encore MARCH 4 - MARCH 10, 2020

VOL. 36 / PUB. 35 • THE CAPE FEAR’S ALTERNATIVE VOICE FOR 35 YEARS • MARCH 4-10, 2020 • FREE

Timely, Not Timed Out Opera House Theatre Company’s ‘The Sound of Music’ is an utterly enchanting experience

Photo by Eric Maasch Photography encore | march 4 - march 10, 2020 | www.encorepub.com 1

HODGE PODGE

COVER STORY pg. 25 The Rodgers and Hammerstein classic musical “The Sound of Music” bowls over Chase in one of two theatre reviews this week.

March 4 - 10, 2020 Pub. 36 / Vol. 35

ENCOREPUB.COM encoredeals.com

By CHA SE HAR RISON

Photos by Erica Maasch Photography

>>word of the week<< VOMORSE (N.) Voters remorse caused by or brought on by one’s candidates of choice dropping out of a political race.

“I have vomorse after Pete dropped out of the primaries; I could’ve voted for Warren.”

EDITORIAL Editor-in-Chief:

Shea Carver >> shea@encorepub.com

ART pg. 20 • By Shea Carver

DINING pg. 38 • By Rosa Bianca

Encaustic and abstract artist Liz Hosier has her works hanging at Platypus and Gnome through May 4. Photo courtesy Art in Bloom

Rosa travels to Carolina Beach’s Salt Fish and Tiki Bar for a taste of Vietnam. Photo courtesy of Salt Fish

Staff Editors:

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

win of the week

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.

Follow us on our IG, FB and Twitter (@encorepub) to find out how. Also, win concert tickets on our socials every week!

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

EXTRA pg. 42 • By Shannon Rae Gentry Shannon breaks down single-use plastic in shampoo bottles with Plaine Products’ refillable and recyclable aluminum bottles.

Courtesy photos

Live Local, pgs 6-7 • News of the Weird, pg. 8 • Op-Ed, pg. 9 • Music, pgs. 12-16 • Art, pg. 20 • Gallery Guide, pg. 21 Film, pgs. 22-23 • Theatre, pgs. 25-27 • Dining, pgs. 28-39 • Extra, pgs. 42-45 • Calendar, pgs. 46-61 • Crossword, pg. 63

2 encore | march 4 - march 10, 2020 | www.encorepub.com

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4 encore | march 4 - march 10, 2020 | www.encorepub.com

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INCLUSIVE

THEATER EXPERIENCE

Gwenyfar talks to Selina Harvey about performance arts reaching all-ability audiences

S

elina Harvey is on a mission.

The accessibility services specialist at Cape Fear Community College’s Wilson Center sees opportunity everywhere for more people to enjoy and experience the performing arts. Now, she gets to help beta test a new tool for communicating the experience of music to deaf people.

Well, actually, it is a tool developed for Video Gaming, but Harvey sees potential for the hearing impaired, and the company is curious to know what sort of response the deaf community might have to her proposal.

“This is the Unit TactSuit.” Harvey laid a box down on the table in front of us. “It is intended to help enhance VR play because you can feel the gun shots, and if you’re in a race car, you can feel the movement of it.”

the Wilson Center. Haptics is a term used to refer to one of the three senses of touch humans experience: haptic, kinesthetic and cutaneous. Kinesthetic is the sense of movement and a body’s relationship to its surrounding environment. This is a sense you use actively when dancing, for example. Cutaneous sense relates to information transmitted through skin. The experience of rubbing a hand on soft velvet or silk, or feeling hot or cold sensitivity, are all cutaneous sensations. Haptic sensation is the experience of moving, like grabbing or lifting something. A haptic vest has points that vibrate to create a response sensation in the wearer.

The company, bHaptics, based out of Korea, is focused on creating virtual reality gaming, but an email from Harvey might expand their reach. She was looking for a vest that utilized haptics technology to allow deaf and hearing-impaired audiences to experience music at

“I tried to hunt one down we could rent,” Harvey recalls. “We had a deaf guest com-

As Harvey told me quickly, not all haptics vests are created equally, nor are they easily accessible. Her search for a haptics vest started with the Kenny G concert in November 2019 at the Wilson Center.

6 encore | march 4 - march 10, 2020 | www.encorepub.com

BY GW ENYFA R ROH LER ing to Kenny G and it’s all instrumental. As I was reaching out to interpreters locally, saying ‘Can you come in and interpret this for me?’, they were like, ‘Yeah, but what are they interpreting?’”

A vest that makes the music come alive on the wearer’s body would be a remarkable interpretive solution. The vibrating points on the vest react to the music and literally make it feel like the user is experiencing the song.

“I called everywhere, calling every sound company within 100 miles of here,” Harvey recalls. “Nobody had ever head of it.

Nobody had any idea what I was talking about. Everybody thought it was a really cool idea. Everybody was like, ‘If you find them, let us know. We would love to try them.’”

After a lot of searching, Harvey located a haptics vest for sale on eBay for $600.

“I believe it had four or six points in the front and then the same amount in the back, which is a lot,” she says. Compared to other models she had located that were older with fewer haptics points, it looked like a good deal. In fact, a touring company coming through brought older model haptics vests for her to try and she was supremely disappointed. “My cell phone vibrated more.” She shook her head. But that was an item designed with deaf people in mind that could run through the soundboard at the theatre, working with

Two weeks later the vest arrived. Harvey says it was like Christmas morning when it appeared. “When I pulled it out of the box, I was a little bit worried because it looked kind of small, but it’s completely adjustable.”

Finding a vest with a similar number of points and capabilities, designed and marketed for deaf people, came in at almost twelve times the price. “If we can help get the word out in this very different field, they might be willing to help us,” she adds. This tool would create more opportunities for more people to experience the performing arts.

In addition to her work with the Wilson Center, Harvey is piloting a program with Opera House Theatre Company to provide

“I was amazed how moving and not distracting the sign language interpreters were,” Smith says. During their January run of “La Cage aux Folles” two interpreters were placed house right under one of the opera boxes for a test run during a performance. It was very well received. Smith is thrilled. “I want theater to be inclusive for all people,” he says.

Thalian Hall Box Office asks of audiences who are attending on an evening when interpreters are available to please let the box office know any needs at the time of reservation. Thus they can seat appropriately in clear view of the interpreters.

In the meantime, anyone interested in beta testing the bHaptics vest can email Selina Harvey at Selinaharvey@CFCC.edu.

WED

3/4

GRUFF GOAT COMEDY SHOWCASE

8PM

WILMA MAG SOCIAL HOUR MONICA JANE

4:30-7PM

Wheelz Pizza, 6-9pm

THUR

While looking through the site, she was surprised to find a request for beta testers. She filled out a generic form and tried to get her beautifully worded plea down to 200 characters. “I was completely honest with them; I said, ‘ I’m interested in this for entirely different reasons than you guys are offering it. I work at a beautiful theatre in Wilmington, North Carolina, and I want to make sure music is accessible to everybody. I could use your vest for deaf people and it could be a whole new experience.’ They emailed me back within 45 minutes!”

The only stipulation bHaptics placed on the vest was it couldn’t be used for a ticketed event quite yet. “They’re in the middle of releasing a new app, so I think they have paused on maintaining the current app,” Harvey explains. But people can come by the Wilson Center to try it and to give feedback on the experience. bHaptics’ response to Harvey was that of excitement and a willingness to garner feedback before moving forward. “They said they would consider creating a second line of these vests that focused just on music … [for] the deaf community,” Harvey says.

sign-language interpreters on the second Friday of every show in their 2020 season at Thalian Hall. “[She] pitched the idea and I couldn’t get on board fast enough,” artistic director Justin Smith tells. Smith is involved with the Wilson’s Center’s development project with “Mr. Holland’s Opus” (a work-in-progress musical adaptation from Ben Wong and Wayne Barker based on the film). One of the characters in the show is deaf, and the actor developing the character is as well. Consequently, sign language interpreters are part of the process.

3/5

6-8PM

Wilmy Woodie Pizza, 6-8pm

FRI

While lost in an internet rabbit hole related to haptics, she came across the bHaptics company. “I was like ‘Holy crap—gamers!’ I forgot that’s like a thing.

‘Cause you don’t think of haptics as a thing a lot of people use, but it is something used a lot in gaming.”

There are 40 haptics points on the vest.

The difference between it and the previous one Harvey tried was noticeable. She immediately hooked it up to her phone and put on Beyonce’s “Lemonade.” “I certainly know that song back to front, I’m going to know if it feels like that song—and it was stunning.”

3/6

COASTAL PLAIN FUNDRAISER 5-10PM NICE DEREK SEEKING MADRAS

Papadom’s Singing Sangwich., 6-9pm

3/1

SUN

an existing assisted listening device system the Wilson Center has available for hard-of-hearing patrons. On one hand, it was great she got to test it before the Wilson Center bought several, but she was determined to find something better to offer patrons.

YOGA: SUNDAY FLOW WITH DEVAN 11AM-12PM WILMINGTON SPRING 12-4PM DESSERT MARKET Bill’s Brew Food & Soulful Twist

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

Wine & cider are available.

encore | march 4 - march 10, 2020 | www.encorepub.com 7

LEAD STORY A rider on the New York City subway employed a novel way of protecting his personal space on Feb. 7, Fox News reported. The seated passenger removed a bottle of ketchup from his bag and squirted a squiggly perimeter on the floor around his seat, apparently hoping to keep fellow straphangers away. Twitter erupted with funny comments after one user posted a photo: “Gotta protect yourself from the mustard demons they can’t cross the barrier” and “What brand of ketchup though?” New York City Transit got

a taste of the problem and promised to clean it up right away. [Fox News, 2/8/2020]

LITIGIOUS SOCIETY Lacie the Norwegian Forest cat is at the center of a heated two-year dispute in Brewerton, New York, that has now gone to state Supreme Court. Original owner Carol Money accuses adoptive owner Danette Romano of refusing to let Lacie sleep in bed with her, a key provision that Money says was in the adoption agreement both parties signed in April 2018.

Syracuse.com reported that according to the lawsuit, Money regularly visited Lacie in her new home after the adoption and found the

cat to be skittish and fearful, and became very upset after Romano’s husband allegedly admitted, “We don’t let Lacie sleep with us.” By Dec. 20, tensions had increased to the point that Romano complained to the Onondaga County Sheriff’s office and had her lawyer send Money a letter ordering her to stop contacting Romano. Money’s lawsuit accuses Romano of breach of contract and lying about her intention to let Lacie sleep in her bed, and demands the return of the cat. [Syracuse.com, 12/30/2019]

he found instead ... a man, lying on a mattress. KOCO News reported on Feb. 28 the unnamed homeowner called 911 and reported a “stranger in my house. ... I have a gun on him right now.” Police responding to the call told reporters “there was actually somebody that appeared to have taken up residence in (the) attic,” and the home has a staircase “that goes up the side of the house with attic access.” The homeowner escorted the squatter at gunpoint to the driveway, where officers were waiting.

[KOCO, 2/18/2020]

UNCLEAR ON THE CONCEPT

OOPS!

In a report published on Feb. 18, the South Florida Sun Sentinel reveals school districts struggling to comply with the state’s requirement that every school have “a good guy with a gun” are challenged to find enough qualified applicants. Among recent hiccups: Near Orlando, a safe-school officer sent her husband a nude video she recorded in a school bathroom while on her lunch break. In Hillsborough County, a school guardian thought her gun was unloaded when she shot through a mirror as she practiced in front of it for her firearms certification. Another officer pawned his service weapon and ballistic vest; his supervisor discovered he was carrying a pellet gun in his holster. Bob Gualtieri, sheriff in Pinellas County, remarked: “The reality is there is no perfect in the world.” [South Florida Sun Sentinel, 2/18/2020]

Dylan Bryant found more adventure than he expected on Feb. 23 as he explored a bayou in southwest Houston. Bryant told KTRK his exploration took him about 100 yards down a sewer line before he became trapped. “I can’t go back because of how I had to scooch through,” Bryant said. “I’m in the middle of raw, open sewage in this little bitty box.” From under the street, Bryant yelled for help and a man heard him, then asked a passerby to call 911.

Firefighters arrived and pulled Bryant out of his smelly predicament. [KTRK, 2/24/2020]

ENTREPRENEURIAL SPIRIT The Spanish Civil Guard raided an underground cigarette factory on Feb. 13 and 14 in the southern province of Malaga and found a facility with a complete production line capable of producing 3,500 cigarettes an hour as well as beds and living quarters for the workers, the Associated Press reported. Access to the plant, located 13 feet under a horse stable, was disguised by a cargo container. Twenty people, from the U.K., Ukraine and Lithuania, were arrested, said police, and more than 3 million cigarettes, some hashish and marijuana, as well as weapons, were seized. [Associated Press, 2/20/2020]

CLEVER Vincent Putrino, captain of the cross-country/track and field team at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, and his teammates, craved Chick-fil-A for lunch on Feb. 22, but the only location closer than an hour and a half away was at the Albany International Airport — beyond the security checkpoint. So, reported News10, the 18 teammates pooled their money (about $5.50 each), bought a one-way ticket to Fort Lauderdale, Florida ($98, the cheapest they could find), and sent Putrino in to collect the bounty. Putrino purchased $227 worth of food, then left the airport and joined his teammates for their midday meal. [News10, 2/23/2020]

OLD STORY, NEW TWIST An Oklahoma City homeowner hearing noises in his attic suspected squirrels might have gotten in, but when he went to inspect, 8 encore | march 4 - march 10, 2020 | www.encorepub.com

IT’S A MYSTERY The Smith family of Lockport, Illinois, has a perplexing extra feature in their house that has occasionally kept the family up at night for about six years: “There are voices in the wall, and I don’t know what it is,” 9-year-old Brianna Smith told WLS. Music and talk radio emanate from the walls in Brianna’s room in the middle of the night, but the family can’t figure out why.

There are no speakers in the walls, Brianna’s father, Richard, said, and attempts by police to uncover the source were unsuccessful.

The Federal Communications Commission couldn’t help either. Richard Smith believes something in the wall is receiving a signal from one of the six radio towers near the home, but an engineer sent to the home from one of the stations told him: “I got to be honest with you, I don’t know what is acting as a speaker.” The Smiths have been advised to hire an engineer to pinpoint the signal and block it, but in the meantime, Brianna falls asleep in her parents’ room. [WLS, 2/21/2020]

ANGER MANAGEMENT Ypsilanti, Michigan, police were called to an apartment complex on Jan. 16, where they found a 23-year-old man smoking a cigarette and pressing a bloody towel to his side, MLive reported. The man told officers his partner, 28-year-old Neil Patrick Wasinski, known as Nalla and referred to as “she” in court records, attacked him with a 21-inch samurai sword because he didn’t buy her any marijuana. The attack resulted in multiple stab wounds to the man’s arm and torso, and one of his lungs collapsed, according to police. Tracked down at her apartment, Wasinski told police to “please go away” and later claimed to have no memory of the incident. Police found a blood-stained 21-inch katana on Wasinski’s bedroom floor, according to their report, and she was charged with assault and resisting arrest. [MLive, 2/25/2020]

JUNK THE

BY MARK BASQUILL

I

JALOPY

tried watching the Democratic debate prior to Super Tuesday. By the first commercial, I suspected the Democrats were driving the same clown car the Republican candidates drove in 2016. I thought the GOP owned that jalopy—or rented it from Ringling Brothers. I hoped Ol’ 45 had blown its engine for good. Apparently, there is a red model and an equally dilapidated and defective blue model.

Any of the Democratic Party’s candidates would be a step up from Ol’ 45, but none of them seem to be able to overcome the rattles, wheezing, and bald tires of their blue clown car. Elizabeth Warren is brilliant.

Bernie Sanders is passionate. Everyone else is at least competent. But the clown car doesn’t care. Barack Obama aside, it typically responds to celebrity, shouting and cold, hard cash more than intelligence, commitment and competence. If the clown car itself isn’t bad enough, candidates who try to step out of the car and present creative non-partisan solutions get stomped on by blue donkeys and red elephants parading about the ring.

Mark questions the political industry and the duopoly controlling it

is exactly what many founding fathers feared might destroy their Republic. Bigger than Russian collusion is the problem of collusion between the red and blue teams. Gehl and Porter point out the Democratic and Republican parties (and their moneyed interests) have a stranglehold on the political process from dogcatcher to president. It’s destroyed healthy competition in the political industry.

It might seem Ol ’45 is the exception to the rule—that he somehow broke the duopoly. Ol’ 45 is about as Republican as Vladimir Putin. Ol’ 45 was forced to put an “R” on his ugly supersized orange jersey in order to be a viable candidate in 2016.

Like Ol’ 45, Mike Bloomberg has been both Democrat and Republican. Even though most voters would prefer an independent, the reason neither Ol’ 45 nor Mike Bloomberg can run outside a party is I went to sleep wondering what made the because they would have practically zero circus so dismal. Was it the lack of biodi- percent chance of winning. versity of circus animals? Or the state of Gehl and Porter offer two particularthe clown car itself? ly creative solutions for breaking the The day after the debate, I listened to a duopoly and restoring healthy competipodcast and drove to work past red and tion. Non-partisan primaries would winblue campaign signs. The podcast helped now the candidate field and reduce the provide some possible answers about the power of the two-party system. California circus and clown car (“Freakonomics Epi- and Washington State use “blanket” prisode 356: America’s Hidden Duopoly”). It maries now. The general election would examined the political system as if it were use a rank-choice process. On November an industry with only two manufactur- 6, 2018, after significant opposition from ers providing defective products and poor both the Republican and Democratic customer service, and colluding to make party machinery, Maine became the first the rules and prevent healthy competition. state to use ranked-choice voting in a Hence a duopoly. statewide general election for U.S. Senate and House.

John Adams said, “There is nothing I

dread so much as a division of the Republic Gehl and Porter offer several ideas we into two great parties, each arranged under could try out in North Carolina, includits leader and concerting measure in oppo- ing instituting nonpartisan redistricting, sition to each other.” opening up debate rules for elections, and reducing the enormous power of the George Washington mentioned two mamajority party to control the process of jor threats to the Republic: “foreign influgoverning after elections. None of their ence” and “partisanship.” good ideas will happen until we shift our The podcast draws on Gehl and Porter’s focus from who is winning the right to work, “Why Competition in the Politics In- drive the clown car to changing the rules dustry is Failing America” (Harvard Busi- of the road. ness School, September 2017), and sugIt’s time we junk the jalopy for a more gests we have developed a system that sophisticated model.

encore | march 4 - march 10, 2020 | www.encorepub.com 9

10 encore | march 4 - march 10, 2020 | www.encorepub.com

encore | march 4 - march 10, 2020 | www.encorepub.com 11

WORLD CLASS French-Algerian acoustic guitar virtuoso, vocalist and composer Pierre Bensusan comes to the Hannah Block Historic USO/Community Arts Center on March 7.

SOUND

Courtesy photo

BOARD

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4 Mike Blair [4pm] Dockside Restaurant and Bar, 1308 Airlie Rd.

Tidal Creek Open Mic (6pm; free) Tidal Creek Co-Op, 5329 Oleander Drive. #100

Lake Park Blvd.

Thomas Pope & Chad Clark [9pm] Jimmy’s at Red Dogs, 5 N. Lumina Ave.

Lenora Zenzalai Helm [6:30pm] Cameron Art Museum, 3201 S. 17th St.

THURSDAY, MARCH 5

Bryan Toney [6pm]

LGBTQ Karaoke + Gaming Night (7pm; free)

Wrightsville Beach Brewery, 6201 Oleander

Ibiza Nightclub, 118 Market St.

Bottega, 723 N. 4th St.

Dr.

Music Bingo with DJ Sherri [7pm; free]

Circus Industry Night [3PM]

Soul-R Fusion [6pm]

Local’s Tavern, 1107 New Pointe Blvd.

Barzarre, 1612 Castle St.

Mad Mole Brewing Company, 6309 Boat-

Trivia with Party Gras Entertainment [7pm; free]

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

HopLite Irish Pub and Restaurant, 720 N.

Tarantelli’s, 102 S. 2nd St.

Wine Down Wednesday & Karaoke (8PM; FREE)

Courtyard Grill, 3317 Masonboro Loop Rd.

Joe Jack Talcum (Dead Milkmen), Coolzey, and D&D Sluggers [7pm; $5] Gravity Records, 612 Castle St.

house Rd.

Paul o [7pm]

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

Soif de Vin, 5226 S. College Rd. Unit 9-b

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 | march 4 - march 10, 2020 | www.encorepub.com

www.encorepub.com

Maurice John Vaughan [7pm]

Barzarre, 1612 Castle St.

Chase Johanson [7pm]

The Rusty Nail, 1310 S. 5th Ave.

Bullfrog [9:30pm; $5; free for women]

Flying Machine Brewing , 3130 Randall Pkwy.

Trivia from Hell’s [7:30PM; FREE]

Hell’s Kitchen, 118 Princess St.

TrainWreck Band [7pm]

Hell’s Kitchen, 118 Princess St.

Cody Ward [9:30pm]

Stoked Restaurant, 313 Canal Dr., Carolina

Rockin’ Trivia w/ Party Gras Entertainment [8PM; The Reel Cafe, 100 S. Front St.

Beach

FREE]

Jason Ashby [7pm; $7]

Fox & Hound, 920 Town Center Dr.

Portal City Presents PHREY, Phyphr, Pheonix Rising [10pm; $10]

Thirsty thursday (10pm; free)

Bottega, 723 N. 4th St.

Seth Winters [7:30pm]

Ibiza Nightclub, 118 Market St.

Cornbread [10:30pm]

Satellite Bar and Lounge, 120 Greenfield St.

Duck and Dive, 114 Dock St.

Kicking Bird with The Caroliners [8pm]

FRIDAY, MARCH 6 Exacta [6pm] Bill’s Front Porch Pub & Brewery, 4328 Market St.

Oak Island Mardi Gras Festival by the Sea [1pm; free] 46th St.

Gravity Records, 612 Castle St.

KARAOKE

Live at Ted’s, 2 Castle St.

Edward Teach Brewing, 604 N. 4th St.

Joshua Ward [8:30pm] Grand Cru Food & Wine, 1904 Eastwood Rd. Ste. 109

Stray Local [7pm]

James VanDeuson, Andrew Kasab, The Smoky Dunes, Boba Funk [2pm]

The Sour Barn, 7211 Market St.

Fermental, 7250 Market St.

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

An Evening with Pierre Bensusan [3pm; $21-25; guitar]

Big Jim Kohler Band [8pm]

Hannah Block Historic USO/Community Arts

The Rusty Nail, 1310 S. 5th Ave.

Center, 120 S. 2nd St.

Hops Supply Co., 5400 Oleander Dr.

Funk You [8:30pm]

Two Of A Kind [3pm]

Mike Blair [4pm]

The Palm Room, 11 E. Salisbury St.

Wrightsville Beach Brewery, 6201 Oleander

Salty Turtle Beer Company, 103 Triton Ln.

Drag Me to Ibiza [9pm]

Dr.

Kilbeggan Irish Band [4pm; $7]

Ibiza Nightclub, 118 Market St.

Ed Stephenson [6:30pm]

Live at Ted’s, 2 Castle St.

Blockade Runner Beach Resort, 275 Waynick

Baats + The Afterglow [5pm]

Blvd.

Barzarre, 1612 Castle St.

Reggie’s 42nd Street Tavern, 1415 S. 42nd

Soul-R Fusion [6:30pm]

Carinae and Rita Cascia [7pm; $5]

St.

Panacea Brewing Company, 4107 Oleander

Gravity Records, 612 Castle St.

TreeHouse! [9pm; $5]

Dr. Suite H

Today Is The Day / The Obsessed w/ Beard Of Antlers [9pm]

Verona, Blank Hands, and Lighter Thieves [7pm; Miss. Velveteen’s Vaudeville Variety Extravagan- $5] Gravity Records, 612 Castle St. za [9:30pm; $15] Jimmy’s at Red Dogs, 5 N. Lumina Ave.

> > > THURSDAY

100 S. FRONT ST. 910-251-1832

> > > Monday

$3.75 Harp Pints $4.00 Greyhounds

LIVE MUSIC in the courtyard on Friday & Saturday

> > > Tuesday

$4.00 Fireball Shots $2.75 Michelob Ultra

$2.75 Domestic $3.50 Select Drafts $4 Fireballs!

$3.75 Red Oak Pints $4.00 Margaritas $3.75 Hoppyum Pints $4.00 Wells

> > > FRIDAY

> > > saturday

$4.00 Mimosas $4.00 Cinnamon $5.50 Tropical Toast Crunch Shots Lightning Pints $2.75 Yuengling 1/2 Price Open Pints Bottle Wine > > > SUNDAY 1/2 Price Select Apps $4.00 Mimosas 5-7pm $5.00 Bloody Mary’s

> > > WEDNESDAY

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

MONDAY

TUESDAY

$3.50 Local Draft Brew

(Foothills Hoppyum IPA, Red Oak)

$5 Jameson

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

Thursday ________________________________________

TRIVIA

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

Friday & Saturday __________________________

LIVE MUSIC 2 BUD & BUD LIGHTS

$ 00

Sunday ___________________________________________

BREAKFAST BUFFET 9:00 A.M. - 2:00 P.M. • $4 MIMOSA’S

Barzarre, 1612 Castle St.

SUNDAY, MARCH 8 Brunch Unplugged! Feat. Jessy Esterline [11am] 227 CAROLINA BEACH AVE N. (910) 707-0533 • seawitchtikibar.com

THIS WEEK AT THE WITCH WED 3/4 JV and JEFRF 1/2 PRICE BA FRI 3/6 PONDER

MONDAY, MARCH 9

3/5 jENNY PEARSON

THUR

SAT 3/7 SOUTHERN TROUBLE

Full Moon Affair: Feat. Josh Lewis [6pm] Oceanic, 703 S. Lumina Ave.

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

ON OUR LOT

$ 00

Event Horizon [9pm; free]

THURSDAY

FREE PARKING

w/DJ Damo, 9PM

2 KILLIANS • 4 MAGNERS

$ 50

Mike Blair [8pm]

East Oak Island Dr. from SE 63rd St. to SE

Punk Night [7pm; $5]

Tuesday __________________________________________

Palate Bottle Shop, 1007 N. 4th St.

SATURDAY, MARCH 7

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

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 Pints $1.50 Fat Tire Bottles $250 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 | march 4 - march 10, 2020 | www.encorepub.com 13 SATURDAY

FLYING HIGH Local singer-songwriter and U.S. AirForce Veteran Jessy Esterline plays Brunch Unplugged at Hops Supply Co. on March 8.

Courtesy photo

Anything Goes Open Stage (8pm; free) Barzarre, 1612 Castle St.

Tuesday Night Trivia with J&G [7:30pm; free] Slainte Irish Pub Monkey Junction, 5607 Carolina Beach Rd. #100

St. Patty’s Contra Dance [7:30pm; $5] 5th Ave United Methodist Church, 409 S 5th Ave.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 11 John Hussmann [9pm] Katy’s Grill and Bar, 1054 S. College Rd.

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.

Local’s Tavern, 1107 New Pointe Blvd.

The Drum Circle [7:30PM; FREE]

Trivia with Party Gras Entertainment [7pm; free]

Bottega, 723 N. 4th St.

HopLite Irish Pub and Restaurant, 720 N.

Crunk Witch and Street Clones [7pm; $5]

TUESDAY, MARCH 10

Gravity Records, 612 Castle St.

Trivia from hell’s (7:30pm; free)

Voice of Addiction, Creekwood Adjacent, and monkeyknifefight [7pm; $5]

Hell’s Kitchen, 118 Princess St.

Gravity Records, 612 Castle St.

Trivia Tuesdays At Fat Tony’s [7pm]

Anything Goes Open Stage (8pm; free)

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

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

Lake Park Blvd.

Barzarre, 1612 Castle St.

Final voting

NOW OPEN through March 20

encorebestof.com

14 encore | march 4 - march 10, 2020 | www.encorepub.com

YAS KWEEN

DISCOVER NEW MUSIC AT 98.3 THE PENGUIN

‘Broad City’ actress Ilana Glazer visits DPAC March 6 as part of her ‘Horny 4 Tha Polls’ comedy tour.

Courtsy photo

PLAYLIST SAMPLE

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

3/4: Jim Breuer 3/5: Black Tiger Sex Machine 3/6: Minnesota 3/7: Donna the Buffalo 3/8: Jackyl 3/10: The Dirtboys, Big Whites, Mark Strummer and Lil Connie 3/11: Silversun Pickups 3/12: Slice of Life Comedy

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

3/6: Southern Sirens’ Showcase 3/7: The Martha Bassett Show

NEIGHBORHOOD THEATRE N. DAVIDSON ST., CHARLOTTE, NC (704) 358-9298 3/4: Trigger Hippy 3/6: Travers Brothership 3/7: The Motet - Electric Dream Tour 3/12: The Foxies

THE FILLMORE

820 HAMILTON ST., CHARLOTTE, NC (704) 916-8970 3/4: Skillet 3/5: Jim Breuer 3/6: Big Head Todd and the Monsters 3/7: Black Tiger Sex Machine 3/9: Silversun Pickups 3/10: G Herbo

THE FILLMORE UNDERGROUND

820 HAMILTON ST., CHARLOTTE, NC (704) 916-8970 3/5: Devin Townsend 3/6: Rod Wave 3/7: Puddle of Mudd 3/11: Silverstein 3/12: Overkill

DURHAM PERFORMING ARTS CENTER 123 VIVIAN ST. DURHAM, NC (919) 688-3722 3/4: Postmodern Jukebox

REGIONAL CONCERTS

3/5: Randy Rainbow Live!

3/6: Ilana Glazer with music by LUV 3/7-8: Sebastian Maniscalco 3/10-15: Les Misérables

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

3/6: Cash Unchained: The Ultimate Johnny Cash Tribute 3/7: Water for People Benefit Concert Presents: The Vegabonds & Night Years

MAZZY STAR - FADE INTO YOU BOOKER T. & THE M.G.'S - GREEN ONIONS THE ROLLING STONES - SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL TAME IMPALA - LOST IN YESTERDAY

UPCOMING PENGUIN SHOWS DARK STAR ORCHESTRA

3/28 & 3/29 GLA

MOTORCO MUSIC HALL 723 RIGSBEE AVE, DURHAM, NC (919) 901-0875

KT TUNSTALL

4/26

3/5: Little People and Frameworks 3/6: Ellis Dyson & The Shambles 3/7: Fifth Annual Rock Roulette: A Benefit for Girls Rock 3/10: Periodic Tables: Pet Tabbies, Not Tigers

CAT’S CRADLE 300 E. MAIN ST., CARRBORO, NC (919) 967-9053 3/5: Molly Tuttle 3/11: Destroyer

CAT’S CRADLE BACK ROOM 300 E. MAIN ST., CARRBORO, NC (919) 967-9053 3/4: J Roddy Walston 3/6: Sir Woman 3/7: Tyler Ramsey 3/8: Dan Rodriguez 3/10: Phangs 3/11: Heart Bones

PNC ARENA

1400 EDWARDS MILL RD., RALEIGH, NC (919) 861-2300 3/4: Zac Brown Band 3/11: Nick Cannon Presents: MTV Wild ‘N Out Live 3/12: Billie Eilish 3/13: The Millennium Tour

TRAMPLED BY TURTLES - OH LA LA BILLY STRINGS - ALL TIME LOW SCISSOR SISTERS - TAKE YOUR MAMA JET - ARE YOU GONNA BE MY GIRL FATBOY SLIM - PRAISE YOU ARETHA FRANKLIN - ROCK STEADY

GLA

DARK STAR ORCHESTRA (GLA 3/28 & 3/29)

THE BIG WHAT? WILMINGTON W/ BIG

BILLY STRINGS (GLA 5/15) SOLD OUT! LYLE LOVETT W/ JOHN HIATT (GLA 5/16) SOLD OUT! TYCHO W/ COM TRUISE (GLA 5/26) MT. JOY (GLA 6/12) BRUCE HORNSBY & THE NOISEMAKERS

SOMETHING (GLA 5/1 & 5/2)

(KENAN 6/23)

BÉLA FLECK & ABIGAIL WASHBURN (GLA 5/3)

TRAMPLED BY TURTLES (GLA 8/20)

ILLITERATE LIGHT (BOURGIE NIGHTS 3/31) THE HEAD AND THE HEART (GLA 4/23) KT TUNSTALL W/ZACH DEPUTY (GLA 4/26)

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

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NEW TO TOWN RITA CASCIA is Wilmington’s latest three-peice outfit hitting the scene with heavy lyrical tones inspired by medieval themes, also captured in Berkeley Tate’s collage artwork (below) for the band.

Courtesy photo

MEDIEVAL

BY SHANNON RAE GENTRY

O

ne of the things I love about Wilmington is watching musicians and bands sprout out of the creative cracks of our community’s foundation: from local open mics to music education programs, to sidewalks filled with buskers, to garage parties pulsating with punk rockers. Musicians are everywhere and they seem to have an innate drive to write and play songs for Wilmingtonians.

RITA CASCIA’s Davis Alderson (guitar, vocals) says he and bandmates Taylor McDonald (drums) and Hannah Simpson (bass) don’t have an interesting “how we met” story. He’s just been writing and steadily putting together a threepiece band with rotating players here and there. He tends to demo all of the work before fleshing out intricacies of arrangement and playing through a live performance with his bandmates.

“RITA CASCIA isn’t exactly a solo project,” Alderson says, “but this weirdo drive to perform intellectually serious, joking-but-not-joking songs about ghosts and animals and vasectomies is my curse alone. . . . The folks who drum and play bass with me at the moment are way above my musical weight class, luckily, and have really been making the songs shine.”

RITA CASCIA is making its first live appearance at Gravity Records on March 8, opening for Massachusetts’ psych rock band Carinae. The band released two demo tracks on Bandcamp in January 2020 and will continue to post new material there, as well as on Instagram (@ rita.cascia.band).

As live, unmastered demos, “Thylacine” and “The Specter in the Woods Behind My House” are solid rough cuts.

Alderson and company are currently refining those and other tracks for a forthcoming indie-rock-punk record, dealing with themes of irrationality, despair and

DETAILS RITA CASCIA w/ Carinae Sunday, March 8, 2020 at 7 p.m.

Gravity Records, 612 Castle St. Cover: $5 ritacascia.bandcamp.com

the generally sad emotional lives of everyday peeps.

“And a longing for the extinction of the entire human species,” Alderson adds.

“But those concepts are hidden in jokes, fantasy characters, talking animals, and raunchy sex tales because I think monolithic seriousness is boring as hell—and rejection of life is boring as hell, and because it’s much more wondrous and intense and interesting to try and grasp at everything at once, good and bad.”

“The Specter in the Woods Behind My House” tells the story of a “lecherous” ghost haunting a small farming community. “Thylacine” is inspired by the extinct Australian mammal but is primarily about a guy getting eaten by swamp animals in the Outback.

“I use that story [in Thylacine] to explore the passions we allow to dictate our lives, to give them meaning, and ultimately to end them,” Alderson says.

He admits he can write dense lyrics, but Alderson is proud of the work. It’s just as important to him for the songs to be melodically tight, catchy and fun.

“My strange and specific artistic vision doesn’t mean much if people don’t want

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to turn that shit up,” he quips.

RITA CASCIA’s moniker is born from Alderson’s own love of medieval times and Northern Renaissance art, which often includes imagery of despair, pain and torment. Alderson is interested in the lives, iconography and attributes of saints. St. Rita of Cascia, a widow and Augustinian nun named a saint in the Roman Catholic Church, is credited with various miracles. “[St. Rita of Cascia] is said to have successfully prayed that her sons be killed by God rather than be allowed to commit a murder they were planning,” he explains. “Those types of stories, especially about the women saints, are incredibly fertile ground. I’m not exactly a believer, but there’s something about the gaunt, sweaty mystics grimacing in apparent pain and torment, gazing desperately upwards towards a few silent brushstrokes—that feels fucking real, and that recalls a lot of this project’s lyrical themes.”

AF

Indie-rock outfit RITA CASCIA debuts at Gravity Records While Alderson remains mum on an album title and hopes to have a release date this summer, he reveals there will be limited additional instrumentation on their debut album. Perhaps harmony vocals will appear as well, but he wants to keep the raw sound of a live-tracked record.

“Many parts of my life feel pretty unstable and hectic right now,” he says, “which I think lends a great degree of urgency to the songs that will be really special when captured on tape.”

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MODERNIZING ANCIENT

TECHNIQUES Liz Hosier talks about the encaustic process and abstract painting

F

or 10 years Liz Hosier has been working in encaustics and oil and cold wax—a process that combines layering and texture, a perfect fit to add greater depth to her abstract paintings. Despite having received an MBA and a BS in Mathematics and working in IT at UNC-Asheville and UNCW for 30 years, her love of art never waned as she studied painting in her 20s. “I definitely am a left brain/right brain person,” Hosier says.

“While at UNCW I studied art history and studio art.” When she retired a little more than a decade ago, she started exploring her artistic voice even more.

When Art in Bloom gallery owner Amy Grant saw Hosier’s work in 2018 at ACME Art, where Hosier has studio space, she was drawn to the artist’s techniques, especially her encaustic style of working.

“When I visited the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, I was impressed with the vivid encaustic portraits on wood from thousands of years ago,” Grant tells. “Liz’s abstract interpretation and use of encaustic techniques reminds me of the beauty and quality of the ancient art I saw in Cairo—different subject matter, but the same feeling of well-made art and vivid images traveling through time.”

Hosier did a group show with Art in Bloom at the beginning of 2019. Her work is on display for the next three months at Platypus and Gnome, a satellite venue that Art in Bloom utilizes to showcase local artists’ works. “Liz’s originality and experimentation jump out at me every time I visit her studio,” Grant says. “Many people who view and purchase Liz’s art have commented on the colors, textures and playfulness of the art.” encore spoke with the artist at the downtown restaurant, which will display her work through May 4. encore (e): What draws you to abstracts?

DETAILS

BY SHEA CARVER STORM APPROACHING THE MOUNTAINS

WAYS OF WAX New works by Liz Hosier Through May 4 Platypus and Gnome, 9 S. Front St. lizhosier.com develops. I evaluate relationships of colors, texture, shapes and line through each step of the process, letting them guide me forward— talking to me, if you will. I enjoy the possibility of changing directions or trying something new, as the piece speaks to me. e: Can you tell us how you “see” this style of painting as you’re doing it—or what you “hear”? Perhaps take us through the process.

LH: My cold-wax process is very different from encaustic [which involves hot wax]. Both use layers but are applied differently. I mix cold wax with oil paint to add body and enable the paint to dry faster to facilitate the layering process. It consists of using a variety of tools and media, such as adding and extracting the paint layers, creating texture and mark-making. As the process develops, I consider where and how the colors, marks or texture should be applied, as I listen and watch the painting evolve. e: What was the current series at Platypus inspired by? Are they all new works.

Liz Hosier (LH): The challenge . . . I find it LH: All the works in the show have been very rewarding and often frustrating. My ab- painted in the past nine months, specifically stract work is process-based, which gives for this show. me freedom to consider a variety of techOil/cold wax has been my primary medium niques, colors and materials as the work 20 encore | march 4 - march 10, 2020 | www.encorepub.com

Abstract oil and encaustic works by Liz Hosier are on display at Platypus and Gnome for the next two months.

Photo courtesy of Art in Bloom

for several years, and I have taught this process at Cameron Museum of Art since 2015.

Over the last two years, I have returned to the encaustic process, and last summer began working with encaustic monotypes. Each process is unique in how it uses beeswax. I envisioned this show as a way of demonstrating some of the versatility of “beeswax,” thus the name “Ways of Wax.” The cold wax is a beeswax medium that requires the wax and pigments be melted and fused, and has an additive to make it soft and pliable to mix with the oil paints.

Encaustic monotypes [a printmaking technique] is a new process I began using last summer. It uses encaustic pigments for printing and encaustic medium for a final coat. e: So what is encaustic, exactly?

LH: Encaustic, meaning “to burn in or fuse,” is an ancient painting medium first practiced

by Greek artists as far back as the 5th century B.C. The oldest known pigment binder, encaustic combines molten beeswax with dry pigment and tree resin. Since it is impervious to moisture, it was used to seal the bottoms of ships/boats.

Encaustic painting, like the cold-wax process, is very process-based. It requires a heated palette (I use a pancake griddle) with metal cups to melt the encaustic medium (which is filtered beeswax and damar resin crystals) and color pigments. The process involves multiple layers of medium, followed

with layers of pigment. Each layer is fused with the previous one, using a heat gun or blow torch. I enjoy the back and forth with the pigments and medium, and the varied effects achievable through texture, color and collaging. I am totally enamored with the finish, which is translucent and shiny.

Everyone wants to touch it, and I encourage them to do so.

Encaustic monotypes are a bit different and involve a heat source with an aluminum sheet over it. I draw on the sheet with encaustic color pigments then print on rice paper from sheet. Multiple prints can be made on a single sheet of paper. The paper is then adhered to a paneled board, and encaustic medium layered on top with layers always being fused. e: How do you know when to walk away from a completed piece?

LH: Wow! This is really a great question, and I am asked this all the time by my students. Although it may not seem that way, abstract painting does adhere to good composition rules. When I get to a stage that I “feel” the piece is done, I assess the painted surface, colors, and composition elements based on an internal checklist. The next step, and [this is] very important, is to take the piece and hang it some place where I can look at it for several days. It allows me to better reflect on the work, something hard when you’re so intimately involved with it. It is amazing the little inconsistencies that suddenly appear.

Some of these small tweaks can often make big differences in the final work. e: What is next for you: new series, new shows 2020, new techniques you want to try?

LH: I have a show in August at Citrine Gallery. I hope to create a totally new series. I am a member of the Diverse Works artist group here in Wilmington. We have an annual ACME show each year; this year it will be in September. It’s always a highlight with such a great group of diverse artists, and it always challenges us create a show harmonious with our various styles. I also have a show in Asheville at Avenue M restaurant with two other artists.

This will be our third show there.

As for new techniques, I definitely plan to work more with encaustics. I feel I have only begun to explore the possibilities.

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 February 28, 6-9pm, 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

"The Ways of Wax: Works by Liz Hosier," on display through May 4 at Platypus & Gnome Restaurant, 9 S. Front St., open daily except Tuesday. The exhibit features new paintings by North Carolina abstract artist Liz Hosier 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).

"Ethan Allen Designer Showcase of Original Art" is on display through March 9 at 818 S. College Rd. It will feature original art by contemporary and traditional artists in the Ethan Allen Design Center. Ethan Allen's Store hours are Monday-Saturday, 10am-6pm, and Sunday, 12-5pm. The exhibit features artists Bob Bryden, Debra Bucci, Richard Bunting, Bradley Carter,

GUIDE

Judy Hintz Cox, Elizabeth Darrow, Brian Evans, Joanne Geisel, Naomi Jones, Helen Lewis, Joan McLoughlin, Angela Rowe, Olaf Schneider, Gale Smith, and Traudi Thornton.

CHARLES JONES AFRICAN ART

311 Judges Rd., Unit 6-E (910) 794-3060 Mon.–Fri., 10am-12:30pm & 1:30-4pm Open by appointment 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

The Home Show for 2020 is an exciting partnership with another juggernaut downtown business: Decades of Decor.

New Elements Gallery artists will be paired with gorgeous mid-century offerings from Dawn Glover. We are excited to bring you another innovative and fun show that combines our artists and furnishings that will inspire your imagination. The reception will take place on February 28th from 6-9p as part of the Arts Council of Wilmington Fourth Fridays, and will remain up until March 21!

WILMA DANIELS GALLERY

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

See artists Zak Duff, Jacob Parker, Angela Rowe, and Nathan Verwey for a CFCC alumni art exhibit.

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ACTING CHOPS While Kristin Stewart delivers a strong performance as actress Jean Seberg, the film ‘Seberg’ comes off as slight.

Courtesy photo

PAPER

BY ANGHUS

H

ollywood has been churning out biopics since film’s earliest days. As soon as someone figured out how to capture the “motion picture” and tell stories using a visual platform, writers began looking to some of history’s most well-known figures to immortalize. The first decade of motion pictures featured movies about Peter the Great, Ludwig van Beethoven and Ned Kelly. However, the very first biopic, from 1899, was about Joan of Arc. Joan of Arc—that simple peasant girl who stood up for what she believed in and

was ultimately destroyed for it. There are marked similarities between her and Jean Seberg, an actress from the French New Wave, who also is the focus of the new biopic “Seberg.”

Jean Seberg (Kristen Stewart) is a fiercely independent ingenue who came from the cornfields of Iowa to Hollywood to become a star. It’s a dream she fulfills at a young age. Most of her success was in France, where filmmakers like Jean-Luc Godard helped propel her to stardom in movies such as “Breathless.” Coincidentally, Seberg’s first movie was 1957’s “Saint Joan,” another Joan of Arc biopic.

DETAILS SEBERG Rated R, 1 hr 43 mins

Directed by Benedict Andrews Starring Kristen Stewart, Yvan Attal, Gabriel Sky Jean decides to leave Paris and head back to Hollywood to transition from smaller French films to larger studio projects. In transit she meets a passionate and charming member of the Black Panthers named Hakim Jamal (Anthony Mackie).

Their chemistry is instantaneous. They begin an affair, which extends beyond the bedroom as Jean begins to publicly and unapologetically back the Black Panthers and their ideologies. This doesn’t sit well with a number of people, including Hakim’s wife, Jean’s husband and the Federal Bureau of Investigations.

Seberg is now in the crosshairs of a dastardly and disconcerting effort from the U.S. government to spy on and help discredit anyone who the FBI considers “un-American.” Clean-cut FBI agent Jack Solomon (Jack O’Connell) must surveil Seberg to chronicle every dirty little secret the young starlet has. Jack wants to be a patriot and serve his country, but spying on Seberg and participating in a campaign to destroy her weighs on his conscience. One would hope this realization would be more obvious and widespread, and yet there are a great number of federal employees who are pleased as punch to commit psychological warfare on innocent people because of their political affiliations.

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THIN

‘Seberg’ is an interesting story but lacks depth Seberg’s life begins to spiral out of control. She’s vilified in the press, her affair is exposed and her name becomes synonymous with tabloid fodder. Jack begins to question the depths which his superiors are willing to go, as he watches Seberg circle the drain.

This is one of those biopics that comes off a little too sleight. There is a lot of brutal drama in the true-life elements of the story, often staged with the on-the-nose emotionality of a Lifetime Movie of the Week. Kristen Stewart is really good in the lead role. I’m amazed how interesting of an actress she’s become after a decade of performance purgatory in those awful “Twilight” movies. She picks interesting films and, like Jean Seberg, is far more likely to be in interesting indie films than studio blockbusters.

“Seberg” made me want to learn more about Jean Seberg and the absolutely maddening lengths the U.S. government went to destroy her. This movie is an occasionally interesting melodrama but I think it skipped over some of the darker crevices begging to be explored. This is a pretty coat of paint with interesting brush strokes on a paper-thin canvas.

I didn’t dislike “Seberg.” It got more right than it did wrong. Director Benedict Andrews strings together the multi-layered narrative well enough. The movie reminded me of another biopic from a similar era: the George Reeves-themed “Hollywoodland” with Ben Affleck. Like “Seberg,” it weaves in and out of dramatic coherence. There is a hint of a spark at the center of “Seberg,” but it never catches fire or burns very hot.

The end product is more tepid and less salacious than the true life events the film is based on.

STANDING TALL The Cinema Sisters’ 2020 special feature, ‘The Woman Who Loves Giraffes,’ provides an intimate look at the world’s first ‘giraffologist,’ Dr. Anne Innis Dagg.

Courtesy photo

BY LAUREN SEARS

F

or every 10 films made, only one is directed by a woman.

Since the creation of the Academy Awards in 1927, only one female-directed film has ever received an award for Best Picture: “The Hurt Locker” (2009), directed by Kathryn Bigelow, an action-packed war movie targeted at male audiences. In this primarily male-dominated industry, the voices and contributions of female filmmakers are easily lost or overlooked.

The Wilmington Female Filmmaker Collective (WilmFFilm) will look to correct that when it holds its fourth annual Cinema Sisters International Film Festival March 6-7 at Jengo’s Playhouse. The festival will screen 39 female-directed films from all over the world—England, Canada, India, Spain, Mexico and Denmark included. Founders Monika Winters Sanchez, Mariah Kramer and Rebecca Busch have an impenetrable desire to give power and voice to female and femme-identifying filmmakers.

“Some of our films are about empowering women and telling stories about women overcoming obstacles,” Busch says. “And then we have films that are not related to women’s issues. The very act of making a film is empowering in itself, and we wanted to provide a place where female filmmakers took center stage and were celebrated for their works.”

WilmFFilm began in 2013 when Kramer and Busch directed a film called “Got No Fetish.” Throughout the process Busch realized she was unconsciously giving over her voice to the males on set. After the film was completed, she began to wonder if the dynamic would have been different if the crew were all women.

“I tried to reclaim the power as a director,” Busch admits. “And that’s kind of hard once you’ve given that power away: to try and take it back.”

Shortly after, Kramer, Busch and Sanchez formed WilmFFilm as a collective

DETAILS CINEMA SISTERS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL March 6-7 Jengo’s Playhouse, 815 Princess St. Tickets/passes: $10-$35 Friday night opening party: $15 csiff.org platform for women filmmakers to collaborate with and inspire one another. Since the festival began in 2017, WilmFFilm has grown into a safe space for women to showcase their works that may otherwise have been overlooked.

Originally called “Chick Flicks,” the festival was rebranded two years ago as “Cinema Sisters,” a name that better embodies their mission of a collective sisterhood. In the festival’s first year, submissions were limited to only filmmakers in North Carolina; it opened up to all southeastern states in its second year. 2019 was the first time submissions were made international, a broadening of scope that has carried over to 2020.

FEMME Regina Banali. The shorts will be followed by the 2020 special feature, “The Woman Who Loves Giraffes,” by Canadian director Allison Reid. The film, which won Best Documentary at the 2019 Sonoma International Film Festival, retraces the steps of scientist Anne Innis Dagg’s 1956 journey to South Africa to study giraffes in their natural environment. It’s an intimate look at the woman who pioneered the study of animal behavior and her trailblazing efforts for women in science. Festival organizers chose it as this year’s feature sine it honors the work of a woman who laid down the foundation for others.

“The film addresses sexism and misogyny [Dagg] experienced in academia and in a patriarchal society,” Busch says. “She has become a vocal feminist fighting for women’s rights, and this film honors her.”

The kickoff party continues at Jengo’s Playhouse with Steve’s Down Home Shrimparoo, a family-style event that gives moviegoers and filmmakers a chance to talk about the night’s films, network and unwind. On Saturday morning Anna Lee from Working Films will host a conversation about fundraising strategies and grant writing, “Writing, Reporting & Relationships,” from 9 a.m. 11 a.m. After the workshop four different film blocks will take place between 11:30 a.m. - 8:30 p.m., featuring 30-minute films across all genres.

“The first couple of years we wanted to get our feet under us and figure out how to run a film festival,” Busch says.

“After two years we felt we were better equipped to expand internationally.”

The festival will play host to directors and filmmakers of all ethnicities, backgrounds and ages, ranging from a ninth grader to women in their 60s. Also included in the lineup are several local filmmakers: Tiffany Ablright (“A Great Expanse”), Sophia Lanza (“Stop the Bans”), Linda Booker (“Lumberton”), Jacqueline Mangrum (“Prey”) and Erika Edwards and Krista Ray of Honey Head Films (“Lorelei”).

The festival kicks off Friday night with two shorts: “The Movie (La Película)” by Andrea Lovatón, and Cinema Sisters’ first spaghetti western, “In the Blood” by

Joy James, local spoken-word artist, will return in 2020 with her film “Judging Eyes.” James has participated in the festival every year during entertainment seg-

POWERED Fourth annual festival to screen 39 films by female and femme-identifying directors ments with her spoken word performances. This year she will screen a short film inspired by her work. Originally written as a poem, “Judging Eyes” follows a young prostitute and her journey through life in the sex industry. The 6-minute film shows contemptuous interactions with those on the outside as she attempts to do ordinary things like shop for groceries.

“It was inspired by the concept of the cliché ‘judging a book by its cover,’” James says. “[It] challenges all of us to maybe do something that’s not our first instinct— before judging someone, we may want to find out their story.”

Full all-access weekend passes are for sale at csiff.org, where folks can also view the full schedule.

Save up to

50% off

at local eateries, salons, museums and more.

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24 encore | march 4 - march 10, 2020 | www.encorepub.com

LOVE IS IN THE AIR Zach Hanner as Captain von Trapp and Elizabeth Stovall as Maria shine together in ‘The Sound of Music.’

Photo by Eric Maasch Photography

TIMELY

BY CHASE HARRISON

O

pera House Theatre Company has kicked off its 35th season with an outstanding rendition of the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic “The Sound of Music.” Director Ray Kennedy has outdone himself, with glorious sights and crisp sounds to awe audiences. The traditional show, while light in tone, is layered thick in an atmosphere resembling America with its own current political divide, making the play more timely than timed-out. It’s a solid staging all around and a hell of a way to kick off a season—and this is coming from someone who isn’t normally a fan of the show or movie.

“The Sound of Music” may boast a nearly three-hour runtime, but it doesn’t seem that long, thanks to its razor-shape pace. It’s a compliment to the well-oiled machine that Kennedy and his cast and crew have created.

Set in Austria on the eve of Anschluss (the annexation of Austria into Nazi Germany) in 1938, the musical tells the story of Maria (Elizabeth Stovall), a soon-to-be nun who takes a job as governess to a large family. She falls in love with the children and eventually their widowed father, Captain von Trapp (Zach Hanner). After bringing love and music into the lives of the family, she marries the officer, and together with the children they find a way to survive the loss of their homeland to the Nazis.

During Kennedy’s curtain speech, he pointed out that one cannot produce “The Sound of Music” without a great sound of music. The production has found it in music director Stephen Field. Field captains his orchestra and plays the piano through solemn hymns like “Preludium” and belting ballads in the title number. He captures whimsy in the quick “Do-Re-Mi” and “The Lonely Goatherd.”

The curtain opens with a barrage of habit-wearing nuns invading the stage.

DETAILS THE SOUND OF MUSIC March 5-7, 7:30 p.m. Matinees at 3 p.m. on Feb. 29-Mar. 1 and Mar. 7-8 Thalian Hall, 310 Chestnut St. Tickets: $25-$33 • thalianhall.org The Nonnberg Abbey is brought to life in clever ways that utilize both the depth and scope of Thalian Hall’s main stage.

Thalian Hall’s exposed brick back wall gives a real look to the Abbey. The use of a fly rig system is put to great execution, too, bringing in one beautiful mat painting after another, which again adds to successful pacing. That said, the concept of tying both the Abbey and mountain settings together falls flat.

While the colors of the stained-glass window of the Abbey are beautiful, the line work fails. And it’s used so often, it earns notation.

Set designer Terry Collins takes a minimalist approach when needed but also knows when to splash the stage with details. The von Trapp family home screams of their wealth but also of their disciplined life, overseen by a Navy captain. Large rooms dressed with just the fanciest of the bare necessities subtly shows his regimented nature before the audience even meets him. Though, the lavish backyard set is the pièce de résistance of the whole production.

Possibly one of the best character introductions on stage is the appearance of Maria over the hills, belting out the title track. Her introduction is done through the theatre house; though, folks

in balcony seats won’t see her at first, so it may seem confusing when she doesn’t appear on stage. But it is the only criticism I have when it comes to Elizabeth Stovall’s performance as Maria. She is so utterly enchanting in the role, it’s easy to forget others have played it. She beams with organic warmth and care for the world and her fellow humans. Her pain for the slightest digression reads so real, wrought with self-created guilt.

It’s quite an astounding performance, but I don’t think anything can match her singing. Wow! Her vocal control in “DoRe-Mi” is incredible. She stuns with the opening number but continues through each thereafter as a tour de force on stage.

Stovall shares a solid chemistry that is believable and sweet with her lead man.

Anyone who knows Zach Hanner knows just how chill of a fella he is. So to see him show such stoicism as Captain von Trapp is really surprising in all the best ways. Hanner convincingly brings about a pained figure, falling back on all he knows to survive: commanding his family as a battalion. His patriotism for his beloved Austria, when Hanner stands proudly against the impending Nazi regime, will make audiences cheer for him.

Hanner’s voice carries a sense of loss with it as he joins in with “The Sound of Music” reprisal and a rekindled passion in the number “Edelweiss.”

The von Trapp seven are solid-serving as well. Jordan Davis as Liesl leaves the biggest impression. The number she shares with Dru Loman’s Rolf, “Sixteen Going on Seventeen,” is sweet if misguided. Braelyn Sudduth as Brigitta is a precocious detective, truly funny when paired with any adult character. But the production’s secret weapon is the adorable Katie Grace Marinos as Gretal, the youngest of the von Trapps. She never falters when taking the stage, and the audience’s collective “awws” fill the theatre at everything Marinos does.

NOT

TIMED OUT

Opera House Theater Company’s ‘The Sound of Music’ is an utterly enchanting experience The supporting cast also shines.

Elizabeth Field as Mother Abbess, with her exquisite set of pipes, never fails to bring down the house. “Climb Ev’ry Mountain” will resonate for days to come, and the team of Beth Crookham as the affluent would-be fiancée to the Captain, and Jay Zadeh embodying the hedonism of family friend/talent scout Max Detweiler, are hilarious in the number “How Can Love Survive.” Zadeh brings a lot of fun to a funny role.

It can often get labeled “safe” or “oldhat” to rely on a classic library of plays and musicals. Known names are certain to drum up business. Yet, when care and vision are brought to them the way Ray Kennedy and Opera House do with their production of “The Sound of Music,” it becomes clear why these shows are classics in the first place.

Your local ticketing source

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FEMME FATALES (L. to r.) Heather Setzler, Chandler Davis, Georgie Simon and Meagan Golden.

Photos by James Bowling

BY GWENYFAR ROHLER

L

ast week marked an important celebration for the theatre community in Wilmington: the reopening of the newly renovated North Front Theatre, formerly known as City Stage, on the fifth floor of the Masonic Temple building at 21 N. Front St. Panache Theatrical Productions presented its inaugural curtain-up production, “Lizzie, The Musical,” a collaborative rock opera by Steven Cheslik-DeMeyer, Alan Stevens Hewitt and Tim Maner. It is an encore presentation; Panache had a tremendously successful debut with it last year in the Ruth and Bucky Stein Theatre at Thalian Hall.

With the disappearance of the film industry and the opening of the Wilson Center, smaller theatrical venues have struggled to remain in business over the last few years in Wilmington. For a while it felt like “the roll call for the deceased,” as venue losses mounted. The beautiful masonic theatre on the fifth level of the Masonic Temple Building was limping along, struggling to find an identity. That theatre has always felt like a wonderful hidden gem, tucked away with a beautiful proscenium and gorgeous wood detailing throughout the house. Years of wear and extensive use took its toll, and then Hurricane Florence hit Wilmington. It looked like the beautiful little theatre might be gone for good, as the building suffered extensive damage. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise in some ways because insurance money was spent wisely to restore the space. Now, after a lot of hard work, it is back. Honestly, it has not looked this beautiful in my lifetime. The space is stunning, with a new lighting package and sound system to boot.

“Lizzie: The Musical” is not a typical theatrical experience. Perhaps the best way to describe it would be “aggressive storytelling.” Four women with microphones present a rock concert retelling of the possible events around the ax murders of the Borden family in Fall River, Massachusetts, in 1892. Lizzie A. Borden (Georgie Simon) and her older sister, Emma (Heather Setzler), are living in “a long silent war” with their father and his new wife, whom they refer to only as “Mrs. Borden.”

The third party to this war, their maid, Bridget Sullivan (Chandler Davis), sees a lot of what goes on (she is the closest to a narrator the

DETAILS LIZZIE: THE MUSICAL March 5-7, 7:30 p.m. Matinees at 3 p.m. on March 8 North Front Street Theatre, 21 N. Front St. Fifth Floor $23-$25 • panachetheatre.com show has). But the only side Sullivan is on is her own. She weighs her options, like who has money right now, and who is interested in spending it on her cooperation? Davis is the only cast member change from the 2019 production. Elisa Smith played the role last time, and an eerie recording of her children singing the Lizzie Borden nursery rhyme opens the show.

Both performers have powerhouse voices that will literally blow your hair back, but Smith’s Irish accent was a nice touch. Davis has no qualms playing various factions off each other, which includes driving any small wedge she can between Emma and Lizzie. It is not that she’s devious, just more of an opportunist. Make sure to follow her eyes because what she sees and what she focuses on speak volumes.

Setzler’s Emma is an interesting character study. As an only child, I am baffled and fascinated by this whole sibling thing. People tell me I am missing out, but I really don’t understand it. Do you actually like each other? With Emma and Lizzie, I’m not sure if it is affection or a blood pact made against a common enemy. Emma is given two songs that illustrate the two sides of her relationship with Lizzie: “Sweet Little Sister,” which recounts their mother’s death and father’s remarriage, and the aptly titled, “What the Fuck Now, Lizzie?”

The latter is a classic big-sister-to-little-sister demand of “What were you thinking? I told you what to do and you screwed up big time! Can’t you follow basic directions?” The pair of songs

26 encore | march 4 - march 10, 2020 | www.encorepub.com

show off Setzler’s vocal abilities; she soars with the score. Her voice is at times sweet and melodic, like a musical theatre heroine, and at other times she knocks it out like a pure rock ‘n’ roll diva.

Simon and Setzler have incredible chemistry onstage: They ride waves of non-verbal communication that tell an entire lifetime of story. Don’t be fooled: This might be a sungthrough musical, but director Anthony David Lawson and the cast ensure character development and a communication of subtext flesh out an entire story.

Into of this crazy house creeps the sweet next-door neighbor, Alice Russell (Meagan Golden). She is beautiful, kind and sadly besotted with Lizzie. She spins a beautiful fantasy life for them to escape into (“If You Knew,” “Maybe Someday”). Golden is the counterpoint to almost everyone else on stage. Her journey toward trust that ends in startling betrayal is heartbreaking to watch.

As these three women show us their ever-narrowing orbits, we come to really understand the magnitude of the story that is at the center of Lizzie Borden’s life. Audiences who haven’t heard Georgie Simon sing must go immediately to see this show. She has a voice that needs a bigger stage than we have in Wilmington. As well, she has a natural gift for acting and storytelling. The horrifying nightmare Lizzie descends into and eventually revels in comes to life with nuance; Simon makes it frighteningly believable.

Music director J. Robert Raines has assembled a band that quite literally rocks your face off; Justin Lacy, Benjamin Baldwin, Linda Carlisle Markas and Eli Stafford are a musical force. Actually, this show sounded the best of any show I can remember in that space. The balance between the music and the vocals was perfect. In short, sound designer Zachary Atkinson nailed it.

The show doesn’t lack visual fulfillment either. Stephanie Aman’s costume designs are a fascinating blend of Victorian Era and glam rock (also known as some of the more embarrassing memories of my adolescence, but I digress). Fishnets and corsets prove razzle dazzle, but Lizzie has an old dress that has been worn too long because her penny-pinching father won’t buy her a new one. In Act Two her

ROCKIN’

REVIVAL Director Anthony Lawson’s Wilmington swan song comes with the encore of ‘Lizzie: The Musical’ drab old rag is replaced with an unforgettable ensemble. The details Aman has included are marvelous and all there for a reason.

There are a still a few bugs, though. The new lighting system has incredible capabilities, but on opening night lighting designer Hannah Funderburke was still trying to sort out some intricacies. The most noticeable struggle was when Simon went into the audience for one of her solos and the spotlight went the other way. The cast found themselves in and out of darkness several times in Act Two, too. Something wasn’t matching up with the performers’ marks and lights, which distracted from performances that deserved the audience’s full attention. It can take a little while with a new system to find all the bugs and little quirks. Funderburke is a pro, so I am sure she has sorted it out.

“Lizzie: The Musical” is Anthony David Lawson’s farewell show to Wilmington. He picked a pretty great exit. It seems fitting his farewell signals a new beginning with the next phase of North Front Theatre—a beautiful gift to a community that has enjoyed his work for so long. For two decades Wilmington audiences have been entertained by Lawson’s work on and off stage. Many remember him from early Shakespeare work (“The Tempest,” “Romeo and Juliet”) and from “Tommy,” “The Full Monty,” “Reefer Madness,” and “Santaland Diaries.” He has directed “Rock of Ages,” “Heathers” and “American Idiot,” among others. Anthony can conceive and write or adapt almost anything to the stage (“Diaries of Adam and Eve,” “The Bard’s Broads” series).

He will leave a unique and hard-to-fill hole in Wilmington theatre scene.

Thank you, Anthony. Thank you, “Lizzie” cast and crew.

HOST WITH THE MOST StarNews’ Wilmington Theatre Awards 2019 ceremony featured host Randy Davis (center).

2020 will welcome Cas Hyman (below) to guide the night’s festivities on March 11.

BY SHEA CARVER

Courtesy StarNews Media

C

hoosing the 2020 host for Wilmington’s StarNews Theater Awards was one of the easier parts of planning the ninth annual ceremomy and show, slated to take place on March 11 at Thalian Hall. Fracaswell Hyman, also known simply as “Cas,” is a triple threat, according to StarNews features editor John Staton.

“Writer, actor, singer, and he can dance a little, too,” Staton says. “[He’s] a wonderful performer and writer—he was nominated for an Emmy!”

In fact, there isn’t much Hyman can’t do. For more than two decades, he helped create kids shows like “Blues Clues,” “Gullah Gullah Island,” and Disney channel’s “The Famous Jett Jackson.” His Emmy came from his work on “Little Bill.”

“He’s an even better person,” Staton praises. “I am so proud and grateful he agreed to host. The community has really embraced him since he moved to town a few years ago, and vice versa.”

When Hyman came to ILM’s port city from L.A. in 2013, his creative output never waned. He continued writing and self-published a book, “Mango Delight,” in 2017. He also resurrected his love for performance art in 2015. He did his first local play, “Summers at Seabreeze,” written by Zach Hanner. Since, he has shown up on local stages every season. Just last year he won the Wilmington Theater Award for portraying Troy Maxson in August Wilson’s “Fences.” Hyman has hit a winning stride with Wilson’s canon, too, as he is nominated as Best Actor in a Play for his role as the playwright August Wilson in the one-man show “How I Learned What I Learned.” Hyman also acted in “Jitney,” which has been nominated for Best Play. (He’s also nominated for Best Actor in encore’s 2020 Best Of Wilmington poll; voting closes March 20.)

“Doing ‘How I Learned’ was a great challenge and helped me reach for the ‘limitations of my instrument,’” Hyman says. “Playing August helped me acknowledge a righteous anger I would normally tamp down to survive day by day.

I found it incredibly freeing, especially

DETAILS WILMINGTON STAR NEWS THEATER AWARDS March 11, 6 p.m. red carpet; 7:30 p.m. show time Thalian Hall, 310 Chestnut St. Tickets: $20 ThalianHall.org under the tyranny of our current administration to connect with and channel my personal outrage through the magnificent words and stories of Wilson. This play broadened my outlook, and I find myself tapping into his enlightenment to this very day.”

Nowadays, Hyman’s focus is centered on hosting duties. He admits bringing a character to life is a much easier experience. The research and revelations of every role have helped mold him as a person, but standing onstage and entertaining his peers without a fleshed-out role to learn and grow from is a more intimidating experience.

“One day I want to be like Chris Rock at the Oscars or Ricky Gervais at the Golden Globes, but Rock is too smart and Gervais is too vicious,” Hyman says. “Compared to them, I’m a mundane cheese. So keeping it straightforward is appealing, but then I’m not straight and I’m more backward than forward, so...”

Opera House Theatre Company director Ray Kennedy has offered help with the opening number, though Hyman remains mum on details. “I’m going to wear Depends under my tux just in case,” he quips.

The evening will include the announcement of winners in 22 categories. Local companies racked up nominations

AWARDS GALORE

aplenty, with Panache, Thalian Association and Big Dawg receiving more than a dozen and Opera House Theatre Company clocking in at more than two dozen.

Scouring through the insane amount of content was no easy feat for the two committees that meet twice a year to hash out contenders.

“It’s [made up of] different people each year, but they’re folks with theater backgrounds who aren’t actively doing shows during the eligibility period,” Staton clarifies of the committees. “Also, each theater company can submit a slate of nominees, and this year we got about 15. They nominate themselves, of course, but also the work of other companies. These results come into play quite a lot when we’re deciding nominations. . . . People are thoughtful and respectful [on our committee], but they will fight for certain shows and or performances.”

All nominees for Best Musical will perform a number at the awards ceremony, while those nominated for Best Play will perform a scene. Aside from the announcement of winners in every category, the Lela Thompson Award for Enduring Contribution will be presented to Maxwell Paige, who has been a part of the local theater scene for more than 30 years.

“We’ve never had an honoree who was solely a performer,” Staton says, referring to past winners like OHTC founder Lou Criscuolo, costume designer Peggy Farrell and even Thalian Hall executive director Tony Rivenbark. “Honestly, when his name came up, it just felt right—and then the community reaction: People love Maxwell. It let me know we made the right decision.”

StarNews prepares to praise ILM’s theater community in 9th annual awards show “I thought ‘Lizzie’ was fantastic,” Hyman details about some of his favorites on the ballot. “And I smiled so much during ‘Five Guys Named Moe’ that my face actually hurt at the end of the show.

All five Moes were stellar. ‘Shakespeare in Love’ made me swoon and ‘The Explorer’s Club’ was absolute comedy gold.”

“The best part is getting to watch the show itself: all that talent onstage in one place, with quite a few funny and emotional moments when people win,” Staton says.

And escorting them on and off will be a young lady named Jamaya—Hyman’s own daughter­—the official 2020 “awards girl.” “That alone makes taking on this challenge worthwhile regardless of the outcome,” Hyman adds. “#girldad #proudpapa.”

“I’m proud of him, proud to have worked with him frequently and proud to be able to call him my friend,” Hyman adds.

Hyman and Staton, plus StarNews colleague Jeff Hidek, along with stage manager Lily Nicole and musical director Thaddaeus Freidline, are preparing rehearsals this weekend for the awards.

Though nerves always mount ahead of curtain call, it always ends up being a great celebration of local talent. encore | march 4 - march 10, 2020 | www.encorepub.com 27

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Italian Bistro 8211 M arket S t. • ww w.italia nbistro nc.com • Cou

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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 sun-

sets. As a Casual American Grill and Oyster Bar, Elijah’s offers everything 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 11:3011:00 ■ 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

28 encore | march 4 - march 10, 2020 | www.encorepub.com

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 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 takehome frozen meals ■ WEBSITE: pinevalleymarket.com

THE TROLLY STOP Trolly Stop Grill and Catering is a four store franchise in North Carolina. Trolly Stop Hot

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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, 910-297-8416, 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) 2563921, Southport (910) 457-7017, Boone, NC

(828) 265-2658, Chapel Hill, NC (919) 2404206 ■ 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) 251-9229.

■ 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., 12pm-10pm. 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

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We also serve tastebud-tingling Japanese sushi, hand rolls, sashimi, tempura dishes, and noodle entrees. This offers our guests a complete Japanese 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., 11am2:30pm / 4pm-11pm; Sat., 11am-11pm; Sun., 11am-9:30pm ■ NEIGHBORHOOD: Midtown ■ WEBSITE: okamisteakhouse.com

photo

er-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 NIGHT- 20% 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.

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 ev-

JOIN US

SAINT

PATRICK´S

fri., mar 13 & Sat., Mar 14

WEEKEND

FridaY: Jeff Gover Duo Saturday: 7am kegs & eggs, bounce houses, Austin 6pm, Wilmington pipes & drums

TUESDAY, MARCH 17: live music with dave’s not home 1174 Turlington Ave., Leland 910-408-1400 www.thejoyceirishpub.com encore | march 4 - march 10, 2020 | www.encorepub.com 29

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

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, MayOct., 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) 7631607. 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

WITH PURCHASE OF ADULT ENTREE

PIZZA • CALZONES PASTA • SAMMIES ORDER ONLINE: antoniospizzaandpasta.com

$7.99

BITES

25% off online orders Code: MJ25

5120 S. College Rd. • 910-792-0000 Monkey Junction, Carolina Beach

3501 Oleander Dr. #2 • (910)228-5999

UNCW, Downtown and Market Street

Mon.-Thurs. 11am- 9pm • Fri. & Sat. 11am - 10pm • Sun. 11:30 am - 9 pm

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ITALIAN ANTONIO’S

MARCHTOBERFEST BEER FESTIVAL March 7, 1 p.m. - 5 p.m.

Wilmington Convention Center, 10 Convention Center Dr. Prost on the Coast with Wilmington, NC's Spring Beer Festival presented

by ILMBeer. Marchtoberfest features North Carolina breweries, German-style beer, German food, German music, and games. (VIP Tickets allow for early entry and other benefits) Tickets: $50 at Eventbrite.com

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 topnotch 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, takeout 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 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

KIDS EAT FREE

14-inch one topping

■ WEBSITE: facebook.com/slaintemj

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! 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.

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) 686-7774

■ 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) 7991399.

■ 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 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

SANDWICHES J. MICHAEL’S PHILLY DELI The Philly Deli celebrated their 38th anniversary in August 2017. Thier first store was located in Hanover Center—the oldest shopping center in Wilmington. Since, two more Philly Delis have been added: one at Porters Neck and one at Monkey Junction.

The Philly Deli started out by importing all of their steak meat and hoagie rolls straight from Amoroso Baking Company, located on 55th Street in downtown Philadelphia! It’s a practice they maintain to this day.

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, 910-799-7077. 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

■ 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

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, 910-799-3847.

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

■ NEIGHBORHOOD: North Wilmington ■ FEATURING: Acclaimed Wine List

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■ MUSIC: Outside Every Friday and Satur- based on what he finds locally. Rx drinks are day

■ WEBSITE: pilothouserest.com

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-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) 798-2913.

■ 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

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 3993080.

■ SERVING BRUNCH & DINNER: TuesThurs, 5-10pm; Fri-Sat, 5-10:30pm; Sun., 10am-3pm and 5-9pm ■ NEIGHBORHOOD: Downtown ■ WEBSITE: rxwilmington.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) 679-4473 ■ SERVING LUNCH, DINNER & WEEKEND BRUNCH: Lunch Tues.-Fri., 11am-2pm; Dinner, Tues.-Sun., 5-10pm; Brunch, Sat.-Sun., 10:30am-2:30pm; 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 Located in downtown Wilmington, Rx p.m.

NEIGHBORHOOD: Downtown, 29 S Front St. Restaurant and Bar is here to feed your soul, WEBSITE: fortunateglass.com 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

RX RESTAURANT & BAR

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Thank you, Wilmington, For continuing to vote us best wine list!

small plates

OVER 400 WINES & over 40 CRAFT BEER

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29 S. FRONT ST. (910) 399-4292 FREE WINE TASTING TUESDAYS, 6-8PM @THEFORTUNATEGLASS

large selection of specialty cheese & charcuterie

2019 WINNER

TYING THE DETAILS TOGETHER ONE KNOT AT A TIME

Help us win “Best Event Planner” 2 years in a row! photo: erin l. taylor photography

VOTE NOW! encorebestof.com

Nominated “Best Event Planner” under Media, Arts + Entertainment

103 N Lake Park Blvd #B Carolina Beach, NC (910) 458-5226 elcazadormex.com encore | march 4 - march 10, 2020 | www.encorepub.com 35

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SMOKIN’ FISH Rosa Bianca tries local house-smoked mullet and Pineapple Royal (below) with slaw and fries at Salt Fish in Carolina Beach.

Courtesy photo

FOODIE

BY ROSA BIANCA

D

oesn’t the end of February seem like the perfect time for a tropical vacation? For folks who want a getaway without the hefty price tag of traveling to, say, southeast Asia, head to Carolina Beach’s Salt Fish Restaurant and Tiki Bar. I read how Chef Kirsten Mitchell closed her restaurant to go to Vietnam for the month of January with her sous chef. She wanted to prevent any culinary cobwebs from creeping into her kitchen. If there’s any time I want to try a restaurant for the first time, it’s when I know a chef’s wheels are turning and creative juices are flowing.

I was already familiar with Mitchell’s comestible oeuvre from her days at Vittles, 1900 and Grand Cru. I was extra excited to head to Pleasure Island to taste what she had cookin’ at her own brick-and-mortar restaurant.

When my girlfriends and I arrived, all but one table was occupied and the restaurant was abuzz with energy. The woman who would become our server greeted and seated us quickly. Our group of four are service-industry natives. We were thoroughly impressed with the ease and grace our server endured as she oversaw the whole room—and made our drinks. (Give that woman a raise!) Also, we really appreciated how genuinely smitten she was with Mitchell’s menu. It’s great to see staff emanating respect and delight a menu like that deserves.

Tiki drinks are the name of the game at Salt Fish and we indulged. “My Two Beaches” includes dark rum, guava, cinnamon, lime, and soda water. I really appreciated the complexity of the bright lime, homey cinnamon and tropical guava. Another girlfriend landed on “Pineapple Royal,” which comes in a whole damn hollowed-out pineapple. Another gal pal chose the gin-based

DETAILS SALT FISH RESTAURANT AND TIKI BAR 718 N. Lake Park Blvd., Carolina Beach Sun., Tues.-Thurs., 5-9 p.m.; Fri.-Sat., 5-10 p.m. facebook.com/CBsaltfish cocktail “Salt Fish Sling.” All the drinks were on the sweet side, but they were juicy, bright and oh-so-hilariously garnished. Some included little plastic monkeys, mermaids, gummy sharks, and classic umbrellas.

Mood? Set. The breeze was blowing through our hair and our toes were tucked in the sand.

For our first course, we got the crispy pancake stuffed with pork belly, shrimp and cabbage, served to be built into wraps, with butter lettuce and peanut dipping sauce. It was an explosion of flavor, boasting umami and brine, brightness and sweetness, plus tons of texture to boot. I can’t wait to return to eat them again and the teriyaki beef lettuce wraps. Savory sesame sung throughout the dish and married perfectly with the sweet and salty teriyaki. The fruit curry vinaigrette was eat-on-a-shoe-able.

Completing round one was a large crab cake with jerk corn salad, plantain chips and a big, yummy smear of jerk BBQ sauce.

The crab cake made my heart soar with its meaty, crabby goodness and jerk season-

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ings, and my girlfriends raved about the oniony, crunchy corn salad.

A whole smoked mullet with French fries and island slaw got a resounding “um, absolutely” from the group as we moved on to the main features. We also got the catch of the day—tuna, with coconut rice and broccolini—and the Polynesian fried chicken.

I was really glad we were there as a foursome because it allowed us to taste a lot of different things. If it had been a date night with my husband, we would have done the same thing, especially knowing what I know now. The portions are generous but not excessive, good for sharing.

The smoked mullet was so delightfully smoky. I love that Chef Mitchell smokes it in-house. The French fries offered neutral ground between the mullet and the zippy, tangy slaw. One of my girlfriends, fork-full of slaw in her mouth, actually uttered, “This is all I’ve ever wanted in a slaw.” #winning The Polynesian fried chicken was definitely my favorite. The chicken itself was boneless, so it was like a big plate of chicken tenders for grownups. The slaw, again, was mere perfection, and the black beans were as creamy as can be. For something as seemingly innocuous as a side of black beans, the whole table was obsessed.

Topped with scallions and cotija cheese, they were remarkable. Kimchi cucumbers with cilantro and spicy mayo on the side made for a spectacularly balanced dish.

The only thing we didn’t absolutely lose our minds over was the tuna. There wasn’t anything wrong with the dish; it just didn’t shine the way the others did. It was served at a perfect medium, per our request, but the broccolini and rice were both a touch underseasoned. I was hoping the sauce on the side would either lend acid or spice, but

VACATION

Chef Kirsten Mitchell’s current menu deliciously reflects her travels to Vietnam it was soy-based, so it compounded the already umami flavors.

When our server offered us dessert, we obliged. She was pleasantly surprised.

We weren’t messin’ around; our group was there to eat. We got both desserts offered: coconut cake and a pineapple rum cheesecake. They were divine. The coconut cake was extra fluffy and, conversely, the cheesecake was dense. From here on out, I would like rum-soaked pineapple on everything, please.

TWO GUYS AND A SHIP Chris Menker and Graham Wilson have been doing promotional pictures all over town for the inaugural Marchtoberfest.

Courtesy photo

MARCH TO

BY JOAN C.W. HOFFMANN

A

s Wilmington’s craft beer community continues to grow, so does its beer-fest scene. I’ve discussed the growing amount of Oktoberfest celebrations, but I’m excited to welcome a new contender: Marchtoberfest. It’s based off of the German Frühlingsfest, smaller events hosted in Munich. Basically, it’s just like Oktoberfest but it’s in April/May. Wilmington’s first Marchtoberfest is being thrown by two Wilmington craftbeer torchbearers, Ellie Craig of Front Street Brewery and Jeremy Tomlinson of Port City Brew Bus and Wilmington Ale Trail. Craig also acts as current president of the Cape Fear Craft Beer Alliance (CFCBA), a position Tomlinson previously held. Not to be confused with Cape Fear Craft Beer Week (March 20-29), Marchtoberfest is earlier in the month, March 7.

The Munich Frühlingsfest features all of the bells and whistles of Oktoberfest—rides, games and liters of beer— just on a smaller scale. While Marchtoberfest won’t have a ferris wheel in the Coastline Convention Center, there’s plenty 5-ounce pours and fun to have come Saturday. I sat down with Craig and Tomlinson to discuss the festivities. encore (e): What was the inspiration to do this in Wilmington?

Ellie Craig (EC): Wilmington already has a great outdoor fall beer festival.

This indoor spring beer festival will be a little different in that we are featuring all North Carolina craft breweries.

Jeremy Tomlinson (JT): The theme for the festival is Frühlingsfest—Oktoberfest’s little sister. e: How did you go about inviting breweries?

DETAILS MARCHTOBERFEST Sat., March 7, 2 p.m.- 5 p.m., VIP entry at 1 p.m.

Coastline Convention Center, 501 Nutt St. Tickets: $40-$50; designated driver tickets, $20 marchtoberfestILM.com EC: We have a lot of friends we’ve made through other work we have done within the North Carolina craft-beer industry.

We reached out to some craft breweries we knew would be an exciting draw, some breweries whose beers you can’t get your hands on in Wilmington, and of course all of our local brewers.

JT: We also reached out to the North Carolina Craft Brewers Guild for help. e: What are you most excited about?

EC: We are giving away two trips to Oktoberfest 2020 in Munich, with airfare voucher, awesome hotel and festival passes. It’s going to be amazing to see two lucky ticket holders win a life-changing prize!

JT: So many things! We are excited to see North Carolina breweries bring in classic German styles, as well as other really cool beers a lot of locals may not have ever tried. Also, the games should be a lot of fun. We are really trying to tap into the carnival-like atmosphere present

at Oktoberfest and Frühlingsfest. Also, [I’m] pretty excited about our 12-footby-24-foot cornhole board. e: What food can VIP ticket holders expect to enjoy?

EC: Bratwurst sandwiches on pretzel buns and soft pretzels with beer cheese.

Also, VIPs will get an hour early entry, so first dibs on beer, with low lines and additional samples in the beer garden. e: I think it’s wonderful you guys decided to donate proceeds to the Steve Haydu St. Patrick’s Lo Tide Run. What led you to that decision? Do you plan to switch up the local nonprofit pairing in the future or stick with this one?

JT: A friend in the beer industry was a beneficiary a few years ago. We were talking one day and he told us about the run. It seemed like a great fit.

EC: SHSPLTR is a wonderful organization that assists New Hanover County cancer patients with financial hardships.

It’s an important cause because we are all affected by cancer. While our initial

BEER

Joan gets the details on ILM’s first Marchtoberbfest plan was to switch up who benefits from our proceeds, we may choose to work with the same nonprofit organizations in the future. e: I love all the videos on Facebook.

How did you get a bearded German fella and a leprechaun to get along?

EC: It certainly has been fun creating all of the content for our marketing campaign! These two guys have been so easy to work with because they are so creative during production. We’ve laughed a lot and we’ve consumed a fair amount of beer.

JT: I mean, beer is always key but those guys are awesome. I don’t know who had more fun, us filming or them playing and dancing around on camera.

ML Presents:

Blue Cactus with T Gold MARCH 27 | 9PM | $7 Bourgie Nights

Get your tickets today!

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40 encore | march 4 - march 10, 2020 | www.encorepub.com

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PLAINE AS DAY Bathroom products like shampoo and conditioner bottles are mostly made of plastic, but Plaine Products is delivering aluminum bottles.

Courtesy photo

FINDING A

BY SHANNON RAE GENTRY

I

n February Wilmingtonian Lindsey McCoy documented her journey with Exxpedition, an ongoing two-year plastic exploration by sailboat across the world’s oceans. Led by ocean advocate Emily Penn, who founded Exxpedition in 2014, the 2019-2021 venture is broken up into 30 voyages starting and ending in the United Kingdom. McCoy is among 300 women (selected from 10,000 applicants) to go to sea for a first-hand look at the global single-use plastics crisis.

“We were taking samples in the ocean from the surface and also 75 feet down [where] these little speckles came up on the filter,” she says. “That’s microplastic, we can’t clean that up. And that’s the problem: So many people cannot have that experience, they don’t see it in person.”

McCoy is a board member of Wilmington’s Plastic Ocean Project and veteran of environmental education. As such, this venture didn’t come as a revelation to her.

Her resolve to combat plastic waste began long ago. From 2005-15 McCoy supervised an environmental education nonprofit in the Bahamas, where she literally saw single-use plastic everywhere: water, beaches and roads.

“They don’t have the same infrastructure that we have in the U.S. to sort of ‘make things disappear,’” she explains.

“So, I started doing things like carrying reusable bags, water bottles and reducing plastic use overall.”

But McCoy couldn’t find a solution that worked for her in the shower, i.e. replacing plastic shampoo and conditioner bottles. So she set out to find her own. Though McCoy has used bar shampoos (locally, folks can find them in Wilmington stores like Tidal Creek and Whole Foods), but wanted something better. “For some people shampoo bars work great,” she says, “and they should definitely use them but they just didn’t agree with my hair.”

Around the same time in 2015, McCoy and her husband were planning their move

DETAILS

recycled without quality loss. This means it can be made into new aluminum products an infinite number of times, while recycled plastic is downgraded and can only be recycled at most twice.

PLAINE PRODUCTS

“Plastic lasts forever—one of its wonderful qualities,” McCoy says, sarcastically, “but it doesn’t make sense when you use something for a little bit. . . . We’re working on adding new products to the line all the time.

Because the more we have, the more opportunities for people to use less plastic.”

Sustainable Product Subscription Hair and body care, face care, travel and samples, and gift boxes Price range: $5 - $60 plaineproducts.com back stateside. They decided on Wilmington’s coastal community versus landlocked Ohio, where McCoy’s sister, Alison Webster, is based. Still, the sisters set out to help find a solution to shampoo plastic bottle pollution. After two years of research and product samples, they launched Plaine Products (the sisters’ maiden name is Delaplaine) in February 2017.

Plaine Products also are sold at 50 stores nationally, with the nearest retailers in Charlotte or Virginia. However, they’re mainly subscription-based; people can buy individual items or bundles of merchandise at a discount. It’s a model consumers have invested in to have everything delivered to their doorstep.

All of the product shipping, receiving, auto cleaning, ordering and inventory management is handled by Webster in Plaine Products’ Ohio base, while McCoy handles sales, marketing, finances and partnerships in Wilmington. The two balance each other out. “[Alison] is a perfectionist and never would have launched anything, and I would have launched six months too early,” McCoy says.

Working with a Florida-based manufacturer, Plaine Products are paraben- and sulfate-free, vegan and biodegradable shampoos, conditioners, lotions, hand soaps packaged in aluminum bottles, which can be

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Right now the most complicated or misunderstood part of their subscription-based process is knowing when to expect refills versus when to send back empty bottles.

When running low, subscribers can schedule their replacements to have in time before sending the empties back in their reusable shipping boxes made by EcoEnclose.

“We are working on reusing other parts, too, so we’ve redesigned our boxes,” McCoy says. “They don’t have fill in them, as they’re designed to just hold the bottles with a little cardboard insert, so we can just keep reusing those.”

It’s taken a while to figure out how to have refill stations at stores without a lot of single-use plastic. Often times these situations call for white plastic 10-gallon jugs, which can’t be reused. “So, we finally figured out we’re gonna just use 3-anda-half-gallon paint buckets we can wash and reuse,” McCoy explains. “We can, hopefully, in the next month or two launch a bulk option for stores.”

Nowadays most everything comes in plastic packaging of some kind that cannot be reused or even recycled. Nevertheless, plastic-free options are on the rise, especially with bathroom products like these.

“I think we got really lucky on the timing when we launched,” McCoy notes. “I do think people are starting to realize that this convenience and disposability we were sold as miracles to change our lives [has] consequences. There are costs we’re not paying

SOLUTION

Environmental advocate launches Plaine Products to cleanse ourselves of plastic right now that future generations are going to be paying, and we have to take a hard look at the choices that we’re making.”

Thus plastic-free solutions and alternative packaging for shampoo bottles are here—some even come in clever cardboard biodegradable packaging with seeds—they’re just often more expensive.

McCoy recognizes that fact. Even though a 16-ounce Plaine shampoo bottle might last three or four months for two people, it’s still $30.

“It’s way more than I ever paid for shampoo,” she admits. “Unfortunately, that’s just the reality of not putting a bunch of chemicals in a plastic bottle.”

Rather than ask why plastic-free items are so expensive, McCoy thinks the question should be, “Why is the other stuff so cheap?”

Plaine Products are not water-based like competitors traditionally put on store shelves. They’re aloe-based in a concentrated formula and designed for consumers to use less per wash. Actually, Plaine purposefully uses a smaller pump to avoid dumping more shampoo (by accident or otherwise) than necessary.

“It is more expensive to take responsibility for your packaging [as a business],” McCoy adds. “We have to pay to ship the bottles back, we have to pay to clean them and reuse them—and that is more expensive than a plastic bottle. Because those [plastic-based] companies don’t have to take don’t have to take responsibility for that.”

LONG BALL The Wilmington Senior Softball Association allows players well into their 80s the chance to continue playing the game they love.

EXTRA

Courtesy photo

BY JEFF OLOIZIA

W

hen former minor-league baseball player Phil Rose decided to leave his job as a New York policeman and detective in 1995, Wilmington seemed like the perfect place to retire.

The only problem? It didn’t have a senior softball league. Rose had played in similar leagues on Long Island for years, so he began posting flyers, and asking friends and neighbors if they wanted to play.

Soon, he had the makings of a nascent softball league—11 guys who threw the ball around and occasionally played games against a team from Brunswick County.

DETAILS WILMINGTON SENIOR SOFTBALL ASSOCIATION

Spring training: March 5-26, Tuesdays and Thursdays, 1-3 p.m.

Ogden Park, 615 Ogden Park Dr. Opening day ceremony: April 14, 10 a.m. wilmingtonseniorsoftball.net Twenty-five years later the Wilming-

ton Senior Softball Association (WSSA) is one of the largest slow-pitch leagues in the North Carolina, with more than 175 players, ages 55 and up, and its own 27-person Hall of Fame. Its 12 teams are divided by ability level into three divisions: Atlantic, Coastal and Legacy.

Spring training for new players begins Thursday afternoon at Ogden Park and is open to the public.

At first glance the league looks like any other: Games are played on lined fields, with professional umpires and team uniforms with sponsors’ names splashed across their chests. A closer look, however, reveals a few signs of the players’ advanced ages. Tuesday and Thursday double headers start as early as 9 in the morning, to avoid the summer heat. Players spend extra time warming up, as a pulled hamstring or quad can mean the end of the season. Pitchers must wear protective masks, lest they sign a waiver.

There are two home plates—spaced 8 feet apart—to avoid collisions. Three of the league’s 12 teams are sponsored by local retirement communities.

The Legacy Division, generally reserved for the league’s oldest players, includes even more accommodations. In addi-

tion to the liberal use of pinch runners (for players who have trouble getting around the bases), its games are played on smaller fields, with fences at 250 feet compared to the Atlantic and Coastal divisions’ 320 feet—though that didn’t stop one Legacy player from slugging 25 home runs last year.

“It’s amazing that people our age are still doing this,” says Atlantic Division president Mike Gallagher, a five-year WSSA veteran.

rental, umpire fees, insurance and other administrative costs. “I played senior ball in Charlotte, and it would cost $100 to play 12 games there,” Gallagher says.

Former WSSA commissioner Mike Abernathy has seen the increase in value firsthand. When the Carolina Beach native joined the league at age 56 in 1998, there were only four teams and one division. Now 77 and one of WSSA’s longest tenured players, he attributes the league’s growth to its widespread appeal (“We had a bunch of tennis players who came over and played, which was really good”), as well as its accessibility. “Most of the players are retirees, and we swing our schedules and doctors’ appointments around so we don’t have any conflicts on Tuesdays and Thursdays,” he says.

WSSA’s 25th season officially kicked off Tuesday with its annual new player orientation at the NHC Northeast Library.

The seven spring training sessions, taking place Tuesdays and Thursdays over the next four weeks, will allow league managers to assess incoming talent. A trio of divisional drafts will follow in late March and early April, aimed at creating competitive balance throughout the divisions.

Plans are underway to make this year’s

At 67, Gallagher is no longer one of the league’s youngest players but is far from its oldest. (That honor goes to 85-yearold Bob Perry.) Like Phil Rose, who died in 2015, he moved to North Carolina from further up the East Coast, and was impressed immediately by the scope of Wilmington’s senior league.

“I played in some over-40 leagues in Baltimore, and [WSSA] is by far the most intense league I’ve ever heard of,” he says.

He points to the league’s 60-game schedule—which can be grueling for players of any age—as well as its value: The $100 annual membership covers a full season of games (including playoffs), and field

INNINGS 55-and-up softball league enters its 25th season opening day extra special, with former players and WSSA Hall of Fame stars on hand, as well as appearances by Mayor Bill Saffo and NHC Commissioner Rob Zapple; lunch will be provided by the Trolly Stop food truck. Players will wear special 25th anniversary commemorative silver WSSA caps throughout the season. It’s all aimed at creating a family atmosphere and celebrating the league’s growth since 1995, when it was just a handful of guys playing pickup games.

The WSSA motto: “You don’t stop playing because you grow old. You grow old because you stop playing.” It’s a saying the players take to heart. Or, as Gallagher puts it: “It’s something to do. I’ve got golf clubs, but I hack ‘em up pretty terribly. I’d rather play softball.”

THANK YOU WILMINGTON! Great Burgers and Hand-cut Fries

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tance of folktales, nature mythic archetypes, and an epic love that transcends time and space. I really think a big selling piece is the beautiful way Goss puts together the story and her choice to use two viewpoints to tell it.

CARPE

LIBRUM

Goss is one of my current favorite writers. She is imaginative, creative and innovative, and the way she presents the page makes Marshal McLuhan’s observation “the medium is the message” come alive.

Though Mark Z. Danielewski (“House of Leaves”) does a terrific job with for his use of layout, including color, type face and page position, I think Goss’s choices are more subtle, and maybe because of that, more effective and substantial.

Gwenyfar goes romance with a two-sided love story

BY GWENYFAR ROHLER

W

ilmington’s literary community keeps gaining accolades (two National Book Awards nominees in 2015) and attention in the press.

With multiple established publishers in the state (Algonquin, Blair) and new smaller presses gaining traction (Lookout, Eno, Bull City), and a pair of well-regarded literary magazines out of UNCW, it is timely to shine a light on discussions around literary publishing. More so, it shows the importance of communicating a truthful story in our present world.

Welcome to Carpe Librum, encore’s biweekly book column, wherein I will dissect a current title and an old book—because literature does not exist in a vacuum but emerges to participate in a larger, cultural conversation. I will feature many NC writers; however, the hope is to place the discussion in a larger context and therefore examine works around the world.

The Thorn and the Blossom: A Two-Sided Love Story

By Theodora Goss Quirk Books, 2012 I got turned onto Theodora Goss through “The Strange Case of The Alchemist’s Daughter,” which one friend succinctly (and accurately) summed up as “the league of extraordinary gentlemen with women.” I love the series—the concept, the plots, the execution, and especially the running commentary by the other characters as a kibitzing conversation in the margins of the manuscript. In short, I was besotted.

Consequently, we ordered as many of her books as were currently available in print for the bookstore. One

of the gems in the box was a beautiful book titled “The Thorn and The Blossom.” Now, when I say beautiful, I do mean the story is beautiful. Also, the presentation of the book makes it a treasure! Quirk Books—a boutique publisher built on the success of the “Worst Case Scenario Survival Handbook” series and possibly most famous for Ransom Riggs’ “Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children” series—published this lovely volume.

Subtitled “A Two Sided Love Story,” the entire book unfolds as an accordion fanfold, so one side is from Evelyn’s point of view and the other is from Brendan’s. We can read either first, then have the story begin again. Or, like me, you can read them by flipping back and forth between the two. As far as communicating physically, the power of perception in storytelling, this is a wonderful artifact. To be honest, we currently have it on display at the Literary Bed and Breakfast because it is the perfect decor for Valentine’s Day and for spring: a blend of love, flowers, nature and rebirth, all in one ornate little volume.

triangle? Is it karma? Is it magic or destiny? Maybe a bit of all that and more … it is filled with passion, longing, desire and a love that transcends much of the physical word.

I fully admit I am primed to like this book, I mean, it is built with materials that are part of my worldview: bookstores, the power of story, the impor-

None of Goss’ books have disappointed. “The Thorn and the Blossom” is one that can be given as a gift to a lover, an aspiring writer or as a gift to yourself. It is possibly one of the most lovely book items I could own: not just a beautiful story, but a gorgeous marriage of form and function that enhances the message in every way, while paying homage to the power of story in our lives. Buy as many copies as you can, you will not be sorry you did.

Now, I might be biased because this love story starts with Evelyn walking into the bookstore that Brendan runs.

How much better of a setup is needed than that? How much more romantic, magical and wonderful a setting is there than a bookstore? See? I am not biased in the least, just observant of the obvious good choices that Goss made in her exposition. Rather than capitulating to my bias, the answer might be Goss writes a captivating tale of love and loss, struggle and redemption.

Brendan and Evelyn both are drawn, in different ways and for different reasons, to the myths/folktales of the area where Brendan grew up. Somehow, their story mirrors or is entangled with those tales—and it terrifies Evelyn. It will take them years (maybe it has taken lifetimes?) to sort this out. Is it a love

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get-together, followed that Saturday (March 7th) by blocks of short films from the local to the global. You can purchase tickets for a specific block of films or for the entire festival. Jengo’s Playhouse, 815 Princess St. csiff.org.

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

events

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.

OAK ISLAND MARDI GRAS FEST BY SEA

March 7, 1pm, free: OKI Mardi Gras Festival & Parade. Enjoy a family friendly atmosphere with carnival games, food & craft vendors, live music, contests, car shows, parades, and more. There will be a parade down Oak Island Drive, a festival in the park, kid’s activities, costume contest, pet costume contest, food, and live music. Secure your place as a parade participant: http://bit.ly/2020OKIMardiGrasParade. Oak Island Parks and Recreation, 3003 E Oak Island Dr.

JAZZ AT CAM

CIRQUE ELOIZE: HOTEL

March 18, 7:30pm, $29-$54: Cirque Éloize welcomes you into this timeless art deco hotel, a place where strangers of all walks of life meet. Hotel is the story of a place, but it is mainly a place full of stories. This is the place where we mingle with strangers for a moment. From the Maître d’hôtel, overwhelmed by the events, to the mischievous maid, to the devoted handyman and his inseparable dog, Carpette, the hotel’s staff is like each of us, the privileged witnesses to the lives of colorful individuals. Carried by the voice of a client on the top floor who comments, testifies, and tells the story, meet lovers who still do not know they are meant to be, improbable travelers, and a celebrity who goes out of her way to win her place in the firmament while revealing the depth of her being.

Enter the lobby doors of this grandiose place and discover with us the intricately woven story of these travelers! The Wilson Center, 703 N. 3rd St. www.capefearstage.com.

fundraisers/volunteer SHORELINE CLEANUP: CAROLINA BEACH

March 5, 10am, free: NC Coastal Federation’s primary initiatives is to reduce the amount of marine debris littering coastal marshes, beaches and waterways. Join the marine debris cleanup; in addition to picking up trash, volunteers will re-

cord data on the types and quantities of debris collected. This will help to identify the sources of debris and inform future efforts to reduce marine debris.

Bring a reusable water bottle, hat and sunglasses, and dress for the weather.

Bonnie Mitchell, 910-509-2838 or bonniem@nccoast.org. www.nccoast.org.

Carolina Beach State Park, 1010 State Park Rd.

STEP UP FOR SOLDIERS BACKYARD BBQ

March 7, 10am: 9th Annual Step Up For Soldiers’ Backyard BBQ Cook-Off is coming to the Battleship NC. Eat BBQ and support our soldiers! Free! Bring the entire family for live music, delicious food, crafts, giveaways, live demos, kids’ activities, community-based local vendors, wild animals rescue and more.

Tastings from the BBQ competitors are 1$ each. Proceeds go directly to Step Up For Soldiers. stepupforsoldiers.org/ bbq. Battleship NC, 1 Battleship Road

TEEING OFF WITH THE HARRELSON CENTER AND PARTNERS GOLF TOURNAMENT

March 16, 10am: Our collaborative event encourages our Partners to secure their own sponsors and golfers to raise funds for their programming and staffing. Harrelson Center staff handles all the logistics of the day, includ-

46 encore | march 4 - march 10, 2020 | www.encorepub.com

ing registration, lunch, and an awards event. Magnolia Greens Golf Plantation, 1800 Tommy Jacobs Dr.

film CINEMATIQUE

Oscar winner for best picture, "Parasite," runs through Friday, February 28 at 7pm with an additional screening on Wednesday at 4pm in Thalian Hall’s Stein Theatre. Greed and class discrimination threaten the newly formed symbiotic relationship between the wealthy Park family and the destitute Kim clan.

• "Judy" runs March 2-3 at 7pm. "Little Women" screens March 4 at 4pm and 7pm. Both films will appear in Thalian Hall’s Main Theatre. 310 Chesnut St. thalianhall.com. $8.

SHORT FILM CRITIQUE NIGHT

March 5, 8pm, $6: This is a great night for filmmakers to screen and have the audience and fellow filmmakers critique their films. RHODYWOOD Wilmington, 1919 Carolina Beach Rd.

CINEMA SISTERS

March 6-7, 6-9pm: 4th Annual Cinema Sisters International Film Festivals opens with a Friday night welcoming

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). Apr. 2, John Brown Quintet. CAM, 3201 S. 17th St. cameronartmuseum. org. 270 Randall Dr. operawilmington. org

WILMINGTON SYMPHONY MASTERWORKS

March 14, 7:30pm, $17-$47: Concert: Banquet of Baroque. The Wilmington Symphony Orchestra will perform music of Baroque masters Handel and Bach with a side order of selections from Italian and French composers. The Wilson Center, 703 N. 3rd St.

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.

MISS VELVETEEN VAUDEVILLE VARIETY EXTRAVAGANZA

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

16 Cold Draft Beers

Join The n Rebellio Today ST. PATRICK’S DAY LIVE MUSIC Steve Gossin and John Hussmann from 12:30pm7:30pm

• American comfort food, with a Southern twist • Handpicked bourbons and whiskeys • House-made barrel-aged cocktails • Excellent wine selection • 34 beers on draft Mon. 4pm-12am • Tues.-Thurs. 11:30am-12am Fri. & Sat. 11:30am-1am • Sun. 11:30am-12am

15 S. Front St. 910-399-1162 www.rebellionnc.com

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SPECIALS: Voted Best Fine Dining 2018

TUES. NIGHT: 1/2 P rice W ines by the G lass WED. NIGHT: 1/2 P rice D raft b eers sUn. brUnch: M iMosa s Pecial

HOURS: TUES. - SAT., 5 P.M. SUN. BRUNCH, 10 A.M. - 2 P.M.

ig: @rxrestaurantandbar fb: facebook.com/rxwilmington

WWW.RXWILMINGTON.COM 421 C astle s t . (910) 399 - 3080

PLEASE TAKE A MINUTE & VOTE FOR US FOR BEST TOUR

STARTING NEXT WEEK (3-8-20)

WE ARE CRUISING EVERYDAY EXCEPT MONDAYS

SHOP SUPERVISOR

EAGLES ISLAND CRUISES Visit us on the Riverwalk! 212 S. Water Street 910-338-313 4 â&#x20AC;¢ email: info@wilmingtonwt.com

HANDICAP ACCESSIBLE

Follow us

BAR ON BOARD WITH ALL ABC PERMITS

Complete Schedule: wilmingtonwatertours.net 48 encore | march 4 - march 10, 2020 | www.encorepub.com

Saturday Feb. 29th: 12,1, 2, 3 & 4pm Sunday March 1st: 12,1, 2, 3 & 4pm Go North & South: Cruise 2 consecutive Eagles Island cruises. Giving you a total of 1 hour 40 min on the river.

Even hours we cruise north long the Historic Downtown Riverfront & behind Eagles Island towards the Brunswick River. You will get up close to the Battleship, learn about rice plantations, and view shipwrecks, flora & fauna.

On the odd hours we cruise south to the state ports, learn about the importance this port played during the Civil War & much more.

We are looking for outgoing & self-motivated individuals with superior customer service skills and strong leadership qualities to supervise, train & develop our shop associates in all aspects of our business.

Please call to schedule a time to meet & fill out application.

910-338-3134 Positions also open for sales associates!

BIZZY BEE WATER TAXI

3 pick up locations in Downtown Wilmington.

Chandlers Wharf (bottom of Orange Street) Market Street Ballast Hotel (on riverwalk by Ballast Hotel)

March 6, 9:30pm: Witness an incredible, tantalizing, extraordinary, barzarre experience! Enjoy a late night comedy special, some cheeky Burlesque, and fire, too!

The performance art will be followed by a Pin-up contest open to all ages, orientations, and body types! $15, Barzarre, 1610 Castle St. facebook.com/barzarrenc

CATS

March 24, 7:30pm, $46-$96: "Cats," the record-breaking musical spectacular by Andrew Lloyd Webber that has captivated audiences in over 30 countries and 15 languages, is now on tour across North America! Winner of seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Cats tells the story of one magical night when an extraordinary tribe of cats gathers for its annual ball to rejoice and decide which cat will be reborn. The original score by Andrew Lloyd Webber ("The Phantom of the Opera," "School of Rock"), original scenic and costume design by John Napier ("Les Misérables"), all-new lighting design by Natasha Katz ("Aladdin"), all-new sound design

by Mick Potter, new choreography

by Andy Blankenbuehler ("Hamilton") based on the original choreography

by Gillian Lynne ("Phantom"), and direction by Trevor Nunn ("Les Mis"). Show for ages 5 and up. The Wilson Center, 703 N. 3rd St. www.capefearstage.com

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. www.artscouncilofwilmington.org

LIZ HOSIER

Art in Bloom and Checkered Cab present “The Ways of Wax: Works by Liz Hosier“—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 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. Platypus & Gnome, 9 S. Front St.

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.

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. www.aibgallery.com.

ETHAN ALLEN ART SHOWCASE

Ethan Allen is partnering with Art in Bloom Gallery to feature original art by contemporary and traditional artists in the Ethan Allen Design Center on South College Road. Customers can create the look they will love from classic to contemporary with free interior design help from Ethan Allen’s design pros.

The design pros are partnering with artists Bob Bryden, Debra Bucci, Richard Bunting, Bradley Carter, Judy Hintz Cox, Elizabeth Darrow, Brian Evans, Joanne Geisel, Naomi Jones, Helen Lewis, Joan McLoughlin, Angela Rowe, Olaf Schneider, Gale Smith, and Traudi Thornton to create unique interiors with fine art. Reception on Saturday. 818 S College Road. Store hours are Mon.-Sat., 10am-6pm and Sun., 12-5pm. On view through March 9.

ZINES

Zines (shortened from the word “magazines”) are small, independent publications that come in the form of mini encore | march 4 - march 10, 2020 | www.encorepub.com 49

pamphlets or DIY magazines and have long been an underground or counter-cultural vehicle for personal and political expression. This exhibit celebrates zines from a variety of sources and collections. Cultural Art Building, 5270 Randall Pkwy. Free.

port, inform, and provide learning opportunities for area artists and advocates of the arts. ALL welcomes artists and art lovers not only from Leland but also from neighboring communities. To learn more, go to www.artleagueofleland.org. Leland Cultural Arts Center, 1212 Magnolia Village Way

dance

DECADES OF DECOR HOME SHOW

The Home Show for 2020 is an exciting partnership with another juggernaut downtown business: Decades of Decor. New Elements Gallery artists will be paired with gorgeous mid-century offerings from Dawn Glover. We are excited to bring you another innovative and fun show that combines our artists and furnishings that will inspire your imagination. The reception will take place on February 28th from 6-9p as part of the Arts Council of Wilmington Fourth Fridays, and will remain up until March 21! newelementsgallery.com. New Elements Gallery, 271 N. Front St.

CONNECTIONS: RIVERS AND WATERWAYS

Burgwin-Wright House welcomes artist, Marion Clark Weathers, for her show “Connections: Rivers and Waterways” with an opening reception. Weathers’ paintings are inspired by rivers and waterways and the ways they connect us. Her paintings celebrate the river’s beauty, its watery reflections, and at-

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. $17.50/person/mo.

SENIOR LINE DANCING

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

Free! Pre-reg. is not required. 1101 Manly Avenue

mospheric perspective. For those of us lucky enough to live near the water, waterways are a magical influence in our daily lives. Marion’s paintings depict recognizable landmarks, life on the river in general, or just people enjoying their favorite fishing spot. Admission is free; the show will remain on exhibit through March 21. Art gallery hours are Monday-Saturday 10am4pm. 224 Market St. facebook.com/ events/475708266442295.

GIVE BACK TUESDAYS! For every order of The Copper Penny’s109 Chestnut Chicken Sandwich or Ft . Fisher Fish & Chips and Wilmington Brewing Company’s Penny Pale Ale sold on Tuesdays through March, $1.09 will be donated to Turning the Wheel.

This partnership is made possible from The Copper Penny, Apple Annie’s Bakeshop and Wilmington Brewing Company.

Through the arts with authentic movement, Turning the Wheel uses the power of art to build healthy communities, foster leaders and share the joy of self-expression.

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GALE SMITH AT ALL

March 5, 4pm, free: Award-winning pleinair painter Gale Smith often uses copper panels as her canvas. She will discuss how she weaves paintings together to create a dimensional piece of art. The curves she creates in the metal allow her to form her artwork into thought-provoking structural designs. Her work may be found in galleries throughout North Carolina, private collections, and corporate installations. The meeting is is free and open to the public.

ALL’s mission is to encourage, guide, sup-

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

CONTRA DANCE

Energetic, contemporary American country dancing, every Tuesday. A caller will lead the dancers through a sequence of moves. People are friendly and beginners always welcome, no experience necessary! It’s fun for all ages, teenagers through seniors. No partner needed; you’ll dance with everybody there! Recommended dress is cool and casual, with soft-soled shoes. $5. • St. Patty’s Day Dance, March 10, 7:30pm.

Live music by the band Box of Chocolates. 5th Ave United Methodist Church, 409 S 5th Ave. www.wilmingtoncontradance.info

BELLYDANCE SHOWCASE

Ahmose is excited to bring you this month's Bellydance Showcase at The BarZarre (formerly The Juggling Gypsy). Featuring some of the best dancers in the region and beyond! Each showcase is unique and different! Featuring also live original by the talented Dr. Z! Come out for a great evening of music and dance! We hope to see you there! reservations are highly recommended as seating is limited in this cozy and intimate atmosphere! Hope to see you there! Barzarre, 1610 Castle St. barzarre.com

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.

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

March 6-7, 7/9:30pm: Michael Palascak was named the 2018 Stand-up of the Year by the Late Nite Last Week podcast for his performance on “The Late Late Show with James Corden.” He’s also done stand-up on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” “CONAN,” “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” “Letterman, and performed at Montreal’s Just For Laughs Comedy Festival where he taped a set for Kevin Hart’s LOL network. $15: 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! Thurs., 8pm! A brand-new 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.

TURN NC BLUE POLITICS AND PUNCHLINES

March 1, 7pm: TurnNCBlue presents a night of Politics and Punchlines featuring Cliff Cash, Petey Smith McDowell, and Cassidy Santaguida on Sunday, March 1, in The Annex at Brooklyn Arts Center (516 N. 4th St.). Main event and cash bar upstairs 7-9pm. General Admission, $35. Pre-show “Meet the Comedian” reception (6-7pm) and comedy show, $100. Danger Zone: Pre-show meet and greet, two included drinks, personalized swag, front row seats, $150. BrooklynArtsNC.com

FIRST SATURDAY COMEDY SHOW

March 7, 8pm, $15: Cabineer’s Promotions is presenting a comedy show every first Saturday of the month, featuring a comedian that’s been seen on a TV platform, via Comedy Central, Comedy Veiw etc.. Tell a friend and come celebrate life with laughter. www. cabineerspromotions.com. Cash App: $CabineersPromotions. Shugah Shak Lounge, 1122 N 4th St. www.cabineerspromotions.com

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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4 | 4PM BASEBALL VS NORTH CAROLINA CENTRAL

FRIDAY, MARCH 6 | 3PM SOFTBALL VS PRESBYTERIAN

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4 | 4PM SOFTBALL VS NORTH CAROLINA

SATURDAY, MARCH 7 | 10AM SOFTBALL VS GEORGETOWN

FRIDAY, MARCH 6 | 2PM WOMENâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S TENNIS VS EAST CAROLINA

SATURDAY, MARCH 7 | 12:30PM SOFTBALL VS NORTH DAKOTA

FRIDAY, MARCH 6 | 12:30PM SOFTBALL VS GEORGETOWN

SUNDAY, MARCH 8 | 12:30PM SOFT VS PRESBYTERIAN

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54 encore | march 4 - march 10, 2020 | www.encorepub.com

Through April 26: 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: 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.

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. • Unfolding Noguchi through May 24, 2020: One of the visionaries of 20th-century American modernism, Isamu Noguchi (1904-1988) developed a uniquely open-ended, and forward-looking perspective on global culture. Working with a deep sense of social purpose across a wide range of disciplines, Noguchi was a connoisseur of ingenuity. He regarded craft and technology (representing the past and the future) as two sides of the same coin and natural allies in sculpting our world for the better. The exhibition provides insight into his genius and artistic exploration of form and material over his sixty year career. From bronze, granite, and aluminum to his paper and bamboo Akari light sculptures, Noguchi pushed the boundaries of what sculpture is and how it is integrated into daily life. • Stories in Print through April 26: Focused exhibition draws attentions to diverse methods of print making from CAM's collection from 1891 through 2012. Artists on view include Mary Cassatt, Don Furst, Maud Gatewood, Juan Logan, and Fred Wilson. These varied artists juxtaposed against the Modernist prints in The Eye Learns highlight CAM's commitment to the art of print making. CAM Café open and serving delicious menu with full bar. Brunch, Sat.

and Sun., 10am-2pm; Tues.-Fri., 11am2pm; Thurs. 5-9pm. Museum, 10am5pm; 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: Handson 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 Wilming-

ton 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 Apr. 12: 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. 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,

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especially of the Atlantic Coast Line, headquartered in Wilmington for 125 years. Interests and activities for all ages, including historical exhibits, fullsize steam engine and rolling stock, lively Children’s 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, 10am4pm, 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.

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 Bella-

my (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 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. Adults $12; Senior, Military, College $10; Students $6; children under 5 are free. 503 Market St. 910251-3700. bellamymansion. org

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

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HIDDEN BATTLESHIP

March 14, noon: For the explorer at heart! Join us for a unique, behindthe-scenes tour of unrestored areas of the Battleship. The four-hour tour consists of small groups with guides. Guests explore the bow (officers’ country, boatswain locker, and descend to the bottom of the ship), third deck (Radio II, brig, after gyro, storage rooms, ammunition handling, Engineer’s office), Engine room #1, superstructure (Captain’s cabin, armored conning tower, maintenance shops), reefer, aft diesel, and climb inside the fire control tower to the top of the ship. The Azalea Coast Radio Club will be in Radio II to explain their work on the ship’s radio transmitters.

It’s the tour that brings out the “Indiana Jones” in all of us, without the snakes! Adults only (ages 16 and up); limited to 40 participants. Registration and payment are due Thursday before the event. $50. Battleship NC, 1 Battleship Rd.

BATTLESHIP 101

experienced through historical interpretations in kitchen and courtyard. 3rd/ Market St. Tues-Sat, 10am-4pm. Last tour, 3pm. 910-762-0570. www.burgwinwrighthouse.com.

March 21, 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 us-

ing Morse code, 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. battleshipnc.com

recreation/education UNC VS. DUKE

March 7, 6pm, free: Make Hell’s Kitchen your St. Patricks and March Madness headquarters! Voted best wings and sports pub! Hell’s will have all your tournament coverage, featuring major games on our 120″ projection screen! ACC Tournament on the 10, 11am-11:30pm. Also, doors open at 9am for our annual Kegs & Eggs Bash on Saturday March 14, presenting our breakfast buffet! Make your reservations now! 118 Princess St. hellskitchenbar.com

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. 910777-8889. susansavia.com/happy-little-singers.

CHARLOTTE’S WEB ICE CREAM LAUNCH

March 5, 3pm: In collaboration with Boombalatti’s Homemade Ice Cream, we are launching an ice cream flavor ahead of TheaterWorks USA‘s performance of Charlotte’s Web on March 14t. Join us at Boombalatti’s downtown location) for the launch of the “Wilbur’s Haystacks—a blend of butterscotch ice cream with mini-marshmallows, a peanut butter swirl and crunchy butterscotch-covered chow mein noodles.

Come in and have your face painted like one of Charlotte’s barn yard pals, do some fun crafts, and enjoy Wilbur’s favorite ice cream flavor! A special discount offer for Charlotte’s Web tickets will be available for attending this event. 1005 N. 4th 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.

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 March 31, 5:30-6:30pm • Zumba, Thursdays, through March 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 appx 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 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

ENERGY AND CHAKRA BALANCING MEDITATION

March 5, 7pm, $35: Join Raessa Edmonds for a guided meditation to balance your Chakras and energy. We will begin this meditation by using some of encore | march 4 - march 10, 2020 | www.encorepub.com 57

Donna Edenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Energy Medicine techniques to tap into your bodyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s energy systems, followed by a guided meditation to gently balance your 7 Chakras.

This meditation will help you feel relaxed and refreshed. Wear comfortable clothing with layers as your body temperature may fluctuate during this meditation. Prana Salt Cave, 7110 Wrightsville Ave., Unit B-8.

INSPIRATION LAB MIXER

March 8, 2pm, free: Inspiration Lab Member/Guest Mixer held at the Brooklyn Arts Center from 2:00-5:00pm. During this free event at the Brooklyn Arts Center learn about everything The Inspi Lab has to offer, from monthly meetups to special programs to an annual conference. There will be delicious bites, a cash bar, giveaways, and a surprise or two. Brooklyn Arts Center, 516 N. 4th St.

FAMILY AND YOGA MEDITATION

March 9, 4pm: Family yoga every Wednesday at 4 pm at Prana Salt Cave! Family yoga is a fun way to help children and adults alike feel connected to their minds and bodies. Enjoy quality time with your kiddos filled with fun, mindfulness, and yoga while reaping all of the benefits of dry salt therapy. This class will be filled with yoga games, breathing exercises, and mindfulness activities. No yoga experience is necessary. $35 for a child/adult combo $10 for each additional child, includes salt therapy.

pranasaltcave.com. Prana Salt Cave, 7110 Wrightsville Ave., Unit B-8.

HOâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;OPONOPONO WORKSHOP

March 11, 10am: Cory Marie Noonan, MA, LMBT is a Certified Hoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;oponopono Practitioner and loves to share the information on how you can heal your relationships through this powerful ancient Hawaiian healing practice. Hoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;oponopono gives deep insight into your relationships in your life and is available to for anyone who chooses to seek this healing. Hoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;oponopono means to â&#x20AC;&#x153;make it right with ancestorsâ&#x20AC;?, it is a healing practice of forgiveness and is a problem-solving process to release memories that are experienced as problems. Join us to learn more about this practice, how you can use Hâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;oponopono in your own life, learn some of the healing tools to call the healing to your life and receive healing while in the Salt Cave.

This will be a mind-opening and reflective workshop aligning your own healing with the inspiration to learn how you can make this world a better place just by being in it.

Prana Salt Cave, 7110 Wrightsville Ave, Unit B-8. pranasaltcave.com

clubs/notices BIKE NIGHT

Bike Night at Macâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Speed Shop, beer, bikes, BBQ. Featuring in concert: South Starr band playing great classic-southern R&R music! Macâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;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, 1241 Military Cutoff Rd.

SENIOR SOCIAL TIME

Tues., 10:30am. Arts & crafts, speakers, movies, trips and more. Free. Maides Park, 1101 Manly Ave.

lectures/readings SLAVERY IN GLOBAL DIASPORA AFRICA

March 5, 5pm: Paul E. Lovejoy will be discussing his book, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Slavery in the Global Diaspora of Africa.â&#x20AC;? He is a Distinguished Research Professor in the Department of History at York University. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, Director of the Harriet Tubman Institute for Research on the Global Migrations of African Peoples, and formerly a member of the UNESCO â&#x20AC;&#x153;Slave Routeâ&#x20AC;? Project. He has published over 30 books and 100 articles and chapters in books on African history and African diaspora history. UNCW Randall Library Auditorium, 601 South College Rd. library.uncw.edu

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March 8, 2:30pm: Poetry by Joan Leotta and Lisa Stice at Art in Bloom Gallery in downtown Wilmington. The reading begins at 3pm. Refreshments provided!

Joan Leotta lives in Calabash, NC, and is a journalist, playwright, short-story writer and author of several mysteries and romances as well as a poet. Lisa Stice is a poet, mother, and military spouse, and the author of two full-length poetry collections. Reading and reception are part of the Second-Sunday Reading Series each month in 2020 at Art in Bloom Gallery. Each reading has a different focus including guest writers and is free and

open to the public. Series celebrates the convergence of the literary and visual arts. aibgallery.com.

A LOOK INTO ELIZA BURGWIN CLITHERALLâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S LIFE WITH DONNA POPE

March 10, 6pm, $5: Diaries provide intimateâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;and often fascinatingâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;accounts of history. Eliza Clitherall, a colonial woman and daughter of John Burgwin, produced a 17-volume diary, which is the inspiration for a presentation by historian Donna Pope. Ms. Pope will lead a talk about the similarities of womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lives then and now. She will specifically address the notion of duty to family and community, while at the same time painting the colonial landscape of the Lower Cape Fear according to Eliza. Admission is free: $5 donation suggested. www.burgwinwrighthouse.com. Burgwin-Wright House and Gardens, 224 Market St.

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 Pavilion 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

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 Oâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;Sullivan | Realtor | Network Real Estate | 804.514.3197 58 encore | march 4 - march 10, 2020 | www.encorepub.com

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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.

• 7 year anniversary celebration, March 7, 2pm: Fermental hosts an afternoon into evening of festivities including: live music, giveaways, rare beers, fine wines, and a culinary visit from local food trucks. Saturday March 7th, 2pm10pm. Food trucks: For The Shell Of It, 2pm; 2 Bros Coastal Cuisine 6pm. Live music with James VanDeuson, 2pm; Andrew Kasab, 4pm; The Smoky Dunes, 6pm; and Boba Funk, 8pm. fermental. net. 910-821-0362. 7250 Market St.

BRUNCH UNPLUGGED

While we’re serving up delicious brunch dishes & drinks we have live music from local Wilmington musicians! Sundays mimosas and cocktails start flowing at 10am, but starting at 11am we have live acoustic music. www.hopssupplyco. com/brunch-unplugged. Hops Supply Co., 5400 Oleander Dr.

FULL MOON AFFAIR

March 9, 6pm: Join us throughout 2020 for our Full Moon Affair. A celestial full moon celebration! Join us each month for our moonlight music series, celestial theme dinner features and libations to celebrate the full moon and the changing tides. Music by Josh Lewis. Event runs rain or shine! oceanicrestaurant. com. Oceanic, 703 S Lumia Ave.

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

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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 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; dropins are welcome. Group provides participants an opportunity to receive introductory info about lupus, encourage the expression of concerns, provide an opportunity 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) 8498271, 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.

ARIES (Mar. 21–April 19)

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22)

Progress rarely unfolds in a glorious, ever-rising upward arc. The more usual pattern is gradual and uneven. Each modest ascent is followed by a phase of retrenchment and integration. In the best-case scenario, the most recent ascent reaches a higher level than the previous ascent. By my estimate you’re in a period of retrenchment and integration right now, Aries. It’s understandable if you feel a bit unenthusiastic about it, but I’m here to tell you it’s crucial to your next ascent. Let it work its subtle magic.

Poet Conee Berdera delivered a poignant message to her most valuable possession: the flesh and blood vehicle that serves as sanctuary for all her yearnings, powers, and actions. “My beloved body,” she writes, “I am so sorry I did not love you enough.” Near the poem’s end she vows “to love and cherish” her body. I wish she would have been even more forceful, saying something like, “From now on, dear body, I promise to always know exactly what you need and give it to you with all my ingenuity and panache.” Would you consider making such a vow to your own most valuable possession, Leo? It’s a favorable time to do so.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20) You are most likely to be in sweet alignment with cosmic rhythms if you regard the next three weeks as a time of graduation. I encourage you to take inventory of the lessons you’ve been studying since your birthday in 2019. How have you done in your efforts to foster interesting, synergistic intimacy? Are you more passionately devoted to what you love? Have you responded brightly as life has pushed you to upgrade the vigor and rigor of your commitments? Just for fun, give yourself a grade for those “classes,” as well as any others that have been important. Then—again, just for fun—draw up a homemade diploma for yourself to commemorate and honor your work.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20) Are you ready to seize a more proactive role in shaping what happens in the environments you share with cohorts? Do you have any interest in exerting leadership to enhance the well-being of the groups that are important to you? Now is an excellent time to take brave actions that will raise the spirits and boost the fortunes of allies whose fates are intermingled with yours. I hope you’ll be a role model for the art of pleasing oneself while being of service others.

CANCER (June 22-July 22) Cancerian author Lionel Trilling (1905–1975) was an influential intellectual and literary critic.

One of his heroes was another influential intellectual and literary critic, Edmund Wilson. On one occasion, Trilling was using a urinal in a men’s room at the New School for Social Research in New York. Imagine how excited he was when Wilson, whom he had never met, arrived to use the urinal right next to his. Now imagine his further buoyancy when Wilson not only spoke to Trilling but also expressed familiarity with his work. I foresee similar luck or serendipity coming your way soon: seemingly unlikely encounters with interesting resources and happy accidents that inspire your self-confidence.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22) Luckily, the turning point you have arrived at doesn’t present you with 20 different possible futures. You don’t have to choose from among a welter of paths headed in disparate directions. There are only a few viable options to study and think about.

Still, I’d like to see you further narrow down the alternatives. I hope you’ll use the process of elimination as you get even clearer about what you don’t want. Let your fine mind gather a wealth of detailed information and objective evidence, then hand over the final decision to your intuition.

ond, if anyone is borrowing from you without making the proper acknowledgment, speak up about it.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) “Vainly I sought nourishment in shadows and errors,” wrote author Jorge Luis Borges. We have all been guilty of miscalculations like those. Each of us has sometimes put our faith in people and ideas that weren’t worthy of us. None of us is so wise that we always choose influences that provide the healthiest fuel. That’s the bad news, Sagittarius. The good news is that you now have excellent instincts about where to find the best long-term nourishment.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19) Poet Adrienne Rich wrote, “When a woman tells the truth, she is creating the possibility for more truth around her.” I believe this same assertion is true about people of all genders. I also suspect right now you are in a particularly pivotal position to be a candid revealer: to enhance and refine everyone’s truth-telling by being a paragon of honesty yourself. To achieve the best results, I encourage you to think creatively about what exactly it means for you to tell the deep and entire truth.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18)

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22) Certain artists are beyond my full comprehension.

Maybe I’m not smart enough to understand their creations or I’m not deep enough to fathom why their work is considered important. For example, I don’t enjoy or admire the operas of Wagner or the art of Mark Rothko. Same with the music of Drake or the novels of Raymond Carter or the art of Andy Warhol. The problem is with me, not them. I don’t try to claim they’re overrated or mediocre. Now I urge you to do what I just did, Libra, only on a broader scale.

Acknowledge that some of the people and ideas and art and situations you can’t appreciate are not necessarily faulty or wrong or inadequate. Their value may simply be impossible for you to recognize. It’s a perfect time for you to undertake this humble work. I suspect it will be liberating.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21) Scorpio-born Ralph Bakshi has made animated films and TV shows for over 60 years. His work has been influential. “I’m the biggest ripped-off cartoonist in the history of the world,” he says. Milder versions of his experience are not uncommon for many Scorpios. People are prone to copying you and borrowing from you and even stealing from you.

They don’t always consciously know they’re doing it, and they may not offer you proper appreciation. I’m guessing that something like this phenomenon may be happening for you right now. My advice? First, be pleased about how much clout you’re wielding. Sec-

Through some odd Aquarian-like quirk, astrologers have come to harbor the apparently paradoxical view that your sign is ruled by both Saturn and Uranus. At first glance, that’s crazy! Saturn is the planet of discipline, responsibility, conservatism, diligence, and order. Uranus is the planet of awakening, surprise, rebellion, barrier-breaking, and liberation. How can you Aquarians incorporate the energies of both? Well, that would require a lengthy explanation beyond the scope of this horoscope.

But I will tell you this: During the rest of the year 2020, you will have more potential to successfully coordinate your inner Saturn and your inner Uranus than you have had in years. Homework: Meditate on how you will do just that.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20) In 1637 renowned English poet John Milton wrote “Lycidas,” a poetic elegy in honor of a friend.

Reading it today, almost four centuries later, we are struck by how archaic and obscure the language is, with phrases like “O ye laurels” and “Ah! who hath reft my dearest pledge?” A famous 20th-century Piscean poet named Robert Lowell was well-educated enough to understand Milton’s meaning, but also decided to “translate” all of “Lycidas” into plainspoken modern English. I’d love to see you engage in comparable activities during the coming weeks, Pisces: updating the past; reshaping and reinterpreting your old stories; revising the ways you talk about and think about key memories.

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CROSSWORD

CREATORS SYNDICATE 2020 STANLEY NEWMAN

WWW.STANXWORDS.COM 3/1/20

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Kim MaeJaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s

CHANGMU Korean Dance Company

Apr. 8, 2020 At 7:30 Pm Wilson Center

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