Tuesday, February 18, 2025

Li’l Friday: Hot Tuna, BAD Coffee Crawl, Dim Sum Time

Hot Tuna, consisting of Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady — best known for their time in Jefferson Airplane in the ’60s — will perform at UNCW on Friday. (Courtesy photo)

SOUTHEASTERN N.C. — Li’l Friday is a weekly roundup of events in art, music, theater, comedy, pop-up markets and more.

All events featured were scheduled as of Thursday; however, it’s wise to check in ahead of attending any one. Inclement weather, changes in schedules and unforeseen circumstances may shift for organizers at the last minute.

Thursday, Jan. 30

East Coast Shag Classic Weekend
Holiday Inn Resort Lumina, 1706 N. Lumina Ave. • Ticket packages: $179-$199

A weekend of dancing and live music is planned for a local fundraiser for a nonprofit that helps cancer survivors. 

The East Coast Shag Classic takes place to benefit Hope Abounds and will feature three beach music bands: The Band of Oz, Gary Lowder and Smokin’ Hot, and Jim Quick and the Coastline Band. On Sunday morning, gospel group, Steadfast Quartet, will perform.

The weekend includes shag and line dance lessons, bingo, nightly raffles and themes, live music Thursday, Friday and Saturday, plus social dancing, and Sunday morning’s gospel hour and breakfast. Packages range from $179 to $199, with proceeds benefiting the nonprofit organization. 

OTHER THURSDAY EVENTS
Pam Toll: “Longing & Movement” — A local artist who teaches at UNCW and helped found the No Boundaries International Art Colony is retiring this spring. Her send-off at the local university includes a solo exhibit of work. Toll’s “Longing and Movement” will have a public reception on Thursday evening at Cultural Arts Building (CAB) Art Gallery from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. Toll will speak about the art, which includes narrative paintings and collage, before the reception at 5 p.m. Included are new works and ones Toll created during her first residency in Macedonia in 1991, as well as No Boundaries from the Bald Head Island residency, and from her ongoing memoir series “The Familiar Distance Going Home.” The event is free and open to the public on UNCW’s campus. 

Benny Hill Quartet — Annually, local jazz artist Benny Hill, who teaches at CFCC, hosts a fundraising concert in support of the program at the community college. All proceeds from his concert support the educational outreach, including financially supporting students and purchasing instruments. For this year’s event, the Benny Hill Quartet is celebrating the 25th year of its first recording, influenced by the energetic blues-based music of Kenny Garrett. The quartet consists of Benny Hill on saxophone, Brad Merritt on piano, Israel Bannerman on drums, and Doug Irving on bass. General admission is free in the Wilson Center but donations are welcome; there will be cabaret seating with a dessert and drink service in the pit for $75 and parterre seating for $50 to also include drink service. The concert is at 7:30 p.m. and tickets, even free ones, must be reserved here.

Cowboy Mouth — You remember the ’90s rockers from New Orleans best known for the track “Jenny Says”? Well, they’re going to be at Bowstring Brewyard (1002 Princess St.) on Thursday night. Frontman, drummer, and co-founder Fred LeBlanc has asserted “if The Neville Brothers and The Clash had a baby, it would be Cowboy Mouth.” Their energetic performances have been hailed as celebratory and tickets to the show Thursday are $25 here.

Aaron Berg will perform at Dead Crow Comedy Room this weekend on Friday and Saturday. (Courtesy photo)

Friday, Jan. 31

Aaron Berg 
Dead Crow Comedy Room, 511 N. Third St. • Tickets: $20-$30

It’s been almost a year since the Canadian-born comedian came through the Dead Crow Comedy Room and he’s returning this weekend to perform four shows at 7:30 p.m. and 9 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.

Berg, who now lives in New York City, started his career as a standup comedian a decade ago and has since appeared onscreen in films like “The Boondock Saints 2,” “Detroit Rock City,” “The Kitchen” (featuring Melissa McCarthy), Saturday Night Live’s “The Ladies Man” and “The Lookout.” He also is part of Amazon’s “25 Sets” featuring other comics in New York, such as Jeanene Garofolo. He broke the world record for doing the most sets, 25, in one night.

He’s known for  boisterous, often raunchy sets, tackling unconventional family life, working out, race, and American society. He also often riffs with the audience, as seen in one set recently:

“We don’t know how old he is, he is of Latin decent,” he noted of an audience member during a set last year. “It could be 12, it could be 48.”

Berg also has launched “Street Famous” where he rips on people walking in New York.

Tickets to his show are $20 to $30.

OTHER FRIDAY EVENTS
Hot Tuna — Bringing American rock and blues jams to Kenan Auditorium, Hot Tuna consists of Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady, both members of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and Grammy recipients. The two were at the heart of the 1960s hippie movement in San Francisco as band members of Jefferson Airplane. In October 2024, the surviving members Casady, Kaukonen, and Grace Slick, received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. As Hot Tuna, Casady and Kaukonen have released more than two dozen records as a band and have embarked on solo projects as well. Casady is known for his bass-playing skills and Kaukonen on guitar and vocals. Tickets to the 7:30 p.m. show start at $56. 

Brooklyn Arts District will have its annual coffee crawl and will launch a social district on Saturday for the event. (Port City Daily/Shea Carver)

Saturday, Feb. 1

Social District and Brooklyn Arts District Coffee Crawl
North Fourth Street • Free, drinks priced individually

This weekend Wilmington’s first social district will go into full effect from noon to 5 p.m. on Saturday as part of the Brooklyn Arts District’s Coffee Crawl. 

Multiple businesses are taking part in the annual crawl, which welcomes upward of 1,000 people. This year includes Brooklyn Cafe, Flytrap Brewing, Bottega, three10, Goat and Compass, Palate Bottle Shop, Commodore Public House, The Eagle’s Dare, Edward Teach Brewing, Pizzeria don Luca and the Kitchen Sink, among others.

Java-inspired beverages — both non-alcoholic and alcoholic — from lattes to martinis to beer and more will be sold, as will foods.

Also the event is acting as a pilot program for the city’s first social district. 

So what does that mean, exactly? On Saturday, 10 blocks — mapped out with signs marking the area’s social district — will welcome participants to stroll freely between businesses with their alcoholic beverages purchased from area businesses (alcohol coming from outside the social district is not allowed) in hand. 

The pilot social district will take place for the next two Saturdays as well, noon to 5 p.m., in BAD, which also is hosting a sports day ahead of Super Bowl on Feb. 8 and then Love Fest on Feb. 14. 

The events are free to attend, but drinks and other purchases are individually priced.

Learn more about the social district from PCD’s previous coverage here.

OTHER SATURDAY EVENTS
Goat Yoga — From Zen Hooves, a beginner’s goat yoga class for all ages is underway at Freya’s Haus at 1 p.m. Ticketholders ($33 plus fees) receive entry into the class and a beverage of their choice. Bring a mat and towel for the class. The groups hosts goat yoga at local breweries frequently including Flying Machine Brewing Company and Leland Brewing and sells out events often. 

H.M.S. Pinafore — Marking the beginning of modern musical theater, Gilbert & Sullivan’s “H.M.S. Pinafore” will be staged at Thalian Hall at 7:30 p.m. The show follows the story of a sailor who falls for the captain’s daughter, though she’s betrothed to someone else. Yet, the two lovebirds elope anyway and a show of seaworthy satire emerges and recognizable tunes, like “I’m a Little Buttercup,” come to light in the operetta. New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players is America’s preeminent professional Gilbert & Sullivan repertory ensemble performing “H.M.S.” on Friday; tickets are $45.

Odd Colony Tap Takeover — The farmhouse-inspired brewery, Odd Colony Brewing from Pensacola, Florida, is known for using local ingredients in various beers, from lagers to saisons to IPAs. The brewery will be taking offer the taps at Fermental on Friday, along with the newly launched offerings from its sister business, The Burrow. Plus, there will be a food truck from El Charrito Tacos at 5 p.m. and music from Kyle Lindley at 7 p.m. Pets and families are welcome to The Cargo District bottle shop, located at 600 S. 17th St.

Dim Sum Time at Concept Kitchen — End of Days Distillery’s Concept Kitchen Co. (1815-A Castle St.) welcomes diners to a taste of Asia this weekend. The Concept Kitchen Co. launched so chefs could test-run various culinary ideas by diners without a full-time restaurant investment. This weekend is Dim Sum Time, from the chefs behind Sap Lai, Taste of Vietnam, Ramen Shop, and Shoyu & Cheese. Dim sum is a traditional Chinese meal of small plates of food, often consisting of dumplings, but also featuring pork buns and egg rolls, among other items. The Dim Sum Time menu is priced between $5 and $10 and includes dumplings, plus shrimp balls, Cantonese pan-fried noodles, and corn and egg drop soup. It’s open Saturday, noon until sell-out, and Sunday, noon until sell-out or 6 p.m.  

‘The Thinking Game’ will have a screening at Jengo’s Playhouse at 4 p.m. on Sunday with an audience discussion thereafter about AI technology. (Courtesy film still)

Sunday, Feb. 2

The Thinking Game
Jengo’s Playhouse, 815 Princess Place • Tickets: $5

Jengo’s Playhouse, the headquarters for the Cucalorus Film Festival, is hosting a screening at 4 p.m. about the visionary scientist and Nobel Prize laureate Demis Hassabis. 

A British artificial intelligence researcher and entrepreneur, Hassabis is the chief executive officer and co-founder of Google DeepMind and Isomorphic Labs, and acts as a UK government AI adviser. The doc “The Thinking Game” explores AI labs worldwide, including the one Hassabis and his team were set up in for the  launch of AlphaFord. The app has accelerated the creation of revolutionary medicines and advanced science, as it is able to predict the 3D structure of amino acid sequences.

A conversation about AI will follow the screening with audience participation. Tickets are $5 and the film is screening as part of Jengo’s Playhouse’s the In Real Life Movie Club, a nonprofit gathering for people who wish to explore various topics via independent documentary film; learn more here

OTHER SUNDAY EVENTS
Oyster Roast — Leland Brewing Company is hosting a culinary event that will also act as a fundraiser for various local nonprofits. A charity oyster roast, with bivalves provided by Eagle Island, is to be held from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. to benefit NourishNC, Cape Fear Habitat for Humanity and Goodwill. Tickets are $35 in advance here and $40 at the taproom and include all-you-can oysters. There also will be a 50/50 raffle, jewelry by Shuck and Shine Design and Taste N Seize food truck parked from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Participants are also encouraged to bring canned soup and boxed cereal for NourishNC, coats for Goodwill and children’s books for Habitat for Humanity.


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Shea Carver
Shea Carver
Shea Carver is the editor in chief at Port City Daily. A UNCW alumna, Shea worked in the print media business in Wilmington for 22 years before joining the PCD team in October 2020. She specializes in arts coverage — music, film, literature, theatre — the dining scene, and can often be tapped on where to go, what to do and who to see in Wilmington. When she isn’t hanging with her pup, Shadow Wolf, tending the garden or spinning vinyl, she’s attending concerts and live theater.

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