Juneteenth 2021 Celebrations
(Juneteenth now has an official flag) Compiled by Staff On June 19, 1865, Union Army general Gordon Granger announced all enslaved people in Texas were free as announced in General Order Number 3. Juneteenth, also known as Emancipation Day and Freedom Day, has...
Virginia Symphony Makes Outstanding Choice in Jacobsen
By Montague Gammon III The Virginia Symphony announced Wednesday that Eric Jacobsen, conductor and cellist, is the VSO’s new Music Director, the twelfth in its century-long history.. Jacobsen brings along an engaging smile and wit, a 1745 cello made by the...
Free Summer Concerts at Oceanfront include Blue Oyster Cult, Cracker &. more
(Blue Oyster Cult had radio-played songs like "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" and "Godzilla.") BY JEFF MAISEY A series of free concerts will take place this summer on outdoor stages at the Virginia Beach Oceanfront. This mix of performers include classic rock greats Blue...
OPINION: High Tech Policing, Anyone?
By Dr. Jerry Gaines & Sue Rowdon Older sports fans will remember when football helmets had no face-masks. There was no instant replay to see whether the ball ever broke the plane of the goal line, or if the receiver actually got both feet down inbounds before the...
ESSAY: Fifteen Minutes a Day
By Tom Robotham Last December in this space I wrote an essay about my renewed interest in studying French with an app called Duolingo. I’d fallen in love with the language while taking it for two years in college and have always wished I were fluent. Alas, I...
ESSAY: About Face(book)
By Tom Robotham A strange thing happened to me a couple of months ago: I woke up one day and had no desire to open Facebook. For many people, that wouldn’t be noteworthy. I have a number of friends who rarely look at the site. But for me it was significant....
VIEWPOINT: Jim Crow 2.0
(John Carlos,Tommie Smith, Peter Norman during 1968 Mexico City Olympics medal ceremony) By Jerry Gaines & Sue Rowdon When I realize I am older than the majority of Americans living today, it seems strange. In 71 years and seven months, a person can see a lot...
LET US DO SOMETHING SPECIAL BY UPLIFTING AND EMPOWERING YOUNG BLACK MALES
By John L. Horton “My head is bloody, but unbowed. I am the master of my fate. I am the captain of my soul.” (“Invictus Poem”) (S) William E. Henley “There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul than the way in which it treats it children.” (S) Nelson...
ESSAY: The Call of the Mountains
By Tom Robotham In the woods…a man casts off his years, as the snake his slough, and at what period soever of life, is always a child. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson The older I get, the more I appreciate the approach of springtime. It is heartening, as I sit here on a...
Virginia Arts Festival Leads Arts Return
(Americana artist Oliver Wood of The Wood Brothers performs April 12 at Bank Street Stage to open the 2021 Virginia Arts Festival) By Jeff Maisey You know the old proverb “necessity is the mother of invention”? Turns out to be true yet again. The folks at Virginia...
CLASSICAL: Timely and Timeless Music of Passion and Contrasts
By Montague Gammon III Do not expect soprano Katherine Jolly to stand still when she joins the Virginia Symphony Orchestra to send the strains of the Toni Morrison—André Previn song cycle “Honey and Rue” soaring out to audiences in Newport News, Norfolk and...
STAGE: A Norfolk Hobbit
A group shot of the cast: From Left to Right (starting with the first row): Jeffrey A. Haddock, Kristina VanPeeren, Billy Bustamante, Jayden Adams-Ruiz, Anna Sosa, and Kennedy Savage. Second Row (starting with woman in the grey sweater); Emma Emde Savanna Stone, Zia...
Dwight Rhoden’s Choreography Comes to Hampton Roads
(Choreographer Dwight Roden) By Kate Mattingly Dancers form unique friendships. Endless hours spent training, rehearsing, performing, plus partnering and sharing dressing rooms, lead to bonds that are long-lasting and steadfast. A perfect example is the friendship...
Smooth Jazz High Notes with Paula Atherton
By Jeff Maisey Paula Atherton’s “Summer Song,” featuring Nathan Mitchell, hit #1 on the Billboard’s Smooth Jazz National Airplay for two consecutive weeks. During normal times such top-charting success would translate into immediate increased ticket sales for...
Virginia Symphony Orchestra Celebrates a Century
(Violinist Simone Porter) By Montague Gammon III From the impoverished Caribbean by way of New Orleans, to the Highlands of Scotland to the ancient Roman Empire, the Virginia Symphony Orchestra’s 100th Anniversary Season opening “Rhythm and Respighi” concert ranges...
THEATER: Making It Count
(Lucy with Dracula lurking in the background. Photo by J. Stubbs Photography.) By Jim Roberts Sandra Epperson has directed “Dracula” three times over the last 50 years. If there’s one thing she’s learned, it’s this: “No existing theater company will allow you to cut a...
Jazzy Take on Bacharach
(Singer Liz Terrell to perform selections from pop composer Burt Bacharach’s extensive songbook.) By Jerome Langston This year’s Miller Jazz series concludes September 22 at the Sandler Center’s intimate Miller Studio Theatre, with a show titled The Music of Burt...
ART: Hot 100
(Kumud Vanderveer is stunning colors) By Jeff Maisey Renowned Norfolk-based photographer Glen McClure has made a career of capturing people and landscapes in the most dramatic lighting imaginable. His portrait projects have included working tools, people on the...
Jazz Fest Time in Norfolk
(Pieces of a Dream bring their dedicated smooth jazz in Norfolk) By Jeff Maisey Festevents will present its 39th annual Norfolk Waterfront Jazz Festival in Town Point Park with some major players in the popular smooth jazz format. The musical lineup over two evenings...
ART: If Not Now is Environmentally Focused
By Betsy DiJulio The most recent exhibition in an ongoing series of environmentally-themed shows curated by Gayle Paul at the Portsmouth Art & Cultural Center, If Not Now, brings together the work of eight artists from upstate New York to Washington state with a...
Alewerks Wins Veer’s 2017 Golden Tap Award
By Jeff Maisey Williamsburg-based Alewerks won Veer Magazine’s 2017 Golden Tap Award, unseating 3-time champ O’Connor Brewing Company. The competition this year was extremely close among the top four points-earning local breweries. While Alewerks took top honor with a...
Alkaline: From Pop-Up to Permanent
By Marisa Marsey “Take less than you need. Lean in close,” Kevin Ordonez hunches over a steaming bowl to demonstrate proper ramen etiquette, plunging chopsticks into the insanely aromatic Japanese broth with noodles. “SLURP LOUDLY. Let it splatter all over your face.”...
O’Connor Invades Raleigh/Durham Market
By Jeff Maisey We at Veer Magazine have enjoyed covering O’Connor Brewing Company’s many stages of growth since its humble beginnings in 2010 producing Green Can, Norfolk Canyon and Red Nun from a small warehouse to its position today as one of the most successful...
Deadline Brewing Project: Read All About It
By Diane Catanzaro & Chris Jones Deadline Brewing Project is a brand new “nanobrewery” in Virginia Beach near the intersection of West Great Neck Road and Shore Drive. Anchored by two television news reporters and one former print journalist, Deadline’s grand...
Distiller Andrew Shand reflects on his time in Virginia
By Jim Roberts The last time Veer Magazine spoke with Andrew Shand, it was April 2015, when he was helping Virginia Distillery Co. start producing its own single malt whiskey in Lovingston, about 35 miles south of Charlottesville. Later that year, Virginia Distillery...
Bier Garden Marks 20th Anniversary with Oktoberfest
By Jeff Maisey I arrived at Olde Towne Portsmouth’s Bier Garden around 10 AM one morning, and sitting at a dining room table was Dad (Anton) Osfolk, as he often is, peeling potatoes by hand for the day’s freshly made German Potato Salad. In the kitchen, son Kevin is...
Not Your Father’s Orapax
By Marisa Marsey When I called Orapax’s owner Nick Seretis to schedule an interview for the scoop on the treasured neighborhood Greek restaurant’s makeover – its refreshing new Santorini-styled look, a liquor license to unleash creative cocktails (I’ll have a...
Beer Battle for a Good Cause
By Jeff Maisey Shawn Fischer is the official “Ambassador of Beer” for Beach Ambassadors, a dedicated group of community-minded people in Virginia Beach who donate time and effort it raise money and awareness for those in need. Like these goodwill ambassadors, local...
Néktar For The Gods (And Those Who Aspire To Such Heights)
By Marisa Marsey Gucci, Ferrari, Lamborghini. To such sigh-inducing, lavish lifestyle names, Robert Dozier Jr., aims to add Néktar. And why not? While his business is based here in Hampton Roads, his ultra-premium, 100% natural liqueur comes from Italy, too. “Italy...
Carlyle Bland: Hampton’s Pioneering Restauranteur
By Michael Curry The restaurant business is notoriously a tough one requiring major investments, long hours and sometimes a fickle clientele. "Until you own one, you never know what it is all about" says Carlyle Bland with knowledge and a quiet authority that he has...
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