Tuesday, April 28, 2009

What should be N.C.'s official song?

Under the Dome is asking. Seriously, send Ryan some good ideas because you know a lot of people nominate "Going to Carolina."

Five Questions with The Infamous Sugar

Check it out: My Five questions with the Infamous Sugar on New Raleigh!

Monday, April 27, 2009

Cool upcoming shows: The Love Language and more!

THIS WEEK'S SHOWS Tuesday, April 28: Tuesday, April 28: The Kills with The Horrors, Cat's Cradle The Kills have honestly never done much for me, but I actually like the Horrors quite a bit. Wednesday, April 29: Amps do Furnish a Room, with Marquee Moon, Marvell Events Center Marquee Moon is a Television tribute. And Amps Do Furnish a Room has two Television songs on their Myspace page, so if you don't like Television, you probably should skip this show. Wednesday, April 29: Amon Amarth, Volume 11 Tavern Swedish Viking metal. Thursday, April 30: Valient Thorr and Double Negative, Local 506 Thursday, April 30: Hammer No More the Fingers, Tir na Nog Thursday, April 30: Whatever Brains with Rocket Cottage, Slim's Friday, May 1: Tift Merritt, Fletcher Theatre Saturday, May 2: Festival for Wildlife, at Leigh Farm Park A pretty diverse line-up, including John Howie Jr., Kickin' Grass and Mel Melton & the Wicked Mojos, plus info on wildlife rehabilitation, storytelling, crafts, and animals (including an alligator). Very family friendly, but also alcohol free. SHOW OF THE WEEK Friday, May 1: The Love Language with The Huguenots with Americans in France, Local 506 You need to catch The Love Language now, because if they keep getting as much national attention as they've gotten in the last couple of weeks, they won't be in the clubs much longer. The Huguenots are great enough to be seen on their own, but are a nice added bonus to this show. Friday, May 1: Grappling Hook, The Reservoir CD-release party. Friday, May 1: Abe Quinn's birthday bash with The T's, and The Infamous Sugar, Slim's If you hang out at Slim's even on a semi-regular basis, you know Abe, so this is sure to be a total throw-down. The Infamous Sugar and The T's are both set to premiere new material. Saturday, May 2: Jeff Hart with The Cave Saturday, May 2: New Romans with Fan Tan, the Pinhook Fan Tan are from Brooklyn. Sunday, May 3: Junior Boys, Cat's Cradle Sunday, May 3: Kingsbury Manx, Mill Town Kingsbury Manx just released their gorgeous new CD, "Ascenseur Ouvert!" last week. NEXT WEEK'S SHOWS Thursday, May 7: Hearts & Daggers, Pour House Outlaw country Thursday, May 7: Embarrassing Fruits, Tir na Nog Friday, May 8: Battle Rockets with Gray Young, Slim's Friday, May 8: Bowerbirds with La Strada and Wes Phillips, Local 506 Saturday, May 9: Antiseen, Volume 11 Tavern Saturday, May 9: Red Collar, Local 506 Saturday, May 9: The Love Language and Whatever Brains, Pour House Saturday, May 9: Roman Candle, Cat's Cradle Sunday, May 10: Dash Rip Rock, Pour House Monday, May 11: Ghost, Local 506 Japanese psychedelic freak rock. UPCOMING IN GENERAL Wednesday, May 13: Durham Rangers Old Time String Band, Pinhook Wednesday, May 13: Snoop Dogg, Lincoln Theatre Friday, May 15: Holidays for Quince block party, Nightlight With Screaming Females, Bellafea, Caltrop, The Curtains of Night, In the Year of the Pig, Liza Kate (cd release), Mount Moriah, and The Moaners. More bands and details TBA. Friday, May 15: Old Habits, Pour House Friday, May 15: Let's Get Small!: Ukulele Challenge and Benefit Concert, Pinhook According to the Pinhook Website: Proceeds of Show (asking for suggested minimum donations of $5) go to Ukulele's for Peace. Friday, May 15: KIFF with Dead Kings, Dive Bar Saturday, May 16: Kreator with Exodus, Volume 11 Tavern Saturday, May 16: Chatham County Line, Sertoma Amphitheatre, Bond Park, Cary 3 p.m. show. Free From the PineCone press release: Formed in Raleigh 10 years ago, the home-grown Chatham County Line has traveled throughout the U.S. and Europe, winning awards in the bluegrass world and the singer-songwriter world. Dave Wilson, the band's lead singer and guitarist, does most of the group's songwriting. John Teer (guitar, fiddle, mandolin, back-up vocals), Chandler Holt (banjo, dobro, guitar), and Greg Readling (bass, pedal steel guitar, back-up vocals) provide the foundation for Wilson's creations while adding harmony and texture that make the music shine. Saturday, May 16: Metal from Brooklyn. Tuesday, May 19: Wizardry, The Reservoir Brooklyn's Wizardry has songs with titles like "Drink from Thy Chalice" and "The Falconer" so you know I'll be at this one.

Saturday, April 25, 2009

Rockin' the Stove with Chef Shirlé


(Chef Shirlé and James Hepler of IWTDI)

Shirlé Koslowski, who is widely known as both a chef and a bad-ass bass player (Ex-Members, Gerty), has been writing a cool vegetarian food blog, Rockin' the Stove, for a while. Now she's doing a video podcast with local musicians sharing their recipes. Her first guest is James Hepler, drummer for I Was Totally Destroying It and Sorry About Dresden, whipping up Brussels sprout saute and curried deviled eggs.

When she's not at the stove, Shirlé plays in a new band, Free Electric State, with husband David Koslowski on guitar, Pinhook owner Nick Williams on bass, and Wigg Report's Stephen Mullany on drums, which she describes as "swirly rock, ala rise, My Bloody Valentine, Swerve Driverish."

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

This week's cool shows: Slim's 10-year anniversary and more!

THIS WEEK'S SHOWS (The Vibekillers) Wednesday, April 22: Saint Solitude, the Cave One-man band from Asheville. Dup Crusson plays guitar and keyboards at the same time and describes himself as Billy Corgan's birthmarks, Morrissey's gladiolas, Neko Case's animal dreams, Ian McCulloch's hair products, the church that R.E.M. used to live and rehearse in, and Richey Manic's razorblade. I think the Ian McCulloch and Morrissey references are the most appropriate. This is the early show. The Cave's late show for tonight features Embarrassing Fruits and ,a href="http://www.myspace.com/polynyapolynya">Polynya. Wednesday, April 22: I Was Totally Destroying It, Reservoir Thursday, April 23: The Proclivities, Tir na Nog Thursday, April 23: Left Outlet with Mad Happy and The Names, Pour House Thursday, April 23: North Elementary, Local 506 SHOWS OF THE WEEK Friday & Saturday, April 24 & 25: Slim's 10-year anniversary party Slim's Check out my Five Questions with Slim's owner Van Alston at New Raleigh Friday: Vibekillers with New Heathens and Spanking Charlene Saturday: The Yayhoos Friday, April 24: Music on the Porch II, Center for the Study of the American South "Concert and Conversation featuring Heather McEntire, Adam Price, Eric Roehrig, and Lee Waters; moderated by Katherine Doss." 5 p.m. Friday, April 24: N.C. State Earth Day Celebration with Annuals, Lonnie Walker and Cougar Magnum If you're not a student, you're out of luck on this one. According to the Web site, it's open to N.C. State students, who can bring one guest. Also on the page, it says the guest must have a valid student ID, either from State or elsewhere. Friday, April 24: Milagro Saints, Sadlack's Friday, April 24: Napalm Death, Volume 11 Tavern Legendary English grindcore/hardcore band Saturday, April 23: Midtown Dickens with Filthybird, Local 506 Here's what I wrote a couple of years ago about Greensboro's Filthybird. No one does child-like winsomeness like Midtown Dickens. Saturday, April 25: Viva la Venus, Dive Bar Saturday, April 25: American Aquarium with Red Collar and Holy Ghost Tent Revival, Pour House Fans of Bombadil and to some extent the Avetts will love Holy Ghost Tent Revival. Sunday, April 26: Dirty Little Heaters with The Spinns, The Siberians and Pinche Gringo, The Cave This is a night of double-duty lineups. Rob plays bass in DLH and The Spinns, and Pinche Gringo plays drums in the Spinns. The Siberians are from NYC. Tuesday, April 28: Wednesday, April 29: Amps do Furnish a Room, with Marquee Moon, Marvell Events Center Marquee Moon is a Television tribute. And Amps Do Furnish a Room has two Television songs on their Myspace page, so if you don't like Television, you probably should skip this show. Wednesday, April 29: Amon Amarth, Volume 11 Tavern Swedish Viking metal. NEXT WEEK'S SHOWS Thursday, April 30: Hammer No More the Fingers, Tir na Nog Thursday, April 30: Whatever Brains with Rocket Cottage, Slim's Friday, May 1: Tift Merritt, Fletcher Theatre Friday, May 1: The Huguenot with Americans in France, Local 506 Friday, May 1: Grappling Hook, The Reservoir CD-release party. Friday, May 1: Abe Quinn's birthday bash with The T's, and The Infamous Sugar, Slim's Saturday, May 2: New Romans with Fan Tan, the Pinhook Fan Tan are from Brooklyn. Sunday, May 3: Junior Boys, Cat's Cradle UPCOMING IN GENERAL Thursday, May 7: Hearts & Daggers, Pour House Outlaw country Thursday, May 7: Embarrassing Fruits, Tir na Nog Friday, May 8: Bowerbirds with La Strada and Wes Phillips, Local 506 Saturday, May 9: Antiseen, Volume 11 Tavern Saturday, May 9: Red Collar, Local 506 Saturday, May 9: The Love Language and Whatever Brains, Pour House You need to catch The Love Language now, because if they keep getting as much national attention as they've gotten in the last couple of weeks, they won't be in the clubs much longer. Saturday, May 9: Roman Candle, Cat's Cradle Sunday, May 10: Dash Rip Rock, Pour House Monday, May 11: Ghost, Local 506 Japanese psychedelic freak rock. Wednesday, May 13: Snoop Dogg, Lincoln Theatre

Friday, April 17, 2009

Interesting things happen when the camera stays home

Last night I decided to go out to Tir na Nog sans camera because I'd seen both Magic Babies and the Huguenots before and didn't necessarily think I needed to capture them again. That was a big mistake because the Huguenots, who were playing their third show of the day, were on it. I've described them as Nuggets-style before, but really they're much more mod with clean hooks, beautiful vocal harmonies and snappy Ringo-style drums. I still have "Julia" stuck in my head this morning.

I think the Magic Babies were good -- at least what I heard was good. Right before they came on, someone swiped my companion's phone from the little fake wall in Tir na Nog, and the next hour was spent in chaos trying to locate it. We knew it had to be the creepy guy who wouldn't leave us alone earlier, so we told Chris Tamplin, who has single-handedly made Tir na Nog a good place to hang out rather than just a cheesy Irish bar. Chris, and another guy named Chris Church, took off after the creepy guy and found him with the phone at Woody's,where they apprehended him and held him until the police arrived. So, if you see either Chris at Tir na Nog, congratulate them and buy them a beer, because Raleigh needs more people who not only book great music, but actually look out for their customers when trouble happens.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

This week's cool shows: Festivals! and Torche



There's almost too much to highlight this week. Shakori Hills Festival, Signalfest and Duo Fest are all great bets. I'm going with Duo Fest for show of the week because it's doing something slightly more unique than the other two, but if you've got all weekend to play, I'd suggest trying to hit up at least two fests, and possibly all three. Torche is the Tuesday night surprise show.

THIS WEEK'S SHOWS

Superchunk with Hammer No More the Fingers, Cat's Cradle
Celebrate getting your taxes done with a local legend, and a local soon-to-be-legend.


Shakori Hills Music Festival, Near Pittsboro
This year's line-up features everyone from Des_Ark (solo) to the Apple Chill Cloggers.


Thursday - Sunday, April 16 - 19: Signalfest, various places, Chapel Hill
Electronic music festival, this year featuring Kid Koala, The Foreign Exchange, TeeBee, Wale, Noel Sanger, Jason Jollins, Olivia Block, New Wave Hookers, Sci-Fi, & The Malah and more.

More Signalfest events:
SIGNAL 2009 is only a few days away. I want to make sure you know about all of the events, so check out the below links for some of the SIGNAL shows that weren't created through this group but are just as much a part of the festival as those that were. Also, check out the daytime events!


Thu 4/16 - Opening Night Party @ Talulla's
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/event.php?eid=78431277626

Fri 4/17 - Experimental Music @ Nightlight
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=65520224642

Fri 4/17 - Electro/B-More/etc @ Vespa
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=55899504478

Sat 4/18 - Progressive/House @ Vespa
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=61111503179

Sat 4/18 - Sonic Art @ Nightlight
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=69825104810


Daytime Events

Fri 4/17
Red Bull Workshop Session with NICOLAY @ Talulla's
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=86572915451l

Sat 4/18
Red Bull Info Session with Daz-I-Kue @ Vespa
Red Bull Info Session with Kid Koala @ Mansion 462
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=66293306034


Thursday, April 16: John Howie Jr. and the Rosewood Bluff with Gambling the Muse, Pinhook
John Howie is an alt-country legend 'round these parts, with a deep, soulful voice. His latest combo also features Matt Brown on drums, Nathan Golub on pedal steel guitar and Jesse Huebner on bass & harmony vocals.


Thursday, April 16: Magic Babies with The Huguenots, Tir na Nog
Two bands with Nuggets-style pop sensibilities.


Thursday, April 16: IRATA with Count Von Count, Reservoir Bar
I love reading D-listed, which always refers to The Kills' Jamie Hince (who also happens to be Kate Moss's boyfriend) as "Count von Count". I have no idea if this is the name inspiration for these Delaware sludge rockers who, incidentally, sound nothing like the Kills. (and the Kills, incidentally, will be at Cat's Cradle on April 28).

Greensboro's Irata are heavy and ambient.

Thursday, April 16: A Rooster for the Masses , Local 506

Friday, April 17: North Elementary, Pinhook

Friday, April 17: Kenny Roby, Sadlack's
Mercy Filter leader, ex-Six String Drag frontman performing solo.


Friday, April 17: The Whistlestop, Pour House
Country gospel all-star band.


Saturday, April 18: Girls Rock N.C. second annual fundraiser, Parker & Otis
Girls Rock N.C. puts on the popular rock camp for girls each summer at the Arts Center in Carrboro.
Here's the announcement sent out through Facebook:

April 18th, from 7-9 pm, Girls Rock NC will host our second annual fundraiser for our programs and scholarships for campers. For only $10, you can join us for a night of food, drinks, live music and incredibly cool items for all budgets that will be auctioned off to support our incredible organization. Remember we're a volunteer organization, so the 18th of April is also a great night to come meet the women who work hard to bring the programs to life, and you can join us with your incredible ideas and energy! Now's the time to change the world, right? Why not help girls find and use their voices, and change the soundtrack of the future? See you at 7 pm at Parker & Otis in downtown Durham, NC! Introduce yourselves!



SHOW OF THE WEEK
Friday, April 18: Duo Fest with Beloved Binge and Mecca Normal, Bull City Headquarters
Also listen to WXDU and WKNC for more info and interviews.

,a href="http://www.newraleigh.com/articles/archive/five-questiions-with-mecca-normals-jean-smith/">Check out the interview I did with Jean Smith of Mecca Normal for New Raleigh.

Here's the full line-up: Event Lineup:
2:00 PM -- DOORS
3:00—Battle Rockets (Chapel Hill)
3:30—Sawteeth McTweedy (Durham)
4:00—Basalt (Greensboro)
4:30—Scientific Superstar (Durham)
5:00—Ottvovonbismark (Milford, PA / Wilmington, NC)
5:30—Phon (Raleigh)
6:00— Sequoya (Durham)
6:30—Victor Victor Band (Philadelphia)
7:00—Veg Dinner Break!! (Potluck-style)
8:00—Spacelab (Chapel Hill)
8:30 -- Saint Peter Pocket Veto (Winston-Salem)
9:00—All Your Science (Durham) and “Backpack Drumset” (Documentary on All Your Science)
9:45—Beloved Binge (Durham)
10:15—Mecca Normal (Vancouver,BC) // Media One Sheet: http://meccanormaltour.wordpress.com
11:00—Veelee(Chapel Hill)
11:30—Curtains of Night (Chapel Hill)
12:00-- Trophy Wife (DC)



Saturday, April 18: Earth Day celebration, Old Capitol building, Raleigh
With The Connells, Violet Vector & the Lovely Lovelies and The Huguenots. 11 a.m. - 6 p.m. This is an early, family-friendly celebration with info on green living plus a sustainable design competition. Free!

Saturday, April 18: Starmount, Sadlack's

Saturday, April 18: Rookie of the Year, The Brewery
From Fayetteville.

Sunday, April 19: Saturday, April 18: Rookie of the Year, The Brewery">Rock for Pets, Koka Booth Amphitheatre, Cary
With Rootzie, The Loners, The Heavy Pets, Arielle Bryant, and The Bomb Sniffin' Dogs.

Monday, April 20: 420 Fest with H.O.W. and Black Skies Volume 11
H.O.W.'s acronym allegedly stands for "High on Weed", which makes them the obvious choice for a 420 celebration.

Monday, April 20: Jeff Carroll & the Desmonds, Local 506
Jeff was a member of various bands, including The Big Kids in Greensboro in the early 90s.


Tuesday, April 21: Dreadg with Torche and Maps and Atlases The Brewery
The under-the-radar show of the week. Miami's Torche is one of the most creative metal bands out there today. Kind of a weird, but potentially interesting, pairing with Maps and Atlases, who are not metal AT ALL.


Wednesday, April 22: Saint Solitude, the Cave
One-man band from Asheville. Dup Crusson plays guitar and keyboards at the same time and describes himself as Billy Corgan's birthmarks, Morrissey's gladiolas, Neko Case's animal dreams, Ian McCulloch's hair products, the church that R.E.M. used to live and rehearse in, and Richey Manic's razorblade. I think the Ian McCulloch and Morrissey references are the most appropriate.

Wednesday, April 22: I Was Totally Destroying It, NEXT WEEK'S SHOWS

Thursday, April 23:
The Proclivities, Tir na Nog

Thursday, April 23: Left Outlet with Mad Happy and The Names, Pour House

Thursday, April 23: North Elementary, Local 506

Friday & Saturday, April 24 & 25: Slim's 10-year anniversary party Slim's

Friday, April 24: Music on the Porch II, Center for the Study of the American South
"Concert and Conversation featuring Heather McEntire, Adam Price, Eric Roehrig, and Lee Waters; moderated by Katherine Doss." 5 p.m.

Friday, April 24: N.C. State Earth Day Celebration with Lonnie Walker

Friday, April 24: Milagro Saints, Sadlack's

Friday, April 24: Napalm Death, Volume 11 Tavern

Friday, April 24: Pet Overpopulation Patrol benefit, Duke Coffeehouse
This concert has been canceled.

Saturday, April 23: Midtown Dickens with Filthybird, Local 506

Saturday, April 25: Viva la Venus, Dive Bar

Saturday, April 25: American Aquarium with Red Collar and Holy Ghost Tent Revival, Pour House

Tuesday, April 28:
Wednesday, April 29:
Amon Amarth, Volume 11 Tavern


UPCOMING IN GENERAL
Thursday, April 30: Hammer No More the Fingers, Tir na Nog

Thursday, April 30: Whatever Brains with Rocket Cottage, Slim's


Friday, May 1: Tift Merritt, Fletcher Theatre


Friday, May 1: The Huguenot
with Americans in France, Local 506


Friday, May 1: Grappling Hook, The Reservoir
CD-release party.

Friday, May 1: Abe Quinn's birthday bash with The T's, and The Infamous Sugar, Slim's

Sunday, May 3: Junior Boys, Cat's Cradle

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

My interview with Jean Smith of Mecca Normal!


Check out my interview with Jean Smith of Mecca Normal, who will be at Duo Fest this Saturday!

Friday, April 10, 2009

The Loners on The State of Things

The Loners will be on NPR's The State of Things TODAY at noon.

Wednesday, April 08, 2009

This week's cool shows: Bombadil and more!

Abbreviated version, due to the holiday and various other things happening. THIS WEEK'S SHOWS Thursday, April 9: The Magpies, Tir na Nog Thursday, April 9: The Haw River Rounders, Pinhook SHOW OF THE WEEK Friday, April 10: Bombadil, Lincoln Theatre Check out my 5 Questions with Bombadil guitarist Bryan Rahija from New Raleigh and Jedidiah's more in-detail article. Friday, April 10: Shake It Like a Caveman, Sadlack's Saturday, April 11: Urban Sophisticates, Lincoln Theatre NEXT WEEK'S SHOWS Thursday - Sunday, April 16 - 19: Signalfest, various places, Chapel Hill Thursday, April 16: John Howie Jr. and the Rosewood Bluff with Gambling the Muse, Pinhook Thursday, April 16: Magic Babies with The Huguenots, Tir na Nog Thursday, April 16: John Howie Jr. and the Rosewood Bluff, with Gambling the Muse, The Pinhook Thursday, April 16: IRATA with Count Von Count, Reservoir Bar thursday, April 16: A Rooster for the Masses with Natalie Portman's Shaved Head, Local 506 Friday, April 17: North Elementary, Pinhook Friday, April 17: Kenny Roby, Sadlack's Friday, April 17: The Whistlestop, Pour House Saturday, April 18: Girls Rock NC will host our second annual fundraiser, Parker & Otis Here's the announcement sent out through Facebook: April 18th, from 7-9 pm, Girls Rock NC will host our second annual fundraiser for our programs and scholarships for campers. For only $10, you can join us for a night of food, drinks, live music and incredibly cool items for all budgets that will be auctioned off to support our incredible organization. Remember we're a volunteer organization, so the 18th of April is also a great night to come meet the women who work hard to bring the programs to life, and you can join us with your incredible ideas and energy! Now's the time to change the world, right? Why not help girls find and use their voices, and change the soundtrack of the future? See you at 7 pm at Parker & Otis in downtown Durham, NC! Introduce yourselves! Friday, April 18: Duo Fest with Beloved Binge and Mecca Normal, BCHQ Here's the full line-up: Event Lineup: 2:00 PM -- DOORS 3:00—Battle Rockets (Chapel Hill) 3:30—Sawteeth McTweedy (Durham) 4:00—Basalt (Greensboro) 4:30—Scientific Superstar (Durham) 5:00—Ottvovonbismark (Milford, PA / Wilmington, NC) 5:30—Phon (Raleigh) 6:00— Sequoya (Durham) 6:30—Victor Victor Band (Philadelphia) 7:00—Veg Dinner Break!! (Potluck-style) 8:00—Spacelab (Chapel Hill) 8:30 -- Saint Peter Pocket Veto (Winston-Salem) 9:00—All Your Science (Durham) and “Backpack Drumset” (Documentary on All Your Science) 9:45—Beloved Binge (Durham) 10:15—Mecca Normal (Vancouver,BC) // Media One Sheet: http://meccanormaltour.wordpress.com 11:00—Veelee(Chapel Hill) 11:30—Curtains of Night (Chapel Hill) 12:00-- Trophy Wife (DC) Saturday, April 18: Starmount, Sadlack's Saturday, April 18: Rookie of the Year, The Brewery Monday, April 20: 420 Fest with H.O.W. and Black Skies Volume 11 Tuesday, April 21: Dreadg with Torche and Maps and Atlases The Brewery UPCOMING IN GENERAL Thursday, April 23: The Proclivities, Tir na Nog Thursday, April 23: Left Outlet with Mad Happy and The Names, Pour House Thursday, April 23: North Elementary, Local 506 Friday & Saturday, April 24 & 25: Slim's 10-year anniversary party Slim's Friday, April 24: Milagro Saints, Sadlack's Friday, April 24: Napalm Death, Volume 11 Tavern Friday, April 24: Pet Overpopulation Patrol benefit, Duke Coffeehouse Benefit concert featuring WAUMISS and Actual Persons (Living or Dead). This is an 8 p.m. show, and both cash and pet supply donations will be accepted at the door. Here is a list of items that people can donate at the door : * Towels * Blankets * Newspaper * Paper Towels * Distilled Water - gallon size * Isopropryl Alcohol * Hydrogen Peroxide * Gift Cards to Office Supply Stores * Surplus Medical Supplies from local hospitals / medical centers also : dog and cat food, collars, leashes, toys, etc. that we can donate to our rescue group and shelter partners. Saturday, April 23: Midtown Dickens with Filthybird, Local 506 Saturday, April 25: Viva la Venus, Dive Bar Saturday, April 25: American Aquarium with Red Collar and Holy Ghost Tent Revival, Pour House Thursday - Sunday, April 16 - 19: Signalfest, various venues throughout Chapel Hill

Monday, April 06, 2009

Go ahead and put this on your calendar now.

XX Merge: On-sale date & bands announced!

In celebration of our 20th anniversary, Merge bands of the past and present will converge for 5 days of live music, July 22-26th in the heat of the sunny North Carolina summer. We are calling these 5 days of live music and mayhem, XX Merge.

XX Merge
Wednesday, July 22nd - Sunday, July 26th
4 nights at the Cat’s Cradle in Carrboro, NC
1 night at Memorial Hall in Chapel Hill, NC on UNC Campus
Details of additional music & bedlam yet to come!

Featuring over 25 of your favorite Merge artists including...Superchunk, Spoon, Conor Oberst, Spent, M. Ward, The Rosebuds, Destroyer, Guv'ner, Polvo, Pipe & The Broken West. Many more bands both expected and unexpected still to-be-announced!

5-Day Passes are $150 and will get you in to all XX Merge festivities. Passes will go on sale on Wednesday, April 8th at 10 AM EST via catscradle.com and mergerecords.com. 5-day passes are nontransferable. A limited number of tickets for individual Cradle shows and the Memorial Hall show will be made available at a later date.

**Please note: Due to the size and scope of this event, we will not be offering press passes. If you know you are coming for the whole festival, we can arrange for you to buy a pass and will be thrilled to see you in July! Thanks for understanding.

For more information, visit mergerecords.com/xxmerge.

Sunday, April 05, 2009

Video of des_ark from the Manchild release



Last night was the release-party for Brian Walsby's latest book of drawings, Manchild 4, at Tir na Nog. Brian was also selling T-shirts and drawings, including one of the late Minutemen leader D. Boone, which I bought. As expected, the place was packed.

Goner, The Loners, des_ark and Double Negative all played, but I decided to concentrate my photo efforts on des_ark because I'd only seen them once before, and because I knew that Aimee Argote gets really animated on stage. Check out the video below to see what I mean.


des_ark from Mann's World on Vimeo.

Saturday, April 04, 2009

The Bronzed Chorus and Pink Flag at Viking Storm

(The Bronzed Chorus) Let me start off by saying that I'm still not exactly sure why this thing was called Viking Storm, or what it had to do with vikings. Ultimately I don't think it matters much because everyone got into the viking theme (plenty of horned hats everywhere), I got to see one of my favorite bands from last year, and I also got to go to the Pinhook for the first time. Let's talk about the Pinhook for just a minute. I liked this place quite a bit. It's pretty centrally located (I found it easily from the Durham Freeway), nicely decorated with red walls and well-preserved vintage furniture, and has a well-stocked bar with some high-end items such as MaCallan, which my companions eagerly indulged in (I was driving, so I just observed). And I may be wrong about this, but I think they had Aveda soap in the ladies room. But the owners of the Pinhook seriously need to do something about the lighting situation above the stage. Basically, other than an old living room lamp that looks like it was dug out of a dumpster behind the Goodwill, and the weak light of the exit sign on the back wall, there is no light above the stage. And that's kind of weird because the rest of the club seems to be fairly well lit. That means if you're watching the band, you don't get to see much, and if you're in the band, you hardly see anything. At one point the guitar player for The Bronzed Chorus had to borrow someone's cell phone to throw enough light on his pedals to see what he was doing. During Pink Flag, the lighting situation wasn't much of an issue because several folks, including yours truly, were busy snapping flash photos around them. So even though this video of them performing "Haunted" is incredibly dark, you can actually see a little bit of what's going on, just because of all the flashes going off.
Pink Flag - "Haunted" from Mann's World on Vimeo. Next up were The Bronzed Chorus from Greensboro, who I loved just as much as when I saw them last year at Tir na Nog. More people were watching the band, but fewer taking photos, so this one is almost totally dark. I did pan to a couple of viking-hat-wearing fans in front of the stage who were getting INTO it. But other than that, there really isn't much on this video to see.
The Bronzed Chorus - "Underpass Surprise" from Mann's World on Vimeo. Caverns and Tooth played afterward, but we headed back to Raleigh. Hammer No More the Fingers is playing Duke Coffeehouse tonight in celebration of their CD-release.