6/5/08 - The Felons, the cut*off, Salim Nourallah

ahhh, yes - artist-in-residence thursday nights at dada, back in action after taking May off. wish they'd still start at 8:00, tho - that was nice.

June's artist in residence is Salim Nourallah, doing solo acoustic sets. now i understand why this dude gets so much pub. wonderful collection of dreamy, beautiful, sometimes beatles-esque pop tunes, with unique vocals, nice guitar work and instantly catchy melodies. really dug it. definitely made me want to catch him with the full band - i will be watchin for that. next up was the cut*off, from Ft. Worth. definitely enjoyed their set this time much more than the first time i saw them back in november, when it seemed like they played a lot of covers. nice set full of muscular, slightly psychedelic pop tunes. they easily win the award for Band With The Highest Number of Girlfriends Who Remind Me of Jennifer Love Hewitt. they were joined on stage at one point by Jenn Nabb and Salim, who both added some nice vocal touches. definitely want to catch them again. last up was the felons, and i've gushed way too much already about this incredible band on these pages - it's starting to get embarassing. suffice it to say, thursday night's performance did not disappoint. it seems that i NEVER get tired of hearing these guys.

5/31/08 - Margot and the Nuclear So and So's, Matthew and the Arrogant Sea, Red Monroe

had a pretty good night at Rubber Gloves on saturday:


drove up to the place and wtf? a LINE to get in?? outrageous. never seen that before at RGRS. couldn't bleebe it. the place was packed (with squishy female goodness, no less). had to park in the weeds. was worried i was gonna start a grass fire and have nothin but a flask of vodker to fight it with.


first up was Red Monroe, who proved once again why they're in my top 5. i've seen them now too many times to count, and every time they kick my ass with their jangly, groove-filled rock. this time was even better cuz they played not only Blue Mountain Air from the first album, but they closed with A Return to the Old Way of Thinking (prolly my favorite RM song) and Carolina Cigarette. hell yeah! only one problem - waaay too much reverb on eric's vocals - so much so that you could barely hear him. i complained to the sound guy, who looked at me like i was insane, then took time out from eatin his dinner to defiantly swipe at some slider on the board, but i don't think it did anything, i think he was just tryin to get rid of me, cuz i didn't notice much difference. oh well, still enjoyed the set.
next up was Matthew and the Arrogant Sea, who also happen to be in my top 5. totally love their stuff - haunting, beautiful, spacey folk. love matthew's voice. dug their set, for sure, but it sure seemed like a damned short one - like only 4 or 5 songs, maybe? mebbe it was just me, but i was left unsatisfied, wanting a few more.
headlining was Margot & the Nuclear So and So's, from Indiana. was pretty impressed with these guys. 8-man band, with rotating line-up of instruments including geetars, keys, lap-steel, violin, auxilliary percussion, trumpet (dude was amazing when he finally let loose), french horn (!), trombone. lead singer separated at birth from dave grohl. hot chick on keys. unnecessarily illuminated bass drum. some really polished, multi-layered, sophisticated melodic pop/folk. some songs totally connected with me, some fell flat. about 3 songs in i realized - hory sheet, half the damn crowd is singing along! on just about every song! so that explains the huge crowd. these guys must be on college radio a lot or somethin (shows what i know). anyways, really dug the set. i'll never understand it, tho - why is it that kids will come out in droves for some out-of-town air-played band, when equally talented local bands play to near-empty rooms on a routine basis? hmmpf.


p.s. soory for the extra-crappy pics