Support your local music scene and a national charity all in one night during Chords for a Cause’s concert this Saturday.
Indie rock darlings The Love Language will return to their Port City roots to headline this fundraising event. They’ll be joined on the Ziggy’s By The Sea stage by soulful artist Tony Drake and rock band Bender, featuring Funky Leroy Harper, saxophonist for The James Brown Band.
Chords for a Cause, a Wilmington-based non-profit, aims to raise money for local and national charities while also growing and supporting area musicians.
What began as an informal discussion between Southern rocker Edwin McCain, Wilmington Mayor Bill Saffo and cardiologist Dr. Damian Brezinski has evolved into an annual concert to raise money for a deserving organization. This time around, Chords for a Cause is championing the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF), a group whose sole function is to raise money to fund research to more effectively treat and eventually cure Type I Diabetes Mellitus.
Type I Diabetes Mellitus mainly affects young children and is a life-threatening illness that currently has no cure. According to JDRF, children who suffer from Type I Diabetes must live with constant carb counting, blood sugar monitoring and usually require multiple insulin injections every day.
Tickets are $20 in advance and $25 at the door. Doors open at 6 p.m. and the show gets underway at 7.
Before and after some feel-good, win-win fun, there’s lots more to keep you busy throughout the weekend, as listed below in our weekly arts and entertainment roundup.
You’ll find these items—and many more—on The Scene, our always-free, always-fast community calendar.
Music
Vocalist Nicole Thompson performs jazz standards with pianist Judson Hurd at 7 p.m. tonight (Thursday) at Ted’s Fun on the River. Admission is $1.
Country singer Corey Smith takes the stage at Ziggy’s By The Sea tonight, with opening act Hailey Whitters. Doors open at 8 p.m. and the concert begins at 9. Tickets are $25.
Local group The Smooth Rays plays The Calico Room at 10 p.m. Friday, with special guest The Bad News Beers. Admission is $5.
Flytrap Brewing presents a free live show from Phil Kelly and Richard Welsh at 8 p.m. Friday. Pepe’s Taco Truck will serve up Mexican street food from 7 to 11. Folk rock duo Bethany and Balducci performs at 8 p.m. Saturday, and Catch the Food Truck will be serving local street food from 7 to 9.
Emily Burdette and Anna Mallard perform at 7 p.m. Saturday at Folk’s Cafe. The event also includes an all-you-can-eat buffet. Tickets are $15.
98.3 FM The Penguin and Huka Entertainment present Americana band The Wood Brothers Sunday at Brooklyn Arts Center. Doors open at 7 p.m. and the show starts at 8. Tickets to the all-ages show are $20-$30.
Theater/Comedy
UNC-Wilmington’s theater deparment presents the radical Jacobean-period play, “Tis’ Pity She’s a Whore,” at 8 p.m. tonight and Friday on the Cultural Arts Building’s main stage. Tickets are $15 ($12 for seniors; $6 for students).
A two-day dinner theater reprisal of the popular local production of “Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill” is set for Friday and Saturday at Blockade Runner Beach Resort. The one-woman play paints an intimate portrait of Billie Holiday through stories and songs. A cocktail hour will begin at 6 p.m., followed by dinner and the show at 7 p.m. Tickets are $60, with $25 of each ticket benefiting Thalian Association Community Theatre.
Comedian Quinn Dahle brings his stand-up to Dead Crow Comedy Room this weekend. Dahle has appeared on “The Tonight Show,” Showtime, Comedy Central, “Lopez Tonight” and “Last Call with Carson Daly.” He will perform at 7 and 9:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Tickets are $14-$18.
Art
Flytrap Brewing hosts an opening reception for a Cape Fear Community College student art show from 6 to 9 p.m. tonight. Instrumental guitarist Jay Killman performs and Funky Fresh Food Truck will be onsite beginning at 7. Admission is free. Flytrap Brewing will donate a portion of sales to the CFCC’s Fine Arts Department. Student work will be on display through December 31.
Hilary Snow is a reporter at Port City Daily. Reach her at hilary.s@portcitydaily.com.