RTP-area local music and culture

[grady <grady AT ibiblio.org>]

There is wild obsessive body-and-medical-paranoia installation-art at 
Side Street Gallery in Pittsboro that is WELL WORTH the drive down 
15-501, y'all. Go check it out: http://www.sidestreet-gallery.com/

(seriously! crazy 3-D side-of-beefy hanging sculptures; a whole shitload 
of repurposed antique medical paraphernalia; a weird faux-correspondence 
between a doctor & Robert Rauschenberg; and a little portable turntable 
with Slim Whitman, Willie Nelson & Melanie. Plus more!)

Otherwise:

Tuesday, October 18
John Vanderslice, Portastatic [http://www.portastatic.com]
Cat's Cradle, Carrboro

New Portastatic album "Bright Ideas" best Portastatic album ever?
Depends on whether you like Superchunk, I guess, as it's certainly the
Superchunkiest ever. If you drew two lines, one through the career of
Portastatic (ultra-low-fi->keyboardy+lush->bossanova->rocky) and one
through the career of Superchunk (punky->rocky->moody->synthy->etc),
then "Bright Ideas" stands at the convergence of those two lines. Plus
Jim Wilbur.



Tuesday, October 18
Detroit Cobras [http://www.motorcityrocks.com/cobras.htm], Reigning
Sound [http://www.reigningsound.com/], Snatches of Pink
[http://www.snatchesofpink.com/]
Local 506, Chapel Hill



Tuesday, October 18
Erie Choir, Mean Reds Electric Orchestra
The Library, Chapel Hill

Mean Reds Orchestra = Gavin (Soccer) O'Hara (first band of the 2000's
for Gavin) plus Aly (Dear Enemy, umm, Iforgetwhatelse) Khalifa plus
Jerry Kee (everything, okay?) plus god knows how many other people for
whom I have neither names or parentheticals. Not as "funny" as Soccer,
saints be praised. Or damned, depending.

Erie Choir better fukking play that Pan-Pan song, as it is
Durhamriffic. Y'all check it: Downtown Durham Inc, the nonprofit
promotional organ for Downtown Durham, commissioned a compilation CD
of songs about Durham by a superstar lineup of local rockers,
including Erie Choir, Torch Marauder, Dirty Little Heaters & the
Sames, which they apparently handed out at their $50-a-plate annual
meeting on October 7th. I don't know, I wasn't there; my copy came via
other channels. It rocks. You should
[http://www.downtowndurham.com/Contact_Us_Staff_Listing.11.0.html]
email them and ask 'em for a copy.



Wednesday, October 19
Six Organs of Admittance [http://www.sixorgansofadmittance.com/],
Dirty Projectors [http://www.westernvinyl.com/dirty_projectors.htm],
Work Clothes [http://www.bullfightparty.org]
Duke Coffeehouse, Durham

Work Clothes added a piano player while you weren't looking (unless
you were at Troika, in which case you saw them do it), bringing their
total membership to five. They can still get pin-drop-quiet, though,
when they wanna.



Wednesday, October 19
John Davis [http://www.johndavismusic.com], New Town Drunks
[http://www.thirdmind.org/featured_artists/NTD/index.html]
Local 506, Chapel Hill

New Town Drunks have a new CD out, and despite sticking it in my
backpack this morning I didn't manage to listen to it. I'm told that
they're working their way through the massive stacked result of a
brainstorming session on "drinking-related promotional ideas," and my
recollection of guitarist Roberto Cofresi from our college days is
that his massive stacks of ideas can get pretty massive, so if nothing
else expect a level of thematic consistency unusual for these parts.



Thursday, October 20
The Port Huron Statement [http://www.porthuronstatement.com/], Mean
Reds Electric Orchestra
Kings, Raleigh



Friday, October 21
Ladyfest NC [http://www.ladyfestnc.com/schedule.html]
305 South, Durham

This is actually spread across four venues (workshops/etc at 305 E.
Chapel Hill St, plus performances at 305 South, Joe & Jo's, and the
Durham Arts Council); complete information can be found at
[http://www.ladyfestnc.com/schedule.html] the Ladyfest NC website.
Highlights include:

Friday the 21st: Veronique Diabolique & Fashion Design at 305 South;
Cantwell Gomez Jordan & Warbomb at Joe & Jo's.
Saturday the 22nd: Dirty Little Heaters, Hotel Motel, Gerty, The
Moaners & Red Collar Company, all at 305 South.

There are a ton of other bands at those & other venues as well.



Friday, October 21
Summer Hymns [http://www.summerhymns.com/]
Duke Coffeehouse, Durham

Who is that [http://www.summerhymns.com/photos.html] silver-haired
devil playing bass in Athens' Summer Hymns?



Friday, October 21
The Strugglers [http://www.thestrugglers.org/], Bellafea
[http://www.bellafea.com/], Schooner [http://www.schoonermusic.com]
Local 506, Chapel Hill

The Strugglers have a new CD out, "You Win," and it's sad and
beautiful, much like the world. This is the CD-release show, and it's
a free show. The Strugglers change lineups like some [clean] people
change pants, but I'm told that for this show they'll be an 8-piece,
including cello, violin & synth in addition to the usual
gtr-bass-drums-whatever.

Opening the show are the better-every-time Bellafea, and Raleigh's
Schooner, who play occasionally moody/murky mope-pop that mysteriously
transforms into anthemic rock about 37% of the time.



Friday, October 21
Thunderlip [http://www.thunderlip.com/], Another Tombstone Dream, ASG
Kings, Raleigh



Saturday, October 22
Summer Hymns [http://www.summerhymns.com/], Dixie Dirt
[http://www.dixiedirtmusic.com/]
Bickett Gallery, Raleigh

Bickett Gallery is a gallery/performance space/bar in Raleigh that's
square enough to host young-art-lovers' coctail-and-networking happy
hours, and hip enough to host the latest impenetrable film by nutjob
and SubGenius tENTATIVELY, a CONVENIENCE, while still remaining cool
enough to open their doors to just about anything else you can come up
with, including multimedia/dance performances, weekly Crowmeat Bob
skronkfests, and this show by Athens' Summer Hymns & Knoxville's Dixie
Dirt. Summer Hymns include Pine State founder and former McCauley
Street resident Chris Riser, so try to make it by to say hi.



Saturday, October 22
The Rosebuds [http://www.therosebuds.com/], Hotel Lights
Cat's Cradle, Carrboro

The Rosebuds have a brand-new album, "Birds Make Good Neighbors," and
to my ears it neatly dodges any danger of sophomore slump via a few
eminently successful means: letting Kelly sing more; exploring their
slower/moodier/textural side; and hiring Lee Waters to play drums on
the damn thing.

Lee's not playing drums with them on the road, but don't let that news
slow you down.

Hotel Lights self-released an excellent debut album at the tail-end of
2004; self-released despite being the moody pop-rock solo vehicle of
ex-Ben Folds Five drummer Darren Jessee. Props to him for not wanting
to ride that particular roller-coaster again, and for making a
brilliant record (or vice versa).



Saturday, October 22
Nathan Asher & the Infantry [http://www.nathanasher.com/], The Never,
Starting Tuesday [http://www.startingtuesday.com/], Owen Fitzgerald
Local 506, Chapel Hill

This is the CD-release party for the new Nathan Asher CD, "Sex Without
Love," which is apparently a concept-album about a straw-man. Yr
glibness is showing, Nathan, and that's never becoming. The earnest
shtick was a lot easier to take, as hard-to-take as it was.



Saturday, October 22
The Cartridge Family [http://www.cartridge-family.com/], Fake Swedish
[http://fakeswedish.4t.com/index.html]
Kings, Raleigh

CD-release party for the Cartridge Family's debut (fuck, y'all, that's
4 CD-release shows in one weekend. I know you want to get the CD out
right in the middle of the fall semester, but college radio is already
saturated; you'll have a better shot at airplay if you pick ANY OTHER
MONTH but Rocktober. Trust me, I know). Fake Swedish open, which begs
the question: are they too well-dressed for Raleigh? I guess we'll
find out.



Sunday, October 23
Glissade [http://www.myspace.com/glissade], Dixie Dirt
[http://www.dixiedirtmusic.com/], The Capulets
[http://www.unc.edu/~arclarke/the%20capulets/]
Local 506, Chapel Hill



Monday, October 24
Flicker [http://www.chapel-hill.nc.us/flicker]
Cat's Cradle, Carrboro

Flicker is the lonnnng-running semi-regular/coupla-monthly short-film
festival dedicated to showing works shot on actual film, and to
promoting the continued propping up of the charmingly reanimated
corpse of Super-8. There are cookies, and contests (including the
intermittently brilliant Flicker Hat Trick, which pairs one random
audience member with a camera, a single roll of super-8, and a random
film idea drawn from a hat), and the overall vibe is so welcoming and
user-friendly that you can almost forget that super-8 production costs
something on the order of $10/minute just in film and developing. But
then I guess the average student/amateur film could stand to be cut to
about 10% of its usual length, so maybe the cost is an *advantage*.



Monday, October 24
Orenda Fink [http://www.orendafink.com/], Neva Dinova
[http://www.nevadinova.com/], Alina Simone
[http://www.girlwithguitar.net/]
Wetlands, Chapel Hill



Tuesday, October 25
Jackie-O Motherfucker [http://www.roadcone.com/artists/jomf.shtml],
Wooden Wand and the Vanishing Voice [http://woodenwand.sinkhole.net/],
Boner Machine, Dead Elephant Bicycle
Duke Coffeehouse, Durham



Tuesday, October 25
The Spinns [http://www.thespinns.freeservers.com/], Die Rotz, The
Original Three
Wetlands, Chapel Hill

The Spinns have a new album out, "Lost Colony," and it sounds like it
was recorded in 1965. Like, *exactly* like it was recorded in
1965--rudimentary drums, tinny echo, tube "warmth," and endless
lyrical references to "girl" and how shitty life has been since the
singer met/lost you.

It is utterly brilliant.



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