Sunny music for a rainy day

Since it's raining today, I thought I'd give you a little Kingsbury Manx to lift your spirits. "Ascenseur Ouvert!" is the group's first album in four years, and I was immediately hooked. And though I referred to it as "sunny" music in my headline, the music on this CD can be a little gloomy too. I first listened to it in the car driving between New Bern an Kinston. If you've ever driven out that way, you know what a desolate stretch of road that is. The day was somewhat warm and mostly sunny, with wispy clouds occasionally casting shadows as I drove. That's really the best metaphor I can think of for "Ascenseur Ouvert!" While it's mostly sunny and warm, a little darkness keeps creeping in. "Shoulder Stories," by Kingsbury Manx 

Music news round up

Here's what's happening on other local music blogs.

The Old Ceremony release a video for their new CD. (Triangle Music)

Jandek's guitar-strap-fumbling is a metaphor for his career. (Scan)


Superchunk to celebrate tax day at the Cradle. (Triangle Music)


Schoolkids still sells music, and still has bands play in-store. (New Raleigh)

Whatever Brains scores a distribution deal with Matador. (Scan)

The Avett Brothers apparently really like Bruce Springsteen. (On the Beat)


Are U2 finally coming back for more Bullock's Barbecue? (music.my.nc.com)

Strange Faces seeking help getting to SXSW

From Ryan:

I really don't like sending out mass emails, and I hate to bother everybody with this, but my band Strange Faces has been entered into a competition to earn a spot performing at South By Southwest in Austin, TX this year. For those of you that don't know what it is, it's a huge musical festival where bands from all over the world play in front of thousands of music industry reps. I am asking for your help in getting us in this slot for us to play this year. All you have to do is click on the link below, and then when the page loads, click the vote button below Strange Faces. That's it. It will take 20 seconds of your time and you can help us out tremendously. If you want to help further, you could forward this email to everyone you know and ask them to vote too. We would all really appreciate it very much. Thank you all for taking the time to read this email and support the band. I hope to see you all soon.

-Ryan

To Vote:

http://www.platform-1.com/campus_corner.php

click vote below the strange faces logo.




Also, the strange faces website is Strangefaces.com or at myspace.com/strangefacestheband

This week's cool shows: Valient Thorr and Caltrop!

THIS WEEK'S SHOWS Thursday, Feb. 26: Raised by Wolves with Animal, Tir na Nog Thursday, Feb. 26: Western Civ CD-release party with Mitch Easter and Embarrassing Fruits, Local 506 Western Civ's new CD was produced by the legendary Mitch Easter, and his influence can be heard all over their new tracks, so it's fitting that he is playing their release party. But it is a little strange to see him opening for a much lesser-known band. Friday, Feb. 27: Harvey Milk with Black Skies and Pontiak, Local 506 True story: For the longest time I had no idea that Harvey Milk was an actual person. I just thought it was the name of a band. Now that I know a little something about the man, maybe I'll check out the movie before hitting up this show. Black Skies are the heaviest band in Chapel Hill, and one of the heaviest in the Triangle. Virginia's Pontiak were angry, bluesy and swampy last time I heard them. I've yet to check out their new CD. Friday, Feb. 27: Pomegranates with Polynya and Corey Hart, Nightlight Pomegranates are cute, infectious pop from Cincinnati. Polynya is cute, infectious pop from Chapel Hill. Corey Hart is not the Sunglasses at Night guy. Friday, Feb. 27: Old Habits with Shotgun Romance, Pour House Both these bands are bluegrass, though Shotgun Romance is a bit more on the traditional side. Saturday, Feb. 28: North Elementary CD-release party with The Whalewatchers, Sir Arthur & the Royal Knights and The Popular Kids, Pour House I'm seriously wondering how many CD-relase parties North Elementary is going to have. Not that I'm complaining; they keep having good bands back them up at each of their shows. This one features Nuggets-era rockers Sir Arthur & the Royal Knights and Raleigh comedy troupe the Popular Kids, which acutally features Arthur & Trent from Sir Arthur. The Whalewatchers are similar to North Elementary in that they play some seriously edgy, slightly sloppy pop. Sunday, March 1: Des Ark with Yardwork, Nightlight From Triangle Rock via the Nightlight site: Show of the month. des_ark you know about, although if you haven't seen them lately, you might *not* know that they're a monster three-piece, featuring Durham drummer Evan Rowe (Maple Stave, Grappling Hook) and Greensboro guitarist Noah Howard (Strunken White, TigerBearWolf) in addition to Aimee Argote. Yardwork are from Charlotte; they're an 8-piece (or so) band of freaks who put out my favorite release of 2008. Multiple drummers, glorious chiming guitars, glockenspiel, banjo, anything else they can find lying around, and everyone in the band singing at the top of their lungs. Their show at BCHQ was phenomenal. SHOW OF THE WEEK Sunday, March 1: Valient Thorr with Caltrop, Tir na Nog Valient Thorr totally stole the show at Raleigh Undercover with their version of Funkadelic -- featuring Caltrop bass player Murat Dirlik on background vocals. They also packed the place way beyond what I thought it could ever hold, so be prepared to squeeze your way through if need to go to the bathroom or, more importantly, the bar. Caltrop rarely plays in Raleigh, so this is an extra treat. NEXT WEEK'S SHOWS Thursday, March 5: The T's with Static Minds, Tir na Nog Friday, March 6: The Loners, Tir na Nog CD-release party Friday, March 6: Night Prowler with Judas Rising, Lincoln Theatre Friday, March 6: Strange Faces, The Pour House Friday, March 6: Thad Cockrell with Caitlin Cary, Pour House Old friends and collaborators Caitlin and Thad have been busier with other projects in the past couple of years, so it's good to see them back together again. Saturday, March 7: Hank Sinatra, Slim's Saturday, March 7: Bain Fundraising Concert, 313 Martin St., Raleigh THE LINEUP THUS FAR (subject to change): 12:00-Razor Wire Safety Net 1:00-Tomas Phillips 2:00-Subscape Annex 3:00-Craig Hilton 4:00-Benito Crawford there will be a 1 hour break from 5-6 6:00-MG3+One 7:00-The Tender Fruit 8:00-Old Bricks 9:00-Ivan Rosebud 10:00-Mount Weather Dj FTB to provide interlude music throughout the night. Space provided and concert sponsored by Clearscapes. Saturday, March 7: Curtains of Night, Reservoir Saturday, March 7: Nathan Oliver with Schooner and The Proclivities, Local 506 Saturay, March 7: Cool John Ferguson and the Swingin' Johnsons, The Pour House Saturay, March 7: The Virgo 9 with The Wigg Report and Blood Red River The Pinhook Saturday, March 7: Nathan Oliver, with Schooner and The Proclivities, Local 506 Sunday, March 8: Future Islands with Lonnie Walker, Nightlight Sunday, March 8: Hymns with Death on Two Wheels and The Bridges, Slim's Sunday, March 8: Future Islands Nightlight UPCOMING IN GENERAL Wednesday, March 11: Red Fang with Early Man, The Pour House Thursday, March 12: Vetiver, Cat's Cradle San Francisco freak-folkies with roots in Greensboro's early '90s pop-genius group Raymond Brake. Thursday, March 12: Lonnie Walker with Lake Inferior, Tir na Nog Friday, March 13: Colossus, Reservoir Friday, March 13: In the Year of the Pig, Nightlight There will also be an early event from 6-9 p.m.: NL Collective Art Show- check out North Carolina artists during Chapel Thrill's Second Friday Art Walk 6PM-9PM walk, bike, booze around Friday, March 13: Hellrazor, Dive Bar Friday, March 13: Whatever Brains, Slim's Friday, March 13: American Aquarium, Lincoln Theatre Friday, March 13: Olympic Ass-Kicking Team with Chip Robinson & the Heavy Beat Outfit, The Pour House Saturday, March 14: The Proclivities with The Moderate, Pour House Saturday, March 14: Automag, The Brewery Saturay, March 14: Maple Stave with Tiger Bear Wolf and Actual Persons Living or Dead The Pinhook

Scott Avett featured in new East magazine

Thought I'd pass this along, since I'm sure your average Avett Brothers fan doesn't normally get the ECU alumni magazine.

Testing out Vimeo

And mostly, I like it. But if I want to embed my video, I have to actually upgrade to a plus account (one that's not free). And I don't like that. I do like the fact that Vimeo allows me to have my own URL.
Anyway, I uploaded the Lonnie Walker video from the Great 8. What do you guys think?

UPDATE: Andrea was right. I am able to embed video. Let me know what you think!


Lonnie Walker from Karen Mann on Vimeo.

Daptone Records ransacked

I know there are a lot of Sharon Jones fans around here, so I thought this would be of interest. This e-mail was posted on guitartown today.

Friends and associates,

As you may have heard through the grapevine by now, Daptone was broken
into last night. Unfortunately, there was a lot of equipment (mics,
pre-amps, monitors, turntables, guitars, amps, computers, etc.) stolen
and damaged. It is going to take us a while to go through everything
and take full stock of what was stolen, and we are not supposed to
touch anything until the cops come back to collect fingerprints so we
can only guess what's missing from some mic drawers and cabinets.
And, no, we did not have insurance. We had been shopping around with
different companies earlier this month but had not signed a check, so
nothing was insured. We are working on replacing the gate in front,
installing an alarm system, and getting insurance, but it is
President's day so it's not going as quickly as we would have liked.
Nydia's computer was stolen (which wasn't backed up) and the modems/
phone system was ripped out, so we'll be relatively out of commission
for a few days.

I would like to ask for everyone's help first in keeping an eye out
for all of our stuff showing up on ebay/craigslist/local music shops,
and secondly (and more realistically) keeping an eye out for good
deals on headphones, mics, pre-amps, etc. I could really use a heads
up on any kind of studio package for sale or studio equipment to be
possibly bought or borrowed as soon as possible. We have a session
scheduled for Friday to lay down some music for (I know this sounds
surreal) Rod Stewart, and I'm going to have to get the studio running
by then. I know I'm going to need to find headphones, cables, mics, and pre-amps by
then. I'm not sure what else yet.

Upon first glance we are definitely missing:
Fender Super Guitar Amp in case
Fender Deluxe Guitar Amp
A whole bunch of headphones and wires
Nydia's HP laptop computer
One Desktop MacIntosh Computer
One Purple Audio API style lunchbox with
four Purple Audio Biz mic pre-amps
2 Yamaha NS10 monitors
Vintage Harmony Rocket Guitar
One steel string acoustic guitar
Martin Tenor sax in a gig bag
Technics 1200 turntable
Ion USB turntable
Teac Receiver/stereo amp
Sony dual deck CD burner/player
All of our modem/phone system stuff was ripped out and taken.
A whole bunch of condensor and dynamic microphones (I still need to
figure out exactly what's missing)
The power supply for my Trident console was tossed and the board was
moved (probably not gently) so the status of that is still questionable.
A baldwin organ was tossed and is probably broken.
Lacie External hard drive

Over the next few days, as we sort out the rubble, we are going to
figure out what else we lost.

We are putting in a roll down front gate, alarm system, and finally
getting our insurance happening this week. We are also going to hire
a security guard to watch the house for tonight as the cops and alarm
guy seemed pretty confident that they will be back with a truck now
that they've seen what's in here.

Thanks for keeping eyes open for us. AND PLEASE PASS THIS MESSAGE
ALONG TO ANYONE YOU THINK MIGHT BE ABLE TO HELP US.

Thankfully, we all still have our health, ambition, tape machines, and
sense of humor in tact. You can slow us down, but you can't stop
us. Sleep well knowing we here at Daptone will continue to...

Keep putting Soul up,

Gabriel Roth

P.S. On a lighter note, it seems like the burglars did drop a few
items in order to lift Alex's old safe out of here, which was VERY
heavy, VERY unwieldy, and also VERY EMPTY!

Figure four is half of eight

(Lonnie Walker) Friday I headed over to Local 506 for the Great 8 showcase, which actually only showcased four of the bands. And since David Menconi always makes a point of including a diverse group in each Great 8, it was a fairly diverse -- though still pop-heavy -- show. Americana-rockers Lonnie Walker were playing when we got there, and I was immediately sorry we hadn't gotten there sooner. I've been hearing their name here and there, but so far hadn't checked them out. At least I don't think I've checked them out. For some reason I want to say I HAVE seen them before, but I just can't remember where and when. Regardless, I liked them quite a bit and will make an effort to check them out again, which shouldn't be difficult since they play in Raleigh fairly often. Next up were Violet Vector & the Lovely Lovelies, another band I hadn't seen, but at least I was familiar with their music. if there's any word that perfectly describes VV, it's perky. There's a trio of cute, smiling girls (plus two dudes), all wearing vintage '60s frocks, singing with child-like glee and playing sweet bubblegum pop. The crowd ate it up. But not everyone was impressed by Violet Vector(and I admit, a little of it goes a long way with me too): My companion hated every single thing about them, from the vocals to the flute to the drummer's Ringo-like head toss. "If I do go to Hell, this is what they'll be playing," she said, crossly. She was much more impressed by Double Negative, whose set was like chugging a bottle of rubbing alcohol after Violet Vector's cotton candy. Seriously, it was one of the weirder transitions I've ever seen. The crowd, including some suit-and-tie wearing dudes who had been getting down during VV, mostly retreated to the bar, leaving a core of about 15 really die-hard Double Negative fans at the front. Much to the band's credit, they put on a really blistering set anyway. The final band was Hammer No More the Fingers, who are going to be world famous pretty soon. I'm already getting pitches from publicists about them, which is pretty weird. It's always weird having someone from New York e-mail me to try and get me to write about a local band. They also put on a good show, but as of yet, I don't have permission to post their video. I'll do so as soon as I hear back from them. . 

(Violet Vector & the Lovely Lovelies) 

  . 

(Hammer No More the Fingers)

  . 

(Double Negative)

  . 

(Lonnie Walker)

Better late than never

Here's Polvo performing "Fast Canoe" at last weekend's Double Barrel Benefit.


Polvo from Mann's World on Vimeo.

An update on the video situation

I heard back from Youtube, and they will not reinstate me under my old account. Of course, that didn't stop me from opening a new account with a different e-mail address, but at this point, I really don't want to use them any more. I have a couple of options I'm looking into, including using Google video, which I will try with the videos I recorded last night.

Get to know your local DJs

New Raleigh has a cool feature on DJs Madcow and Castro currently on the site, plus a little backstory on how Neu Romance got started. My favorite quote is from DJ Madcow:

What was the worst time you had DJing?
The Trading Spaces season wrap party at Bickett Gallery. It was a paying gig and Castro and I were very excited to do it. I thought these uptown New York types would appreciate some big city sounds. but when some chick (and she was hot) yelled out to me, “Play some Britney” I was done. I called Castro to take over and I camped out at the bar. I had a headache too.

Ryan Adams engaged to Mandy Moore

While everyone else in the world is yip yapping about our favorite former Sadlack's employee's engagement to Mandy Moore (who by the way was GREAT in Saved! -- seriously, put it in your Netflix queue), I just want y'all to take a moment to admire Ryan's hair color in this photo.

This week's cool shows: Great 8 showcase and more!

(Double Negative, Friday at Local 506) THIS WEEK'S SHOWS SHOW OF THE WEEK Friday, Feb. 13: Great 8 Showcase, Local 506 Now that this year's Great 8 lineup has been revealed, I can tell you more about this show, which features Hammer No More the Fingers, Double Negative, Violet Vector & the Lovely Lovelies and Lonnie Walker. And if that's not an eclectic lineup, I don't know what is. Also, I want to take another opportunity to commend my former co-workers Jason Arthurs and Travis Long for their fabulous work on the Great 8 multimedia. I especially appreciate being able to embed the videos from the project, like the Double Negative video below.  Friday, Feb. 13: Strange Faces, Slim's Slightly psychedelic pop with great vocals. Friday, Feb. 13: Kennebec, The Pour House FREE! for ladies only. Plus, this is the band's first show since last summer, and the first with new members Danny Kurtz (Whiskeytown, Backsliders, and for us ooooold fogies, Three Hits) and Jay Shirley (American Aquarium). Saturday, Feb. 14: Dexter Romweber Duo with Chrome Plated ApostlesLocal 506 Dexter and Sara Romweber make of part of North Carolina's First Family of rock, and this is their CD-release party. Chrome Plated Apostles include Hunter Landen and Clif Mann from The Bad Checks (another long-time local rock legend), and share that band's love of raw, nasty blues rock. Saturday, Feb. 14: The Old Ceremony, Cat's Cradle TOC have just released a new album, "Walk on Thin Air" (which you can buy here), plus, they'll be on WUNC's The State of Things this Friday at noon. Saturday, Feb. 14: Antagonizers with Straight 8's, Volume 11 This is being billed as Punks vs. Greasers. How romantic! I'm not familiar with Durham's Antagonizers, but according to their myspace they are the punks. Straight 8's are rockabilly from Hillsborough. Saturday, Feb. 14: Pink Flag at Nightlight Saturday, Feb. 14: Dexter Romweber Duo CD-release party with Killer Filler and Michael Rank & Marc E. SmithLocal 506 Get ready for the show by watching a video of Dex and Sara live in the studios at NBC-17. Killer Filler is an instrumental Hillsborough surf band with former Pressure Boy Bryon Settle on guitar. And Sara's former Snatches of Pink/Clarissa bandmade Michael Rank performs Patty Hurst Shifter's Marc E. Smith, not to be confused with The Fall's Mark E. Smith. Saturday, Feb. 14: Chip Robinson & the Heavy Beat Outfit, Slim's Former Backslider's new band. Sunday, Feb. 15: 10th annual Love Hangover, The Pour House A former Kings mainstay, this event features brokenhearted duets for the lovelorn. NEXT WEEK'S SHOWS Thursday, Feb. 19: Shake It Like a Caveman, Slim's If R.L. Burnside were a Tennessee hippie, he'd be Shake It Like a Caveman. Thursday, Feb. 19: Mic Harrison and Chris Berardo & the DesBerardos, Pour House Friday, Feb. 20: Here Lies ... with Gollum, Dive Bar Thursday, Feb. 19: Max Indian with Bright Young Things, Tir na Nog Friday, Feb. 20: Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit with Benji Hughes, Lincoln Theatre Jason you likely know about. Benji is a big, burly, bearded dude from Charlotte who may be the next Beck. UPCOMING IN GENERAL Thursday, Feb. 26: Western Civ CD-release party with Mitch Easter and Embarrassing Fruits, Local 506 Friday, Feb. 27: Harvey Milk with Black Skies, Local 506 Friday, Feb. 27: Old Habits with Shotgun Romance, Pour House Saturday, Feb. 28: North Elementary CD-release party with The Whalewatchers, Sir Arthur & the Royal Knights and The Popular Kids, Pour House Friday, March 6: Thad Cockrell with Caitlin Cary, Pour House Saturday, March 7: Hank Sinatra, Slim's Saturday, March 7: Nathan Oliver, with Schooner and The Proclivities, Local 506 Sunday, March 8: Hymns with Death on Two Wheels and The Bridges, Slim's Thursday, March 12: Vetiver, Cat's Cradle San Francisco freak-folkies with roots in Greensboro's early '90s pop-genius group Raymond Brake. Friday, March 13: American Aquarium, Lincoln Theatre Saturday, March 14: The Proclivities with The Moderate, Pour House Saturday, March 14: Automag, The Brewery Friday, March 27: A Rooster for the Masses, Pour House Friday, March 20: Embarrassing Fruits with Sorry About Dresden and Blag'ard Local 506 Friday, March 27: Colossus with Black Skies, volume 11 Friday, April 10: Bombadil, Lincoln Theatre Monday, April 20: 420 Fest with H.O.W. and Black Skies Volume 11

Video of BOA from Saturday's Double Barrell benefit!

We're having to do this the old fashioned way. Check out the video of Birds of Avalon from Saturday night. And submit your own photos to the WKNC blog's photo slide show!
Birds of Avalon from Mann's World on Vimeo.

John Darnielle, Anne Gomez to back Jandek

I cannot tell a lie: Jandek is one of those guys that I know about, but have never actually listened to. But because it's such a rare event, I just might check it out anyway. Grayson has the details on the performance.

Youtube videos disabled

Folks, someone representing Bryan Adams complained about my video of The T's covering "Cuts Like a Knife," and because I've had other major label artists complain, my account was disabled. That means all the video links on the blog are bad. I'm going to try to get my old account restored, but I do have all the old videos, so I can re-upload them elsewhere if need-be. But that's going to be a time-consuming process I'd rather avoid.

I will say that from now on I will not record any major label artist, even if the whole band tells me themselves it's OK to do so. I'm also going to start asking local bands beforehand if I have their permission to record them, and I'm going to retroactively get in touch with some people just to make sure they're OK too. Honestly, I figured that most bands around here know me, and when they see me recording them they know what I'm doing. But it never hurts to be really specific.

Crooked Beat Records to be on Nightline

For those who remember Crooked Beat records, Chris Dalton passed along this e-mail from Bill Daly:

Terry Moran from Nightline came by Crooked Beat on Friday. Apparently they are doing a story on the resurgence of vinyl records. They were at the store for two hours and interviewed me and some of our customers.

Nightline said they chose us because they had received recommendations from people and also noticed on our website we have been openly supportive of vinyl records since we opened in 1997. Vinyl records accounted for 70% of our sales in 2008. But it was not until 2007, that LP sales actually surpassed CDs in total sales for us.

Recently, the music industry has announced they are returning a large part of their focus to pressing lps. In fact the demand is so high the pressing plants are running 24-7 just trying to keep up. My sales rep at Warner Music recently told me that their vinyl sales were up 1000% in 2008.

The new lps usually come with MP3 codes or the physical cd free inside the album jacket.
Also, after all of these years the labels have finally admitted they never should have tried to kill off vinyl lps in the first place. They said it was a financial decision at the time. Cds were cheaper to manufacture and were convenient. However, some label executives have said they know that LPs always did and still do have a sound warmer and fuller than Cds.

Some of the new turntables we sell at the store come with USB and Ipod dock connections so you can plug them into your computer or to transfer music.

I do not know when it is going to air. But Terry Moran said it will most likely be sometime this week.
Thanks for reading the email.

Valient Thorr on Ear Farm

I can not believe (well, OK, I can believe it) that Valient Himself took his shirt off in that weather. Read it here.

The N&O's Great 8 released!

N&O music critic David Menconi released his annual Great 8 list of local bands today, along with a very nice multimedia project featuring video of the bands. Check it out here. And check out some of the bands live both this weekend at the Double Barrel benefit and on Feb. 13 at Local 506. Props to multimedia gurus Travis Long and Jason Arthurs, both of whom did a LOT of work on this project, for making their videos embeddable. Check out the video they did for Double Negative.

Make your own Score!

From the good folks at Merge:

What are your 20 favorite Merge jams?

2009 is Merge’s 20th Anniversary year! We are releasing a series of curated compilations as part of our SCORE! box set. These compilations got us wondering what you, our fans, would choose for your very own SCORE! compilation. To that end, we are announcing a contest!

Visit the “Make Your Own SCORE!” forum on our message board. Make a list of your 20 favorite Merge songs that are available in the Merge digital store. We will choose a winner at random from the participants and announce his or her name in the March newsletter. (note: If you are new to our forums remember to register yourself before commenting!)

The winner will have his or her compilation made available for sale in the Merge digital store and will have a choice of a Merge t-shirt or tote bag.

We can’t wait to see what everyone comes up with!

Cool shows this week: Double Barrell Benefit!

THIS WEEK'S SHOWS

Friday, Feb. 6: "One Night Stand - Local musicians like you've never seen them!" Local 506
Here's some info from Grayson on One Night Stand.

Featuring:

Adam Price (of Hundred Air)
John Harrison (of North Elementary)
Joe Romeo
Whitney Skillcorn (of Robosapian)
Billy Sugarfix

The Brotations (Mike Myerson and Justin Blatt)

Murat Dirlik and Adam Brinson (of Caltrop)

Paul Finn (of Kingsbury Manx)

And more!


SHOWS OF THE WEEK
Friday and Saturday, Feb. 6 & 7: WKNC Double Barrel Benefit, Pour House
A stellar two-night lineup to benefit N.C. State's awesome student radio station.
Friday: Lonnie Walker, Lost in the Trees, Schooner and Bowerbirds.
Saturday: Polvo, Birds of Avalon, Violet Vector and the Lovely Lovelies and I Was Totally Destroying It.



Saturday, Feb. 7: Grappling Hook, In the Year of the Pig and Monsonia Pinhook
I love the fact that Grappling Hook list Les Binks, Leon Russell and Chris Eubanks as influences. In the Year of the Pig will pulverize your brain. No lie. Monsonia's angry clashing/soft meloies remind me so much of a band I would have loved at the Miracle House in 1991, that I stared to think they were seriously behind the times. But then I had a sobering thought: That era was nearly 20 years ago, and so probably is just about due for a revival.



NEXT WEEK'S SHOWS

Friday, Feb. 13: Great 8 Showcase, Local 506
Each year The N&O's David Menconi makes a list of 8 local acts to watch in the new year. This year's crop will be announced soon. From what I know of the list (and don't ask me because I'm not telling), this is going to be a good show.


Friday, Feb. 13: Strange Faces, Slim's

Friday, Feb. 13: Kennebec, The Pour House
FREE! for ladies only.


Saturday, Feb. 14: Dexter Romweber Duo with Chrome Plated ApostlesLocal 506
Dexter and Sara Romweber make of part of North Carolina's First Family of rock, and this is their CD-release party. Chrome Plated Apostles include Hunter Landen and Clif Mann from The Bad Checks (another long-time local rock legend), and share that band's love of raw, nasty blues rock.


Saturday, Feb. 14: The Old Ceremony, Cat's Cradle

Saturday, Feb. 14: Antagonizers with Straight 8's, Volume 11

Saturday, Feb. 14: Pink Flag at Nightlight


Saturday, Feb. 14: Dexter Romweber Duo CD-release party with Killer Filler and Michael Rank & Marc E. SmithLocal 506

Saturday, Feb. 14: Chip Robinson & the Heavy Beat Outfit, Slim's
Former Backslider's new band.

Sunday, Feb. 15: 10th annual Love Hangover, The Pour House
A former Kings mainstay, this event features brokenhearted duets for the lovelorn.

UPCOMING IN GENERAL


Thursday, Feb. 19: Shake It Like a Caveman, Slim's


Thursday, Feb. 19: Mic Harrison and Chris Berardo & the DesBerardos, Pour House



Friday, Feb. 20: Here Lies ... with Gollum, Dive Bar



Thursday, Feb. 19: The Infamous Sugar's Blackout Birthday Bash, Slim's


Thursday, Feb. 19: Max Indian with Bright Young Things, Tir na Nog


Friday, Feb. 20: Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit with Benji Hughes, Lincoln Theatre

RIP Lux Interior

Sad news indeed. Read it here.

Wrap up from night 2 of Raleigh Undercover

Night two wasn't as crazy packed as night one at Tir na Nog, and that's a good thing. As much as I loved knowing the Beehive was getting a nice donation, having that many people packed into such a small space made the night almost unbearable. Saturday was still crowded, and all the bands did a great job. I was particularly impressed with The T's version of Bryan Adams. That's what the Undercover is all about for me: A band covering someone totally unexpected and having a great time with it. Unfortunately, I still heard a bit of grumbling here and there about how the Undercover "wasn't the same" as it was at Kings. They're right. It wasn't the same. It was better. I know I'm going to get a bunch of messages from folks about how I've insulted them personally or disrespected Kings. This isn't directed at any person in particular. It's directed at a mindset that needs to stop. I'd like to compare this mindset to someone whose lover has left them, and absolutely refuses to even look at someone new because they're convinced their ex will one day come back. If Kings ever does reopen, I will gladly go and support them. But that's not going to stop me from going out now to other clubs, and supporting great things those clubs are doing. UPDATE : My youtube account has been permanently disabled, which means you can't get to any of my videos online! Not sure what I'm going to do next.

It's Great 8 time again!

The News & Observer's Great 8 list of local bands/acts will be released this Friday. In addition to giving props to a variety of local artists, the paper's multimedia team always comes up with some cool multimedia. Here's a sneak peak at what's coming up. How many of the artists can you name in this video? Also, make sure to check out the Great 8 showcase Friday, Feb. 13, at Local 506.