Brooklyn Arts Center

Photographer Dana Layman, director of Wilmington Weddings, an association of local wedding vendors, said the event was a wonderful reward for the vendors after such a long, busy season.  “It’s just celebrating our accomplishments for this year and being able to have fun together and have our own party because we never get to do that.  We get to relax and have fun and just recap what the last year meant, and really just enjoy each other on an occasion outside of weddings—something that is for ourselves.”

With furnishings by Pomp Furnishing and Events, lighting by Illuminating Events, and floral designs by Blossom Bay Botanicals, the church was turned into a beautiful winter wonderland.  Art Catering and Events catered a delicious buffet, and after Absolute Best DJ warmed up the crowd, Wilmington’s own Port City Shakedown rocked the house as the vendors flooded the dance floor.

Wedding photographer Lori Unruh of Indigo Silver said the party felt particularly earned this year because the vendors accomplished such an amazing goal. “I feel like as wedding vendors, we hit our stride this year in finding our target market and attracting the type of clients we want to work with,” Unruh said, “and that’s something that’s taken us five or six years to do, so its really exciting to see us come together in what we’ve been striving toward this entire time.”

Wedding planner Jana Ingraham of Design a Dream Events designed and coordinated this blowout shebang. “Being able to coordinate our end-of-the-year party is a nice last hoorah for my 2015 business,” Ingraham said. “I love it. It’s one of those things where you get so busy and wrapped up in your everyday life, it kind of gives everybody the opportunity to come together talk about how their weddings were.”

The night was simply amazing—from the decorations to the food to the music to the sense of community spirit that filled the BAC.

Courtney Rogers, owner of The Vintage Idiot, which sells one-of-a-kind vintage clothing, cowboy boots, furniture, glassware, collectibles, and more, participated in the Holiday Flea for the second time running and said this is one of her favorite events of the year. “The venue is beautiful,” Rogers said.  “Everyone works well together. There are a lot of neat things, everybody is in a great mood, and you make a lot of friends.  Everybody has a very upbeat attitude.  It’s just a lot of fun.”

As always, this year’s Holiday Flea had something for everyone. Suzette and Jackie Hawley with Curiosity Collectors, participated for the first time. They sell vintage treasures through their Etsy shop year-round but Suzette said the Holiday Flea was a great way to meet the community face-to-face.  “This is such a perfect show for vintage and upcycled goods. It’s just such a cool show, especially for a new business.  It gets people to shop small and shop local.”

Alex Leavell, the ten-year-old son of incredible Wilmington sculptor Matthew Leavell, sold his artwork through his parents’ booth and was the Holiday Flea’s youngest vendor. Alex said he hopes to follow in his father’s footsteps, but his heart lies in painting. He painted some of his pieces on-site at the Holiday Flea.  “This has been my best show, and I always have my best shows at the BAC,” Alex said.

With a different food truck every day, including the legendary Catch the Food Truck on Saturday, the impossibly cute vintage trailer of So Sweet Chocolates, Lativa Coffee in the courtyard tent, and the BAC cash bar, there was sustenance aplenty for the 1,500-plus attendees who came to shop during the three-day-long event.

Sonorous began when Omar McCallop joined with Jeff Clark to create and promote a new show that would spotlight rising stars. McCallop, president and founder of Award Show Nation, hosts the Carolina Music Awards and the Georgia Music Awards. And Clark has been a regional concert promoter for the past decade. The two decided to use ReverbNation, what Clark calls the “Myspace/Facebook of musicians.”

  More than 2,300 artists submitted entries. Clark and McCallop went through them by genre and other categories, including how far away the band lived from Wilmington because introducing new artists to the Port City was of paramount importance. “What we tried to do is get people who are right on the cusp of making it,” Clark said. “For instance, JoceLien just signed with Universal Records, so this time next year, she’s going to be very well known. We’re getting her right before that happens, and it’s going to be a really good show.”

  Sonorous will happen in clubs, concert halls, and other hip locales around Wilmington: the BAC, Bourgie Nights, City Limits, Gravity Records, Bottega, Long Streets, Ortons, and Calico. It will feature almost 40 artists from around the country, including Dark Water Rising, Spaceship Days, and Wordsmith.

  The BAC will host JoceLien, Falling Through April, and Avenue of the Giants, three artists whose work has been on the rise. 

JoceLien

, recently signed by 5050 Music Group by way of Universal Records and winner of the 2013 Youth Artist of the Year Award, will kick off the performances on the BAC stage on Friday, November 7, with her pop/R&B sound.

The next band in Brooklyn will be 

Falling Through April

. Based out of Charlotte, Falling has plenty to say on their first independently produced, alternative rock album, 

Take Flight

. They’ve performed at the 2014 Warped Tour and live on TV at the Democratic National Convention, and they’ve topped the ReverbNation alternative chart.

  The headliner will be 

Avenue of the Giants

, named after the famous scenic route in California. AotG is a prolific powerhouse of rock throughout their home state of Georgia and will no doubt raise the roof playing their recently released debut album: 

Just Between Us

.

  Sonorous will offer Friday Passes, Saturday Passes, Weekend Passes, and VIP Passes. Entrance to any Sonorous event is by wristband only. Friday and Saturday wristbands are $25. Weekend wristbands are $35. VIP wristbands—with access to any Sonorous event plus VIP areas—are $75. Wristbands can be purchased at 

sonorousmusicfestival.com

. Click 

here

 for a schedule of events and more information about Sonorous. 

  Games were played to 11, and each round was the best of three, with a double elimination.  The players ranged in age from young kids to seniors to semi-pros, each group honing their own set of skills.  “WTTC is dedicated to creating a friendly and competitive environment for table tennis players of all levels,” the club’s Facebook page says, and the Throwdown proved it true. The tournament was split into two brackets: the A Division for competition-experienced players, and the B Division for the more casual players.  The top-three contenders of each division won a cash prize.    The smaller A Division finished-up their rounds first—at 10 p.m. Winning third place, from Raleigh, was Mike Babuin—the chairman of the USATT and operator of Triangle Table Tennis, a 30,000-square-foot competition and training facility located in the Research Triangle.  “It was a really great pleasure to get to know him,” said WTTC Club President Laurence Nadeau.  UNCW student Ryan Beckner advanced to compete in the final match against Gregg Robertshaw, a semi-pro from Cary, North Carolina.    The much anticipated final on table 5 did not disappoint the fans that packed the BAC.  The ball picked up speed with each slam and was a blur as it zipped back and forth over the net.  Robertshaw even yelled mid-point: “The ball’s flying!”  The match was close, but in the end Robertshaw’s experience and effortless technique was enough to beat the talented Beckner.   The B Division had many more players than the A Division, and most of these casual competitors came out to have some fun.  Participating in his first Throwdown, Venkat Dhulipala, an assistant professor of history at UNCW, won the third place title.  The final matchup pitted tennis-player-turned-table-tennis-player Matthew Martinez against another first-timer, Kha Truong.  The match ended around 11:30 p.m. with Martinez taking second place, and Truong landing the first place title for the B Division.   The Wilmington Table Tennis Club’s 4th Annual Port City Ping-Pong Throwdown at the BAC was—once again—an impressive event, an all-around success.  “It’s really a fun tournament,” Robertshaw posted to his Facebook, “unsanctioned, and I would recommend anybody to come play in the next event that Laurence will hold.   

Photos Courtesy JCWard Photography and Wilmington Table Tennis Club

  The 4th Port City Ping Pong Throwdown Video Recap

While Leon’s fans awaited the entrance of their living legend, seated at long tables facing the stage, they turned and reminisced with each other about past concerts or old records. Long-time listener Bal Martin and his wife, Kate, recalled listening to Leon’s vinyl back in the 1970s, and his wife joked, “I got him an album or two back then. I’m a good wife.”

  The concert was at full force as soon as Leon sat behind his white piano, head bowed, wearing his infamous all white outfit, sunglasses, and cowboy hat. He and his rocking band played plenty of his greatest hits: “Strangers in a Strange Land,” “Roll in My Sweet Baby’s Arms,” and “Out in the Woods.” Nature added lightening to the concert, making the lights all that much more powerful. Jess Kent and her boyfriend, Dave Foreman, winners of a local Facebook contest for free tickets, danced all night. “I sat back here,” Jess said with a laugh, “so that if I needed to, I could get up and boogie in the corner.”

  Concert promoter Mitch Warnecke (of Progressive Music Group) succinctly described what everyone felt that evening: “Leon always puts on a great show. He has a lot of experience doing it, obviously, and to be able to have a career like he’s had, to be his age and still come through and do performances in a small, intimate setting like this venue with seats, I think is a testament to him just being sincere and passionate about what he does. He’s not concerned with filling arenas. Sure, he’s played to tens of thousands of people, but for him to still be doing what he’s doing for his fans that are paying $40-$50 to come listen to him play says a lot about the man and the performer and the legend.”

  Based on the thunderous ovation Leon received at the end, it was clear that his fans were in full agreement.