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.

Quote of the Week- Neil Diamond

While you are not likely to hear Neil Diamond on radio stations that play The Clash and Metallica, the legendary singer has endured and remains a favorite of adult contemporary radio stations from Cleveland to Kuala Lampur (we assume!).

His Neilness is not currently on tour, but you might be able to catch a performance of the Carrboro-NC based tribute band The Neil Diamond All-Stars, whose lead singer is Jack Whitebread, who does seem more like the late Joe Strummer (lead singer of The Clash) than Diamond himself but he does a great "Sweet Caroline."

I saw the trib band perform at The Cat's Cradle in Carrboro a few months ago, and they were simply awesome though I don't recall them singing my favorite Neil song "Red, Red Wine," which became a chart-busting hit for the English reggae pop band UB40 in the mid-80s.

The venue hosts the '80s New Wave band The English Beat ("Mirror in the Bathroom") on Aug. 24 which we wish were not a double-expletive school night!

Diamond also sang the national anthem for my sister's graduation at The University of Colorado.

Here is our quote from Diamond:

"I don't like all of the music to be serious and deadly."

At the Cat's Cradle in Carrboro, NC (Chapel Hill)- Who's Bad

While it would be impossible to see Michael Jackson perform in concert (for those who live on Neptune the famed pop singer died over the summer), one can see the MJ tribute band Who's Band perform at The Cat's Cradle in Carrboro, NC, just outside Chapel Hill, on Jan. 16.

The Raleigh-based band was formed before Jackson's death, and since his passing they have become an international phenom with scheduled performances in the UK set for this spring.

The tickets are $15 in advance (919-967-9053).

On Jan. 20, Who's Bad performs at the Jefferson Theatre in Charlottesville, VA., and at the Orange Peel in Asheville, NC, on Jan. 21.

SIDEBAR- The controversial documentary film "Zoo," a personal favorite of mine, about a man's 'relationship' with his horse airs tonight on the Sundance Channel at 8:00 p.m. It is part of their '31 Days of Sundance' with an independent film being shown each night at 8:00 p.m. as a promotion for the Sundance Film Festival which is happening this month in Park City, Utah.

At the Cat's Cradle-Enter the Haggis, et al.

There are a couple of nifty shows coming to the Cat's Cradle nightclub in Carboro (Chapel Hill), NC, within the next few months.

The Canadian Celtic rock band Enter the Haggis which I first saw perform at my alma mater Radford University (in Radford, Va.) will perform on Wed., Sept. 2. Admission is $12/14.

A few days later, the African-American bluegrass band Carolina Chocolate Drops from Durham, NC, will be at the Cat's Cradle on Sat., Sept. 5, $15

The shock Korean-American comedian Margaret Cho, who once said that she would never vote for Sarah Palin but she would *&%# her, is performing her provocative stand-up routine on Thurs., Sept. 17 ($22-25). Alas, I have to teach a yoga class that night*.

And, on Halloween night the hip instrumental band Toubab Krewe from Asheville, NC, will perform at Cat's Cradle ($14-16). I last saw this band perform in the small town of Floyd, Va., on Dec. 1, 2007, when amazingly enough a Food Lion truck struck a powerline causing the whole town to black out which lead to an abrupt end to the show! Hopefully, that won't happen in Carboro.