GIG OF THE WEEK

COLA-CON feat. GHOSTFACE KILLAH, PHIFE DAWG @ COLUMBIA MUSEUM OF ART, COLUMBIA

There are plenty of reasons to check out a comic convention, even if you’re only a casual fan. As San Diego’s Comic Con has proven with its sprawl, and multiplexes have shows with big-earners like Marvel’s The Avengers and The Dark Knight trilogy, comic books — and their associated gatherings — are no longer the sole province of the nerdy and nebbish. Nor should they be: even small conventions are big fun. Cola-Con gives the format its own twist, though, inviting hip-hop royalty for headline performances. Last year’s inaugural Cola-Con brought 9th Wonder and Talib Kweli to Soda City; this year ups the ante. Saturday’s headliner, Phife Dawg, represents the legendary crew A Tribe Called Quest, and his performance will follow a screening of the acclaimed Tribe documentary Beats, Rhymes, & Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest. Friday offers Wu-Tang Clan MC Ghostface Killah, who has proven one of the Wu’s most consistent solo stars. Even his oft-derided “R&B” outing, 2009′s Ghostdini the Wizard of Poetry, has its moments. Then there are the classics: Supreme Clientele and Fishscale, which find the man born Dennis Coles in his finest form. Supastition, Analog (the collaboration of MCs Preach Jacobs and Dose with DJ Manipulator) and Brittany Bosco round out the musical offerings. —Bryan C. Reed

CALENDAR

Festival

• Oct. 4-7 — Shakori Hills Grassroots Festival @ Silk Hope (with Lost In The Trees, Jonathan Scales Fourchestra, Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, and more)

Oct. 4

• The Dan Deacon Ensemble @ The Blind Tiger, Greensboro
• Godspeed You! Black Emperor w/ Airstrip @ Cats Cradle, Carrboro
• Big Business w/ House of Lightning @ Kings, Raleigh
• White Rabbits @ Visulite Theatre, Charlotte
• Netherfriends @ Conundrum, Columbia
• Grace Potter & The Nocturnals @ The Orange Peel, Asheville

Oct. 5

• Ahleuchatistas (album release) @ Grey Eagle, Asheville
• The Whigs @ Cat’s Cradle, Carrboro
• The Dan Deacon Ensemble @ The Orange Peel, Asheville
• Grace Potter & the Nocturnals @ Time Warner Cable Uptown Amphitheatre, Charlotte
• Balmorhea @ Local 506, Chapel Hill

Oct. 6

• Wood Ear w/ Some Army @ The Pinhook, Durham
• Dead Prez @ Grey Eagle, Asheville
• The Whigs @ Pour House, Charleston
• Here We Go Magic @ Charleston Music Hall, Charleston
• Beats Antique @ The Orange Peel, Asheville

Oct. 7

• M83 @ Fillmore, Charlotte
• The Dismemberment Plan w/ mewithoutYou, Ben Davis & The Jetts @ Cat’s Cradle, Carrboro

Oct. 8

• Riverboat Gamblers w/ Cobra Skulls @ New Brookland Tavern, Columbia

Oct. 9

• Nick Lowe w/ Chuck Prophet @ McGlohon Theatre, Charlotte
• Bonnie Raitt w/ Sarah Siskind @ Thomas Wolfe Auditorium, Asheville
• Tennis @ Cat’s Cradle, Carrboro
• Moon Duo @ Kings Barcade, Raleigh
• Dent May @ Snug Harbor, Charlotte
• Buke & Gase @ Local 506, Chapel Hill
• Sleigh Bells w/ araabMUZIK @ The Orange Peel, Asheville

Oct. 10

• Melvins Lite @ Cat’s Cradle, Carrboro
• Nick Lowe w/ Chuck Prophet @ Grey Eagle, Asheville