The good: A 10-piece country-soul band, world-class tape effects and a local string quartet made Sunday night’s Lambchop concert at the Carolina Theatre, which culminated Merge Fest, one of the best musical events of the year.
The bad: Durham Mayor Bill Bell and Council member John Best Jr. don’t need to go to Houston to meet with Clear Channel execs to find out what Durham needs in a theater–they only needed to go over to the Carolina Theatre (where they could have heard a great Lambchop show).
The ugly: The town of Chapel Hill and the state Department of Transportation were trying to honor former Chapel Hillian James Taylor by naming the U.S. 15-501 bridge over Morgan Creek after him. But it’s an ignominious-looking honor–though in keeping with Taylor’s view of Copperline, the woods nearby he memorialized. The song, “Copperline,” ends: “I tried to go back, as if I could/All spec house and plywood/Tore up and tore up good/Down on Copperline.”
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