Ten years ago, Richmond drummer, bandleader, and all-around musical utility player Kelli Strawbridge released Kings, a collaborative soul and funk record built alongside producer and keyboardist DJ Harrison of Butcher Brown. The album arrived at a moment when...
Dispatch number two: The State of Science in 2025 Join us for Salon de Résistance on September 25 at Black Iris for a conversation about science in America. Scientific progress shouldn't be optional. From vaccines and clean energy to space exploration and evolutionary discoveries that map our common ancestry, science is the backbone of our public...
Sierra Ferrell took over Brown’s Island earlier this week, transforming Richmond’s riverfront into fantasy. Surrounded by oversized mushrooms, flowers, and a stage dressed like an Appalachian fever dream, Ferrell delivered a set that moved easily from honky-tonk stomp to hushed ballad. H The show drew one of the largest audiences of the Brown’s...
"The absurd is the essential concept and the first truth" - Albert Camus Dispatch NUmber One: Salon de Résistance | presented by RVA Mag, Black Iris, and Le Cachet Dulcet Not long ago, salons were a catalyst for intellectual expression. Spaces where creators, philosophers, and the avant-garde would connect, trading ideas that blurred the lines of...
It’s early afternoon at Kuba Kuba, and the place is buzzing. Coffee cups clatter, plates hit the counter, and over it all, Melissa Vaughn is already in motion. Before we’ve even ordered our food, she’s out of her chair, greeting someone at the table next to us like a long-lost friend, leaning in to compliment another patron on their work. ...
Nothing but insanely stacked bills this week. Indie, hip hop, alternative, it’s all popping off, and I can’t wait to be part of it. Got a show coming up? New single? Simply want someone to talk music? I am your guy at griffin@rvamag.com. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CprfjfN5PRs Get tickets HERE The Richmond All Star Ozzy Osbourne Tribute...
Over a century ago, engineers from the Edison Company hauled their bulky recording equipment from New Jersey to Richmond, Virginia. In 1909, they captured one of the first interracial recording sessions in American history: Polk Miller, a white Confederate veteran with a banjo, performing alongside a Black vocal quartet. Even though he broke...
Sat beneath a shifting sun and a canopy teeming with chittering cicadas, Madison Turner and I ran the gamut. I first heard of her while I was covering the local music scene for a VCU student publication, and her angsty, self-critical, maniacally upbeat tunes spoke to my brittle emo heart. I’ve gotten to know her a bit through sporadic...
Richmond gets it. More than any other city in Virginia. That’s why we created Weekend Frequency, a reader-curated playlist built for the city, by the city. Each week, a different voice from Richmond’s creative community shares the sounds that move them, shaping the soundtrack of our weekends together. This week’s playlist comes...
Got a couple icons of the American alternative scene in town, which pairs well with some local killers in the same realm. Some chill, some not, some right in the middle. Got a show coming up? New single? Simply want someone to talk music? I am your guy at griffin@rvamag.com. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ba44JRAjpV4 Superchunk, Cor De...
