INDY Week 5.31.17

HOW EVIL IS TRUMP’S BUDGET? p. 6 HOW EVIL IS TRUMP’S USDA PICK? p. 15 HOW EVIL IS ROB LIEFELD? p. 24

raleigh 5|31|17

“I’M NOT A PREDATOR”

A United flight attendant accused a local gay father of groping his son. He was detained at RDU. Now he’s fighting back.

BY KEN FINE

P. 1 3

the indy’s guide to triangle dining

on stands now!

2 | 5.31.17 | INDYweek.com

WHAT WE LEARNED THIS WEEK | RALEIGH 6 About 1.6 million Tar Heels use food stamps.

Donald Trump wants to cut the program’s budget by 25 percent.

VOL. 34, NO. 20

8 Three years ago, the city council funded the renovation of Moore Square. With luck, the project will get underway this fall.

13 “It’s situations like this and accusations like this that continue to make people feel like gay people are monsters.”

15 The USDA systematically discriminated against black farmers around the country—including many here in N.C.—for decades.

17 Fried chicken joints, barbecue pits, and tin pie pans have long signified Southern cooking, but so do tamales and cornbread.

23 Staging a play using an outdated script surely counts as a cardinal sin of theater.

24 Despite what you might have heard about his hawkish comics, Rob Liefeld is a dove to work with.

DEPARTMENTS 6 Triangulator 8 News 15 Food 18 Music 21 Culture 26 What To Do This Week 29 Music Calendar 33 Arts/Film Calendar

Jenn Wasner moved from Baltimore to bring you her joyful brand of electro-pop (see page 18).

PHOTO BY ALEX BOERNER

On the cover: PHOTO BY BEN MCKEOWN

INDYweek.com | 5.31.17 | 3

Raleigh Durham | Chapel Hill

PUBLISHER Susan Harper EDITORIAL

EDITOR IN CHIEF Jeffrey C. Billman MANAGING EDITOR FOR ARTS+CULTURE Brian Howe DESIGN DIRECTOR Shan Stumpf NEWS EDITOR Ken Fine STAFF WRITERS Thomas Goldsmith,

Erica Hellerstein, Sarah Willets

AND THE NIGHTSHIFT

THE RETURN OF BLACK WALL STREET

ALBUM RELEASE SHOW

MBALLA

DANNY BLAZE

SINOPSIS

FRIday JUNE 9TH // 8PM // PINHOOK // durham // $7

ALL PROCEEDS WILL GO TO FUND BLACKSPACE’S TRIP TO BRAVE NEW VOICES. the saving space showcase is a twice-monthly series that features 3 north carolina based musicians/bands/djs with one or more member(s) who identifies as female, nonbinary, poc, and/or queer. 100% of the proceeds from each show goes to a triangle-based nonprofit organization. this showcase is only booked at venues with gender neutral bathrooms and that are commonly recognized safe spaces. this showcase aims to be about inclusion and heightened visibility for those who are not straight cis white males and giving all of us the opportunity to recognize, listen, and make much-needed room in the scene. for more info go to https://www.facebook.com/savingspaceshowcase.

4 | 5.31.17 | INDYweek.com

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MUSIC EDITOR Allison Hussey ASSOCIATE ARTS+COPY EDITOR David Klein FOOD EDITOR Victoria Bouloubasis LISTINGS COORDINATOR Kate Thompson THEATER AND DANCE CRITIC Byron Woods RESTAURANT CRITIC Emma Laperruque STAFF PHOTOGRAPHERS Alex Boerner, Ben McKeown CHIEF CONTRIBUTORS

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All rights reserved. Material may not be reproduced without permission.

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backtalk

The Thread That Is Red Our favorite letters come in verse. Ron Gordon gifts us with this poem, about former FBI director James Comey: James Comey, James Comey, Mr. Six Foot and Eight I’ve shortened your tenure— that proves I am great.

Three times you told me, “I am not under investigation” Let’s make that official, we’ll sign legislation.

You should have been nicer to Hillary, October was rough Go easy on her and the Russians, enough is enough.

We offered alternative facts from alternative folks If the press could only keep up, they’d know it’s no hoax My merry-go-round of apologists— my jugglers four Always some new way to explain, who knows what’s in store?

I’ve called you a “grandstander” and “showboat”—now you’re banned from the tent.

No more you, no more Ringling, cue the spotlight—I’m the last main event.

Now Robert Mueller is aboard, and I’m beginning to dread What the heck will unravel when they tug the thread that is red?

I’m off to tour the world— who knows what I’ll find But nothing will match my joy of things left behind.

Let’s meet again when I’m back, I’ll share photos of my inaugural crowd Bring your memos and notes, we’ll listen to my tapes—I’ll turn them up loud.

On Twitter, some folks questioned the math behind the infographic on last week’s Triangulator, which examined the decline in major party popularity in North Carolina—in particular, the item that said that 182 percent of the net new voters between the ages of twenty-six and forty between May 2008 and May 2017 had registered as unaffiliated.

For example, @Ruby tweeted: “Please don’t make infographics if you don’t know how numbers work.”

Here’s how we derived that percentage: according to the Democracy NC analysis, between 2008 and 2017, there were a total

of 94,266 net new voters between the ages of twenty-six and forty. However, the Democrats (985) and Republicans (90,621) lost voters in this age bracket, while the Libertarians only picked up 13,791; that means 172,234 of these voters were unaffiliated.

There were more of them than total net new voters.

On Twitter, Gerry Cohen, a former legislative special counsel, offers a different critique: “The data is meaningless. It looks at net changes in voter registration, not new voters at all. Bad methodology.”

“I think this demonstrates a lack of voter education and outreach from the Democrats,” writes commenter Charles Bowden.

“New voters who don’t register a party affiliation are troubling because they fail to understand the primary process. This means they’re likely disengaged when it comes to anything other than presidential elections.

State-level Democrats must do more to get voters to the polls for the smaller-stakes races in the state if they ever hope recapture the General Assembly.”

Erike counters: “Unaffiliated or independents may be more engaged and informed about the primary process. As an unaffiliated voter, I have the freedom to vote in either the Republican or Democratic primary. More choice is generally better, correct? This gives an independent the ability to influence the final candidate from the other party. If more Democrats switched their affiliation to unaffiliated, they could’ve voted against Trump in the primary (as I did) to prevent the unthinkable from happening. I will be encouraging all of my Democraticregistered friends to do this in the future for this exact reason.”

David Ulmer, meanwhile, wishes a pox on both parties’ houses: “Really glad to see the Democrats and Republicans losing a generation of new voters. More unaffiliated voters bode well for third parties like the Libertarians and the Greens. The current system has failed for too long, and we would all be well served by having more parties and greater choice instead of a choice between really bad and simply unacceptable.”

Want to see your name in bold? Email us at backtalk@indyweek.com, comment on our Facebook page or indyweek.com, or hit us up on Twitter: @indyweek.com.

INDYweek.com | 5.31.17 | 5

triangulator EVIL!

NOT EVIL

TO THE RICH

TO THE SICK & DISABLED

It’s hard to tell exactly what Trump’s proposed tax plan will do, since he’s only released a one-page outline. We do know that it will be a boon to the rich: it repeals the alternative minimum and inheritance taxes, which apply to the wealthy; eliminates Obamcare’s tax on investment income; and cuts the top income tax rate from 39.6 percent to 35 percent.

Also getting hosed. These cuts include: ■ Nearly $70 billion over ten years, or about 2 percent, from Social Security disability benefits, which are currently paid to about 375,000 people in North Carolina.

■ $616 billion in cuts to Medicaid over ten years, which may come on top of the more than $800 billion in Medicaid cuts included in the American Health Care Act. As of March 2016, seventy-four million Americans and two million North Carolinians used Medicaid to access health care.

■ While Trump’s budget funds the Children’s Health Insurance Program—which insures 8.9 million children, including 234,000 in North Carolina—for the next two years, it cuts funding by about 20 percent from fiscal years 2017 to 2018 and eliminates funding thereafter.

MAYBE EVIL ...

TO THE MIDDLE CLASS

Same problem here with the lack of specifics. Trump has proposed eliminating most tax deductions, aside from mortgages and charitable giving, while doubling the standard deduction. There’s also a $19 billion paid-family-leave program—a good idea, though not nearly enough money to cover it.

EVIL!

TO THE POOR

Trump’s ten-year budget cuts include: ■ $193 billion, or 25 percent, from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

More than forty-four million people used food stamps in 2016. In 2015, a monthly average of about 1.6 million North Carolinians did so.

■ $21 billion, or 13 percent, from Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. As of October, thirty thousand North Carolina residents were TANF recipients.

■ $10.4 billion, or 1.6 percent, from Supplemental Security Income, which provides money to low-income people who are elderly, blind, or disabled.

■ $35.5 billion, or 96 percent, from lowincome home energy assistance.

■ $77.2 billion, or 15 percent, from housing assistance programs.

6 | 5.31.17 | INDYweek.com

EVIL!

HOW EVIL IS DONALD TRUMP’S BUDGET? Last week—while the president was halfway around the world, placing his hands on a weird Saudi orb, getting side eye from the pope, and offending NATO allies—his administration released its first annual budget. Like all presidents’ budgets, it’s essentially DOA in Congress. Nonetheless, more than any campaign speech or Twitter promise, it offers a window into President Trump’s values.

So, the question: What exactly does Donald Trump value?

Or more pointedly: How evil is Donald Trump’s budget?

Turns out, that depends on who you are—specifically, whether you’re rich and ambivalent about the plight of the disadvantaged and the planet itself.

I L LU S T R AT I O N BY S T E V E O L I VA

TO STUDENTS

Trump’s budget cuts $3.9 billion from the Pell Grants reserve fund and $143 billion in student loan subsidies over the next decade, which will make accessing funds for higher education significantly more difficult and expensive. It also eliminates a debt-forgiveness program for people who go into public service.

EVIL! TO THE PLANET

Trump’s budget eliminates the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative and the Chesapeake Bay Program; slashes funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (by 18 percent), the Food and Drug Administration (31 percent), the National Institutes for Health (18 percent), and scientific research (17 percent); and hacks the Environmental Protection Agency’s budget by 30 percent, eliminating nearly a quarter of its staff and gutting its pollutionand greenhouse-gas-control programs.

+DEFENDING WHO FROM WHOM?

Throughout the defense of House Bill 467, the controversial hog-farm protection bill that recently became law despite Governor Cooper’s veto, the bill’s supporters argued that hardworking family farmers need to be protected from avaricious attorneys.

Court documents, including a federal judge’s ruling last week, call into question the sincerity of this argument.

As the INDY has previously reported, HB 467 caps the amount of damages that property owners living near “agriculture and forestry operations,” including hog farms, can collect in nuisance lawsuits.

Under the bill, people can only collect damages equal to the reduction in their property’s fair market value.

Much of the debate over HB 467 focused on twenty-six pending federal nuisance lawsuits filed by roughly five hundred people against Murphy-Brown, the pork-producing subsidiary of Smithfield Foods. An early version would have essentially nullified these lawsuits, though this provision was stricken from the version that ultimately passed the House and Senate.

Most of the farms cited in the lawsuits are owned and operated by independent contractors who work with Murphy-Brown.

The lawsuits, however, are not filed against those local farmers, only Murphy-Brown.

However, those farmers nonetheless loomed large among supporters of HB 467.

“They want to sue farmers for

outrageous sums without having to prove real damages,” state representative and bill sponsor Jimmy Dixon wrote in an April 7 op-ed in The News & Observer. “... This bill is designed to protect 50,000 hardworking North Carolina farmers who are feeding a hungry world.”

But court records show that MurphyBrown actually filed a motion to add some of those family farmers as defendants in four of the twenty-six cases.

According to a memorandum filed by Murphy-Brown in September 2016, “allowing these cases to go forward without the landowners forces Murphy-Brown to defend the location of the farms, the management of the farms, and the farms’ compliance with any number of North Carolina statutes and regulations—all matters that are indisputably the legal obligation of the permit holders.”

In other words, Murphy-Brown is saying that those farmers the bill’s supporters are defending should be part of the lawsuits—and potentially liable for damages—because they’re responsible for the alleged nuisance, not Murphy-Brown. Or, in legalese, “because they have several significant interests in the outcome of this litigation, and those interests would be severely compromised by a finding of nuisance.”

On Thursday, Judge W. Earl Britt rejected Murphy-Brown’s motion.

+SPEAK NOW

Wake County citizens will have the opportunity to offer their opinions on the

county’s proposed $1.24 billion budget at two public meetings on June 5.

In past years, some public hearings have been robustly attended, while others have drawn only a handful of people.

This year, the schools budget is a particular matter of contention, as county manager James Hartmann has responded to the school system’s request for $45 million in new funding by offering less than half of that and telling the system to use $21 million in reserve funds to make up the difference.

It’s hard to know how much weight the county commission puts on comments made in public hearings. But the appearance of large groups of people supporting or opposing specific pieces of the budget has made an impact before. In 2015, for example, commissioners approved a 3.65cent property tax increase after more than thirty-five people spoke in favor.

Here are details about the upcoming budget meetings: l 2 p.m. June 5, Wake County Justice Center, 300 Salisbury Street, Raleigh. l 7 p.m. June 5 at the Wake County Commons building, 4011 Carya Drive. l 9 a.m. June 12, Wake County Justice Center. l 2 p.m. June 19, Wake County Justice Center; commission considers budget adoption. triangulator@indyweek.com

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This week’s report by Jeffrey C. Billman, Thomas Goldsmith, and Sheldon Koppenhofer.

PERIPHERAL VISIONS | V.C. ROGERS

INDYweek.com | 5.31.17 | 7

indynews Finally!

THREE YEARS AFTER THE CITY COUNCIL SET ASIDE $12.6 MILLION FOR IT, THE RENOVATION OF MOORE SQUARE IS ABOUT TO GET UNDERWAY

BY THOMAS GOLDSMITH PHOTO BY BEN MCKEOWN

“I am glad to see,” said the chairman of the street committee to a reporter yesterday, “that some people appreciate the improvements made on Moore square. It is the intention of the committee to have the walks graded and put in first-class order. The question of a pavilion in the centre of the square has also been talked of, and will no doubt be an improvement of the near future. Moore and Nash squares will in a few years be places of resort for our people, where they can repair for a breath of pure air, and will be highly appreciated by them.” —“The Public Squares to Be Improved,” The News & Observer, April 8, 1887 New Raleigh will be landing within Oldest Raleigh when the latest upgrade of Moore Square opens in 2018.

Moore Square, a few blocks east of Fayetteville Street, was drawn as one of Raleigh’s four original squares when the city was founded in 1792. Starting in the fall, it will undergo a $12.6 million upgrade in the midst of a rapidly gentrifying neighborhood.

According to the most recent U.S. Census American Community Survey, median fam8 | 5.31.17 | INDYweek.com

ily incomes in the tract that contains Moore Square rose from $18,829 in 2010 to $47,917 in 2015, a startling 254 percent increase.

Grayson Maughan, a Raleigh park planner, says the city kept in mind the area’s diverse population when developing ideas for the site.

“With this being a city park, it is a public place, and we want everyone to be comfortable,” Maughan says. “We thought about the population of Raleigh and how the park will be programmed moving forward.”

If current plans proceed as scheduled, it will end years of delays, most of which can be ascribed to the slow grind of city bureaucracy.

According to city records and published reports, the city completed a master plan for the park in 2011, and the city council approved funding in May 2014.

In the spring of 2015, the design company Sasaki Associates held a series of public hearings, including more than thirty meetings with stakeholders. Over the remainder of the year, a “priorities report” gained the approval of the Moore Square Leadership Group,” the parks department, the Recre-

ation and Greenways Advisory Board, and city council.

In February 2016, the Council of State signed off on the renovation, a necessary step since the state owns the land. Fifteen months later, the city is now ready to take bids from contractors.

From its inception, Moore Square and its surrounding blocks have been home to a succession of churches, schools, and businesses, including the Baptist grove, an outdoor worship spot in the early nineteenth century; the City Market, built starting in 1914, the former Hugh Morson High School from 1925– 55; and the Richard B. Harrison Library for African-Americans, opened in 1935.

Maughan says the renovated park will recall the legacy of the Hargett Street businesses once called Black Main Street by marking it as an end point of the in-progress South Park Heritage Trail.

“This is one of the first physical locations where this walk will be recognized,” she says.

Moore Square will contain a cafe—to be run by Empire Eats—and public restrooms.

There will be a children’s area and an open

space where a concert stage can be erected.

Three “grove” areas, with stones tables and other public artworks by Texas artist Brad Goldberg, will offer hangout spaces amid the venerable giant trees, which have been a focal point since at least the turn of the twentieth century.

The work of arranging the cedars, sugar maples, and white oaks was supervised by Colonel Fred. A Olds, The News & Observer reported in 1900. Previously the square had been “completely over run” with grass, the newspaper said in 1891, adding a year later that the square’s fountain was “out of fix.”

Work on Moore Square has come in spurts over the last several years. Since the city council received the master plan in 2011 and approved funding three years later, several different start dates have come and gone. But this time, bids for the project have arrived or will show up in less than two weeks, Maughan says.

“We had our mandatory site visit with the contractors, and bids are due June 5,” Maughan says. “That would put us starting construction in the fall. I know that, myself included, everyone is ready to see this happen.”

Along with the much-improved, justcompleted GoRaleigh transit mall, this section of downtown is also attracting workers to the Red Hat building and other locations, and residents to the Skyhouse, Edison, and Lincoln high-rises.

Meanwhile, even though the Salvation Army shelter has moved to Capital Boulevard and Oak City Outreach will move a couple of miles to South Wilmington Street, the square still offers a resting place for Raleigh’s homeless population. At least for the immediate future, they’ll have to find somewhere else to go: Moore Square will be closed for the remake beginning this fall.

Milton Jones, fifty-nine, was resting on a Moore Square bench one day last week. “It’s going to be good for some people,” he said of the park’s planned remake, gesturing to the mix of nineteenth-century facades and high-rises neighboring Moore Square. “It’ll be convenient to some of them.”

Said fifty-two-year-old David Moore, who was also spending the day in Moore Square: “They don’t want more of the homeless floating around. But what are they going to do with them—with us?” tgoldsmith@indyweek.com

INDYweek.com | 5.31.17 | 9

WHY ARE ALL THESE PEOPLE

SO PISSED OFF ABOUT A GROCERY STORE?

INSIDE THE SURREAL REZONING DEBATE THAT’S GOT NORTH DURHAM ON EDGE

BY SARAH WILLETS

W

PHOTO BY ALEX BOERNER

10 | 5.31.17 | INDYweek.com

hen Charlie Reece asked his Facebook friends for thoughts on a rezoning request coming before the Durham City Council this week, he expected a few replies— maybe “three or four people already in my social network weighing in,” he says.

After all, the debate over North River Village, a proposed commercial and residential development at the intersection of Guess and Latta roads, had been simmering long before the issue was scheduled for consideration on June 5, so he assumed some people would want to weigh in.

But Reece, who was elected to the council in 2015, didn’t anticipate anything like what happened.

Five days and some shares on the neighborhood-level social network Nextdoor later, Reece’s post had garnered 131 comments. His city council email inbox was flooded with sixty-six emails from residents both for and against the rezoning, adding to the scores of messages the council and the Durham Planning Commission have received since Halvorsen Development Corporation first made its plans for the north Durham site

known in 2015.

“This is the first time where we’ve had tons and tons of people speak out on both sides,” Reece says. “That’s what stands out to me, how unusual it is. No matter what decision the council makes, we’re going to make a lot of people unhappy.”

He’s right that the council will inevitably make a lot of people mad. He’s also right that this entire affair has been somewhat surreal, at least in its intensity.

A hearing before the planning commission in February lasted three hours, with thirty-three people signing up to speak.

One speaker read a poem about a pair of crows questioning the development’s location. Another painted an alarming image of an ambulance unable to reach an injured elderly resident because of traffic and a nurse making mistakes after a noisy, sleepless night.

Ultimately, the commission voted 11–2 against the rezoning request, with several members saying that, because they’re appointed rather than elected, they didn’t feel comfortable making a decision that would affect a community where people care so much about the outcome. They’d rather defer to the city council.

The ardor hasn’t tapered off since. After Reece’s post on May 19, a few residents

emailed him saying they’d been hesitant to express themselves for fear of retribution from neighbors. One turned down an interview with the INDY for the same reason.

Another indication of how weird this has gotten: talking points circulated by the development’s proponents advise arriving at Monday’s seven p.m. council meeting at six fifteen. “Try not to wear red, as that generally is the color that opponents wear,” the information reads, like this is some suburban iteration of the Bloods and Crips.

Opponents, meanwhile, recommend arriving at five forty-five.

M

ost people have heard of North River Village because of one of its potential tenants: Publix. But there’s a lot more to the development than one of the country’s favorite supermarkets.

Halvorsen, based in Boca Raton, Florida, is seeking to develop the eastern portion of the mostly wooded lot for outdoor seating and up to ninety thousand square feet of commercial space, including the approximately forty-five-thousandsquare-foot Publix, three freestanding commercial buildings, and “inline” stores flanking the Publix, which would be the first of the supermarket chain in Durham.

Although the lease agreement, which Pub-

lix announced in December, is contingent on zoning approval, the store has played a big role in the marketing of North River Village from the start.

Patrick Byker, a partner at Morningstar Law Group, an arm of a local team working with Halvorsen, says it’s too early to say how many stores the commercial side would include or what they will be. Rise Biscuits and Donuts, he says, is “pretty well locked in.”

(Nil Ghosh, an associate at Morningstar, serves on the planning commission. He did

“THIS HAS GOTTEN UGLY. IT REALLY HAS. IT HAS GOTTEN PRETTY GROSS AT TIMES.”

not participate in February’s hearing.)

The other half of the acreage would be developed for approximately sixty detached homes built by Durham-based Cimarron Homes. The two sides of the development would be connected by walking trails and sidewalks, Byker says.

This setup has stirred debate over whether North River Village is actually a mixed-use development or just a strip mall with some houses behind it. City staffers say they don’t have enough information to decide. Either way, approving the project could contradict a city policy.

Strip malls are discouraged in this suburban area. But city code also says that transit-friendly commercial nodes should be at least a half-mile apart—more than twice the distance from North River Village to the nearest existing node.

According to city staff, rezoning the site as mixed-use would generate an additional 10,712 vehicles trips per day on the roads around it. Whether road improvements, including new turning lanes, are enough to handle that added volume has been a dividing point between supporters and opponents.

So too is the question of schools, given that Easley Elementary, which is adjacent to the site, is currently at 108 percent

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capacity; however, the city estimates that the rezoning will add only three students to area schools.

And then there are environmental concerns: at its closest, the site is about a half-mile from the Eno River, which leads to worries about runoff and the loss of greenspace.

For opponents, this development is a potential slippery slope. They fear the rezoning will lead to overdevelopment in north Durham. Why not use another site already cleared of trees and zoned for commercial use?

“The sprawl will just go further and further out until you get into Bahama and Rougemont,” says Jackie Brown, who chaired the planning commission during an unsuccessful 2003 effort to rezone the same site for commercial use.

On the other hand, North River Village would be the first shopping center built in the area since 1994. The area has lagged behind other parts of Durham in new home construction.

For these reasons, several realtors—and residents itching for something new—have voiced their support for the development.

Many of them see North River Village as a tolerable tenant for a site bound to be developed at some point—and the only way to ensure road improvements in a part of the county they feel has been forgotten.

“Because we show the area and we hear the feedback, we know what people are saying and why they don’t want to move up here,” says Cindie Burns, a realtor and nearly lifelong north Durham resident.

“They love it, but there’s no shopping. They love it, but it’s all dated. They love it, but there’s not any new construction.”

North River Village, proponents say, is an opportunity to fix that.

“Speak to the youth who attend Northern High School,” resident Arnie Boardwine wrote to Reece. “You will hear that they cannot wait to graduate and leave Durham.

Why? Because there is nothing here; the area is not growing.”

O

n a Wednesday afternoon, opponents of the rezoning are walking to the end of Green Oak Drive, to the front of the woods that would be chopped down to make way for North River Village. They are moms, dads, and children of all ages. Along the short walk, the group grows in number.

“So, what is this?” asks a man loading yard waste onto a truck. Someone explains.

At first, the man says he doesn’t have any thoughts on the rezoning.

When asked again, he says he doesn’t believe his thoughts “would be very popu12 | 5.31.17 | INDYweek.com

lar here.” He lives about five miles north, and the Publix would save him from having to go to Roxboro to buy groceries. But, he says, he doesn’t live here, so he keeps his thoughts to himself.

For residents of Green Oak Drive, there would be no escaping North River Village.

As currently drawn, access to the residential side of the development would be directly across from the end of the narrow street.

As for the people who are excited about the new development, the neighbors say, they’re just not seeing the long view.

“I think it’s shortsighted,” says Julia

L AT T A RO

AD

PROPOSED DEVELOPMENT

DURHAM

Plourde. “It’s only new while it’s new.”

Many residents of this neighborhood have organized under the banner of the North Durham Quality Development Association. They mobilized fast.

As the team behind North River Village created a website, social media presence, and talking points, so did they. To stand a chance against a well-resourced development company, one of America’s favorite grocery stores, and a law firm that works on many developments in Durham, they had to.

“It needs to be done,” says Plourde.

“There’s nobody else to do it. We don’t have any backers. We don’t have any money.”

“This is kind of a watershed moment,” says Roxanne Van Frarowe, who has lived on Green Oak Drive for eight and a half years. “If this were to pass, there would be a lot more development on Guess, and I think a lot of people sense that.”

M

uch of the debate over North River Village has taken place online, especially on Nextdoor and Facebook. As it often does, the Internet has brought to the surface the most strident perspectives. Things have gotten heated—and sometimes out of hand.

Case in point, the thread on Reece’s Facebook page.

Because both sides have become so versed in the issue, differing opinions are pointedly rebutted—particularly those offered by people who don’t live in the immediate vicinity.

“How do you know what my commute is?” snapped one supporter after being told that the development wouldn’t affect where he lives.

“You know this is the Internet age, right?” an opponent replied.

One poster, identified as living in Chapel Hill, was told to “stay in your lane.”

And don’t even try to say north Durham has no good restaurants, as one commenter, who said she heard that the nearby barbecue spot Picnic wasn’t that good, learned: “‘I heard’ … yeah …? You ‘heard’?? OK. Even a fool, when he holdeth his peace, is counted wise: and he that shutteth his lips is esteemed a man of understanding. —Bible, Proverbs 17:28.’”

(In fairness, Picnic is pretty great.)

Debbi Schwartz, who has lived about a mile and a half away from the site for twelve years, says she was hesitant to voice her support for North River Village. She posted about it on social media and says she was threatened.

“We’ll come to your backyard and dump trash and drug paraphernalia in your backyard,” she says she was told.

But over time she found more people who shared her view that North River Village would make the area more of a community.

“If anything, it would bring people closer,” she says. “You’d have someplace where people could run into each other while they’re shopping or at a restaurant.”

The debate has played out offline, too.

A north Durham resident contracted to run the North River Village website and social media presence says he was pushed and yelled at during a meeting on the project at a private residence. On Reece’s thread, he referred to opponents as “crazy.”

In return, he was called a baby and told to bring diapers to Monday’s council meeting.

About two months ago, members of the North Durham Quality Development Association bought lawn signs saying “just say no” and placed them in their yards and near the site. In the last couple of weeks, nearly identical signs urging “just say yes” have

popped up right next to and in front the “no” signs.

William Richards, who lives on Green Oak Drive, says he and his friends who oppose the rezoning have been called irrational NIMBYs. The group was cursed at while protesting the development with their kids in April. Richards says most discussion about North River Village has been civil, but a few people have ratcheted up the language.

“This has gotten ugly. It really has. It has gotten pretty gross at times,” he says.

I

f opponents of North River Village succeed, they wouldn’t be the first to stop Publix from opening in the Triangle.

In 2015, public opposition halted the supermarket chain, which has stores in Cary, from opening in north Raleigh. At the time, the developer said that the “increasingly bitter and hostile climate” had made it “impossible to properly engage the community at large and for city council to weigh the merits of the case.”

In a sense, this feels similar.

It’s clear this debate is about more than Publix, about more than even this thirtyacre project. It calls into question how the city should go about managing its growth and balancing policy with what people want.

This was evident in February, in some planning commission members’ reluctance to be the ones making this decision.

“I want to step back from this conversation,” commissioner DeDreana Freeman said then, “and say that this split in this community marks what I’ve been talking about on a number of cases in that we don’t have a neighborhood-level planning process in place to make sure that we’re planning together rather than piecemeal when developers choose to move forward with projects.”

Charles Gibbs, who represents the area on the commission, voted against the rezoning.

But as a forty-year resident of north Durham, he supports the project and plans to say so during Monday’s council meeting.

“To make a long story short, I think it would be good for the community,” he says.

“What they’re planning would make a nice little village-type atmosphere, which would include the existing neighborhood.”

Reece, who says he won’t make up his mind until after Monday’s hearing, says the vote will come down to whether there’s enough evidence to say that a new vision for this little corner of Durham should replace an old one.

All we can be sure of is that it’s going to be a long night. swillets@indyweek.com

“I’M NOT A PREDATOR” A United Airlines flight attendant accused a local gay father of groping his son.

He was detained at RDU. Now he’s fighting back.

D

urham’s Rockwood Park is virtually empty when Henry Amador-Batten suggests that his son, Benjamin, take a turn on the long blue slide. The sun is shining and the temperature is mild, maybe eighty degrees. But the boy hesitates.

“It’s OK,” his father says. “I’ll be right here.”

The five-year-old flashes a wide smile and sets

BY KEN FINE his toy truck in the grass. He takes off in a sprint, his curly hair bouncing as he runs. Every few strides, he looks over his shoulder to make sure his father is still on the park bench.

“He’s been really clingy for the last few days,” Amador-Batten says. “He wants to be near me.”

It’s been that way since May 19, when father

and son were surrounded by police and detained at Raleigh-Durham International Airport moments after they stepped off a United Airlines flight. By night’s end, Amador-Batten stood accused of having his hands “too close to his son’s genitals” while the two were sleeping next to each other on the flight back from Puerto Rico.

PHOTOS BY BEN MCKEOWN INDYweek.com | 5.31.17 | 13

Of course, the flight attendant who leveled the charge didn’t know that AmadorBatten was Benjamin’s adoptive father or that the boy has had two daddies since he came into the world in 2011. He had no way of knowing that Amador-Batten and his husband, Joel, were the first gay couple to legally adopt a child in Broward County, Florida, or that they’re licensed foster parents, the founders of a gay fathers advocacy group, or that they always travel with proof that their family is legal.

And he certainly wasn’t aware that Benjamin and his fathers have been fighters since seconds after the boy was born, or that when the RDU police finally allowed Amador-Batten and Benjamin to reunite with Joel at the terminal gate, they would begin perhaps their most significant battle to date.

“It’s situations like this and accusations like this that continue to make people feel like gay people are monsters. There is still a population of people that believes that we’re pedophiles,” Amador-Batten says.

“People aren’t going to look at me first as a father. They are going to see me as gay, so being a father doesn’t mean I’m not a predator. That man perpetuated that stereotype.

So I’m not going to let this go.”

I

n South Florida’s foster system, the Amador-Battens were known as the “baby whisperers.”

“We had lots of babies in our house. They would call us baby whisperers, because here are these two guys who were always good with babies. But they would always end up going to a different home,” AmadorBatten says.

They found fostering rewarding, but after getting married in Boston in 2009, they longed to have a child of their own. Through a friend, they met a woman who was pregnant with a child she didn’t want to keep.

“A week later, she sent me a text message,” Amador-Batten says. “It was his sonogram picture. She said, ‘Here’s your son.’”

They were guardedly optimistic. Adoption, as Amador-Batten puts it, can be “murky water.” The mother could change her mind. Something could happen to the baby. Even when the boy’s mother went into labor a month ahead of schedule, their pending fatherhood didn’t seem real. By law, she had until seventy-two hours after he took his first breath to cancel the adoption.

But on October 27, 2011, Joel broke down inside the hospital when the nurse asked what name they’d chosen for their son. A few weeks later, Benjamin, too young to understand that his parents were setting a precedent, made history when he became the first child in Broward County to be suc14 | 5.31.17 | INDYweek.com

cessfully adopted by a married gay couple.

“Our attorney at the time said, ‘Listen, you guys have the opportunity to maybe open the door to other families,’” Amador-Batten says.

Two years later, the family moved to North Carolina to be closer to Joel’s family. Durham was inclusive, but the adoption, which had been legal in Florida, was not yet recognized in their new home state. (North Carolina did not legalize second-parent adoption by same-sex couples until after the marriage ban was lifted in October 2014.)

“We had our wills and the documents for our estates and for Benjamin that protected our family in that way, but we had to fill out different tax returns and stuff like that,” Amador-Batten says. “I tell people that we’re like a Trojan horse. We kind of sneak in and fight from within.”

Leaning on their experience as foster and adoptive parents, they founded DADsquared, a “global community by and for gay fathers” that advocates for those gay men who want to start families by referring and connecting them to lawyers and surrogates.

“We founded it in 2011, just after Ben was born, because we felt very alone and knew very few other gay dads. We knew if we felt that way, that there must have been so many others,” Amador-Batten says. “So it started as a Facebook group and then the website was born. We say that we’re changing the world one family at a time.”

T

he days leading up to that flight to RDU were emotionally draining. Amador-Batten had traveled with Ben to Puerto Rico to visit and ultimately bury his ailing father, whom he describes as “a lousy dad but an amazing grandfather.”

“I think I’ve spent the majority of my life trying to be a better dad than my dad was, but Ben met [him] when he was two, and my dad was an amazing grandfather. And for the past five years, he’s been very present,” Amador-Batten says. “So if anything, I felt like I had to go back to Puerto Rico so Ben could say goodbye.”

While his relationship with his father was complicated, experiencing his death was difficult. So by the time he and Ben boarded a connecting flight from Newark to Raleigh, the two were “pretty exhausted.”

“Ben was really tired. He just got on that plane and got his blue blanket out—like he always does when we travel—and he just got himself comfortable next to me and fell asleep,” Amador-Batten says. “And I was in and out of napping.”

A male flight attendant walked by them and “looked at us a little funny,” AmadorBatten says, but he tried not to read too much into it. “And when I say funny, most

“It’s accusations like this that continue to make people feel like gay people are monsters.” people who are minorities, especially gay people, we sense when we’re being looked at not nicely. It’s just a sense that you grew up with.”

A few minutes later, the same flight attendant stopped in the aisle and asked, “Excuse me. Are you traveling with the family that’s seated in front of you?”

“I looked up and said, ‘No. It’s just he and I.’ But still, I didn’t attach anything to it,” Amador-Batten says.

The plane landed, and the captain came out of the cockpit and looked at the father and son. When the captain got back to the front of the plane, he got on the speaker and told the passengers there was a “situation going on at the gate” and he couldn’t allow anyone to disembark.

“When Ben and I finally got to the exit of the plane, the crew didn’t look at me, but when I turned to my right, I noticed there were a lot of police there. Then, as we started to walk up the ramp, the police all came up behind us,” Amador-Batten recalls. “Ben said, ‘Daddy, there are a lot of policemen.’

But I’m so stupid that I still didn’t realize that we were the situation.”

Moments later, as they got to the terminal, reality set it.

“One of the officers said, ‘I’m sorry to say this, but there was an allegation from the flight that one of the flight attendants saw your hand too close to your son’s genitals,’” Amador-Batten says. “Then it all started clicking. OK. It was that dude who kept looking at us. At first, I didn’t say anything.

I was just stunned. I’m pretty sure I kept repeating, ‘What?’ Then they asked me, ‘Are you his guardian? Who are you to this child?’ I said, ‘I’m his dad.’”

Fortunately, he was able to prove it.

“Being a gay family, we travel with our marriage certificate, passports, Ben’s adoption certificate,” he says. “You’ve really got to make sure you’re covered in this world, you know?

And I thought about it afterwards, like, What if I didn’t have any ID for Ben? What if I had nothing that proved he was my son? What would have happened then? Would they have taken him? I asked them to repeat the allegation, and they said, ‘Your hand was too close to his genitals.’ That’s a sentence that I’m probably never going to forget.”

Benjamin hasn’t forgotten either. Since the incident, he hasn’t slept in his own bed.

He’s asked his father if the police were mad because he “was too close to you.”

“I said, ‘No. No. You can never be too close to me,’” Amador-Batten says. “‘I want you to be close to me.’”

Neither United nor RDU has responded to the INDY’s request for comment. United, however, provided CNN with this statement on the incident: “Our customers should always be treated with the utmost respect and we have followed up with our customer to apologize for the misunderstanding.”

The Amador-Battens’ ordeal is not the only public relations nightmare United has faced in recent months. In April, Dr. David Dao was injured and sued the airline after he was violently dragged off a plane after refusing to give up his seat. His case has since been settled for an undisclosed sum. That incident was caught on a video that went viral, causing United’s stock to plummet.

Amador-Batten has hired Florida-based attorney Ken Padowitz to “open up a dialogue” with the airline about the way their employees treat gay men. A lawsuit is possible, he says, but money isn’t the goal.

“At first, I just wanted it to go away, and then I wanted to feel whole again,” he says.

“But now, I really believe that this is sparking a great conversation about how society still views gay men as predators and men in general as inferior parents. I have no doubt in my mind that if I had been a female traveling with my child, that never would have happened.” kfine@indyweek.com

indyfood Betting the Farm

TRUMP’S NEW USDA PICK IS MAKING IT HARDER FOR N.C. FARMERS TO SURVIVE

BY AMANDA ABRAMS

Lil Farm in Timberlake received a USDA Value-Added Producer federal grant, now at risk.

Y

ou probably missed it, but one of President Trump’s remaining cabinet members was finally confirmed last month. As of April 24, Sonny Perdue, a businessman and former twoterm governor of Georgia, is the country’s new secretary of agriculture.

Though he’s anything but a household name, Perdue—and the decisions he’ll make over the next four years—will be deeply significant for North Carolina.

Only one month in, he’s taken steps that may seriously impact the state’s small and mid-size farms and rural communities.

Perdue sailed through his confirmation hearings, with no mention of the ethics probes and fines he incurred during his time as governor. Critics have referred to

him as a “mini Trump,” and indeed, some of Perdue’s first actions lived up to the billing. He issued a statement about the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s commitment to religious freedom and loosened some Obama-era school lunch nutrition rules.

But during his confirmation hearing, he pledged support for local food systems and programs for smaller farms, telling Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, D-New York, “These programs will receive my full attention, as they are the future of agriculture in America.”

Unfortunately, some of his recent actions have called that support into question. Earlier this month, Perdue outlined the first USDA reorganization since 1994. He proposed combining USDA divi-

FILE PHOTO BY JEREMY M. LANGE

sions in charge of farm subsidies and land stewardship, areas in which the department interacts directly with farmers.

So far, so good. But the reorganization— which doesn’t appear to need congressional approval—also includes eliminating the undersecretary for rural development.

That’s a mission area that covers grants and loans for rural housing, utilities, and businesses, and includes funding for things like hospitals, libraries, broadband Internet, food pantries, and community gardens; it has often provided a lifeline to rural areas. And that, say small farm advocates, is very worrying.

“The concern is that all of those programs, many of which have to do with regional food systems, will become less

N.C. SENATE BUDGET PROPOSAL ELIMINATES FUNDING FOR MINORITY FARMERS If North Carolina’s farmers have it hard, imagine how tough times must be for the state’s minority farmers.

Black farmers around the country— including many in North Carolina— were systematically discriminated against by the USDA for decades, as outlined in a giant class-action suit that was finally resolved in the last decade. The discrimination resulted in a steep decline in their numbers; in 1978–2007, North Carolina lost 74 percent of its black farmers.

Those figures have finally started to stabilize—in large part because of programs like the state Department of Agriculture’s Small and Minority Farm program, which meets individually with farmers and connects them with resources and technical assistance.

But the state Senate apparently thinks there’s no need for any more help. The Senate’s budget that came out on May 9 eliminates the Small and Minority Farm program, which serves African-American farmers along with small farmers of all types. The funding is only $237,000, but apparently that’s still too much for a sector that contributes nearly $800 million to the state’s economy.

“I think farmers across the state would feel a loss without the division,” says Savi Horne, executive director of Durham’s Land Loss Prevention Project, which works closely with the program. “[The office] is very dedicated, and really does work to serve limited-resource farmers across the state.”

The state’s final budget will be hammered out over the next month.

Meanwhile, the program is continuing to plan its annual conference, to be held at N.C. Central on June 20-23, which will highlight black farmers and foresters around the Triangle.

—Amanda Abrams INDYweek.com | 5.31.17 | 15

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“The concern is that all of these programs, many of which have to do with regional food systems, will become less important.” important,” says Rochelle Sparko, policy director for Carolina Farm Stewardship Association, based in Pittsboro.

The USDA says that the reorganization will “elevate rural development agencies to report directly to the secretary of agriculture,” but rural advocates say that’s just spin; the undersecretary for rural development already reports directly to the secretary. After the reorganization, says Sparko, “those programs will no longer have someone in the subcabinet advocating for them.

It’s my experience that programs that don’t have someone advocating for them tend to go away.”

That’s particularly troubling in light of the first budget Trump presented in March, which reduces USDA funding by 21 percent and essentially guts the rural development area, massively cutting discretionary funding for business and infrastructure programs. His 2018 budget, released last week, cuts the USDA’s discretionary funding by 20 percent. That budget will invariably be amended by Congress, but it serves to illuminate the administration’s priorities.

While changes to rural development could seriously affect rural communities across the board, farmers would be particularly hard hit. For example, one valuable program within rural development is

the Value-Added Producer Grant, given to small and mid-size farms aiming to process their own products—to pickle and sell their vegetables, for example, or slaughter and direct-market their pasture-raised animals.

It’s a very important source of funding, says Sparko. “It allows [farmers] to diversify and hold onto money from processing.

It can make a huge difference in their bottom line.”

North Carolina farms received $1.4 million from the grant in 2016.

It certainly made a difference for Saxapahaw’s Laura and Ches Stewart, who run Haw River Mushrooms. They received a $50,000 grant this past October and are using it to rebrand their product, build a website, and develop new packaging.

“I’d say it’s game-changing,” says Laura Stewart. “I was able to leave my full-time job, and it’s helping us to professionalize the farm and take it to the next level; now we’re expanding production to meet market demand.”

In the form of new jobs and more money, that expansion eventually trickles down to the community. In the case of Greene County’s Simply Natural Creamery, the benefit to the community was more direct.

The creamery received a grant in 2014 that allowed it to begin bottling and distributing its milk; when Hurricane Matthew hit last year, the company worked day and night to provide the area with milk.

“We were about the only milk company that was able to deliver for a few days,” remembers Michael Fulcher, the company’s marketing director.

For those farms, says Scott Marlow, executive director of Pittsboro’s Rural Advancement Foundation International, the answer is to diversify into local markets. “Farms that sell to the direct market have a significantly higher survivability rate than farms that do not.” Plus, he adds, investing in farm entrepreneurship has a strong track record of creating jobs in rural communities.

The bottom line: “A time of low commodity prices is not a time to stop investing in rural communities,” says Marlow.

But rural communities obviously aren’t the Trump administration’s first priority. Remember, this is a government that agreed to provide eastern North Carolina with just 1 percent of the funding Governor Cooper requested for Hurricane Matthew recovery efforts.

It’s a strange way to thank rural North Carolina for overwhelmingly supporting Trump. food@indyweek.com

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food

THE POTLIKKER PAPERS: A FOOD HISTORY OF THE MODERN SOUTH Wednesday, May 31, 7:30 p.m., free Fullsteam Brewery, Durham www.fullsteam.ag

“The South will be as Mexican as West African, as Korean as Irish, and lose none of its essential identity in the process.”

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Horchata and Sweet Tea SOUTHERN FOODWAYS ALLIANCE DIRECTOR JOHN T. EDGE’S FAVORITE TRIANGLE RESTAURANTS ARE REDEFINING THE SOUTH

BY MONIQUE LABORDE John T. Edge

S

PHOTO BY JASON THRASHER

Marlow, outhern cooking has long been o’s Rural defined by fried chicken joints, barnational, becue pits, cast-iron skillets, and ocal martin pie pans. But in The Potlikker Papers, ct market vivabilityJames Beard Award winner and South, he adds,ern Foodways Alliance director John T. rship hasEdge recounts a different history and evog jobs inlution, one that encompasses cornbread and tamales. ow com- After growing up in rural Georgia, Edge op invest-began searching for something tangible Marlow. and recognizable about his culture. He sly aren’twatched the boundaries of Southern food st prior-grow far beyond black and white. In his ment thatnew book, Edge looks at Southern food Carolinathrough the lens of its resilience and flexng Gover-ibility. What makes a food Southern, he ane Mat-argues, is that it is born under conditions of hardship and out of the spirit of change ral Northand ingenuity. In The Potlikker Papers, upportingEdge characterizes the South as “a place that will be as Mexican as West African, as week.comKorean as Irish, and lose none of its essen-

tial identity in the process.”

Edge visits the Triangle this week to promote his new book. When he’s in town, he sits down to eat with an appetite that’s both hearty and critical, seeking out a chef ’s unique interpretation of place. If the chef succeeds, a warmth pervades the space that harkens to a family table. When Edge takes a seat at the restaurant of a first-generation Southerner, as he often finds himself doing, he feels especially grateful for receiving this welcome.

We asked him where he likes to explore the essence of new Southern cuisine in our backyard.

FIESTA GRILL, CHAPEL HILL As he watched his son Jess sip a big glass of horchata at Fiesta Grill in Chapel Hill, Edge thought of the sweet tea he drank as a boy in rural Georgia. To his son, horchata is as Southern as sweet tea. Edge believes that all Southerners deserve a place to eat that reminds

them of the first place they called home.

CROOK’S CORNER, CHAPEL HILL When Edge visits famed Crook’s Corner in Chapel Hill, he knows the food is coming from head chef Bill Smith and his Mexican cooks. Influenced by Smith’s eastern North Carolina upbringing and the back-of-thehouse’s Mexican roots, the restaurant menu serves classics alongside country ham baked in Mexican Coca-Cola, and spicy shrimp salsa served on soda crackers.

JOSE AND SONS, RALEIGH Too often, white Southern chefs get the credit for interpreting and expanding the boundaries of Southern cuisine. But, as Edge points out, many first-generation and immigrant chefs in the U.S. South meld food traditions on their own terms.

He loves Raleigh’s Jose and Sons for its Mexican-American chefs who are defining Mexican fusion. Serving brisket bar-

bacoa braised in local Crank Arm beer, Jose and Sons gives us a taste of the future of Southern cooking.

GARLAND, RALEIGH Edge raves about the cooking of Cheetie Kumar, who leverages the food traditions of her native India with her creative spirit as a rock musician and a slew of global influences. If Garland is a harbinger of what’s on the horizon for Southern culture, then the future will be both subversive and playful. Guests can enjoy a roti quesadilla and a pork loin bahn-mi at this nook beneath a music club, Kings, where no borders and boundaries seem to exist.

BREWERY BHAVANA, RALEIGH A new addition to the downtown scene by the brother-sister team behind Bida Manda, Brewery Bhavana represents multiple types of creative thinking. Serving plates like pai gu spareribs with boiled peanuts and Chinese black bean sauce, Bhavana is influenced by both the Mekong River Delta and the Carolina coast. More than just a culinary fusion, the space is also smart and forward-thinking about retail.

With their flower shop and bookstore integrated into a dim sum counter and brewery, the Nolintha siblings and their team remind Raleigh that immigrants represent our nation’s greatest innovative thinking and genius. food@indyweek.com INDYweek.com | 5.31.17 | 17

indymusic

A Flock of One

A NEW LEASE IN DURHAM MEANT A NEW LEASE ON LIFE FOR FLOCK OF DIMES' JENN WASNER

BY ALLISON HUSSEY

S

ince relocating to Durham from her lifelong home of Baltimore two years ago, Jenn Wasner has been getting used to her change of scenery. She’s been adapting to new people, new places, new noises, new sights. Sometimes, these discoveries have come unexpectedly, as on one occasion when she stepped outside for an errand and was startled by a visitor.

“Something big and hard and large fell out of the sky, right in front of me,” she says.

“I looked down, and it was a fucking snake!”

The rogue wildlife encounter was a jarring reminder of Wasner’s change of environment: a serpent falling at her feet from on high wasn’t the kind of thing she’d encountered in her hometown (though it isn’t exactly common here, either). But in the short time she’s lived in Durham, Wasner has experienced a necessary, refreshing shock to her creative practice.

Wasner has spent the last decade or so as one half of Wye Oak, issuing moody rock albums on Merge Records. More recently, she’s struck out on a sunnier, more electropop-inclined endeavor with her solo project, Flock of Dimes. She lives in a small, heavily wooded neighborhood that’s roughly equidistant from the centers of Durham and Chapel Hill, though it’s technically within Durham city limits. Amelia Meath and Nick Sanborn of Sylvan Esso once lived on the same narrow gravel road, and after a tour with Wasner in the spring of 2015, they mentioned to her that the house next door was available to rent. It was a lightbulb moment for Wasner.

“At that point, I realized that I could afford to live alone in a house in the woods here and still be around friends, but have a place like that all to myself. That was something that I really never allowed myself before,” she says.

“I kind of impulsively jumped on it.”

Living alone in a new city was a big leap for Wasner, who says that for most of her life she expected to stay in Baltimore forev18 | 5.31.17 | INDYweek.com

er. Though she’d long wanted to live alone, the financial and logistical constraints of living in a major metropolitan area made that impossible. She was used to the consistent low din of life in a bigger city, and was, at first, spooked by the unsettling peace and quiet of suburban life.

But that original impulse has been paying off in more ways than Wasner can count.

For one, she no longer feels limited by the expectations of people who’ve known her forever. Though it’s comforting to have a long-running history with people, she says, that same long history can make life much more complicated.

“When you’re in a place for your entire life, so much of your identity revolves around being known by the people in your immediate vicinity, people you interact with every day. You’re a known quantity by pretty much everyone,” she says. Being the new person in town, she says, has freed her from the burdensome interpersonal elements that limit her creativity.

“It allows me to think about who I want to be today, and not necessarily who I always have been,” she says.

Wasner’s personal growth has done wonders for her creative side, too. She says that at the height of her busiest touring schedules and living in warehouses in Baltimore, she lived a hypersocial life that resulted her in forgetting how to carve out the space she needed for her art. She fell into patterns of too much social input and not enough personal output, resulting in a backlog of unexpressed ideas. Those patterns were often compounded by guilt—Wasner felt as though she were selling herself short, not being productive enough, and not doing her best work.

Living in a big city with multiple roommates also meant that Wasner had to work around several other schedules in order to get the unrestricted time she needed to work on songs. But now she’s got the time

FLOCK OF DIMES

Wednesday, June 7, 7 p.m. $5–$10, 12 and under free Sarah P. Duke Gardens, Durham www.dukeperformances.duke.edu

PHOTO BY ALEX BOERNER

and space—a spare bedroom that she’s converted into a compact personal studio—to do whatever she wants. She can get up in the middle of the night and record drum parts, or work out a vocal melody as she cooks dinner for herself.

“Knowing that there’s no one around to observe what you’re doing opens your brain up to possibility in a way that, if there’s any sort of inhibition whatsoever, most of these things will just be lost to you,” she says.

These days, it’s more important than ever for Wasner to hang on to those moments, as she’s at the forefront of two more-orless full-time projects. A year ago, she and her Wye Oak bandmate, Andy Stack, issued Tween, an eight-song collection of material that didn’t make it onto the band’s 2011 album Civilian or 2014’s Shriek; they’re currently at work on yet another fulllength record. And last September, Wasner released her first LP as Flock of Dimes, If You See Me, Say Yes, a resplendent clutch of songs that are open-hearted and easygoing.

In addition to her immediate recording projects, Wasner continues to hone her long-term artistic vision. She’s been working on giving herself even more room to grow, and in that process, learning how to be kinder to herself.

“I’m quintessentially too hard on myself.

It’s something I’m learning and trying to work on,” she says.

To combat her harsh inner critic, Wasner has begun approaching her work with a focus on creating something just for the joy of making it. She recognizes the value of self-editing and clarity, tools that she uses in her efforts to further sharpen her songs; she wants the rest of the world to see her as she sees herself. To that end, rather than getting frustrated when someone misinterprets her work, Wasner has adopted a music-making mantra: “It’s not their job to understand you, it is your job to make yourself understood.” And whether she’s in North Carolina for the long haul or not, it seems as though the lessons Wasner has learned—and will continue to learn—are going to stick.

“I’ve learned to rely more on myself for my sense of happiness and well-being. I wouldn’t trade that for anything,” she says.

“I feel like that’s something I’ll probably take with me wherever I end up, from here on out.” ahussey@indyweek.com INDYweek.com | 5.31.17 | 19

music

CAR SEAT HEADREST

Monday, June 5, 8 p.m., $17–$20 Cat’s Cradle, Carrboro www.catscradle.com

Easy Rider

includes a verse about William Onyeabor, and make the whole song package work.

Is Car Seat Headrest interesting in 2017 though? The answer is, well, kind of.

Depending on which rare or unreleased material you count as canon, the Car Seat Headrest discography spans some thirteen records, and with each release Toledo has presented a new iteration of himself.

Perhaps his shining achievement is 2016’s Teens of Denial, a ripper of a record that speaks both to insular “deep reading” lo-fi aficionados and conventional rock fans who ignored his previous dozen records.

It shines brightest lyrically, a few songs at a time. But the record is seventy minutes long, and several of its songs stretch past seven minutes, so it’s easy to lose focus in minute eight of an eleven-minute song.

The record burrows into Toledo’s established set of songwriting topics: mental illness, social anxiety, alcoholism, God, narcissism, lowbrow pop culture. Toledo spins intricate tales of self-absorption: in chemi-

CAR SEAT HEADREST HAS BUZZED TOWARD MODERATE MILLENNIAL ACCLAIM, BUT IS IT INTERESTING?

BY DAVID FORD SMITH

“Toledo is smart enough to know when his jokes have worn thin.”

“ Car Seat Headrest's Will Toledo PHOTO BY ANNA WEBBER Diss tracks aren’t quite as storied in indie rock as in hip-hop (remember Pavement’s R.E.M analysis on “Shady Lane” B-side “Unseen Power of the Picket Fence?” No?) but they crop up here and there. Car Seat Headrest’s Will Toledo knows a thing or two about them. The story goes that, at age seventeen, the nascent songwriter tried to shop his music project Nervous Young Men to Durham’s Merge Records.

When Merge didn’t bite, he responded with an acidic piss-take demo called “Fuck Merge Records,” featuring a cho20 | 5.31.17 | INDYweek.com

rus that droned, “No unsolicited demos, no unsolicited demos.” The fragment eventually morphed into “Times to Die,” which made it onto Toledo’s 2015 LP, Teens of Style, released on Matador Records.

Though juvenile, the amusing demo’s mixture of unfiltered catharsis and sarcastic wit hints at why Toledo’s music is so revered by indie types in 2017. In a rock landscape that is increasingly self-aware and painstakingly slavish to throwback signifiers, critics have touted Toledo as the heir to Matador’s nineties sound. With

Car Seat Headrest, he disassembles and re-collages the scrappy rock aesthetic and obtuse, literate storytelling that made Yo La Tengo and Guided By Voices household names. And to his credit, unlike so many other 2010s bands that make similar guitar-driven efforts, Toledo demonstrates a songwriting proficiency that is genuine, and he occasionally avoids treating the classic Matador catalog as holy scripture.

Few others could write a millennial satire number like “Not What I Needed,” a song about insidious marketing algorithms that

cals, biblical language, and internet porn, usually spiked with a healthy dose of sardonic humor and upbeat rock instrumentation. With a laconic Jonathan Richman affect on “Cosmic Hero,” he sings, “I will go to heaven/You won’t go to heaven/I will go to heaven/I won’t see you there!” Elsewhere, on “The Battle of the Costa Concordia,” he borrows and recasts a whole verse from Dido’s “White Flag,” singing, “I’m not going down with this shit, I give up!”

Of course, heavily referential postmodern indie is nothing new. In that regard, Toledo is smart enough to know when his jokes have worn thin. His songs get indulgent, but you never get the sense that he’s irritatingly self-aware or thinks he’s the funniest person in the world. Being a rung above Father John Misty in 2017 isn’t much, but it’s something. music@indyweek.com

indyart+music O

n the day of the Women’s March in Washington, D.C., Holly McKinney stood in a sea of pink pussy hats on a train platform and spotted a man and his teenage son sporting red “Make America Great Again” caps. McKinney thought she knew how the Trump supporters felt. When she had arrived in D.C. during the presidential inauguration the day before, she and a friend had been the only pink-hatted passengers on a train full of red caps. Buoyed by the goodwill and inspirational speeches of the Women’s March, she decided to reach out.

“I just said, ‘Hey, how are you guys doing?’” she says. “That was the extent of it, but just the look of relief in their faces to have someone acknowledge them and say hello was crazy.”

McKinney returned home to Carrboro riding a wave of excitement, both from the march and from her small act of reconciliation on the Metro platform. She wrote to legislators, signed petitions, and kept up with the news about increasingly divisive executive orders and policies. Those actions felt important, but they did not feel personal.

“I started thinking, What do I have to offer that other people might not?” she says.

It turns out the answer lived in her own home. McKinney is married to comic book author Brockton McKinney, the creative director of NC Comicon, which is held at the Durham Convention Center. “I said, ‘I have an idea: Resistance Con. Are you on board?’ He said yes, and that was it.”

Then a small team, which also includes panel director Amy Fader and director of volunteers Christy Dixon, put together an impressive lineup for the event’s June 3 debut at the convention center. Panels on intersectionality, violence against transgender people, and protesters’ rights; musical and spoken-word performances; workshops on “craftivism” and zine-making; and the presence of local and national nonprofits will combine to help attendees “celebrate diversity and learn how to effectively challenge the current climate of exclusivity.” A June 2 pre-party at Motorco (featuring music from Kamara Thomas, Pie Face Girls, Mary Johnson Rockers, and JooseLord Magnus) and a “resistance karaoke” after-party at the Pinhook make this an ambitious, diverse debut.

“I feel like Holly has succeeded even before this event has taken place because it’s so important to connect with activists in our

Mounting Resistance A CHANCE ENCOUNTER WITH TRUMP SUPPORTERS IN D.C. LEADS TO AN AMBITIOUS NEW ART AND ACTIVISM CONVENTION IN DURHAM

BY KENDRA LANGDON JUSKUS

me that they’re much more open-hearted, open-minded, and naturally wise about the shared common ground among major faiths than the media would like us to believe.”

McKinney hopes the convention, which will donate all proceeds to the ACLU, will also consolidate a common calling to resist not just particular policies or politicians but any rhetoric or cultural ethos that polarizes, rather than unites, human beings—the kind of divisions that would make two people in pussy hats nervous in a crowd of red hats, and vice versa.

One embodiment of that form of resistance is VALIDnation, an interactive performance-art piece by nationally noted Durham artist Stacey L. Kirby. Attendees will speak with Kirby about themselves, their lifestyles, and their freedoms, and an ID card will be filled out, marked “valid,” and sent to legislators as a symbol of the validity of all lives.

“I feel like ‘resistance’ is one of those words that anyone can understand,” says writer, educator, and organizer Dasan Ahanu, who will give a spoken-word performance at Resistance Con. “To resist you have to take a stand and you have to be in line with what it is that you believe and what you think should happen. At this point in my life, after years of organizing and activism, I don’t want to convene for the sake of convening. I just want to know that I’m showing up somewhere where people are going to be rooted. I feel like this is going to be this kind of event.” arts@indyweek.com

PRE-CONVENTION SHOW Friday, June 2, 8 p.m., $15 Motorco Music Hall, Durham www.motorcomusic.com

Holly McKinney PHOTO BY MAY MCKINNEY own community, to learn from one another, and to build relationships, alliances, and friendships,” says Krista Bremer, author and associate publisher of The Sun magazine, where McKinney works as office manager.

Bremer, a convert to Islam who wrote a memoir about her marriage to a Libyanborn Muslim, will be in conversation with writer Melody Moezzi and activist/chef

RESISTANCE CON Vimala Rajendran on the panel “Maintaining Strength and Pride Amidst the Rise of Anti-Immigrant and Anti-Islam Sentiment.”

Bremer hopes to share a lesson she learned on her book tour, one that is pertinent to Resistance Con’s goals.

“What I have discovered is that strength comes from connecting to real people,” she says. “My experience with them has taught

Saturday, June 3 10 a.m.–6 p.m., free–$20 Durham Convention Center www.resistancecon.com

RESISTANCE KARAOKE Saturday, June 3, 8 p.m., free The Pinhook, Durham www.thepinhook.com

INDYweek.com | 5.31.17 | 21

indystage

RENAY AUMILLER DANCES: BONEGLOW Friday, June 2–Sunday, June 4 8 p.m. Fri. & Sat./4 p.m. Sun., $10–$15 Living Arts Collective, Durham www.livingartscollective.com

Parabolic Art RENAY AUMILLER DANCES WITH DANGER IN THE FORM OF FOUR LARGE METAL PENDULUMS IN BONEGLOW

BY BYRON WOODS

Rachel Mehaffey and Allie Pfeffer in Renay Aumiller Dances' boneGlow

L

ast fall, the Durham-based choreographer Renay Aumiller found herself contemplating seismic shifts, both culturally and close to home.

Though the prospect of political change has always provoked anxiety in our country, Trump seemed like something different.

Plus, Aumiller was pregnant for the first time—with twins. If the body politic seemed frozen by fears, incapable of accepting whatever change was coming, Aumiller knew she had no corresponding option in her own body. She needed a new relationship with the concept of change itself.

“If I could find positive change in the way I create work, then change wasn’t something that should be feared; the change I wanted to 22 | 5.31.17 | INDYweek.com

PHOTO BY JEN GUY METCALF

see in the world was not impossible,” Aumiller says. As she tried to visualize what that might look like, one image kept reappearing: a pendulum, a device that has monitored planetary shifts for millennia and is now also a figure of speech describing political shifts.

That was the genesis of boneGlow, her company’s new work, which premieres this weekend as part of the Durham Independent Dance Artists season. To create it, Aumiller enlisted Raleigh-based metal artist Mary Catherine Floyd to create four weighted metal pendulums, which are hung from the ceiling of the Living Arts Collective. Aumiller and her performers will push, spin, evade, and partner with them as they trace parabolas across

different zones of the stage.

For the choreographer, this entails a significant loss of control. When pushed, the pendulums will move as they will, regardless of who’s in their way. Company member Allie Pfeffer, who was struck on the back of her head on the first day of rehearsal, says it’s like “dancing with four performers who are unaware of your presence and unconcerned with their own heft and sharpness.” By now, her colleague Nicole Lawson knows that if she pushes a plumb bob too far, she’ll receive that same force coming back; the pendulum can’t recover as a human does if a move goes awry.

“It can only react,” she says.

Aumiller has deliberately ceded control

in other ways as well, giving her performers the authority to edit phrase work and costumes themselves. That, she says, was “hard as hell.” Her prior work, Blood Moon, “was all about control, and it brought out controlling aspects of my personality.” But she approached boneGlow as a collaboration because she wants to “live in a world that’s collaborative, not us against them.”

“I don’t feel comfortable doing a piece this large without an idea that will hopefully change me as a person,” Aumiller says, and thus far, she’s found the experiment fun and freeing. “Usually, I’m an anxious mess by this point in the process.” But on this swing of her creative pendulum, she isn’t. bwoods@indyweek.com

REVIEWS

John Millsaps and Jonathan Rand in Ghost the Musical

PHOTO COURTESY OF NRACT

GHOST THE MUSICAL | HH

Through Sunday, June 11 North Raleigh Arts and Creative Theatre, Raleigh NRACT offers performing arts classes, but its current production is more of a cautionary lesson about staging a musical. Bruce Joel Rubin wrote the screenplay for the 1990 blockbuster film starring Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore, so his soapy script is faithful to its tale of love beyond the grave. But Dave Stewart and Glen Ballard’s workmanlike lyrics belabor generic big-city sentiments and characters’ emotions. Only in “Are You a Believer,” a first-act rave-up sung by psychic charlatan Oda Mae Brown (an entertaining Tina Morris-Anderson), do the words fully match the action.

Lauren Bamford’s incandescent voice and acting in the central role of Molly anchors the production, but other cast members struggled to keep up on Saturday night.

John Millsaps was too reticent as Sam, Molly’s lover, and Jonathan Rand’s voice was noticeably weaker as the villainous Carl. The sound mix buried the lead vocals in “Here Right Now” and “I Had a Life,” and, even with a canned soundtrack, music director Diane Petteway’s anemic chorus couldn’t sell songs like “You Gotta Let Go.” Awkward moments studded director Chasta Hamilton’s staging. Her choreography seemed pedestrian and cramped on Jen Leiner’s too-small stage, and, more than once, actors paused mid-scene, waiting for the prerecorded soundtrack to catch up. Other unwise choices had Molly serenading shirts, Sam’s ghost walking through a supposedly closed door that clearly wasn’t, and actors randomly exiting and re-entering the stage during the first-act finale. One strong lead aside, an uneven score, cast, and staging made this Ghost an oddly dispiriting experience. —Byron Woods

DOWNRANGE: VOICES FROM THE HOMEFRONT | H½ Friday, May 26 & Saturday, May 27 Raleigh Little Theatre, Raleigh

On Friday night, the cast of Downrange looked crestfallen and director Deb Royals said she was “flabbergasted” as a theatrical fiasco unfolded, following the region’s first staged reading of Mike Wiley’s drama based on the untold stories of military families at Fort Bragg. Afterward, Raleigh Little Theatre artistic director Patrick Torres apologized to the actors, the director, and the audience—the company had unwittingly performed an early draft instead of the final version. It then fell to Wiley to delineate the systemic changes he’d made since the 2015 draft, which predated a Process Series workshop in Chapel Hill and a Cape Fear Regional Theatre premiere. He provided a candid, knowledgeable critique of a text he had not intended to place before the public.

Despite structural and editing problems, the draft effectively evoked the commitment that binds military families as well as the stress of a spouse’s deployment. Standout performances by Juanda Holley and Joseph Callender, both of whom have served in the military, provided bedrock authenticity to the lives of a seasoned army wife and a husband raising a daughter while his wife is stationed overseas. Elsewhere, though, under-rehearsed actors of mixed abilities made more eye contact with their scripts than with us, occasionally lost their places mid-monologue, and mumbled through scenes that dragged. RLT will produce a staged reading of the correct version in early July.

Here’s hoping its cast is better prepared to take it on when it does. —Byron Woods

INDYweek.com | 5.31.17 | 23

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Retro Rampage

FROM X-MEN TO DEADPOOL, COMICS WRITER CHRIS SIMS IS TAKING IT BACK TO ’92

BY BRIAN HOWE Chris Sims

S

PHOTO BY AIDAN SULLIVAN

uperhero comics hit puberty in 1992, violently sprouting massive muscles, bosoms, and guns, with ’tude to match. The characters and the industry alike seemed volatile and overstated. DC Comics’ “Death of Superman” stunt sparked a mainstream media frenzy. Even as the X-Men were everywhere, Marvel Comics grappled with the defection of its money-printing

young stars—including X-Force creator Rob Liefeld—to Image Comics, which permanently shook up the work-for-hire market with a creator-owned revolution.

Many of today’s leading creators also came of age around the early nineties, like Chris Sims, who moved from Sumter, South Carolina, to Research Triangle Park last year. After years of self-publishing his comics with writing partner Chad Bowers

and working as a columnist for Comics Alliance, Sims hit the mainstream in 2015 with X-Men ’92, an exuberant throwback that drew as much on Fox’s popular nineties animated series as Marvel’s comics.

After hitting such a sweet spot in the nostalgia cycle, the only conceivably more “nineties” thing to do would be to write a Deadpool (born in ’92) graphic novel with the antihero’s polarizing creator, Rob Liefeld, whose art is widely thought to simultaneously represent the best and worst traits of nineties aesthetics. So, of course, Sims and Bowers did that; Deadpool: Bad Blood came out in May. (Their next project is Ash Vs. the Army of Darkness, another class of ’92 ringer.)

But don’t let it be said that Sims is stuck in ’92. He and Bowers are also currently penning Swordquest for Dynamite Entertainment, based on a series of Atari video games from the eighties and, more important, on the unfinished real-world contest associated with them, in which you could win real versions of the games’ mythical treasures, worth tens of thousands of dollars.

All these stories are steeped not only in nostalgia but also in layers of fascinating cultural sediment, and we recently sat down with Sims at Scratch to sift through them. This condensed transcript hits the big beats about the allure of nineties X-Men, the redemption of Rob Liefeld, and the fate of the Sword of Ultimate Sorcery.

But if you dig this kind of stuff, you have to check out the epic, detail-laden, for-geeksonly director’s cut on the INDY arts blog.

“I’m the guy who had a really public coming around on Rob Liefeld.”

INDY: How did X-Men ’92 come about?

CHRIS SIMS: I had been on good terms with an editor at Marvel named Jordan White; we actually do a Sailor Moon podcast together now. [laughs] At San Diego Comic Con in 2014, he was like, Hey, we’re doing this event coming up called Secret Wars and I can’t tell you what it’s about, but we really want you to do something related to nineties X-Men stuff. At the time, I was writing an episode guide for the nineties animated series—though this comic couldn’t exactly be the nineties animated series, because Fox owned the rights.

We had a hard time, like, OK, it’s not season six of the animated series, so what can it be? Ninety-two was the first year after seventeen years of Chris Claremont [writing the X-Men comic books], the year the animated series began, the year of the arcade game, the year X-Men had the Pizza Hut tie-in.

We did our best to re-create the feel of those books. We found out that there’s a

lot of people for whom that is the X-Men, and me and Chad were those guys, too. I was ten in 1992, and one of the big, guiding things for me is that when I was a kid, I couldn’t get every issue of X-Men. I had to piece together what I knew from issues on the rack, a couple of back issues, and trading cards. I always had this feeling—and this is one of the things that made X-Men both super appealing and terrifying—that I would never read enough comics to know what was going on.

So, when we did X-Men ’92, in my head there was also an X-Force ’92 and X-Factor ’92, but you never see those books, so things go really fast. I didn’t want to lose anyone, but I did want them to have that overwhelming feeling. I’ve seen some reviews that say it goes a little too fast, but that was by design. I wanted to have less of the specific bits and pieces of the era and

more of the feeling, and for me, that was it: Wait, what’s happening, who’s this?

It got your foot in the door at Marvel, which brings us to another very nineties topic: Deadpool and Rob Liefeld.

I’m the guy who had a really public coming around on Rob Liefeld. I loved him when I was a kid. There was an episode on the Sci Fi channel show The Anti-Gravity Room in 1996 where Kevin Smith was the guest and reviewed Rob Liefeld’s Captain America.

He didn’t like it. I wrote a paper in school rebutting that review.

Then, in my twenties, as a snarky comics blogger, I made the jokes; I was kind of a Liefeld hater. But, and you can probably still find it at Comics Alliance, I had this public awakening, like, You know what, Rob’s good, actually!

I read interviews with Rob and that’s what cracked the code for me. He was talking about how he had editors telling him he didn’t deserve to be selling as many comics as he was. I don’t know how you tell someone that when it’s happening specifically because of him.

He brought stuff to the table with an energy and style that, even if it’s not your taste, you kind of have to give him that— that he did it. Rob was a millionaire when he was twenty-one. If I had half that money at twenty-one you couldn’t tell me anything; I’d be the worst! [laughs] Tell us about Swordquest. Unless they’ve read the novel Ready Player One, a lot of people probably don’t remember the crazy story about the contest.

This is a real-world story, something that actually happened.

There was so much money in video games in the early eighties and Atari was dominating the home console market. The idea was to do four games with a different comic packed in with each game. You would go through these games, and, as you solved a puzzle, you’d get two numbers, like thirteen and seven. So you’d go to page thirteen, panel seven, in the comic, and there’d be a hidden word.

You’d put all the hidden words together to make a phrase, and if you sent in the right phrase you got entered in this contest to win what were about $200,000 in prizes. And the thing was, it’s the same stuff you were looking for in the game. In Swordquest: Earthworld, you were looking for the Talisman of Ultimate Truth, and if you won the contest you would actually get it: a gold, jewel-encrusted talisman worth $14,000 in 1982 money.

The big prize for all four games was the Sword of Ultimate Sorcery, this $50,000 silver, jeweled sword. But in 1983, the video

game market crashes, which in Japan is called “the Atari shock” because it was so associated with Atari. You’ve heard about the E.T. cartridges buried in the desert; that was all part of it. They no longer have all this money to spend, and the third game is released as mail-in only. The fourth game never comes out.

Three of those prizes were awarded. One was melted down; I think the guy payed for college with the gold but kept the jewels.

But the sword was never given out.

Where did the sword wind up?

There’s a rumor that it hung in the CEO’s office for twenty years. There’s a rumor it was stolen. There’s a rumor that the Franklin Mint, who produced all the things, still has it in a vault somewhere. It was this weird, prototype ARG [alternate reality game], and I love the idea of you actually questing for the thing you’re looking for. At the end of Super Mario Bros. you don’t meet a princess, and at the end of The Legend of Zelda you don’t get the Master Sword.

So our story [in Swordquest] is about a guy who played the game as a kid and was obsessed with getting that sword. Now it’s thirty-five years later and he still feels this missed opportunity Something happens to him that sets him on this path of a real-life sword quest. I think that’s something people can relate to: When you’re tallying it up at the end of the day, what do you wish you had done and what would you do to fix it?

It’s one of the most weirdly personal things we’ve ever done. We’re basically treating it like a creator-owned property. We run everything by Dynamite and they run it

by Atari, so it’s not like we’re slipping it past them, but they’ve both been very supportive of how we want to tell this personal story that has nothing to do with this game.

Do you have any qualms about getting pegged as the retro guy?

It’s already happening. [laughs] There was a review, and it was a very good review, but it said Chris Sims and Chad Bowers have made names for themselves writing preexisting IP. But you can say that about, like, Mark Waid. Batman’s a preexisting IP. I’m OK with it. Honestly, we love the things we loved when we were kids, but everything we do, even if it has an oldschool feeling, we try to bring a modern sensibility. I think a lot of comics are based on taking those ideas you loved in the past and figuring out what makes them work today, and I think we’ve done that, so I don’t mind being a guy who loves the stuff he loves. bhowe@indyweek.com INDYweek.com | 5.31.17 | 25

5.31–6.7

WHAT TO DO THIS WEEK

Trombone Shorty

ART

PHOTO COURTESY OF 525 WORLDWIDE MUSIC CO.

SUNDAY, JUNE 4

FAMILY RENAISSANCE FAIR

Modern-day renaissance fairs have tended to focus on Elizabethan England or another era in that country’s cultural flowering, but in recent years these affairs have been tweaked to take on thematic elements including Vikings, wizards, elves, and pirates. If those seem fanciful, sixteenthcentury Venice, which will be the setting for festivities on Sunday at NCMA, feels right on target. (Of course, the museum has an angle: to gin up interest in its exhibit Glory of Venice: Renaissance Paintings 1470–1520 before it closes June 18.) Emphasizing family fun, the fair will transform the museum grounds into a Venetian village, replete with acrobats, princesses, comedians, and other costumed characters capering about, amid demonstrations by blacksmiths, mask makers, and other assorted merchants of merriment, with period-appropriate performances throughout the day. Admittedly, the array of food trucks, offering everything from pita pockets to turkey legs, clashes with the set and setting, but if the food were authentic, the popularity of these events would plummet. —David Klein NORTH CAROLINA MUSEUM OF ART, RALEIGH Noon, free, www.ncartmuseum.org 26 | 5.31.17 | INDYweek.com

MUSIC

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 7

PAUL SIMON

It’s been sixty years since a teenage Paul Simon released his first record with a classmate by the name of Art Garfunkel: a two-song single featuring “Hey Schoolgirl” backed with “Dancin’ Wild.” It’s hard to imagine what kind of career the two were imagining for themselves at that point, but in the following decades, Simon & Garfunkel became a permanent thread in the story of the counterculture movement of the sixties. The duo split in 1970, but Simon has continued to enjoy a steady and fruitful career dotted with hit records and honors ranging from a dozen Grammys to Kennedy Center Honors and the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize.

Simon’s now in his mid-seventies, but his inimitable voice, though its youthful smoothness has coarsened, remains strong. —Allison Hussey KOKA BOOTH AMPHITHEATRE, CARY 8 p.m., $50–$150, www.boothamphitheatre.com

STAGE

SATURDAY, JUNE 3–MONDAY, JUNE 5

MONICA BILL BARNES & COMPANY: MUSEUM WORKOUT

Since the American Dance Festival organized its 2010 season around the question “What is dance theater?”, Monica Bill Barnes & Company have ventured compelling answers with sharp dances that poke at the conventions of theatrical entertainment and uncover the comedy of everyday life. That year, the company made its ADF debut with the confetti-strewn Another Parade, where four dancers stared down the audience, hips swiveling to James Brown.

In 2015, the company brought its dance-radio collaboration with Ira Glass, Three Acts, Two Dancers, One Radio Host, to DPAC (also with confetti). This summer, the troupe warms us up for ADF’s mainstage offerings with a suitably vibrant pair of shows. At NCMA, Museum Workout combines a choreographed workout with a museum tour led by Barnes and Anna Bass. But if you prefer your participatory dance with less sweating, the duo is also soon reprising its dancekaraoke hybrid Happy Hour (Tuesday, June 6–Friday, June 9, PSI Theatre, Durham), a gender-bending piece that riffs on after-work bacchanalia. —Michaela Dwyer NORTH CAROLINA MUSEUM OF ART, RALEIGH Various times, $10–$33, www.americandancefestival.org

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STAGE

FRIDAY, JUNE 2–SUNDAY, JUNE 18

AVENUE Q

The timing is perfect—with perhaps just a smidge of schadenfreude. Just as the latest horde of college graduates hits the streets in pursuit of dream careers, even higher education, or simply any viable gig to keep voracious student loans at bay, Raleigh Little Theatre revives the cheery (and only slightly nihilistic) Tony Award-winning musical from 2003 about the present-day quandaries of becoming an adult. The seven puppet characters and three humans in this addled Sesame Street update uncover contemporary truths in songs like “The Internet Is for Porn” and “Everybody’s Just a Little Bit Racist” as twentysomethings trying to reconcile lifelong dreams with starker socioeconomic realities. Jesse Gephart directs. —Byron Woods

Publication Date: July 12 To reserve your space contact your ad rep or advertising@indyweek.com

Psychotherapy, yoga therapy, mindfulness practices 919.666.7984 • Durham nancyhollimantherapy.com

of 2014 rather quietly. “We didn’t have much time or N for personal training, meet with a nutrition mpower Personalized Fitness is now open extra cash to have a big to-do,” saysup owner Helen Pfann, ersonal issues such as anxiety, depression, a new “My Dad brought some wine for a soft opening party, and counselor – or, try itP all.medical diagnosis or dealing with a chronic illness may in Raleigh! Empower is locally-owned and then we were off.” be making you feel like life is one big struggle. Whether These days, there’s a lot more buzz“Whether about Night Kitchen. you are you trying tosorts setof problems a personal operated by Jessica Bottesch and Ronda Williams have these or other concerns that are European classics such as croissant, scones, and french making your life hard or even unbearable, change is always macarons as well as more record at your next sporting event and has been in the Triangle since 2005 withhave received high marks; possible if you are willing to or workwanting and you have the support American items such as brownies or the bread pudding, a you need. I offer that support. muffin-shaped treat with caramelized on top. to sugar look your best for aMyspecial life event a of their flagship location in Durham. “Empower therapeutic foundation is basedlike on a blend The breads at Night Kitchen, however, are the real focus.

Western psychology and Eastern spiritual practices, mindful wedding or reunion attention our expert team will create Personalized Fitness is different from any other “I got started as a bread baker,” explains Pfann, “...and to our inner life, and a full, heartfelt engagement though I enjoy pastry work, making bread is what I love with the world. Using a mix of narrative therapy, an 9-Grain, individualized plan to help you reach any goal, fitness center and Raleigh-ites will benefit from our most.” Night Kitchen sells Sourdough, and French mindfulyou can live more fully and enjoy more emotional bread everyday, and features daily specials. The bakery balance, stronger relationships, and get what you want out and motivate you every step of the way.” says highly personalized approach to fitnesssupplies withbread services to several local restaurants, including of life.

Farina, J Betski’s, and Bad Daddy’s Burger Bar. “I designed As a client, you can expect to become better acquainted Jessica Bottesch. such as personal training, small fitnesstheclasses kitchen so we could do wholesale and have room to with your thinking, behavior, responses, and feelings so that grow. We’ve just started working with the Produce Box, so you can ultimately live more fully and authentically. We’ll half price Personal including indoor cycling and health coaching incanatry our breads.” Empower is now offering folks statewide work together to discover and build on your strengths and The final piece of the pie is the cafe at Night Kitchen. empower you to Week conquer negative patterns so you have greater Training Packages and One of Free Classes boutique setting.” says Ronda Williams.

Exchange and fine teas from Tin Roof Teas, it’s a great emotional and overall psychological freedom. space to meet a friend or have a small gathering at one of to new clients at theirMyRaleigh location.

Call Empower is now at 2501 Blue Ridge Road therapeutic foundation is based on a blend919of Western the larger farm tables. A selection of sandwiches, daily psychology and Eastern spiritual practices, mindful attention soup and quiche specials round out the menu.

973-1243 or visitwww.becomepowerful.com in The Atrium Building at the intersection of to our inner life, and a full, heartfelt engagementfor with The breads at Night Kitchen, however, are the real focus. the world. Using a mix of narrative therapy, mindfulness, “I got Rex started as a bread baker,” explains Pfann, “...and more information.

Connect with on twitter Blue Ridge and Lake Boone Trail near meditation, breathing, andthem physical movement techniques, I though I enjoy pastry work, making bread is what I love help you uncover and develop your strengths, so that you can most.” Night Kitchen sells 9-Grain, and French @becomepowerful and on facebook.com/ Hospital. Unlike a typical gym no membership is Sourdough, live more fully and enjoy more emotional balance, stronger bread everyday, and features daily specials. The bakery relationships, and get what you want out of life.

EMPOWERRaleigh. bread to several local restaurants, including required to take advantage of any ofsupplies Empower’s If you’re struggling with an eating disorder, medical Farina, J Betski’s, and Bad Daddy’s Burger Bar. .These days, diagnosis, ongoing health issues, caregiving issues, aging, multitude of services. At Empower Raleigh you there’s a lot more buzz about Night Kitchen. European disability, medical trauma, relationship concerns, spirituality, classics such as croissant, scones, and french macarons stress management, depression, anxiety, adapting to change can drop in to a focused group fitness sign haveclass, received high marks; as well as more American items and unpredictability, grief, loss, or bereavement and would like

C

hef Amanda Cushman’s private cooking classes are just the thing for the foodie in you. If you love to cook, entertain, or just appreciate the pleasure of great food, private cooking classes are the place to indulge your passions. The classes are designed for both the novice cook and seasoned home chef and will empower you to cook with confidence. Bringing together groups from two to twenty in your home Amanda will provide tips on shopping, planning ahead and entertaining with ease.

Amanda’s healthy recipes have appeared in publications such as Food and Wine, Cooking Light, Fine Cooking and Vegetarian Times. In Los Angeles her highly successful private classes included celebrities such as Neil Patrick Harris, Molly Sims and Randy Newman.

Wanting a slower pace with more focus on local, farm to table access and a stronger sense of community Chef Amanda and her husband recently moved to Durham.

Educated at The Institute of Culinary Education in Manhattan, Cushman is the author of her own cookbook, “Simple, Real Food.”

Amanda’s healthy recipes have appeared in publications such as Food and Wine, Cooking Light, Fine Cooking and Vegetarian Times. In Los Angeles her highly successful private classes included celebrities such as Neil Patrick Harris, Molly Sims and Randy Newman.

Wanting a slower pace with more focus on local, farm to table access and a stronger sense of community Chef Amanda and her husband recently moved to Durham.

Wanting a slower pace with more focus on local, farm to table access and a stronger sense of community Chef Amanda and her husband recently moved to Durham.

In addition to a number of regularly scheduled cooking classes each month at venues such as Southern Season, Durham Wines and Spirits, Duke Diet and Fitness Center and UNC Wellness, Amanda offers private cooking classes in your home throughout the Triangle as well as corporate team building events. ●

ight Kitchen Bakehouse & Cafe opened in November

such as brownies or the bread pudding, a muffin-shaped treat with caramelized sugar on top. ●

help, please give me a call. ●

RALEIGH LITTLE THEATRE, RALEIGH Various times, $15–$28, www.raleighlittletheatre.org

MUSIC

SATURDAY, JUNE 3

TROMBONE SHORTY & ORLEANS AVENUE

As the grandson of legendary New Orleans R&B singer and songwriter Jessie Hill, Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews cut his teeth in the Tremé music scene and appeared onstage at the New Orleans Jazz Festival when he was still smaller than his instrument.

As Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, Andrews and his skilled quintet expertly meld the energy of his early work in the Stooges Brass Band with funk grooves, hip-hop beats, and rock muscle. They cover classics from the likes of Allen Touissant and The Meters, carrying the flag for the Crescent City while serving as a vital link between its past and present. Andrews also mentors and comanages tonight’s opener, New Breed Brass Band, whose members—many of whom claim lineage in some of New Orleans’s most heralded musical families—infuse brass traditions with youthful energy.

—Spencer Griffith THE RITZ, RALEIGH | 8:30 p.m., $18, www.ritzraleigh.com

Avenue Q PHOTO

COURTESY OF CURTIS BROWN PHOTOGRAPHY

SIMPLE REAL FOOD

NIGHT KITCHEN

Private cooking classes in your home for groups from 2 to 20 310.980.0139 • Durham www.amandacooks.com

Hearth-baked Breads – Artisan Pastry – Unique Sandwiches 10 W Franklin St #140, Raleigh • 984.232-8907

C

N

hef Amanda Cushman’s private cooking classes are just the thing for the foodie in you. If you love to cook, entertain, or just appreciate the pleasure of great food, private cooking classes are the place to indulge your passions. The classes are designed for both the novice cook and seasoned home chef and will empower you to cook with confidence. Bringing together groups from two to twenty in your home Amanda will provide tips on shopping, planning ahead and entertaining with ease.

Amanda’s healthy recipes have appeared in publications such as Food and Wine, Cooking Light, Fine Cooking and Vegetarian Times. In Los Angeles her highly successful private classes included celebrities such as Neil Patrick Harris, Molly Sims and Randy Newman.

Wanting a slower pace with more focus on local, farm to table access and a stronger sense of community Chef Amanda and her husband recently moved to Durham.

Educated at The Institute of Culinary Education in Manhattan, Cushman is the author of her own cookbook, “Simple, Real Food.”

Amanda’s healthy recipes have appeared in publications such as Food and Wine, Cooking Light, Fine Cooking and Vegetarian Times. In Los Angeles her highly successful private classes included celebrities such as Neil Patrick Harris, Molly Sims and Randy Newman.

Wanting a slower pace with more focus on local, farm to table access and a stronger sense of community Chef Amanda and her husband recently moved to Durham.

Wanting a slower pace with more focus on local, farm to table access and a stronger sense of community Chef Amanda and her husband recently moved to Durham.

In addition to a number of regularly scheduled cooking classes each month at venues such as Southern Season, Durham Wines and Spirits, Duke Diet and Fitness Center and UNC Wellness, Amanda offers private cooking classes in your home throughout the Triangle as well as corporate team building events. ●

raleighnightkitchen.com

ight Kitchen Bakehouse & Cafe opened in November of 2014 rather quietly. “We didn’t have much time or extra cash to have a big to-do,” says owner Helen Pfann, “My Dad brought some wine for a soft opening party, and then we were off.”

These days, there’s a lot more buzz about Night Kitchen.

European classics such as croissant, scones, and french macarons have received high marks; as well as more American items such as brownies or the bread pudding, a muffin-shaped treat with caramelized sugar on top.

The breads at Night Kitchen, however, are the real focus.

“I got started as a bread baker,” explains Pfann, “...and though I enjoy pastry work, making bread is what I love most.” Night Kitchen sells Sourdough, 9-Grain, and French bread everyday, and features daily specials. The bakery supplies bread to several local restaurants, including Farina, J Betski’s, and Bad Daddy’s Burger Bar. “I designed the kitchen so we could do wholesale and have room to grow. We’ve just started working with the Produce Box, so folks statewide can try our breads.”

The final piece of the pie is the cafe at Night Kitchen.

Exchange and fine teas from Tin Roof Teas, it’s a great space to meet a friend or have a small gathering at one of the larger farm tables. A selection of sandwiches, daily soup and quiche specials round out the menu.

The breads at Night Kitchen, however, are the real focus.

“I got started as a bread baker,” explains Pfann, “...and though I enjoy pastry work, making bread is what I love most.” Night Kitchen sells Sourdough, 9-Grain, and French bread everyday, and features daily specials. The bakery supplies bread to several local restaurants, including Farina, J Betski’s, and Bad Daddy’s Burger Bar. .These days, there’s a lot more buzz about Night Kitchen. European classics such as croissant, scones, and french macarons have received high marks; as well as more American items such as brownies or the bread pudding, a muffin-shaped treat with caramelized sugar on top. ●

Publication Date: July 12

NANCY HOLLIMAN THERAPY

BAKEHOUSE & CAFE

Psychotherapy, yoga therapy, mindfulness practices 919.666.7984 • Durham nancyhollimantherapy.com

P

ersonal issues such as anxiety, depression, a new medical diagnosis or dealing with a chronic illness may be making you feel like life is one big struggle. Whether you have these sorts of problems or other concerns that are making your life hard or even unbearable, change is always possible if you are willing to work and you have the support you need. I offer that support.

My therapeutic foundation is based on a blend of Western psychology and Eastern spiritual practices, mindful attention to our inner life, and a full, heartfelt engagement with the world. Using a mix of narrative therapy, mindfulyou can live more fully and enjoy more emotional balance, stronger relationships, and get what you want out of life.

As a client, you can expect to become better acquainted with your thinking, behavior, responses, and feelings so that you can ultimately live more fully and authentically. We’ll work together to discover and build on your strengths and empower you to conquer negative patterns so you have greater emotional and overall psychological freedom.

My therapeutic foundation is based on a blend of Western psychology and Eastern spiritual practices, mindful attention to our inner life, and a full, heartfelt engagement with the world. Using a mix of narrative therapy, mindfulness, meditation, breathing, and physical movement techniques, I help you uncover and develop your strengths, so that you can live more fully and enjoy more emotional balance, stronger relationships, and get what you want out of life.

To reserve your space contact your ad rep or advertising@indyweek.com

If you’re struggling with an eating disorder, medical diagnosis, ongoing health issues, caregiving issues, aging, disability, medical trauma, relationship concerns, spirituality, stress management, depression, anxiety, adapting to change and unpredictability, grief, loss, or bereavement and would like help, please give me a call. ●

BUSINESS PROFILES WRITTEN BY

YOU!

WHAT ELSE SHOULD I DO?

CAR SEAT HEADREST AT CAT’S CRADLE (P. 20), FLOCK OF DIMES AT DUKE GARDENS (P. 18), JUNIOR ASTRONOMERS AT CAT’S CRADLE BACK ROOM (P. 29), PATRICIA LOCKWOOD AT THE REGULATOR (P. 36), RENAY AUMILLER DANCES AT THE LIVING ARTS COLLECTIVE (P. 22), RESISTANCE CON AT THE DURHAM CONVENTION CENTER (P. 21), ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY AT KOKA BOOTH AMPHITHEATRE (P. 36), TEA WITH EDIE & FITZ AT N.C. STATE (P. 35), ARTSPACE THIRTIETH ANNIVESARY RETROSPECTIVE AT ARTSPACE (P. 33), WILLFEST AT BLUE NOTE GRILL (P. 30)

Issue date: JULY 12 Reserve by: JUNE 28 Contact your rep for more info or advertising@indyweek.com

SIMPLE REAL FOOD

NIGHT KITCHEN Hearth-baked Breads – Artisan Pastry – Unique Sandwiches 10 W Franklin St #140, Raleigh • 984.232-8907

C

N

hef Amanda Cushman’s private cooking classes are just the thing for the foodie in you. If you love to cook, entertain, or just appreciate the pleasure of great food, private cooking classes are the place to indulge your passions. The classes are designed for both the novice cook and seasoned home chef and will empower you to cook with confidence. Bringing together groups from two to twenty in your home Amanda will provide tips on shopping, planning ahead and entertaining with ease.

Amanda’s healthy recipes have appeared in publications such as Food and Wine, Cooking Light, Fine Cooking and Vegetarian Times. In Los Angeles her highly successful private classes included celebrities such as Neil Patrick Harris, Molly Sims and Randy Newman.

Wanting a slower pace with more focus on local, farm to table access and a stronger sense of community Chef Amanda and her husband recently moved to Durham.

Educated at The Institute of Culinary Education in Manhattan, Cushman is the author of her own cookbook, “Simple, Real Food.”

Amanda’s healthy recipes have appeared in publications such as Food and Wine, Cooking Light, Fine Cooking and Vegetarian Times. In Los Angeles her highly successful private classes included celebrities such as Neil Patrick Harris, Molly Sims and Randy Newman.

Wanting a slower pace with more focus on local, farm to table access and a stronger sense of community Chef Amanda and her husband recently moved to Durham.

Wanting a slower pace with more focus on local, farm to table access and a stronger sense of community Chef Amanda and her husband recently moved to Durham.

In addition to a number of regularly scheduled cooking classes each month at venues such as Southern Season, Durham Wines and Spirits, Duke Diet and Fitness Center and UNC Wellness, Amanda offers private cooking classes in your home throughout the Triangle as well as corporate team building events. ●

NANCY HOLLIMAN THERAPY

BAKEHOUSE & CAFE

Private cooking classes in your home for groups from 2 to 20 310.980.0139 • Durham www.amandacooks.com

raleighnightkitchen.com

ight Kitchen Bakehouse & Cafe opened in November of 2014 rather quietly. “We didn’t have much time or extra cash to have a big to-do,” says owner Helen Pfann, “My Dad brought some wine for a soft opening party, and then we were off.”

These days, there’s a lot more buzz about Night Kitchen.

European classics such as croissant, scones, and french macarons have received high marks; as well as more American items such as brownies or the bread pudding, a muffin-shaped treat with caramelized sugar on top.

The breads at Night Kitchen, however, are the real focus.

“I got started as a bread baker,” explains Pfann, “...and though I enjoy pastry work, making bread is what I love most.” Night Kitchen sells Sourdough, 9-Grain, and French bread everyday, and features daily specials. The bakery supplies bread to several local restaurants, including Farina, J Betski’s, and Bad Daddy’s Burger Bar. “I designed the kitchen so we could do wholesale and have room to grow. We’ve just started working with the Produce Box, so folks statewide can try our breads.”

The final piece of the pie is the cafe at Night Kitchen.

Exchange and fine teas from Tin Roof Teas, it’s a great space to meet a friend or have a small gathering at one of the larger farm tables. A selection of sandwiches, daily soup and quiche specials round out the menu.

The breads at Night Kitchen, however, are the real focus.

“I got started as a bread baker,” explains Pfann, “...and though I enjoy pastry work, making bread is what I love most.” Night Kitchen sells Sourdough, 9-Grain, and French bread everyday, and features daily specials. The bakery supplies bread to several local restaurants, including Farina, J Betski’s, and Bad Daddy’s Burger Bar. .These days, there’s a lot more buzz about Night Kitchen. European classics such as croissant, scones, and french macarons have received high marks; as well as more American items such as brownies or the bread pudding, a muffin-shaped treat with caramelized sugar on top. ●

Psychotherapy, yoga therapy, mindfulness practices 919.666.7984 • Durham nancyhollimantherapy.com

P

ersonal issues such as anxiety, depression, a new medical diagnosis or dealing with a chronic illness may be making you feel like life is one big struggle. Whether you have these sorts of problems or other concerns that are making your life hard or even unbearable, change is always possible if you are willing to work and you have the support you need. I offer that support.

My therapeutic foundation is based on a blend of Western psychology and Eastern spiritual practices, mindful attention to our inner life, and a full, heartfelt engagement with the world. Using a mix of narrative therapy, mindfulyou can live more fully and enjoy more emotional balance, stronger relationships, and get what you want out of life.

As a client, you can expect to become better acquainted with your thinking, behavior, responses, and feelings so that you can ultimately live more fully and authentically. We’ll work together to discover and build on your strengths and empower you to conquer negative patterns so you have greater emotional and overall psychological freedom.

My therapeutic foundation is based on a blend of Western psychology and Eastern spiritual practices, mindful attention to our inner life, and a full, heartfelt engagement with the world. Using a mix of narrative therapy, mindfulness, meditation, breathing, and physical movement techniques, I help you uncover and develop your strengths, so that you can live more fully and enjoy more emotional balance, stronger relationships, and get what you want out of life.

If you’re struggling with an eating disorder, medical diagnosis, ongoing health issues, caregiving issues, aging, disability, medical trauma, relationship concerns, spirituality, stress management, depression, anxiety, adapting to change and unpredictability, grief, loss, or bereavement and would like help, please give me a call. ●

INDYweek.com | 5.31.17 | 27

SHOWCASE

($10 ADULT/ $5 STUDENTS) 7/6 MATT PHILLIPS /

indyweek.com

YOUNG MISTER W/ CHRIS FRISINA

7/8SWEAR AND SHAKE ($10/$12) MO 6/5

CAR SEAT HEADREST

FR 6/9 @NC MUSEUM OF ART

TEGAN AND SARA

7/14 JENNIFER KNAPP ($15/$18) 7/26 CYMBALS EAT GUITARS W/ ACTIVE BIRD COMMUNITY

7/30 ROZWELL KID

W/ VUNDABAR, GREAT GRANDPA

TU 6/6

THE ORWELLS

WE 6/21

LIZZO

8/4 RASPUTINA W/ELIZA RICKMAN ($18/$20) 8/8 LAETITIA SADIER SOURCE ENSEMBLE 8/11 THE SECOND AFTER CD RELEASE PARTY

WE 6/7

BROODS 6/3 DELTA RAE W/ LAUREN JENKINS ($25/$28) 6/5 CAR

SEAT HEADREST

W/ NAP EYES ($17/$20) 6/6 THE ORWELLS W/ THE WALTERS ($18/$20) 6/7 BROODS W/ MICHI ($20/$22)

CAT'S CRADLE BACK ROOM

8/18: BRICK + MORTAR ($10/$12)

5/31 LEIF VOLLEBEKK W/RILEY PINKERTON ($12/ $14)

8/19 THE ROOSEVELTS

6/1 GRACE: A SPECIAL

8/28 SHABAZZ PALACES W/ PORTER RAY ($17/$19)

6/2 COLESLAW, ENO MOUNTAIN BOYS, THE OUTBOARDS

9/16 CRANK IT LOUD PRESENTS:

6/3 THE DAPPER CONSPIRACY W/ APPLES AND AIRPLANES, TRIKE ($5)

6/4 (SANDY) ALEX G W/ JAPANESE BREAKFAST, CENDE ($14/$16) 6/5 LATTERMATH

6/15 ABBEY ROAD LIVE! PERFORMING SGT PEPPER LP WITH HORNS, STRINGS, AND SITAR! ($12/ $15)

W/ ANAMORPH, SARAH LONGFIELD, DREWSIF STALIN ($10)

6/17 MISTERWIVES W/ THE GREETING COMMITTEE ($20/$23)

W/ COLD FRONTS, CUZCO, YOUTH LEAGUE ($8/ $10)

6/21 LIZZO W/ BROOKE CANDY ($18/$30)

6/7 GRIFFIN HOUSE W/ VANESSA PETERS ($20/$23)

6/22 CHON W/ TERA MELOS, COVET, LITTLE TYBEE ($17/$21)

6/8 WHITE REAPER W/ THE TILLS ($10)

6/29 WEEDEATER W/ BLACK WIZARD, SERIAL HAWK ($20/$23) 7/9 WASHED

OUT ($25) 7/14 KASEY CHAMBERS W/ GARRET CATO ($22/$25) 7/16 RAEKWON ($25) 7/19 JOHN MORELAND SEATED SHOW ($13/$15) 8/9 THE

MELVINS ($20/$22) 9/29 PINBACK

6/6 JUNIOR ASTRONOMERS

6/9 JONATHAN BYRD ($18/$20) 6/10 MYSTIC BRAVES PLUS VERY SPECIAL GUEST THE CREATION FACTORY ($10) 6/14 JOAN SHELLEY W/ JAKE XERXES FUSSELL ($13/$15) 6/15 MARSHALL CRENSHAW Y LOS STRAITJACKETS ($20) 6/17 BARNS COURTNEY W/ FOXTRAXX ($14/$16)

9/30 TIMEFLIES: TOO MUCH TO DREAM TOUR ($25/$28)

6/22 JOEY WATSON BENEFIT W/ BEAU BENNETT, SCRIBLIN’, BITTER RESOLVE, RUSCHA, SERVER, M IS WE. (FREE SHOW / DONATIONS REQUESTED)

10/2 RAC ($22/$25)

6/27 SPIRAL STAIRS

AUTUMN OF THE SERAPHS 10TH ANNIVERSARY TOUR

10/7 LANY THE LANY TOUR PART 2 ($20/$23) 11/7 THE STRUMBELLAS ($22/$25)

6/29 JOHN PAUL WHITE W/ LERA LYNN ($25) 6/30 THE CHORUS

PROJECT SUMMER

CATSCRADLE.COM ★ 919.967.9053 ★ 300 E. MAIN STREET ★ CARRBORO **Asterisks denote advance tickets @ schoolkids records in raleigh & chapel hill order tix online at ticketfly.com ★ we serve carolina brewery beer on tap! ★ we are a non-smoking club 28 | 5.31.17 | INDYweek.com

8/25 ALL GET OUT ($10/$12)

TRIBUTE TO JEFF BUCKLEY ($10)

JASON RICHARDSON

W/THE REIGN OF KINDO, STOLAS ($13/$15) ARTSCENTER (CARRBORO)

6/14 STEVE GUNN AND

LEE RANALDO

W/ MEG BAIRD ($18/$20)

NC MUSEUM OF ART (RAL)

6/5 FOUR VOICES:

JOAN BAEZ, MARY CHAPIN CARPENTER AND INDIGO GIRLS AMY RAY & EMILY SOLD SALIERS OUT 6/9 TEGAN AND SARA W/ VAGABON 6/13 KALEO W/ ALBIN LEE MELDAU 6/18 JASON ISBELL SOLD & THE 400 UNIT OUT 6/24 SHERYL CROW

SOLD OUT

7/22 MANDOLIN ORANGE W/ JOE PUG 7/31 BELLE AND SEBASTIAN AND ANDREW BIRD 8/1 AMERICAN ACOUSTIC TOUR W/ PUNCH BROTHERS AND

I’M WITH HER

8/12 SUPERCHUNK W/ WAXAHATCHEE, EX HEX 8/19 TIFT MERRITT AND FRIENDS W/ MC TAYLOR OF

HISS GOLDEN MESSENGER, ERIC SLICK OF DR. DOG, ALEXANDRA SAUSER MONNING, AMY HELM, AND THE SUITCASE JUNKET HAW RIVER BALLROOM

6/11 JAMES VINCENT MCMORROW ($20/$22) SHAKORI HILLS COMM. CTR. 6/22 LAKE

STREET DIVE

W/ LAWRENCE, ELLIS DYSON & THE SHAMBLES ($25/$30) 9/30

SYLVAN ESSO

W/ TUNE-YARDS, WYE OAK, HELADO NEGRO & MORE

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CONTRIBUTORS: Elizabeth Bracy (EB), Timothy Bracy (TB), Zoe Camp (ZC), Spencer Griffith (SG), Kat Harding (KH), Allison Hussey (AH), Kyesha Jennings (KJ), David Klein (DK), Noah Rawlings (NR), Dan Ruccia (DR), Patrick Wall (PW)

WED, MAY 31 BLUE NOTE GRILL: Selwyn Birchwood; 8 p.m., $15. • CAT’S CRADLE (BACK ROOM): Leif Vollebekk, Riley Pinkerton; 8:25 p.m., $12–$14. • THE CAVE: May Artist Residency: Juan Huevos with Special Guests; 9 p.m., $5. • CORNER TAVERN: Chris Overstreet; 9 p.m.

• IMURJ: Rian Adkinson, Advent Horizon, Brian Paglia; 8 p.m. • IRREGARDLESS: Craig Thompson Band; 6:30-9:30 p.m. • KOKA BOOTH AMPHITHEATRE: Marcus Anderson; 5:45 p.m., $5.

• NIGHTLIGHT: May 919Noise Showcase; 8:30 p.m. • POUR HOUSE: Lepsecial, Bruteus; 9 p.m. • SLIM’S: 49/Short, KNO; 9 p.m., $5.

THU, JUN 1 Doyle HEAVY Paul Caiafa has been METAL a legend among metalheads since he was sixteen, when he first took up the ax as Doyle Wolfgang Von Frankenstein, for seminal horror-punks the Misfits. Though he’s best known for his work with the legendary band (whose members came together last year for a series of rare reunion shows), Doyle has devoted most of his creative energy as lately to his eponymous group, which specializes in similarly morbid heavy metal, with an emphasis on melodrama.

Davey Suicide, Fall River Massacre, and Birth the Wretched open. —ZC [THE MAYWOOD, $18/7:30 P.M.]

Grace: A Tribute to Jeff Buckley GRACE Twenty years after NOTES the tragic passing of Jeff Buckley, the musical world has continued to mourn the preternaturally gifted singer.

Tonight’s tribute to Buckley, whose best- known song might be his version of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah,” features a talented group of musicians. They’ll have their hands full handling Buckley’s

songs, which are full of stylistic twists and turns, not to mention his elastic vocal range. Proceeds benefit Music in My Mind Orange County, which provides iPods and personally meaningful playlists to patients who suffer from dementia. With John Svara. —DK [CAT’S CRADLE BACK ROOM, $10/8:30 P.M.]

Jungle H Green MODERN This peculiar DOOWOP contingent of Chicago neo-traditionalists renders its no-fi doo-wop with enough sincere conviction to suggest its embrace of oldies is more then an ironic stance.

Frontman Andrew Smith evokes some of Jonathan Richman’s genial archness, but hasn’t yet achieved that writer’s wholly singular perspective. Cybil Striper and Look a Ghost open. —TB [NEPTUNES PARLOUR, $5/10 P.M.]

Local Band Local Beer: The Hell No HELL If you think it’s MAYBE scientific fact that rock achieved perfection in the early eighties, then The Hell No is right up your alley. The Raleigh hard rock band doesn’t try to be anything more than that: Its riffs pair the vim of Randy Rhoads-era Ozzy with the accessible aggression of Billy Idol’s pop hits, and singer Brenna Leath brings to mind some of the era’s best vocalists—Nancy Wilson, of course, but Danzig, too. With Car Crash Star, Dead Bedrooms, and Retro Candy. —PW [POUR HOUSE, $5/9 P.M.]

Milky Chance POP PAIR Milky Chance is a German electro-pop duo whose influences range from reggae to folk. Viral hit “Stolen Dance” landed the band on the pop charts in 2013, and it’s been busy ever since; its second LP, Blossom, is rife with dance-ready pop tracks. Mike Nelson, also known as Banners, from Liverpool,

opens with laid-back quiet pop tunes. —KH [THE RITZ, $31.50/8 P.M.]

Bernie Petteway Trio GENTLE This trio seems to BUZZ have two different moods, depending on who’s in it. If guitarist Bernie Petteway brings along an electric bassist, like he did when they last played Neptunes back in November, expect some vaguely jammy blues. If there’s an upright bass, expect something a little subdued and jazzy. Either way, Petteway’s song list is diverse, spanning everyone from Tony Williams to Patsy Cline, Manu Dibango to Glen Campbell.

His warm tone expands to fill them all. Rod Abernethy opens.

—DR [NEPTUNES PARLOUR, $8/9 P.M.] ALSO ON THURSDAY 2ND WIND: 2 fer; 7:30-9 p.m. • BLUE NOTE GRILL: Ghost Town Blues Band; 7:30 p.m., $8. Nash Street Ramblers; 7-9 p.m. • THE CAVE: Oak City 5; 9 p.m., $5. • DEEP SOUTH: Free the Optimus, OC from NC, Defacto Thezpian, King Garbage; 9 p.m., $8. • IRREGARDLESS: La’ Coustic; 6 p.m. • LOCAL 506: White Violet; 9 p.m., $7. • SLIM’S: The Dinwiddies, Other Colors, Blueberry; 9 p.m., $5. • THE SHED JAZZ CLUB: Doug Largent Trio; 8 p.m. • THE STATION: David Childers, Daniel Ayers; 7:30 p.m.

FRI, JUN 2 Adult Mom GROWN On this year’s Soft UP STUFF Spots, Adult Mom’s second record, the band expands into a quartet, but its nucleus is still singer and songwriter Stephanie Knipe. Soft Spots—and, really, Adult Mom as a whole— benefits from the fuller, more confident instrumentation, but Knipe has gotten sharper, too, more adept at augmenting major epiphanies with minute details.

See, from “Fullscreen”: “Do you full-screen your porn?/Do you think about me as you watch her

PHOTO COURTESY OF NOISY GHOST PR

TUESDAY, JUNE 6

JUNIOR ASTRONOMERS It’s been a decade since Junior Astronomers first emerged as a vehicle for the charged, anxious laments of frontman Terrence Richard, but to date the band’s output has been confined to a series of well-received seven-inch EPs. That changes with the release of Body Language, the first full-length by the Charlotte foursome, on which the band refines its talent for sparkling, memorable hooks without sacrificing the ferocious, feral energy of previous records.

The one-two punch of “Body Language Part 2” and “That’s Why” makes for an auspicious beginning and a bracing distillation of the band’s great strengths, with Richard’s rasping vocals rising above the urgent din of two of the group’s most accomplished anthems yet.

“That’s Why,” with its jittery start-stop tempo and mission-affirming lyrics, is the best thing the band has recorded to date. By and large, Body Language succeeds magnificently as long as the group sticks to its considerable talent for efficient melodies that don’t overstay their welcome.

Elsewhere, the pace slows, and results

become far less compelling. “Motoring” is an earnest attempt at Quadropheniastyle hard rock that never quite lands, whereas “Gabby” is reminiscent of the sort of ill-advised digressions into seventies riff rock that used to weigh down otherwise enjoyable Soul Asylum records. Then there is the issue of Richard’s voice, an idiosyncratic yelp that can convey ecstatic emotion in short spurts but tends to grate over the course of the album’s eleven songs, particularly in more meditative moments.

Despite being the band’s first LP, Body Language often feels like a transitional album, with an attempt to integrate greater compositional ambition that doesn’t always sit comfortably alongside the group’s more immediate charms.

Body Language is an admirable gambit that will likely yield dividends on subsequent efforts. In the mean time there is plenty to love on this half-great debut, with its handful of unstoppable tracks. —Elizabeth Bracy CAT’S CRADLE BACK ROOM, CARRBORO 8 p.m., $8–$10, www.catscradle.com

INDYweek.com | 5.31.17 | 29

crawl across the floor?” With Free Cake for Every Creature and Blois.

—PW [LOCAL 506, $10/9 P.M.]

Apples & Airplanes APPLE A ragtag conglomerJAM ate of musical polymaths hailing from Raleigh, Apples & Airplanes is a jam band in the best sense of the term, bringing infectious enthusiasm and formidable chops to a horn-driven mélange of jazz, funk, and hip-hop. In genre tourism of this sort, often the consequence is a shortfall in overarching vision, Apples & Airplanes is the rare group that weaves together diverse interests and influences into a coherent, compelling whole.

Six Shots Later, Magnolia, and But You Can Call Me John open. —TB [THE MAYWOOD, $8/9 P.M.]

Jason Michael Carroll COUNTRY Jason Michael Carroll CROONER is a Top 40 country singer-songwriter with the twangy voice of a cowboy-booted angel.

The Youngsville, North Carolina, native once lived and worked on Nashville’s famed Music Row, writing and releasing a string of hits, and his 2007 debut album reach the No. 1 spot on Billboard’s country chart. Jonny Mont opens.

—KH [CITY LIMITS, $15–$20/8 P.M.]

Coleslaw GRASS & A sterling local SLAW bluegrass outfit featuring some fine players, Coleslaw boasts a surfeit of strong compositions, rendered with unhurried charm and plenty of chops. The group fully displays its affable charm on tunes like the regionally themed American Beauty-soundalike “Hillsborough” and the cockeyed blues shuffle “Gracefully Whiskeyed.” Eno Mountain Boys and the Outboards open. —TB [CAT’S CRADLE BACK ROOM, $6/9 P.M.]

Daniel D STRING Daniel Davis isn’t POPS exactly your standard-issue violinist. His musical vision may start in jazz, but it stretches easily to encompass soul, R&B, gospel, hip-hop, and on and on. In fact, he seems happiest throwing his 30 | 5.31.17 | INDYweek.com

electric violin through some pedals, dropping some beats, and flying around all the latest pop hits.

—DR [BEYÙ CAFFÈ, $18/7 & 9 P.M.]

Summer in the City: Vivaldi’s Four Seasons WEATHER Vivaldi’s Four Seasons VANE is a work that has been so ground into our collective memories that it seems almost devoid of meaning, and the North Carolina Symphony presents it this weekend in a quick pop-up concert. Yet the piece’s four short concerti grossi are still, somehow, irresistible for orchestras, so much so that only fifteen months have passed since the symphony last played them. This time, they welcome soloist Elena Urioste and pair it with selections from Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. —DR [MEYMANDI CONCERT HALL, $18–$55/7:30 P.M.]

N’Kogniito RALEIGH Known for soothing RAP yet upbeat performances, Raleigh’s N’Kogniito celebrates the release of its self-titled EP on home turf.

Infused with soulful vocals, the group’s lead single, “Mind Games,” blends R&B and Jazz with a hint of funk that offers a spin on modern-day relationship issues.

Alternative R&B artist Will Wildfire opens. —KJ [KINGS, $8/8 P.M.]

Shelles SHELL Though he pulls a GAME litany of local talent into his orbit (Jphono1 drummer John Jaquiss, ex-Spider Bags bassist Chris Girard, Schooner guitarist Reid Johnson and violist Justin Blatt, formerly of Shit Horse), Stu Edwards is Shelles’ center of gravity. While traces of his old band, Old Bricks, linger in Shelles’ ambient textures, here, Edwards leads a ragged, Crazy Horse-ish crew. With Sunny Slopes, Organos. —PW [NIGHTLIGHT, $7/9 P.M.] ALSO ON FRIDAY BLUE NOTE GRILL: WillFest VII; 9 p.m., $10. See box, this page.

Duke Street Dogs; 6 p.m., free. • THE BULLPEN: The Mix Up Allstar Revue; 8:30 p.m.• BYNUM FRONT PORCH: Too Much

Fun; 7 p.m. • CARRBORO TOWN COMMONS: Freight Train Blues; 6:30 p.m., free. • THE CAVE: Buckley, Jarva Land; 9 p.m., $5. • DEEP SOUTH: Jump Mountain, Strange Lady; 8 p.m., $5. • IRREGARDLESS: Stephen Anderson Duo; 6:30-10 p.m. • LINCOLN THEATRE: Beatlesque, Mojo Rising; 8:30 p.m., $8.

• MEADOWMONT VILLAGE: The Triangle Jazz Orchestra; 6-8 p.m., free. • MOTORCO: Resistance Con Pre-Party; 8 p.m., $15. • MYSTERY BREWING PUBLIC HOUSE: Eric Scholz; 8:30-11:30 p.m., free. • NORTHGATE MALL: Music on the Plaza: The Beauty Operators; 6:30-9 p.m., free. • POUR HOUSE: Foothills Free First Friday; 8 p.m., free.

• SCHOOLKIDS RECORDS (RALEIGH): An Atomic Whirl; 7 p.m.

• SHARP NINE GALLERY: Kate McGarry, Keith Ganz, Gary Versace; 8 p.m., $15–$30. • SLIM’S: Vibekillers, Karbuncle, Richard Bacchus and the Luckiest Girls, MSRP; 9 p.m., $7. • THE STATION: Countdown Quartet; 7:30 p.m., $6.

SAT, JUN 3 Delta Rae FOLK-POP Delta Rae is one of GLEAM those curious acts that seems to have a much more dedicated following outside of its hometown. Though Delta Rae has always seemed to have its eyes locked on Top 40 stardom, its band’s gleaming, swinging-for-thefences blend of folk, pop, and soul has never quite cracked the formula. “A Long and Happy Life,” the title track of the band’s March EP, has a shiny veneer, but that surface is quickly scratched when you listen more closely and hear mixed-metaphor lines like, “Make me your country bride/You’ll be my prince of tides.” Lauren Jenkins opens. —AH [CAT’S CRADLE, $25–$28/8 P.M.]

Kings Prom DANCE Maybe senior prom MUCH? didn’t go as planned for you. If so, tonight is your chance to reboot that teen angst with a familiar soundtrack, but under a fresh new set of circumstances. Featured are two exemplary acts from Kings’ long-running Cover-Up event, who will summon the sound and spirit of eighties deities Phil Collins and INXS. The wearing of ball gowns is strongly encouraged. Can you feel it coming in the air tonight? —DK [KINGS, $8–$10/8 P.M.]

PHOTO BY BRUCE DEBOER

FRIDAY, JUNE 2–SUNDAY, JUNE 4

WILLFEST VII

Most goodbye parties, no matter how heartfelt, end up as happy grace notes and are left at that. WillFest started out as a sincere farewell for departing guitar master Will McFarlane, who was relocating from North Carolina back to Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Friends and family gathered at the Blue Note Grill for a sendoff, but participants were so enthused they vowed to repeat it the following year.

Since then, WillFest has evolved into an annual weekend-long event, a potluck, and a family-friendly celebration, replete with its own traditions and returning veterans.

McFarlane is a master of the rhythm guitar. Unlike the more easily identified art of lead guitar, which tends to dazzle, great rhythm guitar parts don’t put on a performance so much as pick their moments; McFarlane has made a career out of making the subtlest, deftest contributions. Simply watch one of his guitar lessons on YouTube, and the concision and fluidity of his playing is readily apparent in a few phrases.

After being wowed by the Beatles on Ed Sullivan, McFarlane drifted toward R&B and Motown in high school. His career began in earnest in 1974, when Bonnie Raitt asked him to join her on tour, an association that was crucial both for the development of his playing style as well as for providing him with the ability to listen, to hear what other players are playing and

contribute accordingly. And while he’s done his share of solo work, McFarlane’s chosen spot is as a member of a band rather than the focus of it.

When McFarlane first moved to Muscle Shoals in 1980 for a change of lifestyle, those skills earned him entry into the legendary rhythm section known as the Swampers, who’d played on the seminal R&B hits of the sixties. Lending his talents as a guitarist, he has amassed a wealth of collaborations with soul giants like Etta James, Johnnie Taylor, and Little Milton. He’s worked with Levon Helm and neo-soul artists like Joss Stone and is a member of the Nashville Musicians Hall of Fame.

This year’s WillFest will gather a familiar core group of talented collaborators, including Armand Lenchek, Danny Gotham, and Joel Sugarman, who’ll join McFarlane for an all-acoustic evening to kick things off. He’ll front a full band on Saturday night, and Sunday is all about audience participation, so bring your guitar.

WillFest has taken root not just because Will McFarlane is great player but because of his skills as a listener.

He’s the kind of person others want to be around. And he can play the guitar just like ringing a bell. —David Klein BLUE NOTE GRILL, DURHAM Various times, $10, www.thebluenotegrill.com

N.C. Symphony Summerfest: Romantic Broadway BIG If you’re jonesing for BALLADS the romance of Broadway but can’t make it to the Big Apple, you can at least take in this crowd-pleasing program, which matches N.C. Symphony guest vocalists with the biggest, most heart-thumping, showstoppingest numbers from classic musicals like West Side Story and Phantom of the Opera. —DK [KOKA BOOTH AMPHITHEATRE, $30–$33/7:30 P.M.] ALSO ON SATURDAY BEYÙ CAFFÈ: Dwayne Jordan; 7 & 9 p.m., $12. • BLUE NOTE GRILL: WillFest VII; 8 p.m., $10. See box, page 30. • THE CAVE: Orlando Parker Jr, Charly Lowry, Lara Americo; 9 p.m., $5.

• DEEP SOUTH: Four Founders, Jimi King Trio, Rosies; 8:30 p.m., $10.

• IMURJ: Wes Swing, Kenneth D. Stewart & The Planetary Art Ensemble; 7 p.m. • IRREGARDLESS: Small House; 9 p.m. • LINCOLN THEATRE: PULSE: Electronic Dance Party; 9 p.m. • THE MAYWOOD: Eva Under Fire, Kiss the Curse, Turncoat Syndicate, Raid the Quarry; 8:30 p.m., $10. • MOTORCO: The Gravy Boys, Boom Unit Brass Band; 9 p.m., $10. • NASH STREET TAVERN: Ellerbe Creek Band; 8-11 p.m., free. • POUR HOUSE: Urban Soil, Unaka Prong; 9 p.m. • THE RITZ: Trombone Shorty, Orleans Avenue; 8:30 p.m. See page 27.

• RUBY DELUXE: DJ Luxe Posh; 10 p.m. • SHARP NINE GALLERY: Kate McGarry, Keith Ganz, Gary Versace; 8 p.m., $15–$30. • SLIM’S: Paladin, Axattack, American Empire, Antenora, Thundering Herd; 9 p.m., $7. • THE STATION: Jazz Saturdays; 2 p.m., free.

• THE SHED JAZZ CLUB: Vibe Session; 7:30-10 p.m.

SUN, JUN 4 AD.UL.T LONG Boston’s AD.UL.T is TRIP not afraid of the odd and out-there. Listening to its damaged, bizarro psych is akin to going perhaps a bit too overboard with the psychotropics. Fractures of melody drift in and out of the purple haze. What seem like vocal lines—they’re run through too many processors to be able to really tell—drip and peel and shudder. If it’s a trip, it’s certainly a good one. Sonfather, Blueberry, and Tide Eyes open. —PW [THE CAVE, $5/8 P.M.]

Autumn Brand POP Known Triangle-wide PASSION for violin and vocal contributions to Season & Snare, Saints Apollo, New Reveille, and the Raleigh Civic Symphony & Chamber Orchestra (among others), Autumn Brand now takes the spotlight as a solo artist with the release of her debut single, “Something We Weren’t Looking For” and an accompanying video.

The track is a polished, electronica-infused pop earworm that portends promise for Brand’s forthcoming EP, which she hopes to release later this year. Waking April and Fluorescence open.

—SG [KINGS, $9–$12/6 P.M.]

Russ Dominating the radio with his emotional hit “Losin Control,” Russ proves his ability to spit, make dope beats, and sing (not just harmonize).

Hip-hop’s newest ATLien turns away from trendy trap sounds and instead flexes as a triple threat.

—KJ [THE RITZ, $33.50/8 P.M.]

ATLIEN

(Sandy) Alex G OH SO Philly songwriter SANDY Alex Giannascoli predates the current crop of hyperliterate, hyperfecund, hyper-lo-fi indie-rock songwriters (e.g., Car Seat Headrest, and bands that sound like Car Seat Headrest—see page 20 for more) by a good half decade, though his current cred probably has more to do with his collaboration with idiosyncratic R&B star Frank Ocean on Endless and Blonde.

Rocket, released mid-May, reasserts Giannascoli as one of his generation’s best songwriters, effortlessly flitting from distorted sound collage to twangy folk to dreamy indie pop. With Japanese Breakfast and Cende. —PW [CAT’S CRADLE BACK ROOM, $14–$16/8 P.M.]

Sarah Slonim Project BESarah Slonim BOPPING originally hails from Seattle, but these days she resides in New York City, playing piano, leading ensembles, and spreading her love of jazz to as many people as she can. This quintet—Slonim, M’Balia Singley (vocals), Adam Moezinia (guitar), Adrian Moring (acoustic bass), and Ben Zweig (drums)—mixes jazz standards with bits of the American songbook, samba, blues, and

some originals. Her touch is light and her playing swings nicely.

—DR [THE SHED, $11–$17/7:30 P.M.]

Train BUTT Authors of some of ROCK the most vexingly catchy and ubiquitous radio hits of the past two decades, San Francisco’s Train excels at the sort of middle-brow rock whose mass audience can be attributed to the profound inoffensiveness of the band’s dishwater-dull approach.

Give them their due: there is an inherent craft to creating something as relentlessly dumb and easily digestible as the aural lobotomies of “Drops of Jupiter” and “Hey Soul Sister,” and it has presumably made them wealthy, if not wise. O.A.R. and Natasha Bedingfield open. —TB [COASTAL CREDIT UNION MUSIC PAVILION AT WALNUT CREEK, $18-$210/7 P.M.] ALSO ON SUNDAY BLUE NOTE GRILL: WillFest VII / TBS 1st Sunday Blues Jam; 3-9 p.m., free. • DEEP SOUTH: Live & Loud Weekly; 9 p.m., $3. • IRREGARDLESS: Elliott Humphries; 6-9 p.m. • LINCOLN THEATRE: Afton Music Showcase; 6:30 p.m., $12– $15. • NASH STREET TAVERN: Pete Pawsey and Friends; 4-6 p.m. • POUR HOUSE: Sam Harmonix, Trey Falsetto, Jaye Bullo; 8 p.m., $5. • SLIM’S: Dim Delights, Needle Points, Andy Holmes; 9 p.m., $5.

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Four Voices: Joan Baez, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Amy Ray & Emily Saliers WOMAN In the sixties, Joan POWER Baez rocketed to acclaim as a leader of the counterculture movement, and she’s spent the past fifty years expanding on her repetoire of fierce folk songs. In Raleigh, she’s joined by Amy Ray and Emily Saliers—better known together as the Indigo Girls—as well as singer-songwriter Mary Chapin Carpenter. It should be a an evening of progressive musical power delivered by some mighty strong women. If you didn’t nab tickets in advance, you’ll have to wish for a stroke of good luck, as the show is sold out. —AH [NORTH CAROLINA MUSEUM OF ART, $45–$65/8 P.M.]

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Joe Jackson OUT W/ A truly singular HIM figure, Jackson emerged from England in the late seventies alongside a peer group of angsty auteurs including Elvis Costello and Graham Parker.

Following a handful of memorable hit singles, Jackson’s restless muse took him in the direction of jazz and classical music, ultimately creating an enduring career as an endearingly cranky cabaret showman. —TB [CAROLINA THEATRE, $46–$265/8 P.M.]

Woodstock. He’ll have stories to tell. Lightning Born and Mind Dweller open. —DK [KINGS, $15/7:30 P.M.] ALSO ON MONDAY CAT’S CRADLE: Car Seat Headrest, Nap Eyes; 8 p.m., $17–$20. See page 20. • CAT’S CRADLE (BACK ROOM): Lattermath, ANAMORPH, Sarah Longfield, Drewsif Stalin; 8:30 p.m., $10. • THE CAVE: Needle Points, No One Mind, Andy Holmes; 8 p.m., $5. • RUBY DELUXE: DJ Lord Redbyrd; 10 p.m. • THE SHED JAZZ CLUB: Sessions at the Shed with Ernest Turner; 8 p.m., $5.

Corky Laing Plays Mountain

TUE, JUN 6

POWER Drummer Corky HOUSE Laing can claim a career that has come full circle.

Best known as one-third of Mountain, the influential psych-rock trio led by Leslie West, Laing is currently leading his own band and resurrecting the heavy hits of Mountain, which ceased touring in 2010. He’s kept busy though, including composing a rock opera called Playing God. Laing is also a raconteur who played a life-changing gig at

Glass Animals SNOOZE A top-rated YouTube BUTTON comment on Glass Animals’ 2014 music video for “Hazey” reads, “If a lava lamp could sing, it would sound exactly like this,” followed by a crystal ball emoji. That claim is almost comically true: the band’s electropop songs do drip and ooze in beguiling patterns, gently rolling along. But like the shallow stoner culture that a lava lamp recalls,

Glass Animals feign intellectual depth, clowning themselves by swinging for self-seriousness without any self-awareness. —AH [RED HAT AMPHITHEATER, $21–$46/7 P.M.]

Hymns, recalls the triumphant work of forebears like Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin. With Great Electric and Witchtit.—ZC [SLIM’S, $7/9 P.M.]

Toto

CAT’S CRADLE: The Orwells, The Walters; 8 p.m., $18–$20. • CAT’S CRADLE (BACK ROOM): Junior Astronomers, Cold Fronts, Youth League, and Cuzco; 8 p.m., $8–$10. See box, page 29. • IRREGARDLESS: Douglas Babcock; 6:30-9:30 p.m. • LOCAL 506: Katastro, Pacific Dub; 8 p.m., $15. • POUR HOUSE: Quantum Split, But You Can Call Me John; 9 p.m.

• RUBY DELUXE: Experimental Tuesday: No Parking; 11 p.m.

BLESS Forty years ago, amid THE RAIN recording demos for a first album that would go double platinum, six studio aces found themselves stuck for a name. They settled on Toto, not, as urban legend claimed, because singer Bobby Kimball’s real name was Robert Toteaux, but simply because they wanted a name you wouldn’t forget. As we know now, Toto spawned several songs you’ll never forget—no matter how hard you might try. —DK [CAROLINA THEATRE, $46–$175/8 P.M.]

Worshipper HARD Worshipper knows a ROCK thing or two about riffs, and they’re eager to prove it, both on record and onstage. With its abundance of thunderstruck licks and bludgeoning doom, the Boston band’s latest effort, Shadow

ALSO ON TUESDAY

WED, JUN 7 Broods SWEET Commercially KIWIS ascendant stateside and already major stars in its native New Zealand, this handsomely appointed synth-pop duo traffics in reliably catchy, slow-burning confections whose stadium-worthy choruses are buttressed by the agreeable rasp of frontwoman Georgia Nott.

While their writing to date has failed to manifest the unique perspective of their countrywoman Lorde—with whom they share a producer and a sonic sensibility—there’s reason to think the young Broods will eventually get there. Michi opens. —EB [CAT’S CRADLE, $20–$22/8 P.M.]

N.C. Symphony: The Music of Prince ALMOST For this tribute PAISLEY concert on what would have been the Purple One’s fifty-ninth birthday, the North Carolina Symphony will be joined

by New Power Generation saxophonist Marcus Anderson, with Marshall Charloff doing a pretty decent impersonation of the late Mr. Nelson. If you didn’t get to see Prince before his untimely death last spring, this won’t be a close makeup, but it should still be excellent. —DR [MEYMANDI CONCERT HALL, $44–$65/7:30 P.M.]

CAVE: Bishops, Poor Pie, Joe Romeo and the Juliets; 9 p.m., $5. • DUKE GARDENS: Music in the Gardens: Flock of Dimes; 7 p.m. See page 18. • HUMBLE PIE: Peter Lamb & the Wolves; 8:30 p.m. • IRREGARDLESS: The Longleaf Pine Nuts; 6:30-9:30 p.m. • KOKA BOOTH AMPHITHEATRE: Paul Simon; 8 p.m., $49.50–$149.50. See page 26. • POUR HOUSE: Major and the Monbacks, Ancient Cities; 8 p.m. • WAVERLY PLACE: Wind Down Wednesday Concerts; 6-9 p.m., free.

ALSO ON WEDNESDAY CAT’S CRADLE (BACK ROOM): Griffin House, Vanessa Peters; 8 p.m., $20–$23. • THE

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5.31 – 6.7 ART

OPENING

SPECIAL 17 Feet Away: EVENT Carmen Neely. Jun 2-Jul 1. Reception: Friday, June 2, 6-9 p.m. Lump, Raleigh. www.teamlump.org.

SPECIAL Drawings and EVENT Paintings: Leanne Glace. Friday, June 2, 6-9 p.m.

Retro Modern Furnishings, Raleigh. www. retromodernfurnishings.com.

SPECIAL Expect the EVENT Unexpected: Repurposed found objects.

Friday, June 2, 6-9:30 p.m.

Local Color Gallery, Raleigh. www.localcoloraleigh.com.

Featured Artists: Mixed media from Catherine Gregory and Marguerite Jay Gignoux, ceramics from Linda Prager. Jun 6-Jul 8. FRANK Gallery, Chapel Hill. www.frankisart.com.

SPECIAL An Intangible EVENT Analysis: Paintings

by Joel Hopler. Thru Jun 9.

Reception: Friday, June 2, 5-8 p.m. UNC Campus: Hanes Art Center, Chapel Hill. art.unc.edu.

SPECIAL Livin’ Is Easy: EVENT Interpretations of summer. Thru July 1. Reception: Friday, June 2, 6-9 p.m.

Tipping Paint Gallery, Raleigh.

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FRIDAY, JUNE 2

ARTSPACE THIRTIETHANNIVERSARY RETROSPECTIVE At a time of constant urban flux, it’s amazing that the nonprofit Artspace, one of the Southeast’s premier visual arts centers, has maintained its mix of artist studios and gallery spaces in downtown Raleigh for thirty years.

At this First Friday reception for a buildingwide anniversary retrospective, immerse yourself in work by former and current member artists, spread across several exhibits. There’s the juried exhibition, which runs through June 3, plus three more that run further into June: the residency retrospective, which is an invitational featuring fourteen artists from across the country who have been in Artspace’s residency programs; an additional exhibit in two corridors; and a site-specific installation by Raleigh’s Gabrielle Duggan. There’s also a tour with Annah Lee, Artspace’s director of artistic programs, at noon on Thursday, June 1; learn how the organization has bolstered Raleigh’s artistic ecosystem since before it could rightfully be said to have one. —Brian Howe ARTSPACE, RALEIGH 6–10 p.m., free, www.artspacenc.org

Shaun Richards: “Shimmer Skull” (mixed media) www.tippingpaintgallery.com.

SPECIAL Love Valley: EVENT Contemporary and archival moving images, photographs, texts, and objects curated by Michaela O’Brien.

Reception: Friday, June 2, 6-9 p.m. Litmus Gallery, Raleigh. www.litmusgallery.com.

SPECIAL Preservation Chapel EVENT Hill: Photography by Dawn Surratt. Jun 4-26.

Reception: Sunday, June 4, 2-4 p.m. Horace Williams House, Chapel Hill. www. chapelhillpreservation.com.

Small to Large: Delight in the Practice of Painting: Paintings by Margie Stewart. Jun 2-Oct 23.

Durham Arts Council, Durham. www.durhamarts.org.

ONGOING Abstract Vision: Paintings by Sam Ezell. Thru Jun 15. Whitted Building, Hillsborough

American Landscapes in 4/3 Time + Natural Attraction & Personal Work: The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

This pair of exhibits by a father and daughter is concerned with ensuring that future generations have enough natural world left to recognize the meaning of the cliché. Dan Gottlieb, who helmed the Museum Park renovation at NCMA, combines photography and painting in American Landscapes in 4/3 Time, referring both to his camera and to a jazzy time signature he perceives in nature’s improvisations. And the Oakland-based illustrator Iris Gottlieb shows work related to her new book, Natural Attraction, which explores the relationships between animals and people through quirky watercolors and text. It’s supplemented

by Personal Work, in which Iris probes “having mental illnesses, my queerness, and ways to

PHOTO COURTESY OF ARTSPACE

visually explore intimate and vulnerable experiences.” Thru Jul 1. Craven Allen Gallery, Durham. www.cravenallengallery.com. — Brian Howe Beyond the Front Porch 2017: Exhibition of work by twelve senior undergraduates. Thru Nov 12. Duke Campus: Center for Documentary Studies, Durham. www.cdsporch.org Careful to Carefree: Watercolors

by Carol Liz Fynn. Thru Jun 29.

ERUUF Art Gallery, Durham. www.eruuf.org.

Cedar Creek Gallery National Teapot Show X: Thru Sep 5.

Cedar Creek Gallery, Creedmoor. www.cedarcreekgallery.com.

Collections: Leah Sobsey. Thru Sep 30. 21c Museum Hotel, Durham. www.21cmuseumhotels.com/ durham.

LAST Color Song: Paintings CHANCE by Margie Sawyer,

mixed media collage by Dawn Rozzo. Thru June 1. Little Art Gallery & Craft Collection, Raleigh. littleartgalleryandcraft. com.

LAST Cultural Fabric: CHANCE Quilts and portraits

by Keith Allen and Alan Dehmer.

Thru June 4. FRANK Gallery, Chapel Hill. www.frankisart.com.

Discover Your Governors: Thru Aug 6. NC Museum of History, Raleigh. www. ncmuseumofhistory.org.

Eye Scapes: Photography by Eric Raddatz. Thru Jul 9. Through This Lens, Durham. www. throughthislens.com.

Fluid: At a glance, some of MyLoan Dinh’s paintings might look like simple summer-home confections of sand and sea.

But look again. At the end of the Vietnam War, Dinh’s family fled its native Saigon and wound up at “Tent City” in California, one of the U.S.’s

largest Vietnamese refugee camps. From there they migrated to North Carolina.

After a time at UNC-Chapel Hill, Dinh studied at an art school in Australia and then spent a decade working in theatrical design before returning to painting in 2008.

This life of comings and goings, both personal and geopolitical, furnishes images of legs running into and out of seas with underlying emotion and gravity. Elsewhere, her work is more pointed, as in an American flag constructed from lifejackets. Thru Oct 15. Durham Convention Center, Durham. www. durhamconventioncenter.com. — Brian Howe Forecasts and Other Disturbances: Mixed media screenprints and cut paper by Julie Anne Greenberg. Thru Jul 7.

Durham Arts Council, Durham. www.durhamarts.org.

INDYweek.com | 5.31.17 | 33

CARE MATTERS

Long Term Care coverage Domestic partner and Civil Unions no problem.

Call Josh or Jeff 336-266-0187

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From Here to Eternity: Quilted tapestries by Ann Harwell.

Thru Jul 25. Betty Ray McCain Gallery, Raleigh. www. dukeenergycenterraleigh.com.

More than One Story | Mas de una historia: Photography.

Thru Feb 1. UNC Campus: Davis Library, Chapel Hill. www.lib.unc. edu/davis.

Glory of Venice: Renaissance Paintings 1470–1520: Thru Jun 18. NC Museum of Art, Raleigh. www.ncartmuseum.org.

New Paintings and Assemblages, Celebrating 50 Years of Art Making: Paintings

by Gerry Lynch. Thru Jul 1. Lee Hansley Gallery, Raleigh. www. leehansleygallery.com.

LAST Nine Artists Show: CHANCE Out in the forests

Julie Anne Greenberg: Paintings. Thru Jul 7. Durham Arts Council, Durham. www. durhamarts.org.

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Group show: 25 artists and craftspersons. Thru Aug 25. Horse & Buggy Press and Friends, Durham. www. horseandbuggypress.com.

LAST Half the Sky: CHANCE Sculptures by Jan-Ru Wan. Thru Jun 1. Sertoma Arts Center, Raleigh. parks.raleighnc. gov.

LAST In Conditions of CHANCE Fresh Water: The term “environmental racism” has existed since the eighties, the problem for much longer.

But it took the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, to wake the nation to the idea that marginalized communities are subjected to inferior environmental conditions.

Clean water and wastewater treatment are still lacking in places like Alamance County, imperiling the health of residents and the security of the land. This exhibit is by Torkwase Dyson, a Duke visiting artist, and Danielle Purifoy, an attorney/ environmental scientist, that explores this phenomenon in depth through interviews with residents of rural, historically black Southern counties that have been victimized by insidious institutional neglect.

Thru June 3. Duke Campus: Center for Documentary Studies, Durham. www.cdsporch.org. — David Klein Just Flowers: Paintings by Sam Ezell. Thru Jun 15. Alexander Dickson House, Hillsborough. www.historichillsborough.org.

Little Boxes: Metal sculpture by Robert Harper. Thru Jun 27. Cary Gallery of Artists, Cary. www. carygalleryofartists.org.

Looking South: Photography by Eudora Welty. Thru Sep 4. NC Museum of Art, Raleigh. www. ncartmuseum.org.

A Moment in Time: Paintings by Angela Nesbit and Sharon Bass.

Thru Jun 17. ArtSource Fine Art Gallery, Raleigh. www.artsourceraleigh.com.

of Chatham County lies 123 Art Studios, a renovated barn that has transformed in recent years into a working and display space for area artists.

The poplar-paneled charm of the interior, markedly indifferent to the spatial neutrality cultivated by urban galleries, should make a warming home for the nine artists in this exhibit. Despite the rustic setting, the show promises more than a healthy share of the expected paintings: there’s also Mayaninspired mixed-media work (Zoe Allison Rockingbear), steel sacred geometry (Joseph Asterita), raku pottery (Colleen Black Semelka), digital prints (Francis Shepherd), and even neon glass (Nate Shaeffer). Thru June 5. 123 Art Studios, Pittsboro.

—Brian Howe

Our House: Student and instructor exhibition. Thru Jul 7.

Durham Arts Council, Durham. www.durhamarts.org.

Pleasant Places: Digital paintings

by Quayola. Thru Aug 13. NC Museum of Art, Raleigh. www. ncartmuseum.org.

SPECIAL Site-Specific EVENT Installation: Lobby: Fiber art by Gabrielle Duggan.

Thru Jun 24. Reception: Friday, June 2, 6-10 p.m. Artspace, Raleigh. www.artspacenc.org.

Southern Light: Paintings by Durham artist Chad Smith.

Thru Jun 24. Eno Gallery, Hillsborough. www.enogallery. net.

LAST Time Will Tell: The CHANCE Ackland Art Museum features the works of UNC-Chapel Hill’s MFA class of 2017, which comprises artists Luke Firle, Wayne Marcelli, Joy Meyer, Vanessa Murray, Emily J. Smith, Louis Watts, and Lamar Whidbee. Their work varies significantly in medium, form, and subject matter: Marcelli and Whidbee often

work through political ideas via figurative painting, while Meyer and Watts frequently employ nonobjective or multimedia representational techniques.

The title of the exhibit has a winking double meaning, as each artist explores his or her individual relationship to time—and each makes a case for a prospective career. Thru June 5. Ackland Art Museum, Chapel Hill. www.ackland.org.

—Noah Rawlings Under Pressure: Prints and performance art. Thru Aug 27.

Visual Art Exchange, Raleigh. www.visualartexchange.org.

LAST Vitamin O: CHANCE Photography from Alicia Stemper about the people of Orange County, N.C. Thru June 1. Chapel Hill Public Library. www. chapelhillpubliclibrary.org. ...with white, black and brown: Drawings by Shib Basu. Thru Jun 27. Cary Gallery of Artists, Cary. www.carygalleryofartists.org.

You + Me: Photographs from various artists. Thru Sep 4. NC Museum of Art, Raleigh. www. ncartmuseum.org.

food

Farm to Fork Picnic: 35 chefs producing tasting size dishes featuring seasonal ingredients grown by a local farm the chef is paired with. Live music by Big Fat Gap and The Holland Brothers. $50-$100. Sun, Jun 4, 4-7 p.m. Fearrington Barn, Pittsboro, www.fearrington.com A Moving Feast: Fivecourse meal hosted in Shaw University’s historic 1855 Rogers-Bagley-Daniels-Pegues House to highlight the work of the Raleigh Food Corridor.

Prepared by chefs Angela Salamanca of Centro and Ryan McGuire of the Chefs Academy. $100. Wed, Jun 7, 6 p.m. RogersBagley-Daniels-Pegues House, Raleigh.

Food, Cultural Connections, and Political Acts to benefit the Raleigh Food Corridor: Chef Steven Goff of BrineHaus Meats and Provisions and chef Kabui of Organics and Sounds. Benefit for the Raleigh Food Corridor. $100. Thu, Jun 1, 6 p.m. Person Street Pharmacy, Raleigh. www. personstreetrx.com.

stage STAGE

screen SPECIAL SHOWINGS

THURSDAY, JUNE 1–SUNDAY, JUNE 18

TEA WITH EDIE & FITZ Historical fact: on a summer’s day in 1925, Edith Wharton invited F. Scott Fitzgerald to her estate for tea. Another historical fact: according to eyewitnesses, the meeting was an absolute disaster, and the two never spoke or met again. At best, they would have made an improbable pair; at sixty-three, Wharton was the severe, meticulous, old-money moralist of The Age of Innocence, while Fitzgerald was a brash, undisciplined twenty-nine-year-old wunderkind intent on documenting the decadence of the Jazz Age. But Chicago playwright Adam Pasen finds the deeper similarities in the lives and loves of two literary lions in this biographical play, which opens N.C. State’s TheatreFest 2017. Mia Self directs. —Byron Woods NCSU‘S KENNEDY-MCILWEE THEATRE, RALEIGH I Various times, $6–$20, www.theatre.arts.ncsu.edu

Be Connected: The Southern Documentary Fund Presents Docs For Us/By Us: Washerwoman. Tue, Jun 6, 7-8:30 p.m. Beyu Caffe, Durham.

The Footnote: Premiere screening of documentary about the global treatment of clubfoot. $5 donation. Fri, Jun 2, 6 p.m. Varsity Theatre, Chapel Hill. www.varsityonfranklin.com.

Motion for Pictures Screening Series: Jar of Bees, Whispers Among Wolves, Fish, Proximity, and more. $5. First Wednesdays, 7 p.m. The Cary Theater, Cary.

OPENING Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie—Two schoolkids hypnotize their principal into believing he’s a superhero in this animated comedy. Rated PG.

Tea with Edie & Fitz PHOTO BY RON FOREMAN

Wonder Woman—Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman was the one bright spot in the dismal Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, so we have high hopes for her solo movie debut.

Rated PG-13.

ALS O PLAYIN G OPENING Avenue Q: Musical with puppets.

Mature audiences only. Jun 2-18.

Raleigh Little Theatre, Raleigh. www. raleighlittletheatre.org. See p. 27.

The Beaver Queen Pageant: Folly, pageantry, and humor. Contestants take on beaver personalities and compete for the title of Beaver Queen.

Fundraiser for the Ellerbe Creek Watershed Association. Emceed by WUNC’s Frank Stasio. Sat, Jun 3, 4-7 p.m. Duke Park, Durham. www. beaverqueen.org. boneGlow: Dance quartet with Renay Aumiller. Music from Dave Yarwood and Son Lux. $15. Fri, Jun 2-Sun, Jun 4.

Living Arts Collective, Durham. www. livingartscollective.com. See story, p. 22.

Cancer Is a Drag: Drag show and fundraiser for Relay for Life. Sat, Jun 3, 8 p.m. Ruby Deluxe, Raleigh. www. facebook.com/RubyDeluxeRaleigh.

Jon Dore: Stand-up comedy. Thu, Jun 1-Sat, Jun 3. Goodnights Comedy Club, Raleigh. www.goodnightscomedy.com.

Pat House: Stand-up comedy.

Wed, Jun 7, 8 p.m. Goodnights Comedy Club, Raleigh. www.

 Ghost: The Musical: Reviewed on p. 23. $12-$20. Thru Jun 11. North Raleigh Arts & Creative Theatre, Raleigh. www.

Finding Patience: The Story of Holly Springs: Play. $19. Mon, Jun 5-Sat, Jun 17. Holly Springs Cultural Center, Holly Springs. www.hollyspringsnc.us.

goodnightscomedy.com.

nract.org.—Byron Woods

Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The King and I: Jun 6-11. Durham Performing Arts Center. www.dpacnc.com.

The Harry Show: Ages 18+. Improv host leads audience in potentially risque improv games. $10. Fri & Sat, 10 p.m. ComedyWorx Theatre, Raleigh. comedyworx.com.

Happy Hour: Monica Bill Barnes and Anna Bass. Dance performance and karaoke party. $22. Jun 6-9, 6:30 p.m. PSI Theatre, Durham. www. durhamarts.org.

Lost in Yonkers: Play by One Song. $9-$12. Fri, Jun 2-Sun, Jun 4.

The ArtsCenter, Carrboro. www. artscenterlive.org.

North Carolina’s Funniesst Person Contest: Tue, Jun 6, 7 & 10 p.m.

Goodnights Comedy Club, Raleigh. www.goodnightscomedy.com.

Smokey Joe’s Cafe: Musical showcase. May 31-Jun 11, 8 p.m.

Kennedy Theater, Raleigh. www. dukeenergycenterraleigh.com/venue/ kennedy-theatre.

Dave Waite and Grant Lyon: Stand-up comedy hosted by Deb Aronin. $10.

Sun, Jun 4, 8 p.m. 106 Main, Durham.

ONGOING Anything Goes Late Show: Saturdays, 10:30 p.m. Goodnights Comedy Club, Raleigh. www.goodnightscomedy.com.

Eyes Up Here Comedy Showcase: Comedy from N.C. women. $5. First Wednesdays, 8-10:30 p.m. Kings, Raleigh. www.kingsraleigh.com.

Tea with Edie & Fitz: Play presented by University Theatre. $12-20. June 1-18.

NCSU Campus: Kennedy-McIlwee Studio Theatre, Raleigh. www.theatre. arts.ncsu.edu. See box, this page.

Transactors Improv: Improv comedy. $9-$12. Sat, Jun 3, 8:15 p.m. Manbites Dog Theater, Durham. www. manbitesdogtheater.org.

The INDY uses a five-star rating scale. Read reviews of these films at www.indyweek.com.  Alien: Covenant— This is easily the best Alien since the first two, and the is the darkest sci-fi vision yet of our evolving cultural anxieties about machines and artificial intelligence. Rated R.  Baywatch—Only some sort of vile satanic pact could account for Zac Efron’s inexplicable success as an actor. Rated R.  Beauty and the Beast— This live-action remake is an effective piece of fan service but certainly won’t replace the animated classic. Rated PG. ½ The Fate of the Furious—Any notion of logic in the Fast & Furious film series has long gone the way of the Edsel. But this installment is outlandish and refreshingly INDYweek.com | 5.31.17 | 35

self-aware, giddily embracing both elements of the label “dumb fun.” Rated PG-13. ½ Gifted—Marc Webb’s story of a child math prodigy caught in a custody battle isn’t a particularly original film, but it’s heartfelt and accomplished—a very good story, very well told.

Rated PG-13.  Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2—A muddier story and zestier jokes balance out to a perfectly worthy sequel to Marvel’s spacefaring success story, now with an Oedipal twist, as Peter Quill discovers his father is a living planet called Ego. Rated PG-13.

 King Arthur: Legend of the Sword—Guy Ritchie gets medieval on our asses, twisting Arthurian legend into a British caper film. Critics are slamming the movie as ridiculous, but the key is to embrace Ritchie’s goofball riffing and try to ignore the more egregious flourishes, like Jude Law’s designer jackets. Rated PG-13.

astonishingly high success rate, this animated film blends over-the-top laughs aimed at youngsters with countless gags for adults.

Rated PG.

½ Kong: Skull Island— Set before 2014’s Godzilla, Legendary Entertainment’s reboot makes Kong’s origin story feel like Apocalypse Now meets Starship Troopers. Rated PG-13.

½ Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales—An improvment over its dire predecessor, this sequel still features Jack Sparrow literally jumping a shark, and ultimately swashbuckles under its own weight. Rated PG-13.

 The Lego Batman Movie—Cranking up the Jokes Per Minute with an

½ The Lovers—Grace notes enrich the minuet in writer-director Azazel Jacobs’s comedy of manners, in which adultery rekindles a failing marriage. Rated R.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story PHOTO COURTESY OF WALT DISNEY STUDIOS SCREEN

page PAGE

SATURDAY, JUNE 3

PATRICIA LOCKWOOD: PRIESTDADDY Until Kenneth Goldsmith turned Michael Brown’s autopsy into a conceptual poem in 2015 and just about burned down the Internet, Patricia Lockwood’s “Rape Joke,” going viral from The Awl in 2013, made a bigger splash than any other poem in recent memory. “The Missouri-based poet has reinvented how we talk about rape,” wrote The Guardian.

“She has casually reawakened a generation’s interest in poetry. … And she may well be the first person with an actual sense of humor to write an attack on rape jokes. Or is it actually a defense of rape jokes? Ah, you see, that’s why it’s so clever.” A Twitter celeb and the author of two fine poetry collections, Lockwood comes to Durham with her acclaimed new memoir, Priestdaddy, about her upbringing as the daughter of a charismatic Lutheran turned Catholic minister.

—Brian Howe THE REGULATOR BOOKSHOP, DURHAM 7 p.m., free, www. regulatorbookshop.com

FRIDAY, JUNE 2

ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY Watching movies outdoors on a big screen once the sun goes down is one of life’s relatively simple joys, and Cary’s Movies By Moonlight series remains a perennial crowd-pleaser by providing people with that increasingly rare experience. This year’s lineup kicks off with Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, the first stand-alone film drawn from George Lucas’s cultural juggernaut. Felicity Jones stars as Jyn, a soldier and former criminal who leads a ragtag but ready resistance in a race against time to exploit a pivotal weakness in the Death Star. All the intergalactic thrills we’ve come to expect are here, and the fresh cast is unburdened by plot strictures and audience expectations. While in past seasons, the series lineup has offered nods to the grown-up set, the current focus is firmly on ultra-child-centric fare, with La La Land the only other entry in this summer’s roster devoid of animated animals. But for the young and young at heart, this is a no-brainer for a fun night out. Bring a blanket or a chair, and be entertained —David Klein

KOKA BOOTH AMPHITHEATRE, CARY 8 p.m., free–$5, www.boothamphitheatre.com

36 | 5.31.17 | INDYweek.com

READINGS & SIGNINGS

Wild Youth. Wed, Jun 7, 7 p.m.

Regulator Bookshop, Durham. www.regulatorbookshop.com.

Karen Amspacher and Barbara Garrity-Blake: Living at the Water’s Edge: A Heritage Guide to the Outer Banks Byway.

Thu, Jun 1, 7 p.m. Regulator Bookshop, Durham. www. regulatorbookshop.com.

George Lakey: Viking Economics: How the Scandinavians Got It Right— and How We Can, Too. Mon, Jun 5, 7 p.m. Regulator Bookshop, Durham. www. regulatorbookshop.com.

Kevin Duffus: The Story of Cape Fear and Bald Head Island. Tue, Jun 6, 7 p.m. Quail Ridge Books, Raleigh. www. quailridgebooks.com.

Ron Morris: No Bull: The Real Story of the Durham Bulls and the Rebirth of a Team and a City.

Tue, Jun 6, 7 p.m. Regulator Bookshop, Durham. www. regulatorbookshop.com.

David Gessner: Ultimate Glory: Frisbee, Obsession, and My

Jennifer Ritterhouse: Discovering the South (N&O Editor’s Story). Mon, Jun 5, 7 p.m. Quail Ridge Books, Raleigh. www.quailridgebooks.com.

Sundry Poets: Michael Beadle, Dorothy Baird, Sarah Edwards.

Sun, Jun 4, 2 p.m. Quail Ridge Books, Raleigh. www. quailridgebooks.com.

Mark Weathington: Gardening in the South: The Complete Homeowners Guide. Sat, Jun 3, 2 p.m. Quail Ridge Books, Raleigh. www. quailridgebooks.com.

TO A DV E R T I S E O N T H E B AC K PAG E : C A L L 9 1 9. 2 6 8 .1 9 7 2 ( D U R H A M /C H A P E L H I L L ) O R 9 1 9. 8 3 2 . 8 7 74 ( R A L E I G H ) • E M A I L : A DV E R T I S I N G @ I N DY W E E K .C O M