Revved Up Rick Mersel Has Book Ready to Go
(Rick Mersel shares some insights into his new book at Chicho’s Backstage Cafe.) By Jeff Maisey As you might imagine, Rick Mersel has lived an exciting life thus far. Born in Norfolk, Mersel has now spent most of his life in the music business, opening the popular...
Virginia Beach’s ViBe District Celebrates 10 Years in 2025
(Murals painted on the exterior walls of local business are a signature of the ViBe Creative District.) By Kate Pittman In April 2025, the ViBe Creative District will celebrate 10 years of as the creative heartbeat of Virginia Beach, a place where hundreds of local...
VEER’s Top 10 This Week Playlist
Check out this week's Top 10 playlist from 757 region recording artists
All Fired Up — Perry Glass Studio
Spectators (in the background) are entertained by the process of glassmaking by Cedric Mitchell in the auditorium of the new Perry Glass Studio of Chrysler Museum of Art. By Jeff Maisey Take your seat; the show’s about to begin. Light-tight mechanical black curtains...
Live it Up
By Tom Robotham Our total attitude towards art, was, like, get up and do something — quit sitting there whining. – David Johansen, on the spirt of The New York Dolls In 1982, when I was working as a reporter and music columnist for The Staten Island Advance, I got...
A year after opening, controversial Norfolk brewery closes
By Jim Morrison When Norfolk’s City Council approved the permit for the controversial Armed Forces Brewing Company over some neighborhood objections, several members said let the marketplace decide its fate. It didn’t take long. A year after opening its doors, Armed...
Cancer Survivor Sam Hunter Has Brought Open Faced Goodness and Healthy Drinks to Summit Pointe
Samaria Hunter By Joel Rubin Toastique Gourmet Toast and Juice Bar (www.toastique.com) is a 21st century breakfast/lunch place. With hearty helpings of such ingredients as avocado, smoked salmon, lump crab, peanut butter, Tuscan tuna, and ricotta atop healthy...
50 Years of Arlo On Your Radio
(Arlo working the board before his 10 AM to 3 PM mid-day shift in February 2025. Photo by Jeff Maisey) By Jeff Maisey “The enormity of the importance of Mike Arlo in our lives can best be described by imagining what the past 50 years would have been like without him:...
Williamsburg Symphony celebrating 40th anniversary
(Michael Butterman conducts the Williamsburg Symphony Orchestra. Image by Kim Kiely Photography.) By Jim Roberts Dr. Jon E. Krapfl was a loyal subscriber to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for 20 years. So loyal, in fact, that even after he moved to Williamsburg in...
ESSAY: Sounds of Silence
By Tom Robotham For the last decade or so, I’ve been in the habit of turning on CNN first thing in the morning, and letting it run for hours until it was time head to campus for afternoon classes. Often, it was background chatter while I prepared lectures, graded...
A Foray into Fauré
(A 1903 photograph of French composer Gabriel Fauré.) By Montague Gammon III A double-dozen dose of seldom heard music comes to the Larchmont United Methodist Church April 26 to honor French composer Gabriel Fauré with the closing concert of the Norfolk Chamber...
A Landmark American Opera
(Opera vocalist Flora Hawk) By Montague Gammon III The most important show to take the stage at the Harrison Opera House since the US premiere of composer Thea Musgrave’s Mary Queen of Scots in 1978 and the world premiere of her Christmas Carol in 1979, maybe even...
VA Stage Closes Season with Every Brilliant Thing
(Actress Anna Sosa) By Jerome Langston “Every Brilliant Thing is a play that I have seen more often than any other play that I’ve directed,” says Tom Quaintance, the Producing Artistic Director of Virginia Stage Company, during a recent phone chat earlier this week....
Visual Art Calendar
(On view at Chrysler Museum of Art: Greta Pratt (American, born 1955), “Juneteenth Celebration,” 2023 Archival pigment print © Greta Pratt) Compiled by Staff “Greta Pratt: Jamestown Is Sinking” Through July 27 Chrysler Museum of Art Greta Pratt’s photographic series...
ART: Fun with Ceramics
(Walter McConnell’s “Theory of Everything.” Courtesy of the artist and Cross MacKenzie Gallery.) By Betsy DiJulio From the shelves of the local dollar store to the rarefied environs of the world’s most prestigious museums, ceramics run the gamut and are ubiquitous...
GRAMMY Winner Curates and Creates Music
By Montague Gammon III One of the most acclaimed of contemporary composers, the 2024 GRAMMY winner for Best Contemporary Classical Composition, Jessie Montgomery, who’s also a prime instrumentalist and who just happens to have a real, albeit distant, familial Norfolk...
A Cultural Revival
By Jerome Langston It was on a very recent Friday morning, when the great Wynton Marsalis told me, during a Zoom call, that I have “a young sound. If you’re older, congratulations. You found the fountain of vocal youth.” I mean... that compliment will likely...
Bach to the Future and Jupiter Too
Flutist Demarre McGill will solo on C.P.E. Bach’s most famous flute concerto. Photo by Carlin Ma. By Montague Gammon III A genuinely out-of-this-world little symphony begins each concert in the March 28-30 series of Virginia Symphony Orchestra performances in Norfolk,...
MOMIX Alice: Technicolor Masterpiece for All Ages
By Montague Gammon III Virginia Arts Festival’s entrancing presentation of MOMIX: Alice hits all the marks for dance and theater fans, for people who delight in beauty of all sorts, for parents who want to entertain offspring – provided mom and dad do not mind being...
ART REVIEW: Smooth Sailing on the Plastic Sea
Duke Riley, Cob Dock & the Red Hook Lady Fliers (detail), 2017. Wood, tin, roofing tar, latex paint, slip cast ceramic pigeons and performance ephemera from Fly by Night. Courtesy of the artist. Photo by Nye’ Lyn Tho Photograph By Betsy DiJulio If you search...
That’s Kosher!
(Yogev Kremisi brings much needed dining menu to Ghent.) By Marisa Marsey “Are you Charlie?” Yogev Kremisi gets that question a lot. The trim, swarthy 38-year-old chuckles as he clarifies he’s not. But he is the new proprietor and chef of Charlie’s, the venerable...
A Taste of Joy
Dallas Walton, of Cork & Bull, is among the top chefs whipping up delicacies to benefit Easterseals PORT Health's Culinary Connections. Courtesy photo. By Marisa Marsey Ashley Bruno, looking sharp in a royal blue chef’s apron and puffy white toque (yet...
For Valentine’s, I Present My New Love: “Easy Weeknight Dinners”
By Marisa Marsey Emily Weinstein makes no bones about not being a professionally-trained chef. It’s why the editor in chief of Cooking and Food at The New York Times is so good at her job. Most home cooks aren’t culinary school grads either. Skill levels vary wildly...
Big Ugly Celebrates Big 10
(Peake Lager remains a big favorite amongst Big Ugly Brewery fans) By Jeff Maisey Chesapeake’s first craft brewery will mark its first decade in business with an event being dubbed as Big Ugly Brewing: 10 Year Anniversary Tiki Party. The weather might be chilly...
ESSAY: Lost & Found
By Tom Robotham Last spring, I wrote an essay called “Leaving the Treehouse”—a reflection on my realization that it was time to vacate the apartment I had occupied for 17 years. I called it the Treehouse because it was on the fourth floor of an old building in West...
Here’s to 2025: Local distillers preview plans and products for the new year
By Jim Roberts “Good things come to those who wait.” This is especially true in the world of distilling–where some spirits have to age for years before they are sold and consumed. With this in mind, we reached out to the distillers of Hampton Roads to see what...
Dessert Beers and Beer Desserts
Words by Diane Catanzaro and Chris Jones Photo by Diane Catanzaro Beer, glorious beer. Is there anything beer can’t do? From appetizer, to main course, to dessert, beer has the culinary chops to enhance any part of your meal. Yet, beer is often overlooked for the...
Wines For The Season
By Jeff Maisey Caymus 50th Anniversary Cabernet Sauvignon California After our Fall Arts Preview issue featuring Virginia Opera’s 50th Anniversary on the cover, I decided to uncork my bottle of Caymus 50th Anniversary for a private toast to life and the...
A Tale of Two Sweeties
An international array of savory and sweet treats entice at Tous Les Jours. (Clockwise from left: coffee bun, kimchi croquette, Portuguese egg tart) By Marisa Marsey Two buzzy bakery-cafés – one on the Peninsula, a Hampton Roads inroad for a red-hot...
Start Spreadin’ The News…And The Schmears
(Baker's Crust Bagel offers a slice of New York with skyscraping sandwiches. Courtesy photo.) By Marisa Marsey Nostalgic for New York City? Haven’t yet gotten to Gotham? You could watch “When Harry Met Sally” or read some Meg Wolitzer for a fix. Better still, schlep...
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