February 12 - 18, 2020

VOL. 36 / PUB. 32 • THE CAPE FEAR’S ALTERNATIVE VOICE FOR 35 YEARS • FEBRUARY 12 - FEBRARY 18, 2020 FREE

DREAMS REALIZED The creative team behind 'Dreamgirls' brings to life a beautiful musical

PHOTO BY E. L. BRIM PHOTOGRAPHY encore | february 12 - february 18, 2020 | www.encorepub.com 1

HODGE PODGE Vol. 36/Pub. 32 February 12-February 18, 2020

ENCOREPUB.COM encoredeals.com

NEWS pgs. 6-7 • By John Wolfe John takes another deep-dive into our continuing water woes and the effects of the rollback of The Clean Water Act. Photo by John Wolfe

word of the week MASTURDATE (N)

By C hase Harr ison

A date you take by yourself.

“Wanting to be alone, she planned a date to see 'Little Women.'"

COVER STORY • pg. 25 Chase heads to Thalian Hall to check out Techmoja’s latest iteration of “Dreamgirls” and swoons over the performances, creative design and overall entertaining production value.

Photo by Ty Parker

EDITORIAL Editor-in-Chief:

Shea Carver >> shea@encorepub.com

Staff Editors:

Shannon Rae Gentry >> shannon@encorepub.com Jeff Oloizia >> jeffrey@encorepub.com

ART pg. 16 • By Shea Carver

win of of the the week week win

Shea speaks to mother and daughter Michele and Addie Wuensch about their art show at The Bellamy Mansion. Art by Michele Wuensch

Art Director/Office Manager: Susie Riddle >> ads@encorepub.com

Chief Contributors: Gwenyfar Rohler,

Anghus, Tom Tomorrow, Mark Basquill, Rosa Bianca, Rob Brezsny, John Wolfe, Joan C.W. Hoffmann

Interns: Lauren Sears, Darius Melton, Brooke Suddeth

SALES General Manager/Owner: John Hitt >> john@encorepub.com

Ad Representatives

Megan Henry >> megan@encorepub.com John Hitt >> john@encorepub.com Shea Carver >> shea@encorepub.com Brian Venegas >> brian@encorepub.com Published weekly on Wednesday by HP Media; opinions of contributing writers are not the opinions of encore.

We will give away a deal of the week to Rooster and Crow! Follow us on our IG, FB and Twitter (@encorepub) to find out how to win!

ALSO INSIDE THIS WEEK P.O. Box 12430, Wilmington, N.C. 28405 encorepub.com • (910) 791-0688

EXTRA pg. 38-39 • Shannon Rae Gentry Need something to do this Valentine’s Day weekend? Whether flying solo or with a sweetie, encore has highlights from around town. Stock photo

Live Local, pgs. 4-5 • News, pgs. 6-7 • News of the Weird, pg. 8 • Music, pgs. 12-16 • Art, pg. 18 • Gallery Guide, pg. 19 Film, pg. 20 • Comedy, pg. 21 • Theatre, pgs. 22-25 • Dining, pgs. 26-32 • Books, pg. 34 • Fact or Fiction, pg. 36 Extra, pgs. 38-39 • Calendar, pgs. 40-53 • Crossword, pg. 55

2 encore | february 12 - february 18, 2020 | www.encorepub.com

A Thrilling Cirque Performance unlike any other

Saturday, Feb.29 at 7:30 pm

Wilson Center TickeT cenTral • 910.362.7999 • WilsoncenTerTickeTs.com encore | february 12 - february 18, 2020 | www.encorepub.com 3

HEALING

TELLING TALANA’S STORY A young Talana Kreeger with her bicycle. Kreeger is the subject of Tab Ballis’ documentary about her brutal murder in Wilmington.

COMMUNITY

Photo courtesy of Twana Paulson

Gwenyfar interviews Tab Ballis about the release of his documentary ‘Park View’

F

ebruary 22, 2020 is the 30th anniversary of a truly horrifying night in Wilmington history. Talana Kreeger was brutally raped and killed by a long-haul trucker, who had found his way to the Park View Grill, a gay bar on Carolina Beach Road, (situated where The Dubliner is currently), where Kreeger was a patron. Filmmaker Tab Ballis has produced and directed a documentary of the events that occurred in “Park View.” More so, the documentary explores the lasting impact these events have had on our community. Ballis will debut it at The Church of the Good Shepherd on the anniversary as an opportunity for healing and, for some, maybe a sense of closure.

The nature of the crime is one of nightmares. On February 22, 1990, the perpetrator manually disemboweled Kreeger and left her to bleed to death in the woods on a cold night. Kreeger worked as a carpenter in the film industry, and built a life with friends who cared about her. But once her body was discovered, her story took a back seat to that of her murderer.

Ballis points out how the media reported almost nothing about Talana Kreeger and her life. Instead, they focused on the murderer. “He was humanized,” Ballis says.

“We learned about his life and witnesses on the stand called him a lovable teddy bear, and the StarNews printed it as if that was useful information!”

For 15 years Ballis has researched, filmed and edited the documentary. When he began planning the screening, the venue was an obvious choice: It would be at The Church of the Good Shepard. “The significance is that back in 1990, when this horrible murder happened, that faith community was the only house of worship in town that would agree to host a funeral of Talana Kreeger. The friends who mourned her were turned down by many other churches.”

They weren’t just turned down; in one instance a church that had agreed to host her funeral actually rescinded the offer when Kreeger’s identity as a lesbian and the victim of a hate crime became known. In the wake of the horrific crime, it was an additional slap in the face to deny Kreeger’s life recognition and dignity. As the late Frank Harr put it, “We wanted to have a place where we could marry you and bury you.”

“So a group of people got together and formed what became St. Judes,” notes Reverend John McLaughlin of St. Judes Metropolitan Community Church. The Metropolitan Community Church (MCC) movement started in California in 1968, to specifically provide an inclusive ministry to LGBTQ people. Ballis observes in some ways it is a

4 encore | february 12 - february 18, 2020 | www.encorepub.com

BY GWE NYF story of three churches: The Good Shepard, The Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, and now St. Jude’s MCC Church. “[St. Jude’s] did not have a place to meet for the first year or two,” McLaughlin tells. “So that’s where the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship comes in.

Something a lot of people call ‘Church In the Box,’ where you box up everything you need to have a church service, go somewhere else, unpack it at church and pack it back up. That’s what the Unitarian Universalist fellowship did for St. Jude’s before we had a place to meet.”

Eventually they moved into the little white church down on Castle Street. Then in the early 2000s the old Odd Fellows’ Hall became the new home of St. Judes’. Up until Hurricane Florence, a bench inscribed in Talana Kreeger’s name graced the memorial garden.

Local guitar guru Laura McLean, who was an acquaintance of Kreeger’s, wrote the soundtrack for the film. “I have really been sitting in meditation with this music,” the singer-songwriter says. “I tried to let Talana

AR ROH LER

guide me in spirit, and do what she would want. . . . I am honored to be entrusted with this project.”

The soundtrack includes the haunting song “Left for Dead,” which McLean says she wanted to recreate a sense of starkness of the night. McLean will perform it live at the screening, too.

“This event is for the people who lived the story, who knew Talana Kreeger, who suffered through the event,” Ballis says. “It’s for them. Her case deserved a lot more attention than it got then.”

Ballis notes that two of the interviews in the film are with researchers who work with media coverage of hate crimes. It reveals how crimes against lesbians are drastically under reported. “Not because they don’t happen, but because violence against women is so commonplace that law enforcement doesn’t bother to inquire about the sexuality

of the victims,” Ballis says.

Three years after Kreeger’s death, the beating of Crae Pridgen in front of Mickey Ratz nightclub would make national news.

“LGBTQ hate crimes against men tend to be more reported, and there tends to be more information,” according to Ballis.

In 1998 the case surrounding the death of Matthew Shepard would make national headlines, with the picture of Matthew Shepard tied to a split rail fence in Wyoming. Once you’ve seen it, you can’t forget it.

“The big difference between the case of covering Matthew Shepard and Talana Kreeger is that Shepard’s parents were not going to allow their son to die anonymously,” Ballis tells. “So the only reason most of us ever heard of that case is because his parents made damn well sure that we knew about it. Sadly, Talana didn’t have family in her life that would do that.”

Like many LGBTQ youth, when Kreeger came out as a lesbian, she was ostracized.

It is only in the last year Ballis has had contact with one of her family members.

“She’s a younger cousin, and she discovered the film online and is very supportive,” Ballis says. “She sent us these amazing childhood photos of Talana and has given us permission to use them.”

They are invaluable as a visual tool for

humanizing Kreeger and making her a real person, not just a victim.

Reverend McLaughlin points out this kind of trauma isn’t new to the LGBTQ community. Yet, it still didn’t make it easy. “I think LGBTQ people who knew of it were so traumatized that they couldn’t or wouldn’t speak of it,” McLaughlin tells.

“I think that’s another reason it has taken 15 years to do this film,” Ballis adds, “especially for an older white straight guy to talk to people and to say: ‘I want to hear your story.’

It has taken a while to gain their trust. That trust means a lot to me.”

There are many people who would have abandoned a project of this magnitude long before now. For Ballis, whose day job is a licensed clinical social worker at Insight Wellness Services and part time faculty in the Social Work Department at UNCW, that wasn’t really an option.

Over the years he has had a lot of collaborators: Ingrid Jungerman, Shawn Llewallen, Mario Marchioni and Tony Morin among them. People’s lives and careers shifted and changed, but Ballis pushed forth on the project. “They ended up going to NY or LA and I was sort of left to continue the story,” he says. 'I felt that someone damn well needed to tell her story.”

He wants to tell Kreeger’s story from witness accounts as a tool for social change.

Ballis points to the 2010 film “Gen Silent,”

DETAILS PARK VIEW

Foundation, a local LGBTQ advocacy group founded in memory of the late Frank Harr.

They’re sponsoring the screening.

“The Frank Harr Foundation seeks to educate the community at large on issues affecting LGBTQ persons, in order to reduce and eventually eliminate the fear and hatred of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender and queer persons in our society,” board president Virginia Hager explains. “All too often homophobic hatred and bigotry results in vicious assaults and murder of LGBTQ persons, and ‘Park View’ is an important educational tool that sheds much-needed light on such hate crimes.”

Screening February 22, 7 p.m.

Church of the Good Shepherd, 515 Queen St. Reception follows with performance from Laura McLean Ballis is confident about the benefit the Free • parkviewproject.com film will have in our local community, despite gaining popularity in the LGBTQ community. “[Filmmaker Stu Maddux] brought the film to college campuses and community organizations for years,” he says. “That film is actually the reason why we have a SAGE chapter in this town now. Some of us saw that film and said, ‘Gosh, we need one of those here.’”

Founded in 1978, SAGE is a national advocacy and resource organization of LGBTQ elders. Starting with the late Robert West, cofounder of Working Films, Ballis has sought direction and assistance from the locally based organization. Working Films utilizes film to create social change.

Ballis also reached out to The Frank Harr

the cost it may have on others having to relive it. “I know when I have talked to people who retell this story, it has been painful,” Ballis acknowledges. As a social worker and a mental-health therapist, he believes the only way we will be released from trauma is to express it in some kind of safe space.

Though the event on the 22 may be harder for some than for others, he has arranged for designated people wearing purple ribbons to be available to offer comfort. A space will be available if people need to step out and take care of themselves as well.

“It is not up to me to determine if this is safe for everyone who lived it,” Ballis says.

“I hope in the long run it will result in more healing than harm.”

Monkey Junction’s only wine Bar! Wine and beer on tap

Live music Thursday & Saturday Paul O

plays every Thurs.

7-9pm

Featuring 14 Free tastings, Weekly wines by the Friday, 5-7 classes glass

5226 S. College Rd, 9B (910) 338-4027 T-Th 11am-8pm, F-Sa 11am-10pm, Sunday Noon-6pm www.soifdevin.com

Special musical guest

Galen

plays Saturdays 7-9pm encore | february 12 - february 18, 2020 | www.encorepub.com 5

ENDANGERED

BY JOHN WOLFE

T

here is an old television commercial that shows a Native American man in feathers and buck leather, paddling a canoe through a filthy river, weaving through litter under the smoke of heavy industry, as a baritone voiceover announces, “Some people have a deep abiding respect for the natural beauty that was once this country.” The man pulls his canoe up on a trashed beach. The voice continues, “And some people don’t.” Then, the camera pans to someone in a car who throws more litter out of the window, which lands at the man’s feet. By now it has become a cultural trope: He turns to the camera, a gaunt look on his face, a single tear in his eye, as the announcer concludes, “People start pollution, and people can stop it.”

This ad is from the 1970s, a time when an Italian actor could play an Indian chief in a national commercial. Companies, farms, factories and mines poured whatever they wanted into our nation’s waterways. It was a time when rivers caught on fire because they were so dirty. The Cuyahoga in Cleveland, Ohio, famously burned from industrial pollution, spurring then-President Nixon to sign the Clean Water Act into law.

It launched protections that we the people have enjoyed for 50 years. Unfortunately, the latest action by the eviscerated EPA threatens to return us to that time, undoing five decades of environmental progress.

In late January the EPA announced they were changing the legal definition of the term “Waters of the United States” (WOTUS), the latest of nearly 100 environmental safety regulations the Trump administration has weakened or eliminated in the past three years. Four categories of waterways remain protected under the Clean Water Act: large navigable bodies of water, like the Cape Fear River; tributaries, lakes and ponds, and “major” wetlands. But other bodies of water—including ephemeral streams which only flow for part of the year, like groundwater, cropland and farm ponds—are no longer under federal control.

Thus it allows landowners and property developers to “dump pollutants like pesticides and fertilizers directly into hundreds of thousands of waterways, and to destroy or fill in wetlands for construction projects,”

6 encore | february 12 - february 18, 2020 | www.encorepub.com

WATERS

Trump administration overturns the Clean Water Act, which we the people will pay for in the end according to the New York Times.

people of our state.”

In North Carolina we have a law called the Hardison Amendment, which states that no state agency can adopt “a rule for the protection of the environment . . . that imposes a more restrictive standard, limitation, or requirement than those imposed by federal law.” It effectively neuters our state’s ability to adopt stronger protections. * * * * * “It’s almost impossible to know all the ways that this could affect the river,” says Kemp Burdette, the Cape Fear Riverkeeper.

We are sipping hot tea in the cabin of my small ketch, moored on the river. Out of the portholes, the day is clear and bright. “It’s probably going to take several real water quality emergencies before we fully understand how it’s going to affect the river.”

While the Clean Water Act still technically protects the main arteries of our nation’s waters (like the river), Kemp explains, the WOTUS revision has removed protections from the capillaries, which feed into those arteries. Anyone who remembers fifth grade science class will recall the water cycle, which illustrates the simple fact that all water is connected, from the greatest ocean down to the smallest trickle. Injecting poison into the tip of a toe will still corrupt the heart. That’s what’s happening now.

The WOTUS revision effectively removes protections from 18% of streams and 51% of wetlands nationwide. The EPA claims the new rules will result in economic growth, but why does that term so often go hand in hand with environmental destruction? Even the EPA’s own Science Advisory Board, made up largely of Trump appointees, has opposed this change. Board chair Michael Honeycutt told NPR the action ignores established science. “It does not support the objective of restoring and This is especially unfortunate, Kemp maintaining the chemical, physical, and bi- continues, because among the small waological integrity of those waters.” terways no longer protected are so-called Ostensibly, EPA leadership claims it will “ditched streams.” In North Carolina, these reduce federal overreach and allow states are typically found on the coastal plain to decide for themselves to set limits on around factory farms, or CAFOS (myriad pollution. State DEQ Secretary Michael Re- evils, which encore has reported on extengan said in a statement, “DEQ will continue sively in the past). No other river basin in to use the state’s authority to protect NC’s the world has as high a concentration of water quality and natural resources for the factory farms as the Cape Fear—a dubious accolade, at best. And that amount is

MOVING DOWNSTREAM Tidal creeks and wetlands make up Eagles Island on the Cape Fear River—part of which is in conservation, but ecologically similar places are among those threatened by development, with canals at risk of being impacted by further pollution from CAFOs upstream.

Photos by John Wolfe

still growing, as chicken farms continue to crop up. In the past, organizations like River Watch were able to stop farmers from spraying hog waste under the Clean Water Act if they could prove and document that waste from their fields was ending up in a ditch. Now, Kemp expects to see a huge increase in the amount of waste being spread onto fields and running off into our waterways. “[The farmers will be] doing it with impunity because there’s no longer a federal law to say you can’t dump raw animal waste into a water body,” Kemp continues. “Even if you’re doing it directly upstream of a place where people fish, where people swim, where people kayak, there will be absolutely nothing to stop that from happening.”

This ties into the crux of the issue: Without these laws in place, environmental advocacy nonprofit organizations like River Watch—the too-thin line of defense protecting us from polluters—are crippled in their ability to sue and demand cleanup action. The thought that industry will self-regulate is a preposterous hypothesis that history has proven false. We need strong protections for our sake—we, as in the people who are drinking the water.

Hasn’t our Cape Fear community learned after the fluorochemical crisis we’ve been dealing with for the last three years?

“We sued Chemours under the Clean Water Act; we sued Duke Energy under the Clean Water Act for contaminating Flemington’s groundwater supply with coal Besides the gross factor, excessive ash,” Kemp says. “So if you lose the ability waste in waterways has been extensively to say you can regulate what’s coming out proven to cause fish kills and bacterial and of a contaminated site above a drinking algae blooms, transmogrifying the once- water intake, then you’re going to have real clear water column into something like rot- problems. Because right now we can.” ting, green milk—big problems for drinking * * * * * water, especially in rural, already-stressed filtration plants that might not have the ca“The benefits of wetlands cannot be pabilities to remove all the toxins. Before it overstated,” says Kerri Allen, Coastal Adever gets filtered, that water (and the toxins vocate for the NC Coastal Federation. in it) could come in contact with people or We’re in her light and airy office. Out of their pets. Kemp mentions dogs who died after retrieving tennis balls thrown into a her window, I catch an occasional glimpse local retention pond last summer, casual- of the salt marsh which beards tidal Lee’s ties of similar conditions. What if next time Cut at Wrightsville Beach. North Carolina has over 5.7 million acres of wetlands; they it’s a child? play critical and natural roles as habitat for Another major concern is that protec- wildlife, storage for nutrients and carbon, tions have been removed from ground- and their increasingly important function water. One reason we’re still seeing as a buffer against storms and sea-level concerning levels of PFAS and emerg- rise. Wetlands are the backbone of our $95 ing contaminants in the Cape Fear River million seafood industry and $3.4 billion is because these chemicals have found tourism industry. their way into the groundwater after Che“You can’t grow oysters without healthy mours’ air pollution condensed and fell as wetlands,” Allen says. “All of our [local] tidrain. So, eventually, it finds its way into the al creeks and waterways are impaired due earth. Back to the fifth-grade water cycle lesson: A lot of groundwater, which many to bacterial pollution from [stormwater] people drink straight from their wells, runoff. So when you add in everything else flows into surface water, which thou- from the upstage streams, streams that aren’t going to be covered, it gets pretty sands of people drink. close to the point of no return.”

Researchers at UNCW’s Center for Marine Science have shown that once a mere 10% of a watershed is built upon, severe impacts to wildlife and water quality can be expected. And if that number rises to 30%?

“You start to see some irreversible degradation to that ecosystem,” Allen says.

“With this I fully expect to see more development in already vulnerable areas in New Hanover, Pender and Brunswick counties, areas that have had protections from development are going to lose those.”

change to the Clean Water Act are corporations: factory farms like Smithfield, Tyson and Butterball; industrial facilities like the Chemours plant in Fayetteville; and property developers who are undoubtedly already scheming to turn wetlands into high-profit, high-density condominiums.

But who pays for this? We the people, of course. Our insurance premiums will rise to pay for local structures flooding where they never should have been built. Our water bills will creep up, as our public utilities have to buy expensive upgraded filtration systems to keep our water clean enough to drink. It’s the same old story: The bastards in charge of the country keep selling us out to line their own pockets—and then have the audacity to present us with the bill. I’m sick and tired of writing it over again. Why do we have to keep explaining we need clean water to live?

That development will have major impacts, not just on the ecosystems, but on the people who live in and near new structures, as we reckon with more frequent and powerful hurricanes caused by anthropogenic climate change. Allen fully expects to see new development in areas prone to flooding. As anyone who lived through I’m no Native American, but this week I Florence knows, major hurricanes are not did take my little skiff out on the Cape Fear only a possibility; they are an inevitability. to explore our wetlands. At first glance Even with minor storm events, our lowthe river was clean and clear, the tide still est-lying lands occasionally flood. flooding and a light breeze from the south.

“Not a week goes by that my phone When I nosed into the creeks, I encountered doesn’t ring with citizens reaching out a dull slick trapped in the more stagnant about these concerns,” Allen admits. “More streams. A brown, oily haze besmirched development in these vulnerable areas is my paddles; it clung to the blades of the only going to exacerbate that problem.” phragmites and Spartina grasses. Our Geoff Gisler, senior attorney with the poor river—and she is ours, truly, in the Southern Environmental Law Center, says public trust—has her problems. Industrial in an email to encore, “We are closely farming, coal ash, emerging flurochemireviewing the new rule, and evaluating cal contaminants ... we’re a long way past whether it complies with applicable laws.” simple litter.

Once the rule is published in the federI didn’t shed a single tear, but I did get a al register, he says, it can be challenged sinking feeling this will probably get worse in federal court, a step he believes many before it’s better. I paddled deeper, lookstates’ attorney generals will take. Citizens ing for hope and a way forward, but all I locally can encourage NC’s Attorney Gen- found was more dirty grass. When I stood eral Josh Stein (through a form at ncdoj. up to see further, my presence startled a gov) and DEQ to be a part of that chal- great blue heron. With a whisper of feathlenge. The longer the legal fight, the worse ers, he took flight and clawed his way aloft, it is for our waters, and the people and ani- searching for a place to roost undisturbed mals who rely on them to survive. by the actions of humanity. * * * * * The people who will benefit from the

I don’t know if a place like that still exists. But if it does, I hope he finds it.

encore | february 12 - february 18, 2020 | www.encorepub.com 7

Remember to take care of yourself during the new year.

LEAD STORY

J Daniel Pierce PHOTOGRAPHY

Massage Therapy and Private yoga instruction available blueberrysagemassageyoga.com

The Times of India reports that Soni Devi, 20, of Vaishali district, petitioned the state women’s commission on Jan. 9 for divorce from her husband of two years, Manish Ram, 23, complaining, “My husband stinks as he won’t shave and bathe for nearly 10 days at a stretch. Moreover, he doesn’t brush his teeth. He also doesn’t have manners and follow etiquette. ... Kindly get me rid of this man; he has ruined my life.” Commission member Pratima Sinha told the Times, “I was taken aback by her silly reasons,” but nonetheless, the commission will give the husband “two months’ time to mend his ways. If his behavior is not found satisfactory even after that, we will ... refer the matter to the family court for separation.” Manish reportedly promised to mend his ways. [Times of India, 1/10/2020]

IRONY Sauntore Thomas, 44, of Detroit, presented three checks at his bank on Jan. 21 that he had received as settlement in a race discrimination lawsuit against his former employer, according to the Detroit Free Press. Instead of accepting the checks, TCF Bank in Livonia, where Thomas was an established customer, summoned police and initiated a fraud investigation. Thomas’ attorney, Deborah Gordon, told the Free Press, “Obviously, assumptions were made the minute he walked in based on his race.” Thomas finally closed his existing accounts, left the bank and deposited the checks at a different bank without any trouble. The next day, Thomas filed a lawsuit against TCF Bank alleging race discrimination and asking for unspecified damages and an apology from the company. [Detroit Free Press, 1/23/2020]

OVERREACTION

8 encore | february 12 - february 18, 2020 | www.encorepub.com

The moral of this story: Don’t hog the bacon. Gregory Seipel, 47, of Ludlow Falls, Ohio, was arrested on Jan. 30 after being accused of attacking a man with a knife during an argument over bacon, WHIO-TV reported. The unnamed victim told Miami County Sheriff’s officers he had made bacon that morning for breakfast, and Seipel took issue with the

amount he had eaten. The argument escalated until Seipel allegedly grabbed the victim by the back of the head and held a razor blade to his neck, cutting him. Seipel was charged with felonious assault and was held on $50,000 bond. [WHIO, 2/3/2020]

VALENTINE’S GREETINGS If you’d like to get a special gift for an ex this Valentine’s Day, Centre Wildlife Care in Port Matilda, Pennsylvania, has just the thing. In exchange for a donation to a fund for restoring local bat populations, the rescue organization will name a mealworm after your ex, and Betsy the large brown bat will eat it. Donate more than $45, and you’ll receive a personalized video of Betsy devouring the treat. “Essentially, people will be naming the mealworms after someone they don’t like,” Executive Director Robyn Graboski told WTAJ, “and we will feed them to the bat.” [WTAJ, 2/3/2020] If you have lifetime commitment on your mind this Valentine’s Day, Domino’s Australia wants to help out. The pizza chain announced a contest on Feb. 3 in which the winner will receive a diamond-encrusted engagement ring in the shape of a pizza slice worth $9,000, Fox News reported. Fans can enter with a 30-second video detailing “how you will involve pizza in your proposal,” according to the company.

Good luck! [Fox News, 2/3/2020]

LIFE IMITATES DRAMA Two chemistry professors at Henderson State University in Arkadelphia, Arkansas, were formally charged on Feb. 3 with manufacturing methamphetamines and possession, KTHV reported. Terry David Bateman, 45, and Bradley Allen Rowland, 40, both associate professors, were arrested on Nov. 15 and had been on administrative leave since Oct. 11, after the science center on campus was closed because of a chemical odor. It reopened on Oct. 29 after testing, but in the meantime, according to court documents, faculty members reported to the Clark County Sheriff’s Office the two were acting in a way that indicated “these persons were involved in some type of illegal activity.” The suspects had also lost weight and were “extremely guarded” about who was in their laboratories and when. (Should have sprung for the RV.) [KTHV, 2/3/2020]

The Best Southern Food In Wilmington!

$25.00 for only $12.50

This week only: Feb. 12-18 Does not include alcohol. • Limit 1 per check • Expires 5/12/2020

only available at

encore | february 12 - february 18, 2020 | www.encorepub.com 9

10 encore | february 12 - february 18, 2020 | www.encorepub.com

encore | february 12 - february 18, 2020 | www.encorepub.com 11

SHAGADELIC, BABY The East Coast Shag Classic takes over the Holiday Inn Resort in Wrightsville Beach February 13-16, with a performance by Band of Oz Thursday night.

Courtesy photo

SOUND

BOARD

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 12 Tidal Creek Open Mic (6pm; free) Tidal Creek Co-Op, 5329 Oleander Dr. #100

Wine Down Wednesday & Karaoke (8PM; FREE) Ibiza Nightclub, 118 Market St.

Music Bingo with DJ Sherri [7pm; free] Local’s Tavern, 1107 New Pointe Blvd.

Trivia with Party Gras Entertainment [7pm; free] HopLite Irish Pub and Restaurant, 720 N. Lake Park Blvd.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 13 LGBTQ Karaoke + Gaming Night (7pm; free) Bottega, 723 N. Fourth St.

Dreamgirls! [7:30pm; $30]

Circus Industry Night [3PM]

Thalian Hall, 310 Chestnut St.

Barzarre, 1612 Castle St.

Chris Luther (6pm; free; Solo Jazz Guitar)

Valentine to Young Artists: UNCW faculty and Paolo Gualdi [7pm; $10]

Tarantelli’s, 102 S. 2nd St.

Beckwith Recital Hall, 5270 Randall Dr.

Hell’s Kitchen, 118 Princess St.

Hank Barbee [6pm; free]

Band of Oz [7pm; $40]

toby levin [8pm]

Flytrap Brewing, 319 Walnut St.

Holiday Inn Resort, 1706 N. Lumina Ave.

Tails Piano Bar, 115 S. Front St.

CAM Cafe Music: Bill Kerr [6pm; guitar]

Music Bingo w/DJ Sherri [7pm; free]

Cameron Art Museum, 3201 S. 17th St.

Courtyard Grill, 3317 Masonboro Loop Rd.

Rockin’ Trivia w/ Party Gras Entertainment [8PM; FREE]

Trivia from Hell’s [7:30PM; FREE]

List your live music, trivia and open mic nights

FREE

online and in print!

It’s super easy!

1. Go to www.encorepub.com 2. Click on calendar tab 3. Click on red add your event button and fill in the info

12 encore | february 12 - february 18, 2020 | www.encorepub.com

www.encorepub.com

Fox & Hound, 920 Town Center Dr

Thirsty thursday (10pm; free) Ibiza Nightclub, 118 Market St.

SeaWitch Cafe and Tiki Bar, 227 Carolina Beach Ave N.

Beach Ave N.

chris pearson duo [10pm]

Edward Teach Brewing, 604 N 4th St.

The Palm Room, 11 E. Salisbury St.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 14

Jeremy Mathews [9pm]

valentine’s party w/ the beehive blondes The Cape Fear Chordsmen’s Singing Valentines [9:30pm; free] Satellite Bar and Lounge, 120 Greenfield St. [all day; $50]

Katy’s Grill and Bar, 1054 S. College Rd.

Call 910-541-1256 to secure a time slot

FEEBS [9pm; free]

Water Wingz [6pm] Wrightsville Beach Brewery, 6201 Oleander Dr.

Gary Lowder & Smokin’ Hot [7pm; $50] Holiday Inn Resort, 1706 N. Lumina Ave.

Beau James [7pm; $7] Live at Ted’s, 2 Castle St.

kersten capra [9pm] Tails Piano Bar, 115 S. Front St.

jenny zigrino [7pm & 9:30pm; $15] Dead Crow Comedy, 265 N. Front St.

Portal City Chocolate+ART Valentine’s Day ft.

Rozez / HoneyBear [8:30pm; $10] Barzarre, 1612 Castle St.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 15 Irish Music Night [5pm; $7] Waterline Brewing Company, 721 Surry St.

Soul-R Fusion [7pm; free]

Flytrap Brewing, 319 Walnut St.

Thomas Pope & Chad Clark [9pm; free] Banks Channel, 530 Causeway Dr.

Gossin Brothers Live [9pm; free]

Lagerheads Tavern, 35 N. Lumina Ave.

Kelsey Hudgins [9:30pm; free] Hell’s Kitchen, 118 Princess St.

the guardians [8pm]

Steve Martinez & The Give Thanks Band [10pm] The Palm Room, 11 E. Salisbury St.

> > > Tuesday $3.75 Sweet Water $4.00 Absolute Lemon Drop

> > > WEDNESDAY $3.75 Wicked Weed $4.00 Margaritas

$3.75 Pint of the Day $4.00 Fireball

Thalian Hall, 310 Chestnut St.

jenny zigrino [7pm & 9:30pm; $15]

Waterline Brewing Company, 721 Surry St. 227 CAROLINA BEACH AVE N. (910) 707-0533 • seawitchtikibar.com

Live at Ted’s, 2 Castle St.

Trivia from hell’s (7:30pm; free) Hell’s Kitchen, 118 Princess St.

Anything Goes Open Stage (8pm; free)

Flytrap Brewing, 319 Walnut St.

Burlesque Nights [8pm; $15] Bourgie Nights, 127 Princess St.

the conspiracy [8pm]

Barzarre, 1612 Castle St.

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 18

$2.75 Domestic $3.50 Select Drafts $4 Fireballs!

TUESDAY

$4.00 Green Tea

(Foothills Hoppyum IPA, Red Oak)

$3.50 Local Draft Brew

> > > SUNDAY

$5 Jameson

$5.00 Bloody Marys & Mimosas

WEDNESDAY

$3 Lagunitas $6 Knob Creek 1/2 price bottles of wine

FRIDAY

$3.00 Michelob Ultra $5.00 Lunazul Tequila All Floors open SATURDAY

$3 Miller Lite $3.50 Modelo $4 Smirnoff Lemon Drop shots $5 Raspberry Smirnoff w/mixer All Floors open SUNDAY

$3 Corona & Corona Light $4 Mimosa $4 Bloody Mary $5 Margarita

THIS WEEK AT THE WITCH WED 2/12 JV and JEFF 1/2 PRICE BAR

MONICA O H ELSCHER

FRI 2/14 THE GUARDIANS

SAT 2/15 THE CONSPIRACY

THUR 2/13

Trivia & Taco Tues. w/ Sherri ‘So Very!’ (7pm; free)

$3.00 PBR 16oz cans $3.00 Coors Light $6 Redbull and Vodka

MONDAY

BREAKFAST BUFFET

Beckwith Recital Hall, 5270 Randall Dr.

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 17

Live at Ted’s, 2 Castle St.

LIVE MUSIC in the courtyard on Friday & Saturday

2 BUD & BUD LIGHTS

$ 00

Clark Spencer [4pm; $6; viola]

the kennedys [4pm; $25]

port city trio [7pm; $5]

> > > saturday

N. Water Street & Walnut street, Downtown Wilmington 910-762-4354

LIVE MUSIC

Stray Local [4pm]

Holiday Inn Resort, 1706 N. Lumina Ave.

100 S. FRONT ST. 910-251-1832

> > > FRIDAY

Friday & Saturday __________________________

Barzarre, 1612 Castle St.

Barzarre, 1612 Castle St.

ON OUR LOT

> > > THURSDAY

8:00 P.M. • PRIZES! • $250 YUENGLING DRAFT $ 50 3 FIREBALL SHOTS

Cape Fear Comedy Kickback [6:30pm; $5]

away we go - final stop [6pm]

FREE PARKING

$3.75 Hay Bale Ale

TRIVIA

9:00 A.M. - 2:00 P.M. • $4 MIMOSA’S

Thalian Hall, 310 Chestnut St.

THURSDAY

> > > Monday

Thursday ________________________________________

Dreamgirls! [3pm; $30]

SeaWitch Cafe and Tiki Bar, 227 Carolina

$3.75 Red Oak Draft $4.00 Wells 65¢ Wings, 4-7pm

$ 00

Old Books on Front Street, 249 N. Front St.

Smoky Dunes [8pm; free]

Ashton Eller [9:30pm]

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 16

w/DJ Damo, 9PM

2 KILLIANS • 4 MAGNERS

$ 50

Skippy and The Comedy Warriors [7:30pm; $15$32]

Dead Crow Comedy, 265 N. Front St.

Bourbon Street, 35 N. Front St.

Bourbon Street, 35 N. Front St.

KARAOKE

Sunday ___________________________________________

blackwater band [7pm; $50]

Jesse Stockton Duo [8pm; free]

Satellite Bar and Lounge, 120 Greenfield St.

Tuesday __________________________________________

Winter Park Presbyterian Church, 6309 Boathouse Rd.

Tails Piano Bar, 115 S. Front St.

The Harp, 1423 S. 3rd St.

reed turchi [9pm; free]

Books, Beer, and Jazz Piano with James Jarvis (3pm; free)

donna merrit [9pm]

Dreamgirls! [7:30pm; $30]

1423 S. 3rd St. DOWNTOWN WILMINGTON (910) 763-1607

Ashton Eller [8:30pm]

Your neighborhood drafthouse with a menu full of lowcountry favorites.

Join us for a hot meal and a cold pint.

40 BEERS ON TAP

#TAPTUESDAY...

THE BEST DAY OF THE WEEK: $3 SELECT PINTS & TEAM TRIVIA 7324 Market Street • 910-821-8185 www.ogdentaproom.com OPEN 7 DAYS AWEEK

www.RuckerJohns.com VISIT WWW.RUCKERJOHNS.COM FOR FRIDAY MONDAY DAILY SPECIALS, MUSIC & EVENTS Cosmopolitan $4.50 Select Appetizers 1/2 Off after MONDAY 5pm in bar and patio areas Watermelon Martini $6.50 DAYSeasonal Big Domestic22oz.

Draft Domestic Beers $2 Draft SamALL Adams Blue Pool Martini $6$5 Pizzas Bottles $3 SATURDAY TUESDAY TUESDAY Jack Be Chill $7.50 1/2 Off SelectLIVE Bottles of Wine IN THE JAzz BAR 22oz Deschutes Black Butte Absolute Dream $5 Half Price Bottles ofPorter Wine $5.50 $ 50 NC CraftAbsolut Bottles $3 5 • Pacifico 2 Willow Wit Dream $22oz Weeping WEDNESDAY Beer $5.50 WEDNESDAY 1/2 Off Nachos after 5pm 22oz Teach Peach Coronoa/ in bar andMiller patio Light areas Pints $150 Edward $ 50 $5.50 Wheat Domestic Pints $1.50Lite Bottles 2 Corona $ SUNDAY Corona/Corona Lt. $2.50 Margaritas/Peach Margaritas 4 Margaritas on the Rocks $4.50 All Flat Breads $6 after 5pm

THURSDAY in bar and patio areas

THURSDAY $ $ $3 Mimosa Appletinis 4, RJ’s Painkiller 5 Truly Lime Spiked and $ 50 Mary $4 Bloddy 2 Red Stripe Bottles Sparkling Water $3 Domestic $ 50 Pints $1.50 2 Fat Tire Bottles 22oz. Tropical Lightning 5564 Carolina Beach Road IPA $5.50 FRIDAY(910)-452-1212 $ 50our website Sinking Bahama Mama $7 $4, 007Visit Cosmos 3 www.RuckerJohns.com $ 1/2 Off All Premium Guinnessfor Cans daily3specials, music and Red Wine Glasses upcoming events $

Island Sunsets 5 encore | february 12 - february 18, 2020 | www.encorepub.com 13 SATURDAY

Lake Park Blvd.

RISING STAR Metropolitan Opera soprano Leah Hawkins performs at the Caterina Jarboro Memorial Concert February 21.

Courtesy photo

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 20 LGBTQ Karaoke + Gaming Night (7pm; free) Bottega, 723 N. Fourth St.

Circus Industry Night [3PM] Barzarre, 1612 Castle St.

Chris Luther (6pm; free; Solo Jazz Guitar) Tarantelli’s, 102 S. 2nd St.

Pro Musica Series: Quaternaglia Guitar Quartet [7pm] Cameron Art Museum, 3201 S. 17th St.

Music Bingo w/DJ Sherri [7pm; free] Courtyard Grill, 3317 Masonboro Loop Rd.

Trivia from Hell’s [7:30PM; FREE] Local’s Tavern, 1107 New Pointe Blvd.

Fat Tony’s Italian Pub, 131 N. Front St.

FREE)

The Drum Circle [7:30PM; FREE]

Anything Goes Open Stage (8pm; free)

Ibiza Nightclub, 118 Market St.

Bottega, 723 N. Fourth St.

Barzarre, 1612 Castle Street

rocking the dish [8pm]

one tree hill trivia [7pm]

Satellite Bar and Lounge, 120 Greenfield St.

Pour Taproom, 201 N. Front St.

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 19

friends trivia [7pm]

Tidal Creek Open Mic (6pm; free)

Local’s Tavern, 1107 New Pointe Blvd.

The Sour Barn, 7211 Market St.

Tidal Creek Co-Op, 5329 Oleander Dr. #100

Trivia with Party Gras Entertainment [7pm; free]

Trivia Tuesdays At Fat Tony’s [7pm]

Wine Down Wednesday & Karaoke (8PM;

14 encore | february 12 - february 18, 2020 | www.encorepub.com

Music Bingo with DJ Sherri [7pm; free]

HopLite Irish Pub and Restaurant, 720 N.

Hell’s Kitchen, 118 Princess St.

brett stafford smith [6PM; FREE; acoustic] Flytrap Brewing, 319 Walnut St.

Rockin’ Trivia w/ Party Gras Entertainment [8PM; FREE] Fox & Hound, 920 Town Center Dr

Thirsty thursday (10pm; free) Ibiza Nightclub, 118 Market St.

WALEMANIA Rapper Wale comes to The Fillmore in Charlotte February 15.

Sushi Happy Hour

Courtsy photo

Sun.-Thurs., 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. or 4 p.m. - 7 p.m.

Half off classic rolls HIBACHI • SUSHI TEMPURA •DAILY LUNCH SPECIALS

REGIONAL THE ORANGE PEEL 101 BILTMORE AVE., ASHEVILLE, NC (828) 398-1837

2/13: Love, Hat, and Stand-up Comedy Revue 2/14: ASCENSION Tour with Liquid Stranger 2/15: Kamasi Washington 2/16: Waltz Night 2/17: The 69 Eyes 2/18: Subtronics 2/19: Kyle Kinane 2/20: Tombstone HWY / As Sick As Us / Cloud City Caskets 2/21: An Evening with Drew and Ellie Holcomb

THE REEVES THEATER & CAFE 129 W. MAIN ST., ELKIN, NC (336) 258-8240

2/14: Melvin Morrison 2/15: Three Course Dinner with Live Music 2/21: Lonesome River Band

NEIGHBORHOOD THEATRE N. DAVIDSON ST., CHARLOTTE, NC (704) 358-9298

2/14: Moon Hooch 2/15: Time Sawyer 2/16: Flor 2/18: Paul Cauthen 2/19: Back to Back to Black: Amy Winehouse Tribute 2/20: Blue Cactus 2/21: Carbon Leaf

THE FILLMORE

820 HAMILTON ST., CHARLOTTE, NC (704) 916-8970 2/14: Hail Stan 2/15: Wale 2/16: Micro Wrestling All Stars 2/20: Railroad Earth 2/21: Subtronics

THE FILLMORE UNDERGROUND

820 HAMILTON ST., CHARLOTTE, NC (704) 916-8970 2/14: Kamasi Washington 2/15: Gasolina Party 2/16: EarthGang 2/21: Wallows

CONCERTS

Check With Our Staff About Our ALL YOU CAN EAT SUSHI MENU RUNNER-UP BEST JAPANESE

DURHAM PERFORMING ARTS CENTER 123 VIVIAN ST. DURHAM, NC (919) 688-3722 2/12-16: Mean Girls 2/19: Dancing with the Stars: Live!

2/20: Blippi Live!

2/21: An Evening of Entertainment

LINCOLN THEATRE 126 E. CABARRUS ST., RALEIGH, NC (919) 821-4111

2/14: Nantucket / Driver / Ashley LaRue Band 2/15: Eric Nam w/ Phoebe Ryan 2/16: Y&T 2/21: Railroad Earth

MOTORCO MUSIC HALL 723 RIGSBEE AVE, DURHAM, NC (919) 901-0875 2/14: Great Dane, Stay Loose 2/15: While She Sleeps 2/16: David Wilcox 2/19: Hari Kondabolu 2/20: Paul Cauthen 2/21: Remember Jones

CAT’S CRADLE 300 E. MAIN ST., CARRBORO, NC (919) 967-9053 2/12: Ross Mathews 2/14: Thrice 2/15: Colony House 2/17: Kyle Kinane 2/18: Drive-By Truckers 2/19: YBN Cordae 2/21: Archers of Loaf

Japenese Hibachi Steakhouse & Sushi

614 South College Road • 910.399.3366 • www.okamirestaurant.com

WILMINGTON WINE & BEER WALK

For A List Of Venues & Event Details Visit www.COOLWILMINGTON.com

SATURDAY FEB.29

1pm-6 pm check in ends @ 3pm

LTD. NUMBER OF TICKETS 2 FOR $27 ONLY AT ETIX.COM OR $16 EACH CASH ONLY AT Front Street Optimetric Care, 273 N Front St.

CAT’S CRADLE BACK ROOM 300 E. MAIN ST., CARRBORO, NC (919) 967-9053

PRESENTED BY COOL WILMINGTON

2/13: Khouri Family Benefit Concert 2/14: Drag Queens Are Coming!

2/15: 90’s Valentine’s Day Dance 2/17: Michigan Rattlers 2/18: The Mattson 2 2/19: Black Lips 2/20: The Brook & The Bluff

Celebrate Responsibly:

encore | february 12 - february 18, 2020 | www.encorepub.com 15

YES MAN Greensboro-based singer-songwriter Beau James has made a career of taking—and capitalizing on—opportunities to spread his music.

Courtesy photo

BLUES

BY LAUREN SEARS

W

hen it comes to writing music, singer-songwriter Beau James lives by a specific motto: Let the words write themselves. While it may seem like an opaque philosophy, he puts it rather simply: “I find a chord progression that writes the first line for me and then I just follow the path.”

The young, blues-inspired musician will perform at Live at Ted’s for a special Valentine’s Day show Friday night at

DETAILS BEAU JAMES Live at Ted’s, 2 Castle St. Friday, February 14, 7 p.m.

Doors open at 6 p.m. $7 • beaujamesblues.com 7 p.m. James’ music is a soothing blend of acoustic blues and folk—a perfect soundtrack for a Valentine’s Day evening.

SAT

2/15

ANNUAL IRISH 5-9PM MUSIC NIGHT! Céad Míle Fáilte! We’re hosting a fundraiser for the annual St Patrick’s Day Parade so join us for an evening of Irish food, dancing, and music by Ewe’s Tree, Blarney Brogues, Kilbeggan Irish Band!

Bill’s Brew Food Truck & Goin’ Ham Burger Food Truck, 6-9pm

SUN

2/16

PAINT YOUR PET 1-4PM One of their most popular events, Painting With A Twist presents Paint Your Pet! You’ll need to register in advance so they can sketch your fur baby on a 16x20” canvas. Limited seating.

STRAY LOCAL

4-6PM

JAM SESSION WITH JUSTIN AND ADAM

7-9PM

A&Ms Red Food Truck, 3-6pm SAT

2/15

721 Surry Street Wilmington waterlinebrewing.com

Located Under The Cape Fear Memorial Bridge Free parking & brewery tours.

Wine & cider are available.

James has released two solo albums as well as several singles that dance across genre lines. He describes his sound as a slightly less dramatic Ben Howard mixed with the storytelling of Ryan Adams ("too bad he turned out to be kind of a creeper"). James says. “I try to be pretty straightforward with my writing and not go too out of the box.”

When it comes to song construction, he claims songwriters generally fall into two categories: those who stay up all night to complete a song when inspiration strikes (the “inspiration side”) and those who have an idea and work at it over time (the “craft side”). “I always considered myself to be the inspirational side,” James admits.

One of his more popular songs “Indigo Road,” was a product of “craft” composition. James’ mother had the title in mind for years and urged him to make a song from it. The lyrics finally fell into place as he reflected on his travels, being on the road and meeting new people. The song became a hit and was later featured on the fourth season of the popular ABC series “Nashville.”

16 encore | february 12 - february 18, 2020 | www.encorepub.com

James’ sound is a product of his environment. He grew up in a musical home, with a mother who played piano and a father who was always playing records from artists such as Eric Clapton, Little Feet and Led Zeppelin. While much of his musical sensibility comes from a mixture of classic rock, he mainly draws influence from blues musicians like John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters and Keb’ Mo, as heard on 2015’s “Indigo Road” and 2016’s “Landmarks.” “I fell in love with the way you could be emotional and open, talking about your feelings,” he states.

James’ latest single, “She Says” is dedicated to his wife. The song’s lyrics focus on the learning curve of a new relationship and the change it brings. Over a gentle, finger-picked acoustic guitar line, James sings, “I don’t want to change what’s in your heart / all the little things that make you who you are / just want to cut out what could leave you scarred.”

Released just in time for Valentine’s Day, the song is quickly climbing to the top of his most streamed songs on Spotify.

Currently, James is based out of Greensboro, NC, though he has lived across the country, from New Mexico, to Colorado, to LA. His sound evolved with each move. Growing up in Colorado, he learned to play guitar and began performing in musical theater; however, he didn’t have the deep connection to music he does now. When he moved to North Carolina in 2004, he joined a choir as well as a local improv troupe, The Idiot Box. Both helped him develop his dexterity as a songwriter.

“I would usually make up songs in improv,” James says. “The crowd would suggest the song title and I’d have to

VALENTINE Singer-songwriter Beau James to play Live at Ted’s February 14 write a song on the spot.”

James chased his dream of music to LA after graduation and found himself as the frontman of blues-rock band The Heavy Heavy Hearts. The group had some success, and landed a song on the popular TV show “Shameless.”

Then he moved to Nashville and surrounded himself with professional musicians. They inspired him to constantly strive and work on his craft. “Nashville was a really great place for me,” he says, “I learned you have to write and you have to play and you have to be good at both.”

In 2019 James averaged two to three live performances a week. He still plays with the Greensboro-based indie rock band Chuck Mountain—which will be visiting Jimmy’s at Red Dogs in Wrightsville Beach in August. He recently got back together with The Heavy Heavy Hearts after a six-year hiatus to record an EP. He is also a contributing writer for Songfinch—a company that provides custom songs for birthdays, anniversaries, etc.— and has written a few promotional theme songs for Our State Magazine. “I feel like I’m finally a grownup writing here,” James says.

encorepub.com

encore | february 12 - february 18, 2020 | www.encorepub.com 17

ARTISTIC

BY SHEA CARVER

M

ost folks know Addie Wuensch as the owner of Bottega Art and Wine, a hot spot on Fourth Street in the Brooklyn Arts District. In its third iteration of serving the community, Bottega specializes in delivering hefty doses of all art: music, visual, performance, written word.

Addie’s mother, Michele, however, knows her daughter first and foremost as an artist—specifically a 3-year-old who used to enjoy dunking paint brushes into watercolors, swirling them around in water to blend myriad colors, then spilling the colorful runoff wherever she could.

“I’d say she still works in the same capacity today: such a free spirit,” Michele says, as we sit in the back room of Bottega, surrounded by Addie’s street-art style.

Addie took over as Bottega’s gallery owner two years ago, after having bartended at both its original Front and Princess street locations. While most will recognize her mixed-media pieces—heavily outlined faces decorated with bright colors and objects, text and symbols—from hanging on Bottega’s walls, folks will experience her work in a different dynamic on February 12. Bellamy Mansion is hosting her and her mother’s art in “A Female Gaze.” Each will showcase 16 pieces, some new, some reworked.

decided to go back to college when Addie was 17. They lived 45 minutes outside of Charlotte, NC, near the rural town of Locust.

“It was desolate,” Michele remembers.

“The cotton mills had closed, and the only place people worked was at Corning—which is why we were there. My now ex-husband works for Corning.”

“Yeah, there was nothing to do,” Addie concurs. “I didn’t excel, really, in school. I felt strange and awkward and didn’t fit in. But I had an art teacher who actually believed in me, and that changed my life. ” Addie remembers having a dream once of a doll on a pedestal continuously rising until she reached outer space. It was so vivid and real, she was compelled to paint it.

“It was a woman empowerment piece,” Addie clarifies. “Though I didn’t know it at the time. I couldn’t stop thinking about it, and a few days later, my teacher gave me a simple canvas and some paint, and I made the painting from my dream. It meant the world to me; it really connected me to my life as I would know it.”

Her mother also encouraged her work and showed firsthand it’s never too late to follow a dream. As a child, Michele was enticed by her kindergarten teacher to pursue art; at the time she was suffering from Leukemia.

“Addie literally will take a tube of paint, put it to a blank canvas, and just begin working,” Michele tells of her daughter’s process. “I am more planned. I have to do drawings and really map out what I will be creating.”

“It was terrible,” she remembers. “For six months I was bedridden. We lived in upstate New York, in a place where Corning basically had been dumping benzyne and toluene into the water supply.”

Addie’s graffiti style takes inspiration from Basquiat, whom she discovered in her 20s, while living in Soho New York. She happened upon a gallery showing a retrospective of his work and the tears began flowing. “I was so inspired by the colors, the lines, the representation of symbols,” she remembers.

A doctor ordered her parents to move to the mountains where clean air and water would help heal their daughter. Michele recovered and began doing art, something that offered her respite into adulthood. Though she studied biology at Wells College for Women in Ithaca, when she met Addie’s father, she dropped out of school to have a family and rear her two kids. Once her husband finished his own master's degree, Michele decided to go back to school.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, Michele is inspired by the realistic portraiture and nature-inspired works of Andrew Wyeth.

“Mom wonderfully combines abstracts and naturalistic painting,” Addie praises.

“When I was studying as a scientist, I always schlepped around to the art building and saw what they were doing and was jealous,” she says. So the second time around as 18 encore | february 12 - february 18, 2020 | www.encorepub.com Mother and daughter began sharing with each other their love for art when Michele

DETAILS

ROOTS

THE FEMALE GAZE

Bellamy Mansion hosts mother-daughter art exhibit

Featuring art work by Michele and Addie Wuensch February 12-March 21 Opening reception February 28, 6 p.m..

Bellamy Mansion, 503 Market St. a college student at UNC Charlotte, Michele went after her passion. “I told myself I can study music or art,” she says. “Art is what I chose—and it was the most wonderful experience of my life.”

She took her high-school-aged daughter to class one day, which inevitably became the catalyst for Addie’s post-high-school educational experience, too. Addie admits she didn’t think she’d attend college, much less side by side with her mother. The Wuensches were transferred to Wilmington once Corning shut down its plant in the piedmont region of NC. Michele transferred as a parttime student to UNCW’s studio art program and her daughter was accepted into it as well. “We had many of the same classes,” Michele says.

“We would have critiques with one another, and I always loved Mom’s art; it’s deep and complicated.” Addie points to the piece “Birdseed Brassiere.” The mixed-media is done in oil and bird seed, with a purple brassiere placed among swirling colors of the blues, violets, yellows and whites.

“My work is centered on narrative,” Michele says. “‘Birdseed Brassiere’ represents the support and nurturing we receive from spiritual pursuits and, alternatively, that the physical world gives us but pittance as the reward.”

Michele has done exhibits all over Wilmington and is often sought for her commis-

sion work worldwide. She draws inspiration from dream imagery, her Christian faith and in practicing qi gong, which focuses on mind, body and spirit. She chose “The Female Gaze” as a theme rather carefully.

“In our patriarchal society, the male gaze has been the focus of art,” she says. “As female artists, we want to work to get our perspective as artists in the limelight.”

Addie often will use her work to showcase these messages, some politically charged, others emotionally heavy. “Money” is a mixed-media piece featuring a woman who is topless with perfectly placed items, like butterflies and Barbie clothes, over her breasts. “Bellamy won’t allow nudes in the show,” Addie clarifies. “But I actually don’t mind; I feel like it’s pushing my art and making it even more interesting.”

Addie says “Money” references careers and situations she would find herself privy to as a child. “Barbies were a huge part of my life. I would create scenarios I wanted to live by while playing with them.”

Family is also represented, much like it has influenced her path overall. Her father, a musician who studied at Berklee College of Music as well, passed down his books to her. Sheet music from Pink Floyd’s “Money” takes up space beside a key (“to your imagination”) and a packet of flower seeds (“representative of roots”).

“Whomever buys this can grow their own inspiration from it,” Addie says.

“The Female Gaze” opens February 12, with a meet-the-artist reception taking place February 28, 6 p.m. - 8 p.m.

GALLERY art exposure!

22527 Highway 17N Hampstead, NC (910) 803-0302 • (910) 330-4077 Tues. - Sat. 10am - 5pm (or by appt.) www.artexposure50.com

ArtExposure will be hosting “Metal and Fiber, a show featuring the metal work of Vicki Thatcher and the Fiber work of Jan Lewis.

The show will run until the end of August.

Check outartexposure50.com to see upcoming events and classes!

ART IN BLOOM GALLERY

210 Princess St. • (484) 885-3037 Monday - Saturday, 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Sunday, noon - 5 p.m. • aibgallery.com

View “2020: New Year, New Art” through March 8 with a variety of brand new art.

Feast your eyes on new work directly out of the artists’ studios. Join us on Friday, February 28, 6-9 pm for a reception during Fourth Friday Gallery Night.

Artists include: Bradley Carter (painting), Debra Bucci (painting), Richard Bunting (blown glass), Karen Paden Crouch (sculpture), Elizabeth Darrow (painting), Brian Evans (ceramics), Joanne Geisel (painting), Dave Klinger (photography), Brooks Koff (stained glass) Joan McLoughlin (painting), Gale Smith (painter), Traudi Thornton (ceramics), Gayle Tustin (ceramics), Angela Rowe (painter), Michael Van Hout (sculpture) and (Joe) P. Wiegmann (photography), among others!

ART IN BLOOM SATELLITE VENUES www.aibgallery.com

In addition to our gallery at 210 Princess Street, Art in Bloom Gallery partners with local businesses to exhibit original art in other locations. Exhibits include: View “The Ways of Wax: Works by Liz Hosier” through May 4 at Platypus & Gnome Restaurant, 9 South Front Street. Join us for a Champagne Toast and Special Reception on Thursday, February 20th, 6-8 pm and meet the artist. The reception is free and open to the public with complimentary champagne and appetizers.

The exhibit features new paintings by North Carolina abstract artist Liz Hosier, “Ways of Wax” and celebrates the versatility of beeswax as a primary medium. Included are works in oil with cold wax, encaustics (an ancient hot wax painting technique), and encaustic monotypes (a printmaking technique with encaustic pigment). As an abstract artist, Hosier finds freedom and a challenge within these time-honored “ways of wax.” She

GUIDE

Romantic Valentine Carriage Ride

is intrigued by how each unique process relies upon layering to build up surfaces and to create depth, texture, movement and luminosity. Each painting expresses a fluid dialogue between artist, medium, color and surface.

CHARLES JONES AFRICAN ART

311 Judges Rd., Unit 6-E • (910) 7943060 • Mon. – Fri. 10am - 12:30 pm and 1:30 pm - 4 pm Open other hours / weekends by appt. cjafricanart.com African art: Museum quality African Art from West and Central Africa. Traditional African art for the discerning collector.

Current exhibition: Yoruba beadwork and Northern Nigerian sculpture. Appraisal services, curatorial services and educational exhibitions also available.

Over 30 years experience in Tribal Arts. Our clients include many major museums.

NEW ELEMENTS GALLERY

271 N. Front St. • (919) 343-8997. Tues. Sat.: 11am - 6pm (or by appt.) newelementsgallery.com “Eye Candy,” featuring local pop artist Marlowe, garners inspiration from watching 1930s and 1940s movies. aptivating images from the world of pulp fiction mix with exotic handmade papers creating incredible compositions that are a nod to another time, and a fantasy to be explored. Join us as we dive into the charismatic, colorful world of Marlowe, the first official show at NEG for 2020

WILMA DANIELS GALLERY

200 Hanover St. (bottom level, parking deck) Mon.-Fri., noon-5pm http://cfcc.edu/danielsgallery

Treat your sweetheart to a moonlight carriage ride for two. Surprise him or her with a red rose, a box of chocolates, and your private French evening coach.

February 13-16 By private reservation

For private reservation call 251-8889 Springbrook Farms Inc. www.horsedrawntours.com

“Foundations: An Alumni Invitational” features local artists and former CFCC students Nathan Ryan Verwey, Zak Duff, Jacob Parker and Angela Rowe. Closing reception will coincide with Fourth Friday reception on Friday, February 28.

encore | february 12 - february 18, 2020 | www.encorepub.com 19

OUT OF THE WOODS ‘Gretel & Hansel’ takes the Brothers Grimm story back to its frightening roots, while ‘Miss Americana’ shows pop star Taylor Swift at her most narcissistic.

Courtesy photos

NOW

BY ANGHUS

E

ver watched a movie that shook you to your very core? An unsettling, terrifying cinematic experience that lingers with you long after you leave the theater? Personally, I’m always seeking them—the ones that sink their teeth deep into my cerebellum and force me to react.

2019 provided an evocative experience, in the form of Ari Aster’s compelling ode to the unnerving, “Midsommar.” Last week I was in search of something disturbing, only to discover true terror was waiting for me in the safety of my own home. Well, at least one was...

atmospheric and setting a tone, but often is slower than the line at the DMV after a breach in the spacetime continuum. Gretel (Sophia Lillis) and her brother Hansel (Samuel Leakey) live in olden times where life is just dreadful and everything is covered in a layer of wet brown that may or may not be more than mud. To compound the circumstances, their insane mother tells them to leave because she is no longer capable of caring for them. It’s some cold shit. Most terrible parents have the decency to just go out for a pack of cigarettes and never come back.

Our hapless heroes venture into the “Gretel & Hansel” is a slow, brooding, woods and endure a few trials and tribulacreepy tale that does a great job of being tions before stumbling upon the house of

d? e d o o l F r Ca

Call for Canvas & Awning Repair Don’t Throw That Old Funiture Away!

Go Green & Re-Upholster!

Fast Turn-around Time Let our experts turn your old, drab furniture into exciting new decor.

6609 Windmill Way

DETAILS GRETEL & HANSEL

Rated PG-13, 1 hr 27 mins Directed by Oz Perkins Starring Sophia Lillis, Charles Babalola, Alice Krige

MISS AMERICANA

We Can Help!!!

Full Service Shop ~ Insured Award Winning Custom Interiors 910.799.8746 (TRIM)

SCREAMING

Ask about our “re-purposed” furniture Do not despair, we can make the repair... let us fix separation anxiety

20 encore | february 12 - february 18, 2020 | www.encorepub.com

TV-MA, 1 hr 25 mins Directed by Lana Wilson Starring Taylor Swift Holda (Alice Krige), an eccentric old woman who offers them food and shelter. It’s a scenario so rife with potential peril that even 8-year-old Hansel is like, “This is way too good to be true.” Still, with precious few options, they stick around to see how living with this weird old woman will work out.

Spoiler alert: Not well.

Two very different fairytales gone wrong icana,” about pop icon Taylor Swift. I’m a huge fan of documentary filmmaking; I love “peak-behind-the-curtain” stories that give a glimpse into the lives of megastars.

Sometimes they end up being heartbreaking and jaw-dropping, like the Oscar-winning Amy Winehouse doc “Amy.” Most of the time, we end up with a sub-par puff piece like “Gaga: Five Foot Two.” “Miss Americana” started out like a hilarious puff piece from an artist who has spent her career in a perpetual emotional snit. Director Lana Wilson struggles to create a three-dimensional portrait of Swift, but ends up revealing an epic narcissist obsessed with the world’s opinion. I suppose there is some value in revealing to the world that fame and fortune do not always lead to fulfillment. Unfortunately, it’s a rather simple message: “The grass isn’t always greener” gets delivered through a painstaking crawl over a half-acre of broken glass, as we watch the porcelain princess talk about her feelings for the better part of 90 minutes.

The movie ends up more like a series of vlogs than an actual narrative. Swift takes us through various periods of her life, while providing commentary on iconic moments in her career—including her feud with Kanye West. She spills the tea about how she is perceived by the media. There is one scene I found both hilarious and terrifying, where Swift comments on a negative hashtag that has topped the Twitter trends.

“Do you know how many people have to be tweeting that they hate you for that to happen?" she says with a hefty dose of melodrama. Actually, I do. Some Twitter trends get to number one with only 10,000 comments. When you compare that to the 50 million records Taylor Swift has sold and the millions of fans she has worldwide, you realize how easy it is for anyone to think social media is an accurate reflection of reality rather than a collection of fringe opinions given far too much weight. And that is What I found more chilling this week was more blood-curdling and traumatizing than the new Netflix documentary “Miss Amer- anything I saw in “Gretel & Hansel.”

Gretel has to come to terms with her burgeoning supernatural self, while Hansel has to avoid becoming a tasty snack. While director Oz Perkins creates a very believable and spooky world for the characters to inhabit, the pacing is molasses slow. The eventual payoff is rewarding but will try the patience of anyone with a less-than-average attention span. “Gretel & Hansel” is an occasionally effective, beautifully filmed creeper.

AT EASE (L. to r.) Marc Price, Joe Kashnow and Bobby Henline hang out before going on stage.

Courtesy photo

COURAGEOUS

BY BROOKE SUDDETH

W

hen a person gets critically injured, surgeries, prescriptions and physical therapy may be able to help their bodies, but what about invisible wounds? While therapy may be the first road to healing, as they saying often goes, “Laughter is the best medicine.” In the 2013 documentary, “Comedy Warriors: Healing Through Humor,” such a concept is explored. Cofounders John Wager and Ray Reno, with support from the Wounded Warrior Project, reached out to veterans aspiring to be comedians to encourage audition tapes.

A-listers like Bob Saget, Lewis Black, Zach Galifianakis, B.J. Novak and more were recruited to act as coaches. The chosen warriors were Rob Jones, Darisse Smith, Steve Rice, Bobby Henline and Joe Kashnow. Henline and Kashnow are the only two still practicing comedy today. They will bring their jokes to Wilmington on Saturday, February 15.

After joining the military at 17 years old and serving in Desert Storm at 19, Bobby Henline was an Army veteran at age 20.

In 1991 he retired from the military, then 9/11 happened and inspired Henline to re-enlist. He completed basic training all over again after being out of duty for 10 years. Three more tours in Iraq followed; 12 months in 2003 with the 82nd Airborne division; 13 months in 2005 with 3rd Armor division; and a 2007 tour back with the 82nd Airborne.

Three weeks into his 2007 tour, Henline’s life was flipped upside down ... literally. His Humvee was struck by a roadside bomb, leaving him the only survivor of five men. 38% of his body was covered in burns and his head burnt to the skull.

Henline was medevaced to Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas within 72 hours and was placed in a medically induced coma for two weeks. His stay extended to six months.

Over the span of 12 years, Henline has undergone 48 surgeries and a left-hand amputation, all of which serve as inspi-

DETAILS SKIPPY AND THE COMEDY WARRIORS: NERD AMONGST MEN Feburary 15, 7:30 p.m.

Thalian Hall, 310 Chestnut St Tickets: $15-50 • thalianhall.org ration for his stand-up routine. “I used my sense of humor to help me, starting in the ICU,” Henline says. “I started working with an occupational therapist when they took my hand. She thought I was funny and talked me into trying stand-up.”

Awarded with a Purple Heart, Henline did stand-up for two years when he auditioned for Comedy Warriors. He wanted a chance to learn from professionals in the business.

“Seeing that my face was burnt really bad, Bob Saget told me I should do a joke about saving face—I loved it,” Henline says. “I think Lewis Black gave me the best advice: He said I got the timing down, now add more details to the joke, build it up.

You got their trust.”

When Henline steps on stage, he immediately addresses the elephant in the room, diving right into his looks. He makes a joke out of everything: his trauma, homeless vets, divorce, dating, children and everyday life. “It’s not easy tackling tough subjects, but I’ve learned over the last 10 years of doing comedy how to take something so dark and make it funny.”

Comedy has opened doors for Henline, motivating him to go back overseas to Iraq,

Afghanistan and Kuwait to do stand-up for the troops. It also has led him down the path to acting. He starred in “Coming Back with Wes Moore” in 2014, “Sophie and The Raising Sun” in 2016, “Shameless” in 2017, and “Dangerous World Of Comedy” in 2019.

While shooting the documentary, Henline met fellow soldier Joe Kashnow. Kashnow served in Iraq in 2003. On a mission to buy gym equipment for spare-time workouts, he escorted an empty cargo truck from base camp in Baghdad. A roadside bomb went off and severely wounded him, leading to the amputation of his right leg.

Kashnow’s dead-pan sense of humor is apparent when he talks about not having a “cool” story surrounding his injury—like, say, during a shopping trip rather than high-speed combat, driving over minefields (which he’s done at least twice). “I don’t regret serving my country,” he clarifies. “I regret having been injured on a mission that wasn’t essential.” Comedy helps him work through it; he finds ways to incorporate his amputation into his material.

“In fact, this Friday, it’s 15 years for me as an amputee,” he notes. “And I’ll be honest, I’m really starting to give up hope that it’s gonna grow back.”

In January 2012 Kashnow performed for the first time at an open-mic night at Baltimore’s Magooby’s Joke House and won their new talent showcase twice in a row. Stage-fright never bothers him because he’s experienced horrors far more terrifying than talking to a crowd of people.

“Once you’ve been shot at professionally, it really does change your perspective,” Kashnow says. Only his self-doubt held him back from initially pursuing a career in comedy. At first he was intimidated by writing material, a skill that was refined by his time filming the documentary and learning from mentors.

During the first day of filming, he recalls how the veterans each took turns on stage with their best jokes. Bob Saget never looked up from his phone, and so Kashnow believed he wasn’t paying attention. Real-

COMEDY

Veterans cope with trauma by doing stand-up ly, Saget was taking notes on every single joke and how to fine-tune them. Kashnow jokes about burying his leg, having his gallbladder removed, basically finding a way to die on an installment plan. “Essentially as a Jew I’m offended paying full price for anything,” Kashnow says. There is a lot of material he could use combining his injury with his Jewish heritage. Saget told him he would have “a leg-up in comedy because he’s Jewish.”

Though not a part of the documentary, Marc Price decided to take Kashnow’s and Henline’s comedy on the road with him as “Skippy and the Comedy Warriors” in 2019. Price is better known as “Skippy,” star of the 1980s hit television show, “Family Ties.” Bernadette Luckett, coproducer and coach of the documentary, introduced the trio, impacting on Price’s life perspective.

“These guys are an inspiration, with what they’ve been through and the outlook they have, making everybody laugh and cracking me up all the time,” Price says. “It’s hard to dwell on your problems too much. Everybody has problems, you’re allowed to be human, but how much can you complain when you know Bobby and Joe and what they’ve been through, and they don’t complain.”

“Skippy and the Comedy Warriors” will bring their hour-long show to Thalian Hall on February 15. Attendees should expect to see Kashnow’s service dog, Chico, on stage as well. “He will be performing juggling acts and false advertising,” Kashnow promises.

encore | february 12 - february 18, 2020 | www.encorepub.com 21

WORKS IN PROGRESS From left: Directors Rose-Mary Harrington, Kayla Hager and Regina McLeod on the final day of casting ‘Ten-Minute Miscellany’ as part of Port City Playwrights Project.

Courtesy photo

DIVERSITY IN

BY DARIUS MELTON

B

efore joining the Port City Playwrights’ Project (PCPP) in February 2017, Elizabeth Gordon was established as an award-winning poet, with one short play (2016’s “Splat!”) to her name.

By April 2017 her second short play, “Wake,” already was being performed with PCPP. Having comfortably made the transition from poet to playwright in 2020, scribing over a dozen short plays and monologues, Gordon has found new strengths off the written page she didn’t even know were possible.

DETAILS

Adams’ “Jam Sessions,” a story about traveling black musicians during the Jim Crow era. While Gordon has years of experience, it’s the first play Adams has written since she started attending PCPP meetings in September 2019.

TEN-MINUTE MISCELLANY

“Regina has already suggested a few edits to give it more depth and meaning,” Adams says. “I’ve seen her work. I know she is a strong director. I think we are fortunate to have her work on this project.”

February 18-19, 7:30 p.m.

Stein Studio Theatre in Thalian Hall, 310 Chestnut St. $5 suggested donation “A play can’t complete its journey without a slew of people to help it: actors, dithalianhall.org rectors, technical personnel, not to mention the audience,” Gordon says. “I find the collaborative nature of theatre exhilarating and messy and challenging in ways that are almost the antithesis of poetry.”

The Port City Playwrights’ Project exemplifies the joint experience of theatre with “Ten-Minute Miscellany,” being performed on February 18-19 at Thalian Hall.

During the production, seven plays with vastly different tones will be performed.

The lineup includes Alfreda Marshburn’s “Even Me,” a monologue about faith and its ability to change lives. Richard M. Trask’s “The Lake-Ness Monster” is described as “a fishy romantic comedy,” based on common lore. Patrick Raynor keeps the comedy going with “Play On, POTUS,” a political romp about an arrogant, asinine leader running the country.

Gordon has worked with director Regina McLeod to bring to life “The Art of Extinction,” about 19th-century artist John James Audubon and the birds he painted.

Gordon has been aware of Audubon’s bird paintings for a while, having an interest in wild animals since she was a child. However, her view of the paintings changed dramatically several years ago when she learned Audubon was a marksman who killed thousands of birds for modeling purposes. Though turning her shock into

poetry came quickly, it took a bit longer for Gordon to work it into a script.

“I wasn’t sure how this would translate to playwriting until I moved to North Carolina and heard there had once been a species of parrots (the Carolina Parakeet) prevalent in our region who went extinct around the same time as Audubon’s death,” Gordon remembers. “At that point, I knew I had to write a play about both of them, the artist and the bird.”

Inspiration for “Jam Session” came from Adams’ aunt and uncle, musicians who housed traveling black musicians in their home in the ’40s and ’50s. Like Gordon, Adams’ race is integral to her writing.

Her next, which she plans to enter into a contest in 2020, is focused on integration of black ballplayers into a segregated football team.

Another debuting playwright in “Ten-Minute Miscellany” is Joshua Drew.

A PCPP attendee for four years now, Drew has written a handful of scripts, though “Paranoia” is his first to make the leap from page to stage with director Kayla Hager.

Gordon’s influences come from everywhere. Gordon was born in Saigon and has since moved to seven different states; she has worked as a professor to a greeting card editor and as a vegan TV chef to a traveling carnival worker. She is also half Caucasian and half Asian, something she deems important to her work.

“In terms of directing, I stay out of Kayla’s way,” Drew explains. “I’d like to experience my play with virgin eyes. I feel like it’d be a great experience, regardless of whether I would direct it that way or not.

However, Kayla is a very talented individual, and I have nothing but respect for her and her more-than-qualified abilities to direct.”

“The Art of Extinction contains many themes and motifs that spring directly from my biracialism,” Gordon says. “In terms of ‘double consciousness,’ the play asks the audience to inhabit not just the consciousness of John James Audubon, but also of the bird he has just shot and killed. . . . Being biracial means I am ‘neither’ but also ‘both,’ and my plays reflect that.”

“Paranoia” is a psychological thriller, with a protagonist who believes everyone is out to get him. Though he says he grew up more inspired by the likes of Jim Carrey’s “Ace Ventura” and other fun characters, Drew wants to tell stories that reflect how disheartening life is. “Difficult subjects actually help people in a different way,” Drew says. “They tell you that you’re not alone during your times of difficulty.”

Another play McLeod is directing is Kim

Inclusion and diversity are what PCPP

22 encore | february 12 - february 18, 2020 | www.encorepub.com

DRAMA

Port City Playwrights’ Project presents seven locally written shows in one production is about. The group, which was founded

by Susan Steadman in 2014, welcomes all writers to their bimonthly meetings, regardless of background or experience.

Steadman recently left the group after relocating to Asheville, but her impact is still felt as the PCPP team moves forward. “[Susan] wanted to encourage all of us playwrights to expand our range by working outside our comfort zones, and she also thought that the variety would be entertaining for audiences,” Gordon states. “‘Ten-Minute Miscellany’ is dedicated to [her] vision and hard work that kept PCPP thriving for many years.”

PCPP vice president Elizabeth Gordon, secretary Patrick Raynor and treasurer Don Wood are figuring out how to restructure the group’s leadership going forward. Gordon especially has high hopes for the club.

“First and foremost, PCPP is a writing organization, so our focus will always be on supporting writers in the creation of new, original stage plays and screenplays,” she says. “It’s also satisfying to produce shows to see how our ideas are received in our own community. I have a feeling we’ll become more collaborative moving forward; Wilmington is so rich in talented theatre folk that it’d be a crime not to partner with others and see what wonderful alchemy ensues.”

WHEN A MAN LOVES A WOMAN Jon Wallin plays Nathan Detroit and Katie Villecco plays his fiancée Adelaide in ‘Guys and Dolls.’

Photo courtesy of Thalian Association

PLAYFUL

BY SHEA CARVER

G

angsters. Gamblers. Hustlers. Missionaries. The underbelly of New York City mixes with the religiously devout in Frank Loesser, Abe Burrows and Jo Swerling’s most hailed musical comedy, “Guys and Dolls.”

Originally based on a pair of short stories by Damon Runyon, the 1950 musical won a Tony, almost was awarded a Pulitzer (it was vetoed because the House Un-American Activities Committee accused Burrows of Communist associations), and its score ended up in the GRAMMY Hall of Fame in 1998. Many likely remember “Guys and Dolls” from its 1955 big-screen adaptation, in which Marlon Brando belted “Luck Be a Lady.”

Thalian Association will open its season with the show at UNCW’s Kenan Auditorium this week. The group is moving from its normal downtown venue, Thalian Hall, as the 500-seat theatre was scheduled for renovations. Though the remodeling has been postponed, Thalian Association is sticking it out at Kenan, a venue that seats upward of 1,000. “Kenan is beautiful and the staff have been so helpful,” artistic director Chandler Davis says.

Unlike previous seasons, however, the audience will only have one weekend to catch the show. “Guys and Dolls” will run for four productions, including a Thursday-night opening. Thalian Association's next show, “Aida"—a local debut with score by Elton John and Tim Rice—also will take place one weekend only (April 2-5). “The rest of our shows are running the regular amount of performances,” Davis says.

It will be Mike Thompson’s first time directing “Guys and Dolls.” It has been on his bucket list since he brought to life gambler Benny Southstreet 20 years ago in his hometown community theatre.

“The show is just great, from the songs

DETAILS GUYS AND DOLLS February 13-16, 7:30 p.m.; Sunday matinee at 3 p.m.

UNCW’s Kenan Auditorium, 515 Wagoner Dr. $16-$32 • thalian.org to the comedy—it really is the perfect musical comedy as it has been called,” Thompson says.

Nathan Detroit will be played by Jon Wallin. Wallin drives the action of the script as a broker who makes a bet with gambler Sky Masterson.

“There is an energy and drive in the character to hold onto to his identity that is absolutely exhilarating to try and maintain during the course of the show,” Wallin says.

Playing his fiancée, Adelaide, is Katie Villecco. Wallin praises her help in maintaining balance. “She is absolutely magnificent to work with,” he says. "Every time we perform ‘Sue Me,’ our back-andforth energy gives the number a unique and very satisfying quality.”

Villecco takes on Adelaide with playful passion and persistence. After all, she’s only been waiting 14 years to marry Nathan. While being in the show is fulfilling one of Villecco’s acting goals, she has found real joy from being around the creatives putting it together. “The talent involved is amazing!” she says.

Brenton Schraff plays gambler Sky Masterson, who Nathan bets can’t win

the heart of righteous missionary Sarah Brown, played by Samantha Ray Mifsud.

In exchange for his help to gain more devout followers, Sarah agrees to the date.

PASSIONS

“Sarah is steadfast in her faith,” Mifsud tells. “I love this about her! I find her authenticity admirable . . . she allows love to be the catalyst that opens her mind to some novelty, while still living according to her morals, sticking to what she knows to be her truth.”

Thalian Association’s ‘Guys and Dolls’ runs four shows only at Kenan Auditorium

Though Thompson calls the characters caricatures in how over-the-top they’re written, he says they’re relatable nonetheless. Mostly, they focus on love, and with comedy steering the show, it has winning momentum.

ally tell who is who. But each number has aspects of jazz, with one having some soft shoe quirks. The Hot Box [Dancers’] numbers are bouncy and light, while ‘Crapshoot’ is into the floor and bold.”

“I think the old adage ‘you love who you love’ is what drives the show,” Thompson explains. “Whether it’s Adelaide’s love for Nathan or Nathan’s love of gambling or Sarah and Sky falling for each other, despite being from two different worlds.”

Lance Howell is building the colorful world—and with double the stage size as previous Thalian shows. “But the abundance of space will help with quicker scene changes,” he adds. “At least I hope so.”

Debbie Sheu is bringing color with 1950s costuming. It’s not her first time Mifsud’s favorite song, “I’ve Never doing “Guys and Dolls” either. “So havBeen in Love Before,” explains the mag- ing her expertise is definitely an asset,” ic of falling for someone. She loves the Thompson says. lyrics: “This is wine that’s all too strange A nine-piece band will power through and strong/I’m full of foolish song and the score, thanks to music director Cathy out my song must pour.” “It’s just a beauStreet, who has Myron Harmon and Katiful metaphor to help describe that subtie Deese on keys; Jake Yates and Casey lime state,” Mifsud relays.

Black on trumpet; Andy Stanfill on tromThe story, music and choreography bone; Toree McLamb on sax/flute/clarcome together seamlessly, led by the inet; Scott Holmes on violin; Vince Bove staging execution of Tammy Sue Dan- on bass; and JJ Street on drums. They will iels. It’s her first time taking the lead as play swing and big-band styles of the era. choreographer. Daniels includes multi“The horn parts are fantastic,” Street ple styles of dance onstage. “Havana” tells.

“There are a lot of songs that clip will feature full partner dancing and lifts, along at a really quick pace, so it keeps while “Sit Down, You’re Rocking the Boat” us on our toes musically. Probably my will involve chair work. favorite is ‘Sit Down, You’re Rocking the “[It's] is my favorite number,” Daniels Boat’ because it is such fun, and we have admits. “It’s amazing to see the entire almost the entire cast onstage singing cast onstage in unison, and you can’t re- some killer back-ups.

encorepub.com encore | february 12 - february 18, 2020 | www.encorepub.com 23

HOUSEHOLD NAME Holli Saperstein plays sydicated columnist and best-selling author Erma Bombeck in her one-woman show at Cape Fear Playhouse.

Courtesy photo

HUMOR AND

BY GWENYFAR ROHLER

W

ithin the hierarchy of art, there are creators whose work gets tremendous credit and praise—frequently as innovators, often as craftspeople. Then there are artists whose work people actually connect with and purchase. For all the weight that Fellini’s name might carry as a filmmaker, more people in modern America have seen and had their lives impacted by the work of Steven Spielberg. The written medium is no different: For all that Pynchon or Barthelme are praised, in reality Nicholas Sparks and Jodi Picoult have been read by more people and have left a lasting impact on their lives.

Someone I have long thought of as a stealth super heroine of the written word is Erma Bombeck.

“I never really read her stuff,” Jock commented in the car on the way to Big Dawg Productions’ season opener, “Erma Bombeck: At Wit’s End.” The one-woman show, staring Holli Saperstein, was put together by Margaret and Allison Engel, who also adapted a show about the late newspaper columnist Molly Ivins. “You weren’t her target market,” I pointed out.

As a person who spent almost 15 years as a single parent, Jock would have connected with a lot of Bombeck’s writing. Indeed, as Saperstein took the audience through the emotional highs and lows of family life, he nodded his head along with her. When she referenced one of Bombeck’s most famous columns, “I Loved You Enough,” about letting your children have the character-building experiences you would rather shield them from but are essential to becoming functional people, he had tears in his eyes.

I should say up front: I love Bombeck’s writing. I started reading her in late elementary school when my mother handed me a column about the three different children who live in one house: The first child has everything they touch perfectly sterilized, and even wears hand-smocked dresses. By the third kid, if you hose them down in the yard, it qualifies as a bath. As an only child

DETAILS ERMA BOMBECK: AT WIT’S END February 13-16 and 20-23 Thurs.-Sat. 8 p.m., Sun. 3 p.m.

Cape Fear Playhouse, 613 Castle St. $15-25 • bigdawgproductions.org (read: the first with everything she touched sterilized and hand-smocked dresses), I was fascinated by this idea of parental relaxation, which my mother clarified was exhaustion— not relaxation.

Though Bombeck’s columns were humorous looks at family life, especially in suburbia, they carried a lot of truth and quietly made the point that the world of the stay-athome mom gets largely ignored and taken for granted. It’s a job that actually requires a skill set beyond the comprehension of a military strategist.

When I was younger and working my way through Bombeck’s books, I saw the humor in her work, but I didn’t see my mother. Like Bombeck’s children, whose antics appeared so often in her work, I didn’t yet see everything my mother juggled for me and for our family. If anything, I walked out of the theatre after Saperstein’s performance feeling like I got a chance to visit with the friend my mother promised to become in my adult life.

Donna Troy put together an incredible and detailed set of a mid-century suburban home. I particularly liked the kitchen area, complete with an exhaust hood for the stove. Framed children’s art was on the walls, and just like my parents’ bedroom, an ironing board was set up at the

24 encore | february 12 - february 18, 2020 | www.encorepub.com

end of the bed with a neverending laundry and ironing rotation. The only thing missing was the stationary bike, used to hang ironing-in-progress rather than exercise.

Then Saperstein walked onstage. I caught my breath. She was dressed like my mother, complete with the haircut my mom got when I was about 4 months old and had for the rest of her life. Visually, it was uncanny.

Saperstein is no stranger to the demands and challenges of a one-person show. Wilmington audiences will remember her tour de force in the one-woman show “Becoming Dr. Ruth,” about the famous sex therapist.

This is an unusual script because, in pieces, it dramatizes Bombeck’s columns—like the opening sequence of trying to get a household of kids off to school in the morning (ending with mom enjoying a candy bar she had hidden so no one else would eat it).

Other pieces of the script are like stand-up comedy, complete with rapid fire one-liners.

Then there are more personal, biographical moments, like when she talks about her father dying when she was a child.

One of the terrors of a one-person show is the possibility of getting lost in the script; there is no one to save you and get you back on track. Actors who take on the challenge are alone up there. Saperstein had a rough opening night that included some wandering around the script. But it felt apropos: Saperstein pushed through and finished strong, showing exactly what Bombeck tried to teach her children and write about in her column. I laughed, I cried, and the show left me with a lot to ponder about the consideration I do or do not extend to many people through the course of the day.

“Did you realize she had been so involved with the ERA?” Jock asked me on the way home. I confessed I hadn’t.

The Equal Rights Amendment to the United States Constitution (ERA) proposes, “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.” The proposed amendment to the Constitution

GRACE

Erma Bombeck reminds us all we are in this life together was given seven years to be ratified by the states. Bombeck campaigned heavily for it, touring the country along with Bella Abzug and Gloria Steinem, noting she didn’t want any women to die thinking that ERA stood for “Earned Run Average.” It is a timely topic, with the Virginia legislature recently providing enough states to ratify the ERA. Now, three state attorney generals have filed a suit to have the ERA brought to fruition. As they point out, the 27th Amendment took 200 years to be ratified, so the sunset on the ERA should not be binding.

As Bombeck, Saperstein communicates a sense of wonder and amazement that she is on stages and platforms with Abzug and Steinem, let alone asked to serve on President Carter’s Advisory Committee for Women. The lens of small-town girl just trying to get through life (a life, by the way, that has not turned out at all how she expected) permeates Bombeck’s writing and comes through in Saperstein’s depiction clearly.

Valentine’s Day is coming up, which is traditionally seen as a day for romantic love. But the idealized view of romance is absurd, and as Bombeck observes, few women put enough thought into choosing a husband. It might sound like a strange recommendation, but “At Wit’s End” is a beautiful choice for a couple to be reminded why they have pursued together this strange experiment called life and how they have adapted to the changes of family. With humor and grace, “At Wit’s End” reminds us all we are in this together.

STAGE VARIETY (L. to r.) Adrienne DeBouse, Gregory Devon Brown, Brandon Bradley, Kayla Simone Ferguson, and Myra Graham Quince star in Techmoja Dance and Theatre Company’s production of ‘Dreamgirls.’

Photo by James Bowling

DREAMS

BY CHASE HARRISON

H

aving a dream is as important as having air to breath or water to drink. The latter two feed the body, while dreams feed the soul. Dreams give one hope and purpose.

Kevin Lee-y Green has been bringing his dreams to stages near and far for years now, through his company Techmoja Dance and Performing Arts. Formed in 2009, Techmoja gives artists of all ethnic backgrounds an outlet to find, practice and enjoy their talents. It also provides audiences stunning works.

Green is a true showman to his core, with a clear vision for how to bring the best out of any production. It’s a fact he shows yet again with his masterful direction and choreography for the company’s latest rendition of “Dreamgirls.” A musical near and dear to the company’s very soul, it’s Techmoja third staging of the show, but only the first time on the grandiose Thalian Hall stage. And it’s an incredible ode to the dreams we have and challenges we overcome to obtain them.

The musical tells the story of The Dreams—a trio of black female singers in the ‘60s who face personal and professional struggles in an ever-changing music industry. Effie White (Myra Graham Quince), Deena Jones (Kayla Simone Ferguson) and Lorrell Robinson (Adrienne DeBouse) bond, betray and grow as they traverse the minefields of fame in this decade-spanning tale. Told in two acts, the production features a quick pace that makes runtime seem shorter than it is. The outstanding performances and creative team have outdone themselves. Audiences will be entranced by Green’s vision.

From the opening crescendo of the overture, audiences are transported to the hopping Apollo Theater. The Dreamettes have just arrived for an amateur talent competition; already, they are in their element, if in over their heads. Not until they meet

DETAILS DREAMGIRLS February 13-14, 26, 7:30 p.m. or 3 p.m. on Sundays Thalian Hall, 301 Chestnut St. Tickets: $25-30 thalianhall.org smooth operator Curtis Taylor Jr. (Kaleb Edley) does their luck begin to change. A car salesman with dreams of building his own empire, Curtis connects the girls with talent agent Marty (Fracaswell Hyman).

Marty happens to be the manager for Jimmy “Thunder” Early (Brandon Bradley), a popular R&B star. The girls get the gig as Jimmy’s new backup singers, and with Effie’s baby brother C.C. (Gregory Devon Brown) on board as Jimmy’s new songwriter, the group hits the road.

Each member of The Dreams owns their roles and share the stage in beautiful ways. Adrienne DeBouse’s Lorrell finds a great balance of humor and pain for her pining of Jimmy Early. From harmless crush to unrequited love, her journey is given its own time to breath.

The full character arc that Kayla Simone Ferguson undergoes with the Deena role is truly stunning. As she starts out as the meek mouse of the group, I was utterly blown away with her transformation into a bona fide star. Her change in attitude is a great example of solid acting range, from a timid girl to the diva leading the disco cover of “One Night Only.”

Anchoring the entire production is Myra Graham Quince as the full-figured force of

REALIZED

nature, Effie White. She grabs hold of the clear power the role requires, yet finds the right spots to show hubris, insecurity and the other cracks forming in Effie’s armor.

Upon learning of Curtis’ already made decision to replace her as lead singer of The Dreams for the more marketable looking The creative team behind Deena, Quince’s balance of both seething anger and petrified pain will have audienc‘Dreamgirls’ brings to life es doing more than watching; they’ll be ema beautiful musical pathizing. She brings the house down with “And I Am Telling You I’m Not Going”—a battle cry over her stubborn nature, which leads to her removal from the group and as Curtis’ love. She manages to overcome her She masks the stage in a near constant strife and her return stronger, as heard in changing color wheel. It “wows” and subtly underlines the emotional tones of individthe emotional, soulful “One Night Only.” ual scenes. The icy nature of Curtis gets It’s difficult to say anyone could steal colored in a consistent blue hue whenevthis show when it’s made up of such a er he steps onto the scene. C.C.’s moment talented cast. But Brandon Bradley’s per- of inspiration for soon-to-be-hit “Cadillac formance as Jimmy “Thunder” Early is too Car” is punctuated brilliantly with the use damn entertaining. He has boundless en- of a single green spotlight, signifying the ergy; every time he steps onstage audience song’s future profitability. Funderburke’s members will be cheering before he sings work alone makes the production a mustthe first note. From his opening number, see.

“Fake Your Way to the Top,” to his last, “The The costuming and wigs by Allyson MoRap,” Bradley perfectly embodies Jimmy jic, Terrill Williams, and Cynthia Lloyd JohnEarly. His may very well be one of the best son, deserve standing ovations. The passupporting performances of the year. sage of time is such an important element The rest of the cast rounds out the pro- to the production and could be easily overduction well. Kaleb Edley’s Curtis is a man looked. Both departments merge seamdriven by ambition. Though I would have lessly to show how styles and fashions are liked more passion from his performance, formed and forgotten for the next flash-inEdley brings a calculated coldness that the-pan trend. Their combined work on the works just as well. Gregory Devon Brown’s elder Jimmy Early shows a man struggling C.C. is the sweet, if not easily swayed art- to stay relevant, while the red sequin pants ist. The warmth he exudes during “Family,” suits paired with Diana Ross-styled wigs a duet with Effie, conjures tears. And Fra- scream the audacity of the disco era. caswell Hyman fills the grouchy manager Techmoja started as a dream between role of Marty with heart and wisdom.

Green and his mother, Donna Joyner Green, All of the singing is top-notch—so much who passed away in 2014. Donna used all so I would love to have an audio record- her strength to bring Kevin’s dreams to ing of it. That’s a credit to how well Brian life. Now, he honors her by continuing the Whitted, the music director, controls the dream. When Techmoja stages “Dreamtempo. Never does the band overpower girls” as an anniversary show every five the singers. years, it is a personification of a dream the Hannah Funderburke’s lighting design two shared. The audience is lucky to witkeeps audience members’ eyes dazzled. ness the beauty of it all. What a beauty it is! encore | february 12 - february 18, 2020 | www.encorepub.com 25

DINING

GUIDE

INDOC HINE 7 Wayne Dr. • w ww.ind ochinew ilmingt on.com • Cou

rtesy p hoto

AMERICAN

BLUEWATER WATERFRONT GRILL Enjoy spectacular panoramic views of sailing ships and the Intracoastal Waterway while dining at this popular casual American restaurant in Wrightsville Beach. Lunch and dinner are served daily. Favorites include jumbo lump crab cakes, succulent seafood lasagna, crispy coconut shrimp and an incredible Caribbean fudge pie. Dine inside or at their award-winning outdoor patio and bar, which is the location for their lively Waterfront Music Series every Sunday April - October. Large parties welcome. Private event space available.

BluewaterDining.com. 4 Marina Street, Wrightsville Beach, NC. (910) 256-8500.

■ SERVING LUNCH & DINNER: Mon-Fri 11a.m.

- 11 p.m.; Sat & Sun 11 a.m. – 11 p.m.

■ NEIGHBORHOOD: Wrightsville Beach ■ FEATURING: Waterfront dining ■ MUSIC: Music every Sunday in Summer ■ WEBSITE: bluewaterdining.com

ELIJAH’S Since 1984, Elijah’s has been Wilmington, NC’s outdoor dining destination. We feature expansive indoor and outdoor waterfront dining, with panoramic views of riverfront sunsets. As a Casual American Grill and Oyster Bar, Elijah’s offers ev-

erything from fresh local seafood and shellfish to pastas, sandwiches, and Certified Angus Beef selections. We offer half-priced oysters from 4-6 every Wednesday & live music with our Sunday Brunch from 11-3. Whether you are just looking for a great meal & incredible scenery, or a large event space for hundreds of people, Elijah’s is the place to be.

■ SERVING LUNCH & DINNER: Sun-Thurs 11:30-10:00; Friday and Saturday 11:30-11:00 ■ NEIGHBORHOOD: Downtown ILM; kids menu

PINE VALLEY MARKET Pine Valley Market has reigned supreme in servicing the Wilmington community for years, securing encore’s Best-Of awards in catering, gourmet shop and butcher. Now, Kathy Webb and Christi Ferretti are expanding their talents into serving lunch in-house, so folks can enjoy their hearty, homemade meals in the quaint and cozy ambiance of the market. Using the freshest ingredients of highest quality, diners can enjoy the best Philly Cheesesteak in Wilmington, along with numerous other sandwich varieties, from their Angus burger to classic Reuben, Italian sub

26 encore | february 12 - february 18, 2020 | www.encorepub.com

to a grown-up banana and peanut butter sandwich that will take all diners back to childhood.

Served among a soup du jour and salads, there is something for all palates. Take advantage of their take-home frozen meals for nights that are too hectic to cook, and don’t forget to pick up a great bottle of wine to go with it. 3520 S. College Road, (910) 350-FOOD. ■ SERVING LUNCH & DINNER: Mon.-Fri. 10 a.m.-7 p.m.; Sat. 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Closed Sun. ■ NEIGHBORHOOD: South Wilmington ■ FEATURING: Daily specials and take-home frozen meals ■ WEBSITE: pinevalleymarket.com

THE TROLLY STOP Trolly Stop Grill and Catering is a four store franchise in North Carolina. Trolly Stop Hot Dogs opened in Wrightsville Beach in 1976. That store name has never changed. Since the Wrightsville Beach store, the newer stores sell hotdogs, hamburgers, beef and chicken cheese steaks, fries, hand dipped ice cream, milk shakes, floats and more.

Our types of dogs are: Southern (Trolly Dog, beef and pork), Northern (all beef), Smoke Sausage (pork), Fat Free (turkey), Veggie (soy). Voted Best Hot Dog in Wilmington for decades.

Check our website trollystophotdogs.com for hours of operations, specific store offerings and telephone numbers, or contact Rick Coombs, 910297-8416, rtrollystop@aol.com We offer catering serving 25-1000 people.

Franchises available.

■ SERVING LUNCH & DINNER ■ LOCATIONS: Wilmington, Fountain Dr. (910) 452-3952, Wrightsville Beach (910) 256-3921, Southport (910) 457-7017, Boone, NC (828) 2652658, Chapel Hill, NC (919) 240-4206 ■ WEBSITE: trollystophotdogs.com

ASIAN INDOCHINE RESTAURANT

If you’re ready to experience the wonders of the Orient without having to leave Wilmington, join us at Indochine for a truly unique experience. Indochine brings the flavors of the Far East to the Port City, combining the best of Thai and Vietnamese cuisine in an atmosphere that will transport you and your taste buds. Relax in our elegantly decorated dining room, complete with antique Asian decor as well as contemporary artwork and music. Our diverse, friendly and efficient staff will serve you beautifully presented dishes full of enticing aromas and flavors. Be sure to try such signature items as the spicy and savory Roasted Duck with Red Curry, or the beautifully presented and delicious Shrimp and Scallops in a Nest. Be sure to save room for our world famous desert, the banana egg roll! We take pride in using only the freshest ingredients, and our extensive menu suits any taste. After dinner, enjoy specialty drinks by the koi pond in our Asian garden. Located at 7 Wayne Drive (beside the Ivy Cottage), (910) 2519229.

■ SERVING LUNCH & DINNER: Tues.- Fri. 11 a.m.- 2 p.m.; Sat. 12 p.m. – 3 p.m. for lunch.

Mon.- Sun. 5 p.m. – 10 p.m. for dinner.

■ NEIGHBORHOOD: Midtown ■ WEBSITE: indochinewilmington.com

NIKKI’S FRESH GOURMET For more than a decade, Nikki’s downtown has served diners the best in sushi. With freshly crafted ingredients making up their rolls, sushi and sashimi, a taste of innovation comes with every order. Daily they offer specialty rolls specific to the Front Street location, such as the My Yoshi, K-Town and Crunchy Eel rolls. But for less adventurous diners looking for options beyond sushi, Nikki’s serves an array of sandwiches, wraps and gyros, too. They also make it a point to host all dietary needs, omnivores, carnivores and herbivores alike. They have burgers and cheesesteaks, as well as falafal pitas and veggie wraps, as well as an extensive Japanese fare menu, such as bento boxes and tempura platters. Daily dessert and drink special are also on order. Check out their website and Facebook for more information. 16 S. Front St. (910) 771-9151.

■ SERVING LUNCH & DINNER: Mon.-Thurs., 11am 10pm; Fri.-Sat., 11am-11pm; Sun., 12pm10pm. Last call on food 15 minutes before closing.

■ NEIGHBORHOOD: Downtown ■ WEBSITE: nikkissushibar.com

OKAMI JAPANESE HIBACHI STEAK HOUSE We have reinvented “Hibachi cuisine.” Okami Japanese Hibachi Steakhouse is like no other.

Our highly skilled chefs cook an incredible dinner while entertaining you on the way. Our portions are large, our drinks are less expensive, and our staff is loads of fun. We are committed to using quality ingredients and seasoning with guaranteed freshness. Our goal is to utilize all resources, domestically and internationally, to ensure we serve only the finest food products. We believe good, healthy food aids vital functions for well-being, both physically and mentally. Our menu consists of a wide range of steak, seafood, and chicken for the specially designed “Teppan Grill.” We also serve tastebud-tingling Japanese sushi, hand rolls, sashimi, tempura dishes, and noodle entrees. This offers our guests a complete Jap-

anese dining experience. Our all-you-can-eat sushie menu and daily specials can be found at okamisteakhouse.com! 614 S College Rd. ■ SERVING LUNCH & DINNER: Mon.-Thurs., 11am 2:30pm / 4-10pm; Fri., 11am-2:30pm / 4pm11pm; Sat., 11am-11pm; Sun., 11am-9:30pm ■ NEIGHBORHOOD: Midtown ■ WEBSITE: okamisteakhouse.com

SZECHUAN 132 Craving expertly prepared Chinese food in an elegant atmosphere? Szechuan 132 Chinese Restaurant is your destination! Szechuan 132 has earned the reputation as one of the finest contemporary Chinese restaurants in the Port City.

Tastefully decorated with an elegant atmosphere, with an exceptional ingenious menu has deemed Szechuan 132 the best Chinese restaurant for years, hands down. 419 South College Road (in University Landing), (910) 799-1426.

■ SERVING LUNCH & DINNER ■ NEIGHBORHOOD: Midtown ■ FEATURING: Lunch specials ■ WEBSITE: szechuan132.com

YOSAKE DOWNTOWN SUSHI LOUNGE Lively atmosphere in a modern setting, Yosake is the delicious Downtown spot for date night, socializing with friends, or any large dinner party. Home to the never-disappointing Shanghai Firecracker Shrimp! In addition to sushi, we offer a full Pan Asian menu including curries, noodle dishes, and the ever-popular Crispy Salmon or mouth-watering Kobe Burger. Inspired features change weekly showcasing our commitment to local farms. Full bar including a comprehensive sake list, signature cocktails, and Asian Import Bottles. 33 S. Front St., 2nd Floor (910) 763-3172.

■ SERVING DINNER: 7 nights a week, 5pm; Sun-Wed. ‘til 10pm, Thurs ‘til 11pm, Fri-Sat, ‘til Midnight.

■ NEIGHBORHOOD: Downtown ■ FEATURING: 1/2 Price Sushi/Appetizer Menu nightly from 5-7, until 8 on Mondays, and also 10-Midnight on Fri/Sat. Tuesday LOCALS NIGHT20% Dinner Entrees. Wednesday 80S NIGHT - 80smusic and menu prices. Sundays are the best dealdowntown - Specialty Sushi and Entrees are BuyOne, Get One $10 Off and 1/2 price Wine Bottles.Nightly Drink Specials. Gluten-Free Menu upon request. Complimentary Birthday Dessert.

■ WEBSITE: yosake.com. @yosakeilm on Twitter & Instagram. Like us on Facebook.

FONDUE THE LITTLE DIPPER Wilmington’s favorite fondue restaurant! The Little Dipper specializes in unique fondue dishes with a global variety of cheeses, meats, seafood, vegetables, chocolates and fine wines. The warm and intimate dining room is a great place to enjoy a four-course meal, or indulge in appetizers and desserts outside on the back deck or in the bar while watching luminescent jellyfish. Reservations are appreciated for parties of any size. Located at the corner of Front and Orange in Downtown Wilmington. 138 South Front Street. (910) 251-0433.

■ SERVING DINNER: 5pm Tue-Sun; open daily from Memorial Day through October ■ NEIGHBORHOOD: Downtown ■ FEATURING Sunday half-price wine bottles; Monday beer and wine flights on special; Tuesday Local’s Night $11/person cheese and chocolate; Wednesday Ladies Night; Thursday $27 4-course prix fixe; Friday “Date Night” $85/couple for 3 courses and a bottle of wine.

■ MUSIC: Tuesdays & Thursdays, May-Oct., 7– 9 p.m. (weather permitting) ■ WEBSITE: www.littledipperfondue.com

IRISH THE HARP Experience the finest traditional Irish family recipes and popular favorites served in a casual

yet elegant traditional pub atmosphere. The Harp, 1423 S. 3rd St., proudly uses the freshest ingredients, locally sourced whenever possible, to bring you and yours the most delicious Irish fare! We have a fully stocked bar featuring favorite Irish beers and whiskies. We are open every day for both American and Irish breakfast, served to noon weekdays and 2 p.m. weekends.

Regular menu to 10 p.m. weekdays and 11 p.m. weekends. Join us for trivia at 8:30 on Thursdays and live music on Fridays – call ahead for schedule (910) 763-1607. Located just beside Greenfield Lake and Park at the south end of downtown Wilmington, The Harp is a lovely Irish pub committed to bringing traditional Irish flavor, tradition and hospitality to the Cape Fear area ■ SERVING BREAKFAST, LUNCH & DINNER ■ NEIGHBORHOOD: Greenfield Lake/DowntownSouth ■ FEATURING: Homemade soups, desserts and breads, free open wifi, new enlarged patio area, and big screen TVs at the bar featuring major soccer matches worldwide.

■ WEBSITE: harpwilmington.com

SLAINTE IRISH PUB Slainte Irish Pub in Monkey Junction has traditional pub fare with an Irish flair. We have a large selection of Irish whiskey, and over 23 different beers on draft, and 40 different craft beers in bottles. They have a large well lit outdoor patio with a full bar also. Come have some fun! They currently do not take reservations, but promise to take care of you when you get here!

BAGELS ROUND BAGELS Round Bagels and Donuts features 17 varieties of New York-style bagels, baked fresh daily on site in a steam bagel oven. Round offers a wide variety of breakfast and lunch bagel sandwiches, grilled and fresh to order. Round also offers fresh-made donuts daily! Stop by Monday - Friday, 6:30 a.m. 3 p.m., and on Sunday, 7:30 a.m. - 2 p.m.

■ SERVING BREAKFAST & LUNCH ■ NEIGHBORHOOD: Midtown ■ FEATURING: Homemade bagels, cream cheeses, donuts, sandwiches, coffee and more ■ WEBSITE: roundbagelsanddonuts.com

encore | february 12 - february 18, 2020 | www.encorepub.com 27

5607 Carolina Beach Rd. #100, (910) 399-3980 ■ SERVING LUNCH & DINNER: 11:30 a.m. to midnight, seven days a week ■ NEIGHBORHOOD: South Wilmington, Monkey Junction ■ FEATURING: Irish grub, whiskeys, beer, wine, fun.

■ WEBSITE: facebook.com/slaintemj

ITALIAN ANTONIO’S Serving fresh, homemade Italian fare in midtown and south Wilmington, Antonio’s Pizza and Pasta is a family-owned restaurant which serves New York style pizza and pasta. From daily specials during lunch and dinner to a friendly waitstaff ensuring a top-notch experience, whether dining in, taking out or getting delivery, to generous portions, the Antonio’s experience is an unforgettable one. Serving subs, salads, pizza by the slice or pie, pasta, and more, dine-in, take-out and delivery!

3501 Oleander Dr., #2, and 5120 S. College Rd. ■ SERVING LUNCH & DINNER: Sun.-Thurs., 11 a.m.-9 p.m. and Fri.-Sat., 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Sun., open at 11:30 a.m.)

■ NEIGHBORHOOD DELIVERY OFFERED: Monkey Junction and near Independence Mall ■ WEBSITE: antoniospizzaandpasta.com

THE ITALIAN BISTRO The Italian Bistro is a family-owned, full-service Italian restaurant and pizzeria located in Porters

Neck. They offer a wide variety of N.Y. style thin-crust pizza and homemade Italian dishes seven days a week!

The Italian Bistro strives to bring customers a variety of homemade items made with the freshest, local ingredients. Every pizza and entrée is made to order and served with a smile from our amazing staff.

Their warm, inviting, atmosphere is perfect for “date night” or “family night.” Let them show you why “fresh, homemade and local” is part of everything they do. 8211 Market St. (910) 6867774

■ SERVING LUNCH & DINNER: Sun.-Thurs., 11 a.m.-9 p.m. and Fri.-Sat., 11 a.m.-9:30 p.m., Sun brunch, 10 a.m. - 2 p.m.

■ NEIGHBORHOOD: Porters Neck ■ WEBSITE: italianbistronc.com

SLICE OF LIFE “Slice” has become a home away from home for tourists and locals alike. Our menu includes salads, tacos, burritos, quesadillas, nachos, homemade soups, subs and, of course, pizza.

We only serve the freshest and highest-quality ingredients in all of our food, and our dough is made daily with purified water. Voted “Best Pizza” and “Best Late Night Eatery.”All ABC permits. Visit us downtown at 125 Market Street, (910) 251-9444, in Wrightsville Beach at 1437 Military Cutoff Road, Suite 101, (910) 256-2229 and in Pine Valley on the corner of 17th and College Road, (910) 799-1399.

BITES WINE FROM THE VINE DINNER

Friday, February 14, 5:30 p.m.

Jesse’s Yacht Club, 14 Harnett Street Our first “Wine from the Vine Dinner” will be at Wilmington’s newest private club, overlooking the beautiful Port City Marina and Cape Fear River J. MICHAEL’S PHILLY DELI in downtown Wilmington. Mr. Mike The Philly Deli celebrated their 38th anniverLane will be our certified wine edsary in August 2017. Thier first store was located ucator for the evening, sharing his in Hanover Center—the oldest shopping center in wine knowledge in this very intimate Wilmington. Since, two more Philly Delis have been environment. Dinner will be provided added: one at Porters Neck and one at Monkey

by Chaney’s Catering. The wines to be Junction. served, have been expertly selected The Philly Deli started out by importing all of from Argentina and California. Limited their steak meat and hoagie rolls straight from seating.

Amoroso Baking Company, located on 55th Street in downtown Philadelphia! It’s a practice they Tickets: $50 at Eventbrite.com

SANDWICHES

maintain to this day.

■ SERVING LUNCH, DINNER & LATE NIGHT: 11:30 a.m.-3 a.m., 7 days/week, 365 days/year.

■ NEIGHBORHOOD: Midtown, Downtown and Wilmington South.

■ FEATURING: Largest tequila selection in town!

■ WEBSITE: grabslice.com

MEXICAN ZOCALO Zocalo Street Food and Tequila brings a modern version of cooking traditional Mexican street food through perfected recipes, with excellent presentation. Zócalo was the main ceremonial center for the Aztecs, and presently, it is the main square in central Mexico City. It bridges old school tradition with a twist of innovative cooking. Zocalo also has weekly events, such as their

28 encore | february 12 - february 18, 2020 | www.encorepub.com

margarita and food tasting every Monday, 5-8 p.m., and a live taco station every Tuesday , 5-8 p.m. Live Latin music Is showcased every other Saturday and Sunday brunch begins at 10 a.m. Be sure to try Zocalo’s wide selection of the best tequilas! Owned and operated locally, locations are in Wilmington and Jacksonville, NC. Take out and delivery available through most apps.

■ SERVING LUNCH, DINNER AND BRUNCH: Monday - Saturday, 11 a.m - 10 p.m.; Sunday brunch, 10 a.m. - 2:30 p.m.; closes 9 p.m.

■ NEIGHBORHOOD: Pointe at Barclay ■ WEBSITE: zocalostreetfood.com

We also have a great collection of salads to choose from, including the classic chef’s salad, chicken salad, and tuna salad, all made fresh every day in our three Wilmington, NC restaurants. 8232 Market St., 3501 Oleander Dr., 609 Piner Rd.

■ OPEN: 11:00 a.m. - 9:00 p.m. Monday -Thursday,11:00 a.m. - 10:00 p.m. Friday Saturday.

■ NEIGHBORHOOD: Porters Neck, North and South Wilmington, ■ WEBSITE: https://phillydeli.com

SEAFOOD CAPE FEAR SEAFOOD COMPANY Founded in 2008 by Evans and Nikki Trawick, Cape Fear Seafood Company has become a local hotspot for the freshest, tastiest seafood in the area. With it’s growing popularity, the restaurant has expanded from its flagship eatery in Monkey

Junction to locations in Porters Neck and Waterford in Leland. “We are a dedicated group of individuals working together as a team to serve spectacular food, wine and spirits in a relaxed and casual setting,” restaurateur Evans Trawick says. “At CFSC every dish is prepared with attention to detail, quality ingredients and excellent flavors. Our staff strives to accommodate guests with a sense of urgency and an abundance of southern hospitality.” Cape Fear Seafood Company has been recognized by encore magazine for best seafood in 2015, as well as

by Wilmington Magazine in 2015 and 2016, and Star News from 2013 through 2016. Monkey Junction: 5226 S. College Road Suite 5, 910799-7077. Porter’s Neck: 140 Hays Lane #140, 910-681-1140. Waterford: 143 Poole Rd., Leland, NC 28451 ■ SERVING LUNCH AND DINNER: 11:30am4pm daily; Mon.-Thurs.., 4pm-9pm; Fri.-Sat., 4pm 10pm; Sun., 4pm-8:30pm.

■ NEIGHBORHOOD: Midtown, north Wilmington and Leland ■ WESBITE: capefearseafoodcompany.com

CATCH Serving the Best Seafood in South Eastern North Carolina. Wilmington’s Native Son, 2011 James Beard Award Nominee, 2013 Best of Wilmington “Best Chef” winner, Chef Keith Rhodes explores the Cape Fear Coast for the best it has to offer. We feature Wild Caught & Sustainably raised Seafood. Organic and locally sourced produce & herbs provide the perfect compliment to our fresh Catch. Consecutively Voted Wilmington’s Best Chef 2008, 09 & 2010.

Dubbed “Modern Seafood Cuisine” we offer an array Fresh Seafood & Steaks, including our Signature NC Sweet Potato Salad. Appetizers include our Mouth watering “Fire Cracker” Shrimp, Crispy Cajun Fried NC Oysters & Blue Crab Claw Scampi, & Seafood Ceviche to name a few. Larger Plates include, Charleston Crab Cakes, Flounder Escovitch & Miso Salmon. Custom Entree request gladly accommodated for our Guest.

(Vegetarian, Vegan & Allergies) Hand-crafted seasonal desserts. Full ABC Permits. 6623 Market Street, Wilmington, NC 28405, 910-7993847.

■ SERVING DINNER: Mon.-Sat. 5:30 p.m.-9 p.m.

■ NEIGHBORHOOD: North Wilmington ■ FEATURING: Acclaimed Wine List ■ WEBSITE: catchwilmington.com

DOCK STREET OYSTER BAR Voted Best Oysters for over 10 years by encore readers, you know what you can find at Dock Street Oyster Bar. But we have a lot more than oysters! Featuring a full menu of seafood, pasta, and chicken dishes from $4.95-$25.95, there’s something for everyone at Dock Street.

You’ll have a great time eating in our “Bohemian-Chic” atmosphere, where you’ll feel just as comfort able in flip flops as you would in a business suit. Located at 12 Dock St in downtown Wilmington. Open lunch and dinner, 7 days a week. (910) 762-2827.

■ SERVING LUNCH & DINNER: 7 days a week.

■ NEIGHBORHOOD: Downtown ■ FEATURING: Fresh daily steamed oysters.

■ WEBSITE: dockstreetoysterbar.net

MICHAEL’S SEAFOOD RESTAURANT Established in 1998, Michael’s Seafood Restaurant is locally owned and operated by Shelly McGowan and managed by her team of culinary professionals. Michael’s aspires to bring you the highest quality and freshest fin fish, shell fish, mollusks, beef, pork, poultry and produce. Our menu consists of mainly locally grown and made from scratch items. We count on our local fishermen and farmers to supply us with seasonal, North Carolina favorites on a daily basis. Adorned walls include awards such as 3 time gold medalist at the International Seafood Chowder Cook-Off, Entrepreneur of the Year, Restaurant of the Year and Encores readers’ choice in Best Seafood to name a few. 1206 N. Lake Park Blvd. (910) 458-7761 ■ SERVING LUNCH & DINNER: 7 days 11 am – 9 pm ■ NEIGHBORHOOD: Carolina Beach ■ FEATURING: Award-winning chowder, local se food and more!

■ WEBSITE: MikesCfood.com

THE PILOT HOUSE The Pilot House Restaurant is Wilmington’s premier seafood and steak house with a touch of the South. We specialize in local seafood and produce. Featuring the only Downtown bar that faces the river and opening our doors in 1978, The Pilot House is the oldest restaurant in the Downtown area. We offer stunning riverfront views in a newly-renovated relaxed, casual setting inside or on one of our two outdoor decks. Join us for $5.00 select appetizers Sunday-Thursday and live music every Friday and Saturday nigh on our umbrella deck. Large parties welcome. Private event space available. 910-343-0200. 2 Ann Street, Wilmington, NC 28401 ■ SERVING LUNCH & DINNER: Sun-Thurs 11am-9pm, Fri-Sat 11am-10pm and Sunday Brunch,. 11am-3pm. Kids menu ■ NEIGHBORHOOD: Riverfront Downtown Wilmington ■ FEATURING: Fresh local seafood specialties, Riverfront Dining, free on-site parking ■ MUSIC: Outside Every Friday and Saturday ■ WEBSITE: pilothouserest.com

NATIONAL DRINK DAY

FEBRUARY 18

ONE DAY SALE 30 FOR

$

15

$

00

Only available at

SHUCKIN’ SHACK Shuckin’ Shack Oyster Bar has two locations in the Port City area. The original Shack is located in Carolina Beach at 6A N. Lake Park Blvd.

(910-458-7380) and our second location is at 109 Market Street in Historic Downtown Wilmington (910-833-8622). The Shack is the place you want to be to catch your favorite sports team on 7 TV’s carrying all major sports packages. A variety of fresh seafood is available daily including oysters, shrimp, clams, mussels, and crab legs. Shuckin’ Shack has expanded its menu now offering fish tacos, crab cake sliders, fried oyster po-boys, fresh salads, and more. Come in and check out the Shack’s daily lunch, dinner, and drink specials. It’s a Good Shuckin’ Time!

■ SERVING LUNCH & DINNER: Carolina Beach Hours: Mon-Sat: 11am-2am; Sun: Noon-2am, Historic Wilmington: Sun-Thurs: 11am-10pm; Fri-

5226 S. College Rd, 9B • (910) 338-4027 T-Th 11am-8pm, F-Sa 11am-10pm, Sunday Noon-6pm www.soifdevin.com

encore | february 12 - february 18, 2020 | www.encorepub.com 29

Sat:11am-Midnight.

■ NEIGHBORHOOD: Carolina Beach/Downtown ■ FEATURING: Daily lunch specials. Like us on Facebook!

■ WEBSITE: TheShuckinShack.com

SOUTHERN CASEY’S BUFFET In Wilmington, everyone knows where to go for solid country cooking. That place is Casey’s Buffet, winner of encore’s Best Country Cookin’/ Soul Food and Buffet categories. “Every day we are open, somebody tells us it tastes just like their grandma’s or mama’s cooking,” co-owner Gena Casey says. Gena and her husband Larry run the show at the Oleander Drive restaurant where people are urged to enjoy all food indigenous to the South: fried chicken, barbecue, catfish, mac‘n’cheese, mashed potatoes, green beans, chicken‘n’dumplings, biscuits and homemade banana puddin’ are among a few of many other delectable items. 5559 Oleander Drive. (910) 7982913.

■ SERVING LUNCH & DINNER: Open Wednesdays through Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. and on Sundays from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Closed Mon. & Tues.

■ NEIGHBORHOOD: Midtown ■ FEATURING: Pig’s feet and chitterlings.

■ WEBSITE: caseysbuffet.com

RX RESTAURANT & BAR Located in downtown Wilmington, Rx Restaurant and Bar is here to feed your soul, serving up Southern cuisine made with ingredients from local farmers and fishermen. The Rx chef is committed to bringing fresh food to your table, so the menu changes daily based on what he finds locally. Rx drinks are as unique as the food—and just what the doctor ordered. Join us for a dining experience you will never forget! 421 Castle St.; 910 399-3080.

■ SERVING BRUNCH & DINNER: Tues-Thurs, 5-10pm; Fri-Sat, 5-10:30pm; Sun., 10am-3pm and 5-9pm ■ NEIGHBORHOOD: Downtown ■ WEBSITE: rxwilmington.com

30 encore | february 12 - february 18, 2020 | www.encorepub.com

STEAKS TRUE BLUE BUTCHER & TABLE True Blue Butcher & Table opened in the Forum Shopping Center in January 2018 at the point, 1125-AA Military Cutoff Rd. as Wilmington’s finest neighborhood butcher shop and restaurant.

A menu of globally-inspired, local ingredients is served during lunch, dinner and weekend brunches. But the real experience is visiting the butcher counter to take home the best cuts of meat in Wilmington (and the world), while also given expert cooking and food advice from the chef/ owner himself, Bobby Zimmerman. True Blue has a magnificent bar, handcrafted cocktail menu and bar menu and offers weekday specials. (910) 6794473 ■ SERVING LUNCH, DINNER & WEEKEND BRUNCH: Lunch Tues.-Fri., 11am-2pm; Dinner, Tues.-Sun., 5-10pm; Brunch, Sat.-Sun., 10:30am2:30pm; Butcher counter Tues.-Sat., 10am-6pm ■ NEIGHBORHOOD: The Forum off of Military Cutoff Road ■ FEATURES: Wed. Burger Night, Thurs.

1/2-priced wine bottle & prime steak upgrades; Friday 1/2-priced bar menu ■ WEBSITE/SOCIALS: wearetrueblue.com. IG: @truebluebutcherandtable. FB: facebook.com/ TrueBlueButcherAndTable

TAPAS/WINE BAR THE FORTUNATE GLASS WINE BAR Under new ownership! Tom Noonan invites you to enjoy his remodeled space, featuring a new sound system and new bar, in a warm, relaxed environment. Taste 40 craft beers, over 400 wines by the bottle, a wide selection of cheese and charcuterie, with gourmet small plates and desserts to go! And don’t miss their weekly wine tastings, every Tuesday, 6 p.m. - 9 p.m.

SERVING DINNER & LATE NIGHT: Mon., Closed; Tues.-Thurs., 4 p.m. - 12 a.m.; Fri., 4 p.m. - 2 a.m.; Sat., 2 p.m. - 2 a.m.; Sun., 4 - 10 p.m.

NEIGHBORHOOD: Downtown, 29 S Front St. WEBSITE: fortunateglass.com

24 N FRONT ST. DOWNTOWN WILMINGTON

(910)769-3794 FUNBOWLRAMEN.COM

Good times deserve great food!

Open 7 days a week

SUNDAY - THURSDAY, 11 A.M. - 9 P.M. • FRIDAY - SATURDAY, 11 A.M. - 10 P.M.

encore | february 12 - february 18, 2020 | www.encorepub.com 31

SWEET BITES AND SIPS Valentine’s Day is Friday, and One Belle Bakery has all its goodies ready to order, plus Flytrap is offering a pretzel and beer pairing .

Macarons photo by Matt Ray Photography; below: courtesy graphic

SWEETS FOR YOUR

BY JOAN C.W. HOFFMANN

V

alentine’s Day is right around the corner! I repeat: Valentine’s Day will be two days away from the time this paper is published. Which means there is still time to show appreciation for the ones we love.

And the third is Chocolate Covered Strawberry, which is layers of the shop’s strawberry ice cream and their hot fudge. (OMG.) I think the forth scoop will be good ol’ vanilla as a palate cleanser in between other flavors. That’s how that works, right?

I like to interpret “loved ones” loosely. While I love my husband dearly, I also love my friends and the people who make life easier—like the folks who make my trash magically disappear every week or the folks who serve delicious beers when I ask. Since my husband lives in Florida now, proximity-wise I’m a lot closer to the latter (I’m lookin’ at you Marisa at Flytrap ... wink). While I love fresh flowers as much as the next person, the way to my heart is with food and drink. (But if you want to get me flowers, please, check out Mother of Wild’s new space or Beauty and Bloom in the South Front District. Swoon.)

ONE BELLE BAKERY

Our port city is full of places to find sweets and snacks come Friday, February 14. Here are a few Valentine’s Day specials I’m excited to taste.

BOOMBALATTI’S 1127 Military Cutoff Road (The Forum) 1005 N. 4th St.

SWEET

The bakery will be bagging and bowing varieties of their famous decorated cookies, such as one saying “you’re neat” (piped above a glass of whiskey) and “low key obsessed with you.” And my editor tells me I’ve been missing out on One Belle’s caramel-glazed salt and pepper donut for my whole life, so a box of those would be lovely.

1616 Shipyard Blvd. www.onebellebakery.com

FLYTRAP BREWING

A great way to treat the office or bring some extra sweetness to Galentine’s Day is bring a big box of colorful macarons.

While I’d love to make them myself, I just don’t see that happening. One Belle Bakery is whipping up (literally) boxes of Valentine’s treats for folks to drop in, scoop up, and whisk away!

319 Walnut St.

There are six options for the boxes: a party box filled with various pastries including cupcakes and cookies ($30), gourmet truffle box ($36), a heart-shaped cake filled with sprinkles (6” for $25, 9” $40), a French macaron variety box with five different flavors ($15), a strawberry box ($28), and a gourmet strawberry box ($32).

It’s too late to custom order, and the are no substitutions on the boxes, but they are absolutely sure to please.

www.boombalattis.com If there’s one thing I can eat a truly irresponsible amount of, it’s Boombalatti’s ice cream. Lately, I’ve been going for Chocolate Cream Pie with hot fudge, but my first love was Mocha Oreo. Oh! And Cinnamon Caramel Oatmeal Cookie.

When I take myself out for Valentine’s Day, I’ll go for a waffle bowl with four mini scoops, three of which will be their special holiday flavors. They’ve got Be Mine, which is their classic sweet-cream base with conversation hearts. Too cute. Then there’s Raspberry Cheesecake, which has their cheesecake base with raspberry coulis and graham-cracker crumbs throughout. (Yeah, not sharing that with anybody.)

32 encore | february 12 - february 18, 2020 | www.encorepub.com

www.flytrapbrewing.com If a lot of ice cream isn’t your love language (weirdo), then maybe pretzels and beer are. Last year I went to Flytrap Brewing’s collaboration with Boombalatti’s for Valentine’s Day. They paired four of their stouts with four fantastic flavors from Boombalatti’s. This year they’ve teamed up with Wicked Good Pretzels, the traveling pretzel purveyors.

Once again, Flytrap will be slinging stout flights and Wicked Good will be frying the pretzel bites to order. Reservations are not required, and the cost of the pairing is $15.

Pairings will consist of: cream cheese stout with an “everything” pretzel; maple bacon stout with a Sriracha pretzel; chipotle stout

Eats and drinks show all the love this Valentine’s Day with a chocolate pretzel; and cherry-vanilla stout with a cinnamon-sugar pretzel.

I’m so excited, I’ll probably order two and act like I got stood up so I can “drown my sorrows” in a second pairing flight.

Just to make this already excellent deal a little sweeter, Jesse Stockton will be playing songs beginning at 8 p.m.

BREWERY RELEASES I would be remiss if I didn’t mention all of the Wilmington-area breweries releasing Valentine’s brews. Front Street Brewery is bringing back Sinful Stout, but this time with coffee! Head Brewer Christopher McGarvey is calling it “the mocha latte of beers.”

Good Hops is rolling out a stout for the Valentine’s skeptic, the Broken Hearted Stout. It’s a limited release made with rye malt and chocolate.

Edward Teach Brewing is getting steamy with the release of Let’s Neck, a blueberry blackberry witbier, and Sizzling Orchard, a wheat ale with peach and vanilla. There’s talk of a chocolate-strawberry nitro stout from Wrightsville Beach Brewery, and a wine barrel-aged sour release from Broomtail Craft Brewery called “Kleptocracy.” And Salty Turtle Beer Company brewed up a Love Potion with raspberry and chocolate.

For all who prefer to wine their way through the holiday, Stalk + Vine on the riverwalk is hosting a small wine festival the day after Valentine’s Day. Sippers can explore the differences between California and Argentina beginning at 4 p.m. Tickets are just $35 or $60 for two and include unlimited sips and small bites.

encore | february 12 - february 18, 2020 | www.encorepub.com 33

trying to figure out what’s going on. I try to treat my nonfiction characters the way I do my fiction characters: Who are they, and why? In doing that, they often feel like they’re finally being seen.

OPEN

e: You’re talking about compassion.

KB: It is compassion. Now, if you’re from a family of defined dysfunction—and by that I mean alcoholism, addiction, sexual abuse, physical abuse, any kind of severe dysfunction like that, where family or community or tribe has gathered around to create a false narrative, and if you puncture that narrative, you get exiled—you’ve got to say, “Am I willing for that to happen?” In my case, I was willing to take the risk that my father would once again shun me. I felt like it was something I had to do because I wanted to get to the truth. And he didn’t shun me. It was just the opposite, which I hadn’t expected. He and I became incredibly close.

BOOK

UNCW visiting writer Kim Barnes on the power of ‘radical vulnerability’

A

uthor and UNCW visiting writer Kim Barnes knows she has her work cut out for her, cramming a semester’s worth of exploration into a four-week graduate nonfiction class. “I’ve done a lot of 10- or seven-day workshops, but I’ve never done a four-day, and that’s in 40 years of teaching,” she says. Then again, Barnes rarely has faced a challenge she didn’t meet head on.

The child of an authoritative, fundamentalist Christian father, Barnes was raised largely in the isolated settlements and logging camps along the North Fork of Idaho’s Clearwater River. She documented her experiences in the 1997 memoir, “In the Wilderness: Coming of Age in Unknown Country,” which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and established her as an unflinching seeker of personal truths.

Now the author of two memoirs and three novels—including “A Country Called Home” (2008), winner of the PEN Center USA Literary Award for Fiction—she’ll read from her work at UNCW’s Kenan Hall next Thursday night.

Barnes teaches in the M.F.A. program at University of Idaho, where she served as a mentor to essayist and UNCW assistant professor of creative writing Sayantani Dasgupta. Dasgupta credits Barnes with inspiring her switch from fiction to nonfiction, and for teaching her to trust her voice as a writer. “As a professor, Kim is not only generous but empowering as well,” Dasgupta says. “She will share with you her successes and her failures; no subject is either taboo or off the table.” encore caught up with Barnes as she was preparing to teach her first class at UNCW. encore (e): How much do you draw a line

LIFE OF EMOTIONS Fiction writer, memoirist and essayist Kim Barnes will give a reading at UNCW’s Kenan Hall on February 20.

BY JE

FF OL

OIZIA

Courtesy photo

between fiction and nonfiction, or do you see them as two sides of the same coin?

Kim Barnes (KB): They are two sides. For me, the sides are definitive. So I’m quite strict with myself and very strict with my students, unless they’re just lying to me. e: Lying about the facts?

KB: Yeah. I think “facts” is a word that some writers and critics get distracted by.

We’re talking about art, and of course art is made up of facts in a way, but it’s what we do with those facts that matters. We know memory is not truth, but if you have to make up action and stuff that happens in nonfiction, that’s just a failure of the imagination. Each of our lives has plenty to stage a drama. We just have to be able to pay attention. e: You’re saying you don’t have to live an exceptional life to be able to write memoir.

KB: No, not at all, because it’s all vertical movement. What happens is the horizontal movement. That’s the most boring part of the story. We can read that in any newspaper or tell-all. The confessional—what that means in literary terms is not dragging all your skeletons out, but rather paying atten-

34 encore | february 12 - february 18, 2020 | www.encorepub.com

tion to the life of the emotions. And emotions aren’t horizontal; they’re vertical. e: Can you elaborate?

KB: Well, our brains try to make linear narratives of everything, right? “This happened and then this happened and then this happened.” The fact is, memory knows no chronology and our thought process is not linear. I’m sitting here talking to you, and my brain and my body and my eyes are processing about 50 things. Everything from noise to temperature to what these people are doing to what the sun’s like. So when we try to make meaning of experience, we have to dig. e: What advice would you give to someone who wants to write memoir but is afraid of upsetting his or her family?

KB: This is huge, and not simple. At the same time, it’s very simple. Write first and foremost to serve the art—not to purge, not out of anger, not for therapy. If you do it for the right reasons, you’d be surprised how people will honor that story, especially if they feel like your reasons are earnest.

You’re not trying to hurt anybody. You’re just doing what we all are doing, which is

Usually, your worst-case scenario isn’t going to happen—if you do it for the right reasons. But if you’re all secretive, like, Oh, I’m going to write it as fiction? Deadly. How many people do I know say, “My family doesn’t want me to write this story so I’m going to write it as fiction”? Then, your family not only knows what you’re doing, but they’re going to be more pissed off, and they’re not going to have any respect for you because you did not have the courage of your convictions. You’ve got to have the courage of your convictions. If you do that, people may not agree, but they will respect you—if you’re from a family like mine, anyway. e: I heard you wrote a poem in elementary school that your mother tore up. Does writing feel transgressive to you?

KB: It did then but in a different way. It does now because I believe in radical vulnerability; that’s pretty transgressive. I believe in telling the truth of my life. Do I think there’s just one truth with a capital “T”?

Well, no. Please!

Answers have been edited and condensed. Read the full Q&A at encorepub. com.

DETAILS A READING WITH KIM BARNES Thursday, February 20, 7 p.m.

UNCW Kenan Hall 1111 601 S. College Rd. Free • kimbarnes.com

March 3, 4 & 5 at 7:30 pm

Wilson Center TickeT cenTral • 910.362.7999 • WilsoncenTerTickeTs.com encore | february 12 - february 18, 2020 | www.encorepub.com 35

protests turned into violent bloodbaths. Eventually, the National Guard was brought in to help maintain fragile peace.

BURNING SENSATION

Eddie’s ego prevented him from issuing an apology and the incident further ostracized him from humanity. He became uncharacteristically isolated and avoided social interactions, taking up residence on the top eight floors of the Rosemont Hotel in Reno, Nevada. Other than having dedicated, trusted members of his entourage and a harem of a few dozen sex partners, Eddie refused contact with the outside world. For the first time since 1978, the world didn’t know what Eddie Inferno was doing. In the absence of any credible information, rampant speculation became the order of the day.

An Eddie Inferno Rock ‘n’ Roll Adventure

BY ANGHUS CHAPTER 2B

E

ddie’s ascension from rock ‘n’ roll idol to rock ‘n’ roll god transformed fans into wouldbe acolytes—they wanted more than new music. Concert venues became a breeding ground for a new wave of cult-like followers who referred to themselves as “Cinders.” Their fanatical devotion to Eddie soon eclipsed his artistic endeavors. Crowds of devotees began to follow the Absent-Minded Gentlemen on tour, creating a caravan 200,000 strong. Cinders overwhelmed towns as they worked their way from venue to venue and left a path of surly agitation in their wake. Small towns were incapable of handling the food supply for the anarchist acolytes. Sewers designed for small-town populations couldn’t bear the load. It wasn’t only the pipes that were beginning to buckle.

The world’s most popular band had started to fracture. Lead guitarist Lance Woodley was the first to express his frustration. He was Eddie’s oldest friend and suffered the most as Eddie’s unparalleled popularity had isolated him from the rest of the Gentlemen. The press was no longer interested in their music, most of which was written by Woodley and drummer Gordon “Sticks” Patterson.

Cinders were outnumbering traditional

<< AVAILABLE THIS WEEK ONLY >>

music fans, and took over concerts with mass demands for Eddie to speak on a variety of topics, to turning their concert dates into makeshift revivals. No matter how hard he tried, Eddie was becoming increasingly intoxicated by God-like persona his fans had thrust upon him.

By the time the band reached the halfway point on the American leg of their tour, Eddie was starting to believe the hype of the chanting crowds.

“Maybe I am God,” he said famously to a reporter from Cream, just before leveling a condemned Sloppy Joe stand in east St. Louis.

With practice, Eddie learned to blow up nonliving things and control the size of the explosion. In addition, he could generate flames, creating pyrotechnics for the band’s live shows that couldn’t be rivaled.

Eddie’s legion of followers believed he would lead humanity to a better place— and they became impatient as Eddie continued to tour. The music was no longer enough for the Cinders or the rest of the band who decided Eddie was a liability to their music.

He spent the last five years being revered as a living god. In spite of his goals to remain “a man of the people,” the impact of being deified and vilified by society had pushed his psyche into a difficult state.

It was March of 1988, while being interviewed by the BBC, that he uttered one of the most famous quotes of the 20th century, after being asked if he suffered from a “god complex.”

In 1982 Lance Woodley held a poorly staged press conference in the lobby of the Ambassador Hotel to announce Eddie Inferno would no longer lead the Absent-Minded Gentleman. This declaration felt like a death sentence for Lance and the other band members, both metaphorically and literally. Could the band survive without Eddie in the band? Would they still be able to release successful albums and draw crowds without Eddie Inferno?

Would Eddie end up inadvertently or intentionally blowing them up with his exploding thoughts? No, he wouldn’t.

The media widely discussed the question. It was the first time Eddie referred to himself as a supreme being. It was the first drop of poison that would turn the tumultuous Eddie Inferno’s public persona toxic.

After weeks of media analysis and public outcry, it was determined the lack of the article “a” being stated before the word “god” was what turned so many people.

Society seemed comfortable with god-like comparisons, but not with references to being the one and only God. Eddie became a pariah to people of faith. Within hours he was denounced by every organized religion on Earth.

Though the media heavily speculated about Eddie’s involvement in bass player Terrance Bowman’s death, forensic scientists determined the fatal explosion was caused by an improperly pressurized propane tank used to power a faux-stone fire pit. The Absent-Minded Gentlemen would release only one more album: 1987’s universally panned “Asbestos Haberdashery.” While the songs had the familiar flavor of the band, the fire of Eddie Inferno was no longer present.

36 encore | february 12 - february 18, 2020 | www.encorepub.com

“Can you have a god-complex if you are, in fact, God?” he responded.

The moderate centrists, who traditionally dictate the outcome of any debate, began to side with more puritanical conservatives, claiming Eddie had gone too far.

Others were just fed up with Eddie’s antics and began to fear what a charismatic drug addict with superpowers could do to the fabric of society. Members of organized religions began to clash with Eddie’s Cinders, who protected their would-be savior from an onslaught of public anger. Simple

Sensing blood in the water, politicians began to demand Eddie be brought in to account for his actions. Resolutions were debated regarding public statements that he was not God, while other factions of the government wanted to have him submit to a battery of tests to discover the origins of his ability and whether or not it could be duplicated.

The world would eventually discover others with remarkable abilities; however, very few were the product of science and technology. It was, in fact, only five more months before another superhuman would be discovered. In the meantime, Eddie Inferno’s public persona declined. Media, music fans and the general public had become exhausted by his antics.

In spite of 100 million-plus albums sold, renowned popularity and his intense global force, Eddie Inferno was no longer a person of interest. Even the most dedicated fans turned their backs. His cult of Cinders disbanded and abandoned the heretic life to rejoin civilized society. Their lack of critical thought and disenchantment with the world made them ideal employees for the food-service industry.

The Rosemont Hotel became an empty tower where Eddie could spend his days knee-deep in white heroin and black women. Every so often the public would get a glimpse of Eddie during short excursions into the real world, where he would be looked upon like an escaped animal from the zoo, or a circus sideshow freak exposed by the cold, hard, unforgiving light of day.

Eventually, Eddie would find the will to crawl out of the rancid squalor of his downward spiral. It was motivated by another event no one saw coming.

Anghus is encore’s 2020 fact or fiction writer, featuring the serialized piece, “Burning Sensation.” Read the prologue and previous chapters at encorepub.com.

WHAT BETTER WAY TO CELEBRATE VALENTINE’S DAY THAN A SUNSET CRUISE ON THE CAPE FEAR RIVER!

Join us Feb. 14th at 6pm for a 90 min cruise. • $27 Sit back and enjoy the amazing sunset, while sipping some bubbly and savoring some sweets. Don’t forget to get your Captains rose for your special someone. This all makes for a memorable night instead of doing the same old thing. Book now as we are filling up.

Visit us on the Riverwalk! 212 S. Water Street 910-338-313 4 • email: info@wilmingtonwt.com

HANDICAP ACCESSIBLE

Follow us

BAR ON BOARD WITH ALL ABC PERMITS

Complete Schedule: wilmingtonwatertours.net

IT’S TIME FOR THE ENCORE BEST OF 2020 NOMINATIONS!!

Please nominate us for Best Tour, or write in for Best venue for small wedding or environmental education.

Voting happens here: https://encoredeals.secondstreetapp.com/Bestof-2020/ Nominations open Jan. 16 - Feb 16th Spread the word ....

IN SEARCH OF ENTHUSIASTIC, OUTGOING INDIVIDUALS TO JOIN OUR TEAM.

This is an exciting & fun atmosphere. If you enjoy talking to people and have computer skills and familar with pos system, this may be the job for you!

Integrity, reliability a must. All hours available.

References required.

Applications now being accepted @ our shop Monday thru Friday 12-4 pm Located on the river walk in downtown Wilmington. between Orange & Ann Streets.

encore | february 12 - february 18, 2020 | www.encorepub.com 37

BOW CHICKA WOW, WOW encore highlights some of the Valetine’s Day happenings around town for couples, friends and solo acts.

Stock photo

V-DAY

BY SHANNON RAE GENTRY

2

020 marks 10 years with my significant other ... and about seven years since we actually did anything remotely romantic or celebratory on Valentine’s Day. That’s not a complaint, just a fact. Like many long-term loves, we’re seemingly skeptical of the February 14 Hallmark holiday; we just “high-five” each other on another year together and have a beer.

Nevertheless, couples, singles, gal pals and bromances have many options to celebrate Valentine’s Day—from low-key haps and chill poetry sessions, to second-chance proms and charity galas, and yes, even a fancy multi-course dinner. Here’s something for all lovebirds and jaded creatures to do Valentine’s Day weekend.

Better Together: A Beer and Pizza Romance February 14, 6 p.m. • Reg. Menu $ Flying Machine Brewing Company 3130 Randall Pkwy.

There’s not a better match made in heaven than pizza and beer. Flying Machine Brewing Company and WilmyWoodie Food Truck are bringing this timeless couple together with a Valentine’s Day pairing of two specialty pizzas and two beer releases. Pizzas and beers purchased separately. There will be a free photo booth for couples, friends, strangers or kindred spirits—and a prize for best photo! More details are on the event’s Facebook page.

Galentine’s Day February 14, 5:30 p.m. • $65 Dram Yard, 101 S. Second St.

You don’t have to be single to celebrate your besties. In fact, if we learned anything from Leslie Knope, it’s “hoes before bros.

Uteruses before duderuses. Ovaries before brovaries.” So, get some of those lady friends together and treat yo’ self to a prixfixe menu at Dram Yard. Dinner comes with champagne to “cheers” all of your accomplishments this year.

Dram Yard’s 5-course menu starts with a poached North Carolina oyster with chorizo and bread crumbs, following by salad nicoise. Course 3’s roasted prawn with sumac yoghurt, toasted almond and saffron rice can be supplemented with lobster bolognese ($18 additional charge) and course 4’s aged duck breast can be switched with chateaubriand ($42 up charge) featuring pommel puree, béarnaise and pernod haricot verts. Finish this decadent meal with sticky toffee pudding topped with candied pecans, orange supreme and whiskey caramel. Reservations can be made through Yelp at yelp.com.

Spin the Bottle Dance-Off with The Beehive Blondes Feb. 14, 9:30 p.m. - 12 a.m. • Free Satellite Bar and Lounge 120 Greenfield St.

The Beehive Blondes are driving this “Love Train” through decades of love, dance and music. They’ll play songs from 1950s through ‘90s as folks can dance the

38 encore | february 12 - february 18, 2020 | www.encorepub.com

night away. Plus, there will be curated vintage clothes for men and women to purchase from Jess James + Co.

Valentine’s Day Traffic Light Party February 14, 9 p.m. • Free Mad Katz, 5216 Carolina Beach Rd.

Looking for love? Not sure? Already in a committed relationship but still want a beer? Make sure you dress accordingly at Mad Katz’s Valentine’s Day Traffic Light Party: Wear green if you’re available, don yellow if maybe you’re looking, or wrap yourself in red if you’re not looking for love.

No cover charge but guests must be 21 and over.

Portal City Poetry Showcase and Chocolate+ART February 14, 8:30 p.m. • $10 Barzarre, 1612 Castle St.

Join Portal City for an hour of poetry power before the Chocolate+ART Valentine’s Day music and art show. There will be featured poetry from Julia Nizen, Andrew Lohr and more (get there early to sign up!).

Cover includes admission to the music and art show, featuring Rozez, Honey Bear and Froggy P., along with cheese and chocolate fondue. Folks who come earlier at 6:30 p.m. can enjoy a Self-Love Reiki workshop with Raegan Benson and Carlee Venters.

Valentine’s Beer Pairing Dinner February 14, 5:30 p.m. • $40 Edward Teach Brewing,

ROMPS

Fun, off-beat and romantic events offered up for Valetine’s Day weekend 604 N. 4th St.

Edward Teach is playing Cupid this year with a romantic beer-pairing dinner, complete with cervezas, four courses and live music. Their Devil’s Son IPA is opening the meal, paired with a spicy seafood cocktail appetizer, followed by the Cutlass German Lager with an artisan wedge salad. Course three will include Sextant Chocolate Porter paired with German sausage. Dessert is a Sizzling Orchard Wheat served with a tart apple cobbler drizzled in Teach’s Peaches syrup. Only 50 tickets are available.

Bugaboo: Wine & Edible Insect Pairing February 14, 6 – 9 p.m. • Free Fermental, 7250 Market St.

For the most adventurous eaters, Fermental has a wine and food pairing featuring earthy, nutty, fruit-driven flavors.

And we’re not talking about the reds and whites lined up, but the insects they’ll be paired with: Mopane worms, June beetles, grasshoppers, red termites, mealworms, house fly larvae and superworms. Cabernet Sauvignon, Macabeo, Torrontes, and other select libations will accompany

each bug, which are sourced from Thailand (farmed and prepared for human consumption). Anyone looking for more traditional fare can grab some â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;que from Smokinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Joes food truck at 6 p.m. Roger Davis will play acoustic jazz starting at 7 p.m.

nation will fund a field trip to the The Childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Museum of Wilmington for the Young Parent Support Program of New Hanover County.

Black Hearts Goth Prom: Asylumâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 16-year Valentines February 15, 8 p.m. â&#x20AC;˘ $5 Reggies 42nd Street Tavern 1415 S. 42nd St.

(Also, people with shellfish allergies ought not eat insectsâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;true story.)

Parentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Night Out February 14, 5 p.m. â&#x20AC;˘ $15 ($5 additional sibling) Invictus Martial Arts 7122 Market St.

For parents and kids who need a night outâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;but not togetherâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;hereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s an option: Invictus Martial Arts is taking drop ins for Taekwondo, dodgeball and pizza. Initial drop off is at 5 p.m. and pickup is from 8 p.m.-8:15 p.m. (Please, report childâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s food allergies upon drop-off.) Children who have never been to Invictus are welcome, but a parent/guardian needs to sign the safety waiver. Visit invictustkd.com.

Adult Prom February 14, 7 p.m. â&#x20AC;˘ $5 Palate,1007 N 4th St.

At Palate on North Fourth, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s prom seasonâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;well, sort of. But you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have to spike the punch or sneak in wine coolers

because Palate has the wine and beer!

Dust off your high-school suit or gown, or go in search of a thrift find, for a chance to win best dressed and a $50 gift card.

Professor Dub will spin â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;80s, â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;90s and â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;00s jams to dance to. There will also be a photobooth, punch-bowl specials and the Kitchen at Palate will have a menu reminiscent of afterschool throwback snacks.

In lieu of tickets, a $5 suggested do-

Wilmington Asylum Valentineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Day Black Hearts Gothic Prom will double as Reggieâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 16-year anniversary party. Hear live music from Solemn Shapes and IIOIOIOII, as they play lush soundscapes and heavy melodic elements. DJs Authorless Sâ&#x20AC; Ő&#x201C;Lâ&#x2013;˛S DragonWolf and Khnemu DJ RUINN Chaos ELpH will battle it out to see who makes the most people dance until they drop. Masquerade is the theme and the best dressed king and queen will be crowned.

Little Green Booth, LLC will take pictures (included free with admission) from 9 p.m.

- 11 p.m. There will be a cash raffle for hair products and services and 15-minute tarot readings will be available for $10!

5th Annual Cupid is Stupid Scavenger Hunt Bar Crawl February 15, 1 p.m. â&#x20AC;˘ $5 The Husk, 31 S. Front St.

Do the opposite of celebrating Valentineâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Day and put that little dick, Cupid, in his place. The fifth annual Cupid is Stupid Bar Crawl and Scavenger Hunt Bar Crawl features stops at Barbary Coast, Duck and Dive, The Husk, Cape Fear Wine & Beer, Pour House, Mon Me Chocolate & Wine Bar, Shuckinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; Shack Oyster Bar, Tavern Law 1832, Growlerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Tavern, Varnish Ale & Spirits, The Rooftop Bar at N. Front Theatre and Hellâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Kitchen. The $5 registration fee gets each person (up to 6 per team) on the hunt, specials and a chance to win gift certificates and prizes along the way.

Heart Bahamas Gala February 15, 6:30 p.m. $65-$120 Events on Front, 130 N. Front St.

Celebrate love with a charitable heart.

The Caribbean Socialites of South Eastern North Carolina are hosting a Bahamas Relief Fundraiser, in an effort to help communities still recovering from Hurricane Dorian. Partial proceeds will be donated to the Bahamas Red Cross and shipping supplies to the Bahamas.

Formal attire with reds and whites.

Tickets include two drinks, appetizers, live music and drinks from Port City Mixologist and more. For more info, email da_extra@yahoo.com or bridge4resources@gmail.com.

Stalk + Vine

 / �

Â? Â? Â? Â

Â?

Â?

encore | february 12 - february 18, 2020 | www.encorepub.com 39

val. A founding member of the Brierwood Ensemble, his other chamber music collaborations include the Port City Music Festival, the UNCW Early Music Consort, and the UNCW Faculty String Quartet.

Beckwith Recital Hall, Cultural Arts Building, 5270 Randall Dr. $6 at uncw.edu.

theatre/auditions CIRCUS INDUSTRY NIGHT

Every Thurs. evening. A popular spot for Wilmington’s underground fire dancers, flow artists, hoopers, jugglers, magic, sideshow and other obscure performing arts. There’s no formal show, but don’t be surprised to see things flying. No cover, no expectations. Just a night for circus artists to share tricks, try out new moves, or simply kick back, talk shop, and meet other likeminded artists. The Juggling Gypsy, 1612 Castle St.

charity/fundraisers EAST COAST SHAG CLASSIC

Feb. 13, 7pm: The East Coast Shag Classic at Holiday Inn Resort in Wrightsville Beach, NC, features dance lessons, raffles, and live music. Proceeds benefit Hope Abounds. Thursday might, featuring Band of Oz. Friday night featuring Gary Lowder and Smokin’ Hot. Saturday night featuring Blackwater Band. Holiday Inn Resort, 1706 N. Lumina Ave. Tickets at www.hopeabounds.org/ecsc-event-information.

DREAMGIRLS

POLAR PLUNGE

Feb. 15, 11am-3pm: Enjoy live music, DJ, silent auction, raffle, costume contest, food, 1 Mile Run/Walk , 5k and the plunge!

Teams and individuals welcome! $30-$65. Students and teachers who are plunging receive a $20 discount. (School ID required.) Special Olympics swag will also be available for purchase. (910) 3417253 or brooke.deamaral@wilmingtonnc. gov. Kure Beach Ocean Front Park and Pavilion, 105 Atlantic Ave. specialolympicsnhc.com

SKIPPY AND THE COMEDY WARRIORS

Feb. 15, 7:30pm: Marc Price better known as “Skippy” from “Family Ties” joins real life heroes, and wounded combat veterans John Kashnow and Bobby Henline for a night of comedy. This will be a night for cathartic healing as both John and Bobby tell their stories as veterans turned comedians who both sustained injuries from explosions during their tours of duty.

They were both featured in the documentary “Comedy Warriors: Healing Through Humor” where they honed their comedic chops with legends of the standup circuit. $15-$32, thalianhall.org. 301 Chestnut St.

music OPEN-MIC AT TIDAL CREEK

Comedians, singers, songwriters, poets, yodelers! Come out the co-op on Wednesday night & show us what you got! Free coffee!

THE DRUM CIRCLE

Every Tues., 8-11pm, longest continuous Drum Circle for over 6 year provides an open forum, featuring djembe, dounbek, conga, bongo, cajon, yosika and other hand drums and percussive instruments.

Friendly environment for the enjoyment of rhythm and dance. All levels, rhythms welcome! Loaner drums available. Free.

Hosted by Ron at Bottega Art & Wine Bar, Brooklyn Arts District. 723 N. Fourth St.

JAZZ AT CAM

Tickets to the eight-concert series, playing a range of jazz genres in an intimate listening room performance. All concerts are 6:30-8pm, 1st Thurs., through April 2020 at Cameron Art Museum. Presented by CAM and Cape Fear Jazz Society: CAM/CFJS Members: $17; non-members: $25; students with valid college ID $12 (tax and fees not included). Mar. 5, Lenora Zenzalai Helm; Apr. 2, John Brown Quintet. CAM, 3201 S. 17th St. cameronartmuseum.org.

VALENTINE TO YOUNG ARTISTS

Feb. 13, 7pm: Featuring UNCW faculty and pianist Paolo Gualdi, $10. A benefit for the UNCW Community Music Academy. Beckwith Recital Hall, UNCW, 5270 Randall Dr. events.uncw.edu/MasterCalendar/EventDetails.aspx?EventDetail-

40 encore | february 12 - february 18, 2020 | www.encorepub.com

Id=101531

CAPE FEAR CHORDSMAN: VALENTINE’S DAY

Feb. 14: It’s that time of year again! Valentine’s Day is just around the corner and Wilmington’s own Barbershop Chorus – The Cape Fear Chordsmen – will be singing Quartet Valentine’s for sweethearts all over town! We will send four singers to your loved one to sing 2 love songs to her/him, present a rose and a personalized Valentine’s Day card from you. This is a unique experience that cannot be matched by any other gift. This can be done on Valentine’s Day only and at the time and place of your choosing, be it at your home, at work or during a romantic Valentine’s dinner at a restaurant. Call 910-541-1256 to make your arrangements and pick the time and place. Call early to reserve your spot and make your payment of $50.

VIOLA PLAYER CLARK SPENCER

Feb. 16, 4pm, $6: Clark Spencer is an active solo, chamber, and orchestral performer. He is principal viola of the Opera Wilmington Orchestra and section viola in the Fayetteville Symphony Orchestra and Long Bay Symphony. He has also performed with the Eugene Symphony, Eugene Opera, and the Oregon Bach Festi-

Feb. 13-14, 26, 7:30 p.m. or 3 p.m. on Sundays: Techmoja Dance & Theatre Company present “Dreamgirls.” An opportunistic show business promoter sets the career of a female trio of black singers soaring as 1960s Motown music becomes popular with both white and black audiences, necessitating the overweight lead singer’s demotion in favor of a more glamorous singer who had previously sung backup. $30 + preservation/ handling + NC state tax. ($5 discount for seniors, students, military and first responders). Thalian Hall Main Stage, 301 Chesnut St. thalianhall.org.

GAZED AT: STORIES OF A MORTAL BODY

Feb. 12-13, 7pm: Written and performed

by Julie-Ann Scott-Pollock and directed by Frank Trimble. Leutze 125 (Studio Black Box Stage), UNCW. All performances are free and open to the public.

Based on the national award-winning book, “Embodied Performance” by performance artist-storyteller-researcher Dr. Julie-Ann Scott-Pollock, “Gazed At: Stories of a Mortal Body” evokes the art of oral storytelling to explore the roots of our pervasive cultural fear of disabled, ill, and aging bodies. Relating her life with cerebral palsy, Scott-Pollock calls for human connection that embraces the inescapably mortal, vulnerable bodies for as long as we are here. I was born with spastic cerebral palsy. Six operations over two decades transformed my body from hunched with turned in feet, that evoked stares of discomfort, into a body with a limp that the untrained eye may mistake for a temporary injury. Living through multiple iterations of disabled identity has enabled me to understand what it means to live through a mortal body and ultimately embrace our inescapable mortality. Free. 601 S. College Rd. uncwstorytelling.org/#/about-our-director.

GUYS AND DOLLS

Feb. 13-16, 7:30pm or Sunday, 3pm: 7:30pm: Thalian Association presents, “Guys and Dolls,” a classic musical about a couple of big-city gamblers and the women who love them. Starring Samantha Mifsud, Katie Villecco, Brent Schraff, and Jon Wallin; directed by Mike Thompson,. Kenan Auditorium, 601 S. College Rd. $32. www.thalian.org.

DINOSAUR WORLD LIVE

Feb. 15, 3pm: Looking for a fun day out with the kids? Dare to experience the dangers and delights? Dinosaur World is an interactive new for show all the family (ages 3+). Grab your compass and join our intrepid explorer across unchartered territories to discover a pre-historic world of astonishing (and remarkably life-like) dinosaurs. Meet a host of impressive creatures, including every child’s favorite flesh-eating giant, the Tyrannosaurus Rex, a Triceratops, Giraffatitan and Segnosaurus, to name a few! Suitable for ages 3 and up! Wilson Center, 703 North Third St.

BURLESQUE NIGHTS

Feb. 15, 8pm: Wilmington’s premier burlesque show has a lovely lineup for you this February! Featuring a sizzling variety of entertainment from up and down the east coast! Puppie Buffé, Evelyn DeVere, Franki BoomBoom, Flux Inqueerior and Arianna Tysinger. Doors 8/Show 9. Tickets $15/advance $20/door 21+. Every 2019 show sold out so get those tickets in advance! Seating is first come first served. 910tix.com. Bourgie Nights, 127 Princess St.

PIRATES OF PENZANCE

Feb. 16, 3pm: Everyone has pretended to be a pirate at some point. Set sail with the New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players in this classic comedy that boasts one of the most famous patter songs in musical theatre history. On the coast of Cornwall, a band of tenderhearted pirates celebrates the coming of age of Frederic, who was mistakenly apprenticed to the pirates until his 21st birthday. Now, Frederic has vowed to devote his life to the extermination of piracy—until a ludicrous leap year snag threatens to keep him apprenticed to the pirates for life! Wilson Center at Cape Fear Community College, 703 N. 3rd St. wilsoncentertickets.com.

film CINEMATIQUE

WHQR’s Cinematique presents Oscar-Nominated Shorts, Feb. 12. For the 15th consecutive year, shorts HD and Magnolia Pictures present the Oscar-Nominated Short Films. This is your annual chance to predict the winners

(and have the edge in your Oscar pool).

A perennial hit with audiences around the world, don’t miss this year’s selection of shorts. The Academy Awards take place Sun., Feb. 9. It screens at 4pm and 7pm in Thalian Hall’s Main Theatre, 301 Chestnut St.

We’re not just hot dogs!

art ART CRUSH

On exhibit through April. Artists include all females who work in different media: Solstice Woodworks, The Rooted One, Kelsey Howard, MAC Abstracts, Suzy Walter and K.Ko Studio. Coworx, 1608 Queen St.

FOURTH FRIDAY GALLERY NIGHT

Fourth Friday Gallery Nights, Wilmington’s premier after-hours celebration of art and culture, 6-9pm, fourth Fri. ea. month. Art openings, artist demonstrations, entertainment and refreshments.

Administered by the Arts Council of Wilmington and NHC, numerous venues participate. artscouncilofwilmington.org

ART BY CAMMERON: CHILDHOOD ART

ArtByCammeron will have her childhood art on display for the first time. Collectors will have the opportunity to see her style forming as young as preschool- throughout elementary, middle and high school ages. Prints of childhood art will be available for purchase. She is also doing original adult renditions of certain pieces from her childhood work that will be available for purchase. Nick Mijak will display work dating back to 1990 until present day, so collectors can get a sense of his stylistic exploration. Collectors with have the opportunity to purchase prints of Nick’s early works. He has created new works for this opening that haven’t been introduced to the public and they will be available for purchase. Bottega, 723 N 4th St.

$5 Meal Deals

Offering philly cheesesteaks, burgers, grilled cheeses, frank ’n’ beans and more!

Offering hot dog cart service for catering, 60 or more!

Drop-off catering offered!

We ha Impos ve the s Burgeible r

WILMINGTON 4502 Fountain Dr Wilmington, NC 28403 (910) 452-3952

11am to 6:30pm, 7 days a week

WOOL REINVENTED

Flytrap welcomes featured artist Rachel Frey’s collection “Wool Reinvented.” Fiber artist Rachel Frey trained at SCAD, and creates felted pieces of all sizes through an ancient method using water and friction. Her art is fully composed of natural resources.

The collection will consist of immensely detailed prints, which start out as watercolor paintings that are then transferred to Adobe Photoshop to manipulate the imagery into a repeat pattern. Rachel is drawn toward colors and textures that occur in nature. Her art reveals an essence of softness as well as rigidity. Flytrap, 319 Walnut St.

EYE CANDY BY MARLOWE

“Eye Candy,” featuring local pop artist Marlowe is at New Elements Gallery. Inspiration comes to the artist from watching 1930s and 1940s movies. Captivating images from the world of pulp fiction mix with exotic handmade papers creating incredible compositions that are a nod to another time, and a

encore | february 12 - february 18, 2020 | www.encorepub.com 41

fantasy to be explored. Join us as we dive into the charismatic, colorful world of Marlowe, the first official show at NEG for 2020!

271 N. Front St. newelementsgallery.com

2020: NEW YEAR, NEW ART

2020 is a new year which brings a variety of brand new art by Art in Bloom Gallery’s core artists to the gallery. Feast your eyes on new work in “2020: New Year, New Art,” featuring Bradley Carter (painting), Debra Bucci (painting), Richard Bunting (blown glass), Elizabeth Darrow (painting), Brian Evans (ceramics), Joanne Geisel (painting), Dave Klinger (photography), Joan McLoughlin (painting), Gale Smith (painter), Traudi Thornton (ceramics), among others! Continues through March 8. Art in Bloom, 210 Princess St. aibgallery. com.

VALENTINE’S DAY SIP AND PAINT

Feb. 14, 7pm: Two painting choices on Valentine’s Day, both are perfect for singles or couples! Decide on your favorite, register, grab your favorite snacks and drinks and come paint! This year, join us for a very special Valentine’s Day Date Night! We’ll have a Bubbles Bar all weekend! You bring the bubbles and we’ll bring the fixin’s–juices, fruit and more! We’ll also have sweet treats to share! Experiences are what she really wants–bring her in and make some sweet memories while painting this cute turtle set.

BYOB and snacks and make a real date out of it! Open to public. Adults only; BYOB. $37$42. Painting with a Twist, 5732 Oleander Dr. www.paintingwithatwist.com.

dance 76ERS SQUARE DANCE CLUB

Inviting all mainstream and plus square dancers to join us for our weekly evening of dance on Thursdays from 8-9:30 pm at Senior Resource Center, 2222 S. College Rd. (entrance on Shipyard Blvd.). $5/person/dance. Join: $17.50/person/month.

SENIOR LINE DANCING

At Maides Park, Thurs., 11am-noon. Free!

Pre-reg. is not required. 1101 Manly Avenue

OVER 50’S DANCE

Mission is to provide a venue for ballroom and social dancing. Welcome dancers of all levels—great form of exercise and to socialize with others who also like to dance. The club holds a dance on the second Tuesday of each month. Variety of DJ’s play all kinds of dance music— ballroom, Latin, shag, rock & roll, country, slow nightclub. Cost $8/person. New Hanover Sr. Resource Ctr, 2222 S. College Rd. facebook.com/over50sdance

DRAG ME TO IBIZA

Every Friday at Ibiza Nightclub—home to some of the areas most talented female impersonators. Our exclusive drag shows take place at 10:30pm and midnight. Afterward our dance floors is yours as our resident DJ spins a variety of House, Hip

hop, Top 40 & EDM until 2:30am. 18+ with Valid ID. Ibiza Nightclub, 118 Market St.

CONTRA DANCE

Evening of energetic, contemporary American country dancing, Tuesdays. A caller will lead the dancers through a sequence of moves. People are friendly and beginners are always welcome, no experience necessary! It’s fun for all ages, teenagers through seniors. You don’t need a partner; we promise you’ll get to dance. In fact, you’ll dance with everybody there! Recommended dress is cool and casual, with soft-soled shoes. General admission: $5.

5th Ave United Methodist Church, 409 S 5th Ave

BE MY VALENTINE STRIP-TEASE CONTEST

There’s No Party Like An Ibiza Party, so mark your calendars and join your friends as Wilmington’s #1 Dance Club hosts our annual Valentine’s Party! Be My Valentine Strip Tease pays out $300 to the winner.

Purchase online tickets and skip the line with Express Entry. Express Entry will be available to online ticket holders until 11 p.m. ibiza.ticketspice.com/valentine. Ibiza Nightclub 118 Market St.

BEEHVE BLONDES’ VALENTINE’S DAY PARTY

Feb. 14, 9:30pm: Grab your Galentine/Valentine and head to Satellite for The Beehive Blonde‘s Valentine’s Party + Spin the Bottle Dance Off! We will be moving this Love Train through the eras: Love Songs from the 50’s thru the 90’s. Get ready to dance your heart out! Cheers to love! Free!

Satellite Bar and Lounge, 120 Greenfield St.

DANCE COOPERATIVE

Feb. 16, 2pm: Dance Cooperative, in association with CAM, provides informal showings to offer working choreographers a place to present works in progress to be reviewed and critiqued in a nurturing environment. The public is invited to witness the creative process and help the creator grow the works to realize their concepts to the fullest potential with feedback. Those interested in presenting work e-mail dancecooperative@gmail.com no later than the Monday preceding each showcase. Free and open to the public.

Weyerhaeuser Reception Hall, Cameron Art Museum, 3201 S. 17th St. cameronartmuseum.org

comedy OPEN MIC

Wildest open mic in town—anything goes. (except cover songs). Stand-up comedy, slam poetry, video, live music, odd talents, performances of all kinds. Hosted by 6-beer Steve. Sign up, 8pm, and runs all night. Juggling Gypsy 1612 Castle St. (910) 763-2223, after 3pm for details. jugglinggypsy.com.

42 encore | february 12 - february 18, 2020 | www.encorepub.com

GRUFF GOAT COMEDY

First Wed. ea. month, Gruff Goat Comedy features three comedians dong stand up. No trolls. Food truck onsite. Waterline Brewing, 721 Surry Lane.

PRIMETIME COMEDY

See some of NC’s best stand-up comedians in a world class venue! This month’s talented performers: Brett Williams, Cordero Wilson, Grant Sheffield, Louis Bishop, and Tyler Wood. Hosted by: Wills Maxwell. N Front Theatre (formerly City Stage), 21 N Front St.

LUCKY JOE COMEDY SHOW

First Sat. ea. month is free at Lucky Joe Craft Coffee on College Road, presented

by Regretful Villains. The show features a new style of stand-up called Speed Joking. Enjoy a night of laughs! 1414 S College Rd.

DEAD CROW

Feb. 14-15, 7:30/9pm: Jenny Zigrino made her late night standup debut on Conan O’Brien and keeps going back for a total of three appearances. She’s been a guest on the hit shows @Midnight, MTV’s Girl Code and Adam Ruins Everything and featured on TBS, Oxygen, TruTV, Fox, and more. She created, wrote & starred in the Comedy Central Digital series Bad Ass Bitches of History showcasing bad ass babes through time. A rising star in Hollywood, her first film appearance was a leading role in 50 Shades of Black with Marlon Wayans and went on to star opposite Billy Bob Thorton in Bad Santa 2. $15. • Open mic every Thursday, 8pm.

Sign up is in person, 7pm. There’s no cost to participate, and each comedian is allotted three minutes of stage time. deadcrowcomedy.com. 265 N. Front St.

LIVE RIFFING AND VINTAGE TV

Every Wed. join Dead Crow Comedy for improv night. Join local comedians for a TV party at Dead Crow! Interactive improvised comedy show. 265 N. Front St.

BOMBERS COMEDY OPEN MIC

Sign up at 8:30; show’s at 9. Bring your best to the mic. Bomber’s Beverage Company, 108 Grace St.

LOL SHOW AT WTF!

Free! Every Thurs., 8pm! LOL, a brandnew weekly show from Wilmington’s finest improvisers, comedians, and storytellers! Using your suggestions, DareDevil Improv will create a one-of-a-kind comedy experience to kick off your weekend right! (Followed by karaoke!). Plus, special guests, music, and cocktails! WTF, 111 Grace St.

CAPE FEAR COMEDY KICKBACK

Feb. 16, 6pm, $5: Wilmington’s hottest new comedy showcase is back! February 16th join Tyler Deese, Mike Byrd and Jack

Nelson along with special guests at The Barzarre. Five Dollars gets you out of the house on a Sunday for a great comedy show! Doors at 5:30. Show at 6:30. 18+ recommended. Full bar available with an amazing selection of drinks and food. $5, 1610 Castle St.

museums CAMERON ART MUSEUM

Through Apr. 26, 2020: The Eye Learns— Modernist prints from the Louis Belden Collection—In 2017 CAM was given an unprecedented bequest of works of art from San Francisco art collector Louis Belden. The collection of 135 prints offers an endless range of expression, experimentation and expansion of the terrain of postwar modernism and includes original artworks from the leading artists, the change-makers, the radicals, the early modernist European expats, seeking asylum in this country. Among others, artists in the exhibition will include Josef Albers, Helen Frankenthaler, Wayne Thiebaud, Richard Diebenkorn, Ellsworth Kelly, Robert Rauschenberg. • Through April 26, 2020: Structure in Space and Time— Photography by Phil Freelon—Throughout his prodigious career, award-winning architect Freelon (American, 1953-2019) found photography essential to his design vision and creative process: Photography is one of the vehicles that I use to share my view of the world. As an architect, the expression of structure is central to my design process, bringing a sense of order to the final composition.

Photographs examine the structure that exists all around us—both in the natural and built environment. Everyone at CAM is deeply saddened by the passing of Phil Freelon on July 9, 2019. If you would like to honor his legacy you may make contributions to the North Star Church of the Arts. • CAM Café open and serving delicious menu with full bar. Brunch, Sat. and Sun., 10am-2pm; Tues.-Fri., 11am-2pm; Thurs. 5-9pm. Museum, 10am-5pm; Thurs., 10am-9pm. cameronartmuseum. org. 3201 S. 17th St.

CAPE FEAR MUSEUM

Ongoing: Explore the history of the 20th century in this new gallery designed, curated and fabricated by the Cape Fear Museum team. The revamped 20th century gallery is the final chapter of the Museum’s core exhibit, Cape Fear Stories.

The new exhibit paints a picture of New Hanover County and the dramatic social, cultural and economic transformations that shaped life in the 20th century and beyond. • Ongoing: Michael Jordan, known worldwide for his spectacular basketball skills, grew up in Wilmington.

He achieved phenomenal success in basketball, and he worked hard to achieve

his goals at every level. “Michael Jordan: Achieving Success” showcases his early years and Wilmington roots. Several artifacts are on display including an unworn pair of 1987 Air Jordan 1 shoes. • Ongoing: Space Place: Hands-on STEM interactives include a robotic arm, microscopic experiments and a glove box challenge. Visual elements offer real-time information about the International Space Station’s location and daily operations.

• Ongoing: Williston Auditorium: Education in Wilmington has a long, rich tradition, and the name “Williston” has been associated with schooling here since the 1860s. What began as an American Missionary Association school became— between 1923 and the day it closed its doors in 1968—the only high school for African Americans in New Hanover County. • Through Feb. 2, 2020: Once considered an essential part of a wardrobe, the fashion hat has experienced a steady decline in popularity since the 1960s. Today, many people associate stylish hats only with a Sunday church service or a special event. This selection of hats reflects a number of the popular styles worn in the Cape Fear area from the 1940s through the 1960s. • Through April 12, 2020: To the Moon: Snoopy Soars with NASA examines the history of Apollo 10 and the Peanuts characters’ role in that flight and in the NASA Manned Flight Awareness safety program. • Through Feb. 23, 2020: Dinosaur Discovery explores the world of modern paleontology and the discoveries that reveal how dinosaurs lived, moved and behaved. Everything we know about these prehistoric animals comes from fossils unearthed by paleontologists.

These scientists study ancient life by examining their finds and piecing together clues from the past. This exhibit was developed by the Virginia Museum of Natural History. CF Museum, 814 Market St. capefearmuseum.com

WRIGHTSVILLE BEACH MUSEUM

WB Museum of History, housed in the turn-of-the-century Myers Cottage, exists to preserve and to share the history of Wrightsville Beach. Visitors to the cottage will find a scale model of Wrightsville Beach circa 1910, exhibits featuring the early days of the beach including Lumina Pavilion, our hurricane history and information about the interaction between the people and our natural environment which have shaped the 100 yr. history of WB. (910) 256-2569. 303 W. Salisbury St. wbmuseum.com.

WILMINGTON RR MUSEUM

Explore railroad history and heritage, especially of the Atlantic Coast Line, headquartered in Wilmington for 125 years.

Interests and activities for all ages, including historical exhibits, full-size steam engine and rolling stock, lively Children’s

• Wings • Salads • Sandwiches • Seafood • • Steaks • Ribs • Chicken • Pasta •

16 Cold Draft Beers

encore | february 12 - february 18, 2020 | www.encorepub.com 43

Hall, and spectacular model layouts.

House in an authentic 1883 freight warehouse, facilities are fully accessible and on one level. By reservation, discounted group tours, caboose birthday parties, and after-hours meetings or mixers. Story Time on 1st/3rd Mon. at 10:30am, only $5 per family and access to entire Museum. Admission only $9 adult, $8 senior/ military, $5 child, ages 2-12, and free under age 2. 505 Nutt St. 910-763-2634. www.wrrm.org.

LATIMER HOUSE

Victorian Italiante style home built in 1852, the restored home features period furnishings, artwork and family portraits.

Tours offered Mon-Fri, 10am-4pm, and Sat, 12-5pm. Walking tours are Wed and Sat. at 10am. $4-$12. Latimer House of Lower CF Historical Society is not handicapped accessible 126 S. 3rd St.

BURGWIN-WRIGHT HOUSE

18th century Burgwin-Wright House Museum in the heart of Wilmington’s Historic District, is the oldest museum house in NC, restored with 18th-19th century decor and gardens. Colonial life experienced through historical interpretations in kitchen and courtyard. 3rd/Market St. Tues-Sat, 10am-4pm. Last tour, 3pm.

910-762-0570. www.burgwinwrighthouse.com.

BELLAMY MANSION MUSEUM

One of NC’s most spectacular examples of antebellum architecture, built on the eve of the Civil War by free and enslaved black artisans, for John Dillard Bellamy (1817-1896) physician, planter and business leader; and his wife, Eliza McIlhenny Harriss (1821-1907) and their nine children. After the fall of Fort Fisher in 1865, Federal troops commandeered the house as their headquarters during the occupation of Wilmington. Now a museum, it focuses on history and the design arts and offers tours, changing exhibitions and an informative look at historic preservation in action. Tour hours are MonSat. 10 am-4 pm and Sundays 1-4 pm.

Self-guided tours (paper or audio) can begin at any time in the day and guided tours begin at the top of the hour when available. Adults $12; Senior, Military, College $10; Students $6; children under 5 are free. 503 Market St. 910-251-3700. bellamymansion.org

BATTLESHIP 101

Feb. 5, 10am: Friendly, knowledgeable volunteers throughout the ship engage visitors in areas including gunnery, radar, sick bay, galley, engineering, and daily shipboard life. Try on helmets, raise signal flags, “text” using semaphore flags, tap out your name using Morse code,

44 encore | february 12 - february 18, 2020 | www.encorepub.com

type on vintage typewriters and more! A great event for all ages. Bring your questions and cameras! Free with Battleship admission. Battleship NC, 1 Battleship Rd.

kids stuff SNAKE AND TURTLE FEEDING

Brief presentation about live animals on display in the events center and watch them feed. At least one snake and turtle will be fed during the demonstration.

Ages: 3 and up. First Wed. every month, $1. Halyburton Park, 4099 S. 17th St.

ART EXPLORER THURSDAYS

Bring your little ones to CAM for story reading and art making! Enjoy open studio time with your family. Such as reading stories, creating art with a variety of supplies, and having fun with friends! No pre-registration necessary. Parental Supervision required at all times. Suggested donation: $5/family. 3201 S. 17th St. www.cameronartmuseum.org

HAPPY LITTLE SINGERS

Happy Little Singers is an affordable, creative early childhood (Pre-K) music and movement program, designed for infants, toddlers, pre-schoolers and young students up to age 6 (older children and

siblings enjoy the program, as well). So much fun for you and your little one! With every nurturing and creative class, you will see your child expressing themselves in new ways, developing new skills and competency, matching rhythm and singing, playing instruments. You may also notice a significant increase in both fine and gross motor skills, eye-hand coordination, language and listening skills, social skills and self-esteem. Class will help reinforce the bond between you and your child. Held every Tues, 9:45-11:30am, Hannah Block Community Arts Center. $10 per family. 910-777-8889. www.susansavia.com/happy-little-singers.

DESSERT DOPPLEGANGER JR.

Feb. 13, 11am: Wayne Thiebaud, one of artists whose work is on view in CAM’s current exhibition The Eye Learns: Modernist Prints from the Louis Belden Collection, loves to depict desserts. Inspired

by Thiebaud, young CAM museum visitors will dip their brushes into tinted cool whip and “paint” cakes and pies. All supplies including whipping cream and food tints and aprons and hats are included (no fee). And the results are fun and edible! And you’ll meet CAM Café’s Chef Chip, too!

HEARTS AND HUGS

Feb. 14, 9am-noon: Ages 5 & under.

>>

Pain Specialist <<

Services Acupuncture • Massage • Herbal Pharmacy Medical Qigong Private Healing • Sessions and Clinics

Now offering Qigong classes

Acupuncture FREE Consultation

Emphasizes self-healing and consciousness transformation through still and moving postures, breathing techniques and creative visualization.

Reduce Reliance on Pain Meds with Acupuncture and QI Gong

4916 Wrightsville Ave., Wilmington NC 28403 • 910.791.1981

www.MckayHealingArts.com encore | february 12 - february 18, 2020 | www.encorepub.com 45

DISCOVER NEW MUSIC AT 98.3 THE PENGUIN PLAYLIST SAMPLE BOB MARLEY & THE WAILERS - EXODUS G. LOVE F. MARCUS KING - THE JUICE JACK JOHNSON - FLAKE KHRUANGBIN F. LEON BRIDGES - TEXAS SUN UMPHREY'S MCGEE - BOOTH LOVE SHARON JONES & THE DAP KINGS - MATTER OF TIME SAM COOKE - A CHANGE IS GONNA COME

LANA DEL REY - MARINER'S APARTMENT COMPLEX DEREK & THE DOMINOS - BELL BOTTOM BLUES TEDESCHI TRUCKS BAND - EVERYBODY'S TALKIN'

NEW MUSIC ADDED JOHN MORELAND - WHEN MY FEVER BREAKS CAAMP - BY AND BY THE HEAD AND THE HEART - HONEYBEE THE DIRTY KNOBS - WRECKLESS ABANDON

UPCOMING PENGUIN SHOWS DARK STAR ORCHESTRA

3/28 & 3/29 GLA

KT TUNSTALL

4/26 GLA

PAUL CAUTHEN (BOURGIE NIGHTS 2/21) SOLD OUT! DARK STAR ORCHESTRA (GLA 3/28 & 3/29)

KT TUNSTALL (GLA 4/26) MT. JOY (GLA 6/12)

SPECIALTY SHOWS:

THE EVENING EXPERIMENT WITH ERIC MILLER, WEDNESDAYS 7-9PM THE FRIDAY NIGHT PANIC JAM FRIDAYS AT 8PM ACOUSTIC CAFE SATURDAYS FROM 7-9AM ETOWN SATURDAYS AT 9AM PUTUMAYO WORLD MUSIC HOUR SUNDAYS AT 8AM

WWW.983THEPENGUIN.COM 46 encore | february 12 - february 18, 2020 | www.encorepub.com

membership to USA Fencing good until July 31, 2020. Taught by Internationally accredited instructor. Tileston Gym, 412 Ann St. www.capefearfencing.com

SERVSAFE PROGRAM

Fridays, 9am-11am: Online testing for the ServSafe Food Manager Certification exam will be offered every Friday, at the Pine Valley Public Library. 3802 S College Rd. $100 voucher code & proctor fee. By appointment only. Contact Jaime Chadwick 910-617-4791

lectures/readings DR. PAUL SCHERVISH LECTURE

Let’s show some love for our family and friends! Bring a play date and join us for some Valentine’s Day themed activities, crafts and sweet treats! Free hugs all day!

Pre-registration is required by visiting www.fitforfuncenter.com

KIDS AT CAM

Feb. 15, 11am: Artist and educator Ben Billingsley will introduce us to the wonderful world of printmaking! Using simple techniques, families will create their own prints to take home. Cape Fear Community College art students will offer demos of more advanced printmaking techniques using print presses. Visit our beautiful print exhibition, The Eye Learns: Modernist Prints from the Louis Belden Collection currently on view and enjoy the works of modern masters. Explore the entire museum with one of our fun family guides (ask for one at the front desk) and stay for lunch at the CAM Cafe! Kids@CAM is fun for all ages! Parental supervision required at all times. No pre-reg. necessary.

Kids@CAM is for families to spend a fun and creative afternoon at Cameron Art Museum. Suggested donation: $5/child.

Cameron Art Museum, 3201 S. 17th St.

recreation CUPID SUNSET CRUISE

Feb. 14, 6pm: Do something different for your special someone to celebrate Valentine’s Day. Join Wilmington Water Tours aboard our Cupid’s Sunset Cruise. This cruise will have sweets, champagne for purchase & a Captain’s Rose. Wilmington Water Tours, 212 S Water St

classes/seminars MEDITATE AND CHILL

Join Jesse Stockton + Jenny Yarborough every Tues., 7:30-8:30pm, Terra Sol Sanctuary. 20-30 minute meditation to help you take a deep breath. Relax. Let go. $10; no need to register in advance.

507 Castle St. terrasolsanctuary.com.

Feb. 13, 5pm: Join the UNCW Department of Public and International Affairs as guest speaker Dr. Paul Schervish speaks on “The Intergenerational Transfer of Wealth.” A reception with light refreshments will occur at 5:00 pm in the Leutze Hall Lobby with the lecture to follow at 6:00 pm in Leutze Hall Room 108. This event is open to the public. 125 Leutze Hall, UNCW Campus, 601 South College Rd. uncw.edu.

EAST MEETS WEST: PAPER FROM BELDEN TO NOGUCHI WITH FRITZI HUBER

Feb. 15, 2pm: Gallery talk at CAM around the art and craft of making paper. CAM’s

two exhibitions, “Unfolding Noguchi” (on view through May 24, 2020) and “The Eye Learns: Modernist Prints from the Louis Belden Collection” (on view through April 26, 2020) offer examples from across the spectrum of paper in all of its versions.

Fritzi Huber is a hand papermaker with over 40 years of experience. She will discuss the wide range of papermaking techniques employed in the various works from the Belden collection, to the Akari forms of Isamu Noguchi, and address the possible hows and whys of choices made. CAM Members: Free, Non-Members: Museum admission. Brown Wing and Hughes Wing, Cameron Art Museum, 3201 S. 17th St.cameronartmuseum.org

clubs/notices BIKE NIGHT

Bike Night at Mac’s Speed Shop, beer, bikes, BBQ. Featuring in concert: South Starr band playing great classic-southern R&R music! Mac’s Speed Shop, 4126 Oleander Dr.

UNRAVELED

First Thurs. every month, 10am, a morning of knitting or crochet and conversation. This is a self-guided drop-in program. All skill levels welcome. Bring your own materials and projects to work on; supplies not provided. Northeast Library,

WILMINGTON OM BREW FALL SERIES

Tuesdays from 6-7pm join us and Yoga Village at the brewery for donation-based yoga. Suggested donation is $15 but you may pay-what-you-can, if needed. Donations support Yoga Village community programming. Wilmington Brewing Company, 824 South Kerr Ave. facebook.com/ events/2538362336408659.

SENIOR CLASSES

Takes place Thursdays, fitness classes, 10am, and line-dancing classes, 11am.

Free. Maides Park, 1101 Manly Ave.

FREE FITNESS CLASSES

Boot Camp, Tuesdays, through Mar. 31, 5:30-6:30pm • Zumba, Thursdays, through Mar. 26, 5:30-6:30pm. Children 5-17 can participate in fitness classes when accompanied by an adult. Pre-reg. rqd. maidespark.com. Maides Park, 1101 Manly Ave.

CAPE FEAR FENCING CLASSES

Cape Fear Fencing Association 6 week beginning fencing class, 6:30pm, in the basement of the Tileston gym. Class will meet for approximately 1 hour on Tuesdays and Thursdays, All fencing equipment provided, students should wear loose fitting clothing and sneakers. Appropriate for ages 8-80. $50 plus a $10 encore | february 12 - february 18, 2020 | www.encorepub.com 47

SEAHAWK BASEBALL CLASSIC FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 14 |DAYTON VS BRYANT 12:00PM UNCW VS DAYTON 4:00PM SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 15 | DAYTON VS BRYANT 12:00PM UNCW VS BRYANT 4:00PM SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 16 | UNCW VS DAYTON 10:00AM UNCW VS BRYANT 2:00PM SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 15 | 1:00PM | Womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Tennis vs Appalachian State 48 encore | february 12 - february 18, 2020 | www.encorepub.com

Joes BBQ 6pm www.fermental.net 910821-0362. 7250 Market St.

1241 Military Cutoff Rd.

SENIOR SOCIAL TIME

ROBERT BURNS SUPPER AND CELEBRATION

Tues., 10:30am-no. Arts & crafts, speakers, movies, trips and more. Free.

Maides Park, 1101 Manly Ave.

Scottish Society of Wilmington presents the 27th Annual Robert Burns Supper & Celebration at Landfall Country Club.

The formal affair includes dinner, cash bar, bagpiping, a silent auction, music

by Lisa & Galen, haggis, many kilts, and much ado over the life & lore of the legendary bard of Scotland. SSOW members, guests, and the general public are welcome to attend this event. wilmingtonscots.org or scott@scottcromartie. com. Nel Nichols at celticnel20@gmail. com. 910-512-7009. Country Club of Landfall, 800 Sun Runner Pl.

OYSTER BAGGING AT MORRIS LANDING

Feb. 14, 10am-2pm: Celebrate Valentine’s Day by restoring oysters, the food of lovers! Join staff, interns and volunteers as they bag oyster shells to be used in construction of a living shoreline at Morris Landing Clean Water Preserve. Volunteers are needed to fill mesh bags with oyster shells and then cut, tie, lift and stack the shellbags. Events are suitable for adults, organized groups and supervised children over the age of 12. These oyster shell-bagging events support the federation’s living shoreline projects, which protect our shores from erosion and create valuable habitat. Bonnie Mitchell: 910-509-2838. bonniem@ nccoast.org. 898 Morris Landing Rd.

SKIP THE WAIT

Feb. 12, 5pm: Skip the wait on Friday and have your Valentine’s day early! 3 -course Pre-Valentine’s day beer pairing dinner. Three courses, each with a small pour beer pairing for only $35, featuring shrimp ceviche or tuna carpaccio; pork tenderloin, shrimp-mussel linguine or vegetable cacciatore; lemon tartlet or flour-less chocolate torte. Reservation: 910.256.4938. Wrightsville Beach Brewery, 6201 Oleander Dr. facebook.com/ events/189443485588240.

CAPE FEAR SIERRA CLUB

Feb. 17, 6pm: Hear about Energy Justice NC, a campaign of 14 local, state and national nonprofit organizations, including Appalachian Voices, working alongside the Sierra Club on a number of issues such as the Mountain Valley and Atlantic Coast Pipelines and the important goal of democratizing our state’s power systems. Come hear how we can end the monopoly control of electric utilities in North Carolina and bring a competitive market to drive innovation and lower costs to consumers. Presenter, Josh McClenney, is the North Carolina Field Coordinator, Energy Democracy Program, for Appalachian Voices. A Piedmont North Carolina native, Josh attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill receiving B.A.’s in American History and Communication Studies. After spending several summers working with Appalachia Service Project, Josh attended Appalachian State University where he received an M.A. in Appalachian Studies. Halyburton Park, 4099 S 17th St. Presentation starts at 6:30pm. capefearsierraclub.com.

culinary FREE BREWERY TOURS AND TASTINGS

3pm, 3:45pm, 4:30pm, everyday at Front Street Brewery, 9 N. Front St. Learn how we brew our beer, meet brewers and get two free samples.

SWEET N SAVORY WINE TASTING

Wed, 5-8pm: Sample some of the most delicious wines you can try for free with optional $25 food pairing, designed specifically to go with each wine. Benny Hill Jazz always starts at 7 pm with his cool jazz styles. Sweet n Savory Cafe, 1611 Pa-

VALENTINE STOUT AND PRETZEL BITE PAIRING vilion Pl.

PORT CITY GREAT BURGER CHALLENGE

In 30 mins, eat 48 ounces of burger meat with three toppings and fries! Beat it and we take care of the bill and put your face on the Wall of Glory! Fail, and straight to The Wall of Shame you go. Bring your stretchy pants and good luck! Offer is daily. 11am-11pm, Port City Burgers & Brews, 11 Market St.

FERMENTAL

Free tasting every Friday, 6pm. Third Wed. of ea. month feat. musical and brewing talents alongside open-mic night, and an opportunity for homebrewers to share, sample and trade their creations: an evening of beer and an open stage. PA and equipment provided. All genres and beer.

• Bugaboo: Feb. 14, 6-9pm: Celebrate another Valentines Day with an unconventional holiday tasting; showcasing an assortment of hand-selected wines alongside a poignant pairing of edible insects. Culturally, the consumption of insects and larvae by humans has been in practice since prehistoric times and is still practiced in Central and South America, Africa, Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. All insects are sourced from Thailand, farmed and prepared specifically for human consumption. People with known shellfish allergies are advised to not consume insects. Free! Acoustic jazz with Roger Davis, 7pm. Food Truck: Smokin’ encore | february 12 - february 18, 2020 | www.encorepub.com 49

Feb. 14, 3pm: Celebrate Valentine’s Day with a stout flight and pretzel bite pairing! 4 Flytrap stouts will be paired with 4 freshly fried pretzel bites by Wicked Good Pretzels! This $15 pairing will be available all day. Enjoy tunes by Jesse Stockton Duo from 8-11p. No reservations necessary. Flytrap Brewing, 319 Walnut St.

tours LITERARY HISTORY WALKING TOUR

Explore the rich culture of our talented Southern town with a 90-minute walking tour of the literary history of downtown Wilmington, NC. Visit “The Two Libraries.”

Walk the streets of your favorite novels, and stand where Oscar Wilde did when he lectured here. Saturdays, 1:30pm, Old Books on Front. 249 N. Front St. brownpapertickets.com/event/1282390

GHOST WALK

6:30-8:30pm. Costumed guides lead visitors through alleyways with tales of haunted Wilmington. Nightly tours, 6:30pm/8:30pm. Water and Market sts.

RSVP rqd: 910-794-1866. www.hauntedwilmington.com

BELLAMY MANSION MUSEUM

Follow curved shell paths through gardens shaded by 150-year old magnolias.

See the original, restored slave quarters

building along with the 22-room antebellum mansion. Learn about the Bellamy family as well as the free black and enslaved artisans who built the home and the enslaved workers who lived on site after its completion. Adults $12; Senior, military, college $10; Students $6; children under 5 are free. 503 Market St. 910-251-3700. bellamymansion.org.

Tours Mon-Sat. 10 am-4 pm and Sundays 1-4 pm. Self-guided tours (paper or audio) can begin at any time in the day and guided tours begin at the top of the hour when available.

MASONBORO SHELLING TOUR

Explore Masonboro Island and discover the wonder of the Carolina coast. This tour option is ideal for families, birders, and nature enthusiasts. Masonboro Island is an 8.4-mile marine sanctuary island, renowned for its plant and wildlife diversity. Topics will include shell biology, native plant species, shorebirds, and barrier island ecology. Adult $45, child $25 RSVP: 910-200-4002. Wrightsville Beach Scenic Tours, 275 Waynick Blvd

OFF THE RECORD TOURS

Thurs., 6:30pm: CAM Gallery tours, led by museum staff, are sometimes irreverent and silly, but a charming and engaging behind-the-scenes perspective on current exhibitions. But what if I’m really

50 encore | february 12 - february 18, 2020 | www.encorepub.com

thirsty before the tour? Join us for happy hour beforehand to loosen up your brain and chat about art. Brown Wing. CAM Members: Free, non-members. Museum admission. Cameron Art Museum, 3201 S. 17th St.

WALKING TOUR OF CAROLINA BEACH

Walking Tour of the Historic Carolina Beach Boardwalk meets at the Visitors Bureau Kiosk just south of the new Hampton Inn and features members of the Federal Point Historic Preservation Society leading a 50-minute tour into the past, answering questions like: Where did the “birth of the Shag” take place?

Did you know there was a movie theater called The Wave on the Boardwalk?

How long has Britt’s Donuts been on the Boardwalk, and has it always been in the same place? Why was the Red Apple so popular? Where was the largest dance floor south of Washington DC located?

Society asks for a $10 donation. Children under 12 tour free. Carolina Beach Board Walk, Cape Fear Blvd.

WEEKLY EXHIBITION TOURS

Cameron Art Museum: Explore, discuss and learn more about the artwork currently on view at CAM. Members: free.

Museum admission all others. 3201 S. 17th St. cameronartmuseum.org

support groups WILMINGTON PRIDE YOUTH GROUP

Grades 7-12: Wilmington Pride Yxqouth Group is a safe space for youth who identify as LGBTQIA+ and their straight allies.

An adult supervised, safe space for kids to talk about orientation, gender, racial equality, political consequences, religion, self care. A great opportunity to meet and socialize with peers from the greater Wilmington area. Meets Thurs., 7pm.

Needed: youth facilitators, especially those who are trained to work with kids, and speakers to talk about important topics.

ANXIETY/OCD SUPPORT GROUP

Group meets 1st & 3rd Thurs. of each month. Pine Valley United Methodist Church, 3788 Shipyard Blvd. Bldg B. Christopher Savard, Ph.D., with Cape Fear Psychological Services, gives a presentation the 1st Thursday of each month.

3rd Thursday meeting is member led. 18+ welcome. 910-763-8134

LUPUS SUPPORT GROUP

Meets third Sat. ea. month. Free; drop-ins are welcome. Group provides participants an opportunity to receive introductory info about lupus, encourage the expression of concerns, provide an opportunity

encore | february 12 - february 18, 2020 | www.encorepub.com 51

52 encore | february 12 - february 18, 2020 | www.encorepub.com

to share experiences, encourage and support positive coping strategies, and emphasize the importance of medical treatment. Guest speakerss, DVD presentations and open group discussion. info@lupusnc.org (877) 849-8271, x1. lupusnc.org. NE Library, 1241 Military Cutoff Rd.

PFLAG

First Mon/mo. at UNCW, in the Masonboro Island Room #2010, 7pm.

MS SUPPORT GROUP

Those with Multiple Sclerosis, families and friends welcome. Meets 2nd Thursday each month, 7 p.m., at the New Hanover Rehabilitation Hospital, 1st floor conference room, 2131 S. 17th St. (behind the Betty Cameron Women’s Hospital). Sponsored by Greater Carolinas Chapter, National MS Society. Details: Anne (910) 232-2033 or Burt (910) 3831368. NH Regional Medical Hospital, 2131 S. 17th St.

COPING WITH DEATH OF SPOUSE/PARTNER

Lower Cape Fear Hospice will offer a six-week, no-cost grief program for those coping with the death of a spouse or partner in Brunswick County on Tuesdays, through Feb. 11. The group will meet 2-4 p.m. at the SECU Hospice House of Brunswick, 955 Mercy Lane SE in Bolivia. Pre-registration is required; call 910-796-8056 to register.

• In Wilmington the group will meet on Wednesdays, through Feb. 12, 10 a.m. to noon, at the Dr. Robert M. Fales Hospice Pavilion Conference Room, 1406 Physicians Drive in Wilmington. Pre-registration is required; call 910-796-7991 to register. lcfh.org

COPING WITH DEATH OF A CHILD

Lower Cape Fear Hospice will offer a six-week, no-cost grief program for those coping with the death of a child in Bolivia on Thursdays, January 9 through Feb. 13. The group will meet 10 a.m. to noon at the SECU Hospice House of Brunswick, 955 Mercy Lane SE in Bolivia. Pre-registration is required; call 910796-8056 to register.

ARIES (Mar. 21–April 19) Now that she’s in her late 40s, Aries comedian and actress Tig Notaro is wiser about love.

Her increased capacity for romantic happiness has developed in part because she’s been willing to change her attitudes. She says, “Instead of being someone who expects people to have all the strengths I think I need them to have, I resolved to try to become someone who focuses on the strengths they do have.” In accordance with this Valentine’s season’s astrological omens, Aries, I invite you to meditate on how you might cultivate more of that aptitude yourself.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20) Taurus artist Joan Miró loved to daub colored paint on canvases. He said he approached his work in the same way he made love: “a total embrace, without caution, prudence thrown to the winds, nothing held back.” In accordance with astrological omens, I invite you to invoke a similar attitude with all the important things you do in the coming weeks.

Summon the ardor and artistry of a creative lover for all-purpose use. Happy Valentine Daze, Taurus!

GEMINI (May 21-June 20) In 1910 Gemini businessman Irving Seery was 20 years old. One evening he traveled to the Metropolitan Opera in New York City to see an opera starring the gorgeous and electrifying soprano singer Maria Jeritza. He fell in love instantly. For the next thirty-eight years he remained a bachelor as he nursed his desire to marry her. His devotion finally paid off.

Jeritza married Seery in 1948. Dear Gemini, in 2020, I think you will be capable of a heroic feat of love that resembles Seery’s. Which of your yearnings might evoke such intensely passionate dedication?

Happy Valentine Daze!

CANCER (June 22-July 22) I’ve been married twice, both times to the same woman. Our first time around, we were less than perfectly wise in the arts of relationship. After our divorce and during the few years we weren’t together, we each ripened into more graceful versions of ourselves; we developed greater intimacy skills.

Our second marriage has been far more successful.

Is there a comparable possibility in your life, Cancerian? A chance to enhance your ability to build satisfying togetherness? An opening to learn practical lessons from past romantic mistakes? Now is a favorable time to capitalize. Happy Valentine Daze!

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22) In 1911, the famous Russian poet Anna Akhmatova and the famous Italian painter Amedeo Modigliani were in love with each other. Both were quite poor, though. They didn’t have much to spend on

luxuries. In her memoir, Akhmatova recalled the time they went on a date in the rain at the Luxembourg Gardens in Paris. Barely protected under a rickety umbrella, they amused each other by reciting the verse of Paul Verlaine, a poet they both loved. Isn’t that romantic? In the coming weeks, I recommend you experiment with comparable approaches to cultivating love. Get back to raw basics. Happy Valentine Daze!

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) [Warning: Poetry alert! If you prefer your horoscopes to be exclusively composed of practical, hyper-rational advice, stop reading now!] Happy Valentine Daze, Virgo! I hope there’s someone in your life to whom you can give a note like the one I’ll offer at the end of this oracle. If there’s not, I trust you will locate that person in the next six months. Feel free to alter the note as you see fit. Here it is. “When you and I are together, it’s as if we have been reborn into luckier lives; as if we can breathe deeper breaths that fill our bodies with richer sunlight; as if we see all of the world’s beauty that alone we were blind to; as if the secrets of our souls’ codes are no longer secret.”

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22) In the course of your life, how many people and animals have truly loved you? Three? Seven? More? I invite you to try this Valentine experiment: Write down their names on a piece of paper. Spend a few minutes visualizing the specific qualities in you that they cherished, and how they expressed their love, and how you felt as you received their caring attention. Then send out a beam of gratitude to each of them. Honor them with sublime appreciation for having treasured your unique beauty. Amazingly enough, Libra, doing this exercise will magnetize you to further outpourings of love in the coming weeks.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21) [Warning: Poetry alert! If you prefer your horoscopes to be exclusively composed of practical, hyper-rational advice, stop reading now!] Happy Valentine Daze, Scorpio! I invite you to copy the following passage and offer it to a person who is receptive to deepening their connection with you. “Your healing eyes bless the winter jasmine flowers that the breeze blew into the misty creek. Your welcoming prayers celebrate the rhythmic light of the mud-loving cypress trees. Your fresh dreams replenish the eternal salt that nourishes our beloved song of songs. With your melodic breath, you pour all these not-yet-remembered joys into my body.” (This lyrical message is a blend of my words with those of Scorpio poet Odysseus Elytis.)

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) The poet Virgil, a renowned author in ancient Rome, wrote three epic poems that are still in print today. His second was a masterpiece called the “Geor-

gics.” It took him seven years to write, even though it was only 2,740 lines long. So on average he wrote a little over one line per day. I hope you’ll use him as inspiration as you toil over your own labors of love in the coming weeks and months. There’ll be no need to rush. In fact, the final outcomes will be better if you do them slowly. Be especially diligent and deliberate in all matters involving intimacy and collaboration and togetherness.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) [Warning: Poetry alert! If you prefer your horoscopes to be exclusively composed of practical, hyper-rational advice, stop reading now!] Happy Valentine Daze, Capricorn! I invite you to copy the following passage and offer it to a person who is ready to explore a more deeply lyrical connection with you: “I yearn to earn the right to your whispered laugh, your confident caress, your inscrutable dance. Amused and curious, I wander where moon meets dawn, inhaling the sweet mist in quest of your questions. I study the joy that my imagination of you has awakened. All the maps are useless, and I like them that way. I’m guided by my nervous excitement to know you deeper. Onward toward the ever-fresh truth of your mysterious rhythms!”

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18) Aquarian author Derek Walcott had a perspective on love that I suspect might come in handy for you during this Valentine season. “Break a vase,” he wrote, “and the love that reassembles the fragments is stronger than that love which took its symmetry for granted when it was whole.” I urge you to meditate on how you could apply his counsel to your own love story, Aquarius. How might you remake your closest alliances into even better and brighter versions of themselves?

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) Piscean poet Saul Williams wrote a meditation I hope you’ll consider experimenting with this Valentine season. It involves transforming mere kisses into sublime kisses. If you choose to be inspired by his thoughts, you’ll explore new sensations and meanings available through the act of joining your mouth to another’s. Ready? Here’s Saul: “Have you ever lost yourself in a kiss? I mean pure psychedelic inebriation. Not just lustful petting but transcendental metamorphosis, when you became aware that the greatness of this other being is breathing into you. Licking your mouth, like sealing a thousand fleshy envelopes filled with the essence of your passionate being, and then opened by the same mouth and delivered back to you, over and over again—the first kiss of the rest of your life.”

encore | february 12 - february 18, 2020 | www.encorepub.com 53

Be mine.

1437 Military Cutoff Rd â&#x20AC;˘ 910 679 8797 54 encore | february 12 - february 18, 2020 | www.encorepub.com

CROSSWORD

THANK YOU WILMINGTON!

Fantastic 3BD 2.5BA custom built home in The Cape!

Located just a stones throw to Paradise Island and Carolina Beach, this home is over 2500 sq. ft. of upgrades.

Full finished room over the garage.

The large 2 car garage has a built in gardening station or workshop plus a storage.

Heather O’Sullivan | Realtor | Network Real Estate | 804.514.3197

Great Burgers and Hand-cut Fries

Established 1990

Voted “Best Burger” and “Best Fries” 6 Locations in the Cape Fear

WWW.PTSGRILLE.COM encore | february 12 - february 18, 2020 | www.encorepub.com 55

56 encore | february 12 - february 18, 2020 | www.encorepub.com