This Top 10 comes from Durham’s Red Collar.

Red Collar has had a fascinating year so far.  Its members decided to grasp their dreams by quitting  their great 9 to 5 jobs, cashing in retirement plans, holding yard sales and almost putting a home on the market in order to follow their dreams of touring. They document their journey on their blog.

Below are the lists of what each member is currently listening to. Red Collar said, “These lists of music reflect not only what we’re listening to now but bands we’ve played with over the past year.  There are local — now national — bands whose lead we admired and followed.  There are local — and soon to be national — bands who we love and trade war stories with.”

Beth: Bass/Vocals

1. Tom Waits – “Going Out West”
2. The Gaslight Anthem “The High and Lonesome Sound”
3. The Love Language – “Stars”
4. Des Ark - “Lord of the Rings and his Fascist Time Keepers”
5. Yo La Tengo – “I feel like going home”
6. Jawbox – “Savory”
7. K’Naan – “Dusty Foot Philosopher”
8. David Dondero – “the Real Tina Turner”
9. CCR – “Long as I Can See the Light”
10. Carole King “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow”

Mike: Guitar/Vocals

1.  Megafaun – “Gather, Form and Fly”
2. Spoon – “Everything Hits at Once”
3. Joe Tex “Papa was Too”
4. Sonic Youth – “Teenage Riot”
5. Bon Iver – “Skinny Love”
6. American Aquarium – “Katherine Belle”
7. TV on the Radio – “Shout Me Out”
8. Spider Bags – “Teenage Eyes”
9. Hammer No More the Fingers – “Shutterbug”
10. Modest Mouse – “Broke”

Jason: Lead Vocals/Guitar

1. The Love Language – “Providence”
2. Hammer No More the Fingers – “Some Bad Ass New Song”
3. The Sandwiches -  “And Out Come the (Timber) Wolves”
4. American Aquarium – “Katherine Belle”
5. Dave Dondero – “The Real Tina Turner”
6. I Was Totally Destroying It – “Come Out, Come Out”
7. Look Mexico – “You’re Not Afraid of the Dark, Are You?”
8. Worn in Red – “When People Have Something to Say”
9. Tooth/Claw Split 10″
10. The Mountain Goats – “This Year”

Jon:Drums

1. The Pogues – “Bottle of Smoke”
2. Ben Nichols – “Last Pale Light in the West”
3. Guided By Voices – “A Good Flying Bird”
4. Modest Mouse – “Dashboard”
5. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds – “Jack the Ripper”
6. Glenn Kotche – “Mobile, Pts. 1 & 2″
7. The Clash “Straight to Hell”
8. Townes Van Zandt – “Lungs”
9. Bela Fleck - “Matitu”
10. Wilco -”One Wing”

And also this video…

Tools, live at the Cats Cradle and the Duke Coffeehouse

Red Collar | MySpace Video[/myspace]

WKNC is giving away tickets to a glorious amount of local shows happening this week! Here are all the shows that are happening this week that WKNC is giving away tickets to:

Tuesday Oct 6th:

Carbon Leaf w/ Stephen Kellogg & The Sixers and Dawn Landes @ Cat’s Cradle

Carbon Leaf

Wednesday Oct 7th:

Valient Thorr w/Early Man and White Tiger and The Bed of Roses @ The Pour House

Valient Thorr

Thursday Oct 8th:

Everclear w/ Paper Tongues and  Tracy Lyons @ Lincoln Theatre

Everclear

The Revolutionary Sweethearts w/Pink Flag and Proof @ The Pour House

The Revolutionary Sweethearts

Friday Oct 9th:

Blizten Trapper w/ Wye Oak @ Cat’s Cradle

Blitzen Trapper photo by Jade Harris

Cowboy Junkies @ The Arts Center (Presented by Cat’s Cradle)

Cowboy Junkies

Saturday Oct 10th:

I Was Totally Destroying It CD Release Party w/ Lonnie Walker, Des Ark, Rat Jackson, Lake Inferior, and Magic Mike Casey@ Cat’s Cradle

I Was Totally Destroying It photo by Jason Arthurs

Listen in for your chance to win tickets to these great shows! And don’t forget to check out the Rock Report for more local shows in your area!

There are always lots of awesome shows going on in the Triangle, but October seems to be just stuffed full of them. Below is a limited preview of some of the hippest, hottest acts to catch this month.

WKNC gets a lot of praise for our weekly Local Beer Local Band series at Tir Na Nog, but a good chunk of the credit belongs to Chris Tamplin. Help thank Chris for putting up with us Thursday, Oct. 1 as Local Beer Local Band doubles as Chris’s Birthday Local Band Bash. Prabir and The Substitutes and Goner are on the bill and rumor has it there may be a magician.

The much anticipated Hear Here finale show is Saturday, Oct. 3 at The Pour House. Motorskills opens, followed by Inflowential and The Love Language. Tickets are not available in advance so be sure to get there when doors open at 8 p.m. Once inside $5 will get you a copy of the Hear Here CD; there are less than 90 shopping days before Christmas so feel free to stock up.

St. Vincent was one of the hottest groups on 88.1 this summer. They open for Andrew Bird Wednesday, Oct. 7 and Thursday, Oct. 8. at the Cat’s Cradle. Both nights are sold out. If you aren’t one of the lucky ticket holders, personal favorites Everclear play Oct. 8 at the Lincoln Theatre.

Saturday, Oct. 10 is I Was Totally Destroying It’s release party for Horror Vacui at the Cat’s Cradle. The $7 advance and $10 door prices include a copy of the CD. If that isn’t enough to get you there, how about supporting bands Lonnie Walker, Des Ark, Rat Jackson and Lake Inferior?

Baltimore-based J. Roddy Walston and the Business is one of those bands you love as though they were native sons. Mike Roy joins them for their CD release party Wednesday, Oct. 14 at The Pour House.

Berkley Café hosts Lonnie Walker, Goner and Gray Young on Friday, Oct. 16. Try not to rock so hard you miss Luego’s CD release party Saturday, Oct. 17 at the Local 506. The Tomahawks and The Huguenots will be there too.

Raleigh’s Cherry Bounce Music Festival starts Sunday, Oct. 18 and runs throughout the week at various local venues. I’ve been sworn to secrecy about the line-up, but I can tell you to tune in to Local Lunch on Thursday to find out more.

Experimental prog rockers The Mars Volta invade the Disco Rodeo on Friday, Oct. 23. They’ll be in Charlotte the day before if you’re a really big fan.

A bunch of KNC staff saw Charlotte’s Benji Hughes in April and they’re still talking about it. See him for yourself as he performs with The Light Pines Saturday, Oct. 24 at the Local 506.

Fridays on the Lawn continue Friday, Oct. 30 with Max Indian and Schooner. It’s a totally free show on Harris Field, right in front of our radio home in the Witherspoon Student Center (corner of Cates Ave and Dan Allen Drive) at N.C. State. WKNC and the Union Activities Board put on the show with support from Student Government and the Inter-residence Council.

Check out WKNC’s Rock Report for more shows and feel free to leave comments about who’s on your to see list for October.

Chapel Hill pop group I Was Totally Destroying It (Greyday Records) has a brand new album being released October 1oth at the Cats Cradle titled Horror Vacui. But this morning they dropped their first single from the album, “Come Out, Come Out” on the internet. The song features the Hercules Europe Brass in what is one of the most collaborative tracks out locally in some time. Says the band:

“Most of the time in the studio we have a good idea of how the song goes, what we want to do with it, what it should sound like in the end. With Come Out, Come Out, we took a different direction. John and Hep each recorded two tracks using makeshift drum combinations. There were lots of group vocals, a lot of fun.”

You can get a free copy of Horror Vacui at the Cats Cradle October 10th. Also playing the show is a host of other local bands featuring Lake Inferior, Rat Jackson, Des Ark, and Lonnie Walker.

Tonight on the Local Beat looks to be a good time with three fantastic interviews lined up.

At 5pm, Carrboro natives Veelee will be joining me to promote their show this evening at the Local 506 with Free Electric State and Embarrassing Fruits.  The show at the 506 tonight starts at 9:30pm and tickets are $7.  They will also be playing some tunes live on the air which you will not want to miss.

At 6pm Hailey Queen of the Coalition to Unchain Dogs will be joining us at WKNC alongside Sara Bell of Durham based folk rock band Regina Hexaphone to discuss tomorrow’s third annual Music For Fences in Durham Central Park. Regina Hexaphone will be playing alongside Rey Norteno, The Kinksmen, and Superchunk.  The show is from 4pm-10pm, $8 in advance and $10 at the door.  All proceeds from the show benefit the Coalition to Unchain Dogs, which is a non-profit organization set up to raise money to build fences for chained dogs.

The last hour of the show is dedicated to Midtown Dickens who are having an album release party for their new record Lanterns, tonight at the Duke Coffeehouse with Mount Moriah and Des Ark (the show starts at 9pm and is FREE).  Founding members of the band Kym Register and Catherine Edgerton are coming in to talk about the creation of Lanterns, gossip about their new band members, and recollect the past 2.5 years since their last album release.  We will also be performing live unreleased tracks from the album as a sneak preview of whats to come this evening in Durham.

So tune into the Local Beat this evening.  5pm-8pm every Friday!  If you don’t have a radio or are out of the area, listen online!

Hey readers,

It’s your lucky day!

Aimée Argote, the powerful voice behind Des Ark is sharing the songs that have been inspiring her this week.

BRIAN WILSON -Our Prayer – Gee
CHROMATICS-Hannah’s Song
FILTHYBIRD -The Gospel Of Truth (As Judas Told It To Me)
LIZA KATE -Anclote
LUCINDA WILLIAMS -Fruits of My Labor
MASS MOVEMENT OF THE MOTH -Idle Minds Speak In Binary
NINA SIMONE -Suzanne
NEIL YOUNG -Only Love Can Break Your Heart
PYGMY LUSH -Butch’s Dream
VAN MORRISON -Crazy Love

Aimée with be playing at TRKfest on June 13th.

Boulder Acoustic Society performs on the Grove stage at Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival near Pittsboro, NC

This past weekend marked the 7th Annual Spring Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival of Music and Dance (they also hold one in the fall).

The Shakori family was kind enough to throw some press passes at WKNC so that we could do a little exploring, and we had a great time!

It’s four days of camping and music in a very laid back, family atmosphere. When the MC took the stage he made a short announcement to the effect of “We don’t care what you drink, just put it in a cup so the kids can’t see. Also, we don’t care what you smoke, just please don’t do it within 25ft of the stage, we have a lot of children up here”.  Good enough for me!

There were some incredible acts, including the legendary Dr. Ralph Stanley and his Clinch Mountain Boys. The good doctor has been touring since 1946 and won three Grammys for his contributions to the soundtrack to “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”.  I was lucky enough to meet the Father of Mountain Soul at a filming of PBS’s Mountain Stage in Bristol, TN/VA in 2006 and seeing him again in this personal setting was the highlight of my weekend!

Other acts included folk artist Des Ark, ambient world-grass The Overtakers (another highlight for me), The New Familiars, Holy Ghost Tent Revival, Big Fat Gap and of course the festival-founders themselves, Donna the Buffalo. Music of all types was present; folk, bluegrass, jazz, soul, reggae and hip-hop.

The festival had plenty of other activities aside from the concerts as well. A poetry slam, morning yoga classes, and an African drum workshop entertained fans of all ages. Stella and I even got our grooves back at the Elikem African Dance Worshop,  (I was definitely the least rythymic person out there).

Overall, a fun time for anyone who had the chance to come out. The perfect weather didn’t hurt either.

To learn more, peep the site..    http://www.shakorihills.org/

Ol’ River Haynes – The Hippie Hour Sundays 2-4

While it was a beautiful day in Raleigh, NC  (and a perfect day for First Friday), the rain seemed to follow our baseball team all the way to Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts.  It’s been a rough year for the Pack, and the constant rain delays turned into double headers can’t have helped their focus or consistency.

NC State baseball, circa 2009 (c/o Norman Rockwell)

While it might have been frustrating for baseball fans, it did mean that the Local Beat received an impromptu extra hour–back to the 5-8 timeblock!  A little before the 6:00 hour, Brian Walsby, drummer of Double Negative and renowned comic artist, and Charles Cardello, co-founder of Bifocal Media, joined us in the studio.  We talked a little bit about the Manchild 4 comic and Melvins CD release party.  Walsby described Double Negative as a cross between Cat Stevens and Bread.

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A little later on, Scott Phillips of Goner, Scott Williams (also of Double Negative) and Chris Jones (of The Loners) stopped in.  We talked about party/show events as well as the growth of Raleigh as it relates to the cultural scene, and the unofficial pre-party dining location, The Remedy.  But mostly, we chewed the fat.

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From left: Scott Phillips, Scott Williams, Brian Walsby, Charles, Chris Jones

So once again, the party is at Tir Na Nog tonight (Saturday the 4th) and will feature the following lineup:

Des Ark

The Loners

Goner

Double Negative

With the $10 price of admission comes food, a copy of the 4th installment in Walsby’s Manchild comic series, and a previously unreleased Melvins CD entitled Pick Your Battles, which features live music from two shows: one in Berkeley, Ca, in 1989, and the other in Boston, Ma, in 2008.

After the crew left, we played “Automobiles,” a cut off of the new Hammer No More the Fingers album Looking for Bruce.  They are releasing the album tonight at the Duke Coffeehouse alongside the Dry Heathens, the Future Kings of Nowhere, Deleted Scenes, and The Beast.  This is all part of what they’re calling “Viking Storm.”

Hammer No More the Fingers album "Looking for Bruce"

So whether you’re in Raleigh or Durham tonight, you have a pretty epic event to attend.  Decisions, decisions.