It’s that old familiar dance of venues closing and opening, a revolving door of stages, stage managers and clubs for bands to play across the Triangle. In this round, Six String Café owner David Sardinha announced Monday night via e-mail that his MacGregor Village listening room will close on Aug. 26. Sardinha has been in that dig for nearly five years, but he hopes to relocate. Apart from an excellent crop of national troubadours, inveterate local bards and a fine open mic, this Six String stint should be remembered for its perfect smell. Don’t fret, though. Plenty of other local clubs have emerged of late, including 305 South in Durham, the space that former Ooh La Latte frontfolks James and Michelle Lee may open on Aug. 27 for the finale of the Troika Music Festival (speaking of which, the band list was announced Monday night). In Chapel Hill, Reservoir–the bar that stepped up to fill the shell of Go! Room 4 earlier this year–has started booking shows on a regular basis. Greensboro’s Kudzu Wish bid farewell to the Triangle from its stage last week.
That farewell only foreshadows the upcoming farewell scheduled for Reservoir, though. The Ghost of Rock–the “auditory assault on the body” of Pipe survivors Clifton Lee Mann and Ron Liberti and pals Rock Forbes and Jeff Clarke–will call it quits at Reservoir on Saturday, Aug. 13. Clif is busy with his Raleigh rock syndicate Demonbeach Records (check out that Dexter Romweber Duo/Throw Rag split), as well as Chrome Plated Apostles, who just released Twelve Bars and will open for the aforementioned Romweber & Rag on Aug. 22 at Local 506. Liberti just released a new Bringerer record and is busy with his Hypno-Vista Records. His lastest poster art show opens at Branch Gallery in Chapel Hill on Aug.12. Expect a telephone pole. Pipe reunites August 20. “Clif and I have been together making music for a long time now, and I hope we’ll do it again in the future,” says Liberti. “But TGOR took its course… We still rock really hard.”
Superchunk shook off those vicious “Internets” rumors that their 16th anniversary Friday night at the Cradle would be their last. “Really, if this was our last show, would ‘Her Royal Fisticuffs’ have made the setlist?” Mac McCaughan quipped. They debuted one song (Laura finally got to pogo-ing), dedicated a song to new parents John Williams and Amy Buchanan, opened up the guitar solos and hit two encores. Was it just me, or did someone yell “Bring back the stool!” at Jim Wilbur?
