Out of towners from far and wide this week. Got some reggae in town this week which is always exciting. Not too much reggae in RVA if you know sumthin I don’t, tap me in. Got a show coming up? New single? Simply want someone to talk music? Hit me up...
The first time I saw Shera Shi was after stepping back into Richmond’s music scene, following a few years away during the quarantine-era shutdown. One of the best things about catching live music in RVA is stumbling onto “new to you” bands while showing up for the ones you already know. That’s exactly what happened at a spring 2023 show at Get...
There comes a time in every person's life when you have to ask the question: Should I spend an evening in close proximity with a 6'7" comic working through their personal issues? The answer, is of course, a resounding yes! Now that we're all living in this space together, we highly recommend you go see Drew Drevyanko at Reveler on May...
I love finding a wild card for this column. This week we have one of my favorite sings of my youth, a lovely collection of locals, and a little harp because I have free will and so do you. Got a show coming up? New single? Simply want someone to talk music? I am your guy at griffin@rvamag.com. FRIDAY CHEERS! Chaparelle, The Jack Wharff...
The Bloody Beetroots were never meant to fit neatly into anyone’s playlist. Born out of punk rage, electronic chaos, and the restless energy of Italian musician Sir Bob Cornelius Rifo, the project has spent nearly two decades stomping over genre lines and expectations. Since first crashing onto the scene in 2006, Rifo has built a career that’s...
Last weekend in Richmond, Remi Wolf took Brown’s Island and didn’t give it back. Her sound doesn’t fit in a box — pop, funk, soul, indie — all smashed together and dragged through the dirt. Openly fluid, proudly weird, she’s built a world where you don’t ask permission to be yourself — you just are. The music hit like a punch and a field full of...
Caravan Palace hit 9:30 Club in DC a weeks ago and blew the place open to a packed house. No speeches, no slow build — just lights up, beats heavy, and bodies moving. The French group has made a name twisting swing and electronic into something reckless and alive, and they delivered exactly that. Live instruments swapped mid-song, slick visuals...
Richmond gets it. More than any other city in Virginia. So here’s Weekend Frequency, a weekly, reader-curated playlist built for the city, by the city. Weekend Frequency is part revival and part continuation of our RVA Mag Weekend Playlists which we curated before the world flipped upside down in 2020. Feel free to dig through our...
“Children walk into school with guns and execute their classmates and teachers. And we just say, ‘There’s nothing we can do about it.’” That line from my recent conversation with Randy Blythe hit me the hardest. And I have a high tolerance for pain. As I was writing this piece, a gunman walked into Florida State University and killed two...
Richmond Independent Radio (WRIR-LP 97.3 FM) is hitting the big 2-0, and this is not just some tired “anniversary” event, it’s a vibe. Since 2005, WRIR has been the soundtrack of Richmond’s wild, ever-evolving cultural landscape. As the largest low-power FM station in the United States, WRIR has lived up to its promise of being the loudspeaker...
