Niggahlaws
Money Waters (Noir Sound) CD Review(14.November.2006)
Miller Time
Bosque Brown's uncertain future is clarified in an exclusive interview.
(10.November.2006)
Apply Yourselves
Independent music's Spring Break is fast approaching. Which Dallas bands will best represent at the (metaphorical) kegger?
(6.November.2006)
Mercy
Burden Brothers (Kirtland) CD Review...as a one-act play(2.November.2006)
Come and
See
Colin
Meloy wants you to put the dictionary down and get busy sweeping his
chimney. By Pepper Martin
(25.October.2006)
For
New Starts
Dd
pulls recent CDs and worthwhile bands back through the cracks. This
week: South San Gabriel.
(19.October.2006)
Intelligent
Design
The
evolution of Baboon into Dallas' best and loudest rock band took only
16 years, two tastes of major label stardom and a few horse heads.
(13.October.2006)
Attitude Solution
After nearly two decades of
frustration, local MCs Pikahsso and Tahiti finally exhale on PPT's Tres Monos In Love.
(4.October.2006)
A Memorial To The Tunnel
The roadblocks in front of Deep Ellum's entrance probably look familiar to local musicians. (28.Sept.2006)
Sad news for old Dallas music fans, as word comes to us from an old friend that Transona Five's Chris Foley recently passed away. Though no specific details were available at the former band's MySpace page, Dallas-area acts had already hopped on the page's blog to offer their remembrances of the member of the Denton-based space-rock quintet. Here's a better explanation from our pal Michael Chamy:
Foley, as far as I know, was most recently and perhaps still in Austin's very good melodic shoegaze dream/pop group the Swells (circa 2000 to either present or recently, though I think Foley was only in the group the past couple years, though I am not certain), but much more noted in DFW and Texas at large for being a core member of the great slowcore space-pop outfit of the late 90s, Transona Five (circa 1995 to 2000) ... not sure if they were technically from Ft. Worth, Denton or elsewhere in DFW .... but they made some serious waves around here at some point, especially at the end of the Denton space rock thing (they were kinda closer to Comet & Bedhead though) .... they were on the Austin label Sandwich Records, and I think they may have even moved to Boston or something, perhaps causing their demise.
Details about the passing are scarce, other than this post from Stephen Thurman of the Swells: "On Sunday, Jan. 28, we found out that our bass player Chris Foley was found dead in a hotel room. We don't have all the details yet, but the police do not think it was foul-play. Foley was a great bass player and an even better friend. We will forever miss him." We offer our condolences to Foley's friends and family. -SM
As word spreads about the Gypsy Tea Room's impending demise, we look here and there for information to fill the cracks. Though the Observer's take gives the venue hope past March 31, other folks closer to the mess are less optimistic. We can confirm that "GTR closes in 60 days" is the text message sent by longtime EC friend and former employee Russell Turns to more than a few people last night---though he's not an official spokesman and employee for the venue, his association with the EC is close enough for us to consider reliable. And this long MySpace missive by former Trees manager Scott Beggs reveals more:
So it appears the inevitable is upon us, my (our) beloved Gypsy Tea Room is rumored to be closing its doors 60 days from now. The source of this information was a text sent from a close friend as I went to sleep last night. Could it be a dream? I wish it were.
If this is true, and I expect it is, this is a dark day for Dallas, Dallas music, and Deep Ellum. Gypsy Tea Room has set the bar for live music in Dallas over the past decade and its demise will leave a hole in our hearts, and will forever change the live music landscape in Dallas.
But why? Why is our beloved venue that has seen such strong support from fans, artists, and music industry alike now on its last leg? Is it the "decline" and changing demographics of Deep Ellum, the increase in crime, or maybe the senseless fight that left a man temporarily paralyzed and sent another to prison for 19 years? Is it the opening of House of Blues or the renaming of Gilley's to better accomodate their new calendar? These are all extremely easy and convenient excuses that on the surface may appear to answer the question, but as always, there is more to consider.
I will at some point address what I feel most hurt Gypsy Tea Room, but this is not a day for finger-pointing, but rather a chance to recall the great memories we will share from a great room during a great and exciting time in Dallas music.
I look forward to your comments as we toast a wounded and dying warrior.
SB
The one question mark left is to figure out where the bands booked in Gypsy's relatively long April and May calendar will go, but certainly, booking agency Charles Attal Presents must already be fielding exasperated pleas from rooms like the Granada, Ellum:OnStage and perhaps even Hailey's to snatch up those acts. (Interestingly enough, the GTR MySpace page only lists shows through the end of March. Hmmmm.)
This revelation comes as a relative shock. We thought GTR was holding on thanks to private parties--a huge source of revenue for any music club, and this one hosted more than any other--but the dipping quality of the touring calendar for the past few months was certainly foreboding, if not foreshadowing (notice how the GTR wasn't really getting any weekend shout-outs in our 'Three Days to Rise' feature as of late...that was not an accident).
Then again, we've attended GTR shows in recent months that have been packed to the walls. Our guess is, those successful shows simply weren't frequent enough for the huge pool of debtors on the EC's back. And here's a thought: With bigger-venue competition on the rise in Dallas (HoB, Palladium, Ellum:OnStage), perhaps a few keen debtors thought they'd be better off liquidating now rather than waiting for the venue to be destroyed by bigger, bigger, bigger.
But ours is only guess and conjecture at this point; we invite any GTR associates to either comment on this thread or send an e-mail to bigdlittled@gmail.com so that people can better understand the incredibly complex fall of the Entertainment Collaborative, a company that went from two venues and a few restaurants up to not even running its own Web site. In the coming months, we'll have much more to say about the venue whose perfect size for "medium" concerts will be missed. -SM
Should be interesting at Club Dada tonight. Dreamtigers are, essentially, the Laptop Deathmatch All-Stars--the best members of those competitions working together to produce dizzying digital trickery. Local gal-about-town Michaela Kuenster unveils her new band Klickitat tonight as well. No song samples are up, but with members of Rose County Fair and The Tah-Dahs helping her out, we're optimistic. Teenage Symphony closes the night, though singer/keyboardist Mikal Beth Hughey will be absent, so that may hamper their set.
Whoops--we almost forgot Comrade and Unwed Sailor at the Cavern. What's with the busy Tuesday night, anyway? -SM
Sick to death of local music Web sites? Then aim your puking reticule away from the screen right about......now, because NBC 5 is joining the fray. The DFW-area TV station's online presence, nbc5i.com, is set to launch its new nightlife arm, DFWScene, on February 5th, according to site producer Greg Janda. In fact, it's up right now, though only in skeleton form.
In addition to the things that the skeleton makes apparent--music, dining, nightlife, general happs--Janda stresses "user-created content" in his pitch of the site. Yuh-oh: This phrase is the bloodiest red flag in modern media, a sopping-wet sign of exasperation and catch-up to the overbaked Web 2.0 hype machine. "Why waste resources making content when our readers can do it for us and save us money?" Aside from the fact that Pegasus News is already knee-deep in its own local 2.0 experiment--why would its forum posters want to jump ship?--we don't buy into the 2.0 principle. The community-driven sites that work (Fark, Digg, YouTube, etc) succeeded because of functionality, not buzzwords and hype.
Not that DFWScene doesn't have its own stuff in the works. Janda says the site is already preparing a profile on Denton band Exit 380, for example...
So how'd we happen upon this info? Janda sent it to us this morning in trying to lure some Dd'ers to his freelance team (six days before launch, no less), and we're assuming the rest of the local blog roll call received a similar e-mail. If bloggers around town are interested in supplying a huge TV station's blog with articles for free, you might see some familiar faces on DFWScene next week. Hopefully not JR's, though. -SM
...to listen to this new Dr. Dog record. I'd be remiss to post a review after only 1.5 listens, but it's occupying my time and attention enough to postpone my weekend wrap-up, at least.
Speaking of the weekend, if you missed Chris Garver's stellar Friday set, he's closer to Dallas tonight with an early evening gig at Club Dada. Won't be with a full band, but it should still prove worthwhile. -SM
This is easily one of the better Friday/Saturday combos for local music as of late. Don't stay home this weekend.
FRIDAY
Secret HQ: We Shot JR showcase See our rec below in the SHQ post...not to mention our feature in the left-hand column.
Double Wide: Current Leaves / Cartright Hooray! Two of our favorite Denton acts (and 100 Damned Guns, whom we've yet to see live) try to save us gas by coming to Dallas...on the night we were planning on going to Denton. Bugger. Methinks we might make an early return to the bigger D in time for this one, and if you're short on gas, don't even question it--this is the Dallas place to be tonight.
Ridglea Theater Lounge: Tame...Tame & Quiet / Bridges & Blinking Lights / Handbrake Fort Worthians aren't gonna get a better post-rock show within driving distance for a while. Though don't go thinking these bands are obtuse, particuarly the shades of Built To Spill that make B&BL sparkle. Should be a darn good time.
Hailey's: The Angelus Those staying in Denton after SHQ's over will be wise to flock a few blocks away to this Angelus gig, as the most epic-sounding act in the area gigs infrequently enough to make every show a must-see. Like-minded epic-noise-ists The Noise Revival Orchestra Experience opens, and this Austin outfit sounds like they'll put on a helluva show, even if their name is retarded.
SATURDAY
Secret HQ: Tre Orsi / Handbrake Again, see our rec below in the SHQ post.
Fra House: Baptist Generals / Shiny Around The Edges Baptist Generals in somebody's living room? Are you kidding us? SAtE haven't gigged much lately, as well, so their rare appearance is caviar icing on top of a dollar bill cake. Granted, both bands are meant for acquired tastes, but you won't acquire them in a more memorable, intimate manner than this. Combine this with the early Tre Orsi gig for Denton music heaven.
The Cavern: Pleasant Grove Did we receive a bootleg copy of an unreleased PG song this morning? Possibly. Is it awesome? Definitely. Too bad you won't hear that song at the Cavern on Saturday; drummer Jeff Ryan informed us that this is a special show, an experimental audio/visual something-or-other, though even he seemed confused by the concept. Should prove to be memorable; openers include Oklahoma City's incredibly promising quirk-pop outfit Student Film (seriously, listen to their clips) and Dallas' not-quite-as-promising quirk-pop outfit B Minor Harmonic.
SUNDAY
Blue: Ying Yang Twins We've yet to see a successful Sunday night hip-hop concert in Dallas, but perhaps these two-hit-blunders from Atlanta can pull it off. Our guess? Low turnout will cause a mind-numbing delay. Bring a DS or something to kill time. Or just watch this over and over and stay the fuck home. -SM
Anyone with their eye on Denton last week might wonder what kind of simultaneous flood-torna-sunami hit the veritable Secret Headquarters. Stories of canceled shows and flooding overwhelmed the famed DRC bulletin board, leaving the already vulnerable SHQ in even more questionable status. We phoned SHQ part-owner and Record Hop/Spitfire Tumbleweeds member Scott Porter to find out what exactly happened.
The trouble started on what should have been a particularly busy Friday, with two new SHQ staples suffering: Singer-Songwriter Thunderdome (an open mike in the early evening) and Robert Gomez's late night jazz sessions (with random Denton hands playing together no earlier than 2 a.m.).
"You know it rained all weekend," Porter says. "We used to have five leaks, and [the landlord] came and fixed our roof...by the time the Thunderdome was done, there were 22 leaks. On the stage, soundboard area, audience area...pretty much straight down the middle of the building. It was uninhabitable."
The leaking continued through the weekend, turning SHQ's floors into a mix of buckets and flood. Porter has been assured by the building's landlord that the roof will be taken care of by Saturday morning: "It's still gonna be cold because we don't have a heater, but not having standing water in the show room goes a long way towards success."
When asked if this sort of calamity is par for the course with a DIY venue, Porter counters, "It's par for the course for reality," citing various venue problems throughout Denton over the years. Still, he's optimistic about the condition of SHQ and its finances, and he's got another reason for cheer--the back-to-back concert lineup for this Friday and Saturday.
On Friday, Tree Wave headlines a We Shot JR bash that also features Chris Garver (and his first full-band solo show) and a new project starring Mwanz Dover and Lars Larsen. If not must-see, it's certainly the best out-there showcase of the weekend, and we're banking on Garver's performance as being the highlight of the night.
Saturday, however, is a must-see, thanks to the incrediblations of Tre Orsi, perhaps the most exciting new band we've seen in a long time. The lineup's chops are vast and proven (South San Gabriel, History at our Disposal, Shearwater, Okkervil River, Little Grizzly, *gasp*), and their three-piece attack is precise, methodical and surprisingly pulverizing--having little in common with the rest of their output, really. Don't let the MySpace demos fool you into thinking this'll be a calm affair. These guys will rule you.
...assuming, of course, that bad luck doesn't rule SHQ. But Porter's pretty confident: "SHQ is at full capacity with tenants, and we're better off financially than we've been since we opened. The first six months, that was the battle, that was the bad luck. Once the membership shakeup and the roof thing happened...I feel like we're leaving the fire because we've been able to not let it get us down." He pauses. "It's not supposed to rain this weekend, is it?" -SM
FrontBurner has posted the full text of Kenny Brattain's no-more-Trees spiel from earlier today--which we weren't e-mailed, by the way...what gives? No matter, though. The words and the whining are out there, and though we're reluctant to dole out all-out sympathy (permits and regulations are, uh, expected when it comes to opening a nightclub in Dallas), one part strikes us as odd:
Now we are told by Karl Evens that we cannot charge for parking. So the 20 parking spaces we have, we cannot charge for, and we cannot charge for the contracted 30 remote parking spaces.
Huh? While we hate paying for parking as much as the next guy, we've yet to stumble upon any of these free, magical parking spots in Deep Ellum. We'll investigate further and get back to you when it makes sense. -SM
CD review is up at the top-left. Please check it out, and comment in this thread if you feel so inclined. We have other cool stuff coming up this week, which'll hopefully make up for our recent lull in coverage. Thanks for reading, as always. -SM
Club Dada: Rolling Stones Hoot Night The last Dada/Callithump Hoot Night forced a lot of young bands to cover the Beach Boys, which was probably the worst way to start the club's new concept out. BB harmonies are just too demanding. But the Stones make sense--the group's extensive catalog and simple, bluesy base gives tonight's acts a lot of angles to choose from, so we're looking forward to Stones takes by Sean Kirkpatrick, The Naptime Shake and Fort Worth's Stanton Meadowdale (who, according to one recent review, was destined to play this show anyhow).
Rubber Gloves: Mix Tapes & Baby Fights Frequency Down's Frank Hejl is moving to New York in a few days, so he bids his Denton empire farewell with one final edition of his comedy/music smorgasbord. Hejl lucked out on this one, pulling Portland's talented Laura Gibson into his schedule (who sounds a boatload like Canadian singer Sarah Harmer, and that's a good thing), while Fishboy will be on hand to "go electric" (though we're not quite sure what that means). Local comedians are on the bill as well, including some fellows from The Cooperation Corporation...we're clueless about area comedy, though, but the stuff will be in the Aziz/Stella/Comedians of Comedy mindset, so snarky left-wingers will almost certainly giggle and feel smug.
Darkside Lounge: Lazer We're starting to grow fonder of Plano's favorite pseudo-Euros as time passes, though the rest of this Darkside bill is the pits...particularly the presence of the biggest douche at 102.1 The Edge, Ayo, as DJ. Our guess? If it's anything like his DJ gig on the air, he'll play Offspring songs for most of the night.
SATURDAY
Good Records: Crain For Mayor CD Release party (free, early) We were hoping to score a copy of this CD before the show to review it for you fine folks, but Crain's promotional crew screwed up big time in not responding to my repeated e-mails. No matter--the target audience will buy this in droves without my help, as the two-disc release is the most ambitious local compilation released in years. To celebrate, Dove Hunter and Baboon play at Good Records (at 4 and 5, respectively)...we've said plenty about them recently, so we'll instead shine our spotlight on Dayton, OH's Heartless Bastards, a bare-bones blues-rock trio that does so much with so little. Show up at 3 p.m. and you'll probably wind up wanting to see the band again when it headlines Sons of Hermann Hall later that evening, and with Pleasant Grove supporting at our fave venue in Dallas, no less! Hot damn.
Granada Theater: ...it's sold out, anyway. Either you're going or you're not.
Barley House: Rose County Fair One of our picks for best live band in town opens for the ho-hum semi-local Todd Deatherage at SMU's favorite fake ID bar, so if RCF's breath of fresh alt-country air doesn't entice you, perhaps some underage ass will. Perv. Show up by 10:30 if you want to see RCF's set in its entirety...and you do.
Absinthe Lounge: The Jump-Off Live performances by three of our fave hip-hop acts in town, hands-down: Steve Austin, Pikahsso and Thesis. It's like they copy+pasted one of our wishlists! Looks to be a DJ-driven dance event for the most part, so go for the party and stay for the show.
Hailey's: About 5,000 bands Stuck in Denton for the night? This $5 show might prove to be the sleeper of the evening, with Dd faves Comrade (with help from Midlake's Eric Nichelson, no kidding) leading off a pack of eight 'tween-friendly Dallas indie-popsters from the Postal-'Play generation (Dignan being the most promising act of the pack, though we're only guessing based on MySpace samples). Seems like the meathead/butt-rock infestation of the early '00s has given way to this unassuming-yet-booming scene of down-tempo, melodic, piano-craving (and sometimes even--gasp!--Christian) acts around town, and quite frankly, Dallas could have things much worse. Though Hailey's lists Comrade as the headliner, they actually play early in the evening, so schedule yourself accordingly.
SUNDAY...nothing? Always sucks when an overcrowded Saturday is followed by a disappointing Sunday, but if you need something to do, go meet Gordie Howe at NorthPark Center around 3 p.m. Mr. Hockey!! -SM
Longtime readers know that we stick our head out for local MCs pretty often, but anybody who keeps up with the increased hip-hop coverage in the Dallas Morning News and its sister paper Quick as of late might wonder about a serious disconnect in our local coverage. You might ask, "Where's Big Tuck?"
...there's Big Tuck
Ever since we began writing about local music, we've been particularly quiet about Big Tuck and his better-known group, the Dirty South Rydaz. The six-man South Dallas crew has built a die-hard fan base around the South, and they're perhaps the city's biggest underground success, selling thousands of CDs thanks to hustle, word-of-mouth and connections with the Houston rap scene. Only last year, the group's Dallas label T-Town Records levied its underground cred into a deal with a Universal Records subsidiary for national distribution, and the first fruit of the deal, Big Tuck's Tha Absolute Truth, reached record stores on December 12 after months of delays.
One month later, the record has all but vanished from local radio stations K104 and 97.9. On one hand, this quick vanish is a surprise, as Tuck's crunk-influenced beats and thoughtless, shouty delivery seem perfect for the stations' relatively boring playlists.
On the other...it kinda confirms what we've been thinking for over a year now. Normally, we don't allow corporate radio to sway our take on a band or musician, but in the rap world, our tastes skew to the outskirts--storytellers over shouters, weirdos over gangstas, flow before fire. And in that respect, Tuck and his DSR crew annoy the hell out of us, recycling the beats Houston was shoving down our throats over two years ago and rattling off uninspired rhymes like this:
"You better respect this / Won't settle for less, bitch / You never been to Dallas / Then you ain't been to Texas"
This comes from Tha Absolute Truth's particularly disappointing "Welcome to Dallas," a meathead ode to thuggin' and violence in our fair city, complete with--no shit--machine gun fire sound effects sprinkled throughout. (Wonder if Mayor Miller has considered submitting this single to the city's tourism board? If not, she can download it via the MP3 link at the article's end.)
This album's cheap-sounding production and boring rhymes aren't really much different than the previous material, the stuff that's been winning over a sizable cult fanbase, so we had to wonder whether Universal's push would deliver the kind of mainstream success that we had sincerely doubted. Our doubts have been confirmed, and not just by the lack of local airplay--Tuck's nowhere on the Billboard charts, so we can't even see if/when the man charted with a single or the album, and his Amazon sales rank currently dwells at #87,975 in the site's music section. Universal may certainly be to blame: An album release in mid-December is a promotional kiss of death, overshadowed by the biggest Christmas-ready releases of months prior and ignored by the label once '07 rolls around.
But for the most part, it's a case of overhyped rap-pap. We know exactly what Universal saw in its DSR deal: sounds kinda like H-Town, has some word-of-mouth. And we think it's the same thing the Dallas Observer recently saw in him when blindly lauding the guy in its year-end wrap-up. Who cares if it's any good, right? But hip-hop's about the next big thing, not the movement that already ran out of steam a year ago. Dallas has plenty of potential next-big-things--our bets are on either Headkrack or Money Waters, at least in terms of talent and street-wise style--but the attitude that landed DSR a sweet deal is the same one that'll probably blame Tuck's failure on Dallas' lack of mainstream presence (just as they might've done for the lackluster, talentless dorks of Play 'N Skillz). It's the wrong conclusion, of course, but why bother digging into our city's true talent? Instead, A&R reps call Dallas a done deal, move on, head to the next city, leave our geniuses behind. Thanks a Tuckload. -SM
Denton's Mom impressed at Good Records last weekend, layering guitar, violin and other strings over a mix of pre-recorded melodies and improvised ambient noise. The total effect of the live performance was really enjoyable, which is a great change of pace from most local instrumental groups we've seen over the years. Sure, more live hands would certainly bolster the duo, but their current lineup is still enough to earn a rare "must-see" decree from the picky Dd. Any Dentonites who missed last week's Dallas show should make the shorter drive to Rubber Gloves tonight, where Mom opens for three other Denton acts we've never seen, ranging from noise to metal to singer-songwriter fare.
Sadly, we won't be there tonight, because the Dd company car just doesn't do well on wet roads (let alone slick/icy ones). Thanks to a promise made a few months ago, we'll be at the Barley House instead, judging a karaoke competition in the place of that slacker Zac Crain. How're you gonna be mayor if you can't even fulfill your karaoke judging obligations, dude?
Yes, Rock Star Karaoke is infinitely more tolerable than the kind done with a jukebox, but out natural distaste for all things karaoke makes it hard for us to promote it. Then again, folks from local bands have been turning out and competing at RSK, so perhaps those performances tonight will make up for every time we've seen some drunk schmoe sing "Creep." Will report if it's good. Will be silent about it if it's not. And if you've ever wanted to heckle Sam, tonight's your chance. -SM
In Dallas, icy/snowy weather is much like a celebrity--it doesn't show up that often, but when it does, we drop everything to make a big fuss, and then it turns out to be much lamer than the reaction would lead you to believe. True to form, this Great Dallas Freeze of '07 was certainly the weather equivalent of a Kevin Sorbo.
But in crazy Dallas town, the sun returns on our favorite holiday of the year, Martin Luther King Jr. Day--the most meaningful holiday that doesn't compel people to buy a card, a gift or a costume. There's not much in the way of local music that really nails the Martin Luther mood...though one of our favorite singles of last year, Money Waters' "Fuckery," comes close, so we're posting it. We doubt the Rev would produce a single quite like this, but we're sure he respects its look at a New Orleans that has already gone overlooked by most of the country. Plus...well, shit, it bumps. Happy MLK Day.
UPDATE: The wint'ry mix has ruined a few gigs tonight...first, The Spitfire Tumbleweeds / Lo-Fi Chorus gig at Double Wide tonight is cancelled. We knew there was a reason we forgot to list it in our 3DtR piece. Worse, same goes for the Martin Iles / Hawk and a Handsaw / History at our Disposal gig at Rubber Gloves. Fortunately, our Sunday night Smash Bros. slamaramma at DdHQ is still on.
We Shot JR plucked out quite a few things we were gonna laud, so we'll mention those briefly and touch upon a few more (and in some cases better) gigs.
FRIDAY
Opening Bell Coffee: Eric Kruger Benefit Mentioned this a few days ago. Kristy Kruger doesn't come around town that often anymore, especially not with a cause like this'un, so pull your left wing out of your pants pocket and check out either the early show at 6 p.m. or the late one at 8:30.
Good Records: CJ's Birthday Go see Tree Wave; we think they go on early enough (9:30ish?) to catch as a precursor to any other Dallas concert antics.
The Cavern: Ghostcar / Stumptone We Shot JR said it already.
Sons of Hermann Hall: Red Monroe / Quiet Company We've said plenty about Dallas' Red Monroe, so we'll just link to Quiet Company as a highlight on this mixed four-band bill at one of our favorite venues in town. The Austin band comes highly recommended from the Austin Dd Chapter. We don't totally agree--pretty piano pop, sure, but eh--but we've been told their live set will satisfy piano pop fans more so than the rest of the fray. Therefore, we only recommend it if you're DYING for girlfriend-friendly fare.
SATURDAY
Barley House: The Lemurs / American Werewolf Academy Austin's The Lemurs are among the better bands to pop up in the current Gang of Four-mula spree; their timing sure sucks, but that doesn't make their brand of pop any less catchy or well done. Dallas' American Werewolf Academy, meanwhile, is on the exact opposite end of the trendy scale--straight-out Replacements-loving five-chord rock. This will be the most fun concert of the night, hands down, and it's free, so get a few drinks, tolerate the SMU crowd and enjoy yourself.
Rubber Gloves: A Hawk and a Handsaw / History At Our Disposal [CANCELLED, SEE ABOVE] I promised Good/Bad maestro Martin Iles I'd post this, even though We Shot JR did already...this will not necessarily be the "most fun" show of the night, but with Iles' visual show and the two erratic bands on the bill, chances are it'll be quite a bit more memorable. Pick according to your mood, we suppose. ...this description is moot now but we'll leave it for posterity's sake.
Absinthe Lounge: Second Saturday Final Friday just doesn't deliver enough local hip-hop in one month, and we're glad somebody else agrees, because this (monthly?) gig looks slammin'. If free cajun food (say GUMBO) doesn't send you packing towards the Lounge, perhaps white-hot Fort Worth MC Pestalance (who blew us away at the Picnic Benefit) and Original Soul will.
1919 Hemphill: Koji Kondo, some other bands Again, copying We Shot JR, but those Koji Kondo demos sound refreshingly good and put this band near the top of the area's punk list, undoubtedly.
SUNDAY
DdHQ: Super Smash Bros. ...really. We're staying in and loading up the Wii unless someone suggests a good show in the comments thread. Otherwise, bring your controllers!!!! -SM
How often do you attend 40th birthday parties with a Spider-Man bounce pit? Hopefully, not too often, but there's a big Spidey-themed bounce sitting in front of Good Records right now, and we couldn't help but mention it. Our weekend recommendations will be up within the next hour or so, but in the meantime, if you're reading this at work and need a good pick-me-up today, drive past Good Records on your way home. We bet CJ will let you hop on before his birthday concert officially kicks off around 8 p.m. -SM
Bend Studio as a chain? Sure, why not. The combination yoga studio/performance space just announced that it's expanding its business model to Soul Fitness, a yoga/exercise space in Fort Worth, starting with a Bob Schneider concert on January 27. We're not always into the acts on Bend's McKinney Ave. stage, and the lineup will probably remain quite similar at BendWorth, but we love the general idea of the chain: non-smoking, BYOB (most patrons bring wine, but...fuck, ya know?), shoes off, all-ages. The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth crowd will probably eat it up. Big ups to Bend head Ally David for an expansion that seems tailor-made to blast off in Funkytown. -SM
We tend to avoid all things political at DdHQ, but after watching President Bush commit more troops to Iraq last night, we had a few bazillion things we wanted to say...such as, 20,000 people could do a lot to help in places like the Gulf Coast, Sudan, northern Uganda, etc. etc. etc., but they're going to Iraq instead...blah blah blah.
But Darryl Smyers' story about the death of Lt. Col. Eric Kruger, brother of once-Dallasite singer-songwriter Kristy Kruger, is quite an article to come out in light of this Presidential announcement. Completely lacking political overtones, Smyers pays solemn respect to the Kruger family, but more than that, he illustrates the hollowness--the lack of pride and triumph--that Iraq war deaths are carrying for more families every week, both here and in Iraq. Do give the article a glance if you can't make it out to Saturday's benefit concert at Opening Bell Coffee (formerly Standard and Pour's); it's among Smyers' better articles as of late and another reason why we were proud to work with the guy for so long. -SM
Nearly one year ago, we picked up some buzz at our old job about one of our favorite game franchises (Guitar Hero) and the area's arguably biggest band (The Toadies). That blog entry made a Toadies cameo in Guitar Hero II seem inevitable, but when the hit game's sequel launched this fall, no Toadies songs were found in the game's massive tracklist (though Reverend Horton Heat's "Psychobilly Freakout" gave the game plenty of DFW cred, at least).
Turns out the game makers at RedOctane were saving the Toadies goods for a surprise announcement yesterday, as gaming supersite IGN reports that come this March, "Possum Kingdom" will join the series' virtual tracklist in a special Xbox 360-only edition. If you've played the game, you know that most songs are re-recorded by a cover band, but Toadies fans can delight in the fact that PK hits the 360 with its original vocals and instruments intact.
I guess that means it wasn't re-recorded by the Burden Brothers? ZING! When this comes out, we'll be sure to post ridiculous video of our interns attempting the song on the game's cheap, plastic guitar controller. -SM
Not really, but readers of the Denton Record-Chronicle might've thought so after reading Saturday's edition, whose cover carried a "maybe, maybe not" tale about the future of Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios in Denton.
Short story version: Rubber Gloves has aspirations to move, and owner Josh Baish has mentioned Dallas as a potential future home of the Denton-born music venue, but nothing's been announced, finalized or even begun just yet. We were given this information as early as October, and we even saw Baish's DRC post that the DR-C mentioned last week, but we try to avoid incomplete rumors in our coverage. Still, since a newspaper has gone so far as to muse on the idea of the move...
In October, Baish took us upstairs at the Gloves and sat us on the arcade room's couch after getting us drunk, and he began waxing on the state of the club. He had aspirations to move the building thanks to a few frustrations, from restrictions and regulations courtesy of the city of Denton to shrinking crowds and generally low margins. He'd talked to the staff about it before telling us, assured that all involved behind the bar were on board with any future action, and he said he was already staking out potential new locations at the time. So why were we audience to this story if he wanted it off the record?
We thought about that question this morning, as we received a CBGB's-themed shower curtain for Christmas and finally hung the thing up. Maybe it's not a coincidence that the New York venue has something in common with places like Club Clearview and Trees this year, and if a place with as much legendary hullabulloo as CBGB's couldn't make it, how can Baish? As we said in our year-end wrap-up, Denton crowds are shrinking, perhaps as a result of the rapidly changing UNT student body. Today's Denton frat boys aren't yesterday's Cool Beans rooftop audience, slowly migrating to bars like...ugh...Lucky Lou's. Let's be fair, of course--it's nowhere near tragedy for the Denton bar just yet, because if the place was bleeding cash, the R-C would have a much different headline on its Saturday edition. For that, we can only thank God for a slow news day.
In fact, while we're in "incomplete rumors" mode, it's only fair to point out that plans are being chatted about for at least one new venue in the new year, and we're not talking about Trees. Hell, we're not even talking about Ellum: OnStage, though as that venue's opening nears, we may as well take a preliminary look at it. Take a look at that MySpace page if you want; looks straightforward and interesting enough. Big rock venue--up to 3,000 people can squeeze into a given concert, geez--on the edge of Deep Ellum. Updated sound equipment. Some booked shows with no-name bands and a lot of TBAs...par for the course of a new venue.
Surprise: The venue is actually an extension of the Deep Ellum Church at 2803 Taylor St--"to truly enrich the culture of Deep Ellum, we...must also offer a safe place for individuals to feed their spirit," the center's site says. This information is conveniently hidden from the venue's MySpace page, and probably for good reason; Dallas music fans are well aware of a venue at the other end of Deep Ellum with a similar spiritual bent, known to some as The Door and others as The Craphole Where High School Bands Play. That's not a reputation a venue owner probably wants to push on its run out of the gate.
Solid local acts Salim Nourallah and Johnny Lloyd Rollins share an upcoming bill at the house, but sadly, that's an incredibly rare flash of quality for OnStage...that is, until the just-before-SXSW days of March. The site has gone so far as to tout a lineup for its mid-March "Music and Arts Festival," which seems amazing at first, particularly when you consider how many national names on the list have the word "CONFIRMED" attached.
We actually thought this was a joke; the local booking agent who tipped us off to the fest a while back agreed, suggesting that the venue's band list was actually a wishlist when it first went live in December. But a quick tour schedule scan of various "CONFIRMED" national bands on the bill, including Mates of State, Saturday Looks Good To Me and The High Strung, confirm that this fest is for real, and jolly day, tons of local acts are on board as well to take advantage of that national spillover. Just think: a four-day Dallas music fest (March 10-13) that saves music fans the trouble and headache of SXSW, yet retains many of the good bands? Sweet Jesus (pun intended).
As mentioned, other than this fest, the venue's lineups are full of awful Christian rock bands (and before you call us pagans, let it be known that Christian music canbedonewell). In fact, we wonder if the bands on this March festival bill have any clue about the venue's spiritual overtones and Sunday services; our guess is, bands' booking agents heard "huge room" and "cash guarantee" and eschewed any potential gigs with Daughter Entertainment or Charles Attal Presents (the two bigger Dallas-area booking agents who usually snag the best of SXSW week).
Conveniently, the Music and Arts Festival has a Sunday show date, so we're hoping that on March 11, Drowning Pool shows up at OnStage.
Seriously, is this the future of Deep Ellum? As the bar-dependent venues stutter, will this religion-funded house rise in its apparent attempt to attract kids to the church with rock music? But then there are those rumors we mentioned about another music venue...and maybe Rubber Gloves will show up, too...whatever truly pans out, it's obvious that local venue news is heating up, a great change of pace from the pessimism that Clearview's passing brought last week. Slow news day our ass. We'll keep our eyes on music venues in both the D and the d--including the one we only hinted to--as 2007 hums along. Check back for updates aplenty. -SM
Wreck Room: Tame...Tame & Quiet, Eat Avery's Bones It's not often that Fort Worth hosts the best show of the night, but this is one that can't be missed for those sick of driving 45 minutes to a good show. TT&Q is that rare, solid hard rock band around these parts steeped in the Our Band Could Be Your Life ethos, while Eat Avery's Bones is an incomparable explosion of energy and catchiness, in spite of their attempts to sound as awful as possible. This show also includes a few others we haven't heard yet, along with Denton comedian Frank Hejl, as a benefit for the Metrognome Collective's latest woes, so do show up and help the Metrognome lead more "best shows of the night" contests in the near future.
Club Dada: Gorilla Vs. Bear Showcase Though we've gotten word that GvsB maven Chris Cantalini won't actually be at his showcase, thanks to a friend's wedding (how'd you screw that up, man?), this is still worthwhile if only for Teenage Symphony, who we hear is improving with every concert. Is that true? Maybe we'll see for ourselves. At any rate, Dada's consistent calendar of good local/national mixes (and Texas blog buzzies The Dimes and The Early Tapes help that rep tonight) is a big, glaring asterisk that the Dallas Observer should've inserted in their "Let Deep Ellum die" condemnation this week. Fucking shame on you.
The Cavern: The Chemistry Set From what we can tell, The Chemistry Set is the bar-none top local choice for people who normally don't bother with local music or the radio anymore. Jangly pop-rock with significant shades of Sunny Day Real Estate? A band with that fan-fave status could be so much worse around Dallas. Get the stubborn significant other out to this one; said S.O. will probably dig fellow Fort Worthians Calhoun as well, even if you don't.
SATURDAY
Barley House: Sorta If you haven't figured out our feelings about Sorta, don't feel left out. We barely ever make those feelings clear because, honestly, we're still not sure. Some Sorta songs are awesome. Some are ho-hum. Many are smack in the middle. 2006's Strange and Sad but True is certainly a growing album for the band, proof that they can really nail that muddy, difficult transition that a man in his 30s faces lyrically...we're just waiting for the music to fully catch up to that level. At any rate, a free gig at the underage-heavy Barley House is worth noting; the bar is the band's hangout, so expect them to find their zone at this one (and by 'zone,' we don't mean 'underage ass'...we hope).
O'Rileys: Neva Dug Disco presents The Lab Here's your guaranteed best hip-hop show of the week, though we're not sure if this'll be a tough one to endure at times. Verbal Seed and KNES are proven local talents, both of whom make the show worth attending, while Dow Jonez is that sort of guy who'd be great if he wasn't such an overboasting rapper. ("I'm the best"--yeah, Ali said that, too, but he had punches to back it up.) And the rest? We haven't seen any of 'em yet, so we can't vouch. But the fact that this is held far away from the usual spots means the crowd should be bigger and more lively, so that should compensate for the expected lulls in this lineup.
SUNDAY
Fat Daddy's: Trees Try-outs Though this Battle of the Bands hints to the eventual reopening of Trees by the Fat Daddy's staff ("whoever wins plays the new Trees"), that's about as much as we can commend it. We rank band battles right up there with bone marrow transplants--avoid 'em unless a family member desperately needs your help. But any budding journalists who want to know more of the story might be wise to endure the awful, awful show...
Barley House: Brent Best ...we, of course, aren't interested in budding a damn thing, so we'll probably see The Drams' lead singer Brent Best perform old Slobberbone songs during this free, solo concert instead. That's because we just saw Cartright two weeks ago, so we're not driving to Hailey's again so soon...but that doesn't mean you shouldn't! So, yeah, Hailey's, too. -SM
[[ another non-music aside, apologies to my more anal readership ]]
The good news: 4.5 days later, I have my bag back from American Airlines. Nothing's missing. The bad news: Where do I begin?
Last night, I got yet another phone call from AA, saying that the baggage had been missing for five days and was now considered lost for good. Rather than start the process of getting $ in exchange for my missing goods, I reminded this woman that it hadn't actually been five days yet. I heard over the line some soft mumbling: "...one...two...three...four. Oh, hey, you're right! Well, uh, we're still doing everything we can to find your bag, sir."
Actually, AA's Dallas staff was doing the exact opposite. The reason I have my bag is because I drove to DFW Airport, fueled by the hunch that it was sitting in the very baggage claim area it was supposed to (A16, if you're really curious), merely unchecked by AA staffers. And indeed, at 12:45 p.m. today, there it sat in a glass cabinet. Remarkably, this cabinet was unlocked, so I opened 'er up, took the bag and went to the baggage claim desk to find out what the hell was going on; after all, I'd been on the phone every day speaking to AA's customer service staff, none of whom knew it was sitting there.
DFW's response? First, the woman on hand flared up when she found out I'd taken the bag. "You can't do that!" The cabinet was unlocked, and no sign indicated that it was a restricted cabinet, I said. "YOU STILL CAN'T DO THAT!" Huh.
She then browsed through the computer system, using the sticker attached to my bag, to search for its status. According to her record, it had been sitting in the terminal since around midnight on January 2 (I'd arrived at 11:15 p.m. on January 1st, and it showed up on the very next flight, just as I'd assumed). How come this record didn't reach the national customer service staff I'd spoken to every day after that fact was entered? They're different systems, I was told. Double huh.
With no straight answers and no offers of conciliation ("you'll have to go to AA.com to complain"), I asked for my sticker back. "NO! YOU CAN'T HAVE IT!" The man at the counter berated me for wanting the proof of my bag's return.
I took the agents' names, told them how unsatisfied I was and walked out. When I turned around to take a final glance, the women I'd spoken to had taken a ring of keys towards the unlocked glass cabinets. Lord knows how long those had sat unlocked.
Just think--if I hadn't gone to the counter to ask questions, they would've never known what bags were taken. Even at the counter, they didn't have the presence of mind to check my ID and confirm that the bag was really mine. The former's a problem at any baggage claim station, sure (with the exception of the locked cabinets bit), but the latter is a bit unsettling, and the fact of the matter is, an entire system meant to return bags expeditiously fell to crap (the DFW agent also chose not to file the closure of my case, as the customer service agent was ready to file a claim that my bag was a complete goner when I called an hour ago).
Is my case just an anomaly, or are dozens of DFW passengers' bags sitting at the airport, victim to the same bizarre circumstances? There were certainly a fair number of bags sitting right next to mine--though not an extreme number--but considering that AA calls Dallas home, one can only hope the company isn't putting more hometowners through this business. Please spread the word of this story if you relate, or if you hate when companies get away with such embarrassing practices. Yeah, it's a bit of a personal rant, but I hope this draws attention to what I assume is a fairly large problem for Dallasites stuck using metroplex-dominant AA. -SM
The Theater Fire holds court at the Double Wide tonight, joined by Chicago's Dogme 95 and Dallas' Ashburne Glen. Only five bucks to see Dd's pick for best of 2006...not too shabby. Show up to work late Friday so that you can enjoy what's almost certainly the best lineup of the week. -SM
Club Clearview manager Mark Whitford confirmed this afternoon that the historic music venue--and its attached dance club complex, including the Art Bar--is shutting its doors as of tomorrow. After unsuccessful attempts to sell the venues, their names and equipment to potential bidders, the club owners are choosing to give up the lease and return the building to its landlord, citing smaller live music crowds, an all-but-vanished dance crowd and climbing costs.
The innards of Club Clearview; as can be seen, all stage equipment, including speakers, soundboard and monitors, has been removed, and the only remains are trash from the venue's final concert on New Year's Eve and decorations that are yet to be taken down. (Photo by Sam Machkovech)
Though hearsay and gossip had hinted to this one for months, the rumor mill was shooting off sparks for the past two weeks, tips coming in left and right about the potential New Year's closure of Club Clearview, Deep Ellum's oldest live music venue. When another tip hit the inbox today, I decided to drive to Clearview to see if anything was really afoot, as the venue's weekend calendar was still barren. Thanks to a side door left ajar, and a relative disinterest in trespassing laws, I walked in to see the scene photographed above--all speaker equipment gone, as well as every liquor bar cleared out. The only remains were from the venue's final concert, a New Year's Eve bash headlined by Ghoultown.
Staffers were in the other rooms of the building clearing things out, and they directed me to manager Mark Whitford, who confirmed the closure as stated above.
"We were losing money consistently every month," he says, "and it seems like over the last 2-3 months, it was losing more money. The neighborhood got bad for a while, chased away a lot of our clientele, and even though the neighborhood has cleaned up a lot now, the crowd hasn't come back. The perception's out there that it's dangerous, so people aren't coming in. It's gonna take a while for people to get comfortable coming back out here, but in the meantime, in the interim, we don't have enough money to keep it going, to continue."
Interestingly, the reduced attendance for live shows wasn't even the biggest culprit: "The dance crowd we'd had here that was built up, that crowd didn't come down anymore." Citing, again, the district's reputation, Whitford believes that the dance crowd simply wasn't willing to put up with the things the band crowds would. "In Dallas, there's a million places you can go to hear a DJ. Not that many places you can go to hear bands. The Curtain and Clearview crowds still kinda beared through it, coming down here and catching shows, but the dance crowd just vanished on us. I tried '80s music, top 40, different things, to no avail. At some point, you're losing money hand-over-fist; how long are you going to do this until you stop the bleeding?"
The emptied Club Clearview bar(photo by Sam Machkovech)
Because Clearview is part of the Curtain Club/Liquid Lounge umbrella, Whitford says at least a few of the staffers will be absorbed by the remaining clubs, though not many. Bartenders are out, in particular. "Most people here have other jobs; this is what they did to make a little extra money. I'm gonna try to accommodate them the best I can, give them one night a week so they can pick up a little extra dough."
The other clubs will run as-is, and Whitford's optimistic about their short-term futures, citing the reduced spread in booking. But that's as cheery as he got. "How it'll affect us in the long run, I dunno. It still remains to be seen."
He had thoughts about the future of the district, pointing out "exorbitant" prices on condos and lofts being built near Deep Ellum (and its forthcoming DART Light Rail mass transit line) and expecting a more upscale district in the future as a result. We talked about the ordinances in place to reduce dance clubs and tattoo parlors, though he says the music clubs probably won't be subjected to anything of that sort: "They know if they kick out the live music venues... that's what made it a hot spot, that's what gave it the resurgence. But they definitely want an image change."
Whitford wants an image change, too, putting out a call to bands that haven't played his complex in a while to come back, specifically in the smaller Liquid Lounge room.
"In the new year, 2007, I won't be able to do it right away, but I want to bring back a lot of bands that haven't played down here, albeit maybe because they don't like us or their fans don't like it down here...at least in the Liquid Lounge, anyway, I wanna try to court back and get some of those bands. Liquid Lounge is cheap to do a show--I don't need a Pleasant Grove or a Baboon to bring 150 people to Liquid Lounge to make it where I can cover my costs. I do at Curtain Club. But I can get those guys back in there, get those high-quality indie shows. We're putting new lights in there, new furniture in there, and trying to make it a much better vibe. I went to school in Denton, I know a lot of those guys; I want that stuff back in there. That's what I dig, music I'm into."
Whitford was understandably down in spirits and didn't mince words with me, a vocal opponent of Clearview and Curtain Club's booking: "All I can really do, Sam, is take care of the best club I can do. At the end of the day, our mortgage is due and we have bills to pay, so it can't totally always be just about the art." I could've responded by saying that booking both clubs simultaneously was stretching it thin, but I didn't. I told Whitford that I was sorry, because I was and I am.
Club Clearview celebrated its 20th anniversary earlier this year, bringing former Clearview associate Mark Cuban out of the woodwork to chat about the '80s days where warehouse parties were thrown with nary a permit or legal right. But that youthful enthusiasm gets another ache in its back with this news. Perhaps the building will be turned over to a savvy retail developer, someone who'll throw some Mockingbird Station in the middle of the district and send shoppers into some music clubs. Or perhaps that upscale push will actually crowd the music venues out.
But considering how long the Clearview folks had to sell their concept to a new venue host, it's hard to believe it'll come back Dada-style. From what Whitford mumbled--I didn't catch this quote until reviewing the tape--the building's a stinker: "So much overhead, and it's so old, and the wiring's bad and the plumbing's bad." In this day and age, expect the building to be torn down before it's renovated.
Whitford and I talked about the good ol' days--he brought up the legendary George GiMarc, the programming director at KDGE who led the charge in getting local acts on normal radio rotation in the late '80s and '90s, and we talked about the world of Clear Channel and the changes in which bands draw and which don't these days ("it's mostly hard rock and metal now, and I don't know why," he said).
Maybe the problem is that the conversation always turns to that question: "Who can draw?" Personally, I think just about any catchy band can get the right crowd with the right elements in place--promotion, pushes and people who will work harder than they ever should. After all, every band with a draw starts as a band with no fans. But that's the conversation we have every day at Dd, and if we had that answer, well, maybe today wouldn't be such a downer. RIP, Clearview...and good luck with a Liquid Lounge resurgence in its stead. -SM
Chatter's pickingup over the forthcoming Zac Crain For Mayor benefit album, and certainly for good reason. 32 songs, many of them being exclusives from quality acts like Pleasant Grove and Dove Hunter, seem like a guarantee for high local quality, but we haven't heard the disc yet, so we'll reserve judgment until the thing reaches our hands (and share said judgment with you once it does).
Dylan Silvers and Eddie Thomas of TCTTM (photo stolen from their page)
But we can confirm our excitement over one song on the album: "Julianne," the newest contribution from arguably the newest band on the disc. The Crash That Took Me probably shouldn't be called a [DARYL] side project, as its members sprawl across more than a few local acts, including Black Tie Dynasty and even The Earlies, but this act is definitely [D] lead singer Dylan Silvers' baby (and named after one of his [DARYL] songs to boot). The debut songs on the band's MySpace page continue what 2004's incredible Ohio started, tossing the synthesizers out of the window in favor of a fuller guitar-rock sound and the kinds of grungy, multi-layered hooks that made Gish cool.
We don't often throw a set of MySpace songs on repeat for 24 hours, but TCTTM has commanded the Dd offices for that long. We went to their page merely in search of their Crain for Mayor contribution (which, yes, is up there), only to be sucked in by the other two songs, arguably much more epic and making us quite anxious for the full-length that they've recorded. As soon as more TCTTM news surfaces, expect us to blather about it at length. Go listen, and then feel compelled to mark your calendars for their February 3rd gig at the Granada Theater. -SM
If you flew on American Airlines this holiday season, did you lose luggage? Please post a comment if so. Currently at DFW Airport, there's a booming explosion of scattered, unsorted luggage from dozens of cities strewn about the AA terminal's floor--the remnants of a felt pipe bomb, seemingly. One of our bags is (assumedly) sitting in there, yet even though it contains all of our X-mas gifts (Neko Case DVD, grr), we're more upset at the fact that American Airlines has left hundreds of its customers screwed over. It really wouldn't be difficult for anybody to stroll in, grab a few bags and wander off, as AA has left its baggage claim floors understaffed and undermanaged. If you're among those missing underwear, X-mas gifts and liquids over 2 fl. oz., speak up and we'll whip up a rant...otherwise, we're the only whiners here and nobody will care. -SM
Still recovering from our staff holiday vacation to Seattle--and still waiting for American Airlines to deliver half of our luggage, which means most of our interns are missing their socks--but we'll try to get the Dd gears greased and running by tomorrow. -SM
