Hibernian and Raleigh Beer Garden owner Niall Hanley (who we profiled in August) is at last preparing to move on what may be his most ambitious project yet. Earlier this week, after a year of negotiations, Hanley signed a long-term lease for the fifteen-thousand square-foot-property at 411 W. Morgan St. in downtown Raleigh. During the […]
Grayson Haver Currin
Bio: Grayson Haver Currin was the music editor of INDY Week and the co-director of Hopscotch Music Festival.Twitter: http://twitter.com/currincy
Posted inFood & Drink
Durham Distillery Wins Big with the American Craft Spirits Awards
Durham Distillery had a big night in Chicago Wednesday. Three of the young company’s five spirits earned medals at the American Craft Spirits Association’s Distillers Convention. The Conniption American Dry Gin won silver accolades, while both the Damn Fine Coffee Liqueur (a partnership with Raleigh’s Slingshot Coffee Co.) and the Conniption Navy Strength Gin grabbed […]
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Record Review: SOON gives The Love Language’s hooks heavy-metal armor on Vol. 1
SOON VOL. 1 Temple of Torturous Perceptions of SOON tend to arrive with a smirk. The nascent, metal-clad quartet is the secondary concern of Stuart McLamb, whose long-running band The Love Language favors Spector-swept pop that basks in its own romantic glow. Consequently, the slow-moving, low-tuned SOON generated preemptive criticism as a trend-chasing fad (meant […]
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After Forty Years, Irregardless Cafe Finally Fries Something—Pickled Potatoes, Even
Irregardless Cafe 901 W. Morgan St., Raleigh www.irregardless.com Arthur Gordon had too much produce. In 2012, his Raleigh institution, Irregardless Cafe & Catering, purchased a 1.5-acre garden a few miles from the restaurant, intending to increase quality control and decrease the distance between the plant and the plate. But the seasonal surpluses perplexed him, forcing […]
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How Chapel Hill Violinist Jennifer Curtis Became a New Master of Romanian Composer George Enescu’s Music
Jennifer Curtis’s The Road From Transylvania Home Haw River Ballroom, Saxapahaw Saturday, March 5, 8 p.m., $12–$15 On a Monday night, the lavish blue auditorium of Memorial Hall on the campus of UNC-Chapel Hillgenerally teeming with concerts and workshops and presentationsis unexpectedly empty. The violinist and former UNC teacher Jennifer Curtis doesn’t have a key, […]
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Interview: Slayer and Exodus Guitarist Gary Holt Talks About When Bands Should Break Up, Internet Trolls, and Stapling Pizza to Slayer’s Ceiling
Gary Holt has two pretty good jobs these days. He’s the guitarist in long-running Bay Area thrash pioneers Exodus. And for the last five years, he’s been the guitarist in another thrash institution from just down the California highway, Slayer. That last job, though, comes with its troubles. Holt stepped in as a temporary substitute […]
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Record Review: Skylar Gudasz Owns Her Influences with the Brilliant Oleander
Skylar Gudasz Oleander Daniel 13 Press Oleander, the overdue debut LP from the sharp Durham songwriter and stunning singer Skylar Gudasz, is chockablock with talented guests. Members of the North Carolina Symphony sit alongside a who’s who of local session players and vocalistspop crooners Brett Harris and Django Haskins, band-leading veterans Brad Cook and Leah […]
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Good To Be Home: Tift Merritt Talks Moving Back to Raleigh, Reissuing Bramble Rose, and Breaking Up
Tift Merritt Performs Bramble Rose Cat’s Cradle, Carrboro Friday, Feb. 26, 8 p.m., $25 I last sat down to talk to Tift Merritt in January 2008, in a coffee shop in Manhattan. It was a period of intense transition for the country-soul singer, songwriter, and Raleigh expatriate. The major label Lost Highway had just dropped […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Picnic Makes Deviled Eggs Great Again (Plus, the Recipe)
Picnic 1647 Cole Mill Road, Durham You know that Picnic loves a good hybrid as soon as you sit at one of the new Durham barbecue joint’s square, dark-stained pine tables. There, in the gleaming condiment rack, towering above the salt and pepper shakers but level with the bottles of Texas Pete and ketchup, stands […]
Posted inMusic
Listen to Body Games’ Emotionally Brutal, Musically Exquisite “Special”
“Special,” the first single from the upcoming Body Games LP, Damager, begins with a scene, cut perhaps from some dimly lit nightclub. With her clarion, gently plaintive voice curling around the rhythm, Kate Thompson details the moment—a former lover spotted across the room, all those old feelings dredged up in an instant, her “mind twisted […]