Chapel Hill
NORTH ELEMENTARY, SPIDER BAGS
Wetlands–If Chapel Hill band North Elementary was indeed a palace of pedagogy, John Harrison would be the headmaster happily hosting this class reunion: Harrison plays with N.E. and with Ryan Lee Dunlap’s The Rose Marie. Current members of N.E. form Simple in its debut show, though ex-bassist Chris Bowman comes home with his New York band Secret Language. Spider Bags sports Elementary exes, too. Speaking of that band, in their own anti-methodical, care-be-damned way, Spider Bags, who recorded largely unreleased material with Wilco knob man Brian Paulson last year, are steadily becoming one of this area’s must-see acts. Slow, galloping, stoned-and-soured country, they sing lines like “There ain’t no curfew on hard livin’ in this poorly painted town” above a slurred Southern sweat. Be there at 9:30 p.m. with $6. –Grayson Currin
Durham
ADF ACTS TO FOLLOW
Duke University–This third installment in a free series of weekly showcases for North Carolina choreographers looks particularly promising. Our favorite foreign correspondent, Amy Chavasse, indulges in relationship vaudeville in Spatula Sound Check, before Sidelong Dance uses Chopin in a new work that asks how our dreams alter our memories. Joan Nicholas-Walker’s NickWalk Dance Project distills her 2005 Mental Image from an octet to two dancers, and we see new work from recent Raleigh mainstay Renee Aumiller. The one-hour show starts at 6 p.m. in Baldwin Auditorium. —Byron Woods
