Dance Me to the End of Love
Express your amour — with your feet. Get ready to jump and jive with your significant other on the dance floor to some classic swing. Under the baton of Mike Day, Greensboro Big Band blows lively tunes (and kisses, perhaps?) at the Sweet Sounds Valentine’s Concert and Dance on February 12th at Trinity Church (5200 West Friendly Avenue). As part of the Music Center’s OPUS series, the concert is free of charge, but if you can, show a little heart by dropping a little change as a donation to the cause. Info: greensboro-nc.gov.
Hog-warts
That would be you, motorcycle enthusiasts.
Whether your preferred make is Harley, BMW, Indian or Triumph, affect your best Marlon Brando or Peter Fonda sneer, get yer motor runnin’ and head out to GreenHill (200 North Davie Street) to see M.A.D./Motorcycle. Art. Design (February 3–June 8). Collaborating with UNC-School of the Arts, the gallery has created a multimedia exhibition that salutes the art, design and cultural significance of the motorcycle in the 20th and 21st centuries. Join the kickoff reception on February 3 at 5:30 with live music from Florida transplants, elemeno, or reserve a spot at a Leather and Lace party, on February 11 at 7 p.m. Tickets: greenhillnc.org/leather-lace.
Thick and Thin
Just as love is a many splendored thing, art is a many layered thing, especially the paintings of N.C. artists Sherry McAdams and Murray Parker. From February 10–March 9 their distinctive works will be on view in Many Layers, an exhibition at Tyler White O’Brien Gallery (307 State Street). See how McAdams achieves a sculptural effect in her canvases, as she adds color after color at a Lunch and Learn on February 10 at noon, and meet the artists at 6 p.m. that evening at a gallery reception. Info: (336) 279-1124 or tylerwhitegallery.com.
Popcorn and Twizzler Time
Arise, Couch Potatoes! And nix Netflix to see movies the old-fashioned way
— in a darkened theater. If you missed Airplane!, the first in Wrangler’s Great American Movies series at Carolina Theatre (310 South Greene Street), which kicked off last month about the time Old Man Winter turned us all into shut-ins, you still have plenty of opportunities to catch classic movies on the big screen. This month’s offering on February 21st: the last of the Tracy-Hepburn collaborations, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? Spoiler alert: It’s a 1967 comedy/drama that addresses interracial marriage. Next month, relive the Reagan Era with Top Gun; see one of Orson Welles’ best performances in The Third Man in April; and show that frankly, you do give a damn about cinema by sitting through the epic Gone With the Wind in May. June winds up the series with what some have deemed Clint Eastwood’s greatest Western: The Outlaw Josey Wales. Tickets: (336) 333-2605 or carolinatheatre.com.
The Defiant One
And no, we don’t mean Tony Curtis or Sidney Poitier, but the titular character of Sophocles’s tragedy, Antigone. The daughter of Oedipus and his mother Jocasta, Antigone is forbidden by King Creon of Thebes to publicly mourn her brother Polynices, who attacked the city and died in battle. In an anti-authoritarian move, she defies the order and suffers the consequences. See soap opera writ large in UNCG Theatre’s production of the ancient play, which runs from February 16–26 at Taylor Theatre (406 Tate Street). Tickets: (336) 272-0160; (336) 334-4392 or
vpa.uncg.edu.
Litter-ati
Keep the green in Greensboro, by participating in Greensboro Beautiful’s Winter Wipeout. The local nonprofit dedicated to beautifying and preserving the area’s ecology has designated various litter hot spots posted on an online map at greensborobeautiful.org. Groups of community volunteers can then register to clean up a hot spot of their choosing anytime between February 15th and 28th, and GSO Beautiful will provide them with trash bags, gloves, vests, etc. After de-polluting your chosen location, simply toss the detritus with your regular trash, report your efforts and post photos of your work on Facebook to show off what a wonderful world it is.
Time Travel
Beaux Arts, Mid-Century Modern, Brutalist . . . the Gate City and Guilford County are home to a wide variety of architectural styles. In an encore presentation of Preservation North Carolina’s Annual Meeting in September, Benjamin Briggs, executive director of Preservation Greensboro, will discuss the area’s architectural history, and touch on Colonial settlements, as well as early preservation efforts. So come out to the Blandwood Carriage House (400 West McGee Street) on February 23 at 7 p.m. — and discover why our past is worth exploring — and saving. Info: (336) 272-5003 or preservationgreensboro.org.
What’s in a Name?
Say the word, “Midtown,” and glamorous images of New York’s Rockefeller Center, Grand Central Station and Times Square immediately come to mind. Now you can apply the term to Gate City glam: One of Greensboro’s most popular watering holes, 1618 Wine Lounge, (1724 Battleground Avenue in Irving Park Plaza), has officially changed its name to 1618 Midtown. The reasoning behind the new moniker? To keep it consistent with 1618’s sister restaurants identified by location: 1618 Seafood Grille — by its street address on Friendly Avenue — and 1618 Downtown, reflecting its location on South Elm. And then there’s the obvious reason of capitalizing on the newly minted central area of Greensboro, Midtown. Along with the new handle, 1618 Midtown boasts new interior accents — lighting, spiffy flooring by Bradshaw Orrell, swank seating by Level 4 Designs and an easier-to-read menu. Though the name has changed, the wine, beer and craft cocktails still flow freely, and those truffle pomme frites taste just as savory. Info: 1618Midtown.com.
Ogi Sez
by Ogi Overman
There are two ways to look at February. It is either the coldest, dreariest — and, mercifully, shortest — month of the year, or the month of roses, chocolates and romantic dinners. Actually, there is a third. It is prime time to hit the clubs, theaters, coliseums and music halls as hard as you can, and forget what month it is. Let’s go with that one.
• February 18, Blind Tiger: Mardi Gras, New Orleans Jazzfest and the best jazz/funk ensemble on the planet come to Greensboro in the form of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band. Better get your tix early for this one, as the fire marshal might have to turn the crowds away.
• February 19, Muddy Creek Music Hall: I suspect Bill Heath had to pull some strings to get this one, as Albert Lee doesn’t play just anywhere. Yes, that Albert Lee. The one Eric Clapton called “the greatest guitar player in the world.”
• February 23, Carolina Theatre: He won’t be riding on the City of New Orleans, and he won’t be comin’ into Los Angeleez. And the Carolina definitely ain’t Alice’s Restaurant. But Arlo Guthrie is still Arlo Guthrie.
• February 24, Greensboro Coliseum: If you think country music is made up solely of pretty boys in cowboy hats strumming three chords on a guitar, you haven’t seen Brantley Gilbert. With bandana, leather jacket and two earrings, he looks more like a metalhead, but, trust me, with four straight No. 1’s and sold-out coliseums, he’s the real deal.
• February 25, High Point Theatre: If, like me, it’s multipart harmony that makes your world go ’round, your prayers have been answered. Manhattan Transfer and Take 6 on the same bill. I can go gently now.
