stuff to do, week of March 11, 2003

Date: Tue, 11 Mar 2003 16:05:01 -0500
Newsgroups: alt.music.chapel-hill
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Man, these Washington Social Club MP3s are good, in an utterly shameless
first-Clash, now-Wire, now-Buzzcocks kinda way. Sunday night at the 506
with the Weather. Also:
Tuesday, March 11
Rainer Maria, Mates of State, Sorry About Dresden
Cat's Cradle, Carrboro
Why is it that the only time Sorry About Dresden play in the Triangle
they're opening for some big midwestern indie-rock band? Are they too
big to headline Go but too small to headline the Cradle? What's going
on here? And when's the new record coming out? We only ask the tough
questions because we care . . .
Tuesday, March 11
20 Miles, Mr. Airplane Man
Kings, Raleigh
20 Miles is the current band of Judah Bauer of the Blues Explosion.
They're on Fat Possum. Mr. Airplane Man is an all-woman duo who named
themselves after a Howlin' Wolf song. Their own bio says this of their
first album: "A severely fucked-up album, and one of the rawest since
the Gories’ I Know You Fine But How You Doin’ or Doo Rag’s Chuncked &
Muddled."
Wednesday, March 12
Portastatic, Thad Cockrell and his Starlite Country Band
The Cave, Chapel Hill
I heard a rumor that Thad's introduction to the wild world of
indie-rock was fairly recent, at the hand of Guided By Voices, but it
was prolly just a rumor. In any case, in full-on country-gospel mode
he's got a way with a lyric & a high-lonesome. I can only imagine what
a dose of live GBV might've done.
Last week's Portastatic show was one of the highlights of my year thus
far, without a doubt. Drummer Matt McCaughan & bassist Aaron Oliva
have the rhythm completely nailed down--Matt's so in-the-pocket he's
linty--& that leaves room for Mac to pull off tricks such as nailing
all the swoopy weird guitar bits in "This Must Be The Place (Naive
Melody)" by himself. Simply put, they're one of the best live bands in
town--the fact that they're capable of playing the whole Portastatic
back catalog, as well as a dizzying array of covers (Talking Heads to
Springsteen to Queen to the Kinks to the Undertones) is just tasty
icing.
Wednesday, March 12
The Bellrays, The Weather, Cardiff Giants
Go! Studios Rm. 4, Carrboro
Cardiff Giants are the original lineup of Pipe, minus Ron Liberti,
plus ex-Zen Frisbee frontman Brian Walker. I missed their first show
but they reportedly sound "just about like you'd expect."
The Weather are from Raleigh, and there's some controversy over
whether you're just hearing Kinks & Stones or if you're also hearing
Television, which is mostly just a function of yr ears & yr
expectations, but either way is all right with me.
Wednesday, March 12
Rock and Roll Summer
Kings, Raleigh
Thursday, March 13
The Buttons, The Port Huron Statement
The Cave, Chapel Hill
The Port Huron Statement's 2nd album is called "Tory," and it's an
odd, kinda brilliant concept-album that somehow slips between parallel
narratives of the American Revolution and another (non-18th-century)
narrator's relationship with a woman named Tory. Or something like
that. It's also a great slice of mid-fi Bowie-influenced fuzz-pop,
even if you can't figure out what it's about.
I forget who's in the Buttons--I believe you've got Sticky/Blue-Green
Gods bassist Dave Alston (who also reviewed the Port Huron album in
the Indy this week) & drummer Cam Weeks (Smearcase, Starpoint
Electric, Jule Brown, etc) but I dunno who else.
Friday, March 14
Apple Juice Orchestra, The Rosebuds, Utah!, Ryan Pound
Kings, Raleigh
Yet another showcase of bands who've released stuff on Pigeon English
records. The Apple Juice Orchestra is a couple of ex-members of
Not-So-Dandelions, including singer Jana Privette, along with Apple
Juice Kid from Sankofa & some other hip/trip-hop folks. Their single
for Pigeon English wanders between icy Portishead-style trip-hop and
bossa-nova. Or something like that.
Rosebuds are funny hyper 60s-style Britpop with a little old-fashioned
Myrtle-Beach-style whooping & hollering. Plus Ivan & Kelly are just
*so* in-love & it's way cute to watch.
I've only heard the one song by Utah!, on their split with the
Rosebuds, and while it's great I've decided not to try to describe
them based solely upon it.
Ryan Pound makes solo singer-songwriter music.
Saturday, March 15
Evil Wiener
Go! Studios Rm. 4, Carrboro
It's not that I'm unable to wax poetic about Evil Weiner, it's just that
I'm too sleepy right now to do them justice.
Sunday, March 16
The Weather, The Washington Social Club
Local 506, Chapel Hill
Washington Social Club are from DC, natch, and they're a 3-piece whose
best songs (of the ones on the [http://www.washingtonsocialclub.com]
web) plant them somewhere between the Clash & the Modern Lovers, in
terms of sensibility & singalong hooks. Or maybe imagine if Billy
Bragg had a 3-piece band from DC and never once mentioned Margaret
Thatcher. I dunno if they're that good live, though Billy Sugarfix had
good things to say about them on the radio a couple days ago.
Also on the bill: Raleigh's The Weather. You'll definitely hear the
Who/Stones/Kinks; the jury is still out on whether you'll also hear
Television, but if you do they're not going to be disappointed.
Monday, March 17
Jett Rink, The Loners
Local 506, Chapel Hill
Jett Rink = 4 cool cukes plus one eighteen-foot-tall vegan cuke-eating
motherfucker, rolling around onstage. Every time I see them I cringe
in anticipation of Viva putting his own eye out with the micstand, as
he can't stop rolling over on top of it.
Loners are two-piece garage-rock from Raleigh, oldschool-style,
whatever the hell I mean by that at this juncture.
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