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)
Currently, the link to "www.bigdlittled.com" is dead, dead, dead. This is because I registered the site's name with RegisterFly.com, which has apparently started falling apart. Worse, I can't just up and leave--because RegisterFly has imploded, I can't even get the company to enter an "unlock" request so that I can move the site name. For the time being, PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD that the site is still up at http://samred.com/bigdlittled ... sorry for the inconvenience. Hopefully I can get this resolved before too long. Ugh. -SM
Grizzly Bear twice...try to see them at least once today, won'tcha? Free at Good Records at 6 p.m., then later at Club Dada with Austin's fine Peter and the Wolf opening. Watch the video we posted exactly one week ago if you need inspiration to attend, or hit We Shot JR for a particularly cool Q&A. If the shows are even 2/3 as good as what I saw in Seattle, you guys are in for an incredible time. -SM
What's the best way to decide the city's popular choice for favorite musical act? Hard to say--everybody pish-poshes all attempts, particularly the Dallas Observer Music Awards, a mish-mash of local artists chosen either by a narrow critics' panel or a popular vote (depending on the year) but derided either way. But even that system seems a little better than the one Quick has put into place this week.
At this link, you'll find a bracket-style tourney board full of musical acts doing "battle" for the city's top spot. Popular vote will pick the best of each duo and carry them to the next round until only one act remains. On some level, this is an interesting idea--Quick's far reach means a lot of readers will load this page up and try out some locals they've never heard of thanks to convenient MySpace links.
Shame it's apples vs. oranges pretty much the whole way around--not to mention a list that relies almost entirely on hip-hop and indie rock (there are other genres in this city, guys). Bosque Brown vs. one of the MCs from the awful T-Town collective? Half of the choices are similar to that, and the only point of comparison that even stands up is who has more fans. These are always popularity contests to some extent, attempts to drive up readership by having asshole bands spam their friends and fans with "VOTE FOR US" banter...so rather than whine any more about how awful this is, we're gonna join 'em instead.
THE bigDlittled.com BEST LOCAL BAND OF THE CENTURY CONTEST
In this strand's comment section, post your pick for best local band. Whatever band name is posted on the 64th comment on this strand will automatically win the DdBLBotC CONTEST and receive a short article celebrating their unanimous, obvious victory for the next 100 years...with some sort of celebratory .jpg attached, as well. Rules: No person can post more than five (5) times a day. And that's it! Get a Blogger or Google account and you'll be able to post. May the best band win! -SM
Since I didn't really care about Ben Kweller's self-titled '06 album (I'd call it his The Believer, except it's not THAT awful), I'm not gonna gush about Ben in review form. Instead, here's some fan fiction to prepare you for his gig tonight at the Gypsy Tea Room.
Ben and Me A story By Sam Machkovech
"I figured you were going to talk about that." Ben Kweller propped his chair against the wall at the Dairy Queen, leaning back and enjoying slurps of a Blizzard between sentences. It was after I'd had a bite of a Hunger Buster that I slipped, blurting out a lyric from "Dear Aunt Arctica," and boy, was I embarrassed. We'd had such a good day up until that point; earlier in the day, I recognized Ben at the CD store in the neighborhood. He was flipping through Tom Petty CDs--I couldn't help but notice--and we got to talking about how "American Girl" should've been a bigger hit than any of his other singles. Naturally, we found a common bond pretty quickly and got to talking about the usual stuff. Music...girls...life. When he asked me if I was free for the rest of the day, I figured he didn't care about my intro to advertising class at 2:30, so off we went to the Dairy Queen down the road ("his favorite," he said roughly, oh, four times). He wanted to walk because it was so nice out, and man, was it! He said the sky was blue like my eyes. I had to pretend I tripped over a stone right after he said that. I tried as hard as I could not to talk about the obvious stuff--his knack for great melodies and his young career already loaded with mature, unabashed pop-rock--but I guess I couldn't help myself. But, you know, I wasn't surprised when he was so kind about my screw-up. He tossed his lengthy, fluffy hair aside and talked about the old days--when Radish was plucked out of little Dallas and primed to be the next big thing; when the band quietly dissolved; when his solo efforts found fans, friends and financial support. He just talked and talked...I didn't want to interrupt, so I just smiled and nodded. It was great. And then we made love. THE END
Every year around this time it seems that there is an announcement that DFW's favorite children, the Toadies, are getting back together to do a reunion show or two. When discussing this, people usually come up with the same two questions.
Well, the answer to question 1, as usual, is no; the band's original bassist is long-gone [insert long, drawn-out story about falling out between her and Todd here]. But it is the answer to question 2 that has my head spinning this morning. According to their MySpace page, Denton's own Brutal Juice have decided to "get the band back together" and remind us why they are easily the most underrated, overlooked band in Dd(fw) history.
This show just went from "if Im not at sxsw" to "OMG I HAVE TO BE THERE, LOL!!!!!!11" on our radar.
The show is Saturday, March 17th, at Energy Square in Dallas. Tickets are going quick, but you can still get them here.
Barley House: Li'l Cap'n Travis Austin's underrated, undergigging honky-pop princes make a rare stop in Dallas tonight at this surprisingly robust Barley gig. Mic Harrison headlines, an alum of Superdrag and the V-Roys, and Dallas' Slider Pines open (who I've yet to see in concert, so I can't really judge either way), but man, the meat's the middle slot. In All Their Splendor is a truly fine cut of porch-n-beer songwriting with a laid-back dose of the better days of the Beach Boys, still plugged into the DdHQ stereo. But "laid back" is the operative term, seeing as LCT has been relatively quiet for years...here's to hoping for new songs tonight. Gig's free.
Double Wide: Sparklepussy Barbie / The Dutch Treats Another contender for the Most Overwrought Band Names Bowl of 2007 was originally on this bill: The Winter Of Our Disco Intent. Joe Butcher was to debut his new concern this evening, a dance-pop blast with members of The Lemurs and Day of the Double Agent on board, and I had been awaiting this one for a while. Joe hasn't been in a band since Pleasant Grove (and UFOFU before that), and while his work in Laptop Deathmatch was just about the best of all contestants, I've always felt he was meant for a damn band. Yeah, the demos on the MySpace are a bit cheeky, but the song "My Big Dick" is [yulp] stuck in my head. Unfortunately, Joe and co. cancelled, according to the dee-dub's booking agent, no explanation why. Sucks. But John Freeman and Afro-Puff Cheerleader should still put on a weird, good time tonight.
SATURDAY
Dan's Silverleaf: Lumberjack Fest Or better put, Spitfire Tumbleweeds 'n pals. Jetscreamer adds to the variety, but for the most part, this is the ultimate hodge-podge of Denton's swampy country scene as of late. I've missed both previous iterations, but I think I'm safe in assuming that Dan's PBR reserve might be dried up after tonight.
Secret HQ: The Great Tyrant Though JR's raved about The Great Tyrant for months, I've yet to catch them live--yeah, something always comes up. Though I know lead singer Daron Beck can put on a helluva show, I also know that JR is into as many shitty bands as he is good ones, so I'm not relying on his kudos just yet. Still, if you're already at Dan's, you may as well cross the street and see this for $3.
Granada: Midlake / tacks, the boy disaster / St. Vincent tacks performs at Good Records for free at 3 p.m. as well.
Wreck Room: Little Black Dress This is Toby Pipes' new band, and I don't know that they've even played a gig yet, so if you're a Deep Blue Something fan, well...there's your hot tip. They're the opening act.
Double Wide: Strange Boys / Faceless Werewolves Loudest show of the night, hands down. Denton's FW return from their current home in Austin for this one. Should be fun.
SUNDAY
Gypsy Tea Room: Aloha I can certainly do without headliners Sparta (RIP, ATDI) or mewithoutYou, but Aloha's a huge personal fave, an organ-drenched pop outfit from Chicago responsible for one of my favorite records of 2006, Some Echoes. Shame they aren't doing an in-store at Good Records...guess I gotta cough up too much $ to see their opening set. Decide for yourself if they're worth the $15 ticket.
Hailey's: Happy Bullets / Bosque Brown Didn't even know about this local showcase until a few minutes ago...huh. I've been told that this may be Bosque's final full-band show for some time, as their keyboardist can't make it out to as many gigs lately, while the Happy Bullets are a full band again with Regina Chellew's help on bass. tacks play again as well--their fans should be overjoyed.
There's a great piece about Midlake out in newspapers this week, but it's not the one in Dallas. I met Jude Rogers a few weeks back at the weekend of the Baptist Generals' house party, a writer from the UK who was concocting a profile about the city of Denton for the UK's Guardian. That article went live early this morning, and it's intriguing as much for the things it gets right as the things it doesn't.
Just, uh, imagine some British soldiers hanging around this photo of Denton Square.
British press romanticizing a small Texas town--I saw that coming. But the piece doesn't take into account the shifting demographic of Denton itself, the gradual frat-conversion that has seen shows drop off in average attendance...and it also places Midlake at a higher local level than I think the band actually sits at, using their national sales figures to somehow turn them into local stars. Sure, they fill Hailey's and they have friends in the scene, but they've always been somewhat the odd birds (yes, even for Denton), which has certainly been part of their overall appeal. (And as a non sequitor, someone should probably clear Rogers up about Tre Orsi's "European tour," considering they've only played two gigs--both in Denton, no less.)
Interesting about those sales figures, though. 1,000 a week, huh? And it's always nice to see international attention on a music scene that truly deserves it, so gear up for Midlake's Granada Theater gig on Saturday by giving this foreign perspective a look. -SM
It's a short, 1-minute song, her set closer from Wednesday night, and the video is mighty dark...but with a voice like this, I think you'll agree that any Jaffe is good Jaffe. Enjoy! -SM
This photo's from a SXSW Yard Dog day party that I attended in probably 2001, one of my very first. Kansas' Split Lip Rayfield was blasting its unique blend of bluegrass and country-rock, and the group's lead singer, Kirk Rundstrom, decided to dive into the thick audience. The man was sweaty as all get-out--understandable, considering how fast he had to strum to keep up with the band's overzealous tempo--and I had to wipe my damn hands off as soon as he got back on stage. But I certainly never forgot the set, nor any of the others I caught (including an ACL Fest gig some years ago). Truly the most invigorating country-minded band I'd ever seen, SLR was the most effective gateway into the shades of country music I'd never bothered with before, much more so than Uncle Tupelo.
Shortly after I started this site, SLR tore through Texas for a "farewell" tour, as Rundstrom found out he'd gotten cancer and shored up enough energy for a big tour through the band's fave cities. They skipped Dallas but played Austin's Continental Club for a 2-night stand...neither of which I attended, as I was out of the country as part of my post-firing recuperation. Yesterday, Kirk passed away from his esophageal cancer, and I figured it was only fair that I push local stuff out of the way to honor one of my all-time fave live performers. Sorry I missed ya, man. -SM
While in Seattle, I happened upon the Bodies exhibit, a near-copy of Body Worlds currently at the Science Place here in Dallas. For the uninitiated, the show contains a series of corpses preserved, dissected and displayed with all kinds of biological and scientific info nearby, along with lots of individual body parts and special displays (bonus points go to the cool circulatory system displays). $26 for entry is steep, yeah, but I still enjoyed it.
In the respiratory room, a huge glass box was full of cigarette cartons. Next to it was a blackened lung, ravaged by years of smoking, and a sign that read: "One carton shortens your life by 2 hours and 20 minutes. We want you to live longer. Throw your cigarettes in here." The box was plenty full, a sign that a real blackened lung has more impact than the average health class scare photo.
It was the most I dealt with smoking while on the trip, since Washington state regulates smoking in all public buildings. And I think it cleared my vision, going to bars and nightclubs and not worrying that I have to leave a nice jacket or shirt in the car or hack my lungs up. Feel free to compare me to Laura Miller here, but my Dallas dream is to see the same thing happen in bars and clubs here--force smokers to go outside for their fix. As I've aged, I always thought I'd get tired of going to concerts, but that's really not the case...the only reason I skip concerts is so I can breathe the next day (and save myself a quicker trip to the washer/dryer for smoke-ridden clothes).
I'm sick of other people's unwillingness to walk 20 feet to smoke. I can't imagine anybody, smoker or non, wants to reek of the stuff thanks to a night out, either. Hell, Secret HQ forces people to smoke outdoors--even DIY gets it! Some might say the current wave of "tough times" hyperbole press makes this a dumb thing to suggest, but I'd say otherwise: encourage the uninitiated to come out, start a debate amongst the current scene and put public attention on clubs in a way other than "boo, hoo, doom and gloom." Thoughts? Action?
Stupid delayed flight has delayed this post, I'm sorry. Go to the Cavern. First-ever full-band performance by the Naptime Shake. Rare performance from Panda/Oceanographer lead singer Jeremy Yocum's solo project. The incredible rising star Sarah Jaffe opening. Starts at 10 p.m. Call in late to work tomorrow. See you there. -SM
Enough about SXSW...how about a festival in, uh, Washington state? Pitchforkians probably noticed the announcement of Sasquatch! yesterday, a late May two-day music fest full of jumbos like The Beastie Boys, Bjork, Arcade Fire, Neko Case and The Hold Steady, but they failed to note the Dallas connection. St. Vincent, congrats on landing a fest spot! Too bad you couldn't bring the whole Spree along with you, but seriously...that whole fragile army might just drag you down, anyway. Go Lee Roth on those fools! And I don't mean the brown M&Ms thing. -SM
One week from today, Brooklyn's Grizzly Bear will descend upon Club Dada, and damn if that show didn't sell out already [CORRECTION: I could've sworn booking agency Callithump announced a sell-out, but lucky day, the show's still up for grabs]. Perhaps that's because of the group's Pitchfork hype, though we like to think it has a lot to do with the support Good Records has put behind the band's stellar 2006 album Yellow House. If you've ever spoken with master-clerk CJ, you've heard about the quartet, no question.
I dig the record, certainly, but I went into Seattle's Neumo's on Friday night with relatively low expectations. Would the group really pull off its lush arrangements and harmonies live?
[insert cheesy hyperbole here] holy shit. Four-part harmonies, pounding drums and a rare display of pedal/distortion brilliance had me grinning like a fool for their entire set. I can confidently say that the band is better live than on record, and anyone who's heard Yellow House knows how wrong that seems. The videos I shot don't exactly come off as well as they did in person, but the one I'm including below is still a decent example of what Dallasites can expect next Tuesday. Go purchase some tickets, post-haste.
FYI, show up early to their show for Austin's Peter & The Wolf...but find something to do when Paper Cuts go on. Unless you're high. And even then, don't get your hopes up. -SM
Gotta love this fest day-party poster, right? The Theater Fire is a perfect fit for this collection of freak-country-folkers (an adjective that isn't totally fitting, really, but there's a three-hyphen limit). Castanets have the shameful privilege of being the only band to ever spend the night at DdHQ (and play Guitar Hero there, no less), while Peter & The Wolf and Weird Weeds should draw plenty of curious on-lookers.
But the lineup doesn't intrigue us as much as the Asthmatic Kitty tag...does this mean TTF has an official connection with one of our favorite national labels? "I think Asthmatic Kitty's interested in the quirky, experimental Texas folk scene going on right now," TTF's Curtis Glenn Heath says via e-mail. "But, beyond throwing some cool SXSW showcases, their willingness to throw money at any of us to put out an album is yet to be determined. (We're gonna play our asses off just in case.)" Best o' luck. -SM
As Sam said, the SXSW schedule has been released. I can't wait to see Special Guest at La Zona Rosa. I am also really looking forward to Special Guests at Spiro's. Though SXSW has done it right in bringing Boris to their free Auditorium Shores showcase on Saturday, albeit at 5 in the afternoon.
Tonight should be interesting, to say the least, at the Gypsy. The Roots and Lupe Fiasco will be organically hip-hopping it up in the ballroom while American Idol rock and roller with a heart of gold (those aren't even his kids!) Chris Daughtry brings his band, um... DAUGHTRY, to the tea room side. Though I hardly ever condone actually reading the Observer anymore, Merritt Martin's preview of the sold out DAUGHTRY show is a must read. Is the show in the ballroom worth tossing down 30 bucks and missing Jack Bauer? I doubt it. But if you do go, get there early enough to see Fiasco, whose Food and Liquor was one of the best hip-hop records of 2006.
Finally, to keep this blog on a local-ish level, Pitchfork has missed the boat with their review of the new Explosions in the Sky record, All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone. Produced by John Congleton of the pAper chAse (see! local!), Everyone is as good as Explosions in the Sky has ever sounded. This record is not only better than the 6.0 rating p4k handed out, it is easily an early pick for album of the year. Explosions in the Sky play the Granada in a couple of weeks, so I will save my Bill Simmons-esque rant for later days...
Looks like the near-final schedule is up...did it include any pleasant surprises?
Hellz yeah!
Dallas hip-hop does it up big this year at a venue on the main 6th Street strip, Visions (assumedly one of the fake venues that opens solely during the fest), with a massive Saturday night showcase courtesy of Ozone magazine. Thesis! PPT! Verbal Seed!...and then it kinda goes completely downhill with our least-faves, Play 'N Skillz and DSR. But Saturday doesn't have much in the way of good national hip-hop, which means the packed Dallas showcase may nab quite a crowd merely by default, and we'll take it. (Money Waters will play the same venue the night before with the likes of Bavu Blakes and other Texans.)
A few other new names popped up...for starters, who the hell is Keite Young? According to his MySpace page, he's a pretty inventive and soulful singer/songwriter outta Fort Worth. Hopefully the guy is armed with a good band for his fest showcase...I'm intrigued by the guy, though MySpace has misled me a few times, so let's not call the guy a fave just yet. Joining legend Bobby Patterson is fellow Dallas old-timer Ray Sharpe, who I finally took the time to look up...sorry, Mr. Wilonsky, but 70-year-old Fort Worth blues hands have never been my forte. Kristy Kruger's on hand as well, but then again, so is Faktion...so those neutralize each other.
I've yet to take a close look at the rest of the SXSW schedule, but nothing should stop you from doing so in the meantime. -SM
Double Wide -The Drams / Slider Pines You can do a lot worse than drinking cheap beer and watching the Drams in a room as cozy as the Double Wide. I would assume it will be packed, so get there early.
SHQ - White Drugs / Record Hop / How Hard Record Hop are taking out the trash. Or at least playing their last show with Josh Prisk behind the kit. Fellow Dentonians White Drugs and How Hard will be there to, if for nothing else, make sure the volume is cranked and the beer is dranked. (sorry)
Palladium Ballroom - Lamb of God / Machine Head / Trivium / Gojira Nothing says "Venue formerly known as Gilley's" like this show. Bud and Sissy would be ashamed.
The Chatroom (Fort Worth) - The Theater Fire / Rosaline / TelegraphCanyon This will be The Theater Fire's last local show for a good while (their words not mine), and they promise to roll out some new material along with the old stuff you have grown to love. As a denizen of Fort Worth, I feel a bit ashamed that I have never heard of this "Chatroom", and their myspace does not seem to want to provide any hints, so if anyone can clue us in it would be appreciated.
Hailey's - Doug Burr / Amanda Leggett / Sarah Jaffe Doug is always worth the price of cover, but Amanda Leggett is on of the top 5 or so songwriters in Texas. Sarah Jaffe rounds out this show, which might be as strong as any singer/songwriter showcase you see all year.
Sons of Hermann Hall - Salim Nourallah and The Noise / Handclaps and Harmonies / The Chemistry Set / Jayson Bales and the Revival
Sunday
Double Wide - Baby Gramps / Warren Jackson Hearne / Packway Handle Band See Sam's enthusiastic review below.
Good Records - Of Montreal 3pm Its free, there is always beer at Good and Of Montreal's new album is one of the best they have recorded. Check them out here and decide if you want to go see them at the Gypsy later in the evening. Granada - Danny and the Nightmares / Happy Bullets / Fishboy / Here in Arms Everyone should see Daniel Johnston once before they die.
Ladies and gents, please welcome Jasun Lee to the Dd fold. If you recognize his name, that's either because you've seen him at a zillion concerts around town or you read his snazzy ACL Fest Rumors blog last year. Jasun and I share the distinction of having thought it was cool to go to Mark Reznicek's house in the early aughts, so he seemed like a natural choice to break up the "royal we" gimmick. He may only post once in the next two years, or he may grow addicted and become a nuisance, bringing the site's reputation crashing to the floor like a typical Lower Greenville meatmarket bar fight. But since I'm waiting for a plane in Albuquerque right now, I'm hoping he pulls through and posts a good concert preview before the end of today.
Not Jasun Lee.
And in case Jasun can't, I wanted to at least remind you that Sunday night (2/18) brings Baby Gramps to the Double Wide. I caught BG on David Letterman a few months ago, performing to promote the Rogue's Gallery compilation of sea shanties released in conjunction with that pirate movie last summer. In short, he makes Tom Waits sound like a squirrelly teenager. Opening are Warren Jackson Hearne and the Merry Murdre of Gloomadeers, who will probably compete in the Overwrought Band Names Bowl of 2007 with Hardin Sweaty and the Ready To Go. -SM
As we suspected, more area acts are being added to SXSW's roster. So far, all we've heard is official word from Idol Records, whose PPT and Black Tie Dynasty will now help rep the 'plex in mid-March. Good on PPT, though we're afraid they'll be stuck in a far-off venue that their target crossover audience will never hike toward (the fate that befell poor Pikahsso last year when he debuted the PPT lineup in March '06). If more acts hop on, we'll post the news as soon as, uh, the bands tell us.
And as for the Observer's overwrought pre-fest take this week, it reads like a diatribe from someone who hasn't attended in recent years. Certainly not someone who attended last year and saw the reason why Baboon was "excluded," the one act singled out in the "why weren't they picked?" question. Better question is, did they even apply? Well, turns out they did, but we can't imagine they're sad about the loss. After all, in March '06, Baboon played to a crowd of roughly seven (7) people at shithole Spiro's...three words: outdoor bubble machine.
But lack of applications seem to be at least some of the culprit, according to word from a few acts on our old wishlist, and we can't blame them for opting out of the bullshit that comes with an under-attended "official" showcase at an ill-fitting dance club (see: last year's sets by Happy Bullets, Baboon and Bosque Brown). Thankfully, more than a few of our hometown faves will make their way towards Austin anyway to participate in free, daytime concerts like Strategies of Beauty 1.5 , The Hot Freaks! and NX35 (along with the expected Summer Break Records party and others). Before, we wished that acts like Current Leaves submitted official applications for the fest, as some sort of concrete proof and minor chance at a national highlight...but after seeing Fair to Midland, Bowling For Soup and the Burden Brothers land showcase slots, our mind has been permanently changed.
Still, in spite of the Observer's pessimism and irrelevant whining about the interactive fest--whose dates don't even overlap with the music portion!--SXSW is still the ultimate Texas music-lover's Spring Break. The people who want to go will find a couch to crash on, a relatively decent parking space and a non-stop explosion of their favorite genres at day parties...ain't that hard, really. All of our out-of-town favorites will be there--the P2 Party, the Carolyn Mark Hootenanny, the Yard Dog showcases, another fucking Waco Brothers set--along with the usual pleasant surprises. Yeah, more mainstream crap is crowding out the schedule, but we think we'll find a decent band or two over the four-day fest. Call it a hunch.
Best of all, Dallasites who stay home will still get to enjoy ample big-name spillover during the week (try Ellum:OnStage's fest, for starters). So quit whining. And here's to hoping you'll someday have the guts to name more than one band that you are willing to put your rep on the line for and say "they should've been invited to SXSW."
When the fest draws near, we'll publish a Dd SXSW guide, perhaps even in print-friendly format to assist your fest attendance. -SM
It's cold, grey and miserable in Dallas right now--perfect, we say, for one of the crappier days of the year. Valentine's is cruel to both the solo artist and the duo, a manipulative effort to get people riled up, defensive and insecure about their relationship status with the hopeful effect of selling sappy crap (particularly Hugh Grant movies) at jacked-up prices.
But we at the Dd believe that the heartstrings can be tugged today without excess sap or cost, so we're naming Dallas' Sarah Jaffe captain of the Dd Lonely Hearts Club '07. The local 21-year-old redhead has our favorite vocal shades of Lucinda and Fiona--her singing is equal parts character and restraint, variety and consistency, and her songwriting is quickly matching her mouth's pace, as evidenced by "Watch Me Fall Apart," a lovelorn pop gem freshly loosed upon her MySpace page in demo form. Click her name above and choose that song (currently the bottom of four on rotation) to redeem your V-Day, and bookmark next Wednesday, February 21, as she joins The Naptime Shake's first-ever full-band set and Oceanographer's Jeremy Yocum for one helluva Wednesday concert at The Cavern. We'll have more on that gig next week, but seriously, mark the calendar and schedule a late arrival at work that Thursday while you still can.
Oh, and hey Beth--we love you. (What, you think we're breaking the "royal we" gimmick for some chick?) -SM
On occasion, we're asked by friends and acquaintances for a plug request, but never so much as this weekend, when a good eight different folks practically shanked us while pleading for pub. The show? Tonight's Black Angels gig, a benefit for the Family Gateway Center that features fellow Austin act White Ghost Shivers and fair Dallas' Tah-Dahs and Shanghai 5.
Lest you forget, we don't exactly inspire the masses to follow our concert tips (though we'd love to think the large crowd at Friday's Granada gig was Dd's fault and only Dd's fault), so it secretly tickles us when friends nudge and poke for a shot at a plug. Really, we hadn't planned on making a hubbub over this one; the Black Angels have a core fanbase that'll probably show up no matter what we say, and half of the lineup--Shanghai and WGS--inspires little more than a "eh, I guess they're nice enough." WGS, in particular, seems to us all gimmick and no songs, though to be fair, we get pissed when people say that about the Spree.
But the Tah-Dahs' set could be particularly cool. Lead singer Roy Ivy insists that the band's sophomore album, languishing in wait for some time, should finally see release this year, and while we'll believe it when we see it, he'll at least be motivated enough to barrel through a lot of new songs tonight. In addition, we've been spinning a CD-R full of drummer Jaymz Porter's four-track demos titled Drawn By Jaymz, and in spite of the disc's over-affected vocals, there's some unique pop songwriting worth paying attention to. Hopefully he'll have a few copies on hand.
At any rate, the real reason for this post wasn't to promote the show but to understand what this promotional freak-out is about. The show is in the Observer's picks section and the acts are solid, but since this is Dallas, we assume the organizers are spazzing over an inevitable public no-show, anyway. Dallas has enough trouble with weekend concerts--how's it gonna manage on Tuesday? And let's not forget that the folks at Callithump never spaz about their Tuesday night showcases, and this week's set is solid as well, thanks to Denton's Bridges and Blinking Lights. So everybody just calm down. A crowd'll probably show.
But, uh, we can't make it out. Got shit to do tomorrow. Sorry! -SM
Notice doesn't come much later than this, but those interested in the changing face of Deep Ellum might want to make their voices heard at this DART-sanctioned meetingtonight (Monday, February 12). DART officials and local artists will be on hand to discuss artistic developments with the new Deep Ellum "gateway" to be unveiled along with the new light rail line into the district in 2009. Kettle Art Gallery, 6 p.m., tonight. -SM
The Theater Fire perform an unreleased song at the Granada this past Friday. Another clip from that set can be found here. These are courtesy of Justin Lloyd...thanks for these, Justin! -SM
YOU GO LIVE IN UTAH, a Dallas Mavs-loving blog in its infancy, has quickly become our new fave read in town. This post, in particular, stole our hearts today. Keep it up, Amanda. See y'all at the Granada tonight. -SM
Granada Theater: Baptist Generals / The Theater Fire / Mara Lee Miller (of Bosque Brown) / Doug Burr Dd pick of the week. See our interview with Jessica Peters below.
Secret HQ: Sarah Reddington / Teenage Symphony Denton's DIY-that-could has quickly recovered from its flooding with a good line of cheap, early shows featuring the region's best up-and-comers. Grab a Hot Pocket and get here by 8:40 (start time says 8, but, well...Denton).
Adair's: Speedtrucker Thought these guys broke up? We don't miss 'em, but they're among Dallas' most underappreciated beer-bar shit-kickin' country bands of the past decade.
SATURDAY
Cavern: Druggist / Tame...Tame & Quiet / Sean Kirkpatrick Haven't seen Druggist, but the others are proven powers around town.
Hailey's: Pink Nasty / The Black Pink's admittedly a pal of the Dd, a Kansan who says she moved to Austin for the tacos. Last year's Mold The Gold, in spite of its to-the-point, Pavement-leaning pop-rock (sounds like an oxymoron, we know, but it works) and its quality cameos from Will Oldham (Bonnie "Prince" Billy), didn't take off in terms of press or popularity as it should've, but that hasn't stopped Pink from writing even more solid, honest and occasionally hilarious pop gems. Should be a cool show; uninitiated Dentonites, give this a go once The Theater Fire finishes its set at Dan's Silverleaf.
Palladium (formerly Gilley's): Lemonheads / VietNam Dando shmando; the meat of this show for Texans should be the Austin-cum-Brooklyn post-rock of VietNam, whose latest full-length has been lighting up indie MP3 download sites for the past month. We think they're overrated, which means they'll fetch an unreasonable crowd at SXSW, so beat the hype at this Palladium show if you're so inclined.
SUNDAY
Barley House: The Hourly Radio Free concert after the band debuts its latest music video. We've always been mixed on these guys, though tilted towards a thumbs-up, and you just can't beat free.
Hard Rock Cafe: Strange Fruit Project / Red Monroe / PPT See our post from a few days ago about the HRC's woes and this, probably the venue's best concert in its too-many years of existence. -SM
Jessica Peters isn't your typical documentary filmmaker--technically, she isn't one at all. The closest the 27-year-old Hurst native gets is her years of theater study in college; her current day job, "data entry in the oil and gas industry," and her full-time job of raising a five-year-old have given her zilch in the way of camera and interview experience.
Yet here she sits, potentially less than a year away from completing a compelling tribute to singer-songwriter--and semi-Dallasite--Elliott Smith. The brains and organization behind Future Butterflies, Peters is currently amassing video clips taken by fans across the globe to assemble later this year as a document of Smith's artistic impact on his fans and peers before his life was tragically cut short.
So, uh, why is a data entry clerk at the helm?
"No documentary filmmakers had announced that they were going to do this," Peters laughs. But her real reasons are serious enough: "I felt that it was really necessary that someone who was a fan of Elliott Smith's stand up for him. I read a lot of press after his death, and it all showed him from the same angle--that he was negative, troubled, depressed. I don't think that's how his fans view him. A lot of us found solace in his music and found him to be very positive and inspiring. I felt that it was his fans' responsibility to counter-act the press that had been out since his death."
With that, she took to the Internet, launching the movie's MySpace page and rallying support and clip submissions from fellow fans at Smith fan forum sweetaddy.com. The fans have responded boldly so far, sending her interviews with the likes of Devendra Banhart, Jim Fairchild (Grandaddy) and Dallas' own Salim Nourallah, along with concert footage and even potentially the stories Smith's grandfather shared at Bill's Records (courtesy of our old pal Jeff Liles).
The Dallas-area connections don't end there. Peters' goal is to tell Smith's story through the people he impacted in the cities he lived; to that end, she put out a call for musicians from Smith's various home cities--Portland, NYC, Dallas and LA--to record Elliott Smith covers that would fit each city's footage.
This is how we found out about the documentary, actually, when the fine gentlemen in The Theater Fire slipped us a CD-R last month with only two words on it: "Say Yes." Whoa. It was the hardest secret we've ever kept...until today (MP3 link below).
"I reached out to them specifically because I'm also a fan of theirs," Peters says. "I happened to be talking to Jesse [Brakefield, multi-instrumentalist] after one of their shows. The conversation came around to the documentary. He mentioned that several members of The Theater Fire were Elliott Smith fans, and I said that I'd love to have them cover an Elliott song...The Theater Fire captures Texas perfectly, so I thought they would be very good for that."
Peters hopes to begin sorting and editing the footage to have a documentary ready for release before the end of this year. Any finished product will be given to Smith's family for free--its release will require their approval, and though the family was not interviewed for Future Butterflies ("his family has been asked by their attorneys to not grant any interviews"), Peters is hopeful that the family will approve the film and release it as a fundraiser for Elliott Smith's memorial funds. "The documentary is kind of like a community donation to his memorial fund," she says. "None of us want to see any money from it."
That schedule hope has reached a snag, though, as Peters will no longer be able to fly to New York City to claim on free editing help--she'll be in her third trimester with a new child at that time--so she has put out an open call to all Dallas film editors for assistance. Peters can be reached through the documentary's MySpace page.
Or she might even make it out to The Theater Fire's big gig in Dallas this Friday night (the 9th), and after you listen to the enclosed MP3, you should be compelled as well. Joining the Fire at The Granada Theater are The Baptist Generals, fresh off the fourth-best concert we've seen in our stinkin' lives when the quartet went amp-less and mike-less at a Denton house party and tore through incredible new songs. Doug Burr and Bosque Brown's Mara Lee Miller open with solo sets. Hell, grab a cup of coffee if you really need to...just don't miss this concert. -SM
Let the booing and hissing commence, a first in years. Our Austin tipster was on the right track, as a huge artist list for the fest has gone up at the SXSW site as of this morning. We hit ctrl+F to save you some trouble...here're the locals listed so far. This isn't the final list, we assume, as every year, local acts are called during the last week of selection to fill in the cracks. Still, the door of opportunity is closing for everyone EXCEPT:
[FW] Best Fwends Bosque Brown The Rocket Summer The Theater Fire
[D] Doyle Bramhall The Burden Brothers Fair to Midland The Hourly Radio Money Waters The Mullens Nayrok Bobby Patterson Play 'N Skillz Radiant Carmen Rodgers & Geno Young Ray Sharpe The Strange Boys St. Vincent
[d] Bowling For Soup The Drams Robert Gomez Hogpig The Marked Men Midlake
Tons of Dallas acts are listed so far, but for the first time in recent memory, that's a badddd thing. Pleasant Grove, Centro-matic and the Polyphonic Spree aren't listed yet (if at all), while the stuff that's been booked is way too much of what this fest was never meant for: anthemic, mindless rock. Overblown acts like the Burden Brothers, Fair to Midland and Bowling For Soup have no business stealing time and venues away from smaller, more deserving local bands.
In the hip-hop/soul category, Dallas only gets one solid entry, Money Waters, whose live show is the epitome of hit-or-miss (Bavu Blakes is a half-Austinite, half-Garlandite, so we stubbornly keep him on the fence for this one). The rest is a boring pool of shit, eschewing our absolute best singer, Thesis, for stale American idles like Nayrok and Carmen Rodgers. And the fact that this fest would approve Play 'N Skillz is proof that somebody in Austin done gone lost their damn mind.
A few interesting surprises: soul legend Bobby Patterson, for starters, who must've gotten his feet wet at that Sons of Hermann Hall benefit a few months back. The effin' Mullens are also apparently back together; the Observer hasn't bothered calling them boring since 2001. And you can guess that we've got a few favorites in there, though all of our current thumbs-up candidates are repeat visitors, except for St. Vincent.
In spite of that subset, the overall DdFW selection is not only pitiful but dangerously mainstream-leaning, a puzzling move that'll leave (for example) North Texas' thriving experimental scene in the dark yet again. Sad, because SXSW is the one time of year that our weirdest hands could get a perfect, open-minded audience at a suitable Austin showcase. Really, most local genres have been screwed. Our list of SXSW hopefuls from November didn't hold up, as only three of our picks got in, and those were repeats from last year. Read our list of hopefuls and your heart will probably break as much as our collective one did this morning. Here's to hoping things change drastically in the next seven days. -SM
Our first-ever concert review took place at the Dallas Hard Rock Cafe on McKinney Ave. We never set foot in the place again--the Kurt Cobain memorabilia near the bathroom creeped us out too much--but it was certainly a surreal experience watching bands set up as nervous dining families looked into the main hall and wondered what was about to happen. "Rock music? At the Hard Rock Cafe? Honey, hide the kids."
Even though we could care less about its future--surprised the overrated theme restaurant lasted so long, really--we figure this week's as good as any to post the official news of the Dallas location's closure. You'll love this one: Turns out the news was leaked by Virgil LaFerney, the founding officer of the HRC Pin Collectors' Club...you know how each HRC has city-themed pins? Apparently, a club dedicated to said pins will need a new meeting spot after March 4, the date noted in LaFerney's bulletin e-mail sent to the Pin Club's members early this week:
Some very sad information to pass along. It's been announced that the Dallas Hard Rock Cafe will be permanently closed at the end of business on March 4. I can go into all of the reasons but the "bottom line" is just that. The cafe has been loosing money and it's been decided to close the doors. There is talk of the cafe reopening possibly in a hotel/cafe/live venue in a few years but after March 4, the grand cafe where the current Hard Rock is located, will be no more. This Saturday, February 10, those few die-hard pin collectors who have been meeting regularly will be meeting again for what will end up being our last time in the upstairs Cheese Club.
If you have any interest in paying the hole its last respects before it's (assumedly) turned into a CVS Pharmacy, and you're not a pin collector, Sunday night's your best bet--and perhaps the best concert the place has seen in years--as Red Monroe, PPT and Strange Fruit Project perform at a Grammy-themed shindig. Do bands perform during Grammy commercial breaks? Or do they lip-sync to Beyonce's performance? Beats us, but we hope it'll be a plain, normal, non-deep-fried concert, as all three acts are great and SFP in particular doesn't perform in Dallas that often. We'll try to attend, but in case we're late, save us an order of Boneless Bodacious Tenders! -SM
SXSW acceptance letters have definitely been sent out, as Hogpig has proudly declared its acceptance into the festival. Good job, dudes. Unfortunately, we don't have any other acts to confirm/deny at this time, since nobody's been wise enough to send us press releases. Come on, bands. Free PR here...send us any info. We'll post a more comprehensive Dd-SXSW list as soon as possible...and with rumors floating that the Austin Chronicle's printing a huge reveal tomorrow, that update could come mighty quickly.
In semi-related news, Chris Cantalini isn't keeping it a secret any longer--with the help of some other music bloggers, the Dallasite behind Gorilla Vs. Bear is launching The Hot Freaks, a massive, free 2-day event that'll deliver some big names. Joining the national likes of Shearwater, The Ponys, Pelican and RJD2 are a few hometowners, too, from St. Vincent to The Party to "Special guests from Dallas, TX"...We thought you were done keeping secrets, Chris?
Since he's keeping his trap shut (contracts or some such), we're just gonna have to assume that only one act from Dallas could get away with headlining a massive day-party while being billed anonymously. You know, a band with a huge, major-label album release coming in March and leaked, unannounced gigs around Texas during SXSW. So we don't mean Pantera. -SM
Our educated guesses don't always pan out (way to go, fellow UT alum), but in the case of the Granada Theater, we were on target. Granada owner Mike Schoder confirmed on Saturday that his house will reap what Charles Attal Presents sowed for the months of April and May, which means he'll host the following acts so far (and perhaps more to come): TV On The Radio, Ted Leo + Pharmacists, Yo La Tengo, Augustana, Hot Chip, Blonde Redhead and Tapes 'N Tapes.
The Gypsy Tea Room Web site confirms these concert relocations, but what's more disheartening is the venue's showcase scheduled for March 31, the date most suspect will be the Gypsy's final stand. You'll almost certainly vurp: Plain White T's. What a way to go.
Rumors are flying around about the "real" reasons for the demise of the GTR, a subject that deserves a deeper look and more interviews than time permits for us today. (We, uh, picked up a freelance gig for the next few weeks and are actually using another company's equipment to post this. Hope they don't double-check our resume and learn the awful truth!) For now, though, we'd like to address one unconfirmed rumor that was posted on our comments thread hours after receiving an anonymous tip with the same info: GTR had to fold thanks to a 250% jump in rent.
Whether that's the true knife in the coffin--and whether it's factual--is yet to be proven, but it does run concurrent to the hypothesized plan in which Deep Ellum landlords clear-cut the buildings, sell off the land to a developer and watch as old zoning regulations fall with the bricks. What better way to do that than to artificially inflate the buildings' value and run the music clubs the hell out?
And it's with that in mind that we direct you to what might've seemed like a typo earlier: "Granada owner Mike Schoder." The recognizable manager and founder finally put the cash down to take full control of the Theater last week, he tells us, and that means no landlords can screw him with inflated lease values any time soon. It should be a notable few months for the venue, from Saturday's packed show to twoweekends of incredible quality in a row to a pleasant surprise for April, so now's as good a time to own as any. -SM
We witnessed some seriously solid shows at the Granada and the Double Wide on Saturday night; enclosed below are links to a few video clips from those fine sets. Smile Smile debuted its first-ever full-band set, and the result, though certainly restrained, was fitting--did you expect a psychobilly freakout from the piano-pop songwriting duo? The Crash That Took Me played its first-ever full band set as well, pumping seven freaking instruments through the Granada PA, and we couldn't help but notice the band's fondness for grab-your-throat-catchy lead guitar lines slathered in layers of noise...Slowpoke, anyone?
Before we forget, we need to take back anything nice we've said about Faux Fox after they bored us to flippin' tears. Attempting to cover Black Tie Dynasty and The Faint is one step too derivative for us, and you could at least pretend to be excited while going through the dance-rock motions.
The Angelus' Emil Rapstine, sporting a relatively new clean-cut look at the Double Wide
On the other side of town, we were quite impressed by "new" act The Frenz; with the help of old friends, lead singer Mwanza Dover pulled off a bluesy noise-rock explosion that fit him better than anything we've heard him do in recent memory. Here's to hoping The Frenz stick together longer than his current running average of seven months per band. And as we predicted, The Angelus proved the only proper ending to a long concert evening, taking the best melodic bits of Brit-pop and disguising them with a fondness for the epic rock-poetry of Lift to Experience and Nick Cave. (Unfortunately, their videos didn't turn out well...you'll just have to see them in concert yourself.) -SM
No "three days" post this weekend, as Friday is bone dry and Sunday is Super.
Our recs are along the lines of JR's, though we're not sure why they cut the Granada Theater's show from their list, featuring an incredibly solid local lineup of The Crash That Took Me, Faux Fox, Smile Smile and...oh. JR hates BTD, and we're indifferent to 'em, but the rest of that lineup is worth it. TCTTM, in particular, is in our can't-miss list as of late; just listen to their sample songs and you'll soon agree. Spacious, melodic rock that is both epic and intimate...the stuff is too rare in Dallas, so go enjoy it.
Tough Saturday night, really; Tre Orsi, as we've said over and over, is perhaps the most tempered and abusive three-piece rock act in town right now--much different than how JR describes 'em, which means he probably hasn't seen Tre Orsi in concert yet. They open for Dove Hunter and the ofte
