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.

Alice Cooper has been staging his own demise for so long that it hardly even qualifies as shocking anymore (especially compared with what else is out there nowadays). Still, if you've never experienced the original shock-rocker, he puts on quite a show. And here's your chance: Cooper will bring his "Theatre of Death" roadshow to the Durham Performing Arts Center on Sept. 30. Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday.

New to the local concert calendar, The Fray. The Denver quartet will tote its piano into the Durham Performing Arts Center on Sept. 8. Tickets go on sale next Friday, Aug. 14.

Well, it's not The Who (and it's not even the next best thing to The Who, for that matter) but it's still pretty cool in my book: Roger Daltrey will play the Durham Performing Arts Center on Oct. 28 as part of his first solo tour since 1985. Tickets go on sale Friday at 10 a.m.

Tori Amos plays the Durham Performing Arts Center on Friday night, and maybe you've heard that she's a North Carolina native -- kind of. Click through for some golden-oldie verbiage about that, if you dare.

See photos from Steely Dan's show at the Durham Performing Arts Center.

Durham Performing Arts Center continues its hot streak in the pianistic arts. After shows there by John Legend and Ben Folds, DPAC has Newton-born singer/pianist Tori Amos coming in on July 31.

Howdy, all. I'm still trying to catch up (and recover) from last week's South By Southwest festivities, and a few things came up while I was out of town. First and foremost, Cary's Koka Booth Amphitheatre announced a pretty swell show -- the great Elvis Costello on June 14. Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday.

Also, a story about competition heating up between local mid-sized concert halls ran in Sunday's paper. If you missed that, check here.

Be back with more soon...

For those of a certain age, here's a true blast from the past: Cheech & Chong, the fabled 1970s-vintage stoner-comedy duo, will play the Durham Performing arts Center on April 3, as part of a tour called "Cheeck and Chong Light Up America & Canada." Tickets go on sale this Friday.

And if you've never heard of Cheech & Chong, here's a sample. Yeah, uh, it's kind of a had-to-be-there thing.

ADDENDUM (1/1/09): Interview.  

A look inside the new Durham Performing Arts Center