Weekend catch-up

OK, sorry for the short post, but I'm playing catch-up from the weekend. Joe Swank & the Zen Pirates (above), and The Cartridge Family, both put on good shows Saturday night at Slim's. The highlight of the evening was when Cartridge Family's Greg Rice sat in with Joe Swank for a few songs. The first two videos are from that pairing. First is a cover of Lynn Blakey's “Slip So Easily (The Beauty of 23)” and the second is “I Killed All My Friends Last Night” by Dave Schultz. The third video is Cartridge Family's "So Much". See more photos here.

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!!!"

Big downtown concert -- club show later

Yesterday's big concert downtown was mostly a success. I probably would have stayed to see Hobex if it hadn't been raining. I really hate precipitation in all its forms. I know the farmers need it -- my garden certainly needs it -- but hate standing in it. the other downside is that I didn't take my camera because the last time I did, I was refused entry. But yesterday they didn't check my purse, and lots of people were snapping photos. If I find any photos from yesterday on Flickr, I will link to them. Anyway, The Never were great. They have such lush, beautiful harmonies, and such broken-hearted songs. Big City Reverie is one of those bands that just isn't my thing, but I recognize that they're good, and really have a shot at becoming huge if they play their cards right. They remind me a lot of Train. A Rooster for the Masses was fun as always and worked the crowd expertly. Kudos to them for talking about Darfur in front of a crowd that was already half-drunk off of drinks that came in big, carved coconuts. Later last night, I ended up at Slim's to catch Joe Swank & the Zen Pirates -- despite my original plan to see Viva La Venus at the Downtown Music Hall. I really intended to see both, but Joe was so good, I decided to stay at Slim's. The movie I got was from the first set, but their second set was actually much tighter. I think Alex got some footage of that, and I will bug him about it.