Musicians from North Carolina reign supreme
This article was published in the 2009 Year in Review issue of The Daily Tar Heel.
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This article was published in the 2009 Year in Review issue of The Daily Tar Heel.
Everything you need to know about The Invisible Mountain, the superb new album from Chapel Hill’s Horseback, can be found in the title for its epic last song, “Hatecloud Dissolving into Nothing.”Comprised of three genre-bending monstrosities that rage with parts borrowed from all over the metal spectrum and an ambient closer that’s as creepy as it is entrancing, Mountain is a fascinating record that lives up to its last song’s enigmatic name.With the first three songs Jenks Miller, the man behind the Horseback moniker, unleashes a storm of blistering noise that is as nuanced as anything going in metal today.Opener “Invokation” fades in on a lumbering bit of black metal distortion that’s backed up by pounding drums and airy snippets of beautifully hazy guitar. On top of it all, a demonic voice rants like a hellish preacher converting the masses to the dark arts.It’s a staggering concoction with Miller’s disparate elements creating a wealth of pent-up tension that keeps the listener riveted throughout the song’s near seven-minute length.Through the next two songs, the sonic rage becomes more unrestrained.On “Tyrant Symmetry,” the vocals growl to be heard above a hypnotic groove that hits hard thanks to the gritty effects heaped up on top of it.But not even this well-crafted battle cry can hold a candle to the album’s triumphant title track.Riding a soaring riff that’s pierced by tensile slices of delicate organ, the opening of the song becomes an imposing pulpit for Miller’s animalistic bark as he roars out his aggression in one of the most memorable metal vocals I’ve heard all year.In the instrumental breaks, the guitars contort, chasing one another in an upward spiral that’s shot through by piercing blasts of distorted organ. The perfect balance of terrifying and engrossing, it shows Miller at the pinnacle of his powers.And then all at once the Blitzkrieg is over, and all of the acidic vitriol dissolves into the blissful waves of warm distortion that take charge in the album’s 16-minute closer.Ambient guitar effects, delicate acoustic guitar and keys undulate in a deep pool of calming noise as Miller’s metal groan lets out a few dying breaths, trying in vain to overcome the cleansing sound that has taken control of the record.From beginning to end, The Invisible Mountain is as intriguing and impressive as avant-garde music gets. As Miller builds his hostility to a fever pitch and then breaks it back down to an easy calm, he reveals a true mastery for metal, noise and most everything in between. Contact the Diversions Editor at dive@unc.edu.
In Carrboro a film festival is more than just a formal gathering to coldly judge the work of ambitious filmmakers. Around here it’s something more akin to a family reunion.“Last year I actually knew most of the people there, so it’s much more of a family kind of situation,” local filmmaker Ajit Anthony Prem said of the Carrboro Film Festival. “It’s just one of those things where you kind of take part and you join in. It feels like I’m showing it to my best friends, showing it to the people I really care about.”This Sunday the area creators of 27 films will also be given this opportunity as the fourth annual festival takes over the Century Center.Selena Lauterer, chairwoman of the festival’s selection committee, said that providing such a service to the local film community is one of the main focuses of the event.“It is a community that is rich and ripe with a lot of hidden talent,” she said. “I mean, there are Hollywood, Oscar-winning, Emmy Award-winning filmmakers that are living here. And this is a great way of showcasing that.”In that effort to display the best movie-making that the area has to offer, Lauterer and her committee whittled down the 105 submissions they received to the 27 that will be shown on Sunday.“We have sometimes tame, sometimes heated discussions about each film,” she said. “It really is a numbers game because we can only have so many films that fit in so many hours.”And in this vein, the festival, which exclusively shows short films, has a wide variety. From a 36-second bit of animation submitted by an 11-year-old to longer adult dramas, the festival offers a diverse range of pictures into less than five hours of screening time.“We joke that everyone that comes to the festival will love something and hate something,” said committee member Jim McQuaid. “Since they’re all short, if you hate this one, wait five minutes and try the next one.”With each of the last three festivals packing out the Century Center with a standing-room only crowd of more than 500 people, it stands to reason that quite a few people will be around to experience the spectrum.And it’s out of the diverse range of films that the festival gives out awards. In addition to the traditional first, second and third place overall awards, the festival gives out awards in a selection of other categories such as best student film and an honor for best film as voted on by the audience.To choose the top honors, the films are consolidated down into a list of contenders that are then screened for a blue ribbon panel that makes the decisions. This year 14 movies made this screening.But for the filmmakers participating, the Carrboro Film Festival is about a lot more than awards.“You really get an idea of what’s happening on the ground versus if you go to a bigger film festival,” said Prem, who has two films in this year’s event and was on last year’s selection committee. “Even Full Frame, that is more broad and talking about subjects that have to do with what’s happening around the world. With the Carrboro Film Festival it’s what’s happening here, what’s happening in Carrboro, what’s happening in Chapel Hill. What’s happening in the Orange County area.”“Every time I go to the festival I get informed in some way. I’m not aware of some artist or I’m not aware of some cool thing here, and I get some information about it, which is great.”It’s this kind of local focus that Lauterer said makes her festival stand out, speaking to how participants indicated such to her at last year’s after party.“I had a couple filmmakers come up to me and tell me, ‘you know this is my favorite film festival I’ve ever been involved in,’” she said. “And I thought, ‘Oh, this, our little homegrown, grassroots, community film festival, and we’re having people say that.’”
If a band you like took six years between full-length albums, you’d likely be annoyed and incredulous as to how the process could actually take that long. But if you’re a fan of Chapel Hill’s Fin Fang Foom, you’d probably understand.Michael Triplett, guitarist for the epic post rock trio, had a near deadly bout with spinal meningitis in 2004. The band, a force to be reckoned with since its late ’90s start in Jacksonville, Fla., ceased touring for about a year as Triplett recovered from a disease that came close to taking his life and mobility.“I think it’s kind of affected everything in my life,” Triplett said. “Really coming that close to dying, the things that come out are just learning to be content with what’s around you and trying to take it in, the small moments that matter.”Overcoming the prognosis that he would never walk again, Triplett rejoined his band, toiling away, touring and releasing a Japan-only EP on the way to new LP Monomyth, The record will have its release celebrated at Local 506 on Saturday.Because of his courage in the face of the illness, singer and bassist Edwin Sanchez wrapped the album name around his friend’s struggle. The term refers to a hero in epic literature who wanders out into the world and tries his hand against monstrosities away from his home. It seemed a perfect to Sanchez.“He pretty much took a year out of his life,” he said. “He was pretty much alive on machines briefly. I was just kind of describing what I think he might have went through with the whole term ‘monomyth.’”And that epic concept is backed by equally large music, a construction of thunderous bass, propulsive drumming and anxious guitar. It’s a sound that both members said benefited from the band taking more time to finish it.“There was a little more time to craft these songs,” Triplett said. “We had a little extra time in the studio to get them closer to where we want them.”Though the band is back to music, Triplett pointed out that he looks at making music from a new perspective this time around.“Musically I think it just changed priorities for us,” he said. “It just became less about ‘we need to put out that record because it’s been so many years.’ It’s become more like ‘we’ll record this record when we record it.’”That willingness to take the music as it comes extends beyond the band’s process and into the way it conducts itself as a business.“We don’t have any big goals,” Sanchez said. “We just want to be able to travel. We write it just because it’s our passion and what we do. Fortunately we all share that and have been together for so long. We don’t play music in hopes to be successful because if you do that you’re just going to be always disappointed.”With a new lease on musical life, the band says it’s just excited to keep pushing forward together.“The main thing is we have a good time doing it. Triplett said. “We still have fun. We still enjoy having like a weekly hang-out time together for some reason.”Contact the Diversions Editor at dive@unc.edu.
Like many great things in music, Fin Fang Foom’s sound is built on tension. The Chapel Hill trio potently distills elements that just shouldn’t work.Brutal intensity with delicate emotionality, primal fury with existential angst, vigorously adventurous rhythms with guitar lines so strung-out they seem like they haven’t slept for days — that’s the razor’s edge the band navigates.In “Regret,” voluptuous bass opens dancing with cagey guitar, as piano plays ominously in the background. It’s a perfectly unsettling setting for bassist/singer Edwin Sanchez to unleash shocking metaphors. “I tried to find an exit/But smoke just filled my lungs/I was trying not to panic/As my flesh was burning,” he sings, assaulting the listener’s psyche before the music erupts in flaming retribution. It’s an unrelenting indictment of a troubled mind.But Foom isn’t always vicious. On “Lonely Waves” a musical elegy of violin and prickly guitar forms the backdrop for Sanchez’s beautifuly forlorn duet with his Bellafea partner Heather McEntire.It’s when the band leaves behind this flexibility that it fails. On the tracks that stick to a furious bass-and-drums-with-controlled-guitar formula, the impact gets lost.Still, when the band endulges in nuanced languor or lets loose a tumultuous cavalcade, Monomyth is hard to resist.The instrumental title track is the best success in both regards. Disjointed piano paints an unease as guitar, bass and drums enter in an enthralling slow build. Then suddenly the band unleashes a lacerating onslaught that will have you worshipping at your speakers.It’s not an easy trick. It balances brittle restraint with destructive force without letting either win out. And it’s when Foom manages to maintain this thrilling emulsion that Monomyth glimpses transcendence.Contact the Diversions Editor at dive@unc.edu.
It will likely surprise unfamiliar listeners that Charge It Up! is spearheaded by a mild-mannered, well-bearded Carrboro family man.But Ben Davis, who leads his Jetts, fits that description, though you’d never know it from the 10 red-hot cuts on his band’s album.Wrangling the blistering fuzz of Sonic Youth and hitching it to rocket-powered rhythms, the outfit has produced an album that careens down the cathartic back roads that turn art rock into jubilant pop.“Robocoppin’” is an excellent example of the approach. Atop swaggering, distorted riffs, a pounding beat and the late-night sheen of colorful synth, Davis brags about how he’s moving on from a failed relationship. “I’m about to paint this town a couple of colors you shouldn’t ever mix now,” he sings, throwing away the line with all the casual cruelty of a man just released from his romantic leash.On this and a good supply of other up-tempo songs, the band rocks their problems right out of town. And while the tools they use occasionally get repetitive, they’re assembled with too much energy to ever approach boring.But it all gets nailed home when Davis’ runaway train crashes into darkly emotional pay dirt.On “Rincon Pio Sounds,” bassist Megan Culton piercingly sings of the obstacles between two people as guitar, keyboards and bass tangle into a knot of pure momentum. “A rock will only skip so far/Until it sinks through into the dark,” she sings as the music solidifies the notion into certainty. It’s an impeccably crafted pillar of pure frustration that burns with passion.So whether the attack is powered by sneering disregard or angst-ridden admission, Davis and his Jetts provide furiously rocking release. As a result, there’s nothing mild or family-oriented about it.
Correction (Nov. 6 12:04 a.m.): Due to a reporting error, an earlier version of this story incorrectly states the number of national tours that Chapel Hill band I Was Totally Destroying It has been on. It has been on two. The story has been changed to reflect the correction. The Daily Tar Heel apologizes for the error.
I honestly don’t think I could be less excited about this year’s Homecoming. Sure, the alumni will have their fun, reuniting with their former classmates, knocking back enough Bud Light to convince themselves they’re back in college. And it’s certain that the town will be a bustle, bringing much-needed money into our economy. But as far as what I see being offered by this year’s festivities, I’m not just underwhelmed. I’m downright embarrassed. And it’s not the underachieving football team that’s got me pulling out my hair. It’s the shoddy selections for the campus’ two Homecoming concerts. No matter your feelings on Sunday’s performance, I think it’s safe to say that almost everyone on campus envisioned someone with a higher profile than Fabolous. Apart from dabbling exclusively in rap cliches and utilizing some of the most vapid, cookie-cutter beats I’ve ever heard, he’s also just not cool. Even when he’s hit it big as he did with 2001’s hardly club-worthy “Make Me Better,” no one’s taken him seriously. I’m pretty sure the only people who considered that song genuinely artistic were middle schoolers chewing candy straws at dances, hanging on every word to hear the expletives missed in the edit. In fact, Fabolous is such a thoroughly uncool choice that it makes picking an unsuccessful American Idol contestant seem hip. At least former Clef Hanger Anoop Desai will be making a homecoming when he takes the stage Wednesday. And what’s worse is we know what could have been. Endlessly fun mash-up master Girl Talk and emotionally charged Kanye West protege Kid Cudi declined invitations from the Carolina Union Activities Board. It seems that relevant and respected entertainers don’t think Chapel Hill is worth the effort, even when tens of thousands of dollars are on the table. UNC needs to do better. Selecting the Avett Brothers last year was a savvy move as the thrilling Concord outfit is now breaking it big, but we’re still lagging behind our in-state peers. Duke has done great things with its on-campus concerts, netting Girl Talk, Lupe Fiasco, Ben Folds and Third Eye Blind in the last two years to play its Last Day of Classes celebration. In 2006, Kanye West made an appearance at UNC-Wilmington. Comparing UNC’s selections to these makes the school’s organizers look like they don’t even know how to turn on the radio. It’s like watching this year’s Florida State football game. Even with every advantage — a packed home crowd, a huge lead — the Heels squandered the opportunity. CUAB’s throwing away its chances too, and if things don’t change, they’re going to continue to get blown out by the competition down the road. It’s a good thing the Victory Bell isn’t given to the school with the best concerts. If that were the case it would be tolling proudly in Durham right now.
Cover bands and Halloween — two traditions now hopelessly intertwined. Take a look at your local show schedule this weekend and you’ll find a bevy of costumed tribute outfits with myriad ridiculous names; you know, something to the tune of Led Zombie or Eddie Van Helsing.But tribute bands aren’t the only groups that enjoy channeling their favorite rock stars.Local bands of all stripes frequently include covers in their sets, paying homage to the stars that inspired them to pursue music in the first place.And though this isn’t an aspect of performances that most bands like to play up in the press, the crew here at Dive figured with it being Halloween and all, that we could have some fun with this often maligned, rarely respectfully done pastime.Catching up with three local bands who routinely play cover songs in their sets, we convinced them to play those cover songs for us.So, bringing along our cameras and a fervent adoration for Halloween mischief, we invaded the homes and practice spaces of three bands, filming a performance of one of their cover songs and sitting down for a quick Q&A afterward. And in the spirit of the holiday, we convinced them to play these songs dressed as the original artists. After all, what’s All Hallows’ Eve without a little bit of masquerade fun?So head on down to the bottom of the page, check out some pictures of the bands in their costumes and get some insight into why it’s so much fun to dress up and play as your favorite artist. And after you’re done with that, go to The Daily Tar Heel’s Web site and check out video of the performances and Q&As.Happy Halloween.
It’s Halloween night. You jump in your car and crank 88.1 for some pre-party jams as you head over to a friend’s house to debut your all-too-detailed Optimus Prime costume.Suddenly, your ears are confronted with the sound of death rays and crazy screams. A voice on the scene tells you a Martian attack is consuming the Triangle area.Rest easy, friend. It’s not an actual newscast. This Saturday from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. 88.1 WKNC will air a Triangle update of Orson Welles’ radio adaptation of “War of the Worlds.”The production by N.C. State’s newly formed Two Cabbage Radio Players will employ classic foley and synthesizer sound effects for a live recreation of the 1938 radio play that pranked multitudes into thinking that New York and New Jersey were actually under attack.Damian Maddalena, N.C. State doctoral student and founder of Two Cabbage, said he came up with the idea about a year ago when he saw a stage adaptation of the story.“You can see behind the curtain; you shouldn’t be able to see behind the curtain,” he explained, adding that the charm is in imagining it for yourself.“I said, ‘I want to do this on the radio.’ It’s not quite the same to watch people doing.”Maddalena said that the group chose to localize the show to give listeners more context as to the locations involved.“I thought people might find it more interesting if we switched to Raleigh,” he said. “I thought it would be more fun if we described locations that we know locally. The places that are mentioned, Durham and Raleigh, are landmarks that people know. It’s also a little more creepy. I know that place I can’t imagine what it would be like if that was real.”The element that will allow the listener to picture those local places torn asunder by alien invaders will be the show’s live sound effects.“There’s no image; people are just listening to it,” said Brian Donohoe, drummer for Raleigh band Starmount and foley artist for the show. “I’m helping paint the back for their image.”And while a 20th century approach was a temptation, Donohoe says he has chosen to keep the performance old-school.“I was really into having a live mic on live radio and mashing two cabbages together to simulate skulls being crushed,” he said. “That’s why we named the radio troupe Two Cabbage Players.“I like the fact that a lot of it is not manipulation electronically. It’s me and the audience live at the same time.”In addition to crushing vegetables and crinkling leaves, Donohoe will be using a vintage 1978 Micromoog synthesizer to make the sounds of the alien weapons and spaceships.“Best pawn shop purchase experience I’ve ever made,” he said, explaining that he bought it for $75 in Nashville.But though the sound effects and performances will obviously be as real as possible, Maddalena said he has no intention of fooling the Triangle into thinking that this attack is the real deal.“What if people think it’s real? My first reaction was they’re stupid,” he said. “How at this point in time could you not know the story. It seems like there’s no way they could trick people.“It’s not so much the original prank as the tip of the hat to the original prank. We’re all sort of mischievous folks.”And as for his choice of timing, Maddalena said it’s nothing more than the first Halloween available to hold it.“I just seems appropriate because the whole thing was just a Halloween prank to begin with.”Contact the Diversions Editor at dive@unc.edu.
A jazz trio. A frenetic MC. A complex social message. A litany of references that range from Stormtroopers to Dragon Ball Z. It’s not a list of random words. It’s the formula for a hip-hop monster.
Sometimes in the heat of telling a story, journalists can get caught up in their own momentum, trampling the people involved in order to present something compelling on the page.Durham’s Megafaun has been the victim of one such stampede.The experimental folk trio made up of brothers Phil and Brad Cook and lifelong friend Joe Westerland was once in a band called DeYarmond Edison with Justin Vernon. When Vernon moved back to the group’s native Wisconsin and headed to a snowed-in hunting cabin to nurse a broken heart, the resulting music made a big splash. Forming a new band and dubbing it Bon Iver, Vernon has stormed the indie world, leading many to misconstrue Phil, Brad and Joe as the leftovers.“We were just written off as a band he left behind in really f--ked up ways,” Phil Cook said. “You just realize how much it’s out of your control, how quickly things just explode.”But with a new critically acclaimed record in Gather, Form and Fly, Megafaun has begun receiving its own wave of national attention. Coming off tours with fellow Triangle folk act Bowerbirds as well as Bon Iver, the group has risen to a stature where references to former groups are not necessary.“We’ve gotten a chance to tour and play some historic venues and tour with our friends,” Cook said. “We’re making just enough money to not have to work as much when we get home. Things are good, man. Things are good.”This success is owed to an off-kilter sound that’s like nothing else. A fluid mix of folk, noise, blues and pretty much everything in between, Megafaun’s music could only be made by artists that are incredibly familiar with one another.“We run into bands on the road and hear a lot of stories about bands where it’s turmoil and all business,” Cook said, talking about how great it is to play with people you know well. “That’s going to happen no matter what, but I feel lucky, all of us do, that we play in a band that gets along so well.”Though the group has had success putting its music to tape, Cook says that the live performances are where the heart of the band truly lies.“The only way we truly convert people is when they see us live,” he said. “It’s brought us around to this really good place where we really feel emboldened to be these road warriors, one by one, building up fans that we’re going to convince to keep coming to our shows. We’ll build it the old-school way.”And in the wake of everything that’s happened over the past few years, Cook is insistent in pointing out there are no hard feelings between his band and Vernon.“This last tour we did with him was a chance we had to hang out for two straight weeks on a bus. It kind of came full circle. It was a chance for us to just be together, which is what we wanted.”Contact the Diversions Editor at dive@unc.edu.
Stepping onto the Shakori Hills property leading up to this weekend’s semiannual grassroots festival, the work taking over the area doesn’t seem much different than the good-hearted labor the rest of Chatham County’s farmland brings to mind.Sure, the volunteers aren’t plowing a field or milking a cow. And setting up stages, building a sound system and constructing a wooden caboose aren’t what most would consider agricultural work.But there’s something downright familial about the community of lovable vagabonds that take to the property to ready it for the thousands that come each spring and fall. And it’s just this feeling that festival co-organizer Sara Waters thinks sets her festival apart.“The other festivals are great,” she said, referring to the Triangle’s music festivals. “They celebrate the art and the music. I think that we do a really good job of containing all of that together: art and music and the environment and community living and working together.“There’s a feeling here that I think is different than other ones. You just kind of feel home as soon as you’re here. A lot of people say that.”It’s this idyllic atmosphere that the festival hangs its hemp on. Founding organizer Jordan Puryear wanted to plant a seed of community and environmental consciousness when he cane down from Shakori’s big brother event, New York’s Finger Lakes Grassroots Festival.And whereas like-minded festivals, such as Tennessee’s now enormously commercial Bonnaroo, have let ideas of environment and community take a backseat to increasing ticket sales, Shakori is dedicated to its higher purpose. Waters picked the festival’s Sustainability Fair, run by Pierre Lauffer, as proof of this.“He came to us and he says, ‘I want to have a place where we have a lot of green builders and people who are doing good things for the earth. I want to have a place for them of the festival.’ So we said, ‘OK, do it.’ We put him in charge, and he does it. “I think that kind of thing will keep it in the forefront. It’s important, so as the festival grows, then Pierre will have more people at the sustainability booth, and he’ll have more room for more people. It’s really something for us to think about,” Waters said.And while lofty ideals are all well and good, the real draw for festival patrons is obviously the music. With lineups that lean more toward world music styles in the spring and a more Americana and indie rock-based mix in the fall, Shakori stocks a varied assortment at each, attempting to draw in a diverse audience.“There’s probably not as many African-Americans or Hispanic folks as we would like,” Waters said. “I think we’ve done a pretty good job of having a good amount of different people.”“I have this painting that this woman did of Shakori Hills. It’s just a bunch of people, and every single one is a different color. She had never even been to the festival, but she was going to come. I look at that painting, and it’s just perfect with all the different colors and all the different people.”With a roster that includes notable Americana artist Jim Lauderdale, a homecoming by former Chapel Hill country-fried rock act Roman Candle, a smattering of respected artists from various world genres and a slew of local talent, this weekend’s fall festival looks poised to haul in the attendees.And performers that have experienced the festival in the past look forward to repeating the experience. “Our impression of the festival is a really great organized thing that’s grown out of good people that like music that are interested in having good music all in one fun location where a ton of people show up,” Roman Candle singer Skip Matheny said. “There’s a lot of different age groups. There’s a lot hippies. There’s a great mix of folks there, which makes for a really good time.”For Waters the music is only a means to joyous end: a gathering of people on a picturesque farm, all celebrating the joy of having fun in the outdoors. It’s the aspect of the festival that she says everyone is working for.“It blows my mind to see the work that volunteers will do,” she said. “And they do it for a free festival pass. But they do it for so much more than that, too.“They do it because they believe in the place.”
John Booker is tired. Sitting on his back porch with bags under his eyes, he forces a half smile that fails to cover the tumult beneath. To his left is his ex-girlfriend, clasping her hands and cagily surveying the scene. To his right are two of his good friends, awkwardly attempting jokes to lighten the mood. It’s the first weekend in October, and I Was Totally Destroying It has survived a year that would have killed most other bands.“It’s been like the s--ttiest summer ever,” Booker said of the months spent recovering from his breakup with co-singer/songwriter Rachel Hirsh. “It’s been a bad year.”Indeed it has. Besides the rift caused by the ended relationship, the band has also endured a failed record deal with local startup label Neckbeard Records, creating bitter feelings among what were previously good friends.Add to that the transition from former bassist Martin Anderson to the new Joe Mazzitelli, and you arrive at the kind of tension that rips apart groups like well-sharpened shears.But IWTDI endures, turning tensions and fractures into emotionally rich, hard-hitting pop rock on its sophomore effort Horror Vacui, which will be celebrated with a show at Cat’s Cradle Friday.“It’s a break up album in retrospect,” he said. “Only one song, the first track, was written after we broke up. But most of the other songs are written in bad moments.”But the odd thing for Hirsh and Booker is that these songs were written in collaboration, meaning that each of them helped fill out the other’s insults.“There’s these songs on there where it’s a really scathing song where Rachel’s scathing at me,” Booker said. “She’ll have this verse where she’s like, ‘You suck, John,’ and I’ll come up with a chorus line that’s also indicating that I suck.”And though visceral pain is what makes Horror Vacui what it is, the band’s experiences together have actually made it grow closer.“We’re at a point now where we’re all the closest people in each other’s lives,” said Hirsh, pointing out how unlikely this is in a group with a 17-year age gap between herself and drummer James Hepler. “I don’t think any of us ever expected that. Like I never expected to have a 35-year-old guy friend.”It’s this bond that IWTDI believes will allow it to continue.“It’s not unreasonable to think that you can have a relationship breakup during a band’s tenure and have it work out,” Hepler said, as his band cited Superchunk and Fleetwood Mac as bands who survived such a fallout.“We’re not on the other side of everything yet,” said Hirsh. “But we’re all trucking along and trying to keep our chins up.”And while the band knows that it will continue to have problems, Hirsh was quick to point out that it could be a lot worse. “I don’t know if we’re ever going to be at the place where I’m going to go, ‘Hey John, I wrote this verse about me slitting your throat and peeing in it because I hate you so much.’ I don’t think we’re at that place.”
The Mountain GoatsLife of the World to Come
As the chorus of “Beautiful Day” wafted over the crisp October air, Arts Editor Katy Doll and I sprinted desperately to cross the N.C. State Fairgrounds over to Carter-Finley Stadium.The biggest rock stage show in the history of the genre was hitting Raleigh, and we had already missed the first three songs.Our journey to Raleigh from Chapel Hill, like the rest of the multitudes who braved I-40 Saturday night, was an odyssey. From RDU International Airport on, the interstate moved at a crawl, rendering the usual half hour jaunt into two and a half hours of waiting and worrying.It was so bad that by the time we got to the Wade Avenue exit a few miles from the venue, people were parking their cars on the side of the freeway, willing to risk the wrath of the law to make it to catch The Edge’s opening guitar chord.To be honest, we thought about it, too.But we soldiered on, confusedly navigating the parking beehive that organizers made of the fairgrounds, finally finding a parking place and throwing down $20 for the trouble before scrambling over to the stadium.And then, as we rushed in to find our seats, there it was, standing before us. “The Spaceship.” At 170 tons, it’s the largest stage of its kind, but its awesomeness doesn’t stop at measurements.On stage, Bono belted the chorus of new song “Magnificent,” but I barely had time to take in the rock icon before I was distracted by the mechanical monstrosity that surrounded his band.Around the main stage was a runway, the space between filled with a mob of disciples. Linking the runway to the stage were two catwalks that pivoted to different positions. At corners four enormous legs stretched skyward, bejeweled with sparking multicolor lights. At their joining, a spire shot into the air, also crowned in light. And coming down from the canopy of it all was a circular screen which projected the band to every eye in every direction.And the point of all this, as Bono told the crowd, was “intimacy on a grand scale.”“What do you think of our space junk?” he asked. “We knew our Spaceship would take us all kinds of places, but we built it to get close to you, the audience.”And on songs such as an acoustic duo version of “Stuck In A Moment You Can’t Get Out Of,” it did just that. As Bono and guitarist The Edge sang the ending harmony to each other, they were framed in spotlight, a passionate moment captured in crystal clarity by 360 degrees of screen.But more often the stage and U2’s high-tech tricks made the Raleigh stop on the U2360° Tour more spectacular than personal.In a dance remix of “I’ll Go Crazy If I Don’t Go Crazy Tonight,” the band rushed to its runway with bongos and a beat that just wouldn’t quit. Blue lights flashed as a circle of bobbling U2 heads took over the video board and two disco balls threw shimmering light all around.Did it make me feel closer to U2? Not really. Was it overwhelming? You have no idea.At the end of the day, U2 isn’t really a band you can get close to. They’re too large, too all-encompassing to belong to just you.For the encore, Bono came out in a jacket covered in lasers that cut into the fog like energy bursting forth from his very pores. You can’t identify with a man made out of lasers. It’s something we mere mortals will never do.But we can still get caught up in Bono’s presence. We can still ride along on The Edge’s tidal waves of warm distortion. We can still marvel at the biggest spectacle in rock ‘n’ roll.And that’s the kind of experience that justifies almost any journey, no matter how arduous.Contact Jordan Lawrence at dive@unc.edu.
The triangle is routinely seen as a musical hot spot, but This notion applies to more than just the bands that populate our stages. It also applies to our well-filled air waves. Representing three different universities and three different cites, WKNC, WXDU and WXYC each attack radio with their own distinct style.
The Avett BrothersI and Love and You
As the people who put out this publication are only too aware, reading gets a lot of competition these days. Inundated with a constant tidal wave of distractions from TV, the Internet and the frantic pace of modern life, many people let sitting down with a good book or periodical slip into that category of “I’d really like to get to it if I had more time.”But this weekend, many of the facilities at UNC will be taken over by an event that’s out to change that mindset. Today through Sunday, the fifth biennial N.C. Literary Festival will hit campus, bringing an array of authors, storytellers and performers out to show the community just how rewarding reading and writing can be.“The one thing about the festival is it’s free and open to the public, and it’s for the community,” said Amy Baldwin, director of the festival, speaking to how the sponsors of the event have tried to pack it with a variety of activities for a large spectrum of people to enjoy. “Our community is comprised of people that like all kinds of different things relating to reading and writing.”Packing such high-profile speakers as famed legal thriller author John Grisham and Elizabeth Edwards in addition to other performers and a jam-packed children’s program, it’s pretty much certain that the event will garner a high level of interest.“It was important for us to try to have different components that appeal to different parts of our community,” Baldwin said, noting such off-beat presentations as a lecture on graphic novels and a food writing presentation with free samples from local chefs as examples of how the festival has expanded its palette from years past. “We felt that it was very important to try to provide something for people in the community.”One aspect of the festival that has been beefed up this year is the children’s area. Sporting keynote speakers such as Goosebumps author R.L. Stine in addition to a bevy of other activities including storytellers and theatrical performances, the new and improved program is designed to make literature entertaining for the young ones.“The festival has always had a component of children’s literature or some activities, but what we’ve done is that we’ve grown that area,” Baldwin said, adding that one of the biggest additions to the children’s section is an activity tent. “We’ll have about six to eight activity stations where kids can make their own character puppet, their own character mask. There will be a station where they are given an illustration and they have to write a short story based on it.”In addition to the activities, the children’s area will also be taking children’s books to be donated to the pediatric oncology department at UNC Hospitals.And though the kids will be well taken care of this year, the event is also full of serious fare for those more interested in taking on weighty issues in literature.Edwards will be at the festival talking about her new book “Resilience: Reflections on the Burdens and Gifts of Facing Life’s Adversities,” which turns her fight with breast cancer and adversity in the face of her husband’s adultery scandal into an inspirational tale for readers. And Edwards is adamant that students should take advantage of not just her presentation but all the other great things the festival has to offer, too.“There is not a single cultural thing that I did, not a single opportunity I had at this University that I regret going to,” she said in a press conference for the event.“But almost everything I didn’t go to I regret. In real lives when you start getting busy, and you have kids, and you start having other responsibilities, it’s really hard to fit in these incredible opportunities that you have at UNC.”The weekend will also feature contributions from some of the University’s professors. Paul Cuadros, whose “A Home on the Field” was selected as this year’s summer reading book for incoming freshmen, said he’s excited to be part of a literary festival that’s highlighting the literary arts in a community that could really benefit from them.“I think any community that can embrace the written word helps itself to advance and get new ideas and get experience about a lot of different things,” he said. “For the Chapel Hill community, this is an opportunity for the community to celebrate these authors and to get a chance to meet them. I think that’s really exciting.”And with a lineup that’s packed for the entire weekend, Baldwin said it would be impossible to pick out one session for which she’s most excited.“Having planned this, I’ve gotten to know a lot of the authors and to know their writing more. I just can’t say I have a favorite,” she said. “I’m looking forward to all of them.“I think one of the challenges for people attending is going to be deciding on which sessions to go to.”Senior writer Katy Doll contributed reporting.Contact the Diversions Editor at dive@unc.edu.