WSJ Profiles NC Basketball Culture
Basketball is a way of life in this state. If you don’t know that, you are either new here or you are an unpopular local sports talk radio host. It shows with our driveways, our packed youth leagues, and with our participation in the Final Four (22 of the last 30). Today the Wall Street Journal did a feature on our beloved heritage as a basketball hotbed . It’s a good, quick read that doesn’t even mention the popular, but insulting, moniker! It’s a good read…
Keith Urban Coming to RBC Center
Keith Urban announced today a 60-city tour which includes a stop at Raleigh’s RBC Center on Saturday, June 25. Tickets go on sale Friday, February 11. Urban will be supporting his new CD, Get Closer .
Solving Game Day Traffic Woes
Going to the UNC/NCSU game in the morning? You are apt to find serious traffic problems due to the closure of two lanes on I-40 West. In order to avoid problems choose one of these alternate routes:
- SOUTH – Take Highway 64 West out of Cary to Farrington Point Road. Turn right and proceed for a few miles where you will bear left as the road becomes Mt. Carmel Church Road. Pass Governor’s Club’s entrance until you reach the next traffic light, 15-501 sound of town. Turn right to proceed into Chapel Hill or turn left to proceed to the Southern Village Tar Heel Express bus stop.
- NORTH – Take Highway 70 West to Durham and get on I-85 West. After Mile marker 174, take 15-501 South and follow it into Chapel Hill. There is a Tar Heel Express option at University Mall, near Dillards.
- MIDDLE – There are a few options to wind your way into Chapel Hill. If you are in the middle of Raleigh, take I-40 to I-540 South. Proceed until the road ends at Highway 55. Turn Right and then immediately turn left onto OKelly Chapel Road. It will end at 751 where you will turn right. Two lefts later turn onto Stagecoach Road. At its end, turn left onto Farrington Road. Follow it as it becomes Barbee Chapel Road. The next traffic light is Hwy 54, where you’ll turn left. If you want to take the Tar Heel Express bus, take the next left onto Friday Center Drive.
With all of these routes, it takes about 50 minutes to get from Cameron Village to the Tar Heel Expresses mentioned. This is in contrast to the 35 minutes it normally takes on a non-gameday without traffic problems. If you don’t have a place to park reserved for you, your best bet is to go to one of the Tar Heel Express locations and ride the bus to the stadium-side UNC Belltower. (Note that postgame departure points are in front of Fetzer gym, which is 1 block east of the belltower pregame dropoff points).
When traveling over, be sure to use WRAL’s traffic cams linked on their website, and follow my updates on Twitter .
Symphony Horn Quartets Coming to Humble Pie
On Monday, November 22, Humble Pie will host an evening of horn quartets to go with beer drinking, including music by Kerry Turner and Eugene Bozza and a handful of traditional German tunes to accompany your Oktoberfest afterglow. The musicians are playing German music in honor of German festival Oktoberfest, and the restaurant will serve a German beer to accompany each course. A local beer aficionado will discuss each beer as they are served.
The NCS Musicians performing are Christopher Caudill, horn; Michael Hrivnak, horn; Rachel Niketopoulos, horn; Kimberly Van Pelt, horn. Dinner begins at 6pm and the performance begins at 8pm.
Robert Plant Coming to Memorial Auditorium
Robert Plant will return to Raleigh on Wednesday, February 2. He’ll at Memorial Auditorium supporting his newest CD, “ Band of Joy ”.
Escovedo Playing Chip Robinson Benefit
Chip Robinson, founder and frontman of Raleigh’s beloved Backsliders was seriously injured recently in a bicycle accident. He lacks health insurance and is unable to work while he recovers.
Several renowned local bands as well as Alejandro Escovedo (backed by Robert Kearns of Lynyrd Skynyrd) are rallying around Robinson, and will play a benefit show Sunday (11/21) at the brand new Southland Ballroom , a 300 capacity state-of-the-art performance venue in the Glenwood South district of Raleigh.
All of the featured acts have shared stages with Chip (and with one another) over the years, and all feel a great fondness for him and a deep admiration for his one-of-a-kind songwriting and showmanship. Expect a musical love-fest and a memorable night to benefit one of the shining stars of the Triangle music scene.
The event begins at 4pm and admission is $20.
Amy Sedaris Signing at Quail Ridge Tonight
Multitalented Raleigh-native nut extraordinaire Amy Sedaris will be at Quail Ridge Books tonight promoting her latest book, Simple Times . The event is a ticketed event and begins at 7:30. Amy will will personalize and sign her older books and DVDs, as well, but will not be signing memorabilia.
Caniac Coach Gives Lifts to RBC Center
This year there is finally a way to ride a shuttle to games at the RBC Center. Pepsi, a few local restaurants, and other sponsors have teamed up to offer the Caniac Coach, a free shuttle bus to all home Hurricanes games, the NHL All-Star Game, major concerts, and select other events.
The shuttle departs from a few area restaurants such as:
- Spring Rolls (North Hills) – 55 minutes prior to game time,
- Tir Na Nog (Downtown) – 48 minutes prior to game time,
- La Volta (Downtown – thanks cecil! ) – 52 minutes prior to game time,
- more?….
Seats are on a first-come, first-server basis, and no purchase is necessary.
Unfortunately there isn’t a good or official website for this service. If you have seen the service being available from anywhere else, please let everyone know in the comments! Note: The service now has a website outlining pickup locations and times.
Bon Jovi Coming to RBC Center
Last decade’s 9th biggest touring act, Bon Jovi , is coming to the RBC Center on Monday, February 21. Tickets go on sale on Friday (Nov 12) at 10am.
I wonder if John remembers what city is home to Broughton High School…
Pulse 102 Hits the Airwaves
Last night Curits Media flipped the switch on two area frequencies, simulcasting a station they call “ Pulse 102 ”. This format, aimed at women (25-34), is a streamlined blend of high-energy hits. Artists such as Lady Gaga, Enrique Iglesias, Usher, Katy Perry, and Ke$ha are featured on the station. The station debuts with 10,000 songs in a row and can be heard on both WPLW 102.5 (Hillsborough) and WWPL 102.3 (Smithfield).
“My Carolina Today” Features Jerry Nowell
Most students at UNC begin their two years in the school’s General College. It is a college where students take survey courses across the curriculum while seeking an appropriate major. In the course of this study, many students are bound to take a class that is completely perpendicular to their own aptitudes, and the only salvation is a good teacher. One of those teachers for me was Jerry Nowell, a philosophy T.A. that actually make Immanuel Kant digestible for a few weeks there in 1990. I glazed over while studying the reading material, but it was only when I heard Nowell’s explanations that I was able to make sense of Kant as well as several political theorists.
Nowell went on to work in his family’s modern furniture business in Cary and has been a strong supporter of the area’s fascinating Modernist Architecture movement. Unfortunately he was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma earlier this year. His approach to this diagnosis is the subject of Today’s episode of “My Carolina Today” on NBC17 . The show airs at 11am .
Here is the press release:
October 30, 2010 (RALEIGH, NC) – Jerry Nowell, a man who normally prefers to remain in the background running his award-winning store Nowell’s Contemporary Furniture in Cary, is going before the cameras next week to discuss his battle with multiple myeloma, a form of blood cancer, and the fundraiser he’ll launch in November to benefit Multiple Myeloma Cancer Research at Duke Medicine.
Nowell will be a featured guest on NBC 17’s “My Carolina Today” show on Monday, November 1, at 11 a.m. Joining him will be Dr. Cristina Gasparetto, a specialist in laboratory and clinical research in the field of multiple myeloma at Duke Medicine.
Multiple myeloma is cancer of the plasma cells in bone marrow.
Nowell, 49, was diagnosed in May after a routine check up. Since then, he’s been sharing his progress on Facebook and planning “Nowell’s Fund To Fight Multiple Myeloma” in association with the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center.
The furniture store has been sponsoring holiday-season charitable fundraisers for several years. Nowell’s decision to make cancer research at Duke the recipient of this year’s fundraiser was obviously personal.
“While there is currently no cure for multiple myeloma, on-going research raises great hope that emerging therapies may turn it into a manageable disease and, ultimately, lead to a cure,” he said.
Dr. Gasparetto will discuss some of those advances when the show airs.
Jerry Seinfeld Coming to DPAC
Jerry Seinfeld is returning to the Triangle. This time he’ll be performing at the DPAC on Saturday, February 12. Tickets go on sale tomorrow (10/29) at 10am.
Mickelthwate To Lead Symphony with “Eroica”
In November guest conductor Alexander Mickelthwate joins the North Carolina Symphony with a program highlighting one of the great, transformative works in all of music, Beethoven’s magnificent “Eroica” Symphony. The concerts will take place in Meymandi Concert Hall on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 19-20. All performances begin at 8:00 p.m.
Recognized as one of the most exciting young conductors of his generation, Alexander Mickelthwate is currently the music director of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra following a lauded tenure with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He also co-founded the new music ensemble Bent Frequency, hailed by Gramophone Magazine as “one of the brightest ensembles on the scene.”
He takes the stage in the Triangle with a program specifically designed to stretch the North Carolina Symphony to its limits. Strauss’s sweeping emotional masterwork Don Juan paves the way for Bruch’s First Violin Concerto, showcasing the breathtaking skill of Brian Reagin, now in his 22nd season as concertmaster of the North Carolina Symphony. The evening concludes with all the passion and majesty of Beethoven’s “Eroica,” a revolutionary composition that is always a profound experience to hear live.
The concert is the first of the season’s three “Orchestra Showcases,” in which the Symphony welcomes world-class guest conductors to the podium for programs that challenge the orchestra and offer audiences an expansive demonstration of sound and virtuosity. Andrea Quinn conducts selections by Wagner, Haydn and Elgar, Jan. 13-15, 2011, and Carlos Miguel Prieto presents Ginastera, Copland and Rachmaninoff, Feb. 10-12, 2011.
Special ticket packages to all three Orchestra Showcases are available. Learn more at the “Explore the Score” page at the Symphony’s Web site: www.ncsymphony.org/explorethescore .
A pre-concert talk will be held with Dr. Tom Koch in the lobby of Meymandi Concert Hall on Nov. 19 and 20 at 7:00 p.m.
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