November 2022 Veer Magazine

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Tangled Up in Blue

By Tom Robotham

Recently on Facebook, I saw a meme assert ing that there’s no such thing as a good cop: they’re either dirty, clean but afraid to speak up, or courageous enough to do so—and there fore get pushed out. It got me thinking about all the cops I encountered when I landed my first newspaper job and was assigned to the policeand-fire beat.

At the outset, I already had a bias against cops, based on experience.

One moment in particular stands out. I was 16, hanging out with a group of friends in front of the public school in our neighborhood. It was around 7 p.m. We weren’t making a lot of noise, although we did have a small radio playing— likely the song “ Brandy,” by Looking Glass, as it was pervasive that year.

Anyway, we were being pretty mellow when a guy stormed out of his house with a gun in hand. He identified himself as an off-duty cop, then proceeded to lecture us on our juvenile de linquency, stopping to smack each of us in the head as he moved down the row in which we were sitting on a stone ledge. After that, he told us to stand up.

“ You’re the tallest,” he said to one of the guys. “C ’mon,” he added, grabbing the kid by the hair and pulling him across the street.

The rest of us sat there, unsure of what to do, but after about 10 minutes, our friend came back out. He told us the cop had dragged him into his kitchen, demanded his home phone number, then called his mother, to whom he barked, “ What would you do if I told you your son was dead?”

Our friend could hear his mother’ s scream through the receiver. Then the cop said, “ Well, he’s not—I have him here. But you need to get control of your boy.”

My friends and I had many other encoun ters with police, whenever he hung out in the schoolyard, and they were always a pain in the ass. That said, it mostly seemed that they were just doing their jobs. This guy, on the other hand, was a true pig, and for a long time he colored my whole view of the NYPD.

My initial experience on the beat, six years later, wasn’t awful. But making the nightly rounds wasn’t pleasant either. The desk ser geants were generally contemptuous of report ers, and cops at scenes could be even worse. One of my first assignments was to go to a murder scene—a jewelry store where the owner had been held up at gunpoint and had reached for the shotgun under the counter but wasn’t quite fast enough. When I got to the store, I tried to make my way past the police lines. Since I had an NYPD-issued press badge explicitly allowing me to do so, I was taken aback when an officer forcefully pushed me away and said, “ That thing

don’t mean shit.”

And so I learned on the job: This ain’t gonna be easy.

Firefighters always seemed a lot friendlier. When I’d visit firehouses, I’d generally find a group of guys hanging out and eating some feast that one of them had cooked up. At fire scenes, on the other hand, I didn’t attempt to speak to any of them while they went about their work, other than the fire marshal to see if he suspect ed arson.

One fire is especially memorable: a fivealarmer in a low-income Puerto Rican neigh borhood. As I stood watching the apartment building burn on that icy winter night, a young woman with a swaddled baby in her arms came up to me and said something in Spanish.

“ No hablo Espan ol,” I responded, but she didn’t hear the “no” and proceeded to talk in a pleading tone. My high school Spanish was be yond rusty, but it was clear that she was beg ging me for information. I was sorry I had little to offer.

When all was said and done, 30 families were homeless. Freezing and shaken, I went across the street to a bar, downed two shots of tequila, then drove back to the office to write my story.

While that stands out, covering police busi ness took up the bulk of the job. I went to a lot of car-accident scenes, and that was pretty brutal. But it did change my view of cops, somewhat. I remember one night when a teenager totaled his car. I followed the ambulance to the hospital, and as I sat in a waiting room, I watched a cop, on a payphone, tell a woman (he’d addressed

her as Mrs.) what had happened. I couldn’t quite make out whether he revealed the harshest of truths—that her son was dead—or just that he was in the hospital. But I felt sick, imagining what was going through the mother’s mind. At the same time, I also felt bad for the officer. I was glad I didn’t have his job.

Covering murders was just as rough. One time, I arrived at a murder scene—a modest house on a tree-lined street—to see two sheetcovered bodies lying in the hallway. A cop told me it appeared that the dead man and his wife, who were quite elderly, had had an argument and that, in anger, she had ripped up his beloved tomato plants. He, in turn, had hit her in the head with a hammer, then hung himself.

What stands out about that memory, in ad dition to the horror of the scene and the gutwrenching story, is that the officer and his part ner were joking about it. Initially, I was appalled by their apparent heartlessness. Sometime later, though, I mentioned this to another cop whom I’d gotten to know a bit.

“ It’s just how we deal with the shit we see,” he said. “ If we didn’t crack jokes, we’d go nuts.”

That always stuck with me.

My most vivid memory of those days, though, is of another murder. I was making my rounds when the desk sergeant at the 122nd precinct said, “ You might wanna take a look at this.” I was initially pleased that for once a cop seemed friendly, until I saw the report: A 35-year-old man had been found bludgeoned to death in his apartment.

“ Heard the guy was a popular school teach er,” the sergeant said. “ No clue why somebody’d kill him.”

When I got back to the office, I was unsure of what to do next.

“Call everybody in the phonebook with his last name until you get a relative,” my editor said.

Since his last name wasn’t terribly common, it didn’t take long. I asked the woman who an swered my second call if she knew the man in question, and she said, yes, she was his mother. When I explained why I was calling, she said, “ How dare you bother us at a time like this.” I apologized and explained that I was just trying to do my job—at which point she apologized and opened up about her son. The next day, after the story was published, my editor complimented me. But I didn’t feel proud. I kept wondering what business I’d had calling her. Maybe it was cathartic for her, maybe not. To me it felt like exploitation.

I lost my taste for the crime-and-fire beat after that—and thankfully, I got a new beat soon thereafter. Still, I’m glad I was exposed to these dark and gritty realities.

Sometimes, in fact, I wish I could do it all over again and go deeper—to immerse myself in cop-world and try to understand their chal lenges and what makes them tick. For in spite of the arrogance I’ve encountered from cops over the years—here in Norfolk, on occasion, as well

PUBLISHER/EDITOR

JEFF MAISEY (757) 237-2762 jeffmaisey@yahoo.com

CREATIVE DIRECTOR PAM JOHNSON

1.pam.johnson@gmail.com

ADVERTISING & MARKETING CONSULTANT JENNIFER MCDONALD Jennifer.McDonald@hotmail.com

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS

Tom Robotham, Diane Catanzaro, Chris Jones, Jerome Langston, Marisa Marsey, Jim Morrison, Montague Gammon III, Betsy DiJulio and Jim Roberts

CONTRIBUTING DESIGNERS

Brenda Mihalko, Giorgio Valentini

Veer is published by Veer Magazine, Inc. on the 15th of each month and is free of charge. Veer may be distributed by authorized distributors only. Veer assumes no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts or artwork.

The views and opinions expressed are those of the writers and not necessarily of Veer Magazine.

Veer Magazine PO Box 11147 Norfolk, VA 23517 Copyright 2022—©

NO EASY BEAT: Tom Robotham’s “backstage/all ac cess pass” to the frontlines of NYC’s crime and fire scenes in the late 1970s.

as in the NYPD—I have tremendous respect for the job. I’d like to know more about the people who do it—the people who risk their lives for modest pay while often taking abuse from all directions.

That ’s not something we talk much about. Instead, the news media tend to focus on abuse by cops. Those stories certainly need to be cov ered, and the cops in question need to be held accountable. I just think we need to understand and appreciate the tremendous stress of the job as well.

To some extent, it’s shared by other first re sponders. My closest childhood friend eventu ally became a firefighter. His first assignment was in the South Bronx. When I ran into him one day and asked about his job, he said it was tough. They’d show up to a fire, he told me, and some of the residents would throw rocks and beer bottles at them.

His story piqued my curiosity: Why would people do such a thing? I wasn’t about to go the South Bronx to find out. The neighborhood back then was essentially a war zone. But a few months later, I ventured into some highrise “projects” on Staten Island to interview an up-and-coming jazz drummer, who’d grown up there and bucked the odds. The housing com

plex had a stench of both urine and hopeless ness, and was a glaring example of a system gone wrong. For a moment I understood the rage that might lead some people to want to burn it all down.

But I sympathized with my friend as well. His job was dangerous enough in the best of cir cumstances. He didn’t deserve to be pelted with rocks.

Police officers face hostility as well, espe cially in impoverished inner-city neighbor hoods where they ’re often seen as oppressors. This is certainly understandable, but it puts ev ery cop —including those who have no history of brutality—in a bad spot. Think about it: When ever they respond to a call, they’re expected to run toward danger. Then what? Imagine you’ re a cop, and you confront someone at an alleged crime scene. It’s so dark you can barely make out the features on the person’s face. You tell him to freeze, but he reaches into his pocket. Do you pull your gun and fire? You have to make a split-second decision: Are you going to hold your fire and risk dying yourself? Duck behind a wall and let the suspect get away, knowing that you’ll likely be reprimanded for dereliction of duty? Let’s say you decide to shoot—then you learn that the person was just pulling out his cell

phone.

When I sketched out this scenario in conver sation with a friend recently, he responded that cops usually get cleared for such shootings.

Legally, yeah. But they still have to live with the knowledge that they killed an unarmed per son. It seems to me that we often forget about these sorts of things because—swayed by all the horrific reports of brutality—many of us tend to dehumanize cops.

Some might respond in turn that cop culture is to blame: Specifically, the “ Blue Wall”—the code of silence that each rookie learns. Never report a fellow officer for bad behavior.

There’s something to be said for that criti cism. And yet, I understand the mentality be hind the code—the idea that when you’re put ting your life on the line as a routine part of your job, you need to know that other cops have your back. Let me be clear: I’m not defending the code; I’m just trying to see the job from a cop’ s point of view.

Hence, my earlier statement that I some times wish I could do that first beat all over again and spend more time trying to under stand the tensions between cops and civilians from all perspectives. After all, the world being what it is, we need police. And since, we need

them, it seems to me, we need to give them some consideration.

I’m not sure I’d have this point of view if I hadn’t covered that beat. In the process, I met all kinds of cops, albeit all men, since women cops were exceedingly rare back then. Among them, to be sure, were walking stereotypes: overt racists and bullies who wore their bloated machismo on their sleeves. But I also met a lot of others: fresh-faced rookies who looked awk ward in their uniforms; wise and witty detec tives; gray-haired veterans who were working desk jobs, biding their time till retirement, and a lot of journeymen officers—decent guys who were doing the best they could while hoping to make it home, at shift’s end, to their wives and kids.

Back then, the racist bullies tended to get a free pass. I’m glad that’s starting to change. It’ s long overdue. But the simplistic attitudes on the far left—which led to the foolish “defund the police” movement—are counterproductive. In fact, they ’re just the flip side of the same coin: The right tends to think cops can do no wrong (well, unless they’re guarding the Capitol) and the left seems to want to hold them to superhu man standards. Both the job and the people who do it are a lot more complicated than that.

Ralph Northam, Black Resolve, and a Racial Reckoning in Virginia

MARGARET EDDS

Author Margaret Edds

Virginia Governor Ralph Northam’s “blackface scandal” could have destroyed any politician. The photo of Governor Northam purportedly in blackface created a firestorm locally and in every political

Slover Library Foundation Presents Author Margaret Edds

2023 Virginia Arts Festival Season Announced

By Jeff Maisey

Virginia Arts Festival’s magnificent 25th anniversary season might seem like a hard act to follow, but for executive director Rob Cross raising the bar year after year is what he does best. It’s a formula highlighted by programming Festival favorites, world premieres, and debut performances.

“We’ll be back to our traditional season,” said Cross, noting the early springtime start to a plethora of performances extending into early June. “We’re part of three world premieres this year. We’re always excited to bring new work to the community that you can’t see anywhere else.”

One of the Festival’s 2023 world premieres features a new composition by former Nickel Creek—a popular early 2000s era bluegrass band—mandolin player Chris Thile. Thile’s work will push the boundaries in a rare setting where his stringed instrument of choice is expected to melodiously meander through the orchestral instruments of the Eric Jacobsen-conducted Virginia Symphony Orchestra.

Performances will be experiences to cherish at Ferguson Center (May 19), Chrysler Hall (May 20), and Sandler Center (May 21).

Festival favorites returning include Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Olga Kern (cele brating Rachmaninoff’s 150th), Emerson String Quartet (their finale after four decades as a group), violinist Tianwa Yang, and the captivat

ing “At The Illusionist’s Table” with Scott Silven. Philadelphia Ballet will make its Festi val debut with a presentation of “Swan Lake” (April 14-16, Chrysler Hall) as will the legend ary Smokey Robinson of Motown fame (May 21, Chrysler Hall).

An additional highlight of note includes a three-day residency by Wynton Marsalis and his Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra where jazz ensembles from Historically Black Colleges & Universities will compete to perform live with Marsalis February 25 at Chrysler Hall—a nice tie-in for Black History Month.

Mark Morris Dance has been co-commis sioned by the Festival to perform a new work choreographed to the music of Burt Bacharach (May 13, Sandler Center).

Traditional jazz, bluegrass and the music of India converge May 3 at the Perry Pavilion when exciting worlds collide with musicians Bela Fleck (banjo), Zakir Hussain (percussion), and Edgar Meyer (upright bass).

Other must-sees” the giant Japanese drums of Kodo (March 19, Chrysler Hall), “Chicago: The Musical” (May 6, Harrison Opera House), Ballet Hispanico (May 5, Sandler Center), Josh Ritter (may 7, Perry Pavilion), “Five Freedom Songs” by Jessie Montgomery (June 14, Attucks Theatre), and, of course, the Virginia International Tattoo (April 20-23, Scope).

Veer Music Awards Theme Unveiled

The theme for the 2023 VEER Music Awards is “A Tribute to the 757’s Greatest.” Veer Magazine is currently considering bands/musicians to perform live from the selected art ists and songs below. :

• Gene Vincent & His Blue Caps, “Be-Bop-a-Lula” or “Bluejean Bop”

• Ella Fitzgerald, “Dream a Little Dream of Me” or “Cheek to Cheek”

• Pharrell Williams, “Happy” or “Frontin’”

• Bruce Hornsby, “That’s Just The Way It Is” or “Mandolin Rain”

• Missy Elliott, “Lose Control” or “Work It”

• Gary US Bonds, “New Orleans” or “Quarter to Three”

• The Clipse, “Grindin’” or “Mr. Me Too”

• Scott Travis/Judas Priest, “You’ve Got Another Thing Coming” or “Living After Midnight”

• The Phelps Brothers, “I’m Beginning to Forget You” (recorded by Elvis)

• Waxing Poetics, “Baby Jane”

Interested bands should pitch ideas/submissions to jeffmaisey@yahoo.com and include the following:

• Tell us which song (just one) you’d like to perform at the VEER Music Awards show as well as whether you wish to play the tune as it was originally recorded or whether you wish to re-imagine it as a cover in your music genre of choice.

• Also include whether you’re interested in performing it as your band or a mash-up with a spe cial guests.

The 2023 VEER Music Awards presentation will be held in early February at The Vanguard Brew pub & Distillery in Hampton. Date to be announced soon.

A backline consisting of a drum kit, bass rig, and two guitar amplifiers will be provided on stage for all to share.

African American Cultural Center Executive Director Named

By Jeff Maisey

Tamar Smithers has been named as the first full-time Executive Director of the Virginia Afri can American Cultural Center in Virginia Beach.

Following a national search, Smithers was selected from a competitive field of applicants.

“I am thrilled to join VAACC as their first Executive Director,” said Smithers. “Cultural centers that preserve and celebrate African American history, legacy, and culture are need ed now more than ever. The monumental impact VAACC will have on Virginia and the nation will be transformative.”

Dr. Amelia Ross-Hammond, Founder and Chairman of the Virginia African American Cultural Center, agreed: “In looking for our first full-time Executive Director, we were looking for someone with the passion for our mission who could hit the ground running. Tamar brings those qualities and so much more to our organi zation. We were especially impressed with the fact that she was on the team that founded the National Museum of African American Music in Nashville, and that she knows how to get an or ganization up and running.”

Smithers joins the VAACC after serving

Ghent District Foundation Formed

The Ghent Business Association (GBA) re cently announced the formation of Ghent Dis trict Foundation.

The 501 (c) 3 corporation will enhance and expand the capabilities as vision of the GBA.

“The foundation will allow us to host events and obtain ABC license independently from other not-for-profit organizations,” explained Claus Ihlemann, president and owner of De corum Furniture, noting the importance of an ABC license for presenting fundraising events like Masquerade in Ghent, Ghent Pride, and the Heart of Ghent Race 5K race. “Looking at the future we can raise funds for projects that will help the neighborhood, and contributions can be tax deductible to the contributors.”

The stated mission of the newly formed foundation is to prevent blight in the Ghent District, to help and support underprivileged entrepreneurs and minority owned businesses and to support the preservation of the Historic Ghent Corridor.

In addition to Ihlemann, who will serve as the foundation president, Southern Bank Vice President Kelly Johnson, design architect Robyn Thomas, and wealth manager Pat Moore are board members.

Ghent District Foundation will consist en tirely of volunteers from the Ghent business

Smithers

as the founding Senior Director of Education for the National Museum of African American Music (NMAAM) in Nashville, where she was instrumental in creating culturally specific pro grams and curricula for students of all ages.

She is an arts advocate and highly knowl edgeable in the realm of museums, cultural in stitutions, and higher education.

corridor and residential community.

“GBA is focused on the business community, the Foundation can take a broader look and con sider projects that will benefit all aspects of the Ghent neighborhood, and accept contributions to support these efforts,” said Ihlemann.

International Acclaim for AferAnderson Film

The Angels in the Details, a documentary by Terrance Afer-Anderson, about the historical aspects of Norfolk’s Basilica of St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception, has garnered notable praise as “Best Documentary Featurette” in the Rome International Movie Awards, was chosen as a “Semi-Finalist” in the Cannes World Film Festival (France), “Best Feature Documentary Nominee” in the Mykonos International Film Festival (Greece), was noted for “Outstanding Achievement” in India’s Royal Society of Televi sion and Motion Picture Awards, and received an “Honorable Mention” in the London Movie Awards. It also won a Bronze in the U.S. Telly Awards, a competition that each year attracts some 12,000 entries worldwide.

The film documenting America’s only Afri can-American Basilica will be shown November 15 at the Naro Expanded Cinema.

Tamar

Custom Built, 5 bedroom/3 whole & 2 half bath, 5200 sq. ft., 3-story brick home, located in Layfayette Shores, with sweeping views of gorgeous wetlands & the Lafayette River. This home has a three-season 1st floor screened sunporch & 2nd floor deck to enjoy sunsets & waterfront views. Impressive open foyer has a curved staircase, high ceilings, exquisite moldings, specialty lighting, and built-ins throughout. The 1st floor large primary suite has a custom spa bath, separate shower, heated floors, dual sinks, and walk-in closets. In addition, the main floor has an office with custom built-ins, a sunlit kitchen with pantry, four-person bar top, and eat-in dinning space that opens to a family room with a stunning gas fireplace. The formal dining room, living room, 1/2 bath, and 2.5 car garage complete main floor. The second floor has 4 oversized bedrooms including 3 ensuites with double sinks, walk-in closets, built-in desks, large hall closets, laundry room, and a walk-in attic. The expansive 3rd floor includes a 1/2 bath, 2 large closets, and attic space that is perfect as game/media/playroom or au pair suite. All close to the neighborhood pool, gym, tennis courts, and clubhouse.

Dominion, Ratepayer Advocates Propose Settlement Over Potential Wind Project Costs

By Charlie Paullin

Dominion Energy and groups advocating for ratepayers announced a settlement agreement recently on who will bear responsibility for any increased costs associated with the Coastal Vir ginia Offshore Wind project.

The agreement, which was reached between Dominion Energy, the Office of the Attorney General, Walmart, the Sierra Club and environ mental nonprofit Appalachian Voices, protects ratepayers from some increases in construction costs while removing a performance guarantee Dominion had criticized.

The Office of the Attorney General called the agreement “ both a landmark and commonsense framework for balancing the need to build inno vative, renewable energy projects with strong consumer protections.”

The Coastal Virginia Offshore Wind project is a key part of Dominion’s plans to achieve a zero-carbon grid by 2050, as required under the Virginia Clean Economy Act.

The State Corporation Commission, which oversees Virginia’s public utilities, green-lit the $9.8 billion project in August but included a per formance standard as a condition of its approval.

The standard required the company to cov er the costs of replacement energy if the wind farm didn’t produce 42% of the energy it is capa ble of producing. Performance would have been measured on a three-year rolling basis.

Dominion had previously requested that the performance standard be removed, claiming it would make the project “untenable” and reliant on factors out of its control, such as weather.

But while the SCC approval included ratepay er protections for underperformance, it didn’t provide protection for construction cost over runs, said Will Cleveland, an attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center who repre sented Appalachian Voices in negotiations.

Cleveland said the deal was a “substantial improvement” over what existing law allows.

Under state code, Dominion is allowed to re cover construction cost overruns from custom ers up to a certain dollar amount as long as the increased costs are determined to be reason able and prudently incurred.

But under the settlement agreement, cus tomers only have to cover project costs of up to $10.3 billion.

If costs are between $10.3 billion and $11.3 billion, customers and Dominion will share re sponsibility for overruns equally.

If costs rise to between $11.3 billion and $13.7 billion, responsibility for overruns will be borne entirely by the company. Any expenses that run

over $13.7 billion will require a future commission proceeding to determine how to recover costs.

Friday’s agreement also gets rid of a pre sumption that any costs Dominion incurs in construction are “reasonable and prudent.” In stead, Dominion will have to prove to the State Corporation Commission that additional costs were reasonably and prudently incurred before it can recoup them from ratepayers.

“It will be a much more robust record rather than just sort of a checkbox,” Cleveland said.

Residential customers can expect an average monthly bill increase of $4.72 over the course of the 35-year project, with a peak of $14.22 in 2027. Dominion spokesperson Jeremy Slayton declined to say what the company plans to do if the project doesn’t produce energy at its expected level.

The terms of the agreement are “ how we’re going to approach it,” he said.

Dominion Energy President and CEO Bob Blue said the project is on schedule and set to be complete in late 2026. Not including backup funding for emergencies, the company expects to have over 90% of the project costs fixed by the end of the first quarter of 2023.

“Offshore wind is expected to alleviate pres sure on customer fuel rates for 30 years once the project is in-service,” said Blue. “Our customers expect reliable, affordable energy – and offshore wind is key for accomplishing that mission.”

In September, the SCC approved major monthly bill increases for Dominion customers because of rising fuel costs.

Andy Farmer, a spokesperson for the State Corporation Commission, declined to comment on the proposal. The SCC will have to approve the agreement before it can take effect.

No deadline for acceptance is included in the settlement other than a request for “expedited consideration.”

This news report is courtesy of Virginia Mercury.com

One of two wind turbines off the coast of Virginia Beach. (Sarah Vogelsong/ Virginia Mercury)

Report: Agricultural Investments for Bay Cleanup Spur Economy

By Charlie Paullin

Investments in agricultural best manage ment practices have positive returns for the economy, according to a recent report released by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

The report found that for every dollar spent on farmers ’ best management practices within the Chesapeake Bay watershed, $1.75 is re turned through higher sales of goods and ser vices as well as earnings. Investments are also contributing to the creation of an estimated 6,673 jobs annually between 2020 and 2025.

“ We already know investing in agricultural conservation pays big dividends in cleaner water, more productive soil, climate-resilient farms, and healthier fish and wildlife habitat,” said CBF Director of Science and Agricultural Policy Beth McGee in a statement. “ Today ’s re port makes it clear these investments produce economic benefits for local businesses and workers as well.”

The report, prepared by Charlottesvillebased Key-Log Economics, looked at what five states in the Bay watershed — Virginia, Penn sylvania, Maryland, West Virginia and New York — still have to do to achieve pollution reduction goals by 2025.

More than 90% of the states ’ remaining pol lution reductions must come from agriculture, according to the Bay Foundation.

Using the Chesapeake Bay Program’s Chesa peake Assessment Scenario Tool, or CAST, and data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the report identified the cost to implement each of 17 best management practices, includ ing nutrient management plans, forest buffers and waste management systems. That data was then entered into the Regional Input-Output Modeling System from the U.S. Bureau of Eco nomic Analysis to derive the economic impact.

For example, the report determined that an investment in forest buffers would lead to more jobs for people planting trees and more jobs for workers at tree nurseries. More jobs would also be added in the grocery stores where the tree planters and nursery workers buy their food.

“ These results highlight how investing in conservation can stimulate the region’s economy while advancing Bay restoration,” said Key-Log senior economist Carolyn Alkire in a statement.

In Virginia, the report found that $116.1 mil lion invested in BMPs would lead to an economic return of $191.2 million. In surrounding states, if Pennsylvania invested $195.7 million, it would see $352.5 million returned. Maryland would get $41.2 million back after investing $23.1 million.

The spending by the three states would con stitute about 90% of the $375.1 million in annual spending needed across the entire watershed to

meet the 2025 goals. The report estimates those investments would generate $655 million.

Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania have worked to install fencing to prevent animals from entering waterways, encouraged pre scribed grazing to improve the quality and quantity of pastures by targeting where live stock can feed and planted tree buffers.

The largest driver of economic activity across the entire watershed was waste manage ment, or ways to collect, transfer and store ma nure and wastes from animal operations, which researchers found generated 24.1% of returns. Next was nutrient management, leading to 20% of the economic activity, followed by planting cover crops, at 20.9%.

But the report noted that certain practices are more cost effective than others and have additional benefits. A $7.62 investment in forest buffers could remove a pound of nitrogen from the watershed and provide shade and habitat for wildlife, store carbon and provide additional revenue for farmers through production of nuts, fruit, livestock forage and honey. Compar atively, it would cost $2,350 to install an animal waste management system to remove the same amount of nitrogen.

“ Targeting funding to practices like forested buffers that are cost effective and provide a ho listic range of benefits can, and should, help en sure the greatest outcomes for the region’s water quality and community well-being,” McGee said.

The report follows the Bay Foundation’s release of the 2022 State of the Blueprint Re port, which found states in the watershed were not on track to meet their 2025 commitments. Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia account for roughly 90% of the pollution in the Bay. The Environmental Protection Agency is discussing a new deadline for pollution reductions.

Virginia appropriated a record $116 million for its agricultural best management practice cost-share program earlier this year, with $81 million of that earmarked for farmers within the Bay watershed.

Matt Kowalski, Virginia watershed res toration scientist with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, noted that the allocation was “ his toric,” but said funding requirements for the cost-share program have risen every year be cause it hasn’t been fully funded to date.

“ We ’re still going to need those contribu tions from the feds,” Kowalski said in a press call Wednesday that also discussed funding opportunities from the Inflation Reduction Act and 2023 Farm Bill.

The news report courtesy of VirginiaMercury.com

February 11th Lindsey Webster Attucks Theatre

2022HOLIDAYHAPPENINGS

HOLIDAY LIGHTS & PARADES

Million Bulb Walk

Norfolk Botanical Garden

Through January 1 5-9:30 PM Nightly NBGlights.org

Get out and enjoy the spectacular Million Bulb Walk at Norfolk Botanical Garden through January 1.

Winterfest

Through January 1

USS Wisconsin/Nauticus

The deck of the battleships becomes adorn with holiday lights. Below deck, tour rooms of holiday exhibits.

Busch Gardens Christmas Town

Through January 8 BuschGardens.com

Over 10 million twinkling lights illuminate the theme park. Holiday shows, rides and more.

Downtown Norfolk Grand Illumination

Parade

November 19, 6 PM

Downtown Norfolk

It’s back. A full-fledged holiday parade with floats, marching bands, and Santa.

Holiday Lights at The Beach

November 18 through January 1 beacheventsvb.com

A magical car journey down the Virginia Beach Boardwalk provides a memorable light show for the family or on date night.

Chartway Holiday Parade at the Beach

December 3, 5:30 PM

Atlantic Ave. Between 15th & 25th Streets

Nearly 90 parade units make their way down Atlantic Avenue in a joyous celebration of the holiday season. Giant balloons, march ing bands, lighted floats, equestrian units, fire trucks, performing dance groups, motorcycles, and more join forces to present a dazzling and entertaining night of fun for all ages

Ghent Holiday Tree Lighting

December 2 , 6:30 PM

Blair Middle School/Colley Ave. www.ghentnorfolk.org

Downtown Hampton Lighted Boat Parade

December 10, 6-9 PM

Downtown Hampton Waterfront www.downtownhampton.com

Boats of all sizes are covered in holiday lights.

Colonial Williamsburg Grand Illumination

December 2-4, 9-11, 16-18, 3-7:30 PM www.colonialwilliamsburg.com

Yuletide entertainment will include favor ite holiday traditions, as well as heartwarming new additions to the festivities. On Friday eve nings, join the new Procession of the Yule Log and enjoy holiday songs and stories on Market Square. Saturday evenings will include a dra matic presentation of an original holiday story, glorious music, and a joyful appearance by Fa ther Christmas, culminating in simultaneous Grand Illumination fireworks displays over the Governor’s Palace and Capitol building.

HOLIDAY CHILDREN/ FAMILY

“Twas the Night Before Christmas”

November 26

The American Theatre hamptonarts.net

Kick off the holidays with the charming musical adaptation of Clement Moore’s “A Visit From St. Nicholas.” It’s 1823 and Moore, along with a jubilant cast of characters, comes to life as he struggles to write a Christmas poem. Eventually, the loving and joyous images he con jures inspire the famous poem’s creation. Jolly Santa, reindeer on the roof, dancing sugarplums and other colorful characters bring this delight

ful story to the stage for a new generation. What better way to celebrate the season than with the giddy anticipation of Christmas morning? A Vir ginia Rep on Tour production.

“A Storyland Christmas” December 3

Harrison Opera House sevenvenues.com

Join Old Mother Hubbard and her children as they journey from their home in the Storybook Forest to the village- to pay taxes to mean May or Miserly and to visit the Nativity. On the way, they visit the Toy Shop, where toys come to life and perform for them.

“Hurrah for the Holidays”

Presented by Hurrah Players December 9-11

Susan Goode Fine & Performing Arts Center @ VA Wesleyan University hurrahplayers.com

Tomorrow’s stars bring a joyful celebration of all your favorite holiday classics with cos tumes, dance and lots of music.

“Lightwire Theater: A Very Electric Christmas” December 10

The American Theatre hamptonarts.net

Brighten your holidays with this magical and captivating tale of family, friendship and hope set to timeless holiday hits! Combining theater and eye-popping technology performed in complete darkness, Lightwire brings stories to life in ways that will mesmerize children of all ages. The troupe has been featured on NBC’s America’s Got Talent and returns to The American Theatre after last season’s enchant ing performance. Lightwire Theater’s original story follows a young bird named Max who gets blown off course and finds himself at the North Pole. Expect caroling worms, dancing poinset tias, nutcracker soldiers, mischievous mice and more in this delightful and illuminating holiday production.

“The

Best Christmas Pageant Ever”

Presented by Hurrah Players

December 16-18

The Hugh R. Copeland Center hurrahplayers.com

Based on the popular book by Barbara Rob inson, “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” is the funny, heartwarming, and mildly irreverent story of what happens when a church play is hi jacked by six of the ‘absolutely worst kids in the history of the world’. A holiday tradition for 28 years, this event is presented with Happy Ha nukkah, My Friend; a short program celebrating the Festival of Lights.

Santa is the highlight as Downtown Norfolk’s Grand Illumination Parade returns November 19.

2022HOLIDAYHAPPENINGS

HOLIDAY THEATER & DANCE

“White Christmas”

Through December 11 Little Theatre of Virginia Beach LTVB.com

Veterans Bob Wallace and Phil Davis have a successful song-and-dance act after World War II. With romance in mind, the two fol low a duo of beautiful singing sisters en route to their Christmas show at a Vermont lodge, which just happens to be owned by Bob and Phil’s former army commander. With a dazzling score featuring well-known standards includ ing “ Blue Skies,” “I Love A Piano,” “How Deep Is the Ocean” and the perennial title song, “White Christmas” is an uplifting musical worthy of year-round productions.

“Nutcracker: Magical Christmas Ballet” November 23 Sandler Center sandlercenter.org

Gather friends and family to re-live your fondest childhood dreams, overflowing with larger-than-life puppets, breath-taking acrobatics, and dazzling costumes. Experience the exquisite artistry of the international cast, featuring stars of Ukraine ballet, performing at the highest level of classical technique.

“A Drag Queen Christmas” November 25 Sandler Center sandlercenter.org

For the 8th consecutive year, Murray & Pe ter proudly present a holiday tradition, “A Drag Queen Christmas,” with performances from contestants of the Emmy Award-winning televi sion show, RuPaul’s Drag Race . Hosted by Nina West.

“A Merry Little Christmas Carol”

Presented by Virginia Stage Company November 30 through December 31 Wells Theatre vastage.org

See Ebenezer Scrooge’s haunting journey unfold with inventive theatricality incorporat ing traditional holiday music harmonizing to produce a tour de force of laughter, hope, and the magic of the season.

“The 12 Dates of Christmas”

Presented by Virginia Stage Company December 8-18 Wells Theatre vastage.org

After catching her fiancé kissing another woman at the televised Thanksgiving Day Pa rade in New York City, Mary’s life falls apart —just in time for the holidays. Over the next year, she stumbles back into the dating world, where “romance” ranges from weird and creepy to absurd and comical. It seems nothing can help Mary’s growing cynicism, until the charm and innocence of a five-year-old boy unexpect edly brings a new outlook on life and love. This heartwarming yet hilarious one-woman play is sure to leave audiences in stitches.

“Let Me Sleigh U” December 10

Zeiders American Dream Theater TheZ.org

Drag queen Vivian Valentine, aka K’bana Blaq, fills the stocking with holiday cheer in a show fun of humor, whit, performance art and music.

“Cirque Musica: Holiday Wonderland” December 11 Hampton Coliseum hamptoncoliseum.org

“ Wonderland ” is an all-new musical journey that will transport audiences to a magical land far away for a fun-filled, unforgettable holiday-

The Hip Hop Nutcracker returns to Chrysler Hall December 15.

themed show experience. Featuring the talented cast of Cirque Musica, spectators will be dazzled by the acrobats, aerialists, hilarious hijinks and holiday cheer. The show blends the spellbinding grace and daredevil athleticism of today’s great est circus performers with a musical mix of time less seasonal favorites played LIVE.

“The Hip Hop Nutcracker”

December 15

Chrysler Hall

sevenvenues.com

A holiday mash-up for the whole family, The Hip Hop Nutcracker is celebrating its 10 th an niversary this season as it returns for another spectacular tour. Directed and choreographed by Jennifer Weber, this contemporary dance spectacle is a re-mixed and re-imagined ver sion of the classic, smashing hip hop dance and Tchaikovksy’ s  timeless music together into a heart-stirring and inspirational holiday event. The Hip Hop Nutcracker is brought to life by a powerhouse cast of a dozen all-star danc ers, a DJ, a violinist, and MC Kurtis Blow, one of hip hop’s founding fathers, who opens the show with a short set.

“Holidivas: A Holiday Cabaret”

December 15-17

Zeiders American Dream Theater TheZ.org

Lindsay Eure’s Holidivas are back. One of The Z’s most popular cabarets, the different and delightful divas bring the house down with Holi day favorites and new original classics.

“The Nutcracker”

Ballet Virginia December 16-18 Sandler Center sandlercenter.org

Ballet Virginia’s professional company mem bers will dance lead roles alongside our region’ s finest young dancers in this dreamy and enter taining production which has become a Hampton Roads holiday tradition. Tchaikovsky’s breath taking score will be performed live by Sympho nicity, the symphony orchestra of Virginia Beach. Waltzing flowers, tiny mice, and a delightful Sug ar Plum Fairy will make treasured memories and send you away with joy in your heart.

“ The Nutcracker”

Virginia Regional Ballet/Williamsburg Symphony Orchestra

December 17-18

Ferguson Center fergusoncenter.org

This sparkling holiday classic returns to Hampton Roads with swirling snowflakes, sword fights, the wondrous Land of Sweets, waltzing flowers and an enchanted Nutcrack er. Virginia Regional Ballet presents this spec

tacular production with The Williamsburg Sym phony Orchestra.

HOLIDAY CONCERTS

“The Polar Express in Concert”

Virginia Symphony Orchestra November 26

Ferguson Center virginiasymphony.org

Get up, get on, and get ready for the ride of your life! It ’s Christmas Eve, and you’re about to roller-coaster up and down mountains, slipslide over ice fields, teeter across mile-high bridges, and be served hot chocolate by sing ing waiters more astonishing than any you can imagine. You’re on the Polar Express.

Mannheim Steamroller Christmas November 29 Chrysler Hall sevenvenues.com

Grammy Award winner Chip Davis has cre ated a show that features Mannheim Steam roller Christmas classics in the distinctive Mannheim sound. The program celebrates the group ’s recent anniversary of 35 years since the first Christmas album and includes dazzling multimedia effects performed in an intimate setting.

Phil Vassar & Deana Carter

December 2

The Vanguard Brewpub & Distillery

A intimate country music concert in celebra tion of the holiday season.

“Celebrate Christmas”

Virginia Voices International December 2 Sandler Center vavoicesintl.org

An evening of holiday vocal music.

Vivian Valentine stars in the one-person drag show “Let Me Sleigh U” December 10 at Zeiders American Dream Theater.

2022HOLIDAYHAPPENINGS

“ Dave Koz & Friends: 25th Christmas Season”

December 3

Ferguson Center fergusoncenter.org

Smooth jazz saxophonist Dave Koz celebra tes 25 years on the Christmas circuit with gue sts Keiko Matsui, Rick Braun, Peter White and Rebecca Jade.

“Sing We Nowell”

Virginia Chorale

December 3, First Presbyterian Church (VA Beach) December 4, Christ & St. Luke’s Episcopal Church (Norfolk) vachorale.org

C arols are in the air with Benjamin Brit ten’s glorious  A Ceremony of Carols, selections from Ralph Vaughan Williams’  Nine Carols for Male Voices, and carols from Ukraine. Harpist Barbara Chapman will join the Chorale for this concert series and Artistic Director Charles Woodward will conduct.

“Holiday Pops”

Williamsburg Symphony Orchestra

December 3 & 4

Location TBA williamsburgsymphony.org

Music director Michael Butterman leads the Williamsburg Symphony through the holiday classics. Vocalist Sarah Jane McMahon adds sophistication.

“A Christmas Wish”

Virginia Beach Chorale December 4 Sandler Center sandlercenter.org

There is nothing more magical than a wish at Christmas, and Virginia Beach Chorale is bringing that magic to the stage with their Ho liday Concert, “A Christmas Wish.” This stun ning show will be filled with wishful holiday music such as “We Wish you the Merriest,” “My Grown Up Christmas Wish,” and Voctave’s “All is Well,” plus so much more.

“Oh Come All & Sing”

Cape Charles Community Choir

December 4

Historic Palace Theatre, Cape Charles artsentercapecharles.org

A late afternoon (4 PM) concert of holiday vocal music.

CNU’s Holiday Happening

December 4

Ferguson Center fergusoncenter.org

This 31st annual concert featuring CNU’s De partment of Music doubles as a fundraiser. Tree lighting follows the show.

“Holiday Traditions”

United States Air Force Heritage of America Band December 5 Sandler Center sandlercenter.org

This free to attend concert will feature a dazzling array of holiday classic music.

“Holiday

Pops”

Virginia Symphony Orchestra

December 8, Ferguson Center

December 9, Chrysler Hall

December 11, Sandler Center virginiasymphony.org

There’s no better way to lift your spirits than with seasonal songs and traditional carols deli vered in full sound and spectacle by the Virginia Symphony and special guests. Holiday POPS will have all the magical elements you’ve come to expect and more — high energy, familiar carols, and lots of holiday warmth.

“Christmas From Heaven”

Tidewater Winds December 9 Sandler Center sandlercenter.org

Just after World War II, the Iron curtain closed on East Berlin, leaving the city cut in half, and the east without food, supplies, and access to the West. Knowing the humanitarian crisis at hand, the Berlin Airlift began. In 1948, a young US Army pilot saw a group of children watching planes land and take off at the end of the Ber lin runway. The young Halvorsen gave his last two pieces of gum to the group of children, who divided them among their ranks. He decided to begin an effort to raise morale in Berlin by drop ping food and candy via miniature parachutes to the city’s residents. Halvorsen’s “Little Vit tles” was started with no authorization from his superiors, but over the next year became a na tional hero with support from all over the Unit ed States. Halvorsen’s operation dropped over 23 tons of candy for the residents of Berlin. He fondly became known... as the “Candy Bomber”. Col. Halvorsen passed away in early 2022, and Tidewater Winds’ Holiday Concert honors his memory with “Christmas from Heaven.”

“Jingle Bell Jam”

Virginia Symphony Orchestra

December 11, Sandler Center, 3 PM virginiasymphony.org

Celebrate the magic of the season with an afternoon that showcases the music of the ho lidays performed by the best talent in Hampton Roads.

Vienna Boys Choir: “ Holiday Celebration”

Presented by Virginia Arts Festival December 12 Harrison Opera House VAfest.org

The musical tradition of the Vienna Boys Choir dates back to the 15th century, with a rich history of performances for royalty and audi ences around the world. Now you can hear this peerless choir in a program of holiday classics sure to brighten your holiday.

“Holiday Brass”

December 14, St. Bede Catholic Church December 15, Chesapeake Conference Center December 17, Historic Palace Theatre, Cape Charles virginiasymphony.org

The bold sounds of the Virginia Symphony brass section ring in the holidays with a blast! Experience the festive sounds of the season in a concert filled with wit, virtuosity, and the glorious music of the holidays—featuring the VSO brass and percussion sections in an all-new program. You’ll enjoy music from a variety of styles that have made this concert a new holiday tradition.

Handel’s “Messiah”

Virginia Symphony Orchestra & Choir December 15, Regent University December 16, First Baptist Church (Newport News) December 17, Chrysler Hall virginiasymphony.org

Handel’s greatest work is performed in its entirety with full orchestra and four vocalists.

“Santa Swings”

Tidewater Winds December 17 Suffolk Center suffolkcenter.org

An uplifting evening of holiday brass music to get you in the mood.

“A Jazzy Christmas”

With Marcus Johnson feat. Jackiem Joyner December 17 Attucks Theatre sevenvenues.com

A Jazzy Christmas featuring Grammy nomi nated pianist and #1 Billboard recording artist

Marcus Johnson. Alongside him will be #1 Bill board charting and Tidewater native - saxo phonist Jackiem Joyner.

Jim Brickman: “A Very Merry Christmas” December 19 Sandler Center sandlercenter.org

Jim Brickman, the multiple Grammy-nom inated songwriter and piano sensation is back this festive season with his annual holiday tour “A Very Merry Christmas,” a magical evening celebrating music, love, and family.

Gerry Gennarelli

December 20 Historic Palace Theatre, Cape Charles artsentercapecharles.org

A holiday-themed concert by Italian pianist and vocalist Gerry Gennarelli.

Celtic Woman: “A Christmas Symphony ” December 20 Ferguson Center fergusoncenter.org

Backed by a symphony, the all-female Irish vocal group will mix traditional music of the Emerald Isle with Christmas favorites.

VARIOUS HOLIDAY EVENTS

Winter Wonderland November 25 through December 31 Portsmouth Art Center portsmouthartcenter.com

See the famous Coleman Collection during the holiday season.

NoCo Holiday Wine Fest

November 19, Noon - 5 PM Hank’s Filling Station nocowinefest.com

40 wines from 10 countries to sample and purchase bottles to-go for the holidays.

Celtic Woman’s “A Christmas Symphony ” happens December 20 at Ferguson Center for the Performing Arts.

CHRISTMAS MARKETS

Mistletoe Market

November 19 Wells Theatre

vastage.org

Virginia Stage Company is proud to partner with local artists, artisans, and crafters for its second Seasonal Mistletoe Market to be held during Norfolk ’s Grand Illumination Parade.

3rd Annual Williamsburg Christmas Market

Colonial Williamsburg adjacent to Merchants Sq

Nov. 2 5 -2 7, Dec 1 4, 8-11, 1 5 -21 culture-fix.org

A traditional European-style Christmas market.

Wine-ter Wonderland at d’Art Center

December 1

d’Art Center

Enjoy red, white, rose and sparkling wine during the holiday art market.

Ghent Business Association Holiday Open

House Weekend

December 2-4

There are a wide variety of shops with unique items for that special person on your list!

Take some time to enjoy the holidays with your friends and family at Ghent’s fabulous restau rants. There is something for everyone to enjoy! www.ghentnorfolk.org

5th Annual Yule Log Bonfire & Christmas Market

December 3, Noon to 8 PM

Town Point Park www.festevents.org

Holiday retail items, entertainment, food, drinks and more.

Ghent

Holiday Market

Sunday, December 4, 11am-4pm

Featuring local food & farm, local art, hand made jewelry, wood crafts, hand woven items, local artisan foods , local treats for your furkids, local artisan soaps, pottery so much more! www.ghentnorfolk.org

2nd

Annual Hampton Holiday Fine Arts

Bazaar

December 10-11

Charles H. Taylor Visual Arts Center

The opening of the Small Works Exhibition will be accompanied by this two day fine arts bazaar featuring original, handmade works from artists around the region.

Vienna Boys Choir return with an international holiday concert December 12 at Harrison Opera House.

Eric

HOLIDAYS THEATER

On the 12 Dates of Christmas

By Jerome Langston

Virginia Stage Company ’s jam-packed 44th season continues into the winter holi day season, with both A Merry Little Christ mas Carol, the annually produced holiday classic which pretty much sells itself...and a brand-new show that serves as a nice bit of counter-programming to that family clas sic—The Twelve Dates of Christmas, which is a co-production with Core Theatre Ensemble. Being marketed as an ideal holiday “date night” show for adults, this is the first col laborative full production between the ar ea’s cornerstone, fully professional theatre company, and the well-regarded and locally based, progressive theatrical nomads...Core Theatre Ensemble. Written by Ginna Hoben, this one-woman play was being discussed at VSC as possible counter-programming for Christmas Carol this season, and eventually Tom Quaintance, VSC ’s producing Artistic Director, decided that this show would be a good collaborative fit with Core Theatre. That decision followed a conversation a couple months ago when Emel Ertugrul, the producing Artistic Director for Core Theatre Ensemble, who now stars in the upcoming production, was present. And she was also present for my in-person interview with her earlier this week, along with the play ’s direc tor, Laura Agudelo, who works with Emel of ten on Core Theatre productions. Both ladies

are core members of the adventurous, inde pendent theater company, which produces original work, as well as a lot of literary ad aptations. We’re seated around a smallish table inside the spacious Education room of the Wells. It becomes quickly appar ent that they have formed a kind of verbal “shorthand” follow ing years of working togeth er, dating back to 2007.

“There hasn’t been this kind of Christmas theme (one-woman show) from a fe male’s perspective,” says Lau ra. Mary, the protagonist of the story, is newly engaged, and sitting at her family ’s home in Ohio. While she’s watch ing the annual Macy ’s Thanksgiving Day Pa rade on the tele—she sees her fiancée making out with a co-worker, at the televised parade. While that ’s happening, her sister Sally has become engaged, and all of that leads to some comedic spiraling for Mary, who is also deal ing with her typically judgmental mother and a zany aunt. The story follows a year of dates that Mary then experiences, following that Thanksgiving heartbreak.

“It is really about this journey, and this transformation that is hilarious, ridiculous, and also grounded in this reality,” Emel says. “ There will be a lot of people, I’m sure,

that will hear some of the dates and go ‘I know a person like that...” And both actress and director emphasize that this is not just a “women’s story” by any means.

What ’s also interesting about this adult comedy is that it “ breaks the fourth wall,” which I tend to enjoy—so Mary will indeed engage directly with the audience. “ The first monologue of the show is directly to the audience, explaining how we just got here, at this moment,” says Emel. The ac tress also gets to portray other characters, in dialogue...as Mary recounts these many experiences that she ’s had with family, and with the men that ’s been on these dates with. The use of sound is also vital to the storytelling in this show. Sound of course is always relevant to theatrical work, but here “ the use of sound helps to jog those memo ries, and underscore what ’s going on,” says Emel. “It ’s a whole other character...”

The play utilizes the A Merry Little Christ mas Carol set, as it is running in tandem with that classic production. “Definitely utilizing the set...with the use of lighting, creating those different locations, where the differ ent dates might have been...” says the di rector, in terms of how she will incorporate the Christmas Carol set into their show ’s sto rytelling. “ We’re definitely gonna use what we have, and not ignore what we have.” And this is a scenario where the Core Theatre En semble, with no permanent space, has a lot of experience with, as they ’ve often had to adapt their work to the theatrical space that a piece of theirs is inhabiting.

The Twelve Dates of Christmas is running for seven performances only and with no intermission. Laura, who though directing this, is an actress herself who has starred in a VSC production or two...is excited about the opportunity to tell this story where the idea of challenging our pre-conceived ideas of where our lives would lead. And where we thought we would be by a certain age...the basic timelines that we tend to construct when younger. “ This idea of transformation and realizing ‘oh my gosh,’ this life that I thought I was gonna have, has changed,” Laura says, towards the end of our chat. “And now what am I gonna do with it, and who am I gonna be?” We get to see Mary ’s highs and lows, the director adds, throughout this one-act play. “And as cliché as it sounds, there is definitely hope in the end.”

“The Twelve Dates of Christmas”

December 8-18

Virginia Stage Company with Core Theatre Ensemble  Wells Theatre  VaStage.org

Give the Gift ofVirginia Arts!

December

1-24 Holiday Boutique Exhibition at Virginia Beach Art Center artcentervb.org

1-31 More Than Shelter Exhibition at Virginia MOCA virginiamoca.org

1-31 Made in VA Exhibition at Virginia MOCA virginiamoca.org

1-31 Brian Kreydatus: Homebodies Exhibition at Virginia MOCA virginiamoca.org

2-11 White Christmas Little Theatre of Virginia Beach ltvb.com

4 A Christmas Wish

Virginia Beach Chorale at the Sandler Center virginiabeachchorale.org

9-11 Hurrah for the Holidays hurrahplayers.com

11 Jingle Bell Jam (PBJ Series)

Virginia Symphony Orchestra at the Sandler Center virginiasymphony.org

11 Holiday Pops!

Virginia Symphony Orchestra at the Sandler Center virginiasymphony.org

15-17 Holidivas

Zeiders American Dream Theater thez.org

16-18 The Nutcracker

January

1-31 More Than Shelter Exhibition at Virginia MOCA virginiamoca.org

1-31 Made in VA Exhibition at Virginia MOCA virginiamoca.org

1-31 Brian Kreydatus: Homebodies Exhibition at Virginia MOCA virginiamoca.org

6-29 What’s New? Exhibition at Virginia Beach Art Center artcentervb.org

8 Aesop’s Fables with Ballet Virginia Symphonicity at the SandlerCenter symphonicity.org

13-31 Much Ado About Nothing Little Theatre of Virginia Beach ltvb.com

19 Masterpiece Series #3 withJustin Harrington Virginia African American Cultural Center v vaaccvb org

22 Electric Bass Superstar Returns! Virginia Symphony Orchestra at the Sandler Center virginiasymphony.org

February

1-5 More Than Shelter Exhibition at Virginia MOCA virginiamoca.org

1-5 Made in VA Exhibition at Virginia MOCA virginiamoca.org

1-5 Brian Kreydatus: Homebodies Exhibition at Virginia MOCA virginiamoca.org

3-5 Much Ado About Nothing Little Theatre of Virginia Beach ltvb.com

3-26 Fabulous Forgeries Reboot Exhibition at Virginia Beach Art Center artcentervb.org

4 Essential African Threads VAACC/Arts for Learning at Zeiders American Dream Theater thez.org

10-11 Heart and Soul Ballet Virginia at Zeiders American Dream Theater balletvirginia.org

11 Shining Stars Virginia Symphony Orchestra at the Sandler Center virginiasymphony.org

16 Masterpiece Series #4 feat. Rebecca Martin Virginia African American Cultural Center vaaccvb.org

19 Animals at the Symphony (PBJ Series) Virginia Symphony Orchestra at the Sandler Center virginiasymphony.org

24-26 Andrew Lloyd Webber’s School of Rock Virginia Musical Theatre at the SandlerCenter vmtheatre.org

Additional Community and Educational Offerings

Access Virginia: open-caption narration of performing arts events | accessvirginia.info

Arts for Learning: educational programs with Virginia Beach Public Libraries and City Public Schools | arts4learningva.org

Tidewater African Cultural Alliance: SOL-aligned African Story Time programs for 4th and 5th grade students | taca757.org

Tidewater Arts Outreach: arts outreach programs for isolated Virginia Beach adults | tidewaterartsoutreach.org

Virginia Arts Festival: arts-in-education programs with Virginia Beach City Public Schools | vafest.org

Virginia Stage Company: in-school performances and workshops for Virginia Beach students | vastage.org

WHRO: “Curate” arts television program blending regional art scene with nationally-produced content | whro.org

Ballet Virginia at the Sandler Center balletvirginia.org www.vbgov.com/culture

Virginia Beach Arts Events Calendar | Virginia Beach Arts & Humanities Commission

Scrooge Adaptation is Holiday Highlight

By Jerome Langston

“It’s good to be back producing,” said Tom Quaintance this time last year. He is Virginia Stage Company’s Producing Artis tic Director.

The show that Tom is referring to is the holiday classic, A Merry Little Christmas Car ol, which launches the Christmas season every year for VSC ’s theater loving patrons. This adaption of the iconic Charles Dickens novella,  A Christmas Carol, is courtesy of playwright and director Mark Shanahan, whom local audiences may remember from his directorial work on Season 39’ s  The Hound of the Baskervilles

As is the case I believe for most art ists and creative types, Tom had clearly grown tired of all the Zoom meetings, and other pandemic era modes of collaborat ing. “Right now, I can’t wait to get in a room with a bunch of actors and make some art,” he said in 2022.

Tom is again directing  A Merry Little

Christmas Carol this season, and the actor portraying Scrooge is the incredible Beatty Barnes.

There are a number of intriguing chang es to the traditional telling of  A Christmas Carol, that  A Merry Little Christmas Car ol luxuriates in, according to its director. “ There are eight performers in the show... so it’s little in that way,” he says. Shanahan has adapted this two-act play specifically for Virginia Stage Company, so the theatre is a reference point. Interestingly, the only actor who plays one part is the actor playing Scrooge. So actors one through six, which are how they are identified—are playing a bunch of different characters.

“And it’s not just that they are playing a bunch of parts, but they really are this com pany of actors who are going to come to gether and tell this Christmas story for the lost soul that is Scrooge,” says Tom. “ You’ ve got a Scrooge, and then you have these ac

tors who are telling this story, is what I think is distinctive.”

What’s also distinctive about this production, is that Beatty, a locally-based actor and comic who has been featured in prior VSC productions, is African-American, and por traying  the Scrooge, which is certainly a first in this company ’s history. I ask Tom about his choice in casting Be atty for this particular, iconic role.

“No matter the size of the role, he has always been the actor I’m watching on stage, and  wanna know what’s going on with that guy,” said Tom. “Scrooge is a part, like a Ham let, that is a show carrying part. If you don’t really want to spend a couple hours with this one person, you ’re in trouble.”

“Coming back with this story...it’s the first show that most kids in Hampton Road see,”

Tom continues. “It is a family tradition for so many people, but there’s something about having somebody who is a part of our com munity, that is important to me.” I ask him if Beatty’s race is relevant in any way, to the casting choice and/or to how the audience perceives the character. “If Beatty wasn’t the right actor for it, it wouldn’t work, right?”

“ This is a play that is everybody’s story,” said the director. “ This isn’t just a nice little English...it’s important for it to be a period specific kind of piece. I feel like it’ s more community held than that.” Tom goes on to expound on this some more, but eventually says that “everybody should be welcomed in,” which of course most people would agree with.

For the actor himself though, there were reservations about taking the role, in part because of other commitments that Beatty had, but Tom convinced him. “So think ing about it, I was like ‘why not?’” he said. “Something is telling me to do it. I was try ing not to, for some reason.”

“I’m very methodical. And some of it’ s really personal...” Beatty said, regarding his process in preparing to occupy this character. “Every piece seems that way...it’ s almost like a sign from God. It’s like I get these pieces to do, and it’s kind of working out my life a little bit.”

Besides the distinction in casting, Mark ’ s adaption incorporates story elements that are not typically included in the standard telling of this oft produced work. “Mark leans into, a little bit more than we usually see, the young Scrooge,” Tom said. “ There’ s a conversation about Scrooge’s father in it.”

He also revealed that “there’s a great scene on a ship, that is sometimes a little bit ref erenced, but it’s a big moment in the play.” He later raved about the show’s scenic designer, Dahlia Al-Habieli. Jeni Schaefer, of course, returns as costume designer.

A year after having weathered the pandemic, Tom is grateful for all of the public support that the Virginia Stage Company received. He’s also excited for patrons to again experience Mark ’s adaption of this Christmas classic, which he describes as quite funny. “ This is a cast that knows funny from top to bottom. I am excited about it.”

The production will get an extended run — through December 31.

And so, as Tiny Tim observed, “God bless us, everyone.”

Beatty Barnes returns in 2022 to play the iconic role of Scrooge. Photo by Crystal Tuxhorn.

A Merry Little Christmas Carol  November 30 through December 31  Virginia Stage Company  Wells Theatre  vastage.org

Woodward, artistic director

Charles

Uplifting and Inspirational Soweto Gospel Choir

By Jerome Langston

The warmth and humility of Shimmy Jiyane, Choir Master and choreographer of the acclaimed, Grammy award-winning Soweto Gospel Choir, comes through clear ly after just a few minutes of our phone chat. One of the choir ’s founding mem bers, the dancer/singer is cheerful and re markably polite in conversation. Jiyane is currently in Santa Barbara preparing for a sold-out show tonight, which is part of the choir ’s current North American tour, Hope — It ’s Been a Long Time Coming. Early next month they will perform at Norfolk ’ s historic Attucks Theatre, for a concert pre sented by the Virginia Arts Festival. That upcoming show will feature South African freedom songs in the first half, followed by a second half that explores music associ ated with the Civil Rights movement. And unique to this concert date here in Nor folk— there will be a few Christmas classics performed as well.

“I started as a dancer. Dancing was my first love,” Jiyane says, early in our conver sation. He tells me that he is trained in clas

sical ballet, jazz, tap...etc. He also brings a mastery of various forms of African dance to his well-regarded choreography of the choir. And besides being the group’s choir master, which he acknowledges is a hard job because of all that it entails, Jiyane has also grown into a confident singer who often so los, as a tenor. “ We know that we don’t just sing, but we minister to the people,” Jiyane says. “ We always spread the word of joy, peace and happiness, all over the world.”

And all over the world is where this iconic South African gospel choir has per formed over their two-decade career, from intimate venues to large arenas and stadi ums. There are currently 54 members in the choir, according to Jiyane, and they are currently split into two groups—one group is touring Europe, and the other of course, is now performing here in the states. The North American tour, in part, is in support of their recently released new album, HOPE, which is their first new recording in 4 years.

Songs like The Staple Singers classic, “I’ll Take You There” and Sam Cooke’s deeply

moving staple, “A Change Is Gonna Come,” are featured on the new album, and are part of the show setlist. They’re also performing songs that are popular from their own catalogue, as well as classic hits from the likes of Aretha Frank lin and James Brown.

The choir currently spends about 11 months of the year on the road. “ That ’s how big and hec tic our schedule is,” says Jiyane. Choir members do go back home and see their fami lies, he says...and this year, they are scheduled to be back in South Africa in time for the Christmas holiday. After wards though, there will be new tour dates in 2023 to prepare for.

Formed back in 2002, in Soweto, South Africa, by David Mulovhedzi and Beverly Bryer, along with producers including Clif ford Hawking and David Vigo, the Soweto Gospel Choir has built a remarkable career in music— touring, recording and releasing

albums, as well as collaborating will hugely popular and respected music superstars. And their oeuvre has always been exqui sitely international. The choir sings in Eng lish, and in multiple official languages of South Africa. They have won many awards, including several Grammys, an Emmy, and have received a bunch of prestigious award nominations over the years. And they have also dominated the Billboard World Music chart with their album releases.

The list of fellow music artists whom they have collaborated with, on stage and on recordings, is relatively huge...and in cludes the likes of Stevie Wonder, Celine Dion, Amy Winehouse, Chance the Rapper, Beyoncé, U2, Josh Groban, Pharrell Wil liams, and Diana Ross, amongst so many other big names. They have also performed at many of the world ’s biggest music festi vals, and on major TV programs including the Academy Awards. They ’ve performed for Oprah Winfrey, American Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton respectively, and for their Patron, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and of course for their beloved South African President, Nelson Mandela.

Even with all of those inarguably im pressive achievements, which Jiyane has been a significant part of since the begin ning—the choir master doesn’t consider any of them to be his greatest accomplishment or highlight. He is most proud of the impact that the choir ’s music and overall artistry has had on their fans, and international audiences. “ When a person says, ‘I’m happy because I heard you sing,’ or ‘I’m healed be cause I listened to your album.’ that ’ s what makes me happy,” he says, with clear sincerity. How the music will impact their audience, informs the songs that they choose to perform, their arrange ments—their choice to sing a particular song in English, versus one of the many South African formal languages that they regularly sing in. These choices are always made with their audience in mind. “So that they jam with it and rock with it,” Jiyane says, towards the end of our chat.

The multi-disciplined artist is of course very proud of the success that the choir has had over the years...and continues to have. “It says to us, we are changing something in the world, and putting something in peo ple’s ears that they want to hear.”

Soweto Gospel Choir

HOLIDAYS MUSIC Romantic Christmas with Dave Koz

By Jeff Maisey

Smooth jazz saxophonist Dave Koz has made a successful seasonal career hitting the road for the past 25 years in the month leading up to Christmas Eve with his critically acclaimed Dave Koz & Friends Christmas Tour.

When the Silver Anniversary show makes a stop at the Ferguson Center for the Arts on De cember 3, Koz will be joined by a stellar cast that features Keiko Matsui (keyboards), Rick Braun (trumpet), Peter White (guitar), and Rebecca Jade (vocals).

In advance of the tour, Koz released the sen sational 10-track album “Christmas Ballads,” a distinct change of pace from the usual R&Bmeets-Jazz sound Koz is often known for.

Cohesive from start to finish, the tracks on the studio recording set the adult mood for an evening where the gifts under the tree have all been opened, the kids are a sleep, the fireplace is crackling, and only illumination is from the dimmed lights on the Christmas tree and a few well-placed candles.

“I have a smile on my face because you com pletely hit the nail on the head of the intension of this album,” Koz said by phone from his home in California. “I’ve never made an album that stays in one mood all the way through, Christ mas or otherwise. So that really was the inten sion and the challenge for this project.”

The set of material on “Christmas Ballads” are songs Koz has never previously recorded. This, too, was part of his mission: offering fans something new in the holiday season.

Koz worked closely with producer Philippe Saisse on the song selection and arrangements to maintain a seamless vibe throughout.

While “Away in the Manger/Silent Night,” a track merging the pair of somber Christmas classics, is an obvious choice for a slow tempo record, the normally rollicking “God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen/My Favorite Things,” as a woven duo, might seem a greater challenge in retarding the pace of the music. But magically, Koz achieved it brilliantly on the arrangement.

“For our Christmas tour last year that was the opening song,” Koz said. “Each person (mu sician) was seated in the dark and when they started to play a pool of light would come on above them. It was a very dramatic beginning to our show.”

Koz brought the idea up to Saisse, who added his own input, for the recording of the arrange ment.

Throughout Koz’s “Christmas Ballads” is a retro feel reminiscent of holiday records from the 1960s and ‘70s.

“Before any music was recorded, we talked about some of our favorite albums,” explain

Koz. “This (“Christmas Ballads”) was a cross be tween the John Coltrane ‘Ballads’ album, which is the most beautiful heartfelt playing by one of the great masters, and the other influence was the Nat King Cole Christmas album, which had the strings and all the bells and whistles. So we sort of put those two things together and cre ated a hybrid of those.”

Other highlights on this album include smooth versions of the Olde English song “Greensleeves,” a John Lennon combo of “Hap py Christmas (War Is Over)/Imagine,” “Ave Ma ria,” and The Carpenters classic, “Merry Christ mas, Darling.”

“I’ve always love The Carpenters,” Koz said. “Growing up that was one of my parents’ favor ite groups. I particularly loved Karen Carpen ter’s voice; very simple, straightforward deliv ery but highly emotional.

“The holidays in general bring up a lot of emotions for people,” Koz continued. “In ev ery family there are people who come and go; people who pass. The holidays are so steeped in nostalgia, and I think her voice just seeps into your soul. At least for me.

“In the studio as we were recording that song, I was playing the soprano saxophone on the melody and I felt this connection with Karen Carpenter’s voice. It was almost like her spirit was coming through my saxophone.”

The spirit of Christmas will be heard when Dave Koz & Friends play the Ferguson Center.

A Magical Paradox: When Students Become Teachers

By Kate Mattingly

Learning a dance is a lot like playing a game of telephone: movement leaves one body and is passed to another, transformed by that per son’s anatomy and style, and then transmitted and transformed again, and again. For Eli Mot ley, a choreographer who has a new duet in the University Dance Theatre concert, taking place November 16 to 19, this transmission of move ment is incredibly profound. The duet is danced by James Morrow and Megan Thompson, faculty members at Old Dominion University, where Eli was a student from 2013 to 2017.

Asked about the process of teaching his own instructors, Eli admits, “It was freaky. Yeah, it was weird. Usually, as a performer, I enter a rehearsal and wait for direction. This time I re alized, Oh, I am the director.” Megan, currently the director of the ODU dance program, was Eli ’s “ first dance teacher,” and significantly in fluenced his approach to moving and creating.

James was not yet a professor at ODU when Eli was a student, but co-founded and choreo graphed for Chicago Dance Crash, where Eli was a performer from 2017 to 2020. James is an ac claimed teacher of hip hop and Eli is currently researching how street dance cultures, like Brea kin and House, evolve. As a graduate student at the University of North Carolina Greensboro, Eli, now 28, will complete his degree in 2023 and is already applying to teach dance in universities.

Reflecting on the role-reversal of creating for Megan and James, artists who have cho reographed on and taught him, Eli says, “It was really fun and interesting. I got to see how the movement that I create was influenced by these dancers, and then bring it back into their bodies.

There is a Breakin section in the duet that James is great at and then there ’s a traveling phrase that reminds me of Megan’s choreography.”

The duet is not narrative but does evoke ideas about transmission and transformation. “My ini tial thought, going into the process, was, How do I manipulate what they taught me, years after I have had these deeply influential experiences with them, and see how my movement is reflect ed back on their bodies,” says Eli. He pauses for a moment and adds, “I was not disappointed at all.”

The duet is one part of a multifaceted perfor mance that is offered five times at the Universi ty Theatre. Besides the duet by Eli, every dancer in the show is an ODU student. Other choreogra phers in the performance are ODU faculty: Vicki Fink, Davianna Griffin, Lauren Sinclair, and Janelle Spruill. In addition to performing, James Morrow has also choreographed a piece. This event, called University Dance Theatre (UDT), happens every fall and spring semester, with new choreography every year, and the audience is made up of local residents, ODU faculty, stu dents, and performers’ families.

The UDT experience distinguishes ODU ’s dance program: students perform a range of dance styles. Each semester a guest is brought in to widen students ’ knowledge of dance and its different forms of expression and communi cation. Eli has many fond memories of perform ing in UDT as an ODU student.

Asked what stands out the most, he recalls working with guest artist Li Chiao-Ping, a cho reographer who is internationally respected for her craft, athleticism, and story-telling through dance. “ There was a piece called Go,” Eli recalls. “It

was very, very hard, very rhythmic, and, originally, entirely performed by women. I didn’t realize that until we got to the costume fitting and the I found out I was the first guy, or male-identifying person, to be in the dance. I thought the costume would accommodate this gender shift but no! And the costume was a tutu, a bra, underwear, and combat boots.” Eli laughs at the memory.

“ We are rolling up on Tech Week (when dancers rehearse on stage), and then we ’re per forming, and during the Saturday night show, my parents are in the audience. In the middle of this piece, I hear my father say loud enough for me to hear on stage, ‘ Well, that’s my son. That ’s Eli.’” Asked if there was any follow-up discus

sion with his parents, Eli responded, “No. They just said, ‘ Wow, you really sweat it out when you are on stage,’ and I do.”

For Eli, and other ODU students, dancing is as much about self-discovery and self-knowl edge as it is an athletic and physical pursuit. It is rare among universities for students to study a spectrum of techniques––from modern to jazz, and ballet to hip hop––while also discussing creative processes, histories of dance, and the importance of dancing for health and wellbeing.

Since graduating from ODU, Eli has worked with renowned dancers, choreographers and directors like Rennie Harris and Ohad Naha rin. He says he ’s inspired by the inquiry, Who is dancing for? “A question I have been thinking about a lot these days is, Am I dancing for you or am I dancing for myself? Like, What is applause for? Even when I am doing a solo, I think, Is this for me or for them?” These questions seep into his process of creating and performing, describ ing it as a “dialogue” between performers and audiences as well as dancers and themselves.

Each time a movement is performed, it is in fluenced and inflected by our bodies’ capacities, our thoughts, and our environments. For Eli, this makes dancing endlessly fascinating and educa tional: it is a practice of becoming better versions of ourselves.  He hopes that audiences will appre ciate the duet as a form of communication about our world, our interactions, and what we notice and value. Eli notes that each of us has a profound impact on people around us, and he thanks Me gan for instilling a love of dance.

After performing in many works by Megan and being a student in her classes, Eli received a graduation card from her that he still has. It says, “I look forward to the day when you will choreograph on me.”

Kate Mattingly is an assistant professor in the Department of Communication and Theatre Arts at Old Dominion University. She joined the faculty in 2021 and never taught Eli and is not involved in this semester’s UDT performance. She has written about dance for the New York Times, Village Voice, Dance magazine, Pointe magazine, and academic journals.

Eli Motley is an expert on street dance culture. Photo by Anne Peterson.

“Dressed to the Nines” from ODU’s University Dance Theatre. Choreographer: Janelle Spruill . Photographer: Anne Peterson.

THEVANGUARDIS DURINGROADWAYIMPROVEMENTS

NORFOLK NATO FESTIVAL JAZZ/R&B

INTERNATIONAL PANFEST

CLASSICAL

MUSIC

Chris Thile, mandolin

Eric Jacobsen, conductor; Virginia Symphony Orchestra

Julia Bullock, soprano — Five Freedom Songs; by Jesse Montgomery; Eric Jacobsen, conductor; Virginia Symphony Orchestra Randall Goosby, violin; Anna Han, piano

CHAMBER MUSIC

Holiday Gift Guide

Charcuterie Boards

One of our favorite gifts of the year! These pieces blend gorgeous Acacia hardwood and an eco-friendly epoxy to create one-of-a-kind serveware for your home.  Every piece is designed and poured by hand!  Available in several sizes and colors.

Texture

1703 Colley Avenue, Norfolk 757-626-0991 www.textureofghent.com

Share an adventure and make memories that last a lifetime at the Virginia Zoo. Memberships start at just $129 for a family of four.

Virginia Zoo 3500 Granby Street, Norfolk  757-441-2374  www.virginiazoo.org

Everyone Loves to Shop, especially when what you buy helps support an organization like Hope House Foundation.

Each item that goes on our sale floor is hand selected to make sure it is suitable for reuse and meets our quality and cleanliness standards. When you shop our store, you’ll love the quality, assortment, and prices! You’ll find an array of household items, furniture, clothing, shoes, accessories, art, books and more! All proceeds benefit people with disabilities supported by Hope House.

Hope House Thrift Shop

1800 Monticello Avenue, Norfolk 757-625-7493 www.hope-house.org

Looking for the perfect gift for your beer lover?

St. George Brewing Company has everything from clothing to locally made beer infused goats milk soap, to honey harvested from our own apiary. Come visit to find something for everyone on your list and enjoy a pint while you shop. Can’t decide which gift to give?  Grab a gift certificate and let them choose!

St. George Brewing Co. 204 Challenger Way, Hampton 757-865-7781 www.stgbeer.com

Give a gift that gives back!

The Southern Living 2022 Christmas Cookbook is filled with decorating ideas, new recipes and hosting hints for Christmas and seasonal celebrations and a month of quick-fix dinners. It’s the perfect gift idea for teachers, your favorite cook, neighbors, and many others on your list. Plus, proceeds from the sale of the cookbook benefit Ronald McDonald House Charities of Norfolk. Purchase it for $14 at your local Dillards store or online at www.dillards.com/southern-living.

Ronald McDonald House Charities of Norfolk

404 Colley Avenue, Norfolk 757-627-5386 www.rmhcnorfolk.org

SHOP SMALL at Selden Market

Support small, locally owned shops with EVERY purchase at Selden Market. Custom candles, handcrafted belts and bags, bespoke jewelry, apparel, custom frames, home goods, intimates, specialty foods, art, plants, Virginia brands and more. Thoughtful gifts for everyone on your list under one roof.

Selden Market 208 E. Main Street, Norfolk @seldenmarket  www.seldenmarket.com

Shop Fair Trade Gifts at Maison Soleil

Located on Colley Ave next to Le Marche and Catnip Cafe - Shop Jewelry, Accessories, & Home under $100! Gift Cards Available too!

Maison Soleil

1611A Colley Ave, Norfolk 757-995-5989 www.maisonsoleil.com

It’s the season of giving!

Donate $50 or more to charity and save $200 on any Stressless Mike & Max recliner in all Paloma leather colors, any Stressless recliner & ottoman, Classic Power recliner or office chair. Or save $200 on each Stressless sofa seat. Or save $400 on all Stressless Mayfair recliners and ottomans in all Paloma leather colors. Decorum Furniture Palace Shops & Station 301 West 21st Street, Norfolk 757-623-3100 www.decorumfurniture.com

Holiday Gift Guide

The best-kept secret in Norfolk is out!

Enjoy holiday gift shopping in our adorable little gallery on 45th Street. We have an array of unique gifts...pillows, paintings, towels, ornaments, jewelry, and more! If the Colonial Man is out, that means we’re in.

Nancy

Thomas Gallery

814 W. 45th Street, Norfolk www.nancythomasgallery.com

Unique Gifts

Find a Treasure among our collection of original art, home decor, jewelry and gifts. Featuring over 100 artists. Open daily in quaint Cape Charles.

Lemon Tree Gallery

301 Mason Avenue 757 331-4327 www.lemontree.gallery

We’ve Got Game!

From hoodies, t-shirts, beanies, hats, pins, gift cards, and more, we’ll make you the big winner with holiday gift giving! Treat your friends and family to a one-of-akind experience at our two-story fun castle with classic arcade games and bars on both floors.

Pixels Pints & Bytes

2117 Colonial Avenue, Norfolk 757-481-8253 www.pixelspintsandbytes.com

Bon Appetit!

Treat your friends and family to a casual fine dining experience at The Green Onion. Enjoy French inspired cuisine and a carefully curated wine and cocktail bar. Gift Cards make great stocking stuffers!

The Green Onion

1603 Colley Avenue, Norfolk 757-963-1200 www.greenonionghent.com

Holiday Gift Guide

Keep holiday shopping easy this year at your favorite local brewery.

We have barrel aged beers, seasonal can releases, cozy winter apparel, and of course gift cards! Keep a look out for our 12 days of Christmas holiday discounts

Big Ugly Brewing 845 Battlefield Blvd., Chesapeake 757-609-2739 www.biguglybrewing.com

Cakes So Good They’ll Knock Your Socks Off!

Nestled in the heart of Ghent, Pownd Cakes by Jen is a locallyowned, niche bakery, known for our “non-traditional” version of the classic pound cake. Our crave worthy POWnd cakes have a light and fluffy, “melt in your mouth” texture that will “knock your socks off”! With 30 flavors available in our individually packaged mini cakes, as well as medium and large cakes (6 flavors offered daily or order your favorite 48 hours in advance), baked on-site and available daily, Pownd Cakes make great gifts for EVERYONE on your list! Check out our website for a full list of flavors or stop in and try a sample!

Pownd Cakes by Jen 314 W. 21st Street, Norfolk

From world-renowned Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater to the spectacular Virginia International Tattoo to the virtuoso musicians of Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis, and the legendary Smokey Robinson - you’ll find the perfect gift and stocking stuffers at vafest.org.

Virginia Arts Festival 440 Bank Street, Norfolk 757-282-2822 www.vafest.org

Holiday Gift Guide

Brighten up your day or someone else’s!

New stained glass pieces have arrived at the gallery.

Perfect for holiday gift giving!

Harbor Gallery

1508 Colley Avenue, Norfolk 757-627-2787 www.harbor-gallery.com

Mermaid Winery For the Wine Lover!

Wine makes the perfect gift for everyone on your list! We focus on producing small lots of well-balanced wines using Virginia grapes. At the tasting bar, you can choose from several wine flights that include other wines from wineries around the world. There are also food pairings that range from meats and cheeses to sandwiches. Gift cards available.

Mermaid Winery

Palace Station

330 West 22nd Street, Norfolk 4401 Shore Drive, Virginia Beach 757-233-4155 www.mermaidwiner.com

Share the gift of great food and art!

We have our signature coffee for $15 for 12 oz. Whole bean or ground, hot sauce and marinades for $8 a bottle. Our new Mason jar tumbler for $10. Of course, all art is for sale. Grab a piece of art from one of our many local artists. Still indecisive, there are always our gift cards.

Starving Artist Cafe

Colley Avenue, Norfolk 757-305-9290 www.starvingartistcafe757.com

Give the Gift of Live Theatre!

Tickets make great gifts!  Support local theatre by buying tickets to a show or get a great package deal with a 2nd Act membership: a 3 show package at the best rate!  Learn more at www.vastage.org

Virginia Stage Company

108 E. Tazwell Street, Norfolk 757-627-1234 www.vastage.org

Artist Matthew McGuiness

London Calling and Gourmandizing NEON

By Betsy DiJulio

Look beneath the surface of most com munity murals and there you will find a rich backstory—a stew if you will—of historical context and contemporary perspective. The newest mural in Norfolk ’s NEON district boasts that and more. Led by both stateside and UK teams of professionals, now friends, Gourmandizing NEON is a journey of a thou sand bites that started with one small nibble.

On the last day of the year in 2021, noted London-based artist, Matthew McGuiness, with family ties to Norfolk, reached out to Ra chel McCall, Vice-President of the Downtown Norfolk Council (DNC). The DNC is a private not-for-profit membership organization com prised of businesses and individuals working toward a dynamic attractive and prosperous downtown. His query was simple: was there room for him to contribute to the growing vitality of Norfolk ’s first official arts dis trict? His idea centered around a mural about food—particularly lunchtime in downtown Norfolk—that would be created in collabora tion with a group of teenage artists.

McCall took the bait, did her due diligence, and liked what she learned about McGuiness, including his Gourmandizing London project. Based in that city, Matthew McGuiness—with

specialties that span the spectrum—is an in ternationally-collected and sought-after art ist (hello, Tate Britain) and multi-disciplinary designer who has a sweet spot for branding and has directed and founded too many pro grams to name. His public art and murals boast a distinctive visual language of imag ery and typography, though he claims to be a sign painter “hack ” who specialize in, among other things, emotional wayfinding.

Before long, McCall was sitting in a studio at The Governor ’s School for the Arts (GSA), a regional program serving eight Hampton Roads school divisions, discussing the proj ect with director, Deborah Thorpe, and visual arts department chair, Liana Courts. Courts stepped up with an offer to create and teach a two-part course around the concept with a mural on the Olney Road-side of Virginia Fur niture as the capstone project.

In the fourth quarter of the spring of 2022, ten GSA student artists, working as “in novation partners,” met virtually twice a week for six of the 9 weeks with McGuiness and his partner Addiel Dzinoreva “Dzino” zoomed in from England. Each student pair was assigned a swath of time between 1785 and 2022 to research. Their deep dive

began in the Sargeant Memorial Collection at Slover Library perusing old cookbooks, magazines, and articles, and continued as field research. Initially shy about inter viewing NEON businesses and residents about lunchtime food memories, the young artists warmed to their charge with collect ed quotes, anecdotes, recipes, and imagery from those interviews and the students ’ own families referenced in the final design. Throughout the process they learned more about the creation of mood boards, murals, and how to draft a public art proposal.

After collecting their research, the stu dents were tasked with creating mood board collages which they presented to Courts, Mc Call, McGuiness, and Dzino for both in-per son and virtual feedback. Then the students had to step away and trust the process. Over the summer, the London team synthesized the students’ narratives and drawings into a final mural design. McGuinness and Dzino “printed all the student files, sat in a war room, and chopped things up.” They then made collages from all the pieces in search of a visual thread, which McGuiness describes as “arduous,” given that they had to “wran gle” ten different student voices.

The ultimate design prominently features the titles of regional culinary mainstays like Chesapeake Bay Oysters, Doumar ’s Ice Cream cones, Duke of Norfolk punch, H. E. Williams Candy Company, and, of course, Smithfield Ham. The word “Lunchtime” serves as the visual scaffold for the mural. McGuinness recounts that they played with the word, “Happiness,” which kept percolating up in phrases like “a recipe for happiness,” found by student, Abby Elliott, in a 1950s church cook book, but they couldn’t get it to work.

Several color routes were proposed, but the students unanimously chose one inspired by an Australian cartoon called “Bluey ” that Matthew was watching with his kids during the span of the project. A Benjamin Moore color matching app helped ensure the food-named colors—Apple Can dy, Chocolate Sundae, Oklahoma Wheat, Roasted Sesame, Blackberry, Peppermint Leaf and Pancake Syrup—were true to the original vision.

On the Saturday I visited in October, Courts, McGuinness, and Elliott were hard at it but generously and enthusiastically engaged with me about their work. The mural was entirely mapped out, thanks to a pouncer attached to a plotter printer, and the artists were hand painting assigned sections. Elliott explained that she and her partner, who researched 1950-1990, worked from magazine and in ternet images, collaging them together. They interviewed at the Hummingbird Café where they were told about a customer coming in with a bird in a cage on her back—“Working here is like watching a movie” they were told— which made it into the final mural design.

An artist in her own right, having been commissioned to create two paintings for CHKD’s Pediatric Mental Health Hospital, Elliott found the research for Gormandizing the most challenging, as she does with most anything, noting that the old recipe books were difficult to locate. Plus, she found it “a little intimidating to talk to people you don’t know at first, but it became really fun.” However, the most enjoyment was out on the street painting the mural, conversing with curious passersby, and “putting our artistic skills to work.”

Gourmandizing NEON received gener ous support from The Monument Companies and the Legend Property Group along with The GSA Foundation, The Rutter Family Art Foundation, Mr. Joseph T. Waldo, and Virginia Furniture Company.

WANT TO SEE? Gourmandizing NEON, Virgin ia Furniture, 745 Granby Street (facing Olney Road), https://neonnfk.com/public-art/

Black Orpheus: Jacob Lawrence and the Mbari Club is co-organized by the Chrysler Museum of Art and the New Orleans Museum of Art. The exhibition will be on view at New Orleans Museum of Art from February 10 to May 7, 2023, followed by the Toledo Museum of Art from June 3 to September 3, 2023.

Jacob Lawrence (American, 1917–2000), Market Scene, 1966, Gouache on paper, Chrysler Museum of Art, Museum purchase, 2018.22 © 2022 The Jacob and Gwendolyn Knight Lawrence Foundation, Seattle / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

BOUTIQUE

Profound Beauty

The Torggler has 69 Ansel Adams photos on display

By Jim Roberts

Ansel Adams, one of the most famous pho tographers of all time, once said: “ There are no rules for good photographs. There are only good photographs.”

The Mary M. Torggler Fine Arts Center in Newport News has 69 of Adams’ great photo graphs on display through March 5, 2023.

While the “Compositions in Nature” exhibit includes his best-known photos taken in places like California, New Mexico and Wyoming, it also includes lesser-known works from the col lection at the Turtle Bay Exploration Park. There are even a few portraits and a series of “skiing scenes” Adams shot on commission for the Cur ry Company.

“Anybody who works in the arts has seen dozens of Ansel Adams shows,” Holly Koons, the executive director of the Torggler, said. “One person said to me this was the broadest show they had ever seen of Ansel Adams’ work. It has all of the sort of classic, well-known, iconic An sel Adams photographs, but also some images that are much lesser known, even rare images. And that gives a broader interpretation of his career.”

In fact, the show is the same one that was on display at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts a year ago.

“ Through this exhibition, VMFA celebrates Ansel Adams’ photographs which so dramati cally capture the sublimity of the American landscape,” Alex Nyerges, VMFA’s director and CEO, said when the Richmond show opened. “His works continue to inspire us to take a deep er, even meditative, look at our extraordinary natural surroundings and appreciate the pro found beauty around us.”

Some visitors may be surprised that the pro found beauty of Adams’ photos is presented in relatively small prints. Most are no larger than 20 by 24 inches.

“I think we’ve gotten so used to grand, scaled imagery in our culture and advertising and art that we forget,” Koons said. “I mean, this is darkroom photography. This is pre-digi tal work—before large format printers existed. So, you know, for its time, some of these were considered large prints.”

Koons also noted that the gallery was modi fied so the prints were not “ dwarfed ” by the high ceilings. “ We basically tried to bring every thing down to a more human scale so the pieces could really shine,” she said. “I think that that worked.”

The Torggler exhibit also highlights Adams’

work as a classical pianist and composer.

“ When you come into the exhibition, you will hear a loop of three classical piano compositions that Adams recorded,” Koons said. “He recorded himself playing, and these were actually sent to friends as Christmas presents in 1945, which I think is wonderful.

“ The discipline that classical piano gave him was critical to his work as a photogra pher,” Koons continued. “He saw them overlap ping, and he practiced the two art forms really throughout his life.”

There is one notable difference between the Torggler exhibit and the one that was at the VMFA: It ’s free.

“I’ve been so heartened and grateful for the patrons who are supporting us,” Koons said, “not only by attending our programs, but by contributing so we can remain free to the pub lic. That is a key thing that we keep going for—to make sure that we are as accessible as possible.”

The feedback from visitors has been great.

“I think people are always happy to see work that they ’re familiar with and an artist that they ’re familiar with,” she said. “Ansel Adams seems to be universally beloved. So it ’s been fun seeing people be excited about it and come out in droves.”

The Mary M. Torggler Fine Arts Center is located at 1 Avenue of the Arts in Newport News—adja cent to the Ferguson Center for the Arts on the campus of Christopher Newport University. It is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and from noon to 5 p.m. on Sundays. For more information, visit thetorggler.org.

Ansel Adams (American, 1902-1984), Mt. Williamson , Sierra Nevada , from Manzanar, California , 1944, printed 1973-1975, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Adolph D. and Wilkins C. Williams Fund, 75.29.2, © The Ansel Adams Publishing Rights Trust.

SPONSORS:

ARTSCALENDAR

“Shelter in Place”

Through February 5

Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art

This invitational exhibition, which pairs 11 artists with community organizations and individuals, is true to its title with an em phasis on the “more.” Far from an architec tural-based show—and, in fact, quite heavy in photography it appears to fully embody the artists’ charge: to respond visually to the question, “What does shelter mean to you?” in terms of home, refuge, comfort, and well-being…or the lack thereof.

Rosa Leff teamed up with Puerto Rican residents and survivors of Hurricane Maria (2017) and Dr. Tania Lizarazo, a professor of Global Studies, University of Maryland. Leff’s post-Maria street scenes from this self-governing West Indian island commonwealth appear, at first, to be high-contrast black-and-white photographs of a community still bearing the scars of the devastation. They are instead mind-boggling paper cuts framed behind mullions to appear as though we are viewing the scenes through a window, from the safety of our own homes.

“Black Orpheus: Jacob Lawrence and the Mbari Club”

Through January 8

Chrysler Museum of Art

While a fellow at the Newark Museum of Art back in 2015, curator Kimberli Gant, PhD, discovered a significant connection between African-American painter Jacob Lawrence, regarded by some as the most celebrated black artist of the 20 th century, and a then bur geoning scene of artists and thinkers in Nigeria, back in the 1960s. This discovery while viewing Lawrence’s catalogue raisonné—which is remarkably the first one dedicated to the work of a Black American artist, led to Gant further inquiring about the time that Law rence spent in Nigeria in the early 1960s, his little-known Nigeria series, and how that all connected to the Mbari Artists & Writers Club, an important arts organization of Nigerian based writers, artists, intellectuals and musicians.  This exhibition brings it all together.

“ALLiGATER HELLHOUND: Works from the Permanent Collection of Baron and Ellin Gordon”

Through December 17

Baron

@ ODU

and Ellin Gordon Art Galleries

This exhibition features selections from hundreds of self-taught artworks donated to ODU by Baron and Ellin Gordon. With many works made from found and repurposed materials, and with their visual commentary on com munities and the costs of social ills and justice, they support the theme of sus tainability—social, environmental, and economic—during ODU’s themed semes ter this fall. The exhibition likewise includes several candidates for future display across campus as public art.

“Jonathan Ashe Solo Exhibition: God Haunting”

Through November 24

The Charles H. Taylor Visual Arts Center

Last year’s Virginia Artists Juried Exhibition “Best in Show” winner Jonathan Ashe presents his solo exhibition a group of mixed media works that explores the origins of creative and spiritual energy. “I draw a lot of my inspiration from ancient and primitive forms of art in the past,” said Ashe. “The title of the show, ‘God Haunting,’ refers to some of the relics and ideas in the past that were held in high regard that have faded and been replaced by more modern religions and prayer. In my work, I try to revisit themes of the past and reimagine them in teracting with the current ideologies of the day. Much of my work is a free-flowing stream of consciousness in pen and ink illustration, so I don’t look to depict certain subjects but rather explore these ideas and find the piece through the process of its creation.”

Fun and Joy While Time Traveling with the Virginia Symphony

By Montague Gammon III

There ’s “a little bit of time travel” and a lot of fun, said Virginia Symphony Orchestra Mu sic Director Eric Jacobsen, in the VSO ’s Neigh bors and Friends concert, which features a pair of works by Antonin Dvorák, a Czech, and Jesse Montgomery, a bi-racial New Yorker.

He will conduct this program of Dvorák ’s 1889 Symphony No 8, plus the world ’s second or “maybe” third performance Montgomery ’s 2021 Viola Concerto, “L.E.S. Characters.” (L.E.S. stands for the Lower East Side of Man hattan.)

The Einsteinian 4 -dimensional worm hole that links these works across 132 years of time is a matter of some 10 New York City blocks of space, between the now demol ished 327 East 17th Street townhouse where Dvorák lived from 1892-1895, and Montgom ery ’s childhood home. She still lives in that same apartment, now a co-op.

That ’s the “neighbors” part of the concert. As for friends, well, Montgomery and NYC na

tive Jacobsen have known each other since school days–they were born 7 months, 8 days apart. “I grew up playing chamber music with her when I was in high school and she transi tioned from violin and viola to more full time composition maybe around the same time I was transitioning to conducting [from cello],” he said.

There ’s another friendship with a tempo ral-spacial connection involved: Montgomery composed ”L.E.S. Characters” especially for viola soloist Masumi Per Rostad, another NYC native (East Greenwich Village) of the Mont gomery/Jacobsen generation, and a friend since her youth.

“L.E.S. Characters” has five movements in its 20 minute playing time, each movement based on a real person or street performance that Montgomery remembers. She has writ ten of it, and of Rostad, “ We both grew up and studied music together as children of the famed L.E.S. of the 80s and early 90s. I

thought a series of character pieces would be a fun frame in which to place the viola at the center as subject and storyteller, recounting the images and memories of these artists ’ souls and their impact on our creativity.”

Jacobsen conducted the world premiere of the piece with (his other orchestra) the Orlan do Philharmonic “a year ago,” and thinks that has been its only public performance so far. The audience “ loved it! It ’s really fun piece.” (He was speaking while on a bus to Hanover, Germany to perform with The Knights, the loosely configured, wide-repertory chamber orchestra of which he is conductor, and, with his violinist brother Colin, co-founder and coartistic director.)

Of course, Dvorák isn’t on the program just because he and Montgomery walked the same streets nor is she here just because of friendship. She ’s Juillard and NYU educated in violin performance and in composition, and her latest notable career achievement is being appointed the Mead Composer-inResidence for a 3 year term with the Chicago Symphony. That comes on top of being Musi calAmerica’s Composer of the Year, Faculty Composer-in-Residence at Bard College Con servatory of Music, along with a page length list of awards and accomplishments.

When Jacobsen referred to “ the arc be tween these two pieces,” he meant not just their neighborhood connections, but the seminal effect Dvorák had on American com posers who came after him.

“Dvorák was one of the first composers, or the first, who ever said ‘America needs to write American music versus writing to Eu ropean sound or scope or content. Americans should look to themselves, look in their own back yard’” for sonic inspiration, Jacobsen pointed out.

“L.E.S. Characters“ is very much an heir to Dvorák ’s espoused local content approach. Consider, most convincingly, the instruments it uses. Not only does Montgomery employ the familiar “Beethovean orchestra,” to use Jacobsen’s term, but also cans (steel drums), bongos, woodblock, a cowbell, a glockenspiel, a suspended symbal and a cabasa, which is a shaken percussion instrument made of chains of steel balls wrapped around a cylinder to which a handle is attached. (It ’s descended from an African instrument made of a gourd wrapped in strings of beads, called an agbe.)

Dvorák is probably best known for his Sym phony from the New World (Symphony No. 9, Op. 95), which so precisely captured the feel of African-American Spirituals that one passage, some 29 years after the Symphony premiered, became the song “Goin’ Home,” which in turn has been mistaken for a traditional piece that Dvorák adapted for orchestra.

When speaking of Dvorák ’s 8th Sym phony, Jacobsen waxes enthusiastic: “ You ’ll notice his ability to be both profound at the same time as child-like and full of joy…in credibly soulful and powerful…he has a way of bringing this light hearted quality…par ticularly in this one.”

“Friends and Neighbors” Jessie Montgomery: Viola Concerto. “ L.E.S. Characters”

Antonin Dvorák: Symphony No 8 in G Major. Op. 88 Eric Jacobsen, conductor Masumi Per Rostad, viola Virginia Symphony Orchestra Nov. 17, Ferguson Center, Newport News Nov. 19, Chrysler Hall, Norfolk virginiasymphony.org 757-892-6366

Masumi Per Rostad, viola

MUSIC CLASSICAL

Bach’s Sacred Masterpiece

By Montague Gammon III

There’s “an hour and a half of pure beauty,” coming to Williamsburg courtesy of the Virginia Arts Festival, in the form of Johann Sebastian Bach’s St. John Passion as performed by Gaechinger Cantorey, the early music orchestra and choir of the Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart.

That quotation is from a Saturday morning phone chat with Robert Cross, the Festival ’s Executive Director and Perry Artistic Director, who has led the Festival since its inception.

“It ’s beautiful music sung at the highest lev el,” he said, pointing out that the International Bach Academy of Stuttgart, to use their English name, has a long and highly praised tradition of Bach performances and recordings. “ The acous tics in that room are so incredible. It ’s going to take you on a journey. It ’s the kind of music that you want to sit down and let it wash over you. Your heart rate will slow down, you can stop thinking about the office the next day.”

Cross called the St. John Passion, which re lates the story of Christ ’s crucifixion in the words of the Gospel of John with additional lyr ics from various other sources—including per haps the composer himself—one of “ the two or three works that stand out as cornerstones” of Bach’s works. That is a noteworthy, even a re markable statement; the prolific Bach is always one of the two or three composers in contention for Greatest Of All Time, the others being (al ways) Mozart and (often) Beethoven.

The Cantorey plays period instruments like those that were played in the early to mid-18th Century, when this Passion was composed. In tuning, construction and in playing technique they differ enough from their modern coun terparts that the sound will be recognizably different as well. The orchestra also includes in frequently heard old instruments such as oboes d’amore, oboes da caccia, violas d’amore and perhaps a lute.

All that makes this concert especially inter esting to “early music nerds,” as Cross describes himself, as well as to fans of all that is arcane, and a relatively rare live experience for even die hard aficionados of modern orchestras. That ’s

very much in the tradition of the Festival; when speaking of his deliberately eclectic Festival programming, Cross mentions hearing people say, in essence, “‘I’ve never heard of them, but I tried it and I am so glad that I did. It introduced me to something new.”

The concert will take place in St. Bede Catho lic Church, the oldest Catholic Church in Wil liamsburg. Now it might be considered a late comer to this heart of Colonial Virginia, since the first regularly celebrated Roman Catholic Mass in the town did not happen until 1905, and the first chapel of St. Bede was consecrated in 1932, but for a little known bit of local history from some 86 years before the Jamestown set tlement of 1607.

There were Spanish Jesuit missionaries in the region then, later massacred by the Pow hatan people. The spot where that first chapel was built is, supposedly, the very spot that those Jesuits consecrated as holy ground for their par ish Chapel of Saint Michael.

So St. Bede, though it has since moved to larger quarters, can perhaps claim to be even older than the earliest version of the St John Passion, which was first performed on Good Friday in 1724. Bach revised it in 1725, in the early 1730s (1732 is apparently a likely date) and finally in 1745, five years before he died. The Bach Academy version “is based on the sources of version I from 1724 and especially version IV from 1749,” wrote the conductor and director of the Academy, Hans-Christoph Rademann, in re ply to an email question.

Cross summarized the Festival’s invitation: “Come with an open heart, sit back and get ready to go into the Holiday Season, pause and just hear some great music and relax from the pressures of the world…An hour and a half of pure beauty, which all of us could use right now.”

WANT TO GO? International Bach Academy of Stuttgart , J. S. Bach ’ s St. John Passion , St. Bede Catholic Church, 3686 Ironbound Rd, Williamsburg, VA 23188, presented by Virginia Arts Festival , www.vafest.org .

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Bluegrass with Attitude

By Jim Morrison

Growing up in North Dakota when Evie An drus would play a school orchestral concert one night and a bluegrass show the next. She took Suzuki Method violin lessons but also learned old-time bluegrass playing in Family Ties, a band with her father on banjo and her brother on bass.

Her family didn’t have a television. She lis tened to vintage radio shows like “Dragnet” and “Sherlock Holmes.” Bluegrass was a central part of family life. The band played shows, conven tions, and fur-trade re-enactments throughout the upper Midwest and Canada. Yes, fur-trade reenactments. Their trademark was to wear funny ties. Her favorite was a Swiss cheese tie.

It was old-timey music. But when she moved to Tennessee years later, she learned there was more than one bluegrass dialect. “When I was growing up, old time to me meant that they played more of polka with accordion and that sort of stuff,” she said by phone from her base in East Ten nessee. “When I moved down here and people kept telling me they played old time and I was like, re

ally? And then I went to an old-time jam one time and I was like, Oh, this is what they mean.”

What was that? “The difference between old time and bluegrass is with old time we played a lot at the same time whereas bluegrass you know you pass the pass breaks around and everyone kind of takes their moment whereas old time is just kind of everyone all the time,” she added.

Andrus brings her melding of bluegrass to a Tidewater Bluegrass Music Association concert at Unity Church of Tidewater in Virginia Beach on November 26.

She landed at East Tennessee State’s blue grass program after starting at North Dakota State majoring in athletic training. In Johnson City, she was a regular at late-night jam sessions. “My version of a boy band was the Nashville Blue grass Band Stuart Duncan, Alan O’Brien, Pat Enright, Roland White.  It was funny, you know, all my friends were into NSYNC and Backstreet Boys and I was making up dances to the Nashville Bluegrass Band.”

“When I moved down to Tennessee. I started getting introduced to more things outside of bluegrass because I was pretty straight blue grass kid most of my life,” she added. “I started meeting some singer-songwriters and listening to others genres of music more.”

After school, she returned to North Dakota before hopping back to Tennessee to play with the Hatfield and McCoy dinner show in Pigeon Forge.

In Tennessee, she became known as a valued side player, contributing to others while also working on her songs. She backed up cellist Dave Eggar, irreverent singer-songwriter Roger Alan Wade, improvisational player Lonnie Holley, and even did a short tour with Foreigner. No word on whether she was cold as ice. She also played in bands, Barefoot Sanctuary and Buffalo Fiasco.

Her first solo album of originals, “Evie’s Great Adventure,” arrived earlier this year.

“A lot of the songs truly are written while I’m out doing some sort of zany adventure in my life. You know, one of the songs I wrote while I was out on a hiking trail with my fiddle and I just started hearing this melody,” she said. “So I stopped and pulled it all out and started messing around with it some. And then another one of those I wrote dur ing an epic road trip a couple of summers ago. I was gone for about 50 days, hit 13 states I think I drove 1,000 miles. So one of those I was sitting on a bank of a river in Colorado thinking about life. And the song “Tomorrow Was Yesterday” came out.”

She recorded the album over a year during the height of the pandemic, starting about this time last year. Everything but the drums and the elec tric guitar were played by her. It came at a time when Andrus, like so many musicians, was trying to figure out how to stay afloat.

“I was freaking out about how I was going to sustain myself when it became evident that this wasn’t going to be just a short little thing,” she said. “And I kind of had to do a lot of massive piv oting in my life to try to make it work. And, you know, I didn’t know how to deal with some of that and some of my emotions, some of the feelings, and just the kind of madness that I was going through. So I did what I needed to do, which was to turn to the music.”

She’s leaning into her career, the ups, and the downs. “It is the best worst job ever,” she said. “It is so great. I think about the freedom that this has allowed me in my world to just travel and explore and do my own kind of thing. But then also I often joke like, Oh, my boss is horrible. She doesn’t give me any paid sick leave and I can’t get time off. “

Getting back on the road in the spring proved refreshing. “It was a really great spring and sum mer and even into the fall. We’ve had plenty of plenty of opportunity to get out and play music in safe ways, in ways that make everyone feel comfortable,” she said. “Ind it’s been interesting to see how venues have been dealing with this over the past couple of years and figuring out how to survive themselves. And, you know, a lot of places created better outdoor areas for people. It was really cool to see those have continued and have been able to flourish.”

She’s never been to the area. “I’m really excited,” she said. “I’ve never gotten to come hang out in that area of the country before and add that to my ad venture list. It’s gonna be a fun, fun night.”

MUSIC

THENARO

The Warm Hug “Premature Emasculation EP (Self-Release)

To the unassuming listener, the opening “POTS and Plans” starts simply enough as a mandolin driven Ameri cana-influenced song with a odd beat, but then singer Erin Lindgren and band soar with an impressively quirky cho rus and ending that compels a replaying of the song. “Hey, let’s hear that again.”

“A House Is Not a Home” continues the musical curios ity adventure.

Lindgren’s voice harkens back to the mystical pop of the ‘70s pro/folk group Renais sance, and yet its paired with a completely experimental approach to the genre.

Truly refreshing and fun. — Jeff Maisey

One Culture “Forward, Always” (Self-Release)

Virginia Beach-based reggae, World Music group One Culture returns with a nicely produced studio album filled with eclectic vibes.

The opening “World to Change” starts with an ambient feel before shifting gears into a medium-paced groove of island sounds, flavors, trippy sound effects, auto-tuned voices, and guest E.N. Young.

One Culture expands its collaborative exercise with Cultivated Mind and Mellodose on “Send Us Your Best,” and like all 16 tracks showcases a fluidity of sound and positivity of on-point message. Harmonies, rhythm section, guitar solo, and echoing voice and instru mentation are well done.

Other highlights include “Betrays,” “Chameleon” and “Wicked Need for Love.”

Onward, with one love, One Culture. — Jeff Maisey

Sherri Linn

“Grains of Sand” (Single) (Self-Release)

Sherri Lynn has released a series of singles this year, each showcasing a different shade of musical style and in fluence.

With “Grains of Sands,” she visits the more balladry side of Americana, a vibe steeped in singer/songwriter folk, country, all made appealing by Linn’s pure, honest, soothing voice. — Jeff Maisey

The New Mutiny

“Patron

Saint of Rats” (Single) (Self-Release)

Parts of “Patron Saint of Rats” reminds me of Killing Joke’s post-industrial rock, while the remainder is intri cately played modern metal sans the Cookie Monster thing.

This latest tune from The New Mutiny takes no prison ers in its sonic assault, and I give kudos to the powerhouse chorus.

The new Pied Pipers. — Jeff Maisey

Attucks Theatre

11/19 - Adam Hawley

12/4 - Soweto Gospel Choir

12/17 - Marcus Johnson

American Theatre

11/19 - Kathleen Turner

12/16 - Big Bad Voodoo

Daddy

Ferguson Center

1/14 - Dirty Dozen Brass Band

Chartway Arena

11/19 - Maze 11/20 - Mercy Me

The NorVa

11/18 - Omar Apollo

11/19 - Dark Star Orchestra

11/20 - From Ashes to New

11/21 - WASP

11/26 - The Legwarmers

11/30 - Blue October

12/1 - Breland

12/2 - Bad Omens

12/3 - Bobby Shmurda

12/10 - Silversun Pickups 12/14 - The Front Bottoms

Elevation 27

11/16 - Sunsquabi 11/17 - Carbon Leaf

11/18 - Shot Through The Heart

11/19 - Completely Un chained 11/21 - Eidola

11/23 - Kendall Street Company 11/26 - Waxing Poetics

12/1 - Wreckno

12/2 - Eyes of the Nile

12/3 - Skydog

12/4 - The Motet

12/6 - Machine Head

12/8 - Fire On High 12/9 - Samantha Fish

Zeiders American Dream Theater

11/19 - Buster Williams Hampton History Museum

11/16 - Troy Breslow & The Company Band

Taphouse Grill

11/30 - Exhumed/Hulder/ Vitroil

The Bunker Brewpub 11/19 - The Pietasters/Mur phys Kids/Jackmove 11/23 - Rooster Foor w/ Fixity 11/26 - Anthony Rosano &

The Conqueroos w/Bennett Walker Wales

12/6 - Donny Craig

Scandals Live

11/15 - Seventh Day Slum ber

11/18 - Eternal Frequency 11/19 - Crazy Town 12/7 - September Mourn ing w/Magg Dylan/New Mutiny/Merciful Zero

Riffhouse Pub

12/1 - Windley w/Emerald Beach/False Cape

Big Pink/Victorian Station

11/17 - Open Mic w/Troy Breslow 11/27 - Karl’s Community Open Mic

12/1 - Songwriter Open Mic w/Jonah Ross 12/15 - Open Mic w/Hobo Mariners

Brothers Norfolk (Jazz Series)

11/17 - RaJazz 11/25-27 - Brian Simpson & Jeff Kashiwa

The Vanguard Distillery & Brewpub

11/18 - Pink Beds 11/19 - What’s Our Age Again?

11/25 - Good Shot Judy 11/26 - Gina Swoope Duo 12/2 - Phil Vassar & Deana Carter

Froggies

11/17 - Intangible Cats 11/18 - Trapped 11/19 - Anthony Rosano & The Conqueroos

11/23 - Intangible Cats 11/25 - Plastic Eddie 11/26 - Free For All

South Beach Grill

11/19 - Mack Mack 11/23 - Anthony Rosano 11/27 - Band Jam 12/14 - Yogi, HL & Billy

Grace O’Malley’s Irish Pub

11/15-19 - Glasgow kiss 11/22-26 - Beth Patterson

11/29 - 12/3 - Mossy Moran 12/6-10 - Donal O’Shaughnessy

Hilton Tavern

11/15 - Second Wind

11/16 - Nick Caffacus

11/17 - Rich Ridolfino

11/18 - Thru w/ Therapy

11/19 - Lana Pucket and Kim Person

11/ 22 - Bob Wilson

11/ 23 - Nick Caffacus

11/ 25 - Rich Ridolfino

11/ 26 - Rusty Ancel

11/ 29 - Gary Lively

11/ 30 - Troy Breslow

12/1-  Bob Wilson

12/2 - The Virginia Shell phish Coalition

12/3 - Nick Caffacus

12/6 - Troy Breslow

12/7  -The Love Cats

12/8 - Nathan Lienard

12/9 - Rusty Ancel

12/10 - Zack Salsberry

12/13 - Brian Bleakley

12/14 - Second Wind

12/15 - Rich Ridolfino

Open Mic Nights

Mondays - South Beach Grill

Mondays - Tap It Local

Tuesdays - Abbey Road w/ Doyle & Dunn

Tuesdays - STUFT Open Jam

Tuesdays - Winston’s Cafe w/Joey Wood

Tuesdays - Froggies w/Fred Karam

Tuesdays - 501 North Wednesdays - Sunset Grill

Wednesdays - Capstan Bar Brewing Co.

Wednesdays - Stellar Wine Co.

Wednesdays - BLVD Bistro

Thursdays - Blue Ribbon BBQ

Thursdays - Poppa’s Pub

3rd Thursdays - Victorian Station

Wanna be listed?

Send band schedule to jeffmaisey@yahoo.com

Big Bad Voodoo Daddy plays The

Catch Silversun Pickups December 12 at The NorVa

AROUNDTOWN

EVENTS (Non-Holiday)

Red, White & Brews November 19

Suffolk Center for Cultural arts SuffolkCenter.org

Oyster Roast November 26 St. George Brewing Company

World AIDS Day Gala Award Ceremony December 1 The American Theatre hamptonarts.net

Book Talk: Margaret Edds “What the Eyes Can’t See Ralph Northam, Black Resolve, and a Racial Reckoning in Virginia” December 1, Slover Library sloverlibrary.com

PERFORMING ARTS (Non-Holiday)

Actors’ Workshop of Virginia “Angel on Eros: A Play by Ricardo Melendez,” Nov. 11-13, 18-19 Studio Theater @ TRDance TRDance.org

The American Theatre

Kathleen Turner, November 19 Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, December 16-17 hamptonarts.net

Chrysler Hall “Dirty Dancing in Concert,” Nov. 30 sevenvenues.com

Church Street Jazz Series Adam Hawley, November 19, Attucks Theatre sevenvenues.com

Feldman Chamber Music Society

Manhattan Chamber Players, November 14, Chrysler Museum feldmanchambermusic.org

Ferguson Center Voctave, November 18 fergusoncenter.org

Generic Theater Down Under “The Effect,” Nov. 18 though Dec. 4 generictheater.org

Governor’s School for the Arts

GSA Jazz, December 1, Miner Hall Show #2, December 8-10, Dalis Black Box Theatre @ GSA gsarts.net

Harrison Opera House

“Mania: The ABBA Tribute,” Nov. 16 Steve-O, December 4 sevenvenues.com

Little Theater of Norfolk

“Bell, Book & Candle,” Through Nov. 20 ltnonline.org

Old Dominion University

University Dance Theater Fall Concert, Nov. 16-19, University Theatre odu.edu/commtheatre/theatre

Sandler Center

The Luther Experience, December 10 sandlercenter.org

Symphonicity

“Lollipop Concert,” January 8, Sandler Center symphonicity.org

TRDance

“Muses,” December 2-3, ODU University Theatre

“Arts for Life,” December 5, Benjack Studio TRDance.org

Virginia Arts Festival

Bach’s St. John Passion, November 18, St. Bede Catholic Church

Soweto Gospel Choir, December 4, Attucks Theatre vafest.org

Virginia Musical Theatre

“Always, Patsy Cline,” Nov. 18-20, Sandler Center sandlercenter.org

Virginia Stage Company

“Wiesenthal,” November 17, Wells Theatre vastage.org

Virginia Symphony Orchestra

“Friends & Neighbors,” Nov. 17, Ferguson Center “Friends & Neighbors,” Nov. 19, Chrysler Hall virginiasymphony.org

Williamsburg Chamber Music Society

Manhattan Chamber Players, November 15, Williamsburg Regional Library chambermusicwilliamsburg.org

Williamsburg Players

“Matilda: The Musical,” Through Nov. 20, JamesYork Play House williamsburgplayers.org

Zeiders American Dream Theater

Buster Williams & Something More, Nov. 19 TheZ.org

H O P E H O U S E FOUNDATION

Spence, Hardy, Fischer Special Recognitions

By Jeff Maisey

In addition to the 38 individual categories where gold, silver, and bronze medals — total ing 114 pieces of hardware — will be presented during the 2022 Veer Magazine Golden Tap Awards ceremony on Tuesday, December 6 at Elation Brewing in Norfolk, three special rec ognition trophies will be awarded.

Bill Spence Sr. of St. George Brewing Com pany, in Hampton, will be honored with a Life time Achievement Award. Spence founded St. George Brewing Company in 1997. It is the 757’s oldest independent craft brewery and one of the longest operating in Virginia. St. George has been keen to stick with traditional British, German, and Czech style beers.

In addition to operating the brewery’s forklift and manning the bottling/canning line, Spence Sr. currently serves as co-chair of the Virginia Craft Brewers Guild’s Qual ity & Operations Committee.

Porter Hardy of Smartmouth Brewing Company & Pilot House will be recognized with Veer’s first-ever Leadership Award. Hardy has served as Vice Chair of the Vir ginia Craft Brewers Guild for the past sev eral years while also overseeing the Norfolk and Virginia Beach locations of his brewery.

Smartmouth celebrated its 10th anni versary in October. During the past decade, Smartmouth has score national awards

and it won the Virginia Craft Beer Cup for its Safety Dance Pilsner.

Under Hardy’s steady and consistent leadership, the brewery has been a commu nity focused operation and the epitome of a well-run business.

Another first is the creation of the Beer Ambassador Award. This award will rec ognize a person in the community not af filiated with a brewery who takes it upon themselves to help elevate and bring great er awareness to the craft beer culture. This year’s debut recipient is Shawn Fischer of The Beach Ambassadors.

In October, Beach Ambassadors marked its 10th year presenting the unique 757 Bat tle of the Beers, an event exclusively spot lighting local beer in a friendly competition that also raises tens of thousands of dollars for local charities.

Delirious Precarious

Did you know one of the best craft brew eries in the country is located in the heart of Colonial Williamsburg?

Precarious Beer Project certainly turned heads this fall at the prestigious Great American Beer Festival in Denver when the beer maker, with locations oper

ating as Precarious Beer Hall and Amber Ox Public House, was crowned Brewery Group Brewery & Brewer of the Year.

“ We ’ve got an incredible team produc ing some amazing beers,” said an exhilarat ed Andrew Voss, the brewery’s co-founder. “Pretty killer combo.”

Precarious won a gold medal with its Po lar Bears Toenails in the Experimental IPA category, and a silver medal in the Ameri can Style Lager category Mountain Marble.

Just two other homegrown breweries earned awards in Denver. COVA Brewing Com pany took home silver for its POG Gose in the Contemporary Gose category; Tradition Brew ing Company’s Red Willie garnered a bronze medal in the Irish Style Red Ale category.

New Realm Brewing Company, whose major manufacturing operation is located in Virginia Beach, won a pair of golds with Southern Tee (Experimental Beer category) and Blackberry Smoke Lager (Contempo rary American Style Lager category). Their locations in Atlanta and Savannah were credited as the brew source, but both are available in Virginia Beach.

new craft breweries have opened in recent weeks in the Hampton Roads region.

Frothy Moon Brewhouse is located on Jamestown Road just a short distance from the historic Settlement and Billsburg Brew ing Co.

Frothy specializes in producing beer on a 7-barrel system as well as fresh brewed coffee. Its latest beer release is Lunar Lager.

The interior is contemporary, though the main draw is its attractive outdoor space with fire pits and a putt-putt pad.

In the Churchland section of Ports mouth, Harbor Trail Brewing Company has opened in a former bank branch building just yards from MoMac Brewing Company.

In Newport News, the US military themed 1700 Brewing is now operating in the Oyster Point City Center corridor as a nano brewery where new recipes are served on a weekly basis.

New Breweries in the 757

In case you may not have notices, three

In constantly rotating list of liquid at its “Refueling Station” is categorized as fol lows: Coast Guard Taps (Fruit/Sour), Space Force Taps (odd brews like seltzer and kom bucha), Marine Corps Taps (Dark/Strong), Air Force Taps (Light/Lager), Navy Taps (IPAs/Hoppy), Army Taps (Malty/Tradition al), and Spec Ops Tap (Classified).

Check ‘em out.

(L-R) Bill Spence Sr of St. George Brewing Co., Smarthmouth’s Porter Hardy, and Shawn Fischer of Beach Ambassadors.

The 757’s History with Beer

By Michael Wingfield

America has always been referred to as a “melting pot.” Taking into consideration the wide range and cultural influence of the individual brewing cultures brought to this country by immigrant stocks, per haps a more accurate description would be a “ brew kettle.” Legend has it that the famous pilgrims on the Mayflower were on their way to Virginia when their beer stocks ran low. They went ashore in Massachu setts to brew another batch. The famous landing on Plymouth Rock was essentially a beer run. Taverns in the early days of Co lonial America were the testing ground of political thought and theory, and it’s not too much of a fanciful thought that conver sations from Philadelphia to Williamsburg would find their way into our Constitution and Bill of Rights… all with a tankard of ale close at hand. Beer is the most egalitarian and democratizing of beverages, and in the famous words of Benjamin Franklin: “Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.” And then there’s Samuel Adams, described by Thomas Jefferson as “ truly The Man of the Revolution,” who also was known as a homebrewer, and thus cele brated in 1985 by the Boston Beer Company. Stroll down the historic Duke of Gloucester Street in Colonial Williamsburg and view

tavern after tavern. Beer is as American as the Stars and Stripes.

A few miles south, Norfolk is, and al ways has been, a thirsty port town, and whenever there is work to be done, be it on the waterfront, in the fields, or at a desk, someone has been there to provide liquid refreshment. From the ales that fortified our forefathers, to the artfully crafted brews that satisfy more refined modern palates, beer has always played a part in our cultural history. Sure the rowdy sailor boys of the 20 th Century loved beer, but so did Norfolk ’s citizenry.

The earliest record of a brewery in Southside Hampton Roads is located in the 1866 Norfolk city directory. A brewery registered to an F. Trudewind was located from 37 to 43 West Main Street in Norfolk, essentially occupying the better part of a block on what is now the corner of Main and Granby Streets in downtown Norfolk. Handwritten notes on the advertisement in the city directory have the German spelling of “Bier.” Could F. Trudewind have been a German immigrant, practicing his craft in post- Civil War Norfolk? The 18831884 Norfolk city directory lists a “J.F. Trudewind” as the proprietor of Concordia Hall, a “ Wine and Beer Saloon,” “With pool

and billiard tables attached” at 117 Church St. Perhaps the brewery was a smooth transition into the saloon business. Was this the same fellow? Was J.F. a son? Also listed in the 1883-1884 directory as “Brew ers and Bottlers—Lager Beer,” were The Bergner & Engel Brewing Co., on Madison St. (Near Water St.), and Robert Portner, of 83 Main Street.

Norfolk was the home to a number of breweries prior to the turn of the last cen tury. The 1895-96 city directory lists a Bay View Brewery at 12 Hill St. and the Con sumer ’s Brewing Company. National brands Pabst and Anheuser Busch breweries both had a presence in the area by then as well. The 1907 directory also includes Heurich Brewing, located at 24-48 Nebraska, the Hoster-Columbus Assoc. Brewing Company on Matthews (corner of Kelly), and Robert Portner is listed as operating a brewery at 16 to 24 Madison. Schlitz was another national brewery operating in the area by then.

The Consumer’s Brewing Company (later to go by many names, including the Southern Brewing Company) opened in 1895. It operated on Washington Avenue in the Huntersville section until 1916 when Virginia voted to go dry. (Norfolk did so re luctantly.) The brewery reopened just after

the repeal of Prohibition as the Southern Brewing Company in 1934 and operated under that name until 1942. In 1942, Jacob Ruppert Brewing of New York purchased the facility and it operated under the name of Jacob-Ruppert-Virginia. They purchased the name and recipe of Red Fox beer from the Largay Brewing Company of Waterbury, Connecticut and produced it until 1953, when they ceased production in Norfolk.

The Century Brewing Company as sumed production at the facility in 1953. They produced beers and ales under mul tiple brand names, and tended to specialize in low-priced, bargain beers, and produced many store brands. They produced Tudor Beer and Ale both under the Century name as well as under the brand “ Tudor Brew ing”. Tudor was also produced for the A&P grocery chain. Among the brands produced by Century were: Banner, Embassy Club, Granay, Monticello, Red Fox, Regent, Spear man, Tudor, and Tuxedo. In 1967 Century began operations as the Champale Compa ny, which ceased production and closed for good in 1980.

The Atlantic Brewing Company was founded in Atlanta in 1867 as The City Brew ery. It went through a number of name changes over the following decades. They operated in Atlanta alone prior to Prohibi tion, but after Prohibition ended, they ex panded to several other cities throughout the South and operated in Norfolk from 1936 to 1949. In the 1940s, Atlantic had be come the largest regional brewery in the South. An attempt at courting brand loyalty by emphasizing a regional affinity against national beers resulted in an unfortunate cultural legacy. One series of Atlantic cans featured a “Plantation” scene, and another of a “Darkie” (a popular advertising motif of the day) in a wig and waiter’s garb carry ing a tray of beers. This affinity was echoed by the Mountain Brewing Company of Roa noke, Virginia (1958-59). Their “Dixie” can featured a Confederate hat atop crossed swords, and their advertising was Civil Warthemed with a pointedly “Southern” bias.

The loss of regional brewers was a na tionwide phenomenon. The dominant beer profile in America was at the time (as it re mains primarily) a pilsner-type brew, with little discernible character. It was easy to drink and provided no real challenge to the drinker. The dominant brands became unwittingly engaged in a “race to the mid dle” to see who could develop a basic, nonthreatening beer, palatable to the masses.

The Budweiser brewery operated in downtown Norfolk where the USS Wisconsin is docked today.

Serving delicious craft coffee and beer. Something’s always brewing.

As a result, the vast majority of American beer brands were essentially indistinguish able from one another. There was very little (save for a handful of brewers of specialty beers such as Bocks, Porters, and Stouts) to make a local or regional brewer stand out from its competitors. The large national brewing companies with their near-bot tomless advertising budgets were able to dominate the then-new medium of televi sion. The mass-marketing of brand-specific beer as a personal identifier was born. The smaller local and regional breweries, with their hometown affiliations weren’t as sexy or attractive as the lifestyle being sold on TV, radio, or in glossy magazines. A large number of local breweries closed their doors, dooming America to a decades-long diet of homogenous brews.

The recent groundswell of popularity in local craft beer is not an overnight sen sation. In other areas of the country, local and regional breweries captured the taste buds and budgets of beer drinkers. Locally, it has been more of a slow process. There have been others who ventured into the lo cal brewing game with limited success. So let’s raise a glass (mine is an O’Connor Nor folk Canyon Pale Ale) to other local brewers who once slaked our thirsts, but are no lon ger in business.

Chesapeake Bay Brewing Company, under the tutelage of local brewing legend Allen Young began brewing the iconic Ches bay Double Bock, a Gold Medal winner in their first entry into the Great American Beer Festival in 1987. Popular among the beer cognoscenti, Chesbay did not receive enough support among the rank and file

beer drinkers of the region for it to be com mercially viable.

The Old Dominion Brewing Company opened in 1989, and was later purchased by a joint venture between Fordham Brewery of Dover Delaware and Anheuser Busch. Dominion Beer retained its branding and is still produced by Fordham.

19 th Street Brew Pub: Perhaps this was an idea ahead of its time. This location had a lot of potential, but did not catch on. (The brewery was operation in the late 1980s. The Commissioner of the Revenue’s office in Virginia Beach could not locate the exact dates for when this brewery was in busi ness.) The location then became the lauded, yet also defunct club The Abyss.

Steamship Brewing: Located on 24th Street in Norfolk, Steamship opened in 1995 and was operational for just under two years. Local brewing kingpin Kevin O’Connor got his first commercial brewing experience here, and the O’Connor Brewery is located almost exactly a block away from the former Steamship location.

Hilltop Brewery, Laskin Road, Virginia Beach: This now-closed brewpub in the Hilltop area of Virginia Beach enjoyed a mo ment in the sun with their German-styled brews and a strong following with local and military clientele. Their Navy SEALthemed “Frog Grog” was popular.

Alt Platz Brewery & Pub, Portsmouth, VA: This small operation opened in 2006 on High Street in Downtown Portsmouth. An ambitious, but short-lived brew pub, Alt Platz was easily recognized by their mili

9529 Shore Dr. Norfolk, VA

Southern Beer ad that appeared in the May 26, 1934 Virginian-Pilot just after the repeal of prohibition.

tary-themed label art, and their wide range of beers. The pub was hindered by early and inconsistent operating hours, and wasn’t able to gain a real foothold. They produced a dizzying array of beers for such a small operation.

Just over 10 years ago, O’Connor Brew ing Company and Smartmouth Brewing Company renewed the brewing tradition in Norfolk. These breweries were part of a new wave of craft beer manufacturers rev olutionizing brewing culture coast to coast.

Today, the city of Norfolk’s craft brew ing community also includes The Bold Mari ner Brewing Company, Makers Craft Brew ing, Benchtop Brewing Company, COVA Brewing Company, Rip Rap Brewing Co., Elation Brewing, and Reaver Beach NFK.

The greater Hampton Roads region has followed the trend and collectively boasts some 40+ beer makers with more on the way. Recent additions Harbor Trail Brew ing Company (Portsmouth), 1700 Brewing (Newport News), and Frothy Moon Brewing Co (Williamsburg) have joined the list that

includes the 757’s longest operating brew ery, St. George Brewing Company in Hamp ton, as well as Alewerks, Billsburg, Capstan, The Virginia Beer Company, Precarious, The Garage, Big Ugly, Studley, Commonwealth, Wasserhund (teo locations), Reaver Beach, New Realm, Back Bay, Young Veterans, Deadline (new location to be announced soon), Pleasure House, MoMac, Tradition, Coastal Fermentory, Bull Island, Caiseal/ The Vanguard, 1865, Oozlefinch, Nanes mond Brewing Station, Thin Brew Line, Vibrant Shore, Wharf Hill, Red Point Tap room, Cape Charles, Three Notch’d (satel lite, Charlottesville headquartered), and The Veil (satellite, RVA based).

Many of these local beer makers have earned international, nationwide, and statewide competitions bringing notoriety to Virginia’s coastal southeast.

From the clay pots of ancient Egypt to the gleaming stainless brew kettles of today who work tirelessly to provide us with the best quality product possible, beer is indeed a living thing. It is the People’s Drink.

More than a half dozen local brewers of lager beer appear in the Norfolk city directory of 1900, the most prominent of which, or at least the most heavily advertised, was Consumer Brewing Company in the Hunt ersville section of then-Norfolk County. Consumer opened its Washington Street brewhouse in 1895 and advertised Bavarian beer, Elk beer, dark beer, pale beer and malt beverages, something for every palate. After Virginia went dry in November 1916, Consumer stayed afloat for awhile by turning over the plant to the Virginia Fruit Juice Company, which produced a fruit beverage there from 1917 to 1921. Southern Brew ing Company bought the facility in 1936, producing Southern Beer, “ The Pride of the South.” It was the first brewery to open in Virginia after the repeal of the 18th amendment. Southern Breweries sold the plant to Jacob Ruppert Breweries in 1942.

Champale Products, Inc. began production here in 1953. Later a subsidiary of Iroquois Brands, Ltd., Nor folk’s was one of only two Champale Breweries in the nation. Touted as the “champagne of bottled beer,” Champale operated here until mid-February 1980.

The brewery was located in Huntersville at 710 Washington Ave., east from 1448 Church Street. It was built on the site of the old Lesner Park, AKA “ Lesner’s Maplewood Gardens,” once a fashionable gathering spot for Norfolk East Siders to meet, to stroll and probably to raise a frosty glass or two.

Authentic Italian Cuisine

It ’s Cream Season

Hampton

Roads

distilleries meet rising demand for bourbon liqueur

By Jim Roberts

Everyone knows that “cream rises to the top.”

At Tarnished Truth Distilling Co. in Virginia Beach, the Old Cavalier Bourbon Cream Liqueur has almost risen to the top.

“

It ’s really popular,” Andrew Yancey, the distillery ’s co-owner and operator, recently told Veer Magazine “ That ’s probably our No. 2 sell ing spirit in our shop—for sure.”

In fact, Tarnished Truth recently shipped more than 2,000 bottles of Old Cavalier to Rich mond to be distributed by Virginia’s Alcoholic Beverage Control.

“ This is cream season right now,” Yancey said. “ They know October, November and espe cially December—this is when people get into the bourbon cream.”

Untarnished truth be told: Yancey wasn’t producing bourbon cream when he opened in 2018. He launched it nearly a year later to ap peal to customers who toured the distillery and wanted something “a little bit softer, a little bit easier, a little bit lower alcohol.”

“ We wanted something that wasn’t like an eggnog,” Yancey said, “ but you could have it all year round and use it in coffee drinks or milk shakes. Or just have it, you know, straight on the rocks as sort of after-dinner drink. So that ’s where we landed was with the bourbon cream.”

While inspired by Baileys Irish Cream and domestic bourbon creams, what sets Old Cava lier apart is Tarnished Truth’s signature “High Rye” bourbon.

“It ’s a very spicy bourbon,” Yancey said. “So that in itself—because of that spiciness and the sweetness of the cream—the balance between those two is really, really great. You know, if you use your sweeter bourbons, you ’ll almost get too much of a sweet flavor out of it. I think that High Rye bourbon does really well to mesh with it.”

Ironclad Distilling Co. in Newport News is getting in on the action, launching its Buzz ’s Bourbon Cream Liqueur in October.

“ We did a lot of research and development on this one,” Kara King, Ironclad ’s creative director, said. “ We ended up taking our small batch bourbon and infusing it with vanilla beans, toasted cocoa nibs and coffee beans. Through a lot of trial and error, we nailed the final recipe, and it ’s really delicious. You get all those flavors, and then we just mix it with a staple cream base. So it ’s not cloyingly sweet. … I think it ’s got a lot of nuance and notes.”

Ironclad ’s liqueur is named after King ’s grandfather, Phillip “Buzz” Aston, who was a Bing Crosby-like entertainer in Pittsburgh in

the first half of the 20 th century.

“ The bourbon cream is rich and smooth,” King said. “Just like his voice.”

Buzz ’s packaging includes a QR code that links to a 36-song Spotify playlist with songs from Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Ella Fitzgerald. The first song is Buzz himself per forming a song called “I’m Old Fashioned.”

“He auditioned for Benny Goodman back in the day and was offered a job but turned it down because he didn’t want to leave Pittsburgh,” King explained. “If he didn’t turn that down, I wouldn’t be here right now.”

While Buzz ’s and Old Cavalier are now com peting for market share, King and Yancey are friendly diplomats befitting their memberships in the Virginia Distillers Association. Yancey was also recently appointed to the Virginia Spir its Board, which lobbies on behalf of all of the state ’s distillers.

“ We all work closely to really push Virginia spirits and grow the industry within the state and outside of the state as well,” Yancey said.

“ Whenever somebody calls and says, ‘Hey, I like what you’re doing. How do you do it? ’ I have no problem sharing. As they say: A rising tide lifts all ships. The more they get people loving and buying Virginia spirits, it ’s helped everybody.”

Buzz’s Bourbon Cream sells for $35.69. Old Cava lier Bourbon Cream sells for $29.99. For more information, visit ironcladdistillery.com and tar nishedtruth.com.

A growing trend for Ecco-minded diners is to bring your own container for leftovers like this 4Ocean Stash er r eusable s torage bag.

BYO Doggie Bag

By Marisa Marsey

For anyone who cares a jot about the environment, nothing shrivels the appetite like watching your to-go order or leftovers scraped into a squeaky Styrofoam clam shell. Realizing that your midnight snack will degrade the planet, clogging landfills and harming wildlife, is not easy to stomach.

Foodservice packaging traditionally accounts for 50 percent of the plastics de rived from fossil fuels, but thankfully a staggering array of more sustainable al ternatives like bioplastics made from sug arcane and cassava is available nowadays. So many, Restaurant Business joked that this year’s National Restaurant Association Show could have been called the “National Container Show.”

From Maine, whose food code allows

restaurants to offer reusable and return able take-out food containers, to Califor nia, requiring all packaging to be recyclable or compostable by 2032, change is afoot.

But even “green” packaging isn’t always disposed of properly, as anyone who’s felt like they were deciphering the Rosetta Stone while sorting their trash at Starbucks can tell you.

What’s a conscientious diner to do?

Susanne Williams, a translator, teacher and journalist born in Germany, knows: BYO.

She happened into the habit over a de cade ago when she regularly traveled be tween her home in Norfolk and Arnsberg in North Rhine-Westphalia, where her mother was residing in an assisted care facility. Her mom could no longer eat solids so Susanne

puréed food at her mom’s condo and used old jam jars she found in the cupboard to trans port meals, returning with the empties.

One day while dining out, Susanne couldn’t claim membership in the “Clean Plate Club.” Like much of Europe at that time, “Doggie bags were not part of their vernacular,” she said. “But I had the perfect solution in my bag. Those very jars.”

Back in the U.S., she began bringing her own containers to some of her favorite lo cal restaurants including the Monastery, Café Europa, Voilà, Rajput, Azalea Inn and Regino’s. Many servers welcomed the prac tice. “I am not sure whether they liked the idea per se or because it saved them a trip back to the kitchen,” she said. (The Virginia Department of Health allows customers to secure excess food at their table in personal containers; those containers just can’t be brought to the kitchen.)

Though not as common as folks toting reusable bags into grocery stores, the con cept is catching on.

Eve Richardson, Orapax manager, said, “Occasionally people bring in Pyrex or Tupperware and in this industry, you roll with anything customers request. We ap preciate it.”

Experts estimate that restaurants spend about $24 billion on disposable foodware annually, with packaging costs approximately 3-4 percent of net sales for quick-serve/fast-casual eateries and 1-2 percent for full-service restaurants. Some eco-friendly containers can take an even bigger bite out of the bottom line. So BYO can help save the earth and restaurants money.

If you sup at Syd’s FishPig Café on any Saturday night (and I do mean any Saturday night), you’ll see Audra Mitchell. (She claims she and her husband Claude haven’t just fol lowed chef-owner Sydney Meers over the last three decades, “We stalk him.”) You’ll also see her clutching the sleek Stasher bag she purchased on Amazon. It’s microwave able, freezable and dishwasher-safe.

“The first time I brought it for my left over steak, I felt silly,” recalled the OB/ GYN residency manager for EVMS. She needn’t have had qualms. Veteran server Kim Hughes, who worked at Syd’s erstwhile Stove for a decade and has been at FishPig since it opened in 2021, loved it, exclaiming: “It’s a meat purse!”

Syd believes the fine dining experience is best savored in situ and doesn’t stock containers. “I don’t do to-go food,” he ex plained. “It’s a whole different ballgame. By the time you get home, it’s soggy, it cools and denses up in the refrigerator, then you overheat it.”

Inevitably, though, some guests can’t finish that last bite of smoochie bear ham and want to savor it later (it’s no longer considered gauche to do so, even France mandated in 2016 that restaurants serving more than 150 daily provide doggie bags if requested). So his staff wraps leftovers in aluminum foil, reminiscent of the swan shapes that used to sail out of dining rooms in the 1960s and ‘ 70s.

“We have to be creative,” said Kim. “Some things are especially challenging if they’re brothy or soupy, otherwise your car would smell like étouffée for weeks.” Seep age is an issue with many a restaurant’s takeaway cartons.

Audra appreciates that the flat-bot tomed Stasher is leak-proof, and Stasher has a program to repurpose its siliconebased products should they become unus able. It’s also transparent, reducing food waste since packages that obscure con tents usually get shoved to the back of the fridge. As Audra pointed out, “If you can’t see what it is, you forget what it was.”

When I was in Darien, Connecticut, Isaac-David Miranda of Parlor Pizza and Wine told me, “Sometimes we run low on boxes,” underscoring that this category is not immune to supply chain woes, so he em braces the BYO trend. At a table nearby, as diner Grete Laine, a psychoanalyst, strug gled to slide the recalcitrant flap through the slot to “lock” the provided recyclable box housing the remains of her chorizo piz za, I heard her sigh in frustration: “I wish I had brought my own.”

Too bad Susanne Williams wasn’t there. She often carries extra containers in her bag, so she’s able to share when dining com panions see her packing up surplus in an eco-kind way and want to follow suit. And she urges servers to spread the word.

“It saves the restaurant the expense of buying their own, cuts down on the work of servers and, most importantly, minimizes the amount of trash we all generate,” she noted. I concur. It’s an idea that’s too good to waste.

Sweet potatoes are the seasonal all-star veggie during the holidays.

Plant-Based Sweets for the Sweet this Holiday Season

By Betsy DiJulio

Sweet potatoes that is. Pass any road side farm stand on the bucolic backroads in our neck of the woods, and you will find a proliferation of these golden beauties and their fall counterpart, kale, often sold by the box. Even if you can’t find the elu sive Eastern Shore Hayman white-skinned sweet potato, load up because anything the white potato can do, the sweet potato can do better. And they have a long shelf life if kept cool and dry. I know because former teacher colleagues with farm connections generously shared their bounty and I have created a host of recipes in response.

It seems as though everyone, except me, loves the uber-sweet Thanksgiving prepa rations with butter, brown sugar, marsh mallows, and all the rest. I love savorysweet combinations as much as the next

gal, but that is just too much of a good thing, even for dessert, and especially as a side dish. However, if that ’s your jam, Whole Foods sells plant-based marshmallows, as the regular ones are made with gelatin.

Given my persuasion, one Thanksgiv ing, my sister and I were delighted to find a recipe in a magazine that quickly be came a super-simple staple on our parents ’ Thanksgiving table: savory twice-baked sweet You don’t really need a recipe for this: just bake sweet potatoes, halve, scoop out the flesh, combine with vegan butter and sour cream, minced parsley, thinly sliced scallions with a little salt and pepper to taste, stuff back in the shells, reheat at 350 degrees, and serve with a dollop of plantbased sour cream and a few more scallions.

And if you love fries like I love fries, my

homemade version will become another staple. Made with sweet potatoes that are roasted, rather than deep fried, they are plenty crispy thanks to Panko bread crumbs. This recipe was inspired by a listen to “Out of the Box,” Paul Shugrue ’s awardwinning “new music” show on our local NPR affiliate, WHRV. He played The Hot Sar dines’  “French Fries and Champagne” and that nostalgic 40 ’s-infused suggestion was all I needed.

To arrive at my version, my imagina tion went to favorite champagne food pairings, especially Indian or Thai with  my all-time favorite, Prosecco.  Thinking that an Indian flavored dry spice rub would be easier to create than one with Thai fla vors–which seemed to rely more on fresh herbs that would burn at the high roast

ing  temperature–I decided on sweet po tato wedges with a golden Indian spice rub mixed with the Panko breadcrumbs for a bit more crunch. I am happy to share this recipe for my unexpected holiday favorite:

Indian-Spiced Sweet Potato Wedges with Dipping Sauce

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 medium sweet potatoes, cut in half lengthwise, then crosswise, then each section cut into 3 wedges to yield 12 wedges per potato

Pinch of sea salt

1/4 to 1/2 cup Panko breadcrumbs

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 teaspoon ground coriander

1/2 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika

1/4 teaspoon turmeric

1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

2 tablespoons any vegan chutney (man go, mint, cilantro, etc., found in supermar kets or Indian/International markets)

4 tablespoons vegan sour cream (or veg an plain yogurt or mayo if you prefer)

Garnish: fresh cilantro sprigs, if desired, and champagne, Prosecco, or other spar kling wine

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Driz zle baking pan with olive oil, add potato wedges, toss lightly to coat, sprinkle with 1/8 teaspoon salt, and toss again. Roast for 20 minutes, stirring or turning about ever 6 or 7 minutes. Meanwhile combine breadcrumbs in a small bowl with ground coriander, cumin, garlic and onion powders, smoked paprika, turmeric, and black pep per. Remove potatoes from oven, sprinkle with bread crumb and spice mixture, stir to coat, and return to the oven for another 10 minutes, stirring after 5. (Note: if you prefer your potato wedges really crispy and caramelized, roast them for 25 to 30 min utes before adding the crumb mixture and roasting another 10.) Meanwhile, prepare dipping sauce by whisking together chut ney with vegan sour cream in a small bowl. Remove potatoes to a serving bowl or plat ter–I like to use a parchment paper- or nap kin-lined plastic “ burger basket ”–sprinkle with any crumb mixture that remained in the pan and serve with dipping sauce, fresh cilantro sprigs, if desired, and champagne.

Find many more sweet potato and holi day recipes on my (non-monetized) website at www.TheBloomingPlatter.com

arts @odu

GORDON ART GALLERIES

4509 MONARCH WAY

ALLiGATER HELLHOUND — On view through Dec. 17. This exhibition features selections from hundreds of self-taught artworks in the permanent collection of the Baron and Ellin Gordon Art Galleries. With many works made from found and repurposed materials, and with their visual commentary on communities and the hellish costs of social ills, they support the theme of sustainability — social, environmental and economic — during ODU’s themed semester this fall. The exhibition likewise includes several candidates for future display across campus as public art. More at odu.edu/gordongalleries.

THEATRE@ODU

Macbeth — Nov. 12, 7:30 p.m.; Nov. 16 – 19, 7:30 p.m., and Nov. 20, 2 p.m. Tickets: ODUArtsTix.com. Directed by Chris Hanna. Produced by ODURep. Like any thriller classic, Shakespeare’s masterpiece bends with time, always adjusting to the frights that haunt current minds. This fast-moving production, 90 minutes total, is full of sudden twists and mind-bending turnarounds. While highly entertaining, it will toss the audience smack into the uncertainties of daily living, where anxieties mangle our senses and sudden violence can erupt anywhere at any time. In the piercing words of Shakespeare’s ungodly witches: “Something wicked this way comes.”

UNIVERSITY DANCE THEATRE FALL CONCERT — Nov. 16 – 18, 7:30; Nov. 19, 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Tickets: ODUArtsTix.com. Experience an unforgettable evening of diverse works as emerging and established artists expand the boundaries of dance. The University Dance Theatre’s Fall Concert presents pieces performed by Old Dominion University students and faculty in a variety of dance styles – modern, hip hop, jazz, and contemporary ballet. Choreographers this season include visiting artist and ODU alumnus Elijah Motley and ODU Dance faculty members Victoria Fink, Davianna Griffin, James Morrow, Lauren Sinclair, and Janelle Spruill.

DIEHN CONCERT SERIES

SERAPH BRASS — Free Master Class, Dec. 5, 12 p.m.; Free Talk on Entrepreneurship, Dec. 6, 12:30 p.m.; Concert, Dec. 5, 7:30 p.m. Tickets: ODUArtsTix.com. Seraph Brass is a dynamic ensemble drawing from a roster of America’s top female brass players. Committed to engaging audiences with captivating programming, Seraph Brass presents a diverse body of repertoire that includes original transcriptions, newly commissioned works, and well-known classics.

Old Dominion University, located in Norfolk, is Virginia’s forward-focused public doctoral research university with approximately 24,000 students, rigorous academics, an energetic residential community and initiatives that contribute $2.6 billion annually to Virginia’s economy. On campus and online, ODU is Virginia’s most affordable public doctoral university.