Day Trip to Chapel Hill

I spent all day yesterday in Chapel Hill, a town that is as much a home to me now as the one I grew up in. I had plans to see some of my favorite people, and ended up running into a long lost friend the moment I arrived.

This space is not about my personal life though. The latter half of my evening was devoted to the Carolina vs. Nevada basketball game. The Dean Dome was almost full, with even more in attendance than when school was in session for the last game I went to against Iona.

Bobby Frasor's season-ending injury was hard to watch. When he went down, I had no doubt he had blown out his knee. It was bad, watching one part of his leg go one way and the other half go in an opposite direction, laterally speaking. However, I was rather confused and actually hopeful when Frasor got up and walked to the locker room on his own power, albeit gingerly. I've always thought of getting a torn ACL as something that would keep you from walking without support on the bum leg. I feel so bad for the guy, especially since he had an injured foot for a majority of last season. I believe it is definitely possible that Quentin Thomas can come into Frasor's role and not miss a beat, but it will require him to play a cleaner game than he has been. Bobby's assist to turnover ratio is much better than Quentin's, and it seems like Bobby shoots better from behind the arc. While Frasor has played more minutes, Thomas is a senior - there should be no inexperience in his game. Moreover, if Carolina goes all the way this year, I'd like to see Q have an important part in his becoming the only Tar Heel to ever win two national championships. That is really unimportant for the time being though. I hope Bobby Frasor makes a full recovery, and that Quentin Thomas plays up to his ability. Carolina is really lucky when it comes down to it - not only do we have a guy who is the best point guard in the land (look at those stats from last night), but we also have a backup guy. NC State is going to play their second year in a row without a real point guard. That is bad luck.

Other than the Frasor injury, last night's game against Nevada was entertaining. Four UNC players put up double figures, but Ty Lawson really stood out. Lawson managed to put up 16 points, 10 assists, 6 rebounds and 5 steals in 29 minutes. I wanted to be witness to the first UNC triple-double of the Roy Williams era, and if Lawson had pulled out an identical second half to his first he would have gotten it. No dice though, and Rashad McCants still holds the last one, occurring when Matt Doherty was still at the helm. I've never seen anyone go end to end like Lawson - the layup is an automatic when he gets the ball in transition, regardless of numbers. Short man even dunked a ball last night. Good for him. Lawson is almost always a part of my favorite happening when Carolina plays: moving the ball from one end of the court to the other for a layup without any player taking a dribble. That is efficient basketball.

On another note, Tyler Hansbrough put up 26 points in 26 minutes. Sometimes, it seems like Hansbrough ho-hums his way to 25 points. Part of it is the free throws. Through last night's game, Hansbrough is only 92 made free throws behind the program's all time leader. If Tyler keeps shooting ten a game, that won't last long. Fans like me are sort of taking Tyler for granted, I think. When he can put up 26 in 26 minutes and it not feel spectacular, especially when Nevada had two guys taller than him in the game, it is scary. I think once the conference schedule rolls around, we'll see some of those career defining performances. He probably won't score 40 points again like he did against Georgia Tech his freshman year, simply because with Lawson and Ellington playing so well he doesn't need to. Tyler is definitely capable of taking over a game like he did last year against Michigan State at the LJVM in Winston-Salem for the second round of the tournament though. I was courtside for that, and it was without a doubt the greatest basketball performance I've ever been in attendance for.

I should have a post about Cat Power's Jukebox up as soon as I give it a few listens.

Edit: The copy of the new Cat Power I had waiting on me was a promo copy that fades all the songs out around the 2-minute mark, right when they are about to break into the best parts. Matador has me beat. False alarm.

Small Labels Play it Smart?

I'll always remember Christmases when I was younger for the wealth of new music I got my hands on. I got my first cd player for Christmas, along with my first cd's. Growing up in a house that was still operating on cassette tapes and vinyl, I remember my older, cooler cousin explaining to me that, "no, you can't flip over your Space Jam Soundtrack cd and have it play on the other side." Sorry R. Kelly. Christmas was a great time to be a music fan - when else were you going to wake up and have that hot new Chumbawamba or Wallflowers album waiting on you (guess which one of those bands I still like)? Christmas as a kid who loved music was monumental until I stepped outside the music box and started listening to artists who weren't so popular or weren't recording for major labels with big distribution deals. Once we age a little and our musical tastes mature in leaps and bounds, we can't really expect Grandma to find that album from the Mountain Goats back catalog. Do they have it at the Wal Mart or the Best Buy? Sorry.

What got me thinking of all this is that since I've started writing here again, I thought I would give a little review of a new album I was listening to. And then I realised that besides Radiohead's In Rainbows, nothing new and exciting had made its way through my speakers in a couple months. And the last thing the internet needs is another review of Radiohead's LP7. It seems to me that during this time of year, the musical giants like Led Zeppelin, the Beatles, and the Rolling Stones all put out best of albums, and the contemporary independent artists delay new releases. What I believe is happening is that smaller record labels (think Matador, 4AD, Merge sized labels and smaller) recognize that a majority of pre-Christmas record sales come from people buying records as gifts for other people - and the chance of Aunt Bettye or even Mom or Dad going into the local record store in the alley to buy Magnolia Electric Co.'s new box set is unlikely. If you look at the slated releases for the past week, along with the coming weeks, only major label artists are dropping their albums before Christmas. It isn't until the 8th of January when smaller labels begin to release albums. I don't think this is a "our small staff is off during those weeks" things either. These small labels know kids are more likely to go purchase records themselves than have them purchased for them, especially the week or two after the holiday when they might have some Christmas money. All of this sounds like smart business practices to me as well. The better the Secretly Canadians of the world know their niche in the market, the better chances the artists they put out will be successful. John Darnielle of the Mountain Goats summed the entire situation up perfectly last month with this quote about his intentions for his new album, Heretic Pride:

It will be released by 4AD, and features artwork by Vaughan Oliver. It was
recorded at Prairie Sun, and produced by Scott Solter & John Vanderslice. We
are really excited about this album, and we wish it were out right now, but
there is a law against releasing albums in December unless you are Queen. Any
album you see released in December is actually by Queen, no matter what it says
on the cover. Then in January everybody is recovering from having listened to
too much Queen. Hence, February. See you then!

So until I can get my hands on Heretic Pride or Cat Power's Jukebox, no reviews. Unless someone gives me some Queen for Christmas.