SxSW: How Does the Triangle Fare?

04 Mar 2009, Posted by Andrew Hibbard in Music, Playground, 1 Comments

In spite of being the most uncool branch of the Triangle’s most uncool city, Raleigh will be the area and the state’s best-represented city at South by Southwest this year. The Bull City will be sending two of its finer acts to Austin this year, though Des Ark association with Durham is pretty loose given her recent move to Charlotte and stronger ties to Pittsboro. Nonetheless, props to the Triangle for sending 13 of North Carolina’s 18 bands to Texas for the festival. If only one of them was playing for Rachel Ray…

Here’s a list of all the bands from the Tar Heel state playing in Austin March 18-22.

Chapel Hill
Black Skies
Dexter Romweber Duo
The Moaners
The Physics of Meaning
Valient Thorr

Durham
Des Ark
Megafaun

Raleigh
Alesana
Annuals
Colossus
The Love Language
The Rosebuds
Lonnie Walker

Other North Carolina Towns
The Avett Brothers (Concord)
Brother Reade (Winston-Salem)
Ear Pwr (Asheville)
Floating Action (Black Mountain)
He Is Legend (Wilmington)

You’re so jaded

29 Jan 2009, Posted by Jordan Rice in Backpages, 1 Comments

Hundreds of Duke students in the class of 2010, including myself, are finally settling into Duke after a semester abroad. Boxes are unpacked, books are purchased, classes are chosen, and Few Quad is now home. The daily Duke grind—class then Wilson then dorm then Perkins then the Loop followed by pre-game closing with Shooters—may feel a bit stale after four months of new places, new people and new languages.

After Notre Dame, Westminster Abbey, St. Peter’s and the Sagrada Familia, the Duke Chapel does not inspire as it did before. After seven story nightclubs, an endless array of bars and staying out until the Metro reopens at 6:00 a.m., a night on the town in Durham does not excite as it did once upon a time freshman year.

Abroad, we were interesting, unique. Thanks to Barack Obama, we were not even the stupid, fat American trash we might have been just a year ago. No longer ignorant, we were enlightened; no longer fat, but cuddly and sensual in a Barry White kind of way. We had it made.

Rain in Durham is not rain in Paris. The Nasher is not the Prado. The Eno is not the Arno. We became jaded overseas, and consequently, life at Duke has become quite bleak.

How then can we return to the days when life at Duke excited us? How can we recapture the times when even the self-checkout machine in the library captivated us, when a night in the dorm was enough?

The first step is realizing that life abroad was not sustainable. For one, livers simply are not that strong, and living without responsibilities for too long can wear on your soul more than the stress of school. Perhaps actually doing real work will restore a sense of purpose in our lives. Maybe Duke cannot offer the non-stop action of the abroad experience; but last semester was not real life, and unfortunately real life is not that exciting.

Step two is to attempt to see through the romanticized vision we have of our abroad experiences—to find our way through the cloud of nostalgia. Not everything was so wonderful. What about that pickpocket in Barcelona, or that rude waiter in Paris? Remember that weird European deodorant, or the revolting amorality of the Swiss? At least here we have southern hospitality, CVS and old-fashioned American boldness.

Let’s try to accept Duke on its own terms. By the time the NCAA Tournament rolls around, we will forget about Real Madrid or Arsenal, and remember why we came to Duke in the first place.

Full Frame Festival Passes

12 Dec 2008, Posted by Andrew Hibbard in Durham, Film, Full Frame, Playground, 0 Comments

The premiere event of the North Carolina film world, Durham’s Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, has just started selling festival passes. They come at three levels: $500 for 25 films plus priority tickets, and access to all panels and special events, $200 for 20 films and all panels or $100 for 15 films. All prices go up $50 at the start of the festival. Typically, one film costs $10.

The festival is from April 2 to 5 in downtown Durham. Check here for more information.

Dan Bejar's Top 10

11 Dec 2008, Posted by Andrew Hibbard in Music, Playground, 0 Comments

Pitchfork called on some of the most notorious artists in music to assemble their own top 10 lists for 2008. The lists are varied, with some surprising picks. Justin Vernon, an ex-pat of the Triangle, included Raleigh bands Bowerbirds and the Rosebuds plus Vernon’s former DeYarmond Edison bandmates now know as Megafaun from Durham.

But by far the best list comes from Destroyer‘s Dan Bejar. It’s probably better to call the list top 10 Dan Bejar probably liked:

5. Cat Power: Jukebox (The band is really really good, the production super-classy, and I’m really starting to get into her singing, the way she throws her voice around, you know, like Bob Dylan…people say this is too adult contemporary or something, but to me that’s just code word for “70s”…don’t really like a lot of the songs, but whatever…)
6. Sun Kil Moon: April
Haven’t heard it, but I generally enjoy this man’s work.

A well researched list indeed. As a side note, in the four pages of lists, not a single artist mentioned Bejar’s Trouble in Dreams from 2008.

Update: Fullsteam Brewery

08 Dec 2008, Posted by Andrew Hibbard in Durham, food, Playground, 1 Comments

After Friday’s party to raise funds for the Fullsteam Brewery, future operator and owner of the Durham-based brew pub Sean Lily WIlson blogged about the party. They raised approximately $100,000 at the event. Quoth WIlson:

Our investment finger is rising like a Cialis pill-popper.

For the full story, click here.