The weather outside might be frightful, but next summer's shows are already popping up for the Triangle's big warm-weather venues. Raleigh's Time-Warner Cable Music Pavilion at Walnut Creek has its first show of 2009 on the calendar, country icon George Strait on May 16, according to his online tour schedule. No surprise that it's a country show, since Walnut Creek has been more of a country venue than a rock one for years now.

Over at the NC Museum of Art, meanwhile, two concerts are already on the schedule, according to Pollstar listings -- Pink Martini on June 6, and the venerable Doc Watson on Sept. 26.