“Katie Davis left home (Maine) at 16 and moved to Richmond Virginia. She started working in a tattoo shop at age 17. A total dream job for a music and art loving minor delinquent. While apprenticing and working full time, she also attended/graduated VCU with a BFA in...
Music has always been a mirror. It tells us who we are, what we value, and, sometimes, what we’re too afraid to face. But if music is supposed to reflect the world around us, then what does it say that so much of today’s mainstream music says… nothing at all? Richmond once had something to say. It made music that rattled cages, music that took a...
There are few people who can expose the playbooks of power quite like NYT bestselling author Cory Doctorow—unraveling how tech monopolies, political elites, and radicalization can converge at a singular point. As a science fiction writer, activist, and former European Director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, he’s always been at the...
Gallery5 and the surrounding blocks of Jackson Ward became a portal to the past, where the clang of steel, the scent of woodsmoke, and the hum of lively conversation set the scene for the Richmond Renaissance Faire’s fundraising kickoff. Organized by Virago Alley in collaboration with The Richmond Moon Market, the event aimed to build support for...
I am very grateful for this job, purely for the amount of new music I become aware of. This week, we got some softer stuff that I normally would not have been hip to, but now it's going into regular rotation.If you’ve got any tips, send them my way. Got a show coming up? New single? Simply want someone to talk music? I am your guy at...
TROY and Fan Ran link up for a joint that’s less a track and more a cipher carved in concrete—an underground testament to Richmond’s hip-hop lineage, equal parts street sermon and boom-bap baptism. The energy is straight off a dubbed Maxell cassette, that golden-era grit where the drums snap like corner store gossip and the bassline hums like an...
On February 27, 2025, Richmond's hip-hop community converged at RVA Boombox to honor the legendary J Dilla during Dilla Day VA. The event, which was also joined by Ma Dukes, Dilla's mother, transformed the venue into a sanctuary for beat enthusiasts, including a beat battle judged by heavyweights Bink and Nottz with sets by ProducerPlugUni and...
We love music. We love Richmond’s music venues. We love the city’s record shops. Now that we’ve covered the obvious, we’re excited to introduce Weekend Frequency—a weekly, reader-curated playlist made for the city, by the city. It’s a continuation of our RVA Mag Weekend Playlists, a series we ran for years before the pandemic, featuring...
Maybe it is a facade but the weather is nice and life is returning to the streets of Richmond. The parks are full, the lines for ice cream are long, and hopefully the venues are packed. Check out one of these shows, enjoy the weather, and pretend you are in a movie.If you’ve got any tips, send them my way. Got a show coming up? New single? Simply...
Ipanema is gone. You probably saw it on Reddit, sandwiched between a blurry photo of a pothole and a debate about whether the city’s latest apartment complex looks more like a dentist’s office or a minimum-security prison. The regulars lamented. The former regulars nodded knowingly. A few people squinted and asked, Wait, that place was still...
