ARTS THE WORKS Saturday 10/14 Brennan Gilmore and Andy Thacker. Original compositions and favorite selections from Appalachian traditions and beyond. $15-18, 8pm. The Front Porch, 221 E. Water St. 242-7012. Brett Young. Soulful vocals and heartfelt lyrics from this country pop singer-songwriter. With Carly Pearce. $29-99, 8:30pm. The Jefferson Theater, 110 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. 245-4948. Doo Wop Sing-along. Bring your voice and a love of oldies and doo-wop for this singalong led by Joan Fenton and Bill Adams and hosted by the Downtown Business Association. Free, 2:30pm. Emancipation Park, Market St. 977-7607. Eric Franzen. Jazz pianist rips up the ivories. Free, 6pm. Fellini’s, 200 Market St. 979-4279. Hound Dog Hill String Band. Traditional acoustic music influenced by the Shenandoah Valley’s rich musical heritage. $8, noon. Adventure Farm & Vineyard, 1135 Clan Chisholm Ln., Earlysville. 971-8796. Iron Lion. Reggae band brings a unique vibe to the stage. $5, 8:30pm. Tavern on the James, 280 Valley St., Scottsville. 286-3500. James Tamelcoff. Madison native performs music genres ranging from 1950s rock ‘n’ roll to classic country to blues and modern country with a touch of Johnny Cash. Free, 2pm. DuCard Vineyards, 40 Gibson Hollow Ln., Etlan. (540) 923-4206. Outlaw Bubba McCauley. Local musician plays outlaw country. Free, 4pm. James River Brewery, 561 Valley St., Scottsville. 286-7837. Ragged Mountain String Band. High-energy old-time fiddle and banjo tunes of life, love, lust and loss. Free, 2:30pm. Albemarle CiderWorks, 2545 Rural Ridge Ln., North Garden. 297-2326. Randy Johnston Trio. Jazz, blues and beyond. Free, 10pm. Fellini’s, 200 Market St. 979-4279.
Settle Down Jack. An eclectic mix of rock, pop, jazz and R&B. Free, 7pm. Wild Wolf Brewery, 2461 Rockfish Valley Hwy., Nellysford. 361-0088. Sheila Browne Viola Masterclass. Workshop led by internationally acclaimed violist. Free, 10am. UVA, Old Cabell Hall. 924-3376. Skeete and Sweetlick’s Annual All Black Affair. Peaches Johnson hosts this party with music provided by DJ Purple Haze. 21-plus. $10, 10pm. The Ante Room, 219 Water St. 284-8561.
The Pollocks. Reflective rock songs. Free, 6:30pm. The Batesville Market, 6624 Plank Rd., Batesville. 823-2001.
Tommy Castro and the Painkillers. Driving, blues-soaked, soul-baring music. $22-25, 6pm. The Southern Café and Music Hall, 103 S. First St. 977-5590.
stage A Delicate Balance. See listing for Friday, October 13. $20-25, 8pm. Live Arts, 123 E. Water St. 977-4177. Henry VI, Part 3. See listing for Thursday, October 12. $21-60, 7:30pm. American Shakespeare Center, 10 S. Market St., Staunton. (540) 885-5588. Love’s Labour’s Lost. The King of Navarre and his three “schoolmates” are ripe for an education in love from the Princess of France and her three ladies. $29-60, 2pm. American Shakespeare Center, 10 S. Market St., Staunton. (540) 885-5588. The Crucible. See listing for Friday, October 13. $15, 8pm. Four County Players, 5256 Governor Barbour St., Barboursville. (540) 832-5355.
words Art of Recklessness: Surprise Others. A discussion on ways in which a writer can both create and subvert readers’ expectations through forms, rhyme schemes and other methods. $30, 11am. WriterHouse, 508 Dale Ave. 296-1922.
etc. Ghost and Mystery Walking Tour. See listing for Friday, October 13. $5-15, 8pm. Tell Me About It Tours, 112 W. Main St., Downtown Mall. 760-0525. Pre-Film Festival Party. Come out for a screening, snacks and some news about the Virginia Film Festival, including a preview of the Jewishand Israeli-themed films that will be shown at the festival. $20, 7pm. Congregation Beth Israel, 301 E. Jefferson St. 202-8822.
Sunday 10/15 music A Night of Sufi Music. A concert of ghazals, sufi music and semi classical north Indian genres. Free, 7pm. UVA, Old Cabell Hall. 924-3376. Bayou Faux Pas. Hot mix of Cajun twosteps, waltzes and other songs. Free, noon. Fellini’s, 200 Market St. 979-4279. Bennie Dodd. A mixture of country-rock, Motown, bluegrass and Americana. Free, 5pm. Durty Nelly’s, 2200 Jefferson Park Ave. 295-1278. Central Virginia Blues Society Electric Jam. Some of the finest amateur and professional blues musicians. Free, 1pm. The Batesville Market, 6624 Plank Rd., Batesville. 823-2001. Julien Baker. Genuinely deep, surprisingly dark stories told in alternative indie rock format. With Half Waif. $16-18, 7pm. The Jefferson Theater, 110 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. 245-4948. Koda Kerl. Chamomile and Whiskey band member plays a solo set. Free, 2:30pm. Blue Mountain Brewery, 9519 Critzers Shop Rd., Afton. (540) 456-8020.
Tony LaRocco. Pale Blue Dot frontman plays a solo set. Free, 7pm. Durty Nelly’s, 2200 Jefferson Park Ave. 295-1278.
Les Canards Chantants. A cappella vocal ensemble specializing in music of the Renaissance presents a program of music from the time of the Reformation. Free, 4pm. Westminster Presbyterian Church, 400 Rugby Rd. 963-4690.
U.S. Abrill Macbeth and Juliet Trail celebrate their album release. With Synthetic Division
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Sharon Harrigan puts her heart on the page By Raennah Lorne arts@c-ville.com
F
or most of her life, Sharon Harrigan has been haunted by questions surrounding her father’s death: He died in Michigan when she was 7, and the exact cause was shrouded in a fog. Her debut memoir, Playing with Dynamite, is about finding the courage to ask questions, to question her own memory and ultimately to question the stories we tell ourselves. But as she writes in the book, “It’s harder to untell than tell a story.” But this is what her memoir does. It pulls at the threads to unstitch a story she has told herself all of her life, and then stitches together a retelling. She began by talking to her family about her father. “The first thing I found out is that my brother and I remembered things very differently,” says Harrigan. “That was kind of the impetus for the book.” She wondered, “how does the way that we block memories, even as small children, not knowing what we’re doing—maybe as a coping mechanism—how does that change our ideas and memories?” Given this premise, Harrigan structures the memoir as a journey of discovery as she sifts through her family’s collective memory. The reader perches like a fly on the wall as she moves from Michigan to New York to Paris to Charlottesville. She realized, she says, “I had to make my search, my quest, visible.” This requires a certain amount of vulnerability that, perhaps, fiction does not. “I think there’s a reason that a lot of people who eventually come out with a memoir start by telling the story in a different genre,” says Harrigan. “It is very hard to be that naked on the page.” She, in fact, did first attempt to write her family’s story as a novel. But, she says, “I was still obsessed with my father’s story and I realized that to go deep enough I actually had to tell the truth.”
Sharon Harrigan reads from her memoir, Playing with Dynamite, at New Dominion Bookshop on October 12. She will discuss the genre with Jennifer Niesslein at WriterHouse on November 2.
Piece by piece, memory by memory, she reconstructs her father on the page. The resultant man is someone who adapts to life with only one hand after a dynamite accident, who feels compelled to perpetually prove himself and remains a risk-taker, a characteristic that pushes him to drive in dense fog where his life is cut short. Yet he is not the only one in the story who takes risks. Harrigan explains that the jacket design of her book—the cursive text of the title igniting an explosion—is “supposed to show that it’s the words themselves that are the fuse. That the person playing with dynamite is not only my father but me, the writer. Writing our stories is inherently taking a big risk.” In writing memoir, Harrigan sees the risk from potential judgment by others or causing harm to people she loves. The self-examination and introspection required also left her open to self-judgment. There is a moment in the book when she realizes that one of the stories she told herself was that her brother was the kind of kid who got bullied, rather than considering the possibility that her father could be a bully and she, herself, a victim, too. She recognizes how victimhood in our culture can be this monolithic thing that doesn’t allow for complexity, for strength. She writes, “We tell ourselves stories, sometimes, at the expense of others.” And as much as the book is about her father, in her journey she learns more about her mother, too. “I realized at a certain point that I went looking for my father and found my mother,” she says. “I started with a lot of questions and some of them I don’t have definitive answers for, but some of them I feel like I do.” More importantly, she is no longer afraid to ask.
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The Seven Bends. Blending improvised rock ‘n’ roll jams that take the song to a cosmic level and beyond. 21-plus. Free, 10:30pm. The Whiskey Jar, 227 W. Main St., Downtown Mall. 202-1549.
Women Against Violence: Let There Be Peace. The Virginia Women’s Chorus presents its second annual Women Against Violence Concert. $5-10, 8pm. UVA, Old Cabell Hall. 924-3376.
Writing as risk
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Slumber Drones. Laid-back rock. With Coy Pong and Romaine. $7, 9pm. Twisted Branch Tea Bazaar, 414 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. 293-9947.
Vincent Zorn. Gypsy guitarist with a unique percussive style and stunning strumming rhythms. Free, 7:30pm. The Bebedero, 225 W. Main St. 234-3763.
October 11 – 17, 2017 c-ville.com
Rapunzel’s Songwriters Contest. The area’s best songwriters compete for cash and prizes at the venue’s 15th annual songwriting contest. $15, 7:30pm. Rapunzel’s Coffee and Books, 924 Front St., Lovingston. 263-6660.
and This Hollow Machine. $8, 7:30pm. The Ante Room, 219 Water St. 284-8561.
PUBLICITY PHOTO
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