« December 2006 | Main | February 2007 »
Ok, this just makes me too nauseous to even write about it. Bleh...
Granted, I had a terrible run-in with a hot doughnut back in college, so I'm a bit jaded...
Bleh...
|
| 
11
| 
| 
| 
The Raleigh Department of City Planning will be holding the 2nd in a series of lectures around the theme "Designing a 21st Century City" on February 8th. The free event will this time focus on "Urban Trends and the Urban Age: How Do We Design a 21st Century City?"
The presenter of this lecture will be Bruce Katz, Vice President at the Brookings Institution. Much of his work has apparently been focused on the competitiveness of metropolitan areas. His publications and presentations can be accessed here.
The lecture is free and will be held from 6 - 8:30pm on February 8th at the Progress Energy Center for the Performing Arts. Information on the entire series can be found here (PDF).
|
| 8
|
|
|
Be He Me 
PlaySo, with all this work, it is rare that I organically find a group which I should have discovered by other means. But, one of my favorite albums on my recent listening list is Be He Me by the Annuals, and lo and behold they are from Raleigh! Cool, eh? I seriously had not heard of them through local means (i.e. friends, the Independent, other publications, radio, etc.). With my headphones on now listening to them, I am still having a hard time believing it. Anyway, if you're into Indie music, especially the Arcade Fire, Broken Social Scene, etc. variety, you need to give this a listen. Great stuff. Definitely made my week to have personally found such a dang awesome local band... even though I'm apparently late to the party?
If you don't like this album, there are PLENTY of ClearChannel offerings in the area for the likes of you! ;-)
KLF, that last sentence was humor. Poor humor, as usual... but humor nonetheless.
P.S. – The Annuals will perform on Late Night with Conan O’Brien this Thursday night (Jan 18, 2007) and then will play the Cradle on Jan 22nd as the opening act for The Dears (to which, if you have not done so already, you should also go give a listen). You might recognize “Lost in the Plot” from their album No Cities Left.
|
| 5
|
|
|
Longtime local favorite Charlotte's has decided to pull the plug on their Triangle Town Center location and will close at the end of this month. Of course, this should worry no one as their two
other area stores will continue to feed any and all jewelry and gift addictions in Raleigh.
Personally, I am not too surprised by this as TTC just hasn't become the kind of mall I had hoped it would be. When a mall visit is in order after exhausting my favorite local retailers, I am definitely among the droves of Raleigh residents who either hit Crabtree (due to its proximity) or make the trek over to The Streets of Southpoint in Durham. Many will go on about the demographics of the such-and-such mile radius around the North Raleigh mall, but I don't think that's it at all. I mean, come on, they pretty much have all those who have moved up to the Wake Forest area as a captive audience. And one drive around that formerly sleepy little town will quickly reveal there is a whole bunch of money to be spent… unless everyone is house-poor or something. Anyway, my opinion is that the TTC folks immediately shot themselves in the foot before even clearing the first tree from the property. The design of the mall is as bland and energy-sucking as I have ever seen. Not only is the whole dang thing beige inside and out, but the 2nd floor is carpeted which turns the already spooky-empty ambience and deadens it completely.
What's funny is that every time I've been in Saks, you'd think the mall is rather bustling. The place is vibrant and there always seems to be clientele in there. But as soon as you step out of Saks into the mall… poof! It's all gone. I've talked to many a person who freely admits to shopping in Saks but never venturing into the mall itself.
The outside shopping area is nice and I think a few along that corridor are pulling their weight as well. If the developers had taken one hint alone from Southpoint, they would have built this part of the mall first, made it much more interesting than just a simple straight shot, and varied the offerings out there a lot more.
Anyway, this really wasn't supposed to turn into an evaluation of TTC. That's a much longer article that needs quite a bit more fleshing out of these opinions with more constructive recommendations. Hrmmmmm, maybe that'll be coming soon.
|
| 28
|
|
|
Word is that Herons in Cary's very, very new Umstead Hotel is set to open on January 15th. As most, if not all, of you know, the Umstead is on the SAS campus off Harrison Avenue which means it is, of course, funded by the Goodnights. Finally, we'll have a 4-star hotel in the area which has been needed for quite some time. Hopefully, Herons will pull its weight in that department as a fantastic restaurant is certainly a requirement of a boutique hotel, especially one which sits quite a ways from anything else worth noting (i.e. not in a city/cultural/entertainment center of the area).
To validate the opening date, I went to the Umstead website and attempted to make a reservation for a hotel room. The first day it will allow me to do so is the 15th, which just reiterates the opening date of the restaurant. We reported a while back that accomplished chef Phil Evans had been tapped to helm the kitchen and I personally cannot wait to give the place a try.
Admittedly, I am a Raleigh snob who has a near-insurmountable repulsion to partaking of just about anything in Cary (save the breathtaking Koka Booth Amphitheatre). But, I do love to keep tabs on the Goodnights and believe wholeheartedly in our city's ability to maintain high-end hotels. Sure, I wouldn't have put our first 4 star on the SAS campus, but hopefully it will be met with enough enthusiasm and business to reinforce recent decisions made by Westin and Marriott, and attract even more to our opportunity-rich city.
We'll report back about the restaurant soon as we'll surely be giving it a sample early on. Plus, my wife and I will definitely be scheduling a date night at the Umstead Hotel and Spa soon... Makes me relaxed just thinking about it!
|
| 21
|
|
|
Personally I want to thank the North Carolina Museum of Art for a fantastic Monet In Normandy show. More specifically Director Larry Wheeler and Curator David Steele helped to arrange an outstanding exhibition along with the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, and the Cleveland Museum of Art. The 50 painting exhibit is the first scholarly exhibition to deal with Normandy, and is the first comprehensive Monet exhibit in the Southeast.
I finally got a chance to experience the exhibit today. Impressive was the informal feel of the exhibit. Rarely do guests get a chance to get as close as 24" from rare, original works in a museum setting. Of course Monet's use of color, light, and stroke are the subjects of volumes of published material, but I have to say they can only be truly appreciated in person. It is fascinating how badly television and still photography miss the true colors Monet used.
One interesting aspect of the exhibit is the confluence of people who also saw the exhibit. We spoke to a person from California who came to see the exhibit as well as a man from Georgia who drove all night for the chance to scalp a ticket at the museum's entrance.
The works themselves traveled many miles for the exhibit, too. Private collections and great museum collections from the United States, Europe, and Japan contributed to the project. Three paintings are locally owned, however. While The Cliff at Etretat and The Seine at Giverny, Morning Mists are from the NCMA collection, The Waves at Manneporte is in a local, private collection (it is the second one displayed in the Manneporte series). The 1885 painting was sold at auction in 2003 for only $669,500 while the one displayed to the left in the exhibit went for $1,799,500. It seems that our neighbors got a good deal, to be honest.
The exhibit has been a booming success. So much that tickets only remain for the 3:00am and 4:30am showings in the morning of January 14. If you get a chance to go, I strongly recommend investing $5 in the portable audio tour as well as wearing comfortable shoes.
|
| 41
|
|
|
Last night about 50 people were invited to a brainstorming session to create a vision for the City Square. The site where Jaume Plensa proposed a square last year is now a blank canvas for all of us to create what we want. The only rules are that the street must not be obstructed (for 40' across) and the street must be flush with the street itself to allow for large events.
The event was sponsored by the Urban Design Center and Designbox. Using a similar format to that used at Sparkcon, tables of eight people a piece each tackled an assigned topic. One table had technology, one had the square as a 
symbol of the city, one had programs, etc. Our table tossed around ideas for water. We started by writing three memorable thoughts/feelings from our experiences with great water projects. These ideas were grouped together to form 5 main themes: A river runs through it, splish splash, chill out, Surpise!, and Nectar of Gaia.
We then arranged some ideas which incorporate each of these themes and came up with a couple of interesting ideas. It begins when Mother Earth erupts with her nectar from the Wilmington Street sidewalk between the BOA and Progress I buildings. The blob of water will leap out of the ground on to a plate mounted on a pole. Once it lands, water is shot out of that plate to another nearby, higher plate. The water seems to hop up to each successive, higher plate (made of various materials to create differing sounds), until ultimately the water has hopped all the way to Fayetteville Street. At this point the water hops from the high plate into the street where jets of water successively explode in a serpentine pattern down Fayetteville Street to the Marriott area. This has the effect of involving a symbol of the earth inviting one to explore the plaza; a plaza so powerfull that water flows up to the experience.The street could be defined not by giant dark gray Greek revival pots, but by small foaming water bubblers.
Additionally, a water feature against the front of the BOA building resembling the face of a breaking wave could be a great respite on a hot day. The parabolic incline could be made of glass and have a large video display underneath. As water flows down the slope, the video could show anything from water flowing upward, fire, acorns, whatever. The water would pool at the bottom with ankle deep water for a few feet in the plaza. At each pedestrian access the same video feature could be shown on video boards submerged in the sidewalk.
While our concept is by no means a working model, it shared many, many features that other tables created. Nearly every concept involved water jets, video displays, and flux. Nearly everyone in the room felt that the plaza should offer a different experience for each visit. No doubt these ideas are seeds from Plensa's concept. However they go to show what was right about his vision.
Personally, I think a lot of the concepts presented at the meeting's conclusion could be tied in with a theme and slogan like "Find Yourself...In Raleigh". Themes of water looking for its purpose, people finding themselves in video displays, and the like could all tie into a single purpose without the area looking like a wayward hodgepodge of leftover amusement park features.
As with Sparkcon, the ideas will be compiled into a tidy presentation to the City Council early next month. The main purpose of the brainstorm was to give the City Council some idea about what sorts of infrastructure will be needed in the plaza. Whatever is the case, we still have a chance to have a City Square that people want to be a part of.
|
| 8
|
|
|
My wife and I had dinner at Poole's Diner a couple of nights ago for the first time since the departure of manager Liz Masnik (now the owner of The Borough) some time ago. We had heard several negative things just after that period of change for the restaurant so it kinda fell off our list for a while. Luckily, we decided to give it another chance...
To our surprise, we were greeted with a "For Sale" sign in the window of the restaurant. Fortunately, they were still open and serving their full menu. We talked to our server about the sign and apparently they had just received their first offer that day. Those particular potential buyers would intend to keep the restaurant and menu the same, which would be a good thing in my opinion. If the new owners can just keep things going until mid-2008 (when the Convention Center construction is scheduled to be complete) I think that location will at the very least return to it's previous viability, and more likely become quite successful.
Anyway, we very much enjoyed our dinner. They still have their Red Pepper Lime Soup which is far and away the absolute best soup I have ever had. My mouth is watering as I write this and I am tempted to hop in the car and go get a bowl of it right now (they serve food late on the weekends). They also still have the Martha Stewart salad, which my wife and I love to share. Its combination of goat cheese, walnuts, and cranberries is so tasty and well constructed.
Usually for my meal I get the Ann Landers Meatloaf, but this time I went for the Egg and Cheese Sandwich (one of my guilty pleasures in life) which was very good. Sure, I know this is an easy one to make, but still... very good. My wife had her usual Fresh Mozzarella Sandwich was as wonderful as usual (I schmoozed her into letting me have a bite or two).
Service was attentive, but since there were only a few folks eating there at the time, I cannot say if they really have that part managed or not. But, our experience was very good overall and my fingers are going to stay crossed that whoever buys the place doesn't try to change things up too terribly much. We need to keep places that have that kind of character mixed with consistently good food.
Those of you who had a bad experience during the transition need to give it another chance. Those of you who haven't tried it, give it a whirl. There really aren't many other places like it in our wonderful city. Enjoy!
|
| 20
|
|
|
Earlier today N.C. State alumnus Bill Cowher resigned from the head coaching job of the Pittsburgh Steelers. WRAL is reporting that Cowher is already back in Raleigh with his family. Perhaps he can take over the 850 the buzz timeslot for the departed Steve Logan.
J.T. "The Brick" on Fox Sports News tonight was contemplating what pressure this puts on Panthers coach John Fox with "Cowher in town".
|
| 9
|
|
|
Ok, perhaps I'm being a little too harsh here, but does anyone like this thing? Is this really the image of Raleigh we want to project to the rest of the world? Granted, I realize the primary audience for it is potential convention clients, but I'm not even sure they'll get it.
Admittedly, I've seen worse "corporate" and "government" videos. Much worse. I guess I just wonder why anyone would spend the money to produce something like this when there are such better options, like a more interactive website. How about a 3-D interactive rendering of downtown Raleigh that people could use to conduct either guided or manual tours of the city online? How about including a timeline so the rendering changes when a slider is moved?
Anyway, post your comments here or on YouTube. The folks at the Raleigh CVB Convention Center are interested in what people think and will be reading them.
This video is also available here:
http://www.raleighconvention.com/index.php/homepage/shine-video
|
| 107
|
|
|
We're Ad Free!
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons License.
Subscribe to Raleighing feed
Receive Raleighing via email
Recent Comments