Feedback: Mariana Bell on the making of her new album.

Berto and Vincent. Turn up the heat. Free, 2pm. Glass House Winery, 5898 Free Union Rd., Free Union. glasshousewinery.com Michael Clem and Andy Thacker. Michael Clem pairs up with Love Canon mandolinist Andy Thacker. Free, 1pm. Glass House Winery, 5898 Free Union Rd., Free Union. glass housewinery.com Sunflower Bean. With Good Dog Nigel. $1518, 8:30pm. The Southern Café & Music Hall, 103 S. First St. thesoutherncville.com The Wavelength. Late-night tunes and whiskey. Free, 10:30pm. The Whiskey Jar, 227 W. Main St., Downtown Mall. thewhiskeyjarcville.com

stage

No Home but Ropes and Stakes. An original one-act play from CHS senior Stella Gunn. $6, 7:30pm. Charlottesville High School, 1400 Melbourne Rd.

words

Artists in Conversation.Exhibiting artist Megan Marlatt and fellow artist and friend, Akemi Ohira in conversation. Free, 11am. Second Street Gallery, 115 Second St. SE. secondstreetgallery.org

Brian Teare: The Empty Form Goes All the

Way to Heaven. In conversation with Irène Mathieu and Ben Martin. Free, 4pm. New Dominion Bookshop, 404 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. ndbookshop.com Storytime. Featuring recent storybooks and classics kids know and love. Free, 11am. New Dominion Bookshop, 404 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. ndbookshop.com

outside

Blue Ridge Mountain Maze & Fall Fes-

tival. See listing for Friday, November 4. Free-$12, all day. Blue Ridge Mountain Maze, 165 Old Ridge Rd., Lovingston. blueridgemountainmaze.com Farmers Market at Ix. Over 60 local vendors with produce, prepared foods, artisan goods, and more. Free, 8am. Ix Art Park, 522 Second St. SE. ixartpark.org Fifeville Trail Opening. Join local community leaders to celebrate the opening of the Fifeville Trail, which creates new connections between Tonsler Park and surrounding neighborhoods. Free, 10am. Tonsler Park, 500 Cherry Ave. pecva.org

Greenbrier Neighborhood Arts and Crafts

Sale and Stroll. View and buy a large variety of beautiful art, woodcrafts, toys, papercrafts, crystal jewelry, and many other handmade objects. Free, 10am. Greenbrier Neighborhood, 1412 Kenwood Ln. Playdates at the Playscape. See listing for Friday, November 4. $20, 9:30am. Wildrock, 6600 Blackwells Hollow Rd., Crozet. wildrock.org

etc.

Daily Tour of Indigenous Australian Art.

See listing for Wednesday, November 2. Free, 10:30am and 1:30pm. Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of UVA, 400 Worrell Dr. kluge-ruhe.org Day of the Dead Celebration. Celebrate the Day of the Dead with a Danza Tecuanes mask making demonstration, children’s activities, luminary crafting, food, and more. Free, 4:30pm. McGuffey Art Center, 201 Second St. NW. mcguffeyartcenter.com Dog Video Fest 2022. A 75-minute reel of the best, funniest, most touching, and surprising canine vids, with proceeds benefiting the Charlottesville-Albemarle ASPCA. $10.75, 1pm. Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, 5th Street Station. drafthouse.com Virginia Film Festival. Celebrate the 35th anniversary of the Virginia Film Festival. Prices, times, locations vary. virginiafilmfestival.org

Bell is back

Local music scene fixture Mariana Bell is creating again after painful loss

By Shea Gibbs

arts@c-ville.com

Mariana Bell had a divergent pandemic experience from most musicians. Ask any songwriter, or any creative person for that matter, and most will say they experienced heightened inspiration during the C-word era. Not Bell.

And she’s okay with that. That’s her journey.

A longtime singer-songwriter who’s now a mother of two small children, Bell found she didn’t have the time or energy to retreat into an introspective world of music production in 2020. And she didn’t have the experience or inclination to clamber aboard the web-streaming craze that fueled so many others.

“I went to school for performance,” Bell says. “The interaction between an audience and a performer is a palpable, visceral thing.” She did a few shows at The Front Porch that got the livestream treatment, but it didn’t “feed her.”

Bell longed for the joy of in-studio and onstage collaboration. By late last year, she was ready to emerge from her self-imposed choral-cocoon, and as a result 2022 has been a “creative boom time.” Her eighth studio album, Still Not Sleeping, will drop on November 4, and Bell and her band will play a live Front Porch show on November 6 to celebrate the record, a more mature effort than anything she’s attempted before.

“It is probably less edgy and a little more satisfying to listen to—if that is the word. I’m a little less angst-ridden,” she says. “I was less working from a place of, ‘What do I have to say,’ and more, ‘What do I want to hear— what do I need to hear?’”

Bell wasn’t without reason for angst. In the lead up to recording Still Not Sleeping, her close friend and fellow musician Derek Carter moved to Charlottesville, having spent years on the Los Angeles and Nashville music scenes. The two planned to work with a nearly matching group of studio players, some imported from L.A., and record albums in parallel.

It was a heady time for Bell, rekindling her love for music making and reuniting with folks she had spent years with on the West Coast—not to mention her close confidant Carter.

Then, tragedy. In March of this year, just before the two songwriters would both begin recording records, Carter died.

Bell was crushed. She considered her options. Give up on the project—to which Carter had been such a critical party—or move forward. She talked to the band, some of whom were days from boarding planes to Charlottesville. In the end, so much had been set in motion that everyone agreed it made sense to lay down Still Not Sleeping.

The record, however, would be dramatically affected. “We all loved [Derek] dearly, and we didn’t know what else to do,” Bell says. “We wanted to honor him in some way.”

The resulting album, dedicated to Carter’s memory, isn’t a funeral dirge; it’s oftentimes lighthearted and fun. Mostly, the vocals and instrumentation are soaring, hopeful. Sure, Still Not Sleeping dips into melancholy here and there, but according to Bell, mourning loss wasn’t the goal.

SUPPLIED PHOTO

Mariana Bell will celebrate the release of Still Not Sleeping at The Front Porch on Sunday, November 6.

SUPPLIED PHOTO

“I don’t think trauma goes away—sadness and disappointment and the whole life journey—but I think that processing them as an artist grows differently,” she says. “I no longer feel I need the listener to suffer with me. Hopefully, there is a way to process grief that can allow for beauty and depth without making the problem or the trauma someone else’s.” Being back in the studio and collaborating with other musicians was a cathartic recovery process for Bell. Working with new co-producer Eddie Jackson, she made her latest record in a more collaborative way than anything she’d done before—with almost no instruments tracked individually and everything produced in concert. Joining Bell in the studio were drummer Jordan West (Grace Potter), bassist Kurtis Keber (Grace Potter), guitarist Rusty Speidel (Mary Chapin Carpenter), guitarist Zach Ross, violinist Molly Rogers (Hans Zimmer), trumpeter JJ Kirkpatrick (Phoebe Bridgers), and keyboardist Ty Bailie (Katy Perry). Emily Herndon and Speidel co-wrote some of the songs. At The Front Porch, fans can expect to see Aly Snider and John Kokola of We Are Star Children and James McLaughlin, along with Herndon and Speidel. Genna Matthews will join as a special guest. Bell, who grew up in Charlottesville, lived in Los Angeles and New York, and has been back home for the past seven years, feels she’s learned enough about music after eight albums simply to be herself. On Still Not Sleeping, that means being as “cheesy as possible” when it feels right, shifting among vintage ’70s, pop, folk, and country vibes and “letting go of any preciousness” about genre. “I kind of cringe when I hear that it sounds country, but that’s okay,” Bell says. “We just leaned into it without trying too hard to define it.” And of course, being herself meant processing the death of someone close, a feeling she’d never before had to confront. It meant saying goodbye, dealing with unan“Hopefully, there is a way to process swered questions, and asking herself what she could have grief that can allow for beauty and done differently. depth without making the problem or “I was just trying to be really present and take it one day at a time,” Bell says. “And the more I’ve gotten back the trauma someone else’s.” into making music, the more I want to keep it going.”

Bell’s eighth studio album drops on November 4.

CHARLOTTESVILLE SYMPHONY

AT THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA BENJAMIN ROUS, MUSIC DIRECTOR

FAMILY Holiday Concerts

Michael Slon, Conductor

A joyous holiday tradition perfect for the entire family!

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 3 | 8:00PM SUNDAY, DECEMBER 4 | 3:30PM OLD CABELL HALL

Masks Optional

artsboxoffice.virginia.edu 434.924.3376

Free parking at Central Grounds Garage

The 2022-23 season is generously supported by

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 29

Sunday 11/6

music

BrassFest 2022. The day culminates with a recital featuring Amy McCabe, Robert Rearden, and Matthew Guilford. Free, 3:30pm. Old Cabell Hall, UVA Grounds. music.virginia.edu

Eastern Exotic: Slavic, Romanian &

Hungarian. Three Notch’d Road opens its 2022-23 season, The Four Corners of Europe. $10-80, 4pm. Grace Episcopal Church, 5607 Gordonsville Rd., Keswick. tnrbaroque.org Mariana Bell. The Charlottesville native returns for her album release show. $20-25, 7pm. The Front Porch, 221 E. Water St. frontporchcville.org UVA Flute Ensemble. Celebrating music written by Christopher Caliendo, Ian Clarke, Gabriel Fauré, Jennifer Higdon, Mike Mower, J.J. Quantz, and Jay Unger. Free, 1pm. The Rotunda Dome Room, UVA Grounds. music.virginia.edu Willie DE. Solo acoustic tunes. Free, 2pm. Glass House Winery, 5898 Free Union Rd., Free Union. glasshousewinery.com

classes

Paint & Sip. Learn to paint “Rainy Fall Drive.” $35, 1pm. Hazy Mountain Vineyards & Brewery, 8736 Dick Woods Rd., Afton. catelynkelseydesigns.com

outside

Blue Ridge Mountain Maze & Fall Fes-

tival. See listing for Friday, November 4. Free-$12, all day. Blue Ridge Mountain Maze, 165 Old Ridge Rd., Lovingston. blueridgemountainmaze.com

etc.

Casablanca Brunch. Celebrating the 80th anniversary of the iconic romance. $10, 12:30pm. Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, 5th Street Station. drafthouse.com

Daily Tour of Indigenous Australian Art.

See listing for Wednesday, November 2. Free, 10:30am and 1:30pm. Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of UVA, 400 Worrell Dr. kluge-ruhe.org Mezcal Art Pairing. Sample mezcal and tequila, view the art inspired by the spirit, and converse with the artists. $30, 6pm. The Bebedero, 201 W. Main St., Downtown Mall. thebebedero.com Virginia Film Festival. Celebrate the 35th anniversary of the Virginia Film Festival. Prices, times, locations vary. virginiafilmfestival.org

Monday 11/7

music

Baby Jo’s. Tunes from the seven-piece, New Orleans-inspired boogie and blues band. Free, 6:30pm. The Whiskey Jar, 227 W. Main St., Downtown Mall. thewhiskeyjarcville.com Berto & Vincent. Rumba rumba. Free, 7pm. South and Central Latin Grill, Dairy Market. southandcentralgrill.com Gin & Jazz. Brian Caputo Trio performs in the hotel lobby bar. Free, 5:30pm. Oakhurst Hall, 122 Oakhurst Cir. oakhurstinn.com Jazz Connection. The quartet plays standards and originals, with occasional guest performers. Free, 5pm. Starr Hill Brewery Tap Room, 5391 Three Notched Rd., Crozet. starrhill.com

words

Storytelling, Film, and Design. Join filmmaker and UVA School of Architecture alumna Din Blankenship for a conversation about her journey from architect to professional filmmaker and producer. Free, 5pm. Campbell Hall 153, UVA Grounds. arch.virginia.edu

Tuesday 11/8

music

Vincent Zorn. Olé. Free, 7pm. The Bebedero, 225 W. Main St., Downtown Mall. the bebedero.com

outside

Playdates at the Playscape. See Friday listing, November 4. $20, 9:30am. Wildrock, 6600 Blackwells Hollow Rd., Crozet. wildrock.org

etc.

Daily Tour of Indigenous Australian Art.

See listing for Wednesday, November 2. Free, 10:30am and 1:30pm. Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of UVA, 400 Worrell Dr. kluge-ruhe.org Family Game Night. Enjoy dinner, refreshing cocktails, mocktails, and beers, and play a variety of games for all ages, including corn hole, jumbo Jenga, cards, and more. Free, 5pm. Dairy Market, 946 Grady Ave. dairymarketcville.com Geeks Who Drink Trivia Night. Useless knowledge means everything at this authentic homegrown trivia quiz. Free, 8pm. Firefly, 1304 E. Market St. firefly cville.com Strangers on a Train. Alfred Hitchcock’s classic shocker about the danger of talking to strangers. $10, 7pm. Alamo Drafthouse Cinema, 5th Street Station. drafthouse.com

Visit the gallery

Monday–Thursday, 10AM –6PM Friday–Saturday, 10AM –7PM Sunday 12–5PM Shop Online Anytime

Walks with Color

https://cvillearts.org/store functional pottery by Trina Player

featured at C’ville Arts during November Meet Trina on First Friday, Nov. 4, 5–7Pm