Families and friends can bring a picnic, grab a lawn seat in the heart of downtown Raleigh and prepare for a musical world tour. First, in collaboration with the Independent’s Hopscotch Music Festival, Minneapolis-based multi-instrumentalist Dosh opens at the performance beginning at 5:45 p.m. with his electronic blends of folk keyboard and experimental sampling. Then the Symphony takes over with a globe-trotting symphonic showcase.

The lineup first transports concertgoers to the golden age of classical music, including Handel’s joyous Overture to Music for the Royal Fireworks—a powerhouse selection to launch the Symphony’s debut in the city’s newest venue. The fireworks don’t stop there, as Curry turns to the trumpet section to bring two Latin-flavored brass showcases to life: Cuban composer Ernesto Lecuona’s “Andalucia” and his legendary jazz standard, “Malagueña.” Henry Mancini’s classic serenade “Moon River” then paves the way for a charming tribute to Mancini’s legacy and selections from Leonard Bernstein’s West Side Story. With a closing note by John Williams, as well as “America the Beautiful,” this free concert offers Raleigh residents an unforgettable night on the town.

The North Carolina Symphony’s 2010-11 season opens in downtown Raleigh’s Meymandi Concert Hall with renowned guest artists Navah Perlman, Giora Schmidt and Zuill Bailey joining the Symphony to perform Beethoven’s “Triple” Concerto on Friday and Saturday, Sept. 24-25.

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You can see some of the best talent in the league competing at Halo 3, Tekken 6, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Starcraft 2, and World of Warcraft. MLG’s celebrated Pro players will also be available for autographs and additional bonus activities are scheduled for the event.

Some highlights include Team Instinct, winners of the last two Pro Circuit competitions in Columbus and Orlando, are aiming for their third win of the season. Their unexpected wins so far have caused a dramatic stir within the Pro Circuit rankings as they excelled against several of the top ranking teams.

Also in town is Str8 Rippin, one of the best Halo teams in the world. Final Boss will also be a team to watch out for as they vie for the MLG spotlight and the ultimate championship

The event lasts thru Sunday evening (Sat 10a – 10p, and Sun 10a – 8p) at the Raleigh Convention Center. Spectator admission is $25.

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I got dragged to see STP at the Dean Dome on the Tiny Music tour. I have to say I was thoroughly impressed with them live. Every song played was better than the recorded version, and the staging, lighting, and creative execution kept the show interesting from start to finish. If you watch the show on Palladia that was recorded earlier this year in Chicago you’ll get the gist of what I’m saying, but it is no substitute for their great live show. My “run-pee” suggestion is to take a break during all of the songs from their terrible new CD.

• 5:00 Mommie
• 6:00 Starmount
• 7:00 Greg Humphreys (acoustic)
• 8:00 Connells (acoustic)
• 8:40 Richard Bacchus and the Luckiest Girls
• 9:30 Maldora
• 10:20 Static Minds
• 11:20 Jeanne Jolly

All it takes is a $10 donation at the door to get in (but of course you can do as much as you want!)

Unfortunately, the Beach Music Concert scheduled for tonight, Thursday, August 12th, has been postponed due to a heat advisory and impending storms.  Please join us next week for Jim Quick and Coastline- same time, same place!

However you CAN catch the Old Habits over at Piola, in North Hills East at 8:30p.

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The event takes place at Peace China at Seaboard Station. Capital Creations will also be on hand with $2 cheese pizza. Dogs, food, snacks are welcome, but guests may not (by law) bring their own beer and wine. The MOTP events are family-fun, however children need to stay within the event perimeter and need to be supervised by their parents.

The Raleigh Convention Center will be the first venue for the Plug-In Conference that will be held outside of California. The shift in location was envisioned as a way to offer wider access to potential attendees. Next year’s conference will be co-organized by EPRI, Progress Energy and Duke Energy. 

“We decided to offer a bit of geographical balance to our conference schedule as a way of exposing more people to the significant progress made toward integrating plug-in hybrid and other electric vehicles into the transportation system,” said Mark Duvall, director of Electric Transportation at EPRI. “The Research Triangle area is an appropriate location that is well-known as an incubator of entrepreneurship, innovation and thought-leadership.”

The Plug-In Conference was launched in San Jose in 2008, moved to Long Beach (Southern California) in 2009 and returned to San Jose this year. It attracts automotive manufacturers, component suppliers, electric utilities, government agencies, the environmental community and academia to exchange ideas and gather information needed to make key decisions related to plug-in hybrid and electric transportation.

Plug-In 2010 includes high-level plenary sessions and 21 breakout sessions and mini-panels focused on driving, connecting and launching technologies required to fully commercialize and integrate electric drive into the marketplace.

The exposition floor, which includes vehicles, electric infrastructure and batteries, and related components, features more than 40 exhibitors. July 27 is Public Night, an open forum where visitors can see the exposition floor and participate in a panel discussion. For more information about Plug-In 2010, organized by EPRI and the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, visit www.plugin2010.com.

(and don’t go squatting plugin2011.com just because this group hasn’t gotten the wherewithal to buy it yet!)

Triangle ArtWorks’ charitable and educational mission is to provide services, support and resources to cultivate a vibrant creative community in the Triangle region of North Carolina. From large corporate campuses in Research Triangle Park, to artist cooperatives in Chatham County, the Triangle region has attracted creative talent from across the nation. In fact, the Triangle’s success in attracting artists and creative people has garnered national praise and attention. Yet, the region has lacked a central resource for artists to come together for support, resources and education, for supporters to have an easier way to connect with and support artists and arts groups, and to promote the importance of this community to our region.

Former Raleigh Arts Commissioner, Beth Yerxa, founded Triangle ArtWorks to “create a sense of cohesion for the Triangle’s creative community and its supporters.” Yerxa explained, “The Triangle is made up of many separate towns and cities, with multiple arts councils, different governments, and different priorities for supporting the arts and the creative community. The idea for the website is to have a regional resource for information, education and discussion about what matters to the creative community of the Triangle. We need a better way to connect this community across disciplines and county lines.”

Triangle ArtWorks website includes opportunities to connect via discussion forums and blogs, as well as a directory of Triangle-area arts organizations and links to services and resources. Triangleartworks.org plans to monitor and report on the economic and political news and activities that affect the creative community on both a regional and national level. Local arts organizations will also have a place to connect and post topics for discussion among regional arts patrons, supporters and volunteers.

Launching the website is the virtual beginning of Triangle Artworks. Yerxa has been meeting with members of the Triangle arts community for the last year to lay the foundation for the organization. She has been able to build the framework for the organization from this direct feedback and from researching similar organizations like New York Foundation for the Arts, Artists Trust in Washington state and Springboard for the Arts in Minnesota. Yerxa states, “ I saw the impact these organizations were having on their arts communities, and their regions as a whole, and believe our strong regional arts community would benefit from a similar organization.”

Michael Lowder, executive director of Artsplosure, Raleigh’s downtown arts festival, added, “I think Triangle ArtWorks could be the kind of resource that turns casual audience members into informed partners in advocating and supporting the arts in the Triangle. "The organization may also help the arts community think regionally in planning and programming, which will be a good thing."

Triangle ArtWorks is sponsoring a series of public launch events throughout the Triangle in the month of August. In Raleigh, a launch party will be hosted by Visual Art Exchange from 6-9pm on Friday, August 6^th, to coincide with the monthly First Friday Artwalk in downtown Raleigh. In Durham, Golden Belt will host a gathering on August 20^th from 6-9pm during that City’s Third Friday Artwalk. The FRANK gallery in Chapel Hill will also be hosting an event in August, but the date has not been set.

The July 2010 issue includes The Wild Turkey Bar & Lounge among 15 American watering holes. It is one of only two bars in the Southeast named as a best bar for doing business.

Stating that the Wild Turkey Bar & Lounge has been “a cross-sectional hotbed of local politicos, big pharma executives and tech tycoons since it opened in 1984,” author Monica Corcoran Harel goes on to write that this is “the best place to strike a deal in the entire Research Triangle.” On any given night, one might run into local and state elected officials, as well as top executives from SAS, GlaxoSmithKline and more.

The review states that the essential attributes of a great business bar include discreet seating, friendly and attentive staff, a compelling crowd, manageable din, a full range of liquor, good lighting, good food, and decent décor.