The fall semester is on the brink of starting, and it made me a bit nostalgic as I’m beginning my last semester here at NC State University. I came to Raleigh from a small town in eastern NC so I didn’t know much about what I think is the triangle’s most redeeming quality — its music scene. So, we made a bucket list for all you music lovers out there so you don’t miss out on anything.  It’s in no particular order.

Enjoy — and feel free to add your stories and suggestions in a comment!

1.             DJ at WKNC | You can also help out with promotions, production, web, engineering, sports and public affairs. You’ll be first in the know about anything music. We hold interest meetings each semester (even summer!) for NCSU students. This fall’s interest meetings will be held August 20 at 5:30 p.m. and August 21 at 8 p.m. in 201 Witherspoon Student Center.

2.             Bike to First Friday | You can venture to First Friday, a monthly arts event in downtown Raleigh, by starting at NCSU’s Bell Tower at 7PM with fellow bikers. Be careful not to drink too much free wine if you’re biking back.  ”Go to first friday – there’s usually live music performances outside!!” — DJ Trillian

3.             Go to Hopscotch | Hopscotch Music Festival will be September 6-8 this year. “An annual festival held in downtown Raleigh that showcases some of the finest live acts that the state has to offer.  Put on by Raleigh’s Independent Weekly Magazine, this festival boasts an eclectic lineup of local and touring artists from all walks of music, indie-rock, hip-hop, folk, electronic, and pretty much everything in between.  This year’s lineup features The Roots, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Yo La Tengo, Built To Spill, Danny Brown, The Mountain Goats, and much more!  With free shows starting at noon and lasting until around 5:00 p.m. each day, there’s no reason not to check out this unique festival experience right here in Raleigh!”  -GRZA

4.             Heck, hit all the venues. | Let’s be honest, we’re lucky to live here. In Raleigh you have Kings Barcade, The Pour House, Lincoln Theatre, Slim’s, Berkeley Café, Tir Na Nog Irish Pub, Dive Bar, NC Museum of Art, Southland Ballroom, Deep South, Disco Rodeo, Five Star, Raleigh Amphitheatre and concert halls. Chapel Hill/Carrboro area has Cat’s Cradle, Local 506, Nightlight and The Cave. Durham is home to Motorco, Pinhook, Casbah, American Tobacco Campus and DPAC. And of course, the “other” schools’ concert halls and auditoriums. They’re all great. “Attend any and every Future Islands show.” –May Day

5.             Attend Fridays on the Lawn | This is WKNC’s bi-semester free concert event. It’ll always feature local music, food and swag. Usually on Harris Field (rain locations are necessary sometimes), you’re encouraged to bring some friends and a blanket. This is open to the public, and dogs are welcome, too!

6.             There’s also Music on the Lawn at American Tobacco in Durham | Grab a beer from Tyler’s and enjoy some live music. There’s also dance, movies and jazz events that take place here.

7.             Explore SparkCon | This year, SparkCon will take place September 13-16 in downtown Raleigh. In its 7th year, it will encompass everything from music and film to fire dancers and bartending competitions.

8.             Camp out at Shakori Hills | Located in Pittsboro, Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival happens twice a year, fall and spring. The fall festival will be October 4-7. Camp out with your friends in the woods, make new friends, and wake up to the sound of banjos. Paint your face, dance, cook over a fire…..also, get a Veggie Thing. It’s amazing. “A stellar 4-day music festival in Pittsboro, NC that boasts everything from bluegrass to soul to funk.  Filled with good vibes and good times, this family friendly festival is loaded with diverse music, yoga, and dance workshops that take up the few minutes of the day that don’t have wonderful tunes permeating throughout the farmlands.  A guaranteed beautiful weekend that rolls around twice a year.”     -GRZA

9.             Dance at Rowdy, Rowdy Square dances | “This is a good way to experience square dancing with young folks, and hear some good ol’ music! Be on the lookout for these dances!” -Cosmic Cowboy

 10.          See a band in the Brickyard | The past few years during Shack-a-thon (fundraiser for Habitat for Humanity), WKNC has hosted acoustic performances from local artists. You can also catch the occasional student strumming a guitar, playing accordion or one of NCSU’s a capella groups performing. 

 11.          Picnic for a show at Duke Gardens | Beautiful, serene, and BYOB. Share a blanket and dinner with some friends while watching local bands perform into the sunset. Make a friend at Duke so your tickets are cheaper.

 12.          Listen to a pianist in Caldwell Lounge | If you’re a student in CHASS (College of Humanities and Social Sciences), you’ve probably already done this. There’s a piano set up in Caldwell Lounge that is frequented by talented students. So while you’re between classes, cramming for a test or taking a lunch break, it’s nice to spare a second to listen.

 13.          Grab a beer at Local Band Local Beer | Local NC brewskis on tap and local bands on stage. This 21+ free event happens every Thursday night at 10PM at Tir Na Nog. 

 14.          Read The Independent Weekly | It’s an alternative weekly (free) newspaper that has all the best music, arts and political news. It also keeps you up to date with what events are going on around the county.

 15.          Join a drum circle at Pullen Park | Channel your inner hippy.

 16.          Celebrate Christmas with Trekky Records | Trekky Christmas puts a new spin on classic songs by featuring their bands and mix-matched members.

 17.          Rock out at Bull City Metal Fest | If you’re a metal head, it’s a must. Two days of heavy metal in downtown Durham, pulling national and local acts.

 18.          Enjoy a performance at DPAC | It’s nice and classy. See ballet, theatre or music here. The last one I went to was BB King. Badass.

 19.          Go to a concert at Memorial Hall | Another very nice venue that will get various acts. It’s can be a bit pricy, but it’s worth it.

 20.          End August with Stars in the Round at Shakori | “Great if you don’t have 4 days to devote to camping. Usually 3rd weekend in August” – Mollypop

 21.          Catch the Diggup Tapes show series | It’s a free show series at Kings each month. This is 18+.

 22.          Go to both nights of Double Barrel Benefit | “For people new to the triangle there is no better time than right now to clear your calendar for the next Double Barrel Benefit. It’s going to be the 10th anniversary, and it’s going to be all kinds of awesome.” -DJ Ones

 23.          Party with the triangle’s finest at Indy Week’s “Best of” Party | Each year, Indy has its readers vote on the best in the triangle. In June, they throw a party to celebrate the winners and finalists. In other words, hear the best music, eat the best food, drink the best drinks and get acupuncture.

 24.          Run in the Krispy Kreme Challenge | This annual charity events challenges its participants to eat a dozen donuts mid-race.

 25.          Drink a PBR during PBart | I’m sure you’ll drink one regardless. But PBart has bands and PBR-themed art on showcase, as well as the occasional ropes performers.

 26.          Buy records on Record Store Day  | Internationally celebrated, it’s the third Saturday in April. Labels put out special limited edition releases and stores have in-store performances, swag and discounts. There’s usually a line so go early.

 27.          Compete in the pants off dance off at TRKfest | Okay, so you don’t actually have to take your pants off. Trekky Records has a day set aside each summer to share its music with the triangle. Not to mention this also means local beer, food trucks and local arts vendors.

 28.          Drive to Haw River Ballroom | “Beautiful venue.  if you have time before the show, go to the Haw River General Store before hand for the best gourmet food you’ll find at a convenience store. Seriously.” – Mollypop

 29.          Dance at Discovery and Dirty Mega | Lights, glow sticks, photo booths and dancing until the lights come on. Then a little more of each.

 30.          Give the saxophonists on the corner of Martin/Fayetteville St. money to play “Careless Whisper“ | His rendition is on point. It’ll get stuck it your head, but I’m not sure that’s a bad thing. 

This Saturday, Feb. 5 marks another glazed filled, four mile run for the charity event benefiting the NC Children’s Hospital. The Krispy Kreme Challenge will host 7,500 runners this year, some of which will feature our very own WKNC deejays. In order to get pumped for the event, we’ve posted below a few of our playlists for the run.

Kari:

1. The Black Keys — 10 a.m. Automatic
2. Generationals — Faces in the Dark
3. I Was Totally Destroying It — Done Waiting
4. Kate Nash — Kiss That Grrrl
5. M. Ward — Never Had Nobody Like You
6. Rilo Kiley — Portions for Foxes
7. Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings — I Learned the Hard Way
8. Weezer — Ruling Me
9. Shout Out Louds — Fall Hard

Special K:

1. Smith Westerns — Weekend
2. If These Trees Could Talk — What’s In the Ground Belongs to You
3. Kanye West — Get Em High (Ratatat Remix)
4. The Luyas — Too Beautiful To Work
5. The Light Pines — Bird Tribe
6. Washed Out — You and I
7. Kisses – Midnight Lover
8. Y La Bamba — November
9. King Mez & Commissioner Gordon – The Light
10. Future Islands – Walking Through That Door

Agent “Glazed and Confused” Orange:

1. Japandroids — Wet Hair
2. Digitalism — I Want I Want
3. Yeah Yeah Yeahs — Y Control
4. Bloc Party — Flux
5. Queens of the Stone Age — Go With The Flow

DJ Mensch:

1. Broken Social Scene – 7/4/ (Shoreline)
2. Minus the Bear – My Time
3. The Love Language – Heart to Tell
4. The Seatbelts – Tank!
5. Blink 182 – Feeling This
6. Mute Math – Chaos
7. Rancid – Red Hot Moon
8. Rise Against – Savior
9. The Temper Trap – Science of Fear
10. +44 – No It Isn’t

Hot Tamale:
1. Donnis – Gone
2. Joy Formidable – The Greatest Light Is The Greatest Shade
3. The Hood Internet – Two Weeks of Hip Hop (Dead Prez vs Grizzly Bear)
4. Sleigh Bells – Run The Heart
5. Drake – Best I Ever Had
6. The Who – Baba O’Riley
7. Girl Talk – Triple Double
8. The Killers – Mr. Brightside
9. Matt & Kim – Block After Block
10. Bloc Party – Ion Square

Riff Raff/Kate-tose-intolerant:

1.Outkast- Rosa Parks
2.Best Coast – Bratty B
3.Best Coast – Crazy For You
4.Best Coast – Summer Mood
5.The Beatles – Golden Slumbers
6.The Beatles – Carry That Weight
7.The Beatles – The End
homestretch:
8. Bassnectar- BBC Mixtape 2010
9. Paper Tiger- The Bully Plank
10. Blue Sky Black Death – Days Are Years

The KNC KKC crew, looking not too shabby the morning after DBB7 night one.

WKNC had the great pleasure of supporting the 2010 Krispy Kreme Challenge as a silver level sponsor. We also sponsored our own team of runners – an amazing challenge since the race fell smack dab in the middle of Double Barrel Benefit 7.

If you read Special K’s preview of the Krispy Kreme Challenge, no doubt you having been waiting with glazed breath to hear how own crew fared.

Max Power blew the rest of the staff away with the astounding time of 47:33. DJ Two Sheds and his training monkey Molly came in next, at 50:03 and 54:21. Major props also go to DJ Mick, Sweet Melissa, Special K, Will, Agent Orange, Osh-Tosh, Mz Kelly, Riff Raff, Hot Tamale and May Day for crossing the finish line.

Check out Technician’s Sights and Sounds of the event and their photo slideshow. If you caught any pictures of our crew, decked out in custom KNC wearables, send them over to us and we’ll put them in our end-of-year slideshow – unless they prominently feature regurgitated doughnuts, of course.

With only a few days left before the Krispy Kreme Challenge, many of the deejays are beginning to mentally prepare for the arduous task. The benefit for the North Carolina Children’s Hospital has two physical challenges that competitors must overcome. The first is the two mile run from the NC State Bell Tower to the Krispy Kreme Store on Peace St. and then the two mile run back to the Bell Tower.

The second is the overwhelming 12doughnuts each runner must eat before returning back to the starting line, all within the hour. Over the past weeks, many deejays have been spending time outside the studio and on the track, building their frail skinny deejay bodies into lean athletic beasts. Others have taken more unconventional approaches such as avoiding physical exercise altogether and have just been binge eating. (For many this hasn’t been much of a lifestyle change.) With fighting style will win out? One can only wait to see the results this upcoming Saturday.

Now to meet the brave deejays willing to take on the Krispy Kreme Challenge. Each has selected a top playlist of songs they will wield to push them to the brink during the race.

Agent “Glazed and Confused” Orange

• Death From Above 1979 - “My Love Is Shared”
• Mindless Self Indulgence – “Tom Sawyer”
• Muse - “Knights of Cydonia”

May “Hot and Ready” Day

• Jay Z- “Run this Town”
• Muse- “Time is Running Out”
• Florence & the Machine- “Dog Days are Over”

DJ Audity

• Metric – “Satellite Mind”
• Metric- “Help, I’m Alive”
• Cut Copy- “Hearts on Fire”

DJ Jenna

DJ Hot Tamale

• Drake- “Best I Ever Had”
• Coldplay- “Life in Technicolor ii”
• The Who- “Baba O’Riley”
• The Killers- “Mr. Brightside”

DJ “Original Glazed” MICK

• Dan Deacon - “Build Voice
• Akron/Family- “MBF”
• My Morning Jacket- “Anytime”

DJ Two “Baker’s Dozen” Sheds

ASH “Gotta Eat’em All” G.

• The Juliana Theory- ”We’re at the top of the World”
• Kid Cudi- ”Day ‘N’ Night”
• Linkin Park- ”New Divide”

DJ “Doughtnut Hole” Nicole

• Amanda Blank- “Make It, Take It”
• Duck Sauce- “Anyway (Armand Van Helden and A-Trak Remix)”
• Thieves Like Us- “Fass”

Mz “Hot-N-Now” Kelly

• Thin Lizzy – “Cowboy”
• Built to Spill- “Goin Against My Mind”
• Anything from LCD Soundsystem
• Anything from The Light Pines

DJ “Donuts and Coffee” Cioffi

DJ Riff “Ka-Tose Intolerant” Raff

• DeadMau5- “Ghosts ‘n’ Stuff “
• Kanye West- “Stronger”
• Vampire Weekend- “Run”

DJ Special “Tasty Fingers” K

• Animal Collective - “What Would I Want? Sky
• Gray Young- “Tilling the Wind”
• Flo Ride- “Sugar”

Eye on the Triangle’s own Saja “It’s Fresh” Hindi will be doing live air breaks on site during the race periodically through La Barba Rossa’s Mystery Roach show. The race is this Saturday (February 6) on Double Barrel Benefit 7 weekend. This year the challenge will boast 6,000 eager competitors. Be sure to check for the WKNC banner at the finish line this year as WKNC is partnering with the Krispy Kreme Challenge as a Silver Level Sponsor.

Be sure to listen only on 88.1FM or streaming online.

Now that we’ve caught up on the last few blog posts — we promise to be a lot more timely from here on out — make sure to check out the blogs and podcasts from previous episodes, and get ready for some exciting new features on EOT for the rest of the semester!

There are a lot of events going on this week and throughout the weekend, so make sure to check the segments out for more info, and choose which (or all!) of these great events to attend.

NEWS
News anchor Evan Garris gave listeners the top headlines for the week, with a guest appearance from Tom Anderson about an incident an N.C. State student faced during the big snowball fight at UNC. For more on these stories:
Hazardous weather outlook
Student dies in off-campus incident Friday morning
N.C. Sen. Burr has $4.3M for re-election bid
High Speed Rail to connect Charlotte, Raleigh, RTP and Washington DC
Obama proposes $3.8 trillion budget focused on jobs
82nd academy awards to feature 10 Best Picture nominees

For the video of the incident Tom was describing: Snowball fight

And a picture of the pet of the week as promised:

Jasper, EOT's pet of the week, is a four year old female looking for a good home. Jasper gets along well with children, and loves girl scout cookies. Jasper is capable of predicting the future and loves watching the Price is Right. If you would like to know more information about Jasper, please call the Wake County Groundhog rescue at 919-555-0247.

SPORTS
Correspondents Tyler Everett and Taylor Barbour gave us an analysis about the past week and week ahead:
To listen to the full sports cast, click here:

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EDITORIAL
We debuted our new segment, Evan Garris’ editorial. This week’s topic was the Citizens United vs. the Federal Elections Commission. Here is an excerpt from Evan’s editorial:

“Until now, corporations did not have the ability to give unlimited amounts of money to political campaigns. Such conduct was seen, and rightfully so, as a danger to democracy. This case was originally centered on broadcasting rights to a politically-charged documentary that vociferously criticized the 2008 presidential campaign of Hillary Clinton. However, for reasons unknown, one or more of our all-seeing, all-knowing justices decided to take a more fundamental approach and focus on the “personhood” or corporate entities and whether or not their ability to finance political campaigns and advertisements is a form of free speech.”

If you missed it, be sure to check out the whole thing, here:

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[DISCLAIMER: Once again, Evan's opinions do not reflect those of WKNC 88.1, Student Media or NCSU.]

This is YOUR chance to tell us how you feel! Do you agree with Evan, disagree or have a completely different view? Let us know at publicaffairs@wknc.org, and if you want, we’ll read your response on air during our next show!

VIP
I talked to organizers of the fourth annual Krispy Kreme Challenge in the studio live about preparations for the 6,000 runners this Saturday that have one goal: run from the Bell Tower to the Krispy Kreme in downtown Raleigh, eat a dozen doughnuts — and run back, all in under an hour. The challenge, which started out as a friendly competition between friends, has become a tradition that has attracted national attention to N.C. State, earning spot number 85 in Sports Illustrated‘s “102 more things you gotta do before you graduate.” Proceeds from registration go to the North Carolina Children’s Hospital.

Listen to what the organizers had to say here:

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COMMUNITY CANVAS
In Arts Correspondent Kieran Moreira’s interview with Leandra Ashton and Owen Young of Aquila Theatre, the actors discussed their upcoming shows scheduled for Feb. 2 and 3 at Stewart Theatre: William Shakespeare’s As You Like It and Henrik Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People, preparation for the two  plays and their excitement about coming to Raleigh.  “The Aquila performance approach is a technique developed by Peter Meineck that combines text and physical action based in a theory of theatrical unity. The technique is aimed to create an aesthetic environment where the performer can create and recreate a role in a consistently changing theatrical atmosphere,” according to the Web site’s history. The theater tours to about 70 cities and towns a year.

Due to the weekend’s snow storm, a buy-one-get-one-free discount is available for the shows from Arts N.C. State’s Center Stage. Listen to Kieran’s conversation with Ashton and Young here:

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HEAR THIS
Because of all the events going on this weekend, we had an extended, two-part Hear This segment this week in place of Wolfpacker of the Week, which will return next week.

For the first part, Local Beat host Adam Kincaid interviewed Hank Smith from The Hotwires about the Haiti Benefit Concert at the Pour House this Thursday, Feb. 4.

Doors open at 7 p.m., and all proceeds go to relief efforts for Haiti victims through the American Red Cross.

Check out Adam’s interview with Hank:

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Double Barrel 7 Poster

For the second part of Hear This, General Manager Mike Alston joined me in the studio to talk about WKNC’s 7th annual Double Barrel Benefit Show this Friday and Saturday night!

Mike talked about the focus on local music for this year’s benefit, the amount of time and effort put into the show to make it the best it can be and the benefit of the show for the station.

Check out the info Mike gave listeners about the benefit:

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SOUNDBYTES
And we can’t ignore this past weekend’s “Snowpocalypse.” Despite the inches of snow and ice that layer the streets and sidewalks in and around the campus, students with classes after noon slid their way to their seats, shoes caked in snow. On Monday’s Soundbytes, Correspondent Alison Harman brought you some of these brave Alpinists’ stories. Listen here:

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As always, e-mail us with thoughts, gripes, ideas or even compliments to publicaffairs@wknc.org and keep on nominating for Wolfpacker of the Week!

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Make sure to tune into tonight’s show at 7 p.m! We’ll be debuting our new segment, the editorial by Evan Garris, and we want listener feedback! Listen tonight to find out the topic and tell us what you think about it. We don’t want to give too much away, but here’s a preview of some of what we’ll be featuring (you’ll have to listen to the full show for all the segments).

This year’s Krispy Kreme Challege organizers will join us live in the studio tonight on VIP. Six thousand runners will participate in the Krispy Kreme Challenge, the sixth-annual race infamous for pairing of a four-mile run with twelve Krispy Kreme doughnuts. This year’s race is by far the largest in its history — the first race in 2004 had only 12 runners. So many people signed up for Saturday’s race, in fact, that organizers had to cap registration. The question running through our minds this year isn’t how participants will run two miles after cramming 12 cold doughnuts into their mouths, but how organizers prepared for this influx of runners and supporters, how Hillsborough and Peace streets will accommodate more than 6,000 people, and exactly how many doughnuts will be outside Krispy Kreme this Saturday morning.

On Hear This, we’ll be talking about the Feb. 4 Haiti Relief Benefit Concert at the Pour House in downtown Raleigh. The lineup includes A Rooster For the Masses, Chatham Co. Line, The Hotwires and more. All proceeds go to benefit the relief efforts in Haiti through the American Red Cross.

Additionally on Hear This, General Manager Mike Alston will join us in the studio live to talk about WKNC’s seventh annual Double Barrel Benefit is Feb. 5-6, 2010 at The Pour House Music Hall in Raleigh.  The concert will feature the bands Max Indian, Bellafea, Veelee, and The Light Pines on Friday night and then Roman Candle, Spider Bags, Midtown Dickens, and The Tender Fruit on Saturday night.  The show will be 18 and over with $5 surcharge for anyone under 21.

Be sure to listen to us on WKNC 88.1 FM at 7 p.m. tonight or stream live at wknc.org/listen for more on these topics and more on the latest news, sports, Soundbytes and Wolfpacker of the Week!

With exams finished, classes forgotten, and a long winter break ahead, what was there left to do? Run a marathon while eating doughnuts of course! Starting as a dare by a few undergraduate students in December 2004, the Krispy Kreme Challenge soon evolved into a national sensation. Now over five years later, the challenge is expected to host 6,000 participants who will gorge their way through 72,000 glazed doughnuts!

In order to successfully complete the challenge, participants must start at the N.C. State Bell Tower and run two miles to the Krispy Kreme Store located on Peace St. in Raleigh. After downing down twelve glazed doughnuts, the competitor must make the two mile trek back to the Bell Tower, all within an hour. Last year, the challenge was covered on ESPN and in the past has been recognized by Sports Illustrated Magazine as one of the top things to do before you graduate. All proceeds for the Krispy Kreme Challenge go to well deserving North Carolina Children’s Hospital.

This year, WKNC is partaking in the Krispy Kreme Challenge as a Silver Level sponsor and putting forth some of it’s own deejays to compete. Although not known for being much of athletes, the WKNC staff does enjoy to eat, which should be their strength in the competition. Other competitors will recognize WKNC runners by their awesome and custom made Krispy Kreme t-shirts. Stay tuned to meet the few hopefuls who will brave the glazed filled trail and find out what music they’ll be listening to while competing!

The 2010 Krispy Kreme Challenge will be held on the morning of February 6th. The organization has almost reached its 6,000 runner cap and will be closing registration soon. For more information about registering or donating to the cause, please visit the official Krispy Kreme Challenge website.