People yelled two things at the Feist/Jason Collett split bill Monday night at the Cat’s Cradle: One group yelled inane (but somewhat agreeable) requests to Leslie Feist like “I love you,” “Marry me,” and “Do me, beautiful” (no, they weren’t all men). The other group yelled yet more inane (but very agreeable) diktats at both Collett and Feist like “Yay for Canada,” “Oh Canada,” or “I love Canada” (no, they weren’t all Canadian). (more…)

Def Jux emcee Murs—who qualifies as the label’s uniquely narrative dude, capable of sounding progressively old school while not mentioning his throwback status every five fucking bars—is on the slate for the 2006 Coachella Valley Music Festival in California, headlined by Depeche Mode (What? So?) on night one and TOOL (see Depeche Mode parentheses) on night two. Funny thing is, he’s listed “with 9th Wonder,” who barely makes Little Brother’s gigs. I guess I mentioned that here, but Tom Breihan, who writes Village Voice’s brilliant Status Ain’t Hood blog, describes it much more vividly, writing about a recent Little Brother appearance with MF Doom, Big Daddy Kane and Pete Rock: “9th Wonder is apparently too important to be their DJ these days, which is fine; it was fun seeing him come out on the first song, do the Dame Dash bottle-dance for a couple of minutes, and then disappear.”

I like that.

Congratulations to the Avetts, who sold out the Cradle almost three weeks before the show. They’ll play the Lincoln Theatre on April 29 with Maxwell/Mosher. Tickets are available. Buy them fast: Their fans are all about the live experience for good reason, and the same lot packing the Cradle will have the Lincoln snatched up if you’re not careful. There’s alsoa multi-page spread in Paste, a cover of Pollstar, an NPR feature and a World Cafe interview. Moral: Buy Four Thieves Gone.

Well, Death Cab for Cutie did tour with The Dismemberment Plan as the Death and Dismemberment Tour (a good name, a better EP), so the above name is somewhat conceivable. That’s right, Franz Ferdinand and Death Cab for Cutie will be touring together, and arriving at Cameron Indoor Stadium on April 7. A little more than a year ago, the thought of DCFC sharing a bill with FF would have been a bit scary, but—given their ability to handle the frat-tastic fans they now attract (the sold-out show they played at Disco Rodeo in Raleigh was as good as I had ever seen them)—things may work out. Just pop yr collar, dog.

EDIT: Apparently, Schoolkids Records will be selling off-campus tickets (ostensibly, they’ll also be avaiable through an on-campus ticket office) to the event, much like they did when Cameron hosted Ludacris several years ago. Tickets are reported to be $30 for all college students and $35 for the general public. It appears the concert announcement wasn’t supposed to be released until Feb. 6, but no one seems to have told DCFC’s webmaster.

In related news, UNC-CH gets Wilco on March 5 and 6. If N.C. State is lucky, maybe they can get Crossfade for a return performance. SHABOY.

This just in: A screening of Steve Martin’s The Jerk at Kings tonight at 8:30 p.m. will be followed by an Elvis impersonator from Czech Republic. I hear that the show is being sponsored by Robert Daniel, the same guy who manages The Backwards, the fantastic Beatles tribute band from Slovokia. Apparently, he doesn’t care about the causes or implications of 1993’s Velvet Divorce.

Don’t forget DJ Revolution at White Collar Crime tonight, either.

“My babysitter threw out her back, so I’m running around town like a crazy man,” guitarist Tad Kubler says 30 seconds into our 35-minute conversation. These days, Kubler—who cut his teeth playing with current Hold Steady bandmate Craig Finn as the bassist in Minneapolis’ Lifter Puller—considers Manhattan his town. He lives there with his girlfriend and their 14-month-old daughter. Sometimes, when band members aren’t touring, they’re family-man errand boys. Oh, the life. (more…)

Chris Parker called me this morning before I could even get out of Raleigh to ask me question about a story he had just turned in. He was about to board a plane out of Cleveland, and he told me that he would be leaving the Triangle soon to take the music editor job at The Cleveland Scene. He said something about me being one of the first people to know, which is funny, as he posted it on his blog before I spoke to him.


Chris is one enthusiastic dude, and Cleveland should enjoy him. I hope Cleveland doesn’t like Slightly Stoopid.

He should totally be smiling.


How does Ryan Adams date Lindsay Lohan? Bonkers.

I need to be weirder.

If you were on the fence about attending this year’s Ham & Yam Festival in downtown Smithfield, this should make up your mind: Eddie Money is the headliner.

The opening act is TBA —it all depends on who wins the “Ham & Yam Idol” talent show.

The Neuse River town’s annual family festival, running May 6-7 this year, is also hosting the 2006 NC Barbeque Cookoff. Details to come here.

No, not really.

Apparently, Pollstar is having some problems. A friend of mine found this while looking for tour dates tonight.