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Subject: RTP-area local music and culture

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  • From: grady <grady AT ibiblio.org>
  • To: RTP-area local music and culture <ch-scene AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Stuff to do, week of August 5, 2004
  • Date: Thu, 05 Aug 2004 15:34:17 -0400

Thursday, August 5
The Close [http://www.thecloserocks.com], Utah!
[http://www.utah-rock.com], Jaguaro
Nightlight, Chapel Hill

Utah! are from Raleigh these days; they make expando-contracto rock
that involves cello in a really nice non-wussy kind of way. The Close
are from Atlanta, where at some point in the not-too-distant-past they
received a "best local band" award from Creative Loafing. Someone who
has been to Atlanta in the past decade will have to fill us in on what
that might mean.

Jaguaro are from Durham, and that's all I know about them.



Thursday, August 5
David Childers and the Modern Don Juans
[http://www.davidchilders.com/Main_Body.shtml], Monsonia
[http://www.monsonia.com]
Kings, Raleigh

I'm led to believe that David Childers & his sometime compadres, the
Modern Don Juans, are what they call "roots rock," whatever that
means.

The lads in Monsonia have taken the liberty of describing themselves,
thusly:

"Our music is dark, bassy, edgy, maybe a bit technical, usually pretty
loud...maybe kinda like Unwound with more bass and less guitar stuff.
We have demos and photos on our [http://www.monsonia.com] website.
We've all played in various local bands over the past few years, (The
Strugglers, The Man (the dirty haiku show), Cold Sides, The Buttons,
Sticky, many others) but we've been focused and working hard on this
project for over a year and are just getting started..."



Thursday, August 5
The Rosebuds [http://www.therosebuds.com/], Golden Dawn, tommygun
[http://www.tommygunrock.com]
Ace's Basement, Greensboro



Friday, August 6
Iris DeMent [http://www.irisdement.com/]
Cat's Cradle, Carrboro



Friday, August 6
The Pink Slips, Shallow Be Thy Name
[http://www.screwmusicforever.com/music/artists/shallow/index.html],
Blackstrap, SheMamas [http://www.purevolume.com/shemamas]
Ooh La Latte, Durham

The secret to getting folks to come out to shows in Durham is to close
all the rockclubs and only have one show every few months. The last
Chicks Rock! benefit (this is #2 in a series) drew every Durhamite
I've ever known, plus a couple hundred I don't, plus everybody who
used to live in another city & you didn't realize they moved to
Durham, they just disappeared one day.

We shall see whether having a 2nd show just a couple of weeks after
the first will send them all back into their holes crying "no! no! too
much entertainment!"

And indeed: Blackstrap make snotty west-coast-influenced punk that
falls apart about 40 times per song. Last time I saw them I decided
they needed to nominate one bandmember to actually pay attention all
the way through the song; barring that, the hiring of a competent
rhythm guitarist who thinks the rest of them are a bunch of fuckups
would not only beef up the sound, but lead to many exciting intra-band
altercations, hopefully onstage.

Shallow Be Thy Name are Clarque and Caroline (and sometimes a
half-dozen other folks) who make surging ringing 4-tracked pop music
that sometimes reminds me of those great albums of high-school bands
doing pop covers. YES that's a good thing. Duh.



Friday, August 6
The Rachel Nevadas [http://www.therachelnevadas.com/], Spader
Bickett Gallery, Raleigh



Friday, August 6
Extreme Animals [http://www.paperrad.org/extreme/], Bla Bla Wigout
[http://www.dyss.net/bla.html]
Nightlight, Chapel Hill

Isaac is moving to Germany, or someplace similarly european, sometime
soon, so things at Nightlight are nonstop departure-party until he's
gone. Here's a note he stuck on the website about this show:

"RAVEROCKnREGGAY - some kind of post-dyss dance culture fakery,
featuring: EAnimals. i tell people about this band, and they say, 'oh
hm, dude, i've never seen them,,,' uh - well fucking do it. drum,
synth, fx, rat-tails, sing-a-longs - it's all there, played fast and
furious. whenever someone gets around to doing some kind of noNC, EA
will star. even tho they don't live here anymore. BlaBla was barfed to
life w/ one simple goal: let's stop improvising w/ our laptops, and
try to make dance music... we're working on it. in case it's not yet
clear, this night will include REAL DANCE MUSIC played by DJ
persons!!! PARTYPARTYPARTYPARTYPARTY"



Friday, August 6
The Minders [http://www.theminders.com/], North Elementary
[http://www.northelementary.com]
Go! Studios Rm. 4, Carrboro



Friday, August 6
Goner [http://www.gonertheband.com/], Red Skeleton, The Quarantines
[http://www.freelon.com/quarantines/main.php]
Kings, Raleigh



Saturday, August 7
The Spinns [http://www.thespinns.freeservers.com/], Taylor & the Puss
The Cave, Chapel Hill



Saturday, August 7
Renelvis
Local 506, Chapel Hill

Renelvis! He's short--about 5'3"--and Filipino, and he's the most
motherfucking Elvis of any Elvis since '72 or so. He doesn't so much
sing as purrrrr, and his moves (and his porkchop belly) are Vegas,
baby! He spices up the nonstop barrage of Elvis cuts with a few of his
own, many of which focus upon issues of importance to the Youth of
Today, such as drug & alcohol abuse, and personal hygeiene. He is a
force of nature & cannot be stopped, so don't even try.

At one time it was fairly widely known & understood that Renelvis only
donned the white jumpsuit for the sake of his daughter Lisa, who has
Down Syndrome. Now, apparently, Rene's wife has been diagnosed with
cancer, so his financial burdens are even greater. He's the
hardest-working-man in show business today, so help a guy out,
wouldja?



Saturday, August 7
Clang Quartet, Cantwell, Gomez, Jordan
[http://www.cantwellgomezandjordan.com], Torch Marauder, Mowing Lawns
[http://www.dyss.net/mlawns.html]
Nightlight, Chapel Hill

Cantwell Gomez & Jordan are skronky noisefiends who bring such raw
musical talent to bear on their 3-minute spazzbursts that even the
wounded-kitten popfans huddled in the back can be heard to exclaim
over their skillz, even as they're trying to staunch the flow of blood
from their ears.

Clang Quartet is the only one-man avant-noise found-object percussion
maelstrom in-the-service-of-Jesus-Christ on the face of the earth.

Torch Marauder is blue. I was gonna make a crack about how it takes
him longer to write & record the VCR shtick for his live set than it
does for him to write actual songs, but then I remembered how many
years we had to wait for his brilliant 2nd LP, "Boxers, Painters &
Snappers," so let's just say he's got strict across-the-board quality
standards.



Sunday, August 8
The Strugglers [http://www.thestrugglers.org/]
WXDU 88.7 FM, Durham

This show marks the return of the live-local-rock thing to WXDU after
a roughly 8-month absence. I sha'n't go into detail as to why it took
so goddamn long, other than to say that sleeping in on Sunday *is*
kinda addictive.

Anyway. The Strugglers are the brainchild of one Randy Bickford, and
currently exist as a rotating & amorphous group of thankfully highly
skilled musicians who stand up behind him & follow along as best they
can as he spiels out one sad song after another in his vaguely
Oldham-esque warble. Their show a few weeks ago at Go was the best
thing I'd seen in months, and since then I think only Lambchop have
managed to top it.

As my own skills/abilities will have at least some slight impact on yr
enjoyment of this particular show, I'm not gonna make a similar
guarantee for it. But assuming I don't fuck up too severely, tune in
at 5:00 for our triumphant return, etc. 88.7 FM or www.wxdu.org.



Sunday, August 8
Zom Zoms [http://www.tubezomzoms.com], Yip Yip
[http://www.yip-yip.com]
Nightlight, Chapel Hill

Two bands of fukked-up fried-out freaks in weird costumes with
keyboards & noisemakers and high-concepts and I swear to god I dunno
how Nightlight got onto this circuit in the first place but I have to
say: you can live here for years, and see all kinds of bands, both
local & out-of-town, and after a while you start to think we've got
all the bases covered. Well: we're not even close. There is weird shit
out there in the bowels of America that's 40 zillion times weirder
than the weirdest the Triangle has to offer (and yes, that includes
last night's show at Nightlight), and the only joint in town that even
comes close to opening a window into that world is Nightlight. Attend,
if you can handle the dismay at learning what you've been missing.



Sunday, August 8
Rocketfire Red [http://www.rocketfirered.com], The Maybellines
[http://www.themaybellines.com/], Li'l Hospital
[http://www.indiepages.com/lilhospital/]
Local 506, Chapel Hill



Tuesday, August 10
John Harrison, Zeno Gill, Reid Johnson, Scott Phillips, Ryan Pound
[http://www.pidgeonenglish.com/]
The Cave, Chapel Hill

Local indie-rockers pull up stools & do one of those
songwriters-roundtable things. John Harrison fronts North Elementary &
used to play drums for the Comas. Zeno Gill plays guitar & sings for
the Sames & is one of the masterminds behind Pox World Empire. Reid
Johnson is the main instigator in Schooner. Scott Phillips plays
keyboards & sings for Goner. Ryan Pound is Ryan Pound, and he's also
the guy who books the rockmusic at Bickett Gallery in Raleigh.



Tuesday, August 10
Art Lord and the Self Portraits [http://www.ideasforhousecrafts.com],
No Way Jose [http://www.nowayjosemusic.listen.to], Spader
Nightlight, Chapel Hill



Wednesday, August 11
Cheers To No Tomorrow, Transportation
Go! Studios Rm. 4, Carrboro

As the last days of Go draw to a close, here are 2 bands whose fates
have been entertwined with the venue forever and a day. Cheers to No
Tomorrow are the side-project of Fin Fang Foom bass/keyboard/flautist
Eddie Sanchez. Transportation are our local Badfinger-loving but
not-above-hardrocking power-trio; that's Go manager Ben Dunlap on
drums. Give him a tweak of the red ballcap for all of us.



Wednesday, August 11
Prurient [http://hospitalproductions.com/hos-079.html], Kites
[http://www.loadrecords.com/bands/kites.html], Jason Crumer
Nightlight, Chapel Hill



--------> http://www.trianglerock.com <--------




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