Categories
Arts & Music

Advance Notice: The Week in Happenings 5/3-9

Get up. Get out. Let us know how it was.

Tues – 5/4

  • Local Natives / Suckers @ Local 506 – $9 adv / $11 at the door

Wed – 5/5

  • Giant Cloud / Floating Action @ The Cave – $5

Thurs – 5/6

  • Physics of Meaning / The Big Picture / Josh Mease @ The Nightlight – $TBA
  • Holy Ghost Tent Revival / Paleface @ Local 506 – $8

Fri – 5/7

  • WXDU End of the Year Dance Party @ The Pinhook – $5
  • I Was Totally Destroying It / Sugar Glyder / Bustello @ Local 506 – $5

Sat – 5/8

  • Mosadi Music / Humble Tripe / Physics of Meaning @ The Pinhook – $5

Anywhere else?

Categories
Arts & Music

Bela Fleck at Shakori Hills

Video of a hot finish just before the rain came. . .

Categories
Weather

Storm cells soon

Been a dismal Spring for rain so far, but that’s changing today with a fairly heavy set of storms moving through.

Categories
Arts & Music

Gimme Five! Andrew Marlin and Emily Frantz of Mandolin Orange

Mandolin Orange © 2010 Gabriel Nelson Photography

There’s a song called “The Dash” that Andrew Marlin wrote way back when he was first sticking his toe in the water of folk music.  It’s a few simple chords, a few symbol-laden verses, and a refrain that cuts.  “If you aim to throw bullets, shoot me fast, my love, not slow,” he sings.  It’s a cruel to be kind sentiment, in a song about the brevity of life and love.  When Marlin met Emily Frantz, however, instead of facing down a girl with a metaphorical gun, he found one with a guitar, a fiddle and a knack for harmony.

Since that chance meeting, Marlin and Frantz have honed their picking and playing skills together, performing out as Mandolin Orange.  Pairing some combination of guitar, fiddle, and mandolin, the two craft tempered, stripped-down country duets that drift somewhere in the ether between Gillian Welch and Nickel Creek.  Their music blends contemporary influences with the vibe of old-time, imbuing vintage aesthetics with shrewd songwriting.  It’s a magnetic combination, and you can hear it live as this Saturday, May 1st, when the duo celebrates the release of their newest record Quiet Little Room at the Local 506 along with Ryan Gustafson and Big Fat Gap.

Now just a few hard hitting questions for the kids in the quiet room:

1. If your band were a vegetable, what would it be?

ANDREW: Is an orange a vegetable?
EMILY: A sweet potato. Because it’s my favorite NC veggie and it happens to be orange.

2. When was the moment you realized there was something to this musical partnership that needed to be shared?

ANDREW: From the very start it seemed to just make sense. Emily and I fulfill very different roles that fit so easily together—at first it felt more like the musical partnership was sharing itself with us.
EMILY: Immediately. The first week we knew each other we played non-stop. We bailed on all our commitments (class, work) day after day—we just couldn’t tear ourselves away.

3. Describe your writing process.

ANDREW: Initially, an idea just kind of appears during a random shot at writing. Usually the overall concept of a tune isn’t clear to me until I’m finished with it. When the rough version is done, we arrange it together.
EMILY: The writing process starts with Andrew, and mostly stays there. Over the past year, I’ve started offering my opinion and enthusiasm for different lines or melodies as he writes. I aim for harmony parts that compliment the style or emotion of the tune, and do the same with my fiddle parts. Each song goes through all kinds of instrumental arrangements (between 2 guitars, fiddle and mandolin) since we can only choose the most fitting pair for a given song.

4. Who/what might be a few inspirations or influences that might really surprise people?

ANDREW: A lot of my songwriting influences comes from the interactions and conversations I have everyday. As far as musical influences, The Books have a very spatial sound compared to us but they’ve long been one of my favorite groups.
EMILY: I have a hard time differentiating between my influences and the people I just listen to. For example, My Morning Jacket is one of my favorites, especially in the car. When creating my own music, I obviously don’t go for that exact sound, but I’d guess it’s in there somewhere.

5. What did you dream of being when you were a kid? (How ’d that turn out?)
ANDREW: A cowboy. I’m no horseman but I get to sing and play folk music… close enough.
EMILY: Can’t remember. I think it had to do with being the Little Mermaid and being able to sing underwater and swim at the same time. The singing part is working out so far!

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Check back next week to see who else will take up the challenge of facing down the five. Be sure to join Mandolin Orange this Saturday night at the Local 506 (or sometime soon on their upcoming tour) and, by all means, give Andrew and Emily a high five when you see them!

Categories
Miscellany

Wake up, y’all! PDF version of today’s Citizen (including Mill) now up!

Hera are the links:

Main Section:

http://www.ibiblio.org/carrborocitizen/print/citizen042910.pdf

Mill:

http://www.ibiblio.org/carrborocitizen/print/printedmill/mill0510.pdf

Categories
Arts & Music

Advance Notice: The Week in Happenings 4/26-5/2

It’s the week for CD release shows and tough decisions–except for Tuesday, that’s a crazy easy choice to make.  And if you dare venture a few miles down the road, Merlefest kicks off this Thursday, promising to be a weekend of musical mayhem.  See you out there!

Mon – 4/26

Tues – 4/27

  • Zeke Graves & Pals / Cellar Seas @ Local 506 – $FREE!
  • Bess Rogers / Justin Robinson & The Marionettes / Lelia Broussard @ The Pinhook – $5
  • Juan Huevos / Bermuda Triangles / Dunbar & Santiago @ The Nightlight – $tba

Wed – 4/28

  • International Noise Conference @ The Nightlight – $FREE (but donations for the traveling bands would be much appreciated)
  • Lizzy Ross & The Little Bear that Barks / Jason Kutchma / Group Mentality @ Local 506 – $6
  • Clipse & Friends present the Fam-Base Tour @ Cat’s Cradle – $18 adv / $20 day of the show
  • St. Vincent / The Love Language @ UNC Memorial Hall – $FREE for UNC Students / $15 General Public

Thurs – 4/29

  • Graveyard Fields CD Release Show with Evil Weiner / Puritan Radio @ Local 506 – $8
  • The Toddlers / Skylar / Royal Forest @ The Pinhook – $5

Fri – 4/30

  • My Morning Jacket with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band @ Koka Booth Amphitheater – $35 adv / $40 day of the show
  • Hammer No More The Fingers / The Demon Beat / Lille Bronze @ Local 506 – $8

Sat – 5/1

  • Mandolin Orange CD Release Show with Big Fat Gap / Ryan Gustafson @ Local 506 – $7 adv / $8 at the door
  • Nightlight Spring Craft Arts and Crafts Fair (early! 11-5) @ The Nightlight – $FREE
  • The New Town Drunks / The Pneurotics @ The Cave – $5
  • American Aquarium CD Release Party with Sons of Bill / Jamie McLean Band @ The Pour House – $8 adv / $10 at the door

Anywhere else?

Categories
Arts & Music

Gimme Five! Django Haskins of The Old Ceremony

It’s hard enough playing music in front of people without having to wonder if they understand a single word you’re saying—but don’t bother explaining that little quandary to Django Haskins.  Adventuring after graduating from college, this Florida-native found himself cutting teeth as a songwriter playing shows in Hangzhou, China and that feeling of being lost in translation was all too immediate.  With words suddenly so insignificant, melody and rhythm and tone and instrumentation became the most important expressions.  It was an accidental lesson, but an important one. He went over a songwriter; he left a budding arranger.

It’s been several years since Haskins’ Chinese escapades, but any passing listen to the complex and textured aural landscape of The Old Ceremony intimates how important that translation-gap was to his musical mindset. As figurehead and lead songwriter of The Old Ceremony, Haskins, along with bassist Matt Brandau, drummer Dan Hall, vibes/organist Mark Simonsen, and violinist/keyboardist Gabriele Pelli, conjures music that hinges on some pop-noir aesthetic.  It bleeds jazz affectations into atmospheric Brit invasion inspired expanses.  The deliberate theatrics of their arrangements pair with murky, affecting lyrics and undeniable hooks.  It’s a precarious balance that perhaps inspired the name of their most recent album, Walk on Thin Air, and you can watch them tiptoe that line this Friday, April 23rd, at the Cat’s Cradle, where they’ll be joined by Benji Hughes.

Now just the new ritual questions for ye old ceremonial leader:

1. If your band were a member of New Kids on the Block, who would it be?

Well, we all like to hope that never happens, but if we had to be a member of NKoTB in order to save the lives of terminally-ill orphans on the Titanic, we’d be Mark Wahlberg because he’s the one who erased his New Kids past most effectively. Plus he got to deck Matt Damon in The Departed.

[editor’s note 1: The editor would like to point out that she thought everybody knew that Donnie was a New Kid and Mark was the leader of the Funky Bunch. “Come on, come on! Feel it! Feel it!” The editor wonders if maybe this is just a ruse so that Mr. Haskins does not have to admit having a NKOTB poster above his bed…]

[editor’s note 2: After pointing out the common knowledge of “note 1” to Mr. Haskins, he replied with reference to Mark Wahlberg’s wikipedia page which clarifies that although later replaced by Joey, “Mark, at age thirteen, had been one of the group’s original members.”  Mr. Haskins did not, however, make any clarification on the existence of said NKOTB poster above his bed.]

2. What do you want this band to be when it grows up?

Asking a musician what he wants to be when he grows up is like asking Yul Brynner what kind of shampoo he favors; there’s an assumption that musicians intend to grow up at all. To answer your question, we wanna be a firefighter.

3. Describe your feelings about Montreal and  Philadelphia cream cheese.

Well, the Montreal Cream Cheese Fiasco is part of a larger, sadder tale, but the short version is that I like Philadelphia cream cheese. When we were last in Montreal, I got a half-dozen Montreal bagels (which are incredible) and a tub of Philly cream cheese to take along on the next leg of the tour. But the Quebecois hold a long-standing disdain for anything other than local cream cheese, so when they smashed the window of our van, stole my laptop and iPod, along with my bag of bagels, they purposefully left the Philly cream cheese (they had to actually remove it from the bag they took) as a silent comment. It’s not every day that a felon also criticizes your dairy choices.

4. Who/what might be a few inspirations or influences that might really surprise people?

I don’t know if it’s surprising, but I’ve been listening to Fela Kuti, Sun Kil Moon, Serge Gainsbourg, XTC’s English Settlement, Indian classical music, the Pogues, and Paul Simon’s first solo record a lot lately.

Barton Fink also rolls around my mind a lot, especially the scene where Jack Lipnik, the studio head, tears into Barton for making his wrestling screenplay too “fruity.” “Nobody wants to watch a movie about a guy wrestling with his soul! I mean, sure a little bit for the critics. But you’re making it the carrot that wags the horse!…We’re talking about men. In tights. Both literally and figuratively!” Not sure how that influence works its way in to TOC songs, but I’m sure it does somehow.

5. What did you dream of being when you were a kid? (How’d that turn out?)

I dreamed of being taller, since I was five-five until about eleventh grade. It’s turned out okay, though I doubt I’m going to get any taller now.

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

Check back for more high fives and head out to Cat’s Cradle this Friday to hear The Old Ceremony throw it down. And by all means, be sure to give Django a high five when you see him!

Categories
Miscellany

Happy Earth Day! PDF version of today’s Citizen now up!

Here’s the link:

http://www.ibiblio.org/carrborocitizen/print/citizen042210.pdf

And don’t forget to shop with Citizen advertisers.

Categories
Arts & Music

Advance Notice: The Week in Happenings 4/19-25

A few surefire reasons to get out of your house and into the mix.

Mon – 4/19

Wed – 4/21

  • Jay Clifford / Steven Fiore / Jeremy Current @ Cat’s Cradle – $12 adv / $15 day of the show
  • La Strada / North Elementary / Kaiser Cartel @ Local 506 – $5
  • WICKED @ DPAC – This show made my head and heart explode when I saw it on Broadway with the original cast (Idina Menzel AND Christin Chenowith)* back several years ago.  If you love the Wizard of Oz and big voices and don’t mind political-re-imaginings of old favorites then THIS is the show for you. $30-$140  *nerd alert

Thurs – 4/22

  • DURTY Art Collective Benefit: Tree City / Lake Inferior / Casual Curious / Tea and Tempests / Mystic Minstrels / Kellie Ann Grubbs @ The Pinhook – $5 suggested donation

Fri – 4/23

  • Second Annual Intro Summit: Killer Filler / The Guns of El Borracho / The Aqualads / Blood Red River / The Weisstronauts / Eszett @ The Cave – In all the festivities run from this night until the 25th, check The Cave website to see the full lineup.  $TBA
  • Odessa Fest 2010: Transportation / Inspector 22 / Shit Horse / Waumiss / Wes Wolfe @ The Nightlight – $8 each night / $15 weekend pass

Sat – 4/24

  • Violet Vector and the Lovely Lovelies / The Huguenots / DJ Mixcake @ Local 506 – For whom the discotheque mourns…so ends the sunshine pop reign of Violet Vector and the Lovely Lovelies.  No doubt there will be more than a few Gray Eyes being Sadly Sad– but only once the concert’s over. $6
  • Odessa Fest 2010: Kingsbury Manx / Americans in France / Wild Wild Geese / Michael Holland @ The Nightlight – $8 each night / $15 weekend pass
  • Whatever Brains / Invisible Hand / The Alphabet / Gross Ghost @ Berkeley Café – $TBA
  • Chestfest2010: Amelia’s Mechanics / MC Ava Johnson / members of the Bellydancing Collective, The Devoted / Burlesque by Miss Mary Wanna @ The ArtsCenter in Carrboro – $10 for entertainment (silent auction before the show is free)

Sun – 4/25

  • Frightened Rabbit / Maps and Atlases / Bad Veins @ Cat’s Cradle – $12 adv / $14 day of the show

Thurs-Sun – 4/22-25

Anywhere else?

Categories
Arts & Music

Gimme Five! Nick Jaeger of The Tomahawks

It’s hard to imagine that while playing as sidemen in both Roman Candle and Max Indian Nick Jaeger and Jeff Crawford would have the creative energy for anything else, much less songwriting.  Nevertheless, the boys found themselves trading melodies and working up a batch of tunes that soon turned into  The Tomahawks.

With retro guitar licks, bouncy keys, hand-claps, and sun-bleached harmonies, The Tomahawks are part classic rock, part beach music soul, part indie.  Throwback hooks and warm riffs muck it up with loose rhythms to create an analog vibe.  It’s a vintage patina produced by a young band, brimming with talent.  The lineup is always stacked with the chops of Jaegar, Crawford, and Charles Cleaver, and is often augmented by other rambling, gifted musicians associated with Chapel Hill’s Drughorse Collective—“The Rons” Matt Damron & Cameron Lee (from Bright Young Things), Django Haskins & Mark Simonsen (from The Old Ceremony), Rob DiMauro and Patrick Phelan (from Luego), James Wallace and Carter Gaj (from Max Indian), and Brett Harris among them.

And you can come face to face with The Tomahawks and their spirited brand of roots soul this Saturday, April 17th at The Pinhook where they’ll be joined by their pals Luego and John Lindsay.

Now just to hit Nick with the five toughest questions in faux business:

1. If your band were a sandwich, what kind would it be?

For Flavor – the Manhattan from Neal’s Deli

For Name – the Big ‘n’ Tasty

For Historical Impact – Peanut Butter and Banana (Elvis’ choice)

2. What can listeners expect to hear on the new record?

Soul music as interpreted by a band of burnout badgers.

3. Describe how your father has affected your love of music.

Directly…I was hooked on his record collection growing up. He taught me how to work the turntable when I was probably 6 and I remember playing The Slider and Rubber Soul on repeat.  Currently, he influences me currently by making crazy good guitars (axes) for me to play (shred).

4. Who/what might be a few inspirations or influences that might really surprise people?

I was pretty into some punk rock in high school and I’ve been re-discovering some of that lately. The Descendents – Milo Goes to College was a pretty amazing record. Also, Dr. Dre’s – The Chronic…The drums and bass on Let Me Ride are absolutely disgusting.

5. What did you dream of being when you were a kid? (How’d that turn out?)

Grades 1-5 – Astronaut/Paleontologist/Fighter Pilot
Grades 6-12 – Winner of le Tour de France
Adulthood – Rock and Roller

Entire Life – Fire Fighter/Pro Basketball Player

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Tune in next week for more furious five interrogations and head out to  The Pinhook this Saturday to catch The Tomahawks in action. And by all means, be sure to give Nick a high five when you see him!

Categories
Miscellany

Happy Tax Day! PDF version of today’s Citizen now up!

Here’s the link for your reading, and viewing, pleasure:

http://www.ibiblio.org/carrborocitizen/print/citizen041510.pdf

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