RTP-area local music and culture

[grady <grady AT ibiblio.org>]

Friday, September 14
Embarrassing Fruits    (http://www.myspace.com/embarrassingfruits)
I Was Totally Destroying It 
(http://www.reverbnation.com/iwastotallydestroyingit)
Transit Union    (http://www.myspace.com/transitunion)
The Fast Computers    (http://www.myspace.com/thefastcomputers)
Duke Coffeehouse, Durham

This show starts around 8:30. I Was Totally Destroying It is a 
reconfiguration of John Booker's band En Garde, with James Hepler and 
some folks from the Durham band A-OK. Transit Union is 3/4ths of the 
amazing defunct Durham band Strunken White, plus Will Hackney of Trekky 
Records.



Friday, September 14
Fontana    (http://www.myspace.com/fontana1)
Overhead Projector    (http://www.myspace.com/overheadprojectorusa)
Tenderhooks    (http://www.myspace.com/tenderhooks)
Broad Street Cafe, Durham



Friday, September 14
Joe Romeo    (http://www.myspace.com/joeromeomusic)
Hundred Air    (http://www.myspace.com/hundredair)
Local 506, Chapel Hill

This is a CD-release party for Hundred Air, which is the new/current 
band of Adam Price, formerly of the Mayflies USA. Opening the show are 
Joe Romeo & His Orange County Volunteers.



Friday, September 14
Cantwell, Gomez, Jordan    (http://www.cantwellgomezandjordan.com)
Jew(s) & Catholic(s)    (http://www.myspace.com/jewsandcatholics)
Monologue Bombs    (http://www.myspace.com/themonologuebombs)
Hell, Chapel Hill

This is this year's installment of Hatchet Fest, the music festival 
sponsored by Raleigh's Hatchet Magazine. If you're like me, you always 
associated the Hatchet with Kings, and apparently so did they; I dunno 
what sequence of events resulted in this show being booked at Hell, but 
I'm pretty sure the phrase "I'm at a loss" was uttered at some point 
'round the Hatchet office.

No matter, it's a good bill. Cantwell Gomez & Jordan of course you can't 
live with out. Monologue Bombs is the usually-solo side project of Goner 
singer Scott Phillips & his accordion. Jew(s) and Catholic(s) are a 
Winston-Salem (I think!) band who make sorta-gothy artpop with guitar & 
standup bass.



Saturday, September 15
Johnny Irion
Jule Brown    (http://www.julebrown.org)
Bull City    (http://www.bullcitytheband.com/)
Cat's Cradle, Carrboro

Johnny Irion is surely best-known for his work in the fake-blues band 
Blueshammer in the movie "Ghost World." OK, and for being a member of 
Durham's Queen Sarah Saturday lo these many years ago. OK, and for his 
well-received recent work, solo and with his wife Sarah Lee Guthrie, of 
*those* Guthries.

Bull City *really* like Crazy Horse, which is, as far as I'm concerned, 
not a bad thing at all. If more people really liked Crazy Horse, things 
would be different 'round here.



Saturday, September 15
Big Bear    (http://www.bigbearbigbear.com/)
Nightlight, Chapel Hill



Saturday, September 15
Lud    (http://www.ludland.com/)
Regina Hexaphone    (http://www.reginahexaphone.com)
Monologue Bombs    (http://www.myspace.com/themonologuebombs)
Local 506, Chapel Hill

This is a CD-release party for the new Regina Hexaphone album. They're 
joined by their labelmates Monologue Bombs, which is the solo project of 
Goner frontman Scott Phillips, as well as by Lud, who are the best 
two-guitar rockband in the Triangle.



Saturday, September 15
Olympic Ass Kicking Team    (http://www.terryandersonrocks.com/)
The Ts    (http://www.myspace.com/thettttt)
Pour House, Raleigh



Sunday, September 16
The Bleeding Hearts    (http://www.thebleedinghearts.net/home.html)
Richard Bacchus    (http://www.richardbacchus.com/)
The Soda Pop Kids    (http://www.myspace.com/thesodapopkids)
Downtown Event Center, Raleigh



Monday, September 17
Peelander-Z    (http://www.peelander-z.com/p-z_e/home_e.html)
Opening Flower Happy Bird    (http://www.myspace.com/openingflowerhappybird)
Local 506, Chapel Hill

Peelander-Z are from Japan; they're kinda like if the Power Rangers were 
a joke-rock band. Not sure how well that meshes with the slightly 
morose, Postal-Service-y synth-pop of Opening Flower Happy Bird 
(although OFHB are more inclined to rock out (sloppy drumkit and all) 
onstage than on record).



Monday, September 17
Greg Davis    (http://www.reckankomplex.com/springtourbios.html)
Akron/Family    (http://www.younggodrecords.com/product.asp?P_ID=37)
Megafaun    (http://www.myspace.com/megafaun)
Pour House, Raleigh

Last time Akron/Family came through, IIRC, they played the Duke 
Coffeehouse, and the crowd was reportedly extraordinarily ill-mannered, 
to the point of driving the poor Coffeehouse employees to tears. Luckily 
Megafaun, perhaps the friendliest-seeming band in the Triangle (at least 
in terms of their stage presence), are on the bill to dissipate the bad 
vibes with their sets of alternating bluegrass and noise/drone.



Tuesday, September 18
Mowgli    (http://www.myspace.com/mowglimowgli)
Phathom    (http://www.myspace.com/phathomsound)
Local 506, Chapel Hill



Wednesday, September 19
Subscape Annex    (http://www.subscapeannex.com)
Robot Soup    (http://myspace.com/robotsoupsound)
Taaz
USA Baby
Nightlight, Chapel Hill



Thursday, September 20
The Bleeding Hearts    (http://www.thebleedinghearts.net/home.html)
Gray Young    (http://www.myspace.com/grayyoung)
Red Collar    (http://www.myspace.com/redcollarmusic)
Pneurotics    (http://www.myspace.com/pneurotics)
The Proclivities
Tir Na Nog, Raleigh

This is part of the big 4-day multi/culti/whatever-fest in Raleigh 
called SparkCon. (http://www.sparkcon.com) They've got shows and panel 
discussions and a fashion show & some live art-making and gawd knows 
what else. It's gotten really huge, event-wise, in just the scant 12 
months since it began. No idea whether it's going to be huge 
attendance-wise, as well, but in any case it makes a convincing argument 
that creative types in Raleigh are really desperate to network.



Thursday, September 20
Wigg Report    (http://www.synchronizedswim.org)
Future Kings of Nowhere    (http://www.thefuturekings.net/)
The Cave, Chapel Hill

Two Durham bands who take acoustic guitars & bang the shit out of them 
in a pleasantly punkrock fashion.



Thursday, September 20
The Narrator
Hammer No More the Fingers    (http://www.hnmtf.com)
The Bronzed Chorus    (http://www.myspace.com/thebronzedchorus)
Reservoir, Carrboro

HNMTF are some young dudes whose upcoming EP makes a pretty damn 
convincing argument that there's still plenty of life yet to be found in 
good ol' Chapel Hill-style screwy-guitars indierock.



Thursday, September 20
Man Will Destroy Himself
The Flash Attacks    (http://www.myspace.com/theflashattacks)
Betty Sue Aside
Slim's Downtown, Raleigh



Friday, September 21
Thad Cockrell    (http://www.thadcockrell.com/)
Big Fat Gap    (http://www.bigfatgap.com/)
Brendan James    (http://www.brendanjames.com)
Clef Hangers    (http://www.clefhangers.com/)
Cat's Cradle, Carrboro

This is a benefit for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. In addition to 
the high-lonesome hard country of Triangle-gone-Nashville expat Thad 
Cockrell and the knockout bluegrass of Big Fat Gap, you get the 
almost-30-year-old UNC a capella group the Clef Hangers. Yes, they're 
the sort of college a capella group who do a lot of contemporary-pop covers.



Friday, September 21
Goner    (http://www.gonertheband.com/)
Viswas
The Swingin' Johnsons    (http://www.myspace.com/swinginjohnsons)
Elisa Flynn    (http://www.myspace.com/elisaf)
Berkeley Cafe, Raleigh

More SparkCon content.



Friday, September 21
John Vanderslice    (http://www.johnvanderslice.com/)
Bishop Allen    (http://www.bishopallen.com/)
Duke Coffeehouse, Durham



Friday, September 21
Dirty5thirty    (http://www.myspace.com/dirty5thirty)
Nathan Oliver    (http://www.nathan-oliver.com)
Sleepsound    (http://www.sleepsound.org/)
Local 506, Chapel Hill

This is another Reverbnation showcase. Six months ago the conventional 
wisdom was that it was slow suicide to try to go head-to-head with 
MySpace in the "quick-and-dirty band website" space.

Nowadays, though, the conventional wisdom is that the momentum has 
shifted to Facebook, and Reverbnation, for better or worse, has a bigger 
damn collection of widgets for dropping into other sites, including 
Facebook, than just about anybody else.

Now if only we could convince them to crank back the gratuitous-Flash 
level of the website about 18 notches . . .



Friday, September 21
Killer Filler    (http://www.myspace.com/killerfiller)
Slim's Downtown, Raleigh



Saturday, September 22
Regina Hexaphone    (http://www.reginahexaphone.com)
Apples In Stereo    (http://www.applesinstereo.com)
The Loners    (http://www.demonbeachrecords.com/loners.html)
The Moaners    (http://www.themoaners.com/)
The Never    (http://www.trekkyrecords.com/never.html)
Lincoln Theater, Raleigh

This is another big SparkCon-related bill. Loners and Moaners are both 
guitar-drums duos who're trying (and succeeding) to wring as much 
mean-ass blues noise as possible out of their stripped setups. Regina 
Hexaphone are a soft-edged country-rock band fronted by longtime 
Triangle musical fixture Sara Bell (Angels of Epistemology, Dish, Shark 
Quest).



Saturday, September 22
The Old Ceremony    (http://www.theoldceremony.com/)
The Modern Skirts    (http://www.myspace.com/themodernskirts)
Cat's Cradle, Carrboro



Saturday, September 22
Jule Brown    (http://www.julebrown.org)
Dan Bryk    (http://www.bryk.com/)
Tim Williams    (http://www.myspace.com/timwilliams)
Duke Coffeehouse, Durham

Jule Brown are the sorta-demented blues-drone band fronted by Mark 
Holland, of the late lamented Jennyanykind. Dan Bryk makes wry, smartass 
piano-pop; like most such performers, he'd much rather score the elusive 
Randy Newman comparison than any [perhaps more-apt] comparison to more 
contemporary players. C'mon, Dan, do you really aspire to Disney 
Soundtracking?



Saturday, September 22
The Hanks    (http://www.thehanks.com/)
Jeff Hart & the Damage Done    (http://myspace.com/youngneilthedamagedone)
Amps Do Furnish a Room    (http://www.myspace.com/ampsdofurnisharoom)
Broad Street Cafe, Durham

Jeff Hart has been gigging around the Triangle for well over 20 years, 
but this year has turned into one of his most prolific yet. He's in all 
three of these bands: The Hanks are the country-power-pop band Jeff 
played in in the '80s; The Damage Done started out as a Neil Young cover 
band, but has since expanded to include a lot of material Jeff was 
writing with the now-defunct Brown Mountain Lights.

And Amps Do Furnish A Room are a concept band of sorts, the concept 
being to learn & then play a single album in its entirety every year. 
This year's album? "Marquee Moon," I believe.



Saturday, September 22
Americans in France    (http://www.myspace.com/americansinfrance)
The Soft Company    (http://www.myspace.com/softcompany)
Waumiss    (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IuWYzqfJuK8)
The Cave, Chapel Hill

Soft Company is a buncha folks who also play in Le Weekend (peeps from 
Audubon Park, Erie Choir, Piedmont Charisma), brought together in the 
service of Erin Riding's songs.

Waumiss is Clarque and Caroline (Shallow Be Thy Name) on a loop/sampler tip.



Saturday, September 22
The Sammies    (http://www.myspace.com/thesammies)
Tiger Thief    (http://www.tigerthief.com/)
Tripp    (http://www.myspace.com/trippband)
Local 506, Chapel Hill



Saturday, September 22
The Love Language    (http://www.myspace.com/thelovelanguage)
Cakes of Light 
(http://www.heatretentionrecords.com/HRR%20cakes%20of%20light.asp)
Little Lords    (http://www.myspace.com/hollaifyaheardme)
Nightlight, Chapel Hill



Saturday, September 22
The Points    (http://www.myspace.com/thepoints)
The Gondoliers    (http://www.myspace.com/comeseethegondoliers)
Slim's Downtown, Raleigh

Garage-o-rama. It's hard to do better, locally, than Chapel Hill's 
Gondoliers, if you like your garage-rock stompy and organ-stabbed.



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