The Local Beat is back this week with the first of many guests in 2012.

At 5 p.m. long-time regulars on the program, the Kickin’ Grass Band, will be back in studio. KGB has been hard at work for the past year travelling and touring across our great nation but are finally playing another show in our area tomorrow night. It is a special event as well; the band has officially been together for 10 years and this will be the “Ten Year Anniversary Show.” The concert is tomorrow night in Durham’s Carolina Theatre with the Apple Hill Cloggers and other special guests. Tickets are $15 and available at www.carolinatheatre.org  and www.pinecone.org,  by phone at (919) 560-3030 or toll free (888) 241-8162, or at the Carolina Theatre box office. The band will be playing live in studio as usual and I will be asking them to share some stories from the past 10 years.

At 6 p.m. we will be welcoming in a new band to The Local Beat, one that has been creating quite a bit of publicity recently. Monoslang, a new group from Raleigh, will be showing up to chat about their new self titled EP which is slated to be released tomorrow night at Kings Barcade in downtown Raleigh. Monoslang is made up of four area musicians who mic trip-hop, post-rock, and indie together to form a very unique sound. I will talk with the group about their history and sound and listen to some of the new tunes off of the EP.

Minor Stars and No Eyes are also playing the show which will cost $5 and start at 10 p.m.

As always, the fun starts at 5 p.m. and will last until 8 p.m.! Be sure to follow the Local Beat on Twitter or Facebook and download tons of free local music on our ReverbNation page!

 

David Thompson is an N.C. State basketball legend. He led the Wolfpack to its first NCAA championship in 1974, and he graces the cover of Raleigh-based Kooley High’s newest album, Kooley High Presents… David Thompson.  This Saturday, Dec. 10, hip-hop enthusiasts will celebrate the release of this new album with a CD release party at The Pour House in downtown Raleigh featuring Kooley High, King Mez, Actual Proof, and Lazurus.  The show is 21+ and doors open at 9 p.m.

I’m what you might call a hip-hop novice. I set my Pandora to Mos Def and I’m good for hours. Kooley High Presents… David Thompson is definitely helping me branch out into the genre.  The group of former NCSU students layers funky beats and clever rhymes to create a sound that I’m not quite used to, but I’m definitely into.  I’m especially a fan of track six, a special anthem titled “Dear Raleigh” that actually makes me feel attached to the red-brick ocean that is NCSU.  New Raleigh blog agrees that Kooley High does Raleigh justice.

Adam Kincaid will host the group on The Local Beat tonight from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. I’m hoping to get a glimpse into Kooley High’s inspiration, their reasoning behind the iconic album cover, and hear more about their upcoming show.

Luckily for you (and me), I will be attending Saturday’s show and reporting back on Monday, Dec. 12.  Come back to the blog to read about my experience with four of Raleigh’s best hip hop artists.

This evening on the Local Beat we are having another jam-packed show with three hours of local music goodness.

One of my favorite bands in the area, Mandolin Orange, is starting off the program at 5 p.m. to chat about their new double album that is being released at Cat’s Cradle on Saturday, Sept. 24. The album is entitled Haste Make/Hard Hearted Stranger and was recorded at two different studios in the past year. According to their website,

“Haste Make was recorded with Jeff Crawford and James Wallace in winter 2010/2011 at Arbor Ridge Studios West in Franklin, NC and at Arbor Ridge Studios in Chapel Hill, and was produced by Jeff Crawford and Mandolin Orange. Hard-Hearted Stranger was recorded in summer 2011 at Rubber Room Studios in Chapel Hill and features Andrew and Emily alone, produced by Andrew Marlin.”

The Tenderfruit are opening for Mandolin Orange at 9 p.m. and tickets are only $10.

I will try to coerce Emily and Andrew to play some live tracks for us on the radio so you don’t want to miss out on that treat.

6 p.m. brings in ’80s Chapel Hill dream poppers, The Veldt, who are playing a show at the Southland Ballroom this evening at 9:30 p.m. You might remember these guys from their amazing 1994 release Afrodisiac or the follow up LP in 1998, Love at First Hate (or maybe you don’t). Regardless, they are local legends and it is going to be an absolute thrill and honor to have them on the Local Beat, especially since they rarely ever perform live. We will be talking about the history of the band, their scene, their connection to CBS’s hit show, Survivor, and all things in between. Doors at the Southland Ballroom are opening at 8 p.m. with music starting at 9:30. Brooklyn-based Your 33 Black Angels and Chapel Hill group 100 Yorktown are starting the show and tickets are only $10. In addition, the band is encouraging everyone to film the concert and email the footage to theveldtrocks@gmail.com for an upcoming DVD.

The last hour of the program will feature yet another local music festival, our fourth on the program in the last three weeks. Sara Waters, co-coordinator of Shakori Hills Grassroots Music Festival, is stopping by to chat about this fall’s festival, which will take place October 6-9 in the woods and fields of Pittsboro, N.C. Shakori Hills has long been a staple in central North Carolina, with two festivals each year. We are going to play music from bands and musicians featured at this fall’s event. Sara and I are also going to talk about the history of Shakori Hills, some fun things going on at the festival this year, and be giving away free tickets. You don’t want to miss this final hour.

As always, “The Local Beat” starts at 5 p.m. and runs through 8 p.m. every Friday evening on WKNC. Listen live here and be sure to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and ReverbNation!

It seems as if September is the month of festivals in our area. Following Hopscotch last weekend is SPARKcon in downtown Raleigh this weekend, and the following weekend is the Carrboro Music Festival in Carrboro. With Hopscotch out of the way we now have time to cover these longtime favorites in our area.

 

At 5 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 16, I will be joined by Gerry Williams, the coordinator for the 14th annual Carrboro Music Festival. The CMF has a long tradition and was one of the first music festivals in our state, starting before Hopscotch, Troika, Artsplosure, and SPARKcon, when it was called The Fete De la Musique. In 2002 the festival changed its name to what it is today but the goal remains the same: feed music to the masses. The event is taking place on Sunday, Sept. 25, and will feature 180 different acts at 25 venues. Join Gerry and me as we look to the past and the future at this great event.

At 6 p.m. musicSPARK organizer Stephanie Brinson is stopping by to chat about the SPARKcon art festival in downtown Raleigh. SPARKcon began six years ago and musicSPARK has been one of the central SPARKs throughout its duration. It started Thursday night and will continue through Sunday evening. This year’s musicSPARK is free for the first time and is very different from previous SPARKs. Listen in with Stephanie and me as we chat about this year’s event.

Continuing on with the SPARKcon trend at 7 p.m., I will be joined by Nikhil Shah of Locus Recordings, a start-up record label from Raleigh. Nikhil is providing the music for “Wear What You Are,” one of the fashion shows of fashionSPARK  happening on Friday evening. This one will mainly exhibit Raleigh Denim, which will be featuring 17 new “looks” in City Plaza at 8 p.m. Nikhil is also providing the music mixtape for the afterparty at the Flanders Art Gallery, which will be following the fashion show. The afterparty is from 9 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.

As always, “The Local Beat” starts at 5 p.m. and runs through 8 p.m. every Friday evening on WKNC. Listen live here and be sure to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and ReverbNation!

This Friday evening on “The Local Beat” is going to be a fun one as we are going to try to do the show live from downtown Raleigh at Wristband City in the Sheraton Hotel for Hopscotch Music Festival. With power outages and bad Internet connections we will cross our fingers to see if we can make it work.

Hopscotch will be beginning its second day as the Local Beat takes the air and we will be joined by a variety of guests that may include WXDU‘s Ross Grady, old school local band Soccer member and Lenovo Social Media Editor Gavin O’Hara, as well as several different local musicians who plan on dropping by. The conversation will focus on Hopscotch and the people and music involved in it.

It all starts at 5 p.m. with plans for the show to only last until 6 p.m. so we can all join the Dodos, who are playing live in City Plaza starting at 5:45 p.m.

Feel free to come by and watch the Local Beat from Wristband City, whether you are a Hopscotch goer or not!

As always “The Local Beat” starts at 5 p.m.  every Friday evening on WKNC. Listen live here and be sure to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and ReverbNation!

Friday, Sept. 2 on “The Local Beat” is the first live program since July and it is jammed full of some amazing guests.

Last year we had Independent Weekly Music Editor and Hopscotch Music Festival Curator  Grayson Currin on the program for a full three hours to talk about the first ever Hopscotch. This year we toned it down a bit and Grayson, along with Hopscotch Marketing Director Greg Lowenhagen are coming in for one hour from 5-6 p.m. Join us as we chat about this year’s festival from the eyes of the men behind it.

At 6 p.m. local hip-hop act Kooley High is dropping in for the first time in quite awhile. The group is playing at Kings Barcade with King Mez, HaLo, and Drique London. The show is all ages and cost $1, with the starting time planned for around 10 p.m. I’ll be catching up with Kooley High and talking hip-hop.

The final hour of the show will belong to Hunter MacDermut, aka The Tourist, who is releasing a brand new 12 track album Sept. 3 at Marsh Woodwinds in Raleigh. Scott Phillips (of Goner, Monologue Bombs, and about 20 other local bands) will be opening and the show at 8 p.m. Hunter and I are going to talk about the new album and the show and spin some tracks off of it.

As always “The Local Beat” starts at 5 p.m. and runs through 8 p.m. every Friday evening on WKNC. Listen live here and be sure to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and ReverbNation!

Late last week I sent an email out to the WKNC staff to ask them to tell me what their grievances in music are. It’s not quite Festivus yet, but as the school year starts and stress starts to build up, I thought now would be an appropriate time. I left things pretty open. The idea was simple. All they needed to do was send me any pet peeve they had in the music world. From fans, to artists, and everything in between, I received a little bit of everything. Out of all the emails that I have sent to our good-looking staff, this one warranted the greatest response. Below are the musical pet peeves in order that I received them.

Do you have a musical pet peeve? Air your grievances in the comment section below.

La Barba Rossa: Down with the hippie twirl!

DJ Stutterz: People who squeeze in front of you at a show like they are moving and then stand two feet in front of you the whole show. Also people who obnoxiously yell cover song titles in hopes of them being played. People at electronic shows who are more concerned with their glowsticks, glowing/flashing light things, fairy wings then they are with the actual music. I understand that it’s fun to dress up and all but I hate it when there is more focus on the guy twirling a glowstick ball then there is the actual music.

R. Cory Smith: I cannot stand sirens in music. Like that sh*t at the beginning of Drake and Lil Wayne songs. God, that’s awful.

Kyle “El Generalissimo” Robb: When people use “techno” as a blanket term for all electronic music. That 8 foot tall guy at every show who always seems to stake out a spot directly in front of you. You can try leaning to one side, but his subconscious ESP will tell him he needs to lean the same direction.

The Cosmic Cowboy: My pet peeve: the genre of music dubstep.

Mason: Anybody who craps on music on the simple merit that it’s “too mainstream.” At WKNC, we play different music because it’s an opportunity we have as a non-commercial station. We don’t have to worry about corporate giants standing over our shoulders wagging money in our faces. It’s not like all main-stream music is horrible… only some of it is. Music snobbery drives me insane. Just because music doesn’t fit our particular daytime format doesn’t mean that a person who listens to it is an idiot. PS, I freaking love Beyoncé’s new album, Brittney’s ‘new’ album, and Kanye West. I’ve also recently begun to enjoy (I’m behind the times) TLC and Mariah Carey. There is nothing wrong with me. I just appreciate good classics and respect pop hooks from heaven.

Cannibal Cory: I hate it when I listen to a death metal song and can’t eat people at the same time.

Dr. J: My musical pet peeve would be people who, in my opinion, think it’s cool to think Johnny Cash is cool. What do they know about Johnny Cash? I’ve listened to Johnny Cash my entire life. Name me six Johnny Cash songs, poser.

.jose jose.: I hate it when people talk sh*t about an artist during the show and then go tell them how much they loved it afterwards.

Cioffi: Scorpions.

One Cool Dude: When people say, “I listen to everything but rap and country.”

DJ Shorty Fernarnar: Anytime you go to a concert for your favorite band, and the person sitting next to you doesn’t even listen to the band, they’re just going to go. So, they act obnoxious and disrespectful while you’re trying to listen to your favorite tunes.

Emmaroo: Not to bash on musicians, but could they please stop creating epic buildups that make me want to pee my pants with anticipation and then present a mediocre “hook” of no musical merit. Or who have such a great start to end with an inconsequential chorus. Just to throw some bands under the bus: Foals, After Glow and one Andrew Bird Song the name of which escapes me right now. I think it’s from Andrew Bird and the Mysterious Production of Eggs? I can’t remember but it pisses me off. Also when people ask if I’ve heard of a fairly mainstream band and when I say no instead of going “oh it’s awesome! you should listen, you’ll enjoy it” they make a face and utter something along the lines of “where have you been?” or “are you kidding me how have you not heard them?!”.  If you’re that surprised I haven’t heard of the band then just assume I have and don’t ask.

Mollypop: Off beat clapping. Like, I understand you’re excited. I understand you’re drunk. But there is NO NEED to clap when 1) the band hasn’t encouraged the clapping and 2) when you’re off-beat. F**kers.

DJ Saber: Tweeted this as it happened today in class because it really irks me when people blast their music through their headphones IN A DEAD SILENT AREA. Of course I love music, but not when it’s squeezed out of someone else’s ear bud. The result is comparable to screaming child who won’t calm their sh*t. It’s a terrible noise. It’s completely unnecessary to turn your music up on full blast in a quiet place.

Shorty Shorts: Long car rides, like a hour or more, of someone’s musical taste imposed on me (if I don’t like it, of course).  I love the music I listen to, but I like to be conscious enough not to make others listen to it if they don’t want to.  Sure, taste in music is subjective. I get that, and I don’t care what you listen to, but if you make me listen to it… for an extended amount of time… I’ll hate you.

The Voice of Reason: If I go to a show, I dread seeing folks stand about like the sedated undead. It happens so often as to not be a pet peeve anymore, but it’s disheartening to bop around while folks shuffle their feet like having fun is a felony.

Psychonaut: Bands who save their best songs for the encore. Not that I don’t enjoy hearing those songs, but because it invalidates the whole idea of the encore. An encore is supposed to be for a band that does a great job and entertains the crowd enough that they want more and more. Instead, they’ve become a farce where it’s essentially the band just taking a break and enjoying a forced round of applause and cheering from the crowd.

DJ Bunch: People who keep moshing during a slow breakdown. Give it a rest for 30 seconds, douche! Also, fat people who try to crowd surf (particularly when the crowd has a disproportionate amount of rail-thin teenagers).

Filthy Rich: Ke$ha. In addition to Ke$ha, another one of my pet peeves is when I’m at a show and people in the crowd start shooting video with their phones. Not only are they waving their arms an inch away from my head and obstructing the view of the stage, they’re not really focusing on the show if they’re concentrating on making a shitty video. Then, that shitty video will end up on YouTube as a noisy blur that doesn’t do the band justice. (Unless, of course, it’s Ke$ha.)

DJ Bullcity: Dubstep fanboys that spend twice as much time analyzing dubstep, where it came from, and what qualifies as dubstep, then actually listening to it.

DJ LiViD: When people whistle to a song.

DJ Dylan-ger: When you specifically make a party playlist of seven hours of music to play off your iPod speakers, and then someone comes along and changes it to Lil Wayne, or any other music you could hear at ANY party but your own. And when you try to change it back: “No one knows your music!” Shut up and enjoy my jams I handpicked just for you.

DJ Elly May: I hate when I tell someone specifically that I love a song on the radio in the car and turn it up and then they proceed to talk over it. Helloooo! Shut up!

Captain SKAmerica: Just because you prefer a band’s older material, you are automatically referred to as a hipster. Also that one girl at every punk and ska show that stands at the front in the mosh pit and gets mad when people run into her. If you’re in the pit, you’re gonna get hit. Get it through your head.

Adam Kincaid: Bands, especially local bands, who think they are “too popular” for our station. F**k you. If we can have half of the national touring acts we do come in for interviews you can drag your ass five minutes down the road for a chat once a year. Especially if you owe your local popularity to WKNC’s programming. Our LOCAL listeners want to hear from their favorite popular LOCAL acts because they feel a sense of ownership and pride in making your music as well known as it is. I also can’t believe no one has mentioned people talking during shows. Shut the hell up about your ex-boyfriends cousins best friend who glared at you at a coffee shop 2 weeks ago and remember she was the one who was wearing that super expensive shirt like she was hot shit and like, OMG, that mole on her arm is sooooooo gross. I’m trying to enjoy myself without hearing your coffee talk. If you have to scream over a concert to have a conversation you are in the wrong place.

Chocolate Rice: iTunes.

DJ C.E.O: When people decide that they want to sing along with me! I quickly tell them that this is not a duet. When people are skimming through their iPod looking for a song and skips all the good songs! Just pause it until you’re ready to play something instead of teasing me! When people (mainly my mom) play the same song over, and over, and over again. When I go see an artist live and they let the audience sing a full song. Especially if it’s one of my favorites. When I go to a show and the sound system is POOR. When I go to a party and the DJ takes me on an emotional roller coaster by playing really fast songs followed by really slow ones. Like WTH?

Sarahnade: The chord progression GCD in recorded music. When someone wants to show me a song then talks over it. Quiet music when loud music is equally/more appropriate people at a show who are are completely stoic.

It: I really dislike it when I’m driving in the car and someone can’t just listen to one song all the way though and changes it right when I’m getting into it. Also, people who try to talk to me during concerts; I can’t hear you, I didn’t come to the venue to hear you and unless something crazy is going on you are just hurting my ears by yelling in them.

Chuck: My biggest musical pet peeve is people talking at quiet shows. Story time: July 22, 2009. XX Merge at Cat’s Cradle. The Magnetic Fields begin their (wonderful) set. Live, the band tends to go all acoustic, so it’s pretty quiet. The bands starts, yet above the music everyone can hear lots of loud chatter at the bar in the back. The entire crowd then shushes them and the venue becomes completely silent, allowing for the music to be the only thing anyone heard. It was great.

DJ Ones: My biggest pet peeve comes from my time in the music director world. It irks me so much when someone sends an album to the station that is in terrible packaging. Instead of a proper CD case with clear listings of the track, artist, and album name, they send you this thin slit that hugs the CD. When that thing goes into our library it disappears beside properly packaged CDs. The labels and artists that get the most spins are usually those with the best packaging.

It’s another flashback on “The Local Beat” Aug. 12 as we dive into the vault once again to uncover some great interviews from the past year. This week, however, we are not dropping too far back as we relive some interviews from the past couple of months.

The first hour will be our interview with Kelly Reid and Suzie Hook from Sound Situations, recorded in June. Sound Situations is a fantastic new local music based interview and performance TV program on the Raleigh Public Access Channel. So far the show has several new episodes under its belt. Kelly and Suzie joined me to talk about the new show and what plans they had in store for it.

At 6 p.m. we will rehash and interview with one of my favorite local bands: I Was Totally Destroying It. IWTDI came on “The Local Beat” back in April to discuss their newest album, Preludes, which was being released at the time. John and Rachel are always fantastic guests and I have yet to have a dull conversation with the duo.

The last hour was one of my all-time favorites in recent memory with The Small Ponds and Filthybird. Both bands played at Marsh Woodwinds on May 20, which turned out to be my favorite show from Spring 2011. Both groups have a lot of new material which the Small Ponds played live for us in studio.

As always “The Local Beat” starts at 5 p.m. and runs through 8 p.m. every Friday evening on WKNC. Listen live here and be sure to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and ReverbNation!

Friday, August 12 on “The Local Beat” is the beginning of our next Local Beat Flashback Series which we do one month a year. Throughout the rest of August we will be looking back at past episodes and dusting off some oldies from the vault.

This week we are bringing back two Local Beat Mini Exclusives from April and a live interview from back in November 2010.

Starting off the hour will be an interview we did on November 5, 2010 with members from The Light Pines. The Light Pines have been in the news recently with their free downloadable release of their debut album which came out just a short time ago. In the interview from last year we talked about that new album and the future plans of the band. It should be interesting to see how things panned out for the group between November and now.

The second hour of the show goes to a Local Beat Mini Exclusive from April with The Huguenots. The band’s bassist, York, came in to chat about the band’s debut release. However, not even two weeks after the interview with me, the band called it quits. Still, it made for an interesting conversation.

The final hour of the episode belongs to another April Mini Exclusive, this one with Adam Eckhardt of A Rooster For The Masses, who sat down with me to chat about their newest album, No One Is Ready. Adam is always a great conversationalist and it made for some fantastic discussions.

As always “The Local Beat” starts at 5 p.m. and runs through 8 p.m. every Friday evening on WKNC. Listen live here and be sure to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and ReverbNation!

Recently inspired by an NME post that had their staff discuss what the first albums they every bought were, I thought it would be interesting to figure out what the WKNC kids had first picked up.  After a bit of work this is what they sent me!

 

Professor X

Spice Girls- Spice

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DJ Elly May

Natalie Merchant- Tigerlily

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The first album I ever bought with my own money was Natalie Merchant’s ‘Tigerlily.’  Laugh if you dare.

 

Dr. J

Billy Ray Cyrus- Some Gave All

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back in 1992 or 1993, before most of the staff had started kindergarten, a young Jamie Lynn saved up her allowance to purchase a CD player and one CD to go with it: Billy Ray Cyrus’s “Some Gave All,” featuring the hit single “Achy Breaky Heart.”

 

K’nuckles

Queens of the Stone Age- Songs for the Deaf

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From Walmart aw yea.

 

.jose jose.

System of a Down- Toxicity

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Real original, I know.

 

D-Cutta

Run-D.M.C.- Raising Hell

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DJ Ones

Michael Jackson- Thriller

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I used to dance my ass off to some Thriller, still do when given the opportunity.

 

The Chancellor

Franz Ferdinand- Franz Ferdinand

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DJ Switch

Led Zeppelin- Best of Led Zeppelin

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Still listen to it once a month or more.

 

Chuck

The Smashing Pumpkins- Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Voice of Reason

Sum 41- All Killer, No Filler

I bought Sum 41′s All Killer No Filler. Embarrassing now, totally radical back then.

 

Mayday

Baha Men- Who Let the Dogs Out

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I saved up my lunch money to buy this.

 

Cannibal Cory

Metallica- Master of Puppets

 

Bigfatsac

Ray Parker Jr.- Ghostbusters

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was the 45 single.  I was 6 years old and I believe I used my birthday money.

 

DJ Shorty Shorts

Dashboard Confessional- A Mark, a Mission, a Brand, a Scar

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spaceman Spiff

Smash Mouth- Astro Lounge

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rian Regal

Spin Doctors- Pocket Full of Kryptonite

 

 

The Huguenots have been getting airplay on WKNC for nearly four years now, but the group has yet to release anything official but some spare demos. That is until April 8, when the group is putting out their first LP. The Huguenots are known for the super poppy and upbeat music they seem to craft effortlessly and their enjoyable live shows, but finally, the band will release some tangible music. Founding member York Howie came in to represent the band and share a couple unheard tracks from the upcoming album. It had been awhile since I interviewed the Huguenots, so we caught up and took a look back at where it all began at UNC Asheville. York was a wonderful guest and gave us an insightful look into the recording of the album and told us how it all came together.

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You can catch the Huguenots at their album release show at the Local 506 on April 8 where they are playing with the Tomahawks. Tickets are $6

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It has been quite some time since A Rooster for the Masses put out a new album, but the popular local group is doing just that on April 15 at Kings Barcade when they release their third and newest LP No One Is Ready. Still upbeat with a touch of disco and an air of reggae, ARFTM has certainly kept the same vibe with this record as their past discs, and that is a wonderful thing.  Founding member Adam Eckhardt and myself shared a brief 30 minute conversation where he reflected on the history of the band and its current state as well as the new album. We also listened to several new tracks including “No One Is Ready,” “Make Much Sense,” “At The Gates,” and “Die By Day.” Give it a listen below:

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The doors open at 9 p.m. and the show starts at 10 p.m. Greensboro-based Decoration Ghost and Raleigh favorites River City Ransom are also playing. Tickets are $6 online and $8 at the door.

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If you are anything like me you love this time of the year with the lights, food, family, and music!  I personally am a huge fan of Christmas music and any holiday related tune I can get my hands on is put into my non-stop playlist for the month of December.

That is why I am excited to announce the Local Beat Christmas Special.  This coming Friday December 24th the Local Beat is dedicating all three programming hours to local Christmas music.  Instead of interviews and talking this week we are only playing Christmas and holiday tunes recorded by North Carolina musicians.  In total we should have around 50 different holiday songs by North Carolina artists.  Some may be traditional but we are mostly shooting for original material.

Be sure to tune in whether you are driving to visit family, at a tacky sweater party, or roasting chestnuts over and open fire!

As always the Local Beat starts at 5 p.m. and runs through 8 p.m. every Friday evening on WKNC.  Listen live here and be sure to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and ReverbNation!

This coming Friday on the Local Beat I am dedicating two hours of the show to Troika Music Festival.  Of course by the time the interview airs the festival will be well underway since it is beginning tonight.  Melissa Thomas and Stuart Horne came in to pre-record the interview with me earlier in the week and I felt that it was important to share our conversation before Friday evening and before Troika begins.  Among many things we chatted about the history of the event, compared it to Hopscotch, and discussed what is going on differently in this years festival.  Give it a listen below:

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Troika on Twitter

Troika on Facebook

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Friday evening on the Local Beat will be one you surely do not want to miss.

The first hour of the program Chapel Hill band the Light Pines are coming on to talk with us about a plethora of topics as we promote their First Friday  show at Tir na Nog alongside 12000 Armies and Nudehues.  The Light Pines are almost finished with their debut 10 track album and we will talk about that in plenty.  Also stick around and listen as we chat about their connections with the Love Language and their future touring plans.

From 6pm-8pm I am dedicating two hours to the Troika Music Festival in downtown Durham.  Melissa Thomas and Stuart Horne dropped by earlier in the week to pre-record the two hour interview and it was rather entertaining.  You can go ahead and listen to that interview here, but you can only listen to the Troika bands during the airing of the interview!

As always, the Local Beat is every Friday evening from 5pm-8pm right here on WKNC.  You can also listen online here.  Be sure to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and ReverbNation!