Beer Tasting and Ticket Sales @ Alivia's

Starting tonight at 6pm, Alivia's Durham Bistro will begin selling tickets to two marquee Durham events, the World Beer Festival and the Main Street Event block party. To celebrate, they are offering a special beer tasting that features selections from New Belgium Brewing, in addition to two special mystery beers! The tasting itself costs $12.

The Main Street Event will be a block party on October 3rd from 4-10pm, on West Main Street between Gregson and Morgan Streets. There will be three bands performing live: Destroy All Sweaters, Mixed Greenz and Hobex. Tickets are $5 before the event and $8 at the gate. Proceeds from beer sales will go to benefit Eno River Rugby and the RDU Chapter of AMBUCS, an organization that helps provide therapy and equipment for individuals with physical disabilities.

The Labor Day Weekend Has Landed - September 4th

*Friday*

Warehouse Blues Series @ West Village - Mudcat will play some blues from 6-8pm.

Music on the Lawn @ Ambacco - The last performance of the 2009 concert series, Jon Shain Trio will play from 6-8pm.

Summer Concert Series @ Brightleaf - Johnny White & The Elite will take the stage at 7pm.

Live Music @ The MarVell - The doors open at 8pm with a $3 cover, and the show starts at 9pm where the cover jumps to $4. Featuring Locked on Target, Shoot First, and Wanko Honcho.

Live Music @ Broad Street Cafe - Tony Bonar and friends perform at 8pm.

Transactors Improv Presents: City of Medicine @ Common Ground - From the Common Ground website:

Join us for our third season of this completely improvised serial medical drama. Inspired by "Grey’s Anatomy" and "E.R.", this real-life drama is set at Bull City Medical Center, Durham’s finest teaching hospital. Each show the cast is joined by a special guest who is either saved or killed by our doctors. Don’t miss a single episode! City of Medicine: Where who you heal is not nearly as important as whose heart you steal!

Live Music @ Papa Mojo's - The Swang Brothers take the stage at 9:30pm.

Live Music @ The Pinhook - Bicameral Mind at 10pm, Savage Knights at 11pm, Le Weekend at midnight.

*Saturday*

Brewery Tour @ Triangle Brewing Company - Come learn how beer is made, and sample some of their tasty brews at 1pm.

Durham Bulls vs. Norfolk Tides - First pitch at 7:05pm.

Live Music @ Broad Street Cafe - Jo Gore and the Alternative at 8pm, Trees on Fire at 10pm.

Marvel-ous Evening @ The Pinhook - A charity fundraiser for the National Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Society featuring local bands, a silent talent auction and LIVE blind date auction! Featuring Death to Details at 8:30pm, Lions at Lunchtime at 9:30pm, and DurJam Band at 10:30pm.

Live Music @ Duke Coffeehouse - Featuring Throw Me The Statue, The Brunettes, and Nurses. Doors at 8:30pm, show starts at 9pm.

Live Music @ Papa Mojo's - Tad Walters takes the stage at 9:30pm.

*Sunday*

Durham Bulls vs. Norfolk Tides - First pitch at 5:05pm.

Live Music @ Duke Coffeehouse - Sleepy Sun with Strangers Family Band.

*Monday*

Durham Bulls vs. Norfolk Tides - It's the last game of the season for your Durham Bulls. First pitch is at 1:05pm.

Special Wednesday Tasting @ Wine Authorities

Wine Authorities will be hosting a free wine tasting this evening, featuring special guest Lydia Nastberger of Anton Bauer winery. From the Wine Authorities email list:

Meet Lydia from Anton Bauer winery all the way from Austria. At the store, live and in person, from 5 to 6:30 PM sampling Bauer wines. Free and open to the public for anyone 21+. Seth spent two days with Anton Bauer and Lydia in Austria earlier this year. You may have tried one or two of Tony's wines, but now you can taste a full line-up and hear the back story on every bottle.

Everyone who attends is welcome to enter to win a Magnum of Anton Bauer, Cuvée 12 2006. No purchase necessary. Must be 21.

If tasting all of that wine helped you to work up an appetite, there are plenty of fine Rockwood area dining establishments a short walk away, including Thai Cafe, Rockwood Filling Station, The Original Q Shack, and Nana's. And for dessert, you can't go wrong with Local Yogurt!

The Missoula Oblongata, Experimental Theatre @ BCHQ

This Wednesday at 8pm, the Bull City HQ / Durham Bike Co-op space will be transformed into a theatre venue. The Missoula Oblongata will be performing their fourth full-scale touring production, The 50 Greatest Ladies and Gentlemen.

Here's a description of the play from a previous stop on their tour:

The 50 Greatest Ladies and Gentlemen takes place just after the Treaty of Versailles. A veteran who is genetically predisposed to cowardice searches for his brother from whom he’s received a mysterious letter. When the veteran comes upon the town from whence the letter came, he finds that his brother (and the rest of the town) have been caught in a dance mania—a hysterical mass tarantism. With no one else around, the veteran befriends a spider—likely the one who is responsible for the tarantism, and together, they go up against the town doctor who believes that breakfast (and everything ordinary, for that matter) is beneath love.

And here is the company's mission statement from their website:

The Missoula Oblongata is an experimental theatre company dedicated to creating and touring original work. Our lights, sound, and sets are all homemade, transportable, and operated by the performers themselves. This allows us to perform in venues which are accessible—financially and geographically—to a larger population than the regional theatre system serves. We meet unlikely audiences in their neighborhoods, their parks, their favorite music venues, and their homes—and transform these spaces into temporary, anarchistic theaters.

It’s Wine for Change @ West End Wine Bar

H/t to Horse and Buggy Press, who posted this announcement from the Durham Bike & Ped listserv:

Hello fellow Durham cyclists and pedestrians,

I wanted to invite you guys to “It’s Wine for Change” a silent auction fundraiser this Thursday Sept 3, 5-8pm at the West End Wine Bar in Durham (601 W Main Street).

The event is raising money for Climate Ride 2009, a 300 mile bike ride from NYC to DC to promote renewable energy, climate change action and cycling as a viable method of transportation. Tickets are $7 pre-sale, $10 at door and include a glass of wine, food and a raffle ticket. We’re hoping to get lots of locals, particularly people interested in climate change action and cycling, together and we’ve got some great items up for bid; local art, a rainbarrel, dinner/movie packages and some bike gear as well.

Email me directly if you’d like a pre-sale ticket, otherwise hope to see you there! Ride your bike there and get extra raffle tickets!

Keep walking/cycling and stay safe!
Gabrielle

Check it out when you get off work to help support a worthy cause and a local establishment, even if you have to drive to get there.