Gladys Knight and the O'Jays Coming to DPAC

Come to DPAC, Durham Performing Arts Center, to experience what happens when the "Midnight Train" and the "Love Train" meet for one incredible night of music.

Legendary performers Gladys Knight and The O’Jays will heat up the Cool Summer Nights at DPAC series when the Family Reunion Tour arrives on June 30. This show is presented in partnership with The DOME Group, Inc.

Tickets go on sale Friday, April 12 at 10am:
• Online at DPACnc.com
• DPAC Ticket Center: 919.680.2787, 123 Vivian Street, Durham, NC
• Ticketmaster.com / Ticketmaster Charge by phone at 800.745.3000

Friends of DPAC members may place their orders on April 10. Joining Friends of DPAC is free, and you can register here.

"The incomparable Gladys Knight sharing the DPAC stage with The O'Jays will make an unforgettable night for concert-goers," said Sulaiman Mausi of The DOME Group, Inc. "I truly believe that this show will be one for the books."

The great ones endure, and  Gladys Knight and The O'Jays have long been two of the greatest.  The labels of 'icon' and 'legend' are often overused, but no truer  words have been spoken about these two performers. Both are Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductees, multiple Grammy® nominees and staunch humanitarians.

"Gladys Knight joins a growing list of legends who have starred on the stage at DPAC. With the addition of The O’Jays, this concert promises to be the ultimate R&B event of the summer. DPAC was built to present these intimate evenings with your favorite all-time artists. Escape from the heat, and enjoy a night of timeless music," said Emily McLoughlin, Marketing Director for DPAC.

Eight-time Grammy® winner Gladys Knight has enjoyed #1 hits in pop, R&B and Adult Contemporary including her mega-hits “Midnight Train to Georgia” and "Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye)."  She has triumphed in film, television and live performance.  Following her successful run competing on Dancing With the Stars, Knight found herself again on stage with the currently syndicated sitcom, The First Family, where she plays the mother of President William Johnson. Coming fall 2013, Knight will lend her musical expertise to Centric’s original series Apollo Live.

The O'Jays--Eddie Levert, Sr., Walter Williams, Sr. and Eric Nolan Grant--have amassed 24 Top Ten smashes and 59 total charted songs and 50-plus years making such international hits as "Back Stabbers", "For The Love Of Money",  "Love Train", "I Love Music" and "Use Ta Be My Girl." The O'Jays, who last performed at DPAC on January 15, 2012, are light years away from easing up on the gas. Like fine wine, The O'Jays just get better with time.

For more information on where great things happen, click here.

Downtown Durham, Inc. Launches “Find Your Cool” Summer Concert Series At CCB Plaza on May 9

Durham fans won't need to search hard to find the cool in Durham this summer.

Downtown Durham Inc. will launch its free “Find Your Cool” Summer Concert Series at CCB Plaza, Thursday, May 9, 7 p.m.  From soul to salsa, African to Americana, “the plaza with the bronze bull” will be bustling with local bands, locally-brewed beer from Bull City Burger and Brewery and people of all ages, ready to start the weekend a day early.

Twenty years ago, when Downtown Durham Inc. was a young organization, formed to serve as a catalyst for downtown revitalization, an after-work concert series was one of its first projects to revive the city center.  Today, Durham is “America’s #1 Creative Class Metro” according to The Atlantic. “Downtown Durham is thriving with new restaurants, bakeries, shops and venues opening every month. I’m thrilled DDI is bringing back a regular music series, and honored, as a long-time Durham resident and fan, to be a part of it all” says Downtown Durham Inc. Special Events Coordinator and series organizer Tess Mangum Ocaña.

“Find Your Cool” Summer Concert Series

Thursday Nights, 7-8:30pm, CCB Plaza

Jo Gore & The Alternative (Soul) – May 9

Onyx Club Boys (Gypsy Jazz) – May 16

Sarah Shook & The Devil (Rockabilly) – May 23

Virgins Family Band (Pop) – May 30

The Pinkerton Raid (Pop/Americana) – June 6

Mel Melton & the Wicked Mojos (Blues) – June 13

Dark Water Rising (Rock) – June 20

Orquesta GarDel (Salsa) – June 27

Cyril Lance Collective Arkestra (Blues) - July 11

Jonathan Byrd (Americana) – July 18

Birds & Arrows (Alternafolk) – July 25

The Fair and the Four (Americana) – August 1

Khalat Africa featuring Diali Cissokho (West African) – August 8

The “Find Your Cool” Summer Concert Series is made possible in part by Downtown Durham, Inc., Friends of World Music, MHAworks Architecture, the City of Durham and Bull City Burger and Brewery. Concerts are at CCB plaza, 201 N. Corcoran Street, between the Marriott and SunTrust building, from May 9-August 8, with the exception of July 4.  Free on-street parking is available within the City Center District and paid parking is available at the Corcoran Street deck.

In case of rain, concerts will be moved indoors, right around the corner, at The Pinhook, 117 W Main Street.  For more information, ways to volunteer during the series, or information on tax-deductible sponsorship opportunities, contact Tess Mangum Ocaña, Special Events Coordinator, (919) 682-2800 or email.

Durham always has exciting things to do.  See them all on the Durham Event Calendar.

Getting Loud in Durham

Durham is home to a long history of taking hold of opportunities and squeezing greatness from them. Just look at the tobacco, textile, health care, and biotech industries for examples. Coming on strong in the last decade have been creative industries like culinary arts, design, advertising, and more recently, the music industry.

Already home to Merge Records and ReverbNation, Durham has welcomed two live music venues in the last half of 2010. Both Casbah and Motorco Music Hall have hit the scene as stops on the independent music circuit that are garnering serious attention and praise from touring artists and local bands alike.

With the Grammy Awards coming up on February 13, Durham has four opportunities to show the music world it’s serious about being a community where great music happens.

Arcade Fire, a Merge Records band, has been nominated for three Grammy awards including Album of the Year for its album “The Suburbs.” Signed onto Merge Records in 2001, Arcade Fire was previously nominated for its 2007 album “Neon Bible” but a win on February 13 will be the first for the group and for Merge Records, a Durham based company which is emerging as a hard hitting independent record label.

In addition to Merge Records' success, Durham’s own, Carolina Chocolate Drops, are up for an award in the Best Traditional Folk Album category for their major-label debut “Genuine Negro Jig.” Formed in 2005, the Carolina Chocolate Drops are a string band who expose more listeners to traditional string music. Their style, described by Rolling Stone Magazine as “dirt-floor-dance electricity,” will be on tour through the United States starting in New York, New York in February.

Durham has been moving to the music ever since it “birthed the Piedmont Blues” and with such talented record labels, music groups, and live music venues, Durham will continue to move forward as a leader in the industry.