RTP-area local music and culture

[grady <grady AT ibiblio.org>]

John I wrote:

> > 1. Cradle is non-smoking
>
> A real plus since the overwhelming majority of rockers don't smoke.

Correct, although it's hard to get exact figures. Most Chapel 
Hill/Carrboro rockers are white, college-educated people between the 
ages of 18 and 40. Overall smoking rates for that age-group are around 
26%. The abstract I found ( 
http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/research_data/adults_prev/mmwr_highlights_5240.htm 
) doesn't provide specific numbers for whites nor for college-educated 
folks (although overall, folks with postgraduate education had a smoking 
rate of only 9.5%) so we'll have to make up some numbers. Let's just say 
  that rockers smoke at a slightly higher rate than American Indians 
(32.7%) and high-school dropouts (34.3%). In fact, let's just round it 
up to an even 40%.

Anecdotally, I'd say it's actually lower than that; even at the Local 
506, when I'm looking around at my fellow audience members, I'd wager 
that fewer than 2/5 are smoking. Those few just spew out a lot of smoke.

> > 2. Cradle beer is cheaper and more diverse.
>
> Warm Hams on tap diversity does not make.  Although I found a roach in mine 
> once when I was there, so they clearly do not discriminate against our 
> invertebrate friends. 

While Hamms is still apparently brewed today, I'm fairly sure I haven't 
seen it at the Cradle, at least not on tap. They do feature the Carolina 
Brewery's beers on tap, including their perfectly tasty Copperline 
Amber, which makes up in freshness what it might lack in depth.

On the bottled side, while I can't say that I've memorized the beer 
list, I seem to recall a selection at least diverse enough to include 
some Abita products. Haven't been to Disco Rodeo since the name change, 
but when it was the Ritz, you had your fairly standard choice of 
________, ________ LITE, or Heineken.

Why are you such a Cradle-hater? Scared of black bathrooms? Sat down on 
the sofa one time & were embarrassed to find you couldn't stand back up? 
Lifelong fear of splinters from plywood? Don't wish to spend the entire 
night trying to find the "sweet spot"? (hint: try that little balcony 
immediately behind the mixing console, especially if the sound guy is 
traveling with the band & doesn't know how to compensate for the 
boominess of the room down front)

Ross