RTP-area local music and culture

[grady <grady AT ibiblio.org>]

Friday, April 27
Straight 8s    (http://www.straight8s.com)
The Belmont Playboys    (http://www.thebelmontplayboys.com/)
Hideaway BBQ, Raleigh

Belmont Playboys are from Charlotte, and have been doing the 
rockabilly-revivalist thing since 1989 or so, with a few years off here 
& there for good behavior.



Friday, April 27
Dan Melchior    (http://danmelchior.com/)
Violet Vector and the Lovely Lovelies 
(http://www.myspace.com/violetvectorandthelovelylovelies)
Bull City Headquarters, Durham

The Bull City HQ website says "Garage Night in Durham," and mebbe that's 
an apt description. Back in the '90s sometime, Durham's (well, at the 
time England's) Dan Melchior went fairly abruptly from playing in an 
obscure garage band, to a multi-year stint playing & recording with 
Holly Golightly. He moved to the USA in 2000. Not sure when he wound up 
in Durham, but he released a crazed little acid-damaged DIY bedroom 
blooz-folk-rock 7" a couple of months ago, and he has a band, Das 
Menace, with Kuki & some other folks.

Violet Vector and the Lovely Lovelies are total girl-group exhilaration. 
I'd give them 1800 stars (out of a possible 5), only all their songs are 
about twice as long as they ought to be. Gotta dock them 1796 stars for 
that.



Friday, April 27
The Port Huron Statement    (http://www.porthuronstatement.com/)
North Elementary    (http://www.northelementary.com)
Slim's Downtown, Raleigh



Friday, April 27
Snatches of Pink    (http://www.snatchesofpink.com/)
Dexter Romweber    (http://www.dexterromweber.com)
Reservoir, Carrboro

It's a CD-release show for Snatches of Pink, to celebrate the release of 
"Love is Dead." Snatches have left Charlotte's MoRisen Records, and have 
finally/once again struck out on their own: the CD is being released by 
8th House Records, a new label founded by Snatches frontman Michael Rank 
and drummer (and $2 Pistols frontman) John Howie Jr.

Opening the show: the Dexter Romweber Duo, which hopefully still 
includes Dex's sister (and former Snatches drummer) Sara Romweber.



Saturday, April 28
Schooner    (http://www.schoonermusic.com)
Kapow! Music    (http://kapowmusic.net)
The Never    (http://www.trekkyrecords.com/never.html)
The Physics of Meaning    (http://www.thephysicsofmeaning.com/)
Sweater Weather    (http://www.sweater-weather.com)
Southern Village Square, Chapel Hill

This is a benefit for Battling AIDS in Africa ( 
http://www.battlingaids.org/  ).  Tripp Cox of Schooner says:

For $5 you'll get a few hours of great live music in a great outdoor 
setting with great people and hopefully great weather! Music goes from 
noon til 7 pm.

Lineup is something like this:
12:15-1:00pm- Sweater Weather
1:15-2:00pm- Hinkley (Rochester, NY)
2:15-3:15pm- Kapow! Music
3:30-4:15pm- Laura Reed
4:30-5:30pm- The Never
5:45-6:30pm- Pick Up. Set Down.
(6:30-6:40pm-speaker Amadou Touray)
6:45-7:45pm- Schooner
8:00-9:00pm- The Physics of Meaning



Monday, April 30
Six Parts Seven    (http://www.6parts7.com)
Deerhunter    (http://www.notownsound.net/deerhunter/)
A is Jump    (http://www.myspace.com/aisjump2)
Local 506, Chapel Hill



Monday, April 30
Cantwell, Gomez, Jordan    (http://www.cantwellgomezandjordan.com)
Dig Shovel Dig    (http://www.digshoveldig.com/)
Celestial Business    (http://www.searchwielder.com/celestialbusiness.php)
Reservoir, Carrboro

Dave Cantwell sent along this precis of the two Asheville bands on the 
bill; I'll let his sense of humor stand in for a blurb about his band:

DIG SHOVEL DIG=Our crazy mountain pals: truly, deeply strange 
funk/punk/dub/spazzoid duo from Asheville. Drums, bass, toe-played 
keyboard. Difficult to describe, but very easy to enjoy. (Tip: Last time 
we had a show booked with them, they cancelled because they "couldn't 
find a ride from Asheville," which is pretty much the awesomest excuse 
ever.)

CELESTIAL BUSINESS=Is a one-man-band from Asheville. I know almost 
nothing about them except that they are touring with DigShovelDig (and 
presumably are DSD's ride) and have at least one tape out on DSD's 
label. That's right, I said "tape."



Tuesday, May 1
Spider Bags    (http://www.myspace.com/spiderbags)
The Selmanaires    (http://www.myspace.com/theselmanaires)
Local 506, Chapel Hill



Wednesday, May 2
Thad Cockrell    (http://www.thadcockrell.com/)
American Aquarium    (http://www.americanaquarium.com/)
Joshua Moore    (http://www.myspace.com/joshuamoore)
Lincoln Theater, Raleigh

Thad Cockrell used to be from around here, but he set off to make his 
fortune in Nashville a couplea years ago. It's hard to keep track of 
folks who venture into that morass, so it's good that he crawls back out 
every so often to say hello. He's a phenomenal country singer & songwriter.



Wednesday, May 2
Monsonia    (http://www.monsonia.com)
Hazerai    (http://www.myspace.com/hazerai)
Awesome Color    (http://awesomecolor.net)
Nightlight, Chapel Hill

Hazerai sprung from the ashes of the Chapel Hill band the Country Bears. 
They make noisy postpunk, maybe like Milemarker after they got good but 
before they went synth.

Monsonia are a lean mathy (yeah, Slinty, I guess) gtr/bass/drums band. 
They're great.



Wednesday, May 2
The Winter Sounds    (http://www.thewintersounds.com)
Ghetto Pony    (http://zebox.com/ghettopony)
Blend, Chapel Hill



Thursday, May 3
Cashmere Jungle Lords    (http://cashmerejunglelords.com)
The Blue Moon Revue    (http://myspace.com/thebluemoonrevue)
The Cave, Chapel Hill

Cashmere Jungle Lords are a southern surf band from Richmond.



Thursday, May 3
Greg Klaiber's Grabass Revue
Captured! By Robots    (http://www.capturedbyrobots.com/)
Teddy Bear Orchestra
Local 506, Chapel Hill



Thursday, May 3
Bull City    (http://www.bullcitytheband.com/)
Pontiak    (http://www.myspace.com/pontiak)
Pneurotics    (http://www.myspace.com/pneurotics)
Reservoir, Carrboro

Bull City are just about to release their debut album, and it's a good 
'un. Early demos sounded like a pop band in search of an angle, but in 
the year or so since, they've found their footing & have recorded a 
great record of southern country-rock that starts out all Crazy Horse, 
but then veers into weirdo smartass Alex Chilton/Big Star territory, to 
great effect.



Friday, May 4
Heather McEntire    (http://www.bellafea.com/)
Bowerbirds    (http://www.bowerbirds.org)
Megafaun    (http://www.myspace.com/megafaun)
Horseback    (http://www.myspace.com/horsebacknoise)
305 South, Durham

If I'm reading these tea leaves correctly, this is a CD-release party 
for the new Burly Time label, operated in part by Independent Weekly 
staffer Grayson Currin. Their first two releases are CDs from Bowerbirds 
(brilliant gorgeous nervy pastoral art-folk from former Ticonderoga 
member Phil Moore & his lady Beth Tacular) and Horseback (quiet bedroom 
drone-folk from Jenks Miller (In The Year of the Pig, The Hem of His 
Garment, Mount Moriah, Un Deux Trois, etc)).



Friday, May 4
Thad Cockrell    (http://www.thadcockrell.com/)
The Old Ceremony    (http://www.theoldceremony.com/)
Cat's Cradle, Carrboro

Thad Cockrell is an exceptional honky-tonk (and gospel) 
singer-songwriter from NC, though he's been duking it out in Nashville 
for a year or two now.

The Old Ceremony are a big baroque piano-art-pop band with a heavy debt 
(for more than just the bandname) to Leonard Cohen.



Friday, May 4
Twilighter    (http://twilighter.net/)
Hammer No More the Fingers    (http://www.hnmtf.com)
Salt With Bitters
Nightlight, Chapel Hill

Twilighter have been around for a few years, but their earlier 
recordings were more country-pastoral than their latest release, which 
acquired a welcome jolt of Feelies/VU nervous tension from 
someplace-or-other. Plus the album-closing "Pick Up," featuring Sonar 
Strange on lead vox, is one of the best things I've heard in years.

Hammer No More The Fingers are a new indie-rock band touching all the 
classic old touchstones, most notably the screwy guitars of our misspent 
youth.



Friday, May 4
Man Will Destroy Himself
The Ts
Slim's Downtown, Raleigh



Saturday, May 5
Annuals    (http://www.myspace.com/annuals)
Blonde Redhead    (http://www.blonde-redhead.com/)
Cat's Cradle, Carrboro

I haven't seen or heard Blonde Redhead since they went all sugary a 
couple of records ago (isn't that what I read? Everything I know about 
music I get from The Internets). Annuals, of course, are stuck in that 
21st-century limbo between Pitchfork hyping your debut and then 
whatever's supposed to happen *after* Pitchfork hypes your debut.



Saturday, May 5
The Mountain Goats    (http://www.themountaingoats.net/)
The Public Good
Local 506, Chapel Hill

This is an anniversary party for Local 506. Dunno which anniversary it 
is specifically, but there's no harm in celebrating. The Public Good 
features former members of the Popes, which might only be meaningful to 
you if you lived here in the late 80s.



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