As promised more local music: The Old Ceremony

The Old Ceremony have been around a while and if you walk Main Street Carrboro or Franklin Street Chapel Hill much you'll have seen Django Haskins, lead singer and songwriter of the band.  They're a wonderful band (love the vibraphone!) and Django writes great literate pop songs.  My personal favorite is their second album Our One Mistake but you can't go wrong with their self-titled debut or the 2009 Walk on Thin Air all available here.

American Romeo from the debut is a wry tale of a young American striking out big time on his big trip over the big pond.  "Three winds to the sheets as I like to say...."

Talk Straight from Our One Mistake is a fairly angry ode to a failed relationship.  It spoke to me directly at, ahem, a particular point in my life.

Ready to Go from Walk on Thin Air is an infectious but melancholy tune that reflects a young man facing mortality.

If you like the music I implore and beg you to go to their website and plunk down the bucks. Their next local show is at Cats Cradle on April 23rd.  See you there!

BTW, I'll keep the mp3s up for two weeks.

Flyleaf Books -- Great new addition to the CH/Carrboro Scene!

When I was in Montpelier Vermont this past fall I was astounded with the number of indie bookstores (five) in the few blocks of their beautiful downtown.  Montpelier is a town of about 9,000 in a county of 60,000, in other words smaller than Carrboro and Orange County.  I was bitching to Karen about our limited book options and she questioned the feasibility of such a store in CH/Carrboro.

Loe and hehold but soon after that little argument, tiff, squabble, spat, disagreement, a test case opens!  While K questions the sanity of anyone opening indie bookstores in this day and age of the Internet, Amazon and the decline in western civilization, she sincerely hopes I win the bet.  (I won't mention what the bet was but I won't let her renege even if she claims there was no bet.)

So now we have Flyleaf Books in town!  It's located at 752 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd (Historic Airport Rd) by Foster's in Chapel Hill .  As you can see it is quite spacious, bright and lovely inside.  They're friendly folks with grand ideas and a great love of books.  I'll let you visit their web page for the full story but please check it out and buy a book or two.

Yippee! 

How about some local Carrboro/CH music?

The Carrboro Art Scene blog has stuck pretty much to visual arts but we (the royal Triangle we) produce some great music too.  From Supertramp and Archers of Loaf to Squirrel Nut Zippers and Ben Folds to Kingsbury Manx, Tift Meritt, and the Rosebuds the list goes on and on.

Let's listen to a "newer" band today. 

Roman Candle has been around a while but label troubles and the usual music business mess kept them a little under the radar.  Well they hit the radar big in 2009!  Their latest album, Oh Tall Tree in the Ear, is a literate, fun, catchy and basically great album that made several best of the year lists -- certainly mine.  It is hard for me to choose a favorite song so let's choose two.

[March 1: I've removed the mp3s so go to the website to listen.]

Why Modern Radio is A-OK is a combo of great lyrics, a wonderful storyline, name dropping (Merl Watson and Sir Patrick Spens) and catchy driving music.  Listen by clicking here or right click to save.  Then go buy the album here.

Woke Up This Morning is an ode to love and to the beauty of this world when things are going right.  As Skip Matheny sings "everything tastes good to me..."  Listen by clicking here or right click to save.  Then go buy the album again here.

Next week I'll post a mp3 or 2 of Old Ceremony.

We are too cool! And a shout out to GlassHalfull

Metro NC has a new issue with a feature article on Carrboro.  Some interesting history and discussion of what's happened over the last several decades with a focus on design and historic preservation.  It touches a bit on the Carrboro Art Scene.

I can't help but note the mention and photo of GlassHalfull on Greensboro across from Open Eye Coffee where you will find me and my sweetie nearly every Monday night on half price wine night.

February the 12th 2ndFriday Artwalk in Carrboro

Hopefully we'll have better weather than we've been having on 2nd Friday and people will be able to get out.  Here are a couple of things that you should put on your agenda:

Carrboro Town Hall.  301 W. Main St Suite A, Carrboro, 919.942.8541. "In the Middle of the Storm" - Paintings by Ben Gunter. Ben's imaginative representational and abstract works are explosions of color in acrylic, ink, tempera, and mixed media.

Ben is an interesting young man and I know he'd love to see a big crowd. There'll be a nice reception. Also Laura Holley's photos will be at the Century Center for another month.

Fleet Feet Headquarters. 406 E Main St., Carrboro, 919.942.3102. Peter Filene taught American History at UNC until his retirement last year. He remains busy writing fiction, shooting photographs and with his grandchildren. His images portray couples in parks, cafés and subways in Paris and New York including “Excerpts” enlarging certain details-a cheek half-covered by a hat, a pair of hands.

I saw Peter's photography on 2009 Orange County Artist tour and really was impressed.

My show is coming down at Weaver Street Realty but I'm sure they've got a good new show starting this Friday. Thanks to WSR for letting me show my work over the last 2 months! Here's what's next:

Weaver Street Realty. 116 E. Main Street, Carrboro, 919.929.5658. Hannah Shumaker and Ginna Earl are inspired by local flora, farms, and fauna. We'll share an eclectic blend of gorgeous ceramics, jewelry, Gocco print cards, and hand-dyed silk - as well as luxurious goatsmilk soaps and body treats made with local ingredients. Online at www.vespertinecafe.com.