Sister Spit in Durham

Who: Sister Spit: The Next Generation
What: Racous literary performances that explore indentity, feminist fashion, and finding alternative ways to document personal histories
Where: Duke University, Women's Studies Parlors, East Duke Building
When: 7pm, November 8th

Plus!!: Post Performance at Bull City Headquarters, join us after the presentation at Duke. The after party show will start at 9:30pm and will continue into the night. ( 723 N. Mangum St., more info, www.bullcityhq.org)

Sister Spit: The Next Generation is hitting the road again, with a whole new all-girl lineup of zinesters, fashion plates, novelists, performance artists, slam poets and fancy scribblers. Inspired by the legendary Sister Spit Ramblin' Roadshow of the 90s, Sister Spit: The Next Generation is hauling a vanload of killer underground female talent across the USA and into your town. The latest gang, including Spit founder Michelle Tea, hits the road in October 2007, a decade after the first Spit van set sail, carrying on the tradition of rowdy, raucous literary adventure. As they journey across the USA, they're joined by a rag tag bunch of special guests - old Spit travelers of yore, and contributors to the brand new feminist fashion anthology, It's So You. Come and meet your new favorite performers!

This event is sponsored by DukeOut (http://www.duke.edu/web/gap/DukeOUT/), The Center for Documentary Studies (http://cds.aas.duke.edu/), The Duke University Program in the Study of Sexualities (http://www.duke.edu/womstud/sexuality.html) and Bull City Headquarters (www.bullcityhq.org).

Falling behind

I know I have fallen behind in my music reviewing. After 3 days of music at Troika, I recommend checking out these musicians/bands.

Phosphorescent
Dylan Gilbert
Bellafea
Maple Stave
Hazerai
Push Pull
Noncanon

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.