One of the great ways to take yourself away from the daily grind is to take some art classes. Luckily there are several fantastic avenues for doing so in Raleigh. One of the best is through Jerry’s Artarama, a store in one of Raleigh’s most interesting strip shopping centers, Holly Park. There are several classes each month, and the series continues throughout the year. For instance, the remaining portion of May has some fantastic offerings:

• Laurie Humble: Take Your Watercolors From Flat to Dimensional
• Morgan Samuel-Price: Plein Air Magic
• Ingrid Lederer: Watercolor: Painting on Yes! Canvas
• Christine MacLellan: The Discover Series, Acrylics or Oil Painting
• Dominic Vignola: Oil Painting without Drawing: Tonal Impressionism

Maybe one of those First Fridays shows will feature your work one day!

map it

The Carolina Hurricanes summer hockey camps will be back for their 10th year.

The camp will have two instructional camps on either side of a one-week, three-on-three, pond-hockey-style tournament. The first week, from July 28 through Aug. 1, will be a developmental (skill development) camp intended for players with three or fewer years of hockey experience.

The second week, Aug. 4 through Aug. 8, will feature the third-annual Hurricanes Three-on-Three Summer Classic. The event, which sold out last year, allows participants freedom in pond-hockey-style games.

The third week, Aug. 11 through Aug. 15, features the elite-level camp, targeted at more advanced players looking to take their games to the next level. With intense on-ice instruction, the elite week should help any travel hockey player prepare for the upcoming season.

The USA Olympic Baseball team announced today that they will play four exhibition games against Canada, in the Triangle, just before heading to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. On August 1, the team will play at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary. On August 2, 3, and 4 they will play at the Durham Bills Athletic Park.

The Beijing Olympic games begin August 8, 2008.

For tickets and more info, see usabaseball.com.

The St. Albans at North Hills recently secured about $100 million in construction loans financing. The 6-story building will contain 410 apartments, “several pools”, a 48K square foot Harris Teeter, and about 52K square feet of retail. According to TBJ the complex will have a parking deck and a separate elevator that will take tenants to and from Harris Teeter. The apartment rents will start at $925 per month.

The complex is in all likelihood the building at the bottom of the photo featuring the scaled down North Hills East project. (scaled down when compared to the renderings on this page). The project was originally planned to be bigger, provided tax increment financing could be secured. (The TIF debate was a key topic with the Raleigh City Council last year, but ultimately did not receive support from many council members).

The N&O reported today the death of Edwin Flythe, founder of Flythe Cyclery on Peace Street. The store is one of the last-standing piece of old-Raleigh retail, and its German facade has always added to the character of downtown. Flythe Cyclery is now its third generation and is one of the few bike stores around with friendly, humble help.

Flythe battled prostate cancer for many years, but finally succumbed last week. He was 94.

Ordinarily a new McDonald’s is nothing to get too excited about. In fact, I believe the last time I ate a lunch or dinner at one was in 1986. However what’s interesting about the McDonald’s going into the Celebration at Six Forks shopping center is the site itself. As in…it’s terrible!

McDonald’s is usually known for its incredible site selection. Few of the stores actually close and one of the reasons is their ability to scout a site and pounce before everyone else does. In fact, some businesses simply save money and follow McDonald’s coattails when choosing a site.

Celebration at Six Forks is a 1980-born shopping center in a huge area of Raleigh that has gone a long time without a McDonald’s. Currently the nearest stores are the drive-thruless Falls Village store, the former McCafe store at Spring Forest/Falls of Neuse, the Six Forks/Wake Forest Road store, and the Millbrook/Glenwood Ave. store. Certainly a chain as large as McDonald’s would be interested in a stronger North Raleigh presence. This particular section of North Raleigh, though, was long-since pioneered by McDonalds’ chief competitors. There is a Wendy’s virtually across the street. A mile or so to the north, at what was once the six forks (hence the name), Hardees, Char-Grill, and Chick-Fil-A have all staked their claim.

Not only is McDonald’s late to the party, they picked a treacherous site formerly occupied by the free-standing Record Bar/Tracks store. Because the property is secured by a 15-foot retaining wall, it towers beyond effectiveness over Six Forks Road.

Ultimately I’m sure this McDonald’s store will do fine. However, it will be interesting to watch the chain built on its consistency overcome an inconsistent site selection.

map it

Currently under construction next to the Beltline at North Hills is the new Renaissance Hotel. The chain is a boutique line within the Marriott chain, and is a desperately needed addition to Raleigh’s underwhelming hotel portfolio. The hotel will likely open in early 2009, but already has two websites (corporate, local).

The rooms in the North Hills Renaissance will be outstanding. Each will have free wired and wireless high speed internet access, a 37″ high-def TV in the room (with jacks for accessory connectivity), a 15″ high def TV in the bathroom, refrigerator, safe, and 300 thread-count sheets. The hotel will have complimentary parking as well as 7,590 square feet of meeting space and a 5,430 square foot ballroom. Hotel guests will also have direct interior access to the adjacent Gold’s Gym Athletic Club, and to Natural Body Spa, a European-style day spa.

The exterior touches are coming together, and it appears that many of the Alexan’s features, such as window proportions, moldings, and colors, will be continued in the Renaissance. One welcome difference is the use of a textured, artificial stone. Hopefully the color selection and textures will prevent the complex from becoming a “beigemoth”. A material mockup of the exterior can be seen from the middle parking level of the old JCPenney deck.

Unconfirmed reports say that the penthouse level to this hotel will not only offer superior views of downtown, but will also feature short ceilings and countertops in an attempt to cater toward chic, wealthy dwarves. Word is that these rooms will actually carry no room charge, and will be referred to as the “Stayfree Mini-pads”.

The (fantastic) North Carolina Zoo will be closed through the end of the weekend due to a broken water main,

The 2008 ASID Designer Showhouse opens today at 2611 and 2615 Rolston Drive. The show runs through June 1. Advance tickets are $15, Door $20, Run-of-Show $30. All proceeds go to Hospice of Wake County.

Charlie Goodnights will host Dave Attell on July 18 and 19 for 4 shows only. Tickets are on sale now.

From 10am to 2pm tomorrow, Triangle Mom2Mom will be sponsoring a party at Marbles Museum ($5 admission applies). There will be music by Trish Miller, Sandbox Band, Cotton the Clown, Food, and the site’s bloggers.

From May 12 thru May 18th many local restaurants will be celebrating their culinary talents, exquisite cuisine, and dynamic atmospheres during the first ever Triangle Restaurant Week (warning: music). For a fixed price at participating restaurants, diners can enjoy a three-course meal including an appetizer, an entree, and dessert.

Currently the restaurants participating are Bogart’s, Dos Tacquitos, Frazier’s, Glenwood Grill, Irregardless, Lynnwood Grill, Michael Dean’s, NoFo, Oliver Twist, Porter’s, Red Room, Riviera, South, SONO, The George, Globe, and The Mint. Prices per person are $15 for lunch and $25 for dinner. No tickets are necessary. Simply visit the participating restaurants. (Reservations, if applicable, are recommended).

Please see the TRW website for more details.

Saturday, May 1, marks the return of the Downtown Raleigh Home Tour. In its 4th year, the self-guided tour showcases the variety of housing options available in downtown, including historic properties, single-family homes, apartments, and condominiums. Information about projects both planned and under construction will also be available.

Tickets are $10 each and can be purchased in advance by cash or check at the Raleigh Urban Design Center at 133 Fayetteville Street. Children 12 and under are admitted free. Tickets also can be purchased the day of the event.

Presumably due to the weather, tonight’s beach music concert at North Hills will be rescheduled for a later date in the summer.

August 21 is the day when supreme coolness hits Cary’s Booth Amphitheater. G. Love and Special Sauce will be playing along with The John Butler Trio. Tickets are $27.50 advance, $29 day of show, and go on sale May 17 at 10am at Ticketmaster outlets. Lawn chairs and blankets are allowed.

The Booth Amphitheater will bring in three of the biggest acts of the 90’s. Collective Soul, Blues Traveler, and Live are coming on August 16.  Tickets are $60 reserved, $30 lawn, and go on sale May 9 at 10am. Lawn chairs and blankets are allowed, but the crowd will likely be SRO.

Durham has apparently made the very short list of cities that may get a Tesla dealership. The first dealership for the all-electric sportscar opened on Thursday in Los Angeles. According to Autoweek, the next wave of stores will come to Menlo Park, CA (Silicon Valley), New York, Miami, Seattle, and Chicago. The third wave, however, mentions Washington, Boston, and Durham.

The Tesla is the first wide production all-electric sportscar. It boasts acceleration of 0-60 mph in under 4 seconds and tops out at 125mph. Delivery time is currently 15 months for the $109,000 cars.

The Arbitron ratings for radio in the area during the winter have been released and WQDR has once again finished first. This time, though, they beat Foxy by just 0.1 points (1%). Most stations improved their ratings while others took small dips. WRAL took the biggest plunge since the last ratings period, 17%. One thing is for sure, the ratings don’t appear to offer any motive for changing the state of Raleigh radio.

After two seasons as the coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs, former Cane coach Paul Maurice was relieved of his coaching duties in Toronto today.

Red’s will be hosting David Allan Coe on October 13, darlin’.