Kings final night

Too tired to write much. Last night was a lot of fun, though some stage-diving fool marred my Birds of Avalon experience. Most of the bands were great, though the first one was a little too down-beat for me. The Dynamite Brothers were exceptional as usual. I think I'm ready to officially declare them the best band in the Triangle -- and I mean that they're the best band, and the best musicians. This is a band that really is the sum of its parts. I saved my card space for bands I'd never recorded before, so, enjoy these two videos by The Loners and Birds of Avalon.

Volume 11 is cool

Actually, I'm a little conflicted about telling folks to go to Volume 11 Tavern. The place is so nice and so clean (my friend K rightly declared you could eat off the ladies room floor) that I kind of don't want a bunch of people in there trashing the place. Still, with Kings closing, it's great to find another club that's clean, professional, has a great sound system, good beer selection (cash bar only, though) and is willing to take a chance on bands like Kolyma and Hem of His Garment. It's also easy to get to: just take S. Saunders Street south of downtown and turn right on Maywood, or Lake Wheeler Road south of downtown and left on Maywood. It's not too far from the Farmer's Market. So, go there. Just don't puke on the floor or steal the hair care products from the ladies room. Kolyma was a (wo)man down that night (Jennifer was sick), so this video isn't truly representative of them. Hem of His Garment is interesting in theory: about 10-12 people, all guitars, basses, some keyboards and a sax all making noise. But it was a very slow build up with everyone playing what sounded like the same thing, without any distinctive layers, so it lost my attention pretty quick. It would make great background music for a movie, so I think they should consider incorporating film or other visuals into their show. We left after about 20 minutes, so perhaps it became more interesting after that. Actually, the best part of the entire evening was, as we were walking out, noticing that there was one spot near the bar where, if you stood a certain way, HOHG's noise would actually shake your lungs. It didn't happen anywhere else in the club. Just there. Anyway, here's the Kolyma video:

Raleigh native wins Junior Boys video contest

For Christmas I gave my boss a mix CD of some of the best music I heard last year (he likes good music -- always a great quality in a boss). Included on that CD was Junior Boys' "In the Morning." Well, just to prove what a small world it is, my boss' son, Calvin Frederick, just won the Junior Boys' video contest for that very song! This is an awesome video, so please check it out!

Podcast: A Farewell to Kings

http://www.rockthetriangle.com/podcasts/20070406_podcast.mp3


As I'm sure you're all aware, this weekend is the last for the Raleigh nightclub Kings, which is closing to make way for a parking lot across from the new convention center. Of course, they're going out in style with a series of shows from some of the club's most popular bands. Friday night's show begins right at 8:25, and includes local hardcore band Double Negative and yacht rockers TV Knife. Sunday's show, which happens at 4 pm, is by a band called Mommie, a kid's rock band with former Connells singer Doug MacMillan, Kings co-owner Ben Barwick, and Motorolla guitarist Bo Taylor, among others. This show really is for kids, but don't worry, the bar will be open too.

The big show of the weekend, though, is on Saturday, with Black Taj, Birds of Avalon, Dynamite Brothers, The Loners and more. Unfortunately, contrary to what the Kings Website says, The T's are not playing.



In honor of Kings' last weekend, I'm going to play a track by Black Taj called Octastone. Black Taj includes Kings co-owner Steve Popson, and his old Polvo bandmate Dave Brylawski. Then I'm going to play the song "Can I Ride," which was on the first Polvo double 45, recorded back in 1990.

Next up will be Birds of Avalon's "Bicentennial Baby." Birds of Avalon, who will have their CD-relase that night, includes another Kings co-owner, Paul Siler, and his wife Cheetie Kumar. Paul and Cheetie have been in several bands together, including Glamourpuss, which released a split-45 with the Patty Duke Syndrome back in 1994. I'm going to play "Sweet -n- Low" off that record. Enjoy, and I'll see you this weekend at the show.

N&O article on Kings

Check out David Menconi's article on Kings in today's paper.