Style Weekly - Richmond, VA local news, arts, and events., Style Weekly

Pedal Pusher

Ned Oliver — Fri, 17 May 2013 10:01:00 -0400

Flanked by two bike-mounted police officers and trailed by his ubiquitous black SUV, Mayor Dwight Jones commemorates national Bike to Work Day on Friday by leading a group of about 80 cyclists on a leisurely ride from Monroe Park to City Hall.…

Losing Face

Ned Oliver — Wed, 15 May 2013 14:37:00 -0400

Parker Agelasto's transformation.…
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The Score

Tue, 14 May 2013 14:36:00 -0400

+8 Mother's Day brings out the brunches, greeting cards and well-wishes in homes and restaurants across the city. Because nothing says "thanks for bringing me into this world and dealing with all my crap" like two minutes in the card aisle of CVS.…

Redskins Camp Goes Over Budget, Council Members Angry

Ned Oliver — Tue, 14 May 2013 09:00:00 -0400

by Ned Oliver The mayor’s administration broke the news to City Council as an aside in the middle of a 10-hour budget meeting last week: By the way, we’re projecting a $5 million shortfall this fiscal year. Some say the nonchalant announcement was bad enough -- complaints by City Council members about the availability of timely information from Mayor Dwight Jones’ administration have simmered for months.…

The HR Department

Ed Harrington — Tue, 14 May 2013 04:00:00 -0400

by Ed Harrington

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Denver Dreaming

Brian Glass — Tue, 14 May 2013 04:00:00 -0400

Richmond should take the time to look a little deeper when borrowing from other cities. Claims made by proponents of new ballparks usually are overstated. by Brian Glass Like a Rocky Mountain high, there was no stopping the inevitable giddy comparison between Denver's Lower Downtown district, known as LoDo, and Richmond's Shockoe Bottom. During the Greater Richmond Chamber's field trip to the Mile-High City a few weeks ago, the delegation of civic and business leaders couldn't resist the link.…

Rocking the River

Andrew Cothern — Tue, 14 May 2013 04:00:00 -0400

Meet five Richmond athletes who get their thrills beyond the gym. by Andrew Cothern Sports Backers and Venture Richmond link up this weekend for another year of the Dominion Riverrock Festival, one of the city's most popular outdoor sports events. The annual conclave features all kinds of riverfront competitions, such as the filthy mud run, freestyle cross-country biking, James River scramble trail run, kayaking and the always crowd-pleasing air-dog distance jumping.…

Word & Image

Ned Oliver — Tue, 14 May 2013 04:00:00 -0400

Lynda Farley, 61: grandmother, dog breeder and smoking ban opponent. by Ned Oliver "I am a ticked off grandmother from Kentucky. "The only reason I went through Virginia on my way to the Houston art-car parade from Kentucky is because I've been being harassed lately in Virginia, and I had to go to court in Fairfax on the sixth because of a $30, no-points harassment ticket I got in my award-winning art van.…

Revolutionary and Banned Chamber Music Festival

Angela Lehman-Rios — Tue, 14 May 2013 04:00:00 -0400

May 16-22 by Angela Lehman-Rios In 1804, Beethoven got the news that Napoleon, hero of the French Revolution, had declared himself emperor. Seething over the betrayal, Beethoven tore off the title page of his new symphony rather than debase his music by dedicating it to a traitor.…

High Art

Amanda Dalla Villa Adams — Tue, 14 May 2013 04:00:00 -0400

A new exhibit mixes painting and photography in layers at Candela Books and Gallery. by Amanda Dalla Villa Adams For a pair of artists interested in merging life and art, it makes sense to give a talk accompanied by a rescued German shepherd. Based in New Orleans, husband and wife Jeff Louviere and Vanessa Brown combine their artistic backgrounds of painting and photography to create a body of work that's visually stunning and conceptually appealing.…

Preview: DJ Logic at the Canal Club

Jerome Langston — Tue, 14 May 2013 04:00:00 -0400

by Jerome Langston Listening to the DJ Logic remix of Billie Holiday’s “Glad To Be Unhappy,” clarifies the aesthetic that the NYC native was describing, during a recent phone call, the morning following a May concert festival date. When asked if he ever intellectualizes what he does as a turntablist and remixer, he quickly admits that he always does.…

Richmond Hospital Pricing: Anything but a Free Market System

Peter Galuszka — Tue, 14 May 2013 04:00:00 -0400

by Peter Galuszka If you're a Medicare patient and need a major joint replaced — perhaps a hip — consider the initial cost. In 2011, HCA Healthcare's CJW Medical Center billed Medicare $117,477 and got about $12,926 from the government.…

Iron and Wine at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden

Andrew Cothern — Tue, 14 May 2013 04:00:00 -0400

Thursday, May 16. 6:30 p.m. $30-$50. by Andrew Cothern Having been compared to the likes of Nick Drake, Simon and Garfunkel and Elliott Smith, Iron and Wine’s Sam Beam is one of today’s greatest folk songwriters, crafting tales full of hopeless love and dreams of longing. A Virginia Commonwealth University grad, Beam released his first Iron and Wine album, “The Creek Drank the Cradle” in 2002 and that same year, he recorded a cover of the Postal Service’s song “Such Great Heights,” which was later included in the popular indie film “Garden State.” After a number of successful albums, including 2007’s “The Shepherd’s Dog,” which was voted one of the 10 best of 2007 by Paste magazine, and 2011’s “Kiss Each Other Clean,” which blends his earlier styles with a stronger pop influence, Iron and Wine’s fifth studio album, “Ghost on Ghost,” was released in April and further explores pop sounds while also showing off some jazz and R&B influences.…

To the Reader: Best of Richmond

Tue, 14 May 2013 04:00:00 -0400

Thousands of you cast votes in Style Weekly's 2013 Best of Richmond Readers' Poll earlier this year, and we've been working for months to tally the results, write about the winners and share our own staff-pick superlatives along the way. Our special Best of Richmond issue publishes next week.…

Short Order

Deveron Timberlake — Tue, 14 May 2013 04:00:00 -0400

RVA Food News: a Sugar Shack preview. by Deveron Timberlake Start-ups are nothing new to chefs Ian Kelley and Casey Ward. They ran a restaurant together (Old City Bar), launched a line of microbrews (Kelvin Brewing Co.) years before the current beer craze, and this week they're opening Sugar Shack Donuts, the first in a planned series of shops.…

"Family Guy" Star Considering Richmond Film

Tue, 14 May 2013 04:00:00 -0400

Believe it or not, there's a story behind the name Stoolbend, Va., the fictional town on the Fox spin-off program "The Cleveland Show." Former Collegiate grad and the voice behind several characters on Fox's franchise "Family Guy" sitcom, Mike Henry recently enlightened a room full of his old friends over dinner at the tony Commonwealth Club.…

Review: James "Saxsmo" Gates at the Capital Ale House (May 14)

Peter McElhinney — Tue, 14 May 2013 04:00:00 -0400

by Peter McElhinney Nobody does what Gates does better than Gates. In front of a near-capacity crowd at the Capital Ale House (slightly delayed by the need to clear the room of a crowd still buzzing from the sold-out first set) he soars, preaches, rocks and reflects through a full-throttle 90-minute set drawn from his new CD “Gates Wide Open.” The saxophonist establishes his mainstream jazz chops early on with a blazing version of Chick Corea’s “Spain,” but straightforward communication is more Gate’s thing than sophisticated harmonic acrobatics.…

Is Boulevard the Next Short Pump?

Scott Bass — Tue, 14 May 2013 04:00:00 -0400

by Scott Bass It's a comparison that's beginning to gain traction in the run-up to Mayor Dwight Jones' all-but-expected announcement that City Hall supports building a $50 million ballpark in Shockoe Bottom. The plan: Tear down The Diamond, remove nearby city- and state-owned facilities — such as Richmond's fleet maintenance depot and the Arthur Ashe Center — and serve up 67 acres of prime real estate with easy access to Interstates 95 and 64.…

The Big Show at Plant Zero Art Center

Andrew Cothern — Tue, 14 May 2013 04:00:00 -0400

Wednesday, May 15. 6-8 p.m. Free. by Andrew Cothern Art 180’s mission is to give youth a chance to express themselves through art. And this week it all comes out at “The Big Show,” which will highlight the 11 community-based programs in creative expression offered by Art 180 this spring.…

Outside the Lines

Brent Baldwin — Tue, 14 May 2013 04:00:00 -0400

At-risk youth find solace in the art classroom at the John G. Wood School. by Brent Baldwin It feels like any other art classroom. The air is thick with the pungent smell of turpentine and sweaty kids.…

Letter: City Council Pedaling the Wrong Way

Tue, 14 May 2013 04:00:00 -0400

In his efforts to penalize bicycle riders who lock their bikes to city property, City Councilman Chris Hilbert reveals that he is not a friend of Richmond's bike riders, and is probably a person who has never even ridden a bicycle. He obviously doesn't realize what a great place Richmond is for bike riding, and obviously has no clue how important it is for bike commuters to have convenient and secure structures to lock their rides to.…

Punch Drunk

Jack Lauterback — Tue, 14 May 2013 04:00:00 -0400

Thinking of Mom and Drinking with Jack. by Jack Lauterback Sunday marked the 100th official Mother's Day (It was officially signed into law by Woodrow Wilson in 1914). If you're like me, you probably bought the old gal a card and took her out to lunch and made a concerted effort to not roll your eyes or check your phone while she regaled you with tales of her latest lace-doily-shopping adventure or whatever it is she does when I'm not around.…

Council to Mayor: Call Me, Maybe?

Ned Oliver — Tue, 14 May 2013 04:00:00 -0400

City administrators are considering a department-wide spending freeze as they work to confront a projected $5 million budget deficit for the current fiscal year.

Council members say deputy chief administrative officer for finance Sharon Judkins floated the possible halt to all “non-essential spending” when she brought up the projected deficit as an aside during a 10-hour budget meeting May 6.…

Dog Lovers Weigh in on Etiquette Essay

Tue, 14 May 2013 04:00:00 -0400

Last week we shared this essay railing against the notion that everyone must love dogs -- at offices, cafes and in parks. Here are some of your responses: I personally love dogs, but that doesn't mean I think they belong everywhere.…

RVA Adult Expo Hits Hurdles

Ned Oliver — Tue, 14 May 2013 04:00:00 -0400

by Ned Oliver After telling Style Weekly they wanted to help Richmond "move beyond its prudish past," organizers of the RVA Adult Entertainment Expo are facing opposition. Expo spokeswoman Sundari Prasad says the Clarion Hotel on North Boulevard has tried to back out of its contract to serve as host for the June 1 event, which organizers bill as the first event of its kind in Virginia.…