The News and Observer from Raleigh, North Carolina • 65

Friday November 121 993 weekend 5 on (he bcatftff BY DAVID MENCONI K-'V F1EE DINNER AT Ql li i SELDOM BLUE'S CAFE BUY ONE DINNER GET ONE FREE! (OF EQUAL OR LESSER VALUE) (UP TO $1495 VALUE) 15 gratuity appreciaiea on original cnecK 111! EXPIRES NOV 191993 YOU MUST PRESENT THIS COUPON THIS OFFER "GOOD" TUES THRU SAT Must be Seated by 7PM FRl SAT NITE LIVE PIANO BLUES NIGHTLY RESERVATIONS SUGGESTED Waverly Place Shopping Center Cary Corner of Kildaire Farm and Tryon Rds Exit 128A off 64 West ADVANTAGE NORTH CAROLINA WESLEYAN COLLEGE Secure Your Future With An Accelerated Degree-Completion Program For Working Adults side The Primus show was the first time in ages that I came home from a club not smelling like an ashtray I hope it's a precedent BLOCKBUSTER DEAL: Three years ago Houston-based PACE Concerts had virtually no presence at all in North Carolina Now it's running the top two outdoor amphitheaters in the state Under the recently announced merger between SonyPACE and Blockbuster Entertainment PACE will operate Blockbuster sheds in three cities including Charlotte's 19000-seat Blockbuster Pavilion Between running both Blockbuster and Walnut Creek PACE now has a virtual stranglehold on the summertime concert business for the entire state Incidentally Walnut Creek director of marketing Bob Klaus will leave Raleigh to become general manager of Blockbuster Pavilion NAME GAMES: For the past several months Raleigh funk supergroup Dig has been hard at work on its first album for Sony Records The album is finished (recorded with producer John Custer at Alabama's fabled Muscle Shoals Studios) and will be released in the spring Just one problem though: The band still doesn't have a usable name Another group named Dig turned up shortly after they signed with Sony and they've been unable to come up with a suitable replacement Dag June-bug Mother Shine and other names have been proposed and discarded for one reason or another So how about the Bobby Patterson-Kenny Soule-Brian Dennis-Doug Jervey Project? In any case the group hopes to have a name by the time they play the Brewery on Dec 9 Stay tuned Another Custer-produced album Cry of Love's "Brother" is still going great guns on national radio airplay charts The album's second single "Bad Thing" jumps four notches to No 15 on Billboard magazine's Nov 13 Album Rock Tracks airplay chart The new single is on pace to duplicate the performance of Cry of Love's first single "Peace Pipe" which topped the chart a few months back and is still in the top 20 after 19 weeks At the moment Cry of Love is opening shows for Robert Plant and is scheduled to go to Europe with the Plant tour After finishing that Cry of Love will hook up with Aerosmith's ongoing tour next year Ritz muscles in on the turf of the soon-to-reopen Cat's Cradle Lfter a prolonged period of relative calm the Triangle club scene is about to get competitive again The primary combatants will be the newly opened Ritz and the soon-to-reopen Cat's Cradle Following a series of delays the Ritz debuted Nov 4 with a sold-out show by Primus and the Mel-vins The Ritz is a nonprivate club at 2820 Industrial Drive in Raleigh site of the old Showcase Meanwhile the next version of the Cat's Cradle (which has been in limbo since May when the old Franklin Street location closed) is on the way There still isn't a definite opening date but there is a definite location the old Nice Price bookstore near the Arts-Center in Carrboro "I'm at about the same point I was three months ago but now I'm paying rent" says Cradle owner Frank Heath "The bulk of the process still seems to be ahead of me and something else always seems to loom up every time I turn around So I'm not there yet but I'm a little more optimistic now than I have been Barring catastrophe I hope to be open in another month or so" Once the Cradle is up and running a certain amount of competition between it and the Ritz seems inevitable Among the Ritz's upcoming shows are the Smashing Pumpkins John Hiatt and Paul Westerberg precisely the sort of alternative acts that have always been the Cradle's bread and butter Along with concerts the Ritz is also showcasing comedy (Andrew Dice Clay on Dec 4) and professional boxing (a six fight card on Wednesday) Heath can count on some residual good will from booking agents and bands most of whom remember the Cradle fondly Sonic Youth even mentioned the club by name in its 1992 song "Chapel Hill" With a probable capacity somewhere around the old club's 700 the Cradle should remain the primary place to see smaller up-and-coming acts But Heath will have competition for bigger club-level acts now Location could be a thorny issue for both clubs because neither is in an ideal spot The main reason it has taken Heath this long to re- open is that he was loathe to move the Cradle away from downtown Chapel Hill He only turned to Carrboro as a last resort and it remains to be seen whether UNC students will be willing to go the extra mile or so to the new Cradle As for the Ritz numerous clubs have come and gone in the same part of Raleigh the past few years (in 1991 the Showcase barely lasted six months in the same building) But location hasn't hurt shows like Primus and Smashing Pumpkins both of which sold out Neither has location hurt the nearby Longbranch the private country-music club that is also owned by Ritz owner Fred Wilburn Barring catastrophe I hope to be open in another month or so Frank Heath Cat's Cradle owner The Ritz's biggest advantage is its large capacity of 2500 That's about 200 more than Memorial Auditorium's capacity and enables the Ritz to book acts that would ordinarily play large theaters Another Ritz advantage is its alliance with Cellar Door Concerts which is augmenting Ritz booker Kinney Marchant's in-house booking Cellar Door is a promoter with a great deal of leverage in this market since it also books concerts at larger venues like the Smith Center and Walnut Creek Amphitheatre That gives the Ritz a leg up on competing for club-level acts that might soon be big enough to play arenas The Ritz still seemed like a work in progress at its opening show mostly because the balcony wasn't yet open (it should be open for Thursday's Smashing Pumpkins show) It was also hard to judge the cavernous hall's acoustics given the skrpnkiness of the bands on the bill But it was apparent that the Ritz is a big improvement over the old Showcase which always felt like a converted restaurant In contrast the Ritz has the stripped-down sort of warehouse feel of a real music venue The two bars seem big enough to handle large crowds without long delays and the sight lines are decent I'm probably in the minority among most club-crawlers but I also love the fact that the Ritz is a no-smoking establishment That's right no smoking allowed in-' 851-2583 fF Earn a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration degree Attend classes once a week for a 5-week session at 4900 Waters Edge Drive Suite 280 in Raleigh fF Earn college credit for past academic work for military training for certain business and industry training courses by examination or documentation of prior learning and by course work in ADVANTAGE Earn 3 semester hours of college credit in each 5-week session FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION Complete and mail to ADVANTAGE address below: NAME ADDRESS TELEPHONE Call an ADVANTAGE Representative at 851-2130 about registering for the upcoming session or with any of your questions ADVANTAGE 4900 Waters Edge Drive Suite 280 Raleigh NC 27606 NorrA Conlm WesleiiiH Collevt is mrtdittd bu tke SonArm Association of Collets and Schools 4 4 FACULTY- ADVANTAGE instructors are working professionals representing most of the major corporations businesses and institutions in the area All nold a master's or doctoral degree thus blending academic theory with practical professional experience Faculty must pass a very rieorous assessment and internship process before being selected to instruct in the ADVANTAGE program 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