.

Sage Moon Gallery 420 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. Monday 11am-7pm; Tuesday-Thursday, 11am-9pm. 977-9997. Through May 31: “Rites of Passage,” watercolors by Sharon Hauff.

Second Street Gallery City Center for Contemporary Arts, Second Street SE and Water Street. Tuesday-Saturday, 11am-6pm. 977-7284. Through May 27: “Manual” a collaborative video project by Matthias Müller and Christoph Girardet in the May Dove Gallery. Through May 27: “Interrupt,” photographs and multimedia by Will May in the main gallery.

Senior Center, Inc. 1180 Pepsi Pl., Robey Room A. Monday, 8:30am-4:30pm; Tuesday-Thursday, 8:30am-8:30pm; Friday 8:30am-4:30pm; Sunday 2-6pm. 974-7556. Through May 13: Watercolors and opaques by Eloise Giles and students; watercolors by Marion Hansen in the Lobby.

Sidetracks 218 W. Water St. Monday-Saturday, 10am-6pm; Sunday 1-5pm. 295-3080. Through May 31: “Shenandoah,” paintings by Gerald Mitchell.

Transient Crafters 118 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. Monday-Thursday and Saturday, 10am-6pm; Friday 10am-9pm; Sunday noon-6pm. 972-9500. Through May 31: “Shine,” silk scarves, bags and accessories by Rachel Pompano.

Thomas Jefferson Memorial Church 717 Rugby Rd. Sunday-Friday, 9am-2pm. 293-8179. Through June 5: Oil paintings by Randy Sights Baskerville.

UVA Art Museum 155 Rugby Rd. Tuesday-Sunday, 1-5pm. 924-3592. Through May 21: “A Soldier’s Life,” selections from the Charles J. Brown Soldier Trust in the entrance gallery; Through June 18: “Tomorrow’s Treasures: Selecctions from the Frederick & Lucy S. Herman Foundation Drawing Collection;” Through August 20: “Humanism and Enigma,” oil paintings by Honoré Sharrer in the main gallery. Free to students and museum members, $3 fee for all others.

UVA Main Hospital Lobby 1300 Jefferson Park Ave. Monday-Sunday, 7am-11pm. 924-5527. Through May 16: “Rhapsody,” oils by Nina Ozbey.

White Orchid 420 W. Main St. Monday-Sunday, 11:30am-2pm, 5-10pm. 297-4400. Through August 31: “Photographs of Vietnam” by Georgia Barbour.

Categories
Arts

Sherman’s march

As high school kids in Staunton, my friends and I always went record shopping at Back Alley Disc on Main Street, and Dave Sherman was the guy who held our attention. Although he grew up in Oregon, he had recently returned from Europe and, as he explained it, “being named Sherman, I didn’t want to settle too far south.” So he settled in Staunton, where he worked at Back Alley for 20 years. Sherman recently had a serious heart attack that left him flatlined. I got to talk to him about music—especially his connection to Delbert McClinton.

Spencer Lathrop: Delbert’s music?
Dave Sherman: He was pretty much un-known around here at the time I found out about him, and I was so in to him that I went to live shows and, between sets, I took people out to my car in the guise of doing cocaine, and then I’d play them Delbert. They all said that my coke was great—and Delbert was O.K., too. I took short tours with him, and in the early years of “Saturday Night Live,” Delbert was the musical guest, and I got to be backstage, in charge of the guest list. That was the most fun. Thursday through the after-party, where I got Bill Murray and Gilda Radner to laugh.

SL: The Delbert ocean cruise?
DS: During my heart attack, I was in heaven, and I promised myself that if I got through it, I would take the Delbert Cruise no matter the cost. I sent in the form, and they wanted to know where I wanted to stay, so I called them and Delbert’s wife, Wendy, got on the phone, and she said, “Don’t worry, Dave. We are going to take care of you.” Over 1,000 people listening to music that is way too good for the radio: Marcia Ball, Tommy Castro and Stephen Bruton. It’s like Christmas at home with your real family, instead of all those assholes that you’re genetically linked to.

SL: Best local shows?
DS: The first time Billy Price ever played in town at The Mineshaft. Arthur Arico ordered me to stay, so I did. Billy had six or seven pieces that got up on stage with Skip Castro. Koko Taylor at the old West Virginian. So much talent in a tiny space. Delbert on acid at The Mineshaft, after which he went down to the West Virginian and sat in with The Nighthawks and John Hammond. NRBQ was the first band that played at the C&O after they got their liquor license. We had regular, normal girls falling down. And DMB at Zipper’s on New Year’s Eve before Boyd had formally joined the band. They played forever. I love them. I have three daughters and sometimes it was the only thing we could talk about.

SL: New records?
DS: The new Marcia Ball is the best one she has ever done. Whitey Johnson, which is Gary Nicholson’s tribute to the blues. He sounds so black. And Mingo Fishtrap from North Texas State who sound like the Stoned Wheat Things with a horn section on speed.