Every good music scene has a few rooms that become bigger than themselves. They rarely make headlines while they're open, but their importance becomes obvious when they disappear. For Harrisonburg, The Golden Pony was one of those places. After eleven years of hosting...
The GIANTS! Exhibition Preview Party was last night at VMFA, and for the first time in my 20+ years moving within Richmond’s arts scene, I saw a mix of people I honestly didn’t expect to ever share the same room. High-end collectors, street artists, curators, younger creatives, and this new art-forward middle class moving into the city were all...
Every morning at 9 a.m. in Vinnytsia, Ukraine, the world stops. Cars freeze in the streets, trams halt mid-track, and pedestrians stand silent as the national anthem plays. It lasts a minute, a ritual pause to remember the dead and remind the living what they’re fighting for. Dr. Jeffrey Young stood too, still and listening. A trauma surgeon from...
Dispatch Number six: will music survive technology? Join us for Salon de Résistance on November 20th at Black Iris for a conversation about the future of music and it's ability to survive the AI revolution, featuring John Campbell from Lamb of God and Tyler Williams of the Head and the Heart. Presented in partnership with MSE Properties, Plan 9...
Editor's Note: What makes D(e)ad a bit different isn’t just the story or performances, it’s the way it came together. 344% funded on Kickstarter with more than 5,000 backers, the film turned community support into momentum. After getting passed over by the big festivals, the team carved their own path, powered by the Dropout crowd that’s...
Editor’s Note: This story includes remarks from a national webinar hosted by the Hemp Industry & Farmers of America (HIFA) on Friday, November 8, 2025, before Senator Mitch McConnell’s hemp amendment was inserted into the government funding package over the weekend. The comments reflect the industry’s final warning before the language...
““There is no public safety without guns. If guns didn’t exist, yes,” said Ra-Twoine Fields. “But we live in America, where there are more guns than people. So no, there is no public safety without guns. What we can do is learn how to manage it, how to live with it responsibly.” Fields, a firearms instructor, armed security guard, and PhD student...
“You want me to tell you what’s immoral? War is immoral. Poverty is immoral. Racism is immoral. Police brutality is immoral.” — a defendant in Punishment Park I read that director Peter Watkins had passed away last week and realized I’d never heard of him. As it turns out, Watkins was one of the most radical filmmakers of the twentieth century, a...
"Mickael Broth is an artist, muralist, sculptor, writer, father, husband, skateboarder, and climber, quite the talented bloke. He’s created hundreds of public works of art across the country and around the world. A recipient of the VMFA Professional Fellowship, his work has been commissioned by hundreds of clients. The man stays busy, and I know...
The sun, our sun, will expand to engulf the planet Earth in 5 billion years. Don’t bother setting an alarm or getting some extra SPF sunscreen, it won’t matter. Everything we have ever built, or will build, will vaporize and collapse to cinders. Everything. If it all ends in darkness, what is the point of anything? What is the full value of...
