PITTSBORO -- "Club Mystere" is billed as "a short campy film noir murder mystery spoof" by Central Carolina Community College acting students, and the Murder Mystery Dinner Theatre for charity will be presented at 6:30 p.m. Dec. 15 at the Pittsboro Kiwanis Building, 309 Credle St.
The "murder victim" in this production is Pittsboro Mayor Randy Voller. The audience guesses who-dunnit. Special musical guests for the evening will be The Swang Brothers.
Tickets are $14, and proceeds will benefit CORA (Chatham Outreach Alliance) to help feed the hungry.
Advanced tickets only can be purchased. They are available at CCCC's Pittsboro main office. For more information contact Ellen Bland at ebland@cccc.edu
Have tea with author Dec. 18
CHAPEL HILL -- Friends of the Chapel Hill Public Library will present a meet the Author Tea with Erica Eisdorfer, author of "The Wet Nurse's Tale," on Dec. 18. Refreshments will be served at 3:30 p.m., with the program at 4 p.m.
In the indelible, spirited voice of its heroine, Susan Rose, "The Wet Nurse's Tale" is a rollicking and affecting look at life, death and motherhood in Victorian times, and how women of all classes were always, even if unwillingly, connected.
Erica Eisdorfer, who describes wet-nursing as the world's "second oldest profession," grew up in Durham, and graduated from Duke University. She was the book reviewer for WUNC-FM, the NPR affiliate, for eight years. For more than 20 years she has managed the Bull's Head Bookshop, the trade bookstore on campus at UNC Chapel Hill. She is a resident of Carrboro, where she lives with her husband and their two daughters.
"After years of writing novels and sticking them under my bed, I thought I had something publishable with "The Wet Nurse's Tale,' " Eisdorfer said.
"I've been a bookseller for 30 years, so I had a lot to compare it to and in this novel, I felt as if I'd finally reached away from myself enough to have written a successful novel," she said.
For more information, call 968-2780.
Arts and crafts festival planned
CARRBORO -- ELF is an imaginative holiday arts and crafts festival in Carrboro, and its third rendition, to be held at the Carrboro ArtsCenter, will be held from 1 to 5 p.m. Dec. 12.
ELF will be held in the gallery and the West End Theatre of the ArtsCenter. This year Roulette Vintage will be participating and joining in on organizing.
ELF wants to welcome and encourage local artisans to share their arts and crafts with the surrounding community in an approachable and festive setting. This year the selection of goods includes handmade soaps, knit goods, jewelry, pillows, silk screened clothing, ceramic vessels, holiday cards, imaginative magnets and lots of art. Snacks, old holiday movies, beverages, Santa Claus and music will be provided.
Visit http://carrborocraftandbake.blogspot.com/ or go to http://www.artscenterlive.org/index.php?a=Events&b=Holiday&id=747 for more information.
Landscapes to be on display
CHAPEL HILL -- More than 30 watercolor landscapes of southern environs -- ranging from Triangle scenes to images of Antarctica -- will be on display Monday through Jan. 27 at UNC.
The paintings by Triangle artist Nerys Levy will be in the Love House and Hutchins Forum at 410 E. Franklin St., home of the Center for the Study of the American South.
From 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday, the center will host a free public opening for the exhibit, "South -- From Saxapahaw to Antarctica." To attend, RSVP to reidjohn@email.unc.edu or call (919) 962-5665.
The paintings depict southern regions of China, Europe, Italy and elsewhere.
"The images range from barns in Chatham County to icebergs," said Lisa Beavers, events and communications coordinator for the center. "It is an art exhibition with environmental overtones and very beautiful, colorful works."
Levy paints on-site on the advice of Georgia O'Keefe, who said if you can't feel the weather, it will not be reflected in your paintings, Beavers said. She has worked on moving river boats in China, Italian piazzas and other sites around the globe.
For more information, call (919) 962-5665.
Winter Stories will be told
CHAPEL HILL -- Storytellers and musicians will entertain children of all ages at Friends of the Library's 17th annual Winter Stories program at UNC.
The program will be on Thursday in Wilson Library off South Road. The fun will begin with refreshments in the lobby at 5 p.m. and continue with music and tales from around the world in the Pleasants Family Assembly Room at 5:45 p.m.
The theme for this year's program is "A Seasoning of Stories and Song." Storytellers will be Brian Sturm, associate professor at the UNC School of Information and Library Science, and school students Katherine Lukmire, Jane McMahon and Vickie Shore. They will recount tales representing every season -- not only winter -- from Germany, West Africa, England and the Czech Republic.
Instrumental music will be played by guitarist and school library assistant Kate Barnhart; flutist and Davis Library music cataloger Laurie Neuerburg; violinist Steven Wiggins; and guitarist and information and library science student Carrie Stubblefield. There also will be sing-alongs.
Attendees are encouraged to bring a new or gently used children's book to contribute to a book drive for the Book Fairy, an organization that donates children's books to the Pediatric Oncology Clinic at UNC Hospitals. The need is especially great for preschool Spanish-language books and picture books or easy readers in English.
For information about the free public program, contact Liza Terll, Friends of the Library, (919) 962-4207, liza_terll@unc.edu, or visit http://library.unc.edu/blogs/news/.
Salsa bands to give free concert
CHAPEL HILL -- Two local salsa bands, Charanga Carolina and Orquesta GarDel, will perform a free concert Dec. 12 at UNC.
The concert and social dance will be at 9 p.m. in the rehearsal hall of Kenan Music Building on South Columbia Street. Tickets at the door will be $5 for students with I.D.s and $10 for others.
Attendees can expect a rare treat: two large-format salsa orchestras on the same bill playing authentic and danceable music from the Cuban, Puerto Rican and American salsa traditions.
The UNC-based concert is essentially a homecoming for Orquesta GarDel, which was founded in 2005 as the professional alter-ego to Charanga Carolina, a university ensemble. Orquesta GarDel's musical directors Eric Hirsh and Andy Kleindienst are 2006 graduates of the UNC music program and founding members of Charanga Carolina.
David F. Garcia, director of Charanga Carolina and a professor of ethnomusicology at UNC, brought in local salsa veteran Nelson Delgado as a frontman for Charanga in 2004. Delgado has provided vocal talents for both groups since their inception.
