Live Photography Nominees Announced
BY STAFF The following submissions have been selected as nominees for the 2025 Veer Music Awards in the Live Photography category. Voting is expected to go live on January 1 at veermag.com. Congrats to all nominees and thank you to those who submitted entries. ...
2025 Veer Music Awards Performers Announced
The musical theme for the 2025 Veer Music Awards presentation will be A Tribute to The Dome. The music awards are presented by Elevation 27 on Sunday, February 2. Showtime is 6:00 PM sharp. Admission is free to all. In addition to awards being presented in a diverse...
NEWS: Virginia Arts Festival 2025
(Birmingham Royal Ballet’s “Black Sabbath”) By Jeff Maisey Familiar names — each with their own twist — in the performing arts world represent the highlights of the 2025 Virginia Arts Festival season. Perhaps top of the list will be the Birmingham Royal Ballet’s...
NEWS: Virginia Beach Dome
As part of the Atlantic Park entertainment complex, the grand opening of The Dome — the live concert component of the city-owned project — has yet to be formally announced, but officials from partner Live Nation have stated Spring 2025 with more details to be shared...
Big Ugly Wins Golden Tap Award
By Jeff Maisey Veer Magazine’s annual Golden Tap Awards ceremony was held December 3 at Big Ugly Brewing in Chesapeake, and the host brewery claimed the overall Golden Tap Award. City of Chesapeake Mayor Rick West was on-hand to welcome brewers from across the Hampton...
2024 Holiday Happenings
HOLIDAY LIGHTS & PARADES 30th Annual Garden of Lights Norfolk Botanical Garden Through January 5 5-9:30 PM Nightly NBGlights.org Get out and enjoy the spectacular 1.5 million lights at Norfolk Botanical Garden. Barks & Bulbs Norfolk Botanical Garden...
Open Call for Photography Categories: Veer Music Awards
We are now accepting submissions in the Live Photography and Posed Photography categories for the 2025 Veer Music Awards. General instructions: — Each photographer may submit up to three (3) photographs in each category — Photos should be submitted as jpeg...
Breakfast Lecture Series Taking Off in Virginia Beach
Yellow leaders Stephanie Walters and Anita Patel speak at CreativeMornings’ October meeting at The Garage VB. Courtesy of CreativeMornings Virginia Beach By Jim Roberts Kate Pittman, the executive director of the ViBe Creative District in Virginia...
Norfolk Officials Signal Changes are Necessary for Floodwall to Move Forward
(Yellow poles, reflecting the height of the proposed walls, have been installed by Freemason residents in protest to the city of Norfolk’s flood resilience plan. Photo by Jim Morrison) By Jim Morrison/VirginiaMercury.com Norfolk officials sat down for an...
ESSAY: Mourning in America
By Tom Robotham When Donald Trump ran for president in 2016, I disagreed with many friends who thought there was no way he could win. The book I mentioned in my last essay—Amusing Ourselves to Death—kept coming to mind, and Trump personified author Neil Postman’s dark...
Transformative Gospel Music
By Jerome Langston Speaking with award-winning choir conductor and workshop leader, Karen Gibson, MBE, the founder of the Kingdom Choir, the highly successful London based gospel choir, via Zoom a few days ago, felt akin to chatting with a genuine friend. Karen exudes...
A Carol or Two from Virginia Stage Company
The Cast and Production Stage Management Team of Virginia Stage Company's A Sherlock Carol : (L-R)Patrick Halley, Scott Wichmann, Seth Patterson, Steve Pacek, Sarah Manton, Beatty Barnes, Tia Collier, Emma D. Emde, Rachel Fobbs, and Abbigail LaRocque. Photo by TOC...
Local Musicians Pay Homage to The Last Waltz
By Jim Morrison In Patrick Higgins' memory, he saw the iconic film, "The Last Waltz," in downtown Washington, D.C.'s Warner Theatre on a big screen with an impressive sound system. "We were teenagers," he says, "so likely we were somewhat stoned." At the time, he was...
ART: The Substance Beneath the Surface of Reflections
Installation view of Reflections: Surface and Substance. Courtesy of the Mary M. Torggler Fine Arts Center. By Betsy DiJulio Immediately on the heels of the opening of the Torggler Fine Arts Center’s current exhibition, I was fortunate to catch up with curator...
Man At Work
By Jim Morrison Colin Hay is touring as Men at Work, but he hasn't brought back the band that made those early ‘80s, ear-worm hits like "Down Under," "Who Can It Be Now?" and "Overkill." "It's not really putting Men at Work back together," he said in a call from Los...
Heartfelt Themes and a Dream Fulfilled with the Virginia Symphony
(Michelle Cann, piano) By Montague Gammon III When Michelle Cann sits down at a Steinway in very early November to play Franz Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1 with the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, she’s reuniting with a difficult but thrilling college friend who...
Five Prime Players, Two Classics and a Mysterious Composer
By Montague Gammon III Feldman Chamber Music Society’s October 28 concert brings Ensemble 4.1, self-described as the world’s only piano windtet, to the Chrysler Museum’s Kaufman Theatre in a program of music by Mozart, Gershwin and a composer called N.H. Rice, whose...
Women Drive Stake Through Heart of Patriarchal Dracula
(Cast of Dracula during rehearsals. Photo by Sam Flint.) By Jerome Langston Walking into the large, nondescript MacArthur Center space, which formerly housed some glitzy retailer during the Norfolk mall’s glory years — but now serves as adequate rehearsal space for...
Heroes and Prodigies and the Marquis de Lafayette
(Brendon Elliott, violin) By Montague Gammon III Heroes and prodigies fill the Francophile Virginia Symphony October 18-20 concerts. The hero in whose honor the concert was programmed with French composers is Lafayette, the young Marquis who took part in the American...
A Feast of French Culture
Marie Bracquemond (French, 1840—1916) Under the Lamp, 1877 Oil on canvas Mr. and Mrs. R. Stephens Philips, Piedmont, CA By Jeff Maisey If you enjoy the hit series Emily in Paris, fell in love with Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris, have a passion for dining in a snug...
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...
Vegan Korean
By Betsy DiJulio Vegan Korean fried chicken may be the tastiest oxymoron on the planet. Korean Fried Chicken—which someone cleverly dubbed “the other KFC”—emerged as a “thing” in the US long after I no longer consumed meat. So, I had never experienced this...
Backstories Vol. 1
(Dylan & Jason of Waters Edge Winery Norfolk) By Joel Rubin If you have seen the weekly newsletter I publish (generally to promote the offshore wind industry Dominion Energy is bringing to the region), you know that many of the articles feature small businesses,...
Voodoo Brewing Co. opens pub in Virginia Beach
(Alex and Chrissy Bergren have opened a Voodoo Brewing location in Virginia Beach. Photo by Jim Roberts.) By Jim Roberts Voodoo Brewing Co., the newest entry into Hampton Roads’ beer scene, opened on January 13 in Virginia Beach. It’s a locally owned and...
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