RTP-area local music and culture

[eleni binge <elenibinge AT gmail.com>]

OK, I'm not in Seattle anymore. But I loved this club.  I saw the Yoko
show referenced, and discovered many a new band over a soy White
Russian or two in the 90's...Babe the Blue Ox, Ovarian Trolley,
Citizens Utilities, 7 year bitch...even Archers of Loaf, see, so this
post relates directly.

It was a great club, though snobby at times (the Seattle Freeze
[http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/pacificnw/2005/0213/cover.html]  was
sometimes well in effect here).  Somehow it managed to stay open
during the gawd-awful gentrification of Belltown (pricey condos,
remaking dive bars into 'wait-to-be-seated' sterile upscale eateries,
valet parking).  The obvious comparison here to make is with
Durham...and I truly do hope we avoid taking the Belltown path here.
How?  No idea.  But someone needs to open a down- home-cooking-cheap
restaurant with my favorite foods (seitan gyros, biscuits & gravy,
vegan cake, etc) and mismatched chairs with tables that are a little
sticky with unknown substances. Oh, and a dive bar with soy white
russians and floors your shoes will stick to.

In any case, I think we're fairly lucky here in the Triangle, and the
SE in general, music-venue wise.  There are so many places to play
here that one has to be disciplined about not playing shows rather
than booking gigs. For such a large city (Seattle) there weren't that
many good places to play/see shows, at least when we left...and now,
it's just gotten a little worse.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/pop/343960_crocodile18.html

--eleni