first person: 3/7/09 anathallo at cat’s cradle: carrboro, NC

At Elmo’s in Carrboro and I’m a bit disappointed because we’re eating in a strip mall next to the Harris Teeter. That’s okay, because the place is packed and we luckily get a seat inside (but I usually hate places that are full…or maybe I just hate waiting in line). Yes, I’ll have the chicken and dumplings with a sweet tea. She decides on the pulled pork. We debate the merits of Canopy Glow versus Floating World. I say “Floating World” is a natural evolution from Sparrows though with a more narrative vibe. No, she says, Floating World has those weird songs (the ones about dogs, I guess?) but I think it’s the crazy percussion that she doesn’t like. She likes Canopy Glow: the sweet female vocals the more traditionally arranged, softer songs. One time, I said, I listened to Canopy Glow on iTunes and the songs continued to the first song off “Sparrows” –the one about Aaron holding his peace and I thought for a second it was a Canopy Glow song because it had the same rhythm, the same flow, but then I recognized it. Though, “Aaron Held his Peace” does not fit in with the rest of Sparrows, it fits in with Canopy Glow. There, I said, the new one is nothing new, per se, but a return, just like the songs about the crazy dogs (“Hanasaka…what?)

We had seen Anathallo twice before together, but this was the first time that she was excited.
The table next to us didn’t pay, she said.
The check comes and I leave a tip for $2.38. Yahoo! Maps said from my house to Cat’s Cradle was two hours and 38 minutes.
It was appropriate then that my friend Jason was coming…

first-person: the barnraisers, paleface, jesse stockton in wilmington, nc

soapbox valentine's poster

At the club and doors open at 9 and we pop in at 9:30 only to be told doors haven’t opened yet. Into the lounge. Some guy messing with a saxophone on stage while a crowd mills about the bar. The TV isn’t on. A perfectly arranged set of pool balls is on the table. A guy holds a stick. We decline. We stand. We make small talk about the band posters on the wall. Yes, I like Q and Not U. Yes, Donovan Frankenreiter is dressed ridiculously in his poster. The door guy comes back and finds us and everyone else for the show upstairs, The Barnraisers, Paleface and Jesse Stockton. No Cary Ann Hearst.
On the way up see a door that says “close the door behind you.” We don’t open it. No one’s up there, retreat to another lounge. This TV is on AMC, the 35th anniversary of Godfather II. Just saw this like two weeks ago, Fredo and Michael are having a talk outside at the cafe. Michael questions Fredo’ s loyalty to the family and we talk about how DeNiro and Pacino should stop making movies. We talk about recent overused quotations like “If not us, then who? If not now, then when?” and “Never regret anything that made you smile” and “Yes, we can.”