Saturday 11.14 

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• Matt Duquette's "New Day"

Durham
Matt Duquette's Prepare for Landing

Room 100, Golden Belt Arts—Painter, illustrator and graphic/ Web designer Matt Duquette is an interdisciplinary type of guy. So it's no surprise that this show of recent paintings and drawings personifies the multitude of influences in his background. Much of his painterly narrative and visual drama has direct roots in his punk and hardcore musical background and a direct correlation to the music's spontaneity and emotional frankness.

Much like the music's edginess, his images also are preoccupied with situations at the outer limits of human control. For example, there's the goggle-wearing, wild-haired figure with clenched teeth and fists, squeezed into a small cardboard box in flight as he braces for a collision. Or the same dude, with massive wrench in hand, assuming a skateboarder's stance while perched high upon the top arch of a steel city bridge, as if rocketing along its circumference.

Duquette's small yet active brushstrokes and mellifluous washes convey a lively sense of anticipation, even in his seated or lying figures. Throughout the show a sense of memory pervades, as if we are glimpsing the artist working through some of his (and his friends') old demons. Yet Duquette has managed to adroitly capture that most elusive aspect of conveying such snippets from one's past—his images remain in and of the moment. Duquette's show is open 10 a.m.-7 p.m. and closes tomorrow; visit www.goldenbeltarts.com. —Dave Delcambre

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• Princess and the Criminals

Durham
Princess and the Criminals

The Pinhook—On Politically Acceptable Timeless Classics, the Greenville, N.C., outfit Princess and the Criminals scratch out rapid chords as drums bash, cymbals crash and bass lines thump. Lead singer Tiff Tantrum spits out her lyrics with a damn-the-torpedoes attitude, tackling topics from organized religion to gingivitis. Stressing the upbeat builds a satisfying tension, the band prescribing tight pills of punk to strip away a general malaise. Beforehand, Blood Red River pounds out surf rock that twists and turns through the jungle, and Bobby's Fever opens with rough pop punk. Also of note for the evening: burlesque dancers. Pay $5 at 10 p.m. and see www.thepinhook.com. —Andrew Ritchey