When last heard from, local rap trio Troop 41 was earning a gold record for "Do The John Wall," a hit video about the Raleigh-born hoops star that has amassed more than 12 million YouTube views since going viral in the summer of 2010. They're in another video that might be edging toward virality, local rapper Bobby James' "Hometown." Since hitting Youtube last weekend, "Hometown" has picked up more than 112,000 views.

"I have no clue how it's gotten so many," says James. "It did get posted on some blogs around here, and we've been promoting it on Twitter and Facebook. I guess the word just spread."

Dre Cannonz shot the video and also produced the track, which appears on James' new mixtape "Darkskin and BadHair" and features a sample from Adele's "Hometown Glory." James and Troop 41's members have known each other since being in classes together at Enloe High School, and the "Hometown" video features local landmarks including Dorton Arena, Shaw University, Raleigh Convention Center's "Shimmer Wall" and various downtown streets.

"I pretty much just thought about locations you drive by every day that people know, and think, 'This is Raleigh, where I'm at,'" says Cannonz. "Shots of colleges, game footage, people having a good time."

The tone is affectionate, but the song's lyrical references to "North Crack" and "dope dealers on the boulevard" will probably dampen the enthusiasm of chamber of commerce types.

"We're trying to keep it positive," Cannonz says with a laugh.

Grammy nominations concert photo gallery

North Carolina had a decent showing in the Grammy Award nominations announced Wednesday, highlighted by country singer Eric Church's two-category breakthrough. The Granite Falls native (and Appalachian State University alumnus) picked up a pair of nominations for his hit single "Springsteen," for country song and country solo performance -- and this is fresh off winning album of the year at last month's CMA Awards.

Charlotte native Anthony Hamilton was also a multi-category nominee, in R&B song ("Pray For Me") and album ("Back To Love"). Hamilton shared a Grammy in 2009 with Al Green.

Concord's Avett Brothers earned their first-ever Grammy nod with their current album "The Carpenter," nominated for best Americana album alongside Mumford & Sons (one of their half-dozen nominations) and rising young star John Fullbright.

After winning best folk album with their 2010 major-label debut, Triangle old-time group Carolina Chocolate Drops will try to start a streak. Their latest album "Leaving Eden" picked up a nomination, also in the folk-album category.

Brevard's Steep Canyon Rangers were nominated last year alongside Steve Martin. This year, they get a bluegrass-album nomination all to themselves for "Nobody Knows You."

Finally, Triangle expatriate Ryan Adams didn't get a direct nomination himself. But Adams' most recent release, 2011's "Ashes & Fire," was nominated for best-engineered non-classical album. Producer Glyn Johns and mastering engineer Bob Ludwig would get that trophy.

The Grammys will be presented Feb. 10 in Los Angeles.

UNC-Chapel Hill's Beat Making Lab has always been very cool, a curriculum that teaches the craft of making music -- plus what to do with the music once you've made it. But the program is even cooler nowadays, because professors Pierce Freelon and Stephen "Apple Juice Kid" Levitin are taking it worldwide. After last summer's Beat Making Lab excursion to Africa, they feel like there isn't anyplace on earth where this kind of artivism won't work. For more, see the story in Sunday's paper.

Since this weekend marks the "official" start of the holiday shopping season, we've got the annual gift guide with musical suggestions for what to get your loved ones (or yourself). The list includes some excellent 2012 albums from acts that call the Triangle home (and even a book by yours truly), so check it out -- and buy local!

Raleigh's PNC Arena has three large concert dates on tap for 2013, although only one of them is firmed up enough to have an actual on-sale date. That's blues-rock demigod Eric Clapton, scheduled to play April 3 (a return visit after his March 2010 PNC show). Tickets go on sale Dec. 7.

The other two dates are in a somewhat more nebulous state. Country-pop superstar Taylor Swift's tour schedule came out a few weeks back amid much hoopla, and it included Raleigh on Sept. 13 with the venue listed as "TBA" -- which it still is, according to Pollstar. Arena management says that Swift is "confirmed to return" to PNC, but the date is still up in the air and "should be finalized soon."

Finally, just announced is Bon Jovi's "Because We Can" tour with 33 dates on the itinerary, including Charlotte on March 5. Raleigh is listed as a city to be scheduled later, "additional details to come." Since Bon Jovi and Swift are playing arenas elsewhere, PNC should be the likely Raleigh venue for both.

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CHARLOTTE – Midway through her two-hour show at Time Warner Cable Arena Thursday night, Madonna dropped character to address the crowd as herself. She delivered a brief civics lecture (punctuated with expletives) about the importance of voting; and she declared that peace “starts with us treating one another as human beings.”

Quite frankly, that would have been easier to take seriously if not for how the show started. Madonna came onstage with a veil, a crown and a gun. And three songs in, “Gang Bang” had an actual body count in which Madonna dispatched a half-dozen assailants, execution-style. Just to make sure you got it, the video screens lit up with blood spatters.

Girls just wanna have gun, I guess. Or maybe she was bucking for a part in Quentin Tarantino’s upcoming “Kill Bill” sequel. But it was an ugly, disturbingly casual bit of violence that seemed over the top, even for her. What can you say about a Madonna show where the sexy bits were the least-controversial parts?

This was Madonna’s first-ever show in the Carolinas, and it was less a concert than a Cirque du Soleil-style multi-media performance-art blowout. Tons of what the audience heard was on computer hard drives, but music really did seem like just another detail on her broad canvas.

She brought along a cast of dozens, elaborately choreographed, with enough special effects to stock the next “Star Wars” installment. From top to bottom, the attention to detail was impressive. Even the backup band had costume changes, despite the fact that the musicians were in the shadows at the back of the stage.

Madonna being the cultural flashpoint that she is, hellfire-and-damnation picketers were outside the arena pronouncing fiery curses on all who passed by to enter. Inside, there was a guy dressed like The Pope, and his was actually one of the more restrained outfits (yes, retro ’80s fashion lives). Like a good diva, Madonna kept her public waiting until nearly 11 p.m.; and it didn't end until just before 1 a.m. But despite the arena setting, this ran on dance-club time.

The show opened on a hardcore note, with Madonna getting her gangsta on. Then there was an abrupt shift to playful, as Madonna reappeared as a brightly dressed drum major. That eventually yielded to sensual, in a minor-key sort of way, before concluding with quasi-mystical vibes.

Madonna’s latest album “MDNA” figured prominently, with eight numbers in the 22-song set list. And some of her oldest, biggest hits got put through major changes, especially “Like a Virgin.” In contrast to the perky 1984 original, this version was a subdued piano ballad. Madonna sang it like Marlene Dietrich, Germanic and mournful – wearing a bustier as the crowd showered her with wadded-up dollar bills (solicited for Hurricane Sandy relief, she said).

Nicki Minaj, Lil Wayne and M.I.A. all did their cameos via the video screens on various “MDNA” songs. But the pop star who seemed most on Madonna’s mind was Lady Gaga, whose 2010 “Fame Monster” tour recalled some of Madonna’s past extravaganzas. This show seemed like Lady M picking up the gauntlet. She threw in a bit of Gaga’s “Born This Way” at the end of her own “Express Yourself”; and she even played (or at least posed with) guitar on a few songs, which may be a response to all the positive attention Gaga gets for her piano-playing.

As always, Madonna played fast and loose with religious imagery in ways sure to enrage evangelicals. The opening segment before Madonna entered had her backup dancers dressed as hooded monks performing rituals that may have been sacred or profane or both. Whatever it meant, it pushed buttons. More and more, that seems like its own end for her.

But being Madonna means never having to say you’re sorry.

Humans are fundamentally social creatures who long to communicate, and that instinct doesn't disappear when they're locked away. Instead, that urge to be heard might manifest in unusual or unexpected ways -- writing request letters to a college radio station's weekly request show, say, in hopes your letter will be read over the air.

Thus we have "Penitentiary Rock," Friday nights on NC State's WKNC (88.1-FM) with deejay "Uncle Paul," which is a fascinating little corner of the Triangle radio universe. Take a look at the story in Sunday's paper, so you'll have a better idea what you'll hear if you tune in the show next Friday night.

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By David Menconi

GREENSBORO – Five songs into The Who’s Friday night show at Greensboro Coliseum, Pete Townshend finally came out from behind his shades on “The Punk and the Godfather.” Looking every bit his 67 years, Townshend played the song’s anthemic riff while singing in front of video screens showing his younger, beautiful self.

I have to be careful not to preach
I can’t pretend that I can teach
And yet I’ve lived your future out
By pounding stages like a clown…

Friday’s show was part of The Who’s “Quadrophenia” tour, centered on the classic 1973 Who album played in its entirety. Both the album and 1979 film version are essentially an adolescent suicide note, steeped in the melodramatic narcissism of doomed youth.

But watching its 17 songs performed by a band of old fellows who have lost some mates along the way was sadly poignant. As the video screens showed what a long strange trip it’s been for all of us with a running historical montage, the performance transformed “Quadrophenia” into a meditation on aging and mortality.

First, however, came a spectacular opening-act bonus that recalled the old days when The Who billed itself as “Maximum R&B.” Vintage Trouble brought that to life, a dynamite young quartet playing rocked-up soul that was equal parts Sharon Jones and MC5. They got a half-hour and it wasn’t nearly enough.

Alas, the headline set got off to an unpromising start with a few too many early rough edges. Frontman Roger Daltrey missed some notes, and there was an awkward interlude where Townshend got testy with the stage crew over a click track that wasn’t supposed to be going.

But once they got rolling, it was quite nice, thanks in part to an excellent supporting cast: drummer Zak Starkey (Ringo’s son), bassist Pino Palladino and Towhsnend’s younger brother Simon on guitar and vocals.

As for who Starkey and Palladino replaced, Keith Moon (dead since 1978) and John Entwhistle (2002), they did not go unacknowledged. During “5:15,” Palladino quit playing as the video screens showed an amazing Entwhistle bass solo. And a film of Moon stood in for his theatrical vocal cameo on “Bellboy.”

Townshend’s wind-up guitar windmills and Daltrey’s microphone twirls got some of the best crowd responses of the night. And as shaky as things had been at the start, both men were fully engaged and in control by the end. “I’m One” was lovely, and Daltrey hit the closing “Love, Reign O’ev Me” top dead center.

With “Quadrophenia” done, it was time for dessert, which was basically the set they played at the 2010 Super Bowl. “Baba O’Riley” led to “Pinball Wizard,” then “Behind Blue Eyes” and “Who Are You” on up to the inevitable “Won’t Get Fooled Again.” After 40 years of radio saturation, you’d think “Fooled” would be completely used up. But it’s still kicking, and iconic enough that its mere sonic presence is enough to imply all its grandeur. Even better, Daltrey nailed the feral shriek at the end (still the Mount Everest of rock ’n’ roll screams).

Afterward, the rest of the band left the stage to just Townshend and Daltrey. And they closed on a surprising note with “Tea and Theatre,” a quiet little lullaby from the last Who album (2006’s “Endless Wire”). It was kind of the perfect way to say goodbye:

The story is done, it’s getting colder now
A thousand songs still smolder now
We played them as one, we’re older now
All of us sad, all of us free
Before we walk from this stage
Two of us
Will you have some tea?

I guess you could say the old men are all right. But the song is over.

For years, I've been trying to get Joe Newberry to let me do a Tar Heel of the Week profile on him, because he's a very fine musician who is universally beloved -- and he also carries himself with a quiet dignity that I think is exactly the face we should all aspire to putting forward to the world. Modest fellow that he is, he's always demurred. But then he went and won a pretty major award, best gospel song at the International Bluegrass Music Association Awards; and so he has finally relented.

You'll find the story from Sunday's paper here. The piece opens with a description of Newberry at a house party, playing a song of his called "I Know Whose Tears." You can listen to that song here.

"Searching for Sugar Man"
Grade: A-
Cast: Malik Bendjelloul, Rodriguez
Director: Malik Bendjelloul
Length: 85 minutes
Rating: PG-13

"Searching for Sugar Man," Swedish director Malik Bendjelloul's buzz-heavy documentary about the rediscovery of underground rocker Rodriguez, tells a story that seems almost too good to be true -- which might even be the case. But it's a pretty amazing tale nevertheless, a real-life version of the long-lost-shaman/rocker myth (see: 1983's "Eddie and the Cruisers").

The film centers on Sixto Rodriguez, a Rip Van Winkle figure who took a shot at stardom during the Woodstock era. His two albums, 1970's "Cold Fact" and 1971's "Coming From Reality," were lushly produced folk-rock, as sonically whimsical as Donovan with a Dylan-style shot of politicized lyrics.

While neither album sold in America, they somehow caught on in South Africa, of all places. By the film's account, Rodriguez was the toast of white South African liberals during the apartheid era. One South African musician goes so far as to call Rodriguez's music "the soundtrack of our lives."

Even though Rodriguez's albums sold hundreds of thousands of copies in South Africa, no one there knew anything about the man himself. A grisly tale of him committing suicide onstage was repeated often enough to be accepted as fact.

But Rodriguez was very much alive all this time, living and working  blue-collar jobs in Detroit, oblivious to his far-off fame. He ran for office unsuccessfully at one point, and his co-workers remember him doing things like dressing up to do construction work. Even as a day laborer, the man was a star.

As "Sugar Man" recounts, a pair of South African fans -- record store owner Stephen Segerman and journalist Craig Bartholomew Strydom -- took to sleuthing and tracked him down in the late 1990s. And here is where the film might be taking a few dramatic liberties.

While "Sugar Man" leaves the impression that Rodriguez's music career was essentially over by 1972, he was well-known enough to have played tours of Australia in 1979 and 1981. There's no mention of this, and it's very possible that Rodriguez wasn't quite as obscure at his time of rediscovery as the film makes him out to be.

That caveat aside, "Searching for Sugar Man"'s story of redemption will warm even the coldest heart. Rodriguez remains a highly enigmatic figure, which the film's sequence (in which you don't see the present-day version until well past the halfway point, 49 minutes in) plays up. He comes across as quite the Zen master, as comfortable with his belated fame as he was with his previous obscurity.

After Rodriguez's South African fans tracked him down, they brought him over for a tour in 1998. The deep emotion of the first show, for a capacity crowd in a large hall, is incredible to witness, even on shaky home-movie footage. And there is something both heartbreaking and redemptive to watch his daughters talk about it on-camera. Even years after the fact, their voices still quaver with bittersweet emotion.

The film's epilogue says that Rodriguez gave away most of the financial windfall from his South African rediscovery to family and friends, and that he still lives a modest existence in the same house in downtown Detroit where he's lived for 40 years. But he's richer than most, just not in a way that will show up in a bank balance.