Issuu

RALEIGH'S MURDER COUNT BEAT DURHAM'S IN 2017

BAD NURSING HOMES GET OFF SCOT-FREE P. 8 ALL THE RAGE ON STAGE IN 2018 P. 20

raleigh 1|10|18

T HE

GENTRIFIERS JOHN LITTLE AND OTHER LOCAL DEVELOPERS ARE REMAKING WORKING-CLASS NEIGHBORHOODS ONE HOUSE AT A TIME. THEY'RE NOT ABOUT TO APOLOGIZE. BY AMANDA ABRAMS

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Your week. Every Wednesday.

DEPARTM

6 Tria

8 New

13 Food

15 Mus

18 Arts

22 Wha

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29 Arts

ON THE CO

INDYWEEK.COM 2 | 1.10.18 | INDYweek.com

WHAT WE LEARNED THIS WEEK | DURHAM VOL. 35, NO. 2

6 For the first time since 2008, Raleigh had more murders than Durham. 8 In 2016, the federal government fined North Carolina nursing homes $3.4 million. 9 If the Durham County sheriff gets his way, demonstrators won’t be able to protest something that happens on Saturday until Wednesday. 10 It’s easy to fault developers for gentrification. But they see themselves as providing a needed service. 14 Carmella Alvaro wanted to make her pasta exclusively by hand, but when she sold a week’s worth in an hour, she bought some equipment. 15 The novel numerical spelling of M8ALLA alludes to the curve of a woman’s body and an M8 assault rifle. 19 Tonya Harding was the first female skater to land a triple axel.

DEPARTMENTS 6 Triangulator 8 News 13 Food 15 Music 18 Arts & Culture 22 What to Do This Week 25 Music Calendar

Michael Hicks plays in the snow with his siblings in Durham’s East End.

PHOTO BY CAITLIN PENNA

29 Arts/Film Calendar

ON THE COVER: PHOTO BY CAITLIN PENNA

INDYweek.com | 1.10.18 | 3

NOTICE OF AVAILABILITY FOR REVIEW OF THE FEDERAL FINAL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT COMPLETE 540 – TRIANGLE EXPRESSWAY SOUTHEAST EXTENSION PROJECT TIP Project Numbers: R-2721, R-2828, & R-2829 The Federal Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for the Triangle Expressway Southeast Extension Project has been completed. This document is available for public review at the following locations: NCDOT District Office–Wake County 4009 District Drive Raleigh, NC 27607 919-733- 9499

Garner Planning Department 900 7th Avenue Garner, NC 27529 919-773- 4449

Capital Area Metropolitan Planning Organization 421 Fayetteville Street, Suite 203 Raleigh, NC 27601 919-996- 4400

Southeast Regional Library 908 7th Avenue Garner, NC 27529 919-662- 2250

Holly Springs Community Library 300 W. Ballentine Street Holly Springs, NC 27540 919-577- 1660

Knightdale Planning Department 950 Steeple Square Court Knightdale, NC 27545 919-217- 2241

Holly Springs Dept. of Planning & Zoning 128 South Main Street Holly Springs, NC 27540 919-557- 3908

Clayton Planning Department 111 East Second Street Clayton, NC 27520 919-553- 1545

Fuquay-Varina Community Library 133 S. Fuquay Avenue Fuquay-Varina, NC 27526 919-557- 2788

Hocutt-Ellington Library 100 S. Church Street Clayton, NC 27520 919-553- 5542

Fuquay-Varina Planning Department 401 Old Honeycutt Road Fuquay-Varina, NC 27526 919-552- 1429 An electronic version of the document is also available on the project website at www.ncdot.gov/projects/complete540/. Please note: while representatives from each of these locations have agreed to make the FEIS available for public review, the staff at these locations are not prepared to answer questions about this project. Comments regarding the FEIS may be submitted to NCDOT by mail to the attention of Rodger Rochelle, P.E., NCTA Chief Engineer, 1578 Mail Service Center, Raleigh NC, 27699-1578 or by email to complete540@ncdot.gov. A Design Public Hearing will be scheduled in early 2018. 4 | 1.10.18 | INDYweek.com

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backtalk

Deep Breaths

A few weeks ago, Willets wrote about We’ll begin this week with Sarah Willets’s UNC’s new “free speech policy,” which enuJanuary 1 piece about a proposal by Durmerates various disciplinary actions, includham County Sheriff Mike Andrews to curing expulsion, for students who disrupt the tail spontaneous protests on county property. functioning of UNC administration or interJoeJoey responds succinctly: “How do we fire fere with others’ free-speech rights. the sheriff and get one that is in sync with the Commenter larryofcary argues that the U.S. Constitution and the people of Durham?” policy coheres to the spirit of academia. In a more expansive take, Bernard Baruch “Only by confronting and fairly debat(presumably not the late financier and ing what one considers incorrect/untrue/ statesman) argued that new laws are unnecevil/misleading does one become stronger essary. “The right of the people peaceably to in their own truth—or perhaps occasionassemble is guaranteed by the First Amendally shift their views a bit. Avoiding these ment. Violent behavior or posing a threat to debates and confrontations with extremothers (by intent or perceived) are crimes. ists that many universities are doing only That a gathering is impromptu or has fifty makes the students weak, rather than forty-nine naive robots with no abilparticipants has no bearity to think and argue for ing as long as the demon“The sheriff is themselves. You need to stration remains peaceful. charged with see, debate, and meet actuThe sheriff is charged with al people with differing keeping the peace, not keeping the piece, views to be truly educated.” preventing peaceful pubnot preventing In matters musical, Ed lic assembly. The sheriff Kinkade found that the already has what he needs; peaceful public INDY’s end-of-year wrapadditional ordinances to assembly.” up of favorite local records grant him the authority to lacked jazz: “While I prohibit public assembly accept that your publicaare not needed and indeed tion appears to be biased toward alternative may be deemed unconstitutional.” and indie music, there is a burgeoning jazz “So, what happens when Duke wins a scene that has received precious little covnational championship and a crowd of fiftyerage. Al Strong, who is one of the premier one fans spill out of their downtown beer jazz performers in the area, released a CD joints and engage in ‘a public display of senthis year and certainly would have warranttiment for or against a person or cause’?” ed coverage. There are at least three major wonders Taylor Jarnagin. “Will the sherclubs in Raleigh alone that host jazz perforiff then start arresting folks for disturbmances exclusively: C. Grace, Circa 1888, ing the peace? I do not like the idea of the and Watts & Ward, with more planning to do sheriff having the authority to pass such so. In October, C. Grace hosted a hurricane judgments. Crimes against persons or proprelief concert, which netted over $6,000 for erty are crimes and should be acted against, the evening. There was no mention of this in whether or not a proper permit to display your publication.” sentiment has been granted within the Finally, last week’s Soapboxer column, specified time period.” which urged readers to “throw the bums Brandy Lee offers a vigorous counterout and keep the damn republic,” drew this narrative: “You are also supposed to obtain response from R Williams, who urgently a permit to legally and peacefully protest, prescribes a chill pill: “Saw your maniawhich is where many of these groups fall cal opinion in the recent INDY,” he writes. short. It usually ends up that the ones with “Take a deep breath, regain composure and the supposedly best intentions, as they say, perspective. You are going a little overdon’t bother to get their permits. The people board, my friend.” want to blame the sheriff for not doing this job, when the fact is they’re way off base. Want to see your name in bold? Email us The sheriff is willing to do his job, but the at backtalk@indyweek.com, comment on our DA’s office is not willing to do their job, and Facebook page or indyweek.com, or hit us up they’re not willing to back up the Sheriff’s on Twitter: @indyweek. Office, even when they say they will.”

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+COU

triangulator

MURDER MOST FOUL Last year brought good news for the country’s largest city. New York, that epicenter of commerce and culture once hobbled by the crack epidemic, an economic crisis, declining population, and a wave of violence, had seen a frankly incredible drop in crime. Since the nineties, homicide and street-crime tallies have dropped by 90 percent, even as the city’s population expanded to 8.5 million residents. Which got us thinking: What did our local cities’ murder rates look like in 2017, and how did they stack up against other major metros? As it turns out, both Raleigh and Durham are above the national average—in Raleigh’s case, barely—but they’re still safer than many other big cities.

MURDERS BY CITY (per 100,000 residents), 2017

BALTIMORE 56

ST. LOUIS 66

ATLANTA

NEW YORK

HOUSTON

SEATTLE

DETROIT 40

CHARLOTTE

NEW ORLEANS 40

NORTH CAROLINA* 6.7

DURHAM

U.S.*

LOS ANGELES

PHILADELPHIA

PORTLAND

*2016 data from the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reports

5.3

Raleigh

2009

20 14

2008

Durham

2010

21 17

2011

2012

2013

PERIPHERA

MURDERS IN RALEIGH AND DURHAM, 2008–17

Sources: SBI Uniform Crime Reports, Raleigh and Durham police departments 6 | 1.10.18 | INDYweek.com

KANSAS CITY

If all goes should ha a week. If you at-large se el was el term that ple applie requirem rowed tha “There this list w member I “I think lent city Charlie R Among ing to rep nity and t municipa • Pilar CEO of E the city’s g • Sheila vice, work Departme vices, and MomsRis • Javier nator with a member Trails Com • Carl Now, a thi economic ance Econ launch the • Kaare

2014

2015

2016

2017

+COUNCILMANIA!

If all goes to plan, the Durham City Council should have its seventh member in about a week. If you haven’t been following along, an at-large seat opened up when Steve Schewel was elected mayor. The seat carries a term that expires in 2019. Twenty-two people applied and passed the basic eligibility requirements. Last week, the council narrowed that field down to seven finalists. “There is more than one candidate on this list who would be an excellent council member I could support,” said Schewel. “I think this group would make an excellent city council,” added council member Charlie Reece. Among the finalists are three women hoping to represent Durham’s Latinx community and two people who ran in the recent municipal election. A quick rundown: • Pilar Rocha-Goldberg is president and CEO of El Centro Hispano and a member of the city’s gang reduction steering committee. • Sheila Arias, who owns a cleaning service, works as a parent leader at the state Department of Health and Human Services, and works with the grassroots group MomsRising. • Javiera Caballero is a program coordinator with an education consulting firm and a member of the Durham Open Space and Trails Commission. • Carl Rist, senior director of Prosperity Now, a think tank that focuses on addressing economic inequality, chairs the People’s Alliance Economic Inequality Team and helped launch the Durham Living Wage Project. • Kaaren Mary Haldeman is an activ-

PERIPHERAL VISIONS | V.C. ROGERS

ist and community organizer who works to prevent gun violence and advocates for stronger gun policies. • Shelia Ann Huggins is an attorney and a former city employee of nine years who ran for the Ward 3 seat in the recent municipal election, placing second to Vernetta Alston. • Pierce Freelon, a professor, musician, and community organizer who started Blackspace, ran for mayor in the recent municipal election and came in third. Council members each named their top seven applicants, and those with the most votes were selected as finalists. Of all the applicants, three appeared on every council member’s list: Rocha-Goldberg, Rist, and Haldeman. The council will hold a public input meeting at seven p.m. on January 10, in which each candidate can have supporters speak on his or her behalf for fifteen minutes. The candidates themselves won’t be able to speak during that meeting; they’ll be interviewed by the council the next night in a meeting at City Hall that begins at five p.m. The council plans to vote on a new member immediately before its January 16 meeting.

+ORDERED OUT

Despite a looming deportation order, Wildin Acosta is trying to stay optimistic— and says he’ll appeal once more. He’s been fighting his case for two years, since he was picked up by immigration agents outside his Durham home while on his way to class at Riverside High School. After asking for a continuance, Acosta expected to head back to Charlotte immi-

gration court last week. But instead, he was ordered removed from the country and sent back to his native Honduras. He has until January 11 to appeal the order—and he intends to do so, citing a pending visa application seeking lawful status now that he is married to a U.S. citizen. “I remain faithful in God that things will turn out for the better,” he said during a press conference Friday. For those who have supported Acosta along the way, the past two years have been a roller coaster of uncertainty, fear, victories big and small, and waiting for a shrouded, drawn-out process to take its course. This was not the outcome they had hoped to see. Acosta’s classmates and teachers at Riverside rallied around him throughout his case, even traveling to Washington, D.C., to lobby on his behalf. Local elected officials have also written letters of support asking for the removal proceedings to be halted. A deportation would not only rip the twenty-one-year-old from his parents and his new wife, but it would also send him back to a country just as dangerous and perhaps more unstable now than in 2014, when he fled threats from gang members who targeted him for his Christian beliefs. Although the country’s murder rate has been falling in recent years, Honduras is still considered one of the deadliest places in the world outside of a combat zone. At least thirty-one people have died amid protests that broke out following a contested presidential election in late November. triangulator@indyweek.com This week’s report by Jeffrey C. Billman, Erica Hellerstein, and Sarah Willets.

The

Gravy Boys

The Kruger Brothers Friday October 10th at 8:00PM Community Church of Chapel Hill 106 Purefoy Road, Chapel hill NC 27514 Advance Sale $20 at www.communitychurchconcerts.org

SATURDAY, JANUARY 13 8:00PM *3 GREAT SHOWS LEFT!*

“..best Acoustics for a small venue in the area...”

An evening with Jens, Uwe and Joel is always a specia Community Church ofmusical Chapelexperience. Hill UU

106 Purefoy Road, Chapel Hill, NC, 27514 “I used to think the banjo was somewhat limited to certain 919-942-2050 styles, un8l I heard Jens Kruger. Jens has played some of the www.communitychurchconcerts.org most beau8ful and expressive banjo I’ve ever heard.“ Block Tickets: In–Ron Advance: At Door: $20 Alison Krauss and $15 Union • StaTon

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INDYweek.com | 1.10.18 | 7

indynews

Neglect Your Elders

IN 2016, NORTH CAROLINA NURSING HOMES WERE FINED $3.4 MILLION FOR FAILING TO PROTECT VULNERABLE RESIDENTS. THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION IS PUTTING THE BRAKES ON THAT. BY THOMAS GOLDSMITH People who live in nursing homes often have trouble speaking up for themselves, so the government has long spoken up for them. But the power of that voice is growing weaker under a new policy direction from the Trump administration. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has maintained strict federal oversight of nursing homes in return for the Medicaid payments that cover most nursing home care. Sometimes this has meant fining centers that fail to protect vulnerable residents, then let too much time pass before fixing dangerous conditions. Bill Lamb, executive director of Raleighbased Friends of Residents in Long-Term Care, and other advocates for older people say that nursing corporations tend to look at fines as the cost of doing business, but they still want to reduce them. “The regulations in a business environment are considered a restraint of trade,” Lamb says. “What they want to say is, There’s something fishy about that number. The reality is, they got dinged because they did something wrong.” President Trump’s administration recently responded to nursing-home industry pressure, announcing changes that include a moratorium on imposing penalties in such areas as prescription of psychotropic drugs, access to behavioral health care, and a resident's baseline care plan, meaning a written assessment of the person’s status upon entering the facility and plans for treatment. “[The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services] will use this 18-month moratorium period to educate surveyors and the providers to ensure they understand the health and safety expectations that will be evaluated through the survey process,” wrote David R. Wright, director of the CMS Survey and Certification group. The decision departs from an Obamaera policy of levying heavier fines against nursing homes for violations that cause or 8 | 1.10.18 | INDYweek.com

could cause death or serious injury, called immediate jeopardy. In the last years of the Obama administration, these penalties increased from $50 million in 2014 to $90 million in 2016. Kate Goodrich, director of clinical standards and quality at the CMS, offered this rationale for the change in a statement: “Rather than spending quality time with their patients, the providers are spending time complying with regulations that get in the way of caring for their patients and doesn’t increase the quality of care they provide.” Throughout North Carolina, eighty-seven nursing homes were hit with a total of $3.4 million in fines, an average of about $40,000 per incident, in 2016, the most recent year for which totals are available. With more than four hundred nursing homes licensed in the state, that means about one in five facilities were slapped with fines in a single year. “They can penalize them, they can

disqualify the facilities from Medicaid or Medicare,” says Steve Gugenheim, a Raleigh lawyer who specializes in nursing-home cases. “In terms of a form of recoupment, or a penalty, it amounts to a slap on the wrist.” But it is, at least, a public slap on the wrist. As Gugenheim points out, people who research nursing homes for themselves or their relatives can get a clearer picture of a center’s performance by checking penalties at nursinghomecompare.gov. That site provides consumers with a federal star rating system that allows them to get a tentative idea of a facility’s quality. In one example before the new policies took effect, federal authorities fined Longleaf Neuro-Medical Treatment Center—a nursing home in Wilson, about an hour's drive east of Raleigh—$243,407 during 2017 for failing to take adequate care of residents. Most of that amount stemmed from an incident in which a Longleaf resident—unnamed in records, though described by state investigators as having a “history of being paranoid” and suffering from hallucinations that he is “fighting demons”—walked out a malfunctioning alarm-equipped door, then ran away from the facility on May 18. “The resident was found crossing the highway and running down the grassy median between the north- and southbound lanes,” a state report reads. After a long internal and regulatory process, Longleaf installed new equipment and completed staff training designed to prevent future “elopements,” as such walkaways are known. Following another, similar incident, a Chapel Hill facility, Signature HealthCARE, was fined $127,340 in April after a resident walked away. In this case, though, the resident “eloped” not once, but twice in the space of a few minutes. Staff at the center had noted disorientation, confusion,

and combative behavior from the resident. After the confused, disoriented resident had been outside for about eight minutes, someone, perhaps a passerby, came inside and apparently alerted staff members. At that point, the nursing assistant brought the man inside by pushing him in his wheelchair. Had either of these incidents happened under the Trump administration’s new policy, the facility wouldn’t have faced penalties. Reports of these sorts of incidents will still be investigated, but for at least eighteen months, the offending centers will neither be fined nor have the violations appear in public records. The industry is pleased. Last year, the American Health Care Association, a nursing-home trade organization, issued talking points for its members to use in an effort to reduce federal fines, called civil monetary penalties, or CMPs. “Use of CMPs has skyrocketed, with surveyors using CMPs retroactively to punish providers instead of using them to correct behavior,” the trade organization’s suggested language reads. “These changes come at a time when skilled nursing sector quality is better than ever: staffing levels are increasing, rehospitalizations are decreasing, and [skilled nursing facilities] are doing better on metrics measured by CMS.” The incidents that draw fines are often rooted in failures in alarm equipment and/ or a lack of training for staff. Remedying either costs money, a direction that some nursing homes avoid if it hurts the bottom line, Lamb says. “The reality is, health care is a business,” Lamb says. “A major part of quality has to do with staff and training and personnel costs. When you are in the business to make a profit, there are only a couple of ways you can cut costs. It’s either in your building or in your personnel.” tgoldsmith@indyweek.com

The Waiting Game

DURHAM’S SHERIFF WANTS PLENTY OF NOTICE BEFORE YOU PROTEST BY SARAH WILLETS Durham is a place where, in a matter of hours, hundreds of people will gather downtown in the middle of a workday in one-hundreddegree heat to stand up to the Ku Klux Klan— and end up having a block party complete with a drum circle.

So it should come as no surprise that a proposal requiring notice for some protests on Durham County grounds is meeting with resistance. The proposal would require forty-eight business hours’ notice for demonstrations involving fifty or more people on areas outside county buildings. If notice isn’t given, the county manager could determine that demonstrators are trespassing and have them removed—authority the manager already has. “The ability to respond to current events in real time and the importance of people, immediately after learning of a policy enactment or proposal, being able to voice their opinion about that in the streets is a necessary part of our democracy,” says Susanna Birdsong, policy counsel for the ACLU of North Caro-

lina. “The immediacy is important because it’s what the Constitution requires. Forcing people to wait forty-eight hours before voicing an opinion on the matter of the day could be too late, and it just isn’t necessary.” The proposal follows a letter by Sheriff Mike Andrews in response to an August 18 anti-Klan rally downtown. In it, Andrews asked for guidelines for demonstrations on county property. Wilmington, Goldsboro, and Raleigh are among the cities that require “notice of intent to picket,” as they call it. Goldsboro asks for seventy-two hours’ notice for a crowd of any size to picket. Wilmington and Raleigh both require notice of any protest involving ten or more people, although their ordinances don’t specify when that notice needs to be submitted. Raleigh’s ordinance was upheld in 2008 by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, which said it didn’t place a significant burden on protesters or give officials discretion to restrict speech. Part of a policy in Long

Beach, California, that required twenty-four hours’ notice, however, was deemed unconstitutional on the grounds that it regulated events regardless of whether or not they would interfere with vehicle or pedestrian traffic, and therefore could restrict speech beyond what is reasonable to maintain order. The policy being proposed in Durham is modeled after one on the books in Charlotte since 2004—with one key difference: Charlotte’s policy also requires notice forty-eight hours ahead of an event, while Durham’s proposal calls for forty-eight business hours of notice. This means that protesters who want to respond to something that happens on a Saturday could have to wait until at least Wednesday to do so. During a board meeting last week, Commissioner Heidi Carter voiced the strongest objections, saying the policy was unnecessary and could stir up discord. But county attorney Lowell Siler and Jodi Miller, general manager of community and public safety, said the policy was need-

ed to ensure the safety of both demonstrators and people using county facilities. The policy isn’t intended to stifle speech, they said, and couldn’t be used to deny permission to any event. But the policy could conceivably give county officials sufficient heads-up to shut down a protest once it begins. “We always worry about how things are going to be enforced and what that looks like, who will be targeted and who won’t, any time there is discretion in enforcement,” Birdsong says. Because the proposal comes as an update to the county’s facility-use policy, which is approved by the county manager, amending it is an administrative decision that doesn’t require approval from commissioners. County manager Wendell Davis said staff members would attempt to bring a revision of the policy back to the board to satisfy commissioners’ concerns, but it’s unclear when that will happen. swillets@indyweek.com

Duke University Chapel • 3:00 pm • Sunday, January 14th

DUKE UNIVERSITY 2018 DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. COMMEMORATION

Keynote Speaker: Sherrilyn Ifill

President and Director-Counsel, NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. Free and Open to the Public. Please call 919-684-8353 for more information • Free Parking Available in the Bryan Center Parking Garage INDYweek.com | 1.10.18 | 9

GENTRIFIERS the

John Little and other developers are remaking Durham’s East End one house at a time—and they’re not about to apologize for it BY

A MANDA A BRAMS PHOTOS BY

CA I T L I N P E N N A

Houses are being bought, torn down, and rebuilt in East End.

year ago, the house at the corner of Dowd and Hazel streets was a squat, green cinderblock building. A simple duplex with a gable roof on a block lined with humble homes, one unit was boarded up while the other was in barely habitable condition. Today, the structure is almost unrecognizable. It’s now a singlefamily home capped by a metal Dutch hip roof; the cinderblock is clad in stucco atop a fieldstone base, and the backyard is gated and fenced in. 10 | 1.10.18 | INDYweek.com

That transformation took exactly seventy-two days; builder John Little purchased the house for just under $100,000 in September and rapidly set about renovating it. The house sold long before construction finished. “Someone came by and was interested,” says Little. “He didn’t even blink at the price.” That price: $350,000. The newly flipped house stands out, but only somewhat. Across the street is a brand-new, two-story craftsman that’s still on the market; a block over is another house that Little built earlier in 2017. And all throughout this community are homes in the process of being demolished, reno-

vated, or built, often several per block. It’s a stunning metamorphosis for a neighborhood that only a couple of years ago was largely home to poor people. This is East End, that subset of northeast central Durham framed by North Roxboro Street, East Geer Street, Alston Avenue, and Canal Street. Lying just north of Cleveland-Holloway, it’s always been a lower- and working-class African-American neighborhood. But it’s also just twenty minutes by foot from downtown, which makes it desirable in the current housing market. Little is far from alone these days; at least a dozen developers are doing exactly the same thing. And this neighborhood isn’t the only one

experiencing such a rapid shift. Some of those builders are also working in Southside, the neighborhood across the Durham Freeway from the American Tobacco Campus. But that’s a smaller community, one that’s almost reached capacity. East End is much bigger, with block after block of small houses that could still be renovated or demolished. The human toll is real. The people who lived in the house at Dowd and Hazel streets are gone; they moved a few blocks east, to the other side of Alston Avenue. Little by little, many other low-income residents who used to fill the community are disappearing, going, say remaining neighbors, “wherever they can.” Naturally occur-

ring affordable housing in neighborhoods like East End is vanishing under the seemingly unstoppable force of gentrification. It’s easy to fault the developers and investors who had an early understanding of Durham’s dynamics and are taking advantage of them for a profit. But they see themselves as providing a needed service and helping to clean things up along the way. In fact, they say, most of the houses that have been demolished were in such abominable condition that they were barely livable. “I know people think I’m the gentrificator,” says Little. “But we’re all part of the same hypocrisy.” Only a few years ago, the city was desperate to improve neighborhoods like East End. The situation that led to the changes here and in other Durham neighborhoods is complicated. No one—and everyone—is to blame.

ccording to the 1980 Durham Architectural and Historic Inventory, East End was built in the early twentieth century in response to waves of African Americans moving to Durham to work in the mills. It was a working-class neighborhood, and the houses were built with simple materials. Dowd Street, the spine of the community, was soon lined with thriving businesses: restaurants, barbershops, grocery stores, laundromats. Through the 1950s, the neighborhood was populated by teachers and factory workers who owned their homes. “But the next generation, their children didn’t stay,” says Michael Jones Jr., owner of Ellis D. Jones & Sons funeral home, which has sat at the corner of Dowd and Elizabeth streets since 1935. “Then it became a neighborhood of rentals.” Some houses stayed in the families, but often the owners lived far away and became absentee landlords; others sold their properties, allowing some local landlords to amass dozens of properties. What that meant in practice was that many of the houses weren’t maintained. “Some landlords did let their properties run down, where if they’d had regular maintenance in place, it wouldn’t have gotten to that point,” says Constance Stancil, director of Durham’s Neighborhood Improvement Services. As the neighborhood became poorer, crime crept in and flourished. “This was the wild, wild west—a jungle,” says Dotti Malone, who lives on Gray Street and grew up in the community. Her neighbor across the street, David Downey, agrees. “It was pure hell. A lot of shooting,” he says. “People would be setting out right there on the curb selling drugs.” NIS wasn’t created until 2006; by that

John Little stands between a house he built (left) and an older, smaller home in East End. time, the housing stock was in terrible condition. Even just four or five years ago, Stancil remembers, “there were over five hundred vacant or boarded-up properties in downtown neighborhoods.” But then things finally began to change. The city launched an initiative in Southside, helping to fund new housing there, and the investment lured market-rate builders to the neighborhood. Meanwhile, downtown Durham was blossoming, and developers began eyeing the nearby East End. “It’s kind of an investor’s dream,” says Selina Mack, director of the Durham Community Land Trustees. “It still has a great deal of housing stock available at a reasonable price. Or at least it did until recently.” Indeed, landlords have woken up to the neighborhood’s potential, sensing that this might finally be their chance to cash out. John Little bought three properties—including the house with the purple door—from a Durham native who owned roughly forty units. He’s been offered properties by several other landlords in the area, and prices are starting to climb. It’s all happened so fast that the city has barely had a chance to swivel away from its prior focus of bettering the area. “There’s been all kinds of interventions to improve the neighborhood over the years,” says Peter Skillern, director of Durham’s

Reinvestment Partners, a nonprofit that advocates for economic justice and prosperity. “Now it’s the exact opposite.” The city now has to figure out how to help the low-income residents who are suddenly being displaced. In East End, longtime residents have a range of reactions. Homeowners seem keenly aware of the changes. “Everyone who grew up here is gone,” says Lateef Stokes, who lives on Elizabeth Street in a house his grandfather bought decades ago. “A lot of people didn’t own [their homes]. Or the bank took their house, or they got bought out. If you live here on a fixed income, how can you afford it when the taxes increase? And they are increasing.” The property taxes on his own house jumped by almost 25 percent between 2015 and 2016, from $1,600 to almost $2,000; other properties in the area have seen increases of close to 50 percent during that time. Those amounts are based on the homes’ rising appraised values, which are likely to continue to go up in the coming years as the neighborhood changes. A few blocks north, on Dowd Street, Coy Saunders has been using materials he finds at demolition sites to improve his own house. Still, he’s upset about the area’s rebuilding and says others are as well. “You know they’re angry. The houses they

tear down, many were duplexes—somewhat affordable. Now they’re putting back single-family homes,” Saunders says. The city could’ve done more to help. “They could’ve improved the housing. Gave out grants. Helped older people refinance.” But many renters—arguably the hardest hit by the neighborhood’s changes—seem unconcerned. “I’m not worried,” says Ricardo Morales, who lives at the corner of Gray and Gurley streets with his wife and four kids. “There are other places.” He admits, though, that it might be tough to find a house as cheap as this one, a four-bedroom that goes for $650 a month. And Walter Parker and Lisa Miles, who rent a gray and turquoise cinderblock house on Dowd Street, say they’re not anxious, either. “Our rent man said he won’t sell,” says Miles. Actually, their landlord sold the house two years ago—to an investor for $175,000. Miles and Parker’s days in that home are likely numbered.

riving around the neighborhood with John Little is an education. “Check that out,” he says from behind the wheel of his truck, pointing to the foundation of an old house on Dowd Street. “That’s pillar construction. The water runs INDYweek.com | 1.10.18 | 11

right under the house. It soaks the soil, then the ground compacts when it dries, and it pulls the house down with it.” He gestures at the cracks in the foundation that have resulted, and the line of condensation that indicates a damp crawl space. Nearby is a newly renovated home. “That’s a jack-leg job,” he says. “I wouldn’t have done a fifteen-year shingle roof like that; that’s the cheapest shingle you could possibly get.” Little is as good as a housing inspector at determining the state of a structure. His living depends on his ability to assess whether a house is worth buying and renovating, or whether he should tear it down and rebuild. Like a lot of solo builders, Little is something of a cowboy: personable, confident, opinionated—“a redneck with a brain,” by his own account. “I have no life. This is what I do,” he says. “I ride the neighborhood every day. I have to know what’s going on.” These days, Little—who was recently caught up in a controversy about a local horseshoe pit [“Horseshoes and Hand Grenades,” November 8, 2017]—is one of many builders in the neighborhood. Others include Mike Foley and his realtor wife; Transition Renovations; Pegasus Land Company, which recently replaced an exceedingly modest house on Gray Street with a pair of townhouses priced at $400,000 each; Sandi Spier, one of a few woman developers working in the area; and the biggest one, Thayer Homes, which has dozens of houses under development in East End and Southside. But Little is still doing quite well for himself. At the beginning of 2017, he bought an vacant piece of land at the corner of Dowd and Gearwood for $80,000, built a three-bedroom house on it, and sold it this past summer for $430,000. Even given the rising cost of construction materials—prices went up significantly last year—that’s a handy profit. But price isn’t everything. Little says he’d like to keep his prices lower, to remain within what he calls “the target range of the millennial” (roughly $350,000 by his count). And he’d rather save an old house when he can. But the profit margin on a renovated old house is much slimmer than that for new construction, simply because the home can’t be marketed as “new.” Plus, he says, many of the houses are simply in really bad condition. He drives around to make his argument, pointing out homes with off-kilter load-bearing walls, signs of black mold, and vinyl siding concealing asbestos panels. His argument is that most of the area’s homes were allowed to deteriorate over time, to the point where they can’t be considered safe housing for anyone. Stancil, the NIS director, disputes that so many of the neighborhood’s homes need to 12 | 1.10.18 | INDYweek.com

Left: Terry Thayer, a developer working in East End. Right: Alyssa and Gerard Hicks play in front of their uncle’s East End house. be torn down. “It’s not the case that the houses were in terrible condition,” she says. But Terry Thayer, who runs Thayer Homes with his wife, Kristi, agrees with Little. His company has built twenty homes in Southside and is now active in East End. He tried a few renovations, but they weren’t worth the effort. All the homes he purchased were rentals, he says—“I don’t think I’ve bought from one owner-occupier”—and they were in abysmal condition. “We were seeing a lot of termite damage, foundation damage—a lot of these houses, we’d find nothing but raw sewage under the house, because the sewer lines had rotted out and were dumping into the crawl space,” he says. He now does only new construction. Thayer admits his homes and their new inhabitants have changed the communities, but is that a bad thing? He’s helped homeowners increase the value of their homes and has improved the neighborhood. Like East End, Southside was another notorious crime spot. Sure, residents have been displaced, but the houses weren’t fit for human habitation, he says. And both Thayer and Little swear that most of the renters who lost their homes simply moved a few streets over. Thayer says he didn’t expect the market in the two neighborhoods to take off like it has, but demand is now driving his business. “The buyers are demanding a high-quality product,” he says. “Our product went from hardwoods on the first floor and carpets upstairs, to hardwoods throughout, high energy-efficient homes, digital-audio systems throughout the house that you can run off your smart device. We’re just listening to our buyers.” And in East End, he says, buyers “want bigger and more expensive homes.” His company is building a house on Elizabeth Street that will be twenty-eight hundred square

feet, “super high-end,” with a price tag in the $600,000s. A nearby house recently sold for $550,000, with several offers before construction was finished. An under-construction house on Mallard Street will come with an elevator to access its three stories. Indeed, the median listing price in that zip code has more than doubled in three years, according to Realtor.com. Who are these buyers? “Ninety percent are techies,” says Thayer. “Seventy percent work from home. One hundred percent are millennials.” The housing market, Thayer admits, “has gotten absolutely out of control.” He’d actually like to drop his prices, but land costs throughout East End have gone way up; the going rate for a plot that might be a sixth of an acre is now $100,000 or more, compared to less than half that a couple of years ago. In essence, Thayer and Little have become victims of their own success.

ittle thinks city officials are happy about East End’s transformation, despite the ongoing gentrification, even if they’re loath to say so. “Secretly, the [city] council and everyone wants it to get improved, they just don’t want to get the blame,” he says, mentioning appreciative comments he’s received from local police. But Durham policymakers say that’s not the case. Rather, the question of how to revitalize a neighborhood—or a city—without the displacement of people or destruction of houses is simply a quandary no one has figured out. “The market forces are real,” says Mayor Steve Schewel. “We’re not going to beat the market forces, but we can make a difference.” Schewel cites the city’s focus on creating new affordable housing—a central plank of his mayoral campaign—and also lists efforts

to stabilize existing neighborhoods. In particular, he mentions a new program, enacted a few months ago, that provides property tax relief in certain gentrifying Durham neighborhoods, including both East End and Southside, and another that will help lowincome homeowners repair their homes at a low cost. That could help lessen the displacement of low-income people. But Cathleen Turner, director of Preservation NC’s Durham office, thinks more could be done to reduce the number of houses that are torn down—and that could help stabilize the neighborhood. “More diverse housing stock allows for a more diverse population living there,” she says. Earlier this decade, Turner explains, Preservation NC renovated blighted homes in east Durham that seemed to be in terrible shape but were in fact quite fixable—and wound up highly sought after by homebuyers. “The houses should be examined on a case-by-case basis. Just because it’s built in the twenties or thirties doesn’t mean it’s substandard,” she says. Of course, those east Durham homes lay in a national historic district, which means there was a federal tax incentive to renovate them. East End has no such designation, nor does Southside. If the city or community organizations worked to get the areas listed as historic, there’d be a profit motive to fix them up rather than demolish them. And that’s the kind of thing builders like Little and Thayer pay attention to. After all, says Turner, what’s at stake is no less than the flavor and future of Durham. “A great deal of Durham’s current success and attractiveness is its community character, its architecture and history and people,” she says. “You start slashing and burning, where does it lead? It’s a delicate balancing act.” backtalk@indyweek.com

indyfood

[STEAL THIS]

THE DURHAM

315 East Chapel Hill Street, Durham www.thedurham.com

chose the ginger scone with Demerara sugar on top. It was the most incredible scone I’ve ever had. I think it must have been made with some sort of whole wheat pastry flour, and it was perfectly moist, spicy, and sweet. If they would share that recipe, I would be so stinkin’ excited!”

CANDIED GINGER SCONES

Credit: Andrea Reusing

For extra flaky scones, keep all ingredients as cold as possible. Cube the butter and keep in the freezer until ready to use. Measure the dry ingredients and dairy and chill before mixing. 4 ounces pastry flour 8 ounces rye flour 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 3/4 teaspoon salt 3/4 cup turbinado sugar,

A dusting of sugar preps candied ginger scones for the oven.

plus more for topping 3/4 cup cold butter, cubed 1/2 cup heavy cream 1/4 cup crème fraîche 1/4 cup stem ginger, drained and chopped into 1/8-inch pieces Combine the dry ingredients and thoroughly mix. Incorporate the butter quickly using your fingers until the butter is in peasized pieces. Combine the cream and crème fraîche. Add to bowl. Combine until the dough just comes together. Press the dough into a 9-by-13-inch pan and freeze. Cut into 9 triangles and sprinkle 1/4 ounce turbinado sugar over each scone, generously covering the tops. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes, or until golden brown. Brush each finished scone with syrup from the stem ginger. food@indyweek.com

PHOTO BY CAITLIN PENNA

Game of Scones

THE DURHAM SHARES THE RECIPE FOR ITS INCREDIBLE CANDIED GINGER BREAKFAST PASTRY BY EMMA LAPERRUQUE If you could steal one recipe from a local restaurant or bakery or bar, what would it be? Go on, name it! We’re collecting requests at food@indyweek.com, then publishing our favorite finds here. This week, The Durham’s chef, Andrea Reusing, is sharing all the secrets of her candied ginger scones. “It was the first pastry we created for the coffee shop at The Durham a few weeks before we opened,” she says. “We wanted to showcase a flavorful flour from Carolina Ground in Asheville in a way that didn’t compromise an ideal buttery scone texture.”

And oh, the texture. If you think scones are dry and boring—make these, immediately. Or just go try them: They’re available every morning at The Durham, so long as the kitchen’s candied ginger supply lasts. Then, the recipe will switch to a date and cardamom doppelganger. The request for the recipe came from former Durham resident Hanes Motsinger. “I live in Albuquerque, but in May I stayed a night at the Durham Hotel. They have a continental breakfast and you get your choice of a free breakfast pastry. I

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food

MELINA’S FRESH PASTA SHOP 2717 Chapel Hill Road, Durham www.melinaspasta.com

One Raviolo at a Time

AFTER SEVEN YEARS AT FARMERS MARKETS, MELINA’S FRESH PASTA OPENS A STOREFRONT HONORING THE FOUNDER’S ITALIAN ROOTS BY LAYLA KHOURY-HANOLD Last week, a relative calm eased into the kitchen of Melina’s Fresh Pasta. It’s a stark contrast to the grand-opening buzz of the new store a few weeks earlier. Owner and pasta maker Carmella Alvaro is enjoying a rare day off. But as she sits at a cleared-off work table sharing tales of how she got her start as a pasta maker, it’s easy to imagine the mixers churning, pasta cutting machines whirring, and an entire staff diligently shredding mushrooms and zesting lemons for ravioli fillings. “I think being the daughter of immigrants, [my parents] always wanted to see the next generation go from doing hard labor, like this, to maybe an office job,” she says as she gestures toward the pasta-making machines outfitting her new production space and shop. Like many first-generation Americans, Alvaro has childhood memories that revolve around food traditions that followed her parents from their native Calabria, Italy, to their adopted hometown of Syracuse, New York. “My dad still gardens. They make wine, they make bread, they cure meats; they do everything that the hipsters are doing now but before it was cool,” says Alvaro, laughing. “I grew up in that environment where you make your own food, where food is important, and eating dinner together is important.” Honoring these traditions, Alvaro opened Melina’s Fresh Pasta in 2010. She started by delivering a few coolers of ravioli and gnocchi to Triangle-area farmers markets, then expanded to retail distribution with Weaver Street Market in 2013 and to select Whole Foods in 2015. On December 2, she finally opened a brick-and-mortar location just past Durham’s Lakewood neighborhood. It wasn’t a straight shot from canning tomato sauce to creating a signature lemon ricotta ravioli. After graduating with a degree in political science from Colgate University, Alvaro lived in Washington, D.C., for twelve years before moving to Raleigh. She was working a sales and marketing job (likely for her parents’ approval)—and completely bored. For a mental break, she packed her 14 | 1.10.18 | INDYweek.com

elli, photos of which flank the menu’s other side. Her handmade pasta repertoire expanded to include traditional lasagna Bolognese, gnocchi, ravioli, and tortellini, a regional specialty typically served en brodo (in broth). “I was a little mortified when she took out the beef tongue to make the broth to serve the tortellini in. It was very traditional!” she says. But the experience— beef tongue notwithstanding—turned out to be about more than making pasta. “It started out as very transactional—‘I’m going to pay you to teach me to make pasta’—and it turned into a friendship,” Alvaro says. “They [the Tori family: Raffaella, Marcello, and Francesca] took me in for a week where it was just me and their family. They became my mentors.” When Marcello drove Carmella Alvaro of Melina’s Fresh Pasta PHOTO BY CAITLIN PENNA her to the train station at the end of the week, he revealed that everyone thought he was crazy bags for Italy to attend pasta-making school. for starting a food and travel business. Alvaro “The guy from Master of None stole my recalls him saying, “I shouldn’t listen to anyidea!” she says, referencing Aziz Ansari’s body [who] tells me not to start a food busiNetflix show in which his character leaves ness; if I want to do it, I should do it.” New York City to make pasta in Italy and A seed was planted. Alvaro returned clear his head. to her sales and marketing job in Raleigh At Bluone, a family-owned, Bologna-based and continued making pasta as a hobby. In food tour company and cooking school, 2010, she started selling small quantities Alvaro learned to make sfoglia, traditionof her artisanal pasta at the Wake Forest al fresh egg pasta. Once she mastered the farmers market and at the Carrboro market dough, her teacher Francesca taught her to by the following spring. Around this time, roll it out using a mattarello, which is the she received a phone call from a Charlespasta rolling pin that now hangs next to the ton-based pasta maker who was retiring menu board at Melina’s Fresh Pasta. Alvaro and wanted to sell his equipment. Alvaro also learned how to hand-shape pasta like politely declined, explaining that she wantbow-tie-shaped farfalle and tubular gargan-

ed to make pasta by hand. But when she made her Carrboro market debut and sold out of the pasta it had taken her one week to make—in one hour! —she quickly changed her mind. Even though the machines expedited part of the pasta-making process, Alvaro officially quit her job in 2012 to focus on making pasta full-time. She eventually outgrew the detached garage turned commercial kitchen at her North Durham home. She held out for the light-flooded space on Chapel Hill Road. Melina’s Fresh Pasta Shop’s open floor plan and expanded production area allows each piece of equipment—including a 300pound mixer—to have its own place; storage for industrial-size cans of San Marzano-style tomatoes and fifty-pound sacks of durum and semolina flours; and a small staff lounge. The improved work flow also allows Alvaro to create new ravioli fillings, like Southwestern-inspired black bean or goat cheese-andhoney, which are available for purchase from the shop’s modest retail space along with the full range of cut and stuffed pastas, sauces, and take-and-bake meals. The open floor plan also allows room for hosting tours, pasta-making classes, and monthly tastings. Alvaro’s business has come a long way over the last seven years, but she hasn’t forgotten her roots. She fondly recounts how her family devoted several days every August to pick bushels of tomatoes and can tomato sauce for the year ahead. “I think I was only allowed to put the basil in the jar. I wasn’t allowed to do anything else!” she says. Now she’s responsible for making about seventy pints of fresh tomato basil sauce every week to sell alongside her pastas or layer into baked pasta dishes. So, what do her parents make of all this? “They’re excited,” Alvaro says. “I think maybe it was their influence that caused this, watching them entertain and feed everyone my whole life. We’re all doing things to help people; my brother is a fire captain; my sister runs a hospital lab; and I feed people.” food@indyweek.com

indymusic Glowed Up

MBALLA MENDOUGA, AKA M8ALLA, MAKES A POWERFUL MISSION STATEMENT AFTER FAMILY TRAUMA AND HEARTBREAK BY VICTORIA BOULOUBASIS

Mballa Mendouga PHOTO BY CAITLIN PENNA

acklit by a deep magenta coming from studio lights perched at every corner of her bedroom, Mballa Mendouga sits on her bed, which has become a makeshift stage for a scene in her latest music video. She scrolls through

her phone to pull up new album artwork by Raleigh designer Ruben Rodriguez, in which she’s snarling and holding a Nerf gun that she painted gold to match the grill in her mouth. “Hyper aggressive is good,” says Men-

M8ALLA

Friday, Jan. 12, 9 p.m., $12–$15 Motorco, Durham www.motorcomusic.com JAN UARY

douga, who lately has been spelling her name as an artist with an eight, M8ALLA, alluding to both “the curve of a woman’s body and the M8 assault rifle,” a nod to conflicts in her parents’ native Africa. “I embody both,” she says. As an artist, Mendouga’s tagline is “I sing for immigrant women with American degrees and bottom grillz.” This isn’t about an image. It’s rooted in her reality, and just one example of a multilayered femininity that’s fluid, strong, and complicated—and finally being celebrated in pop culture, especially in music, from Cardi B to Solange. And it’s an embodiment found through local femme powerhouses plowing through the Triangle’s hip-hop and R&B scenes. On Friday, Mendouga hosts a party to celebrate her first LP, Never Leave Quietly, at Motorco Music Hall. The bill is packed with local female artists: Hasina, Zensofly, EBZ the Artist, Cyanca, A. Yoni J, and Gemynii, with an after-party d.j. Mendouga is unwavering in her confidence, keeping a steady focus what she dreams to build as an artist. Her LP is her way of smashing the idea that a woman’s grace should be subtle and reticent. Ten tracks journey through the realities of the feminine experience. Mendouga sings sultry and she sings hard, layered with her childhood influences: convincing her older brothers to take her to a Ruff Ryders concert when she was nine, and the African beats thumping through her native Cameroon. The project also reinforces her roots as an immigrant to the United States and as a woman still rooted in Africa. Last week, Mendouga returned from Cameroon, her first trip to her home country in eleven years. “There’s something symbolic about going back right before my first show,” she says on her first night back in Durham, coming from hundred-degree weather straight into a snowstorm. “I think I needed the insight from people who love me there and feeling grounded. I felt like it was kind of important to me to have a presence in both places and contribute. Even though I was definitely the American there, it’s almost like you’re too foreign for home, but you’re too foreign for here.” This common first-generation immi-

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INDYweek.com | 1.10.18 | 15

grant experience is what drove her to be completely honest on Never Leave Quietly, especially with her career finally taking off. “[Never Leave Quietly] is me trying to explain that I’ve lived both experiences. It’s the different melodies in Afro-Caribbean music with the amount of time I’ve been listening to hip-hop or trap music,” she says. “Navigating both of those worlds and realizing there is a connection. The connection could be me, but it’s not just me. So many people relate to that—so many people have three, four, or five different normals.” Mendouga’s “normal” is magnificently nuanced. Perhaps her most personal—if not political—single pulls back the layers of her experience. “Illegal,” produced by Pat Junior, premiered in June. The video, directed by Durham’s Mandy Padgett and Rebecca Ward, is a celebration of women of color and the power they hold. Mendouga’s coy smirks and heavy lyrics meet a fierce choreography in a flurry of smudged sage, glorified pregnant bellies, and glowing melanin. She wrote it while still an undocumented immigrant. On the first day of shooting the video, her green card application was finally approved after almost nine years of legal limbo. Mendouga, born in 1991 in Paris to Cameroonian parents, grew up in Washington, D.C. But her legal status lapsed in 2009 when she was a student at UNC-Chapel Hill, already paying out-of-state tuition. She kept attending classes, though, under the radar. With national attention largely focused on the Latinx undocumented immigrant experience, more than half a million black undocumented residents are often overlooked—especially within the AfricanAmerican community. “If I say ‘undocumented,’ they don’t know what that means,” Mendouga says. “I have to say ‘illegal,’ which I don’t like. But people know what an ‘illegal immigrant’ is. In the song, I tried to flip it. We’re being treated illegally, what you’re doing is illegal.” The song opens with the line “Still undocumented, so I’m running from the law.” The music video debuted on July 4: Independence Day. “To drop this anthemic song for undocumented immigrants and, in my case, being a black woman, on a day that celebrates the independence of everybody but black people—it kind of felt cheeky, which is how I am. So I thought, that’s just what I’m gonna do,” Mendouga says. The R&B singer lives in Durham, by way of her undergrad years at UNC-Chapel Hill. While she was still a toddler, Men16 | 1.10.18 | INDYweek.com

douga’s diplomat family was forced to evacuate to France during one of the early civil wars in the Congo, where her father was an ambassador. By the time she was three years old, the family had moved to Washington, D.C., where her father, Jerome, took on the role of Cameroon’s ambassador to the United States. In 2008, after fifteen years as an ambassador, Jerome returned to Cameroon. Five months later, he was arrested and detained in a maximum-security prison. The president, Paul Biya, tried to build a case that accused the seventy-two-yearold Mendouga of embezzlement and even an attempt on the president’s life. Jerome Mendouga and other politicians were implicated in a scandal that still remains unclear and unsolved. Eventually, the elder Mendouga died in jail in late 2014, living out the last few years of his life in one of the world’s worst prisons. This crushed his daughter. Mendouga keeps a photo of her father by her bedside, where he smiles in a slim suit. She’s rarely seen without the thick, double-knotted gold chain and cross hanging around her neck. It was the cross her father wore. The news of his death shook the family, who were scattered between Cameroon, Washington, D.C., and North Carolina. They were left heartbroken—and suddenly without a breadwinner. Jerome’s death prompted Mendouga to keep pursuing her dreams. She studied journalism at UNC, but slowly realized her dream to sing was more important than pleasing her family; though her father and brothers were all musicians, they encouraged her toward a more traditional professional life. Still, Mendouga’s tagline keeps her rooted. Last year was another difficult one for Mendouga. She quit a full-time job that allowed her to work without legal status to pursue singing. This left her bouncing around all summer on different friends’ couches, keeping her backseat piled with office supplies. She’d spent days sitting in her car, stealing WiFi and working on her music. With a green card, Mendouga landed a part-time gig at a nonprofit funding cancer research and found an apartment. This provided renewed momentum, with a focus on giving local music fans even more reasons to celebrate women. “Girls can come and see themselves,” Mendouga says of her Friday show. “It was important to start creating that bill of a whole bunch of women who are succeeding and some who are overlooked, to create an audience for us of people who will pay attention to female performers.” vbouloubasis@indyweek.com

Katharine and Jim Dennis PHOTO BY CAITLIN PENNA

Lofty Ambitions

CARRBORO’S MUSIC LOFT CLOSED AT THE END OF DECEMBER, BUT A SUCCESSOR IS ALREADY TAKING SHAPE BY DANNY HOOLEY The reality that physical retail stores, big and small, are struggling all over the U.S. is not exactly big news in 2018. Still, when Carrboro’s Music Loft closed near the end of December, many musicians in the community were stunned and saddened. Some felt as though a friend had died; as someone who worked there for two years,

I felt this loss, too. Though rumors of the closure had been swirling around for a few weeks, there was no official prior announcement and no going-out-of-business sale to soften the blow. On December 31, a few days after word got out that the shop was closed for good, co-owners Jim and Katharine Den-

The Music Loft’s Carrboro exterior PHOTO BY CAITLIN PENNA nis posted a statement on Facebook. “Relationships and music are powerful, which is why it is so hard to have to tell you all that we are not going to be able to have the same relationship we have cherished for many years,” it read, in part. “Sadly as the New Year approached we have had to make the very difficult decision to close our doors.” The post included contact information for those who wanted to pick up their consignment items, or receive payment for consignments that were sold. Jim and Katharine Dennis bought the business from its founder, Jay Miller, in 2002, and Miller became the store’s landlord. In recent months, both Jim and Katharine have been dealing with serious medical issues. “What is important to me is spending time with my wife, living my life, and being around the people I love,” Jim Dennis says. “I ran that store for a long time, and I helped a lot of people, and I’m very proud of what I did. It was just the right time to walk away.” Miller says that, if he wanted to, he could advertise the Carrboro space now to the general public and have it rented out within thirty days. But he won’t. The better news is that a new project that includes a music store will very likely open in that spot at 116 West Main Street. Miller is currently trying to work out something new with some former Music Loft employees, as well as guitar repair specialist Brian McGee, who shared rented space with the store; guitar teacher Brian Dennis (no relation), who also used space there; and Frank Worrell, who runs the Creative Music Studios cooperative next

door to Music Loft. “We all have a stake in how this goes,” Worrell says. Miller said he’s very interested in collaborating with Worrell, whom he’s known for a long time and who is already a tenant. There’s talk of using the Music Loft space as part of an expanded “music hub” that would include a smaller store, repair work, lots of teaching, and studio space. “It would be pretty cool, because it would be a place where you could go to rehearse. You could record. You could take lessons, You could buy things,” Miller says. Miller already owned Music Lofts in Durham and Greensboro when he purchased B&B Music in 1985 and made it the third store in his chain. Eventually, he moved it to Carrboro because the rent was low and he wanted to be near The ArtsCenter. “While I was there, Carrboro experienced a renaissance that I attribute, more than anyone, to [then-Mayor] Ellie Kinnaird,” he recalls of that period from the late-eighties through the mid-nineties. When he was considering a move back to Chapel Hill, Kinnaird convinced him to stay, and set him up with a renovation loan from the town, to spruce up the Main Street building where the Loft has operated since. Bryon Settle goes back twenty-three years with the Music Loft, having worked at the long-defunct Durham location before working in Carrboro until its closure. He points to the 2008 recession as the doomsday event that’s taken a lot of music shops. “The store never really recovered from that,” he says. “Finally, people stopped coming in, which makes it hard to pay the bills.” So what makes aspiring music store own-

“I helped a lot of people, and I’m very proud of what I did. It was just the right time to walk away.” ers think they can buck a bad trend? For one thing, several Triangle music stores have survived, and even flourished, mostly because of a commonly used term in that world: service. “Why is Guitar Center doing lessons and

things? Because it’s a service,” Dennis says. “You can’t order a service from Amazon. You can order dog food from Amazon.” For Elayna Madden, the talented young singer-songwriter and guitarist for Carrboro band Cosmic Punk, the best part of the Music Loft’s service was free advice, offered without condescension. “What I really liked about the Music Loft is that Jim, and all the other people that worked there, didn’t really think that any question was a stupid question,” Madden says. No matter what type of music store the Main Street space eventually becomes, Music Loft will be missed for its relationship to the community. The store offered two mini-PA systems for rent, and it would often lend them, free of charge, to nonprofit organizations. Miller praises Dennis for his longtime dedication to the business and willingness to hang on as long as he did during rough times. Their working relationship goes back thirty-five years. “Jim came to work for me when he was seventeen,” he says. “When we opened my second store in Greensboro, he moved there and lived in the store to help get me going. He was invaluable.” music@indyweek.com

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indystage

Jan. 11–20 (8 p.m. Thu.–Sat.), $10–$12 The Fruit, Durham www.didaseason.com

LEAVING THE U.S. SHARPENED NICOLA BULLOCK’S PERSPECTIVE ON WHAT THE SOUTH PROJECTS ONTO WOMEN, RESULTING IN NEW DANCE SOLO IMAGO BY BYRON WOODS

A still from a stop-motion film that features in Nicola Bullock's Imago PHOTO BY JACQUI AYLWARD

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bers. That schism forced her to look at a persona that she’d embraced since childhood as someone who was perpetually upbeat, relatable, fun, and lovable. Bullock recalls that she never actually felt she was any of those things. “I felt instead I had to hold onto the idea that I was,” she says. That night and over the following days, she found that she couldn’t evince those traits, an experience that raised the question of just how intrinsic any of them were to her identity. “All those adjectives describe the behavior often expected or projected onto young white women in the South,” Bullock says. “You learn these things to survive. But what would it mean to detach my idea of what I am and need to be from these characteristics?” Out of that question, Imago, her new multimedia dance performance, was born. After a year of development in Germany, Israel, and California, Bullock debuts the work this week at The Fruit, the site of her 2014 triumph. In entomology, the title of her work refers to the final, fully developed adult stage of an insect. In psychology, it describes the idealized mental image we carry of someone who influences us, like a hero or a parent. Bullock’s performance, however, probes the sub-

THE MOUND BUILDERS 

Through Sunday, Feb. 18 Ward Theatre, Durham www.wardtheatrecompany.com

Image Conscious

ometimes, a foreign context lets you be more yourself than you would be at home. Sometimes, it gives you no other choice. Nicola Bullock, a formerly Durham-based choreographer and dancer, challenged the local status quo of dance and race in her breakthrough 2014 work, Undone. Instead of simply co-opting African and AfricanAmerican dance forms, as was common at the time, Bullock reached across racial lines to incorporate not only African-American and Latina dancers but also their narratives about living and working in the region. Bullock’s new show, Imago, represents something of a homecoming after she moved to Berlin in 2016. She has been living there long enough now to perceive the sexism, white supremacy, and rapacious capitalism of American culture even more sharply. “It’s like the fish that never sees the water it swims in,” she says. “I’d never felt more American than since I left the United States.” Then came the night, just after the last presidential inauguration, when she was the only American at a party in a village an hour north of Berlin. “No one else was feeling utterly devastated and hopeless and scared,” Bullock remem-

STAGE BRIEF

NICOLA BULLOCK: IMAGO

conscious, idealized notions of the self that women try to adopt in response to social and familial cues. “We get lots of information about what to pay attention to, in ourselves, in public and private spaces, and then it’s supposed to churn through us and somehow come out in this really nice package that is friendly or not threatening,” Bullock says. “But you can’t have a real experience of being alive if you’re constantly curating your responses to everything.” In the new work, we witness the transformations that a masked central figure, bathed in red, undergoes at the end of a metamorphosis, as it first realizes its own body and tries to orient its self in the world where it appears. The lepidopteran transition contrasts with social rites of passage experienced by a 1950s housewife and a girl at a debutante ball. We encounter other rites as well, but, Bullock warns, they’re decidedly untidy. “Every time I failed to match the idea of who I ‘should’ be, I’ve been left with the painful reality of being a messy human being,” she says. “But why is there no room to be messy— in my mind, in the States, as a dancer, as a woman?” Possible answers to these questions confront us in Imago. bwoods@indyweek.com

In 2016, Ward Theatre Company beat some very high odds with its first production in Durham, Jacuzzi, in which we couldn’t pick out the two students making their stage debuts among the quartet of actors. We can’t say the same of Ward Theatre’s new show, The Mound Builders—not when several actors in a group of seven students and graduates from Wendy Ward’s acting studio ultimately didn’t convince us in their roles. In Lanford Wilson’s cautionary drama from 1975, dangerous schisms arise between selfabsorbed researchers and poor, uneducated farmers in the backwoods of Illinois because neither group truly understands or respects what’s most important to the other. The unease is palpable when smitten good-ol’-boy Chad (Brandon Cooke) refuses to take no for an answer after Jean (Alexandra Petkus), the wife of a visiting anthropologist, turns down his marriage proposal. Other, more hidden discourtesies further destabilize the mix. We savored Evit Emerson’s work as Dan, a charismatic young anthropologist who rhapsodizes about the enigmatic Native Americans referred to by the play's title. Emma Jo McKay anchors this troubled enclave of academics in the supporting role of Cynthia. But Rick Skarbez seemed nearly a generation too young to play August Howe, the pompous senior anthropologist who presides over this doomed archaeological dig. And Ward’s work with Margery Rinaldi yielded an inadequately developed—and improbably polite and circumspect—character for August’s sister, Delia, supposedly an ultra-high-maintenance jetsetting novelist fresh out of rehab. We question the wisdom of mounting this production with rotating casts (different actors appear on different nights) when the one we saw lacked the personnel to fully deliver the work. —Byron Woods

indyscreen

SCREEN BRIEF THE POST HHHH½ Opening Friday, Jan. 12

Paper Chase

SPIELBERG'S THE POST IS BOTH A MASTER CLASS IN FILMMAKING AND A ROUSING PAEAN TO THE FREE PRESS BY NEIL MORRIS Donald Trump recently threatened legal action against author Michael Wolff and his publisher to halt the release of a book chronicling the inner inanity of the president’s nascent administration. Steven Spielberg’s The Post covers a different decade, presidency, and controversy, but you don’t need to look hard to see an analog in Richard Nixon threatening to prosecute The Washington Post for publishing the classified Pentagon Papers in 1971. Even without this parallel, The Post would be a polished polemic, drawing on both our history and our present to reiterate the importance of a free, independent press. It’s essentially a newsroom procedural. While The Washington Post is trying to figure out how to cover Tricia Nixon’s wedding, famed New York Times reporter Neil Sheehan is breaking major news about the Vietnam War. Post editor Ben Bradlee (Tom Hanks) suspects the Times is working on another big story after the extended absence of Sheehan’s byline. After Bradlee sends an intern to spy on the Times building, the Post races to land the leaked Pentagon Papers, a top-secret study documenting the U.S. government’s decades of lies and missteps in Vietnam. Bradlee’s dogged desire to report the

The Post

PHOTO BY NIKO TAVERNISE/COURTESY OF 20TH CENTURY FOX

Pentagon Papers, even after the Justice Department forbids the Times from further publication of them, also runs against the precarious position of the paper’s finances and the disposition of its publisher, Katharine Graham (Meryl Streep). This is an era when even the publisher of The Washington Post retires to the parlor with the other ladies when the after-dinner conversation turns too worldly. Graham, portrayed as a socialite who assumed control of the paper only because of the death of her husband, is more comfortable hosting soirees, and the Pentagon Papers affair forces her to find

her agency against both the patriarchy and her own self-doubt. Spielberg can make a better movie using muscle memory than most filmmakers can while exerting full effort. Every element of The Post is finely crafted, from the scene construction to the set design and the heady cast—Streep is especially magnificent. The film takes place before digital media, before publication meant pushing the “send” button and the truth could be edited after the fact. Spielberg revels in the visual intricacies of the Linotype process, where all the news that’s fit to print is first etched into blocks of lead, like the stone tablets of Mount Sinai. “The only way to protect the right to publish is to publish,” Bradlee repeats. As the Post battles to preserve First Amendment freedoms, he and Graham must also confront how their cozy relationships with politicians—the Kennedys, LBJ, and Robert McNamara—led them to unwittingly turn blind eyes toward the deceptions that led to the Vietnam War. As such, The Post is not just a paean to the press; it’s about the end of its age of innocence. Though it’s just reaching Triangle theaters, it’s one of the best, most important films of last year. arts@indyweek.com

I, TONYA | HHHH Now playing Craig Gillespie’s dark comedy about disgraced figure skater Tonya Harding liberally borrows from Martin Scorsese, starting with his penchant for kinetic biopics. There are slowmotion pans, fast dolly zooms, a period-appropriate rock soundtrack, and actors who break the fourth wall. Heck, the final shot is of the bloodstained mat in a boxing ring. But Gillespie also breathes a breezy, fresh perspective into an American tale seemingly picked clean by the tabloid media when Nancy Kerrigan, Harding’s Olympics rival, was kneecapped in 1994 by Harding’s goons. Reared in less privileged circles than many of her peers were, Harding (Margot Robbie), the first female skater to land a triple axel, brings a determined, belligerent mind-set to a milieu of ballerinas on ice. While her competitors don designer wardrobes, she wears homely homemade outfits. While others skate to Vivaldi, Harding’s routines are set to ZZ Top. Gillespie portrays Harding as alternately blameworthy and blameless for misdeeds both personal and notorious. Her mother (an awardworthy Allison Janney) emotionally stunts her daughter as payback for whatever sacrifices she made while pushing Harding to competitive heights. Her ex-husband, Jeff Gillooly (Sebastian Stan), is an abuser whose idiocy is surpassed only by that of his self-delusional pal-in-crime, Shawn Eckhardt (Paul Walter Hauser). “The incident,” as all of I, Tonya’s major players call the attack, fills the film’s second half. It’s a comedy of errors with a Rashomon-like fix on the truth, a fittingly dysfunctional culmination of Harding’s dysfunctional yet irresistible story. —Neil Morris

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2 0 1 8 S TA G E P R E V I E W

ast week, we ran down dozens of things we’re looking forward to seeing in early 2018. Now, let’s sprint through the remainder of the year in theater, dance, comedy, and art—bearing in mind that only the largest or most established presenters book this far out. Plenty more is coming down the pipeline, though you could fill out a solid year in culture with just the events gathered here.

APR. 4 Before they bring May flowers, April showers sprout the internationally touted Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, which turns Durham’s Carolina Theatre into the epicenter of our own mini-Sundance every year. Though the date is unconfirmed, we might see Wakey, Wakey as early as April, which is notable for two reasons: it’s the final show at Manbites Dog Theater before its three-decade legacy as a presenter ends, and it’s a brandnew play by Will Eno, one of the U.S.’s leading contemporary playwrights. PlayMakers Repertory Company also has a likely winner in the premiere of Leaving Eden, a story of race, immigration, and economic travails in a small North Carolina town by acclaimed N.C. playwright-performer Mike Wiley, with singer-songwriter Laurelyn Dossett. The genre-flouting trio Galumpha brings its whimsical blend of acrobatics, comedy, and dance (previously seen on The Late Show with David Letterman and on MTV) to the ArtsCenter in Carrboro.

Bounty Hunter PART TWO OF OUR EARLY LOOK AT THE CORNUCOPIA OF EVENTS SPILLING ONTO THE INDY’S PAGES AND TRIANGLE STAGES EACH WEEK THIS YEAR BY BRIAN HOWE

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MAY 2

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MAY 16

APR. 11 NC Theatre and Broadway Series

South grace Raleigh’s Memorial Auditorium with Bright Star, comedian Steve Martin and musician Edie Brickell’s musical inspired by their Grammy-winning bluegrass album and set in North Carolina’s Blue Ridge Mountains just after World War II. At Current, Carolina Performing Arts presents The Fever by 600 Highwaymen, an Obie-winning contemporary theater group that involves the audience in its exploration of human connection. NC State LIVE has booked Katori Hall’s The Mountaintop, winner of the 2009 Olivier Award for best new play, which imagines Martin Luther King Jr.’s last night of life in Memphis’s Lorraine Motel. At Stewart Theatre, it’s performed by innovative radio-theater group L.A. Theatre Works. At its Murphey School Auditorium, Raleigh’s Burning Coal Theatre Company mounts British playwright Mike Bartlett’s “future history play” King Charles III, called “flat out brilliant” and “dazzlingly presumptuous” by The New York Times for its prognostications about the future reign of Prince Charles. And

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Carolina Ballet’s Sleeping Beauty

PHOTO BY CHRIS WALT PHOTOGRAPHY

Raleigh Little Theatre updates the firmware of a classic in Alice@Wonderland, inserting a texting, tweeting tween Alice in a musical version of the Lewis Carroll tale. #CuriouserAndCuriouser

APR. 18

DPAC will be alive with The Sound of Music, a new production of the deathless classic. For something a bit … different, try Robert Askins’s Tony-nominated Hand to God at Theatre in the Park; part The Book of Mormon and part Avenue Q, it’s a puppet comedy about a Christian-ministry puppet possessed by the devil. North Raleigh Arts and Creative Theatre tries its hand at Peter and the Starcatcher, which we’ve already seen via Broadway Series South and PlayMakers in recent years, but we don’t mind, because it’s a delightful take on the Pan tale that soars or falls on the presenter’s handling

of the playful minimalist staging. And, just because we’re so stoked about it, let’s slide in one reading: Meg Wolitzer has a tour stop at Chapel Hill’s Flyleaf Books for her forthcoming novel, The Female Persuasion, which sounds like it will do the same brilliant surgery on power and ambition that The Interestings did on talent and creativity.

APR. 25

One of the most fun and unpredictable performance series in the Triangle returns when Culture Mill cranks up Season 3 of Trust the Bus, in which you climb on a biodiesel bus with no foreknowledge of what sort of dance-theater shenanigans you see or where you’ll see them. On the route: a collaboration between dancer Tommy Noonan and writer John Justice; an audio performance by Atlanta composer Stephen Wood and Berlin writer-performer Jeff Wood. If that makes you nervous, you can’t

tieth-ann Chamber form live ing of Tc adapted b pa’s classi go wrong with Balanchine’s Tchaikovsky- brings ba driven Serenade, which Carolina Ballet visitor R is taking on at Raleigh’s Memorial Audi- turned s torium for the first time in twenty years. appealing DPAC serves up recent Broadway expat Only Tell Waitress: The Musical, adapted from the memoirs late indie director Adrienne Shelly’s 2007 dramedy and notable for its all-female cre- THE RE ative team and music by Grammy nominee first week Sara Bareilles (“Brave,” “Love Song”). In can Dan its second-stage series, PlayMakers puts thousand on Where Did We Sit on the Bus?, Brian NRACT s Quijada’s Off-Broadway solo show about Frank W being Latino in America, which The Chi- the bow o cago Tribune described as “a mashup of Duncan S looped rhythms, raps, songs, poems, and Raleigh’s spoken-word pieces that attempt to find the atre Com connecting threads of a life lived liminally.” tion, a da The Agape Theatre Project, a faith-based Tempest organization dedicated to producing origi- ing Arts C nal plays by African Americans, visits Burn- but this

ing Coal with Ramona King’s Steal Away, a church-ladies-meets-heist-plot farce set during the Great Depression. And multimedia star Todrick Hall brings his song-anddance show Straight Outta Oz back to Meymandi Concert Hall, bending L. Frank Baum’s tale around his autobiography.

MAY 2 Italian theater ensemble Compagnia TPO transforms Current into a luminous immersive playscape for adults and kids alike, unfolding the life cycle of a butterfly through dance, music, and interactive digital media. At the Fruit, director Jaybird O’Berski works his mischief on Jacobean tragedy The Changeling, pinpointing its “gory delights and deep insights into human desires” with a motley cast of the usual Little Green Piggies. MAY 9 The best-selling magic show to ever bewitch Broadway, The Illusionists, appears at DPAC. The cast of longrunning improv-comedy TV show Whose Line Is It Anyway?—Ryan Stiles, Greg Proops, and all—gag it up based on audience prompts at Raleigh’s Memorial Auditorium on their Whose Live Anyway? tour. And, at its Gaddy-Goodwin Teaching Theatre, Raleigh Little Theatre premieres the ensemble version of Mike Wiley’s stunning solo show Blood Done Sign My Name, based on N.C. State historian Timothy Tyson’s book about a 1970 race-related murder in Oxford, North Carolina. MAY 16 Carolina Ballet closes its twen-

tieth-anniversary season by tapping the Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle to perform live for its Memorial Auditorium staging of Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty, adapted by Robert Weiss from Marius Petipa’s classic 1890s choreography. And DPAC brings back strangely frequent Durham visitor Rob Lowe, the eighties teen idol turned sex-tape-scandal pioneer turned appealing character actor, whose Stories I Only Tell My Friends: LIVE! adapts his two memoirs into a solo show.

THE REST OF THE YEAR The same

first week in June when Durham’s American Dance Festival returns for its eightthousandth season of world-class dance, NRACT stages Spring Awakening—not Frank Wedekind’s seminal shot across the bow of twentieth-century theater, but Duncan Sheik’s 2006 rock-musical update. Raleigh’s promising new Three Foxes Theatre Company brings its inaugural production, a dark contemporary version of The Tempest, to Sonorous Road. At the Living Arts Collective, DIDA presents Again, but this time with feeling, the new

FIVE ART SHOWS YOU ARE HERE: LIGHT, COLOR, AND SOUND EXPERIENCES (Apr. 7–Jul. 22, North Carolina Museum of Art) Taking over a whole floor of NCMA’s temporary exhibition galleries and spilling out into Museum Park, this tech-driven installation features fourteen contemporary artists’ immersive, experiential works in video, light, and sound. KAREL APPEL AND DIETER ROTH: CATS AND DOGS (May 26–Nov. 25, Nasher Museum of Art) This posthumous exhibit of works by German Fluxus artist Dieter Roth and Dutch CoBrA artist Karel Appel finds the esoteric creators taking on an accessible subject—cats and dogs— with typical experimental verve. JASON CRAIGHEAD (Jul. 6–Aug. 26, CAM Raleigh) Craighead, a North Carolina painter with representation in New York who has been widely exhibited in the Southeast, takes over CAM Raleigh’s main gallery with his striking Cy Twombly-like canvases. MOUNTAIN LAKE: ART IN LOCALE (Aug. 23–Dec. 31, Gregg Museum of Art & Design) The artistic convergence at North Carolina’s Black Mountain College is well known; this exhibit illuminates a similar lightning strike at Virginia’s Mountain Lake, featuring John Cage, Merce Cunningham, Sally Mann, and others.

Waitress: The Musical PHOTO BY JOAN MARCUS his Bad Jews breakout with Roundabout Theatre Company, playwright Joshua Harmon made it to Broadway with looking-forlove drama Significant Other, coming to Kennedy Theatre from Theatre Raleigh— which, later in the year, also puts on the Daniel Wallace-derived musical Big Fish and the indefatigable blockbuster Once.

Something old: Disney’s Newsies musical leaps into Memorial Auditorium for Broadway Series South. Something new: DIDA wraps up its fourth season with 54 Strange Words at The Fruit, the latest invention of banjo-and-dance duo The Bipeds. bhowe@indyweek.com

VERNON PRATT: ALL THE 16THS (Oct. 11–Feb. 10, 2018, Gregg Museum of Art & Design) This piece by the late, great N.C. artist Vernon Pratt, never shown in his lifetime, will immerse visitors in 1,600 square feet of mathematical abstraction, bolstered by live jazz and dance.

dance theater work by Feature Presentation cocreator Anna Barker. Burning Coal’s second-stage series rolls out three plays in rotating repertory, including Worried, a set of monologues written and directed by Durham’s Renée A. Nixon. Raleigh Little Theatre digs into Don’t Dress for Dinner, Marc Camoletti’s tasty farce about a roundelay of cheaters and improvised alibis in a French farmhouse. Recent Broadway musical It Shoulda Been You—basically, My Big Fat Catholic-Jewish Wedding—heartwarms its way into Theatre in the Park (also this season: Terrence McNally’s It’s Only a Play and Alex Goldberg’s spooky It Is Done, timed with Halloween). After INDYweek.com | 1.10.18 | 21

WHAT TO DO THIS WEEK FRIDAY, JANUARY 12 & SATURDAY, JANUARY 13

STEEP CANYON RANGERS

FRIDAY, JANUARY 12– SUNDAY, JANUARY 21

LOVE LETTERS

Because A.R. Gurney’s epistolary melodrama from 1988 requires nothing more than two actors behind two music stands on an empty stage, it’s a strikingly odd choice for NC Theatre, a company whose raison d’etre involves ostentatious, archive-level productions of the classics of musical theater. Here, 1970s screen and stage star Sandy Duncan and Theatre in the Park’s Ira David Wood III read aloud from the lifelong correspondence of Andrew and Melissa, two star-crossed New England children of privilege. Their exchanges range from birthday party invitations and surreptitious notes passed during class to more poignant missives documenting periods of increasing separation as their lives take different paths during boarding school, college, and wartime. The body of letters portray two kindred spirits negotiating distance in a might-have-been romance spanning fifty years. —Byron Woods FLETCHER OPERA THEATER, RALEIGH 7:30 p.m. Tues.–Sun./2 p.m. Sat. & Sun., $30–$91, www.nctheatre.com 22 | 1.10.18 | INDYweek.com

“If it’s good enough for Steve Martin, it’s good enough for me” is a pretty sound rule of thumb. It’s especially sound when it comes to the acclaimed string band Steep Canyon Rangers, who play a two-night stint at UNC-Chapel Hill’s Memorial Hall on Friday and Saturday. While the acoustic collective has a healthy career of its own, it’s also known as Martin’s occasional backing band, most recently appearing on his expertly crafted, cleverly titled 2017 release, The Long-Awaited Album. Martin won’t be in tow for these shows, but no matter—the band’s virtuosic playing, skillful arrangements, and rambunctious live energy is more than enough to make for one hell of a night of live music (or, in this case, two). —Brittney McKenna UNC’S MEMORIAL HALL, CHAPEL HILL 8 p.m., $19–$69 www.carolinaperformingarts.org

Steep Canyon Rangers PHOTO

BY MICHAEL WILSON

SUNDAY, JANUARY 14

TRIANGLE AFRICAN AMERICAN THEATER PREVIEW

When producing arts groups are strapped for time or resources, ideas that are clearly good can go unrealized indefinitely. Case in point: the region’s first major AfricanAmerican theater showcase was staged just last year, when Triangle Friends of African American Arts convened a standing-room-only evening of excerpts from the upcoming season of plays and musicals. Via Raleigh Little Theatre, TFAAA founder Sherri Holmes returns with a second annual sampler of previews from nine productions we’ll see this spring and summer, from a revival of Ain’t Misbehavin’ at North Raleigh Arts and Creative Theatre and Verdi’s Rigoletto at N.C. Opera to the world premiere of playwright-performer Mike Wiley’s collaboration with songwriter Laurelyn Dossett, Leaving Eden, at PlayMakers Repertory Company. The Black on Black Project’s Mike Williams hosts an evening of dramatic readings, songs, and scenes. —Byron Woods CANTEY V. SUTTON THEATRE, RALEIGH 7 p.m., $15, www.africanamericanarts.org

FRIDAY, JANUARY 12

FAMILY SIRCLE

The four singers in Family Sircle collectively represent decades of Durham soul history. Founder Edgar Saunders, who died in 2009, sang with numerous groups in the 1970s, including Blue Steam and The Modulations before forming Family Sircle in 1985. The current incarnation of the group is led by his brothers: Stanley, of the group Duralcha, and Jerome, of the Differences and Blue Steam. Rounding out the group are Pierce McKoy, who sang briefly with The Main Ingredient and now runs a shoeshine stand in downtown Durham, and Andy Peterson. That deep collective knowledge means the group really knows how to do soul and R&B right, with slick matching suits, tight choreography, and rich vocal harmonies that can sound like any point in the past fifty years. This is the ensemble’s second show at Beyù in four months, a rare treat from a group that doesn’t perform all that often these days. —Dan Ruccia BEYÙ CAFFÈ, DURHAM 7 & 9 p.m., $13, www.beyucaffe.com

1.10–1.17 Shen Yun Performing Arts PHOTO

COURTESY OF SHENYUNPERFORMINGARTS.ORG

TUESDAY, JANUARY 16 & WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 17

SHEN YUN PERFORMING ARTS

The work of the world’s leading Chinese classical and folk dance ensemble cannot be seen in China, where communist regimes have sought to suppress these venerable, ancient forms. This is why the twelve-year-old ensemble Shen Yun Performing Arts took shape in New York City, an aptly globalist base from which it projects a spectacular vision of China’s history onto the world stage. Combining traditional dance with dazzling costumes, grand music, and engulfing animated backdrops, the company resurrects five millennia of Chinese dynasties and legends with honed athleticism and beauty. It takes more than a hundred artists to pull it off, plus an orchestra blending Western and Chinese instruments. It’s spectacle with a soul, an extravaganza with an ethics. —Brian Howe MEMORIAL AUDITORIUM, RALEIGH 7:30 p.m., $75–$140, www.dukeenergycenterraleigh.com

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CONTRIBUTORS: Grant Britt (GB), Selena Fragassi (SF), Spencer Griffith (SG), Kat Harding (KH), Allison Hussey (AH), David Klein (DK), Jamie Ludwig (JL), Dan Ruccia (DR), David Ford Smith (DS), Patrick Wall (PW)

FRIDAY, JANUARY 12

WOOD ROBINSON’S NEW FORMAL CAT’S CRADLE (BACK ROOM): Ben Gerber, Lebrown; 8 p.m., $5–$7. • THE CAVE: The Worst Residency Ever; 9 p.m., $5. • EMPRESS ROOM: Ed Stephenson; 7:30 p.m. • IRREGARDLESS: The Barred Owls; 6:30 p.m. • KINGS: The Great Cover Up; 8 p.m., $10. • POUR HOUSE: Grut, The Daze; 9 p.m.

THU, JAN 11 Green Level Entertainers GRASSY If you’re itching GIANTS for a generous dose of pure bluegrass on a weeknight, Durham’s Blue Note Grill has you set with the semi-supergroup that is the Green Level Entertainers. Jim Watson cofounded the Red Clay Ramblers, and frontman Leroy Savage once lead the proto-newgrass New Deal String Band. The band also features brothers Tony and Gary Williamson, two of the state’s finest mandolin and banjo players, respectively. —AH [BLUE NOTE GRILL, FREE/7 P.M.]

Local Band Local Beer: Animalweapon Keep ringing in SYNTH CREW 2018 with this thoughtful synth-pop-focused edition of Local Band Local Beer. Raleigh’s Animalweapon bangs out Reznor-ish IDM laptop pop influenced by his interest in anime and science fiction. It seems natural that he is perhaps best known for having music on Undisclosed, the sister podcast of cult storytelling pod Serial. Durham’s Real Dad goes more atmospheric, though with equal heart poured into his weirdo new wave synth jams. With Janxx. —DS [POUR HOUSE, $3–$5/8 P.M.]

Swampcandy The Best of BOG SONGS Swampcandy opens up with heavy, loud stomps and claps—stuff that’s gotten a little tiresome as other bands have worn them out in recent years. But Swampcandy wears it all well, serving up loose, grimy songs that weave together honkytonk, klezmer, jazz, rock, and more into a rootsy mix. It’s the type of friends-in-lowplaces music The Cave was made for. Oggs of Fongowee (what a name!) open. —AH [THE CAVE, $5/9 P.M.] ALSO ON THURSDAY 2ND WIND: 2 fer; 7:30-9 p.m. • CAROLINA THEATRE: Travis Tritt; 8 p.m., $45–$60. • IRREGARDLESS: 15-501 Music; 6:30 p.m. • KINGS: The Great Cover Up; 8 p.m., $10. • RUBY DELUXE: DJ Luxeposh; 10 p.m.

FRI, JAN 12 The Daze Raleigh trio The YEAH BRAH Daze plays what you could probably call proto-jam rock, amiably balancing classic rock’s hefty riffing with jam’s looseygoosey good-time feelings. But in lacking the swagger of the former and the fanciful instrumental flights of the latter, The Daze fails to make much of an impression. Born Again Heathens open. —PW [THE MAYWOOD, $8/9:30 P.M.]

Greves MELODIC Black metal bands METAL may be stereotyped as taking themselves more seriously than those in other scenes, but Raleigh four-piece Greves (formerly Bloodwritten) balances punishing riffs and an irreverent sense of humor; they even borrowed a name

from Beavis & Butt-Head Do America for their recent European, “Is This a God Damn Tour?” Last March, Greves released the six-song For Sorrows Sake, which effectively merges their influences of Norwegian black metal, melodic death metal, and more. Horns of Baphomet and Antenora open. —JL [SLIM’S, $5/9 P.M.]

Heaven REVERB Based in Brooklyn, RIPPLES Heaven trades in the kind of easygoing psych rock that’s plenty mellow and melodic, but clearheaded enough to keep your ear for a full record. It’s hardly a celestial chorus of angels on high, but it’s pretty cozy stuff nonetheless. Faults, the latest fuzzy rock project of Gross Ghost’s Mike Dillon, opens. Plus Organos. —AH [CAT’S CRADLE BACK ROOM, $5–$8/9 P.M.]

Jason Marsalis & the 21st Century Trad Band MELLOW The youngest VIBES Marsalis brother, Jason, was a drum prodigy to match his brothers’ talents on trumpet and saxophone. He started playing vibes in 2000, and it seems like it’s become his preferred instrument. This band features him doing what the Marsalis family has become known for: playing jazz deeply rooted in the history of bebop. Jason plays it so straight that he somehow manages to strip the vibraphone of all its smoky, otherworldly mystique. —DR [THE ARTSCENTER, $29/8 P.M.]

Sibannac Desperate times POLITICORE call for more punk music. Sibannac

PHOTO BY LEON GODWIN

WED, JAN 10

“Last year was pretty packed,” says Mipso’s Wood Robinson. It’s quite an understatement, considering the locally based string band spent nearly half the year on tour behind its fourth LP, April’s Coming Down the Mountain. The quartet even found time to record its next album and is aiming to release it this spring. “We grew a lot musically and in feeling fulfilled with what we were doing and that it was worth something,” he says of 2017, and there’s plenty of reason to believe that Mipso’s momentum as rising Americana stars will continue in 2018. “Being a touring musician is a funny thing because you’re really occupied for select amounts of time, then you get home,” Robinson says from his Asheville residence, where he’s tried to keep himself busy during Mipso’s current two-month break. He jokes that when he’s off the road, he spends his time as “a serial hobbyist,” confessing that his first attempts to craft bowls and cups with his recently purchased wood lathe haven’t been as fruitful as he hoped. “I realized about four months ago that I would start to be driven a little stir crazy during this point in our time off,” Robinson says. So he made plans for a weekend run in which he’ll return to the familiarity of manning the bass while fronting Wood Robinson’s New Formal. Since releasing New Formal’s debut in 2016, Robinson has still had few opportunities to play those songs live, but he’s continued trying to define the sound of his side project. “I recorded those songs without totally knowing what I sought for my own sound,” he admits. In the two years since recording that album, Robinson says he’s learned more about what sounds appeal to him. That’s been informed by both other artists—he calls David Ramirez’s work “so rich without being overblown”—as well as his own New Formal bandmates: Mario Arnez, Charles Cleaver, and Dan Westerlund. Having a consistent group to help him shape his originals has made Robinson hopeful to get back into the studio this year, with most of an album’s worth of material already written and a clearer idea of his own style as a rhythmically compelling, songs-forward band. “I’ve figured out that it isn’t the most honest representation of myself to be a funk band,” Robinson says. Enchanting Durham singer-songwriter Anne-Claire opens, fresh off a successful crowdfunding campaign to finish recording her second full-length album later this month, which should draw together the classically trained singer’s disparate interests— from jazz to soul and folk to pop—into lushly orchestrated originals. —Spencer Griffith LOCAL 506, CHAPEL HILL | 9 p.m., $8–$10, www.local506.com INDYweek.com | 1.10.18 | 25

answers the call, dissenting against Trump-era status quo with rebel yells decrying cops, growing class warfare, and fascist talking heads in a melting pot of music. The Chapel Hill trio turns to wailing thrash when it needs a pulpit, hardcore frenetics to rev up the crowd, and ska’s more mellow sensibilities to cut the tension—or, the musical equivalent of the roller coaster we’ve all been on the past year. With Out of System Transfer and Spaghetti. —SF [THE CAVE, $5/9 P.M.]

Bill Toms & Hard Rain Like Southside BOSS SOUL Johnny and the Asbury Jukes with a Southern accent, Bill Toms blends Memphis Stax-era soul with hard-charging bar band rock. There’s more than a hint of Springsteen in his sound. The

Boss produced his first record, American Babylon, when Toms was lead guitarist for Joe Grushecky and the Houserockers. —GB [BLUE NOTE GRILL, $10/9 P.M.]

Yonder Mountain String Band Twenty years in, JAM GRASS Colorado’s Yonder Mountain String Band keeps finding more avenues for loose-limbed, affable adventures in progressive bluegrass—its latest LP contains fleeting traces of reggae. Less fervent listeners might find its marathon live shows require patience and a bit of good nature, too. Richmond quartet The Southern Belles opens with eccentric, eclectic jams that’ll please Phish fans, dosing its psychedelic grooves with a touch of twang while staying mindful of its quirky songcraft. —SG [CAT’S CRADLE, $25–$30/8 P.M.]

ALSO ON FRIDAY 618 BISTRO: Randy Reed; 7-9:30 p.m. • BEYÙ CAFFÈ: Family Sircle; 7 & 9 p.m. See page 23. • BLUE NOTE GRILL: Duke Street Dogs; 6-8 p.m., free. • DEEP SOUTH: Gimme Shelter, Tres Locos; 8:30 p.m. • DUKE’S NELSON MUSIC ROOM: Nicholas DiEugenio & Eric Pritchard, William Conable, Jaqueline Nappi; 8 p.m. • IRREGARDLESS: Small House; 6:30 p.m. • KINGS: The Great Cover Up; 8 p.m., $10. • THE KRAKEN: Mystery Hillbillies, Dmitri Resnik; 8 p.m. • LINCOLN THEATRE: Zoso, The Iller Whales; 8:30 p.m., $14–$18. • LOCAL 506: Wood Robinson’s New Formal, Anne-Claire; 9 p.m., $8–$10. • LORRAINE’S COFFEE HOUSE & MUSIC: Alan Bibey and Grasstowne; 7:30 p.m. • MEYMANDI CONCERT HALL: Pictures at an Exhibition; 8 p.m. • MOTORCO: Mballa, Zensofly, Hasina, Cyanca, EBZ The Artist, A. Yoni J; 9 p.m., $12–$15. See page 15. • MYSTERY BREWING PUBLIC HOUSE: Six String Drag; 8, free. • POUR HOUSE: Psylo Joe, Doco, The New Hillbillies; 9 p.m. • THE RITZ: Trial by Fire (Journey Tribute); 8 p.m. • SCHOOLKIDS RECORDS (RALEIGH): 5 Mile Radius, Newfaze; 7 p.m. • SHARP

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SAT, JAN 13 Aittala First formed in SLOW BURN Holland in the early nineties and resurrected in 2009, now-local psychmetal warblers try to play catch-up on new tracks like “Essence” but take too much time with inexplicably drawn-out riffs and off-pace lyrics that try too hard to earn their goth card. With Shell Shock, Written in Gray, and Era Gone. —SF [DEEP SOUTH, $7/9 P.M.]

Long Neck New Jersey’s Lily SLACK JEM Mastrodimos used to make slacker lo-fi as leader of the cheekily named

Jawbreaker Reunion. Long Neck, her solo outing, dials down the cheek a bit while sacrificing none of the brilliant confessional songwriting and melodic punch that made Jawbreaker Reunion more than a Bandcamp punch line. Infinity Crush, another equally underrated (and local) indie rock gem, opens. With It Looks Sad. —DS [LOCAL 506, $8–$10/9 P.M.]

The Stray Birds SOARING Whether The SONGS Stray Birds are settling into gentle, elegant folk or adding lively splashes of zydeco or honky-tonk to their roots, the focus largely remains on Maya de Vitry’s striking, sincere vocals and her bandmates’ impeccable harmonies. Recently formed Triangle crew Mad Crush features members of Pipe, The Popes, and Superchunk veering away from the raw

indie rock of those legendary locals, seeking the sweet spot between alt-country and chamber pop. —SG [CAT’S CRADLE BACK ROOM, $12–$15/8 P.M.] ALSO ON SATURDAY BEYÙ CAFFÈ: Tre King Band; 7 & 9 p.m., $14. • THE BULLPEN: Five Points Rounders Rowdy Square Dance; 8:30-11 p.m. • THE CARY THEATER: Michael Reno Harrell, Dana Cooper; 8 p.m., $20+. • THE CAVE: Promm, Albert Adams, Konvoi; 9 p.m., $5.• EMPRESS ROOM: Ed Stephenson, Ryan Johnson; 7:30 p.m. • IRREGARDLESS: TRYAD; 6-9 p.m. Zen Groove Funkestra; 9 p.m. • KINGS: The Great Cover Up; 8 p.m., $10. • LINCOLN THEATRE: Zoso, Thunderstruck; 8:30 p.m., $14–$30. • MEYMANDI CONCERT HALL: Pictures at an Exhibition; 8 p.m. • MOTORCO: Art of Noise Durham Dance Party; 9 p.m. • MYSTERY BREWING PUBLIC HOUSE: Honey Magpie; 8 p.m., free. • POUR HOUSE: Beatlesque, Mojo Rising; 9 p.m. •

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NINE GALLERY: Stephen Anderson Trio; 8 p.m., $10–$20. • UNC’S MEMORIAL HALL: Steep Canyon Rangers; 8 p.m. See page 22.

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THURSDAY, JANUARY 11

TRAVIS TRITT

Take George Jones and rock him up a bit. Dress him in leather, give him a mullet, make his nasal honk even more pronounced, and the finished package is Travis Tritt. Though he borrows Jones’s vocal traits, Tritt has always been of the long-haired outlaw persuasion, leaning more toward the scruffy side of country. He’s more like a die-hard Southern rocker who happened to like some old-school country. The singer and guitarist came out of the box with guns blazing, blasting away at the white shoe elites with “Country Club,” the title track from his 1990 debut album. When an attractive woman driving down the interstate gives him the eye, Tritt follows her down the clubhouse drive, but she rebuffs him, telling him only members are allowed inside. But Tritt tells her he’s a member of a country club, too: “Country music is what I love/ I drive an old Ford pick-up truck/ I do my drinkin’ from a Dixie cup/ Hey I’m a bona fide dancin’ fool.” And if that wasn’t enough to define his mission, Tritt nailed it down with his fourth single from that same album, “Put Some Drive in Your Country.” After name-checking the classic dudes he was raised on, Roy Acuff and Jones, Tritt sings that Hank Williams Jr. and Waylon Jennings turned him on to outlaw country at age fifteen. He then unveils his career strategy: “See, I made myself a promise when I was just a kid/I’d mix Southern rock and country, and that’s just what I did.” Even though Tritt gets lumped into the outlaw country category, he’s generally more genial than most of his peers. While Jennings was often “Lonesome, On’ry, and Mean,” Tritt is more flippant and sarcastic, with offerings like “Here’s a Quarter, Call Somebody Who Cares.” But he can still get down and roll around in the gutter, as he did on a duet with Marty Stuart on the Grammy-winning single “The Whiskey Ain’t Workin’ Anymore,” from his 1991 LP, It’s All About to Change. Stuart wasn’t the only one impressed with Tritt, who managed to recruit an impressive roster of classic county icons to join him on 1992’s “Lord Have Mercy on the Working Man,” including Jones, Porter Wagoner, and Tanya Tucker. But Tritt has had no trouble on his own, building a catalog of hits that allow him to do a two-hour show of his own material, selling out theaters with just a guitar and his own self on display. He’ll deliver plenty of twang and ’tude when he hits the stage in Durham. —Grant Britt CAROLINA THEATRE, DURHAM | 8 p.m., $45–$60, www.carolinatheatre.org PHOTO BY CHUCK ARLUND

RUBY DELUXE: DJ Bitchcraft; 10 p.m. • SCHOOLKIDS RECORDS (RALEIGH): Smoke from all the Friction, Fluorescence; 7 p.m. • SHARP NINE GALLERY: Africa Unplugged; 8 p.m., $10–$20. • UNC’S MEMORIAL HALL: Steep Canyon Rangers; 8 p.m. See page 22.

SUN, JAN 14 Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle: Twentieth Century Masters MASTER This afternoon STRINGS program is a rare concert of entirely twentiethcentury music from this group. John Corigliano’s Voyage (1976) is a lush string orchestra arrangement of an earlier choral work. Copland’s Appalachian Spring is exactly what it’s always been. And Schoenberg’s Chamber Symphony No. 2 (1906/1933) straddles his early arch-Romanticism and later free atonality. —DR [CAROLINA THEATRE, $30/3 P.M.]

2112’s Steve Johnson Memorial Show The Raleigh music FOR A FRIEND community lost a fixture last year with the passing of Steve Johnson. As proprietor of 2112 Percussion, which relocated from Zebulon in the early nineties, Johnson presided over a center that has provided countless of the percussion-minded with instruments, instruction, and a sense of community. The center continues in his spirit, and tonight those who loved him best salute the man with music from Brimstone, My 3 Sons, Runaway Cab, Monkeywrench, and Tuesday’s Gone. —DK [POUR HOUSE, DONATIONS/6:30 P.M]

Konvoi When guitarist Dave Cate left the band, Boone post-punk outfit Konvoi scrapped its entire catalog and rebuilt itself. No Rifts, which the reconfigured trio released in November, deploys ethereal synths and pulsing bass lines instead of

ICE WAVE

bursts of jagged guitars, eschewing the choppy noise and riffs of its debut for subtle pop hooks and bilious shouting for murky, debonair deadpan. It’s a radical shift between post-punk styles, but a welcome one. With Albert Adams and Savage Knights. —PW [SLIM’S, $5/8 P.M.]

Resonancy: Speed Stick, Jill Christensen, Yan + Casey DRUMS Neptunes’ winter ATTACK percussion odyssey continues. Speed Stick is Laura King of Bat Fangs and Tom Simpson of The Love Language, sharing a kick drum, and blasting out tightly interlocking beats. Multi-instrumentalist Jil Christensen does everything from free improvisation on keyboards to densely layered electronic beats and everything in between, meaning her set could be almost anything. And drummer Yan (Dan) Westerlund of Canine Heart Sounds

and bassist Casey Toll of Mount Moriah will jam melodic in all directions. —DR [NEPTUNES PARLOUR, $7/9:30 P.M.]

Marley, The Holdup; 8 p.m., $22. • PAGE-WALKER ARTS & HISTORY CENTER: David DiGiuseppe; 4 p.m. • POUR HOUSE: After Funk; 1:30 p.m. • RUBY DELUXE: DJ Glen Koko; 10 p.m.

Alexander Robichaud

MON, JAN 15

For the recent WORD SEARCH Ghostwritings From the Internet, this young North Carolina singer-songwriter solicited lyrics from anonymous users on the music section of the notorious website 4chan. He then wrote spare, acoustic-guitar songs around them, pretty much on the spot, and recorded them on his cellphone. Openers Justine Markman and Lynagh bring sad songs and feels. —DK [THE CAVE, $5/8 P.M.] ALSO ON SUNDAY BLUE NOTE GRILL: David Quick’s Jazz Combo; 5 p.m. • CHAPEL OF THE CROSS: Baroque and Beyond: Wachet Auf; 3 p.m., $18. • DEEP SOUTH: Live & Loud Weekly; 9 p.m., $3. • IRREGARDLESS: Douglas Babcock; 6 p.m. • LINCOLN THEATRE: Collie Buddz, Jo Mersa,

The Wombats When the POP ROCK Wombats emerged from Liverpool in 2003, they quickly became known for their high-spirited, carefree rock. Since then, they’ve taken a sharp detour into glossy synth-pop that’s a better fit for dance floors than dive bars. The trio, which was recently asked to join Weezer and the Pixies on a string of summer arena dates, is touring the U.S. in support of its upcoming fourth album, Beautiful People Will Ruin Your Life. Blaenavon and Courtship open. —JL [CAT’S CRADLE, $22–$25/7 P.M.] ALSO ON MONDAY IMBIBE: Grewen and Griffin; 7-10 p.m., free. • MOTORCO: Flash

Chorus; 7 p.m., $7–$10. • NEPTUNES PARLOUR: The Atomic Rhythm All Stars Residency; 8:30 p.m., $5. • PITTSBORO ROADHOUSE: Big Band Night with the Triangle Jazz Orchestra; 7 p.m., $10. • POUR HOUSE: Falling Through April, Super City; 8 p.m., $8. • RUBY DELUXE: DJ Lord Redbyrd; 10 p.m.

TUE, JAN 16 Peter Case and Dead Rock West Peter Case initially earned attention in the L.A. powerpop realm, first with The Nerves in the seventies and then fronting The Plimsouls in the eighties. But he’s been on the solo singer-songwriter trail for more than thirty years now. He generates just as much intensity sitting down with an acoustic guitar and digging into one of his sophisticated-but-accessible folk- and blues-infused tunes as he did when he was storming the boards as a rocker. —JA [CAT’S CRADLE BACK ROOM, $12–$15/8 P.M.]

L.A. LAD

INDYweek.com | 1.10.18 | 27

Jake Xerxes Fussell

Dorothy

deep dive EAT • DRINK • SHOP • PLAY

The INDY’s monthly neighborhood guide to all things Triangle

Coming January 17:

Downtown Durham/Ninth & Broad For advertising opportunities, contact your ad rep or advertising@indyweek.com 28 | 1.10.18 | INDYweek.com

A contender for ROCK REVIVAL 2018’s buzz band, L.A. blues rock purists Dorothy are what The Black Keys covering Black Sabbath would sound like if fronted by Grace Slick. The spotlight naturally pivots to singer Dorothy Martin, whose on-pitch power vocals also tango with Aretha soul. Martin recently canned her collaborative backing band for a completely new ensemble, but her instincts also got her signed to Jay-Z’s Roc Nation early on, so who are we to judge? —SF [POUR HOUSE, $18–$20/8:30 P.M.]

Asher Skeen This triple bill of SING SONGS singer-songwriters features Asher Skeen, a transgender musician from Durham and a recent high school graduate who accompanies gently fingerpicked minor-key songs with lyrics that reflect personal struggles and issues of social justice. Brendan Macie draws on an

PHOTO BY BRAD BUNYEA

eclectic mix in his acoustic stylings, while Oxenford Clark leans in the indie folk direction. —DK [THE CAVE, $5/9 P.M.] ALSO ON TUESDAY IRREGARDLESS: Heath Tuttle; 6:30 p.m. • LOCAL 506: Brook Pridemore; 9 p.m., $6–$8.

WED, JAN 17 Jake Xerxes Fussell An antidote to the TRAD + TRUE glut of musicians and bands currently drawing on folk, country, and string band styles for a generic sound called Americana, Jake Fussell brings acuity and a scholar’s eye to songs from our pre-digital past, resurrecting long-buried ditties by the venerable as well as the obscure and imbuing them with freshness. In the opening slot, the New Orleans-based Leveetoppers bring a similarly worldly approach to their spirited blend of rustic roots styles. —DK [NIGHTLIGHT, $10/8:30 P.M.]

Rev. Billy C. Wirtz For an irreverent BLUE BOOGIE take on nearly everything, mock televangelist, ex-wrestling manager and frenetic boogie-woogie piano pounder the Rev. Billy C. Wirtz is the man to seek. The self-proclaimed pastor of The First House of Polyester Worship and Horizontal Throbbing Teenage Desire skewers politics, religion, love, and lust in his musical messages. An equal-opportunity offender, Wirtz welcomes true connoisseurs of the bizarre as well as amateurs ready to be corrupted by his relentless boogie sermonettes. —GB [BLUE NOTE GRILL, $10–$15/7:30 P.M.] ALSO ON WEDNESDAY 2ND WIND: Yeaux Katz; 7-9 p.m., free. • CAT’S CRADLE (BACK ROOM): Yung Gravy; 9 p.m., $14–$16. • THE CAVE: The Worst Residency Ever; 9 p.m., $5. • HUMBLE PIE: Peter Lamb & the Wolves; 8:30 p.m. • IRREGARDLESS: The Longleaf Pine Nuts; 6:30 p.m. • POUR HOUSE: US Bombs; 9 p.m. • RUBY DELUXE: Goth Night: DJ Bela Lugosi’s Dad; 10 p.m.

art 1.10 – 1.17

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email calendar@indyweek.com (include the date, time, street address, contact info, cost, and a short description) OR enter it yourself at posting.indyweek.com/ indyweek/Events/AddEvent. DEADLINE: Wednesday 5 p.m. for the following Wednesday’s issue. Thanks!

FRIDAY, JANUARY 12

PRECIOUS LOVELL If you haven’t seen Inspiring Beauty, which showcases dazzling garments by big-name designers from the half-century history of Ebony magazine’s touring fashion show, you’ve only got until January 21, when the exhibit closes. This Friday would be a great time to go, when N.C. State professor Precious Lovell gives an evening lecture on kente cloth and the African diaspora, illustrating her ideas with a Henry Jackson ball gown as well as with other pieces in NCMA’s permanent collection. Kente, a type of silk and cotton fabric made of basket-woven strips by the Akan people of South Ghana, began as royal and sacred before spreading into many other kinds of uses; Lovell discusses it as a “cultural marker” for all kinds of people of African descent. —Brian Howe

nature and landscapes, but he often frames only fragments of them, fixating upon uncommon angles of perception. Segments of tree trunks are foregrounded, the earth in which they are rooted and their leaves overhead unseen. This photographlike framing, along with a gentle way of abstracting away shadow, lends his work stillness and softness. Thru Jan 20. Craven Allen Gallery, Durham. cravenallengallery.com. —Noah Rawlings LAST Fine Contemporary CHANCE Craft Exhibition: Juried by Roger Manley. Thru Jan 13. Artspace, Raleigh. www.artspacenc.org. Gutter Box: Ben Alper: Photography. Thru Feb 1. Lump, Raleigh. www.teamlump.org.

NORTH CAROLINA MUSEUM OF ART, RALEIGH 7 p.m., $5–$7, www.ncartmuseum.org

Precious Lovell

PHOTO COURTESY OF NCMA

OPENING

ONGOING

SPECIAL The Coloring Book: A EVENT Life-Size Coloring Experience: Life-size coloring pages, DJ, food, drinks. $15. Reception: Fri, Jan 12, 7-10 p.m. The Carrack Modern Art, Durham. www.thecarrack.org. SPECIAL Michael Weitzman, EVENT Bob Dunham, and John Parsons: Photography and oil paintings. Jan 12-Feb 11. Reception: Fri, Jan 12, 6-8 p.m. Halle Cultural Arts Center, Apex. www.thehalle.org. SPECIAL New Growths: EVENT Watercolors by Michelle Podgorski. Jan 12-31. Reception: Fri, Jan 12, 6-8 p.m. The ArtsCenter, Carrboro. www. artscenterlive.org.

Analog Playhouse: Bill Brown. Thru Jan 18. Lump, Raleigh. www.lumpprojects.org.

Renzo Ortega: Paintings. Jan 17-Feb 18. UNC Campus: Hanes Art Center, Chapel Hill. art.unc.edu.

And Then the Sun Swallowed Me: Black tape and video installation by Heather Gordon. Thru Feb 4. CAM Raleigh, Raleigh. camraleigh.org. LAST Art of Paper: Mary CHANCE Ann Anderson, Pauline Galiana, Shiho K. Rice, and Terry Schupbach-Gordon. Thru Jan 12. Durham Arts Council, Durham. www.durhamarts.org. Bryan Colburn Ellis and Linda Prager: Prager and Ellis work in seemingly unlike mediums— clay sculpture and drawing, respectively—but the two local artists covertly meet at the seam of shared concerns, such as the exploration of pure form and the serendipity of unintended

Henry Jackson ball gown in Inspiring Beauty PHOTO COURTESY OF NCMA

outcomes. Prager regards her clay forms as canvases for delicate layers of color and texture, while Ellis calls his drawings “illusory configurations referencing abundance, bodily structure, and landscape” that draw on (without being beholden to) traditional methods such as Japanese woodblock printing. Thru Jan 28. Horace Williams House, Chapel Hill. www. chapelhillpreservation.com. —Brian Howe Austin Caskie: Artspace satellite exhibition. 3-D models. Thru Mar 31. HQ Raleigh, Raleigh. Character Space: Text-based art by Scott Hazard and Stephanie Strange. Thru Jan 27. Artspace, Raleigh. www.artspacenc.org. DREAMers: DACA, Deportation Defense, and the American Dream: Collaboration by Pleiades artists, Alerta Migratoria NC, and The NC Dream Coalition. Thru Jan 29.

Pleiades Gallery, Durham. PleiadesArtDurham.com. Ellen Jane Messina and Bonnie Walker: Alcohol inks and repurposed metal sculpture. Thru Jan 23. Cary Gallery of Artists, Cary. www. carygalleryofartists.org. Exterminati Sunt Mechanica: John Elliott. Thru Jan 28. NC Museum of Natural Sciences, Raleigh. www.naturalsciences.org. A Field, A World: Charlotte native John Beerman spent three decades living and painting in the Hudson Valley. Six years ago, he returned to his native North Carolina, bringing with him a delicate way of dealing with light. Beerman’s paintings, while indebted to the light-obsessed Hudson Valley painters of the nineteenth century, are less grandiose visions. His eye directs itself toward

A Kiss of the Earth: Apt for a work about a season of fecundity, the epochal modernist ballet The Rite of Spring just keeps on giving, more than a century after its legendary premiere. It’s the inspiration for this experiment by UNC-Chapel Hill associate art professor Sabine Gruffat, whose interactive threechannel video projection remixes the story of a pagan tribe’s maiden sacrifice: realtime weather data from Paris affects the weather in the animation, and viewers can text to a number on the wall to further alter the proceedings. Thru Jan 28. NC Museum of Art, Raleigh.ncartmuseum.org. — Brian Howe

Louis C. Tiffany: Art and Innovation from the Wester Collection: Stained glass windows, vases, and lamps. Thru Mar 4. NC Museum of History, Raleigh ncmuseumofhistory.org. Mike’s Attic: Partnership with Mike’s Art Truck. Selftaught artists. Thru Feb 28. Durham Technical Community College (Orange County Campus), Hillsborough. www.durhamtech.edu/ orangecountycampus.htm. More Than One Story | Mas de una historia: Photography. Thru Feb 1. UNC Campus: Davis Library, Chapel Hill. www.lib.unc.edu/davis. Monthly Open House: Thu, Jan 11, 5-8 p.m. Horse & Buggy Press and Friends, Durham. www. horseandbuggypress.com. Paintings from the Estate of Wladimir de (Wlodzimierz) Terlikowski: Thru Feb 13. Gallery C, Raleigh. www.galleryc.net. Painted Medicine: A Ceremony of Color: Ashley Spero. Thru Apr 12. Durham Convention Center, Durham. durhamconventioncenter.com. Processing: Megan Bostic and Davis Choun. Thru Jan 27. Artspace, Raleigh. www.artspacenc.org. SPECIAL Resolutions 2018: EVENT Statewide juried exhibit. Thru Jan 21. Reception: Fri, Jan 12, 6-9 p.m. Hillsborough Gallery of Arts. www.hillsboroughgallery.com.

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The Shape of Fashion: Dress trends from the 1800s to the 1900s. Thru May 6. NC Museum of History, Raleigh. www.ncmuseumofhistory.org. Step Right Up: Sculpture by Patrick Dougherty. Thru Aug 31. Ackland Art Museum, Chapel Hill. www.ackland.org. The SuperNatural: We’ve lost sight of the seams, once considered inviolable, between nature, technology, and commerce—though we sometimes imagine we are crossing a boundary when we

stage

take thousand-dollar bikes into deceptively wild woods with our smartphones and moisturewicking socks. The SuperNatural wades into this liminal zone, exploring how we see and shape the contours of our planet as the physical refuse of the industrial age shades into the digital refuse of the present. The show includes a generative digital video by Tabor Robak, a virtual reality installation by Jakob Kudsk Steensen, and photos by Lars Jan, among many others. Brooklyn artist Chris Doyle created “Dreams of Infinite

Luster,” a digital animation, for the exterior vitrines. In it, “All the elements are rendered in gold, the color of lucre—the product, engine, and goal of capitalism.” Is a luxury hotel an odd site for post-capitalist critique? Sure. But, as we’ve said, what seams? Thru Jul 1. 21c Museum Hotel, Durham. www.21cmuseumhotels. com/durham. —Brian Howe Test of Faith: Signs, Serpents, Salvation: Photographs by Lauren Pond. Thru Feb 4. Duke Campus: Rubenstein Library, Durham.

We’ve Met Before: Handwoven cloth has a certain rigor, a requirement for stitches to interact with structural integrity rather than spontaneity. Ink, meanwhile, has a quicksilver impulsiveness, a tendency to slip and run unbounded. Andrea Donnelly holds this contrast in tension. The images on her large textile pieces evoke bodies, Rorschach blots, abstract flora, and, most of all, memory. Dyed, woven, unwoven, and rewoven, the work contains “a literal record

of its own making.” Thru Jan 28. N.C. Museum of Art, Raleigh. www.ncartmuseum.org. —Brian Howe Winter Corridor Artists Exhibition: Dana Ayscue, Cynthia Bickley Green, Stephen Cefalo, Eileen Hendren, Kelly Murray. Thru Jan 27. Artspace, Raleigh. www.artspacenc.org. The Woman Who Made Snow: Photography by Anna Exum Snow. Thru Mar 31. Durham History Hub, Durham. museumofdurhamhistory.org.

food

Free Wine Tasting: Mondays, 5:15-7:15 p.m. Bottle Rev Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill. www.bottlerev.com. Sausagefest: Sausages of all kinds available to take home from First Hand Foods. Bites from Southern Harvest, Alley Twenty-Six, Black Twig, Dashi, La Place, Gocciolina, The Root Cellar, Tyler’s, Picnic, Maybelle’s, The Boot. With Haw River Farmhouse Ales and The Lusty Monk Mustard. $25-$45. Sun, Jan 14, 12-4 p.m. The Rickhouse, Durham. rickhousedurham.com.

FRIDAY, JANUARY 12– SUNDAY, JANUARY 28

WHAT WE’RE UP AGAINST “This fucking woman stands there and says to me, ‘This is my point, Stu. It’s not about the work, it’s about point of view. When a woman designs it, it’s shit, and when a man designs it, it’s great.’ So I say to her, no this isn’t about point of view, this is about power.” In Theresa Rebeck’s office dramedy, it’s 1992, a time when a woman can get ahead in a competitive workplace like an architectural firm— that is, as long as she knows her place, doesn’t rock any boats, and waits her turn for advancement. But who decides when it’s her turn? Sexist overseers like senior architect Stu. Two months after its triumphant off-Broadway premiere, Heather Strickland helms this Raleigh Little Theatre production at William Peace University’s Leggett Theatre while RLT’s home theater is being renovated. The notable cast includes Samantha Corey, Benji Taylor Jones, Brian Westbrook, and Simon Kaplan. —Byron Woods

PEACE UNIVERSITY’S LEGGETT THEATRE, RALEIGH Various times, $14–$24, www.raleighlittletheatre.org

What We’re Up Against 30 | 1.10.18 | INDYweek.com

PHOTO BY BRENNA BERRY PHOTOGRAPHY

page OPENING IMAGO: Dance theater by Nicola Bullock. Jan. 11-13 and Jan. 18-20 Durham Fruit Company, Durham. See p. 18. Love Letters: The love of pen pals. $29+. Fri, Jan 12-Sun, Jan 21. Fletcher Opera Theater, Raleigh. dukeenergycenterraleigh.com. See p. 22. Russell Peters: Stand-up comedy. Thu, Jan 11, 7 & 9:15 p.m. & Sat, Jan 13, 7:30 p.m. Goodnights Comedy Club, Raleigh. goodnightscomedy.com.

READINGS & SIGNINGS Robert Crais: The Wanted. Wed, Jan 10, 7 p.m. Quail Ridge Books, Raleigh. www.quailridgebooks.com. Matt de la Peña and Loren Long: Love. Thu, Jan 11, 6 p.m. Flyleaf Books, Chapel Hill. www.flyleafbooks.com. Dan Heath: The Power of Moments: Why Certain Experiences Have Extraordinary Impact. Thu, Jan 11, 7 p.m. Regulator Bookshop, Durham. www.regulatorbookshop.com.

Daniel Pink: When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing. Fri, Jan 12, 6 p.m. Flyleaf Books, Chapel Hill. www.flyleafbooks.com. Don Rosenstein and Justin Yopp: The Group: Seven Widowed Fathers Reimagine Life. Thu, Jan 11, 7 p.m. Quail Ridge Books, Raleigh. quailridgebooks.com. A.J. “Tony” Tata: Direct Fire (Jake Mahegan, #4). Fri, Jan 12, 7 p.m. Quail Ridge Books, Raleigh. www.quailridgebooks.com. Barbara Claypole White: The Promise Between Us. Wed, Jan 17, 7 p.m. Flyleaf Books, Chapel Hill. www.flyleafbooks.com.

Triangle African American Theater Preview: Dramatic readings, songs, and scenes from upcoming performances. Raleigh Little Theatre, Raleigh. www.raleighlittletheatre.org. See p. 22. What We’re Up Against: Play. $15+. Jan 12-28. Raleigh Little Theatre, Raleigh. raleighlittletheatre.org. See p. 30.

Tyree Daye PHOTO COURTESY OF THE AUTHOR

ONGOING Anything Goes Late Show: Sat, Jan 13, 10:30 p.m. Goodnights Comedy Club, Raleigh. goodnightscomedy.com. Bulltown Comedy Series: Tue, Jan 16, 9 p.m. Fullsteam, Durham. www.facebook.com/ BulltownComedySeries. The Harry Show: Ages 18+. Improv host leads potentially risque games with audience participation. $10. Fri, Jan 12 & Sat, Jan 13, 10 p.m. ComedyWorx, Raleigh. www.comedyworx.com. Hush Hush: Audience confession comedy show. Wed, Jan 10 & Wed, Jan 17, 8 p.m. Thru Apr 25. Fullsteam, Durham. thisismettlesome.com.  The Mound Builders: Reviewed on p. 18. $25. Thru Feb 19. Ward Theatre, Durham. wardtheatrecompany.com. Under The Bridge Comedy Night Open Mic: Thu, Jan 11. London Bridge Pub, Raleigh. thelondonbridgepub.com. WIT: An Improvised Game Show: Improv. $5. Sat, Jan 13, 9:30 p.m. Varsity Theatre, Chapel Hill. thisismettlesome.com.

THURSDAY, JANUARY 11

TYREE DAYE AND ROB GREENE So cold that you’re having trouble recalling that you do, in fact, live in the South? Local poets Tyree Daye and Rob Greene will be at Flyleaf Books this Thursday to remind you. The two friends and colleagues at the Raleigh Review (which Greene founded in 2010) both published books in 2017 that call forth the communities, ecologies, ghosts, mysteries, and redemptions of hard-earned life in the South. Their reading will follow an open mic that begins at 6:45 p.m. The two poets won’t be sharing the stage for the first time, but they will be sharing new work in addition to what appears in Daye’s River Hymns, winner of the 2017 APR/Honickman First Book Prize from The American Poetry Review, and Greene’s first book, Biloxi Back Bay (Rabbit House Press). What they dredge up from bayous and North Carolina riverbeds is rarely pretty, but it is honest and still, somehow, sublime. —Kendra Langdon Juskus

FLYLEAF BOOKS, CHAPEL HILL

7:45 p.m., free, www.flyleafbooks.com

RECYCLE THIS PAPER BILL BURTON ATTORNEY AT LAW Un c o n t e s t e d Di vo rc e Bu s i n e s s L a w UNCONTESTED In c o r p o r a t i o n / L LC / DIVORCE Pa r t n e r s h i p MUSIC BUSINESS LAW Wi l l s INCORPORATION/LLC WILLS C o l l e c t i o n s SEPARATION AGREEMENTS Mu s i c

967-6159

(919) 967-6159

bill.burton.lawyer@gmail.com INDYweek.com | 1.10.18 | 31

screen SPECIAL SHOWINGS

very rare: a film that doesn’t resemble anything we’ve seen before. Rated R.

Distracted Driving: A/V Geeks. $5. Tue, Jan 16, 8 p.m. Kings, Raleigh. www.kingsraleigh.com.

 I, Tonya—Reviewed on p. 19. Rated R.

Burned: Are Trees the New Coal?: Tue, Jan 16, 7 p.m. Duke Campus: Center for Documentary Studies, Durham. www.cdsporch.org.

OPENING The Commuter—Liam Neeson kicks ass on a train. What more do you need to know? R ated PG-13. Paddington 2—Classic children’s book character Paddington Bear returns for a second animation-live action movie. Rated PG. ½ The Post— Reviewed on p. 19. Rated PG-13. Proud Mary—Taraji P. Henson plays a mob assassin whose life is turned upside-down when she encounters an orphan in a hit gone awry. Rated R.

N OW P L AY I N G The INDY uses a five-star rating scale. Read reviews of these films at indyweek.com.  Coco—This Day of the Dead-themed animated fantasy has one of Pixar’s richest worlds and weakest stories. Rated PG. ½ Darkest Hour— This Churchill biopic is bright and slight, but Gary Oldman turns in a tour de force performance as the UK’s iconic wartime prime minister. Rated PG-13.  The Disaster Artist— James Franco does a suspiciously good impression of a bad artist, The Room writer-director Tommy Wiseau, but the point eludes us. Rated R.  Downsizing— Alexander Payne’s satire, in which Americans are shrunk in order to get a mini version of the good life, is something 32 | 1.10.18 | INDYweek.com

 Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle—You’d need an awful lot of nineties nostalgia to see this reboot as anything but a utterly generic jungle adventure. Rated PG-13. ½ Justice League— Uneven but much better than Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, this collision of Zack Snyder’s bombast and Joss Whedon’s wit actually kind of works. Rated PG-13.  Lady Bird—Greta Gerwig’s nostalgic coming-ofage debut as a writer-director is winning and alert to class but falters on race. Rated R. ½ The Man Who Invented Christmas—Charles Dickens and his famous A Christmas Carol characters come to life in this pleasant holiday surprise from across the pond. Rated PG.  Molly’s Game—You either dig Aaron Sorkin’s talkative style or you don’t, and he really lets it rip in this directorial debut about the high-stakes world of L.A.’s underground poker scene. Rated R.  The Shape of Water—For better and worse, Guillermo del Toro’s fable of the love between a mute janitor and a strange undersea creature is like a children’s book for adults, beautiful but morally simplistic. Rated R.  Thor: Ragnarok—A stodgy, self-serious franchise springs to life with demigods delightfully out of their element. Rated PG-13. ½ Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri— Maybe the Coen brothers could have pulled it off, but Martin McDonagh has tonal problems with the weighty themes and discordant plot of this vengeful-mother tale. Rated R.

THURSDAY, JANUARY 11

THE DAY AFTER Once upon a time, a movie saved the world. Perhaps that’s an exaggeration, but the record does show that, in 1983, Nicholas Meyer’s TV movie The Day After sufficiently unsettled president Ronald Reagan and the joint chiefs of staff (along with an estimated hundred million at-home viewers) enough to nudge them toward the U.S.-Russia nuclear disarmament treaty that went into effect in 1988. Today, when we have a president who seems to think daring North Korea to violently immolate countless Americans and condemn countless more to slow death from nuclear winter and radiation sickness is a fun thing to do on Twitter, it’s worth looking back at one of the most traumatic films in history. Depicting the buildup to a nuclear exchange and the horrifying aftermath, The Day After, which is part of a series of screenings related to nuclear war at Power Plant Gallery, is terribly slow and often melodramatic, but it stays in your head bigtime. Testament is better at depicting the domestic side of things, and the British film Threads is better with the straight-up horror, but The Day After deserves the most credit—it worked. If only it could work again. —Zack Smith

POWER PLANT GALLERY, DURHAM | 6:30 p.m., free, www.powerplantgallery.com

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