Ani DiFranco gives Red Letter performance at The Carolina

Tonight was the first time I'd seen Ani DiFranco live. She's one of my all-time favorite singer-songerwriters and I regularly listen to her music, never tiring of my favorite tunes. I missed her a couple of years ago when she was at The Carolina Theater and I'd been kicking myself ever since for not going.

Just like her music, she is high-energy and rambunctious on stage. And her loyal fans were there filling every seat, soaking it all up, knowing all the words, dancing in the aisles, screaming "we love you Ani!" between songs.

I especially enjoyed how when she's wailing on her guitar, she bobs and weaves around on the stage, like a fighter, using her body to punctuate a guitar riff, practically levitating on the stage with her energy. Often when she really punches a chord on her guitar, she lifts her left leg in the air as if she's kicking it out to us in the audience. If you're a fan and never have seen her live, try to catch her next time. You won't be disappointed.

She appeared tonight at The Carolina with only two other musicians, drummer Allison Miller and Todd Sickafoose on upright bass. Their sound was huge and beautiful.

The show was to promote her new CD Red Letter Year, a review here, and she, of course, played many songs from it and many of her older songs too, like Shameless, You Had Time, Both Hands, As Is.

The song I liked best that she played from her new CD was Present/Infant. I already have her new CD and I think I'll be listening to a lot more of it now that I've seen her perform the songs live.

Keep on keeping on, Ani. You're just getting better all the time.

Ben Folds at the DPAC

At the "historic venue" as he jokingly called our new DPAC, Ben Folds played for 2 solid hours last Wednesday night. Many songs from his new album "Way to Normal" but plenty of his older songs that the crowd enthusiastically sang right along with him--"Annie Waits" "Zak and Sara" "Not the Same" "Rocking the Suburbs."

The sound at the DPAC is fantastic, by the way.

Folds apologized for being too full of Mama Dip's banana pudding and patted his stomach appreciatively. He talked wistfully of moving back to Chapel Hill, but it might've been the banana pudding talking.

The Lorelei's from UNC and a band from Phoenix called Miniature Tigers (and sounding a bit like Fleet Foxes) opened.

(This blog posting is also a test to see if I can post successfully from my mobile phone.)

Durham Performing Arts Center Open House

If you are interested in checking out the new Durham Perfoming Arts Center, it will be open to the the public this Monday evening, December 1st, for an Open House starting at 5:30pm. The Plensa sculpture will be dedicated at 6pm, and there will be self-guided tours of the building available, live entertainment, and refreshments. I drove by there tonight on my way back to Durham from my Thanksgiving festivities, and it was beautiful, so I took a picture:


Couldn't resist a few shots across the street of Durham's new "Old Bull" sign (which is moving neon--you can see the full movement here at Bull City Rising):




Both the new Durham Performing Arts Center and the Old Bull sign (click for a larger picture) :

Matthew Sweet and The Bridges at the Cradle

Matthew Sweet was at the Cradle last night and I've been a fan for quite a while now, so we went over for the show.

Matthew Sweet at Cat's Cradle:

Couple of observations. First of all, he and his band were LOUD. Too loud. Now I know that "if it's too loud, then you're too old" so I felt decrepit thinking they were far, far too loud for the space. Then I saw some people much younger than I am flinching and trying to get away from the speakers, so after that I didn't feel too bad for thinking so. The loudness actually interfered with Sweet's superb voice and outstanding lyrics, in my opinion. I didn't time him, but he didn't play for long, either. At any rate, he has a new CD out called Sunshine Lies and they played some tunes from it of course, opening with Time Machine from that CD. He also played some of his older ones that I enjoy such as I've Been Waiting, Girlfriend, Sick of Myself, You Don't Love Me, and Divine Intervention. You can hear a few of his songs in their entirety at his MySpace page here.

The opening act The Bridges are a group of siblings originally from Tarboro NC. I know--Tarboro! Young, with a highly melodic energetic poppy sound. Matthew Sweet produced their first CD, Limits of the Sky, and I liked their sound enough to spring for their CD. They currently have a video playing on MTV (they still show music videos?) that you can see here, and some of their songs can be heard here. The brief Boston Globe's review of the video said they "might win points for their pouting, comely looks in this video, but when was the last time you heard a group of kids making like Fleetwood Mac and actually pulling it off with a soulful, harmony-rich ballad?"

One online review at snob's music review said:

Limits of the Sky is the debut album from the family quintet. Produced by Matthew Sweet, it's a tremendous collection of bright medolic pop songs.

The group's songwriting demonstrates a pop sensilibility far outstripping their young age (all in their early 20s). Not since Ben Lee's debut have we seen a band show us this level of song craftsmanship right out of the shoot.

Vocals are definitely the focal point of the music . . . The Bridges clearly benefit from Sweet's guidance. The songs are chock full of catchy melodic choruses and vocal hooks.

The show ended around midnight so we hit TimeOut on Franklin Street for a quick bite then headed back to Durham.



So much music to see, so little time. Troika Music Festival is going on in Durham this weekend too.

Really great Get Out the Vote (GOTV) music event

Today we ventured over to Chapel Hill to see some great music that was part of a big push to get out the vote on this last day of early voting in NC. It was held beside Morehead Planetarium on the UNC campus, near--but not too close!--to the early voting site itself. What a beautiful, sunny fall day too. I sometimes forget how beautiful the campus is there. Today it was positively picturesque. But we were there for the music. I guess we stayed from about 11:00 until 3:30pm, when it was over. Coffee and snacks were being served and people were friendly and quite enthusiastic about the Election.

I'd never seen Billy Bragg perform live before and it was just as great as I thought it'd be. He had some inspirational words about the election--'the whole world is watching,' essentially. He's performing here in Durham tonight, and was kind enough to devote some time and some songs to this GOTV effort today.

Billy Bragg

I'd never seen the band Megafaun before and I liked them a lot! What energy and enthusiasm these guys have. Looking forward to seeing more of them in the future. You can hear some of their music on their MySpace page here.

Megafaun

Finishing things up were the dB's with Mitch Easter. Always enjoy hearing the dB's and Ask for Jill and Amplifier never fails to thrill the crowd. They sprinkled in a couple of new songs too. And even one especially about the election.

dB's with Mitch Easter

Peter Holsapple

I didn't get a chance to see everyone perform today, but I thank them for doing the big show today and for caring that people get out and VOTE.

By 3:30pm we were tired and hungry and decided to head over to the Carolina Coffee Shop, which we hadn't been to in forever, maybe even since I was in undergrad, and had a nice relaxing meal. A superb day in Chapel Hill.



UPDATE: Peter Holsapple of the dB's has a detailed account of the music today at his fine blog here.
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"Halloween on 9th: Let's start somethin'"

Over on Facebook, a new and interesting Group has started and has nearly 200 members. The group's called Halloween on 9th: Let's start somethin'. Forget Franklin Street, let's have a fun time on our own 9th Street. Put on your costume and let's see what happens. From the group:

"Why drive to the police “state” of Franklin street on Halloween, when over 100,000 youngens are expected to take over the main strip causing: mass chaos, probable looting and overcrowding (at under themed) nightclubs. We get the rep for having a volatile city, while they have had a shooting every year since 2004 at Franklin’s famed Halloween “parade”. I say we start one of our own, a resurgence on 9th street. We don’t have to call it anything… we don’t need an agenda at all. Let’s just plan to wear our costumes, on our blocks, with civil, like-minded ADULTS, who want nothing more than to get dressed up, get drunk and dance wildly.

If you are in agreement, come to 9th street on Halloween in your costume. I say we start the festivities at 8pm.

Dain’s, Charlie’s, George’s Garage, G Loft, Blu Seafood, Sirens and Club 9 will be available to serve your wandering needs."

And, if that's not enough, just a block over, on Broad Street, at the Broad Street Cafe, my pal Jeff Hart has a gig and will be playing and singing and having a big time for his birthday, so come listen to him--the show starts at 9pm--drink a brew, and have a great Halloween on 9th Street and Broad Street.

Happy Halloween, everyone!

Mary Gauthier at St. Philip's

Attended another great Strings Attached concert tonight at St. Philip's downtown. Singer/songwriter Mary Gauthier gave a benefit concert for UMD. UMD does lots of great work in Durham as you can see if you click on their site.

When I arrived around 6:30pm, Only Burger's rolling hamburger stand was set up outside St. Philip's and the smell of grilled hamburgers was wafting through air. Drool. Only Burger of course had drawn a little crowd. Inside some folks were already enjoying their hamburgers and french fries before the concert started. Wow, it smelled so good. I didn't have an opportunity to try one but I will soon I hope.

Only Burger at dusk in front of St. Philip's

Gauthier came out at 7:00pm and played straight through, ninety minutes of riveting songs. I could certainly tell that a couple of her big influences were Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan. I especially liked her song about Karla Faye Tucker, Karla Faye, and another called Camelot Motel. She's charming on stage, and after the show I picked up a couple of her CD's (Mercy Now and Genesis) and got them signed. Looking forward to listening to them. You can hear a few of her songs in full at her Myspace page here.

Mary Gauthier

Another great Strings Attached show at St. Philip's. Hope it raised some nice bucks for UMD and I'm on board for whatever the next good show will be. Props to Rebekah Radisch and Strings Attached.

Blues Fest 2008 at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park

This year the Bull Durham Blues Fest (in its 21st year) was held at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park instead of the old ballpark, the DAP, because of its ongoing renovations. I took some pictures and included them in this blog entry.

First of all, I thought the new (maybe temporary, maybe not) location was a big hit. The stage was set up behind where 2nd base usually sits, and it's a nice big stage too. To preserve the infield, there was a flooring of interlocking 4 x 4 thick plastic squares laid down. They were great for dancing, and for setting up our folding chairs. Durable and neat and clean. Some vendors were out on the field, and some were up on the concourse. People could sit out with folding chairs on the infield, or sit up in the stands if they preferred. Plenty of room to move around, plenty of clean bathrooms, well lighted, well organized, a wonderful time. Kudos to the Hayti Heritage Center who puts on the event each year. Very nicely done!

The gates opened at 5pm and my friends and I were among the first in, and got a sweet spot on the first row. The weather was beautiful, with a cool hint of fall in the air. It even got chilly enough as the night wore on to pull on our jackets.

Friday evening started out with a band from Charlotte, The Contagious Blues Band, and they were very enjoyable. Next up, I really liked the zydeco music that Rosie Ledet performed and folks got up and danced.

Rosie Ledet (on the right)

Hard to sit still when good zydeco is being played.

Clarence Carter came out after Rosie Ledet and he played his hits, including the cheesy but fun "Patches" and ended his set with "Strokin'." Nearly the entire audience was up and dancing at that point. The headliner of the night, Marcia Ball, came on stage next and she was fantastic. Her new album is "Peace Love and Barbeque" -- I need to snag that for a bumpersticker incidentally. She plays the heck out of the keyboards. Phenomenal. At the end, she implored us all to "Please vote!" and that she knew that we in Durham "would do the right thing, you know what I mean!"

Marcia Ball

Saturday night my friends made sure we got front row seats again by sitting on line before the gates the opened. Another sweet fall-like evening and the music started off with Big Road Blues Band who got us revved up for the night. Next up was Bernard Allison.

Bernard Allison

This guy just floored me. He is unbelievably good and when he finishes, you feel like you've witnessed the blues in concentrated form. I could've listened to him all night. Denise LaSalle came out next and she kept everyone thoroughly entertained. Her patter to the audience was for adults only and I was wondering what the people with kids there might've been thinking. The headliner for Saturday night was Taj Mahal and he was worth the wait.

Preview

Taj Mahal

He came out and played a hollow-bodied electric guitar first that sounded so sweet to me. Then he stepped over to the keyboard and tore the keys up for a few songs. Next he picked up his banjo and played the blues on the banjo. He said, "One thing I like about North Cacalacky is that I can pull out my banjo to play the blues and people won't head for the doors." I can't say enough about how much I enjoyed his set. He even played my favorite song "Queen Bee." I especially loved "Fishing Blues" (youtube link to Taj singing "Fishing Blues") too.

Another great Bull Durham Blues Fest!

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A real treat to see John Dee Holman last week

Let me mention again on how wonderful it is for us to have the Warehouse Blues Series. Great blues music. Free. My kind of deal.

Last Friday night I had the pleasure of seeing John Dee Holman at the Warehouse Blues Series at West Village. Andy Coates opened. I'd never seen either of them perform before, but Friday night's weather looked promising--low humidity and a good breeze--and some friends were going, so I went along as well. I'm so glad I did.

Andy Coates did a great job of warming up the crowd for John Dee. I especially liked it when Andy played the National steel and used a glass medicine bottle as a slide. He has a nice strong voice and knows his blues.



I kept noticing John Dee Holman waiting on the sidelines to come up next and I was anticipating hearing him perform. I wasn't wrong in my suspicion that he is the real deal. A local blues--a Piedmont Blues--guy who, at 79, can still put on a show. He had fans in the audience already, and I'm definitely a new fan.





I found some information on his style in this Indy article from a few years ago:

Born and raised in the Piedmont, John Dee Holman is a self-taught musician, and to blues aficionados, the man when it comes to being a living, performing exponent of the Piedmont Blues.

While the Delta Blues went north to become "Chicago Blues" and Texas bluesmen pioneered the West Coast Blues, the northern migration of African Americans from the Carolinas never resulted in any real "New York Blues" movement. For one reason, the Piedmont Blues developed as primarily a guitar-oriented sound--an instantly recognizable picking style played by the likes of Blind Boy Fuller that lent itself to acoustic, rather than electric, guitar (electrified, it's got more of a Lightnin' Hopkins sound). Thought to be derived from African-American banjo picking, this style--using the thumb to pluck out a rhythmic bass line while your fingers pick out a melody--is the blues tradition Holman carries on.

Some of the songs I liked were Chapel Hill Boogie, Give Me Back My Wig, Step It Up And Go, Mojo Hand, and John Henry.

I was too stupid to remember to get one of John Dee's CDs before I left Friday night, but I intend to. I believe I can order it through the MusicMaker site.



Not sure I have the time to go to tomorrow evening's performance, but from 6pm to 8pm, but "Slewfoot and Sons" will perform then.

Cool John Ferguson at The Warehouse Blues series

Caught a couple of sets from Cool John Ferguson last Friday night as part of the The Warehouse Blues Series at the West Village Courtyard downtown. He truly is one cool dude, and that's good, because it was extremely hot that night. A storm was blowing up just as 6 o'clock approached, so Cool John and his appreciative audience were ushered to a non-air conditioned (or it felt like) lobby area inside. Cool John rolled with the punches and played 2 great sets. Despite the sheen of sweat on everyone, people danced, clapped, drank cool beverages, and enjoyed the fact it was Friday and here we we were, enjoying each other and the music. Here's Cool John:

A few of the tunes from Friday night from Cool John were (She's a) Brick House, Stormy Monday, and the Stevie Ray Vaughn song, Pride and Joy. Many thanks to my pal Jack for remembering the names of a few of the songs. I thought they all sounded great, even though the acoustics in the lobby where we were seated left much to be desired. Even in the heat and the closeness of the space, people kicked off their shoes and danced:

A little bit about Cool John Ferguson from his Music Maker site:

He was born on Saint Helena Island off the coast of South Carolina. His mother is of the Gullah people and John grew up with the old ways all around him. His first guitar was a Harmony #1 with a one-coil pick-up, two knobs, and a Marvel amplifier. He still remembers the shape and look of it and the way it made him feel. He learned to play by listening.

You can listen to a few of his songs, including Durham Blues on his MySpace page.

Durham Farmer's Market today

As Kevin noted over at his blog Bull City Rising, lots of stuff not to be missed at the Durham Farmer's Market today (and pretty much every Saturday--and Wednesday afternoons too).

Free Yoga on a shady slope:


Great music by The Blue Tailed Skinks:


Chef Ingram of Four Square giving out yummy samples:


Beautiful crafts at The Durham Craft Market:


Walking tour offered by Preservation Durham:


Oh, yeah, and the fantastic local food:

"You will always be Rose of Sharon to me . . . "

Props to my friend Jeff Hart on his great song "Rose of Sharon" which I'll forevermore hear in my head as I look out of my kitchen window and see my Rose of Sharon (Hibiscus syriacus), also called an "Althea," blooming in my backyard:

I don't understand you,
all I know is that I love you
and that's a start.
If I can't have you,
and if I can't hold you in the dark . . .
You will always be Rose of Sharon to me
somewhere in your memory, save a kind word for me.

~ Jeff Hart, Rose of Sharon

I strongly suspect Jeff didn't write it for the flowering shrub, but it's a beautiful song, and it's lovely to see the Rose of Sharon blooming, not just in my yard but in others' yards too this time of year. I don't know who planted mine as it was here long before me, but I thank them.

Ben Folds was "rockin' the suburbs" tonight.

I'm rocking the suburbs
I take the checks and face the facts
That some producer with computers
Fixes all my shitty tracks

Yes, we braved rush hour traffic on I-40 on a Friday afternoon to make our way to Koka Booth Amphitheater in Cary to see Ben Folds. We hadn't seen him perform live before and he's one of our favorites, so we got tickets for the lawn and trooped over. He said it was great to be back home in NC and that he'd spent the day in Chapel Hill, walking around, visiting his old house.

We were genuinely surprised at how many high school/college kids were there. Ben Folds is pretty much my age, but I think because he peppers his lyrics with the more-than-occasional swear word, the teens find this quite delightful. Or maybe they're into a 40-something year old dude who rocks the keyboard. Hard to say. They were into it, though, no doubt.

Folds was absolutely full tilt tonight and the crowd was way, way high energy. Much different than when we saw Elvis Costello play at Koka Booth last year with the North Carolina Symphony (which was very good actually but kind of low-key).

If you've ever seen Ben Folds perform, you know he really jumps and moves while he pounds out his tunes on the piano, seldom sitting down or sitting still. He goes so hard that occasionally he has to quickly push his glasses back onto his nose as he nearly plays them off his head. And he seems to love it all so much and is so into it himself, that he will quickly glance out to the audience as if to check to see if they are loving it as much as he. We are, Ben. Sham on!


This is just from memory, but he played Kate, One Angry Dwarf, Army, Landed, Still Fighting It, Underground, Rockin' the Suburbs, fantastic rendition of Not the Same, Zak and Sara, Gone, Bastard, Annie Waits, Narcolepsy (the keys were smokin' on that one), and to the delight of the teenagers, Bitches Ain't Shit (a tongue-in-cheek white boy rendition of Dr. Dre's song). I would've loved to have heard Mess, Selfless Cold & Composed, and Smoke, but I was happy with the show as it was. Mess has that great line "I don't believe in God, so I can't be saved . . . "

Cool thing about Koka Booth Amphitheater is that you can buy a bottle of wine to share over the evening, lounge on the lawn, and get just about any kind of food you can think of inside the amphitheater. We enjoyed a chilled bottle of French rose' and had some pizza, and later we got some Lumpy's ice cream. My ice cream flavor was "hippy mix" which was vanilla with cinnamon and trail mix with pockets of bright colors swirled in. It was good--but frozen solid raisins are hard on the teeth. Yowza.



I have to hand it to the Amphitheater folks, they know how to get you parked, get you in, get you fed, let you enjoy the show, and get you back out. A well run outfit, all in all.

Beautiful late afternoon on American Tobacco lawn

A friend emailed me midday to meet on the lawn at American Tobacco at 6pm and take in a beer and some music, so I did. This was "The Back Porch Music, On the Lawn at American Tobacco Concert Series" and the musician was Darrell Scott, who truly had some great tunes. The one I liked the most was Shattered Cross:

YOU DON’T MESS AROUND WITH A MAN IN BLACK
YOU’LL SAY SOMETHING WRONG THAT YOU CAN’T TAKE BACK
YOU’LL GO FOR A RIDE IN HIS AUTOMOBILE
TO A SPOT IN THE WOODS JUST OVER THE HILL
NO, YOU DON’T MESS AROUND WITH A MAN IN BLACK

The AmTob lawn was as crowded as I've ever seen it, full of all ages, all colors, and every stripe and spot--as I've come to love about Durham. It started out sunny, but the long shadows overtook the lawn as the sun set. The water flowing by made it all very tranquil and everyone, even the little ones, seemed to be enjoying the music. One little girl nearby must've done at least 100 cartwheels showing off for her dad, who was lounging on a blanket listening to the music. Lots of people snagged take out food from surrounding eateries, making themselves an impromptu picnic.

Have I mentioned there is always something fun to do in Durham?

The stage under the Lucky Strike tower:

The stage, the lawn, the "river":

Darrell Scott:

Fountain:

Upcoming afternoons of music (click to make larger):