Wow, quite a bit of mix. I was wondering how we compared.
I did forget to mention that our Symphony is supposed to be a highly regarded one as far as small city groups go. I've been a few times, but they've got a new place now and have not been able to make it out there yet.
I was adding it up the other night when I was looking at upcoming big shows in our area. Within 45 minute's drive, we have these venues that have done music events:
2 College Football stadiums (Duke and NC State)
1 College Basketball arena (UNC)
1 NHL Hockey & College Basketball arena (Hurricanes and NC State)
2 Ampitheaters (Raleigh and Cary)
3 City Arts Centers (old time movie theater sized venues) (2 in Raleigh, at least 1 in Durham. I think there are two of them)
1 mini Ampitheater (at the North Carolina Museum of Art)
3 Minor League baseball Stadiums (old and new Durham Bulls and Carolina Mudcats)
Add to this mix at least 10-12 small time music houses like the kind that Blueline was talking about opening. The biggest challenge is finding out who is playing when and where. I was so mad the day after Frank Yankovic was in Cary playing not 5 minutes away from work at the time and I didn't know about it until reading a review the next day.
And then all of the local restaurant-bars that do live music.....man. We've got a lot.
8) 8) 8)
Roy
"I wonder if a composer ever intentionally composed a piece that was physically impossible to play and stuck it away to be found years later after his death, knowing it would forever drive perfectionist musicians crazy." - George Carlin
I have to say I'm pretty blessed to live where I do. (Musically speaking) I am 25 mins outside of New York City. So there are many places to go see good bands. BB King's, Madison Sq. Garden, Radio City and many, many night clubs. Last summer I went to see Richie Kotzen at BB Kings. He was incredible!
The music scene here is pretty diverse. You have a choice from rock to orchestral and everything in between. There are many other venues in my local area as well. (within an hour's drive) HOWEVER, there is a huge gap in talent. The local cover bands are usually pretty much all the same. They are not very talented and cover all of the same music. Blah.
Roy, the one thing that we do not have is a good place for good, budding musicians. That's were I plan on filling the gap!
Teamwork- A few harmless flakes working together can unleash an avalanche of destruction.
Roy, the one thing that we do not have is a good place for good, budding musicians. That's were I plan on filling the gap!
We've got two interesting variations of something similar. This place does the local thing during the week, and the traveling barely knowns sometimes on weekends. http://www.sixstringcafe.net/index.html They also have a very small, but stocked acoustic music shop, a bar, restaurant and decent stage. The food is horrendous. Hard to describe and believe how bad it is. Otherwise, it would be the perfect venue for the dinner & music thing.
Here's a music store that I had an argument with a couple months back over a video they had posted. Video aside, it's a small time music store with a great concept. http://www.fallsrivermusic.com/servlet/StoreFront Recent name change. Last time I was in there and spent some dough was about 6-8 weeks ago. The inventory was very low. Almost looked like they were going our of business. I hope not. I did my part and spent a couple c-notes. I wish I had gone to look at their acoustics more, but there was a really long story behind the one I got. Didn't have much in stock anyways. Anyhow, the combo music store - studio - stage - coffee shop - snack bar will hopefully take up for this guy and his new location & name.
Roy
"I wonder if a composer ever intentionally composed a piece that was physically impossible to play and stuck it away to be found years later after his death, knowing it would forever drive perfectionist musicians crazy." - George Carlin
