Friday, Sept. 19th at 8pmSean’s at it again!! This outdoor Drive-In screening event will showcase excerpts from Samoheyl’s new DVD collection of puppet films: The Whale and Thrift Store Odyssey - Two Stories, along with an array of other fine things - including; hand sculpted cars, a one-of-kind concession stand, films by other friends and more.

Sean has expressed that “It would be cool if maybe people even wore pajamas and brought teddy bears and blankets. Maybe we could all sleep in the parking lot and tell ghost stories. ” So grab those PJ’s and a friend and get yourself down to the Bridge this Friday night!

A $5 Suggested Donation - is likely to accompany this experience.

A Public Reading & Signing | Wednesday, Sept 17th 8pm

This public reading and signing event will showcase works collected by Series Editor David Lehman and guest editor Charles Wright. Participating Contributors include poets John Casteen, Lisa Russ Sparr and Debra Nystrom. Poets will read from their own works and also selections from this years collection. A Q&A and book signing will follow.

Admission is Free to the public.

Tuesday, September 16th, 8pm

Up-and-coming dub rockers I Love You will be playing on Tuesday, in support of their new album, Drone, Drugs and Harmony. Hailing from Kansas City, Missouri, ‘I Love You’ has gained considerable momentum and press since being featured on influential NYC indie music video site punkcast.com earlier this year. The spaced-out duo will be touring throughout the continental U.S. this fall in support of Drone, Drugs and Harmony’s release on tape and CD. “We are coming to melt your faces,” declares drummer Jeffrey Schlette. “I Love You is to music what crack is to cocaine.”

Likewise, Truman Sparks and Tapeworms, both being know for “melting faces”, will be playing as well.

8pm $5

Wednesday, October 22 and Thursday, October 23 at 7pm each night

A World held together by Anarchy and Chaos. A Society run by an Empire of Crime. The Inheritor of Moriarty and Fantomas, the Grandfather of Drs. No and Evil and Kaizer Soze. A master of disguise and telepathic hypnosis. A Man who aims to burn the world and rule its ashes. DR. MABUSE! A film so brazenly revealing of the hypnotic power of evil that Goebbels banned it and confiscated the prints. We await the coming of the Dawn of Darkness.

A character that Fritz Lang (M, Metropolis) came back to three times over the course of 40 years, Dr. Mabuse first appeared in this 1922 silent film. The evil puppeteer manipulating people to their will, creating a network of mayhem and chicanery through unwitting agents. This super-villain seizes on the weak and leverages their poverty and weak minds to build a society of malevolence that is often hard to see as different from present day politiccs…

The Bridge Fall Film Series continues with another seasonally-appropriate silent horror film, complete with an original score! Due to the length of the film, we’ll break this first part of the Mabuse cyle into it’s original two parts:

Mabuse the Gambler: An Image of the Time (Oct. 22)
Inferno: the People of the Time (Oct. 23)

Both evenings will feature an all-new film score, performed live by Charlottesville-based electronics/jazz musician Jonathan Zorn!

For more information about the film series posters, or to download a printable version, click here.

Thursday, October 9th at 7pm

The Fall Film Series gets off to a horrifying start with this screening of the 1925 silent film horror classic The Phantom of the Opera, featuring live accompaniment by Matt Marshall.

The Phantom of the Opera stars the legendary Lon Chaney, Sr., “Man of a Thousand Faces,” in a career-defining role. His groundbreaking, self-applied make-up shocked 1920’s audiences, reportedly causing them to scream or faint at the moment of the Phantom’s unmasking. This highly influential film paved the way for the great Universal Horror films of the 1930’s, and is a well-respected horror classic in it’s own right; it’s the perfect way to kick-off the Halloween season.

The film will have a live score performed by Matt Marshall, renowned for his regular performances at the Scottsville Victory Hall Theater; Marshall also teaches Film and Music courses for UVA’s Continuing Education School, and is the founder of the Reel Music Ensemble.

Please remember that our Fall screenings begin at 7pm rather than at 8:00; admission remains a $5 suggested donation.

For more information about the film series posters, or to download a printable version, click here.

Saturday, August 23rd at 8pm

The Bridge is proud to host OffStage Theatre’s presentation of InsideOut, an evening of readings, monologues and plays written by the women of Fluvanna Correctional Facility for Women.

This event is a benefit for the Voice Project, an educational theatre program that helps inmates engage in creative exploration of the self through drama. Throughout the workshops in acting, improvisational storytelling, writing, directing, and movement, participants work to develop stronger social skills; a fuller sense of creative expression; greater self and community awareness; tolerance of differences; ability to resolve conflicts; and higher self-esteem.

There will a special musical guest appearance by the Acorn Sisters (Sarah White and Sian Richards). Tickets are available at the door, with a suggested donation of $15.

October 3rd-28th, with an opening Reception October 3rd.

A Group Show curated by Colin L, featuring artists C.F., Sara Shapouri, Nick Kuszyk, Hillbilly Werewolf, dearraindrop, MOOSEJAW, Deya Ramsden, Shawn Thornton, John Fritz, Tom Hohmann, Sebastion Paulson, Heather Clark, John Erik Lawson, Meghan Eckman, and Thom Klepach.

Bursting from brilliant and battered art-addled brains, noise-damaged ears and hearts distended with love and hubris, this show will present a selection of contemporary art that promises to dazzle and disturb in a way that few art shows still do. The thread that connects these diverse artistic talents is Colin L, a musician/artist/ringleader of tormentors who some locals will remember as co-catalyst, with Usaisamonster bandmate and fellow artist Tom Hohmann, of Charlottesville’s legendary Pudhaus performance space. Colin’s energy and spirit once brought important wandering weirdos together for musical catharsis right here in Charlottesville, and this art show carries the seed of that spirit, gathering many artists whose lives intersected in that space back together for this important show.

The gallery will be crammed with art: video and ephemera that looks back at halcyon Pudhaus days in the small room, a survey of the present and future of brain melt from over 15 contemporary visual artists in the big room, as well as a merch table of prints, zines and music from the whole gang. The October 3rd opening party will also feature a lecture from Philly-based lord-of-flies Brandon Joyce and acoustic noise from Colin L. This will be so beautiful, it is scary.

Thursday, July 25th at 8pm

Business seminars can be tedious, but not when they’re done by a backwoods “good old boy” who gives us all the real inside secrets to ripping people off, so you can live a better life. Side lessons in the “art of rap” and musical performances inluded in this benefit for mid-west flooding cleanup, starring Timothy Trotter. Pay what you can.

Thursday, August 28 at 6pm

Bring the kids, or embrace your own inner child, for our screening of kid-friendly short films on August 28th! We’ll enjoy classic Fleischer Brothers cartoons from the golden age of 1930’s animation, films made specifically for children by two of our favorite experimental filmmakers Rudy Burckhardt and Robert Breer, as well as animation by local youth from the Lighthouse Studio… and a few other surprises.

In addition to the films, Shaun Cullen, a Charlottesville folk singer and songwriter, will be performing a selection of new and classic rock songs for kids.

PLEASE NOTE that this screening will begin at 6pm, rather than 8:00pm. We’re trying not to keep anyone out past their bedtime.

Friday, August 8th at 8pm

Join us for another heavy-ass rock show at The Bridge, with Worn in Red, WereBear, and The Black Shade.

Worn in Red are a screamy, driving cathari-rock act from Charlottesville and Richmond. They’ve been around since November of 2004, though the current line-up has only been together since October of 2007. They have been fortunate to play with a bunch of rad bands, including: Melt-Banana, Glass & Ashes, Modern Life Is War, Thunderlip!, The Life & Times, Bella Fea, Pash, Young Livers, Mass Movement of the Moth, The Points, Mouthbreather, The Catalyst, I Am The Avalanche, Jena Berlin, Sparrows Swarm & Sing, Pink Razors, Bullet Train To Vegas, Tubers, Young Hearts, Pyramids, Lost Hands Found Fingers, This Bike Is A Pipe Bomb, The Draft, Small Brown Bike, and Seaweed.

Werebear are a hyperactive, D&D-obsessed punk-metal act from Charlottesville; an elite adventuring party of four of the realm’s most powerful champions. Small enough to avoid detection but strong enough to destroy those who would harm their defenseless hamlets, they are committed to spreading the teachings of the WEREBEAR to the world.

Unfortunately, Fag Static have had to cancel their appearance at this show, due to a family emergency. We wish them well, and hope that they make it back to town one day. Their spot on the bill will be filled by The Black Shade, a band from northern VA who play mid-90’s-style mid-tempo anthemic punk rock, described as “kind of like a mix between early Hot Water Music and a spazzier take on Seaweed.”

Doors at 8pm, with music at 8:30. The show is all ages, it’s a $5 cover charge, and there is no alcohol allowed.