good stuff this week
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Sunday October 12 Goner WXDU 88.7 FM, Durham Goner are from Raleigh, and they've been together in one form or another for nearly as long as I've lived here. They've just released a new album, "Rock and Roll Always Forgets," and it's their best yet: bitter, passionate, detailed songs about getting old in a college town while all the kids stay the same age. 4:00 p.m. at 88.7 FM or wxdu.org. photo: Goner - Boylan Heights - 2007

Sunday October 12 The Wedding Present, The Jealous Girlfriends Local 506, Chapel Hill

Sunday October 12 Teh Vodak, Can Kickers The Cave, Chapel Hill Teh Vodak are a new band with Ben Donnelly (ex-Blackstrap) and Betsy-Shane (Lam! Lam!, Pink Flag). Can Kickers are a raggedy doubletime bluegrass/oldtime band (kin to the Avetts, I guess) from up north; one of their members moved to the Triangle earlier this year to work for the Music Maker Relief Foundation, so welcome.

Monday October 13 The Magnolia Mountains, Drew Danburry, Shawn Deena Marvell Building, Durham

Monday October 13 Girl Talk, Grand Buffet, Hearts of Darknesses Cat's Cradle, Carrboro Superhyped celebrity copyright-violator Gregg Gillis brings his hi-energy Girl Talk show (Gregg, his laptop, and half the audience, onstage dancing) to Cat's Cradle. You've read about him in every mainstream publication around, so it's a miracle he hasn't been sued out of existence yet. music in the groovo.org player: Girl Talk

Monday October 13 Ironing, Boyzone, Hal McGee Nightlight, Chapel Hill music in the groovo.org player: Ironing

Monday October 13 Talkdemonic, Thomas Kieffer Local 506, Chapel Hill

Tuesday October 14 The Heartless Bastards, Dead Confederate Cat's Cradle, Carrboro

Tuesday October 14 Delta Spirit, Pattern is Movement Local 506, Chapel Hill The first time I saw South Philly's Pattern Is Movement, I found them incredibly annoying. The second time I saw them, I found them both annoying and really compelling. Then I met their irritating singer/bass player, and learned that he's a genuine weirdo (and elementary-school gym teacher), not just onstage. Now I'm quite fond of them. RIYL strange stories, weird falsetto singing, and prog.

Tuesday October 14 Jordan Reservoir, Carrboro

Wednesday October 15 Death to the Details Marvell Building, Durham

Wednesday October 15 The Sea, GST Cardinals Local 506, Chapel Hill

Wednesday October 15 I Was Totally Destroying It, Huzzah! The Informants, Sinister Archetype Reservoir, Carrboro It's Hep!ler's birthday, so be prepared for frivolity . . . though it's hard to imagine him behaving any goofier than he already does, so nevermind, just go kiss him. music in the groovo.org player: I Was Totally Destroying It video(s) on their page(s): I Was Totally Destroying It

Thursday October 16 Le Weekend, Cantwell, Gomez, Jordan, Minchia Bull City Headquarters, Durham At least two of these bands are big Steely Dan fans, but unless yr wavelength is pretty dang advanced, you might be hard-pressed to pick up on it. Although the other day I was watching this live Steely Dan video of "Black Friday" and Le Weekend actually did start making a bit more sense to me. photo: Le Weekend - debut show - Duke Coffeehouse - Nov. 11, 2006 music in the groovo.org player: Le Weekend, Cantwell, Gomez, Jordan video(s) on their page(s): Le Weekend, Cantwell, Gomez, Jordan

Thursday October 16 The Homewreckers, Resist Not, Blood on the Wall Broad Street Cafe, Durham music in the groovo.org player: Resist Not, Blood on the Wall

Thursday October 16 Max Indian, Cary Ann Hearst, Justin Williams Cat's Cradle, Carrboro This is part of the "Club is Open" free local show series. music in the groovo.org player: Max Indian

Thursday October 16 Magic Babies, Violet Vector and the Lovely Lovelies Tir Na Nog, Raleigh Pop with teeth. Magic Babies contain a couple of ex-members of The Weather, and they bring the Badfingery rock-with-vocal-harmonies (and guitar solos). Violet Vector and the Lovely Lovelies take a pretty serious shot at recreating the [studio-only] Spectorian wall-of-sound in a live setting. Bells! photo: Charles & Galen, Magic Babies, Cat's Cradle, August 17, 2008 music in the groovo.org player: Violet Vector and the Lovely Lovelies

Thursday October 16 Auxes, Hammer No More the Fingers Nightlight, Chapel Hill Hammer No More the Fingers are one of those bands who, had they been playing these songs in '94, would've been the subject of a bidding war. Do they even *have* those anymore? photo: Hammer No More the Fingers - Cat's Cradle - October 6, 2007 music in the groovo.org player: Hammer No More the Fingers video(s) on their page(s): Hammer No More the Fingers

Thursday October 16 Nathan Oliver, Brass Bed The Cave, Chapel Hill music in the groovo.org player: Nathan Oliver video(s) on their page(s): Nathan Oliver

Thursday October 16 Magnetic Morning, Springhouse, Julie Ocean Local 506, Chapel Hill Springhouse are from NYC, and they've got Jack Rabid, longtime editor/publisher of venerable zine The Big Takeover. The song I heard on MySpace sounded like west-coast psych-pop, like, I dunno, Flop.

Friday October 17 The If You Wannas, Veronique Diabolique, The Sammies Armadillo Grill @ the Bryan Center, Duke W. Campus, Durham These Campus Concert Series shows start around 5:00, so knock off work early. The Sammies are a kinda crazy rockband from Charlotte who seem equally enamored of the Allman Brothers and the Cure. Veronique Diabolique, of course, are French Goths from Durham, who never met a tempo they didn't like, as long as it was mid. photo: Veronique Diabolique (rare daylight appearance), CCB Plaza, 9/11/2008 music in the groovo.org player: Veronique Diabolique, The Sammies

Friday October 17 Chatham County Line, Thad Cockrell Cat's Cradle, Carrboro This is a party to celebrate the relaunch of the canonical alt-country magazine No Depression as a web-only concern. I believe it's also a benefit for MusiCares, which helps musicians with healthcare needs, since our government is apparenly way too fucked in the head to do that.

Friday October 17 Rob the Throb, One Man Band, Los Rudos, Thee Crucials, Jimmy & The Teasers The Cave, Chapel Hill This is the 5th Annual Blackbeard's Lost Weekend, which was originally founded as a way for the [now-defunct] Spinns to showcase outta-town garage-rock bands they'd met on their travels around the country. That's still more or less the plan. music in the groovo.org player: Thee Crucials

Friday October 17 Transportation, Chrome Plated Apostles Slim's Downtown, Raleigh Transportation are a crazy 70s-influenced power trio from Chapel Hill -- they seem to steal equally from the bloodlines of Queen and Wings. Chrome Plated Apostles are sort of a realignment of the Bad Checks -- Hunter stays on vocals, harmonica and falling down, Clif moves to guitar (after stints in Pipe & the Ghost of Rock, he's spent more time on guitar than bass at this point), Greg Adams (Pipe) steps in on bass, and a rotating who's-who of local drummers seal the deal. Dirty nasty raunchy rock n roll. photo: Transportation - Go Studios - May 14, 2001 music in the groovo.org player: Transportation

Saturday October 18 Lost in the Trees, Stella By Starlight, The Beast, Down River, Bull City Duke Coffeehouse, Durham This is a grand-reopening party for the Duke Coffeehouse, who've undergone some major renovations over the past few months. The show is free, and it runs from 2 til 7, so you can catch a wide range of local talent and still make it out to whatever else you wanna do later. music in the groovo.org player: Bull City

Saturday October 18 The Holy Ghosts, The Loners, The Barberries, Pinche Gringo The Cave, Chapel Hill This is night two of the 5th Annual Blackbeard's Lost Weekend, which was originally founded as a way for the [now-defunct] Spinns to showcase outta-town garage-rock bands they'd met on their travels around the country. Tonight includes the definitive Raleigh gtr/drums garage-stomp duo the Loners, and ex-Spinn Josh Johnson's one-man-band Pinche Gringo (who are now actually a two-piece, Pinche Gringo & the Lovely Sarita). photo: The Loners - Local 506, Nov. 16, 2007 music in the groovo.org player: The Loners

Saturday October 18 Jessica Lea Mayfield Local 506, Chapel Hill

Saturday October 18 The Shondes, Guitar Bomb, Sweet Ones Nightlight, Chapel Hill music in the groovo.org player: The Shondes

Sunday October 19 Monsonia WXDU 88.7 FM, Durham Monsonia have been around for a few years now, during which time they've oscillated between 2- and 3-piece incarnations. They're currently a 3-piece, with Chapel Hill recordist Nick Petersen taking care of bass duties. Sound-wise, they're kinda Shellacky, with Carter Browning's abrasive tones (guitar *and* vocals) riding along atop Andy Willard's muscular drumming and Nick's taut low end.. 4:00 p.m. @ 88.7 FM or wxdu.org. music in the groovo.org player: Monsonia

Sunday October 19 Awesome Color, Rongorongo Local 506, Chapel Hill

Sunday October 19 Richard Bacchus & the Luckiest Girls, GST Cardinals Slim's Downtown, Raleigh

Not enough for you? There are fun interactive maps to the clubs via the Google Maps API. (Last time I checked, it worked everywhere except for IE. It even halfway works in IE, except for the really kewl "get directions" part, which is broken. Maybe one day I'll care enough to fix it. Until then, get a better browser.) Other ways to get this info: 1) The handheld-optimized version of the site, or a new simplified text version of this page, for you lo-fi fans. 2) An RSS feed. AND! A weekly oggcast! (OK, it's just my WXDU radio show.) 3) NEW! An iCal feed of all the listed shows, updated nightly. 4) This listing is posted once or twice a week to ch-scene, the mailing list which is itself a mirror of alt.music.chapel-hill.

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