Get Out and See a Great Band!

The Triangle has been brimming with great acts this summer.  Whether you've hit up the Amphitheater, the Creek, Pour House, Cat's Cradle, Motorco, there are a ton of really cool spots to hear some great bands.  In the next two weeks, you will be able to get out and see at least two of the live bands I've blogged on before, plus a few others I really, really like.  Go have yourself a music experience!

This weekend, Matisyahu is live on the outdoor stage at the Lincoln Theatre.  Matisyahu broke through about 7 or 8 years ago, and became known as the Hasidic Reggae Superstar.  I saw him back in 2005 and wasn't sure what to expect.  He was nothing short of amazing--and I'll let you in on a little secret:  I don't even like reggae.  Tickets still on sale, via the Lincoln Theatre website.

Sunday, Meatloaf comes to DPAC.  In the mood for a theatric show?  This is it.  We flew a listener to see him in Boston last month and he said it was amazing.  Go.  Tickets at DPAC Website.


Next weekend, there are three bands I'm dying to see and I'm going to miss all of them.  (I will be in NYC--more on that next week.)

First of all, The Dirty Names, who I recently blogged here about, will be live at the Pour House in Raleigh with another band that's made this space before, The Design.  It will be straight up rock and roll, and I'm telling you, people, The Dirty Names are a sound to behold.  Coupled with The Design and the raunchy, raw vocals of lead singer Kat Robichaud, and you will have an awesome time.  Show starts at 9 on Sunday the 26th, and it's only $8.

Across town on the same night, Band of Horses is playing with My Morning Jacket at Raleigh Amphitheater.  I am not an MMJ fan, but I love me some BOH.  I've been dying to see them live ever since a good friend introduced me to them last year.  Guess what?  I won't get to see them because I'll be in NY--but you can!  Tickets are available via Live Nation.

These are shows I can personally give my stamp of approval to.  Now, get out there and go fill your ears with good sounds!


Alli


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Meatloaf Preview

Here's the thing about Meatloaf -

You have to see him.

You may not be the biggest Meatloaf fan in the world.  Maybe your one connection to Meatloaf is memories of drunkenly singing along to "Paradise By The Dashboard Light" at a dive bar when you were in college.

That was my only connection when I saw him in concert for the first time in the mid-90s...but I went because I heard about the live show.

Some artists translate much better in concert than on the album, and Meatloaf is simply one of those guys.  Why?

Because he leaves everything on stage.

If your idea of a good concert is seeing the artist stand there and play the songs exactly like they sound on the album, then Loaf is not your man.

If, on the other hand, your idea of getting your money's worth is seeing the artist tear through the setlist with reckless abandon and fury, drenched in sweat, pumped up and involving the audience like he's doing it for the first time...well, then Meatloaf is your show.

Meatloaf, like many artists of his era, turns 65 this year.  While that doesn't mean he'll stop touring any day now, there is a point where you have to say, "I need to see one of rock's great artists tear up the stage when he comes to my town".

This Sunday night at Durham Performing Arts Center should be one of those times.

Foster
Radio 96.1


**photo courtesy of austinist.com**

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggety Jig

Thanks to RaleighSkyline.com for the pic!

I went away last weekend to see my family in NJ, but truth be told:  I am glad to be home.

I don't just feel that way because I like to have my things around me, or I missed my pets.  I feel that way because I noticed while I was gone, I spent a lot of time extolling the virtues of the Oak City to people.

There was not just my family, but my friends, and I spent a good hour in the bar of a hotel in Washington, DC chatting with a woman from Raleigh about Raleigh.  How the city has grown, where it will go.  The woman used to work for the Fire Dept. on Poole Road, so we chatted about the city and how much fun you can have there, all the while trying to convince her companion at the bar that the Triangle is awesome.

There's a reason why we have been voted the best place in America to live so many times by so many publications.  It's because people don't realize what a sleeping gem we have.  Great restaurants, bars, people, weather, you name it.  And I just couldn't shut up about it this past weekend, to anyone who would listen.

That's why coming home is so great.

I'm lucky to live in a place I really like.  As much as I often miss my family and friends up North, Raleigh is definitely home.  I won't be going anywhere for a long while.

Alli


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"The Bourne Legacy" Review

When I arrived home from the Radio 96.1 screening of The Bourne Legacy last night, my wife wanted to know how the writers handled the fact that Matt Damon - you know, Jason Bourne, who the movie is named after - is not in the film.

I explained the basic premise - that, because Jason Bourne has escaped the trail of the CIA and leaked information about Operation Blackbriar to a reporter, the agency has decided to dismantle another one of it's secret programs and must kill everyone associated with it.

Stop right there, she told me.  "Really???", she says indignantly.  "That's the plot?  And it was good??"

I understood what she was getting at.  On the surface, it sounds like every movie ever made about the CIA or (insert spy agency here).  In fact, it sounds like every other Bourne installment.  In many ways it is, but in others it is, in fact, better.

The Bourne Legacy offers up perhaps the slowest (read: deliberate) first 20 minutes and fastest final 20 minutes of any film this summer.  We are quickly introduced to Aaron Cross, played by the excellent Jeremy Renner, who was awesome in The Hurt Locker and, more recently, as Hawkeye in The Avengers.  Although reference is made numerous times to Jason Bourne (through name and pictures), Renner is a completely worthy successor to Damon in this series.

It turns out that Cross is one of the operatives in the program the CIA needs to dismantle...only he's slightly more difficult to kill than the others.  While he's on the run, he meets up with one of the doctors involved with the program (Marta Shearing, played by Rachel Weisz) and wouldn't you know it - the CIA wants her dead, too.  And thus the chase of both our heroes begins.

What elevates The Bourne Legacy isn't the plot - it's the attention to detail director Tony Gilroy takes in each scene to build suspense.  What drew me in was each real-time move by the CIA during the chase.  From the operation of heat-seeking drones to reviewing cameras for facial recognition to combing flight manifests up and down the east coast, I found the tracking down process to be fascinating.

The final 20 minutes of the movie features a chase scene that gets us as close to the action as possible.  While some chase scenes are viewed by the audience from afar or via an arial view, the pursuit that takes place in the Phillipines sets you right on the motorcycle - inside the alley - smashing into the side of a bus - wiping out into a pylon...and so on.  

It seems many of the initial reviews are mixed - the reviewer sitting next to me, at the conclusion of the film, grumbled "Underwhelming" and too many reviews I'm reading are comparing this Bourne movie to the original trilogy.

I recommend that, when you watch this film, you let it stand on it's own....but even if you decide to compare it with the others, you'll find it holds up marvelously.

Grade: A

Foster

Radio 96.1

What you can buy tax free this weekend

It always amazes me what people will do to save around 7%.  Stores beg customers to visit with lures of 30, 40, 50 percent off sales but when the state brings a tax free weekend, BATTON DOWN THE HATCHES!!!!

As a public service, I thought you might like to know some of the things you'll be able to purchase tax free this weekend, Friday-Sunday, August 3-5.

Bandanas. Because you never know when you'll find yourself at the OK Corral.

Shoulder pads.  What is this, 1986?

Or do they mean these:

Suspenders.  Uh-oh, might see Larry King at Dillard's....

Mouth guards.  Can we use them to keep politicians from running their mouths?

Happy shopping!

Foster
Radio 96.1

Olympic Fever!

I admit it, I have Olympic fever.  I watched everything this past weekend from womens' skeet shooting to synchronized diving and beyond.  I even was up overnight and watched whitewater canoeing.  Yeah, I didn't know that existed as a sport, either, until Mary Carillo told me it was at 12am.

I always seem to think, though, as I watch these awesome human beings perform feats that I never could and never will, that they are from all over the place:  California, New York, South Dakota.  For some reason, and perhaps this comes from growing up in a small town, I never think that the people I'm watching on TV are from my home area.  But, now that I'm in North Carolina, they are.

  It's hard for me to grasp that the man on the far left, Cullen Jones,won a silver medal yesterday in the men's 4x100 freestyle relay.  He went to NC State.

It's crazy to think that the woman on the bottom of this photo, Abby Johnston, dives for Duke.  She's a silver medalist now, too.

Marathoner Shalane Flanagan went to Carolina.  Will she go to the medals podium?

Jesse Williams went to Broughton.  He's also badass in the high jump. 

Nick McCrory is from Chapel Hill.  He wears Duke Blue.  He also wears a medal around his neck--but since tonight's primetime coverage hasn't aired yet, I don't want to spoil it for you folks who are waiting to watch it on TV.


Here is my point:  here are five amazing athletes, and they all have ties to the Triangle.  It blows my mind that we've got no less than five Olympians here, plus amazing national title winning basketball teams, and great academics too.  Is there something in the water?  If there is, please excuse me for a second.  I'm going to get a drink.



Alli



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Thoughts On Colorado

My heart is very heavy in these last 24 hours and I've thought a lot about my childhood.


In my childhood, I was a latch key kid.

I rode the public bus by myself when I was 7.

I went with my friends to the video arcade to play Pac Man and Donkey Kong and just had to be home when the street lights went on.

All our neighbors looked out for each out for each other - it was truly communal parenting.

Now, with children of my own, events like the one in the Colorado movie theater give me a highly advanced degree of heart sickness.

These times we live in have become so divisive and antagonistic - when Americans, now more than ever, need each other.  We need to support each other in times of great joy...and great sadness.

Jessica Ghawi was a member of our radio family, and you've probably heard her story.  She's the one who narrowly escaped a mall shooting in Toronto, only to be gunned down this week in Colorado.  She was an intern at 104.3FM, a Denver sports station and after the Toronto shooting, she wrote a blog which I'm linking to below and I strongly encourage you to read.  In it, she writes:

I say all the time that every moment we have to live our life is a blessing. So often I have found myself taking it for granted. Every hug from a family member. Every laugh we share with friends. Even the times of solitude are all blessings. Every second of every day is a gift. After Saturday evening, I know I truly understand how blessed I am for each second I am given.


Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go hug my children.  To Jessica, and all the victims of this senseless day, I'm so sorry.  This shouldn't have happened in the United States of America.

This is a link to Jessica's blog:

http://jessicaredfield.wordpress.com/2012/06/05/late-night-thoughts-on-the-eaton-center-shooting/

Foster
Radio 96.1