by: Emily Rea

Ask anyone to give a few characteristic descriptions of the Motown sound, and at the top of that list, one adjective rolls most easily off the tongue: soulful. With its pop-laden rhythms, call-and-response singing style and toe-tappin’ beats, the music struck a chord in people’s hearts in the early ‘60s and became its own, distinctive brand of audible entertainment that has carried on ever since.

Yet, what many folks today don’t realize is that Motown was so much more than just the music. It was an identity. It played a vital role in the evolution of soul music for decades to come—even to this day. It was a turning point in the history of racial integration within popular music, as Motown was the first record label founded and owned by an African-American, Berry Gordy Jr., that also featured primarily African-American artists who achieved outstanding crossover success. From its inception to the present, these artists include musical heavy-hitters such as Smoky Robinson and the Miracles, The Marvelettes, Stevie Wonder, The Four Tops, Marvin Gaye, The Supremes, The Jackson 5, The Temptations, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Lionel Richie and the Commodores, Boyz II Men, Indie.Arie, Erykah Badu, and Damien and Stephen Marley.

Local theater and dance company Techmoja has decided to honor the legend of Motown with an original production called “The House That Gordy Built: A Tribute to the Motown Greats.” The show features an all-African-American cast, and coincides with both Black History Month and the 50th anniversary of Motown.

“With the arrival of [the] anniversary of Motown, I began to wonder why we don’t hear these songs more often,” director Kevin Lee-y Green says. “Especially in a theatrical setting. You hear of these other shows like ‘Movin’ Out,’ with the music of Billy Joel; ‘American Idiot,’ with the music of Green Day; ‘All Shook Up!,’ with the music of Elvis Presley; [and] the movie-musical Across The Universe, with the music of the Beatles. I felt that the music of Motown Records is just as worthy of being put into a musical format. My choice to use Motown as a whole, and not just an artist from the label, was to provide more options for beautiful music, and to help further the story in which the actors and actresses are telling.”

Thus began a project of firsts for Green: his first time working with a small cast, and his first time writing and directing a musical revue. The show took on a life of its own as Green developed a plot to drive the beloved, classic songs.

“We’re used to hearing these songs indivually or as a soundtrack to a movie, but we’ve never really thought of them as a story,” he reflects. “So, what I’ve done is taken some of the songs and devleoped a plot, based around 12 friends living in Detroit in the late ‘60s to early ‘70s. Most musical revues shy away from story, and stick mainly to production numbers and vocal performance. Not ‘The House that Gordy Built.’ It makes the audience hear and see the songs in a different way, [while] still maintaining the sound that is Motown.”

Honoring not just the music but the educational aspect of Motown music, Green entwined many conceptual elements to the show, including trust, power, love, sisterhood/brotherhood, forgiveness and hope. He notes selecting the cast based on talent and ability, but, most of all, individuality. As a team the cast brings a whole new perspective to the Motown entity, creating a production that Green calls both “hair-raising and soulful,” one that incorporates such favorite tunes as “Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing,” “I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch),” “Let’s Get It On,” “What’s Going On” and “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.”

“It is truly entertaining,” Green promises. “I also think it is a nice way to introduce a new generation to theater and to a period when music was about something. It is also a nice trip back in time for those Motown-lovers who remain true to this music. Most importantly it is an opportunity to experience something that we all know and love, but [in a way that’s] different from the same-old, same-old.”

The show will be performed at the beautifully renovated Hannah Block Second Street Stage in The Community Arts Center at 120 S. Second Street. Show dates are February 18th-19th at 8pm, February 20th at 3pm and 8pm, and February 21st at 3pm. Tickets are on sale now for $15 and going fast; They can be reserved by calling (910) 341-7860 or (910) 228-6679. The show will feature a live band accompanying the singers, and director Kevin Lee-y Green will make a special appearance.

by: Tiffanie Gabrielse

Hos, Hookers, Call Girls and Rent Boys
By: David Henry Sterry
Soft Skull Press
$15.95
encore book club read available with 15% discount at Two Sisters Bookery and Pomegranate Books

“Sexually Deprived for Your Freedom” is the newest slogan framing my license plate. Recently, I debuted my coping technique at my neighborhood coffee shop. Unsurprisingly, the heated body language delivered from passersby practically melted the snow on the sidewalk. Some, I admit, smiled at my forward and brazen bravado of being a military wife. Others, with their pierced lips, scanned their eyes over me as if I were classless, uneducated and undeserving to park at this swanky over-priced coffee house.

I wondered what was the big deal. What were these Puritans beholden to Victorianism afraid of? Whom was I corrupting? Within this book-club preview, I can say that, for the first time, I didn‘t want to travel elsewhere. I did not want to escape. No, no; I wanted to stay put. I wanted to become an anchor. I wanted to slide our next club read out of my bag and flaunt it. So, I did—and I enjoyed the gawking.

David Henry Sterry’s latest epic work, Hos, Hookers, Call Girls and Rent Boys, is perhaps the most daring work of literature yet presented for encore book-club members to read. As we turn the pages this month, Sterry will break society’s double standard regarding sex, and he will challenge our common misconception that all sex sells well. Composed of raw, to-the-bone and uncensored first-hand positive (and negative) accounts of what it’s like to work in this billion-dollar industry, Hos, Hookers, Call Girls and Rent Boys is perhaps our most important anthology to submit to. It defiantly peels away the glamour, the myth, the sparkle, the prejudices and fear that capture our daily, sheltered lives.

“Let me start at the beginning: I was in the sex business when I was 17 years,” Sterry opened up immediately to me within our phone date. His voice echoed a man who has been there, done that and proves far better from it. “That exposed, I made the decision I was going to give these people a voice. So we can put a human face on this group of people who are so misunderstood. They are glorified and vilified by people who can only write and wonder about it. Hardly anyone, basically none, have never done yet. Rather than show the real humanity of these people, rather than listen to their voices, it’s cheaper and lazier to characterize these people pejoratively and sensationalistic. I am tired of it.”

The unique anthology has, over the course of its original release, acquired more attention than anyone expected or cared to admit. Sworn to be an original, down to its cover art, Hos, Hookers, Call Girls and Rent Boys provides an interior look into an otherwise unreachable and suspicious demographic. Showcasing writing from such sex-worker literati as art-porn priestess Dr. Annie Sprinkle; the infamous Happy Hooker, Xavier Hollander; author and LGBT activist Mattilda Berstein Sycamore; shining star of The Devil in Miss Jones, Georgina Spelvin; and our very own favorite dominatrix, Shawna Kenney, Hos, Hookers, Call Girls and Rent Boys will open our eyes and ears to an unprecedented inclusiveness.

“I think [placing this anthology in a book club] could be a great thing. It will humanize sex workers—who are often made fun of, if not completely degraded and discarded in our society,“ Kenney told me. I originally feared that this choice of work would be too alternative—even for encore. “Look at games like Grand Theft Auto where one gets points for killing hookers. Tiffanie, reading stories about the reality of that industry and it is big business has great potential to educate if not placate fears. Of course, I’m speaking about people who are open to learning about it. People who already have sex workers condemned due to religious or philosophical beliefs, well, we’ll never reach them.”

Or will we? It is a goal. Take heed, this selection does come with a warning: The stories are not sexy. They are not anything like our beloved fantasy starring Julia Roberts and Richard Gere. As Kenney points out, not much of the work is truly sexy. But, she promises, it is at its core honest.

“Keep an open mind,” Sterry asks readers daring enough to partake in the joy ride and submit their thoughts at the end of the month. “Keep a sense of humor and check your prejudices at the door. Remember, this book club is not your mother’s book club.”

by: Sarah Boggs

The Punch Brothers
February 18th • 8pm • $6–$20
Kenan Auditorium • (910) 962–3500
www.uncw.edu/presents

At last! The Punch Brothers have made their rounds and found themselves in the Port City, ready to perform their hypnotic and addictive bluegrass harmonies to the Wilmingtonian masses. Led by prodigious mandolinist Chris Thile, the Punch Brothers pack a hit of haunting melodies that is sure to leave their listeners longing for more.

Comprising Chris Thile on the mandolin, who released his first of five solo albums at age 13 and is best-known for his involvement with bluegrass band Nickel Creek, he makes up only a fifth of the quintet. Gabe Witcher, a life-long friend of Thile’s, adds his talent as a coveted violinist, having worked on award-wining soundtracks for movies like Brokeback Mountain and Toy Story. Noam Pikelny is the band’s sought-after banjoist, whose solo album In the Maze made a significant mark upon the world of three-finger-style five-string banjo playing. Chris Eldridge studied guitar at the Oberlin Conservatory and was a founding member of The Infamous Stringdusters, a critically acclaimed bluegrass band. Paul Kowert, the Punch Brothers’ bassist and most recent addition, joined the band in 2008 after having studied classical bass with renowned bassist Edgar Meyer.

The Punch Brothers, named after Mark Twain’s short story “Punch, Brothers, Punch!” is celebrated for its high-energy, diverse arrangements of bluegrass instrumentals, as well as jazz-like improvisation and flow. Their mesmerizing performances have earned the band a Grammy nomination for Best Instrumental Performance for their first album, How to Grow a Woman from the Ground.

Although the band wasn’t officially formed until 2006, the boys have an extensive web of relationships tying them all together, inevitably moving them to perform and record together.

“I think it’s safe to say we all admired each other,” Punch Brothers guitarist Chris Eldridge explained to encore last week. “[We] enjoy playing together and were waiting for the chance to actually do something serious as a group.”

Such a breakthrough came with mandolinist Chris Thile’s separation from his wife in 2005, which elicited a waterfall of creative energy—energy that eventually evolved into a long-form, through-composed piece that is now known as “The Blind Leaving the Blind,” a 40-minute, four-movement bluegrass piece that recounts a man’s emotional turmoil through the ramblings of a group of friends at a bar. Originally Thile’s ambition, the song was written in part by each of the band members, leaving room for creative freedom within the performance so that it is new each time it’s played.

“I still discover new surprises within ‘The Blind Leaving the Blind,’ after having played it for over four years now,” Eldridge said. He also explained that although the song is lengthy and technically difficult, he was never intimidated by it.

“Having grown up with an aural tradition and approach to music-making, it was a fundamentally different kind of project than I had ever embarked upon. But once we started actually learning it and getting it to a place where we could play it, it became rewarding on a different level because it is such a rich and beautiful piece of music.”

Bluegrass music, as clichéd as it may have become in some circles, is one of the most flavorful ingredients in the American musical stew. Its multifaceted and quick-paced melodies stir up undeniable emotions in listeners, whether pleasant or not, and The Punch Brothers’ repertoire is no different. Eldridge explained why the combination of instruments—banjo, fiddle, guitar, bass, mandolin—works so well together, and how The Punch Brothers use them to produce their signature hypnotic sound.

“There is a long tradition of these instruments fitting together in a musically complementary way,” he said. “Since we all grew up playing bluegrass, we all have an intuitive understanding of how that fit can work. However, as we’ve gotten older and broadened our tastes and scope, we’ve tried to understand the inner workings of how other genres of music can work; it turns out all good music is basically the same. It all has strong melody, harmony and rhythm. So if we come up with parts that pass the test of being rhythmically, harmonically and melodically sound, then we will work with those parts to make them compelling and strong.”

The Punch Brothers will be performing tomorrow evening (Thursday the 18th) at 8pm in the Kenan Auditorium as part of the UNCW Arts in Action Performance Series. The performance is part of the last leg of their most recent tour for the album Punch, wherein “The Blind Leaving the Blind” can be heard, as well as the energetic “Nothing, Then,” and the more classical “It’ll Happen.” Tickets for the performance are $20 to the public, $16 for senior citizens and UNCW employees, $8 for non-UNCW students, and $6 for UNCW students. The Punch Brothers will also be playing Bonnaroo in June.

by: Adrian Varnam

Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears
Also featuring Cedric Burnshide, Lightnin’ Malcolm and Leslie
February 21st • 8pm • $10
Soapbox Laundro Lounge, upstairs

With Austin, Texas, well known for being the “live-music capital of the world,” it’s rare that anyone is surprised when an up-and-coming band calls the city “home”. In fact, it may even help the acclaim since the competition to be heard is so fierce. Although blues, R&B and soul band Black Joe Lewis and The Honeybears is one of hundreds, if not thousands, to come from Austin, they posses something that comes from a deeper part of America and from an earlier time in its musical history.

With a live show that is talked about long before they arrive, and a record that’s as alive and hoppin’ as seeing them in person, this band needs to be experienced to be believed. Recently, I caught up with Honeybears guitarist Zach Ernst and spoke with him about meeting Joe Lewis, his experience of being in the band, and what life is like both in the studio and on the road.

encore: I’ve read how you got hooked up with Joe after booking him for an event on campus at the University of Texas. What about him and his sound attracted you?
Zach Ernst: Well, before that I picked up his record—his first release—and really thought it was great. It was a lot rawer, a lot dirtier than the blues stuff that was going on in Austin at the time, and it was really a lot more in line with the stuff that I liked. So I probably sat on it for about a year and hadn’t met him or talked to him, and whenever the opportunity to meet him came up, we discovered that we had a lot in common in the artists we liked, like Hound Dog Taylor, Lightnin’ Hopkins and Bunker Hill. We just kind of hit it off from there.

e: Was it that he had a sound that was different from other bands you played in, or was it something about him in particular?
ZE: Well, this is the first band that I’ve ever been in. I had taken lessons when I was young and stuff, but that was it. I met him more from the perspective of being involved with talent booking at the University of Texas, and I was a music journalist for The Texan, the student newspaper. So at the time, I was more into blues music as a writer or talent buyer. The thought of putting together a band wasn’t really my first idea. I just approached Joe as a fan or someone who wanted to put him on a show.

e: Really? Was it what you expected?
ZE: It’s been great! You know, I literally knew one bass player and one drummer, and I called them and said, “Hey, do you want to play with this guy, Joe?” So it all came together pretty quickly—well, right away. So we’ve caught some lucky breaks and been together for about three years now. Right out of the gate, we had some positive support that got us going really quickly.

e: How does that now-distinctive sound of Black Joe Lewis come together?
ZE: Well, mostly, Joe and I will come up with something together first, or Joe will by himself. And then if it clicks, we’ll bring it to the band. Within 30 seconds of playing it with the band, we usually know if it’ll work or not. There have been a lot of songs that didn’t work, but for whatever reason, the ones that do come together quickly.

e: What do you think it is about the sound that appeals to people?
ZE: I think it helps that we’ve been on the bill with a lot of different kinds of bands—it’s been a pretty widespread appeal, I guess. I think we’re a pretty good opening act, so we’ve been able to get out in front of a lot of different kinds of bands and put out a pretty eye-opening show that a lot of people weren’t expecting to hear. That and the fact that Joe’s pretty approachable. We’ve found that people just like Joe—for his stage presence and who he is personally. He and his music appeal to a broad section of people.

e: You’re known for having an exciting and energetic live show. As a band how difficult was that to capture in the studio with your first album?
ZE: We definitely recorded as much live as we could. We find that Joe definitely performs best with a live band behind him. And to capture the energy that we’re going for, recording live is the only thing that works for us. I think we captured it pretty well on the record, but a lot of those were first takes. We rely on that off-the-cuff energy.

Joe sings songs differently every time, so we want to capture a song in a way that we think is good and move on. I think it turned out well; it’s got a great sound and energy to it. I don’t think anyone would go to one of our shows after hearing it and be surprised. It’s definitely a fair representation of what we do.

e: Do you have a lot of opportunity to work on that sound on the road?
ZE: Well, we’ve definitely had a ton of shows. It seems like we’re playing shows all the time, especially since the record came out. It’s definitely shaped us and made us into a better band. When you’re working all the time, like we’ve been, I think it’s the only way to get better.

e: The band’s risen to a pretty nice level of recognition in a relatively short amount of time. What do you attribute the success to?
ZE: Honestly, I think we’ve gotten really lucky, and we’ve been at the right place at the right time. We got some good tours early, we got a label on board that was looking for new artists at the time, and just had a lot of lucky coincidences when we first started out. I think with us having a fully realized sound and an identity with a high-energy show that people respond to has helped, too. So with a good sound and a lot of luck, we are where we are, I think. We’re still pretty shocked that we get to do this for a livin’—it’s been a trip.

by: Anghus

An Education
Starring Carey Mulligan, Olivia Williams, Alfred Molina
4 stars (out of 5)

Was it the noted philosopher Kierkegaard who said, “When you’re 15, somebody tells you they love you, you’re going to believe them”? Wait, I think it was Taylor Swift. Either way, it’s a pretty apt metaphor for the film, An Education.

Who doesn’t remember being a teenage girl? Sitting up all night with a copy of Tiger Beat magazine and dreaming about one day becoming Mrs. Luke Perry. Trying so hard to fit in at school while building up the courage to tell the captain of the football team, Steve Holt, that I had a crush on him. Those were beautiful times. Making a prom dress out of an old hand-me-down. Losing my virginity to Lane Meyer while Peter Gabriel’s “In Your Eyes” blared in the background. Glorious times.

But I’m no longer a teenage girl. Nor was I ever one.

However, I feel as if I got a glimpse into that world with An Education, a very earnest movie about the peons and pleasures of young love. Jenny (Carey Mulligan) is a whip-smart teenager, attending prep school in suburban London. In many ways she’s wise beyond her years. She pines for an extraordinary life. Music, culture, art: This is what inspires her. Her life is fairly ordinary. Going to an all-girls school, she daydreams of a life less common, dealing with her pleasant but emotionally detached parents. To be fair, they’re British, so “emotionally detached” is kind of their default status.

Her life is greatly changed when she meets David (Peter Sarrsgard). He is everything she’s looking for: handsome, dashing and, most importantly, cultured. His life is the kind of nonstop party that Jenny craves. This May through December romance seems a little tawdry at first. Underneath the debonair exterior lies a true man of mystery. He has money; though Jenny doesn’t know from where. She is too entranced to care. Her relationship moves at breakneck speed. David is taking her away for weekends, bringing her to art auctions, escorting her to society functions, all the while charming Jenny’s parents (including the wonderful Alfred Molina) into lowering their guard.

The relationship between David and Jenny makes up the backbone of the film, and it seems to work well despite their age difference. Though, there is a certain level of discomfort in it, as well. No matter how old her soul, she is still a girl—barely a woman. Because of this, she is easily manipulated and chooses to ignore the obvious warning signs.

At first, audiences will like David; though, the seeds are planted very early on that something about the guy isn’t quite right. By the time the other shoe drops, Jenny has decided to throw away her goals in favor of a gilded life. Of course, nothing ever works out as planned.

On paper, this is a movie by which I could see myself being bored to death, but onscreen I loved it. The story itself is an interesting one, but the acting, directing and cinematography create a picture window into a beautiful world; 1960s London is magnificently realized. The wardrobe is stunning. The music is soul-stirring. But all the glitter and gloss is worthless without characters to care about.

Carey Mulligan is a revelation—a fantastic actress with the kind of natural talent for which most performers would kill. She can say everything with a look and has a range on par with actresses twice her age.

The fact that I liked An Education so much is a testament to the work. A female protagonist in repressed ‘60s-era London is hardly a movie I would put on my “must-see” list. But the material is handled with such a subtle touch. The characters are crafted with such care. A movie of such refinement will have a hard time connecting with the attention-span-challenged popcorn munchers who believe Avatar is the greatest movie of all time. Yes, that’s right: I went highbrow on your asses. Seeing a movie like An Education should remind us of how good films can be when done right, and it makes me appreciate a good drama that doesn’t require bells and whistles. You can have Pandora; I’ll take Carnaby Street London in the ‘60s any day of the week.

An Education has been nominated for two Academy Awards in the Adapted Screenplay and Best Actress categories—each well-deserved nominations in my opinion. If there’s any justice, Carey Mulligan will walk away with the award. However, the Academy Awards are not known for justice, rather for awarding actresses that have a body of work worth rewarding. More than likely this year’s Best Actress award will go to Sandra Bullock. Still, I hope the nomination gets a good amount of looking balls on Carey Mulligan. With any luck she’s going to have one hell of a career.

by: Lauren Hodges

Silent auction feat. the work of Robert Delford Brown
Wabi Sabi Warehouse
19 N. 9th Street
Saturday, February 20th • 11am-4pm
Absentee bids: 910-599-0476,
archibaldheptinstall@gmail.com

Show up anywhere in Wilmington where art is loved and celebrated, and you will still feel the presence of Robert Delford Brown. The meteor of a man that hit the Port City died in March of 2009, and the creative community is still on his road to Nevada (Brown’s tongue-in-cheek version of “the road to Nirvana”). After almost a year, his friends and followers are keeping him alive on the walls. His energy still roams the halls of Cameron Art Museum, and his signature catch phrases (“Who? Knows!”, “What Great Art!”) decorate the theater in Jengo’s Playhouse.

“A lot of people think that artwork only becomes valuable when the artist is gone,” Jengo’s founder, Dan Brawley, says. “But the person is the most valuable part. I think Bob is the ultimate proof of that.”

Brawley, who was a close friend of Brown’s, has been taking inventory of the pieces left behind—and it hasn’t been easy on him. “It’s a painful process,” he admits. “Bob was such a presence here, and he is missed every day. But these things all represent his message to the world and how he felt about things.”

In the spirit of keeping Bob’s presence moving around town, his First National Church of Exquisite Panic is liquidating a large amount of their great leader’s creations. A silent auction (as Brawley says, “Hush, hush...shut up!”) will be sponsored by the Independent Art Company and held at the Wabi-Sabi Warehouse. The sacred objects up for bid include Brown’s signature Mirror Mandelas, Ikonomobiles, gluings, Maps to Nevada, Epherma and other works of art.

Whoever is lucky enough to aqcuire one of the masterpieces will have plenty of options.

“I am asking anyone who buys work by Bob to consider donating it back through Cameron Art Museum [CAM],” CAM’s director, Deborah Velders, says, “so that it could be up for possible placement in another art museum, for which they would ultimately receive a tax deduction.”

Though this seems unorthodox, many of Brown’s friends feel that he wouldn’t have it any other way. “This would help fulfill Bob’s desire that his work be represented in various museums,” Velders says. “That desire was actually the whole point of this sale of artwork: to help get Bob’s work into museums across the country. We couldn’t do that without legal ownership being settled. Elsewise, we would have simply allowed the court to reclaim the work and sell it.”

Ultimately, Brawley feels that the purpose of the auction is to keep Brown’s memory alive. “This is a chance for a lot of people to own a piece of Bob, a chance that they might not have had before. It’s a huge opportunity.”

The auction will take place on Saturday, February 20th, at the Wabi Sabi Warehouse, 19 North 9th Street, from 11am-4pm. Absentee bids will be accepted via telephone at 910-599-0476 or via e-mail at archibaldheptinstall@gmail.com. All absentee bids must be received by 2:37pm on Saturday, February 20th.

by: Lauren Hodges

The Bunce Island Exhibit
Randall Library Exhibit Center,
UNCW campus
on display through Feb. 27th
Grand opening reception Feb. 21st, 3pm
www.bunce-island.org
(910) 262-8208

February is Black History Month, which always gives America a lot to think about—particularly in the South. Our own Cape Fear region has an especially poignant part in the past, with a rich heritage of struggle and strife for African-Americans. Of course, the history has remained largely unacknowledged in history books until recently.

“African-Americans, free and enslaved, were crucial to the development of southeastern North Carolina,” John Battle, director of the African-American Heritage Foundation of Wilmington, Inc. (AAHFW), says. “Besides providing the bulk of plantation labor, they dug the canals, labored on the railroads, worked in commerce and shipping, and help construct much of the built environment, some of which is still in existence today.”

Battle and his colleagues at the AAHFW have been busy studying the connection between the history of Wilmington and Sierra Leone. In fact, a former slave named “Thomas Peters” joined the British Army in the Revolutionary War and later became a founder of Freetown, Sierra Leone. He was known as a “Black Pioneer.”

“Bunce Island was an 18th-century British fort in Sierra Leone,” Battle explains. “It shipped thousands of African captives mainly from the Rice Coast of West Africa to the rice-growing regions of North America during the mid- and late-1700s.” As the history points out, that knowledge of rice farming became an assett to the South and its economy.

As slave owners profited from the labor and knowledge of the African imports, a new culture had started to develop in the fields. In 2006 Congress established a Gullah/Geeche Cultural Heritage Corridor, making it the only one in existence to commemorate African-American history. The 12,000 square miles spread along the Southern coast and include pieces of North and South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. Parts of New Hanover County are included in the stretch.

“Over time, enslaved Africans who lived and labored in relative isolation on rice plantations developed the distinct Gullah language, traditions, music, material culture and foodways,” Battle says. “Much of this culture is maintained to this day.”

Yet, many people are unaware or know very little of this rich cultural heritage in the Wilmington area, largely due to the lack of information available to the public. “The historic presence of the Gullah people has largely escaped or been excluded from records, books and until recently, historian scrutiny,” Battle says. “But this might be because of an inability to distinguish among African-American origins. It is often viewed by others as a homogenous group of people.”

The AAHFW hopes that a new public exhibit will help to educate the local population on the Gullah/Geeche culture. Working with the UNCW Office of Institutional Diversity and Inclusion, the organization has been able to sponsor a display in the Randall Library. Called the “Bunce Island Exhibit,” the show features papers and pictures depicting the history of the understated people. The story of Sierra Leone, the Atlantic Slave Trade and the origins of the culture in North America is told vividly in illustrations along the library’s main corridor.

“It is our hope that the exhibit will stimulate new representations and historical narratives based on Western forms of evidence,” Battle informs. “We want to validate the Gullah people’s family and oral histories, memories, folklore and life experiences.”

The Bunce Island Exhibit is on display from February 1st to the 27th in the Randall Library Exhibit Center. On February 21st a grand opening reception will be held, featuring a lecture and video with Professor Joseph A. Opala, the show’s curator. The lecture will begin at 3pm with time for questions and discussions at 4pm. The video and reception will follow. Visit www.bunce-island.org for more information or call (910) 262-8208.

by: MJ Pendelton

Love on the Rocks
4 stars (out of 5)
Cape Fear Playhouse at Newcastle,
613 Castle Street
February18th-21st
Tickets: (910) 341-7228

Valentine’s Day is absolutely wonderful for approximately five percent of the population. The other 95 percent experience dashed expectations, unreciprocated gifts or simply nothing at all. Big Dawg’s production of “Love on the Rocks” is the perfect antidote. Misery loves company, after all, and the best way to cope with an injured heart is to laugh about it.

Subtitled “Four short plays about the difficult (and sometimes comical) search for love,” the production evokes a smile simply on the premise. Anton Chekhov’s “A Marriage Proposal” is the shining star of the theatrical quartet. Directed by Pam Grier, it is fast-paced and funny, funny. The actors assume accents and attitudes to melodramatize the farce. Kevin Wilson, Jana Allen and Randall Lucas are perfectly cast and delightfully amusing.

The other three plays suffer somewhat in comparison, but then it is difficult to compete with Chekhov. “Ships,” by Jay D. Hanagan and directed by Michele Seidman, is more depressing than comical because it is so realistic. Kevin Wilson and Jana Allen assume the roles of strangers who are waiting in a restaurant for their spouses and, in the course of a conversation, realize that they have settled for relationships that are far less than perfect. Wilson’s self-deprecation and Allen’s needy smiles perfectly illustrated their unfulfilled lives.

“Fixing Up Mom” and “Not Since Baltimore” are written by local playwrights Kathryn Martin and Bert Sherman, respectively. Both plays explore the awkward premise of mature dating, which embarrasses older people and disturbs youngsters who really want to believe that anyone over 40 is celibate. Awkwardness aside, the plays are cute. In “Fixing Up Mom,” also directed by Seidman, Suzanne Nystrom (Madeline) and Ken Cressman (Larry) are introduced by Madeline’s daughter. Larry has a list of requirements, which, though somewhat practical, are astonishingly insulting. Madeline, who is obviously not particularly desperate for a man, nonchalantly responds with a fabricated list of her own. Ultimately, this abstract and clinical exchange bizarrely ignites Larry’s intense ardor—go figure.

“Not Since Baltimore,” directed by Sherman, is a mature perspective on Internet dating, which is comical because of the inherent innocence of the characters. Two friends, Max (Randall Lucas) and Sheldon (John Peterson) are fascinated with the Internet possibilities and promises. Max, who is slightly more high-tech and adventurous than Sheldon, actually drives to Baltimore for a—big surprise—disappointing date. Lucas and Peterson have great chemistry and expressive faces.

It is an amusing and entertaining evening at Big Dawg’s adorable theater on Castle Street. With four plays, it’s hard to miss. If one play doesn’t please, the next probably will. Sets and costumes are simple, and the emphasis is on the actors who are very good. The evening is a cathartic experience because it’s far better to laugh at love’s eccentricities than to cry about them. There’s also camaraderie in the understanding that the problems are far more ridiculous than unique. Married couples in Wilmington should see this production to refresh their love and leave holding hands.

by: MJ Pendelton

Nunsense
The Scottish Rite Temple,
1415 S. 17th Street
February17th-21st and 26th-28th
Thurs.-Sat., 8pm • Sun., 3pm
Tickets: (910) 343-3664

Opera House Theatre Company is opening their 25th anniversary season with the musical comedy “Nunsense,” which is also celebrating its 25th anniversary. With book, music and lyrics by Dan Goggin, “Nunsense” won four Outer Critics Circle Awards and was the second-longest-running off-Broadway show in history. Since 1985, “Nunsense” has inspired six sequels and spin-offs. Goggin, who was educated by nuns, explained the popularity and appeal: “When [nuns] did things that were un-nunly, people would be so captivated.”

Director Sue Ellen Yates summarized the plot. The cook, Sister Julia, child of God, accidentally poisons 52 nuns with her vichyssoise, and the convent needs to put on a fund-raiser in order to bury the four nuns who remain in the freezer. Sister Julia does not participate in the fund-raiser because she’s probably so busy doing penance.

“The reason we’re in this bind,” Joy Gregory (Sister Mary Hubert) added, “is because the Reverend Mother (Michelle Reiff) bought a flat-screen television. It’s time for her to retire.”

“I am the true nun in the crowd,” Reiff disagrees.

“All the women are just Broadway performers in disguise, and this is a great excuse for them to put on a show,” Denise Bass (Sister Mary Amnesia) said.

“Denise’s character doesn’t know who she is because a crucifix fell on her head,” Yates added.

Choreographer Kendra Goehring- Garrett also “takes on the character of the choreographer in the show, Sister Mary Leo. She wants to be a prima ballerina.” Goehring-Garrett will, in fact, perform ballet on toe.

“She’s an amazing choreographer because she is a dancer,” Gregory said. “She knows that my character should tap dance, so she taught me how.”

“The music will appeal to almost everyone,” music director Lorene Walsh said. “It’s upbeat, but there are some ballads.” Walsh, who has directed countless shows in Wilmington, added that “this production is one of [her] all time favorites because of the cast.” She is also a nun, Sister Mary Martíni. Even the stage manager, Denyse McDonnell, is a nun, Sister Mary Illiteracy. There was so much enthusiasm from the cast members that it was obvious they will perform well together.

“I just have to stay out of their way,” Director Yates laughed. The energy seemed to be fueled by mutual affection and admiration, as well as lots of chocolate. They also seem to enjoy the fact that the cast and directors are all-female. The obvious empathy will positively affect the production because if everyone onstage is having fun, the audience will, too.

Bass believes that the show is “timed perfectly. When I was coming up through the ranks, I was always told that theater [is] at its best when life [is] at its worst. People need a distraction, an escape. They need to laugh or cry at someone else’s story. Laughter is good for the soul.”

Missing “Nunsense” would be nonsense. It became an international phenomenon because of its universal appeal. Thanks to Opera House Theater Company and all these wonderfully talented women, Wilmington is in for a big treat. Laughter is not only good for the soul, it’s priceless.

by: The Cranky Foreigner

I got an e-mail from Shea, the lovely editor of encore, recently, and I quote:

“So. Cranky Foreigner. I pulled you out of the gutter last year, and for a can of dog food and a pat on the back for every column, you agreed to get us some hate mail. Since the Scrooge piece, nothing. Kick it up a notch, or you’ll be licking envelopes as in ‘Seinfeld,’ if you get my drift.”

Remembering that a funeral was involved in the “Seinfeld” bit, here goes...

I was driving down Market Street a while ago, nice clear day and all that, and I noticed a dust storm up ahead. Looked to me like it was at Kerr Avenue. I know what dust storms look like. Smoke tends to go up, dust stays low. Getting closer, it was obviously coming from the half-demolished Whitey’s Motel. Piles of rubble and wood, trucks and front-end loaders messing about, and a man with an industrial-strength leaf blower, literally kicking up a storm.

It is obviously stupid to try to organize the dust at a demolition site while the demolition is still happening. As a guy with asthma, I took offense that this stupidity became my medical problem. But then I realized that it was a totally appropriate thing to do in modern America.

Basically, leaf blowers make someone’s problem into someone else’s problem. It takes a while to rake and bag leaves and trash, but if they end up in the middle of the street and a big truck comes by fast—hey, that’s life. And that seems to work at many levels of this country. Only traitors, it seems, object to a good war, but who wants to pay for it? Not us, and that’s for damn sure. But our grandkids, surely, will be happy to cough up a trillion or two, plus interest, for the whole Iraq thing. (Mom, the crying you hear from the next room might not have anything to do with a full diaper.) Lop off some mountain tops, and burn the coal so we can have shopping malls cold enough to hang meat in August. Who cares that all that mercury means our kids should only eat two fish meals a month? Stuff those pigs with antibiotics from day one to speed their weight gain. Who cares if that’s the perfect way to produce super strains of drug-resistant germs? Someone else will deal with it. Aren’t there some old leper colonies somewhere where we can send our children who can’t be cured?

So here is my idea: Let’s make it official. That big old eagle with its egg shells crumbling from weird chemicals, that’s so “Old America.” Let’s get with the future and make the leaf blower the symbol of America. A symbol for all that we stand for and hope to become. Postage stamps, Harley Davidson T-shirts, every piece of paper the NRA ever put out. Time for the new look. Let’s outsource all the design work to India, and, before long, smogging up our lungs while blowing the Big Mac wrappers into our neighbors’ yards will be the most patriotic thing we can do.

And so, dear editor, I’ve kept up my end of the deal. Let the hate mail roll in. And let’s see what kind of funky graphic you put up next to this. And don’t just steal something from the Lowe’s online catalogue. Game on!

by: Shea Carver

Luly’s Cuban Café
3 1/2 stars (out of 5)
1113-F Military Cutoff Road
(910) 509-2600
Mon. – Wed.: 11am–9pm
Thurs. – Sat.: 11am–10 pm

If there is one destination I continuously long to visit, it is Cuba. My hopes heightened among talks of opening its borders to American travelers, as went the White-House fodder that surrounded a newly elected Obama. Since, the talk has muffled, and my patience has worn thin—which is why when word that another Cuban café had opened in town, my interest piqued. Sure, I may not be able to hobnob with the Castro crew personally, but at least I could indulge in café Cubano and pastelito de guayaba, and pretend I was at a corner café on the island, basking in the sounds of Buena Vista Social Club and dancing a jig with the locals.

Luly’s Cuban Café sits new among The Forum’s many eateries, perhaps not on an island, but at least adding a Latin-America punch to its already international offerings: Italian at Osteria Cicchetti, American pub grub at Grand Union and Asian at Bento Box. In fact, Luly’s was born of Bento-Box owner Lee Grossman, thanks to his wife Lourdes’ Cuban heritage.

“All of Luly’s recipes come from my wife’s family,” Grossman informed me last week, after I finished lunch. “Except for the plantain soup,” he clarfied. “That’s my own creation.”

As fate would have it, the plantain soup left a profound impression on my palate. With slight hints of cumin, garlic and lime married against the starchy plantains, I was stunned to taste its savory richness over the usually sweet nectar they so fervently maintain. Adding to the fact that the soup is vegan-friendly made it all the better, as everyone can enjoy its bountifulness and depth.

“There is no stock or dairy used in it!” Grossman informed. And I challenge any chef’s palate to be able to taste a difference. Grossman’s need to appease vegetarian and vegan appetites alike continues to manifest, as he will be welcoming a vegetarian Cuban sandwich to his menu in coming weeks.

Not one to pass up the chance at eating a carnivorous serving of picadillo, my lunch date and I jumped into the limited menu without restrictions. Featuring only a dozen or so items, we ordered the plantain soup first, before sinking our teeth into the vaca frita, “a dish most of our customers rave about,” the waittress said.

The beauty of Cuban food is it comes from the heart of family—as does most regional cuisine born of its people. Luly’s vaca frita tasted as tender as Grandma’s pot roast would in the South; however, its mojo seasoning, caramelized onions and lime-juice flavors transformed the dish beyond a heavy, gravy-doused Sunday meal. The beef became the forefront of flavor, light even, and minus the cumbersome, lumbering feeling that often comes soon after eating it.

The chicken Versailles also contained Luly’s mojo seasoning, and a liberal sprinkling of cilantro and diced onions—two items that can give anything a zesty dose of gusto. Still, the chicken’s flavor seemed a bit understated and dry, unless eaten with a heaping spoon of Luly’s hearty black beans, which shone magnificently. Again, the cumin and garlic satisfied the intensity of the earthy flavors.

Perhaps it’s my bias toward ground-beef anything, but the picadillo at Luly’s remained my favorite of the day. I adore the Latin-American dish, of which each country seemingly churns out its own version.
“I don’t think I’ve had picadillo,” my lunch companion admitted.

“Well, think of the ground-beef filling of an empanada, and there you have it!” I described.
Luly’s dish came prepared with olives, capers, onions, peppers, raisins, garlic, cumin, oregano and, most likely, a tomato-based stock. It’s not a chili but more like a hash. While all of their entrées come with fluffy white rice and the aforementioned black beans and plantains, they also toss out slices of Cuban bread—small white rounds, which practically melt after one bite thanks to the buttery flavor lathered throughout each slice. Dipping them in the picadillo and the plantain soup became a habit throughout our meal—one I’d like to continue partaking in at least once a week.

We didn’t finish it all because we knew from the beginning of our leisurely lunch we would, without a single doubt, indulge in the pastries and coffee we had eyed and smelled upon entering the light, open-air diner. In fact, if there is any reason—or two—to dine at Luly’s, this is it: café Cubano, and a guava and cheese pastelito.

“We make the pastries fresh, every morning,” Grossman told us. “In fact, we have one gentlemen who comes by every day, a few minutes before we open, to get them right from the oven.”

The thought of the flaky, thin layers of crust filled with guava jam and cream cheese, being served hot to order, actually had me looking forward to waking up the next day—which is a feat. I am no “morning person,” but Luly’s pastries could transform me easily. Paired with some of the best coffee Wilmington could taste—a rich buzz of nutty flavors, sweetened and with cream, which Grossman orders from Miami—Luly’s should consider doing more breakfast business.

“We want to become more for our community,” Grossman excitedly claimed. “We want to have dominoes tournaments and salsa lessons on the patio. And we’d love to have a paella day come spring!”

With high hopes of sharing his in-law’s tasteful lineage with Wilmingtonians, the plans to make Luly’s more than a restaurant doesn’t wane. Grossman wants to bring with it the feeling of Cuban diners across Miami, where the food is adored, the coffee shared, and the interaction with friends, colleagues and acquaintances becomes extended family for everyone.

As for me, well, I am always open to sharing a coffee, a pastry and some good conversation. Just look for me in line ... before Luly’s doors open.

by: Shea Carver

Music never lacks in Wilmington—nor does it lack in flavor. From rock to hip-hop, classical to acoustic, the masses can embark on a slew of local venues to catch the sounds of local, regional, national, even international, musicians trekking around our coastal town, each and every week.

The weekend of Valentine’s Day proves no different, between the benefit concert for Haiti, the sing-a-longs sure to take place with the lovely songstress Bibis Ellison, and even local-artist-turned-musician, Nikki Wisniowski making a Valentine’s brunch even more memorable. Pull out the red pen and mark up the calendar; there is plenty to do, see and hear come Thursday.

Thursday, February 11th
Haiti Relief Concert
16 Taps • 127 Princess Street • $8-$10
George Clooney isn’t the only one taking massive strides to help Haiti victims after such a devastating earthquake wrecked their lives. Thanks to the help of acoustic rockers No Dollar Shoes, Oyster Boy and L Shape Lot, a concert to help fund the American Red Cross’s ongoing relief efforts will be held tonight at 16 Taps, downtown Wilmington. Cost to get in is $10, and all proceeds benefit the local chapter of the Red Cross. Monies will be accepted in the form of checks and cash.

Don’t miss a chance to stretch those philanthropic hands and enjoy the especially remarkable talent of three local bands. They give bluegrass, new-grass and acoustic jams a face-lift unlike any other in town—one to adore, of course, and dance a jig or two to, as well. The show begins at 8pm and will last until 2am, so wear comfortable dancing shoes, nonetheless.

Friday, February 12th
Tim Black and Bibis Ellison
Costello’s Piano Bar • 211 Princess Street
free
Missing local songstress Bibis Ellison would be a complete travesty tonight, as she and pianist Tim Black take to Costello’s Piano Bar for an intimate performance. Black, who’s part of Ellison’s Spare Change Band, which has take Wilmington nightlife by storm over the past year, turn their full-rockin’ sets into something delicate, demure and rather sexy—that is, as compared to their raucous Tuesday night gigs at The Whiskey.

Catch them in a new light, as songs run the gamut, from old to new, classic to modern, and the two shine together seamlessly, as Black’s fingers tickle the ivories to near perfection against one of the most powerful voices in the city. Show starts around 9:30pm.

Saturday, February 13th
The Urban Sophisticates, The Beast and Organix
Soapbox Laundro Lounge
255 N. Front Street • $8-$10
The motto remains eternal: “Beats move bodies and true music moves souls.” That’s the mission of Greensboro, NC’s, The Urban Sophisticates. The hip-hoppers will be stomping through the Soapbox, along with opening acts The Beast and Organix, tonight.

Headlining are the Sophisticates, who have folded even the most stubborn hip-hop fans into their following with their critically-acclaimed The Cowards Anthem. No strangers to touring, they’ve been all over the states, spreading the beats, and even going international, as far as Japan and Korea. Benton James, Aaron James, Romondo Jessup, Sal Mascali and Ricky Nxumalo have played unique riffs behind raps filled with emotion, truth and a dash of class, to all classes and societies, and to much praise.

Their 2008 release, Classic Material, continues gaining momentum thanks to its innovation and strides at helping the hip-hop genre evolve. Be at their show to not only hear poetry-in-motion but watch a group of talented musicians.

Sunday, February 14th
Nikki Wisnioski
Caffe Phoenix • 9 S. Front Street
free
We all know after a hectic weekend of supporting live music, Sunday should be a fun, full-of-rest day. But that doesn’t mean more music can’t be enjoyed during the process.

Just head over to Caffe Phoenix for brunch, 10:30am-3pm, and enjoy the soft, sensual sounds of local flutist Nikki Wisnioski. The all-around artist will ease any Saturday-night hangover with subtle beauty—and paired with a lovely brunch from the Phoenix, it’s a perfect Valentine’s-Day plan.

Go ahead and grab that exquisite someone, and make it a date.

by: Adrian Varnam

Singer/Songwriter
Showcase
Hell’s Kitchen, 118 Princess Street
every Thursday, starting at 9pm
(910) 763-4133 • free

While the Wilmington music scene may have some well-documented issues that some say prevent it from maximizing its full potential, local grassroots support and opportunities for musicians to be heard are clearly not some of them. With the popularity of such events as the Wilmington Unplugged series and the absolute slew of open mics available every night of the week across town, there seems to be a bevy of opportunities for anyone with an instrument and a bucket of courage to step right up and be heard.

This week Hell’s Kitchen is reviving its popular weekly music series for local singer/songwriters. Not as established and organized as Wilmington Unplugged, and not as spontaneous and grab-bag potpourri as most open mics, the Hell’s Kitchen series offers a welcome middle ground for those who want to get into the game or expand their reach within the local music scene.

Recently I spoke with organizer Shane Griffis about what his series will offer local musicians, and what the community can expect each and every week.

encore: What exactly is the weekly singer/songwriter showcase, what is its history, and how is it different from other events around town?
Shane Griffis: The singer/songwriter showcase was a weekly event a couple of years ago at Hell’s Kitchen, and we’re bringing it back every Thursday. Chris Livingston, a.k.a. Brisket, a guy I used to play with when he lived here in Wilmington, used to host it every week. He was booking different local artists to come out and play a set. It’s similar to an open-mic night, but it’s different in that we book the acts the week before.

It’s a chance for local musicians to come out, hear some good music, get involved and play in an organized setting. We’re pretty much going to keep the same format because it seemed to really work, and we got a great response from both musicians and music listeners.

e: How do musicians sign up for a chance to play? Do they just show up?
SG: No, we have them sign up the week before so we have time to do it right. They can just talk to me or Drew, the manager at Hell’s Kitchen, when they come out, and we’ll put them on the list for the following week. We’ll be announcing it over the mic, and they can come up and speak to us whenever they want during the night.

e: How many acts do you normally have a night?
SG: Most likely three or four, with each playing 45 minute sets or so, but it depends on who we have signing up. It starts at 9pm and goes on until all the bands that are booked that night get a chance to play.

e: Will you be booking solo and acoustic acts or bands as well?
SG: We can do pretty much everything, as long as they’ve got plenty of original material. We don’t mind a few covers here and there, but it’s definitely for original acts. I just want to give them a chance to get their music out.

e: Do they have to be established artists, or can first-timers come out? In other words, how do you determine who can play?
SG: Good, good question. I want to actually give everyone a chance to come up there if they’ve got a set of music they want to play. You know, I don’t want to turn anybody away. We’ve never really had a problem in the past with someone getting up there and playing who probably shouldn’t have. We’ve got a lot of really great musicians in town, and I think we should have a pretty good and steady showing every week.

e: How did you get involved with bringing this weekly showcase back to Hell’s Kitchen?
SG: I’ve played a lot at Hell’s Kitchen and know those guys pretty well, so Drew just asked me to start this back a couple of weeks ago. I helped Brisket when he did it a couple years ago. He had started to get some good crowds and good musicians coming out every week, and I wanted to pick it up where he left off. I think he was doing a good job, and I think we can bring that back on a weekly basis.

e: What brought you here to Wilmington, and how did you get involved in the local music scene?
SG: I moved up from Mississippi about six years ago, and played with Coon Phat Gravy and Woodwork Roadshow. I play with Ron Etheridge (Willie and Me) a lot, and some of the guys from Headway. It’s a little circle of guys and local bands that share a lot of music together.

I’ve gotten really lucky to be able to play with a lot of great guys. There’s a lot of talent here, and the music definitely keeps me in Wilmington. I couldn’t play like this in Mississippi—there’s just not as many places to do it.

e: Is that why you want to revive this showcase?
SG: Yeah, I want to keep it going and give everyone who wants to be a part of this the chance to experience it.

by: Lauren Hodges

Heart Art Show
Featuring the sardine-can art
of Tuki Lucero
Mitzy Jonkheer Jewelry Art Studio
4410 Wrightsville Avenue
Feb.12th, 4-8pm • Feb. 13th, All day

“Recycle” and “valentine” probably don’t make the most attractive word-pairing in many minds. In fact it probably conjures up memories of that heart-felt gift given by that special someone—who forgot to toss the card from their ex. Yet, since Valentine’s Day is the time to give all relationships a chance, “recycle” and “valentine” will be brought together in a good way this year, thanks to artist Tuki Lucero.

“I try to be a conscientious recycling type,” Lucero, who found her inspiration in a pile-up of sardine cans, says. “My vet told me my cats needed to eat tinned fish other than cat food, so, voila! Recycled sardine-can art.”

Lucero’s unconventional thinking likely comes from an unconventional discovery of her creative talents. With no formal art education, she assumed that a career in art was pointless when she failed to draw a successful still life. Her awakening, not surprisingly, came in New York City when she was only 19, and her roommate encouraged her to think outside of traditional art.

“I lived with a woman named ‘Micci Cohan’, who showed me that creative inspiration can come from any object and can be expressed through any medium,” she remembers. “Once I realized most of my barriers were self-imposed, it was easy to let my creative urges take over.”

Lucero worked for a jewelry designer for years before she began to make her own and eventually had a friend show her how to cast on. While watching her young son play on the playground, she taught herself to knit and began selling her creations in boutiques around the city. Finally, her introduction to artisanal paper brought her to the artistic arena in which she makes her current creations.

“I started making cards and small books,” she says. Yet, she doesn’t believe she will sit still in her craft for long, since she insists on surrounding herself with creative types.

“I have friends who sew, knit, design furniture, cook, weld, dance, write and paint,” she says. “They all inspire me and teach me things that I incorporate into whatever project I’ve embarked upon.”

For now Lucero is concentrating on her sardine-can project, which began last fall at Halloween. As a fan of all things macabre, Lucero could never resist the Mexican folk art and religious shrines that surrounded the Day of the Dead.

“I’m very partial to the slightly odd,” she says. “I see the most beauty in things that aren’t quite right or maybe a little bit scary.” She used her inspirations to make spooky keepsakes for October and decided to keep at it into the holidays. A collection of Madonna-themed tins emerged in time for Christmas. Now in the new year, an off-beat celebration of love can be found inside the glitter-covered containers.

“This is actually my first Valentine project—other than baking,” she laughs. “Valentine’s Day never really inspired me before.” After letting her romantic freak flag fly, Lucero was able to put her own version of the holiday into the valentines. The results have been glamorous but deliciously dark, featuring skeletons and vampires, mixed in with whimsical images of Victorian and 1920s couples. The Smashing Pumpkins would be proud.

“I hope customers find them irresistible, of course,” she says. “And I hope that they will appeal to the people who appreciate gifts that are handmade and one-of-a-kind. I think a gift to your true love should reflect how unique and special your feelings really are.”

Lucero’s creations can be found at the Heart Art Show at the Jonkheer Jewelry Art Studio on February 13th. A preview party will be held at the 4410 Wrightsville Avenue location on February 12th, 4-8pm. The show will also include work by Mitzy Jonkheer, Jeff Bridgers, Clair Hartmann, Julia Jensen, Sandra Siemering, and Rhonda Sparks.

Call 910-409-8758 for more information.

by: Anghus

Edge of Darkness
Starring Mel Gibson, Ray Winstone,
Danny Huston
3 stars (out of 5)

Am I the only one who missed Mel Gibson’s crazy mug on the big screen? Maybe I am. Sure, he’s a lousy drunk, and underneath the chiseled features, thinning hair and the stench of Old Crow is a womanizing, religious fanatic with questionable views toward our friends in the Jewish community. He’s like that degenerate uncle in every family—the one who never quite grew up. The one who, after indulging in a few drinks, begins to explain “how the world really works” ... right before he hits on one of your college friends, to whom he refers to as “sweet tits.” It’s humorous for a while, but eventually you have to pry the bottle out of his hand and watch him break down into tears as he talks about what a mess his life has become.

The question remains: Does Mel Gibson still have the chops to carry a movie? The answer: yes. Edge of Darkness is a strange little film—a movie that feels like it was made in the 1990s. It’s a revenge movie with a nefarious plot that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense but allows our protagonist to inflict a whole lot of punishment and brutally murder at will. I miss these kind of movies. A good revenge drama is something that has vanished from film in the 21st century. Most of them have become corny. Serious directors and serious talent rarely seem to jump aboard a good, old-fashioned, gritty revenge thriller. And when they do, there’s this air of righteousness, where so much time is spent validating the hero, making the brutal executions seem almost mandated. Not here. Every death is pointless. Every murder is ugly.

Gibson plays Tom Craven, a Boston police detective. He’s a bit of a loner, suffering from empty-nest syndrome. His daughter arrives for a visit under strange circumstances. She appears to be sick, but she won’t tell him why. Before he can get any answers, she is gunned down in cold blood. His only connection to the world is lost—pushed to the limit, he defaults to skill and instinct. He will find his daughter’s killer at any cost.

He quickly unravels into madness, haunted by the voice of his dead daughter. It’s a tired device, one the film could have easily dropped, the cinematic equivalent of a Post-It note, reminding the audience of the motivating factor behind his actions. His investigations lead to a potential government conspiracy and cover-up. The suspects are numerous, and the leads are fleeting. Yet, Tom has no problem tying everything together in a neat little package. It’s the film’s greatest flaw: making everything look too easy.

In the first 20 minutes, we know who did it. Director Martin Campbell (Casino Royale) is an extremely functional filmmaker, but he plays his hand way too early. There isn’t a surprise to be found. A character shows up onscreen, and within 30 seconds audiences will exclaim, “I bet he’s involved!” With no real mystery to keeping us guessing, the film instead just kind of lays out the reveal one beat at a time. By the time the characters are getting their comeuppance, we are almost exhausted.

What works about Edge of Darkness is the brutality it embraces early on. This is a very violent picture with some extremely satisfying moments. When the bad guys get messed up, they really get messed up. There were a couple of audible gasps heard from the audience and a lot of laughing from me. At some point the painful evisceration of movie characters stopped being shocking and started being hilarious. (If readers are ever at a screening in which someone is brutally murdered, and they hear one lone soul cackling like an insane person, it’s probably me.)

Even though it’s far from perfect, Edge of Darkness is still an enjoyable little piece of revenge cinema. It’s brutal, utterly pointless and eventually undermines itself with some hokey moments that make its viewers wince. I’m not sure why some filmmakers embrace elements of ugly and then feel the need to balance it with more inspirational moments. The ending, while certainly not happy, is one of those moments where the protagonist is rewarded. Just when the film literally gets to the “edge of darkness,” it turns away. These kind of choices seem baffling to me. When making an “R”-rated revenge drama, make an “R”-rated revenge drama. Don’t sap it up with some bullshit epilogue where everything is smiles and candy-cane kisses.

Despite some obvious choices and a fairly wimpy conclusion, Edge of Darkness is still an entertaining yarn. Gibson is still a commanding presence onscreen, capable of carrying a movie and, most importantly, still able to portray likable characters. Sure, when off camera he’s busy committing career suicide with behavior that would make even the drunkest men in Ireland cringe in shame. But onscreen, he’s still got the chops.

Reel to Reel : A few must sees this week

Cinematique
310 Chestnut Street • 910-343-1640
Wed.-Sat., 7:30pm; Sundays, 3pm
•February 10th-14th, 2010, $7
Headless Woman, 87 min.
A spellbinding film filled with nuance, mystery and class criticism. It centers around Veronica, who while driving hits something as she reaches for her cell phone. Afterward she seems dazed and unable to remember, but is her amnesia real or contrived? Reviewers have suggested that the film is an allegory reflecting Argentina’s refusal to acknowledge the increasing disparity between its wealthy citizens and the rest of the country. Not rated

Mayfaire 16
900 Town Center Drive • 910-256-0556
An Education
In the early 1960’s, 16-year-old Jenny Mellor lives with her parents in the London suburb of Twickenham. On her father’s wishes, everything that Jenny does is in the sole pursuit of being accepted into Oxford, as he wants her to have a better life than he. Jenny is bright, pretty, hard-working but also naturally gifted. The only problems her father may perceive in her life is her issue with learning Latin, and her dating a boy named Graham, who is nice but socially awkward.

Jenny’s life changes after she meets David Goldman, a man over twice her age. David goes out of his way to show Jenny and her family that his interest in her is not improper and that he wants solely to expose her to cultural activities which she enjoys. Jenny quickly gets accustomed to the life to which David and his constant companions have shown her, and their relationship does becom something more. However, as she slowly learns more about him, Jenny has to decide if leading such a life is worth forgoing her plans of higher eduction at Oxford. PG-13

Carmike 16
111 Cinema Drive • 910-815-0266
When in Rome
An ambitious young New Yorker (Kristen Bell), disillusioned with romance, takes a whirlwind trip to Rome where she defiantly plucks magic coins from a “foolish” fountain of love, inexplicably igniting the passion of an odd group of suitors: a sausage magnate (Danny DeVito), a street magician (Jon Heder), an adoring painter (Will Arnett) and a self-admiring model (Dax Shepard). But when a charming reporter (Josh Duhamel) pursues her with equal zest, how will she know if his love is the real thing? PG-13

by: MJ Pendleton

The Taffetas
4 stars (out of 5)
Hannah Block Second Street Stage,
120 S. 2nd St.
February 4-14; Thurs.-Sat., 8pm
Sunday matineés, 3pm
$20/senior, student, group discount
910-251-1778 or www.etix.com

The Thalian Association production of “The Taffetas” is absolutely adorable. The sweetness is saturating, like diving into a pool of vanilla ice cream. Four sisters are making their television premiere on “Spotlight on Music” in New York City—a 39-hour bus ride from their hometown of Muncie, Indiana. The girls (Dorothy Cowan, Jennifer Czechlewski, Emily Graham and Alecia Bell Vanderhaar) are impossibly pretty and perky, with picture-perfect poise and oozing innocence. On opening night the audience fell in love.

The songs are familiar, and many sound better than the original recordings by nasal-voiced crooners. Most of the songs are sung in harmony by the four Taffetas—“Where the Boys Are” was particularly lovely. There are also solos and a few songs with a featured singer. “The Three Bells” (Vanderhaar) and “Ricochet” (Graham) were sensational.

Director David T. Loudermilk also choreographed the production, and the “Achoo Cha Cha” routine was slick and funny. There are quite a few funny moments, actually, which elicited appreciative giggles from the audience. “How Much Is that Doggie in the Window” included a real chihuahua, who didn’t sing but stole the number anyway. During “Taffeta Chatter,” the sisters answered fan letters so ingenuously that the audience was charmed into laughter.

The costumes and accessories (Charlotte Safrit and David Kratzer) transform the sisters into delicious eye candy. In Act I the big-skirted, satiny (taffeta?) dresses were yummy pastels with sparkles and crinolines. During the travel medley, the girls donned pure white coats with collars and cuffs to match their dresses—even their makeup-case-style purses were color coordinated. It’s difficult to imagine that women were ever that precious.

In Act II the girls were dressed in cardigans and capris (known as “pedal pushers” in the ‘50s), accessorized with saddle shoes and sweater guards. Later in Act II, they changed into even more glamorous shiny dresses. The only anachronisms were the fishnet stockings, neon bangle bracelets and pale lipstick.
The set design (Troy Rudeseal) is icing on the cake, with shiny circular platforms and a retro-style television screen. Loudermilk has cleverly incorporated old black-and-white commercials like Vitalis, Ajax, Fluffo and Old Gold cigarettes for pre-performance entertainment. During the show the filming is live, and there is a backstage clip of the sisters in front of makeup mirrors to entertain the audience during the second-act costume change. The black-and-white film effectively enhances the period motif.
Music director Jonathan Barber was onstage on the keyboard, accompanied by Mike Hickman (bass/cello) and Colby Wahl (drums). There were quite a few song segues, but the singers and musicians were perfectly in sync.

This musical revue is a delightful diversion from the cold weather and a cruel economy. If we all start singing “Sha Boom Sha Boom” in the shower, how bad can life be?

Also this week:
• On February 10th-13th, 17th-20th and 24th-27th at 8pm, and February 14th, 21st and 28th at 5pm, Guerilla Theatre presents “Dangerous Liaisons.” Demonstrating that the devil finds work for idle hands, the play’s plot is motivated by a cruel wager between the beautiful but debauched Katherine de Merteuil (Susan Auten) and her misogynistic former lover, Sebastian Valmont (Richard Davis). Katherine presents a challenge to Valmont: to seduce the virginal Cecile de Volanges (Rachel Gallman) before the girl can be wed. Valmont offers a more difficult counter-challenge, vowing that he will not only seduce and bed the very moral and light-hearted Annette de Tourvel (Anna Gamel), but also destroy her by first making her fall in love with him. Lives will be forever changed as this wicked game of dangerous liaisons unfolds...

• “Love on the Rocks” is the first show of Big Dawg Production’s 2010 season. It consists of four short plays about the difficult (and sometimes comical) search for love. Show dates are February 11th-14th and 18th-21st. The short plays include:
“Fixing Up Mom” by Kathryn Martin. A daughter arranges a meeting between her widowed mother and a widower, both of whom have definite ideas (as well as a list!) about what they are looking for in a prospective mate.

“Ships” by Jay Hanagan. A man and a woman, each married to other people, randomly meet and discover they have more in common with each other than they do with their respective spouses.

“The Marriage Proposal” by Anton Chekhov. A middle-aged bachelor goes to his neighbor’s house to ask for his nieghbor’s daughter’s hand in marriage. Comic misunderstandings and arguments ensue.

“Not Since Baltimore” by Bert Sherman. A widower explores the bewildering world of Internet dating.

Contact Ken Cressman at 910-471-0242 for more information. The plays show at Cape Fear Playhouse, 613 Castle Street.

• “The World Jazz of Kellylee Evans” is a sight to behold and a delight to ears at Thalian Hall, Friday through Sunday, February 12th-14th. Judges—including Quincy Jones, Al Jarreau, Kurt Elling and Dee Dee Bridgewater—awarded Kellylee Evans second place, out of 140 finalists, in the international Thelonious Monk Jazz Vocal Competition at the Kennedy Center. She has opened for Tony Bennett, Chris Botti and Maceo Parker; headlined the All Canadian Jazz Festival, receiving the 2007 Canadian Smooth Jazz Award for Female Vocalist of the Year; and was nominated for a 2007 Juno Award for Vocal Jazz Album.

The performance will take place in The Rainbow Room, which seats approximately 125 people. There will be four performances: Friday at 8:30pm, Saturday at 7:30pm and 9:30pm, Sunday at 2:30pm. Tickets are $25 for reserved-table seating, and there is a 10-percent discount for members in Thalian Hall.

For tickets visit www.thalianhall.org, or call (910)343-3664 or (800)523-2820. For more information on Kellylee Evans, visit www.kellyleeevans.com.

• Brunswick Little Theatre, a nonprofit, all-volunteer organization, will donate 10 percent of its profits from “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Forum” to the Brunswick County Historical Society.

“A Funny Thing...” will show at Odell Williamson Auditorium at 7:30pm February 18th-20th, and at 3pm on February 21st. For tickets call 1-800-754-1050, extension 416, or go to www.bccowacom. They are $15 for adults, $10 for students 12 and over with school IDs, $10 for Brunswick Community College Staff, and $6 for children under 12. See www.brunswicklittletheatre.com for more details.

by: MJ Pendelton

The Vagina Monologues
Lumina Theater, Fisher Student Center, UNCW
February11-14th
Thurs.-Sat., 7pm • Sun., 2pm
Tickets: $8 for students or $10 for public
www.etix.com or (910) 962-4045

What would your vagina say? What would your vagina wear? They’re questions to ponder come Valentine’s Day, when the UNCW Women’s Studies and Resource Center welcomes back their annual production of Eve Ensler’s “The Vagina Monologues.”

It is awkward to say the word “vagina” because, to me, it sounds like a disease related to angina—or maybe even a town west of Winnebow. The nicknames are even worse—a “pussy” is a coward, for heaven sakes! The other slang terms are vernacular, generational and generally pejorative; a happy, sweet name would be good. The performers in “The Vagina Monologues” easily express their vaginal emotions.

“My vagina is my voice,” Amy Thompson asserts, “and my vagina says, ‘I do what I want.’”

“Look at me, listen to me, give me more attention,” Anne Chickering’s vagina wants to say.

Quoting from the “Monologues,” Camber Caldwell’s vagina would say, “Right now, I’m a dry wad of fucking cotton!”

Some apparel examples from the play include, “a big red bow, a tuxedo and emeralds.” How would the bow be attached? Is the tuxedo doll sized? And emeralds—ouch! This anthropomorphizing of the vagina is essentially comic relief in a deadly serious play.

“The humor is a foot in the door, so the whole evening isn’t about abuse,” director Amy Feath explained last week during our interview. “While the audience is laughing, they’re also thinking. No one would talk about sexuality in our society, and ‘The Vagina Monologues’ provides a discourse for discussions we don’t normally have.”

Playwright Eve Ensler, who is a victim of abuse herself, interviewed more than 200 women all over the world in the mid ‘90s, and “The Vagina Monologues” tells their stories.

“The theme of violence was the unfortunate byproduct of the playwright’s interviews,” Feath noted. “The women had been tortured, raped, sold into sexual slavery, and genitally mutilated. Rape has become a systematic tactic of war.”

However, “The Vagina Monologues” is not a feminist platform of propaganda. “It is a play about humanism,” Dr. Michelle Scatton-Tessier, director of Women’s Studies and Resource Center at UNCW, added. “It provides a non-threatening environment where you’re actually enjoying yourself, hearing these monologues and being inspired by them. It is a play about women but for humanity. The performers are giving a voice to a testimony and justice to another woman’s voice. It is a collective voice.”

The Playwright
“The Vagina Monologues” is Eve Ensler’s most well-known play. When it premiered in New York City in 1999, the word “vagina” was not allowed on the marquee. The production was referred to as “The V. Monologues.”

“When I started doing ‘The Vagina Monologues,’ I realized how impossible it was for women to say the word,” Ensler said in an interview with Time magazine “I would see the disgust, the shame, the embarrassment. The vagina is smack in the center of our bodies; yet, it is a place that most women felt ashamed of talking about. What did that say about the center of our beings? There’s something in the uttering of the word that reattaches you to it. It’s empowering.”

Ensler’s own shame was the consequence of an abusive father. “He was an alcoholic prone to anger and rages, with brutal indifference and without remorse,” she told Marianne Schnall in an interview. “I grew up in a really beautiful so-called ‘upper-middle-class’ environment, where everyone was telling me I was secure. There was a huge disconnect going on; my father was a corporate president [who] was beating me . . . molesting me. I was told not to believe that it was true, even what was happening to me. So I learned how to disassociate and disconnect for a long, long time.”

She used the vehicle of theater to exorcise her own damaged psyche and consequently communicated with a world of women. “Theater demands that we truly be where we are. By being there together, we are able to confront the seemingly impossible, we are able to feel that which we fear might destroy us—and we are educated and transformed.

“Theater. . .encourages us, as a community of strangers, to go some place together, and face the issues and realities we simply cannot face alone. Alone, we are powerless, translating our suffering and struggle into our own private narcissistic injuries. When we become a group, these issues become social or political concerns, responsibilities, a reason for being here together.”

“The Vagina Monologues” has become a global symbol in the war against atrocities. The shocking interviews and the play they created inspired Ensler to establish V-Day, and “The Vagina Monologues” became an integral part of every V-Day celebration around the world.

“I think that I have a profound desire to undo what was done to me,” she once stated. “And to make sure it isn’t done to anyone else. And I think I have a profound desire to really see if it’s possible for us to evolve out of a violent paradigm, and out of a violent mentality, and to actually know what the world would be like if we weren’t living in that. . . . The stories, the violence, the desire, utterly destabilized my life. Ironically, it was this unraveling that compelled me to devote myself to ending violence against women, and this commitment was indeed what gave me life.”

The Global Movement
The V-Day Movement is a nonprofit organization that promotes creative events to increase awareness of national and international violence against women and girls, and it raises funds for distribution among anti-violence charities. By its 10th anniversary, the movement had raised over $70 million. Its mission statement is an eight-point definition of purpose and dedication of spirit.

V-Day is...

“an organized response against violence toward women;

“a vision: We see a world where women live safely and freely;

“a demand: Rape, incest, battery, genital mutilation, and sexual slavery must end now;

“a spirit: We believe women should spend their lives creating and thriving rather than surviving or recovering from terrible atrocities;

“a catalyst: By raising money and consciousness, it will unify and strengthen existing anti-violence efforts. Triggering far-reaching awareness, it will lay the groundwork for new educational, protective and legislative endeavors throughout the world;

“a process: We will work as long as it takes. We will not stop until the violence stops;

“a day. We proclaim Valentine’s Day as V-Day, to celebrate women and end the violence.

“V-Day is a fierce, wild, unstoppable movement and community.”

Last year there were over 4,200 benefit events globally. There is a different focus each year. In 2006, New York City hosted a two-week celebration called “Until The Violence Stops,” which included creative events by actors and writers who contributed their talents. Following Hurricane Katrina, the 10th anniversary of V-Day was held in New Orleans and raised over $700,000 for local anti-violence efforts.

The V-Day organization has helped establish shelters for women in Egypt and Iraq, has donated satellite phones to Afghan women, and has conferenced with Asian women leaders in support of their efforts. This year the focus is on the Democratic Republic of Congo.

“I think I’ve been to a lot of scary places, but nothing I’ve ever seen compares with the Congo,” Ensler has commented. “It is without a doubt the worst place on the planet to be a woman.”

Local Involvement
UNCW is the host institution for the production of “The Vagina Monologues,” which will benefit the Rape Crisis Center at Coastal Horizons and the Domestic Violence Shelter and Services. This is the 10th year that UNCW has produced the play.

“We fought hard to get this at UNCW,” Feath, who is the director of the Rape Crisis Center, said. This year it will be staged at the Lumina Theater in the Fisher Student Center. The production is dependent on ticket sales and donors; there are no taxpayer dollars involved.

“The Women’s Studies and Resource Center engages an interdisciplinary community of scholars, students and advocates working in gender, sexuality and Women’s Studies. The center promotes gender equality, both locally and globally, through research support, programming, an academic minor and community engagement,” according to their mission statement. In 2004 the Care Office was established to stop campus violence against female students. The fourth-annual awareness event and fund-raiser for the Rape Crisis Center, Walk a Mile in Her Shoes International Men’s March, took place in Wilmington in November. Dr. Scatton-Tessier, who became the director of Women’s Studies and Resource Center in July, believes that “it’s time to move away from the labels and into the action.’’

Empowerment and Education
Playwright Ensler was so empowered by writing “The Vagina Monologues” that she created an organization dedicated to ending violence against girls and women. The effect of V-Day has been a universal solidarity of purpose. Everyone involved in our local production has been affected profoundly. Feath, who has spent her professional life combating sexual violence, has performed in the production for the last three years and is “rejuvenated” by the experience of directing. “The energy and dedication of all these young women remind me of who I was 21 years ago, and empower me to continue doing my work,” she said.

Those energetic and dedicated young women have also evolved. “Last year when I was in the production, my mom didn’t want me to tell my dad,” Caldwell said. “This year, I told him, and he’s driving down from Maryland to see the show—that’s empowering.” Thompson, who is “proud to be a woman, is empowered because [she] can talk about vagina issues more comfortably.”

“I think it’s more inspiring than empowering,” Chickering reflected. “I just hope I can do justice to these women’s stories, because they are important and need to be heard.”

“Many victims who see the show seek assistance [from the Rape Crisis Center or the Domestic Violence Shelter and Services], and they find they can survive and thrive,” Feath added.

Forget the flowers and chocolate this year. Tickets to “The Vagina Monologues” will help heal the hurt experienced by so many females around the world. This is a human issue and a collective responsibility. The violence must end.

by: The Cranky Foreigner

So there was that cool picture of Obama, in his cool black jacket, standing on the Great Wall of China. The Great Wall was definitely the world’s most architecturally elegant attempt to keep out the riff-raff. His visit was notably close to the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Both were temporary successes and long-term failures—just like the Maginot Line, the wall that was supposed to keep German armies out of France. In the end diplomacy did it a lot better and more cheaply.

Today’s most successful wall is the one across the bottom of Gaza. It was part of the Camp David Treaty, and maintaining that wall is insured by the American taxpayer giving obscene amounts of “foreign aid” to Egypt. It guarantees that the only way out of Gaza is through Israel; hence, it’s a wall to keep people in. We have a name for walls like that here. We call them “prisons.” The recent breach of that wall by a hijacked bulldozer and the spontaneous exodus of tens of thousands of Gazans, most in search of food, says a lot about life there. (Yes, the Cranky Foreigner chose the word “exodus” on purpose, because the irony is just too tempting. People don’t just have to part the Red Sea to have an Exodus.) The breach was soon closed, Palestinians were rounded up, and, excepting a few tunnels, the wall is working well again.

The wall on the other side of Israel is coming along nicely, too. Unlike most walls that try to go from here to there to save bricks, it wanders all over the place. This is partly because it is the first wall that’s got a lot to do with water. (Each Israeli consumes four times as much water as each Palestinian.) This wall is only possible because Israel gets huge amounts of U.S. taxpayer money, about $5,000 per Israeli citizen. The State Department doesn‘t even try to explain this any more.

The third big wall project is the one along the Mexican border. Property rights and the environment be damned! This is a really good idea—until Lou Dobbs needs to hire a really reliable gardener or Americans want to buy cheap food. Then we will be told that it is a bad idea. And like the ones in the Middle East, the Great Wall of Mexico is being built by the people we want to keep out. Let’s face it: Laying a concrete block in the desert sun is tough work. Let’s get people better adapted to the heat. Americans and Israelis are great at ignoring the irony that the locals are better adapted, because they’ve been there for a couple thousand years before we arrived and claimed the land was ours all along. Isn’t it neat the way it all works out in the end?

So if we stand back and take a long look, we have to admit that America is investing a lot of money in walls these days. But if we didn’t, all those billions would just burn holes in our pockets. Right?