Rob Delaney Live At The Cat's Cradle

Terry and I took a trip to Chapel Hill, NC, the epicenter of what has been one of the most fruitful independent music scenes (think James Taylor, Ben Folds, Superchunk, Archers of Loaf, et al), to see the hilarious and unnaturally tall Rob Delaney unleash a flurry of his trademark off-color humor. What we got instead was a Cavalcade of Stars-esque evening that speaks volumes about the collaborative artistic atmosphere surrounding the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill Triangle.

Delaney came out first, unleashing a barrage of his A-grade material. At points, I was actually crying from laughter. After this initial series of jokes, he called Mac McCaughan of the legendary Superchunk to the stage. McCaughan, armed with an acoustic guitar, ran through an even mix of old and new Superchunk with surprising results. While it was, obviously, in no way a Superchunk set, the solo-acoustic arrangements added a sort of earthy and rugged element to the familiar songs and provided for an interesting introduction to their new material. The big surprise, however, was what happened next.