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Concert Preview Local Music

4/2 Local Beer Local Band – North Elementary and I Was Totally Destroying It

I Was Totally Destroying It and North Elementary will be rocking out at Local Beer Local Band Night this Thursday, April 2nd!  HELL YEA!

In case you don’t know, Local Beer Local Band is WKNC weekly event, every Thursday night 10pm, at Tir Na Nog, 218 South Blount Street in Raleigh.

Oh yeah, and did I mention that it’s FREE? Delicious local brew and the best local bands. What could be better to do on a Thursday night!?

See you out there!

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DJ Highlights

Local Beat preview 3/26/09

Join us at the Local Beat on Friday, March 26, as we’ll be interviewing A Rooster for the Masses right at the beginning of the show at 5:00 to talk about their two shows this weekend.

We’ll be cut off by baseball right around 6:30, but that doesn’t mean we won’t rock it out for the first hour and a half.  ARFTM will be playing at The Pour House on Friday night alongside Scary River and The Desmonds.  Saturday night, they’re heading over to The Cave with Death to the Details.

It promises to be a good time, so don’t miss it!

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Music News and Interviews

Proof In-Studio Interview Thursday, March 26!

Proof, the guitar-heavy, Raleigh-based rock group who dropped their last album in 2003, will be on the 5 o’clock Shadow to interview with DJs May Day and Spaceman Spiff. Well known for their live concerts, the band will be promoting their show on Thursday night at the Berkeley Café alongside Medicine and Edie Sedgwick.

Be sure to tune in to the best radio station in the Triangle between 5pm and 6pm this Thursday to listen in!

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Music News and Interviews

March 25th-28th TICKET GIVEAWAYS!

With spring finally kicking into full gear, we have some great tickets we need to give away. For your auditory and visual entertainment this week, check out:

Yo Mama’s Big Fat Booty Band playing @ Cat’s Cradle on Friday, March 27th

MOVIE Giveaways!

Admit 2 movie passes to see Adventureland, Terminator Salvation and X-Men Origins: Wolverine at Crossroads 20 movie theater in Cary. Passes valid run of engagement, Monday through Thursday. Remember to tune in Monday through Friday, and listen for your chances to win!

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DJ Highlights

Damn It Feels Good To Be A Metalhead

It is a GREAT time to be a metal head. There are so many new albums coming out this year, as well as concerts touring the US.

Out of all the years I have been a metal head, the 08-09 year has been one of the best. I have seen Symphony X playing with Into Eternity and Epica. I have watched Iced Earth play with Into Eternity. I have seen Suffocation. I have seen the almighty Carcass play with Suffocation, Aborted, and 1349. I have seen the black metallers Watain. I will be seeing Soilwork with Darkane and Swallow The Sun. Soon I will see Kreator with Exodus, as well as Dragonforce with Cynic. I have never seen so many great concerts coming through. I didn’t get a chance to go see At The Gates with Darkest Hour, but they toured as well.

The only thing better than concerts this year was albums. There were so many great albums released in 08-09.

Alestorm-Captain Morgan’s Revenge
Avantasia-The Scarecrow
Ayreon-01011001
Ghenghis Tron-Board Up The House
Death Angel-Killing Season
Boris-Smile
Meshuggah-oBzen
Zimmer’s Hole-When You Were Shouting At The Devil…
Korpiklaani-Korven Kuningas
The Sword-Gods of the Earth
Arsis-We Are The Nightmare
Belphegor-Bondage Goat Zombie
Dominici-O3:A Trilogy, Part 3
Kalmah-For The Revolution
Warrel Dane-Praises To The War Machine
Deicide-Til Death Do Us Part
Testament-The Damnation of Formation
Moonspell-Night Eternal
Cryptopsy-The Unspoken King
Kataklysm-Prevail
Ihsahn-angL
Opeth-Watershed
Pyramaze-Immortal
Sabaton-The Art of War
Norma Jean-The Anti Mother
The Human Abstract-Midheaven
Dragonforce-Ultrabeatdown
Into Eternity-The Incurable Tragedy
Iced Earth-The Crucible of Man
Amon Amarth-Twilight of the Thunder God
Swallow The Sun-Plague of Butterflies
Evergrey-Torn
Battlelore-The Last Alliance
Psycroptic-Ob(Servant)
Jeff Loomis-Zero Order Phase
Bloodbath-The Fathomless Mastery
Unearth-The March
Darkthrone-Dark Thrones and Black Flags
Darkane-Demonic Art
Cradle of Filth-Godspeed on the Devil’s Thunder
The Faceless-Planetary Duality
Cynic-Traced in Air

And that is all 2008. 2009 looks to be as good, if not even better.

Grave Digger-Ballads of a Hangman
Iron Fire-To The Grave
Kreator-Hordes of Chaos
Saxon-Into The Labyrinth
Cattle Decapitation-The Harvest Floor
Rumpelstiltskin Grinder-Living for Death, Destroying the Rest
Sepultura-A-lex
Napalm Death-Time Waits For No Slave
Vision Divine-9 Degrees West of the Moon
Cannibal Corpse-Evisceration Plague
Luna Mortis-The Absence
God Forbid-Earthsblood
Obscura-Cosmogenesis
Hammerfall-No Sacrifice, No Victory
Suidakra-Crógacht
Absu-Absu
Buried Inside-Spoils of Failure
My Dying Bride-For Lies I Sire
Mastodon-Crack The Skye
Wolves In The Throneroom-Black Cascade

It’s a good time to love metal my friends.

Keep The Horns Rising Brothers and Sisters
-Noobhammer

Categories
DJ Highlights

Local Beat recap 3/20/09

Despite a a mere (baseball-induced) hour-long version of the Local Beat this week, we had an excellent show.  I was joined by Chas, Dan, and Dopko of Raleigh band Gray Young to talk about everything from their show that night at Sadlack’s to where the band’s name came from (a question to which we did not receive an answer).

We also discussed the release of the band’s first album, Firmament, and where they plan to go from here.  These are tremendously nice guys with a very bright future, and they have basically gotten better every time I’ve seen them live.  There should be more on their show at Sadlack’s (including Dancing Tony documentation!) soon from Gray Matter.

You can check out the full interview, in 4 segments, below.  And if you missed the Sadlack’s show, be sure to check them out at the Local 506 on April 13, alongside the Appleseed Cast and An Horse.  And join us next week, as we’ll be hanging out with A Rooster for the Masses.

Gray Young 3/20 interview

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Non-Music News

Special Edition of “State of State” Monday 3/23

Some things never change—namely, the perennial littering of propaganda and promises of “change” that inundate campus when Student Government elections roll around.  This year, however, Student Media will be providing the opportunity for students and community members to hear the candidates state their claim one last time, a few hours before polls open here.

Courtesy of John Coggin, organizer of the event:

“This debate will be the first of its kind, bringing all the candidates for the campus-wide offices together to discuss their ideas in a forum open to all students at NC State.  The debate will also be broadcast live on WOLF-TV, WKNC, and streaming on the Internet for those students who cannot make it to the Campus Cinema.  This will be the first and last time many students get to see more of you than your signs (!), so we highly encourage everyone to participate.

Candidates for the following offices are invited to participate in the debate:

Student Body President

Student Senate President

Student Body Treasurer

Student Chief Justice

Student Centers President

-UAB President

Candidates for all other offices are warmly invited to attend, and we will recognize all present candidates during the event.”

Currently, all eyes are on the candidates for Student Body President:

-Amber Joyner

-Anup Engineer

-Adam Cloninger

-Andrew Swanson

-Jim Ceresnak

-Kornelius Bascombe

State of State will be doing its part by airing the entire debate live.  So be sure to tune in on Monday night from 6-8 at 88.1 FM or online at wknc.org to hear what next year’s student leaders have to say for themselves.

Categories
Non-Music News

Sports Revolution 3/17

The St. Patty’s Day edition of Sports Revolution was preempted by N.C. State baseball, so Preston, Drew and James decided to blog instead. Keep reading for what’s happening in the world of sports and their predictions for the NCAA tournament.

Well, my predictions were a little off—what’s new! I did pretty well with the top half, predicting Carolina to lose to Florida State with the absence of Lawson. The Tarheels ended up missing Danny Green too as he shot horribly and seemed pretty out of sync. A lot of that comes from not having your point guard to distribute the ball. Green, who has been averaging double figure scoring, combined with a few missed free throws and the inability to contain Toney Douglas led to their exit in the semi-finals. I destroyed the bottom half, as I picked Wake Forest to win the whole darn thing. Once again State blew an early lead to fall to the Terps in the first round. Unfortunately, they didn’t receive a tournament bid (NCAA or NIT) and I doubt they will accept an invitation to the third tournament which I don’t even know the name of. Gary Williams’ master coaching plan led to a miserable shooting performance from the Deacs in the first round and Maryland’s advancement to face the Blue Devils (who beat Boston College by only one) in the quarterfinals. It was a well fought game, but the Dukies prevailed to move on to the finals against Florida State.  Duke, who lives and dies by the three point shot, was drilling from the outside and a nine minute scoring drought by the Seminoles helped Duke pull away. Hate to say it but I have to give Duke credit for playing well and I guess I have a little making up to do to Zoubek, who is still not the greatest but had some key defensive stops and rebounds in their victory. My only concern of the final game was the last five or so minutes. With Duke up by 16 or so (I believe) Coach K wanted to run some time off the shot clock, which makes sense. However, it completely took Duke out of their rhythm and allowed Florida State to kind of keep it a game. I say run the offense a little longer because it did get a little nerve wracking at the end. Congrats, I guess, to the Blue Devils for the tournament victory. I think they only had three turnovers which really is remarkable. I don’t think the tournament accurately predicted the best ACC team but oh well. Clemson was a disappointment and so were my predictions. Hopefully I’m better with the NCAA.

Louisville proved they were a number 1 seed by clinching the Big East regular season and conference tournament. Oklahoma lost in the first round so once again I was off with predicting them to win the conference tourney and earn a number one seed. What a game between Syracuse and UCONN, if you missed it you missed a good one. It will definitely be available on ESPN Classic.

Here’s my final four: Louisville (even though I have a feeling Kansas might make a little run but clearly my predictions are off), Memphis (hopefully they can make some free throws), Pitt (Blair must stay out of early foul trouble) and North Carolina. Hansbrough, Green, Ellington and Lawson all came back for one reason: to win a championship. Hopefully they will play with a little more intensity and pick up the defense and they have a shot to win it all. Oklahoma will be a tough match up for them (assuming they both advance to the Elite 8), but I think Carolina has more offensive threats. Louisville and UNC in the championship game, UNC to win it all. Knowing my luck, Robert Morris will win the whole thing.

OK, I’ll wrap things up. Congrats to my high school, the Mt. Tabor Spartans for beating Terry Sanford to win the first men’s basketball 4-A State Championship in school history. Three talented senior point guards led the way: look for Mike Grace at Yale, CJ Harris at Wake and Josh Hicks at Old Dominion.

Another congrats to the one seeds of the 2009 Women’s NCAA Tournament: Maryland, UCONN, Duke and Oklahoma. UCONN has been terrific so far this season and I don’t see anyone coming in their way of a national title. First round starts Saturday.

A special congrats to the ACC. This is the 7th straight year that six or more ACC Teams will be in the NCAA tourney: Maryland, Duke, UNC, Virginia, FSU and G-Tech.

-Preston

What a weekend in college basketball: Syracuse, a six seed in The Big East wins a tough game in the first round of that tournament, then goes on to play UConn in a six over time game that will go down in the annals of Big East history as one of the best ever, then follows that win with another overtime win against a West Virginia team who had just handed Pittsburgh what I think will be its final loss of the season; that incredible run though skidded to a halt against Louisville who was rolling along the fast track to the final four (who could expect the Orange to pull it off though after going through that gauntlet?).

The ACC’s team on everyone’s radar to run to the title game, UNC, hit a bump in the road with the loss of All-ACC and league MVP point guard Taiwan Lawson on Saturday.  Roy’s boy’s, as our favorite tarheel fan Preston predicted, had a nice chance to rest on selection Sunday as they prepare to set a bearing toward the final four (where they will lose, to Pittsburgh).  But Duke (as I predicted with astute foresight that Nostradamus and even the Mayans themselves would envy) pulled out yet another ACC Tournament Championship over a Florida State team with a lot to prove, and a lot to think about with the dark cloud of NCAA academic violations hanging over their heads.  The Seminoles may not be able to recruit for four years, that’s something the team will have trouble ignoring.  I expect them to struggle in the tournament, especially on the offensive end.

For Duke it’s another conference title, but they’ll face a tough road against Texas and Villanova that will in all likelihood come to a dead halt in the sweet sixteen.  Duke has shown at times that their defense coupled with their offense which employs constant cuts, screens, and movement without the ball coupled with strong dribble drives with continued screening off the ball leaves teams winded and unable compete.  That happens if the offense works, which it does against about 75% of the teams out there.  But if doesn’t work, as it may not against Texas, and probably won’t against Villanova (that’s right I’m pickin’ ‘Nova to take down The University of California at LA-la-la, because the PAC-10 is mostly soft and doesn’t play defense).  Furthermore the combination of J.J. Abrams scoring ability and Damian James, who is going to be tough for any of the Duke defenders to handle at 6’7” 222 playing the Small Forward position.  If Duke can take charges and eliminate James from the game I think they have a great shot at the sweet sixteen, but I don’t see them in the elite eight.

Finally, Herb Sendek made things interesting in the Pac-10, once again proving what a great move he made leaving the ceaseless harangue of the NC State fanbase.  But, in classic Herb Sendek style he’ll walk away again with nothing to show for his efforts, which turned Arizona State from cellar dweller to force to be reckoned with, in only a few seasons.  His Sun Devils, after huge wins against in state hammer to their nail Arizona (can someone please explain why these Arizona chumps get to play in the NCAA tournament?), and an even bigger win against Washington, fell to the 13-loss USC Trojans who had to have the win to make it to the Tourney.  Sorry Herb, nothing’s changed.  Here’s your 6th-seed in NCAA Tournament.  Good luck with Syracuse who is sitting in the spot your team might have occupied had you stepped up, and won in the clutch, again nothing has changed. Wow, that was harsh.  Don’t worry though Herb, I don’t mean it, I’m just speaking out of anger because in the entire blog my only mention of the wolfpack is that we finished 16-14 and that our season is over.  Good luck though, Herb, enjoy the tournament.

– Drew

What’s up guys, since we don’t get to talk with you guys for the next two weeks on the radio side, the blog world will have to do.  Is this not the best time of the year for sports?  Major League Baseball has spring training and we all know that baseball is right around the corner.  The World Baseball Classic has been an amazing couple days of baseball and somehow the USA is still kicking, and has made it to the semifinal round.  Basketball certainly doesn’t leave us for another three weeks, March has gone mad so to speak.  If all that isn’t enough for you, our very own Carolina Hurricanes are battling for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference of the NHL, and they only have about 10 games left on the schedule.

So that said, I’ll get into my predictions for the tournament … As sick as it makes me to say it, I think Carolina has a great draw to get to the final and win the whole thing.  I don’t see anyone really getting in their way this year.  Why?  Isn’t Pittsburgh coming up in the Final Four for the Heels?  You’d be correct, but I don’t think that Pitt will even make the Final Four, because I think Florida State will knock the Panthers out for several reasons.  Number 1 … Florida State is one of those teams with an incredible amount of post player depth they can throw at you, not that all of them are the best post players, but they can still put them on the floor and be competitive with anyone in the country.  Pitt on the other hand, really only has two big men, and they are a couple of unfortunate referees whistles away from being in a world of trouble in the tournament.  So, even if Florida State and their post-depth don’t manage to knock out the Panthers, Carolina with the post-presence they are capable of bringing to the floor, will take care of Pitt.   Not to mention that Roy Williams is one of the top five coaches in the field of 64, and with that said, he has the best talent pool of any of those top 5.  Yes players win championships, but when all things else are equal on the talent front, and I believe that for the most part they are equal in the case of the number one and number two seeds this year, something has to give, and I think coaching will be the big difference maker in this year’s tournament.  So to sum it all up, I’ve got Carolina and UCONN in the finals for most of the brackets I’ve done, but I could certainly see Louisville or Kansas getting hot from the perimeter and knocking the Huskies out this year.

The Canes have two big home games back to back this weekend, Friday night against the Islanders and Saturday against the division leading Capitals.  If you like hockey at all, you should take the time to get out to the RBC Center on Saturday night.  Alex Ovechkin … that is the only reason I should have to give you as any incentive to go see this game on Saturday night.  If that’s not enough, it’ll be a playoff atmosphere as the Canes need as many points as they can manage to keep pace in the Eastern Conference, where they find themselves in eighth place going into a crucial weekend, just one point up on the ninth place Florida Panthers.

You guys have a good week and check back next week for another blog and possibly a podcast of the show for next week.

– James

Categories
Concert Review

Murdoc’s Local Music Picture Blog #4-ish

So after a short blogging hiatus, I have returned with my fourth installment to the Local Music Picture Blog. My hiatus does not mean that I didn’t attend any shows, I was just having an allergic reaction to my computer… or something like that…which seems to be carrying over to this post, as the posting of pictures just does not want to work for me 🙁 . But don’t worry, you can see all my pictures clicking on my name and then clicking on Pics.

But anyways, last Thursday, I went to The Brewery to rock out with The Pneurotics, Pink Flag, River City Ransom, and The Dry Heathens, and rocking out is exactly what went down.

The Pneurotics are an alt rock based out of Chapel Hill. Their 2008 release, Forty, is relaxed alt. rock which features a few slight folk music nuances. Most of the show, however, was performances of material that will be released on the yet to be named album they intend to release in the fall of 2009. The new material is solid, driving, guitar heavy rock’n roll, and I for one can not wait til fall to get my hands on the cd. The Pneurotics next show is The Johnny Cash Bash at The Pinhook. They will be paying tribute to Johnny Cash with The Tender Fruit, Gambling The Muse, and Bull City.

Pink Flag… where to start? Pink Flag is a three piece, all girl, pop punk /grunge rock extravaganza that is based out of Durham. Now I have to be honest here, the first time I listened to  Introducing Pink Flag & The Homewrekers, I was ify about it. But having seen Pink Flag live, I do have a new appreciation for the album. And anyone that thinks they are the stereotypical, all girl bands are bad or ok at best, type of outfit; go see them live and they will destroy your brain with awesome. All the girls can play and sing great, as shown when they switched out their instruments and vocal roles. Their next show will be tonight at the Relay For Life Benefit at Local 506 with I Was Totally Destroying It and Lake Inferior. Pink Flag will also be featured at WKNC & Tir Na Nog’s Local Beer, Local Band night on March 26th with Whatever Brains.

River City Ransom, third to take the stage, is a five man, pop group based in Raleigh. RCR’s performance was perhaps the most laid back of the night. The group’s Myspace claims the groups is Punk, but I think they are straight Indie Rock. We’ll have to wait and see what direction they choose to go in as the group as just recently added a few members. River City Ransom’s next showing will be at the Reservoir on March 23rd with The Dry Heathens and Dark Knights of Camelot.

The Dry Heathens were last on the night, and the Durham based, indie punk,  group showed up to kick ass as usual. This makes the third time I’ve seen them and I am pretty sure they get better each time. If you can not make it to their show on March 23rd, I suggest you make it to the second night of Viking Storm (the Hammer No More The Finger’s CD release celebration weekend) when they play with The Beast, Deleted Scenes, The Future Kings of Nowhere, and Hammer No More The Fingers. The show will be  freaking awesome  and worth every penny. And if you can’t make either of those shows I encourage you to listen to The Dry Heathens first releases, First Contact With Ground, because it is a truely great album.

Hopefully next week I will have pictures  in the picture blog, but in the mean time, don’t forget to check out The Rock Report and catch a great local show!

Categories
Non-Music News

Transmitter Maintenance

WKNC will be doing maintenance on its transmitter today between 11:45 a.m. and 3 p.m. Listeners at 88.1 FM may experience interruptions in their signal. You can continue listening online at wknc.org/listen.