Friday night was one of those nights when it feels like a privilege to live around these parts. In one club on downtown Raleigh's Blount Street, you had the second annual Raleigh Undercover tribute-act festival going on; and just a few doors down, you had two of the best bands in this or any other town.

As to the latter, that was Megafaun and Rosebuds, who were both in fantastic form. Rosebuds were playing their first hometown show since an overseas tour that included dates in China, and the work has tightened them up to well-oiled-machine status. And Megafaun was as wonderful as always, showing an admirable willingness to jack with their own songs to see where it takes 'em. "The Fade," transposed from jingle-jangle pure-pop to a steady rolling groove that loped along, was particularly cool.

Meanwhile, Raleigh Undercover was likewise a ton of fun, with George Harrison (by Tomahawks), Velvet Underground (The Old Ceremony) and David Bowie among those covered Friday night. Bright Young Things' rendition of glam-period Bowie was truly spectacular, perfectly conjured down to the last detail. I felt bad for The Old Ceremony, having to follow that, but they acquitted themselves well. Both shows were packed, with great energy up and down the street, and not just because all the smokers had to stand outside to get their nicotine fix (yay for the new no-smoking law!).

Lucky you, this is happening again Saturday night at both clubs -- the final night of Raleigh Undercover, plus another Rosebuds/Megafaun show (with Hammer No More the Fingers also sweetening the bill). The latter is sold out, but it might be possible to charm your way in if you hang around and show a little patience. Besides, Raleigh Undercover is only five bucks, which means you've got a perfect backup plan in place.

So head on down. It's worth braving the cold.

I Was Totally Destroying It will be going into the studio soon to finish up its second album. But lately, the group has been spending less time working on its own material than boning up on another band's songs -- an unidentified group whose songs IWTDI will perform Saturday night at Raleigh Undercover.

"We've been practicing a whole lot," says guitarist John Booker. "We started in December, twice a week, and it's gone well. The first time we played through it, we were going, 'Wow, that already sounds like it should!' So we've continued playing; not fine-tuning so much as going through it so we don't forget it. We're the exact opposite of most bands -- we sound better on cover songs than some of our own. I have no explanation for this."

Curious? Read more about it here; and head for Tir Na Nog any of the next three nights.

ADDENDA: Valient Thorr covered Funkadelic, and it was definitely worth the wait. I Was Totally Destroying It, meanwhile, did My Bloody Valentine. 

The schedule is coming together for "Raleigh Undercover," which happens Jan. 30-Feb. 1 at Raleigh's Tir Na Nog nightclub. We won't know which bands will be covered until it actually happens, but here are the bands doing the covering:

Jan. 30 -- Embarrassing Fruits, Bright Young Things, Whalewatchers, Left Outlet, Valient Thorr.

Jan. 31 -- I Was Totally Destroying It, Static Minds, The Nevers, The T's, Hearts and Daggers.

Feb. 1 -- Mike Roy, Gray Young, Skillet Gilmore/Marc Smith/Bartholomew Brothers, one more act TBA.

Lots of cool possibilities there, especially Valient Thorr (for whom the obvious choice would be MC5) and I Was Totally Destroying It (love their version of U2's "New Year's Day").

There's a name change to report for the upcoming "Great Cover-Up"-styled event at Raleigh's Tir Na Nog. At the request of the former management of the late great nightspot Kings (site of the old Cover-Up during its seven-year run), the Tir Na Nog event will now be known as "Raleigh Undercover."

It's still set for Jan. 30-Feb. 1, with five or six bands playing per night in a secret-tribute-band format. And it's for charity, with proceeds earmarked for the Beehive Collective.

Again, if you're interested in playing the event: cbtamplin@hotmail.com.