The Cavern Tavern, aka The Cave, Chapel Hill’s oldest nightclub, has turned private club adding liquor and a more lounge-like back room along with the recent conversion of the front of the house to a smoke-free zone.

In addition to gussying up the place, the change makes the popular music club one less place that sees a migration of customers around 1 a.m. to the nearby liquor bars for a stiff drink before last call. More info at their snappy Web site: www.cavern tavern.com.

CD release mayhem
As noted throughout this section, there are a lot of local records coming out this week and a lot of shows as a result. Most are in the file-under-rock category, but if bluegrass is your fescue of choice, head on down to The Pour House on Saturday, Oct. 22 for the Steep Canyon Rangers’ party marking the debut of One Dime at a Time. Tickets are $6 in advance and $8 at the door. The Rangers hit the stage at 10 p.m. Halloweenies Chapel Hill, the town that is definitely not having a love affair with the automobile, is gearing up for another Halloween–a time when the streets around downtown masquerade as a parking lot.

There are a ton of shows, of course, but getting to them can prove difficult if you’re not park-and-ride savvy. There are a half-dozen parking lots on the outskirts of town with shuttles to the action.

Check out the town’s Web site at townofchapelhill.org for information on how to get on the bus.

Not a fantasy
Just as she makes a triumphant return to the state for a gig this Friday at the State Fair, Fantasia Barrino is getting heat from the Triad.

Her biography Life is Not a Fairy Tale is not going down well with some folks in her hometown (in one passage, she refers to it as “Land of the Dead”). One couple has started a nasty little Web site, www.fantasiaslies.com, and called for removal of the “Home of Fantasia” mentions around town. Fortunately, High Point officials aren’t jumping on the diss-Fantasia bandwagon, saying they have better things to do. Judging from the descriptions in Ms. Barrino’s book of life on the wrong side of furniture city’s tracks, they’re right.

For more on this and other stories visit Scan, the Indy‘s music blog, at www.indyweekblogs.com/scan