Wade Wilson
Publisher, 1993-2006
My most memorable event during my time at encore (1993-2006) occurred during a swimsuit photo shoot. We had hired a bunch of female swimsuit models, but we also had some kids’ swimsuits to feature, so I got my son, Spencer, to model. I think he was about 4 years old at the time. After he did his pictures, almost as an afterthought, I set up a quick picture of him surrounded by all the girls. The picture ended up being the obvious pick for the cover of the magazine that week, and I still have copies of that saved.
This year my son graduated from high school at New Hanover, and as part of an awards ceremony, they asked all the parents to supply a picture of their child growing up to use in a slide show. Needless to say, the picture of Spencer and the swimsuit models was a big hit.

Fay Dickens
Ad Representative, 1994-1998
I have so many great and funny memories that come to mind. I enjoyed my years at encore, and I often still wonder, “what if I could have stayed,” but raising three small children, I had to sacrifice a great job and great people to work for and with!

I remember the old downstairs office on Front Street [now the Soapbox] and Thursday afternoons scrambling to get in my ad copy, and Fridays we would proof and read and even, yes, cut and paste the whole magazine together. Now everything’s computerized and simplified [Ed. note: Thank you, Apple and Steve Jobs!].
We had such a great bond between us all, and Wade would “buzz” at our desk and say, “Unless you can sell ads to each other, you need to find someone you can sell to.” He was awesome in every way!

I enjoyed my contacts, who all seemed to become my friends over time. Being a part of a local company taught me to support our local business owners and to appreciate free enterprise. I miss those days, and cherish that I had a great career and many wonderful memories.

Sheila Whitmeyer
Ad Rep, 1997-1999
I worked at encore from November 1997 through April of 1999. I had to look it up on my résumé because I have been out of the world of advertising, and working as a teacher assistant and selling Mary Kay Cosmetics since I left. I am having a very hard time remembering one particular incident. I just remember laughing a whole lot! I remember that I had a radio on my desk, and I always kept it on Bryan & Jim’s Morning Show when they worked on Surf 107, and if I heard that song “The Way” one more time I thought I would scream!

I remember how wonderful it was to work with everybody: Sue being SO understanding when I would run into the room in a panic because one of my customers was asking her to move something by less than one inch. She would always do it with a smile, and I would always pray that was what they wanted when I brought the proof back!

I also remember Wade being so understanding when one morning I called in and told him I was going to be late because Ricky Meeks had called me at 6:30am and asked me to bring him a sausage biscuit from Hardees. I, of course, did it for him, and I thought Wade and John would never let me forget about it!

I also remember our awesome trip to Bald Head Island, and I still have a picture of the sun going down from the sailboat we were on one evening. I loved working at encore, and sometimes I look back and wonder why I left. It was so much fun, and really except for a few incidents, pretty stress free. Thanks, encore, for the memories!

Rebecca Busch
Humor Columnist, 2003-2005
When I first started writing a humor column for encore, I had no idea the hefty following this quirky, off-beat, alternative magazine had. It was during my two years of sharing personal and very human moments of not only my life, but also that of my family, my daughter and my friends, that I became aware of just how many people read encore.

After my bi-weekly column came out, people always referenced some point of my story while greeting me. I was amazed, for example, at the number of women who raised their purses in solidarity after “Self Defense Lies in the Fendi” came out. One woman even slowed down as she drove by, raised her bag, and shouted, “It may not be a Fendi, but it does the trick.”

I can’t tell you all the women who shared their methods of birth control with me after “If It’s Only Minor Surgery, Then Why Do I Need a Will: My IUD-Removal Saga” hit the press. I ran into a friend after that article, and she asked how I was doing. I told her I was fine, but I had just had my IUD removed. She said, “I know; I read it encore.”

I was discovering that people not only read encore, but they were also keeping up with my life. After “War of the Pecan” came out, I started getting calls from people reporting sightings of the pecan-snatching lady. My mom also called, wanting to know if I had anyreturn visits from the pecan poacher. Ah... my mother, the subject of so many of my articles and apparently the same mother of many encore readers. When “No More Capris” was published, a woman that had recently met me said she had taken that story all the way to Maine just to share it with her mother and three sisters. Hey, encore was being read in Maine, by a capri-hating mother! Go figure.

The mothers of Wilmington would also read encore; I know because whenever a “Chelsea” article would appear, these moms would approach me, finally able to laugh about being the mother of a surly teenager who wanted to be adopted by Angelina Jolie. encore moms are a tough breed, as are the moms of the four-legged kids. After my dog ate three tampons, I wrote “Dog Gone Crazy,” and I can’t tell you all the stories people shared of the things their dogs ate. One girl’s dog even outed her by snagging her sex toy, promptly chewing on it. “Umm, what is that?” people at the party asked. Horrified, she snagged the item; thinking quickly, she said, “A dental bone.”

“Battery-powered?” questioned one guy.

Women immediately wanted to know where they could get one of the “dental bones.” One guy quickly reminded his wife that they didn’t even have a dog.

I was always impressed at how comfortable encore readers were about the things in my life, and how—in turn—they would share their lives with me. Very cool.

A full year after “Femme Fatale” was published, I was stopped by an acquaintance, and he squinted as if trying to read me, before he asked, “Are you PMS woman today?”

Totally caught off guard, I responded, “No, but if I was, I probably would have popped you between the eyes just for asking.”

He jumped back laughing. “You’re so funny,” he said, and he reminded me of the article that I had written long ago.

I’m in awe of the memory of encore readers, as well as their ability to connect my name to my articles. Like the time I had just met a man at an oyster roast, and he asked if I had my special panties on. I began racking my brain; how did we go from, “Hi, I’d like you to meet...” to “special panties.” (Just as an aside, I’d like to add any panty that I can get on that won’t cut off the circulation to my thighs and upper torso is pretty damn special in my eyes!) But at that moment, I’m sure I stood with an oyster knife in my hand and a bewildered expression on my face because he quickly added, “Your singing panties.” It suddenly dawned on me that I was looking at an encore reader who had read “All I Don’t Want for Christmas.” He was referring to Victoria Secret’s so-called “Singing Panties.”

“Ahh, you read my article,” I observed.

He nodded, grinning. “I’m a big fan of encore.”
And so am I. As I reflect on my time with encore, I marvel at the willingness and graciousness of the staff and readers to allow me to share all the zany moments in my life that were really just the moments of so many of us. To this day—and much to my delight—people still come up to me and ask, “When are you going to write for encore again?”

So in honor of encore readers and its 25th anniversary, I would like to write “thanks” to Shea and the hardworking staff. And, most importantly, a big “thanks” to readers for allowing me to share my life with you and the sharing you have done in return. Keep up the good work, encore; you’re looking good for 25!

Ben Brown
Music Writer, 2003-2007
Reviewing albums and previewing bands for years was my service to encore, and from my archives recently I pulled a piece that emphasized the difference between those two kinds of writing. They’re often confused. Because I enjoy the concept of live music and touring, no matter the genre, I’ll keep quiet on the name of the artist who asked me for a review of his music. He didn’t like what I had to say and tracked me down at my then place of work to flash his red eyes, sweaty upper lip and wobbly voice. Let’s not embarrass the guy; it was years ago.

Funny thing, I thought his music was OK. I didn’t say anything bad. And had I said anything, his bizarre argument that I should’ve taken his work objectively would’ve been a sad puddle. Either way, he mistook my writing for malice and came at me.

Musicians, one day your work is going to fall into the hands of a critic who thinks your music belongs in the Earth’s core, and if this critic knows his/her stuff, your heart better sit still. Because you asked for a review, not an arm’s-length show preview. What this guy took issue with was my treatment of his tour flier, which was hanging off the bulletin board at CD Alley, where I worked at the time. I gave it a glance, thought it looked identical to an album cover of a then very popular indie-rock band and made a note of it in my review. Just gave it light, that’s all. Then I went about reviewing his album, complimenting its obvious influences and throwing out a cheesy lyric for the readers to judge.

A couple weeks later, he rolls into town for a show, and it must’ve been his first order of business to pay me a visit. Like an operative from the Continental Detective Agency, he learned my place of employment, and on that sunny day, as I was pricing an order of CDs, I heard a voice say, “You know Ben Brown?”—he, a baby-faced, swoop-haired twenty-something, said all breathy. “That’s me. I didn’t steal any album art, man.”

I made the connection.

“Oh, you’re _______,” I said. “I don’t think I said you stole any album art. Um. Well?”

He turned around, clopped to the CD racks and found the album art in question. I still think it looks identical. He disagreed, but he sure stared at it a few, granite-hard seconds.

To wrap up, he rattled his views on journalism and what I should’ve done to promote his show. He hardened to what I guess was an intimidating stance and, in a desperate voice, said I should’ve given the project to a better writer. As a critic (which I was asked to be) I wasn’t objective enough. I wasn’t impressed.
“Look, if you’re gonna be a touring musician and ask for a review of—eh, you know what, forget it.” The final awkward moment was my handing him the change for an album he bought. No, not that one. But it was one I trashed in the following week’s edition of encore.

Sue Cothran
Art Director, 1997-present
I got my job at encore a few months after I moved to North Carolina from Florida. My favorite encore memories were of the yearly retreats to Bald Head Island. The first time I went, I had only been with encore five months or so, and I really hadn’t gotten to know everyone. Wade took us out to dinner on the island on the second night of our stay, and needless to say, we had a few drinks (some of us had more than a few). On the way back from the restaurant, we piled into the golf cart, and Wade wanted to show us how he could drive the cart without the headlights on using “the force” I guess. Later that night, the two advertising sales reps, Fonda and Diana (I was only observing, I swear), TP’d the new editor John while he slept on the living-room sofa. The next morning I woke up wondering what kind of company I was getting involved with. Sometimes, I still do.

Emily Rea
Assistant Editor, 2005-present
I remember picking up encore regularly in college, scouring it for information and entertainment while waiting on my chicken sandwich and fries at P.T.’s. Always having read ‘zines back to front, one of the first places I would turn to was the cultural calendar, and the volunteer section continually caught my eye. encore is what led me to eventually volunteer at the Cape Fear Literacy Council, which was an extremely rewarding experience.

As fate would have it, I got an internship at encore in January of 2005, my senior year, and a few of my very first memories of working here include: counting all those hundreds of Best-Of ballots (which, at that time, was done completely by hand!), free lunches on Fridays (from P.T.’s, no less), learning how to use a Mac for the first time, calling all the bars and restaurants for Soundboard (which, coincidentally, I still do to this day), previewing the Ani DiFranco concert I went to see at Thalian Hall, Shea coercing me to be one of Wilmington’s “Most Eligible Bachelorettes” for our Valentine’s Day issue, and discovering this obscure new site called “Facebook” through chatting with the other college interns.

I was hired the Monday after I graduated. Thanks to encore I got a job here in Wilmington, within my major, doing something I love, and have been given the opportunity to witness both our community’s thriving arts scene and the publishing industry itself progress, ebb and transform with the times. It’s exciting to be a part of. Four years later, I am still working at encore—and, although they pay me now, still enjoying those free lunches.

Shea Carver
Editor, 1999-present
The memories over the past 10 years of having this job remain ever-changing. From my first interview with then-editor John Staton to become an encore intern, to transitioning into an employee and Wade insisting we go shoot a game of pool to break up a very stressful Wednesday afternoon, to interviewing my first major artist (Stone Temple Pilots’ Dean DeLeo), to our many trips to Bald Head Island, to the free Outkast concerts I heard weekly when they would practice above us at the Soapbox during the filming of Idlewild, life at encore has not been boring. Sure, weekly deadlines have most likely deepened my crow’s feet at 32, but my laugh lines are a testament to the sheer amount of joy I have had helping this publication become a growing part of Wilmington.

Once upon a time, shortly after college and accepting the then ad-sales rep/writer position as my first “real” job, I never imagined I’d have planted roots in this fascinating town of people, places and businesses 10 years later. I wanted to write for Rolling Stone; I wanted to go to Berkeley grad school; I wanted to be the next national media mogul! But since becoming a part of encore, my goals have changed—and for the better.

I have grown up with Wilmington, fallen in and out and back in love with the town time and again, and through it all, I have become a cheerleader for its progression, thanks to everyone I have met and especially all with whom I have worked. As long as our town continues to move forward and grow on every artistic, business and political level, I assure all readers that not only will encore be there documenting every step of the way, but that readers always will have a place to go to feel connected to their community.

We all have a say in what we want our town to become; encore is the soapbox to make our voices heard. Readers are the catalyst in making change in this town prominent and positive because they are the citizens keeping it afloat. So keep sending us thoughts, praises, rants and raves; remain active and involved in every facet, whether attending art shows, concerts, city council meetings or dining out on Saturday evenings. encore may be a Wimington Media publication; but, essentially, it’s truly all of Wilmington’s. We’re simply here to help everyone get the most out of their town, 25 years strong and counting.