Labor Day Weekend in NC

just got back to san francisco after a nice extended labor day weekend in north carolina. i got to participate in my father's wedding, which was really nice despite the weekend–long rainstorms. it was also, as usual, great to see the raleigh peeps (those that have remained in raleigh), and eat at lilly's.

you know, now that i'm thinking of it, being back made me think more of the things that i really appreciate about the triangle area. i've been meaning to write these down for posterity, so here goes.

• lilly's pizza, the best pizza restaurant i've ever been to. even if part of my enthusiasm is nostalgic, the pizza at lilly's is, as claimed, damn good. and the music is rad, too. lilly's is near five points on glenwood avenue, next to nofo and the wachovia bank there across the street from that big church (not exactly a unique landmark in the south, but hey).
• the rialto is one of the last great theaters in raleigh, and it's pretty much the only place left in raleigh to see slightly non–mainstream movies. it's on glenwood at five points.
• the nc state library. wow. it's amazing how much more i started to use the library after i gradumicated. and how much more valuable fiction became to me after i didn't have to write papers about it. and, for that matter, how interesting it is to write papers about fiction when one isn't required to do so ...
• cup a joe, on the corner of hillsborough and daisy. what a great place to go and have a cup of coffee. they even have tables outside !
• the north road cyclery, a great bike shop that i just recently started to appreciate. it's on north road (which runs east–west) just east of glenwood, in that trendily industrial glenwood south area.
• go ! rehearsals, in carrboro. what a rad little club. i love small punk bands. the cat's cradle is nice, too, but go just kicks ass.