RTP-area local music and culture

[grady <grady AT ibiblio.org>]

I will see you all at Go tonight, no? Yes!


Thursday, July 1
Cantwell, Gomez, Jordan [http://www.cantwellgomezandjordan.com],
des_ark [http://www.des-ark.org], The Lido Venice
[http://honeypump.net/thelidovenice/], Sorry About Dresden
[http://www.sorryaboutdresden.com]
Go! Studios Rm. 4, Carrboro

James Hep!-ler told me this show was to be some sort of political
consciousness-raiser on behalf of anybody-but-Bush, which is A-OK by
me, as I'm the kind of grumpy old curmudgeon who believes that *every*
rockshow should be a political consciousness-raiser. Bring it the fuck
on, already.

des_ark make gutpunchingly-powerful gtr-drums rock with hugemongous
drums and blues-rooted guitar that wanders so far afield that you
wouldn't know how to react were it not for Aimee's impassioned vocals
preventing you from doing anything other than standing there
transfixed anyway.

Cantwell, Gomez & Jordan are just ill, that's all there is to it. And!
They have a long-running tradition of performing tributes to
recently-dead musical celebrities, so start getting psyched now for
the Robert Quine/Steve Lacy/Ray Charles three-way.



Friday, July 2
Renelvis, Guaranteed Katch [http://www.gkatch.com/], Midget Marines
Kings, Raleigh

My friend Scott sent this:

This Friday (July 2nd) is the start of the Kings Barcade 5th
Anniversary Weekend. To celebrate, Renelvis has been brought in
to do a special show along with Guaranteed Katch and the Midget
Marines. Most of you are familiar with Renelvis, the Filipino
Elvis. He does lots of Elvis covers in his own special way and
throws in a lot of his own original tunes that are completely
surreal (example: 'SADD Song of Health'). He's a great guy and
always delivers a fun show. Check out his homemade merchandise,
too. Buy a Renelvis clock!

Guaranteed Katch are from Boston and play strange, loud rock. Their
music is like a cross between the Melvins and Captain Beefheart, and I
mean that in the most complimentary way possible. They are not to be
missed! Did I mention the fire-breathing clown and the food catapult?

Starting off the evening will be the Midget Marines. This is the
Marines' debut performance. The band consists of Sam M (formerly of
Picasso Trigger, Panty Peeler, and Days Of) on guitar and vocals,
Scott Gilliam on bass, and Scott C (formerly of the BeatlesS and Pine
State) on drums. Think loud and noisy.



Saturday, July 3
Cat Power [http://www.catpowermusic.com/], Dexter Romweber
[http://www.dexterromweber.com]
ArtsCenter, Carrboro

Cat Power is solo this time around. Last time I saw Chan do a solo
show at the ArtsCenter, it was a typically maddening affair--lots of
fucking with the amp, lots of self-conscious fretting over the sound &
the performance, lots of false starts & early stops. She's made some
of the best records I've ever heard, but at this point the stories
about crash-and-burn shows far outnumber the stories about brilliant
shows, so caveat emptor.

Speaking of crash-and-burn vs. brilliant, the first time I saw Flat
Duo Jets, sometime in the late 80s, Dexter was having trouble with his
amp or his ears or his head or something, and his solution to the
problem was to stand facing his amp & rage away on the same chord
nonstop for what seemed like 15 minutes. In the 15 years since then,
he's been up & down & has finally gotten his chemical demons
more-or-less under control; the best part is that he's making some of
the best music of his career right-fucking-now.



Saturday, July 3
Allnight, Pegasus, Chrome Plated Apostles [http://www.demonbeach.com]
Local 506, Chapel Hill

Chrome-Plated Apostles are 1/2 of the Bad Checks, with Jett Rink
bassist Vespah Sweets on drums, and ex-Pipe/Bedwetter bassist Greg
Adams on bass. Allnight are from Greensboro, and they make Southern
Rock with somewhat shorter guitar solos and slightly more psychedelic
weirdness. They've got the frontmen from two of the top-5 Greensboro
bands of the 90s, Mercury Birds and Rebar, which actually makes it all
the more weird that they sound so much like Skynyrd.



Saturday, July 3
Schooner [http://www.schoonermusic.com], Honored Guests
[http://www.thehonoredguests.com/], Spacetruck
[http://www.spacetruck.net/]
Go! Studios Rm. 4, Carrboro



Saturday, July 3
The Weather [http://www.theweatherrocks.com], Dirty Johnny and the
Make-Believes [http://futureperfectmedia.com/dirtyjohnny.htm], BQs
Kings, Raleigh



Sunday, July 4
The Paybacks [http://www.thepaybacks.com/], Leadfoot
[http://www.leadfoot.net/], The Greatest Hits
Local 506, Chapel Hill



Monday, July 5
Juliana Hatfield [http://www.julianahatfield.com/], The Damnwells
[http://www.thedamnwells.com/]
Cat's Cradle, Carrboro



Monday, July 5
Facedowninshit [http://www.buyolympia.com/crimethinc/plastic.html],
Sentinel, Unpersons
[http://www.atalossrecordings.com/bandunpersons.htm]
Go! Studios Rm. 4, Carrboro

Facedowninshit began in Greensboro, moved to Portland for a year or
so, and then wound up back in Central NC, or at least that's what I've
managed to piece together from the vast array of european-language
interviews on the WWW. They played Nightlight last year & brought
massive full-stacks & were quite possibly the loudest thing ever to
grace that room in its 30-year history as a music venue. They make
stoner/ sludge/ grindcore or whatever you want to call massive
throbbing rock equally influenced by Sabbath and hardcore.

Sentinel are from Chapel Hill & are working some of that same
territory, though with a bit more paranoia.

A search on Unpersons yielded a glowing
[http://www.deepfrybonanza.com/reviews.php?id=2444] review of their
last record at [http://www.deepfrybonanza.com/] Deep Fry Bonanza,
which managed to synopsize their sound thusly: "Tortured wails turn an
unexpected corner and arrive quickly at an anthemic, Nevermind-worthy
powerchord riff, then the song takes off into an effects-pedal-fueled
prog-rock space journey only to crash back to the ground with a
Neurosis-like thud."



Tuesday, July 6
The Cartridge Family [http://www.cartridge-family.com/], Puritan Rodeo
Show [http://www.thepuritanrodeoshow.blogspot.com/], The Imperial
Pints
Local 506, Chapel Hill



Wednesday, July 7
The Static Age [http://www.thestaticage.com/Simple/simple.html],
Silent Drive [http://www.silentdrive.net/]
Go! Studios Rm. 4, Carrboro



Wednesday, July 7
Cat Power [http://www.catpowermusic.com/], Health
Project Space 211, Winston-Salem



Thursday, July 8
Kings' Gong Show [http://www.kingsbarcade.com]
Kings, Raleigh

A long-running Kings tradition. Pretty much exactly what you'd
imagine, I suppose, only with real celebrities instead of fake
manufactured TV ones.



Thursday, July 8
Pink Spiders [http://www.thepinkspiders.com/], 100 Yorktown
[http://www.geocities.com/onehundredyorktown/]
Nightlight, Chapel Hill

Pink Spiders are from Nashville, they wear pink & black, and they make
some variation on punk/rock of the nonpolitical variety.



Friday, July 9
The Rosebuds [http://www.therosebuds.com/], Utah!
[http://www.utah-rock.com], Ticonderoga
[http://www.ticonderobics.com/]
Kings, Raleigh

The last couple of times I've talked to the Rosebuds, they've been
unable to control themselves in their enthusiasm for Ticonderoga. They
like them so much, in fact, that they swiped their drummer & took him
on tour. I haven't seen Ticonderoga yet, but Kelly & Ivan haven't let
me down so far. Plus you get the Rosebuds themselves, of course, as
well as the crashing-waves rock-with-cello of Utah!.



Friday, July 9
My Dear Ella [http://www.mydearella.com], The Man, Transportation
Local 506, Chapel Hill

The last time I saw The Man at Local 506, they were having guitarist
problems, so Kevin composed roughly 4000 obscene haiku and as the
rhythm section pounded out a heavy Stooges-style metallic drone, he
recited them all while writhing all over the stage. Whatever else it
might have been, it was brilliant art.



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