Author: G. Tellez
Me Too drama “Spin Me Round” loses the thread, while “Orphan: First Kill” loses its reviewer. Plus Michael Mann’s “Heat” gets a sequel novel. Screenwriter and director Jeff Baena’s “Spin Me Round” keeps throwing ideas at you. For a while, the movie appears to be heading toward a premise that’s simple and eerie, until Baena reveals it to be but a stop on an ongoing tour of passing fancies. One doesn’t expect to compare a Baena movie with a Jordan Peele production, but that’s where I find myself here. Like “Nope,” which has enough semiotic significance for 20 movies and…
A survey of some of the top options at Hatch Food Hall. Those of us of a certain age who spent our ‘80s childhoods at the local mall can well remember the allure of the food court. Those neon-lit arenas boasting relics like Sbarro and Orange Julius were both the fuel and the backdrop to afternoons of adolescent social networking. While that mash up of fast food extravagance and open seating tailor-made for loitering may no longer exist anywhere other than the Starcourt mall of “Stranger Things” fame, the appeal of communal dining is alive and well. Grown-up and fancified…
RVA Duck Race and Festival of Inclusion at Brown’s Island on Saturday, Aug. 20 Maybe our favorite pitch-line this week: The Quack is Back! The Autism Society of Central Virginia (ASCV) is hosting the popular RVA Duck Race in conjunction with a new Festival of Inclusion, scheduled to be Richmond’s “first sensory-friendly festival designed to include and accommodate individuals with autism and other developmental disabilities.” How it works: The little toy ducks are sold online leading up to the event. With each entry, participants get to watch the duck float down the canal and race to the finish line. Organizers…
Sunday Tea Dances are back in fashion, fostering community and benefiting charity. Until 1993, Section 4-37 of Virginia’s Alcoholic Beverage Control codes warned business owners that “a bar’s license may be suspended or revoked if the bar has become a meeting place and rendezvous for users of narcotics, drunks, homosexuals, prostitutes, pimps, panderers, gamblers or habitual law violators.” The threat to the queer community in the commonwealth was far from theoretical. In 1969, Renee’s and Rathkellers’ — two gay hotspots — were both shut down by Richmond Police after eyewitness testimony from an undercover ABC agent described “men wearing makeup,…
The Richmond Folk Festival, which returns Oct. 7-9 for its 18th anniversary, is one of the largest parties of the year. The free, three-day event often draws 200,000 people over the weekend to the downtown riverfront. Today they announced ten more artists for this year’s fest, eight of which have never been featured before at the festival. “While each year the Richmond Folk Festival provides a new artistic program, this year—the event’s 18th—promises to really stand out as a feast for the senses,” said Blaine Waide, associate director for the National Council for the Traditional Arts, in a release. “Whether…
Capsoul Brewing Collective sets sights on 2023 distribution, brewery. Eric Jackson knew it was time. He’d hosted myriad gatherings through his social event, beer-focused company, Capsoul Collective since starting the biz in March 2019. Jackson and co-founder Tyrel Murdaugh launched a podcast, created a magazine, and initiated several innovative brewing collabs, including the 2020 Vasen/Capsoul release, Cohesion. Named for the “breaking apart of things and bringing them back together,” Cohesion fell right in step with Capsoul’s mission to “diversify taprooms, expand palates and connect dope people together through music, art and fashion.” The two had had successfully bridged gaps between…
Richmond duo Lean Year makes patient magic on its forthcoming sophomore album, “Sides.” One thing is missing from the forthcoming album by Richmond-based indie folk duo Lean Year: You. Inside the roomy arrangements and stately pacing of “Sides,” which is due out on the Western Vinyl label on Sept. 2, there’s a place for each listener. “It’s really nice if the audience feels like something’s missing,” says Rick Alverson, who provides backing vocals and various instrumentation. “They fill that space with their anticipation and their frustration, or their patience. There’s a space for them in the song. I’m hell-bent on…
Jeff Laine didn’t start experimenting with sourdough in the first wave of the pandemic when homemade bread became all the rage. However, after he lost his job in food science due to COVID cuts at a spice company, baking loaves became his main source of dough. With years of experience in recipe development, he figured the style of bread most closely associated with San Francisco couldn’t be too hard to perfect. “I started doing the bread thing to make ends meet at home, and I was so blown away by how good sourdough bread is,” Laine explains. “The majority of…
Singer-songwriter-guitarist Elizabeth Wise is an authentic 21st century blues troubadour. For over a decade, she’s traveled the world, from Memphis to New Zealand as a solo act, playing covers and classics in festivals, bars, and living rooms. Her new CD, “Reckless Sophistication,” expands on the one-person charisma in the best way possible, backing her with an all-star RVA band, including pianists Daniel Clarke and Carlos Chafin, bassists Rusty Farmer and Brian Cruise, drummer Scott Milstead, and the killer horn section of trumpeter Bob Miller, trombonist and arranger Toby Whittaker, and saxman J.C. Kuhl. The production is both restrained and satisfying,…