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Troika Adds 15 More Bands to 2009 Lineup

25 Aug 2009, Posted by Andrew Hibbard in Concert, Durham, Music, Playground, 0 Comments


This year’s Troika Music Festival just got a lot better and there are 15 reasons why. The lineup now includes 15 more bands, among them Megafaun, the Love Language, Red Collar, Pipe (!) and Butterflies. The schedule for this year’s festival will be released later this week. Ticket sales for Durham’s November 5-7 music festival will also begin later this week. Check back her for further updates and below for the new additions to Troika.

Slideshow: Ciompi Quartet (with the Brodheads) at Pegram Residence Hall, 8/24/2009

25 Aug 2009, Posted by Andrew Hibbard in Concert, Music, Playground, 0 Comments


Duke’s Ciompi Quartet performed in the Pegram Residence Hall on East Campus last night at 10 p.m. with President Richard H. Brodhead and his wife, Cindy, seated in the audience. The quartet is also gearing for a series of four, informal lunchtime concerts in the Rare Book Room in Perkins Library this year, the first of which is slated for Tuesday, Sept. 15.

Check out the above slideshow for more of Jianghia Ho’s photos of the performance.

GQ Ranks Duke America's 2nd 'Douchiest' College

24 Aug 2009, Posted by Andrew Hibbard in Culture, Playground, 7 Comments


A little late but nonetheless. Although more attention has been paid to Duke slipping to number 10 in U.S. News & World Report’s rankings, GQ’s September issue features its own brand of college rankings: America’s 25 Douchiest Colleges. The magazine calls Duke the home of “The O.D. (Original Douche)” and adds, “They’re probably number one. But we’d rather not rank Duke number one at anything.” GQ also dubbed Duke as honorable mentions in the categories of “blue-blazer institution,” “excessive-pride institutions,” “show us your t—s institutions,” “crazily expensive institutions,” “kind bud institutions,” “limousine liberal institutions” and “eating club institutions.”

Though the magazine’s ranking systems are a bit suspect (a list of the 10 Best Food Trucks in America omits OnlyBurger), Duke pales in comparison only to Brown. At least Duke beat Harvard (4) and Princeton (3) at something other than basketball.

UPDATE: The Chronicle’s online editor Alex Klein has found a link for the print pages of GQ’s list, which you can see here.

UPDATE 08/25/09: GQ has a slideshow on its own Web site. Check it out here.

VIDEO: Bowerbirds & Megafaun (Together!) Live at the Arts Center, 8.22.09

23 Aug 2009, Posted by Andrew Hibbard in Concert, Playground, video, 1 Comments


Brad Cook played with Megafaun and Bowerbirds at last night’s show, earning the hard-worker award. And for “The Ticonderoga,” Phil Cook joined Bowerbirds. Bowerbirds, who headlined, closed out their encore (and tour) with all of Megafaun joining them on-stage as they performed a cover of the Rosebuds’ “Hold Hands and Fight,” dedicated the Rosebuds’ Ivan Howard and Kelly Crisp, both in the audience.

VIDEO: Bowerbirds Live at the Arts Center, 8.22.09

23 Aug 2009, Posted by Andrew Hibbard in Concert, Playground, video, 1 Comments


Bowerbird’s latest release Upper Air is an enchanting album. But the live experience at their homecoming show with Megafaun last night, which was a triumph. But the surprise, likely stemming from the fact that Phil Moore, Beth Tacular, Mark Paulson and Brad Cook just returned from an extensive tour promoting the album, was how familiar these songs felt. The songs from Hymns for a Dark Horse were as great as ever, but the one’s from Upper Air, released July 7, felt like old favorites. Here’s a sampling of two songs: one older and one newer.