A Summer To Remember

Over the past few weeks, as life conspired to make sending out a fresh dispatch of this newsletter near-impossible, I still found myself, a number of times, dwelling on subjects or situations that seemed to demand that I drop everything and send out a new one right away.

The most recent such episode came less than weeks ago, as I stood in the audience at MotorCo and watched what I knew was a seminal moment in area music history unfold before my eyes: 919 collective The Deviants winning over the crowd of hundreds and leaving no doubt that the future of the scene is in their hands; then Young Bull's debut album Sopadelic getting the decade-later, hometown victory lap that I never thought it would receive. Along with our joint pop-up vinyl release at Hunky Dory the day before, it felt like the kind of near-perfect weekend that just doesn't come along very often.

And yet, a quick review of my medium-term memory reveals that this summer—really late spring and onward, following the release of Issue No. 1—such weekends have been remarkably common. Pink Siifu at Boom Club in May, Jah-Monte Ogbon at the Fuzzy Needle in June, author Lawrence Burney at Letters Bookshop in July, and of course the three-part, rotating showcase series with The Genius Party, Summer Nights, which we've already held installments of in July and August, and are wrapping up tomorrow night.

Loathe as I am to mention this given others have been doing it much more frequently for much longer, but I've never put on this many events in this short of a span my entire life. It's been beautiful, nourishing, educational, stressful... and most obvious of all, it's just been a lot of work. And it's clear that if we're ever going to get this Issue 2 done this fall—we are—a modest scaling back on the events front is overdue.

But before that happens, we've got one more rodeo to send us off: Summer Nights Vol. 3. We once again have a stacked lineup of artists, all of whom we've covered on the site at one point or another: Southern Pines native 9OFHEARTS, President of Johnston County (and beyond that, the entire Souf) Altair Kareem, agent of chaos Vanny Preem, and 47Eyez affiliate Nikias. Doors open at 7, performances start at 8, and there's an Open Aux before and after the show. Drinks (water, seltzers, beer) are on the house, and tickets are $20 at the door but $15 right now at presale.

It's been a pleasure putting this series together with the GP team as well as Jim at Shadowbox (thanks to Matia for the early help!), and having regular food/drink partners in 919Philly and Fullsteam Brewery. We've immensely enjoyed ourselves at Vols. 1 and 2 (see photos), and it's only right that the series—and the summer as a whole—be sent off the right way. Hope to see you there.

ALSO THIS WEEK(ISH) 🌐

1. It never made its way into an email thanks to our aforementioned hiatus, but last month we published a piece from contributor and longtime friend of SE Charles Morse, on generative AI, music, and community. Because we consider ourselves a paragon of serious music criticism, it ran with the headline "Prompt Deez Nuts."
2. Hopscotch weekend is here, and with it, performances from NC hip-hop acts Jooselord, Kooley High, wav.yliving, Lord Jah-Monte Ogbon, Sonny Miles, and more. I'm on the WUNC show Due South today, elaborating on the state-of-things assessment of the festival that I wrote a couple months back— including disappointments, lingering questions, and why I intend to go anyway. The show airs at noon (91.5 FM if you're in the Triangle), but may be getting uploaded to the show's podcast feed earlier than that.
3. I also have a new piece up on INDY this morning about the Durham poet-rapper-documentarian shirlette ammons and her upcoming show for Duke Arts on September 17th, with an insane roster of guests that—in this exact grouping, at least—I promise you won't find anywhere else. You can read it here.
4. Rapsody's new album, God Gotta Afro & Gold Hoops, has earned nothing but rave reviews among people I know, and the media blitz is in full effect: she seems to be on a different major hip-hop or music show every day. By waiting for a period of extended quiet when I can give it my full attention—a circumstance that hasn't presented itself yet—all I've succeeded in doing is keeping myself out of the loop.
5. Speaking of New Music — One of my favorite NC artists in the world, LesTheGenius is about to roll out new material for the first time in over a year. Kooley High recently dropped off two tracks from their upcoming EP, Clear The Air, releasing later this month. And the long-awaited next album from Cyanca, the anchor of her cover story profile in Issue 1 of SE Magazine, is out tomorrow, September 10th.
6. Birthdays Dept: Leo, Big John, Quay, Amp, Strizzy, many more.
7. If you find yourself anywhere near the Omni Cinemas in Fayetteville tonight, you'll want to be at the premiere of the 910 Cypher—another Mark Mayr production that sweeps in on the momentum, and template it seems, of the memorable 2-6 Cypher event that we covered earlier this year.
8. And lastly, I would be remiss if I didn't close with something that—for me, at least—is more important than anything else covered in this email. Today marks four years of marriage with my wife Hannah, who I love and appreciate for many reasons, not least her willingness to put up with the very late bedtimes caused by these newsletters routinely taking two to three times longer to make than I think they will. Thank you for your patience Han, and for being my partner in all things.

That's all for this week—see you tomorrow night in Durham, or in Raleigh this weekend, or at the next thing after that. If recent history is any guide, it won't be very far off.

Peace,
Ryan