Win a pair of tickets to see The Love Language on New Year's Eve!

As promised yesterday, I have two pairs of tickets to giveaway to see The Love Language on New Year's Eve at Local 506, courtesy of our pals at Merge Records. Violet Vector & the Lovely Lovelies and Dirty Little Heaters are playing too, so this is going to be a great show.

Now, here's your question, and it's going to require a little North Carolina knowledge (or at least a quick Google search). Before signing to Merge, The Love Language released their first CD on Bladen County Records. Bladen County, N.C., is the original home of Bladen County Records head honcho (and former Ashley Stove guitarist) Matt Brown. Bladen County is also home to several lakes, notably White Lake, Jones Lake, Salters Lake and Baytree Lake. Lake Waccamaw is nearby in Columbus County. These lakes are all the same type of lake, and they are known for their distinctive shape.

What kind of lake are they, and what is their distinctive shape?

UPDATE: Congrats to winners Chris and Claire for answering correctly: The Bladen lakes are all Carolina Bays, and they're all oval in shape. If you're so inclined, you can learn more about the bay lakes from one of my favorite local nature blogs, Carolina Towns and Trails.

Finally got some use out of my Troika pass

OK, lesson learned. Buying a 3-day pass for a music festival only makes economic sense if you actually go all three days. And if you go to more than one show on any given night. I had good intentions of doing both at the Troika Festival but The Jesus Lizard kind of got in the way, and I underestimated my desire to drive around Durham going to different venues.

Seriously, here's a tip for the Troika organizers: Next year, buy an old school bus and ferry people for free between the venues. You could probably even get someone like local music-friendly Piedmont Biofuels involved. Maybe even have someone play an acoustic set on the bus. I know if they'd had such a thing last night I would have used it, because after hunting for a parking place at Broad Street Cafe, I just didn't feel like driving anywhere else.

We arrived at Broad Street early for The Dynamite Brothers (left), and the place was already getting crowded. I hadn't seen them in a while, and Dave hadn't ever seen them, so I was very much looking forward to the show. They were tight as always, and had me wondering once again if they aren't the best band in the Triangle. Not sure I'm ready to bestow that quite yet because The Love Language (above) are giving them stiff competition.
Next up was a Rat Jackson (left), with whom I was unfamiliar, and, for the first part of their show, unimpressed. But something happened, and by the end of their show I found myself really getting into their geeky, straight-forward rock. At the end of their set, the guitarist introduced The Loners as a band that would "rock twice as hard with half as many people -- damn them!" That was pretty funny, and I have to hand it to them rocking pretty hard on their own.
Indeed The Loners were next, and they did rock. Twice as hard? I don't know, but they did rock pretty hard.

By the time The Love Language came on, Broad Street was packed and uncomfortable. I got up front a good 20 minutes before they played, and I still couldn't get right next to the stage. But The Love Language made up for it because they are easily the most exciting band, and maybe the best, in the Triangle right now.

The Love Language: "That shit is RIGHT ON!"

(The Love Language)

I've never been one to begrudge a good band making it big. Seriously, why demand that a talented songwriter schlep across the country in a beaten-up van, sleeping on floors and playing only to a few dedicated souls while worrying that his six weeks on the road may mean the end of his part-time barista day job? If someone's good, I have no problem with them making a comfortable living that allows them to create art. I have no problem with them making a boatload of cash as long as they can maintain that creative spark (and whether or not you have to be downtrodden to be creative is a whole 'nother argument). But last night while I was at the Pour House watching The Love Language, a band that is probably going to be quitting their day jobs very soon, I couldn't help but think to myself, "Dag, I wish this awesome band didn't have so many douchebags for fans."

Let me back up for one second. As you likely know, The Love Language grew out of the Capulets (check out an old Capulets video that I shot at Kings in January, 2006), a band that had a lot of great hooks and dedicated fans of their own. So even if the Love Language hadn't been very good, they likely would have at least drawn in some of that bands old fans. But as it turns out, the Love Language is good. Hair-raisingly good. "I'm witnessing greatness in the making" good. And that's getting them written up and played by bigger fish than just the local bloggers, and putting their music in the ears of a lot of people who not only refuse to wear their baseball caps the way God intended, but not only can't communicate their love of this band with anything other than a fist bump and an ear-piercing "WHOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!"

You want proof? Just check out the video I shot of "Nocturne," the band's opening song last night at The Pour House -- a video shot from the vantage point of standing between two fools who wanted to yell over the top of my head the whole time. Among the gems you'll hear on this video: "Whoooo!" "WHOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!" "WHOOO-HOOOO-HOOOOO!!!" and "DUDE! That dude is TALL!" All of this occurs before the band even gets to the first verse.





Now, before anyone gets their panties in a wad and starts hatin' on me for hatin' on some overzealous and really loud fans (who, once again, are showing their love for an amazing band), I'll just point your attention to the title of this post. That overzealous message of approval came not from some headbanging frat boy. It came from my partner The Wizard, a normally articulate music lover who was so blown away by The Love Language, that all he could do was point and stammer, finally squeaking out "that shit is RIGHT ON!" I agree totally.


(the Love Language - Providence)

Whatever Brains opened, and I'm happy to report I liked them a lot more this time 'round. One of my friends compared them to "Green Day meets the Sex Pistols." Personally they remind me of The Fall.