Saturday, January 12, 2008

1/11/08 - Chemistry Set, Calhoun (Club Dada)

rare outing for me on a friday (due to familial obligations, ya see). but i couldnt miss chemistry set's last show. no fuckin way. goddam crazy ass music bidness - calhoun and chem set swapped sets. chem set goin on second instead of first. !!!
oh shit i'm fucked. gonna get home at 230 now. fuck. this will not go over well.

new record: 6 and 1/2 rum and cokes without christening the bathroom
mighty impressive, i know. thankyou, thankyou.

told amanda WAAAAAY more than she wanted to know. 6.5 rum and cokes'll do that to ya.

thanks josh for introducin me to malibu and coke. jeesus that was good...

pretty damn good crowd there for the shew. my crew included tk, knuckles, batman, the piledriver, joe the boy toy, dan from work.
hey, they left early ('cept tk, my DD), but you know - not everyone's as indie music cool as i am.

saw Ghost of BL, debbie, solis, fred, bill , jason there. wish i'd said hi, but i'm a fuckwit, what can i say. did talk to dave of the felons - great guy, forgot what we talked about. and hey, dude, quit fuckin smokin - dont ruin that phenomenal voice of yours.

look at me with all those fuckin links. sheeee-ut

Calhoun was great as usual. see my other posts below for my gushing reviews - i'm too tired.

chemistry set was, of course, fantastic (again, see below for all of my previous reports). of all the fuckin bands to be breakin up/moving, it has to be my fuckn favorite. goddamit. you have no idea how much i'll miss them. well, shit - at least they went out with an incredible last show. played all the ones i wanted to hear: the usual set, plus house of OK, a day like this, into the light, and many many more. it was a magical set. my usual complaint, tho - why dont bands finish with some original material, especially when its so goddam strong?? sure, play a cover or two, but how can you think a beatles cover is better to finish with than 'into the light'?? i dont get it. anyways, talked to stephen afterwards and made him promise to keep making music, because he has a fuckin gift. he said somethin about having half an album already recorded, so thank gawd for that. cannot wait. hope to gawd they come back to town sometime.

sorry this is shite. the glorious complexities of post-modern life are distracting me at the moment. guess i need another rum and coke, eh?

goodbye

Sunday, January 6, 2008

1/5/08 - Amo Joy, Dove Hunter, Happy Bullets, JD Whittenburg, Travis Hopper, The Felons

looooong but satisfying night at club dada.

first up were the felons, who, with one performance, launched themselves damn near to the top of my 'favorite local band' list. outstanding group. i wish i had the know-how to describe them properly, but i'd call it dark, minor-chord-driven, sometimes-moody, sometimes-anthemic art rock. definite radiohead influence - mostly their early stuff (which, in my mind, is a good thing). 4-man band - geetar, keys, bass, drum. terrific voice on the lead, great falsetto. loved the way they weren't afraid to stop down the music and just feature the voice. keys were actually treated equally with the geetar (which i dig), and were very nicely done. fantastic stuff. where's the EP from these guys? forgot to ask. looking forward to seeing them again.

next up was Travis hopper, with a collection of alt-countryish pop songs. i admit, i wasnt concentrating too much on their set, as i was babbling incoherently at the felons. plus, alt-country aint my thang. sounded nice, from what i heard. um, the lead vocals weren't exactly my favorite - kinda thin and breathy.

walking to my car between sets to uh, freshen up, i saw an SRO crowd at Kettle Art watching the deep ellum film retrospective. twas cool to see such a crowd.

next up was JD Whittenburg and crew. enjoyed their set as usual. see previous report here. couldnt hear amanda well enough, but didnt feel like gettin attitude from the sound guy.

happy bullets were up next. i've seen them many times now, and i dig it every time. they've got a full arsenal of crowd-pleasin tunes - they always get everyone dancin. only complaint - more horns! love the cornet/trombone combo. also, they dont end on their strongest song.

dovehunter was next, with some blues-infused southern pop rock. lots of talented individuals on the stage. 5-man, all geetars, including a thundering bass. some jam-band songs. good stuff, just not my bag. sorta lost the audience during their set, too.

last up was Amo Joy, from Indianapolis. 4-man, with keys, kazoos, slide whistles, etc. it's funny, i was thinking how much they reminded me of the happy bullets, but i thot, geez, man cant you come up with a more original description? then amanda comes by and says, do you see why i call them the baby bullets? so i guess it's OK - they reminded me a lot of the happy bullets - the same sort of catchy, infectious, playful and well-written pop songs. have to say, i like their vox more than the HBs. twas a nice set.