This week’s reviews include National Book Award winner James McBride’s “The Heaven and Earth Grocery Store” and young adult historical fiction by Rodman Philbrick and Elizabeth Wein.
Sunday Books & Culture: Heaven and Earth
Music Review: THE FREDERICKSBURG JAZZ COLLECTIVE
So you live in Fredericksburg, and you think it’s a “jazz desert,” with the closest clubs like Blues Alley 60 miles away in DC or like Keystone Corner 100 miles away in Baltimore? Think again. Jazz is alive and well in Fredericksburg. The Fredericksburg Jazz Collective (FJC) is a nonprofit organization that hosts an open mic jam […]
Book Review: The London Bookshop Affair by Louise Fein
With the popularity of the movie “Oppenheimer,” stories and memories of the impact of nuclear weapons are once again topics of conversation. In this book, readers will be taken to a time in 1962 when the world stood on the brink of annihilation during the Cuban Missile Crisis. We begin in February 1942 with Jeannie, […]
Chamber Chorale of Fredericksburg brings “Songs of the Season”
The winter holiday season has been inspiring gorgeous music and poetry for centuries. This weekend, Fredericksburg residents have an opportunity to hear a more recent result of that inspiration at the Chamber Chorale of Fredericksburg’s winter concert. “A Winter Day” is a 2018 composition by Canadian composer Sarah Quartel that sets text by poet Sarah […]
String Queens bring orchestral music to all
By Adele Uphaus When she was performing in regional youth orchestras while growing up, it was rare for Kendall Isadore to see another person who looked like her. “I was always the only one in my all-state orchestra, or one of two,” Isadore said. “It’s hard. We’ve always been the only ones.” Orchestras throughout the […]
The Great Lives Series 2023
The 21st annual William B. Crawley Great Lives Lecture series will explore familiar historical, literary and cultural figures such William Shakespeare, George Washington and Martin Luther King Jr. It will also present the lives of lesser-known figures like Mary Lumpkin, an enslaved woman who established a school for Black men that became Virginia Union University; […]
Theater Review: MATILDA
Roald Dahl’s Matilda the Musical Book by Dennis Kelly; Music and Lyrics by Tim Minchin Tickets $33.00 KleinTheatre, University of Mary Washington, performances through November 19th Reviewed by Dennis Wemm For children are innocent and love justice, while most of us are wicked and naturally prefer mercy. – GK Chesterton Is Matilda just a “revolting […]
Book Review: Stolen by Night
Stolen by Night by Steve Watkins Published by Scholastic Press (November 7, 2023) Hardcover $18.99 Kindle $11.99 Reviewed by Drew Gallagher Full Disclosure: author Steve Watkins is a friend of mine. If not for Watkins, I would have never had a poem published in a literary magazine titled Kumquat Meringue. That’s not the kind of […]
Stephen King’s “Misery” Brought to Life on the Local Stage This October
Theater Review: Misery adapted by William Goldman from Stephen King’s novel Produced by Fredericksburg Theatre Ensemble; purchase tickets Upcoming performances: 8 PM on October 20, 21, 27 and 28; 6 PM on October 22 and 29 Reviewed by Dennis Wemm THEATER CRITIC For his story The Final Problem, Arthur Conan Doyle killed off his most […]
Featured Local Organization: Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library
Editor’s Note: We are pleased to feature this exceptional program to boost reading interest in young children sponsored by our sister publication, Fredericksburg Parent & Family. Want your local organization featured? Send your request to the editor – [email protected] by noon each Friday. Welcome to the Fredericksburg Area Imagination Library, serving 22401, 22406 and 22554. […]