The Independent Weekly back issues from April 2008:
VIEW FROM THE CHEAP SEATS
Apr 02, 2008; ... At 7:30 am, I was nearly first in line for Sen. Hillary Clinton's 9 a.m. speech at Wake Tech, and chatted with a clerk from the college. I recognized the bigwig passing out stickers as the one parked next to me who had ignored my "Good morning." Another unfriendly politico frequently crossed our ...
The buck stops here on NBAF
Apr 02, 2008; ... Finally, there is an issue opponents and proponents of a federal disease research lab can agree on: State or local governments should not pay for a utility plant required as part of the National Bio and Agro Defense Facility. Barrett Slenning, a leading member of the N.C Consortium, ...
N.C. Senate Democratic primaries heat up in Wake County
Apr 02, 2008; ... With just a month to go until the May 6 primary, there's a lot of debate about which candidates are ducking debates and why. But the most interesting debate recently is the one Jack Nichols, a Democratic candidate in state Senate District 16 (West Raleigh/ Gary), is having with himself over ...
Do-it-yourself Obama
Apr 02, 2008; ... There is a grassroots movement happening in North Carolina. Its members are promoting their favorite candidate, hitting the pavement to spread the image of their chosen one. For love or money, local Barack Obama supporters and entrepreneurs are out for you. "Its dear that North ...
For Eve and Jamiel, and everyone else
Apr 02, 2008; ... She was 22 years old. Bright, engaging, energetic and caring. He was 17. Intelligent, diligent, personable and athletic. Eve Carson, as most of us know, was the student body president at UNC-Chapel Hill. Her all-too-brief stint on this earth was filled with impressive accomplishments ....
Correction
Apr 02, 2008; ... An article about Students for a Democratic Society ("Shock of the new," March 26, by Lisa Sorg) misstated U.S. Rep. David ...
Opening night film: TRUMBO
Apr 02, 2008; ... Dalton Trumbo is the only person to receive two Oscars for work initially attributed to other people. Just before his death in 1976, the Motion Picture Academy belatedly gave him statuettes for his work on Roman Holiday and The Brave One, both films he wrote under the cloak of others. He was ...
Returning filmmaker: MARGARET BROWN
Apr 02, 2008; ... THIS TIME: ORDER OF MYTHS Last time: Be Here to Love Me: A Film About Townes Van Zandt (2005) A morning meeting with Margaret Brown for coffee in an Austin, Texas, hotel first means a hunt for "natural light." The term comes from her mouth several times as we blunder, ...
Returning filmmakers: PETER GILBERT and STEVE JAMES
Apr 02, 2008; ... THIS TIME: AT THE DEATH HOUSE DOOR Last time: Reel Paradise (James, 2005); Stevie {Gilbert and James, 2003) Peter Gilbert and Steve James make films that break your heart, yet their work is not remotely sensationalistic or manipulative. They will be forever known as the Hoop ...
Returning filmmakers: TONY GERBER and JESSE MOSS
Apr 02, 2008; ... THIS TIME: FULL BATTLE RATTLE Last time: Speedo (Moss, 2003) An Iraq documentary like full Battle Rattle was inevitable. "There are actors in the film who read lines from scripts and play parts in preconceived roles," says co-director Tony Gerber. One of the things that tickled ...
Local Filmmaker: JOSH GIBSON
Apr 02, 2008; ... THIS TIME: THE SIAMESE CONNECTION Who knew that Chang and Eng Bunker, the original Siamese Twins who gained fame as an attraction for RT. Barnum's traveling circus during the early 19th century, eventually settled down and spent the final 35 years of their lives near Mt Airy, N.C.? ....
Razing expectations
Apr 02, 2008; ... locavore cooking Maximizing meal options sometimes means letting markets dictate your menu In many parts of the world, the practices of everyday epicures Include building meals around what's available in the twice-weekly markets or neighborhood greengrocers-as opposed to ...
SPRING ONION AND BABY SPINACH FRITTATA
Apr 02, 2008; ... 4 to 6 spring onions (more if using scallions), about the thickness of an adult thumb, chopped, including 2 inches or more of the clean green part 2 cups (3 to 1 large handfuls) of baby spinach, washed, shaken dry and coarsely chopped (if the leaves are more than 2 inches long) 6 ...
Kitchen help
Apr 02, 2008; ... Worms turn food waste into garden nutrients, saving landfill space The kitchen prep line at the legislative cafeteria in Raleigh generates about 40 pounds of food scraps a day. At most restaurants and home kitchens in America, scraps like those wind up in landfills, buried under piles of ...
Life on the street
Apr 02, 2008; ... Life on the street To be black in Pittsburgh, according to Charles "Teenie" Harris and Ron K. Brown ONE-SHOT *** 1/2 Ronald K. Brown/ Evidence Page Auditorium March 28, 2008 CHARLES "TEENIE" HARRIS: RHAPSODY IN BLACK AND WHITE DUKE ...
Box of paradoxes
Apr 02, 2008; ... Box of paradoxes Durham writer Chris Vitiello's linguistic conundrums IRRESPONSIBILITY BY CHRIS VITIELLO Ahsahta Press, 112 pp. What does it mean to say, as local poet Chris Vitiello does in his new collection, Irresponsibility, that "A Cornell box is one thing"? How do we collapse the ...
Do the evolution
Apr 02, 2008; ... Did Schoolkids Records close in Chapel Hill because it refused to meet its changing market? If you talk music landmarks in Chapel Hill, Schoolkids Records challenges only Cat's Cradle for the top spot Since 1974, Schoolkids has supplied the college town with records, cassettes and CDs, ...
General Store Café expands to attract
Apr 02, 2008; ... Oh, the sounds of progress: It's 3 p.m. on a sleepy, early spring afternoon in Pittsboro, and the hum of cars down Main Street is punctuated by the staccato drum of a nail gun and the crack of a hammer swung against wood The pops come from the General Store Café, where co-owners Joyce and Vance ...
Quit kickin' my dog around
Apr 02, 2008; ... Howard Fishman's three-night stand covering The Basement Tapes transcends tribute status We treat our idols like assholes: Just as wax museums house life-sized recreations of heroes we may never meet, tribute bands give us that thrill of seeing a band master songs by an act that may ...
HOT LICKS AND RHETORIC/BLENDER THEORY
Apr 02, 2008; ... CANTWELL, GOMEZ & JORDAN HOT LICKS AND RHETORIC (307 Knox) BELOVED BINGE BLENDER THEORY (67 Subdivision) Not to say that a few dozen bands in Raleigh and Chapel Hill aren't noteworthy and distinguishable (because they are), but if the bands at ...
All down the line
Apr 02, 2008; ... All down the line The geezers are alright in Shine a Light, Leatherheads is screwball without the screws SHINE A LIGHT Opens Friday in select theaters LEATHERHEADS Opens Friday throughout the Triangle I realize the title of Martin Scorsese's ...
THE CHECK-ON
Apr 09, 2008; ... "Ssh, here comes Dad," my oldest daughter whispered, smiling and looking over her shoulder. "We better stop talking or he'll write an article about it." My family was huddled together, sharing a mirror, doing their morning hair/ makeup/ earrings thing. I had wandered in, following the ...
Durham candidate for commissioner declared bankruptcy
Apr 09, 2008; ... HEADS UP Durham County Commissioners hopeful Doug Wright filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy last July, due to expenses from an extended child custody battle, the candidate said this week. According to federal bankruptcy records, Wright and his wife amassed $193,232 in debt, including ...
Public financing: Diluting special interest funding in N.C. campaigns
Apr 09, 2008; ... Program expands to Council of State this year Four years ago, Democrat Wayne Goodwin was running for state labor commissioner, and his campaign consisted mainly of long days trapped in a cubicle with a telephone, as he called everyone he knew and asked for contributions. Campaigns, he ...
Equalizing public services across racial, socioeconomic lines in Moore County
Apr 09, 2008; ... For many years, the wealth and affluence of the golf haven of Pinehurst overshadowed the almost inconceivable living conditions of the outlying neighborhoods of Midway, Jackson Hamlet and Waynor Road. These small, predominately African-American communities in Moore County were devoid of ...
David Saacks, Durham district attorney
Apr 09, 2008; ... Q&A The fallout from the Duke Lacrosse case hangs over this spring's Democratic primary for Durham district attorney, with each of the candidates-Freda Black, Tracey Cline, Mitch Garrell and Keith Bishop-ducking for cover. But Durham's next prosecutor will have to manage an office ...
NOW SERVING
Apr 09, 2008; ... new restaurants and happenings American Public Media's The Splendid Table (www. splendidtable.org) host Lynn Rosetto Kasper is in the Triangle this week to chat with fans of the Sunday show (heard at noon each week on WUNC radio) and to sign copies of How to Eat Supper, a handbook for ...
The beauty of ignoring the critics
Apr 09, 2008; ... wine beat The usual hoopla, except more so, is accompanying the imminent release of the 2005 Bordeaux reds. The combination of a very weak dollar with what seems to be an extraordinarily good French vintage, is spelling misery for American wine drinkers and collectors alike ....
eight days a week
Apr 09, 2008; ... Wed. 4.9 RALEIGH ! THE RIVERRUN ROADSHOW N.C. MUSEUM OF HISTORY-Here's a novel proliotional idea for film festivals, one that Asheville and Cucalorus might consider stealing: Winston-Salem's RiverRun International Film Festival, scheduled to take place April 23-28, is ...
Ceremonies of the horsemen
Apr 09, 2008; ... Ceremonies of the horsemen CROSSING THE WATER: A PHOTOGRAPHIC PATH TO THE AFRO-CUBAN SPIRIT WORLD BY CLAIRE GAROUTTE AND ANNEKE WAMBAUGH Duke University Press, 258 pp. The living gods of Cuba, in a new book of photos and essays In the visually rich yet secretive world of ...
Real genius
Apr 09, 2008; ... Real genius AMADEUS PlayMakers Rep Through April 20 www.playmakersrep.org PlayMakers demonstrates tha Amadeus is really about Salieri, Mozart's mediocre rival As its final main stage production of the spring season, PlayMakers Repertory Company at ...
THE DUCK VARIATIONS AND SEXUAL PERVERSITY IN CHICAGO
Apr 09, 2008; ... THE DUCK VARIATIONS AND SEXUAL PERVERSITY IN CHICAGO GHOST & SPICE THEATRE AT COMMON GROUND THEATRE Through April 19, www.cgtheatre.com Why have David Mamet's Sexual Perversity in Chicago and The Dudt Variations been paired together so often? On the surface, the two ...
DINNER WITH A LEGEND: THE MUSIC OF SAM COOKE
Apr 09, 2008; ... DINNER WITH A LEGEND: THE MUSIC OF SAM COOKE N.C. THEATRE AT RAT PACK LOUNGE Through April 26; www.ratpacklounge.org Nestled in Glenwood Souths intimate Rat Pack Lounge, four tuxedoed musicians warm up the crowd as Broadway performer Darrian Ford takes the floor. Dressed ...
We're still here
Apr 09, 2008; ... Twenty-five years: That's old for a gymnast, young for a politician, prime for a bottle of Scotch. In dog years, the Independent is 175; measured in light years, it is equivalent to the distance from earth to Vega, the brightest star in our night sky. However you count it, the Indy has ...
The next frontier
Apr 09, 2008; ... Indy alums discuss journalism's future When the Independent Weekly launched in 1983 as a monthly, paid-subscription, atewide political publication, it entered very small media universe. There were a handful of local daily newspapers and radio stations. CNN had just started broadcasting, ...
The shape of things coming and going
Apr 09, 2008; ... Change is a constant in the Triangle arts scene-and (mostly) for the good The day the first issue of the Independent came out, in April 1983, I was working in the office of UNC-TVs Stateline program at the General Assembly. One of the reporters came in, brandishing the new paper ...
Critical conditions
Apr 09, 2008; ... The Triangle became hospitable to art films, but when will the filmmaking begin? It is not about foisting the critic's opinion on anyone. It is primarily m about ensuring viewers' access to the most interesting and accomplished films. And that involves trying to stimulate enough interest ...
Postmodern publisher
Apr 09, 2008; ... Let's face it Even at our hippest, there has always been something both deeply earnest and slightly dowdy about the Independent. Some combination of self-righteousness and hominess. We are fundamentally compelled by the old sacrificial virtues. Substance first, then style-if there's any time ...
Processing Signal
Apr 09, 2008; ... Now a nonprofit organization, the Chapel Hill electronic music festival hopes to manage its money and close perception gaps Organizing a music festival can seem like Sisyphus pushing that rock up the hill, only to have it plummet back down once it's somewhere near the top. That uphill ...
Live from Kuwait
Apr 09, 2008; ... Local musician performs for U.S. troops as part of Operation MySpace What do Jessica Simpson, Filter, Disturbed, Pussycat Dolls, Metal Sanaz and Carlos Mencia have in common? Until recently, not much: Simpson and Pussycat Dolls are bootylicious pop stars; Filter and Disturbed are heavy ...
Five words with Dark Meat
Apr 09, 2008; ... Athens musical troupe Dark Meat rival Polyphonic Spree in size and the 13th Floor Elevators in squalling, shambolic approach. Frontman Jim McHugh is actually listening to Roky Erickson's old band when I reach him by phone. Formed in 2004 by Greensboro natives McHugh and Ben Clack, the band ...
TEXAS MUSICIANS
Apr 09, 2008; ... Music writers and fans love categories. Musicians, on the other hand, are typically not so thrilled with pigeonholes and gratuitous generalizations. One might expect Cody Braun-who contributes fiddle, mandolin, harmonica and vocals to Reckless Kelly, the band he leads with his songwriting ...
LET IT BLEED
Apr 09, 2008; ... 1998: Bill Clinton and the blue dress. "Y2K" is slowly shaping on everyone's lips. Celine's "My Heart Will Go On," Jay-Z's "Hard Knock Life" and Madonna's "Ray of Light" are in everyone's heads. Meanwhile, a young rock band from Austin, Texas, named Spoon releases its second LP, A Series of ...
Winters of discontent
Apr 09, 2008; ... Winters of discontent SNOW ANGELS Opens Friday in select theaters THE COUNTERFEITERS Opens Friday in select theaters Love and death in Snow Angels and the pulse-pounding WWII drama of The Counterfeiters David Gordon Green's SNOW ANGELS strikes me ...
Neither snow nor rain ...
Apr 09, 2008; ... Recapping the Full Frame festival Last weekend's 11th running of the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival will be remembered as a watershed festival. Literally, for the rain came down and down and down (like the three-point shots, pull-up jumpers and dunks that drenched the UNC men's ...
N.C. Central students discuss race in CNN's national spotlight
Apr 16, 2008; ... CNN came to N.C. Central University last week to ask students what it means to be Black in America. In support of its upcoming series by that name, CNN partnered with Essence magazine and Time Warner Cable to reach out to young African Americans about their experiences with race. The ...
Possible layoffs loom at The N&O
Apr 16, 2008; ... Editors struggle with smaller staffs as print advertising declines Newspapers reporters everywhere are freshening up their résumés and checking the very online job-hunting sites helping to drive their employers deeper into financial uncertainty. With print advertising revenues continuing ...
Jim Hightower
Apr 16, 2008; ... Q & A The Texas populist heads to the Triangle April 18 Former Texas Agriculture Commissioner Jim Hightower has earned his billing as "America's No. 1 Populist" and funniest progressive commentator. To him, politics isn't about left or right, it's up or down, the elites ...
The tame generation
Apr 16, 2008; ... The tame generation Do today's children hear the call of the wild? LAST CHILD IN THE WOODS: SAVING OUR CHILDREN FROM NATURE-DEFICIT DISORDER BY RICHARD LOUV Algonquin Books, 390 pp. My mother had a remarkably effective way of encouraging her kids to experience the great outdoors. If we ...
ON THE BOARDS
Apr 16, 2008; ... ON THE BOARDS CROWNS BURNING COAL THEATER Through April 27, www.burningcoal.org Some people might find tiresome the prospect of listening to older ladies reminiscing for 90 minutes. But Burning Coal's Crowns, essentially a series of monologues tackyglued together ...
O Death
Apr 16, 2008; ... O Death Dead Man Walking at UNC and Angels in America in Raleigh DEAD MAN WALKING **** DDA Mainstage Kenan Theatre, UNC Closed April 15 ANGELS IN AMERICA, PART I **** Theatre in the ...
It takes a village
Apr 16, 2008; ... Orange County ponders the Buckhorn development-and its own future On the job satisfaction index, Orange County economic developer ranks pretty low, alongside Gary welfare administrator and the lonely Maytag repairman. High-profile retail projects and corporate recruiting coups in Orange ...
NOW SERVING
Apr 16, 2008; ... I've been shopping at The Fresh Market in Raleigh's Cameron Village (828-7888, www. thefreshmarket.com) since it opened and have always been grateful for the takeout soups, salads and deli items I could buy for lunch, along with a few things I might need at home-say, dishwasher detergent or ...
ONE NATION UNDER GUNS
Apr 16, 2008; ... AN ESSAY BY HAL CROWTHER In the London Times, under the headline "The United States of America has gone mad," the British novelist John le Carré began his modest polemic, "America has entered one of its periods of historical madness, but this is the worst I can ...
Coming out
Apr 16, 2008; ... Five musicians playing Shakori Hills, which begins the festival season this week, reflect on a spring of hope The poet EE. Cummings wrote, "while Spring is in the world/ my blood approves/ and kisses are a better fate/than wisdom." Cummings was neither the first nor the last poet to ...
Farm tour cuisine
Apr 16, 2008; ... locavore cooking To see the gear stacking up by the front door, you'd think my household was headed to the beach this weekend. But the sunscreen and hats, bug spray, coolers and straw baskets are standing ready for a weekend dedicated to touring area farms and purchasing produce, meat, ...
THE LATEST RIGHTS
Apr 16, 2008; ... THESTRUGGLERS THE LATEST RIGHTS (Acuarela) In 2005, sole constant Struggler Randy Bickford told me if his latest record, You Win, didn't help him build a career, he'd likely make one more record, tour behind it and call it an attempt. Three years later, Bickford's wider ...
SHAKERMAKER
Apr 16, 2008; ... SHAKERMAKER SHAiCEBMAKfB (self-released) The songs of Chapel Hill quartet Shakermaker give the past and the present equal footing: Working primarily with lush ballads and driving pop jangles, Shakermaker is very tuneful but slightly psychedelic, Merseybeat with slurred ...
MAN OF THE MATCH
Apr 16, 2008; ... THE PORT HURON STATEMENT MAN OF THE MATCH (self-released) It's fitting that The Port Huron Statement's Man of the Match opens with a brief instrumental that recaUs "AuId Lang Syne." To these straying ears, the invocation is a welcome to genre: "Hello, indie rock, my old ...
Raleigh Valhalla
Apr 16, 2008; ... Raleigh Valhalla A home for Heroes at Lump and intricate Landscape Details at Artspace HEROES Curated by elin o'Hara slavick and Laura Sharp Wilson Lump Gallery www.lumpgallery.com Through April 26 LANDSCAPE DETAILS by Sarah ...
CAVALCADE
Apr 16, 2008; ... BELLAFEA CAVALCADE (Southern) Bellafea's 2005 Pidgeon English debut, Family Tree EP, was often encumbered by its own ideas: Brilliant as the songs were, naked vocals, shuffling feet and eerie guitar interludes seemed a bit awkward set against a core of riot pop. It was a ...
SWEET BY AND BY
Apr 16, 2008; ... SWEET BY AND BY SWEET BY AND BY (self-released) Sweet By and By's debut EP features six songs about the regrets and hopes surrounding the comings and goings of men in the lives of the band's four lead women. Despite the underlying theme of love, though, Sweet By and By ...
There's something about Apatow
Apr 16, 2008; ... Forgetting Sarah Marshall is first-rate; plus, a sleeper Latino melodrama FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL Opens Friday throughout the Triangle UNDER THE SAME MOON Now playing in select theaters It is worth remembering that, long before the Judd Apatow comedic ...
Farmworkers draw student support
Apr 16, 2008; ... In the border town of Nogales, Mexico, people prepare to risk their lives trying to cross deserts, mountains and the turf of dangerous drug traffickers. Coyotes, smugglers who are paid to illegally haul immigrants into the United States, scout for border crossers and then drive vans crammed with ...
Neal vs. Hagan
Apr 16, 2008; ... A blue April sky beckoned some 250 Democrats to the 10th Congressional District straw poll in the Catawba County town of Newton Saturday. When the speeches were done and the votes counted, there was only one big surprise: For the U.S. Senate nomination, Chapel Hill businessman Jim Neal ran ahead ...