the king of windmills & whirl-i-gigs

Over the weekend, North Carolina artist Vollis Simpson passed away at the age of 94. Mr. Simpson created some amazing found materials whirl-i-gigs, which he installed in sort of a farm near his home close to Wilson, NC. A few years ago, shep. and I took a spur-of-the-moment Sunday drive down there, and Mr. Simpson…

fall out boy @ 9:30 club ; save rock and roll club tour

I wrote about what Fall Out Boy means to me, and what it meant to me to shoot them on Friday night, for Speakers In Code. Some other things: They played everything I could have hoped to hear, except the acoustic version of “Nobody Puts Baby In A Corner” from the My Heart EP, which…

worth getting up for in may

Worth getting up for in May: UNC baseball winning the ACC tournament; the beauty of the 18 inning game against State in said tournament; #1 national seed in the NCAA tournament; the UNC women’s lacrosse team’s national championship; a day second-camming for Gorman; ice cream sandwiches; The Closer; Fall Out Boy at the 9:30 Club*;…

rock the cape: southern culture on the skids

I kind of feel like I’m getting an education in Triangle music history this year; back in the winter, I saw alt country pioneers the Backsliders for the first time, and even though Southern Culture on the Skids have been playing their surfabilly punk since 1983, their latest LP Zombified is the first time I’ve…

two sentence reviews of albums i listened to in may

Basically I listened to the new National record all month, so I’m behind. Again. Futurebirds — Baba Yaga: more delicious Southern pedal steel flavoured freak out psych-folk from Athens rockers Futurebirds; I occasionally forget how much I enjoy their music, and how soothing and inspiring and visually compelling I find it. Visually compelling seems like…

the first album i ever bought: r.e.m.’s green turns 25

The first album I bought for myself was R.E.M.’s Green. I bought it on cassette tape when I was 8 years old, with birthday money, after my friend Jeremy played “Stand” for me. It’s still one of my favorite records of all time, though I usually default to Automatic as my go-to R.E.M. record. Green is…

a dog named gucci (and a dog named susie)

(This post might feature things that are triggering; there are some photos of the aftereffects of animal abuse.) Spent yesterday in Greensboro playing second camera for Gorman while he shot interviews for his current doc project, A Dog Named Gucci, a piece about animal cruelty and animal rights laws in the US. We hung out with…

farmer’s market, may

While my car was having her brakes tuned up, and before the rumbling grey skies rolled in, I puttered about the farmer’s market with my camera.

josh ritter @ cat’s cradle, may 2013

(People searching for the setlist, I hope you come here and find it!) I am not exactly shy about my feeling regarding Josh Ritter; it is one of my least complicated listener-artist relationships, in that flat out I love his weird ass unconditionally. I believe that rock and roll is a religion, and I believe…