u/snooka77_

On Monday night, close to 300 to people packed into Studio Two Three in Richmond for a town hall about data centers, moderated by Gray Montrose and co-hosted by Henrico Civic Action and Data Center Defiance. 

I went to get a better sense of where Richmonders are from the activist side, and to better understand the issue myself. Virginia has spent years building the largest concentration of data centers in the world and the decisions being made now will affect all of us for decades to come. 

Speakers came from the Sierra Club Virginia Chapter, Friends of Hanover and Stop Hanover Data Centers, Data Center Defiance, The Brockovich Report and The Balm in Gilead. 

This wasn’t a room full of people complaining about data centers as almost everyone there seemed aware of the issue at this point. This was more of a community conversation about how to get organized and, ultimately, how to stop these projects, or at least force more public input.

“We keep hearing we’re not mad enough,” moderator Gray Montrose told the crowd near the beginning of the night. “I think everybody in this room is pretty mad, but we’re learning a lot more details about why.”

via RVA Magazine

Read more, see more: https://rvamag.com/community/i-went-to-the-data-center-town-hall-at-studio-two-three.html

Little Bear Ridge Road, does something you rarely see in popular media these days. It reminisces on the period during and just after Covid. Somehow, collectively, we’ve silently agreed to just not talk about it anymore. We don’t want to relive it on TV, in books, or on the stage. The last ten years in this country will surely result in some great cinema in the future, but not yet. This topic has been on several people’s minds in my circles in the last few weeks. It keeps coming up. The national trauma we’ve endured has been suppressed and shuttered behind exhausted souls. Last night I got a hint as to why.

I think we had way too much time to think about ourselves during lockdown. Our relationships, our histories, and our futures, (which felt like a solid “maybe” at the time), were at the defendants’ table, and a lot of us could only hope for a plea deal. We’d become disconnected, reliant on corporations and their apps to access the simplest of routine services. We’d become compliant with the incessant data mining, exploitation, and manipulation by the very worst people in the entire world. We kept feeding ourselves to a beast that laughed at us while it chewed our bones.

And when it was over, the entire world was worse. All of our insights and wisdom gained were for nothing. Our trajectories were heading straight for the nearest iceberg, and none of us had enough energy to give a shit. As we crash, rupture, and submerge in 2026, do we need to be reminded of how we failed ourselves?

I have to admit, when the play opens and our protagonist, Matt Meixler’s Ethan, is wearing a mask, I felt a little triggered. Just the sight of the thing, mixed with the uneasy conversation, led to the inevitable question: “Is he going to wear that the whole performance?” Did the actor need it, or is this in the script?

The play opens with dialogue mirroring conversations I haven’t heard in the last four years but that were shockingly familiar. My mind wandered for a bit on these topics, but I brought myself back to the show before I missed anything important.

Besides the setting, the play isn’t about Covid. It involves the intersection of two estranged family members. Ethan, a middle-aged and displaced writer, is seeking closure on his father’s recent death and shelter with his only living relative, his longtime-estranged Aunt Sarah.

The duo recognize themselves as the last of the family line and explore what has led their once-thriving clan in rural Idaho to ruin. A new person comes into their lives and challenges their boundaries. The lost jobs, lost homes, cabin fever, dysregulated emotions, all of our favorite Covid memories, are back to poke you in the third eye again.

I’ll leave the rest of the plot for you to discover at the Theatre Gym, presented by Virginia Repertory Theatre, showing now through September 6. It’s a doozy.

via RVA Magazine

Read more, see more: https://rvamag.com/art/theatre/review-little-bear-ridge-road-is-an-artistic-gut-punch.html

Join us for a special edition of Salon de Résistance on Thursday, August 27 at Black Iris with former senior USAID official and whistleblower Nicholas Enrich, author of the New York Times bestseller Into the Wood Chipper: A Whistleblower’s Account of How the Trump Administration Shredded USAID. Presented in collaboration with Shelf Life Books, this salon is free and open to the public.

Doors at 6pm. Conversation at 7pm. Event page here. 

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Not all acts of government are final. Budgets can be restored. Policies reinstated. Laws reversed. Wars ended. Institutions can be reorganized. 

But the dead can’t be brought back. 

When Trump and Elon Musk began dismantling USAID under DOGE in early 2025, the argument was framed around efficiency, waste, and cost-savings. But those claims were nebulous at best and outright nefarious at worst. They were part of an ideologically driven campaign that tapped into decades of resentment toward foreign aid, wrapped in the language of America First.

For more than 60 years, USAID was the frontline. The work was pragmatic and necessary: vaccines reached clinics, food found communities before famine, public health systems were strengthened before local diseases became global ones, while democracy and peace building initiatives secured our national security interests abroad. 

But then overnight it was summarily dismantled. Programs were frozen. Contracts canceled. Foreign Service Officers and administrators were fired and publicly vilified. Organizations that spent decades building global networks to combat humanitarian crises couldn’t find funding. By the end of 2025, 90 percent of USAID’s global grants had been terminated. 

As a result, hundreds of thousands of people have died globally. A moral choice made for the American people without consultation or conversation. 

Those consequences were not theoretical. They were real. Nicholas Enrich understood that better than most having spent years inside USAID, eventually becoming the agency’s Acting Assistant Administrator for Global Health. But as the agency’s dismantling accelerated, Enrich chose to stand on principle, becoming one of the first senior officials inside the government to publicly document what was happening—he became a whistleblower. 

Through memos and internal records shared with major media outlets, his disclosures helped expose the consequences of DOGE’s assault on USAID and directly contributed to hundreds of lifesaving aid projects being restored. A principled stand that ultimately led to his administrative leave and eventual termination. 

The result of this experience is Into the Wood Chipper, his NYT best selling account of USAID’s destruction from inside the agency. This salon, however, is not just about what happened to USAID. It’s also about what happens when government leverages an ideological position in a political war on itself.

via RVA Magazine

Read more, see more: https://rvamag.com/events/salon-de-resistance/nicholas-enrich-usaid-into-the-wood-chipper.html

On a hot day in June, while visiting The Veiled Mirror and talking with them about collecting old books and DVDs, I was told that next door would be opening as a VHS video store soon. All throughout July, several of my friends who knew of my movie library habit started sharing with me news stories about the opening of Monster Video in downtown RVA. Putting 2 and 2 together, I thought it would be a great idea to stop in and talk to the shop’s proprietor, Cody Denzler, about the importance of having a personal media library, rekindling feelings of what it felt like browsing video store rows, and redistributing actual pieces and artifacts of the collective story of pop culture by finding them new homes.

The first thing I noticed walking into Monster Video was a giant Frankenstein in the window and a My Pet Monster sitting in a vintage school chair, both such important icons and precious to my own childhood growing up in the ’80s.

via RVA Magazine

Read more, see more: https://rvamag.com/community/be-kind-rewind-welcome-to-monster-video.html

Just announced: Cosmic Echo Live, taking place at the historic Hippodrome Theatre on September 13, will celebrate the life, music, and legacy of Richmond-born cosmic jazz icon Lonnie Liston Smith. The event will feature live performances, stories from across his remarkable career, and a heavy-weight lineup of some of Richmond’s most accomplished musicians and artists.

For many, Lonnie might not be a household name. But among DJs, producers, jazz, soul, funk musicians, hip hop artists, and vinyl-lovers who’ve spent decades searching and sampling his forgotten masterpieces, he’s long been regarded as one of the great architects of modern music. 

And over the last five decades, Lonnie’s records have become some of the most sampled in rap and hip hop history, finding new listeners through artists like Jay-Z, Digable Planets, J-Cole, Stetsasonic, Madvillain, Chance the Rapper, and Mary J. Blige. At the same time, records like Expansions became foundational to DJ and club culture throughout the United Kingdom and Europe, helping usher in a generation of dance music that extended far beyond American audiences.

From a musical family in Richmond’s Church Hill neighborhood, Lonnie grew up immersed in music. 

ia RVA Magazine

Read more, see more: https://rvamag.com/music/funk-jazz/cosmic-echo-live-richmond.html

The Water Lantern Festival is back in Richmond on Saturday, August 22nd. Think thousands of personalized glowing lanterns floating on the water, with live music, food, and generally good vibes moving along with them.

You get a lantern to make your own. On it, you write a message, draw something, remember someone, make a wish, and in the process generally put down, or lift up, that thing you have been carrying around in your being. As the sun goes down, everyone puts their lanterns in the water together, giving you some time to process and reflect. A little catharsis? That sounds about right.

This year’s theme is part of the festival’s new Radiant Tour, which organizers hope puts a little more focus on that reflection part and creates more connection between people than simply being there to get more content as all these lanterns float across the water.

via RVA Magazine

Read more, see more: https://rvamag.com/community/thousands-of-lanterns-to-light-up-dorey-park.html

The 2026 Richmond Jazz and Music Festival took place this past weekend, August 8 and 9, at Maymont with over 20 performers. It was a hot and humid weekend, with the majority of festivalgoers either camped out in shaded lawn chairs or arriving right before sunset. Amidst the heat, people showed out all weekend long, energized and belting all the classics. And with staggered performances across the two main stages, festivalgoers didn’t have to miss a single thing.

.... and to top it off, Erykah Badu took us on a spaceship ride through her timeless discography and beyond. Utilizing multiple looping and sound machines, she gave new life and texture to her well-loved classics, from “On & On” to “Window Seat.” She had the crowd on their feet, singing, laughing, lighting incense, and completely entranced by her interactive light show. If there ever was an Erykah Badu performance to witness, this was the one!

via RVA Magazine

Read more, see more: https://rvamag.com/music/rhythm-soul/photos-erykah-badu-lupe-fiasco-and-more-at-richmond-jazz-festival.html

It’s that time of year when the U-Hauls come rolling in, parents are circling the block looking for parking, and thousands of new VCU students are about to move in and get their first real taste of Richmond. There are about 4,500 new students and 1,500 transfer students coming in, so you might want to avoid the chaos around Monroe Park this weekend.

Sooner or later, all those students will want something to eat. If you would rather spend your money supporting local without breaking the bank, Richmond has a ton of options. From pizza and dumplings to diners, food carts, and coffee shops, we can help you get through the weekend and the school year.

Here is our guide to eating local around VCU’s campus on a budget. As always, if we missed anything, drop us a line.

via RVA Magazine

Read more, see more: https://rvamag.com/eatdrink/skip-the-chains-vcus-guide-to-cheap-ish-local-eats.html

For a decade, the mural outside the Romantix adult store, formerly Taboo, on Midlothian Turnpike has been one of Richmond’s most debated pieces of public art. Now it’s gone, replaced by a new collaboration between tattoo artist and muralist Jesse Smith and Miami-based artist Tatiana Suarez.

The original mural, painted by Smith and Peruvian artist Miguel de Cuadro in 2015, became one of Richmond’s most talked about public artworks. As news outlets covered the project, Smith said the conversation took on a life of its own. 

“We didn’t think anything of it, and then all of a sudden the news started showing up because they were getting complaints,” Smith said. “People thought the girl was too young. Other people thought the apple represented sin. People were just kind of pushing their own ideas onto what the mural meant.” 

Smith said none of those interpretations reflected the artists’ intentions. “Miguel paints women all the time, I do critters, and we just put it all together. Then all of a sudden people are talking about the age of the woman on the wall and pedophilia and all this weird stuff. It’s crazy.” 

Looking back, Smith believes the reaction had less to do with the artwork itself than where it was painted. “I think the real problem is they just don’t want a sex shop. They don’t want attention brought to it. If it was on the side of an ice cream store or something, I don’t think people would have been upset.”

via RVA Magazine

Read more, see more: https://rvamag.com/art/street-art/richmonds-famous-romantix-mural-gets-a-new-chapter.html

I had a lot of fun writing this one up. Looks like there are tons of my local favorites out and about this week, new tunes from some Richmond staples, what else could you want.

Got a show coming up? New single? Simply want someone to talk music? Hit us up at griffin@rvamag.com.

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FLY ANAKIN, NICKELUS F, MUTANT ACADEMY
SUNDAY AUGUST 9TH AT RICHMOND MUSIC HALL

Insane lineup of local hip hop talent on this Richmond Music Hall bill.

First we will take a look at Fly Anakin, one of the biggest names to come out of the city. Fly Anakin is extremely talented as both a producer and a rapper and has some songs that just float around your ears. His most recent record dropped June 12 and holds your attention from the first beat. This record makes great use of those real smooth, classic soul style instrumentals that balance really well with Fly Anakin’s tired and breathless vocals. He takes some more risks with songs like “YOUGOTME!!” that pay off really well and change the pace of the album in a really refreshing way.

Next we got one of my personal favorites in the local scene, Nickelus F.. His newest record, Hardbody, dropped on the 5th and is another win in F’s catalog. He boasts some of my favorite deliveries, not just in the local scene, but in the entire hip hop world. I thought his 2025 album, Disclosure Vol. 1, was one of the best Richmond records of that year, and he is making a good case for this year as well. This record continues to show off his talent as both a lyricist and a producer, and it is safe to say he is making the city proud.

The show is being filled out by Mutant Academy, featuring Big Kahuna OG and Henny Lo, overall shaping this to be one of the most exciting shows this year.

via RVA Magazine

Read more, see more: https://rvamag.com/music/rva-live-music-fly-anakin-nickelus-f-mutant-academy-dogstar-rodeo-boys-celler-dwellers.html

She decided to finally leave.

Maybe it was after years of abuse, or after one violent night too many. Maybe it was the first time she truly believed that if she stayed, she might not survive. Whatever brought her to that moment, making the call took courage. 

On the other end of the hotline is someone trained to listen, help create a safety plan, and find shelter. They want to help, but there isn’t a shelter bed available, the counseling program has a waiting list, and the organization has reached its limits.

What happens now?

For some survivors, advocates say, there is nowhere else to go. They return to the person they were trying to escape, not because they want to, but because the safety net they were counting on isn’t there.

It’s a reality Mary Maupai, executive director of Safe Harbor, says her staff confronts every day in the Richmond region. “Our shelters are full,” Maupai said. Safe Harbor operates two emergency shelters and two transitional homes, two serving survivors of domestic and sexual violence and two dedicated to survivors of human trafficking. All four are at capacity.

When someone calls the hotline needing emergency shelter, Safe Harbor first tries to place them in a local hotel while waiting for space to open but that’s only a temporary solution. “We can’t put people up in a hotel forever and ever,” Maupai said. “We assist them as long as we can, but if there’s no room in the shelter, it’s kind of like there’s no room in the inn.”

The strain doesn’t end there. Safe Harbor’s counseling program currently has a waiting list of between 75 and 100 people, and Maupai said the organization needs at least two additional counselors but doesn’t have the funding to hire them.

A new report from the Virginia Sexual & Domestic Violence Action Alliance, a statewide nonprofit that supports Virginia’s network of victim service agencies, suggests Safe Harbor’s experience is part of a much broader trend. Since 2020, federal funding for victim services has fallen by more than half, while organizations across Virginia continue to face staffing shortages, full shelters, and growing demand for services. The report found fewer survivors are being served today than five years ago, not because fewer people need help, advocates say, but because many organizations have reached the limits of what they can provide.

via RVA Magazine

Read more, see more: https://rvamag.com/community/as-funding-shrinks-richmonds-safety-net-is-full.html

Editor’s Note: Writers Block is an occasional series featuring personal essays, reflections, and creative nonfiction from Richmond-area writers. In Seeing Richmond Through Their Eyes, Gabriella Ryan shares how a month spent showing her Italian cousins around Richmond changed the way she sees the city she calls home.

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The world looks different now. The eyes of my Italian cousins have opened mine. They have been here for over a month, and I’ve shown them Richmond. Now I see the wonder in which we live.

Elisabetta is in her fifties, and Sofia is seventeen. They have never flown on an airplane or been very far away from Montagnana, a medieval, castle-walled Italian city of 9,000. We picked them up from Dulles Airport, kissing and hugging for as long as we could reasonably do so.

On the two-hour ride home to Richmond, our cousins were shocked at the size of the cars and the streets. The highways were intersecting, and some were rising into the air. It was a ride of oohs and ahhs about all the cement.

Later, in contrast, trees lined both sides of the highway. They were very impressed by the number, beauty, and size of our trees!

When we arrived at our home in Bon Air, they raved about the size of our house and their bedrooms. They said everything is bigger in America, and even the space around them seemed spacious.

via RVA Magazine

Read more, see more: https://rvamag.com/community/seeing-richmond-through-their-eyes.html

In the electric and perpetually sincere terrain of Richmond’s theatre culture, there are institutions that do more than merely reside, they lead. They serve as a measure of our city’s potential beyond its natural aspirations.

I’ve witnessed Firehouse Theatre inhabit that essential niche, becoming the forge where the art takes shape. It isn’t just a stage for viewing. It’s the delivery room where stories are conceived, deconstructed, and hammered into something that truly echoes.

I recently caught up with the duo currently tending to that creative fire: Nathaniel Shaw, now settled into his seat as executive director, and Katrinah Carol Lewis, who has just taken the helm as artistic director. If you have your finger on the pulse of Richmond theatre, these figures are already familiar. They’ve made indelible marks on many local and regional stages, in the wings, and in the heavy lifting of building a legacy.

Our talk, however, moved past the surface level of new titles or the excitement of a fresh chapter. We dug into a foundational evolution of how a theatre in a town like ours can function, expand, and nourish an entire community of creators alongside its audience.

via RVA Magazine

Read more, see more: https://rvamag.com/art/theatre/can-firehouse-put-richmond-on-the-national-theatre-map.html

Phish is bringing its legendary live show back to Richmond for the first time in more than three decades. The Vermont jam band has announced an eight-show October tour that includes a two-night stop at Allianz Amphitheateron October 6 and 7. Richmond is one of just four cities on the band’s brief fall run, joining Atlantic City, Jacksonville, and Huntsville.

Fans can submit ticket requests HERE through Monday, August 10 at noon ET. Any remaining tickets will go on sale to the general public beginning Friday, August 14 at 10 a.m. ET.

This will be Phish’s first Richmond performance in 32 years but the band actually has a long history here. Between 1990 and 1994, Phish played eight Richmond shows while still climbing from cult favorite to one of America’s biggest touring acts. Those early stops included now legendary local venues like The Jade Elephant, The Library, Kahootz, Flood Zone, and the Classic Amphitheater, you can see that list HERE.

via RVA Magazine

Read more, see more: https://rvamag.com/music/reggae-jam/phish-announces-two-night-richmond-run-at-allianz-amphitheater.html

Djo, the musical project of actor and musician Joe Keery, made his Richmond debut at Allianz Amphitheater on Friday night, drawing a packed crowd for one of the summer’s most anticipated indie shows. Best known to many as Steve Harrington from Stranger Things, Keery has carved out a hugely successful music career with Djo, blending psychedelic pop and synth-driven indie rock. Backed by a full band, towering lighting rigs, and one of the largest crowds the amphitheater has hosted this summer, Djo turned the venue into a sea of singing fans.

Australian psych rock favorites Pond opened the night with a set that complemented Djo’s dreamy pop sensibilities. Earlier in the day, members of the band stopped by Richmond favorite 3 Monkeys Bar & Grill.The restaurant later shared a photo with Tame Impala mastermind Kevin Parker, who was in town with the tour, sending local fans into a minor frenzy.

via RVA Magazine

Read more, see more: https://rvamag.com/music/rock-indie/photos-djo-pond-at-allianz-amphitheater.html

Seven Virginia hemp businesses have filed a federal lawsuit arguing that while the state has the authority to regulate hemp products, it cannot destroy the value of existing businesses and lawfully acquired inventory without providing just compensation.

The complaint, filed Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia, challenges Virginia’s new hemp law, which takes effect Aug. 15, as an unconstitutional taking under the Takings Clause of the U.S. Constitution’s Fifth Amendment. It also alleges violations of the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and similar protections under the Virginia Constitution.

Unlike an earlier lawsuit that challenged Virginia’s authority to regulate hemp, this complaint accepts that the state has the power to regulate the industry. Instead, it argues lawmakers changed the rules after businesses made significant investments in inventory, equipment, leases and other commitments under the previous regulatory framework, rendering those investments largely worthless without adequate time to adjust or just compensation.

The lawsuit asks a federal judge to issue a preliminary injunction blocking enforcement of the law while the constitutional challenge proceeds. The plaintiffs are represented by former Virginia State Sen. Chap Petersen.

Named as defendants are Gov. Abigail Spanberger, Attorney General Jay Jones, the Virginia Cannabis Control Authority, Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services Commissioner Charles Green, Acting Virginia Cannabis Control Authority Executive Director Jamie Patten, and several Commonwealth’s Attorneys responsible for enforcing the law in the jurisdictions where the plaintiffs operate.

via RVA Magazine

Read more, see more: https://rvamag.com/news-headlines/virginia-news/virginia-hemp-businesses-sue-claim-new-thc-law-wipes-out-millions-in-investments.html

For one weekend, Agecroft Hall stopped being a museum and became a kingdom. 

What began as a fundraiser to help launch Richmond’s first Renaissance Faire has grown into a destination of its own. Warriors in Bloom, created by the folks at Virago Alley, returned with more performers, more artisans, more storytelling, and the kind of fun that reminds you Richmond has always been good at making its own myths.

Photos by Vinny Candela

via RVA Magazine

Read more, see more: https://rvamag.com/art/theatre/photos-warriors-in-bloom-at-agecroft-hall.html

It is the start of the most wonderful time of the year! Punks for Presents is back with their first show of the year, lots of other exciting acts gearing up for a weekend in town, keep your eyes open and your ears even more.

Got a show coming up? New single? Simply want someone to talk music? Hit us up at griffin@rvamag.com.

Erin Lunsford, Sasha Landon
Friday July 31st at The Camel

We got another great album release celebration at The Camel. Erin Lunsford, whom you may know as the lead vocalist of Erin & the Wildfires just released her second record. The LP, entitled Rhinestones, is a sweet and sincere country collection propelled by the strong and unmistakable vocals of Lunsford. The record balances stripped back indie/country with more dramatic, dynamic, and upbeat pop structures and sounds. It creates something pretty unique and interesting, letting it fit in any number of classy venues or dimly lit, smoky clubs. I think the overall sound is comparable to some of the bigger pop/country acts, but it has those stronger Virginia roots that keep it grounded and real.

Joining Lunsford is Sasha Landon, who you may know as one third of the incredible folk act Palmyra. Sasha is an absolutely incredible songwriter. They have a way of making you feel seen, heard, held, understood, and all those other things. The lyrics can be cutting and brutally accurate in moments of loss just as easily as they can be light and breezy words of whimsy. Their music feels like a faded record you would find in a thrift store. You turn it on, and you wonder where it has been, where it is from, but in the end you forget all your questions and drift off with the tunes.

via RVA Magazine

Read more, see more: https://rvamag.com/music/rva-live-music-punks-for-presents-erin-lunsford-billy-bob-thornton-the-boxmasters-belly-of-the-heart.html

An on-the-ground account of the strike that prompted Jesse Welles and Graham Nash to cancel their Richmond performances.

Tensions escalated as Jesse Welles called off his performance at Lewis Ginter Botanical Gardenyesterday amid an ongoing union fight for higher wages.

When I arrived, a healthy crowd had gathered outside the large iron gates. I was quickly offered signs and water by striking workers, community members showing their support, and Welles fans who had stayed to stand with them.

I tried to approach a member of the Lewis Ginter staff who was still working and introduced myself as a journalist, but I was immediately told to leave the property.

via RVA Magazine

Read more, see more: https://rvamag.com/news-headlines/richmond-news/dispatch-from-the-lewis-ginter-picket-line.html

Last summer, Dan Kleban was days away from launching his Senate campaign in Maine when the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) called and told him not to. They were already lining up behind Governor Janet Mills and wouldn’t support him if he were to continue. Kleban delayed his launch, and by the time he threw his hat into the ring, it was too late: Graham Platner had already captivated the base.

When I ran for Congress in Virginia’s First District, I received a similar demand from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), which threatened to spend against me and threatened to do opposition research to get me out of the race. Thousands of people across the country chipped in to my campaign. I showed up in all 18 localities in the district nearly a year before the primary election. But none of it mattered, because the DCCC had already decided which candidate it wanted.

via RVA Magazine

Read more, see more: https://rvamag.com/politics/opinion-its-time-to-rethink-primaries.html