Holden Richards

Year End Top 10 Albums for 2011

2011-11-23T08:42:00.001-08:00

I hope your 2011 was as entertaining musically as mine. Many live shows with my favourite bands and performers all year long. Here's how my top 10 albums shook out this year:

1. Wye Oak - Civillian
2. War On Drugs - Slave Ambient
3. Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues
4. Mount Moriah - Mount Moriah
5. The Kills - Blood Pressures
6. Gillian Welch - The Harrow and the Harvest
7. The Low Anthem - Smart Flesh
8. Phil Cook and His Feat - Hungry Mother Blues
9. Megafaun - Megafaun
10. Wild Flag - Wild Flag

Also amazing in 2011 (in no particular order):

Des Ark - Don't Rock The Boat, Sink The F*cker
Simone Dinnerstein - Bach: A Strange Beauty
The Mountain Goats - All Eternals Deck
Wilco - The Whole Love
Dolorean - The Unfazed
Hammer No More the Fingers - Black Shark
The Antlers - Burst Apart

Revolution of the Mind

2011-10-19T19:41:00.000-07:00

One of my favourite bands ever, the dB's, of Winston Salem, have release what I think is the best single for 2011. Its called "Revolution of the Mind" Its available as a download free from http://www.thedbs.com.

Hopscotch 2011

2011-09-13T13:00:00.000-07:00

Hopscotch is a very large music festival in Raleigh, NC featuring over 320 bands in 3 days over 15 different venues simultaneously, day and night, almost non stop. Some of the best that indie rock has to offer, quantities of known and unknown bands. Large touring acts like the Flaming Lips and smaller, less known but no less amazing bands. Doing this festival requires good shoes, a decent pair of ear plugs and more than a couple cups of coffee.

This years festival was more selective in its appeal but no less entertaining. Having sacrificed Friday night to a friends art opening I can only speak to Thursday and Saturday as far as evening performances.

What I saw:
Thursday:
Lynne Blakey, Kenny Roby, The DiBonzo Brothers, Frank Fairfield, Last Years' Men, Lower Dens, The Necks, The Love Language, The Black Lips

Friday
"Power of Narrative Song" Panel with Patterson Hood, Steve Gunn & John Truscinski

Saturday:
Lake Isle, Future Islands, Hammer No More the Fingers, Chris Stamey Small Group at the "Future of Pop" Panel with Wayne Coyne, Rosebuds, Superchunk, The Flaming Lips, Prayers and Tears, Des Ark, Bombadill, Lost in the Trees

This is a lot of music even without a full day Friday to drink in. Some highlights have to include the visceral fury and subtle control of Des Ark at Kings Saturday night, the lovely, restive interlude of the Chris Stamey Small group Saturday afternoon. Last Year's Men were angular, aggressive and excellent Thursday evening bringing their punk but clean energetic brand of rock. I have seen the Love Language numerous times but I thought what they gave hopscotch was pretty special on Thursday night. Local bands seem to shine at this festival, more so than usual. Those that went Friday night said it was exceptional, I wish I could have attended.

Des Ark - Amy Argote

The Flaming Lips - Wayne Coyne

The Love Language - Stu McLamb

New, Old Old Camera

2011-09-13T12:50:00.000-07:00

This is a Rochester Optical Company "Universal" Camera manufactured in 1891. I recently bought this 4x5 film camera to begin learning about large format photography. This camera originally made images on glass plate, but at some point someone added a more "modern" film loading mechanism to the back (and even that is still made of wood). This camera came with a Bausch and Lomb 1890 "Rapid Rectilinear" lens. The first lens to offer no distortion in vertical lines. The construction of the lens is symmetrical. Identical groups of lenses equidistantly apart. Its called "Rapid" because it can focus and operate at f/8, which I am sure was quite a breakthrough for 1890. Rochester Optical Company was eventually to become a little company known as Kodak! I am going to have to learn about tilt and swing and putting this camera through its paces before I can remotely claim to have mastered it. I have gotten the camera light tight and have made some test images (see below):

Postcard for an Exhibition

2011-07-26T20:00:00.000-07:00

This is the front and back of the postcard for my next exhibition of darkroom prints entitled "Time and Light" at the Morning Times Gallery in Raleigh, NC. The show opens Friday, August 5th, 2011.

I have been working in the darkroom alot in the last 7 days to get this ready. The newer images are a larger 12"x12" square print mounted in a 22" frame. Larger prints make some elements easier to execute but flaws that might just slide by in a smaller image are writ large upon a significantly larger print. It also seems that getting good dark black tones takes more conscious effort in larger prints as well. All that aside I am pretty satisfied with the results of this concentrated effort.

Work From the Center

2011-04-08T06:47:00.000-07:00

This is what I submitted to the ArtsCenter for the show and opening this evening;

Statement: Our best creative moments often come when we least expect them
all the while the practice necessary to receive that creativity has been integral to the process all along. Moments from the "center" for me implies the truer nature of an artistic process revealed in the practice of all phases of photographic reproduction; from shooting, developing, and later to the printing of these images. The "center" to me also implies a creative process that is my artistic "home." A place and time of complete understanding to me awaiting my technical interpretation to realise it. Whether wandering to long abandoned 18th century locations on the Rivers of North Carolina or exploring the marshland of the Piedmont the abundance of wildlife and diversity of flora never fail to overwhelm me. I am in my proper place in the world, that of the empathetic observer of the inherent timeless beauty of landscape and water.

Purpose: The purpose of this show is not only to exhibit these traditional wet darkroom prints on archival fiber papers but to remind the community of the great resource we have in the darkroom facility at the Arts Center in Carrboro. With traditional film rapidly dissapearing from the artistic landscape its essential we endorse and use what resources are available to keep them around as a viable option for future film enthusiasts.

The print in the photo above is a larger 14x14 print in a 24x24 frame, the one next to it is the standard 17x17 size frame with the 9x9 print I usually make... Here you see things getting boxed up and ready to go! Digital photo does not do the real contrasts in these justice! Lots of readable dark areas and Zone V starts pretty far down the scale so its a rich look.

Pictures for an Exhibition

2011-03-04T19:10:00.001-08:00

Its getting close to time, I have been printing, printing and printing. I switched papers to get the densities I wanted to be able to produce some negatives that have not been easy to reproduce on the matte. I am liking this Glossy FB, VC very much. I have 11 prints done and want to do 5 more and ultimately select 12 to put in the show I am having the entire month of April at the Arts Center in Chapel Hill in the East End Gallery. If I get through these 11x14's I am going to produce some 16x20's as well. Whew...

I have take to flashing the paper before printing to control the highlights. Its a simple idea that gives you a certain amount of control over desparity of densities within a negative.

If Not For You - Cat's Cradle Feb 26th, 2011

2011-02-28T06:56:00.000-08:00

Peter Holsapple onstage with me; Photo: Stan Lewis

I had the pleasure of participating in a performance of the entire album of "All Things Must Pass" by George Harrison. The evenings proceeds were going to the Caring Community Foundation - an organization that supports chronically ill people in their every day financial needs for rent, food and just living. Having recently performed in a duo with Chris Stamey at the Alex Chilton memorial show at the Cradle it somehow seemed only right that I get to perform at this show with Peter Holsapple. Peter sang while the band and I played "Isn't it a Pity" for a packed house of more than 600. It's not a night I will soon forget. Having recently played to a packed house with my new band Cloudlines I have had two recent music experiences that have been back-to-back two of the best I can remember.

One of the best outcomes of playing the "All Things Must Pass" show is reconnecting with many, many people (there were over 40 people involved in this) I had not seen for years and performing with many of them for the first time ever. Folks like Chris Chamis, Lynn Blakey, Jane Francis, Rebecca Newton, Bryon Settle, Pete Gamble and Greg Bell are all long time participants in the North Carolina music scene and its was really superb to be able to finally share a stage with all of them. I am in debt for the organizer of this show (Jeff Hart) for including me in this unforgettable experience.

Big Star Third - Cat's Cradle Dec 9th, 10th 2010

2010-12-09T06:19:00.000-08:00

This is the drummer/singer/songwriter from the seminal rock band Big Star. Big Star is most known now by the song that kicks off a TV show called That 70s Show but back in their day they were one of the most innovative rock bands around. Their sound went on to influence many important bands The Posies, Teenage Fanclub, Gin Blossoms, Wilco, Afghan Whigs, Whiskeytown and others. The 1987 tribute song "Alex Chilton", co-written by three members of The Replacements, was released as a single from the album Pleased to Meet Me and contains the lyric "I never travel far without a little Big Star". Standing behind Jody in this shot is the bassist Mike Mills from the American Band R.E.M.

So they are putting on a live show of the entire 3rd Big Star Record in Chapel Hill with a full string section and a horn section. It was LUSH to say the least. This show includes members of Local Triangle bands Lost in the Trees, Rosebuds, The Old Ceremony, The Love Language, Mayflies USA, The dBs, Let's Active, Tomahawks and more. There are a lot of people on that stage!

We got to setup stages in front of the stage at the Cat's Cradle to shoot this so we were shooting on a higher level than usual from the front. I also got to use a tripod which I never normally can in live music situations. In rehearsal on wednesday at Overdub Lane Studios in Durham there were so many documentary people and photographers that Will Rigby said the band had a String Section and a Camera Section.

Stu McLamb of the Love Language

Mike Mills of R.E.M.

Photo notes: this is T-Max 400 pushed all the way to 3200 as the long lens on the Hasselblad only stops down to f/4. I love how smooth this came out in stand development.

Best Albums of 2010

2010-11-07T14:32:00.000-08:00

This is my top ten for the year end of 2010. There was so much good music made and seen this year. Between the amazing Hopscotch festival, a really nice local-centric Troika in Durham and large name band shows at local venues (Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes at the Cradle for one). This was a great year for music all around.
My top ten is as follows:

1) Shearwater - The Golden Archipelago
2) Sharon Van Etten - Epic
3) Arcade Fire - the Suburbs
4) The National - High Violet
5) Lost in the Trees - All Alone In An Empty House
5) Megafaun - Heretofore
6) The Love Language - Libraries
7) Bright Young Things - Self Titled EP
8) White Rabbits - It's Frightening
9) Frightened Rabbit - The Winter of Mixed Drinks
10) Spoon - Transference

Hopscotch 09/09/2010-09/11/2010

2010-09-20T16:56:00.000-07:00

Taken during Broken Social Scene, Nikon F, Film.

Hopscotch - One-hundred thirty bands in three days, that's the promise of the Hopscotch Music Festival in downtown Raleigh this weekend. It is set to be the biggest music festival in the history of North Carolina. Essentially curated by the Indy's Grayson Currin Hopscotch 2010 was an ecclectic and great bunch of music. From gritty rock to electronica, hip hop and everything inbetween. What was unique about Hopscotch was that the record companies and downtown establishments and businesses in Raleigh sponsored day parties in which many of the highlighted bands played for free to afternoon concert goers. Some of the highlights for me for the entire weekend happend at just such shows. As an example the "Friend Island" day party at the Pour House on Friday the 10th featured Collections of Colonies of Bees, All Tiny Creatures, Pattern is Movement, Family Dynamics and Megafaun and Breathe Owl Breathe. The entire afternoon was well attended by more polite than usual concert goers and the added attentiveness brought out
great performances. The Megafaun performance I saw that day was one of the best I've ever seen. They were beyond inspired and delivered an emotional full-throated punch throughout their set. Friday night brought for me Rosebuds, Broken Social Scene, Panda Bear a quick trip to Slims to see Austin Texas' own Followed by Static (very original music for cello and rock band) and then back to the Pour House for Ryan Gustafeson and Sharon Van Etten. A full day by any stretch and I left early at that.

Saturday started right back at the Pour House where I attended the Trecky Records day party which consisted of; With Butterflies, Embarrassing Fruits, Sharon Van Etten, Midtown Dickens and Lost in the Trees. A super inspired set from Sharon Van Etten who I felt had her Hopscotch sea-legs after playing the night before and put on an even more relaxed and beautiful program that afternoon. This was quickly followed by one of the most manic Midtown Dickens sets I've seen. Inspired and ecclectic it was fun to watch. For me the highlight of the day, maybe the weekend, was seeing Lost in the Trees put on a gripping, tight, extremely musical set of songs where they, like Megafaun the day before, quickly exceeded any previous performance I had seen. (and I have seen some very, very good ones) Then it was off to the main stage to see No Age and Public Enemy (!). The show was easily stolen that night by the Helping Hand Marching Band who marched through the crowd before Public Enemy took the stage with a step crew a flag brigade and a drumline complete with drum major. They were amazing, all the moves and the dancing. Then it was off to Tir Na Nog to see electro-pop from Motor Skills and Tiger City, followed by a walk to the Lincoln Theatre to see NOMO and some of Bear in Heaven before calling it a night.

Easily 18 bands in 2 days is enough for anyone.

The Mountain Goats - 08/27/10

2010-08-30T10:36:00.000-07:00

John Darnielle and company took the stage in the central park of their hometown to benefit The Coalition to Unchain Dogs. The Coalition to Unchain Dogs is a non-profit, volunteer effort dedicated to improving the welfare of dogs living outdoors on chains. The roughly hour and fifteen minute set was energetic and frenetic enough to include a subsequent stage dive and body surf by John Darnielle. Delays at the beginning of the show prompted an early performance of The Best Ever Death Metal Band in Denton getting this show off to a frenzied start. The Mountain Goats mixed it up doing slower thoughtful songs as well. A careful rendering of the slower Love, Love, Love was typical of the nice balance of energy throughout the night. Great stories and between song patter is a given with every TMG show and this night proved no exception. By the time of the set closer (This Year) we were seeing a band that is clearly relaxed, together and musically infalable.

Set List (courtesy TMG website)

The Best Ever Death Metal Band in Denton
Old College Try
Heretic Pride
Your Belgian Things
Psalms 40:2
Love Love Love
Woke Up New
"same four chords"
The Mess Inside
Jenny
We Have Seen The Enemy
The Alphonse Mambo
Hebrews 11:40
Going to Georgia
Wild Sage
See America Right
Palmcorder Yajna
This Year

Encores
Houseguest
The Best Ever Death Metal Band in Denton

Photography Featured in Art/See Magazine

2010-07-19T08:22:00.001-07:00

My photography was recently shown in the Premier Edition of ArtSee Magazine, a new arts magazine for North Carolina. The feature was in connection with my work being accepted into the "SCOPE: The NC Landscape" show at the Visual Art Exchange in Raleigh. The piece I submitted won a Merit Award for the show. You can read the magazine online at ncartsee.com.

Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros at the Cats Cradle July 16, 2010

2010-07-18T18:42:00.000-07:00

Photo © Holden Richards

Sweating before the show, Alex Ebert looks like he just led a youthful tribe of Israel out of the desert. The frontman of Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros wears a shirtless well-worn-out white suit with a long red sash draped around his neck. His hair is tangled mostly on top of his head with a few unruly strands making a rebellious dash for his shoulders. He speaks softly and carries an immensely big stick, his talent. Alex sings from the depths, and with his company of spiritual merry pranksters wants to lift you up.

The Zeros are on their way to greater successes with songs on radios and televisions everywhere but touring the east coast (as they are located in LA) with 10 people plus gear is no small task. The show at the Cat's Cradle was loaded with the Magnetic Zeros trademark energy and soulful sensibilities while giving the sense that if your guru-of-choice had a favourite band it might be these people.

Particularly memorable from this night are the crowd pleasing "40 day dream" and the effusive "Janglin'". But there is a serious and darker side to Alex's song writing that deals with the struggles of childhood, death and finding healing from the jolts and bruises of life. "Up From Below," is a ballad that compares recovery from addiction to reincarnation. "I've already suffered/ I want you to know God/ I'm ridin' on Hell's hot flames comin up from below." On "Om Nashi Me" its just the chanting chorus of the band singing "Om nashi me, I will love you forever" until it diminishes into an incantation of "aummmmmm" alone. Spiritual Energy? Good Vibes? Regardless, its redeemed a hundred times over before the night is ended. Songs like their hit single "Home" had them dancing from the first row to the very back of the club.

A Tale of Two Bands

2010-04-12T11:12:00.000-07:00

Full Frame documentary festival is a much anticipated annual event in the Documentary Community and those that love film. I went to this years festival and thought I would write about the two films that dealt intimately on the nature of relationships within rock bands. "Do It Again" by Geoff Edgers being one, (about The Kinks) and the other "Strange Powers" (about the Magnetic Fields frontman Stephin Merritt) which directors Kerthy Fix and Gail O'Hara spent 10 years making.

In "Do It Again" we get a mission-within-a-midlife-crisis movie. Geoff Edgers, feeling uniquely unaccomplished at nearly 40 decides to do something momentous, reuinte the feuding Davies brothers and thereby the legendary pop band The Kinks. Geoff's story is intertwined with asking other musicians (Sting, Zoey Deschanel, Robyn Hitchcock, Paul Weller) and music-biz people (Shel Talmy, Clive Davis) about their feeling toward a Kinks reuinion. Those in the know say no way but everyone agrees it would be a lovely thing. The film slowly unwraps the ugly truth around Ray and Dave Davies sibling rivalry. While inevitably connected in so many ways and so necessary to each other to have The Kinks, Ray just does not want anything to do with Dave. We see Dave belittled and beleaguard in archival footage. We see clearly Dave will endure it for a piece of the spotlight which he feels he richly deserves. Geoff can't seem to get to the Davies themselves and takes matters into his own hands and travels to England during a Kinks festival. He's allowed to see Ray perform but he's not allowed to film, greet or otherwise have contact with him. So we, the audience, settle for Geoffs penultimate choice of interviewing Dave. Its a sad interview. But its peppered with the light stuff of the movie (namely Geoff's attempts singing a Kinks song with each interviewee thats a musician). Dave says he'll tell Geoff what it takes to get he and his brother reuinited off camera. And that's when Geoff knows he's gone from an impersonal, improbable quest to a very personal, painful reality for Dave Davies.

"Strange Powers" is another film where the core relationship within a band is more functional than dysfunctional is the relationship between Claudia Gonson and Stephin Merritt. This is more than love as they are certainly not lovers. Claudia and Stephin do all things musical together since middle school. They hang out endless hours and become two sides of the same brain. Stephin the dreamer, writer and Claudia the gifted musician and manager of practical things. They become a force to be reckoned with together. As in "Do it Again" celebs are asked to weigh on the 'Fields (Peter Gabriel, Sarah Silverman, and Neil Gaiman among others), but there is no quest here other than to understand Merritt and what makes him tick. The shortlist: cigarettes, alcohol, writing lyrics, droll irony, love, controlled wrecklessness and somewhere in there would have to be Claudia refining and defining his life. As the movie progresses we see Stephin feeling the need to leave New York, which is a major change for the band and especially for Claudia. We are left to wonder what impact Merrit's move to California might have on the band, his creativity and his creative bond with Claudia. What ever happens we're sure it will be a killer quip in a Magnetic Fields song someday.

Hospital Ships - Wye Oak - Shearwater Local 506 3/25/10

2010-03-27T06:27:00.000-07:00

Shearwater was formed in Austin, Texas in 1999 by Okkervil River members Jonathan Meiburg and Will Sheff. This year they released their terrific new album, The Golden Archipelago. They brought the tour for this album to the Local 506 along with Merge Records' own Wye Oak and a spinoff band from Shearwater called Hospital Ships. Hospital ships got things rolling with a low key, drummerless set of folk-inspired songs. Front man Jordan Geiger provided adroit song-craft and singing to this low key mix. Kim Burke (bassist for Shearwater) joined Hospital ships to play xylophone on a few songs.

Next up were Wye Oak. Wye Oak is a duo consiting of Andy Stack and Jenn Wasner. Wasner sings lead vocals and plays electric guitar, while Stack plays both drums and keyboards, playing the drums with his feet and right hand, and the bass line with his left hand. They flow from song to song with noise-pop sensibility with songs often evolving out of interludes of seemingly random keyboard notes and looped guitar feedback or riffs. Jenn and Andy play with real passion and don't scrifice their expertise in the process. Ther new album The Knot is superb.

Shearwater is a small tribe onstage. A group consisting of 5 consumately talented individuals who create a palate of sound for lead singer Jonathan Meiburg's unique vocal sound. The song-craft is first rate. The music itself has a timeless, almost ancient feel. It's as if the songs were rescued from a dark past and brought to life on electric instruments. Epic is an over used word, but Shearwater brings epic to mind. The songs on "The Golden Archipelago" feel like an interconnected suite of music that is guaranteed to take you on a journey. The photos that follow are of Jonathan Meiburg on Thursday night.

I am a Getty Images Contributor!

2010-03-17T18:34:00.000-07:00

Getty Images is a supplier of images for advertisers, manufacturers,
and publishing with the largest archive of quality photographs and illustrations. Recently Flickr (a photo sharing site I use every day to get advice and comments on my images) and Getty joined together to establish a commercial licensing opportunity for photographers in the Flickr community. The Getty Flickr collection features photography selected by Getty Images editors based on their potential
to be useful to creative professionals (advertising and graphic design), the media (print and online publishing), and corporate (in-house design, marketing and communication departments). Getty Images has been inviting selected Flickr members to participate in the collection.

This is where I come in. After months of submitting and trying to get in I finally got noticed by some Getty editors and now am a Getty Contributor. I am very pleased to have the opportunity to make money from taking photographs!

DIY Film!

2010-03-17T13:45:00.000-07:00

This is from first roll of home developed film ever. I shot it yesterday in some very flat light and developed it in Rodinal 1+100 in stand development (basically letting it sit in chemical undisturbed). These first negatives are dense with pronouced grain indicating some over-developement. Regardless, I got 3 shots where the grain was not too large, so I got some usuable negatives on my first try. I am so glad I know the exposures are right based on years of shooting and lab processing. Now I can taylor the development process while knowing I have the potential variable of the shooting correct. The best part will be being able to shoot film and see the results the same day. I've learned the entire process of film now, from shooting to printing and appreciate the amount of control one has over the whole thing. Film does become more artistically integral with the choices you can make about developing and printing film.

Re-focus an old Agfa folding camera

2010-02-06T13:26:00.001-08:00

Re-Focus: This is one way to refocus an Agfa folding camera. If you're sure its out (in this case I am sure because the helical was stuck and I had to remove the cover to unstick the focus) you can respool the camera with wax paper between two empty spools. Then measure the distance to a focal object and focus the camera until that test object is in focus and reinstall the marked distance ring with the correct distance under the indicator arrow. Its pretty close I think. Suggestions welcome for other ways I can check this. This is the only one I have ever heard of.

2009 Favourite Shows

2009-12-22T05:45:00.001-08:00

1. Merge XX
2. X at the Cats Cradle June 9th 2009
3. Midori - Brahms Violin Concerto, Memorial Hall UNC
4. Richard Thompson at the Art Center
5. Susanna Hoffs and Matthew Sweet at the Arts Center
6. U2 at Carter Finley Stadium
7. Lost in the Trees and The Love Language, Chapel Hill Outdoors
8. Elvis Costello at Regency Park
9. The Old Ceremony at the Cat's Cradle "Walk on Thin Air" Release
10. Kathleen Edwards at the Art Center

Very Honorable Mentions: Troika; Tim Easton show at the Berkley Cafe; Pains of Being Pure at Heart at Local 506; Drug Horse Cartel Show at Local 506; Wye Oak at Local 506;

2009 top 10 Albums

2009-11-28T15:58:00.000-08:00

1. Gather, Form and fly - Megafaun
2. Upper Air - Bowerbirds
3. Telekinesis!- Telekinesis
4. Walk on Thin Air - The Old Ceremony
5. The Love Language - The Love Language
6. Now or Heaven - The Broken West
7. Veckatimest - Grizzly Bear
8. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
9. St. Vincent - Actor
10. Wye Oak - The Knot

Turns out that alot of my favourite albums this year are borne out of the shows I've attended in 2009. I only wish I had albums to add to this list from Lost in the Trees and The Rosebuds. Maybe next year. An amazing music year all around from XX Merge to this years expanded and excellent Troika Music Festival its been pretty non-stop around here for great things to see. So excited to finally see St. Vincent and be re-introduced to Andrew Bird in such a strong way this year as well. Comments welcome as I am sure I left things off. The new Muse record being quite good and the new U2 slowly, slowly growing on me until I saw the concert this fall and gave in to this new one from them.

A Day in the Park 2009

2009-11-20T14:09:00.001-08:00

A Day in the Park is an idea I have been kicking around for some time now. I had talked about wanting to do it so much I wasn't sure it would actually happen. In theory its a pretty simple idea. Go to New York City and spend the day photographing central park and fly home that night. One day, one shot and see what happens. The idea of combining my enthusiasm for shooting natural environments combined with views of the largest city in the US was a no-brainer. I had saved money for the plane tickets out of eBaying many items I no longer need or use. That part felt good. A useful experience out of no longer needed consumer goods!

Flights leaving at 7am and around 7pm were booked and I did a bit of research on the park and off I went. Seven rolls of film later I was in a cab riding to the airport to come home. An amazing day. Completely exhausted though as I had only slept 4 hours the night before leaving. The results are pretty nice overall if I do say so. I learned alot more about how to shoot in mid-day light and got alot of practice framing and shooting sites I had never seen before in person in such a way that they were photographs and not tourist shots. Must say that the iPhone was indispensable for keeping me apprised of what cross streets I was located near even when I was in the center of the park. Made finding landmarks pretty simple.

Matthew Sweet / Susanna Hoffs Photos

2009-11-16T18:14:00.000-08:00

Bit of a lag between the post and now but here are some of the film shots from that night:

Susanna Hoffs and Matthew Sweet at the Arts Center

2009-11-05T20:12:00.000-08:00

In 2006, Susanna Hoffs, formery of the Bangles, teamed up with Matthew Sweet, and created a duo with the name "Sid n Susie." They went on to record fifteen cover versions of classic rock songs from the 1960s and 1970s for an album titled Under the Covers, Vol. 1. Throughout their careers they have made no secret of their love for 60s & 70s pop music. Its influence is found all throughout the Bangles catatlogue and is on full display in Matthew Sweets "Girlfriend" record. Almost inevitably Under the Covers, Vol. 2 was released summer 2009, which included covers of songs by Fleetwood Mac, Carly Simon, Rod Stewart and more.

Tonight at the Arts Center in Carrboro these two plus Matthew's friend and bandmate Paul Chastain among others held forth with a list of pop hits that would entertain anyone. Extremely casual and very loose doing some songs they had practiced "less than once" according to Hoffs, the Sid 'n Suzie show dipped and soared managing to create still a strong set overall. The best and biggest surprise of the night was the amazing singing voice of Susanna Hoffs. There is a definite reason other than her looks that she made it! The diversity of the set list gave this show an unpredicability that added to the enjoyement of the performance. The Yes song "Your Move" was an inspired choice to begin with but to have Susanna sing it made it that much better. Must mention Matthews 5 toed vibram "sock shoes" kinda wierd.

Anyway here is the set list for this show:

I See the Rain - (The Marmalade)
Your Move - (Yes)
Second Hand News - (Fleetwood Mac)
She May Call You Up - (The Left Banque)
Everybody Knows This is Nowhere (Neil Young)
Willin' (Lowell George)
All the Young Dudes (David Bowie)
And Your Bird Can Sing (Beatles)
Cinnamon Girl (Neil Young)
You're So Vain (Carly Simon)
What's So Funny 'Bout Peace, Love and Understanding (Nick Lowe)
Different Drum (Mike Nesmith)
Hello It's Me (Todd Rundgren)
Couldn't I Just Tell You (Tood Rundgren)
Baby Blue (Badfinger)
Beware of Darkness (George Harrison)
Back of a Car (Big Star)
Maggie May (Rod Stewart)

Encores

To Sir (Lulu)
Here Comes the Sun (Beatles)
In Your Room (Susanna Hoffs)
Manic Monday (Bangles)
I've Been Waiting (Matthew Sweet)

U2 at Carter Finley Stadium

2009-10-04T13:26:00.000-07:00

The stars of U2's show at Carter Finley Stadium were clearly the bands themselves, but the state-of-the-art swiss army knife of a stage was a big participant in last nights show. An energetic set by Muse was the opening of the nights proceedings and was very good, in particular songs from their new recording The Resistance. Standouts from that set included the spirited guitar stabs of Uprising and the transe inducing Resistance.

U2 is in fine form with Bono in good voice for the entire night and the Edge and Company holding their end up with panache. The seeming unscripted parts of last nights performance were entertaining as well: like the child who was pulled onstage during City of Lights to whom Bono gave his trademark spectacles, or the off hand impromptu versions of standards like Amazing Grace and Stand by Me. Luckily a beautiful full moon and comfortable weather made the show that much more enjoyable.

Bono has not given up the bands political edge at all speaking last night on the topics of Burma, the ending of apartheid in South Africa, HIV, repression of freedom in Iran, the American war in Iraq and Afghanistan; with the recently detained Burmese opposition leader Ann San Suu Kyi a subject of an image montage while Bono literally sang her praises. I thought the songs from War were as fresh as when I heard them in Chapel Hill in 1983 at the Spring Fling where U2 kicked off he War tour in the U.S.

The material from the latest album "No Line on the Horizon" fared better in concert than I would have guessed and consolidated my liking of songs like Magnificient and No Line on the Horizon. The band did an largely improved very different version of I'll Go Crazy which holds up much better than the recorded version. There was a video presentation by the former Archbishop Desmond TuTu before the song One which was very effective and quite moving in its own way. This show sets a very high standard for artistic and multimedia integration in stage performances going forward for all bands at this level. As well as being musically satisfying it was without peer in regard to presentation.

Set List:

Breathe
Get on Your Boots
Mysterious Ways
Beautiful Day
No Line on the Horizon
Magnificent
Elevation
In a Little While
New Year's Day
Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
Stand by Me
Stuck in a Moment (acoustic)
The Unforgettable Fire
City of Blinding Lights
Vertigo
I'll Go Crazy (If I Don't Go Crazy Tonight)
Sunday Bloody Sunday
MLK
Walk On
(Encores)
One
Where the Streets Have No Name
Ultraviolet
With or Without You
Moment of Surrender

Lost in the Trees and The Love Language

2009-08-24T19:51:00.000-07:00

The town of Chapel Hill conspired with the local 506 to bring us all a marvel of a live concert on the rooftop of the downtown parking deck. Lost in the Trees is a "folk orchestra" from Chapel Hill, NC, led by Ari Picker. Ari Picker, who attended the Berklee College of Music, blends American folk and traditional classical music in a way that is completely original. The band contains a full string section, horns, bass and versitle multi-instrumentalists along with a drummer. All Alone In An Empty House is the latest album from this band and its an instant classic to my ear. There are straight up classical sketches for strings (Mvt I & Mvt II) and there are smoldering electric guitar romps like "Fireplace." All of this was performed Thursday night with stunning grace and ease. A high point of this set is the embittered "All Alone in an Empty House." Ari and his large band go to the head of the class among the smart rock set.

Lost in the Trees

Next up was the Love Language whose lo-fi self titled release sounds nothing like the joyful noise this band makes in a performance. Polished and full sounding, this band is rather large as well featuring 2 keyboardists, bass, 2 guitarists and a drummer and for this show a trumpet. Bouncy, upbeat, hooky are all words that you could use to define them. Band founder Stuart McLamb finds himself in a really great live band after singlehandedly playing every instrument on the Album. From the country tinged "Stars" to the bubbly rocker "Lalita" the love language delivered a memorable set.

The Love Language

Couple Hundred Bands I've seen...

2009-08-13T22:05:00.000-07:00

A partial list. People on facebook are generating these and I thought I'd post one too.

10,000 Maniacs
999
Aimee Mann
Alex Chilton
Amy Rigby (2)
An Horse
Arcade Fire
Arrogance (3)
Badly Drawn Boy
Beat Rodeo
Ben Folds Five (3)
Billy Bragg
Billy Price & the Keysone Rhythm Section
Boss Martians
Boston
Bowerbirds
British Sea Power
Bruce Cockburn
Bruce Springsteen (5)
Buddy & Julie Miller
Caitlyn Cary
Cat Power
Cheap Trick
Chris Stamey
Cliff Hillis
Conitnental Drifters
Connells
Copperpot
Corrosion of Conformity
DAG
Dave Davies
Dex Romweber Duo
Dillon Fence
Django Haskins
Don Dixon (7)
Eels
Eight Eyes
Eleni Mandell
Elliott Smith
Elvis Costello (3)
English Beat (2)
Fetchin' Bones
Fleetwood Mac
Fleshtones
Flock of Seagulls
Gang of Four
Gillian Welch (3)
Glen Tillbrook
Glory Fountain
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious 5
Great Northern
Guadalcanal Diary
Guv'ner
Hammer No More the Fingers
Heather Nova
Hege V
Hem
Hobex
Hoodoo Gurus
Hooverville
Hotel Lights
James Taylor
Jay Bennett
Jeff Hart and the Ruins
Jeff Tweedy
John Hiatt
Johnny Quest
Josh Ritter
Josh Rouse
Jump Little Children
Ken Stringfellow
Kenny Roby and the Mercy Filter
Kick the Future
Killer Filler
Kiss
Laurie Anderson
Les Paul
Let's Active
Long Ryders
Love Tractor
Lucinda Williams
Lyle Lovett
Lynne Blakey
Marshall Crenshaw
Matt Suggs
Matthew Sweet
Mayflies USA
Megafaun
Michael Penn
Mitch Easter
Neil Cleary
Neil Diamond All Stars
Neil Young
Nick Lowe
OH OK
Parthenon Huxley
Pat DiNizio (At Pinehill Farm)
Patty Hearst Shifter
Paul McCartney
Paul Westerberg
Peter Bruntnell
Peter Case
Peter Holsapple
Poco
Police
Polyphonic Spree
Portastatic
Pressure Boys
Pretenders
Psychedlic Furs
Pylon
REM (4)
Rachel Nevadas
Rain Parade
Reckless Eric
Regina Hexaphone
Richard Buckner
Richard Lloyd
Richard Thompson (5)
Rick Rock
Robbie Rist
Robyn Hitchcock
Ron Sexsmith (With Nick Lowe)
Run DMC (in NYC)
Ryan Adams
Santana
Scott Miller and the Commonwealth
Semicolon
Shakermaker
Shalini
Smithereens
Snatches of Pink
Southern Culture on the Skids
Spoon (2)
Squirrel Nut Zippers
Sting
Stratocruser
Superchunk
T-Bone Burnett
Talking Heads
Taz Halloween
Teddy Thompson
Television
Ten Ten
Tenament Halls
Th' Cigaretz
Thad Cockerell
The 3D's
The Alarm
The Backsliders
The Church
The Churchills
The Clash
The Dots (from NYC)
The Fabulous Knobs
The Frames
The Gladhands
The Grip Weeds
The Hanks
The Individuals
The Jayhawks
The Kamikazees
The Kingsbury Manx
The Magnetic Fields
The Moaners
The Mothers (without Zappa)
The Music Tapes
The Never
The OAK Team
The Old Ceremony
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
The Posies
The Pressure Boys
The Radar Brothers
The Replacements
The Rolling Stones
The Rosebuds
The Sex Police
The Shake
The Shazam
The Silos
The Snap
The Sneakers
The Stars Explode
The Sundays
The Swales
The Swimming Pool Qs
The Three O'Clock
The Who
The Wygals
The X Teens
The dB's
They Might Be Giants
Three Hits
Tift Merritt (3)
Tim Easton (5)
Tim Lee and the Windbreakers
Todd Rundgren
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
Tommy Keene
Trailer Bride
Tres Chicas
Treva Spontane and the Graphic
Twilighter
Two Dollar Pistols
U2 (2)
UV Prom
Van Halen
Velvet
Verve Pipe
Walter Clevenger & the Dairy Kings
Warren Zevon
Wembley
Whiskeytown
Wilco
Will Kimbrough
Wye Oak
X
Zeitgeist

20 Memorable shows I've played

2009-08-10T17:21:00.001-07:00

Building on Jeff Hart's Idea, I typed this up...

1) Opening for the Replacements in 1984 at the 688 in Atlanta. My band One Plus Two opened for this legendary band on a night when they were ragged and right. We managed to drink some of their upscale beers and roll their dressing room before they came offstage. (1984)

2) 1+2 Opening dB's old Cat's Cradle Franklin Street - Pre "Like This" era dB's. Met Peter and Chris for the first time. Enjoyed chatting with Peter when he walked in singing "Sound of the Rain" from the newish Rank and File record which I had just bought. Affable guys great band! (1983)

3) 1+2 Opening for OH OK - Athens, GA, old 40 Watt downtown. That whole damn weekend was magic. The PA went out at the beginning of our set so we had to fill with junk music while MILLS,STIPE,BERRY&BUCK milled about the room. No I wasn't tooooo nervous. Met Lynne Blakey for the first time and Peter Buck! The band that played between us and (Linda Stipes band) OH OK? Matthew Sweets band called Buzz of Delight. What a night!(1983)

4) Swamis and Majosha at the 1988 Battle of the Bands in Durham, NC. Majosha. Ben Fold's nascent band played their first gig at Duke University's Battle of the Bands in 1988 and won in a final song "Play off" against US!

5) Chronic Night - Cats Cradle (2001) Played under my name with Brent Lambert accompanying me on guitar. This great tribute to REM was something I thought I would never get to play. I owe Frank Heath for thinking of me. I sincerely appreciated the opportunity to play for such a large crowd.

6) Guadal Canal Diary opening for 1+2 at the Cat's Cradle. Odd way things work with on of my very favourite bands of all time opening for mine. They were amazing and they split town as soon as they were packed up. (1984)

7. Borrowing from Jeff Hart, Songwriters alliance show at Berkeley Cafe - Guests were Ryan Adams, Sara Bell & Jerry Kee. This gig became a near riot and required Raleigh's finest to break it up. I was a newish quasi-regular. I left the stage area when the action got heavy. I could NOT get Ryan's name right all night long, I kept calling him the wrong name. He still spoke to me anyway and eventually, I got his name right. Ryan was playing a beat up Kay guitar and sounding better than my fancyish epiphone.

8) 1+2 Opens for Red Hot Chili Peppers to an empty Cradle on a Sunday Night! Unhappy Californians (1983)

9) 1+2 Opens for the venerable Hoodoo Gurus to a packed Cradle. I loved this band. What a pleasure to get to open for the Aussies on their first US tour. (1984)

10) Swamis open for Let's Active (1986) Every Dog Has His Day was the record. I had opened for Let's Active before but this show had momentum to be huge and it was an important gig for this new newish band of mine.

11) 1+2 Opens for 10,000 Maniacs at the Cat's Cradle. Geez it was unbelievable there almost
every night in the 80's. This show was no exception (1983).

12) 1+2 Opens for The Three O'clock at the Brewery in Raleigh. Unbelievably pop performaces from both bands. Everybody had their top button on their shirts buttoned, yeah? (1982)

13) Swamis and Chris Stamey - Brewery Raleigh, NC (1987) Unbelievable night of music from Chris. He had not played in the area for a while so this was a reentry show of sorts from him. Lots of material from fireworks.

14) Swamis Opening for Richard Lloyd on his "Field of Fire" tour. Amazing guitarist. Enough said. (1987)

15) 1+2 Opening for Beat Rodeo at the old 40 Watt in Athens, GA. Eating Pizza at Automatic for the People! Something in the air at that time that couldn't be beat. (1983)

16) 1+2 opens for the Rain Parade at the Cat's Cradle. I brought these psychedelic fellas back to my house to hang out after the show. Very cool band with a great sound.

17) Songwriters Alliance with Chris Stamey and Jeff Hart (199?) filling in for Wes LaChot it was my first time playing next to Chris Stamey. I've never seen a more prepared performer in my life. Lots of mental notes taken.

18) 1+2 Opening for the Fleshtones a the Milestone, Charlotte, NC (1983). As if playing the decrepit Milestone wasn't enough fun opening for the then venerable Fleshtones and this run-down gem of a club

19) Pound Notes Playing the Milestone in Charlotte (1982) Opening was Hope Nichols and a very early version of Fetchin' Bones as it was just Hope plus a guitarist (acoustic at that) Even then you could tell she was talent waiting to explode.

20) 1+2 Opening for Swimming Pool Q's (many times) I LOVE THIS BAND. Annie Boston can sing! (1984)

August Photography Show

2009-07-29T19:20:00.000-07:00

There will be a show of my wet darkroom prints at Crooks Corner in the month of August starting Monday and running the entire month. This is the culmination of so many skills and a convergence of people and places. Starting with Flickr 2 years ago and only shooting a point ans shoot digital. But having local friends like AmosFly who were also camera-centric and Flickr filmist friends like Flowerville, Jeff Dameron and Anne Marie Simmard who were constantly encouraging me to shoot. Meeting a nice group of Flickrites called the Raleigh Social Group and entering their summer project show last year which opened my local connections up wider. Beginning my adventure with film with a Nikon I bought at the thrift store! Meeting local photographer Bill Bamberger who told me my prints were good and gave me inspiration to shoot more. Meeting Elizabeth Mattheson who told me I had an eye but needed to adjust the format I was using (a crucially wonderful change). Meeting John Rosenthal, who patiently critiqued my portfolio(s) and later gave me lessons on how to frame an image. And even meeting John Menapace with whom I had a delightful conversation about shooting and printing and what makes a photographer tick. I appreciate all these people, its been a magic carpet ride of sorts as all kinds of doors have opened for me and I am grateful. So in order to to do this show in the last 6 months I have...

Bought 2 new Medium Format cameras

Shot 50 rolls of 120 film

Scanned 600 images

Learned how to print in the wet darkroom

Darkroom printed at least 200 images

Made a final portfolio of 40 of which 14 were
generously selectd by Elizabeth Mattheson for this show

Walked 25 miles of the Eno River

Walked 15 miles of New Hope Creek

And about 10 miles of the Haw River

Cut mattes for and framed these images below.

I must say I would not have missed a single minute of it.

World Wide Photowalk

2009-07-20T19:37:00.000-07:00

As part of the World Wide Photowalk on Saturday July 18, 2009. 40 some Photographers participated in the Raleigh Photo Walk on and around Moore Square. My first real outing with my new 1967 35mm Nikkormat. Most of the Raleigh walk crowd consisted of people from the Raleigh Flickr group.

There were:

8.324 photographers register for local walks
47 Countries had participating cities
44 States in the US had Photo Walks
A total of 236 cities worldwide
More than 1,017,125 photos were taken on walks that day

This is a selection of photos of some of the Raleigh Flickr Group on the walk. My actual photos fromt the walk of Raleigh are going to be up at my Flickr stream.

Christian Marcalay's Video Quartet

2009-07-02T15:19:00.000-07:00

Now showing at the Nasher Museum of art is Christian Marcalay's "Video Quartet" four simultaneously running adjacent screens of images that are sampled from more than 700 Hollywood films featuring images of hands on keyboards, horns and violins, as well as men and women singing, dancing and making other noises. Making a unique visual and sonic collage. From Jimi Hendrix to Marilyn Monroe and glimpses icons like Fats Waller and Louis Armstrong, Video Quartet is a cultural flash card. Watching the settings and social norms of American culture is almost as interesting as the visual play that has elements like a falling drum cymbal turning into a vinyl LP. In the spirit of Marcel Duchamp's "ready mades" this art may have been found but it was painstakingly put together in revellatory new fashion. This is indeed art.

Also at the Nasher at the moment is "Photographs From The Duke University Special Collections Library." A wonderful show featuring printing styles and photographic subjects through the entire history of photography. Alot of iconic photographers are found in the show including; Atget, Bresson, Alfred Stieglitz, Edward Steichen, Minor White and Sally Mann. Having only seen these photographers in books it is wonderful to see their work in person printed. I particularly was drawn to the Minor White photo that is in the exhibit of an Appalachian coal miner. The detail and sadness of the Atget image of a very short man selling flowers. Also exhibited are negatives and projections of images on the walls digitally.

Elvis Costello at Regency Park

2009-06-14T20:06:00.000-07:00

Elvis Costello brought his ace Americana backup band to the Koka Booth Ampitheatre in Cary tonight to do songs from his latest recording "The Secret, Profane and Sugarcane."
This crack band included the Dobro Ace Jerry Douglas, fiddler deluxe Stuart Duncan and the ever-talented Jim Lauderdale on vocals and guitar. The mostly acoustic set included some unusual covers and some Costello standards along with songs from the new album.

Predominantly material from "Profane" and "King of America" along with plenty of songs from "My Aim is True" stuck in the set as well. The dapper and energetic Mr. Costello set up the songs from the new record with jaw-dropping stories about the not-quite-courtship of Hans Christian Anderson and the Barnum Singing Sensation Jenny Lind set in time around the 1850s. The songs from this song cycle are brutal in content. "Red Cotton" for instance about selling scraps of a red (metaphorically soaked with the blood of antebellum slaves) dress in souvenir lockets. The song "She Handed Me a Mirror" being about the time Hans Christian asked Jenny Lind why she could not return his love (and HCA being so unattractive) she handed him a mirror.
Leave it to Elvis to take songs intended for an opera about a Swedish singing star and convert them into an Americana influenced song cycle.

Set List:

Mystery Train
All Time Doll
Tonight the Bottle Let Me Down
Down Among the Wine and the Spirits
Blame It On Cain
Our Little Angel
Femme Fatale
I Felt the Chill Before the Winter Came
The Delivery Man
The Butcher's Boy
Indoor Fireworks
Hidden Shame
New Unpublished Song
Wicked Wine
Friend of the Devil
She Handed Me a Mirror
Everyday I write the Book
She Was No Good
Chocolate Town
Brilliant Mistake
Red Cotton
The Crooked Line
Red Shoes
Sulfur to Sugarcane
The Race is On
Allison
What's So Funny 'Bout Peace, Love and Understanding
Changing Partners
Five Small Words (thanks D. Menconi!)

X at the Cats Cradle June 9th 2009

2009-06-10T10:35:00.000-07:00

X is still a band to be reckoned with, judging by last night's scorching-hot set at the Cat's Cradle. Billy Zoom still has the Zen calm to go along with his classic metal-flake Gretsch Jet guitar and classic guitar licks (and an eye for the ladies), John Doe sweating profusely, grinding hypnotic rhythms and almost knocking his mic stand down, Exene was calm and aloof center stage as the cacophony of break-neck rhythm droned all about her and enthusiastic fans called her name and sang along. The band sounded as fresh and exciting as they did 27 years ago when I last saw them in Raleigh at the Pier and the punk generation in attendance got a long awaited fresh infusion of the real thing. This band and their music is timeless.

Notable Songs in a terrific set included We're Desparate, This House is Not a Home, Breathless (!), and Los Angeles...

Set list to be posted.

Geez, What Have I Been Up To?

2009-06-01T17:29:00.000-07:00

Been to see lots of local bands including a terrifc show by The Old Ceremony at the Cat's Cradle for the release of their new excellent record "Walk on Thin Air." Great moments from this show included the new song "Plate Techtonics" and the old chestnut "Reservations." The Love Language opened up this show and were polished and very enjoyable. Other bands I've seen lately include Wye Oak, who did a super Sunday night show at the Local 506, the quirky and very original Americans in France, and the Raleigh trio Gray Young. At Reebus Fest on Sunday this past week I caught Kenny Roby and the Mercy Filter's tight, melodic, rockin' set in the 90 degree sun. Let's just say it was so good I didn't run for the AC until it was over. Lots of songs from his last release which sound as fresh now as when this great recording came out a couple years ago. There is alot of great local music out there we are so lucky to have such good bands.

Out of town bands I've seen lately include an excellent Tim Easton show at the Berkley Cafe in support of his terrific new recording "Porcupine." All the Tim Easton standards were thrown in for good measure, "Lexington County Jail," "Let Me Be Next to You" among others. Tim did have a nice rhythm section with him that was somewhat remindful of the Crickets of Buddy Holly fame. Another band I've seen recently is Australia's own An Horse. This powerful man/woman duo band kept the rhythms tight and the songs focused. Their single "Postcards" from their first EP was a real highlight.
Also seen at the Local 506 recently were the energetic and superb Pains of Being Pure at Heart. This quintet of rockers from NYC are destined for great things with their atmospheric arrangements and hook-filled choruses.

Photography wise I have been shooting and printing like crazy. Attended a superb lecture by noted local photographer David Simonton titled "Time Served: The Evolution of A Documentary Project." A presentation of David's work photographing the deconstructing Polk Youth Center beside the Raleigh Art Museum. As the buildings deteriorated and nature took over Simonton's skilled photographic eye made gold from them decaying hills. Also I recently bought a superb book called "Celebrating the Negative." No, its not an anti-positive thinking tome. But a cool book filled with images of negatives of famous photographs. You can see how the image was cropped or the fact that alot of them are 4x5 or 8x10 glass plates. Bresson's famous jumping man negative is a fraction of a cropped frame of 35mm. Fascingating stuff....

A taste of the book can be found here...
http://www.ethertongallery.com/html/specialprojects/negative/portfolio.htm

Mid Century Moderns

2009-05-07T05:11:00.000-07:00

This building and I go a ways back and were born in the same year 1961. From the News and Observer - "The National Trust for Historic Preservation's magazine calls the Garland H. Jones Building an 'eye-catching landmark.' Local architects say it's one of the best examples of Modernist architecture left in downtown Raleigh." As a boy my step father worked in this building so I saw it often. It was all shine and reflective chrome, glass and marble. The building it replaced was a lovely double arched victorian wonder of an corner building. And in our never-ending race to seem less provincial we have now torn this building down to the ground as well. But here it and I are one and reflected each to the other...

Wendy and Lucy

2009-03-29T08:59:00.000-07:00

Kelly Reichardt's meditation on the fringes of economic life "Wendy and Lucy" makes for good cinema as well. Wendy is a young someone searching for a way to make more money, and clearly someone who's been down on her luck for a while that decides to head for Alaska where the standards for getting jobs are not related to resumes and office casual styles. Simple enough story, she sets out with her only real possession/relationship, her dog Lucy, and after traveling across country from Indiana to Oregon breaks down in a small town. The loss of the car stops everything. Wendy has had the gift of a song she hums as her major pastime and it ultimately winds up to be all she has left. When you are on the economic margins small catastrophe's loom large (like the fact that it costs $50 to tow a car 30 yards because "that's what it costs"...) Emotionally played by Michelle Williams, Wendy is a quiet study of the inner thought process writ large on her face inspite of her stoicism. In Wendy we see a yearning for independence and simple aspiration that we are left feeling will be seen through regardless of circumstance...

Kathleen Edwards at the Art Center

2009-03-12T06:49:00.000-07:00

Canadian songstress Kathleen Edwards brought her angst ridden oeuvre to the Art Center last night with the impact of a 10 ton truck. From the first note the room was drifting on her amazing world weary vocal sound and the orchestral magic that came from the guitars of Kathleen and her husband/bandmate Colin Cripps. The show included all the favourites including a great renditions of "Six O'clock News" and "Asking for Flowers." A poignant moment in the show was when she did the song "Alicia Ross." About a woman who had her child abducted in Canada. She acknowleged that "this goes on every day." Edwards went on to say "You know, how could a parent get up out of bed every morning after knowing that that's the fate that their child met?" The meat of the program was made up of material from the superb "Failer" record as another highlight of the show was the moody "Lone Wolf." She recounted the first tour she did was the last time she was in Carrboro and that that was 7 years previous. She was clearly glad to be back and the audience was clearly glad to see her.

Richard Thompson at the Art Center

2009-03-11T04:27:00.000-07:00

So raconteur, songwriter and guitar genius Richard Thompson played a sold out show for the second night in a row at the Art Center in Carrboro on Monday, March 9th. I won't recount the proceedings in their entirety (it was superb!) but want to emphasize two things. First that the man is a true artist. As always in the middle of his set he starts taking requests and someone calls out "Vincent Black Lightning." No surprise there, he must have played this song a million and a half times. He could just stand there and do a rote repitiion of the song in a spiritless way or he could just say "no way I'm ever playing that song again - ever!" Instead he travels all the way back to the spark of excitement that generated that song for him and he *brings it* one more time. The rendition of this song always sounds fresh and its because he re-finds the creative energy that generated it.

The other thing I want to mention is during the request taking segment of the show he said "how about lets do a Fairport song." And he proceeded to listen to requests and took an audience poll of what to play. Luckily the audience (and I) went for the elegant "Where does the Time Go." The amazing part was that as he was introducing this song he began to muse about Sandy Denny and her place in songwriting history and he got a bit whistful and slipped out of his normal bravdo into some other zone and had a moment of sorts himself that he effortlessly shared in a quiet, understated way with us how much he missed and appreciated his friend. A truer soft side, never seen before and shared with a full house. Now thats a man who's comfortable in his own skin.

Yes, Artisanal

2009-02-22T06:34:00.000-08:00

Batch toning the last step in finishing these darkroom prints. This is an ongoing batch of photographic prints that are drying after being toned with selenium. It makes the silver in the print not tarnish with age and can heighten contrast. Adding a bit of permanence to the work is a good idea considering the time involved in shooting, developing and printing the film. Yet another wet process the prints are put in water then agitated in Selenium until the contrast is how you want it to be and then washed one more time in another tray and put out to dry and be enjoyed!

As you can see I've been printing alot of large images. Been shooting more medium format film which makes for very detailed larger images. Slowly my portfolio is coming together. I'm in a great area to shoot some amazing outdoor locations. The Eno River, Occoneechee Mountain, New Hope Creek and some very beautiful forest in Durahm County.

I felt like all this shooting ahd photography was "action stuff" until I started printing. Then I realised that printing especially a learned craft. So yes, I feel Artisinal when I work on these...

Five Hundred Twenty-Five Thousand Six Hundred Minutes

2009-01-26T20:00:00.000-08:00

So began the second act of the Broadway musical Rent which I saw last night at the very nice, brand new, Durham Performing Arts Center. This venue gives Durham a performance space on par with Raleigh's Memorial Auditorium. The acoustics in the space and the comfort of the seating combined with great vantage points for most seating locations makes this a nice place to see a performance.

On to the show. Winner of the Tony Award for Best Musical and the Pulitzer Prize, this incarnation of Rent (loosely based on the opera La Boheme) finds cast memebers Adam Pascal and Anthony Rapp reprising the roles they originated on Broadway. The narrative role of Mark Cohen (Anthony Rapp), a filmmaker, holds this whole play together through narration so it was a pleasure having the original seasoned Broadway performer in this role. The other role in this tandem of Broadway vetrans was that of Roger Davis (Adam Pascal), a musician who is HIV positive. This whole show is based on the chemistry of the relationships between love interests and friends. The previous experience of these two key cast members together made the rapport between the characters of Roger and Mark as friends seem so very natural. The show centers around a group of friends and their reaching for a creative open lifestyle that affords them freedom, money, love and creativity all the time. Of course, there are difficulties around each. There is a lesbian couple and a gay couple and they each have relationship issues like normal couples but also have other issues like HIV. In the end their relationships to each other as a group of friends strengthens eventfully through the loss of one of their number named Angel. The music for the night was performed by a terrific band consisting of a rock quartet plus a keyboardist/pianist. Adam Pascal(Roger) actually played guitar so it made him that much more believable in the role when he sang and played. A superb performance from everyone with creative staging and some great singing moments heralds a fine start to Durham's soon-to-be-tradition of hosting fine theatrical events in their new building.

Inauguration Day

2009-01-21T08:55:00.001-08:00

"Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends — hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism — these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility — a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task. "

- President Barack Obama's inaugural address, 01.20.09

Midori and Brahms

2009-01-17T06:58:00.000-08:00

So the program at Memorial Hall Thursday was described as a program of music composers sharing a kindred spirit. I would say the program had a consistent thread but essentially was fulfilled in the first half of the program. The featured performer was the prodigy Midori. Now fully matured and in her mid 30s this is an artist who has the emotional depth and the technical facility to really interpret music. The program began with Dvorak's Slavonic Dances. Three of them to be precise with the first and third being precisely played and very much of a whirling dance feel. The second piece was of another sort entirely. The Slavonic Dance in F Major Op. 4 was played with the feel of an adagio movement inbetween these other two dance pieces making a concerto of sorts of the three. The beautiful melody and harmonic structure of this second dance piece would set the stage for the Brahms Violin Concerto that followed.

Enter Midori attired in a gauzy white and black patterned gown to quietly stun the room into the best kind of musical submission. Intensity with focus is the only way to explain how this piece was played. The Brahms Violin Concerto seems to be very much a players piece of music with lots of room to showcase phrasing and dynamics. The first movement began with what could almost be called a call and response format where the orchestra and the soloist each essentially played in response to the other. The segments of Midori's violin being emphatic in both body language and expressive playing. Midori does not just play she becomes the music at times. Thoroughly at home in the moment you never get the sense that she's doing anything but being a pure conduit for the music itself. So as for pitch and technique and tone, astounding on all counts. Lovely, resonant sustained high notes as well as clear,pleasing phrasing all around. After the first Allegro movement I could have gone home happy it was so terrific. The following Adagio gave us another view of the composer and the artist both stretching out harmonically. After this beautiful respite the intensity rose again for the final Allegro. This third movement was more integrated than the first as far as the playing went, soloist and orchestra together more. I must say the the North Carolina Symphony rose to the challenge of the dynamics within this piece beautifully under the guest conductorship of Michael Christie. This performance was another great evening of music from the N.C. Symphony season.

Dead Sea Scrolls

2009-01-06T12:56:00.000-08:00

The North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences hosted an exhibit of the Dead Sea Scrolls through Sunday of last week. I decided to go the last day and mentioned to my son that we were going to see the Dead Sea Scrolls that day. A couple hours later he asked "what is this dead sea monkey thing we're going to see." So I had him google Dead Sea Scrolls before we went. Crowded with last minute viewers like myself the exhibition was still enjoyable as they strictly controlled the number of people who could go see the scrolls themselves as the room had to be temperature controlled. The leadup to the scroll room was a informative exhibit about Qumran (the place where these scrolls were found) and the people who might have created them. The scrolls themselves seem to have been hidden due to the advancing Roman army who were well on their way to destroying the second temple (and destroying everything in their path, including Qumran). These texts are the oldest known examples of verse from the old testament. Some 1,000 years older than any previously known written examples at the time they were found. Some of these fragments date back to 1 BCE. These scripts were the original books of the old testament in copies, Genesis, Isaiah, Exodus, Deuteronomy along with some communal rules and communal prayers. Those who wrote these believed they were the true people of God and that others were less faithful to the true calling of the teachings in the Old Testament. Turns out Duke University had a chance to buy a large collection of the Dead Sea Scrolls in the 1950s but declined the purchase. Some antique manuscripts from the Duke Collection were on display in this exhibit. Another surprise were that these scrolls were written on leather not parchment. Their preservation in cool caves inside of clay jars made their survival that much more likely than a paper equivalent.

Year End Music Picks for 2008

2008-12-21T07:24:00.000-08:00

So Here are the 10 Albums that came out this year I enjoyed the most. I know its predictable to put a mega-act like Coldplay at the top of a list, but its my list so I can. The best live show I saw this year (and there were many) was the Hold Steady at the Cat's Cradle on August 12th. Bar rock never sounded so good...

1 Coldplay - Viva La Vida
2 The Hold Steady - Stay Positive
3 Death Cab for Cutie - Narrow Stairs
4 Schooner - Hold on too Tight
5 Frightened Rabbit - Midnight Organ Fight
6 The Helio Sequence - Keep Your Eyes Ahead
7 British Sea Power - Do You Like Rock Music
8 Grand Archives - The Grand Archives
9 Foxboro Hot Tubs - Stop Drop and Roll
10 Far Beyond Frail - A Girl, Almost

Honorable mention: Bon Iver - For Emma, Billy Bragg - Mr. Love and Justice

Darkroom Printing...

2008-12-17T07:39:00.000-08:00

Along with the songwriting lately has been some darkroom printing. When I started shooting black and white film I did it with an eye toward printing it myself. This seem a bit away when I was just learning how to focus and shoot an SLR 6 months ago. But a goal none the less... One of my Flickr contact was selling his enlarger very cheaply and I could not resist the idea of at least starting to collect the pieces required. It came with a very nice 50mm Nikon lens. So I have slowly bought all the other necessary pieces and yesterday I printed my first darkroom print.

Lots of chemicals to mix (its easy like a recipe) and of course you have to agitate the developing image constantly and have a decent digital timer. All of these things added up to the image above. My main problem was I forgot to stop the aperture down after focusing the image in the enlarger and I ended up frying test strips of paper as it had been exposed to too much light. After the first 10 strips it hit me ahh f/8 oh yeah! (f/8 lets in alot less light). Then I was off to the races and it was all fine tuning from there. I can see the focus pretty well, but this is a different kind of focusing and it will take me a while to get good at it. Focusing the enlarger is not as fine control as the camera, (I can see why my friend might have sold this one). Its very good but I bet there must be even better focusing mechanisms. But I'll learn on this. When I finally got the exposure right on the print I did last night and found all this negative dust in the first good print. Must remember to buy canned air! Eventually I printed 4 lovely clean prints of this gatepost.

New Flickr Slideshow Thingy...

2008-11-17T08:43:00.001-08:00

And an Island all to Myself... (almost)

2008-11-14T07:45:00.000-08:00

One of the illusions we like to create when we look at photographs is that the space is vacant but for us (the viewer) to travel into it. Pristine territory, uncharted and unspoiled. Last weekend I had the opportunity to go to Shackleford Banks with my son's scout troop and we camped on an uninhabited strip of land 9 miles long and at its most a mile wide. A beautiful varied ecosystem with wild horses, marshes, sea and sound. Truly uninhabited and a definite winner for photography and solitary wandering.

The ponies above are what some people in North Carolina call a banker pony. Really a horse but they are called ponies because they are smaller than some horses, as they grow only about 14 hands high due to harsh living conditions. In the 16th century, these horses ancestors came from Spain via Hispaniola to live on one of the islands off the coast of North Carolina that make up the Outer Banks. If you ask the residents of Harkers Island about the horses, they will tell you that they have always been there. That they swam ashore from sinking ships long before the English came. Shackleford Banks, where they live, is only nine miles long and is located just east of Morehead City and Beaufort North Carolina. You can read more about them here

The little island of Shackleford banks is considered an Outer Bank of North Carolina meaning it faces the Ocean on one side and a sound on the other and a trek of a mile or so each way will easily get you from one side to the other. The environments on this island are many as its like a desert in some places a swamp in many others. The ponies prefer the sound side as its not as windy and more grass grows there. The ocean side beach has many thousands of perfect beautiful shells that are not collected by people very often as the island is uninhabited.

The horses roam the dunes and marshes and swim in the small channels between the Shackleford Banks and the nearby tidal flats, which ebb-out on the low tides and disappear again with the next high tide. They have survived where man could not. They have endured through hurricanes, droughts, north-easters, so'westers, and the centuries.

What's Sarah Palin Doing Now?

2008-11-06T06:00:00.000-08:00

Ummm, spying in my blog I think...

We Did It! - Now back to work!

2008-11-05T05:45:00.000-08:00

I have been involved in the Obama campaign since April of this year. The euphoria we felt winning a long and hard fought primary was only a respite from the longer slog that was ahead. For the run up to the presidency I worked in my area (Norther Orange County) as a data manager for the Obama campaign. Our immediate director Craig Perrin was focused and results oriented to say the least. I spent the last 3 weeks of the campaign making sure the canvas packet data made it into the National Democratic Party voting system. This system along with the primary use of MyBarackObama.com represented real innovation in campaigning in that real time information about voters and volunteers was reported to Chicago and Democratic Headquarters every night. The canvasers had packets of names and knew if the voter was undecided and needed persuasion or just need to be reminded to get out and vote. This made a huge difference. Using this system volunteers could access calling lists and scripts and key the results in real time after each phone call. It was unprecedented organization. Even so it had its interesting moments leading up to election day.

Election Weekend Sign Scuffle

Hillsborough (where I live) is an area in transition. You have alot of Democrats moving into a conservative area bringing their emphasis on organic food markets and concerns about walkability and want to patronize locally grown produce, locally owned restaurants and stores (the Small and Slow movements). When we made a large signs that said "Hillsborough is Obama Country" and posted it on the highway just north of town and on the main street here, they caused quite a stir. The one on the main street caused an accident from gawkers and the one on the highway just made a group of motorists angry. I got a call from Craig Perrin asking what the law was for the signage in Town and I looked it up and drove out to the site. A policeman and a man in Army fatigues were there clearly discussing not only how are sign did not meet the ordinance, but that they did not like it personally. Neutral law enforcement - ummm, not so much. The man in military uniform goes on to argue that we are "brainwashing people" with our sign telling them what to think. We respond that its a first ammendment right to say what you think, we'll make our sign compliant and still say the same thing. The officer and the man in uniform both went on to complain that they fought in uniform so "people like us" could "do that" (pointing). Thanks very much but it is indeed our right and people have been fighting for this right for generations up generations in peaceful and not so peaceful ways. We modified our sign. But overnight the McCain people put up two larger signs that combined were almost twice as large as the Obama signs had ever been. We called the code enforcement but they were still up for an entire day before they were modified.

Election Day

6:30 AM I am up and headed to the polls to be a greeter in the pouring rain. I get there and there is a sparse turnout early. The biggest problems are the rain. The the Republican table across the walkway from us had a nice tent and some interesting characters working there (to say the least - one of them a odd Palinesque woman with an amazingly alarming smile). We finally get a nice awning about 8:00 am. So soaking wet we put this thing up so the our materials and people will stay dry. Poor voters - every one that comes up is approached by someone Dem or Repub. So gentleness is the way to go. Remember that you are a greeter not an accoster.

9:00 AM Door hangers. The amazing computer system knows when you've voted and how you did. So we also know who has not. That's what this effort is about. One of the ways the Obama campaign could win (so I was told) in North Carolina is to turn out 20% more vote in the Triangle and Obama takes the state. So off we go to do door hangers and get the last voters out to the polls. We had done such a good job in early voting that 40% of North Carolina had voted early. My precinct here in Hillsborough - 74% of us had voted by election day! So packets and maps from the computer system and in the car and off you go. At this point the packets are as thin as they have ever been due to the fact that we had hit so many of them so well for early voting. The last holdouts required driving between houses not strolling from house to house.

1:00 PM Lunch break in Carrboro.

2:00 PM Back to Obama HQ in Northern Orange. Still doing door hangers and carrying packets, volunteers coming and going furiously. With an apparent non-entry of packet data the only way to generate new lists of people who had not voted was to read the voting list from the polls (legally obtainable at 3 points during the day) and manually update the packets by reading the names of those who had voted in an area and finding them in the packets, crossing their names off and sending the packets back out. So a large group sat at a table while names were read from the voting rolls and marked off the walk packets. These packets went back out again.

4:30 PM The word comes that the emphasis is on Durham now (Orange county went 72% for Obama in the final tally!) so everyone here is supposed to go to Durham. I stay behind with a data manager from the state Obama organization and do paperwork hand tallying votes from the actual voting record.

6:15 PM Brain fried, very tired (I woke up at 5:00 AM I was so wired about today) I go home, watch returns and very satsifiedly go to bed after it is made clear Obama has won. I was genuinely moved upon hearing this it made me a bit choked up having waited so long.

This is the sea change I think. The majority the Obama voters in NC were under 60. The majority of the Republican voters are over 60. The youth movement is finally here. The movement my generation had hoped it was. My generation has been watching and hoping and taking it on the chin a bit. Clinton was our moment, but he helped lose the future for us in his ill-fated second term. This is a new day its not politics as usual, its not lip-service its plain, solid real-service time. The community networks that Obama inspired (never make fun of a community organizer)hopefully will live on so that the American people, the stakeholders, can have a voice.

Save the Country

2008-11-03T17:27:00.000-08:00

Everyone who played the get out the vote rally on November 1st in Chapel Hill were absolutely fabulous. Memorable moments were created by every band who played. The one that stuck with me most (probably due to this political season) was Billy Bragg.
Billy showed up as a late addition to the bill and gave a rousing set full of politcal observation. His set began with him saying "this is a public service announcement - from the rest of the world." He went on to praise America for being on the threshold of great change that involved overcoming race as part of the bargain. He began the set with the uptempo "Sexuality" from Brewing Up with Billy Bragg. The set moved on to more substantive political songs including Laura Nyro's "Save the Country" which was very apropos with lyrics like:

I got fury in my soul,fury's gonna take me to the glory goal.
In my mind I can't study war no more.
Save the people! Save the children! Save the country now!
Come on, people! come on, children!
Come on down to the glory river.
Gonna wash you up and wash you down.
Gonna lay the devil down, gonna lay that devil down.

With the generations of children and parents milling around on a sunny afternoon this all seemed relevant. The other song that stuck in my mind was a new one from his album "Mr. Love and Justice" called "I Keep Faith in You." Billy said (and I am paraphrasing here) no matter what happens November 4th this song gets me through. Basically reminding himself that he trusts humanity to save itself:

I know it takes a mess of courage
To go against the grain.
You have to make great sacrifice for such little gain,
And so much pain.
And if your plans come out to nothing,
Washed out in the rain,
Let me rekindle all your hopes and
Help you start again,
Because

I keep faith in you.
Yes I do, I keep faith in you.
I keep faith in you.

He closed his mini set with the rousing stand-by "There is Power in a Union." With voices singing in unison his time in Chapel Hill had come to a close.

Money speaks for money,the Devil for his own
Who comes to speak for the skin and the bone?
What a comfort for the widow,a light to the child
There is power in a Union

dBs, Billy Bragg and more rally for Obama

2008-11-01T15:53:00.000-07:00

Merge Records sponsored a get out the vote rock etravaganza at the University of North Carolina to rally support for Barack Obama. The schedule for this show was a "who's who" of North Carolina bands including Superchunk, Bowerbirds, Ivan Howard (of The Rosebuds), The dBs, Megafaun and non North Carolinian, post-folk rocker Billy Bragg among others.

The Chapel Hill show was the second time that Superchunk has rallied for Obama. The first time was during the primary with Arcade Fire. Check out the blog entry for that show here.

The Chapel Hill show was outside at Graham Terrace (adjacent to the Morehead Planetarium early voting site. The show began at 9am and ran until almost 3pm.

More about this show later for now here is the line-up and some of the photos...

The Chapel Hill, line-up:
The dBs
Superchunk (acoustic)
Ivan Rosebud
Billy Bragg
Megafaun
I Was Totally Destroying It
Bowerbirds
Greg Humphreys
Regina Hexaphone
Portastatic

I Was Totally Destroying It

Greg Humphreys

Bowerbirds

Billy Bragg

A New Old Camera

2008-10-30T04:50:00.000-07:00

This is the very first image from my newest camera a Yashica A Twin Lens Reflex. The Twin Lens Reflex has a viewing lens and a lens that actually takes the picture. So you don't exactly see the image until the film is developed. You peer into the top of this camera at a 3 inch square of ground glass that reflects the image you are photographing like some sort of phantom television. This camera is 48 years old and has very limited shutter settings. With 100 speed film on a cloudy day most of the shots I took required me counting the seconds off on my watch for the exposures. Those exposures are called "B" exposures as you get to decide how long they are. 120 film (what this camera uses) is square format so the output does not require the whole portrait/landscape discussion in my head I do with 35mm. Seems I like portrait alot when shooting 35mm...

Gravel Truck at the Cave

2008-10-27T13:05:00.000-07:00

Thursday the 23rd saw Mitch Easters "Let's Active Cover Band," Gravel Truck quietly saunter in to the Cave and blow it apart with vintage rock goodness. Shortly after 10 pm the shout of the phrase "emotions are enemy agents - go home!" marked the beginning of a set of music that spanned the life of that 80s pop icon Let's Active. The band was spot on and Mitch Easter was masterful on the guitar once again. With this group of musicians backing him up this material was as muscular and tuneful as ever. With Jon Heames on the drums and Tim Lee (Windbreakers, Tim Lee 3) on bass, this band had solid grooves to hold up Mitch's fluid guitar and sprawling melodies. A rocked up "Every Word Means No" quickly followed its harder edges working decidedly in its favor. Songs Like "Ornamental" and "Horizon" reminded me of how heavy Let's Active could be. These songs absolutely sounded like they belonged in the canon of rock classics. Wistful and poppy, "Reflecting Pool" was a nice change of pace song in this set. The set closed with a classic reading of "In Little Ways" leaving me wanting to catch this version of Let's Active material anytime.

Set List:

Easy Does
Every Word Means No
Ornamental
Horizon
Badger
Every Dog Has His Day
Still Dark Out
Reflecting Pool
Bad Machinery
Fell
In Little Ways

Shower the People - James Taylor at UNC Chapel Hill

2008-10-20T18:33:00.001-07:00

Ok it does not get any more Chapel Hillian than this, James Taylor on the campus of the University of North Carolina at twilight on a beautiful, clear autumn day gently, intuitively serving up the hits one after another to a respectful, loving audience. It got to me. It was so in synch that the carillon in the bell tower played the quarter hour notes exactly when they would harmonize with JT.

This terrific evening of music started without the usual political rally proding and poking, but rather a gracenote for all those who had already voted and were working with or supporting the Obama campaign. Playing solo, James Taylor sprinkled in politics and started with a beautiful sobering open tuned "America the Beatiful" played and sung as only he could do it. He spoke about how sad it was that the word Government had come to be so reviled, about how purposeful and hopeful the Obama campaign was. A movement he said that had not had its like since the run of Bobby Kennedy according to JT.

As for the music. James was inspired tonight to great heights by the limited seating (making for intimate surroundings) and the beautiful scenery. He played all his hits and some great covers from his new album of covers. The set began with "Something in the Way She Moves" which he said was the first song he wrote worthy of playing for anybody else. I will say now that James Taylor voices on the guitar better than anyone I have seen in person and that his improvisational style and skill make his songs fresh even within their familiarity. He hasn't just been playing his hits for years he's been honing them. He knows where the melody could change just a tiny bit for the better here and there keeping the whole intact for the deep memory acquired from years of listening to recorded versions. A lovely version of "You've Got A Friend" introduced by a story of learning the song watching Carol King do it over and over during their nights at the Trubador in the early 70s. He worked up his version then and said "he had no idea he would be doing it practically every night for the rest of his life."

I want to say quickly that James was in Amazing Voice, he sounded like the early James Taylor, timbre, range and the comfortably familiar tone all in tact. Hits like "Sweet Baby James", "Fire and Rain", preceeded the material from the current cover record. And those were treats especially the Leonard Cohen song "Suzanne" which is a stunner of a song musically and lyrically. He also covered the Jimmy Webb hit "Wichita Lineman" from that record as well.

At the end of an hour of music the moment had come at last for "Carolina in My Mind" and sublime and perfect it was with 5,000 quietly accompanying the harmony. Taylor was in the moment all night long tonight. No band just him connecting with us.
He was funny, affable and damn good. He enjoyed himself enough to give us "Mexico" and "Close Your Eyes" as encores. But he also gently reminded us to vote and be proud of our support for Barack Obama.

Yes Sir, I am an Artist....

2008-10-03T17:54:00.000-07:00

I went today on my out and aboutness to the Circa 1958 Art Show at the Ackland Art Museum. It covers the sweeping themes in art around the time the Ackland opened in 1958. The exhibit features the work of Frank Stella (paintings), Robert Rauschenberg (collages), Claes Oldenburg (Sculpture), George Segal, a wonderful Andy Warhol image called "The Gilded Lilly" of a gold leafed lilly image inside a gold hi-heel shoe, decorated with glue on bric-a-brac. The catalog for this show goes on to say "Artists also began installing galleries and other informal spaces with interrelated objects and sounds to surround the viewer, invite exploration, and create 'environments'. As Happenings and Environments evolved, other artists, including Yoko Ono... ...created art objects that forced the spectator to consider his or her relationship to the work."

Hence the part where I got to be an artist today. There was a large gilded frame with a metal sheet within and a hammer and a box of nails and viewers were encouraged to get a nail and add a nail. I asked, the guard said "you are allowed to touch that piece, yes" to which I responded and "and hammer a nail..." he said yes. So PRESTO! I am contributor to this year's "A Painting to Hammer a Nail In" by Yoko Ono(and a nail by me...). When I was done I looked at the guard and said proudly "I'm an Artist!"

(This is a previous version, not the deluxe mirrored version I artistically drove a nail into today...)

Analog

2008-09-17T04:56:00.000-07:00

As in NOT digital. I just finished my first roll of film ever. It was easy for me to decide to mix things up and play with film. There is definitely a different look to the images and there is something about the magic of shooting it and NOT seeing it, trusting it and yourself. The waiting for the results builds the anticipation and in some cases some regrets when you see the pictures and you remember and learn. "Won't do that again" and "How about that!" were things I was mumbling to myself as I reviewed this first roll. So I will try to tone digital images Black and White less to make it clear what is what. I personally have found the two analog cameras I own from the late 60's 70's to be an apex of storts for their technology. They are large and heavy and made of substance, no plastics, real viewfinders. I love my digital camera and will continue to shoot it along with these as well but its a different thing. I shot alot of this simultaneously with the digital so some of my first film images will corespond with locations and shots previously presented digitally, but this wont be the case after this first roll is posted. I posted this very large so you film people can nod and enjoy the grain. I'm very pleased t so be able to say; Nikon L35, Ilford fp4 plus, unaltered scans strait out of the camera...

View on Grey

or View large on black

A Couple Palins for President

2008-09-15T13:33:00.001-07:00

Peak technology is past too (for some things)

2008-09-13T18:51:00.001-07:00

So my new interest in photography has reminded me of something interesting. That digital is nowhere, nowhere near the apex of perfection that analog achieved in its total evolution from the 1890s to the 1970s. In music recording or photography for two cases in point. The mania for vinyl is more than sentimentality. It sounds good. If you have a good turntable from the 60s or 70s you know they are works of art with their strobe tuners and exquisite tone arm mechanisms that pump out smooth analog tube recordings through a tube amplifier. Warm golden stuff that. Digital equals convenience and a level of quality, but not sublime yet. Same is true with digital cameras, they are fabulous and convenient but the feeling and aura of the old 35mm's or medium format cameras still lingers. Its been such a pleasure for me to move into shooting with analog cameras. They focus differently, the feel different (heavier for one) and this peak technology can be had pretty cheaply. In one case for me I bought a Nikon L35 at the thrift store for three dollars.

Heavy metal casing, excellent lens, range finding, simple use a true SLR in the most compact form that real analog quality would allow. (That means its still pretty big in 1979) The other analog camera I have is a 1966 minolta srT. Its a brute of a camera, heavy, heavy duty. Super lens, super mirror in the camera itself. Its alot of fun to not look at a little digital LCD and really focus on the subject in a way that you can see the depth and the nuance of what you're shooting. Alot of people with digital cameras will never know how difference and still make lovely images. It's the nuance that they miss. Hopefully I can make that feeling come out in the pictures.

So as we get set to switch from analog to digital everything give digital time, someday it will be as elegant as analog was/is. Remember analog had the better part of a century.

El Greco to Velazquez at the Nasher

2008-09-07T06:03:00.000-07:00

The Nasher Museum at Duke University is home to a unique show of the artistic taste and acumen of Spain at the time of Philip III via the inventory of his favorite the Duke of Lerma. This period of history was vital for Spanish art and literature. The first image to grab my attention was El Greco's "The Vision of St. John." The painting depicts scenes from Revelation where those worthy of heaven are raised and clothed. It has an exaggerated composition with St. John himself in the foreground reacting to the scene behind him and looking to heaven. The figural arrangement of this painting (and all of El Greco's work to me) is amazingly modern. The standing and floating figures are not unlike a Cezanne line drawing from centuries later. The paint treatment, brush strokes and perspectives are way ahead of their time in all the El Greco images I saw. El Greco's crucifixion image of Christ is detailed lovely and dark. Its small scale meant for a private devotional space yet the image itself is deep with texture and landscape.

The volume and intensity of Religious works in the show is a testament to the power and influence of the Catholic Church and the cultural reinforcement of the teachings and values of it. This kind of art could viscerally inspire and demand adherence to doctrine.

The first Velazquez I encountered was his Immaculate Conception in all its beauty and apparent celebration of the divine in the mortal. The image of Mary is that of a non-idealized young woman beautifully executed. Her ordinariness makes her extraordinary. She is standing on a full moon in front of the sun surrounded by clouds. The tonalities in this image are soft and somber. None of the drama of color portrayed in the other similar images. To me this image was made to inspire contemplation of the divine mystery on a more human scale. Another Velazquez that telegraphs a story is his portrait of Luis de Gongora y Argote. The suprisingly modern image shows the embittered face of a cynical and lost poet. Someone who has been worn by the machinations the Spanish court.

One of the few other images that stuck with me that were not by these two masters was Vicente Carducho's "The Stigmatization of Saint Francis", Showing St. Francis himself literally being drawn to Christ in a surreal scene. The figure of St. Francis flying to a crucified Christ on a winged crucifix. The idea of a personal relationship with Christ might be the intent here or showing the rapture of St. Francis in his attraction to God in Christ. There is something in this painting that invokes for me the work of Fra Angelico some 200 years earlier.

There is a room full of still life paintings and a large display of pottery and glassware from the period along with Royal portraiture all well curated and displayed for the public.

The Obama Acceptance Speech

2008-08-29T12:02:00.001-07:00

I listened with interest to Barack Obama's acceptance speech last night in Denver. When he finally said he was going to enumerate what change meant to him I started jotting notes. This was what was on the pad when I was done:

- Tax breaks for job creation - not shipping jobs overseas
- Promotion of startup companies
- A tax cut for 95% of Americans
- A tax increase on the top 5%
- Energy independence by 2010
- Investment in American Teachers
- Service based scholarships for College bound poor.
- Tackling Healthcare, guaranteeing Americans the same level of healthcare that Congress recieves.
- Equal pay for men and women.
- Within policy disputes focus on areas of agreement rather than an all or nothing approach to legislating. (Abortion was an example cited where both sides of the aisle could cooperate on pregnancy prevention programs.)
- Renew the Military, but pursue policy as the big stick primarily.
- Action not talk on Afghanistan
- A timeline for pullout from Iraq (Iraq is creating a deficit for the US where the Iraq government has a large surplus).
- End Bush Policies:
Attacking Iraq won't stop terrorism.
Supporting Georgia is straining old alliances

Catch-phrases that stayed with me were "Change doesn't come from Washington, it comes to Washington" and "This election isn't about me, its about you"

A good speech. I still want more specifics. On to the debates to focus the differences.

The Hold Steady at the Cats Cradle - August 12, 2008

2008-08-18T07:56:00.000-07:00

Ok so this was my first THS show ever as I missed them last year and I was going to be damned sure I didn't miss them again after the buzz they generated. I love the album "Boys and Girls in America" and am pretty high on "Stay Positive" AND it was the day before my birthday, so no excuses this time, except I didn't have a ticket AND it was sold out. I had an unexplainable weird feeling of uber-confidence about getting into this show. So I just went with it. Sure enough I managed to get into the show (Thanks Billy, and yes I do owe you one.) just as THS were starting their set. Shoulder to shoulder with everyone else we were sweatily catapulted to some kind of rock nirvana. The energy of the crowd really got the band pumped up.
Craig Finn (who is the unlikeliest looking frontman ever) brought an amazing intensity and ,dare we say?, showmanship to the set as well as his trademark vocal/verbal irony. Tad Kubler supplied the rock on the lead guitar. His tone was stunning and his playing even better. Galen Polivka on bass certainly held it all together with Bobby Drake, these two are definitely the bedrock under THS's trademark throb. I love it when a band sounds better than their record and you know their recordings were not augmented by the studio but potentially limited by what can go through a wire. Definitely the case here. I'd list particular favorites but it was all good. (really). Although this stretch of back to back "Party Pit", "Navy Sheets", "Chips Ahoy", "Stuck Between Stations" was very satisfying indeed.

Here is the set list:

Ask For Aderall
Constructive Summer
Yeah Sapphire
Sequestered in Memphis
The Swish
U Can Make Him Like You
Party Pit
Navy Sheets
Chips Ahoy
Stuck Between Stations
Cheyenne Sunrise
One For the Cutters
Lord I'm Discouraged
Your Little Hoodrat Friend
Magazines
How A Resurrection Really Feels
Slapped Actress
(Encore)
Both Crosses
Stay Positive
Most People are DJs
Killer Parties

Don Dixon and the Jump Rabbits

2008-08-11T16:03:00.000-07:00

On August 2, 2008 Don Dixon and his band the Jump Rabbits (Jamie Hoover and Jim Brock) plugged their new album of covers called "Nu Look" with a performance at the Cat's Cradle in Carrboro. The album is a gathering of songs from southern 80's pop history reincarnated by this no-nonsense rock trio. Featuring songs from Parthenon Huxley (rick rock), the dBs, Matt Barrett and others this 10 song CD bristles with muscular grooves and nostalgia. The opener was Jeffrey Dean Foster and it started so early I unfortunately missed it. The Jump Rabbits set began with selections from more recent Dixon albums and then they preceeded on to play the whole "Nu Look" album. Hightlights include a very agressively rhythmed "Amplifier" by the dBs, a suitibly peppy "Sputnik" (HEY!), Told You So (a Dixon chestnut) and capped the set with a euphoric "Six Pack" (Matt Barrett). Ironic that such a depressing lyric could rock so hard. Regardless it was masters of R&B and Rock hard at work. The encore included a terrific funky version of "Calling out for Love" which Don co-wrote with Marshall Crenshaw.

Compound Images Without Photoshop

2008-08-02T21:43:00.000-07:00

Yes you can make a complex image within an image without Photoshopping it to death. I decided to try out a technique of photographing an image in combination with a reflection made by a pane of glass. The result was really nice.

Arranging the framed glass on a tripod and angling it to create the reflection at sunset and photographing straight into it. One complex image, no photoshop required.

Who wants to know?

2008-07-16T12:02:00.000-07:00

Ummm... that response can be put to the test by reviewing the access logs for any website. I was curious how my blog was being used and was very surprised to see how far away people came from (everywhere) and what they were interested in (everything).
Seemingly random for the most part one meme did emerge from a quick look through the rough data. E-Readers. People don't have enough information and want to see what people are using and how they like them. They're naturally nervous about giving up their comfortable, dog-earable, tactile books!

Here are a few queries that landed on this page via Google using the Search Words "e-reader comparison." Among the many were users from Lichfield, Staffordshire, UK, The Metropolitan Government of Nashville, Tennesee, NASA in Greenbelt, Maryland, The Republic of Korea, Edmonton, Oklahoma, Villagen,Switzerland, Bellevue, Washington, and Budapest, Hungary (at 8am their time, proving internet addiction is universal!).

Other notable queries involve someone from Ile-de-France, Paris looking for information on Don Dixon, someone from Western Finland looking for "cruel to be kind" and Ron Sexsmith (umm, Ron didn't do that one but the are mentioned together in my blog entry of the Nick/Ron duo show), as well as Glen Tilbrooks' legion of fans reading up on the show he did here at the Pour House last year. So keep dropping by whatever the keyword is that gets you here.

Flickr favorites

2008-07-14T09:44:00.001-07:00

These are some of my favorites from my photostream at Flickr lately...

Reprise

2008-07-13T19:36:00.000-07:00

The tale of two friends and not-so-simple twists of fate, Reprise is first-time Norwegian director Joachim Trier's artful dialogue on art, love and a bit of punk rock. The film opens with best friends Phillip and Erik standing at the mailbox, knowing their whole lives are about to change at the simple act of mailing their first manuscript to the publishers. Fast forward to Phillip, whose novel garners instant acclaim and turns him into a cult celebrity and has had a life-altering breakdown. Erik, still struggling with rewrites of his novel, is still editing away, determined to follow in the footsteps of Phillip and the idol of their youth a mythic Norwegian cult author.

Reprise features great performances from Anders Lie as Phillip and Espen Hoiner as Erik. Espen Hoiner hits all the right notes with his portrayal of the less talented, harder working Erik, who's quiet longing for the status and talent effortlessly attained by Phillip draws us in. Anders Lie is terrific as Phillip, the immensely talented, complicated, complex and fragile artist. Phillip goes through a typical teenage transformation to a gifted adult, later through creative burnout, and a severe mental breakdown over an obsessive relationship with his girlfriend. Erik has a ringside seat for meteoric rise of Phillip and watches with wonder at the unfolding destruction of his friend.

Philip later moves into some surreal headspace where he plays with the idea he can control/transform his reality by counting backwards. The incantation of the counting summoning the intended result. Through a chain of coincidence Erik achieves some assurance and accolades from the mythic author who inspired him in his teenage years. Humorous and angst ridden these characters and their director are interesting to watch.

Jennifer Curtis at Gate Wood

2008-06-29T19:59:00.001-07:00

Jennifer Curtis appears regularly as featured soloist and as collaborative chamber musician across the United States and abroad. Also an accomplished composer, her compositions have been performed in New York City, at The Spoleto Festival among others. She received her Master of Music degree from the Juilliard School, where she was a student of Robert Mann. Jennifer was also recently presented by Artists International in her New York City Carnegie Hall recital debut. The New York Times has recognized Ms. Curtis' talent in print as well.

So a lucky few gathered at Gate Wood in Chapel Hill this Sunday to hear a performance by this fine artist in a house concert setting. Gate Wood has a beautiful large space perfect acoustically for hosting an event like this. The program was varied and each performance quite spirited. Ms. Curtis introduced each piece with some explaination of her connection to it. The program was three pieces: Bach Partita No. 2, Caprice #10 by Paganini, and a composition of her own titled "Cave Paintings."

The Bach Partita was exuberantly played start to finish. The piece is of six movements: Allegro, Allemande, Courant, Saraband, Gigue, and the lovely Ciaccone. The violin itself was a joy to hear. It is an 18th century Panormo from Cremona, Italy (cradle of great violin making). The match of the instrument and the player is evident here as the emotion and tone of Ms. Curtis matched the sound the violin was making perfectly. A lengthy piece it moved along effortlessly from the bow of Ms. Curtis. The Saraband and the Chiaconne were particularly memorable. The performance started beautifully but became more focused as this piece moved along.

The Paganini Caprice was introduced as something all violinists play at every competition and audition. Ms. Curtis reminded us they not only reinforced technique but were good music as well. Good music indeed. Short and sweet but raucusly rowdy this frothy confection was played with brio.

The last piece was the most interesting in some ways. She played her own composition which she called "Cave Paintings." She said it was a result of her not going to conservatory immediately and persuing her love of playing Appalachain Bluegrass, Latin Music and the Blues among others. The piece began with an introduction that was an homage to the great Fritz Kreisler, but diverged from there to pizzicato sections sounding like spanish guitar and smooth beautiful, slow double stops reminiscent of Appalachia. A wonderful program by a talented artist.

Weaver Street comes to Hillsborough

2008-06-20T09:06:00.000-07:00

~~Coming May 17th~~
~~Coming at the end of May~~
~~Coming June 10th~~
~~Coming June 17th~~
Coming June 19th! - 10AM

After many delays and much anticipation (and alot of changes to the printed banner) the Weaver Street market is finally open here in Hillsborough. Having been chairman of the Historic District commission at the time this project was proposed I must admit I was all for approval of almost ANY building that would include a downtown grocery store. Access to a food store within walking distance of downtown makes Hillsborough a truly livable, walkable community. The first day of shopping was a complete success with the lawn jammed with diners and the store crowded with shoppers.

Flickr

2008-06-13T08:01:00.000-07:00

The images above are photos I shot and can be found on my Flickr stream at http://www.flickr.com/photos/holdenrichards/. Flickr has become my latest web 2.0 addiction. Its like facebook for photographers. People see your photographs, comment on the ones they like (often what they like about it) at the same time you get a world's worth of different views from behind the viewfinder. One of my photographs (the one of the parking lot light) was picked for a Flickr group "All But One" where every photo in the stream had one thing askew from the rest. The Admin for the group lives and photographs in Russia and he found my picture posted in another group and claimed it for his as well. Watching Flickr is as interesting as participating yourself so check it out if you haven't and get clicking that shutter if you have.

Whats on the Shuffle?

2008-06-10T12:04:00.000-07:00

The iPod shuffle being smaller is an exercise in choice. I use my shuffle all the time when I exercise and work around the house so the collection on it tends to be really cohesive or extremely diverse here's whats on it at the moment.

REM - Accelerate
The Hold Steady - Boys and Girls in America
Radiohead - Pablo Honey
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - Greatest Hits
The Daysleepers - Drowned in the Sea of Sound
U2 - Unforgettable Fire
Frightened Rabbit - Midnight Organ Fight
The Rolling Stones - Some Girls
Coldplay - Viva la Vida single

What does this collection say - who knows. Most of the uptempo stuff is a reaction to loads of folk-core, slow, quiet, acoustic records that have been filling up the record store and my cabinet. The Dodos, Owen, Bon Iver, Iron and Wine, Kings of Convenience, Junetile and endless amounts of beautiful acoustic quietude thats beginning to all blend and be the same record. I love all the aforementioned acoustic stuff but its summertime, even on my iPod.

Fictional Fun

2008-06-05T05:24:00.000-07:00

My daughter Cara and I sat around one cold winter day last year and dreamed up a character that was a cranky, cantankerous, crusty old uncle. The scenario was that he had to watch a very, very bored 8 year old nephew and we dreamt up things he would say to the poor kid to keep him busy and away from his uncle.

Hey Look Kid Here's...

An umbrella, you're a Japanese lady
A book, your're smart
Scissors, you're a barber, go talk to your mother
Soap, you're clean
an apron, you're a cook tonight
A cardboard box
A stick and a blanket, you're an Indian
your thumb, you're a hitchiker
The grass, you're in Hawaii
A basket, you're the Easter Bunny
A quarter, you're the tooth fairy
Go climb the chimney, you're Santa
A candle, you're a jack-o-lantern
An ice cube, you're an Eskimo
A knife, you're a samurai, go talk to your Uncle Tony about that bet we made last night
A pillow, you're a pregnant lady
A bucket of soap, you're Cinderella
You can walk, you're a model
A dot, you're from India
A tub of water, you're a deep sea diver
A paper airplane, you're an astronaut
I'll poke your eye out, you're a pirate
At your clothes, you're a hobo
A hose, you're a firefighter
A cross, go fight the vampires
A leaf, you're greek
A leaf, you're adam
A washcloth, you're your mother
A flashlight, turn out the lights you're a train.
A bottle of wine, you're your Uncle Tony
Some dirt and your finger, you're a painter
Some twigs, you're a beaver
My ring, you're a king
Your mothers shoes, you're an elf
A triangle, you're in the symphony
A cowbell, you're a rock star
A nail, you're a carpenter
Use your eyeballs, laser tag, talk to your mother
Your mothers earrings, its a basketball hoop
Don't talk, you're a mime
A match, you're Satan
Some cheese, you're French
At your smile, you're from West Va
Some duct tape
Take off your clothes, you're Lady Godiva
A mask, you're spiderman
A doughnut, you're a cop
A tree, you're a hippie
An egg, you're a hen
An apple, you're William Tell
A carrot and two pieces of coal, you're a snowman
Some tinfoil, you're an antenna
You're a vampire, go bite your sister
A hat, you're a magician
A screwdriver, you're a burglar
A virus, go play with your little friends
Stand by the side of the road, you're a stop sign
Some flour, you're old
A chair, you're your grandpa
The classifieds, find a job
A suitcase, you're a tourist
A needle, you're a seemstress
Some breadcrumbs, you're Hansel and Gretel
A glove, you're Michael Jackson
A rock, it's your pet
A barbie, you've got a date
A lottery ticket, you're a loser

It's a New (to me) Car...

2008-06-02T17:22:00.000-07:00

No its not whats behind curtain number three Monty... Its what I bought today to carrry me enjoyably through a few middle years of my life. A nice snappy Swedish designed, American made Saab 9.3 convertible. I have always wanted a convertible since I was sixteen so the wait is over for me at last. I was able to get a considerably good trade and great service from Chapel Hill Auto on Franklin Street (ask for Luis he's a good guy trying to make a living like the rest of us.)OK so its not a "new" car but its a "new to me" car and thats good enough. I really enjoyed driving it today and can't wait to see it perform on the highway. The Toyota is a great car but with grown kids its time for a car I can enjoy a bit eh?

Hillarys Race Card

2008-05-10T10:08:00.000-07:00

A quote from this article:

"They were particularly unnerved by Clinton's comments earlier this week that appeared to be racially insensitive or racially calculated when she said, "Sen. Obama's support among working, hardworking Americans, white Americans, is weakening again."

Let me just say to Hillary that I'm glad to be a white slacker for Obama...

Yes He Did

2008-05-07T08:50:00.000-07:00

An exciting day for Obama supporters in NC! I enjoyed working at Obama headquarters in Orange County quite a bit. Mostly because the people there were not only committed they were nice people. Daniel and Adam (2 of the field directors for Orange County) were patient and communicated well with all the volunteers. We knew what to do and it all became routine and easy (except for canvassing). So here's to them and all the others who pitched in locally. Daniel has been with the Obama campaign since South Carolina running field offices in various counties all over the country. So he particularly savored this win and our amazing countywide support level (77% of Orange County went for Obama). When the announcement came from CNN the whole office cheered and ran outside to wave signs at passers-by and cheer some more. It was gratifying to see everyone happy and anticipatory of a possible win in Indiana at the NC victory gathering at Top of the Hill. I hope everyone involved in this primary win gets to do it again in an Obama for President campaign this fall.

Indiana Update: This from the Huffington Post

"Conversely, the significance of Clinton's victory in Indiana was undermined by indications that a statistically significant number of Republicans, perhaps as many as 7 percent of all the votes cast, were following the suggestion of conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh to cast ballots for her in the Democratic primary."

"Rock Day" in Carrboro

2008-05-03T12:13:00.000-07:00

Friday saw what was dubbed "Rock Day" in Carrboro by Kirk Ross (Editor of the Carrboro Citizen) in a conversation I had with him. "Rock Day" it was indeed. The day would see 3 generations of legendary triangle rock musicians take the stage as well as a Billboard 100 indie act on Carrboro's own Merge label. It all started at 2pm at a Obama for President free concert featuring Chapel Hill legends Superchunk. Plain and simple Superchunk brought the rock. The angular two guitar attack of Mac McCaughan and James Wilbur was in full effect along with the energetic throb of the rhythm section of Laura Ballance and Jon Wurster.

Arcade Fire was up next on this warm afternoon. Based in Montreal, Quebec, Arcade fire seems an unlikely candidate to play for a political rally in the USA. Nonetheless supporting Obama, Arcade Fire played a revelatory set of songs for the partisan crowd. Arcade Fire's two releases on the Merge label, (Funeral, Neon Bible) are as different as oil and vinegar in tone. Neon Bible having huge production values and Funeral very much the no-tech recording. Neither of these releases reveal the power and sheer capability of this band. You have to see them to appreciate what they do.

Both of these bands made a modicum of political statements and mostly stuck to what the do best - rocking out.

Later that night at the Cat's Cradle was a return engagement of the Pressure Boys after a twenty year hiatus. Opening up this show as another long dormant triangle band - Sneakers. Sneakers consisted of Robert Keely (bass), Chris Stamey (guitar), Mitch Easter (guitar) and Will Rigby (drums). One half of this band went on to form the dBs and Mitch Easter went on to become the producer and recordist of many great southern pop acts as well as the lead singer/songwriter for Let's Active. For a band that was formed in high-school the songs this combo wrote together are still classic pop-gems after all these years (I would not want to play any songs I wrote when I was seventeen for anyone!) A particular highlight of this set was "S'il vous plait." Tight muisicanship and big sound were the trademarks of this set of music. Added musicianship was provided by Wes Lachot (piano) and Chris Stephenson(percussion).

Finally the end of this evening of "Rock Day" featured the Pressure Boys (now men) in this benefit reunion show. I remember the P-boys as energetic, frenetic and amazingly good. But they are also great showmen and the pre-eminent party band. They had the crowd dancing early and kept them moving till the last notes of the encore (an amazing version of "Radar Love" followed by a mostly acapella "You're wondering now") rang out. Rob Ladd banged out the familliar and complex dub beats over the bubbling bass of Jack Campbell. Bryon Settle handled the guitar chops with amazing range and style. John Plymale reminded us he may be the best frontman/singer in triangle band history. Greg Stafford, John and Je Widenhouse held down the brass section with solid playing and arranging. Highlights are too many to name but include "Where the Cowboys Went" and covers like "A Message to You Rudy." So much energy over the length of a 2 hour set of well-rehearsed songs was really impressive. The P-boys haven't missed a beat. Awesome.

Obama and Clinton

2008-04-29T05:55:00.000-07:00

You know its an unusual political season when I can see both former president Clinton and Sentator and presidential candidate Barack Obama within 7 days of each other. Bill Clinton turned up at the ball field around the corner from my house quite unexpectedly and with as much ado as the small town of Hillsborough could muster. Speaking from the back of a pickup truck the Hillary campaigners were trying to look folksy. Its no secret that I am an Obama supporter, but I went to give the ex-president his due. The hype man for the event before Bill spoke was going on about making the "Kool-aid" of the event sweeter. How does he do that? By throwing out t-shirts of course. After throwing a few out he said "man, this Kool-aid tastes a whole lot better." Not a great metaphor, Kool-aid and politics. So having said that he went on to say that the men in the crowd should look around at the women there as they were our future congressmen, senators, mayors and county commissioners. Ummm, its not 1943 anymore. Chapel Hill councilwoman Sally Green was in attendance as well as Francis Dancy from the Hillsborough town board, and the woman who wound up introducing clinton was the mayor pro tem of Charlotte. So another goofy phrase from this guy. After the crowd spelling H-i-l-l-a-r-y alot Bill Clinton swooped in an hour late and gave a fact filled, friendly stump speech. He was touting the Pennsylvania win and urging everyone to go to the early voting location next to the ball field. This is smart campaigning. The attendees could leave and vote for Hillary right there. Bill Clinton has a command of facts and figures which cannot be denied, but when he talks about job creation and the economy I tune him out. Ever since NAFTA and GATT the twenty five dollar an hour job in America went away. Then President Clinton promised these two important trade agreements would strengthen our economy and they have gone on to play a role in most decent factory jobs in the USA leaving the country.

Barack Obama came to Chapel Hill's Dean E. Smith center and brought along 19,000 of his supporters. In one of the biggest indoor events in the Obama campaign, the liberal stronghold of Chapel Hill was indeed a welcoming location for the candidate. (Jesse Helms once threatened to put a fence around it) The evening began with Music from a live band while people showed up hours early for the late night speech. The early speakers on the podium offering support included Congressman Mel Watt and Senatorial fixture David Price. A parade of speakers between 9 and 10:30 that night made the wait for Senator Obama seem interminable. Sam Perkins the NBA and former UNC standout was the next to last speaker. Seems they covered all their bases culturally at Carolina. Finally Senator Obama came out to raucus applause smiling and waving. He went straight to work and kept the platitudes to a minimum. Senator Obama covered the economy (the Bush tax breaks withdrawn, new incentives for the middle-class), the war(S)(let's get out of Iraq and win Afghanistan), restoring American foreign relations and goodwill abroad, strengthening and rebuilding the military, and reminding us all that ultimately this election was about alot of things but it was mostly about the people of America. Senator Obama is not about the quick-fix that solves nothing. Case in point the federal excise tax on gasoline. He was not for removing it. The short term gain would only be about twenty five dollars and the long term cost would be not conserving energy and not developing new energy resources. Hillary Clinton supports removal of this tax for the summer driving season to show her support for the middle class, but I am with Senator Obama on this. No short term "feel good" fixes. Let's solve the problem. All in all not alot of new ground here, not as many facts as Bill Clinton could muster in a nano-second, but very effective and inspiring stuff indeed.

The Cruel and the Kind: Nick Lowe & Ron Sexsmith at the Artscenter

2008-04-24T05:11:00.000-07:00

Last night saw two very different philosophies d'amore share a very strong common musical bond. Nick Lowe and Ron Sexsmith have more in common than just being on the same label (Yep Roc). The most obvious gift they share is a love of songcraft; which was fully on display last night.

Ron Sexsmith started the evening off with a terrific set of songs both old and new. The very first number (one of my favorites, "Former Glory") set the tone for a heart-on-the-sleeve performance. A significant portion of his set was material from his new U.S. record "Time Being" which will be released this summer. A particular standout from this section of the show was "Jazz at the Bookstore." Which speaks about the search for authenticity in the contrivances that are coffee shops and bookstores these days.

Jazz at the bookstore
And Blues in the coffee shop

There's a man standing at the crossroads
With a dark roast in his hand
Living in white yuppy hand
Over by the milk and sugar stand

Other memorable songs were "Cheap Hotel" (the story of an abused wife and mother making her getaway), "Never Give Up" and two chestnuts from the early Ron Sexsmith catalog; "Strawberry Blonde" and "Secret Heart." Opined Sexsmith, "Everybody has covered this song (Secret Heart) and I'm still not rich yet..." With clear voice and nuanced, evocative guitar playing this was an amazing opening set.

The ever dapper Nick Lowe followed up with a set of old and new material as well. A striking difference in style, if not form, made this set musically lean and focused. Harkening back to classic songs and song stylists like George Jones, Johnny Cash, Sam Cooke, Nat Cole, to name but a few, all factor into the Nick Lowe style.

Some of the old up-tempo classics helped keep this mostly crooned set lively. Songs like "I knew the Bride", the 1979 "Cruel to Be Kind" (which made the US Top 40) were in direct counterpoint to songs like "All Men are Liars" and "Where's My Everything" (featuring the bitter lyric "Where is the beautiful family home / That I was promised on the news at 10.")

Alot of Lowe's lyrics are directly observational. Songs like "People Change" or "Lately I've Let Things Slide" are straight up reporting from the trenches of experience. Particularly effective among the slower numbers were "The Beast in Me" (written for ex-father-in-law Johnny Cash) and the brand new "I Read Alot."

So after lifting you up and sending you crashing back down thematically, Nick makes it alright after all by closing with the ever true, not even remotely ironic "Whats So Funny About Peace, Love and Understanding."

Practically the highlight of the evening was the encore called "My Baby's Gone" (by the Louvin Brothers) featuring these two great singers harmonizing together. I would gladly pay to see that for an entire show.

ADDENDUM: props to Lintqueen for the encore songtitle.

Wembley, Shakermaker at the Local 506

2008-04-21T14:05:00.000-07:00

Thursday the 17th saw a lively triple bill at the Local 506 of Wembley, Shakermaker (with a CD release party besides)and Hundred Air. I missed Hundred air, but what I did see was good homegrown pop. Wembley kicked things off very nicely with a short, tight, energetic set. I love any band with a song called "Death Incarnate" that can be one of their livelier numbers. While older songs made an appearance here (notably "crumbs" and a rocking version of "Jeanie") the newer material really (available on a giveaway CD that night)really made an impression on me. The new songs "Moon", "The Quiet Life" and "40 Hour Week" were well constructed and memorable. This band gets better and better and singer/guitarist Neven J. Carswell's singing is remarkable. Neven is integrated neatly in this unit with Elizabeth Hull (piano), Elizabeth Hammond (drums) and Tracy Summer (bass) this band is well worth your time to check out.

I stuck around to catch Shakermaker play songs from their new eponymously named new CD. I found this 5 piece band to be even better than their very good tracks on their myspace page. Energetic, up-tempo pop with the added texture of Tom Moorefield (father to guitarist Jesse) on pedal steel. Songs like "Sunday Ladies" epitomize what is nice about Shakermaker; catchy melody, good singing and interesting lyrics, oh and bridges in the songform. Unmistakable songcraft, keep an eye out for them.

Shine a Light

2008-04-17T09:49:00.000-07:00

I was expecting Martin Scorsese to do a Last Waltz-type summing up of the Rolling Stones in their new film Shine a Light. But what we got was a look at a vibrant working band some 40 years into their career. There were some considerations for age (Mick evidently burns up under too many lights)and status (the royal attitude of the Stones kept the set list elusive until the last minute). This concert film clocks in a a nudge over two hours. My instinct tells me (having seen that tour in 2006) that the show itself was much longer. So what do we learn that we don't already know? Keith says that
he and Ronnie together "make one pretty good guitarist." Mick expends himself on the crowd while the others can stay in the head space of the music. Charlie Watts is the calmest maniac on earth. I think we knew this stuff. But what I hadn't noticed was the
complete authority and authenticity the Stones bring to Rock 'n Roll. They have transcended the bravado and reach of their early records to mature mastery of the form.

NC Symphony with Michael Collins

2008-04-14T08:50:00.000-07:00

I went to the a remarkable program with the NC Symphony featuring basset clarinetist Michael Collins. The program was bookended by two Mendelssohn pieces without the clarinetist. The overall tone of the evening was uptempo as all the music was emphatic. The Mendelssohn Overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream was an agressive start, energetically played and well executed.
This was followed by the entrance of Mr. Collins and a note-perfect performance of the Mozart Clarinet Concerto in A Major. Tonally beautiful throughout there was a substantial ovation at the end of this piece. The second half of the program began with a world premiere of Elana Kats-Chernin's Ornamental Air for basset clarinet. Agressive tight note clusters powered this piece along. The comparison I made as I was listening was a very modern extension of Gershwin. The composer was attending and the piece was recieved very well. The concluding music for the evening was the Mendelssohn "Italian" Symphony. An uplifting and amazing piece of music. Especially interesting for its minor key last movement. Again well played and conducted. A good night of music all around.

I'll Take (Hamburgers in) Manhattan....

2008-04-02T06:55:00.000-07:00

The inevitable NYC blog post. Having recently returned from Gotham here are a few musings about my trip. Staying in midtown (yes, midtown, it worked out to be a nice place to stay--really) the launching pad for this visit was well situated for site seeing and dining. I must say I have never seen parts of the city look better or the people be friendlier. Central park was as well kept and beautiful as I've ever seen it. The hotel location was just a few short blocks north from the Empire State Building and a few blocks south from Rockefeller Center. Walking from this location, I quickly became aware that the end of March can still feel like a bit of winter in NYC (at least this year).

The hotel location on W 39th put it right in the border area between Times Square and the Garment District (think giant sculpture of a button). Now everybody I know in the city told me there was not anywhere to eat in midtown. I found a couple places worth mentioning. First off Carmines on 44th. Family style Italian in rich, full of character surroundings. Good service, nice price, some saltimbocca alot of raviolli, my my... Also ate at Johns Pizza on 44th for lunch which is inside an old church/tabernacle gently remodeled into a restaurant. The stain glass ceiling in this place is worth going in just to see and the food is perfect for lunch. Brick oven pizza, great salads and bread.

The Museum of Modern Art, Guggenheim and Metropolitan Museum of Art are 3 of my favorite places to waste alot of time in in NYC. Too much to ever see in one lifetime, I am always amazed what I missed the last time when I go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. What's great is now you can take non-flash photos in many areas of the museum. I noticed this last year at the National Gallery of Art as well.
Timeless beauty this, from an ancient Egyptian temple (the Temple of Dendor) to Van Gogh and Warhol.

Now for the hamburgers, On our way to look at the NYU campus around Washington Square (where my daughter got admitted to school, although she says she is ultimately attending UNC), we ventured on into Greenwich Village and had dinner at the hamburger restaurant RARE first(vegans beware of the next bit). I am given to understand there is a RARE location uptown as well btw. OK, the proverbial $20 hamburger but what a hamburger. I had the Murray's (one of the oldest cheese shops in NYC) burger and it was amazing, loaded with the cheese of the week (Some smoked gouda fabulousness) ummm, bacon, lots of bacon, red onions etc. That with a pint from the bar and some of the amazing fries (they have 4 kinds of fries) will hit you right after a long day of schlepping around the city.

The arch at Washington Square featuring that very promising Presidential candidate George.

High Dynamic Range Images

2008-03-19T06:38:00.000-07:00

High Dynamic Range Images are made with your digital camera by taking one shot and bracketing the exposures. Most new SLRs can do this automatically now so it is really easy. You then feed the pictures to the HDR software (Photoshop CS2 or Photomatix) and it combines the multiple shots into one really detailed shot called an HDR. HDRs are not viewable on regular computer screens without an HDR viewer. The software allows you to "tonemap" the image so its viewable on a computer screen. Read more about it here. Its an interesting way to photograph because you don't know exactly what you have until you "develop" it with the software. I took some test shots around UNC on a blustery, nearly rainy day and they came out really nice.
You can see some of them here

Obama Calling...

2008-03-02T17:05:00.000-08:00

Or rather me calling for moveon.org from a house gathering of democrats in Chapel Hill and reminding the good people of Texas that they can vote twice in tuesdays primary. *I suppose only in Texas could you vote twice in one day. Roughly a third of the delegates from Texas will be selected tuesday night at 7:15 CST when the polls close by a caucus of voters who to qualify will have already voted in the election during normal polling hours. (How crazy can Americans make democracy, really?). So this afternoon a group of concerned yet-to-vote voters turned out to help moveon.org remind the potential Obama voters in Texas to go to the caucus as well as vote. If they were supporters of the other candidate we were to wish them well and... move on. Most of the people I spoke with had voted early and for Obama and welcomed the additional information. So if my call sheets are any indication (who knows?) things sounded pretty good in the numbers I called.

Special Topics in Calamity Physics

2008-02-27T20:28:00.000-08:00

Special Topics in Calamity Physics features the Epic Tale of one Blue van Meer. Full of words like "Timberlaked" and "paninied" (as in sandwiched) and oddly capitalized Special Events as well as endless numbers of book quotations and citations (see The Book of Books and Their Citations, Torchlite Publishers, 1989), this book is entertaining and insightful for most of its 700 plus pages.

Blue van Meer is a remarkably unique voice emerging from the pen of Marissa Pessl (who is from Ashville BTW). Not unlike other young, plucky, wiser-than-their-years heriones of late (see Juno, 2007), Blue is presented with a much-larger-than-normal slice of life's problems in her senior year of high school in Stockton, N.C. This book confidently creates its own world with memorable characters and slowly entraps you into wanting to know all the unexpectedly conspiratorial details behind the murder of a teacher at Blue's elite private school.

To begin quoting this book is to quote the whole thing but here are a few to tide you over until you can read it for yourself:

"Denial is like Versailles; it isn't the easiest thing to maintain."

"Very few people realize, there's no point chasing after answers to life's important questions," Dad said once in a Bourbon Mood. "They all have fickle, highly whimsical minds of their own. Nevertheless. If you're patient, if you don't rush them, when they're ready, they'll smash into you. And don't be surprised if afterwards you're speechless and there are cartoon tweety birds chirping around your head."

On walking while being tipsy: "I stood up and tried to make my way to the door, but my legs felt as if they were being asked to measure the universe."

On being on a stakeout: "We were stationed somewhere, oceans from home, afraid of things unseen. Leulah was shell-shocked, back straight as a flagpole, her eyes magnetized to the door. Jade was the senior officer, crabby, worn-out and perfectly aware nothing she said could comfort us so she only reclined her seat, turned on the radio and shoved potato chips into her mouth. I sort of Vietnamed too. I was the cowardly homesick one who ends up dying unheroically from a wound he accidentally inflicts upon himself that squirts blood like a grape Capri Sun."

"If that weren't enough to knock the wind out of me, she had to go entirely Southern Gothic, dragging the Devil and his grin into it, and whenever someone with a fudgethical Southern accent said devil, one inevitably felt they knew something one didn't-as Yam Chestley wrote in Dixiecrats (1979), 'The South knows two things through and through: cornbread and Satan' (p. 166)."

Picturing the World

2008-02-25T05:18:00.000-08:00

Ackland Art Museum has a very powerful and oft-times disturbing exhibit of photographs by North Carolina's photo-journalists. A good photograph like any good art has a power to move. Some of these photographs not only are beautiful they can be a firm kick in the solar plexus. Photo-journalist Adrea Bruce's pictures of the Iraq war are not only beautiful they are deeply moving. A powerful image of a child crying after the accidental shooting of her parents by American soldiers is particularly poignant. Janet Jarman's series of photos following a Mexican family's odyssey in America tells the tale better than any words on paper could. Their initial condition, their aspiration to come to America. The cultural and class divide once they get here and their ultimate failure to secure an economic foothold here. There is a particularly telling picutre of the young Mexican girl Marisol staring over the fence of her new American backyard at a little American girl of the same age. The American Girls' parents have forbidden her to play with Marisol, and yet they meet at the fence, the great cultural divide of class and economics. Not all the pictures tell sad stories. Often you would not know a photo represented a harsh reality based on it content and composition. In this case its well worth it to read the explanations and enjoy the art even though it might unsettle the mind.

The Future is so Meta: DJ Spooky at UNC

2008-02-09T05:22:00.000-08:00

Friday afternoon in the Great Hall at UNC there was a lecture / performance by DJ Spooky a.k.a. Paul Miller. Paul is the master of the cultural remix and its most eloquent advocate. His talk began with the idea that modern artists, writers, composers and technical people began fragmenting and segmenting and remixing culture at the beginning of the 20th century. He cited the evolution of collage, stop motion photography and other technologies for developing what he called the "photoshop quality" of mind. That mind is a layered, changable, multi-faceted experience and the 20th century has been mostly about simultaneous fragmented experience.

He also explained that disciplines that used to be considered separate (writing, composing, art) are being increasingly blurred and unified by software. Combine this trend with the amount of data we can collect and store digitally in the 21st century and you have a deeply experiential art/remix culture blurring the lines of art and creative disciplines. Paul offered that historically art has been valued for its scarcity (it was all originals or limited copies)and that the future of art was its endless digital availability (as its all copies). He created his own remix experiment by giving everyone one of 5 remix cds he made in different genres (classic pop, jazz, reggae, etc...) He encouraged us to burn them for friends and remix them crossing up the genres.

Kimya Dawson - Midtown Dickens - Paleface - Angelo Spencer

2008-01-28T05:11:00.000-08:00

Bull City HQ was the location for a night of mostly upbeat, very loose, and occasionally dare I say endearing, music. This bill was almost upstaged by its location. Located on a somewhat delapidated block of North Mangum street the Bull City HQ is an unusual venue at best. Obviously a center for a free bike program a makeshift art gallery and now a music space this quirky space is nestled between storefront churches (one of which is named "The True Way Church of God in Christ Jesus"). So it was here with a packed house that this group of mostly acoustic outsiders performed.

First up was Midtown Dickens, and with the crowd as thick as it was (did I mention I have no pictures of the bands?) it was hard to see the performers but the performance was intimate and easily heard. It had the aura of being at someones house and they suddenly decided to put on an impromptu show of some kind. Playing guitars, banjos, drums, trumpets and singing their throats sore I found the raggedy string band charm of this group to be very musical and light hearted.

Next up was Paleface, a duo that noted they were old friends and touring mates of Kimya Dawson. Their sound was not unlike an unplugged flat-duo-jets at times. Starting off softer and ending on a somewhat harsher set of songs, the performance was accomplished and emphatic.

Angelo Spencer was the penultimate performance and left alot to be desired. While the crowd enjoyed his thrashing electric noodlings Angelo managed to forget his lyrics, stop his songs and beg for mercy. He was ultimately a crowd pleaser but this left me strolling outside to take pictures until he was done.

Kimya Dawson is some kind of miracle. The perfect embodiment of the indie zeitgeist of the 2000's with her unkempt hair and her sweet and offbeat intelligent lyricism all paired with that crackly charming croon of hers. She rattled off more words in a single song than a dictionary and most of them were insightful and funny. Her material had a somewhat narrative sense to it - if you are a zen buddhist. Throwing away more good metaphors than Bob Dylan she was also very entertaining in-between songs.

E-Reader Comparison

2008-01-20T14:43:00.001-08:00

Ok, so being someone who reads alot and somewhat of an early adopter... I've been reading ebooks for almost 4 years. My first E-reader has been the Rocket ebook reader 1100. This has been my 2 lb. trusty companion for reading all kinds of content from the internet and ProjectGutenburg.org ebooks and my purchased (and often converted ebooks) in .REB format. (The proprietary format for this reader.) This reader has had many commercial incarnations (gemstar etc...) but it's almost the same in every one. Cosmetic improvements here and there but on the whole the same unit.

The REB1100

Pros: Backlit for reading at night. On screen tapping for functions (limiting the number of buttons). Adjustable type size. Hyperlinking in documents. Can make content from standard HTML. Search function for documents. Built in dictionary for looking up words by tapping them on the screen.

Cons: Backlighting strategy makes it unusable in daylight situations. Glare from reader glass is an additional problem. This thing is kinda heavy (2 lbs!). Lasts about 20 hours before needing a charge. Boot up time can be long if there are lots of books installed(3 minutes). Bare-bones management software that does not generate content. (Content generated from 3rd party tools)

What I bought recently was the Sony PRS 500 reader. The even newer PRS 505 is the slightly more elegant cousin to this one. The Sony Reader is an elegant all metal E-Reader mostly meant for just that. It's lightweight form-factor and easy to read type make for an excellent reading experience. Finding and formatting content for this reader has proven to be a challenge albeit not insurmountable.

The PRS 500

Pros: Very lightweight (1/2 a pound). Adjustable text sizes. Instant boot up times. Multi-featured main page which stores books sorted by Date, Author, and Name. All bookmarks are stored in a central bookmark section of the main page as well as being stored in the respective individual books. Plays Mp3s. Displays Photographs. LRS book format compresses data efficiently. Sharp text readability. E-Ink technology gives clarity to text and requres no power to view a page (only to change it). E-Ink technology and no-glare glass makes the PRS 500 clearly readable in full sunlight. Rarely needs charging.

Cons: No search function. No internal dictionary function. Bare-bones management software that does not generate content. (Content generated from 3rd party tools)
No backlight for reading with the lights out or in shady corners.

I can say this is still an upgrade inspite of the missing features from my old REB1100. The readability and weight reduction alone make the PRS 500 superior. The Sony Reader also came with a really nice folio cover. Its about the size and thickness of a DVD case with the cover attached to the reader.

My Favorite Albums Released in 2007

2007-11-28T12:38:00.000-08:00

1. Josh Ritter - The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter
2. Feist - The Reminder
3. Voxtrot - Voxtrot
4. The National - Boxer
5. St. Vincent - Marry Me
6. Field Music - Tones of Town
7. Great Northern - Trading Twilight for Daylight
8. Elliott Smith - New Moon
9. Wilco - Sky Blue Sky
10. Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga

Honorable Mentions: Soundtrack - Across the Universe, Ryan Adams - Easy Tiger, Stars of Track and Field - Centuries Before Love and War

Blasts from the Past that found their way into my iPod: Dire Straits - Dire Straits, Jackson Browne - Late for the Sky, Joni Mitchell - Blue

What a wierd year for me finding music. I'm sure your top 10 is very different than mine. If you post yours let me know.

Into the Wild

2007-11-19T06:42:00.000-08:00

Sean Penn's thoughtful, beautiful-to-look-at tour de force is well worth your time.
Questioning society, authenticity, and the search for the heart in life, this film and its protagonist grab you by the throat. Shot in DV, 8mm and videotape for various effect, "Into the Wild" is also interesting to look at. The acting of Emile Hirsch is oscar-worthy. The dieting to achieve the physical effect of looking like the ematiated Christopher McCandless at the end of his life is doubly effective due to the superb acting on Hirschs' part. William Hurt is perfectly cast as the overbearing father and Vince Vaughn turns in a strong performance as the midwest farmer Wayne Westerberg, proving he can act beyond the buddy picture. Hal Holbrook shows up deep in the spiritual heart of this movie to offer some hard-won wisdom to the young Alex Supertramp.

Recording Under Way

2007-11-13T14:00:00.001-08:00

Finally, finally recording material for a new album.
Worked feverishly on four songs last weekend and hope
to finish those this week and start 2 more this weekend.
In the mean time here is an unfinished but still nice little
instrumental titled "Heart Shaped Conversation No. 2" Download Mp3

More soon...

Carolina Basketball Begins

2007-11-13T13:51:00.000-08:00

Ok, not a big secret that I'm a Tarheel fan. Preseason games in Chapel Hill are the one chance that fans have to sit in the padded seats of the first level of the Smith Center. We even ultimately wound up on the second row. You do have to show up early to get the good seats though. As hoped (and usual) the UNC won this game against Lenoir-Rhyne handily after a well played first 10 minutes for the visitors. Carolina wound up winning easily 107-52.

Josh Ritter, Eric Bachmann, Maria Taylor and... Pylon

2007-11-06T04:50:00.000-08:00

I'm going to start with the headliner at the Cat's Cradle and work backwards I think.
Alt-whatever veteran Josh Ritter brought his lengthy tour for his CD The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter the the Chapel Hill last night with with all of the elan of someone who was just starting a tour, their first tour ever. Wide-eyed and astonished at the overflowing appreciative crowd, he kept thanking us for just showing up. The band, attired in 50's suits and porkpie hats began with a bang blasting through "Minds Eye" from the new CD with its clash-like opening chords. Other up-tempo notables were "Open Doors," the extra-chunky "Rumors" and "Still Beating". As raucous as it was it was the quiet moments that ultimately won the day. A drop dead gorgeous version of John Prine's "Mexican Home" was the first clue as to how versatile this show was going to be. "Temptation of Adam" and finally a beautiful version of Bruce Springsteen's "The River" done at the front of the stage off-mic sung to the pin-drop-quiet-audience who were reverently quietly singing along for the first encore.

Eric Bachmann's set was fluid, interesting and well-played. The former Archers of Loaf songwriter and guitarist was in fine voice and performed in an interesting duo format. Using loops, extra drums, megaphones, violin and electric and acoustic guitar
and sometimes singing in spanish to full effect, this set was engaging enough to make me find out more about Eric's solo records.

Maria Taylor was the surprise of the night for me. Elegant in person and voice, this poised young siren can really write and sing. A very effective duo of drums and a bass/guitarist as backup and as vocalists, this band really was in service to the songs.
If you get a chance to see Maria, don't miss it.

Pylon!

So after leaving the Cradle and strolling to the 506 to see Pylon hoping they were still playing, I lucked out. The Athens stalwarts were rocking the nearly packed bar 80's style. Decked out in red t-shirts that said "cool," Pylon still embodies the 80's indie spirit. Their clear, heavy, poppy sound entirely in tact, it was a pleasure to watch the crowd throb along. Highlights included "M-Train" and "No clocks".

Whats on the Shuffle

2007-11-05T06:25:00.000-08:00

I have been really enjoying ambient music while exercising lately and I've found a wonderful website that offers the music on a pay-what-its-worth basis.
The Thinner/Autoplate netlabel has some wonderful ambient artists worth checking out at Thinner.cc.

Marsden Jules - Golden
krill.minima - urlab auf balkonien
Faulter - Taumelflug EP
Paul Keely - Sussex Blue EP
krill.minima - Zwishchen Zwel und einer sekunde

The Darjeeling Limited

2007-11-05T06:13:00.001-08:00

Wes Anderson reaches for deeper shades in his latest film The Darjeeling Limited.
Written with Roman Coppola and Jason Schwartzman and featuring strong cameos from Natalie Portman and Anjelica Houston this is a less kitchy version of Wes Anderson.
The shift in tone suits this subject matter completely helping push the story and not the ephemera center stage. Yes, the soundtrack is still fabulous and yes there are some of the undeniable "Andersonesque" touches (small diorama like shots setup up with preciously placed items for maximum effect, funky art, interesting "collections" that sum up the essence of a given character). Schwartzman projects deeper inner quality in his role than in any of his previous work. The short film by Anderson preceding the main feature is an interesting twist as it is a true prequel to the film itself.

Carrboro Music Fest Kickoff

2007-09-30T09:43:00.001-07:00

Very fine performances last night at the Carboro Music Festival Kickoff show at the Cat's Cradle with Great Big Gone, Two Dollar Pistols and Tres Chicas.

The Two Dollar Pistols did lots of new music from "Here Tomorrow Gone Today" their very fine new CD. Tres Chicas found time in their already full set for new songs written this summer at a retreat in the mountains. If these new songs are any indication the new CD will be one to look for.

Elvis Costello and the NC Symphony

2007-09-14T05:22:00.000-07:00

So Elvis (the real Napoleon Dynamite) Costello held forth at Regency park last night for a nearly sold out house on a cool September evening. The programme began with an excerpt from Il Songo, his adaptation of Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream. He reminded us in his world Puck sounded like a saxaphone. This literal warm-up led into a fine rendition of "All This Useless Beauty." Elvis' voice, sounding brittle but warm on this first song, was famously full by the end of the evening. The first half of the program was relatively short (four songs plus the orchestra piece) and was closed out by the beautiful "The Birds will Still Be Singing" from The Juliet Letters. A note about the arrangements here: the songs that were arranged by those who compose for orchestra were more successful than some of Elvis' attempts. That is not to say that Elvis didn't have his compositional moments, especially in the second half of the show.

Attractions pianist Steve Nieve joined the proceedings for the second half and it really started to feel like an Elvis Costello show. Steve cajoled the orchestra with his brilliant playing and the whole affair went up a notch. Highlights from the second half included two songs from Painted from Memory. "God Give Me Strength" and "I Still have that Other Girl in My Head" were very close approximations of their recorded originals but sung in a more relaxed, focused way than the CD versions.
Speaking of focused, "Shipbuilding" was extremely so. It's amazing how beautiful that song is in performance no matter how much you may have enjoyed it as the closer of Punch the Clock. "Accidents Will Happen" and "Green Shirt" from Armed Forces were deftly arranged for orchestra as to not completely take all the edge off them.
The perennial show closer "Alison" was again nearly the last musical statement of the evening. Neatly rearranged chords showcased the versatility of this melody in the first verse but reverted to its familliar audience-sing-along form from the first chorus on.

A quick note about Elvis' stage persona: ever the genial host, he was also deadpanning facial expressions and gestures based on what the orchestra was playing or going to play and it was very entertaining. Combine this with patter about The Dixie Chicks, NASCAR and the birth of his twin sons and you get the feeling he was quite ready to chat a bit. I believe this is a strong format for him as he likes to talk and genuinely connect with quieter crowds.

Jeffrey Dean Foster and Don Dixon at the 506

2007-09-10T05:34:00.001-07:00

Last night saw long time Chapel Hill denizen Don Dixon return to town to perform at the local 506. He brought along with him Winston Salem's own Jeffrey Dean Foster. Jeff opened the show with songs from his early days from the Pinetops up to the "Million Star Hotel" solo material. Particularly effective were "I'm so lonesome I could Fly" from the "Above Ground and Vertical" record and "Lily of the Highway" from "Million Star Hotel." A haunting version of the "Summer of the Son of Sam" was a highlight as well.

Don Dixon was up next with the announcement that yesterday was Otis Reddings birthday. In that spirit he proceeded to do one song from every album he ever made and talked alot about the circumstances surrounding the creation of the music and the cover art for the CDs. So he began with the CD "Most of the Girls LTD" and of course did "Praying Mantis" and went chronologically all the way to "The Entire Combustible World In One Small Room."

Dixon had an houglass that denoted the time that was his before any requests would be taken from the audience. Notable in his set were
"(If I Could) Walk Away" from the album "#38" and "I Can Hear the River" from "EEE"

Paperhand Puppet Intervention Strikes

2007-09-02T19:12:00.000-07:00

Paperhand presented "A Shoe for Your Foot" at the Forest Theater August 10 - September 3rd. I was lucky enough to see it tonight and was taken by the programs originality, creativity and thematic consistency. The program begins with a lifeboat metaphor for the earth and a small boat that comes to encompass an entire bustling city. The ancient and wise creatures of the sea witness the coming and going of the boat city as another of many events that are recalled from the centures past. The lowly shoe for the lowly foot keeps the show rolling with a humorous vignette entitle "The Life of a Shoe". Paperhand ties so many themes together in every presentation. Those of our duty to the planet, to ourselves, and to each other. The music and musicians for this show were terrific. The songs memorable and appropriate and the pit orchestra versatile enough to do sound effects and voice overs as well.
Also notable were the "boxheads." The stilt dancers and shadow puppet segment at the end are not to be missed.

Pelican House

2007-08-16T09:39:00.000-07:00

This is the second summer I have gone to Pelican House at the Trinity Center in Salter Path, NC. Pelican House is a secluded house by the sea, away from the noise and distraction of everyday life. Most retreats here at Pelican House are silent. Yes, no talking. Yes again, me not talking. I hear your incredulity at this thought but for two summers for the length of a week I have not uttered a word. Being quiet and shutting down the "monkey mind" of daily chatter is essential for getting in touch with your inner peace and wisdom. Oh, and it never hurts that the food is fabulous...