RTP-area local music and culture

[grady <grady AT ibiblio.org>]

It's Christmas Party Night! At, like, every club, all at once:

Friday, December 17
Gerty [http://www.gerty.org], Fashion Design
[http://fashiondesignband.com/], Wigg Report, My Little Phony,
Topography
Ooh La Latte, Durham

This is the 307Knox Records Xmas party, and admission is somewhere
between $3 and $8, depending on how grinchy you're feeling, I guess.
In addition to the listed bands (I was listening to both Gerty &
Fashion Design the other day, and lemme tell you, the influence of the
B-52s on the current generation is not to be underestimated), each
band will cover a song by one of the other bands, Secret-Santa Style.



Friday, December 17
Snatches of Pink [http://www.snatchesofpink.com/], Torch Marauder,
Chrome Plated Apostles [http://www.demonbeach.com]
Cat's Cradle, Carrboro

This is the Cradle Christmas Party; it's free. I dunno how this lineup
works, exactly; at 9:30 you've got the old-school Stones-n-bombast
rock of Snatches of Pink, which features Michael Rank and whomever
else in town owns a leather vest (currently may or may not include
Kevin Clark on bass & John Howie Jr. on drums).

Then at 10:30 all the rockers go out back to smoke & the Torch
Marauder takes the stage in all his blue-faced black-caped glory, to
weave tall tales of Rock and derring-do and love and not wanting to
clean the house.

Then at 11:30, suitably nicotined, the rockers file back into the room
to see Chrome-Plated Apostles, which includes, IIRC, Clif Mann and
Hunter Landen of the Bad Checks, Greg Adams (ex-Pipe) and Dave Perry
(Jett Rink, Fake Swedish). The one time I saw them, a dude broke a
bottle over another dude's head. It was the first dude's idea,
actually, but that didn't stop Clif Mann from jumping offstage
mid-song and tossing them both out. Oh yeah: they sound like the Bad
Checks sounded back in the 80s.



Friday, December 17
$2 Pistols
The Cave, Chapel Hill



Friday, December 17
Indie-Rock Karaoke
Local 506, Chapel Hill

It's the Local 506 Christmas Party, featuring Indie-Rock Karaoke
courtesy of some guy from Athens who has spent a long time tweaking
his indie-rock record collection inside his computer to add lyrics &
put it all into Karaoke-able format. I'm told by people who went last
time that he's got a lot of "deep cuts" by certain artists; some
wanted to argue that there should've been more "hits" by a wider
variety of indie-rock bands, but surely you hardcore indie-rockers can
find plenty to sing about. Oh yeah, there's no cover, and presumably
some sort of drink specials to lube you up.



Friday, December 17
Jett Rink [http://www.jett-rink.com/], Ticonderoga
[http://www.ticonderobics.com/], Birds of Avalon, Pegasus
Kings, Raleigh

Ticonderoga are the darlings of the Young Raleigh rock scene; Jett
Rink are the undisputed champions of Durham rock. What will happen
with so much Hott Stuff in one room at one time?



Saturday, December 18
Jule Brown [http://www.unc.edu/~holland3/jbrown.htm]
The Cave, Chapel Hill

This is the early (7:30) show.



Saturday, December 18
The Quarantines [http://www.freelon.com/quarantines/main.php], Red All
Over [http://www.redallover.com], The Sames [http://www.thesames.com]
Martin Street Music Hall, Raleigh

The Sames are my favorite shoegazer band, ever. One thing: not enough
shoegazing! Too much jumping around!

The Quarantines expect me to mysteriously be able to write something
about them without ever having seen or heard them. OK: last week in
Durham I overheard one of them, the tall one, telling stories out of
class about one of the other ones. Tsk-tsk.



Saturday, December 18
Boner Machine, Extreme Animals [http://www.paperrad.org/extreme/],
Soft Serve, Rotten Milk
Nightlight, Chapel Hill

This is way too complicated for me. Please note that after the show,
everybody's gonna march downtown making a shitload of noise & waving
things in the air. Happy things. It's Lauren's birthday! Here's her
semi-coherent explanation:

Happy CreativeImprovisationMas!!! Soft Serve dresses like a slutty
soldier, plays keytar/electronics,kidnaps audience members and forces
them to sing back up. EA is everyone's favorite feel-good freakout
band back for a little x-mas disco demolition. Boner Machine is
earth-loving and free. PLEASE bring costumes, hand-held instruments,
noise-makers, toys, luv for tonight we will take it to the streets in
peaceful UNITY. This is also Lauren's B-day luv-fest!



Saturday, December 18
Ticonderoga [http://www.ticonderobics.com/], Ryan Pound
[http://www.pidgeonenglish.com/], The Strugglers
[http://www.thestrugglers.org/]
Bickett Gallery, Raleigh

Strugglers are Chapel Hill's current secret weapon, whisper-quiet on
CD but capable of mutating into infinite various forms in person. I
saw them earlier this year with two drummers and it was probably one
of the three best shows I saw all year. Randy Bickford writes
brilliant, pained-sounding country-folk songs and finds people willing
to actually practice before they play them. Yell out "Cascade Range";
you won't regret it.



Sunday, December 19
Hotel Motel [http://www.hot-mot.com]
WXDU 88.7 FM, Durham

Hotel Motel is a bona-fide artrock supergroup, featuring Anne Gomez
(Blue-Green Gods, Cantwell Gomez & Jordan), Bob Wall (Tricky the
Cosmonaut, Razzle, Spacelab) and Matt Kalb (v.Sirin, Audubon Park).
They make "pop" music that sounds like it should make perfect sense to
you but for some reason it's also somewhat frightening and confusing,
but in a good way. They have quite possibly the greatest "Some Velvet
Morning" cover ever performed.

5:00 p.m. 88.7 FM or www.wxdu.org.



Sunday, December 19
The Moaners, Cordero [http://www.corderomusic.com/], Letal
Local 506, Chapel Hill

The Moaners are a two-piece, featuring Melissa Swingle (Trailer Bride)
and Laura King (Grand National, ex-Gerty). Melissa plays guitar &
sings; Laura plays drums. They play country-blues with a strong
emphasis on blues, and they sound kind of like you might've expected
Trailer Bride to sound like 10 years ago if they'd remained a
two-piece and just continually improved for a decade. Which is to say
stripped-down, a little funny, a little mean, and (thanks to Laura)
more than a little loud.



Tuesday, December 21
Spader, The Sames [http://www.thesames.com], The People Under the
Bridge [http://www.duckonbike.com/artistinfo.asp?artistid=378]
Local 506, Chapel Hill

I just said nice things about the Sames, and I dunno from the other
two, so instead I'll say nice things about Local 506, who have rather
rashly adopted an idea that various of us have advocated at various
times over the years: free shows. The idea being that more people are
likely to take a chance on the fine young local rockers if they don't
have to pay anything to get in, *and* the drinkers who just wanna
drink will have no impediment either.

More drinkers means a healthier club; more audience for the young
bands means a healthier music scene. If you believe in this equation
then please come out to these free shows at the 506, and PLEASE think
of this as your opportunity to direct your cover-charge money to the
target of your choice. Buy yourself an extra drink; tip the bartender
an extra buck; or buy a CD or t-shirt or whatever from the bands. Or
just stand in the back & leave the money in your pocket, but fall
swooningly in love with one of the bands, so much so that you'd be
more than willing to pay to see them next time. No matter what, we all
win.



Wednesday, December 22
An Epic at Best, Cities
Local 506, Chapel Hill



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