INDY Week 11.29.17 by INDY

raleigh 11|29|17

Will the PIT be any different from the disgraced comedy theater it's replacing? p. 10

Pressure mounts on Thomas Farr p. 9 The Cortez is your new (sea)weed spot p. 14

DOUBLE

AXEL

THE TRIANGLE'S SMALL SYNCHRONIZED ICE SKATING SCENE (YES, THAT'S A THING) GAINS A WORLD-CLASS ADVOCATE IN JANNIKA LILJA BY DREW ADAMEK P. 22

A TASTE OF ETHIOPIA In Ethiopian culture, friendship, honor, and love are expressed by feeding each other an act known as a goorsha. A goorsha is a sign of acceptance and appreciation like a hug between friends.

LUNCH • DINNER • FULL BAR GF and Vegan Friendly

FEED YOUR APPETITE • FEED YOUR SOUL • FEED ONE ANOTHER MON-SAT 11:30AM-10PM SUN 12PM-9PM 910 WEST MAIN ST HEART OF DURHAM 919-588-4660 GOORSHADURHAM.COM

2 | 11.29.17 | INDYweek.com

WHAT WE LEARNED THIS WEEK VOL. 34, NO. 47

8 In a recent ten-month period, roughly three-quarters of Durham residents who exited state prisons were black.

DEPARTMENTS

9 The Washington Post and some left-leaning groups want the Senate to take a closer look at Thomas Farr.

8 News

6 Triangulator 14 Food 16 Music

10 A new comedy theater, the PIT, is moving into the venue recently vacated by the disgraced DSI. But will it continue the same toxic culture?.

22 Arts & Culture 26 What to Do This Week 29 Music Calendar

14 From the macaw-patterned wallpaper to the Wu Tang Clams, a cheeky sense of humor pervades The Cortez.

33 Arts & Culture Calendar

16 Joe Henry says reimagining a song can resemble a séance; you’re calling something into the room that wasn’t there ten minutes ago. ON THE COVER

22 For months, synchronized skaters practice the same routine three times a week until every smile and movement is perfectly matched. 25 Lake Placid is a fully improvised theatrical experiment, meaning a different tale unfolds with each performance.

RALEIGH: PHOTO BY CAITLIN PENNA DURHAM/CHAPEL HILL: ILLUSTRATION BY SHAN STUMPF

Chef Oscar Diaz stands in front of wallpaper that he helped design for his seafood-focused Cortez restaurant in Raleigh (see page 14). PHOTO BY MADELINE GRAY

Duke Jazz Ensemble directed by John Brown with guest organist

JOEY DEFRANCESCO Friday, December 1st • 8pm Baldwin Auditorium dukejazz.org

INDYweek.com | 11.29.17 | 3

NCDOT TO HOLD PUBLIC MEETING FOR THE PROPOSED LOUIS STEPHENS DRIVE EXTENSION (S.R. 1632) FROM O’KELLY CHAPEL ROAD (S.R. 1629) / LITTLE DRIVE (S.R. 2153) IN RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK TO POPLAR PIKE LANE IN MORRISVILLE, WAKE COUNTY TIP PROJECT NO. U-5827 The N.C. Department of Transportation will hold a public meeting regarding the proposed project to extend Louis Stephens Drive (S.R. 1632) from O’Kelly Chapel Road (S.R. 1629)/Little Drive (S.R. 2153) in Research Triangle Park to Popular Pike Lane in Morrisville. The meeting will take place on Thursday, December 7, 2017 from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Morrisville Town Hall located at 100 Town Hall Drive. The public may attend at any time during the above mentioned hours. NCDOT representatives will be available to answer questions and listen to comments regarding the project. The opportunity to submit comments will also be provided at the meeting or via phone, email, or mail by December 22, 2017. Comments received will be taken into consideration as the project develops. Please note that no formal presentation will be made. Project information and materials can be viewed as they become available online at http://www.ncdot.gov/projects/publicmeetings. For additional information, contact Roger Kluckman, NCDOT Division 5 Project Manager by mail: 2612 North Duke Street, Durham, NC 27704, by phone: (919) 220-4717, or by email: rkluckman@ncdot.gov. NCDOT will provide auxiliary aids and services under the Americans with Disabilities Act for disabled persons who wish to participate in this meeting. Anyone requiring special services should contact Caitlyn Ridge, P.E., Environmental Analysis Unit via e-mail at ceridge1@ncdot.gov or by phone (919) 707-6091 as early as possible so that arrangements can be made. Persons who speak Spanish and do not speak English, or have a limited ability to read, speak or understand English, may receive interpretive services upon request prior to the meeting by calling 1-800-481-6494. Aquellas personas que hablan español y no hablan inglés, o tienen limitaciones para leer, hablar o entender inglés, podrían recibir servicios de interpretación si los solicitan antes de la reunión llamando al 1-800-481-6494. 4 | 11.29.17 | INDYweek.com

Raleigh Durham | Chapel Hill PUBLISHER Susan Harper EDITORIAL

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

Erica Hellerstein, Sarah Willets

MUSIC EDITOR Allison Hussey COPY EDITOR David Klein FOOD EDITOR Victoria Bouloubasis LISTINGS COORDINATOR Kate Thompson THEATER AND DANCE CRITIC Byron Woods RESTAURANT CRITIC Emma Laperruque STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Caitlin Penna CHIEF CONTRIBUTORS Amanda Abrams, Jim Allen,

Elizabeth Bracy, Timothy Bracy, Michaela Dwyer, Katie Jane Fernelius, Curt Fields, Spencer Griffith, Glenn McDonald, Neil Morris, Hannah Pitstick, Noah Rawlings, V. Cullum Rogers, Dan Ruccia, David Ford Smith, Zack Smith, Chris Vitiello, Patrick Wall INTERN Emma Parna Gomes

PRODUCTION+DESIGN

PRODUCTION MANAGER Christopher Williams GRAPHIC+EDITORIAL DESIGNER Steve Oliva

OPERATIONS

BUSINESS MANAGER Alex Rogers

CIRCULATION

CIRCULATION DIRECTOR Brenna Berry-Stewart DISTRIBUTION Laura Bass, David Cameron,

Nathan Fellers, Michael Griswold, JC Lacroix, Richard David Lee, Gloria McNair, Jeff Prince, Timm Shaw, Freddie Simons, Trudi Vass

ADVERTISING

SENIOR ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Lee Coggins,

Sarah Schmader

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Stephanie Miller,

Joshua Rowsey

CLASSIFIEDS ACCOUNT EXECUTIVE Kim Cordray

WWW.INDYWEEK.COM

P.O. Box 1772 • Durham, N.C. 27702 DURHAM 320 East Chapel Hill Street, Suite 200 Durham, N.C. 27701 | 919-286-1972 RALEIGH 227 Fayetteville Street, Suite 105 Raleigh, N.C. 27601 | 919-832-8774 EMAIL ADDRESSES

first initial[no space]last name@indyweek.com DISPLAY ADVERTISING SALES advertising@indyweek.com RALEIGH 919-832-8774 DURHAM 919-286-1972 CLASSIFIEDS ADVERTISING 919-286-6642 CONTENTS COPYRIGHT 2017 INDY WEEK

backtalk

Mere Christianity

There are a lot of good, reasonable people In last week’s paper, Amanda Abrams out there, but their voices are being drowned reported on Raleigh minister John Pavlovitz, out. Wallis considers himself an evangeliwhose blog, in the age of Donald Trump, has cal. I am not an evangelical, but I certainly become a must-read for those on the relisupport people like Jim Wallis and John gious left. Writer John Mace says his church Pavlovitz because they both are reasonable is inclusive, too—but that doesn’t mean that and fair in their assessments. Additionally, a he accepts Pavlovitz’s more liberal theology. person does not have to consider themselves “I just read your article in the INDY,” he a Christian in order to be able to appreciate writes. “I attend a large church, not in Wake or support Jim Wallis’s viewpoint, or that of County, and we would welcome anyone John Pavlovitz.” to attend church no matter their position “John takes on systemic issues that drive a on these issues. Sin is sin; the Bible hasn’t wedge through all of our lives,” adds Lee Bolchanged, and if people don’t want to hear it ick Burkett. “Politics, the church, the LGBTQ then that’s their right. If John is unabashedly community, social issues, racial inequaliliberal, how does he explain abortion?” ty, and the injustices we Commenter Bob24 face daily are all topics offers similar thoughts: that John takes head-on “John is definitely not “John is in his writings. His words what the church needs! He spread hope, inspiration, will say he doesn’t believe definitely not what compassion, strength, the Bible to be fully true. encouragement, love, and He’s more secular than he the church needs! the promise that we can all lets on. That’s why he gets work together to make this fired from churches. His He will say he world a better place.” response to being rejectdoesn’t believe “I have been to North ed is saying what people Raleigh Community want to hear; the best way the Bible to be Church,” writes Angeto cover up hurts is to do all la Bridgman. “Very nice you can to be popular. It’s fully true. people and nice congreall lip service.” gation. I would probably “I congratulate the He’s more secular go more often if John was author of the article on a than he lets on.” the actual pastor there job well done,” writes Roband not a youth minisert Mulder. “The only thing ter. John was the reason I I would have done differwent to NRCC in the first ently is not to have called place, and I might even go back … if John John Pavlovitz a ‘rising star of the religious were speaking.” left.’ I would have called him a ‘rising star of Commenter PJAAI4 chimes in: “Happy religious common sense,’ or perhaps a ‘risto read the article. But John Pavlovitz just ing star of the true essence of Christianity’ or blocked me on Twitter! I am sure many something of that nature. I have a feeling that would assume I earned it, but I am not quite constantly dividing people into left and right sure how. I replied to two of his tweets. I is not the best approach. I think that there guess he wasn’t happy with that.” is that large block of people just to the left Finally, Anne Wood points out that Pavand right of center who probably share a lot lovitz’s brand of inclusive, progressive of commonalties but don’t particularly see Christianity doesn’t just work for millennithemselves as being in the left or right camp. als: “There are plenty of us old people who “Author Jim Wallis is to me very similar like him too. I am eighty-three years old, and in his approach to John Pavlovitz. Wallis has I find in him beautiful expression of topics written a number of books. Here are two: that need to be addressed.” God’s Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn’t Get It and The Great Want to see your name in bold? Email us Awakening: Reviving Faith and Politics in a at backtalk@indyweek.com, comment on our Post-Religious Right America. It is a mistake Facebook page or indyweek.com, or hit us up to condemn all Republicans and all Demoon Twitter: @indyweek. crats for the insanity at both of the extremes. INDYweek.com | 11.29.17 | 5

triangulator

+BOO

HOMICIDE

BURGLARY

2017: 16

2017: 1,738

2016: 30

2016: 1,864

Change: (47%)

Change: (7%)

3-year average: 24

3-year average: 1,973

DPD clearance rate YTD 2017: 94%

DPD clearance rate YTD 2017: 14%

DPD clearance rate YTD 2016: 73%

DPD clearance rate YTD 2016: 16%

RAPE

LARCENY

2017: 97*

2017: 5,379

2016: 74

2016: 4,903

Change: 31%

Change: 10%

3-year average: 83

3-year average: 5,157

DPD clearance rate YTD 2017: 45%

DPD clearance rate YTD 2017: 20%

DPD clearance rate YTD 2016: 28%

DPD clearance rate YTD 2016: 23%

*Davis told the council there is no indication of any serial predators, and these numbers may not show an increase in actual rapes but rather an increase in women reporting sexual assault.

ROBBERY 2017: 638 2016: 574 Change: 11% 3-year average: 578 DPD clearance rate YTD 2017: 22% DPD clearance rate YTD 2016: 29%

AGGRAVATED ASSAULT 2017: 935 2016: 942 Change: (>1%) 3-year average: 959 DPD clearance rate YTD 2017: 35% DPD clearance rate YTD 2016: 43%

6 | 11.29.17 | INDYweek.com

VEHICLE THEFT 2017: 574 2016: 521 Change: 10%

IS DURHAM

GETTING

SA FER?

Last week, in a presentation to the city council, Durham police chief C.J. Davis unveiled the Police Department’s third-quarter crime report, a look into property and violent crime in the first nine months of 2017. (She also boasted that she’s making officers undergo eight hours of mental health training and that all officers are now wearing body cams.) The top lines: violent crime is up, murders are down; rape is up, burglaries are down. Here, we take a closer look into what these numbers tell us about Durham’s yearover-year crime trends—as well as the DPD’s ability to solve those cases—under its new police chief.

3-year average: 515 DPD clearance rate YTD 2017: 14% DPD clearance rate YTD 2016: 18%

JUVENILE ARRESTS AND PETITIONS, BY AGE

186

PERIPHERA 154

40 2

Julia Roxa and Cour black fem They p on wheel Wallace also know a scholar tor of ex umentary raising m bookmob chandise contribut to buy an shelves, a lection of cultivated From t already r Black Fem Library. G few years evicted af installatio her books “We als black fem United S been disp Gumbs. “B accessible during ed sons. We feminist and rene private pr The D already of

+BOOKS ON WHEELS

Julia Roxanne Wallace, Alexis Pauline Gumbs, and Courtney Reid-Eaton want to create a black feminist nerd haven in Durham. They plan to do it early next year, and on wheels. Wallace, a multimedia artist and preacher also known as Sangodare Akinwale; Gumbs, a scholar and author; and Reid-Eaton, director of exhibitions at the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke, are currently raising money to create a black feminist bookmobile. Through a fundraiser and merchandise sales, they’ve already got forty-two contributions toward the $10,000 they need to buy an old Airstream trailer, fit it with shelves, and stock it with a still-growing collection of nearly one thousand books that cultivated over years. From their home, Wallace and Gumbs already run the Eternal Summer of the Black Feminist Mind Lending and Reference Library. Gumbs says the collection grew a few years ago when artist Kai Barrow was evicted after turning her home into an art installation and asked the library to take on her books. “We also have collections of books from black feminist visionaries from around the United States who have passed away or been displaced from their homes,” says Gumbs. “But right now, those books are only accessible to folks who come to our home during educational events or for social reasons. We want to honor the fact that black feminist brilliance is a shared, shareable, and renewable community resource, not private property.” The Durham County library system already offers its own bookmobile that serves

neighborhoods throughout the city, but it has decreased its capacity recently. The Black Feminist Bookmobile will keep some classic titles on hand, including Toni Cade Bambara’s The Salt Eaters, Barbara Smith’s Home Girls: A Black Feminist Anthology, Cherrie Moraga and Gloria Anzaldua’s This Bridge Called My Back, Toni Morrison’s Sula, and The Combahee River Collective Statement. They recently added Marita Golden’s The Wide Circumference of Love, Nnedi Okorafor’s Akata Warrior, and Kevin Quashie’s The Sovereignty of Quiet, Tisa Bryant’s Unexplained Presence, and Anastacia-Renee’s Forget It. “We realized that the people who will be our most enthusiastic collaborators on this project are people who love black feminist books. And those people actually are black feminist bookmobiles already,” Gumbs says. “They are carrying around bags with black feminist books in them. Literally, there are black feminist books in their cars and homes; they share black feminist books with other people. But on a deeper level, because of their love for the black feminist tradition in letters, they also carry black feminist books in their minds, hearts, and spirits wherever they go.” To that end, they’ve created shirts, hoodies, tote bags, and mugs reading, “I am a Black feminist bookmobile” that can be purchased online, with proceeds going toward the project.

+CALL THE GRAND JURY

A state and county investigation into the more than $2.3 million found missing from the Wake County Register of Deeds office will stretch through December, with a grand jury impaneled before the end of 2017, Wake

County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman told the INDY Monday. The office sustained the losses between 2008 and 2017, according to a claim the county submitted to its insurers. The losses amounted to more than $100,000 a year for nine straight years and sparked investigations by the county, Freeman’s office, and the State Bureau of Investigation. Officials involved with the investigation had said earlier that a grand jury could begin hearing evidence at the end of this month. “We are in the final stages of our investigation into the misappropriation of funds within the Register of Deeds office and expect to present findings to the grand jury by the end of the year,” Freeman said. As many as five indictments are expected from the investigation, sources say. The Register of Deeds office handles payments and documents for a variety of activities, including real estate records, marriage licenses, birth certificates, and business licenses. The investigation has taken more time than expected because of the sheer number of documents and financial accounts to be pored over, former county manager Jim Hartmann said earlier this year. Wake County voters elect the Register of Deeds. The job was held from 1996 until March by Laura Riddick, who announced her retirement at the same time that Hartmann and Freeman announced that the SBI would conduct an investigation into the missing funds. Riddick said then that she was retiring because of bad health. She has not been available for comment since. triangulator@indyweek.com This week’s report by Jeffrey C. Billman, Thomas Goldsmith, and Sarah Willets.

PERIPHERAL VISIONS | V.C. ROGERS

S H O P F O R T H E U N I Q U E AT

E xot i que B O U T I Q U E A N D A R T G A L L E R Y

ART AND SCULPTURE A F R I C A N FA B R I C S • J E W E L R Y C LOTH I N G • ACC ESS O R I ES HOM E DECOR 3 1 9 W M AI N ST • D OWNTOWN D U R H AM 9 1 9 .6 8 8 .5747

T H E E XOT I Q U E. C O M

INDYweek.com | 11.29.17 | 7

indynews

The Cost of Coming Home

A SMALL TEAM INSIDE DURHAM’S CITY HALL IS TACKLING THE BIG CHALLENGE OF RESIDENTS RETURNING FROM INCARCERATION BY SARAH WILLETS

illiam Elmore was out of prison after serving twenty-five years for a murder conviction. He needed toothpaste, so he headed to Walmart. He left feeling sick. “It was like a kaleidoscope of sensory overload. It was too rich, too many colors,” he says. “There’s so many different types of toothpaste, it made my stomach hurt.” Elmore had gone from a life with virtually no choices—his movements, time, and surroundings tightly regulated—to one where no one would tell him where to go or how to spend his time, let alone what toothpaste to pluck from the shelf. Overwhelming trips to Walmart are an experience a five-person team (plus an intern) at Durham City Hall has heard about repeatedly over the past few months as its members studied the challenges that confront people returning from prison. Backed by a $1.2 million, three-year grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies and $400,000 from the city, the Innovation Team’s mission is a broad one: “Drive bold innovation, change culture, and tackle big problems to deliver better results for residents.” For the first year of the program, the team is applying that specifically to the economic barriers faced by Durham residents who have come in contact with the criminal justice system. According to Josh Edwards, director of Durham’s I-Team, the idea to focus on people involved in the justice system came from city manager Tom Bonfield and outgoing Durham mayor Bill Bell. “We talk about crime in this community,” Bell said during a presentation by the I-Team to the city council last week. “We talk about poverty in this community. We talk about the quality of life in this community for all people. But to me this is one of the most important … because of the project and what its potential is for impacting the lives of so many people who have gotten involved in 8 | 11.29.17 | INDYweek.com

Left to right: Erin Parish, Josh Edwards, Mayor Bill Bell, Darin Johnson, Ryan Smith PHOTO COURTESY OF THE CITY OF DURHAM

the justice system—some through no fault of their own, some through fault of their own. But the fact is they have a way out, and this is one opportunity for them do that.” Despite being housed in the budget department, working on the I-Team isn’t a typical government job. The team has interviewed more than one hundred people—about half justice-system-involved individuals, plus service providers, court officials, law enforcement, employers, and advocates— and dug into the consequences of having a criminal record. Their workspace is lined with the results: quotes from interviewees on cutout pieces of paper tacked on to eight boards, according to themes like “housing,” “family,” “gangs,” and “between two worlds.” “When we were interviewing people, a theme that came up over and over again was that people felt like they couldn’t shake a criminal record, like a criminal record was almost like a life sentence,” says Erin Parish, the team’s design strategist. About seven hundred people return to

Durham each year from state prisons, the team found. From last October to this September, about three-quarters of the Durham residents who exited state prisons were black, according to Department of Public Safety data. In addition, the I-Team learned that around seven thousand people each year go through the Durham County Detention Facility. Currently, about twenty-four hundred people are on probation in Durham County. Again, they are largely young black men. “This is important to highlight because twenty to thirty years old is usually when people are just starting … to crystallize who they are and select their occupations,” the team’s data analyst, Darin Johnson, told the council last week. Chuck Manning, the team’s outreach coordinator, who has been through the criminal justice system himself, says many of the jobs open to people with records pay less and offer less upward mobility than the illegal work they may have been doing

before being incarcerated. “They have families who depend on them, they have children who need their support, and they also have everyday living expenses,” Manning says. “It’s hard for justice-involved residents to choose legal employment when they have all these pressures and responsibilities.” They may come out of incarceration burdened by debt. Parish and project manager Ryan Smith visited Durham residents at Polk Correctional Institution and were told inmates there carried $300 to $50,000 in debt. “We have shifted so much of the burden of paying for the criminal justice system to those who are incarcerated,” Smith says. There are also social and psychological barriers to reentry. People may not only need help filling out online applications that didn’t exist before they were incarcerated and guidance on how to apply skills they used illegally in a legal setting, but also time management training, anger management, or therapy. “The survival skills you learn to survive incarcerated are oftentimes directly contradictory to the survival skills you need to thrive in a workplace,” Parish told the council. The I-Team has also heard from interviewees that having no driver’s license was a barrier to their success. It’s keeping them from jobs and, for those who have little choice but to take the risk and drive, landing them with fines or in jail. They found that, according to the N.C. Justice Center, 933,386 people in North Carolina have had their license revoked for failing to appear in traffic court or pay fines. (Forty-three states suspend licenses over court debt, but in North Carolina suspensions are mandatory and indefinite.) Last week, Johnson received long-awaited records from the DMV showing that 44,898 people in Durham County have suspended licenses. It’s not yet clear how many of those people failed to pay or appear, but they do know about 67 percent are black and 87 percent are male. What’s more, the

UNDER PRESSURE

Calls mount for the Senate Judiciary Committee to demand answers from Raleigh attorney Thomas Farr BY THOMAS GOLDSMITH A coalition of national left-leaning groups, as well as The Washington Post’s editorial board, pressed Raleigh lawyer and federal judgeship nominee Thomas Farr for answers to questions raised by the INDY’s reporting about his earlier testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee. The organizations and the newspaper urged Farr to offer additional testimony to the committee about his involvement in a controversial 1990 postcard campaign designed to help the late Senator Jesse Helms’s racially charged reelection race against former Charlotte mayor Harvey Gantt. President Trump nominated Farr, sixtythree, to a lifetime post in the Eastern District of North Carolina in July. As part of an assessment by the judiciary committee, Farr answered written questions from Senator Dianne Feinstein of California by saying he had no prior knowledge of the Helms postcard campaign that a federal court said was designed to intimidate black voters. Farr did not return a phone call to his office Monday and has not responded to previous requests for comment. In recent INDY interviews, Gerald Hebert, a Department of Justice lawyer who worked on the case in 1990, said Farr had been involved in planning the postcard mailing weeks before it took place. That news got the attention of the coalition of groups, including the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, the AFL-CIO, the Sierra Club, the Human Rights Campaign, the National Bar Association, the National Education Association, the National Women’s Law Center, and Planned Parenthood Federation of America. “Farr must appear before the Committee to explain the discrepancies between this credible account and his own responses,”

team has learned that driving with a revoked license is one of the most common charges among those in the Durham County jail. In partnership with the Durham County District Attorney’s Office, the I-Team held an amnesty program that allowed people to apply by text or email (rather than appear in person at the courthouse) to have their traffic records wiped clean. Two thousand applications were submitted. “Certainly we want people to be accountable for traffic violations, even minor traffic violations,” District Attorney Roger Echols told the council. “But I don’t know if you’ve heard, court costs can be pretty punitive these days, and dealing with the DMV is probably even more punitive.”

the groups said in an open letter to Senator Charles Grassley, the Iowa Republican who chairs the judiciary committee, and Feinstein, the ranking Democrat. “Senators must determine whether Farr intentionally misled the Committee, and whether he participated in an unconscionable and unlawful scheme to disenfranchise African-American voters.” Three of the groups had come out against Farr before Monday. In addition to the controversial postcard mailing, civil rights advocates are opposing him because of his work in legislative redistricting, employer-side advocacy in labor cases, and efforts defending North Carolina’s voter ID law. On Sunday, the Post argued that the “committee should hold another hearing with Mr. Farr to determine his involvement in the voter-suppression effort and whether he was truthful with the Senate.” Dallas Woodhouse, the executive director of the state Republican Party, calls opposition to Farr “a lefty witch hunt which will fail.” Woodhouse says Farr has already answered senators’ questions about the postcard campaign and should not have to give a repeat performance. Woodhouse predicted Farr will be confirmed by the full Senate. “He’s gone through the normal process and answered questions in the hearing and did so very well,” Woodhouse says. “Trying to put around his neck what his client may or may not have done forty years ago is pretty disgusting even for the left. The left doesn’t like Tom Farr because he is effective and brilliant.” The judiciary committee forwarded Farr’s nomination to the full Senate in October. No date has been set for a vote, but it could occur at any time. tgoldsmith@indyweek.com

To advertise or feature a pet for adoption, please contact advertising@indyweek.com

Solutions the I-Team uncovers may or may not end up at City Hall. On December 4, the group will open an innovation lab on the first floor where the team can meet, others interested in criminal justice issues can learn about its work, and city staffers can seek help injecting some social science into their own projects. They’ll also hold an employer meeting in an effort to get more local companies to hire people with records. “We’re not implementers,” Edwards says. “If we identify a program or an idea that works, and the data shows it works and the people we’ve worked with believe in that idea, we’re really spinning out that idea and finding a champion for that.” swillets@indyweek.com INDYweek.com | 11.29.17 | 9

UNEASY LAUGHTER New comedy theater the PIT wants to fill the void left by the disgraced DSI. But will it just replicate the same culture of toxic masculinity, unaccountability, and harassment? BY KATIE JANE FERNELIUS

“L

et’s talk about the elephant in the room,” says Ali Farahnakian. It’s September 11, and Farahnakian has just announced that he’s purchasing the venue at 462 West Franklin Street in Chapel Hill. Only a month ago, it housed DSI Comedy Theater, the Triangle’s— and, with its NC Comedy Arts Festival, arguably the Southeast’s—preeminent training center and showroom for stage comedy. The elephant is that DSI shuttered in August after multiple allegations against owner Zach Ward of harassment, sexual misconduct, and unfair work practices surfaced on social media. Farahnakian graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill in 1990 before going on to perform with major comedy troupes such as Second City and Upright Citizens Brigade; he also wrote for Saturday Night Live for one season. He founded the Peoples Improv Theater, or the PIT, in New York City in 2002. Farahnakian stands in the middle of a seated circle of about fifty members of the Triangle comedy community, describing his vision for the theater—the PIT’s fourth venue, joining three others in Manhattan. He wants to relocate the stage, improve the lighting, and add classroom space and a podcasting studio. As for the women who said they were assaulted or intimidated by Ward, Farahnakian says he hopes the PIT will be a space that allows “them to put down their baggage.” As Farahnakian fields questions, the room buzzes. He says that the PIT will work to “make their nut” in Chapel Hill. At one point, he compares his new venture to JFK taking America to the moon, doing it “not because it was easy, but because it was hard.” He’s at once charismatic and abrasive. As far as DSI goes, Farahnakian assures everyone, “The only thing that will be the same about this place is the address.”

month later, on October 18, Farahnakian is at the center of another town hall meeting, this time on a PIT stage in Manhattan. But here, he’s the subject of scrutiny. The meeting was called to address the handling of sexual misconduct allegations 10 | 11.29.17 | INDYweek.com

months about the misogyny pervasive withat the PIT. in the national comedy scene. The same “It’s saddening, it’s disheartening, frusstory played out locally at DSI. With alletrating, and I couldn’t just sit in Chapel Hill gations of a similarly toxic culture swirlwhile this was going on,” Farahnakian says. ing around Farahnakian, it’s worth asking In the wake of scandals involving Harwhether the PIT will learn from DSI’s— vey Weinstein, Louis C.K., and other powerand its own—mistakes, or ful men in media, a handful of if it will merely replicate a women took to social media to similarly problematic clishare their experiences of sexumate of hypermasculinal harassment and assault in the ity, unaccountability, and PIT community. Chief among harassment. the concerns raised, both on social media and at the town hall, was Farahnakian’s alleged he day after the Manmishandling of allegations. hattan town hall, In an interview with the Molly Cahen, a student and INDY, Farahnakian denied or house team player at the refused to comment on many PIT from 2010–13, posted of these allegations. But he says on Facebook about a class the broader conversation has Ali Farahnakian she took with Farahnakian. caused him to reflect on the According to her account, PIT’s culture. Farahnakian failed to inter“We are good at what we do, which is vene when a white male classmate “derailed teaching improv classes, sketch classes, solo scenes and performed ideas that were racist.” classes, and shows,” he says. “We are not Two classmates who spoke with the good with dealing with what has gone on.” INDY seconded her characterization of Over the last month, three women spoke the classmate. One recalled how the man to the INDY on the record about their experegularly singled out an African-American riences at the PIT. Ten others—including woman in the class and enacted inappropricurrent and former interns, students, perate scenes with another woman, trying to formers, teachers, and bartenders—spoke on make her raise and spread her legs for him background or on the condition of anonymduring a scene. ity, fearing retaliation from Farahnakian, In her Facebook post, Cahen recalled a who they believed could harm their standing talkback—an informal debriefing session—

“IT SOUNDS LIKE I WAS JUST TRYING TO BE FUNNY.” in the New York comedy community. These women allege that Farahnakian and other managers mishandled their sexual misconduct claims and facilitated a culture in which this behavior was difficult to report, and even tolerated. They describe Farahnakian, forty-nine, as a man typical of his generation, slow to participate in the conversations about gender discrimination and sexual misconduct in comedy. Their accounts portray him as a boss prone to unpredictable behavior, including verbally berating and humiliating employees, withholding raises, and retaliating against those who challenge him, both women and men. At the same time, they portray him as a loyal and dedicated businessman with a big personality, eager to help advance the careers of those closest to him. Many say they put up with his mood swings in the hopes that their patience would pay off. Much ink has been spilled in recent

in which Farahnakian joked with the man about their wives no longer being enthusiastic about sex. According to Cahen, Farahnakian remarked, “It feels like I’m raping her.” “An older woman of color, braver and more clearheaded than I was at twenty-two, spoke up,” Cahen’s post continues. “She said, ‘Isn’t that a little much?’ … [Farahnakian] then treated her and the rest of us to a patronizing lecture about how important it is not to censor people.” Farahnakian says he doesn’t remember this incident. Cahen told the INDY that this was part of a broader climate at the PIT. She says she had a male teammate who once, before they went on stage, told her, “You just made me so hard.” She says behavior like this was commonplace, and there were no avenues to report it. “I am tainted and traumatized by my experience of [Farahnakian] as a teacher,” Cahen says. “I’m angry and upset that one man’s INDYweek.com | 11.29.17 | 11

big ego has kept so many people silent and in pain and created an opportunity for guys who are serious predators to find a home.” “I try to rack my brain to think about it and the class and the moment,” Farahnakian says in response to Cahen’s account. “But there’s no vividness to it. It sounds like I was just trying to be funny and share my own radical self-truth and not realizing that it was insensitive.” Farahnakian says he emailed a private apology to Cahen. Nine days before Cahen went public, Carly Filbin, who was involved with the PIT from 2012–15, posted on Facebook that a manager made a move on her while she was an intern. She was afraid of losing her internship or not getting on a house team, so she laughed it off. She, too, painted this as part of a broader cultural problem. “It’s not normal for improv teachers to stay late at bars with young students, for house team members to hit on interns, for teachers I’ve never fucking talked to to Facebook me late at night!” wrote Filbin. In response to Cahen and Filbin’s posts, other women spoke up, saying they also experienced sexual misconduct at the PIT. Alexis Hosea, a former intern and student, wrote about an incident in which a drunk manager demanded she go on a date with him. She told the INDY that while Farahnakian is good at creating community—since he values and rewards loyalty—he can be oblivious to the gendered power dynamics within it. A fear of being seen as a squeaky wheel kept many women from speaking up, Hosea says. They didn’t want to lose out on opportunities to be on house teams that perform regularly, or to be hired as a bartender, teacher, manager, or director at the theater. “None of us realized how bad this situation is,” Hosea says. “I realized that I just got to a point in New York City where I only produced my own work, because that’s where I felt the safest. Every tunnel I went down was some asshole dude who was controlling and had a negative effect on my life.” “You can’t have an organization of any kind without having to deal with stuff, and it came up throughout the years and we dealt with it,” Farahnakian says of this alleged culture of sexism. “But I don’t think any organization of any kind is impervious to it, whether it’s the Senate, whether it’s the White House, whether it’s Hollywood.” In 2012, a woman named Emerald, who asked that the INDY not disclose her last name, says she was hanging out at the PIT’s bar when a male member repeatedly tried to kiss her, despite her protests. Emerald told her then-boyfriend, Peter, about his advances. Peter told Emerald that, at a previous event, this same man had cornered his roommate in the hallway and stuck his hand 12 | 11.29.17 | INDYweek.com

“IT WAS DEATH BY A THOUSAND PAPERCUTS. HARASSMENT WAS PART AND PARCEL OF THIS CULTURE.” down her pants. Peter later punched that man, off-premises. He was banned from the PIT. But the man who allegedly harassed and assaulted Emerald was not punished, Emerald says. Another woman, who asked that the INDY not use her name, says she, too, experienced an unwanted sexual advance from this same man. After hearing about Emerald’s incident and that of another woman, this woman set up a meeting with Farahnakian and the PIT management over email. In that email, she highlighted that Peter was banned while the man who assaulted them was not. “As a woman I find it disappointing and disturbing that unwelcome sexual advances (not verbal advances but aggressive physical advances) are evidently condoned, or at least not punished by management at the PIT,” she wrote. After their initial meeting, a PIT manager organized a second meeting, this time with the accused man, in hopes of rectifying the situation. According to Emerald, the woman, and the manager present at the meeting, Farahnakian and one of the managers told them they were there to mediate the conflict. The woman and Emerald describe the meeting as uncomfortable and unproductive. Asked about this meeting, Farahnakian declined to comment, on the advice of his attorney. “Anything employee-related, we can’t discuss.” “I have friends who are thinking of moving to New York to do comedy, and I caution them against the PIT,” Emerald says. “I say it’s too rapey.”

Farahnakian says that characterization is no different than him using the word “rape” in a joke. “Somebody saying the PIT is ‘too rapey’ is trying to get a laugh,” he says. He also disputes Emerald’s description of the theater. “The reality is that [the PIT] is a community of artists who for fifteen years have strived to make it better.” Still, Farahnakian says the allegations have prompted introspection. “Hopefully the story you want to tell is that these people want to change, they are making amends, they are putting systems in place, they are here to be a part of the West Franklin community,” Farahnakian says.

he PIT’s main-stage venue in New York is something of a shrine to Farahnakian. It’s decorated with inspirational quotes, some of them attributed to him (e.g., “Follow your fear”). The “Wall of No Shame” features pictures and collages of Farahnakian and some big comedy names, including Tina Fey (with whom he worked at Second City). Hallways are decorated with paintings of Farahnakian. On the bar sits a pair of Chippewa motorcycle boots, a memento from his Second City days. The Chapel Hill location doesn’t yet have the same flair. On Monday evening, the space was still under construction. Farahnakian sat on the stage during an interview with the INDY, illuminated by stage lights. “We’re here first and foremost to save a building,” he said. “Because if we didn’t come here, this building would not be a community space.” He says someone had made an offer to rent and convert the former DSI digs to office space. After meeting with local comedians, Farahnakian says, he felt a responsibility to keep it as a public theater. “Part of what happened here has caused us to pivot,” he says of DSI’s legacy. “We came here to be a comedy theater, and we will still be a comedy theater for whoever wants to do comedy. But we’ll also be a theater for people who want to do poetry, for people who want to come up and do bluegrass or play a clarinet or do a TED talk or improvise Spanish telenovelas.” Farahnakian’s first class at his new Franklin Street location was on October 14. Six local comedians and comedy teachers came. The second class was a week later, on October 21. This time, though, almost no one showed, and the class was canceled until further notice. During the intervening week, Cahen’s and Filbin’s Facebook posts had circulated in the Triangle’s comedy community.

n early 2016, after the artistic director of iO West in California was fired over sex-

ual harassment allegations, Kevin Laibson, then the PIT’s artistic director, organized a committee to develop a formal policy on sexual misconduct. “The committee was ideal, because we all wanted to be there and we all wanted to take on this huge task,” says Kaitlin Fontana, a PIT performer and committee member. The committee met a few times and discussed some proposals. The members wanted an official policy for what constituted sexual misconduct and how it should be handled by management. They thought previous disclosures had been handled inconsistently, without regard for the privacy of those reporting the behavior. The committee asked to meet with PIT management, but, according to multiple people involved, Farahnakian evaded opportunities to do so. The committee suggested a time for a meeting with Farahnakian. In an email obtained by the INDY, Katie Hutch, a human resources employee at the PIT, replied on Farahnakian’s behalf: “While the committee is still trying to organize itself, we unfortunately do not have the resources to continue to rework our already very tight schedules to discuss issues which we are already addressing.” After that email, with no recourse to propose a policy, the committee dissolved. As far as anyone could tell, no changes were made to address its concerns. Farahnakian says efforts outside of the email were made to schedule a meeting, but the committee was too disorganized. “We kept giving them times to meet, and they could never find a time where they could all meet,” he says. Laibson quit the PIT that April. “It was death by a thousand papercuts,” says Fontana. “Harassment was part and parcel of this culture. It’s just that the PIT waited far too long to do anything about it.”

n October 10, Kim Galan-Kaiser, who bartended and took classes at the PIT in New York, replied to one of her friend’s #MeToo posts on Facebook. “It’s happened to me at the PIT,” she wrote. “I still have to serve the guy when I bartend there. And he’s, like, a senior member of the community who is well loved, as far as I know. Plus, he won’t stop apologizing, so I feel like that’s him begging me not to say anything.” The next day, she received an email from Beth Saunders, the PIT’s business manager and Farahnakian’s wife. Farahnakian, the bar manager, and the night manager were all copied. “There are a couple of ways we can handle this,” Saunders wrote. “… You can approach the night manager immediately

Left: Farahnakian (far left) pictured with Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, and other members of Second City Right: Images of Farahnakian on the walls of a PIT venue in Manhattan and ask he/she to remove the person. You can address it with [the bar’s general manager] or you can come directly to me and/or Ali.” The next day, Farahnakian wrote her: “Can you please let us know this information ASAP, who this person is. By posting something like this without naming a name, it creates even more chaos in the community.” Galan-Kaiser wrote back, thanking them for their concern and recommending that they set up an anonymous reporting system. She added, “At this time, I would prefer to focus my energy on my own work and decline to pursue action regarding my treatment by this individual.” A few days later, Galan-Kaiser showed up for her bartending shift. The night manager approached her and asked to speak. He led her down a hallway and into the green room with Farahnakian, Saunders, and the director of classes, Andy Hilbrands. According to Galan-Kaiser, Farahnakian said they were there because her Facebook post had cast a shadow over all senior male community members. Galan-Kaiser says she felt nervous and uncomfortable. She was asked to name her assailant and describe what happened. Under pressure, she did. She says that Farahnakian reread her comment to her and asked her if she understood that posting it was “like dropping a bomb.” At this point, Galan-Kaiser says her discomfort was evident. Hilbrands suggested they table the conversation, and Galan-Kaiser left the room. Galan-Kaiser shared her experience with her husband, Joe, a longtime teacher and performer at the theater. The next night, they drafted an open letter to Farahnakian requesting a moderated community meeting, an anonymous reporting system, and a

full-time HR counselor. At three thirty a.m. on October 18, they sent an email to a select group of PIT community members, attaching a written account of Kim’s experience and the letter. They hoped to garner support before sharing the letter with Farahnakian, but someone forwarded the email to him. Later that same day, PIT artistic director Brad Anderson canceled all of the evening’s main-stage shows. The October 18 town hall was announced in an email in the early afternoon. The INDY obtained a recording of that town hall and interviewed several people who were there. According to their accounts, more than a hundred people showed up. “None of this is easy,” Farahnakian told them. “None of this was handled well.” Joe Galan-Kaiser read from a prepared statement: “Over the past eight years, I have been a member of this community as an intern, a student, a night manager, a bar manager, a bartender, a teacher, and a performer, and I consider it my home,” he said. He spoke about the #MeToo campaign and Kim’s experiences at the PIT. “In just the last two days,” he continued, “I have heard many stories of others who have faced this same procedure, which has led others in our community to remain quiet out of fear. I have heard of individuals repeatedly trying to address these issues but either giving up or leaving the PIT. … I can only assume it is because of the very same patterns of power wielding that I have witnessed in my eight years here.” Multiple women related their experiences of sexual misconduct within the comedy scene and at the PIT. “There’s a learning curve, and I’m, at the end of the day, brainwashed as a forty-

nine-year-old dude from the suburbs of North Carolina,” Farahnakian responded. He promised to hire someone to deal with sexual misconduct but noted that it would cost money—and ultimately, the PIT was a business. Toward the end of the two-hour discussion, audience members demanded Farahnakian commit to being trained in handling sexual harassment and assault disclosures. He demurred but still expressed a commitment to changing the theater’s culture. (On Monday, Farahnakian told the INDY that he would undergo the training in the near future.) “The sword that was handed to me by [comedy teacher] Del [Close] was the sword of Yes, And,” Farahnakian mused. (Yes, And is a tenet of improv, meaning a performer should accept and build on all proposals.) “Yes, And is dead at the Peoples Improv Theater. [Now it’s] Yes, And, until you have to say No, Thank You, want to say No, Thank You, need to say No, Thank You. [This] is the new sharpened sword we will use.”

n the last month, Farahnakian has written letters of apology to both the New York City and the Triangle communities. These letters have circulated on social media to mixed responses: some people found them disingenuous; others appreciated the effort. The PIT has also put a conduct policy on its website defining discrimination and sexual harassment. Farahnakian has referred to it as a “living document,” subject to change. Still, all teachers and performers are being asked to sign it. Farahnakian has also said that the PIT will be working with STOPit, an anonymous reporting system, and RAINN, an anti-sexual violence organiza-

tion. In addition, the PIT partnered with Fairplay MN, a Twin Cities group that works on behalf of women in improv. In the wake of DSI’s closure, Kate Harlow founded a local chapter of Fairplay in early October. She was invited to participate in training in New York alongside the Fairplay MN chapter. On November 16, the Fairplay NC chapter released an open letter about the PIT’s new location in Chapel Hill. “It has been several weeks since reports of an unsafe community environment at the PIT NY came to light—and in that time we are pleased to see that the PIT is taking positive, measurable steps forward toward creating a safer community,” the letter reads. “We are pleased to hear that the PIT will be working with an anonymous reporting system moving forward to ensure the building of a safe and inclusive environment for all students, performers, teachers and appreciators of comedy. … What is unclear at this point is who at the PIT will be handling any reported incidents. The implementation of an anonymous reporting network will only be effective if reports are handled appropriately.” The next day, the PIT terminated Harlow’s contract negotiations, accusing Harlow of not acting in good faith. “They said they were not at all pleased that we had said anything,” Harlow says. “We were going to work with them, but they are so new,” Farahnakian says. “Fairplay Minnesota couldn’t even vouch for them. We just decided to go to one that was actually established, that knows the protocol and knows how to deal with these type of issues.” “I wish them well, but I am never going there,” Harlow says. “One of the best things that happened in the wake of DSI is that a lot of people realized they can make their own stages, they can create their own spaces, they can support each other without tearing each other down.” Local improv comedian Jenny Spencer is cautiously optimistic. “The PIT has potential,” she says. “If they follow through, I may work with them. But any space I work with will have put their money where their mouth is.” Some local comedians decided to form their own improv teams after DSI’s closure. Others began working at other venues like ComedyWorx in Raleigh. At the Varsity Theater, Kit Fitzsimmons has started booking regular improv shows. “Comedy is going to exist with or without the PIT,” says Jen Bianci, who produces regular improv shows at The Varsity, including the upcoming Lady Date on Saturday. “Farahnakian said he was here to save improv, but I don’t think improv in the Triangle needs saving.” backtalk@indyweek.com INDYweek.com | 11.29.17 | 13

indyfood

THE CORTEZ SEAFOOD + COCKTAIL

413 Glenwood Avenue, Raleigh www.cortezraleigh.com

Cortez Is Killer

INSPIRED BY MEXICAN MARISQUERIAS AND SOUTHERN SEAFOOD, ALL THE FLAVORS SLAY BY EMMA LAPERRUQUE

Gambas al ajillo

PHOTO BY MADELINE GRAY

wade through an ocean of superheroes, zombies, and sexy cats to find The Cortez. (Why, I can’t help but wonder, are there never sexy dogs?) A pirate—sparkly, with a dagger strapped to her left arm—greets my friend and me at the door, which bleeds onto the patio, which bleeds onto Glenwood Avenue in Raleigh. This just happens to be the center of N.C. State’s bar scene on a Saturday night, two days before Halloween. Who knew? But at least I get to see how fun the staff is. The hostess, servers, and even the raw oysters are “all dressed up.” In menu-speak, this means on the half shell, served here topped with bell pepper, shallot, serrano, cucumber, lime, salt, pepper, and ceviche juice. Like the combo of cat-ear headband, face glitter, fishnet stockings, and combat boots, this can be just a bit too much. Smaller oysters do get smothered in the getup, but the larger ones pull off the ensemble well. You can also order them naked. From five 14 | 11.29.17 | INDYweek.com

to six p.m. every night, oysters are one dollar each. They are served on ice chips, with the usual suspects in tow: cocktail sauce, hot sauce, and lemon, plus a rosé mignonette, which I almost drank by itself. If you’re torn between raw and baked, get baked. It’s worth noting that I never say this. I love oysters because they are salty, briny, impossible to mess up. Just shuck and slurp. Baked oysters, on the other hand, are finicky. When your casserole “dish” is an inch-wide shell, there’s zero room for error, and it’s easy to dollop a bit too much butter or keep it a moment too long under the broiler. But The Cortez nails it. Their version is smothered with creamed greens and salami, parmesan bread crumbs, and mezcal. Who in his right mind would think to put all that together? Chef Oscar Diaz. You probably recognize him and owner Charlie Ibarra from their first venture, Jose and Sons, a Mexican-Southern fusion restaurant in Raleigh’s warehouse district.

While Jose and Sons is huge—5,800 square feet—The Cortez is relatively pint-sized, in the spot formerly occupied by Cafe Helios. It seats forty inside, another twenty outside. But I can’t imagine wanting to eat on the patio when the interior is so pretty. Facing an open kitchen is a bright turquoise booth nearly the length of the room. Plants sit leafto-leaf on windowsills, sipping sunshine. There is macaw-patterned wallpaper, and the bar, which has the ironic spirit of an altar, is crowned with a black-and-white felt board. Your Weed Spot, it reads. Wait, what? Oh— Your Seaweed Spot (with “Sea” in teeny font). This cheeky sense of humor is all over the seafood-driven menu. You can hang out with the Wu-Tang Clams: white wine-steamed middlenecks with hot capicola, bell pepper, and onion. Like the baked oysters, these underscore how shellfish and pork are #couplegoals. The savory, lush broth begs to be slurped with shells. And don’t be shy about it. You can get (sea)weed butter with Yel-

low Dog bread (this costs, ahem, $4.20). Or that same butter on sautéed mushrooms. I opted for those, with spinach, radishes, and chives. But no salt? It seemed entirely forgotten, which is disappointing when it’s the one ingredient you don’t want to forget. Then again, many dishes at The Cortez have a lot of ingredients. Take the Outer Banks seared scallops with a Thai-style watermelon and tomato salad, a mirin-pickled cucumber, carrot, and onion slaw, and so many squiggles of “squid ink,” our waiter says as he sets down the plate. “So definitely get that involved.” The scallops were textbook, with crusty edges and creamy centers. I only wish they lost a few accessories. Alternatively, the gambas al ajillo are all about simplicity. They are split, with the shells still on, and grilled, so they crisp and curl. Eat them with your fingers and use toasty bread to soak up all the garlic butter. This sort of moment makes The Cortez reverberate loudly, like the parties just outside its door. Also reliable is the ceviche. It comes in two varieties: “Tiger-style,” with tuna, toasted corn nuts, and leche de tigre broth, and a red snapper with tomatoes, cilantro, basil, and onion, served with thick tostada chips, to use instead of cutlery. Both fish rotate regularly based upon coastal availability. Of course, this also influences the menu’s prices. The shared plates, like those shell-on shrimp, with five per serving, average around twelve dollars. The entrees average around twenty. though you might never get one. And there are thirteen shared and raw-ish items, compared to three entrees. The Cortez is not meant to be an appand-entree kind of experience. Between the ceviche and tropical wallpaper and weed jokes, you start to feel like you’re on a trip somewhere, anywhere else. And the cocktail menu only amplifies this feeling. You can get an O.T. Daiquiri with toasted coconut rum, lime, brown sugar, and fresh pineapple. Or, “I would recommend the Staycay,” our waiter says. “I have good taste!” he adds. Agreed. The gin drink has lemon, honey, elderflower, and a vinho verde float. It arrives in a collins glass with a neon green straw and a purple flower dangling off the edge, like a lily in a pond. I could drink enough of those to actually believe I’m on vacation. And at The Cortez, for a couple of hours, I am. food@indyweek.com

Plenty of Fish in the Sea

SICK OF SALMON? CHEFS ARE LIVENING UP TRIANGLE RESTAURANTS WITH EXOTIC LOCAL SEAFOOD AND FRESH OYSTERS BY EMMA LAPERRUQUE I was having déjà vu while sitting at a relatively new restaurant in Raleigh, slurping oysters. A couple of months earlier, this was at St. Roch, Sunny Gerhart’s debut restaurant. This time, I was at The Cortez (see the full review on page 14). In Durham, meanwhile, someone is having a similar meal at St. James, a new seafood restaurant from Matt Kelly, the chef-owner behind Mateo, Lucky’s, and Mothers & Sons. And this summer, Locals Seafood, a company that sources North Carolina seafood and sells it all over the Triangle, will debut its own oyster bar and fish market in the upcoming food hall, Transfer Co. It all raises the question: Why now? I asked Lin Peterson, who started the company in 2010 with his friend, Ryan Speckman. In addition to selling wholesale to chefs, they also sell at farmers markets—Chapel Hill, Western Wake, and State—and supply to stores like Weaver Street Market, Whole Foods, and the Durham Co-op. Is this just a trend? Are oysters merely the “it” protein of the moment? Trendy, yes, he told me. But it’s more than that. While many people recognize the fallinto-winter transition as “oyster season,” this only pertains to wild oysters. Most recently they have declined in availability due to everything from coastal development to water quality issues. In turn, supply had to restrategize to meet demand. Enter oyster farmers. “In North Carolina, farming oysters is a relatively new business. We’re way behind Virginia. But now we’re really ramping that up,” Peterson said. “At Locals, we average about eight to ten varieties of cultivated North Carolina oysters each week. And those are available year-round.” That’s great news for oyster bars and for all of us who enjoy eating at them. Beyond oysters, Locals sources dozens of seafood species each year. If this doesn’t sound like a lot, try naming twenty different fish. (And forget salmon—it’s not even available around here.) Depending on the month, our coast offers everything from tuna to triggerfish, catfish to dogfish, mullet to sheepshead. So why are we familiar with so few? And why does salmon from who-knows-where feel like a better bet than red porgy from the N.C. coast? Seafood offers a unique challenge to

Chef Oscar Diaz at The Cortez

PHOTO BY MADELINE GRAY

chefs. Like the sea itself, the variety is almost endless, but many consumers have a narrow comfort zone. When Gerhart started pursuing his own restaurant, he stumbled upon a space on the corner of Cabarrus and Person Streets in Raleigh that just felt right for “cheap beer, oysters, and po’ boys.” But when Joule’s former space opened up, he opted to take this idea and elevate it there. Now, only seven months in, Gerhart is exploring the possibilities and potential of St. Roch’s menu. “Everyone wants tuna, salmon, flounder. But thinking about ocean sustainability, it makes more sense to introduce other things,” he says. “And a lot of times, those fish are really delicious.” Especially when someone like Gerhart is cooking them. One week, St. Roch did a turtle Bolognese. (“We joke that they were mean turtles,” he laughs.) Another week, it was frog legs, fried, served with XO sauce and roti, “from a guy down in Florida who goes out on

his airboat on the weekends and gets frogs.” “We sold out in two days. Then we had someone come back, wanting those frog legs. And I could get frog legs all year long. But they’re going to come frozen from China.” Beyond sustainability, and beyond creativity, Gerhart likes sourcing locally because it means supporting local jobs. I’ve heard more than one chef say that the farmers have the tough work; they grow the food, while all chefs have to do is not mess it up. But chefs who specialize in seafood have to do more than that. They have to get someone to order something called “White Grunt” in the first place, then get them to like it so much that they want more. Oscar Diaz, executive chef at The Cortez, is navigating similar waters during his restaurant’s first year, learning to discern between what people want and what people don’t know they want, yet. All the restaurant’s oysters, for instance, are local. But its salmon, which Diaz likened to “the queso of

the sea,” is from the Pacific Northwest. Diaz had been thinking about a seafood place for years, he explains, inspired by visiting Mexico every summer when he was young. He appreciates Calabash-style seafood but wanted to showcase a lighter cevicheria approach. “The product is local,” he says, “but the technique is nostalgic to us.” What stalled him and his business partner, Charlie Ibarra, he said, was real estate. By the time The Cortez opened, articles like this were already starting to appear. “From that aspect, we were like, damn, man, three years trying to open this, saying, ‘No one’s doing it!’ Then all of the sudden— boom—everybody. But at the same time, I don’t want to be the only one combating it. It’s a group effort. Because then we’re not the crazy people, trying to push crazy shit,” he said. “Farm-to-table is one thing, but sea-totable is another.” food@indyweek.com INDYweek.com | 11.29.17 | 15

DECE M B E R

FR 1 START MAKING SENSE SA 2

(TALKING HEADS TRIBUTE) 8P

indymusic

JOE HENRY

Thursday, Nov. 30-Saturday, Dec. 2, Various times, free–$38 Various venues, Durham www.dukeperformances.duke.edu

River of Song

SINGER-SONGWRITER AND PRODUCER JOE HENRY SHARES HIS TRADE SECRETS AND A NEW ALBUM AT DUKE BY JIM ALLEN KIX W/ THE FIFTH 7P SU 3 NETWORKING SOCIAL 2017 TH 7 WHO’S HAT IS THIS?

(MEMBERS OF TEDESCHI TRUCKS) 7P

FR 8 OLD HABITS

W/ OLD MAN WHICHUTT 8P

SA 9 WQDR’S CHRISTMAS WISH

W/GRANGER SMITH & BROOKE EDEN

SU 10 SHOOTER JENNINGS & JASON BOLAND 7P TU 12 JAKE BUGG W/ KATE RHUDY 7P WE 13 CHATHAM COUNTY LINE ELECTRIC FR 15 BAND TOGETHER HOLIDAY BASH W/ THE CONNELLS SA 16 SU 17 FR 22 SA 23 FR 29

SURRENDER HUMAN & SPACE MULLET 7P

YARN & THE DUNE DOGS 7P ASHEVILLE HOLIDAY HANG 7P LIQUID PLEASURE 8P SMELL THE GLOVE 9:30P BIG SOMETHING W/ TRAVERS BROTHERSHIP

SA 30 BIG SOMETHING W/ URBAN SOIL SU 31 BIG SOMETHING W/ DR. BACON CO M I N G S O O N

1/5 BIG RIVER BAND 7P 1/12-13 ZOSO (LED ZEPPELIN TRIBUTE) 1/14 COLLIE BUDDZ W/ THE HOLDUP 1/19 THE BREAKFAST CLUB 8P 1/20 BOULEVARDS W/KOOLEY HIGH/ LONNIE WALKER/ZENSOFLY

1/29 2/2 2/3 2/8 2/10 2/11 2/17

AMERICAN AQUARIUM 8P BROCKHAMPTON KELLER WILLIAMS 8P PERPETUAL GROOVE 8P AJR: THE CLICK TOUR FAR TOO JONES 7P SLEIGH BELLS 7:30P WHO’S BAD

2/18 2/23 2/24 2/25 2/28 4/6

WEEKEND EXCURSION ERIC JOHNSON W/ARIELLE 7P RAILROAD EARTH 7P RUNAWAY GIN

1/26-27

5/26

(MICHAEL JACKSON TRIBUTE) 7:30P Y&T 7P EMANCIPATOR ENSEMBLE 8P

(TRIBUTE TO PHISH) 9P HIT AND RUN TOUR: JAKE MILLER 8P

ADV. TICKETS @ LINCOLNTHEATRE.COM & SCHOOLKIDS RECORDS ALL SHOWS ALL AGES

126 E. Cabarrus St.• 919-821-4111 www.lincolntheatre.com

16 | 11.29.17 | INDYweek.com

Joe Henry has been a sui generis songsmith since the mid-eighties, traversing and transcending genres over the course of fifteen albums. As a Grammy-winning producer, he’s helmed projects by legends like Solomon Burke, Mose Allison, and Allen Toussaint, as well as Hayes Carll, The Carolina Chocolate Drops, and tons of others. The searching, idiosyncratic perspective that’s powered all of it offers a fascinating vantage point, but in Durham this week, he’ll offer an even more intimate perspective on his work. “I’m fascinated by any invitation that challenges me to do something I wouldn’t do otherwise,” Henry says about his residency at Duke Performances. Over the course of three nights he’ll deliver a talk about the power of artistic influence, offer a peek behind the curtain at songwriting and production, and give a special performance of his new album, Thrum, in its entirety. It’s a unique opportunity to spend some time living in the world of one of the most uncompromising singer-songwriters and producers operating today. On Thursday, Henry hits the Joe Henry PHOTO COURTESY OF DUKE PERFORMANCES Nasher Museum Auditorium to present Take Me to the River, in which he to the idea of artistic influence, citing Bob looks at the mighty, mysterious power of Dylan, Pablo Picasso, and Miles Davis as influence in art. But as someone who always some of the most significant artistic forces in zigs when you’re expecting a zag, he’s neither his life. Those who’ve paid attention to Henplanning to focus on his own influences nor ry’s output over the years will have picked up even on musical influences. on a few other musical influences, too. Henry “I can rattle off a list of primary influencdidn’t cover Tom T. Hall’s “I Flew Over Our es, but I don’t think that’s as enlightening a House Last Night” on 1993’s Kindness of the thing to talk about,” he says. “I think it’s a lot World or include Ornette Coleman’s sax on more potent to talk about how any of us are his 2001 LP, Scar, just for the hell of it. But influenced in whatever we’re doing. Things even in that context, Henry sees extra-musiof influence are not static relics of a past. We cal connections. are constantly calling things up and reimag“Tom T. Hall was writing in these very flat, ining their significance to us.” beautiful first-person narratives, scratching Henry embraces a pan-medium approach at a lot of the same themes that [minimalist

author] Raymond Carver found interesting,” Henry observes. In assessing his aim for Take Me to the River’s spotlight on the nature of influence, Henry says that he wants to “not dispel any of the mystery of it, but to see the mystery in a vivid way.” That goal also applies to Is It Rolling, Bob?, Henry’s December 1 talk at Sound Pure Studio, which focuses on the art of songwriting and record-making. He intends to flout expectations there, too—he says he doesn’t think the specific hows of recording are as interesting as the inherent self-discovery that unfolds within the recording process.

Henry’s own eventual move into production was essentially an accident, precipitated by an unexpected invitation from venerated producer T Bone Burnett in 1990, while Henry was working on his third LP, Shuffletown. “He just said, ‘I need some help, I think you’d be really good at this, why don’t you come work with me?’ And I did so on a number of projects for a few years,” Henry recalls. “I learned a tremendous amount about my personal ethos regarding recordmaking by evolving into that job with T Bone. And then people just started asking me to produce records.” When it comes to his own production approach, Henry is a strong believer in letting the magic happen on the spot rather than trying to plan it all out in advance. “I resist the notion that discovery happens beforehand and you show up at the studio just to read it into the public record,” he says. “There’s a real moment of revelation that happens when a song is caught on the floor and taken up by musicians who are deeply invested in essentially a séance—you’re calling something into the room that wasn’t there ten minutes ago, and it has to be alive when it happens. I don’t want the work to represent me—I want to disappear into it.” Perhaps unsurprisingly, that’s exactly the route he took in making Thrum, not only cutting the songs live in the studio but having the engineer make live (and adventurous) mixing decisions in the moment. “As we’re making choices on the floor, he’s making choices,” explains Henry. “Not just to archive what’s happening, I wanted him to be as bold and paint with the elements as I’m asking anybody in the room to paint with the elements at their disposal. I wanted things to be treated and stepped on and fractured. It just had to happen as the songs happened. It can be incredibly liberating to work that way.” On Saturday, the third night of his residency, Henry will hit the Baldwin Auditorium to play Thrum, accompanied by the core musicians who helped create the album. “It’s an opportunity to present it like a play, as a full statement,” he says, “I’ll play some other things after, but the idea of presenting the album as a full statement, basing the heart of an evening on songs I haven’t had a chance to perform before, it’s an exciting way to imagine working. I don’t have any attachment to playing the songs like we recorded them.” From Durham, Henry will head out on the road, but he has no plans to play another Thrum-centric show. “I think that evening will be unique,” he says. He’s undoubtedly right, but that’s not the only reason. music@indyweek.com

RECYCLE THIS PAPER

Ninth Street Bakery

From our Blog: Longtime regulars of the Bakery will notice that our crusty artisan breads have become especially amazing as of late. In July, Alex Ruch, previously a baker at Bellegarde Bakery in New Orleans, came on with us here. He actually baked with me back in the days when I ran the Berenbaum’s bakestand. He left for a post-doc at Tulane in 2012 and I was trying to recruit him back pretty much as soon as left. His bread has made a huge step forward for NSB’s quality, and I am extremely proud of him with every bake. We have gained new wholesale customers as a result of these fine breads, and we will be looking to add on more in the months to come.

info@ninthstbakery.com INDYweek.com | 11.29.17 | 17

music

THE WEATHER STATION

Above the Clouds

THE WEATHER STATION’S TAMARA LINDEMAN REJECTED SHAME AND FLOUTED FEAR TO MAKE HER FOURTH LP BY ALLISON HUSSEY

Tamara Lindeman of The Weather Station PHOTO BY ALEXANDREA SCOTLAND

n early September 2012, Tamara Lindeman sat in a Hillsborough barn and, to a small but rapt audience, played songs from her year-old LP, All of It Was Mine. It was a stop on the Ontario native’s first-ever American tour and a precursor to an “official” anchor date at the Hopscotch Music Festival. For the crowd, the gathering felt special, but for Lindeman, that trip would ultimately bear more fruit than she could imagine. She met new friends, musicians with whom she’d end up recording. Around the same time, she met Brendan Greaves, who cofounded the Carrboro-based label Paradise of Bachelors. “It was just this crazy coincidence of people finding the music who understood it,” she recalls. “It was this really funny thing that just sort of happened independently, where all of these people in this community were exposed to this record and fell in love with it and wanted to help me, basically, which was crazy.” Earlier this year, Paradise of Bachelors 18 | 11.29.17 | INDYweek.com

released Lindeman’s fourth album as The Weather Station, a breathtaking, selftitled LP. There, Lindeman proves that, five years after her fortuitous first trip south, The Weather Station is more finely tuned than ever. When she was touring in support of All of It Was Mine, Lindeman did so mostly on her own, with a single acoustic guitar that didn’t even have a pickup in it; it had to be miked at every venue. “Every show was like, this extremely intense experience of loneliness. It was just me, and I had to battle the situation and try to turn it to my favor,” Lindeman says. “Having done that, I felt like I had the foundation to want to build on it, and to want other people on stage, and to want to be louder.” The Weather Station isn’t a loud record, per se, but it’s certainly a stark contrast to the hushed, nearly whispered songs of All of It Was Mine. At the time, Lindeman says, making quiet music by herself was her way of

pushing back against having spent a lot of time in bigger, noisier bands. She’s been building up to this point gradually—gentle percussion became slightly more prominent on her 2014 EP, What Am I Going to Do With Everything I Know, and 2015’s Loyalty dipped into tasteful full-band arrangements. But The Weather Station, released in October, is Lindeman’s most stately release yet. Its instrumental layers lend even more nuance to her words, and the arrangements are enough to give Lindeman some extra oomph without overshadowing her. Especially now, Lindeman says, it was important to her to make a record that wasn’t all delicate solo ruminations. “It didn’t feel right with where the world is, and where my mind was, and what I wanted to say. Quietness and beauty just were not in my mind at all,” she says. And so she set about building the arrangements around the songs for The Weather Station. She wanted busy bass playing like she’d heard on records by Gor-

Thursday, Nov. 30, 8 p.m., $10–$12 Cat’s Cradle Back Room, Carrboro www.catscradle.com

don Lightfoot and Bob Dylan; she wanted tom-fill drum parts that echoed the traditional music of Canada’s maritime provinces; she wanted her voice to take up a lot of space; she wanted exuberance. With ringing clarity, Lindeman’s voice breezes between electric guitars and splashing cymbals over dense passages of confessional lyrics that sting even after she has already moved on. Such intimately detailed songwriting has always been a hallmark of Lindeman’s work, and her latest batch of songs is no exception. She touches on topics like isolation, uncertainty, insecurity, and desire, and where others might flinch at revealing their most sensitive innermost feelings, Lindeman bravely charges onto the field. But even that took some adjustment. “It didn’t feel like I felt fearless, it just felt like I had to feel fearless. I’ve been doing this for a long time, and I want to do it forever. If I hold back, I’m serving no one,” she says. “If I can let something out and actually reveal myself exactly how my mind actually, really works—it’s this huge gamble, but if I don’t do that, what’s the point?” There’s another force in Lindeman’s life that shaped her new songs: shame. She thinks about it a lot, she says. “I find it really interesting. I, like a lot of women I know, experience so much shame all the time. I constantly feel ashamed of my songs, my lyrics, my arrangements, everything I do,” she says. But where does that shame come from? For women, especially those who lead public lives, it comes from everywhere and nowhere, from society shouting its demands and the little internal voice that says, “not good enough.” Lindeman noticed that her male peers rarely, if ever, encountered that same obstacle. So Lindeman decided to make an effort to put her shame aside, just to see what it felt like. The point was to follow her own ideas wherever they took her. “It was like a science experiment or something, like, What if I did not listen to these ideas?,” she says. If a record like The Weather Station is the result of such experiments, then Lindeman can be assured that her experiment has paid off marvelously. Her lessons reach far beyond herself. You can be your own worst critic, but don’t let it prevent you from building something beautiful. music@indyweek.com

2017 Finalist for Best Aesthetician: Angela Hugghins

GIFT CERTIFICATES AVAILABLE!

FOR BROWS THAT WOW

SERVICES:

Organic Skin Treatments Waxing Eyebrow Microblading Lash & Brow Tinting Special Occasion Makeup Body Therapies FREE MICROBLADING CONSULT

3 0 4 W E S T W E AV E R S T. # 1 0 4 , C A R R B O R O M O N A R C H B R OWA N D FAC I A L S . CO M INDYweek.com | 11.29.17 | 19

Counter Culture

GIFT

GUIDE

Coffee Gift Subscriptions starting at $13.50/month Counter Culture gift subscriptions are the perfect way to share your favorite local coffee roaster with friends and family this holiday season. Easy, fresh, and convenient. A Counter Culture gift subscription makes sure they never run out of coffee. Join us Fridays at 10 a.m. for free coffee tastings! 812 Mallard Avenue, Durham counterculturecoffee.com

Cedar Creek Gallery

Blown Glass Ornaments $17-$125 A destination for treasures. Choose from over 200 local, regional and national craftspeople working in pottery, glass, metal wood fiber and more. 20 Minutes from Raleigh, Durham and 100% Soy Candle $26 Chapel Hill. Open 10AM-6PM 7 days a week. The candles of Southern Elegance Candle Company are poured deep in the heart of North 1150 Fleming Road, Creedmoor Carolina. Each small batch of candles is meticulously poured to ensure you receive the highest 919-528-1041 quality candle. Our highly fragrant candles are designed to engulf you in the beauty and www.cedarcreekgallery.com www.shopcedarcreek.com essence of true southern living. www.Secandleco.com

Southern Elegance Candle Company

Fred Astaire Franchised Dance Studios

The Glass Jug Beer Lab

Craft Beer, Glassware, & Bottle Openers

Give the gift of craft beer with a gift certificate to The Glass Jug Beer Lab! The Jug also has the best bottle openers in town and glassware to match the quality of the beer you pour in it. Perfect stocking stuffers for the beer lover in your life! Plus, the new Ballroom, Latin, and swing. Couples, singles, and teens on-site microbrewery & beer garden will be opening soon! welcome. Wedding programs available. Friendly interactive 5410 Hwy 55, Suite AF, Durham environment. No partner necessary. New customers 919-813-0135 | glass-jug.com enjoy 3 sessions for only $40: includes 2 private dance lessons and 1 group lesson. DURHAM • 4702 Garrett Rd. 919-489-4313 | www.dancingfads.com RALEIGH • 6300 Creedmoor Rd. #122 919-872-0111 | www.carolinadance.com

Give the gift of social dance! Gift certificates starting at $40

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

INDYweek.com

•

NOVEMBER 29, 2017

•

Museum Store at the North Carolina Museum of Art Harshita handmade silk bowtie | $61 Bronze “Thinker” | $225 Thousandaire black leather bifold wallet | $75

Museum Store at the North Carolina Museum of Art West Building, located next to Iris restaurant 2110 Blue Ridge Rd, Raleigh 919-664-6784 | ncartmuseum.org

Vert & Vogue

Cat Call Collective x Vert & Vogue Greeting Cards

Hol iday Gift Guid e

Say what you mean with Cat Call Collective’s fun, clever letterpress cards. Produced in Hillsborough by Bekah Bohlen, each card from Cat Call Collective will help you get your point across. 353 W Main St, Durham | 919-797-2767 www.vertandvogue.com | @vertandvogue

Tap The Triangle Craft Beer Tours

Send your loved one on a craft beer adventure! Tap The Triangle immerses you in the local culture, and gives you a one-of-a-kind tour experience that leaves you buzzing with excitement. All tours include luxury transportation, plenty of beer, local food, and more! Give experiences, make memories. TapTheTriangle.com 919-294-8555

PNC Arena Gift Cards

Give the gift of live entertainment! Carolina Hurricanes hockey, NC State men’s basketball, concerts, family shows and more – there’s something for everyone. PNC Arena Gift Cards are perfect for Family, Friends or Clients. Redeemable for event tickets*, at participating concession stands and The Eye team store. *excluding NC State men’s basketball and select events

1400 Edwards Mill Rd., Raleigh, NC | 919-861-2300 | www.ThePNCArena.com

Special Treats

Holiday gourmet chocolate truffles Special Treats is a boutique chocolate shop located in the Timberlyne Shopping Center in Chapel Hill. In addition to a full selection of gourmet chocolate truffles, there are seasonal holiday specialties like gingerbread and peppermint candy cane. We also have other holiday gifts such as candles and natural soaps. 1129 Weaver Dairy Rd., Chapel Hill | 919-883-2151 Facebook: specialtreatschapelhill | www.specialtreatsnc.com

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

Women’s Birth & Wellness Boutique

I Heart Guts! Keychains | $7 each I Heart Guts! comical anatomical keychains and pins make the perfect gifts! Whether you’re getting your feet wet in anatomy or want to bone up on your physiology, I Heart Guts! will bring a smile to your face and smarts to your brain. 930 Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd, Ste 204, Chapel Hill 919-537-7055 | www.ncbirthcenter.org

Holiday Gift Guide Contact your ad rep or advertising@indyweek.com to be part of our next Gift Guide! INDYweek.com

•

NOVEMBER 29, 2017

•

indysports

WINTER ROCKERLAND

Friday, Dec. 15, 8:30 p.m., $7–$14 Garner Ice House, Garner www.formationsynchro.com

HOLIDAY SPECTACULAR Saturday, Dec. 16, 2 p.m., free Raleigh IcePlex, Raleigh www.formationsynchro.com

Get in Formation

WORLD-CHAMPION ICE SKATER AND FASHION DESIGNER JANNIKA LILJA COMBINES HER TALENTS TO BOOST THE TRIANGLE’S YOUNG SYNCHRONIZED SKATING SCENE BY DREW ADAMEK

n matching bright-striped costumes, the ice skaters at the Polar Ice House of Cary link arms and lean forward in a line, backs flat, each extending one leg straight behind them. It creates a strange optical effect, as if a single outstretched limb were rippling down the line. Gracefully turning and lowering their legs, the skaters split off into pairs, arm in arm, light glittering off their costumes. This is synchronized ice skating, in which teams of eight to sixteen perform programs of precisely timed figure skating moves. The sport combines choreography, music, and costumes into a seamless spectacle. Competitive teams are judged on their exactitude and presentation. While the sport has strong footholds in the U.S. Midwest, New England, Canada, and Europe, it is a relatively new arrival to the Triangle. Catching up will take a lot of work, especially in the South, a place with little ice skating tradition. One local team may have found the person with just the right experience and energy to coach them to the next level. Her name is Jannika Lilja, a world-champion skater, a former New York high-end fashion designer, and a tireless, charismatic advocate for the sport. As head coach of Triangle Formation, she’s nurturing a young, regional team with international aspirations. “Many of our skaters dream of skating for a world team, and they have big goals,” Lilja says. “They want to be known for synchro in the Triangle.” Today, Lilja, twenty-nine years old, is hustling into the Penalty Box, the snack room at the Cary ice rink, to unload a heavy bundle of skating costumes. A dozen teenage girls are waiting in various states of readiness for the ice, and, in addition to the INDY, a local TV news crew is waiting for an interview. Oh, and there’s a private skating lesson to squeeze in before team practice starts in a few minutes. 22 | 11.29.17 | INDYweek.com

Jannika Lilja, right, coaching Triangle Formation during practice Lilja glides with ease from one task to another. Costumes are quickly piled and sorted on a table, teenagers are gently prodded into finishing their hair and makeup while being herded toward the ice, and the cameraman is directed to a quiet spot next to the rink. Finally, Lilja escorts a young skater onto the ice for that private lesson. Meanwhile, some of the moms attending practice flip through a six-inch binder of clippings of Lilja’s double career. They gasp at fashion magazine spreads of Kristen Bell, the Kardashians, and Jessica

PHOTO BY CAITLIN PENNA

Simpson wearing Lilja’s designs, and nod approvingly at newspaper stories chronicling her international skating feats. “In the South, we don’t have as many skating opportunities, so for us, to use her skills as a skater and a coach is a huge opportunity,” says Katie Wrege of Cary. Burned out from long work weeks in the New York fashion world, Lilja was looking for a way to combine her loves of skating and fashion in a more moderately paced city. In 2016, the Triangle Ice Gliders were looking for an experienced coach to help them grow. After Lilja took over,

they merged with another local synchro team, the Raleigh Rockers, to become Triangle Formation. Triangle Formation is an umbrella organization that has five teams of various ages and skill levels. Lilja is responsible for managing the organization, coaching four of the five teams, designing and producing the costumes, choreographing each program, and directing outreach efforts. “Her creativity is endless,” said Wrege. “She’s the whole package, whether it’s the steps to the technique to their costumes. The whole picture is her vision.”

Part of Lilja’s challenge in bringing her vision to life is the need to educate skaters, parents, and the public in a small skating scene about what, exactly, synchronized skating is—and what it could be. “No one really understood how a larger synchro program works when I moved

Jannika Lilja

PHOTO BY CAITLIN PENNA

here, so we’ve really started from scratch,” Lilja says. “We had to start at zero and really learn the sport from the beginning.” The real work takes place on the ice. Skaters practice the same routine three times a week for months until every smile and every movement is perfectly matched. Each team has just one competition program per season, and it takes nearly a year to perfect. Lilja’s career began at age four, in her hometown of Espoo, Finland, just outside Helsinki. She began synchronized skating competitively almost immediately. She had her sights set on a world championship by the time she was eight, and started competing internationally at eleven. At eighteen, she won a world championship

with the Helsinki-based team Marigold IceUnity in 2006. But, a year after winning the world championship, another passion called— fashion. She left Finland to study fashion design and knitwear at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. After college, she moved to New York, where she worked with fashion luminaries such as Rodarte, Marimekko, and Yigal Azrouel. Lilja’s role with Triangle Formation brings her interests together—costuming is a key part of competition, creating a first impression and getting the team into character. “When you enter the ice, you need to deliver the theme of the program right away. The judges don’t know the concept, so the more you can do with the look of the costume, the makeup, and the hair, the better,” Lilja says. She designs, sources, and hand-makes every team uniform in a small workroom in her house, and she’s been designing costumes for a global clientele for years. Her attention to detail is so exacting that once, unable to find a suitable striped pattern, she sewed individual stripes onto more than a dozen uniforms. Lilja’s efforts to raise Triangle Formation’s skill level and profile are paying off. The team has doubled in size since she took over. She hopes to expand the roster to a hundred, and elevate at least one team to a more competitive national level. But she’s not just building a team— she’s building better, more well-rounded skaters and athletes. “When I came down here, everyone told me, ‘You can’t do synchro here, that’s not going to work,’” she says. “A year and a half later, we have sixty athletes and hopefully we can keep growing the program. We’ve been able to make these kids really care about this sport.” arts@indyweek.com INDYweek.com | 11.29.17 | 23

? y d n i e h t e v o L

community church concerts features

cheryl ! l a c o l Wheeler S hop

port us... p u s o h w s businesse e h t t r o p Sup

An evening with Jens, Uwe and Joel is always a DECEMBER 1ST • 8:00PM

Community Church ofmusical Chapelexperience. Hill 106 Purefoy Road, Chapel Hill, NC 27514 used to think the banjo was somewhat limited to c $25 “I advance / $30 at the door styles, un8l I heard Jens Kruger. Jens has played some www.communitychurchconcerts.org most beau8ful and expressive banjo I’ve ever heard.“

–Ron Block Gravy Boys - January 13, Upcoming Shows: The Alison Krauss and Union StaTon The Barefoot Movement - February 17th

24 | 11.29.17 | INDYweek.com

indystage

LAKE PLACID HHHH Through Saturday, Dec. 9 Durham Fruit & Produce Co., Durham www.littlegreenpig.com

Dice on Ice

YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT SHOW YOU’LL GET FROM LITTLE GREEN PIG’S IMPROVISED LAKE PLACID, SET DURING THE 1980 WINTER OLYMPICS BY BYRON WOODS If you’re searching for Lake Placid, don’t take I-87 north from New York. Instead, look somewhere between the films of Robert Altman and the golden age of Charles Schulz’s Peanuts. (Should you reach Wes Anderson, make a U-turn; you’ve gone a bit too far.) That notional zone is where you’d find the result of Little Green Pig Theatrical Concern’s new theatrical experiment, which takes longform techniques originally developed for improv comedy and liberates them from their punch-line fixations. To some degree, this endorsement must be conditional, because this improvised theater work, directed by Jaybird O’Berski, begins anew each night, with the actors portraying different characters—a mix of small-town locals and international athletes visiting for the 1980 Winter Olympics—in the Adirondacks village of the title. The only constants we observed in the first weekend were the late-seventies pop songs company members sang as music director Louis Landry played keyboard. After the actors tagged in and out of early scenes, establishing exposition, relationships, and conflicts, they built upon that base in a series of shorter and longer sequences. These seemingly disparate sections recalled Altman works such as Short Cuts and Nashville as fragments gradually coalesced into a mosaic. Sometimes improv and theatrical gimmicks advanced the plot: whenever a two-tone subway chime sounded, a character told the audience what he or she was really thinking. Sometimes they led to true serendipity; a heart-wrenching slowmotion sequence on Friday night showed Emily Levinstone’s notable character, Sam, on the precipice of expressing her attraction to Dana Marks’s free-spirited Carol, the town’s postmaster, before retreating back into denial. Only occasional breaks where weak singers tried to make

Antonio Collins and Dana Marks in Lake Placid pop lyrics comment on scenes hampered the work. Sunday night’s performance was the strongest yet, as nine actors uncovered and then threaded four distinct subplots. Jessica Flemming’s phobic character painfully, gradually let her son (newcomer Antonio Collins) pursue his dreams of Olympic skating, while two East German athletes (Levinstone and Germain Choffart) confronted the effects of statesupplied hormones on their bodies and dreamed of escape. Genuine—and

PHOTO BY ERIN BELL

therefore, awkward—love slowly found its way among athletes seeking freedom and battered locals played by Marks and Shelby Hahn. A masterful flurry of switch-ins and -outs in the ending sequences had the actors collaborate as playwrights on the fly, collecting narrative threads, drawing them taut, and weaving a rewarding finale. We’ll never see that show again, since the company tells a different tale each night. But, given its first weekend, odds are Lake Placid will continue to be worth the trip. arts@indyweek.com

STAGE BRIEF DOT | HHH ½ Through Sunday, Dec. 10 PlayMakers, Chapel Hill www.playmakersrep.org At first, the half-empty bottle of Smirnoff seems like a visual non sequitur, alone on the counter of a homey little kitchen. But its presence there at ten a.m. on a workday is the first sign of the lifeand-death struggle underway in a sunny West Philadelphia home, as portrayed in Colman Domingo’s 2016 domestic drama, Dot. The particulars fill in shortly. Rasool Jahan launches into her intrepid performance as Shelly, a young lawyer, single mother, and certified control freak caught in a situation she cannot control. Her mother Dotty’s Alzheimer’s disease is progressing, implacably stealing her memories, language, and personality. As the selfdesignated “responsible” daughter, Shelly is convinced she’s the only one who can take care of her. With two days left until Christmas and Dotty (a sterling Kathryn HunterWilliams) even dottier than usual, dropping N-bombs while trying to cadge some weed from a former neighbor, the watermelon vodka is a last-minute addition to Shelly’s failing coping mechanisms. Clearly, something has to give. Though it hardly sounds comic, director Nicole Watson deftly mines a candid brand of gallows humor, which helps Shelly stay afloat amid the chaos. That dark wit and candor animates the strained relationship between Donnie (an urbane Samuel Ray Gates) and his husband, Adam (Adam Poole), who are visiting from New York, before wild child Averie (a hyper Shanelle Nicole Leonard) punctuates the proceedings. All parties are assembling their resources against reversals yet to come. Memories manifest in collected photographs, tape recordings, and mistaken identities, as Dotty briefly believes Adam is her husband. As estranged siblings and lovers reconcile and family bonds reform and solidify, this bittersweet holiday tale reminds us that some losses are reversible, and that enough of the past can be protected to fund an uncertain future. —Byron Woods INDYweek.com | 11.29.17 | 25

WHAT TO DO THIS WEEK THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 30 & FRIDAY, DECEMBER 1

HAW RIVER BALLROOM, SAXAPAHAW | 8 p.m., $25, www.hawriverballroom.com

WHAT ELSE SHOULD I DO?

M.C. Taylor PHOTO

As Hiss Golden Messenger, prolific Durham-based singer-songwriter M.C. Taylor has raised his national profile with each of his Merge Records releases over the past three years. Though his most recent LP, September’s Hallelujah Anyhow, came out in a tumultuous political climate, Taylor insists that it is not a protest record, but rather one of hope. Supported by an ace crew including Ryan Gustafson, Darren Jessee, and Brad and Phil Cook, Taylor surrounds his soulful, sincere vocals with warm, majestic arrangements that run the Southern roots spectrum, interpreting folk and blues traditions. Taylor’s lyrics take time to unravel, but they often reveal an understanding of the human condition that can connect universally, as demonstrated by a YouTube video of fourth graders from Durham’s Central Park School for Children covering Hallelujah’s gospel-tinged closer, “When the Wall Comes Down.” Its refrain of “Step back, Jack, from the darkness” sounds as triumphant and encouraging as when Taylor sings it. —Spencer Griffith

BY ALEX BOERNER

HISS GOLDEN MESSENGER

DIE WINTERREISE AT UNC’S SWAIN HALL (P. 34), JOE HENRY AT DUKE PERFORMANCES (P. 16), PEREGRINE HONIG AT 21C MUSEUM HOTEL (P. 33), LAKE PLACID AT THE FRUIT (P. 25), PROFESSOR TOON AT MOTORCO (P. 29), THE RED TURTLE AT NCMA (P. 36), SCOTT REINTGEN AT MCINTYRE’S BOOKS (P. 36), THE WEATHER STATION AT CAT’S CRADLE BACK ROOM (P. 18), WIFISFUNERAL AT LOCAL 506 (P. 31) 26 | 11.29.17 | INDYweek.com

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 1

JEFF BELL | BILL BROWN

“Location is everything” has seldom been truer than it will be at Lump on First Friday, which doubles as the closing reception of Jeff Bell’s Night, Day, Night and the opening of Bill Brown’s Analog Playhouse, two exhibits that do piquant things to time and space. Bell has spent the past few weeks taking apart and sculpting with two pianos, one at Lump and the other at Greensboro Project Space, with a live video feed bringing the events at each site to the other. The object he created in Greensboro comes to Raleigh for the closing, with a time-lapse video of the entire process. That element abuts the new exhibit by experimental filmmaker Bill Brown, which, on First Friday, will consist of “Moving Pictures,” which vivisects space with color and form using slide projectors, sensors, and motorized screens. By early December, it will be joined by Brown’s “Aura Retrieval Machines,” which “digest”—that is, destroy, in a sparkling column—16mm film as they project it. In these little apocalypses, Brown is aiming at Walter Benjamin’s sense of filmic aura, “the mark of its singular existence in time and space.” True, these are nothing more than old half-rotted educational films. But it’s sad to do most things for the last time. —Brian Howe

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 30– SUNDAY, DECEMBER 17

PETER PAN & WENDY

J.M. Barrie may have created Peter Pan, but he didn’t invent the puer aeternus—the eternal boy. That enigma has been around since at least the days of Ovid, who praised the minor god Iacchus as the embodiment of auspicious beginnings, mirth, and dance. But, like most archetypes, the ever-child has darker aspects as well, which psychologist Dan Kiley explored in the 1980s—and which Barrie more than alluded to in Peter and Wendy, the 1911 novel based on his original hit play from seven years before. What is an eternal figure devoted to the caprices of childhood capable of? Why does Barrie finally conclude that children are “innocent and heartless?” Guest director Lillian White probes the nuances in this new, devised adaptation from Burning Coal, with Alec Silver and Shawn Morgenlander in the title roles. —Byron Woods BURNING COAL THEATRE COMPANY, RALEIGH 7:30 p.m. Thurs.–Sat./2 p.m. Sun., $5–$25 www.burningcoal.org

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 2

BONUS NACHOS: THE GREG KLAIBER FEST

Greg Klaiber, a University of North Carolina media lab manager, longtime local musician (in progressive power metal band American Empire and others), and proprietor of Caveman Studios, died in September after battling cancer for several years. This memorial concert is a fundraiser for Klaiber’s surviving family, and it features a number of acts from Raleigh and Durham that Klaiber recorded at Caveman: troubadour Charles Latham, singer-songwriter Patrick Turner, cowpunk band Severed Fingers, crusty metallic punk band Squall, and progressive crossover thrashers Edge of Humanity. There’s also the old-school death metal band Gates of Endor, swagger rockers Voidward, blackened doom outfit Bvnnies, thrash band Suppressive Fire, plus Atlanta power thrashers Paladin. The surviving members of American Empire play, too. It’ll be a heavy occasion on multiple fronts, but one that’s celebratory all the same. —Patrick Wall THE PINHOOK, DURHAM 3 p.m., $10, www.thepinhook.com

Murielle Elizéon: Brown PHOTO

BY TIM WALTER

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 30/SUNDAY, DECEMBER 3 & MONDAY, DECEMBER 4

MURIELLE ELIZÉON: BROWN

Rigid dichotomies of race and gender have long fueled the politics of exclusion in the United States. But in France, a different approach, which forbids the collection of information on the ethnic background of its citizens, has rendered people of color uniquely vulnerable as well. “France considers itself post-racial, which is of course not true,” says choreographer-performer Murielle Elizéon, the codirector of Culture Mill in Saxapahaw. “As a brown woman there, people would ask where I was really from. I was at a loss for who I was and where I fit in.” In her new, eveninglength solo, part of the Durham Independent Dance Artists season, Elizéon addresses missing parts of her identity after growing up unexposed to her father’s African culture, the extent to which African French people remain invisible in their own country, and how invisibility and toxic masculinity enable violence against women. Val Hanson, an expert in restorative justice, will facilitate post-show talkbacks. —Byron Woods MONKEY BOTTOM COLLABORATIVE, DURHAM 7 p.m., $10–$15, www.culturemill.org

THE INDY'S GUIDE TO THE TRIANGLE

11.29–12.6

FINDER

LUMP, RALEIGH 6–9 p.m., free, www.lumpprojects.org

on stands

NOW!

INDYweek.com | 11.29.17 | 27

TH 11/30

RECYCLE THIS PAPER

CUT COPY TU 12/5 @CAT’S CRADLE BACK ROOM

@CAROLINA THEATRE DAVID RAMIREZ THE MOUNTAIN GOATS 11/30 CUT

WE 12/6

COPY

W/PALMBOMEN II

12/2 POKEY

LAFARGE

W/ THE EASY LEAVES ($17/$20) 12/9 SOUTHERN

CULTURE ON THE SKIDS W/ IT'S SNAKES!, DEX ROMWEBER ($13/$15)

12/10 KRS-ONE W/ KAZE, REUBEN VINCENT ($26/$30) 12/15 HEARTBROKEN:

A TOM PETTY TRIBUTE TO BENEFIT THE VICTIMS OF THE LAS VEGAS SHOOTING* ($10) 12/17 HORTON’S HOLIDAY HAYRIDE STARRING REVEREND

HORTON HEAT, WITH THE BLASTERS, JUNIOR BROWN, BIG SANDY ($25/ $28)

1/12/18 YONDER

MOUNTAIN STRING BAND

W/ THE SOUTHERN BELLES ($25/ $30) 1/15 THE

SOLD

T! OU TH 11/30 & FR 12/1 @HAW RIVER BALLROOM

HISS GOLDEN MESSENGER

3/28/18 CRANK IT LOUD PRESENTS:

OUR LAST NIGHT

W/ I THE MIGHTY, DON BROCO, JULE VERA 4/2/18 UDO

DIRKSCHNEIDER

4/11 AND 4/12/18

TWO SHOWS!

YO LA TENGO

($22/$24; ON SALE 12/1) 4/27/18 SUPERCHUNK ($16/$18) 5/8/18 BAHAMAS ($16/$18) 5/25/18 PETER HOOK & THE LIGHT ($28/$31)

WOMBATS

W/ BLAENAVON, COURTSHIP ($22/$25)

THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS ($25/$28)

SOUTHERN CULTURE ON THE SKIDS 2/7/18 WILLIE WATSON ($18/$20) 2/13/18 TINY MOVING PARTS W/ MOM JEANS, OSO OSO ($13/$15; ON SALE 12/1) 2/16/18 NORA JANE STRUTHERS ($12/ $14) 2/17/18 HANK, PATTIE AND THE CURRENT ($7/$10) 2/20/18 MAGIC GIANT W/ THE BREVET ($12/ $14) 3/13/18 JESSICA LEA MAYFIELD ($15) 3/20/18 SHAME / SNAIL MAIL ($12)

SAY ANYTHING

4/23/18 DURAND JONES & THE INDICATIONS ($13/$15) CAROLINA THEATRE (DUR)

($22/$27; $40 FOR 2-NIGHT PASS)

12/1 ALLAN RAYMAN($18/$20)

12/6 THE MOUNTAIN GOATS W/ JENNY BESETZT

1/22 AND 1/23/18

IN DEFENSE ANNIVERSARY TOUR 1/26 ENTER

SHIKARI

W/MILK TEETH, SINGLE MOTHERS ($18/$20)

1/27/18 TENNIS W/ OVERCOATS

12/3 CHRISTMAS AT THE CRADLE TABLE BENEFIT FEAT. DELTA SON, LEE ANDERSON (FROM LOOK HOMEWARD), LOVE & VALOR ($10)

1/30/18 DESTROYER W/ MEGA BOG ($20/$23

12/5 DAVID RAMIREZ: WE’RE NOT GOING ANYWHERE W/ MOLLY PARDEN ($15/$17)

2/1/18 TYPHOON ($18/$20)

12/8 THE STARS EXPLODE

3/24/18 LUCIUS ARTSCENTER (CARRBORO) 1/27/18 AN EVENING WITH LLOYD COLE ($20) 3/3/18 AN EVENING WITH

COWBOY JUNKIES

2/10/18 WHY? ($16/$18)

ALBUM RELEASE PARTY

W/LEMON SPARKS, BRETT HARRIS ($10)

3/21/18 NEIL HILBORN ($15/$20 ON SALE 12/1)

2/11/18 NOAH GUNDERSEN ($15/$17)

12/9 COLESLAW W/ RAGWEED BRASS, THE NITROGEN TONE ($7)

4/20/18 GREG BROWN ($28/$30) MOTORCO (DUR)

2/13/18 SONS OF APOLLO ($25/$28, ON SALE 12/1) 2/17/18 THE

BLACK LILLIES

W/ SAM QUINN

2/20/18 PHILLIP PHILLIPS ($27.50/$30) 2/22/18 LIGHTS

W/CHASE ATLANTIC, DCF ($20/$23) 2/24/18 ANDREA

GIBSON

W/CHASTITY BROWN ($18/$21) 3/1/18 QUINN

XCII

W/ CHELSEA CUTLER ($18/$20)

12/14 JUANITA STEIN ($8/$10) 12/15 AND 12/16

TWO SHOWS!

W/ CASEYMAGIC, TODD MAY ($15)

2/17/18 SNARKY PUPPY W/ SIRINTIP

12/26 THE MERCH HOLIDAY

HAW RIVER BALLROOM

1/4/18 MELODIME W/ THE BREVET ($12/$14)

HISS GOLDEN MESSENGER

DANCE PARTY

1/10/18 BEN GERBER (COMEDY) 1/13/18 THE STRAY BIRDS 1/17/18 YUNG GRAVY 1/20/18 CHARLIE MARS

3/6/18 WALLOWS ($15)

1/31/18 THE DANGEROUS SUMMER ($15)

3/13/18 J

BOOG

W/JESSE ROYAL, ETANA ($20)

DIALI CISSOKHO & KAIRA BA ($10/$12)

3/16/18

11/30 THE DISTRICTS W/ SUN SEEKER ($15/$17) THE RITZ (RAL)

LYDIA LOVELESS (SOLO)

3/2/18 JOYWAVE ($15/$17) 3/7/18 LP ($22/$25)

FOOD • NEWS • ARTS • MUSIC

4/6/18 GRIFFIN HOUSE CAT'S CRADLE BACK ROOM 11/30 THE WEATHER STATION W/ JAMES ELKINGTON

TWO SHOWS!

YOUR WEEK. EVERY WEDNESDAY.

3/26/18 S CAREY W/ GORDI

1/18

28 | 11.29.17 | INDYweek.com

SA 12/9

2/2/18 BAT FANGS

RECORD RELEASE PARTY ($10)

11/30 AND 12/1

TWO SHOWS!

12/16 CHATHAM COUNTY LINE ELECTRIC HOLIDAY TOUR 2/1/18 THE DEVIL MAKES

THREE

3/23/18 GODSPEED YOU!

BLACK EMPEROR ($27/$30)

NORTH CHARLESTON PAC (CHARLESTON, SC) 2/25/18 STEVE MARTIN & MARTIN SHORT W/ THE STEEP

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

**Asterisks denote advance tickets @ schoolkids records in raleigh & chapel hill order tix online at ticketfly.com ★ we serve carolina brewery beer on tap! ★ we are a non-smoking club

INDYWEEK.COM

music 11.29– 12.6

FOR OUR COMPLETE COMMUNITY CALENDAR

WWW.INDYWEEK.COM

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

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 2

PROFESSOR TOON, DENIRO FARRAR Go to the biggest music festivals outside of the North Carolina market, such as SXSW and A3C, and you’re likely to see Professor Toon and Deniro Farrar in the lineup. The two N.C. emcees are from opposite sides of the state, and different scenes, but they are brothers of a similar hustle, making well executed and thought-provoking music that reflects their past, present, and future. They can lift you up with songs of hope and perseverance, and fearlessly bring you to the depths of their souls at the same time, executing an unexpected level of vulnerability that connects them to their audiences in ways that party rappers never could, defying the stereotype of black men being violent and emotionless. Deniro Farrar can spit gangster bars more intimidatingly and convincingly than anyone rapping today, but his tone reflects lived experiences rather than braggadocious put-ons. His life has been deeply affected by violence: he has a brother serving a long-term sentence in North Carolina Central Prison for a murder conviction, a topic he raps about frequently and made a cinematic short about last year. Professor Toon, meanwhile, conveys a similar level of emotion when speaking about his experiences of homelessness and domestic violence as a child. The struggle has left a lasting mark on him, as it does with anyone who endures it, and this comes through when he talks and raps about it on stage. The two emcees use their powerful emotions to craft songs with gripping narratives that are even more memorable in a live setting. They perform with everything they have, spilling sorrow, anger, and joy onstage, and they use it to bring the audience together. The two are powerful artists in a time where rappers are rarely trying to connect with their fans this way. —Charles Morse MOTORCO, DURHAM | 8:30 p.m., $12–$!5, www.motorcomusic.com

Professor Toon PHOTO BY ALEX BOERNER

WED, NOV 29 BLUE NOTE GRILL: John Doyle; 7:30 p.m., $15–$20. • THE CAVE: Crowmeat Bob Residency; 9 p.m., $5. • THE PINHOOK: Honey Magpie, Searra Jade, Simone Finally; 8 p.m., $7. • POUR HOUSE: Branan Murphy, Kid Politics; 9 p.m. • RUBY DELUXE: BPM Deluxe: 128; 10 p.m.

THU, NOV 30 Cut Copy One of the most DANCE DANCE reliable rock bands of the last fifteen years, Aussie disco enthusiasts Cut Copy dropped their fifth album, Haiku from Zero, last month. A surprisingly inventive mid-career record, it’s overstuffed with sticky hooks and glistening production. If you haven’t checked in with Cut Copy since 2011’s Zonoscope, this is a good moment to check back in. House maven Palmbomen II opens. —DS [CAT’S CRADLE, $25/9 P.M.]

The Districts At its best, INDIE ROCK Pennsylvania’s Districts’ mid-tempo indie rock has a melodic character that suggests Sticky Fingers as it may have been rendered by Built to Spill. Indeed, fully embracing their inner Black Crowes might be the best possible approach going forward. Sun Seeker opens. —TB [MOTORCO, $15–$18/8:30 P.M.]

Sinai Vessel Emo outfit Sinai FULL FORCE Vessel returns home with a new lineup, adding back a dynamic full-band crunch to Caleb Cordes’s thoughtful musings on relationships. Youth League propels through build-and-release cycles with mathy post-rock that marries challenging instrumental intricacy with alt-rock accessibility. Soccer Tees yelp disheveled punk ditties. —SG [IMURJ, $8–$10/9 P.M.]

Carolina Jams Showcase A club named QUAD ROCK Carolina Jams has taken shape at UNC-Chapel Hill within the past year, aiming to provide a framework for student-musicians of all skill levels to practice, perform, and share music together. This week, Local 506 hosts one of the club’s first off-campus shows. With a lineup of five newly formed, as-yet-unrecorded bands, Carolina Jams’ upcoming musical gala will be heavy on surprises and collegiate spirit. With Broken Chair, State of Uncertainty, Taylor Betts, and Charlie Brown. —NR [LOCAL 506, $6–$8/8:30 P.M.] ALSO ON THURSDAY ARCANA: Andrew Kasab; 8 p.m., free. • BLUE NOTE GRILL: Hill Country Cosmopolitans; 7:30 p.m., free. • CAT’S CRADLE (BACK ROOM): The Weather Station, James Elkington; 8 p.m., $10–$12. See page 18. • THE CAVE: Elvis Jesus, Local Flora; 9 p.m., $5. • DEEP SOUTH: Porch

Light Apothecary, Dead Sea Sparrow, & Delta Son; 8 p.m., $5–$8. • HAW RIVER BALLROOM: Hiss Golden Messenger; 8 p.m., $25. See page 26. • NCSU’S STEWART THEATRE: Jazz/Wind Holiday Concert; 7 p.m. • NEPTUNES PARLOUR: Gilmore, Hall, Toll, Douglas; 8:30 p.m., $10. • THE PINHOOK: Bark, Colin Sneed; 8 p.m., $7. • POUR HOUSE: Local Band Local Beer; 9 p.m. • THE RITZ: Kane Brown; 8 p.m. • RUBY DELUXE: To The Front Music Alliance & Manifest Present: Seize the Stage; 8 p.m. • SLIM’S: I Am Maddox, Five Mile Radius, The Stammerings; 9 p.m., $5. • THE STATION: Surrender Human, Erie Choir; 8:30 p.m., $7.

FRI, DEC 1 Diet Cig FEELINGS With peppy FUN pop-punk songs that feature singer Alex Luciano opening up about loneliness, anxiety, and societal pressures, the infectious and endearing New York duo Diet Cig seems to revel in the communal

experience of sharing such vulnerabilities with fans, bouncing around the stage and throwing high leg kicks with charming sincerity. Sammi Lanzetta and Cosmic Punk open. —SG [KINGS, $13–$15/10 P.M.]

The Gibson Brothers Award-winning BANJO CLAUS IBMA favorites The Gibson Brothers carry on the bluegrass tradition of brother duets, but in their North Country Christmas show, the upstate New York group is in unconventional form, promising a performance full of seasonal tunes with drums and electric guitar backing familial harmonies. Joe Newberry and April Verch open. —SG [THE ARTSCENTER, $37/8 P.M.]

Horseskull DOOMY, Turn on, tune DUDE down, and doom out seems to be the raison

d’etre for Raleigh quartet Horseskull, formed after the dissolution of the venerable doom outfit Soulpreacher. The quartet’s rolling psychedelic doom brings to mind some of the subgenre’s sonic titans like Sleep, Electric Wizard, and Eyehategod. Alien8 and SlowEnd open. —PW [THE MAYWOOD, $8/9 P.M.]

N.C. Symphony: Baroque Masters CHANGE In a break from OF PACE December’s normal wall-to-wall Messiah and Nutcracker performances, the N.C. Symphony and Master Chorale explore some less-often performed Baroque Christmas music. The most interesting may be selections from J.S. Bach’s eleven Christmas cantatas, mostly written in the 1720s in Leipzig, which show off his intricate choral writing. They’ll also perform Vivaldi’s buoyant (and virtuosic) Concerto for Two Horns, Bach’s cheerful INDYweek.com | 11.29.17 | 29

Brandenburg Concerto No. 1, and other choral works by Vivaldi and Buxtehude. —DR [MEYMANDI CONCERT HALL, $18–$73/8 P.M.]

NCCU Holiday Concert Who needs to pay X-MAS SWING the big bucks to see some big-name touring ensemble play swinging holiday tunes when there’s a local group that will do a better job? This group of NCCU faculty (including Ira Wiggins, Al Strong, Robert Trowers, Lenora Helm Hammonds, and Aaron Hill, among others) will cover all your festive musical needs with a mix of tunes from their album Yule Be Swingin’, new arrangements of classics, and a few originals, too. —DR [BEYÙ CAFFÈ, $15/7 & 9 P.M.]

Allan Rayman This gritty-voiced RASP + RHYTHM Toronto singersongwriter has an arresting vocal style that earned him a deal with Communion Records, run by Ben Lovett of

Mumford & Sons. Mixing soul and hip-hop sonics with narrative tales, Rayman blurs the lines of genre in seeking his own singular vision. —DK [CAT’S CRADLE BACK ROOM, $18–$20/8 P.M.]

Yandrew LOOSE & A cello-andLIMBER drums duo is something you don’t hear every day, but Yandrew finds a depth of possibilities in its rare configuration. Andrew Anagnost’s cello can send out thrumming low notes or sound like a plucked upright bass, while Dan Westerlund, who’s loaned his talents to band like Rosebuds and Bowerbirds, brings a wealth of percussion influences to bear. The pair’s 2015 record, Crossing Streams, is exploratory and cerebral, and not meant as background music. With Yan/Casey T/JilC. —DK [THE CAVE, $5/9 P.M.] ALSO ON FRIDAY

CAROLINA THEATRE: The Lynn Grissett Quintet; 8 p.m., $19.• DEEP SOUTH: Arson Daily, Thick Modine, Obsidian Darling; 9 p.m., $5. • DUKE’S BALDWIN AUDITORIUM: Duke Jazz Ensemble with Joey DeFrancesco; 8 p.m., $5–$10. • DUKE CHAPEL: Messiah; 7:30 p.m., $25. • HAW RIVER BALLROOM: Hiss Golden Messenger; 8 p.m., $25. See page 26. • LINCOLN THEATRE: Start Making Sense, SeepeopleS; 9 p.m., $12. • LOCAL 506: Wifisfuneral, Danny Towers, 458Keez, Chris Dinero, DJ Yazmine; 9 p.m., $15–$18. See box, page 31. • NIGHTLIGHT: Workers Union at UNC/YDSA party; 9 p.m. • THE PINHOOK: Dreaming of the 90s Dance Party; 10 p.m., $5. • POUR HOUSE: Big Mean Sound Machine, The Mike Dillon Band; 9 p.m. • THE RITZ: Bad Bunny; 8 p.m. • RUBY DELUXE: DJ DNLTMS; 10 p.m. • SHARP NINE GALLERY: UNC Jazz Faculty with Juan Alamo; 8 p.m., $10–$20. • SLIM’S: Brutal Jr, Command Console; 9 p.m., $5. • THE STATION: M is We, Honey Duchess, Server; 9 p.m., $6.

SAT, DEC 2 David Crosby

ARCANA: Super Secret Dance Party; 10 p.m., free. • BLUE NOTE GRILL: Donna Blue Band; 9 p.m., free. Duke Street Dogs; 6 p.m., free. •

BOOMER David Crosby’s BAIT been impressively

Eric Gales

prolific over the last few years, but even better than that, the albums he’s been cranking out are full of the sophisticated folk-jazz harmonic sensibilities and creamy vocals that have been hallmarks of his gift since day one. His latest outing, Sky Trails, is no exception. Don’t arrive expecting a dutiful run-through of all the old Crosby, Stills & Nash chestnuts, but don’t rule out hearing some vivid renewals of a few gems from the past either. —JA [CAROLINA THEATRE, $47–$235/8 P.M.]

GUITAR Joe Bonamassa HERO called him one of the best guitar players in the world. But Greensboro’s Eric Gales hasn’t let praise go to his head, as he demonstrated on his latest LP, Middle of the Road. “I’m not on the wrong side, on the median, or on gravel, I’m pretty focused on the right place,” he declares on the record. —GB [BLUE NOTE GRILL, $20/8 P.M.]

John Howie Jr. and the Rosewood Bluff HONKY John Howie ought TONK to be in a celebratory mood when he hits the stage for this show with his longtime compatriots the Rosewood Bluff. In the past year he’s emerged triumphant from some health issues and toured as the drummer with the rising Sarah Shook & the Disarmers. On his own, guitar in hand, Howie will show off a burnished croon that conjures the ghosts of Hank Williams and George Jones. Don’t miss JPhono1, with a beguiling

Eva Under Fire This energetic Detroit five-piece plays dynamic, melodic pop, and the band’s uniqueness is almost entirely attributable to the powerhouse vocals of Amanda Lyndberg. She seems to view subtlety as a foreign concept, and has the chops to pull it off. LaureNicole Band opens. —EB [THE MAYWOOD, $10/9 P.M.]

ALT ROCK

blend of psych-blues, and Sneakers Award. —DK [THE STATION, $8–$10/9 P.M.]

Pokey LaFarge ROOTS & On his latest ROCK album, Manic Revelations, Pokey LaFarge serves up an Americana gumbo stylistically similar to his earlier records, with dashes of soul, blues, country, rockabilly, and folk all flavoring his roots rock tunes. But he tends to take a darker, more intense lyrical approach this time around, and the most impressive thing about it is the way he still makes the songs sound peppy and upbeat regardless of the level of lyrical heft. The Easy Leaves open. —JA [CAT’S CRADLE, $17–$20/8 P.M.]

Naked Naps Naked Naps is a EMO DUET two-piece indie rock band in a world of bands with three, four, or twenty (if you’re Arcade Fire) pieces, yet the duo manages to make full-sounding songs with the bare essentials. Vocalist and

TEASERS JOHN DOYLE PRESENTED BY THE ROOSTER’S WIFE TH 11/30 HILL COUNTRY COSMOPOLITANS

WE 11/29

FR 12/1

DUKE STREET DOGS FFAF: DONNA BLUE BAND

7:30PM $15 ADV/ $20 DAY OF 7:30PM 6-8PM 9PM 8PM $20

SA 12/2 ERIC GALES

ROAD TO MEMPHIS/ SU 12/3 TBS 1ST SUNDAY BLUES JAM WITH FAT BASTARD BLUES BAND TU 12/5 TUESDAY BLUES JAM

6-9PM

7:30PM

FR 11/30

SA 11/18

CAROLINA JAMS PRESENTS:

WEB THREATS, BROKEN CHAIR, STATE OF UNCERTAINTY, TAYLOR BETTS AND CHARLIE BROWN THE TWO YOUTHS / LIGHT BEAMS FR 12/1 w/ Manners Manners, Silent Piece

GUITAR LESSONS Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced - all ages

GURU GUITARS 5221 Hillsborough St, Raleigh, NC 27606 (919) 833-6607 www.guruguitarshop.com 30 | 11.29.17 | INDYweek.com

WIFISFUNERAL

THE BOY WHO CRIED WOLF TOUR W/ DANNY TOWERS, 458KEEZ, CHRIS DINERO, DJ YAZMINE SA 12/2

FLOURESCENCE / GABRIEL DAVID w/ Case Sensitive

TH 12/7

CRANK IT LOUD PRESENTS:

’68 w/ Whores, Alistair Hennessey FR 12/8

TOYS

FOR

TOTS BENEFIT SHOW

FEATURING:

SHELLES w/ Ben Davis and the Jetts, Bitter

Resolve, Scriblin’, Secret Hearts, Beau Bennett

SA 12/9

17th Annual Christmas Party Saturday Dec. 9th Join us for special entertainment, door prizes and heavy hors d'oeuvres Members in FREE 7-9

MICHAEL VM ‘THE HAPPIEST MAN ON EARTH’

919-6-TEASER

Reese McHenry & The Fox

for directions and information

Us and Us Only

www.teasersmensclub.com 156 Ramseur St Durham, NC

ALBUM RELEASE SHOW w/ Al Riggs, Belle, Adair, SU 12/10 MO 12/11

RICO NASTY PRAWN w/ Slingshot Dakota, People Like You, www.LOCAL506.com

An Adult Nightclub

Open 7 Days/week • Hours 7pm - 2am

@TeasersDurham TeasersMensClub

guitarist Catie Yerkes sings in a quivering, emotive voice while unleashing elastic guitar riffs as Chris Grubbs accompanies with staggered, pop punk-inspired drumming. With Zephyranthes and Pullover. —NR [KINGS $7/9 P.M.]

The Outboards Pittsboro CLIMB ABOARD treasures The Outboards render their refined, economic jangle rock with the hook-heavy dexterity of forebearers ranging from The Windbreakers to Dwight Twilley to the dB’s. Don’t let the modesty of presentation ward you off some of the very sharpest songwriting in the Triangle and beyond. —TB [THE CAVE, $5/9 P.M.] ALSO ON SATURDAY ARCANA: The Ingredients; 9 p.m., free. • THE ARTSCENTER: Laurel & Hardy: Live Film Re-Scoring by Tim Carless; 8 p.m., $10–$15. • BEYÙ CAFFÈ: Braxton Cook; 7 & 9 p.m., $15. • DEEP SOUTH: Deep Winter 3; 8:30 p.m., Donation. • DUKE’S BALDWIN AUDITORIUM: Joe Henry Residency: Thrum; 8 p.m., $10–$38. See page 16. • DUKE CHAPEL: Messiah; 2 p.m., $25. • KING’S PARK INTERNATIONAL CHURCH: 100 Men in Black; 5 p.m., $15–$20. • LINCOLN THEATRE: Kix, The Fifth, Dirty Remnantz; 8 p.m. • LOCAL 506: Fluorescence, Gabriel David, Case Sensitive; 8:30 p.m., $8–$10. • MEMORIAL AUDITORIUM: Kamasi Washington, Moonchild; 7:30 p.m. $28–$95. • MEYMANDI CONCERT HALL: Baroque Masters; 8 p.m. • MOTORCO: Professor Toon, Deniro Farrar; 8:30 p.m., $12–$15. See box, page 29. • NEPTUNES PARLOUR: Cliff Cash, Drew Harrison, Adam Cohen; 8 p.m., $10. • THE PINHOOK: Bonus Nachos: The Greg Klaiber Fest Pt. 1; 3 p.m., $10. See page 28. • POUR HOUSE: Maldora; 9 p.m. • THE RITZ: Rumours; 8:30 p.m. • RUBY DELUXE: DJ LuxePosh; 10 p.m. • SHARP NINE GALLERY: Sean Mason Trio; 8 p.m., $10–$20. • SLIM’S: Stray Owls, Them Damn Bruners, Acid Cop; 9 p.m., $5.

SUN, DEC 3 The Hot at Nights with Phonte JAZZ EX- Phonte Coleman CHANGE may still be best known as one-third of

legendary local hip-hop crew Little Brother, but the emcee is more likely to dispense smooth R&B vocals these days, particularly as co-leader of The Foreign Exchange. In the next show of The Hot at Nights’ residency at Neptunes, the eclectic, inventive instrumental trio— all of whom have previously worked with The Foreign Exchange at various points— teams up with the charismatic rapper and singer for what promises to be a thrilling collaboration. —SG [NEPTUNES PARLOUR, $10–$12/9 P.M.]

Robert Earl Keen OUTLAW Robert Earl Keen’s HOLIDAY shows are always brimming with masterfully written songs, but his annual holiday show, Merry Christmas from the Fam-OLee, adds something extra to the proceedings. In addition to the yuletide spirit, you can expect a healthy dose of comedic hijinks along with the Keen classics. —JA [CAROLINA THEATRE, $32–$184/8 P.M.]

The Life and Times LOUD & Formerly the LUSH frontman of post-hardcore faves Shiner, Allen Epley now leads the imposing Kansas City trio The Life and Times, which builds atmospheric but forceful rock songs with gauzy melodies that float between towering layers of shoegaze guitars. Greensboro duo The Bronzed Chorus creates complex instrumental euphoria that’s just as enjoyable to watch. New Triangle crew Dove Legs unites Gross Ghost’s Tre Acklen, Fin Fang Foom’s Michael Triplett, Veelee’s Ginger Wagg, and 33.3’s Steven Walls. —SG [THE PINHOOK, $10/8 P.M.]

Mighty Mystic SMOKE Reggae music UP about smoking weed is a bit of a cliché, but when those cliches are coming from Mighty Mystic’s Kevin Mark Holness—whose brother is the prime minister of Jamaica—you have to take a moment to appreciate that level of novelty. Greensboro

collective Africa Unplugged shares the stage. —CM [POUR HOUSE, $8–$10/8 P.M.]

Sunday Gnarly Sunday This second GNAR, DUDE Shadows Life-sponsored hip-hop showcase pulls together a triptych of central North Carolina emcees operating in their own unique enclaves. Brooklyn-born Raleigh rapper Eternal the M.C. is the socially conscious one, peppering his lyrical rhymes with turns of phrase that touch the soul. Greensboro’s Dopey Graham takes Southern trap in clever directions. Raleigh’s FKB$ takes horrorcore into left-field abstraction. —PW [SLIM’S, $5/7 P.M.]

Christmas at the Cradle: TABLE Benefit Proceeds from FOLK 4 FOOD this recurring holiday benefit, organized by Love Chapel Hill, are earmarked for TABLE, which provides hungry Chapel Hill and Carrboro children with both food and educational programs supporting healthy eating habits. Delta Son’s catchy tunes straddle polished pop-country and rowdy roots rock. Look Homeward leader Lee Anderson adds the earnest fare of a modern folk balladeer. With Love & Valor. —SG [CAT’S CRADLE BACK ROOM, $10/6 P.M.]

Cindy Wilson BOMBER Four decades PILOT after the B-52s’ miraculous arrival, it remains deeply inspiring to revisit the band’s inclusive, forwardlooking, genre-and-genderbending work on classic records like Wild Planet and Mesopotamia. In a band whose personalities fit together like The Beatles, Cindy Wilson was something of the George figure, obscured behind the big voice of Kate Pierson and the massive antics of Fred Schneider. With her playing solo, we’ll get a welcome chance to know her better. —EB [MOTORCO, $15–$45/8 P.M.]

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE ARTIST

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 1

WIFISFUNERAL Wifisfuneral is a fast-rising rapper out of South Florida buoyed by his successful independent releases on Soundcloud, some of which have millions of streams. His mixtape When Hell Falls peaked at No. 17 on the iTunes hip-hop chart, and in March he signed a deal with Interscope imprint Alamo Records. Now, along with contemporaries Kodak Black and XXXTentacion, he’s part of a Palm Beach rap scene that’s gaining national attention. It also didn’t hurt when Wifi (real name: Isaiah Rivera) engaged in a high-profile Twitter spat with thirty-seven-year-old New York rapper Joe Budden, who has a penchant for criticizing the skills of younger rappers. Last year, Budden used the social media platform to mock twentyyear-old Wifi for being beaten unconscious while crowdsurfing during an XXXTentacion concert in Houston, prompting Wifi to respond with white-hot vengeance on the diss track “JoeBuddenProbablyThinksICantRap.” The song starts with a detuned warble that sounds like it’s coming out of a gramophone, providing an unsettling backdrop as Wifi mumbles a couple of bars incoherently. Then the kick drum drops and his enunciation becomes razor-sharp, his flow furious, putting to rest any doubts of his technical ability. “Steady relapse into my old ways,” he raps. “In the third grade I got punished for sour play.” As he often does with his music, Wifi references his struggles with childhood depression and becoming dependent on Adderall, Xanax, and cocaine in high school, which led to a series of drug overdoses—the last of which was a suicide attempt. Now sober, the rapper conveys his history of heavy experiences in his songs. Take “DisDaHateSongBby(outro)” off his Boy Who Cried Wolf mixtape, on which he raps: “I hate everything that I’m living/I hate everything that I’m saying/I hate the motherfucking fact I never had patience/I wish I never took these drugs, but it made me.” In the context of hyperactive turn-up tunes, Wifi’s hard-edge lyrics make for a captivating juxtaposition. Not coincidentally, he cites the dirty crunk group Three 6 Mafia as his single greatest influence. Now that he’s caught the attention of the broader hip-hop community—including Earl Sweatshirt, one of his personal heroes—it appears that the sky’s the limit for the quickspitting rapper, if he can keep his demons at arm’s length. Danny Towers, 458Keez, Chris Dinero ,and DJ Yazmine open. —Howard Hardee LOCAL 506, CHAPEL HILL | 9 p.m., $15–$20, www.local506.com INDYweek.com | 11.29.17 | 31

Xscape TH 11/30 FR 12/1

RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE

THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS THIS

PAPER PAPER PAPER PAPER PAPER PAPER PAPER PAPER PAPER PAPER PAPER PAPER PAPER PAPER PAPER PAPER PAPER PAPER PAPER PAPER PAPER PAPER PAPER

SA 12/2 SA 12/2 12/812/10 SA 12/9 WE 12/13 FR 12/15 SA 12/16

SU 12/31

FR 1/12 SA 1/13 SA 1/20

POPUP BROADWAY

(THE WIZARD OF OZ & RENT)

THE GIBSON BROTHERS NORTH COUNTRY CHRISTMAS WITH NEWBERRY & VERCH

11TH ANNUAL ELF MARKET LAUREL & HARDY LIVE FILM RE-SCORING BY TIM CARLESS

DECISION HEIGHT

PRESENTED BY ONE SONG PRODUCTIONS

NO SHAME THEATRE - CARRBORO DAR WILLIAMS TRANSACTORS IMPROV 2ND ANNUAL HOLIDAY CIRCLE SHOW

DIRTY DOZEN BRASS BAND NEW YEAR’S EVE PARTY JASON MARSALIS AND THE 21ST CENTURY TRAD BAND TRANSACTORS IMPROV: FOR FAMILIES! NO SHAME THEATRE - CARRBORO Find out More at

ArtsCenterLive.org

300-G East Main St., Carrboro, NC Find us on Social Media: @ArtsCenterLive

www.capitalcabaret.com

? y d n i e Love th

ort us... p p u s o h w sinesses u b e h t t r Suppo

! l a c o l S hop

32 | 11.29.17 | INDYweek.com

Atlanta soul SOUL + R&B quartet Xscape debuted in the early nineties as a frank and empowered update of The Supremes, with updated love-gone-wrong stories amended to thirdwave feminist stances. Songs like the 1998 radio smash “Little Secret” and the overt “Just Kickin’ It” remain liberation classics, adventurously redrawing the lines and consequences of female infidelity. Before we could count on Beyoncé for catharsis, Xscape had provided the winning attitude. —EB [PNC ARENA, $45–$85/7 P.M.] ALSO ON SUNDAY DEEP SOUTH: Chapel, Summer Wars, Rookie of the Year; 7:30 p.m., $10–$12. • DUKE’S BALDWIN AUDITORIUM: Duke New Music Ensemble; 8 p.m. • DUKE CHAPEL: Messiah; 3 p.m., $25. • POUR HOUSE: School of Rock; 1 p.m., $5.

MON, DEC 4 IMBIBE: Grewen and Griffin; 7 p.m., free. • NEPTUNES PARLOUR: Polyorchard; 9 p.m., $5. • RUBY DELUXE: DJ Lord Redbyrd; 10 p.m.

TUE, DEC 5 Barishi COMPLEX Endearingly RIFFS thrashy metal kids from Vermont, Barishi is the sort of technically and thematically bulletproof death-metal band that, forty years earlier, would have been pouring its perfectly articulated paranoid fantasies into a record like Moving Pictures. Even when the drama gets too much, the chops are sufficient to keep your attention. Lord Almighty and Moynoq open. —TB [SLIM’S, $8/8:30 P.M.]

Lazaris Pit All sweeping-melPSYCH STUFF odies and art rock menace, Raleigh’s Lazaris Pit kicks up a credibly deranged racket on recordings like the six-minute theater piece “Delusions of Grandeur” and its brief two-minute emotional reprise, “Night Light.” We’re not sure what these tricky guys are up to, but

we’re watching with interest. AD.ULT., Dr Fritz Rotwang, and Tide Eyes open. —TB [THE CAVE, $5/8 P.M.] ALSO ON TUESDAY CAT’S CRADLE (BACK ROOM): David Ramirez, Molly Parden; 8 p.m., $15–$17. • DURHAM PERFORMING ARTS CENTER: 98 Degrees; 7:30 p.m., $45+. • POUR HOUSE: Blue Footed Boobies, Sibilant Sounds; 9 p.m., $6–$8.

WED, DEC 6 Bitchin’ Bajas “Circles on DEEP VIBES Circles,” from November’s Baja Fresh, sums up Bitchin Bajas’ mission statement. At their most free-floating and understated, Bitchin Bajas deploy serenity as a waypoint for subtle explorations. The trio’s loping loops are directly descended from the long-form, transcendent, minimalist bliss-outs of Terry Riley’s peak synthesizer phase; the self-contained sonic ecosystems grow naturally but also shift textures and vary moods suddenly, deriving variety from reiteration and finding delightful midpoints between grinding repetition and bracing synth drones. The Nathan Bowles Trio opens. —PW [NIGHTLIGHT, $10/9 P.M.]

DJ Earl Last year’s Open FRESH TEKLIFE Your Eyes, from New York producer DJ Earl, was a particularly inventive release among a recent deluge of likeminded records from the loose “Teklife” scene of footwork producers. Instead of pumping out yet another batch of blazed after-dark serotonin rush footwork tracks, Earl opted to collaborate with weirder producers like Oneohtrix Point Never and space out his palette into elegant IDM and jazz, to great effect. Here, he shares the stage with locals Nick Hook and Blursome. —DS [KINGS, $13–$15/9 P.M.]

The Mountain Goats Not feeling up for HAIL SATAN gleaming, giddy displays of holiday cheer? Consider a visit with the Mountain Goats, whose May

LP, Goths, celebrates all things dark and divine. Hail Satan. With Jenny Besetzt. —AH [CAROLINA THEATRE, $31/8 P.M.]

Nest Egg Residencies often KRAUT ROCK allow artists and acts interested in far-out exploration the wholesale freedom to survey new sonic territory. Asheville’s Nest Egg, which takes over The Cave’s Wednesday-night residency in December, seems as though it would thrive in such unbounded confines. At its best, the quartet’s expansive jams seem to stretch outward into infinite space. The band’s krautrocky psych is warm and resonant, but heavy as hell, too, and tight control of that heavy dynamic is its calling card. —PW [THE CAVE, $5–$10/9 P.M.]

Rapsody Rapsody earned a QUEEN EMCEE Grammy nomination for her LP Laila’s Wisdom earlier this week, so it’s unlikely you’ll get to see her in a local room this small ever again. For a decade, she’s been one of the Triangle’s best rappers, and in more recent years, she’s earned her rightful place in the national spotlight. Her stop at Motorco ought to feel like a victory lap. Don Flamingo, GQ, and Deante Hitchcock open. —AH [MOTORCO, $15–$20/8 P.M.]

Roosevelt Collier With a style that BLUES PRO adroitly combines awe-inspiring technical proficiency with an abiding devotion to blues tradition, Miami’s Roosevelt Collier is a master of slide and steel guitar. He’s also a sought-after sideman for some of the heaviest hitters of the R&B and jam scene, including Elvin Bishop and The Allman Brothers. —TB [POUR HOUSE, $10–$12/9 P.M.] ALSO ON WEDNESDAY DUKE’S BALDWIN AUDITORIUM: Duke Symphony Orchestra with Cicilia Yudha; 8 p.m. • DURHAM PERFORMING ARTS CENTER: Fantasia: Christmas After Midnight; 7:30 p.m., $40+. • THE RITZ: Chevelle; 7:30 p.m.

s all ne. Hail Besetzt. ATRE,

cies often tists and -out esale ew sonic Nest Egg, e Cave’s sidency in though it unboundest, the ams seem to infinite autrocky esonant, o, and tight dynamic

M.]

art

11.29 – 12.6

FOR OUR COMPLETE COMMUNITY CALENDAR WWW.INDYWEEK.COM

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 30

PEREGRINE HONIG The artist Peregrine Honig is not from North Carolina, but she became an honorary Tar Heel in 2016, when she created the “We Don’t Care” bathroom signage that can be seen on gender-neutral restrooms at 21c Museum Hotel and elsewhere in the Triangle in response to HB 2, which forbade transgender people from using the public bathrooms that matched their gender identities and sparked an international outcry. “I was reading trans and nonbinary responses [to the bills] on social media and had the thought that there is something precious and intelligent about not caring,” Honig said. “That eventually we will experience a generation of people who don’t care about where people go to the bathroom. I would like the sign to become standard until we simply remove gender from bathrooms completely. Large changes take small steps.” Honig comes to 21c this week for a lecture about the project and its aftermath. — Brian Howe

y earned a y LP Laila’s week, so et to see this small cade, he ers, and in she’s 21C MUSEUM HOTEL, DURHAM place in Peregrine Honig: “We Don’t Care” 6 p.m., free, www.21cmuseumhotels.com PHOTO COURTESY OF 21C MUSEUM HOTEL ht. Her ght to feel on Deante Modern Art, Durham. www. Museum of Natural Sciences, OPENING AH Raleigh. naturalsciences.org. thecarrack.org. P.M.] SPECIAL (as) Thick As SPECIAL Fine Contemporary SPECIAL things I can’t say out EVENT Thieves: Scanner EVENT Craft Exhibition: EVENT loud: Martha Faith photography by Jeainny Kim. Juried by Roger Manley. Dec Rogers. Nov 30-Dec 12. lier Nov 29-Dec 9. Reception: Wed, 1-Jan 13. Reception: Fri, Dec 1, Reception: Thu, Nov 30, 4:30tyle that Nov 29, 5-8 p.m. Power Plant 6-10 p.m. Artspace, Raleigh. 6:30 p.m. Meredith College: combines Gallery, Durham. www.artspacenc.org. Gaddy-Hamrick Art Center, ical www. powerplantgallery.com. Raleigh. www.meredith.edu. SPECIAL Multiples: Group abiding EVENT SPECIAL Blowout: Group show. Dec 1-31. Trunk Show: Jewelry by Danielle adition, EVENT show. Dec 1-31. Reception: Fri, Dec 1, 6-10 James. Fri, Dec 1, 6-9 p.m. & Sat, Collier is a Reception: Fri, Dec 1, 6-9 p.m. p.m. VAE Raleigh, Raleigh. Dec 2, noon-5 p.m. Gallery C, steel www.vaeraleigh.org. Raleigh. www.galleryc.net. ought-afterImurj, Raleigh. www.imurj.com. f the Boylan Heights Artwalk: Sun, SPECIAL New Works: Kenia ONGOING he R&B EVENT Brea. Dec 1-30. Dec 3, noon-5 p.m. Boylan A Field, A World: Charlotte uding Elvin Heights Neighborhood, Raleigh. Reception: Fri, Dec 1, 6-10 man native John Beerman spent p.m. Artspace, Raleigh. SPECIAL Character Space: three decades living and www.artspacenc.org. EVENT Text-based art by /9 P.M.] painting in the Hudson Valley. SPECIAL Pop Realism: Scott Hazard and Stephanie Six years ago, he returned EVENT Paintings by Robert Strange. Dec 1-Jan 27. DAY to his native North Carolina, Reception: Fri, Dec 1, 6-10 Box. Dec 1-31. Reception: Fri, bringing with him a delicate p.m. Artspace, Raleigh. Dec 1, 6-9 p.m. Gallery C, way of dealing with light. ymphony www.artspacenc.org. Raleigh. www.galleryc.net. Beerman’s paintings, while ha; 8 p.m. SPECIAL Exterminati Sunt SPECIAL Peacemaker: John indebted to the light-obsessed MING EVENT Mechanica: John EVENT Kayrouz. Nov sia: Hudson Valley painters of night; 7:30 Elliott. Dec 1-Jan 28. Reception: 29-Dec 10. Reception: Fri, Dec the nineteenth century, are Z: Chevelle; Sat, Dec 2, 2-4 p.m. N.C. 1, 7-10 p.m. The Carrack less grandiose visions. His

submit! Got something for our calendar? EITHER 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!

eye directs itself toward 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. www.cravenallengallery.com. —Noah Rawlings And Then the Sun Swallowed Me: Black tape and video installation by Heather Gordon. Thru Feb 4. CAM Raleigh, Raleigh. camraleigh.org. Annual Holiday Show: Artwork and jewelry. Thru Dec 29. Gallery C, Raleigh. galleryc.net. Anything Goes 2017: Juried exhibit of forty-four artists. Thu, Nov 30 & Fri, Dec 1. Litmus Gallery, Raleigh. www.litmusgallery.com. The Boomer List: Photography by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders. Thru Dec 31. N.C. Museum of History, Raleigh. www.ncmuseumofhistory.org. LAST Concept to Gallery: CHANCE Six photographers. Thru Nov 30. FRANK Gallery, Chapel Hill. www.frankisart.com. Court and Capital: Art from Asia’s Greatest Cities: Thru Dec 10. Ackland Art Museum, Chapel Hill. www.ackland.org. The Disaster Paintings: Donald Sultan. Thru Dec 31. N.C. Museum of Art, Raleigh. www.ncartmuseum.org. Don’t Quit: The Nello Teer Sr. Story: History of the Teer family in Durham. Thru Dec 15. Durham History Hub. museumofdurhamhistory.org. Drawn Together: Mixed media drawings and ceramics by Kiki Farish, Jean LeCluyse, Aggie Zed. Thru Dec 22. FRANK Gallery, Chapel Hill. www.frankisart.com. LAST Earth, Water, Air, CHANCE Fire, Space:

Photography by Natalie Ammarell. Thru Nov 30. Chatham Hill Winery, Cary. www.chathamhillwine.com. Envision Saint Agnes Hospital: Community and student artists. Thru Jan 5. Miriam Preston Block Gallery, Raleigh. www. raleighnc.gov/arts. LAST The Fence: Durham CHANCE is one of seven cities across the nation—the smallest, compared with the likes of Brooklyn, Boston, and Houston—to host this touring, public photography exhibit, curated from submissions from around the world and based on themes such as “home,” “nature,” and “food.” While Lori Vrba is the only local artist among the fifty included in the touring exhibit, nine area photographers, including Bryce Lankard, Leah Sobsey, and Gesche Würfel are featured in a regional showcase. Thru Nov 30. Chapel Hill Street, Durham. —Brian Howe Flash of Light, Fog of War: Japanese military prints 18941905. Thru Jan 7. Ackland Art Museum, Chapel Hill. www.ackland.org. LAST Footnotes CHANCE (revisions): Mixed media from various artists. Thru Dec 5. UNC Campus: Hanes Art Center, Chapel Hill. art.unc.edu. Frank Gallery Pop-up Show: As many people travel home for the holidays, the member artists of Chapel Hill’s FRANK Gallery are heading the other way. After seven years on Franklin Street, the regional artists’ nonprofit is filling the void for a gallery— after Tyndall Galleries’ departure to cyberspace—in the ever less mall-like University Place (anyone else kind of miss Roses and Kerr Drugs?), where it has a grand reopening on February 9. While FRANK will remain open in its current location until December 22, it also currently has a monthlong preview of its new digs. The move is presided over by new gallery manager Natalie Knox, who, with a minor in art history and “extensive experience in retail management

and merchandizing,” seems well chosen to lead FRANK out of the food court that formerly funky Franklin Street has become and into the lifestyle-commerce arena of Silverspot, Kidzu Children’s Museum, and Planet Fitness. University Place, Chapel Hill. frankisart.com. —Brian Howe Freeze!: Installation by Mary Carter Taub. Thru Jan 5. Miriam Preston Block Gallery, Raleigh. www.raleighnc.gov/arts. Holiday Salon & Craft Exhibition: Pottery, glass, jewelry, photography, painting, fibers, books and printmaking by twenty-five artists. Thru Dec 30. Horse & Buggy Press and Friends, Durham horseandbuggypress.com. Image of Ukraine: Exploring Ukrainian Culture through Embroidery and Painting: Olena Zintchouk. Thru Dec 8. UNC Campus: FedEx Global Education Center, Chapel Hill. www.global.unc.edu. 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 UNCChapel Hill associate art professor Sabine Gruffat, whose interactive threechannel video projection remixes the story of a pagan tribe’s maiden sacrifice with stochastic elements: 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, lamps. Thru Mar 4. N.C. Museum of History, Raleigh. www. ncmuseumofhistory.org. Low Country Life: Paintings by Irene Tison. Thru Jan 4. Mike’s Art Truck, Hillsborough. INDYweek.com | 11.29.17 | 33

LAST Majestic Incognito: CHANCE Paintings by Yuko Nogami Taylor. Thru Nov 30. Pleiades Gallery, Durham. www.PleiadesArtDurham.com. More than One Story | Mas de una historia: Photography. Thru Feb 1. UNC Campus: Davis Library, Chapel Hill. www.lib.unc.edu/davis. SPECIAL Night, Day, Night: EVENT Jeff Bell. Thru Dec 2. Reception: Sat, Dec 2, 6-9 p.m. Lump, Raleigh. www.teamlump.org. See p. 27. LAST Penelope’s Room: CHANCE Fiber art installation. Thru Dec 2. 21c Museum Hotel, Durham. 21cmuseumhotels. com/durham. Raleigh Makers Market: Sat, Dec 2, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Benelux Cafe, Raleigh. www.raleighmakersmarket.com. The Shape of Fashion: Dress trends from the 1800s to the 1900s. Thru May 6. N.C. Museum of History, Raleigh. www.ncmuseumofhistory.org. LAST Shifting Tides: CHANCE Bringing the N.C. Coastal Life to Durham: Tony Alderman. Thru Nov 30. Bull City Art & Frame Co, Durham. bullcityartandframecompany. com. David Shingler & Jimmy Craig Womble: You don’t have to go to the countryside or the museum to look at landscapes—you live in one, even if it doesn’t match the bucolic associations of the term. Oil painters David Shingler and Jimmy Craig Womble remind us that there is more to landscapes than rolling meadows and hazy mountains. On your way to the gallery, you might pass through views presented in Shingler’s energetic impressions of downtown Raleigh, while Womble’s softer, dreamier hues extend the exhibit’s purview to include Outer Banks docks and Blue Ridge waterfalls. Expect the show to color your perspective for the rest of the evening—after seeing art that looks like the city, the city should look more like art. Thru Dec 23. Adam Cave Fine Art, Raleigh. adamcavefineart.com. — Brian Howe Simple Elegance: Paintings by Stephen White. Thru Dec 31. Little Art Gallery & Craft Collection, Raleigh. littleartgalleryandcraft.com. 34 | 11.29.17 | INDYweek.com

Simple/Complex: Weavings by Ann Roth. Thru Dec 10. Meymandi Concert Hall, Raleigh. dukeenergycenterraleigh.com. 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 take thousand-dollar bikes into deceptively wild woods with our smartphones and moisture wicking 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. Triangle Visual Artists Exposition: Paintings, photography, weavings. Thru Dec 15. The Frontier, RTP. Triangle Weavers Art Exhibition: Fiber art. Thru Jan 6. Carrboro Branch Library, Carrboro. www.co.orange.nc.us/ library/carrboro. LAST Under the Same CHANCE Sky: The idea of global communication through art is often a convenient abstraction, but the Mahler Fine Art in Raleigh puts it into concrete practice with its Moroccan/American Artists

Residency Exchange. Next spring, five Triangle-based artists—Thomas Sayre, Pete Sack, Luke Buchanan, Susan Woodson, and Kathleen Rieder—will travel to Morocco to create and live alongside artists there, five of whom will then come to Raleigh and the Mahler in the fall. The program is directed by Moroccan-born painter Ghany Belmaachi, a former Raleigh resident, whose current solo exhibit at the Mahler is called Under the Same Sky. Aptly for someone who is building a bridge from Raleigh to Morocco, Belmaachi’s striking designs capture universalist themes in bright, flat colors, singing a quiet song of oneness in divisive times. Thru Dec 2. The Mahler Fine Art, Raleigh. www.themahlerfineart.com. —Brian Howe LAST Wanderers: CHANCE Paintings by Jeff Joyce. Thru Dec 2. Light Art + Design, Chapel Hill. lightartdesign.com. We are greater than the sum of our parts: Collaboration around the Durham Bull. Thru Dec 23. Pleiades Gallery, Durham. www.PleiadesArtDurham.com. We’ve Met Before: Hand-woven 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 LAST When War Comes to CHANCE a Gallery: Photography by Sarah Dale. Room 100 Gallery. Thru Nov 30. Golden Belt, Durham. www.goldenbeltarts.com. Winter Corridor Artists Exhibition: Dana Ayscue, Cynthia Bickley Green, Stephen Cefalo, Eileen Hendren, Kelly Murray. Thru Jan 27. Artspace, Raleigh. www.artspacenc.org.

stage

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 1

DIE WINTERREISE

Digital art from Die Winterreise by Sabine Gruffat PHOTO COURTESY OF THE ARTIST

The gloom that hangs around Schubert’s song cycle Winterreise isn’t just an evocation of the season it surveys; the composer was depressed and dying of syphilis while working on it. (Merry Christmas!) Die Winterreise: A Digital Reinvention, the latest show in UNC’s Process Series, amplifies the harrowing core of the work and spikes its somber tones with modern technology. UNC professors Sabine Gruffat and Lee Weisert, both of whom are well-versed in the use of technology to generate aleatoric images and sound, respectively, join baritone Marc Callahan to deconstruct the nineteenth-century work with twenty-first-century digital tools, extracting projected images using bio-signal sensors and facial-recognition software. The work in progress will also be accompanied by a display of filmmaker Bill Brown’s “Aura Retrieval Machines,” which, as it happens, you can soon see more of at Lump in Raleigh (see p. 27). —Brian Howe

UNC’S SWAIN HALL, CHAPEL HILL

8 p.m., free, www.processseries.unc.edu

OPENING Bob Saget: Stand-up comedy. Thu, Nov 30, 8 p.m. Meymandi Concert Hall, Raleigh. dukeenergycenterraleigh.com. See story at indyweek.com. Brown: Murielle Elizéon: solo dance. Nov 30 & Dec 2-3. Living Arts Collective, Durham. See p. 27. A Charlie Brown Christmas: Play. Dec 1-10. Theatre In The Park, Raleigh. theatreinthepark.com.

A Christmas Carol: Play. Wed, Dec 6-Sun, Dec 10. Memorial Auditorium, Raleigh. dukeenergycenterraleigh.com. A Christmas Carol, a musical: Carolina Children’s Theatre. $10-$12. Thu, Nov 30-Sat, Dec 2. Holly Springs Cultural Center, Holly Springs. carolinachildrenstheatre.com. Christmas Stories Tour: Jess Ray: Songs and stories. $12-$35. Sun, Dec 3, 6 p.m. Imurj, Raleigh. imurj.com.

A Christmas Story: Cary Players. $17-$20. Dec 1-4. Cary Arts Center, Cary. townofcary.org. Cinderella: Play. $27+. Dec 1-17. Raleigh Little Theatre, Raleigh. www.raleighlittletheatre.org. Dances of the Nutcracker: Infinity Ballet Theatre. $8. Fri, Dec 1-Sun, Dec 3. Halle Cultural Arts Center, Apex. thehalle.org. Disney on Ice: Dare to Dream: Dec 6-10. PNC Arena, Raleigh. www.thepncarena.com.

School of Rock PHOTO COURTESY OF SCHOOL OF ROCK TOUR Drag Christmas Pageant: 10% benefits LGBT outreach. $5-$8. Sat, Dec 2, 10 p.m. Imurj, Raleigh. imurj.com.

Anything Goes Late Show: Sat, Dec 2, 10:30 p.m. Goodnights Comedy Club, Raleigh. www. goodnightscomedy.com.

Durham Nutcracker: Musical. Walltown Children’s Theatre. Fri, Dec 1-Sun, Dec 3. Durham Arts Council. www.durhamarts.org.

½ Dot: Reviewed on p. 25. $10+. Thru Dec 11. PlayMakers Repertory Company, Chapel Hill. www.playmakersrep.org.

Fat Mouth Improv: Back in My Day: Improv comedy. $12. Sat, Dec 2, 8 p.m. The ArtsCenter, Carrboro. artscenterlive.org.

Eyes Up Here Comedy Showcase: Comedy by local women. Wed, Dec 6, 8 p.m.. $5. Neptunes Parlour, Raleigh. www.neptunesparlour.com.

Home for the Holidays: Musical. Prime Time Players. $10. Wed, Nov 29. Jerry M. Passmore Center, Hillsborough. www.orangecountync.gov/ departments/aging. — Thu, Nov 30 & Sat, Dec 2. Seymour Senior Center, Chapel Hill. www.co.orange.nc.us/aging/ SeymourCenter.asp. The Nutcracker: Carolina Ballet. Sat, Dec 2 & Sun, Dec 3. UNC Campus: Memorial Hall, Chapel Hill. PopUp Broadway: Sing Along: $8-$13. Thu, Nov 30, 7 p.m. The ArtsCenter, Carrboro. www.artscenterlive.org. ShakesBeer Round 2: Camille Watson, Laura P. Cormier, George Labusohr, Kirsten Ehlert. Wed, Nov 29, 8 p.m. & Wed, Dec 6, 8 p.m. Imurj, Raleigh. imurj.com. Tom Green: Stand-up comedy. Thu, Nov 30-Sat, Dec 2. Goodnights Comedy Club, Raleigh. goodnightscomedy.com.

ONGOING

7-Stories: Winter is Coming: Storytelling. $5. Fri, Dec 1, 6:308:15 p.m. Kings, Raleigh. www. kingsraleigh.com.

The Harry Show: Ages 18+. Improv host leads potentially risque games with audience participation. $10. Fri, Dec 1 & Sat, Dec 2, 10 p.m. ComedyWorx, Raleigh. comedyworx.com. Horrible People: Storytelling. Wed, Nov 29, 8 p.m. Goodnights Comedy Club, Raleigh. www.goodnightscomedy.com.  Lake Placid: Reviewed on p. 25. $8-$17. Thru Dec 10. Durham Fruit Company, Durham. The Monti Storyslam: Animals: Storytelling. $12. Wed, Nov 29, 7:30 p.m. Motorco Music Hall, Durham. motorcomusic.com. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: The Musical: Broadway Series South. Thru Dec 24. Fletcher Opera Theater, Raleigh. dukeenergycenterraleigh.com. School of Rock: Not everything from Jack Black’s aughties output has aged well: Shallow Hal and Tropic Thunder seem even more problematic now than they did then; Gulliver’s Travels earned him the double whammy of a Razzie nomination for worst actor and

a Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards nomination for favorite male movie star. But 2003’s School of Rock, directed by Richard Linklater, is a Black vehicle that drives as well today as it did when it rolled off the lot—though that’s at least as much because of the adorable, gifted child performers as it is due to the film’s fit with Black’s comfort zone of physical comedy in a musical theater setting. It was such an obvious choice for a musical that it took just two years to happen, with a bunch of new songs by Andrew Lloyd Webber, no less. A failed rock guitarist turned substitute teacher molds his overachieving fourth graders into battle of the bands champs; the actors all play their instruments live. The result is like a talent show where the kids happen to be worldclass ringers, clad in Broadway production values instead of a public school auditorium. $35+. Various times. Durham Performing Arts Center, Durham. dpacnc.com. —Brian Howe

food

Faithful Friends: The Holiday Tea: $16-$32. Thru Jan 7, 2:304:30 p.m. Washington Duke Inn & Golf Club, Durham. www.washingtondukeinn.com. Fall Wine Dinner: Five-course dinner featuring wines from the Pacific Northwest. $75. Thu, Nov 30, 6:30 p.m. Parizade, Durham. parizadedurham.com. Free Wine Tasting: Mon, Dec 4, 5:15-7:15 p.m. Bottle Rev Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill. bottlerev.com.

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 | 11.29.17 | 35

page READINGS & SIGNINGS Carolina Ballet Nutcracker Preview: Ballerina reads The Nutcracker story. Sat, Dec 2, 2 p.m. Quail Ridge Books, Raleigh. www. quailridgebooks.com. Jamie DeMent: The Farmhouse Chef: Recipes and Stories From My Carolina Farm. Thu, Nov 30, 7 p.m. Flyleaf Books, Chapel Hill. www.flyleafbooks.com. Rae Drummond: Pioneer Woman Cooks: Come and Get It. Wed, Nov 29, 5 p.m. Quail Ridge Books, Raleigh. www.quailridgebooks.com. Mark Fallon: Unjustifiable Means: The Inside Story of How the CIA, Pentagon, and US Government Conspired to Torture. Wed, Nov 29, 7 p.m. Regulator Bookshop,

Durham. regulatorbookshop.com. —Fri, Dec 1, 7 p.m. Quail Ridge Books, Raleigh. quailridgebooks.com.

How to win over the sound engineer and other venue staff. Wed, Dec 6, 8 p.m. Deep South the Bar, Raleigh. DeepSouthTheBar.com.

Sundry Poets: Jan Harrington, Priscilla Webster-Williams, Jo Taylor: Sun, Dec 3, 2 p.m. Quail Ridge Books, Raleigh. www.quailridgebooks.com.

Joe Henry Residency: On Influences: Take Me To the River: Thu, Nov 30, 7 p.m. Nasher Museum of Art, Durham. nasher.duke.edu.

Elizabeth Kostova: The Shadow Land. Tue, Dec 5, 7 p.m. Flyleaf Books, Chapel Hill. www.flyleafbooks.com. Larry Todd, Marc Moskovitz: Beethoven’s Cello: Five Revolutionary Sonatas and Their Word. Sun, Dec 3, 3 p.m. Duke Campus: Biddle Music Building, Durham. music.duke.edu.

LECTURES ETC. Angles: A Music Business Panel Discussion Series:

Joe Henry Residency: On Songwriting and Recording: Is It Rolling, Bob?: $10-$35. Fri, Dec 1, 7 p.m. SoundPure, Durham. SoundPure.com. Preventing Alzheimer’s Disease: Dr. Gary Small. Thu, Nov 30, noon-1 p.m. Duke Campus: Trent Semans Center, Durham. Tell About the South: Karida Brown: The Subaltern School. Tue, Dec 5, 12:30-1:30 p.m. Love House and Hutchins Forum, Chapel Hill. www. south.unc.edu.

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 2

SCOTT REINTGEN: NYXIA As a high school English and writing teacher in racially diverse communities, Apex’s Scott Reintgen saw firsthand how not all his students could equally see themselves in YA books. So he set out to write a trilogy with them in mind, beginning with Nyxia, which sparked much buzz in the publishing world and was released by Penguin Random House in September. It’s a depressingly relevant premise: a Hunger Gamesstyle competition for a well-paying job, one that can help the protagonist pay his mother’s medical bills. Imagine if Google were hosting gladiatorial battles for internships—though Nyxia’s competition is a bit more nuanced than that, involving spaceships, a planet called Eden, and the mysterious substance that gives the book its title. As Nyxia gathers acclaim, now’s the time to jump on before it hits the zeitgeist and sparks fierce online debates about who should play the multinational space teens in the inevitable film version. —Zack Smith

MCINTYRE’S BOOKS, PITTSBORO 2 p.m., free, www.fearrington.com

36 | 11.29.17 | INDYweek.com

screen

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 1

THE RED TURTLE Studio Ghibli’s first non-Japanese film, by Dutch writer-director Michael Dudok de Wit, is quiet, mysterious, and breathtaking. The Red Turtle is almost entirely devoid of vocal language, other than the occasional emotive grunt. It complements silence with the audible twisting and turning of the tropics— leaves whistling in the wind, ocean waves washing onto the sand, unseen life bustling and breathing. PHOTO COURTESY OF STUDIO GHIBLI/SONY PICTURES CLASSICS The light bleeding off de Wit’s trademark watercolors render an island as a kind of spiritual being. When a nameless middle-aged man finds himself stranded there after his ship is swallowed by a storm, he does what any marooned human would do: he survives. Stark loneliness births desperate exploration. Exploration breeds discovery and survival tactics. Tactics lead to attempted escape after attempted escape. But something—namely, the mysterious sea creature of the title—is keeping him on the island. Unbeknownst to the man, the creature’s arrival begins a lifespanning journey of love and loss that enraptures the mind and spirit. Truly, no words can do it justice. —Luke Hicks

NORTH CAROLINA MUSEUM OF ART, RALEIGH 8 p.m., $5–$7, www.ncartmuseum.org

SPECIAL SHOWINGS All The Queen’s Horses: Followed by discussion. $10$30. Sat, Dec 2, 6 p.m. NCCU Campus: BN Duke Auditorium, Durham. www.nccu.edu. The Room: $1 off if dressed like Tommy Wiseau or if you bring your own plastic spoons. $5. Thu, Nov 30, 8:30 p.m. Kings, Raleigh. www.kingsraleigh.com. Water Warriors: Thu, Nov 30, 7 p.m. United Church of Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill. www. unitedchurch.org.

N OW P L AY I N G The INDY uses a five-star rating scale. Read reviews of these films at indyweek.com. ½ American Made—It’s Top Gun with Tom Cruise flying for cocaine instead of country—fun enough, but it mostly rides on Cruise’s resilient charm. Rated R.  Blade Runner 2049— This satisfying sequel to Ridley Scott’s seminal sci-fi noir reminds us that it works best to mess with the classics when there’s actually something wrong with them. Rated R.  Coco—This Day of the Dead-themed animated fantasy has one of Pixar’s richest worlds and weakest stories. Rated PG.  The Florida Project— Tangerine creator Sean Baker chases sparks of vitality on

the neglected margins of the Magic Kingdom. Rated R.  Goodbye Christopher Robin—A biopic of Winnie the Pooh creator A. A. Milne should be expected to be sentimental, but this one is just too squishy to bear. Rated PG.  It—Blend vintage Spielberg with Stranger Things and you get this scary, heartfilled new version of Stephen King’s horror classic. Rated R. 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.  The Killing of a Sacred Deer—The latest from The Lobster’s creator is an enigmatic, merciless ethical experiment powered by enthralling performances and pressurized pacing. Rated R.  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.  The LEGO Ninjago Movie—Expect weak puns, weary pop-culture references, and a waning sense of discovery from this Ninjagobranded minor entry in the LEGO franchise. Rated PG. ½ Loving Vincent—The first fully painted animated

film is a sort of prodedural about Vincent van Gogh that is visually stunning but weak on story. Rated PG-13. 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.  Novitiate—Maggie Betts’s quietly stunning historical drama is about a group of nuns trying to keep the faith against an encroaching modern world. Rated R.  The Snowman—Less a whodunit than a “who cares,” this senseless adaptation of one of Norwegian crime author Jo Nesbø’s Harry Hole books is truly abominable. Rated R.  Thor: Ragnarok—A stodgy, self-serious franchise springs to life with demigods delightfully out of their element, as Thor squares off against the Hulk and tries to stop Hela from destroying Asgard. 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.

employment employment

BARTENDERS NEEDED MAKE $20-$35/HOUR Raleigh’s Bartending School 676.0774 www.cocktailmixer. com 1-2wk class

BROWN TRUCKING is looking for COMPANY DRIVERS and OWNER OPERATORS. Brown requires: CDL-A, 2 years of tractor trailer experience OTR or Regional (Multiple states) in the last 3 years, good MVR and PSP. Apply: www.driveforbrown. com. Contact Matt 704-9276440.

HIRE THE BEST! Find the best candidates for your job opening in the INDY! Ads start at 70 cents/ word/week. Call INDY Classifieds:919-286-1972 or email classy@indyweek.com

SECURITY OFFICER WANTED FTCC Fayetteville Technical Community College is now accepting applications for the following positions: Security Officer. For detailed information and to apply, please visit our employment portal at: https://faytechcc.peopleadmin.com/ Human Resources Office Phone: (910) 678-7342 Internet: http://www.faytechcc. edu An Equal Opportunity Employer

body • mind • spirit services

SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING ASSOCIATE North Carolina Public Radio-WUNC, the public radio station licensed to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, is hiring a Social Media Marketing Associate to work with WUNC’s Development Team. The Social Media Marketing Associate will manage and grow the WUNC brand through relevant social channels to target audiences as well as the local communities. This position will strategize with internal stakeholders to engage key target audiences through valuable content. This position will also work on WUNC’s on-line fundraising. This position will serve as one of WUNC’s internal subject matter experts for social media platforms, which include but are not limited to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, and Pinterest. The Social Media Marketing Associate will report to the Development Director. The ideal candidate is a professional who knows and understands public media’s significance in the world of digital platforms, marketing and online fundraising. The individual must have exceptional judgment, grammar, writing skills and discretion in order to carefully make real-time decisions about how best to represent WUNC in online conversations. In addition the successful candidate will have at least 2 years of social media, on-line fundraising and/or public radio experience. Bachelor’s degree required. WUNC is headquartered in the Triangle area (Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill) of North Carolina. It’s often rated among the top areas to live in the country. The ocean and mountains are just a few hours away. North Carolina Public Radio serves more than 400,000 listeners weekly and is consistently ranked as one of the top stations in the Raleigh Metro Market. Salary and benefits are competitive. Interested candidates must apply online at: http://unc. peopleadmin.com/postings/130692. Candidates should be prepared to attach a current CV and cover letter. The deadline to apply is December 7, 2017.

classes & instruction TAI CHI

Traditional art of meditative movement for health, energy, relaxation, self-defense. Classes/workshops throughout the Triangle. Magic Tortoise School - Since 1979. Call Jay or Kathleen, 919-9683936 or www.magictortoise. com

massage MICHAEL A. SAVINO MASSAGE NC LMBT #703. Stressed? Enjoy relaxing bodywork. Voted Best in the Triangle 2017. Fall Special: 1 hour massage $49 plus free hot stones. Call 919-428-3398 to schedule an appointment

MASSAGE BY MARK KINSEY Ten years helping clients feel at home in their bodies. Swedish & deep tissue massage for stress relief. Near Duke. MassageByMarkKinsey. com. NCLMBT#6072. 919619-6373.

products ACORN STAIRLIFTS The AFFORDABLE solution to your stairs! **Limited time -$250 Off Your Stairlift Purchase!** Buy Direct & SAVE. Please call 1-800-291-2712 for FREE DVD and brochure. (NCPA)

GOT KNEE PAIN? BACK PAIN? SHOULDER PAIN? Get a pain-relieving brace at little or NO cost to you. Medicare Patients Call Health Hotline Now! 1- 800-591-5582

misc.

MAKE THE CALL TO START GETTING CLEAN TODAY Free 24/7 Helpline for alcohol & drug addiction treatment. Get help! It is time to take your life back! Call Now: 855732-4139 (AAN CAN)

home improvement

ALL THINGS BASEMENTY! Basement Systems Inc. Call us for all of your basement needs! Waterproofing, Finishing, Structural Repairs, Humidity and Mold Control. FREE ESTIMATES! Call 1-800-6989217(NCPA)

Call us first. Living expenses, housing, medical, and continued support afterwards. Choose adoptive family of your choice

ADOPTION: Loving Successful Professional Energetic Family Hopes to Unconditionally LOVE & Support 1st Baby. Expenses paid. 1-800-775-4013

RECYCLE THIS PAPER

ROOF REPAIR

misc. A PLACE FOR MOM. The nation’s largest senior living referral service. Contact our trusted, local experts today! Our service is FREE/no obligation. CALL 1-800-717-0139

getaways COMING TO ASHEVILLE? Upscale Spa. private outdoor hot tubs, 26 massage therapists, overnight accommodations, sauna and more. Starting at $42. Shojiretreats.com 828-299-0999

tech services DISH NETWORKSATELLITE TELEVISION SERVICES

919-416-0675

entertainment

Book your ad • Email kim: classy@indywEEk.com

100’S OF HOT URBAN SINGLES

are waiting to Chat! Try it FREE! 18+ 919.861.6868, 336.235.2626 www.metrovibechat.com

is sweet and friendly!

For all repairs and upgrades. Your every need is covered: Electrical, Plumbing, Carpentry, Fencing, Additions, Decks and more. New lighting? Cabinets? Sinks? 30+ years experience. Call Greg at 919-791-8471 or email exley556@gmail.com

www.harmonygate.com

Instant live phone connections with local women & men. Try It FREE! 18+ 919.899.6800, 336.235.7777 www.questchat.com

H Waffles

EXLEY HOME IMPROVEMENTS

and gutter cleaning. Over twenty years experience. References available. Call Dan at: 919-395-6882.

KEEP DOGS SHELTERED Coalition to Unchain Dogs seeks plastic or igloo style dog houses for dogs in need, as well as indoor metal crates. To donate, please contact Amanda at director@unchaindogs.net.

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

renovations PREGNANT? CONSIDERING ADOPTION?

Now Over 190 channels for ONLY $49.99/mo! HBO-FREE for one year, FREE Installation, FREE Streaming, FREE HD. Add Internet for $14.95 a month. 1-800-373-6508 (AAN CAN)

#1 CHAT IN RALEIGH

critters