You Should Do This: Scan, Indy Week

The Third Expression will roll tape at Marsh Woodwinds

Peter Blackstock — Wed, 15 May 2013 15:33:00 -0400

Concerts at Marsh Woodwinds are too few and far between, given that it’s the best listening room in Raleigh.

You can forgive owner Rodney Marsh for the infrequency: His priority is the instrument sales and repair store downstairs, so the shows in his second-floor space—lovingly decorated with a sensory-overload motif—are a bonus, born of his desire to fill the building with warm and radiant sounds when time and circumstances allow.…

Today: Donna Ray Norton channels old ballads at the N.C. Museum of History

Chris Vitiello — Sun, 14 Apr 2013 10:40:00 -0400

Jack Spicer wrote that a poet is a “counterpunching radio.” He also could have been talking about Madison County ballad singers. Just as poets are speakers through which the broadcast of language flows, so are ballad singers like Donna Ray Norton, who gives a free performance Saturday at the North Carolina Museum of History.…

Neu Romance ends its 10-year run in Raleigh this weekend

Eric Tullis — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 11:30:00 -0400

Chico Scott doesn't remember the exact date, but sometime back in the early '90s, his then-girlfriend returned from an errand at a nearby Eckerd photo lab with some developed prints and a guy named Shaun.

"I don't know why," says Scott of the invitation.…

Friday night: UNC explores Alan Lomax

Peter Blackstock — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 10:15:00 -0500

The Southern Folklife Collection puts on a lot of cool events at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill every year, each surveying various aspects of traditional music. Few seem more perfectly suited to its mission, though, than Friday's free program, "The Southern Journey of Alan Lomax."

That's also the name of a book published last year by W. W. Norton & Company.…

Jphono1 releases "Know Your Clouds" with two weekend shows

Corbie Hill — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 10:34:00 -0500

John Harrison, guitarist and vocalist for Chapel Hill fuzzy smart-rockers North Elementary, plays two release shows this weekend for his latest solo record. Know Your Clouds, the second LP under the Jphono1 identity, diverges a bit from the finger-picked debut, especially in the addition of hypnotic extended instrumental sections.…

Tonight in Chapel Hill: A performance of Terry Riley's In C

Bryan C. Reed — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 15:29:00 -0500

In many ways, Terry Riley’s 1964 composition In C set the bar for musical minimalism. The single-page score collects 53 short melodic motifs, to be played in sequence, though not necessarily simultaneously, by any number of musicians with any variety of instruments.…

This weekend: At UNC, the fiddle gets its due

Dan Schram — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 10:24:00 -0500

The Fiddle, a production of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Southern Folklife Collection, happens Friday and Saturday on campus. Friday evening at Memorial Hall begins with three performers, each with intriguing backgrounds.…

Frank Fairfield adds second Triangle show

Dan Schram — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 15:33:00 -0500

Fans of Frank Fairfield, rejoice! Frank has added a last-minute show this Saturday evening at Cup 22 at the Haw River Ballroom in Saxapahaw.…

Compass Center benefit: Tonight at Chapel Hill Underground

Corbie Hill — Fri, 12 Oct 2012 09:30:00 -0400

Friday sees five predominately female acts take the stage at Chapel Hill Underground to benefit the Compass Center for Women and Families. This organization was formed from a merger of the Family Violence Prevention Center of Orange County and The Women's Center with the goal of preventing domestic violence and helping its victims.…

Tonight: ZZ Top in Durham

Chris Parker — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 15:24:00 -0400

The temptation is to throw your hands in the air and cry that Rick Rubin has done it again. But while the famed producer has indeed helmed another solid-to-strong return by an out-of-fashion act with ZZ Top’s La Futura, it’s not quite that simple.…

TRKfest headliners Lost Skulls revive The Misfits' gory glory

Bryan C. Reed — Fri, 20 Jul 2012 11:59:00 -0400

It's not wise to talk back to cops, and I'd been speeding, and we both knew it. Dude just couldn't resist, though.…

Tonight: Lee Ranaldo at Bull City Records

James Hatfield — Mon, 14 May 2012 14:44:00 -0400

Before his opening performance for M. Ward tomorrow at Duke University’s Page Auditorium, Sonic Youth guitarist and sometimes-singer Lee Ranaldo has a treat for the rest of Durham: He will perform solo material tonight at 6 p.m. at Bull City Records. The event is free.…

Documentary offers insight into the life of a folk legend

Jordan Lawrence — Wed, 21 Mar 2012 12:10:00 -0400

Roscoe Holcomb and John Cohen—two names so entwined into the history of folk music that it's tough to overstate their importance. Hailing from Daisy, Ken., Holcomb was a coal miner who also sang with the accompaniment of banjo, harmonica and guitar, unleashing a piercing falsetto that is seen as a definitive example of the "the high lonesome sound" of Appalachia.…

Pinhook improvements Kickstarted; anniversary celebrations begin tonight

Jordan Lawrence — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 14:41:00 -0400

It might not seem like it now, but The Pinhook was quite the risky endeavor when it opened its doors just in time for the 2009 Troika Music Festival. At the time, Durham's only other semi-consistent rock clubs were the student-booked Duke Coffeehouse, a multipurpose space on the university's campus, and Broad Street Café, a venue still trying to figure out its musical mix.…

Tonight, a benefit for a late heavy metal fan

Corbie Hill — Fri, 13 May 2011 18:22:00 -0400

Carrie Martin was a mother of two, a tattoo artist and a lover of local heavy music. She worked at Raleigh’s No Shame Tattoo and “didn't have insurance,” says DIVEbar Raleigh booking agent Robby Rodwell.…

Tonight: Andrew Weathers' final N.C. stand

Corbie Hill — Thu, 28 Apr 2011 16:31:00 -0400

We’re losing a good one: Greensboro’s Andrew Weathers, an avant-garde composer whose evolution can be traced from his solo guitar-via-laptop work as Pacific Before Tiger to the more recent classical drone-folk of the ensemble that takes his name, is finishing at University of North Carolina-Greensboro and summarily moving to California. Good for him, but otherwise dammit.…

The Reservoir's run ends this weekend

Jordan Lawrence — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 11:54:00 -0400

There is a room on the border of downtown Chapel Hill and downtown Carrboro. It's on the side of a car wash, and it has no large windows, just two dark metal doors that open up onto a side street that's appropriately named Brewer Lane.…

Tonight: Tir na nOg hosts 10-band tornado benefit

Corbie Hill — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 12:19:00 -0400

Raleigh is still reeling from the tornado that cut a terrifying line across five counties, tearing into houses and yards and lives. It may still be a hot clip to the Weather Channel, but here the tragedy is palpable.…

Interview with Buika

Sylvia Pfeiffenberger — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 17:00:57 -0500

Concha Buika ravishes with her singing voice, but even in spoken conversation, the sweetly rasping flamenco singer provokes goosebumps, pouring out her ideas in poetic cadences. Her artististic principles are at one with her outlook on life: an open bisexual, a child of African immigrants, a one-time Tina Turner impersonater, an aspiring electronica programmer—nothing's a contradiction for the ever-evolving Buika.…

Hopscotch: Public Enemy, Panda Bear, Broken Social Scene to headline

Denise Prickett — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 09:30:00 -0400

HOPSCOTCH MUSIC FESTIVAL BRINGS 120 BANDS TO DOWNTOWN RALEIGH SEPT. 9-11, 2010
Public Enemy, Panda Bear, Broken Social Scene to headline

…

This Week: Black Banjo Gathering in Boone

Ashley Melzer — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 17:26:32 -0400

Old time-enthusiasts, scholars, banjo-slingers and guitar-pickers will converge on the campus of Appalachian State University in Boone this week for the Black Banjo Gathering. Stretching from March 24–28, the event features workshops, concerts, panel discussions, lectures, and late-night frolics all designed to commemorate the African, Afro-Caribbean, and African American origins of the banjo and recognize the merit of the black banjo tradition at large.…

A Funky Elegance: Bill Kirchen at Six String Cafe tonight

Rick Cornell — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 20:17:25 -0500

It’s not a stretch to describe Bill Kirchen as one of the music world’s Zeligs. There he is back in his Ann Arbor, Mich., childhood in a school picture with Bob Seger and James “Iggy Pop” Osterberg, Jr. That’s him, Fender Telecaster in hand, in the team photos for Commander Cody and the Lost Planet Airmen and for proto-new wavers (found in that big tent’s roots-revival corner) the Missing Moonlighters.…

Tonight: Music Hates You, loud at The Reservoir

Chris Parker — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 17:54:12 -0500

Athens, Ga., trio Music Hates You aren’t about to let you off easy. Like Jesus Lizard sunning on molten, accelerated Black Sabbath grooves, the Athens trio are hot to the touch and likely to drop right through the floor of your third story apartment.…

Go see The Manx: Tonight at Slim's

Grayson Currin — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 17:04:25 -0500

Tonight at Slim's, one of the best, The Kingsbury Manx, joins Inspector 22 for a benefit show for a friend with cystic fibrosis. I received this note Wednesday afternoon, after our print preview hit the racks.…

Five Words with Blag'ard (tonight in Chapel Hill, tomorrow in Raleigh)

Corbie Hill — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 15:09:31 -0500

There’s a treacherous drive—alternating clay and gravel, and passing over a shallow creek—that turns off of a certain Chapel Hill road and leads into the trees. After several hundred yards, the red clay driveway opens, revealing a little house that’s more of a hermitage.…