50 Years of Arlo On Your Radio
(Arlo working the board before his 10 AM to 3 PM mid-day shift in February 2025. Photo by Jeff Maisey) By Jeff Maisey “The enormity of the importance of Mike Arlo in our lives can best be described by imagining what the past 50 years would have been like without him:...
Williamsburg Symphony celebrating 40th anniversary
(Michael Butterman conducts the Williamsburg Symphony Orchestra. Image by Kim Kiely Photography.) By Jim Roberts Dr. Jon E. Krapfl was a loyal subscriber to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for 20 years. So loyal, in fact, that even after he moved to Williamsburg in...
ESSAY: Sounds of Silence
By Tom Robotham For the last decade or so, I’ve been in the habit of turning on CNN first thing in the morning, and letting it run for hours until it was time head to campus for afternoon classes. Often, it was background chatter while I prepared lectures, graded...
2025 VEER Music Awards
Some info for those attending the 2025 VEER Music Awards. The event is this SUNDAY, February 2 at Elevation 27 in Virginia Beach. TIME: Doors open at 5 PM. Show starts at 6 PM sharp. The program generally runs 3 hours. PARKING: The large Wal-Mart parking lot across...
NEWS: Two Years After Council Push for Local Investment, Hampton Roads Ventures Has Yet to Deliver
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 More than two years after Norfolk’s city council directed a for-profit...
VEER Music Awards Nominees Announced
By Staff We are pleased to announce the complete list of nominees for the 2025 Veer Music Awards. The 757 region had an immensely diverse range of musical releases in 2024. In determining nominees, we looked primarily for bands and musicians who officially released a...
Music Video of the Year Nominees Announced
We are pleased to announce the nominees in the Music Video of the Year category for the 2025 Veer Music Awards. The awards presentation is scheduled Sunday, February 2 at Elevation 27. Online voting is set to begin soon…stay tuned. And the nominees are… Sunny...
Animated/AI/Effects Music Video of the Year Nominees Announced
By Jeff Maisey We are pleased to announce the nominees in the Animated/AI Music Video of the Year category for the 2025 Veer Music Awards. This is a new category for our music awards presentation. We also include music videos with heavily artistic effects within this...
TRAVEL: Return To Scotland, Highlands & Castles
(Barcaldine Castle is an enchanting Bed & Breakfast today.) Words & Photos by Jeff Maisey We began Day 2 of our West Highland Way trek with sore muscles, dried mud on our boots, and an optimistic sense of adventure with nine miles of what would be very stony...
Hurrah for Film & TV
(Green room and studio at Hurrah TV and Film Academy. Photo by Michael Bibbo of Waverleigh Creative.) By Montague Gammon III The Hurrah Players unique new Nusbaum Family TV & Film Academy, which starts its first round of classes for ages 12 and up on January 6, is...
Very Peculiar Sounding
By Jeff Maisey In mid-May, post indie Brit-pop sensation Vinny Peculiar will release a new collection of songs under the album title “Things Too Often Left Unsaid,” but not before he vacations in Norfolk (Virginia) — of all places — to visit with friends. While in...
Three Dog Night Opens The Dome
(Founding singer Danny Hutton. Photo courtesy of Three Dog Night) By Jeff Maisey In 1993, hitmakers Three Dog Night were the last band to headline the Virginia Beach Dome, but don’t expect founding singer Danny Hutton to necessarily remember the venue. “If you showed...
In Deep with John Moreland
(John Moreland. Image by byAngelina Castillo.) By Jim Morrison For a decade, John Moreland pursued his dream. He'd evolved from playing in a hardcore band to a singer/songwriter who brought audiences to tears. He made a stunning appearance on The Late Show with...
Ancient Musical Thrill with The Tallis Scholars
By Montague Gammon III Prime Virginia Arts Festival favorites, the British a cappella early music vocal group called The Tallis Scholars, returns to Hampton Roads for a 500th birth-year celebration — at Norfolk’s Christ and St. Lukes Episcopal Church — of the man who...
A Foray into Fauré
(A 1903 photograph of French composer Gabriel Fauré.) By Montague Gammon III A double-dozen dose of seldom heard music comes to the Larchmont United Methodist Church April 26 to honor French composer Gabriel Fauré with the closing concert of the Norfolk Chamber...
A Landmark American Opera
(Opera vocalist Flora Hawk) By Montague Gammon III The most important show to take the stage at the Harrison Opera House since the US premiere of composer Thea Musgrave’s Mary Queen of Scots in 1978 and the world premiere of her Christmas Carol in 1979, maybe even...
VA Stage Closes Season with Every Brilliant Thing
(Actress Anna Sosa) By Jerome Langston “Every Brilliant Thing is a play that I have seen more often than any other play that I’ve directed,” says Tom Quaintance, the Producing Artistic Director of Virginia Stage Company, during a recent phone chat earlier this week....
Visual Art Calendar
(On view at Chrysler Museum of Art: Greta Pratt (American, born 1955), “Juneteenth Celebration,” 2023 Archival pigment print © Greta Pratt) Compiled by Staff “Greta Pratt: Jamestown Is Sinking” Through July 27 Chrysler Museum of Art Greta Pratt’s photographic series...
ART: Fun with Ceramics
(Walter McConnell’s “Theory of Everything.” Courtesy of the artist and Cross MacKenzie Gallery.) By Betsy DiJulio From the shelves of the local dollar store to the rarefied environs of the world’s most prestigious museums, ceramics run the gamut and are ubiquitous...
GRAMMY Winner Curates and Creates Music
By Montague Gammon III One of the most acclaimed of contemporary composers, the 2024 GRAMMY winner for Best Contemporary Classical Composition, Jessie Montgomery, who’s also a prime instrumentalist and who just happens to have a real, albeit distant, familial Norfolk...
Opa! ilo
(Chef Zack Close adds pepper sauce over the Hanger Steak) By Jeff Maisey The “food is phenomenal.” That was a common comment quickly spreading on Instagram following the friends-and-family soft opening of ilo, a neighborhood bistro located in the Historic Freemason...
The Executive Chef at Chesapeake’s Top Steak House is Just 26
By Joel Rubin If you request a 10 oz sirloin ($37), an 8-oz tenderloin ($49) or a 12 oz ribeye ($50) at The Butcher’s Son in Chesapeake, it better be hot, melt in your mouth and medium rare (if that’s your pleasure) when it arrives. “I know that very well,” says Jalen...
Aslin VB: Not Just Beer, It’s a Destination!
(Aslin’s tasting room in Virginia Beach. Photo by Diane Catanzaro) By Diane Catanzaro and Chris Jones How fortunate we are in Hampton Roads that the popular Aslin Beer Company has opened a taproom and brewery in Virginia Beach? Excellent beer, a diverse food menu,...
Green Onion Blooms Bright Again
(A healthy lunch: Poached Pear Pecan Salad with grilled chicken added.) By Jeff Maisey The Green Onion is back and better than ever. Like many independent, locally-owned restaurants, The Green Onion was challenged in a variety of ways during COVID and in the aftermath...
The Table Side Caesar Salad at Isle of Capri is as Popular as Ever
(Isle of Capri servers and Caesar Salad makers Justin Zobel, Nancy Binetti and Az Tomouro with restaurant GM Dave Cox) by Joel Rubin If you are a “server” at Isle of Capri Restaurant on the 6th floor of the Holiday Inn Express (39th and the oceanfront), you do much...
The (Ice Cream) Flavors of Summer
(Randy Windley says vanilla is most popular at Doumar’s.) By Marisa Marsey Call it a double-dip. In 1984, Ronald Reagan proclaimed July to be National Ice Cream Month and designated the third Sunday of the month (July 21 this year) as National Ice Cream Day. Good...
Roast Rider Still Riding High
(Coffee mates: Wayne and Lisa Richmon partner only with roasters who lead the industry in social and environmental responsibility including Equator. Photo by Tyler Kahlil.) By Marisa Marsey Cha-ca-cha-ca-cha-ca. Is there any sound more titillating than your favorite...
Ghent Burger Week
(Pixels Technotronic Burger) By Jeremy Bender Mirror, mirror on the wall, who has the best burger of all? From May 27 through June 2, 13 restaurants will compete in the inaugural Ghent Burger Week. Loyal patrons and hamburger fanatics alike are encouraged to visit...
Pronounced New Eateries
By Marisa Marsey Restaurant names, like baby names, come in waves. Remember the address age (Bistro 210; useful, pre-GPS, for recalling locations)? And the monosyllabic era (here’s looking at you, Stove)? Now restaurateurs are spurning marketing gurus who advise...
Chef Close to Open ILO Bistro
(Chef Zack Close. Photo courtesy of Glass Light Hotel.) By Jeff Maisey Zack Close, who spent a decade in New York City and worked with Daniel Boulud at his Michelin- starred restaurant, Café Boulud, before returning to his hometown of Norfolk to become the Executive...
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