by Andrew Hibbard on October 5, 2009
Duke
- If the NYT’s Ivy Plus story wasn’t enough for you, Daily Intel weighed in on the absurdity I cannot wait to attend. Their conclusion on plus-member Duke? “Love those kids from Duke. Not too bright, but so entertaining. Like little fun monkeys.”
Durham
- BCR reports that Guglhupf will be offering its excellent “upscale comfort food with a German twist” at dinner starting Tuesday.
- The Durham blog also reports that a new bar/nightclub called The Republic is rumored to be coming to downtown Durham’s Five Points area.
Less local
- Jacob Ganz wrote a great post for the All Songs Considered blog about Pitchfork’s list of the top albums of the naughts. It’s one of the more thoughtful pieces about the ever irksome if not controversial music “taste maker,” highlighting the evolution of the Web site’s tastes.
by Charlie McSpadden on October 4, 2009
by Andrew Hibbard on October 2, 2009
Peter Holsapple and Chris Stamey might be most famous for their work with the dB’s, but the two old friends just released their second album as a duo, hERE aND nOW, their first since 1992’s Maverick.
In promotion of the album, the pair, augmented by a hearty band, stopped by NPR’s Mountain Stage to do an almost 30-minute set that includes a cover of the 2001 Radiohead classic from the not-best album of the decade “You and Whose Army?” Take a listen here.
by Andrew Hibbard on October 2, 2009
Jamie Stewart shows his pride--gay and American. Courtesy xiuxiu.org
Amidst the rainbow flags and grey skies, anyone at North Carolina’s annual Pride Festival might have missed it, but there was fame in the crowd, in the form of none other than Xiu Xiu’s Jamie Stewart. The Durham-hating transplant wrote on his blog about the event:
more than a few times i have wished that my rotten little town of durham, NC would
be destroyed by a fire storm.
but today something great happened. i did not know this but the entire state of north carolina
has
held its queer pride parade in my rotten little town for the last 25 years.
…
i saw 2 men. one was white, clearly from the country, maybe 25 at most, with a man who was black, clearly from the country, maybe 50 at the youngest. the older man was shyly holding the younger man’s arm so they would not be separated in the crowd as they walked along. this was on my street. it was beautiful.
Maybe the Bull City is growing on him. If not, at least he’s out of town.
by Andrew Hibbard on October 2, 2009
Duke is on fall break. Durham is not. If you’re looking for something to do, check out some of the below, all musical events:
On a somewhat different musical note, Awadagin Pratt is playing a Duke Performances show tonight at 8 p.m.
by Andrew Hibbard on October 1, 2009
The (Durham) Herald-Sun reported today that popular music venue (err, restaurant?) the Broad St. Cafe has been ordered to cease hosting music after 10 p.m. The story notes that neighbors have complained about the cafe, which they say is operating “illegally” as a night club. The Soulless Dogs’ show there last week was cancelled because of the Sept. 21 order. From Ray Gronberg’s story:
Lagasse added that the owners would secure the permit if necessary and in any event don’t want to cross the City/County Planning Department. “They could shut us down or give us a big fine that would result in the same thing,” she said.
Inspectors from the Planning Department acted in response to long-running and recently renewed complaints from Waldo Fenner, a Clarendon Street resident who owns two houses that back up to the building that houses the café.
Fenner has maintained that the café has been operating as a nightclub, which by local definition is “an establishment that stays open after 10 p.m. on weekends or on more than an occasional basis” and offers “food and beverages or entertainment and amusements.”
The restaurant is still able to serve food after 10 p.m. but its concerts that remain in jeopardy for the time. Most notably, one has to ask how this will affect Troika, little more than a month away. To boot, Broad St. Cafe is set to host Pipe at 12:15 a.m. Nov. 6, a show that promises to wake some neighbors up. We’ll wait and see how the story unfolds. Hopefully, some angry neighbors don’t mean the end of a popular music venue.
