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Hi! Happy weekend.
As you may have heard, Rhiannon Giddens is bringing Biscuits & Banjos, a new festival with an old history, to downtown Durham in April.
The three-day festival will reunite The Carolina Chocolate Drops—CCD member Dom Flemmons teased the reunion recently (!) with a photo of the INDY’s 2005 cover story on the fledgling band—as well as performers like Taj Mahal, Leyla McCalla, Rissi Palmer, and more. Programming for the biscuit portion of the festival thus far promises a “celebrity chef biscuit bake-off.”
Downtown Durham doesn’t boast a strong festival culture like Raleigh, which has Hopscotch and Dreamville, and has struggled in that gap—Moogfest and the Art of Cool didn’t last, Full Frame took a multi-year pause (though it came back this year, and will be back next April!), and other festival ventures have been downright shady.
Biscuits & Banjos, though, has star power, strong backing from the city and venues like DPAC, and Rhiannon Giddens, who wrote in the press release that Durham has “a vibrant community, an incredible artistic scene, and a history that aligns with the festival’s mission to uplift and honor Black culture.”
By the way, the election is in eleven days (as if anyone could forget!). We have a comprehensive voting package for readers, including endorsements, candidate questionnaires, and a whole lot of reporting, here. Stay tuned for our election night live blog and please don’t forget to vote.
A photo of Rhiannon Giddens from the archives. Photo by Justin Cook.
elsewhere in the culture section
Talking with Durham journalist Bill Adair about his new book on lying in politics (and yes, why Republicans now do it more) and with North Carolina author Elizabeth Lindsey Rogers about her new collection of essays on “place, power, and pageant culture.”
Finally, the break from the news you’ve all been waiting for: A dispatch from Durham Parks and Recreation’s annual haunted clown walk along the Eno.
ICYMI: A Kamala Harris mural in Durham.
out and about in the triangle
Last week, Justin Laidlaw wrote about artist Sherrill Roland’s Nasher exhibition that reflects on wrongful incarceration. Now there’s another good reason to visit the museum: A painting by Ernie Barnes, “Two Shots,” is on display—a “unique pool hall painting that makes numerous references to Durham in posters on the wall.”
Barnes, as you may remember, is the Durham artist behind “Sugar Shack”—the iconic dance-hall painting that sold for a record-breaking $15.3 million in 2022. (“I stole it—I would have paid a lot more,” the buyer told the Times after the sale. “For certain segments of America, it’s more famous than the ‘Mona Lisa.’”)
Merge Records was inducted into the NC Music Hall of Fame. On Sunday, a big benefit for WNC featuring Old Crowe Medicine Show, Fancy Gap, BJ Barham, and more will be held.
Food highlights: Akatun, the new Durham coffeeshop-by-day, restaurant-by-night spot from Oscar Diaz, is open and is “inspired by the water-filled caves around Tulum Mexico,” per this review from the News & Observer. Raleigh has a new Italian restaurant and ramen bar and its newest bar, the divey Stella, opens tomorrow.
A few fall arts events: Festifall Arts Markets run in Chapel Hill the next two weekends and Carrboro restaurants and bars are raising funds for the new ArtsCenter through Artstober. Raleigh’s First Friday event next week celebrates a lively new mural by Mary Carter Taub.
out and about in the world
Candidly, all I’ve been reading lately is unsettling international and election news. But here’s a few links: The new Laura Marling record is lovely. Hurricane Helene: A Seed Saver’s Sorrow and Jim’s Ballad. This lengthy New Yorker dive into the world of a rare books dealer is a classic. Remembering Gary Indiana. One of my favorite Rhiannon Giddens songs.
— Sarah Edwards —
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