VOTE! 2024 VEER MUSIC AWARDS!
As you can see below, 2023 was a sensational year for bands and musicians in the 757 region. Voting is now live through January 21. Note: Most of the categories required potential nominees to have released a single, EP, album, or music video in 2023. We also...
Announcing 2024 Veer Music Awards Nominees
As you can see below, 2023 was a sensational year for bands and musicians in the 757 region. Voting will begin this week. Stay tuned to our Facebook page for announcement. Note: Most of the categories required potential nominees to have released a single, EP, album,...
Music Video of the Year Nominees
Below are the 2024 Veer Music Awards nominees for Music Video of the Year Celeste Kellogg, “Save a Dance For Me This Christmas” tyler donavan, “Crescendo” Magg Dylan, “GTFO” Sunny Moonshine, “2Tone” featuring Lex Lucent Jarrett Beeler,...
A Pair of Beach Kids Are Taking Beverage Development and Packing to the Next Level
(Josh Canada and Megan Riggs) By Joel Rubin Driving through a heavily industrial area of Chesapeake, you would never guess what happens daily inside a massive warehouse just off Bainbridge Boulevard. On the spacious floor are four sophisticated processing “lines,”...
Posed Photography Nominees: Veer Music Awards
Will Clarke: “Turncoat Syndicate” (Pictured above) Pete Federico: “Anthony Rosano and The Conqueroos” (below) Robert Peck: “WOAH” Michael Spencer: “Eight Inner Gates” Wendy Woodell: “Barry Manilow’s Wardrobe” Summer Lee: “Eight...
Photography Live Nominees
The following are the nominees in the Live Photography category of the 2024 Veer Music Awards. Robert Peck: “Curtis Cowles and Brad Garrett from Buckshot performing at New Realm in Virginia Beach”(Pictured above) Jaybird: “The Lazy Dangers at Chicho’s Backstage” Pete...
A Jazz Non-Profit Is Born
(Jae Sinnett suits-up to build a jazz legacy for Hampton Roads. Photo courtesy of Jae Sinnett. By Jeff Maisey While the Hampton Roads region — known as Tidewater back in the day — gave birth to the great vocalist Ella Fitzgerald and saxophonist/arranger Tommy Newsom,...
ESSAY: The Flame of Faith
By Tom Robotham Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.’ On these two commandments hang all...
Big Ugly Wins 2023 Golden Tap Award
Big Ugly Brewing won the 2023 Golden Tap Award in a region-wide competition where the tally was picked by readers and our committee of judges — including Diane Catanzaro, Chris Jones, Brian Koski, and Jen McDonald — provided expert analysis. The 757 region craft...
Iceland: An Ultimate Roadtrip
(A horse riding tour stops for a photo-op at Skogafoss in southern Iceland) By Jeff Maisey PBS travel guru Rick Steves was motoring around Iceland the past July. Steves posted daily blogs from the road, proclaiming the country’s scenic highway to be the “ultimate...
Heartfelt Themes and a Dream Fulfilled with the Virginia Symphony
(Michelle Cann, piano) By Montague Gammon III When Michelle Cann sits down at a Steinway in very early November to play Franz Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, she’s reuniting with a difficult but thrilling college friend who...
Five Prime Players, Two Classics and a Mysterious Composer
By Montague Gammon III Feldman Chamber Music Society’s October 28 concert brings Ensemble 4.1, self-described as the world’s only piano windtet, to the Chrysler Museum’s Kaufman Theatre in a program of music by Mozart, Gershwin and a composer called N.H. Rice, whose...
Women Drive Stake Through Heart of Patriarchal Dracula
(Cast of Dracula during rehearsals. Photo by Sam Flint.) By Jerome Langston Walking into the large, nondescript MacArthur Center space, which formerly housed some glitzy retailer during the Norfolk mall’s glory years — but now serves as adequate rehearsal space for...
Heroes and Prodigies and the Marquis de Lafayette
(Brendon Elliott, violin) By Montague Gammon III Heroes and prodigies fill the Francophile Virginia Symphony October 18-20 concerts. The hero in whose honor the concert was programmed with French composers is Lafayette, the young Marquis who took part in the American...
A Feast of French Culture
Marie Bracquemond (French, 1840—1916) Under the Lamp, 1877 Oil on canvas Mr. and Mrs. R. Stephens Philips, Piedmont, CA By Jeff Maisey If you enjoy the hit series Emily in Paris, fell in love with Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris, have a passion for dining in a snug...
MAMA-Girl’s Spirit Lives On
(MAMA-Girl, Woman Giraffe. Photo by Mark Atkinson) By Betsy DiJulio “Cullen, I think we ought to do a MAMA-Girl show,” said the voice at the other end of the line. It was 2023 and Cullen Strawn, Ph.D., ODU’s executive director for the arts, had picked up the phone to...
Don Giovanni: Energy and Experience, Spirit and Spectacle Open Virginia Opera’s 50th Season
By Montague Gammon III One of the greatest operas of all time, by one of the greatest composers of all time, with a libretto by a similarly regarded writer, opens Virginia Opera’s 50h Anniversary Season with two Harrison Opera House performances October...
Talkin’ Songwriting with Warren Haynes
(Warren Haynes’ new album is titled “Million Voices Whisper.” Photo by Shervin Lainez) By Jim Morrison "You know," Warren Haynes says from his home in upstate New York, "Gregg Allman used to say there's as many ways to write a song as there are songs." Haynes turned a...
A Real Jazz Festival in Phoebus
(Saxophonist Steve Wilson) By Jerome Langston Chatting with Jae Sinnett earlier this week, following a dental procedure that he’d just endured — was unfortunate timing for the acclaimed jazz drummer, composer and bandleader, but he was nevertheless a pleasure to talk...
Feldman Season Opens with a Three Way Threesome
By Montague Gammon III The fast rising, internationally acclaimed Trio Zimbalist comes to Norfolk for the Feldman Chamber Music Society’s 2024-25 Season opening concert at the Chrysler Museum’s intimate Kaufman Theater September 23. This threesome of piano, violin and...
The Rebranding of St. George Beer
By Jeff Maisey Knights, castles, dragons — oh my. I’ve always been drawn to the imagery, symbolism and concept of St. George Brewing Company in Hampton. From the prominent red cross on white background crest of St George and the weaponry of Medieval British...
Pandemic Brings Pizzeria to Norfolk Tap Room
(Vincent Ranhorn, Todd Craig, and Todd Leutner) By Jeff Maisey Back in the 1980s and ‘90s, I used to make my way up to New York City for concerts, shopping in SoHo and the Village, and an authentic slice of the Big Apple — pizza. When some old school music friends...
Saddle-up to the Coach House
(Dana & Kevin Kern bring delicious bistro fare to the north end of Colley.) By Jeff Maisey I pony my hungry self up to the Coach House, ask for a Soggy Dollar Painkiller to relax my mind a bit, and peruse the menu while I await the arrival of two amigos. It’s...
Well-Aged Williamsburg Winery
(Winemaker Matthew Meyer stands proud of his gold medal winning 2017 Petit Verdot Reserve. Courtesy photo.) By Jim Roberts In spite of the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020 is turning out to be a vintage year for the Williamsburg Winery. In January the winery won 11 medals at...
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. ...
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