Nothing Can Hurt Me, Drew DeNicola and Olivia Mori’s documentary about the ill-fated Memphis pop band Big Star, would’ve made a fine endpoint for this year’s Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, even without the movie’s local connections. As it was, however, the choice struck a nearly perfect note, thanks to its opening act. Chapel Hill […]
Peter Blackstock
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Jimmy Webb’s songs and stories at Elon University
“I never thought of myself as a country songwriter, really,” Jimmy Webb mused between renditions of “Highwayman”—a chart-topper for Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings and Kris Kristofferson—and “Galveston,” one of Glen Campbell’s biggest hits. Ironic timing for such an observation, but it’s true that Webb was never bound to any one genre: Like the […]
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Friday night: UNC explores Alan Lomax
The Southern Folklife Collection puts on a lot of cool events at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill every year, each surveying various aspects of traditional music. Few seem more perfectly suited to its mission, though, than Friday’s free program, “The Southern Journey of Alan Lomax.” That’s also the name of a book published last […]
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Morning Brigade’s Above Our Heads
On their debut album, Morning Brigade, an indie pop ensemble of six students at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, sound like a band that couldn’t possibly be so young. Brash and confident, deliberate and nuanced, they draw inspiration from the likes of Bright Eyes and The Decemberists but establish their own dynamic, too. That’s […]
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Jon Shain’s Ordinary Cats
Jon Shain plays a CD release show Friday, Feb. 8, at 8 p.m. at Casbah, with Lizzy Ross opening. Tickets are $10–$12. The downside to instrumental mastery can be historical reverence. A longtime fixture on the Triangle scene, Jon Shain is a first-rate guitar picker. But he sometimes follows too closely in the path of […]
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Late first-half surge leads Duke past pesky Florida Gulf Coast University
Photo by D.L. AndersonSeth Curry coaxes a shot toward the goal against Florida Gulf Coast University. CAMERON INDOOR STADIUM/ DURHAM—In just its second year of major college basketball, Florida Gulf Coast got a signature win last week by beating Miami. Emboldened, the Panthers came to Cameron Indoor Stadium and outscored Duke by one point in […]
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15 titles that sound like Yep Roc
Attempting to compile a “best of” list from Yep Roc‘s 15-year catalog inevitably becomes an apples-vs.-oranges exercise. Here, then, is a look at 15 of the label’s most intriguing releases, in three geographical subsets: TRIANGLE FAVORITES Though Yep Roc’s reputation stretches beyond the borders of the Triangle, the label’s 1997 debut was a compilation of […]
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American Aquarium’s Burn. Flicker. Die.
American Aquarium plays Lincoln Theatre Saturday, Aug. 25, at 9 p.m. House of Fools and Goner open the $10–$12 show. “Pretty soon I’ll hit bottom, but at least I’ve enjoyed the ride,” BJ Barham sings during “Harmless Sparks,” which rests in relative peace at the middle of American Aquarium’s new album. It’s a simple, minimal […]
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The sound of Jackson Browne’s personal and political equilibrium
Jackson Browne and Sara Watkins play Sunday, July 22, at 7:30 p.m. at the Durham Performing Arts Center. Tickets cost $41–$86. Ambling onstage just after 9 p.m. at the Belk Theater in Charlotte last Saturday, Jackson Browne looked no worse for the wear of a 40-year career as a classic American singer-songwriter, even if his […]
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Tripp’s We Are Happy Here
Tripp plays at Local 506 Saturday, June 23, at 9 p.m., with Hectorina and Mark Holland. Tickets are $6. Of the many acts in the orbit of Chapel Hill producer Jeff Crawford’s Arbor Ridge recording studio, Alex Wilkins’ pop outfit Tripp hasn’t been among the most visible. Their gigs around the Triangle lately have been […]