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.

Everyone has dreams of fame and fortune. At one point or another, many believe that they have what it takes to perform for thousands of screaming fans. Hundreds of NOVA students have received this opportunity. NOVA Idol has been letting NOVA students have their 15 minutes of fame for several years. This year’s NOVA Idol was described by many as the best so far.

We’ve all seen the hit television series American Idol. Now NOVA has its own iteration of the show, NOVA Idol.
Dozens of students auditioned, performed, and were sent home, until only the finalists remained. At 7 p.m. on March 26 the finals will be held at Schlesinger Hall at the Alexandria campus. Eight students with great talent will compete to hold the title of NOVA Idol, as well as cash prizes for third place, second place and the Idol.

On a dull rainy day the sounds of Scot Joplin lit up the Alexandria’s campus library. In honor of Black History Month, Professor Harvey Jacobson played the sounds of that famous African-American composer and pianist.
Around 100 students gathered in the lobby of the library to hear the music on Feb. 23. “This was the first time a concert had been held in the library” according to Dr. Jimmie McClellan. While not the first time NOVA’s Alexandria campus has had a concert, the library seemed a fitting place for the late 19th century musical genius.

It’s incredible to see a two-person indie band flourish as much as Wye Oak, whose members have used the recording studio to their advantage to make quite a lot of noise on their sophomore album, The Knot. It’s even more incredible to find out this band can make the same amount of noise live in concert, and make it sound just as good, without a back-up band. A person may wonder how this is possible, and that is precisely the source of wonderment and passion behind this album.