The Story of The Dome Is a Must-See
By Jeff Maisey With “That Was Our Room: The Life & Times of the Dome,” Norfolk-based documentarian Paul Unger hones-in his skills as a storyteller. Unger, whose credits include “Hardcore Norfolk: The Movie,” is keen to set the stage with archival television...
Festevents to Commemorate The Boathouse During Harborfest
By Jeff Maisey “We were backstage and there was a buffet spread out with chicken, roast beef and all kinds of good stuff,” recalled singer David Middleton, whose local band, the Waxing Poetics, opened for numerous nationally touring acts, including the Ramones, at the...
Ghent Pride & More
On Tuesday, June 20, Ghent Pride will return in style thanks to the perseverance of event organizer Robert Roman. Together with his husband, Claus Ihlemann, Roman has been one of the most active people in Hampton Roads lobbying politicians, businesses, and ordinary...
Desplaines Departs Norfolk Botanical Garden
By Kelly Welsh Norfolk Botanical Garden (NBG) announces President & CEO Michael P. Desplaines will step down in late June to accept the CEO position at The Los Angeles County Arboretum in Arcadia, California this July. Mr. Desplaines has been with the Garden since...
Blues Dancing in Norfolk
(Mentor artist Joshua Purnell, center, and Noah Stovall, left, dance with partners. Tidewater Blues meets every Monday at the Fred Huette Center in Norfolk for blues dance instruction and a social dance.) Words & Photo By Pat Jarrett Nationally, the Tidewater...
In Search of Excellence
By Tom Robotham One of my favorite moments in the history of television is the opening scene of Newsroom, a short-lived HBO series about a jaded TV anchor, Will McAvoy, played by Jeff Daniels. In the scene, McAvoy is asked at a college forum why America is the...
Darrell Redmond is a Motivated Man on a Mission
By Joel Rubin Languishing in both juvenile and adult Virginia lockups for 25 years, felon Darrell Redmond could not have imagined that this past April 16, he would be the star attraction at a Hampton fund raiser, attended by local mayors, business leaders, social...
A Beloved Teacher and a Norfolk Native: Eva May Morris Gregory
(ODU student Alayna Vilardi. Photo by Lyn LeFevre.) By Kathryn Finney Inside a large Victorian house on Lafayette Boulevard in Norfolk, thousands of students studied the art of dance with their teacher, Eva May Morris. Her legacy lives on through a merit-based...
NEWS: Chrysler Museum Names Director of Curatorial Affairs
By Jordan Fontenot Following a national search, Castro was selected to oversee the Museum’s Curatorial, Conservation, and Collections & Exhibitions divisions, as well as serve on the Senior Leadership Team. In this role, which begins April 17, he will help to...
Game Changing Move for Brothers
(Kimberly and Tony Brothers at Brothers former location on Plume Street. Photo courtesy of Tony Brothers.) By Jeff Maisey Tony Brothers has called a brief timeout for his namesake fine dining restaurant and entertainment space on Plume Street in downtown Norfolk, and...
Sanctuary Road: An Important American Opera
(Composer Damien Geter) By Montague Gammon III An unsung hero of the Underground Railroad, which spirited enslaved African-Americans to havens safe from bondage in the years from the late 1700’ to the time of the Emancipation Proclamation, gets that unsung status...
COMEDY: Preachin’ to the Crowd
By Jerome Langston The subject of comedian Preacher Lawson’s lengthy locs, comes up quite early in our recent phone chat. His hair is even alluded to in his most recent comedy tour name, Loc’d And Loaded, though I guess the tour name didn’t stick...as he quickly...
REVIEW: UPAC Delivers Inspirational “A Motown Christmas” to Zeiders American Dream Theater
By Synnika Alek-Chizoba Lofton While standing on the main stage at Zeiders American Dream Theater in Virginia Beach, Sharon Cook screams "Representation Matters!" Standing on stage with her are Derrion La’Zachan Hawkins (Director), Jennifer Kelly-Cooper...
A Bobby Black Hat NYE
By Jeff Maisey Local blues legend Bobby Black Hat Walters shows no signs of slowing down. If anything, 2023 was one of his most prolific. In addition to two sold-out concert events at Ferguson Center for the Arts, the singer/songwriter/harmonica player will squeeze...
The Local Nutcrackers
(Ballet Virginia’s “Nutcracker” performance by professional dancers.) By Jeff Maisey In retail, many programs exist to “Buy Local” or “Shop Local During the Holidays.” These promotional efforts advocate for supporting locally owned and operated business competing...
King’s Singers: A Christmas Wish Granted
By Jeff Maisey Since the late 1960s, The King’s Singers — hailing from King’s College, Cambridge in England — have made Christmastime special by performing ancient carols from the Renaissance period and then later incorporating a diverse array of modern holiday season...
A Zip, Roaring Christmas Show with Squirrel Nut Zippers
By Jim Morrison When Jimbo Mathus decided to relaunch Squirrel Nut Zippers in 2016 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their breakthrough, "Hot," he moved forward, not back, sending out the call among his New Orleans friends to build a new band playing the old songs....
Virginia Chorale Honors NATO For Holiday Concert
(The members of Virginia Chorale. Photo by Steve Budman) By Jeff Maisey If choral music has a high season, surely it’s the holidays. Over the past thousand years, the most ancient of all music forms — vocal — has been composed for religious ceremonies as well as...
McCartney’s Gift of Photography
(Self-portrait. London, 1963 © 1963 - 1964 Paul McCartney under exclusive license to MPL Archive LLP) By Jeff Maisey Paul McCartney has provided longtime fans a gift this holiday season. First there was the brilliant roll out of “Now and Then” — mini-documentary,...
MUSIC: Winter Winds
(Vocalist Amanda Batcher coming home to sing with the Tidewater Winds) By Jim Roberts John Brewington got his Christmas wish back in August—when Amanda Batcher agreed to sing at the Tidewater Winds’ upcoming holiday concert. Brewington is the musical director for the...
St George Unveils Rare Beers
By Jeff Maisey St. George brewmaster Andy Rathmann unearthed several bottle-aged Imperial stouts stored as far back as 2005. A limited number of these are available at the brewery and packaged as the St George Vertical Sampler Series. Watch our video interview below...
VIDEO INTERVIEW: Jennifer Eichert of Mermaid Winery
(Mermaid Winery's new "to-go" wine tasting glasses with plastic lids are a fun and clever way to take the winery experience home to share) By Jeff Maisey Like many Virginia restaurants and breweries, Norfolk's Mermaid Winery is getting creative to keep loyal customers...
Audacious Bold Mariner Unveils NATO Fest Beer
By Jeff Maisey The COVID-19 global pandemic has sunk many plans this spring, but it was unable to divert The Bold Mariner from completing its charted mission for this year’s Norfolk NATO Festival beer collaboration celebrating Italy. The beer is called Audace,...
Mead: The Drink of Ancient Kings & Warriors
(Glenn Lavender says everyone needs mead. Photo by Sarah Harris) By Diane Catanzaro and Chris Jones When you think of mead, what picture do you see in your mind’s eye? Some Thor-ish fellow downing a skull-chalice of mead after an epic battle? Beowulf, wolfing down...
Takeaways from VA Beer Co’s 4th Anniversary
(The crew from Virginia Beer Company celebrate curbside. Photo courtesy of the brewery) By Jeff Maisey Virginia Beer Company co-founders Robbie Willey and Chris Smith could never have imagined celebrating the fourth anniversary of their successful Williamsburg brewery...
The O’Connor Decade
(Penny & Kevin O’Connor in February 2020. Photo by Jeff Maisey) By Jeff Maisey A little luck of the Irish and a determined can-do attitude on St Patrick’s Day 2010 got O’Connor Brewing Company up and running with its first batch of beer. In our mid-March 2010...
Baladi Mediterranean Café: A Playground for the Taste Buds
By Betsy DiJulio With some 35 plant-based dishes (and still more that are vegetarian)—mezze, soups, salads, wraps, entrees, sides, and desserts—Baladi Mediterranean Café is a vegan’s veritable playground. They even offer vegan wine. In fact, Wednesdays...
Tour de ’Burg: A drinking tour of Williamsburg
(Diane Catanzaro and Chris Jones treat their out-of-town guests to a tour of Williamsburg, including this scenic stop on the deck of Billsburg Brewery.) By Diane Catanzaro and Chris Jones When you think of Williamsburg, VA, what pops into your mind? A bonny burg...
2019 Distilled
(In 2020, make it your New Year’s Resolution to tour Virginia’s distilleries. Photo by Revel Photo Co.) BY JIM ROBERTS General Assembly Increases Commission For Distillery Stores The Virginia General Assembly passed a bill in March raising the commission for licensed...
Brews News and Clues
(New Realm Brewing Co will be expanding distribution of its popular products like Hazy Like a Fox IPA to the Roanoke region. Photo courtesy of New Realm.) By Chris Jones and Diane Catanzaro Does spending a billion dollars to buy a brewery bring you beer bliss?...
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