Comment Archives: Stories: Blogs
Re: “Live: Diplo does Diplo at a Major Lazer show, and little else”
I'm sorry but I have to disagree with this article.... I had one hell of a night before, during and at the after party... where I got to hang chil with them! They were very kind and willing to interact with their fans. I don't know what you have against Diplo but you need to fix that, by the way this video says differently and counters your whole article! http://youtu.be/LmkLwGnWckU
Re: “Live: Four songwriters test new waters (Videos)”
*Amy Ray
Re: “Live: Four songwriters test new waters (Videos)”
I don't think the Casbah set up this series. I think they duplicated what Any Ray and Heather McEntire had started. That being said, both groups of performers are fantastic.
Re: “North Carolina: No Medicaid dollars for undocumented mental health”
Should be NO services for illegal aliens period. Go back to Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala or wherever it is you came from and get government assistance THERE, not HERE. This taxpayer does not want to hock my kids financial future because YOU want free medical services (well, actually someone is paying of it (ME)). So go home.
Re: “Jimmy Webb's songs and stories at Elon University”
Truly the songs are indelible, due not just for the imagery, but the melodies as well. One can't forget the sound of Jimmy's Hammond telegraphing the mental picture of a beautiful woman "in the wires" of Lineman; or, the poignant journey from Phoenix to Oklahoma. Unquestionably Jimmy Webb is a songwriting Titan deserving of his place on music's Olympus.
But, to quote Yoda, "There is another."
Let us not forget Gordon Lightfoot. While the melodies might not be as instantly recognizable on their own as Mr. Webb's, Lightfoot's lyrics are equally impressive when it comes to firing the mind's images.
That's the nice thing about Olympus; there's room enough for the pantheon.
Re: “Jimmy Webb's songs and stories at Elon University”
No doubt Jimmy is an icon and American treasure!
Re: “We do the math: The 14 greatest ACC Tournaments ever”
Mike Krzyzewski said in the ESPN documentary on Jim Valvano that college basketball was never better than the ACC in the 1980s. I can't disagree with that, and I was 24 when the decade began. The coaches in the '83 tournament were Valvano, Krzyzewski, Dean Smith, Lefty Driesell, Terry Holland, Carl Tacy, Bobby Cremins and Bill Foster. That lineup was just ridiculous.
Re: “Live: Diplo does Diplo at a Major Lazer show, and little else”
Nathan, I was very aware of both Skerrit Bwoy and Switch's departure from Major Lazer. Also, the crowd didn't have any negative effect on my experience; on the contrary, the crowd was the funnest part of the experience. As far as watching the show in Jamaica, I'm sure I would be more interested in the openers that you mentioned just so I could experience indigenous Jamaican music in its home.
Re: “Live: Diplo does Diplo at a Major Lazer show, and little else”
After having attended a major lazer concert at the University of the West Indies (UWI) in Jamaica in January to open this tour, I will say it's possible (and perhaps quite likely) that the reason for your less than thrilling experience was not so much the selector as it was the crowd around you. Additionally, the opening act at the UWI show was a Jamaican dancehall artiste, and the show had a couple performances from other Jamaican artistes. I'm not sure if you know (it can be found on Wikipedia) but Skerrit bwoy left major lazer to become a pastor, and switch and diplo parted ways a while back. I'm sorry to hear your experience at the show was less than satisfying, perhaps you should try again in Jamaica, I can assure you the energy of the crowd mixed with the energy on stage made for one hell of a show that left all parties feeling good. Or perhaps it's simply that you don't much like major lazer's music anymore in which case you probably wouldn't enjoy the show no matter where it was, but from the sounds of it you were mentally prepared and expecting a disappointing show anyways.
Re: “Cities could be banned from regulating greenhouse gases”
More big government from the Retrogressive Right...
Re: “Legislature wants to renege on Dix park deal”
@mbrock Dude this is a factual report, not an editorial.
Re: “Legislature wants to renege on Dix park deal”
Mariyn Avila of Raleigh is a co-sponsor of the House version of the bill. It would be nice if the Independent were at least somewhat impartial on this issue. At least give an opportunity to those with whom you differ to offer an opinion.
Re: “We do the math: The 14 greatest ACC Tournaments ever”
In an amazing coincidence, the heyday of the ACC Tournament overlaps precisely with the adolescent years of most of this blog's contributors.
Re: “Remember when people really cared about the ACC Tournament? Here's a proposal to restore the luster.”
In my previous comment, I neglected to account for the television revenue of the tournament, which is surely bundled up in the current $3.6 billion deal with ESPN that extends through 2027. It's the ACC's job to deliver the product (even if it means some teams play four games in four days).
From a competitive standpoint, however, I think the tournament's purpose is pretty marginal.
Re: “Remember when people really cared about the ACC Tournament? Here's a proposal to restore the luster.”
Sure, but Boeheim is already complaining that it should be held in New York from time to time, and it's certainly going to go back to Atlanta at some point. The geographic expansion ensures that it won't stay in Greensboro.
I also think it's good for nobody for the ACC tournament champion to have to play four games in four days.
Re: “Remember when people really cared about the ACC Tournament? Here's a proposal to restore the luster.”
Your last question gets to the heart of the matter, Michael. What, then, is the purpose of the tournament? Seems like as long as North Carolina produces basketball teams that will be reliably competing on Saturday and Sunday, the tournament will continue to make enough money to justify its existence--as long as it's held in Greensboro.
Re: “Remember when people really cared about the ACC Tournament? Here's a proposal to restore the luster.”
Fair enough. If you didn't want to do home-host, you could do the southern divisional tournament in one location and the northern one in another. The point of the home court would be to ensure attendance -- you'd get students and the local fans, at least (which would be a lot more than are currently in the building in Greensboro at the moment here on Thursday afternoon). The fans of the lower seeded teams don't bother traveling anyway, for the most part.
Also, at the very least, in the Southern division, there would be a very, very strong likelihood that at least one of the pods was playing in the Triangle every year. And for logistics, the NIT early rounds are often organized with five days notice. By the second to last weekend of the year, you're probably going to have it down to four or five teams that are likely to have to host -- making them all have a plan in place wouldn't be all that hard.
And is the travel any less sensible than expecting BC fans to go to Orlando, or Miami fans to go to New York?
Re: “Remember when people really cared about the ACC Tournament? Here's a proposal to restore the luster.”
Michael, the logistics in your proposal are probably unworkable. The four-team tourneys on Tuesdays and Wednesdays would be impossible to organize on 48 hours notice (e.g. Wake Forest finishes second on the last day of the season and suddenly says, "Oh shit, we're hosting three teams on Tuesday").
Attendance might possibly be worse for these games, because only the most insanely hardcore alums would make these last-minute, mid-week trips.
Likewise, the four-team finale on the weekend might struggle to attract traveling support if people have to wait until the last minute to book their trips.
Re: “Remember when people really cared about the ACC Tournament? Here's a proposal to restore the luster.”
Hrm, can't quite get there with Neil. I have to agree with WIlliams that a four-day cocktail party is no way to settle a championship.
I'd do something rather different. First of all, when the league goes to 16 teams (and it will), I seriously hope it splits into two divisions for basketball. A simple north-south division on the North Carolina-Virginia line would work -- there's sufficient basketball power in the north now to no longer need everyone to get a UNC or a Duke game on the schedule, which is what seems to have kept it from happening before. Yes, it reduces the UVA-UNC rivalry, but that was always a minor one, and the Maryland-Duke rivalry was the only other one that would have mattered, and that's all over now.
From there, there should be four four-team tournaments held at the home court of the 1 and 2 seeds in each division on Tuesday and Wednesday. The winners of those four tournaments gets to go to the big game that the ACC can now feel free to toss around the eastern seaboard (as it already has), to Washington or MSG or Atlanta or wherever. That way you still keep the Big Event of the weekend, but you also reward success in the regular season, as you should.
Re: “Love never dies, but many terrible musicals have: Sitting through Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom sequel.”
I cannot disagree more strongly with this article's characterization of Love Never Dies. I haven't been able to get the songs out of my head since I first saw the recorded Australia version months ago. Fine, it's not for people who LOVE Phantom of the Opera and have the characters crystallized in their minds in a certain way that can NEVER be altered, but it is a great and interesting show with wonderful music and scenery--see it on Youtube and make your own choice.