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The Triangle's music scene/market


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i looked at the latest indy after i posted here--artsplosure is the reccommended activity for the weekend and they talk about "rebusworks" i guess it was a free music festival that was an "alternative to artsplosure"

some places to see shows in durham: duke coffeehouse, broad st cafe, 305 south before it closed, american tobacco courtyard area, bull city HQ.....there are more but you get the point.

i would love LOVE to see king's reopen sooner rather than later, but martin street music hall, from what ive heard, has HORRIBLE acoustics. and thats kind of the vital part of kings.

and dont tell me there is nothing the city could have done to "save" kings or help accomodate some sort of transition to another space; raleigh doesnt care about its underground scene. bottom line.

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i looked at the latest indy after i posted here--artsplosure is the reccommended activity for the weekend and they talk about "rebusworks" i guess it was a free music festival that was an "alternative to artsplosure"

some places to see shows in durham: duke coffeehouse, broad st cafe, 305 south before it closed, american tobacco courtyard area, bull city HQ.....there are more but you get the point.

i would love LOVE to see king's reopen sooner rather than later, but martin street music hall, from what ive heard, has HORRIBLE acoustics. and thats kind of the vital part of kings.

and dont tell me there is nothing the city could have done to "save" kings or help accomodate some sort of transition to another space; raleigh doesnt care about its underground scene. bottom line.

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yikes!

the independent is based out of durham, so im not surprised by its heavy durham slant.

i personally think/thought artsplosure is a lame street festival with generic "art" vendors and an unfortunate name. so i guess thats why id rather see the indy talk about other things. the majority of the artsplosure attendees probably aren't loyal indy readers and vice versa. how much did the N&O cover the event? the N&O is read by many many more people who could be potential artsplosure-attendees. and, if you want to get visitors or residents interested in local art, why dont you encourage them to attend the handmaiden's market or the rock and shop events.

ive already been kicked off one website for being too anti-raleigh, but i love raleigh, and with anything you love, you have to face its flaws as well.

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i do miss jo and joes. and thier burgers. i cant get into the details of why places closed or moved, i aint that old. but i just feel west-side has a stronger music scene and maybe even a stronger visual arts scene. more stuff is happening there, and better quality (full frame > artsplosure, for example). so i dont see why the independent paper in the area wouldnt be more heavily focused on that area.

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foxy: you are going to have to do more than dissect Artsplosure as "not all that" to plausibly contend with the fact (specifically documented numerous times on this board...do a search through the threads on "Independent") that the Independent does a lame job covering Raleigh and Wake County in general, particularly with their arts coverage (I think with Bob Geary they are doing a more credible job on the news side, but their restaurant and arts coverage is laughably Durham- and Chapel Hill-centric). Maybe you can make an argument for the slant in the arts coverage since Chapel Hill has been the bohemian center of our region for decades...but the total attention in restaurant coverage to the Western Triangle, which has maybe 30% of both the restaurants and the restaurant-using population, is ridiculous...I'm certainly not going to drive to Durham or Chapel Hill for a dinner out on Friday night. The N&O's coverage under Greg Cox has been VASTLY superior, and the Indy should be ashamed for letting a mainstream paper owned by a big chain out-report them on the food scene. As far as I can tell, their coverage of restaurants is driven largely by who buys ads from them, and I guess Raleigh restaurants, sensing their unbalanced coverage aren't wasting their ad money...

And as for the claim they are a "Durham publication", well, they have claimed to be the Triangle's alternative newsweekly since they were founded, and I believe they recently opened a Raleigh bureau (after what, 20+ years of existence?)

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Over the years, the Independent purchased and shut down competing alternate papers twice. The bi-weekly collection of political cartoons and other writing (Comic Journal, Comics Weekly?) in the early/mid 90s was an insert into the Independent, then slowly disappeared. Why? The Independent blamed the high cost of newsprint.

The Spectator was a different oddity -- a (mostly) conservative tabloid (paper size, not content) that covered the arts. It eventually was sold to Charlotte's Creative Loafing, who did an even worse job than the old owners. The Independent took the Spectator off CL's hands, and unceremoniously shut it down. They kept film critic Godfrey Cheshire and nothing else.

Someone who only gets their arts and entertainment news from the Independent will think there is a lot more going on in Durham and Chapel Hill than Raleigh, epecially since they are the Triangle's weekly arts paper. And therein lies the problem. Add to that their hidden bias:

No one at the Independent holds Durham responsible for a great place like Jo and Joes closing. Things happen. Yet when something closes in Raleigh (Bickett, Kings), why is that not also "things happening"? Because it is a sign that Raleigh doesn't care about the creative class, or however else they want to spin it.

A music club closing in Raleigh is *news*. A music club closing in Durham is *not news*.

Arts events in Durham is *news*. Arts events in Raleigh are *not news*.

Durham/Chapel Hill have a capital S Scene. There is no Raleigh Scene.

If it was "just a Durham publication" then why bother covering Raleigh at all -- for bad or even worse?

They are trying to shape reality into their own west side only worldview. Last year's best in the Triangle, they sent Bob Geary to Durham with a tour guide, while they sent their Durham/Chapel Hill reporter to Raleigh by train, without a vehicle or guide. The results? Durham is great for outsiders if they have someone who knows where to go and has the means to get there, while Raleigh sucks because their bus system is lacking and they don't have tour guides waiting at the Amtrack station. Reaction? Raleigh readers might go check out Durham while Durham/Chapel Hill readers have their preconceived notions (I went there once and it was soooo horrible) confirmed and don't make any effort to head east. Even last week's article on "the neighborhood coming back" only looked at a neighborhood just east of Durham while ignoring similar efforts in Raleigh, painting a positive picture of the newcomers. Existing residents caused the problems and don't want to help, so they should be ignored. Another article last year covering similar territory in Raleigh painted a worse picture, claiming things were better during segregation.

Considering Artsplosure nothing more than a glorified craft market is *exactly* what the Independent wants people to think and subsequently not even bother to go. Velittling a Raleigh event and ignoring the music, kids events, sand sculpture, etc. is what the Indy does best. If it happened in Durham, there would be a full preview article with a schedule of musical acts and other nearby events. But it happens in Raleigh, so they give the impression that its just some people hawking their "art" and other boring junk.

The Independent's Raleigh office (which moves quite frequently) is mostly for advertising, not actual reporting. I feel bad that Raleigh businesses do not have an alternative.

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but the closings of jo and joes IS different from BG and Kings. Jo and Joes closed bc the owner moved. BG closed bc the owner was tired of fighting the surrounding neighbors. Kings closed bc of the behemoth Convention center.

i cant really argue with you on a lot of that stuff, though, bc i live in raleigh and DO think it is lacking a "scene" when compared to durham and chapel hill, but thats personal opinion not objective criticism. i travel to chapel hill and durham for entertainment often. the three cities are just so close together, you cant really expect there to be three distinct epicenters of arts. (at least not the same stuff)

i agree that the indy restaurant reviews are way too west-side focused. it seems raleigh has had a boon of fancy restaurants open recently so i would hope the focus would shift sometime soon to reflect that.

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I live in Durham and can attest that there is no "scene". What music club does Durham have? The only music scene in Chapel Hill is Frank Heath. If he was to leave tomorrow there would be absolutely nothing there. The guys at Volume 11 do a great job and Lincoln Theatre is by far one of the best venues (soundwise, albeit their booking is spotty). The Independent rags on everything until there is nothing to be ragged on anymore-maybe they should be more willing to criticize the lousy bands their friends are in.

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but the closings of jo and joes IS different from BG and Kings. Jo and Joes closed bc the owner moved. BG closed bc the owner was tired of fighting the surrounding neighbors. Kings closed bc of the behemoth Convention center.
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