Now that the world has survived fears about an apocalypse, it’s time to celebrate the end of 2012 and the beginning of 2013. Here are some events in Durham and Chapel Hill that mark this annual milestone.
With the number of concerts, plays and other arts-related events, in any week there’s more than enough to do in Durham, Chapel Hill and Carrboro. The arts are essential to our civic life. Here are some developments that we at Entertainment & More took note of in 2012.
A look back at the year in entertainment in Durham absolutely must include the place that draws thousands upon thousands to Broadway shows, concerts and special events throughout the year. The Durham Performing Arts Center has exceeded expectations since it opened in the fall of 2008. It’s been going gangbusters ever since, and this past year was ranked No. 1 by Pollstar magazine for ticket sales, and the Carolina Theatre also joined the list, at the 88th spot worldwide.
The Durham Arts Council has created an Indiegogo fundraising campaign to help support 16 local artists have been selected to receive Ella Fountain Pratt Emerging Artists Grants in 2013.
Vocalist Nnenna Freelon and bass player John Brown have a musical association that goes back a good 20 years. Brown was in Freelon’s first touring band, before he became the jazz studies director at Duke University. Through recordings and tours, Freelon and Brown have established separate bodies of work that are heard nationally and internationally.
The more rational minds among us say the world will not end Friday, but that hasn’t stopped a lot of people from having some fun with the Mayan calendar date that some say marks the end of everything. The organizers of “Apocalesque,” a cabaret and variety show at the Carrboro ArtsCenter Friday, are using the date to celebrate the idea of transformation, the idea not of an ending, but a new beginning.
Since 2001, brothers Davy and Peter Rothbart have been publishing FOUND Magazine, a collection of notes, photos and odds and ends that the Rothbarts, their readers and contributors, find in passing. To celebrate 10 years of publishing, the Rothbarts will bring their anniversary tour to Chapel Hill and Durham this weekend.
Twenty years ago, Concrete Blonde lead singer, songwriter and bass player Johnette Napolitano was the kind of rock star who did what she wanted creatively. Today, she still is and still does.
During a recent walk-through at Chapel Hill’s Frank Gallery, photographer Barbara Tyroler talked about the importance of collaboration and the exchange of ideas. Both ideas are central to a new exhibit she is presenting at Frank Gallery, “Getting Layered: 6 Women Collaborate on Self-Portraiture.”
The Durham-based traditional band Carolina Chocolate Drops have been nominated for a 2012 Grammy Award for their recording “Leaving Eden.”
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A fanfare of low reed instruments opens an arrangement of the traditional song “Man of Constant Sorrow,” from composer and percussionist John Hollenbeck’s recording “Songs I Like A Lot” (scheduled for a January release). A guitarist plays a rhythmic beat, then vocalists Theo Bleckmann and Kate McGarry sing the tune, which many listeners recognize from the movie “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”