Around here, Halloween takes on the same Bacchanalian quality as Mardi Gras. Streets get closed, clubs get crowded and folks play up the carnival mood by dressing a bit more out than they might for an ordinary Halloween. Hanging in the night air is the sense that something crazy might happen. No matter where you […]
Chris Toenes
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In a taste of ‘wine’
Hailing from the Mississippi Delta town of Belzoni, Paul Jones (pictured below) is a welder by day; before that he worked in a cotton gin. When he wants to, he also makes some of the most distinctive blues music you’ve ever heard, yet doesn’t usually travel far from home. Living somewhere between his electric boogie […]
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The Durham-Chapel Hill line
Hell doesn’t freeze over As many who’ve been following the story already know, on Wednesday, Oct. 8, the Chapel Hill Town Council voted on whether to adopt an ordinance requiring that fire sprinklers be installed in businesses that sell alcohol. A result of widespread fire code reassessment due to the Rhode Island pyrotechnics tragedy involving […]
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In rosy releases
Raleigh’s Rosebuds are an effervescent bunch, belting out the kind of little exuberant pop numbers that may make your teeth hurt, but often cause you to want to pogo up and down to the beat. Take the sweet and tart anthem, “Kicks in the Schoolyard,” as proof once you see them. Their debut, Make Out, […]
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The Durham-Chapel Hill Line
Thursdays on the Terrace UNC Chapel Hill’s Johnston Center for Undergraduate Excellence is sponsoring quite a lineup of Southern music of all stripes this fall. The afternoon series hosts musicians during lunch hours, from 12:30-2:30 p.m. Located just off Franklin Street, adjacent to the Morehead Planetarium, the Educational Foundation Terrace will be the stage for […]
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In compilations
Durham-based label Pox World Empire is releasing an impressive Triangle rock compilation, in its first volume, matching 21 groups whose only common denominator is their presence in this area’s musical landscape. At the least, Compulation is a snapshot of a time and place in our region’s musical history, and with killer cover art by artist […]
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Press print
With as many slashing lines and spectrums of color as the music it depicts, rock poster art is inextricably bound to the music it represents, and embeds itself in the cultural psyche like so many staples in a telephone pole. From the ’60s-era, fancifully-styled artists like Rick Griffin, to the brilliant, stark pop art of […]
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Gimme the rock
Raleigh-based Demonbeach Records started with purist ideals. A like-minded clutch of rock-lovers branched off from the support network and Web community Demonbeach, “to start a label owned and run by musicians,” as co-owner Jennifer Love put it recently to The Indy. Three years and more than a dozen releases later, they’re celebrating with a live-filmed […]
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In flying rite
Nestled comfortably in the musical time of the mid-’50s, Big Sandy and gang hail from Southern California, where Sandy cut his teeth in the roots scene some 20 years ago. The trio has recently worked in more elements of vibrant Latino rhythm and blues, a longtime source of inspiration in their sound. With a penchant […]
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In rockin’ pop
The glorious clanging rock of San Francisco’s Deerhoof (pictured above) is punctuated with pastel-hued keyboard riffing and the joyful chirps of singer Satomi Matsuzaki; nestling them in a comfortable space, mingling post-punk chops with tart bubblegum catchiness. It’s a joyous place to be, filled with the band’s rapturous enthusiasm and infectiously giddy sense of humor. […]
