Three Days To Rise || November 16-18, 2006

Splitting town next week for Thanksgiving? Stuck with Cousin Paul and the screaming nephews? Then you'd best fill up on quality gigs for the next three days...before you fill up on sweet, sweet tryptophan.

Thursday


Gypsy Tea Room's Ballroom: My Morning Jacket ($25)
To celebrate one helluva live album/DVD, MMJ brings the first of a few special two-night stands to Dallas tonight. (Suck on that, Austin.)
Nearly four years ago, we got our first taste of the band at a SXSW day party. The band held court on the teensy Yard Dog stage, slaying the crowd, and the sound guy told the band that their time was just about up. The group, in true rockstar-asshole fashion, immediately began a new song after their "last song" ended, but considering the fact that the band went apeshit (the drummer stood for most of the last song, and Jim James fell into the crowd during his final solo), the sound guy had no choice but to let the incredible show screw over the other bands' schedules. Good call.
Not a fan of the frat boy explosion that this band (and others like Lucero and Drive-By Truckers) has endured recently, but we're hedging our bets that Thursday will be the night of fewer fratties--"Dude, brah, chicks only go to shows on Friday. Let's go rape the team mascot instead." Combine that with a secret hope that the band whips up their cover of Erykah Badu's "Tyrone," and you've got one excited Dd crew.

Double Wide: Record Hop / Saboteur / 100 Damned Guns ($10)
Short on cash or choosing to see MMJ on Friday? Then this cheaper set, a benefit concert thrown by Double Wide booking agent Chelsea Callahan in honor of her birthday, is the local gig for you. We've already spoken at length about the first two hard-rockin' locals listed there, while the latter, 100 Damned Guns, kinda underwhelmed when we saw 'em two weeks ago. Solid country songs that totally lacked stage presence or a truly unique quality, but 100's target audience will eat this up, no question.

The Cavern: Dallas' Japanese Auto Clinic opens here, and we're tempted to finally see them in concert...too bad about that MMJ thing, though. If anyone attends this, do tell us if their MySpace potential is realized on stage or not, cuz these songs are pretty solid for Wolfmother-leaning MC5-isms.

Friday

EARLY HEADS-UP: Take lunch off from work and go to Good Records at 2 p.m. to see Montreal's Islands (ex-Unicorns) for free. Of course, you could also head to Hailey's later to see the group along with quality indie-hop MC Blueprint opening (and if you're in Denton, you really should), but Dallasites with afternoon time to spare would be foolish to miss this.

AAC: The Pretenders ($too much)
Yes, The Who's headlining, and every '70s teenager with money to blow has tickets in hand already (Keith Moon-related whining aside). But we wish we could lower the ticket price, see The Pretenders and split. Granted, that's thanks to a similar sort of nostalgia-fueled zeal (if not more, since they aren't the ones promoting a comeback record), but we're bigger fans of Chrissie Hynde than Roger Daltrey. Sue us.

Double Wide: The Angelus / Dust Congress
Austin opener Amanda Leggett, we're still not sold on, but you can read our massive kudos for the Angelus in the Apply Yourselves feature in the left sidebar.

The Cavern: Gil Mantera's Party Dream / Faux Fox ($6)
Do you often say things like, "I liked The Faint's old records?" Then put on your most fluorescent shirt and head to a dance-rock party worth dancing like an idiot. Locals Faux Fox have been getting better in concert lately, while Gil Mantera reminds me of a more pissy Junior Senior, which is both good and bad for the exact same reasons.

Gypsy Tea Room: MMJ again. Who knows? We might just double-dip.

Saturday

The Amsterdam Bar: Beach House / Over The Atlantic ($5, cheep!)
We Shot J.R. is all over this gig with a great interview. Go work for Pitchfork, dude. Your interviewing skills are really improving lately.


Granada Theater: Radiant ($10)
The rest of this gig's lineup is kinda spare, but Radiant's long-delayed We Hope You Win finally sees release at the show, and it's certainly an album worth some excitement. Too bad local papers have completely, totally skipped out on covering it. We're trying to get a review ready in time for the gig, so keep yer eyes tuned this-a-ways. (You can also grab the album at the band's free in-store concert earlier on Saturday at Good Records, of course.)

Club Dada: Beach Boys Hoot Night ($5)
The concept: Five local acts cover one classic band exclusively for an entire evening. Great in concept, of course, but the Beach Boys sure are a demanding one, and I doubt these groups are up to the challenge of such harmonies. Hell, even Brian Wilson's backup singers on the final version of SMiLE sound disappointing; how much is the atonal delivery of Voot Cha Index gonna butcher the BB catalog? (EDIT: Apparently not; Voot Cha is in fact not in the lineup anymore. Perhaps those break-up rumors we heard are coming to fruition...?) Anyway, we're not trying to be pissy here, and Teenage Symphony (a band named for this sorta gig, of course) may be reason enough to attend, but a warning's a warning.

Wreck Room: Baboon / Dove Hunter
Baboon CD release show = Best Fort Worth gig of the night. Simple as that.

..as if the weekend wasn't busy enough, don't forget about Money Waters and Thesis bringing great neo-soul and hip-hop to Tom Cats on Sunday night. Wow, a good reason to go to Tom Cats? We're surprised, too. -SM