TRAVEL: A Weekend of London Pubs
(Veer publisher Jeff Maisey enjoys a pint of Fuller’s London Pride outside The Red Lion.) By Jeff Maisey “Congratulations,” said John. “You’ve found the London pub where locals hang out.” I had bellied up to the bar at The Ship & Shovell, pardoned myself for the...
ESSAY: The Things I Carry
When my mom died, in 2015, I was faced with a decision—or rather, a multitude of decisions: what to retrieve from her house—my childhood home—and what to leave behind. Some decisions were relatively easy. I wished I could take her piano, which she taught me to play...
2023 Virginia Arts Festival Announced
Soprano Julia Bullock will be featured during the VAF’s co-commissioned “Five Freedom Songs” composed by Jessie Montgomery. Photo by Allison Michael Orenstein. BY JEFF MAISEY Virginia Arts Festival’s magnificent 25th anniversary season might seem like a hard...
ESSAY:Tangled Up in Blue
NO EASY BEAT: Tom Robotham’s “backstage/all access pass” to the frontlines of NYC’s crime and fire scenes in the late 1970s. By Tom Robotham Recently on Facebook, I saw a meme asserting that there’s no such thing as a good cop: they’re either dirty, clean but...
NEWS: Hermitage Museum’s Rapid Capital Campaign
Staff Report The Hermitage Museum and Gardens has begun a rapid capital campaign with the goal of raising $3.5 million for needed renovations to its Visual Arts School, a Tudor England-styled building, and for enhancements to its grounds. “The preservation and...
ESSAY: Powerless
By Tom Robotham On the morning of September 30, when hurricane Ian started to make its presence felt in Norfolk, I was watching CNN’s coverage of the devastation in Florida. Since my oldest friend lives in Fort Myers—ground zero, as it turned out—I was worried...
NEWS: Lynne Seagle Has Been a Transformative Leader
(Lynne Seagle. Photo by Mark Edward Atkinson) By Jeff Maisey After more than 40 years, Hope House Foundation Executive Director Lynne Seagle will step aside on New Year’s Day upcoming. During the past four-plus decades, Seagle has been a transformative leader, a...
NEWS: Diana Blanchard Gross Lands in Hampton
(Diana L. Blanchard Gross preparing for the 2022 Virginia Artists Juried Exhibition.) By Betsy DiJulio Coming under the umbrella of Hampton Arts—aka the Hampton Arts Commission, which was created by Hampton City Council in 1987—together with The American Theatre and...
ESSAY: Young and Free
(My childhood home, shortly before my family moved in, in 1959.) By Tom Robotham During this summer’s heatwave, when I stayed home as much as possible, I spent a few afternoons binge-watching The Andy Griffith Show. I loved the program when it aired in primetime,...
BUSINESS: Matthew Stewart Rides into Retirement
(Matthew Stewart hits the retirement road) By Jeff Maisey After 43 years, Coastal Import Repair founding owner Matthew Stewart has decided to ride off into the sunset of retirement. To many in Hampton Roads, and especially in Norfolk, Coastal Import Repair has been a...
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...
STAGE: A Larger Christmas Carol
(Beatty Barnes Jr. portraying Ebenezer Scrooge in Virginia Stage Company's “A Merry Christmas Carol.” Photo by Sam Flint. By Jerome Langston "We’ve been able to build this – for the last 3 years,” says Tom Quaintance, Virginia Stage Company’s producing Artistic...
ART NEWS: Remembering Anne Iott
(Anne Iott’s “Fallen Tree II,” Watercolor, 1998) By Betsy DiJulio On October 8, this community lost someone who has been called a “lodestar of my better self,” “a force of nature” and “a pit bull for her faculty.” As five people who worked with Anne Iott for decades...
A Symphony Concert of Profound and Positive Hope
(Thomas Wilkins, conductor) By Montague Gammon III Virginia Symphony Orchestra’s Brahms and Dvořák with Thomas Wilkins November concert features “music that is going to make you feel better about yourself at the end of the evening,” says the VSO’s Principal Guest...
All Things Equal is Unequalled Theatre
(Michelle Azar stars as Ruth Bader Ginsburg Photo courtesy of Bay Street Theater.) By Montague Gammon III The most important play that anyone in Hampton Roads will see this year, and probably for many years to come, crops up for just one single early November night...
The Bier Garden Festhaus Opens in Virginia Beach
Words by Diane Catanzaro and Chris Jones Photos by Diane Catanzaro Picture this: You’re sitting at a long table with thirteen new best friends in a well-lit room, the ceiling festooned with blue and white checkerboard banners from the Paulaner Brewery in Munchen...
Proper Lager Debuts
By Jeff Maisey O’Connor Brewing Company will unveil its ultra-clean, Helles-style lager dubbed Proper Lager on Saturday, February 16 with a party that includes music from The Janks (4:30 PM) and Mosquito Cabaret (7 PM). Proper Lager will replace the brewery’s R&R...
Cape Charles Shining Bright with Brewery
By Jeff Maisey Virginia’s Eastern Shore has long been known for its bountiful harvest yielded from the endless fields of potatoes, watermelons, soybeans, corn, and other vegetables as well as the freshest seafood found anywhere — especially oysters. In the past...
Bold Mariner to Focus on OV, Close Lambert’s Point Location
Norfolk-based Bold Mariner Brewing Company is excited to announce the completion of a deal that now allows the former Bank of The Common- wealth building at 1901 E. Ocean View Ave. to be transformed into the new Bold Mariner Brewing Company. In addition, Bold Mariner...
Restaurant REVIEW: Cowboy Neil’s Tex-Mex Cantina
By Betsy DiJulio “It needed some love,” said “Cowboy” Neil Waranch of the former home of Stoley’s on Great Neck Road in Virginia Beach. For six weeks, he loved up the grungy space, maintaining the long bar and overall footprint, but giving it an appealing update...
Getting In The Spirits
(Kara King gazes out to a bright future for craft spirits in Virginia.) Photo courtesy of Ironclad Distillery Co. By Jim Roberts By all measures, the spirits industry in Virginia is booming. While the number of distilleries grew 19 percent from 2016 to 2017, sales...
Benchtop Wins VEER’s 2018 Golden Tap Award
By Staff Benchtop Brewing Company won the overall Golden Tap when Veer Magazine presented its annual Local Beer Awards at O’Connor Brewing Company in Norfolk. Gold, silver and bronze medals were given out in 50 categories ranging from various beers styles to...
Samichlaus Tapping at the Bier Garden
Words by Diane Catanzaro and Chris Jones Photos by Chris Jones So, St. Nicholas’ Day is coming up on Thursday, December 6. How are you going to ring in that holiday? Traditionalists will have the kinder place their shoes or a special boot by the fireplace, to...
A Trailblazing 10 Years for Devils Backbone
By Jeff Maisey It’s been 10 years since Devils Backbone Brewing Company opened its well-known brewpub in rural Nelson County, and today the brewery is remembered as a trailblazer that helped raise the bar for all craft breweries in Virginia. "Looking back on my 25...
The Bunker Saves Young Veterans’ Dream Brewery
By Jeff Maisey The Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger famously sings, “You can't always get what you want/But if you try sometimes you might find/You get what you need.” And, sometimes, you get even more. Such is the case for the Virginia Beach craft brewers at Young...
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