Check It Out

Links to cool places or things.

There are 1,530 posts filed in Check It Out (this is page 127 of 153).

Revolutionary Rocker

dan_zanes2A few weeks ago, Netflix delivered Revolutionary Road to our DVD player. During the middle of this excellent film is a bar scene with a band. As the camera focused on the characters in the foreground, I noticed the guitarist in the background looked oddly familiar.

Then I suddenly knew who it was: musician Dan Zanes, his trademark spiky hair combed into a pompadour for the role. In real life, Zanes has perpetual bed-head at all times, so it was just as amusing to see him spike-less as it was to see him at all.

Raleigh will host the spiky-haired version of Dan Zanes when he plays Saturday at the N.C. Museum of Art in a rare show this far South. It should be a good time.

Don’t piss off a musician

Flying to a gig, the band Sons of Maxwell were shocked to see their guitars being thrown around by United Airlines baggage handlers. When singer Dave Carroll’s guitar came back broken, United was apparently less than helpful in atoning for the mistake. That led the band to take their complaint to YouTube with a video and song called United Breaks Guitars

Catchy song, Sons of Maxwell! Bad, bad, PR move, United!

Update 11 Jul 2009: Taylor Guitars is having some fun with this, too! Also, check out Dave’s latest video statement.

All Michael Jackson, all the time

Ok, so I said my peace about Michael Jackson the day he died, as did almost every other person and media outlet on the planet. Some media outlets have been milking Jackson’s death for all it’s worth.

I was really, really hoping that the News and Observer wouldn’t succumb to infotainment levels and put Michael Jackson’s funeral on the front page. Sadly, the N&O disappointed me againby putting this story on 1A, front and center. This is the biggest story in Raleigh?

Is there anyone out there still practicing real journalism?

Warrenton caboose tour

While we were visiting Kelly’s parents in Virginia we decided to take a bike ride on Warrenton’s greenway path. At the start of the greenway is the Norfolk and Western Railway Caboose 518554, a restored caboose on freshly-laid track where thirty years ago freight trains once served the town. We happened to pass the caboose right as a gentleman appeared to be locking it up, so being the curious sort I asked him what he knew about the caboose.

It turns out the gentleman was Ron Scullin, one of the three main volunteers responsible for obtaining the track and caboose and restoring both to like-new condition. Ron had just finished up with tours of the caboose, which are held once a month, but hearing that we were from out of town, he graciously volunteered to provide a personal tour.
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Raleigh’s Sewer Monster is clump of tubifex worms

OIn our way out of town Wednesday we saw a city sewer inspection team in our neighborhood, inspecting the neighborhood sewer lines with a robot camera. The crew chatted with the kids and me about their robot camera, showed us one of the cameras, and explained how it all worked. The kids loved it and so did I.

Little did I know that video from another robot camera was making waves just then on the Internets. A YouTube video shows what looks like a strange creature living in Raleigh’s sewers. Over half a million viewers have checked out this supposed creature as it lives below Raleigh’s Cameron Village shopping center.

It turns out the “blob” is actually a bunch of tubifex worms, according to the City of Raleigh’s website. Tubifex worms are amazingly hardy creatures.