FOT Forum
FOT Community => General Discussion => Topic started by: mostchosen on March 01, 2010, 10:07:11 PM
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I'd like people to vie for their southern town being the best locale for a couple of college graduates. No particular job prospects up north, and we'd rather not freeze if we have to have shitty jobs. That said, an economy not on fritz would be a plus, good arts and entertainment a big plus, and great foooood. Any recommendations? We'd been particularly considering Raleigh-Durham and Charlotte.
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North Carolina is nowheresville, except for Asheville. Of course you know I am fond of Knoxville.
For a taste of what we have, you might browse
www.metropulse.com
One down side; Ted Leo will never ever come here. That is all.
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North Carolina is nowheresville, except for Asheville. Of course you know I am fond of Knoxville.
For a taste of what we have, you might browse
www.metropulse.com
One down side; Ted Leo will never ever come here. That is all.
I'm sorry, mostchosen, for my neighbor-stater's ignorance and nonsensical babbling. They've never been... right over that way. I think it has something to do with the awful music they make there and the fact that, based on their performance in the last two major elections, they appear to be trying to refight the Civil War. Again.
North Carolina is the tops. You will learn if you come here, though, that Raleigh and Durham are separate mediumish cities, both part of a now four-city region called the Triangle. About 1.5 million people, which is not at all densely populated compared to the Northeastern cities but is downright metropolitan compared to many parts of, say, upstate NY.
I do not recommend Charlotte. It's not as bad as Tennessee, but it is almost as bad as South Carolina.
Seriously, if you are interested in more information I would be happy to provide it. Several FOT are here, and FOT and Best Show caller Laurie from Miami has just moved to Chapel Hill and may be able to shed more light on the attractions/drawbacks for newcomers.
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Greensboro is also pretty good for NC but Chapel Hill and Raleigh are best. Or Asheville, but that's more of a visit town than live town. Richmond can be good.
The only place in Kentucky I would recommend is Louisville but it is not warm here whatsoever. It's freezing all the time. Except in summer. There's basically two temperatures: freezing and summer. But Louisville is pretty cool. Sinbad was just in town the other day.
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Savannah, GA without a doubt.
I moved there fresh out of college and had the time of my life. It's a really great town; beautiful scenery, plenty to do, 15 mins from the beach, and some of my favorite bars ever.
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North Carolina is nowheresville, except for Asheville. Of course you know I am fond of Knoxville.
For a taste of what we have, you might browse
www.metropulse.com
One down side; Ted Leo will never ever come here. That is all.
Dave's right Knoxville and Asheville are pretty great I live right in the middle of both of them.
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North Carolina is nowheresville, except for Asheville. Of course you know I am fond of Knoxville.
For a taste of what we have, you might browse
www.metropulse.com
One down side; Ted Leo will never ever come here. That is all.
Dave's right Knoxville and Asheville are pretty great I live right in the middle of both of them.
Near the border? Waynesville?
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If you want to stay on the east coast, then yeah, I would choose the NC Triangle, somewhere in there. I visited there in 2005 (for the Tall Dwarfs show at Local 506 in Chapel Hill) and have always wanted to come back.
There's also Austin, whose economy I think is doing great. Is Santa Fe or Albuquerque doing well?
(Tempted to not mention L.A., despite it being the most temperate, but I think the fun parts of SoCal are pretty tough on the jobs front these days)
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North Carolina is nowheresville, except for Asheville. Of course you know I am fond of Knoxville.
For a taste of what we have, you might browse
www.metropulse.com
One down side; Ted Leo will never ever come here. That is all.
Dave's right Knoxville and Asheville are pretty great I live right in the middle of both of them.
Near the border? Waynesville?
Well its not really right in the middle but i live up in the corner of the state in Johnson City Tn. Knoxville and Asheville are about the same distance from me, i think Asheville's even a little closer now that they've finished the new highway.
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I have a couple of pals who work at ETSU, very familiar with the town. Spend a couple of weekends a year in the National Forest, so am in that region pretty often.
By the way, my mother-in-law is in North Carolina, another plus for being in east Tennessee.
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I have a couple of pals who work at ETSU, very familiar with the town. Spend a couple of weekends a year in the National Forest, so am in that region pretty often.
By the way, my mother-in-law is in North Carolina, another plus for being in east Tennessee.
I might be coming to Knoxville for that films at the Bijou thing on March 12. Is there still a lot of road work on the James White Parkway heading downtown? I know there was last time i was down there but its been a couple years ago.
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For the native Southerners:
I was watching Pawn Stars just now and a guy brought in a sundial to the pawnshop. The guy had been talking for 30 seconds, and I said, "he's from North Carolina, I bet from down East." It was frustrating, because I didn't think I'd ever be able to tell if I were right about it. They panned down, and he had a shirt on that said "Pink Hill Fire Department." Sure enough, Pink Hill is in Lenoir County, down East.
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I have had a few good nights at the Pilot Light in Knoxville. Fine, fine people there. I also spent a summer there with my twenty-something year-old older sister in 1990. She lived in the projects there and I cannot say the same about the people there... especially Thandiway, who threw a basketball at my face over a snack-sized bag of Cheez-Its. Children are amazing, aren't they?
I adore Chapel Hill. I've spent quite a bit of time there and once saw Mac Merge and Jim from Superchunk at the co-op browsing the cereal aisle with their babies in slings. You can't beat that.
Winner: Chapel Hill.
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I adore Chapel Hill. I've spent quite a bit of time there and once saw Mac Merge and Jim from Superchunk at the co-op browsing the cereal aisle with their babies in slings. You can't beat that.
Winner: Chapel Hill.
Got to agree. I visited Chapel Hill this summer and fell in love. I really hope I can visit again soon.
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I have a couple of pals who work at ETSU, very familiar with the town. Spend a couple of weekends a year in the National Forest, so am in that region pretty often.
By the way, my mother-in-law is in North Carolina, another plus for being in east Tennessee.
I might be coming to Knoxville for that films at the Bijou thing on March 12. Is there still a lot of road work on the James White Parkway heading downtown? I know there was last time i was down there but its been a couple years ago.
That road work is finished, you have a straight shot off the exit just beyond Cherry Street. You want to be careful, because the right light goes off the Parkway, you want the left lane leaving I-40. It comes a little earlier than it used to, but it's fast and convenient.
I am not aware of the films thing, though.
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Plus, in Chapel Hill the mysterious and benevolent - if sarcastic and not entirely approving - presence of buffcoat is always only a few miles away.
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Plus, in Chapel Hill the mysterious and benevolent - if sarcastic and not entirely approving - presence of buffcoat is always only a few miles away.
Of course, you have NO delightful personalities in the greater Knox County area.
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It's always ugly when the Atlantic Coastal South and the Inland South go to war.
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It's always ugly when the Atlantic Coastal South and the Inland South go to war.
I'll say. Oh, and which coast can you see from your home, exactly? At least I can see mountains from mine.
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It's always ugly when the Atlantic Coastal South and the Inland South go to war.
I'll say. Oh, and which coast can you see from your home, exactly? At least I can see mountains from mine.
Can you see all your relatives' shacks, too?
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I really like Chapel Hill. The people are nice, and I guess you could call it a warmer clime. Yeah, not so much for me. What the fuck, I have to keep the kitchen and bathroom cabinets open so the sinks don't freeze???? There's snow on the ground and ice falling out of the sky??? I learned the term wintry mix a few weeks after moving in. I had never heard that phrase before! I'm actually not making that up, it was a new phrase for me. WINTRY MIX.
But yes, I have been shocked at how friendly people are. Strangers will smile at you, or offer you a ride home because you ask for the number for a taxi service when your mom comes to visit you and gets your car jammed in the rails of the gd carwash because she sometimes does shit like that... Oh man, it's crazy.
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But yes, I have been shocked at how friendly people are. Strangers will smile at you, or offer you a ride home because you ask for the number for a taxi service when your mom comes to visit you and gets your car jammed in the rails of the gd carwash because she sometimes does shit like that... Oh man, it's AMAZING.
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I really like Chapel Hill. The people are nice, and I guess you could call it a warmer clime. Yeah, not so much for me. What the fuck, I have to keep the kitchen and bathroom cabinets open so the sinks don't freeze???? There's snow on the ground and ice falling out of the sky??? I learned the term wintry mix a few weeks after moving in. I had never heard that phrase before! I'm actually not making that up, it was a new phrase for me. WINTRY MIX.
But yes, I have been shocked at how friendly people are. Strangers will smile at you, or offer you a ride home because you ask for the number for a taxi service when your mom comes to visit you and gets your car jammed in the rails of the gd carwash because she sometimes does shit like that... Oh man, it's crazy.
As a long-time son of the south, it saddens me that any of you come from places where people can't be pleasant. Sure, we have our self-obsessed assholes just like any other region, but even they can still manage an "excuse me" if we bump into you on the streets. What are people from these vicious aggressive locations, animals? Are you with me, Buffcoat, you tobacco apologist?
Wait, that was uncalled for. I apologize. Can I offer you a ride to the trade lot?
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Responding to an earlier post: I found Savannah to be a combination of boring, dangerous, and touristy.
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I am with you, Dave. But the tobacco money of the past mostly now funds the white guy basketball museum program at Duke now.
It's an adjustment to travel outside the friendly South and not get the at least mild nods hello and the excuse mes, although the Triangle is sufficiently Yankified that I have to say it for them sometimes. They like that.
I tell you, though, New Yorkers - you're not nearly as rude as you're proud of being. I spent some time in the purely Scandinavian parts of Minnesota recently and those people are truly remarkable in their ability to avoid eye contact.
Sorry, Martin - maybe things are friendlier with the people who didn't split.
Laurie, you can get offered rides anywhere in the country, I bet, but they're more likely to end well around these parts.
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Cary is actually an acronym for Concentrated Area of Relocated Yankees. It's true, you can look it up.
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Cary is actually an acronym for Concentrated Area of Relocated Yankees. It's true, you can look it up.
My hometown.
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I lived in the Triangle for about 3 years, and really liked it. Granted, this was 10 years ago, when I moved en masse, with about 12 other Ohioans, sure that our band's domination of the greater Toledo metro area would translate to similar mastery of the Chapel Hill scene (this was a miscalculation).
That said, I'm sure a lot has changed in the interim, but I found it pretty seductive. There was definitely some of that stereotypical southern courtliness you'd expect, coupled with a great foodie scene (in Durham, go to Francesca's on 9th St.; go to Fowler's for everything else), the aforementioned and widely-known music venues (Cat's Cradle, Local 506, Go! Rehearsal Studios in Chapel Hill were the obvious standouts), a surprisingly credible theatre scene (ManBitesDog in Durham, Playmakers Rep in Chapel Hill, Burning Coal in Raleigh), etc.
And if you need a trump card: may I present the Durham Dragons - LADIES SEMI-PRO FAST PITCH SOFTBALL, in the ballpark from "Bull Durham."
Don't get me wrong - I live in Brooklyn now and can't imagine moving back there now, but still - there was some good stuff down there.
Savannah is straight-up creepy, and not in a cute way. So is Charleston, SC, before someone else suggests that.
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I always had good times in Savannah, but I've never lived there. At this point, I have no desire to live without an ocean nearby, so I'd go with Savannah or Charleston if I moved back into the area. I'd prefer to stay in SoCal until it sinks into the Pacific, but, yeah, the job market bites, hard.
I have lived in Asheville and Athens, GA, and I have a lot of good things to say about either. If you live in Athens, everything's dirt cheap, there's a show worth seeing almost every night, and it's easy to develop a close circle of friends. Not sure what it's like to look for work, assuming you're not interested in working for the school.
Asheville is aesthetically stunning and full of cool small businesses (including a coffee shop inside a real double-decker bus). There's a pervasive new-age, clean-living flavor - your mileage may vary. It's a lot more expensive than it was when I was there, and the once-thriving punk scene seems to have been washed out. I think honorary FOT Greg Cartwright lives there. My mom still lives there, though I'm not sure she's as witty as buffcoat.
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In defense of Yankees, I feel obliged to report that people in Lubec are as nice as those Laurie describes in Chapel Hill, though they, too, are not as witty as buffcoat.
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Everybody always talks about "Minnesota nice", but I just don't see it. What did you think when you visited a couple years ago Laurie? Has anybody else visited MN that has thoughts about it? My thoughts are that Minnesotan's are nice to you if they feel you belong there and we divide into cliques. But maybe that's true of any state/city.
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I'd say that of Southerners. I think outsiders, particularly from the East Coast, perceive them as polite and accommodating because they don't act like entitled assholes outright or sound like they've been chewing on rusted metal all day. Nope, they're just passive aggressive, and just as suspicious and territorial as anyone else.
I'm reluctant to speak ill of the Hill - I have mostly sparkling memories. But once, when I lived in Athens, I drove up there with a group of friends to see a Merge Records showcase at Cat's Cradle. I guess we looked like dumb college boys. Anyroad, one of my friends bought a CD at one of the famous record stores there (I can't recall which, and I don't know if any of the ones I remember are still there; Schoolkids, anyone?), and the clerk said, "I bet you're here for MergeFest." Uh, yeah. "How did I guess?" Straight-up dick. They're in overabundance everywhere.
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My son afk has taken to wearing my Schoolkids Records shirt that I have been unable to wear for going on 25 years.
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I'd say that of Southerners. I think outsiders, particularly from the East Coast, perceive them as polite and accommodating because they don't act like entitled assholes outright or sound like they've been chewing on rusted metal all day. Nope, they're just passive aggressive, and just as suspicious and territorial as anyone else.
I'm reluctant to speak ill of the Hill - I have mostly sparkling memories. But once, when I lived in Athens, I drove up there with a group of friends to see a Merge Records showcase at Cat's Cradle. I guess we looked like dumb college boys. Anyroad, one of my friends bought a CD at one of the famous record stores there (I can't recall which, and I don't know if any of the ones I remember are still there; Schoolkids, anyone?), and the clerk said, "I bet you're here for MergeFest." Uh, yeah. "How did I guess?" Straight-up dick. They're in overabundance everywhere.
My friend worked for WXYC and wrote for the then-legendary station zine. The funniest thing he wrote was a profile of Schoolkids, which consisted entirely of this: "Do you think the people who work here are cooler than you? Because they do."
I have been delighting to the rage I feel at the pictures of hipsters on latfh.com. There are definitely a few of those in Chapel Hill, but it's not exactly Williamsburg South. In fact, "Williamsburg" to everyone down here is the quaint colonial village near Busch Gardens in Southeastern Virginia.
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My friend worked for WXYC and wrote for the then-legendary station zine. The funniest thing he wrote was a profile of Schoolkids, which consisted entirely of this: "Do you think the people who work here are cooler than you? Because they do."
Isn't that consistent for every "legendary" record store?
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I used to go to Chapel Hill with my dad to watch Tarheel games (it was one of our weekend things), and WXYC blew my 11-year-old mind wide open. It's probably the main reason I'm here now.
And I, too, giggled when I heard that the hippest 'hood in America was called "Williamsburg."
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My friend worked for WXYC and wrote for the then-legendary station zine. The funniest thing he wrote was a profile of Schoolkids, which consisted entirely of this: "Do you think the people who work here are cooler than you? Because they do."
Isn't that consistent for every "legendary" record store?
To be fair, all retail jobs suck. 90% of people are even the best record stores are just waiting for the work whistle to blow. (I never worked at one. Anyway, what's worse than the literary snob who works at a Barnes and Nobel?)
I think that the people who are genuinely interested in turning people on to their favorite music outnumber the jerkwads though. They're just less memorable.
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Everybody always talks about "Minnesota nice", but I just don't see it. What did you think when you visited a couple years ago Laurie? Has anybody else visited MN that has thoughts about it? My thoughts are that Minnesotan's are nice to you if they feel you belong there and we divide into cliques. But maybe that's true of any state/city.
I live in Minneapolis now, but I'm not a native Minnesotan so I found it really hard to get to know people the first few years I lived here. The "Minnesota Nice" thing to me seems like everyone is really friendly and nice to your face, but really passive-agressive in general --like say when driving on any highway or interstate, for instance, heh. Although, I've heard native Minnesotans describe "Minnesota Nice" as a type of friendly guilt --as in going out of your way to be nice to "someone just in case"... People are pretty nice here for the most part, but I think you could say that for anywhere in the Midwest really.
I do agree with you on the cliquey-ness of the area. If you meet one person in town, you eventually end up meeting the group of people they associate with most often, making this average sized city feel like a small town. I know way too many people by association.
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(Sorry for the slightly off-topic post.)
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I brought this up on Facebook and what you said seemed to be the general consensus among my friends.
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Of course, Nashville's always an option. One of the weird things about Nashville these days if you never can tell if you're seeing a lookalike or the real thing. Which of these is Dolly?
(http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee183/gaughin/dolly_parton_004-x600.jpg)
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That is a trick question: Ms. Parton had her frontal burden downsized some time ago.
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i would say austin is a decent town to live in. i would suggest even atlanta or one of it's suburbs. i didn't like phoenix, but a number of my friends love phoenix (never cold, dry heat, tons of jobs, etc).
most people would expect me to say memphis, but it takes a certain kind of person to live in memphis and if you're not looking for trouble (economically or otherwise), then memphis is not for you.