Starfucker's "German Love"

Josh Hodges on sexual taboos, hating laptops and his band's name

• by Chris Parker
• Tags: Song of the Week, Audio

C'mon, Del, give us something to care about

It's not that anyone is doubting Del's ability to out-rap nearly every other emcee in hip-hop. Trouble is, Del's a little too high and lonely on his own top-five list.

• by Eric Tullis

How Chris "Crispy" Bess gets his sound

Bess is known for his versatility between keyboards, guitar and whatever percussion gear he can find; "short, little sausage fingers"; arranging; frugality.

• by Grayson Currin

The guide to the week's concerts

Slim's 10th anniversary, Robert Sledge and the Flashlight Assembly, Manchester Orchestra, Mogwai, The Kills, The Horrors, Gliss, The Takeover UK, Kings of Leon, The Walkmen, more

Surveying both ends of the Mammoth Records catalog

Next weekend, the label's old employees and a sample of its sizable roster gather to celebrate the label's legacy.

• by Rick Cornell

Existential variations in Life X 3

Yasmina Reza's play puts two couples in a living room with a lot of alcohol and watches them go at each other, and then repeats the scene, with differences, twice.

• by Adam Sobsey

An all-star local musical makes its TV debut

Good Ol' Girls is a musical based on the works of North Carolina writers Lee Smith and Jill McCorkle, with songs by Matraca Berg and Marshall Chapman.

• by Danny Hooley

The Monti revives the lost art of oral storytelling

A showcase for raconteurs, The Monti StorySlam brings personal narratives and old-fashioned storytelling to a live audience.

• by Jessica Fuller

Spelling secrets in Eleemosynary

Lee Blessing's pensive, nuanced play probes the uncanny nature of charity—and its unintended consequences—while examining the troubled mother-daughter relationships of three generations in the Wesbrook family.

• by Byron Woods

That Ryan Adams has a poetry book says a lot about us ... and too much about him

If only Adams had found Twitter before March 2009.

• by Grayson Currin

Brush with stardom in Jimmy Dean

Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean takes place in a tiny West Texas town just before and during the reunion of the "Disciples of James Dean" on the 20th anniversary of his death.

• by Kate Dobbs Ariail

Restoring legacies

New openings: Busy Bee Cafe, Artichoke Basil Pizza, ShabaShabu; plus Carolina Garden Co-op Grow-Down, Piedmont Farm Tour

• by Victoria Bouloubasis

Film times and brief film reviews

Opening this week: Earth, Everlasting Moments, Fighting, The Informers, Obsessed, The Soloist, Tokyo!

Public input sought on New Hill project

Citizens have less than one week to comment on a draft Environmental Impact Statement on a controversial wastewater treatment plant proposed for New Hill, a primarily African-American community in unincorporated western Wake County.

• by Matt Saldaña

Builders of Hope recycles houses, creates green jobs and provides affordable homes

It wasn't only the spike in Raleigh teardowns, though the sight of perfectly habitable homes being reduced to rubble helped Nancy Murray settle on a strategy. She already was on a mission to learn all she could about affordable housing and how to build it.

• by Bob Geary

New revelations about Three Mile Island disaster raise doubts over nuclear plant safety

Randall Thompson's version of what happened at Three Mile Island, supported by a growing body of other scientific evidence, contradicts the official U.S. government story that the accident posed no threat to the public.

• by Sue Sturgis

Raleigh restaurant Evoo possibly tied to food-borne illness

Wake County health officials are trying to trace the source of more than eight possible cases of food-borne illness reported April 17, which may be connected to Evoo, a Mediterranean restaurant in Raleigh's Five Points.

• by Jennifer Strom

Mountaintop removal bill among enviro legislation being debated

Plus: Extending renewable energy and energy efficiency improvements; Addressing how to prepare the N.C. coast for a possible rise in sea levels; more

• by Lisa Sorg

Waste and cost raise doubts about nuclear power

Beyond the valid safety arguments, there are other concerns about the nuclear solution: the exorbitant cost to build the plants, their financial risk, and the absence of a place to dispose of tons of dangerous radioactive waste.

• by Gerry Canavan

All earth, all the time

Weather, seasons, daylight, nighttime, frosts. I mean, think about it.

• by John Valentine

Driving Clean & Green

More than two dozen cars, trucks, buses and utility vehicles displayed the latest in green automotive technology at the Driving Clean & Green event.

• by Kelly Behling

I survived Three Mile Island

On Wednesday, March 28, 1979, I was in ninth grade at Susquehanna Township High School, nine miles directly north of Three Mile Island.

• by JP Trostle

Pitching ace David Price

Re: Anita Keith-Foust; Churches need limits; Bunny season; Critiquing the critic

So many have benefited from the energy and generosity that Keith-Foust shares with us.

Franklin Street Wall

• by V.C. Rogers

Defining the line between free speech and hate speech

The rowdy protest at UNC is not the Carolina way.

• by Daniel H. Pollitt

April 22 crossword solution

April 22 sudoku solution

Together at Last

• by Ben Tausig

Wizard of Oz

We are giving away (1) family four pack of tickets for opening night of Broadway Series South's Wizard of Oz!

Carolina Rollergirls

Win TIX to the Carolina Rollergirls' next bout!

Wednesday 4.22

Ben Folds, Girl Talk; more

Thursday 4.23

The Apology of Socrates; more

Friday 4.24

Lord of the Dance; more

Saturday 4.25

George Jones; more

Sunday 4.26

The Spinns, Dirty Little Heaters, Pinche Gringo

Monday 4.27

Dinosaur Jr.

Tuesday 4.28

Bending Space: Georges Rousse and the Durham Project

Wednesday 4.29

Amon Amarth, Goatwhore