Chapel Hill
Steve Earle
The ArtsCenter“It’s the last G5 iMac that they made,” says Steve Earle, easing his way into an avalanche of home-recording jargon. “I got an API Lunchbox with a pair of API pre-amps, a pair of API EQs and a pair of API compressors. I have some good microphones. For all this, the vocal microphone was a microphone made by Violet. It’s a solid-state microphone designed to emulate a U67, and it sounds like a U67. It’s amazing.” If you caught most of that, you’ve probably made your own record sometime this decade. If you didn’t, don’t worry because it distills like so: The New York-via-Nashville-via-rural-Texas Earle sat down in his Greenwich Village apartment to record a batch of songs by Townes Van Zandt, his songwriting hero who also served as a mentor and a menace before his death in 1997. That record, called Townes, is mostly Earle, with occasional help from a smattering of special guests like wife and singer Allison Moorer and Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello. It thrives on its own homemade intimacy, Earle wrestling each of the words like it’s a memory he’s long been putting to rest. Tonight, Earle goes solo in Carrboro, splitting the set between his and his hero’s songs. Joe Pug opens at 8:30 p.m. Tickets are $39. Grayson Currin
Raleigh
Coach Mike Krzyzewski & Jamie Spatola
Quail Ridge Books & MusicWinner of the gold medal at the Beijing Olympics and coiner of such phrases as “I define passion as extreme emotion” and “Effective teamwork begins and ends with communication” (it’s on his Web site!), Coach Mike Krzyzewski also holds the title of executive-in-residence of the Fuqua/ Coach K Center on Leadership & Ethics in Duke’s Fuqua School of Business. As we all know, it’s “publish or perish” in the world of academia, so Krzyzewski and his daughter Jamie Spatola will sign copies of his new how-to book, The Gold Standard: Building a World-Class Team. The signing-only event (no questions about who’s going to run the Blue Devils’ backcourt next season, please) requires a ticket and starts at 7:30 p.m. For a signed or personalized copy without showing up at the signing, call 828-1588 or 1-800-672-6789 or contact orders@quailridgebooks.com. Zack Smith
Chapel Hill
Veronique Diabolique, Post Honeymoon, Humble Tripe
NightlightIn its pure form, rock ‘n’ roll depicts high drama, the deep moods and dark reflections of heartbreak and life’s cycles, bellowed from some stage or dingy dive. Durham’s Veronique Diabolique works this territory musically by delving into an ’80s painted punk sound and visually by sporting fetish goth gear. Similarly, Chicago band Post Honeymoon elicits comparisons with Siouxsie and Love and Rockets. New neo-folk duo Humble Tripe opens, adding tonight’s opposing Durham bookend. The $5 bill takes stage at 9:30 p.m. Chris Toenes
