Crashing into journalism

I was driving through downtown Durham Sunday when I spotted this mangled Herald-Sun box. Looks like a car smashed into it this weekend. A couple of other newspaper racks were tipped over too, including the Indy’s.

Also, I think it’s amusing that the photo of the Herald-Sun on the front of the rack features one of the stories I wrote when I worked for the paper about five years ago. I guess it can get pretty expensive replacing these advertisements, but it is interesting that they haven’t been swapped out of some Herald-Sun boxes for at least four years.

Mitch’s Tavern is worth the trip down Bull Durham memory lane

I’m a big Bull Durham fan. I saw it for the first time in 2004, when I lived in West Village, the old Liggett & Meyers tobacco factory in downtown Durham. I squealed with delight during the opening scene when Susan Sarandon walked past one of the brick tobacco warehouses that would later become my home. She was on her way to the old Durham Athletic Park to watch the Durham Bulls.

One of the scenes takes place in Mitch’s Tavern on Hillsborough Street in Raleigh. It’s the scene where Kevin Costner and Tim Robbins fight over who’s going to dance with Sarandon. It leads to a challenge with a baseball in the back alley.

I’ve always wanted to go to Mitch’s and on Saturday I finally did. I decided to celebrate my birthday by embarking on a Hillsborough Street pub crawl. Mitch’s was the second stop, and I was pleased to see the tavern looked exactly as I remembered it from the flick. Small booths, dim lighting, wood interior and the famous glass window from the alley door hanging in the center of the bar.

Of course, I wish I had snapped a photo of my own to show off how cool this tavern is, but you don’t always think about things like this when you’re the birthday girl. But it’s worth venturing up the long, narrow stairwell to experience this place. This pic is by Flickr user rpbarlow.

Don’t forget, the Green Room in Durham also made an appearance in Bull Durham. This bar gets my recommendation, in part because it has a shuffle board table. The only other Durham bar that has one (to my knowledge) is Doyle’s. If you know of others, please tell me IMMEDIATELY because I love shuffleboard.

If you live in the Triangle and you have not seen “Bull Durham” please rent it immediately. Actually, forget renting it. Buy it. It’s truly incredible.

There’s also talk of a Bull Durham sequel being in the works. Supposedly Kevin Costner said he would appear in part two if the script is well done. Here’s hoping.

Where do you take out-of-town guests for dinner in the Triangle?

Where do you take out-of-town guests for dinner in the Triangle? I recently found myself pondering this when my childhood friend Todd called and said he was in town and wanted to meet up.

I lost touch with Todd in high school. He moved away the summer before 8^th grade. We remained pen pals for a couple years, and even visited each other a couple times. But our snail mail dwindled when we got our driver’s licenses, probably because we were spending less time at home and more time pursuing friendships in our own towns.

In college we briefly managed to find each other through the Internet. We exchanged an e-mail or two, but lost touch again. Occasionally I would Google him, but I could never find enough information to track him down.

Then a few months ago, through the power of facebook, we reconnected. I found out he was living in Atlanta and occasionally flew to RDU for business. He recently called me to say he was in Durham and soon we were making dinner plans. We had not seen each other in 12 years.

I wanted to show Todd how cool Durham is, so I suggested we meet at American Tobacco for dinner. Then I realized there was a Bull’s game that night, so the place would be packed. I opted for The Federal by Brightleaf Square, where I ordered the always tasty pork carnitas.

After dinner, we headed over to Tyler’s Taproom for beers. I showed him the rushing water feature, explained the area’s tobacco legacy and even walked him over to the Durham Bulls Athletic Park. The game was underway, so the crowds had dispersed outside.

We didn’t have time to wander around downtown or take a stroll down Ninth Street. But between Brightleaf Square and American Tobacco, I felt like he got to see some of the Bull City’s flavor.

If you only had 3 hours to show an old friend around your Triangle city, where would you take them?

12+ cheap things to do in the Triangle this weekend

Triangle residents rejoice! It’s that time of year when the area starts coming alive with festivals, outdoor events, and more. The randomness that will ensue every weekend between now and fall will be so much fun. And I will try to keep you posted on some of the more interesting events (especially for families and those of us on a budget).

Let’s start with this weekend:

* Dog owners might want to take their pooches to Moore Square between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Saturday for the SPCA Dog Walk.

* Go camping, dancing, crafting, Earth-saving, concert rocking at the Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival, which starts Thursday and continues through Sunday.

* Listen to a free performance by the Durham Symphony at 5 p.m. Sunday at Trinity Park in Durham as part of the Pops in the Park concert series. And if the weather holds up to the forecast, then head over to Francesca’s Dessert Cafe on Ninth Street for some stellar gelato (the Sweet Cream is my favorite) or to LocoPop’s on Hillsborough Street for a gourmet popsicle treat.

* Check out the Durham Art Scene. This weekend is the annual Durham Art Walk. Make a day out of it by wandering over to the American Tobacco complex and hanging out by the water or head in the opposite direction to the Scrap Exchange to make crafts with the kids.

* The weather will also be perfect for a picnic at the Sarah P. Duke Gardens. I plopped myself down on a blanket there last weekend, played some frisbee and snacked on Peanut Butter sandwiches. Cheap way to be romantic with your honey or let the kids burn off some energy.

* Go to the North Carolina Museum of Life and Science for the Butterfly Bash. It features dung beetle races, butterfly releases, insect eating and more.

* Saturday is Earth Action Day at the Morehead Planetarium. The family-friendly event is from noon to 5 p.m.

* You can go see “Pride and Prejudice” on stage at 8 p.m. Thursday, Friday, Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday at the Paul Green Theatre in Chapel Hill.

* The Durham Bulls are out of town this weekend. But UNC baseball has a home game against Miami at 1 p.m.  Sunday.

* If you’re a Wilco fan, you might want to check out the screening of the band’s new documentary “Ashes of American Flags” which airs at 11:55 p.m. Saturday at Galaxy Cinema in Cary.

* Go to the N.C. State Fairgrounds. The flea market is best when the weather is beautiful, so I can almost guarantee this weekend’s market will be filled with a variety of vendors. The flea market is from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. every weekend. While you’re at the fairgrounds you can eat some Mediterranean food and learn about Turkish culture at the N.C. Turkish Festival, which runs from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday.

* And finally, consider supporting local comedy (you know I’m a fan). DSI Comedy in Carrboro has an out-of-town guest who tracked me down on facebook and made me laugh with her message, so I’ve got to give her a plug. Sara Benincasa will be performing a one-woman show at 9:30 p.m. Saturday at the theater.

Of course, I probably inadvertantly snubbed about 50 other local events happening this weekend. As always, feel free to promote them and post links to them in my comment section. Let us know if there’s other events we should be checking out.

Get on stage at DPAC Thursday at 30THREADS Blogger Bash

Don’t forget the 30THREADS Blogger Bash at Durham Performing Arts Center is Thursday, April 9.

Here are three reasons why you should plan to go to the 30THREADS bash:
1. The party will be on the stage at Durham Performing Arts Center. So you’ll get a chance to live out any on-stage fantasies (well … sort of … I mean nothing too weird please).

2. There will be DPAC ticket giveaways.

3. You’ll get to mingle with all the fabulous bloggers whose blogs you troll. You can see if they really look like their avatars.

One final detail. Since the party will be on the stage, Please use the Mangum Street entrance!

Looking forward to seeing you IRL!

The fun starts with a 6:30 cocktail hour (cash bar) but you can drop in anytime between 6:30 and 9 p.m.

Special thanks to DPAC for taking the time to arrange this event for us.

Questions? Ask away.

Five things to do in the Triangle this weekend

My Saturday plans have been crushed with the rescheduling of the Raleigh St. Patrick’s Day Parade. Forecasts of rain and chilly temps prompted them to push it back to March 21.

So I figured it was time to see what else was going on this weekend. Here are some events that should keep you dry, warm and entertained:

* Artistic bailout. Go see the Bailout Biennial exhibit at Golden Belt in Durham. The exhibit features 57 works by 26 artists all center on the messed up economic situation we’re facing and the scandals and greed that got us there. Not only is the show worth checking out, but so is the venue. Golden Belt is a restored historic textile mill that is simply gorgeous. Here’s a snippet from an N&O article about the show:

The staging could hardly be more spare; the works are arrayed around a vast second-floor room with tall windows and high ceilings. The show is remarkable not only for the variety of media it includes — painting, photography, sculpture, installation, audio — but the variety of perspectives and approaches the artists took. Some of the works are subtle, others distinctly less so, and some offer no easy or obvious interpretations.

The exhibit is scheduled to end Sunday. So this is your last chance to check it out. The gallery is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays and Saturday and from noon to 5 p.m. on Sundays.

* Political theater. Can you believe the Iraq war started six years ago this month? Carolina Theatre is marking the anniversary with a one-man show by ex-soldier and playright Kenny Carnes. “Pieces of War” starts at 8 p.m. tonight. Tickets are $24.

* Hang out with some live alligators and sea turtles. Saturday is Reptile and Amphibian Day at the North Carolina Museum of Natural History. The 16th annual event will feature hundreds of live creatures. Best of all? It’s free. It’s from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Just don’t snicker about the theme “Extreme Herps” in front of your kids (they mean Herpetology, of course. Geez, I can be immature sometimes).

* Get your comedy on. You know I’m a big improv fan. If you’re in Raleigh on Saturday night, check out the return of the Super Sparkle Showcase at Comedyworx. The talent competition is supposed to be hilarious. Or if you’re closer to Carrboro Saturday, head over to DSI Comedy Theater for the “Best Show Ever” — a comedy showcase.

The Super Sparkle Showcase starts at 10:30 p.m. Saturday and costs $10. The Best Show Ever starts at 9:30 p.m. and costs $12 (or $10 if your a student, in the military or a senior).

* Look at the stars. The Morehead Planetarium in Chapel Hill has several shows scheduled this weekend. Admission is $6 for adults and $5 for children. Though there are discounts, including this $1 coupon for Sunday shows. News & Observer subscribers can get buy one, get one free admission using this coupon.

As always, there are plenty of other events worth checking out around the Triangle including the Bishop Allen concert at Local 506 Saturday, the craft fair at the State Farmers Market, the Hillsborough Street Renaissance eco event in Raleigh, Art After Dark at the Ackland Art Museum and more.

If there are other events we should know about, please share in the comments section.

Happy chilly, wet weekend!

This is what we should all do in the morning

I spotted this sign outside Eastway Elementary School in Durham. It was posted just outside the school where parents let their kids out of the car. Very sweet.

Does the local media provide well-rounded Durham coverage?

I love journalism. So I defend the craft as often as I can, particularly local journalism. As a former reporter for the Durham Herald-Sun, however, I’ve heard countless times that local media only focuses on crime stories in Durham. This, of course, isn’t entirely true.

Still, the Bull City doesn’t seem to get as much positive press as its Triangle siblings. That’s just an observation, of course. I’ve never charted out all the local media coverage. If someone wants to take the time to do that and share the results, I’d love to publish that on my blog.

Meanwhile, here’s a screenshot from today’s News & Observer’s Durham news section. This is probably why Durham residents feel cheated out of positive local coverage. There are six crime stories, and one story about a proposed bill that could help reduce crime:

By no means am I saying the media should ignore crime news. And I’m sure if you dig around on the N&O’s website you can find some happier Durham stories. But this caught my eye this morning and I had to share it with you all.

Do you think the local media provides well-rounded Durham coverage?

New Durham Transportation Station will improve bus service for Bull City

A lot has changed in downtown Durham since 2004. The nearly-complete Durham Station Transportation Center is just another gleaming example of the transformation happening downtown.

Back in 2004, the glass-encased building had not even been sketched by an architect. The site the new bus station now occupies on Chapel Hill Street used to be the home to the dilapidated Heart of Durham motel. The motel, built in the late 1960s, was once a cool place to stay. But after it turned seedy after it changed ownership, reports Endangered Durham. The motel sat empty for about 12 years before it was condemned by the city and seized through eminent domain. The city later bought the property to house a new bus station.

On Sept. 30, 2004, the city staged a cheesy demolition ceremony. Here’s the lead I wrote for the event (which had the theme “Jump Start the Heart”) when I worked for the Herald-Sun:

Three firefighters armed with a heart defibrillator dashed through the parking lot of a dilapidated downtown motel Thursday, but they weren’t there to rescue anyone. Instead, they used the device to jump start changes at the Heart of Durham motel, releasing a large, heart-shaped balloon into the sky. The scene was part of a city demolition ceremony that was more symbolic than destructive.

By February 2005, the site was cleared and designs for Durham Station were complete. At the time, the transportation hub was expected to cost $15.3 million, but that price has since climbed to $17.6 million, the N&O reports.

But the new building is probably worth the wait for DATA bus riders. Here’s how N&O transportation guru Bruce Siceloff recently described the current bus station:

The transfer center is crowded, littered and chaotic. Its unisex toilet is filthy and seatless. … The buses are packed headlight-to-taillight at the curb, so they cannot come and go according to their timetables. Ready or not, each driver begins a new circuit through town when the bus at the head of the line starts rolling.

Here’s a sneak peak of the lobby of the new center:

And, as you can see, there are plenty of terminals where the buses can line up:

It’s a shame that the planned February opening has been pushed back to March so the city can tackle some nearby street improvements required by the NCDOT. But when it opens, we can all look back on the Heart of Durham days and realize just how far downtown has come (even if it took more than four years).

I made a guest appearance on WXDU’s Shooting the Bull

Two of my favorite Durham bloggers invited me on their weekly radio show last week. Kevin Davis of Bull City Rising and Barry Ragin from Dependable Erection host “Shooting the Bull” on WXDU. The duo talks Durham politics, community and more at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays on 88.7 WXDU.

I was in Durham interviewing Kevin for an upcoming Threadcast on 30THREADS. So I hung around the WXDU studio to chat about 30THREADS, the changes I noticed in Durham from when I left the Triangle in 2005 and returned to the Triangle in 2007, and more.

If you’d like to listen, my interview starts about 10 minutes in: