INDY Week 7.5.17

AN INDY SPECIAL REPORT

HOGWASHED PART 2

raleigh 7 . 5 . 17

p. 10

GA M E CHANGER Yo u e a t l o c a l . Y ou shop local.

S o w h y n o t m o ve on from Catan and play local, t oo?

B Y S AYA K A M A TSUOKA p. 16

PLUS, REVIEWS OF SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING AND TAP + TABLE

2 | 7.5.17 | INDYweek.com

WHAT WE LEARNED THIS WEEK | RALEIGH VOL. 34, NO. 24

7 If Wake County has $3 million extra to spend, who gets to decide how to spend it?

8 During low-flow periods, water levels in North Carolina’s rivers and streams dropped by 18 percent over a thirteen-year period.

10 After Hurricane Floyd, the legislature authorized $18.7 million to buy out hog farms in the Neuse River floodplain. But sixty-two farms—and more than a quarter-million hogs—remained.

16 We’re currently living in the golden age of board games.

18 A North Carolina barbecue camp misses the point about America’s most politicized food.

19 Side dishes are the main event at the new Trophy Brewing enterprise Tap + Table.

21 The Total Package Tour promises a heavy dose of eighties nostalgia, but its lineup is a disparate collection of former stars.

23 NCMA’s expanded Afri can gallery is part of a nationwide trend in museums reevaluating their African collections.

DEPARTMENTS 6 Triangulator 8 News 18 Food 20 Music 23 Arts & Culture

Tap + Table, the newest venture from Trophy Brewing (see review on page 19)

PHOTO BY BEN MCKEOWN

26 What to Do This Week 29 Music Calendar

On the cover:

ILLUSTRATION BY CHRISTOPHER WILLIAMS

33 Arts & Culture Calendar

INDYweek.com | 7.5.17 | 3

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backtalk

A Stinking Mess

We received lots of feedback on part one of our Hogwashed series, which talked about the federal nuisance lawsuits filed by about five hundred residents of eastern North Carolina against pork giant Murphy-Brown LLC. We’ll begin with Andy Curliss, CEO of the N.C. Pork Council. “You present only one side of the story, painting a sympathetic picture of the pork industry’s critics while failing to seek or give readers an objective view of the issue,” Curliss writes. “As a result, your report is misleading.

“You failed to mention, much less describe, the strict regulations that all North Carolina hog farmers must follow. You cited questionable research. You describe legislation erroneously.

“At one point, you said that the number of hogs raised in North Carolina ‘has skyrocketed in recent decades.’

But for the past two decades, the number of hogs raised here has remained the same or declined. In fact, there has been a moratorium on the construction of new hog farms in North Carolina for more than twenty years.

“You accepted without question the complaint from one farm’s neighbor, Elsie Herring. The facts don’t support her allegation. A wide, thick stand of trees protects her home from spraying, and state records show that the farmer has sprayed in his field only two times in the past six months, for about two hours each time. The record is similar for all of 2016.

“It is important to share one significant fact regarding this litigation: the plaintiffs’ lawsuits do not seek any changes, fixes, or other remedies on farms. Instead, they ask for only one thing: money.

“More than 80 percent of North Carolina’s hog farms are family farms. These are farms that have been in families for generations. Most farmers live on or adjacent to their farms and work hard to take good care of the land. They are an integral part of the communities in which they live. They do things the right way and strive to be good neighbors. If there is a problem, they want to fix it.

“It is unfortunate that INDY Week presented only one side. You have taken what critics and opponents said and adopted it as your own, fail-

ing to provide a fair or complete picture. Farmers deserve better. Your readers deserve better.”

(In response: in our story, Elsie Herring noted that the spraying had diminished since the lawsuits were filed in 2014. Her complaints date back to the mid-nineties. As for Curliss’s point about “skyrocketing,” this week’s story quotes him mentioning “the industry’s rapid growth in the 1980s and 1990s.”)

Moving on to Betty Brandt Williamson, who on our Facebook page quibbles with Murphy-Brown’s parent company, Smithfield Foods, pointing out the relatively low number of odor complaints the state has received and the fact that none of them led to fines: “Odor complaints not substantiated per regulators?

It stinks driving by on I-40.”

“Don’t forget the Hispanics who live in these communities too,” adds Kristen K. Hernandez. “It’s hard to even drive through some of these towns without retching from the smell.”

Jamie Farrell argues that all this is necessary: “You have to have farms to raise meat to eat. Before all these big farms, families raised feeder pigs in the yards, had chicken coops, raised cattle, and I have never been by anywhere animals are raised big or small that don’t have odor. Folks have to eat and all the jobs are in the cities, and rural areas hardly ever get the jobs. We have farmers who provide food; those same farmers who have the pigs in houses that are being complained about raise corn, wheat, soybeans, tomatoes, and all the other food products. People who love these foods have the same right to have them as you do to complain. Take away the farmer and see how long you live.”

Tony Pritchett and Cameron Mills have mixed feelings on the subject. Pritchett: “It’s a stinking mess. It brings jobs to a region where jobs are few and far between. I don’t see an easy remedy.” Mills: “I dislike these farms making people’s lives miserable, but I love eating cheap and plentiful tasty, tasty pig flesh.”

“You have to have these farms to raise meat to eat.”

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.

INDYweek.com | 7.5.17 | 5

triangulator A MODEST PROPOSAL

A few weeks back, we came across this story in the Durham Herald-Sun about about Capitol Broadcasting taking the first steps in its expansion of the American Tobacco Campus. Last year, you’ll recall, it acquired the neighboring University Ford property for $28.8 million. Now it’s trying to figure out just what to do with those eleven acres.

A few ideas are being tossed around: offices and condos (of course), an entertainment complex to complement DPAC and maybe a skyscraper to rival One City Center.

Since everything is in early stages, we figured we’d toss a few ideas into the mix—a modest proposal, if you will, that represents the downtown Durham development we’ve all come to know and love in recent years. We think it’s something our friends at Capitol might want to take a look at.

Call it ATC at the Place™.

Prime working digs with great downtown views!

For a low introductory price, get yourself one of these convenient portable smoffices, starting at just $2,500 a month.

The sound of progress!

You’ll never tire of hearing our neverending construction!

Need somewhere to park your ride? We’ve got three floors of wide parking spaces for your Ford Expedition.

Historic preservation!

Check out these facades of old Durham outside the city’s hottest new restaurant, Tôst, featuring locally sourced avocados!

Affordable housing! These spacious 800 square-foot beauties can be yours, starting in the low $600s!

A nod to our past! Pick your own tobacco at the American Tobacco Campus’s very own Tobacco Patch . (Restrictions and fees apply. Must be 18 with valid identification.)

ILLUSTRATION BY CHRISTOPHER WILLIAMS

6 | 7.5.17 | INDYweek.com

+GET BENT

Last week, a White House commission on voting integrity—established to prop up President’s Trump false claim that he lost the popular vote because millions of people voted illegally—sent a letter asking all fifty states to provide voters’ names, addresses, birthdays, political parties, last four digits of their social security numbers, and voting histories from 2006 onward.

The request drew heat from some Democratics and civil rights groups, who fear it will be used to validate voter suppression, particularly among minority voters.

Immediately, a handful of states rejected the request, which came from commission cochairman and Kansas secretary of state Kris Kobach, whom the director of the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project has called the “King of Vote Suppression.”

On Friday morning, the INDY asked Governor Cooper for his take.

“Integrity of our elections is critical, and a recent State Board of Elections investigation already found there was no evidence of significant voter fraud in North Carolina,” Cooper said in a statement issued later that day. (The investigation he’s referring to found that, in November, 508 people in North Carolina voted illegally, and a strict voter ID law would have stopped one of them.) “My staff has told the State Board of Elections that we should not participate in providing sensitive information beyond what is public record as it is unnecessary, and because I have concerns that it is an effort to justify the President’s false claims about voter fraud.”

On Friday afternoon, the SBE released its own statement, saying it would release

PERIPHERAL VISIONS | V.C. ROGERS

information that it already makes publicly available—in other words, the information that it already has for the taking on the SBE’s website: name, address, party affiliation, voter participation. The other stuff, no dice.

To date, at least twenty-nine states have either declined or pushed back on the White House’s request. Even in Mississippi, the secretary of state told the commission to “go jump in the Gulf of Mexico.”

+THE $3M QUESTION

Three million bucks equals less than 1 percent of what Wake County gives its schools every year. Still, when county coffers took in that much more in property taxes this spring than expected, it started a row over county governance.

At the heart of the dispute: financial staffers decided to incorporate that money into the overall budget without consulting county commissioners. But some of those commissioners wanted that money diverted to the school system, which received significantly less from the county than it asked for this year.

First-term commissioner Greg Ford, a former high school principal, wants to know who calls the shots.

“The point is, staff used discretion to allocate this funds in a way that I think that, because of the amount, should have been brought before the Board of Commissioners for action,” Ford says. “What is an appropriate threshold of when elected officials should be notified?”

Commission chairman Sig Hutchison says the system of letting the county’s financial staff make interim adjustments is work-

ing just fine, despite Ford’s concern.

“I would say this is his first time, and this is the way it’s always been done and the way it always will be done,” Hutchison says.

Commissioner Jessica Holmes responds: “That is true as long as there are a majority of votes to support that position, but the chair does not speak for me. We are both duly elected.”

Commissioners Ford, Holmes, and Matt Calabria thought after a June meeting that as much as $5 million in additional funds might be directed to the schools.

“Several commissioners, including me and including Commissioner Holmes, wanted to know from staff, did our budget projections for the year match the actual revenues and expenditures?” says Calabria, who eventually forged an agreement that brought the schools $5 million more than Wake County manager Jim Hartmann first proposed, upping the schools’ new revenue from $16 million to $21 million. “We wanted to know what, if any, additional monies would be available to the school system.”

Financial staffers said the property tax revenue went into a pot with all other revenues. However, they said, $1.5 million in sales taxes—again, more than projected— could go to the schools. Calabria accepted that explanation, but Holmes and Ford maintain that commissioners should have been able to weigh in on the other $3 million.

Hutchison disagrees: “It wasn’t that a decision was made; it was part of the normal budget process that we go through.” triangulator@indyweek.com This week’s report by Jeffrey C. Billman, Thomas Goldsmith, and Erica Hellerstein.

indy week’s

Campus Guide everything you need to know to get your semester started right on stands august 9 reserve by july 7fi contact your rep or advertising @ indyweek.com INDYweek.com | 7.5.17 | 7

indynews S

cientists and environmental activists are increasingly alarmed by the waning amount of water running through North Carolina’s streams and rivers. The deficits aren’t small—and depending on climate, growth, and water use, they could affect the general public. In fact, according to a recent study by the U.S. Geological Survey, water measured in low-flow periods dropped by nearly a fifth between 1998 and 2011.

The net effect of the 18 percent decrease— caused by such factors as increased development and water withdrawals, as well as climate change—is that less water is available for drinking and for diluting effluents and other pollutants discharged into streams.

Chris Goudreau, a biologist with the state Wildlife Resources Commission, says North Carolina’s rapid growth should make the state’s water quality and quantity a priority.

But state and local governments in North Carolina have “very limited” power over water withdrawals, says Richard Whisnant, a professor of public law and policy at UNCChapel Hill. In fact, towns such as Rocky Mount have run out or nearly run out of water during droughts.

By comparison, people who want to divert water from a river in California have to, among other requirements, file an application with the state, pay fees, show that their project would not harm natural resources, and demonstrate that the project is in the public interest.

Environmentalists say the state should toughen the requirements on permits for withdrawals to reflect the lower water flow.

But a state government dedicated to dismantling regulations shows no signs of taking that step.

“The stream flow is really important to permits and the health of the streams, and basically the regulatory system hasn't really kept up with the science,” says Bill Holman, state director of the nonprofit Conservation Fund and former secretary of the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources. “The 7Q10 is barely enough water to keep the stream system alive.”

The measurement called 7Q10 is used as a standard in discussions of water availability.

It reflects a disastrous situation: “The lowest stream flow for seven consecutive days that would be expected to occur once in ten years,” according to the EPA. The landmark study conducted by USGS 8 | 7.5.17 | INDYweek.com

Low Flow

WATER LEVELS IN NORTH CAROLINA’S RIVERS AND STREAMS HAVE DROPPED BY A FIFTH. SCIENTISTS ARE WORRIED.

BY THOMAS GOLDSMITH

French Broad River

PHOTO COURTESY OF VISITNC.COM

hydrologist Curtis Weaver looked at 7Q10 data from gauges in sixty-three streams across the state between 1998 and 2011, a period when the state experienced extremes in weather.

“We’ve had several off and on drought periods since the late nineties,” Weaver says.

“One of the questions we wanted to pose was, has the 7Q10 discharge across the state decreased? Do we have evidence yes or no?

[The study] suggest it’s yes.”

The state Division of Water Resources also found downward trends in a 2014 study of three North Carolina river basins.

Even though the last full year Weaver studied was 2011, statewide levels of rain and heat are unlikely to have appreciably changed the stream-flow levels since then, says Rebecca Ward, extension climatologist at the State Climate Office. Droughts in 2002 and 200708 could have affected the short-term result but wouldn’t affect the trend over time.

“What we can say with confidence is that long and severe droughts are a part of our history, and it’s likely we will see such climate events again,” she says.

Lowered stream flows can have farreaching effects that might not immediately spring to mind, says Peter Raabe, state

conservation director for the nonprofit American Rivers. For instance, low-flow conditions in streams can make life tough for benthic macroinvertebrates, or “benthos,” small creatures that live on the bottom of streams, eating algae and in turn being eaten by fish. The presence or absence of these creatures also serves as an indicator of water quality.

Municipal and industrial use of North Carolina’s rivers can lead to reduced water flow— practices as small as watering your lawn and as large as using rivers to cool power plants.

Hydrologists have measured stream flow for decades, in many cases to determine the relationship of water quantity and quality. And state legislators grew concerned enough about the issue in 2010 to pass a law directing environmental regulators to create plans to find the stream flow for each of the state’s seventeen river basins to protect their ecological integrity. (That means its ability to support a climate of biodiversity, to recover from disruption, and to “continue to provide the natural goods and services that normally accrue from the system.”)

The law’s passage led to the creation of the Ecological Flows Science Advisory Board, which met for three years and issued a

report that proposed possible approaches to assessing the basins’ viability. They included measuring critical low flow and/or “biological response”—in other words, changes wrought by stream volume.

The response from the McCrory administration’s environmental agency: “DENR does not plan to implement the biological response or critical low-flow recommendations at this time, pending further evaluation.”

But officials at several levels continue to deal with the lessening flow.

Tom Fransen, water planning chief at the Division of Water Resources, says the city of Raleigh’s 2014 objections to the advisory board’s recommendations as potentially too restrictive meant new rules had to be approved or state law had to be modified.

That didn’t happen in the recently concluded legislative session.

Ed Buchan, Raleigh’s environmental coordinator, says citizens have done well in reducing water usage since the drought of 2007–08. But that doesn’t mean the city can ignore the possibility of the reduction in Falls Lake’s “safe yield” or the consistent water supply from the lake during a drought.

“We would be concerned about a trend of declining average flows in the Neuse River basin (especially in the Upper Neuse Basin),” Buchan writes in an email. “In reviewing 80+ years of inflow data into Falls Lake (or more properly—the Falls Lake area since it wasn’t constructed until 1983), it appears there has been a slight decline in average inflows during this time period.”

A new EPA tool predicts that increased rainfall levels may be on the way, Raleigh officials say. Writes Buchan: “It is a bit of a mixed bag when it comes to water resources in the Neuse River Basin, but as water providers to over 550,000 residents, we tend to be pretty conservative and have integrated the declining inflow trend into our ongoing planning efforts.”

“The biggest concern is that when our streams have reduced flow, that’s our drinking water,” says Raabe. “How do we manage that water so that we meet all our needs?

The environmental part of it is, these ecosystems are designed to have a certain amount of water in them. Just like it’s a drinking water source for us, it’s drinking water [and habitat] for all those animals. When that changes, it could be a really delicate change.” tgoldsmith@indyweek.com

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HOGWASHED PART

2

A powerful special interest. Shameless politicians. Failed regulations.

A continuing look at Big Pork in North Carolina.

by KEN FINE and ERICA HELLERSTEIN

Young hogs in pens at Butler Farms in Lillington 10 | 7.5.17 | INDYweek.com

PHOTO BY ALEX BOERNER

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the second installment of a three-part investigation into North Carolina’s hog-farming industry. The first story examined claims by lower-income African-American residents of eastern North Carolina that neighboring hog farms have polluted their properties and efforts by lawmakers to shield pork producers from litigation. This story looks at the environmental impacts hog farming has had over the last two decades, particularly on waterways such as the Neuse River. The final piece will discuss ways to make the multibillion-dollar hog industry more sustainable, both for the environment and the state’s rural population, and the political and financial reasons those steps have not been taken.

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PART TWO: THE FLOOD

I. “Mother Nature Will Strike Back”

On September 16, 1999, Hurricane Floyd, a category 2 storm with sustained winds of 110 mph and a storm surge of nearly ten feet, made landfall at Cape Fear. Between fifteen and twenty inches of rain pummeled eastern North Carolina. Forty-eight people died.

Thousands more were displaced.

To make matters worse, just a few weeks earlier, Hurricane Dennis had brought heavy rains to the region. By the time Floyd hit, nearly every river basin in the eastern part of the state exceeded five-hundred-year flood levels. In the end, Floyd caused nearly $7 billion in damage.

The torrential downpour unleashed something else, too: when the floodwaters saturated miles of North Carolina’s farmland, they swallowed many of the farm animals that made their homes in those fields. Tens of thousands of hogs and chickens drowned, and millions of gallons of waste—an admixture of feces, urine, blood, and other fluids housed in lagoons—merged with the swollen Neuse River and its tributaries.

When those floodwaters receded and soaked into the ground, they took the contents of those lagoons with them. The pollutants entered the Neuse River basin, a waterway that begins its eastward path in Durham and feeds into the Pamlico Sound, the nation’s second-largest estuarine complex. The sound is so vast—eighty miles long and twenty miles wide—that, in 1524, Italian explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano mistook it for the Pacific Ocean. Today it provides an estimated 90 percent of the state’s commercial fish and shellfish catches, an industry worth nearly $100 million annually.

Floyd put all that in jeopardy. Nitrogen,

phosphorus, and heavy metals found in the waste sat dormant in the Neuse and the sound it feeds. Months later, rising water temperatures activated the growth of algae blooms. During their ultimate decomposition, those blooms sucked the oxygen out of the water below, and hundreds of thousands of fish washed up on riverbanks.

These events prompted the legislature to authorize the Clean Water Management Trust Fund, which allocated $18.7 million for the voluntary buyouts of hog and chicken farms located inside the Neuse’s floodplain. But while forty-three farmers shut down—representing at least sixty thousand hogs and more than one hundred lagoons, according to state records—sixty-two farms remained, housing more than 250,000 hogs and nearly two million chickens.

Scientists and clean-water advocates have long worried that a sequel to Floyd could once again devastate eastern North Carolina.

“I live on the Neuse River, and I’ve seen the fish die in this river,” says former Neuse riverkeeper Rick Dove. “We’ve lost over a INDYweek.com | 7.5.17 | 11

billion [fish] in this river due to pollution.

There’s no river in the U.S. that has suffered more fish kills than the Neuse. And let me tell you something. The laws of nature are far more powerful than the laws of men. And when you abuse nature over a long period of time, she’s very forgiving and she’s healing, but if you continue to pollute and desecrate and violate the laws of nature, she will strike back with something to stop you.”

Last fall, she struck back.

Hurricane Matthew, a category 1 storm that rotated over North Carolina for more than twelve hours, washed out entire towns, uprooted centuries-old trees, and destroyed businesses. According to the N.C. Pork Council, fourteen waste lagoons flooded.

When those waters receded, they took the contents of those lagoons with them, cleanwater advocates say. What didn’t end up in the river soaked into the ground. And when water temperatures rise this summer, they argue, that waste could reveal itself in the form of fish-killing algae that has the potential to damage the state’s seafood industry.

“We don’t even know what the summer will bring,” Dove says. “But I think it’s safe to say it’s going to be another wake-up call.”

Lagoons are an inexpensive way to deal with hog waste. The size and depth of a lagoon depends on various factors, including the number of hogs and local enviromental considerations, but the lagoons are usually eight to fifteen feet deep.

HOW A LAGOON/ SPRAY SYSTEM WORKS 1. Pig waste passes through a slatted floor into containment areas under the warehouse hog pens. The pens are cleaned regularly; the waste mixes with water and flows into outdoor pits called lagoons.

The warehouses must be on higher ground than the lagoon since the lagoons are generally fed by gravity.

PIG WAREHOUSES

1

2. The waste

breaks down through a natural process over a period of months. Effluent remains at the top; sludge falls to the bottom.

PIG WA STE MIXED WITH WATER TO FOR M EFFLUENT A post with measurement marks is sunk into the bottom of the lagoon to indicate water levels and let farmers know when levels need to be reduced through spraying.

H IDT ’W

AY

10

CL

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At least one foot of compacted clay or other material should line the lagoon, forming a barrier that reduces the risk of leaks.

Many older N.C. lagoons are unlined and dug in sandy soil; these have a higher propensity to leak.

E

12 | 7.5.17 | INDYweek.com

LAGOON CONSTRUCTION

U

For thousands of years, the Neuse River, which snakes more than 275 miles across North Carolina, provided fresh water and food to the indigenous people who called eastern North Carolina home. It remained unknown to English speakers until 1585, when a pair of explorers commissioned by Sir Walter Raleigh wrote about their escapades along “a goodly river called Neuse.”

Its recent history has been problematic.

Even before Floyd, scientists say, the estuary fed by the Neuse was gasping for air.

“It seems like [the Pamlico Sound] in the summer is always on the cusp of becoming hypoxic,” says Travis Graves, who recently retired as the Lower Neuse riverkeeper.

“It’s always struggling for oxygen.”

Graves’s claim is supported by research dating as far back as 1998. That year, the University of North Carolina’s Institute of Marine Sciences published a report by ecology professor Hans Paerl and colleagues that concluded that a major rain event would result in hypoxia-induced fish kills along the Neuse River and within the Pamlico Sound. The culprit would be washed-out animal waste lagoons that would pollute the waterway. Paerl and his coauthors identified agricultural expansion and the proliferation of concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs, as the primary causes of “these

Everything you ever wanted to know about pig-waste disposal but were afraid to ask

SL

II. “A Goodly River Called Neuse”

INSIDE THE CESSPOOL

troubling symptoms of eutrophication.”

Two years after Floyd, in 2001, a report

by Duke University civil and environmental engineering professor Mark Borsuk noted that the Neuse was “a typical example of a stressed coastal system.” The river’s estuary was experiencing symptoms of nutrient overload, including algal blooms, low levels of dissolved oxygen, fish kills, and outbreaks of toxic microorganisms, problems he blamed in part on “a growing commercial hog-farming industry.”

In October 2006, an article in the Journal of Environmental Engineering concluded that the Neuse’s estuary suffered from fecal contamination. It blamed livestock waste introduced into the waterway by “open-field manure spraying systems [and] agricultural animal manure runoff from confined animal feeding operations.”

DIRT CONSTRUCT

L AGOON

3

3. Effluent is pumped from the lagoon and sprayed on crops as fertilizer using either a sprinkler system or by hand with a spray gun.

The dirt wall surrounding the lagoon is covered in grass to help prevent erosion, improve appearence, and provide better access.

In addition, a 2015 study by the U.S. Geological Survey and the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources found that 58 percent of watersheds in the state’s coastal plain that contained industrialized animal operations had “distinct water-quality differences, reflecting swine and/or poultry CAFO manure effects”— an indication, environmentalists say, that even absent a natural disaster, an adverse environmental impact was present.

Despite two decades of evidence, however, not much has changed.

In April, the national water conservation organization American Rivers ranked the Neuse (along with Cape Fear) as the seventh most endangered river in the country, citing the harmful chemicals—nitrogen, phosphorus, blood, and fecal matter—that have been making their way into the river because of

2

CROPS

SOURCES: N.C. State, University of Missouri GRAPHIC BY SHAN STUMPF

nearby hog and poultry operations. Hurricane Matthew exacerbated these longstanding problems, according to the report.

“The threat these facilities and their antiquated waste operations pose to our waters will only increase as the effects of climate change become more prevalent and North Carolina is subjected to more frequent powerful storms,” the report says.

III. “We Cannot Sacrifice the Environment”

Here’s how hog-waste lagoons are supposed to work.

A farmer digs a pond-like basin, usually eight to fifteen feet deep, next to a row of

hog houses. When the pigs inside those hog houses relieve themselves, their waste falls through small slits on the slanted floor and into a concrete storage pit. That waste is then piped into the lagoon.

From there, science takes over. Solids in the wastewater separate and settle into layers of liquid on top and sludge below.

Whenever the cesspool levels rise, the liquid is then pumped onto nearby spray fields as crop fertilizer. This prevents the openair lagoon from flooding.

Hog farmers have been utilizing this practice since at least the 1970s. The hog industry has long argued that the sludge inside the lagoons creates a natural seal, preventing leakage and contamination of nearby groundwater supplies. The industry says this became especially true after the late eighties, when lining lagoons with dense compacted clay became a best practice.

In 1993, the state’s Division of Environmental Management told lawmakers that lagoons are constructed to self-seal; two years later, Wendell Murphy, a powerful Democratic state legislator and patriarch of Murphy Family Farms, told The News & Observer that “lagoons will seal themselves” and that there’s not “one shred, not one piece of evidence anywhere in this nation that any groundwater is being con-

“ THE L AWS OF NAT URE ARE FAR MORE POWERF UL THAN THE L AWS OF MEN.”

taminated by a hog lagoon.”

Agriculture experts disagree. Because most North Carolina hog farms are located in five eastern counties situated in the Inner Coastal Plain, a region defined by permeable sandy soil, leakage is unavoidable, they say. And they point out that while lagoons constructed after the late eighties were lined with clay, most of the older lagoons were never retrofitted.

In 1995, Rodney Huffman, an associate professor of biological and agricultural engineering at N.C. State, conducted a study on the state’s unlined lagoons that were at least seven years old. He and his fellow researchers found that more than half of them leaked “moderately to severely,” leaving nitrate levels in groundwater up to three times the EPA’s allowable limit. (Research has linked high nitrate levels in groundwater to potentially fatal heart defects in children.)

How much a lagoon could leak depends on the type of soil it was dug in, says John Classen, an N.C. State professor and an expert on agricultural waste management. Those dug closer to the center of the state, which has more clay soil, tend to leak less. But even the cesspools lined with clay can leak, he says, though not as much as the ones in more porous sandy soil. In fact, he adds, even concrete-lined lagoons could leak “on the same order of magnitude as that clay liner.”

In other words, Classen says, all lagoons have the potential to leak; the question is how much.

In 1997, two years after the publication of a Pulitzer Prize-winning N&O series looking at the environmental hazards of hog farming, the state legislature placed a moratorium on the construction of new hog farms and lagoons. But the cesspools already in use were left untouched.

The environmental implications of lagoons, however, made Governor Jim Hunt nervous. A longtime industry ally, Hunt outlined a plan in April 1999 to phase out the lagoon system over ten years.

“My views and most views have evolved to where we have to take stronger action to clear up our water and rivers,” Hunt told The New York Times. “We need a strong economy for our people, but we cannot sacrifice the environment for jobs.”

Hunt’s proposal failed to attract a single sponsor in the General Assembly. But that September, Hurricane Floyd ravaged the eastern part of the state, emptying the lagoons’ contents into waterways. Then people began paying attention.

In 2000, then-Attorney General Mike Easley, who would later become governor, entered into an agreement with pork giant Smithfield Foods in which the industry agreed to fund a $17 million experiment to find more environmentally sound ways to dispose of hog waste. Ultimately, the project identified five technologies that reduced odor emissions and the risk of pollution, nutrient and heavy metal contamination, and “disease-transmitting vectors and airborne pathogens.”

The problem was that these technologies were deemed economically viable only for

INDYweek.com | 7.5.17 | 13

implementation on new farms.

Since no new hog farms have been constructed since the moratorium was put into place in 1997, these technologies have largely gone unused in North Carolina.

Even so, says Andy Curliss, CEO of the N.C. Pork Council, hog farms today operate in an environmentally responsible manner.

“Since the industry’s rapid growth in the 1980s and 1990s, there have been major, farreaching changes in how hog farms operate and how they are regulated by the state,” he

formance of clay liners may actually improve over time.” Moreover, “hog farming is the most highly regulated sector in all of agriculture. Every farm is inspected by the state every year to ensure compliance with strict environmental regulations,” which include “lagoon integrity and liner conditions.”

But Tom Butler, a Lillington hog farmer who has been in the business since 1994, says those inspections have become less rigorous over the past two decades. While he agrees that, on paper, the industry is among

“ WE USED TO BE SCARED TO DEATH WHEN THE INSPECTORS CAME.”

told the INDY in a statement. “Today, North Carolina has the most stringent regulations in the nation for hog farmers.”

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IV. “You Can Write Down Whatever You Want”

If scientists knew how old a lagoon was and what it was lined with, they could make an educated guess about its propensity to leak, look for potential groundwater contamination, and determine how much ecological damage might have occurred, if any.

North Carolina, however, doesn’t maintain that information in a central database.

The N.C. Department of Environmental Quality says that acquiring that information would require contacting the regional office that oversees each individual farm and asking if it has hard copies of that farm’s records. That wouldn’t be easy; according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, there are more than twenty-two hundred hog farms in North Carolina.

In an email, DEQ spokeswoman Marla Sink acknowledges that collecting “the age of the lagoon” falls under the DEQ’s purview.

But, she writes, “the age of the lagoons varies greatly and we do not have actual construction dates of most of these lagoons.”

The industry shrugs off concerns about aging liners—especially clay liners—and the potential for groundwater contamination.

As Smithfield Foods told the INDY in an email, “there is no limit on the life of clay liners. … They are inspected on a regular basis by producers and by the regulators. The per-

the most regulated in the state, he says the inspection process has become increasingly less comprehensive—and more and more, it relies on the farmer to regulate himself, because the inspections draw on the farmer’s own records.

State statute requires one a year at every animal operation. But twenty years ago, he says, his farm was inspected at least three times a year.

“We used to be scared to death when [the inspectors] came, because they actually went out in the spray fields,” says Butler, who is celebrated among environmental activists for covering his lagoons, which reduces odors and prevents flooding, and converting hog waste into electricity. “In the early days, it was more closely inspected. There was more touring around the farm. We would actually go to spray fields and look at grass and the weeds and stuff.

We would always check the lagoon levels.

We would actually do it physically.”

Nowadays, Butler says, inspections on his farm are nothing more than a review of his records of such things as lagoon sludge levels and how much effluent was sprayed.

“They come in, they’re very friendly, we go through the inspection sheet, we go through all the items, they look at your waste management analysis, and then they look at that, make sure you got a current sample, and look at your records, and they look at your calculations of your spray system, they do all that,” he says. “But this is paperwork. This is paperwork that you just show them. You can write down whatever you want to. There’s nothing beyond checking these logs.”

Christine Lawson, manager of the DEQ’s concentrated animal feeding operations program, confirms that the number

of annual inspections dropped from two in 2011 to one today, due to budget cuts and the elimination of what the legislature viewed as redundancy. (Lawson says she does not believe inspectors viewed the second inspection as redundant.) But she says those annual inspections consist of more than just a paper audit.

“You physically inspect the facility in addition to the audit of all the records,” she says. “You walk the lagoon, you look for weak spots, you look to make sure it’s being properly maintained, you go to the spray fields. There are many things we look for.”

Still, with limited resources, there’s only so much inspectors can do. The inspectors rely on records kept by the farmers to determine how much and how often they spray effluent onto fields and how much sludge is in their lagoons.

Curliss points out that farmers must “keep detailed records that show exactly when they spray, to which section of which field, for how long, and they must record the weather conditions.”

Because of the system’s inherent selfregulation, Lawson acknowledges the possibility that bad actors could fudge the numbers. But if the DEQ caught wind of such activities, she says, the state wouldn’t hesitate to prosecute.

Lawson also confirms that farmers get a heads-up before their annual inspection—as much as a week, Butler says. Inspectors don’t randomly show up unless they’re responding to allegations of impropriety. This is done, Lawson says, to make sure someone will be there when the inspector arrives.

“But if our person is driving down the road and they see something that’s not going right, they’re driving and their vehicle gets sprayed by animal waste, they’re going to stop and deal with it right then,” Lawson says.

Butler, however, says this notification gives farms the chance to get everything in order before the inspectors come.

“We’re always notified,” he says. “If we do have any issues, we can get those cleared away because we know the inspector is coming. And to me, that’s not a good inspection.”

V. “A Dozen Lagoons Under Water”

In October, Hurricane Matthew wreaked havoc across eastern North Carolina, causing $1.5 billion in damage to one hundred thousand homes, businesses, and government buildings, according to a state estimate.

Agricultural operations fared no better.

“I saw about a dozen lagoons under water,

The Neuse River and probably another ten poultry facilities where the barns were underwater,” says Graves, the recently retired Lower Neuse riverkeeper. “Even if the lagoons weren’t breached, you could see that they had been completely flushed. All of that ended up right in the Neuse River.”

The Pork Council says that fourteen lagoons flooded, less than 1 percent of lagoons in the state. Smithfield Foods attributes that to the state’s buyout program after Hurricane Floyd and the “proactive steps taken on North Carolina hog farms.”

The company says more serious environmental damage has been incurred by spills at municipal sewage plants.

But lagoons flooding during dramatic rain events isn’t the only concern. Leaking cesspools and seepage and runoff from spray fields also affect fish in state waterways, clean-water advocates say.

“I have seen a fish kill in the lower basin here every year since I’ve been on board as the riverkeeper,” says Graves, whose tenure as riverkeeper began in 2014. “It’s almost like clockwork. We can watch the water temperatures, wait for a rain event, and you can almost predict it to the day. I’ve seen hundreds of millions of [dead] fish.”

Those fish kills occur all along the Neuse River basin, he adds, right down to the Pamlico Sound. And large fish kills in the sound, the birthplace of much of the seafood harvested off the North Carolina coast, could be calamitous both environmentally and economically. Because of Matthew, Graves says, his fears may be realized this summer.

“After the [hurricane], and seeing so many facilities underwater, I have serious concerns over what kind of fish kill numbers we’re going to see this summer,” Graves says. “I’m anticipating it to be the worst summer for fish kills in recent history.”

Earlier this year, when the Neuse was

PHOTO BY BEN MCKEOWN

named one of the most endangered rivers in America, riverkeepers began floating the idea of another voluntary buyout. The Pork Council endorsed that proposal; it’s not immediately clear whether or to what degree the legislature’s recently passed budget will fund a new buyout program.

But clean-water advocates say more drastic measures may be necessary—perhaps as drastic as replacing the entire lagoon system. After all, the pork industry ranks among the state’s most vital economic engines, pumping $2.5 billion a year into the state’s economy and accounting for more than forty-six thousand jobs. It’s not going anywhere. And that means that sooner or later, the state is going to have to figure out a solution to all that waste.

VI. “Ten Thousand Pigs a Mile”

From the sky, in a shaky two-person airplane, you can see the paradox: vast expanses of green, lush, North Carolina beauty, zigzagging streams and rivers, all jarringly peppered with pig farms and the pink pools beside them. The perspective has a way of clarifying things. It’s an unnatural convergence between nature and manmade toxicity, and it makes the questions seem all the more urgent. How is this sustainable? Isn’t there a better way to handle this waste?

And what’s going to happen the next time a Matthew-type disaster strikes?

Bob Epting, a cheery seventy-one-yearold pilot, zips through the clouds in his tiny white plane, pointing out the various hog operations and cesspools dotting eastern North Carolina’s otherwise pastoral landscape. They’re everywhere. Over Duplin County, Epting estimates, there are at least fifty within a ten-mile radius. Each farm

has a minimum of two thousand pigs, most far more. So a lowball estimate would mean one hundred thousand pigs in ten miles.

Ten thousand pigs a mile.

A 180-pound pig can produce eleven pounds of waste a day. That’s 110,000 pounds of waste per mile per day.

Again: What can be done with it?

Epting, a native North Carolinian who has lived in Chapel Hill since college, talks about how much he’s seen the state change—not just the proliferation of commercial farms but the state’s politics as well, from Democratic blue to ruby red. He discusses the paradoxes of Tar Heel politics, Jesse Helms, and industry buddy and former governor Jim Hunt, whom Epting says was pestered with a roadside billboard reading “The Feces Governor.”

Epting, a member of the state Environmental Management Commission from 1992–2000, began flying over the hog farms after meeting Dove, the former Neuse riverkeeper, who was documenting fish kills and the runoff of agricultural waste into the river.

Epting started flying so that Dove could take aerial photos of the land. Now, he says, “I’ve been doing this for a third of my life.”

Even before joining the EMC, Epting, who had a law practice in Chapel Hill, had a longstanding interest in clean-air and water issues. During his time on the commission, he saw the waste production of the corporate hog producers and believed stricter regulations were needed.

“I got aggravated about what we saw every time we flew,” he says of his flights with Dove. “In the early days, you could see that, almost inevitably, hog barns and hog lagoons were right in the crook of the arm of the wetland. They were in places where the waste, if it ran off the field, was going to go directly into a stream.”

Back then, he adds, “it was not unusual at all to fly on a cloudy day right after a bad rain or even a hurricane and see pump and spray operations going on. The spray is going up in the air and makes enormous waste, and so you can see it blow.”

After more than an hour in the sky, a gust of wind jostles the plane, and Epting swoops down, green meadows dotted with burnedout fields stretching far below. On this April morning, the water levels are higher than usual, thanks to a massive storm that washed over the state for several days before. The rain triggered flooding the likes of which hadn’t been seen since Matthew, seven months earlier. Streams and rivers appear swollen; saturated fields look like rice paddies.

Not too far away, the Neuse River flows patiently. Today the river looks fine. But it’s hard not to think about tomorrow. backtalk@indyweek.com INDYweek.com | 7.5.17 | 15

NONTRIVIAL PURSUIT

YOU EAT LOCAL AND SHOP LOCAL. DISCOVER THE TRIANGLE’S HOMEGROWN TABLETOP GAME SCENE AND YOU CAN PLAY LOCAL, TOO. B Y S AYA K A M A T S U O K A Daniel Solis, Judah Kalb, Jeremy Ramont, and Graham Russell play a game of Rhino Hero at Atomic Empire in Durham. PHOTO BY ALEX BOERNER

Y

our guests are beginning to arrive, and you start corralling them into cliques. You know that some of them are going to get along swimmingly, while you’d like to keep others apart. Small talk and the clinking of glasses fill your ears as you make your rounds, making sure everyone is entertained. You glimpse the belle of the ball as she turns a corner, and you rush to lure her into your party before she ends up at your neighbor’s. After all, she’s the key to victory.

While the scenario sounds familiar 16 | 7.5.17 | INDYweek.com

enough to be taking place in real life, it’s actually from Belle of the Ball, which is currently one of my favorite games. Not only is it easy to learn, but it also has an interesting setting, a charming premise, and diverse characters with hilarious names like Gigglelack Lololol, Zest of Latesun. Players arrange party guests, represented by cards, into groups to create the most dynamic soiree. The guests are interested in various subjects, and matching them properly garners points—but beware, because other players can sabotage your party.

Belle of the Ball’s creator, Daniel Solis, has lived in Durham since 2011. Soon after moving here, he joined the Game Designers of North Carolina, a group that meets regularly at game stores like Atomic Empire in Durham and The Gamer’s Armory in Cary.

Solis makes his living creating analog, or nondigital, games. He has published more than a dozen of them, making him a prolific participant in the Triangle’s thriving gamemaking scene.

Growing up, Solis couldn’t help but think up alternative rules when playing chess

with his stepfather. He realized at a young age that game design isn’t just about creating entertainment.

“It’s about human behavior, psychology, economics, and math,” he says. “There are flavors to fun. You have to ask yourself, ‘What kind of experience do I want to create?’ Game designers at their core are storytellers.”

Solis says that we’re currently living in the golden age of board games. It was arguably set in motion in 1995, when Settlers of Catan was published in Germany—though it took

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ers’ Kickstarter events at the store.

“The culture is growing,” says owner Jennifer Bedell. “Once you get a core of people doing it in an area you can help jumpstart others and create a community for it.”

One of the most popular games that got started this way is Cards Against Humanity. An adult version of Apples to Apples, it was funded on Kickstarter in 2010 and went on to became a staple among millennials. Letting players match a variety of noun cards to unfinished sentences like “But before I kill you, Mr. Bond, I must show you [BLANK]” creates raunchy hilarity that is most fun with large groups.

Such irreverent hits have made analog games more mainstream and hip, says Shelly Hardwick, a local boardgame player.

“They’re becoming part of party culture,” Hardwick says.

In April at Atomic Empire, Hardwick and her boyfriend, Jeremy Freeman, attended UnPub, a national series of events where game creators share, test, and market their latest works. The Kodama, Belle of the Ball, and As You Wish are three games sounds of dice created by Daniel Solis. PHOTO BY ALEX BOERNER being thrown and cards being shuffled filled the store, where more than a haired and bespectacled, the shy designdozen designers, some driving from as far er comes to life when talking about board away as Virginia, filled the back room. games. His blog is full of budding concepts, The youngest designer present, sevand he says he has fifteen games on the enteen-year-old Judah Kalb, showed backburner right now. He says the video two games, Chopping Block and Clash. game industry around Research TrianThe first imagines a world in which the gle Park and the myriad local universities French Revolution and the Salem Witch make the Triangle an ideal place for analog Trials take place at the same time. The game makers, too. other is a two-player fighting game that It’s also convenient that there’s a local plays like an elaborate rock, paper, scispublisher nearby. Dice Hate Me Games, sors. My partner and I get heated while a Chapel Hill-based company founded by playing it, battling ninja-like assassins Chris Kirkman, has published more than with tank-like brawler characters. twenty-five titles, including Belle of the Kalb, who has been designing games Ball. Drawing on his own passion for game since he was in elementary school, hopes design, Kirkman helps creators publish a to attend Champlain College’s game design game from start to finish: designing, fundprogram and go on to make his passion ing, and producing. into a career. Young designers like Kalb “We want to bring greater awareness of point to the wide-open future of analog gaming to the mainstream,” says Kirkman. games, and, with more than four hundred Key to building this awareness are crowdnew ones being funded on Kickstarter right funding sites like Kickstarter; most of the now—making it one of the most prolific catgames his company publishes get started on egories on the site—we players have a lot to the site, where people who might not go into look forward to. a game store can find and support interestarts@indyweek.com ing games. Atomic Empire hosts game makmore than a decade to become a worldwide phenomenon. Designed by Klaus Teuber, Catan offered a streamlined, flexible play style that American gamers, still stuck with Monopoly and Risk, weren’t accustomed to.

Catan went on to sell more than twenty million copies, and big-box stores have greatly expanded their game departments in the past decade. Target has committed to releasing exclusive games, like last year’s Oregon Trail card game, while Barnes & Noble has rolled out weekly game nights in its hundreds of stores across the country.

Catan not only made tabletop games a mainstream social pastime again; it also started an era in which game designers, like Solis, got their names on the boxes. Curly

804 W. Peace St. • Raleigh • 834-7070

INDYweek.com | 7.5.17 | 17

indyfood

White Meat

A NORTH CAROLINA BARBECUE CAMP MISSES THE POINT ABOUT AMERICA’S MOST POLITICIZED FOOD

BY MADDY SWEITZER-LAMME “You know what’s great about this? It’s pretty much the most diverse group you could possibly imagine—different ages, different industries, different walks of life.”

A middle-aged white man leans in to tell me this as I’m standing in a chilled meatprocessing lab at N.C. State, surrounded by more middle-aged white men. The diversity he is observing isn’t evident to me.

In fact, I am the only woman in the room.

Every single man here is my father’s age.

There is one person of color present.

I’m at N.C. State’s BBQ Camp, a thirty-sixhour event that has run annually for the last three years. The price of admission ranges from $450 to $550—an expensive opportunity for home chefs to sharpen their barbecue skills, share smoking strategies, and be delighted by the toys in the lab, a place typically reserved for university students learning the ins and outs of meat processing. But today, adult men are here, enraptured by an industrial sausage grinder.

The program is aptly named; it is very camp-like. Campers introduce themselves and count off into groups for competitive games, trading the Capture the Flag experience of their youth for a more sophisticated culinary competition, like who can spice up the best dry rub for a rack of ribs. Several of the participants grew up in rural North Carolina but now live in cities like Raleigh or Charlotte. As they share their names, backgrounds, and stories of barbecue, a sense of nostalgia permeates the room.

A few men are from outside of the South, identifying barbecue as their first step in understanding this state. I can’t help but wonder if they’ve come to the right place.

Their conversations make it apparent that many of them hold whole-hog cooking in higher esteem than any other form of barbecue, perhaps because they understand its cultural significance in North Carolina. Barbecue pork generates both adoration and argument—and they’re going to do it right if they’re doing it at all. They came here drawn by the promise of watch18 | 7.5.17 | INDYweek.com

N.C. State BBQ Camp 2016 PHOTO COURTESY OF ROGER WINSTEAD, N.C. STATE UNIVERSITY ing a professional break down a whole hog.

But as a food studies student at UNCChapel Hill, I’m used to having a different conversation about barbecue than the one that happened at this camp. Barbecue has always been connected to race, climate change, and politics. The New Yorker once called barbecue “America’s most political food.” Before the Civil War, enslaved African Americans Nat Turner and Gabriel Prosser did much of the planning for their slave rebellions at barbecues. The Civil Rights Act was upheld in a Supreme Court case brought by a barbecue restaurant in South Carolina.

None of those topics were mentioned here. Instead, the complexities of barbecue are glossed over. A few times, for example, Mexican mole is heralded as a “Mexican barbecue sauce,” yet there’s no mention of the immigrants who hold up so many parts of our food system. There’s talk of where to get the best brisket, but no discussion of the environmental impact of cattle farming. Even as a whole hog from the Nahunta Pork Center is sliced apart, no mention is

made of hog farmers dying from exposure to the animals’ waste just a hundred miles down Interstate 40.

I wonder why these men are here. Robert Eades, a mulch manufacturer from near Lake Norman, tells me he came to camp for the community.

“I wanted to be around other people who were interested in the same thing as me,” he tells me as we sample dry-rubbed ribs.

“Community was a really important part of barbecue traditionally, and I think this is an extension of that.”

Of course, he’s correct. Barbecue has historically been a food for everyone—cheap enough for the worker, but delicious enough to tempt even the U.S. president into partaking, like President Obama on a visit to Charlotte. But the community present at this particular meeting doesn’t reflect this nuanced history. It is no longer egalitarian.

This camp isn’t about understanding North Carolina. In fact, this barbecue suffers from a distinct lack of a sense of place, even down to the vinegar and ketchup sit-

ting side by side on a table—which, as we all know here in North Carolina, is barbecue blasphemy.

Beyond that, important context is lost.

For example, when you eat at restaurants like Allen and Son, where a barbecue plate runs you $6.75, you’re condoning the practices of companies like the Chinese-owned Murphy-Brown, which is being sued by five hundred primarily black residents of North Carolina for horrible effects on their health and environment. At more upscale restaurants like Picnic, which sources local, sustainably raised meat directly from Green Button Farm, the price is beyond what many North Carolinians can afford. So what are we supposed to do?

This group of thirty-one men obsessed with barbecue could easily have this crucial conversation. They already share a clear interest in preserving traditional barbecue techniques. One man asks if there is a barbecue museum where he could donate a vintage smoker he recently purchased. But the wider cultural importance of those traditions doesn’t exist in the group’s discussions.

Certainly, N.C. State’s barbecue camp represents some important changes. Natalie Ramsey, the female pitmaster and owner of Red Bridges Barbecue Lodge in Shelby, is treated with the utmost respect in the final roundtable discussion. During this conversation, Bob Garner, UNC-TV’s resident barbecue expert and author of several books on the subject, asks the men to identify themselves as pure traditionalists or as “barbecue explorers.” The room is split almost exactly down the middle. He also talks about how his old concern that barbecue culture would die with the last generation of pitmasters has been alleviated by camps like this one.

Times have changed since then—barbecue is certainly not at risk of dying.

But the risk that we’ll lose the communities that made it important in the first place remains. food@indyweek.com

food

TAP + TABLE

225 Wilmington Street, Raleigh

www.trophybrewing.com

Choosing Sides TROPHY BREWING EXPANDS ITS REACH IN THE RESTAURANT WORLD WITH TAP + TABLE

BY EMMA LAPERRUQUE

Rotisserie chicken, summer squash, fingerling potatoes PHOTO BY BEN MCKEOWN

We go to our favorite fancy Southern restaurants for the main course. Sure, everyone adores coleslaw and cornbread, potato salad and macaroni salad, fried okra and baked sweet potatoes. But they are backup dancers, not Rihannas. The veggie plate packed with sides is reserved for a meat-and-three—and even then, meat is the highlight.

The Skylight Inn has its signature cornbread, but you go for the whole hog. Beasley’s has mac and cheese custard, but you go for the fried chicken. And Tap + Table, the newest addition from Trophy Brewing Company, has red beans and rice, but you go for the rotisserie chicken and tacos.

But here’s some advice: go for the red beans and rice and a slew of other sides.

There’s crispy, craggly sweet potato fries with a garlicky cashew dip. Or fingerling potatoes, smashed, fried, and jolted awake by a paprika-sherry vinaigrette. And the succotash with okra and beans, tomatoes and corn, salty and warm, the way you feel alongside the ocean on a summer day.

This isn’t to say that the chicken and tacos are bad. The sides are just better— punchier in flavor, sharper in execution.

Like Trophy’s beers, they grab your attention and hold on.

The company, co-owned by Chris Powers, David “Woody” Lockwood, and David Meeker, opened its original brewerymeets-pizzeria in 2012. Since then, they’ve added another, larger brewery and taproom and, most recently, Tap + Table. The restaurant occupies the space where the almost eight-year-old Busy Bee Café—and its upstairs counterpart, Mash and Lauter—used to live. It’s worth noting that Powers, Lockwood, and Meeker owned those ventures, as well.

Which raises the question: Why change?

In an interview with WRAL in late 2016, Powers elaborated on the decision: “Trophy is where we want to be focused. Craft beer has always been the base of our business.”

That is the common thread between three strange bedfellows: pizza, rotisserie chicken, and tacos. They are all well suited to beer. And, perhaps more importantly, they are all Americanized, adapted into our comfort food canon for lazy weeknights and sloppy weekends.

If you’re like me, you associate rotisserie chicken with two things: Boston Market (you know, that chain with the cake-like cornbread and gooey mac and cheese?) and any supermarket, where the birds are lacquered, like plastic, with meat that’s juicy and sweet.

But, the standards are complicated. In his book, American Taste, Jim Villas writes, “To know about fried chicken, you have to be weaned and reared on it in the South.

Period.” Rotisserie chicken, however, holds no stakes around here.

The word—derived from the French rôtir, to roast—denotes skewered meat, which spins like a ballerina in a music box. This spinning not only encourages the chicken to baste itself, but also to cook evenly. In

essence, rotisserie chicken means a really good roast chicken, prepared in a really good oven. And, unlike with fried, there’s little competition in the Triangle aside from Alpaca Peruvian Charcoal Chicken.

At Tap + Table, you can order a quarter (breast and wing or leg and thigh), a half, or a whole. You can even order a “Winner Winner Chicken Dinner,” with a whole chicken, one starter, three large sides, and two desserts. It is fun-spirited, family-style options like this that bring me back to my Boston Market glory days. And I like to imagine that some little kid, somewhere in Raleigh, is begging for a Winner Winner Chicken Dinner.

This chicken is a lot better than Boston Market. It’s also less consistent. The meat is well seasoned—savory, not supermarket-sweet—and well cooked, but the skin teeters toward flaccid. Sultry varnish?

Totally. Crisp crackle? Not so much. Luckily, the three accompanying sauces, Alabama white, beer mustard, and sambal, make up for any mishaps.

If your server remembers to bring the sauces. On my first visit—a hot Sunday, made for baking in the sun on Tap + Table’s cozy rooftop—our server couldn’t seem to remember his own name, let alone the sauces, or my partner’s beer, or our water, or our check. The word “sorry” was uttered, often, at our table, and at most tables around us.

It seems to have been a rough night.

Because on my second visit, things couldn’t have gone smoother. When we asked for a beer pairing, our server rattled off three, then brought samples to try. The CITRA D.A.V.E., a New England-style single hop pale ale, really did complement those grilled shrimp tacos. They were topped with a pineapple salsa, some cilantro, and some lime-spiked crema. They were good.

The mushroom-poblano ones, with queso fresco and kale slaw, were also good. You know, not bad, not great.

Would I go back for the tacos? Probably not. But I would go back for a beer.

And if you give me a cold beer on a summer night, I’m going to ask for hushpuppies.

And if you give me hushpuppies, I’m going to ask for another beer. And if you give me another beer, I’m going to ask for some tacos (why not?) with some red beans and rice on the side—and, man, those red beans and rice. I’d go back for them, too. food@indyweek.com INDYweek.com | 7.5.17 | 19

indymusic

THE BEAST

Friday, July 7, 9 p.m., $10–$12 Motorco Music Hall, Durham www.motorcomusic.com

Nature of the Beast

THE JAZZ-HEAVY DURHAM HIP-HOP QUARTET GETS WOKE

BY ALLISON HUSSEY

T

o be “woke” means to be socially conscious, awake to the injustices and indignities committed against oppressed people.

The term originates in AfricanAmerican Vernacular English, but has been co-opted over the past decade or so by many other communities as conversations about social justice have become a bigger part of mainstream discourse. For The Beast, whose existence has been built on message songs, the term made a perfect title for its second full-length record.

Long before frontman Pierce Freelon launched his Durham mayoral campaign this year, The Beast’s music was political. For a decade now, Freelon and his bandmates—drummer Stephen Coffman, bassist Pete Kimosh, and keys player Eric Hirsh—have written songs that marry slick, jazzy instrumental foundations with Freelon’s fearless bars.

The Beast’s stylistic blend has always set it apart from other local hip-hop acts, its charming instrumentation adding melodic muscle alongside Freelon. On “Doin’ What I Love,” a celebration of ditching a dead-end job and following your dreams instead, the band builds a funky, easygoing groove that drives the song’s warm glee (a guest verse from Raleigh up-and-comer ZenSoFly doesn’t hurt, either).

Woke is The Beast at its sharpest politically, and halfway through the record, the band hits hardest with “Captain America.” Playing on the celebrated superhero as well as the phrase “capped in America,” Freelon unpacks parallels between the story of the Marvel hero and the experiences of men of color in the United States.

Freelon delivers an indictment of the 20 | 7.5.17 | INDYweek.com

The Beast, from left, is Pierce Freelon, Stephen Coffman, Pete Kimosh, and Eric Hirsh.

PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY ALEX BOERNER

hero’s history, noting that the serum that transformed Steve Rogers into Captain America was first tested on black men, who suffered through test runs in the name of developing a “perfect” formula.

The abuse of people of color in the name of progress is a particularly dark and bloody thread that runs through American history—see the Tuskegee syphilis experiments or the contraceptive trials conducted in Puerto Rico—and “Captain America” is a frank, unique perspective on that history. At the end of the song, Freelon winds through a list of murdered black Americans, interspersed with the line, “Feels like any minute I’ll be capped in America.” The song fades out, an allusion to the country’s unresolved violence against black and brown bodies.

The record takes a somewhat surprising turn after its halfway point, with “Had a Good Run” and “I Need You.” The songs make for a one-two gut punch in which Freelon wrestles with a marriage in tumult. On the former, Freelon squarely delivers the line, “I’m coming out as polyamorous” and works through the complications of trying to force oneself into monogamy.

The two songs’ raw emotion isn’t out of line with the rest of Woke, but they feel far more personal.

There are fleeting moments, though, when Woke gets a little too personal. Three of the album’s eleven songs have bars where Freelon raps about his dick, and from a woman’s perspective, it feels alienating.

But even with those brief hiccups, Woke is mostly a strong snapshot of the state of the union in 2017: beautiful, terrible, complicated, and saddled with a lot of unfinished business. ahussey@indyweek.com

music

THE TOTAL PACKAGE TOUR Tuesday, July 11, 7:30 p.m., $25–$196 PNC Arena, Raleigh www.thepncarena.com

Old Kids on the Block

THE TOTAL PACKAGE TOUR PROMISES A HEAVY DOSE OF EIGHTIES NOSTALGIA. BUT DOES THE LINEUP EVEN MAKE SENSE?

I

n the haze of half-remembered decades gone past, acts like New Kids on the Block, Paula Abdul, and Boyz II Men might be thought of as easily interchangeable archetypes of a bygone era, united by the common terrain of eighties chart success and MTV ubiquity. While all three will share the stage at PNC Arena as part of the throwback “Total Package Tour,” the reality is that they’re far less alike than it would seem. Only when viewed through nostalgia’s odd and distorted mirror would anyone think to group these particular talents together.

Headliners New Kids on the Block began life in the mid-eighties as a profoundly cynical but highly successful effort by producer Maurice Starr to replicate the success of the teenage R&B superstars New Edition with an all-white cast of characters. Setting aside the fundamental grossness of such an enterprise, there was something inimitable about NKOTB, and the group’s happy-go-lucky teen pop resonated with mass audiences, resulting in a long string of omnipresent chartbusters.

Thirty years later, the New Kids’ musical legacy is fairly negligible—even their best hit singles (“Step By Step,” “You Got It (The Right Stuff )”) feel like relatively perfunctory exercises in the high-energy, low-impact

BY ELIZABETH BRACY

synth-pop and soul tropes of the era. In pure business terms, however, the group was visionary, demonstrating the extraordinary appetite for non-threatening hip-hop-influenced bubblegum and essentially writing the playbook for future heartthrob sensations from *NSYNC to One Direction.

For those born after the late eighties, Paula Abdul is best known for her daffy, vaguely addled stint as a judge on American Idol from 2002 through 2009. But the amazing run of hits Abdul delivered in her lateeighties/early-nineties commercial prime is not to be overlooked. The best of these titles—“Straight Up,” “Cold Hearted,” and “Forever Your Girl”—were powerhouse R&B confections buttressed by the choreographer-turned-singer’s energetic, eye-catching Bob Fosse-inspired videos.

That Abdul was never a particularly strong vocalist is one of the principal ironies of her American Idol duties, but her capacity to marshal her strengths as a performer and her ear for choosing top-notch material make her one of the era’s most fascinating and unforgettable figures. Few members of Generation X will soon shake the mesmerizingly bizarre spectacle of Abdul engaged in a four-minute pas-de-deux with the animated feline MC Skat Kat in the “Opposites Attract” video.

They were just teenagers at the time, but the Philly-based soul juggernaut Boyz II Men seemed to emerge fully formed in the mid-eighties. They were new traditionalists whose doo-wop leanings, and four-part harmonies connected them creatively and spiritually both with their hometown forbearers and their legendary Motown labelmates.

At a moment when their contemporaries and sometimes collaborators in New Edition and Bell Biv Devoe were embracing the in vogue New Jack Swing production style, Boyz II Men largely went the other way, favoring slow-jam ballads like the sublime “End of the Road” and its more insipid cousin “I’ll Make Love to You.” Boyz II Men may not immediately spring to mind as the biggest stars of their era, at the peak of their fame, “End of the Road” spent thirteen weeks at No.1 on the Billboard charts, an achievement that bested a previous record held by Elvis Presley. Over the years, the band has soldiered on in various iterations, shedding some of its original members in an effort to keep the flame alive. For better or worse, this is another thing they share in common with their forerunners in The Temptations and Four Tops.

The occasion of all three touring together is odd, as is frequently the case with events

New Kids on the Block PHOTO COURTESY OF LIVE NATION

so freighted with nostalgia. What should the audience expect, and what ultimately does it want? What does it mean to watch a reconstituted New Kids on the Block in 2017? Is the spectacle of a forty-seven-year-old Donnie Wahlberg capering alongside his adolescent running mates comforting? Is it funny?

Is it sad?

The answer is likely some combination of all three. For Boyz II Men, a group of old souls whose connection to teen heartthrob status was never fully explicit, the circumstances seem less daunting, and far less likely to devolve into a humiliating spectacle.

As for Paula Abdul, who could possibly say?

Now fully into her third act as a public figure, this charming enigma seems equally likely to reclaim her previous stature as to disappear into a strange and contented obscurity.

This is the flipside of nostalgia: a kind of cultural rubbernecking. Some of our previous heroes may turn out to be bigger and better than ever, thus validating a restless yearning for the potentials of our carefree youth. Others may prove inept and feeble, thereby ratifying the accumulating and utterly insoluble realities of old age and its limitations. It’s Eighties Night at PNC Arena. All will be revealed. music@indyweek.com INDYweek.com | 7.5.17 | 21

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22 | 7.5.17 | INDYweek.com

indyart

AFRICAN GALLERY

North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh www.ncartmuseum.org

Africa Revisited

THE MINGLING OF FOLK AND FINE ART IN NCMA’S REVAMPED AFRICAN GALLERY STIRS SHARP INSIGHTS AND THE USUAL ANXIETIES

BY BRIAN HOWE This striking masquerade costume by unknown Yoruba artists is on display in NCMA's new African gallery.

“I

n the not too distant past, you would walk into an art museum and the African collection would be shoved in a corner somewhere,” says Linda Dougherty.

Until December, that was arguably the case at the North Carolina Museum of Art, where Dougherty is chief and contemporary curator.

But, as of Friday, when NCMA’s new African gallery opened, the collection is spread out in a prominent gallery at the entry level of the East Building. Decorative and ceremonial artifacts—from seventh-century terracotta to twentieth-century masks—mingle with contemporary artworks, hanging on walls, ranging over pedestals, standing in vitrines, and, in one striking case, soaring on stilts.

That work is “Eleanor Hewitt,” a 2005 sculpture by the renowned British-Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare. A headless figure in a corseted Victorian dress made of African fabrics, it makes me think of the artist himself, intrepidly stepping over the noxious legacy of colonialism and into the rarified air of the global art market. Other contemporary pieces are nearby, notably El Anatsui’s “Lines That Link Humanity,” a curtain of salvaged aluminum and copper wire, and Victor Ekpuk’s “Divinity,” a site-specific chalk mural. These works are ingrained with traditional influ-

ences—Ghanaian cloth in Anatsui’s case, the sacred symbols of Nigerian nsibidi in Ekpuk’s—and express a heroically sanguine view, seamed with cultural criticism, of universal human connection. These works form an epicenter at the head of the gallery from which the patterns on the beautiful costumes, vessels, figures, and textiles radiate outward.

Dougherty stands before a breathtaking Yoruba costume, reflecting on how the new gallery came to be. “After we opened the West Building and moved the permanent collection there in 2010, one of the first things that came up in our evaluations was the African gallery,” she says. “It’s an object-based collection, and it was squeezed into the space, with so many cases and platforms that it was hard to bring in tours. We were also actively adding to the collection. We realized we needed to move it and give it room to breathe.”

Three times the size of the old one, the new gallery houses almost twice as many works.

They span sixteen centuries and represent about half of Africa’s fifty-four countries. The museum’s holdings are augmented by a rotating North Carolina collection, starting with a loan from Greensboro’s Bennett College. The lighting system is perhaps a little dimmer than visitors might like but allows for the dis-

PHOTO COURTESY OF NCMA

play of fragile paper and textile works. And an interactive learning space for kids centers on a floor-to-ceiling loom.

Made possible by a $500,000 grant from the William R. Kenan Jr. Charitable Trust, the renovation comes at a time when museums across the country are reevaluating their African collections. Last summer, the Philadelphia Museum of Art filled two floors with Creative Africa; last March, Ekpuk also created a mural for the new African gallery at Tennessee’s Memphis Brooks Museum of Art. It represents a curatorial trend of reconsidering old divisions between art and artifacts.

“When you change the context, it changes how you view a work of art,” says Dougherty, who is now preparing to reinstall the modern and contemporary collection in the West Building. “I’ll be putting a work of art by a contemporary Ethiopian artist next to artists from Puerto Rico, Cuba, and the United States. The conversation they have is very different from when the Ethiopian work is in dialogue with other African artists.”

Proximity helps viewers make connections between old pots and modern installations. It also presents ethical knots pertaining to the display of religious artifacts in secular institutions and the conflation of objects made for

personal use with those made for the art market. Dougherty hopes viewers will consider the pieces both historically and artistically, abetted by videos, labels, and a variety of educational events through the fall.

“What’s really interesting about this collection is that it contains objects made not to be hung in an art museum but to be used in a cultural, ritual, or spiritual event,” Dougherty says. “I think objects can have more than one role and meaning, and once you create something, it goes out in the world and you no longer control how it’s used. That happens in contemporary art all the time.”

Of course, the ethics governing commercial art aren’t necessarily sufficient when personal artifacts enter private collections.

So I asked Elizabeth Perrill, NCMA’s consulting curator for African art, about the challenges of merging folk and fine art. She says the division isn’t as stark as it might seem.

“The line between ‘contemporary,’ a chronological category, and ‘traditional,’ a category referring to a practice tied to cultural roots, is a blurred one,” she explains. “I do hope that visitors notice that the dates on some artworks are far more ancient than others, and that for some pieces from colonial periods, the names of artists have been lost. There are painful histories of loss related to artwork from many continents around the world.”

To Perrill, Ekpuk’s “Divinity” embodies the slippage between sacred and secular.

“We have a contemporary piece to help us talk about the sacred nature of many of the objects and the diversity of spirituality across the enormous continent,” she says. “There are some distinctions between the sacred and the globally marketed works, but sometimes the line between these categories is fluid.”

Perhaps African galleries have often been relegated to dusty nooks because to highlight them is also to wade into the vexing history of European colonialism. It’s admirable that NCMA is facing these unresolved challenges.

Viewers should, too. The exhibit includes a screen in which they see themselves rendered in pixels made from slides of African art. Aiming to speak of inclusion and connection, it also stirs guilty pangs of appropriation. But that’s not something a museum can be blamed or praised for. That’s just being an American, engaging in the difficult but vital process of bringing things that have been shoved in dark corners into the light. bhowe@indyweek.com INDYweek.com | 7.5.17 | 23

indystage

SPACE GIRL

HHH ½ Through Sunday, July 9 Sonorous Road Theatre, Raleigh www.womenstheatrefestival.com

Lonely Planet

STAGE BRIEF

ALIEN LOVE, ALIENATION, AND ROLLER DERBY PROVIDE BITTERSWEET LAUGHS IN WOMEN’S THEATRE FESTIVAL OPENER SPACE GIRL

BY BYRON WOODS

T

here’s incredible diversity among the planets, but nerds and misfits are universal. That’s the semicomforting truth conveyed in Women’s Theatre Festival opener Space Girl, an oddly touching comedy in which three lonely—I almost said “people,” but I should say “beings”—work their way toward one another.

We first glimpse this truth when bespectacled newcomer Arugula (the talented young actor Amani McKenzie) cringes her way through a lunchtime introduction to Charlotte (Lauren O’Neal), a fellow overachiever and outcast at the local high school. Asked if she has just moved here, the introverted Arugula all but writhes. “Yeah, from ... Pittsburgh?” she murmurs as she retreats even further into her shell.

The question is so discomforting because Arugula and her dad are really from another planet, the fictitious Zlagdor.

He’s an emissary sent to Earth to assess humankind and determine if it merits an extension of its limited supplies of oxygen and water. As a result, Arugula must go through an already unsettling adolescence in an alien culture on an alien planet.

Despite the visitors’ superior civilization and technology, comedy arises when they fail to grasp crucial subtleties.

Witness their Earth names: Arugula, of course, not to mention her dad’s choice, Nancy. Then there are all those baffling gender cues and social norms. After sweetly punching out mean girls like Denise (Randi Bratton), Arugula trains to be a roller-derby jammer. With a guilty grin, she exults, “It’s going to help with my aggression.” As she pursues a crush on her trainer, a buff derby girl with the stage name Bruise Springsteen (a confident Ahnna Beruk), Arugula shyly notes, “We’re orbiting each other.”

24 | 7.5.17 | INDYweek.com

Space Girl

PHOTO BY CHLOE PROCTOR

At Sonorous Road Theatre, Katy and Sarah Koop insightfully direct a funny script by Pittsburgh’s Mora V. Harris, who is originally from Durham. Nick Popio whinnies like Emo Phillips on fast-forward as Nancy, an alien anthropologist whose interplanetary fact-finding mission devolves into a life of channel-surfing, foraying to Target, and laughing at local planetarium shows as if they were stand-up comedy.

But there’s also poignancy here, as Charlotte becomes Arugula and Nancy’s favorite human, particularly because what

binds them together is how alienated they all habitually feel. Sarah Koop’s low-tech set design deliberately embraces an ad hoc, almost punk aesthetic, with random strings of lights scattered along the borders of the stage, behind the centerpiece: a wheeled cart with assorted props, light strings, and an overhead projector for the planetarium scenes. When the show works despite choices that undermine traditional stage artifice, we know there are significant strengths in scripting, direction, and acting. bwoods@indyweek.com

OCCUPY THE STAGE HHHH Friday, June 30 & Saturday, June 1 Sonorous Road Theatre, Raleigh In the earliest hours of the 2017 Women’s Theatre Festival, it was already apparent that script selection and production choices had been upgraded after last year’s inaugural run. For one, the festival redefined Occupy the Stage, previously a continuous twenty-four-hour showcase of staged readings, as two identical programs staged twelve hours apart, giving us the chance to see more of them. And many were well worth seeing—professional-quality scripts worthy of full productions. In light of Space Girl’s graduation to the main stage after its Occupy reading last year, here are several shows from this year’s lineup we’d like to see again: Shut Up, I’m On A Diet!: Under Lorelei Lemon’s direction, playwright Catherine Weingarten’s irreverent, cinematic farce seemed like a feminist twist on Wes Anderson. Conniving but charming California teen Tess (Anna Broadway) is driven to a sketchy eating-disorder clinic by her equally sketchy dad (a convincing Allan Maule). The deft social satire hits its bull’s-eyes—trendy tech and pop psychology—as Tess manipulates a clueless intern (a rewarding Matthew Tucker) and her straitlaced roomie (a believable Rosemary Takacs).

He/She and Me: Janet Boudreau’s warm, affecting one-woman show, written by Sharon Mathis and directed by Carolyn German, follows a character named Pat through prismatic changes as her longtime husband, Sam, undergoes a gender transition. _____ is a Rapist: Rebekah Boroughs and Lindsay Carpenter’s absolutely remarkable script lets us approach two sexual assaults—one in the present, the other the historical tale of outdoor pioneer Emma Gatewood—with something totally unexpected: hope. Sensitive direction by Savannah Core and nuanced, authentic performances by Molly Winstead and Judy McCord clinch it. This must be staged again. —Byron Woods

indyscreen

SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING HHHH Opening Friday, July 7

SCREEN BRIEF

PHOTO BY NICOLE RIVELLI

Untangled Web

SPIDER-MAN: HOMECOMING MAKES A FIFTY-FIVE-YEAR-OLD SUPERHERO FEEL LIKE A KID AGAIN

BY NEIL MORRIS Spider-Man: Homecoming finally brings the iconic hero into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. PHOTO COURTESY OF SONY PICTURES

P

eter Parker (Tom Holland) is readying himself to race toward some crosstown nefariousness. As fanfare crescendos on the soundtrack, he shoots his webbing to swing into action, only for it to fall feebly to earth. Cut to a long shot of Spidey sprinting through an empty golf course, dodging nighttime irrigation. Sometimes, there aren’t any tall trees or buildings around when you need them. Sometimes, things aren’t so super, even for heroes.

Following five previous films, Homecoming returns Spider-Man to his comic book roots and finally integrates him into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. But it’s not an origin story pivoting on radioactive arachnids.

Peter Parker isn’t yet a freelance photographer for The Daily Bugle. Instead, he’s Stan Lee and Steve Ditko’s original ordinary fifteen-year-old, recently thrust into an Avengers civil war only to be deposited back in the Queens apartment he shares with his Aunt May (Marisa Tomei) and his teen angst.

Aside from his pining for quiz-bowl teammate Liz (Laura Harrier), Peter’s high school worries take a backseat as he waits in vain for a call from Tony Stark (Robert

Downey Jr.) about the next big superhero adventure. All dressed up with no one to save, an aimless Spider-Man gives directions to old folks and erroneously apprehends people for riding their own bicycles.

The Avengers’ impact is writ large in Peter’s world. His classmates list which superheroes they would “F-Marry-Kill” as if they were the latest pop stars or athletes. Boys daydream about dates with Black Widow. Captain America (Chris Evans) stars in cheesy made-for-school videos meant to motivate the kids in gym and detention. Bank robbers don Halloween masks of Cap, Thor, Hulk, and Iron Man. And Peter is a nerdy nebbish who gets attention only when his pal, Ned (Jacob Batalon), blurts out that Peter has met Spider-Man. “I just want to be myself,” he proclaims.

“Peter, nobody wants that,” Ned replies.

Danger eventually finds Peter in the form of Adrian Toomes (Michael Keaton), a New York City salvage operator who loses a government contract for the cleanup of alieninvasion wreckage to Stark’s Department of Damage Control. Desperate to provide for his family, Toomes pilfers enough Chitauri

weaponry to become a black-market alien arms dealer, and then expands his illicit operation by repurposing the tech in a vulturelike exoskeleton. Refreshingly, Toomes isn’t another supervillain out for world domination. He’s an average Joe who’s been co-opted and corrupted, becoming Spider-Man’s foil even though he’s more culturally aligned with him than with the billionaire Stark.

Beyond its PG-13 version of Deadpoolstyle snark, the most refreshing thing about Spider-Man: Homecoming is its acute selfawareness, from the inspired casting of Holland to the post-credits kicker. Peter Parker doesn’t have all the right moves just because he slips on a Stark-supplied onesie; he can’t even master its high-tech capabilities, which include an A.I. assistant (voiced

by Jennifer Connelly) that hews eerily close to Scarlett Johansson’s disembodied OS in Her. His adolescent awkwardness and buoyant banter are more exhilarating than the action scenes, just as Spider-Man should be. This film isn’t about Peter Parker learning to grow up. It’s about him learning to be a kid again. arts@indyweek.com

THE BIG SICK HHHH½ Opening Friday, July 7 There’s nothing overly convenient about husband-and-wife screenwriters Kumail Nanjiani and Emily V. Gordon’s feature debut: no rom-com cheese, no onslaught of genre tropes, no cause for eye-rolling whatsoever. Instead, it truthfully portrays the shifting cultural and romantic landscape of the U.S. Director Michael Showalter, a career screenwriter himself, knows how to let the script tell the story without sacrificing his creative vision.

The Big Sick is based on Nanjiani and Gordon’s real courtship in Chicago. After they meet in a bar, five months fly by, filled with stand-up comedy gigs, fun dates, and Nanjiani’s Pakistani family comically berating him for not consenting to an arranged marriage. Little more can be said without revealing the title’s meaning. At a glance, the premise seems well-worn, but the film’s beautiful and difficult scenarios elevate the rom-com genre.

The performances are uniformly magnificent. Naturally, Nanjiani does a fine job of playing himself, with that perpetual little smirk TV fans know from his role on Silicon Valley. Zoe Kazan is winning as Gordon, and Ray Romano, as her father, crushes it so hard you forget his sitcom days. In her best performance since Top of the Lake, Holly Hunter exhibits commanding charm.

The Big Sick is at once familiar, touching, quick-witted, and grave. It invites conversation and introspection about romance, culture clash, death, and the ever-widening generational gap. At two hours, it felt like the shortest rom-com I’ve ever seen. In fact, I want the next chapter, and I want it to be two hours long, too. —Luke Hicks INDYweek.com | 7.5.17 | 25

7.5–7.12

SATURDAY, JULY 8 & SUNDAY, JULY 9

AN EVENING WITH KEVIN SMITH

SA 8 GOURMET COLLECTIVE SHOWCASE 9P SU 9 AFTON MUSIC SHOWCASE 6P TU 11 PABLO ASTRONAUT 6P WE 12 WHITEY MORGAN 7P TH 13 THE WAILING SOULS 8P FR 14 GALACTIC EMPIRE 6P SA 15 SCYTHIAN 8P SU 16 NOAH’S ROAD TO NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP 3P TU 18 KING LIL-G W/ WHITTY/BTR 7P TH 20 JIDENNA 7P FR 21 GLOWRAGE DIMENSION OF

Let’s not be coy: Kevin Smith’s star as a filmmaker has fallen since he led a pack of low-budget indie auteurs with 1994’s Clerks, followed by Mallrats and Chasing Amy. These days, his movies tend toward the fringe of the mainstream, like Zack and Miri Make a Porno, or toward passion projects like Tusk. You might reasonably argue that he never made a movie after 2000 that wasn’t for fans only, though 2011’s Red State is a solid horror flick about scary religious fundamentalists.

But Smith, who has branched out into media from comics to podcasts, remains a household name, not just as a nineties nostalgia object but also as a modern geek ombudsman. On stage and on the Internet, he’s known for epic, conversational Q and A sessions in which he engages his fans with humor, energy, and an unfaked passion for pop culture. Expect his four shows at Goodnights this week to mix comedy, confession, opinion, and anecdote as only Smith can. —Brian Howe

SA 22 INTERSTELLAR BOYS 8P FR 28 BERES HAMMOND 7:30P SU 30 HELLYEAH W/ KYNG/CANE HILL

GOODNIGHTS COMEDY CLUB, RALEIGH 7:30 & 10 p.m. Sat./7 & 9:15 p.m. Sun., $30, www.goodnightscomedy.com

J U LY

TH 6 NANCE W/ 3AM / NORTHSIDE

ROCKY / DOMMO SLXG / SHAME 7P

FR JULY 7

THE BREAKFAST CLUB

COLOR ULTIMATE PAINT PARTY TOUR

8P

AU G U ST

WE 2 MICHELLE BRANCH FR 4 COSMIC CHARLIE TH 10 FR 11 SA 12 TH 24 SA 26

7P

(GRATEFUL DEAD) BADFISH: A TRIBUTE TO SUBLIME ZOMBOY: ROTT N’ ROLL TOUR DUMPSTAPHUNK 8P SAHBABII 7P

DELTA RAE

W/ THE CHURCH SISTERS 7P

CO M I N G S O O N

9/2 9/7-9 9/26 9/27 9/29 9/30 10/1 10/3

NEVERMIND W/ JOE HERO HOPSCOTCH MUSIC FESTIVAL

IBMA RAMBLE

CHRIS ROBINSON BROTHERHOOD HARD WORKING AMERICANS MASTODON @ THE RITZ W/ EAGLES OF DEATH METAL

10/7 HORSESHOES & HAND GRENADES / KITCHEN DWELLERS 10/8 TROIBOI 10/7 COREY SMITH 10/21 CHICANO BATMAN/ KHRUANGBIN 10/27 RUNAWAY GIN 11/3 THE DEAD PHISH PANIC 11/11 SISTER HAZEL 11/12 THE MAINE 12/2 KIX W/ THE FIFTH 2/10 FAR TOO JONES ADV. TICKETS @ LINCOLNTHEATRE.COM & SCHOOLKIDS RECORDS ALL SHOWS ALL AGES

126 E. Cabarrus St.• 919-821-4111 www.lincolntheatre.com 26 | 7.5.17 | INDYweek.com

Kevin Smith

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE ARTIST

WHAT ELSE SHOULD I DO?

THE BEAST AT MOTORCO (P. 20), CRYSTAL GARDEN AT THE POUR HOUSE (P. 31), SEAN DORSEY DANCE AT REYNOLDS THEATER (P. 35), THE HITCH-HIKER AND DETOUR AT SHADOWBOX STUDIO (P. 36), SPACE GIRL AT SONOROUS ROAD (P. 24), STURGILL SIMPSON AT KOKA BOOTH AMPHITHEATRE (P. 29), MARTHA THORN AT HORACE WILLIAMS HOUSE (P. 33), OKLAHOMA! AT FLETCHER OPERA THEATER (P. 34), THE TOTAL PACKAGE TOUR AT PNC ARENA (P. 21)

+ SATURDAY, JULY 8

DURHAM COMICS FEST

Most Triangle residents won’t make it out to this month’s Comic-Con International: San Diego—and those who do might not get to meet a lot of the people they want to meet.

(Seriously, those lines are like death marches.) Nor will most be able to afford all the autographs they want at the new Raleigh Supercon, debuting at the Raleigh Convention Center the weekend of July 14.

But at the Durham County Southwest Regional Library this week, there’s a free, family-friendly alternative. The main Durham Comics Fest is on Saturday, with creators offering workshops on their specialties and a local artists’ alley. The featured guests include Liz Prince, who has drawn Steven Universe and Adventure Time stories; R. Sikoryak, the hilarious comics “remixer” who once turned the iTunes user agreement into a graphic novel; and Kristy GuevaraFlanagan, whose documentary Wonder Women! The Untold History of the American Superheroine screens at the library on Sunday.

There are also offsite events such as a trivia night at Fullsteam Brewery (Thursday, July 6), a “Drink and Draw” at the Geer Street Cocoa Cinnamon (Friday, July 7), and a local creator-networking night at Atomic Empire (Wednesday, July 12). Apt for a library convention, it’s less about buying than learning, but it’s also a lot of fun. —Zack Smith DURHAM COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY, DURHAM 11 a.m.–4 p.m., free, www.durhamcountylibrary.org/comicsfest

WHAT TO DO THIS THURSDAY, JULY 6

SUMMER EXHIBITIONS OPENING RECEPTION

Triangulate CAM’s three summer exhibits and you get some weird kind of national snapshot. Dorian Lynde’s No Damsel consists of wall paintings of Disney princesses reimagined as contemporary women. Eric Yahnker’s The Long Goodbye… takes a wistful look over the shoulder with forty-four pastel-on-sandpaper portraits of Barack Obama. And in Gun Show, David Hess welds, bolts, and jams together all manner of found objects to make thirtyeight mock assault rifles that you can pick up and pose with. CAM celebrates the set of exhibits with a reception at which all three artists will be in attendance. Though pricey, the event is a chance to put to the artists some of the challenging questions their shows raise: How does Hess feel about his critique of gun violence when he sees the glee some patrons take in hefting his rifles? Is Yahnker contemplating a series of Trump portraits in some similarly self-destructive medium? —Chris Vitiello CAM RALEIGH, RALEIGH 6–8 p.m., $45 members/$65 non-members, www.camraleigh.org

WEEK SATURDAY, JULY 8

DISCO SWEAT 33

As Sophie Kemp noted in a recent Noisey piece about the “unfiltered queer joy” of nu-disco, one of disco’s defining traits is that it’s a social music. As she puts it, the style is “not something you can passively witness, you have to be involved.” Real freedom and community come out of disco, and there are few better places in the Triangle to experience it than Disco Sweat. The thirty-third edition of the monthly party features DJ Mike D, with song selections from all over the disco canon.

You might hear masters of the form like Chic and Cerrone alongside plenty of choice deep cuts and popular modern practitioners like Todd Terje. Be sure to leave your cool thrifted windbreakers at home: the “sweat” part is no joke. —David Ford Smith NIGHTLIGHT, CHAPEL HILL | 10 p.m., $8, www.nightlightclub.com

+ THURSDAY, JULY 6

Your week.

Every Wednesday.

CHASING TRANE

These days, there seems to be a documentary about every subject, so it’s surprising that it took so long for one to be made about saxophonist John Coltrane. But the wait seems to have been worthwhile. Writer and director John Scheinfield (The U.S. vs. John Lennon and Who Is Harry Nilsson…?) has gathered an allstar cast of talking heads to laud the son of Hamlet, North Carolina, who became one of the most important musicians of the twentieth century. Since Coltrane did few TV or radio interviews, Denzel Washington gives voice to excerpts from his assorted print interviews.

While there is something a little bit weird about seeing Bill Clinton and Cornel West opine about jazz, and though it occasionally veers a little too close to hagiography, the film brims with unexpected details and previously unseen video footage of Trane at home and in concert. In addition to the screening, Raleigh’s Bloodworth Combo offers its own tribute through music. —Dan Ruccia John Coltrane PHOTO

BY FRANCIS WOLFF

KINGS, RALEIGH 8 p.m., $5–$7, www.kingsraleigh.com

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CONTRIBUTORS: Jim Allen (JA), Grant Britt (GB), Elizabeth Bracy (TB), Timothy Bracy (TB), Spencer Griffith (SG), Allison Hussey (AH), David Klein (DK), Charles Morse (CM), Dan Ruccia (DR), David Ford Smith (DS), Patrick Wall (PW)

WED, JUL 5

THU, JUL 6 Cayenne the Lion King REGGAE Cayenne the Lion ROOTS King looks back to hip-hop’s roots with his blend of reggae and rap. His versatility allows him to swing with ease from tracks like “Warning Shot,” which is reminiscent of the New York City roughneck sound of the nineties, to “I Love Reggae,” which harnesses the sound of reggae greats like Capleton. At the Pinhook, he celebrates the release of his new single, “Ding Ding Ding.” With Mr. Rozzi, Treal, Yodie, Taynov, Spank aka Da Bronx, and Mr. Jefferson. —CM [THE PINHOOK, $5–$9/9 P.M.]

Local Band Local Beer: Tigerdog AT THE On its forthcoming READY debut That Was Then. This is Meow., Charlotte quartet Tigerdog makes its case for a slot on next year’s Warped Tour, blending elements of nineties emo, alternative, and indie rock.

New duo Reese McHenry & The Fox finds the Dirty Little Heaters and The Second Wife frontwoman McHenry rattling the room with more raw rock ’n’ roll, aided by drummer Stephen Gardner of The T’s and Trousers. Roar The Engines

LINCOLN THEATRE: NANCE with 3AM, Northside Rocky, Dommo Slxg, Shame; 8 p.m., $12.

The Paul Swest

FRI, JUL 7

INDIE? The ever-mysterious IMPROV? The Paul Swest re-emerges from its slumber for four shows of steaming hot improvisation on Thursdays in July. For each performance, the core trio of Charles Chace, Tony Stiglitz, and Casey Toll are joined by a rotating cast of special guests.

Recent iterations have included Triangle luminaries like Mac McCaughan and Polvo’s Ash Bowie. They continue their efforts this week with Sara Bell of Lud, Regina Hexaphone, etc, for a set that could go anywhere. —DR [THE STATION, $6/9 P.M.]

Matt Phillips & the Back Pocket, Chris Frisina RISING Matt Phillips & The STARS Back Pocket features the young musical chameleon’s traditionally rooted, future-focused adventures through blues, folk, and gospel backed by a rotating cast of funky players.

Wilmington singer-songwriter Chris Frisina opens with a preview of his terrific debut LP, in which he depicts slices of small town Americana and details vignettes from cross-country travel. Young Mister rounds out the bill with infectious, sun-soaked pop-rock tunes loaded with timeless technicolor hooks, perfect for a top-down ride along the California coast. —SG [CAT’S CRADLE BACK ROOM, $10–$12/9 P.M.] ALSO ON THURSDAY BLUE NOTE GRILL: Nash Street Ramblers; 7-9 p.m. • DEEP SOUTH: Dane Page, Mike the Prophet, Infielder; 8:30 p.m., $5–$8. • DOWNTOWN DURHAM: Good Vibes Only Fest; 6-10 p.m., $5–$20. • GUEST ROOM PROJECT SPACE: Polyorchard; 8 p.m.

• IRREGARDLESS: Daniel DeLorenzo Duo; 6 p.m. • KINGS: Bloodworth Combo, Crowmeat Bob & Co.; 8 p.m., $5–$7. •

The Dink Down

ILLUSTRATION BY CHRISTOPHER WILLIAMS

CAROLINA THEATRE: The Soggy Bottom Boys; 8 p.m., $35+. • DUKE GARDENS: Music in the Gardens: Birds of Chicago; 7 p.m., $5–$10. • HUMBLE PIE: Peter Lamb & the Wolves; 8:30 p.m. • IMURJ: Reviving Raleigh Concert; 7 p.m., $1. • MOTORCO: Hawthorne Heights, The Second After, Take the Fall, Magnolia, The Ivory; 7:30 p.m., $15. • NEPTUNES PARLOUR: Lord Raja, Trandle; 10 p.m., $8–$10.

• THE PINHOOK: Cold Nature EP Release Party; 7:30-11 p.m., $5. • POUR HOUSE: Heads Up Penny, Tyler Boone, Swim in the Wild; 9 p.m.

• SLIM’S: Earthling, Eldritch Horror, Noctomb; 9 p.m., $6.

and Star Wizard join. —SG [POUR HOUSE, $3–$5/9:30 P.M.]

GET The Dink in question DOWN is Shawn “Dink” Densmore, a local artist whose birthday celebration has become a sprawling tradition that unites local bands to throw down in his honor. Started humbly six years ago at Tir Na Nog, the Dink Down rides on at the Pour House with jazz-funk from Boom Unit Brass Band and rock from The Young Cardinals. —DK [POUR HOUSE, $5/8 P.M.]

SATURDAY, JULY 8

Skylar Gudasz JONISkylar Gudasz has a ESQUE quietly arresting voice that has both an angelic purity along with conversational grain that makes you lean in closer and savor the sound. Since releasing her luminous debut LP, Oleander, last year, Gudasz has kept things fairly low-key in collaborations with the likes of Phil Cook and one-off performances while earning a touring spot with the Mountain Goats in the fall.

Opener Kamara Thomas brings cosmic country soul. —DK [DURHAM CENTRAL PARK, FREE/8 P.M.]

N.C. Symphony: The Music of U2 WITHU2 just finished the OUT U(2) U.S. portion of its tour commemorating the thirtieth anniversary of The Joshua Tree in Cleveland and has now jetted back to Europe, but you can still catch an earful of the chime-tastic quartet in this incredible simulation by the North Carolina Symphony. You may not get Bono—Tony Vincent, veteran of The Voice and the Green Day musical American Idiot, has those big vocal shoes to fill—but with the symphony backing up a live rock band, the sound should be

STURGILL SIMPSON, ADIA VICTORIA At first blush, Sturgill Simpson and Adia Victoria might seem like unusual tour mates.

The former earned a reputation as a twentyfirst-century outlaw with his 2014 breakout LP, Metamodern Sounds in Country Music, while the latter broods in acidic, bluesy rock. But in fact, both have pushed back against the industry structures that have tried to define them—and they’ve been better for it.

With a personal stamp of approval from Merle Haggard, Simpson seemed poised to take up the mantle of the outlaw spirit after Metamodern Sounds in Country Music. But his follow-up, last spring’s A Sailor’s Guide to Earth, probably wasn’t the record most people were expecting from Simpson. Rather than hiring a hotshot producer, Simpson sat at the helm himself and recruited the renowned Dap-Kings to add Stax-style horns to the record. And instead of more ruminations on psychedelia, A Sailor’s Guide to Earth focused on themes of fatherhood. The record earned Simpson a Best Country Album Grammy as well as a nomination for album of the year (he lost to Adele’s 25). Victoria, meanwhile, has been making waves of her own since releasing her debut full-length record, Beyond the Bloodhounds, last February. She bends together blues and rock for songs that are at once sullen and seething; live, she’s a mesmerizing force.

And while both Victoria and Simpson have been rightfully celebrated for their work, they’ve been sharp critics of the institutions that try to stake claim to them. In a now-deleted Facebook

post from last summer, Simpson criticized the Academy of Country Music and the country music industry at large, accusing it of only promoting “formulaic cannon fodder bullshit” over genuine artists. About himself and fellow musician Jason Isbell, Simpson wrote, “Our last albums went to #1 without any help from the Mainstream Country Music establishment... and our next albums will too.” (Isbell’s new The Nashville Sound debuted in the No. 1 slot on Billboard’s country chart upon its mid-June release.)

More recently, Victoria took the Americana Music Association to task, also over Facebook.

She wrote about how, as a black woman, she had felt tokenized and fawned over by Americana advocates desperate to prove diversity in an overwhelmingly white male genre. “I have been treated as a special exotic ornament that they can point to and say ‘see! see! That, too, is Americana!’,” she wrote, making a strong, underappreciated case for the hypocrisy inherent in Americana machinations.

In an industry rife with glad handing and back patting, both Simpson and Victoria remain vital voices, both on and off their respective stages.

Neither cares to be restricted by others’ opinions; they just go out and write gut-wrenching songs that you’re free to take or leave. Their philosophies and musical practices may differ a bit, but their thoughtful, independent spirits are the same. —Allison Hussey KOKA BOOTH AMPHITHEATRE, CARY 8 p.m., $39.75–$49.75, www.boothamphitheatre.com INDYweek.com | 7.5.17 | 29

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FIRE Even if your BURNIN’ Independence Day plans crashed and burned, there will always be late options, like this seventh-of-July soiree. Marshall Jones, William The Konqueror and BossMa headline the latest installment of Cats Cradle’s dance party series Schwifty Cat. There will be fire dancing, but leave the devil sticks at home—you probably won’t get them through the door. —DS [CAT’S CRADLE BACK ROOM, $10/9 P.M.]

FLAMIN’ He looks like FRETS magician Penn Jillette, but JP Soars performs his sleight of hand with his guitar.

Thrashing thru metal in a band called Raped Ape before moving toward jazz and the blues, Soars takes some unusual liberties with blues classics, throwing some flamenco flourishes into Muddy Waters’ “Gypsy Woman,” mixing Earl Scruggs three-fingered banjo technique on Magic Sam’s “Sam’s Boogie,” and channeling Hendrix with flaming licks on his homemade two-stringed bow.

—GB [BLUE NOTE GRILL, $8–$10/9 P.M.]

PRESENTED BY ONE SONG PRODUCTIONS

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Henry Birdsey

JP Soars & the Red Hots

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FATHER OF THE BRIDE

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Call Josh or Jeff 336-266-0187

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An Adult Nightclub Open 7 Days/week • Hours 7pm - 2am

BEYÙ CAFFÈ: Adam Crutchfield; 7 & 9 p.m., $18. • BLUE NOTE GRILL: Duke Street Dogs; 6 p.m., free.

• BYNUM FRONT PORCH: Blue Cactus; 7 p.m., $10. • DEEP SOUTH: Kiss the Curse, Something Clever, Reason Define; 8:15 p.m., $8–$10. • DOWNTOWN DURHAM: Good Vibes Only Fest; 8 p.m., $5–$20. • KINGS: Feather, Wayleaves; 9 p.m., $8–$10. • LINCOLN THEATRE: The Breakfast Club, 8-Track Minds; 9 p.m., $10. • THE MAYWOOD: Aether Realm, Lorelei, Mo’ynoq, Antenora; 9 p.m., $10. • MEADOWMONT VILLAGE: Jon Shain; 6 p.m., free.

• MOTORCO: The Beast, Young Bull, The Jondoe; 9 p.m., $10–$12. See page 20. • RUBY DELUXE: DJ DNLTMS; 10 p.m. • SHARP NINE GALLERY: Jarrod Harris Quartet; 8 p.m., $10–$20. • SLIM’S: Brutal Jr., Flash Car, Weird God; 9 p.m., $5.

IMPURE Experimental music MOODS takes over The Shed for this night of creeping drones, treated guitars, and general oddity.

Electric guitar improvisation comes courtesy of Vermont musician Henry Birdsey. His latest record, Marionettes, was recorded at a Lutheran church and demonstrates his otherworldly ability to transmute simple guitar and feedback into alien language.

With Loess and DJ Eep. —DS [THE SHED, $5/8 P.M.]

LMI PUNK Pennsylvania based LAYERS doom-punks L.M.I. renders its thrashy, death obsessed anthems with technical acuity and a legitimate aura of razor’s-edge-of-sanity-menace.

For all of the formal achievement contained in their whiplash sonic assault, the band’s most interesting moments occur when it plays against type, as on the slow building intro to the standout “Emerald Motions.” —TB [SCHOOLKIDS RALEIGH, FREE/7 P.M.]

Swear and Shake FOLK On first blush, this ROCK Nashville folk-rock trio might appear a piece with the icky suspenders-and-bolos affectations of crossover roots bands like The Lumineers. In reality, Swear and Shake is far better, with frontwoman Kari Speiler proving a smart and tough-minded chronicler of love’s crucial moments and life’s crushing ironies. —EB [CAT’S CRADLE BACK ROOM, $10–$12/9 P.M.]

Rebekah Todd & the Odyssey SOUL Wilmington’s STOPPAS Rebekah Todd & The Odyssey finds Todd’s striking, sultry voice and stirring, sincere songwriting matched with an ace band that backs her melodic moves with rich arrangements of gritty blues-rock and graceful folk. Dark Water Rising’s spiritual songwriting brings influence from its members’ Lumbee heritage to similarly concocted soulful roots rock. —SG [POUR HOUSE, $10/9 P.M.]

Trudge VERB From a copyeditor’s CORE perspective, this Boone hardcore outfit’s employment of the word “trudge” is a bit of poor usage, as its tempos are generally more sprint than slog.

But from the perspective of a hardcore fan, Trudge’s ultra-heavy interpretation of New York Fuckin’ City hardcore is irresistible.

“Bulldoze” would’ve been a better name, but that one was already taken. Arms and Bone Hollow open. —PW [SLIM’S, $5/9 P.M.] ALSO ON SATURDAY BEYÙ CAFFÈ: Deon Yates; 7 & 9 p.m., $13. • BLUE NOTE GRILL: The Willie Painter Band; 8 p.m., $8.

• DEEP SOUTH: Louis Waymore, Jonathan Parker, Emily Kirsch; 8:30 p.m., $8. • IRREGARDLESS: John Bass and Greg Brink; 6 p.m.

Atomic Rhythm All Stars; 9 p.m. • KINGS: Quinton’s Fun Records Showcase; 7 p.m., $10. • KOKA BOOTH AMPHITHEATRE: Sturgill Simpson, Adia Victoria; 8 p.m., $39.75–$49.75. See box, page 29. • LINCOLN THEATRE: The Gourmet Collective Showcase; 10 p.m., $10. • LOCAL 506: Dwarves, Richie Ramone, Tired, The Fill Ins; 9 p.m., $15–$17. • THE MAYWOOD: Bone Shelter, The Gray, Motorjunkie, Black Ritual; 8:30 p.m., $8. • NIGHTLIGHT: Disco Sweat; 10 p.m., $8. See page 27. • THE RITZ: Shoot to Thrill: AC/DC Tribute; 8 p.m.

• SHARP NINE GALLERY: Yolanda Hall Quartet; 8 p.m., $10–$15.

• THE STATION: Loose Caboose Dance Party with DJ Jaesunel; 10 p.m.

Jazz Saturdays; 2 p.m., free.

SUN, JUL 9 Busdriver LA HIPA veteran presence HOP on the alternative rap scene, Busdriver is a long running project helmed by the extravagantly gifted Los Angeles rapper and producer Regan Farquhar. The product of a restless, buoyant intellect, Busdriver tracks tend to move with mind bending, kaleidoscopic dexterity, waving together Farquhar’s far reaching insights into social and economic justice, self loathing and self-improvement and all things popular culture into a thrilling and altogether unique tapestry. Zeroh and Oak City Slums open. —TB [LOCAL 506, $12–$15/9 P.M.]

Majestic Vistas

Washed Out

DESERT If his psych band Lacy JAMS Jags is an incenseand-peppermints acid freakout, then Patrick O’Neill’s solo jaunt Majestic Vistas is a peyote-addled ramble through the desert. O’Neill trades reverb and waves of distortion for spaghetti Westerntinged acoustic musings, but there are still hallucinatory filigrees around the periphery and searing guitar phrases front and center. Close your eyes (and trade O’Neill’s cooing croon for an acidic rasp), and you might even be able to convince yourself that you’re listening to mid-period Horseback. —PW [NEPTUNES PARLOUR, $5/9 P.M.]

Remember the summer of chillwave? Back in 2009, many critics accused the fledgling microgenre of pandering to a sort of blasé, unremembered nostalgia.

Supreme irony reigns, because this summer, there seems to be a moment of actual nostalgia for the bleary, balearic-influenced mood music. Washed Out’s new record, Mister Mellow, recently dropped on Stones Throw Records, hearkens back to early High Times material, with some trendy Los Angeles beat scene flavor scattered in.

With Dega. —DS [CAT’S CRADLE, $25/9 P.M.]

ALSO ON SUNDAY BLUE NOTE GRILL: Ben Fest: A Benefit for Ben Comfort; 3-8 p.m., $10 donation. • DEEP SOUTH: Live & Loud Weekly; 9 p.m., $3. • IRREGARDLESS: Cole Koffi; 6 p.m.

• POUR HOUSE: Crystal Garden ft. Boyd Tinsley; 8 p.m., $15–$20. See box, this page. • RUBY DELUXE: No Dudes Pwr Hr with DJ/DX and DJ Thunder Thighs; 10 p.m. • WEST END WINE BAR-DURHAM: Eric Meyer, Noah Sager & Friends; 4-6 p.m., free.

FEEL IT

My Morning Jacket

Window Cat

SHAPE The sound of My SHIFTERS Morning Jacket is such an endlessly evolving thing that it’s tough to tell at any given point exactly which My Morning Jacket you’re likely to see when you catch the band live. Judging by the amalgam of approaches found on the group’s most recent album, 2015’s Waterfall, the next MMJ show might offer a cocktail of atmospheric folk-rock, swooping orchestral psych-prog, and indie-tinged Americana. Of course it’s already been more than two years since that record’s release, so all bets might be off, and that’s part of the fun. —JA [RED HAT AMPHITHEATER, $30–$138/6:30 P.M.]

SMOOTH Another addition to CATS the R&B/jazz craze, Window Cat brings similar energy as notable ensembles like Snarky Puppy and Vulfpeck.

The band’s debut album, Land on Your Feet, is musically impressive with formidable performances from sax player Jacob Secor and smooth synths provided by Max Witt. And though Window Cat calls itself a neo-soul band, vocalist Tyler Long has a tonal and melodic resemblance to Justin Timberlake, not the sensual growl of neo-soul greats like D’Angelo. Zoocrü opens. —CM [CAT’S CRADLE BACK ROOM, $8–$10/8 P.M.]

MON, JUL 10 Carpool Party AIRY Hailing from ELECTRO Greenville, South Carolina, the duo Carpool Party delivers a kind of dense, danceable synth-pop that you wouldn’t expect to come out of a small Southern town. “I Don’t Care Where I Belong,” released late in 2015, is a cool but bouncy single that balances bubbly charm with throbbing beats. Zoomo and Pidari open. —AH [THE CAVE, $5/9 P.M.]

Matchess

Kelsey Waldon

PHOTO COURTESY OF MONTEREY INTERNATIONAL

DRIP ”The Law of Pure Will DROP (The Lamentation of the Greatest Wealth),” Matchess’ single from 2015’s Somnaphoria, is a mesmerizing, loose number that tumbles and pulls like a wave gently hitting the shoreline. Expect

the small Neptunes to be full to the rafters with Matchess drippy electronica. Plus TALSounds and De_Plata. —AH [NEPTUNES PARLOUR, $7–$10/9 P.M.] ALSO ON MONDAY EMPRESS ROOM: Gary Brunotte plays and sings from The Great American Songbook; 8-10 p.m. • IMBIBE: Grewen and Griffin; 7-10 p.m., free. • RUBY DELUXE: DJ Lord Redbyrd; 10 p.m. • THE SHED JAZZ CLUB: Sessions at the Shed with Ernest Turner; 8 p.m., $5.

TUE, JUL 11 Backup Planet CLASSIC Nashville’s Backup JAMS Planet is so thoroughly effective at rendering its hybrid of classic rock tropes that the band feels almost factory assembled at points, with Allman-esque guitar heroics overlaying Kansas-style heartland rock with a little bit of Styx-like melodrama thrown in for good measure. Swimmer opens. —TB [POUR HOUSE, $7–$10/9 P.M.]

Landing SPACE The veteran New ROCK Haven-based space rock outfit Landing specializes in ethereal synths and effects-driven sounds reminiscent of the softer side of nineties shoegaze and the

SUNDAY, JULY 9

CRYSTAL GARDEN FEATURING BOYD TINSLEY Crystal Garden occupies an unconventional place in the rock universe.

On one hand, you’d be hard-pressed to find another new band whose sound feels as organically grown as that of this trio.

But on the other, Crystal Garden came together not in the time-tested manner of most bands—i.e., meeting up in school and

Crystal Garden

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE ARTIST

slogging it out together through nowhere gigs and grimy rehearsal rooms—but in a way that’s simultaneously more unusual and oddly old-school. Singer and guitarist Mycle Wastman, bassist Charlie Csontos, and drummer Matt Frewen were brought together by a producer/Svengali figure, much as bands like The Monkees were half

a century ago. But the crucial difference is that said Svengali is not some crass, unmusical money man, but Dave Matthews Band violinist Boyd Tinsley.

Tinsley, who has been a key part of the DMB sound from the beginning, brought the boys together out of a desire to form a band, but not necessarily be an actual member of it. After a period of searching, he found Wastman, Csontos, and Frewen; following his intuition, he put them together with the mission of making music with the kind of honest, expressionistic aesthetic characteristic of material from the sixties and seventies. And while the resulting Crystal Garden debut album, the Tinsley-produced Let the Rocks Cry Out, sounds anything but retro, it undoubtedly achieved that goal.

Though the association with Tinsley, who frequently guests with the band and is also their manager, Crystal Garden has obviously enjoyed a bit of a leg up.

The band’s actual music should dispel any fears of mere opportunism. These guys make thoughtful, nuanced sounds together. Subtlety is a watchword—the trio isn’t out to beat anyone over the head, but instead to charm and hypnotize with their sophisticated textures. Wastman’s airy vocals and breezy guitar work bring to mind the likes of David Crosby, while Csontos and Frewen toss in touches of jazz and funk at will.

And when Tinsley joins in, as he’s doing through the band’s current tour, they inevitably start to seem like the inheritors of the DMB mantle—unerringly songoriented but perennially eclectic, and not afraid to jam. And they know how to throw down live; among other things they’ve been known to toss off a fiercely funky cover of “Superstition.” —Jim Allen THE POUR HOUSE, RALEIGH 8 p.m., $15–$20, www.thepourhousemusichall.com INDYweek.com | 7.5.17 | 31

SU 7/9

BLUE WED: THE SPOONBENDERS + MARK HEFFINGTON THE NASH STREET RAMBLERS DUKE STREET DOGS JP SOARS & THE RED HOTS WILLIE PAINTER BAND BENFEST: A BENEFIT FOR BEN COMFORT

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languid charm of 4AD stalwarts the Cocteau Twins. For the most part, Landing effectively lands between the transportingly spectral and the lazily somnambulant. Gardener and Away Msg open. —EB [NEPTUNES PARLOUR, $8/10 P.M.]

ALSO ON TUESDAY DUKE’S KIRBY HORTON HALL: Music for Flute, Viola, and Piano; 7:30-9 p.m., $10–$60. • PNC ARENA: New Kids on the Block, Paula Abdul, Boyz II Men; 7:30 p.m. See page 21. • THE RALEIGH TIMES BAR: Charles Latham, Heather Kenney;

duplicity and desperate acts of dead-enders, manifesting a fatalistic sensibility someplace between the Appalachian verité of Loretta Lynn’s “Fist City” and nightmarish highway noir of Nebraska-era Bruce Springsteen.

—EB [DUKE GARDENS, $5–$10, 12 AND UNDER FREE/7 P.M.]

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My Morning Jacket

PHOTO COURTESY OF RED LIGHT MANAGEMENT

Today Is the Day THIS & Today Is the Day’s EVERY Temple of the Morning Star—the groundbreaking avant-metal band’s first and best record not on Amphetamine Reptile—is the soundtrack to mastermind Steve Austin’s near mental collapse. When he made it, he was dumped, broke, and homeless, and at the time obsessed with jazz guitarist John McLaughlin. But it’s also a mission statement of sorts—a triumph of the will, if you will—and twenty years after its release, its severe individualism, marked by a savage blurring of surrealist collage and brutal industrial metal, still stands strong. Kayo Dot and MAKE open.

—PW [LOCAL 506, $14–$17/9 P.M.]

The Whiffs POWER Throwbacks in the POP best sense of the term, The Whiffs are a rollicking Kansas City four-piece that mines the rougher edges of power pop to great effect, with insinuating tunes which recollect the cheerfully unhinged chime of early Teenage Fanclub and the barely sublimated blues rock of Brinsley Schwartz.

Scanners open. —TB [THE CAVE, $5/9 P.M.]

7:30 p.m., free. • RUBY DELUXE: 80lb. Test; 11 p.m. • SLIM’S: Undergang, Necrot; 9 p.m., $5.

WED, JUL 12 Sam OB FUNK & A New York-based SOUL producer and songwriter who formerly performed under the name Obey City, Sam OB brings a light, unhurried touch to his subtly infectious soul and funk confections. His work suggests an abiding affinity for Sade-style Quiet Storm by way of Hall & Oates’ infectious Philly groove.

—TB [NEPTUNES PARLOUR, $10–$12/9 P.M.]

Kelsey Waldon ALMOST On standout tracks like CLASSIC the brooding “Don’t Hurt the Ones Who Loved You the Most” and the self-affirming “All By Myself,” the ascendant Nashvillebased country singer-songwriter Kelsey Waldon weds her smoky drawl to tough minded tales of small town deprivation, romantic

Whitey Morgan HONKY A vintage-soundTONK ing badass of the seventies Nashville Outlaw variety, Flint, Michigan’s Whitey Morgan plays a wicked guitar and possesses a menacing baritone, the better to summon the ghosts of Merle Haggard’s small-time criminal vagabonds, Waylon Jenning’s road-weary spiritual seekers and Hank Williams Jr’s last-call-after-last-call wildmen. After more than a decade of heavy dues-paying, a commercial breakthrough along the line of fellow new traditionalists Strugill Simpson and Jason Isbell is richly deserved. —EB [LINCOLN THEATRE, $15–$75/8 P.M.] ALSO ON WEDNESDAY HUMBLE PIE: Sidecar Social Club; 8:30 p.m., free. • IRREGARDLESS: Nixon, Blevins, and Gage; 6:30 p.m. • POUR HOUSE: John Pagano Band, Gang of Thieves; 9 p.m., $7. • RUBY DELUXE: Goth Night with DJ Bela Lugosi’s Dad; 10 p.m.

e acts of ng a meplace ian verité of ” and oir of ingsteen. $5–$10, 12 ]

art

7.5– 7.12

OPENING

Annual Consignor Invitational: Ceramics by Carmen Elliott and Cathy Kiffney; textiles by Elaine O’Neil; paintings by Henryk Fantazos, Anne Gregory, and Rosie Thompson; jewelry by Rebecca Neigher. Jul 11-Aug 5. FRANK Gallery, Chapel Hill. www.frankisart.com.

SPECIAL Crossing the Blue EVENT Hour: Photography

by Peter Francis Barnett; mixedmedia sculptures and paintings

by Shane C. Smith. Jul 6-21.

Reception: Thursday, July 6, 6-9 p.m. Guest Room Project Space, Carrboro.

SPECIAL Glow: Interactive EVENT blacklight exhibit by Suyun Son, Elisabeth Flock, Buffy, Alexa Eliana, Annelies M. Gentile, Molly Chopin, Annette Shope, and Holly Nicolazzo.

Reception: Friday, July 7, 6-10 p.m. Imurj, Raleigh. imurj.com.

SPECIAL Juillet: Juried exhibit an EVENT featuring eight e-sound- artists. Thru Jul 29. Reception: ss of the Friday, July 7, 6-9 p.m. Tipping Outlaw Paint Gallery, Raleigh. www. an’s tippingpaintgallery.com. s a wicked SPECIAL Life Collection: Sepi sa EVENT Safavizadeh. he better Reception: Friday, July 7, 6-10 ts of p.m. Imurj, Raleigh. imurj.com. all-time Waylon The Long Goodbye...: Sitespecific installation by Eric y spiritual Yahnker. Jul 7-Sep 10. CAM Williams Jr’s Raleigh, Raleigh. camraleigh.org. all SPECIAL Lunch and Lecture: than a EVENT New Art in the s-paying, Park: Linda Dougherty hrough discusses new works of art in ow new the Museum Park, including ll Simpson abstract steel sculptures by chly Mark di Suvero, a pig-shaped sculpture by Jaime Hayon, and two portraits by Jaume Plensa. $25-$30. Friday, July 7, 11 a.m.

NC Museum of Art, Raleigh.

DAY www.ncartmuseum.org. ar SPECIAL Summer Exhibitions EVENT Opening Reception: ee. • xon, Blevins, Eric Yahnker: The Long OUR Goodbye...; Dorian Lynde: No Band, Gang Damsel; David Hess: Gun Show. $45-$65. Thursday, July 6, RUBY with DJ Bela 6-8 p.m. CAM Raleigh, Raleigh. camraleigh.org.

SPECIAL Summer Sizzle: EVENT Collaboration between local women artists: acrylic, oils, glass, sculptures and ceramics. Reception: Friday, July 7, 6-9:30 p.m.

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

ONGOING

Abstract Vision: Paintings

by Sam Ezell. Thru Aug 25.

Whitted Building, Hillsborough.

Barely Civilized: Folk art by Cher Shaffer. Thru Aug 24. Alexander Dickson House, Hillsborough. www.historichillsborough.org.

SPECIAL Beautiful Bedlam: EVENT Paintings by Martha Thorn. Thru Jul 30. Reception: Sunday, July 9, 2-4 p.m.

Horace Williams House, Chapel Hill. www.chapelhillpreservation. com. See box, this page.

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.

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.

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

Egg in Nest: Students of Jenny Eggleston. Thru Jul 21. Halle Cultural Arts Center, Apex. www.thehalle.org.

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

LAST Featured Artists: CHANCE Mixed media from Catherine Gregory and Marguerite Jay Gignoux; ceramics from Linda Prager.

Thru Jul 8. FRANK Gallery, Chapel Hill. www.frankisart.com.

Finished with Flame: Stoneware by Julie Jones, Matt Hallyburton, and Curry Wilkinson. Thru Jul 15.

Claymakers, Durham. www. claymakers.com.

Fluid: Paintings by MyLoan Dinh.

Thru Oct 15. Durham Convention Center, Durham. www. durhamconventioncenter.com.

LAST Forecasts and CHANCE Other Disturbances: Mixed media screenprints and cut paper by Julie Anne Greenberg. Thru Jul 7. Durham Arts Council, Durham. www.durhamarts.org.

From Here to Eternity: Quilted tapestries by Ann Harwell.

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

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

Group Show: Twenty-five artists and craftspersons. Thru Aug 25. Horse & Buggy Press and Friends, Durham. www. horseandbuggypress.com.

Gun Show: Sculptures by David Hess. Thru Aug 6. CAM Raleigh, Raleigh. camraleigh.org.

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

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

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

LAST The Music Makers: CHANCE Visual art by various Pleiades members.

Thru Jul 9. Pleiades Gallery, Durham. www.

PleiadesArtDurham.com.

No Damsel: Paintings by Dorian Lynde. Thru Aug 6. CAM Raleigh, Raleigh. camraleigh.org.

North Carolina’s Natural Beauty: Linda Jones. Thru Jul 30. NC Museum of Natural Sciences, Raleigh. www. naturalsciences.org.

LAST Our House: Student CHANCE and instructor exhibition. Thru Jul 7. Durham Arts Council, Durham. www. durhamarts.org.

Porcelain Jewelry: Jewelry by Mimi Logothetis. Thru Jul 30.

Melissa Designer Jewelry, Hillsborough.

Precarious Edifices: Selected works from Ashlynn Browning and Chieko Murasugi. Thru Jul 21.

Miriam Preston Block Gallery, Raleigh. www. raleighnc.gov/arts.

Pleasant Places: Digital paintings by Quayola. Thru Aug 13. NC Museum of Art, Raleigh. www.ncartmuseum.org.

Small to Large: Delight in the Practice of Painting: Paintings by Margie Stewart.

Thru Oct 23. Durham Arts Council, Durham. www. durhamarts.org.

Teens, Inspired: Juried exhibition by N.C. high school students. Thru Sep 10.

NC Museum of Art, Raleigh. www.ncartmuseum.org.

Under Pressure: Prints and performance art. Mondays thru Aug 27. Visual Art Exchange, Raleigh. www. visualartexchange.org.

Up Close: Paintings by Linda Carmel, textiles by Alice Levinson, sculpture

by Lynn Wartski. Thru Jul 23. Hillsborough Gallery of Arts, Hillsborough. www. hillsboroughgallery.com.

Visual Conversations: A Two Woman Art Show: Oil paintings by Aimee Cuthrell and Angela Tommaso Hellman. Thru Jul 27. Page-Walker Arts & History Center, Cary. www. friendsofpagewalker.org.

West Virginia Spring: Landscape paintings by Lynn Boggess. Thru Jul 15. Tyndall Galleries, Chapel Hill. www. tyndallgalleries.com.

You + Me: Photographs from various artists. Thru Sep 4.

NC Museum of Art, Raleigh. www.ncartmuseum.org.

Painting by Martha Thorn PHOTO COURTESY OF THE GALLERY SUNDAY, JULY 9

MARTHA THORN: BEAUTIFUL BEDLAM Sometimes a critic will call a painter’s work “unresolved,” a vague adjective that means the work seems either unfinished or taken too far. But no one could say that about Raleigh painter Martha Thorn’s work in Beautiful Bedlam, a solo show of brightly colored and chaotic abstract paintings. She’s also a graphic designer, and that sensibility is at work in her knack for drawing many jarring shapes and colors into a single form. Whether you’re looking at a fit of multidirectional drips that shatter the inside of a flag form or squinting through a spray-paint haze at a curlicued tentacle shape, you easily find a subject and can distinguish it clearly from its ground. Thorn also has some chops as a writer; her pithy titles tend to bring her works halfway back from abstraction toward something you might convince yourself you recognize. —Chris Vitiello

HORACE WILLIAMS HOUSE, CHAPEL HILL

2–4 p.m., free, www.preservationchapelhill.org

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Oklahoma! actor Carly Grissom PHOTO COURTESY OF NC THEATRE FRIDAY, JULY 7–SUNDAY, JULY 9

OKLAHOMA!

Someone had better have a very compelling reason for charging twenty-five to fifty bucks for a production of Oklahoma! put on by high school students. In this case, someone does. The students in question are from the North Carolina Theatre Conservatory, Raleigh’s professionalgrade artistic hothouse for rising young stars— and you’ve actually already seen their work onstage, in shows at Theatre Raleigh, Raleigh Little Theatre, and North Carolina Theatre.

The conservatory’s end-of-year productions are fully mounted, costumed, and choreographed shows with professional production values and a live orchestra; being cast in them is an endorsement that an actor is headed for bigger and better things. Your bet’s covered. Buy the ticket. —Byron Woods

FLETCHER OPERA THEATER, RALEIGH Various times, $25–$50, www.nctheatre.com/conservatory

page OPENING Come Jump with Me: Co-presented by ADF and the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. $27. Mon, Jul 10-Wed, Jul 12, 7 p.m. Nasher Museum of Art, Durham. nasher.duke.edu. www.americandancefestival.org.

Elvis Everywhere: Dance. A dendy/donovan project. $33.

Wed, Jul 12 & Thu, Jul 13, 8 p.m. Duke Campus: Reynolds Industries Theater, Durham. www. americandancefestival.org.

Duke Homestead. Sun, Jul 9, 5 p.m. Duke Homestead State Historic Site, Durham. www. americandancefestival.org.

Mello Mike, Brent Blakeney: Stand-up comedy. $16. Fri, Jul 7, 8 p.m. Goodnights Comedy Club, Raleigh. www. goodnightscomedy.com.

Oklahoma!: Presented by the N.C. Theatre Conservatory.

Fri, Jul 7-Sun, Jul 9. Fletcher Opera Theater, Raleigh. www. dukeenergycenterraleigh.com.

Escape From New York: Standup comedy showcase with Ryan Brown, Eric Neumann, Ron Nobles, Frank Favia. Wed, Jul 12, 8 p.m. Goodnights Comedy Club, Raleigh. www. goodnightscomedy.com.

ADF PICK The Missing Generation: See box, this page. $27. Wed, Jul 5 & Thu, Jul 6, 8 p.m. Duke Campus: Reynolds Industries Theater, Durham. www. americandancefestival.org.

Heidi Latsky Dance: Presented

by ADF in association with

Paul Taylor Dance Company: On Friday, the company performs

Cascade and Larry Keigwin’s Rush Hour. Saturday night’s program consists of Airs and Black Tuesday. $16-$51. Fri, Jul 7, 8 p.m. & Sat, Jul 15, 1 & 7 p.m. Durham Performing Arts Center, Durham. www. americandancefestival.org Kevin Smith: Comedy. Sat, Jul 8, 7:30 & 10 p.m. & Sun, Jul 9, 7 & 9:15 p.m. Goodnights Comedy Club, Raleigh. www. goodnightscomedy.com.

See p. 26.

The Woodstock Tontine: Play. $17. Fri, Jul 7-Sun, Jul 16.

Burning Coal Theatre at the Murphey School, Raleigh. www. womenstheatrefestival.com The Year of the Coxx: Drag performance by Vivica A. Coxx. $10. Sat, Jul 8, 10 p.m.

The Pinhook, Durham. www. thepinhook.com.

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

DSICo Presents: Ladies Night: Stand-up comedy. $10. Fri, Jul 7, 8:30 p.m.

DSI Comedy Theater, Chapel Hill. www. dsicomedytheater.com.

Eyes Up Here Comedy: Stand-up comedy. $5. Fri, Jul 7, 7:30 p.m. Neptunes Parlour, Raleigh. www. neptunesparlour.com. — Stand-up comedy hosted by Erin Terry. $5. Wed, Jul 12, 8 p.m. The Pinhook, Durham. www.thepinhook.com.

The Harry Show: Ages 18+. Improv host leads

late-night revelers in potentially risque games. $10. Fridays & Saturdays, 10 p.m. ComedyWorx Theatre, Raleigh. comedyworx.com.

No Poetry Comedy Deluxe: Stand-up comedy. Thu, Jul 6, 9 p.m. Ruby Deluxe, Raleigh. www.facebook. com/RubyDeluxeRaleigh.

North Carolina’s Funniest Person Contest: Audiencejudged stand-up comedy competition. Tue, Jul 11, 7 p.m. Goodnights Comedy Club, Raleigh. www. goodnightscomedy.com.

RuPaul’s Drag Race Viewing and Open Amateur Drag Stage: Fridays, 8 p.m.

Ruby Deluxe, Raleigh. www.facebook.com/ RubyDeluxeRaleigh.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 5 & THURSDAY, JULY 6

SEAN DORSEY DANCE: THE MISSING GENERATION When you lose your history, you lose a major part of your identity as well.

That’s why trans choreographer Sean Dorsey crossed the country interviewing survivors from the earliest years of the American HIV crisis, some twenty years after Bill T. Jones’s AIDS dance documentary Still/Here. “Our culture has turned its back on the early epidemic and its survivors,” Dorsey says. “We don’t talk about it. It isn’t taught.” With that neglect, a crucial part of LGBTQ history is in the process of vanishing. Working with composers, Dorsey edited seventyfive hours of oral histories into the sound score for The Missing Generation, a multifaceted dance work that literally speaks to us of the all-but-forgotten lives lost in the battle for human rights and dignity during the seventies and eighties.

See our interview with Dorsey on the INDY arts blog for more. —Byron Woods

READINGS & SIGNINGS Boozy Poetry Night: Local poets read their work. Second Mondays, 8:30 pm. The Stag’s Head, Raleigh.

Philip Smucker: Riding with George. Wed, Jul 12, 7 p.m.

Quail Ridge Books, Raleigh. www.quailridgebooks.com.

Carlie Sorosiak: If Birds Fly Back. Sat, Jul 8, 11 a.m.

McIntyre’s Books, Pittsboro. www.mcintyresbooks.com.

LITERARY R E L AT E D Durham Comics Fest: Free. Sat, Jul 8, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Southwest Regional Library, Durham. www. durhamcomicsfest.org.

See p. 27.

food Peregrine Farm Wine Dinner: Four-course wine dinner featuring produce from Peregrine Farm and local rabbit from Chatham Rabbit. $75. Wed, Jul 12.

Glasshalfull, Carrboro. www. glasshalfullcarrboro.com.

Wine Tasting: With Fearrington sommeliers and the occasional guest.

Saturdays, 3-5 p.m.

Thru Jul 30.

The Goat, Pittsboro. www.fearrington.com/ eateries/the-goat.

REYNOLDS INDUSTRIES THEATER, DURHAM

Sean Dorsey Dance’s The Missing Generation is our ADF pick of the week.

8 p.m., $10–$27, www.americandancefestival.org PHOTO BY LYDIA DANILLER

INDYweek.com | 7.5.17 | 35

screen SPECIAL SHOWINGS

Chasing Trane: The John Coltrane Documentary: Featuring live music by Crowmeat Bob & Co. and the Bloodworth Combo. Thu, Jul 6, 8 p.m.. Kings, Raleigh. www. kingsraleigh.com. See p. 27.

Matchmaker: $3-$5. Tue, Jul 11, 7 p.m.. Levin Jewish Community Center, Durham. www.levinjcc.org.

Hit a Lick: Presented by Goodnights Comedy Club. $8-$12. Thu, Jul 6, 8-10 p.m. Goodnights Comedy Club, Raleigh. www. goodnightscomedy.com.

The Hitch-Hiker and Detour: Music and hot dogs before the films. Thu, Jul 6, 7 p.m.

Shadowbox Studio, Durham. www.shadowboxstudio.org.

Say Anything: Outdoor movie.

Free-$6. Sat, Jul 8, 9 p.m. N.C. Museum of Art, Raleigh. www. ncartmuseum.org.

Sixteen Candles: Outdoor movie. Free-$6. Fri, Jul 7, 9 p.m.

N.C. Museum of Art, Raleigh. www.ncartmuseum.org.

Wonder Women! The Untold Story of American Superheroines: Sun, Jul 9, 3 p.m. Southwest Regional Library, Durham. www. durhamcomicsfest.org. See p. 27.

OPENING ½ The Big Sick— Reviewed on page 25.

Rated R.  Spider-Man: Homecoming—Reviewed on page 25. Rated PG-13.

ALSO P LAYI NG The INDY uses a five-star rating scale. Read reviews of these films at www.indyweek.com. ½ All Eyez on Me—This biopic claims to be Tupac’s untold story, but most of it could be cobbled together from YouTube clips. Rated R.  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.  Beatriz at Dinner— The lonely, curious, empathic, and traumatized Beatriz (Salma Hayek, as a massage therapist squaring off with her wealthy clients) is the kind of character we need to see more often. Rated R.  The Beguiled— Psychological subtleties make Sofia Coppola’s Clint Eastwood remake a challenging film, but some storytelling vigor would have made it a better one. Rated R.  Cars 3—Pixar’s latest is a smooth ride because it mainly runs on cruise control and Rocky references.

Rated G. ½ Despicable Me 3—This franchise feels just about washed up, but your kids won’t care, because Minions!

Rated PG. ½ The Fate of the Furious—The latest Fast & Furious film is outlandish and refreshingly self-aware, giddily embracing both elements of

in

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the label “dumb fun.”

Rated PG-13.  Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2—A muddier story and zestier jokes balance out to a worthy sequel to Marvel’s spacefaring hit, now with an Oedipal twist. Rated PG-13. ½ Kong: Skull Island— Set before 2014’s Godzilla, this reboot makes Kong’s origin feel like Apocalypse Now meets Starship Troopers.

Rated PG-13.  Megan Leavey—The film lavishes love on the bond of a Marine and her bomb-sniffing dog but undersells everything else.

Rated PG-13. ½ The Mummy— Tom Cruise’s increasing creepiness is the biggest impediment to a serviceable creature feature.

Rated PG-13.  Paris Can Wait— Eleanor Coppola’s beautiful imagery is better than her first non-documentary feature’s thin story of One Percenters in mild crisis. Rated PG.

rbadudance@g

INTR IMPROV

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. Rated PG-13.

August 5th at and August 6 Be funny, be dent. 919-829 comedyworx

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½ Wonder Woman— This origin story doesn’t shrink from its hero’s beauty or brawn. Gal Gadot strikes the right balance as an idealist who relishes the battle but not the war. Rated PG-13.

Traditional art movement for relaxation, self Classes/works out the Triangl School - Since or Kathleen, 91 www.magictor

THURSDAY, JULY 6

THE HITCH-HIKER AND DETOUR Shadowbox Studio hosts two down-and-dirty thrillers that’ll remind you to keep to the main roads. The Hitch-Hiker, from 1953, the first noir directed by a woman (Ida Lupino), offers a cutting take on masculinity as two fishing buddies who pick up the wrong hitchhiker find themselves on a cross-country trip they’re unlikely to survive. William Talman, who would later become famous for losing to Perry Mason every week as D.A. Hamilton Burger, cuts a memorably psychotic figure as the title character, who was then one of the dirtiest, nastiest pieces of work to ever hit the screen. Another grade-A B-movie, Detour (1945), flips the script, as a hitchhiker finds himself in a situation that looks like murder and soon descends into very real murder. Both films are extremely effective, if inadvertent, public service announcements that have stood the test of time far better than many of the more “glamorous” pictures they played under when initially released. —Zack Smith

SHADOWBOX STUDIO, DURHAM

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7 p.m., free (donations accepted), www.shadowboxstudio.org 36 | 7.5.17 | INDYweek.com

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TAI CHI Traditional art of meditative movement for health, energy, relaxation, self-defense.

Classes/workshops throughout the Triangle. Magic Tortoise School - Since 1979. Call Jay or Kathleen, 919-968-3936 or www.magictortoise.com

MASSAGE BY MARK KINSEY Ten years helping clients feel at home in their bodies. Swedish & deep tissue massage for stress relief. Near Duke.

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for sale SAFE STEP WALK-IN TUB ALERT FOR SENIORS.

notices

claSSy@indyweek.com

DOCKET NO.: 2017-DR-23-1514 NOTICE OF ADOPTION PROCEEDINGS TO THE DEFENDANT: JOHN DOE, BIRTH FATHER YOU ARE HEREBY GIVEN THE FOLLOWING NOTICE: 1. That an adoption proceeding was filed in the Family Court of Greenville County on April 6, 2017 and in this Complaint you are alleged to be the father of a Caucasian, female child born in Raleigh, North Carolina, on March 29, 2017.

2. That the Plaintiffs in the above captioned Notice are not named for the purpose of confidentiality; however, the Court knows the true identity of the Plaintiffs and in responding to this notice, you are required to use the caption and the number 2017-DR-23-1514.

3. That if Notice to Contest, Intervene or otherwise Respond is filed by you with the Court within thirty (30) days of the receipt of this Notice of Adoption Proceedings, you will be given an opportunity to appear and be heard on the merits of the adoption. To file notice to Contest, Intervene or otherwise Respond in this action, you must notify the above named Court at Greenville County Courthouse, Clerk of Court at 301 University Ridge, Greenville, South Carolina, 29601 in writing of your intention to Contest, Intervene or otherwise Respond. The above named Court must be informed of your current address and any changes of your address during the adoption proceedings.

4. That your failure to respond within thirty (30) days of receipt of this Notice of Adoption Proceedings constitutes your consent to the adoption and forfeiture of all of your rights and obligations to the above identified child. It is further alleged that your consent to this adoption is not required under S.C. Code Ann. Section 63-9-310 and that your parental rights should be terminated pursuant to S.C. Code Ann. Section 63-7-2570 (7).

This notice is given pursuant to S.C. Code Ann. Section 63-9-730 (E).

Raymond W. Godwin, Esq. (SC Bar #2162) PO Box 354 Greenville, SC 29602 PH (864) 241-2883 FAX: (864) 255-4342 ATTORNEY FOR PLAINTIFFS Date: May 24, 2017

critters KEEP DOGS SHELTERED Coalition to Unchain Dogs seeks plastic or igloo style dog houses for dogs in need, as well as indoor metal crates.

To donate, please contact Amanda at director@unchaindogs.net.

To adopt: 919-403-2221 or visit animalrescue.net

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INDYweek.com | 7.5.17 | 37

EEK ★ I

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★★★★★★★

HIGHLIGHT! ★★★★★★★

K ★ IND EE

Who:

Musical Empowerment

What:

Through free, one-on-one music lessons, Musical Empowerment nurtures meaningful relationships between collegiate mentors and children in under-served communities based on a shared love of music and learning

Give:

that build a foundation of confidence, creativity and self-discipline to create successful individuals.

TO BE FEATURED IN A GIVE! GUIDE HIGHLIGHT, CONTACT CLASSY@INDYWEEK.COM

2016

D ★ IN Y W

Y WEEK ND

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

musical-empowerment.org/donate

Pathways for People, Inc.

is looking for energetic individuals who are interested in gaining experience while making a difference! Positions available are:

Day Program Instructors Art and general instructor needed for Day Program. Monday through Friday from 9:00am to 4:00pm. Experience with individuals with Intellectual Disabilities required and college degree preferred. Please submit resume with cover letter to Rachael Edens at rachael@pathwaysforpeople.org.

No phone inquiries please.

Adult male with Moderate Intellectual Disability and Down’s syndrome in Raleigh. Monday-Friday from 8:00am6:00pm and occasional weekends. Transportation needed to and from community based activities and the Day Program in Cary (2 days a week). Behavioral experience preferred. Call and ask for Rebecca.

Adult male with Autism in Raleigh. Monday through Friday from 7:30am-6pm and occasional weekends.

Transportation needed to and from community based activities and the Day Program in Cary (3 days week).

Experience with Autism preferred. Call and ask for Michele.

For a list of other open positions please go to:

www.pathwaysforpeople.org

38 | 7.5.17 | INDYweek.com

EMAIL MIKE FOR ADS CLASSY AT INDYWEEK DOT COM Book your ad • CALL Sarah at 919-286-6642 • EMAIL

claSSy@indyweek.com

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COMEDYWORX

this week’s puzzle level:

INTRO TO IMPROV

© Puzzles by Pappocom

8

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The numbers can appear in any order and diagonals are not considered.

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6/17 12-3PM AND 6/21 7-10PM 919-829-0822 OR COMEDYWORX.COM

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Your week. Every Wednesday.

NEWS • ARTS • FOOD • MUSIC INDYWEEK.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