2/28/09 - Heartless Bastards, Record Hop, Will E Lee

Will E Lee was up first, and lo and behold, if it wasn't my ol' buddy Drunken Lame' Boy, staunch defender of Zest of Yore and sometime mobile disco ball. anyhows: 3-man band, some decent bluesy/folky stuff, some acoustic, some electric. definitely appreciated the laid-back acoustic stuff more than the fuzzed-out, sorta-rambling bluesy electric stuff, which was not my bag at all, baby. all in all, it was OK, fairly low-energy, nothin overly compelling.

Record Hop was up next - my second time to see them that week. unlike the show at the Lounge, their set was not marred by bad sound, and they returned to their former glory (at least, in my mind). loved it.

Heartless Bastards from Ohio headlined. loved these guys too. lead has very unique voice - gritty, husky, soul-filled, the kind you never get tired of listening to. some really outstanding, sometimes-folky, sometimes-garage-y blues rock. some songs very janis-joplin-like. really enjoyed the set. check 'em out.

2/26/09 - Ume, Record Hop, League of Fucking Decency

went to a parade of flesh show at the lounge on thursday night, with Knuckles in tow:

The League of Fucking Decency started things off. 4-man band, pretty standard guitar rock, pretty average. two leads traded off vocal duties, neither voice that great. for some reason, i kept thinking of a bunch of 13-year-olds jamming on their first guitars in their parents' garage (and i think that might be what they're goin for, believe it or not). couldn't get that thought out of my head, especially when they stopped down in the middle of a song so all four of them (including the drummer, who stood up) could shout/sing the chorus, which was some sort of rock-n-roll manifesto about rebelling or stickin it to the man or somesuch. i thot that was pretty damn funny. dono if it was supposed to be or not. anywho, i'm not tryin to be mean, i guess i just wasn't that into what they were doin. plus which, the guitar player's permed-out ted nugent hair offended me (kidding!). next up was Record Hop. seen them a number of times, and have been blown away each time. that night, however, i think they fell victim to a poor sound mix - the vocals sounded awfully muddy and muffled. one of my favorite things about RH is Ashley's voice, so to not be able to hear that clearly diminished their performance. not their fault, tho, at all. still dug the set overall. Ume was up last. saw them at Hailey's a while back, which is when Knuckles fell in love (blistering guitar rock + hot female lead = Knuckles In Love). amazing amount of sound coming from only three people, nice strong voice coming from pixie-like lead. i enjoyed the set, tho it's not exactly my kind of thing. Ume was the band Knuckles came for (he and the lead have this "thing", wherein he stands down in front and leers at her, and she pretty much ignores him (they're practically married)). and wouldn't you know it - just like last time, he damn near had to bitch-slap some guy, this time the nugent dude from LoFD, who parked himself right in front of Knuckles and proceeded to fling his rock-n-roll hairdo all around, thus obstructing Knuckles' view. too damn funny. have to say, that was another strike against that band, as they all pseudo-moshed with each other at the front of the stage, distracting the shit out of me, anyways.

show was done at 12:15 - not bad for a school night. wish more promoters would do that during the week (fuck you, cavern, and yer goddamn 1030 start times!)

8/30/08 - Zest of Yore, Ume, Record Hop

made the journey westward to hailey's in denton to catch record hop. managed to drag Knuckles and The Piledriver wif me, cuz i knew they would enjoy the greatness of record hop, plus which, RH and Ume both have hot chick lead singers, and those two are just like that.

also enjoyed the company of a local denton gal, who apparently knows everyone in the denton music scene, being as how they all apparently have hung out at Dan's at one point or another (where she apparently has a chair reserved in her name).

first up was Record Hop. i've seen these guys 3 times now (previous write-up here), and they kick my ass every time. blistering, visceral, & gut-wrenching are terms i've used to describe them. small problem at hailey's - couldn't really hear ashley's vocals very well. still don't understand how the sound guy can't hear that, too, and fix it. knuckles and the piledriver seemed to be offended when ashley and scott turned their backs and jammed for like 5 minutes, but i thot they were kickin ass. great set.

next up was Ume, from austin. very similar in style to record hop - some incredible, high-energy, hard-rockin bluesy stuff. 3-man band - 2 guitars and drummer. awesome vocals (sounded just like ashley to me, and you could actually hear them (maybe the sound guy woke up)), plus some amazing guitar playing from the whirling dervish that was the lead. fantastic set - would definitely like to catch them again. knuckles and the piledriver actually liked them better than RH.

knuckles damn near had to kick some indie-rocker ass when the dude dared to get between him and the hot-chick lead (knuckles was front and center, as he is wont to do when there's a hot chick singin lead). too funny. he also had to dodge Drunken Lame' Boy, whose shirt was so shiny he served as a mobile disco ball as he stumbled around.

last up was Zest of Yore, and they were turrrrrrible. not sure what it was, but dear gawd, we couldn't wait for it to be over. didn't like the vocals, the guitar playin, the musical style, nothin. maybe it was because they were a let-down after two great bands, i dono. i'm not sayin they were bad, just that all three of us didn't care for it. at all. they closed their encore (!) with "purple rain", which just about killed us.

7/22/08 - DOMA ceremony

had another great time last night, courtesy of the dallas observer (i promise, they ain't payin me) - went to the DOMA ceremony at the granada.

for me, it was like being a kid in a candy shop - all (or at least a lot of) my favorite artists and music people in one place at the same time. really cool.

unfortunately, missed sarah jaffe and doug burr (can you bleebe they actually started on time?)

coulda done without the lindsay lohan remix songs (??) and what-not by the DJs (just not my thing), but they kept people entertained between sets and awards. yo, for real.

Whiskey Folk Ramblers - really dug their set. dono why, but i liked it much more last night than when i saw 'em on saturday night. that kind of music aint usually my thang, but for some reason i really got into it. it seemed like their songs weren't the typical happy-go-lucky bluegrass stuff i thot it was, it was darker, more dirge-like (which i really dig). missed Lil Wil (enjoying a refreshing beverage in the car)

instrumentalist super-group - what a great idea, having the nominees for best instrumentalist perform their versions of the best song nominees. what a hoot, hearing a bluegrass version of "Julianne". what an amazing, talented group of folks. burton gilliam was also a hoot, tho he had trouble reading those cards (sean "patrick", "spectator" 45). backsliders - they were also better than i remembered them being on saturday (probably the acoustics). some pretty good stuff. went on just a tad too long, however. pete gave me a free drink ticket, instantly becoming my new hero. record hop - ho. ly. shit. saw them once before at the cavern, and was blown away, and they had the same effect last night. way harder than the stuff i usually listen to, but man, i absolutely loved it. i have got to get my buddies out to see these guys.
amazing how much was packed into less than 3.5 hours - 6 bands, plus awards. shows what can be done, if things start on time and keep to a schedule. now if only the venues would do that on a regular basis, maybe more people would show up? just a thought. what do i know.

11/1/07 - White Rabbits, Red Monroe, Record Hop, Burning Hotels

Went to the Cavern on a thursday night - never seen lowest greenville that dead, but there was actually a decent crowd at the cavern.

First up was the Burning Hotels from Ft Worth - 4-man, 2 guitars (mostly). guitar work sometimes reminded me of U2, songs sometimes reminded me of Radiant. all 3 guitarists sang at some point, sometimes all together (love that), great interplay between vocalists, nice harmonies. noticed the drummer workin overtime back there, trickin it up, great job (i don't normally notice the drummer). closed w/ cover. some really nice songs. would definitely see again.

Next up was Record Hop from denton (who i'd never seen before, despite all my trips over there), and holy shit were they good - fuckin incredible, on a totally different level. 4-man (no keys) - just dirty, grungy, bluesy, raw, the kind of stuff that just grips you by the balls, pulls you in, and doesn't let go. the word that kept coming to mind - visceral. this is not the kind of stuff i usually listen to, but damn, was i sold on these guys (and gal). speakin of that, i usually don't care for the female lead vocalist (in a rock band), but ashlee absolutely destroyed my bias on that front. fantastic set - wanted it to go on all night. definitely look forward to catching them again.

Third was Red Monroe, the band that was the main reason i had gone to the show ( i had yet to catch them since their second cd release). their first cd is easily one of my favorites out of all the cd's from local bands that i've accumulated over the last year, so i was looking forward to hearing the new stuff. i have to say, tho, that the new songs just didn't grab me like the old ones. the new songs share the same jangly guitars and whine-shout vocals, but they just seemed to be missing the hook or groove that i came to love from the first cd. it's probably because i'm much more familiar with the old songs, but whenever they played a song from the first cd, it just seemed like it was infinitely better. for some reason, the same vocal stylings that i dug on the first cd grated on my nerves on all the new songs. i don't understand that, but that's what i felt. still plan on gettin the new cd.

headlining was White Rabbits from NYC, who showed (in my opinion) why they deserve the hype (they've been on letterman). these guys are highly skilled songwriters and musicians. 6-man band, usually two drummers (and sometimes a third), giving almost an animal collective feel at some points. really cool songs.

spotted ringo starr in the crowd, i could swear. lotsa sister pants and pointy black shoes, too. seemed like everyone there was either in a band, or a friend of the band.

for the first time in a long time, made it thru the night without "using" the bathroom. yay, me.