Durham Performing Arts Center

We are very fortunate in Durham, NC to have the world-class DPAC that opened here in the Bull City November 30, 2008. Last year I wrote a blog which stated that in 2010 DPAC reached the top-10 list (number 9) of most attended performance venues in the United States. I wrote that with the schedule that we had for 2011, I was sure that ranking would rise for the upcoming year.

DPAC announced earlier this month that, in fact, the ranking did rise to number 4 in the U.S. for the 2011 attendance statistics accoring to Pollstar, a concert industry magazine. Last year, the most popular performances included "The Lion King" and "Radio City Christmas Spectacular." There were 68 sellout performances for the year.

This year the list of performers are both stellar and diverse: musicians Aretha Franklin, Diana Krall, Lyle Lovett and John Hiatt, The Moody Blues, and Elvis Costello will be gracing the stage; comedians Steve Harvey and Lewis Black will be yukking it up; and the plays "Wicked" and "West Side Story" will all be adding drama to the stage this year. The rest of the shows for the upcoming year can be found on their website.

Here is to a very successful 2012, DPAC! Y'all come and see a show, ya' hear.