Listen to us on your ride (or in the office, at home, outside) and you could win tickets to see Death Cab For Cutie in August! Outback Concerts presents Death Cab for Cutie playing Monday, August 8 at Cary’s Koka Booth Amphitheatre in support of their upcoming album “Codes and Keys.” Scottish indie-rock band Frightened Rabbit will open the show. Tickets for Death Cab for Cutie with Frightened Rabbit go on sale Friday, May 6 through TicketMaster.com, but all this week DJs on WKNC will be asking for the correct caller to win tickets before they go on sale!
Category: Blog
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EOT58 Save the Frogs 4/26/11
Jacob Downey spoke with Rachel Hopkins, Wake County seventh grader, about her leadership role in protecting and raising awareness of North Carolina’s diverse frog population and efforts to have the state recognize April 29 as International Save the Frogs Day.
This week we speculate on the announced collaboration between Modest Mouse and Big Boi. We talk about PJ Harvey’s latest video project. And we review new albums by Bill Callahan and Fleet Foxes.
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Minute of Silence on WKNC
If you tune in to 88.1 FM Thursday, April 28 at 1 p.m. you will hear silence. This is not a technical difficulty. This is not dead air. It is a statement.
In partnership with 13 other radio stations, WKNC is working with College Broadcasters, Inc in an effort to:
“…bring awareness of the deep impact that the sale of student radio stations is having on campuses and their surrounding communities. CBI, who represents over 200 student media outlets, has become increasingly alarmed at the sale of student stations…
Recently, student stations have been sold, and with them the loss of local voices and content. Texas Tech University, Trevecca Nazrene University, Augustana College, Deerfield Academy and pending sales at The University of San Francisco and Vanderbilt University are all examples of student stations transferred or being transferred to non-educational operators…
The minute of silence is a first step as part of a broader effort to build awareness of the selling of student stations… Additional efforts to champion the importance of student stations will take place in the months and years ahead.”
For more information and a complete list of sold stations, click here.
Other participating schools include:
WMCO, Muskingum University
WFMU, Auricle Communications, a 501©(3) nonprofit group
WOBN, Otterbein University
For years, Tir Na nOg Irish Pub has hosted events to benefit local organizations like Hopeline, The Haven animal shelter, InterAct and countless others. Just Thursday they collected donations of food and $960 in cash for the Triangle chapter of the American Red Cross to help those affected by the tornadoes that ravaged Raleigh and other parts of the state April 16. The nOg Run Club also raised $600 on April 18 for the Triangle Red Cross.
Ten musicians/bands will grace the Tir Na nOg stage Tuesday to help raise money for burial costs and other necessities for the families of four children who were killed after a tornado hit the Stony Brook North Mobile Home Park – just five miles from the Pub. There is no cover charge for the event, but donations are strongly encouraged. According to a statement on the Tir Na nOg Web site, the restaurant will also be honoring storm victims and volunteers with free hamburgers (donations encouraged for all others).
The event begins at 5 p.m., with music to start at 5:30 and follow this schedule:
5:30 p.m. – Stella Lively
6:00 p.m. – Brett Harris
6:30 p.m. – Richard Bacchus
7:10 p.m. – This House on Fire
7:50 p.m. – Jack The Radio
8:30 p.m. – Maldora
9:10 p.m. – Anitbubbles
9:50 p.m. – The Olympic-Ass Kickin Team
10:30 p.m. – A Rooster for the Masses
11:10 p.m. – Hank Sinatra
If you are unable to attend this event, there are a number of other way to help tornado victims. From now until May 20, IndieNC is sponsoring an online fundraiser to benefit the Boys & Girls Clubs of Wake County. The Pour House has scheduled a two-night “We Are Raleigh” benefit for the Triangle Red Cross May 25 and 26, with details and performers to be announced. If you know of any additional benefit efforts, please post them in the comments below. You can also visit the City of Raleigh Web site for information on where to give and get help.
Full disclosure: WKNC and Tir Na nOg have been partners since March 2007 to present the weekly Local Beer Local Band free concert series.
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The Mountain Goats come home
On April 8, the Cat’s Cradle was bursting with excitement as two local legends came home to play together in one epic evening. That night the lucky few who managed to get their hands on a ticket (the show sold out weeks in advance) got the opportunity to see the North Carolina-grown bands: Megafaun and The Mountain Goats. I arrived a bit late, just in time to see Megafaun play their last two songs. Even though those two songs were fantastic, I was disappointed to have missed the majority of their set, but I arrived just in time to see what I came for: John Darnielle and The Mountain Goats.
I doubt that even some of the most devoted Mountain Goats fans present could have anticipated just how fantastic of a show it was going to be. There were literally too many great moments to list, but I’ll do my best to outline the highlights. The show consisted of a healthy mix of tracks off of the new album and old classics. Before playing ‘Birth of Serpents,’ John told a short story regarding the origin of the song. He talked about a time where he recently went to Portland and tried to reconnect with an old friend, only to find that his friend had been run over by a car and died the previous year. The audience fell to a hush and listened with an impenetrable attentiveness as the stage erupted in a cavalcade of emotion and sound.
As with most Mountain Goats shows, there was a segment in the middle where the band left the stage and John did a solo set. The set began with someone in the audience shouting, “play My Favorite Things,” to which John shrugged, said ok, and launched into a funny unreleased track about Coltrane. The show carried on with songs about vampires, women with mystical powers, and crystal meth.
For the last song of their set, The Mountain Goats asked Megafaun to join them on stage. Both bands, accompanied by just about the entire audience, performed ‘This Year,’ and it seemed as if the entire Cat’s Cradle was pulsing to the beat of the song. The band then returned for a four song encore, which included the fan favorite ‘No Children’ and ended with the entire crowd chanting “Hail Satan!” as they closed with ‘The Best Ever Death Metal Band in Denton.’
But that wasn’t all. The band then returned to the stage for a second encore and played “California Song,” during which John left the stage for the night giving the other members of the band a chance to flex their skills. The show made for a truly magical night and is a memory that will surely be cherished by each and every fan that had the opportunity to make it that evening.
Our neighbors to the west at WUNC North Carolina Public Radio have announced the line up for their annual Back Porch Music on the Lawn concert series. Starting April 29, the station hosts 10 free Friday concerts running through September. The series mixes national acts like Robin & Linda Williams & Their Fine Group and Loudon Wainwright III with local talent including Chatham County Line and Holy Ghost Tent Revival, but all the performers have some kind of connection to the state.
They aren’t every Friday, so be sure to check the schedule. All shows start at 6 p.m. at the American Tobacco Campus in Durham.
Fri 4/29 – The Small Ponds
Fri 5/27 – The Freighthoppers
Fri 6/10 – TBD
Fri6/17 – The New North Carolina Ramblers
Fri 7/1 – Robin & Linda Williams
Fri 8/19 – Holy Ghost Tent Revival
Fri 9/2 – Craicdown
Fri 9/9 – Shady Grove Band
Fri 9/16 – Loudon Wainwright III
Fri 9/30 – Chatham County Line
This Thursday is truly going to be something special! WKNC and Tir Na nOg are more than happy to have Hopscotch Music Festival and Vitamin Water Uncapped present a very special Local Beer Local Band Hopscotch Announcement Party featuring The Rosebuds, Heads on Sticks, and DJ SPCL GST spinning throughout the evening and a fashion show hosted by Revolver Consignment.
Come early – this show will be packed!! Might as well get a cheeseburger (they’re mad cheap at the pub on Thursdays) and down some beers with friends before the fashion show starts at 10 p.m. Following that will be all the live jams.
The Rosebuds are releasing their new album Loud Planes Fly Low on June 7, and I have a feeling you might get to hear a little sneak peak of it at the show… well at least I hope so.
Heads on Sticks has been my favorite local live act since the first time I saw them. This is music that I like.
There is hardly any other time you’re going to get all of the awesomeness for the price of FREE so I don’t understand why anyone would not come. I’m guessing there will be a few Hopscotch wristband giveaways at the show too.
Hopscotch, the Independent Weekly’s annual music festival in downtown Raleigh will be releasing the lineup for their September 3-day festival on Wednesday, April 20th. Greg Lowenhagen of Independent Weekly will be on-air with our very own Chuck from 11-noon to talk about the show and this year’s line up.
Last year hosted names like Panda Bear, Public Enemy, The Rosebuds, Sharon Van Etten, Megafaun, Best Coast and more than 100 other bands. This year is sure to be even better; full of national acts as well as great local talent. Tune in to find out who!
Tickets will go on sale as the lineup is released on April 20th. Free 3-day wristbands were given out at local record stores for Record Store Day April 16. Stay tuned to WKNC and keep reading Independent Weekly to find out ways you can win tickets.
For more musical fun, Hopscotch is hosting a few free local shows throughout Raleigh on Thursday, Friday and Saturday (4/21-4/23) in celebration of their lineup release!
While The Grayces aren’t well known here on the east coast, in the Music City, they’re music news. Since the release of their 7" EP last year, they’ve been playing all over Nashville and touring the Midwest including venues in Chicago. And all those shows have earned them some real street cred. This year they’ve been asked to play the “Nobody’s Vault But Mine” Festival at Nashville’s Mercy Lounge, May 28-30. The festival is a Third Man Records fan appreciation event and will also include music from big names like Dan Sartain, PUJOL, Dex Romweber Du0, and The Ettes.
This morning, April 14, The Grayces gave a teaser of what’s to come for them besides their appearance at “Nobody’s Vault But Mine.” They debuted their first official music video for their new single, “Just Another Thing.” With their association with Third Man Records acts you might expect the raw garage rock sound which assaults your ears as soon as the video begins, but what you might not expect is the perfect convergence of influences that make The Grayces so unique. Like a journey back in time, 80s pop-punk, 70s art rock, and the sarcasm of 60s British punk blend together in a simple mixture of head-banging rock that’s not nearly as simple as it seems. Lead singer Iz Stone’s ability to go from Pat Benatar to Grace Slick to Joe Strummer and back again in under 3 minutes is astounding and might be exhausting if it weren’t for the band’s keen understanding of when to let loose and when to pull back.
Sound amazing? I think it is. Granted, this isn’t for fans of moody alt rock, synthy dance music, or the folk-mania that’s been sweeping indie music, but if you like rock’n’roll, give your ears a treat and check out the brand new music video for “Just Another Thing” below.