RTP-area local music and culture

[grady AT ibiblio.org]

Thursday, February 5
des_ark [http://www.des-ark.org], Cantwell, Gomez, Jordan
[http://www.cantwellgomezandjordan.com], All Astronauts
[http://www.allastronauts.com/]
Nightlight, Chapel Hill

All Astronauts are from Winston-Salem; they're comprised of former
members of Malabaster and Squatweiler. Their new CD, "Navigation
Songs," is one of my faves of the year thus far, and although I have
no doubt the year holds many future surprises, I fully expect it to
still be one of my faves at the end.

des_ark are one of the best bands in North Carolina, period. Enough
people have said it that I don't even need to say it anymore.

Cantwell Gomez and Jordan attract fans from all over the map--the
musicians love them for the obviously extraordinary level of musical
skill they bring to their weirdo off-kilter spazz-noise-rock, and the
weirdos love them for blowing all that skill on such fucked-up noise.



Friday, February 6
Transportation, The Spinns [http://www.thespinns.freeservers.com/],
The Ghost of Rock
Go! Studios Rm. 4, Carrboro

This is the first of two benefits this weekend being held in memory of
local musician Randy Ward, who died earlier this week. Read further
down to tomorrow's Work Clothes/Comas show at Go to learn more about
Randy and the benefits.

Tonight's lineup includes the rudimentary garage-stomp of the Spinns,
the Badfingery 70s-UK-glam/pop of Transportation, and the classic
Chapel Hill indierock-barpunk of The Ghost of Rock.



Friday, February 6
The Greatest Hits, Shadow of a Great Name, DJ Madcow
[http://getfunkedup.tripod.com/madcow.html]
Kings, Raleigh



Friday, February 6
Buzzsawyer [http://www.angelfire.com/band/buzzsawyer/], The Needles
[http://www.moonrockneedles.com/], Valient Thorr
[http://www.valientthorr.com/], Mosquito
Local 506, Chapel Hill



Saturday, February 7
Gerty [http://www.gerty.org], Natasha, Cantwell, Gomez, Jordan
[http://www.cantwellgomezandjordan.com], Fluff Chick
[http://www.duke.edu/~alangley/fluffchick2.htm]
Duke Coffeehouse, Durham

This is a benefit for the Ms. Films festival, about which there is
more info below. First, here are Dave Cantwell's synopses of the
bands:

--CANTWELLGOMEZ&JORDAN:  Voting for Kucinich in '04.
--GERTY:  Vintage pop.  Featuring a drum machine, so expect remixes
very soon.
--FLUFF CHICK:  Is David Jordan's old band.  Sort of.  Wacky pop to
make you happy.
--NATASHA:  I know nothing about.  BUT, they're doing it for the right
reasons, so they rock.

Here's more info from the Ms. Films coordinators:

The Ms. Films Festival, an annual film festival showcasing the work
of women directors, actors, and filmmakers, will be holding a benefit
concert February 7th at the Duke Coffeehouse in Durham.  Featured
Bands include Fluffchick, Natasha, Gerty and Cantwell, Gomez, Jordan. 
Doors Open at 9pm, and admission is $6.  The festival is made possible 
through community support, and fundraising events such as this!

The Ms. Films Festival is a volunteer run festival that provides
opportunities for the community to see short films by women, and to
get an introduction to filmmaking through workshops and panels.
The 3rd Annual Ms Films Festival will be held February 27th-29th at
the Durham Arts Council in Downtown Durham.  For more information
please visit [http://www.msfilms.org] www.msfilms.org



Saturday, February 7
Work Clothes [http://www.bullfightparty.org], The Comas
[http://www.plastiquerecords.com/thecomas/], Cub Country
[http://www.jadetree.com/bandpages/bio_cubcountry.html]
Go! Studios Rm. 4, Carrboro

Local musician Randy Ward died earlier this week; this show was
originally planned as a benefit to help him and his family with
medical expenses from his fight with cancer. It's still a benefit, and
it's also a chance for his friends to remember and pay tribute to him
as a friend and musician.

Randy's involvement with the local music scene was long and
fruitful--he was a member of the seminal early-90s Chapel Hill band
Metal Flake Mother, as well as the beloved surf/movie-soundtrack
instrumental band the Family Dollar Pharaohs. More recently, he had
been constructing bizarre & miraculous mechanized instruments and
writing strange instrumental music for his solo project Protean
Spook.

This night's lineup includes the beautiful slow/quiet pop of local
faves Work Clothes, and the current version of longtime local
psych-pop mainstays the Comas, as well as Cub Country, a solo
side-project of Jets to Brazil bassist Jeremey Chatelain.



Saturday, February 7
One Last Heist [http://onelastheist.com/], Jackson Hives
[http://www.jacksonhives.com/], Slow Andy [http://www.slowandy.com/]
Nightlight, Chapel Hill



Saturday, February 7
Strange, The Nein [http://www.thenein.com/], Siberian
Kings, Raleigh

Robert Biggers said this of his band The Nein:

"the nein is playing at kings this saturday with 2 "raleigh" bands,
STRANGE and SIBERIA. i don't know from SIBERIA.  but STRANGE is a neat
new (to me) psychedelic rock band that has acquired linc hancock's
able bass-abilities.  they bring the murk.  and the nein (FYI) is finn
and casey and myself - with the addition of one Dale Flattum for a
one-time appearance with us on a wire cover.  now that all the
surprises are out of the way -- i'll wait to tell you how it
went...."

The Kings folks say that Siberian feature "ex members of Iskariot,
Sorrow Bequest, Shiny Beast and Daddy." I wonder if that means they're
all or part of that amazing band who covered Discharge at this year's
Great Cover-Up . . .



Monday, February 9
Flicker [http://www.chapel-hill.nc.us/flicker]
Cat's Cradle, Carrboro

Flicker is the long-running periodic short-film festival that focuses
on showcasing films shot on film (as opposed to video), with a special
fondness for super-8 and 16mm. All the films are shorter than 20
minutes, so you can't gripe too much, and it can be kind of quietly
mindblowing to be reminded that there are people all around you who're
making little movies in your neighborhood, about stuff that interests
them, not some focus group. Doors at 8:00, first movie around 8:30;
generally, free cookies.



Wednesday, February 11
Centro-Matic [http://www.centro-matic.com/], The Pale
[http://www.thepalemusic.com/start.htm], The Strugglers
[http://www.thestrugglers.org/]
Kings, Raleigh

Once again, this is my cue to say that the word "Strugglers" has been
on the lips of a lot of people lately. At least once a week, some
new/different old acquaintance of mine will just suddenly say "have
you seen The Strugglers? oh my god." Well, no, I haven't, but I get
the message, and I pass it along to you.



Thursday, February 12
My Dear Ella [http://www.mydearella.com], The High Strung
[http://www.thehighstrung.com/]
Kings, Raleigh



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