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  • From: grady <grady AT ibiblio.org>
  • To: RTP-area local music and culture <ch-scene AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: On Durham and identity
  • Date: Thu, 05 Apr 2007 17:00:03 -0400

It's no accident that most-all the top-rated high-end restaurants in the Triangle are in Durham . . . there are a LOT of doctors & lawyers in Durham. More generally, I think I read recently that the single biggest employer in Durham is Duke Med Center.

w/r/t all the stuff you're talking about RE: putting the Cradle on yr one-sheet or whatever . . . do people really take that stuff seriously? Especially nowadays in the age of MySpace, do any venue bookers really rely on much more than music on MySpace, plus legitimate press clips or whatever? Any fool & his brother's dog can get a gig at the Cradle during their periodic Sunday showcase things.

I'm pretty sure that most bands in Chapel Hill just wanna play shows with their friends as well . . . it may just be that they perceive the necessary hoops that require jumping through to be harder to deal with, certainly when talking about the Cradle & 506.

But go talk to the Reservoir peeps . . . that seems like a community of folks throwing shows for themselves & their friends, some of whom are in out-of-town bands.

Or read Aaron's thesis on Nightlight . . .

I don't have a problem with the notion of Raleigh & Durham & Chapel Hill/Carrboro being perceived as distinct from one another, but I think that mostly just underlines the fact that in all three towns, we're talking about communities of people who hang out together at the bar & play in each others' bands, so they tend to hang together locally & close-to-home. Sometimes I hear from folks wanting to find out how to book shows in the other towns, and I try to point them to like-minded bands to team up with, and it usually seems to work out OK. Plus Durham is full of people like Jim, who used to live in the other two towns. Or Sara Bell . . . have you talked to her?

Certainly one could make arguments, surrounding Kings, that Raleigh continues to be the home of ROCK, but I haven't ever done the math to count up how many bands of each sub-sub-subgenre call each city home. That'd be an amusing exercise, I think. Beyond that, I dunno, I don't really see the three cities as having distinctive musical sub-styles unique to them. People used to talk shit about the Chapel Hill detuned-guitars thing vs. three-chord rock in Raleigh in the 90s, but I was skeptical of it at the time, even. Moreso now.



betsyshane AT gmail.com wrote:
Hey all

I am getting a lot of really great information (I did some work a few
years ago on women in Durham and have some pretty good numbers
comparing to the rest of the country-- women make more on avg here,
more women owned businesses etc but that also may have something to do
with RTP which is technically in Durham Co)

But that census info really threw me...the median income in Durham is
higher than elsewhere, so does the money thing still hold up? I guess
that's a whole other investigation; why is Durham real estate so
damned cheap?

From some of the research, I've heard that things may have sort of
been like they are in Durham in Chapel Hill a while back-- a bunch of
people who play shows with their friends and want to "make
something." And Trekky Records has actually been cited as a good
example of people sort of taking a different route to help promote
themselves/friends in the area (so Will if you have anything to say
about community or forming an identity, that'd be swell).

I generally ask bands to "map out" the scene or identify the cliques
that are present in their view, and to situate themselves in
relationship to other bands and venues. Sound is often a factor in
considering "favorite" venues or as one band called them "real" venues
(they meant it in the context of places who hire out soundpeople and
have professional shows as the main event), whereas others cite the
crowd. Some venues just kind of have a built in sell, I think.
Obviously it's a chicken or the egg thing-- if you're playing the
Cradle frank's not going to book you unless he's sure it'll be full,
but at the same time, if you just get lucky and tucked on the bill
under another band who would've filled the house, you've still "played
the cradle" and have that respect. To the same token, I had a friend
recently write me and say he used to go out but going to "unventilated
clubs with awful sound probably means the bands I like have let
themselves go." It could be the same with building bills-- I know
that when you make a one-sheet you're going to put on every big dog
band you've played with, or who you perceive to be on a tier further
up than you, and I wonder if "playing down" means anything around
here. I'd be interested in knowing what you guys think too as far as
that goes, although in a public forum I'm sure nobody wants to say
anything too incindiary.

I became interested in this project because in my mind, indie rock in
the triangle was sort of a constellation of three gravitational forces
of towns, around which smaller cliques, ideas and groups revolved.
Despite the number of people who rally for togetherness of the
triangle as a whole, I'm not sure I've been swayed. My research has
probably been indicative of this-- I am situated in a particular
place, I know particular people and those are the people I've been
able to speak to. James Hepler (thanks!) clued me in about this
list-- I didn't even know it existed, because nobody I'd spoken to
before him (and that's about 20 interviews) mentioned it. It's weird
how that works out.

On a note unrelated to the paper but marginally related to our
discussion, I think that a lot of the new venue types are wisening up
in the face of a changing culture-- people still will pay a $10 cover
and then $4 a beer at a "venue" but they'd rather go somewhere that
they can either BYOB, or drink with their friends, that will be open
afterwards and offers other options for the evening. Our culture is
slowly but surely fragmentalized and eaten up by huge conglomerates.
Almost any chain store I can think of that's been popular and stayed
that way recently has expanded into more than one type of thing, from
target adding the "supers" to get that grocery store/pharmacy business
to places like the gap expanding into undergarments and body lotion
crap to keep an edge on the game. We love the one-stop-shopping. In
a way, I think that's the greatest promise of 305 south-- the fact
that you can go there and there's the possibility of lots of shit to
do, even if all of it is spending money.

bs


On Apr 5, 3:51 pm, jim.brant... AT gmail.com wrote:
Let me also say that this is already among my all time favorite AMCH
threads (and as a longtime lurker I've read quite a few). Betsy-Shane,
I hope that you share whatever paper you make out of this conversation
with the group.

On Apr 4, 10:42 am, "betsysh... AT gmail.com" <betsysh... AT gmail.com>
wrote:

Hey Alt.music.CH
I'm a student at Duke and am writing a paper about the indie rock
scene in the Triangle, with a particular focus on Durham identity. I
was hoping I could maybe spark a little conversation or a little
interest to email back and forth about what it means to be a member of
the community, either as a fan, a band member, an info center,
whatever the case may be.
I'm interested in exploring what exactly it means to be a "Durham
band" since the proliferation of so many groups claiming this lately,
as well as what it means to be part of the Durham scene, and how (or
if) this differs from say, being part of the Raleigh scene or the
Chapel Hill scene (and being a Raleigh band or CH band). I wonder
what *you* think of when you think of Durham (and be completely
honest) or if you ever think of it at all. Why does Durham have tee
shirts and no other town does? What's the pride all about?
I'll keep an eye out and hope I get some replies.
Thanks
Betsy-Shane


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