While the Mod Squad is taking a bus trip to Charlotte in a few weeks, they are also happy to announce a day-trip to Washington, DC. The trip includes stops at the Charles Gwaltney-designed Rales Museum near Potomac, the Richard Neutra-designed Brown Residence, the Gordon Bunshaft-designed Hirshhorn Museum, and the Maya Lin-designed Vietnam Veterans Wall. The trip includes a 6:45am flight to BWI, lunch abord the air-conditioned, internet-equipped tour bus, and a return to RDU at 10:30pm. Dinner is on your own, and about 2 hours are allotted (so there is ample time to get to Rosa Mexicano ) Tickets are $459 per person.

The always-interesting Triangle Modernist Houses is sponsoring another exciting event. This time the tour goes to Charlotte on May 22 to tour the Design Within Reach store, the 1970 Mark Bernstein house, and IKEA. Some of the trip’s features include:

• Our own air-conditioned, restroom-equipped, internet-equipped luxury tour bus.
• Sodas, water, and both healthy and junky snacks provided on board the bus.
• Super green – think of all the carbon we’ll save versus driving down individually.
• Each person gets "storage credits" representing a total of six cubic feet of storage space under the bus.  You can trade, buy, or sell credits to others.  So, in theory, with enough credits, you could bring a couch home!  Plus, all you can carry in your lap.  Delivery is also available through DWR and Ikea.
• Lunch is on your own at the IKEA restaurant.  Be sure to try the Swedish meatballs!
• Parking is $4 per car, paid separately to FastPark on exit. Dropoffs and pickups are ok, no charge.

Tickets are limited, and are $49.95 before May 1, $58.00 on and after that.

The NCDOT has just launched a new version of their website for the Scenic Byways program. The site is a complete guide to some of NC’s most enjoyable highways, including the Blue Ridge Parkway as well as the Outer Banks Scenic Byway. The site includes maps of the roads, a .PDF copy of the Scenic Byways book published by the state, and videos of many of the treasured roads.

One of the pillars of rock, AC/DC, is coming to the Greensboro Coliseum on October 25. Tickets went on sale at Ticketmaster outlets this morning at 10am.

While there are unfortunately no roller-coasters in the Raleigh area, there are 38 roller coasters within a 3.5-hour drive of Raleigh. Not many cities in the world are an easy road trip from that many.

Next summer that number will push 40, and will do it with world-class style. Yesterday a sleuthy coaster enthusiast let the cat out of the bag about Kings Dominion’s new coaster for 2010. It will be a gigacoaster by Intamin, which by definition, means it will be taller than 300 feet, placing it among the tallest 5 coasters in the world. If you have seen the 310-foot, 93-mph Millennium Force coaster (pictured) at Cedar Point on TV, then you have seen another gigacoaster by Intamin. It will be located on land that was once the safari ride, behind the Outer Limits.

To put this height in perspective, the two-year old Griffon at Busch Gardens Williamsburg is 205 feet tall, and the Eiffel Tower 1/3 scale replica at King’s Dominion is only 275 feet tall.

In other regional coaster news, Carowinds has unfortunately destroyed its log flume ride to make way for a new roller-coaster coming next season. This will certainly be a showcase coaster, but Carowinds loses a bit of family elegance in removing their log flume.

One of the last living Hard Bop Jazz musicians is coming to UNC this fall. On September 22, Sonny Rollins will be playing at UNC’s Memorial Hall. Tickets go on sale to the public on July 13 thru the UNC ticket office.

Rollins is one of the most important figures in the history. Not only did he play with Miles Davis, he was an influence on Davis when he was young. The chances to see guys who have played with Davis, (Rocky Mount’s) Thelonious Monk, Max Roach, Charlie Parker, and Art Blakey are coming to an end, so don’t miss this one!

On Sunday, August 2, the American Idols Live tour will be swinging through Greensboro Coliseum. The tour features this season’s Top 10 finalists, including Chapel Hill’s Anoop “Dawg” Desai.

The presale will be Friday (May 8th) from 10am to 10pm (password: Idols2009). $1 from each ticket will go to City of Hope.

On Thursday, September 24 Loggins & Messina will be in Durhams. Tickets are $37, $47, and $62. The general public tickets go on sale today at 10am thru Ticketmaster.

The beleaguered Hard Rock Park, which cost $400 million to construct, has been purchased for $25 million by FPI MB Entertainment LLS. The park’s previous owners filed Chapter 11 after just one season of being open. They plan on opening the park by Memorial Day after injecting $15 million in improvements including more rides for children. Hopefully they will also overhaul their admission fee schedule, too.

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