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For These Artists, PrideFest Is More Than Performance 🏳️‍🌈

Editor’s Note: RVA Magazine is proud to partner with Virginia PrideFest, happening Saturday, September 12, and to produce the annual Pride Guide celebrating Richmond and Virginia’s LGBTQ+ community.  We’d also like to thank the following sponsors who made the 2026...

Photo | Ringside at RVA Wrestling’s Return to CarMax Park

This past Saturday RVA Wrestling returned to CarMax Park to bring a little something extra to a night out with the Richmond Flying Squirrels. Bodies flew, rivalries played out and the smack talk was flying as the crowd joined in on the chaos that makes Richmond’s...

Infinite Expansions: A Conversation with Lonnie Liston Smith

Exclusive Q&A with Lonnie Liston Smith below. Today was a good day. This very magazine’s Landon Shroder invited me to interview one of Richmond’s real living legends, jazz impresario Lonnie Liston Smith. On September 13, they will be screening selections from the...

What the Hell is VITCO? We Went to Find Out.

Editor’s Note: This story was produced in partnership with Virginia Transit Company (VITCO). There are few large-ish pieces of real estate in the city proper that have been more screaming for development than the fallow field bordered by Clay Street and Hermitage...

Review | Little Bear Ridge Road is an Artistic Gut Punch

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...

Be Kind, Rewind! Welcome to Monster Video

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...

Cosmic Jazz Legend Lonnie Liston Smith is Returning to Richmond

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...

VICTIM15 From RVA to MIA: Introducing EXPRESS YO’SELF RVA

In all of my years studying historical costume and working in Fashion, interestingly enough, I have just realized that great designers are not just creators of clothes—they are creators of movements! They inspire movement in our latent potential of being, and movement in our collective progression towards higher levels of showing up in the world...

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EXPRESS YO’SELF RVA 2023

Are Richmond Beards Still a Thing? 

“He that hath no beard is less than a man.” William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing  Are beards still popular in RVA?  Historically, facial hair goes in and out of fashion and some say we reached peak beard several years ago. Its death has been announced many times since.  Celebrities are mostly clean-shaven these days, hipsters came and...

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Are Richmond Beards Still a Thing? by Terry Hurley, photo by Jay Wennington

Richmond to Louisville: How a Community Exposed One Man’s Secret

Drew Spruill was the owner of Yesterday's Heroes vintage clothing store in Richmond’s Fan district. The store abruptly closed in 2018 after sexual assault allegations towards Spruill. Spruill left the Richmond area although no criminal charges were ever filed against him. Five years later a community in Louisville made the connection that an...

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Drew Spruill of Yesterday's Heroes story 2023

In the Heat of the Night Vol. 13: Bye Bye Summer

It's sad to say but summer is coming to a close for this year. Over the 3 months, our team has documenting a city that never really sleeps, painting a portrait of the post-sunset scene. This is our last week of this series and Jody Adams, our resident photographer, hit up the outdoor stage at Brambly Park. From there, it was off to Babes, where...

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In The Heat Of The Night Vol. 13 by Jody Adams

In the Heat of the Night Vol. 10: Sizzlin’ Summer BBQ

In the River City, when the summer sun dips below the horizon, the nightlife ignites, pulsing with a rhythm all its own, a rocking vibe that captures the city’s true spirit. Our on-the-ground lensman, Jody Adams, has been out there, guitar pick in one hand, camera in the other, hitting everything from The Camel's fiery live shows to City Beach's...

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In The Heat Of The Night Vol. 10 by Jody Adams

In The Heat Of The Night Vol. 9: The Dog Days Of Summer

As we nosedive into the sultry sizzle of summer, the city's asphalt starts to offer a small breath of relief but, let me tell you, Richmond's nightlife doesn't know the meaning of chill. This week, our shutterbug in residence, Jody Adams, was beating the pavement, venturing everywhere from the ear-bleedingly loud metal shows deep in the Ipanema's...

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Mahlina Shoats Is A Survivor

I was at a concert when Jonathan Facka called me. Of course, I did not hear my phone ring, so he immediately followed up with a text message. "I wanna pitch you something," was all that he would let on. The next morning, completely oblivious to whatever he was going to ask of me, I called him and listened to him give me the footnotes to a...

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Mahlina Shoats 2023 by Daniel Jones @danieljonesfoto

Jon Cope on the Clash of Old Richmond Attitudes and The New Influence

It was a breezy night, and I was happy to be wearing the sale-rack blazer from Macy’s. I walked back out to the middle of 2nd Street to see if the Apollo roach I flicked was still there. It was gone or I couldn’t see it. My editor asked me to write about RVA Fashion Week and here I am thinking how in the hell was I going to write an article about...

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Jon Cope interview by Ryan Kent 2023