|
Despite downpours, beats go on at dance-music fest
Day 2 of the Ultra Music Festival on Saturday was all about big beats, soaring trance and funky breaks -- along with some rain. This weekend marks the first time Ultra, the Winter Music Conference's most popular event now in its ninth year, has expanded to two days, a testament to the dance music extravaganza's success. In between the raindrops, British DJ duo Sasha & Digweed tore up the Main Stage with high-energy tech-house as trippy, colorful visuals flashed on the eight video screens around them. Over at the Amnesia Tent, DJ Tiga -- whose claim to fame is a decidedly non-hip-hop remix of Nelly's hit Hot In Herre -- powered the crowd with filthy electro house. Stacked trailer cars covered in artful graffiti surrounded the stage, capturing and magnifying the bass to give it extra oomph.
Carolina Cup | Five things about College Park
College kids can be rowdy and loud. They also are an essential part of the Carolina Cup. That is why the Carolina Cup Racing Association gave them College Park 10 years ago. College Park separates the younger Carolina Cup crowd from longtime infield spectators during Camdens most popular spring event. College Park has drawn from 5,000 to 20,000 spectators a year since its 1997 inception, according to the association. Why was College Park created? The college crowd was getting bigger and needed its own area, especially with fraternities getting involved, said Pam Mosier, spokeswoman for the Carolina Cup Racing Association. College Park was a way to encourage them to have their own section so the infield could remain more of a family atmosphere, she said. Whats new this year about the area? Sixty-six spaces were created where groups can rent bigger, two-vehicle areas, with a 20-by-20 tailgating tent included, for $800.
Poplar Tent to close
Drivers who usually take Poplar Tent Road will have to find a new route starting today, after the North Carolina Department of Transportation closes a bridge on Poplar Tent for repairs. The bridge will be closed until May 18, while the NCDOT repairs the bridge. Steel beams were stacked up by the side of the road Sunday afternoon, waiting for crews to begin. Crews will repair a bridge that is over Coddle Creek. The bridge sits between Cannon School and James D. Dorton Park in Concord. An estimated 16,000 cars a day travel that portion of the road each day, according to 2004 figures, said Garland Haywood, the NCDOT engineer for the project. But officials know those numbers have increased, even before factoring in temporary traffic from visitors. The bridge has rusting steel that has caused several potholes and an aging timber substructure dating back to the 1950s that make it a safety hazard.
Tuned to the future
A couple of local rock bands were among the hundreds competing for attention last week at the South By Southwest Music and Media Conference in Austin, Texas. Playing Wednesday night, the 1900s got the sort of reaction most bands hope for at SXSW. Guitarist-singer Edward Anderson, who grew up in Palos Hills, looked a little nervous as the group started playing, but soon enough he was letting loose on some fierce guitar solos. Singers Jeanine O'Toole (who grew up in Chicago's Mount Greenwood community) and Caroline Donovan (a native of Beverly) swayed and shook to the group's '60s-style pop. As the 1900s finished playing, one member of the enthusiastic audience yelled, "You guys rock!" The Chicago band has just finished recording their first full-length album, and they're contemplating whether to stay on the Champaign label Polyvinyl or seek a bigger deal, singer O'Toole said, adding that she'd be happy to stay with Polyvinyl, a small label with artistic integrity.
Whistle Down to Dixie
In his much-discussed recent book Whistling Past Dixie, political scientist Thomas Schaller argues progressive political goals are impossible to achieve in the South because racism leads the region's white population to consistently vote Republican in every major election. He cites favorable demographic trends in other parts of the country—such as the growing number of Hispanic voters in the West—as a reason to leave the South behind in electoral politics. But progressives need to pay attention to the South precisely because of its biases. The South is the poorest part of the country, and anti-gay and anti-reproductive freedom sentiment can feel pervasive there. This makes it hard for progressives to win elections, but progressivism must be about more than party politics. Electoral victories aside, progressives can help organize unions, promote living wage referenda, and support organizations working against the severe discrimination LGBT communities and other stigmatized groups face in the South.
| 