Is the new Richmonder...not a Richmonder at all?

by Fayeruz Regan 05.2022

Tony Corsano was a corporate lawyer living in Brooklyn, New York and he was miserable. Working at what he describes as a “sweat shop law firm,” he left behind his law career to pursue his dream of being a musician.

He found work as a drummer, but his band toured six to eight months out of the year, which he found difficult. The promise of happiness still proved elusive. Then one day, he happened upon a concert in a park. A musician was singing children’s songs to a big crowd, filled with strollers and enthusiastic families. “It looked fun,” he said casually, belying the dedication he put into his next step.

He taught himself how to play guitar and created a children’s music program. Around this time, he was intrigued by a woman he met on the subway. Anais Alonso was a shy woman from a Puerto Rican family, and was also a musician. They quickly fell in love, got married and had a daughter they named Amara.

“There are two New Yorks” Anais explained, laughing. “A New York for single people, but a whole other New York once you have a kid.” Ready for a change, they delved into online research. “We drove down 95 and checked out different towns – places within a day’s drive to New York,” she said. Virginia Beach felt more like a tourist destination, and was a little too quiet in the winter. They sought an arts and culture scene that thrived year-round. Anais remembered an online article that listed Richmond as one of the nation’s top towns for people seeking careers as singer-songwriters.

While touring Richmond, they stopped at the Children’s Museum. They struck up a conversation with a parent who had moved down from New York, and were promptly invited to their party that night. There, they mingled with other parents, asking questions. “There’s a university scene and a music culture – everything from hip-hop to bluegrass,” Tony learned.

Music is what brought Pittsburgh native Lori Larson to the river city. “Richmond had a rare opening for a music therapist. That’s the type of job where if it’s offered, you pack up and move. Richmond is growing in a way that I love. We’re making leaps with social progress, and it’s exciting to be a part of.”

There’s no doubt that Richmond is being flooded with outsiders, particularly from up North. “There are the people from New York and New Jersey that want to go to a prestigious college, but nothing around them is affordable. So they come to Tech and the University of Richmond,” says New Jersey native-turned-Richmonder Christina Drake. “Richmond has a beach to the east and mountains to the west, and we’re a perfect city right in the middle.”

Anais and Tony continued their research, checking out city parks. “We were standing on the banks of the James River, and it was 60 degrees on a winter’s day,” Anais recalls. Their decision was made.

The James River seems to have an effect on others as well. When Robert and I lived in Los Angeles, we frequented Richmond for weddings as soon as we hit our thirties. Friends gave us tours of revitalized Jackson Ward and the expanding VCU campus, excited about the change in the air. “Why don’t we live here?” Robert asked, as we bobbed in the James. We had just eaten a big lunch at O’Tooles in Forest Hill, and were cooling off at Texas Beach with some friends. “You’d...live here?” I asked. “Why not?” he shrugged. I had assumed that just by virtue of living in California and being from Philadelphia, that a move to Richmond would be off the table. Writing that now seems almost silly.

Tony and Anais made the move, and he began a lucrative career as Tony Tunes, playing children’s parties and regular gigs at places such as Perk! in Bon Air. Anais followed her dream of moving out of administrative work, and becoming a teacher. As their dreams came to fruition, they expanded upon them. Together, they created Serenata –  an incredibly smooth Latin music duo. From salsa to cumbia, sprinkled in with crowd-pleasing hits from Selena to Frank Sintara, they grace stages from Brambly Park to The Tobacco Company.

Tony recalled, “At a party, I asked someone what made them move here? They said that Richmond is still a place where if you have a dream, you can make it come to pass.”