Hoggard. Remembering Joe

Hoggard. Remembering Joe

By Jim Raper On a fall night sometime in the late 1980s I dined with a professional group of about 20 at Joe Hoggard’s Ships Cabin restaurant in Norfolk’s East Ocean View. Our main course this evening would be cioppino. “It’ll be the best fish soup you’ve ever had,”...

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ESSAY: A Fan’s Notes

ESSAY: A Fan’s Notes

By Tom Robotham Over the years, I’ve written a lot about my love of baseball, and it’s on my mind once again as the World Series approaches. Lately, though, I’ve been reflecting on this in a broader context: Why are sports in general so captivating? I realize, of...

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TCC Opens New Visual Arts and Design Center

TCC Opens New Visual Arts and Design Center

By Jim Roberts Marcia Conston didn’t live in Norfolk in 2011—the year Farm Fresh closed its grocery store in downtown Norfolk—but she fully understands the impact of Tidewater Community College expanding into that long unused space. “I never imagined that we could...

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BOOK REVIEW: Homeward Bound

BOOK REVIEW: Homeward Bound

(Author Michael Pearson on the road in Ireland. Courtesy photo) By Tom Robotham Over the last three decades, Michael Pearson—former professor of creative writing and literature at Old Dominion University—has written seven books of nonfiction focusing on his two great...

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ESSAY: A Fan’s Notes

ESSAY: An Education

By Tom Robotham Recently, I received a notice from the State University of New York at Plattsburgh that my graduating class would be among those honored during this year’s homecoming weekend. Until then, it hadn’t dawned on me that 2023 marks 45 years since I donned...

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Violent Femmes Happy to Return to Norfolk

Violent Femmes Happy to Return to Norfolk

By Jeff Maisey This year marks the 40th anniversary of American folk/punk band Violent Femmes.  The Milwaukee-based group made an impressive debut in 1983 with the self-titled album which spawned the longtime classic singles “Blister in the Sun” and “Gone Daddy...

The Gift of the Fiddler

The Gift of the Fiddler

By Jerome Langston “In all honesty, it’s kind of the gift that keeps on giving. If you have to be associated with one show repeatedly in your career, I couldn’t think of a better one to be associated with,” says Gary John La Rosa, the famed director/choreographer,...

Rocking Rachmaninoff

Rocking Rachmaninoff

By Jeff Maisey Earlier this year, the Virginia Arts Festival celebrated in grand style the 150th birthday of Russian composer Sergei Rachmaninoff with a series of chamber music concerts featuring the internationally acclaimed Dali Quartet and violinist Tianwa Yang as...

Still Ga Ga Over the Goo Goos

Still Ga Ga Over the Goo Goos

By Jim Morrison For a decade after they formed in Buffalo and before they became radio stars, The Goo Goo Dolls toured in a van, a trio sometimes headlining and sometimes opening for bands like The Gun Club or Motorhead. Their first album, recorded on a $750 budget...

Feast Festively on Beethoven’s Bounty

Feast Festively on Beethoven’s Bounty

(Piano soloist Orli Shaham) By Montague Gammon III The Virginia Symphony opens its 2023-24 Season with a Beethoven Festival whose bounties Music Director and concert conductor Eric Jacobsen twice likened to a “steak dinner with dessert,” a two course musical feast of...

Forward with Humble Pie’s Legacy

Forward with Humble Pie’s Legacy

By Jeff Maisey Back in the early 1970s, Humble Pie was considered one of the best live rock n roll bands to experience as is evident on their “Rockin’ the Fillmore” double-album released in 1971.  The English group was formed by Steve Marriott (vocals, Small Faces)...

757 Battle of the Beers Celebrates 10 Years in September

757 Battle of the Beers Celebrates 10 Years in September

By Jeff Maisey Over the last decade, craft beer festivals have come and gone in the Hampton Roads.   Today the 757 Battle of the Beers, celebrating its 10th anniversary on September 24, is the longest running beer event in the region.  The 757 Battle concept was...

RESTAURANT NEWS: A Gateway to India

RESTAURANT NEWS: A Gateway to India

  By Marisa Marsey Paul Chhabra, the civic-minded, seasoned restaurateur who’s been broadening Hampton Roadsters’ palates with biryanis, bharthas and basmati for over three decades, is pulsing with boyish energy early this morning as he pulls up in a U-Haul to a...

BEER: Crossing the Thin Brew Line 

BEER: Crossing the Thin Brew Line 

(Beer-tender Cara and Thin Brew Line’s new brewer, Raf Corredor. Photo by Chris Jones.) By Diane Catanzaro & Chris Jones There you are in Virginia Beach, looking for a place to get a libation, a sip of suds, a beer. You’d like something fresh, delicious, and...

The Grey Goose Turns 40

The Grey Goose Turns 40

(The Grey Goose now serves brunch six days a week. Photo by Grey Goose ) By Marisa Marsey “That was really tasty,” said Phillip Epstein as he and his wife Dana exited The Grey Goose Tea Room in Downtown Hampton. “But I don’t need to go back again.” The year was 2007....

Mexican-Inspired for Cinco de Mayo

Mexican-Inspired for Cinco de Mayo

  By Jeff Maisey Mexican lagers have been a favorite amongst local beer lovers, especially on Hampton Roads’ notoriously humid, hot days of spring and summer. Beer brands from South of the Border like Modelo, Dos Equis, Tecate, Cerveza Pacifico Clara have...

REVIEW: Crudo Nudo is a Delight 

REVIEW: Crudo Nudo is a Delight 

(A vegan’s dream come true dish. Photo courtesy of Crudo Nudo.)  By Betsy DiJulio  Sadly, I was late to the Crudo Nudo party.  Until recently, I was under the mistaken impression that the storefront restaurant, open for four years, was charcuterie-heavy with little to...

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