Style Weekly

02/11/2024

Got the post-Halloween blues with daylight saving time ending tomorrow? Here's a 2011 story from our archives about the most haunted places in RVA: https://www.styleweekly.com/the-13-most-haunted-places-in-richmond

01/11/2024

"Hanover County schools banned more books from libraries last year than any other school district in the state, the free expression group PEN America reported on Friday ... Between July 1, 2023, and June 30, 2024, Hanover County Public Schools removed 75 books from its schools." [RTD]

The 2023-2024 school year recorded the highest book removal rates from public schools nationwide − a 200% increase from the previous year. In Hanover County, the removal rate was 300%

01/11/2024

A preview of Noirvember on the Criterion Channel, featuring “Columbia Noir” and “Coen Brothers” films.

Noirvember on the Criterion Channel.

01/11/2024

"While OSB’s two-year run is over, its legacy lives on. This Friday, Mimi Luse will bring a little DIY to the Institute for Contemporary Art at VCU with “No Input,” a new series of free experimental music performances. Instead of curating the acts herself, Luse is handing the reins to a different programmer each night."

ICA to host “No Input,” a music series of DIY acts curated by guest promoters.

01/11/2024

All the Saints Theater Company hosted the annual Richmond Halloween Parade for its 19th year on Thursday starting at 7 p.m. in Monroe Park. Photos by Scott Elmquist

31/10/2024

Also Happy Diwali today! "One of the most celebrated Hindu festivals, Diwali or Deepavali commemorates the victory of good over evil during the course of five days," according to the Hindu American Foundation. Here are some colorful images from a well-attended Diwali celebration held last weekend at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden. Photos by Peter McElhinney.

31/10/2024

Happy Halloween! Here's a few suggestions on stuff to do tonight and this weekend: From All the Saints Theater Company’s Halloween Parade from Monroe Park to the Lemon Twigs at Richmond Music Hall at Capital Ale House, RVA Makerfest, Hardywood Bluegrass Festival at Hardywood Park Craft Brewery, and Mississippi Records' “A People's History of American Music” at Studio Two Three.

Happy Halloween! From All the Saints Theater Company’s Halloween Parade to the Lemon Twigs, RVA Makerfest, Hardywood Bluegrass Festival, and Mississippi Records' “A People's History of American Music” at Studio Two Three.

30/10/2024

"The Supreme Court’s conservative majority on Wednesday left in place Virginia’s purge voter registrations that the state says is aimed at stopping people who are not U.S. citizens from voting ...
The high court, over the dissents of the three liberal justices, granted an emergency appeal from Virginia’s Republican administration led by Gov. Glenn Youngkin. The court provided no rationale for its action, which is typical in emergency appeals." [AP]

The Supreme Court is allowing Virginia to resume its purge of voter registrations that the state says is aimed at stopping people who aren't U.S. citizens from voting.

30/10/2024

Still unsure who to vote for in Richmond's mayoral race? Style Weekly asked the city's five mayoral candidates six questions regarding important arts and culture issues to find out where they stand. Here's what they said. Cobra Cabana

Richmond’s mayoral candidates respond to Style Weekly’s questions about local arts and culture issues.

30/10/2024

Feature on Virginia rock duo Illiterate Light, a band that continues to grow organically with new album “Arches,” which drops this Friday, Nov. 1. The pair of musicians performs at the Jefferson Theater in Charlottesville on Friday, Nov. 8. Story by Davy Jones.

Virginia rock duo Illiterate Light continues growing organically with new album “Arches.”

30/10/2024

"The third installment of this fundraising event for the group, Richmond Really Sews, Frocktails is slated for Nov. 2 at Triple Crossing Beer in Fulton. For more than a decade, sewing enthusiasts have been hosting so-called Frocktails parties in cities across the world, from Melbourne, Australia (where it started) to Glasgow, Scotland to Atlanta, Georgia. The first Richmond Frocktails was held at the Branch Museum of Architecture in 2022."

Richmond Frocktails sews it up and shows it off.

29/10/2024

"The Washington Post has been rocked by a tidal wave of cancellations from digital subscribers and a series of resignations from columnists, as the paper grapples with the fallout of owner Jeff Bezos’s decision to block an endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris for president.

More than 200,000 people had canceled their digital subscriptions by midday Monday, according to two people at the paper with knowledge of internal matters." [NPR}

Over 200,000 people canceled their subscriptions in the first few days following news that The Washington Post would not endorse any presidential candidate.

29/10/2024

"Teri Garr, the quirky comedy actor who rose from background dancer in Elvis Presley movies to co-star of such favorites as 'Young Frankenstein' and 'Tootsie,' has died. She was 79." [AP]

Teri Garr, the quirky comedy actor who rose from background dancer in Elvis Presley movies to co-star of such favorites as “Young Frankenstein” and “Tootsie,” has died.

29/10/2024

A 23.5-foot-long Titanic replica made of Legos is the big showstopper for the new exhibit “Traveling Bricks” at the Virginia Museum of History & Culture. This comes as Lego is building a more than $1 billion dollar manufacturing plant in Chesterfield slated to open in 2027 (it's first and only one in the U.S.).

As Lego prepares its first U.S. factory for plastic-making in Chesterfield, it offers a museum exhibit featuring a large model of the Titanic.

28/10/2024

Editor's note: As someone who went to Puerto Rico for the first time this year, this couldn't be more wrong. Some of the nicest people and most beautiful beaches, lovely Spanish-colonial architecture, wonderful music and cuisine you'll find anywhere. [Story on "comedian" from AP]

Democrats are stepping up their attacks on Donald Trump a day after a comedian opening a Trump rally called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage."

28/10/2024

Virginian Halina Zimm (pictured) is the first Holocaust survivor showcased in the Virginia Holocaust Museum's new "Dimensions in Testimony" permanent exhibit that opens Friday, Nov. 1, which uses artificial intelligence to present interactive questions and answers with Holocaust survivors.

Artificial intelligence meets remembrance in the Virginia Holocaust Museum's new permanent exhibit.

28/10/2024

Poet Mathias Svalina is giving "surrealist history walking tours" of Richmond that involve pointing to buildings and lying about them.

“I’m particularly interested in civic history because of the ways that cities use, rewrite, and often weaponize their histories as promotional agents, or as ways of ignoring populations,” he explains. “So, I like the idea of inventing histories that could not have ever existed.”

Poet Mathias Svalina is giving walking-tours of Richmond that involve pointing to buildings and lying about them.

27/10/2024

"Mariel Garza, the editorials editor of the Los Angeles Times, resigned [last] Wednesday after the newspaper’s owner blocked the editorial board’s plans to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris for president.

'I am resigning because I want to make it clear that I am not okay with us being silent,” Garza told me in a phone conversation. “In dangerous times, honest people need to stand up. This is how I’m standing up.'"

Mariel Garza, the editorials editor of the Los Angeles Times, resigned on Wednesday after the newspaper’s owner blocked the editorial board’s plans to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris for president. “I am resigning because I want to make it clear that I am not okay with us being silent,”...

26/10/2024

Zombie Walk 2024.

📷 Scott Elmquist

26/10/2024

"The Washington Post said Friday that it will not endorse a candidate in the presidential election this year — or ever again — breaking decades of tradition and sparking immediate criticism of the decision.

The newspaper also published an article by two staff reporters revealing that editorial page staffers had drafted an endorsement of Democratic nominee Kamala Harris over GOP nominee Donald Trump in the election.

'The decision not to publish was made by The Post’s owner — Amazon founder Jeff Bezos,' the article said, citing two sources briefed on the events." [CNBC]

And more on the why:
"In a 2019 lawsuit, Amazon claimed it lost a $10 billion Pentagon cloud computing contract to Microsoft because Trump used 'improper pressure ... to harm his perceived political enemy' Bezos."

The Washington Post planned to endorse Kamala Harris over Donald Trump before owner Jeff Bezos, the Amazon founder, decided against it, the newspaper reported.

25/10/2024

The music never stopped right up until the end.
"Grateful Dead founding member and bassist Phil Lesh died Friday morning, according to a post on his official Instagram account. The California native and rock legend was 84. Lesh "passed peacefully" while surrounded by family, according to the post to his Instagram."

Lesh died surrounded by his family Friday morning, according to a post on his official Instagram account.

25/10/2024

PREVIEW: Two national tour newbies prepare to get an earful as puntastic musical comedy “Shucked” arrives in Richmond at Altria Theater. .

Two national tour newbies prepare to get an earful as puntastic “Shucked” arrives in Richmond.

25/10/2024

MOVIE REVIEWS: “A Different Man,” “Woman of the Hour” and “Oddity” all concern male masks.

“A Different Man,” “Woman of the Hour” and “Oddity” all concern male masks.

24/10/2024

"Beauty lies at the intersection of death, place, memory and healing in Virginia Museum of Fine Arts’s latest offering in the photography gallery, “Home/Grown.” Featuring the work of two contemporary, Richmond-based photographers, Susan Worsham and Brian Palmer, the photographs highlight beauty as much as decay and death."

VMFA's "Home/Grown: Photographs by Susan Worsham and Brian Palmer” provides a photographic meditation on death, place, memory and healing.

24/10/2024

"With it is driving beat and spidery, dual guitar lines, Congolese band Loboko is exactly the kind of band that would have a packed crowd on their feet at the Folk Festival Dance Pavilion. They are coming to Révéler Experiences this Saturday due to the efforts of an emerging alliance of local and regional promoters, expanding opportunities for world musicians."

Congolese band Loboko brings "post-Soukous” music to Richmond.