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RVA Block Party Brings No BS! Brass Band, PBR, Angelica Garcia, & More to The Broadberry This Month

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The Broadberry is kicking off spring right this month with an all-day indoor and outdoor music festival filled with some of Richmond’s finest acts, along with beer, food trucks, yoga, a record fair, an outdoor bar, and more.

RVA (All Day) Block Party will feature performances from 10 musicians and bands including crowd pleasers and headlining outdoor act, No BS! Brass Band, along with indoor headliners People’s Blues of Richmond, and sets by fellow Richmond bands and musicians Thorp Jenson, Brunswick, Prabir, Dharma Bombs, Spooky Cool, Night Idea, Angelica Garcia, and South Hill Banks.

For Lucas Fritz, co-owner of The Broadberry, the festival was an idea that he’d been cooking up for quite awhile, and to help bring it to life, he recruited his longtime friends from No BS! Brass Band.

“I’ve always wanted to do a big event around NO BS!, they’re my friends from back in the day, I went on tour with them down in Alabama back in 2009 or 2010, and this is the first time it really made sense to put something together,” Fritz said of the block party.

A big stage will be set up in The Broadberry’s parking lot on the west side of the building until 10 pm, at which point the venue will take the party inside for the rest of the performances.

As for the lineup, RVA Block Party is stacked with an eclectic mix of Richmond bands and musicians from the rowdy Appalachian bluesy-folk from the Dharma Bombs, to the wild psychedelic rock of PBR, to the indie prog rock sounds of Night Idea.

Fritz said he and No BS! co-founder and trombonist Reggie Pace aimed to showcase Richmond talent while offering a little something for everyone with this group.

“We wanted it to be pretty diverse and reflect the local bands that No BS! is super interested in at this time, and also people that are good friends of The Broadberry and The Camel and Richmond music scene,” he said. “We figured the more diverse of a lineup the more fun of an event it would be.”

Jenson, who is kicking off the event, is the alter ego of Chris Ryan, a local guitar player and songwriter, who’s been making waves recently with his Americana sound, playing regular gigs around town, and even getting a mention in Rolling Stone. The Chester native dropped his debut album, Odessa, last fall which you can check out below.

Night Idea also released their new record, Riverless, last fall, and unlike the quartet’s previous darker album, Breathing Cold, this LP shows off the band’s ability to expand into a wide range of sounds, defying one genre so hopefully, we get to hear some of that the day of the festival.

The ever unique music coming from the members of Spooky Cool never disappoints and for those who have been sleeping on Warner Bros signee Angelica Garcia, you better brush up before coming to the festival. The songstress caught RVA Mag’s eye after she dropped her debut album, Medicine For Birds in 2016, captivating us and audiences with her bluesy root songs, which were created in a parish house in her father’s church.

But live music isn’t the only entertainment the RVA Block Party is touting. Fritz said the festival will feature yoga by Jessica Scalin on the outdoor patio, with The Shack Band providing live music. And to appeal to you craft beer enthusiasts, Hardywood Park Craft Brewery, who will be pouring beers at the outdoor bar, will also host a ticketed “beer school” inside The Broadberry for those interested in getting a little history lesson in brewing and what goes into some of your favorite beers.

“With that ticket, you get five different tastes and their brewers are going to be here and they’ll talk through the brewing process, you get to smell some hops and look at some malts.”

A caricature artist, and a small record fair will also be set up inside for festival attendees to check out if they want to take a break inside. “A couple local record labels and record shops will be setting up pop up shops,” Fritz said.

Tickets for the festival on Sat., April 28 are $25. As long as it’s not sold out, you can still snag yours at the door, but Fritz said at the rate they’re going, make sure you scoop yours in advance so you don’t miss out. People will be able to go from inside to outside and reentry will be allowed up until 7 pm.

If all goes well, Fritz is hoping to make the block party an annual event, and perhaps grow it out of the parking lot. “We’ll see what happens and make plans from there,” he added.

You can find the entire schedule for the day below:

1:00 – Doors
1:00 – 4:00 – Record Fair, Face Painting, caricatures, and other vendors inside
1:00 – 2:00 – DJ Ghozt *and in between sets
2:00 – 2:30 – Thorp Jenson
2:40 – 3:20 – Brunswick
3:00 – 3:45 – Yoga w/ Josh and Hunter of THE SHACK BAND
3:40 – 4:10 – Prabir Mehta
4:00 – 4:30 – Beer Class hosted by Hardywood Park Craft Brewery
4:30 – 5:00 – Dharma Bombs
5:20 – 5:50 – Night Idea
6:10 – 6:40 – Spooky Cool
7:00 – 7:45 – Angelica Garcia
8:15 – 9:45 – NO BS! Brass Band

AFTER-PARTY (Requires FREE RSVP)
10:00 – 11:30 – South Hill Banks
11:45 – 1:15 – People’s Blues of Richmond

Music Sponsored By Graduate Richmond

HomeAgain Works to End Homelessness and Get Families Back On Their Feet

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My earliest memories are of life in India in the 1980’s. In Ahmedabad, Gujarat all walks of life live together in very dense concentrations. The extraordinarily wealthy and the extremely poor and homeless all share the same walkways, parks, and public spaces. I grew up wondering how it was possible for me to get meals and water anytime I wanted, while other children my age were clearly unable to meet their daily needs. When I turned eight, my parents moved us to the United States. Initially I was mesmerized by the relative cleanliness, calm, quiet, and peaceful order that life seemed to operate under. Living in the suburbs of Richmond, VA also gave me the impression that in the United States, the wealthiest and most powerful nation on Earth, everyone could live comfortably and did not have to worry about the bigger woes of life, like homelessness. I was wrong.

My teenage and college years would bring me into the city more often for trips to museums, seeing a symphony on a field trip, and beginning to play music with my friends in small venues downtown. This is when I was able to see the reality; the fact that not only did we have homelessness here but it was not a concern to most people I knew. Life in the suburbs created a sort of bubble mentality. Since no one really ever saw homelessness in their cul de sac, it made one feel like homelessness did not even exist. However, this could not be further from the truth. While in college, I studied Urban Studies, and started to approach homelessness as an issue that we could address with the right minds working on the right projects, big and small.

Jolinda Underwood has been working at HomeAgain for a decade now. For years, I’ve been working with Underwood, putting on annual events at Gallery5 to bring awareness to the work HomeAgain is doing and raise some funds along the way. A little over a decade ago, the Richmond area had thousands of homeless individuals. Now, thanks to the work of Underwood and others, our homeless population is under 900. And with our collective help, it will continue to get smaller.

Underwood told me about how they try to approach the turnaround from homelessness to a permanent stable living situation. “The goal is 30 days,” she said. “We want rapid exits from the shelter to permanent housing.”

“Housing is a right,” she continued. “Whether you are in recovery, whether you have mental health diagnosis, whether you have income or not, there are still ways that we can work with you.”

HomeAgain’s staff works 24 hours a day to address the needs of our homeless, regardless of their situation. Women escaping abusive relationships, single fathers and mothers down on their luck, veterans, and individuals with mental health or addiction issues are all able to take advantage of this shelter-to-permanent-housing trajectory that HomeAgain gracefully provides to all of the folks that walk through their doors. The goal is to not only end homelessness by taking people off the street, but to also prevent homelessness for people that are at risk of ending up on the streets. This requires a lot of energy and work, but luckily for our city we have individuals like Underwood and her colleagues at HomeAgain to work on this huge mission which will ultimately benefit the entire community.

Underwood recalled one of the more difficult times in her career, when she was working with a young pregnant woman on the autism spectrum. The woman was not able to take her medication due to the complications it would bring to the pregnancy. She and her on-and-off boyfriend were living in a small tent behind a building near the HomeAgain offices. “I’ve been in this field for a long time, and that was the first time I got really choked up,” Underwood said. “To see all their belongings, food, and whatnot was outside a tent, and it had rained the night before.” This is just one of the complicated scenarios that has played out in front of Underwood’s eyes in her decade-long mission to fight homelessness.

“I had to work with a family that was living in their car for two months,” she said. “They were scared; they could not tell anyone they were living in a car. You can’t get a job, and you can’t tell anyone about it, because your children will get taken away. Their son was in high school. It’s tough.”

After a decade in the industry, Underwood has seen homeless families transition from stressful, unstable daily living situations to becoming homeowners with stability and a chance to move forward in life. But the work continues regardless. Families move into the HomeAgain network all the time, and our Richmond community can help make their lives a little easier by providing daily needs such as beds, sofas, food, and children’s educational and recreational items. The organization could benefit from fridges, vehicles, bus tickets, and obviously more funding.

“The goal is housing, but that’s not all we do,” she said. “There’s more to a person then just getting them connected to a house.” Education, employment, health services, and community interactions are vital components of life for each and every person in our city. Underwood’s team at HomeAgain is working towards bringing hope to those that may not think hope is possible. That hope will be made more potent and powerful if more individuals are aware of the many ways they can contribute to this greater issue.

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I’m thrilled to be a part of an event that will be raising funds for HomeAgain this Saturday at Gallery 5. We’ll have a lot of Richmond’s best musicians, including members of Sleepwalkers, The Trillions, Horsehead, and more, on hand to ring in the holidays with some Christmas songs and fun covers. The money from the door will go to HomeAgain. This is a great chance for the Richmond community to meet the staff, as they will be at the event to let folks know about how we can get involved. And you’ll get to enjoy some music along the way, too.

Gallery 5 is located at 200 W. Marshall St. This event begins at 8 PM. Tickets are $5, and can be purchased here. Click here for more information.

Richmond’s Last Waltz, feat. Kelli Strawbridge, Kenneka Cook, Landon Elliott, Prabir Mehta, and many more @ The Camel

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OK listen, I wouldn’t normally go all-out for a tribute show, but this one seems deserving of special mention to me. The Last Waltz was a concert film made by Martin Scorcese, documented the star-studded farewell concert by The Band in 1976. The original film featured not only a full set of The Band’s excellent moody, country-infused folk-rock but a host of guest appearances by everyone from Neil Young to the Staples Singers. Now, some local Richmond musicians are recreating the entire film as a long concert featuring all sorts of Richmond notables in a variety of roles. They’ll be kicking off the last weekend before Thanksgiving with this celebratory tribute event, live onstage at The Camel, and it’s sure to be an amazing time.

All it takes is one look at the lineup of musicians taking part in all of this to recognize its brilliance. It all starts with the quintet who’ll be playing the roles of The Band themselves, which features members of The Congress, Angelica Garcia‘s backing band, solo singer-songwriter Sid Kingsley, and more. Then there are the many guests making up a veritable who’s who of the Richmond soul, jazz, funk, jam, folk, and rock scenes–Kelli Strawbridge, Prabir Mehta, Kenneka Cook, Landon Elliott, Corey Axt, Brent McCormick, and quite a few more will pay tribute to the various guests who join The Band throughout the evening. Though I will say that I hope whoever portrays Neil Young (Prabir?) doesn’t go so far as to recreate the huge chunk of cocaine hanging out of Neil’s nose, which had to be rotoscoped out of the original film. Oops!

It’s the second half of November, y’all. Christmas music is already playing in the stores, Santa’s at the mall charging parents exhorbitant amounts for pictures with their terrified toddlers, turkey consultants are giving seminars on how to make Thanksgiving meals at Bed Bath and Beyond–it’s the holiday season, is what I’m saying. Around the musical world, this time of year offers us all a chance to have some fun and maybe not do everything with the same sort of seriousness and do-or-die intensity we bring to the stage most of the year. Seeing a bunch of incredibly talented local players loosen up and jamming on some old The Band tunes over at The Camel is a far less stressful way to celebrate this time of year than most of the other things we’ll be doing. So hey, why not? It’ll be a blast!

RVA Shows You Must See This Week: 11/15-11/21

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FEATURED SHOW
Friday, November 17, 8 PM
Richmond’s Last Waltz, feat. Kelli Strawbridge, Kenneka Cook, Landon Elliott, Prabir Mehta, and many more @ The Camel – $5 in advance/$7 day of show (order tickets HERE)
OK listen, I wouldn’t normally go all-out for a tribute show, but this one seems deserving of special mention to me. The Last Waltz was a concert film made by Martin Scorcese, documented the star-studded farewell concert by The Band in 1976. The original film featured not only a full set of The Band’s excellent moody, country-infused folk-rock but a host of guest appearances by everyone from Neil Young to the Staples Singers. Now, some local Richmond musicians are recreating the entire film as a long concert featuring all sorts of Richmond notables in a variety of roles. They’ll be kicking off the last weekend before Thanksgiving with this celebratory tribute event, live onstage at The Camel, and it’s sure to be an amazing time.

All it takes is one look at the lineup of musicians taking part in all of this to recognize its brilliance. It all starts with the quintet who’ll be playing the roles of The Band themselves, which features members of The Congress, Angelica Garcia‘s backing band, solo singer-songwriter Sid Kingsley, and more. Then there are the many guests making up a veritable who’s who of the Richmond soul, jazz, funk, jam, folk, and rock scenes–Kelli Strawbridge, Prabir Mehta, Kenneka Cook, Landon Elliott, Corey Axt, Brent McCormick, and quite a few more will pay tribute to the various guests who join The Band throughout the evening. Though I will say that I hope whoever portrays Neil Young (Prabir?) doesn’t go so far as to recreate the huge chunk of cocaine hanging out of Neil’s nose, which had to be rotoscoped out of the original film. Oops!

It’s the second half of November, y’all. Christmas music is already playing in the stores, Santa’s at the mall charging parents exhorbitant amounts for pictures with their terrified toddlers, turkey consultants are giving seminars on how to make Thanksgiving meals at Bed Bath and Beyond–it’s the holiday season, is what I’m saying. Around the musical world, this time of year offers us all a chance to have some fun and maybe not do everything with the same sort of seriousness and do-or-die intensity we bring to the stage most of the year. Seeing a bunch of incredibly talented local players loosen up and jamming on some old The Band tunes over at The Camel is a far less stressful way to celebrate this time of year than most of the other things we’ll be doing. So hey, why not? It’ll be a blast!

Wednesday, November 15, 8 PM
Pere Ubu, Minibeast, DJ Good Show Steve @ Strange Matter – $20 (order tickets HERE)
Pere Ubu aren’t exactly spring chickens. Sole remaining original member David Thomas (he’s the guy with the cane in the picture) has been doing the band since 1976, right after his previous band Rocket From The Tombs broke up. Rocket, one of the first punk bands, did a lot to create a sound and scene that’s still going strong over 40 years later, but Pere Ubu’s immediate mission became to mutate, undercut, and otherwise distort the original stripped-down rock n’ roll of punk into much weirder and more cerebral shapes. They’re still doing that to this day, as proven on recently-released 16th or so album 20 Years In a Montana Missile Silo. The mesmerizing atonal racket of early analog synths is still a core element of the Ubu sound, as are Thomas’s high, hectoring vocal rants, the funky rhythm section, and the razor-sharp guitar leads that cut through the whole thing.

From classic early singles like “Heart Of Darkness” to new album highlights like “Prison of the Senses,” the band will explore their full 40-plus-year history from the Strange Matter stage this evening. As a special bonus, they’ll be joined by Minibeast. This group features Peter Prescott, best known for his lengthy tenures as the drummer for pioneering postpunks Mission Of Burma and late 80s/early 90s noise-rock mainstays Volcano Suns. In Minibeast, Prescott indulges in his more outre interests, exploring all sorts of different instruments and textures as the head of a four-piece band. It might not be what you’ve come to expect from Prescott, but with an innovator like him, you should probably learn to expect the unexpected. This is also true of Pere Ubu, really. Prepare to be challenged.

Thursday, November 16, 6 PM
Richmond Unplugged, feat. Julie Karr, Allie Smith, Tess Fisher, Nathan Grice, Adrienne Shurte, Timmy Peele @ Champion RVA – Free!
Just as with our featured show this week, we have here yet another unusual bill that shows different sides of quite a few local musicians you’ve come to know and love. This week, Champion’s Thursday night free-show series takes things up a notch with the first ever “Richmond Unplugged” event. They’re hoping to make it a series, which has plenty of potential for awesomeness, so hopefully a lot of y’all make it down for this one. You certainly can’t go wrong by doing so, especially with Julie Karr at the top of the bill here. I get that these are all people we mainly know as frontpeople of electric bands, but Julie Karr has a bit of an advantage since, in addition to her years fronting Bad Magic, she has a long-running solo career from which to draw. Her spirited, bluesy folk solo material is just as riveting as the janglier, more indie-style Bad Magic tunes, so either way, you can’t lose.

As for the others on this bill, I’m sure all of them have busted out a solo set at least a time or two, though you’re far less likely to have caught them doing so in the past. However, from Blush Face to Big No, one thing we know about all of their bands is that they all are driven by strong songwriting and memorable melodies. All of those things should shine just as brightly in a solo acoustic environment, so this new take on some pretty excellent local sounds is sure to be worth your time. Plus, you’re getting six full sets from a variety of local Richmond music luminaries, all for exactly zero dollars. If you’d nitpick this one, you’re a mean one, Mr. Grinch.

Friday, November 17, 8 PM
Solace Sovay, Toxic Moxie, Mangoux @ Gallery 5 – $5
Solace Sovay haven’t had the highest of local profiles over the past couple of years (partly because of their onetime issues with finding a permanent drummer), so you could be forgiven for having no idea who this local trio actually are. However, the time to get on board has arrived, as this Friday night’s show at Gallery 5 marks the release of their latest album, It Doesn’t Matter What It Is, Just What It Seems <3 (yes, the heart is part of the title). Copies of the album will be handed out to all show attendees for free, so that $5 (already a criminally cheap door price in a time when $5 won’t even buy you a combo meal at Taco Bell) goes even farther this time around. You’d be a fool to miss it.

I should probably elaborate on what Solace Sovay has to offer, though, just so you know what you need to stop missing out on. Right now, only three tunes from their new album are available for streaming online, but all of them show the same sort of strong melodic sense and huge, glowing atmosphere that initially struck me about this band upon first seeing them at a house show several years ago. The word “shoegaze” gets thrown around a lot these days, and in a lot of cases it indicates a pretty poor understanding of what is actually meant by the term. However, Solace Sovay’s sounds really do indicate influence from the more mellow side of that early 90s UK movement, with Slowdive vibes crisscrossing some prime early Smashing Pumpkins riffs and even a bit of that outstanding later Talk Talk ambience (Spirit of Eden here, folks, not “It’s My Life”). The occasional accents from saxophone or keyboard only take these songs higher. I can’t wait to hear the whole thing. The fact that Toxie Moxie and Mangoux are both on this bill as well only sweetens the pot. Don’t miss this one.

Saturday, November 18, 9 PM
Left Cross, Organ Donor, Devil’s Hand, Firing Squad @ Wonderland – $5
These days it seems like certain segments of the hardcore scene are all but indistinguishable from straight-up death metal. Here in Richmond, the primary proponent of that blurring and confusion is Left Cross, a band formed by members of Unsacred and fueled primarily, it seems, by a desire to recreate the dark, terrifying sounds of formative 80s metal classics like Scream Bloody Gore, Seven Churches, or even Blood Fire Death. It’s pretty awesome, if a bit of a surprise to find this band’s first album being released by Vinyl Conflict and not Prosthetic or something. But hey, who cares? Shredding is shredding, and in this case shredding rules, so let’s all get ready to headbang!

Organ Donor are also on this bill, and there’s no confusion about which side of the hardcore/metal line this group exists on–it’s the metal line, and make no mistake. I haven’t heard anything from them since their 2012 demo (I know, I know) but unless they’ve done a full reinvention of their sound in the last five years, you can expect some serious guttural chugging from these folks, and plenty more reasons to bang your head. Devil’s Hand, one of the many longer-running Richmond hardcore bands who only seems to show up on a bill once every couple years these days, will be busting out the raging USHC sounds of their 2013 Vinyl Conflict EP release for this one, and the younger and still quite active RVA HC band Firing Squad will kick things off with a dose of high-speed pugnacity. Wear your studded wristbands for this one, y’all.

Sunday, November 19, 9 PM
Sorority Boy, Colder Planets @ Emilio’s – Free!
If you’ve actually checked out some show calendars out there, you’re probably aware that a lot of longtime touring veterans are coming to town on this night. The noise-rockers are all gonna be seeing Unsane at Strange Matter. The emo revival types, and the kids who are still around from the original days, will be catching the MeWithoutYou/Pianos Become The Teeth double-bill at The Broadberry. The sad indie punks will be down at Capital Ale House checking out Waxahatchee. I found it very hard to choose which one of these three shows to cover, but I ended up deciding not to cover any of them, because for my money, the most interesting and least predictable live music event happening in Richmond this Sunday night will be taking place over at Emilio’s.

That’s for my money, but you won’t have to worry about any of your money getting invested in this one, since this show is free. You are certain to have a good time, though, especially with the presence on the bill of Charlottesville’s Sorority Boy. This glittering duo manages to combine a minimalist, lo-fi aesthetic and a fuzzy, overloaded shoegaze beauty in much the same way many classic DC/Maryland alt-punk bands did back in the early 90s. They evoke pleasant shades of unjustly forgotten bands like Black Tambourine, Lorelei, The Lilys, and Rocketship with their overdriven guitar melodies, to outstanding effect. RVA five-piece Colder Planets, who join Sorority Boy on this bill, bring more instruments and a cleaner sound to the table, but their grasp of those thrilling jangly melodies is similar to that of Sorority Boy, making this show a great way to spend two hours and zero dollars on a Sunday night. More like this, please.

Monday, November 20, 6 PM
Traitors, Sabella, Shadows, Betrayer, Silent on Fifth Street @ The Canal Club – $12 in advance/$15 day of show (order tickets HERE)
Haha OMG OK let’s just get this out there right now–Traitors is kind of a ridiculous band. I’m not saying I don’t love them, because I kind of can’t help but love them in the same way I’m super stoked on Sworn In or Xibalba, but it must be admitted that they are ridiculous. Deathcore was bound to reach this extreme, though, in which bands broke through some sort of fourth wall into the nether reaches of slam death metal by deciding that breakdowns were so sick they just weren’t gonna play anything else. It’s true–Traitors songs start with breakdowns. Brutal ones. Then at a certain point, after that riff has started to seem relatively normal-speed, they break it down farther. Eventually they land at the sort of insane slow-motion breakdown pioneered by Shattered Realm and On Broken Wings a decade or so ago. Then the song ends, and another one starts. With another breakdown.

What I’m saying is, if you hate it when there are random mediocre two-step parts in the middle of mosh songs just to break them up, if you get sick of waiting around for the breakdown, Traitors are the band for you. They’ll keep you spinkicking and windmilling all night. You’ll need to do some exercise so you’re not tired out after two songs, of course, but that just means you should listen to Traitors records while you work out, in order to get more stoked and become more familiar with the changes so you can time your mosh moves perfectly. I admit that I will be way back in the anonymous crowd during all of this–after all, when was the last time you saw a 40-year-old woman throwing down hard in the pit? But don’t let my intrusive awareness of my own mortality stop you–be young, be wild, be free, be the kids wrecking the pit during the Traitors show at The Canal Club this Monday night. Your elders are watching–don’t let us down.

Tuesday, November 21, 8 PM
Furnsss, Joy Again, Big Baby, Ruth Good @ Strange Matter – $7
Here’s another show with some pleasant reminders of the excellent indie sounds that surrounded me in my late 80s/early 90s high school heyday. Ah, the good old days… just kidding, I was miserable. If it weren’t for music, I wouldn’t have made it out, for sure. Furnsss may remind me of bad times, but they do so by playing some really great music with a really pleasant, positive vibe. There are some clear callbacks to 80s college-rock jangle here, but a post-chillwave aesthetic sees this band firmly grounded in the sounds of today and the scene of 2017’s college rockers. Even though this music appeals to my old ass, it is firmly of the moment, and it’s been great watching Furnsss work their way up through the house-show underground and into the relative big time at Strange Matter.

Furnsss are joined on this tour by Joy Again, a fun, upbeat band from Philly with some indie-style jangly guitars that pair well with a sort of pop-garage aesthetic reminiscent of a far more sugary Sheer Mag. They’re fun, Furnsss are fun, and with the addition of local jangly indie-rock superstars Big Baby, this bill just got a whole lot funner! The evening will kick off with a set from Camp Howard side project Ruth Good, who have a lot to offer in their own right. This is a bill to put a smile on your face. And as the weather gets colder and the dark side of the holidays beckons, that’s something we could all use.

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Email me if you’ve got any tips for me about upcoming shows (that take place after the week this column covers–this week’s column has obviously already been written): [email protected] [yes, my email is through GayRVA, don’t get weird about it]