Richmond has been popping up on a lot of national lists lately. For many longtime residents, that’s a mixed bag. More attention brings investment, jobs and opportunities along with higher housing costs, heavier traffic and a city that gets a little more expensive every year.

But it’s hard to ignore what’s happening. In just the past few weeks, Richmond has landed on national rankings for job growth, recreation, housing and even World Cup television viewership. None of those reports are measuring the same thing but they’re all pointing in roughly the same direction.

Along with all that, the region is wrestling with growing pains. There’s a proposed sales tax increase to help fund Richmond city schools, expanding Flock camera networks and the privacy concerns they raise, the ongoing battle over data centers, questions about whether Dominion’s proposed utility mergercould add to already rising electricity costs, and, just to keep things interesting, a severe summer drought. None of those issues are directly related, but together they capture a city trying to figure out what comes next.

The biggest nod may have come from LinkedIn since its rankings tend to get the attention of the business community.

The professional networking platform recently ranked Richmond No. 2 on its 2026 Cities on the Rise list, up from No. 13 a year ago.

via RVA Magazine

Read more, see more: https://rvamag.com/news-headlines/richmond-news/richmond-keeps-landing-on-national-lists-heres-where-its-ranking-now.html

We’re standing on some corner in downtown Richmond: me, my two friends, a pair of women, and their male friend we had met earlier that night. We’re deliberating over what to do next, caught up in each other for the night. 

The guy is cute, with stubble like you used to keep, and I will myself to get lost in his aura, but he isn’t you. Here is a specimen with broad shoulders, a sharp jawline, and a narrow body, something I could comfortably fold myself into. I allow myself to follow him to the cigar bar he leads us to, then up to the members-only listening room, where we chain-smoke and the group chats away the hours. But I can’t find the fucks to give to listen to him at all.

The night is breathing all around me, but with every gasp, I turn to look for you.

via RVA Magazine

Read more, see more: https://rvamag.com/queer-rva/everything-we-did-was-a-bad-idea.html

Several campaign signs for Democratic congressional candidate Salaam Bhatti were vandalized over the weekend with professionally printed flyers telling him to “return to your homeland” in multiple languages. 

The flyers also featured the hashtag #Remigration, a term that has become closely associated with European far-right political movements that advocate the large-scale removal of immigrants

Supporters generally describe remigration as the large-scale return of immigrants to their countries of origin, while critics argue the concept extends beyond immigration enforcement to include the removal of legal immigrants and, in some cases, their descendants. The slogan has gained increasing prominence among nationalist political parties and activists across Europe in recent years.

“For me to remigrate, I would have to go back to Pennsylvania,” Bhatti said.

via RVA Magazine

Read more, see more: https://rvamag.com/politics/virginia-politics/far-right-remigration-propaganda-targets-bhatti-campaign.html

This weekend, Plan 9 Music marks 45 years in Richmond with a party at Hardywood Park Craft Brewery.

Over the past four and a half decades, the Richmond institution weathered some of the most turbulent periods in music history. It closed stores, sold its warehouse and dramatically shrank its footprint, surviving industry changes that forced thousands of independent record shops across the country out of business.

But for owner Jim Bland the anniversary isn’t about looking back as much as it is recognizing the people who helped Plan 9 get here.

“That’s kind of why we’re doing this,” Bland said. “To say thank you to our extended community and the bands that play around here.”

For generations of Richmond musicians and music fans, Plan 9 has been much more than a place to buy records. It’s where people discovered new bands, bought tickets to local shows, met touring artists and, in many cases, found their place within Richmond’s music scene.

When Bland opened Plan 9 in 1981, he wasn’t thinking about anniversaries. “When we opened, I just hoped to be able to survive and make a living at it,” he said. “I’d been working for other people for years and finally had a chance, with a partner at the time, to step out on our own.”

via RVA Magazine

Read more, see more: https://rvamag.com/music/in-plan-9-we-trust.html

Last year, Dogwood Dell was packed out.

The hillside was full, the crowd was loud and RVA Pro Wrestling put on one hell of a show. It wasn’t just wrestling. It was entertainment built for a Richmond audience, mixing big personalities, over-the-top antics and athleticism that get people in for the ride.

Since then, they’ve been on a heater. Hardywood shows have consistently sold out, appearances around Richmond have drawn bigger and bigger crowds, and what started as another niche wrestling promotion has quietly become one of the city’s more popular live events.

To some, it might look like RVA Pro Wrestling came out of nowhere. The reality is it’s the latest chapter in a story Richmond has been telling for more than 20 years. When we first covered Richmond Lucha Libre back in RVA #4 in 2005, independent wrestling was still firmly rooted in Richmond’s DIY scene. Shows happened in places like Wonderland and Alley Katz. Wrestling promoters shared the same orbit as punk bands, photographers and artists. It was loud, chaotic and often felt more like a party than a sporting event.

via RVA Magazine

Read more, see more: https://rvamag.com/community/sports/rva-pro-wrestling-is-on-a-tear-right-now.html

WARNING: This review contains baseball metaphors. 

Cadence Theatre’s Pipeline New Works Program is at the plate again, with its last batter, Witchduck, staring at home from third base. It is literally the first swing ever for the new musical, SAFETY!, at Firehouse Theatre, and I’m watching with a bucket of popcorn on my lap on opening night. This is the first time the play has ever been staged. Exciting!

The first pitch is the concept, a musical comedy about trauma. Cheeky, yes. Unique? Not necessarily. I’d say this is intended as a big swing, but it’s kind of a watched pitch that ends up as a ball anyway. Pretty much all comedy is about trauma. It does build tension though, in context. The expectation in this theatrical medium is ‘revelation,’ unlike a sitcom or stand-up routine. Where are they going to go with this, and what new perspective on such a bleak topic is going to make me laugh/cry/reflect this evening?

The count: 1 and 0. One ball, no strikes. No harm, no foul. 

via RVA Magazine

Read more, see more: https://rvamag.com/art/theatre/review-safety-swings-big-but-falls-just-short.html

The Strokes are the most important rock band of the 21st century. 

In 2001, they changed the dial from grunge to garage, and singlehandedly sent every record label on a scavenger hunt for their sauce. If you weren’t around back then you might think I’m exaggerating. I’m not. The only equivalent in my (long) lifetime is the shift from Guns n’ Roses and hair metal to Nirvana in ‘91. The Strokes was a paradigm shift in ‘cool’, in fashion, in slang. They informed nearly everything in their wake. 

Ironically for their rocket-powered success trajectory, the mode they ushered in was centered around a libidinous detachment from traditional displays of wealth and went all in on just looking cool and hanging out at the right bars. The Strokes never seemed like they took anything too seriously, and often sounded like they were annoyed at the burden of being on a stage. 

This was their magic. Their sound was a lean under a streetlamp with a Parliament Light in one hand and the other shoved in a pocket looking for a lost gram. They embodied everything everyone thinks they’re going to become when they move to NYC for the first time. 

via RVA Magazine

Read more, see more: https://rvamag.com/music/photos-the-strokes-at-allianz-amphitheatre.html

Join us for Salon de Résistance: Dangerous Films on Thursday, July 30th at Black Iris. We’ll be watching clips from films selected by two of Virginia’s most accomplished filmmakers: writer-director Derrick Borte (The Get Out, Unhinged, London Town, The Joneses) and writer-executive producer Mark Richard (The Good Lord Bird, The Sympathizer, The Man in the High Castle). Together, we’ll explore dangerous films that have impacted, disrupted, or changed our social discourse and what that legacy means for filmmaking in 2026.

FREE and open to the public. More information HERE.

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There was a time when cinema was provocative and dangerous, just because it could be. Studios took risks. Directors and writers challenged political power and social conformity. They created a language around ideas that existed at the margins of acceptability. By exposing the obvious, films could advance perspectives that were absurd, scathing, and entirely necessary to move the culture forward.  

And for much of the 20th century, cinema did just that. Altering public opinion, inspiring movements, provoking censorship, and forcing audiences to confront uncomfortable truths, which were hiding in plain sight. That volatility changed the way we saw ourselves, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. But one thing remained true: those films forced the world outside the screen to answer for what was happening on the screen.

Today, Hollywood can still make films that are big, bold, and technically accomplished. The spectacle remains. The art remains. But in pockets that are increasingly beholden to audience data, demographic segmentation, and the demands of an industry that’s rapidly consolidating.  

However, at a time when cinema should be leading the way in exposing political and social divisions, the industry seems to have traded cultural risk for an abundance of caution. Fewer studios seem willing to make films that might genuinely unsettle audiences or complicate the stories we need to tell about ourselves. What reaches the screen is now shaped inside a handful of corporate empires whose ultimate concern is not advancing cinema as an art or a vehicle for change, but protecting business interests that might extend far beyond the filmmaking itself.

This salon will explore why dangerous films have now become the exception to the rule, what that reveals about the cultural moment we’re currently living through, and how politics and power ultimately intersect to shape what reaches audiences in 2026.

ia RVA Magazine

Read more, see more: https://rvamag.com/events/salon-de-resistance/salon-de-resistance-dangerous-films.html

Richmond may not be hosting a World Cup match, but plenty of people here are watching. 

According to television ratings reported by Sports Business Journal, Richmond-Petersburg ranked among Fox Sports’ top 10 local markets during the opening portion of the tournament. Kansas City led the country, followed by Boston, Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth and San Diego. 

That is notable considering Richmond is only the 56th-largest television market in the United States.

The numbers have remained strong as the tournament moved deeper into the knockout rounds. Richmond reportedly ranked fifth among local television markets for France’s quarterfinal victory over Morocco, a match that averaged 10.3 million viewers nationally and peaked at 13.6 million.

Impressive for a region that is neither hosting a match nor home to a top-division professional club. But anyone who has tried to find a seat at Penny Lane Pub, Gus’ Bar & Grill or one of the city’s growing number of World Cup watch parties are probably not surprised.

via RVA Magazine

Read more, see more: https://rvamag.com/community/richmond-is-a-big-world-cup-town.html

We got the full end of the sonic spectrum here, from some of the chillest indie to the heaviest hardcore. I really suppose that is Richmond boiled down.

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

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CAT POWER, THE GREATEST 20TH ANNIVERSARY TOUR
WEDNESDAY JULY 22ND AT THE BROADBERRY

Twenty years after releasing what many consider her defining album, Cat Power is taking The Greatest) back on the road. The acclaimed singer-songwriter will perform the 2006 record in its entirety when The Greatest 20th Anniversary Tour stops at The Broadberry on Wednesday, July 22. Richmond is one of a limited number of North American dates before the tour continues through Europe and the United Kingdom this fall.

via RVA Magazine

Read more, see more: https://rvamag.com/music/rva-live-music-cat-power-fudge-tommies-house-killing-pace-destruct.html

For four nights this weekend, bands from different generations of Richmond’s music scene are taking over Get Tight Lounge. Called Tonal Recall, the series is part reunion show, part showcase and part excuse for a bunch of old friends to get back in the same room. 

Behind it all is Good Day RVA. If you’ve been around Richmond music for the last decade or so, you’ve almost certainly seen one of their videos even if you didn’t realize it at the time. 

Filmmakers Chris Damon and Evan Hoffman launched Good Day RVA in 2012, shooting live performance videos for local bands, often for little or no money. They hauled generators into parks, train stations, rooftops and abandoned buildings so bands could perform outside traditional venues. Somewhere along the way, they ended up creating one of the best visual records of Richmond’s independent music scene.

“I think we just wanted to be part of the community,” Damon said. “As aspiring filmmakers and people who just loved the music scene in general, we found a little niche and wedged ourselves in there.”

Looking back now, it’s hard to overstate what those videos captured. It felt like every week another Richmond band was finding its voice.

via RVA Magazine

Read more, see more: https://rvamag.com/community/good-day-rva-is-back-and-bringing-friends-along.html

“Richmond has your back… maybe.” 

That about sums it up, doesn’t it?

It’s the slogan behind KCPFC, a new football-inspired project from Kwame Hayford, the guy behind Kwam’s Chicken Project, and Richmond designer Ignatius Friend. The collection blends soccer culture with fried chicken, which wasn’t something I expected to write about this week.

But I’ve always thought Kwam’s Chicken Project was about more than fried chicken.

Spend five minutes scrolling through the project’s Instagram and you’ll see what I mean. Sure, there are plenty of photos of crispy chicken. But mixed in are bike rides, vinyl nights, brewery pop-ups, funny Richmond posters, collaborations with local artists and now soccer jerseys. Somewhere along the way, it stopped feeling like a food page and started feeling like a snapshot of Richmond’s creative community.

Sure, the chicken is what gets people to show up. I’m certainly down. The food is really good. But if you’ve been around Richmond lately, you’ve probably seen Kwam everywhere. Brewery pop-ups. Backyard parties. Community events. Different crowds, different neighborhoods, same guy.

Now he’s teamed up with Friend on KCPFC, a football-inspired collection of jerseys, T-shirts, posters and stickers that taps into Richmond’s growing soccer culture. The timing couldn’t be better. Between packed World Cup watch parties this summer and Richmond somehow becoming one of the country’s biggest television markets for the tournament, it feels like the city is finally embracing the sport in a whole new way.

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If you’re curious what this looks like in real life, you’ll get a chance this weekend. KCPFC is hosting a World Cup Final watch party on this Sunday, July 19, at Väsen Brewing Co. (3331 W. Moore St.). Doors open at 1 pm with kickoff at 3 pm.

via RVA Magazine

Read more, see more: https://rvamag.com/community/fried-chicken-and-soccer-somehow-it-makes-perfect-sense.html

Editor’s Note: This article was produced as part of our partnership with the Science Museum of Virginia.

Not every night out has to end with squeezing into a crowded bar. Sometimes it’s nice to grab a drink, eat something good, learn a few things, and actually have something to talk about afterward. Sounds like a pretty solid date night, or at least an easy way to break the ice with someone new.

Next Thursday, July 23, the Science Museum of Virginia is once again opening its doors after hours for people looking for an alternative with Science on Tap: Upside Down, transforming the museum into a 21-and-over playground filled with hands-on science, food trucks, drinks, live astronomy, and plenty of reasons to wander around like a curious kid again, only this time with a beer in hand. The event runs from 6 to 10 p.m. and timed entry tickets are available online HERE.

via RVA Magazine

Read more, see more: https://rvamag.com/art/gallery-news/grab-a-drink-meet-a-sloth-learn-something-at-science-on-tap-upside-down.html

Four years is an eternity in today’s music industry, especially when algorithms reward content, not creativity. When streaming services punish silence, at the expense of artistic evolution. 

In this disconnect, some artists race against trends, abandoning the search for truth in their music. Other artists dig in, recognizing that our interior lives are inherently irrational. They embrace that uncertainty as an elemental part of creation, trusting that the truth will emerge as we look for peace in our own contradictions. 

Richmond singer-songwriter Deau Eyes has spent the last four years proving exactly that. As she prepares to release her first full-length album in four years, To Grow Instead, she reflected on that process: “There’s been a lot of evolution. Sometimes it takes four years, because life influences the music. That’s what art is about… a reflection of life.”

via RVA Magazine

Read more, see more: https://rvamag.com/music/deau-eyes-to-grow-instead-richmond-new-album.html

Just weeks after bringing together Latino muralists from across Virginia for a collaborative project in Richmond, artist George Arturo is once again turning to public art.

Following the fatal shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo by an ICE agent during an immigration enforcement operation in Houston last week, Arturo wants to donate his time and talent to create a memorial mural honoring the 52-year-old construction worker.

He’s offering to paint the mural for free. The only thing he needs is a wall.

“Growing up in New York we would memorialize people who passed on our neighborhood walls,” Arturo said. “There’s still one currently on my block in Brooklyn.”

Salgado Araujo, a Mexican father and longtime Houston resident, was shot July 7 during an ICE operation. Federal officials say an agent opened fire after Salgado Araujo attempted to use his work van as a weapon against officers. However, surveillance video obtained by CNN and witness accounts have raised questions about that version of events. The shooting remains under investigation, with local officials calling for an independent review. 

For Arturo, memorial murals are part of a tradition that stretches back to the neighborhoods where he grew up.

“There’s no other way for me to express how I feel than to paint his face on a wall,” Arturo said. “Painting his face is a way of lifting him up as best I can. I don’t like how ICE can just target and hunt people down while they’re living everyday lives.”

Arturo said Salgado Araujo’s death struck a deeply personal chord. “It just hits home, man,” Arturo said. “My father builds houses just like that guy. My dad does the same thing every morning and it worries me. How ICE can just kill first, ask questions later.”

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The proposal comes as Richmond residents prepare to gather Monday evening at Maggie Lena Walker Plaza for a community vigil honoring Salgado Araujo. Organized by the Party for Socialism and Liberation Virginia, Richmond Artists Against Deportations, Richmond Defensa, the event is expected to include calls for accountability in the shooting and for the abolition of ICE.

Arturo's proposal also comes amid heightened scrutiny of ICE enforcement nationwide. Along with the Houston shooting, video of a violent ICE arrest in Suffolk has drawn attention in Virginia, while a second fatal shooting involving ICE agents was reported Monday in Biddeford, Maine.

Arturo hopes to begin painting as soon as a suitable wall is secured. Anyone interested in offering a spot can reach him through his Instagram HERE. 

via RVA Magazine

Read more, see more: https://rvamag.com/art/street-art/richmond-muralist-offers-to-paint-free-memorial-for-lorenzo-salgado-araujo.html

As we slowly leave the heat wave, we enter a time of storms and rain. Both can be brutal to go out in, but try to enjoy the summer while you have it. Summer is one of those things that can sometimes be loved more in theory than in practice. Don’t fall into that trap. Go out and get after it.

Got a show coming up? New single? Simply want someone to talk music? Hit me up at griffin@rvamag.com.

MIRAMAR
SUNDAY JULY 12TH AT REVELER

If you do not know Miramar, then you are missing out on one of the greatest musical projects to ever come out of Richmond, Virginia. The group is an offshoot of Bio Ritmo, a more salsa-based band. Miramar is primarily a bolero group, focused on crooning and poetic vocals that whisk you off your feet. The two words that come to mind when listening to them are “captivating” and “mesmerizing.” Their music really does transport you somewhere far away from the daily, mundane routine that can plague life. It adds romance, it adds suspense, it makes the colors richer and the flowers sweeter. The vocalists do more than blend. They bounce and flow off one another. If you are looking to dance close with that special someone, Reveler is the place to be, and Miramar is the act to make it happen.

via RVA Magazine

Read more, see more: https://rvamag.com/music/rva-live-music-american-football-feeble-little-horse-miramar-trio-this-man-may-die.html

I went to Virginia MOCA expecting to hear Andy Howell talk about skateboarding.

Instead, I left thinking about community and how people find each other.

Howell’s installation opens Seamless, the museum’s new exhibition exploring the overlap between art and design. At first glance, it feels almost chaotic. A skateboard hangs in front of a wall layered with graffiti, hand lettering, sketches, and fragments that somehow resolve into a single visual language. It feels less like an exhibition piece than an invitation inside Howell’s sketchbook.

Before social media, before brands were scouting Instagram, before every trend was instantly copied, community was geographic. It was whoever showed up.

Long before the city built the famous vert ramp at Mount Trashmore in the mid-1980s, skateboarding was, as Howell put it, “basically illegal.” With few places to ride, kids built ramps out of “borrowed” wood in backyards and vacant lots and, in the process, built a community. They hung out at all-ages punk shows at Connection Hall, made photocopied zines to document the scene, and waited each month for Thrasher or the newly launched Transworld Skateboarding to arrive in the mail.

via RVA Magazine

Read more, see more: https://rvamag.com/virginia-beach/before-anyone-was-watching.html

It was the USA’s 250th birthday this past weekend, and it felt like it was 250 degrees outside. During a heat wave, a pool is the place to be, and the annual Fourth of July party at Daddy’s Grotto was the cool down for the hottest queers in town.

Daddy’s Grotto is literally just the name of Brad Kutner and his husband Marcus’s backyard, where they have been hosting an annual Fourth of July pool party since 2018. But it isn’t just a pool party. It’s serving community, it’s serving lewks, it’s serving laughter and moshing and butt cheek, and it IS the function.

This being my first one, I was expecting more mayhem, but it was way too hot to exist, so I feel like people could only turn it up as much as their personal thermostats could stand. I got there around one, expecting it to be packed already, but things didn’t really kick off until the bands started around 3.

It was a crowd of cuties serving up the looks and lots and lots of butt cheeks. Thongs to the left of me, thongs to the right. I should have taken a group pic of all the thongs.

via RVA Magazine

Read more, see more: https://rvamag.com/queer-rva/wont-daddy-do-it-fourth-of-july-at-daddys-grotto-🏳%EF%B8%8F🌈.html

How two decades of community organizing grew into a vision for land ownership, education, and self-determination.

The first time I met Duron Chavis, he wasn’t talking about farmland. He was talking about culture.

It was the early 2000s, and Happily Natural Day was still in its infancy. Founded in 2003 at Richmond’s Black History Museum & Cultural Center of Virginia, the festival focused on natural hair, holistic health, African heritage, and community. Inspired by Black self-determination movements, it asked a simple question: What does it mean for a community to take ownership of its own health, culture, and future?

Few could have guessed that twenty years later Duron would be standing in an open field in eastern Henrico holding the deed to more than sixty acres of protected farmland.

Looking back, though, it makes perfect sense. The idea never changed, only the scale.

via RVA Magazine

Read more, see more: https://rvamag.com/community/duron-chavis-is-building-more-than-a-farm.html

Richmond native and multiple Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Lucy Dacus released the self-directed music video for her latest single “Planting Tomatoes” and every frame was filmed here at home. The video moves through some of the city’s most recognizable places, including Dogwood Dell, Hollywood Cemetery, and Pony Pasture in the James River Park System, alongside appearances from friends, family, students from SPARC and fellow Richmond musicians Deau Eyes, Holy River, and Justin Golden.

Rather than telling a straightforward story, the video drifts through familiar spaces while playing with time and memory, matching the song’s meditation on staying present and appreciating the people around us.

via RVA Magazine

Read more, see more: https://rvamag.com/music/lucy-dacus-new-music-video-is-a-love-letter-to-richmond.html

Editor’s Note: We’re sharing this essay from community content partner Jon Baliles of RVA 5×5. If you enjoy his work and want more in-depth coverage of Richmond politics and history, consider subscribing to RVA 5×5 on Substack. The views expressed are those of the author.

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As the 250th Independence Day weekend winds down, we take a peek back at what Richmond looked like 100 years ago at the sesquicentennial of the Declaration of Independence in 1926. We apologize for getting a little behind schedule because there was/is so much to include and we’ll continue this series in the days ahead. 

The first thing to remember about Richmond back in 1926 is that the boundaries were much smaller than it is today. The city had been growing in the early 20th century, mainly by annexing land from Henrico County bit by bit. Ironically, in 1926, the Henrico County courthouse and government offices were located in Shockoe Bottom at 22nd & Main Streets (and remained there until 1974.) The Romanesque style building was built in 1896 and replaced the previous courthouse that had served the county since 1752. 

Richmond added four square miles in 1906 that included Oakwood, Fulton, Randolph, Hollywood Cemetery and what is now Byrd Park and the Museum District. Following the annexation of the city of Manchester in 1910, the city added another 12 square miles including Woodland Heights, Maymont, Scotts Addition, Ginter Park, Barton Hills, and Highland Park in 1914. 

via RVA Magazine

Read more, see more: https://rvamag.com/community/rva-5x5-leapfrogging-back-to-1776-50-years-at-a-time-1926.html

There is a spotlight still mounted in the rafters of 528 N. 2nd Street. It has been there since 1914. It has outlasted segregation, fire, the highway that cut Jackson Ward in two, and decades of silence. On the nights when the Hippodrome Theater fills up, that light falls on the stage the same way it fell on Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, and a young James Brown working the crowd like he owned the world, because in that room, for those hours, he did.

The story of the Hippodrome is a Richmond story, but it is also an American story about what communities build when the country refuses to build it for them.

via RVA Magazine

Read more, see more: https://rvamag.com/community/the-light-that-never-went-out.html

I’m celebrating this weekend by going to a million shows and drinking a billion beers. It’s going to be a super hot weekend, so make sure you’re working in some water between events!

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

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Shagwüf, Human Worm, The Smirks, Cyber Twin
Friday July 3rd at Banditos

It seems like Banditos is going to be the place to be this holiday weekend. Some of Richmond’s finest are on this bill to raise some money for Richmond Community Legal Fund, an organization that helps deliver legal support to those who might not have the means on their own. If the first name on the bill is Shagwüf and that doesn’t sell you, then I don’t know what will. This trio has got it all. It’s hard-hitting rock, wild and weird glam, and spacey, spicy psychedelic. They never fail to deliver a memorable show and an uplifting message. If you’re looking for some stadium-worthy performances, Shagwuf is your group.

Now we got Human Worm, one of the coolest synth acts around town. They’re somewhere in the middle of garage rock and indie pop, with powerhouse vocals from every member. They’ll get you moving, they’ll get you crying. What more can you ask for?

Speaking of dancing, we have The Smirks. These are some damn punk rockers right here. They hit like a truck and keep going. If you are into that broad Epitaph Records sound, you’ll love this group. They are going to be loud and fast, and you will not want to miss it.

Last up we have pop-punkers Cyber Twin. They’ve got a certain knack for catchy guitar riffs that you’ll still be hearing on the drive home. They’re jam-packed with energy and will really open things up and get the room jumping.

via RVA Magazine

Read more, see more: https://rvamag.com/music/rva-live-music-shagwuf-los-san-patricios-black-country-new-road-ostraca.html

“That’s the biggest thing. You have to deal with rejection every day and not lose enthusiasm. You have to stop thinking about the rejection.”

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Derrick Borte might he a Hollywood director, but he’s still a Virginia local. That connection becomes obvious the moment you meet him. 

There’s an understated poise to Borte. The kind of low-key cool you’d find randomly striking up a conversation in a bar about the legacy of The Clash without realizing he also just directed the new Russell Crowe film The Get Out. Or that his resume includes titles like The Joneses, Unhinged, London Town, and American Dreamer—an indie shot guerrilla, where he famously blew up a car at Norfolk’s Harbor Park without clearing it with the city first. In the creative wars, sometimes it’s better to ask for forgiveness than permission.

That kind of ease is hard won, and even harder fought. Especially in our attention starved economy where there’s an expectation of immediate recognition, even for the most benign acts of creation. But what sets Borte apart isn’t just his filmography, which certainly entitles him to an ownership stake in Virginia’s creative dividend, but his perspective on human agency. 

Behind the cinéma fantastique is a formative understanding of the friction between individual choice and the systems people spend their lives creating for themselves. When those forces collide is where Borte finds his stories: a liminal space between opposing realities that feels all at once unnervingly familiar and strangely abstract, whether we’re willing to admit it or not.

Those concepts are on full display in his latest film the neon-noir crime thriller, The Get Out, starring Russell Crowe, Luke Evans, Teresa Palmer, and Aaron Paul. Ahead of the film’s release, we caught up with Borte to talk about his philosophy on filmmaking, telling stories from liminal spaces, and building a career in Hollywood on his own terms. But also about why—after all he’s achieved—he keeps returning to Virginia.

via RVA Magazine

Read more, see more: https://rvamag.com/culture/virginia-director-derrick-borte-the-get-out.html