Further evidence of just how ginormous McLeansville native son Daughtry is all over the planet nowadays can be found in this report from Jakarta about an event called "Jamming With Daughtry" -- and I'd love to know what this actually says. Anybody here speak the language? If so, holler...
(Thanks, Brian.)
So I just heard "Ask For Jill" on Comboland Radio, and it reminded me that I'd been meaning to pass along word about The Weird Girls -- the pure-pop duo of Julia Stamey and Sofia Dimos. Yes, Julia is Chris Stamey's daughter, and it should come as no surprise that she seems to have inherited her father's way with a hook. Julian and Bella Lambert (children of Kitchen Mastering proprietor Brent Lambert) also contribute to the thoroughly charming tracks on the Weird Girls' Website.
Good to see that Comboland torch passing to another generation.
Out this week is a two-disc live DVD by the Vermont jam band Phish. Big deal, right? Well, this one is notable because it was shot in Raleigh. "Phish Walnut Creek" came from a 1997 show at our local big outdoor joint, which took place during a wrath-of-God thunderstorm. From the liner notes to the set:
On July 22, 1997, Phish performed the second show of their U.S. summer tour at Walnut Creek Amphitheatre in Raleigh, NC, through a torrent of rain, thunder and lightning. Rather than cancel the gig, the band played on with the music mirroring the peaks in the storm's intensity. Highlights include "Down With Disease" that slowly segues into "Mike's Song" -- the first and only time these two classic tunes were ever paired together in such a way -- as well as "Taste," complete with near-Biblical thunder and lightning display.
Also from that particular orbit, Phish bassist Mike Gordon plays Wednesday night at the Lincoln Theatre in Raleigh.
The Revolve Film & Music Festival gets underway tonight in Winston-Salem, continuing through the weekend with a cool schedule of independent films. For our purposes, the festival's main event happens Friday -- a show at the Werehouse in Winston-Salem featuring recently regrouped '80s-vintage new-wave band Pylon. But I'm more interested in opening act Gravel Truck, a Let's Active tribute band (named after a song on Let's Active's 1984 magnum opus "Cypress"). Since Gravel Truck consists of Let's Active main man Mitch Easter "and friends," and since Easter went many years without playing Let's Active songs at all, this one is highly recommended for North Carolina music history buffs.
It is one of the key commandments of being Southern: Thou shalt let no claim of great barbecue go unchallenged. But I think we can agree that whatever your preferred style (and I should note that, while I've learned to like North Carolina barbecue, I still consider it no substitute for The Real Thing), if you're not craving a barbecue sammich after checking out this tutorial from the music/comedy duo Rhett & Link, there's something wrong with you.
I'll take mine with a Big Red!
(Thanks, Patty.)
Except for when you're trapped in the car, there's less and less reason to listen to traditional radio -- especially when there's so much cool stuff online. We've already got the free-form taintradio.org, which debuted back in June; and now there's Comboland Radio, which went up on Friday with a playlist devoted to music of the Carolinas. The bulk of what you'll hear is stuff from way back when: Pressure Boys, Bad Checks, Connells, Nantucket, dB's, PKM, Fetchin' Bones and lots of stuff from the Don Dixon and Mitch Easter orbits, alongside the occasional current act (I've heard both The T's and Bleeding Hearts within the past hour).
While it has a name similar to Steve Boyle's "Return to Comboland" video project, Comboland Radio is a separate undertaking. It's the project of Mike Smith, known as "Moose" on the air at WTRG/Oldies-100.7 and other Triangle stations during the 1980s and '90s. Smith lives in Kill Devil Hills nowadays and works for Max Media, which owns 37 small-market stations. The impetus to start this came with David Enloe's death last year, which inspired Smith to pull out his old albums.
"I'm a fan and a packrat who saved a lot of albums and CDs over the years," Smith says. "So I dug all that out, started listening to it and digitizing it, and I decided it still sounded really good. I decided to go out on a limb and put this out there, see if anybody else cares."
Eventually, Smith hopes Comboland Radio can generate revenue from banner ads, in-stream ads and maybe the occasional product-placement sponsorship from nightclubs.
"I'm not sure it will ever make any money," Smith says. "But if I can just get it to sustain itself, I'll be very happy. It will be up for at least a year, because I had to sign a one-year contract with live365. So we'll see how it goes."
ADDENDUM (8/6/08): A treasure trove of local video, shot by Craig Zearfoss.
Walnut Creek Amphitheatre has changed names a couple of times over the years, but there has been one constant throughout its history: Venerable Southern rockers the Allman Brothers are the only act to have played the big shed in Raleigh every year since it opened in 1991. And the streak will continue for at least one more season. Allman Brothers are set for an Oct. 3 date at Walnut Creek with Phil Lesh & Friends, according to Pollstar, which will extend the Allmans' Walnut Creek streak to 18 straight seasons. They're like Walnut Creek's version of Lou Gehrig.
Next time you happen across a rerun of the old '70s-vintage sitcom "The Jeffersons," keep this version of the theme song in mind. Amusing, yet also kind of disturbing...
(Thanks, Brian.)
That would be this thoroughly freaky version of "Jingle Bells" by the Singing Saws (Julian Koster). It's one of 12 songs on an album called "The Singing Saw at Christmastime," which is due out Oct. 7 on Durham-based Merge Records. Here's another track, "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town."
Can't say I'd describe this as festive, exactly; but that's actually appropriate. Throw in a little theremin, and it would probably conjure up a nightmare before Christmas or two.
Little Steven knows cool -- well enough to play a gangster on TV, hang with The Boss and proclaim a "Coolest Song in the World" every week on his satellite radio show. So here's to Raleigh's Bleeding Hearts, whose "Rehab Girl" (a track from their stellar new album "Nothin' on But the Radio") has earned Little Steven's "Coolest Song in the World" blessings for this week. Your next opportunity to hear the band do it live will be Aug. 15 at the Pour House in Raleigh, on a sweet triple-bill with Goner and Loners.
(Found via Mann's World.)
ADDENDUM (8/13/08): Lindsay Lohan to cover "Rehab Girl"?!