Categories
Featured

FAUNA: The Back-To-School Spider

by Mary Parker Sonis

We all know and recognize this spider. This is the spider that is properly known as Argiope aurantia, and better known as the garden spider or “writing spider.”

Categories
Featured

HOP LINE: Exploring Fall Brews

By Evan Crouch

As we begin to turn the page on another sultry North Carolina summer, the anticipation of the fall season and the pleasures it brings is upon us.

Categories
Featured

CAUGHT ON FILM

PRODUCTION DESIGNER SPOTLIGHT: Mark Ricker

by Margot C. Lester
Like many kids, Mark Ricker dreamt of working in the movies when he grew up. But unlike most of us, the Burlington native made it a reality. Ricker is the production designer behind the sets of The Help, which debuted last month.

Categories
Featured Food

TASTE OF THE TOWN

Neal’s Deli

Sheila and Matt Neal opened Neal’s Deli in downtown Carrboro in April 2008 hoping to create for Carrboro the kind of community deli found on various street corners throughout New York City – but with their own personal take on the deli.

Categories
Arts & Music

SPOTLIGHT: The Hold Steady

The Hold Steady will perform at Cat’s Cradle on Aug 31.
Formed after vocalist/guitarist Craig Finn’s move from Minneapolis – which is significant in that his songs seem to indicate he left something there, and really, really misses the place – Brooklyn-based The Hold Steady has carved out a sound in the Big City landscape that, as the band acknowledges, nods to the Replacements and the Grifters, takes a deep bow to such classic rockers as Led Zeppelin and Creedence and extends a heartfelt head butt to The Clash.
Finn writes thoughtful, engaging lyrics, but The Hold Steady remains, essentially, a straight-ahead rock-’n’-roll band. Critics love ’em, and lots of other folks too.
The Donkeys open. Doors swing at 8 p.m. Show starts at 9. Tickets are $18 in advance, $20 day of.

Categories
Arts & Music

SPOTLIGHT: Eric Johnson

Grammy Award-winning guitarist Eric Johnson will perform at The ArtsCenter at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Aug. 16.
Considered by fans, critics and fellow musicians to be one of the best guitarists on the planet, Johnson’s 1991 “Cliffs of Dover” won the Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance. But his talents aren’t limited to instrumental guitar – Johnson regularly incorporates jazz, fusion, new age, gospel and country-and-western sounds into his music; composes and plays vocal pieces; and is an accomplished pianist as well.
Tickets are $24 for general admission and $32 for VIP with priority seating. Visit artscenterlive.com for tickets and information.

Categories
Arts & Music

SPOTLIGHT: Paperhand Puppet Intervention

Paperhand Puppet Intervention returns for its 12th season with The Serpent’s Egg opening Friday, Aug. 5 at the Forest Theater.
 The show explores the cyclical nature of life, featuring curious babies, fantastical creatures, mythic beasts, graceful goddesses and spellbinding skeletons. Paperhand ventures to illuminate myths and tell personal stories, both with and without words, using the language of archetypes, symbols and dreams.  

Categories
Arts & Music

ART NOTES: In the Galleries

American Checkbook......etc by Ron Liberti
At The ArtsCenter this month, Susan Soper’s prints will be on display in the East End Gallery, while Matthew Scott Meyers’ paintings will be exhibited in the Center Gallery. Both exhibits run Aug. 4-31, with opening receptions from 6 to 9 p.m. on Aug. 12.
Over at LIGHT Art+Design, the work of mixed-media artist and former UNC art professor Kimowan Metchewais is being shown through Sept. 17. Metchewais’ work includes photography, drawing and found objects, much of which references icons from his Native-American Cree heritage juxtaposed against modern culture.

Categories
Featured

Dog Days

Milo
There’s always something bittersweet about August.
Across our town, state and nation, children will return to school to crack open (perhaps not-so) fresh textbooks and dust off their knowledge of multiplication tables and sentence diagrams.

Categories
Featured

FAUNA: Bolin Creek Hooligans

by Mary Parker Sonis

Every year in September, we hear the same stories coming out of the Bolin Creek forest. Our beloved ever-present barred owls begin a series of assaults on runners and hikers. Women running at 5:30 a.m. describe attacks on their ponytails and older men show the talon scratches on their bare pates. Nature run amuck.

Categories
Featured

A Master Chef’s Guide to Cooking Local

by Vicky Dickson

It took a trip to Italy to make Sheri Castle appreciate her own culinary heritage. The discovery the Chapel Hill cookbook author and cooking teacher made in that country was, she says, a real epiphany: