by Tracy Davis photographs by Nick Pironio Perhaps you’ve heard the joke about how bands are actually in the T-shirt business? It’s typically told by the musicians themselves – talented ones – and they’re only half-joking. Merchandise – “merch,” in…
by Liza Roberts photographs by Nick Pironio “I like to work in small spaces,” says the artist James Marshall, as he shows a visitor into his North Raleigh garage. At first it’s not clear where that space is, because a shining…
1,600 people + 31 states + 3 countries + 1 city +1 record = 1 Raleigh weekend by Tracy Davis photograph by Joshua Black Wilkins Roots-rock band American Aquarium loves its Raleigh hometown, but the band is forever leaving it behind,…
by J. Andrew Curliss photographs by Patrick Davison Chuck Stuber is standing halfway up Mount Fuji at a place where climbers begin their slogging treks to the summit of Japan’s tallest mountain. There is a pay toilet here and a…
by Karen Lewis Taylor There’s no such thing as a casual conversation with David Rigsbee. His affinity for the complexities of human experience pushes against the limits of the everyday exchange. He speaks with an intensity that’s deepened by adept…
by Billy Warden photographs by Travis Long “Is dad having an affair?” The teenager, finding her father absent on yet another weekday evening, plaintively put this question to her mom. And, yes. The father in question, Adam Cohen, was and…
by Andrew Kenney photographs by Geoff Wood Raleigh skateboard pro Connor Champion, like most skaters, is an urban cartographer. He knows the lines that connect downtown’s slopes and edges maybe as well as anyone. He’ll show me, he says. As…
by Liza Roberts photograph by Robert Willett After his workday, in a study filled with memor- arablia from a 28-year career in the U.S. Army, N.C. Secretary of Transportation Tony Tata writes thriller novels. He writes about special forces officers, combat missions,…
by Ann Brooke Raynal photographs by Eve Kakassy Hobgood “Sundays too my father got up early and put his clothes on in the blue-black cold then with cracked hands that ached from labor in the weekday weather made banked fires blaze. No…
by Liza Roberts photographs by Tierney Farrell If anyone’s memoir could be accurately called Growing up with Raleigh, it would be Smedes York’s. His life and work – in business and in public service – have spanned, and often spurred,…
by Amber Nimocks photographs by Juli Leonard Bold, staring orbs, fractured picture frames, and bright geometric elements give the sculptural paintings of Raleigh’s own Lope Max Diaz a visceral presence. Through his signature use of shape and color, Diaz can…
by Corbie Hill photographs by Lissa Gotwals Violins are made to be repaired. Their tops aren’t flush to their sides, like a guitar’s. Instead, those tops are designed to be removed, so violins can be tended to over multi-hundred-year lifespans….
by Jessie Ammons Paul Leonard has always been an intentional observer. “When I have experiences and they move me, I write about it,” he says. “I don’t necessarily journal every day, but when I see something that means something to me,…
photographs by Geoff Wood We all have one. Another side to the one most folks know. For some, it’s a small thing: A hobby, interest, or minor talent. For others, it’s a big part – if not the main part…