If you’re lucky — if you have a good local scene — if you support that scene — if you get to be friends with people who are not just talented, but pretty close to genius — if all those things happen in a perfect confluence, sometimes you get to watch your friends get famous….
Category: opinions about concerts
black joe lewis & the honeybears @ local 506
Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears were great last night — if you’re into neo soul, R&B or funk, pick up their full-length debut Tell ’em What Your Name Is! — but I’m disappointed with my shooting. Tons of movement combined with the 506’s reversion to a big sucking black hole, and 2/3rds of what…
the big picture @ nightlight
the big picture @ nightlight, originally uploaded by minervacat. Minor victories: I routinely bitch and moan about the Nightlight, because I love seeing shows there but loathe shooting them, simply because three red lightbulbs and a string of Christmas lights doesn’t cut it for decent lighting. But last night I found the one sweet spot…
counting crows traveling circus & medicine show
Koka Booth is such a weird little venue; I’m not sure what possessed Cary to put a gorgeous, beautifully acoustic-ed 5,000 seat outdoor amphitheatre somewhere that it would attract big rock groups — only to have the town tell the bands that they couldn’t play louder than a certain decibel level. (Adam Duritz was Not…
twin tigers @ local 506
Athens’ Twin Tigers fall somewhere on the musical spectrum between drone and shoegaze and electro-pop — depending on the song, and depending on the spot in the song. There’s a lyricism to frontman Matthew Rain’s raspy, repeated lyrics that moves them out of the drone category, but enough fondness for noise, for shambling diversions into…
chatham county line cd release show for ‘wildwood’
There’s no doubt in my mind that Chatham County Line are one of the best traditional bluegrass bands working today; even more so because they’re much more than a trad bluegrass outfit. They’re a group of guys who know the lineage their music comes from, and who recognize and draw from that, all while being…
roadside graves @ the nightlight, june 2010
and i don’t know whose baby you are The Roadside Graves, a fantastic Jersey band who released my favorite track of the year — the stunning 7+ minute “Liv Tyler” — on their EP You Won’t Be Happy With Me earlier this spring, are one of three or four bands that are lynchpins of a…
bowerbirds @ duke gardens
bowerbirds @ duke gardens, originally uploaded by minervacat. Shooting outside drives me crazy; I’m never as happy with my shots after outdoor concerts as I’d like to be. The light’s wrong, the angle’s wrong, people get up and walk through the shots I feel like I frame decently. Or I don’t want to get up…
rhett miller @ the pour house
rhett miller @ the pour house, originally uploaded by minervacat. For as well and as long as I’ve loved the Old 97s, I’ve only seen them live three times — and before last night, I’d never seen Rhett solo. He flew down for a one-off favor-for-a-friend benefit show in Raleigh, and it was absolutely a…
superchunk @ the cradle
superchunk @ the cradle, originally uploaded by minervacat. For Mac McCaughan, the hipsters dance. And scream. We got two encores last night and the crowd would have yelled for a third and a fourth, given the opportunity. Superchunk’s got ten whole tour dates outside of the NC on the schedule for this year, and the…
brand new kind of photography 