RTP-area local music and culture

[kutchma AT hotmail.com]

On Apr 12, 3:01 pm, "Colin Booy" <c... AT yahoo.com> wrote:
> When I first moved to town I noticed/thought a fair bit about the
> absence of house shows, at least in Durham. My speculation is that
> some of it at least has to do with the actual houses themselves:
>
> 1) At least as far as I've seen there seem to be hardly any houses
> with basements. And of course a basement (= dirt in all directions but
> up) is the best possible soundproofing. Growing up in Seattle and also
> in college in Ohio, almost all viable punk/show houses put the noise
> in the basement. I guess here it being so hot (and also, I think,
> there are sediment/water table issues -- Durham seems to be built on
> hard clay w/just the thinnest layer of soil, as I discovered trying to
> grow tomatos last summer) that it's not feasible or desirable
> economically to build basements.
>
> 2) Even if you do decide to get serious about soundproofing, these
> damn houses have zero insulation, making it almost impossible (also
> infuriating ecologically: insulation keeps the cool in, as well as the
> hot). I remember when Chaz, Ten, and I were living together, making
> dur-rock plugs for the windows, stacking matresses in front of them,
> etc. and it didn't really make a jot of difference. The cops still
> came, we got pretty spooked, and that was that for house shows at Ft.
> Awkward (of course it didn't help that the bill somehow grew to 4-5
> bands, and the amps seemed to keep getting louder/the cabinets even
> bigger as the night progressed).
>
> I mean, probably there's always going to be a bit of a limited run for
> this sort of house (Raleigh gets the props for persistence in this
> regard), but still the deck seems a little stacked against us in the
> Triangle. I think the hope for a space like BCHQ is that it can retain
> much of that kind of informal atmosphere (witness: everyone moshing to
> Red Collar, of all things, with a silly grin platered on each face),
> while avoiding some of the downfalls.
>
> best,
> Colin Booy.
>
> On Apr 9, 3:13 pm, "trekky records" <willhac... AT gmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> > man i really wish we could get more house shows together.
> > unfortunately, finding a good house has been harder and harder. all
> > the places we used to do house shows in Greensboro and the Triangle
> > are not options anymore, as people have moved out. there is one that
> > does a show every 6 months in CH, but that's so rare.
>
> > we're hoping to have small acoustic shows in our new trekky
> > headquarters house in CH, but there's always neighbors that hate
> > music...- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

I don't think people are "moshing" at our shows but maybe "mushing"..