Alice Gerrard launched a new Web site today to help raise money for her new solo record.

Wrecking Ball
by Molly Miller and Molly McGinn
Amelia’s Mechanics

Old soul with a wrecking ball
tied to her ankle jumps down a hole
no kite. No kite.

Queen of Hearts sprints up a hill
only to stop and then stand still
no kite. No kite.

Stares down the hole and sprints again
bleeding from a bullet in her left shin
no kite. No kite.

‘Cane’s coming in.
Hurricane’s coming in.
‘Canes coming in.
Shiver and shine.

I see houses I see trees
like legos far beneath me
no kite. No kite.

I see water in a ring
a well is such a mighty thing
no kite. No kite.

And I want out.
Out.
And I want out.
Out.
Shive and shine.

She took the chain link into her hands
and pinched ankle steel to string
no kite. No kite.

She took the wreck she took the king
took the ball and through bending
took flight. Took flight.

Superjacent to
big tin foil balloon
Superjacent to
big tin foil balloon
Shiver and shine.

Rosalyn Harris-Offutt. Photo by Alex Maness Photography. I’m working on a blogsite for her. It’s hard to describe just how much Ros has helped me in the last 5 years. I can say, though, that part of my fascination with her is her history. She’s part Cherokee and African-American. Born in Flint, Michigan to a Baptist minister and rebelled straight to the Catholic church at 16 (upon hearing the news, her father responded “all roads lead to God”). She spent her early career as an anesthesiologist, nurse, and now, is a counselor, writer, and psychotherapist in Greensboro. She’s told me some truths that shocked me into awareness. She sometimes cusses (when she’s trying to get your attention), she smokes in her office, and often speaks in rhetorical questions.

Thank you Ros.

Hopefully you were there, but if not, you can get a feel for the show on the .matrix project Web site.

Her name is Polly Frye. In this photo, she is sitting in her house on Hubbard St., in the village of White Oak.

It is the house she grew up in.

She is sitting in her father’s old chair.

Her mother, Vassie Pearman Harris, grew up in the mill village, and worked in the spool room of White Oak for thirty-two years.

Her father, John Harris, worked in the card room at White Oak for fifty years. He started there at age nine.

Polly has been married for 55 years to James Frye. He grew up in Revolution mill village.

- Lisa Scheer

I think Polly knows a thing or two about getting through tough times.

Polly, and others just like her in the area’s mill villages, will be featured in a series of portraits by local photographer Lisa Scheer. The special documentary photograph exhibit, “Mill Village Project,” is part of a multi-collaborative event for ArtBeat Greensboro.

The event, called Piece Work, is a free, two-day performance that weaves together music, literature, visual arts, and theater to capture the region’s historical and emotional connection to the textile industry.

The event is also a premier performance of the play Piece Work by Touring Theatre Ensemble of North Carolina. Adapted for stage by the 2008 O’Henry award winner Brenda Schleunes, the play is inspired by a collection of poems written by Asheboro writer Barbara Presnell.

Scheer’s exhibit also shares space with a special public history project with UNCG. History graduate students are working to gather memories of mill village residents and recording them on 6-by-7-foot map of the area’s mill villages. Students are working with Benjamin Filene, director of UNCG’s public history program. The map will be on display for the event.

This free performance is planned for May 1 and 2 at Greensboro Historical Museum in celebration of ArtBeat Greensboro.

Scooter and Laurelyn Dossett representing Greensboro in Memphis among the country’s best folk songwriters and singers.

Jack White and Meg White, the rock duo better known as the White Stripes, will perform for next Friday’s broadcast of NBC’s “Late Night With Conan O’Brien,” the band’s publicist said in an e-mail message. The band has appeared together infrequently since its 2007 album “Icky Thump.” The show is Mr. O’Brien’s final episode as host of “Late Night” before Jimmy Fallon, the former “Saturday Night Live” star, takes over on March 2; Mr. O’Brien becomes host of NBC’s “Tonight Show” on June 1. … U2 will be the musical guest for a full week on CBS’s “Late Show With David Letterman,” from March 2 through 6, The Associated Press reported. The band’s new album, “No Line on the Horizon,” will be released on March 3.

New York Times