Can't Stop the Richmond Symphony

As one of the only orchestras led by a majority-female team,, the Richmond Symphony continues to blaze its own distinct trail.  

Using only its 39 core, full-time, salaried musicians during a time of social distancing, the Symphony is also rare among the nation’s orchestras — including heavyweights such as the New York Philharmonic and the San Francisco Symphony — in that it hasn’t let the pandemic stop the music.

Read my  in-depth Richmond Magazine feature article on the Symphony right here: 

And click this spot to hear my Open Source RVA interview with RSO Music Director Valentina Peleggi.

(Photo by James H. Loving courtesy Richmond Symphony)

Behind the Mask: Dr. Danny Avula

Meet Virginia’s version of Dr. Anthony Fauci, vaccine czar Dr. Danny Avula, whose job as director of the Richmond City Health District and Henrico County Health Department also includes being an on-call health expert, a CEO overseeing a 250-member team of preventive specialists and the region’s chief community health strategist.

In January, Avula took a leave of absence from the director’s desk, jumping from the regional frying pan into a bigger, hotter statewide fire. He became the commonwealth’s “vaccination czar,” tapped by Gov. Ralph Northam to lead Virginia’s effort in distributing COVID-19 vaccines. “He knows how to get things done,” Northam said at the press conference where he announced the appointment.

My Richmond Magazine feature profile of Dr. Avula is now available at the magazine's website. Click here to read "Behind the Mask." 

Hemp, NASCAR and People to Meet

Hemp in the Shenandoah Valley.... NASCAR (and the NASCAR economy) in a time of quarantine... the future of sports tourism... Virginia's greatest golf courses (and the men who made them)... rebranding the Redskins (sorry, Washington Football Team)...the people and leaders from Virginia that you MUST MEET in 2021...and MORE!

Read ALL of my past reports for Virginia Business magazine by going right here!

(Photo of the Johnson brothers at Elkton's Pure Shenandoah hemp outlet by the mighty Norm Slater)

Let's Have Church: The Jewel Gospel Singers

The Jewel Gospel Singers have been a solid rock in the Virginia gospel scene for nearly 70 years, and are still performing.

With three longtime (60-plus years) members, this soulful singing group -- revamped in later years as Henrietta Doswell Gattison & the New Jewels -- have specialized in a passionate style of church singing that is both traditional and harmonically complex, a unique sound honed through years of performing in Hanover County churches. 

My recent Richmond Magazine feature on this captivating gospel group -- who recorded three hard-to-find albums for Savoy Records in the '60's -- can now be found online right here, complete with a link to a rousing "TV Gospel Time" appearance by the Jewels in their prime. 

Pictured: The Jewel Gospel Singers of the 1960s: Henrietta Gattison, Ellen Jefferson, pianist Vivian Owens, Ann Cunningham, Ernestine Jackson and songwriter Doris Ann Allen (Photo courtesy Henrietta Doswell Gattison)

Rassawek: What's Old is New

Word has gotten around: Don’t tear it down, give it to Rassawek. 

“People know that if there’s an old building that they want to have removed, I will go and get it and bring it here,” says Joseph Liesfeld, the owner of Rassawek Vineyard, a scenic event space and vineyard on 1,200 acres in Columbia in the far western reaches of Goochland County, Virginia.

Rassawek is a picturesque outdoor museum of Virginiana. Now, 20 years after Liesfeld purchased the property and began filling it with artifacts such as a circa-1930s sawmill and an antique water tower, this fascinating place is ready for its close-up. The Goochland Board of Supervisors in October 2020 approved a conditional permit that will allow increased acreage for new features and uses for this huge green space.

Read all about it in my Richmond Magazine piece, "What's Old is New," right here.

(Photo by the mighty Daniel Roberts) 

Do or Diet: Six Eating Plans

The pandemic and social isolation have done nothing positive for America's waistline. 

A temptation to overeat, under-exercise and share comfort food recipes online can make any plan to shed pounds a challenge. 

In a piece for Richmond Magazine's R-Health supplement, I take a look at six eating plans that can help you in the struggle, including the Keto, Weight Watchers and DASH diets, Which are the healthiest and most effective? I ask nutritionists and dietitians what they think. 

Read "Do or Diet" by jogging over here.

(Photo: Getty Images)

Local Politics Matter: Richard Meagher

Richard Meagher understands why voters are closely following the volatile national political scene. 

But the associate professor of political science at Randolph-Macon College argues that when it comes to how the government affects your everyday life, it's best to think locally. 

His new book, "Local Politics Matters: A Citizen's Guide to Making a Difference" (Lantern Press & Media) outlines the many ways — from taxes to affordable housing to transportation options — local government has an impact. It also details the ways ordinary people can plug into, and sway, important local issues. 

Read my Richmond Magazine Q&A with Meagher by going right here. And for more on the author and book, connect here. 

The State of Independent Bookstores

With fundraising gambits, home delivery options, curbside pickup, virtual book club events and new online ordering systems,  independent bookstores across the nation are doing their best to adapt to an uncertain retail landscape in the wake of the pandemic.

It's no different for the Richmond region's indie bookstores, once healthy and thriving.

My Richmond Magazine feature article on the state of the bookstore is now available on the mag's web site. I talked with the owners of Chop Suey Books, Fountain Books, Book People, Velocity Comics, the Little Bookshop, and BBGB Books, and found out not only how the stores are surviving, but what  customers have been reading during the COVID-19 crisis.

To see "Turning the Page," put your reading glasses on and go here.

Exploring the subject further: To hear my Open Source RVA with Kelly Justice, the owner of Fountain Books and president of the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance,, go to the Source podcast page.

(Photo of the Little Bookshop by the mighty Jay Paul!) 

Remembering Days of a Quiet Sun

"Days of a Quiet Sun,” a compilation on Feel It Records, gives pioneering Richmond music producer Martin Gary his proper due. 

For years,  his family owned the Richmond-area record store chain Gary’s, and young Marty became involved in music early, managing a local folk singer while he was still in junior high school in the early '60's.  

In 1966, when local recording studios were scarce, he started taking bands into Washington, D.C., and Baltimore studios, recording and releasing independent records that were distributed through his father’s store.  "Days of a Quiet Sun" brings together this often-startling work by rock and soul bands such as the Barracudas, King Edward and His B.D.'s, the Hazards, and Group Nine.

“Marty operated in two worlds, business and bohemia,” archivist Brent Hosier says, “He had his ear on the frat house as well as the coffeehouse, and those worlds usually didn’t meet.”  

For my Richmond Magazine article on the new compilation,  and the work of Martin Gary,  go right here.

You can listen to my Open Source RVA interview with Gary by going to the Source podcast page.

To hear/order "Days of a Quiet Sun,"  go here.

(Photo of original 45s courtesy Feel It Records)

Rebranding the Redskins

The Washington Redskins management announced in July that the NFL team will retire its name and mascot and rebrand itself away from divisive Native American imagery. The $3.4 billion organization, he seventh-most valuable franchise in the league, is now known as the “Washington Football Team,” with a fresh name and look tentatively to be unveiled in 2021.

But what will it take to completely rebrand such a long-established sports franchise? And is a year enough time? What kind of new name should they adopt? Will the team colors be retained?

For a recent piece in Virginia Business, I asked local branding experts what they thought the team should do.  Read the piece. right here.

To hear my Open Source RVA interview with branding guru Kelly O'Keefe, which explores this same subject, go to the Source podcast page.

Discomfort Food: Dr. Kelley Deetz

Food archaeologist and author Dr. Kelley Deetz documents American history, specifically African American history, through its vittles. 

In her book, "Bound to the Fire: How Virginia’s Enslaved Cooks Helped Invent American Cuisine,” she traces the preparation of everyday dishes back to enslaved people in 18th- and 19th-century plantation home kitchens, highlighting how they introduced ingredients from their African homelands and employed cooking methods that have stuck to the nation's ribs.

To read my Richmond Magazine Q&A with Kelley Deetz, go here.

For my previous Savor Virginia Magazine coverage of the book, go here.

(Photo courtesy of Dr. Kelley Deetz) 

Legal Mainstays: Sands Anderson

 

Cited as the oldest continuously operating business in Virginia, the law firm Sands Anderson has been a downtown Richmond fixture since before the Civil War. 

Formerly known as Sands and Sands; Sands, Marks and Miller; Sands, Williams and Lightfoot; and a few other names along the way, it can trace its roots back to an office in the Goddin Building, which was the first structure to be incinerated when the city burned in the last days of the Civil War in 1865.

Hanging outside of today's Richmond board room of Sands Anderson are portraits of those who have made significant contributions to the firm, the most prominent being founder Alexander Hamilton Sands, who packed a lot of lives into his 59 years: lawyer, author, Baptist minister and moonlighting literary editor, among others.

My Richmond Magazine feature article on the history of this illustrious firm charts the practice's zig-zag history, its influence on the region, and its growth. Read "Legal Mainstays" right here.

And for more on Sands Anderson, go here. 

(Portrait photo of firm founder Alexander Hamilton Sands courtesy Sands Anderson)

Face For Radio: Open Source RVA and Radio Wowsville

My two radio shows are still going strong. Thanks for asking.

Open Source RVA, the weekly news-talk program that I co-host on WRIR 97.3 FM in Richmond airs Fridays at noon. 

WRIR is available online by clicking this spot, and you can hear previously-aired Open Source RVA podcasts by going to the program's nifty Soundcloud page here. 

The Source is WRIR's omnibus news hour, where we talk to area newsmakers, politicians, community activists, artists, nonprofit leaders, musicians and, yes, pro wrestlers. Thanks to producer Krysti Albus for keeping it sounding cohesive. 

Radio Wowsville, the music show that I co-host (on alternate weeks) with Rick Clark, can be heard Sunday nights at 11PM on the mighty WTJU 91.1 FM in Charlottesville. 

The freeform, "anything goes" Wowsville has been haunting the air since 1995 (or 1996) and is, as the promo claims, broadcast live from a cave/sound lab in Grottoes, Virginia. 

Listeners can tune in to the Wow by following this link, and can listen to past broadcasts of the show -- and all of the other great WTJU music programs -- by going right here. 

It's a fascinating listen, I think. But I'm a little biased. 

 

Jazz Odyssey: Richmond Jazz Society

 

The early days of the Richmond Jazz Society were filled with Saturday-afternoon jam sessions and the aroma of fresh seafood. “We started our first programs in a fish market,” says B.J. Brown, executive director of the society, a nonprofit that promotes and nurtures jazz music in the region.  

Over the years, the scrappy organization has grown from concert promotion and music advocacy to becoming an educational resource for area youth. Grammy-nominated singer and songwriter René Marie credits the society for launching her career more than 20 years ago.  “It's hard to put into words how important an organization like this is,” she says. “You might think they're only servicing this small group of jazz musicians, but it touches so many people.” 

My Richmond Magazine piece on the 40th anniversary of the RJS is online, and can be found right here.

For more on the Richmond Jazz Society, go here.

To hook up with my previous coverage of Jazz in Virginia, click this. 

(Photo of  Rene Marie at an RJS Guest Educator concert last year, with saxophonist James "Saxsmo" Gates, by Jerrold Price)

COVID-19 and Sports Tourism

The COVID-19 pandemic has paralyzed one of Virginia’s growing economic drivers: sports tourism. But even amid mass cancellations and lost revenue, tourism officials hold out hope that, for the sports sector at least, there can be recovery.

“Do you remember when the Titanic was sinking, and the band kept playing?” Caroline Logan of Virginia Tourism Corps. asks. “Well, we’re the band.”

My feature on the state of Virginia's sports tourism can be found at the Virginia Business magazine website. Read "Delay of Game" by going here. 

(Photo of James I. Moyer Sports Complex in Salem courtesy Visit Virginia’s Blue Ridge.)

Who's Afraid of the ICA?

In mid-March, like other area cultural institutions, the 2-year-old Institute for Contemporary Art at Virginia Commonwealth University shut its doors and canceled all remaining programs and exhibitions for the spring semester due to the coronavirus pandemic.

It should've been a time of celebration for the Richmond-based ICA, which was named as one of America’s “Ten Best New Museums” by USA Today earlier this year, the only contemporary art museum on the list. It also earned a rave from The New York Times, calling last year’s group exhibit “Great Force,” which examined white privilege and African American resistance, one of the art world’s unmissable events.

My in-depth Richmond Magazine feature on the ambitious Institute details its long-festering genesis, unusual design, long-term sustainability, and the reactions of the local arts community to the challenging, politically-charged exhibitions in its first two years. I talked to more than two dozen people for this article, and I hope it shows. 

Read Abstract Mission" by clicking this spot.

And for more on the Institute for Contemporary Art, take yourself here. 

(Photo of “Provocations: Guadalupe Maravilla, ‘Disease Thrower’ ” in the ICA’s True Farr Luck Gallery by David Hunter Hale courtesy ICA at VCU)

Liberated Brother: Weldon Irvine

“I wanted to give you more than you can get from reading liner notes,” says the Brooklyn-based filmmaker, Victorious DeCosta, who devoted four years to making a documentary on the enigmatic jazz-funk legend Weldon Irvine. 

“I wanted it to probe the emotions of Weldon and the emotions of artists who are forgotten," DeCosta says. "I think it’s a story that plays well because you don’t need to be an artist, or a jazz head, to dig and relate to [it].”

Digging for Weldon Irvine is a powerful and affecting look at a chameleonic talent who co-wrote "To Be Young,Gifted and Black," and whose 40-year music journey found him exploring the spectrum of African American music. The late jazz improviser was a searching soul— at age 50, he reinvented himself as a rapper, “Master Well,” and collaborated with Mos Def and Talib Kweli.

For Richmond Magazine, I recently had the chance to interview DeCosta, and talk about his excellent film. You can read the piece right here. 

And you can find out more about Digging for Weldon Irvine by clicking this spot. 

(Photo courtesy Victorious DeCosta) 

Chesterfield and the Lure of Millennials

With its shopping sprawl, vast rural stretches and sleepy suburbs with no sidewalks, Chesterfield County will never be mistaken for a dense, urban area. But county leaders are hoping that their recent proposed changes to zoning and planning will produce a close enough approximation to lure millennials. 

My Richmond Magazine feature on the changing face of Chesterfield -- and how the sleepy, conservative county is trying to attract more millennial-aged residents -- is now online. The in-depth feature shows a region in flux, as  it moves away from 70s and ’80s style of planning and development where the automobile was the de facto mode for transportation. Today's millennials want to settle down in walkable, linkable communities that have special mixed-use areas where one can run or bike -- and they crave amenities like breweries, coffee shops and live entertainment. 

It all starts with new sidewalks. Read "Because They're Young" by going right here. 

(Photo from Midlothian Mines Park: Richmond Magazine)

The Future of Carytown

Carytown is where you’ll find some of Richmond’s longest-running, and iconic, local businesses, starting with the historic Byrd Theatre, a restored grand movie palace built in 1928. The centerpiece of the district is Cary Court Shopping Center, the first strip mall in Richmond, which officially opened in 1938 as Cary Street Park and Shop Center. 

Bordered by Thompson Street to the west and Arthur Ashe Boulevard to the east, Carytown is traditionally known for its bustling activity and its cascade of shoppers, diners, buskers and people watchers.

My Richmond Magazine overview of this celebrated "Mile of Style" has been rendered somewhat moot by the COVID-19 crisis. But I think that this expanded feature article still offers up a vivid snapshot of a place that was already undergoing changes and experiencing growing pains before the coronavirus struck. Richmond Magazine has provided a link in the piece to an updated piece on the area. 

Click here to read "Onward Along the Mile of Style." 

(Photo of Tom Roukous, owner of Coppola’s Deli by the mighty Jay Paul)

Virginia Golf: A Good Walk Improved

Virginia has many of the country’s best, most beautiful, most demanding golf courses and, even with challenges relating to changing demographics, high maintenance costs and marketing, they are ready for their closeup. 

From the rustic charm of The Olde Farm in Bristol to the novelty tees at Meadows Farms in Orange County, where one hole is designed like a baseball diamond and another is Guinness World Records-certified as the world’s longest, the strength of Virginia golf is its diversity.

My Virginia Business feature on the state of Virginia golf is now online and ready for tee time.  This sampling of prestigious fairways includes the Golden Horseshoe at Colonial Williamsburg, Kinloch Golf Club in Goochland County, the Omni Homestead's Cascades in Hot Springs, The Highlands course at Primlands in Patrick County, and Roanoke's Ballyhack Golf Club. 

Read "A Good Walk Improved" by clicking right here.

(Photo of Ian Sikes of Ballyhack by Don Petersen.)