SILER CITY — Rock ‘n’ roll will take over downtown Siler City on Oct. 19 with the fourth annual Koo Day Tah celebration hosted by renowned custom guitar maker Terry C. McInturff and the N.C. Arts Incubator.
McInturff , through his company TCM guitars, has been designing custom guitars for rock ‘n’ roll legends for decades, first from a studio in Holly Springs and for the past 17 years at his studio in the N.C. Arts Incubator in Siler City. He said he used to “throw a big party every year” when his company was located in Holly Springs drawing fans from all over the country and as far away as Moscow and Tokyo. McInturff relocated to just outside of Sanford with his parents about 17 years ago in order to be close to them as they aged. The N.C. Arts Incubator offered him space and he’s been there ever since.
“I missed getting people together for music and guitars,” McInturff said.
He remembers “floating the idea” about bringing a similar event to Siler City more than four years ago. He said he didn’t think the town would support the notion of closing down the streets for a “rock ‘n’ roll coup d’etat.” But the town agreed, so he named the event the phonetic of the phrase, and Koo Day Tah was born.
“The first year was so much fun and every year since has been fun,” McInturff said. “Each year more and more people come so I decided to make it a tradition. People come from other states too so I see familiar faces and new faces every year.”
The event will feature four bands which will play at the Rotary Stage next to The Chatham Rabbit and the N.C. Arts Incubator beginning at 3 p.m. that Saturday. The bands include Radar’s Clowns of Sedation of Alamance and Orange counties, whose music the band describes on its Facebook page as “the blues kids used to sneak away from their parents to hear” and “the blues that used to get banned from the radio.” Another band, Blood Red River, a Durham band that describes itself as “a mix of surf, rock, psych, punk and garage that creates a sound all of it’s own.”
Liam and the Nerdy Blues, a band from Central North Carolina, is a “dynamic, eclectic and diverse blues, soul, and funk trio that will also play the event.” As is tradition, Dexter Romweber, a favorite of McInturff, will also hit the stage. Romweber is a Chapel Hill musician who plays in an American rockabilly/roots rock style. Romweber is a major influence for Jack White of the White Stripes, a garage band from Detroit which gained prominence and critical acclaim beginning in the early 2000’s.
A portion of Chatham Avenue and Second Street in Siler City will be closed to traffic during the event to accommodate concert goers, food trucks and beer from Chatham County’s newest brewery Thirsty Skull, which is owned by the same owners as 580 Craft Beer in Pittsboro. The N.C. Arts Incubator will also be featuring art from Marcela Slade and Kay Blada Recycling will present art from Haiti. McInturrf will also host a tour of his studio during the event.
The event will also feature a once-in-a-lifetime raffle of a custom TCM guitar McInturfff is creating to benefit the N.C. Arts Incubator. McInturff notes that he typically only makes “Lamborghini” guitars, custom-built for guitar legends based on the sound they want the instrument to make. This includes specialty woods like mahoghany, rosewood, maple, ebony, and swamp ash, each creating its own sound. He has hand-crafted some of the best guitars in the world for artists including Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin, Chuck Garvey of moe, and Dave Hildago of Los Lobos.
The raffle is a chance for aspiring guitar legends to have a legendary guitar aptly named “Siler City Exile #1.” Only 200 raffle tickets will be sold for the chance to win the guitar which has an estimated valued of $8,195. Single raffle tickets are $100 or two for $150. They are on sale now through October 19 and can be purchased by messaging N.C. Arts Incubator Facebook page. The drawing for the raffle will take place on December 6 and ticket purchasers do not have to be present to win.
McInturff is thrilled to give back to his adopted home town and the N.C. Arts Incubator.
“I count Siler City and the art community here as on of my greatest blessings,” McInturff said. “I feel like I’m a part of a community. That’s all new to me. I’ve never really been embraced by a community before. I feel blessed to be able to do something like this and to have the town embrace it.”
Casey Mann can be reached at CaseyMann@Chathamnr.com.
If you’re going
What: 4th Annual Koo Day Tah
Where: Rotary Stage on N. Chatham Avenue in Siler City
When: 3 p.m., Saturday, October 19
Event charge: free
Bands: Dexter Romweber, Radar’s Clowns of Sedation, Blood Red River and Liam and the Nerdy Blues
Raffle Tickets: $100/ticket, two for $150
Guitar Details: TCM Siler City Exile#1, Retail =$8,195
• 24.625” scale
• One piece ultra-rare quilted Western Maple hand carved top
• Honduran Mahogany back and neck
• AAAAA Grade Indian Rosewood fretboard
• Semi-hollow construction using the TCM #4 tuned chamber
• 22 medium jumbo frets
• Dual hand-wound humbucking pickups (chosen for voice)
• ABR-1 style tune-o-matic bridge
• Aluminum stop tailpiece
• Dual volume controls
• Master tone control (low Pass Filter from the TCM Maxi-Q)
• Rear locking tuners
• Proprietary TCM nitrocellulose lacquer finish
• Nickel Hardware
• NOS Italian Celluloid/Ivoroid binding on top, fretboard, and headstock face
More info: Message N.C. Arts Incubator Facebook page