RTP-area local music and culture

[Neal Davis <nppllc AT gmail.com>]

Amelia's Mechanics is fronted by Greensboro, NC singer-songwriter's
Molly McGinn and Molly Miller, and backed by a talented group of
musicians out of Nashville, TN. Despite what the oil-and-iron name
might suggest, the women of Amelia's Mechanics swap that toughness for
a more urban, sophisticated take on Americana music, using luxuriating
harmonies and classical swells to temper their lyrical frustrations
with love and life. The instrumentation and vocal harmonies of
Amelia's Mechanics result in a genre-busting sound best described as
"vintage country with a moonshine concerto." The band released their
debut album "North, South," produced by Jim Avett (father, The Avett
Brothers,) in February of 2010 to critical acclaim and embarked on an
inaugural spring tour to the delight of audiences all across the
southeastern United States. Amelia's Mechanics will begin recording a
follow-up album this summer in Asheville, NC at the wonderful Echo
Mountain Studios (whose client list includes Smashing Pumpkins, The
Avett Brothers, Band of Horses) with Grammy-winning producer Steven
Heller and fellow Greensboro, NC singer-songwriter Laurelyn Dossett at
the helm. A release date has not yet been set for the new album.

On Mar 29, 8:33=A0am, BSC <j... AT hitezone.com> wrote:
> The Broad Street Cafe -- 1116 Broad Street in Durham --www.TheBroadStreet=
Cafe.com
>
> As always, you can go to the "Events" page on our site to click on
> links for any of the performers to get more information and to hear
> music samples:http://www.thebroadstreetcafe.com/events.html
>
> Tuesday, March 30
> =95 8P Public Nudity Songwriters Night #6
>
> Wednesday, March 31
> =95 8P =A0Continuum Blues Jam
>
> Thursday, April 1
> =95 6P Magic Hat Spring Vinyl Pint Glass Night
> =95 8P =A0Daniel Shawn (acoustic/rock/funk)
> =95 10pm Delta Rae (folk rock/pop/soul)
>
> Friday, April 2
> =95 8P =A0Amelia's Mechanics
> =95 10pm Catie Yerkes - $7 Cover
> River City Ransom (rock/concrete/indie)
> Last Year's Men (garage/rock/pop)
> Red Collar (rock/indie/alt)
>
> Saturday, April 3
> =95 8P =A0Gilbert Neal (pop/soul/funk/acoustic)
> =95 10pm - $5 Cover
> Tartufi (indie/prog/experimental)
> Bronzed Chorus
> Maple Stave (rock/progressive/funk)
>
> Sunday, April 4
> =95 4:30P BSC Kids! Big Bang Boom (band)
> =95 7:30P Aaron Mills Project - Sunday Night Jazz
>
> ---DETAILS---
> Tuesday, March 30
> =95 8P Public Nudity Songwriters Night #6
> A new series featuring great area songwriters. Hosted by Greg
> Humphreys (Dillon Fence, Hobex).
>
> This months guest artists are:
> Jay Kutchma (Red Collar)
> Reese McHenry (Dirty Little Heaters)
> Sol (you all know Sol)
>
> Wednesday, March 31
> =95 8P =A0Continuum Blues Jam- Come out to the Blues Jam every other
> Wednesday sponsored by Continuum Consulting Services. =A0Butch Haas will
> be facilitating this free-to-the-public jam. So bring your gear, sign
> up for a time, and jam with some of Durham=92s finest! Drums, keyboard,
> bass, guitar and harp amps provided.
>
> Thursday, April 1
> =95 6P Magic Hat Spring Vinyl Pint Glass Night
> Magic Hat's Spring Vinyl Buy a $4 pint, keep the glass (while supplies
> last)... plus other free stuff and giveaways!
>
> =95 8P =A0Daniel Shawn (acoustic/rock/funk)
> Daniel Sean has been writing music over the past decade. He is excited
> to finally bring these songs of life, love, hope, and happiness to
> you. The songs were written from a personal point of view either
> consciously or unconsciously. For the record, he never set out to be a
> singer/songwriter. To Daniel, songwriting is an art form for composing
> life as you live it.
>
> =95 10pm Delta Rae (folk rock/pop/soul)
> From a simple, white house in the woods of North Carolina, Delta Rae
> brings together four unique voices to harmonize over songs born out of
> the rhythms and scenery of the coasts and country of America. Siblings
> Ian, Eric, and Brittany Holljes, along with their childhood friend,
> Elizabeth Hopkins, sing with a grit and soul older than their early
> twenty years would suggest. Harkening back to bands like Fleetwood
> Mac, the Mamas and the Papas, and Peter, Paul, and Mary, Delta Rae
> brings its own fresh sound and distinctive songwriting to a genre
> pioneered by such legends.
> =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 The songs, which would sound alternately at home in t=
he
> catalogues of James Taylor, Ray LaMontagne, or the Dixie Chicks
> benefit from four lead singers, each with their own character: Liz has
> the rasp and emotion of a pop Bonnie Raitt; Brittany the high, pure
> tone of Natalie Maines; Eric, the range and soul of Billy Joel; and
> Ian, the strength and clear falsetto of Glen Hansard. But the true
> brilliance of Delta Rae reveals itself when the four singers combine.
> Their harmony and blend reflect their blood relations and the decade
> they=92ve sung together.
> =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 In these four voices, joined by multi-instrumentalist=
, James
> Goldberg, the hope and beautiful melancholy of common scenes
> throughout the American landscape are elevated to new heights.
>
> Friday, April 2
> =95 8P =A0Amelia's Mechanics
> Amelia=92s Mechanics is an all-female, American rock trio whose
> instrumentation and vocal harmonies traverse classical, country, and
> jazz genres resulting in a sound best described as vintage country
> with a moonshine concerto.
> =A0 =A0The band, whose name, album title, and lyrics are inspired by the
> accomplishments of early aviatrix and aviators, explorers and
> pioneers, writes and sings about the mechanics underlying life=92s
> triumphs and tragedies.
> =A0 =A0Amelia=92s Mechanics debut album, =93North-South=94 was produced b=
y Jim
> Avett and released February 2010.
>
> =95 10pm Catie Yerkes - $7 Cover
>
> River City Ransom (rock/concrete/indie)
> River City Ransom Is NOT from Oklahoma, California or the UK. River
> City Ransom is a five-piece rock and roll band from Raleigh, NC who
> play aggressive indie rock with loud post-punk choruses. In fact, I=92m
> sure there are seven or eight more subgenres you could tag onto this
> band- but let's be honest; subgenres are fucking stupid. River City
> Ransom plays rock music, and its good.
>
> Last Year's Men (garage/rock/pop)
>
> Red Collar (rock/indie/alt)
> =93There=92s a feeling in the room when Red Collar is playing that is har=
d
> to describe. It is as though the club or room has been lifted from its
> foundations and pulled straight up=96that we=92ve been taken out of time,
> and transported to a time before ironic posturing became the norm. A
> time before we used terms like post-anything. I=92m not talking about
> false nostalgia for a better time. Just a different time. When this
> band plays it is ALRIGHT to yell along and to clap your hands.=94 -Evan
> Rowe, Maple Stave, Des_Ark
>
> Saturday, April 3
> =95 8P =A0Gilbert Neal (pop/soul/funk/acoustic)
> Gilbert Neal is one of the more revered musicians among musicians in
> the Chapel Hill/Raleigh DIY pantheon. Adept at bass, guitar,
> keyboards, able to improvise Queen-esque vocal interplay on the fly,
> an arranger and singer par excellence, it is easy to forget that on
> Neal's two solo outings, he has, among other things, crafted some of
> the most likable, DANCEABLE grooves to come out of that hotbed of indy
> music.
> =A0 =A0Born in Buffalo, NY, Neal's first guitar was a Hait, which his
> mother bought at Brand Names, a catalog store on Union Road. "My first
> year or so with my guitar was an exercise in tuning all the strings to
> the same tone with maybe a 5th or two thrown in. My early raga-like
> drones were a perfect, almost undetectable forgery of those early
> Beatles hits. Kidding."
> =A0 =A0After cutting his teeth in bands like Man Against Mauve, East of
> Idaho, and The Murk, Neal moved to Raleigh, NC. He formed Vibraspank
> with a group of guys who, like him, had a love of the dry funk of
> bands like The Meters and Sly Stone.
> =A0 Neal played bass more often than not, and this became his primary
> instrument. He has a college degree in Musical Performance, primarily
> in Voice. In his career, he has sung in a 40's revival group, a comedy
> music group that parodied TV commercials, a country band, played
> guitar and sang lead in a Raleigh funk band (Cabarrus Street
> Allstars), played bass for very large productions of well-known
> Broadway and off-Broadway musicals, been a Musical Director for a
> Buffalo dinner theater, played bass guitar for radio commercials,
> written copy for same, acted in productions in college (Neal was Doc
> Gibbs in =93Our Town=94 at Buffalo State).
> =A0 =A0But it isn't until you listen to Neal's two solo outings that you
> truly grasp the humor, the pathos, the anxiety and sadness, the hope
> and redemption, and the seemingly endless rhythmic inventiveness of
> this young soul, this funk-loving renaissance man singing about Van
> Gogh, inappropriate tumescence, George Bush, and his own evil twin
> ruining parties.
>
> =95 10pm - $5 Cover
> Tartufi (indie/prog/experimental)
> Tartufi is Brian Gorman and Lynne Angel. They are friends. They are
> Koko and kitten. They are tar and feather. They are thunder and
> lightning. They are Salt N Pepa (sans Spinderella).
> =A0 =93This is huge. Tartufi are just two but sound like twelve. Drummer
> Brian Gorman must have arms like continents, while the way Lynne Angel
> loops her vocals makes it seem like three personalities are battling
> it our for possession of her throat, Hold on to your brains.=94 =96 Kev
> Kharas, NME
> =A0 =A0=93A dizzying construct of lunatic prettiness that exists at some
> extra-dimensional intersection between noise, pop, folk, post-rock and
> who knows what else, =91Nests of Waves and Wire=92 is a mighty strange
> beast=85it all flows together, like a fantastic alien river." =96 Andrzej
> Lukowski, Rock Sound (UK)
> =A0 =A04 Stars! =94An expansive lattice of twinkling loops, math-rock cru=
nch
> and none-more-giddy harmonies.=94 =96 Mojo Magazine
> =A0 "Part aggressive, experimental-noise rock, part delicate and lovely
> melody and completely awesome, Tartufi's live show is a marvel." -
> Sarah Wengert, The Reader (Omaha, NE)
> =A0 "Nine out of 10 buzz bands don't deserve it; Tartufi does."-A.
> Schacht, Creative Loafing (Charlotte, NC)
> =A0 "Tartufi write songs like they're folding towels fresh from the
> dryer. Traveling the seam between coo and caw, the duo churn out lush
> and layered soundscapes that billow with cerebral grace, prog-perfect
> texture, and a deliciously abstract abrasion that our readers adore."
> -
> TARTUFI Voted Best Indie Band 2007 -SF Bay Guardian
>
> Bronzed Chorus
> We are a two piece band from Greensboro, N.C.. BRENNAN OBRIEN plays
> drums and keys. ADAM JOYCE plays guitar. We have played together since
> we were both in middle school(a long time ago), but didn't start an
> actual band together until mid-2006. This is it.
>
> Maple Stave (rock/progressive/funk)
> Maple Stave is from Durham, North Carolina. We try to employ subtlety
> where brute strength might be the norm, and bring loudness to bear
> where one would not expect it. We favor a shift in tone over a catchy
> chorus. We enjoy the occasional change in meter rather than a guitar
> solo. Three instruments played by three friends to achieve a
> remarkable fullness of sound. Using music to communicate feeling lost,
> feeling triumphant, creating space, and closing it again. The band has
> released two well-received EPs, each in handmade packaging designed
> and printed by Williams=92 Plastic Flame Press, and assembled at home,
> in motel bathrooms, and in the minivan. Their third is set for a
> Spring 2008 release.
> =A0 Their explosive live shows are experiments in dynamic range=97roaring
> one moment, and pulling up short the next. They=92ve been honored to
> share the stage with the likes of Shipping News, Deerhoof, and Hella,
> and to have been a part of North Carolina=92s Troika Music Festival,
> Louisville Kentucky=92s Daydream Festival, and many, many tiny shows in
> houses,basements, and rec centers.
>
> Sunday, April 4
> =95 4:30P BSC Kids! It's FUN and it's FREE! (tip jar passed)
> Big Bang Boom (band)
> Big Bang Boom is a power pop trio that writes and performs parent-
> friendly children=92s music. =A0The live show is high-energy, and gets th=
e
> crowd involved. =A0From getting the kids on stage for the =93Spongebob
> Chorus=94 to the parents vs. kids hokey pokey challenge =96 there is no
> sitting down!
> =A0 What happens when professional musicians become parents? They play
> and write children's music. This is the path taken by Big Bang Boom, a
> children's music group from Greensboro. After 20 years touring clubs
> and playing parties, Chuck Folds (younger brother of piano rocker Ben
> Folds) and Steve Williard decided to expand their horizons and play
> for kids. Together with drummer Eddie Walker they have become the
> parent friendly kid's rock band alternative.
> =A0 Big Bang Boom is designed to give parents something else to listen
> to besides Disney music and the Wiggles. There is some good quality
> children's music being recorded these days. You can catch it on any
> kid-friendly TV station, and now you can hear it live too.
> Big Bang Boom plays some children's favorites as well as their own
> original songs for kids.
>
> =95 7:30P Aaron Mills Project - Sunday Night Jazz
> Starting at 7:30, Open Jam at 9
> If you are in any way a fan of jazz, this is not to be missed !!!
> Aaron Mills, best known as the audacious bassist of classic funk act
> Cameo, =A0has inspired a generation of groovy musicians, but his long
> time love affair with jazz has inspired The Aaron Mills Project.
> Aaron has been playing at the Cafe for a few months now, along with
> Wayne Kee, Bobby Hinton, Warren Fraizer and others. Aaron has brought
> Sunday night jazz back to the Cafe in a format that includes a cast of
> regulars as well as featured guest musicians every week. Towards the
> end of the evening, the night becomes an open jam, so, if anyone wants
> to come blow their horn....
>
> The Broad Street Cafe -- 1116 Broad Street in Durham --www.TheBroadStreet=
Cafe.com