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48 breweries. 9 writers. 1 mission: Drink our way through the Triangle’s best beers. — P. 11
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Durham W Chapel Hill
Wake Up Wit h Me
VOL. 37 NO. 5
CONTENTS NEWS 8 Think McDougald Terrace is an anomaly? Think again. 9 Wake wants you to climb the economic ladder.
BY THOMASI MCDONALD
BY LEIGH TAUSS
FEATURES 11 For The Local Beer Issue, nine writers hit up 48 breweries. Our livers still hurt. FOOD + DRINK 17 Date night at Scott Crawford’s Jolie: a review.
BY NICK WILLIAMS
BY BRYAN HOWE
21 Finding liberation through techno.
BY MARTA NÚÑEZ POUZOLS
Still, except for my sanity, it kind of worked. PRIMER had something like 25,000 subscribers. But the extra 15 or 20 hours a week it took to create it, atop my regular 50- or 60-hour workweeks, proved unsustainable, and the newsletter wasn’t bringing in enough money to justify my misery. In early 2018, we spiked it—or, technically, put it on hiatus.
The Press Club has been wonderfully successful (more on that soon). And to say thanks, we’re restarting PRIMER on Monday, February 3.
ARTS + CULTURE 27 The high cost of cheap chicken. 28 Martha Graham’s new women.
A few years ago, I had this idea for a daily newsletter, something that could generate the revenue that was vanishing from print while repurposing a quick-hits morning-headlines blog we were already doing. Problem was, I can be a little obsessive, so this quick-hits thing morphed into news-analysis deep dives, and before I knew it, I found myself spending two or three or four hours every morning poring over the news and hurriedly writing thousands and thousands of words, usually with lots and lots of typos.
But something unexpected happened: People—more than a few—emailed me to ask if they could pay to bring it back. Long story short, those emails were the seed that eventually sprouted the INDY Press Club, the initiative we launched last year to keep independent local journalism sustainable in the Triangle.
MUSIC 19 The anti-magical powers of Nym.
I
t’s possible I’ve lost my mind.
For you old-timers, it’ll look different and (hopefully) be more manageable for me. For the rest of you, think of it as a curated morning tour of everything you need to know about local news, politics, culture, and events—smarter, faster, and more insightful and comprehensive than any other newsletter around, with original reporting and analysis you won’t find anywhere else.
BY SARAH EDWARDS BY LINDA BELANS
29 An actor with autism excels in Raleigh.
BY BYRON WOODS
Curious? Go to INDYprimer.com, make sure you’re a subscriber, and wake up with me every morning. (Is that weird? Sorry.)
DEPARTMENTS 4 Voices
18 Where to Eat and Drink This Week
5 15 Minutes
23 Music Calendar
6 Quickbait
30 Culture Calendar
One last note: PRIMER will only exist as long as it makes sense to create it. If you haven’t already, please visit KeepItINDY.com today and join the INDY Press Club. Your $5 or $10 or $25 a month means the world to us. And if you want to get your business or event in front of thousands of eyes every morning at (very) affordable rates, we can help. Holler at me. —Jeffrey C. Billman (jbillman@indyweek.com)
7 A Week in the Life
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3
BACKTALK
Last week, Nick Williams visited Deli Edison in Chapel Hill, where owner Sam Suchoff boasted of eating a half-million bagels in his lifetime.
ADRIAN HALPE questions the math: “I’m no journalist, but I did take two classes from UNC’s legendary Professor Shumaker and have always had an interest in the journalistic craft. It was my understanding that articles about people are supposed to contain their age, a detail the Deli Edison piece fails to include about Sam Suchoff. But let’s imagine he’s 60. Counting the extra day of leap years, this means Sam has lived 21,915 days, give or take a few. Five hundred thousand divided by 21,915 equals 22.81; that’s 22.81 bagels Sam would have had to have eaten every single day of his life since the day he was born! “Clearly, Sam’s comment is pure hyperbole, and your article should have noted that. Moreover, it’s such hyperbole that it makes me question whether Sam is on the up-and-up, and whether he really knows bagels or not. My guess is he does not. To be an expert on this subject, one must have been raised in New York City, preferably Brooklyn, and there’s no indication in your article that Sam has that qualification.” Williams replies: “Suchoff was, in fact, raised in Brooklyn.” SUSIE PAGE, a social worker, has questions about the ongoing McDougald Terrace debacle: “I met with a client recently who reported multiple health concerns in her McDougald Terrace townhouse. Kitchen cabinets were leaning heavily from the wall. Floors were repeatedly flooding, and the fix via the property management office was to avoid using the bathtub upstairs to bathe her children. My client is pregnant and worried about having a newborn in a home with possible mold exposure. As there was no foreseeable plan to address these deficiencies, I could only recommend she reach out to Legal Aid. “Now we know that HUD inspections failed McDougald’s in 2019 and 2017, citing life-threatening safety violations including misaligned ventilation systems to furnaces and gas-fed hot-water heaters. We also now know that the DHA board knew about these issues and assumed they would be addressed immediately. I want to know how crisis-management works at DHA and why the CEO’s performance review expressed regret that day-to-day management requirements were preventing him from focusing on ‘higher-level concerns.’”
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voices
Whitewashing Raleigh’s Future Black voices and perspectives are being shut out, and the community knows it BY COURTNEY NAPIER backtalk@indyweek.com
O
n New Year’s Day, I had the plea- Black and Brown people. And what about minimum-wage sure of meeting with the legendary workers, single parents, and those on a fixed income? The professor Linda Dallas, an accom- city council and its staff have said multiple times that plished painter and illustrator who they are not focused on providing housing for residents teaches in the art department at who make 30 percent of the area median income or less. St. Augustine’s University. We sat at Raleigh developers are looking to build homes for the the Starbucks on Peace Street and young singles, couples, and families moving to the area discussed how our city has grown and changed over for tech industry jobs, a sector of the market that is prethe years—and at an ever-dizzying pace. As we talked dominantly white. But this group comprises a dwindling about the transplants to Raleigh, she said something percentage of Raleigh’s actual projected population. profound: “Many of the 60-plus people moving to the Why is this happening—the whitewashing and area are moving away from the very cities that Raleigh “rich-washing” of Raleigh’s future? Why are our govis trying to emulate. And many of those who are moving ernment and media ignoring the proverbial writing on are people of color.” the wall? Immediately, I knew this needed to be written about, I can’t speak to the intent of these entities, but the this whitewashing of the future of Raleigh by our pol- effect is that Raleigh’s Black community is being ignored, iticians and our media. Nearly 30 percent of Raleigh’s and they know it. Their needs are being swept under the population is Black, and, along with every other minority rug, and they know it. Their knowledge and voices and group, it has grown since 2000. Experts estimate that perspectives are being shut out, and they know it. people of color will be the majority of Raleigh’s populaOur city and county are full of Black people with fascition by as early as 2025. nating and insightful perspectives on every topic covered But reading articles like those in the INDY’s 2040 in the Vision 2040 series. Vision series would have you believe that Black and Aaliyah Blaylock, creator of the Black Raleigh FaceLatinx leaders will not exist 20 years from now, at least book page, would have incredible insight regarding the not any worthy of their own column. Out of the 13 con- future of media. There are two HBCUs in downtown tributors tackling topics like the future of housing, pol- Raleigh with professors and students who could share itics, art, and the robot apocalypse—not counting the important perspectives on the future of education. sections on the future of the Triangle’s municipalities, Wanda Coker has been on the frontlines of the fight which had multiple authors—there was only one person for fair and affordable housing and deserves a column of color represented (shout-out to the realest, Zainab all her own. Mike Williams, the creator of the Black Baloch). Black culture was mentioned in the piece about on Black Project, is an authority on the Triangle’s arts hip-hop being a future subject of arts education, but it scene and has a clear vision of its future that ought to was written by a white man. be heard far and wide. Similarly, The News & Observer recognized former There were some brilliant minds represented in the DHIC executive director, Greg Warren, as its 2019 Tar 2040 Vision series, as there are in City Hall, but they Heel of the Year, but left out the fact that DHIC was do not accurately represent the diversity of Raleigh or founded by Raleigh’s first and only Black mayor, Clar- Wake County. The great science-fiction novelist Octavia ence Lightner, in 1974. It seems we didn’t exist as lead- Butler said, “Whites represent themselves, and that’s ers in the past, either. plenty. Share the burden.” When you look at City Hall, the future is just as pale. Black people exist in Raleigh’s future, and the future Conversations about affordable housing are mostly refer- is now. 2 ring to blue-collar workforce housing, meaning Raleigh’s Voices is made possible by contributions to the teachers, first responders, and government workers—proINDY Press Club. Join today at KeepItINDY.com. fessions where there is a gross underrepresentation of
COURTNEY NAPIER is a Raleigh native, community activist, and co-host of the podcast Mothering on the Margins.
15 MINUTES
PHOTO BY JADE WILSON
Nick Wallhauser, 35 Member of the Durham-based beat-music collective and label Raund Haus BY BRIAN HOWE bhowe@indyweek.com
So, Raund Haus dropped a record last week.
What else is coming up for Raund Haus?
Pixl Prymd, who was part of our Seemingly Singles series, he’s brothers with J0eru, who we released in 2018. They’re twins from Fredericksburg, Virginia. And they’re very good friends with b0nds, who we also released in Seemingly Singles. They do what could be thrown into lo-fi hip-hop, but Pixl Pyramid, what makes him different is that he plays synths through VSTs or hardware, and it is a very lo-fi vibe, but he doesn’t really use samples.
Our schedule’s pretty stacked. Ronnie Flash went from making very lo-fi homework beats—like, if you found a “study beats” playlist, his old music would be in there—but he totally flipped it, and he’s making really good up-tempo dance music. That comes out March 20. To reach further than Virginia, in May, we’re releasing a compilation from a crew in Tokyo. It’s boom-bap, very slappy, dusty sample-type stuff. I’m super pumped for that because of my personal connection. [Wallhauser lived in Japan for five years.] This hasn’t been announced yet, but in March, we’re going to work with [house music party] The Floor. We’ve worked with Party Illegal, with Art of Cool, with Moogfest, but we’ve never worked with The Floor. Our genre keeps spreading. Like Ronnie Flash, a lot of people are going that direction. I think it’s awesome. W
When Raund Haus reaches outside of North Carolina, how do you decide who to release? Reaching out to people like that, what we get to do is host them here, which [we did last week] with Pixl Prymd at The Mothership. This goes all the way to people like Dibia$e—everyone who’s come here has left so pumped about their experience. I think it says a lot for the artists here and the community that comes to support those things.
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January 29, 2020
5
Q UIC KBA I T
The State of Our Anti-Union State
States with Highest & Lowest Union Membership Rates (+ Poverty Rates) Hawaii 23.5% (8.8%) New York 21% (13.6%) Washington 18.8% (10.3%) Rhode Island 17.4% (12.9%) Alaska 17.1% (10.9%)
L
ast week, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released a report on union membership in the U.S., and—no surprise here—the percentage of workers who belong to a union continues its precipitous decline, dropping 0.2 points to 10.3 percent from 2018 to 2019. (In 1983, the first year the BLS collected this data, union membership was at 20.1 percent.) Public-sector workers are five times more likely than private-sector workers to be union members; blacks are slightly more likely to be to join unions than whites, Asians, or Hispanics; and union members tend to earn more a week than nonunion members. North Carolina, of course, is a notoriously anti-labor state and has been for decades. In 1947, it banned closed shops; 12 years later, it barred public employees from collective bargaining. Not coincidentally, it consistently has one of the lowest union membership rates in the country— and it also hews to the federal minimum wage and has a Department of Labor that safeguards corporations more than workers. Let’s dig into the fruits of our anti-labor.
Note: All five of these states have minimum wages in excess of $10 per hour.
South Carolina 2.2% (15.3%) North Carolina 2.3% (14%) Texas 4% (14.9%) Virginia 4% (10.7%) Georgia 4.1% (14.3%) Note: All five of these states match the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour.
By the Numbers Median Weekly Earnings, Full-Time Wage & Salary Worker Union Member Nonunion Member
$1200
Average Weekly Wage Q4 2018 UNITED STATES
$1,144 NORTH CAROLINA
$1,013
$1000 $800 $600 $400 $200 $0
Ashley Canady
Ashley Canady, the president of the McDougald Terrace residents council, was tired of living in a hotel room and subsisting off of mac-andcheese cups. So last Tuesday, she made her presence known at the Durham City Council: “If I have to disrupt every city function, every county function, I want it. Because if they disrupt our lives, we ’bout to disrupt theirs.” Two days later, she and other Mac residents disrupted a council work session. On Friday—despite death threats—she appeared with council member Jillian Johnson and Bernie Sanders’s campaign co-chair Nina Turner at a town hall in East Durham, where she said she plans to run for city council and demanded the recall of the DHA board and executive director Anthony Scott. Through her activism, Canady is making sure that no one forgets the Mac’s residents as the crisis recedes from the headlines—not today, not next month, not next year.
6
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lower in North Carolina than the national average
Note: Five urban counties—Mecklenburg, Durham, Orange, Wake, and Forsyth— had an average weekly wage of greater than $1,000. The other 95 counties’ average wages were less than $1,000.
All
Black Woman
Hispanic Man
27th
The Good, The Bad & The Awful d goo
11.5%
Thom Tillis bad
There are probably senators who’ve acquitted themselves just as poorly during Trump’s impeachment, but they don’t represent North Carolina. And so we’re once again going to talk about Senator Thom Tillis, a human-squid hybrid who has somehow survived 59 years on Earth without a backbone. Tillis, who’s been diligently kissing Trump’s derriere ever since his national border emergency flipflop last year, long ago declared Trump’s innocence. But on Sunday night, the news about John Bolton’s book— and Bolton’s claim that Trump told him he was linking the Ukrainian aid to an investigation into the Bidens— gave Tillis another chance to show a smidge of moral courage. Here was a bona fide conservative refuting the president’s chief defense; who wouldn’t want to learn more? Well, Thom Tillis. By Monday morning, he’d reiterated his position: Nothing to see here, move along.
ful
North Carolina's rank out of 50 for economic growth by % change in GDP, Q3 2019
Dennis Nielson
Dennis Nielson, 71, a gun-shop owner in Johnston County, is running in the Republican primary for state Senate. He is also accused of domestic violence. But that’s just the beginning. As Carolina Public Press reported, Nielson allegedly told one of his primary opponents that she’s not qualified to hold office because she’s a woman. (Nielson denies that.) And according to records Nielson provided to The Wilson Times—he believed “the paperwork is proof that any woman can say whatever she wants and officials will automatically believe her,” the paper reported—his wife’s application for a restraining order accused him of taking her cellphone and keys, preventing her from working, bullying her disabled son, tracking her movements with electronic devices, physically assaulting her, and threatening to file criminal charges against her unless she had sex with him. He also gave her an eight-page document on “How to be a submissive wife.” (Side note: Nielson refused to discuss the domestic violence allegations with a lady reporter from the Times, so the paper reassigned the story to a man, which is bullshit.) If elected, Nielson told the Times, he wants to make it harder for women to file #MeToo-type allegations. Of course he does.
aw
A WE E K IN THE L IFE 1/20
LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR DAN FOREST, a candidate for governor, marked the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday by telling black preachers that Planned Parenthood was founded to eradicate black people. He appears to have forgotten the time Dr. King accepted an award from Planned Parenthood in 1966.
1/21
SUPERIOR COURT JUDGE DAVID LEE ruled that the state isn’t meeting its constitutional obligation to provide students with a sound basic obligation and ordered leaders to “work expeditiously” to make changes. Pharma giant ELI LILLY announced that it will open a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in 2023, bringing more than 400 jobs to RTP—after receiving $12 million in state and local incentives. Relocated MCDOUGALD TERRACE RESIDENTS disrupted a Durham City Council meeting to complain about their increasingly lengthy stay in area hotels.
1/22
After the NCAE Organize 2020 Racial & Social Justice Caucus surveyed school employees about a possible strike to protest a lack of raises, the NORTH CAROLINA ASSOCIATION OF EDUCATORS decided not to authorize any statewide action—for now. It’s against state law for teachers to strike; they could lose their jobs and licenses or be charged with a misdemeanor. BOB HALL, the former executive director of Democracy NC, filed a complaint with the State Board of Elections seeking an investigation of the North Carolina division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans and its PAC, NC Heritage. Among other things, he alleges that the nonprofit SCV illegally contributed to the PAC.
1/23
THE GOVERNOR’S COMMISSION ON ACCESS TO SOUND BASIC EDUCATION, created by Governor Cooper, released a report echoing many of Judge Lee’s findings, including that the state’s education funding is insufficient. The budget standoff between the General Assembly and Cooper might delay the opening of the N.C. SCHOOL OF SCIENCE AND MATHEMATICS’ western campus in Morganton, which needs $3.39 million allotted in the budget to open in August 2021. State health officials said they were investigating a possible CORONAVIRUS INFECTION of a person who arrived at RDU Airport and had recently visited Wuhan, China.
1/24
THE DHA announced that McDougald Terrace residents will have to stay in hotels through at least the first week of February while repairs continue. ATTORNEY GENERAL JOSH STEIN joined a federal lawsuit filed by 20 other state attorneys general seeking to ban 3-D printed guns. The Durham-based organic energy drink company MATI—which was founded in 2012 by Duke student Tatianna Birgisson, who left the company in 2018—announced that it was shutting down.
1/25
State health officials reported that the POSSIBLE CORONAVIRUS CASE was a false alarm.
1/26
Thousands of people convened in downtown Raleigh for the fourth-annual WOMEN’S MARCH, protesting President Trump, Senator Thom Tillis, and assaults of reproductive rights.
1/27
(Here’s what’s happened since the INDY went to press last week)
The morning after revelations that former national security adviser John Bolton’s book will say that Trump told him that aid to Ukraine was linked to an investigation into the Bidens—directly undercutting the president’s defense—THOM TILLIS maintained that he saw no need for witnesses.
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January 29, 2020
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N E WS
Durham
There’s No Money Across the country, underfunded public housing agencies need $70 billion for repairs they can’t afford. McDougald Terrace isn’t an anomaly. BY THOMASI MCDONALD tmcdonald@indyweek.com
A
fter McDougald Terrace residents were displaced in early January, Durham Housing Authority executive director Anthony Scott blamed decades of failed federal policy for the issues plaguing the city’s oldest public housing complex. From the beginning, Scott told the INDY last week, public housing was designed to be uncomfortable so that residents would want to move out. But in Durham, “that [didn’t] work for black folk who [had] limited places to go. White folk could get on their feet and move out. Black folk faced restrictive covenants and redlining, so they couldn’t get [housing loans].” Over the years, public housing was chronically underfunded, and housing complexes became hives of crime and poverty. They were viewed as something separate from the rest of their communities and left to decay. No one lives at McDougald Terrace or anyplace like it by choice, Scott says, pointing out that the city’s average public housing resident earns less than $10,000 a year. The situation has only become more tenuous under the Trump administration. Every one of the president’s budget proposals has sought drastic cuts to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the agency that funds public housing. His most recent budget called for eliminating the Public Housing Capital Fund, which goes toward the upkeep and maintenance of communities like McDougald Terrace, and cutting the Public Housing Operating Fund by 38 percent. “Public housing’s allocation is less than what it should be,” Scott says. “It’s been going on for years. Housing authorities have pushed back time after time for more capital funds.” As with most presidents, Congress hasn’t taken Trump’s budgets as gospel, especially after Democrats took the House and Representative David Price, who represents parts of the Triangle, became chairman of the Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development. On December 20, Trump signed a funding bill that included more public housing money than his administration asked for. On January 3, the DHA began relocating 280 McDougald Terrace households to area hotels after inspections 8
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discovered dangerously elevated carbon monoxide levels from gas stoves, furnaces, and water heaters. (From November to January 1, three infants died at the Mac; their causes of death are unknown, though the state medical examiner ruled out carbon monoxide.) With the media’s attention focused on the complex, residents also pointed out a host of other longstanding but unaddressed issues, including lead paint, mold, sewage problems, crime, bed bugs, and roaches. Last week, tensions boiled over. Led by residents council president Ashley Canady, about 50 Mac tenants disrupted a Durham City Council meeting on Tuesday and then another on Thursday. Canady has called for Scott’s removal and the resignation of the DHA board. “I understand the anger and frustration they have,” Scott says. “I understand that it comes to me. But I also want them to understand that it’s bigger than the Durham Housing Authority, too.” What’s happening at the Mac parallels the public health challenges facing public housing communities across the United States, says David Weber, a policy analyst with the Public Housing Authorities Directors Association, whose members represent 3,200 housing authorities nationwide. “There are many, many, many public housing communities facing these problems—New York City in recent years, Wellston, Missouri, and Cairo, Illinois, where there have been deaths due to carbon monoxide,” Weber says. Aside from addressing these crises, however, federal officials have squelched funds for the kind of normal repairs that any homeowner would do on aging properties, Weber says—things like roofs, furnaces, windows, and plumbing and electrical work. “The situation in Durham underscores the result of years of underfunding public housing,” Price told the INDY. “These hazards arise as a function of poor maintenance. The need is great. Public housing in general really needs to be more generously funded.”
He admits that there’s “very little money for new public housing,” and existing housing is perpetually underfinanced. At current funding levels, Price says, the DHA and other housing agencies don’t have enough money to do what they need to do. In March, Scott shared his concerns about funding with Price’s subcommittee, telling members that “we are now at a critical stage for needing aggressive action to undertake affordable housing production and preservation.”
“I understand the anger and frustration they have. But I also want them to understand that it’s bigger than the DHA.” A month earlier, the House Committee on Financial Services had received a memo calling for greater investment in affordable housing infrastructure, including the 1.1 million public housing units that are home to 2.6 million people. The memo pointed to a 2010 study commissioned by HUD that estimated that needed public housing repairs will cost $70 billion, and because the work isn’t being done, housing authorities are losing 10,000 units a year. Price says the bill Trump signed in December set aside $45 million in grant funding for housing authorities to combat hazardous materials in their communities. He also points to the Emergency Capital Fund, which has about $30 million that can be used to address health and safety issues. These resources are relevant to the crisis at McDougald Terrace, Price says. “We need to be pushing on both fronts.” W
N E WS
Raleigh
Breaking Down Barriers A partnership between Wake County and Wake Tech aims to help residents climb the economic ladder BY LEIGH TAUSS ltauss@indyweek.com
U
nemployment in Wake County is among the lowest in the nation (3 percent), but the county ranks 95th out of the 100 largest U.S. metros for economic mobility—meaning nearly everyone has a job, but few people are moving up in the ranks. Wake Works, a new partnership between Wake Tech and the county government, hopes to change that. The program, which offers tuition-free trade education through a salaried apprenticeship program, aims to not only help residents get a foot in the door but also to take a step up the economic ladder. “We have folks who are working to make a better life for themselves and would benefit from additional job training but may not be in a position to quit their jobs and go back to school when they have to support themselves or their families,” Commissioner Matt Calabria told the INDY. “This gives folks an opportunity to learn a trade, earn income while they are doing it, and ultimately make a better life for themselves.” The Wake County Board of Commissioners unanimously agreed to contribute up to $500,000 to cover the cost of tuition ($1,216 a semester for in-state students with a full course schedule), fees, books, tools, and uniforms for students enrolled in the program next fall. Wake Tech will cover at least $300,000 in start-up costs and launch a marketing campaign. If enrollment exceeds capacity, Calabria says, the program will seek additional funding through grants and private partnerships. Right now, Wake Tech has about 200 apprenticeships focusing on trades and manufacturing. Wake Works will add
95th
$
$
$
more than 300 apprenticeships, expanding to include health care and hospitality. Apprentices will spend most of the program getting more than 2,000 hours of on-the-job experience in addition to 144 hours of classroom instruction. Starting salaries will be about $24 an hour, triple North Carolina’s $7.25 minimum wage. The goal is “removing barriers” to education, Wake Tech vice president Matt Smith told county commissioners last week. “We exist to make sure that anyone in Wake County that wants an education can get an education. Our enemy is barriers.” Those barriers tend to be systemic, bolstered by racial, gender, and economic inequality. Commissioner James West pointed out the highest concentration of Wake Tech students lives in the 27610 zip code,
Wake County’s rank among the 100 largest U.S. metro areas in economic mobility
which encompasses Southeast Raleigh. The problem, he said, is that “the folks that normally need [this support] the most do not normally actively participate in our city process.” To that end, Wake Works will try to actively recruit minorities and women who are underrepresented in the trades. Enrollment will be first-come, first-serve, with no age limits. Consumers in the Triangle may also benefit, Calabria says, as there are “critical labor shortages that are holding our businesses back.” “They are the people who build our houses, who wire our offices, who weld our machines, who unclog our drains,” Calabria says. “If you don’t have someone who can answer the phone when your air conditioning goes out, and it’s 95 degrees out this summer, you’re going to be waiting for a while.” W
Get a 90 minute private introductory/ evaluation session for $75. For over 20 years, Body & Brain has offered yoga, tai chi, breathwork, and guided meditation in classes and workshops. Body & Brain practice provides practical techniques and programs to help you create health, happiness and peace in your life.
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he Triangle’s beer scene grew up fast in the decade after Pop the Cap. And while new breweries (and cideries) are still coming online, the oncerapid expansion has given way to a kind of maturity. We have established major players. We have funky experimenters. We have national award-winners. And we have places doing all of the above. Across the region, there are consistently good and sometimes excellent breweries cranking out consistently good and sometimes excellent beers, some of which rival the best offerings of Portland or San Diego. Which, when you’re putting together a Local Beer Issue, presents a dilemma: How do you do this scene justice in just a handful of pages? Our solution was to cast a wide net. By our count, there are 48 breweries in Wake, Durham, and Orange Counties, excluding the nanobreweries Dingo Dog and Regulator, as well as the excellent Asheville imports Hi-Wire and Burial. (Our apologies if we missed any.) We asked each which of their beers best represented their work—be it their most popular, their brewer’s favorite, or whatever criterion they wanted to be judged by—and dispatched our writers to go drink and write about it. So join us on this Triangle tour de beer. And then—shameless plug alert!—join us again on March 1 for the first INDYpendent Local Craft Beer Festival at Durty Bull Brewing Company in Durham, featuring 12 local breweries pouring their finest concoctions while you vote for your favorite. Tickets are available at INDYweek.com/upcoming-events/indy-week-events. Without further ado, from A to, well, Y, here are the 48 breweries we visited. —JCB
Ancillary* Fermentation Inside Out IPA (7% ABV) Ancillary is less a standalone brewery than the product of Whit Baker’s hyperactive mind and beer obsession. Two years ago, Baker, the co-owner and brewmaster of Bond Brothers (see below), and fellow Bond Brother Andy Schnitzer partnered with local beer friends, including the president and VP of Fortnight Brewing, to create Ancillary*, a side project that gave them the freedom to experiment. Ancillary*’s beers can be hard to find, as they’re small-batch and released primarily at pop-up events around the Triangle, though a few make their way to bars and bottle shops. Inside Out, a juicy IPA Ancillary* released at its 10th pop-up in December, is hazy and citrusy, packed with grapefruit notes, carries a hint of sweetness, and isn’t weighed down by hoppiness. A pint goes down faster than you’d expect. —JCB ancillaryfermentation.com
Aviator Brewing The Haze is Strong With This One (6.4% ABV) The Haze is a tasty New England IPA with a complex hop profile. The combination of five varieties of hops used in just the right fashion reflects head brewer Mark Doble’s engineering background (and the name is an indication of his love of sci-fi). It’s a fragrant brew—the aroma hits your senses before the glass reaches your lips—that’s immensely satisfying. —CF 209 Technology Park Lane, Fuquay-Varina 919-567-2337 | aviatorbrew.com Barrel Culture Brewing and Blending I Don’t Know if You Know This, But I’m Kind of a Savage (11.5% ABV) Savage is a blend of two braggots—a mead-beer hybrid, made with both honey and barley—fermented with microorganisms that create complexity and deliberate sourness, then refermented on strawberries, Madagascar vanilla, and Videri cocoa nibs. Pours still, a strawberry pink; tart, floral, strawberry jam aromas. On the tongue, the experimental ingredients meld into a tart, dry, lightly honeyed (not sweet), potent sipping beer with a ghost of chocolate and berry, and a finish sweetened by the vanilla. —JJ 4913 S. Alston Ave., Durham 919-908-9659 | barrelculture.com KeepItINDY.com
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Big Boss Brewing Company New Guy (6.5% ABV) Brewer Seth Adams wanted two representative beers for Big Boss, so we had to choose for him. And we concluded that while the ubiquitous Bad Penny would have been the choice for the Big Boss of old, the New England IPA New Guy is more the beer of Big Boss’s future. Named after then-new-to-the-team Adams—though not by his choice—New Guy was one of his first Big Boss recipes and symbolizes the brewery’s “flexibility and a sense of what Big Boss can be.” The Raleigh brewery— founded in 2006, it’s an elder statesman of the scene—wasn’t known for IPAs but now has a line of well-received ones. Along with the style’s typical tropical-fruit notes, New Guy also includes hints of mandarin orange and grapefruit. —CF 1249 Wicker Drive, Raleigh 919-834-0045 | bigbossbrewing.com Bombshell Brewing Lady in Red (5.5% ABV) Bombshell brewer Devin Singley makes four additions of three different hops while creating Lady in Red, a malt-forward, highly approachable American amber ale. Bombshell sees itself as a sort of gateway into the craft beer world, and it sees Lady as a beer that’s complex enough to be interesting but smooth enough for anyone to enjoy. —CF 120 Quantum Drive, Holly Springs 919-823-1933 | bombshellbeer.com Bond Brothers Beer Company Flavor Patterns (7% ABV) Bond Brothers brews a lot of beer in a lot of styles: IPAs, stouts, even a quad to benefit the INDY Press Club, which will be available next month. But do yourself a favor and seek out Flavor Patterns. It’s a raspberry sour conditioned in the bottle on honey for something like two years, which turns the bright red of a fresh raspberry sour into something darker. On the nose, you feel like you walked into a raspberry field; on the tongue, it’s mellower than you expect, yet still bright and delightfully tart. —JCB 202 E Cedar St., Cary 919-459-2670 | bondbrothersbeer.com
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Bull Durham Beer Kolsch Style Ale (4.7% ABV) Housed in the Durham Bulls Athletic Park, Bull Durham produces beers during baseball season that are ideal for a game. The hybrid kölsch style combines the slight fruitiness of an ale with the crispness of a lager. Sparkling, straw-colored with a tight, white head. Light yeasty, bready aroma, with some sweetness and a hint of spicy hops. Light-bodied and easy on the palate, with breadiness and a whisper of citrus. Finishes with a welcome lingering bitterness. —JJ 409 Blackwell St., Durham 919-744-3568 | bulldurhambeer.com
Botanist and Barrel Cidery & Winery Skin Contact (8% ABV) Like all ciders at Botanist and Barrel, Skin Contact benefits from spontaneous fermentation—a process that forgoes controlled yeast strains and instead lets juice ferment naturally. After this initial fermentation of the apple-based cider, Skin Contact is refermented on cherry skins discarded from wine production. The rose-colored cider is unique and almost too drinkable, dry and delicate but with plenty of fruit flavor and the aroma of a good cocktail cherry. —CB 105 Persimmon Hill Lane, Cedar Grove 919-644-7777 | botanistandbarrel.com Brüeprint Brewing Company Zambrüeni (4.7% ABV) Brüeprint’s Eric Wagner says the brewery is all about memories—helping you to make new ones and recall old ones. That’s why he says Zambrüeni is a good representation of the company. It’s a sessionable “hockey lager” designed to evoke nights at the rink, Labatts in hand, cheering on the action. It’s part of a sports-related series that also includes Double Dribbrüe, Brüe Diamond, and Brüe 32. “Zambrüeni is made to finish clean, balanced, and refreshing,” Wagner says. He’s not wrong. The medium-bodied Zambrüeni pours clear with a slight malt aroma and drinks easy, perfect even for when the game goes to OT. —CF 1229 Perry Road, Apex 919-387-8075 | brueprint.com
Brewery Bhavana Till Farmhouse Ale (4.8% ABV) Till tops Brewery Bhavana’s menu of always-on-tap core beers. Belgian-style saisons are Bhavana’s signature, and Till is its most essentialized saison—a reference point for the rest. Low-alcohol, it’s meant to be replenishing and quick-drinking, as saisons have been for centuries of Belgian farmhands on their lunch breaks. It’s Bull City Burger and Brewery beautifully clean and just tangy enough to Hen Peck Rowbust Porter (6.3% ABV) make you want one more. —AC Named for Hen Peck Row, one of Durham’s 218 S. Blount St., Raleigh original streets, this robust porter pours 919-829-9998 | brewerybhavana.com opaque brown-black with a tan head. The aroma is roasty and bready. After a sip, a Carolina Brewery beer drinker might suspect the brewers had Sky Blue Kolsch (4.8%) added unsweetened black coffee, baker’s Sick of IPAs but want something a little chocolate, or cocoa nibs to the brew, but more interesting than lager? This traditional no: The burnt-toast bitterness—just shy of German-style craft beer might be your acrid—comes from roasted malt. It has a full, answer. The Sky Blue Kolsch is bitter but silky mouthfeel, and a sweet, lingering finish crisp, with an initial fizz that disappears with a touch of vanilla. —JJ mid-sip. It’s drinkable and straightforward, 107 E. Parrish St., Durham | 919-680-2333 both of which make it a good place to start bullcityburgerandbrewery.com if you’ve got a long evening (or afternoon) ahead of you. —CB Bull City Ciderworks 460 W. Franklin St., Chapel Hill Taylor’s Travels (6.99% ABV) 919-942-1800 | carolinabrewery.com This one-off cider was made with two Southern heritage apple varieties, Arkansas Clouds Brewing Black and Limbertwig, and no adjunct Midnight Delight (6.7%) flavors, and fermented with wine—not beer— Co-founder John Oldendorf studied beeryeast, then aged eight months in a pinot noir making in Munich, returning with a strict barrel. It pours slightly hazy pale yellow with knowledge of pilsners and maibocks that’s a faint pink tint. The aroma is sweet and formed the bedrock of Clouds Brewing. But vinous. The flavor is lightly tart and winey, Oldendorf and company have found that with a slight natural effervescence and no deviating from the German classics can also apple character or funk, with a dry, short yield tasty—and popular—results. Midnight, finish. —JJ a chocolate stout, might be their biggest hit 305 S. Roxboro St., #3628, Durham yet, incorporating “chocolate” malts (from 919-237-2357 | bullcityciderworks.com dark-brown barley), as well as actual cocoa nibs, for a chocolate flavor that’s sweet but not sugary. Added lactose furnishes a creaminess that’s even smoother when poured through a nitro tap. —AC 1233 N. Front St., Raleigh (brewery); 126 N. West St., Raleigh (taproom); 905 W. Main St., #22, Durham (taproom) cloudsbrewing.com
Compass Rose Brewery Tidal Wave (7% ABV) Hazy beers have had a cultish grip on the beer world lately, but head brewer Justin McConkey says traditional IPAs are making a comeback. For those reconnecting with their IPA roots, Tidal Break—crisp, ultrahoppy, and almost electrically bright—will welcome you with open arms. It’s piney and resinous with a rewarding citrus finish and tastes like what being wide-awake feels like. It’s also award-winning: At last year’s U.S. Open Beer Championship, it landed a bronze medal in the West Coast IPA category. —SE 3201 Northside Drive, #101, Raleigh 919-875-5683 | compassrosebrewery.com Cotton House Craft Brewers Hazy Daze (6.6% ABV) Located in a historic building in downtown Cary, Cotton House is hardly your typical vats-and-brats brewery. And much like the locale, its popular Hazy Daze is a unique, double dry-hopped hazy IPA that accounts for upward of 20 percent of its sales. With a fruity, inviting aroma, the lighter-thanyou-expect IPA offers a robust and flavorful start and, unlike many of its counterparts in the hazy IPA realm, a finish that is as smooth and easy as a lager. —MVM 307 S. Academy St., Cary 984-333-0050 | cottonhousecraft.com Craftboro Brewing Depot Unbound (5.2% ABV) This new brewery aims to honor craft beer traditions rather than reinvent the wheel. Unlike the many pale ales that veer into IPA territory with big hops, this one drinks like a smooth lager. Unbound gets its name from the fact that the type of hop used to make it will rotate with each batch, four to five times per year. The current iteration has hints of caramel without being malty, and a mild flavor overall. —CB 101 Two Hills Drive, #180, Carrboro 919-240-4400 | craftborobrewing.com Crank Arm Brewery Road Hazard (6.2% ABV) This hazy IPA’s can is covered in graphics of a winding road littered with dangers, both real and fantastical, that a cyclist might encounter on a long ride (buses, bees, sharks with lasers)—all befitting a brewery whose motto is “Beer Love, Bike Love.” It’s a refreshing one to enjoy after a long ride: pineapple-juicy and grassy, with a hoppy taste but only faint bitterness. Why feature it? Says co-founder Adam Eckhardt, “All my children are special; just feeling the Road Hazard vibe right now.” —AC 319 W. Davie St., Raleigh | 919-324-3529 facebook.com/crankarmbrew
Durty Bull Brewing Company Barrel-Aged Candiru (12.8% ABV) Owner Matt Pennisi wanted to show off a barrel-aged sour, but it wouldn’t be ready until after we went to print. So instead, we got the Candiru, a monster of a quad that spent 16 months resting in red wine and second-use bourbon barrels. The red wine notes hit first but are quickly brushed aside by the malt’s subtle sweetness. For an ale packing this much punch, it’s not as heavy as you’d expect, though it’s not exactly a chugger, either. It ends up being complex but quaffable, a beer that should be served closer to room temperature than ice-cold, and a very fine example of the form. —JCB 206 Broadway St., #104, Durham 919-688-2337 | durtybull.com
Funguys Brewing Smash Bandicoot (4.55% ABV) The Smash Bandicoot may be aggressively named (and aggressively packaged), but owner Nick Brango says that this session amber is Funguys’ “true flagship” because “it’s accessible to most people.” A biology major, Brango experimented with careful rounds of homebrews before creating the Smash Bandicoot and opening Funguys in April 2018. Smash will hold up to even the snobbiest of amber loyalists: It’s unusually deep-red color could win a beauty contest, and it’s as malty and smooth—with just the right mild floral notes and a sweet, nutty finish—as an amber ale should be. —SE 2408 Paula St., Raleigh 984-200-5311 | funguysbrewing.com
Fainting Goat Brewing Company Der Hoof (5.6% ABV) Brewer Timothy Reichert thinks the approachable, award-winning Der Hoof hefeweizen embodies Fainting Goat’s focus on bringing people together. Brewed with Noble Hallertauer and Tettnanger hops, it’s a classic-style German session beer that’s light-bodied, with only a hint of hops bitterness and a faint echo of cloves. It’s perfect for an evening of getting-to-knowyous, or anything else you’re doing. —CF 330 S. Main St., Fuquay-Varina 919-346-7915 | faintinggoatbeer.com
Fullsteam Brewery Carver (5.5% ABV) Carver is a Vienna-style sweet potato lager resplendent with winter and North Carolina soil. “One of the most important things we do is use our spending dollars to promote agriculture and business around us in a way that is holistic to the beer economy,” says head brewer Erik Myers. Homegrown grain and sweet potatoes, one of the state’s signature crops, furnish a sweet yet earthy, refreshing lager that glows a rosy gold in the January sun. —BH 726 Rigsbee Ave., Durham 919-682-2337 | fullsteam.ag
Fortnight Brewing Company English Breakfast Stout (9.5% ABV) Fortnight prides itself on using products that are as local as possible, which is why its English Breakfast Stout might represent its brand more succinctly than anything else. The bourbon barrels the beer is aged in, as well as the cocoa nibs and coffee beans (from Raleigh-based Larry’s Coffee) that give the English Breakfast Stout its flavor, are all sourced from North Carolina. Fortnight director of operations Colin Spark describes this stout as “something you’d drink with your feet up by the fire, watching a local college basketball game.” It’s a relaxing slow-drinker, a beer with enough smoothness and drinkability to belie its relatively high ABV. —MVM 1006 W. Maynard St., Cary 919-342-6604 | fortnightbrewing.com
Gizmo Brew Works Fake News (5.8% ABV) Some people think it’s a jab at President Trump, while others say they’re owning the libs. Head brewer Joe Walton says he didn’t intend to capitalize on a political moment. Fake News, a juicy, low-ABV New Englandstyle IPA, was finishing its first production run amid the 2016 election cycle. The name struck a chord. “If you read the label, it clearly doesn’t take a side,” Walton says. Fake News drinks like an NEIPA should: not too bitter, a tinge of sweetness provided by hints of fruit, refreshing enough to make you reach for a second (which is why breweries have learned to love these guys). —LT 5907 Triangle Drive, Raleigh 919-782-2099 | gizmobrewworks.com
The Glass Jug Beer Lab Raspberry Pi (4.7% ABV) In its rotating Pi series of Gose-style sours, The Glass Jug Beer Lab showcases local fruits, herbs, and spices year-round. Co-owner Chris Creech singles out each November’s Cranberry & Cinnamon Pi and the currently available Moscow Mule Pi, with ginger and citrus zest, as perennial crowd-pleasers. We tried the Raspberry Pi, beet-juice pink, tart, and sweet but cut with sea salt, its sourness steepening for a moment before shimmering away. Go on Pi Day (March 14) to try flights with bites of—what else?—pie. —BH 5410 N.C. Highway 55, Suite V, Durham 919-813-0135 | glass-jug.com Jordan Lake Brewing Orange Weizen (4.7% ABV) “If we ever run out of our Orange Weizen, riots ensue,” says Jordan Lake Brewing’s self-described Wearer of Many Hats Cat Pearce. In fact, when the brewery took the top-fermented wheat beer off the menu some years ago—it takes considerable time and effort to hand-zest enough oranges for a brew—regulars showed up in droves, ready and willing to zest as many pieces of fruit as necessary to ensure the Orange Weizen would stay tapped indefinitely. With a beer this light and airy, that goes down this smoothly, and that has a flavor profile this well-rounded, it’s no wonder the Orange Weizen is one of Jordan Lake’s tap staples. —MVM 320 E. Durham Road, Cary 919-694-5096 | jordanlakebrewing.com Lynnwood Brewing Concern Hop on Top (7% ABV) Hop On Top was the first IPA brewed at Lynnwood Brewing Concern, and the no-frills favorite is always on tap. That there isn’t anything terribly special about Hop On Top is what makes it special. It’s consistent, robust, and a great beer-drinker’s beer—a typical IPA, except there’s nothing typical about it. Hop On Top combines an active, hoppy mouthfeel and aroma with a smooth finish and little-to-no aftertaste. —MVM 1053 E. Whitaker Mill Road, Raleigh 919-424-7533 | lynnwoodgrill.com
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Little City Brewing + Provisions Mosaic Reprise (4.7% ABV) When Darryl Wells inherited a slate of recipes from Little City’s previous brewer, he was determined to make the Mosaic Reprise session IPA his own. By adding malts to give it more body and a less aggressive feel, Wells’s iteration of the Mosaic Reprise has become an award-winning beer. It’s also one of Little City’s most popular selections. With just enough hoppiness to provide an exciting mouthfeel without a mouthy aftertaste, the Mosaic Reprise is equally at home in a flight and in a pint. —MVM 400 W. North St., Raleigh 919-502-7155 | littlecitybrewing.com Lonerider Brewing Company Sweet Josie (6.1% ABV) Sweet Josie’s seductive glare is a familiar face behind the frosty glass of plenty a gas station, but she started as one of Lonerider’s original homebrews. Now produced at a massive scale, this locally ubiquitous brown ale routinely snags awards due to her versatile nature: dark but not as heavy as you’d expect, with hints of coffee and chocolate, the sweetness lingering in your mouth. It’s at once easy-drinking and thoughtfully made. —LT 8816 Gulf Court, #100, Raleigh 919-442-8004 | loneriderbeer.com The Mason Jar Lager Company Happy Place (4.5% ABV) Mason Jar only brews lagers, which brewer Dave Haydysch says is a very difficult style to tackle because “there’s nowhere to hide.” The first one Mason Jar made was Happy Place, which Haydysch describes as “approachable, very light, crisp, refreshing, with a little malty, biscuity backbone to it”—designed to accompany your favorite activity. It’s a clean, clear brew that nails the landing between malty sweetness and hoppy bitterness. —CF 341 Broad St., #151, Fuquay-Varina 919-557-5303 | masonjarlagerco.com Mordecai Beverage Co. Toasted Coconut IPA (7.3% ABV) When Mordecai owner and head brewer Andrew Christenbury crafted his brewery’s beloved Toasted Coconut IPA in 2013, he was aiming for a tropical IPA that was both easy-drinking and different. What he emerged with was a smooth and delicious IPA with a hint of coconut that is tastefully executed and hardly overwhelming. By achieving a near-perfect balance of the bitterness of a typical IPA with the more
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Ponysaurus Brewing Company Pilsner (5.1% ABV) You can brew a pilsner in two weeks, but Ponysaurus’s takes at least two months. “We judge ourselves on our Pilsner,” says head brewer Rob Meehan. “It’s such a blank slate, and if it isn’t right, people know.” His is both spot-on and original: clear, crisp, and clean, with bready and herby undertones. In each sip, a pleasing bitter bite opens into floral softness. This is a drink-all-day classic when you want satisfaction, not adventure. —BH 219 Hood St., Durham 844-369-7669 | ponysaurusbrewing.com
experimental fruitiness of a brew imbued with coconut, Mordecai’s Toasted Coconut IPA is just enough outside the ordinary. —MVM 2425 Crabtree Blvd., Raleigh 919-831-9125 | mordecaibev.co Neuse River Brewing & Brasserie Bobbi Brune Smoked Belgian Brown Ale (6% ABV) Neuse River owner Ryan Kolarov created the Bobbi Brune in his parents’ garage years before he ever thought to open a brewery. As Kolarov describes it, the ale is something “nobody would enter into a competition,” yet it’s become a staple of Neuse River’s business. Smooth enough to enjoy with a meal, yet complex enough to write about, the Bobbi Brune offers notes of cherrywood smoked malt atop of a robust Belgian brown that drinks smooth and light enough (both in taste and finish) to enjoy all afternoon. —MVM 518 Pershing Road, Raleigh 984-232-8479 | neuseriverbrewing.com Nickelpoint Brewing Company Vienna Lager (5.1%) Nickelpoint bartender Matthew Evans suggested the Vienna Lager, and it’s easy to see why: The popular, award-winning lager is malt-forward with caramel notes and a lingering biscuity aftertaste. Aromatic beers are the name of the game in this tuckedaway Five Points neighborhood brewery:
After sampling a couple of its Europeanstyle ales, you’ll feel like you’ve eaten a full meal. —SE 506 Pershing Road, Raleigh 919-916-5961 | nickelpointbrewing.com Oak City Brewing Company Rise and Unwind (5.5% ABV) If a breakfast beer really exists, this is it. On first whiff, your nose detects a rich, earthy cold brew as the pitch-black liquid fills the glass. On first taste, even with the alcohol tingle, your tongue still leans toward coffee, with just a hint of oatmeal for sweetness. “We dose [it] with a healthy amount of Oak City Coffee Roasters to give it the coffee kick,” says owner Matt Keeler. —LT 616 N. First Ave., Knightdale 919-373-8487 | oakcitybrewingcompany.com Oaklyn Springs Brewery Any Victory Will Do (6.4% ABV) Brewer Daniel Barker’s New England IPA began as a recipe that changed its hop profile in each batch, but his regulars kept clamoring for a return of the first recipe. He gave them what they wanted, and now it’s the one Oaklyn is known for. Any Victory fills the glass with a golden haze. There’s a less-noticeable taste of the tropics than with other New England IPAs, but it isn’t lacking because of that. The smooth, moderately bitter brew is worthy of its crowd appeal. —CF 2912 N. Main St., #100, Fuquay-Varina 919-762-0049 | oaklynsprings.com
Pursuit Ales Toe the Line (4.2%) Recall what we said earlier about Bond Brothers/Ancillary* brewmaster Whit Baker’s beer mind? Here comes his third project, a brand made inside Bond Brothers but sold under a different label, targeted to “those with an active lifestyle.” These are light, low-calorie, low-gluten beers, meant for consumption after a run or climb or long-distance cycle. Toe the Line, brewed for runners, clocks in at 100 calories per 12 ounces (by comparison, the beer-flavored water known as Michelob Ultra has 95 calories) has refreshing, beachy notes of salt and lime. Some advice: Drink this after exercising, not after sampling half of Bond Brothers’ taps. —JCB pursuitales.com R&D Brewing Seven Saturdays (6.2% ABV) The citrus is front-and-center—the grapefruit particularly dominant—but there are also distinct notes of pineapple and guava and, for the very discerning, a bit of onion. A best-seller for R&D, this IPA stands out with a luminescent gold glow. For those who don’t gravitate toward especially bitter beers, the hop-heavy finish might linger for a moment longer than you’d like. But for those who enjoy a bright blend of citrus and bitter, this could make for an ideal summertime beer. —SE rndbrewing.com
Raleigh Brewing Company Hell Yes Ma’am (9.2%) At 9.2 percent ABV but as smooth as a Bud Light, RBC’s signature Belgian strong golden ale could be a dangerous concoction. Could be, that is, if the overwhelming bitterness didn’t overwhelm the slightly fruity kick and thoroughly discourage overindulgence. —LT 3709 Neil St., Raleigh 919-400-9086 | raleighbrewing.com Starpoint Brewing Surfin’ Buddha (6.5%) Starpoint built its rep on small-batch IPAs of all varieties. This year-round beer, available in cans and on draft, is a classic interpretation of a West Coast IPA. Slightly cloudy amber in the glass, with visible effervescence that is less obvious on the palate. Similarly, the aromas of pine, melon, citrus, and apricot are less assertive in the flavor. Lots of hop character, but little overt bitterness, and nice, round caramel malts. It wears its strength gracefully. —JJ 2501 University Drive, Durham 984-219-7538 | beerstudy.com Steel String Brewery Big Mon IPA (6.3% ABV) As Steel String’s flagship brew, Big Mon is one of the few offered year-round. A West Coast IPA, its citrusy hop-forward flavor stays true to the style. The sweetness isn’t overwhelming, and the fruit isn’t bold enough to be juicy, but a subtle peach flavor comes through mid-sip. It’s hearty enough to drink in winter, but not so bitter that it wouldn’t be refreshing in warmer weather. —CB 106 S. Greensboro St., Carrboro 919-240-7215 | steelstringbrewery.com Southern Peak Brewery One Mile Round (5.9% ABV) While One Mile Round is a nod to German history, it doesn’t conform to the 16th-century German beer-purity laws that allowed for nothing other than barley, hops, and water. (The beer is a Kottbusser, which originated in the city of Cottbus, which had a permit to sell the beer within a one-mile radius, hence the name.) The pale wheat ale, which features subversive ingredients like local honey and molasses, may be rogue, but the unusual use of honey (sourced from local beekeepers) is careful and showcases Southern Peak’s attention to detail. The resulting brew is clever and crisp and starry-
sweet, but not overwhelmingly so. It’s also very refreshing. —SE 950 Windy Road, #100, Apex 919-623-0827 | southernpeakbrewery.com Top of the Hill Restaurant and Brewery Old Well White (6% ABV) Established in 1996, Top of the Hill is one of the oldest working breweries in the state. Its flagship Old Well White is a wheat beer that’ll ruin your opinion of Blue Moon forever. The sweet orange flavor is balanced by sour notes and a slight bitterness that comes through at the very end. Beer enthusiasts might pick up on herbal, floral coriander a few sips in, but there’s no need to overthink this sweet wheat. —CB 100 E. Franklin St., #300, Chapel Hill 919-929-8676 | thetopofthehill.com Trophy Brewing & Taproom Mort’s Trophy Lager (4.8%) You’ll have to wait for a pint of Mort’s, Trophy’s newest core beer. The secret is in the foam, which globs atop the lager like a mound of whipped cream through a slow-pour technique that takes about five minutes. When your Mort’s finally slides across the bar, it feels almost like a milkshake, and it’s nearly impossible to sip without giving yourself a foam-mustache. The foam traps the carbonation in the beer, which is nearly bubble-less in the glass, and is designed to keep the beer equally carbonated from first sip to last. Even the foam retains the lager’s crisp flavor, a lightness that seems to demand a patio in the summer sun. —LT 656 Maywood Ave., Raleigh 919-803-1333 | trophybrewing.com Vecino Brewing Co. Proven Hopped Kettle Sour (3.6% ABV) If you’re new to sours, Proven might not be the place to start. The sourness is overwhelming at first, like half a lemon has been squeezed into a light but hopforward pale ale. A few sips in, though, the initial shock wears off, and the low-ABV beer takes on a refreshing quality that likely makes it a favorite among the brewery’s weekly run-club crowd. —CB 300 E. Main St., Suite C, Carrboro 919-537-9591 | vecinobrewing.com
INDYpendent LOCAL CRAFT Beer festival TASTE • VOTE • LEARN Tickets at bit.ly/INDYBeerFest
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e Triangl s Brewer
$30 2 HIGH-END BEERS
Only 125 tickets available
per person 21+ only
PER BREWERY WITH FOOD TRUCK
THE DANKERY
Adoptable Puppies from Hope Animal Rescue on-site!
@Durty Bull Brewery | 206 Broadway St. #104, Durham
Sunday, March 1, 2020 | 2pm-6pm
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Vicious Fishes Here Be Dragons (6.2% ABV) This tropical-fruit-infused New England IPA is the company’s foundational brew, and its iterations through the years—from small volume homebrew to the current easy-drinking form available at multiple locations— mirror the evolution of Vicious Fishes. An aromatic brew that uses four different hops—Galaxy, Citra, Simcoe, Liberty—and an assortment of fruits, Here Be Dragons is pitch-perfect, avoiding bitterness or the sensation of overpowering sweetness. The only challenging part is stopping at one. —CF 132 S. Fuquay Ave., Fuquay-Varina 919-762-7876 | viciousfishes.com White Street Brewing Company Hoptimist (7.5% ABV) We didn’t connect with White Street, so we sampled the beer we’ve seen most often around the area: the Hoptimist, an American IPA that blends Amarillo and Citra hops. From a bottle, it pours copper with a thick head and nose of pine. It drinks lighter than its ABV suggests, but the hops’ grapefruit and mango notes aren’t as strong as the name would have you expect— except at the finish, which is a little bitter. —JCB 218 White St., Wake Forest 919-647-9439 | whitestreetbrewing.com Wye Hill Kitchen & Brewing Oldfield (6% ABV) When colonizers in North Carolina and other Southern states first started clear-cutting forests, they noticed one particularly fragrant species of pine, the tongue-twisting “loblolly,” was always the first to reappear. So when Wye Hill brewer and amateur forager Gregg Winget realized a loblolly was growing in his backyard, he couldn’t help himself. He lobbed off its branches and layered them in the bottom of his fermenter. Out emerged Oldfield, an American pale ale with notes of pine and citrus. It’s a balanced beer, not overly bitter, and leaves behind a refreshing aftertaste. —LT 201 S. Boylan Ave., Raleigh 984-200-1189 | wyehill.com
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For the Love of Miller Lite Keep your fancy IPA.
Give me something cold and cheap. BY NICK WILLIAMS food@indyweek.com When my very good friend—a man of discerning taste, or so I thought—offered me a cold beer on a drooping August afternoon, I gladly accepted. A beer sounded like just the thing to go along with sitting motionless on his back porch. He returned from the kitchen proffering a Miller Lite, which I accepted as if he had just handed me a severed finger. “The fuck is this?” I asked. “When was the last time you had a Miller Lite?” The answer was beyond memory. “I don’t know. Maybe high school?” “Try it,” he insisted. “It’s the best beer in the world.” I considered the lightly sweating can. SABMiller must have sprung for a new graphic design of its flagship, because the can did look appealing: a field of blushing off-white, unadorned except for a cocksure insignia and the word “Lite” inscribed in a vaguely heraldic font that implied origin in some tasteful German castle. Oh well, I thought, pushing aside disappointment in the hospitality skills of a person I thought I knew. It’s only 4.2 percent, and I do have to go back to work today. I cracked it open, sipped, and my palate met a supremely well-mannered little beer man, surfing an icy wave of prickly crispness. It went down—as they say—easy. Wow. Is Miller Lite good? I wondered. Is it, in fact, the best beer in the world? No. To be quite clear, Miller Lite is not the best beer in the world, nor is it “good,” because it is, of course, the end product of corporate scheming aimed at the crassest markets possible. But it is weirdly pleasant, in its own unobtrusive way, and it has gradually—shamefully?—become my beer of choice at backyard hangs, beach days, sneaky hedonistic lunch breaks, and many of the increasingly rare moments when I find myself out on the town. Other corporate beers are objectively awful, especially dive bar faves such as Schlitz, Natural Bohemian, and (the worst of the lot) Miller High Life, which is just an absolutely ruined-ass beer. By comparison, Miller Lite just kind of tastes like, well, nothing. There’s very little of the off-putting sweetness of, say, Budweiser, and other common adjunct flavors such as surplus corn and past-due malt and bison piss are nowhere to be found. There’s just a mildly beery sense of bright hops floating in what is essentially a can of sparkling water. Plus, it’s built for speed, with the caloric volume of a cucumber and the alcohol level to match. This is handy for an ancient dad like me who still occasionally wants to know what the outside world is like after 11:00 p.m. but can no longer brook the ravages of night spent wildin’ out. I can drink like seven Miller Lites before feeling any noticeable effects. (Not that I, uh, have ever done that.) My friend and I aren’t the only ones who feel this way. Saint James and Vin Rouge stock Miller Lite in their beer coolers, where it serves as an acceptable accompaniment to raw oysters. And its popularity among local chefs as a post-work drink-of-choice has kept it in the fridges of all the most conspicuously awesome bars in town. If you doubt Miller Lite’s emergent hipster bona fides, know that you can get tallboys at The Pinhook, long a renouncer of corporate beer (except for, you know, the tens of thousands of PBRs that have crossed its bar-top over the last 11 years.) Yes, I know. Miller Lite sucks. I get it, and I’m prepared for the savage castigation that comes with asserting the virtues of a heartless corporate behemoth. But if we all have to live with the ubiquity of these assembly-line food products, I think it’s important to consider them based on their actual value. Hell, if The New Yorker can spend 1,364 words arguing that a Popeye’s chicken sandwich is a messianic force for good, surely I can be honest about my fondness for this beer-flavored version of La Croix.
FOOD & DR I NK
Restaurant Review
JOLIE
620 N. Person St., Raleigh | 919-803-7221 | restaurantjolie.com
The Great Escape The style and grace and romance (and calories) of Jolie BY NICK WILLIAMS food@indyweek.com
T
he escargot at Jolie isn’t from around here. It’s from Planet Earth, obviously. But it doesn’t taste like it’s from here—Raleigh, North Carolina, North America. It doesn’t taste like it was made in one of our kitchens, by one of our chefs, using our ingredients. This plate of escargot tastes like it is from France. From the first nanosecond, its Frenchness was singingly and triumphantly clear, even though I haven’t been to France since I was four years old. Believe me—these snails are fluent en français. If dining out counts as an escape for most people, then a “French restaurant” is still the most effective place to stage a meal-based exodus from daily life. French cooking spent the late 20th century quietly surviving a wilderness of shifting culinary trends and emerged into the 21st more beloved than ever among the gastronomically minded American chef and diner. It’s comfort food, but with roots that stretch back centuries, traversing empire and epoch. The food can be rich and hearty and luxurious, but also thoughtful, intellectual, with a suggestion of challenge and adventure. And this is what Jolie accomplishes, with style and grace: the sense of wonder and joy behind the drilled application of technique and the resulting caloric onslaught that is French cooking. It’s tricky to pinpoint what exactly imbues Jolie’s escargot—which is, in fact, made in one of our kitchens, by one of our chefs, using our ingredients—with such
PHOTOS BY JADE WILSON
an assertive identity. The suspension in which the escargot find themselves swimming—a concoction of pulverized anchovies and garlic known as an achoiade— is certainly phenomenal. Maybe it’s just the sheer amount of butter infusing every morsel. Maybe it’s the gastropods themselves, briny and metallic and sweet, and unfailingly (at least to me) exotic. More likely, this Gallic otherness is borne from the mise en scène, of which the setting is a vital component. Jolie is literally a corner bistro, nestled into an ever-more-fashionable stretch of Person Street in the Oakwood neighborhood. Inside, you find a narrow corridor in vary-
ing tones of off-white, subtly adorned with wood and burnished brass. A white marble bar and tabletops pull off the neat trick of being comfortable rather than clinical. Well-hidden soundproofing absorbs the voices of happy diners and allows the soundtrack—a decades-spanning melange of French pop—to cut through the din. It’s sexy, cozy, and inviting. Jolie is the newest venture from chef-owner Scott Crawford, whose outstanding Crawford & Son can be found a few doors down the block. The vision for Jolie is certainly Crawford’s—the restaurant is named after his Francophile daughter—but he shares cooking
duties with chef de cuisine and Raleigh native Madison Tessener. Tessener recently came home from gigs in Charleston and brought with her the easy finesse and appreciation for elegant decadence of that city’s best restaurants. I begin with the mushroom tart, which tastes positively medieval, like something out of Le Viandier de Taillevent. A layer of molten brie binds a base of sweet pastry with a forest floor’s worth of wild mushrooms, glazed with sherry and scattered with herbs. The sweetness of the pastry is initially disorienting next with the deep fungal earthiness of the mushrooms, but the dish swiftly settles into profound rightness. Louis XIV probably tucked into something similar, although I’ll take the Jolie version, with its accompanying salad of mustardy mizuna greens. I don’t think they grew those at Versailles. The beef bourguignon is similarly protean, here prepared with beef cheeks and fat little lardons. When I make beef bourguignon at home, its color can generously be described as “brown.” The Jolie version is a deep and tenebrous shade of chocolate, streaked with ruddy highlights from the namesake wine. It tastes, as one might imagine, like sex. And it shines. It shines like mirror glaze, like suckling pig, like General Tso’s. Enrobed in glistening finery, the beef bourguignon is the most visually striking offering on a menu of beautifully plated creations. Our table quickly fills with visual artistry. The potato chips that accompany the duck rillettes are something of a technical marvel: potatoes sliced into a vellum-thinness, then inlaid together and fried in duck fat. The resulting “chip”— really an enormous lacquered shard of crisp potato—is gorgeous, reminiscent of parquet floors or expert woodwork. Ours came out slightly burned and brought KeepItINDY.com
January 29, 2020
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very little flavor beyond a lingering bitterness. The rillettes themselves, however, are light and airy, with a lemony tang and the satisfying crunch of hazelnuts. It’s a sophisticated approach to a rustic dish, and it ends up succeeding through ingredient minimalism. Beyond the plane-ticket-on-a-plate that is the escargot, the best dish on Jolie’s menu is a simple bowl of mussels. If you come to Jolie hunting for rarer prey, you might overlook this ubiquitous bistro standard, as it sits humbly among the “Soupes et Salade.” Skipping this dish, however, would be a grave mistake. The mussels are perfectly cooked, of course. They have the consistency of firm custard with the flavor of a seafaring marshmallow. But the ham broth in which the bivalves float is absolutely stupendous, bright and vivifying, bringing wave upon wave of smoke, salt, pork, and the essence of shellfish liqueur. This broth is perfect, ladies and gentlemen, and a welcome nod to local traditions and foodways. Let me close on a personal note. My first meal at Jolie coincided with the first moments that my wife and I had spent alone and out of the house since our second daughter was born in November. Taking full advantage of my employment-based requirement that I actually go out to eat, we plopped our children into their grandmother’s lap and peeled away from our Durham home like we were fleeing a tsunami. We sought a literal escape. We took our time. We ordered enough food to cause our server considerable worry. We lingered over cocktails made with care and vermouth. We balanced the fat and sauce with an invigorating salad of citrus, pistou, and endive. We shared dessert, a caramelized apple gateau in a pond of crème anglaise. We drank dry Vouvray and enjoyed one another’s simple there-ness. So maybe it’s the flush of romance talking. Maybe it’s the fact that I got to spend 150 minutes calmly regarding the beautiful face of the person I love most in the world, shielded from the furious demands of a toddler and an infant. Maybe it was the company that conjured the most potent spell. But eating at Jolie certainly didn’t hurt. All good restaurants provide an escape. One that truly transports is a more precious find. W This review is made possible by contributions to the INDY Press Club. Join today at KeepItINDY.com.
E VE NTS WED., JAN. 29–SUN., FEB. 1, VARIOUS PRICES
Triangle Wine Experience This snazzy charity event draws huge crowds every year and is the primary source of funding for Raleigh’s Frankie Lemmon School & Development Center. Events include a women’s-only dinner cooked by Ashley Christensen, wine dinners, and the final black-tie gala and auction, which will feature 70 wineries and 15 top local chefs. Various venues, Raleigh 919-821-7436 | trianglewineexperience.org SAT., FEB. 1, 2–5 P.M., FREE
Good Food Awards North Carolina Showcase Support farmers and makers at this afternoon event showcasing the North Carolina winners and finalists of the annual Good Food Awards. Sip a beer and shop from a long queue of craft vendors, including Big Spoon Roasters, Haw River Mushrooms, and Two Chicks Farm. Fullsteam Brewery 726 Rigsbee Ave., Durham 919-682-2337 | fullsteam.ag SUN., FEB. 2, 3 P.M., $40
Waste Free Kitchen Workshop If one of your New Years’ goals was to have a more sustainable kitchen, this workshop is an actionable first step. Michelle Aronson of the Farmbelly Cooking School will instruct on ways to reduce disposable packaging, proper food storage, whole-vegetable cooking, and DIY quick pickles. A ticket comes with an informational packet, a jar of pickles, and a drink from the pub. The Eddy 1715 Saxapahaw-Bethlehem Church Road, Saxapahaw 336-525-2010 | theeddypub.com BY SARAH EDWARDS
M U SIC
NYM: COUNTERMAGIC RELEASE SHOW
Sat., Feb. 1, 9 p.m. | Arcana, Durham
The Secret of Nym Durham musician Lewis Scaife claims to have anti-magical powers. Is he just trolling? BY BRIAN HOWE bhowe@indyweek.com
T
hree days before its January 6 release, the INDY premiered the title track from Countermagic, the sixth album by Durham-based electronic musician Lewis Scaife, aka Nym. I liked the record, a lush, sleek blend of downtempo and instrumental hip-hop enriched with live musicians and swordand-sorcery movie samples. Nothing else suggested a concept except for the song titles: “Nocus Pocus,” “Hex Deflector,” “Incan’tation.” I’d been emailing with Scaife, gathering routine background detail. Almost as an afterthought, I wrote, “There’s clearly some sort of magic theme around this record, what’s up with that?” “Countermagic is about protecting ourselves from the supernatural threats that surround us,” he replied. “It has been personally revealed to me that I am a Countermagician,” he went on. “I can render curses ineffective. I can make ghosts invisible, inaudible, and otherwise undetectable. I can turn magical crystals into inert stones or invert their magical polarity to cause a negative effect equal to their former power. Sorcerers find themselves powerless in my presence. Sometimes, clients come to me complaining that they are being harassed by psychics—I can use my powers to turn these pesky precognitions into relatively safe postcognitions. All for a very low fee, considering the personal risks involved.
Nym
PHOTO COURTESY OF LEWIS SCAIFE
“Some unbelievers have called this album ‘deep cover skepticism,’” he concluded. “This just goes to show that you shouldn’t believe everything you hear.” I had two swift reactions to this email: excitement, because nothing excites a writer like a vivid, unusual story; and wariness, because here was a guy saying he could nullify magic and releasing his album about it at a Tarot-themed bar. It’s one thing to concoct a counter-magical “protagonist” for your album promo. Insisting that it’s real is something else. Either Scaife had unique beliefs and experiences, or he was dissimulating—for media manipulation, a skeptic’s crusade, general lulz, or some other hidden purpose. I held out hope for the former right up until his closing warning against credulity. But I still wanted to know what he was up to. I asked if he was serious. “Let’s just say you can’t prove I’m not serious,” he replied. Apparently, a game of cat and mouse was underway. I was sharply aware that with one email, a subject had bumped himself from short review to longer feature. I suspected Scaife of “deep-cover skepticism” as soon as he preemptively rebutted it, and it struck me as a little icky, as Scaife is a white man invoking traditions from other cultures and communities. There seemed to be an ethical difference between applying the concept of counter-magic to things like haunted houses or fantasy novels and things like African-American spiritual folkways (“Voodon’t”) or Wicca (“Whichcraft”). Scaife claimed he believed in magic and could counteract it; I suspected he was a rationalist troll. But a troll can hold sincere, illuminating beliefs, and maybe I was wrong. So I set out to learn how counter-magic related to Scaife’s experience, what he hoped to achieve by promoting it, and whether that context shined a more or less sympathetic light on his motivations. Even though this deceptive narrative implicated me in the story in an unusual, uncomfortable way, I decided to play.
I
arrived at Scaife’s house in Durham on a sunny winter afternoon. He showed me the computer where he makes music and then led me to the back deck. I sat on the edge of a deck chair to face him and took off my sunglasses. He reclined in the other chair, facing the sun, and kept his sunglasses on. Through streams and licensing, Scaife makes his living from his music; downtempo is popular in Europe, where he has a big enough following that his album prices default to the
euro. He says he grew up in rural Virginia and lived in San Francisco after college. He moved to Durham in 2016. He’s not necessarily a reliable source, but there’s an ample online trail to support his basic biography. Scaife has been releasing albums as Nym since 2006. For someone who never played an instrument, he displays a fine ear for melody and composition on Countermagic, a joint release with Athens’s Melting Records. To compose, he listens to world music from online archives and develops a sense of its unique harmonic profiles, collaging them into a foundation. Perhaps it’s ironic, as he’ll later note, that he describes his role like that of a spirit medium. “I’ll hear these melodies that emerge,” he said. “They’re already there, and I just need to listen. It’s like you’re holding pottery and you drop it and pick it up and make a new picture out of it, a mosaic approach. I feel like I’m more like a facilitator than the driving force.” To translate his computer melodies for instruments, Scaife enlisted guitarist Zach Scribner, violinist Morgan Fleming, flutist Tonito Walls, and others, including his girlfriend, Melissa Rakowitz, who performs as Spherelet. Some of them will join him at the Arcana release show on February 1. In terms of polish, Countermagic is Scaife’s most ambitious record yet. Its theming is more ambitious, too. Warm Blooded Lizard, from 2011, had a simple Spaghetti Western concept, while 2017’s Lilac Chaser was about optical illusions. Scaife said that it was after the latter that he discovered his powers and abandoned skepticism. He shifted into the particular tone—evasive, stickling, archly orotund—that he uses when he talks about counter-magic. “I am able to dispel curses, and where I go, ghosts aren’t,” he said. Did this happen by his presence alone, or was an action required? “I don’t know. This is very mysterious to me,” he said. “The rituals are very minor. For all I know, it could just be the presence. I know it works because there are no ghosts afterward.” How did he know there were ghosts before? KeepItINDY.com
January 29, 2020
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“I have to take the person at their word. If they have a haunted house, and I see no ghosts, I can only assume that the ghosts fled my presence.” How were these powers revealed to him? “After a lifelong appreciation of skepticism, I had to take a hard look at the facts. If I have to take other people at their word, they have to take me at mine. I can only assume they’re mistaken, telling the truth, or lying. If they’re telling the truth, I must accommodate this new subset of reality that they’re proposing with an explanation of my own.” Scaife said he discovered his powers at a séance at Arcana. “It was proposed that it was my presence that disrupted the séance,” he said. “I was flattered. I didn’t think I had the power in me.” How did the people at the séance feel about that? “Frustrated,” he said. To the suggestion that skepticism alone would be enough to disrupt a séance, he replied, “I’m no longer skeptical. I can only propose it was my magical powers.” I said it all sounded like an intellectual dare from a rationalist in mystic’s clothing. “I can understand why people would think that, but I will not accept it,” he said. But he would concede that animus for organized religion is a factor. “I’m concerned that someone with closely held beliefs who wanted special privileges or respect in our society could be disingenuous about this and get those privileges just on their say-so. That’s my fear, that someone’s out there being insincere about this, while I’m dead serious.” I asked if anyone had tried to problematize this idea for him—after all, some of these belief systems are the redoubts of marginalized populations—and if he wanted to hurt people.
“No, and that’s the scary thing. If someone had a magic crystal in their pocket and I rendered it inert before they went into a job interview, that would be a fairly despicable thing to do. I don’t go into Everyday Magic and wave my hand over the merchandise. It’s something I do have to be conscious of exerting.” Throughout, Scaife maintained a neutral expression occasionally broken by a charming, disingenuous grin. Near the end, he told me he’d given me “a quick visual pat-down” to make sure I didn’t bring anything negative, such as an evil talisman, into his home. Apparently, I hadn’t. He sent me off with a plastic tub of greens he’d grown in his garden.
I
still wondered if there was a sincere core in Scaife’s artifice, but when I tried to fact check the Arcana séance, he said he’d misspoken—it was actually just a Ouija board. He directed me to Rob Hansen, a friend from San Francisco who is credited for “thematic/genre consulting” on Countermagic. I wrote to ask if he’d talk, and he sent back a long, entertaining, garishly fictional story. In a wink-nudge tone, Hansen spun an elaborate tale of moving into a haunted apartment next door to Scaife, who promises to use his music to keep Hansen safe and gives him a bottle of whiskey as a “hex deflector.” In exchange, Hansen has to pay Scaife’s Wi-Fi bill—in laundry quarters, no less—and watering his plants is part of the protection ritual. It’s as if Scaife were Tom Sawyer tricking his friend into whitewashing a fence. I was now fully in on the joke. Meanwhile, Scaife emailed to clarify his thoughts on the cultural-appropriation issues I had broached. “I’m a straight, white, cis male homo sapiens, and surely
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labor under some internalized delusions of privilege,” he wrote. “But I feel that I identify only circumstantially with all of those categories—especially the last. Worse to me than any malignant magician or pernicious priest is the superstition of anthropocentrism. … Countermagic isn’t about targeting at-risk people, it’s about engaging the interested, out-maneuvering the skeptical, and conferring with the credulous.” He pointed out the paternalism of my assumption that certain communities “need” magical beliefs, and I said that, as it seemed we agreed that he was talking in character, I cared more about his motivations than his sincerity. I asked if there was some formative, perhaps traumatic experience he’d had with magical beliefs. “I’d be happy to try and take the wizard hat off, but I consider it thematically important to the album that the character isn’t broken,” he replied. But for once, he told me the straight truth: He perceived a taboo around challenging the spiritual beliefs of others, and counter-magic’s emphatic, unfalsifiable, dubious claims were meant to redirect a burden of proof onto magical beliefs. The game had run its course. Did anyone win? I appreciated the creativity lavished on it, though I thought there was something a little juvenile about the logical trap. Scaife had succeeded in making a mountain out of an instrumental hip-hop molehill, which amused him. I still think the record is good, though I’m not sure I’ll be able to listen to it in the same way now. It’s not that I dislike Scaife. But I don’t trust him, and I wonder if I brought something negative into my home. I never could quite bring myself to eat his greens. W
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M U SIC
SPONGE BATH RECORD RELEASE
BINKY AND FASTER DETAIL TAPE RELEASE
Saturday, Feb. 1, 10 p.m. | Nightlight, Chapel Hill
Monday, Feb. 3, 9 p.m. | Nightlight, Chapel Hill
Techno Utopia Electronic dance music is big business, but some local heads are holding it down for unprofitable liberation BY MARTA NÚÑEZ POUZOLS music@indyweek.com
W
ith three outstanding new local techno releases and two shows to celebrate them, this is a big week for dance heads in the Triangle. Instead of a coincidence, this burst of activity speaks of the richness and incessant production of underground electronic music in our area. Activ-Analog is dropping Tributary, a double LP by Sponge Bath, at Nightlight on February 1. The Charlotte-based techno label, which is celebrating its twenty-fifth anniversary, also promises an all-night dance party. Meanwhile, Hot Releases is launching two tapes—Binky’s self-titled debut and dancefloor veteran Faster Detail’s Boombox—at a release show on Feb. 3. The bill, a warm-up for the International Noise Conference in Miami, is rounded out by Raleigh’s Cevra and two acts from NYC. It also takes place at Nightlight, which is known for its passionate efforts to support local artists while bringing world-class acts to the area. Hot Releases is one of the most active agents in the local experimental music field, and it’s kicking off the year with four local releases. (In addition to Binky and Faster Detail, there will be a newly mastered edition of Secret Boyfriend’s Memory Care Unit and a tape of rhythmic, trance-inducing noise by Cevra.) At a vertiginous speed of 200 bpm, Binky taps into the characteristic overdriven-kick sound of gabber. The tape reinterprets and enriches this classic subgenre of hardcore techno, complicating the aggression of the fast kick with noise textures and psychedelic leanings. The project is the collaboration of Durham’s Alene Marie, aka Liquid Asset, and Providence’s Tom Bennett, of Tinnitustimulus. The combination of their respective talents in hardware acid techno and harsh noise makes Binky a strange prodigy with a demented horror aesthetic that inspires euphoric dancing as much as unexpected chills. Faster Detail’s Boombox is less dark but just as frantic; Hot Releases founder Ryan Martin calls it “25 minutes of driving four-on-the-floor cyborg rave-ups.” Greensboro’s Alex Chesney puts aside his more complex electronic experiments to offer one long track of warm, ultra-fun techno. The tape is delightfully simple, energetically over-the-top, and smoothed out by an extreme commitment to lo-fi—it was recorded live, directly into a boombox. Since his arrival to Carrboro in 2008, Sponge Bath’s Nathan Taylor has been a constant presence in underground electronic events in the Triangle, both as a producer and as a DJ. After three LPs, Tributary is his first double-vinyl release. It contains seven tracks of hardware techno recorded over the span of three years in his home studio.
Binky’s self-titled tape
PHOTO COURTESY OF HOT RELEASES
The combination of their respective talents in hardware acid techno and harsh noise makes Binky a strange prodigy with a demented horror aesthetic that inspires euphoric dancing as much as unexpected chills. Dedicated to the memory of Taylor’s grandfather and a tribute to the pioneers of underground dance music, Tributary is an exercise in gratitude for the people and artists that have shaped the producer, a reflection on what it means to be part of a tradition, and a successful attempt to keep it alive. Taylor says these tracks were designed to be used by DJs in a club, emphasizing the crucial role of the dance floor in the experience of techno. Throughout the tracks, we can hear echoes of the futuristic fantasies of Model 500, Drexciya, and other Detroit trailblazers. There are also German dub influences, and we can sense the presence of more recent U.S. producers such as Mike Parker and Bill Converse. When asked which aspects of classic underground dance music he cares about the most, Taylor replied, “Freedom. Expres-
sion. Escape. Rebirth. Struggle. But also, honestly, fun.” This answer seems representative of the values of underground electronic music in our area. Even if the term “underground” can be divisive or merely refer to a particular aesthetic, its application to this community is meaningful. Their consistent efforts to keep the pleasure and liberation of electronic dance music free from market cooption—making “music that exists for specific moments/spaces/places, outside of the constant onslaught of profit motive,” as Taylor says—is a true act of resistance. As relentless technological mediation isolates us and reduces us to consumers, we have the privilege to live in a place where unconventional producers, labels, and venues are consciously creating the conditions for electronic music to return us to our bodies and our communities. W KeepItINDY.com
January 29, 2020
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WE 1/29 ANAMANAGUCHI W/ BATHS ($18/$20)
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TH 1/30 YONDER MOUNTAIN STRING BAND/TRAVELLIN MCCOURYS ($25/$30) FR 1/31 BEACH FOSSILS W/NEGATIVE GEMINI ($18/$20) SA 2/1 JAWBOX W/HAMMERED HULLS ($28/$30) FR 2/7 BOB MARLEY BIRTHDAY BASH: MICKEY MILLS AND STEEL, JAMROCK, ZION PROJECT, DJ RAS J ($12/$15)
FR 1/31 @ CAT’S CRADLE
BEACH FOSSILS W/ NEGATIVE GEMINI
SA 2/8 ABBEY ROAD LIVE! – FAMILY MATINEE (2 SHOWS) ($10/13) WE 2/12 ROSS MATHEWS ($35) LD THRICE,MEWITHOUTYOU, O2/14 FR S OUTDRUG CHURCH ( $26/$30)
SA 2/15 COLONY HOUSE THE LEAVE WHAT’S LOST BEHIND TOUR W/TYSON MOTSENBOCKER ($15/$18)
SA 2/1 @CAT’S CRADLE
JAWBOX
W/HAMMERED HULLS
MO 2/17 KYLE KINANE THE SPRING BREAK TOUR($25/$28) TU 2/18 DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS W/ BUFFALO NICHOLS ($26/$30)
SOLD T YBN CORDAE ($20/$22.50) OU2/19 SOLD 2/21 U O T ARCHER'S OF LOAF ($25)
723 RIGSBEE AVENUE • DURHAM, NC 27701
RECENTLY ANNOUNCED: Okilly Dokilly, Diet Cig, 75 Dollar Bill, NAPALM DEATH
THU
1/30
OVER THE RHINE
Willy Tea Taylor
TUE
2/4
LOST DOG STREET BAND
presented by The Regulator Bookshop
WED
2/5
FRI
2/7 SAT
2/8 SUN
2/9
TUE
2/11 FRI
2/14 SAT
2/15
AJJ
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FR 2/7 MEGA COLOSSUS W/ CHILDREN OF THE REPTILE AND MORTAL MAN ( $10)
FR 4/17 JILL ANDREWS ($14/$17)
SA 2/29 OF MONTREAL W/LILY'S BAND ($17) TH 3/5 MOLLY TUTTLE ($20/ $23)
SA 2/8 SERATONES ($13/$15)
TU 4/21 KATIE PRUITT ($10)
WE 3/11 DESTROYER W/NAP EYES ($20/$23)
SU 2/9 MC LARS W/ SCHAFFER THE DARKLORD ($15)
SU 4/26 SAMMY RAE & THE FRIENDS ($12/$15)
SA 3/14 RADICAL FACE W/AXEL FLÓVENT ($25/$28)
TU 2/11 BAY FACTION W/SUPERBODY ($12/$15)
WE 3/18 WHITE REAPER W/YOUNG GUV, BUDDY CRIME ($15/$17)
TH 2/13 KHOURI FAMILY BENEFIT CONCERT W/T. GOLD, ANNE-CLAIRE, & A SURPRISE GUEST ($10)
SA 3/21 BEST COAST THE ALWAYS TOMORROW TOUR W/MANNEQUIN PUSSY ($25/$27)
FR 2/14 DRAG QUEENS ARE COMING
FR 5/1 KEVIN KRAUTER W/WHY BONNIE ($10/$12) ARTSCENTER (CARRBORO) TU 3/24 JAMES MCMURTRY W/BONNIE WHITMORE ($22/$25) MOTORCO (DUR) TU 2/11 WE WERE PROMISED JETPACKS W/SLAUGHTER BEACH, DOG ($15/$17)
TH 2/27 DAN DEACON W/ ED SCHRADER'S MUSIC BEAT ($15/$17)
FR 4/3 SHOVELS & ROPE W/INDIANOLA ($25/$28)
WE WERE PROMISED JETPACKS Slaughter Beach, Dog
Crank It Loud presents
WHILE SHE SLEEPS
January 29, 2020
INDYweek.com
SA 2/22 TIM BARRY W/ ROGER HARVEY & FRIENDS ($15) SU 2/23 SLOAN ($25)
FR 4/10 BROTHER ALI - OPEN MIKE EAGLE, DJ LAST WORD ($18/$20)
FR 2/28 PALEHOUND ($13/$15)
SA 5/2 GUIDED BY VOICES ($30/$35) SU 5/3 THE RESIDENTS ($30/$35) MO 5/4 STEREOLAB ($35/$38) TU 5/5 ANDY SHAUF W/ FAYE WEBSTER ($18/$20) SU 5/10 GREG DULLI MO 5/11 BARNS COURTNEY ($22/$25) TH 5/14 YOLA – WALK THROUGH FIRE WORLD TOUR W/AMYTHYST KIAH ($20/23)
He Is Legend / Savage Hands
WE 2/19 BLACK LIPS W/WARISH ($15) LD SOTH 2/20 THE BROOK & THE BLUFF OUT W/JORDY SEARCY ($12/$14)
WE 2/26 WISH YOU WERE HERE (JESSEE BARNETT OF STICK TO YOUR GUNS) ($12/$14)
SA 5/9 POOLSIDE ($20/ $25; ON SALE 1/31)
GREAT DANE / STAYLOOSE
TU 2/18 THE MATTSON 2 W/BRAINSTORY ($13/$15)
WE 4/8 STEPHEN MALKMUS W/ QAIS ESSAR & THE MAGIK CARPET ($20/$23)
BLOCKHEAD
Cat’s Cradle presents
MO 2/17 MICHIGAN RATTLERS W/BRENT COWLES ($14/$17)
TU 4/7 ATERCIOPELADOS AND LOS AMIGOS INVISIBLES ($32/$35)
MO 4/27 WAVVES KING OF THE BEACH 10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY USA TOUR W/SADGIRL ($22/$25)
THE BEAST / BEAUTY WORLD
SA 2/1 BARKER ROAD, SELF HELP, SCREEN TIME W/ LOCAL FLORA
TU 2/25 SHAUN MARTIN OF SNARKY PUPPY AND ELECTRIC KIF ($12/$15)
WE 4/22 CRANK IT LOUD PRESENTS: NOTHING, NOWHERE. W/DANGER INCORPORATED, RO RANSOM, BOGUES ($18/$22; ON SALE 1/31)
COMING SOON: David Wilcox, Hari Kondabolu, Paul Cauthen, Remember Jones, Gnawa LanGus, OM, Little People, Frameworks, Ellis Dyson & The Shambles, Post Animal, Against Me!, Asgeir, Mdou Moctar, Tiny Moving Parts, Dance With The Dead, Magic Sword, Black Atlantic, Caspian, Deafheaven, Vundabar, Shannon & the Clams, Kevin Morby, Sebadoh, Oso Oso, Prince Daddy & The Heyena, Fu Manchu, Neil Hamburger
22
SA 3/28 ANTIBALAS ($18/$22)
Tacocat / Emperor X JASON RINGENBERG Arms and Sleepers / il:lo Motorco Madness 2020 presented by E.K. Powe PTA:
WE 4/8 VETIVER ($15/ $18)
919-6-TEASER
MO 4/20 REAL ESTATE ($25/$28)
Chris Holloway
MO 4/6 MIGHTY OAKS ($12/$14) FR 4/10 MATTIEL ($10/$12)
FR 3/27 SOCCER MOMMY W/ TOMBERLIN ($18/$20)
special guest CASPER ALLEN SOLD 2020 GREAT DURHAM PUN CHAMPIONSHIP OUT
SU 4/5 CALEB CAUDLE ALBUM RELEASE TOUR W/WILD PONIES AND DAWN LANDES ( $15/$20)
TH 4/16 INDIGO DE SOUZA W/ TRUTH CLUB ($10/$12)
TH 3/26 REBIRTH BRASS BAND ($20/$23)
SAT
FR 1/31 DAMN TALL BUILDINGS ($14/$17)
RETIREMENT PARTY,MACSEAL
TU 2/4 CHRIS FARREN, RETIREMENT PARTY, MACSEAL ($10/$12)
SA 2/22 HAYES CARLL (SOLO) W/ALLISON MOORER SEATED SHOW ($25/$28)
TU 3/24 PORCHES W/SASSY 009 ($16/$18)
2/1
TH 1/30 WHO RUNS THE HILL ARTIST SHOWCASE W/CAMP HOWARD ($12/$14)
TU 2/4 @BACKROOM
CHRIS FARREN
SU 3/1 HEMBREE TU 3/3 KNUCKLE PUCK W/HEART ATTACK MAN, BETTER LOVE ($23) WE 3/4 PALM PALM ($10; ON SALE 1/31) SA 3/7 TYLER RAMSEY ($15) SU 3/8 DAN RODRIGUEZ ($15) TU 3/10 PHANGS W/90’S KIDS($12/$14) FR 3/13 SONGS FROM THE ROAD BAND W/BIG FAT GAP ($12/$15) MO 3/16 GRADUATING LIFE W/KING OF HECK TU 3/17 BAMBARA ($10/$12) TU 3/24 STEVE GUNN, MARY LATTIMORE, & WILLIAM TYLER ($20/$22) TH 3/26 CONSIDER THE SOURCE W/ EMMA'S LOUNGE ($10/$12) SA 3/28 LAUREN SANDERSON MIDWEST KIDS CAN MAKE IT BIG TOUR
TH 6/11 BAYSIDE W/SENSES FAIL, HAWTHORNE HEIGHTS, CAN'T SWIM ($25 / $29 - ON SALE 1/30)
MO3/30VILRAY W/ANGELICAGARCIA($12)
MO 6/15 THE GROWLERS ($30)
SA 4/4 CHERRY POOLS W/JET BLACK ALLEY CAT, SMALL TALKS, MOBS ($13/$15)
SA 8/8 WEYES BLOOD ($17/$20) SA 11/14 HOODOO GURUS
TH 4/2 VAGABON ($12)
for directions and information
156 Ramseur St. Durham, NC
SA 4/18 JOHN CRAIGIE W/HONEYSUCKLE ($12/$15)
FR 3/6 ELLIS DYSON & THE SHAMBLES W/DOWNTOWN ABBY AND THE ECHOS ($10/$12) TU 3/17 POST ANIMAL ($15/$17) WE 3/25 TINY MOVING PARTS W/BELMONT, CAPSTAN, JETTY BONES ($18/$22) TU 4/14 DEAFHEAVEN W/INTER ARMA, GREET DEATH, ALL YOUR SISTERS ( $25/$28) FR 6/5 DIET CIG W/SAD13 (ON SALE 1/ 31) HAW RIVER BALLROOM FR 1/31 G LOVE AND SPECIAL SAUCE W/JONTAVIOUS WILLIS ($25/$30) SA 2/22 GARZA FT. ROB GARZA OF THIEVERY CORPORATION WHERE THE MOON HIDES TOUR ($20/$23) TH 2/27 TODD SNIDER ($25/$28) TU3/24JOHN MORELAND W/S.G.GOODMAN ($15/$18) MO 4/20 SHARON VAN ETTEN SOLD W/JAY SOM ($28/$31) OUT FR 4/24 WAXAHATCHEE W/OHMME ($18 ADV/ $20) FR 5/1 TENNIS W/MOLLY BURCH ($18/$20) SU 5/3 SNAIL MAIL W/ HOTLINE TNT ($20 / $22) THE CAROLINA THEATER (DUR) WE 4/15 ANGEL OLSEN W/MADIDIAZ($32.50/$35) TH 4/30 BEN GIBBARD DPAC (DURHAM) TH 8/27* CODY KO & NOEL MILLER; TINY MEAT GANG - GLOBAL DOMINATION ($24.50+) *rescheduled from april WHEELS FUN PARK SA 2/22 DANTE HIGH ROLLER SKATE DANCE PARTY W/RALEIGH ROCKERS B-BOY CREW DJ SWEET WILLIAM ($15/$20)
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THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS
PAPER PAPER PAPER PAPER PAPER PAPER PAPER PAPER PAPER PAPER PAPER PAPER PAPER PAPER PAPER PAPER PAPER PAPER PAPER PAPER PAPER PAPER PAPER
D OW N TH E ROA D *
*Be on the lookout for these big names coming through the Triangle
WE'RE HIRING Vagabon performs at Cat’s Cradle on Thursday, April 2. PHOTO COURTESY THE ARTIST
Jan. 31 The Marshall Tucker Band The Ritz, 8 p.m., $28
Mar. 12 Billie Eilish PNC Arena, 7:30 p.m., $350+
Apr. 22 Lake Street Dive DPAC, 7:30 p.m., $35+
Feb. 6 Tove Lo The Ritz, 8 p.m., $30
Mar. 20 Michael Bublé PNC Arena, 8 p.m., $65+
Jun. 2 Local Natives Red Hat, 6:30 p.m., $25+
Feb. 8 Whitney Haw River Ballroom, 8 p.m., $25
Mar. 21 Best Coast Cat’s Cradle, 8 p.m., $25–$27
Jun. 2 The Lumineers Walnut Creek Amphitheatre, 7 p.m., $69+
Feb. 9 Tony Bennett DPAC, 7:30 p.m., $65+ Feb. 11 Celine Dion PNC Arena, 7:30 p.m., $125+ Feb. 28 Wye Oak Baldwin Auditorium Mar. 3 Jacquees The Ritz, 8 p.m., 8 p.m., $25 Mar. 4 Zack Brown Band PNC Arena, 7 p.m., $36+
Mar. 27 Soccer Mommy Cat’s Cradle, 8 p.m., $18–$20 Mar. 30 Mandy Moore, DPAC, 8 p.m., $30+ Apr. 2 Vagabon Cat’s Cradle, 8 p.m., $14–$16 Apr. 15 Angel Olsen Carolina Theatre, 8 p.m., $33–$35 Apr. 20 Sharon Van Etten Haw River Ballroom, 8 p.m., $28–$31
Jun. 4 Kenny Chesney Walnut Creek Amphitheatre, 7:30 p.m., $100+ Jun. 20 The Doobie Brothers Walnut Creek Amphitheatre, $51+ Jun. 23 Alanis Morisette Walnut Creek Amphitheatre, 7 p.m., $68+ Jul. 4 The Black Crowes Walnut Creek Amphitheatre, 8 p.m., $50
Jul. 10 Thomas Rhett Walnut Creek Amphitheatre, time TBD, $91+
POSITION:
JUNIOR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE
Jul. 11 Tedeschi Trucks Band Walnut Creek Amphitheatre, 6:30 p.m., $84
FULL-TIME HOURLY + COMMISSION
Aug. 1 Harry Styles PNC Arena, 8 p.m., $76
SEEKING AN OUTGOING, SALES-ORIENTED INDIVIDUAL TO JOIN THE INDY WEEK TEAM.
Aug. 10 Journey, The Pretenders Walnut Creek Amphitheatre, 7 p.m., $59+ Sep. 9 Kiss Walnut Creek Amphitheatre, 7:30 p.m., $81+ Sep. 12 Maroon 5, Meghan Trainor Walnut Creek Amphitheatre, 7 p.m., $87+
The position is focused on Durham and Orange counties and will be based out of our downtown Durham office. Send resume to jhurld@indyweek.com
KeepItINDY.com
January 29, 2020
23
M U SIC CA L E N DA R
JANUARY 29– FEBRUARY 5
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 1
pick
Lucia Lucas The baritone, a term originating from the Greek barutonos, or “heavy sounding,” is synonymous with power, presence, and masculinity. Many of the most famous operatic roles for the baritone vocal range were composed by Mozart, including the part of the miscreant hedonist Don Giovanni. In 2019, Lucia Lucas made history as the first trans singer to perform a title role in a major opera in the U.S., in Tulsa Opera’s production of Don Giovanni. Lucas has said she never thought her gender identity and operatic career would be able to comfortably coexist. But instead, her career has thrived since her transition. A magnetic presence with a resonant voice who continues the long-standing opera tradition of “pants roles,” or men’s roles played by women, Lucas adds a deep thread of subversion and play to roles built around the effects of hyper and toxic masculinity. She will be accompanied by Clara Yang, pianist and Associate Professor of Music and Head of Keyboard Studies at UNC-Chapel Hill. —Josephine McRobbie UNC’s Moeser Auditorium, Chapel Hill 8 p.m., $37
FRIDAY, JANUARY 31
Rodes with Chris Frisina On “The Underground,” the debut single from Rodes— Durham’s MK Rodenbough— matches her searching, confessional lyricism with anxious jangles and shimmers, delivering an instant earworm riddled with unease. Along the way, the song piques anticipation for Rodes’ full-length release, which is slated for this spring. Meanwhile, Chris Frisina, one of the Triangle’s most underrated songwriters, channels classic folkies like John Prine as he spins melancholic yarns about a hardscrabble life graced with humor. —Spencer Griffith Nightlight, Chapel Hill 9:30 p.m., $10
Lucia Lucas 24
PHOTO BY JOSH NEW
January 29, 2020
INDYweek.com
M U SIC CA L E N DA R FRIDAY, JANUARY 31
The Marshall Tucker Band Since 1972, The Marshall Tucker Band has pushed the boundaries of southern rock by employing eclectic instrumentation and lengthy improvisations. Though the only remaining original member is lead singer Doug Gray, the band is still jamming their way towards a half-century-long career. No, you aren’t gonna hear much in the way of new material, but you will hear classics like “Can’t You See,” “Fire on the Mountain,” and “Take the Highway.” Crawford & Power open. —Sam Haw
Sat. 2/1 American Aquarium, Charley Crockett, Kelsey Waldon Lincoln Theatre, 8 p.m. $30. Steve Celestini Pour House Music Hall, 5 p.m.
The Ritz, Raleigh 8 p.m., $28
The Eccentrics, The Walbournes The Cave Tavern, 9 p.m. $5 suggested.
FRIDAY, JANUARY 31
Finding Emo, The EmoGees, DJ tallboy’d Kings, 9 p.m. $10.
Jan Lisiecki This twenty-four-year-old Canadian pianist made his first recordings when he was fourteen and signed with Deutsche Grammophon when he was fifteen. In the decade since he has worked his way through much of the standard piano repertory from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. For his Duke Performances debut, he focuses on miniatures: Chopin’s Nocturnes, Mendelssohn’s Songs Without Words, and a youthful Capriccio by Bach. Chances are he’ll still find fascinating depths in such compact spaces. —Dan Ruccia Duke’s Baldwin Auditorium, Durham 8 p.m., $28–$34
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 4
Emily Wolfe Now based in Austin, Raleigh native Emily Wolfe serves up a distinctive rock ‘n’ roll roar that she aptly describes as “Queens of the Stone Age meets Demi Lovato.” Though she possesses a knack for searing hooks thanks to her sharp, often sinister sense of melody, Wolfe is rather far from pop-leaning, thanks to her powerful wail and propensity to rip through menacing, bluesy riffs while her brawny rhythm section thunders beneath. Tom West opens. —Spencer Griffith The Pour House, Raleigh 9 p.m., $10–$12
International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella South Quarterfinal Carolina Theatre, 7 p.m. $22.
Emily Wolfe performs at The Pour House on Tuesday, February 4. PHOTO COURTESY OF THE ARTIST
Jawbox, Hammered Hulls Cat’s Cradle, 9 p.m. $28-$30.
Wed. 1/29
Thu. 1/30
Fri. 1/31
Absent Lovers, Sibyl, Mister Earthbound Slim’s Downtown, 9 p.m. $5.
Be Loud! Carolina Showcase Cat’s Cradle Back Room, 8 p.m.
Baats, the Afterglow The Station, 7 p.m.
Anamanaguchi Cat’s Cradle, 8 p.m. $18-$20.
Tommy Edwards, Laurelyn Dossett, Crystal Bright, Kirk Ridge Blue Note Grill, 7 p.m.
Backseat Revival Benefit Concert The Cary Theater, 7 p.m. $15. Jonathan Byrd & Pickup Cowboys The Kraken, 7 p.m.
Remona Jeannine, Alex Treyz Arcana, 8 p.m. Lindsay Lou Local 506, 8 p.m. $12-$15.
Half Pint, Yellow Wall Dub Squad Lincoln Theatre, 8:30 p.m. $20+.
Over The Rhine, Willy Tea Taylor Motorco Music Hall, 8 p.m. $25-$30.
January 919 Noise Showcase Nightlight, 8 p.m. $7.
The Sunday Special, Shrubb, Xylem Pour House Music Hall, 9 p.m. $5.
Desmond Jones Pour House Music Hall, 9 p.m. $8-$10. Shannon O’Connor The Cave Tavern, 9 p.m. The Paranoyds, Spendtime Palace, Cachonne The Pinhook, 8 p.m. $10.
Tired All The Time, The Hyperloops The Cave Tavern, 9 p.m. $5 suggested. Who Runs the Hill Artist Showcase Cat’s Cradle Back Room, 8:30 p.m. $5-$7. Yonder Mountain String Band, The Travelin’ McCourys Cat’s Cradle, 8 p.m. $25-$30.
Me and David Burney Wake Forest Listening Room, 7 p.m. $10.
Jupiter Coyote, Old Habits Lincoln Theatre, 8 p.m. $20-$30.
Don Merckle Pour House Music Hall, 5 p.m.
Peter Lamb & The Wolves, The Bulltown Strrutters Blue Note Grill, 8 p.m. $8-$10.
My Three Bens, Triple Fret, Julia Vo The Kraken, 8:30 p.m.
Lost Dog Street Band, Casper Allen Motorco Music Hall, 9 p.m. $20.
The Berlin Brothers Blue Note Grill, 9 p.m.
Omen Stones, Crystal Spiders, Moryo Slim’s Downtown, 9 p.m. $5.
Randall Love Duke Campus: Baldwin Auditorium, 8 p.m.
Bloom, Like Mike Local 506, 7 p.m. $8-$12.
Orgaphonics Sharp Nine Gallery, 8 p.m. $20.
Love & Valor, Eli Wheeler The Station, 9 p.m.
The Breakfast Club, 8-Track Minds Lincoln Theatre, 9 p.m. $12.
Rodes, Chris Frisina Nightlight, 9:30 p.m. $10.
Lucia Lucas UNC Campus: Hill Hall, 8 p.m. $37.
Town Mountain, The Buffalo Wabs, The Price Hill Hustle Pour House Music Hall, 9 p.m. $10-$15.
Mallarmé Chamber Players Hayti Heritage Center, 3 p.m. $25+.
Satchmo Babcock Blue Note Grill, 6 p.m. Beach Fossils, Negative Gemini Cat’s Cradle, 9 p.m. $18-$20.
Car Crash Star, Thirsty Curses The Cave Tavern, 9 p.m. $5 suggested. G. Love & Special Sauce, Jontavious Willis Haw River Ballroom, 8:30 p.m. $25-$30. Damn Tall Buildings Cat’s Cradle Back Room, 8 p.m. $14-$17.
Tristram Shandy, DJ Tretorn Duke Coffeehouse, 10 p.m. Women’s Choral Showcase UNC Campus: Hill Hall, 8 p.m.
Jan Lisiecki Duke Campus: Baldwin Auditorium, 8 p.m. $28-$34.
Nym Arcana, 9 p.m. Priapus, Ixias, Neckbreather, Crypt Walk The Maywood, 9 p.m. $8. Evan Ringel, Lowell Ringel, Ariel Pocock Trio Sharp Nine Gallery, 8 p.m. $20. Chip Robinson Pour House Music Hall, 5 p.m.
The Marshall Tucker Band The Ritz, 8 p.m. $20-$28.
Shiba San The Fruit, 10 p.m. $15-$20.
KeepItINDY.com
January 29, 2020
25
M U SIC CA L E N DA R
Jan Lisiescki performs at Baldwin Auditorium on Friday, January 31. PHOTO COURTESY OF DUKE PERFORMANCES
The Shoaldiggers Local 506, 9 p.m. $8. Space Jesus The Ritz, 7 p.m. $23-$30. Sponge Bath Nightlight, 10 p.m. $7.
YOUR WEEK. EVERY WEDNESDAY.
Tumbao, Bakalao Stars Pour House Music Hall, 9 p.m. $7-$10.
Sun. 2/2 Armin Van Buuren The Ritz, 7:30 p.m. $48-$53. 2nd Annual TBS Super Bowl Tailgate Jam Blue Note Grill, 5 p.m. $10. Jim Avett Wake Forest Listening Room, 2 p.m. $20 Carolina Wind Quintet, Molly Morkoski UNC Campus: Hill Hall, 3 p.m. $15. The Dude Ranch Pour House Music Hall, 9 p.m. $10-$12.
MUSIC•NEWS•ARTS•FOOD INDYWEEK.COM 26
January 29, 2020
INDYweek.com
Duke Bach Cantata Series Duke Chapel, 5:15 p.m.
Wed. 2/5
Lyn Koonce, Isabel Taylor & Earleine Arcana, 8:30 p.m.
AJJ, Tacocat, Emperor X Motorco Music Hall, 8 p.m. $20-$25.
Voarm, The Astral Void, Paezor, Feral Spectre The Maywood, 8:30 p.m. $10.
Jonathan Byrd & Pickup Cowboys The Kraken, 7 p.m.
Mon. 2/3
Henhouse Prowlers Pour House Music Hall, 9 p.m. $10-$15.
Admiral Radio The Cave Tavern, 9 p.m. $5 suggested.
Maddie Fisher T he Cave Tavern, 9 p.m. $5 suggested.
Tue. 2/4
Asher Skeen The Pinhook, 8 p.m. $8.
Chewbacca Skyliners Arcana, 8 p.m. Chris Farren, Retirement Party, Macseal Cat’s Cradle Back Room, 8 p.m. $10-$12. Madama Europa di Rossi Person Recital Hall, UNCChapel Hill, 7:30 p.m. Emily Wolfe, Tom West Pour House Music Hall, 9 p.m. $10-$12.
STAGE
ORANGE LIGHT
Thursday, Jan. 30–Sunday, Feb. 16 | The Fruit, Durham
So it’s been in your consciousness for a while.
The High Cost of Cheap Chicken Howard L. Craft’s Orange Light is based on a fatal 1991 fire in a North Carolina processing plant BY SARAH EDWARDS sedwards@indyweek.com
It’s been knocking around and around. I’m still a poet, but I primarily write plays now, and as I’ve transitioned into primarily being a playwright, I was trying to think about how I wanted to approach the story. I wanted it to be an all-women play. I wanted to emphasize that the majority of the victims were single mothers. A lot of the men that could get out of the town got out, because there’s no work—just a chicken plant for $5 an hour. But if you have kids, you’re stuck. Men also died and were injured, because fire doesn’t go by race or gender—but the impact on women just really stood out in my mind, and I wanted to shed light on the lives of the working poor, particularly women and children, who make up the largest percentage of the working poor. I want to ask about working with primary texts—oral histories and court documents.
O
n September 3, 1991, a fire swept through an Imperial Foods chicken processing plant in Hamlet, North Carolina. There were no sprinklers or alarms in the building, and the emergency exits were locked from the outside, leaving workers without a way to escape: Twenty-five people died and 56 were injured. The story received a flicker of national attention before receding into America’s long history of preventable industrial tragedies. But it stuck with the Durham playwright Howard L. Craft. Orange Light, his new play, which runs at The Fruit with Bulldog Ensemble Theater January 30–February 16, is based on the tragedy. Craft’s plays often experiment with surreal structures: Freight: The Five Incarnations of Abel Green, which premiered in Chapel Hill before an off-Broadway New York run, is about an African-American man who exists in five different dimensions. But Craft’s plays always have a sturdy foothold in real life, and in the struggles, injustices, and tragedies of our time. Previously, he’s taken on the Vietnam War, his own experience in the military, a problematic comic strip, and the life of Nina Simone. This radical-historical texturing both grounds and implicates audiences. Centered on the lives of five fictional women, Orange Light is directed by Joseph Megel, a frequent Craft collaborator, and features music by Rissi Palmer. Ahead of the show, the INDY sat down with Craft to talk about the Hamlet fire, working from primary texts, and how he chose to structure Orange Light. INDY: How long have you been working on the play? HOWARD L. CRAFT: When I first got inspired about the
story was actually around the time that happened, back in ‘91. I just remember it being so horrible. I couldn’t get over the idea someone would lock the exit doors to prevent people from stealing $2 chicken parts—or at least, that’s why [owner Emmett Roe] said he locked the doors. Twenty-five people died, and he only got four years.
Every artist in their approach to this kind of material is different. Some writers like to tell the exact story with the exact players, and what I do is more historical fiction. One reason I don’t base it on those people is because those are people who have passed. Their own human story is so important, and I don’t want to get it wrong. Bryant Simon was an important part of this process; he’s a historian at Temple, and he wrote a book on the incident—I don’t think incident is a good word, the murder. The murders. I had several opportunities to interview him, and all of that helped to formulate what I created. But I wanted to make it bigger than Hamlet, because I didn’t want people to leave feeling like ‘that was so sad, what a terrible one-off.’ It’s not a one-off, and we are all complicit. There is a price you pay for chicken at Walmart, but we don’t see the other side of it. Now a lot of that work is done by immigrant communities. The working conditions and exploitation, especially if those immigrants are undocumented, is even worse. You think about how these women were treated, and they were citizens. The play allows me to use this particular tragedy to look at some of the larger issues with how what we consume gets to us in sacrifices that are made so we can get, you know, the $2 chicken. We’re coming up on the thirtieth anniversary of the fire— do you think anything has changed?
Hamlet was a unique situation because not only were there laws not in place, but the laws in place were not enforced. And they weren’t enforced because, basically, I just call it what it is: Republicans cut the budget. Yeah, there are better laws on the books, but are they being enforced? Every time we hear about something like this, the payout that the companies have to make is a drop in the bucket. Oftentimes it’s cheaper to get caught and pay the fine than it is to follow the law. That was a decision that was made on a constant basis at Imperial Foods. The reason those people died at the end of the day is because he was too cheap to fix the cooker.
Howard Craft
PHOTO BY RENÉE ALEXANDER CRAFT
“I wanted to make [the play] bigger than Hamlet because I didn’t want people to leave feeling like ‘that was so sad, what a terrible one-off.’ It’s not a one-off, and we are all complicit. There is a price you pay for chicken at Walmart.” Did you go to Hamlet while you were writing this? What is it like now?
Depressing. I work with Mike Wiley, an actor and playwright, and we travel all over the state. He does one-man shows, and I do writing workshops off his shows for students. When you go down to the Eastern part of the state, or even to the Western part, into these little towns, we always say, where do people work? There are no jobs. That’s been the situation for decades. When I went to Hamlet, it’s the same story. Most people work outside of Hamlet or in fast-food places. The thing that stood out the most to me is that they have a museum there, which has all the history of Hamlet, but there’s nothing about the fire. Not one piece. Now, if you walk around the corner, there’s a very nice memorial for the victims. It has all the names and a little park. I guess maybe they said, that’s enough. But if you don’t walk around the corner behind the railroad tracks, you won’t see the memorial. If you don’t know the story before you come to Hamlet, you won’t know the story. W KeepItINDY.com
January 29, 2020
27
STAGE
MARTHA GRAHAM DANCE COMPANY: THE EVE PROJECT
Thursday, Jan. 30, 7:30 p.m., $27+ | UNC’s Memorial Hall, Chapel Hill
you want to create a work of art. We’re launching a project for people to take photos of themselves and post them online. We invite people to choose a pose, use props, do something practical in real life. One student put an orange in her claw-shaped hand. In the flying hair photo, one student put a hair dryer in her hand. I put the photos in an order I thought the transitions worked. Swirl one way, then another—a logical flow.
Moves You Can Use The EVE Project gives dance icon Martha Graham’s poses of power to the people
How did Martha Graham know so much about communicating the essence of information through the body?
It was her life study. You know the story of her father catching her lying? She asked him, how did you know? Her father said, I could tell by the way you moved. He was a psychiatrist whose office was in their home, and she saw patients coming through. She said that she saw the physical manifestation of a mental issue. That understanding was part of her childhood. It fed her genius. She was able to read people. She had an innate understanding of physical expression. Her genius was an intellectual understanding, and her own being, born to the animal charisma.
BY LINDA BELANS
arts@indyweek.com
M
aybe Martha Graham, who was born in 1894 and lived until 1991, could have predicted that The New York Times would endorse a woman for president. Two, in fact: Elizabeth Warren and Amy Klobuchar. After all, the paper wrote that the convention-breaking choreographer was ahead of her time, to which she famously responded, “No artist is ahead of his time. He is his time; it is just that others are behind the time.” Although the times that Graham lived in shaped her pronoun of choice, she unquestionably changed the shape of dance, and of women. She unleashed the pelvis, solar plexus, and breath from the trappings of the tutu through her codified contract/release technique, revealing women’s sexuality, personal power, and consequently, political voice. It makes sense, then, that the Martha Graham Dance Company is traveling the country with The EVE Project, which commemorates the hundredth anniversary of the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment, granting women the right to vote. It also makes sense that it’s coming to Carolina Performing Arts, which has dedicated its season, titled “The Future Is Female,” to the same milestone. Graham stripped movement to abstract expression—”I don’t want to be understandable; I want to be felt,” she said. This can make her dramatic dances feel timeless. In her 1936 piece Chronicle, which is on the program at Memorial Hall, we won’t see the story of fascism goose-stepping its way through Germany. We’ll see a 28
January 29, 2020
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The EVE Project
Charisma. I will never forget the first time I laid eyes on her. I was about 10 years old. Our dance teacher took us to WQED television studios to perform. Afterward, this regal woman seemed to glide past us in profile. We had no idea then who she was, but a hush and stillness came over everyone.
PHOTO BY HIBBARD NASH
physical response to it in a still-poignant work that Graham made after refusing an invitation from the Nazis to perform in Germany. The program also features Graham’s lighthearted Secular Games and two commissioned works: Untitled (Souvenir) by Pam Tanowitz and Deo by Maxine Doyle and Bobbi Jene Smith. A companion to The EVE Project, “19 Poses for the 19th Amendment” is an online video in which dancer Xin Ying mirrors powerful Graham poses and invites the viewer to follow along. The poses were selected by Janet Eilber, a former principal dancer who worked closely with the choreographer and has been the artistic director of the Martha Graham Center for Contemporary Dance since 2005. We recently discussed Graham’s rare charisma, the new visions of womanhood she
revealed in dance, and why Eilber wants to offer them up as something to use, not just something to see. INDY: How did The EVE Project come about? JANET EILBER: Five or six years ago, I
wanted a theme that featured revolutionary women that Martha created for the stage: complex, flawed, powerful women. I commissioned top choreographers who happened to be female. We wanted to feature the power of the individual and the Nineteenth Amendment. Where did the idea for the 19 poses video come from?
I wanted everyone to be able to own Martha Graham’s power. To own some of Martha Graham. I wanted to collect poses anyone could do, even sitting down. You can memorize them. Use them in any way
Yes, she had a presence. Like Frank Sinatra. I saw him perform in front of thousands of people. He walked onto stage casually and you couldn’t take your eyes off him. I thought, there’s another one of them. They lived their charisma and their power. Graham performed until she was 75.
Yes. Performing at an older age. That’s a whole larger topic. As she aged, she created works for herself that were less physical, and more acting. Like Hecuba, where she’s surrounded by armies, and the Trojan war. Martha used her age and wisdom in a powerful way. Leaving the trappings of her youth. It’s instructional for women of a certain age. We gain other powers. We lean into our experience, wisdom, intellectual acumen, and relinquish things that no longer serve us. She was all about understanding and leaning into what serves us. W
STAGE
THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME
HHHHH | Through Saturday, Feb. 8 | Raleigh Little Theatre, Raleigh
Michael Larson as Christopher with the cast of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time PHOTO BY CINDY MCENERY
Ready and Able An actor with autism leads a superior production of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time BY BYRON WOODS arts@indyweek.com
F
or centuries, marginalized communities have seen themselves depicted on stages where they weren’t allowed to perform. Before the 1660s, women were forbidden by law to act in London’s theaters; similar cultural interdictions in England and America factored into the shameful history of blackface. In more recent times, producers have sought to excuse the casting of white actors as Asians or non-disabled actors as characters with physical disabilities as an expedient demanded by the lack of available performers from those communities. As those practices have faded, neurotypical casting for non-neurotypical roles has remained a largely impermeable frontier. It wasn’t until 2017 that the first openly autistic actor was cast as the lead in a professional production of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, which is about a British special-education student named Christopher whose autism spectrum disorder has gifted him with advanced mathematical skills while challenging his abilities to process sensory stimuli and perceive and express emotions. In his latest laudable initiative in expanding the “community” in community theater, Raleigh Little Theatre artistic director Patrick Torres sought out local actors with
autism for this production of Curious Incident. The result is a singular achievement whose staggering authenticity and intimacy exposes the shortcomings of the professional touring production that played at DPAC three years ago. As the technical spectacle of that chilly National Theatre production distracted us with conceptual audiovisual filigree on a vacant holodeck, its heart remained remote at best. But at Raleigh Little Theatre, a rock-solid ensemble grounds us in the intellectual and emotional realities of Christopher’s world. In a gritty career-best performance, Simon Kaplan expertly probes the deep love and real limitations of Christopher’s father, Ed, a working-class single parent struggling to raise a child with special needs. Ed can’t be a perfect parent, and when his unfortunate acts of dishonesty and violence alienate Christopher, Kaplan fully embodies Ed’s desperation to reconnect. Equally physical and compelling is Michael Larson’s work as Christopher. Larson ably conveys the calm, single-minded delight of a child who finds his native element in the pristine world of mathematics. But as this bright and circumscribed character is forced to navigate the unfamiliar emotional landscape of adult relationships, Larson’s gripping performance authoritatively embodies his emotional turmoil and physical pain in the wake of revelations about his parents. As Christopher reads a forbidden letter from his mother (poignantly performed by Rebecca Blum), he seems to be on the verge of committing ritual suicide as he grasps a length of metal model railroad track in both hands. No production has left me more shaken in quite some time. Larson’s chemistry with Kaplan, Blum, and Samantha Corey as his teacher, Siobhan, is something to behold, and strong supporting work reinforces the formidable nucleus of a production whose authentic casting marks a significant step forward in regional theater. W
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C U LT U R E CA L E NDA R
JANUARY 29– FEBRUARY 5
Opening
Ongoing
28th Annual American Indian Powwow Sat., Feb. 1. 12 p.m. NC School of Science & Math, Durham
5 Points Gallery Six Month Celebration Group show. Through Feb. 17. 5 Points Gallery, Durham.
Art Workshop: Painting Dramatic Interiors & Charming Exteriors Thu., Jan. 30. 11 a.m. The Centerpiece, Raleigh.
All That Glitters: Spark and Dazzle from the Permanent Collection Costumes. Through May 17. Gregg Museum of Art & Design, Raleigh.
Coffee and Donuts with Dominick Rapone Sat., Feb. 1. 10 a.m. FRANK Gallery, Chapel Hill. Flora fem Fauna Group show. Jan. 30 - Feb. 25. Meredith College: Weems Gallery, Raleigh. Guided Exhibition Tour: Toriawase and Yayoi Kusama Wed., Feb 5. 1:30 p.m. Ackland Art Museum, Chapel Hill. In Conversation: Christine Cox Thu., Jan 30. 12 p.m. Rubenstein Arts Center at Duke University , Durham.
Stacy Lynn Waddell, Untitled (Graduate) PHOTO COURTESY OF 21C
arts
THURSDAY, JANUARY 30
Daniel Kariko: Surburban Symbiosis Insectum Domesticus Photography. Jan. 31 - Mar. 1. Nature Art Gallery, Raleigh. Yayoi Kusama: Open the Shape Called Love Solo exhibit. Jan. 31 - Apr. 12. Ackland Art Museum, Chapel Hill.
The Future is Female
Opening Reception: Green Fri., Jan. 31. 6 p.m. Hillsborough Gallery of Arts, Hillsborough.
The intersection of women’s art and activism is an overwhelmingly extensive topic; thankfully, a new exhibit at 21c takes care to curate expansively. Work by María Magdalena Campos-Pons, Nina Katchadourian, Nandipha Mntambo—among forty-seven other artists—is featured, covering topics like ecological and personal trauma, queer identity, utopic visions, and self-perception. The exhibit will be on display through December 2020; at this opening reception, 21c curator Alice Gray Stites will moderate a panel with artists Marisa Morán Jahn, Stacey Kirby, and Stacy Lynn Waddell. —Sarah Edwards
Opening Reception: Louis Watts, Sequoyaland Drawings. Sun., Feb 2. 2 p.m. Horace Williams House, Chapel Hill.
21c Museum Hotel Durham, Durham 6 p.m., FREE
SUBMIT! Submit your event details at indyweek.com/submit#cals by 5 p.m. Wednesday for the following week’s issue. QUESTIONS? spequeno@indyweek.com
Art’s Work in the Age of Biotechnology Other exhibits at NC State Libraries and GES Center. Through Mar. 15. Gregg Museum of Art & Design, Raleigh.
Design By Time Group Show. Through May 17. Gregg Museum of Art & Design, Raleigh. Fine Contemporary Craft Through Feb. 1. Artspace, Raleigh. Ryan Fox: It’s Easier To Be A Painter. Through Feb 17. 5 Points Gallery, Durham.
Law and Justice: The Supreme Court of North Carolina, 1819- 2019 Artifacts, images, texts. Through May 31. NC Museum of History, Raleigh.
Joe Frank: At the Dark End of the Bar Radio shows. Through Feb. 25. Lump, Raleigh.
Let It Sale, Let It Sale, Let It Sale! Mixed media. Through Jan. 31. Local Color Gallery, Raleigh.
The Full Light of Day Group show of artists with disabilities. Through Mar. 6. VAE Raleigh, Raleigh
George McKim Paintings. Through Feb. 2. Horace Williams House, Chapel Hill.
The Future is Female Group show. Through Dec. 31. 21c Museum Hotel, Durham.
Eleanor Mills: Wildflowers of Crested Butte, Colorado Photography. Through Apr. 18. Duke Campus: Lilly Library, Durham.
Scott Avett: INVISIBLE Screenprints and paintings. Through Feb. 2. NC Museum of Art, Raleigh.
André Leon Gray: lost lux libertas Mixed media. Through Feb. 25. UNC Campus: Hanes Art Center, Chapel Hill.
My Kid Could Paint That Child art and mixed media. Through Jan. 31. The ArtsCenter, Carrboro.
John Beerman: The Shape of Light Paintings. Through Feb. 29. Craven Allen Gallery, Durham.
Green Group show. Through Feb. 23. Hillsborough Gallery of Arts, Hillsborough.
Christopher Bickford: Legends of the Sandbar Photos. Through Feb. 15. Through This Lens, Durham.
Organized Chaos #1: Geometric Shapes & Patterns Paintings. Through Mar. 10. Triangle Cultural Art Gallery, Raleigh.
Abie Harris: Painting Music Through Mar. 1. The Community Church of Chapel Hill Unitarian Universalist, Chapel Hill.
Paintings From The Estate of Robert Broderson Through Feb. 9. Gallery C, Raleigh.
John James Audubon: The Birds of America Ornithological engravings. Through Dec. 31. NC Museum of Art, Raleigh.
Megan Bostic, Andy Mauery, Rosemary Meza-DesPlas: Hairstory Art made of human hair. Through Feb. 29. Artspace, Raleigh. Michelle Brinegar Through Apr. 11. Saladelia Cafe, Durham. Cornelio Campos: My Roots Paintings. Through Mar. 12. Durham Arts Council, Durham.
Shelly Hehenberger, Luna Lee Ray, R.J.Dobbs Mixed media and sculpture. Through Mar. 7. FRANK Gallery, Chapel Hill. Here to Hear // Hear to Here Interactive audio installation. Through Feb. 16. Rubenstein Arts Center at Duke University, Durham. Horse & Buggy and Friends: Satellite Parrish Street Gallery Group show. Through Apr. 1. Horse & Buggy Press PopUp Shop, Durham.
Opening Reception: The Future is Female Thu., Jan 30. 6 p.m. 21c Museum Hotel, Durham.
Kennedi Carter: Godchild Photography. Through Jan. 31. 21c Museum Hotel, Durham.
Sketching in the Galleries at the Gregg Thu., Jan 30. 6 p.m. Gregg Museum of Art & Design, Raleigh.
Compose and Materialize Group show. Through Mar. 7. Durham Arts Council, Durham.
Surburban Symbiosis Insectum Domesticus Opening Reception Photography. Sat., Feb 1. 2 p.m. Nature Art Gallery, Raleigh.
Cosmic Rhythm Vibrations Mixed media. Through Mar. 1. Nasher Museum of Art, Durham.
Instruments of Divination in Africa: Works from the Collection of Rhonda Morgan Wilkerson, Ph.D. Sculpture and objects used in divination. Through Jun. 7. Ackland Art Museum, Chapel Hill.
Stephen Costello: Places Sculpture. Through Feb. 29. Craven Allen Gallery, Durham.
Danielle James: Secondhand Salon Neon art. Through Feb. 7. VAE Raleigh, Raleigh.
Toriawase: A Special Installation of Modern Japanese Art and Ceramics Jan. 31 - Apr. 12. Ackland Art Museum, Chapel Hill.
Jeana Eve Klein & Anne Hill: Meditative Obsessive Mixed media. Through Feb 29. Horse & Buggy Press and Friends, Durham.
Cheryl Thurber: Documenting Gravel Springs, Mississippi, in the 1970s Photography. Through Mar. 31. UNC Campus: Wilson Special Collections Library, Chapel Hill. Matt Tomko Paintings. Through Apr. 12. Mad Hatter Bakeshop & Cafe, Durham. JP Trostle: Quantum Flux Photography. Through Jul. 14. Durham Convention Center, Durham. ¡Viva Viclas!: The Art of the Lowrider Motorcycle Designed motorcycles. Through Feb. 9. CAM Raleigh, Raleigh. Waging Peace in Vietnam: US Soliders and Veterans Who Opposed the War Historical artifacts. Through Feb. 15. Westbook Building, Durham. Telvin Wallace: CARE FOR ME Prints and paintings. Through Feb 16. Durham Arts Council, Durham. Wintertide Oil paintings. Through Feb. 1. V L Rees Gallery, Raleigh.
Portraying Power and Identity: A Global Perspective Mixed media. Through Jan. 31. 21c Museum Hotel, Durham. Process is Work Paintings. Through Feb. 4. Warehouse Artist Studios @ Golden Belt, Durham. Property of the People: The Foundations of the NCMA, 1924–1945 Photography. Through Feb. 9. NC Museum of Art, Raleigh. QuiltSpeak: Uncovering Women’s Voices Through Quilts Through Mar. 8. NC Museum of History, Raleigh. Leanne Shapton: La Donna Del Lago Painting and photography. Through Feb. 25. Lump, Raleigh. Sydney Steen: Fault Lines Vignettes. Through Oct. 25. 21c Museum Hotel, Durham.
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C U LT U R E CA L E NDA R
FRIDAY, JANUARY 31
Anita Sarkeesian
page
The media critic Anita Sarkeesian has made a career writing about feminism and women’s role in the video game industry; that work made her a target of GamerGate when her research was perceived as a threat to traditional gamer culture. The backlash and harassment she has received have only reinforced the urgency—particularly in a troll-filled election year—of her activism. As she wrote in a New York Times opinion piece, “The time for invisible boundaries that guard the “purity” of gaming as a niche subculture is over.” At this Duke Ethics of Now event, Sarkeesian will speak with Duke historian Adriane Lentz Smith about some of the “ethical challenges facing the Duke and Durham communities.” —Sarah Edwards Durham Arts Council, Durham 7 p.m., FREE
Readings
Lectures
Jasmine Brown The Money Club: A Teenage Guide to Financial Literacy. Wed., Feb. 5, 7 p.m. Flyleaf Books, Chapel Hill.
Wayne Johns, Ina Cariño, Emilia Phillips Poetry readings. Wed., Jan. 29, 7 p.m. Regulator Bookshop, Durham.
Diane Chamberlain Big Lies in a Small Town. Sat., Feb. 1, 11 a.m. McIntyre’s Books, Pittsboro.
Nicole Gulotta, Margaret Li: Food, Creativity, and Motherhood Thu., Jan. 30, 7 p.m. Flyleaf Books, Chapel Hill.
Eric Chason Breathless. Wed., Jan. 29, 7 p.m. Flyleaf Books, Chapel Hill. Laura DeNardis, Alice Marwick The Internet in Everything. Mon., Feb. 3, 7 p.m. Flyleaf Books, Chapel Hill. Tim Garvin A Dredging in Swann: A Seb Creek Mystery. Wed., Feb. 5, 7 p.m. Quail Ridge Books, Raleigh. Judy Goldman Together: A Memoir of a Marriage and a Medical Mishap. Sat., Feb. 1, 2 p.m. McIntyre’s Books, Pittsboro. Tamara Jacobi Wildpreneurs: A Practical Guide to Pursuing Your Passion as a Business. Wed., Jan. 29, 7 p.m. Quail Ridge Books, Raleigh. Frank McBride The London Optimizer. The Paris Optimizer. Tue., Feb. 4, 7 p.m. Flyleaf Books, Chapel Hill.
How Dreams Can Influence Our Lives Fri., Jan. 31, 7 p.m. The Episcopal Center at Duke, Durham. Neil deGrasse Tyson Sold out. Fri., Jan. 31, 8 p.m. Durham Performing Arts Center, Durham. Dale Graff: The Art of Dreaming Sat., Feb. 1, 9 a.m. Rhine Research Center, Durham. Jaki Shelton Green Discussion James Baldwin’s If Beale Street Could Talk. Sun., Feb. 2, 7 p.m. Quail Ridge Books, Raleigh. Great Durham Pun Championship SOLD OUT. Tue., Feb. 4, 7:30 p.m. Motorco Music Hall, Durham. What is a Resource Curse: Energy, Infrastructure, and Climate Change in Native North America Wed., Feb. 5, 5 p.m. Ahmadieh Family Lecture Hall, Durham.
2.5
Tamara Jacobi Wildpreneurs 7pm A Year of Reading James Baldwin with Jaki Shelton Green 2pm Tim Garvin A Dredging in Swann 7pm
1.29 2.2 2.9
Raachel Jurovics Under One Crown 2pm
2.10
Erin Hunter Bravelands #5: The Spirit-Eaters 7pm
2.11
W. Jason Miller Langston Hughes 7pm
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FEB 48 PRESENTED BY ONE SONG POPUP CHORUS TRANSACTORS IMPROV: VALENTINE’S DAY MUSICAL BUSTER KEATON’S “SHERLOCK JR.” LIVE SCORE BY TIM CARLESS
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stage
Opening
Ongoing
Rent Musical. Showtimes: Tue.Thu.: 7:30 p.m. Fri: 8 p.m. Sat.: 2 p.m. & 8 p.m. Sun.: 1 p.m. & 7 p.m. $20+. Jan. 28 - Feb. 2, Durham Performing Arts Center, Durham.
Bourbon at the Border Play. Showtimes: Fri. & Sat.: 8 p.m. Sun.: 3 p.m. $1522. Through Feb. 9. North Raleigh Arts & Creative Theatre, Raleigh.
Carolina Ballet: Rhapsody in Blue Showtimes: Thu. & Fri.: 8 p.m. Sat.: 2 p.m. & 8 p.m. Sun.: 2 p.m. $37+. Jan. 30 - Feb. 16. Fletcher Opera Theater, Raleigh.
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the NightTime Raleigh Little Theatre. $14-$27. Thu-Sat: 8 p.m. Sun: 3 p.m. Through Feb. 2. Raleigh Little Theatre, Raleigh.
The Wiz Musical. Showtimes: Thu.-Sat.: 8 p.m. Sun.: 2 p.m. $15. Jan. 30 - Feb. 9, Duke Campus: Sheafer Lab Theater, Durham. BalletX $25. Fri, Jan. 31, 8 p.m. Duke Campus: Reynolds Industries Theater, Durham. BalletX $25. Sat, Feb. 1, 8 p.m. Duke Campus: Reynolds Industries Theater, Durham. Martha Graham Dance Company $27+. Thu, Jan. 30, 7:30 p.m. UNC Campus: Memorial Hall, Chapel Hill. Adrienne Iapalucci Comedy. Showtimes: Fri.: 8 p.m. Sat.: 8 p.m. & 10:30 p.m. $20. Jan. 31 - Feb. 1. Goodnights Comedy Club, Raleigh. Pat McGann Comedy. Showtimes: Thu.: 7 p.m. Fri.: 7 p.m. & 9:15 p.m. Sat.: 6:30 p.m. & 9 p.m. $20+. Jan. 30 - Feb. 1, Raleigh Improv, Cary.
Everybody Play. Showtimes: Tue.-Sat.: 7 p.m. Sun.: 2 p.m. Feb. 1 only: 2 p.m. & 7 p.m. $15+. Through Feb. 10. Center for Dramatic Art, Chapel Hill.
Talley’s Folly Burning Coal Theatre Company. ThuSat: 7:30 p.m. Sun: 2 p.m. Through Feb. 9. Burning Coal Theatre at the Murphey School, Raleigh.
Rent Musical. Showtimes: Tue.-Thu.: 7:30 p.m. Fri.: 8 p.m. Sat.: 2 p.m. & 8 p.m. Sun.: 1 p.m. & 7 p.m. $35+. Through Feb. 2. Durham Performing Arts Center, Durham.
FRIDAY, JANUARY 31 & SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 1
BalletX The letter X is mysterious, variable, open. So is BalletX, the Philadelphia-based contemporary company known for its innovation on classical ballet structures. BalletX will host Durhamites for a trio of choreographic works—co-founder Matthew Neenan’s Increasing, set to Schubert’s tumultuous String Quartet in C; Neenan’s The Last Glass, inspired by upbeat indie-rock band Beirut; and choreographer Cayetano Soto’s political satire Napoleon/ Napoleon. This isn’t the ballet of yore: BalletX is in step with 2020’s audiences. —Rachel Rockwell Duke’s Reynolds Industries Theater, Durham 8 p.m., $25
Mike Mello Comedy. $15-$23. Thu, Jan. 30, 8 p.m. Goodnights Comedy Club, Raleigh.
Rhapsody in Blue PHOTO BY RACHEL NEVILLE PHOTOGRAPHY
THURSDAY, JANUARY 30–SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 16
Rhapsody in Blue It’s a Jazz Age legend that, as George Gershwin ran out of time to finish his Rhapsody in Blue, he wrote “my solo goes here” at one place in the score he sent to arranger Ferde Grofé and just winged it, extemporaneously, on its opening night in New York. Carolina Ballet artistic director Zalman Raffael’s dancers will have put in a bit more rehearsal in their revival of his 2017 homage, in a program including Lullaby, a new work by founding artistic director Robert Weiss. —Byron Woods Fletcher Opera Theater, Raleigh Various times, $37+
One Song: Feb 48 Plays. $10. Sun, Feb. 2, 4 p.m. The ArtsCenter, Carrboro. Orange Light Play. Showtimes: Thu.: 7:30 p.m. Fri. & Sat.: 8 p.m. Sun.: 2 p.m. Jan. 30 - Feb. 16 Durham Fruit Company, Durham. Donnell Rawlings Comedy. Showtimes: 7:30 p.m. & 10 p.m. both days. $22. Jan. 31 Feb. 1. Goodnights Comedy Club, Raleigh. Season of Love Broadway Benefit Fri, Jan. 31, 6:30 p.m. Durham Performing Arts Center, Durham. The Second City Comedy. $35. Fri, Jan. 31, 8 p.m. Carolina Theatre, Durham. Vaudeville Varieties Variety show. Thu, Jan. 30, 8 p.m. Living Arts Collective, Durham.
BalletX
PHOTO COURTESY OF DUKE PERFORMANCES
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ESCAPE TO ASHEVILLE EXPERIENCE
THE JAPANESE ART OF
D E E P R E L A X AT I O N
film Special Showings Apollo 11 Wed., Feb. 5, 7:30 p.m. Carolina Theatre, Durham. Bedside Manner Followed by discussion. Thu., Jan. 30, 7 p.m. Rubenstein Arts Center - Film Theater, Durham. Bride of Chucky $7. Tue., Feb. 4, 9 p.m. Alamo Drafthouse, Raleigh. Drop Dead Fred $7. Wed., Jan. 29, 9:45 p.m. Alamo Drafthouse, Raleigh. Eileen Gray: Gray Matters $9-$11. Mon., Feb. 3, 7:30 p.m. Chelsea Theater, Chapel Hill. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind $7. Wed., Feb. 5, 7 p.m. Alamo Drafthouse, Raleigh. February One Wed., Jan. 29, 7:30 p.m. Carolina Theatre, Durham. The Good Place Series Finale $7. Thu., Jan. 30, 8:30 p.m. Alamo Drafthouse, Raleigh. Groundhog Day, To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar $10. Fri., Jan. 31, 7 p.m. Carolina Theatre, Durham. Hallucinations $1. Fri., Jan. 31, 10 p.m. Alamo Drafthouse, Raleigh. Heat Lightning $7. Wed., Feb. 5, 7 p.m. Carolina Theatre, Durham. Little Shop of Horrors Showtimes: Tue.: 7 p.m. Wed.: 9 p.m. $13. Feb. 4- 5. Alamo Drafthouse, Raleigh. The Lodge $12. Tue., Feb. 4, 7 p.m. Alamo Drafthouse, Raleigh. Midnight Family Fri., Jan. 31, 7 p.m. Rubenstein Arts Center - Film Theater, Durham.
Motion for Pictures Screening Series $6. Wed., Feb. 5, 8 p.m. The Cary Theater, Cary. Oscar Shorts 2020 - Animation $6. Sun., Feb. 2, 2 p.m. The Cary Theater, Cary. Oscar Shorts 2020 Documentary $6. Sat., Feb. 1, 9 p.m. The Cary Theater, Cary. Oscar Shorts 2020 - Live Action $6. Sat., Feb. 1, 7 p.m. The Cary Theater, Cary. Paprika $7. Mon., Feb. 3, 7 p.m. Varsity Theatre, Chapel Hill. Touch the Sky: Stories, Subversions, and Complexities of Ferguson $5-$10 suggested. Wed., Jan. 29, 7 p.m. NorthStar Church of the Arts, Durham. Two Thousand Maniacs! $8. Mon., Feb. 3, 8:30 p.m. Alamo Drafthouse, Raleigh. Who Saw Her Die? $7. Wed., Jan. 29, 7 p.m. Carolina Theatre, Durham.
Opening Gretel and Hansel—Horror fantasy remake of the fairy tale about two children whose hike goes awry. Rated PG-13. The Rhythm Section— Blake Lively plays a woman hellbent on revenge after her family is murdered in a plane crash. Rated R.
Now Playing The INDY uses a five-star rating scale. Unstarred films have not been reviewed by our writers. 1917—Epic war drama about two soldiers taskd with sending a message that could save 1,600 soldiers. Rated R. Bad Boys for Life—Buddy cop comedy about a midlife crisis. Produced by Will Smith. Rated R.
A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood—Audiences can’t get enough of the Mr. Rogers content, and for good reason. In this rendition, Matthew Rhys plays a journalist assigned a profile of Fred Rogers,played by a perfectly-cast Tom Hanks. Rated PG. Doctor Sleep—Stephen King sequel to The Shining. Rated R.. Dolittle—Robert Downey Jr. plays the eccentric vetenarian in this fantasy action reprisal. Rated PG. Frankie—Isabelle Hupert stars as an ailing matriarch in this sprawling family drama. Rated PG-13. Ford v. Ferrari—Matt Damon and Christian Bale star in a biographical sports drama about a legendary race. Rated PG-13. Frozen 2— In search of the origins of her powers, Elsa and her sister Anna strike out beyond their frosty homeland. Rated PG. The Grudge—Real estate difficulties (among other things) are exacerbated when a cursed suburban house goes on the market. Rated R. Harriet—Kasi Lemmons stars in this biographical film about the heroic abolitionist Harriet Tubman. Rated PG-13. A Hidden Life—Terrence Malick takes his roving cinemotography, and love of furtive interior lives, to the story of a man who refused to fight for Nazi Germany. Rated PG-13. Jojo Rabbit—Black comedy about a German boy who discovers that his mother is hiding a Jewish girl in the attic. Rated PG-13. Jumanji: The Next Level— This adventure comedy picks up where the 1995 flick left off. Rated PG-13. Just Mercy—Based on the book of the same name, this film tells the story of Bryan Stevenson, a young lawyer defending a client who is unjustly on death row. Rated PG-13.
Like a Boss—Things go awry for raunchy and ambitious duo Mia (Tiffany Hadish) and Mel (Rose Bryne) when things sour with a beauty tycoon. Rated R. Midway—This WWII flick about Pearl Harbor and the subsequent Battle of Midway stars a fleet of hunks. Rated PG-13. ½ Pain and Glory— In this auto-fictional exercise, the director Pedro Almodóvar is honest about his life but guarded about his psyche. Rated R. —Marta Núñez Pouzols Parasite—This highly-anticipated social satire from filmmaker Bong Joon-Ho is crammed with dark twists and intricate metaphors. Rated R. —Sarah Edwards Queen & Slim— A bad date turns into a manhunt after Queen and Slim kill a police officer in self-defense. Had it avoided the more moralistic clichés of the crime melodrama, it could have been more compelling. Rated R. —Ryan Vu Richard Jewell—Clint Eastwood reconsiders the story of Richard Jewell, a security guard falsely accused of bombing the 1996 Olympics. Rated R. Uncut Gems— Loud and brash, with extreme close-ups and a discordant score ratcheting up the unease, this Safdie brothers flick stars Adam Sandler as a jeweler who places a high-stakes bet. Rated R. —Neil Morris Underwater—Kristen Stewart stars in a science-fiction flick—which is perhaps not for those who are claustrophobic or scared of water—about a crew of underwater researchers terrorized by mysterious creatures. Rated PG-13. Waves—An emotional movie about a suburban African-American family navigating loss. Rated R.
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C L AS S I F I E D S NOTICES Notice of Durham County Primary and School Board Election Tuesday, March 3, 2020 PHOTO ID IS NOT REQUIRED TO VOTE The Primary and School Board Election for Durham County will be held in Durham County, NC on Tuesday March 3rd. All Durham County precincts will be open from 6:30 a.m. until 7:30 p.m. 17-year old Durham County voters who are registered and will be 18 years old on or before Nov. 3, 2020 may vote in Durham’s Primary. 17-year-olds are not permitted to voter in the School Board Election. Party primaries will be open to voters registered with that respective party. Unaffiliated voters may vote a non-partisan ballot that will only include the School Board Election OR choose to participate in either the Republican, Democratic, or Libertarian primaries. The Constitution and Green parties have opted not to allow unaffiliated voters to participate in their respective primaries. The following contests will be on Durham County ballots*: • State and Federal Offices • U.S. House of Representatives • N.C. Senate • Durham County Board of Commissioners • Durham County Board of Education (Final Election) *Offices will only appear on your ballot if you are eligible to vote for the respective contests. ABSENTEE ONE-STOP (EARLY VOTING) LOCATIONS South Regional Library, 4505 S. Alston Ave., Durham North Regional Library, 221 Milton Rd., Durham Criminal Justice Resource Center, 326 E Main St., Durham NCCU Law Building, 640 Nelson St., Durham
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January 29, 2020
Duke University Brodhead Center, 406 Chapel Dr., Durham Durham Tech North, 2401 Snow Hill Rd., Durham East Regional Library, 211 Lick Creek Ln., Durham Eno River Fellowship, 4907 Garrett Rd., Durham ELECTION DAY POLLING PLACE LOCATION CHANGES • Precinct 16, previously temporarily located at Jordan High School has moved back to Holy Infant Catholic Church, located at 5000 Southpark Dr., Durham, NC 27713. • Precinct 19, previously located at Merrick-Moore Elementary School has moved back to American Legion Post # 7, located at 406 E Trinity Ave., Durham, NC 27701. • Precinct 53-2, previously located at Barbee Chapel Baptist Church has moved to Waypoint Church, located at 6804 Farrington Rd., Chapel Hill, NC 27517. VOTER REGISTRATION DEADLINE: The voter registration deadline for the March 3, 2020 Primary and School Board Election is Friday, February 7, 2020 (25 days prior). Voters that miss the registration deadline may register and vote during the Absentee OneStop Voting Period (Early Voting). Voters who are currently registered need not re-register. Registered voters who have moved or changed other information since the last election should notify the Board of Elections of that change by February 7, 2020. SAME DAY REGISTRATION: Voters are allowed to register and vote during early voting. It is quicker and easier to register in advance, but if you have not registered you can do so during One Stop voting with proper identification. This same day registration
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EMPLOYMENT is not allowed at polling places on Election Day. Information regarding registration, polling locations, absentee voting, or other election matters may be obtained by contacting the Board of Elections. PHOTO ID IS NOT REQUIRED TO VOTE Website: www.dcovotes.com Email: elections@dconc.gov Phone: 919-560-0700 Fax: 919-560-0688 PAID FOR BY DURHAM COUNTY BOARD OF ELECTIONS
Assistant Pastor Needed - Cary Assistant Pastor sought by College Park Baptist Church (910 Twyla Rd, Cary, NC 27519) to work directly under the direction & supv’n of the Sr. Pastor to engage in pastoral ministries, & being responsible to the Sr. Pastor & Church Deacon Bording for providing staff leadership to the entire church’s educational prgm. Providing leadership in the day-to-day administrative needs of the church. Min. Master of Theology Deg is reqd. Resume: Matthew Walker, Senior Pastor, 910 Twyla Rd, Cary, NC 27519.
SERVICES Do You Know Tasvir “Tass” Shah? Do you know an employer by the name Tasvir “Tass” Shah? Does he owe you wages for completed work in Alamance, Durham or Orange county? For years, this man took advantage of the immigration status of workers to avoid paying them for their hard work. We are in seek of more brave workers that want to stop the exploitation of this employer. We are Apoyo and our organization exists for the purpose of supporting our undocumented neighbors and community members by building a larger united, informed and self protecting community. You can contact us on facebook.com/ apoyoNC, on our page ncapoyo.org or via phone at 919-307-5785. Notice To Creditors All persons, firms, and corporations having claims against Joyce Wilson Biggers, deceased of Orange County, NC are notified to exhibit the same to the undersigned on or before February 20, 2020, or this notice will be pleaded in bar of recovery. Debtors of the decedent are asked to make immediate payment. This 29th day of January, 2020. Sara M. Biggers Executor 101 Aberdeen Court, Carrboro NC 27510.
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HISTORY TRIVIA: • On January 30, 1951, publisher Joseph Palmer Knapp died. As his company was a pioneer in distributing baseball cards with tobacco, Knapp became acquainted with James B. Duke. He also funded the construction of the UNC School of Government building. • On February 2, 1926, the Durham Auditorium opened. It was renovated and renamed the Carolina Theatre three years later. Courtesy of the Museum of Durham History
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P U Z Z L ES
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su | do | ku
this week’s puzzle level:
© Puzzles by Pappocom
There is really only one rule to Sudoku: Fill in the game board so that the numbers 1 through 9 occur exactly once in each row, column, and 3x3 box. The numbers can appear in any order and diagonals are not considered. Your initial game board will consist of several numbers that are already placed. Those numbers cannot be changed. Your goal is to fill in the empty squares following the simple rule above.
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