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I Was Totally Destroying It's double life

dmenconi — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 10:00:00 -0500

Like a lot of bands, I Was Totally Destroying It doubles as an occasional tribute band. But IWTDI's tribute-band alter ego is loads cooler than most. They call themselves I Was Totally Destroying U2, and they've got their target subject down perfectly -- especially frontman John Booker's conjuring of Bono's histrionics.

"I put on that stupid leather jacket and the shades, and it helps get the character going," Booker says. "I have a blast with it, and the whole thing is a lot of fun. It also helps fund I Was Totally Destroying It, which we need. We just had a crazy tour. A window got smashed out in the van."

The next I Was Totally Destroying U2 show is scheduled for Jan. 2 at Raleigh's Tir Na Nog. In the meantime, you really should catch IWTDI's original-band incarnation because the group's new album is fantastic. A fine place would be tonight at Duke Coffeehouse, as part of Durham's Troika Music Festival. See the story in Friday's paper; and for some audiovisual content, check their bit from the 2008 edition of Eight Great Local Acts or their recent Studio B performance.

Dane Cook endures

dmenconi — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 08:30:00 -0500

Depending on your feelings about the man and his work, Dane Cook doing seven-and-a-half straight hours of standup comedy might be way too much or not nearly enough. He really has been on a stage for that long, too. It happened on Jan. 1, 2008, when Cook set the endurance record at the Laugh Factory in Los Angeles.

"It was not planned," Cook said in a recent phone chat. "I actually got coaxed onstage. I'd just stopped in to say hello to the owner, and he asked me to go on. 'Nah,' I said, 'I'm tired, taking a few weeks off.' 'Oh, c'mon, just five mintues.' 'Well...I do have this funny idea. What the hell, I'll get up there.'"

Cook got on a roll, and that five minutes stretched to three hours. That was when he says he tried to break it off -- but the crowd said no. Then someone in the audience mentioned Dave Chappelle, who held the Laugh Factory's endurance record of a bit more than six hours.

"It became this fun little challenge," Cook said. "I never left the stage or sat down, I wanted to stand the whole time. And I sent a guy out to buy food for everybody. By the next morning, I'd told every joke I ever knew and talked to everybody in the crowd. I knew them all and found the humor in everybody's lives. Seven-and-a-half hours later, I felt like a vampire walking out into sunlight."

For lots more talk from Cook, and details about his Sunday performance in Raleigh, see the interview in Friday's paper.

Cohen comes alive!

dmenconi — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:30:00 -0500

By David Menconi
Staff writer

DURHAM -- As instruments of doom go, Leonard Cohen's voice is sort of like anesthesia. You'll be coasting along, basking in his mellow croon and letting it wash over you. Then a trance takes over about the time he drops one of his wicked kill-shot lines on you -- "You told me again you preferred handsome men/But for me you'd make an exception," say -- and the next thing you know, you're waking up wondering just what happened. And if you think that sounds at all unpleasant, then you weren't at Cohen's Tuesday night show at Durham Performing Arts Center.

Cohen's voice is an admittedly acquired taste, of course, and it's not one that has gotten much airplay in America over the years. And yet his songs have been in the air so much that you probably know more of them than you realize. Tuesday's show featured 27 songs, including most of the Cohen canon high points that the crowd had come to hear. The standing ovations began before he'd even sung a note. Then again, he rocks a dark suit and fedora so well, he deserved the cheers just for walking onstage.

Cohen is 75 years old and he collapsed during a show in Spain back in September. But you'd never have known that from Tuesday's performance. He was spry from start to finish, sometimes singing from a knee for dramatic emphasis. By the end of the night, he was literally dancing his way off the stage.

"I don't know when we'll pass this way again," he announced early on. "But it is our intent to give you everything we got."

For this tour, Cohen has assembled a crack nine-piece band littered with virtuosos. They supplied sleek, exceedingly well-played jazz-flavored rock that wouldn't have sounded out of place on a Steely Dan record. During each player's star turn, Cohen would stand off to the side, hat in hand, attentively watching and listening.

Guitarist Javier Mas was particularly impressive on banduria, laud, archilaud and 12-string guitar, providing exotic counterpoint to Cohen's lyricism. But the entire ensemble was terrific, and there was even a spot of choreography. When Cohen sang the line "Like girls dancin'" on "The Future," backup singers Charley and Hattie Webb did a quick cartwheel in unison.

But of course, there was no upstaging The Voice. When he reached down to the lower reaches of his range to intone "the wisdom of oooooold" during "In My Secret Life," he sounded like a true force of nature -- a foghorn warning the unwary away from the rocks of romantic desolation.

By now, Cohen is well-established as poet laureate of doomed romantics everywhere. His typical song persona is a man singing from the depths of emotional wreckage, picking through the rubble and assigning blame where it belongs -- as much to the singer as his subject. Just about every Cohen song has a cutting line that feels like an icepick to his and your heart.

Tuesday's set list was pretty close to the track list on Cohen's current "Live in London" double-album, starting with "Dance Me to the End of Love," which set a tone of old-world classiness that he maintained throughout the evening. High points included the ultra-cold "Chelsea Hotel No. 2," a steady rolling "Suzanne," "Hallelujah" with lyrics tweaked for the occasion ("I told the truth, I did not come here to Durham to fool you") and "Famous Blue Raincoat." He did two sets and multiple encores, and seemingly could have played all night.

"Good night, my darlin'," he sang on the show-closing "I Tried To Leave You" -- "I hope you're satisfied." The crowd gave a massive whoop in response.

david.menconi@newsobserver.com or blogs.newsobserver.com/beat or 919-829-4759

ADDENDUM: Another review.

All hail Valient Thorr

dmenconi — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 09:46:00 -0500

The down side of Valient Thorr becoming a big deal beyond the Triangle's borders is that the band is almost never here anymore -- they're on the road more or less constantly. Fortunately, they're also thoughtful enough to send the occasional video postcard, including their latest for "Tomorrow Police."

Looks like donating a kidney hasn't slowed frontman Herbie Abernethy down any...

Halloween night plans: WKNC's "War of the Worlds"

dmenconi — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 10:00:00 -0400

While you're waiting around for trick-or-treaters tonight, tune in radio station WKNC, 88.1-FM. The station is airing an original production of "War of the Worlds" -- which caused a full-on panic when Orson Wells did a version in New York back in 1938. It starts at 7:00 tonight.

Leonard Cohen's old ceremony

dmenconi — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 08:30:00 -0400

A couple of years back, Django Haskins was casting about for a name for his latest band -- which is harder than you'd think because, as he notes, a lot of them are already taken. So he turned to one of his idols, Leonard Cohen, and an album title. And so The Old Ceremony was born. The name refers to Cohen's 1974's "New Skin for the Old Ceremony."

"I was looking for touchstones, musical or otherwise, for the atmosphere we hoped to create with our music," Haskins says. "Leonard Cohen was one of those touchstones. To people familiar with his stuff, I hope that conjures up a certain aesthetic or attitude about life as well as music. We're trying to create something a little bit broader than the traditional guitar-rock group, and that was one of the things that appealed. And there's also a sense of aspiring to that level of lyric-writing, even though I know I'll never reach that. But you've gotta aim high."

For more about Cohen's music, see the story in Friday's paper, which previews his show in Durham next week.

Roger Daltrey: Goin' mobile

dmenconi — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 08:32:25 -0400

On the one hand, it must frustrate Roger Daltrey to go around doing solo tours like the one that played Durham Wednesday night. Whenever he'd fire up a Who song, everybody in the crowd would jump up, rock out and cheer wildly. And then whenever he did one of his solo songs or a cover, everybody would sit right back down. It was yet another example of the dilemma that singers from legendary bands face when they go solo.

Still, being the pragmatic sort, Daltrey probably didn't mind too much. He was singing, people were listening and all was right with the world. By the end of the set, his shirt was open and he was swinging the microphone around just like old times. That moment at the beginning of "Baba O'Riley" when the drums kick off and lock in with the synthesizer squiggle and the anthemic piano riff, just as Daltrey made like a lasso with his microphone -- it just doesn't get any better than that.

For me, the high point actually came from one of Daltrey's sidemen. That was Simon Townshend, Pete's younger brother and longtime guitarist in Daltrey's solo band, who took a star turn as vocalist on the manic ode to being in motion, "Goin' Mobile." Nailed it just perfectly, too.

Michael Jackson's life after death: This is it

dmenconi — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 07:25:41 -0400

Pop stars are never more present than immediately after their deaths, and Exhibit A is Michael Jackson -- whose posthumous concert movie, "This Is It," arrives today in the Triangle. There's a long and storied tradition of such artifacts, too. For more, see the story in Wednesday's paper.

Your daily dose of Avett Brothers news

dmenconi — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 12:21:07 -0400

There really is something new to report about them just about every day right now. One fun detail is that cyclist Lance Armstrong is a big fan, if his twitter feed is to be believed:

"I'm thinking this new Avett Brothers is pretty damn good."

Also, tune in tonight's episode of "One Tree Hill," which is entitled "I and Love and You" -- after the title track of the aforementioned "pretty damn good" new Avetts album. It plays at the end of the show. That's tonight at 8 on the CW Network.

ADDENDUM: Spin review of Avetts show in Nashville.

UNC's Hollywood connection

dmenconi — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 08:15:00 -0400

Everybody in the ink-stained-wretch racket has a bucket list of stories we'd like to do while we still can. And Sunday's paper has one I've wanted to do for years and years, about a group I jokingly call the "Carolina Movie Mafia." It consists of a dozen or so UNC-Chapel Hill alumni, many of whom had some connection to the Triangle music scene at some point. Nowadays, they're out in Los Angeles doing behind-the-camera work in film and television on some pretty high-profile projects.

Now I've been doing bits and pieces of this story from afar for years. But the piece I wanted to do required going out to Los Angeles to spend some time amongst the UNC crew on their turf -- and the paper's ongoing budget austerity meant I'd have to pay my own way. I kept waiting for the "right" time to do it, and there were always reasons not to go.

Finally, I decided to just pick a time to show up out there and do it. I scrounged up enough freelance work to cover travel expenses for the trip, flew out to Los Angeles last month and started racking up miles on the rental car (more than 600 in a week). While I was at it, I also did this story from out there.

So, finally, here it is -- lots longer than what we usually run nowadays, and yet it could've easily been even longer. Nevertheless, I hope you like. Me, I'm just happy to get to cross one more off the list.

NC State Fair versus U2

dmenconi — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 17:58:52 -0400

Supposedly, Thursday's attendance at the NC State Fair was 108,929 -- trumpeted as "a new record for Food Lion Hunger Relief Day." Maybe Anoop Desai (who performed that evening) was a bigger draw than anyone thought. But I drove by the fairgrounds at midday with no trouble at all; barely even had to slow down, in fact.

So what I want to know is this: How is it possible that yesterday's six-figure crowd apparently caused nary a traffic ripple, when a crowd of fewer than 60,000 for the Oct. 3 U2 show resulted in the mother of all traffic jams?

More 2010 country comfort: Tim McGraw

dmenconi — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 07:45:00 -0400

Raleigh's Time Warner Cable Music Pavilion at Walnut Creek won't wrap up its 2009 season until next month, but the first show of 2010 is already on the schedule. Arena-country superstar Tim McGraw has released dates for next year's "Southern Voice" tour, and it comes to Walnut Creek on Aug. 14. That makes two big country shows in Raleigh for next year.

Roger Daltrey: Who are you?

dmenconi — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 07:15:00 -0400

In my line of work, one constantly hears a great deal of high-falutin' yammering about artistic integrity, What It All Means and so forth -- much of which, quite frankly, is ridiculous. So it was truly refreshing to chat with Roger Daltrey, a man who has most decidedly been to the mountaintop and yet seems to harbor no illusions whatsoever about the cosmic meaning of it all. The interview is in Friday's paper, or right here; and it has where/when details about his Durham performance next week.

Coming our way: Taylor Swift

dmenconi — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 08:00:00 -0400

Well, we have our first big warm-weather country show of 2010 on the schedule -- except it's not outdoors. Taylor Swift will play the indoor confines of Raleigh's RBC Center on May 1, with Kellie Pickler and Gloriana opening. Tickets go on sale Oct. 30 at the usual spots.

With any luck, Kanye West will be nowhere in the vicinity...

The Avett Brothers: Taking the Billboard 200 by storm

dmenconi — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 20:15:11 -0400

While it's not terribly unusual for North Carolina acts to crack the Billboard 200 album-sales chart, it's pretty rare for them to place more than one record on there simultaneously. But Concord's Avett Brothers turn the trick this week.

The Avetts' major-label debut "I and Love and You" is still hanging in there at No. 54 after debuting at No. 16 two weeks ago; and buzz from that has pulled the Avett's self-released 2008 mini-album back onto the chart. "The Second Gleam" comes back in at No. 139, after debuting at No. 82 in its chart run last year.

The happiest highway in the whole U.S.A.

dmenconi — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 12:09:53 -0400

North Carolina will pay tribute to one of its native-born hitmakers by dedicating a stretch of road as the Donna Fargo Highway next week. It's 5.8 miles of N.C. 103, extending north from the city limits of the contry singer's hometown of Mount Airy. The dedication ceremony is set for Oct. 29 in downtown Mount Airy. And I expect this song will get some play then, too.

Just 11 days left...

dmenconi — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 09:58:49 -0400

...Until Halloween. So you ought to be working on your trick-or-treat playlist, and it should most definitely include this.

(Thanks, Jeff.)

Anoop Desai's Fair deal

dmenconi — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 10:00:00 -0400

If there's a shortcut to paydirt in the music industry nowadays, it's got to be "American Idol." Just ask Triangle native Anoop Desai, who is still working off the momentum of his finalist showing from this past season.

"It's been very, very positive for me," Desai says of his run on the show. "There's no formula. All of us who got through the first round were very lucky, and we just kept going from there. It does seem like such a long time ago that it happened -- a year ago. I'd tell people, just be prepared for your life to change completely, overnight. It has been a good thing for me."

Desai sings next week at the NC State Fair. For details on that, as well as some talk about deep-fried cuisine, see the interview in Friday's paper.

Ryan Bingham goes Hollywood (not really)

dmenconi — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 07:30:00 -0400

Ryan Bingham looks like he should be hanging onto a bull for dear life, or riding a fenceline to tend to a herd of cattle somewhere -- and there have been long stretches when he did indeed live the life of a cowboy. But nowadays, Bingham is a very fine singer/songwriter; and he lives in the glamorous, non-rural environs of Los Angeles.

"It's a different deal for sure, but I enjoy it," Bingham says of living in California. "I love having my own place with a mailbox and everything, and the weather's nice. I grew up all over New Mexico and Texas, so I've had my share of that. I'm not scared of contrast every now and then. It's been a nice change."

Bingham plays Sunday night at Raleigh's Berkeley Cafe. For details on that plus more chit-chat, see the interview in Friday's paper.

For absent friends: Jane Thompson

dmenconi — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 00:10:00 -0400

Jane Thompson didn't play in a band, but there was a time when she was as much of a Triangle nightspot regular as any musician. She was married to Danny Kurtz -- bassist in the Backsliders, among other groups -- so she was just about always in the crowd at Backsliders shows during their mid-1990s heyday. She was also one of the kindest, sweetest people I've ever known; I honestly can't recall a single instance when she wasn't smiling.

So it saddnes me greatly to report that Thompson passed on this past Saturday at age 52, after a six-month struggle with lung cancer. The world was a better place for her time here, and not only for her tireless devotion to animal-rights causes. There will be a Celebration of Life service for her on Oct. 25 in Raleigh. See her obituary for details on that, as well as animal-related charities to donate to in her name.

Vaughan Penn tunes into Christian pop

dmenconi — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 11:11:11 -0400

North Carolina singer/songnwriter Vaughan Penn is best-known as a cracker-jack pop-rock songwriter, whose skill with a hook has landed her on more than 100 soundtracks including "Grey's Anatomy," "The Hills" and "Laguna Beach." But her latest musical venture is decidedly less earthy. Penn is half of Chynna & Vaughan, a Christian pop duo whose debut album "One Reason" (Reunion/Provident Records) has just been released.

Penn's partner in the group is a celebrity, Chynna Phillips, who was one-third of the massively popular early-'90s trio Wilson Phillips. Penn's entree into Phillips' orbit began a few years ago, when she heard from someone inquiring about music for an independent movie. She wound up hanging out with a group of people from the movie, including Phillips' stepfather. He thought they would hit it off, so he took along one of Penn's CDs to pass along. Six months later, Chynna approached Penn about working together on a Christian-oriented record.

"She was starting her own spirt-journey record, and as it turned out I'd also just started a spiritual praise-and-worship record of my own," Penn says. "So we met and hit it off quickly, and the creativity started flowing. A lot of songs came. So I spent the bulk of the last year and a half with her in California. It started out producing and writing, and it evolved into Chynna & Vaughan."

While Penn has previously been known for secular pop-rock, she's always had a streak of spirituality -- including a contemporary Christian group she sang with in college. So she looks at "One Reason" as coming full circle.

"I'm thankful for new opportunities when they come along," she says. "It made sense for this to happen. At the same time, I've always felt like it was God writing songs, not me. Whatever it is, secular or spiritual, it's got a message from God. I don't feel like a writer, I'm a channeler. I'm more plugged into the divine. It's humbling every time something new comes out."

For now, the closest Chynna & Vaughan's tour schedule gets to the Triangle is a free show in Elizabethtown on Oct. 31. But they're playing on Friday's "Good Morning America," at 7 a.m. on ABC.

The "Holly Raleigh" series finds its inner child

dmenconi — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 09:30:00 -0400

Behold the cover art for upcoming edition of "Have a Holly Raleigh Christmas," now in its fourth year. This year's model has also been repurposed as a kids-music album, "Have a Holly Raleigh Kidsmas," with 12 songs including contributions from Rosebuds (who were also on 2006's "Volume I"), The Beast, Proclivities and, of course, Mommie.

Look for the "Kidsmas" album to emerge next month, around the time of release-party shows Nov. 19 at Tir Na Nog; and Nov. 21 at Marbles Kids Museum, immediately following the annual Raleigh Christmas Parade. As before, "Holly Raleigh" proceeds will benefit Raleigh's Community Music School.

Only 19 days 'til Halloween...

dmenconi — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 09:00:00 -0400

...So unless you've got a sincere pumpkin patch onhand, you'd better get busy planning your light display for that night's festivities. This dude has a big jump on the season (resolution isn't the best, but watch in full-screen mode and you'll get the idea).

(Found via Pop Candy).

Nnenna Freelon: Going mad

dmenconi — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 10:00:00 -0400

Word is that Nnenna Freelon will be in a choice televised position Sunday night -- on the soundtrack to the show "Mad Men." The Durham jazz singer's recording of the standard "A Prelude to a Kiss" will reportedly play over the closing credits of this week's show. As she says, "No on-screen moment but who knows, maybe in the future."

That's 10 p.m. Sunday on AMC.

Drivin' N' Cryin' drives on

dmenconi — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 07:30:00 -0400

Drivin' N' Cryin' has put out a dozen records over the past quarter-century, but there's no question about what the group's signature song is. Go to one of their shows, and "Straight to Hell" will be the song everybody is yelling for.

"I used to get sick of it," DNC frontman Kevn Kinney said in a recent phone chat. "Now I do different versions -- quiet, or with a story in the middle. I like it so I don't mind singing it. The fact that people yell for it, that's a great problem to have. Could be worse, they could be shouting for something I hate. It's nice and easy, three chords, with room for guests up the ying-yang. Last night, I didn't even sing it. The crowd did the whole thing. I hate that on live albums, like the Kinks letting the crowd sing 'Lola.' I want to hear Ray [Davies] sing that, not Cleveland. But it was cool."

"Straight to Hell" also features prominently in what Kinney calls "our funniest show ever," which happened in the early 1990s in Columbus, Ohio -- a classic case of a band being rendered redundant by its own song.

"They'd sold like 10 tickets," Kinney said. "So the owner says, 'How about I cut the guarantee from $4,000 to $1,000 and we make it a free show, get some people in here?' Sure, I said, why not? So he makes it free -- and nobody comes! Still. But that's not even the bad part. There was this bar next door and it was packed, must have been 400 people in there. And we walk in and there's a cover band doing 'Straight to Hell,' everybody singing along."

For more, including details on the band's two-night stand at Raleigh's Pour House this weekend, see the interview in Friday's paper.

Coming our way: Bill Maher

dmenconi — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 07:15:00 -0400

Bill Maher, the controversial comedic pundit, is coming to town to do a pair of shows being taped for broadcast on HBO. Maher will hold forth at Raleigh's Progress Energy Center for two nights, Feb. 12-13. Tickets are $39.50-$59.50 (plus the obligatory service charges), and they go on sale at 10 a.m. next Saturday, Oct. 17, at the usual spots.

North Carolina: Come for the tunes, stay for the barbecue

dmenconi — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 10:15:00 -0400

So U2 apparently isn't the only band from elsewhere that digs North Carolina barbecue. Check out this excerpt from a recent tour-diary entry by the Nashville rock band The Ettes:

It is dark, and we shall soon arrive in North Carolina for a brief
night's rest. We come to western N.C. whenever we can, to chill, stare
at mountains and eat barbecue. What is important for you to know is
while there is indeed a difference between Memphis, St. Louis and
Carolina barbecue, Carolina is the best. Growing up we would say,
"God's favorite color is Carolina blue!" referring both to the Tarheels
of Chapel Hill, as well as the actual clear blue skies surrounding the
Blue Ridge Mountains.

Sweet 16 for the Avett Brothers

dmenconi — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 12:27:23 -0400

Concord's fast-rising Avett Brothers are making a splashy debut on the Billboard 200 album-sales chart this week with their major-label debut, "I and Love and You." The album sold almost 40,000 copies in its first week to open at No. 16 on the big chart -- 66 places ahead of their previous chart peak. That's the good news.

The bad news, for those of us in Eastern North Carolina, is that it's probably going to be a while before we see them in our end of the state again. The word from management is that it will probably be 2010 before the next Avett Brothers show in the Triangle.

Coming back: Rickie Lee Jones

dmenconi — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 16:30:00 -0400

Here's a show that got added to the calendar late and it's coming up fast: the incomparable Rickie Lee Jones, Oct. 19 at the Carrboro ArtsCenter. I wouldn't sleep on getting tickets because this should be a pretty quick sellout, and Jones' last performance at the ArtsCenter was great -- see below for the review. This is a rare chance to see someone of her stature in a very intimate space.

Jones casts her spell
By David Menconi, News & Observer
Jan. 31, 2004

CARRBORO -- It was fitting that Rickie Lee Jones walked onstage at the ArtsCenter on Thursday night as a Bob Dylan song played over the loudspeakers. Where Jones used to draw comparisons to Joni Mitchell and Tom Waits, at age 49 she seems more like Dylan -- right down to the protest songs on her latest album, and the fact that she declined to play her biggest hit single, 1979's "Chuck E.'s in Love."

Jones' impressionistic, nonlinear lyrics are more like evocative tone poems than conventional songs. Figuring out what her songs are supposed to mean can be maddening, but that's beside the point. Few performers push mood buttons as skillfully as Jones, and she makes the most of an unconventional voice that always sounds as if she has a cold.

Thursday night, the cascading jazz chords of "It Takes You There" felt like lying outside on a summer afternoon watching clouds go by. The smooth-gliding "Bitchenostrophy" transported the audience to a cafe in a European city. And as for "Little Yellow Town," a strange and atmospheric song from Jones' 1997 electronic "Ghostyhead" album, even she seemed at a loss as to how to describe it.

"This is about ..." Jones began, then stopped herself, shook her head and just started playing. About six trance-inducing minutes later, the song ended with a drawn breath.

Other interludes were considerably less mysterious, most notably the three overtly political songs that make up the heart of Jones' current album, "The Evening of My Best Day" (V2 Records). "Ugly Man" excoriated President George W. Bush in no uncertain terms ("He'll look at you and tell you lies/He grew up to be like his father"). "Little Mysteries" spun conspiracy theories about the 2000 presidential election. And "Tell Somebody (Repeal the Patriot Act)" was a house-shaking, gospel-style throwdown, on which Jones testified about life in the national security state.

"Where are the voices of dissent?" she asked. "Where are the voices of criticism?"

The sold-out house roared its approval, and a voice in the crowd hollered afterward, "Rickie Lee for president!"

Jones brought along a six-piece band that was sharp, precise and versatile, with a three-piece horn section that repeatedly switched instruments between various keyboards, percussion devices, accordions, horns and guitars. Jones played guitar most of the show except for the first song, which she sang with her hands in her pockets.

She also sat a spell at the keyboard for the beginning of the three-song encore, and flat broke every heart in the room with "Pirates (So Long Lonely Avenue)." Two songs later, as her band vamped, she smiled at the crowd and left the stage, as inscrutable as ever.

U2 traffic: also huge

dmenconi — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 08:47:17 -0400

U2's Saturday night concert wasn't just an epic show, it also involved one of the most epic traffic jams in local history. I can tell you that it was incredibly chaotic and poorly organized, among the worst pre-concert set-ups I've ever experienced. After sitting in traffic for an hour, I was finally waved into a parking lot that was already full; I essentially had to improvise a parking place of my own and hope I didn't get towed (I didn't, thankfully).

But I was lucky compared to some folks, who didn't even make it into the show. See some of the horror stories here.

Bono as head of state

dmenconi — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 15:56:02 -0400

Back when he was the most controversial member of the U.S. Senate, Jesse A. Helms was also half of the oddest couple in American life. The late senator from North Carolina and U2 frontman Bono formed an unlikely political alliance late in the senator's career, to fight AIDS in Africa. Bono and Helms met for dinner before U2 played Chalotte in 2005; And this past Saturday, his widow Dot Helms dropped in on Bono before the band's show at Carter-Finley Stadium. Helms' former chief of staff Jimmy Broughton sends along this picture and report:

She was delighted to see him as Bono and Sen. Helms developed a strong and genuine friendship. Bono walked into the room backstage and greeted Mrs. Helms warmly and said that it was because of "Jesse" that more than 3 million children are alive and on anti-retroviral drugs today in Africa. He's said that before and it's quite genuine. Bono then talked about being in Washington, D.C., last week and seeing some of the Senator's colleagues. Mrs. Helms thanked Bono for his gracious comments when her husband died and also wanted to make sure senators were still helping as "Jesse did." Bono said he's been impressed with some of the new senators and continues to work with those who served with Sen. Helms. He mentioned Vice President Biden and how much he and Sen. Helms worked together to start the process on global AIDS relief. Mrs. Helms commented on how much Biden and the Senator liked each other -- classmates, did not have to always agree to be friends, etc. It was a great meeting and Mrs. Helms really enjoyed it.

Things that go Boom-Batt in the night

dmenconi — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 08:45:00 -0400

Matt Battle and Chris Saleh, two Raleigh natives better-known as Boom-Batt Productions, have done pretty well since they set up shop in Los Angeles as a production and writing duo. I was in Los Angeles last month and went by their studio, so you can read up on their doings with Nelly, Snoop Dogg and others here.

The long-awaited U2 concert: Bigger than big

dmenconi — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 00:30:30 -0400

U2 played its first-ever Raleigh show Saturday night, and it was a pretty spectacular affair. Here's the review; and be sure to check out this excellent photo gallery, shot by ace N&O photographer Travis Long. And if you're wondering what the band's pre-show meal was, wonder no more.

By David Menconi
Staff writer

RALEIGH -- A few songs into U2's Saturday night show at Carter-Finley Stadium, Bono paused to survey his domain. And he addressed the packed house with the egomaniacal charm we've all come to know and love.

"We've got old songs, we've got new songs, we've got songs we can barely play," he cracked. "And we've got a spaceship!"

Yes, it was hard not to notice that. At a time when pretty much everything seems to be in contraction mode, U2 has rolled the dice with what has to be the most elaborately ginormous stage setup in rock history -- a huge claw-shaped beast that looked like a vertigo-inducing theme-park ride.

It seemed impossible that any band, even one as outsized as U2, wouldn't get swallowed up by such surroundings. But somehow, they pulled it off through sheer force of will. This business of being the biggest band on earth clearly matters a great deal to U2, and they've put this gargantuan spectacle on the road to achieve "intimacy on a grand scale." There's just no one better at enormity than U2.

After a solid 40-minute opening set by Muse, the headline portion of the evening opened with David Bowie's "Space Oddity" as prelude music, smoke machines at full belch. Larry Mullen Jr. entered first, sitting down at his drums to start bashing. Guitarist Dave "The Edge" Evans was next, with bassist Adam Clayton right behind. And Bono was last out, of course.

Bono wasted no time hitting the heroic poses on the opener "Breathe," a track from the current album "No Line on the Horizon." While "No Line" is only so-so, its songs came across much better live -- even "Get On Your Boots," the actively annoying first single. Other recent-vintage songs to hit the mark included "Vertigo," "Magnificent" and "City of Blinding Lights."

As always, Edge provided letter-perfect guitar accompaniment. If Bono is U2's preacher man, Edge is the one who built the sonic pulpit from which he holds forth.

Hammy theatrics that somehow work are a U2 specialty, such as the way Bono worked snippets of rock-era classics into U2 songs. A bit of "Amazing Grace" turned up during the encore version of "One." And during "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For," Bono pointed at the moon and sang the opening of Ben E. King's "Stand By Me" ("When the night has come/And the land is Dark/And the moon is the only light we will see...").

Sometimes, however, Bono should just leave well enough alone. Tossing his microphone to a guy in the crowd to let him sing a verse of "People Get Ready" might have seemed like a good idea; but it was an off-key disaster.

Still, that was one of the show's few miscues. For all the band's pretensions, U2 is ultimately just so likable that it's almost impossible not to be won over. When they went roaring into the encore version of "Where the Streets Have No Name," that majestic guitar riff pealing like a church bell, it was a perfect moment of blissful big-rock grandeur that you just don't see much of anymore.

We shall not see U2's like again, I don't believe.

david.menconi@newsobserver.com or blogs.newsobserver.com/beat or 919-829-4759

Taylor Hicks: The angelic years

dmenconi — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 12:00:00 -0400

You always sort of knew it would come to this: Former "American Idol" winner Taylor Hicks hitting the boards on Broadway, playing a wild-card supporting role in "Grease," which opens in Durham next week. For details on that, plus Hicks' thoughts on various other matters, see the interview in Friday's paper.

ADDENDUM (10/8/09): Review of the show.

Truly, It Might Get Loud

dmenconi — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 10:00:00 -0400

Looking for something to do tonight, on U2 Eve? You could do lots worse than checking out "It Might Get Loud," the very fine movie starring U2's The Edge paired with two intriguing counterparts. See the review here.

U2 can be a star

dmenconi — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 07:30:00 -0400

It's been more than 26 years since U2 darkened a stage around these parts. But that long-ago show, on a rainy April afternoon at UNC-Chapel Hill's Kenan Stadium, remains a powerful memory for those who saw it. By way of previewing U2's Saturday show in Raleigh, we compiled some remembrances of attendees here, with pictures from that 1983 show shot by N&O photographer Chris Seward. If you were at that show, feel free to share your memories in the comments section.

Also, check here for some spiel about the U2 conference happening in Durham before Saturday's show.

Cherry Bounce coming back

dmenconi — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 12:00:00 -0400

The alternative-music Cherry Bounce Festival is coming back later this month, in an expanded week-long format in multiple venues around downtown Raleigh. And given what the weather was like at last year's inaugural edition of Raleigh Wide Open/Cherry Bounce, it's probably best that most of those venues are indoor.

Free Electric State, Schooner and other local acts will play, along with out-of-town ringers Man Man and The Hood Internet. It happens Oct. 18-24. Check here for venue and lineup details.

U2 on Saturday: Bring your wallet

dmenconi — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 18:00:00 -0400

There's a long list of things you can't bring into Carter-Finley Stadium for Saturday's U2 show, including food, drink containers, bags, backpacks, bottles, artificial noise-makers, video cameras, large flags, weapons and so on. But you'd better bring a sizable quantity of cash, which you'll have to start handing over before you even get inside.

According to the Ticketmaster update that went out to ticket-holders this week, parking at the U2 show will cost $20 per car -- multiples more than what usually gets charged for non-VIP concert parking around these parts. If you want to drive to the show in your RV, that will cost an even steeper $40.

A Live Nation spokesperson declined comment when asked who had set the price.

"That money will be part of the concert settlement," says Shannon Yates, assistant athletic director for game operations at Carter-Finley. "It will be used for various facility upgrades in the athletic department."

Club news: Six String Cafe, Blue Bayou

dmenconi — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 21:15:00 -0400

Well, how about that: Six String Cafe, the classy acoustic-music room that has been gone for years, is coming back in a bigger, better version. The new spot on Buck Jones Road in Cary will have a capacity of more than 200, plus a full-service restaurant and bar. It should be open later this fall; sure hope it works.

Also, if you've got $115,000 burning a hole in your pocket, one pretty decent blues club is for sale. That would be Hillsborough nightspot Blue Bayou, which has had its struggles in recent years. There's the obligatory craigslist ad, of course. And while awaiting offers, club management insists it remains open and implores Blue Bayou regulars to keep coming out.

We're No. 37!

dmenconi — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 08:26:44 -0400

In all the debate about health-care reform, you might wonder where the United States ranks compared to other nations of the world. Well, wonder no more.

(Thanks, Jean.)

Counting down The Naughties: The Pitchfork Top 200

dmenconi — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 12:20:02 -0400

You'll be seeing lots and lots of best/worst-of-the-decade lists between now and the end of the year, as various publications count down their highlights and lowlights of whatever you care to call the years between 2000 and 2009. Pitchfork is getting a jump on things with a list of its top 200 albums of the decade, unveiling numbers 151-200 today.

There's some Triangle content, with Mountain Goats (Durham resident John Darnielle's working handle) coming in at No. 176 with their 2002 masterwork "Tallahassee." And Durham-based Merge Records has the first two of what will no doubt be many slots in the countdown, at No. 159 (Destroyer) and 179 (Camera Obscura).

ADDENDUM (10/12/09): The Uncut 150.

Minus 5: Excellent rock, about the crowd size

dmenconi — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 09:26:51 -0400

Sometimes, people, you disappoint me. Like Saturday night at Cat's Cradle, a show that had all the elements of what should have been a packed house: The super-fine Minus 5, a band featuring big-name rock stars; ample preview coverage; and it was Saturday night, what else were you going to do?

Well, I guess the rain and the televised Penn State/Iowa game kept everybody away, because maybe 100 people turned out. And to the immense credit of Scott McCaughey and company, those who were there got a heck of a show. They offered up plenty of Minus 5 and Baseball Project songs, plus a handful of Dream Syndicate classics. I always forget how much I like Steve Wynn's old band; I walked in as they were whompin' the bejezus out of "Tell Me When It's Over," and it was a great moment.

I only wish you'd been there to hear it.

Doc Watson: Postponed!

dmenconi — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 16:16:58 -0400

This just in: Doc Watson's show at Raleigh's NC Museum of Art has been postponed to 3 p.m. Sunday, on account of an increasingly ominous weather forecast for Saturday night. Looks like it will be raining heavily Saturday, so organizers have bumped the show to the next day.

Scott McCaughey: The hardest-working man in showbiz

dmenconi — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 07:30:00 -0400

I've had a soft spot for Scott McCaughey ever since the night he got me out of a traffic ticket. It was 1997, the opening night of South By Southwest, and I'd just rolled into town. Jacked-up from a late flight and interminable lines for my rental car and badge, I was cruising downtown Austin in an inattentive stupor, looking for a parking place. I turned the wrong way down a one-way street, and one of Austin's finest instantly appeared in my rear-view mirror, lights blazing.

The constable walked up to the car and I was talking a blue streak -- very sorry... from out of town, just got here... won't happen again... -- before realizing that he wasn't listening to me. Instead, he was listening to what I had in the tape deck, the then-new album from McCaughey's band Minus 5. So I shut up and listened, too. About 30 seconds later, the cop nodded toward the music and said, "Not bad," then let me off with a stern warning.

Who knows what good things McCaughey can do for you? Check Friday's paper for an interview about the many hats he wears, some of which will be on display Saturday at Cat's Cradle.

The Bob Dylan Christmas album: Even weirder than you'd imagine

dmenconi — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 08:14:55 -0400

So that Bob Dylan Christmas album you've been hearing about? Not only is it for real, what I've heard of it is a positively surreal listening experience. Enjoy (if that's the right verb).

(Found via Bull City.)

Jac Cain: The sound of music

dmenconi — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 08:30:00 -0400

For years, I've been going to the Pour House nightclub in Raleigh, saying howdy to Jac Cain -- and then standing back and snickering at his steady stream of wisecracks, delivered as he attempts to make whoever is onstage sonically presentable (often a tall, tall order). He's such a fixture at the Pour House that it's always odd to see him elsewhere, such as behind the board Saturday night at Cat's Cradle to mix sound for Arrogance. Anyway, I wanted to do a story about a night in the life of a nightclub soundman, and Cain seemed like just the guy to profile. It's in Sunday's paper, so take a look.

They Might Be Rockin'

dmenconi — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 00:43:29 -0400

I got a few blocks down the street from my house Saturday night before realizing I'd forgotten my earplugs. And I almost didn't go back to get them. I was going to see They Might Be Giants at the NC Museum of Art, so how loud could it be?

Plenty, as it turned out, and I was very glad I turned around to go get those earplugs. The days when the duo of John Linnell and John Flansburgh would play at toy-instrument volumes are long gone. Between the full-band lineup they've sported for more than a decade and the fact that they have a children's-music alter ego to indulge their cutesy side (they also played a soldout kids show Saturday afternoon), TMBG's grownup side is pretty loud and proud.

"This is kind of a rock dream for us," Flansburgh said between songs at one point. While I'm sure he meant that ironically, it fit nevertheless. Even "Birdhouse in Your Soul," the second song in the set, packed a snarl that almost took me aback. But it was still effective, and quirkiness did ultimately rule the evening. They offered up "The Sun Is a Miasma of Incandescent Plasma" as a scientifically correct answer to "The Sun Is a Mass of Incandescent Gas"; rocked up "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)" even more than "Birdhouse"; and paid tribute to the art-museum venue with "Meet James Ensor," about the Belgian painter -- complete with confetti-cannon salute. 'Twas cool.

They Might Be Giants -- no, really!

dmenconi — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 07:30:00 -0400

They Might Be Giants, the long-lived alternative-rock duo of John Flansburgh and John Linnell, have a handsome side-career going in the children's-music field. So it makes perfect sense that they're extending the TMBG brand into sports, sort of, by sponsoring kids' baseball teams.

"We are sponsoring some teams, insofar as we're sending clean clothes that match," Flansburgh said in a recent phone chat. "Personally, John and I are both tremendous indoorsmen. But we're all for other people getting out more often. The fellow who runs our e-commerce site got this order for 14 small T-shirts and inquired as to why. This fellow in Seattle was coaching a T-ball team they were calling They Might Be Giants, and both coaches were named John. When they sent photos, we were knocked out because they looked so...fierce. There's something about matching uniforms that makes a gang of 5-year-olds look much tougher.

"We got the idea we'd be happy to do more of this and put out an offer to the general baseball public, and we've fulfilled a number of other requests," Flansburgh added. "The T-shirt we've made for the new album works really well. It has a word balloon with the word 'NO' coming out, and there's a very aggro thing about that word for every kid. It's very amusing to us on a lot of different levels."

For more, including details on TMBG's two shows in Raleigh on Saturday, see the interview in Friday's paper. Also, here's an interview from 2007; and as long as I'm at it, below is a story of mid-'90s vintage, when TMBG's "Dial a Song" hotline seemed like the height of futurism. For everyone's sakes, I sincerely hope it's the last time I ever typed the phrase "information superhighway."

###

Giants keep on growing
By David Menconi, News & Observer
Feb. 17, 1995

As the Infobahn steamrolls through the entertainment industry, it seems overrun with the equivalent of fancy sports cars and 18-wheel trucks -- Aerosmith releasing a song over CompuServe, for example, or gigantic record companies with Web sites and interactive on-line gadgets.

So it's refreshing to see something a little less grandiose out there. Like They Might Be Giants (who play Sunday at the Ritz in Raleigh), who are skittering along the information superhighway's shoulder like an electric bumper car. The Brooklyn duo of John Linnell and John Flansburgh have always been years ahead of the multimedia music curve, albeit in a low-tech sort of way, going back to the mid-'80s when they started their "Dial-A-Song" hotline at (718) 387-6962. Close to a decade later, they still put a different new song on an answering machine at that number every day.

From those humble origins, They Might Be Giants have grown into a good-sized cottage industry. Along with recording and releasing their own music in the conventional way, they oversee a mail-order record club, the "Hello CD of the Month Club," which releases music by friends and associates.

One spinoff that operates independent of the band is an amazingly pointy-headed They Might Be Giants discussion group, alt.music.tmbg, in which fans ponder topics such as Linnell and Flansburgh's religious beliefs (the band claims to "believe in separation of church and They Might Be Giants," in case anyone is interested); whether people's parents like the band; and unexpected sightings, such as the recent science-fiction book character who prevented anyone from reading his mind by continuously humming They Might Be Giants songs to himself.

Linnell occasionally browses through alt.music.tmbg himself and confesses that he finds it bewildering.

"It's sort of touching, the way people reach out to one another through their mutual interest in what we do," Linnell says, speaking by phone from his Brooklyn home. "But it's doubly weird for me. For one thing, I don't think I'd want to meet people that way -- I'm not really adjusted to communicating through computers, maybe because I'm old and still remember the old-fashioned thing of meeting in person. For another, it's so utterly peculiar to read people talking about our work and us personally.

"I think some of these people honestly thought a lot harder about our songs and lyrics than we did, analyzing them to the merest minutae. But there are also some really strange interpretations, and the stuff that's wrong is just hilarious. Although the way it bounces off people and what they take to it, that's part of the whole experience."

Of course, there's plenty of room for misinterpretation with They Might Be Giants, who are practically a junk-culture tribute band. Their music is perfect for the attention span-impaired: cheesy jingle/parody versions of everything from punk to polka, ska to salsa, folk to funk, rock to roll.

Philosophically, they put forth an appealing combination of whimsy and common sense, summed up by their 1986 song "I Hope That I Get Old Before I Die." Their albums, especially 1990's "Flood" and its delightful ode to a night light, "Birdhouse in Your Soul," play like brainy children's records with lots of adult appeal. Buy their latest, "John Henry" (Elektra Records), and you can ponder the similarities between relationships and car wrecks ("The End of the Tour") on one song; and, on another, "Meet James Ensor," "Belgium's famous painter."

"James Ensor was an interesting painter, a sort of oddball guy who was briefly embraced by the saloon hotshots in Paris," Linnell explains. "That's a song in a general category we have, biographies of people, partly based on the idea that when you write a song about a subject, it immediately becomes more interesting. Like Johnny Horton and 'The Battle of New Orleans' -- literally everything I know about the Battle of New Orleans comes from that song. It's so peculiar that we can't retain anything like that from history class, but a song has this strange power to put things in our heads."

Yes, They Might Be Giants' erudite streak is alive and well. But after almost a decade of low-key surrealism, "The Johns" (as they're known to fans) are actually turning almost sort of...well, normal. They Might Be Giants used to work as a two-man band of Linnell and Flansburgh, augmented with sound effects and an electronic rhythm section. Now they have an actual live backup band, which makes its recorded debut on "John Henry."

As a result, "John Henry" sounds deceptively direct. "Unrelated Thing," for example, sounds less like a parody of country music than an actual, relatively straightforward attempt at country. Same for the driving, horn-driven ska of "Sleeping in the Flowers," and the Beatles-ish pop vocal harmonies on the anti-thought police anthem "I Should Be Allowed to Think." Linnell, however, downplays any conscious decision to de-quirk.

"Because we've got a band now, we're taking in influences from other musicians more than we used to. I don't know if that's really moving us toward the center because our band comes from some pretty odd backgrounds. [Bassist] Tony Maimone is from Pere Ubu, who are pretty left-of-center. And our drummer has a very varied background, from the Silos to Freedy Johnston's band -- and also a lot of wedding bands. He knows that gig and a great deal of that repertoire, which is useful.

"We just sort of follow our own logic," Linnell concludes. "There's no plan on which way we're heading, we just try to come up with something interesting. I saw this interview with [writer] Robert Crumb where he said, 'Everything is not for kids,' and also, 'Everything is not for everybody.' We feel that way. What we do is not necessarily for everybody. It's really just for us. Whoever else wants to like it is fine."

Merge Records: Still making noise

dmenconi — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 10:00:00 -0400

Merge Records co-owners Mac McCaughan and Laura Ballance are doing a series of bookstore readings for their new tome, which traces the history of the duo's two-decade-old record label -- including Thursday night at Raleigh's Quail Ridge Books. I'll be there to play a very small role, introducing them to start the program. I promise I'll be brief, so come on out. That's 7:30 p.m. Thursday at Quail Ridge, 3522 Wade Ave. in Raleigh.

ADDENDUM (9/18/09): How it went.

Life, real and surreal: Dokken vs Chicken

dmenconi — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 15:43:54 -0400

It sounds like damning with faint praise to call something the most brilliant commercial of the year. And yet I really, truly do find this to be quite brilliant.

(Thanks, Matt.)