RTP-area local music and culture

[grady <grady AT ibiblio.org>]

David Rose has an artshow opening at Fuse this Sunday; you've likely 
seen his stuff, because it's everywhere--splashy bright-colored robots 
and rabbits and monkeys and wrestlers and spacemen, some with 
exhortation to consume! or not. http://www.grfxmonkey.com

Otherwise:

Friday, December 9
$2 Pistols, The Chasers [http://www.the-chasers.com/], Randy Whitt and
the Grits [http://www.randywhitt.com/]
The Garage, Winston-Salem



Friday, December 9
Hotel Lights, Schooner [http://www.schoonermusic.com]
Kings, Raleigh

Hotel Lights is the lushly poppy new(ish) project of former Ben Folds
drummer Darren Jessee; their self-titled debut was on a lot of top-10
lists last year. Schooner also work the lushly poppy side of the
street, albeit with a swagger (or is that a stagger -- hard to tell
from the back) all their own.



Friday, December 9
The Trousers
Slim's Downtown, Raleigh



Saturday, December 10
Opening Flower Happy Bird
[http://www.myspace.com/openingflowerhappybird]
The Cave, Chapel Hill

This is the Early Show at the Cave, which I think means 7:30ish. If
the boys get rolling right-on-time, you might be able to catch the
first half of their set before you run upstairs to Local 506 for the
Minutemen movie.

Opening Flower Happy Bird are two boys with a drumkit, a guitar & a
laptop, and a delightfully skewed sense of what sorts of
hooks-and-loops bits and pieces assemble successfully into catchy
popsongs. Their set was the hit of the WXDU Benefit a few weeks ago,
and resulted in a whole lot of Opening Flower Happy Bird EP-listening
on the long Thanksgiving drive the next week. In our car, at least.



Saturday, December 10
Minutemen Tribute Night
Local 506, Chapel Hill

The evening commences at 8:00 with a screening of the new Minutemen
documentary "We Jam Econo." Once that's over, there'll be short (duh)
sets from the following bands, covering their favorite Minutemen
songs:

CantwellGomezJordan
Regina Hexaphone
Calabi Yau
New Town Drunks
In The Year of the Pig
The Minutemaids
Dom Casual
Chest Pains
Hotel Motel

I don't think I need to say anything else, either about these bands or
the Minutemen, but it *is* a mark of both the importance, and the odd
uniqueness of the Minutemen that they can be said to have had an
impact on bands ranging from the scrobbly spazz-noise of Calabi Yau &
CantwellGomezJordan, to the classic SST-style punk of Chest Pains, to
the garage/surf of Dom Casual, the drunken art-folk of New Town
Drunks, and the laid-back country-rock of Regina Hexaphone.



Saturday, December 10
S.C.O.T.S. [http://www.scots.com/], The Moaners
Cat's Cradle, Carrboro

SCOTS you know about by now; I dunno if it's charming or tragic that
their press still regularly references "pudding-throwing," possibly
more often than it references music.

The Moaners are the 2-piece dirty-blues-country-rock thing of
ex-Trailer Bride frontwoman Melissa Swingle.



Saturday, December 10
The Capulets [http://www.thecapulets.net], Hide and Seek
[http://www.freewebs.com/hideandseeek]
Kings, Raleigh



Saturday, December 10
Haunted House [http://www.adonismusic.com/hhouse.htm], Boyzone
[http://kodakculture.org/katherine/boyszone]
Nightlight, Chapel Hill



Sunday, December 11
Audubon Park [http://audubonpark.blogspot.com]
WXDU 88.7 FM, Durham

Audubon Park are remarkable for their absurdly catchy songcraft, their
occasional spurts of Pure Rock Power, and their amazing ability to
maintain themselves at the brink of implosion for the entirety of
their set. They marry hooks with noise (not to mention a near-epidemic
tendency towards digression) as well as any "indie-rock" band I can
think of. Plus they're all such cuties. See for yourself (with your
ears) at 5:00 p.m. 88.7FM or [http://www.wxdu.org] www.wxdu.org.



Sunday, December 11
Voxtrot, Chachalaca, The Ex-Lovers [http://theexlovers.com/]
Local 506, Chapel Hill



Sunday, December 11
Velvet [http://www.velvetpop.com], Evoka [http://www.evokamusic.com/],
The Silent Type [http://gentlecollective.com/silenttype/]
Wetlands, Chapel Hill



Monday, December 12
Flicker [http://www.chapel-hill.nc.us/flicker]
Cat's Cradle, Carrboro

It's the last Flicker of 2005. Flicker, of course, is the bimonthlyish
local festival/celebration of short celluloid. Narrative, arty,
abstract, whatever; as long as it's under 20 minutes & originated on
film, they'll show it. Doors are at 8:00, admission is cheap, and
there are prize drawings that just might result in you (yes, YOU)
making a 3-minute super8 movie on a subject not of your choosing.



Tuesday, December 13
John Harrison
The Cave, Chapel Hill



Tuesday, December 13
Princess [http://www.zibbi.com/], The Sibling Project
Bickett Gallery, Raleigh



Thursday, December 15
Snatches of Pink [http://www.snatchesofpink.com/], Jule Brown
[http://www.julebrown.org]
The Cave, Chapel Hill

Snatches of Pink have the early (7:30ish) slot, while Jule Brown are
holding down the late-night. I haven't been to the Cave since they
went half-nonsmoking and 100% private-club; has the haze cleared yet?



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