Get To Know Your Town
The Citizen’s Academy invites residents of Southern Pines to get to know the inner workings of their community and meet some of its elected officials. Monthly sessions from January through May highlight town programs, services, policies, and procedures. Staff from various departments conduct tours, provide overviews of departmental functions, and answer questions — enabling participants to create an invaluable guide to the town and its services.
The program is free, but limited to 20, and application is required. Sessions will be held on Tuesday evenings, beginning January 10. In order to graduate (and receive a certificate!), participants must attend all five sessions. (One make-up allowed.) High school students are welcome to apply. Application forms are available online at www.southernpines.net/DocumentCenter/View/3841. For availability of individual sessions, call the library, (910) 692-8235.
For The Love Of Coffee And Tea
On Sunday, January 29, enjoy an afternoon at Pinehurst’s historic Fair Barn exploring the many varieties of coffee and tea and browsing the art on display and for sale. Coffee and tea samples and products will be available for purchase, and you can design your own coffee mug at the DIY coffee mug station. It will be a latte fun! The event is from 1 to 4 p.m. Tickets are $15 and available at Pinehurst Village Hall. The Fair Barn is located at the Pinehurst Harness Track, 200 Beulah Road South. For more information, call (910) 295-1900 or contact Danaka Bunch at dbunch@vopnc.org.
An Evening Of Baroque
On Sunday, January 8, the Weymouth Chamber Music Series presents “Light and Shadow,” a performance by Ensemble Vermillion, whose unique interpretation of 17th and 18th century chamber music will delight you. Musicians Frances Blaker (recorder virtuoso), David Wilson (baroque violinist), Barbara Blaker Krumdeick (baroque cellist), Barbara Weiss (harpsichordist) and Billy Sims (theorbo and baroque guitarist) are joined by soprano Molly Quinn and her silken voice in a program that features the music of Baroque masters Dietrich Buxtehude and JM Bach. Enjoy the music at 3 p.m. and stay for the reception to meet the artists in The Great Room at the Weymouth Center for Arts & Humanities, at 555 E. Connecticut Ave. in Southern Pines. Tickets, available at the Weymouth Center, are $10 for members and $20 for non-members. Call (910) 692-6261 or visit www.weymouthcenter.org for more information.
Hot Off The Algonquin Press
Susan Rivers will be at The Country Bookshop on Friday, January 13, at 5 p.m. to discuss her debut novel, The Second Mrs. Hockaday, published this month by Algonquin Books. The story, set in South Carolina at the end of the Civil War, is about Placidia, a young bride left alone to raise her husband’s baby, run his farm, and survive. Her husband returns from the war two years later and discovers Placidia accused of bearing a child and murdering it. The truth is revealed over the course of three decades through letters, court documents and a diary in this suspenseful narrative. Rivers has an MFA in fiction writing from Queens University of Charlotte and currently teaches in upstate South Carolina. The Country Bookshop is located at 140 NW Broad St. in Southern Pines. Call (910) 692-3211 for more information.
Live At The Met
On Saturday, January 21, The Sunrise Theater will present Gounod’s opera Roméo et Juliette in HD via satellite from New York. The opera (in French with English subtitles) is based on William Shakespeare’s passionate play, The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, which tells the story of two teenage lovers whose marriage is forbidden by their feuding families, the Capulets and Montagues. The production features several memorable duets between the characters. The show begins at 12:55 p.m. Tickets are $27. The Sunrise Theater is located at 250 NW Broad St., Southern Pines. Call (910) 692-8501 or visit www.sunrisetheater.com for more information
Campbell House Galleries
This month’s art exhibit, Color in Nature, features paintings by Glenda Parker Jones, Meridith Martens and Miriam Sagasti. The exhibit is presented by The Arts Council of Moore County and sponsored by Shirley and Bill Frei. Hosts Bonnie and Buzz Parker, Howard Schubert, Jean Webster, and Mickey and George Wirtz invite you to the opening reception on Friday, January 6, from 6 to 8 p.m. The exhibit will run through January 27. The Campbell House Galleries are open weekdays 9 a.m.–5 p.m. and Saturday, January 21, 2–4 p.m., and are located at 482 E. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Admission is free. For more information, call (910) 692-2787 or visit mooreart.org.
Celebrating January Authors’ Birthdays
On Saturday, January 7, between 10 a.m. and noon, bring the kids to Given Memorial Library to celebrate the birthdays of J.R.R. Tolkien and A.A. Milne. Special stations will be set up with creative and interactive projects and activities inspired by characters and settings from The Hobbit series and Winnie the Pooh. Alone or with a parent, kids can create characters, draw maps, and explore Chaos Tower. At the Photo Booth Station, they can get their pictures taken with a Hobbit or Pooh creature of their own making. A special map of the Kids Room will help them find books to check out and take home to read. Library cards are free, and kids of all ages are invited! The library is located at 150 Cherokee Road, Pinehurst. Call (910) 295-6022 or visit www.giventufts.com for more information.
The Rooster’s Wife
Aberdeen’s casual venue “with a totally serious appreciation for the best music found anywhere” presents the following this month:
Jan. 6, Missy Raines, 7-time IBMA Bass Player of the Year fronts her jazzy string band, the New Hip.
Jan. 13, House of Dues. Dance Party.
Jan. 15, Moors and McCumber, multi-instrumentalists, splendid songwriters ranging from Celtic through Americana
Jan. 19, Mitch Capel presents a Night of Love and Laughter.
Jan. 22, Louis Romano Quartet interweaves Latin, Middle, and Far Eastern influences within an American jazz framework.
Jan. 29, the Martha Bassett Trio returns with no genre left unexplored. Japanese guitarist Hiroya Tsukamoto will open the show.
For all of the above, doors open at 6 p.m. and music begins at 6:46 at the Poplar Knight Spot, 114 Knight St., Aberdeen. Call (910) 944-7502 or visit www.theroosterswife.org for more information.
And on January 5, at 7:30 p.m., you can catch Miss Raines and the New Hip at the Roosters Wife at the Cameo Art House Theater. 225 Hay St, Fayetteville. (910) 486-6633.
Weymouth Writer-In-Residence Reading
On Thursday, January 12, Sheryl Monks will be reading from her collection of stories, Monsters in Appalachia, set mostly in the story-rich mountains of West Virginia and rural North Carolina. Monks brings to life factory and mine workers, mothers and daughters, outlaws, abused wives, schoolchildren, and monsters in tales that have been described as both gothic and grim, realistic and surrealistic, haunting and humorous. Monks grew up in West Virginia and western North Carolina, holds an MFA in creative writing, and is a past winner of the Reynolds Price Short Fiction Award.
Her reading at 5:30 p.m. and the wine and cheese reception following will be held at the Weymouth Center for Arts & Humanities, 555 E. Connecticut Ave., Southern Pines. Sponsored by St. Joseph of the Pines, this event is free and open to the public. For more information call (910) 692-6261 or visit www.weymouthcenter.org or Facebook.
