Schools That Rock

Venues: Even nonmusic students get to enjoy regular on-campus concerts from headliners like Kanye West and Wilco. And students at both Duke and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill needn't wait for on-campus events to get their dose of live music. Just down the road from UNC, the area's best-known club, the Cat's Cradle, consistently draws the perfect mix of low-fi rock, punk and singer-songwriters. record stores Schoolkids Records has a wide enough selection to appeal to hipsters and mainstream shoppers alike. While it's hard for any store to compete with School-kids, CD Alley does an admirable job of it. This smallish shop is packed with CDs, vinyl and DJ platters, all from underground favorites, broken down into highly specific subgenres like Japanese punk and kraut rock.

Radio: One of the country's most cutting-edge college stations, UNC's student-run WXYC proved how forward-thinking it is in 1994, when it became the first station ever to simulcast its signal over the Internet. WXYC hires new DJs at the beginning of each semester.