Creative musings about music, sports, culture, food and festivals
By Lisa Snedeker The North Carolina Museum of History will host the Henhouse Prowlers as part of its Tar Heel Troubadours series, a celebration of Americana, roots, bluegrass and traditional music performed by artists from or living and working in North Carolina, on Saturday, July 20. A music performance at the North Carolina Museum of History is…
This story originally appeared in Wake Living magazine By John Trump Rod Brind’Amour is a North Carolinian. The words—his words—are clear and direct. Blunt, even. “I’ve been here since January of 2000,” he says, a simple statement of fact. “I’ve been here 22 years now. My wife’s from here. We’ve got four kids; we raised…
WAKE FOREST — Ian and Harmony VanGundy make some of the best beer in the Triangle. In North Carolina and beyond, for that matter. People who know beer, who drink beer, just, well, know. Blackbird Brewery makes myriad styles. With patience, care and precision, right down to the glassware specific to the respective style. The VanGundys…
This story first appeared in Carolina Journal By John Trump “The day the music died.” I thought about that song a lot last year. The music didn’t die then, exactly, but rather faded like that final guitar riff, the one before the band waves and turns its collective back on the crowd, who stay hoping…
This story originally appeared in Carolina Journal. Ollie Mulligan, this week from an airport somewhere in the Northeast, talked about his upcoming flight home, about returning to his native Ireland, to County Kildare. He thought aloud about the bright, rolling green fields. Of horses, and of Guinness. Mulligan, turning the conversation, started talking about his…
By John Trump Mason Via of Danbury is having a lot of fun. “So much fun,” Via, who had just boarded a bus for Florida, tells Carolina Journal. “It’s great. It’s killer.” Via, in his early 20s and a wildly talented string musician, has accomplished so much already. So much to be thankful for. Now,…
By John Trump Jonathan Blitz makes and sells whiskey. He and his team make the whiskey in Durham, at Mystic Farm & Distillery. They sell the whiskey from the distillery, and in state-controlled Alcoholic Beverage Control stores. But they can’t sell it online, per Chapter 18B of the N.C. General Statutes. Blitz, like most N.C. distillers,…
By John Trump A bill filed in the House last month is meant to encourage healthy eating in schools, particularly healthy food grown or produced in North Carolina. Thing is, this bill does nothing of the sort. The measure, House Bill 136, promotes Muscadine grape juice in public schools and the state’s colleges and universities —…