Inaugural Homegrown Harvest Festival Plants Seed for National Attention
(Along with River Road Farm and Commune, Marshall Rabil -- pictured -- and his team at Hubs Peanuts are spearheading the not-to-be-missed Homegrown Harvest Festival to benefit the Foodbank and The CROP Foundation. Photo credit: Kyle LaFerriere Photography) By Marisa...
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...
Making Music Sound Seamless
By Jeff Maisey Talk about a big band with an enormous sound and array of talent, Seamless — based in Hampton Roads — was recently named the house band at Rivers Casino. As a full band, Seamless includes cover a variety of classic songs ranging from Stevie Wonder’s...
Assemblage Artists Assemble at Assembly
(“Mr. President” by Sam Hundley) By Betsy DiJulio For their summer show at Assembly, Asa and Kira Jackson of the Newport News CAN Foundation (Contemporary Art Network) assembled three Hampton Roads-based artists who have long made art from found and manipulated...
Kingfish Brings Blues to Jazz Fest
(Christone “Kingfish” Ingram) By Jerome Langston Thousands of fans of jazz and R&B are expected to flock to this year’s 54th annual Hampton Jazz & Music Festival, which will feature music stars like Boyz II Men, Kem, Coco Jones, Jon Batiste, and...
Several Debuts at Norfolk Theatre Festival
("The Brothers Size" runs June 19-22 at NSU Brown Hall MainStage Theater.) By Montague Gammon III Three new theater companies hit local stages for the first time as part of the Virginia Arts Festival’s 2024 Theater Festival; one is our newest fully professional...
Tower of Power Still Rocks to Different Beat
By Jim Morrison From the beginning, Tower of Power co-founder Emilio Castillo grooved to a different beat. Growing up in Oakland, Castillo formed his first band with his brother. They did covers, but obscure covers. Rather than James Brown’s “I Feel Good," they did...
Sublime Headlines Point Break Fest
By Jim Morrison Sublime's lead singer, Bradley Nowell, died of a heroin overdose in the spring of 1996. His son, Jakob, was 11 months old. Two months later, the Long Beach band released their third album of their groundbreaking punk, rock, ska, and reggae stew. It...
Friends Join Forces for a Folksy Festival
By Montague Gammon III A Grammy winning singer-songwriter from New England, a finger pickin’ multi-instrument virtuoso from Northern Virginia, and a sibling-led bluegrass band from the tiny musical hotbed of Floyd, in Appalachian Virginia, walk into the Virginia Arts...
Brandy Clark Brings Grammy Tune to Norfolk
By Jim Morrison Brandy Clark's first Grammy win this year began with a Grammy loss two years ago. She was nominated -- for the 9th and 10th times -- for Song of the Year for "A Beautiful Noise" sung by Brandi Carlile and Alicia Keys and for Best American Roots...
Dance Theatre of Harlem: It’s About People
(Dance Theatre of Harlem Company in Sounds of Hazel. Photo by Jeff Cravotta) By Jerome Langston “He taught me that it’s bigger than the art. It’s about people,” says Robert Garland, the new artistic director of Dance Theatre of Harlem (DTH), referring to the legendary...
Virginia Chorale Concludes 40th Season with World Premiere
(Composer Gregory Spears) By Jeff Maisey Virginia Chorale will conclude its 40th season with the world premiere of “The Neighboring Village,” a vocal composition it commissioned from Virginia Beach native Gregory Spears. The new song is the highlight on a program...
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?...
BEER REVIEWS: Guinness, O’Connor, Cape Charles
Stock Ale Guinness Open Gate Brewery Baltimore, MD I’m a longtime fan of Guinness Extra Stout. It was one of the first European beers I tried back in the 1980s and remains a tried-and-true favorite. When in Ireland, it’s my go-to brew, along with Murphy’s. As...
Coelacanth to Close in Norfolk
STAFF REPORT Days before its fourth anniversary celebration (December 14), Norfolk independent craft brewery Coelacanth announced on Facebook it will close its doors at year's end. "It’s been an amazing, crazy, fun, hard, interesting, fulfilling and stressful 4 years....
VEGAN: The Bumbling Bee by Cast Iron Catering
By Betsy DiJulio There are no bumbles—or grumbles—here, just delicious scratch-made vegan “junk” food and burgers, served up with a side of style and genuinely friendly service. Oh, and lots of craft beers and ciders, milkshakes, and sweets. “Dealing weed...
Catch the Vibe at Vibrant Shore Brewing Company
(Exterior of Vibrant Shore Brewing Company in Virginia Beach) By Diane Catanzaro and Chris Jones Let’s go back, back into time, back to 1995. “Gangsta’s Paradise” by Coolio was number 1 on the Top 100 songs of the year, and somehow Van Halen was number 100 with, we...
Sly Clyde Hosts CoVA Cider Fest
(Cider will flow in many varieties during the Coastal VA CiderFest. Photo by Michael Williams) By Jeff Maisey How ‘bout them apples? In the last five year demand for what was once referred to as British pub cider, or hard cider, has dramatically increased across the...
Bold Mariner Anchors in Ocean View
(Behind the scenes in the brewhouse: Michael Stacks and John O’Reilly) By Jeff Maisey There’s a famous proverb that proclaims “if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.” It can be said this was true for Michael Stacks, founder and president of The Bold Mariner...
The Garage Brewery, Tradition & Big Ugly Win Gold
(Beach Ambassadors and the medalists in the People's Choice category. Photograph by Sean Chagnon/Eye of the Storm Photography) STAFF REPORT Beach Ambassadors presented its 7th Annual 757 Battle of the Beers competition in a festival setting on the grounds of Camp...
DINING: Say 350 Grace
(Michelle and Willie Moats offer the community a delicious gluten-free dining experience with 350 Grace in Ghent) By Marisa Marsey “When I made the commitment to go 100 percent gluten-free with this restaurant, everyone laughed,” recalls Willie Moats. “I felt like...
757 Battle of the Beers
(757 Brewers and Beach Ambassadors group photo by Sean Chagnon/Eye of the Storm Photography) STAFF REPORT Heard of a food fight? How about a beer fight instead? Well, sorta. On Saturday, October 12 — yes, mark your calendar and plan to attend — the Beach...
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