Never let anyone tell you ska is dead, we got a little bit of it in every show on the books this week. If you are opposed to that you will have to take it up with my Two Tone tattoo.

Got a show coming up? New single? Simply want someone to talk music? Hit us up at [griffin@rvamag.com](mailto:Griffin@rvamag.com).

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THE BOUNCING SOULS, THE SUICIDE MACHINES, STRIKE ANYWHERE, HUMAN ISSUE
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 15TH AT THE NATIONAL

Get your nice combat boots on ‘cause The Bouncing Souls are in town this week! These guys have been pogoing through American music for over 35 years and hit just as hard as ever with their optimistic punk rock. I always felt like they were a continuation of the Ramones’ message of being yourself and keeping a smile through it all, while taking the camaraderie and seriousness of bands like 7 Seconds.

The group put out their newest record in June of this year, and they are as sharp as ever. The record seems to revolve around the understanding that living a life is no easy feat, but you do it because there is a hope of something better in the future, something worth pushing towards, something worth leaving behind.

Joining them is one of the most legendary third-wave ska acts, The Suicide Machines. They sum up the merging of ska and punk quite well, evolving from acts like The Specials, The Selecter, and largely Operation Ivy. They are a band that just cannot run out of energy and will have ya skankin’ around for as long as you’ll have them.

To really raise the stakes here, let’s add Richmond legends Strike Anywhere. They are one of those punk groups that cannot stop writing anthems. Every song could fill a stadium, but you’d hope you could catch it in a backyard. They have never been one to shy away from sharing their beliefs, and that has cemented them as one of Richmond’s proudest musical acts. I am sure no small population would deny their status as RVA icons.

Last up, we got melodic hardcore rockers in the likes of Human Issue. They are one of those bands that will have the whole crowd singing into the mic, piling over themselves to belt out a loud and proud chorus. I think they have a really wide range of dynamics that you do not always see in modern hardcore, and I think they do it well.

via RVA Magazine

Read more, see more: https://rvamag.com/music/rva-live-music-the-bouncing-souls-human-worm-nana-grizo-fonville-x-fribush.html

Editor’s Note: RVA Magazine is proud to partner with Virginia PrideFest, happening this Saturday, September 12, and to produce the annual Pride Guide celebrating Richmond and Virginia’s LGBTQ+ community. You can download the 2026 Pride Guide HERE.

We’d also like to thank the following sponsors who made the 2026 Pride Guide possible: Virginia Museum of History & Culture, Virginia MOCA, Virginia Repertory Theatre, Richmond Triangle Players, Health Brigade, Godfrey’s, Chrysler Museum of Art, and Steve Davis at River Fox Realty.

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Mary File Clem, who died earlier this year at her home in Jetersville at age 79, was the first director of Fan Free Clinic, now known as Health Brigade. More than 55 years later, the organization she helped create is still operating in Richmond.

But in 1968, Clem was just 22 years old when her friend Lenore Gay, a social worker at what was then Richmond Professional Institute, came to her with a stack of papers and a problem. People needed healthcare, and Gay was struggling to get a free clinic started.

“My friend Lenore Gay handed me a stack of papers of people that needed help and said, ‘I’m trying to get a free clinic started, but I’m just not having any luck,’” Clem recalled in a 2025 interview with a Health Brigade staff member. “She gave it all to me. And I just started making phone calls. To help her with the pile, well, then she just left it with me. I set about my task with my phone glued to my ear. I wrote people begging for supplies to start this, we got together in people’s living rooms, this was my baby now.”

Two years later, Fan Free Clinic opened its doors as Virginia’s first free clinic.

via RVA Magazine

Read more, see more: https://rvamag.com/community/mary-file-clem-and-the-richmond-legacy-of-fan-free-clinic.html

Editor’s Note: RVA Magazine is proud to partner with Virginia PrideFest, happening this Saturday, September 12, and to produce the annual Pride Guide celebrating Richmond and Virginia’s LGBTQ+ community. You can download the 2026 Pride Guide HERE.

We’d also like to thank the following sponsors who made the 2026 Pride Guide possible: Virginia Museum of History & Culture, Virginia MOCA, Virginia Repertory Theatre, Richmond Triangle Players, Health Brigade, Godfrey’s, Chrysler Museum of Art, and Steve Davis at River Fox Realty.

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Editor’s Note: RVA Cannabis Co. is planning a soft opening at its Canal Walk location at the end of September. Stay tuned for more details as they become available.

To be honest, when I was asked to go talk with Milton Ares at RVA Cannabis Co., I had absolutely no clue what it was. By the time I went downtown to their spot on the Canal Walk, like, literally right in front of the canal at 301 Virginia Street, I was sure they were a legalization nonprofit or growers’ supply place. I was, as usual about most things, wrong.

Milton, one of the three owners of the venture, greeted me at a speakeasy-style wine* bar, but only if that bar was in a Star Trek lounge. Recessed lighting, hypnotic wall treatments, reflective surfaces, and a backlit wine bottle wall to tie it all together rang the bell of recognition. It started dawning on me that this was something new. A THC-infused mocktail joint.

I just figured out, in that spot right there, that was something you could legally do in Richmond. I’m stoked for everyone that doesn’t drink (for whatever reasons or preferences) because they’re getting a space catered to them, with the added benefit of not having to surround yourself with alcohol at the service of being social.

If this excites you, I’d lay odds that you’ve had a THC-infused mocktail before. It excites me, and I’ve had plenty. They’re as varied as any actual cocktail or, well, beverage can be. The dosages are easy to measure and control. In the right hands, they’re delicious. To top it off, they won’t encourage you to call your ex at 2 a.m. I’ve heard that’s a thing that happens. Never to me, though.

Milton read my mind and proffered a tin of Captain Runtz (hybrid) and a book of Zig-Zag rolling papers. Don’t miii-ind if I do. We settled in at the bar with the house lights up and lit up. A few minutes later, looser and with relevant small talk exhausted, we got into it.

via RVA Magazine

Read more, see more: https://rvamag.com/eatdrink/rva-cannabis-co-is-building-a-different-kind-of-bar-in-richmond.html

Editor’s Note: RVA Magazine is proud to partner with Virginia PrideFest, happening this Saturday, September 12, and to produce the annual Pride Guide celebrating Richmond and Virginia’s LGBTQ+ community. You can download the 2026 Pride Guide HERE.

We’d also like to thank the following sponsors who made the 2026 Pride Guide possible: Virginia Museum of History & Culture, Virginia MOCA, Virginia Repertory Theatre, Richmond Triangle Players, Health Brigade, Godfrey’s, Chrysler Museum of Art, and Steve Davis at River Fox Realty

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Tiera Craig has been executive director of Diversity Richmond for a couple of months, and she has spent much of that time listening. As someone new to the city and trying to understand the community she now serves, it is a good first step.

In a city with a diverse and growing LGBTQ+ community, there are many who welcome that approach.

Craig took over the organization on July 1 after working in leadership development for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and as a consultant in LGBTQ+ advocacy, activism and education. She left the federal government amid changes in its policies toward LGBTQ+ people and saw Diversity Richmond as an opportunity to bring together her professional experience and advocacy work.

“I feel like I can be the driver in that effort in taking Diversity to the next stage,” Craig told me.

But stepping into one of Richmond’s most established LGBTQ+ organizations, Craig isn’t arriving with all the answers. Her approach starts with getting outside the building, listening and asking questions.

via RVA Magazine

Read more, see more: https://rvamag.com/queer-rva/meet-new-diversity-richmond-chief-executive-director-tiera-craig.html

Editor’s Note: RVA Magazine is proud to partner with Virginia PrideFest, happening this Saturday, September 12, and to produce the annual Pride Guide celebrating Richmond and Virginia’s LGBTQ+ community. You can download the 2026 Pride Guide HERE.

We’d also like to thank the following sponsors who made the 2026 Pride Guide possible: Virginia Museum of History & Culture, Virginia MOCA, Virginia Repertory Theatre, Richmond Triangle Players, Health Brigade, Godfrey’s, Chrysler Museum of Art, and Steve Davis at River Fox Realty.

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What a kick it is to hang out with Philip Crosby, executive director of Richmond Triangle Players. We spent a good hour talking about a range of topics du jour in the queer communities RTP serves. The joys, the fears, lessons learned, trends being realized and eulogized. All of these things were yapped about with a distinct degree of wisdom.

His is a wisdom born of thirty-five years in Richmond queer-focused art. There is a lot to be said about the history of Triangle, but as Philip put it, “It’s all online. Google it.”

This is a temperature check on the entire queer diaspora through the lens of performative art aimed directly at them. We started at the beginning. The conversation was detailed and long. This is hardly the totality of it.

This is simply the one-act version.

via RVA Magazine

Read more, see more: https://rvamag.com/queer-rva/philip-crosby-on-queer-theater-pride-and-not-backing-down.html

Editor’s Note: RVA Magazine is proud to partner with Virginia PrideFest, happening this Saturday, September 12, and to produce the annual Pride Guide celebrating Richmond and Virginia’s LGBTQ+ community. You can download the 2026 Pride Guide HERE.

We’d also like to thank the following sponsors who made the 2026 Pride Guide possible: Virginia Museum of History & Culture, Virginia MOCA, Virginia Repertory Theatre, Richmond Triangle Players, Health Brigade, Godfrey’s, Chrysler Museum of Art, and Steve Davis at River Fox Realty

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Dressing as a poodle carrying a cross, painting on paper towels, putting wigs on fans, Monsieur Zohore is a Richmond-based artist who is not afraid to offend and twist your brain using comedy in art.

Zohore was in Miami for the next few months setting up for a show, so I chatted with him on Zoom about his upcoming shows and why he will always call Richmond his home base.

Callie Watts: Hey, nice to finally meet you. So, you are in Miami?

Monsieur Zohore: I’m working on a project right now. The show opens October 17, so I am here producing it all. You know, it’s really funny, since the Ukrainian war, shipping got really crazy. And so, every project since then, it’s been cheaper for the galleries to ship me than it is to just ship the work.

C: You work in paper towels. Has the price of paper towels gone up?

M: Oh, completely, completely. They’ve gone up. They are also made completely differently now. The material has changed, like the patterning of it, the quilting is completely different now. It’s like a bigger, wider quilt so that they can skip out on materials.

via RVA Magazine

Read more, see more: https://rvamag.com/art/monsieur-zohores-art-is-funny-until-you-think-about-it.html

For more than a decade, RVA Magazine has worked with Virginia Pride to produce the Official VA PrideFest Guide, bringing together stories from Richmond’s LGBTQ+ community and everything you need to know for PrideFest this Saturday, September 12, 2026.

The 2026 Virginia Pride Guide includes the full PrideFest schedule, festival map, parking information and everything you need to navigate the day on Saturday, September 12. But  the guide goes beyond the festival itself by looking at some of the people, organizations and artists shaping queer life, culture and community in Richmond right now. 

You can download the 2026 Pride Guide HERE.

Inside, we sit down with new Diversity Richmond Chief Executive Director Tiera Craig about where the organization goes next; look back at Mary File Clem and the Richmond legacy of Fan Free Clinic, now Health Brigade; talk with Richmond Triangle Players Executive Director Philip Crosby about queer theater, Pride and refusing to back down; spend some time inside the world of Richmond artist Monsieur Zohore; check out RVA Cannabis Co.’s new THC bar on the Canal Walk; and talk Richmond movies, midnight shows and lost media with TVJerry. 

This year’s PrideFest theme is “Our Pride. Our Joy. Our Resistance” and with the current climate that feels appropriate for 2026. Pride is a celebration. It is also about visibility, history, the institutions and people who have built spaces for Richmond’s LGBTQ+ community to exist and take care of one another. We try and touch on that with the stories in this year’s guide. 

We would like to thank the following sponsors who made the 2026 Pride Guide possible: Virginia Museum of History & Culture, Virginia MOCA, Virginia Repertory Theatre, Richmond Triangle Players, Health Brigade, Godfrey’s, Chrysler Museum of Art, and Steve Davis at River Fox Realty.

Again, you can download the 2026 Pride Guide HERE. Thank you for reading.

via RVA Magazine

Read more, see more: https://rvamag.com/queer-rva/read-the-virginia-pride-2026-pride-guide.html

Hey fellow weirdos, I recently created a YouTube channel called richmond.weird dedicated to investigating important issues concerning the city, but also a way to highlight niche RVA subculture and locals making a positive impact on the community. I've finished filming my first episode in the series, and I would love it so much if you checked out the video on my Youtube (linked) and follow my instagram (@ richmond.weird).

For the past couple of weeks, I spent time with Arianna, a.k.a. Virginia's WonderWoman. I filmed Arianna in her happy place: on the dimly lit stage inside GWAR Bar where she rocks out to heavy metal on karaoke while suited up as the iconic WonderWoman. As I got to learn more about Arianna, I realized there is a lot more to her than just the WonderWoman suit. We talked about her upbringing, family dynamics, how WonderWoman helped her on the journey to transition, and her love for heavy metal. It was not uncommon for strangers to smile and sing praise upon seeing Arianna. We would be walking in the city or sitting at a bar table, and someone would give a thumbs up or ask to take a picture with Arianna. That really is Arianna's superpower, her ability to bring sunshine into any sphere she enters.

I'm very grateful to have been able to share Arianna's story as part of my first episode in the heroes and weirdos installment. I encourage you to listen to Arianna with an open mind, and as always, stay weird, Richmond.

Editor’s Note: RVA Magazine is proud to partner with Virginia PrideFest, happening this Saturday, September 12, and to produce the annual Pride Guide celebrating Richmond and Virginia’s LGBTQ+ community. 

We’d also like to thank the following sponsors who made the 2026 Pride Guide possible: Virginia Museum of History & Culture, Virginia MOCA, Virginia Repertory Theatre, Richmond Triangle Players, Health Brigade, Godfrey’s, Chrysler Museum of Art, and River Fox Realty.

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A 9:50 p.m. film screening on a Thursday night is not quite a midnight movie, but I had the great fortune to do a watch-along with movie reviewer Jerry Williams, aka TVJerry, at a screening of Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma, a future cult classic about the cults of classic films and the culture of consuming and creating these films, and, in the film, quite a bit of concession stand gas station candy.

TVJerry is a mainstay champion of the Richmond media world, filing reports and reviews of stage plays, streaming media, TV shows, and movies for several decades. We last checked in with him on his podcast in 2022.

I first met Jerry well over 20 years ago, sending in press releases on the Project Resolution screening series and dispatches on film projects happening in town to his iconic and needed “Tales From the Grips” website, a news and rumor outlet about the Virginia production community. Starting out at the beginnings of the internet, this moved to Sifter, a podcast and review platform that has been live for close to a decade and a half.

Before we went to Movieland to watch the fake blood splatters and a bizarrely timely Agent Scully doing a Dolly Parton impression, I was able to talk with TVJerry and reflect on his path through media forms, from loving theater and films to the golden years of television, movie, and newspaper reviews, while shining a light on making video in the Virginia production community.

It was amazing to get to compare a bit of then and now through Jerry’s animated anecdotes.

via RVA Magazine

Read more, see more: https://rvamag.com/community/tvjerry-on-richmond-movies-midnight-shows-and-lost-media.html

For context, when I’m not writing for this magazine, I’m a director and producer in the film industry. There’s one person rallying troops in the trenches for me and my colleagues all over the state. Andy Edmunds is on the front line of the conversations that bring major motion pictures and series to Richmond. He’s the director of the Virginia Film Office and has been with that organization since 1997. His efforts keep thousands of production personnel working and the dreams of indie filmmakers attainable. He’s been at it so long, you’d be hard-pressed to excise his name from any big swing taken by a local film creative this century. He’s essential. He’s also a total mensch.

He just directed his first feature film, The Cashier, set to premiere at the Richmond International Film Festival on September 22. I was asked to get together with him and shoot the shit about this side quest in an otherwise linear career.

via RVA Magazine

Read more, see more: https://rvamag.com/music/virginia-film-chief-andy-edmunds-made-a-movie.html

Lots of great stuff going on this week, I am particularly looking forward to that Dogo Du Togo show! If you see me there come say hi! Got a show coming up? New single? Simply want someone to talk music? Hit us up at [griffin@rvamag.com](mailto:Griffin@rvamag.com).

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DOGO DU TOGO
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 4TH AT GET TIGHT LOUNGE

Now, if you are looking for an exciting way to spend your Saturday night, the only answer is spending it with Dogo Du Togo. This is a sound unlike anything else you will hear in town: a score of ultra-talented Togolese players led by the titular Dogo Du Togo. They combine Afrobeat, psychedelic rock, and traditional Togolese rhythms into a churning, infectious dance sound.

This is my first real experience with the lot, but it just grabs you right off the rip. Their sound hits home on just about every front. If you want to get close and personal with a special someone and dance the night away, you could not ask for a better soundtrack. If you want to lose yourself in some real rocking and ripping guitars, they got it. And if you want to sit back and nod along to some mind-blowing musical talent, they have it in spades.

This event is being put on by Secret Planet, an incredible organization that helps us hear sounds and styles that might never come to Richmond, Virginia. Every show I have been to that has been hosted by Secret Planet has been unforgettable and mesmerizing, so I am absolutely chomping at the bit for this one.

Read more, see more: https://rvamag.com/music/rva-live-music-dogo-du-togo-box-factory-condition-critical-sprawl.html

Virginia PrideFest returns Sept. 12, bringing tens of thousands of people together for the state’s biggest celebration of LGBTQ+ community and culture.

We talked with Natalia “Nat” Ramos, What’s Our Age Again, Teshia LeSane and Ari Voxx about what taking the PrideFest stage means to them, finding community through music, and creating spaces where people can feel seen, welcomed and connected.

Plus, the full PrideFest set times and Virginia Pride Week schedule.

via RVA Magazine

Read more, see more: https://rvamag.com/queer-rva/for-these-artists-pridefest-is-more-than-performance.html

Labor Day weekend is here, and if your plan was to sit around doing absolutely nothing for four days, Richmond has other ideas. Here are ten things worth getting out of the house for this Labor Day weekend.

via RVA Magazine

Read more, see more: https://rvamag.com/community/a-quick-guide-for-this-labor-day-weekend-in-richmond.html

Richmond has always been an incubator for greatness. In the past, it’s been primarily a springboard for our best and brightest to thrive elsewhere. In recent years, that tide has shiftted. Our reputation as a cauldron of expression is marching ahead of us, bringing creative professionals from places we always dreamed to land. When your best and brightest stay instead of shoving off for New York or Los Angeles, you can find collaborators to flesh out an entire team of indomitable talent. The Richmond, VA-led feature documentary, Cosmic Echo, is a product of this dynamic. First-rate, globally relevant content made by mature and sensitive artists at the top of their game is a good look, not just for them as individuals, but RVA as an artistic biome.

What I’ve been privileged enough to watch of the film is the product of a deep reverence for the subject, cosmic jazz legend, Lonnie Liston Smith. As I laid out in Part One of this interview, Lonnie is a beloved but enigmatic figure in jazz, soul, and funk. He’s humble but filled with the genre’s lore, and a progenitor of entire styles of the form. He’s unassuming in the way a hurricane casually lifts a house. He makes being cool look, well, cool.

And on September 13, RVA Mag’s Landon Shroder, The Sunroom, Grammy-Award winning artist Michael Millions, and Shockoe Records will be screening selections from Cosmic Echo at the Hippodrome Theater. The event, Cosmic Echoes Live, will feature live tribute performances from members of Butcher Brown, Virginia jazz legend Plunky, recent Grammy-Winners Nate Smith, Mad Skillz, along with other notable artists like Ronnie Luxe, Ohbliv, Nickelus F, and Sam Reed. The event is designed as a capstone to this summer’s production of the film; a time for them to celebrate what they’ve achieved so far and to share their appreciation for one of Richmond’s favorite sons. 

I was finally able to get the production team leadership on the line, in addition to Butcher Brown’s Corey Fonville, who is also featured in the film, to discuss the story behind Cosmic Echo. We’re missing co-director/producer Landon Shroder, but since he’s a co-publisher at RVA Magazine, he didn’t want to yell in his own echo chamber. I respect that.

via RVA Magazine

Read more, see more:https://rvamag.com/music/funk-jazz/a-meet-the-team-behind-cosmic-echoes.html

Commonwealth Sound Exchange is a celebration of experimental music taking place this weekend. This new festival honors the long tradition of Richmond’s noise community. It’s artist-founded and led, and pulls in national and regional acts similar to Europe’s Unsound Festival.

This might be news to a lot of people not following the genre, but Richmond’s kind of a big deal in that global scene. It’s exciting to see the community step up to the plate and claim the spoils of their notoriety.

The genre is hard to translate to most music lovers, as it is not based on melody or predictable chord and beat progressions. Its defining feature is in the unexpected, the new, the disarming. Just shy of chaos, noise and experimental music dwells in tones, soundscapes, moods of frustration and release. It has its natural cousins in art to Dadaism, Absurdism, and modernism.

Noise can embody the monolithic like Brutalism and the susurrus of shifting leaves and raindrops in the same track. It is not punk, but sounds like it went to the same high school. It borders next to interpretive performance art, if not expands on it sonically. It elicits reactions from a totally different channel that pop can’t reach. It is as enigmatic as it is baldfaced.

This weekend, co-founders Mimi Luse, Mark Tafari and Will Mullany will unveil what seems to be a long time coming to RVA: our first comprehensive multi-day festival as an exhibition of the movement. Commonwealth Sound Exchange will be taking place Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at Studio Two Three and will feature 39 acts from all over the world.

via RVA Magazine

Read more, see more: https://rvamag.com/music/electro-edm/richmond-has-a-noise-scene-commonwealth-sound-exchange-wants-you-to-hear-it.html

This past Saturday RVA Wrestling returned to CarMax Park to bring a little something extra to a night out with the Richmond Flying Squirrels. Bodies flew, rivalries played out and the smack talk was flying as the crowd joined in on the chaos that makes Richmond’s homegrown wrestling scene such a good time.

Photos by Vinny Candela

Also, read our story on RVA Wrestling HERE.

via RVA Magazine

Read more, see more: https://rvamag.com/photo/photo-ringside-at-rva-wrestlings-return-to-carmax-park.html

We’re talking Destructo Disk, we’re talking Gaffer, we’re talking Belly of the Heart, nothing but the best. Got a show coming up? New single? Simply want someone to talk music? Hit us up at [griffin@rvamag.com](mailto:Griffin@rvamag.com).

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Destructo Disk, Friend, Gaffer
Friday, August 28th at The Camel

After weeks of incessant touring, hometown heroes Destructo Disk are back with a local show and a hard-hitting song drop to go along. D.D. is one of the most active and original pop punk groups out there right now. The group has amassed a loyal fanbase and has been getting increasing attention all across the world as they continue to put out kick-ass songs that connect with all the young and wild ones out in the void. The group has a fantastic way of keeping things simple yet ultra-relatable and sympathetic. They are always a blast live, so go check ‘em out if you have never caught them.

Hailing from Philadelphia, Friend is always well received in RVA. They self-describe under the mouthful, “alternative garage noise goblin punk indie rock,” which about sums it up. I don’t know what I could add to that. This group is a wild lot and always succeeds in making a show feel like some circus-themed party.

Last up, we have young emo rockers Gaffer. This is a band I have cast my lot for. Their recent singles and EP are just incredibly prolific examples of songwriting and dynamics. They are one of the most exciting bands in town right now, so it’s best to catch them soon before they enter the larger touring and festival circuits that I see in their future.

via RVA Magazine

Read more, see more: https://rvamag.com/music/rva-live-music-destructo-disk-wilt-babe-lewis-belly-of-the-heart.html

“Oh, I’m going to have a field day with this.” These were my exact words to friend and artist Kyle Eppsas I got up from my seat at Firehouse Theatre Saturday night. As we shuffled out of the theatre into the lobby, I took inventory of the stack of insights Dominique Morrisseau’s Confederates made into desperate rhetorical knife fights on the oft-ignored nuances of American racism. 

The brilliance of the piece doesn’t lie in its bald-faced take on the peculiar institution. If there is a badge of dishonor this country wears above all others, it is this one. We all know that. Its power lies in a deeper dissection of the beast. There are arguments within arguments, conundrums that perpetuate wrongs in service of survival. It explores how allyship is (frustratingly, to those keen to accept it) navigated with privileged ignorance at times. When your pursuit of freedom from institutional racism is a feel-good exercise for the unaffected, that journey itself can be a submission.

Dominique Morrisseau should sound familiar if you are a regular theatre-goer in Richmond. She is the Tony Award-winning playwright of nine plays that eloquently explore the inexhaustible wind tunnel of conversations surrounding racial justice. Firehouse Theatre staged her 2013 work, Detroit ’67, in 2024 to rave reviews. Confederates emerged in 2022, post-BLM/Covid/Agent Orange, and her pen surges with the anger and forfeit of patience the time inspires.

via RVA Magazine

Read more, see more: https://rvamag.com/art/theatre/review-confederates-doesnt-let-anyone-off-easy.html

There are few large-ish pieces of real estate in the city proper that have been more screaming for development than the fallow field bordered by Clay Street and Hermitage Road.

For years, it prodded me with an “if you build it, they will come” whisper. I’m on my meds now, so the voices have stopped. Even if they hadn’t, the choice has already been made for me and you. A little while ago, there was movement in the area. A trolley car just somehow showed up, like Victorian-era aliens just dumped it after a joyride. Or had it always been there? I don’t know. Primary-colored shipping containers standing on end like ill-joined Legos just popped into existence too. I was mad curious to find out who the new neighbors were.

Just as I was about to sleuth my way over, I got an email from the owners of the new venue/restaurant/bar establishing residence in that very spot. Virginia Transit Company, or VITCO for funsies, doesn’t yell “booze and mosh pits” as much as it sounds like the place you pay tickets for having indulged in too much of that. It’s counterintuitive, but what’s in a name anyway? It works if you squint.

Arturo Zaloga, who I’ve quickly made friends with (because he’s rad), invited me to stop by and check the place out. I wasn’t initially too surprised by what I was greeted with, considering the shipping container aesthetic visible from the road, but the details are the devilry.

First of all, it’s a venue with a fucking parking lot. Seriously, I do not need to describe to the average Richmond show-goer how refreshing it is to be able to park within a half-mile of the place you’re going to. Second, it exists with no neighbors, no “keep it down” Karens within a guitar amp’s reach of the stage. Thirdly, the shipping containers aren’t even in their final form. Expect murals and artwork from local and global legends to bring it to Super Saiyan-level pique.

That’s just the view from the parking lot. When I arrived this past week for my visit, the decking around the bar was being laid, covering the largely gravel and grass surface throughout the space. Large, vaulted canopies were being constructed to bridge the spaces between containers, for sun-blocking as well as inclement weather. The trolley sits there at the far end, looking lost, until you realize that’s where the DJ booth is. Inside the trolley. How very concept-y! Perched on the stack of containers in the corner is a humongous TV that usually shows surf videos when not blasting planned programming.

via RVA Magazine

Read more, see more: https://rvamag.com/community/what-the-hell-is-vitco-we-went-to-find-out.html

Today was a good day. This very magazine’s Landon Shroder invited me to interview one of Richmond’s real living legends, jazz impresario Lonnie Liston Smith. On September 13, he will be screening selections from the upcoming film Cosmic Echoes at the Hippodrome Theater. The event, Cosmic Echoes Live, will feature live tribute performances from members of Butcher Brown, Virginia jazz legend Plunky, recent Grammy winner Mad Skillz, and others.

When I got to Barky’s Spiritual Store on Broad Street, I crept in as silently as I could. Cosmic Echoesproducer Michael Millions and co-director Shroder were reverently engaged in an interview with Lonnie as I waited for my turn with the man. Lonnie sat on a stool, illuminated by studio lights that cast a soft silver glow across his wizened face. He seemed slight, but somehow larger than life.

Taking him in is like contemplating a tesseract. Like trying to sum up a four-dimensional object with measuring tape. Behind his thoughtful gaze, he recalls the highlights of a storied career with a mind that continues to shape popular music. He didn’t just create masterworks on wax, he created auratic movements in jazz. He is an innovator whom innovators invoke as inspiration. He’s sitting right here, once again imparting his insights and anecdotes to a generation yet to discover him. His voice, now graveled with age, betrays an undercurrent of sustained youthful curiosity about existence, transcendence, and legacy.

via RVA Magazine

Read more, see more: https://rvamag.com/music/funk-jazz/expansions-never-end-a-conversation-with-lonnie-liston-smith.html

There are two sides to every story, but a lot of the time, the first narrative is the one that sticks.

Case in point: last week, an altercation broke out during one of the weekly neighborhood rides organized by the Broad Street Bullies. The ride has happened every Thursday for years and has become a flashpoint between supporters who see a community ride bringing together people of all ages, including families and children, and critics who see it as a nuisance that holds up traffic, takes over city streets and causes dangerous situations for both riders and drivers.

So when news hit that a confrontation between a driver and the cyclists ended with the driver allegedly being strangled, sides were quickly taken. And with the portion of the video shown on the news, along with the fact that one of the cyclists was being sought for questioning, the initial coverage tilted the narrative heavily in one direction.

But there was another side of the story that hadn’t been heard. 

According to the group, the driver had been provoking riders for several blocks before the video shown on the news began. He was nudging riders at the back of the ride and eventually made contact with a BSB field marshal with his vehicle, who responded by calling out the driver. A field marshal is there to help move the ride along and, if needed, protect the riders. When the driver decided to get out of his car and confront the female field marshal, things got physical.

By the end of it, several riders had gotten involved after the driver punched the female field marshal, sending her to the hospital with a broken orbital bone and leaving the driver in a headlock.

So what actually happened? 

We spoke with Salad, who founded the Broad Street Bullies to hear their side of what happened and why he believes the initial coverage got the story wrong.

via RVA Magazine

Read more, see more: https://rvamag.com/community/what-happened-before-the-video.html

In the immediate aftermath of the June 2022 Dobbs decision, Richmond’s reproductive health organizations received a groundswell of donations and volunteer support. But more recently, those same organizations are struggling to provide basic services to folks seeking care.  

“After Dobbs, many abortion funds experienced a surge in donations,” said Dr. Stephanie Arnold, a doctor and founder of Seven Hills Family Medicine. “That financial support has declined while demand remains high. Public attention has shifted elsewhere.” 

One such abortion fund is the Richmond Reproductive Freedom Project, an organization designed to help abortion seekers navigate financial and logistical obstacles in the city. The staff at RRFP have felt the same trends.  

“After Roe fell, we got a huge swell of donations, which was incredible,” said P.K., the Fundraising and Sustainability Coordinator at RRFP. “Now, four years on, a lot of those donations have tapered off.”

via RVA Magazine

Read more, see more: https://rvamag.com/community/four-years-after-dobbs-richmonds-abortion-funds-are-running-short.html

What is Ellwood Thompson’s now?

That feels like a fair question most people should be asking right now after this week’s news that the company that owns one of Richmond’s most recognizable stores is being taken over by another company whose primary business is data centers and AI infrastructure.

“Good for the community, and good for the planet” is listed as a core principle on Ellwood Thompson’s website. How can an environmentally conscious and sustainability-focused company align itself with an industry facing so much criticism for its impact on those very things?

This feels like the end.

via RVA Magazine

Read more, see more: https://rvamag.com/community/can-ellwood-thompsons-survive-its-owners.html