“Blood Done Sign My Name” Announces Release Date
The movie portraying a conflict a long, long time ago in Oxford will be released on about 100 screens nationally on February 19. Let’s hope Jeb Stuart, the director, chooses to convey the historical aspect and isolated nature of this incident instead of falling prey to Hollywood’s stereotypical portrayal of the South.
The movie is based on the book by Tim Tyson, which follows a disturbing trend in Hollywood, as only eight of the decade’s Best Picture nominees are original works of art .
Big, Busy Week Ahead
I busy week, indeed. Let’s start with sports. The long-awaited, first-ever Thursday night football game for Chapel Hill begins at 8pm tomorrow night. Florida State and Erin Andrews (not necessarily in order of importance) are in town for a game that will be featured in ESPN. Plan accordingly, as traffic in Raleigh and RTP should be horrendous.
The other reason for traffic problems is the N.C. State Fair which ends on Sunday night. Today the Wake County Public Schools have an early release day, so there should be many students invading the fairgrounds. Tomorrow is can day, where entry is free for those with 4 cans of food for the needy. The remaining music acts are Julianne Hough, Anoop Desai, Jeremy Camp and Tenth Avenue North, Blake Shelton, and Eric Church.
The State Fair isn’t the only other draw for tens of thousands of people. Raleigh Wide Open begins Friday, and celebrates the grand opening of Raleigh’s new City Plaza. Delbert McClinton headlines the main stage of music, however more interesting, perhaps, is the Cherry Bounce stage, which is the culmination of a week-long local music series downtown. The series aims to get exposure for a mostly unheard of list of bands. Be sure to stop by the WTVD studios on Saturday afternoon for your chance to get on Wheel of Fortune.
The big stand along music event occurring this week is Queensryche at the Lincoln Theatre, tonight. However in the Greensboro Coliseum, rock gods AC/DC will play Sunday night. INto industrial? KMFDM is at the Cradle Monday night.
There is plenty of theater for the people this week, too. The Picasso Ballet performance by the Carolina Ballet continues at the Fletcher Opera Theater while NC Theater’s West Side Story production runs at Memorial Auditorium. Tonight David Copperfield will be at the DPAC, while the Carolina Crown II (wrestling theater) will take place at the RBC Center on Saturday night. NCSU alumnus, John Reep, the “Hemi guy” plays at Charlie Goodnights this weekend.
If all of that excitement isn’t enough, be sure to swing by the Raleigh Convention Center for the Junior League’s Shopping SPREE!, a seriously awesome event when shopping for things women like.
For more info on these events, check out the gogoraleigh Do-It Calendar . That’s a heck of a week! I can’t wait to get out there and DO IT!
Ajax Comes to Broughton
Tonight is the first night of Broughton High School’s production of “Ajax”, as translated by John Tipton . The press release goes into more depth:
This classic Greek drama recounts the struggles of Ajax, the second greatest warrior behind Achilles. After Achilles meets his fate, a contest emerges for which Greek deserves to win Achilles weapons and armor. Odysseus wins, but only with the aid of the goddess Athena. Ajax reacts with blind rage and slaughters countless livestock believing them to be Menelaus, Agamemnon, and their followers. The play opens on the next morning as Ajax returns to sanity and comes to terms with his vile behavior. The central theme of the play -warriors struggling to readjust to domestic life after years of battle stress- resonates today.
The Greeks used special effects in their plays often. They would raise and lower the actors playing gods and goddesses from atop the skene building to the orchestra circle. The theatrical term to describe this effect is deus ex machine which translates as “god from the machine”. Our production employs this device in various parts of the play.
Broughton High School’s production will be the world premiere of Tipton’s translation. Jason Schumacher, who works for ZFX Flying Effects and has worked on several plays on Broadway, in Las Vegas, and throughout North America and Asia, has agreed to help with this performance. Drew Vidal, a Ball State University professor and professional fight choreographer, has also agreed to lend his expertise. The Theatre and Dance programs at Broughton are providing opportunities for the students to work with these professionals and experience the flying effects. PJ Benedict, a movement director with experience in the United Kingdom, has volunteered to work with the Greek Chorus.
The play is scheduled for performances opening in the Broughton High School Auditorium, October 15, 16 and 17 at 7:00 p.m. Tickets for the three night public performance are $5. The theatre program receives no money from the school or county and all of the classroom supplies and production needs are funded solely by ticket sales. Please continue to support the theatre program at Broughton so they may provide future opportunities for students and the public. Any support is welcome.
Burning Coal Brings “Flee This Place”
Raleigh’s Burning Coal Theater’s “Wait Til You See This” second-stage series is currently running Flee This Place , a dark piece where the myths of Medea and Antigone collide. The work, authored by Johanna Maynard, is intended for mature audiences. All shows are at the Meymandi Theatre in the Murphy School.
Show times:
- Wednesday, Oct. 14, 7:30pm
- Thursday, Oct. 15, 7:30pm
- Friday, Oct. 16, 7:30pm
- Saturday, Oct. 17, 7:30pm
- Sunday, Oct. 18, 2:00pm
Winterfest Is Coming
Raleigh’s new City Plaza will be the site of the
AT&T Winterfest Ice Rink
. The 45’ x 85’ rink will be able to entertain 140 skaters beginning December 4. The kick-off event begins that day at 5pm and will feature a reading by Ira David Wood, III and performances by local choirs and bands, a tree lighting, and a country music headliner.
The rink will charge a $6 admission, which includes the skate rental fee. The event runs through January 31.
The Distillery Hosting Big Benefit
On Sunday, young local theater company The Distillery will be hosting a big benefit at Amra’s. The event will feature music, snacks, silent auction, door prizes, face painting, drink specials, and performances by Cotton, Sea Cow, Lizh, and more. It will be family-friendly until 5:30 when Amras turns back into a bar, allowing only those of age to remain. The event runs from 3pm to 9pm, and admission is $20 (kids free with an adult).
Alice Cooper Coming to DPAC
Well here’s something that looks like fun for the whole family. Alice Cooper’s Theatre of Death is coming to the Durham Performing Arts Center on September 30. Tickets go on sale on Friday (8/21) at 10am at Ticketmaster outlets.
David Copperfield Coming to DPAC
Magician David Copperfield is coming for four shows at Durham’s performing arts center. The times are 5:30 and 8:30 for each day of October 20 and 21.
5:30 shows:
8:30 shows:
City Council Approves Amphitheater Plan Funding
Today the Raleigh City Council approved funding for final plans for the (previously mentioned)
downtown amphitheater
. The funding will go toward design and noise studies (NIMBYs in Boylan Heights are concerned about noise). The site of the 5,000 seat theater will be on the empty lot adjacent to the convention center, about 5 blocks from the neighborhood.
The amphitheater is anticipated to cost $1.5 million and host events too small for Walnut Creek. Last year it was anticipated that Live Nation, the Walnut Creek operator, would run the smaller downtown facility, however according to the WRAL report today, they have backed out of the deal leaving the facility with no current sponsor.
Big New Feature: Gogo Do-it Calendar
Those filthy calendars! This one only has downtown events. That one is so cluttered with basketweaving and high school plays, you’ll never use it. That other one is only usable if you happen to be visiting a specific website.
How much would you pay for a calendar that only features the good stuff? But wait, there’s more! How about a calendar that updates itself when impressive events get scheduled? Fifty dollars? A hundred dollars? Uh-uh! Oh, There’s more, a lot more! How much would you pay for a calendar that not only contains the right events, but can easily integrate into your very own calendar system? Two hundred dollars? Think again!
Introducing the gogo raleigh Gogo Do-it Calendar System. With just a few steps, planning nirvana is at your fingertips, complements of gogo raleigh . Oh, did I mention that it is free ?
OK, enough Ronco sales pitch. The big feature is finally here! Hopefully your life in the Triangle just became a nonstop stream of fun. Powered by Google Calendar, the Gogo Do-it Calendar System allows users a multitude of ways to integrate the best events in the Triangle into their own calendar systems. Here are just a few ways:
Basic
While viewing any page at gogo raleigh , click the Gogo Do-it tab in the right sidebar and a list of upcoming events will expand. Each of the items links to more information such as event time, location, ticket information, and more.
Simple
To see more than just a list of events, go to the Gogo Do-it calendar site at Google Calendar . A link to this will live in both the gogo raleigh Calendar page (tab at the top of this page) and in the expanded Gogo Do-it sidebar section. Google Calendar’s standard views are powerful: Week, Month, and Agenda (list). Navigate to a different week or month by using the arrows or the calendar layout in the top left corner. Click on an event, and you’ll see expanded information such as time, location, and a URL linking to more information.
Full Google Calendar Integration
Google Calendar is the easiest calendar system for viewing in the business. Much like World Book’s old human anatomy overlays, Google displays each selected calendar as an overlaid transparency. This allows one to subscribe to and easily toggle calendars they infrequently need as well as their core calendars. To get the best experience, get a Google account and add the gogo raleigh Gogo Do-it Calendar to your own Google Calendar. The best way to do this is to go to the Gogo Do-it Calendar page at Google (click Gogo Do-it in the sidebar and click “View Complete Calendar”). Next and click the “+Calendar” icon in the bottom right corner of the screen. The “gogoraleigh” will then appear in your “Other Calendars” list where you can customize its color.
Google Calendar users can add specific events to their personal calendars easily. While viewing the Google Calendar, click on an event, then click on “Copy To My Calendar”. This will add the event to your personal Google Calendar whether or not you’ve added the Gogo Do-it Calendar to your Other Calendars list.
A bonus feature will appear soon. As new events are announced on gogoraleigh, a button will appear so one can easily add the event to their personal Google Calendar. For example, here is a button for adding Thursday night’s Coldpay/Elbow concert to a personal Google Calendar
iPhone Integration: There are many ways to integrate the gogoraleigh calendar into the iPhone. The simplest is for users who prefer the web version of Google Calendar. Once the Gogo Do-it calendar is in your “Other Calendars” list on Google Calendar, you can use it on the iPhone. Simply navigate in Safari to calendar.google.com . At the bottom of the page, click “Settings”, and make sure “gogoraleigh” is checked. On the iPhone Google Calendar offers Day and Month views. Unfortunately it does not offer link recognition in an event’s Description section. Copy and Paste is necessary to to see more. Thankfully, though, the map function for each event links to the iPhone’s Google Map native app.
iPhone, Blackberry, Palm, Outlook, iCal
Another way to integrate the gogoraleigh Gogo Do-it Calendar into your iPhone’s calendar is to subscribe to the calendar via Outlook or iCal . After syncing your portable device, the latest Gogo Do-it events will appear. The iPhone will show gogoraleigh as a subcalendar, which can be displayed on its own or included in the “All Calendars” view.
No doubt, this is a big, big undertaking for gogo raleigh . Peruse the calendar and you’ll see that there are many, many events entered. Getting to the calendar is easy from this website, however it can be even easier if you set it as a bookmark in your browser.
The possibilities with the system and I hope you enjoy having it as a resource to finding fun in the Triangle.
Theatre in the Park Announces 2010 Season
Theatre In The Park recently announced their upcoming 2009 – 2010 season. It all begins on August 14 with the opening of Master Class , the 1996 Tony Award winning play, by Terrence McNally. It will feature local actor Lynda Clark as Maria Callas, a New York-born Greek soprano and one of the most renowned opera singers of the twentieth century. Master Class is a story, not about opera, but about life and sacrifices made in the name of art. Lynda Clark brings to the stage over 20 years of experience, most recently sharing the stage at TIP with Ira David Wood III in Shakespeare’s Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet .
“The role of Maria Callas is one of the biggest challenges of my career to date. The line load alone, as Maria talks, teaches and tirades, is absolutely incredible – a monstrous undertaking,” said Lynda Clark. This performance also features Katherine Anderson, Antonio Delgadillo and Rozlyn Sorrell.
The complete schedule includes:
- Master Class by Terrence McNally – August 14-16 & 20-23
- Don’t Cry for Me, Margaret Mitchell by Duke Ernsberger & Virginia Cate – February 12-14 & 18-21
- Doubt by John Patrick Shanley – April 9-11 & 15-18, 2010
- November by David Mamet – June 4-6 & 10-13, 2010
Additionally, an extra performance is being added to the local production run of A Christmas Carol in Raleigh’s Memorial Auditorium. The additional performance is scheduled for Sunday, December 13 th at 7:00PM.
NC Theatre Discount Tickets Available
On Saturday night the NC Theatre’s production of The Sound of Music began its 10-show run. West Side Story begins on October 17. Discounts of up to 20% are available
using the attached form
(.doc). Availability may be an issue depending on the show desired, but it is worth checking out. If there are any questions, feel free to call the number at the bottom of the form.
Also be sure to check out the NC Theatre blog . It currently features several interviews, photos, and insights about this particular production of The Sound of Music.
“Sylvia” Completing Its Run Sunday
This year’s 4-show series Hot Summer Nights series has begun at the Kennedy Theatre.
The first show is Sylvia
, a comedy directed by Alan Campbell. It centers around a 22-year long marriage that is rocked by sudden introduction of a dog. The show contains mature subject matter and runs through Sunday, so only three shows remain.
Tickets are $22
and are General Admission.
Greg and Kate have moved to Manhattan after twenty-two years of child-raising in the suburbs. Greg’s career as a financial trader is winding down, while Kate’s career, as a public-school English teacher, is beginning to offer her more opportunities. Greg brings home a dog he found in the park or that has found him bearing only the name "Sylvia" on her name tag. A street-smart mixture of Lab and Poodle, Sylvia becomes a major bone of contention between husband and wife. She offers Greg an escape from the frustrations of his job and the unknowns of middle age. To Kate, Sylvia becomes a rival for affection. And Sylvia thinks Kate just doesn’t understand the relationship between man and dog. The marriage is put in serious jeopardy until, after a series of hilarious and touching complications, Greg and Kate learn to compromise, and Sylvia becomes a valued part of their lives.
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