4/5/08 - Deep Ellum FArts Festival - the felons, happy bullets, tah-dahs

holy jeezus fuckin christ it has been a long tim since i ben this far gone (well at least while writin one of these, unnerstand)

wanted to catch the felons but i was afeerd they were goin on at 6 at teh deep ellum arts festival at SPACE you know, and i couldnt get there til 7ish, but i went anyways thinkin well shit at least i can see the tahdahs and the happy bullets and lovie anyways, and maybe some art, cuz i used to be into photgraphy, you know. but goddAM, i am glad i went, cuz as usual, everything was runnin late and i got to SPACE and there was the fuckin felons warmin up!!!! holy shit i was so fuckin happy they hadnt played yet. found a meter, btw (yay, me!). brought my trusty flask to space, cuz it was supposed to be a byob potluck dealyo, and i figgered there would be like a table with like food and cokses and shit,. but that idea seemed to fail midserablty, cuzx thre werent no food nor cokes nor nothin for me to mix my vodka with, so here i am walkin around with my goddam flask in my back pocket wonderin is that OK, since it's byob, or can i get busted and sent to jail, even tho? so anyways, i sat down just as the felons were startin and omigod i cant say enough how much i love this band. i closed my eyes and just like blissed out i am tellin you, for the whole fuckin set. every song just unfuckngbelievable. theyre comin out with a 3 song EP, which i got an advnaced copy of you motherfuickers!!! (thanks dave, yer the greatest!!) hahaha, you have to wait, but not for long i dont think, it will be available soon, just keep an eye out. pete freedman showed up to catch the felons, proving he can make the right choice ever once in a while anyways. hung out with fred's folks - some really cool folks, and i dont think they realize what an unusually great job theyve done raisin a kid like fred, but i told em so anyhows. btw, really nice uh, space there at hal samples' space - amazingly good sound for a sort of impromptu music venue.

anyways, after that blissful experience, i wandered back to my car to hold my own potluck dinner out of my trunk which consisted of a main course of VODKA with a side of diet COKE!!!!! and it was qwuite delicious, i can tell you, and my whole dinner party was quite taken with it, to be sure. got several compliments - oooh, what a nice flavor that gordon;s vodker has, ooh why tahnk you, the diet coke adds such a nice accent dont you think??? oooh, why yes it does, i MUST have the recipe!!!

much of what happened after that was a blur, my dear friends. but i know i went back to SPACE, cuz i knew the route back there. didnt get a chance much to see the art goin on in the street, cuz it was gettin dark. aftwer a while the happy bullets played, even tho they were supposed to play after the tahdahs. it was a cool set, as usual, wif trumpets and all. ive seen them like four or five times now, scroll down to see writeups (coherent ones, you know). anyways, enjoyed it like i always do.

saw some people out in the street with a couple of great pyrenees, same kinda dog i have, and theirs were like super friendly, not paranoid like mine, and they said i needed to consult the dog whisperer, and i said um, no, i dont think so. but thanks.

ran over to dada after the HB set, cuz i dint know what else to do, and that's like home base you know? and saw some burlesque show or some shit that knuckles would be very happy to see. beard sure liked it, i can tell you. and as if a flask full of vodker werent enough i had to buy a goddam shot cuz it was only 1 dollar and i told michelle to pick one and she gave me a fried apple pie which was vuuuury good, i have no idea what was in it, but ther was booze in it, i can tell you. somehow managed to lose ttrack of time (can you believe it?), and ran down to where lovie was playin, cant remember where, but they was damn near done, goddamit, how did i screw that up? been waitin forever to catch them, but it'll have to wait. shit. went back to SPACEy spaceboy, and the tahdahs were playin, cept it was just roy and a couple others, so it was alot like thursday night, when he played solo. but it was really good, cept i was hopin laura palmer would come up and sing for the last song "lord dont you let me down...", like she did that time at rubber gloves, cuz she drives my pants crazy, yes much more than roy does. but she wasnt there, but that's ok, it was still really good.

that is all. if you dont have any plans for sunday, go down to the deep ellum farts festival. it's really cool. and it's free, for you cheapo broke-ass bastards like me.

good night

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.

12/8/07 - Drams, Happy Bullets, Shibboleth, Tartufi, JD Whittenburg

been a while since i wrote one of these completely sober, so, fair warning

went to club dada (geez, four weeks in a row now) for boca tinta's b-day bash.

when i hold out my ID to beard, he says, i dont need that, i know who you are. heh heh. cool. then he tells me his sure-thing picks for some bowl games, reelin off a list of teams (including my aggies, i should mention). i'm thinkin, hey thanks for the tip, man, but i am in no shape to remember anything right now.

couldnt get there til 8, so i missed dave little (comedian). first band i saw was JD Whittenburg, who i'd seen before at haileys. definitely enjoyed this set more than the haileys one, couldnt really tell you why. seemed like jd's voice was a bit stronger this time, less reedy. sound system was definitely better, i know that (tho i had to harass the sound guy to turn up the #2 mic - yea, im workin on it, he says. workin on it??? isnt it just a damn knob? ah well, he eventually fixed it). they played a set full of really nice piano pop songs with just a tinge of alt-country. have to say, just like at the haileys show, the thing that did it for me was the backing vocals. i have a thing for harmonies, and this band does it so well - probably the best i've heard in the past year. (yes, it's amanda, but no, i'm not brown-nosing - look at my blog entry for the haileys show - i said the same thing, and that was back before i knew her). i think the advantage JDW has is that amanda is a full-time vocalist (ok, with part-time tambourine duties), and that allows her to concentrate all her efforts on it, and she is very, very good at it. she adds so much more than just a few harmonized notes on top of the lead, the notes she sings have a life of their own. beautiful voice, too. i know i would definitely not enjoy JDW as much without those beautiful harmonies. anyways, it was a very enjoyable start to the evening.

next up was Tartufi, from san francisco, and omigod, this was an absolutely transcendant experience. all apologies to my favorite local bands - still love you guys, but this had to have been the best set i have seen since i started goin to shows a year ago. amanda told me they would blow my mind, and she could not have been more right. this is a case where the unbelievable music coming off the stage completely resonated with me. i cant explain why, i have a hard time even describing what i was hearing. one guy on percussion (and bullhorn, ha!), and one gal on guitars, vocals, plus effects, loopers, etc. she'd play a riff on one guitar, loop it, then switch out to a bass or some other guitar, play that for a bit, do some vocals and loop it, etc. etc., until they'd built up a beautiful multi-layered sonic landscape. definite GYBE and Animal Collective influences, but more melodic and listener-friendly (which is not an insult, in my book). just some really remarkable music, howzat for descriptive? i was absolutely transfixed. met the band after, babbled incoherently at them, and bot the cd. if you ever have a chance to catch these guys, do not miss it (i'm even considering driving out to haileys tonight to catch their (midnight!) set, as insane as that is, on a work night). truly incredible.

at some point, mis compadres showed up. no random-chick tonsil-hockey tonight, tho, but not for lack of tryin on their part.

next up was shibboleth, who i've seen before. they did a nice set of catchy, bluesy, head-bobbin instrumental tunes.

then was the happy bullets, who i've seen twice before. really enjoyed this set. liked the way they continually switched up the lead vocal role, kept things fresh. absolutely loved the trumpet and trombone combo (plus the trumpet player was hot (it's a chick, you asses)). a great set of well-written, smart, plucky, infectious indie-pop songs. i think "vice and virtue ministry" has to be one of my favorite songs right now - go check it out on their myspace page. made the mistake of lettin amanda know i loved that song, so when it came on, she yanked me off my chair and brought me up front to dance. a total riot, but omi-effin-god, i'm one of those people that should never dance in public. thank gawd i was pretty plowed, and thank gawd my buddies didnt have a phone with video, or i'd have to move out of state.

last was the drams. very tight group - you can tell these guys have some talent, and they've been at it for a while. 6 guys on-stage, including slide guitar. shades of Sorta, the eagles. dont know if they always have the slide guitar, but they definitely veered into alt-country territory tonight (not that there's anything wrong with that). seemed to be a decent crowd there for them, based on the number of people singing along.

very very tired at that point, so skipped zini's, much to my alternate-universe girlfriend's disappointment, i'm sure.

all in all, another exceptional night at dada.