newsobserver.com blogs -- beat

Have a Holly Raleigh KIDSmas

dmenconi — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 07:45:00 -0500

One of the Triangle's coolest recurrent local-music traditions is the "Have a Holly Raleigh Christmas" series of holiday-music albums, now in its fourth year. And this year's edition skews younger than ever, because it doubles as a childrens record -- just in time for Saturday's annual Raleigh Christmas Parade. For details, see the story in Friday's paper.

People, places and things with Dexter Romweber

dmenconi — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 10:15:00 -0500

Behold the super-cool video for Dexter Romweber's "People, Places and Things," which was primarily filmed at Romweber's own home right here in the Triangle. As director Jerry Stifelman says, "It was like filming in Elvis' house, only an alternative Elvis who never sacrificed his muse to play in Vegas wearing a sparkled jumpsuit."

Lyle Lovett is cooler than you

dmenconi — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:00:00 -0500

By David Menconi
Staff Writer

CHARLOTTE -- Lyle Lovett figured out something a long time ago: You can get away with saying just about anything, as long as your delivery can pass for polite. The heck of it is, he's so sly that you can't help but be entertained even when you realize he's laughing at you, not with you. He's one smooth cat.

Tuesday night, Lovett and his Large Band rolled into Charlotte's Belk Theatre with a performance wide-ranging enough to pass for schizophrenic -- but in the best possible way. Over the course of a perfectly paced two hours and 20 minutes, the room variously felt like a church sanctuary, a bluegrass festival, a comedy club, an after-hours jazz speakeasy and a big-band ballroom.

Presiding over it all with a deft hand was Lovett, who came across as an earnest and well-meaning raconteur who paid his dues and remembers his roots. He went out of his way to talk up peers and give thanks to Spirit Square, the Charlotte club he played on the way up. He also showed a standup comic's gift for timing, build-up and repetition, with songs as well as set-piece jokes (using light reflecting from his guitar to blind the audience was a recurrent gag). And he was as formal as his ensemble's besuited onstage attire, noting each band member's hometown during introductions: Austin, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Champaign, Ill., among them.

But don't let the good manners fool you, because Lovett has also penned some of the most cutting poison-pen songs of recent memory. Typically, he goes back and forth between heartfelt sentiment and rakish tendencies, with punchlines worthy of Randy Newman.

"Here's another song about the same girl," he said between a high, lonesome "If I Were the Man You Wanted" and a rocked-up "L.A. County." One imagines legions of former Lovett paramours who want to crawl under the nearest rock whenever one of his songs appears on the radio.

As always, Lovett brought along quite the backup ensemble, the (literally) Large Band. The current edition is 13 members strong, which you'd think would make for a messy wall of sound. But there wasn't a note out of place the entire evening. Drummer Russ Kunkel kept things moving along with a brisk backbeat, while Lovett's longtime cellist John Hagen served as his primary comedic foil. The real show stealers, however, were the backup singers -- Willie Green and the Was (Not Was) tandem of Sweet Pea Atkinson and Harry Bowens. Their vocal blend was truly spectacular, from Green's basso profundo on up to Atkinson's piercing growl.

The set drew heavily from Lovett's last two albums, 2007's "It's Not Big It's Large" and this year's "Natural Forces" (Lost Highway Records). Recent-vintage highlights included a mocking "It's Rock and Roll," complete with impressive playing from the three guitarists; the Townes Van Zandt cover "Loretta"; and a version of "I Will Rise Up/Ain't No More Cane" that sounded like a prophecy from on high.

Deeper into the catalog, the statement-of-purpose "Here I Am" was as hilariously deadpan as ever ("That wouldn't make you a shallow person, would it?"). "If I Had a Boat" induced an actual audience sing-along, while "That's Right (You're Not From Texas)" had the room jumping. "Church" made a perfect show-closer. It was quite a night.

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

Bang on a Can All-Stars, at it again

dmenconi — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 08:00:00 -0500

Tonight brings the Bang on a Can All-Stars to Chapel Hill for a performance called "Steel Hammer," which involves chamber rock, early music and the legendary folktale "John Henry." Sounds like another cool genre-busting outing for BOAC, the latest in a series. See below for an interview from six years ago, about another of their shows here.

Bang on a Can for the Fun of it
By David Menconi, News & Observer
Nov. 7, 2003

Bang on a Can, the innovative new-music ensemble, originally took its name as a light-hearted joke. But co-founder Julia Wolfe says the group actually has had a few performances involving cans over the years.

"There was a John Cage percussion piece where some cans got whacked," Wolfe says, speaking by phone from her New York home. "And someone sang into an amplified can one year. But mostly, we chose our name because we wanted it to get rid of anything associated with the formal or elitist or cerebral-dominated 'new music world.' At first, some people were really offended at our name because they thought things should be very respectful and serious. This was very irreverent, but it's who we are."

Anybody who ever took offense at Bang on a Can's irreverence has gotten over it by now, or learned to keep it to themselves. Wolfe and her co-founders, David Lang and Michael Gordon, started Bang on a Can as a music festival in 1987. Like Hal Willner or Kronos Quartet, Bang on a Can dwells on the border between "high" and "low" art, integrating elements of rock, jazz and classical into accessible music that draws novices and experts alike to the concert hall.

From humble roots as a one-day festival of new music, Bang on a Can has grown to include a summer music school, record label and traveling performance ensemble, the Bang on a Can All-Stars -- who perform this weekend at Duke University. The shows include a reading of works by four Duke graduate student composers, and a performance of Wolfe's composition "Big, Beautiful, Dark and Scary."

But the main part of this weekend's program is a Saturday night performance of "In C," accompanied by composer Terry Riley. One of the landmark works of minimalist music, the trance-inducing "In C" consists of a series of deceptively straightforward interlocking drones. It has 53 simple musical motifs in C Major, and Riley's original instructions are as spare as the music itself: "To be performed by any group of musicians." Conceivably, even a three-piece rock band could do "In C."

"Actually, I think some have," Wolfe says. "It's a very open form, but has an amazing integrity to the structure no matter the instrumentation or who is leading it. 'In C' has a beautiful form because of how the cells of music are put together. It's kind of magic, and it's been played by so many great groups. It's almost like a new-music anthem, the thing that sparked minimalism. It was really instrumental in that movement coming into being."

Riley wrote "In C" in 1964, and you can trace a direct line from it to ambient music and Philip Glass' minimalist classical compositions. Another descendant was pop producer Brian Eno's 1978 new-age signpost, "Music for Airports," which Bang on a Can performed at Duke in 1998.

In recent years, Bang on a Can has moved closer to the mainstream, collaborating with Sonic Youth guitarist Thurston Moore and performing the 1967 Velvet Underground classic "Heroin." That's all part of the group's mission of making music more accessible to the masses. Wolfe is more qualified than most, given the populist leanings of her musical beginnings.

"I have a really eclectic background because I'm not a purely classically trained musician," Wolfe says. "Growing up, I'd listen to Led Zeppelin, Joni Mitchell, jazz, folk. Becoming a musician didn't even cross my mind until I went to college. A friend dragged me into this music class my freshman year, and that was it. I just thought, 'I've gotta do this.' So I'm a late bloomer."

Eventually, Wolfe came to Yale to study, where she met her Bang on a Can partners (one of whom, Gordon, is also her husband). The first Bang on a Can festival started as a marathon 12-hour performance in a SoHo art gallery, presenting music by John Cage, Steve Reich, Milton Babbitt and others. Despite its arty origins, however, Bang on a Can has always gone out of its way to avoid pretension and off-putting labels.

"The important thing is for people to have an experience," Wolfe says. "You don't have to have a Ph.D. in musicology to have an opinion. A presenter recently told me, 'I don't know if I can explain why or how I was affected by this music, because I don't know the jargon.' I said, 'Hey, thank God you don't know the jargon!' In the same way I can't explain the workings of an experimental film or why it was moving, I still get the experience and the artistry. That's a lot of what we're about. We always try to think about what's missing, and see if we can fill that gap. We put the music out there and hope people have a rich experience."

Robert Earl is Keen

dmenconi — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 08:00:00 -0500

The weekly critics-picks column leads with an item about Robert Earl Keen, who plays Raleigh's Lincoln Theatre on Wednesday; and the item says that's probably close enough to the holidays for him to bust out "Merry Christmas From the Family." For more on that, see the closing stretch of the interview below from one of his previous swings through the area.

Look Who's Coming: Robert Earl Keen
By David Menconi, News & Observer
Feb. 9, 2004

Twenty years ago, Robert Earl Keen financed his first album by pawning a shotgun, taking out a loan on his car and passing the hat among friends. Which sounds a lot like a song Keen might write, given his facility at capturing the more colorful absurdities of life. This is a man who marked the occasion of his first major label album (1997's "Picnic") by putting a photograph of his own car in flames on the cover.

Keen is a card-carrying member of the Texas literary singer-songwriter mafia, with impeccable credentials. He was a classmate of Lyle Lovett at Texas A&M University, and he has worked with Townes Van Zant and Guy Clark. When he's not on the road, Keen resides in semi-rural splendor in Bandera, Texas. And he still cites Texas' own Shiner Bock as his favorite beer.

Keen gets most of his attention for such humorous songs as "Merry Christmas from the Family," his signature ode to holiday dysfunction, and well-oiled songs about barbecue and lost weekends. But the funny stuff can overshadow his skill at subtler, more serious songs that get to the heart of relations between people.

"Farm Fresh Onions" (Audium/Koch Records), Keen's 10th album, includes some of both. The poetically surreal title track riffs on the otherworldly properties of onions as cosmic tokens of truth, while "Famous Words" ponders the sad finality of parting words foreshadowing unexpected death.

Hitting the road again, Keen brings his crackerjack band to play Cat's Cradle on Thursday.

Q - Do you ever get the urge to live somewhere other than Bandera?

A - I think about that sometimes. I really love where I live, but sometimes I'd like to be a little closer to theater or music other than Ray Price and Conway Twitty. You're surrounded by a kind of cowboy mentality here, even though that's not really "real." I don't wanna rant, but c'mon. Roy Rogers, you can put up your six-gun now because the stagecoach has left the station. What keeps me smiling is to wonder, "What if clowns were as popular as cowboys?" Then instead of barroom brawls, people would just juggle or something.

Q - The song "Farm Fresh Onions" is either mighty deep or mighty silly. Who knew that onions had such mystical power?

A - Yeah, well, I packed 'em with that power. That one was fun to write, one of those deals where I just went from one idea to the next with no endgame in mind until it ended the right way. Sometimes you create almost too much structure around a song. That's one reason I don't write basic country songs anymore -- I could give a [expletive] about two verses, two choruses, a bridge and a chorus. I've written a lot of those, and there's a real art to the craft of making them work. But that's just not as interesting to me as writing some narrative, or a 15-verse song.

Q - So that's your car in flames on the cover of your 1997 album, "Picnic"?

A - Yeah, that was at Willie Nelson's 1974 Fourth of July picnic. Somebody else's exhaust caught the grass on fire, and he woke up and drove off. But he left a brushfire behind that turned into a string of about 40 burning cars, and then the gas tanks started blowing up and it got unmanageable. Fortunately, nobody was hurt; just cars. I'm sure the promoters have thanked their lucky stars that happened in the '70s and not the '90s. They'd still be digging ditches somewhere in Utah because the lawsuits would never stop coming. But there never was one lawsuit filed over that.

Q - Are you interested in branching out from songwriting to writing prose?

A - I'm a real fan of prose writing, and I might try it someday if I get cocky enough. But I just don't feel it in my bones. I don't think I could ever approach the magnificence of Hemingway, Flannery O'Connor, Larry Brown. Now Larry's a fan of mine, so we have a kind of mutual admiration society. But we do different things. I wouldn't want him to pitch me a song, either.

Q - On the road, you must get people approaching you with songs they want to pitch.

A - All the time. It can put you between a rock and a hard place if it's someone you really admire, some kind of sports figure. You'd be surprised at just how much awful stuff is out there. I'll listen to some of it and go, "I don't think I ever want to listen to a CD again unless I already know something about it." Because I've only heard about three or four total unknowns in my life who made me go, "Wow!" A lot of people just go by that two-verse-two-chorus-bridge-chorus thing, and like I said, I could care less for all of that. You've gotta be real good to pull that off, and not many people are.

Q - A popular novelty song like "Merry Christmas," is that a blessing or a curse?

A - The great thing about "Merry Christmas from the Family" is that it's a Christmas song. I have an arbitrary rule, I don't play that song between Easter and Labor Day. So it keeps it OK for the other half of the year. Now if I played that all year, I'd definitely get sick of it. I have to stand up against a lot of people screaming for it. And I just tell them, "Sorry, if you want to hear that one, you'll have to come back after Labor Day."

Club news: Six String Cafe's opening delayed

dmenconi — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 12:15:39 -0500

Originally, the reborn Six String Cafe was scheduled to open next week in its new location on Buck Jones Road in Cary. But that has been postponed, due to holdups in the inspection, approval and permit process. The latest bulletin from owner David Sardinha:

Well folks, these things happen. We have to delay our planned opening next week as we try to work through the final approval steps. Please hang in there. The place is looking great and we are booking some great shows in the coming weeks. Of course, as soon as we have a better handle on any information we will keep you posted.

Thanks for your support and patience.

Frankie Valli sells the song

dmenconi — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 10:26:06 -0500

Like a lot of performers of a certain age, Frankie Valli doesn't like to hear the word "comeback." To his way of thinking, he never left. But there's no denying that Valli is back in a brighter spotlight nowadays thanks to "Jersey Boys," the musical history of his group the Four Seasons. "Jersey Boys" played at Raleigh's memorial Auditorium over the summer, and Valli will be singing in the same venue on Wednesday. For details on that and lots more, see the interview in Friday's paper.

Lambchop + Alejandro Escovedo = pure joy

dmenconi — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 07:45:00 -0500

Tonight brings a fantastic double-bill to Durham, the sublime pairing of Lambchop with Alejandro Escovedo. And since Escovedo is all about unexpected collaborations and where they might wind up, you might even see them onstage together at some point.

"We actually did a show with Alejandro many years ago in London, and we did attempt a song together," Lambchop's Kurt Wagner said in a recent interview. "As I recall, he was a little bemused at our selection. So he might not be eager to join us again. But he was great. The man's a giant. The fact that he still perseveres after all this time -- even longer than we have -- is really cool."

For more talk and details on tonight's show, see the interview with Wagner in Friday's paper. Also, below is an interview with Escovedo from last year.

Escovedo's sweet breakthrough
By David Menconi, News & Observer
Oct. 21, 2008

Alejandro Escovedo has been making brilliant records in relative obscurity since the early '80s, racking up "more miles than money," as he once put it in song. But since he joined Bruce Springsteen onstage at a show in Houston three months ago (which he likens to "a blessing from the Dalai Lama"), Escovedo has been on one big stage after another, including "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno" and the Democratic National Convention.

All the attention helped get Escovedo to another unfamiliar place, the Billboard charts. "Real Animal" (Back Porch/Manhattan Records) is Escovedo's first to crack the Billboard 200, and it's his best-selling album after only a few months in the stores.

Of course, it helps that Escovedo has a veritable dream team behind him these days, including Spring-steen manager Jon Landau. "Real Animal" further benefits from the production touch of Tony Visconti, whose credits include seminal works by David Bowie and T. Rex; and glowing liner notes by "Stop Making Sense" director Jonathan Demme.

Another point in Escovedo's favor is that "Real Animal" is the most accessible album he has ever made, rocked-up Latino country-soul that travels some of the same back streets as Springsteen. Onstage with Springsteen's E Street Band, Escovedo played the opening track, "Always a Friend," and it was a perfect fit.

For Escovedo, finally breaking through at age 57 is doubly sweet because of the nature of "Real Animal." Co-written with Chuck Prophet, a fellow traveler on the roots-rock chitlin circuit, "Real Animal" is a retrospective of the people, places and bands from Escovedo's life and career.

"I wanted to write a record about the bands I was in and the music I loved that inspired me," Escovedo says, calling while prowling a record store in San Marcos, Texas. "The crazy situations I've been in and all the things that happened along the way losing dear friends and making great friends, falling in and out of love with music and women, the whole thing. That's what it's about, this story. My story."

Not that it was an easy sell. Just getting "Real Animal" made proved to be a struggle.

"It was difficult to convince some people, mainly at the record company, that this was something worth telling," Escovedo says. "Certain people always believed in it, others were scared off by the whole thing about it being a 'concept' record. But Tony Visconti immediately understood the cinematic qualities and what I was trying to do."

"Real Animal" ranges from the raw, ragged punk of "Chelsea Hotel '78" and "Nuns Song" to layered pop ("Sister Lost Soul") and slow-burn balladry ("Sensitive Boys," "Slow Down"). One of Visconti's most obvious self-referential flourishes comes on "Golden Bear," which is decorated with a spacey keyboard riff that is a kissing cousin to Bowie's Visconti-produced "Ashes to Ashes."

"At first that was just a little piano line," Escovedo says. "And when you hear it that way, it hints at Bowie, but it's not as obvious. Then Tony started messing with it and treating it, and it turned out a lot more obvious, which I think is great. We're paying homage to a lot of these records."

Somewhere in the middle is the loopy Bob Dylan-esque swagger of "People (We're Only Gonna Live So Long)." That was the song Escovedo played back in August at the Democratic convention in Denver, where he opened for Hillary Clinton's speech. Two months later, he's still buzzed about the experience.

"Let me tell you something, that was the most exciting piece of music I've ever done," he says. "It was only one song. But man, what a trip! There was a certain energy in the room and the whole city. It was the first time in a long time, since I was a kid during the Kennedy years, that I felt like a part of something that was building into a moment of energy and change about the way we live. It might not last, but even just to feel that was exciting. It's not something you encounter every day."

Academia waltz: The Grateful Dead archivist

dmenconi — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:27:40 -0500

Need a job? Do you have a master's degree from an ALA-accredited program or equivalent graduate archives management program? Are you the sort of obsessive Grateful Dead fan who collects and trades live bootlegs by the shoebox-full? And are you willing to move to California from wherever you're residing now?

If you answered "yes" to these questions, then right here is the job of your dreams.

(Thanks, Doug.)

Red Bull Soundclash: The Love Language vs. The Foreign Exchange vs. the weather

dmenconi — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 11:05:06 -0500

The weather outside is frightful, with more of the same forecast through tonight. But organizers insist that the Red Bull Soundclash will go on as scheduled in Raleigh Thursday night, outside Hibernian Pub at North Street and Glenwood Avenue.

Weather aside, it's an intriguing event featuring two of our finest local acts, romantic indie-pop band The Love Language and the intercontinental hip-hop ensemble The Foreign Exchange. The format has them facing off on stages at opposite ends of the street with the audience in the middle, going back and forth in a performance that is supposed to fall somewhere between competition and collaboration. Could be interesting, could be a mess -- and it's sure to be cold and wet. But at least there will be a tent to huddle under, so come on out if you can. It gets going at 8:00 tonight, and admission is free.

If you'd rather stick with indoor events, a fine bet would be Tir Na Nog's weekly "Local Beer Local Band" night -- tonight featuring Violet Vector and the Lovely Lovelies plus pop genius Mitch Easter. That starts at 9:00, and it's also free.

Blast from the past: The dB's

dmenconi — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:08:49 -0500

Here's some vintage Tarheelia, from the long-gone days when R.E.M. seemed too avant garde for mainstream consumption -- a couple of performance clips from Winston-Salem native sons the dB's, playing circa 1980 at New York City's Peppermint Lounge. "Soul Kiss" is an original, while "Tomorrow Never Knows" is indeed the "Rubber Soul"-era Beatles classic.

It's pretty raw, but a fascinating glimpse into history. And if you've not kept up with what the dB's co-leaders are up to nowadays, check here for a story from a few months back.

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.