Blur

Magic Mike, Electric Circus (revisited), Pinhook, Durham NC, 02/22/12, originally uploaded by Ash Crowe.

Just for the record, I don’t recommend working on a giant building opening at work while having a head cold followed by an eye infection.

The past 2 weeks have been a blur of work and sick. The work made being under the weather last longer; being under the weather made work seem more painful/long.

Happily I’m finally feeling better, and while the new building isn’t quite running on automatic yet, at least we’ve (hopefully, finally) stopped having to rebuild the engine every time we run it on manual.

I’m finally feeling better, hopefully by mid-week next week the building will be automatic, this blog will be back to normal starting Monday.

Welcome Home

Red Collar Soundcheck, Motorco, Durham NC, 09/24/11, originally uploaded by Ash Crowe.

Red Collar signed to Tiny Engines. New album, Welcome Home out 6/12/12

Congrats, y’all!

The new songs sound great live, the early versions I’ve heard are amazing; I can’t wait to hear the final album versions.

Jphono1, Pinhook

Jphono1, Pinhook, Durham NC, 02/26/12, originally uploaded by Ash Crowe.

This weekend, work kept me from shows both Friday & Saturday night so it was incredibly nice to end the weekend with a show at Pinhook. The Durham release of Jphono1′s new CD/book with JKutchma & the 5/5ths, Library & Clinton Johnson.

full photo set here

Courtney Marie Andrews, 02/23/12

Courtney Marie Andrews, Motorco Garage, Durham NC, 02/23/12, originally uploaded by Ash Crowe.

I enjoy it when the timing works out. In this case, a delightful free concert on Motorco’s garage stage that started up as soon as the Duke game ended on the big screen in the showroom.

Durham’s Baobab opened up the show. Their album is up for free on their bandcamp and I’d recommend picking it up.

Full photo set here

Electric Circus (revisited), Pinhook

Electric Circus (revisited), Pinhook, Durham NC, 02/22/12, originally uploaded by Ash Crowe.

Last night’s show at Pinhook was about far far more than just performers.

The performances I caught were fun, and you can see all the photos here. But this was really all about raising money for a great cause.

Durham is a city that loves a good cause and a good kickstarter. This is, at the very least more important than the last band you donated $15 to to kickstart their next album.

Jeff & King are raising money to fund a scholarship. It is an amazing undertaking. Go give them some money.

Ted Leo, Duke Coffeehouse, 02/18/12

Ted Leo, Duke Coffeehouse, Durham NC, 02/18/12, originally uploaded by Ash Crowe.

A treat to see Ted Leo play a solo show at Duke Coffeehouse on Saturday night.

For me the surprising highlight of his set was the beautiful Hazel Dickens cover.

Opener Mac McCaughan also pulled out an unexpected cover by A Number of Things, one of the two bands who played the first show he saw at Duke Coffeehouse in 1983.

His whole opening set was just fantastic.

Full Photo Set Here

Duke Together

Vote Against Project, Duke, Durham NC, 02/17/12, originally uploaded by Ash Crowe.

I’m not one to talk about my politics a great deal on this blog. But sometimes I will, and this is one of those times.

NC has an amendment on the ballot for the May election that would make gay marriage constitutionally illegal. It would strip benefits from state (and state university) employed couples who have legal marriages from other states/countries or those who currently receive domestic partner/same-sex equivalent benefits.

I’m lucky in that I work at Duke, which is a private employer, so I am not at risk of losing benefits.

But this isn’t personally about my benefits, or even distinctly about benefits, to me it is really about what it says about us as a state, as a humanity, that here and now and in 2012 we are voting to determine if discrimination should be put into our State Constitution.

I love this State of North Carolina and it makes me sick to my stomach to think that this state could be telling me and all the other queer folks in the state that our kind aren’t wanted here, we can’t have families and community here, constitutionally.

So, to the end of stopping this hatefulness and having the amendment fail in May, we are fighting this.

I am proud to be part of the Exec Group of Duke Together Against Constitutional Discrimination. We are a group of staff, faculty and students who are raising awareness on campus and trying to get students, faculty, staff and community members to vote against the amendment in May.

Yesterday was a great day.

• The Vote Against project was at Duke and captured 300 photos to add to their picture of NC unity committed to defeating this amendment.
• Race to the Ballot was in Durham all afternoon yesterday
• And, for the one that made me most happy, Duke University and Duke Medicine issued a statement of support for the LGBT Community

Please go read the full text of that statement. Please get involved in your local communities to gather voters to vote against the amendment (if you are at Duke and want to be more involved at Duke, let me know). Please vote against the amendment in May.