RTP-area local music and culture

[grady <grady AT ibiblio.org>]

Saturday, August 15
Amy Ray    (http://www.daemonrecords.com/beta/amy/amy.html)
Bellafea    (http://www.bellafea.com/)
Humble Tripe    (http://www.myspace.com/shawnluby)
Cat's Cradle, Carrboro

I believe Melissa York & Kaia Wilson (both ex-Butchies, ex-Team Dresch) 
played on Amy Ray's latest album, and are joining her on this tour.



Saturday, August 15
Pipe    (http://www.mrg2000.com/merge/bio.html?id=pipe)
Dry Heathens    (http://www.myspace.com/dryheathens)
Broad Street Cafe, Durham

Holy shit. The original lineup of Pipe (Dave Alworth, Mike Kenlan, Chuck 
Garrison & Ron Liberti) reunited to play XXMerge, and I swear to god, it 
was like walking into a Pipe show circa 1993. They were loosey-tighty in 
the same old way; Chuck's drumming was as massive as always; Ron was 
snatching beercans out of the air & tossing them back into the crowd as 
though it's something he still does on a weekly basis.

How lucky for you (and me), then, that they decided to play one or two 
additional shows for the 98% of their fans who couldn't make it to 
XXMerge. If you've ever seen Pipe, then I shouldn't have to tell you 
(but seriously: every bit as great as ever). If you've *never* seen Pipe 
. . . just go. GO.



Saturday, August 15
Ghost to Falco    (http://www.purevolume.com/GhosttoFalco)
Nathan Oliver    (http://www.nathan-oliver.com)
Oblisk    (http://www.myspace.com/oblisk)
Nightlight, Chapel Hill



Saturday, August 15
des_ark    (http://www.des-ark.org)
Impossible Arms
Auxes    (http://www.myspace.com/auxes)
Pros & Cons
Local 506, Chapel Hill

des_ark are one of the finest rockbands in North Carolina, period. 2 
guitars, drums, Aimee Argote's banshee wail.

Impossible Arms put out an album earlier this year that was sorta 
evenly-split between hooky Cheap Trick-style rock, and heavier Crazy 
Horse-like stoner jams.



Saturday, August 15
Straight 8s    (http://www.straight8s.com)
Blood Red River    (http://www.myspace.com/bloodredriver)
Resist Not    (http://www.resistnot.net)
The Pinhook, Durham

12:00 - Resist Not!
11:00 - Blood Red River
10:00 - Straight 8's



Saturday, August 15
The Infamous Sugar
Slim's Downtown, Raleigh



Sunday, August 16
The Tender Fruit    (http://www.myspace.com/thetenderfruit)
WXDU 88.7 FM, Durham

Christy Smith used to sing for a great country-rock band called Nola. 
She's also supplied guest vocals to folks like Megafaun (that's her on 
"The Longest Day" on their new album), but her current main gig is a 
guitar/drums duo called The Tender Fruit. Her voice is one of my top-10 
favorites in the Triangle; tune in at 4:00 and find out why. 88.7 FM or 
wxdu.org.



Sunday, August 16
Starlight Mints    (http://www.starlightmints.com)
JP Inc    (http://www.myspace.com/pleaseeasaur)
Parachute    (http://weareparachute.com)
Cat's Cradle, Carrboro



Sunday, August 16
In the Year of the Pig    (http://www.southernloveprod.com/ityotp.htm)
Make
The Beatings    (http://www.thebeatings.com)
Nightlight, Chapel Hill



Monday, August 17
The Warlocks    (http://www.thewarlocks.com/)
The Morning After Girls    (http://www.myspace.com/themorningaftergirls)
The Vandelles    (http://www.myspace.com/thevandelles)
Local 506, Chapel Hill



Tuesday, August 18
The Natural Gallerie
My Teenage Stride    (http://www.myspace.com/myteenagestride)
Knight School    (http://www.myspace.com/knightschoolmusic)
The Pinhook, Durham

11:00 - The Natural Gallerie
10:00 - My Teenage Stride
9:00 - Knight School



Tuesday, August 18
Jew(s) & Catholic(s)    (http://www.myspace.com/jewsandcatholics)
It's Just Vanity    (http://www.myspace.com/itsjustvanitync)
The Cave, Chapel Hill



Tuesday, August 18
919Noise Showcase
Nightlight, Chapel Hill

Jakuta & Karl (Durham) / Sooty Foots (Charlotte) / Subscape Annex 
(Raleigh) / Avant Lard (Bynum) / short set by Weather Machine (the Universe)



Wednesday, August 19
Cantwell, Gomez, Jordan    (http://www.cantwellgomezandjordan.com)
Beloved Binge    (http://www.myspace.com/belovedbinge)
The Pinhook, Durham

10:00 - Beloved Binge
9:00 - Cantwell Gomez & Jordan

The triumphant return of two of Durham's finest. Beloved Binge just 
spent the better part of a year driving around the USA in an old VW 
Westfalia camper-van, playing shows & screening Eleni's vegan 
documentary, "Seeing Through the Fence."

Cantwell Gomez & Jordan have been on baby-related hiatus. This is the 
first local show in quite a while for both these bands, and it's a safe 
bet they'll have some stories to tell.



Wednesday, August 19
Mandolin Orange    (http://www.myspace.com/mandolinorange)
Brand New Life    (http://www.myspace.com/thebrandnewlife)
Nightlight, Chapel Hill



Thursday, August 20
Lost in the Trees    (http://www.lostinthetrees.com)
The Love Language    (http://www.myspace.com/thelovelanguage)
James C.Wallace Parking Deck Plaza, Chapel Hill

This is a free outdoor show put on by the Town of Chapel Hill & Trekky 
Records. I think it's meant to lure normal people down closer to the 
wasteland that is East Franklin St. No matter the ulterior motive: The 
Love Language are one of the best live rock/pop bands working in NC 
nowadays, period.



Thursday, August 20
All Your Science
Clawform
Jay Cartwright
Bull City Headquarters, Durham

This is a CD-release for the new All Your Science album. Their first 
album was an echoey low-fix mix of drum-and-drone and beautiful 
minimalist rocksong. They're not just a gtr/drums duo; they're a 
gtr/drums duo whose drummer transports his entire kit in a backpack on 
his bike. Yet he pulls more/varied sounds from it than yr average rocker 
with 4 rack toms & a china boy.

Also on the bill: Lemming Malloy frontman Jay Cartwright, and the 
black-metal banjo stylings of Colin Booy's Clawform.



Thursday, August 20
Dale Watson & his Lone Stars    (http://www.dalewatson.com)
John Howie, Jr. & The Rosewood Bluff 
(http://www.myspace.com/rosewoodbluff)
Pour House, Raleigh



Thursday, August 20
Mysterium Tremendum    (http://www.myspace.com/mysteriumtremendummetal)
Until the Light Takes Us    (http://www.blackmetalmovie.com)
Nightlight, Chapel Hill

"Until the Light Takes Us" is "a documentary about the 
hugely-influential second-wave black metal scene in 1990's Norway, and 
features interviews with Varg (aka Burzum, recently released from prison 
-- the film's title is the English translation of a Burzum title), 
Fenriz (of Darkthrone), and many other personalities responsible for the 
development and dissemination of (anti-)modern black metal as both a 
viable sub-genre and an important cultural movement."



Thursday, August 20
A Rooster for the Masses    (http://www.myspace.com/aroosterforthemasses)
Free Electric State    (http://www.myspace.com/freeelectricstate)
Tir Na Nog, Raleigh

This is the latest in the weekly Local Bands, Local Beers series put on 
by Tir Na nOg and WKNC.



Friday, August 21
Durham, Be Easy
CCB Plaza, Durham

From the web:

"Once again, local performers are coming together in the heart of 
downtown Durham for one purpose – to encourage the community to "be 
easy." Language Arts, Black Poetry Theatre, and Dasan Ahanu will lead 
this free community event designed to spread a message of peace while 
encouraging creative expression as an alternative to violence. Arts and 
crafts by community artists will be a part of this exciting showcase event.

This event will feature musical performances of poetry, funk, soul, pop, 
rock, and hip hop. The lineup of performers includes: The Mountain 
Goats, The Beast, Lizh, Church da Poet, Dasan Ahanu, J Bully, Ashanti 
White, UpRite Lions, William Darity Trio and Language Arts."



Friday, August 21
Django Haskins    (http://www.djangohaskins.com/)
Spider Bags    (http://www.myspace.com/spiderbags)
My Dad is Dead    (http://mydadisdead.com)
Americans in France    (http://www.myspace.com/americansinfrance)
The Pinhook, Durham

12:00 - Americans in France
11:00 - Sprider Bags
10:00 - My Dad is Dead
9:00 - Django Haskins

This is apparently a somewhat belated CD-release party for Compulation 
Vol. 3, Pox World Empire's latest collection of local music, which is 
every bit as crucial as the first two volumes.

This lineup is intriguingly weird: you've got the spastic 
post-everything jitter-rock of Americans in France; the 
shambolic/dissolute drunk-country of Spider Bags; My Dad is Dead (local 
since Mark moved to Carrboro a few years ago), who returned to classic 
bitter/scary form with their song on Compulation, after a couple albums 
of mostly-optimistic fare; and the well-crafted art-pop of Old Ceremony 
frontman Django Haskins.



Friday, August 21
Tres Chicas    (http://www.treschicas.org/)
Gambling the Muse    (http://www.myspace.com/gamblingthemuse)
Luego    (http://luegomusic.com/)
Cat's Cradle, Carrboro

This is a benefit for the Goathouse Cat Refuge.



Friday, August 21
The Kinksmen    (http://www.myspace.com/jeffhoo)
Thee Dirtybeats    (http://www.myspace.com/ampsdofurnisharoom)
Local 506, Chapel Hill

Local music collective Amps Do Furnish a Room have an ongoing project 
where they pick a different album, learn it, and then play it out in 
public a few times. Previously, they've covered "Marquee Moon" and "The 
Notorious Byrd Brothers."

This year's project is a little different: Thee Dirtybeats -- ""the 
roots of iggy": swaggering, obscure psychedelic / garage / proto-punk 
from the 60s, with a special emphasis on rare nc garage rock nuggets 
from the blue mold archival series tobacco-a-go-go."

I'm going to go out on a limb and assume that their repertoire MUST 
include the highlight of the whole t-a-g-g series, the Challengers' "Moon."



Friday, August 21
Blag'ard    (http://www.blagard.com/)
Mumpsy    (http://www.myspace.com/mumpsy )
The Fakirs    (http://www.myspace.com/jaifakirs)
Big Hell    (http://www.myspace.com/bighell)
The Cave, Chapel Hill



Friday, August 21
Caltrop    (http://www.myspace.com/caltropband)
Grappling Hook    (http://www.myspace.com/torchmaraudersgrapplinghook)
Decoration Ghost
Slim's Downtown, Raleigh

Decoration Ghost are a new-ish Greensboro supergroup, which includes Tim 
& Devender from Kudzu Wish, Joe Garrigan (Urinal, Taija Rae, many more) 
and the mighty Scott Hicks (Rights Reserved, Eagle Bravo, Manamid, SCLIX).

Caltrop's amazing massive sludgy psych is doubtless already familiar to 
you. As is, hopefully, the phenomenal spacerock of Grappling Hook.



Saturday, August 22
Bowerbirds    (http://www.bowerbirds.org)
Megafaun    (http://www.myspace.com/megafaun)
ArtsCenter, Carrboro

Bowerbirds and Megafaun are currently touring the country on the 
strength of their respective sophomore releases, "Upper Air" and "Gather 
Form & Fly." We've loved them for years, of course; now, apparently, 
everybody else does too (4 stars in Rolling Stone for Megafaun? OK, it 
was a psych-focused sidebar by longtime freak David Fricke, but still . . .)



Saturday, August 22
Mondo Topless    (http://www.mondotopless.com/)
Pinche Gringo    (http://www.myspace.com/pinchegringoband)
Rough Hands    (http://www.myspace.com/roughhandsband)
The Cave, Chapel Hill



Sunday, August 23
Western Civ.    (http://westerncivrock.com)
Sleeping in the Aviary
The Cave, Chapel Hill



Monday, August 24
Crackow Now    (http://www.myspace.com/crackownow)
Today the Moon, Tomorrow the Sun 
(http://www.myspace.com/todaythemoontomorrowthesun)
The Cave, Chapel Hill

Crackow Now are a new Durham-based organ/drums duo.



Monday, August 24
Systems
Vessels of Energy    (http://www.myspace.com/energiaband)
Flashlights    (http://www.myspace.com/flashlightsmusic)
Nightlight, Chapel Hill



Tuesday, August 25
Pink Flag    (http://www.myspace.com/pinkflagnc)
Jessica Hopper Book Tour    (http://girlsguidetorocking.com/bio.html)
Nightlight, Chapel Hill

Rockcrit/musician Jessica Hopper wrote a book called the Girls' Guide to 
Rocking, which is sort of like an accompanying textbook for all the 
Rock-n-Roll Camps for Girls that have sprung up around the country over 
the past half-dozen years.

Joining her to rock out after her reading (or whatever she's doing) are 
all-woman Durham postpunk band Pink Flag.



Tuesday, August 25
Battle Rockets    (http://www.myspace.com/battlerockets)
Today the Moon, Tomorrow the Sun 
(http://www.myspace.com/todaythemoontomorrowthesun)
Slim's Downtown, Raleigh



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