locally grown: lost in the trees @ wallace plaza

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….

i can lick any sonofabitch in the house — sounds of dying

I Can Lick Any Sonofabitch In The House — Sounds of Dying. Out soon if not now, Suburban Home Records. Okay, so: sometimes when you’re a teenager or a 20-something and you’re really anxious and angry all the time, and you wake up in your late 20s and you realize that all that energy going…

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…

malarkeygras 2010 @ the pour house

There are bands you love, and then there are bands you love and nights that sounds like the inside of your heart. And last night, the entire Pour House howling along with a blow-the-doors-off cover of “Thunder Road”, was the latter.

the new familiars @ the blind tiger, august ’10

shep. and I started going to the Blind Tiger in Greensboro for Holy Ghost Tent Revival, and we kept going for — well, for Holy Ghost and the New Familiars. We made a single ill-advised trip there for another band, but like I said: it was ill-advised. So mostly, we’ve gone to the Blind Tiger…

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…

the butchies @ cat’s cradle

Sometimes you just need to go out and watch a bunch of badass women play pop punk. Sometimes that is, in fact, the answer on a Wednesday night. (I tagged along to the Butchies’ reunion show with Ash, and it was fantastic.)

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…