Charlottesville Podcasting Network
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Audio features and interviews on the arts, centered around Charlottesville, Virginia.
The falling of the leaves is the sign of many things, but the onslaught of autumn also marks the coming of the next Virginia Film Festival. Here’s a very brief preview of the 35th annual event, which will take place November 2 through November 6.
This piece was originally part of the October 12, 2022 edition of Charlottesville Community Engagement. You can read the item here.
Will there be more podcasts from the Virginia Film Festival? Stay tuned!
Today on Home Grown, David and Leslie talk to two more great guests. First, Kate Bollinger comes to the show for the first time. We talk to her about her new EP I Don’t Wanna Lose. Then Micah Kessel comes on the show to talk about the emersive environmental artistic project that he has co-founded, the Playground of Empathy. How can a giant, sparkly shoe create a space for us to feel our emotions and to take in the emotions of others? We’ve got art giving you questions and answers and then back to questions every week on Home Grown: Your Show about Local Art.
Home Grown is heard on 94.7 WPVC the Progressive Voice of Charlottesville, Sundays from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m.
Today on Home Grown, David and Leslie talk to great musicians doing great music for great causes. First, Angel Metro, Alethea Leventhal – Ships in the Night, and Christina Fleming & Nicole Rimel / Please Don’t Tell come on the show to talk about their joint benefit concert at the Southern Cafe and Music Hall. We talk to the quartet about how they came to share the bill on this concert and about their beneficiary — The Women’s Initiative. We also get some thoughts about why it’s so rare to see concerts that only have female acts (and about how it’s not the important thing to just think of them that way). Next, Jaewar from Vibe Riot returns to the show, because it’s time for Vibe Fest 2019: Unity Vibes! This year, Vibe Fest is a part of Charlottesville’s Unity Days. We talk to Jaewar about what he has learned from producing three previous Vibe Fests, about what 2019 holds, and what he hopes the future of Vibe Riot will be. We’ve got your musical options set this coming week on Home Grown: Your Show about Local Art.
Home Grown is heard on 94.7 WPVC the Progressive Voice of Charlottesville, Sundays from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m.
Today on Home Grown, Leslie talks to a group of artistic organizers and to one of our favorite arts educators. First, (organizer) Rachel Gendreau, (performer / organizer) Mariana Bell, (performer / organizer) Tucker Rogers, and (promoter / organizer) Jeyon Falsini are the quartet behind Harmonia II: A Benefit for Migrant Families & Children at the Ix Art Park. We talk to Rachel, Mariana, Tucker, and Jeyon about the origins of this benefit concert and the structure of this year’s concert. We also talk about what it takes to put on a benefit concert and about how art can help you step out of a box where you feel powerless. Next, Bernard Hankins returns to the show. He’s teaching Freestyle Hip Hop and poetry classes for kids for PVCC’s KidsCollege at Piedmont Virginia Community College. We talk to Bernard about how he uses the classes to teach kids, most importantly, how to think creatively, how to work “out of the box.” It’s art for a purpose and one purpose behind art this Sunday on Home Grown: Your Show about Local Art.
Home Grown is heard on 94.7 WPVC the Progressive Voice of Charlottesville, Sundays from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m.
Though we always try to provide a variety of artists, sometimes the gods of scheduling demand a double dip. Today on Home Grown, it’s the superstars of Charlottesville community theater, Four County Players and Live Arts Theatre, back to back! First, it’s Lydia Underwood Horan and Tim Read, respectively director of and performer in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Four County’s return to Shakespeare at the Ruins. Lydia and Tim talk about how this 400 year old show remains magical and continues to speak to them and what they’re dong to make it entertain their upcoming audiences. They also talk about the challenges of producing a show outdoors at the Barboursville Ruins at Barboursville Vineyards & Winery. Then director Ti Ames joins her band director Julian Brass and Thaddeus Land, one of her actors, in talking about the Live Arts Teen Theater Ensemble’s production of Rent: School Edition. Ti, Thaddeus, and Julian opine on why this show continues to speak to youth. Ti also talks about how she is applying her specialty, the Black Theater Aesthetic, to this show. It’s a Theater double shot this Sunday on Home Grown: Your Show about Local Art.
Home Grown is heard on 94.7 WPVC the Progressive Voice of Charlottesville, Sundays from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m.
Today on Home Grown, David and Leslie keep pace with a packed show. Three! We have three great guests! First, poets Irene Mathieu and Annie Kim bring their wit, wisdom, and poetry to us. They’re doing a shared reading at New Dominion Bookshop, which gives us an excuse to talk to Irene and Annie about their poetry — their inspirations and their structures — and to hear a poem from each of them. Then, from the University of Virginia we welcome Jenny Wales, current artistic director of the Heritage Theatre Festival to talk about it’s 45th season, which is just about to get underway. We ask Jenny what Heritage is today, which leads us into a discussion about the challenges of and the need to see Theatre, in general (and classic Theatre, in particular) through new eyes and evolving sensibilities. Finally, we round off the show with Alexa Beal and Nico Scopelliti, the director and president, respectively, of the Jeffersonland Chorus — Charlottesville’s all-male barbershop chorus. We start with the stereotype of what barbershop is and then talk about how Alexa and Nico are working to change the rules for this 50 year old organization. Three guests, no waiting on Home Grown: Your Show about Local Art.
Home Grown is heard on 94.7 WPVC the Progressive Voice of Charlottesville, Sundays from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m.
Today on Home Grown, we are lucky enough to have one of our guests not come through, because this means David gets to spend the entire show with UVA professor and nationally revered poet Gregory Orr. Greg’s next book is The Last Love Poem I Will Ever Write, and he’ll have a launch event on June 18 at New Dominion Bookshop. We talk to Greg about lyric poetry in general and about his lyric poetry in particular. We talk teaching it, writing it, the power of language, the effect of experience, being young, growing old, and how Greg makes us simultaneously week and find courage. It’s a lover of language fighting for its power here on Home Grown: Your Show about Local Art.
Home Grown is heard on 94.7 WPVC the Progressive Voice of Charlottesville, Sundays from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m.
Today on Home Grown, David talks to two sets of guests about a classic of modern theater and about the classics of Hip-Hop. First, actors Clarence Finn, Gretchen York, and Jacquie Patteson come to us from Staunton, where ShenanArts is putting on a production of Angels in America: Millennium Approches. We talk to Jacquie, Gretchen, and Clarence about what it means for them to do this iconic play and what it means for ShenanArts to do it. Next, we welcome DJ Bovay to the show for the first time. He’s spinning an all-vinyl, pre-2000 Hip-Hop show at Holly’s Diner. We talk to him about his dedication to vinyl and the need to keep knowledge of Hip-Hop’s history alive. Two groups dip back into the 80s and 90s to make sense of today here on Home Grown: Your Show about Local Art.
Home Grown is heard on 94.7 WPVC the Progressive Voice of Charlottesville, Sundays from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m.
Today on Home Grown, David and Leslie spend the entire show talking to “Music’s Mad Scientist” Eli Raybon. Raybon takes a love of analog synthesizers and a particular affinity for 80s New Wave and puts out his own brand of Retro-futurist Synth Pop. We talk with Eli about how he developed his sound, the trials of music categorization, navigating the Spotify playlist, the use of lab coats and brains on stage, and a whole bunch of other things. Plus, we listen to a couple of his tunes. Check out how an artist can look backwards, forwards, and still speak for today here on Home Grown: Your Show about Local Art.
Home Grown is heard on 94.7 WPVC the Progressive Voice of Charlottesville, Sundays from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m.
Today on Home Grown, it’s barely managed chaos as David and Leslie talk to two sets of musical guests producing two different musical experiences. First, singer-songwriter Jim Bingler visits the show for the first time with his cousin and collaborator Tim Bingler. They both have worked on Tim’s latest CD Willow. The CD release concert is this coming week at The Front Porch Roots Music School. Next, we have two returning guests working together for the first time. Jen Hoyt Tidwell and Paige Naylor have collaborated with three other performers on Jen’s original show, The Near Misses: An Experimental Electro-pop Opera, which will be playing at The Southern Cafe and Music Hall and at Live Arts Theatre. The Near Misses looks at women’s stories of surviving near death experiences. We talk to Jen and Paige about the thought and the work behind the show and about what the final product looks like. Sometimes chaos is not just a theory, but we muddle through here on Home Grown: Your Show about Local Art.
Home Grown is heard on 94.7 WPVC the Progressive Voice of Charlottesville, Sundays from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m.
Today on Home Grown, David and Leslie spend time with artists who tread different paths through classical music while trying to make the work more accessible than it traditionally has been. First we welcome to the show David McCormick, Artistic Director of the Early Music Access Project and the Executive Director of The Shenandoah Valley Bach Festival. McCormick talks about both groups (and about Alkemie, his New York City based medieval music group), about different baroque instruments, about making the old new, but mostly about the Access Project’s upcoming production, Murder in Messina. Next, Miriam Gordon-Stewart and Brenda Patterson from Victory Hall Opera return to the show. They talk about their upcoming show Sally on West Main, a multi-media opera at the Music Resource Center inspired by a little known period in Sally Hemings’ life when she left Monticello and lived on West Main Street. It’s a fascinating piece that leads us into discussions of artistic inspiration and cultural representation in the arts. Two artists working to make their art accessible and we’re working to make them accessible to you here on Home Grown: Your Show about Local Art.
Home Grown is heard on 94.7 WPVC the Progressive Voice of Charlottesville, Sundays from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m.
Today on Home Grown, Leslie gets to lean on both her theater and music sides with two groups of guests. First, A.D. Carson and John Conover talk about Live Arts Theatre’s upcoming production of The Royale, for which they are, respectively, the sound designer and dramaturg. John talks about the subject of The Royale — turn of the century heavyweight prizefighter Jack Johnson and his championship fight with Jim Jeffries — and A.D. talks about the original music that he has designed for the production. Next, Emily Julia Kresky returns to the show with bandmates Niko Cvetanovich and Sean Bracken. Together, they are the core of Dropping Julia. Leslie talks to them about their insane work ethic and schedule, about their upcoming CD, Wake Up, and about what it’s like being a new band. We try to take you behind the scenes of people who are making the scene here on Home Grown: Your Show about Local Art.
Home Grown is heard on 94.7 WPVC the Progressive Voice of Charlottesville, Sundays from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m.