Langhorne Slim, Tift Merritt and Arrested Development are among some of this year’s high profile names announced for this spring’s Shakori Hills Spring Grassroots Festival, planned for April 21-24 in Pittsboro.
A host of other notable local acts are also on this year’s bill, including Kooley High, Gray Young and Mount Moriah.
Adult four day advance festival tickets are available now for $90.
Local post punk gods Superchunk (and one of the reasons Merge records even exists) return to the Cats Cradle on Friday in support of the band’s 2010 release Majesty Shredding. Want to go to the show? Plead your case in the comments below. The best groveling will win the pair. Deadline is noon EST Thursday. And, no, we won’t ship tickets so it’s probably best if you live locally or can get to Chapel Hill in time for the show. Leave your e-mail address along with the comment so we can get in touch if you’ve won.
While you’re at it, check out the pretty great video for the record’s first track, Digging for Something featuring members of The Love Language and drummer Jon Wurster as a dentist.
NPR’s got a First Listen going of the Mountain Goats’ upcoming release, All Eternals Deck, going on all throughout March, calling the now-Durham based three piece’s new record “tightly coiled, even downright gentle.”
The new record is out on Durham’s Merge March 29. The band plays the Cats Cradle April 8. Check back in coming weeks as we will have a pair of tickets to give away.
Before there were the Avett Brothers, there was their daddy, Jim. A musician in his own right, Avett is coming to the Local 506 this Wednesday in support of his new record, TRIBES, out on Ramseur. It’s a beautiful country/Americana styled album and a good road map showing how his sons got to where they are today. If you’re a fan of his sons’ music, chances are good you’ll like his brand of Americana, too.
Read an interview with Jim Avett that ran in last week’s Daily Tar Heel.
It’s been five glorious years for Bull City Records, off 9th Street in Durham, and to celebrate the store is throwing a shindig for itself at Fullsteam Brewery on Riggsbee Street complete with a killer lineup, raffles and food trucks planned. Hey, it doesn’t get much grander than Megafaun playing your fifth birthday. Mostly, you’re lucky if you get a clown–and they’re freaky.
The show is $10 and the store says the line up times below are suggestions, so plan to get there a bit early. Try and pick up a growler of Fullsteam’s sweet potato beer while you’re at it and support the area’s growing craft brewery scene.
12:30 – Megafaun (Brad & Phil)
11:30 – Midtown Dickens
10:30 – Des Ark (solo)
9:30 – Maple Stave
8:30 – Cantwell Gomez & Jordan
7:30 – Last Year’s Men
Got an E-mail from Vice Magazine about a free little shindig going down at The Cave in Chapel Hill this Saturday. The Love Language, Vice says, has curated a free show including Americans in France, Gross Ghost and Last Year’s Men.
Random, yes, but it’s a great bill and, supposedly the 21-and-up party offers some free booze. What kind of booze we’re not sure but we’ve asked for more details and will keep you posted. The magazine is asking for RSVP’s and you can do that right here.
Check out Gross Ghost on Sessions With MyNC.com here.
Here’s a nice southern double shot to the head following this weekend’s weather-inspired laziness: Graham’s Filthybird opening up for Athens, GA.-based Futurebirds Tuesday at Kings in Raleigh.
Athens’ whiskey-soaked Futurebirds offer lazy harmonies layered over lush feedback and pedal steel–recalling Harvest-era Neil Young. That said, Filthybird’s Renee Mendoza’s aching vocals alone are reason enough to show up. Complimented by husband/guitarist Brian Haran, Mendoza’s voice floats over the rhythm section, creating a delightful haunt that’s been entrancing local music denizens for a couple of years now. The band’s appearance at November’s Troika music festival in Durham has continued to show a band that’s in fine form.
There’s some excellent shows here in the Triangle this weekend, with perhaps hottest on that list being the triple bill of Floating Action, Schooner and The Tomahawks tonight at Kings in Raleigh. If you’re on the fence or still looking for something to do after the sun sets on this gorgeous 75-degree day, The Tomahawks’ Nick Jaeger gives five reasons to make your presence known at Kings:
1 – The new Floating Action record and Seth Kauffman’s general bad assness.
2 – Schooner’s 5 piece line up and Reid Johnson’s sultry smooth croon .
3 – Debut of a new Tomahawks song.
4 – James Wallace got a haircut. (And, wow!)
5 – Michael Libramento being the coolest bass player in the world.
Juan Huevos wrote into TVD the other day with a full on Valentine’s Day playlist that made our jaws drop. Continuing that trend, the Durham rap god curated an actual playlist, complete with art work that we’re happy to drop on you just in time for VD.
Download this now and throw it on for your significant other later on tonight. If this won’t set the mood, we don’t know what will.
Sunday is usually a shitty day to do anything other than day drink and pass out early because you have to go to work the next day. This Sunday is an exception: Kings in Raleigh has a triple threat bill of Veelee, Motor Skills and Juan Huevos. It’s billed as a Valentine’s Day show–which, being that this is the day before the actual Hallmark Holiday, should help get you all hot and bothered for the actual day.
To be sure you’re well prepped for the show, Juan Huevos has offered up a Valentine’s Day playlist to get you in the mood–complete with explanations below. Check back in this space Monday as we should have downloadable version that you can use that night when you’re getting it on–which is, admittedly, a kind perverse thought.
The show is $5 and starts and 9:30 p.m.
20 Great Love Songs for a Fake As F*** Holiday
brought to you by Juan Huevos
ah, yes. Valentine’s Day. not invented by Hallmark, but certainly exploited by it. a celebration of one partner’s stupidity, and the other’s “quirk” of equating love with presents. perhaps they will meet in the meet in the middle, with a last minute dinner reservation or a trip to the jewelry store, an awkward gift of a much-dreaded sexual act, the watching of a “chick flick” or a “movie with Jason Statham in it” (which is a gift for ANYONE as far as the author is concerned). no matter what, nothing can put you in the mood for love like a good song. or help ease the pain of love because love is stupid stupid stupid and absolutely the worst thing in the world. here are 20 songs, like, dealing with the subject.
1. Teddy Pendergrass “Come On Over To My Place”
no one can make a woman hot and bothered like Teddy P. in the song, the muse reveals that she is slightly bored. Teddy is gonna change all that, and he is not above begging. this is also sampled by Jayo Felony’s “Sherm Stick”, an ode to smokin dip.
The Fleshtones—the hardest working garage rockers out there–are releasing a new record, Brooklyn Sound Solution on local label Yep Roc on March 15. Featuring legendary Patti Smith guitarist Lenny Kaye on most of its 12 tracks, the new record is a fuzzed-out R&B rocker.
The band has announced a show at the Local 506 on March 26.
Download or stream the first single from Brooklyn Sound Solution, “Bite of My Soul.” The song had been floating around guitarist and vocalist Peter Zaremba’s head for about 25 years. It came to fruition while mowing his lawn last summer. “It takes about two hours to mow this lawn,” Zaremba said. “Not because it’s big but because I didn’t have a lot of money and I bought a small mower.”
Look at this bad ass poster.
This is the poster for the inaugural Bull City Metal Fest in Durham, kicking off Friday at The Casbah. Check out the lineup:
Friday:
6pm Systems
7pm Mortal Man
8pm Torch Runner
9pm MAKE
10pm Music Hates You
11pm Graves of Valor
12pm Lurch
Saturday:
2pm In the Year of the Pig
3pm Unholy Tongues
4pm Monsonia
5pm Horseback
6pm Gollum
7pm Colossus
8pm Sons of Tonatiuh
9pm Royal Thunder
10pm US Christmas
11pm Hog
12pm Caltrop
Super bad ass, right? And, we have a pair of tickets to give away for the first night. Be the first to tell us why you think you should win in the comments below and we’ll send you. You must provide your own transportation; tickets will not be mailed.
We’ve been posting about once a week about Lost in The Trees and this one is no different. Here’s yet another offering from Ari Picker and crew: a video for “Time. It Will Not Erase Me” recorded live at the Trekky House. Seriously, doesn’t Trekky have heat in that place? Everyone was wearing winter coats as the band played.
The reissue of the band’s first offering, Time Taunts Me, is out today on red vinyl from Trekky. Want to win a copy? Be the first to name the world’s tallest tree in the comments. Don’t forget to include your E-mail address so we can contact you.
Steve Gardner is the talent buyer for The Casbah, an eclectic live music venue that opened in Durham this September. Gardner has been a fixture on the local scene in the Triangle for years, having worked at Sugar Hill Records and then at Yep Roc up until taking over the reins at The Casbah. He’s also been a DJ at Durham’s WXDU since 1995. A California native whose love for Durham is unabashed, Gardner is in the process of booking The Bull City Metal Fest, a two-day eclectic heavy metal festival on Feb 4 and 5 which boasts 18 acts. Gardner promises “kick-ass” t-shirt to accompany the event. Check back this week for a chance to win a pair of tickets for Friday.
What is it that you do at The Casbah?
If I have a career path, it goes back to when I was in fourth grade and I got my first record. I was obsessed with it. It was Joe Jackson, “ Is She Really Going Out With Him.” I got my own money and I bought it… There were a couple of things that happened when I bought it. First thing, I listened to it over and over. Second of all, I wanted to play it for my friends. That was a big thing for me. I wanted to tell people, “You gotta hear this song…” I also got kind of a high from it and I wanted more of it, so I bought another record and another record. The next record was The Who, “Pinball Wizard.” These are just 7-inches at this point. The first album was Boston, because it had just come out and it was a big deal… I was 10.
I constantly got into different types of music. When I was in junior high, I heard Devo for the first time and I said ‘I’m never listening to rock and roll again, I’m only listening to punk and New Wave.’ I kept buying records. I kept kind of looking for that high of finding out about new music, telling people about it. Eventually, rock and roll wasn’t doing it for me so I got into old time music and bluegrass, celtic and blues. I’ve hit all these various kinds of genres. I came back to rock and roll and now I’m kind of into a weird mixture; I like metal, I like Top 40, hip hop. I like Eastern European violin music—I’m really into that right now… I’m constantly into different kinds of stuff. In my efforts to share music with people, I became a DJ in college at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo.
When I got into the music business and worked at record labels, first at Sugar Hill and then at Yep Roc, it was still to connect people with music. As record labels kind of went down the tubes, I was looking for something to do and got a job here at (The) Casbah. I bring live music. I get to book a lot of varieties of kinds of music… I kind of get to use everything I’ve done in the past… Also, it’s good for a club not to just book one genre of music. Then you don’t have to rely on the same audience seven nights a week.
Are there challenges you’ve found with booking a new venue in Durham?
I don’t necessarily book what I personally listen to at home all the time. What I still trying to do is connect people with music. My least favorite music in the world is hippie music. But, if I can book some band like Larry Keel–who a lot of hippie people like–and some dude comes here and sees that and loves that and then I see them connecting with that, then I’m totally happy and satisfied even though that isn’t my type of music. It doesn’t matter anymore. I’m still connecting people with the music. There’s a little of a fortune-teller aspect to the job. When I book a band I also have to try to guess how many people will show up and then, when I guess how many people will show up, I know how much I can pay them. Obviously, if I’m wrong and half as many people show up then we lose money.
Have you run across any trouble booking a new venue in Durham in the face of other places that have also opened?
I think all that helps me actually. Obviously, there are times when I’m trying ot book the same band that Motorco is. For instance, Lost in the Trees. I was trying to book them. But then, Motorco got it and they were packed out. That’s a bummer for me. When I wanted Jason Isbell, Motorco wanted to book Jason Isbell and I got it. What comes around goes around. If I was the only club in Durham all by myself… it wouldn’t really be great for me, because I want Durham to be know as kind of a live music town and I’m not going to be able to do that all on my own.
Some bands like to play different cities. I definitely have bands that will come and say, ‘We usually play Raleigh but we want to play in Durham so we want to play your club.’ So, they’ll play in my club and the next time, they’ll probably want to play Chapel Hill. But the one thing I can’t try to do is beat Frank Heath at the Cat’s Cradle at his own game. He’s been doing this for a long time. He’s a super great guy; he books great music. People love him. I can’t compete with him at that level. What I do at The Casbah, I try to think about like any other business that’s new to an area, what are other people not doing here? What people are not doing here is a club that’s our size, 280 people—which is half the size of the Cradle—that type of a club that’s really nice with an amazing sound system. We have a versatile set up. I can put down chairs for a folk show. I can put down chairs and tables for a cabaret kind of sit around—we can have a server come to the table. We have a wide variety of shows that we can have… The next night, we might have a metal band that lasts until 2 a.m.
If you could book any band, who would it be and why?
My favorite artist in the world is Billy Bragg and has been since the mid-80s. Billy Bragg would be awesome… I would love him. There’s also people like Jens Lekman, I would die if he played here.
Beatles or Stones?
I was always a Stones guy and still am a Stones guy. In fact, if you would have interviewed me ten years ago, I would have said I hated the Beatles…. A friend introduced me to the Beatles in the right way, I guess, for one reason or another it clicked and I love them now. There’s a lot of bands that I grew up hating, like Simon and Garfunkel—they were like nails on a chalkboard to me—and now I fucking love them. That just happens.
Is that a sign of age or respect for music?
We’re constantly changing. I always feel like there’s two types of people in the world, musically. There’s the people that graduate from high school and that’s the music that they’re going to like, and they will like it forever. It was 1985 when I graduated from high school I guess that’s like The Cure. They’re a great band but there are a lot of people that probably graduated the same year I did who still listen to the same 100 CDs that they had when they were in high school and they’re completely satisfied. That doesn’t work for me… It doesn’t really surprise me that I like Simon and Garfunkel and The Beatles now. A band that I don’t like right now and I’ve never liked my entire life? The Beach Boys. I hate The Beach Boys.
What are your favorite national and local bands right now?
My favorite national band right now is probably Black Tusk. They’re a metal band. I’m totally into the metal right now. They have an album called Taste of Sin… It’s metal but it really sounds like hard core to me. I grew up in the punk world so it really hits those buttons for me. As far as local bands… I’m trying to decide between Hog, Lurch and Black Skies. I’m more into the heavy, riff-based, epic metal. The longer the songs, the better. Slow is good, too, like Kylesa.
So you’re reaching the teenage phase of your life?
I guess it’s my mid-life crisis. I kind of came at it through the post-rock world, like Mogwai, Pelican and Russian Circles. I came at it through the instrumental side.
Do you have a preference for vinyl?
I do have a preference for it for two reasons:
The first is that I think it is a more social way of playing music. In other words, you have to interact with it and it’s more tactile. When you have friends over you have to decide every 20 minutes or so what music to play next. It ends up being more of a group decision and the music becomes more than just a bit-player in the evening. Of course for some people that just sounds like a hassle, but I personally love it.
The second reason is that it simply sounds better. Now, I’m far from being an audiophile and generally care more about what is on the stereo than what format is on the stereo. After not having listened to vinyl in a long time, though, I was really surprised when I put a nice quality record on how much better it sounded than a CD. Especially acoustic instruments.
What was the most recent record you bought?
It wasn’t the last record I bought, but I have to say that the last Josh Rouse album El Turista is a great example of the beauty of vinyl. First off, I love Josh and this latest record. I was stunned when I put the record on. There’s a lot of acoustic instruments on it and the arrangements are all tastefully done. There’s a lot of space on those recordings and it really comes out when listening to the vinyl. I remember the first time I heard it I thought there was a defect at first because I was hearing a popping on it. I wiped off the record multiple times. Eventually I discovered that the pop I was hearing was the sound of a bass string lightly tapping on the fretboard. I can now hear this on the CD, but it doesn’t fool me. It sounds like that bass is in the room with me. Love it.
It’s one helluva great weekend for local music in the Triangle–and for beneficiaries of two local organizations, including Durham’s Central Park School as well as Moving Island, a Raleigh community education facility focused on emerging arts, technology and, according to its Web site, “the business of living.”
If you’re in Raleigh this weekend and looking for two nights of great local music, $15 gets you in for both nights in advance. Single night tickets are $8 advance/$10 door. Here’s the link to buy.
Here’s the lineup for both nights:
Friday:
The Big Picture 7:30pm
Organos 8:15pm
Wowser Bowser 9:00
Gray Young 10:00
Veelee 11:00pm
Lonnie Walker 12:00am
Saturday:
Young Volcanoes 2:00pm
Mac McCaughan (of Superchunk/Portastatic) 3:00pm
Old Bricks 4:00pm
Phil Cook & His Feat 5:00pm
Schooner 6:00pm
Intermission/Q&A about what Moving Island 7:00pm
Kid Future 9:15pm
Naps 10:00pm
Juan Huevos 10:45pm
Heads on Sticks 11:30pm
Motor Skills 12:15am
DJs presented by Denmark Records 1:00am
