INDY Week 12.19.18

RALEIGH 12|19|18

BORN IN BLOOD

Twice this year, Maya Little has faced charges over her Silent Sam activism.

She’s not done yet.

B Y C O L E V I L L E N A , P. 9

PARK FIGHT, P. 8

LOVING LAGERS, P. 14

BURNING COAL TO NETFLIX, P. 18

2 | 12.19.18 | INDYweek.com

WHAT WE LEARNED THIS WEEK RALEIGH

VOL. 35, NO. 51

6 GoTriangle’s fundraising arm needs to raise $102.5 million for light rail by April 30.

So far, it’s raised $14.5 million..

8 The first thing Greg Ford wants to do with the new Wake County Board of Commissioners is fix a mistake he believes the last board made.

9 “To me, it’s obvious that the only people UNC wants on McCorkle Place are white supremacists and police.”

10 As health and recovery concerns grow in the hospitality industry, mocktails are becoming more than an afterthought.

DEPARTMENTS 6 News 12 Food & Drink 16 Music 18 Arts & Culture 22 What to Do This Week 25 Music Calendar 28 Arts & Culture Calendar

16 Christmas can still be plenty holly-jolly with a secular soundtrack.

18 Before they were cast in The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Lachlan Watson was nurtured at Raleigh Little Theatre and Burning Coal.

20 Christian Bale’s mimicry of Dick Cheney is the best part of the cynical, superficial Vice.

On the cover

Twice this year, Maya Little has faced charges over her Silent Sam activism (p. 9).

PHOTO BY ALEX BOERNER

PHOTO BY ALEX BOERNER

INDYweek.com | 12.19.18 | 3

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backtalk

New Year’s

Vegetarians Are People, Too Last week’s paper featured a story by Katie Jane Fernelius on the Durham Burger Club, a group of women (and only women) who meet monthly to, as the name suggests, eat burgers (and only meat burgers) in a judgment-free zone. While most of the comments were of the “where do I sign up?” variety, there were some who wondered why we were celebrating an organization, informal though it may be, that excluded the non-carnivorous.

“Was the ‘no vegetarian’ part really necessary?” Ellen May asks. “Disappointing to see in a supposedly ‘progressive’ newspaper. Why should we laud this group again? I need lots of vegan food reviews to make up for this travesty. There’s nothing noteworthy about eating basic meat burgers.”

“While we’re focused on not ‘shaming,’” adds Lauren Annelise, a registered dietician, “how about we not demean women for their personal dietary choices (or be shitty toward vegetarians/vegans who would otherwise love the camaraderie)?”

“A bit tone deaf to include ‘no vegetarians’ in the title,” writes Ann. “I expected better, INDY!” On Facebook, Scott Dotson chimed in, “The vegans’ comments are why they don’t invite vegans.”

We’ll leave this here. Last week, Brian Howe reviewed the new film The Favourite, which he gave four stars and called “indigestibly delicious and disgusting.”

Rabbi Jonathan Gerard writes: “The Favourite is a terrific and thought-provoking film, but I can’t decide if it’s an anti-war film or a film showing that ‘war’ is a universal and permanent fact of the human condition. In the background is the war between England and France. Foolish aristocrats send young men to fight for a cause that is never explained and likely has no purpose and finally ends in a peace that seems to result in no benefit for either side. In the meantime, the women left behind at court, represented by Sarah (Rachel Weisz) and Abigail (Emma Stone), engage in an equally formidable battle with each other for power and position. At the expense of human dignity, even the men and women at Queen Anne’s court fight foolishly and comically against each other. Director Yorgos Lanthimos’s film portrays the absurdity of the

“There is no cooperation and no sense of obligation.”

human [compulsion] to go to battle. Even the relationships between the opposite sexes at court are entirely adversarial. No one cooperates with anyone else (a kitchen worker takes pleasure in watching Abigail being brutally whipped, despite not knowing what for). There is no cooperation and no sense of obligation—only the struggle to climb over the person ahead of you. Is our largely selfdefeating competitive drive being framed in this film? Or is it being mocked?”

Two weeks back, we published a lengthy interview with UNC professors Marc Hetherington and Jonathan Weiler, whose new book, Prius or Pickup? How the Answers to Four Simple Questions Explain America’s Great Divide, explores how politics split along the lines of those with “fluid” and “fixed” worldviews—but as they note in the book, and in the interview, their research really only explains how white people vote.

Miriam Broderson sees this as the “epitome of white privilege”: “Halfway through the interview with Weiler and Hetherington, and only after being asked about ‘minorities,’ do they acknowledge that their supposedly universal theory only applies to white people. They give a brief and general statement about why African Americans support Democrats despite their ‘fixed’ worldview (‘that the Republican Party has proven itself so obviously hostile to them over a long period of time that don’t really have a choice’), and then, for the rest of the article, they continue using the fixed and fluid categories to explain ‘Americans’’ political behavior, despite the fact that they don’t apply to one third of the population! This is the epitome of white privilege: create a broad theory that does not apply to people of color, and then continue to act as if you speak for everyone.”

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upfront

See You Next Year

We’re taking a week off. There will be no INDY on December 26.

This is not cause for panic, nor does it portend our demise. Rather, it’s an acquiescense to a simple reality: We’re not going to sell a lot of advertising for an issue that comes out the day after Christmas, so we’ve decided to give our folks some time off instead. On January 2, we’ll be back with our Year in Review issue. Until then, keep checking our website and social media feeds; we’ll be updating regularly.

Before 2018 wraps, I wanted to take a moment to publicly sing my team’s praises, something I don’t do often enough. Myself included, there are eight of us—three are part-time—and a handful of freelancers covering everything from local government to local theater in a geographic swath the size of Delaware. It’s no small undertaking—and along the way, we’ve sent reporters to Honduras and El Salvador to report on immigration issues, investigated sexual abuse at an elite private school, told the story of a man who’s spent forty years behind bars for a rape he probably didn’t commit, and spent months digging into the crisis in Durham’s foster care system. Not a bad year.

We’re not perfect, and we all wish we could do more. But I’m extraordinarily proud of this group and what they’ve accomplished this year, and I’m looking forward to seeing what they do in 2019. We’ll see you then. —Jeffrey C. Billman INDYweek.com | 12.19.18 | 5

indynews

Track Marks

AFTER A ROUGH YEAR FILLED WITH NEAR-DEATH EXPERIENCES, LIGHT RAIL EMERGED (MOSTLY) UNSCATHED

BY SARAH WILLETS

J

ust last week, the future of DurhamOrange Light Rail Transit looked like a nail-biter.

Some powerful downtown stakeholders had turned on the project, worried that GoTriangle’s plans to close Blackwell Street to traffic would cut off the American Tobacco Campus from the rest of downtown. That snag was also holding up needed agreements with Duke University and the rail company Norfolk Southern, both of which have concerns about how light rail would affect their own operations. Given light rail’s tight timetable, any glitch could prove fatal for a project in which the region has already invested more than $100 million. So headed into the New Year, its fate seemed uncertain.

But then, on Friday evening, GoTriangle proposed a solution, a last-minute alternative to closing Blackwell Street: It would dig a tunnel under downtown.

Counties, will become chairman of the key House Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development Appropriations Subcommittee, helping to secure the project’s fortunes at the national level.

Moreover, in November, North Carolina Democrats succeeded in breaking Republican supermajorities in both chambers of the General Assembly, foreclosing the Republicans’ ability to further meddle with a project they clearly despise. Last year, the GOP nearly derailed the entire thing with a provision inserted behind closed doors into the state budget.

Democratic legislators managed to get that language removed, but to do so, they had to agree to new project deadlines that give GoTriangle until only November to secure a federal grant that will cover half of the project’s costs. If GoTriangle fails, the state will pull its share of the funding.

about the rail alignment, departures from GoTransit Partners, and the resignation of a subcontractor who had come under scrutiny after a past felony conviction surfaced—from the news, rather than from GoTriangle.

Durham City Council member DeDreana Freeman also criticized the agency’s communications during a public hearing earlier this month to rezone property for a rail operations and maintenance facility.

Several residents around the site said they had little information about what the facility will mean for their neighborhoods other than a noise study GoTriangle released in October and walked back that night.

Unexpected changes to the project are making it “less and less appealing to the point where people who are proponents of light rail are standing in opposition,” Freeman said then.

budget debacle. “Changes? Absolutely.

Modifications? Yes. Refinements? Yes. Major re-engineering decisions? Not on the timeline we’re on today.”

The idea of closing Blackwell Street to traffic and installing a “signature civic space” came as a surprise even to those close to the project and drew consternation from the likes of American Tobacco, the Durham Bulls, and the Durham Performing Arts Center, as well as Downtown Durham Inc. GoTriangle’s proposal was cited by two people who resigned from the board of GoTransit Partners—Brad Brinegar, chairman of the advertising firm McKinney, which has an office on Blackwell Street, and Michael Goodmon, an executive at Capitol Broadcasting Company, which owns WRAL, the American Tobacco Campus, and the Durham Bulls. (Goodmon declined to be interviewed for this story.)

Details need to be filled in, not least of which is how much such an endeavor will add to light rail’s $2.47 billion price tag.

But if this kink is indeed worked out, then light rail’s prospects are considerably better now than they were at the beginning of 2018, when a leaked memo suggested that the Trump administration wanted to gut funding for these kinds of infrastructure projects.

Instead, however, this year’s federal spending bill actually increased funds for the type of grant GoTriangle is seeking. And in the next Congress, U.S. Representative David Price, a Democrat and light rail proponent who represents Wake and Orange

To get the federal grant in time to meet the state’s deadline, GoTriangle must finish its application by April. The legislature also required the project to secure all of its non-state and non-federal funding by April 30—including its fundraising efforts through the nonprofit GoTransit Partners, which is tasked with raising $102.5 million in land and cash.

With so much happening so close to those deadlines, there’s a sense that major decisions are being made at the last minute.

Orange County Commissioner Renee Price says she’s had to hear about developments—like concerns raised by Duke University president Vincent Price

“In the past, they’ve done a really good job of being active proponents for whatever they were working on, but for the light rail, I don’t know if they just fell asleep,” she told the INDY. “It’s a lot easier when the rules change for people to stay on board if they know who is making the decisions and how.

Right now, it’s all in a vacuum of a lot of conversations no one else will hear.”

This late in the game, however, there’s little time for prolonged public debate. Because of the legislature’s deadline, GoTriangle can’t go back to the drawing board, says state Senator Floyd McKissick, who helped revive the project during last summer’s

While the possibility of bifurcating downtown’s central business district from the American Tobacco area has been raised before, the need to close the Blackwell Street rail crossing wasn’t discovered until about halfway through the design process, says Jeff Mann, GoTriangle’s president and CEO. “Anytime you develop major infrastructure through an urbanized area like downtown Durham, there will be impacts,” says Mann. “We very much would have liked to have known earlier in the process that that would be required.”

“We gathered fifty downtown stakeholders together on Thursday, and there was strong support in the group for the tunnel

6 | 12.19.18 | INDYweek.com

taking the light rail under Blackwell and Mangum Streets,” Durham Mayor Steve Schewel said in a GoTriangle statement on the proposal. “We’ll be incurring significant costs with this solution, but it will allow us to get the light rail built, and that’s crucial for our region over the next 100 years.”

How significant will those costs be? Initial estimates weren’t available by press time, but Wendy Jacobs, chairwoman of the Durham County Board of Commissioners, says the $20 million budgeted for the proposed civic space can go toward the tunnel. That’s probably a drop in the bucket. According to a January article in City Lab, a mile of underground rail in Seattle costs $600 million; in Los Angeles, it’s $900 million.

“It’s easier for people to stay on board if they know who is making the decisions and how.

Right now, it’s all in a vacuum.”

If the tunnel is deemed feasible, it would help GoTriangle finalize agreements with Norfolk Southern and Duke, which was worried about how the project would affect downtown. In another effort to appease Duke, GoTriangle has also agreed to elevate the line along Erwin Road in order to preserve vehicle access and utility service to Duke’s hospital.

But, according to a letter last month from Price, the university isn’t convinced that light rail won’t disrupt its medical facilities.

For example, Duke wants to be sure vibration from construction or the trains won’t interfere with procedures at its eye clinic, though GoTriangle says it has identified no vibration impacts on the line. GoTriangle is seeking a property donation from Duke worth $16.5 million, and Duke has agreed to work with the agency toward finalizing an agreement for the donation by year’s end.

While conversations with Duke have been productive, Mann says, it’s unlikely GoTriangle will get an agreement with Norfolk Southern—which doesn’t want its trains to share crossing-protection systems with light rail at six downtown crossings, including Blackwell—or a lease agreement from the North Carolina Railroad Company, which owns the rail tracks downtown, by the end of the year. The Federal Transit Administration, from which GoTriangle is

seeking the federal grant, wanted GoTriangle secure those agreements before 2019 to stay on track with its grant application.

All of this uncertainty could do more than generate anxiety. It could also have affected how light rail performed on a risk assessment the FTA recently conducted.

The assessment, conducted from November 27–30, included a review of risks the project may face, the likelihood of those risks occurring, and how they would affect the project schedule. The greater the risk, the more the project needs to stash away in contingency funding—perhaps more than the 20 percent built into the current project budget. (The FTA’s assessment had not been completed as of Friday.)

Durham city and county staffers are working with GoTriangle to look for money in case of a shortfall—Orange County commissioners have said they won’t kick in any more funds—like a higher contingency.

There could also be problems on the fundraising side: According to an October 24 project update presented to the GoTriangle Board of Trustees, these unresolved matters have also “slowed” GoTransit Partners’ fundraising—and that was before the high-profile departures from the nonprofit’s board.

Thus far, GoTransit Partners has only raised about $14.5 million, meaning it has another $88 million to go by April 30.

Duke’s donation would more than double what they’ve already taken in. (Donations can also be made in exchange for naming rights to stations and the line itself.)

“With Duke’s support and property commitment, GoTransit Partners remains optimistic about completing their fundraising goal,” says GoTriangle spokesman Mike Charbonneau.

So with 2019 right around the corner, what do light rail’s chances look like?

McKissick says he’s “cautiously optimistic.” David Price says he’s confident federal funding will be there if the DOLRT makes the FTA’s cut, no matter how budget negotiations go over the next few weeks.

Renee Price, the Orange County commissioner, still has concerns about the project’s cost and whether it will serve residents who truly need mass transit. Regardless, though, she believes light rail is coming.

“When you hear that G.K. Butterfield and David Price, both of our congressmen, are behind it,” she says, “and you’ve got the mayors of the two cities behind it as well as the town council, the city council, as well as the commissioners—there is a lot of political will for this to go forward. And when you consider the millions of dollars that are spent every month, personally, I hope they can figure something out.” swillets@indyweek.com

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news

Return to Crooked Creek A WAKE COMMISSIONER WANTS TO REVISIT ONE OF THE YEAR’S MOST CONTENTIOUS VOTES BY LEIGH TAUSS

A

mong the biggest flashpoints of this year’s Wake County elections was the Board of Commissioners’ decision last November to explore acquiring the former Crooked Creek Golf Course in Fuquay-Varina and turning it into a park.

Critics argued that commissioners couldn’t justify spending millions of dollars on the project after they declined to give the school system all of the funding it said it needed. In May, two commissioners—John Burns and Erv Portman—lost their Democratic primaries following races in which the Crooked Creek vote featured heavily.

A month later, the Board of Commissioners voted 4–3 to buy the land for $4 million anyway, with Burns and Portman in favor.

In December, the new board was sworn in. Burns and Portman were gone, replaced

by Susan Evans and Vickie Adamson. And Greg Ford, a former school principal who was among the park’s biggest critics, now thinks he has the votes to correct what he views as the previous board’s mistake.

On January 7, he’ll ask his fellow commissioners to put the Crooked Creek property back up for sale, possibly to the highest bidder—who could be a developer.

In the last week, the residents who lobbied the county to buy Crooked Creek have deluged commissioners’ inboxes with hundreds of emails of support for the park, some slamming Ford’s move as “reprehensible.” To soften the blow, Ford wants the county to prioritize Southeast Wake County Park, a three-hundred-acre project adjacent to Garner and Fuquay-Varina according to an email he sent county manager David Ellis last week.

Commissioner Sig Hutchinson, a Crooked Creek park supporter, says he first learned about Ford’s intentions on Thursday night, when Ford left him a voicemail.

“I’ve met with staff on this,” Ford told him. “Board majority is with this.”

“It’s political payback,” Hutchinson says.

“He lost the votes [in November 2017 and in June], and now he feels he has the votes

“He’s going to turn 140 acres of park into a residential development.” to turn it around, and so he’s going to take this unprecedented move to basically turn one hundred and forty acres of park in the middle of a neighborhood into a residential development.”

The county’s purchasing agreement mandates that the land only be developed for public use. Before that, though, the property was governed by homeowners association covenants that restricted its development to low-density residential housing.

Here’s where things get complicated: County guidelines require Wake to first offer the land to the school system and then assess its feasibility for affordable housing before putting it on the market. If it’s sold on the market, however, it’s possible that the sale would void the county’s agreement and re-establish the HOA’s rules—which, in turn, would ensure a housing development.

(The county attorney handling the matter could not be reached for comment.)

“This is Wake County parkland,” Hutchinson says. “Why in the world would anybody in their right mind sell parkland to build houses?”

Crooked Creek’s neighbors have fought that possibility for years. In 2015, they sued the defunct golf course when its owners tried to build housing on the site. Then they took their case to Wake County, showing up to public hearings in the hundreds to make their case for a park. (They dropped their lawsuit when the county bought the land.)

In their eyes, Ford is acting out of spite— and they’re going to pay the price.

Ford says that’s not the case at all.

“Now that we, as a new board, have all been sworn in, I think the timing is perfect to look at where our priorities are, and that

includes a review of current, existing, and future projects,” he says. “Crooked Creek is one of those. It seemed to be a natural conclusion that the first thing we needed to do as a new board was to have conversations about whether or not this particular project idea was one that we still were behind.”

While Evans and Adamson were the beneficiaries of a well-financed campaign

by Dean Debnam, whose mailer accused Crooked Creek-supporting commissioners Hutchinson, Burns, Portman, and Matt Calabria of wanting to “spend $23 million to bail out a failing golf course,” Adamson says she hasn’t taken a position on the issue.

“I will be looking fully into this matter, and I assure you that I will not be making any uninformed decisions,” she told the INDY in an email.

Evans could not be reached for comment by press time. But she told The News & Observer that she, too, had more research to do. Ford needs one of their votes to sell the property.

Calabria, a chief proponent of the park’s acquisition, argues that Crooked Creek is a “symbolic issue” in the education debate, saying there’s never been a real conflict between preserving open space and the county’s other priorities. He also points out that county voters approved a $120 million bond for parks and greenways in November.

“We shouldn’t be auctioning off one of our greatest amenities,” Calabria says. “Residents across the county have made it clear that we value our parks and greenways, and getting rid of the property is a step backward that would harm southern Wake County and Wake County has a whole.” ltauss@indyweek.com

T

BORN IN BLOOD Twice this year, Maya Little has faced charges over her Silent Sam activism.

She’s not done yet.

BY COLE VILLENA • PHOTOS BY ALEX BOERNER

he August 20 toppling of Silent Sam was a year-defining moment for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Students, faculty, and activists celebrated the fall of a 105-year-old monument to white supremacy, calling it a “shining moment” in UNC’s history.

Their celebrations were short-lived.

Hours after the statue came down, UNC Chancellor Carol Folt condemned the action as “unlawful and dangerous.” NeoConfederate and white supremacist groups descended on UNC’s campus to mourn “our fallen boy soldier,” each time met by far larger crowds of counter-protesters. A series of tense confrontations with police led to the imposition of a November 15 deadline—eventually pushed into December—for Folt and UNC’s Board of Trustees to create a long-term plan for the monument and submit it to the system’s Board of Governors for approval.

On December 3, they released their proposal for a $5.3 million “history and education center” to house Silent Sam on campus. Buried in the plan’s appendices was a call for a $2-million-a-year “mobile force” of system-wide police, apparently to crack down on protests.

Antiracists denounced the proposed building as a thinly veiled shrine to Silent Sam. Hours after the plan’s unveiling, hundreds assembled for a march through Chapel Hill calling for its rejection. The following week saw pledges from students and alumni to withhold donations, a petition from nearly two hundred current and former student-athletes expressing outrage, and a strike that saw thousands of teachers’ assistants promise to withhold grades until the Board of Governors rejected the plan.

On Friday, the BOG did just that—sort of. More precisely, it punted, tasking the Committee on University Governance with developing new recommendations by March 15. If that committee recommends anything other than permanently removing Silent Sam, its report will almost certainly be greeted by a new round of demonstrations—and Maya Little will almost certainly be in the middle of them.

Little was a regular face during the spring semester’s round-the-clock sit-in at the statue’s base. But she first burst into the public consciousness in April, when she covered the statue in a mixture of red paint and her own blood, an act for which law enforcement and UNC officials slapped her with vandalism charges and university Honor Court violations. (In October, the Honor Court found Little guilty on a 3–2 vote and sentenced her to eighteen hours of INDYweek.com | 12.19.18 | 9

community service; she is appealing, in part because one of the guilty votes came from a campus conservative leader who had called anti-Silent Sam protesters “petulant children.”) Earlier this month, after the protests that followed the Board of Trustees’ proposal, she was charged again with inciting a riot and assaulting an officer.

Yet Little remains undaunted, determined to continue fighting against what she views as the university’s tolerance of white supremacy. Last Wednesday—two days before the Board of Governors rejected the Board of Trustees’ proposal—Little spoke with the INDY about what Sam’s toppling means to the UNC community, what made BOT’s plan so dangerous, and why the antiracism movement that’s emerged in the wake of the statue’s fall is here to stay.

INDY: Tell us about April 30, the day you first rose to prominence as an activist.

MAYA LITTLE: I had been involved in protests around Silent Sam since August [2017], when the sit-ins started. What I saw myself doing was something that I was employed by the university to do and given admission as a grad student to do: to provide service to the university through educating and through reviewing and teaching history. All we wanted to do was show that, within this monument’s history and within its current representation, it represents white supremacy, and it has no place on this campus. At every end, we were met with resistance by the administration, whether in petitions and passing out information around the monument or in having signs and banners.

On April 30, I was continuing to do what, again, I was employed to do: to teach. To provide the historical context that this university refuses to do. To have an armed Confederate monument on this campus facing north toward Chapel Hill’s historically black neighborhood without what the Confederacy and white supremacy were covered in and built on—which is black agony and black blood and exploitation—is historically inaccurate.

So you covered the statue with a mixture of red paint and your own blood.

Yes. You called it a “contextualization” of Silent Sam. What's the context you wanted to add?

What we wanted to add—and what we’ve been trying to add, and what students have been trying to add since 1968, since black students have been at UNC—is that Silent Sam is the representation of white supremacy. The cause that the Confederacy advanced, the cause that Silent Sam’s 10 | 12.19.18 | INDYweek.com

builders and dedicators advanced, was white supremacy and the enslavement of black people, and they actually continued the exploitation of black people during Jim Crow and today.

The history of Silent Sam didn’t end in 1865, when many of the young men who served the Confederacy from UNC—who were officers who were, by and large, economically invested in the slave system the Confederacy advanced—came back. It didn’t end in 1895, which in North Carolina could be said to mark the end of Reconstruction. It didn’t end with the murders supported by Julian Carr, one of the dedicators of the statue, of countless black politicians and journalists in Wilmington. And it hasn’t ended today. UNC does everything in its power—spends money, uses its resources, and uses its police—to protect a Confederate monument at the expense of the safety and dignity of its students.

What was the response?

The response from UNC was expected. It takes the university 105 years to do anything about a Confederate monument—and in fact, they didn’t do anything about it; students and community members took upon themselves to remove the monument—but it takes them three minutes to arrest me and have a facilities crew on campus clean up the monument, because God forbid anyone see a Confederate soldier covered in blood.

I was given a criminal charge—vandalism of a public monument—and the university also pursued Honor Court charges against me.

In the terms of the community response, there’s been so much support because there has been so much activism in this area. One thing that the university is trying to do—in trying to keep such a clean, well-kept monument and in silencing dissent—is to negate the fact that there are so many people who don’t want this monument on campus, who are sick of paying their tuition and student fees and taxpayer dollars to this monument, and sick of UNC’s white supremacy.

They’re sick of UNC beating protesters and students and exploiting its workers. A lot of what’s been built up this year—and I would say these past fifty years of black student activism at UNC—is an antiracist community that’s willing to stand up when the university refuses to.

What was your experience on August 20, when Silent Sam came down?

I went to give a speech at the Peace and Justice Plaza right across from Silent Sam. Many other students gave a speech. Many black students and community members and people who have felt not only humiliated but unsafe, because the university wants

Maya Little’s shoes from the day she covered Silent Sam with red paint and blood. to protect a racist statue instead of them, spoke and talked about that pain.

What people saw happen was a community standing up to defend itself and keep white supremacy out of it when the university has done nothing. That day was one of the only days at UNC I’ve ever really felt like I belonged here and that there were people who cared about my safety and who cared about stopping white supremacy at UNC. The people who opposed that were UNC Police, Chapel Hill Police, some local white supremacists, and eventually the university. UNC has condemned people in

its own community—students and faculty and workers and people within Chapel Hill—as outside agitators. That kind of rhetoric is not unfamiliar when it comes to civil disobedience against racism. A lot of times, people who have taken it upon themselves to serve their moral obligation rather than to serve a racist system have been called outside agitators. As someone who studies history, this kind of rhetoric is particularly dangerous. In times of extreme repression toward demonstrators and people who are struggling for their rights to their lives, people in power calling

them outside agitators has given room for people to believe that, if violence is done to these people who are advocating for justice but whom we call outside agitators, that’s OK, because they’re not one of us and they don’t belong.

As university officials have debated what to do with Silent Sam, many people have argued that it poses a safety hazard. Why is that?

The only people who seem to deny that would be the university, and it’s impossible for the university to deny that it’s a safety hazard. It’s a public safety hazard when they have police stationed around the monument and continue to have them stationed around the pedestal 24-7 at all times. In fact, the university since spent $400,000 just last year in security for the monument.

And not only security for the monument but police to violently assault and harass antiracist protesters. And when antiracist activists and students talk about the monument as a public safety hazard, what we’re saying is that these monuments have always been supported by people who support white supremacy, and more so now, they’ve become beacons for white supremacist groups to do violence and harm to communities that these monuments are placed in.

We’ve seen that at UNC. We’ve seen white supremacist groups come to UNC to display hate symbols like the Confederate flag to threaten students, to threaten community members, and to make UNC a visible space of white supremacy. And what we’ve seen also is the police and administration supporting that by not only tacitly giving these people a space to rally for white supremacy but also by beating protesters, pepper-spraying protesters, and silencing all dissent.

How hard has it been to keep these demonstrations going in the face of opposition from administrators and police officers?

They’re trying to make it impossible by using physical violence on us and by making arrests and issuing no-trespass orders. I remember at the August 30 protests, where people were directly pepper sprayed and had nowhere to go. The police had no idea what to do, and the only reason some people who had been directly pepper sprayed were able to see and get out of that space was because of antiracist medics who were in the area and gave people salves to put in their eyes and on their nose and in their faces. Later that night, the police arrested three medics and issued them no-trespass orders for campus.

In the wake of my arrest last Monday, that’s the same thing that happened. First what happens is this physical violence—

me, it’s obvious that the only people UNC wants on McCorkle Place are white supremacists and police, because those are the only people who are given license to physically assault and then ban people from campus.

us—and to make us pay for that, too—but then you have the creation of a police force specifically to squash dissent.

The day after [the proposal] was announced, there was a huge rally at the Peace and Justice Plaza [and] hundreds of protesters were there. I announced during that rally the [teachers’ assistants] faculty strike. What the university has told us throughout this year and is clearly telling us with this proposal is that it doesn’t care about a safe and equal working environment for us. It doesn’t care about our students.

Asking our students to study, to work, to live in this environment in which they are not protected, in which they are not valued, is contrary to our mission as educators, is contrary to what we want to provide students.

We’re not going to perpetuate white supremacy onto our students. We’re not going to perpetuate their exploitation and the university humiliating and disregarding their safety. That is why we’ve committed to striking, to withholding grades, and to not perpetuating the university’s administration.

What has been so strong throughout this year for me has been the support of the community who are tired of having this symbol of white supremacy in their community and on a campus where they visit or work or study. And that’s exactly what we’ve needed.

The only thing that made the university listen, has gotten them to do anything, and has made any change in the landscape of UNC has been direct action, has been refusing to cooperate with the administration. And that’s going to continue until the administration decides to work for its students and its workers and the university and the community around it.

What are your thoughts on the Board of Trustees’ proposal for Silent Sam? What about the community’s response?

This idea of an education center is completely false. It’s a shrine to white supremacy. It is the re-erection—UNC being the only university in 2019 that will erect a Confederate monument and build a shrine around it that is specifically designed so that no one will protest at it. It is not contextualized at all. The only context that will be provided is by the university, which has failed for the last 105 years to do anything. And this will be built in south campus, which is today— because the university is still very segregated in its housing—where the majority of the black students who go to UNC live. It’s also a five-minute walk from a synagogue. The university has decided to build the shrine that these people rally around next to a synagogue, next to black students. Not only that, not only do you have that total indignity to

What do people need to know about this community that’s sprung up?

The people in this community are taking into their own hands what the law and the police and the university have not done for them, and that is protecting each other, making this an equitable and fair community, and making it a place in which people are not abused or afraid because of their race. That’s why it’s going to last, because that has effected real change. The creation of that community has strengthened so many people, and the university has proven itself to not be a part of that community.

And so have the police, and so has the legal system in Orange County. The more people have seen that—the more people have seen the administrators or city officials or police are against them—the more they turn to direct action, to fight for themselves, and to fight for their equality. cvillena@indyweek.com

We’re not going to perpetuate white supremacy onto our students.

We’re not going to perpetuate their exploitation and the university humiliating and disregarding their safety.

the use of pepper spray and of chemical weapons that are not allowed in war, the beating, the punching. And then come the arrests on charges like assaulting an officer or incitement to riot. And I mean, these charges become things that are ridiculous.

It’s like, “You got blood on my uniform. You assaulted me.” Or, for incitement to riot, “When I choked you, that scared people.

So that caused a riot.” These are the kind of charges that we get.

And then what happens after people get those charges and have to fight an expensive legal battle just for being present at a protest against racism is that they’re issued no-trespass orders for campus. In my arrest, the officer, who has alleged that I assaulted him, personally came to Hillsborough during my surrender to deliver a letter of trespass from UNC Police. So as an employee and a student at UNC, I’m not allowed to go in McCorkle Place—where many of the buildings in which I’ve worked in the past are— indefinitely. If my charges are dropped, I’m still not able to go there. It's up to the chief of police to decide. So imagine, that’s happened to almost every single antiracist activist who has been arrested on McCorkle Place. To

INDYweek.com | 12.19.18 | 11

indyfood

Drinking Solution

LOCAL HOSPITALITY PROS SHARE TIPS AND RECIPES FOR A SPIRIT-FREE YET SPIRITED HOLIDAY SEASON

BY MATT LARDIE

‘T

is the season for holiday parties.

With work functions, family gettogethers, and your neighborhood ugly-Christmas-sweater party, it often seems that December is one nonstop rager.

All that holiday cheer is often accompanied by all those holiday drinks—eggnog, punch, cocktails, glass after glass of wine—so it’s little wonder that this month is usually when ‘I’m going to take it easy on the booze’ pledges fall by the wayside.

For those trying to abstain this time of year, or, more important, for those who are in recovery, navigating a season of family obligations and never-ending parties can be particularly tricky. There is often strong social pressure to partake, and in a month that can dredge up a lot of feelings, both good and bad, each successive get-together can quickly turn into a minefield.

According to the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation—a nonprofit dedicated to addiction recovery—holiday customs, childhood memories, and annual gatherings that are closely associated with drug or alcohol use can tug at your emotions and put your recovery at risk. They cite financial stress, overcommitment, and family dynamics as just some of the many obstacles that those seeking to stay sober may face this month. So, we reached out to local food and beverage pros to get their tips on how to best navigate the booze-soaked holiday season.

Scott Crawford, chef-owner of Raleigh’s Crawford and Son, has himself been in recovery for years and is a strong advocate for those in the hospitality industry looking to get sober. In 2017, Crawford founded the Raleigh chapter of Ben’s Friends, a support group that helps hospitality professionals struggling with substance abuse and addiction, and holds meetings at Crawford and Son every Sunday at 11:00 a.m. and Monday at 2:00 p.m.

“For me, the holidays bring a lot of stress and fatigue already,” Crawford says. “The idea of adding a bunch of alcohol to that, like I used to when I drank, is so unattractive to me at this point.”

12 | 12.19.18 | INDYweek.com

Crawford recognizes that holiday parties can be a particularly tricky occasion.

“A host always feels obligated to get a drink into your hand,” he says, “[But] we’re nervous about that awkward moment at whether we take the drink or turn it down.”

Crawford says that at parties, he tries to head off that uncomfortable moment by having a spirit-free drink in hand.

“I still love to go to parties and see people.

I make sure I always have a refreshing beverage, even if that means I bring it. If you like a specific wine, you’d bring that to a party, so why not a specific spirit-free beverage?”

His go-to? Drinking vinegars, also known as shrubs, are sweetened vinegar-based syrups that bartenders rely on to bring concentrated flavor to cocktails and mocktails. Crawford buys vinegars from Lindera Farms and mixes them with club soda and a citrus twist.

Crawford also notes that there has been a rise in the popularity of low-alcohol cocktails and mocktails at bars and restaurants.

At Crawford and Son, there are three spiritfree drinks on the menu, each crafted with the same attention to flavor as the cocktails.

One, the Capital Bounce, is a refreshing rubyhued libation that mingles cherry, hibiscus, cinnamon, and soda water that exudes holiday flair—and as the recipe shows, it’s easy to make in big batches for parties.

Brad Farran, beverage director for the forthcoming Durham Food Hall, has also seen a shift towards alcohol-free drinks.

“As the personal health trend has gained steam over the past few years, there has been a decided rise in interest in nonalcoholic beverages,” he says. “People are still looking for unique flavor experiences, but maybe without all the extra calories and the headache in the morning.”

Farran likes to lean on fresh lemonade with seltzer instead of still water for a quick, refreshing mocktail. “You can make it jazzier by substituting tonic syrup or grenadine for sugar or simple syrup,” he adds. “You can even take it a step further and muddle some mint or fresh berries in.”

Capital Bounce at Crawford and Son

PHOTO BY JESSICA CRAWFORD

At Durham’s Alley Twenty Six, owner Shannon Healy always ensures he has an alcohol-free cocktail on the menu.

“When we are talking about drinks, many of the flavors come to us through sweet products. We balance sweet against bitter, sour, spicy, and boozy,” he explains. “With nonalcoholic [drinks], we don’t have the boozy, but making anything delicious means paying attention to balance.”

This season at Alley Twenty Six, Healy is offering a Frozen Almond Horchata, a boozeless one-up on your typical ‘nog. Crafted with almond milk, rice milk, cinnamon, rice, and sugar, it’s so tasty you don’t even miss the liquor. He also shares a recipe for a festive spirit-free cranberry-rosemary punch that’s easy to make and serves a crowd.

For those of us who do drink alcohol but are looking to offer support to friends and

family who might not want to partake, Crawford offers a few final bits of advice.

“Do a little research on interesting and exciting spirit-free cocktails. For instance, hibiscus is a great ingredient for [a spirit-free cocktail],” Crawford says. “Instead of asking people if they drink or don’t drink, offer up a spirit-free drink alongside a cocktail.

If the option for a booze-less drink is already on the table, you’ve eliminated any awkward moments.”

So, raise a mocktail to the holidays and know that, yes, it is possible to have a spirited (and delicious) spirit-free December and start to the new year. food@indyweek.com

CAPITAL BOUNCE RECIPE BY ZACK THOMAS, HEAD BARTENDER AT CRAWFORD AND SON Makes 12 servings 2 cups water 1 cup dark pitted cherries ½ cup dried hibiscus flowers (look for them at Hispanic and Asian markets) ½ cup sugar 3 cinnamon sticks ½ cup charred oak chips (purchase online or at a brew supply store such as Atlantic Brew Supply in Raleigh) Soda water Heat water until boiling, then add the cherries, hibiscus, and sugar.

Reduce heat to a simmer for 30 minutes.

Strain the liquid and let cool to room temperature.

Add 2 cinnamon sticks and ½ cup of charred oak chips.

Let the mixture sit overnight.

Strain out solids and serve the mixture over ice with equal parts soda water.

Garnish with freshly grated cinnamon (using the last cinnamon stick).

CRANBERRY-ROSEMARY PUNCH

COMING JANUARY 23RD!

RECIPE BY SHANNON HEALY, OWNER OF ALLEY TWENTY SIX Makes 10-15, 5-oz servings (depending on how much soda water you use) For the cranberry-rosemary syrup: 1 quart water 2 16-oz bags of cranberries 2 10-inch sprigs of fresh rosemary 3 pieces of star anise 3 green tea teabags 1 cup sugar 1 pinch kosher salt For serving: 1 large punch bowl, chilled Very cold ice (a large ice block or fancy ice mold for bowl, and a couple large cubes for the punch cups) 2-3 2-liter bottles of soda water, chilled In a medium pot, boil water with 1 bag of cranberries and both rosemary sprigs, submerged, and star anise for 5 minutes. Reduce heat to low, add tea bags, and steep for 5 minutes.

Turn off heat and strain out solids. Return liquid to the pot and put back on stove. Return to a boil, then stir in sugar and salt.

Turn off heat and let syrup cool to room temperature, then place in refrigerator until cold.

To serve, fill chilled punch bowl with ice block. Add the cranberry-rosemary syrup and soda water to taste. Garnish with the other bag of cranberries.

Ladle individual servings into punch cups.

SUMMER CAMP GUIDE Helping our readers plan their summer activities!

Contact your Marketing Executive or advertising@indyweek.com INDYweek.com | 12.19.18 | 13

food Lager Heads

Saphir h hops for a ing’s Mor which sti allowing shell Be whose qu profile m those use But lag Although most com process, then allowed to fully settle duringa vibrant the cool storage period. All in all, a lagerstyles wi takes twice as long to produce than an ale. on who y During the brewing process, tempera-styles in ture and time are the two key factors thatlight pale make the process so challenging. Sincezbier, the lager yeasts prefer cold temperatures withCompany little wiggle room for variations, and the Mason lagering temperature and duration needsFuquay-V to be spot on, brewers need to approachlagers—th ferent lag the process with technical precision.

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Excellent lagers from top-notch localcionados breweries—who predominantly brewand get t ales—include Fullsteam Brewery’s Pay-lagers—it check Pilsner, which uses the Motueka and

EVERYONE’S ALL IPA THIS, IPA THAT. BUT LAGERS ARE THE NEW FRONTIER FOR TRIANGLE CRAFT BREWERS.

BY BRIAN TURK

O

ver the last few years, aromatic and hop-forward India Pale Ales, or IPAs, have dominated the craft beer market. For many beer drinkers, the hoppier, juicier, and hazier the IPA, the better. By contrast, lagers are light and refreshing, more “beer flavored beer.”

Lagers please through purity instead of power. Think of it like Waffle House’s scattered, smothered, and covered hash browns with hot sauce versus a naked poached egg at Poole’s Diner.

Unfortunately, mass-produced lagers like Budweiser, Pabst Blue Ribbon, and Miller have misled people to believe that lagers are bland and tasteless. But with a return to quality ingredients and dedication to craft, breweries across the Triangle are proving that lagers are the next frontier in craft beer.

“Not only are there a lot of IPA drinkers wanting to take a break from drinking IPAs and turning to lagers, brewers want to take a break from brewing IPAs,” says Chais McCurry, head brewer of Durham’s Fullsteam Brewery. “For brewers [who] have been used to brewing IPAs over the past few years, getting into the lager game means you are trying to [hone] your craft a lot more.”

So, what’s taken so long? Well, ask any craft brewer which beer is the hardest to brew, chances are the answer will be “lagers.”

Two defining characteristics of a finished lager is that it is fermented cold and then stored for a prolonged period in a cool environment. The word lager comes from the German lagern, which means “to store”—and early Bavarian brewers stored their lagers in cold caves. Lagers also use a bottom fermenting yeast, as opposed to top fermenting yeasts used in making ales.

This is why lagers are known for their clarity, since the yeast is working near the bottom during the cold fermenting 14 | 12.19.18 | INDYweek.com

Bombshell’s H-Town Lager COURTESY OF BOMBSHELL BEER COMPANY

Y S S O GL S N O I T A C I L B PU

day drinker Saphir hops in place of traditional Saaz hops for a more citrusy kick; Raleigh Brewing’s Moravian Rhapsody Czech Pilsener, which sticks to the traditional ingredients, allowing the process to shine; and Bombshell Beer Company’s H-Town Lager, whose quality ingredients and crisp, light profile makes it a gateway craft lager for those used to the mass-produced variety.

But lagers aren’t just a one-trick pony.

Although light lagers and pilsners are the most common styles of lagers, there is a vibrant range of aromas, flavors, and styles within the lager family. Depending on who you ask, there are ten major beer styles in the lager family, ranging from light pale lagers to a nearly black Schwarzbier, the latter of which Mason Jar Lager Company brews.

Mason Jar Lager Company, located in Fuquay-Varina, focuses exclusively on lagers—there are currently fourteen different lagers on tap in its taproom.

When brewer Dave Haydysch was approached by Mason Jar Tavern to help start Mason Jar Lager Company, he found the idea both intriguing and intimidating, owing to the exacting nature of the brewing and lagering process.

But Mason Jar Lager Company’s dedication to lager has paid off. Their Pull Tab Pilsner and Happy Place Golden Lager are two shining examples of what a well-crafted lager should taste like. Both beers took home medals at this year’s N.C. Brewers Cup, a gold in the “Pale Bitter European Beer” category for Pull Tab and a silver in the “Pale Malty European Lager” category for Happy Place.

Pull Tab Pilsner strays from tradition by replacing the Saaz hop most commonly used in pilsners, with the Simcoe hop, which is wildly popular in the IPA world.

Pull Tab is light and refreshing, and the Simcoe characteristics are citrusy and subtle, finding their place in perfect harmony with the malt. Happy Place Golden Lager is a Munich Helles style, named for the German word helles which means “light,” “bright,” or “blonde.”

Not only are lagers the next frontier for Triangle brewers, it’s the next phase of exploration for beer drinkers, craft aficionados, and novices alike. Lighten up and get to know the not-so-wild world of lagers—it’s a refreshing change of pace. food@indyweek.com

Day Drinker is a recurring feature in which INDY staffers graciously accept samples of new and seasonal offerings from local breweries and tell you what we think of them. If you’d like your beer or cider to be considered, email food editor Layla KhouryHanold at laylakh@indyweek.com.

FUNGUYS BREWING PAULA STREET “Wait, why does this look like orange juice?” one of our staffers remarked as it poured from the can. The flagship pale ale of Raleigh’s Funguys Brewing is named for the brewery’s street address, and it’s anything but pale. It has an unfiltered, cloudy orange hue suggestive of mulled cider. It tastes kind of like orange juice, too, but more nuanced—and, of course, more hoppy, with a bitter yet fresh taste, a creamy mouthfeel, and a pithy citrus-peel finish.

Our resident font snob wasn’t a fan of the Comic Sans–like type, but everyone agreed it was a pleasant, interesting sip— our favorite of the bunch.

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SANDBOX KID This New England-style IPA has the requisite hazy appearance, but it wasn’t bursting with as much tropical freshness as we’d like right off the bat. It’s more malty to start, then finishes fruity, but there’s not a lot happening in between.

You know that Robert Musil book The Man Without Qualities Qualities? This might be The Beer Without Qualities. Still, it’s a solid, highly drinkable IPA that’s tasty and simple enough to drink all night without getting overwhelmed by exotic flavors.

BEARD SCRATCHER This seasonal imperial stout is brewed with chocolate (and peanut butter), which explains why it tastes like a boozy chocolate truffle, perhaps one that’s a little fruity. It’s also brewed with roasted and caramel malts, giving the brew a bitter amaro-like finish that’s nicely balanced by sweetness from lactose.

Over several sips, it tends to drink a bit syrupy—an impression strengthened by it’s motor-oil appearance—so save this personality-forward beer for dessert or the end of a tasting flight.

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indymusic

Holidays for Heathens

HAVE A HOLLY JOLLY CHRISTMAS WITH A MORE SECULAR SOUNDTRACK

BY CORBIE HILL

M

Your Week.

Every Wednesday. indyweek.com 16 | 12.19.18 | INDYweek.com

y kids keep asking for an Elf on the Shelf, and I keep saying no.

If you’re not familiar, it’s a fairly recent Christmas gimmick. The idea is this: The elf, which looks vaguely like a character from 1964’s stop-motion campfest Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, is supposed to sit, untouched, on some surface in the house, watching and reporting to Santa.

I’m not the first to say this, of course, but the Elf on the Shelf phenomenon just plain normalizes surveillance—celebrates it, even.

When I say no, it’s not just a monosyllabic denial; I say why. I don’t believe they should behave ethically because someone’s watching, but because it’s the right thing to do. I believe every person can be their own highest moral authority.

Yet the concept of good behavior leading to material reward threads through the Christmas paradigm like the garish patterns on an ugly sweater. And with this secularized Christian holiday looming large and overshadowing its winter holiday neighbors, the concept pervades our culture. But Christmas is so shiny and so fun, and the Santa Claus myth promises magic and mystery that my poor heathen children simply encounter so little of. I’m a progressive parent seeking a middle ground, which would allow my girls to get into the spirit of this holiday without them internalizing the passively Christian concept of an external moral authority.

Central to that mission is a good seasonal soundtrack, one that philosophically—and melodically —appeals to progressive parents with an ear for good music. It exists, y’all.

Look first to The Mavericks, the longstanding quirky country-tropical-rockabillyswing-doo-wop hybrid led by crooner Raul Malo. The band’s new Hey! Merry Christmas! opens with bold boogie-woogie piano and exuberant beach music harmonies. The spirit is one of harmless fun. Santa comes up often enough, but he’s mostly portrayed as a fellow reveler. And while it closes on a chestnut, Hey! Merry Christmas! is mostly comprised of Mavericks’ originals.

ILLUSTRATION BY CHRISTOPHER WILLIAMS

“Santa Wants to Take You for a Ride” rides a sick, languorous groove and is punctuated by rude, raunchy horns, while “I Have Wanted you (for Christmas)” is classic Mavericks romantic weirdness. “I have wanted you for Christmas / ever since the world began / before there even was a Santa / and back before the dawn of man,” Malo sings over a yuletide-ized Tex-Mex amble.

It’s a solid record that just happens to be holiday-themed, as is Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings’ It’s a Holiday Soul Party. This 2015 album was one of Jones’s final releases, and it’s as much a testament to her powerful

spirit, undeniable voice, and firecracker backing band as non-holiday records like I Learned the Hard Way. Beyond its insistent Motown revival grooves, however, is a legit holiday record, not a Christmas record. It opens on “Eight Days of Hanukkah,” for instance, and the record’s back cover casts Jones and the members of The Dap-Kings as the candles in a menorah. Closing medley “God Rest Ye Merry Gents” showcases the Dap-Kings’ instrumental prowess. I keep telling my kids that the innuendo-heavy “Big Bulbs” is about ornaments (they’ll figure it out when they’re older).

A major standout on an already magnificent album is the incisive “Ain’t No Chimneys in the Projects.” “When I was a child I used to wonder/how Santa put my toys under the tree/I said ‘Mama, can you tell me how this can be?/when there ain’t no chimneys in the projects?’” Jones sings, setting up a true story of parents instilling hope and wonder in their children despite de facto segregation and systemic inequality.

Finally, Caspar Babypants’s Winter Party! is a children’s holiday record with substance—and a decided absence of consumerist language. Caspar Babypants is the stage and recording name of Chris Ballew, who rose to Top 40 prominence in the nineties as the vocalist of The Presidents of the United States of America. Unsatisfied with touring and other elements of being in a grown-up band, Ballew pivoted to kids’ music in the aughts and has released quality albums at a prodigious pace.

In conversation, Ballew exudes gentle, patient energy and regularly extols the

music

virtues of meditation and ego management. He speaks directly to children, not at them, and is an undisputed master of both the pop hook and the absurd concept. “Pumpkin in the Pines,” for example, is about a spectral Halloween pumpkin that accidentally stuck around until the winter holiday season. One of the most notable elements of Winter Party! is that Ballew rewrote a number of Christmas songs, removing Christian references and rendering them fully secular. His “Silent Night” is a gorgeous and simple cowboy lullaby, in which he sings “Rest your head now, sweet little child/tiny infant so tender and mild.”

So does this resolve the philosophical discord between Christmas’s dicier elements and my own worldview? No, not by half—but at least it ensures my family will have an excellent soundtrack while we build our own version of the winter holiday. music@indyweek.com

REVIEW

VARIOUS ARTISTS JAMLA IS THE SQUAD II JAMLA RECORDS 

The visionary behind Jamla Records, super producer 9th Wonder, has curated a compilation album that features some of hip-hop’s greatest MC’s and a handful of rap rookies. The sequel to the 2014 compilation Jamla Is the Squad, Jamla Is the Squad II is a hip-hop album for purists, with a sprinkle of R&B and neo-soul.

9th Wonder’s production with the Soul Council, Jamla’s collective of in-house producers, is impeccable—most of the tracks offer a soulful nostalgic vibe. The veteran rappers on Jamla is the Squad II make an impressive showing, while some newcomers, like King Draft and Don Flamingo, are easily overlooked. The exceptions lie with seventeen-year-old Reuben Vincent and twenty-one-year-old Niko Brim, who both bring a familiar but fresh approach to hip-hop that's heavily influenced by the genre's golden boom-bap era. The compilation’s R&B cuts, however, are mediocre at best, save for the work of T.D.E. signee Sir. And compared to contemporaries like SZA, Ari Lennox, and H.E.R., Heather Victoria and Amber Navran sound merely ordinary.

The standout tracks are from everyone’s favorite emcees: Black Thought, Busta Rhymes, J Cole, Big Krit, Rapsody and Dreamville’s newest lyricist, J.I.D. Remaining loyal to the sensibilities of hip-hop in its prime, on “Jumpin’” and “Cojiba,” Busta Rhymes and Black Thought rely on storytelling rap to document their experiences with women. Rapsody, Jamla’s leading lady, shines throughout the project, continuing to prove her strength as a lyricist as she acknowledges the braggadocious behaviors and capitalist attitudes embedded in both hip-hop and black culture.

Jamla Is the Squad II leaves behind a question: Where does a compilation for deep hip-hop heads fit in a world dominated by flash-in-the-pan Soundcloud rappers? Rapsody offers one perspective on "Sojourner”: “If you don't teach the ones that's comin' up to multiply their cash/Think for themselves, think beyond sales/Everything with worth don't come with some whistles and some bells.” It is disheartening that many of the compilation’s tracks (and possibly the album as a whole) may be overlooked because of the hip-hop industry’s current short attention span. But as the heavy-hitters prove on Jamla Is the Squad II, there’s no flashy substitute for commitment to the craft. —Kyesha Jennings

music

Get on the Good Foot HERE’S WHERE TO DANCE, SING, SKRONK, SWAY, AND SHUFFLE YOUR WAY INTO 2019

BY JOSEPHINE MCROBBIE

Y

ou might not be ready to set a New Year’s Resolution, and even less ready to actually follow through with it, but it’s easy to set the tone for the year based on your choice of NYE entertainment. Pick your path to 2019 below with everything from garage rock to dance parties to live jazz.

If you’re not quite ready to let go of the past, ring in the year with a heavy dose of nostalgia at The ArtsCenter with the highenergy string band Ellis Dyson and the Shambles, featuring an appearance by Katharine Whalen and a set of Squirrel Nut Zippers songs. However, if you’re ready to have a moody funeral for the mess that was 2018, perhaps you can do a double-header by checking out the plaintalking blues rock and piano-accented dirges of Mark Holland and Dexter Romweber at The Cave. Over at Cat’s Cradle, revelers can tap into our hallowed Triangle indie rock heritage at a concert with Chapel Hill classics Dillon Fence with opening act Hammer No More The Fingers.

In Raleigh, Ruby Deluxe will provide some enviable femme-spiration for those who have hopes of a 2019 glow up with a drag show, as well as a dance soundtrack masterminded by DJs Luxe Posh and DNLTMS at ViZ Queer Dance Party. Those with dreams of a scuzzy punky future can join Pie Face Girls, Drag Sounds, and Vacant Company for a beerspilling good time at The Pour House. And across town, The Maywood hosts a Heavy New Year’s Eve Party with metalheads Lexx Luthor and Dirty Remnantz.

In November, owner Dave Rose shared that Deep South The Bar would be closing at the end of the year. A final hurrah on their last night of December 31st will include nineties and aughties covers by Undercover and solo artist LaureNicole. You can get more of your cover band fix at the Ritz with performances by AC/DC and Ramones tributes Shoot To Thrill and The Ramonas, and at Circa 1888, where Hank Sinatra pays tributes to everything from honkytonk country to seventies fluff and hardcore.

Durhamites and Chapel Hillians can shake off the stagnancy of winter and ensure a limber New Year’s Day with the time-honored Disco Sweat XL dance party hosted by Nightlight.

Tre King Band and their blend of funk, soul, jazz, and R&B come to Beyù Caffè for the 2nd Annual What The Funk NYE Party (which also marks the end of live music at Beyù). And the enigmatic band Rose Kennedy will perform “the hit songs you had on your Zune” at Motorco.

If you want to take it one step further and experiment with a new persona for the new year, check out The Fruit’s Masquerade Ball, where you can get down in masked form with the help of dusk-to-dawn techno sets from folks such as Micke, Nat Black, Jenna Gilmore, Daniels Jack, and djseanEboy. Those who are more into ballooning than they are bass drop can also don a costume for the Steampunk Masquerade Ball at The Haw River Ballroom, featuring That Darling DJ Duo Emmett Davenport & Lady Nikolai Attercop, Onyx Club Boys, and Jil Christensen. music@indyweek.com INDYweek.com | 12.19.18 | 17

indyscreen

This Magic Moment

HOW THE RALEIGH THEATER COMMUNITY NURTURED THE CHILLING ADVENTURES OF SABRINA ACTOR LACHLAN WATSON

BY JAMES MICHAEL NICHOLS

T

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

18 | 12.19.18 | INDYweek.com

he Chilling Adventures of Sabrina resists easy categorization. An instant hit for Netflix, it has little to do with Sabrina the Teenage Witch—a show many millennials nostalgically remember from their childhoods—let alone the original Archie comics their parents and grandparents remember. Instead, it’s a sister show for The CW’s Riverdale, but with much more gore and explicit creepiness.

One breakout star from the series is Lachlan Watson, a seventeen-year-old Raleigh native who grew up in the Triangle’s theater community. Watson identifies as nonbinary, making them one of the youngest openly nonbinary actors in a new wave of queer representation in the entertainment industry. Now with a massive spotlight, Watson must navigate between being a possibility model for young LGBTQ people and avoiding tokenization in the film industry.

In our interview, Watson reflects on their Triangle roots and the success of The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, which just dropped a new winter special on Netflix.

INDY: What was your acting career like before Sabrina?

LACHLAN WATSON: I started in the Raleigh community theater when I was nine years old. My family worked really closely with community theater, and my mom house managed for Burning Coal. When they had their season cattle-call auditions, Jerry [Davis], the artistic director, was like, “Hey, we need a kid, you should audition!” I was the only kid that auditioned. Nine-year-old me ended up playing Jeffrey Skilling’s daughter in a very raunchy production of Enron.

I just dove in head first and never looked back. I did a couple things with Raleigh Little Theatre, and I found a home at their theater for most of my teenage years. Then I found an agent in Raleigh with Terri at Kids Unlimited, and it just sort of took off from there.

I would get one or two little roles here and

Lachlan Watson on The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina PHOTO COURTESY OF NETFLIX there. I had a very different look from a lot of other kids in North Carolina. I was the only one in the room willing to shave my head for the role, so that ended up getting me places.

But it all really took off when I happened to receive an email for the national cattle call for Sabrina. I went out for it on a whim, and the next day, the creative director of Archie Comics was like, “Hey, do you have time to Skype later?” I was like, “Sure, creative director of Archie Comics! I can Skype with you!” [laughs] And so I Skyped him in my living room with my cats, in my pajamas, and the next day, I was flying out to Vancouver.

How do you think that your experiences in the Triangle theater community shaped who you are as a young performer breaking into Hollywood?

I think it has everything to do with getting where I am. I think working with such incredible, talented actors and production companies and directors as we have in Raleigh, being able to sit at the feet of some

amazing people when I was so young and just sponge information—I think that was crucial in allowing me to figure out what I wanted to do, why I wanted to do it, and how I wanted to go about making it happen. Whenever I tell people that I’m from North Carolina, they’re a bit like, “How did you get into film, then?”

They just don’t realize the beautiful community that we have in North Carolina, and they underestimate us a little bit. But I think it’s an absolutely incredible place for any young actor to grow up.

What do you think has made Sabrina so immediately successful?

I feel like it’s something not a lot of people have ever seen before. Even in terms of it being sort of a remake, in the same world as Archie Comics, in the same world as Sabrina the Teenage Witch from the nineties—I just feel like the style of the show and the artistic influences being put into it and the actors and the characters and the worlds being built, we’re really making something

special, and everyone on set feels it. I feel like that really carries over to the audience.

When you watch it, you feel like you’re part of something just as much as we are.

The show obviously skews a bit toward the horror genre, but it definitely also seems to embody some strong feminist and queer themes. Do you feel that way?

I feel like one of the really appealing things about the show is that it has this really incredible balance of genres. I think I almost fit it perfectly because it feels a bit hard to define, in that way that I also don’t really define myself. We’ve got this incredible

probably the most supportive environments in which I could’ve grown up in Raleigh. I was never forced to go to a bigoted public school; I was never forced to be a part of athletics or anything in that world that probably would’ve introduced me to some hardcore bullying and some people who really don’t understand [me].

I was surrounded with really kind people who only supported me for who I wanted to be. Even when I didn’t understand how to label myself, they supported me no matter what: pronoun change, three name changes, I never had anybody think twice. I had people who just didn’t get it, but they understood

SA, SU, MO DEC 29-31 • 8p

BIG SOMETHING

DECE M B E R

TH 20 LOST GENERATION 88p FR 21 THE SOUL PSYCHEDELIQUE & LOVE TRIBE 8p SU 23 SMELL THE GLOVE 9:30p FR 28 COMRADES & NOMADS BIS SOMETHING PRE-PARTY 7p SA 29 BIG SOMETHING W/ THE MANTRAS 8p

SU 30 BIG SOMETHING

W/ THE KIND THIEVES 8p

MO 31 BIG SOMETHING

W/ MIDNIGHT NORTH 8p

“They just don’t realize the beautiful community that we have in North Carolina, and they underestimate us a little bit.” mix of worlds and feelings, especially playing a mortal in a very heavily witchy show— you really feel the balance and the weight of everything. That’s something the mortals bring to the table. They sort of ground you in very modern and topical things that really need to be talked about. But then you also have this very otherworldly, absolutely fascinating experience in the witchy world. I think it’s incredible what the creators have done balancing this otherworldliness but also staying very true to the things that hit home.

What were your experiences like growing up in Raleigh as a nonbinary person?

It wasn’t half bad, to be honest. I grew up homeschooled by my mom, and I also grew up in the theater community, and those were

that they could just come and talk to me about it, and they actually listened to what I had to say. I think that was a huge part of me being able to talk so openly about how I feel and who I am now, because I got really good at it, and people listened to me. So now, when people listen to me, I know how to speak.

What’s next?

I’m coming back to North Carolina, I’m hoping. I’m also working on a top-secret theater project that I might try to make happen in North Carolina sometime in the spring. We’ll see what happens with that. And then, hopefully, back to Vancouver to film another season [of The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina].

And until then, just trying to raise as much awareness as I can. arts@indyweek.com

JAN UARY

WE JAN 9 • 7p

FRUITION

FR 4 AARON HAMM AND BIG RIVER & JONATHAN WOOD 6:30p SA 5 QDR HAPPY Q YEAR 7p WE 9 FRUITION 7p FR 11 ZOSO 7:30p SA 12 FR 18 THE GRATEFUL BALL 7:30p SA 19 CHAIRMEN OF THE BOARD 7:30p

WE 23 THE STEEL WOODS 8p FR 25 GREENSKY BLUEGRASS AT THE RITZ 7p

FR 25 SA 26 AMERICAN AQUARIUM 7p TH 31 RESURRECTION- A JOURNEY TRIBUTE 7p CO M I N G S O O N

FR JAN 11 AND 12 • 7:30p

ZOSO

2/1 KELLER WILLIAMS 8p 2/2 PIGEONS PLAYING PING PONG 8p 2/7 TAUK W/ PEOPLE’S BLUES OF RICHMOND 8p

2/8 COSMIC CHARLIE PRESENTS: DARK SIDE OF THE DEAD 8p 2/9 JUPITER COYOTE & THE BLUE DOGS 7p 2/11 ALAN DOYLE BAND 7p 2/15 THE BREAKFAST CLUB

FR JAN 18 • 7:30p

THE GRATEFUL BALL

W/ BAD INC 8p

2/16 NANTUCKET W/ MAJ DEEKA/ PEGASUS PLUS 7p

2/22 CORROSION OF CONFORMITY W/ CROWBAR/THE OBSESSED/MOTHERSHIP 6:30p

2/23 MAYDAY! & RDGLDGRN W/ LITTLE STRANGER 8p

2/27 JJ GREY AND MOFRO W/ CRIS JACOBS BAND 7p

3/2 WHO’S BAD – THE ULTIMATE

SA JAN 19 • 7p

CHAIRMEN OF THE BOARD

MICHAEL JACKSON EXPERIENCE 7:30p Y & T 7p

3/3 3/8 WHISKEY MYERS – DIE ROCKIN’ TOUR W/ BONES OWEN 7p AT THE RITZ

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Heart of Darkness

BECAUSE NOTHING SAYS CHRISTMAS LIKE A REMORSELESS DICK CHENEY BIOPIC

BY NEIL MORRIS

“V

ice” is the nickname President George W. Bush gave Vice President Dick Cheney. It’s also a stock character in Elizabethan morality plays, a devilish opportunist often cloaked as Virtue, remorseless for evil acts. This is the promising prism through which director Adam McKay refracts Cheney, the brooding fulcrum of a right-wing movement that began with Nixon and continues through Trump.

But a feature film, like Shakespeare, requires other elements. Vice, an ambitious mess, is a parody in search of a punch line—a cheap-seats harangue no more insightful than Wikipedia. It opens with a disclaimer from the filmmakers, who ostensibly set out to reveal something about the notoriously inscrutable Cheney: “We did our fucking best.” As the film goes on, this defiant declaration sounds more and more like an exasperated mea culpa.

We first meet Cheney (a corpulent Christian Bale) in 1963, a hard-drinking “dirtbag” who goes from running high-tension line across Wyoming to a congressional internship on Capitol Hill without much transition. Cheney learns at the feet of Donald Rumsfeld (Steve Carell), a young representative with a Cheshire grin and a crass disposition. They worm their way into the White House, eventually scoring high-ranking positions amid the wreckage of Watergate.

McKay then speed-walks us to 2000, when Bush (Sam Rockwell) is begging Cheney to serve as his running mate. It’s intriguing to observe how the initially ambivalent Cheney sizes up Bush as a greenhorn and gradually reels him into augmenting the power of the vice president. Less intriguing are McKay’s caricatures. Bale turns in a masterful act of mimicry that reveals little about the man or his motives. Lynne Cheney (Amy Adams) is just a sanctimonious prude. Rockwell pigeon-toes his way through a cornpone W. that minimizes Bush’s culpability.

At one point, Alfred Molina appears as a waiter offering Cheney, Rumsfeld, and the rest of their dinner party such menu items as “Enemy Combatant,” “Extreme Rendition,” and “Guantanamo Bay,” a surreal aside similar to the one McKay used in The Big Short. The scene is an apt metaphor for the whole of Vice, in which a parade of horrors—9/11, Abu Ghraib, Cheney shooting his friend in the face—swirl in a haze of visual tchotchkes and thinktank argot. Accompanying it all is the needless nattering of a narrator, a common crutch of McKay’s, who dangles the identity of his omnipresent observer like the MacGuffin it becomes.

For all its faults, Vice nearly stumbles onto an ending that befits its tragic, dramatic aspirations: a montage of Cheney’s political casualties that fades to black on the image of his transplanted heart. But then McKay tacks on one of the most misguided mid-credits codas you’ll ever see, allowing Cheney to break the fourth wall and defend his actions in service of “keeping us safe.” It’s remorseless Vice, still as much a stock character as ever. arts@indyweek.com

VICE  ILLUSTRATION BY CHRISTOPHER WILLIAMS

20 | 12.19.18 | INDYweek.com

Opening Tuesday, Dec. 25

screen

Keep It Poppins AND NOW FOR SOMETHING A LITTLE CHEERIER— A NOSTALGIC MARY POPPINS RETURNS

BY NEIL MORRIS

E

mily Blunt is pleasantly prim and proper in Mary Poppins Returns. She cuts a nostalgic figure, capturing the wit, whimsy, and elocution of the eponymous nanny, from her parrot-head umbrella to her clipped spit-spots and pish-poshes. Blunt doesn’t have Julie Andrews’s vocal chops, but she can carry a tune.

Pleasant and nostalgic are the watchwords of director Rob Marshall’s gauzy, inconsequential sequel, which again revolves around Mary Poppins being a delightful deus ex machina who arrives to save the strained relationship between a fussy Banks patriarch and his moppets. This time, it’s Michael Banks (Ben Whishaw), all grown up and the father of three children. In lieu of Dick Van Dyke’s cockney chimney sweep, Bert, we get Lin-Manuel Miranda’s cockney lamplighter, Jack—Bert’s former apprentice, we’re told. As her mom was once a suffragist, the adult Jane Banks (Emily Mortimer) is a labor organizer. Ellen (Julie Walters) is still the housekeeper, and Admiral Boom (David Warner) is still blasting his rooftop cannon.

The film announces that it’s set during The Great Slump (a few decades after the original Mary Poppins), but there’s little sign of widespread economic distress.

Although the Fidelity Fiduciary Bank, apparently flush with tuppence, is foreclosing on the Banks home, that’s because of Michael’s blunder. Michael, a recent widower, works at the bank, whose president (Colin Firth) is secretly thwarting his attempts to get his house out of hock before Big Ben strikes midnight on Friday.

Even the musical sequences follow a derivative formula. Like the original film, Mary Poppins and the Banks children enter a cartoon universe, one of the new movie’s standout scenes. Jack and his fellow lamplighters have a song-and-dance number called “Trip a Little Light Fantastic,” this film’s version of “Chim Chim Cher-ee.” One departure is “Turning Turtle,” led by Meryl Streep as Poppins’s Eastern European cousin, the proprietor of a topsy-turvy fix-it shop. The segment is lively, but it’s also utterly untethered from the narrative. While the Mary Poppins soundtrack gave us about half a dozen Sherman Brothers classics that remain indelible in pop culture, Mary Poppins Returns has several enjoyable toe-tappers you won’t readily recall tomorrow.

Miranda is a gifted musical performer who has a few show-stopping moments, but his acting is otherwise inert. He and Blunt exude minimal chemistry, and a flirtation between Jack and Jane is a half-baked subplot that goes nowhere. Indeed, the main cast is so reverential and referential that their performances feel trapped in amber.

It’s both delightful and problematic when the film seems to spring to life only during one-offs by Streep, Angela Lansbury, and, yes, Dick Van Dyke (not reprising his role as Bert, however).

After five decades, it’s a joy to finally revisit the world of Mary Poppins. But like a spoonful of sugar, the heady rush soon gives way to a comedown that leaves you craving something more satisfying. arts@indyweek.com

MARY POPPINS RETURNS 

Opening Wednesday, Dec. 19

ILLUSTRATION BY CHRISTOPHER WILLIAMS

INDYweek.com | 12.19.18 | 21

WHAT TO DO THIS WEEK (AND NEXT WEEK) 12.19–1.2

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 21

THE DANGLING LOAFER FEAT. HILLIARY BEGLEY

Earlier this month, Netflix dropped Dumplin’, an original adaptation of the YA novel of the same name by Julie Murphy (with an all–Dolly Parton soundtrack). Though she has few lines, Hilliary Begley’s kind-hearted Lucy is the heart of the story, the driving force behind a young woman learning the joy of authentically being herself. It’s Lucy who inspires her niece, the titular Dumplin’, to love herself as much as the two love Dolly Parton, and Begley handles the role with a warmth that emanates from the screen.

Beyond her bee-brooched breakout role, Begley—who calls Asheville home—has a sassy sense of humor with a distinctly Southern edge. Her perfect mix of honeyed comfort and sharp wit make her a prime candidate for a Steel Magnolias reboot. But before her star takes off all the way, she comes to Raleigh for a special appearance on a Dangling Loafer bill that also includes Cody Hughes, Ryan Brown, Maddie Wiener, Deb Aronin, Grant Sheffield, and host Shane Smith. —Allison Hussey KINGS, RALEIGH 8 p.m., $5, www.kingsraleigh.com

Hard Tuck

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 21 & SATURDAY, DECEMBER 22

N.C. SYMPHONY: HOLIDAY CIRQUE SPECTACULAR

The holidays for a classical musician are typically a blur of the same kinds of performances: a Messiah or two here, a Nutcracker there, and a few pops concerts in between. What, to the audience, may be a fond tradition is often just another day in the office. And after December 26, all they want to do is banish “Sleigh Ride” or “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” from their head. It’s nice to see the North Carolina Symphony working on a different kind of holiday performance tradition. With the help of Cirque de la Symphonie, the orchestra blends fairly standard holiday pops fare with high-flying acrobatics.

For those who have wondered what it’s like to have aerial dancers floating above your head reinterpreting the moves from “Waltz of the Snowflakes,” this is a perfect opportunity. —Dan Ruccia MEYMANDI CONCERT HALL, RALEIGH 8 p.m. Fri. & Sat./3 p.m. Sat., $40–$80, www.dukeenergycenterraleigh.com

While sc this year supergro intriguing front the (they pai nuggets repertoir tunes, ba bassist A Orange,

KINGS, R 8 p.m., $8

NY

FIRST

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SUNDAY, DECEMBER 30

DULCÉ SLOAN

In her stand-up and as a correspondent on The Daily Show, the Miami-born, Atlanta-bred comic Dulcé Sloan is known for wide-ranging commentary on race, sex, and gender. Though she’s a relative newcomer who started touring the national circuit just a few years ago, she has the air of a seasoned professional, with an unwavering command of audiences and an uncanny knack for voices. In her first televised set, a 2016 appearance on Conan O’Brien’s talk show, she lampooned gay men who grab her boobs, white women who touch her hair, and straight men who hit on her while suggesting DOWNTO Various t she lose weight. This led to her getting hired by The Daily Show last year, where she has reported on cultural appropriation at New York Fashion Week and pay inequality for African-American women. Her Sunday-night show at Motorco is not to be missed, though you should come prepared to be roasted. —Katie Jane Fernelius MOTORCO MUSIC HALL, DURHAM 8 p.m., $20–$25, www.motorcomusic.com

Dulcé Sloan 22 | 12.19.18 | INDYweek.com

HARD

BACK

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE ARTIST

YOUR WEEK. EVERY WEDNESDAY. Hard Tuck PHOTO BY MICHELLE LOTKER SUNDAY, DECEMBER 23

HARD TUCK HOLIDAY FORMAL

While scores of nationally touring roots-related acts descended on Raleigh in September for this year’s IBMA World of Bluegrass festival, a rowdy unofficial afterparty set from local supergroup Hard Tuck was far and away the most fun at the festival. A trio of engaging and intriguing singer-songwriters—Kate Rhudy, Chessa Rich, and Mipso’s Libby Rodenbough— front the loose and lighthearted crew. They treat rousing covers of nineties country hits (they paid rowdy tribute to the Dixie Chicks at January’s Great Cover Up) and classic rock nuggets with the right balance of reverence and blitheness, while outcasts from their own repertoires are recast as Hard Tuck originals. They’ll also try their hand at some holiday tunes, backed by top-notch talent like guitarist Ryan Johnson, keyboardist Charles Cleaver, bassist Alex Bingham, and drummer Daniel Faust—folks who have played with Mandolin Orange, Mount Moriah, American Aquarium, and more. —Spencer Griffith

MUSIC•NEWS•ARTS•FOOD INDYWEEK.COM

KINGS, RALEIGH 8 p.m., $8, www.kingsraleigh.com

NYE MONDAY, DECEMBER 31

FIRST NIGHT RALEIGH

The region’s biggest New Year’s Eve party returns for its nineteenth year as Artsplosure fills downtown Raleigh with music, magic, comedy, dance, food trucks, rides, and art. Following an afternoon of workshops and events for kids exploring end-of-year traditions from around the globe and a People’s Procession with Paperhand Puppet Intervention at 6:00 p.m., highlights include the funk of headliner Boulevards alongside an array of other musical stylings—the Afropop of Diali Cissokho and Kaira Ba, the electronic experiments of Senator Jaiz, the folk of Rod Abernethy, and the gospel sounds of The Glorifying Vines Sisters. Acts including African American Dance Ensemble, magician Joshua Lozoff, trained-animal act Dynamo Dogs, and the USA Ballroom Dancers perform in venues across downtown, before Ira David Woods III and IV emcee the midnight acorn drop in Moore Square. A First Night button gets you into everything. —Byron Woods DOWNTOWN RALEIGH Various times, $11-$15, www.firstnightraleigh.com

WHAT ELSE SHOULD I DO?

DEB ARONIN’S OPEN MIC AT SAM’S QUIK SHOP (P. 31), BACK TO THE FUTURE NEW YEAR’S EVE PARTY AT ALAMO DRAFTHOUSE (P. 32), NICK DAHLSTROM AT THE CARRACK (P. 28), MIDWINTER DAY MARATHON READING AT LUMP (P. 29), NEW YEAR’S EVE CONCERTS AT VARIOUS VENUES (P. 17) INDYweek.com | 12.19.18 | 23

FR 12/21 @ CAT’S CRADLE BACK ROOM

BOOM UNIT BRASS BAND CHRISTMAS CD RELEASE PARTY

TH 12/20 @ CAT’S CRADLE BACK ROOM

SHLUMP

SA 12/29

SARAH SHOOK &THE DISARMERS

MO 12/23 @ CAT’S CRADLE BACK ROOM

BIG FAT GAP

HOLIDAY HOMECOMING

WE 1/16 @ HAW RIVER BALLROOM

THE DEVIL MAKESTHREE

SA 1/5

DILLON FENCE FR 1/4 @ CAT’S CRADLE BACK ROOM

CAT'S CRADLE BACK ROOM

12/19 CRYSTAL BRIGHT & THE SILVER HANDS W/EMILY

SIRIUS B / SHOALDIGGERS

MUSOLINO AND ANITA MOORE

12/20 SHLUMP W/ SCALES AND SOUND LOBOTOMY ( $17/ $20) 12/21 BOOM

UNIT BRASS BAND, SPECTACLES, FUNKTION, PETE PAWSEY, 4TET, CTRL-ALT-DELETE

SA 1/12

ALEJANDRO ESCOVEDO 12/19 THE WEEPIES HOLIDAY SHOW ($28/$32)

2/23 HOUNDMOUTH W/ BEN

12/29 SARAH SHOOK & THE

2/25 TOO MANY ZOOZ

DISARMERS

KWELLER, MODERN LOVE CHILD 2/27 WET, KILO KISH

W/ TRAILER BRIDE 12/31 NYE DILLON FENCE W/

HAMMER NO MORE THE FINGERS 1/5 LAKE STREET DIVE

SOLD OUT

1/11 HIGH ON FIRE ($18/$20) 1/12 THE CROSSING TOUR -

3/2 COLE ESCOLA 3/4 WATSKY 3/6 COLD CAVE

W/ ADULT AND SEXTILE 3/7 STRFKR W/ SHY BOYS ($25)

ALEJANDRO ESCOVEDO

3/8 CHELSEA CUTLER

1/14 NONAME W/ ELTON ($25/ $28)

3/19 TREVOR HALL ($22/$25)

WITH DON ANTONIO (BAND)

1/19 ABBEY ROAD LIVE –

BEATLES TRIBUTE

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2/9 BRONZE RADIO RETURN W/ SONTALK 2/14 DANILEIGH 2/16 MOZES AND THE FIRSTBORN W/THE PARROTS ($12)

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music 12.19–1.2

on-air personality and Carolina Waves creator Miriam Tolbert closes out her year with a blowout show. This music mixer merges the structure of an open mic with a music showcase, offering both new talent and some of the areas most consistent artists an opportunity to perform in front of a host of reputable North Carolina deejays, radio personalities and programmers.

With 3AMSOUND, Jooselord, Imani Pressley, and Hasina.

—Kyesha Jennings NIGHTLIGHT:

C.J. Boyd [$5/8:30 P.M.]

Benji Hughes performs at Local 506 in Chapel Hill on Saturday.

WED, DEC 19

THU, DEC 20

BLUE NOTE GRILL: The Herded Cats; 8 p.m.

BLUE NOTE GRILL: Carolina Lightnin’; 7-9 p.m.

CAT’S CRADLE (BACK ROOM): Shlump, Scales, Sound Lobotomy; $17–$20. 9 p.m.

CAT’S CRADLE: The Weepies Holiday Acoustic Duo Tour, Matt the Electrician; $28–$32 Day Of.7 p.m.

CAT’S CRADLE (BACK ROOM): Crystal Bright & the Silver Hands, Emily Musolino, Anita Moore $5–$8. 8 p.m.

DURHAM PERFORMING ARTS CENTER: Mannheim Steamroller; 7 p.m.

KINGS: The Hot at Nights; $8. 9 p.m.

POUR HOUSE:Obsidian Darling, Infinite Eve; $10. 8 p.m.

THE KRAKEN: Shake Sugaree Americana Residency with Jonathan Byrd & Friends; Wednesdays, 7-10 p.m.

THE CAVE TAVERN: Hawkins King, Stephanie Ray; $5 suggested donation. 9 p.m.

KINGS: The Whom, Burrito Supreme; $10. 8 p.m.

LINCOLN THEATRE:

3AM

[$15–$20/8 P.M.] 3AM has been tantalizing audiences all year with his mix of trap beats, R&B-style vocals, and rock attitude. His wildly popular single “Curtis Snow” is a local crowd pleaser,

PHOTO BY SOLEIL KONKEL

and it started gaining national attention this summer with thousands of streams. The newer single “Vomit” is a dark and thumpy departure from the mellow “Curtis Snow,” but has the right energy to keep his wave going into 2019. 10CellPhones and Stephan Jailon also perform.

—Charles Morse LOCAL 506:

Tengger Cavalry [$20–$25 /9 P.M.]

The turbulent sounds of the “folk metal” Tengger Cavalry come from several sources of inspiration. Frontman Nature Ganganbaigal plays the boxy Morin Khuur fiddle and performs throat singing, both associated with his Mongolian heritage.

Raised in Beijing and often ruminating on his status as an ethnic minority in China, the teenage Ganganbaigal became an avid metalhead, with a special fondness for the proud theatricality of Slipknot. After moving to New York for college, he earned a master’s degree from NYU in film music composition. His taste for the cinematic, the gory, the outsider, and the traditional fuse together with bombast in Tengger Cavalry.

—Josephine McRobbie

seminal American death metal band Cannibal Corpse and a smokable psychoactive from the Cannabaceae family, Richmond’s Cannabis Corpse drops out of life with bong in hand and follows the smoke to a riff-filled land.

The joke, though, belies the weed priests’ collection of titanic death metal riffs, which deal oppressive sonic devastation pockmarked by Panzer tank grind, searing solos, and a sick sense of humor. With Eldritch Horror and Suppressive Fire. —Patrick Wall MOTORCO:

Cannabis Corpse

Carolina Waves Music Mixer

[$12–$15/9 P.M.]

[$7–$10/8 P.M.]

As much as you might expect a band that riffs on the name of

After a successful year of well-curated events, K97.5

THE MAYWOOD:

FOR OUR COMPLETE COMMUNITY CALENDAR INDYWEEK.COM

There are touring artists, and then there’s C.J. Boyd, the oceanic bassist and composer who’s been on tour for a solid decade. Kin Ships, to be released in February by the wonderful exploratory label Joyful Noise, is a travelogue of sorts; the record contains fifty-one songs—one for each state and Washington, D.C.—and each song is a cover of a song by an artist from that state with whom Boyd’s performed. Its source material is variegated and its list of collaborators is one hundred and seventyfive musicians deep, but Kin Ships is nonetheless uniquely Boyd’s, his sparse approach to the upright bass and looping pedals at once conveying movement and stasis. The River Otters, Knives of Spain, and dejacusse open.

—Patrick Wall THE PINHOOK: Handles, J. Rashad, Tanajah, Red Jones, DopeMusic; $8–$10. 8 p.m.

POUR HOUSE:The Remarks, Charlie Paso, Chris Larkin; $5. 8 p.m.

THE STATION:

Dylan Earl [$7/8 P.M.]

A Louisiana native who now calls Arkansas home, Dylan Earl slings contemporary country songs that nod to the genre’s classic glory days.

His croon is immediately charming, and on last year’s new Country to Be, he delivered a batch of respectable country cuts that alternately shuffle and sway.

With Blue Cactus and Will Carlisle. —Allison Hussey ST MATTHEWS EPISCOPAL CHURCH: Jim Watson Holiday Concert; 7 p.m.

INDYweek.com | 12.19.18 | 25

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RECYCLE THIS PAPER

K97.5 x Carolina Waves Presents the Annual Year 29 @Social 8:00 PM,with$12/$15 End MusicWED MixerJUN and Indie 2018 Imani Pressley / Jooselord / 3AMSOUND /Jerrod.

Hosted by Mir.I.am, Music by DJ RNB SAT 12/22 ALEX AFF album Release Show with Danny Blaze, Facts About Kelly Kale, Chelsea Inspire, Sip Slo, w/ Bob, POISON ANTHEM RICHARD BACCHUS & THE LUCKIEST GIRLS Ducee Droptop WED FRI12/26 7/1LilaLOOK HOMEWARD / THE MIDATLANTIC FRI 12/28 The Lo$t Generation Presents Big Baby Gucci, TUE 7/5 Crank It Loud: NOTHING / CULTURE ABUSE Mikey 100K, BBO, Les The Genius, DJ J’Mar WAILIN STORMS / HUNDREDFTFACES SAT 12/30 Motorco Comedy Night with DULCE SLOAN. FRI 7/8 SolKitchen & The Art of Cool Project: Hosted by Deb Aronin THU 12/20

RICHIE RAMONE

The Art of Noise #Durham

MON 7/11 Regulator Bookstore presents HEATHER HAVRILESKY: Ask Polly Live SAT TUE12/307/12 DANNY SCHMIDT / REBECCA NEWTON with WES COLLINS MOTORCO COMEDY NIGHT WTITH 12/20

THU 7/14 Storymakers: Durham, Community Listening Event DULCE SLOAN SAT 7/16 PINKERTON RAID / ST. ANTHONY & THE MYSTERY TRAIN

POPUP CHORUS HOLIDAY PARTY

HOSTED BY DEB ARONIN

SUN 12/31New Years Eve Party with Rose KennedySUN JUL 17

SUN 12/31

NEW YEARS EVE PARTY

THE RAGBIRDS

@ 8:00 PM $12/$15

w/ROSE KENNEDY

THESam’sRAGBIRDS Quik Shop Presents Benefit for BBQ FRI 1/4

12/31

ELLIS DYSON & THE SHAMBLES WITH KATHARINE WHALEN – NYE PARTY

12/31 - NYE PARTY ELLIS DYSON & THE SHAMBLES WITH KATHARINE WHALEN

1/27

FAMILY-FRIENDLY TRANSACTORS IMPROV NO SHAME THEATRE - CARRBORO THE SEASHELL AND THE CLERGYMAN LIVE SCORE BY TIM CARLESS LUNA’S MAGIC FLUTE

2/8

LAURIE LEWIS AND THE RIGHT HANDS

2/10

ALASDAIR FRASER AND NATALIE HAAS

1/12 1/12 1/19

PERFORMANCES IN BOTH ENGLISH AND SPANISH

Get tickets at

artscenterlive.org

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

26 | 12.19.18 | INDYweek.com

ToothTHE / Bronzed MON 7/18withMAIL HORSEChorus

/ Youth League Dishoom FRI JUL 22 FRI 1/11 Shred for Music Ed with Stellar Circuits @ 8:00 PMJOHN COWAN Knightmare / The Reticent / Attracting The Fall $25/$30 (A Benefit for the Jordan High School Band Program) MON 1/14 JON SPENCER & the HITmakers / Dex Romweber Duo SAT 1/5

JOHN COWAN w/ DARIN & BROOKE ALDRIDGE

S D R I B G A JON SPENCER & the HITmakers R E TH SAT 7/23 Girls Rock Showcase

MON 1/14

TUE 7/26 Motorco Comedy Night: ANDY WOODHULL / ADAM COHEN

W/DEX ROMWEBER DUO

-P op FRI 7/29Flamenco YOUNGVivo BULL Album Release Show 1/17-1/19 av el er s" Carlota trSantana

Ma tt er s

tic at e ar tis "C on su mm w/ ALIX AFF / DURTY DUB

SUN JUL17 COMING SOON: JULIETTE LEWIS, YARN, JARED & THE MILL, SAT 1/26 HAL KETCHUM, NRBQ, LIZCAMERON VICE, WINDHAND, & ROY MOLLOY Doors: 7pmALEX CODY CANADA BAND Sidewinder OF SKULLS, Show: 8pm& THE DEPARTED, RUSSIAN CIRCLES, w/ Holiday SISTER SPARROW & THE DIRTY BIRDS, KING, $12 ADV 723 RIGSBEE AVE DURHAM, NC MOTORCOMUSIC.COM COMING SOON: Amen Dunes, The Steel Wheels, Lucy Dacus, Justin Nozuka, DOYLE LAWSON QUICKSILVER, THEDoughty, RECORD COMPANY, ADRIAN LEGG, H.C. McEntire, Deerhoof, “Scratch” Perry, Mike Bella’s Bartok, Brother Ali, Smallpools, $15 DAY OF & Lee REBIRTH BRASS DIAMOND, BONOFF, Alice Phoebe Lou, JaredBAND, & the Mill,MYAll BRIGHTEST Them Witches, Girlpool, FlotsamKARLA and Jetsam, SonataWArtica O N LE Breakfast with!

AB Also co-presenting John MausWAINWRIGHT (at Cat’sA and Japanese TALIB KWELI, LOUDON VIIIonAFebIL12th) M (atCradle EternalUSummers Cat’s Cradle on May 5th) HEARTH" NEW ALB HE SHOLD & T "THE THRE The Threshold & The Hearth

723 RIGSBEE AVE - DURHAM, S. NC C- MOTORCOMUSIC.COM OM

THE RAGBIRDS

W

GBIRD W W .T H E R A

Dylan Earl stops at The Station on Thursday.

FRI, DEC 21 BLUE NOTE GRILL: Duke Street Dogs; Fridays, 6-8 p.m.

CAT’S CRADLE (BACK ROOM): Boom Unit Brass Band Christmas Album Release Party; $10.

8 p.m.

THE CAVE TAVERN: Evil Weiner; $5 suggested donation.

9 p.m.

EDENTON STREET UNITED METHODIST CHURCH: Raleigh Boychoir Carols of Christmas; $10–$20.

7 p.m.

LINCOLN THEATRE:

The Soul Psychedelique Orchestra [$10/9 P.M.]

Don’t be misled by the dreamy moniker—The Soul Psychedelique Orchestra puts a hell of a lot of sweat into what they’re doing. After all, any band that can deliver highenergy versions of classics by Prince, The Eurythmics, and Michael Jackson one moment and then turn around and tear off tunes by Aretha Franklin, Sly & The Family Stone, and Little Richard isn’t exactly sitting around with their hands in their pockets waiting for the fun to come to them.

—Jim Allen

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE ARTIST

LOCAL 506: The Love Language, Lilac Shadows, Stevie; $15–$18. 9 p.m.

THE MAYWOOD:

out your knowledge of this life-affirming, endlessly varied genre. —David Ford Smith

Driver

POUR HOUSE: Holiday Rescue Jam; $5 suggested donation. 8 p.m.

People have their own Christmas traditions. Driver’s is to get on stage and perform two cover-heavy sets that mostly pull from the canons of classic rock (Zeppelin, AC/DC, Motörhead), new wave of British heavy metal (Maiden, Judas Priest) and grunge (Soundgarden, Alice in Chains). Expect an original or two, too, and maybe even a Christmas tune.

—Patrick Wall

SAT, DEC 22

[$10/8:30 P.M.]

MEYMANDI CONCERT HALL: North Carolina Symphony Pops: Holiday Cirque Spectacular; 8 p.m.

NIGHTLIGHT:

On And On Dance Party [$8/10 P.M.]

The fan base of disco runs as deep as the Marianas Trench, and, like most cult genre obsessions, is populated by thousands of ride-or-dies who pour out their love online for the oft-maligned style. This is the second run of a new disco-focused party from the Nightlight crew. Come ready to dance and flesh

$10 advance / $12 day of

BLUE NOTE GRILL:

Cool John Ferguson [$10–$25/8 P.M.]

When a legend like blues hero Taj Mahal compares you to the likes of Jimi Hendrix and Wes Montgomery, you know you must be doing something right. Cool John Ferguson has worked with Taj, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, and more, and he’s earned all the accolades he’s received. If you want to judge for yourself, turn up for a taste of his guitar mastery and his seamless, rootsy blend of blues, jazz, soul, and rock influences. —Jim Allen THE CAVE TAVERN: Jim Watson Christmas Show; $5. 8 p.m.

DEEP SOUTH:

Dr. Mudd and the Alamo

[$5/9 P.M.] Billed as Raleigh’s sloppiest slop rock, Dr. Mudd and the Alamo suggest the wild offspring of Valient Thorr and

KINGS: Hard Tuck;$8. 8 p.m.

LINCOLN THEATRE: Smell The Glove; $10. 10 p.m.

MEYMANDI CONCERT HALL: North Carolina Symphony; 7 p.m.

POUR HOUSE:Reese McHenry & Dave Bartholomew; $5. 1 p.m.

SLIM’S:

Shonna [$5/7 P.M.]

Shonna is an R&B artist with hip-hop leanings, whose buttery voice is the impressive foreground to a backdrop of sparse and moody beats. It’s easy to compare her arrangements to recent Beyoncé tracks, wherein a skilled singer uses the landscape of rap conventions and trends as an expansive playground for vocal experimentation. Ghost Dog, Gnarley Nick, and Zeus Lee also perform.

—Josephine McRobbie

Tengger Cavalry, at Local 506 Thursday McLusky loudly bludgeoning through biker bars. Chapel Hill’s Laser Witch Queens promise psychedelic krautrock trips. Bring a toy donation to skip the cover; bring earplugs to salvage some hearing after this not-so-silent night. —Spencer Griffith KINGS:

The Dinwiddies [$8/9 P.M.]

Celebrate the high holiday of your choosing by getting lit with The Dinwiddies, Raleigh’s top purveyors of punny weed songs. It’s plenty silly, but the band boasts an abundance of excellent rock riffs. Would the Grinch have been so grinchy if one of the Whos had just passed him a fat joint? The Dinwiddies might have an answer. With Magician’s Hand Practice and Ops. —Allison Hussey LOCAL 506:

Benji Hughes [$12/9 P.M.]

A frequent collaborator of Jenny Lewis, erstwhile Rilo Kiley and current Nice As Fuck frontwoman, Benji Hughes has the same eerie ability as Lewis to mine the seventies for pop inspiration—be it from disco, country, or soft rock. You may not be surprised to learn that

PHOTO COURTESY OF THE ARTIST

Charlotte native Hughes, with his uncanny ability to create a pleasant earworm of a song, has spent much of his career with the side gig of writing jingles for brands from Honey Nut Cheerios to Olive Garden.

—Josephine McRobbie THE MAYWOOD: Runaway Cab; $10. 9 p.m.

MEYMANDI CONCERT HALL: North Carolina Symphony Pops: Holiday Cirque Spectacular; 3 p.m. and 8 p.m.

MOTORCO:

search of some entertainment, a collective of rappers and a skillful North Carolina deejays are hosting a lit show—literally.

The bill features hip-hop sets from The Kush Administration, Preset Pickers, Drozy, and Teshlyn, plus DJ Shahzad on the decks. —Kyesha Jennings POUR HOUSE MUSIC HALL: Better Off Dead (A Tribute to Grateful Dead), Funk Sandwich; $10. 8 p.m.

SLIM’S: Seabreeze Diner, Bruxes; $5. 9 p.m.

Alex Aff

SUN, DEC 23

The Durham rap scene has no shortage of large personalities and egos, but Alex Aff exists as a mainstay who lets his production and bars speak for themselves. He writes in an everyman voice, exploring the psyche of an artist in a midsize city where it’s easy to fall into “best in city” contests that stop at that ceiling. The new Things Could Be Worse is Aff’s first full-length album, and its release is a defining moment.

—Charles Morse

CAT’S CRADLE BACK ROOM:

[$15–$20/9 P.M.]

THE PINHOOK:

Kushmas Dance Party [$5/9 P.M.]

If you’re in a looser sort of holly-jolly holiday mood in

Big Fat Gap [$10/8:30 P.M.]

For just short of two decades, Triangle bluegrass collective Big Fat Gap has gathered its extended family—the project has spawned numerous different projects over the years—for a holiday reunion, cramming the stage with friends and former members for casual but proficiently picked jams. This year’s confirmed crew features current members Jeff Stickley and Miles Andrews joined by Leftover Salmon’s Andy Thorn, Mandolin Orange’s Andrew Marlin, and Jon Stickley Trio’s eponymous leader.

—Spencer Griffith

TUE, DEC 25 POUR HOUSE:

Terry Anderson & the Olympic AssKicking Team [$5–$10/8 P.M.]

How does one make the Olympic Ass-Kicking Team?

Are there open trials? Is there a championship I need to win?

Do I need to select a country to represent? What’s the training regimen like? Well, that last one I can maybe answer: Terry Anderson’s longrunning crew of butt-booters fills itself with a steady diet of rock ’n’ roll made by guys like Westerberg and Richards and Berry. Anderson’s other rock ‘n’ roll combo, Jimmy’s Arcade, opens. —Patrick Wall

WED, DEC 26

hip-hop beats and bars with electronic instrumentation far more than folk. Tonight, they’ll be backed live by the mighty Hammer No More the Fingers. —Spencer Griffith NIGHTLIGHT:

919Noise Showcase: Marselle, Jeremy Purser [$5/8:30 P.M.]

Durham’s Marselle generally does a stellar job of building genuinely artful, warped audio collages. Like a weird forager for outré material, he will run massive hypnotic washes of drone with bits of incendiary video sound ephemera into long, compelling pieces that have weight and gravitas to them; it’s equally therapeutic and confrontational. Jeremy Purser leans towards ambient zones, like on his cheeky but admirably constructed ambient release, Music For Indoor Cats. Canonises goes for the cement brick to the head of calamitous free jazz.

With Mitchell Bratton.

—David Ford Smith

THU, DEC 27 BLUE NOTE GRILL: The Bondsmen; $10. 7 p.m.

KINGS: Brothers Egg, Degonzo Brothers; $7–$10. 9 p.m.

POUR HOUSE:Krawzbonez, Jooselord, 3am, Konvo the Mutant, Jovi, Blakk Trell; $5. 8 p.m.

FRI, DEC 28 THE CAVE TAVERN: Matchstick Johnny, Codeine Haze; $5 suggested donation. 9 p.m.

KINGS: DJ Zene; $8 Adv, $10 Day Of. 9 p.m.

LINCOLN THEATRE: Comrades & Nomads; $10. 9 p.m.

THE CAVE TAVERN: George Trouble and Aaron Price; $5 suggested donation. 9 p.m.

LINCOLN THEATRE: Big Something, The Mantras; $18. 9 p.m.

LOCAL 506: Dex Romweber, Drunken Prayer, Blood Red River; 9 p.m.

POUR HOUSE:Lowbrow, Steamroom Etiquette; $10. 7 p.m.

THE RITZ: Rumours: A Tribute to Fleetwood Mac; $11. 8 p.m.

SUN, DEC 30 LINCOLN THEATRE: Big Something, The Kind Thieves$18. 9 p.m.

POUR HOUSE MUSIC HALL:John Howie Jr & The Rosewood Bluff, Drunken Prayer, Stray Owls. $5.

1 p.m.

POUR HOUSE MUSIC HALL:A Sunday Fire, Superelavators$8. 8 p.m.

SLIM’S:Piqued, Solar Bear, The Mums$5. 8 p.m.

MON, DEC 31 ARTS CENTER: Ellis Dyson and the Shambles NYE Party; $25. 8 p.m.

CAT’S CRADLE: New Year’s Eve Party: Dillon Fence, Hammer No More The Fingers; $17–$20. 9 p.m.

THE CAVE TAVERN: New Year’s Eve Party: Mark Holland, Dexter Romweber, Scribblin’; $5 suggested donation. 9 p.m.

HAW RIVER BALLROOM: Shady Darling & the Velvet Curtains, That Darling DJ Duo; $20–$25, 9 p.m.

LINCOLN THEATRE: Big Something, Midnight North $30.

9 p.m.

THE MAYWOOD: Lexx Luthor, Dirty Remnantz; $10. 9 p.m.

MOTORCO:The World of Tomorrow New Year’s Eve Party with Rose Kennedy; $15–$18f. 9 p.m.

POUR HOUSE:Pie Face Girls, Vacant Company, Drag Sounds; $10.

8 p.m.

MOTORCO:

THE MAYWOOD: Break the Skyline, Killing the Catalyst; $8. 9 p.m.

THE RITZ: Shoot To Thrill, The Ramonas, Hard Rock Reunion; $11.

9 p.m.

[$7–$10/9:30 P.M.]

MOTORCO:Big Baby Gucci, Mikey 100K, BBO, Les The Genius, DJ J’Mar; $15–$20. 9 p.m.

TUE, JAN 1

POUR HOUSE:Kate Rhudy, Libby Rodenbough; $12. 8 p.m.

SLIM’S: Pictures of Vernon, Sad Cops, Green Aisles; $5. 9 p.m.

SAT, DEC 29

WED, JAN 2

LiLa

Long-running Durham outfit LiLa has largely laid low this year despite releasing V—its fifth full-length album and its first in five years—this May, though, it continues its annual holiday tradition with this Boxing Day show.

While still touting itself as hip-folk, that self-description hardly applies these days, as V finds the group mashing up

BLUE NOTE GRILL: Josh Preslar Band; $8. 8 p.m.

HUMBLE PIE: Peter Lamb & the Wolves; 8:30 p.m.

CAT’S CRADLE: Sarah Shook & The Disarmers, Trailer Bride; $12–$15.

9 p.m.

POUR HOUSE:Chesley Cheese Allen & Friends, Radio Boxx Band; $10.

8 p.m.

INDYweek.com | 12.19.18 | 27

art 12.19–1.2

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 21

NICK DAHLSTROM: (CON)TEXTURED In his painting “Figure with Meat,” Francis Bacon depicted a purple-robed figure sitting before two hanging sides of beef that look like awful angel wings.

Yet they’re also strangely beautiful. The image comes to mind regarding (con)TEXTURED, painter Nick Dahlstrom’s first solo exhibition. Dahlstrom paints raw meat and dried flowers in extreme close-ups so that their context falls away, and veined, marbled flesh or wilting petals come to resemble visceral abstractions. An egg yolk becomes a sun snagged in an amniotic sac; folds of fat form phantasmagorical landscapes. In the process, things you wouldn’t necessarily want to look at become things you can’t easily look away from. Dahlstrom discusses the work in this closing reception and artist talk on Third Friday.

—Brian Howe

THE CARRACK MODERN ART, DURHAM 6–9 p.m., free, www.thecarrack.org

Paintings by Nick Dahlstrom PHOTO COURTESY OF THE CARRACK

28 | 12.19.18 | INDYweek.com

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with photographer Chris Seward. His dynamic black-andwhite photos from the scene capture now-famous names and local, proto-indie-rock bands such as The Fabulous Knobs and Arrogance in their primes.

More than two hundred photos are featured in the exhibit, along with flyers, videos, and other artifacts. Thru Jan 31.

Raleigh City Museum, Raleigh. cityofraleighmuseum.org.

—Brian Howe LAST Sam Ezell: SelfCHANCE taught Hillsborough artist. Thru Fri, Dec 21.

Alexander Dickson House, Hillsborough. www. visithillsboroughnc.com.

OPENING John Beerman: A Field, A World: Paintings. Dec 19-Feb 3.

Craven Allen Gallery, Durham. cravenallengallery.com.

Durham Arts Council Third Friday Artist Reception & Holiday Event: Featuring four new exhibits, a holiday market, live music and dance performances, and cookie decorating. Fri, Dec 21. 6 p.m.

Durham Arts Council, Durham. durhamarts.org.

ONGOING LAST All-Star Group CHANCE Exhibit: More than twenty artists and craftspersons in a wide range of media. Thru Mon, Dec 31. Horse & Buggy Press and Friends, Durham. horseandbuggypress.com.

Freeman Beard: A Watercolor World: Watercolors.

Thru Jan 31. Bull City Art & Frame Co, Durham. bullcityartandframecompany. com.

Ashlynn Browning: Revisionist Geometry: Paintings. Thru Sat, Jan 5. Durham Arts Council, Durham. durhamarts.org.

Cameron Village Underground Photography Exhibit: This is going to sound crazy, but did you know there used to be an underground mall under Cameron Village, and that it housed nightclubs that both incubated local rock and hosted legendary touring acts as diverse as R.E.M., Barry Manilow, Jimmy Buffet, and Chuck Mangione?

In the late seventies and early eighties, before it was shut down because of concerns about safety, The Village Subway—aka the Raleigh Underground— roiled with nightclubs such as The Frog and Nightgown and The Pier, where Sonic Youth recorded the cover of “I Wanna Be Your Dog” that appears on Confusion Is Sex. This rich history, mostly lost beyond some hazily remembered blogs, is the subject of a new exhibit at The City of Raleigh Museum, which runs through January after a sold-out, wait-listed reception

Allan Gurganus: A Writer’s Sketchbooks: Duke’s Rubenstein Library recently acquired the papers of one of North Carolina’s seminal authors, the fiction writer and essayist Allan Gurganus. But before he wrote the nationally acclaimed books Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All and White People, Gurganus began his creative life as an artist, a discipline he studied at the University of Pennsylvania before consoling himself with his sketchbook while serving in the Vietnam War. To celebrate the acquisition, the Rubenstein is working with Power Plant Gallery to showcase sixty never-before-seen drawings and paintings. The colorful, imaginative, but ultimately humane style of Gurganus’s books is revealed in a new way through these visual works.

Thru Jan 19. Power Plant Gallery, Durham. powerplantgallery.com.

—Brian Howe LAST Let it Snow, Let it CHANCE Snow, It’s a Winter Show!: Work by female artists.

Thru Dec 29. Local Color Gallery, Raleigh. localcoloraleigh.com.

LAST Edwin Lohmeyer: CHANCE mobilemedic/oracle: Participatory sound installation.

Thru Dec 29. Artspace, Raleigh. artspacenc.org.

Gwen Lowery: Night Visions: Fiber art. Thru Sat, Jan 5.

Durham Arts Council, Durham. durhamarts.org.

Portraying Power and Identity: A Global Perspective: 21c Museum Hotel unveils a packed portraiture exhibition featuring work by forty contemporary artists, many of whom pay striking homage to classical portraiture in recasting their own images and experiences. Anthony Goicolea, a photographer interested in digital manipulation and themes of duality and the reclamation of self, nods to John Singer Sargent’s “Madame X” with “Portrait in Negative of a Boy with Harmonica as Madame Gautreau.” Miguel Ángel Rojas’s series depicting a young, injured Colombian soldier in repose gracefully gestures toward Michelangelo’s “David.” The exhibition also includes works by Titus Kaphar, Ori Gersht, and Zanele Muholi.

Thru Mar 31. 21c Museum Hotel, Durham. www.21cmuseumhotels. com/durham.

—Sarah Edwards Vernon Pratt: All The Possibilities of Sixteen: Neverbefore-seen posthumous exhibit. Thru Sun, Feb 10. Gregg Museum of Art & Design, Raleigh. gregg.arts.ncsu.edu.

LAST A Southern Review: CHANCE Featuring the Pleiades member artists.

Thru Sun, Dec 23. Pleiades Gallery, Durham. pleiadesartdurham.com.

Allison Tierney: Glimpse: Mixed media. Thru Feb 7. Durham Arts Council, Durham. durhamarts.org.

Blaise Tobia: Material Matters: Photography. Thru Jan 26.

Raleigh. artspacenc.org.

LAST Stephen White: CHANCE Golden Classics: Paintings. Thru Mon, Dec 31.

Little Art Gallery & Craft Collection, Raleigh. littleartgalleryandcraft.com.

Tom Willis: Journey: Paintings.

Thru Fri, Apr 12. Durham Convention Center, Durham. durhamarts.org.

Dane Winkler: Brain Janitor: Interactive installations and large-scale sculptures. Free.

Thru Feb 2. Artspace, Raleigh. artspacenc.org

page SATURDAY, DECEMBER 22

READINGS & SIGNINGS Midwinter Day Reading: Sat, Dec 22, 1 p.m. Lump, Raleigh. lumpprojects.org.

LECTURES ETC. ANY BLACK MAN: A Community Conversation about Identity + Empowerment: With Anthony Patterson. Free. Thu, Dec 20. 6 p.m. Artspace, Raleigh. artspacenc.org.

Happy Hour: With Marjorie Hodges, NCMA’s Director of External Relations and Special Projects. Free drinks. Fri, Dec 21. 5 p.m.

Vert & Vogue, Durham. vertandvogue.com.

MIDWINTER DAY MARATHON GROUP READING Bernadette Mayer is seventy-three, though, as Daniel Wenger observed in The New Yorker, her poems have a fragmented, informal feel that’s not out of step with a text message.

Looking farther back, Mayer is also frequently compared to Gertrude Stein. However you slice it, her style is as politically and culturally contemporary in 2018 as it was in 1978, when she published Midwinter Day, a book of prose and poetry that catalogs a single December day. Now, no indie film project is more readily green-lit Bernadette Mayer PHOTO COURTESY OF BERNADETTEMAYER.COM than one that freeze-frames an ordinary day, but a Homeric account of domestic life was then—and still is—radical. Diurnal activities like going to the library, taking care of her children, and writing are divided into six careful states of consciousness: dreams, morning, noontime, afternoon, evening, and night.

To celebrate the landmark book’s fortieth anniversary, marathon group readings are taking place across the country. One of them is at Lump in Raleigh, where you can slip into Mayer’s stream of consciousness as a writer or a reader. —Sarah Edwards

LUMP, RALEIGH 1–6 p.m., free, www.lumpprojects.org

food & drink

Can Release: Bad Haircut Coconut Porter. Fri, Dec 28, 4 p.m. Durty Bull Brewing Company, Durham.

Farmhouse Cider & Wine Tasting: Saturdays, Sundays, 2-6 p.m. Botanist & Barrel, Cedar Grove. botanistandbarrel.com.

Festivus for the Rest of Us: Food pairings, seasonal beers, ugly-sweater contest, and live music. Fri, Dec 21, 6 p.m.

Vecino Brewing Co., Carrboro.

Kingfisher Pop-Up with Sean Umstead: Cocktails. Wed, Dec 19, 6 p.m. The Durham Hotel, Durham. thedurham.com.

Pinhook Presents Weekly PopUp Series: Jeddah’s Tea and The Purple Fence, guest vendors.

8 a.m.-4 p.m. Thu-Sat. The Pinhook, Durham. thepinhook.com.

Wine Tasting at Mandolin: Exploring Terroir with Pinot Noir: Wednesdays, 6 p.m. Mandolin, Raleigh. mandolinraleigh.com

INDYweek.com | 12.19.18 | 29

Purchase a $25-$99 Gift Card and add a QRB mug for only $5.

Purchase a $100 Gift Card and get the mug free!

Check out our new podcast BOOKIN’!

Available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, and Podbean! www.quailridgebooks.com • 919.828.1588 • North Hills 4209-100 Lassiter Mill Road, Raleigh, NC 27609 CHECK OUT OUR NEW PODCAST: BOOKIN’ w/Jason Jefferies

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COMING JANUARY 23RD!

stage ONGOING Anything Goes Late Show: Saturdays, 10:30 p.m.

Goodnights Comedy Club, Raleigh. goodnightscomedy.com.

Comedy in a Cave: Comedy.

With Michelle Maclay, Kathleen McDonald, Josh Rosenstein, and Kenyan Adamcik. $5 suggested.

Wed, Dec 19, 7 p.m. The Cave Tavern, Chapel Hill. caverntavern.com.

The Dangling Loafer: Comedy.

With Hilliary Begley, Cody Hughes, Ryan Brown, Maddie Wiener, Deb Aronin, Grant Sheffield, and Shane Smith. $5. Fri, Dec 21, 8 p.m. Kings, Raleigh. kingsraleigh.com.

Dancing with the Stars: Fri, Dec 28, 8 p.m. Memorial Auditorium, Raleigh. dukeenergycenterraleigh.com.

Dulce Sloan: Comedy. $20$25. Sun, Dec 30, 8 p.m.

Motorco Music Hall, Durham. motorcomusic.com.

Four Comics and Your Host: Comedy. Featuring Aaron Cardwell, Sam Mazany, Jordan Hale, Mark Brady, and host Jack Bowen. $8. Thu, Dec 20, 9 p.m. The Peoples Improv Theater, Chapel Hill. thepit-chapelhill.com.

HaHaHoliday Party: Comedy, drink specials, and more. Fri, Dec 21, 9 p.m. The Peoples Improv Theater, Chapel Hill. thepit-chapelhill.com.

The Harry Show: Ages 18+.

Potentially risque games improv games with audience volunteers. $10. Fridays & Saturdays, 10 p.m. ComedyWorx, Raleigh. comedyworx.com.

The Hip Hop Nutcracker: Thu, Dec 20, 7 p.m. Durham Performing Arts Center, Durham. dpacnc.com.

Improv Noir: Improv comedy featuring Sade Adeyemi, Lauren Foster-Lee, Nathan Garrett, Justin McNeil, Terryca Tee, and Ashley Brieanne Wike. $10.

Wed, Dec 19, 8 p.m. The Vault at The Palace International, Durham. improvnoir.com.

Jaybird O’Berski’s Side Coach Show: Improv comedy. $10.

Thu, Dec 20, 8 p.m.

The Peoples Improv Theater, Chapel Hill. thepit-chapelhill.com.

Nerd Nightly Now: Parody latenight talk show with sketches, interviews and more. $8. Sat, Dec 22, 11 p.m. The Peoples Improv Theater, Chapel Hill. thepit-chapelhill.com.

The Nutcracker: Carolina Ballet.

Dec 29-30, Durham Performing Arts Center, Durham. dpacnc.com.

Real American Reunion: Comedy from local comedians home for the holidays. $10. Sat, Dec 22, 9 p.m. The Peoples Improv Theater, Chapel Hill. thepit-chapelhill.com.

Rudolph: The Musical!: Fri, Nov 23-Mon, Dec 24.

Memorial Auditorium, Raleigh. dukeenergycenterraleigh.com.

The Santaland Diaries: $17$25 Dec 21-23, 8 p.m. Dec 23, 3 p.m. Theatre In The Park, Raleigh. theatreinthepark.com.

SUMMER CAMP GUIDE Helping our readers plan their summer activities!

Contact your Marketing Executive or advertising@indyweek.com 30 | 12.19.18 | INDYweek.com

Carolina Ballet’s The Nutcracker finishes its annual run at Raleigh’s Memorial Auditorium and DPAC this month. PHOTO COURTESY DPAC.COM

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SATURDAY, DECEMBER 22

DEB ARONIN’S OPEN MIC Earlier this month, Sam’s Quik Shop on Erwin Road announced that it will be closing its doors at the end of the year. For many, this means the loss of their favorite spot to pick up a six-pack of beer. But for the local comedy community and its fans, it spells the loss of a treasured venue. Every Saturday, Deb Aronin hosts her vibrant open mic there, a testing ground for new material and a favorite of newcomers and seasoned comics alike. On Saturday, the last Sam’s edition of the open mic features extended hours, a potluck, and a slate of stellar regulars such as Dink Kearney, Jeremy Alder, Brett Williams, Eric Duffy, Freddy Valoy, and Virginia Wallace, though new comics are still welcome to sign up and try some jokes, too. Happily, while this is the end of an era, it’s not the end of the open mic, which is planned to continue at a new venue in the new year. —Katie Jane Fernelius

919-6-TEASER

for directions and information @TeasersDurham TeasersMensClub

www.teasersmensclub.com 156 Ramseur St Durham, NC Open 7 Days/week • Hours 7pm - 2am

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PHOTO COURTESY OF THE ARTIST

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

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bill.burton.lawyer@gmail.com INDYweek.com | 12.19.18 | 31

screen SPECIAL SHOWINGS Dumpster Dive Cinema: Tuesdays, 9 p.m. The Station, Carrboro. stationcarrboro.com.

Elf: Movie party. $12. Dec 17-20: 7 p.m. Alamo Drafthouse, Raleigh. drafthouse.com/raleigh.

Satan Claus is Coming to Town: $5. Sun, Dec 23, 8 p.m. Alamo Drafthouse, Raleigh. drafthouse. com/raleigh.

OPENING

 Mary Poppins Returns— Reviewed on p. 21. Rated R.

ILLUSTRATION BY CHRISTOPHER WILLIAMS

Aquaman—The DC movie universe finally lightens up with Jason Momoa as the undersea king of Atlantis.

Rated PG-13.

Ben Is Back—Julia Roberts and Lucas Hedges star in a family drama about a mother and her drug-addicted son. Rated R. Bird Box—Sandra Bullock stars in ... this is basically A Quiet Place but with blindfolds, right? Rated R. Bumblebee—The Transformers franchise tries a more humanscale story with this eightiesset feature. Rated PG-13.

Holmes and Watson—Step Brothers Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly reunite as the great detective and his pal.

Rated PG-13.

Mary Queen of Scots—If The Favourite is too hardcore for you, try Saoirse Ronan as the titular queen and Margot Robbie as Elizabeth I. Rated R. On the Basis of Sex—Felicity Jones plays Ruth Bader Ginsburg on her path to the Supreme Court. Rated PG-13.

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 Creed II—The latest in the revived franchise is a good Rocky sequel, but it’s not a great Creed sequel. Rated PG-13.  The Favourite— Yorgos Lanthimos (The Lobster) infuses this lurid period melodrama with his unmistakable sensibility of cruelty and absurdity.

Rated R.

 Roma—Alfonso Cuarón’s masterful remembrance of his childhood in 1970s Mexico City is one of the year’s most visually arresting films. Rated R.

 Vice—Reviewed on p. 20.

Rated R.

½ First Man— Damien Chazelle shoots the moon in his glorious film about Neil Armstrong.

Rated PG-13.

½ Spider-Man: Into the Spider Verse—Not only is it a good SpiderMan story, this animated film introduces welcome diversity to the tale of Peter Parker. Rated PG.

Welcome to Marwen— Suffering from brain damage after a brutal beating, Mark Hogancamp (Steve Carell) builds a miniature World War II setting in his yard.

Rated PG-13.

 Green Book— There’s some rose-tinting at play in this cross-racial buddy comedy set in the Jim Crow South, but it’s nice to see the good guys get a rare win. Rated PG-13.

½ A Star Is Born— Neither modern classic nor mega-bomb, this CooperGaga remake is best when it’s allowed to just be a tender country-western love story. Rated R.

Second Act—Jennifer Lopez fakes it ‘til she makes it in the corporate world in this romcom. Rated PG-13.

32 | 12.19.18 | INDYweek.com

MONDAY, DECEMBER 31

BACK TO THE FUTURE NEW YEAR’S EVE PARTY New Year’s Eve is a time to reflect on time, so what better time to revisit a movie about time? (We swear that sentence tracks.) Robert Zemeckis’s 1985 time-travel classic is the epitome of “they don’t make ‘em like that anymore,” from its Rube Goldberg-like opening sequence to its tense, storm-lashed conclusion. OK, not every part holds up—you have to grit your teeth through the part where Michael J. Fox invents rock ‘n’ roll, and the whole Marty’s-mom-trying-to-shag-him thing is still ... a lot. But if you’re looking to wring a few more drops of goodness out of a classic you’ve seen dozens of times, Alamo Drafthouse is placing the film at the center of a New Year’s Eve party that features a replica of the Enchantment Under the Sea Dance in the lobby, an air-guitar contest, interactive props such as scratch-and-sniff cards (so you can smell those flaming tire tracks), and a champagne toast at midnight. —Brian Howe

ALAMO DRAFTHOUSE, RALEIGH 8:30 p.m.–midnight, $20, www.drafthouse.com/raleigh

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1 6 9 2 7 4 5 8 3

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

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

Pages.”

CLASSY AT INDYWEEK DOT COM

Best of luck, and have fun! www.sudoku.com

30/10/2005# 54 1 5 6 3 8 2 4 9 7

4 8 6| 1 7 3 2 5 34 | 912.19.18 INDYweek.com 7 2 5 6

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solution to last week’s puzzle

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1 7 8 3 2 9 your ad 5 6 4 2 5 3 9 8 6 7 4 1

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INDYweek.com | 12.19.18 | 35

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Contact Amanda: classy@indyweek.com

SINGING, SPEAKING AND COMMUNICATION TRAINING WWW.LAURECEWESTSTUDIOS.COM

SMOKY MOUNTAIN WHISKEY CRACKERS® available at: Saxapahaw General Store Southern Season, New Hope Market Special Treats

WANT A 20X24 INCH FRAMED PORTRAIT OF YOUR PET? Acrylic portraits from cell phone photos.

Three-week delivery schedule.

Gift certificates possible. contact@artbyminhvu.com 919-995-3213

IN SEARCH OF KIND LADY

IN, OUT & ON THE GO (see website for details) 30 min. dry style with specific stylists: Carie, Chloee, Rachel & Summer for Mon-Thurs only, no double discounts must be redeemed by Jan. 15, 2019

HISTORY TRIVIA: * Washington Duke, patriarch of the Duke family and tobacco empire, was born on December 20, 1820 in Orange County. * The official repository for NC government publications, the State Library of North Carolina, was founded on December 25, 1812. * The English explorer John Lawson began his 59-day expedition through the backcountry of Carolina on December 28, 1700. He visited the sites of today’s Charlotte, Greenville, Hillsborough, and Raleigh, and published his observations as A New Voyage to Carolina in 1709. * Andrew Johnson, the 17th President of the United States, was born in Raleigh on December 29, 1808. Johnson apprenticed under a local tailor before he moved to Tennessee and entered politics.

Courtesy of the Museum of Durham History

Older gentleman in the Raleigh area seeking kind lady for companionship and possibly more.

Please call 919-649-1253 or email rjones9948@msn.com

ORPHEUS CHAMBER ORCHESTRA

Breathtaking artistry! January 10 at ECU’s Wright Auditorium, Greenville. https://artscomm.ecu.edu/orpheus-chamber-orchestra/

GIVE THE GIFT OF LAUGHTER WITH METTLESOME! Comedy classes, gift certificates available. thisismettlesome.com/lab

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ART Supplies and Classes Special Holiday Hours: M-F 12-6 | Sat 10-5 | Sunday 12-5 (Through 12-24) HAPPYMESS_ARTPOST SUPPLIES & STUDIOS 718 Iredell Street, Durham, NC 27705 Shop: 919-286-9763 | Mobile: 919-622-3320 happymessart.com