The Seductive Serenade of Miramar

Miramar specializes in the beautiful, slow-burning male-female duet singing found in classic Latin American bolero music. Miramar singer Rei Alvarez and pianist Marlysse Rose Simmons are also key figures in the long-running Richmond salsa band Bio Ritmo. The third member is vocalist Laura Ann Singh.

My profile of the trio can be found in Virginia Living Magazine:

The three members of Miramar never knew they would be in the vanguard of an international resurgence in bolero music.  

“Suddenly a lot of musicians, especially in Puerto Rico, are releasing albums of boleros,” says Marlysse Simmons, keyboardist for the Richmond-based trio, which specializes in the long, smoldering male-female duet singing found in classic Latin American boleros—music fueled with minor chords, sinuous bass-lines and a slow motion groove. “People were asking me, ‘What’s this new movement all about?’ I would say, ‘I don’t know if it’s a movement. It’s a coincidence.’”  

And a happy one. The group’s debut full-length CD, Dedicated to Sylvia Rexach, shot to the top of the Latin music charts on Amazon.com upon its release in June. NBC Nightly News, CNN and NPR have hailed the disc, and a recent tour saw appearances at Washington, D.C.’s Kennedy Center and New York’s Lincoln Center.

Go here to read the rest of "Seductive Serenade"...

And to read my in-depth history of Bio Ritmo, which I penned for Richmond Magazine, go here.

(Photo by the mighty Chris Smith)

Kehinde Wiley: The Economy of Grace

The celebrated visual artist Kehinde Wiley recently brought his audacious, career-expanding "A New Republic" exhibit to the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. I attended his artist talk and filed this report for Richmond Magazine:

"I don't enjoy fist-raising political work," artist Kehinde Wiley told the sellout crowd at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts' Leslie Cheek Theater on Friday night. "My work, my passion, comes from a small gray area where we are all indicted."  

While establishment-challenging presidential candidate Donald Trump held a rally in downtown Richmond, a more colorful, and subtle, revolution was happening at the state museum a few miles west — the opening of Wiley's stirring "A New Republic" exhibition, a stunning and large-scale assemblage of the prolific African-American artist's work that sends a shot across the bow of everything the VMFA and other museums are about. Wiley's lecture — his only planned public appearance in connection with the exhibition — was eloquent and biting at the same time.

"I'm playing with the museum culture as a color in my palette," he told the (largely white) crowd. "Art is such a guilded rose, this ivory tower that we participate in presupposes that exclusion adds value to the appreciation of the work." He'd like to reverse that.

Click here to read the rest of "The Economy of Grace"...

(Photo by Travis Fullerton / VMFA)

Map of the Music: The Return of the Virginia Music Column

I'm pleased to announce that, after an absence, I have returned to Virginia Living Magazine as contributing editor and Virginia music columnist.

My first column back is about Richmond disc jockey and musical archivist Carl Hamm and his work in documenting the groovy "Pop Yeh-Yeh" music of Malaysia and Singapore.

Read it by clicking here. And to order Hamm's excellent and well-researched musical compilations, go here.

Below, you'll find an incomplete list of the other topics I have explored over the years in my Virginia Living column, which is still the only statewide music column out there. Unfortunately, most of these pieces are not documented online so you'll have to visit the library (or nearby doctor's office) to read these, or go online and order back issues of the magazine. You can do that here.

The early music of Jamestown
The Blue Ridge Institute and Museum at Ferrum College
John Cephas, Piedmont blues master from Bowling Green
WGH in Norfolk and the legacy of top-40 radio
Swamp Dogg, R&B/soul legend
The Rah-Bras, Richmond punk-pop trio
Mark Linkous of Sparklehorse
Robbin Thompson, singer-songwriter
The Ferguson Center for the Arts in Newport News
Archivist/engineer Chris King and the People Take Warning box set
The legacy of Portsmouth's Ruth Brown
The Lonesome Pine label and the Music of Coal box set
The James River Blues Society
The Virginia Foundation for the Humanities' "Crooked Road" CD series
Hobart Smith, banjo master
Invisible Hand, Charlottesville alt-rockers
Music producer Steve Buckingham
Barky's Spirituals record shop in Richmond
The Mockers, Hampton Roads power popsters
Maura Davis and Ambulette, Richmond alt-rockers
The Patsy Cline museum in Winchester
The Richmond Folk Festival
Special Ed and the Shortbus (now called the Hotseats)
Anousheh Khalili, singer-songwriter
Aside Oceans, Blacksburg hard-rockers.
Paul Shagrue, DJ and host of Norfolk's "Out of the Box"
The emergence of WRIR 97.3 FM in Richmond
Margot McDonald, NoVa singer-songwriter
Billy Ray Hatley, roots rock singer
The William & Mary Hip Hop Archive 
The Last Bison, Chesapeake folk-pop ensemble
The Trash Company, one-man Richmond funk pioneer

(Photo courtesy Carl Hamm)

By the Time I Get to Henrico: A Talk with Jimmy Webb

Someone left the cake out in the rain, and it was the legendary Jimmy Webb.

The Grammy-winning composer of such iconic tunes as "Wichita Lineman," "Up, Up and Away," "MacArthur Park" and "By the Time I Get to Phoenix," Webb was a small town Oklahoma farm kid who dreamed of writing popular hits, and eventually became one of the most celebrated (and imitated) composers of all time.

We talked about his early days at Motown, his views on songwriting, and his amazing collaborations with the likes of Glen Campbell and the late Richard Harris, among other things. My Richmond Magazine interview the man called "America's Songwriter" can be read here.

And for more on Jimmy Webb and his music, go here.

(Photo: The Press Office)

Interview with Lucy Dacus

My interview with up-and-coming Richmond singer-songwriter Lucy Dacus has been posted to the Virginia Living Magazine website. 

The talented and husky-voiced Dacus has been winning accolades and buzz from the likes of Rolling Stone, NPR and Spin Magazine for her recent debut disc on Egghunt Records. I caught up with her while she was on the road for her first big national tour.

Check the interview out right here.

For more on Lucy Dacus and her music, click this spot.

Interview with Insane Clown Posse

The Juggalos are among us!

My interview with Shaggy 2 Dope of Insane Clown Posse can be found at Richmond Magazine's website. The two-man ICP is still indulging in its distinctive aural mayhem after more than two decades of controversial "horror rap," and Shaggy (Joseph Utsler) talks about the duo's devotion to professional wrestling, the early Detroit rap scene, the changing music industry, and why the group's rabid fans -- the Juggalos -- have been officially classified as a "gang" by the F.B.I. We also address the unlikely strains of spirituality that some have found in their rancorous music.


Catch the mayhem by going right here. Photo courtesy Psychopathic Records.

Candy Land: A Look at the H.E. Williams Candy Company

The H.E. Williams company is Virginia's oldest and longest-running candy manufacturer. And the factory is still going strong, creating sweets the old-fashioned way.

Using much of the same archaic equipment that it started with, the family-run operation has been selling handmade hard candy (like its trademark Peach Buds) in South Norfolk for nearly 100 years. You won't find a more delicious throwback.

My feature article, "Candy Land," tells the story of this fascinating, defiantly old-school business -- no web presence, no credit cards, no social media -- and is now online at the Coastal Virginia Magazine site.

And, yes, I had to do a lot of very thorough research into H.E. Williams' products while writing this piece -- that's just the kind of diligent journalist I am.  Don't mention it. I'm just dedicated like that.

Read "Candy Land" by clicking right here.

(Photo by the sweet-toothed David Uhrin!)