I’d heard the odd record geek sing the praises of Sloan, but it was only two years ago, at the Yep Roc 15th anniversary show at the Cat’s Cradle, that I fell for this Toronto-based quartet—hard. In the middle of a lineup of bands similarly indebted to 1960s Anglo pop, Sloan wowed the big room […]
David Klein
Bio: David Klein lives in Chapel Hill with his wife and two sons. His first book, If 6 Was 9 and Other Assorted Number Songs, is available at his website.Link: http://www.if6was9thebook.com/Twitter: http://twitter.com/DKleinandFall
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Live: Ian Hunter lives up to lifelong expectations at Motorco
Ian Hunter, Wreckless Eric and Amy Rigby Motorco, Durham Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2014 When I attended my first Ian Hunter concert in October 1979, the former frontman of Mott the Hoople was riding high. He’d recently released You’re Never Alone With a Schizophrenic, a canny amalgamation of three-chord boogie, New Wave crunch and knee-buckling emotional […]
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Live: Girls Rock NC rally creates unity at the Cradle
Girls Rock NC Rally Cat’s Cradle, Carrboro Saturday, Oct. 4, 2014 At an evening in commemoration of Girls Rock NC’s 10 years of existence, especially one dubbed a rally, one might be forgiven for expecting a night of motivational speeches and rousing invective from the stage. To be sure, between-band songs by the likes of […]
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Live: Petty, Winwood show that the old pros know what rock’s detractors don’t understand
PNC Arena Sept. 18 Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Steve Winwood Rock ’n’ roll, the old-fashioned meat-and-potatoes kind, has been under attack of late. In recent weeks, Gene Simmons of Kiss said that rock was not only dead, but it had been the victim of a homicide (file-sharing, not the butler, did it).Cantankerous folksinger Mark […]
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Live: The Clean at the Cradle
The Clean, Boogarins Cat’s Cradle Back Room, Carrboro Monday, August 25, 2014 “What should we do?” asked David Kilgour about four songs into a set by The Clean at the Cradle’s Back Room. “Do we want noise or a pop song?” The audience wanted both, of course, and The Clean gave it to them. But […]
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Live: Big Star returns to life with a celebratory Cat’s Cradle homecoming
Big Star’s Third Live Cat’s Cradle, Carrboro Friday, August 22 2014 The hypothetical passerby who happened to hear the chorus of voices issuing from Cat’s Cradle on Friday, singing, “Jesus Christ was born today/Jesus Christ was born,” might have envisioned a revival meeting of a sect that celebrates Christmas in August. But to the audience […]
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Big Star’s Jody Stephens talks the reinvented Big Star
In the wake of Big Star’s dissolution in 1974, drummer Jody Stephens stayed on at Ardent Studios in Memphis, where the band found its sound and recorded its three timeless LPs. He’s been there ever since, as A&R director and wearer of many hats. Stephens has never stopped keeping the Big Star flame alive, from […]
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Live: Eston and the Outs and Shelles summon mighty songs at The Cave
Eston and the Outs, Shelles The Cave Thursday, August 14 2014 Two Triangle acts that shared a bill at the Cave last week, while set to very different speeds, presented contrasting but equally compelling testimonies to the restorative power of plugging in and cranking up. Stu Edwards, who made cracked folk records as a duo […]
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An ardent enterprise
Big Star’s Third ensemble Cat’s Cradle Friday, Aug. 22, 9 p.m. $17–$20 More than 30 musicians crowded the undersized Cat’s Cradle stage. They had gathered to perform an orchestral version of a fractured masterpiece known as Third/Sister Lovers, the final album by beguiling Tennessee band Big Star. Musically ambitious and logistically complex, the 2010 production […]
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The modest, mild origins of perhaps the only complete Merge collection
When Superchunk walks onto the stage of Cat’s Cradle Thursday night to celebrate Merge Records, the label the band has anchored now for a quarter-century, Will Spears won’t be the only fan in the crowd who has attended almost all of Superchunk’s hundreds of North Carolina shows since 1990. But there is one distinction he […]