Perhaps If You're in the Area and Have Time

I must profess that I envy not only people in the Washignton, DC, metro area, which is relatively close to my zip code, but folks in the Triangle (Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, NC) area. There seems to be an unholy amount of things to do there and each of those three zip codes in themsevles has more happening than most places in North Carolina, with some major exceptions.

On Wednesday night at the Regulator Bookstore in Durham, author Gary Shyteyngart, who is still not quite 40 (I am two years older than him, and I just turned 41 recently), will speak at 7:00 p.m. Amazingly enough, I forgot to put the author of the awesome novel "Absurdistan" on the long, difficult names list we posted last week. But, hopefully, I will remember Gary, who was born in Russia but now lives somewhere in America (I think it's San Francisco), when I hope to post a similar list later this month.

That same night in Chapel Hill, the Nashville, Tenn-band Same As It Ever Was, which is a group that covers Talking Heads songs (the original band from the late '70s and '80s is pictured here), will perform at 9:00 p.m. at Local 506. I wonder if they will sing "Television Man," an obscure, but awesome song from "Little Creatures," one of my favorite Talking Heads records.

And, lastly, on Saturday, May 7, which is Free Comic Book Day, Chapel Hill Comics, which is in (you guessed it!) Chapel Hill, will offer free sketch drawings from Thomas Boatwright, a comic book artist based in North Carolina, who is known for his comic book series "Cemetery Blues." Boatwright will be at Chapel Hill Comics from 11 a.m.-4 p.m.

There are actually even more things going on in that area than we can list here. If you live or are a new resident of that area, I strongly recommend picking up a copy of the alternative newspaper "Independent Weekly" so you will be hip to what's going on in the Triangle area.