Durham-based Merge Records, purveyors of music both exceedingly cool and exceedingly weird, will turn 20 years old in 2009. To mark the occasion, the label is releasing a massive box set that will be available by subscription only. "Score! Merge Records: The First 20 Years" will be a series of 14 "custom-curated compilations" drawn from the Merge catalog, picked by the likes of Peter Buck, film director Phil Morrison and David Byrne.

Pre-orders begin Sept. 8. Only enough discs will be manufactured to fill orders made through the end of this year, so this should be quite a collector's item.

(Via Pitchfork.)

It's an increasingly digital world, which means you're probably confronting a variation on this storage dilemma: What to do with all those compact discs gathering dust in a closet after you've digitized their contents to your hard drive? How about turning them into barbells to use for exercise?

Load up about 150 CDs on a threaded rod, bolt them down at each end, and presto -- a 10-pound barbell perfect for curls.

(Thanks, Orla.)

Last time I saw Tift Merritt, in March at South by Southwest, she and her band sounded terrific. Saturday night at the NC Museum of Art Amphitheatre, they were somehow even better. Five months of touring has tightened the ensemble immeasurably, and they hit every little nuance and change just right. Bassist Jay Brown, especially, has emerged as the James Jamerson of the alternative-country set, with prominently melodic basslines (plus great harmony vocals) that put more rhythmic punch into every song. Thanks to a killer bass part from Brown, "My Heart Is Free" had a rhythmic swing to match its hook.

But another star of the show was the venue, where Merritt  recorded her "Home Is Loud" live album three years ago. "Supposed to Make You Happy" yielded an especially magical moment, the sort you can only get outdoors. The rest of the band backed off as Merritt and Brown sang it, accompanied by acoustic guitar and harmonica -- and at exactly the right instant, a far-away train horn wafting in from the south (at just the right pitch, no less).

"I've been hearing that train my whole life," Merritt marveled afterward. "And I just now realized that I wrote that song so I could play it here, with a train horn in the same key!"

I'm sure Joe Biden is the logical vice-presidential choice for the Obama ticket. But now that the long-awaited text message has finally gone out to all his supporters, let me just throw something out there:

If only...

(Thanks again to Brian.)

If presidential candidate John McCain is having trouble keeping track of how many houses he owns, Feist is happy to help out.

(Thanks, Brian.) 

Friday's paper has some preview verbiage on the '80s-centric "Regeneration" tour, which plays Cary's Booth Amphitheatre on Wednesday. The package includes a quick check-in on Ali Score, a Triangle resident who was the original drummer in A Flock of Seagulls way back when; but who isn't participating in his tour with AFOS due to "finances and logistics." For some background on AFOS' last two decades, including the original lineup's brief reunion in 2003-04 for VH1's "Bands Reunited" series, go here.

Nothing against Raleigh's Pour House, which is a perfectly respectable smoke-filled beer-joint-type place I go to frequently (and where I've seen some of my favorite live shows of recent years). But given that it's got a capacity in the low hundreds, the Pour House is probably not the sort of venue that Blake Lewis figured he'd be playing just a year after his second-place finish on "American Idol." He's on the Pour House calendar for Oct. 18; bet his human-beat-box thing goes over like a house on fire.

Tift Merritt doesn't live in the Triangle anymore, having moved on up to New York City last year. But she'll always be an honorary local, officially as well as unofficially. In the former capacity, she's coming back on Oct. 7 to serve as host of the City of Raleigh Arts commission's 24th annual Medal of Arts ceremony at Fletcher Opera Theater.

As host, Merritt will announce the City of Raleigh Arts Commission's "Artist of Tomorrow Scholarship," for a student pursuing a career in the arts. She'll also perform a song with a group of musicians from the Community Music School (the school tied into the "Have a Holly Raleigh Christmas" series).

In the near term, Merritt is in Raleigh this weekend to play Saturday night at the NC Museum of Art. See Friday's "What's Up" section for an interview to catch up on her other recent doings.

UPDATE (8/22/08): Here's that interview. 

Taintradio went live back in June with a free-form playlist, and now it's going live in another way. As part of the online station's plan for worldwide (or at least Triangle-wide) multi-media domination, taintradio is starting up a concert series with shows taking place at Marsh Woodwinds in downtown Raleigh. The first show is at 8 p.m. Thursday with Texas singer/songwriter Lisa Markley. And like a house concert, all the proceeds from the ticket price of $10 go to the artist.

If you've got a spare 7:35, give a look-see to this amazing short documentary film about the world's largest record collection, which dwarfs any collection you've ever seen before. After that, you'll want to start scraping together the $3 million asking price -- I know I do.

(Thanks, Elizabeth.)