luck, timing, and a quick trigger finger

Augustana plays an acoustic show at the 506 tonight; it’s sold out, so you’re probably out of luck in getting to see them, alas, just like me, but I can share this photo, which remains one of the best shots I’ve ever taken. The summer of 2010, the Counting Crows summer tour, my beloved now-dead…

willie nelson @ dpac

Got to see Willie Nelson for the first time last night, at the DPAC with Dan. He did Will The Circle Be Unbroken / I’ll Fly Away / Amazing Grace at the end, and I cried like a baby. A few more photos of Willie and Lukas, who opened, are here.

the jon spencer blues explosion @ cat’s cradle

Matt wrote about last night’s show, and interviewed Jon Spencer, over at Speakers in Code. I was deeply smitten with the opening set from Pittsburgh’s Shockwave Riderz, Dex and Sara Romweber are always joys to watch (wouldn’t it be nice if you could, in your 40s, decide that what you wanted to do with your…

toddlers kickstarter reward party @ local 506

a. This was one of the best Kickstarter rewards that I’ve ever seen: a private show for people above a certain donation level, and a free download card for a new release with it. I would never have thought of it for a reward, but it was a great one. I was delighted that Dan…

almost people @ local 506

I know Scotty Sandwich from many things: his digital label Death To False Hope Records, his booking of great punk and garage and hardcore shows in Durham, but I’d never seen him play in his own band, Almost People, before last night. They play sharp, clever, hooky pop punk, lots of great guitar riffs from…

american aquarium @ the soapbox

In a time past, some of it documented here, shep. and I used to spend a lot of weekends hauling all over the South to see bands, both national touring bands who didn’t play in the Thrill, or bands from here we just loved. So it was appropriate on Friday that, after failing to acquire…

american aquarium @ local 506

If I went back and counted, I’ve seen American Aquarium more than 50 times since the fall of 2007 — probably closer to 75. But as they spent more time on the road, and drew more and more fans in Raleigh, particularly, I’ve seen them fewer and fewer times every year. This is good, because…

midtown dickens & matthew e. white @ haw river ballroom

I have — well, not slacked, but I have seen far fewer shows this year than I did last year, and I have definitely missed a lot of homecoming, release, celebration shows by people I love that I wish I hadn’t. Unfortunately, concert photography is a calling that wars with my anxiety and depression, and I’ve…