INDY Week 11.27.19 by Indy Week

RALEIGH

NOVEMBER 27, 2019

Making a Murderer U.S. Army

COMBAT VETERAN. Ukrainian

FREEDOM FIGHTER. Right-wing

By Jordan Green, p. 9

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North Carolina native Craig Lang was always looking for a war.

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WHAT WE LEARNED THIS WEEK DURHAM • CHAPEL HILL VOL. 36 NO. 46

DEPARTMENTS

6 Decades ago, what is now the Lakewood Shopping Center was home to an amusement park. Black kids couldn’t go in.

6 News 16 Food

8 Raleigh’s new city council seems skeptical of the city’s twenty-one neighborhood conservation overlay districts.

18 Music 20 Arts & Culture

9 The war in Ukraine has given white supremacists a “playground in which there is turmoil and chaos.”

22 What to Do This Week 25 Music Calendar 29 Arts & Culture Calendar

16 For our annual holiday potluck, Duke football coach David Cutcliffe says he’s bringing blue deviled eggs. 18 After Pat “Mother Blues” Cohen lost everything for the second time, Music Maker Relief Foundation was there to help within a couple of days. 20 Melina Matsoukas denies that Queen & Slim is like Bonnie and Clyde, because her outlaw protagonists are fighting for survival. 21 Though he’s been reading it annually at The Regulator for years, Allan Gurganus’s “A Fool for Christmas” is now seeing print for the first time.

Allan Gurganus’s illustrations in “A Fool for Christmas” (see page 21) PHOTO COURTESY OF HORSE & BUGGY PRESS

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backtalk Gentrified Segregation Earlier this month, the Durham City Council’s voted 6–0 to have the Boston-based Fallon Company redevelop the former police headquarters site instead of the Washington, D.C.-based Akridge, which had partnered with the Durham-based (and blackowned) New South Ventures. The council cited Fallon’s experience in affordable-housing developments among other factors in its decision. In a fiery response, Kenneth Spaulding—a former state rep whose father co-founded NC Mutual—says this move will exacerbate downtown Durham’s “gentrified segregation.” “The current city council members, except for Mark-Anthony Middleton [who did not vote], are now complicit in the re-segregation and exclusion of black property owners in downtown Durham,” Spaulding writes. “This is very simple. “The proposed African-American ownership and partnership with a nationally recognized developer offered the city more money (over $2 million more), more affordable housing, more local ownership, and more African-American ownership than the other developer. Black private ownership diminishes gentrification and would have diminished downtown Durham’s current ‘gentrified segregated’ district. “The six council members indicated that the two proposals before them were both excellent proposals. However, the city’s unelected staff preferred the developer from Boston. The six council members who voted for this developer’s proposal failed to serve and lead the Durham taxpayers. Each one of them has decried gentrification, yet when they had a chance to practice what they preached, they failed. “Others may be afraid to call out the council for this shameful vote, but I am not. Their vote shows utter disrespect for black inclusion and ownership in downtown. We will not lose our history, and we will maintain our legacy. With this in mind, I am stepping aside from my practice of law to focus my attention—with many others, young and old—to help end this ‘gentrified segregation’ in our community. “The best way to do this is to change the leadership of Durham.” Want to see your name in bold? Comment: indyweek.com Email: backtalk@indyweek.com Facebook: @IndependentWeekly Twitter: @indyweek

INDY VOICES

Everything Is Nonsense WELCOME TO A WORLD IN WHICH NOTHING IS INTENDED AS A FACTUAL STATEMENT BY JONATHAN WEILER

JONATHAN WEILER, a teaching professor in global studies at UNC-Chapel Hill and co-author of Prius or Pickup? How the Answers to Four Simple Questions Explain America’s Great Divide and Authoritarianism and Polarization in American Politics. NEXT WEEK: COURTNEY NAPIER, a Raleigh native, community activist, and co-host of the podcast Mothering on the Margins.

anguage is structured by countless rules. Mostly, we don’t have to think about them. We just know what makes sense and what doesn’t. If someone asks, “How tall are you?” you respond with a range of heights. But you wouldn’t, for example, say “purple” or “tomorrow.” Well, you could, but those would be nonsense answers. And if you kept giving nonsense answers like that—Q: What did you do today? A: “57”—pretty quickly, people would stop taking you seriously. Which brings us to today’s Republican Party. In defending Donald Trump, they’re no longer playing by the ordinary rules of language. One sentence flatly contradicts the next. Exaggeration is replaced by fabrication. Sometimes, there’s no obvious connection between questions and answers. They’re just spewing nonsense. GOP elites have been trending in this direction for a long time. In 2004, an anonymous White House official, presumably Karl Rove, derided liberals who lived in the “reality-based” community while conservatives forged ahead by “creating their own reality.” In 2011, Arizona Senator Jon Kyl said that Planned Parenthood used 90 percent of its funding for abortions. The actual figure was closer to 3 percent, but rather than retract the comment, Kyl’s office clarified that the claim “wasn’t intended to be a factual statement.” Since the beginning of the Trump era, however, nonsense has become the standard form of communication. Discussing Trump’s inauguration, thenpress secretary Sean Spicer made the

preposterous claim that it was substantially bigger than Obama’s. Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway defended Spicer’s claim because, she said, he was just citing “alternative facts.” It’s a nonsense statement that has become the leitmotif for the Trump regime. The Washington Post has been tirelessly cataloging all of Trump’s false and misleading statements since he became president. As of mid-October, Trump had uttered more than thirteen thousand of them. The Post’s database doesn’t merely document the president’s repeated falsehood, however. It portrays a presidency built on a foundation of nonsense. Trump is facing the real prospect of impeachment as a result of a now well-documented plot to extort Ukraine’s president to promise to investigate a fabricated claim about Joe Biden’s alleged interference in a nonexistent Ukrainian corruption probe. The plot’s pivotal moment was the now-infamous July 25 phone call in which Trump made clear his demands. Trump’s go-to explanation for that call: It was “perfect.” As CNN’s Chris Cillizza has wondered, what exactly constitutes a “perfect” phone call? The words used? The clarity of the connection? Trump’s response can’t even be described as false, since it doesn’t engage the premises of the issue. It’s just nonsense. Republican efforts to defend Trump from impeachment are foundering because the facts themselves are so damning. So they, too, have resort-

ed to nonsense. Witnesses are “never Trumpers” or have a “pro-Ukrainian” agenda, whatever that means. Elected officials are storming secure facilities to decry “secretive testimony,” even when they have access to that testimony. Since Trump is a never-ending font of lies and nonsense, defending him at all costs requires in-kind utterances. In early November, Trump’s daughter Ivanka suggested that the Trump appointees now testifying against him were evidence that her father had assembled a Lincolnesque “team of rivals.” Thus, Ivanka concluded, this is just “history repeating itself.” Explaining why this is the most ridiculous historical comparison imaginable gives it too much credence. After all, it’s not intended to be a factual statement. Indeed, had Ivanka been asked which president’s cabinet the impeachment inquiry reminded her of, it would have made as much sense for her to have answered, “Purple.” In Trumpworld, they’re not even trying anymore. Nonsense is the whole game. And the consequences are utterly sinister. Any engagement with their words should begin with the understanding that the goal is to subvert the ordinary rules of language—to spew nonsense to defend the indefensible. backtalk@indyweek.com INDY Voices—a rotating column featuring some of the Triangle’s most compelling writers—is made possible by contributions to the INDY Press Club. Visit KeepItINDY.com for more information. INDYweek.com | 11.27.19 | 5

indynews

Model Development

THE SCRAP EXCHANGE’S NEXT PROJECT: SALVAGE AFFORDABLE HOUSING FOR ITS WORKING-CLASS NEIGHBORS BY THOMASI MCDONALD

arly next year, fifty-eight-year-old artist and teacher Braima Moiwai will move out of the Arnette Street apartment he’s rented for more than two decades. The market is hot, and his landlord sold the property. A few blocks away, on Fairview Street, two new homes, with V-shaped roofs, dramatic architectural features, and sloping lawns, are on the market for more than a half-million dollars each. They stand in contrast to the surrounding modest bungalows, all in need of repairs, where many residents have spent most of their adult lives. Turn on to Carroll Street, and a recently built two-story home sits next to a tan-colored cinderblock duplex that, by comparison, looks old enough for its original owners to have secured their loan from the Freedman’s Bank during Reconstruction. Gentrification is evident in Durham’s Lakewood neighborhood, and with it a growing resentment among long-time working-class residents who see the city pulling out the proverbial good china with road and infrastructure improvements to support the new developments and new people driving up their rents. Later this month, the city will likely agree to spend $660,000 on another new development in Lakewood. But while this project is designed to turn the neighborhood into a cultural and recreational destination, with community gardens, a sculpture park, basketball court, an adventure playground, and a skateboard park— the kinds of things that presage rising rents—it won’t lead to anyone being displaced, supporters say. Quite the opposite, in fact. Instead, the nonprofit Scrap Exchange is asking for the money to help finance a thirty-three-unit affordable housing development. The homes will anchor its planned 12.5-acre Reuse Arts District, which will be housed in what is now the parking lot of the Lakewood Shopping Center. 6 | 11.27.19 | INDYweek.com

The Scrap Exchange

PHOTO BY JADE WILSON

The Durham institution, which has sold repurposed salvageable materials since 1991, now wants to salvage living spaces for its working-class neighbors. “This is a fantastic idea,” city council member Charlie Reece said after a Thursday work session in which city officials reviewed the proposal. “It’s easy to envision what could happen at that location, and what it means to working-class folk who live over there.”

The city’s contribution will cover a financing gap and enable The Scrap Exchange to build out commercial space in the Reuse Arts District, says project manager Doreen Sanfelici. That, in turn, will lead to permanent financing for phase one of the housing project. “We’re very vested in the community,” says Sanfelici. “The [alternative] is that a private developer comes in, knocks

everything down, and puts up a typical development.” Founded in 1991, The Scrap Exchange bounced around for its first two decades— in Northgate Mall, the Liberty Warehouse, near Golden Belt—before purchasing the former Center Theater in Lakewood in 2013. Three years later, it secured a loan to purchase the northern end of the shopping center, and, along with Self-Help, met with

city officials to discuss whether the city would kick in funds in exchange for affordable housing. Under the agreement—which Sanfelici hopes the council will approve at its next meeting, on December 2—the nonprofit will develop at least thirty-three units that either rent to families earning 60 percent or less of the area median income or sell to families earning 80 percent of the AMI. The Scrap Exchange currently counts as tenants several nonprofits and arts-focused businesses that reflect one of the most diverse communities in the city: The Latinx advocacy agencies El Centro and El Futuro have offices in the shopping center, as does the Durham Community Food Pantry. Freeman’s Creative, which sells fabric, yarn, handcrafts, and creative supplies, celebrated its second anniversary this month. The fourteen-thousandsquare-foot Rhythms Live Music Hall has been here for almost a year. The Bulltown Magnetics recording studio just got the permits it needs to begin renovations. Just twenty years ago, the Lakewood Shopping Center was a destination. Visitors could bite into hot slices of pizza or play pinball at Satisfaction restaurant, see a movie at the Center Theater, enjoy Ethiopian food at Blue Nile, or eat at the Back Porch restaurant. Decades before that, it was home to the Lakewood Amusement Park, which had a swimming pool, diving horses, and a trolley line, but was off-limits to black kids, who could only peek through the fence. By 2015, however, the shopping center had become a “forlorn, largely vacant lot,” city community development director Reginald J. Johnson wrote in a memo to council members earlier this month. “Today, the Lakewood Shopping Center is making a comeback, and the resulting gentrification pressures threaten to displace long-term residents.” This housing project will help alleviate that pressure, Johnson continued. Council member Javiera Caballero describes The Scrap Exchange’s ten-year plan for the arts district as “forward-looking.” She sees it as a way to push back against the displacement that often accompanies new development near downtown. Sanfelici, an architect, says the project “will bring equity and ownership to the community.” “It’s our opportunity to model development that does not displace and gentrify but rather enriches and supports the existing community,” she says. “Long-term, maybe the Reuse Arts District serves as an example for a national model for adaptive reuse.” tmcdonald@indyweek.com

IMPEACHMENT: THEN AND NOW DECEMBER 3, 5:30 PM NELSON MANDELA AUDITORIUM RECEPTION TO FOLLOW IN FEDEX GLOBAL EDUCATION CENTER ATRIUM

Join CNN’s principal legal analyst for impeachment Michael Gerhardt and presidential historian William Leuctenburg as they discuss the history and law surrounding impeachment in the United States.

SPEAKERS

MODERATOR

Michael Gerhardt is the Burton Craige Distinguished Professor of Jurisprudence at the UNC School of Law.

William Leuchtenburg is the William Rand Kenan Jr. Professor Emeritus of History at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Martin Brinkley is Dean and the Arch T. Allen Distinguished Professor of Law at UNC School of Law. For questions email publicdiscourse@unc.edu INDYweek.com | 11.27.19 | 7

news The End of NCODs?

THE NEW RALEIGH CITY COUNCIL WILL TAKE A SKEPTICAL LOOK AT A ONCE-POPULAR ZONING TOOL BY LEIGH TAUSS

he most affordable home in one Cameron Village hamlet is a no-frills two-bedroom ranch listed for $425,000. It’s a stone’s throw from million-dollar estates and within walking distance of one of Raleigh’s most upscale shopping centers, where you can buy a “vintage” coffee table for $500. Neighborhoods nearby are changing quickly, as six-story condos pop up on Glenwood South and developers plan twenty-story-plus towers on Peace Street. To protect their enclave from this burgeoning development, Cameron Villagers did what many Raleigh residents have done when they’ve felt threatened by a wave of new construction: They applied for a neighborhood conservation overlay district, a zoning tool that restricts density by placing height, setback, lot size, and compatibility restrictions on new development, essentially freezing a neighborhood in time. Just a few months ago, the odds were in the neighborhood’s favor. The city council, whose majority was skeptical of development and protective of neighborhoods, seemed likely to approve the NCOD without a second glance. But in October, three members of that majority lost their reelection bids; a fourth didn’t run. They were replaced by a more pro-growth set. The new city council, which gets sworn in on Monday, has promised to reexamine the NCOD process. What’s more, a long-in-the-works ordinance that would have effectively turned the entire city into an NCOD appears doomed. That text change—which was initiated in October 2017 but got stuck in the Growth and Natural Resources Committee until this spring—was conceived as a way to curtail an increase in NCOD petitions. It would institute minimum lot-size standards based on the existing neighbor-

8 | 11.27.19 | INDYweek.com

“My priority is making sure we have an abundance of diverse housing options.” hood so that big homes can’t be squeezed onto tiny lots or large lots carved up to build more homes closer together. While the ordinance doesn’t restrict height or setbacks, it would serve the same purpose that many NCODs do: It limits density. “It’s not making sure we have an abundance of housing options,” says council member Nicole Stewart. “My priority is about making sure we have an abundance of diverse housing options, in which case this text change would go against that.” She’s not alone: Her new colleagues— Saige Martin, Jonathan Melton, David Knight, and Mayor-elect Mary Ann Baldwin—also looked askance at NCODs while on the campaign trail. “Most of us agree we need to study the impacts NCODs are having on neighborhoods, housing stock, and affordability,”

Baldwin told the INDY in a text message. “I don’t think the new council will want to pursue this text change until we have a better understanding of this issue.” In August, Stewart asked the GNR committee to look into what effect NCODs would have on housing affordability. The city is finalizing a study on that question, but planning director Ken Bowers says it won’t yield definitive answers. The neighborhoods that have recently sought NCODs already have hot real estate markets. So it’s not clear whether price inflation leads to neighborhoods wanting to rein in development or whether new development restrictions inflate home prices. If the council comes to believe that NCODs are blocking the density the city believes it needs to tamp down housing costs, the real question won’t be whether it will approve the ordinance—that’s highly unlikely—but instead, whether it will target the city’s twenty-one existing NCODs. As the city’s zoning authority, the council has the power to eliminate all of them with a single vote. But such a drastic move would be extraordinarily controversial. Indeed, in the decades since NCODs were written into law, Bowers says he doesn’t think any have been rescinded. Besides, as Bowers points out, the twenty-one districts only comprise “a small part of the zoning pie in terms of impact on housing supply.” In other words, it probably wouldn’t be worth the trouble. Still, the Cameron Village NCOD application could have served as an interesting test case for the new council, but the neighborhood withdrew its petition last week. The 120 homeowners seeking the district weren’t able to reach a consensus about what it should look like. ltauss@indyweek.com

Making a

Murderer U.S. Army combat veteran. Ukrainian freedom fighter. Right-wing extremist. Alleged killer.

North Carolina native Craig Lang was always looking for a war. BY J O R DA N G R E E N

lex Zwiefelhofer was itching to fight. In 2016, the nineteen-year-old went AWOL from Fort Bragg and flew to Europe. He tried to join the French Foreign Legion, a storied, often romanticized branch of the French military that draws from foreign recruits, often fugitives living under assumed names. When that didn’t work out, he continued east to Ukraine. There he took up with Right Sector, a militia fighting Russian-backed separatists in Donbas. Along with other ultranationalists groups operating in eastern Ukraine, Right Sector has attracted thousands of white supremacists and far-right extremists from across Europe and the U.S. who have made its cause their own. Among them was Craig Lang, a twenty-six-year-old former U.S. Army specialist who grew up in Pitt County. Zwiefelhofer and Lang became comrades. A year later, they were back in the states; Lang told a British journalist there wasn’t enough action in Ukraine anymore, just “trench warfare.” They soon hatched a plan to sneak into South Sudan and fight the Islamist group al-Shabaab. The two flew to Kenya but got caught sneaking across the border and were deported. On August 1, 2017, Zwiefelhofer landed in Charlotte and was interviewed by Customs and Border Protection and an FBI agent. They searched his phone and allegedly

found child porn. He spent three months in the Mecklenburg County jail before bonding out and returning to Wisconsin to live with his father. He was due back in Charlotte in April 2018 to face charges. He never showed. Instead, Zwiefelhofer took a Greyhound from Minneapolis to South Florida and reunited with Lang. They wanted to get back in the fight—this time in Venezuela, where anti-government forces were battling the leftist regime of Nicolás Maduro. But they needed money to get there. They checked into a La Quinta Inn near the Miami airport on April 5. At the hotel, Zwiefelhofer googled articles on how to slip into South America and conducted “multiple searches of videos to include a particular scene from a movie in which subjects were shown inside a vehicle and then ambushed by multiple shooters,” as the FBI later described it. Two days later, he put Glock and 9mm handguns and AR-15 components for sale on the website ArmsList. Shortly after midnight, a man named Danny Lorenzo texted to inquire about the weapons. They quickly settled on a $3,000 purchase price. Lorenzo withdrew the cash the next day, and just after 7:00 p.m. on April 8, he and his wife left their home north of Tampa and drove to a rendezvous point, a church off Interstate 75 just south of Fort Myers. Meanwhile, investigators say, the cell phone

associated with the ArmsList post headed west from Miami, across the Everglades, toward Florida’s southwest coast. At 10:37, Lorenzo texted the seller to say he’d arrived. Eighteen minutes later, 911 calls reported rapid gunfire in the area. Sheriff’s deputies found the Lorenzos’ bodies riddled with bullets. Crime scene technicians counted at least sixty-three shell casings at the scene. Lorenzo’s cash was gone. Investigators soon connected the ArmsList post to Zwiefelhofer’s phone and, from Zwiefelhofer’s internet records, him to Lang. Lang and Zwiefelhofer fled Florida, but they didn’t go to Venezuela. (Zwiefelhofer’s father later told the FBI that their boat captain

had been murdered.) Instead, they traveled to the Pacific Northwest, where authorities say Lang sold components of a rifle used in the murder to a Seattle pawn shop. Zwiefelhofer made his way home to Wisconsin. This May, agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms arrested him there for making a false statement during a gun purchase. Then, on September 11, a federal grand jury indicted him and Lang on a slew of charges related to the double murder. Zwiefelhofer pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial. But Lang was no longer in the country. He’d gone back to Ukraine—back to the fight. INDYweek.com | 11.27.19 | 9

he war in Donbas, which has claimed more than fourteen thousand lives and displaced more than a million people, is also at the crux of the biggest story in American politics. The same day indictments came down against Lang and Zwiefelhofer, President Trump released nearly $400 million in military aid meant to help Ukraine fight the separatists. That money has become central to the ongoing impeachment inquiry, as mounting evidence indicates that Trump withheld the aid to coerce Ukraine’s new president to open investigations into political rival Joe Biden and a conspiracy theory that Ukrainians framed Russia for interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. The scheme unraveled after a whistleblower came forward. The former Soviet state sits at a cultural crossroads between Eastern and Western Europe. It’s an American ally but not a NATO member, divided internally between pro-Western and pro-Russian factions. America sees Ukraine as key to keeping Russian ambitions at bay; Russia sees the country as an important satellite. In 2014, Russia annexed Crimea and instigated a separatist movement in Donbas to counter the growth of what it deemed a dangerous Western influence. Right Sector, the far-right militia Lang and Zwiefelhofer joined, formed in response to the separatist movement in Donbas, but it has no affinity for the West. Like other ultranationalist battalions fighting in eastern Ukraine—the only shooting war in a white, European country—its goal isn’t simply to defeat pro-Russian separatists but to root out all foreign influence and establish a third geopolitical bloc that could stand up to both Russia and the European Union. White power activists have rallied to this cause. Last year, speaking alongside representatives of European far-right movements at the Paneuropa Conference in Kyiv, prominent American alt-right publisher Greg Johnson put it bluntly: “I think what’s happening in Ukraine is a model and an inspiration for nationalists of all white nations.” The ultranationalists are “building a new social order,” he continued, that could be “replicated in all white countries.” Indeed, Donbas has become a global nexus of radical white supremacy. In an eye-opening report in September, the New York-based research group The Soufan Center noted that, because of the Ukraine conflict, “White supremacists are forming global networks, much as jihadis did prior to 9/11, and are learning from jihadi tactics.” The Ukrainian militias have become a 10 | 11.27.19 | INDYweek.com

Craig Lang (left) and Alex Zwiefelhofer PHOTOS TAKEN FROM FACEBOOK

beacon for white extremists, including former military members looking for combat, the report said. More than two thousand foreign fighters, many of them white supremacists, have flocked to Donbas to fight the separatists, most from nearby countries like Germany, Georgia, and Belarus. (Another fifteen thousand fighters have come from Russia, which is increasingly reliant on relationships with far-right and nationalist political parties throughout Europe.) “That’s, in some ways, not too different than what you saw with ISIS” in the early days of the Syrian civil war, Soufan Center senior researcher Jason Blazakis told Voice of America. Ukraine, he added, could offer the same “galvanizing effect” for white extremists that Syria did for Islamists. “It’s given them, for lack of a better word, a playground in which there is turmoil and chaos, a kind of playground that doesn’t exist in a conventional sense in places like the United States,” Blazakis told VOA. At least thirty Americans have traveled to Ukraine to fight for either the pro-Rus-

sian or pro-Ukrainian forces. But while the U.S. closely tracked Americans and other foreigners who went to Syria to fight for al-Qaeda or ISIS—both designated terror groups—it hasn’t done the same for those traveling to Ukraine to fight for ultranationalist militias. That might be changing. Asked by U.S. Representative Lou Correa about right-wing extremists traveling to Ukraine “and coming back to do God knows what,” FBI director Christopher Wray told the House Homeland Security Committee in late October that “this is a trend that we’re watching very carefully.” The bigger threat right now, Wray added, “is racially motivated violent extremists who are inspired by what they see overseas.”

n a Facebook post in June 2016, Lang explained why he went to Ukraine: “My passion is fighting, a gift from God. … I came fully understanding the hazards and risks involved. I came because I wanted to help, because I have a responsibility to God to help in any way that I can.”

He said he was confident that Ukraine would “return to its former glory, and that my children who may not know me will one day understand why I left home. May they be able to walk in the streets of Kyiv having known what their father defended and the struggle of our second home.” It’s not clear if Lang has a familial connection to Ukraine. More likely, that statement referred to his commitment to the Ukrainian nationalist project. By Lang’s account, he had a troubled home life. In 2016, he told a Vice reporter that his father attempted to murder his stepmother in a drunken rage when he was twelve. At sixteen, Lang was charged in Pitt County with assaulting a government official, though he later pleaded to disorderly conduct. A year later, in 2008, he enlisted in the army. He told Vice that he saw the military as “his best way out.” Lang was dishonorably discharged in 2014, Vice reported. Deep in debt, he went to Ukraine in 2015 after being laid off from a North Dakota oil rig. The mission became his calling. Even if

he was imprisoned upon his return, Lang wrote on Facebook, “I felt I had to do something. … I left my family who … would like to have me home.” That last statement should be viewed skeptically. On July 13, 2013—the day after his son’s birth—Lang went AWOL from Fort Bliss in El Paso and drove eighteen hundred miles to his wife’s house in Harnett County. He showed up “with a gun and threatened to kill her neighbors and other family members,” she later testified. (The couple divorced in 2014.) A month earlier, a judge had issued a protective order after Lang had threatened to kill her; the order was renewed in 2015. Lang, who served in Afghanistan and Iraq, has said he suffered a combat-related brain injury in the Middle East, causing him frequent headaches and vision problems in his left eye. His ex-wife testified that he’d threatened suicide multiple times; once, he was hospitalized by fellow soldiers at Fort Bliss after threatening to shoot himself. Lang joined Right Sector soon after he arrived in Ukraine. In 2016, he served with the Georgian National Legion, a militia comprising mostly foreign fighters, before rejoining Right Sector a few months later. A documentary broadcast in April 2016 shows Lang and another former U.S. soldier, Brian Boyenger, signing contracts with the Ukrainian army and then traveling in a military vehicle to survey a battlefront. “We served together in the Ukrainian army for a few months,” says Boyenger, who now lives in Winston-Salem. “Afterward, he left and went on to do his own thing, and I have not had much contact with him since then.” The murder allegations, he adds, “are as much a surprise to me as to everyone else.” Georgian National Legion commander Mamuka Mamulashvili says his militia entered the conflict to reciprocate Ukraine’s commitment to his country during the Russian-Georgian war of 1991–92, which he fought as a child soldier. Unlike other militias operating in Ukraine, Mamulashvili says, his foreign fighters sign contracts with the army, undergo security testing, and check in with their embassies. Also unlike other militias, he says, the Georgian National Legion doesn’t tolerate neo-Nazis or white supremacists. “You can be black, white, Arab, Israeli, [as long as] you agree that Russia is [the] aggressor and occupier,” he says. He recalls Lang as “a very good soldier” who “never had any inclination to Nazism or racism.” There’s no direct evidence that Lang is a white supremacist. In his interview with Vice, he presented himself as a conservative

“If the government comes to shut down the unit, you may be asked to fight. You may also be asked to kill.” and “strict constitutionalist” who “despises communism.” But Right Sector has aligned with racists. In a YouTube post in 2014, the militia’s leader said the group is fighting “for a great Ukrainian and European Reconquista” and “the rebirth of Kyivan-Rus/Ukraine [and] the rebirth of Europe.” That language is familiar to white supremacists. “Kyivan-Rus” was an East Slavic state that ruled over Slavic and Finnish peoples from the late ninth to mid-eleventh century. The Reconquista, on the other hand, references the reassertion of Christian control over present-day Spain in the fifteenth century. In this context, however, the Reconquista refers to a white supremacist geopolitical initiative spearheaded by Azov National Corps, a neo-Nazi organization whose paramilitary wing is the most notorious militia in Ukraine. Through Reconquista, Azov wants to create a “new European unity” under the banner of “traditional values.” As Azov’s founder explained in 2014: “The historic mission of our nation in this critical moment is to lead the White Races of the world in a final crusade for their survival.”

n the early days of the Donbas war—for which the Ukrainian army was woefully ill-prepared—Azov’s paramilitary wing did much of the heavy fighting. That track record has made the Azov Battalion attractive to white supremacists who want more than rhetoric, says Marilyn Mayo, a senior research fellow at the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism. “They’re a militia group that’s actively recruiting for the cause,” Mayo says. “That’s appealing to people who want to promote white nationalism or preserve European-American culture. The fact that they’re fighting is in and of itself important.” Earlier this year, Azov spokeswoman Olena Semenyaka told the UK-based investigative reporting outfit Bellingcat that

“Americans with army experience” who understand the strategic goal of forging an alliance of Eastern and Central European countries to counter Russia and the European Union “are welcome here.” The FBI believes Azov has “participated in training and radicalizing United Statesbased white supremacy organizations,” according to an affidavit. It has also courted far-right extremists in the United States. Last year, Congress passed a law prohibiting Azov from receiving American military assistance, though there’s no mechanism in place to enforce that ban. It’s not clear whether Lang joined Azov. But in 2016, while Lang was fighting with Right Sector, he received a Facebook message from William Jarrett Smith, a twenty-two-year-old who expressed interest in fighting with Azov. According to a federal criminal complaint, Smith told Lang he had “no former military experience, but if I cannot find a slot in Ukraine by October, I’ll be going into the Army. … To fight is what I want to do.” Lang responded: “Alright, I’ll forward you over to the guy that screens people; he’ll most likely add you soon. … Also, as a pre-warning, if you come to this unit and the government comes to shut down the unit, you will be asked to fight. You may also be asked to kill certain people who become on the bad graces of certain people.” Several months later, Smith enlisted in the army, but he stayed in touch with Lang. In December 2018, authorities say Smith led a Facebook group chat that included Lang in which Smith boasted, “I got knowledge of IEDs for days. We can make cell phone IEDs in the style of the Afghans. I can teach you that.” This August, according to the complaint, Smith told an FBI informant that “a major American news network” would be an ideal target for a vehicle bomb. A month later, at the informant’s prompting, Smith allegedly contacted an undercover FBI agent through the messaging app Telegram and advised him

on how to build a homemade bomb to assassinate a politician, mentioning then-presidential candidate Beto O’Rourke as a target. Smith was arrested on September 23.

n August 2018, four months after the Lorenzos were killed, Lang traveled to St. Louis to meet Matt McCloud, a fellow veteran he’d served with at Fort Bliss. McCloud had planned to join Lang and Zwiefelhofer in Miami for the Venezuela expedition, he later told investigators, but he was arrested in Arkansas on an outstanding warrant for writing bad checks. McCloud and Lang traveled to North Carolina, where, according to another indictment, they met another veteran, Dameon Shae Adcock, at a Hampton Inn in Roxboro. Lang and McCloud told Adcock about their plans to go to Ukraine, and Adcock helped them secure fake identification so that they could obtain passports, according to the indictment. Lang allegedly paid Adcock with weapons and $1,500 in cash. On September 17, 2018, Lang and McCloud obtained one-way plane tickets from Atlanta to Kyiv, according to investigators. The next day, McCloud posted a selfie at the Kyiv airport on Facebook and told friends that he planned to either teach English or join the Ukrainian army. They didn’t stay long. A week later, according to Homeland Security, Lang traveled from Mexico City to Bogota, Colombia. McCloud announced his arrival in Bogota on Facebook on October 12. McCloud later told investigators that Lang was able to obtain firearms from law enforcement in Bogota. Lang then boarded a bus to Cucuta, a border town from which he planned to cross into Venezuela and join the anti-government forces. McCloud’s Facebook posts abruptly ended after October 15. Investigators found him in prison in Missouri the following May. Homeland Security tracked Lang flying from Bogota to Madrid on November 23, 2018. Based on his social media activity, the feds concluded that he was back in Ukraine. In August 2019, Ukrainian authorities detained Lang after he crossed the border from Moldova to seek an extension for his permit to stay. He told a judge that he came back to Ukraine because he “wanted to help. You still have a war going on. There are still people dying.” Lang has reportedly denied the murder charges. A friend told the Kyiv Post that he wanted to stay in the country so he could marry his Ukrainian girlfriend. Lang is currently in jail awaiting extradition hearings. His lawyers argue that he shouldn’t be extradited because he could ultimately face the death penalty in Florida. backtalk@indyweek.com INDYweek.com | 11.27.19 | 11

OAK CITY AMARETTO Oak City Amaretto is an authentic Sicilian amaretto recipe originally hand-crafted by Grandma Scalabrino for others during the holidays. We source all-natural and American ingredients providing you a smooth flavor that’s too good not to share with your loved ones. Buy now at your local ABC store’s North Carolina section. 1100 Corporation Parkway, Suite 132, Raleigh, NC 27610 (443) 852-3991 | www.oakcityamaretto.com $24.95/750mL

HOLIDAY

gift guide

NORTH CAROLINA MUSEUM OF ART Gift of Membership $49.50 - $286.25 Price dependent on membership level selected.

This membership gift box set includes exclusive welcome perks: a set of magnets featuring member-favorite works of art and a voucher for a free cup of drip coffee at our on-site café. 2110 Blue Ridge Road, Raleigh (919) 839-6262

12 • SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION • 11.27.19

THE HEMPTENDER DISPENSARY Offering an unique selection of NC & CO grown Hemp/CBD products. Don’t let the holidays stress you out! Step your CBD game up and try these luxurious 30mg Full Spectrum CBD Chill Pops by Nova Bliss. Available in single pops or a sophisticated gift box set of 4. Made in the USA. All Natural, Hand Crafted, and Third Party Tested. 1920 NC-54 #50 Durham, NC 27713 (Inside RTP Vapor) Across from Chick-Fil-A www.thehemptender.com 984.888.5188

KITCO Splash of Color Lamp Kit $149 A perfect gift for tinkerers and thinkers alike. The Splash of Color lamp kit combines a sophisticated, functional lamp design with the nostalgia of toys we grew up with. In the most direct sense: this is a bright idea, built by you. Save 20% on Black Friday through Cyber Monday. www.kitcosets.com

BULL CITY ESCAPE Gift Vouchers / starting at $20.80 Give the gift of an unforgettable experience this holiday season! Perfect for family celebrations, team-building, and fun nights with friends. 3 exhilarating themes: A Study in Murder, Lunar Lockdown, Enchanted Kingdom. 20% off with promo code: BCEHOLIDAY2019. 711 Iredell St, Durham 919-627-8386 | www.bullcityescape.com/gift-voucher

11.27.19 • SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION • 13

HOLIDAY gift guide

TRIPLE STOP HOLIDAY MARKET Dec., 7, 10-3, Downtown Durham

SPONSORED BY DURHAM ARTS COUNCIL

A full day of holiday shopping featuring over 100 local artists in 3 art galleries all within walking distance. Meet the artists, see demos and celebrate the season! Cecy’s Gallery, 417 Foster St. | www.cecysgallery.com The Artisan Market at 305, 305 E Chapel Hill St. | www.theartisanmarketat305.com 5 Points Gallery, 109 E. Chapel Hill St. | www.5pointsgallery.com

CEDAR CREEK GALLERY Blown Glass Ornaments $17-$125 A destination for treasures. 4,000 sf of pottery, glass, metal wood fiber and more by over 200 local, regional and national craftspeople. 20 Minutes from Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill. Open 10AM-6PM 7 days a week. 1150 Fleming Road, Creedmoor 919-528-1041 | www.cedarcreekgallery.com

CAROLINA PERFORMING ARTS Give the gift of an unforgettable experience with a Carolina Performing Arts gift card! From Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and Martha Graham Dance Company to the Soul Rebels featuring Big Freedia or pianist Lang Lang, there is something for every taste at CPA this season. carolinaperformingarts.org | 919-843-3333 Memorial Hall Box Office UNC–Chapel Hill 114 East Cameron Avenue, Chapel Hill, NC

14 • SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION • 11.27.19

LETTERS BOOKSHOP Durham-based writer and illustrator Emily Wallace has your holiday gift-giving covered with this book for everyone – the driver in search of supper and superlatives, the tourist who cannot resist pulling over for every historical marker and roadside stand, and the kid who just wants to gawk at a peach-shaped water tower. 313 W Main St, Durham, NC 27701 www.lettersbookshop.com

NORTH CAROLINA MUSEUM OF ART MUSEUM STORE Handmade glass art from the Italian island of Murano, praised for centuries for its world-class glassmaking, curated by Raleigh’s artful shopping destination. 2110 Blue Ridge Road, Raleigh (919) 839-6262

CAROLINA SELF DEFENSE & KRAV MAGA Give the gift of fitness & self defense training! Gift certificates starting at $25. We offer the hugely popular “Becoming A Dangerous Woman”, College Prep, and Family Self Defense training seminars, as well as daily Krav Maga/self defense classes for ages 6-seniors—check out our reviews on Google/Facebook/Yelp! Gift certificates for seminars, trial memberships, private lessons and more! 1144 Executive Circle, #101, Cary, NC 27511 CarolinaSelfDefense.com | 919-659-5652

11.27.19 • SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION • 15

indyfood

The INDY’s Virtual Holiday Potluck BRING YOUR FINEST THANKSGIVING DISH AND GATHER ’ROUND OUR IMAGINARY TABLE BY DEBBIE MATTHEWS

fter the success of last year’s soiree, we decided to make our Virtual Holiday Potluck an annual tradition. So once again, we contacted a collection of notable North Carolinians with one question: What would you bring to a holiday potluck? Without further ado, let’s (virtually) gorge.

The Naughty List

GUESTS

Serve on ice with orange peel and cracked cardamom pod as garnish.

Durham Distillery WRAL anchor Ken Smith Duke football coach David Cutcliffe Attorney General Josh Stein Raleigh Mayor-elect Mary-Ann Baldwin Raleigh Mayor Nancy McFarlane Labor Commissioner Cherie Berry First Lady Kristen Cooper Fashion designer Alexander Julian Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler Actress Amy Sedaris Theatre in the Park executive director Ira David Wood III Elementary school student Stella Freelon “Local Dish” host Lisa Prince

COCKTAILS

Durham Distillery offers two libations for our virtual feast. The first is a Gin Martinez, a twist on the classic martini. The second is a concoction to fill your punch bowl, featuring the distillery’s Damn Fine chocolate and coffee liqueurs. Ken Smith, meanwhile, shows off Guavaberry rum, a holiday favorite his mother made for Christmas Eve carolers on Tortola in the Virgin Islands.

Conniption Gin Martinez 1.5 oz Conniption American Dry gin 3/4 oz sweet vermouth 2 bar spoons Luxardo 4 dashes bourbon-barrel bitters Orange peel garnish

16 | 11.27.19 | INDYweek.com

1 375 ml bottle Damn Fine Chocolate Liqueur 1 375 ml bottle Damn Fine Coffee Liqueur 12 oz. Irish whiskey 3 oz. simple syrup (turbinado or demerara preferred) 20 dashes of bitters (Bittermens elemakule preferred, or Angostura) 25 oz. of skim or 2% milk

Guavaberry rum

Serves 24 (4 oz. servings) 1 cup red guavaberry, divided 1 cup yellow guavaberry, divided 1 cup brown sugar 1 bottle dark rum (750 ml) 1 cup prunes 1 cup raisins Vanilla beans 1 cup sorrel Gingerroot Cinnamon sticks Prep: Rinse berries and clean by popping them and removing seeds. Rinse seeds, strain, and save liquid. Put seedless berries into a large pot, but reserve 1/2-cup yellow and 1/2-cup red berries for later. Add liquid saved from rinsing seeds into the pot and add brown sugar. Boil mixture until berries are soft. The juice should have a medium syrup consistency or be sticky when cool. Mash or grind saved berries and mix with strongest old rum available. To the cooled mixture, add prunes, raisins, vanilla beans, sorrel, ginger root, and cinnamon bark. Pour into bottles and cork. Store in a dark place for several months. When guavaberry liqueur fully ripens (the taste will tell), strain and re-bottle for use. Careful: Guavaberries can leave a permanent stain.

APPS

For his first dish, Duke football coach David Cutcliffe brings us a healthy chicken salad with apples, cranberries, and sour cream, served with whole wheat crostini

and endive dippers. His second: blue deviled eggs (get it?) in two varieties. One has blue cheese stirred into the yolks; for the other, the whites are soaked in a blue dye bath until they are a true, brilliant Duke Blue. Attorney General Josh Stein says that, when he was a kid, his mom’s sweet potato rolls always got the best of his self-control: He’d eat as many as he could. His mother and now his sister-in-law still make the rolls— the recipe came from Leah Chase’s The Dooky Chase Cookbook—for him every year. Incoming Raleigh mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin shares her Bloody Mary shrimp, a zesty blend of fresh shrimp, vodka, horseradish, and siracha, garnished with avocado and served as a single bite on a porcelain Chinese spoon.

Sweet Potato Rolls

Makes 12 to 18 rolls 1/4 cup warm water 1 package dry yeast 1 cup milk 1/2 cup sugar 1 1/2 teaspoons salt 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon 1/3 cup butter or margarine 2 cups cooked mashed sweet potatoes 1 teaspoon lemon juice 1 egg (slightly beaten) 5–7 cups sifted all-purpose flour More butter Prep: Put warm water into a small bowl and dissolve yeast, then set aside. Scald milk; add sugar, salt, cinnamon, and butter. Stir until butter is melted. Pour over potatoes, add lemon juice, and beat until smooth. Cool to lukewarm, then add egg and the dissolved yeast and mix well. Stir in 2 cups flour and beat at medium speed for 3 minutes. Add enough flour to make a fairly stiff dough. Turn onto a floured surface and knead until satiny. Place in a greased bowl, grease top of dough, cover, and let rise until it doubles in bulk. Punch down and knead once more, then shape into rolls. Place in a greased pan, cover,

and let rise until double in bulk. Bake at 400° for 20 minutes. Brush tops with melted butter.

Bloody Mary Shrimp

Makes about 40–50 hors d’oeuvres 1 pound peeled and deveined shrimp 3 to 4 celery ribs, thinly sliced 3 scallions, thinly sliced 1/2 cup ketchup 1/2 cup Absolut Peppar 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice Zest from one lemon 2 tablespoons horseradish (or more, to taste) 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce 1 tablespoon sriracha Garnish with diced avocado Prep: Bring large saucepan of salted water to a boil. Add shrimp, then remove from heat and let stand in water until cooked through, about 5 minutes. Drain in colander and cool to room temperature. Cut shrimp into four pieces and put in large bowl with celery and scallions. Whisk together remaining ingredients. Add salt and pepper to taste. Stir sauce into shrimp mixture. Spoon shrimp mixture into Chinese soup spoon or shot glass and arrange on tray.

SIDES

Baldwin’s also making Collard Green Gratin, a recipe she snagged from the culinary site Epicurious and made her own, using pancetta instead of country ham or prosciutto and sometimes adding muenster cheese on top. The woman she’ll replace next week as Raleigh mayor, Nancy McFarlane, is bringing a sweet potato pudding, an update of the familiar sweet potato casserole that you can top with either marshmallows or tropical coconut. McFarlane got her recipe from a well-worn, stained page in a cookbook of submissions from politicians’ wives. Labor Commissioner Cherie Berry will be leaving office next year, which means another face will grace the state’s elevators.

Her contribution is a twist on the Thanksgiving standby mashed potatoes. She adds butter during boiling, then adds, um, mayo (Duke’s, of course) during the mashing. Once again, North Carolina’s first couple will sup with us, and Kristin Cooper is supplying the traditional cranberry sauce, sans can. She took a recipe from Southern Living and adapted it over time. Amy Sedaris—star of Strangers With Candy and Divorce—will join us with either her homemade spanakopita, spinach turnovers made with phyllo dough, or a Mediterranean macaroni-and-cheese-like dish made with ground lamb and long tubular noodles called pastitsio.

Collard Green Gratin

8 servings 4 oz. thinly sliced country ham or prosciutto (alternative: pancetta) 1 cup coarse fresh breadcrumbs 4 tablespoons olive oil, divided 1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme 1 cup finely grated parmesan, divided Kosher salt, freshly ground pepper 2 bunches collard greens (about 1 pound), center ribs and stems removed 1 large onion, thinly sliced 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped 2 tablespoons unsalted butter 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour 2 cups whole milk 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg Prep: Preheat oven to 325°. Place ham on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake until crisp, 20–25 minutes; let cool and break into pieces. Combine breadcrumbs and 2 tablespoons oil in medium skillet; toast over medium heat, tossing occasionally, until golden brown and crisp, 10–15 minutes. Remove from heat and add thyme and 1/4 cup parmesan; season with salt and pepper. Mix in ham and set aside. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Store airtight at room temperature.) Cook collard greens in a large pot of boiling salted water until tender and bright green, about 4 minutes. Drain, transfer to a bowl of ice water, and let cool. Drain and squeeze dry with paper towels. Coarsely chop greens and place in a large bowl. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and cook, stirring often, until softened and golden, 15–20 minutes. Transfer to bowl with greens; set aside. Reserve saucepan. Increase oven to 400°. Melt butter in reserved saucepan over medium heat. Add flour and cook, whisking constantly, until mixture is smooth and pale brown, about 4 minutes.

Gradually whisk in milk, 1/2 cup at a time; add nutmeg. Bring to boil, reduce heat, and simmer, whisking often, until thickened, 5–8 minutes. Whisk in remaining 3/4 cup parmesan. Add béchamel to collard greens mixture and mix to combine; season with salt and pepper. Transfer collard greens mixture to a 10-inch cast-iron skillet or 9-inch pie dish and top with breadcrumb mixture; place pie dish on rimmed baking sheet. Bake until gratin is bubbling, 15–20 minutes. Let cool slightly before serving.

Sweet Potato Pudding

6–8 servings 2 cups mashed sweet potatoes 1/2 cup melted butter 1 cup sugar 2 eggs 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon 1/8 teaspoon cloves 1 cup evaporated milk 1/2 cup shredded coconut 1 cup marshmallows Prep: Blend potato, butter, and sugar. Add eggs, beating after each addition. Add spices and milk. Mix thoroughly. Bake in buttered 9-inch square pan at 375° for 35 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle on coconut or marshmallows. Return to oven and bake for 10 minutes or until top is toasted. Serve warm.

Cranberry Sauce

4 cups fresh cranberries (two bags) 2 cups sugar 1/2 cup water 2 teaspoons grated orange rind 1/2 cup orange juice 1/3 cup slivered almonds, toasted Prep: Combine the first five ingredients in saucepan; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes or until the cranberries pop, stirring occasionally. (It will seem runny. That’s OK: It doesn’t firm until chilled.) Cool, cover, and refrigerate. Toast nuts in microwave on plate for 1 minute; stir. Toast for additional 15 seconds if needed. (Caution: They burn quickly.) Cool and stir into the sauce just before serving.

MAINS

Alexander Julian is the fashion designer behind the iconic UNC argyle. He’s also an Eastern NC barbecue evangelist. He brings us “a nice warm, aromatic bowl of Eastern North Carolina barbecue from The Pig in Chapel Hill. It’s organic, and it’s whole-hog, and I think it’s got more flavor than anybody’s.” Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler, an alpha-gal sufferer, is allergic to meat. He’s bringing a Honey Baked Ham anyway. Ira David III, executive director of Theatre in the Park, one-ups the commish with

his very own country ham, which he boils for 4–6 hours on low heat in a deep pan. The trick, he says, is to pour off the salty water every hour or so and refill the pan with fresh water; for the last two hours, swap the water for apple cider.

DESSERTS

Stella Freelon’s father is currently running for state senate, her late grandfather was an iconic architect, and her grandmother is a renowned jazz singer. That’s quite the pedigree. Young Stella, who’s in elementary school, is a budding chef with a unique take on a yogurt parfait. She layers the yogurt with honey, blueberries, granola, and chocolate chips in a large vessel. It resembles an English trifle but is fresher and lighter. Finally, we have two family recipes from Lisa Prince, host of the WRAL cooking segment “Local Dish”: peanut butter balls, a riff on buckeye candies with a creamy peanut butter center covered in a shell of Ghirardelli dark chocolate; and a classic chess pie made with cornmeal and vinegar.

Peanut Butter Balls

1 cup powdered sugar 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter 3 tablespoons butter, softened 10 oz. Ghirardelli dark melting wafers Prep: With a mixer, combine the powdered sugar, peanut butter, and butter. Shape peanut butter mixture into 1-inch balls, placing them on a baking sheet covered with wax paper. Let balls stand for 20 minutes until dry. Melt dipping chocolate. Drop balls one at a time in melted chocolate. Using a fork, remove from the chocolate, letting excess chocolate drip off. Place back on the wax paper. Let stand until dry. Cover and store peanut butter balls in a cool, dry place.

Classic Chess Pie

1 deep dish or regular pie crust 2 cups sugar 2 tablespoons cornmeal 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted 1/4 cup milk 1 tablespoon white vinegar 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 4 large eggs, lightly beaten Prep: Stir together sugar and next 7 ingredients until blended. Add eggs, stirring well. Pour into piecrust. Bake at 350° for 50–55 minutes, shielding edges after 10 minutes to prevent excessive browning. Cool on wire rack.

Where

T O E AT AND DRINK THIS WEEK

PLATES FOR THE WORLD Nov. 28, Noon–5 p.m. Plates Neighborhood Kitchen 300 Glenwood Ave., #100, Raleigh plateskitchen.com, $45 If cooking at home isn’t your thing, this Glenwood Avenue eatery serves threecourse Thanksgiving dinners. The event is also a partnership—now seven years deep—with Rise Against Hunger. Twenty bucks from each meal goes to the nonprofit. RSVP required. MINI FOOD TRUCK RODEO Nov. 30, 2–7 p.m. Bull City Ciderworks 305 S. Roxboro St., #3628, Durham bullcityciderworks.com If the Tupperware in the refrigerator is getting down to the dregs of Thanksgiving leftovers and you haven’t made it to the grocery store yet, fear not—a bite-sized food rodeo at Bull City Ciderworks might be just the ticket. Vendors on the bill: Beli’s Sazón, Las gringastacos, Mr. Cheesesteak, and Holy Moly Cannoli. HOLIDAY BAZAAR Dec. 1, Noon–5 p.m. Carrboro Town Commons 301 W. Main St., Carrboro We know the Triangle seems to have billion holiday markets—and yes, there will be more (see below)—but Carrboro is the kind of place made for mingling with neighbors under string lights. The thirty-some local craft and business vendors on hand include Chatham Hill Winery, Carrboro Coffee Roasters, Yee Haw Donuts, and Boricua Soul Food Truck. OYSTER ROAST Dec. 1, Noon–6 p.m. Motorco Music Hall 723 Rigsbee Ave., Durham motorcomusic.com, $24–$26 Motorco has oyster roasts on frequent rotation, but it’s an event that becomes especially valuable when you have family in town and are looking to keep hands busy. Plus, the oysters that Ryan Bethea harvests on his farm are said to be the saltiest in the state. When your hands get tired from that briny business, make sure to step inside the Motorco showroom for beer and the Bright Spirits Holiday Market. —Sarah Edwards INDYweek.com | 11.27.19 | 17

indymusic

MUSIC MAKER 25

Wednesday, Dec. 4–Sunday, Dec. 8 The Fruit, Durham dukeperformances.com

Paying the Blues

A DUKE PERFORMANCES CONCERT SERIES CELEBRATES MUSIC MAKER RELIEF FOUNDATION’S LONG PURSUIT OF SOCIAL JUSTICE THROUGH ESSENTIAL MUSIC BY SPENCER GRIFFITH

“A

rtists are sort of like monks— we give all that we’ve got to the people, and we don’t make a whole lot of money doing what we do,” says veteran vocalist Pat “Mother Blues” Cohen, who was known as the “Queen of Bourbon Street” while performing six nights a week in New Orleans’s French Quarter. When Hurricane Katrina destroyed Cohen’s Ninth Ward apartment in 2005, she evacuated to North Carolina. After not performing for two years, she worried that she’d left behind her career as well as her wordly belongings. “I thought that I might not be able to continue because I didn’t have the right connections,” Cohen says. But eventually, the Winston-Salem bluesman Big Ron Hunter introduced her to Music Maker Relief Foundation, which got her performing again. On December 7, she’s part of a blues revue in the Hillsborough-based nonprofit’s twenty-fifth-anniversary celebration, for which Duke Performances is bringing a wide variety of blues and folk concerts and talks to The Fruit next week. “That was not only the first outlet I had to actually start working and singing again, but also put me together with a community of people that became a family,” Cohen says. Since 1994, Music Maker Relief Foundation has partnered with more than four hundred artists to preserve Southern musical traditions by arranging performances, releasing albums, providing artist-sustenance programs, and coordinating educational programs. Tim Duffy, who founded the organization with a small group of Winston-Salem artists, estimates that nearly 90 percent of the albums released on Music Maker’s label have been the artists’ recorded debuts, many of them decades into their careers. “We had elderly musicians, and they were completely unknown,” Duffy says, thinking back on the early years of Music Maker. “When you looked at the folk musicians and blues musicians that got famous, they needed access to be known—gatekeepers like Alan Lomax or Chris Strachwitz—and 18 | 11.27.19 | INDYweek.com

to get to the record companies, but the rest of the world thought that was it.” As a graduate student in folklore at UNC-Chapel Hill, Duffy met Lomax at the “Sounds of the South” conference in 1989. “He told me that as much work as he and his father had done, they never covered even the tip of the iceberg,” Duffy says. “He said that there’s a great Black river of songs in the South, and it’s endless, which I’ve found to be true.” Duffy, who strives to treat artists as partners rather than subjects, says that a steep learning curve and a lot of hard—and unpaid—work went into his first five years, while he formalized the organization’s programs. That was true for himself and for the artists he partnered with. “I learned that the Social Security rules were different if you were a farm laborer, so if you picked cucumbers all your life like [Piedmont blues guitarist] Algia Mae Hinton, you ended up with only $450 to $500 per month when you retired,” he says. Though trained as a folklorist, Duffy found himself in a social-worker-like role, addressing food insecurity and medical needs, until the organization was able to hire an actual social worker last year. He saw talented musicians pawning their instruments to pay for essentials like food, rent, and medicine, so Music Maker instituted sustenance grants, both to meet basic needs and provide emergency relief. When Cohen’s East Spencer home caught fire in 2016, Music Maker sprang in to assist. “I lost everything for the second time,” she says. “When I called them, they were right there to help me within a couple of days—not weeks or months.” Duffy’s knowledge of the recording industry has helped the organization release almost 170 albums, none bigger— at least commercially—than Dona Got a Ramblin’ Mind, the 2006 debut from the North Carolina-based Black string band the Carolina Chocolate Drops, who won a Grammy for best traditional folk album a

“These are people that built all the sonic landscape that we, as Americans, understand music through.” Above: The Branchettes and Phil Cook rehearsing at Long Branch Disciples of Christ Church in Newton Grove, N.C. Left: Phil Cook and Sister Lena Mae Perry Right: Sister Lena Mae Perry

PHOTOS BY SANDRA DAVIDSON FOR THE NC ARTS COUNCIL

N OVE M B E R

WE 27 NCMM’S FIRST WALTZ

FEAT HANK, PATTIE & THE CURRENT AND MORE. 6pm

SA 30 IDLEWILD SOUTH’S “HOLIDAY JAM” 7PM

DECE M B E R

SU 1 QDR ACOUSTIC CHRISTMAS:

BENEFITING UNC CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL FEATURING:

SA 7 few years later. Expect to learn more about that when Duffy appears on a panel with Fat Possum Records owner Bruce Watson, who helped secure wide distribution for the album. Durham musician Phil Cook first learned about Music Maker via Taj Mahal—who released an album of collaborations with Music Maker artists in 2004—and Bonnie Raitt. He also credits artists like the Drops’ Rhiannon Giddens for pointing listeners back to the organization, providing its lifeblood. When Cook moved to the Triangle from Wisconsin in 2005, he was inspired by the traditional music of North Carolina, from the blues of Blind Boy Fuller and Reverend Gary Davis to old-time artists such as Doc Watson, Earl Scruggs, and Tommy Jarrell. Cook has since worked with Music Maker on several projects, including his continuing work with Sister Lena Mae Perry of Johnston County gospel group The Branchettes, who he performs with at The Fruit on Sunday. “I was looking for a gospel group that would be willing to collaborate with a dude like me,” Cook says, crediting Music Maker program manager Aaron Greenhood for the introduction to Sister Perry. “She just changed my life forever in a really beautiful way, and has opened me up in a lot of ways that I wasn’t expecting, musically and spiritually.” Cook has brought Sister Perry with him to perform for hip crowds at Justin Vernon’s Eaux Claires festival and is producing a record with The Branchettes, due out next year, in an effort to do what he learned from Raitt: bringing awareness to the music that has inspired his own. “These are people that built all the sonic landscape that we, as Americans, understand music through,” Cook says. “To see them going broke and penniless and homeless over dental bills and broken cars—basic, simple needs that people have—is a massive injustice, so I look at [Music Maker] as a social-justice organization that’s using music as the vehicle.” music@indyweek.com

MICHAEL RAY/CARLY PEARCE/ JIMMIE ALLEN/TENILLE TOWNES/ DREW BALDRIDGE 6:30PM COSMIC CHARLIE PRESENTS: DARK SIDE OF THE DEAD 8PM

TH 12 SQUIRREL NUT ZIPPERS FR 13 SA 14 SU 15

FR 20 SA 21 SA 28 SU 29 MO 30 TU 31

“THE HOLIDAY CARAVAN” W/ FIRECRACKER JAZZ BAND 7pm DELTA RAE W/ RAYE ZARAGOZA 7pm DELTA RAE W/ ALEX WONG / CARRIE WELLING 7pm CATFISH COOLEY’S

“NITRO COMEDY TOUR”

FEATURING: CATFSH COOLEY & ANDREW CONN WITH DJ SLIM MCGRAW. The show is produced by John Edmonds Kozma. 7pm DILLON FENCE W/THE BALSA GLIDERS/ALMOST PEOPLE 7pm YARN W/THE DUNE DOGS 7pm COMRADES AND NOMADS 8pm BIG SOMETHING W/TBA 8pm BIG SOMETHING W/TOUBAB KREWE 8pm BIG SOMETHING W/THE MANTRAS 8pm JAN UARY

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FR 3 SA 4 LOWBROW &

STEAMROOM ETIQUETTE 7pm

FR 1/10 • 7:30P

WHO’S BAD

(THE ULTIMATE MICHAEL JACKSON EXPERIENCE)

SA 11 THE SHAKEDOWN SU 12 WE 15 SA 18 SU 19

PERFORMS THE YACHT ROCK 7:30pm DAVID BROMBERG QUINTET 7pm THE DISCO BISCUITS 7pm

CITIZEN COPE 7pm NATURAL WONDER (THE ULTIMATE STEVIE WONDER EXPERIENCE) W/ BLESS THE RAINS (THE ULTIMATE TOTO TRIBUTE) 7pm

FR 24/ AMERICAN AQUARIUM’S SA 25 “ROADTRIP TO RALEIGH” 7pm F E B R UARY

SA 1 JUPITER COYOTE

W/ OLD HABITS 7pm

FR 8/ ZOSO THE ULTIMATE LED SA 9 ZEPPELIN EXPERIENCE 7pm SU 16 Y&T 7pm FR 21 RAILROAD EARTH 7pm ADV. TICKETS @ LINCOLNTHEATRE.COM & SCHOOLKIDS RECORDS ALL SHOWS ALL AGES

126 E. Cabarrus St.• 919-821-4111 www.lincolntheatre.com INDYweek.com | 11.27.19 | 19

indyscreen

Law and Disorder

THE ‘70S EXPLOITATION FLICK AND THE DRAWING-ROOM WHODUNIT REVISITED IN QUEEN & SLIM AND KNIVES OUT QUEEN & SLIM 

Opening Wednesday, Nov. 27

elina Matsoukas’s Queen & Slim is at its best when it goes all in on the fantasy aspects of its ‘70s exploitation-style premise: A bad Tinder date at a cheap Cleveland diner turns into a nationwide manhunt after Queen (Jodie Turner-Smith) and Slim (Daniel Kaluuya) kill a police officer (Sturgill Simpson) in self-defense at a traffic stop. But the veteran music-video director’s feature-length debut is less compelling when the clunky script by Lena Waithe (after a story by James Frey, of all people) pulls the film, as if against its will, toward a by-the-numbers tragic arc. A road movie at heart, the film is worth seeing simply for how Matsoukas portrays the locations, from the desolate Midwest to a roadhouse nightclub in Georgia and a lush, ramshackle brothel in New Orleans. From radiant daylight scenes to neon nights, disparate vignettes are brought together by Turner-Smith and Kaluuya’s opposites-attract chemistry as the haughty, standoffish Queen and the friendly, easygoing Slim. The most daring aspect of the movie is how the world opens up for the pair after they kill a cop, rather than closing down. Not only does the dash-cam footage of the killing go viral, turning them into folk heroes, but the threat of death or prison impels them to live without fear. There’s a quasi-childlike innocence in how they take a break from driving to ride horses or spend a whole evening dancing that evokes French New Wave classics like Breathless. Combined with a soundtrack that ranges across the whole history of Black pop music, the film’s best scenes show Queen and Slim remaking the country in their own image, according to their own desires. But the narrative improbability doesn’t quite work when the story takes a tragic turn. 20 | 11.27.19 | INDYweek.com

Daniel Kaluuya and Jodie Turner-Smith in Queen & Slim A series of increasingly bizarre decisions and deus ex machinas undercut the script’s nuance and moral ambiguity. In the worst example, a passionate love scene is crosscut with the copycat shooting of an African-American cop at a Ferguson-style protest, making unintentional comedy out of both. There’s also something about the audiovisual slickness of Matsoukas’s direction that neutralizes even the most violent moments. In interviews, Matsoukas has resisted the film’s labeling as “the Black Bonnie and Clyde,” denying that her characters are criminals. Instead, she argues, they are just people trying to stay alive. Queen & Slim could have made this case more compellingly had it avoided the more moralistic clichés of the crime melodrama. It will be interesting to see what Matsoukas can do with a script that makes better use of her talents. —Ryan Vu

PHOTO COURTESY OF UNIVERSAL

KNIVES OUT 

Opening Wednesday, Nov. 27

efore he divided the Star Wars fanbase into warring camps and helmed three of the best episodes of Breaking Bad, Rian Johnson began his directorial career by indulging his adoration for detective stories (Brick) and caper comedies (The Brothers Bloom). Two years after The Last Jedi, Johnson returns to his roots in Knives Out, a droll takeoff on the drawing-room whodunit, like Agatha Christie meets Wes Anderson and the Coen brothers. The morning after the Thrombey family gathers at the remote Massachusetts manse of its patriarch, Harlan (Christopher Plummer), for his eighty-fifth birthday, the wealthy crime novelist is found dead in his study, apparently having committed suicide by slitting his own throat.

Suspecting foul play, an unknown party employs the services of Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig), a celebrated private detective. With wry wit and a Foghorn Leghorn accent as thick as molasses, Blanc assists the police in their investigation of the dysfunctional Thrombey clan, gradually uncovering reasons why some might want Harlan dead. Youngest son Walt (Michael Shannon) was about to be ousted from the family’s publishing business. Son-in-law Richard (Don Johnson) was about to be outed for cheating on Harlan’s daughter, Linda (Jamie Lee Curtis). Daughter-in-law Joni (Toni Collette) was about to have her monthly stipend cut off for swindling, which could force her daughter, Meg, to drop out of college. Grandson Ransom (Chris Evans) was overheard arguing with Harlan the night of his demise, but no one knows why. At the center of the mystery is Marta (Ana de Armas), Harlan’s young caretaker and most trusted confidante. Because she’s afflicted with the bizarre inability to lie without vomiting, Marta proves an invaluable source of family insight for Blanc. She also figures prominently in two significant choices Johnson makes. First, he reveals key circumstances about the way Harlan died via flashbacks, leaving the audience to wonder if there’s even more to the mystery. Then, there’s a will reading that turns the intrigue on its head. There’s a running gag that no one really knows where Marta was born. Her mother came to the U.S. illegally, and her story is an offshoot of some Trump-era immigration politics that, at first, feel shoehorned into the story. But gradually, Johnson manages to zing the zeitgeist, suggesting that the regressive politics of today might be just a speed bump in the march of history. The final shots are powerhouse portraits of the tension between American oligarchy and America’s promise. With shrewd plotting and razor-sharp repartee, Knives Out is one of the wittiest films of the year. It might also be one of the most hopeful. —Neil Morris arts@indyweek.com

indypage

ALLAN GURGANUS: “A FOOL FOR CHRISTMAS” [Horse & Buggy Press/Duke University; November 2019] Reading event: Thursday, Dec. 12, 7 p.m., free The Regulator Bookshop, Durham | regulatorbookshop.com

The Madonna of the Mall

A BELOVED CHRISTMAS STORY BY ALLAN GURGANUS SEES PRINT FOR THE FIRST TIME, THANKS TO DUKE AND HORSE & BUGGY PRESS BY SARAH EDWARDS

wenty-two years ago, the letthe history of a Southern Baptist church terpress printer Dave Wofford for nearly fifty years—to commit to a set visited The Readery, a now-deversion of the story. funct bookstore in Durham, to try to This wasn’t easy: Gurganus reads the sell some of his books. Bookseller Frank story aloud at the Regulator Bookshop Parker insisted that Wofford sit down every year, and the freedom to tweak it then and there to read Allan Gurganus’s orally has become as much a part of the short story “It Had Wings,” which was story as the narrative itself. But even published in The Paris Review in 1985. when he settled on one version, it still needed a text that replicated the oral The story is about a brief erotic visitatradition. To accomplish this, Wofford tion that an old woman receives from bolded, indented, and italicized parts of an angel. When Wofford finished, he the text that had particularly memorable said that he liked it. “Get in the car,” Parker said. “We’re cadences when read aloud. He also letgoing to Allan’s place right now.” terpress-printed the cover typography by hand, while the inside features color Soon, Wofford found himself on Gurganus’s front porch in Hillsborough, illustrations by Gurganus, who was originally trained as a painter. agreeing to work on a limited-edition letterpress book of the story. The result is a loving object that tells two stories. One is about a teenage girl The anecdote has all the charm and with a twang who gives birth in a pet shop. spontaneity of a Gurganus yarn, and it set the precedent for another collaboraThe other is about the risks and innovation, “A Fool for Christmas,” a story that tions that small presses make to survive Wofford’s Horse & Buggy Press co-pubin a struggling industry. We live in the age of the million-dollar book deal, and any lished with Duke University Press and less-profitable project, particularly one Duke University Libraries this month. that rounds out at sixteen pages, normally A limited number of copies are available on Duke University Press’s website and doesn’t see the light of day. Allan Gurganus’s illustrations from “A Fool for Christmas” PHOTO COURTESY OF HORSE & BUGGY PRESS at bookstores around the state. Earlier this year, though, Duke UniAlthough this is the first time that “A Fool for Christmas” well-suited to retooling a religious tale: Angels and proph- versity Libraries acquired Gurganus’s archives, which has seen print, it was commissioned in 2004 by NPR’s All ets populate his fiction, and he could probably make any included “A Fool for Christmas.” In October, the project was Things Considered, where it played in the coveted Christ- gas station in America sound like a baroque cathedral. His greenlit when funding from the university came through, mas Eve slot, which draws millions of listeners. Gurganus stories often sprawl across decades, with curses and bless- leaving only a few weeks for Gurganus to illustrate it and had just two weeks to write and record the story, which is ings skipping across generations like rocks. Wofford to design it. “I was not unaffected by the church,” Gurganus once told his take on the traditional nativity tale. (Stop reading here Call it a holiday miracle, but they did, and the book, now Oxford American. “Christ’s parables inspire me daily. My on its second printing, makes a case that, given the right set if you don’t want spoilers.) Instead of Bethlehem, the story takes place in an Eastern work is an attempt to answer those big old catechism ques- of ingredients, there is still a market for publishing experiNorth Carolina shopping mall, and instead of Joseph, we tions with a few new answers.” ments. It’s also an enticing way for universities to make their Eventually, the shopping-mall Madonna finds refuge special-collections ephemera more accessible to the public. have Vernon Ricketts, a talky pet-shop owner, as the protagonist. Mary takes the form of a nameless teenage girl in in a stable-like pet store and delivers her baby. Vernon “I think whatever popularity this tale has found goes to a bulky coat who roams the halls talking into a toy cellphone Ricketts, witnessing a birth for the first time, observes, how we live now,” Gurganus says. “Stories and novellas can and making food-court cocktails out of free ketchup and “I see now—every creature must be valuable if each birth give us all the satisfaction that an eight-hundred-page novel takes this much work.” lemon wedges. does. I see this as a subversive step toward overcoming the Pretty quickly into reading, you realize how well this impeached concentration of our era. William Blake tells us the Gurganus, whose novels include the New York Times bestseller Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All, is tearjerker would play on radio. Translating it to print was mystery of the universe can be found in a single grain of sand. known for bawdy small-town stories that tinker with a different challenge. For one thing, it required Gurganus, How much more of the world can a whole short story offer?” social codes. He’s an irreverent writer, sure, but one an obsessive editor—he’s been working on one book about sedwards@indyweek.com INDYweek.com | 11.27.19 | 21

WHAT TO DO THIS WEEK

11.27–12.04 22 | 11.27.19 | INDYweek.com

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 30

JEGHETTO’S VARIETY SHOW

If you just saw Torry Bend and Howard L. Craft’s Dreaming at Duke Performances last weekend and you want to keep the puppet magic going, you’re in luck: Tarish “Jeghetto” Pipkins has a new puppet variety show at The PIT in Chapel Hill, and its second outing, after its October debut, is this Saturday (a third installment is scheduled for December 21). Pipkins, as readers of our 2017 profile will recall, is a self-taught puppet genius whose artistry has been seen everywhere from Paperhand Puppet Intervention and 5P1N0K10, a “hip-hopera” with Pierce Freelon, to The Steve Harvey Show and Missy Elliot’s “WTF (Where They From)” video. The variety show, which features spoken word and live painting as well as puppetry, harks back to his busking days, which stopped passersby around the Triangle in their tracks with the uncannily lifelike movements of his marionettes. Roughshod, rawjointed materials become utterly convincing roaring lions and sci-fi robots; a recent construction featured on his Facebook page is a puppet painting another puppet. Mind blown. —Brian Howe THE PIT, CHAPEL HILL 5:30 p.m., $10, www.thepit-chapelhill.com

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 1

A MOTOWN CHRISTMAS

Most holiday songs, as shameless cash grabs churned out for the giftgiving season, are bad. If Christmas music is a genre, then it’s one chock with the maudlin: strings and bells, three-quarters of the time, and half-century-old lyrics designed to prey on nostalgia. But there are exceptions. Anyone familiar with Earth, Wind & Fire’s Holiday, or The Jackson 5’s Christmas Album, knows how to properly DJ an openroasting fire: with tunes that celebrate the season in name only, and otherwise properly prioritize a groove. That’s exactly what’s offered by “A Motown Christmas”, which stars The Motown Experience, a vocal group consisting of alumni of The Temptations, The Miracles, The Capitols, and other legendary Detroit collectives. The group’s repertory pays sufficient homage to the holidays, but they don’t limit themselves: The best notes they land come from their non-seasonal fare, and in highlighting these classic songs—not to mention their signature harmonies and choreography—they spark far more cheer than Andy Williams ever did. —Lucas Hubbard THE CAROLINA THEATRE, DURHAM 8 p.m., $35+, www.carolinatheatre.org

MONDAY, DECEMBER 2

RODRIGO Y GABRIELA

The acoustic guitar duo Rodrigo y Gabriela recently released Mettavolution, an album consisting of a half-dozen new songs and a cover of Pink Floyd’s “Echoes.” Rodrigo Sanchez and Gabriela Quintero cut their teeth in Mexico City’s heavy metal scene of the 1990s, and Mettavolution follows in the spirit of their last album, 2014’s loud and flashy 9 Dead Alive, by mining these roots. Flamenco flourishes crash into speedy riffs and scales, punctuated by intricate percussing tapping on the hollow body of each guitar. The duo’s playing is always lithe and gracefuld and even when the progressions are aggressive, the effect is delicate. Rodrigo y Gabriela’s performance at DPAC corresponds with a limited-edition EP release on November 29. This EP, Mettall, includes covers of Megadeth, Slayer, and their concert staple, “Battery” by Metallica. Musical duo Ida Mae opens the show. —Josephine McRobbie Jeghetto PHOTO BY ALEX BOERNER

DURHAM PERFORMING ARTS CENTER, DURHAM 7:30 p.m., $40+, www.dpacnc.com

David Sedaris PHOTO BY INGRID CHRISTLE

BOER BROTHERS

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 1

DAVID SEDARIS

After nearly three decades of becoming one of America’s most renowned satirists, humorists, and truth-tellers, David Sedaris is firmly a household name. Now, the writer is back on the road, this time after releasing his newest collection of semi-autobiographical observations. Calypso follows Sedaris as he buys a beach house on the Carolina coast and realizes that, dream vacation plans aside, the coastal getaway can provide a refuge from everything except himself. The book is his darkest and most intimate work yet, exploring middle age and identity with razor-sharp clarity, a healthy dose of cynicism, and, of course, lots of laughs. This reading will feature a fresh set of these autobiographical stories, followed by an audience Q&A and a book signing with the beloved author and humorist. Come for the clever wit and laugh-till-you-cry anecdotes, stay for Sedaris’ signature soul-stirring authenticity. —Rachel Rockwell MEMORIAL AUDITORIUM, RALEIGH 7 p.m., free, www.dukeenergycenterraleigh.com

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WHAT ELSE SHOULD I DO? DAUGHTER OF SWORDS AT THE CARRBORO ARTSCENTER (P. 25), GREMLINS AT THE NORTH CAROLINA MUSEUM OF NATURAL SCIENCES (P. 32), THE HIP HOP NUTCRACKER AT DPAC (P. 32), VIRGINIA KANTRA AT QUAIL RIDGE BOOKS (P. 30), MUSIC MAKER 25 AT THE FRUIT (P. 18), SMASHFEST 2019 AT THE SCRAP EXCHANGE (P. 29)

O F TH E

triangle

2018

SERVING THE TRIANGLE

WWW.BOERBROTHERSHVAC.COM INDYweek.com | 11.27.19 | 23

Chocolate Lounge & Juice Bar

Fri 11/29 Sat 11/30 Sat 12/7 Fri 12/13 Sat 12/14 Tue 12/31

Mark Knox Doug Burton & John Stevens Justin Sykes & Friends Chocolate Covered Comedy Neville’s Quarter New Year’s Musical Extravaganza

SA 12/7 @CAT’S CRADLE

SOUTHERN CULTURE ON THE SKIDS

Music Performed from 6pm to 10pm Beer & Wine Served Daily Timberlyne Shopping Center, Chapel Hill 1129 Weaver Dairy Rd • specialtreatsnc.com

W/ANDREA & MUD

WE 12/4 @CAT’S CRADLE BACK ROOM

LAURA STEVENSON RECENTLY ANNOUNCED: WE WERE PROMISED JETPACKS FRI

11/29

SUN

12/1

WE 11/27: LA DISPUTE W/TOUCHÉ AMORÉ, EMPATH ($28)

2/18, 2020 DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS ($26 / $30)

Dubsgiving with

FR 12/6 CRANK IT LOUD PRESENTS OUR LAST NIGHT W/ I SEE STARS THE WORD ALIVE, ASHLAND ($20/$25)

2/19, 2020 YBN CORDAE ($20/$22.50)

Africa Unplugged / Ebz the Artist

SA 12/7 SOUTHERN CULTURE ON

2/27, 2020 DAN DEACON ($15/$17)

OYSTER ROAST

(15/$18)

2/29, 2020 OF MONTREAL W/ LILY'S BAND ($17)

YOUNG BULL

presented by Motorco & Oysters Carolina plus

BRIGHT SPIRITS HOLIDAY MARKET (inside the Showroom)

TUE

12/3

WED

12/4

W/ ADULT MOM

KEENAN MCKENZIE:

“A Bull City Holiday” Album Release Show

AMIGO THE DEVIL

King Dude / Twin Temple

THE SKIDS W/ANDREA & MUD

TH 12/12 TWIN PEAKS W/ LALA LALA AND OHMME ($18/$20) FR 12/13 THE CONNELLS

W/SURRENDER HUMAN AND LEMON SPARKS ($20/$23) SA 12/14 HORTON’S HOLIDAY

FRI

12/7

AT 7 PM & 9:30 PM

SAT

12/8 TUES

12/10 TH

12/12 FRI

12/13

PHUTUREPRIMITIVE /AN-TEN-NAE JEN KIRKMAN with Tim Murray

CAROLINA WAVES 2019 YEAR-END MIXER Duke Science & Society presents

PERIODIC TABLES:

One Giant Leap: 50 Years of Apollo Redeye presents

GARCIA PEOPLES, DEEPER and SAMMUS STREET CORNER SYMPHONY

COMING SOON: Thunder Jackson, Eric Roberson, The Wusses, M8ALLA, The Beast, G. Yamazawa, Sarah Shook & The Disarmers, Integrity, Art Alexakis of Everclear, Magic City Hippies, Michal Menert, Late Night Radio, Carbon Leaf, Beth Stelling, Blackalicious, Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana, Grayscale, Hot Mulligan, Over The Rhine, Lost Dog Street Band, AJJ, Jason Ringenberg, Blockhead, While She Sleeps, David Wilcox, Gnawa LanGus, OM, Little People, Frameworks, Asgeir, Black Atlantic, Caspian, Shannon & The Clams, Kevin Morby

24 | 11.27.19 | INDYweek.com

3/14, 2020 RADICAL FACE ($25/$28) 3/21, 2020 BEST COAST ($25/$27)

FR 1/10 & SA 1/11, 2020 - TWO SHOWS

HISS GOLDEN MESSENGER W/LILLY HIATT ($26)

FR 1/3, 2020 THE BLAZERS ‘HOW TO ROCK’ REUNION ($15/$18)

LOCAL 506 (CHAPEL HILL)

4/3, 2020 SHOVELS & ROPE W/INDIANOLA ($25/$28)

SA 1/4, 2020 SUBLIMINAL SURGE / SNAKE SHAMING ($5)

ARTSCENTER (CARRBORO)

4/7, 2020 ATERCIOPELADOS AND

TH 1/9, 2020 SONG TRAVELER’S WRITER’S NIGHT W/SAM FRAZIER, ABIGAIL DOWD, AND WYATT EASTERLING ($20)

LOS AMIGOS INVISIBLES ($32/$35)

4/20, 2020 REAL ESTATE ($25/$28)

1/23, 2020 YOLA W/AMYTHYST KLAH ($20/$23)

FR 1/17, 2020 MO LOWDA & THE HUMBLE W/ ARSON DAILY ($12/$15)

1/11, 2020 MAGIC CITY HIPPIES W/ ARGONAUT & WASP ($17.50/$20)

5/11, 2020 BARNS COURTNEY ($22/$25)

SA 1/18 $ SU 01/19, 2020 CARRBORO DJANGO REINHARDT FESTIVAL

2/11, 2020 WE WERE PROMISED JETPACKS ($15/$17)

TU 1/21, 2020 TALL HEIGHTS W/ANIMAL YEARS ($15/$17)

(PRESENTED IN ASSOCIATION W/ LIVENATION)

WE 11/27 ZEBBLER ENCANTI EXPERIENCE W/SOUND LABOTOMY($18)

FR 1/24, 2020 ILLITERATE LIGHT W/CAMP HOWARD ($12/$14) FR 1/31, 2020 DAMN TALL BUILDINGS ($14/$17)

WE 1/29, 2020 ANAMANAGUCHI ($18/$20)

TU 12/3 DIAMANTE ($15/$17)

WE 2/11, 2020 BAY FACTION ($12/$15)

1/30, 2020 YONDER MOUNTAIN

WE 12/4 LAURA STEVENSON W/ ADULT MOM ($13/$15)

WE 2/19, 2020 BLACK LIPS ($15)

FR 1/31/2020 BEACH FOSSILS ($18/$20) 2/1, 2020 JAWBOX ($28/$30) 2/14, 2020 THRICE, MEWITHOUTYOU, DRUG CHURCH ( $26/$30) 2/15, 2020 COLONY HOUSE THE LEAVE WHAT’S LOST BEHIND TOUR W/TYSON MOTSENBOCKER ($15/$18) 2/17, 2020 KYLE KINANE THE SPRING BREAK TOUR($25/$28)

3/24, 2020 JAMES MCMURTRY W/BONNIE WHITMORE ($22/$25)

5/5, 2020 ANDY SHAUF W/ FAYE WEBSTER ($18/$20)

TU 2/4, 2020 CHRIS FARREN, RETIREMENT PARTY, MACSEAL ($10/$12)

STRING BAND/TRAVELLIN MCCOURYS ($25/$30)

SA 11/30 DAUGHTER OF SWORDS AND THE DAWNBREAKER BAND W/ JAKE XERXES FUSSELL ($15)

5/3, 2020 THE RESIDENTS ($30/$35)

FR 11/29 PHILSTOCK ‘19 IDLE HANDS, MIKE MORGAN, THE HONEY PUMPKINS, UNIONTOWN

1/25, 2020 THE ROAD TO NOW PODCAST ($35)

1/18, 2020 BAILEN

TH 1/16, 2020 QUETICO W/PHIL MOORE ($10)

1/21, 2020 TOO MANY ZOOZ W/ BIROCRATIC ($18/$20) WE 1/22, 2020 MARCO BENEVENTO ($17/$20)

FT THE REVEREND HORTON HEAT W/ VOODOO GLOW SKULLS, THE 5678’S, DAVE ALVIN

3/28, 2020 ANTIBALAS

SU 12/17 AD HOC PRESENTS

TU 12/22 ROBIN & LINDA WILLIAMS($20/$25)

HORTON’S HOLIDAY HAYRIDE

SU 4/26, 2020 SAMMY RAE & THE FRIENDS ($12/$15)

($25/$28)

DAUGHTERS/HEALTH W/ SHOW ME THE BODY($22/$25)

SA 12/14 @CAT’S CRADLE

SA 12/21 JON STICKLEY TRIO W/INTO THE FOG ($10/$12)

3/27, 2020 SOCCER MOMMY W/ TOMBERLIN ($18/$20)

1/20, 2020 CRACKER AND CAMPER VAN BEETHOVEN ($22/$25)

3/11, 2020 DESTROYER W/NAP EYES ($20/$23)

HAYRIDE FT THE REVEREND HORTON HEAT W/ VOODOO GLOW SKULLS, THE 5678'S, DAVE ALVIN

1/18, 2020 AMERICAN AUTHORS AND MAGIC GIANT W/SPECIAL GUEST PUBLIC ( $25/$28)

12/5

2/21, 2020 ARCHER'S OF LOAF ($25/ ON SALE 12/2)

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FR 12/6 NEIL HILBORN W/ CARACARA ($20/$25)

MOTORCO (DUR)

RITZ (RAL)

1/25, 2020 THE DEVIL MAKES THREE W/MATT HECKLER ($25/$30) HAW RIVER BALLROOM

FR 12/20 CHATHAM COUNTY LINE ELECTRIC HOLIDAY TOUR W/BIG FAT GAP ($20/$22) FR 1/31, 2020 G LOVE AND SPECIAL SAUCE W/JONTAVIOUS WILLIS ($25/$30) 2/22, 2020 GARZA FT. ROB GARZA OF THIEVERY CORPORATION WHERE THE MOON HIDES TOUR 2020 ($20/$23)

SA 2/22, 2020 TIM BARRY ($15)

2/27, 2020 TODD SNIDER ($25/$28)

SU 2/23, 2020 SLOAN ($25)

3/24, 2020 JOHN MORELAND ($15/$18)

SU 3/1, 2020 HEMBREE

4/20, 2020 SHARON VAN ETTEN W/JAY SOM ($28/$31)

SA 12/7 SOLAR HALOS, DREAMLESS, WEIRD GOD ($10)

TU 3/8, 2020 DAN RODRIGUEZ ($15)

SU 12/15 LYNN BLAKEY'S CHRISTMAS SHOW FT. ECKI HEINS, FJ VENTRE & MORE. OPENING: DANNY GOTHAM ($12)

TU 3/24, 2020 STEVE GUNN, MARY LATTIMORE & WILLIAM TYLER ($20/$22)

4/15, 2020 ANGEL OLSEN W/MADIDIAZ

MO 4/6, 2020 MIGHTY OAKS ($12/$14)

4/14, 2020 CODY KO & NOEL MILLER; TINY MEAT GANG GLOBAL DOMINATION

WE 12/18 AN EVENING WITH SAM TAYLOE (TIME SAWYER) & MIKE RAMSEY ($10)

TU 3/17, 2020 BAMBARA ($10/$12)

TU 4/21, 2020 KATIE PUITT ($10)

5/1,2020TENNIS W/MOLLYBURCH($18/$20) THE CAROLINA THEATER (DUR) DPAC (DURHAM)

CATSCRADLE.COM  919.967.9053  300 E. MAIN STREET  CARRBORO

music

11.27– 12.04

Daughter of Swords PHOTO BY KENDALL BAILEY

WED, NOV 27 CAT’S CRADLE La Dispute, Touche Amore, Empath; $25-$28. 7 p.m. CAT’S CRADLE BACK ROOM Zebbler Encanti Experience; $15-$18. 9 p.m. THE KRAKEN Jonathan Byrd, The Pickup Cowboys, Johnny Waken, Austin McCall, Kim Lane; 7 p.m.

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 30

DAUGHTER OF SWORDS Alexandra Sauser-Monnig might be best known as one-third of the folk-trio Mountain Man, but it’s her solo project Daughter of Swords—formerly called ASM—that fully showcases her artistry. Her debut album, the splendid Dawnbreaker, enlisted Sylvan Esso’s Nick Sanborn for production and was released on the label Nonesuch Records in June. At its core, Dawnbreaker is a ten-track meditation on a romantic partnership as it flickers out. But it a typical breakup album by any means: if anything it’s an optimistic pursuit, basking in vivid lyrical landscapes and moments of vulnerability. It’s one-part pop, one-part country, yet never strays too far in either direction. Simple drum machines and subtle synthesizers accompany Sauser-Monnig’s breezy vocals and intimate guitar strums on songs like “Gem” and “Shining Woman,” while “Easy is Hard” features physical drumming and a twangy guitar lead. Usually, she presents this material by herself, but on this occasion, she will be accompanied by the Dawnbreaker Band, which consists of Sanborn, Ryan Gustafson, Jeff Crawford, and Yan Westerlund. —Sam Haw THE ARTSCENTER, CARRBORO

8 p.m., $15, www.artscenterlive.org

LINCOLN THEATRE First Waltz: Hank, Pattie, and The Current, Into The Fog, Jack Marion and The Pearl Snap Prophets, Troubadour Sons; $10$12. 7 p.m. LOCAL 506 Homesafe, Kayak Jones, Young Culture, Keep Flying; $12-$15. 6 p.m. MEYMANDI CONCERT HALL Cirque de Noel; $57+. 3 p.m. NEPTUNES PARLOUR Night Jeans, Dim Delights; $5. 10 p.m. NIGHTLIGHT 919Noise Showcase; $7. 8 p.m. POUR HOUSE MUSIC HALL Medicated Sunfish; $5-$10. 8 p.m. SLIM’S DOWNTOWN Pathogenesis, Basilica, Leachate; $7. 9 p.m. INDYweek.com | 11.27.19 | 25

NEPTUNES PARLOUR

McKinley Dixon

McKinley Dixon will perform at Neptunes on Sunday, December 1. PHOTO COURTESY OF KINGS RALEIGH

FRI, NOV 29 BLUE NOTE GRILL Joe Bell, The Stringing Blades; $8. 9 p.m. CAT’S CRADLE PhilStock ’19; Donation suggested. 7 p.m. THE CAVE TAVERN Elvis Division; 9 p.m. DURHAM PERFORMING ARTS CENTER Il Devo; $30+. 8 p.m. KINGS Petty Theives; $10-$12. 8 p.m. THE KRAKEN The Countdown Quartet; 9 p.m. LOCAL 506 The Number 12 Looks Like You, Moon Tooth, Steaksauce Mustache; $15. 6 p.m. MEYMANDI CONCERT HALL Cirque de Noel; $57+. 3 p.m. & 7:30 p.m.

MOTORCO MUSIC HALL

dance rhythm prowess will funk you up. —Eric Tullis

LINCOLN THEATRE Chairmen of the Board; $35. 1 p.m.

In a review for the recently released Young Bull is Not an Individual EP, the Charlottebased online rag CLTure praised the Durham trio’s potency as “this dichotomy between the rigid and the robust.” The same contradiction may also hold true for your willpower and appetite, respectively, as you shove those Thanksgiving leftovers down your pie hole. Don’t worry: just use this annual holiday hangover concert as a way to fight the fat. If Young Bull or the mystic vocalist and producer Ebz the Artist take you too far down into the valley of the vibes, Africa Unplugged’s West African

[$10-$12. 9 P.M.]

LINCOLN THEATRE Idlewild South, Mojo Rising, Beggars Banquet; $10-$30. 8 p.m.

Dubsgiving

POUR HOUSE MUSIC HALL Urban Soil, Funkuponya; $10-$13. 8 p.m. RUBY DELUXE DJ YVE; 10 p.m.

SAT, NOV 30 BLUE NOTE GRILL The Beauty Operators; $8. 8 p.m. THE CAVE TAVERN Swedish Wood Patrol, Certain Seas; $5 suggested. 9 p.m. KINGS 120 Minutes, DJ Chocolate Rice; $10. 9 p.m.

LOCAL 506 Bellflower; $8. 8 p.m. THE MAYWOOD Danglebash 43: Safe Word, The Holliganz, Total Bullshit, Few Good Things, Lords and Liars; $10. 8 p.m. MEYMANDI CONCERT HALL Cirque de Noel; $57+. 3 p.m. THE PINHOOK Gemynii, Femmy the Femme, Monsieur; $5. 10 p.m. POUR HOUSE MUSIC HALL Unknown Hinson, Motorbilly; $20-$25. 8 p.m. RHYTHMS LIVE MUSIC HALL Trial By Fire: Journey Tribute; $20. 8 p.m.

SLIM’S DOWNTOWN Spaced Angel, Low Moves, Act Normal; $5. 9 p.m. THE STATION The Cajammers; 9 p.m. THE WICKED WITCH Ignite; $15. 7 p.m.

SUN, DEC 01 ARCANA Sun Studies, Rodes; 8 p.m. KINGS Comfort Patterns; $10. 6:30 p.m. LINCOLN THEATRE Michael Ray, Carly Pearce, Jimmie Allen, Tenille Townes, Drew Baldridge, Jason Michael Carroll, Jason Adamo, Taylor Phillips; $20-$50. 6:30 p.m.

FOR OUR COMPLETE COMMUNITY CALENDAR

INDYWEEK.COM

26 | 11.27.19 | INDYweek.com

Richmond emcee McKinley Dixon’s verses could sit alongside the literary greats, mixing gritty realism into reflections that explore representation, identity, and blackness, and performs them with backing from a lively jazz band. South Carolina’s Niecy Blues nimbly weaves her vocals around the skitters and swirls of her experimental, electronically-infused R&B. —Spencer Griffith [$10, 8 P.M.] THE PINHOOK Zeta, Youth League, BVNNIES; $8-$10. 8 p.m. PNC ARENA Fantasia, Robin Thicke, Tank, the Bonfyre; $44+. 7:30 p.m. POUR HOUSE MUSIC HALL Emily Musolino; 3 p.m. POUR HOUSE MUSIC HALL Young Cardinals; 5 p.m. WAKE FOREST LISTENING ROOM Lynn & Ecki’s Holliday Show; $10-$12. 2 p.m. Opera; $30.

MON, DEC 02 THE PINHOOK BREV., Essi, Staë; $8-$10. 8 p.m.

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TUE, DEC 03

CAT’S CRADLE BACK ROOM Diamante; $15-$17. 8 p.m. DUKE COFFEEHOUSE Max Gowan, Tosser, Toss; $5. 8:30 p.m. MOTORCO MUSIC HALL Keenan McKenzie; $12-$15. 8 p.m. THE RITZ Tobe Nwigwe; $25+. 8 p.m. SHARP NINE GALLERY Alamance Jazz Band; $10. 7 p.m.

WED, DEC 04 CAROLINA THEATRE Robert Earl Keen, Shinyribs; $36-$66. 8 p.m. CAT’S CRADLE BACK ROOM

Laura Stevenson

It can take a lot of care and a lot of emotional manuevering to write about mental illness in a way that doesn’t inadvertently belittle it. Stevenson avoids this in her songs by offering an honest reflection of her experiences with selfharm. Her ethereal voice pairs

with her bands’ strippeddown production in a way that makes you almost forget she was in a punk rock band prior to her solo career. Opening for her is dreamy lo-fi soloist Adult Mom. —Sara Pequeño [$13-$15, 8 P.M.] THE FRUIT Music Maker 25: Pickers & Storytellers; Dom Flemons, Blind Boy Paxton, Jake Xerxes Fussell & Gail Caesar. $10-$25. 8 p.m. LOCAL 506 Mickey Factz; $12. 8 p.m. MOTORCO MUSIC HALL Amigo The Devil, King Dude, Twin Temple; $15-$17. 8 p.m. NEPTUNES PARLOUR

Chris Boener

After receiving a degree in classical and jazz guitar at Duke University, Chris Boerner became a fixture around the Triangle, playing in ensembles like jazz hip-hop group The Mighty Burners and instrumental trio Hot at

Nights. For this fall residency night, Boerner presents the music of jazz innovator Ornette Coleman, with help from instrumentalists Annalise Stalls on saxophone, Lowell Ringel on bass, and Joe Westerlund on drums. — Josephine McRobbie [$8-$10, 8:30 P.M.] THE PINHOOK Karoshi, Sweet Homé, Gallus Mag; $10. 9 p.m. POUR HOUSE MUSIC HALL Agnostic Front, Slapshot, No Love; $18$20. 7:30 p.m. THE RITZ CHON, Between The Buried And Me, intervals; $25. 7 p.m. SCHOOLKIDS RECORDS RALEIGH Steep Canyon Rangers; 12 p.m.

Get Tickets at our website or in person at the box office. T&TH 11AM–2PM and Event Days 11AM–showtime.

SAT

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11.30 12.07

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12.13 8PM

MARCUS ANDERSON THIS IS CHRISTMAS WITH SHELBY J

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TUE

NYE CELEBRATION WITH THE MIGHTY MESSENGERS OF SOUL, DJ HEAVY, STANLEY BAIRD & CONSTANCE PRINCE

12.20 12.31

THE STATION Choo Choo Anoo; 7 p.m.

SAT

01.11 8PM

IN GRATITUDE A TRIBUTE TO EARTH, WIND & FIRE

2020 CHAPEL HILL RD. DURHAM 1-984-219-1594 | RhythmsLiveNC.com

Your week. Every Wednesday. ARTS•NEWS•FOOD•MUSIC INDYWEEK.COM INDYweek.com | 11.27.19 | 27

12/6

KELLER WILLIAMS 11/30 12/7 12/7 12/20 12/21

11.27

Closed at 6pm

11.28

Closed for Thanksgiving SMALL BUSINESS SATURDAY featuring the Poetry Fox from 1-3pm, free cookies, and book giveaways for adults and children every hour on the hour. Sundry Poets featuring Sarah Edwards, David Manning and Allen Stein 2pm Virginia Kantra in conversation with Lee Smith Meg and Jo 7pm Well Read Black Girl Book Club 7pm

11.30 12.1

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art

11.27–12.04

submit! Got something for our calendar? Submit the details at:

indyweek.com/submit#cals DEADLINE: 5 p.m. each Wednesday for the following Wednesday’s issue. QUESTIONS? spequeno@indyweek.com

Art for a New Understanding: Native Voices, 1950s to Now Contemporary Indigenous art. Thru Jan 12. Nasher Museum of Art, Durham. nasher.duke.edu. The Art of Giving painting, sculpture, photography, glass art, jewelry, turned wood, pottery & fiber art. Reception: Nov. 29 6-9pm. Thru Dec 31. Hillsborough Gallery of Arts, Hillsborough. HillsboroughGallery.com. Art of Mental Health Mixed media. Thru Jan 24. Rubenstein Art Center Gallery 235, Durham. artscenter.duke.edu. The Art of Resistance Thru Dec 13. UNC’s FedEx Global Education Center, Chapel Hill. Art’s Work in the Age of Biotechnology Biotechnology: Shaping Our Genetic Futures With guest curator Hannah Star Rogers. Other exhibits at NC State Libraries and GES Center. Thru Mar 15. Gregg Museum of Art & Design, Raleigh. gregg.arts.ncsu.edu.

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 29

SMASHFEST 2019 Why jostle past customers at big-box stores on Black Friday when you could give yourself some elbow room—and the opportunity to get out post-Turkey Day angst—at Smashfest 2019? Hosted by The Scrap Exchange, this annual event offers visitors a rare chance for some holiday-season rest and relaxation (and exertion) with live music, a bonfire, s’mores, crafting, bites from the Succotash Food Truck and, of course, the opportunity to smash stuff. The event is free and open to the public, but attendees can purchase food and smash tickets (vouchers that allow to access the SmashZone, a no-holds-barred area dedicated to shattering, cracking, and splintering). Aside from the ultimate satisfaction of goods well-smashed, participants are also supporting the Scrap Exchange. If, for whatever reason, your heart is set on Black Friday shopping, Smashfest doesn’t start until 3:00 p.m., leaving plenty of time in the morning. At its heart, though, Smashfest is an opportunity to creatively reimagine our relationship with consumerism. —Rachel Rockwell

THE SCRAP EXCHANGE, DURHAM 3-7 p.m., free, www.scrapexchange.org

OPENING Amina’s Gift African Art and Craft Market Sat, Nov 30. 12 p.m. Amina’s Gift African Art Market, Chapel Hill. aminasgift.org. Bright Spirits Holiday Market Artisan sale. Sun, Dec 1. 12 p.m. Motorco Music Hall, Durham. motorcomusic.com. Jaimon Caceres: Verdant Tranquility Colored pencil drawings. Tue, Dec 3-31. Gallery C, Raleigh. A Few of Our Favorite Things Mixed media. Reception: Nov 29, 6 p.m. Nov 29-Dec 31. Cary Gallery of Artists, Cary. carygalleryofartists.org. Trevor Paglen Artist talk. Tue, Dec 3. 5:30 p.m. UNC Campus: Hanes Art Center, Chapel Hill. art.unc.edu.

Remnants from Smashfest 2016 PHOTO COURTESY OF THE SCRAP EXCHANGE

Saxapahaw Holiday Market Local artisans and vendors. Nov 30-Dec 1. Haw River Ballroom, Saxapahaw. hawriverballroom.com.

ONGOING 100+ Years of Earth and Fire: A Retrospective of Four Women Working in Clay Pottery. Thru Dec 7. Durham Art Guild, Durham. durhamartguild.org.

John James Audubon: The Birds of America Ornithological engravings. Thru Dec 31. NC Museum of Art, Raleigh. ncartmuseum.org. Scott Avett: INVISIBLE Paintings and prints. Thru Sun, Feb 2. NC Museum of Art, Raleigh. ncartmuseum.org. John Beerman: The Shape of Light Paintings. Thru Jan 25. Craven Allen Gallery, Durham. cravenallengallery.com.

Abundance Paintings. Thru Nov 30. V L Rees Gallery, Raleigh. vlrees.com.

Jasmine Best, Laura Little, Aaron McIntosh, Renzo Ortega: Dirty South Group show. Thru Nov 30. Artspace, Raleigh. artspacenc.org.

Lety Alvarez, Pepe Caudillo, Allison Coleman Paintings. Thru Jan 25. Artspace, Raleigh.

Megan Bostic: Undeveloped Memories Mixed media. Thru Dec 7. VAE Raleigh, Raleigh.

Anarchism and the Political Art of Les Temps Nouveaux, 18951914 Prints and graphics. Thru Dec 15. Nasher Museum of Art, Durham. nasher.duke.edu.

Wim Botha: Still Life with Discontent Mixed media. Thru Dec 1. 21c Museum Hotel, Durham. ncartmuseum.org.

Ashlyn Browning: Recalibrate Paintings. Thru Nov 30. Artspace, Raleigh. . Conner Calhoun: Whispers from Wizard Mountain Drawings, paintings, and sculpture. Thru Dec 13. Lump, Raleigh. lumpprojects.org. Kennedi Carter: Godchild Thru Jan 31. 21c Museum Hotel, Durham. 21cmuseumhotels.com/durham. Chatham Attitude Longitude and Latitude: 2019 Chatham Artists Guild Studio Tour Mixed Media. Thru Nov 30. 6 PM The ArtsCenter, Carrboro. artscenterlive.org. Cosmic Rhythm Vibrations Art inspired by music and rhythm. Thru Mar 1. Nasher Museum of Art, Durham. nasher.duke.edu. Stephen Costello: Places Sculpture. Reception: November 16, 5-7 p.m. Thru Jan 25. Craven Allen Gallery Durham cravenallengallery.com. Rosana Castrillo Díaz: Trust me. You are t/here. Mixed media. Thru Jan 12. CAM Raleigh, Raleigh. Encantada | Enchanted Thru Dec 20. Duke Campus: John Hope Franklin Center, Durham. Fantastic Fauna-Chimeric Creatures Thru Jan 26. Gregg Museum of Art & Design, Raleigh. gregg.arts.ncsu.edu. Fleshmap: My Embroidered Bipolar Geographies Mixed media. Closing reception: Dec 7, 4 p.m. Thru Dec 7. Anchorlight, Raleigh. fleshmap.me. Coulter Fussell & Antonia Perez: Heirloom Quilts and mixed media. Thru Dec 28. Artspace, Raleigh. artspacenc.org. Hal Goodtree & Students: Photos. Thru Dec 15. Through This Lens, Durham. Holiday Exhibit Mixed media. Thru Jan 4. FRANK Gallery, Chapel Hill. frankisart.com.

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CO NT’D

Harriet Hoover, Vanessa Murray, Rusty Shackleford Thru Jan 5. Oneoneone, Chapel Hill. oneoneone.gallery Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, and Mexican Modernism Paintings. Thru Jan 19. NC Museum of Art, Raleigh. Law and Justice: The Supreme Court of North Carolina, 1819- 2019 Artifacts, images, texts. Thru May 31. NC Museum of History, Raleigh. ncmuseumofhistory.org. Maria Martinez-Cañas: Rebus + Diversions Mixed media. Thru Jan 12. CAM Raleigh, Raleigh. Material Mixed media. Thru Jan 3. Durham Arts Council, Durham. facebook.com. Eleanor Mills: Wildflowers of Crested Butte, Colorado Photography. Thru Apr 18. Duke Campus: Lilly Library, Durham. Momentum @ Hamilton Hill 2D and 3D art. Thru Dec 31. Hamilton Hill, Durham. More Outsider Art in the Visitors Center Folk art. Group show. Thru Nov 29. Alexander Dickson House, Hillsborough. mikesarttruck.com. Mystical Logical Mixed media. Thru Dec 13. Lump, Raleigh. lumpprojects.org. NC Chinese Lantern Festival Lanterns. 6 p.m.-10 p.m. every day. Closed Mondays. 20. Thru Jan 12. Koka Booth Amphitheatre, Cary. New Orleans Second Line Parades Photos. Thru Dec 31. Love House and Hutchins Forum, Chapel Hill. southerncultures.org. NOURISH Thru Dec 2. 5 Points Gallery, Durham. 5pointsgallery.com. Nuevo Espíritu de Durham: New Spirit of Durham Personal stories and images. Thru Jan 5. Museum of Durham History , Durham. cityofraleighmuseum.org. The Pattersons Mixed media. Thru Dec 7. Oneoneone, Chapel Hill. oneoneone.gallery. Kelly Popoff: At Home With Our Histories Paintings. Thru Jan 3. UNC Campus: Hanes Art Center, Chapel Hill. art.unc.edu. 30 | 11.27.19 | INDYweek.com

Portraying Power and Identity: A Global Perspective Thru Jan 31. 21c Museum Hotel, Durham. 21cmuseumhotels.com/durham.

Virginia Kantra PHOTO BY MICHAEL RITCHIE

QuiltSpeak: Uncovering Women’s Voices Through Quilts Thru Mar 8. NC Museum of History, Raleigh. ncmuseumofhistory.org. Joseph Rafferty: Lost Photos Thru Dec 2. Durham Art Guild, Durham Lynn Saville: Photos. Thru Dec 15. Through This Lens, Durham. throughthislens.com. She Who Tells a Story Thru Dec 1. Ackland Art Museum, Chapel Hill. ackland.org. Laura Lacambra Shubert: New Works Paintings. Thru Dec 29. Gallery C, Raleigh. galleryc.net. Southbound: Photographs of and about the New South Thru Dec 21 at Power Plant Gallery, Durham. Thru Dec 29 at Gregg Museum of Art & Design, Raleigh. powerplantgallery.com, gregg.arts.ncsu.edu.

READINGS & SIGNINGS Lola Haskins, Ephraim Scott Sommers Asylum: Improvisations on John Clare (Haskins). Wed, Dec 4, 7 p.m. Quail Ridge Books, Raleigh. quailridgebooks.com.

Sydney Steen: Fault Lines Vignettes. Thru Oct 25. 21c Museum Hotel, Durham. 21cmuseumhotels.com.

Virginia Kantra Meg and Jo. Tue, Dec 3, 7 p.m. Quail Ridge Books, Raleigh. quailridgebooks.com.

Dawn Surratt & Lori Vrba: (en)compass Mixed media. Thru Dec 20. Horse & Buggy Press and Friends, Durham. horseandbuggypress.com. Yuko Nogami Taylor: Majestic Incognito - Sanctuary Paintings. Thru Dec 2. 5 Points Gallery, Durham. 5pointsgallery.com. Teens, Inspired: Home Poems, mixed media. Thru Jan 3. NC Museum of Art, Raleigh. Cheryl Thurber: Documenting Gravel Springs, Mississippi, in the 1970s Photos. Thru Mar 31. UNC’s Wilson Special Collections Library, Chapel Hill. ¡Viva Viclas!: The Art of the Lowrider Motorcycle Guest curator Denise Sandoval. Thru Feb 9. CAM Raleigh, Raleigh. camraleigh.org. What in the World Is a Grain Mummy? Egyptology and art. Thru Jan 8. NC Museum of Art, Raleigh. ncartmuseum.org.

David Manning, Sarah Edwards, Allen Stein Sun, Dec 1, 2 p.m. Quail Ridge Books, Raleigh. quailridgebooks.com. flyleafbooks.com.

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 3

VIRGINIA KANTRA: MEG & JO Every few years, a remake of Little Women comes out, and the holidays are awash in the world of Louisa May Alcott’s beloved classic. This December, with Greta Gerwig’s star-studded film adaptation set to come out on Christmas Day, is no different. An additional reimagining comes from New York Times bestselling author Virginia Kantra, whose new book, Meg & Jo, sets the story of the two oldest March sisters in contemporary times. In this rendition, Jo is an MFA graduate turned New York City journalist whose career falls apart, leaving her to piece together work as a prep cook and food blogger (this plotline feels apt for 2019), while Meg is a suburban mother questioning the life she has built for herself. When the matriarch of the family falls ill, the sisters must return to their childhood farm in North Carolina for the holidays. Kantra, a Raleigh native, makes the case that the Little Women well hasn’t been tapped dry. At least, not quite yet. —Sarah Edwards

QUAIL RIDGE BOOKS, RALEIGH 7 p.m., free, www.quailridgebooks.com

LECTURES, ETC. Lola Haskins, Ephraim Scott Sommers Poetry and music. Wed, Dec 4, 7 p.m. Regulator Bookshop, Durham. regulatorbookshop.com. Prohibition in the United States: Hopes and Failures Tue, Dec 3, 6:30 p.m. Flyleaf Books, Chapel Hill. flyleafbooks.com. David Sedaris Followed by Q&A and book signing. $40-$61. Sun, Dec 1, 7 p.m. Memorial Auditorium, Raleigh. dukeenergycenterraleigh.com. Mab Segrest, Julia Pierce Wed, Dec 4, 7 p.m. NorthStar Church of the Arts, City of Durham. northstardurham.com. Stories Across the Ages: Positive Aging Fri, Nov 22, 6:30 p.m. Flyleaf Books, Chapel Hill. flyleafbooks.com.

stage

The Hip Hop Nutcracker PHOTO COURTESY OF DURHAM PERFORMING ARTS CENTER

OPENING A Snow White Christmas Musical. Nov 30-Dec 8, Memorial Auditorium, Raleigh. dukeenergycenterraleigh.com. Bizarre: A Drag Show Oddity Drag performance. $7. Sat, Nov 30, 10 p.m. Ruby Deluxe, Raleigh. rubydeluxeraleigh.com. Steve Brown Comedy. Showtimes: Fri: 7 p.m., 9:15 p.m. Sat: 6:30 p.m., 9 p.m. Sun: 7 p.m. $15+. Sun, Dec 1, Raleigh Improv, Raleigh. Céline Dion Live at the Gaza Strip Opera cabaret. 8 p.m. Sat, Dec 4-7, Monkey Bottom Collaborative, Durham. themonkeybottom.blogspot.com.

Family-Friendly Transactors Improv Improv. $10. Sat, Nov 30, 6 p.m. The ArtsCenter, Carrboro. artscenterlive.org.

One Night in NC: Titus & Tate Live podcast taping. $20. Tue, Dec 3, 8 p.m. Carolina Theatre, Durham. carolinatheatre.org.

In the Boots of St. Nick Play. $20. Sun, Dec 1, 5 p.m. Sonorous Road Theatre, Raleigh. sonorousroad.com/.

Paint & Punchlines Food, drinks, comedy, and painting. $59. Wed, Dec 4, 5 p.m. Goodnights Comedy Club, Raleigh. goodnightscomedy. com.

Jada J Drag performance. Fri, Nov 29, 10 p.m. Ruby Deluxe, Raleigh. rubydeluxeraleigh.com. Ladies and Gentlefolx Comedy. Thu, Nov 28, 6:30 p.m. The People’s Improv Theater (PIT), Chapel Hill. thepit-chapelhill.com. Jessica Michelle Singleton Comedy. $15-$23. Wed, Dec 4, 8 p.m. Goodnights Comedy Club, Raleigh. goodnightscomedy.com.

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer Musical. Nov 29-Dec 24, Fletcher Opera Theater, Raleigh. dukeenergycenterraleigh.com. Ali Siddiq Comedy. Fri & Sat: 7:30 p.m. & 10 p.m.; Sun: 7 p.m. $21-$33. Sun, Dec 1, Goodnights Comedy Club, Raleigh. goodnightscomedy.com.

The Hip Hop Nutcracker Dance. 3 p.m. & 8 p.m. $35+. Sat, Nov 30, Durham Performing Arts Center, Durham. dpacnc.com. White Christmas 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. $33+. Dec 3-8, Durham Performing Arts Center, Durham. dpacnc.com. X-Games Comedy. $10. Sat, Nov 30, 7 p.m. The People’s Improv Theater (PIT), Chapel Hill. thepit-chapelhill.com.

ONGOING Ragtime Musical. Mon-Sat: 7:30 p.m.; Sun: 2 p.m. Thru Dec 16. Center for Dramatic Art, Chapel Hill.

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 30

THE HIP HOP NUTCRACKER If you’re wondering what eighties rap icon Kurtis Blow is doing in an urban update of Tchaikovsky, check your hip-hop history. In 1979, Blow made a bet with Mercury Records: If his first single was a hit, they’d sign him for an album. The single, “Christmas Rappin’,” sold more than four hundred thousand copies, and Blow subsequently became the first rapper signed by a major record label. (Those are the breaks.) In recent holiday seasons, he’s presided over the touring version of choreographer Jennifer Weber’s restaging of the classic Christmas tale, in which a New York girl is saved from bickering parents and a street gang of rats by an unlikely hero: Myron the Nutcracker, a guy on the corner selling hot roasted nuts from a cart. An on-stage DJ and electric violinist remix the original classical score while a dozen all-star dancers pop, lock, and drop those inverted pirouettes—performed on their heads, not their feet. —Byron Woods

DURHAM PERFORMING ARTS CENTER, DURHAM 3 & 8 p.m., $35, www.dpacnc.com

FOR OUR COMPLETE COMMUNITY CALENDAR

INDYWEEK.COM

INDYweek.com | 11.27.19 | 31

screen SPECIAL SHOWINGS Don Pasquale $15. Sun, Dec 1, 2 p.m. Alamo Drafthouse, Raleigh. drafthouse.comraleigh. Elf 6 p.m. $13. Dec 2- 4, Alamo Drafthouse, Raleigh. drafthouse.comraleigh. Elf $9-$10. Mon, Dec 2, 7 p.m. Rialto Theatre, Raleigh. newsite.ambassadorcinemas. com/rialto-theatre/ The Holiday $8. Sun, Dec 1, 11 a.m. Alamo Drafthouse, Raleigh. drafthouse.comraleigh. Inavasion USA $7. Wed, Dec 4, 7 p.m. Carolina Theatre, Durham. carolinatheatre.org. The Last Waltz $8. Thu, Nov 28, 2 p.m. Alamo Drafthouse, Raleigh. drafthouse.comraleigh. Marriage Story $8-$10. Fri, Nov 29, Carolina Theatre, Durham. carolinatheatre.org. Moonstalker $1. Fri, Nov 29, 10 p.m. Alamo Drafthouse, Raleigh. drafthouse.comraleigh. Rhymes For Young Gouls Wed, Nov 27, 7 p.m. The Pinhook, Durham. thepinhook.com. Screening Race: 16mm Films of the 1960s and 1970s Sun, Dec 1, 2 p.m. NC Museum of Art, Raleigh. ncartmuseum.org.

OPENING  Knives Out— Reviewed on page 20. Rated PG-13.  Queen & Slim— Reviewed on page 20. Rated R.

N OW P L AY I N G The INDY uses a five-star rating scale. Unstarred films have not been reviewed by our writers. 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 jaded journalist assigned a profile of Fred Rogers, who is played by a perfectly-cast Tom Hanks. Rated PG.

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Ad Astra—A tortured but calm Brad Pitt traverses the solar system in search of his lost father. Rated PG-13. The Addams Family —In this star-studded new Addams installation, the macabre clan face-off with a reality television show host. Rated PG. Black and Blue—A rookie cop captures a murder by corrupt cops, in this timely thriller. Rated R. Bridges—In this action thriller, the NYPD undergoes a manhunt so massive that police shut down all twentyone bridges leading out of Manhattan. Rated R. Charlie’s Angels—Producer and director Elizabeth Banks helms a new generation of the angels. Rated PG-13. Countdown—Apps may kill us all, and in this horror film, they do (the app in question is a countdown clock that predicts your time of death; not surprisingly, it may also be a killing mahine). Rated PG-13. Doctor Sleep—Stephen King sequel to The Shining. Rated R. Downton Abbey—King George V and Queen Mary pay a visit to the abbey and cause a flurry of activity in this spin-off of the television series. Rated PG. 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 Gemini Man—Will Smith always seems to be being hunted by mutants and/or clones; in this horror flick, the clone killer is his younger self. Rated PG-13. The Good Liar—Sparks fly between an elderly couple who meet on a dating website. One of them, though, is a con artist. Rated R. Harriet—Kasi Lemmons stars in this biographical film about the heroic abolitionist Harriet Tubman. Rated PG-13.

Hustlers—The true story of strippers drugging and stealing from Wall Street stock traders is the stuff think pieces are made of. Rated R. IT Chapter Two—The mixed reviews for the second part of Stephen King’s killer-clown opus mainly agree that it’s just not that scary. Rated R. Jexi—A man’s life is ruined by his phone when an AI program goes haywire. Rated R. Jojo Rabbit—Black comedy about a German boy who discovers that his mother is hiding a Jewish girl in the attic. Rated PG-13. Joker—At first, the buzz around this star vehicle for Batman’s greatest villain was all about Joaquin Phoenix’s intense turn in a role Heath Ledger made famous. But as more details of the plot have emerged, there’s been a justified backlash about what sounds like an antihero myth for violent incels. Rated R. Judy—Renee Zellweger, in a role that will likely make her an Oscar frontrunner, plays Judy Garland during the last few years of her life. Rated PG-13. Last Christmas—An unlucky department store elf falls in love. Rated PG-13. The Lighthouse—Birds caw, fog looms, and waves crash in this hallucinatory horror film about two lightkeepers trapped in a remote lighthouse. A campy art house flick that will leave you paranoid about both seagulls and other people. Rated R. —Sarah Edwards Lucy in the Sky—This Noah Hawley film gives an existential touch to the story of disgraced astronaut Lisa Nowak (see: every tabloid story in 2007). Rated R. Maleficent: Mistress of Evil— Angelina Jolie was perhaps born to do many things, but surely playing one of Disney’s greatest villianesses is one of them. Rated PG. Midway—This WWII flick about Pearl Harbor and the subsequent Battle of Midway stars a fleet of hunks. Rated PG-13.

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 29

GREMLINS Some movies change filmmaking, though not in the way they intended. Submitted for your approval: Gremlins, the 1984 “mischievous creatures” movie set at Christmastime, produced by Steven Spielberg and filled with tons of kid-oriented toys, fast-food tie-ins, and an adorable “Mogwai” at its center. Surely, the perfect family entertainment, correct? Oh, sweet lord in heaven, no. Director Joe Dante brought the dark humor and violence of his previous horror films, such as Piranha and The Howling, to the gleefully sadistic title creatures, who straight-up murder people and straight-up get murdered in ways involving electrocution and the abuse of kitchen appliances. Suffice it to say that children screamed and cried, parents protested (or, in my case, forbade me from seeing the movie for many years), and the PG-13 rating was instituted to minimize childhood trauma at the movies. Today, it’s the standard rating for most big-budget films, because you can’t just sneak in without an ID like you used to. Despite all its controversy, Gremlins remains a certified eighties classic, with merchandise coming out to this day, including a recent set of two-packs from toy company NECA, which features the Gremlins caroling like they do in the film. Enjoy the holiday darkness, along with food, science stations, live music by Loos Change, and the museum’s own Amanda Hapeman explaining the (incredibly wonky) science behind the movie at this special event. —Zack Smith

NORTH CAROLINA MUSEUM OF NATURAL SCIENCES, RALEIGH 5:30 p.m., $5, www.naturalsciences.org

Motherless Brooklyn—Edward Norton plays a loner private detective with Tourette’s syndrome in this adaptation of the Jonathan Lethem novel. Rated PG. 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  Parasite—This highlyanticipated social satire from filmmaker Bong Joon-Ho is crammed with dark twists and intricate metaphors. Rated R. —Sarah Edwards

Playing with Fire—Family comedy about a crew of firefighters who are tasked with babysitting. Rated PG. Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark—The classic anthology of ghoulish tales gets mined for incidents in this horror throwback. Rated PG-13. Terminator: Dark Fate—It’s like nothing after Terminator 2: Judgement Day ever happened as James Cameron returns to the fold of the classic sci-fi franchise. Rated R.

The Warrior of Queen Jhansi—Based on the true story of Jhansi, a feminist icon who led a revolt against the British Empire in India in 1857. Rated R. Where’s My Roy Cohn?–This documentary about Donald Trump’s mentor and fixer exposes the seamy roots of the American political machine. Rated PG-13. Zombieland: Double Tap—A heartland sequel to the 2009 cult classic. Rated R.

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deep dive EAT • DRINK • SHOP • PLAY

The INDY’s monthly neighborhood guide to all things Triangle

Coming December 11:

TRIANGLE OUTPOSTS For advertising opportunities, contact your ad rep or advertising@indyweek.com

BOOK YOUR AD • EMAIL AMANDA: CLASSY@INDYWEEK.COM

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CROSSWORD If you just can’t wait, check out the current week’s answer key at www.indyweek.com, and click “puzzle pages” at the bottom of our webpage.

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this week’s puzzle level:

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.

If you just can’t wait, check out the current week’s answer key at www.indyweek.com, and click “puzzle pages.” Best of luck, and have fun! www.sudoku.com solution to last week’s puzzle

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HISTORY TRIVIA: • On December 2, 1903, the trustees of Trinity College voted not to accept history professor John Spencer Bassett’s resignation, issuing a strong statement in support of free speech and academic freedom. • On December 3, 1955, the Durham Sun announced that Frances Gray Patton had won the Sir Walter Raleigh award for fiction for her 1954 novel Good Morning Miss Dove.

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