The Independent Weekly back issues from August 2008:
The Herald-Sun's nosedive
Aug 06, 2008; ... Layoffs at Durham's hometown daily are part of a trend toward less local news the monitor Staff cuts at The HeraldSun last week are further evidence of what any reader can see: Paxton Media Group is running Durham's hometown daily newspaper into the ground. Layoffs and ...
Torn and frayed
Aug 06, 2008; ... Torn and frayed Unraveling the continuing mystique of the Dead Sea Scrolls It's 1947. Northwest of the Dead Sea, not far from the settlement of Qumran, a Bedouin named Mohammed Ahmed el-Hamed throws a stone into a cave. He hears a curious breaking sound and goes inside. Amid ...
New evangelicals search for faith, not lip service
Aug 06, 2008; ... The Barack Obama campaign opened its downtown Raleigh headquarters July 22 to much fanfare, but just around the corner the same night, the Obama celebration was outdrawn almost 3-to-l by Jesus. A "campaign stop" of the Jesus for President book tour was led by evangelical progressives, ...
On the wing
Aug 06, 2008; ... Raleigh's Bowerbirds: Eco-conscious, Europe-bound To borrow a cue from Walt Whitman and, from time to time, look up "in perfect silence at the stars" is to be reminded of nature's grand expanse, its mysteries, its beauty. This assumes, of course, that the stars aren't obscured by ...
FERTILE GROUND FOR VINES AND VINTNERS
Aug 06, 2008; ... North Carolina's expanding wine industry drives a new niche economy BY CLAIRE CUSICK I think I'm in the right place. But instead of rolling hills with green vines laid out in neat rows, I'm surrounded by impeccably landscaped office buildings with parking spaces laid out in neat rows, ...
Seat of the pants
Aug 06, 2008; ... Seat of the pants Road trips, of widely varying sorts, in three new films It seems strange to appraise the "history" of the stoner comedy, a subgenre whose alpha is also its archetype: the Cheech & Chong films of the 1970s and '80s. Within the lineage that follows are amusing ...
The Gospel of Craig Finn
Aug 06, 2008; ... The stories behind the unlikely liturgy of The Hold Steady "Our psalms are sing-along songs," exclaims Craig Finn, vocalist and songwriter for New York's The Hold Steady, to end the first verse of the first song on the band's new album Stay Positive. It's a verse that freeze-frames that ...
Speak the speech
Aug 06, 2008; ... Speak the speech An intriguingly talky show at Raleigh's Theatre in the Park It's tempting to call Raleigh playwright Kim Moore's Give It Up, Turn It Loose a collection of monologues that connects six characters we see on stage (and others that we don't). But the word ...
The champagne of shows
Aug 06, 2008; ... The champagne of shows Mad Men: When a smoke was a smoke and advertising was earnest I want a black Cadillac with fins like a shark I want a shot of Seagram's in the calm hour after a rough day. I want to take a long drag on a short Camel to soothe my T zone; there'll be no ...
FROM "BARNYARD-EY" TO "PERFECT WITH PORTERHOUSE"
Aug 06, 2008; ... The Indy's panel puts N.C. wines to the test So, is North Carolina wine any good? The Independent set out to answer that question with a blind taste testing by five experts. Some had deep knowledge about the North Carolina wine industry; some had none. All are North Carolinians ...
THE PRELUDE
Aug 06, 2008; ... PURPLE ST. JAMES (YAHZARAH) THE PRELUDE (self-released) No one knew what the hell to make of Yahzarah's video for "Wishing," a cut from her 2003 LP, Blockstar. In dreadlock pigtails, the Durham-bred singer played the part of a love-struck, candlelight-love-letter-writing ...
ZO! AND TIGALLO LOVE THE '80S
Aug 06, 2008; ... ZO! AND TIGALLO ZO! AND TIGALLO LOVE THE '80S (self-released) During a recent trip to visit my father, he shared with me something quite profound "These days, I'm realizing that the true measure of happiness is the ability to laugh at yourself' he said. While I doubt that ...
NOW SERVING
Aug 06, 2008; ... new restaurants and happenings Pittsboro has a new neighborhood bar. The City Tap (545-0562, www.thecitytap.com) just opened at 89 Hillsboro St. (at the corner of U.S. 15-501 and Salisbury Street) downtown. Owners Steve Carr, Sarah Carr and Steve Cote aim to "combine comfort with ...
7-INCH SPLIT
Aug 06, 2008; ... DAN DEACON/ FUTURE ISLANDS 7-INCH SPLIT (307 Knox Records) This seven-inch purple platter split between Baltimore kaleidoscopic electronicist Dan Deacon and Baltimore-via-Greenville New Wave revivalists Future Islands commences The Great Vinyl Project, a series of ...
Brother Yusuf Salim, 1929-2008: A fan's appreciation
Aug 06, 2008; ... Brother Yusuf Salim loved hugs. He especially loved to hug strangers. He would spread his arms wide and, with a smile, say, "Come on in here!" He told people to call him "Brother Yusuf." He would say "I'm just your humble brother," and he really meant it. He loved people, and they loved him ...
Save-a-Watt: Not the brightest bulb in the box
Aug 06, 2008; ... When Duke Energy CEO James Rogers comes to Raleigh Aug. 18 to testify before the N.C. Utilities Commission about the company's "Save-A-Watt" energy conservation program, he could either save or doom the controversial proposal. A week of hearings before the utilities commission ended with ...
FEAR OF A BLACK JOGGER
Aug 13, 2008; ... I prefer to run after dusk. This poses somewhat of a problem, because I am black. And for certain people, the sight of a relativety large Negro male barreling ungracefully toward them in the growing dark can be a bit unnerving. I wonder sometimes if their reaction would be different if I had ...
NBAF nixed again
Aug 13, 2008; ... The next coffin nail was hammered into the proposed National Bio and Agio Defense Facility Monday night when Durham County Commissioners voted 4-1 to oppose the federal disease lab that could be sited in Burner. The commission also took a stronger step of passing a resolution to draft a ...
Dog Days of summer
Aug 13, 2008; ... A future for Shuchi Backlit by the afternoon sun, she makes her way past the living room windows, nose-bumping along from chair to table to sofa. I see her beauty, her energy, her joy, but I wonder if she has a future. Breeders of these dogs, Shetland sheepdogs, know the risk and ...
Corrections
Aug 13, 2008; ... Hoffman Nursery was listed in CASA ("More than cactus," July 23) as a xeriscaping resource. While it sells drought-resistant plants, it is a wholesale nursery and does not sell to the ...
Sort-of-good country people
Aug 13, 2008; ... Sort-of-good country people Clyde Edgerton's new novel THE BIBLE SALESMAN BY CLYDE EDGERTON Little, Brown, 241 pp. Early in Clyde Edgerton's The Bible Salesman, Henry Dampier, the 20-year-old peddler in question, volunteers to bury the freshly dead cat of a potential customer. He reaches ...
I AM AN INSECT
Aug 13, 2008; ... I AM AN INSECT PAPERHAND PUPPET INTERVENTION Through Sept. 7 at UNC's Forest Theater; Sept. 12-13 at N.C. Museum of Art; www.paperhand.org Paperhand Puppet Intervention's I Am an Insect: A Fluttering Processionary of Infinitesimal Ideas, despite its tongue-twisting title, ...
PERSONALS
Aug 13, 2008; ... PERSONALS HOT SUMMER NIGHTS AT THE KENNEDY, PROGRESS ENERGY CENTER Through Auj. 17; www.hotsummernighfsatthekennedy.org Back when Persoruus was written in the 1980s, the prospect of anonymous hookups was limited to an ad in the paper. Today, the Internet has changed the ...
Upscale dress required (Unless you know somebody)
Aug 13, 2008; ... The rooftop patio of Solas-Raleigh's gleaming new restaurant and nightclub, whose three levels rise, quite literally, above their present company in the city's low-sitting nightlife hub of Glenwood South-is an orderly assembly: A row of white couches and chairs, covered by a matching canopy of ...
"LEAST ADOPTABLE" PETS
Aug 13, 2008; ... Sweet faces, tough cases On the side with the mice Name: Loretta Age: Young adult Occupation: Unemployed house cat Sign: Pisces Body art: I'll never tell Best future: My deeply expressive eyes Three things you are most thankful ...
Whet your palate with Dry Creek wines
Aug 13, 2008; ... wine beat Dry Creek is one of Sonoma County's bejeweled locales. Bound by the Alexander and Russian River valleys in California, the tributary is a mere 15 miles long and two miles wide. Certainly Chateau Margaux epitomizes the Margaux district of Bordeaux. Does Dry Creek do the ...
Excess Hollywood
Aug 13, 2008; ... Excess Hollywood Stiller trashes L.A. (and Vietnam); Woody digs Barcelona An electrifying surprise in the waning days of summer, Ben Stiller's TROPIC THUNDER is easily the funniest movie I've seen this year, a riotous high-octane sidesplitter that delivers more laughs than a ...
HOT MIKADO
Aug 13, 2008; ... HOT MIKADO RALEIGH LITTLE THEATRE Through Aug. 31; raleghhlittletheatre.org "If Gilbert and Sullivan could see me now!" proclaims the Mikado (Warren Keyes), the tide character of the nonsensical-but-entertaining, jazzed-up opera hot Mikado. To give you some context The ...
NOW SERVING
Aug 13, 2008; ... new restaurants and happenings Wow, this column could turn into "Now Dazzling" instead of "Now Serving." What I mean by that is area chefs, restaurateurs, farmers, food activists and food artisans are and making us proud. First, several local folks have been selected as delegates ...
Queer premieres
Aug 13, 2008; ... Queer premieres The N.C. Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, where more is never enough A fitting choice for the unofficial theme of the 13th annual North Carolina Gay and Lesbian Film Festival would be "Back to Basics." One year removed from shifting to a late-August start ...
The Melvins in overdrive
Aug 13, 2008; ... An appreciation of an aged, evolving beast Like firecrackers, most bands blow up. Their fuses bum. They build to a critical point. If they're lucky, the explosion leaves a mark. Other bands, the sort Neil Young called rust, seem to have slow-burning, limitless fuses. They steadily put ...
Neither here nor there
Aug 13, 2008; ... Raleigh's Brian Walsby quits his day job, hits the road with Melvins Raleigh cartoonist and drummer Brian Walsby is five days away from finishing his first month on the road with the Melvins, possibly his favorite band of the last two decades. As the California quartet made its way east ...
Five words with Titus Andronicus
Aug 13, 2008; ... Glen Rock, N.J.'s Titus Andronicus may call itself a shoegaze band, but its nervous vocals, pounding rhythm section and big guitars charge way too hard for that tag. Think of having the time of your life with Bright Eyes, or listening to five hyperactive Jersey boys decide they were way too ...
The future's embrace
Aug 13, 2008; ... Billy Corgan's bombast was mother's milk for the latest generation of young indie rockers In a recent interview with the Independent, the Annuals/ Sunfold songwriting team of Adam Baker and Kenny Florence outlined the bands that helped shape their sound. While critics have mostly likened ...
Fishing while brown
Aug 13, 2008; ... Caught without a fishing license, five Latinos in Alamance are deported It was twilight Aug. 6 when Officer Jeff Brown of the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission noticed an empty Toyota Pathfinder while patrolling an access road near the Haw River. After inspecting the car and finding no ...
Chain reaction
Aug 13, 2008; ... Durham commissioners to weigh tethering ordinance Cash and Fat Mamma, Angel and Diesel: They are among the more than 100 dogs who can securely roam in their yards without the jerk of a chain or the bum of a rope. Durham's Coalition to Unchain Dogs, which helped free them, builds ...
Homestead Village may be saved
Aug 06, 2008; ... Homestead Village, the secluded 38-acre mobile home park in North Raleigh whose days looked numbered when we wrote about it a few weeks ago, looks like it may be spared the rezoning ax. Cary Joshi, a partner in WJ Properties, the Raleigh firm that was seeking to rezone the property for a ...
Holding batterers accountable
Aug 20, 2008; ... Durham's CHANGE program is back to tackle domestic abuse Lena Angelichio scoped the courtroom for potential clients. She handed out fliers to probation officers and court-appointed attorneys, and gestured to get the attention of the men dressed in orange who sat on the bench against the ...
KATRINA: FADING FROM VIEW
Aug 20, 2008; ... front porch. My son was born in Durham Regional Hospital three summers ago. Two months after his birthday, Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. I met my wife while living in Louisiana in 1999. The national disaster of Hurricane Katrina seemed a little less distant because of our ...
The ban stands
Aug 20, 2008; ... Door to state's community colleges shuts on illegal immigrants The ban on illegal immigrants in North Carolina's community colleges will stand while the board that oversees the institutions conducts an extensive study to craft a longterm policy on the issue. A divided State Board ...
Protesters guilty, but sweat-free
Aug 20, 2008; ... UNC still fails to adequately address whether its apparel is made in sweatshops Five University of North Carolina students arrested for their role in a May anti-sweatshop protest at the offices of die university chancellor were found guilty Monday in Chapel Hill District ...
Georgia on my mind
Aug 20, 2008; ... John McCain, the U.S. and the latest Russian crisis I'm sorry, but previous presidential election cycles, particularly the last two, have consumed all of my patience. Damn those civics classes for duping me into believing that every four years we Americans carry out our sacred duties, ...
Rejects and pros welcome
Aug 20, 2008; ... Adult kickball: more fun with humor and beer I hated rainy days in elementary school. Inclement weather meant only one thing in third, fourth and fifth grades: It was time to go to the gym and play kickball, the most stupid and humiliating sport ever invented. First, there was ...
Correction
Aug 20, 2008; ... Ristin Cook's name was ...
Ice, ice baby
Aug 20, 2008; ... Jordan Glass, Zamboni driver Well I went down to the local arena Asked to see the manager man He came from his office, said, "Son, can I help you?" Looked at him and said, "Yes, you can ... " Hey I want to drive the Zamboni ... Hey I want to drive ...
Spin doctors
Aug 20, 2008; ... The speed, skill and torque of table tennis Crack the gym door at the Brier Creek Community Center in Raleigh most Friday nights and the room sounds like it is full of telegraph operators sending Morse code. Instead, you'll find 20 sweaty people, transfixed over 10 green tables, tapping, ...
Identified flying objects
Aug 20, 2008; ... Disc golf: from tee to target Disc golf may be the king of sports: It doesn't require expensive equipment It can be played anywhere, anytime by anyone. And it is compatible with beer drinking. John. Sheffield of Chapel Hill best describes the goal of the game: "The most fun ...
He came out of left field
Aug 20, 2008; ... Chris Ivey, Bulls scorekeeper The next time you're at a Durham Bulls game, take a moment away from your Dippin' Dots and peer toward the left field wall. Take in the ballpark: the green of the freshly mown grass, the crisp chalk baselines, and downtown Durham silhouetted against the ...
Semi-pro on a shoestring
Aug 20, 2008; ... Roughing it with the Triangle Rattlers It's neatly game time. In the dimly lit locker room at Durham County Stadium, many of the Triangle Rattlers are dressed and collecting in the stairwell that leads onto the field However, Orlando Adwater, the Rattler's 6-fbot-5-inch, 320-pound head ...
Listening with Little Brother
Aug 20, 2008; ... A week before opening for Boyz II Men, Little Brother talks sex jams When Phonte Coleman, one of two emcees in Durham hip-hop act Little Brother, opens the front door of his DJ's home in North Raleigh, he's visibly tired and stressed. As he shuffles his bare feet across a hardwood floor, ...
...AND JUSTUS FOR ALL
Aug 20, 2008; ... LITTLE BROTHER ...AND JUSTUS FOR ALL (Hall of Justus) Little Brother-Phonte Coleman and Rapper Big Pooh-have a thing with food In 2006, after seeing Little Brother open for MF Doom at New York's Nokia Theater, The Village Voice's former vowel-vomiting vigilante blogger ...
Lower cases
Aug 20, 2008; ... Lower cases ZZ Packers edition of Southern stories straddles old and new Dixie NEW STORIES FROM THE SOUTH: THE YEAR'S BEST, 2008 EDITED BY ZZ PACKER Algonquin Books, 428 pp. In her introduction to New Stories from the South: The Year's Best, 2008, ZZ Packer, co-editor of the collection, ...
Waiting for completion
Aug 20, 2008; ... Waiting for completion A Raleigh revival of Clifford Odet's Awake and Sing! reaches for a bygone era AWAKE AND SING! 2nd Avenue South Players, Meymandi Theater of the Murphey School www.rcjf.org Through Aug. 31 * * * A painter's studio has ...
ON THE BOARDS
Aug 20, 2008; ... I AM AN INSECT PAPERHAND PUPPET INTERVENTION Through Sept. 7 at UNC's Forest Theater; Sept. 12-13 at N.C. Museum of Art; www.paperhand.org This marvelous display of imagination uses puppets, props and costumes to remind us of the wonders beneath our feet. The effect is ...
NOW SERVING
Aug 20, 2008; ... new restaurants and happenings Are you sick of hearing about wine? I hope not, because I have two winey items to share before changing the subject to something equally Important beer. First, congratulations to the Angus Barn (9401 Glenwood Ave., Raleigh, 781-2444, www ....
Hey, genius, it's hot!
Aug 20, 2008; ... Brew Nerds brings coffee geek chic to Winston-Salem It's the revenge of the nerds, Version 2.0. Armed with potent espresso concoctions and Swirlys and Wedgies, the Brew Nerds of WinstonSalem are after one thing-the omnipresent evil mermaid that has led coffee lovers astray. Ask ...
I am the eggplant, goo-goo-g'joob
Aug 20, 2008; ... The meaty vegetable can be your new friend Long before Jenni Ferrari-Adler edited the collection Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant: Confessions of Cooking for One and Dining Alone (Riverhead, 2007), Laurie Colwin's essay by the same title appeared in Gourmet magazine and reappeared ...
Smells like team spirit
Aug 20, 2008; ... Smells like team spirit With new books out, married N.C. State film professors enjoy parallel successes There may be academic couples luckier than N.C. State University film professors Marsha and Devin Orgeron, but there probably aren't many. It's not just that they've ...
Paper or plastic?
Aug 20, 2008; ... Paper or plastic? The sly Baghead spoofs itself BAGHEAD Opens Friday in select theaters *** It took five minutes for Baghead to win me over. The film's extended prologue opens at the Los Angeles Underground Film Festival with the screening of a ...
Wars of clay
Aug 20, 2008; ... Wars of clay Bruce Bickford's animation from Monster Road gets a proper release-and a brand new score "I don't have any realistic goals-at least right now I don't." So said the eccentric, endearing animator Bruce Bickford in Monster Road, the acclaimed 2005 documentary about him ...
Measures & minds
Aug 20, 2008; ... Measures & minds With her tribute to Oscar Peterson, Durham's Lois Deloatch charms and educates Lois Deloatch is more than a jazz singer. Her fluid interpretation of a vocalist's role transcends being only a medium for the music. She often becomes a caretaker of the music's ...
IN THE PASSION
Aug 20, 2008; ... PAGAN HELLCATS IN THE PASSION (self-released) This debut EP from Chapel Hill quartet Pagan Hellcats mixes bluesy rockers and rootsy ballads, drawing primarily on the late '60s rock of The Band, Neil Young and Joni Mitchell. The singular exception on this 30-minute outing ...
EP3
Aug 20, 2008; ... MAPLE STAVE EP3 (self-released) If the unflinching, heavy-barreling material of the first three EPs by Durham's Maple Stave warrant a unified gripe, it's that the 14 tracks therein aren't enough. Or, more accurately, it's not enough at once. Since January 2005, Maple ...
SANDWICH
Aug 20, 2008; ... THE SAMMIES SANDWICH (Morisen) Power or beauty: You usually can't have it both ways. On Sandwich, the sophomore effort from Charlotte quartet The Sammies, the band seems unable to decide which is more important. The resulting album feels muddled despite a handful of ...
CHICKENS HAVE COME HOME TO ROOST
Aug 27, 2008; ... Everybody's talking about the new chicks in town-the old chickens, mostly. The new chickens arrived at their coop on a beautiful Carolina evening in July. That's our tried-and-true method of introducing new chickens to the flock Bring them home at twilight so they can get a good night's ...