My Lunch with Will Bland..and Cliff Hayes and Alex Angelos
(SUNNY SIDE UP: Will Bland at Pancakes-N-Things. Photo by Joel Rubin. ) By Joel Rubin I just had to meet Will Bland. After reading Larry Rubama’s profile of the Princess Anne High (International Baccalaureate Academy) grad in the newspaper, I was anxious to learn how...
Hampton Roads Breweries Sweep Coveted Best in Show
(Benchtop Brewing Company wins 2023 Virginia Craft Beer Cup) By Jeff Maisey Independent craft breweries from Hampton Roads had an impressive showing at the 2023 Virginia Craft Beer Cup Awards ceremony by sweeping the Best in Show category reflecting the top three...
The $42,000 Barbie
(“Barbie” #1 Model in Original Dressed-Box With Early Costumes, Courtesy of Theriault’s By Jeff Maisey Barbie-mania has expanded beyond the movie theaters and inspired Barbie themed parties and other dress-in-pink events. But that’s not all. Taking things to a higher...
Norfolk Funds The Arts
Twenty-eight local arts organizations received funding support from the City of Norfolk Arts Commission. The Commission increased its support for the new fiscal year. “We are thankful that Norfolk Arts was awarded $300,000, up from $220,000, for the first time in...
ESSAY: Bites of the Big Apple
Words & Photo by Tom Robotham One can’t paint New York as it is, but rather as it is felt. - Georgia O’Keeffe Last month in this space, I wrote about what I call the resonance of place: the vibrations in your very soul that you feel at the mere mention of a...
ESSAY: The Forgotten Borough
By Tom Robotham There are places I remember / All my life, though some have changed. – John Lennon Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about places that hold deep meaning for me: Manhattan; Paris; Leicester, England, birthplace of my paternal grandfather; parts of...
The Virginia Arts Festival Honors a Norfolk Jewel: Elbert Watson
Elbert Watson (center) in a photo by Jack Mitchell. “Three Black Kings”: Dudley Williams as Martin Luther King, Jr., Elbert Watson as Balthazar and Clive Thompson as King Solomon dance in Alvin Ailey’s paean to the three historic figures. The work was set to the last...
ESSAY: Distorting History
By Tom Robotham Last month, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a bill banning public-college courses that “distort” historical events. When I read this news, I couldn’t help noting the irony. The American South, after all, has a very long track record of distorting...
GRC and TWBW Offer Lessons in How Non-Profits Can Help Each Other
By Joel Rubin A canoe and a Bevin’s Skiff look remarkably alike, but you row a skiff, you paddle a canoe. So says Tom Brandl, US Naval Academy grad, retired Marine Colonel, eight consecutive year summer student at a renowned boatbuilding school in Brooklin, Maine and...
A-List Jazz Vocal Summit at The Z
(Jane Monheit will teach and perform over 3-day event focused on jazz vocalists) By Jerome Langston It is quite early in my highly enjoyable, recent phone chat with Jane Monheit, when the acclaimed jazz singer pays me a particularly flattering compliment. “You have a...
ODU Students Shine in 2024 Exhibition
(Avery Keys’ Static ) By Betsy DiJulio “Is it my imagination or is ODU student work considerably stronger than in the past?” I asked John Roth, professor and chair of the ODU art department, via messenger, pressing further, “If the latter, to what do you attribute...
Threshold Rides Symbolism
By Betsy DiJulio Janus, the two-faced Roman god, is featured on the discreet, but rather baroque, medallion mounted above the entrance to the American Academy in Rome’s main building (c. 1914) with its austere, symmetrical, and orderly Renaissance architectural...
Collage Dance Collective Brings Diverse Repertoire to Norfolk
By Jerome Langston No, I’m not in Memphis, but the dancers are working with our rehearsal director, getting ready for our upcoming tour,” says Kevin Thomas, the founding Artistic Director of Collage Dance Collective, in reply to my inquiry about his whereabouts....
World Premiere, Mozart and a Monumental Work
(Composer Juhi Bansal was commissioned by Virginia Symphony Orchestra to create a new classical music work — To Call the Rain.) By Montague Gammon III The Virginia Symphony Orchestra again gives Hampton Roads audiences the honor of being the planet’s first to hear a...
Overnite Lows High on Original Songwriting
(Larry Berwald and Scott McMahan) By Jeff Maisey Musicians Larry Berwald and Scott McMahan, in collaboration with The Roads Bistro in Virginia Beach, have started a new series they call Songs & Stories: An Evening of Original Music. Presented on the fourth...
Virginia Opera’s Madama Butterfly is the Real Deal
By Montague Gammon III Authenticity is a hallmark of Virginia Opera’s early March, Season 49 closing production of Madama Butterfly, Giacomo Puccini’s tragedy of Japanese-American romance. From the Asian-born director's fundamental ideas about staging it, to...
Three Musketeers Brings Rankin Back to Norfolk
By Jerome Langston It was early in my recent phone chat with Tom Quaintance, the Producing Artistic Director of Virginia Stage Company, and award-winning fight director Steve Rankin (pictured above), that I realized how far back their friendship goes. Tom is about to...
As Goode as it Gets
(The exterior is aglow with European charm. Photo by CPix Aperture.) By Betsy DiJulio Gone are the pungent aromas of hay, manure, and gasoline. But in their place, as of January 13, are faint whiffs of damp clay, oil paint, and linseed oil. Nestled into the...
Roberta Lea Poised For Greatness
By Jim Morrison While the COVID pandemic forced many artists into secluded hibernation, it provided Roberta Lea with the opportunity to venture down the path of a new career. Lea, who dabbled in songwriting and played open mics since she was a teen two decades ago,...
Dialing-up A Thrilling Murder Mystery
(Michelle Liu Coughlin (pictured) and Daniel Domingues are making their Virginia Stage Company performance debuts in Dial M For Murder.) By Jerome Langston “Well I make no apology for saying that I love this play. It’s a wonderful play. It’s a brilliant piece of...
Fall For Restaurant Wines
(At Voilà, delicious red wines from South Africa, Sonoma, and the Burgundy region of France pair perfectly with the ever-popular entree, Beef Wellington.) By Marisa Marsey When 2020 began, the biggest headaches in the wine world were tariffs and hard seltzer. Then...
757 Breweries Win Awards
(Elation Brewing Company of Norfolk scores a silver in the Fruit/Vegetable category) By Jeff Maisey Breweries from Hampton Roads scored medals in Richmond on Monday where the Virginia Craft Brewers Guild announced the 2020 winners in its ninth annual statewide...
Kings of Their New Realm
(New Realm’s canned beers are everywhere these days in the Hampton Roads region) By Jeff Maisey One year after opening its production brewery in Virginia Beach, New Realm Brewing Company conquered the Commonwealth by winning the 2019 Virginia Craft Beer Cup when...
Meet New Sly Clyde Cidermaker Edan Valkner
(Edan Valkner is the new head cider maker at Sly Clyde Ciderworks in Hampton) By Jeff Maisey There’s a new head cider-maker in town. By late August, Sly Clyde Ciderworks will introduce Edan Valkner as its new cider-maker, tasked with producing the award-winning...
Experience Voila During Restaurant Week
(John & Maggie Tsouris prepare for Downtown Norfolk Restaurant Week. Photo by Jeff Maisey) By Jeff Maisey Downtown Norfolk Restaurant Week, scheduled August 16-23, couldn’t have come at a better time. Restaurants have been on the frontline of businesses most...
REVIEW: Dine Local at Lokal Cafe
(As healthy as it gets salad bowl at Lokal Cafe in Williamsburg. Photo by Betsy DiJulio) By Betsy DiJulio It doesn’t get a whole lot more local or scratch-made than the casual eats at Lokal. Heck, they even make their own kombucha, complete with alcohol warning. ...
Cider Talk with Sly Clyde’s Doug Smith
(Sandbar provides layers of flavor enhanced by raspberry and lemon. Photo by Sly Clyde.) By Jeff Maisey Like craft breweries, Sly Clyde Ciderworks in Hampton has a rotating series of seasonal beverages to compliment its core brands and provide a level of quality...
Something’s Always Brewing at COVA
(COVA Brewing Co in the 757’s newest craft brewery. Photo by Diane Catanzaro) By Diane Catanzaro and Chris Jones To brew or not to brew? That is the question. For Scott and Susan Bateman, the answer was “two brew.” Blending the family’s love of craft beer and...
PREVIEW: Syd’s Fish Pig Cafe
BY JEFF MAISEY In June, Chef Sydney Meers is set to open his seventh restaurant in a storied culinary career spanning 46 years. In this video interview, with most of the twisted folk art paintings hung on the walls and kitchy, Americana-cool figurines strategically...
Catching Up with Wasserhund’s Aaron Holley
(Bee-Thoven Honey Hefeweizen is one of Wasserhund's springtime special releases) BY JEFF MAISEY In this video interview Wasserhund Brewing Company owner/brewer Aaron Holley shares his viewpoints regarding operating a brewpub under state government mandated...
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