The Bull in Full

Yep Roc "Stimulus Package" sale

Heads-up: Yep Roc is having a clearance sale of sorts, with single CDs going for $5 and doubles going for $10, on what looks like a whole lot of their back catalog stuff.  I'd try to summarize some of the finds they've got on sale there, but there's more than I want to try to cut through, so suffice to say that, at least from my perspective, any time is a good time to buy a new Gourds album, but when it's only $5 is a particularly good time.

Go look.  It'll be fun.

Best Song Ever

This may turn into a showdown of sorts with Barry. 

Apparently they're back together and touring this spring.  They're in DC on the 18th of March, and dammit, I. Am. Not. Missing. Them. Again.  The Pogues top my list of bands that I want to see in my lifetime and haven't seen.  I don't care if Shane McGowan is overweight and on his 26th stint out of rehab.

Best Song Ever

I can't believe I've let Barry draw me into this...

Ralph Stanley (yes THAT Ralph Stanley) records Obama radio ad for Virginia

I'm in a bit of awe at the moment.  With the polls in Virginia showing Obama with a decent lead, this might be the nail in the coffin.  Ralph Stanley has recorded a radio message endorsing Barack Obama.  (TPM has the audio.)

Obama's problem with older white voters in the mountains is partially about race, of course, but I think a bigger problem is the general mistrust of outsiders, and Obama looks like such a stranger people have trouble supporting him.  That said, having RALPH STANLEY, the co-creator (with the late Bill Monroe) of bluegrass, vouching for him has to be worth something.  He'll still lose southwest Virginia by a good margin, I'm sure, but my guess is this makes the margin smaller.

Shameless plug: Txakoli Fest at Six Plates tomorrow

Six Plates, a ridiculously cool local restaurant and wine bar that just so happens to be owned by three friends of mine that I know through two completely separate channels (Matt Beason and I lived on the same street in Durham when I was 5), is have an event entitled the "Txakoli Fest" tomorrow.  Here's a little snippet on it (including how to pronounce Txakoli):

“TXAKOLI FEST” AT SIX PLATES ON JULY 19

(Durham, NC) – Six Plates Wine Bar announces Txakoli Fest, a special event taking place on Saturday, July 19. Doors open at noon.

The event will feature six types of txakoli (pronounced “chah-ko-lee”), which is produced in the Basque country of Spain. Why base a festival around this specific type of wine? “Txakoli is a great summer wine that people in the United States are just beginning to understand,” says Beason. “The festival is a way to enjoy a summer day and expose our customers to something new.” All of the wines will come from Chapel Hill-based De Maison Selections, the premiere importer of txakoli in the country.

Because white txakoli, in particular, has a clean, slightly effervescent taste that pairs well with oysters, head chef Ted Domville will offer six versions of oysters on the half-shell along with a variety of accoutrements.

Local musicians will provide live music throughout the day. Guests will also be able to purchase a mini “porron,” a traditional Spanish drinking instrument that several people can share. “It’s kind of like a more sophisticated version of a beer bong for wine lovers,” says Beason.

There will be some really good live music throughout the day, including (and here's the truly shameless part) yours truly as part of Mark Cool's backup set, the "Folk Stars."

The Indy's Rick Cornell on "The Echo"

This week's Indy features a special section looking back at the whole of 2007 in music.  The whole thing is a good browse, but I particularly liked the piece by Rick Cornell about the state of roots music in North Carolina.  In particular, Cornell focuses on how successful roots music continues to be throughout the state, in various forms.

I'm drawn to this piece not just because Cornell romps through some of my favorite local musicians, although that's certainly a plus.  He touches on a variety of excellent acts, from the Avett Brothers to the Midtown Dickens to Chatham County Line, to personal favorite (okay, so they're friends of mine, I'm biased) the Carolina Chocolate Drops.  (Another shameless plug: Cornell didn't mention other friends-of-the-blog Little Windows, but should have!)  The main reason I'm linking here is because he touches on something I've thought for a long time, and is a big reason why, after spending college in a town in Minnesota that could be a dead ringer for Lake Wobegon at times, I ended up back in North Carolina.  The way I've put it in the past is that in North Carolina, music just seems to be seeping out of the ground, or at least running through the trees like the pine tar from the lost longleaf forests.  It's not any one kind of music, but it almost seems like everyone here is doing music in some form or another, to a far greater extent than anywhere else I've spent much time.  Cornell puts it another way, attaching a name to it that I think is pretty good too:

But above all else, I point to "The Echo" for this state's current role in roots music. It's the sense that, if you put your ear up to a pine tree, you can hear a mountain ballad or four-part harmony. If music isn't everywhere in this state, it's just two mandolin players away from that goal. "You walk out your front door, and it's hard not to bump into someone who plays piano or sings in the choir at church, or does some pickin' on the banjo or guitar," says Dolph Ramseur, who finds time to manage The Avett Brothers and the Carolina Chocolate Drops when he's not running Ramseur Records. "Growing up in the Piedmont, it seemed that every family I knew had a piano in the living room, and somehow I am sure this helps make a difference." For Merlefest Director Ted Hagaman, it's this simple: The music is part of every North Carolinian's heritage.

Perfectly said. 

TMBG@Carolina Theatre

I'm light posting this week because of some professional stuff (more later, perhaps), but I did want to mention that via a correspondence with Connie Campanaro of the Carolina Theatre, there will in fact be a They Might Be Giants show at the Carolina on October 26th, and tickets went on sale yesterday at 11 AM.  Because the show is produced by Cat's Cradle, the Carolina can't just throw it onto their premier lineup page. (Ah, the oddities of booking contracts.) 

(If you all run out and buy all the good seats before I get a chance to, I'll kick all yer asses...)

Update: Connie asked me to post this clarification:

we feel it is always best if we hold off from boldly advertising an event until said event
is confirmed, event is built in ticketing software/system and front-line staff is ready to "sell" ie serve the customer.  After all, advertising is ideally a "call to action" don't you agree?