Off the Beat and Path Quotes (5 of 6): Margaret Cho

Margaret Cho is one of the very few comedians who has performed at the Cat's Cradle in Carrboro (Chapel Hill), NC, a mostly music venue that brings acts, such as Cold War Kids and Of Montreal.

Cho, 45, who is known to shock people with her candid subjects on stage, is also an actress; she is a Canadian who is of Korean heritage.

This is one of her quotes:

"I love drugs, but I hate hangovers, and the hatred of the hangover wins by a landslide every time."

On Stage: The Zombies Are Set to Invade Chapel Hill

Amazingly enough, we thought The Zombies were some new heavy metal, like Dillinger Escape Plan, but as it turns out there are the revolutionary psychedelic '60s band known for smash hits like "Time of the Season," "She's Not There" and "Tell Her No."

The Zombies perform in Chapel Hill, NC, at Cat's Cradle (well, actually the venue is in neighboring Carrboro) on April 18th at 8:00 p.m.; tickets for the event are $32-35.

http://www.thezombies.net/

http://zom.thefondfarewells.com/ 

http://www.dillingerescapeplan.org/

http://www.visitchapelhill.org/

http://www.downtownchapelhill.com/

http://www.catscradle.com/

Tweets Considering All Things DC (1 of 2): Interesting Suggestion About the Creation Museum

A tweet from LOLGOP, which makes fun of the Tea Party and Republicans, posted a tweet today about one thing conservatives would want in the federal government; it concerns the Creation Museum in Hebron, Kentucky. When I saw liberal folk singer Billy Bragg play at the Cat's Cradle in Carrboro (Chapel Hill), NC, I was amazed he visited the Creation Museum! But, again, so has Bill Maher.

Here are the tweets about Washington, DC:

1. The Fix: "(Imagine) The government shutdown debate as a game of ping pong."

2. LOLGOP: "#GOPDemands: Move the Creation Museum into the Smithsonian and/or depict the Founders as riding dinosaurs."

3. Ambassador Namik Tan (Turkish ambassador to the USA): "President Abdullah Gul's interview with "The Washington Post"....Assad must go."

4. Ezra Klein: "The falling deficit has been a disaster for the GOP."

5. The Daily Edge: "#GOPDemands: National buyback program to replace dangerous video games with assault weapons." (This is meant to be satirical).

6. Roll Call: "OMG!! A GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN. Or maybe not."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/

http://creationmuseum.org/ (Not an endorsement)

http://www.rollcall.com/

At the Cat's Cradle- Southern Culture on the Skids

Southern Culture on the Skids, the Chapel Hill, NC-based band, which is one of our personal favorites, will be performing on home turf when they give a concert at Cat's Cradle in Carrboro, NC, on Dec. 4.

The wild band known for throwing fried chicken and Little Debbie oatmeal pies into audiences will be givint the concert as part of a benefit for the Carrboro Food Pantry. The band will also perform at the Hnadlebar in Greenville, SC, (on Nov. 17), the Visulite Theatre in Charlotte (Dec. 3) and The Soapbox in Wilmington, NC, (Dec. 17).

In other concert news, '80s pop diva gives a concert at The 9:30 Club in Washington, DC, on Nov. 27 at 6:00 p.m. (warning: tickets are $45?!), while the band Railroad Earth, which has a loyal following, plays the same venue on Dec. 10. And, one of our very favorite bands Gogol Bordello performs at The 9:30 Club for a pair of shows on Dec. 30 and Dec. 31.

And, in our hometown of Roanoke, Va., The Kirk Avenue Music Hall hosts Nashville-based rock singer Megan McCormick on Nov. 30 and the Athens, Ga.-based Beatles tribute band Abbey Road Live on Dec. 3. I saw ABL at Cat's Cradle earlier this year; they give an awesome show!

SIDEBAR: Kudos to Prince William as he is now engaged to Kate Middleton, who is also 28. According to the BBC, he proposed to her while the couple was on vacation in Kenya and he gave her Lady Diana's ring (awwww!).

Silly Photo to Fill Space- Working at the Arcade

Alas, the Ms. Pac-Man machine at The Cat's Cradle in Carrboro, NC, apparently does not work, but the venue is hosting the '80s New Wave band The English Beat ("Mirror in the Bathrrom") and I sure as heck would love to be there. (Insert screams of frustration and choice profanity words here). I must profess that The Cat's Cradle is a great concert venue irregardless if their Ms. Pac-Man is working or not (I wonder if they can give us a discount on Blonde Redhead tickets for saying this!)

But, high school and college students can possibly find part-time work at Swingtime in Howell, NJ, which we hope is somewhat near Trenton, NJ, our choice city of the week for this series within a series on summer jobs (yeah, we know, it's getting a bit late for that topic!).

Swingtime also offers mini-golf (in New Jersey?!) and batting cages for the young and the young-at-heart.

This brings us to our High School of the Week (yes, lots of schools across America share this honor which is sort of our joke here on this blog) which is Capital High School in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where Melanie Romero is the principal.

The school with an enrollment of circa 1,240 students has the nickname of The Jaguars. They have turgoise and black school colors. And, according to Wikipedia (we are wondering if this is a joke), the school was built to resemble the state pen!

At Cat's Cradle, Abbey Road Live

The Athens, Ga., Beatles tribute band Abbey Road Live! returns to The Cat's Cradle in Carrboro (Chapel Hill), NC, for a concert on Sunday, Sept. 5. Tickets in advance are ten dollars, while they will twelve bucks at the door.

I saw the band perform at the same venue earlier in the summer, and they gave a stellar performance. According to the band's web site, Abbey Road Live has played up to 100 Beatles covers during their stage performances over the years.

This reminds of a very surreal Turkish arabesque version of "Yesterday" which one see on Youtube, it is vintage Turkitsch, a term a Facebook friend of mine used after seeing the video which I had posted (by the way, I am not the one singing "Yes-tir-day" which sounds more like an homage to Turkish singer Ibrahim Tatlises- the king of arabesque than John, Paul, George and Ringo!).

Those hoping to 'come together' (we couldn't resist!) for the Abbey Road Live show can call the venue at 919-967-9053 or buy tickets from catscradle.com

The Cat's Cradle is also hosting blues singer Corinne Bailey Rae on Sept. 9, and another Athens, Ga., band Dead Confederate on Sept. 30.

Those living near Baltimore or Washington, DC, may want to see Abbey Road Live perform Sept. 3rd and 4th at Oxon Hill, Md.

SIDEBAR: The African-American bluegrass/string band Carolina Chocolate Drops from Durham, NC, continue to make a proverbial name for themselves. The band that I saw perform in tiny Eden, NC- of all places, will be at Miller Plaza in Chatanooga, Tenn., on Sept. 3. The band plays The Capitol Theatre in York, Pa., on Sept. 8 before heading down to Nashville for a show at Ryman Auditorium on Sept. 9. Those of you in New England can see them at Iron Horse Music Hall in Northampton, Mass., on Sat.,Sept. 11th.

Silly Picture to Fill Space- Groundhog Day

Whatever Mr. Groundhog says today, yet another %$#&*@ winter storm is headed for North Carolina and Virginia. This would mark the third time we get slammed. The last storm for those of you living in sunny Fargo, ND, was last weekend.

Although I shouldn't complain because a few years ago, I was offered a job in Rockville, Md., a Washington, DC suburb, but it didn't pay well enough to live in the area. I've always whinned that I would have been happier there (I live in rural NC, and I'm a city boy who likes his Woody Allen movies!), but hey, well they get the same snow we get- in fact, even more of it!

So, for the second weekend in a row, my major plans might be thwarted.

I was hoping to either see the North Carolina State women's gymnastics team, which is off to a good start this season and ranked #22 in the country, host SEC power Florida (ranked #3) in Raleigh, or see the experimental band Toubab Krewe from Asheville, NC, perform at the Cat's Cradled in Carrboro, NC, or go to my alma mater Radford University's homecoming festival in Radford, Va. The school is celebrating its 100th anniversary, and we have a pretty good men's basketball team which is supposed to host High Point University on Saturday.

Instead, I may have to watch talking heads discuss political issues which will resolve themselves when I'm old enough to collect social security on PBS' "Washington Weekin Review" (but, I love host Gwen Ifill!) or the Sunday talk shows (I guess one can always see if George F. Will is wearing a bow-tie or a regular neck tie).

And, of course, there should be an unholy amount of college basketball games to watch on ESPN and the networks. But, by time the Super Bowl comes on, I might have fallen asleep from watching the infommercials between "Meet the Press" and the pre-game show.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...............

First Line of a Novel (10 of 11)- Cat's Cradle

Today, we go with a simple line from the vintage 1963 Kurt Vonnegut novel "Cat's Cradle," which is also the name of a cool night club in Carrboro, NC (Chapel Hill) which actually doesn't allow smoking (how cool is that!).

Vonnegut's novel, oh by the way, is about the end of the world.

Here is the line:

"Call me Jonah."

At the Cat's Cradle- Toubab Krewe

The Asheville, NC instrumental band Toubab Krewe will be playing at the ever-hip Cat's Cradle night club in Carrboro, NC (Chapel Hill) on Friday, Feb. 6.

The band fuses the music of Mali with southern roots music. They obviously don't have a lead singer, but Teal Brown does a really swell job on drums.

I saw the band perform at the Sun Hall in Floyd, Va., on Dec. 1, 2007. It was a night I will never forget as the show was cut short because a truck had hit a powerline in the small town near Roanoke, and created a fuse shortage throughout Floyd.

Toubab Krewe will also be performing at The Blind Tiger in Greensboro on Jan. 30 and at The Neighborhood Theatre in Charlotte on Feb. 7.

This Friday, at Cat's Cradle, there will be a performance by The Last Waltz Ensemble- a group that performs songs by Bob Dylan and The Band.

Cat's Cradle is located at 300 East Main Street, Carrboro, NC 27510. Phone: 919-967-9053.