New Location for Old Beach Farmers Market
(Virginia Beach Mayor Bobby Dyer helps cut the ribbon.) By Jeff Maisey Old Beach Farmers Market has a new location, but it didn’t have to move far. Held on each Saturday from 9 AM to noon for 17 years in the parking lot of Croc’s 19th Street Bistro and then extending...
ESSAY: The Summer of Our Discontent
By Tom Robotham November 5th will mark a special anniversary for me: Fifty years earlier on that date, I voted for the first time. I remember the moment vividly—and the sense of pride I felt as I closed the black curtain and flipped the lever next to the name Hugh...
ESSAY: A Moveable Feast
By Tom Robotham The first time I visited Paris, in 1999, I was smitten. Unfortunately, due to financial and time constraints, another 17 years would pass before I was able to return. Since then, I’ve tried to make up for lost time, visiting the city every chance I...
Take 5 with Ghent Pride Co-Chair Chris Reybrouck
Take 5 with Ghent Pride Co-Chair Chris Reybrouck By Jeff Maisey Tell us about your new role this year as Co-Chair of Ghent Pride. What goes into planning the event on Monday, June 17 at the Palace Shops in Ghent? I am honored to have been part of the founding...
Surprising Suffolk…Center
Suffolk Center’s new Outdoors @ The Center event space will host live music this summer on Thursdays. Photo courtesy of Suffolk Center. By Jeff Maisey “You can have it all in Surprising Suffolk.” That was the branding slogan televised and promoted on signage far...
ESSAY: What Kind of American Are You?
By Tom Robotham Last month, I saw Alex Garland’s much-discussed film Civil War. Since then, I’ve not been able to stop thinking about it. I don’t mean to imply that I think it’s a great movie. I continue to have mixed feelings about it. Nevertheless, the specter it...
TRAVEL: A Second Helping
(Lynn, Bruno, and Jeff at Chez Bruno in Dijon.) By Jeff Maisey In last month’s issue of Veer, I wrote solely about one of my favorite dining experiences in Paris, the majestically unique, warmly welcoming Au Vieux Paris d’Arcole. I was heartened by the response from...
Chrysler Museum Unveils New Logo
By Jeff Maisey The Chrysler Museum of Art has unveiled a smart, contemporary logo that by all appearances touches on a very 1970s-era retro vibe while also looking into the future. In a statement, the museum conveyed, “After a decade with the signature tower, the...
Troy Ketchmore Keeps Fighting to Clear his Name and Tame the Streets
By Joel Rubin It was 1995, and Troy Ketchmore was taking a birthday gift to his infant son who was living with the child’s mother and her new boyfriend at the time. With Troy were two “friends,” all of them armed but with no apparent intention of using the guns....
ESSAY: Leaving The Treehouse
By Tom Robotham For the last few weeks, I’ve been looking for a new apartment. It’s not that I’m unhappy with my current place. Not by a long shot. For 17 years, it has served me well. In the afternoons, on clear days, the living room is bathed in sunlight filtered by...
ART: What She Wore, What She Bore
By Betsy DiJulio This is the story of how the contemporary art trope of the “empty dress,” symbolizing both presence and absence, connected three high school juniors and an ODU professor through a shared passion for women’s social justice. The students—Adaline Scott...
Come Together Over Little Shop of Horrors
REHEARSAL SCENE: Audrey Seymour (Cree Carrico) and Urchins (Nikki Wilson, Jhayda Washington, ShaaNi Dent) Photo by Samuel Flint By Jerome Langston Arriving at the Wells Theatre on a recent Friday afternoon, I spotted theater artist Melissa Mowry, who directed...
Saxophones Take Center Stage for Attucks Jazz Series
(Steve Wilson. Photo by John Abbott) By Jerome Langston “That was my first time really getting to know him,” says well-known saxophonist, Walter Blanding, about interacting with jazz pianist John Toomey, during the rehearsal for the newly formed Attucks Jazz...
Money and Love, Class and Deceit: It’s Comic Opera!
(Soprano Keely Flutterer in a past performance of Rinaldo, Armida. Photo by Evan Zimmerman.) By Montague Gammon III The post-Valentines Day Virginia Opera production of Così fan Tutte, Mozart’s comic tale of tested love and strained fidelity, harkens not just to the...
Sisters Light Up VMT Annie
(Rainier Treviño as Annie and Georgie as Sandy. Photo by Evan Zimmerman for Murphymade.) By Montague Gammon III Virginia Musical Theatre’s February production of the wildly popular musical Annie at the Sandler Center marks a homecoming for the local actress in the...
2025 Veer Music Awards Results
By Jeff Maisey A capacity crowd was treated to a memorable night at Elevation 27 where local musicians were recognized and 757 region bands paid musical homage to the legends who performed at the original Virginia Beach Dome. Here are the final results. Album...
Black Music & Cuisine at the Heart of Fat Ham
Director Jerrell L. Henderson By Jerome Langston “James Ijames is one of the best actors that you will ever see in your life,” surprisingly says Chicago-based play director, Jerrell L. Henderson, who is in town to direct Ijames’s best-known play, Fat Ham, for...
Grateful Dead Air
By Jim Morrison The fourth installment of Dead Air, a cavalcade of Grateful Dead covers that brings together artists from across the Commonwealth, had its roots in Cincinnati. Mark Keefe, radio station WNRN's program director, was a college student at Xavier...
TINA Preview
(Jayna Elise as Tina Turner in TINA - The Tina Turner Musical - Photo By Julieta Cervantes) By Jerome Langston "She’s an absolute legend,” says singer/actress Jayna Elise, about the iconic Rock & Roll Queen, Tina Turner. “She had such tenacity and just...
ART NEWS: Synergy in Suffolk
(Jennifer Lucy and Hillarey Breedlove) By Betsy DiJulio If you recall the Greek myth in which humans were originally created with four arms, four legs, and a head with two faces, you know that Zeus, fearing their power, split them into two separate parts condemning...
Prepare for 757 Battle of the Beers
The Garage Brewery won the last Battle of the Beers event. Photo by Eye of the Storm Photography courtesy of Beach Ambassadors. By Jeremy Bender More than 30 regional breweries will vie for this year’s 757 Battle of the Beers crown. The event is held on the grounds...
Suffolk Surprises with Superb Suds at Nansemond Brewing Station
(Sample a variety of beer styles in scenic downtown Suffolk at Nansemond Brewing Station. Photo courtesy of the brewery.) By Diane Catanzaro and Chris Jones Locals may know the Nansemond River, that the Nansemond Native American tribe lived along the river, or that...
Still Tasty After All These Years
TASTE OF SUCCESS: (L-R) Peter and Jon Pruden have enhanced and expanded the specialty gourmet food brand known for its delicious sandwiches, prepared food items, and spot-on wine selection By Marisa Marsey As nightmarish as the past year and a half was, Hampton Roads...
RESTAURANT NEWS: 1608 Crafthouse Rebounds
(1608 Crafthouse’s Bacon Cheeseburger is a popular menu item.) By Jeff Maisey Kevin Sharkey was prepping for the fifth anniversary of his 1608 Crafthouse on Pleasure House Road in Virginia Beach when the pandemic struck in March 2020. He’s been battling ever since...
Fountain Flows into 757
By Jeff Maisey There’s a new hard seltzer in town — Fountain. Made in New York City, this new, upstart brand is fun — from the well-carbonated bubbles, zesty citrus and berry flavors to the eye-catching packaging — screams fun. After enjoying a few cans over a recent...
Driving You to Drink: Beer Touring in Hampton and Newport News
(Members of the Hampton Roads Brewing & Tasting Society gather for a pre-beer photo. Photo courtesy of Diane Catanzaro.) By Diane Catanzaro and Chris Jones Who is ready to get out of the house and visit a bunch of breweries? We’ve put together a little beer tour...
RESTAURANTS: Local Brands Expand
(Owner Bob Roberts has Redwood Smoke Shack expanding with a new Virginia Beach location. Photo courtesy of Redwood Smoke Shack.) By Marisa Marsey Some of our favorite homegrown eateries are expanding – opening a new location, introducing a new concept – making us...
A Coterie of Charcuterie
(Katie Huger, owner of Long Board Charcuterie, curates exquisite, customized boards to celebrate special events as well as every day.) By Marisa Marsey There’s a joke circulating at fromageries: “How do you irritate a cheesemonger? Ask for a charcuterie board with no...
NATO Festival Beer Brings People Together
(Brew Day at The Bold Mariner Brewing Company in Norfolk) By Jeff Maisey In what has now become a Norfolk NATO Festival tradition — born five years ago — a collaboration beer pairing The Bold Mariner Brewing Company and NATO Headquarters will be featured at the...
Fox Tail Wine Bar Adds Flavor to New Phoebus
(Interior view of Fox Tail Wine Bar. Photo by Michael Fernando.) By Jeff Maisey “I felt like the type of experience we’re offering did not exist in this neighborhood and there was an opportunity to bring something new, fresh and exciting to a community that was...
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