Friday, March 27, 2009
Hammer No More the Fingers: Tour Diary HNMTF Tour Diary #7: Wilmington, Del.
Posted by Guest Band on Fri, Mar 27, 2009 at 11:43 AM
Thursday, March 19
Wilmington, DE
The next morning we finally said goodbye to our Caverns brethren, then drove to our friend Brad's apartment in Philadelphia. Thursday night we played in Wilmington, Del., just outside of Philly. Brad's apartment is two blocks from the Pat's/Geno's cheesesteak corner in South Philly. We immediately crushed a few steaks from Pat's, watched a little NCAA basketball, and later drove out to Delaware. Wilmington is a fairly large banking town on the outskirts of Philadelphia—not the most happening place in the world. However, we heard it was the hometown of WKNC's own DJ Stevo, so we're happy to be here.
Hammer No More the Fingers: Tour Diary HNMTF Tour Diary #6: Baltimore, Md.
Posted by Guest Band on Fri, Mar 27, 2009 at 11:39 AM
Wednesday, March 18
Baltimore, MD
Next we made the short drive from D.C. to Baltimore. It was the first time we have been back to Baltimore since we recorded our album here almost a year ago with our longtime hero, J. Robbins. That was the best week of our lives: We spent our days in the studio, living on pizza and coffee. The pizza was delivered from the world famous "Pizza Deal" restaurant. We made many pizza deals that week. J Robbins is the sweetest guy. It was such a pleasure to work with him. Baltimore was also the setting of a television show that I (Joe) hold close to my heart, The Wire. It was fun to dork out, drive around and point out specific locations from the show. I've been trying to get Jeff and Duncan to watch it for a while now.
We played at the Talking Head, a small venue tacked on to the back of a larger venue called Sonar. A lot of venues in larger cities have two rooms like this—one room for larger acts, and one room for smaller acts. It's great for relatively unknown touring bands. You get the same benefits from the club (i.e., beer discounts, door money and good sound), but you play to a much more intimate audience. We played between two local acts, Don Pennington and Vinngy Vegas. It was a great night all around. Baltimore's vibrant music scene is one of many we're struggling to break in to. After the show, we drove back to our crash pad in D.C., picked up some Cup o' Noodles from 7-11, watched even more Eastbound & Down, then hit the hay. Phew. —HNMTF
Hammer No More the Fingers: Tour Diary HNMTF Tour Diary #5: Washington, D.C. [day off]
Posted by Guest Band on Fri, Mar 27, 2009 at 11:37 AM
Tuesday, March 17
Washington, D.C.
The trip from the Black Cat to the House of Caverns is one for which we no longer need directions. At the house we kicked back, drank some more Coors (the "silver bullet" this time), watched more Eastbound and Down and generally chilled out. Two of Patrick's friends stopped by and were running around like headless chickens. With good reason, as it turned out: From here they're hitting the road and driving to L.A., hoping to live their dreams as filmmakers.
Live Actions: Reviews Live: Cut Copy Paste
Posted by Eric Tullis on Fri, Mar 27, 2009 at 11:24 AM
Cut Copy
Tuesday, March 24
Cat's Cradle
The last time I ate at a Chuck E. Cheese, it was for a frat brother’s 25th birthday gathering. I remember it fondly, how a pal and I pulled off a plot to smash a piece of cake in the birthday boy’s face. But what I remember most about that day is where we all sat—right in front of the giant, animal-bot musicians. Periodically, music would come on, and Chuck E. and his bandmates would move around as if they were actually playing their instruments, performing their songs. It really creeped me out. Tuesday night, I was equally disturbed by my experience with Australia's Cut Copy, whose performance was just as mechanical and automated and actually quite similar to those of Chuck E. Cheese's boys.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Live Actions: Reviews Live: After Austin, two tired bands handle themselves differently
Posted by Grayson Currin on Thu, Mar 26, 2009 at 2:05 PM
Titus Andronicus, Here We Go Magic
Tuesday, March 24
Local 506
How do you know when you’re back from South by Southwest? You’re sick, and the more prominent buzz bands from the year’s festival are rolling up Interstate 95 on their way back to Brooklyn. Wednesday night, two of those bands—New York’s Here We Go Magic and Glen Rock, N.J.’s Titus Andronicus—stopped together at Local 506.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
SXSW09 SXSW09, Days 3-4: Who designed this iPod, btw? [Grayson Currin]
Posted by Grayson Currin on Wed, Mar 25, 2009 at 2:58 PM
Earlier this year, the Web site furia.com tossed all the votes from the Village Voice’s 2008 Pazz & Jop Poll into a database and determined—of the year-end corral’s 577 voters—which were the most similar in terms of the albums they considered to be the best. Only Brent Burton, a contributing writer for Washington City Paper, shared my 2008 tastes more than Marc Masters, another near-D.C. denizen who was one-sixth of the team this newspaper took to South by Southwest this year. Funny thing, though: Until I caught a ride into South Austin Sunday night to meet Marc and a few of his friends for a late dinner, our paths didn’t intersect once in Texas. Crazy, right?
Not really. During four days in Austin, about 1,900 bands played official shows for SXSW. There's no telling how many acts playing only day parties for sponsors or, by nighttime, bars not included in the sanctioned Sixth Street activities joined them. Such is the necessary qualification of Eric Harvey’s SXSW-as-iPod/iTunes analogy: Not only does this iPod carry more music than you could hear in four years—much less four days—but it also covers a range of genres, subgenres, styles, strata and niches more expansive than most people will ever appreciate at any single point in their life and, most likely, all points of their life combined. Sometimes, such a variegated gathering can lead to unexpected glory, where unlikely artists unite to form a front of sorts or collaborate in surprising ways. And sometimes, well, not so much.
Live Actions: New Bills Carolina Performing Arts announces 2009-10 season
Posted by Grayson Currin on Wed, Mar 25, 2009 at 1:03 PM
It's going to be a good one, too: Highlights include appearances by Ravi and Anoushka Shankar, Sonny Rollins, Gilberto Gil, Pat Metheny solo, Béla Fleck with Edgar Meyer and Zakkir Hussein, the union of the Blind Boys and Preservation Hall, arrangements of Philip Glass, the return of Bang on a Can and a revisiting of "Pictures at an Exhibition." Also of note: Mali's mighty Tinariwen finally makes it to the Triangle after falling from Duke's roster for the 2008-09 season.
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Hammer No More the Fingers: Tour Diary HNMTF Tour Diary #4: Washington, DC
Posted by Guest Band on Tue, Mar 24, 2009 at 7:16 PM
Over the next two weeks, Durham’s Hammer No More the Fingers will offer daily glimpses into its touring life as the band tours the East Coast in anticipation of its Triangle CD release parties April 3-4.
Monday, March 16
Washington, DC
Oh no. Do I remember correctly? Five guys, no shirts, duct tape, terrible accents and a video camera? I'm pretty sure that happened.
I searched Facebook to see which ones possibly made the cut. Seven videos popped up as soon as I logged in. Fortunately, I laughed a lot harder than I thought I would. On the downside, the videos turned out to have very little to do with Viking Storm.
Oh well. . . on to the next show: It was at The Black Cat Backstage, a venue similar in size to Durham's The Pinhook or Chapel Hill's Local 506, and rumored to be co-owned by Virginia native Dave Grohl.
Hammer No More the Fingers: Tour Diary HNMTF Tour Diary #3: College Park, MD
Posted by Guest Band on Tue, Mar 24, 2009 at 7:09 PM
Over the next two weeks, Durham’s Hammer No More the Fingers will offer daily glimpses into its touring life as the band tours the East Coast in anticipation of its Triangle CD release parties April 3-4.
Sunday, March 15
College Park, MD & Washington, DC
Oh, Washington DC—our home away from home. A network of bands and people are truly devoted to the success of the independent music scene here.
SXSW09 SXSW09, Day 4: [Kelly Reid]
Posted by Kelly Reid on Tue, Mar 24, 2009 at 7:03 PM
After circling the blocks of 6th and 7th streets east of Interstate 35 for about 10 minutes, I finally found a parking space so big that I could squeeze my brother’s pick-up truck—a ’94 GMC, a real Texas ride with straight pipes that emit a gnarly roar even while parallel parking—inside. Jumping from its cab, my heels hit the asphalt hard, and I was reminded that today would likely be my fourth and final 15-hour day of music. The thought hurts.
It’s not that I don’t want to see live music. Actually, I have a whole list of bands I want to hear today. Rather, it’s that I don’t want to walk everywhere to see them. SXSW felt more scattered this year: The FADER Fort moved east of the interstate, a half-mile or so from the center of the action. Places like The Scoot Inn, Victory Grill, Homeslice Pizza and the Shotlz Beer Garden gathered bigger acts, too, moves that meant more walking for me. By bedtime every night, rest only felt like an excuse to get off of my feet. But, hey, it was totally worth it.
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