Inbound and Outbound

After spinning award-winning narratives about circus fires and disease-stricken towns, novelist Stewart O'Nan returns to his native Pittsburgh in his new book.

• by Kathy Roberts Forde
• Tags: Arts Feature, Stewart O'Nan, Everyday People, novel, Pittsburgh

Make, Believe

"Is Seeing Believing?"'s photographers use their art to record an imaginative reality.

• by Kate Dobbs Ariail
• Tags: Arts Feature, surrealism, photography, North Carolina Museum of Art

Nowhere Men

Self-obsessed, white, middle-aged New Yorkers take the stage in "Side Man" and "The Monogamist."

• by V.C. Rogers
• Tags: Arts Feature, Side Man, The Monogamist, Christopher Kyle, Manbites Dog, Playmakers

Misfits in Mississippi

How the Coen brothers' episodic depiction of the Depression-era South echoes "The Odyssey"--and "Saturday Night Live."

• by Daniel Kraus
• Tags: Film Review, Coen Brothers, South, Depression

Bridging the gap

Why is there a 30 percent performance gap between white and black students in North Carolina?

• by Derek Jennings

Horse sense

• by Bob Geary

Adoption crisis

• by Jennifer Strom

Porch Quote

Back Talk

Letters to the Editor

Big Bad Love

Seven stories celebrate the sweet ache of love and heartbreak in the lives of musicians, DJs, club owners, collectors and more.

• by The Editors

A Cheap Violin

The journalistic sins of "The News & Observer."

• by John Yewell

How Many Licks

And you thought only Muzak had a strategy ... Area spinners share their secrets to "setting the mood."

• by John Martin
• Tags: MUSIC: Rock & Roll Quarterly, DJs, love, booty bass

In powwows

Living With Kids

• by Tonie Lilley

Unconventional Warrior

In a new book, army vet and Raleigh resident Stan Goff tells why he broke ranks during the invasion of Haiti.

• by Jon Elliston
• Tags: NEWS: Triangles, Stan Goff, Haiti, Hideous Dream

Ace of Clubs

The deck is stacked against the survival of live music venues in Raleigh.

• by Lynn Bryan Bannon
• Tags: MUSIC: Rock & Roll Quarterly, Lakeside Lounge, Boo's Hideaway, Cat's Cradle

McCollege Tour

In hikes

In music

There's a Tear in My Beer

Local stars share their views on the sweet pain of country music.

• by Bryson Strauss
• Tags: MUSIC: Rock & Roll Quarterly, country, Tift Merritt, Thad Cockrell, John Howie

In theater

"Have You Ever Written A Folk Song? I Have, I Have"

A look at folk musician/publishers "Sis" Cunningham and Gordon Friesen, whose "Broadside" magazine became the celebrated leftist musical voice of the 1960s.

• by Michael J. Kramer
• Tags: MUSIC: Rock & Roll Quarterly, Broadside Magazine, Sis Cunningham, Gordon Friesen

For Love, Not Money

Nnenna Freelon, Melissa Swingle, Margaret White and Ron Liberti--four musicians who are in it for the right reasons.

• by Gavin O'Hara
• Tags: MUSIC: Rock & Roll Quarterly, Nnenna Freelon, Melissa Swingle, Ron Liberti, Margaret White

Reading the Jukebox

Even if James Taylor's new biography dishes enough dirt to make mudpies, it still steers readers to a greater appreciation of his songs.

• by John Valentine
• Tags: MUSIC: Rock & Roll Quarterly, James Taylor, Louis Armstrong, Tape Op, The Hunger Bone

Volunteer Spotlight