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Each Thursday, WFAE checks in with a local arts and entertainment reporter about things to do in Charlotte during the upcoming weekend.

Come Together: FabFest Headlines Weekend Events In Charlotte

The FabFour has played FabFest before, as they show in posing in this 2019 photo.
The Fab Four
/
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The FabFour has played FabFest before, as they show in posing in this 2019 photo.

It’s Thursday, which means it’s time to see what’s up for the weekend. The Charlotte Art League is unveiling an exhibit that focuses on bubbles. The Jazz at Victoria Yards summer series continues, a musical opens on stage and there’s a weekendlong festival dedicated to a certain famous foursome. FabFest, Charlotte’s Beatles Festival that pays tribute to the iconic group, is back.

Joining WFAE's "All Things Considered" host Gwendolyn Glenn for this edition of Weekend In Entertainment is Jodie Valade, co-writer of WFAE’s arts and entertainment newsletter, Tapestry.

Gwendolyn Glenn: Hi, Jodie!

Jodie Valade: Hey, Gwen! How are you?

("Here Comes the Sun" plays)

Glenn: I am great. So, FabFest kicks off with a concert by The Fab Four. Tell us more about this Los Angeles-based group?

Valade: Sure, so, the Fab Four is a Beatles tribute band from out in California, as you said, and they’re supposed to be so good you’ll think you’re watching the real thing. They have been together for about 24 years and even won an Emmy award for a PBS special they did in 2013.

In their show here, they’ll have three costume changes so you can envision all the Beatles’ different eras and styles — and they’ll sing everything from early classics like “Can’t Buy Me Love” to “Hey Jude” and all their biggest hits between and after.

Glenn: What time and where will they play on Friday?

Valade: They will be at the Belk Theater at 8 p.m. Friday, with tickets ranging from $25-75.

Glenn: FabFest continues on Saturday, with more musical tributes to The Beatles. Who’s in the lineup?

Valade: Well, if you happen to miss The Fab Four on Friday night, don’t worry. There will be more than enough Beatles music for everyone in Charlotte this weekend. The Beatles celebration continues all Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Spirit Square, where they’ll have live music, kids activities, a cover song contest and memorabilia for sale.

And then the conclusion is another Beatles tribute band, the Tosco Music Beatles Tribute. This is the 16th year that Tosco Music will be presenting this Beatles tribute, and it usually sells out.

Glenn: When does everything start and same location?

Valade: The evening conclusion is Saturday at 7:30 p.m., and that’s also at Belk Theater.

This watercolor called "Just Bubbles? or Moldy Swiss Cheese?" is for sale at the Charlotte Art League's "Bubbles" exhibition.
Charlotte Art League
This watercolor called "Just Bubbles? or Moldy Swiss Cheese?" is for sale at the Charlotte Art League's "Bubbles" exhibition.

Glenn: Jodie, the Charlotte Arts League is opening a new art exhibit themed after bubbles. Bubbles?

Valade: This sounds really cool. The exhibit showcases artwork that all somehow represents bubbles and celebration. So, depending on the artist, that can mean a lot of things. I saw some examples online, and there are some close-up photos of rain drops, a painting of a woman enjoying a huge mug of beer, and a photo of a bubble bath made out of balloons.

Opening night will, of course, also stay with the bubbles theme — which means bubble entertainment by Soap Bubble Circus.

Glenn: What’s the time for the opening reception and where?

Valade: That is Friday from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Charlotte Art League.

(music by Jazziando plays)

Glenn:Jazz at Victoria Yards concert series in uptown is very popular this summer and it continues this weekend. That’s Jazziando in the background. Jodie, when will they be playing?

Valade: Well, the evening actually kicks off with the Ariel Pocock Trio. And Ariel Pocock is a pianist, a singer and composer who has lived near Durham for several years, now. Just from reading her bio, I would say she is very accomplished — she was an adjunct piano lecturer at UNC Greensboro’s Miles Davis Jazz Studies program, and now this year she’s actually started a pre-med program with hopes of going to med school in the next three years. She plans to continue writing and recording original music during her medical career.

The headliner of the night, though, is Jazziando, which is a quintet that performs Latin Jazz with Brazilian infused rhythms. JazzArts Charlotte, which is putting on this jazz series at Victoria Yards this summer, says you can get on the dance floor with their music and "move to the mambos."

Glenn: What time does all the music start?

Valade: This is one is also Friday from 6 to 9 p.m.

Glenn: And, the JazzArts Youth All-Stars will also be performing, food trucks will be on site, drinks for sale and you are encouraged to bring your own chair. Moving on to the theater. Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” musical is opening in Charlotte this weekend.

(music from "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" plays)

Glenn: That’s from the touring production that starred Donny Osmond from 1992 – 1998. Jodie, tell us about the play and this weekend’s local production opening.

Valade: I actually saw this play in Chicago with Donny Osmond a billion years ago and it’s so fun. It’s a musical that tells the Biblical story of Joseph, his father Jacob, his 11 brothers and his special coat of many colors. There are so many classic and catchy songs in this play, and Central Piedmont Community College is performing it for its Summer Theatre event.

Glenn: When and where?

Valade: That opens Friday at CPCC’s Halton Theater, and the play goes until July 25.

Glenn: And other events this weekend, the new play "House Full Of Secrets" will be at the Stage Door Theater at the Blumenthal Performing Arts Center, Saturday at 7. The Festival of Food Trucks returns to Main and Broad streets in Mooresville on Saturday from 5 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. with live entertainment. Music At The Met Live acoustic series is back tonight with the Thirsty Horses cover band at 6 p.m. and the Shelley Ruffin Band will be performing at Mint Hill ‘s Veterans Park on Saturday at 6:30.

Jodie, thanks for joining us for Weekend In Entertainment!

Valade: Thanks so much for having me, Gwen.

Glenn: Jodie Valade is a co-writer for WFAE’s arts and entertainment newsletter, Tapestry.

WFAE's weekly arts and entertainment email newsletter, Tapestry, will keep you in the loop on arts and culture in the Charlotte region.

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Gwendolyn is an award-winning journalist who has covered a broad range of stories on the local and national levels. Her experience includes producing on-air reports for National Public Radio and she worked full-time as a producer for NPR’s All Things Considered news program for five years. She worked for several years as an on-air contract reporter for CNN in Atlanta and worked in print as a reporter for the Baltimore Sun Media Group, The Washington Post and covered Congress and various federal agencies for the Daily Environment Report and Real Estate Finance Today. Glenn has won awards for her reports from the Maryland-DC-Delaware Press Association, SNA and the first-place radio award from the National Association of Black Journalists.
Jodie Valade has been a Digital News and Engagement Editor for WFAE since 2019. Since moving to Charlotte in 2015, she has worked as a digital content producer for NASCAR.com and a freelance writer for publications ranging from Charlotte magazine to The Athletic to The Washington Post and New York Times. Before that, Jodie was an award-winning sports features and enterprise reporter at The Plain Dealer in Cleveland, Ohio. She also worked at The Dallas Morning News covering the Dallas Mavericks — where she became Mark Cuban's lifelong email pen pal — and at The Kansas City Star. She has a Bachelor of Science in Journalism from Northwestern University and a Master of Education from John Carroll University. She is originally from Rochester Hills, Michigan.