Thursday, Apr. 21
Pigeons Playing Ping Pong
Greenfield Lake Amphitheater, 1941 Amphitheatre Dr • Tickets: start at $29.50
Baltimore’s Pigeons Playing Ping Pong will perform at 6 p.m. at Greenfield Lake Amphitheater. The group touring in support of itsnewest album, “Perspective,” which dropped two weeks ago on Apr. 8 — it’s the band’s eighth release since 2010.
The band plays a variety of psychedelic and funk sounds, featuring lead vocalist and guitarist “Scrambled” Greg Ormont, lead guitarist and vocals Jeremy Schon, bassist and vocals Ben Carrey, and Alex “Gator” Petropulos on drums. Petropulos did not join the band until 2015, replacing former drummer Dan Schwartz.
Tickets are selling fast. General admission begins at $29.50 on Live Nation.
OTHER THURSDAY HAPPENINGS
Candidates Forum on the Arts — At the Cameron Art Museum, a forum will be held to find out where candidates for the New Hanover County Board of Commissioners stand on issues that affect the arts community. The Arts Council of Wilmington and New Hanover County are hosting the event at 6 p.m. Free, 3201 S. 17th St.
Friday, Apr. 22
FlowILM
Cameron Art Museum, 3201 S. 17th St. • Free
A multimedia experience, 2022 FlowILM will celebrate Earth Day at the Cameron Art Museum from 4 p.m. – 9 p.m. Numerous artists, scientists, nonprofits and UNCW professors will come together to focus on local and global water issues. The event will include educational activities and live performances, featuring dance, sculpture, installation and light-and-sound work produced by the Coaction Lab at UNCW.
The interactive program will build on last year’s inaugural event (read more here) and explore relationships between organisms, environments, and technology. It’s hosted in collaboration with the Algae Society, which has work on display in the museum as part of the “Confluence” exhibit.
Organizers explained the goal is to “bridge the physical and virtual, visible and invisible, inner and outer, macro to micro, local to regional, national to global, artists near the threshold to a post-Covid future, one that seeks empathy for and awareness of our relationships with the organisms and ecosystems that we depend on and that depend on us for a balanced future in the face of uncertainty.”
Anyone who can’t make it to CAM grounds in person can view the exhibit online.
OTHER FRIDAY HAPPENINGS
Fourth Friday Gallery Walk — After-hours celebrations of art and culture are held at more than a dozen places in the downtown vicinity, 6 p.m. – 9 p.m. on the fourth Friday every month. Hosted by the Arts Council of Wilmington and New Hanover County, almost 20 galleries and businesses welcome artists, showcase new exhibits and offer refreshments. See the map of participants here.
WHQR’s 37th Birthday Bash — Taking place at Hi-Wire Brewing (1020 Princess St.), WHQR — Wilmington’s NPR affiliate — will celebrate more than three decades serving news and classical music to the community. There will be birthday cake and free swag, including T-shirts, frisbees, and mugs. A photo booth will be on site and the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina will be there accepting donations: canned fruits, vegetables, meat, soup, whole grain pasta, brown rice, dried beans, cereal (also for infants), peanut butter, Pedialyte, diapers, wipes, hygiene and household items, and paper products. Free to attend.
Lukas Nelson and Promise of the Real — The Americana rock darlings are headed back to Greenfield Lake for two nights, Friday and Saturday. This time around they’re touring in support of the 11-track release “A Few Stars Apart” — recorded on an eight-track tape over three weeks at Nashville’s historic RCA Studio A. The album dropped last summer. Special guest Drayton Farley will join the band. The show is sold out but Nelson will make a special appearance at a free pop-up show on Saturday in the rotary garden, as part of the Greenfield Lake cleanup and farmers market. Read more about it here.
Benefit Art Exhibit for Ukraine — Acme Art is hosting an exhibit at its warehouse of artists at 711 N. 5th Ave. to benefit refugees in the Ukraine. Works from artists throughout the community are featured in the exhibit, with all proceeds from sales going to World Central Kitchen, which is feeding Ukraine refugees and those fighting in the country. WCK was targeted earlier by a Russian missile strike, which hit its kitchen and injured staff. The Acme art exhibit will run through May 20.
Star Party — Stargazers are welcome to the Carolina Beach State Park for a night of astronomy-themed activities. Sponsored by the Cape Fear Museum, Carolina Beach State Park, Cape Fear Astronomical Society and other community partners, the free event welcomes the community to bring a flashlight and enjoy a guided night-sky tour of stars and planets; viewing the celestial bodies through telescopes; star-themed stories in Stellar Story Corner; photo ops, giveaways, raffles, prizes and more. PT’s, Kona Ice and Taqueria La Villita food trucks will be on site as well. The event is held statewide, due to a NC Space Grant and the NC Science Festival. Event parking is at the marina, located at the back of the park. Complimentary shuttle service will be provided. Handicapped transportation via golf cart is available upon request.
Cinematique presents “Cyrano” — WHQR’s art house experience, Cinematique, takes place at Thalian Hall’s main theater showcasing films recently released. “Cyrano,” directed by Joe Wright, will screen at 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. The movie is a re-imagining of Edmond Rosand’s timeless play “Cyrano de Bergerac.” Played by Peter Dinklage, Cyrano is a verbal joust and can woo with words, though he’s convinced his appearance renders him unworthy of the love from devoted friend Roxanne (Haley Bennett). Tickets are $10.
Saturday, Apr. 23
Quilt Stories: A Remembrance Play
DREAMS of Wilmington, 901 Fanning Dr. • Tickets: $8-$15
Trey Morehouse of Mouths of Babe Theater is premiering a new, original monologue play, “Quilt Stories.” A three-year project, the concept is based on interviewing people whose loved ones have passed on from AIDS. Each story represents one of the 50,000 panels that makes up the AIDS Quilt.
Weighing 54 tons, the quilt memorializes more than 100,000 people who died. The project delves into the quilt’s history and features survivors, quiltmakers, activists, and friends and family of loved ones. MoB interviewed quiltmakers and former and current members of the NAMES Project, which maintains the AIDS Quilt.
Tickets are $8-$15. The show runs Apr. 23-24 and 30-May 1.
OTHER SATURDAY HAPPENINGS
Stomp — The international percussive theater troupe will take the Wilson Center stage in downtown at 7:30 p.m. What began as a street performance in the UK has grown into a global phenomenon. Artists in Stomp use paint cans, garbage can lids, and shopping carts to create rhythms and perform acrobatics and pantomime. Tickets start at $29.
Hampstead 500 Skate Contest — Skate competitors can register from 8:15 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. to compete Saturday. Rounds run all day until 7 p.m., including immediate 3-foot bowl, open 3-foot bowl quads, beginner street course, intermediate street course, advanced street course, open 5-foot bowl and open half-pipe. There is a $1,200 purse, with first place taking $600, second earning$400, and 3rd receiving$200. There will also be a female skate division — at least five entries needed — in 3-foot bowl skateboarding, beginner and intermediate/advanced. Vendors will be set up selling wares. More information can be found here.
Not Your Neighbors Luau and Pig Roast — Waterline Brewing is hosting a traditional Hawaiian pig roast, including sides, catered by Rebellion. There will be ukulele music, Hawaiian dancers and fire throwers. Tickets are $5 for the show or $15 for VIP seats in front of the fire throwers, also including a pint of beer and leis. Food sold separately, doors are at 5:30 p.m.
Earth Day Festival — At Long Leaf Park, the Wilmington Earth Day Alliance is holding their annual event. There will be live music with Monica Jane, Cosmic Groove Lizards, The Pinkerton Raid, plus a drum circle. Food vendors and over 50 environmental exhibitors will be set up. The children’s nature brigade parade will take place at 1:45 p.m. and the EcoZone will be open welcoming kids to partake in hands-on activities. All food waste will be composted and packaging recycled. It’s free and the event takes place from noon to 6 p.m.
Sunday, Apr. 24
Wilmington Vegfest 2022
Legion Sports Complex, 2149 Carolina Beach Rd. • Tickets: $5-$20 ahead of time (add $5 for day-of purchases)
A celebration of vegan food is planned for Vegfest. There will be vendors and food trucks on the backfield of Legion Stadium. Plus, families can enjoy a fun zone and live music throughout the day by Tre Charles, Nikko Raptoulis, Jeremy Loeb and Entangled Dreams.
VIP tickets ($20) allow early entry 30 minutes before gates open at 11 a.m. Ticketholders also will get a goodie bag that is reusable and 25 entries into a raffle with prize packs including items from Hodo Foods, Follow Your Heart, Rebel Cheese, Crofter’s Organics, and others.
The festival takes place until 5 p.m.
OTHER SUNDAY HAPPENINGS
Bloom Boom Festival — Flytrap Brewing hosts an annual Earth Day weekend festival with local artisans and makers selling art and plants at the brewery. The event is slated from 1 p.m. – 7 p.m. with live music and food trucks outside the venue. Special beer releases will drop, and there will be a carnivore planting workshop ($10) hosted by Island Wildlife.
The Wilmington Jewish Festival — The annual film festival kicks off Apr. 24 and runs through Wednesday, May 4. It features seven films, representing Jewish culture and history across various genres — comedy, romance, documentary. Refreshments are served after some screenings and a Q&A is scheduled for the opening night film, “Persian Lessons.” Passes are $54; individual tickets are also available. The event will have a free virtual screening on May 4-5, in celebration of Yom Ha’atzmaut, Israel Independence Day. All other films are screened at Thalian Hall; tickets are available here.
Family Fun Day at the Bellamy — The Bellamy Mansion (503 Market St.) in downtown Wilmington is throwing this free event on its downtown campus. There will be a petting zoo, pony rides. face painting, storytelling, games, arts and crafts, and food and refreshments for purchase. The event takes place from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Catching Currents Tour — It will be a Sunday full of punk rock at Dubliner Irish Bar on Carolina Beach Road. Seven bands will take the stage, including skacore/pop-punk group Colorblind Dinosaurs out of Florida. Also joining the jams will be folk punker Spider Bucket, post pop-punk of Juneau, alternative rock of Entangled Dreams, garage rock of Hot Plastic Poets, posh punk of Vestige of Mora, and avante-garde rock of Rosary. There is no cover, and the show begins at 4 p.m.
Walking Tours: Wilmington Heritage Trees — In honor of Earth Day and Arbor Day, the Historic Wilmington Foundation — in partnership with the Alliance for Cape Fear Trees and the Wilmington Tree Commission — will host a 1-mile guided walking tour from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. highlighting heritage trees. The city’s Heritage Tree Program is dedicated to identifying and preserving heritage trees, noted due to age, rarity, grouping, overall beauty and significance. The tours begin and end at the foundation office at 211 Orange St. This tour is free, but donations are accepted. For more information, visit here.
New Earth Consciousness Expo — At the Marriott Carolina Beach Oceanfront (100 Charlotte Ave.), a vendor fair will be set up from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. featuring artists/crafters, holistic practitioners, gemstone jewelers, psychics and mediums, card readers and metaphysical vendors. Presentations will be hosted throughout the day as well; $5 entry fee.
Wilmington Symphony Youth Orchestra — A free family concert will be held at 4 p.m. at UNCW’s Kenan Auditorium. Tickets are still required ahead of time here. Any remaining tickets will be available one hour before the concert. Youth receive orchestral training and performing opportunities through the Wilmington Symphony; their talents will be on display at the show.
Food Truck Rodeo — Taking place at Ogden Park from noon to 5 p.m., the New Hanover County Parks Conservancy hosts the rodeo featuring over a dozen trucks and live music. The event is free to attend, though food and beverages are individually priced. Proceeds benefit New Hanover County’s parks.
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