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...
City of Light—and Warmth
By Tom Robotham Paris is so very beautiful that it satisfies something in you that is always hungry in America. – Ernest Hemingway In May of 2016, VEER publisher Jeff Maisey and I flew to London and spent the next 10 days touring Great Britain. It was my first trip...
Commemorating NATO ACT’s 20th Anniversary, 70 Years of Norfolk NATO Festival
WELCOMING FINLAND INTO NATO: (L-R) French Air & Space Force General Phillip Lavigne (NATO Supreme Allied Commander Transformation), Admiral Rob Bauer of The Netherlands (Chair of the NATO Military Committee), Finnish President Sauli Niinisto, and NATO...
New Grant Funding Model Aims to Help Hampton Residents Fight Shoreline Erosion
By Charlie Paullin A new Hampton program aims to help residents address shoreline erosion by allowing some funds to be provided upfront rather than solely requiring them to pay for improvements themselves and then seek reimbursement. The funds are available through...
Local Bagpiper Reflects on Virginia International Tattoo
By Jim Roberts I’ve played the bagpipes for more than 30 years. My piping has taken me all over the United States and to Canada and Scotland. My band, Tidewater Pipes & Drums, has opened for Rod Stewart—twice—and we’ve played on stage with the Chieftains,...
Violent Crime in Norfolk is up. The jury is still out on why — and what to do about it.
A portable security camera on Granby Street in downtown Norfolk being used by police as part of a hot spot policing strategy. (Photo by Jim Morrison) By Jim Morrison In March of 2021, a Norfolk prosecutor who had recently retired after 27 years wrote to City...
ESSAY: On Television
By Tom Robotham As an instructor of media studies, I spend a lot of time thinking about the ways in which various mass media affect our lives. I’m struck, especially, by the fact that today’s children can barely imagine what life was like before the advent of...
ESSAY: The Sound of Surprise
(Count Basie at his piano in 1955. Photo by James J. Kriegmann) By Tom Robotham Whenever someone asks me what kind of music I like, my go-to answer is, all of it. I’d be hard-pressed to pick a single favorite genre. That said, when I reflect on the richness of my...
2023 VEER Music Awards Results
By Jeff Maisey On February 5, the City of Hampton presented the 2023 Veer Music Awards at The Vanguard Brewpub & Distillery. The Honorable Mayor Donny Tuck of Hampton personally presented the first pair of awards — Best Smooth Jazz and Best Traditional Jazz —...
16 Ways to Celebrate Black History Month
Compiled by Staff February marks Black History Month and we’ve compiled a checklist to help you fully enjoy celebrating through speaker forums, education, visual art, performing arts, and culinary art. A Tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Virginia Symphony...
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...
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...
New ABC Laws Go Into Effect July 1
Below is the list of new ABC laws that go into effect July 1. Happy Hour Advertising (HB 2073 and SB 1726) This law allows retail on-premise ABC licensees to advertise both the alcoholic beverages featured during a happy hour and the beverage prices. Creative...
Coastal Virginia Brewery Alliance Festival
(Porter Hardy IV is President of the Coastal Virginia Brewery Alliance and Smartmouth Brewing Co) By Jeff Maisey The 30 independent craft breweries counting themselves as members of the recently formed Coastal Virginia Brewery Alliance (CVBA) are hosting a party and...
Precarious Beer Hall – Ale, Arcade, and Americana
(Spacious Precarious Beer Hall is fun, fun, fun) Words & Photos by Diane Catanzaro and Chris Jones What are the sounds you associate with Colonial Williamsburg? Pumpa-rum pumpa-rum twee twee tweeee…that’s a fife and drum corp as they march through the pedestrian...
New Realm Wins VA Craft Beer Cup, 757 Breweries Score Numerous Medals
Hampton Roads breweries scored multiple awards and Virginia Beach's New Realm Brewing won the overall Virginia Craft Beer Cup, when the Virginia Craft Brewers Guild held its 8th annual Virginia Craft Beer Awards Monday evening at Tredegar Iron Works in Richmond. In...
Dining à la (shopping) Cart at Wegmans & IKEA
(Take a break from shopping at Wegman’s Burger Bar. Photo courtesy of Wegmans) By Marisa Marsey Have you heard about the Swedish meatballs at IKEA? They’re delicious. If only you didn’t have to put them together yourself. Ba-dum-CHING! I’m joking, of course. You don’t...
Reverend Spirits
By Jim Roberts One thing Karl Dornemann’s restaurants have always had in common: whiskey. Lots and lots of whiskey. “The first time I had it, I fell in love with it,” he said. “At least Scotch-wise.” By way of explanation—and only half-joking—he added: “I don’t know...
Tamarind: Taking it to the (Vegan) Streets
By Betsy DiJulio I cannot think of another food establishment that I have patronized three times in a month, not counting my daily stop at Starbucks for a venti Green Tea Soy Frappuccino, no Classic Syrup, no Whip. That is, except Tamarind. And it may have...
Beer Conversation with Phil Smith
By Jeff Maisey Some of the best, free-flowing conversations can be had over a beer — or any cocktail, glass of wine and dinner. I have always found this to be true, and especially when traveling. Recently, I gave Brick Anchor Brew House owner Phil Smith a...
Vegans Can Clean-Up at Sloppy Seconds
By Betsy DiJulio I don’t know that, given the meaning of the slang phrase “sloppy seconds”—which conjures up nothing appetizing—I would have necessarily chosen it as the name of my restaurant. But, alas, that’s the name and I will go back for Thoughtless Thirds. ...
Penang Town: One Restaurant, Many Flavors
By Marisa Marsey If you can travel to only one European country, pick Switzerland. With French overtones in the West, Italian in the South, and German and Austrian in the North and East, it’s a veritable continental quilt. Likewise, if you can visit only one Asian...
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