holidaze (premature)

in case you haven't noticed, the 'holiday season' is upon us (at least according to wal-mart commercials, store displays, etc). though it has become somewhat needlessly protracted, i do really like this time of year. for this reason, i have been having an ongoing debate on the merits of various holidays.

one of my favorite websites, the online etymology dictionary, notes that the term 'holiday' quite obviously came from the old english words for 'holy' and 'day.' by the 14th century it meant both a 'religious festival' and 'day of recreation,' but its meaning had diverged even further from its origins by the 16th century.

today, i'm not exactly sure what 'holiday' really means. a day off work? a day to be with family? a day to 'get crunk'? there is a day for seemingly everything at this point, which begs the question, can every day really be a holiday? part of what i like about major holidays is that they are infrequent and break up the normal routine in some way, so i'm not so convinced.

some days, purportedly 'legit' holidays, are puzzling to me; rubber duckie day (january 13), middle name pride day (march 12), and national two different colored shoes day (may 3) all sound pretty awesome, but i don't really know much about what or why i would be celebrating. i mean, just this week, we will have to cram in homemade bread day (november 17), married to a scorpio day (not applicable, but november 18), and world toilet day (wtf, november 19). too much for me to handle right now. (btw, this website is a good source of random holidays if you are interested).

in spite of this confusion, i decided to make a list of my 10 favorite holidays of all time. a forewarning: these choices have obviously been influenced by my american and christian upbringing, so your favorite holiday may not be listed. apologies.

10. valentine's day: i literally like this day only because there is an off chance i will eat candy from a heart-shaped box/receive a card from my mother with $20 inside.

9. st. patrick's day: i haven't done much in the way of celebrating this day, but i like ireland and i like the color green. i also find the concept of putting food coloring in beer to be very intriguing.

8. groundhog day: who doesn't love a large, sagacious rodent who provides weather forecasts?

7. memorial day: the unofficial start of summer pretty much unfailingly equates to seashores, sunshine, and relaxation, and with those elements, i can take no issue.

6. easter: we still have easter egg hunts every year, and the easter bunny still leaves reese's cups, a yo-yo, and the occasional new pair of flip flops in my yellow easter basket. so that's good. this holiday also gets points for signaling the start of spring.

5. 4th of july/my birthday: not really the same day, but close enough for this list. this day was pretty lame to me when i was younger because everyone was out of town, meaning i had to throw bday parties in may or june (once in april), but now i realize it is pretty chill to combine national holiday/birthday celebrations if you plan correctly. as a lover of both fireworks and attention, i find the beginning of july to be particularly exciting.

4. thanksgiving: i like the way peoples' homes smell at thanksgiving, namely of delicious food being cooked. i also like any day that includes the opportunity to over-eat comforting food, watch football, nap, then over-eat leftovers.

3. new years: usually debaucherous, occasionally celebrated in interesting locales, always a good time. there's a great deal of anticipation and it's a nice time to get together with old friends. and as may be apparent already, i like counting backwards from 10.

2. halloween: this holiday has changed a great deal from my 'dressing-as-batman-and-knocking-on-neighbors'-doors-and-hoping-to-get-a-regular-sized-(and-not-fun-sized)-snicker-bar' days, but it's still a great excuse to dress up, hang with friends, decorate a house in cobwebs, and dance to 'thriller.'

1. christmas: kind of an obvious choice, i know. much different than any other holiday, christmas for my family is reduced to a clockwork ritual from about 3:00 pm christmas eve until 11:00 pm christmas day, and i wouldn't change any of it. great food (holla at a chick-fil-a party tray), great drinks (brandy alexanders), great company (lots of cousins), and tons of decorations up in the house. plus there's 'a christmas story' on tv, the smell of a live tree in my living room, and of course, presents. in spite of having 'a kenny g christmas' playing on repeat from sun up to sun down, it really is the best day of the year.

2009 troika festival, or a lengthy explanation of why i was in downtown durham

from an early age, i was fascinated and puzzled by the concept of place. i really liked looking at maps and finding out what tibet and iceland looked like in my world book encyclopedias (pre-wikipedia source of random information). when i finally started to travel myself, i was constantly trying to evaluate what made maine or france different from my backward corner of eastern north carolina.

place was not something I readily related to music, though, until sometime later. i likely connected bluegrass-type music with my own state, but it took me a while to wrap my head around the idea of a ‘scene’ defining a location musically. as someone who grew up in the shadow of the 1990s, seattle comes to mind as an example of a ‘scene’ that spawned bands that had a ‘sound,’ but this concept has likely been around as long as music itself. one can imagine how cavemen in one area influenced each other to clap rocks together in similar ways so that each tribe was its own ‘scene’ with a unique ‘sound’ of prehistoric ‘rock’…

i really grew to appreciate north carolina music when i got into ben folds five, and then superchunk, archers of loaf, and polvo. since then, i’ve realized what a fertile ground this state has been for all kinds of music—especially in the triangle. the sound can range from gentle folk to hip hop that makes me want to take my shirt off and twist it round my head like a helicopter, which is pretty cool.

with all this in mind, i stepped into the chilly november air at durham central park (really a covered space near downtown used as the farmers market) to see the start of the 2009 troika festival, a three-night music showcase of mostly local bands at venues all over durham.

the first act to perform on the outdoor stage was the beast, a group who quite capably meld hip hop, jazz, and apparently latin sounds. i must say, I missed most of their set, but i did hear the song featured on the recent “hear here” compilation, “my people,” and a song about going to puerto rico in which the gathered audience was asked to sing in spanish (i declined the invitation). the group had a captivating energy and they seem worthy of being checked out, especially considering the awesome rhyme i picked out of one song that involved r.l. stine and goosebumps.

after the beast finished, the crowd moved in closer to the stage to hear the grizzled harmonies of megafaun. i have trouble describing their sound adequately; they are kind of folky, kind of 70s throwback rock, very much americana (whatever that means). the band are extremely entertaining live—they provided witty banter about borrowed amps, the city of rochester, minnesota, the kansas city chiefs, and they were very gracious and very supportive of the local music scene. their set included “lazy suicide” and “the fade,” two excellent cuts, alongside some other hand-clappin’ jaunty numbers. audience participation was again encouraged, and this time i obliged the request. as i stood there clapping my fingerless target gloves and providing off-key vocals under my breath, i felt a sort of swelling of pride (or was it the chicken wings i had just eaten?) for the triangle music scene. it is so very much unlike what i imagine the magical, musical land of brooklyn is like when i close my eyes at night. and then, at that moment, i realized that was a very good thing.

after megafaun closed out with everyone in attendance belting out in unison, my friend and I made the short trek through the bull city to the durham performing arts center (the absurdly dubbed ‘D-PAC’). it is a fancy, new facility with a column of light out front that shoots straight up into outer space. we flashed our orange arm bands and passed through a blood red tunnel into one of the nicest theater spaces i’ve seen. it was quite massive. the set-up of this show was pretty strange: the bands were “backstage,” more or less to the side of the stage, and the audience stood on the stage facing them. they had a couple bars and a merch table set up there too. there was a decent-sized crowd there, but not nearly as large as i had expected.

the first band we saw, which we unfortunately missed most of, was humble tripe. i had not heard of them beforehand, but i definitely want to learn more. the last song they performed was especially impressive. the singer/guitarist has some gnarly pipes, which grew in force as the song progressed. my friend compared it to a neutral milk hotel song, which was fitting considering the presence of a trumpet and a pretty gut-wrenching vocal delivery. but yeah, that’s pretty much all i gathered.

next were the future kings of nowhere, about whom i had heard a lot, but had never seen live. they are a well-oiled machine. the music is pretty jumpy and driven by the acoustic guitar of the lead singer. i really liked the way he intonated his voice, highlighting the self-referential and often humorous lyrics. they reminded me at times of bright eyes or tom waits. overall, the FKON were an entertaining lot, a solid, confident band i wouldn’t mind seeing again.

the headliners for the evening were bowerbirds, who apparently have just arrived back in the states from europe. the first thing i noticed was that the singer’s voice was amazing; then I realized everyone in the band could also sing. like megafaun, they seem to function best when harmonizing the pants off a song. their music is very delicate, very listenable, and very musically engaging. the accordion, occasional organ, and violin add a great depth to their sound. all this being said, the mood in most of their songs is so similar and the melodies are so slight, that after a while, i felt like things were dragging a bit. don’t get me wrong, what I was hearing was beautiful; excellent harmonies and very poignant lyrics, mostly dealing with nature. but aside from standouts “in our talons” and “northern lights,” the songs are neither particularly catchy nor memorable. however, i don’t think the band’s primary goal is to create foot stomping excitement, so ill take it as it is.

night two of troika brought me to the trotter building on foster street. i have no idea what this building is normally used for, but it had ads for yoga lessons, nice big windows with a view of downtown, and a decent-sized open floor space, though not the best acoustics, which was really okay since the subtleties of sound were not really as vital to the bands on night two as the previous one.

the huguenots played first. i’ve seen them once before and i think they’re an enjoyable band. they all wear ties and seem to be really into what they’re doing, which always helps. they remind me of an early 1960s band, expect a bit louder and more rocking. it was a late-arriving crowd, so unfortunately, most folks missed them.

brett harris followed, accompanied by four other guys. the sound was very MOR, poppy, just the right amount of volume. i don’t recall a great deal else, though i remember thinking they’d be a fantastic band to have at a party.

the band i really came to see was the legendary hammer no more the fingers. they easily had the largest following, which included fans that sang single every word out loud and clapped at exactly the right moments. to me, all the HNMTF material is really fantastic, especially tunes like “the visitor,” “shutterbug,” and “radiation.” they are an exciting band live, mixing emotive shouts with memorable guitar riffs and compelling melodies. they craft really strong, bouncy tunes that you can sing along to, nod your head, and even pump your fist every once in a while—pretty much all i ask of a rock band.

the next band was actually from atlanta, so i don’t know if i should say much about them. gentleman jesse and his men play a type of rock that is reminiscent of that band from the movie “that thing you do,” but a bit more ragged around the edges. they had a ton of energy and put on a good show.

i have to admit i was too tired to stick around for the last act (which is acceptable if you are in your mid-twenties, i think). but I felt I had gotten my money’s worth anyway. overall, the 9 acts I saw at the festival were all pretty amazing—some extremely talented musicians all doing really interesting, creative stuff. there isn’t an act i saw that i wouldn’t see again.

despite the fact that the triangle is a pretty large metropolitan area—one of the fastest growing in the country—there is something about it that is much less urban than a lot of the places similar to it in population numbers. that characteristic comes through in the music, which often appears fixated on the pastoral, on the banjo, on good honest rock music, and on the small-town community feeling of having grandma, a 3-year-old, and a college hipster all clapping hands to the same song. whether or not anyone else in the music world cares, the triangle has some great bands making exciting music. so i guess if everyone has to be from some place, i’m definitely fine calling the triangle home.