You Should Do This
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Pinhook improvements Kickstarted; anniversary celebrations begin tonight
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. The market for a Bull City indie rock venue was unclear. They could have been opening to more interest than their 150-capacity room could serve.
Three years later, The Pinhook is only an afternoon away from an anniversary blowout that will include national indie stars Javelin and Crystal Antlers. It will be a sweet occasion, made sweeter by the recent completion of their Kickstarter fundraiser to make key upgrades to the space, most importantly a new sound system. More than 270 backers (Note: Contributors include Independent employees, including Music Editor Grayson Currin) helped the venue best its $15,000 goal on the popular fund-raising website. Co-owner Kym Register calls the response humbling, a reminder of how important their little community arts space has become.
Friday, May 13, 2011
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. “So there's a lot of bills that need to be taken care of.” And, though she died in March, Raleigh’s heavy music scene shows that it has not forgotten one of its own.
Tonight’s memorial show at that bar may serve the essential function of allowing the late Martin’s friends a chance to honor and keep her memory. But there’s also a practical side. Both Caltrop and MAKE are donating their guarantees for the evening; the bar itself is giving 15% of the evening sales. The hat will be passed, too, all to benefit Martin’s two daughters.
Rodwell was a friend. He remembers seeing shows with Martin and her fiancé, David Askew. And he remembers how thrilled she was to see local metal. “Carrie, David and I had just gone to see the Ragnarok Fest,” Rodwell recalls, referring to an August weekend of heavy music at Carrboro’s recently closed Reservoir Bar. Caltrop and MAKE were among the dozen bands that played. “I remember her saying on the ride home that show was one she would never forget.” So when Askew saw the two acts were booked May 13, which would have been Martin’s 26th birthday, he approached them with the memorial show idea. They agreed without hesitation, says Rodwell.
The past six months haven’t been easy on the local heavy music community. The Reservoir, arguably driven out by climbing rents, can be replaced. But the losses of Martin, as well as Reservoir co-owner Wes Lowder in a November car crash, have left a lot of people reeling.
The show starts at 10pm. Anyone unable to attend who still wishes to help Martin’s children can make a donation at any branch BB&T to Nola & Bella Martin, care of Margaret Morgan Holland.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
- Drew Valenti
- Andrew Weathers
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.
So if he absolutely has to leave us, at least seeing him complete his degree in Music Composition should be a memorable sendoff. His senior recital happens at 9 p.m. tonight at Greensboro’s CFBG. He will be joined by, for this evening, what he’s calling Andrew Weathers Ensemble Auxiliary Orchestra. Review to come.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
- Jeremy M. Lange
- Colossus plays one of the last shows at the Reservoir tonight
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. For more than six years this room has played host to the Reservoir, an anything goes mix of rock club and corner bar that's loud, lively and cheap. But after Friday, this room will no longer be the bar's home.
In response to escalating rent, the owners of the Reservoir have decided to look for another space. They have nothing lined up and will spend the summer finding a suitable location for the move, hoping to open back up later this year. Their absence will be sorely noticed, and not just by those hankering for a $1.50 tallboy on a Monday night. The Reservoir has come to mix things that aren't commonly combined by bars, not just in Chapel Hill or Carrboro, but throughout the Triangle.
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
- Jeremy M. Lange
- Carpenter Ryan Carlson sits underneath a tree that landed on his roof in the Oakwood neighborhood of Raleigh. A record 92 tornadoes tore through North Carolina on April 16.
Rough-and-tumble country outlaws Hank Sinatra headline the 10-band show, which starts at 5 pm. Antibubbles bring peppy, though sincere, garage pop-punk. Jack the Radio, whose debut LP actually hits shelves today, calls to mind southern rock-educated-pop, a la The Wallflowers. Also aboard are A Rooster for the Masses, Richard Bacchus, Brett Harris, OAK Team, Stella Lively, Maldora and This House on Fire. And the nOg—which many of us know has a fantastic kitchen—will have at least one food giveaway.
If people’s true character is visible in times of adversity, then Tir na nOg and these 10 bands deserve our admiration. Donations of any amount are encouraged. And if you can’t attend this show, here’s the link to the Red Cross’ donation page.
Monday, November 15, 2010
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.
In this interview, Buika reveals what "your mother" and Chucho Valdes have in common, and dishes how she got kicked out of Chavela Vargas' dressing room and danced with Antonio Banderas. The Indy spoke with her by phone back in September, before she embarked on a North American tour behind El Ultimo Trago (2009). She performs at N.C. State University's Stewart Theatre Tuesday, Nov. 16, at 8 p.m.
Independent Weekly: How would you prefer that I call you, Concha or Buika?
Buika: Well, my name in your mouth is yours. Both are my name.
You've lived your life outside of convention in many ways. How has that affected your expression as an artist?
I don't know how I do what I do. I can't explain it. I do what I do because I am what I am. I just close my eyes and I sing what I hear inside.
I'm very interested in this Latin scene that's going on in Madrid right now; your producer has worked with El Cigala and Bebo Valdes, and now you did this album with Chucho Valdes. How much is it a "scene," that is, a new remix of these elements of Africa, Afro-Cuba and Spain?
Well, I think all the world is united for the same thing: the arts. I think that arts are a unique religion that we have, because it's the only one that unites the world. The rest of the religions, they separate the people. Every time I find myself in front of another musician, or a painter, or a writer, or a photographer, I think that I'm in front of someone who is trying to do the same mission that I do. That's to reunite the world again. I think that we are living separate [because of] ideas that are from other people. And I think that our idea is to be together.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
HOPSCOTCH MUSIC FESTIVAL BRINGS 120 BANDS TO DOWNTOWN RALEIGH SEPT. 9-11, 2010
Public Enemy, Panda Bear, Broken Social Scene to headline
The Independent Weekly proudly announces the Hopscotch Music Festival, the Triangle’s biggest music festival yet and a strong addition to the country’s festival circuit. Scheduled for Sept. 9-11, 2010, in downtown Raleigh, with 120 bands in 10 venues over three days, Hopscotch offers fans high-quality local, national and international options in just about every genre you can imagine—rock, hip-hop, alt-country, heavy metal, dance, punk, classical, noise, drone, folk and more. Tickets go on sale Thursday, April 1, at www.etix.com and www.hopscotchmusicfest.com.
The festival will be headlined by two nights in Raleigh City Plaza, downtown’s crown jewel, which opened last fall. Indie rock giants PANDA BEAR and BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE will headline Friday, Sept. 10, with support from Triangle favorites THE ROSEBUDS. Hip-hop’s most legendary group, PUBLIC ENEMY, will headline with a rare full-band set on Saturday, Sept. 11. Los Angeles trio NO AGE and Raleigh’s THE LOVE LANGUAGE will open. More than 110 bands will be spread between nine clubs throughout the festival’s three days. A sample of those bands includes: Washed Out, Tortoise, Lucero, 9th Wonder, Akron/Family, Marissa Nadler, Harvey Milk, Fucked Up, Javelin, Richard Buckner, Megafaun, Kylesa, Atlas Sound, Harlem and Bear in Heaven.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
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.
The Gathering is the second to unite this cross-section of practitioners and devotees. At the first, which happened in April of 2005, hundreds congregated to champion the sound and the artists who have persisted, notably Mebane’s own Joe Thompson, who went on to receive the NEA Heritage Fellowship for his lifetime of contributions in 2007. The 2005 event also has special significance because it marks the genesis of The Carolina Chocolate Drops, who met for the first time while in attendance and have gone on to garner national and international attention for their stringband inspired music.
Friday, March 12, 2010
A Funky Elegance: Bill Kirchen at Six String Cafe tonight
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. Shots of Doug Sahm, Emmylou Harris, and Elvis Costello in a studio or on a stage would reveal Kirchen, guitar still smoking, nearby. Spot him backing Nick Lowe as an Impossible Bird, and then spot Lowe backing Kirchen on the latter’s 2007-released Hammer of the Honky-Tonk Gods, a genre-hopping gem. You can even catch his name in a George Pelecanos book.
Of course, the difference between Zelig and Kirchen is that Woody Allen’s fictitious chameleon was a passive bystander. Kirchen, while as unassuming as they come, is always right in the middle of the action. And with a new record due in May and a busy touring schedule, he clearly intends to stay there for as long as possible.
A standard Q&A phone call quickly turned into a roaming conversation between two music geeks—one just happened to be the King of Dieselbilly, a gent once described by Lowe as “a devastating culmination of the elegant and funky,” and one of the best guitarists in the land (the other decidedly none of those things). Below are just a few of the things Kirchen had to say.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
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. Frontman Noah Ray’s performances are possessed. He’s always been comfortable as the center of attention. That goes back to the last time you saw him, when he was the skater boy digging around in that dilapidated house of R.E.M.’s video, “End of the World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine).” It’s still that way today. After a recent show, a Waffle House waitress joked they could plug in there, and so he loaded in. She’ll think twice before she opens her mouth next time.
Farm and Garden now has Full Steam Growlers...yeee haww
by Fritx on At the gas station, biscuits, tortillas—and community (Food Feature)
Michael Pollan,
Amen, Amen, Amen!! Your comment was excellently put. Thanks so much for writing in! …
by jwaters on Carrboro Commune occupies CVS building (Orange County)