Coastal Virginia Magazine: Rock of Ages

The latest issue of Coastal Virginia Magazine is where you'll find my feature article on Norfolk's The NorVa. 

The former Vaudeville house and movie theater became a rock club 13 years ago and was recently celebrated by Rolling Stone Magazine readers as the best live music venue in America. 

The story begins:

At an age when most buildings are getting torn down or argued over by preservationists, The NorVa theatre has been reborn as “the best live music venue in America.” Not bad for a 96-year-old brick old-timer with a wraparound balcony, a history of good times and many stories to tell.

In the 13 years since it became a music venue, the sounds of many of the world’s most popular and influential performers have reverberated around these acoustically padded walls. But embedded in the exposed brick and rustic corners of the place Rolling Stone magazine readers named the best live music venue in the country this past July, you might also hear the faint ghost yells of kids at a matinee screening of “Captain Midnight,” the tip-taps of old hoofers doing a dance routine for a half-filled house or the phantom squeaks and grunts of a heated racquetball match.

Read the rest of "Rock of Ages" by clicking right here. 

Coastal Virginia Magazine: The President's Analyst

Coastal Virginia Magazine -- formerly Hampton Roads Magazine -- has posted my feature article on former CNN political analyst and Portsmouth native Dr. Bill Schneider. 

The professor, author and commentator (now with Al Jazeera America) talks about his forthcoming book on national voting trends, how demographics have changed Virginia's politics, the future of the Tea Party and much more.

It's always been hard to tell if Bill Schneider is a Republican or a Democrat.

The veteran TV personality, author and educator likes it that way. “I take pride in the fact that people are always saying to me that they aren’t sure what my political views are,” says Schneider, a Portsmouth native.

During his 19 ½ years as CNN’s senior political analyst, Schneider won a Peabody and an Emmy, among other awards, for his thorough and nonpartisan television reporting. His ability to read deep into polling data and to forecast voting trends spurred The Boston Globe to call him “the Aristotle of American politics.” The bespectacled analyst has a new book coming out next year that charts his own personal journey through politics while documenting what he calls an emerging new coalition of American voters.

“I got the heat from both sides when I was at CNN,” he says. “I would get complaints whenever I would say anything critical of President Bush or of President Clinton. I would get complaints from one side or the other that I wasn’t being fair. When I got complaints from conservatives, they called me a rotten, filthy scoundrel, and if the complaints were from liberals, they would say, ‘Oh, it just breaks my heart to hear you criticize Bill and Hillary Clinton.’”

Read the rest of "The President's Analyst" by clicking right here.