Go see Chatham County Line tomorrow night

I've been listening to an advance of Chatham County Line's upcoming CD, and absolutely love it. They'll be at the Pour House tomorrow, so you should go see them, and hope they play some of their new stuff. In other news, Jeff Carroll writes to say that 96 Rock's "Locals Only" show will play Holly Raleigh Christmas Vol. II in its entirety this Sunday night at 10 p.m. If you haven't had a chance to hear the CD yet, this is a great opportunity. Finally, last night I watched "Athens, Inside/Out" for the first time in nearly 20 years, and boy, did it bring back some memories. Mostly I was just proud, just as I was back then, that the best band in the movie was actually from North Carolina. Fast forward to 3:52 for the Flat Duo Jets part.

Weekend wrap up

First, I want to thank Jeff Carroll for passing along a copy of this year's Have a Holly Raleigh Christmas. If you haven't checked it out, it's a collection of local musicians covering Christmas tunes, and it's available at store's throughout town. Proceeds will benefit the Community Music School, so check it out. Last night I went out without my camera, and you know what that means: I saw something I wish I could have documented. Asheville one-man-band Shake It Like A Caveman was at Sadlack's, playing a selection of blues tunes, including some by R.L. Burnside. I think the best thing about his set-up was the sawed-off phone handset he used for a microphone, which unfortunately didn't want to stay properly duck-taped to the mic stand. After Sad's I headed out to rural Garner to catch Joe Swank and the Zen Pirates at the White Oak Grill, a cinder-block establishment with a hand-lettered sign and a distinctive "someone's going to get hit over the head with a pool stick tonight" vibe. Apparently the folks at Budweiser had sprung for some nice banners advertising the show. However, they mis-identified the band as the VEN Pirates. Anyway, the band sounded good, everyone was cool and no fights broke out (at least not while I was there). I didn't eat, but I hear that the onion rings and meat-lovers pizza were both quite tasty. Thanks to Alex, who bought me a White Oak Grill beer cozy with the slogan, "Where good friends & cold beer meet at!!!"