Pat Green's gorgeous Texas dance hall book
(From Dance Halls & Dreamers)
• Review: Pat Green's book sings praises of Texas dance halls
• Blog: Sons of Hermann on danced-out Texas dance hall list
• More info: dancehallsanddreamers.com
 |
|
 |
(From Dance Halls & Dreamers)
• Review: Pat Green's book sings praises of Texas dance halls
• Blog: Sons of Hermann on danced-out Texas dance hall list
• More info: dancehallsanddreamers.com
Gruene Hall, north of New Braunfels (Erich Schlegel / DMN)
• Story
I love a random road trip; point your car in any direction and you can experience miles and miles of the state. And as a native Texan, I got a little melancholy at this bit of news. The only actual dance hall I remember visiting is the one in Luckenbach. Talk about a wonderfully rusty, ungilded experience. I'm also fond of the live music at Hondo's in Fredericksburg, too, although I'm not sure if that's considered a dance-hall-per-se (but man, those cheese fries).
Two questions: 1. What Texas dance halls have you been to? 2. Do you know anything about the Cotton Club, listed as on the Fair Grounds in Dallas? It's included on the list, but quick Google and internal DMN electronic library searches turn up only incidental mentions it. (Yes, as a newspaper we have a sophisticated reference staff who could dig up the information for me if I needed it, but I'd like to see what you know about it, first).
Junior high kids visited the Old Red Museum downtown recently to learn local angles of their Black History Month education, which included area blues legends and the very African American history of Deep Ellum. They learned about Jim Crow in Dallas, which made Deep Ellum necessary to begin with, and participated in excercises like writing their own blues songs.
• Video
I admit I cracked up watching the white private school students struggle with their blues ditties like it was the music of ancient Greece. But hey, I'd rather see them struggle while learning than see the rich blues history up the street suffer a Greek fate.
The list appeared late this morning on South By Southwest's web site, a few days later than usual -- the lovely folks that run the nation's largest music-industry conference usually get the list of offical showcase music acts out by the first weekend in February -- but it's finally here. And it's quite interesting.
For the first time in my memory, Houston-area acts have claimed more slots than North Texas acts: 45 to 41. The majority of musicians from Space Town appear to be hip-hop acts, a phenomenon surely spurned by the still-strong chopped-and-screwed Houston rap style.
Of the local acts many are sage picks, including Calhoun, the Crash That Took Me, Fishboy, Glen Reynolds, Mom, Record Hop, Play-N-Skillz and a recently re-formed Centro-matic. Others are, well, odd (Ryan Cabrera? Lumba? C'mon). Post-emo act the New Frontiers made the cut, possibly thanks to its helping out down-on-its-luck acts such as Mississippi's the Colour Revolt (which made it again this year) in 2007. Also in: the hyper-artsy ambient electro-noise duo Tree Wave. Big local names: Bowling for Soup, Brave Combo, the Feds, the Drams and classic-rock wayback-machine torch bearers Kenny and the Kasuals.
On an international level, second-tier nationalities on the world's popular-culture rubicon appear to be championing their pop-music scenes to SXSW more than ever. Portugal, Argentina, Brazil, South Africa, New Zealand and the Netherlands all have multiple acts performing at showcases. Iran's got three (and it may be the last chance for bands from that country to come in quite a while if the political atmosphere continues to devolve in Tehran), and acts from as far away as mainland China (FM3), Slovenia (Volodja Balzalorsky), Latvia (Mona De Bo), Indonesia (the s.i.g.i.t.) and Uzbekistan (Navruz) have snagged spots.
Am I gonna see any of 'em? I doubt it. But judging from this list, SXSW's offerings have leapt to a new level of stylistic broadness in 2008. And I'm not sure that it's a good thing.
Tapes n' Tapes' people sent out an email today saying that SXSW is one of the band's tour stops, too.
If you're not familiar with this annual interactive, film and music conference and festival, check the site's about page and our blog posts from last year, housed on the original, pre-Playlist mothership of all GuideLive.com blogs, Over the Top.
Confirmed acts for the fest so far include R.E.M., My Morning Jacket, Dolly Parton, David Banner, Bun B, Sia, Black Keys and tons more. Lou Reed will be the music conference's keynote speaker.
Stay tuned.
Is Erykah about to lose her US hip-hop credentials? (Kevork Djansezian)
Undermain Theatre's production of Greendale will include some familiar faces from the local music scene. Look for Kenny Withrow of New Bohemians on guitar, Paul Semrad from Course of Empire on bass and Alan Emert of Brave Combo on drums. Greendale, a rock opera written by Neil Young, is at Undermain March 29 through May 3.
Mario, Mike and Thor don't just hash about whose stock is going to soar in 2008, they tell you who deserves greatness this year. Listen to the artists' music and tell us what you think.
• Story: The next big names in Texas music
Listen to the critics' picks
• Ryan Bingham
• Fishboy
• Future Clouds & Radar
• Chris Holt and the Slack (or check them out here)
• Nikki McKibbin
• Jackson Taylor
• Jonathan Tyler
• Arthur Yoria (or check him out here)
• Zykos
Do you think the guys missed any Texas acts destined for greatness this year?
Granted, there are TWO on our list, for Christmas day-proper. That proves how things get a little dry on the local music scene on the days immediately around Dec. 25, but there's still plenty to catch throughout the next week.
Good clean fun for the kiddies: Katelyn Hubbard and Dezi Eriksson dance to live music last year at Rock Steady. (DMN / File 2006)
For those of you who don't fall into any of these categories ... got any suggestions for soon-to-be-orphaned-teen-nightclub-goers?
• Story: Teen nightclub Rock Steady may close
Bubba Hernandez and Alex Meixner's Polka Freak Out
Denton's polka fusion outfit has been representing on the Grammy nom list for eons, and it plays the most danceable music at almost any North Texas festival you'd want to attend. With two Grammys already under its riemen, its latest, Polka's Revenge, is up for best polka album.
But Bubba Hernandez — bassist for Brave Combo when it won its first two Grammys — is making this year's competition interesting with Polka Freak Out, also on the nominee list.
Which act is most likely to win? Give their myspaces a listen and tell us what you think.
Here's Mario's wrap-up of the Grammy noms from today's paper, which were announced yesterday. It's got everything you need: analysis, a list of noms in the top categories, a list of noms from Texas. It also includes links to the full list on Grammy.com and to yesterday's stories.
The very Men In Trees John Gorka (Ann Marsden)
In other folkie news ... Minnesota folk artist John Gorka (a not-too-hard-on-the-eyes folk artist, too, if I may) performs Saturday at Jefferson Freedom Cafe, another acoustic coffeehouse mainstay.
• Story: John Gorka keeps coffeehouses filled to the brim
• Also online: Dallas/Fort Worth-area church coffeehouses
Dr. Fernando Siles (Joel Hodge)
Brian "BEERMAN" Houser (Courtesy photo)
Quick's Hunter Hauk interviewed Denton's Eric Michener, who is called Fishboy and also fronts a band called Fishboy, about his new rock opera, Albatross: How We Failed to Save the Lone Star State With the Power of Rock and Roll. Read the Q&A and get info on Fishboy's Friday CD release party. Then go to www.farewellalbatross.com to listen to the album. One quibble with Albatross: The first track, "Minus Two," is so darned catchy that I had a hard time listening to any other tracks. But I soldiered on, and it was worth it.
Though I'd rarely seen them listed at local watering-hole gigs over the years, local "red-dirt rockin' heavy head blues" band Scarsboy may be about to win a national contest sponsired by Irish distiller Boru Vodka.
The showdown: the Defend the Bar Band contest, which aims to identify the best bar band in the country (and promote some clear potato-based liqeur from a country that really has no business making vodka). Scarsboy made the final four with this song and a very succinct bio, and if it wins it gets ten grand in gear and a Roadrunner Records recording contract.
Sure, it'd be cool for a local act to win this. But just so they know: the real best bar band in the area used to be Speedtrucker, and now it's this act.
Any news item that starts off:
Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Dwaine Caraway wants urban youths to improve their image by hiking up their pants. But a local hip-hop artist is using homophobia as a tool to get that message across.
... is bound to anger and intrigue. For instance, Dooney da' Priest's new rap song associates low-slug pants with being "on the down-low."
• Read: Gay groups critical of hip-hop song targeting saggin' pants
• Hear: "Pull Your Pants Up"
What do you think about this tactic?
Golden Gate Funeral Home
4155 S. R.L. Thornton Frwy. @ Ann Arbor, Dallas
214-941-7332
• Wake: 6-7 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 4 at the funeral home
• Service: 11 a.m. Monday, Nov. 5 at the funeral home
• Obituary
We're getting inquiries about Marchel Ivery's funeral info, which we don't have yet. As soon as we can secure some details, we'll put it here. Meanwhile, read the Dallas jazz man's obit here.
UPDATE:
Golden Gate Funeral Home
4155 S. R.L. Thornton Frwy. @ Ann Arbor, Dallas
214-941-7332
• Wake: 6-7 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 4 at the funeral home
• Service: 11 a.m. Monday, Nov. 5 at the funeral home
Update: As of 1:30 p.m.: Arrangements expected to be finalized in about another hour.
Update: Looks like Golden Gate Funeral Home is handling services, which are still pending as of noon.
Ivery at Sammons Center for the Arts in '99. (Staff)
(Club Dada)
Beard needs you
Deep Ellum loyalists think of John "Beard" Brewer as nothing less than a local music institution. So it's no surprise that they want to help out the longtime Club Dada doorman, who was recently hospitalized and spent some time in ICU after an unexplained seizure. There'll be a "Beard-A-Fit" on Sunday at Dada to assist him with mounting medical bills. Among the acts scheduled to play are the Felons, Brave Combo, Mr. Pink and the Backsliders.
Things start up at 1 p.m. Cover is $10.
(Courtesy: Saenz of the Times PR)
On its way to perform at the CMJ Music Marathon & Film Festival in New York last week, the band lost its RV to a fire. While on Interstate 81 in far eastern Tennessee, bassist Jim Taylor, who was driving, noticed smoke in the cabin. The other members were all asleep. He pulled over and got the others out, but minutes later, despite extinguisher help by a delivery truck driver and a policeman, the RV was nothing but a twisted metal shell (see above). Fortunately, no one was injured and the band's trailer survived thanks to three fire trucks and a temporary shutdown of the highway. But it did lose several guitars as well as its cash, food, clothes and such.
But: the band did rent a truck the next day and made its CMJ gig. The Red Cross even pitched in for clothes and a hotel after the blaze. Smokin.'
On the heels of a sold-out memorial concert for the revered local musician comes a bit of somber news. Carter was drunk three times past the legal limit when he was shot and killed last month while trying to break down a neighbor's door. Did the prescription drug Chantix cause that fatal bout of rage, or was it a bad (and voluminous) mix of booze? That's still being determined.
The whole entire scenario is a shame. Even though I'm sure his family, fans and friends' good memory of him will remain intact regardless, I was really hoping Chantix would be the clear source of blame, or something else out of the ordinary.
But if the sole cause was a grown man drinking too much during a night out on Greenville? Nothing's worth that. What a total waste of life.
• Read the story about the autopsy findings here
• Read other blog posts about Carter Albrecht here
On the heels of a sold-out memorial concert for the revered local musician comes a bit of somber news. Carter was drunk three times past the legal limit when he was shot and killed last month while trying to break down a neighbor's door. Did the prescription drug Chantix cause that fatal bout of rage, or was it a bad (and voluminous) mix of booze? That's still being determined.
The whole entire scenario is a shame. Even though I'm sure his family, fans and friends' good memory of him will remain intact regardless, I was really hoping Chantix would be the clear source of blame, or something else out of the ordinary.
But if the sole cause was a grown man drinking too much during a night out on Greenville? Nothing's worth that. What a total waste of life.
• Read the story about the autopsy findings here
• Read other blog posts about Carter Albrecht here
I cannot overemphasize how wonderfully uplifting Saturday's Carter Albrecht Memorial Concert was at the Granada Theater.
First: the mood was so social and familial, the event seemed more like a reunion than a remembrance. Famous-beyond-Dallas figures such as Old 97's front man Rhett Miller and the Drams signal caller Brent Best mingled freely with the attendees; even Carter's father, Kenneth, made rounds outside the theater. Everyone was approachable, and everyone I encountered was in at least controlled spirits.
That's not to say that there wasn't an undercurrent of mourning and solemnity. There was, but it was manifested most on stage instead of in public.
Cater Albrecht fans listen to Sorta at the sold-out concert. (Rex C. Curry / Special to DMN)
Two things impressed me the most about the event: Though many of the same video and audio tributes that appeared at his church memorial on Sept. 7 were played in between acts, those inside the theater stopped visiting to listen and watch when they were shown. Respect was paid properly by Dallasites usually known for talking over such diversions.
Also, that the event drew in so many of the city's music cognoscenti speaks to a side effect of Carter's passing that bodes tremendously well for the Carter Albrecht Music Foundation's mission to make Dallas a "destination" city for music. The indie-rock, alt-country and singer-songwriter scenes have coalesced to a degree that, in my mind, hasn't been experienced since the early-1990s halcyon days of Deep Ellum. A genuine sense of community existed at the Granada on Saturday night, and we can only hope it continues.
A side note: though Sorta has finished its album without Carter, the future of the band may be in jeopardy anyway. I overheard Ward Williams saying that he's contemplating a move to Nashville. Stay tuned ...
Sergio Garcia's mural of Norah Jones on what used to be the Green Room (Courtney Perry / DMN)
Saturday's Carter Albrecht Memorial Concert at the Granada Theater is turning out to be a doozy.
First selling point: Dallas' dreamiest alt-country sons, the Old 97's (yep, the comma's still in the name these days, folks) is headlining it. The Old 97's sold out House of Blues' Music Hall, which holds 600 more patrons than the 1,000-capacity Granada, back in May. Shaaa!
Second: Sorta -- the band that Mr. Albrecht was so intimately intertwined in when he was shot dead through a door on Labor Day -- will perform for the first time since his passing. And word on the street is that the nearly completed next Sorta CD is now actually completed. I'm still in awe that has come to pass already.
Third: all proceeds will benefit the Carter Albrecht Music Foundation, which now has at least one defined aim; to aid emerging and independent Dallas-area pop music talent in both obtaining and paying for studio time to make and distribute recordings. Sensational, I say.
Finally: the roster below the headliners is crazy strong: the Drams (or: Slobberbone, v2.0), Salim Nourallah (the city's best songwriter, and a kind man to boot), Stephen Collins of Deadman (post-alt morosity a la Gram Parsons; and boy, does a set by this guy fit here) and Chris Holt's super new project, the Slack.
Get yer 30-buck passes quick, folks. If you still can.
Radoslav Lorkavic, on the accordion, and Jimmy LaFave played at Crossroads recently. (Randy Eli Grothe / DMN)
Who would have thought prime singer-songwriters like Ray Wylie Hubbard, Sara Hickman, Billy Joe Shaver, Terri Hendrix and Lloyd Maines (Natalie's dad) would fill up the performance calendar at a coffeehouse in Winnsboro? Crossroads Coffeehouse & Music Co. is located in the isolated, small Texas town about 100 miles east of here, offering performances in a laid-back, authentically Texan atmosphere. Our staff writer Michael Granberry has a story coming out Sunday (check back on GuideLive.com) about how these kinds of venues are popping up in small towns all over the state.
• Tell us: What's your favorite coffeehouse for enjoying live music?
• Video: Go to GuideLive.com/video and see what the buzz is about.
• FYI: Here's a link of a few coffeehouse/music venues in the area.
Don't look now, Dallasites, but your suburbs have spawned a major-label emo-pop phenomenon. At least that's the hope for Universal Motown Records Group, which signed Forever the Sickest Kids in April. The six sufficiently adorable mop-haired laddies -- and honorable, too: three are former students at Dallas Baptist University -- are headlining yet another of Plano Centre's semi-underground emo-pop concerts tonight. The band's already developed a sizable regional fan base through peer-to-peer file sharing, MySpace.com and other teenager-approved digital-word-of-mouth methodology as well as an EP, Television Off, Party On, launched in July.
Funny fact: Plano Centre's web site doesn't mention the show, during which six other bands, including fellow incubating boy-rock acts Ivoryline (53,500 MySpace friends, from Tyler, Texas), Karate High School (42,300 friends; from San Fran) and the Dollyrots (15,000, from L.A.) are on the underage undercard for FtSK (53,100 and climbing FAST). Curious, children? The show starts in about half an hour, and door tix should be $12.
(Paul Westenberg)
On Jan. 22, she's reissuing The Purple Tape, the 10-track collection that she used to hand out at New York City coffeehouse performances in the early 1990s. To be included with the re-tracked tunes (re-mixed by then-boyfriend Juan Patino, who's apparently still a buddy) are acoustic versions of "Stay (I Missed You)," an interview, photos and extended liner notes.
Not that she's giving up on recording new material; she's planning a follow-up to the indie 2003 children's album Catch the Moon and a fresh studio CD for 2008. But please, avoid the reality TV game from now on, Lisa. It's not very flattering.
Kelly Willis (Frank Veronsky)
Gary Goldberg, a photography professor at Midwewstern State University in Wichita Falls, has spent the past four years shooting and compiling casual outdoor portraits of Texas' regional country, folk and Americana musicians. He's been so engulfed by the project, he took developmental leave from his employer at one point to complete the project. The resulting exhibit, "Texas Singer-Songwriters: An Americana Portrait," looks to be a fascinating winner as it takes up the Irving Arts Center's Main Gallery for a month beginning Saturday.
He focused on 100 musicians and shot more than 10,000 images, but cut the final exhibit's subjects in half to 50. Accompanied by music snippets and biographical trivia bits written by Shelby Morrison, a curator at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, the exhibit is a treat for anyone fond of Texas' roots music.
The subjects range from the internationally revered (Willie Nelson, Delbert McClinton, Kinky Friedman) and freshly famous (Pat Green, Jack Ingram) to the barely emerging (Hayes Carll, Becca Dalrymple, Max Stalling) and criminally overlooked (Joe Ely, Jon Dee Graham, Butch Hancock). Yes, there are some glaring omissions (Where the heck is Bruce Robison if Kelly Willis is represented?), but taking in this exhibit is a fine way to famillarize oneself with the richness of this state's down-and-dirty musical aesthetic. The exhibit's up through Nov. 4, and admission is free.
A fledgling Ellum: Onstage appeared was pretty precocious when it conceived last March's under-attended North By Southwest music festival at Life in Deep Ellum. That venue, which has been re-organized and is now dubbed Live@Mokah (the church-initiated, soon-to-be autonomous community center has a coffeeshop called Mokah Coffee Bar), is thinking big again.
The Mokah Music Summit & Showcase (M2S2) has a better chance of immediate flight thanks to the involvement of the Carter Albrecht Music Foundation, though. Formed by Ken Albrecht as a way to continue the music scene-nurturing legacy of his slain son, local musican Carter Albrecht, the foundation will eventually be a major beneficiary of the event, which wants to serve as an annual summit on the state of Dallas indie music community.
Set to occur during three weekends in November, the event will have a local-band competition (top prizes include pro video and photo shoots as well as 10 hours of studio time at Crystal Clear Studios) as well as discussions among pros, musicians and fans on scene issues. The first two days (Nov. 9 and Nov. 16) will feature band-contest semifinals and open moderated forums for topic discussion. The final day (Nov. 30) will be the band-battle finals and a summit with topics determined from the previous days' talks.
The Albrecht connection should attract a few major local indie acts to the performance and appearance fold (and yours truly will serve as a judge for the band finals). At next month's inaugural version, a Carter Albrecht Award will be announced that'll be given out yearly. Now, the venue's looking for bands to compete (and so am I, actually; the more, the merrier!). Interested acts must have three original recorded songs posted somewhere online (MySpace, or elsewhere) or mail-able to M2S2's organizers; the submission rules are here, and deadline is Oct. 17.
(Courtesy)
Down, Over the Under (ILG/Warner Music Group): When Pantera split way back when, the Abbott brothers stayed in one camp and the two others -- vocalist Phil Anselmo and bassist Rex Brown -- pretty much went waaay the other way. Both are New Orleans natives, and they'd already been stepping out of Pantera's scream-triggered rat-a-tat beatbox with Down, a manufacturer of gigantic and lumbering walls of classic-seared Southern sludge metal with members from two other New Orleans bands: Corrosion of Conformity and Crowbar. It was a side project for all involved until Katrina hit more than two years ago. Over the Under is the act's third product (and first post-devastation), and its the first that actually sounds cohesive and thought-out enough to seem like a full-time band created it. Compared with the first two Down discs, this one has enough well-planned layers (doom, stoner, Southern rock, even bits of grunge) and structured and consistent melodies to keep a listener intrigued. And the biggest surprise of all is Mr. Anselmo, who's sounding like a cross between Layne Staley, Chris Cornell and Ronnie Van Zant these days and screams very little. The playing is sloppy at times and the gloomy production clogs some songs' flow, but Over the Under is the calling card of a band now truly complete thanks to purpose borne from tragedy.
Check the box next to "Best-selling Author" on the resume of Nikki Sixx, the longtime bassist for hair-metal bad boys Motley Crue. The Heroin Diaries: A Year In the Life of a Shattered Rock Star, a memoir of a year spent addicted to drugs in the late 1980s, debuted at No. 7 on The New York Times bestseller list for non-fiction this week. On top of that, a companion CD, The Heroin Diaries Soundtrack -- believed by his management to be the first-ever soundtrack to a literary work -- by his band Sixx: A.M. has sold well and has produced a single ("Life Is Beautiful") that's rapidly climbing active rock radio charts. Cool liner note: a quarter of the book's profits (looks like there will be some) benefits Covenant House California, a hostel for runaways and abused kids in the L.A. area.
Upstart progressive hotel chain NYLO Hotels has released a compilation CD of unsigned Texas music artists to accompany the Atlanta-based company's first property, which is being finished up in the Legacy area of Plano and should open in December. NYLO Uncovers, Summer Vol. 1 features cuts by area singer-songwriters Patrick Alan (also frontman of sticky-sweet emo-ish trio Shoreline's End) and Johnny Lloyd Rollins. Plans are to play CD tracks in a common area at the hotel (which will also feature local artworks), and new NYLO Uncovers CDs will be released quarterly by NYLO Music, a subsidary label to the hotel. Interested in making the cut? Send mastered tracks to: NYLO Music, LLC
Attn: Michael Mueller
260 Peachtree St. NW, Suite 2301
Atlanta, GA 30303
What does a singer/songwriter/guitarist do when he loses his voice? He teams up with a talented friend whose pipes work just fine. Earlier this month Dallas troubaduor Colin Boyd was struck silent in the middle of a show (read the whole tale on his myspace page here). A six-night-a-week barroom and coffee house singer, he was ordered by his doctor to give it a rest. So on Saturday, he enlisted local songbird Tammy Lynn Roe for a gig at Highlands Cafe, who sounded lovely on several Boyd originals (though she couldn't figure out where to come in on one song). He handled guitar duties. I told him his plight makes a good story. He corrected me: It will make a good story when his voice comes back. He has already decided the six-night-a-week schedule is a thing of the past. The Colin Boyd Band's new album, Shine, is due out soon.
As Midlake plays a new song destined to be on its yet-to-be-recorded third album, I'll wrap up my blogging for the evening.
I'm staying for Explosions in the Sky, but you're going to have to catch my formal review in Monday's GuideLive to read my impressions on the current national standard bearers of instrumental shoegaze pop.
WoS still has problems with patron amenities, security (I saw one policeman on the grounds the entire evening, and the baseball field has trash strewn across it) and keeping performance times on schedule, but this is an event that needed to be held outdoors. Let's hope that the folks with the Fort Worth Cats allow Spune (who I'll be calling tomorrow to ask about the Midlake issue) to hold this here in 2008. La Grave Field really does work well, as long as this event doesn't draw more than three or four thousand. And it didn't appear to even reach four figures this year.
In some ways, the jazzy little Denton band that could is topping its performance at Austin City Limits six days ago. The band feels peppier and a little more deft than then, especially now as it plays its most well known song, "Roscoe."
But a couple of oddities are surely causing it consternation. Bassist Paul Alexander's tone is very thin, and hi instrument has little sustain, which signals an amplification issue. And to me, at least, the band is playing slightly too loud.
And we just got an explanation from lead singer Tim Smith for why it was late. "Sorry that we didn't go on earlier," he said. "We've got all sorts of issues happening."
And that's it; nice and nebulous, kind of like Midlake's soaring indie pop. Guitarist-keyboardist Eric Pulido added a thanks to Ghostland Observatory for swapping slots last minute, too. Yes, it was worth the wait.
Here's a curiousity. Ghostland Observatory isn't a good here as it was at Austin City Limits last weekend.
Don't get me wrong; its electro-funk is still good. Heck, it's great. But the lack of bodies here at WoS, the delays, the dubious sound system (the board op just turned the master volume down a good three decibels) and the shackled sense of drama here is reducing the act's effectiveness.
Ghostland's music is meant for large places: for massive throngs of sweaty, horny young stylin' adults to get their groove on to. Without that sense of sweep and insistence, this band loses a little poignancy.
Interesting tidbit that I learned about the band earlier; it's self-released it's recordings and charges more than the usual cost for wholesale purchases of its CDs. And the difference isn't peanuts, either; it's along the lines of three bucks per CD.
I still think that Ghostland is major-label worthy. But does the act revel in controlling its own destiny, or would it hand over its marketing and publicity reins to someone else?
Here's the verdict: Ghostland Observatory and Midlake have flipped time slots. Though frankly, it's basically as if we're back on time here, but the MC promised that Midlake would be playing after Ghostland.
Which begs the question: what's up with Midlake? It's here; I ran into guitarist Eric Pulido earlier, and its tour bus is on the premises. Is a member missing? We shall see ...
Well, now the main stages are 50 minutes behind schedule, thanks to Om and an extended turn by Pinback. And now, Midlake is taking its sweet time getting on stage. The sound was dialed in five minuetes ago, and the band jasn't made it onto the blue-bathed stage ...
What're they doing? Huddling up? Does one of them turn into a pumpkin at midnight? C'mon, guys ...
Wall of Sound has promise earliee today in terms of staying on time. Now, it's devolving into what it ended up being in 2006: late-running and somewhat contentious. Oy.
Oooh. This Massachusetts-by-way-of-NYC-and-North-Carolina duo is the first to use the video-display screens behind both main stages, and the vertically spliced visuals of animals and machines are tres cool. They accompany the Books' electro-gothic lullabies succinctly. Nick Zammuto and Paul de Jong's music is an acquired taste - it's not tremendously melodic, and it relies on a tapestry of voiceovers and seemingly random programmed effects and other aural flourishes.
But once past the experimental inderpinnings, it's haunting and pretty storybook stuff. One could picture the Books scoring a bevy of moody indie films, or perhaps contributing to more than its fair share of TV-show interlude scenes. It's currently playing a tune that interweaves a minstrel-esque acoustic lick with a swelling cello and a stampeding bass that makes me want to go skipping off into right field here. Aaaah.
I didn't expect this. Armistead Burwell Smith IV's indie pop outfit has always been among the genre's more obtuse and complicated listens, but live the band's rhythm section is solidifying the craziness that happens in the upper registers.
The effect is essentially transforming Pinback into a more thunderous and punchy dance band. Though if you wanted to dig on the interwoven harmonies and playground-free minor-chord workouts, they're there, too.
"Wheee!," Mr. Smith cries. Yep, he's at his playground, and he's one talented and gifted kid.
I gotta get me some of that. Whatever substances that these Denton spaz-rockers mainline before gigs, they must work really well.
I'm thinking Red Bull, spiked with herbal something or other. But I coulds be wrong ... heh.
The band looks like a trio of computer science majors who've skipped out on final exams to binge. They sound like Jimi Hendrix might have had he idolized T Rex and the Clash. Or: the B-52s without female representation and on so much speed that they swear that they're James Brown's indie-punk offspring.
It's set is sloppy, chaotic and almost masochistic in its looseness. But it's also energizing and attractive in a what-is-that-kooky-racket sort of way.
Om has performed for almost an hour on Stage One: the main-stage schedule is now almost a half-hour behind. Did Al Cisneros peeve Bobby Bare Jr. off so much that the latter has refused to perform now? p
Especially in indie-rock circles: why can't we all just get along?
No, wait. Mr. Bare, complete with his band's tenor sax and with daisy strings wrapped around his mike stand and amp stack, are doing a quick sound check.
Sounds like San Franciscoan Mr. Cisneros decided that the sound-check diss entitled him to an extra 25 minutes on stage. So why didn't the sound engineers just pull the plug on him, no matter how ornery and empowered he felt ...
Om. Yum. And Ow. Freaky stoner-pocketed stuff from this pair, who are the rhythm section for Sleep, one of the more trance-enhancing stoner rock outfits in the country.
Al Cisneros' Rickenbacker bass is so distorted and fuzzed out - on purpose, people! - that it's covering both the low and some of the high-end territory that's normally occupied by regular guitar. And drummer Chris Haikus is laying down beats so heavy that they threaten to pulverize the less-fortified eardrums of the country fans in the Stockyards about a mile north of here.
Mr. Cisneros is playing through two immense green speaker cabinets that would be entirely obscene if used by most other musicians. But here, his nasal vocal moans are totally indecipherable, flicked away as they are by his aggressive tone.
Om is significantly heavier than the Sword, and that's saying tons (pun quite intended, thank you). Criminy. Could Om be the heaviest act in America? It's the thickest music that I've heard live this year ... and this is coming from TWO MEN. Yes, the music is monotonous and relies on a very plebian 4/4 groove. But I feel 50 pounds heavier just standing here listening to it.
Whoa. And with attitude, too. "Could you not sound check during our set, please?," he snidely tells Bobby Bare Jr. and his band on the other main stage. It was not a kind request, either. Hey, now; aren't we all family here?
On Stage Two, the countrified pop of Brothers and Sisters is wafting out, and the only ones standing - even right at the front of the stage - are some folks playing Frisbee and a little pickup game of soccer.
The familial, music community-based feel of Wall of Sound is cool, to be sure. But it'll have to lose a lot of that to grow any bigger.
... "We're coming at you in mono tonight!," Noah Lit says. Yep: Oliver Future is at it without that left-hand P.A. speaker. Still sounds fine, since the small stage is, well, small and not very loud, so the band's own amps and speaker cabinets are filling things out.
These guys are kind of nerdy in an L.A. way. All are wearing black T-shirts - three are freakin' V-necks - and the bassist somehow felt the need to sport a red polo shirt to match his red bass. Guitarist Josh Lit's wearing a bowler hat that's too small for his head, too.
But man, this band's fun to hear play. It moved from Austin to L.A. in 2005, and hipster pop outlets out there are taking notice in Oliver Future's creepily melodic hyper-pop. It's first post-move release, "Pax Futura," has incredible potential, and frontman Noah Lit's got a whimsy in his pipes that simultaneously clashes with and soothes the band's crispy breakdowns and grooves.
One question, knowing that Oliver Future loves to play tiny holes-in-the-wall like the Cavern in Dallas and the Wreck Room and the Moon in Fort Worth: Why is it on the third stage? It should be on one of the two main stages here ...
I blogged too soon. Stage Three is now a half hour behind schedule because of a blown P.A. speaker. A replacement is en route. "Give us seven minutes," said a fest staffer. "We have Oliver Future coming up, and we want to do this right. So sit tight."
Some aren't; they're wandering away to mingle (lots of that going on here). But about 40 folks are parked on a knoll between the stage and the stadium's home plate wall, waiting socially.
Attendance is picking up, too, as the day begins to cool off and the bigger acts come closer to their set times. But it's not drastic; I'd say 800 or so are here. About 700 advance tickets were sold for Wall of Sound, and at 35 smackers at the gate, I'm thinking that there aren't gonna be a mass of walk-ups tonight ... especially since at this point, the event's more than half over.
Think of a combination of Chris Isaak and Johnny Cash, but with a disposition much more melancholy and shattered than either, and you'd have Abilene native Micah P. Hinson. "Somebody robbed my car the other day and stole all my stuff," he laments apologetically on stage.
He hasn't caught many breaks in life; he'd been a drug addict, been broke and served jail time by age 20. And his morose, minimalist music refects that; his songs come off as written as self-effacing cowboy dirges in a cramped mobile-home bedroom. It's an acquired taste, and somewhat unusual for Wall of Sound ... but the new dimension is oddly refreshing, even if Mr. Hinson's peeformance has the poise of a wilting sunflower.
... I and several dozen other concertgoers are extinguishing cigs on the outfield grass at La Grave Field. It hurts for me do it, as much as I worshipped baseball as a kid and as a player ... but hey, this is rock and ROLL! (and don't worry; I'm throwing away the butts in a proper receptacle).
Here's one thing that's evidently changed from last year; the bands are actually about five minutes ahead of schedule here, instead of grossly behind schedule as they were in 2006.
That means that fantastical Austin heritage-metal act the Sword took the stage at 5:25 p.m. It opened with a solitary song from last year's debut, "Age of Winters," and has lauched into a showcase of "all-new jams," said singer J.D. Cronise. (The band's got a new bassist, too, apparently). The fresh cuts have more dual-guitar interplay and blast just as monolithically as "Age of Winters"' national buzz-generating metal did. Sweeet.
Intrigiung. Chris Flemmons and Steven Hill's oddball mix of country, folk and indie has a certain down-home mysticism about it ... kind of as if Weezer spent a year in a West Virginia mining village with nothing but a synthesizer, a blown speaker and a supply of beef jerky for sustenance.
It's dynamic - as delicate as a sleeping sheep dog at times and as ferocious as an Arizona coyote at others - but it reverts to juvenile wheeziness too much for me. It's sound is just a bit too frayed and ratty, too. Maybe it's better recorded.
Cool setup: the local-music-happy Granada Theater's got a tent here complete with misters, seats, an automatic bubble machine and an air mattress. Owner Michael Schoder's already confessed to taking a nap on it earlier, having had to be here at 9 a.m. after presiding over Macon Greyson's CD-release show at his venue.
And actually, Wall of Sound's setup here isn't bad. For instance, shade can be had in the seats around the baseball diamond without a severe penalty regarding band volume or sightlines. But that third stage really should be more accessible both visually and aurally.
If Spune wants this event to grow like it envisions, two things have to happen: more concessions need to be made available, and word must spread better about it. It's got book higher-profile indie acts to attract more than the local-music cognocenti and a few college students.
Oooh. Fort Worth-based neo-wave act Black Tie Dynasty has a few equipment issues just now, forcing it to lose what momentum it'd built. Also: the wind is playing havoc on the strap-tied video backdrops behind the two primary stages; they're both swaying to and fro like a moored sailboat in a choppy harbor. Will they be used? We'll see.
The Paper Chase's drummer, Jason Garner, just threw up. "It's all for you!," the singer declared to the crowd. Let's hope that it was from outdoor overexertion and not from early-day overimbibing ... and not a sign of things to come here.
Quick note: one cool thing about local/regional fests such as this is that the band members wander in and out of the crowd all of the time. Heck, the artist's hospitality/warm-up tent is just over the four-foot-high right-center field wall.
I arrived at Spune Productions' third Wall of Sound Festival in Fort Worth about half an hour ago, and the crowd's sparse. Maybe 500 indie music fans are here, enjoying the cathartically funky-punky rock of Dallas' the Paper Chase.
Yeah, it's somewhat hot - right at about 90, I'd say - and there isn't a cloud around to spell the sun's wrath. But there's a light breeze blowing across the Fort Worth Cats' home baseball field, La Grave Field, which was opened in 2002 in between downtown and the Fort Worth Stockyards. It's a quaint and modern facility that feels like a Division 1 baseball facility in terms of size and amenities.
John Congleton's outfit is unusually heavy today; Bobby Weaver's bass is growling like an earthquake on Stage One, which is set up smack dab in center field. Stage 2 is right next to it in left-center: Tiny, sad-looking Stage 3 is outside of the stadium behind home plate (and there were maybe 10 people taking in Kissing Cousins out there).
Most hardcore local indie followers aren't exactly sun worshippers, of course, and these dog days are certainly keeping some away as Wall of Sound moves outdoors for the first time (I know of a few who won't be coming since it's hot). But a relatively varied lineup, ranting from indie crooner Ian Moore and stoner-metalers the Sword and Om to shoegazers Explosions in the Sky and electro-rock duo Ghostland Observatory, should draw more out than this. Right now, it's mostly band members, their friends and North Texas indie scenesters here now.
