Busy Week Ahead in Raleigh
The hits just keep on coming! While the early part of the week is ultraquiet, the weekend comes with a bang. Let’s start with comedy. On Wednesday night Robin Williams plays the DPAC. Thursday begins the weekend run for Todd Yohn at Charlie Goodnights, while Friday night Kathy Griffin appears at the DPAC.
There is a little bit of drama on tap, too. After a sensational opening weekend, Flee This Place finishes its run from Wednesday thru Sunday. The production is the latest form Burning Coal, and is a wild ride for mature audiences. On Friday, NC Theatre’s production of West Side Story begins its 9-day run at Memorial Auditorium.
If you’re looking for sports, there is a light dose of that, too. On Wednesay, the Canes host the defending Stanley Cup Champions, The Pengrens (video). Friday marks the annual Late Night with Roy Williams at the Dean Dome. (Don’t ask when State’s similar event at Reynolds will take place – it’s nowhere to be found on their website )
A couple of big events are also going on in the area. This will be the final weekend for the Parade of Homes. Be sure to wear easily removable shoes when you go. Also the N.C. State Fair begins on Thursday for its 10-day run. Be sure to check out the racing pigs, the King Action Sports Stunt Show, and the Demolition Derby.
Of course the fair brings a whole lotta music, too. This year’s acts include Jason Michael Carroll, Third Day, Kellie Pickler, Nat & Alex Wolff, Jamey Johnson, The Temptations, Julianne Hough, Anoop “Dawg” Desai, Jeremy Camp with Tenth Avenue North, Blake Shelton, and Eric Church.
If those acts don’t float your boat, there is other music in the area. Third Eye Blind plays the Lincoln Theatre Wednesday (official after party is at Solas). On Saturday the Koka Booth Amphitheatre will host Lifefest, including Stryper, Pillar, and others. On Sunday Built To Spill plays the Cat’s Cradle, Bonnie Raitt plays Cary, and Little Anthony & The Imperials are at the DPAC.
One more thing: soup returns to Snoopy’s beginning Thursday!
Looks like another fun-filled week, so let’s get out there and go DO IT!
WRAL.com Wins Murrow Award
Congratulations are in order for Jimmy Goodmon and the crew over at
WRAL.com
. The website received the Edward R. Murrow national award for Best Website from the Radio-Television News Directors Association tonight.
The site is fantastic, and WRAL is going the extra mile in order to deliver their content. For instance, the full site’s video is encoded using Flash, which cannot be viewed natively on the iPhone. In order to correct the problem the station struck a deal with a third party company to transcode all of the video into a format that can be streamed using the station’s iPhone app, the first of its kind in the nation.
Keep up the good work, y’all!
REI Hosting Backcountry Cooking Class
Join the world of backcountry dining with REI on Tuesday (10/13) at 7pm at the North Hills store. You’ll get tips for enjoying prepackaged foods as well as learn ideas for do-it-yourself cuisine.
Bill Maher Coming to Memorial Auditorium
Bill Maher is bringing his HBO show to Raleigh’s Memorial Auditorium on February 12 and 13. The show on Friday the 12th will be at 8pm, and will be recorded for HBO while the following night’s show, at 9pm, will be live for HBO.
Presale ticket sales start on Thursday, October 15 at 10am through midnight the following night. General public ticket sales begin Saturday (10/17). Time is still TBA, but likely 10am.
Friday Show
Saturday Show
Raleigh Ready to Roll Free WiFi in Downtown
Beginning October 23 Raleigh’s free, outdoor public WiFi network will be available. Access will be available in many outdoor places including the new City Plaza, Fayetteville Street, Nash Square, Moore Square, Convention Center, Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts, and others. map it
The network will contain usage restrictions of some sort, though it is not clear whether heavy users’ connections will be throttled or truncated.
In order to connect, select the “Downtown Raleigh Free WiFi” network in designated areas.
TWC To Roll Out More HD
October 28 will be an good day for many Time Warner subscribers, as 14 new HD channels will be added to the Raleigh lineup. They are:
- HBO 2 East HD (Channel 414)
- BBC America HD (Channel 235)
- Headline News HD (Channel 232)
- Investigation Discovery HD (Channel 236)
- truTV HD (Channel 242)
- MSNBC HD (Channel 233)
- TCM HD (Channel 243)
- Classic On Demand (Channel 512)
- Thriller On Demand (Channel 513)
- Kids/Teens On Demand (Channel 514)
- Action On Demand (Channel 515)
- Comedy On Demand (Channel 516)
- Drama On Demand (Channel 517)
- Lo Mejor On Demand (Channel 547)
Coming November 24, HD channels for HBO’s East feeds of Signature, Family, Comedy, Latino, and Zone. Also, Fox Sports Carolina HD is now a full time HD Channel (Channel 272).
Note: In all likelihood these channels will be delivered via SDV. Therefore viewers using equipment other than Time Warner’s standard issue hardware will need an SDV tuning adapter in order to view these channels.
Taylor Swift Coming to Raleigh
The location is yet to be named, but the date and acts are.
Taylor Swift
is coming to Raleigh on May 1. Opening will be
Kellie Pickler
and
Gloriana
.
Annuals Playing First Night
First Night Raleigh, the big New Years celebration downtown, is right around the corner. The event has many facets, but the showcase really is the music slate for the usually frigid evening. Local act Annuals will be one of the bands in the line up. More as this unfolds.
Douglas Envisions Strong Boulevard Revival
The ugly, functionless, rundown trench through Raleigh’s north area of downtown, known as Capital Boulevard, is the focus of a fantastic article by Bob Geary in the Independent. His interview with former Urban Design Center director Dan Douglas reveals some of Douglas’ stirring concepts he envisions for Raleigh after a lengthy tour through Europe. On his tour he saw concrete examples of formerly burned out industrial corridors transformed into livable city streets, full of hard-working families and fun things to do.
Douglas’ plan involves creating a consortium of government agencies and corporate landowners to create a cooperative plan that would bolster the participants interests, and create an efficient living zone. The plan calls for changing Capital Boulevard out to Atlantic Avenue into a grand city avenue, lined with low-rise development, possibly centered around a public transit rail line. The plan also calls for connecting the Mordecai area over to Glenwood in two places, and adding nine different public park spaces.
It is a plan that actually makes a lot of sense and would replace some of Raleigh’s most pitiful areas with an actual desirable destination. Such a transformation is likely to be a win/win for investors, including taxpayers, as the tax base in these areas would dramatically improve. Getting everyone on the same page, as we’ve seen countless times, remains the beast.
Winterfest Is Coming
Raleigh’s new City Plaza will be the site of the
AT&T Winterfest Ice Rink
. The 45’ x 85’ rink will be able to entertain 140 skaters beginning December 4. The kick-off event begins that day at 5pm and will feature a reading by Ira David Wood, III and performances by local choirs and bands, a tree lighting, and a country music headliner.
The rink will charge a $6 admission, which includes the skate rental fee. The event runs through January 31.
Get Caught with a DTR Bumper Sticker
Downtownraleigh.com has unveiled a
new bumper sticker campaign
. Once a week, their team will scout downtown and if they spot a DTR bumper sticker on your car, you’ll win a free gift card to a downtown restaurant. How do you know if you’ve been spotted? You’ll find a card from DTR on the windshield with directions on how to claim the gift card.
Bumper stickers are available upon request at the following downtown Hot Spots:
UNC Football: Stuck on 54
The UNC football program is one of the oldest in the country. For many of those football Saturdays, the shortest route from Raleigh was highway 54. It’s a number that is all too common for the program.
In the past 90 years, the school has won 54% of its games. In the last 50 years, the school has won 54% of its games. What is Butch Davis’ winning percentage in Chapel Hill? It’s 54%. It also happens to be the total winning percentage for the 120 years of football in Chapel Hill.
It’s a good thing that Highway 54 was created before Interstate 40.
[ source ]
Busy Week Ahead in Raleigh
It looks like another busy week ahead in the Triangle! Let’s start with sports, where the Hurricanes will host the Lightning tonight at the RBC Center. On Friday the Canes host the Florida Panthers. On Saturday there is football action for our slumping local teams, too. NCSU will host Duke on the newly installed Carter-Finley turf, while UNC hosts Georgia Southern.
Music? You want music? You got it. Wednesday Robin Trower plays the Lincoln Theatre while Everclear swoops in there Thursday night. Also on Thursday, the Cowboy Junkies begin a two-night stay at the Artscenter in Carrboro. Speaking of two-nighters, the long-awaited return of Drivin’ n’ Cryin’ hits the Pour House on Friday and Saturday. The weekend ends with a big one! At Walnut Creek the Allman Brothers and Widespread Panic will pack them in on Sunday night.
Is comedy a part of theater? Seems like it, whatever! Charlie Goodnights has a good one this weekend: Craig Shoemaker, a staple on XM 150, will be in town. On the more theatrical side of things, Grease begins its run at the DPAC. The production features your American Idol, Taylor Hicks.
It looks like another big week, so let’s get out there and do it!
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