Thao with the Get Down Stay Down performs at the Duke Coffeehouse on East Campus with Sister Suvi and Samantha Crain and the Midnight Shivers Saturday. Tickets are $8. Doors open at 9 p.m., show starts at 9:30 p.m. She is also making an appearance at Chaz’s Bull City Records at 5 p.m. for an acoustic set.
Jessie Tang: I can’t believe it’s been a year since your record’s been released.
Thao Nguyen: Yeah, you and me both. It was a quick one.
JT: Looking back, what were some of the highlights of the tour?
TN: Let’s see… it feels like it was one really long tour. We were on the road for most of it, which is frustrating for me because I am a fruit fly. Highlights were touring with Rilo Kiley, which was a lot of fun getting to play with an established, well-known band. And we’re fans of theirs. It was a big morale boost as far as thinking that we’ve legitimately tried to do this and it was well received that we didn’t just put out a record and no one heard it.
What else? There were little things. The thing was that I was trying to give you an overview because I thought that it would be more professional of me. But the true highlights were, well, one time in Canada I bought this western shirt with eagles—American eagles, I think, and I always thought that was funny. There is a clear contrast between eagle and the white of the fabric. This other time, [bassist Adam Thompson] found out he had been sleeping on this wet, brown stain. We thought it was blood, and I went down to the office to ask the woman. She took it to the back and returned with it, telling us it wasn’t blood—it was feces, which is a hilarious story, but Adam almost died.
We accidentally got married this year because of the time commitment. We’ve definitely solidified as a band and feel comfortable and are trying to navigate how to make music for a living, you know, and how to maintain having a life when you’re in a band all the time. (more…)
Blogs have been abuzz today with the trailer premiere for Lars Von Trier’s Antichrist. One of the best posts I’ve read today comes from the Guardian’s Film Blog. Xan Brooks writes that although the trailer sells the film as a “genre hackpiece,” Von Trier will deliver better. And he really drives home the point here:
To test this theory I’ve just watched the trailer for Marley and Me. It looks quite bad. And yet, if you told me that Von Trier had directed this, I worry that I’d be quietly filing it as some subversive art-film in the guise of a romcom, perhaps with the naughty dog serving as a metaphor for unchecked American imperialism. And for this I blame Von Trier; that infernal tease, that dastardly jester. We have reached the point in our relationship when I can’t tell if he’s pulling my leg or not.
Will Antichrist be another piece of garbage torture porn? We’ll have to wait until May. (Also, can anything that Serge Gainsbourg is remotely connected to be that bad?)
Of Montreal hit Cat’s Cradle Monday night with one of their trademark shows: Kevin Barnes in a dress, people in black bodysuits and red masks playfighting mid-song, pig and tiger masks and absolutely limitless energy.
I missed the first opener but caught most of the second, a punk band named Inkwell that had nothing in common with Of Montreal. They played capable synth-aided indie punk and successfully managed to get some of the crowd dancing in advance of the real show, but possibly the highlight of their set was the intentionally awkward banter between the vocalist and lead guitar. Pretty adorable. (more…)
Anyone with a pal at NC State looking to see Annuals better call that friend soon. The Raleigh band, alongside Lonnie Walker and Cougar Magnum, will be playing NC State’s Lee Field April 24, which is Earth Day and all the university’s last day of class. By the event promises to be a bit different from Duke’s debaucharous end-of-semester celebration. It is free to all students and guests are only allowed to bring one friend to the alcohol-free event. The show is 6 p.m. to 11 p.m. Information is available here.
IMDb has some updates on it’s Main Streetpage. We now have the names of some characters: Colin Firth (who was spotted at the Nasher yesterday) is playing Gus Leroy, Ellen Burstyn is Georgiana Carr (a relationship to Duke’s Carr, perhaps?) and Orlando Bloom’s cop character is named Harris Parker. No news on Amber Tamblyn or Andrew McCarthy’s characters, but we do know Patricia Clarkson is playing Willa–no last name available yet.
The cast list also includes two new names: Nadya Simpson, whose only has this film listed in her credits, and Andrea Powell, who is not unfamiliar to North Carolina based on her work in Dawson’s Creek and One Tree Hill. Powell’s resume also includes work in the Super Mario Bros. film and Matlock. Awesome? Yes.
Behind the scenes, there are also a few impressive names listed on IMDb in some of the most significant capacities. Don McAlpine is listed as the cinematographer. He boasts an impressive resume, that includes work with Baz Luhrman on Romeo+Juliet and Moulin Rouge!, earning an Oscar nod for the latter (any chance we’ll get the same frenetic camera work on this project?). Gary Jones, Oscar-nominee for The Talented Mr. Ripley, is listed as the costume designer.
