CULTURE FEEDBACK
music An Evening with Koda and Marie. A special indoor performance with Koda and Marie of Chamomile & Whiskey. Free, 6pm. Potters Craft Cider, 1350 Arrowhead Valley Rd. potterscraftcider.com. Berto and Matt Wyatt. Join Berto and Matt for this bi-weekly rendition of Brazilian and Latin guitar. Free, 7pm. The Bebedero, 225 W. Main St., Downtown Mall. thebebedero.com. Music in the Atrium. A weekly live performance in the atrium with Jim Richardson on vocals and guitar. Free, noon. The Center at Belvedere, 540 Belvedere Blvd. thecenter cville.org. Thankful Dead: Bigfoot County and Sisters & Brothers. $12-40, 7pm. The Jefferson Theater, 110 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. jeffersontheater.com. The Wavelength. A Thanksgiving-eve party with live music, fine whiskey, and local cuisine. Free, 8pm. The Whiskey Jar, 227 W. Main St., Downtown Mall. thewhiskeyjarcville.com
dance Bachata Fusion Class. Edwin Roa teaches a fun beginner-to-intermediate-level bachata lesson to get the party started. $6-8, 7pm. IX Art Park, 522 Second St SE. ixartpark.org. Square Dancing. Enjoy a night of square dancing. All levels are welcome. Free, 12:30pm. The Center at Belvedere, 540 Belvedere Blvd. thecentercville.org.
Thursday 11/25 classes Grateful Trifecta Celebration: Meditation, Hot Vinaysa, Reiki. Open with a centering meditation, transition to a sweaty hot vinyasa, and seal with yin postures and reiki. $23, 8am. The Elements, 2075 Bond St. ecville.com.
music Kat and the Travelers. Featuring Kathleen Kraft, Doug Hedstrom, Mike Haag, and Quintas Mills. Free, 6pm. Glass House Winery, 5898 Free Union Rd., Free Union. glasshouse winery.com. King of the Wild Things and The Band Big. Pop punk out of Maryland. $10-12, 8pm. The Southern Café and Music Hall, 103 S. First St. thesoutherncville.com. The Judy Chops. Spend black Friday at the Blackburn and kick off the season. $25-35, 6pm. The Blackburn Inn and Conference Center, 301 Greenville Ave., Staunton. black burn-inn.com.
stage
Paramount Presents: Mark Nizer 4D. Kick off The Paramount Theater’s 90th year with Mark Nizer and the only live 4D show in the world. $19-29, 7pm. The Paramount Theater, 215 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. thepara mount.net. C O N T I N U ED ON PAGE 2 3
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harlottesville music scene photographer Rich Tarbell’s new book of portraiture is a no-filters cross section of local singers, songwriters, and industry supporters, and it’s a should-have for any Charlottesville audiophile. But let’s get to the part you’ve heard before: The project, like so many other artistic endeavors, was inspired by the COVID-19 pandemic. We all know the pandemic devastated the arts in general and live music specifically. Fortunately, all the downtime and new perspectives among creatives also ignited fresh sounds. It was a silver lining for music lovers who knew where to look. And if anyone knows where to look, it’s Tarbell. Set for a November 26 release, Regarding Charlottesville Music II was inspired by both Tarbell’s own pandemic experience and conversations he had with musicians about theirs. Coincidentally, he happened upon a 50-year-old Hasselblad 500C camera early last year. He used it to take outdoor pics of Chamomile & Whiskey’s Koda Kerl and Marie Borgman on March 30, 2020. A few days later, he made portraits of Eli Cook. He thought he might be onto something. “The photographs had an unintentionally morose feel to them that seemed to anticipate the uncertain times we were entering,” Tarbell says. Inspired, Tarbell bought darkroom equipment and taught himself to develop photos in his basement. By the end of September, he’d captured and developed hundreds of analog images, and 87 of them appear in Regarding Charlottesville Music II. So to review the timeline: Tarbell bought an unfamiliar camera in early 2020, started taking pics with it that March, learned to develop film in the next few months, and compiled a book of the images in about a year and a half. It was a crash course, and Tarbell is the first to admit every one of the images isn’t technically perfect. But the process was in keeping with the photog’s backstage-access M.O. as a music industry scenester. “I’m not saying I’m the world’s greatest photographer,” Tarbell says. “It’s about luck, timing, and access—and friendship and trust. Those are the five things. Once you are in, you are in.” Tarbell moved to Charlottesville in 1987 to attend UVA. He was an aspiring musician but knew he had limitations. He aged, settled down, and essentially gave it up. He was still around musicians, though, and picked up “a crappy old digital camera.” He taught himself to point and shoot, then improved. According to Tarbell, if you can take pictures in concert conditions, you can do it any-
Photographer Rich Tarbell will sign copies of his latest book, Regarding Charlottesville Music II, at Champion Brewing Company the afternoon of November 26, and at Durty Nelly’s that night. New Dominion Bookshop will have it on shelves.
where—“it’s like learning to drive stick in the mountains,” he says. Still, it was never technical excellence that gave Tarbell’s work weight. It was being backstage and around talent, being to Charlottesville musicians what Jay Blakesberg was to the Grateful Dead, Ricky Powell was to the Beastie Boys, or Danny Clinch was to the Boss. For Tarbell, befriending local music talent led to access to regional talent and eventually national talent. In the case of the Dave Matthews Band, Tarbell’s access grew from local to national on its own. That means Tarbell’s new book features exclusive images of Matthews, Tim Reynolds, and Carter Beauford alongside local standouts like Terri Allard, Harli Saxon, and Charlie Pastorfield. Then there are the behind-thescenes folks: Danny Shea, Terry Martin, Kirby Hutto, and Patrick Jordan, among others. Interspersed throughout Regarding Charlottesville Music II are concert fliers, some of which Tarbell helped produce, and essays from select musicians. Tarbell says he began talking to people about the pandemic thinking he would approach the new book’s narrative much like he did in Regarding Charlottesville Music. In that work, he interviewed local musicians over eight months and crafted a conversational oral history. This time around, Tarbell found the interviews repetitive.
“This book is four years after the first, so there’s not a whole lot to revisit,” Tarbell says. “And I realized when talking about the pandemic, everybody’s experience was about the same. So I decided not to bother everyone with that. I didn’t want it to be super depressing.” The resulting essays feature a few stories about the pandemic’s devastation, but also plenty about its inspirations, thoughts from those pushing through like nothing changed, hope for the future, and touching tales from C’ville’s musical past. The Beetnix’s Damani Harrison tells the story of how Johnny Gilmore and Wonderband kept him in Charlottesville. “They played Thursdays and I went every Thursday for like two months by myself,” Harrison writes in Regarding Charlottesville Music II. “I thought, if this is here, I’ll stay. Rest in peace Johnny.” Tarbell says he never planned to do a follow up to Regarding Charlottesville Music, and he doesn’t plan to do another book in the future. But the pandemic created the right conditions to change his plans. “The first book was musicians in their comfortable space, their studio, their basement, what have you,” Tarbell says. “For this one, I started with friends, the few people I would see outdoors. I started pursuing it when the seriously fearful part of the pandemic was over and we could at least not be terrified to go out.”
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It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play. The beloved American holiday classic comes to life as a live 1940s radio broadcast, complete with foley artists. $10-18, 8pm. Four County Players, Barboursville Community Center, 5256 Governor Barbour St., Barbours ville. fourcp.org.
By Shea Gibbs
@cville_culture
The Legwarmers. The ultimate ‘80s tribute band doesn’t just remember the ‘80s, it relives them. $20-22, 9pm. The Jefferson Theater, 110 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. jeffersontheater.com.
Photographer Rich Tarbell drops second local music photo journal
November 24 – 30, 2021 c-ville.com
Friday 11/26
Sights and sounds
SANJAY SUCHAK
Wednesday 11/24
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