February 2023 Veer Magazine

Keenan Scott II Thoughts of Keenan Scott II

Princess Anne County Training School/Union Kempsville High School Museum

& Open to the Public

Guided and self-guided tours available! The museum is open on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Princess Anne County Training School/ Union Kempsville High School Museum

5100 Cleveland St. Virginia Beach, VA 23462 (Located inside the Renaissance Academy)

Bobby Lawrence

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The Sound of Surprise

By Tom Robotham

Whenever someone asks me what kind of music I like, my go-to answer is, all of it. I’d be hard-pressed to pick a single favorite genre. That said, when I reflect on the richness of my experiences with music over the course of my life, my love of jazz stands out prominently.

The seeds of that love were planted early on by mother, a classically trained singer with a degree in music from Florida State University. Not that she liked jazz, per se. But she sang constantly while doing household chores, and favored tunes from the American Songbook, that great body of popular standards drawn from Hollywood and Broadway musicals. Many of those songs became jazz standards as well— thus, when I heard my first jazz recordings, I recognized the melodies immediately.

My mother also instilled in me a love of instrumental music, by sitting me down for my first piano lesson when I was 5. I loved vocal music, too, of course—especially The Beatles. But from an early age, I was fascinated by records without vocals, such as those by The Ventures. Later on, because of this, I was powerfully drawn to the instrumentals of prog-rock bands like Emerson, Lake & Palmer and Yes. Greg

Lake’s and Jon Anderson’s vocals were certainly part of the appeal, but they were secondary to the dazzling virtuosity of Keith Emerson, Rick Wakeman, Steve Howe, and Carl Palmer.

None of this was jazz, of course. But it set the stage for me, as did jazz-influenced sections of John Barleycorn Must Die, by Traffic, which I first heard at a friend ’s house when I was 15.

With that in mind, I bought my first jazz record a year later while flipping through the bins at Korvette’s department store: A Big-Band anthology, featuring Sing, Sing, Sing, In the Mood and other Swing-era classics.

In spite of this, I remained partial to rock until I went off to college. The great turning point came when I got a gig as an on-air host at WPLT, Plattsburgh, my college radio station. The large record library included hundreds of jazz albums, in addition to rock, folk and classical, and it was there that my education in jazz began in earnest.

That education grew ever more intense when I graduated and began my career as a newspaperman in the early ‘80s. The timing could not have been more fortuitous, as America, during that period, was experiencing something of a jazz renaissance, led by Wynton Marsalis and

other young players who were devoted to reviving interest in this uniquely American art form. Spurred by the interest in these musicians, record companies like Blue Note and Verve began reissuing many of their old recordings as well.

Coinciding with this was my great good fortune to be granted a weekly music column at my paper, The Staten Island Advance. Armed with this credential, I got free records and free admission to jazz shows at clubs and concert halls, especially during the Kool Jazz Festivals.

The beauty of this period—from 1980-1983— lay not only in the creative output of the young musicians like Marsalis, but in the fact that so many giants of the music were still going strong. As a result, I got to see Count Basie, Benny Goodman, Harry James, Ella Fitzgerald, Mel Torme, Art Blakey, Stan Getz, Dexter Gordon, Ron Carter, Max Roach, Chet Baker, Sarah Vaughan, and dozens of others.

Better still, I got to interview some of them. One show that stands out is a performance by Count Basie and his orchestra at a Knights of Columbus Hall in Staten Island. I’d seen many of those other artists at Carnegie Hall, and they were wonderful, due in part to the extraordinary acoustics of that iconic venue. I remember Getz’s performance, in particular, because at one point he sent his sidemen off for a break, walked to the front of the stage alone, with his sax, and said, “ Now I’m going to show you why this is the greatest concert hall in the world,” and proceeded to play without a mic. His silkysmooth tones filled the hall to the rafters. What made the Basie performance so special, on the other hand, was that the band played in front of a large dance floor. I was accompanied by my girlfriend at the time, and for the better part of two hours, we danced to our hearts’ content. It felt as if we’d gone through a time machine, back to the 1930s or the war years. After the show, to top things off, the concert organizer introduced me to Basie. He was ailing at the time, confined to a motorized wheel chair, but his mind was still sharp, and he’d had complete control of his ensemble. He also could not have been friendlier, and he thanked me for the preview article I’d written.

As fine as that memory is, however, another experience stands above it. When I got wind that Dizzy Gillespie had a show scheduled at a club in New Jersey, just over the bridge from Staten Island, I arranged to interview him by phone for another preview piece. That went well, but phone interviews aren’t ideal, so I resolved to follow up in person. Fortunately, a few nights before the Jersey gig, he was playing at the Blue Note in Greenwich Village. I’d called ahead to tell the manager what I was doing, and when I arrived, he ushered me to a seat directly in front of the bandstand.

“ I hope you don’t mind sharing a table,” he

Count Basie at his piano in 1955. Photo by James J. Kriegmann

decorate in style

(continued from page 6)

said, pointing to a woman who was already sitting there. Naturally, I told him that was fine. When I sat down, she immediately extended her hand and said, “ Hi, I’m Sylvia Syms.” She’s not all that well remembered these days, but in the 1950s and ‘60s she was a popular jazz singer. As I soon learned, she and Dizzy—whom she called by his real name, John—were good friends. While we were waiting for the show to begin, she regaled me with stories about their heydays, and I got a particular kick out of one remark.

“ I remember when Miles Davis first came on the scene,” she said. “ He was such a sweet young man.”

Later, during a break between sets, Gillespie came over to join his old friend, and I introduced myself as the one who’d interviewed him by phone. We talked some more, which fleshed out material for my column.

“ What ’s that book you have there?” he said, pointing to the paperback sitting on the table. (I never went anywhere without a book in those days.) It was Nat Hentoff ’ s The Jazz Life

“Oh,” he said. “ Nat’s a great writer and sure knows jazz.”

As a journalist, I tried to avoid acting like a mere fan, but at that moment I couldn’t resist, and asked him to sign it. He gladly obliged, and while I was never a big autograph hound, I cherish it to this day. It ’s especially meaningful to me, not only because it reminds me of my warm encounter with one of the great pioneers of Bebop, but because Hentoff was also a major influence on my jazz education, with his books, liner notes, and columns in The Village Voice.

Years later, when I became editor of Port Folio Weekly, Hentoff and I became friends, which led to one of the greatest honors I’ve ever received. He read my Editor’s Notebook every week and was struck by one in particular—a column in which I’d written about why I, as the editor, devoted so much space to jazz coverage. He ended up devoting an entire Jazz Times column to what I’d said in Port Folio, praising my comments under the headline, “Bringing Newspapers into Jazz.” That meant more to me than any award.

The Port Folio years allowed me to continue the jazz education I’d started while working at the Staten Island Advance, but the 1990s were a rich decade as well. Before I got the editor’s gig, I continued working part-time in New York, flying up every week for six years. I was working for Hearst Magazines at the time, which also afforded me great access to things, and when I learned that Blue Note records wanted to issue a series of compilations under the Esquire magazine brand, I jumped at the opportunity to shepherd the project. (Esquire was owned by Hearst at the time, and the project made sense because the magazine had done so much to promote jazz over the years.)

The many meetings I had with Bruce Lundvall, the legendary head of Blue Note, are as fondly memorable as my encounters with the musicians themselves. One day, he mentioned that he was going to Bradley’s (a great jazz bar that, alas, no longer exists) to hear a young pianist named Jacky Terrasson. He invited me and my boss to join him, and it turned out to be another serendipitous event in my life. It was fas-

cinating in part because the president of Verve was also there and interested in signing Terrasson. Lundvall won out.

“ I threw in a new piano as a bonus,” he told me later.

That aside, though, I was just blown away by Terrasson’s playing. To this day, he remains one of my all-time favorite jazz musicians.

When I finally took the Port Folio gig, I was initially concerned that being anchored to Norfolk would cut me off from jazz, other than what I had in my record collection—and I did miss places like the Vanguard, the Blue Note and Bradley’ s, among others. But to my delight, I soon met a number of jazz musicians based here, including Jae Sinnett, Jimmy Masters, Woody Beckner, Russell Scarborough, Justin Kauflin and others. And in keeping with the commitment I laid out in that column, I wrote about the local scene whenever I got the chance. I’m especially glad to have produced a cover story about the experiences of jazz musicians in a less-than-top-tier market. I’m also grateful to have had the opportunity to write about the great jazz saxophonist and Basie alum Frank Foster, who’d moved to Chesapeake. A short time after relocating here, while on tour, he’d had a stroke, and I wanted to chronicle not only his stellar career but the challenges he now faced as a result of his disability.

My friendship with Rob Cross, director of the Virginia Arts Festival, led to yet another great opportunity: the chance to help produce a Port Folio concert series. Among the musicians I got to bring here was none other than Jacky Terrasson, who performed a superb show at the NorVa. Afterwards, my friend and Port Folio contributor Jim Newsom went to dinner with Terrasson, and that was, needless to say, a delight, closing the circle that began years earlier at Bradley’ s.

I’ve related all of these experiences here for one reason: to publicly express how extraordinarily lucky I feel to have had this exposure to America’s greatest art form. As Ken Burns so beautifully articulated in his multi-part Jazz documentary, the music is so quintessentially American because it’s about individual freedom and improvisation, tempered by the need for group cooperation. It is, in other words, the American experiment expressed in sound. The story of jazz, of course, is also the story of race in America.

That ’s the intellectual part of the appeal— and since I’m passionate about American Studies, the focus of much of my writing and nearly all of my teaching—this idea also has great emotional resonance for me. But deep down, my love of jazz is rooted in my gut-level response to its elements: the unmistakable feeling of swing, the spirit of the blues coursing through its veins, the combination of soulfulness and dazzling virtuosity that the best players bring to it, and the remarkable exhilaration that comes from witnessing people making up great art on the spot. The great jazz writer Whitney Balliett once called it “ the sound of surprise”—and that sums it up. Nowadays, especially, when so much pop music seems utterly formulaic and predictable, I feel especially grateful that even old records that I’ve listened to a thousand times can blindside me with joy.

Black History Month/February 2023: A Synoptic Perspective

By John L. Horton

A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots

— Marcus Garvey

It has been said that timing is everything and I was going to let this go—I really was….however, I just got through watching several discussions about the relevance and importance of Black History Month on some of our major networks and news shows. Moreover, there has been intense and controversial debate about the relevance and importance of “Critical Race Theory,” and other Black education concepts and courses, especially in our public schools. (This conversation and debate are ongoing throughout certain parts of our nation, especially states like Virginia,  Florida, Alabama, Texas, Tennessee, etc…)

Basically, the discussion, pro and con, was whether or not Black History Month is still necessary at this time in American history or has it essence and message run its course? Some have even suggested that the continued celebration and observance of Black History Month causes more harm and divisiveness than goodwill and unity.

I sincerely believe there is still a necessity for Black History Month. I have been a student and teacher of Black history for more than six decades—and still counting. And I say Black history should be taught (and learned) year round. And it should be more inclusive of the common men and women among us who truly deserve such recognition. Until that happens, I shall continue to support the purpose and mission of Black History Month, for it is still very honorable and still very much needed. For, I sincerely believe that Black History Month unites most people of goodwill and benevolence. Black History Month is still necessary because it showcases and highlights certain significant and profound aspects of African Americans.  Black History Month helps to instill pride, dignity, awareness and understanding among African-American people and other people whom African American must relate to and interact with in everyday life. Moreover, Black History Month dramatizes and tells the story of where African Americans have been, of where they are now, and hopefully, of where they will be in the future.

Accordingly, I offer the following framework and outline for a synoptic perspective of Black/ American History for 2023…and beyond…

WE ARE the children and descendants of the great African empires of Mali, Songhay and Old Ghana.

We are Estevanico, an African who accompanied Spanish explorers through the Arizona and New Mexico territories in 1538.

We are the 20-30 enslaved Africans, in late August 1619, who landed at Point Comfort, today ’ s Fort Monroe, Hampton, Virginia, aboard the privateer ship, White Lion, who were exchanged for supplies and other commodities.

We are the slave Phillis Wheatley, who in the 1770s wrote poetry that has been read throughout the world.

We are Jean Point du Sable, a Negro trader who founded and helped to settle Chicago in 1779.

We are 5,000 slaves and free blacks who served in the Continental Army and Navy between 1776 and 1781.

We are black abolitionists Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman and Sojourner Truth, and rebel slaves Denmark Vesey, Gabriel Prosser and Nat Turner. (1800s…)

We are the black scout George W. Bush, who led white settlers into the Oregon Territory in 1844.

We are James Beckwourth, Nat Love and countless other black cowboys, pioneers, settlers, and “ buffalo soldiers,” who helped to scout and settle the Old West during the mid-late 1800s.

We are the many countless and faceless blacks who served with distinction and honor in the Union Army during the Civil War.

We are Jan Matzelinger, who in 1883 invented the first machine that manufactured an entire shoe.

We are Daniel Hale Williams, who in 1893 was the first licensed physician to perform successful open-heart surgery.

We are Mathew Henson, who accompanied Commander Robert E. Peary on his North Pole expedition in 1909.

We are Madam C. J. Walker (Sarah Breedlove), entrepreneur and philanthropist and the first female self-made millionaire in America.

We are George Washington Carver, who developed over 300 products from the peanut and sweet potato, and who is the first African American to have a National Memorial. (Diamond, Missouri; July 14, 1943).

We are the budding legends and giants of the Black Renaissance during the 1920s through the 1940s: James Weldon Johnson, Richard Wright, Paul Robeson, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Josephine Baker, Bessie Smith, Lena Horne, Bill “ Bojangles” Robinson, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, Mahalia Jackson, Marian Anderson, Hattie McDaniel, among others.

We are Mary Jane McLeod Bethune, educator and civil rights leader, who co-founded BethuneCookman College (Daytona Beach, Fla., 1941), and was a charter member of FDR’ s “ Black Cabinet.”

We are Dorie Miller, American hero of World War II who shot down four Japanese planes at Pearl Harbor in 1941.

We are Ralph Bunche, first black to be awarded a doctorate in political science at Harvard University, and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize as a member of the U.S. delegation to the United Nations in 1950.

We are some of the black legends and superstars of the modern sports world: Jack Johnson, Jesse Owens, Satchel Paige, Jackie Robinson, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Sugar Ray Robinson, Joe Louis, Muhammad Ali, Jim Brown, Rafer Johnson, Wilma

Rudolph, Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Oscar Robertson, Charles Sifford, Althea Gibson, Arthur Ashe, among others.

We are Emmett Louis Till, African-American, 14-year-old teenager, who was lynched on August 28, 1955, in Money, Mississippi, after reportedly flirting with a white woman.

We are the four black North Carolina A&T college students (David Richmond, Franklin McCain, Ezell Blair, Jr., and Joseph McNeil) who sat down at the lunch counter inside the Woolworth Store in Greensboro, N.C. on February 1, 1960.

We are the four black girls (Addie Mae Collins, 14; Cynthia Wesley, 11; Carole Robertson, 14; and Carol Denise McNair, 14), who were killed in the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church, Birmingham, Alabama on September 15, 1963.

We are Mildred Loving, a black woman who was banished from Virginia for marrying a white man (Richard Loving), whose landmark Supreme Court ruling led to overturning state miscegenation laws on June 12, 1967.

We are Edward Brooke from Massachusetts, the first black person since Reconstruction to be elected to the U.S. Senate, (Republican, January 3, 1967 - January 3, 1979)

We are Thurgood Marshall, former U.S. solicitor general and the first black to sit on the U.S. Supreme Court, October 1967 - October 1991.

We are Shirley Chisholm, U.S. representative from Brooklyn, the first black to formally run for president, in 1972.

We are the several hundreds of thousands of African-American men who participated in the Million Man March on the National Mall, in Washington, D.C., on October 16, 1995.

We are the several hundreds of thousands of African-American women who participated in the Million Women March on the Benjamin Franklin Park Way in Philadelphia, PA., on October 25, 1997.

We are the hundreds and thousands of AfricanAmerican architects, inventors, engineers, aviators, scientists, physicians, lawyers, educators, politicians, activists, preachers, entrepreneurs, actors, media personalities, government officials, military leaders, and important others who have made significant and lasting contributions to all mankind.

We are Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. DuBois, Marcus Garvey, A. Philip Randolph, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., Whitney Young Jr., Roy Wilkins, Barbara Jordan, Patricia Harris, Coretta Scott King, Ralph Abernathy, Rosa Parks, Maya Angelou, and other names forever enshrined in memory and history.

We are our ancestors and forebears of times past; we are our men and women of today; we are our boys and girls of tomorrow. We are a beautiful and noble people.

We are a vehicle of heritage, culture and pride on a journey of love, understanding and acceptance. Yes, that is who we are.

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Steve Prince’s Kitchen Table Talk

By Betsy DiJulio

In this body of work, you will encounter the full range of human emotions from joy to sorrow. “In the middle,” says artist Steve Prince,” is where my work resides. And at the heart of it is hope.”

The title of the exhibition is both highly personal, autobiographical even—a reference to rich discussions that flowed around Prince’s mother’s kitchen table in his native New Orleans—and universal. Prince thinks of the kitchen as “one of those connective tissues,” intimately related to how we “mature through food and conversation.”

“But,” asks this self-proclaimed art evangelist, “how do we enlarge the tables so you can hear what’s happening at mine and I can hear what’s happening at yours?”

Working in a range of media, Prince is primarily a printmaker, carving large-scale linoleum and MDF or birch plywood blocks from which he prints his signature black and white compositions of dense and dynamic figuration and personal iconography. But he is also an exquisite draftsman, creating similarly monumental graphite drawings in which volumetric forms are deftly built up from layer after layer of vigorously cross-hatched marks. He employs 2B to 9B pencils, Ebony pencils, and graphite sticks in the creation of his full and nuanced tonal spectrum. For the largest pieces, Prince stands on a step stool or ladder with the paper taped to the wall, working with his arm close to his body to avoid unnecessary muscular tweaks and twinges as he builds up the tightly woven network of strokes.

Women figure prominently in this artist’s work, both specific matriarchal forces who have impacted him over the course of his life, and archetypes for maternal instincts and womanhood which he sees as “holding this society together” in ways both seen and unseen. For him, the women in his

work also represent “ beauty, majesty, brilliance, and strength.” And hope is frequently embodied in mother and child imagery.

Houses, says the artist, are used as symbols of our physical home—our foundations—but also the figurative home that resides in us, the one we carry with us “ as we carry generations.” About references to quilting, the artist says he “ can ’t shake” them. “ They keep recurring in my work.” Quilting, he reflects, gets passed from generation to generation and serves as a metaphor for familial ties that bind. In a print entitled Sow, Prince simultaneously references sowing seeds as well as sewing a patchwork quilt from discards. These scraps “still have life; beauty in the brokenness, and that is what a family is about.”

In the same piece, with its interwoven references to Jim Crow, jazz, injustice, and much more, is an image near the top left referencing the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, AL, in 1963. The souls of the four young Black girls who lost their lives are visualized as flames reaching heavenward. Standing to the side is Sarah Collins, the sister of one of the girls, who was recovered from the rubble. Prince met her in 2017 “spreading love around the world despite having lost sight in one eye and hearing in one ear,” as well as her sibling.

And at the heart of it is hope…

About his highly recognizable predilection for stacking imagery in his tall vertical pieces, Prince acknowledges the format as a metaphor for the way “stories get stacked on top of us.” These stories—this baggage— ”aren’t always pretty, but are what shape us as individuals, families, and communities.”

Whether the compositions are vertical or horizontal, every inch of them are consciously considered and tightly knit. Not-

ing that “Everything is planned in building a composition; no space is left to chance,” Prince delights in orchestrating a “ beautiful play of tessellation” and the highly intentional “use of space and design elements to construct rhythm and visual sound.” Even the stray marks in the negative spaces aren ’t stray. “I leave a lot of imperfect ‘chatter,’ those directional marks that amplify

form, tonal variety, or movement.”

Prince, who serves as the Director of Engagement and Distinguished Artist in Residence at the Muscarelle Museum at William & Mary, is not surprisingly concerned with “speaking to the multiple intelligences of viewers and students,” and one of those ways is through dance-related imagery. With a wife who is a dancer, he frequently

Steve Prince, Juneteenth , will be on exhibition at Norfolk Academy

finds himself asking, “How can we use the fullness of our bodies to communicate?” noting that, although all arts are modes of expression, “ The first is movement.”

Hand-in-hand with dance is music. Prince grew up in New Orleans, the birthplace of jazz, and enthusiastically acknowledges that both classical and contemporary jazz play a prominent role in his creative process. He refers to them, especially the music of Miles Davis, as “part of the fodder that drives my marks—the cutting and the carving.” But having grown up in the 1980s, “old school rappers and parties with mixing” are also formative influences on his work. He sees these musicians as “recycling the past” and engaging in “another form of quilting” in which scraps of sound are figuratively stitched together.

A piece entitled True Vine was made while in residence at the University of Tennessee during the Coronavirus pandemic. Its references to music and dance are meant, in part, to recall Vine Street, what Prince refers to as the “Black Mecca” in Knoxville, TN. With its movie theatres, shopping, and more, it was once the center of Black life in this southern town. When engaged in residencies, the artist likes to research the place and allow it to “ filter into the narrative in both specific and more universal ways.” So, Vine Street is also a metaphor for “ the true vine,” a spiritual reference. “Everything is connected,” Prince asserts. And in this piece, the figures are dancing atop a globe with tessellating countries and continents which “speak to the transatlantic slave trade.”

Salt of the Earth is Prince’s response to the iconic 1960 F.W. Woolworth lunch counter sit-ins staged by the Greensboro Four. These four Black freshmen at the North Carolina A&T College were allowed to shop but not eat at the segregated lunch counter. So, they took seats at the counter with their purchases and refused to leave until closing, returning the next day with more students. Their act of defiance touched off some 55 sit-ins in 13 states. Later that year, the first Blacks were served at that counter, and the store is now home to the International Civil Rights Center and Museum.

A dove symbolizing both peace and the Holy Spirit sits among objects on the counter which resemble headstones. Three are labeled “Love,” “Free,” and “ Truth,” seeming to question the ability of these states of being to persist. One student’s shoulder bears a patch emblazoned with “AOG,” or the Armor of God, referred to by Paul in Ephesians. The group of young men eclipse the word “ Wool” in the store’s sign, leaving only “ Worth,” a statement about the value of human lives.

A small, contemplative, and seemingly insignificant white woman in the right background is borrowed from Edward Hopper ’s 1939 painting New York Movie. Yet, “All diagonals and curves point to her. She is at a crossroads: does she stand with the men and serve them, or does she do what the boss says and not serve them?” asks Prince.

“ We all have a moral dilemma,” the artist asserts. “Do we stand on the side of righteousness, or do we walk in fear? None of us are free of it, though circumstances change.”

Perrel Gallery, Norfolk Academy, 1585 Wesleyan Drive, Norfolk, VA, www.NorfolkAcademy.org. The public is invited to the campus to view the exhibition on Sunday, March 19, 1 to 4 p.m.

Note: I am the curator of Perrel Gallery at Norfolk Academy where I am also the Upper School art teacher. In discussing editorial content for this issue with Jeff Maisey, VEER publisher, we determined that Prince’s work deserves to be featured, regardless of where. In fact, when I was brainstorming this year’ s exhibitions with Karen Rudd, the Manager of Norfolk Arts, she said, “I think we all need to be looking at more work by Steve Prince.” And I agree, for it is both timely and timeless. So, I hope you will visit on March 19, from 1 to 4, when the Gallery is open to the public, and enjoy feasting on this “humanscape” of stories that shape who we are as individuals, families, and communities. And then please share your reflections in words and pictures at our “kitchen table” in the Gallery where we hope to leave you hungry for more.

4 To Explore

Compiled by Staff

“Sam Bartlett: Low Stakes, Plywood Cutouts & Everyday Comix”

Through May 6

Baron and Ellin Gordon Art Galleries @ ODU

American folk artist and cartoonist Sam Bartlett creates an exhibition of Medieval-looking, Celtic-meets-Icelandic Viking scenes of entanglement. Interestingly, these playful scenes are presented on cut-off wood “canvass” for the kid in all of us.

“2023 Hampton Arts League Member Exhibition”

Through April 1

Charles H. Taylor Visual

Arts Center

The Hampton Arts League Member Exhibition presents the artwork of The Charles H. Taylor Visual Arts Center’s member organization showcasing both emerging and established artists working in a variety of media. This diverse exhibition represents the talented and unique artists who reside and work in Hampton Roads, including this image from photographer Ed Obermeyer.

“Latoya M. Hobbs: Flourish”

March 9 through June 11

Virginia MOCA

“Preston Singletary: Raven and the Box of Daylight”

March 3 through July 2

Chrysler Museum of Art

The immersive exhibition features the work of internationally acclaimed glass artist Preston Singletary and tells the Native American story of Raven and his transformation of the world— bringing light to people by means of the stars, moon, and sun. Pictured is Gagaan Awutáawu Yéil (Raven Steals the Sun), made at Museum of Glass in 2008, Blown, hot-sculpted, and sandcarved glass, Courtesy of the artist, Photo by Russell Johnson, courtesy of Museum of Glass.

When artist LaToya M. Hobbs sees women of her community, she sees them for the deep, powerful, and complex people that they are. Much like the delicate tendrils of plant life edging their way into her panels, Hobbs’ women are fully formed and thriving in their own right. Drawing from her experience as a printmaker, Hobbs carved their images into wood panel to explore “the print matrix as art object.” These multifaceted, mixed media relief carvings hover between sculpture and painting. Each one is richly textured and three-dimensional, much like the women they represent. Pictured: LaToya M. Hobbs, The Founder, 2020. Acrylic, collage, and relief carving on wood panel, 48 x 36 in. Courtesy of the artist. Photo by Ariston Jacks.

The Levys of Monticello

Documentary sheds more light on Virginia’s history

By Jim Roberts

Uriah Levy bought Monticello in 1834—eight years after Thomas Jefferson’s death—and is credited with repairing, restoring and preserving the beloved historic estate for nearly 100 years.

Steven Pressman had never heard of Levy but was inspired to make a documentary about him after reading books by Marc Leepson and Melvin I. Urofsky and learning about the anti-Semitism Levy and his family faced in Charlottesville.

His film took an unexpected turn, though, when he met Niya Bates.

“Niya, who’s African American, had worked at Monticello for the Thomas Jefferson Foundation for a long time,” Pressman said. “She had started this oral history project many years ago. Niya, among others, has really focused on the slavery history and slave community at Monticello, but not just during Jefferson’s time. So now I also knew a lot about how slavery continued to operate at Monticello— after Jefferson died and while Uriah Levy owned the place until the Civil War. … I think the film just took on a whole new dimension because of that.”

The film debuted at the 2022 Atlanta Jewish Film Festival and won the AJC Building Bridges Jury Prize. Moment Magazine reported that Rabbi Noam Marans, a member of the jury, “praised ‘this well-researched documentary’ for compellingly using ‘the history of Thomas Jefferson’s cherished home as a window to examine the history of Jewish and Black Americans.’”

Still, as Pressman and the film have traveled the festival circuit, he has received feedback from some viewers that it talks about slavery too much.

“You know, that’s part of the story,” he said, “and you can’t hide from that. … I wish none of us had to talk about slavery that much, but it is such a huge part of the history of this country, and it turned out to be a very significant part of telling this story.”

Norfolk resident Herman Shelanski has a brief appearance in the film. A retired Navy admiral, he has long admired Levy as the first Jew to reach the rank of commodore.

“When I talk about leadership, especially to the Jewish community, I always bring him up because of who he was and what he had to go through,” Shelanski said. “Once people understand the significance of who he was and what he did … they are pretty amazed because it’s a very little-known story.”

Pressman is hopeful that the film will be available on demand later this year. His earlier works, “50 Children: The Rescue Mission of Mr.

and Mrs. Kraus” and “Holy Silence,” were picked up by HBO Max and PBS, respectively.

The United Jewish Federation of Tidewater will host a screening of “The Levys of Monticello” at 2:30 p.m. Feb. 26 in the Samuel C. Johnson Theater at Norfolk Academy. After the screening, Shelanski will moderate a conversation with Lisa Stark, the film’s associate producer, and Marc Leepson, the author of “Saving Monticello.” Tickets are $12. For tickets and more information, visit ujft.salsalabs.org/filmfest2023.

Virginia Festival of Jewish Film

In addition to “The Levys of Monticello,” the 30th annual Virginia Festival of Jewish Film will include:

“Karaoke” at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 23 at Cinema Café Kemps River in Virginia Beach.

“iMordecai” at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 25 at the Zeiders American Dream Theater in Virginia Beach.

“Next Stop, Greenwich Village” at 7 p.m. Feb. 27 at the Naro Expanded Cinema in Norfolk.

“Farewell, Mr. Haffmann” at 7:30 p.m. March 1 at Beach Cinema Alehouse in Virginia Beach.

For tickets and more information, visit ujft. salsalabs.org/filmfest2023.

The film festival is presented by Alma and Howard Laderberg.

Angry, Raucous & Shamelessly Gorgeous Divas

By Jerome Langston

“All of these women actually are divas, all four of them. It’s just different kinds of divas,” says play director and academic, Dr. Tawnya Pettiford Wates, Ph.D., during a later point in our chat earlier this week, about the characters in the dramatic comedy that she’s directing for Virginia Stage Company. Dr. T, as she prefers to be addressed in these settings, is joining me during a break in rehearsal for Angry, Raucous & Shamelessly Gorgeous, the latest production in VSC ’ s 44th season, which begins its run early next month. Inside the rather large rehearsal space in downtown Norfolk close to the Wells Theatre, actress Patricia Alli, who portrays the famous black actress, Anna Campbell, in the play—joins us, while actress Mikayla Lashae Bartholomew, who portrays the offending younger actress, Pete, sits close by.   Angry, Raucous & Shameless Gorgeous is a one-act, lesser-known play by Pearl Cleage, who is more famous as a novelist—her debut novel, What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day, was a best-seller and an Oprah Winfrey Book Club selection in 1998. Yet Cleage is also a widely produced playwright whose popular works for the stage include Blues for an Alabama Sky and Flyin’ West. Cleage’s celebrated

work often tackles themes of race, gender and feminism, though not necessarily in that order. Angry, Raucous premiered at Atlanta’ s Alliance Theatre back in March of 2019 to largely positive reviews. It’s a dramedy that features four Black women characters, who represent different generations in conflict, during a women’s theatre festival in the ATL.

Dr. T is a current professor of acting and directing pedagogy at VCU, and is the co-artistic director and founder of the Conciliation Project, a non-profit social justice theatre company. She is a big deal in both the academic and arts world—having worked for many years as a successful playwright, actress, director and scholar-activist. She previously directed August Wilson’s little-known one-man play, How I Learned What I Learned, for VSC back in April 2021, as a staged reading outdoors, when COVID protocols were necessarily lengthy and rigidly enforced. When Tom Quaintance, VSC ’s producing Artistic Director, was considering Cleage’s work for season 44, he approached Dr. T about directing it. She has both taught and directed the work of August Wilson, over the years. And even knew him from her days at Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh, describing him as “shy.”

Yet the VCU professor wasn’t familiar with this particular Pearl Cleage play, though she’d enjoyed much of her earlier work. Tom sent her the play to read, and she ended up loving it. She says that it felt familiar to her. “It’s clearly in a Black woman’s voice. It’ s clearly from a black woman ’s perspective,” says Dr. T. “And she’s got this range of women that are all black women, but have very different perspectives and approaches.”

this opportunity to return home to America, especially being feted this way. Anna became famous decades prior, when she was a young actress, for her provocative Black feminist theatre piece, where she performs monologues from the August Wilson classic, Fences—in the nude, as a critique of Wilson’ s earlier lack of adequate representation of the Black female voice in his work. It was called Naked Wilson, and it was a career-defining hit, but it led to Anna being eventually blacklisted here, which drove the move to Europe.

What Anna doesn’t realize till she arrives, is that the intended revival of her now classic theatrical work, which is being presented at the festival, is not gonna feature her, as she is now in her sixties, but rather a completely inexperienced young actress named Pete Watson, who actually has worked as an adult entertainer. Of course, Anna isn’t having that, and the comedy and drama ensues from there.

“In my mind, first and foremost, Anna is a diva, in all senses of the word,” says Patricia, with a chuckle. “ Everybody kind of orbits around her.” The actress, who has been directed by Dr. T before, tells me more about Anna’s backstory, including how she’d “ burned bridges” during her years in Amsterdam. She says that Betty, who is portrayed by Terri Brown, is “ her foundation.” The play is set inside of a luxurious hotel suite, and the audience is witness to a closeup view of their friendship.

Angry, Raucous & Shamelessly Gorgeous  March 1-19

Presented by Virginia Stage Company  Wells Theatre  VaStage.org

“It was refreshing because even though there is drama in it, it’s not a drama, it’s much more of a comedy,” continues the director. “I appreciate the writing...the authenticity of the characters. And all the drama that comes with that, being a Black woman.” The story centers around Anna Campbell, an older actress who is being honored at a theatre festival in Atlanta, following years of living abroad and finding great success as an artist in Amsterdam. Her close friend and manager, Betty Samson, has been with her the entire time, and they are both looking forward to

“I do find little bits and pieces of myself in Anna,” Patricia says, admittingly. Eventually, her character does come to appreciate aspects of the younger actress. “ What she discovers is that this young woman is so much like she was, when she was that age.” It’ s about passing the baton, says Patricia. The play also stars the aforementioned Mikayla as Pete. The award-winning young actress is from Norfolk, and recently earned acclaim for her co-starring work in King Richard, which deservedly won an Oscar back in 2022. And actress Bethany Mayo portrays Kate Hughes, the festival producer.

Pearl Cleage wrote this play during a time when the country was still grappling with many issues regarding racism and police brutality, Dr. T says towards the end of our chat. This play, which tackles intergenerational relationships between black women, is filled with humor and optimism, which we all agree is so important right now—for a myriad of reasons. “I think she wrote it because that’s what we needed right then... desperately needed. And still do.”

Cast of Angry, Raucous & Shamelessly Gorgeous . Photography by Matthew Omilianowski of TOC Creative.

Upcoming Performances

JAE SINNETT ZERO TO 60 QUARTET FT. SYMPHONICITY & STEVE WILSON

February 18 at 8PM

MELISSA MANCHESTER

February 25 at 8PM

THE IMAGINATION MOVERS

March 4 at 2PM

For Tickets Visit theamericantheatre.org

or The American Theatre Box Office Two Hours Prior to Showtime!

MARGARET CHO: LIVE & LIVID! AT HAMPTON COLISEUM

March 11 at 8PM

For Mature Audiences

A NIGHT WITH TAYLOR DAYNE

March 18 at 8PM

THE SECOND CITY SWIPES RIGHT March 25 at 8PM

Two Inspirational Theater Events Coming to Norfolk State

By Jerome Langston

When Thoughts of a Colored Man opened on Broadway at the Golden Theatre in October 2021, it made history as the first Broadway show written and directed by Black men, and starring a Black man in the lead role. NYC native Keenen Scott II wrote the play, and Steve H. Broadnax III directed the show for its Broadway run. The cast of seven Black actors included the likes of popular singer/actor Luke James, actor Bryan Terrell Clark of Hamilton fame, and actor/musician Tristan Mack Wilds. The show, which marked Scott’s Broadway debut, received a lot of early buzz as it was one of seven plays by Black playwrights scheduled to debut on Broadway that season, which was an astonishing number for the Great White Way.

Sadly, despite very positive word of mouth reviews and box-office success, the show closed in December 2021, about three months earlier than expected, due to the huge uptick in COVID cases that fall, going into winter. The virus hit the cast significantly—which left the show without adequate coverage. The playwright himself even jumped in unexpectedly as an actor, to save a performance or two.

“It was heartbreaking,” says Keenen, whom I reached by phone earlier this week. “It was purely COVID for us. When we closed down, we were actually the number one, highest grossing new play on Broadway.”

“People showed up for us in an amazing way,” continues Keenen. He mentions meeting patrons from places like Texas and Florida, as they stood in line to see the show. “I’m very proud of what we did, in the time we did it,” he says. Currently, the playwright is super busy, with many projects in various stages of development—including a TV pilot for Universal, a feature film project, and several works for the stage that he’s written, including two musicals.

Next month he will be in Norfolk for the first post Broadway production of Thoughts of a Colored Man, which is being produced by NSU Theatre Company, the award-winning collegiate company that collaborates often with Virginia Stage Company. The play dates all the way back to 2009, when it was first presented, in a much earlier stage of development, as Keenen’s senior project at Frostburg State University in Maryland.

Thoughts of a Colored Man

March 2-5  NSU Theatre Company  Brown Memorial Hall Mainstage Theater  nsutheatre.com

Resisting Rejection: A Journey to Broadway

February 22  Brown Memorial Hall Main Stage Theater  nsutheatre.com

“Thoughts is a piece that has lived with me now for 16 years,” he says. And it was always his goal that the “collegiate ranks” would do it. “I’m very excited that their program decided to do it,” he says.

The NSU theatre production is being directed by the award-winning Anthony Mark Stockard, the company’s producing Artistic Director. The play will feature collegiate actors

including Adam Moskowitz, Justin Richardson, and Brandon Bradley, who plays Wisdom. Thoughts of a Colored Man combines elements of slam poetry, prose and song, as the thoughts and perspectives of seven different black men, with names like Lust, Anger and Passion are expressed within archetypal character frameworks that are challenged within the play.

Before its run in March, actor Brandon A. McCall, who currently stars as Simba on Broadway in The Lion King, will join Stockard for a talk on the 22nd , about his journey to Broadway stardom. Brandon is a former student of Stockard ’s from Alabama State University, an HBCU where they both graduated from. “He’s one of the big reasons that I have a successful career right now,” says Brandon, during a phone chat earlier this week. Stockard helped the young actor prepare for graduate acting programs, and other necessary steps towards a professional acting career. Now that he’s made it on Broadway, he enjoys imparting his own wisdom upon young, acting students of color. “ That’s what I like about these types of talks...and that’s to inspire.”

Brandon McCall , who plays Simba in The Lion King on Broadway, is a former student of of Norfolk State University’s Anthony Stockard

Broadway playwright Keenan Scott II

Hilarious Austen Hits Attucks Theatre

By Montague Gammon III

Live and onstage! The great-grand parent of romantic comedy, Jane Austen’ s novel of striking psychological insight, Pride and Prejudice, comes to life in middle March at Norfolk ’s Attucks Theatre in an Aquila Theatre production that has “played to sold out houses across America.”

Six performers play sixteen characters in a show that has been termed “Hilarious,” by an online reviewer.

Last year Aquila brought Norfolk a convincingly well acted dramatization of F. Scott Fitzgerald ’ s The Great Gatsby ; like that show this Pride and Prejudice is part of the Virginia Arts Festival.

(U. Penn English Professor Michael Gamer Is quoted online as terming Austen’ s popularity “Perhaps second to Shakespeare, but arguably with a greater fan base.”)

“ There’s a lot of humor but we are also sticking to the love story as well,” said director Desiree Sanchez, enthusiastically chatting on the phone about the show. (Sanchez, in her 10th year as Executive Artistic Director of Aquila, provided that “sold out” quotation.)

Pride and Prejudice, which Austen’ s first draft called “First Impressions,” is all about smart, proud, quick to pre-judge others but not especially pretty, definitely not wealthy, and assuredly below the upper crust, young Miss Elizabeth Bennet

crossing paths in turn of the 19th Century England, with likewise smart, proud, quick to pre-judge others, but handsome, hugely wealthy, and very old-money aristocratic young Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy.

Hugely wealthy means an untaxed income from investments in government bonds roughly equivalent, in 2023 dollars, to at least $800,000 per year (which translates to some $20 million in capital invested). His country estate covers something over six square miles. He also apparently owns a home in a fashionable section of London.

By comparison Miss Bennet, should her father die, may inherit enough capital to generate about eight grand a year in 2023 buying power, which hardly makes for selfsufficiency or an encouraging dowry.

Around these initially unlikely lovers there whirls a conglomeration of relatives, friends, would be suitors, marriage minded lasses, at least one swindler, and assorted hangers on. They are variously “wonderbread ” bland, viciously scheming, affectedly pompous, crustily disillusioned, cynically resigned, and often downright silly. They populate Austen’ s c. 1800 world, and all are subjects of the author’ s acute observation of character and (usually not unaffectionate) wit.

That era was a time of transition, Sanchez said. “ The whole story is so much about class and society…More and more

people were able to make money but they were also faced with the prejudice that came along [with earning, not inheriting, wealth]. So even if I have earned a significant amount of money we’re never going to be accepted in certain social circles.”

The poster for Aquila’ s P&P features a bi-racial woman—Miss Elizabeth. The assumption that all of England and it literary characters were lily white is relatively modern, Sanchez pointed out.“Research into mixed race families at that time in England” revealed, she said, that “low and behold, there were quite a few mixed race families” then. “Heirs and heiresses from the West Indies that were mixed race created a very interesting dilemma.”

Austen herself knew of a bi-racial friend of a friend (Elizabeth Dido Mansfield; it’ s her face on that poster) who was just such a small time heiress, and Austen’s novel Sanditon, unfinished because of her death, featured a protagonist who fit that very description.

Sanchez said, “ We’re telling the story as Jane Austen is telling it, but we are folding in the reality of a mixed race family under the same circumstances [that Austen described] in early 19th Century England.”

“I think that is a way to approach the classics in a more diversified way.”

(Her approach includes some casting

that is non-traditional in ways other than racially, with humorous effects, along with dialog enlivened with activity such as a badminton game. )

“ The world has always been diverse and it’d not very difficult to find the impact of diversity on the classics,” she remarked. (The Roman playwright Terence was African, old Russia’s favorite poet, Pushkin, the beloved French novelist Alexander Dumas and his father, a Napoleonic army general, were all mixed race, and so too may have been one of the two most intelligent of our country’ s “Founding Fathers,” Alexander Hamilton. It’s even been suggested that the “Dark Lady” of Shakespeare’s sonnets was not Mediterranean dark, but Sub-Saharan.) More generally, Sanchez reminds one that “[Austen] invented the genre of romcom. If you just read the book it’s absolutely hilarious. We haven’t altered the flavor of the book.”

“ The best comedy is the comedy that’ s real, that is, laughing at real people coping in ridiculous ways.”

Besides being “Absolutely hilarious [in her satire of English society and characters and social conventions, Austen] also got a heart to her story. There is [an] emotional integrity [to it]. Some things are incredibly funny, some things are really serious and tender and there’s so much in the story that is so genuine and universal,”

“ We are just letting the spirit of the novel speak.”

Unlike Gatsby and other classics of nondramatic literature, which Sanchez scripted herself or used existing adaptations, the script of P&P was “derived” from the novel in a completely collaborative effort involving cast and director and a “multitude of perspectives.”

Their goal, she said, was to convey “ the essential spirit of what Jane Austen was trying to do …to tell a universal story of love in a complicated social system with humor and wit.”

Pride and Prejudice

Presented by Virginia Arts Festival

By Jane Austen

Adapted by the Aquila Theatre ensemble

Performed by Aquila Theatre

7:30 p.m., Thurs., March 16 Attucks Theatre, 1010 Church St., Norfolk www.vafest.org 757-282-2822

Hurrah Players Premiere Finding Nemo JR.

By Montague Gammon III

Hampton Roads audiences will get an insider’s first look at the new Disney stage musical, Finding Nemo JR., when the Norfolk based Hurrah Players opens the East Coast Premiere of the film-derived play for three days (March 17-19) at the Sandler Center, followed by a onematinee stand at the Suffolk Center for Cultural Arts (March 25).

There were pre-COVID “pilot productions” of the show in 2019, but it has not resurfaced, so to speak, since then. It ’s the work of the husband and wife songwriting team of Kristen Anderson-Lopez (two Oscars, two Grammys) and twice over Emmy/Grammy/Oscar/Tony winner Robert Lopez, who have The Book of Mormon and Avenue Q, plus Coco, Frozen, and other Disney films to their joint or individual credit.

Finding Nemo follows the adventures of two clownfish, net-abducted young Nemo and his dad Marlin, as father trails son across the Pacific Ocean.

Of course, it ’s set underwater, an illusion made possible on stage by special effects that include animated projections complete with splashing waves and a bubble machine, and even “ Mines blowing up with geysers and sound effects and phantom smoke that rolls across the stage,” said director and company Founder and Artistic Director Hugh Copeland in a conversation by phone and text messages.

The costumes feature fish head masks molded by recently retired Navy veteran and artist Elias Rodriguez. “ The Lion King approach,” Copeland calls it.

Brayden Livengood, a 6th grader at Virginia Beach Middle School and a four year Hurrah veteran who played Child in Virginia Opera’s 2019 Madama Butterfly, has the title role of Nemo.

Da’ Vine Chavez, Scar in Hurrah’s recent Lion King, is cast as Marlin. He’s also done the Little Memaid’s Sebastian and Moana’s Maui for Hurrah.

Isabella Scura, a senior at Kellam High, takes on the role of the forgetful Pacific blue tang fish Dory. She’s been with Hurrah since she was 6 years old, playing the lead in their annual The Best Christmas Pageant Ever for the last five seasons.

Ayden Downer has the part of the dancing shark Bruce. He’s in the eighth grade at Jolliff Middle School, and has been a featured dancer in other Hurrah shows.

Elliot Pope, an ODU freshman and Simba in Hurrah ’ s Lion King, plays Crush, the hipster sea turtle.

Then there is just-turned-seven years old Stormi Treviño, as Crush ’s son Squirt. At just 6 years old, she wowed audiences and visiting pros alike in the joint Virginia Arts Festival/ Virginia Opera production of The Sound of Music last summer, “garnering national attention,” Copeland mentioned.

The total Nemo JR. cast numbers 46 featured and ensemble players, drawn from public, private and home schools across the region, some from as far away as Smithfield and North Carolina.

Hurrah Players training has been a step toward stardom more than once. Grant Gustin, the title character of TV ’ s The Flash, is an Hurrah alumnus. So is Emmy Raver-Lampman, whose thriving stage and TV career included an ensemble part in the original Broadway Hamilton that led to the featured role of Angelica in that show’s first national tour.

Double Tony winner Adrienne Warren, who was America’s first Black Annie, in the Hurrah Players production of the show of that title, got one award as Best Actress in a Musical for her

title role in Tina: The Tina Turner Musical. Her other Tony was a 2021 Special Award given to the Broadway Advocacy Coalition, a group she co-founded five years earlier “ to address in part the nation’s pandemic of racism and police brutality through the work of artists and community advocates,” according to The Hollywood Reporter online.

Hurrah has a decade long special relationship with Disney Live, the stage show division of the multi-faceted entertainment giant.

Copeland related how that came about during our wide-ranging chat about his company and the Nemo show.

“ There was a big travel conference here and they called us from New York and had heard about us and said ‘Do you think your company could learn to sing Swahili because we’e bringing cast members from The Lion King and we’d like to have a local company work with us,’ so of course I said ‘ Yes we certainly can’,” he said, and then went about finding out how to make good on his promise.

When Thomas Schumacher, CEO of Disney Live, told Copeland that his troupe was “outstanding,” Copeland said he replied that they “ worked really hard.” Schumacher said he meant not only “ They are very talented but the way they look me in the eye and shake my hand and thank me for coming.”

“ They booked us outside D.C. in the Gaylord Hotel and then,” Copeland said. “ they hosted us in New York for Mary Poppins and they took us backstage,” much to the amazement of the Disney Live stage crew, who were not accustomed to seeing CEO Schumaker personally giving a backstage tour.

Copeland closed our conversation with special mention of Finding Nemo JR ’s emphasis on “recognizing differences and accepting differences. Nemo is born,” he pointed out, “ with one regular fin and one small fin. He’s rejected and made fun of and at the end it ’s his saving grace.”

By Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez Adapted from the 2003 film Finding Nemo Presented by Hurrah Players Sandler Center for the Performing Arts, Virginia Beach

7:00 p.m., Fri., March 17

2:00 p.m., Sat. & Sun., March 18 & 19

Tickets: 757-627-5437 or hurrahplayers.com

Suffolk Center for Cultural Arts

2:00 p.m., Sat., March 25

Tickets: 757-923-2900 or hurrahplayers.com

Lead cast members playing Nemo (Brayden Livengood ), Marlin (Da’Vine Chavez), and Dory (Isabella Scura).

Finding Nemo JR.

Won Whi Choi and Brandie Inez Sutton

Traviata to Touch Hearts at Virginia Opera

By Montague Gammon III

The masterpiece that is Verdi’ s La Traviata reappears at the Harrison Opera House for its eighth production since a Summer of ‘ 75 staging earned fledgling Virginia Opera its first national attention and praise (in no less than New Yorker magazine).

Traviata tells of a doomed, beautiful young courtesan and the middle class young man who becomes the love-of-her-life, and of her sacrificing their short-lived, non-connubial cohabitational bliss to protect his family’s honor.

Courtesan means high class “escort,” a play-for-pay intimate and social companion of nobility and such, a lady of negotiable affections for whom negotiations started very high indeed.

Traviata’s fictional courtesan is Violetta, inspired by one named Marie Duplessis. Through charm and self-educated intelligence, and by wielding her more tangible personal assets, Mademoiselle Duplessis briefly made herself the epicenter of intellectual and artistic salons in mid-19th Century Paris.

All too briefly: she died of tuberculosis, aged 23.

Duplessis counted among her lovers French novelist and playwright Alexandre Dumas, who recast her as Marguerite Gautier in a romantic novel and a play, The Lady of the Camellias

The novel was a hit, the play was a hit, and since plotlines intersecting youth, romance, beauty and death were wringing hearts before Methuselah was teething, the story spawned generations

of other plays, movies, ballets and most notably Verdi’s opera, in which Marie/Marguerite is immortalized as Violetta Valéry.

Verdi and librettist Francesco Maria Piave called their first synopsis of the story Amore e morte, that is, Love and Death. The final title roughly translates as The Fallen Woman, or The Woman Led Astray.

“It’s a masterpiece through and through,” said Tara Faircloth, stage director of the opera, in a phone chat in which she characterized this production’s presentation of sets and costumes as “fairly traditional.”

Traviata begins with a party. There superficially hedonistic, toast-of-Parisian-nightlife, hostess Violetta, lover of the Baron Douphol, meets middle class Alfredo Germont, and in him catches a first glimpse of true love.

That, said Faircloth, is when the pleasure driven Violetta “begins to believe, for the first time, that she might have a hope at something, something real. Something that is not a flash in the pan...a life that is not 100 percent dependent on her being young and beautiful and sparkling and perfect…”

“She’s having this party to celebrate that she’s survived a very horrible bout of illness, so I think that she’s particularly vulnerable, susceptible to his charms and I think …she’s been a courtesan for a while and her charms are wearing thin and I think she’s realizing

that she wants more out of life than…parties. Alfredo, his youth, his sincerity, he just stands out to her…He’s different from the other guys [in Violetta’s life] in a bone deep way.”

Faircloth puts their interaction in terms of social class:

“I’m very interested in the idea that he comes for a bourgeois background—I imagine that he and his father have a contentious relationship. He basically ran away from home to go to Paris to make his way in the city…Hanging out with the baron is what she’ s been doing the years of her courtesanship, and other royalty types, but really Alfredo is her people. She recognizes herself in him.”

Alfredo’s family has money, Faircloth acknowledges, but it is not inherited but earned, perhaps through agriculture, and she thinks that Alfredo’s noble friend, the Viscount Gastone de Letorières, brings Alfredo to Violetta’s party “as a bit of a joke…I think he thinks it’s hysterical to bring this somewhat country bumpkin into this high echelon party. [Alfredo is] a bit of an oddity, a charming oddity but still an oddity.”

By Act 2 Violetta and Alfredo are openly living in her country home, openly unmarried. Back at the Germont home in Province (for which one hears the pejorative word provincial), Alfredo’ s partnership with a woman of easy virtue socially imperils the prospective marriage of Alfredo’s unnamed sister.

Or so believes Alfredo’s father, Giorgio, a.k.a. Germont pére, who appears chez Valéry in Alfredo’s absence to pressure Violetta into giving up Alfredo. Knowing that her TB is terminal (Faircloth says), Violetta eventually agrees. She professes her love for Alfredo when he returns, then heads for Paris leaving a servant to deliver her farewell letter.

Alfredo thinks she’s gone back to the Baron, Germont pére appears to comfort his son with one of the greatest of bass-baritone arias, Alfredo finds out that Violetta has been selling her jewelry and other possessions to support the two of them—so he’s been her kept man, kept on the proceeds of her old commercial affairs—and learns that she’s returning to the Parisian party scene. There follows a card game, a confrontation, misdirected and most ungentlemanly anger, tears, remorse, an off-stage non-fatal duel, an intermission, and the second saddest deathbed scene (next to La Boheme) in the major opera repertory, where the Germont generations reconcile and Alfredo realizes Violetta loved him all along. Faircloth recounted how her father, a Georgia bred farmer and school teacher, reacted to his first Traviata “He knew immediately that it was a masterpiece because it reached through the stage, it reached through the Italian, which for him was a barrier, it reached through the fancy costumes and all that, and it touched his heart and that is what this piece is about.”

La Traviata

By Guiseppi Verdi, libretto by Francesco Maria Piave

Virginia Opera

8:00 p.m., Fri., March 3

7:30 p.m., Sat., March 4

2:30 p.m., Sun., March 5

Harrison Opera House

160 W Virginia Beach Blvd.

Dancing Power: Healing Hearts and Minds

By Kate Mattingly

Being an artist requires a ton of hard work, and few artists work harder than dancers. It ’ s the only art form where the human body is the vehicle of creativity and communication. Hampton Roads is home to a wealth of wonderful schools and professional dancers who perform regularly. This month there’s a dance concert that contributes to cancer research, and Ballet Virginia presents Coppélia at the Sandler Center in March.

Having been a dancer and now teacher for the last four decades, I have witnessed thousands of incredible performances and seen choreography that moves people to tears, brings joy, and affirms what it means to be human. As a faculty member in a Department of Communication and Theatre Arts I’m always surprised when tenured colleagues say, somewhat proudly, “ I know nothing dance,” as if embodied communication is not a daily part of everyone’s lives. Some people perceive their bodies as little more than a carrier for their brains.

In reality, our bodies are paths to healing, to joy, to pleasure, and to self-knowledge. Dancers’ embodied awareness enriches their self-presentation, as well as their coordination, flexibility, and longevity. Nevertheless, in spite of the grueling hours of training and rehearsing, many professional dancers are under-paid and under-valued. Local teachers are reversing these

trends by illuminating the healing, illuminating, and transformative powers of both dancing and dance performances.

On February 25, Music in Motion Dance Studio hosts a winter showcase at Norfolk Collegiate that will present a spectrum of emotions, plus proceeds will be donated to cancer research. Located in Virginia Beach, Music in Motion is led by Lauren Kelly, who took over from her mother in 2016. Teachers are dedicated to building students’ self-expression, creativity, and confidence. Classes are offered for a range of ages: from 1-and-a-half-year-olds to adults.

Tianna Reed, a faculty member at Music in Motion, teaches dancers aged 4 to 11 in a variety of styles: tumbling, ballet, and tap for the 4 to 6-year-olds; tap and jazz for the 9 to 11-year-olds. She is also a student herself, completing her final year of studies at Old Dominion University where she is majoring in Dance. About a year ago, in her junior year at ODU, Tianna found a love of choreography, thanks in part to a Composition course taught by James Morrow. “ I remember my first year at ODU, I was thinking I’m never going to choreograph. I just want to be in other people’s pieces,” says Tianna.  “ Well, that has switched tremendously. I want to choreograph a lot!”

Tianna will present three pieces of choreography, all performed by ODU classmates, in the

winter showcase. There’s a group piece called “ Internal Conflicts,” inspired by the vicissitudes of emotions that cancer patients, and families of cancer patients, experience. There’s also a duet performed by Atiya Wiggins and Miles King, about a married couple and the exhaustion of cancer, especially caring for a husband dying of cancer. The third piece is a more upbeat quartet, set to a song by Christión called “ Full of Smoke,” that shows the moments of joy and gratitude people experience, even when living with cancer.

If the themes in Tianna’s choreography sound poignant, there’s good reason: for a decade, Tianna has performed in her church, Calvary Revival Church. She is deeply knowledgeable about the transformative powers of dancing. Cultures around the world have integrated dancing into rituals and healing practices, and movement therapies today are sought-after by many patients, including people with Parkinson’s.

Christophe Maillot in 2019. Suzanne adds, “ I danced Swanhilda when I was with Cleveland Ballet and it ’s a fun role.” Together she and Janina choreographed this version.

Coppélia

Ballet Virginia

March 11 at 2pm and 7:30pm

Ballet Virginia distinguishes itself from other schools with its emphasis on ballet training, not competition dance. Students can enroll beginning at age 18 months and there are classes available for every age, including professional dancers and adult beginners. When some of the professional dancers are not in rehearsals or performing (their contracts are for 29 weeks a year), they teach classes for the academy, sharing their wisdom with future generations.

Sandler Center for the Performing Arts

https://balletvirginia. org/coppelia/

Tianna savors the “connection of movement and emotion” that dancing offers. Its impact is immediate and felt viscerally, sensorially, so long as audiences are open to the possibilities of embodied communication. She also relishes collaboration with the dancers and with Marcus White, a local artist who recorded a spoken word poem Tianna wrote that will be heard at the beginning of the group piece, “Internal Conflicts.”

Even the young dancers in her classes, 4 to 11-year-olds, inspire Tianna to think about choreography. “ They are so creative, so full of energy, and move in such unpredictable ways,” she says. The winter showcase offers students and Hampton Roads audiences an opportunity to see choreography that ’s different from competition dance and benefits an important cause: finding a cure for cancer. Other performers in the showcase include the Twinkle Toes Performing Arts Company, directed by Elizabeth Zamer, and Music in Motion Dance Company.

In March, another local school, Ballet Virginia, is presenting a narrative ballet, Coppélia. Ballet Virginia celebrates its 15th anniversary this year and its professional company was established in 2019. Coppélia will be performed by the professionals and almost 100 locally grown dancers.

“Coppélia is one of our favorite ballets,” say Janina Michalski and Suzanne Lownsbury, codirectors of Ballet Virginia Academy. In late January, I met them in their office on 21st Street in Norfolk. They are so accustomed to working collaboratively they often finish one another ’ s sentences.

“Coppélia is just a really entertaining ballet,” Suzanne continues. “ I know that the Virginia Arts Festival brought in Birmingham Royal Ballet nine years ago, and they did Coppélia, so people here may be familiar with it.”

Even if audiences are not, this is a ballet for anyone: it ’s a story about love and attraction, suspense and mystery, plus shenanigans and humor. It was first presented in France in 1870 and has been revised by many choreographers, including Willem Christensen in 1939 and Jean-

Asked what makes their training unique, the directors answer, “ We train dancers to become professionals, and we’ve got a liaison with CHKD so that when a dancer appears ready for pointe work, we give them the proper screenings to make sure they are anatomically ready. And we offer so many performing opportunities!” Through a partnership with the Sandler Center Ballet Virginia is their “resident company”—they present their annual Nutcracker and a story-ballet at this venue every year.

The directors are realistic about the challenges of a dance career —“about 1% of the children who come through the door will become professional dancers”— but they see the benefits of ballet as endless: students learn discipline, dedication, and time management.

“We started in 2008 with 80 students and now 2023 we’ve got over 460. We have expanded to two studios, one in Virginia Beach, and one here in Norfolk.” The annual budget of the company and school is about one million dollars, and as a non-profit entity, their income matches their expenses. Classes in Norfolk take place in a spacious building (a former car dealership) that has five studios plus storage areas for costumes and props, and lounges for dancers.

Being a dancer, a teacher, or a director is tough: costs of space and training are high, and audiences for dance can be scarce. Janina and Suzanne have noticed that the Hampton Roads communities tend to be transient because there are quite a few military families living here.

In spite of challenges, these local dancers, directors, and teachers show us why this art form continues to attract students and audiences: dancing taps into our creativity and imagination, taking us out of predictable patterns, and away from our screens and devices. But dance is still so misunderstood that when Veer awarded the best dance shows of 2022, the editor chose the shows and admitted he had not attended any local dance events that year.

Watching a choreographer communicate a feeling or story through human shapes and phrases deepens awareness of our bodies and feelings. Perhaps this is why dance audiences are scarce compared to those for music, visual arts, and theater: dancing asks us to engage with other people, not sounds or paintings or words. In these days of extreme individualism and inexplicable violence, human connection is in scarce supply. And it ’s one thing that benefits us all.

Tianna Reed will present three pieces of choreography, all performed by ODU classmates, in the winter showcase. Photo by Lauren Sinclair.

Show your Yard some Love this Winter

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Thanks to you we are Building the Future... Together

Give to Eggleston to provide meaningful employment opportunities, support services, and residential programs for adults with disabilities in Hampton Roads.

The majority of people with disabilities are cared for by family. Many of those caregivers are over age 60, begging the question, who will care for their loved one when they’re gone?

Dennis, a retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel, and his wife Pat care for their daughter. Like many, their primary concern is where will Kelly live and who will support her when they no longer can.

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a comical tale

The Sandler Center for the Performing Arts

March 11th, 2023 at 2pm and 7:30pm

Tickets: The Sandler Box Office or Ticketmaster.com

Sponsors

posers,” says Goosby. Recording the music that would eventually make the album, became a therapeutic experience for the musician, who is a young man of color, in the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests, and other challenging experiences that were happening at that time. “It was a really meaningful and healing project for me,” he adds.   Representation and changing many of the deeply held assumptions about classical music and who gets to make it and consume it, has been at the forefront of Randall’s work, since those troubling times. “I was very fortunate growing up, not to have felt the absence of black role models, and just blackness in general in classical music,” he says. “There were people that I felt represented by, that I could relate to, who were a big part... had a great deal of influence on classical music, whether they may have realized it, or not, in their lifetime.” He often cites the under-appreciated contributions of black composers like William Grant Still and Florence Price.

Randall Goosby.

Kikkas

Goosby Opens the Doors of Classical Music to All

By Jerome Langston

Chatting with violinist Randall Goosby while he is navigating the streets of Memphis, Tennessee, a city that he spent most of his formative years growing up in, is rather interesting—even including the initial, slightly awkward portion... because Goosby seems significantly older than what his calendar years would naturally suggest. Perhaps that’s part of the benefit of an immersive level music education, which his parents provided him and his two younger siblings with, at a very young age. “Neither of my parents were trained musicians, but my mother saw, through her own personal experiences, the value of music education...” he says, early on in our conversation.

The violin was Goosby’s instrument of choice as a kid, and with help from the Suzuki Method, which he studied while taking violin lessons back in Jacksonville, Florida, prior to his family’s move to Memphis, the youngster really excelled on the instrument at a young age. As part of his origin story, Randall Goosby made his solo debut with the Jackson-

ville Symphony at the age of 9. The twentysomething tells me though, that he doesn’t recall much from that debut—but that playing the violin and practicing it was still just a fun thing to do at that point. “The violin was for me, what going home and watching cartoons was, for a lot of younger kids,” he says. Goosby stayed in Memphis through high school, before leaving for NYC and Julliard.

While at Julliard, he studied under the tutelage of remarkable violinists like Catherine Cho, and considers the great Itzhak Perlman to be a mentor. “I’ve studied with him, almost exclusively, for the better part of, I guess it’s 12 years at this point,” he says. He credits his time spent as a teenager with similarly talented peers on Shelter Island, as part of the Perlman Music program, for providing him with his “lightbulb moment,” that a career in classical music as a worldclass violinist, was what he wanted.

Since graduating from Juilliard, Goosby has been extremely busy with major engagements, including a debut with the Los

Angeles Philharmonic under the Gustavo Dudamel at the Hollywood Bowl, the Detroit Symphony under the dynamic Dalia Stasevska, and an appearance with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, amongst performances with many other orchestras. He’ s also made many high-profile recital appearances as well, at venues like London’s Wigmore Hall and Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.

Randall Goosby, violin

March 18

Presented by Virginia Arts Festival  Attucks Theatre vafest.org

Goosby signed to Decca Classics in 2020, during the time of major civil unrest and the peak months of the global pandemic that we were facing back then. The debut album entitled Roots, was released in June 2021, and features the young violinist’s frequent accompanist, pianist Zhu Wang. “Roots was, and is still—an exploration and celebration of just a tiny slice of the body of work in classical music, that was written by African-American com-

Next month, as part of Virginia Arts Festival programming, Randall will perform with an  accompanist, pianist Anna Han, at the historic Attucks Theatre in downtown Norfolk. The work of William Grant Still, via his Suite for Violin and Piano, with its three movements inspired by the sculptural art of the Harlem Renaissance, will be performed by the duo, along with pieces by French composers, Ravel’ s Violin Sonata No.2, and Lili Boulanger’ s Deux Morceaux pour Violin et Piano. Along with some Beethoven, it should all make for a fun night of classical music. And considering the history of the Attucks Theatre, as well as its acoustics, Randall will likely find that it’s a perfect venue for his aesthetic. Towards the end of our conversation, as he and Zhu head to the University of Memphis to conduct master classes, he tells me about his new album that has already been recorded, and is being mixed. They’ve recorded with Philadelphia Orchestra director, Yannick Nézet-Séguin. It will feature the music of Florence Price and Max Bruch violin concertos, and is due out in the spring. He also has a jam-packed performance schedule ahead. I ask Randall more generally, where he wants to go in his career... and he mentions the power of collaborating, but also changing how classical music is perceived. “I want to open people’s eyes, and open the doors of classical music, to so many more people.”

Photo by Kaupo

residency that will occur later this month, beginning a couple days prior to JLCO’ s concert at Norfolk ’s Chrysler Hall. “ We have eight bands confirmed, and they’ll be here for three days,” he says. The HBCUs that are participating include Norfolk State University, Hampton University, Grambling State University, Central State University and Elizabeth City State University.

Historically Black College Connection Boosts Marsalis Performance

By Jerome Langston

The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis consists of some of the best arrangers, soloists and ensemble musicians working in jazz music today. Led by Wynton Marsalis, a nine-time Grammy winner and recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Music, the world-famous trumpeter and second oldest son of America’s first family of jazz, JLCO’s impeccably high artistic and cultural standards, attracts a wide spectrum of fans around the world—both in and outside of jazz circles. So, whenever they come down to Virginia to perform as part of the Virginia Arts Festival, it’s a big deal, regardless of the actual program theme or setlist that they’ re following for a particular concert. Their shows are always a highlight of the season.   The last time Wynton was here, he was joined by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra Septet, for three performances at the Sandler Center back in the spring of 2021. The smaller ensemble and multiple shows were largely due to the complicating reality

of COVID at the time, which limited the audience capacity for each show. While he was here then, VAF ’s Executive & Artistic Director, Robert Cross, talked to Wynton about his desire to provide, through the festival, a jazz residency for HBCU jazz ensembles and orchestras. His intention was to strengthen and support their existing jazz programs through this initiative, but Rob didn’t have all the dets worked out yet—but was just looking for Wynton’s feedback about attempting something like that. Wynton texted Rob during an intermission at one of the concerts, and afterwards, along with one of JLCO’s education gurus, they laid the foundation for this important collaboration between the Virginia Arts Festival and Jazz at Lincoln Center. “He agreed to come and produce this event for this project with us,” says Rob. “He obviously brought his resources, expertise and team to the project. We’ ve been working on it for almost 2 years now.”

Earlier this week, when Rob calls me to

Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra w/ Wynton Marsalis  with Top Ensembles from the JLCO & Virginia Arts Festival HBCU Jazz Residency

Presented by Virginia Arts Festival

February 25th

Chrysler Hall  vafest.org

757-282-2822

chat about the jazz residency, he is headed to the Ferguson Center to rehearse for an upcoming Virginia Symphony Orchestra concert there. Many may not know that Robert Cross is also a Grammy winning percussionist, who still performs with VSO as often as he can. “It’s a juggling act... I still love playing so I try to do it when the schedule allows,” he tells me. Then he provides additional details regarding the HBCU jazz

On Thursday, the band directors will have dinner with Wynton, allowing them to share whatever they’d like to with the jazz icon. On Friday, each band is assigned a coach—who is a member of JLCO, and eventually they will break out into instrument specific jazz clinics. On Friday night there will also be a jam session for the young musicians, leading to the selection of one or two bands to serve as opening acts for Saturday’s big concert. Pertaining to that selection, Rob says that “ Wynton’ s really stressing that it’s an educational and mentoring process,” as opposed to a competition between the bands. In any case, the Saturday evening concert will feature the selected band(s) for the program’s first half, with JLCO performing their full set in the second half. It should make for a great night of high-level jazz artistry.

After talking to Rob, the following day I was able to converse with trombonist Vincent Gardner, who is the lead trombonist in the orchestra, and has been with JLCO for over 20 years now. Vincent grew up in Hampton, and though he no longer lives here of course, much of his family and childhood friends are still residing in Hampton Roads. Currently, Vincent is the founding Artistic and Education Director of Jazz Houston, and has multiple commissioned compositions that he’s busy working on, including a trombone concerto for the University of Michigan’s orchestra. He always enjoys being back here to perform for his hometown crowd, and loves playing at Chrysler Hall. “I’ve always felt that the crowds in Virginia were a little reserved on the surface, till they loosen up,” he says. Once they get into perhaps the third song, things begin to change for the better. “I like feeling that kind of progression that happens.”

When I tell Vincent about the HBCU jazz residency, he’s excited for what it can accomplish, as he participates and leads similar educational outreach in Houston these days, and wants more to be done here locally. “ There’s so much meaningful education around jazz music that can happen,” Vincent says. “I just hope we get a chance to do more.”

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Richard David Spano & Jim Bulleit

“In The Shadow of Cupid’s Arrow” (Self-Release)

Over the course of 2022, songwriters Richard David Spano and Jim Bulleit recorded and released numerous tunes online as singles in advance of what would become, on January 1 of this year, a full-length album, “In The Shadow of Cupid’s Arrow.”

In many ways, you could say Spano and Bulleit recorded the 15 tracks with “a little help from their friends.” The list of local musicians participating in the studio is impressive and includes the likes of Virginia Symphony Orchestra cellist Rebecca Gilmore, electrifying blues guitarists Jason Cale and Anthony Rosano, The Fuzz Band’s Duane Smith on trumpet, former Wet Willie smoking-hot guitarist Larry Berwald, Wonderland drummer Chidori Matsumoto, jazz great Jimmy Masters on bass, Zack Moats, Stephen Bennett, Woody Nordan, Peter Pope, Rome Gehrig, and others.

The acoustic ballad “Searching” opens the setlist and is highlighted by Bulleit golden voice, which bears an uncanny resemblance to the 1970s soft rock era sound of Jim Croce.

In the spirit of the early ‘70s deep album cuts is the blues/rock title track, a hefty and head-turning song full of power.

Where “Shenandoah With You” would be right at home in a Ken Burns documentary and “All My Heart” turns down the lights after Cupid’s arrow has done its romantic work, “The Horizon Is Moving” is a musical journey and “Weather Reports” is brightened with swampy slide guitar.

A CD release party of sorts is scheduled February 23 when the duo (and perhaps invited guests) perform the album’s tunes at the Sandler Center in Virginia Beach.

Call it Cupid’s Bullseye. — Jeff Maisey

Best Kept Secret

“Da Ride”

(Self-Release)

Those who attended the Veer Music Awards presentation were treated to a dynamic performance by Best Kept Secret featuring pop/country/R&B singer Roberta Lea.

Perhaps the the best kept secret of all is the impressive, rockin’ band of eclectic musicians is an accomplished smooth jazz group as evidenced on their debut single, “Da Ride.”

The song, which BKS hopes to include on a full-length album later this year, is a quiet storm of relaxed mood highlighted with swirling keyboards, moving bass lines, complex rhythmic percussion, and back-to-the-‘80s saxophone solos. The instrumental track is “da bomb,” an explosion of melody and that’ll leave the listener wanting more. — Jeff Maisey

Stacie Stephens & Everafter

“Pure As Rain”

(Self-Release)

Talk about an attention grabber: “Pure As Rain” is a powerful blend of kickin’ country, blues, and rock. Think Martina McBride with a lot of swagger and attitude mixed with classic hard rock headed by big guitars and organ out front.

Then comes an interesting twist with Doobie Brotherslike guitar and Frankenstein-ish Edgar Winter Group influence, followed by an all-out, high-energy crescendo. You’ll hit “repeat” more than once.

There’s only one way to say it: This song kicks ass. — Jeff Maisey

Music

Iconic Moody Blues Album to be Performed

By Jeff Maisey

Moody Blues bass player John Lodge will perform the legendary classic rock band’s iconic 1967 album, “Days of Future Passed,” in its entirety March 6 at the Sandler Center.

Lodge will be joined on stage with a supporting cast of musicians that’ll include Yes keyboardist Jon Davidson, who’ll perform all the symphonic components of the album electronically — and they are done convincingly.

Like many late British Invasion groups, The Moody Blues began as a blues band and then changed their sound as the psychedelic late 1960s took evolved.

The Moodys struggled after a somewhat forgettable debut in 1965. With a switch in band members arrived two newcomers that would change everything: John Lodge and Justin Hayward (singer/guitarist).

“We went to Belgium for a few months,” recalled Lodge in a phone interview in January. “We were going to write our own songs and start playing in small clubs.”

Lodge said the record company asked the band to write an album incorporating classical music and rock. The direction made sense to Lodge as the Moody Blues had already begun to include flute and mellotron into their sound.

The result of the recording sessions was “Days of Future Passed,” an album considered to be the first prog rock record. Lodge revealed the album, conceptually, is “about life in Britain.”

It featured two of the group’s most beloved tracks: “Tuesday Afternoon” and “Nights in White Satin.”

“It started to sound quite interesting and it all fell together from there, really.”

Once “Days of Future Passed” was recorded — the band recorded their parts separately from the London Festival Orchestra — the producer called the Moodys and record company executives into the studio for a listening party.

“We put huge speakers up, dimmed the lights, and played the album,” said Lodge. “After the playback it was very quiet. It was so different than anything we had heard. And the record company didn’t understand.” Perhaps reluctantly, the record company released the album in 1967 in the United Kingdom and in America.

John Lodge March 6 Sandler Center sandlercenter.org

In 2006, I interviewed Justin Hayward, who today no longer wishes to perform as The Moody Blues following the death of Graeme Edge in 2021. He share his insights into the composing of “Nights in White Satin.”

Mike Pender had written a song called “Dawn Is a Feeling,” and he asked me to sing it,” said Hayward. “Then I just thought I’ll look at the opposite end of the day, and instead of ‘dawn’ put down something with the word ‘nights’ at the beginning. So that is where I started from.

“Then, I came home from a gig one night and sat down on the side of the bed,” Hayward continued. “I got this old 12-string (guitar) out that someone had just lent me and I wrote ‘Nights in White Satin.’”

Hayward told me the band members were not overly impressed at first, but they were willing to work on it.

While the UK was still very much a pop hits radio listening format, something called FM radio and an Album Oriented Rock (AOR) format was gaining traction in the United States.

“1967 was a big change in music,” said Lodge. “It went from 2-minute songs to the sky’s the limit.”

That work out well for The Moody Blues.

For John Lodge’s Sandler Center performance, the concert will begin with a set of Moody Blues hits like “I’m Just a Singer (in a Rock and Roll Band),” “Legend of a Mind,” “Isn’t Life Strange,” and the Lodge-penned “Ride My See-Saw.”

After a brief intermission, the album “Days of Future Passed” will be performed, and all in attendance can enjoy the band’s innovative approach to music.

“We were trying to push the boundaries of music,” said John Lodge.

2023 Veer Music Awards Results

By Jeff Maisey

On February 5, the City of Hampton presented the 2023 Veer Music Awards at The Vanguard Brewpub & Distillery. The Honorable Mayor Donny Tuck of Hampton personally present the first pair of awards — Best Smooth Jazz and Best Traditional Jazz — while also announcing to the return of the Hampton Jazz

ALBUM OF THE YEAR: Jae Sinnett’s Zero to 60 Quartet/Symphonicity, “Live at the Sandler Center”

Honorable Mentions:

• Cody Christian, “Canary in a Coal Mine”

• Freedom Hawk, “Take All You Can”

• Suburban Key Party, “Darkness and Rainbows”

EP OF THE YEAR: Wilde Owl, “That Gasoline”

Honorable Mentions:

• Demons, “Swallow”

• The JD3 Band, “Homestead”

• The Dual Gravitons, “It’s a Riddle”

Festival coming in June.

It was a big night for the genre as Jae Sinnett’s Zero to 60 Quartet with Symphonicity record “Live at the Sandler Center” marked the first time a jazz record won Album of the Year honors. Following are this year’s final results.

SONG OF THE YEAR: Cody Christian, “Canary in a Coal Mine”

Honorable Mentions:

• Bennett Walker Wales, “Fly”

• Jared Farrell, “California Smile”

• Kristi K feat. Noah Motion, “Leaving Again”

MUSIC VIDEO OF THE YEAR: Kristi K, “Born to Run”

Honorable Mentions:

• Jonah’s Run, “Until You Treat Me Right”

• Roberta Lea, “Ghetto Country Streets”

• 8th City featuring Bread Junkie & Ghetto Chris, “Motion”

BEST JAZZ TRADITIONAL: Jae Sinnett

Honorable Mentions:

• Liz Terrell

• Chris Brydge

• John Toomey Trio

BEST JAZZ SMOOTH: Infinite Flava

Honorable Mentions:

• Duane Smith Quartet

• J Staton

• Matt Willard

BEST R&B/SOUL: Akeylah Simone

Honorable Mentions:

• The Fuzz Band

• Darius Ford

• Talton Toneful Manning

BEST HIP HOP: Teezy So Dope

Honorable Mentions:

• Chuck Black

• 8th City featuring Ghetto Chris

• CXDIE

BEST GOSPEL: Jonah’s Run

Honorable Mentions:

• God’s Chosen

• ReFormed

BEST WORLD MUSIC: Cultivated Mind

Honorable Mentions:

• United Souls

• One Culture

• Jon Quan

BEST INDIEPOP: Suburban Key Party

Honorable Mentions:

• Pet Name

• The Lifehacks

• Secret Ingredients

BEST POP: Chong Band

Honorable Mentions:

• Turnover

• Kristi K

• Roberta Lea

BEST METAL: Magg Dylan

Honorable Mentions:

• One Shot Fired

• The New Mutiny

• Babylon Rising

Jae Sinnett’s Zero to 60 Quartet with Symphonicity won Album of the Year

Infinite Flava accepts Best Smooth Jazz award

(continued from page 40)

BEST ROCK: Freedom Hawk

Honorable Mentions:

• Same Time Tomorrow

• Exploding Sun

• Wilde Owl

BEST RETRO: Lucky 757

Honorable Mentions:

• Mr. Fang & The Darktones

• Jim Newsom

• Jim Bulleit

BEST INDIE ALTERNATIVE: Community Witch

Honorable Mentions:

• The Warm Hug

• Berries

• Step Pets

BEST PUNK: Demons

Honorable Mentions:

• Alpha

• The Dual Gravitons

• The Nerve Scheme

BEST PSYCHEDELIC/JAM: Bended Light

Honorable Mentions:

• The Bread Collectors

• That Which Sleeps

BEST AMBIENT/EXPERIMENTAL : Karacell

Honorable Mentions:

• Crash Mosaic

• Ransack

• From Overseas

BEST BLUEGRASS: Magic Holler Boys

• Honorable Mention:

• Rambin’ Jake

BEST COUNTRY: Celeste Kellogg

Honorable Mentions:

• Cody Christian

• Runnin’ Shine

• Tracie Lynn

BEST FOLK/ACOUSTIC : Dustin Furlow

Honorable Mentions:

• Dry Land

• Dan Pellegrino

• Richard David Spano

BEST BLUES: Paul Urban & Friends

Honorable Mentions:

• Bobby Black Hat Walters

• Jason Cale Band

• JD3 Band

BEST COVER BAND: JD Silvia Band

Honorable Mentions:

• Wonderland

• Rocky 7

• The Detonators

BEST THEMED BAND: Nashville Nights

Honorable Mentions:

• Good Shot Judy

• The Deloreans

• Wilder Horses

BEST LIVE BAND : Mr. Fang and the Darktones

Honorable Mentions:

• Anthony Rosano & The Conqueroos

• The Fuzz Band

• Magg Dylan

BEST LIVE COVER SOLO/DUO: Red Stapler Duo

Honorable Mentions:

• Serious Black

• Fixity

• Mike Gombas

BEST OPEN MIC : Victorian Station

Honorable Mentions:

• Stuft

• Winston’s Cafe

• Venue on 35th

(continued on page 44)

Red Stapler Duo

Wilde Owl

Kristi K Jonah’s Run with manager Annette Clark received Best Gospel Teezy So Dope

(continued from page 42)

BEST LIVE MUSIC VENUE (BAR): Scandal’s Live

Honorable Mentions:

• Taphouse Ghent

• Chicho’s Backstage Cafe

• Froggies

Best Live Music Venue (Brewery): The Vanguard Brewpub & Distillery

Honorable Mentions:

• Young Veterans The Bunker

• Smartmouth NFK

• Elation Brewing

BEST LIVE MUSIC SERIES: New Realm Music on the Lawn Series

Honorable Mentions:

• Summer Breeze Series

• YNOT Wednesdays

• Miller Jazz Series @ Sandler Center

BEST PHOTOGRAPHY POSED: Pete Federico, “Anthony Rosano”

Honorable Mentions:

• Annette Holloway, “CXDIE”

• Sean Chagnon, “Ben Joe Brown”

• Janice Chandler, “Nashville Nights”

BEST PHOTOGRAPHY LIVE: Glenn Woodell, “Jacob Vanko”

Honorable Mentions:

• Wendy Woodell, “Hostile Within at Scandals Live”

• George Marsh, “Good Shot Judy”

• Diego Gomes, “Melanie DeLorian at Scandals Live”

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

• Antic Hay

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

• Big Al Staggs

INDUSTRY AWARD

• Annette Clark

MUSICIANS MUSICIAN AWARD

• Chidori Matsumoto

-CORRUPTING MINDS SINCE 1987-

Lucky 757

Chidori Matsomoto

Chesapeake Native Gives Nashville a Shot

By Mike Holtzclaw

Dan Marshall graduated from Virginia Tech with a degree in agribusiness and a few bumps and bruises from playing linebacker and special teams on the Hokies football team. Now the 25-year-old Chesapeake native is in Nashville trying to lay the foundation for a country music career that would have seemed highly unlikely two years ago.

Despite almost no experience on stage, Marshall landed a spot on season 20 of “American Idol,” impressing judges Lionel Ritchie, Katy Perry and Luke Bryan with his audition performance of Garth Brooks’ “The Dance.” He lasted several rounds before getting voted out last April. He moved to Nashville last summer, signed a deal with Steel House Management Co., and is currently finishing up his first single, a rollicking number called “She Wants a Ring (but I Wanna Honky Tonk).”

VEER caught up with him by phone.

VEER: You grew up playing baseball and football in the Western Branch section of Chesapeake. No one who knew you then thought of you as a musician or a singer. When did you really start playing music?

Marshall: Music came into my life pretty early. I hopped on the piano when I was 8—just basic music theory. I fell in love with jazz and pop music, because you don’t want to play classical when you’re a kid. That’s where it started. I’ve always been singing. Not in front of people, you know, but it was something I always enjoyed. But I was “Dan the athlete,” that kind of thing, so I pretty much kept the music to myself. But when I was feeling a bit of anxiety, I’d pick up the guitar, and little by little I got better at it because I loved playing.

VEER: So when did you take that step of actually playing in front of an audience for the first time?

Marshall: My buddies and my family were telling me, “ You’re really damn good,” and so when I was about 21 years old I did a show at MoMac, right near where I grew up. It was just a few hours of acoustic and country covers. My first time doing it, I was terrified. Well, not terrified really, but the fear of judgment is always there. But it was fun. It’s not like I was getting up there thinking I would ever do this for a living. It was just for fun. Something I learned from sports is that if you screw up, you’ve just got to keep going. You don’t stop and make it worse. There were plenty of times in my first gig that I screwed up. I had trouble with tempo—when you’re nervous, you speed through songs, so I was just firing them

out one song after another. But for the most part, country is five chords, max, and this was stuff I’d been playing for four or five years. I had a lot of friends and family there, people I grew up with, and they were just having a beer and thinking it was cool to see me up there.

VEER: Did you decide on your own to audition for “ Idol,” or did they recruit you?

Marshall: One of their producers saw my videos on TikTok, and she messaged me on Instagram. I thought it was fake, so I didn’t answer the DM. She finally called the alumni association at Tech and figured out how to contact me, but I’m a knucklehead who doesn’t answer my cell phone. Eventually she called my mother and said, “Is your son Dan Marshall? Does he sing? The producers at ‘American Idol’ are trying to get ahold of him but he’s not answering.’”

VEER: How did you choose Garth Brooks’ song “ The Dance” for your audition?

Marshall: It’s probably my favorite country song ever, and it’s one that I’ve always played. It’s the one song I knew that I could put down the guitar for five years, and then pick it back up, close my eyes and still play it well. You just fall back on what you know best. The audition was surreal. I walked in the door and I couldn’t feel my legs. It’s funny, you’re looking at these judges, who are just icons in American entertainment, and you think, “ That’s funny, they’re real people.”

VEER: They all loved your voice and they took you to Hollywood in spite of your lack of experience. Since you’d had so little training to that point, what did the judges and coaches at “ Idol” have you working on the most? What’s the biggest thing you learned on the show? Marshall: Stage presence is everything. You’ve got to stand with confidence. You’ve got to stand with your shoulders back and do what needs to be done to deliver a song as authentically as possible. You know me. I’m not a guy who’s gonna be doing cartwheels and jumping jacks out there. I’m gonna play guitar and do a country song. Pretty straightforward.

VEER: You stayed on the show for several rounds, and you got a lot of prime-time exposure. When you got voted out last April, how did you respond?

Marshall: I knew what the next step was. I took a little time to organize and started figuring out what I needed to do to get to Nashville. Around

July, I packed all my stuff and I moved here. This is where the best writers in the world are. There’s just lot more opportunity here for country music than there would be in Chesapeake or Norfolk. Before I left home, I played a few more local gigs and I did a few shows at Tech, but I knew the next step was getting to Nashville.

VEER: So what has been your biggest focus there? Is it more about becoming a better live performer, or learning to record in the studio?

Marshall: Both are extremely important, but the biggest thing for me is becoming a better writer. I got into writing songs around my senior year of college. I wasn’t writing everyday, but if something came to mind I would sit down and work on it. But when I moved here I met some really great writers and I knew I had to get better at it. Being a good writer is a serious bargaining chip in this town. It’s so valuable. Just being good with words, a wordsmith. I’m not saying I’m there yet. Definitely not. But I’m getting better.

VEER: Are you enjoying the atmosphere there?

It’s a very collaborative place for a songwriter, but also competitive. What has the live music scene been like for you?

Marshall: I’ve been playing on Broadway, getting more comfortable in front of crowds. It’s different from back home. When you play in front of familiar faces, your friends and family will tell you that you did a great job no matter what. I like playing for total strangers. I like

starting out with a bunch of people who are looking at you and saying, “ Who is this guy?” Because that’s the challenge. If you can get to the end of the night and they’re saying, “Holy shit, this guy can really play,” then you’ve done something. It’s a nice ego boost.

VEER: You’re getting ready to release your first single, “ She Wants a Ring (and I Wanna Honky Tonk).” You must be getting excited. Marshall: Absolutely. We don’t have an exact date yet, but hopefully the beginning of March. We’re about to submit it for mastering. It’s a good song. It rocks pretty hard. I’ve got a lot of different avenues I want to go down, so I hope it’s not gonna define me too much, but I think it’s a good song. You just want it to be successful at catching people’s ears.

VEER: Will you be getting back to the 757 anytime soon?

Marshall: I won’t be back for a little bit, at least until summer time. I came home around Thanksgiving, and I did a show at MoMac. It was fun, just a solo acoustic gig for friends and family.

VEER: One of your highlights on “ Idol” was when you performed “ Friends in Low Places.” Where are the “ low places” in Hampton Roads where you’ve got friends?

Marshall: (laughs) Oh, they’re all over the place. Anyone who wants to have a beer with me and hear some country music is my friend in low places.

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AROUNDTOWN

HIGHLIGHT

St Paddy’s Fun

Fighting Jamesons bring their high-energy Celtic-punk sound to Colley Avenue for Hope House Foundation’s Shamrockin’ in Ghent block party on Friday, March 10 from 6-10 PM. Free admission.

Black History Month Events

Black History Expo

February 18

Portsmouth Main Library

Join Porte Towne Magic for a celebration of African American music at 2:00.  At 3:00 Greg Eatroff will discuss the role African-American soldiers and sailors played in the American Civil War, with particular emphasis on the role of “ USCTs” in operations in and around Hampton Roads, from the Petersburg siege lines to the coastal fortifications in North Carolina.

New Jack City LIVE

February 19

Chrysler Hall

“ New Jack City LIVE” is a mirror image of the emotion and grit that immediately turned New Jack City into instant, movie magic. It takes place in the same metropolis-Harlem, NY where drug kingpin Nino Brown takes over a housing project and transforms it into a fortress-like crack house. Nino and his gang, the Cash Money Brothers, will ply their trade with total impunity– one crime family will still be bonded by blood and forged together through friendship. On stage will be Big Daddy Kane, Treach, Allen Payne, Gary Dourdan, and Flex Alexander.

“ Pride in Black Voices: A Tribute to Frederick Douglass”

February 21

Emanuel A.M.E. Church, 637 North Street in Portsmouth

This is an unforgettably riveting collaboration performance between the Virginia Opera and Spiritual Concepts Publishing.  The power of Frederick Douglass is brought to life for the audience by author, performer, poet, historian, and Suffolk, VA native, Nathan M. Richardson.  Virginia Opera artists will raise their voices in song, echoing the determination, spirit, and pride that only Douglass’ words could convey.

“ Barbara Earl Thomas: The Illustrated Mind”

Opening February 24

Chrysler Museum of Art/Glass Projects Space & The Box

An exhibition of new works by the celebrated artist, writer, and thinker meditate on the visual experience of the body within a physical and metaphorical world of light and shadow. Based on real people, the portraits “elevate to the magnificent” her family, friends, and neighbors, as well as cultural icons of the African American literary landscape.

St. Paddy’s Day Highlights

Shamrockin’ in Ghent

Music by Fighting Jamesons/Tidewater Pipes & Drums

March 10, 6-10 PM

Colley Avenue Block Party

Don Bunch

March 17

Grace O’Malley’s Irish Pub

The Fiddler’s Green

March 17

The Vanguard Brewpub & Distillery

S!CK!CK

March 17

Waterside District

56th Annual Saint Patrick’s Day Parade

March 18

Ocean View/Norfolk norfolkparade.com

St. Paddy's Day Party

March 18

The Bold Mariner Brewing Company

EVENTS

Dark Knight of Winter Beer Festival

February 19, Noon-5 PM St. George Brewing Company stgbeer.com

Cheers to 100: A Gala to Remember

February 25

Suffolk Center for the Cultural Arts suffolkcenter.org

HIGHLIGHT

HIGHLIGHT

World Renown

Cellist Yo-Yo Ma joins the Virginia Symphony Orchestra for a performance of Dvorak’s “Cello Concerto in B minor” on February 23 at Chrysler Hall.

Melissa Manchester

February 25

The American Theatre

Experience the essence of Melissa Manchester in a special up-close concert at the historic American Theatre. Her songs include “Don’t Cry Out Loud” and “Through the Eyes of Love.”She’s be accompanied by pianist Billy Stritch.

HIGHLIGHT

“The House That Jack Built” March 3-18

Hermitage Museum & Gardens

Beginning March 3, the historic Hermitage Museum will be transformed into an immersive theatrical experience produced by Patrick Mullins (pictured).

“ While the Hermitage has been a constant character in this series of activations, the experience this year is more audience driven than ever,” said Mullins. “Armed with a cloak of protection, visitors will traverse the house to find clues and witness events as they unearth the story of Jack, the giant, his children, and that damned plum pie.” Mullins found inspiration for the experience in a quote that Hermitage founder Florence Sloane had her craftsmen carve into the foyer of the Hermitage, ‘ The House that Jack Built.’

“ When you investigate stories about Jack, the famous protagonist of numerous folk tales, you find he has all sorts of attributes. He is clever, a trickster, sometimes profoundly naive... there is so much to pull from! Digging into those stories and puzzling over why that composite ‘Jack ’ character would have built this particular house has been a predominant source of inspiration,” said Mullins. Themes for this year include what we build and leave behind, our impact on future generations, and the question of who we trust when making major life decisions.

2nd Annual Bleak & Brewtal Strong Ale Festival

March 4

Reaver Beach NFK

PERFORMING ARTS

The American Theatre

Jae Sinnett’s Zero to 60 Quartet w/ Symphonicity, February 18

Melissa Manchester, February 25

The Imagination Movers, March 4 Hampton Roads Philharmonic, March 12 Taylor Dayne, March 18 hamptonarts.net

Arts Enter Cape Charles/Historic Palace Theatre

Sandsilk Dance Company, February 24 Jesse at Elvis, February 25 artsentercapecharles.org

Ballet Virginia

“Coppelia,” March 11, Sandler Center balletvirginia.org

Chrysler Hall

New Jack City Live, February 19

“Come From away,” February 28-March 5 sevenvenues.com

Feldman Chamber Music Society

Dover Quartet, March 13 feldmanchambermusic.org

Ferguson Center Toto, February 16

“Annie,” March 1

Kelly Rossum Modern Big Band, March 3

The Peking Acrobats, March 12

Ryan Shaw: Masters of R&B, March 18 (FREE) fergusoncenter.org

Generic Theatre

“The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime,” March 10-25 sevenvenues.com

Hampton Coliseum Margaret Cho, March 11 hamptonarts.org

Harrison Opera House Rhythm Live, March 17 sevenvenues.com

Hurrah Players

“Finding Nemo Jr,” March 17-19, Sandler Center “Finding Nemo Jr,” March 25, Suffolk Center for Cultural Arts hurrahplayers.com

Little Theatre of Virginia Beach

“The Legend of Georgia McBride,” March 10 through April 2 ltvb.com

Little Theatre of Norfolk

“Iola’s Letter,” Through February 26 ltnonline.org

(continued on page 52)

(continued from page 51)

Old Dominion University Arts

ODU Rep Theatre, “Artemis I,” February 23-25, March 1-4, Goode Theatre

Brass Choir, February 27, Chandler Recital Hall

Juried Student Exhibition, March 3 through April 6, Gordon Galleries

Faculty Recital: Stephen Coxe & Friends, March 12, Chandler Recital Hall ODUArtstix.com

Sandler Center

“The Haunting of Night Vale,” March 1 John Lodge, March 6 sandlercenter.org

Suffolk Center for Cultural Arts

The Chris Michael Experience, February 18

ICONS: A Tribute Show, March 11 “Finding Nemo Jr,” March 25 suffolkcenter.org

Symphonicity

Masterworks III: Earthrise,” March 5, Sandler Center sandlercenter.org

Virginia Arts Festival

Tony Miceli, March 4, Attucks Theatre

Aquila Theatre: Pride & Prejudice,” March 16, Attucks Theatre

Rhythm Live, March 17, Harrison Opera House

Randall Goosby, March 18, Attucks Theatre vafest.org

Virginia Musical Theatre

“School of Rock: The Musical,” February 24-26, Sandler Center sandlercenter.org

Virginia Opera

“La Traviata,” March 3-5, Harrison Opera House VAopera.org

Virginia Stage Company

“Angry, Raucous & Shamelessly Gorgeous,” March 2-19, Wells Theatre vastage.org

Virginia Symphony Orchestra

The Gospel According to Swing by Byron Stripling, February 17, Ferguson Center

The Gospel According to Swing by Byron Stripling, February 18, Chrysler Hall

“Animals at the Symphony,” February 19, Sandler Center

Yo-Yo Ma, February 23, Chrysler Hall

Mozart’s Requiem, March 9, Chrysler Hall Mozart’s Requiem, March 10, Ferguson Center

HIGHLIGHT

Mozart’s Requiem, March 12, Sandler Center virginiasymphony.org

Williamsburg Chamber Music Society

Dover Quartet, March 14 chambermusicwilliamsburg.org

Williamsburg Players

“Ain’t Misbehavin’,” March 17 through April 2 williamsburgplayers.org

Williamsburg Symphony Orchestra

Masterworks IV with guitarist Jason Vieaux, March 16 williamsburgsymphony.org

Zeiders American Dream Theater

Time Seibles & Chris Brydge, February 17 Plan B Comedy, February 18

The Z Unplugged, February 21

Comedian Margaret Cho performs March 11 at Hampton Coliseum

“Taking Measure” by Chris Hanna, March 3-18 “Jack and the Beanstalk,” March 11 Plan B Comedy Jam, March 14 TheZ.org

So Funny

Studly Brewing Opens with Home Run

By Jeff Maisey

Drinker up.

If you’re a baseball fan, chances are as good as the Astros winning another World Series you’re gonna love Chesapeake’s newest craft beer maker, Studly Brewing Company.

Since Studly’s opening day in mid-December, local residents have been streaming in for a beer as good as the Great American Pastime itself.

Everything inside and out of the brewery smacks of baseball. As you approach the opening gate (front door), you’ll notice a picnic table-like structure on the outdoor patio with three bases (1st, 2nd and 3rd), along with a home plate, serving as seats. The table top features a pitcher’s mound plate, balls and bats.

Once inside, you’ll notice a Locker Room setup for Studly Brewing merchandise such as shirts and caps. Directly ahead is an inningby-inning scoreboard, plus a dugout section of seats and tables. Aesthetically speaking, its like being at a ballpark sports pub.

As for the beers, Studly’s starting lineup

of brews includes its At The Wall Red Ale (which seems to be batting 1000 with locals so far, 6.4% ABV), Pinch Runner Pale Ale (6.4% ABV), Crow Hop IPA (4.8% ABV), Pitcher’s Big Butt Stout (6.5% ABV), Blondie Peffercorn Blonde Ale (5.1% ABV), and The Great Vanilla Bean-O Vanilla Porter (8.5% ABV).

Studly team owner Blake Edmunds wears most of the hats: he brews the beers, oversees all the operations from the concession kitchen, manages the service staff, and merchandise. He’s also in the “front office” as general manager and brand manager. And does he ever know brand management. Studly won a national Crushie Award for its logo/brand design before the brewery even served its first beer.

Following a 15-year career in college and minor league sports promotions, Edmunds opted for a trade during the pandemic, turning a homebrew hobby into a wellplanned field of dreams in the beer business with his home field advantage being in Chesapeake, not too far from his Hickory

High School alma mater.

Customer experience, for Blake Edmunds, is as important as the quality of the beer, pizza, and salads he serves.

“We’re all about selling the Studly experience,” he said. “When people, who have family coming to town and want to go out to dinner, we want the first place that pops into their head to be Studly Brewing Company. It’s all about the experience, the ser-

vice, and the theme.”

Edmunds put in the work to up his game as a legit brewer, studying with Tom Hennessey in Montrose, Colorado. Hennessey taught Edmunds the dos and don’ts on the business side as well.

“Being with him and training in Colorado gave me the confidence to come back here and open a brewery in Chesapeake,” Edmunds said.

His work history in minor league sports instilled the value of giving fans a memorable time.

“In sports, I really focused on the experience of a fan coming to a game,” he said. “It starts from when they get out of their car and walk up to the stadium; the tickettakers and concessioners; the bathroom experience. The only thing I couldn’t control as a marketer was the performance on the field.”

From the start, Edmunds wanted to operate as a brewpub and serve food — his own. As he previously stated regarding the control of a fan’s experience, Edmunds didn’t want rely on food trucks as his food service. What if a food truck couldn’t show up on a busy Saturday or if a food truck operator was having a bad day and cussed-out a loyal customer? That would have resulted in a negative experience, and that would not represent the Studly brand.

For food, Studly specializes in a delicious pizza and I was keen to try some.

On my visit, I enjoyed a zesty pepperoni made with whole milk mozzarella, organic tomato sauce from California, and lots of small spicy pepperonis. To add to the spice, a heated drizzle of honey is like icing on the pie, or a Cy Young winning pitcher in relief and the end of a game. I also like a crispy thin crust and crunchy outer/rim crust and this pizza was made perfectly to my preference.

Other pizza options include a cheese pizza and Margherita. From way out in Left Field try the Rundown (with olive oil, sliced dill pickles, bacon crumbles and ranch dressing) or Figley Field (goat cheese, red onion, bacon, prosciutto, and a tasty fig spread).

It wouldn’t be baseball without hotdogs and Studly prefers Nathan’s. You can also order a Bavarian pretzel served with mustard and beer cheese for dipping.

Salads include a classic Caesar and wedge version with veggie additions.

In his first at-bat, Blake Edmunds has hit a home run to give Team Studly an early lead, and the hometown crowd is cheering.

Blake Edmunds has Studly Brewing Company on an early season winning streak

The Locker Room features Studly Brewing merchandise for sale

Benchtop’s Hopped Green Tea

By Jeff Maisey

How do you take your tea?

Why, hopped, of course.

Virginia craft breweries have been innovative in their approach in listening to customers, looking at trends in the marketplace, and making adjustments so that all who enter the tasting room have a beverage selection to their liking.

Eric Tennant recently unveiled a delightfully hopped green tea for those consumers who prefer a non-alcoholic, zero calorie, gluten-free, and yet flavorful menu item when visiting Benchtop Brewing Company’s Norfolk and Richmond locations.

“It is a sparking hopped tea brewed with hops and Gun Powder green tea so that people could have as an alternative to beer while they’re here,” said Tennant.

At press time, the served-cold, carbonated beverage is likely to be called Hop Cha, though on the menu board it’ll be listed as Sparkling Hopped Tea.

The new tea will be a permanent, year-round item on draft as well as in 16-ounce cans for those seeking a to-go option and summer thirst quencher.

Tennant said the idea for the tea derived

Celebrating Dark Liquid at St. George

St. George Brewing Company will host its 3rd Annual Dark Knight of Winter Beer Festival on February 19 from noon to 5 PM.

Nineteen participating breweries are going to compete for five awards,” said Jessica Price, St. George’s director of marketing. The categories include Most Roasty, Heaviest, the Darkest, People’s Choice, and Best-in-Show.

According to St George founder Bill Spence, a Christopher Newport University staff member will operate a device that can actually determine which beer has the darkest hue.

Spence said other local breweries have started competition festivals for specific styles of beer. He used Billsburg Brewing Company’s Pilsner Fest as an example.

Producing a festival during the dark, doldrum days of winter when events are few seemed like an appropriate opportunity to celebrate the region’s dark beer styles.

“This is not a nice time of year to have large festivals, but if you have an indoor venue that you can bring a number of breweries in an interact with the public then there’s a nice opportunity to bring people together around beer,” Spence said.

St. George has a small tasting room but opens the its large brewhouse space for visitors to wander through. This is an out school approach that beer enthusiasts enjoy with the ability to get an up-close look at the fermen-

from observing families in the tasting room and patio spaces. Not everyone in the party of 4 or 6 wanted beer, so having a brewed tea with hops has been seen as a great way to have such guests purchase a beverage and introduce them to the flavor of hops, which surprisingly lingers when made with the green tea.

It’s tea time all the time. Spirits were rated on quality, value, and packaging.

ting tanks, kettles and bottling/canning lines; a view most breweries today provide only through a glass window separating the public from the brewing equipment.

St. George Brewing Company will celebrate its 25th anniversary in April. The brewery has long been dedicated to traditional European styles and recipes, and dark beers are a key component of their portfolio.

“Our porter is a very classic porter,” said Spence. “Our Russian Imperial Stout is a full-bodied beer. Our most popular is Sherwood Forest, a dark English mild.”

Pair of Silvers for Deep Creek Distillery

During the recent USA Spirits Ratings Competition, Chesapeake-based Deep Creek Distilling received silver medals for its Cape Henry Vodka and Ghost Whiskey.

“We’re really excited that both our Ghost Whiskey and Cape Henry Vodka scored so highly on the various factors that determine the drinkability of a spirit,” said Royall Ferguson of Deep Creek Distilling. “We really put a lot of emphasis on creating spirits with broad consumer appeal, and one that spirit drinkers would enjoy for a variety of different occasions. These awards are really a validation of our spirit making expertise.”

Benchtop’s new brew is a hopped green tea.

Shop an array of vendors featuring produce from local farmers, local seafood, jams, micro greens, meats, eggs, baked goods, art, candles, eco-friendly products , bouquets, artisan soaps, candles, pet treats, curated art, blown glass, handmade jewelry, woodworking, and more!

Four Bottles of Wine

By Jeff Maisey

I recently hosted a dinner party at home and randomly selected four bottles of red wine. My guests each enjoy vino but have varying degrees of appreciation and knowledge, ranging from a trained sommelier to a “I just like a glass with dinner” person.

The bottles I picked are very accessible and commonly found in retailers such as TASTE, Costco, Total Wine & More, and Fresh Market. On average, they are fairly priced between $20-25 per bottle. To me, if you can find a tolerable bottle of wine at that price point you’re doing well.

For this little experiment I didn’t ask anyone for score sheets or anything official like that. I just wanted some honest, non-pressured feedback on what they generally thought and to see if there was general agreement or contrasting opinions.

The first bottle we shared was a Boen 2021 Pinot Noir. Everyone said they had seen this bottle label in the shelves at wine stores but no one had actually purchased one.

Boen comes from the group headed by California winemaker Joseph Wagner. Wagner, thanks to his father, Chuck, has continued to have the Midas Touch with a highly successful product lineup that includes Caymus, Miomi, Quilt, Bela Glos, among others.

The grapes sourced for Boen come from Monterey County, Sonoma County, and Santa Barbara. The blend is a delightful enough marriage and true-to-style Pinot that my guests certainly enjoyed. For the price is was a thumbs-up.

For our second bottle, I poured the mysteriously labeled Cult, a 2020 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon cellared and bottled by the Beau Vigne Collection.

Cult is a full-bodied Cab with aromas blackberries and plums. It’s a nicely rounded and balanced wine that paired perfectly with our Charcuterie appetizer featuring spiced meats and cheeses.

As much as we enjoyed Cult, Juggernaut Hillside Cabernet 2020 was the hit of the party, again, not that we were keeping score.

The Northern California wine is produced from vines grown on steep, rocky hills whose harsh terrain, so we heard and tasted, results in a grape ripe with flavor, elegance, and true velvety mouthfeel.

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For more information visit www.ghentnorfolk.org

Cult and then Juggernaut combined for a hard act to follow for our final wine of the evening == Corazon Del Soul 2019 Malbec from Argentina. Still, the Malbec, which we saved for a nightcap, displayed fresh, full fruited characteristics and proved enjoyable.

Any of these make for an enjoyable accompaniment with friends that you don’t need to impress. They’re solid and nicely priced. Enjoy.

anniversary

Friday FEB. 24th 12PM - 10PM

Saturday FEB. 25th 12PM - 11:30PM

sunday feb 26th 12pm - 9pm

IV LIVE MUSIC

Friday: nate sacks

saturday: the Heart Stompers

The lifehacks

The Bay Rats

sunday: hampton roads

bluegrass jam & concert

BEER RELEASES

Barrel Aged sleep on it, always baltic porter & BARREL AGED double this IMPERIAL I.P.A.

FOOD & PIZZA SPECIALS

Hooray for Ocean’s Olé!

By Marisa Marsey

Hurry. There’s not a moment to spare. The invasion of the beach-snatchers (aka tourists) is imminent. Now is the time, before they descend, to avail yourself of the pleasures of Ocean’s Olé.

Oh, I know what you’re thinking. We locals would rather be buried up to our neck in ghost crab-crawling sand than be caught dead—or alive—supping at an oceanfront eatery. In this instance, though, you’d be missing out.

In fact, if you were to cruise by one frigid night and peer into the colorfully illuminated glass box jutting out of the Sandcastle Resort on Atlantic Avenue you could well be enticed to stop (and why not—metered parking spaces and municipal lots are free until March 31!). A prismatic Frida Kahlo mural, vibrant woven basket lights and lush greenery radiate warmth and welcome.

Steer yourself inside and settle into a seat at the bar or a high top table. Even in the offseason, this casual joint can bustle, particularly when the Virginia Beach Sports Center teems with tomorrow’s Karch Kiralys. But there are more quiet evenings evincing intimacy when the mercury dips. One recent weeknight our affable server was informing us of the night’s $9.99 burrito special when a couple who had just finished their meal sidled up to our fourtop. “Get it! It really is good,” blurted out the

wife. The husband added, “ We’re from Kansas, so our other tip is plant your corn early.”

Guess the tourists are here already—but we need ‘em (and my, aren’t they friendly!). I sure will be crop-ready, because they were right about that burrito. It bulges with your choice of chicken, steak or carnitas (pulled pork) along with refried beans and guacamole. The Sonoran-sized tortilla, slathered with queso, pico de gallo and sour cream, nearly drapes over the large plate’s rim.

Tortillas are made in-house, a common refrain here, and it’s that from-scratch sensibility that distinguishes Ocean’s Olé. Its menu starts with a rubric of “Pequeños” (“Smalls”) including sopes (open-face fried corn masa layered with pinto beans and choice of meat, laced with queso fresco, lettuce, pico de gallo, sour cream and avocado crema) and empanadas (chicken tinga or veggie).

Two kinds of ceviches permit you to compare and contrast the brisk Mexican version (shrimp marinated with cucumber, lime juice, pico de gallo and avocado chunks) with the assertive Peruvian (white fish marinated with lime juice, ginger, onions, jalapeño, and coconut milk).

Monterey jack cheese and queso bake together in an iron skillet alongside grilled poblanos and sautéed onions, then get finished with a burrata twist and a side of fresh corn tortillas for an

oozy, heartwarming queso fundido.

Like any contemporary Mexican restaurant in these parts worth its margarita salt, Ocean’s Olé has a birria taco. Request a passel of napkins from the git-go as this one’s delicious stewed juices soon will be streaming down your chin.

But the menu defies cliché with a dozen other street tacos, each with its carefully curated condiments, so that you can fashion your own taco party. Pickled onions add a puckery kick to the carnitas with pineapple salsa and cilantro, for example. Mango pico de gallo makes the grilled salmon with cabbage pop while cilantro tequila sauce lavishes crab meat with onions and jalapeños. Each one is so enticing, you’ll have a tough time making your choice so get some of each and share. (Where did those Kansans go?)

Well-managed and hospitable, despite the depths of winter, Ocean’s Olé is related to other Beach establishments including the boardwalkfacing Ocean’s 14 (also in the Sandcastle) and FishTails on 28 th Street. Plans at Olé call for a dynamic station where diners can catch the action of tortillas being handmade and el pastor sputtering on the spit. For now, there’s plenty to watch on flat-screen TVs.

If you go with a gang for a big game, score with a molcajete, a scalable option comprising grilled jumbo shrimp, steak, chicken, pork sausage, nopales (cacti), stuffed jalapeño, grilled onions, pico de gallo and chipotle cheese sauce served sizzling in a stone mortar and sided with rice, beans, tortillas and guacamole salad.

A menu section dubbed “North of the Border” features popular AmMex mergers along the lines of chimichangas and fajitas. And “La Patria” (“Homeland”) beckons with paella-like arroz con pollo, shrimp chile relleno and chipotle pork chop topped with chipotle mushroom crema, one of a triumvirate of homespun sauces (along with ranchero sauce and a spinach-y poblano sauce) that the restaurant prides itself on. Mango cake makes for an intriguing dessert. Toying with sweet and savory, the earthiness of its masa base is counterbalanced by soaking in mango syrup and sweetened condensed milk. Fried cheesecake is a dulcet burrito swaddling a creamy cheesecake filling.

The bar is the center square here and a generous drinks list does it justice. “Un-parch ” with a rainbow of traditional and fruited margaritas or specialties like an extra tingly ‘rita spiked with ginger and pineapple. Cheering on March Madness will get even more madcap if you order the tequila and mescal tasting. It’s thoughtfully served with agave-enhancing sangrita, a bloody-good blend of chili, pomegranate, orange and lime.

As the weather warms, the party will flow outside onto the patio complete with a frisky set of swings. Hmm. Guess every season has its charms.

WANT TO GO? 1307 Atlantic Avenue, Virginia Beach. 757-937-2481. Open daily. Tacos $3-5. Most dishes $8-20. DJ on select nights. oceansolevb.com

Mondays are great for Margaritas

Healthy and delicious

Charming bar space at Ocean’s Olé. Courtesy photo.

211 W. 24th Street in Norfolk

DINING VEGAN In Session

By Betsy DiJulio

For vegans and those following a plantbased diet, breakfast out often means a couple of choices: avocado toast or an almond milk smoothie, as most mainstream establishments worth their salt at least offer a nut milk alternative. Venturing into other sections of the menu typically involves an endless refrain of “hold the _____” (bacon, sausage, cheese, hollandaise, etc.) and not even bothering to inquire about grits, French toast, and pancakes. The same is true of lunch sandwiches with all the yummy sounding cheeses and aioli off-limits.

But Session is not the same song different verse. Open for about a year and half in the Lynnhaven Colony Shoppes on Shore Drive, Session’s salads and sammies—which come with dressed greens or root vegetable chips ($1)—can be customized with vegan Just Egg, tempeh bacon, vegan cheddar, an addicting vegan gochujang aioli from the Veggie Banh Mi, or an herb citrus aioli from the The BB Flatbread ($13). Ordered as is, the salads are dressed with simple, drinkable-sounding vegan vinaigrettes like roasted garlic. Rounding out vegan options are Pumpkin French Toast ($15) and, from the selection of sides, a vegan parfait ($7).

Mouthwatering descriptions and clever names like the Hot Boi ($14) or The Fall Back ($12) make for a fun romp through the menu and a tough decision when it comes time to order. On my only visit so far—the first of many—I chose the naturally vegan Veggie Banh Mi ($11) and would order it again just based on the gochujang aioli alone, although there are so many additional offerings singing my name. Take for instance the Breakfast Fried Rice ($11), with Just Egg ($1.50). My tastes skew savory, rather than sweet, so this remix on a classic featuring brown rice, broccoli, carrot, both sweet and pickled onion, scallion, and my obsession, aka the gochujang aioli, hits all the right notes.

I like vegan meat substitutes just fine, but I typically don’t crave them like I do roasted mushrooms and pickled veg. In the Bahn Mi, both are layered into a sesame baguette with just the right amount of tender chewiness, along with thin jalapeño slices to get your attention and fresh cilantro for

that unique herby freshness. But the high note for me was the schmear of duxelles (minced mushrooms typically sautéed with onion, shallots, garlic, and parsley)—where else can you find that locally?—and the creamy, just-spicy-enough gochujang aioli that should be sold as a body lotion. For my side, I ordered the greens: very fresh and very lightly dressed arugula in a brown Chinese take-out style box.

Because I couldn’t get there until late in the day and the restaurant closes at 3 p.m., I took my order to go. While photos of menu items online are beautifully staged and Instagrammable, I set up a picnic nearby and snapped a photo to share what a carefully packaged to-go order looks like: pretty colorful and appealing if you ask me. But if you decide to dine in—or in warm weather on their sweet patio out back—expect to be greeted with a breathable sunny space boasting a mid-mod vibe, lots of twining and vining green plants, and employees that seem just as content.

With fun-sounding smoothies ($7.50$9), lively canned cocktails ($7-$8)—hard kombucha, anyone?—plus beer with names like Wapatoolie ($4-$8), wine and champagne by the bottle ($15-$30) or glass ($6$11 ), and non-alcoholic beverages ($3-$5), there is no B-side at Session.

WANT TO GO? Session, www.sessionvb.com , 2973 Shore Drive, Suite 104, VA Beach, 757. 904.1492. Open 8 to 3 every day except Tuesdays.

to expand your knowledge of wines and receive great rewards!

Join the Mermaid Wine Club to expand your knowledge of wines and receive great rewards!

Mermaid Wine Club Benefits:

• 15% Discount on food, wine, and merchandise

15% discount on food and merchandise

• 20% discount on reorders of your wine club wines for the following month

20% discount on reorders of your wine club wines for the following month

• Exclusive tastings the last Wednesday and Thursday of every month

Complimentary tastings the last Wednesday of every month

• 50% off in-house bottles Tuesdays from 5 – 8 PM

Discounts on bottles Mondays from 5-8pm

• 50% off in-house bottles during Happy Hour, Monday-Friday, 4:30 – 6:30 PM

Discounts on bottles on “Sunday Movie nights”

• Exclusive invitations to tasting events

Exclusive invitations to tasting events

• Opportunity to reserve an allocation of Mermaid Wines prior to release

• Swap out bottles to double or triple up on your favorite! (Excluding Petit club)

Mermaid Wine Club Packages:

Opportunity to reserve an allocation of Mermaid Wines prior to release Red & White Club - ($45 monthly)

• Mermaid Petit Club - ($30 monthly) - Two bottles monthly, one red, one white.

2 bottles of red and 1 bottle of white

• Mermaid Red & White Club - ($45 monthly) - Three bottles monthly, two red, one white

Premium Club - ($75 monthly)

• Mermaid Premium Club - ($75 monthly) - Two high-end red bottles monthly

2 bottles of limited high-end red wines

The Palace Station, 330 W. 22nd Street, #106, Norfolk | 4401 Shore Drive, Virginia Beach

www.MermaidWinery.com

arts @odu

GORDON ART GALLERIES

4509 MONARCH WAY

LOW STAKES: PLYWOOD CUTOUTS & EVERYDAY COMIX — On view Feb. 3 – May 6. Sam Bartlett is an American folk artist, public art instigator, cartoonist, performer, musician and composer. As an artist, Bartlett specializes in painting and cutting sculptures from salvaged wood. He derives inspiration from the naturally low stakes involved in using free materials. Bartlett does virtually no planning or sketching for his artwork, preferring to try to harness the energy of a first take. Common themes in his work include complex physical relationships between people, things on top of other things, things being bitten and eaten, old-time and Irish music communities, and mortality. He has been strongly influenced by artists Peter Schumann, Howard Finster and Gustav Vigeland. More at odu.edu/gordongalleries

JURIED STUDENT EXHIBITION — Opening reception March 2, 6 – 8 p.m. On view March 3 – April 8. This exhibition features works selected by an invited art professional from submissions by students in ODU’s Art Department programs. It represents the breadth and quality of work being produced by undergraduates in several disciplines, including drawing and design, graphic design, print and photo media, painting and 3-D media. This year’s juror is Chelsea Pierce, Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Chrysler Museum of Art.

MONARCH SHORT-FILM FESTIVAL — Feb. 17, 7 – 9 p.m. University Theatre. The first annual Monarch Short-Film Festival showcases the work of ODU film students and alumni. Members of a jury individually watch and assign points to each of the movies submitted, and top-scoring movies are screened to the audience. Best Student Film (overall) and Best Student Film by popular vote are awarded during the ceremony.

THEATRE@ODU

ARTEMIS, I — Feb. 23 – 25, 7:30 p.m.; March 1 – 4, 7:30 p.m.; March 5, 2 p.m. Goode Theatre. Tickets: ODUArtsTix.com. Written and directed by Deborah Wallace. Produced by ODURep. What is the value of one human life? How much of our humanity are we willing to sacrifice for glory and the spoils of war? Civilization must begin with Justice, but to those being sacrificed, is slaughter ever just? Artemis, I is an updated re-telling of the Greek story of Iphigenia, which begins with the crimes of Agamemnon against the goddess Artemis. Although boldly contemporary in design and tone, this performance proves that audiences in 400 B.C. asked the same questions that haunt us today.

F. LUDWIG DIEHN SCHOOL OF MUSIC

JAZZ COMBO AND JAZZ ORCHESTRA — Feb. 16, 7:30 p.m. Chandler Recital Hall. The ODU Jazz Combo, directed by Professor John Toomey, and the ODU Jazz Orchestra, directed by Doug Owens, are featured in multiple concerts every semester, performing standard and contemporary originals and arrangements.

BRASS CHOIR — Feb. 27, 7:30 p.m. Chandler Recital Hall. The ODU Brass Choir has been performing continually since 1972 under the direction of William Bartolotta and, since 2006, directed by Mike Hall. The ensemble performs works written specifically for brass as well as arrangements of choral, orchestral, jazz, pop, and show music.

Old Dominion University, located in Norfolk, is Virginia’s forward-focused public doctoral research university with more than 23,000 students, a top R1 research ranking, rigorous academics, an energetic residential community and initiatives that contribute $2.6 billion annually to Virginia’s economy.