JIM WALSH

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'Borat' gets sued, by almost everyone

By JIM WALSH | November 16

Call it the "Borat" backlash. Two weeks after its limited release, the spoof documentary still reigns atop the box office, having pulled in more than $67 million. But as the flick picks up steam in the mainstream media, stories are starting to leak about how its production company and star, HBO darling Sacha Baron Cohen, duped people into appearing in the film as the subjects of his interviews.

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Town should take music to the streets

By JIM WALSH | July 20

We Chapel Hill residents love to do it in the street. It's how we celebrate national basketball championships and ring in Halloween. It's the way we measure University milestones and acknowledge achievements. By our standards, it just isn't an event unless it involves at least 30,000 people gathering uptown. And whether it's something spontaneous (the NCAA win in 2005), something planned (Halloween) or something in between (the now-defunct Apple Chill), the town has proven it can usually handle huge crowds between the curbs.

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Performance series revitalizes arts scene

By JIM WALSH | April 28

The fall and spring semesters of 2005-06 saw a new birth for the arts at UNC. After lying dormant for almost three years, the University's largest performing arts space, Memorial Hall, reopened after renovations. The building and the performances it hosted set the tone for a year in which administrators strove to make UNC a destination for the arts. The Carolina Performing Arts Series, formerly housed in the Student Union, moved to the updated venue and came under the auspices of Emil Kang, the University's executive director for the arts.

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Honored guests at home in chapel hill

By JIM WALSH | April 27

The Honored Guests are a Chapel Hill band. They live here. They record music here. And they play shows here. Now, after the success of their 2004 debut, the Guests have left no doubt that their music is a product of the place they call home. A delightful mix of atmospheric effects and indie-pop sensibilities, the band's sophomore release, Tastes Change, is the kind of unpretentious rock that is always appropriate for a college town.

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All in a day's work

By JIM WALSH | April 24

The organizers of Company Carolina's "24 Hour Plays" have a lot of confidence in their troupe. It's midnight Friday, and producers Will Halman and Katie Shields are sitting in the dimly lit quiet of the Hanes Art Center, where a project several months in the making is coming together. They seem tired but not very nervous that the show won't congeal. It's been two hours since the first wave of excitement hit at 10 p.m. Many of the more than 60 participants in the show - which is written, rehearsed and performed in 24 hours - came to introduce themselves to each other.

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Arts forum transfers hands, keeps focus

By JIM WALSH | April 21

Though fewer than a dozen people attended Thursday's student arts forum, it was clear that the leaders who did had their eyes set on enhancing the body's relevance next year. Hosted by the arts advocacy committee for student government, the forum addressed issues that have come up throughout the school year - performance space availability, funding and communication among arts groups. The biggest news to come out of the meeting was an announcement from Emil Kang, executive director for the arts, that a new grant for arts activities is in the works for next year.

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Franz outdoes Death Cab at Duke

By JIM WALSH | April 17

CONCERTREVIEW Death Cab For Cutie and Franz Ferdinand Friday Cameron Indoor Stadium 3.5 stars The one-two punch of Franz Ferdinand and Death Cab for Cutie hit Durham on Friday, leaving the walls of Cameron Indoor Stadium smarting with good vibrations. Both bands, possessing a kind of indie credibility that belies the most widespread ticket and album sales, were in full effect - eager to ride waves of popular support for their latest releases.

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UNC, HBO fail to cut deal

By JIM WALSH | March 28

Following what organizers have described as a successful Carolina Comedy Festival, questions about missed opportunity have come to light. Officials confirmed Monday that Lewis Black's stand-up performance, publicized as a trial run of an upcoming HBO special, initially was conceived as an opportunity to tape Black's special in Chapel Hill.

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Memorial Hall unveils schedule for next season

By JIM WALSH | March 21

The largest performance venue on campus has a new lineup, a new ticketing scheme and a new Web site. The schedule for the 2006-07 Carolina Performing Arts Series at Memorial Hall was announced today, marking the venue's second offering since it reopened after renovations last year. The lineup boasts more than 38 performances with artists from across the country and around the world. Grammy Award-winning Texas singer and songwriter Lyle Lovett will kick off the new series with an opening gala Sept. 15.

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Production takes on tough subject

By JIM WALSH | February 23

Tragedy sometimes makes for the best comedy. Just ask the cast of "Marvin's Room," the Deep Dish Theater Company production opening today in University Mall. Local actors have been working for weeks on the drama/comedy, which examines the nature of love and family in the midst of crisis. Or crises. Penned by the late Scott McPherson, the show follows the life of a woman named Bessie who cares for her sickly family before learning that she herself has leukemia. When she turns to relatives for help, an otherwise fractured family is forced to stitch itself together.