In-Store: Carolina Chocolate Drops
In things that don’t suck news, Carolina Chocolate Drops will be doing a few songs at Harvest Records this Friday afternoon at 3pm before their headlining appearance at The Orange Peel!
Photos: Brother Ali and Fashawn
I was a little worried when the show started. The Peel was empty. The opening group was a rap cliche (“Yo yo yo, where the bitches at?”) with a DJ who looked like the kids I went to Hebrew school with seems to spend more time smoking blunts than using this old Dell Latitude.
I began to wonder if I had the wrong idea of Rhymesayers, but after a break Brother Ali came out an introduced this 21-year-old phenom named Fashawn. The crowd swelled and moved to the stage and Fashawn proceeded to kill it. Lyrical, hard-working, honest, and brilliant.
Then Brother Ali took over the stage. He’s a self-described fat, bald, bearded, albino, Muslim rapper, but he transcended all those label. He was able to get the crowd moving like I’ve never seen in Asheville before, “There is not a concert. At a concert, there is a performer, an actor up here on stage. Out there is the audience and we don’t interact. But this isn’t that. This is a party and I came here to fucking party.”
I left around midnight, but the party was still going strong.
More photos after the jump…
Coming Soon: Drive-By Truckers
Southern rockers Drive-By Truckers are coming back to The Orange Peel for two nights in April, specifically Friday the 16th and Saturday the 17th. They sold out two nights in January 2009 and I’m betting it’ll happen again. Get your tickets early, but not this early because it’s not even posted to the Peel’s site yet. Langhorne Slim will open those shows.
DBT is also coming out with a new album, The Big To-Do, on March 16 so you can memorize all the songs and get ready to sing along. Listen to a new track over at Blurt.
She & Him, the dyanmic duo of M. Ward and Zooey Deschanel, will land at The Orange Peel on Thursday, July 31. Tickets go on sale this Friday at noon. Other recent bookings at the Peel include the Old 97’s (July 24), Daniel Johnston (June 24), and Amos Lee (July 29).
Friday Night Roundup
Like many nights, you’ve got your pick of what to do tonight…
The Barrel House Mamas, those sultry Appalachian ladies, will be at The Grey Eagle at 9pm with No Strings Attached. $10
The boys from The Amity Front have come down all the way from Northampton, MA (one of my favorite cities) to play at Jack of the Wood at 9:30pm. $5
The North Mississippi Allstars have taken a break from touring with John Hiatt to rock The Orange Peel with Alvin Youngblood Hart at 9pm. $18
If you are still awake after all that, Labiators will make some noise at Broadways with Jimmy and the Teasers starting whenever they feel like it…a lesson I learned after a raucous Reigning Sound show last night.
Basia Bulat and Devotchka played The Orange Peel tonight. Basia opened and was brilliant. That girl can rock the autoharp like nobody’s business.
Then…the waiting…
I’ve long since learned that complicated stage setups are a sign of a band taking themselves too seriously. The Peel krewe can through and made me put away my camera because “the band brought their own photographer”. Uh-oh. The fog, the moving lights, the outfits. It felt like a bored mariachi band playing on 80s hair metal stage. All the kids with Xs on their hands were loving it. I guess they haven’t been to enough great shows…or I’ve been to too many.
Drive-By Truckers are playing tonight, but the show is sold out. You could stand outside The Orange Peel looking sketchy or roll the dice with Craigslist.
Or you could come to The Rocket Club and rock out with us to The Whiskey Daredevils. I’ve never seen them, but I’m already digging their style. Their new album features covers of Black Flag, Dead Kennedys, Circle Jerks, Minor Threat, Fear, The Ramones, The Misfits, and Sex Pistols.
Colin Meloy (yes, of The Decemberists) will rock The Orange Peel on Friday, April 11. This falls into my holycraptotallyfreakingawesome category. Laura Gibson opens.
