Ginny from the Blog

I’ve got the Austin blues. After spending a week in Austin, Texas, for the SXSW Interactive conference, I’m back in the tamer Triangle. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy to be home, but I definitely left a piece of my heart in Austin. To remind myself that the Triangle still has it going on, I looked up what was going on this weekend. Here’s what I found:

Raleigh:

• Tom Green, of Tom-Green-Show-Slash-I-Was-Briefly-Married-to-Drew-Barrymore-Fame, is doing standup at Goodnight’s Comedy Club on Friday and Saturday.

• Rita’s Italian Ice is celebrating the first day of spring by giving away free 10 oz. servings of Italian Ice on Sunday. Details and store locations here.

• If you’re into beading/making jewelry, then stock up on beads at the Bead Mercantile Show in the Kerr Scott Building at the N.C. State Fairgrounds. No need to make your friends or lover suffer through a bead show. Set them loose on the flea market, which also takes place at the fairgrounds this weekend.

• Trip out at the Lincoln Theatre on Saturday night. Go see The Machine, a Pink Floyd cover band that is scheduled to perform two sets of Pink Floyd hits.

Durham:

• There are virtually no seats left to the Blue Man Group, or if there are, then I don’t know how to use the ticket chart on Durham Performing Art Center’s website. But a few single seats appear to be scattered throughout the theatre. One of my coworkers wouldn’t stop gushing about the show today, so I’m guessing it’s truly incredible. So if you don’t mind sitting by yourself, then look into getting tickets.

• Learn about the role Christianity played in slavery during the Civil War. Dan Fountain, director of Public History at Meredith College, will talk about his recent book “Slavery, Civil War, and Salvation: African-American Slaves and Christianity, 1830-1870″ at 2 p.m. Sunday at Historic Stagville.

Chapel Hill:

• Learn how to bake biscuits so good your grandma will be asking you for the recipe. Chefs Willard Doxey and Marilyn Marke are teaching a Southern Biscuit class at A Southern Season at 11 a.m. Saturday. For $30 you can learn how to make two types of tasty biscuits and sample some other delicious foods.

Carrboro:

• DSI Comedy is donating 50 percent of proceeds from all of its shows this weekend to help aid those suffering in Japan. There’s a total of five shows on Friday and Saturday night that you can attend. Full schedule and details here.

I’m certain there’s more going on this weekend. If you know about something fun, interesting or unusual, leave it in the comments section.

I love St. Patrick’s Day celebrations. My mom says I have enough Irish in me to justify wearing a “Kiss Me I’m Irish” button, but even if I didn’t have a small claim to the heritage, I’d be downing green beer somewhere.

The Raleigh St. Patrick’s Day Parade starts at noon Saturday. The route comes down Fayetteville Street toward the State Capitol, then works its wait toward Blount Street to Moore Square. But the parade won’t be the only downtown attraction on Saturday.

Moore Square will be filled with vendors selling Irish jewelry, trinkets, food and more. Parachuters will descend on Martin Street in front of Moore Square, where Irish dancers and bag pipers will also gather from 1:45 to 3:45 p.m. And you can even drink beer outside (always a plus) in designated areas!

Of course, there will be shenanigans at Raleigh’s Irish pubs including Napper Tandy’s, Tir Na Nog, Hibernian and others. If you know of any other Triangle-based St. Patrick’s Day celebrations, please feel free to share them in the comments section!

Have fun and be safe!

You know me. I’m all about helping people explore the Triangle. It’s the whole focus of my blog. That’s why I’m loving this new TrioutNC.com site AND iPhone app created by Triangle resident Lawrence Ingraham. I went to the launch party at Research Triangle Park HQ Wednesday night and here’s what I learned:

TrioutNC.com allows you to search by keywords for places to go and things to do. Type in “coffee and Chapel Hill” and you’ll be presented with both an alphabetical list of all the coffee shops in the town and a list of the most popular coffee shops based on a fancy algorithm that factors in how frequently it was visited, how it was rated and reviews by visitors. From there, you can select a coffee shop, see user-generated pictures, reviews, recommendations, etc.

So who are these visitors? Well, if you download the iPhone app, you can check-in anywhere in the Triangle area (from Chapel Hill to Raleigh to Durham to Fuquay-Varina to Clayton and beyond) and post pictures, review it, etc. If you’ve heard about the popular location-based app called FourSquare, then you’ll get the concept the TriOut app.You can even cross post to FourSquare from TriOut, so you don’t have to update your location with two apps.

But one thing that makes the TriOut app and TrioutNC.com different than FourSquare or Yelp is that it’s beautiful. The design is outstanding! Seriously, the website and the iPhone app are gorgeous.

I’ve been a Beta tester for the TriOut app for a several weeks. I’m not obsessed with location-based apps yet, but when I have an extra minute or when I’m super impressed (or unimpressed) with a place, I take a moment to check in. There are still a few bugs with the app, but Lawrence has been crazy responsive in addressing them. So if you try it out and run into an issue, don’t give up on it, just send @triout a Tweet or click the feedback form on the website.

A big congrats to Lawrence and Wayne Sutton, who has been crushing it to help bring attention to Triout through social media and other outlets.

The Triout blog has more details on some of the promotions tied to checking in to various locations you visit. The current promotion is a buy one, get one deal at Dairy Queen.

Between 2 to 7 inches of snow is forecasted to fall on the Triangle by noon Saturday. Here’s what a Raleigh Harris Teeter looked like at 9:30 p.m. Thursday night.

I can see why people are inclined to buy bread when bad weather is on the horizon (for peanut butter sandwiches, right?). I admit I bought a loaf , but I was all out so I needed some regardless of the weather. Still, it’s funny to see the bread racks cleared because of the threat of snow.

There were very few carts too.

The devastating Haitian earthquake may be far from the Triangle, but local organizations are making it easier for Triangle residents to help after the disaster. The News & Observer has compiled a list of programs with Triangle connections, some of which are already shifting gears to help.

And, of course, the American Red Cross is accepting disaster relief donations. More on how to donate to the Red Cross here.

If you know of other local groups that are organizing to send money, supplies, etc., please post them in the comments section.

If you’re looking for some ways to get in the holiday spirit in the Triangle, here are some tips. As always please add any events I forgot to list in the comments section! Happy Holidays!

Get your Gingerbread on. Seriously, you would not believe how many opportunities you have to get your hands (or just your eyes) on some gingerbread in the Triangle:

You can attend the Family Gingerbread Workshop on Dec. 12 at C’est Ci Bon cooking school in Chapel Hill. Or you can decorate gingerbread houses on Dec. 3 at the Capital City Club in Raleigh.

View the entries in the Raleigh Gingerbread House Competition now through Jan. 3 at Alta Oakridge Retirement Community.

See gingerbread houses created by the area’s top chefs and raise money for a good cause at the Triangle Family Services 7^th annual Gingerbread Gala on Dec. 17 at the Umstead Hotel.

Check out Durham’s Christmas parade at 4 p.m. Dec. 5. The eclectic event always features a random mix of floats, librarians and an appearance from Beaver Lodge Local 1504.

Ride the Holiday Express Train at Pullen Park. The city park will be decked out in holiday lights. You can ride the train to Santa’s village from Dec. 10 and 13 and tell the big guy what you want for Christmas. There will be concessions, carousel rides and more. Parking gets bad, so consider riding the shuttle.

Go see the Raleigh Ringers, the internationally acclaimed community handbell choir is based right here in the Triangle. My mom saw them perform on PBS one year, and I’ve had to hear about them ever since. Truly, it is pretty incredible what they can do with handbells. Besides bells pretty much equal Christmas music, right?

Want more holiday music? Here’s a list of all the Christmas Concerts in the area.

Give a computer to a student who needs one. If you have any computer refurbishing skills, then volunteer at the Mini Geek-A-Thon on Dec. 12 at the Kramden Institute, a Durham nonprofit that helps connect hardworking, less-advantage students with computers.

Go see the Nutcracker. I was obsessed with the ballet when I was a little girl. I would love it if my boyfriend took me to see it this year. The Carolina Ballet performs the classic holiday ballet from Dec. 5 to 6 at Memorial Hall in Chapel Hill or Dec. 19 to 28 at Raleigh Memorial Auditorium. You can also see it on Dec. 12 and 13 at Carolina Theatre in Durham.

Go see Disney’s A Christmas Carol at the IMAX in Raleigh. The 3-D flick will be on the big screen at least through Dec. 17.

Just whatever you do, don’t take your kids on a horse and buggy ride around Crossroads in Cary. That’s just tacky.

Instead of spending Black Friday at the mall, why don’t you do up the big shopping day craft style? The annual Carolina Designer Craftsmen Guild show starts Friday at the N.C. State Fairgrounds and is an awesome way to inject some Carolina flavor/creativity into your holiday gifts.

OK. I’m completely biased. I make at least 1/3 of my Christmas gifts every year. And one of my favorite low-key weekend pastimes is wandering around the N.C. State Fairgrounds at the flea market. So an excuse to spend the weekend at the fairgrounds perusing fine crafts, pretty much is the epitome of all I want in holiday shopping (so long as we’re leaving the Apple store out of the discussion). I’ve never been to this event before, but I have high hopes.

So here’s the deal: The show is open Friday, Saturday and Sunday in the Exposition Center at the fairgrounds. It features over 100 booths with everything from pottery, clay, sculpture, wearable fiber, blown glass, jewelry, metal work, wood work, furniture, photography, printmaking and mixed media, according to the show’s website.

The only catch is it costs $7 to get in, but guess what? The organizers have given me 2 free tix to give away! So how am I going to decide who gets them? (BTW, this is the first ever giveaway on GFTB). Well, I’m thinking I’ll keep it simple. If you legitimately want to go, just be the first to say so in the comments section and you get them.

ALSO … I saw a big sign outside the state fairgrounds that says the flea market is open for Black Friday!!!! It’s open Saturday and Sunday too.

OK. Don’t forget. First to say they want the tix to the Craftsmen Guild show gets ‘em. Happy Shopping!

I’ve always enjoyed Bluegrass, but I’ve really been getting into this banjo picking, fiddle wielding music lately. It’s probably because my weekend at the Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival was so lovely, that every time I hear Bluegrass now my mind wanders back to the music-filled campgrounds.

1. It’s easy to enjoy Bluegrass music in the Triangle. I recently discovered the Pinecone Bluegrass Show, which airs at 6 p.m. every Sunday on 94.7 WQDR. The three hour show is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year and provides a relaxing soundtrack to Sunday chores.

Pinecone is a local nonprofit dedicated to preserving, presenting and promoting traditional music. From their website:

Traditional music includes fiddle tunes, ballads, bluegrass, blues, gospel, swing, folk, and all the variations and derivations that our culture has nurtured. It is the folk product of community heritage and spirit. it is the musical spice that gives North Carolina its own taste. It is music that increases the attractivenes of our community and contributes a cohesive cultural identity. Its performers learned from their families or community or deliberately sought teachers from a traditional musical heritage.

2. PineCone presents several concert series around the Triangle. The next concert is scheduled from 5 to 7 p.m. Sunday at Joyner Park in Wake Forest. Big Fat Gap, a back porch bluegrass band, will christen the new town park.

Joyner Park sounds like a pretty cool spot for Wake Forest residents. The 117-acre park includes a 1,000 lawn seat amphitheatre, three miles of walking trails, and more. Big Fat Gap’s show will be the first concert in the park.

3. And I’m also looking forward to the Hoppin’ John Old Time and Bluegrass Fiddlers’ Convention on Sept. 18 and 19 in Chatham County.

Let me know if you have any other suggestions of how I can get my Bluegrass on in the Triangle.

In the past month, I’ve seen two of my favorite bands on stage in the Triangle: The National at Lincoln Theatre and The Decemberists at Progress Energy Center. I bragged about the awesomeness of the shows on my facebook page and one of my friends asked me how I find out about all these cool concerts. I told him, he needs to read Triangle music blogs.

I don’t want you to miss out on cool shows or find out about them too late to buy tickets. So here are some of my favorite Triangle music blogs:

* Triangle Music: Bloggers Kevin and Valerie are pretty quick to post concert announcements, they attend most of the major (and cooler) shows and provide commentary, photos and videos afterward.

* Mann’s World: No show is too small for Blogger Karen Mann, who does a great job keeping readers up-to-date on local music, complete with reviews and videos. She also links to relevant local music news. If you want to learn more about the Trianlge music scene, this is an excellent place to start.

* Music.MyNC.com: My co-worker Jake Seaton found a way to take advantage of working at a TV station. He invites local bands and touring acts into NBC17 Studio B and records a live session with them, posting it in full on the music blog he created. He’s also pretty quick to post concert announcements and local music news. Jake is responsible for this beautiful slideshow from The National concert.

* Scan (the Independent Weekly’s music blog): I don’t always agree with their reviews, but some of the best written music commentary in the Triangle can be found here.

* WKNC 88.1 blog: The blog for N.C. State’s student-run radio station is relatively new, but continues to be loaded with a pretty diverse mix of music news, promotions and randomness.

Unfortunately, I don’t have tickets to any upcoming concerts, so it’s time to check the local listings and pick out what I can afford. Let me know if I left out any music blogs that you love.

If you’ve noticed a splash of pink in downtown Raleigh this week, it’s because of the Susan G. Komen Triangle Race for the Cure.

I drove past the Sir Walter Raleigh statue in front of the Raleigh Convention Center last week and saw a group of women wrapping a tutu around his waist. I snapped these photos of Sir Walter’s new look on Friday. The Shimmer Wall, the Capitol Building and the Governor’s Mansion are other downtown sites that are supposed to be pink this week, but I haven’t had a chance to check them out yet.

The newly-dressed statue and other pink decorations downtown are part of the “Go Pink for the Cure” celebration, which is a week-long event leading up to Saturday’s race. It’s not to late to register for the race.