AltWeeklies Wire
Doing it Green: A Bat Mitzvah Fished from the Recycling Binnew
Two days before Sadie Rapp was set to lead the Chapel Hill Kehillah’s congregation and celebrate her bat mitzvah, her transition to Jewish adulthood, the Rapp’s house was full of repurposed garbage.
The Year of Staying In: In Lean Times, TV is a Saving Gracenew
You've got to laugh to keep from crying, and in 2009, as bad news streamed constantly on the cable news channels, I valued sitcoms more than ever. Thank God there were comedies worthy of our time.
Team Spirit: Durham's 307 Knox Records Turns Fivenew
Since 2004, the imprint has released 31 records—a compilation full of Bull City bands, full-lengths by Midtown Dickens, The Future Kings of Nowhere and Cantwell, Gomez & Jordan and a series of 7-inch vinyl singles. Meet founder Melissa Thomas.
Year in Review: A Sizable Fleet of North Carolina Bands Found Bigger Audiencesnew
This year, more than any other this decade, the Triangle's local band scene seemed to engender broader support. It was a good year to be, as one excellent local compilation put it, "hearing here," at home.
The Wake School Board's Conservative Bloc Grabs Powernew
Three days after their tumultuous debut on the Wake County Board of Education, the four newly elected members were briefed by the board's attorney on local meeting protocols and requirements of the state's Open Public Meetings Law.
Tags: school board, politics
Pete Rock, DJ Premier and the Praise of Disciplesnew
Hip-hop producers Pete Rock and DJ Premier remain among the most musically and culturally important in hip-hop's lifespan. We talked with five area artists (two of whom will perform Saturday) whose careers have been influenced by Pete and Primo.
INDY Week |
Eric Tullis |
12-10-2009 |
Profiles & Interviews
John Woo's Extravagant Historical Epic, Red Cliffnew
Red Cliff represents not only Woo's first Chinese film (meaning mainland and Mandarin-speaking), but also his first full-blown foray into historical epics. It turns out to be a mode of storytelling that suits him perfectly.
Found: Betty Davis' Lost Masterpiecenew
Davis railed against the male-dominated industry, while playing the come-hither, power-wielding goddess who stirs libidos everywhere. Far ahead of the social norms, Davis presented herself unflinchingly as a complex black woman who could not be held down.
Tags: Is It Love or Desire, Betty Davis
Imperial Beers for Plucky Palatesnew
Modern American craft brewers, being partial to supersized approaches to brewing, have embraced the imperial stout style. And an interesting shift has occurred in terminology: "Imperial" has ceased to mean royal and now refers to an outsized interpretation of a traditional beer style.
INDY Week |
Julie Johnson |
12-02-2009 |
Food+Drink
'The Prisoner' Should Make Us Feel Right at Homenew
Let's welcome back one of the granddaddies of the paranoid genre, The Prisoner, which has been revamped for AMC in an effort to keep us tuned in now that another season of Mad Men has passed. Verdict: Yes, we'll stay tuned.
Two North Carolina Cities Wonder: Who's Watching the Cops?new
Alleged misdeeds at two local police departments raise the issue: Whose job is it to hold police accountable? Citizens in Durham and Chapel Hill have long been calling for better public oversight of the police in their towns, but the best way to do that is up for debate.
INDY Week |
Samiha Khanna and Joe Schwartz |
11-12-2009 |
Crime & Justice
'Coco Before Chanel' Needs a Stylistnew
If only Audrey Tatou could have summoned a little more fire to melt the glacial pace of this ambitious biopic.
Michael Chabon Discusses Children and Popular Culturenew
Chabon is the jack-of-all-trades of contemporary literature. His literate, humorous, elegiac books include everything from a Pulitzer Prize winner about comic book creators to an alternate-world mystery in a Jewish free state. Now he's got a new collection of essays, Manhood for Amateurs: The Pleasures and Regrets of a Husband, Father and Son.
INDY Week |
Zack Smith |
10-30-2009 |
Author Profiles & Interviews
Broasted Squash Carries the Harvest into Winternew
Home food at its comfiest, winter squash has taken a new center stage in cooking with local flavors and ingredients because it's available all winter at the markets. Recipes abound -- a cursory Google search turned up 70-plus recipes, many of them similar. Here's one for Broasted Winter Squash.
INDY Week |
Sheryl Cornett |
10-30-2009 |
Food+Drink
Tears of a Clown: On the Glenn Beck Phenomenonnew
The ex-Top 40 disc jockey, recovering drug addict and alcoholic, convert to Mormonism and the National Rifle Association, is American popular culture at its most incomprehensibly weird and offensive. He's also a huge success, a hit, a phenomenon -- a star.
