Performance
Blues at the Crossroads
Memorial Hall
Feb. 16 at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets $10 to $55
In celebration of legendary blues musician Robert Johnson, various Mississippi blues artists are traveling the country playing his music. Johnson — who died in 1938 at age 27 — would have been 100 this year.
Read assistant editor Katelyn Trela’s preview of the concert here.
34th Carolina Jazz Festival
Various locations
Feb. 16-26
Varies
The 10-day festival — “Embracing the Past, Present, and Future of Jazz” — features performances by students, faculty and renowned jazz musicians from around the country. Along with performances on a number of UNC stages, there will be workshops for students of all ages.
See the UNC Music Department’s website for a more specific schedule.
Read staff writer Gloria Schoeberle’s preview of the festival here.
Eddie Palmieri
Memorial Hall
Feb. 18 at 8 p.m.
Tickets $10 to $55
As a part of the 34th Carolina Jazz Festival, Latin jazz pianist Eddie Palmieri will showcase his unique stylings in Memorial Hall. A nine-time Grammy winner, Palimieri has been called the “prophet of Latin jazz” for his never-ending innovation, deep Cuban roots and influence on jazz staples like last semester’s Memorial Hall headliner McCoy Tyner.
Angels in America
Paul Green Theatre
Tues. through Sat. at 7:30 p.m., Sat. and Sun. at 2 p.m. from Jan. 29 to Mar. 6.
Tickets $10 to $45
In two parts — the first, “Millenium Approaches” then “Perestroika” — “Angels in America” explores the issues of AIDS and homosexuality in the 1980s.
Tony Kushner’s award-winning drama features two couples — one gay and one straight — and their encounters with disease, sex and sexuality in the age of Reagan.
The two parts will run in rotating repertory through the week and back-to-back beginning at 2 p.m. on Saturdays.
The show officially opened with “Millenium Approaches” this Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.
Read assistant editor Katelyn Trela’s preview of the play here
Read staff writer Colin Warren-Hicks’ review of the play here.
On display in the Paul Green Theatre in conjunction with the performances of “Angels in America” is the NAMES project AIDS memorial quilt.
Read staff writer Michelle Lewis’ story on the quilt here.
Alvin Ailey
Memorial Hall
Feb. 22 to Feb. 24 at 7:30 p.m.
Tickets $10-$85
Judith Jamison — in her final season as artistic director of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater — directs the company’s latest visit to Chapel Hill, highlighting expert technique, passion and the poignant style of Alvin Ailey.
Look for Grace Tatter’s preview of the iconic dance performance in next week’s Daily Tar Heel.
Art
The Magical Real-ism of Amy Sherald
Robert and Sallie Brown Gallery in the Sonja Hayes Stone Center
Mon. to Fri., 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Feb. 3 – April 27
Free admission
“The Magical Real-ism of Amy Sherald” continues to dazzle at the Sonya Hayes Stone Center.
Sherald’s artwork is a self-reflection of life as a Southern black woman through post-modern eyes. The work removes the idea of skin color, illustrating the race of her characters through physical characteristics instead. The images grew into fantastical portrayals, full of color and life.
Read staff writer Jess Broadbent’s story on the gallery here
Ackland Art Museum
Gallery and Exhibits (10 a.m. – 8 pm Thursday, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, 1 p.m. – 5 p.m. Sunday)
Free admission
Through March, the Ackland is featuring three exhibitions:
-“Tradition in Clay: Two Centuries of Classic North Carolina Pots” features pottery from various collections — including Ackland’s own — all native to North Carolina. More than 100 pots are on display.
-“At Work in the Wilderness: Picturing the American Landscape, 1820-1920” explores the conflicting ideas of land in the quickly urbanizing country. The paintings all examine how one might reframe natural landscapes. The collection shines a light on the human/nature relationship. An audio accompaniment to the exhibit further explores ideas about the changing American landscape of the time.
-“The Oldest Paintings in America” showcases, through photography, the ancient rock art in Utah’s Colorado Plateau. Goodloe Suttler photographed the rock paintings that date to around 5,000 B.C.
Arts Editor Nick Andersen went to see the exhibits last Sunday, and his review will be forthcoming on this very blog.
The Ackland is also featuring the film, “A Fire in My Belly,” by artist David Wojnarowicz, in its second floor Study Gallery.
Wojnarowicz’s film — which was recently removed from the Smithsonian Institute’s National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. — features a scene in which ants crawl on a crucifix and deals largely with Wojnarowicz’s battle with AIDS.
The installation at the Ackland includes three films – two longer original cuts by the artist and the four-minute version that was re-edited by the Smithsonian.
All three versions of “Fire in my Belly” will be screened until Feb. 13 in the Study Gallery. Catch up with the films before they disappear.
And read staff writer Katherine Proctor’s post on an discussion panel discussing the film here.
Nasher Museum of Art
Gallery and Exhibits
Ongoing, 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, 10 a.m. – 9 p.m .Thursday, noon to 5 p.m. Sunday
$5 general admission, $3 non-Duke students with I.D., free on Thursdays
The Nasher at Duke continues its musical methods with the opening of “The Jazz Loft Project: W. Eugene Smith in New York City, 1957-1965,” a beautiful collection of photography and recordings from a crucial era in the jazz scene.
Read staff writer Michelle Lewis’ story about exhibition here.
Miscellaneous
Rooftop Comedy National College Comedy Competition Try-outs
Union Cabaret
Feb. 16 at 8 p.m.
Free
Got jokes? Try out to be a part of the National College Comedy Competition sponsored by Rooftop Comedy and TBS. Stand-up comedians who make the cut move on to compete through various rounds. They are voted on by internet voters and will eventually compete in a national competition against students from 32 colleges.
Read staff writer Tariq Luthun’s preview of the event here.
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