40 Years of Festevents in Norfolk
(Crawfish and corn are a popular menu item during Festevent’s Bayou Bon Vivant) By Jeff Maisey Forty years ago, Downtown Norfolk was a very different place that it is today. The waterfront property was either vacant or in derelict condition. The crime rate was high....
NEWS: Showtime at The Pavilion in Portsmouth
(Hip-hop group Three 6 Mafia opens the 2022 season at Atlantic Union Bank Pavilion) By Jeff Maisey Concerts are back — finally — in Portsmouth, and the 2022 season will be one to remember. After a couple years of dashed hopes due to a tear in the tent top roof...
Good Sense and Good Magic
By Tom Robotham And I go on believing in the possibility of love. – Pablo Neruda Twenty years ago, during my stint as editor of Port Folio Weekly, my friend Mike Pearson suggested that I get together with one of his colleagues at Old Dominion University—poet...
ESSAY: American Studies
By Tom Robotham Thirty-five years ago—10 years after I graduated from college—I decided to go back to school to pursue a master’s degree in American Studies. At the time I had no plans to become a teacher. My decision was motivated purely by a desire to gain a deeper...
ESSAY: The Sins of Our Fathers
By Tom Robotham I know a lot of people who’ve ordered ancestry test kits like 23andMe, but I’ve never felt compelled to do so, since I already know a great deal about my family history. My mother, especially, was interested in genealogy, and when I was still very...
OPINION: ONE MAN’S EXPERIENCE WITH CRITICAL RACE THEORY
By John L. Horton As the saying goes: “You learn something ‘new’ everyday…” Just imagine all that. In just the past several days, I have watched the SHOWTIME documentary series: “everything’s gonna be all white…” Basically, this is a provocative new three-part...
VA Arts Fest Readies 25th Anniversary
(American Ballet Theatre opens the 25th anniversary season of the Virginia Arts Festival) By Jeff Maisey For its silver anniversary season, the Virginia Arts Festival (VAF) has unveiled some returning fan favorites, first-time performers, and an impressive roster of...
ESSAY: My Life in Nine Songs
By Tom Robotham Music…is not simply a distraction or a pastime, but a core element of our identity. – Daniel Levitin, The World in Six Songs The other day, I pulled from one of my bookshelves a volume that I’ve revisited often over the last few years: Daniel...
ESSAY: Achieving the Dream
By John L. Horton The most dangerous person in the world is a person who is sincerely ignorant and conscientiously stupid. You have a moral obligation to be intelligent. — Dr. Martin Luther King. Jr. If Dr. King were alive, he would have been 93 years old on...
Why is a Norfolk community development entity investing everywhere but Norfolk?
Hampton Roads Ventures, created by the Norfolk Redevelopment and Housing Authority, is headquartered in this office building in Norfolk. (Jim Morrison/ For the Virginia Mercury) BY JIM MORRISON, Correspondent, Virginia Mercury NORFOLK — When they posed for a picture...
Benoit & Rosano Team-Up for Album and Tour
By Jim Morrison Tab Benoit may be best known as one of Louisiana's finest blues guitarists and vocalists with a three-decade career releasing solo records and working with legends like Anders Osborne, George Porter, Jr., and Cyril Neville. But Benoit has also been a...
The Icon & Iconic Album Cover
By Jeff Maisey One of the most recognizable, iconic record album covers in pop culture almost never saw the light of day. “If it was up to me I would have rejected the cover,” said legendary trumpet player Herb Alpert, who released “Whipped Cream & Other...
SWING TIME: New Releases from Jae Sinnett & Eddie Williams
By Tom Robotham Hampton Roads has long been home to some first-rate jazz musicians, and I can think of no better evidence of this fact than the superb quality of two recently released albums by musicians who live here: Commitment, featuring drummer-composer Jae...
Focus on Modern Jazz Composers
Trumpeter Taylor Barnett will perform with local jazz musicians for “The Modernists” By Jerome Langston “I broke my finger 3 weeks ago while on vacation,” bassist Jimmy Masters says to me earlier this week, before we even start chatting about the latest show in...
Beaching It with Alana Springsteen
By Jeff Maisey Coastal Country is a thing, just ask rising music star Alana Springsteen, who was born and raised in Virginia Beach. “I’m a Beach girl through and through,” said Springsteen. “It made me who I am. It comes out in so many ways in the music that I write....
Top 40 Concerts of Summer
(Neo-soul crooner Anthony Hamilton headlines the opening night of Hampton Jazz Festival By Staff Nine-time Grammy nominated smooth jazz saxophonist Dave Koz recently told Veer Magazine the summer of 2023 will mark the true, post-pandemic return to form for the concert...
ART REVIEW: Heart Pulsates with Fantastical Intrigue
(Claudia Bueno’s fantastical art exhibition extends to the exterior of the Hermitage Museum. Photo by Lindsay Collette.) By Betsy DiJulio Born of shattering heartbreak and a deeply integrated process of healing, Echoes of the Heart embodies artist Claudia Bueno’s...
Reliving the Music of Luther Vandross
By Jerome Langston “If you’ve never been to a Luther Vandross show, the real thing—we’re gonna be as close as you’re gonna get,” says singer William “Smooth” Wardlaw, during our recent phone chat about his upcoming tribute show honoring soul music icon, Luther...
Bluegrass & Brews at American Theatre
(Steep Canyon Rangers) By Jim Roberts Mike Ashworth grew up in North Carolina with members of the Steep Canyon Rangers, but he didn’t officially join the band until 2013, the same year they won the Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album. In the 10 years since, the band...
Valerie June’s Intoxicating Organic Moonshine Roots Music
By Jim Morrison Valerie June recorded her latest set of originals, "The Moon and the Stars: Prescriptions for Dreamers," before the pandemic. When the lockdown descended, her label delayed its debut. As a performer who quipped that she only returned to her...
Brewers Collaborate for Virginia Beer Fest
By Jeremy Bender This year’s 17th annual Virginia Beer Festival will feature three new beers that’ll be served to festival-goers sitting in on the Brew School, hosted by Virginia Craft Beer Magazine and Veer Magazine. During the three school sessions each team of...
20 Years of St. George Brewing
By Jeff Maisey Remember those investment commercials with the slogan, “They make money the old fashioned way — they earn it”? Well, St. George Brewing Company should probably have a similar theme. Something like, “They make beer the ol’ fashioned way — they stick to...
Lafayette Lager: Top NATO General collaborates with Bold Mariner on symbolic beer
By Jeff Maisey NATO Supreme Allied Commander Transformation, French Five-Star General Denis Mercier recently joined Norfolk's The Bold Mariner Brewing Company’s Michael Stacks and John O’Reilly in brewing Lafayette Lager. The French-style lager will debut at the...
Green Flash Foreclosed Upon
BY JEFF MAISEY A year and a half ago it seemed Green Flash Brewing Company was on top of the world, expanding its distribution to all 50 states with fresh product and production breweries on both coasts. Then in January of this year, the announcement of staff...
Consider The Oyster Tour
By Marisa Marsey “American oysters differ as much as American people…” - M.F.K. Fisher, Consider The Oyster, 1941 Many a Manhattanite has never reached the top of the Empire State Building. Philadelphians rarely visit the Liberty Bell. Except with out-of-town company,...
Bold Mariner to Open Satellite in Ocean View
By Jeff Maisey The Bold Mariner Brewing Company will open a satellite location in Ocean View at 1901 East Ocean View Avenue. The brewery will operate in a former Bank of the Commonwealth building. According to owner Michael Stacks, the brewery will open in late fall...
Green Flash Auctioning Virginia Beach Brewery
By Jeff Maisey San Diego-based Green Flash Brewing Company appears to be liquidating all assets of its Virginia Beach facility including the facility itself, bottling line, tasting room and draft system. The auction is being done through Heritage Global Partners,...
O’Connor Wins Big in Dublin
O’Connor Brewing Co. claimed a gold medal, three silver medals and four bronze medals in the 2018 Dublin Craft Beer Cup; a global competition, which allows craft brewers to showcase their brews to have them rated, tasted and analyzed by an expert, international panel...
Here’s to 2018: Whiskeys for Hogmanay
By Jim Roberts “Hogmanay” is the celebration of the new year in Scotland, so it makes pearfect sense that whisky, the national drink, plays a prominent role in the festivities. “Wherever you go,” Angus MacRaild wrote on ScotchWhisky.com last New Year’s Eve,...
Amber Ox Crafts Beer and Food
Words by Chris Jones & Diane Catanzaro Photos by Diane Catanzaro The Amber Ox Public House in Williamsburg is a new brewpub that is in many ways a game-changer in Hampton Roads. Creative, seasonally-inspired cuisine, top-notch beers brewed on premises, guest beers...
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