All posts by David Fellerath
David Fellerath ·
21 Jan 2010, 5:39 PM ·
Comment
That's actually a mooring mast with the zeppelin, not a radio tower. (Wiki Commons)
What a week for liberals: The Democrats lose Teddy Kennedy’s Senate seat, the Supreme Court invites corporations to bring their cash through the front door of the electoral process, lawmakers on Capitol Hill seem ready to fold on health care reform and one-time local populist darling John Edwards admits to fathering his mistress’ child and then disappears to Haiti. Oh, and the Tar Heels and the Blue Devils both lost last night.
And just an hour ago, word came that Air America, the well-intentioned, six-year effort to provide a forum for lefty politics on AM radio, has foundered.
Citing the contemporary economic climate and, more specifically, a 21 percent decline in radio ad revenue over the past year, Charlie Kireker, chair of Air America Media, informed his staff today that the network would cease its “as of this afternoon,” and would soon file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy “to carry out an orderly winding-down of the business.”
Locally, Air America provided overnight and some Saturday programming for WCHL-1360. The mainstay hosts of the weekdays, including Stephanie Miller, Ed Schultz and Thom Hartmann, are not syndicated by Air America.
WCHL station manager Christy Dixon told Triangulator that “We just received this news ourselves. We’re beginning to look for replacement shows.” She said that the new shows would continue in the station’s format of progressive talk and local programming.
Air America provided a forum for lefty celebrities like Al Franken, Janeane Garofalo, Steve Earle and Ron Reagan to take to the airwaves. It also created a couple of stars, most notably Rachel Maddow, who began with the network in 2004, co-hosting a show called Unfiltered with Chuck D and Lizz Winstead. Even after moving to her television career with MSNBC, Maddow continued to broadcast on Air America.
After the jump, the memo from Kireker. Continue reading »
Chapel Hill, economy, media, national Air America, Al Franken, Chapter 7, Charlie Kireker, Rachel Maddow, Supreme Court, Ted Kennedy, WCHL
David Fellerath ·
25 Jun 2009, 1:20 PM ·
17 Comments
Buster Keaton in Sherlock, Jr., released in 1924—several years before movies began playing at the present site of the Varsity Theater.
Just an hour ago, Bruce and Mary Jo Stone, the owners of the Varsity Theater on Franklin Street, released a written statement confirming the closing of the theater. Although the document doesn’t specify the effective date, presumably the theater will close after tonight’s final showings of The Hangover and The Brothers Bloom.
In the statement, signed by Bruce Stone, several factors are cited. First,
[T]he numbers currently don’t support the continuation of both theaters [the Varsity and the Chelsea, also owned by the Stones] as viable enterprises. The Varsity especially has been struggling for over two years, with no prospect of an upturn any time soon. Although the film exhibition business is a highly variable, feast or famine sort of business, the assumption has always been the feasts and famines eventually even one another out. However, there has been much more famine in recent years, with the summers being especially difficult.
The statement goes on to discuss changes in the business model that make it hard for specialty theaters to survive against multiplexes. Citing a May article in Variety , Stone writes,
[Specialty distributors] still in business prefer to withhold their prestige product until the fall winter awards season. When an indy film suddenly gains traction and becomes successful with a wider audience (or “crosses over”), the distributors quickly book these films into multiplexes everywhere, thereby undercutting the business being done at the specialty theaters.
Continue reading »
Chapel Hill, arts, business, film Bruce Stone, Chelsea Theater, Varsity Theater
David Fellerath ·
23 Jun 2009, 7:26 PM ·
4 Comments
The Varsity Theater, which has been in operation under different names on Chapel Hill’s Franklin Street for more than 80 years, will go dark this Friday.
Owner Bruce Stone wouldn’t directly confirm the theater’s closing, but when asked if the fact that the Indy had not been provided with movie listings for the Varsity meant there would be no movies there, he replied, “That would be a correct inference.”
Stone said he would make a formal announcement about the Varsity’s operations on Thursday or Friday. Stone’s other theater, the Chelsea, which is located in the Timberlyne shopping center, will remain open.
The Varsity’s closing has been long-rumored, and earlier this month I wrote a story about the financial realities of the business of running a specialty movie house.
For the record, the Varsity is currently showing The Brothers Bloom and The Hangover. The final screening for the former film is 9:20 p.m., while the final screening for the latter is 9:30.
Chapel Hill, arts, business, film Bruce Stone, Varsity Theater
David Fellerath ·
25 Mar 2009, 8:06 AM ·
Comment
UPDATE MARCH 26: Wednesday evening, the Bulls announced that Price has been assigned to Durham.
The rumblings are getting louder, and Adam Sobsey has been listening over at Triangle Offense.
And there’s bad news for Fernando Perez, last year’s super-fast center fielder who ended the season on the Tampa Bay World Series roster and also was seen down there co-hosting a rally for presidential candidate Barack Obama.
Durham, national, sports David Price, Durham Bulls, Fernando Perez
David Fellerath ·
19 Mar 2009, 5:19 PM ·
Comment
Main Street, the movie, may be shooting on your street soon.
We’ve got the story over on Artery, our seasonal arts blog—which will be cranking up in earnest for Full Frame.
Durham, arts, film Main Street
David Fellerath ·
18 Mar 2009, 3:25 PM ·
2 Comments
Theatre in the Park announced today that Justin Long, an actor seen in such titles as He’s Just Not That Into You, Galaxy Quest, Live Free or Die Hard and the Peyton Reed-directed The Break-Up, will play her BF from the Montague side of the tracks in the Theatre’s May production of Romeo and Juliet.
The production will run for five performances from May 15-17, at the TIP space in Pullen Park. Tickets are on sale for $50.
Wood, whose star will continue to rise when her next film, Woody Allen’s Whatever Works, opens the Tribeca Film Festival in April, is a Raleigh native and daughter of Ira David Wood III, artistic director of TIP. She received universal raves for her role in Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler, and she’s also reputed to be playing Mary Jane in a Broadway adaptation of Spider-Man, which will be directed by Julie Taymor, who brought The Lion King to the stage and also directed Wood in Across the Universe. Music will be by Bono and The Edge.
In this TV Guide red carpet interview on Oscar Night, Wood discusses the Spidey project and also gives a shout-out to the folks back home at Theatre in the Park.
Raleigh, arts, film, news Bono, Evan Rachel Wood, Julie Taymor, Justin Long, The Edge, Woody Allen
David Fellerath ·
13 Mar 2009, 6:44 PM ·
2 Comments
Thavisouk Phrasavath, co-director and subject of the Oscar-nominated The Betrayal-Nerakhoon, at the 2008 festival. (photo by D.L. Anderson)
If there was any doubt about the depth and breadth of the economic crisis in general and the daily newspaper crisis in particular, this afternoon’s announcement from the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival abolishes it.
The New York Times, which has provided sponsorship support for the 12-year-old festival since 2001, has withdrawn its commitment, the festival announced today, less than three weeks away from the start of this year’s event, which is scheduled for April 2-5 in Durham.
The Times was one of two “presenting sponsors” for the festival. Duke University is the other. The threshold for being a presenting sponsor is $100,000, says Peg Palmer, the festival’s executive director, in a phone interview earlier this evening.
“We’re disappointed. We’ve had a good long relationship with the Times,” Palmer says. “All the newspapers are reassessing [their priorities]. They’re slashing budgets and revisiting priorities. We’re one of the many that fell by the wayside.” Continue reading »
Durham, arts, business, economy, film, media, national, news Duke University, Full Frame, New York Times, Peg Palmer
David Fellerath ·
5 Mar 2009, 5:31 PM ·
1 Comment
Robin Williams was admitted to a Florida hospital yesterday after complaining of shortness of breath. After first postponing his remaining Sunshine State dates, tour organizers announced this afternoon that the remainder of his 80-date “Weapons of Self-Destruction” tour will also be postponed while Williams undergoes emergency heart surgery for an aortic valve replacement.
Officials at Durham Performing Arts Center said his show, scheduled for Friday, March 13, will be rescheduled for the fall, and that tickets to the sold-out show will be honored. Text of announcement after the jump.
Continue reading »
Durham, arts, national, news Robin Williams
David Fellerath ·
27 Feb 2009, 3:38 PM ·
14 Comments
There was more evidence this week that a film production is indeed getting underway in Durham. Auditions for Main Street were held all week at Durham Convention Center. Two actors confirmed independently that they’d read for parts this week, and that the production is scheduled to begin in April.
The casting agency is Telsey and Company, described by one of our confidants as a
very reputable casting agency out of NYC. They cast lots of Broadway shows and big movies like Sex and the City, Rachel Getting Married, and Milk. I saw them a few times while I was living in NYC [ ... ] They sent one of their casting associates down here to do the initial auditions this week, a really good reader and very nice. She videotapes into a computer, which then gets streamed to NYC. Very similar to what the Fincannons do in Wilmington, and something I’m seeing more and more.
This correspondent also described a diverse casting call, suggesting that this movie’s Durham may be less white than it was in 1988 when Bull Durham was released.
I was up against Asians, African-Americans, all types and ages, etc., so the field is pretty wide open. Very typical videotaped in-and-out audition, from which they’ll narrow the field to meet with the director at callbacks. Pretty standard fare.
Both of our correspondents report that the advertised stars are Colin Firth, Ellen Burstyn and Patricia Clarkson (that’s an aggregate of six Oscar nominations and one win).
However, one of them cautioned about the casting, “you might want to say ‘rumored’ or something like that since I’m not sure how much of the info on the leads, etc. is true and how much is out there to raise money.”
As it happens, this film project appears on none of these actors’ imdb.com pages. The imdb.com entry for the film itself is minimal, listing only the screenwriter, director and production company. (It seems the film’s title has been shortened from Main Street USA.) The script is by two-time Oscar winner Horton Foote (Tender Mercies, To Kill a Mockingbird). John Doyle, best known as a stage director, is set to direct. The production company is Reliant Pictures, which was set up two years ago by Thom Mount, Durham native and producer of Bull Durham.
The most informative item on the film’s imdb.com entry is the following plot summary, which provides a protagonist’s name and otherwise confirms what has been reported about the film’s content in the Independent and elsewhere.
From the once thriving tobacco warehouses, to the current run-down and closed shops of Five Points, a diverse group of residents and their respective life changes when outsider Gus Leroy brings something new and potentially dangerous into their quiet town.
Our other correspondent also described an ordinary audition, and passed along some official production information, which reads in part:
MAIN STREET, a feature film starring Ellen Burstyn, Patricia Clarkson and Colin Firth, is a movie that will be filming in Durham, NC this Spring. Our casting office will be in Durham, NC the week of Feb 23-Feb 27. A large portion of the cast will be LOCAL HIRES.
Durham, arts, business, film Colin Firth, Ellen Burstyn, Horton Foote, Main Street, Patricia Clarkson, Thom Mount
David Fellerath ·
24 Feb 2009, 6:32 PM ·
Comment
After 19 years of leading men, women and children on bucolic, low-key trips on the Eno River and millpond, “Riverdave” Owen and his partner Riojosie announced on their Web site yesterday that the program, administered in conjunction with the Durham Parks and Recreation department, will cease operations.
The reason: a dispute over proposed changes in their contract with the city. The biggest disputes seem to be that the city will no longer allow them to stage their excursions from the old blacksmith shop and that the city is now requiring them to purchase liability insurance (according to Riverdave, his program had been covered under the city’s policy).
The announcement is here.
H/T to the N&O’s outdoors and fitness reporter Joe Miller, who is following the story.
Durham, Durham County, environment, sports Durham Parks and Recreation, liability insurance, Riojosie, Riverdave Owen, Wafting on the Eno
