Troika 07

It's that time of year again. With the changing of the leaves comes Troika 07- Durham, NC's mega music festival. The festival kicks off this Thursday, November 1st and will run through to November 3rd.

This schedule is subject to change. Proper ID required at all shows.

Thursday, November 1

Duke Coffeehouse
Crowell Building, Duke's East Campus, Durham, NC
All Ages — BYOB/Coffee Bar/Snacks
$8.00

• The Dry Heathens 11:15 pm
• Shakermaker 10:30 pm
• Bull City 9:45 pm
• Sleep Sound 9:00 pm

James Joyce
912 W. Main Street, Durham, NC
21 and Over — Menu/Bar
Free

• Hundred Air 10:30 pm
• Nathan Oliver 9:45 pm
• Regina Hexaphone 9:00 pm

Bull City Headquarters
723 N. Mangum Street, Durham, NC
All Ages — Alcohol-Free Space
Free

• Melissa St. Pierre 11:30 pm
• Megafaun 11:00 pm
• Hazerai 10:30 pm
• Push Pull 10:00 pm
• Maple Stave 9:30 pm
• Future Islands 9:00 pm

Broad Street Cafe
1116 Broad Street, Durham, NC
All Ages — Food and Bar
$8.00

• Malcolm Rollick 10:00 pm
• Dom Casual 9:15 pm
• Sound of Singles 8:30 pm

Marvell Event Center
119 W. Main Street, Durham, NC
18 and Over — Bar and a good time!
$8.00

• Quitzow 11:15 pm
• Setting Sun 10:30 pm
• Can Joann 9:45 pm
• Wedlock 9:00 pm

Alivia's Durham Bistro
900 W. Main Street, Durham
All Ages — Bar and good food!
Free

• Mingus Young 12:00 am
• Resist Not 11:15 pm
• Thought Speak 10:30 pm
• Ships 9:45 pm
• The Busy World 9:00 pm


Friday, November 2

Duke Coffeehouse
Crowell Building, Duke's East Campus, Durham, NC
All Ages — BYOB/Coffee Bar/Snacks
$8.00

• Luego 11:30 pm
• Fontana 10:45 pm
• The Future Kings of Nowhere 10:00 pm
• The Lodger 9:15 pm
• Gray Young 8:30 pm

James Joyce
912 W. Main Street, Durham, NC
21 and Over — Menu/Bar
Free

• Beloved Binge 10:30 pm
• Citified 9:45 pm
• Carol Bui 9:00 pm

Bull City Headquarters
723 N. Mangum Street, Durham, NC
All Ages — Alcohol-Free Space
$8.00

• Dirty 5 Thirty 11:00 pm
• Kerbloki 10:30 pm
• The Scott Waite Debacle 10:00 pm
• Lam! Lam! 9:30 pm
• Sawteeth McTweety and the Particles 9:00 pm
• Nicky Click 8:30 pm
• Anaturale 8:00 pm

Broad Street Cafe
1116 Broad Street, Durham, NC
All Ages — Food and Bar
$8.00

• Gambling the Muse 11:30 pm
• Soft Company 10:45 pm
• Dan Bryk 10:00
• Oscar Begat 9:15 pm
• The Pneurotics 8:30 pm

Marvell Event Center
119 W. Main Street, Durham, NC
18 and Over — Bar and a good time!
$8.00

• Armored Uprise 11:15 pm
• Livalie 10:30 pm
• Expire 9:45 pm
• Glorydive 9:00 pm

Alivia's Durham Bistro
900 W. Main Street, Durham
All Ages — Bar and good food!
Free

• Mark Doughtery 12:00 am
• Noncanon 11:15 pm
• Dylan Gilbert 10:30 pm
• Sequoya 9:45 pm
• The Watercallers 9:00 pm

Ringside
308 Main Street, Durham, NC
18 and Over — Bar
$8.00

• Grappling Hook 11:45 pm
• Jew(s) and Catholic(s) 11:00 pm
• Pulsoptional 10:15 pm
• The Late Virginia Summers 9:30 pm


Saturday, November 3

Duke Coffeehouse
Crowell Building, Duke's East Campus, Durham, NC
All Ages — BYOB/Coffee Bar/Snacks
$10.00

• David Bazan 11:15 pm
• All Smiles 10:30 pm
• Plumerai 9:45 pm
• David Karsten Daniels 9:00 pm

Bull City Headquarters
723 N. Mangum Street, Durham, NC
All Ages — Alcohol-Free Space
Free
$10.00

• The Everybodyfields 11:00 pm
• Bodies of Water 10:00 pm
• Phosphorescent 9:00 pm
• Ben Davis and The Jetts 8:30 pm
• Bellafea 8:00 pm
• Ex-Members 7:30 pm
• Richard Bacchus and The Luckiest Girls 7:00 pm
• New Dawn Fades 6:30 pm
• On the Take 6:00 pm
• Opening Flower Happy Bird 5:30 pm
• Midtown Dickens 5:00 pm
• (BREAK) 4:00 - 5:00 pm
• Eberhardt 3:30 pm
• Sweater Weather 3:00 pm
• Fan Tan 2:30 pm
• Simple 2:00 pm
• Betty and The Boys 1:30 pm
• The Drowsies 1:00 pm

The Beat Goes On

So a little bird told me about this local band Lam! Lam! I was so shocked to see that Betsy Shane from the defunct Relatively Calm has a new project. Honestly, I didn't much care for the Relatively Calm. Betsy's voice was lost in the chaos of Tony's frenzy. Now in Lam! Lam! she is in control and her voice will hook you in with her sugary-sweet voice. Don't be scared by that last statement. She is a smart woman and she balances the sweetness with some moments of existential angst. There is nothing like sounds of strife to make the music so much more visceral. The song "Immer So" truly makes me miss the days of Blackstrap's old school punk.

In Lam! Lam! Betsy Shane has moved out of the pandemonium and grown into a foxy singer who is attempting to bridge that gap between rock music and dance music. In true Durham, NC, fashion she is showing that here in Durham, people are willing to really experiment and revel in their quirkiness.

Go to Hell this Friday!

If you have the free time this Friday and feel like going straight to Hell, then you should go and check out Hatchetfest September 14th. There are three bands playing- The Monologue Bombs, Cantwell, Gomez and Jordan and Jews and Catholics.

I am not familiar with the Monologue Bombs, but I can attest to the wonders of the legendary CG and J and the wondrous Jews and Catholics. CG and J's recipe of punk, noise and quirkiness makes for a tasty snack of avant garde rock.

This is what I had to say earlier this year about Jews and Catholics.

"Holy gefiltefish, Batman

I am just sitting here listening to another dynamic duo on the stereo. The CD is for Jew(s) + Catholic(s), and I love it. Eddie Garcia and Alanna Meltzer are the awesome twosome.

Ever since, I heard the Marie Antoinette soundtrack, I have been stuck in a Joy Division mode. Eddie has a throaty voice like Ian Curtis from Joy Division and the tracks truly hearken back to "She's Lost Control" and "Transmission." But you can't forget about Alanna who plays the upright bass on each song, she contributes this totally lush layer which works well in contrast to the edgy guitar riffs and Eddie's voice. Their yin-yang doesn't work against them at all. Instead, it makes me want to get up and listen to their CD again.

http://www.myspace.com/jewsandcatholics"

Liar Liar Pants on Fire

Go check out the band the Liars, they are so good! I am not lying! The Liars really are awesome. Their new album could become one of my favorites for 2007. They subtley use feed back to create this really visceral sound that hearkens back to Jesus and the Mary Chain and Love and Rockets. Hot! Hot! Hot!

Pretty Vacant

This blog goes out to David K. He loaned me the book "Rip it Up and Start Again" by Simon Reynolds. I have read only a few pages and so many memories have come flooding back to me. This book is about the post-punk years of 1978-1984 in the UK. For me and many of my friends this time period is what helped shape our lives and helped us develop into the punk asses we are today. You know in 1978, I was living in Mobile, Alabama. There were lots of rednecks, but there were also a few new wavers. At this time, I was really beginning to notice how different I was from my peers, I didn't want to listen to Alabama and Hank Williams. I was enthralled with Billy Idol and Bow Wow Wow. Thankfully in the summer of 1983 we moved to the Washington DC metro area. Here I really delved into the post-punk music scene. Now I had access to more music and exposure to other people like me.

Enough rambling about myself, this novel will transport you back to that time and place of fantastic music and the birth of a scene that touched so many of us. Yeah, I know times change and we may have all sold out to the corporation, but it's nice to remember the days where you felt like you could make a difference by fucking shit up.

I also recommend reading "Rotten" by Johnny Lydon and watching the film "Punk Attitude," those are also nice little refreshers of that time period. If you are in the mood that is.

Pony Pony Pony

In our age of convenience, it is so rare when things are not attainable. I just discovered the band Holy Hail, and I want more and I want it now! The band has releases stateside and in the UK. At this point, the band doesn't seem to have a lot of their material recorded and I am feeling totally thwarted by iTunes. The UK iTunes store has so much good stuff, but can we buy it here in the US- noooo, we can't. I thought we were in a global economy. It's a conspiracy I tell ya'.

Anyhoo, so I discovered this band Holy Hail. They have an EP for sale called "Big Guns." It should be called "Big Guns Cubed," as there are 3 different versions of the song on this EP. Two versions are remixes, which are fun to listen to for sure. Remember the playfulness of Le Tigre and the B-52's? Well, you can find it again with this band. Holy Hail's sound is similar to the more current band New Young Pony Club, but I think Holy Hail is better. They capture the spirit of the punky, glitchy new wave sound so much better than NYPC and make you want to pony harder.

Back to my bitterness about our global economy, so their best song is "Born of a Star" and you can't buy it here in the US. Grrrr. But you can listen to it repeatedly on Myspace. Right now, I feel like one of those teenagers who drives their parents crazy because they can't stop listening to their favorite song over and over and over again. Oh, and don't act like you have never done this dear reader. Oooh, Holy Hail is making me feel sassy with their drumbeats. Go check it out now! Now!

A really swell movie

Okay, yeah right, this is a music blog. But I just saw the movie "Once," and it is a beautiful film about music and love. If you have never heard of this movie, then let me give a little synopsis. Basically, two musicians meet while one is busking for money on the streets. From the day they first meet, there is an immediate connection between the two musicians and a musically based relationship ensues.

There is not much dialogue in the film and some of it is in other languages. But you don't need to really know what the characters are saying. The soundtrack and the songs that they sing within the film help push the plot along just fine. Each song helps to convey the relationship that has formed between the musicians. Some of the songs are so haunting that you will get goosebumps at times.

An interesting factoid, in reality the two musicians, Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, in this film form the band The Swell Season. The director of the film originally asked them to write songs for the film but then decided he wanted to use them as the actors, which makes the whole story that much more interesting to me. If you know any musicians, then you know that there often is a very intense bond that forms between band members. Even though they may be platonic, the act of creating music together creates a very passionate relationship.



Side note: BTW- did you know that shoegazer bands are back? There was a recent article in the NY Times and long discussion on NPR this weekend regarding its comeback. Honestly, I didn't know that it had ever left, especially since I just saw Mojave 3 at the Cat's Cradle not too long ago.