This from Marianne Taylor, who books most of the roots-based shows at The Pour House.

Stoll Vaughan blew the transmission in his van today and can’t make it to
Raleigh tomorrow so Caitlin and Dave Bartholomew are going to do an opening set
starting at 10 PM.
Also, if you are near a radio at 3 Friday afternoon, Scott Miller is going
to be on The River 100.7.

This is the first Caitlin solo set I remember locally in a while, but I’ve been accused of having a bad memory before now. Also, she wrote a pretty nifty SXSW journal for the Chronicle.

So we haven’t reviewed the Cities record yet, even though it was released by Yep Roc Records Tuesday. In advance of the band’s CD release show next week, John Schacht’s review of the album will run in our April 26 issue, alongside an essay in which I hope to explain the importance of the album. As a record, I think it’s pretty good. It certainly has its moments, which is apparently how longtime music writer Ross Grady feels, too. Below is the best thing I’ve read all day:


From trianglerock.com, on Cities:

The 30% of it that I like is pretty good, in an echoey-guitars, echoey drawn-out vocals, breakbeat-ish drums (i.e. Interpol/Franz Ferdinand) kind of way.

So, if you don’t happen to like the 30% Grady likes, your opinion is just plain ol’ wrong, and the part you like is simply pretty bad. Which is a pretty awesome concept.

EDIT: Modifiers.

D12’s Proof, regarded by many as that unit’s best emcee, is dead in Detroit.

Mogwai, who I think are pretty tepid these days, return to NC on the heels of Mr. Beast and a pretty boring show at the Cat’s Cradle in March. They’ll play—big surprise, actually—The Lincoln Theatre in the BigIndieBookingBereftville known as Raleigh on May 9.

Here’s the Matador press release:

Hey

Mogwai are all set for their second tour for their new album “Mr Beast” which came out last month on Matador. This just in-they’ll be hitting Lincoln Theater in Raleigh on May 9. Let me know if you’re able to preview or if you need tickets for review. The band are available for interviews and I can send you some great photos.

The new album continues the Scottish band’s devotion to intensity, beauty and noise. Mogwai are unbelievably tight live and very, very loud.

The hijinx from their March tour was chronicled by a Google mash-up with a tour blog, set-lists, photos, videos and fans could even add their own photos / videos via the band’s Flickr and YouTube groups. You can still check it out here: mr.beastmap.com/ – and look out for the continuation for the May tour which launched Monday April 10.

You can find more info here:

http://www.matadorrecords.com/mogwai/

or here

http://www.mogwai.co.uk/

Full tour dates here for those who care or are curious:
4/30 Indio CA Coachella
5/2 Salt Lake City UT The Depot
5/3 Denver CO Gothic
5/4 Lawrence KS Grenada
5/5 Dallas TX Gypsy Ballroom
5/6 Austin TX La Zona Rosa
5/8 Athens GA 40 Watt
5/9 Raleigh NC Lincoln Theater*
5/10 Washington DC 9:30 Club
5/11 Philadelphia PA Starlight Ballroom
5/12 New York NY Webster Hall
5/13 New York NY Webster Hall
5/14 Boston MA Avalon
5/15 Montreal QC Le Spectrum
5/16 Toronto ON Phoenix
5/18 Detroit MI St Andrews
5/19 Chicago IL Metro
5/20 Minneapolis MN First Avenue
5/23 Seattle WA Showbox
5/24 Vancouver BC Commodore
5/25 Portland OR Wonder Ballroom
5/27 San Francisco CA Fillmore

UPDATE: If you keep up with this stuff like I do (you probably don’t), you may care to know that the Cat’s Cradle booked this show.

Been itching to see Rusted Root’s Michael Glabicki play a solo set, but only if former Weekend Excursion frontman Sam Fisher opens? Been hoping Butch Walker would visit Raleigh for the 75th time since The Marvelous 3 broke up way back when? You down with LIT, given that you still knew they were a band? I didn’t, honestly.


None of this sound exciting? Those are several of the “highlights” of the portion of the Bud Light Downtown Live series that have been announced hitherto. The sole bright spot, at this point, may be Arrested Development on June 10. In case you’ve forgotten about them, their All Music Guide bio begins “One of the major success stories of 1992,” and you may remember “Mr. Wendal.” No, they have not released anything since 1994, and, yes, Raleigh’s new outdoor concert series is as cutting-edge as you imagined it would be in its second year. Oh, well: At least it’s free, and at least somebody is trying.


Here’s the whole roster. Notice the scheduling gaps in July and August, and hope for the best, dudes.

May 27
LIT
Blue October, and
People In Planes


June 10
Arrested Development
Cowboy Mouth, Jimmie’s Chicken Shack, Michael Glabicki of Rusted Root, & Sam Fisher


June 24
Big Head Todd & The Monsters
Ryan Montbleau


July 8, 2006 – TBA


July 22
Butch Walker
Virginia Coalition
August 5, 2006 – TBA


August 19, 2006 – TBA


September 2
Jason Aldean

Careful which punk songs you sing along to before boarding an airplane.

Reminds me of that Lenny Kravitz song, “Mister Cab Driver…”