Free food, internships and late night study sessions comprise the genetic make-up of many college students’ lives. But singer Graham Colton, who will be playing Oct. 1 at Jammin’ Java in Vienna, pursued a decidedly different college legacy.

Flow In The Dark are not your run-of-the-mill cover band.

Washington Saxophone Quartet will present a free concert on Saturday, June 4 at the Mary Louise Jackson Amphitheater at the Manassas campus of Northern Virginia Community College.

NOVA Idol 2011, the singing contest held annually by Northern Virginia Community College, was marked by a concert of great singers performing for five judges, including Tony Perkins from Good Morning America, and a venue packed with family, friends and other guests of the performers. In fact, the Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall & Arts Center on the college’s Alexandria campus was so full on March 25 that, according to Meredith Aquila, secretary of NOVA Idol Planning Committee, people were turned away at the door. The center’s marketing manager, Linda Vitello, said the auditorium’s capacity is 991.

On Friday, March 25 at 7 p.m., nine of NOVA’s top singing sensations will battle for the title of this year’s NOVA Idol. The college finalists are Erika Anderson, John Ashburn, Martina Green, Lyndsi Hicks, Kelley Kime, Elaine Lopez, Laura Manzer, Lauren McLeod and Edwin Thorpe. And from various high schools in the region, CJ Marble, Devyn Metz, Padideh Guodarzi Nejad and Joao Versos will be competing for a prize of $1,000.

[Sabbath-Night-in-the-Church] No family is perfect – just look at the Penrose family presented in the play, “Sabbath Night in the Church of the Piranha.” Performed by Taking Flight Theatre at NOVA’s Loudoun campus from Oct. 8 through 23, the play allowed the audience a glimpse into the dysfunction and wounds that family can inflict upon each other.

Faced with a career in either football or music, Bear Rinehart, lead singer of NEEDTOBREATHE chose the latter and still hasn’t looked back. NEEDTOBREATHE will bring their intimate folk sound to the 9:30 club on Nov. 4 in support of their most recent album, “The Outsiders.”
“You have to have that thing in your life…  you just couldn’t live without it,” Rinehart said in an interview with NOVA Fortnightly. “I just wasn’t that way about sports, and I am that way about music.”
The band, which has known each other for over …

Listening to Joshua Radin’s third album, “The Rock and The Tide,” is much like watching a friend get a makeover. Their new, chic look is a step in the right direction, but every now and then you miss their old, comfortable style.

In these days, many bands leave a major record label. Few continue to successfully create music – even fewer come out with an album in which they feel they hit their stride.

Southern rockers Ingram Hill are one of the few.

Summer can mean so many things to college students. Beach Week. Freedom. Barbeques. Lifeguard jobs at the local pool. And concerts. Oh, yes. Lots of wonderful concerts.

The summer concert season is in full swing with lower ticket prices than previous years to accommodate the state of the economy and the prevailing hesitation many people have about spending money on non-essentials. Several venues in Virginia are only charging $15 to see bands such as Blues Traveler with Carbon Leaf, Travis Tritt and the Motor City Madman himself, Ted Nugent. The June 18 concert of country star Phil Vassar at Celebrate Virginia Live in Fredericksburg costs only $12.50 in advance through TicketsToBuy.com.