We Shot J.R.- Dallas/Denton Music Blog

WESHOTJR IS DEAD PARTY PICS

2010-12-07T20:22:00.002-06:00

Hey Kids,

Photos from the last WeShotJR party at Rubber Gloves are finally up. Sorry it took so long, but I hope you enjoy them.

Miss ya'll.

Love,

Sally

Defensive Listening To Write For D Magazine's Front Row Blog

2010-12-02T14:55:00.003-06:00

To those of you that continue to look at this site,

I just wanted to let you know that I will be writing It Lists and Weekenders for D Magazine's Front Row Blog, which covers the arts in the DFW area. I will also be working on reviews and interviews, so stay in touch. Thanks very much, I miss you all.

Defensive Listening

2010-11-22T15:31:00.002-06:00

Farewell

2010-11-01T01:11:00.013-05:00

Saturday's WSJR funeral was easily one of the best times I've ever had doing anything involving this website. First of all, every band I saw was great. Like, "I actually want to listen to this shit at my house sometimes" great, you know? And a lot of people came out to see them, way more than I expected, which was a welcome and pleasant surprise that made the whole experience substantially better. I talked with old friends, met a few new ones, and had a really good time at a concert I was honored to be a small part of.

At some point during the night, I reflected back to a few weeks ago when a friend of mine asked me if I thought I had "accomplished" anything with WeShot JR after almost five years. Am I "proud" of it? Would I recommend that others give something similar a try themselves? Is Dallas worth fighting for, and didn't moving to Chicago pretty much already answer that question? After first wondering why my friend was being kind of a dick, I realized that I really didn't know how to answer his inquiries. And then I realized that it didn't matter.

This site was started in January 2006 mostly out of boredom, with an aim to have as much fun in Dallas as I possibly could while I was stuck living there for school and work. As the site launched and I looked around the internet, I realized that there really wasn't anyone else in town doing what I was trying to do, which seemed strange but not all together surprising. You see, up to that point, I had spent several years in Dallas going to a lot of mediocre shows and reading countless articles on boring 90's holdovers like Deathray Davies, Old 97s and others, wondering what, exactly, was wrong with the local music media and why Dallas hadn't caught up with the rest of the world. Was it shitty writers? Shitty bands? A shitty music scene? I really wanted to find out. It seemed that Dallas was stuck in a certain era of its own history, and I figured there were a lot of people out there like me who wanted to experience good music in the city but had no idea how to find it, or if it even existed at all. I wasn't a part of any "music scene," I had no inside scoops into anything going on, and truly lacked any kind of real insight into what Dallas music was all about, other than whatever knowledge I already possessed regarding music in general.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that this site had a very humble aim when it started, and not only did it more than accomplish my initial goals, it eventually became much more than I ever thought it could be. If someone had told me that I would work on it almost every day for five years, I would have laughed at them, just as I would have if they had told me I'd get to interview everyone from Robert Pollard to Sonic Boom to Silver Apples, or get to put on concerts, or start a record label, or host parties at SXSW or a showcase at Melodica Festival. I have no idea what we did or didn't accomplish with this site, or if we changed anything, or how many people will even remember us a few years down the road. But I do know that we, as in the writers and readers of WeShotJR, made some noise in this town, and I loved almost every second of it.

As silly as it might sound, working on this website has been one of the most fulfilling things I've ever done, and I'd like to truly thank everyone for reading, even those who hated us. Especially those who hated us. Because in a place like Dallas, if your opinions don't piss people off, you're doing something wrong.

I'd like to give special thanks to:
Sam Machkovech
Sanctuary Studios
Zac Crain
Wanz Dover
John Freeman
The Shapes
The Party-- Nature, Sober and Select
James Watkins
The Chat Room
1919 Hemphill
Seth Sherman
715 Panhandle
East Plano
Muscle Beach
Art Prostitute
Daniel Francis Doyle
Orange Coax
Fight Bite
Nevada Hill
the Undoing of David Wright
The Strange Boys
8th Continent
Fra House
Wisconsin
Majestic Dwelling of Doom
all current and former WeshotJr writers
Sally Glass
Fred Holston
Anyone who has performed at any of our shows
Bill Holston
Prince William
House of Tinnitus
Paul Slocum
Cliff Notes
Josh Baish and everyone at Rubber Gloves
TPH
DL
and anyone else who deserves it

WEEKENDER

2010-10-30T00:19:00.001-05:00

Stoned Ranger really regrets not doing this final Weekender as originally planned, so instead you're stuck with me, DL. However, he will have a special note for you this weekend, so make sure and sign the Guest Book sometime soon.

One last note: We will keep our Twitter and Facebook page around for any sort of last word, or post We Shot JR news, and to keep you abreast of any other writing projects we may be involved in, as there has been some "talk," but only time will tell. Perhaps there will be somewhere else that we are welcome to occasionally share our take with you, who knows? I encourage those of you that are so inclined to please continue writing about music on your own websites. I don't think writing about music is stupid. It's difficult, and people simply want to trash things that are difficult as pointless. It requires a lot of meticulous research and requires a certain lifestyle in some ways. You can't always stay in on weeknights.

If it wasn't for cranky and well informed music writing from decades past, I would have overlooked a lot of challenging or nondescript or seemingly unappealing music that would eventually become some of my most treasured moments or ideas or items in my life.

I want to thank the following people, places, and things:
El Tocadiscos
Cliff Notes
Sally Glass
Richardson Heights
Nevada Hill
Zac Crain
Dust Congress House: Nick Foreman
David Ireland at AEG Live.
Art Prostitute/Public Trust: Brian G.
Muscle Beach
Holly Jefferson
Groove Net Records
Secret Headquarters: Scott, Kerm, and Cody
Fra House: Josh, Ed, Chuck.
Marietta/Paperstain: Justin Lemons and David Sailor and Meredith.
Thanks so many times to Justin "JC" Collins for various favors and help.
Matt Barnhart, Rubber Gloves, Shep.
House of Tinnitus: Rob & Amelia.
Mark Church at Good Records.
Paul Slocum
K.O.L.D: Julie, Sasha, and Evan.
Joshaa
715 Panhandle, NPNR
Travis Smith
1919 Hemphill: Rick, Al, and various volunteers.
8th Continent: Lars, Heather, and Shane
The Chat Room: Dave and Ben.
Wisconsin: Chris, Brad, Garrick.
Majestic Dwelling Of Doom
Layla Blackshear
Preston Jones
Hunter Hauk
Sam M.
All the people that have written us nice letters.
To countless bands, artists, and fearless people that I have found inspiring even when I didn't feel up to doing this. Thanks very much to all of you.

-Defensive Listening

FRIDAY

Bad Brains/Spector 45/Here Holy Spain (Granada): Is there anything better than those first Bad Brains recordings, including the Black Dots demo collection? You really wouldn't expect reggae, punk, and thrash to actually work as well as it does, and perhaps it never really did again. In other words, I hope this set consists of early material only, but that's every fan's dilemma.

Rocket For Ethiopia/Legsweeper/Geistheistler/Kampfgrounds (Houseton located at 2311 Houston in Denton)

Doctor Troy/Blixaboy (Fallout Lounge): This show shouldn't be overlooked, as it features Doctor Troy who runs the great West Coast reissue label, Medical Records, which certainly contributed to a 200 plus dollar record buying binge I went on during a recent visit to Amoeba in LA. In fact, I wound up buying two copies of the same Robotnik record they put out, just because I knew I wouldn't see any in these parts. Dr. Troy is apparently an actual doctor, and originally hails from Texas, but most importantly he was mining the dust settled corners of the prog synth, minimal wave, space disco and similar 80's genres far before it became hip to do so, and his reissues and mixes are testament to that.

Wanz "Blixaboy" Dover has received a growing number of accolades for his work of late, from XLR8R, RCRD LBL, Fader and all the places you'd want a new record in this style to be mentioned. That sort of brings things full circle on this website. You see, Wanz was the subject of much debate early on, due to his intensely opinionated view of the local underground scene's evolution as well as his part in it, and I remember spending time on here both agreeing and disagreeing with him from time to time as an anonymous commenter before I took on the nom de plume of Defensive Listening. His Melodica fest in 2008 still stands as a favorite memory of many a music fan I know, and I'm talking people who actually listen to records and go to shows that aren't driven by modern bloggo publicist BS. Melodica was by far the best local festival of the past five years, no contest. When he was pointlessly attacked for his efforts, it helped bring an entire group of people together that might not have been unified otherwise, and of course now that he's getting national attention, well, hey it's fashionable and politically easy to cover his music. But that should have always been easy, and free of agenda and forced narratives. Instead, like so often happens in music and art, personal politics cloud the judgment of hack writers everywhere. You see it time and time again; some tiny band or artist goes largely ignored, someone with taste takes the time to shed some light on them, and then all of your former critics come running to your side, pretending as though they'd been there all along. That's okay. I've come to accept and expect that in the world. When it's work out that way, it's really best for the artists themselves to get that sort of recognition and justice, no matter how many fools they confused along the way.

I'm glad to see Wanz do well, and again, I'm glad the record is called "Kliks & Politiks." Full circle indeed. Event is free.

Costumed Critical Mass: Starts in Fort Worth, right?

SATURDAY

We Shot JR is Dead (Rubber Gloves): Yeah, so one more time: This event starts at six and is hosted by Fred Holston. There may be some "surprises." There might not be anything surprising at all. But I hope you join us, as I do vouch for almost all of the acts here. A lot of them represent everything we get attacked for, and I find that comforting. Yes, I know 99 percent of the lineup is awesome. You're welcome. My only regret is that it couldn't be just a few hours longer to incorporate the other handful of bands we like around here. I hope someone brings candy.

Darktown Strutters/Damaged Goods/Yeah Def (Hailey's)

SUNDAY

Pinkish Black/Transistor Tramps/Vaults of Zin (Chat Room)

Helmet/Intronaut/Descender (Loft)

Danzig (Palladium): I have never been into Danzig or Samhain and I think the Misfits are by far the most overrated punk band of all time, but he was pretty good at Fun Fun Fun Fest last year. If you're going this year, I'm sorry that Devo canceled. Total drag.

Commando/Heavy Cream/Uptown Bums/Video (Rubber Gloves): I like Video but if anyone ever calls them "No Wave" again, I'm going to vomit blood. No Wave is perhaps the only sacred genre of music in my world. You get knighted in that realm, and hopefully never erroneously.

It List: Thursday

2010-10-28T13:43:00.005-05:00

Wow my last It List. As Coach Taylor said in last night's Friday Night Lights episode while watching his college bound daughter Julie fuss with her mother over something trivial just moments before their familial unit is forever altered by the sands of time, "I'm gonna miss this". Remember you can still catch Monday Morning Rock over at my new movie themed blog Phosphate on Film (launching late next week) or you can always gchat with me via frankphosphate@gmail.com if you ever get lonely late at night, I'm usually around. Wish there was a show tonight that I felt like writing about but... yeah take a look. I don't have the negative energy to spare right now. See you Saturday.

Ra Ra Riot (Granada)

Tim Kasher | Minus the Bear (House of Blues)

And You Will Know us By the Trail of the Dead (Loft)

Ryan Thomas Becker | Jason Bonner (J&J's)

80's Night w/DJ G (Amsterdam)

Seryn | Volt Revolt | Stomach | Baruch the Scribe (Rubber Gloves)

Art List

2010-10-28T13:29:00.004-05:00

THURSDAY, October 28, 2010

Magical, Mystical, Masterful (Jill Skupin Burkholder)
Sun to Moon Gallery
1515 Levee Street, Dallas, TX 75207
5:00 PM - 8:00 PM

FRIDAY, October 29, 2010

Dallas Portfolio Exchange #9 (large group show)
Magnolia Gallery
3629 McKinney Avenue, Dallas, TX 75204
8:00 PM - 10:00 PM

Indig-Nation: Agency and the Hegemonic State (smallish group show)
Visual Arts Building at University Of Texas at Dallas
800 West Campbell Road, Richardson, TX 75083
6:30 PM - 8:30 PM

SATURDAY, October 30, 2010

Easl Art Heist 2010 Fundraiser & Party (more info)
Lofty Spaces
816 Montgomery Street, Dallas, TX 75215
7:00 PM - 11:00 PM

The Language of Myth (Brent Kollock)
Watercolors (Michael Roque Collins)
Norwood Flynn Gallery
3318 Shorecrest Drive, Dallas, TX 75235
6:00 PM - 8:00 PM

Thanks, dudes. It was fun.

It List: Wednesday

2010-10-27T17:09:00.002-05:00

The Numerators/Sunn Talk/Kiwi Sisters (The Cavern): Always a great time with the Numerators. And I'd never heard of Garland's Kiwi Sisters until today-- kind of interesting, at times decent loner bedroom synth pop, and sort of shitty in parts too. I really don't know what to think, but its worth checking out to see what you think.

Bone Thugs n Harmony/Johnny Ringo (House of Blues): Goddamn, I love Bone Thugs. I also love Cleveland, where they're from. I don't know what it is, exactly, but Bone's best singles just fucking kill it every single time. I rocked em in 10th grade, and I like them as much or possibly even more now. Of course, the irony of a bunch of suburban kids singing along about "the first of the month" isn't lost on me, but that's kind of part of the fun, isn't it?

Interpol/White Rabbits (Palladium): What happens to someone like Carlos D when first they're cool, then everyone makes fun of them, then they become unworthy of even mockery? Now that hipsters are more or less a thing of the past, I can't imagine what this guy will possibly do with the rest of his life. I mean, he was more of a professional hipster than anyone I can think of. And if you haven't read the article linked in the previous sentence, I would highly recommend checking it out-- a good look back at the counterculture decade that never was. I'd be curious to see what any of you have to say about that.

We Shot Jr is Dead

2010-10-27T15:33:00.002-05:00

Here's the new schedule for the show, and we hope to see you guys on Saturday at Rubber Gloves for our last day on earth:

Geistheistler 6:00pm (stage)
Cuckoo Byrds 6:30 (floor)
Fungi Girls 7:30(f)
Lychgate 8:00(s)
Eat Avery's Bones 8:35 (f)
Dharma 9:00(s)
White Drugs 9:35(f)
Cygnus 10:05(s)
Orange Coax 10:40(f)
Early Lines 11:10 (s)
Vulgar Fashion 12:05 (f)
One Baptist General 12:30 (s)

with DJG and Ben White spinning records

not new music

2010-10-26T19:12:00.004-05:00

13th Floor Elevators - Death in Texas (IA)/The Magic of the Pyramids (Collectables)

Tonight we have two releases from Texas' finest, the 13th Floor Elevators. Both of these recordings are from the same show, the infamous February 18, 1967 gig at the Houston Music Theatre. I've only included the first two thirds of the Death in Texas cd, which is disc 10 of last year's limited edition (and totally awesome) Sign of the 3-Eyed Men box set put out by the resurrected label International Artists. The tracks I left off were from reunion shows in the late 70s and mid 80s. The Magic of the Pyramids has several songs from the same show that aren't included on Death in Texas, as well as an alternate version of the Easter Everywhere gem 'Dust.'

The Magic of the Pyramids was actually the first Elevators recording that I ever bought and I can't tell you how many straight months that it stayed in the tape deck of my 1975 Cadillac when I was a teenager. Maybe that's why I have always had a soft spot for these recordings when many consider them a complete mess and a document of a band that was falling apart. The late Elevators guitarist Stacy Sutherland gave his recollection of the night in a 1977 interview:

"The most mystic vision I ever had was concerning a show we did here in Houston, Theatre In The Round [a k a Houston Music Theatre]. And I had taken some acid, I hadn't had any in quite a while, and it was a super strong dose, about a 1,000 microgram or something. And we had to do a concert, and all of a sudden everyone started glowing. They had a foot of light, like a neon light around them in the room… real bright. And everyone started glowing away, and I freaked out that I was going to die or something. I had some bad trips before, but nothing like this. And then everybody turned into wolves, and I thought that our band was evil, because of some of the things we had advocated. We had had a controversy going on quite a while about advocating drugs and so forth, and mixing it with religion, you know. 'Cause I felt like that was pretty dangerous ground to tread. And Tommy and I were arguing about that quite a bit. I got on a bummer about it evidently. And I was tryin' to escape the room, I didn't know what I was gonna do, but I was gonna get out of there. I didn't want anything to do with it 'cause everybody was turning into animals. And all of a sudden there were angels, and I couldn't move my body anymore. I lost physical feeling all over and I was laying on the floor. And everybody turned into angels, and everybody in the room was the judge at my trial to decide whether I was worthy to enter heaven or hell. Because it was absolute that I was going to die anyway you know."

The rest of the interview, along with a wealth of other Elevators info, can be found here. Enjoy!

It list: Tuesday

2010-10-26T18:03:00.004-05:00

The Fresh & Onlys | Royal Baths | Rayon Beach (The Nightmare)

Singles Going Steady (Rubber Gloves)

a video

2010-10-26T10:45:00.002-05:00

There will be a Not New Music coming later today. In the meantime check out some great guitar work from Mark Knopfler in this Dire Straits clip from the Old Grey Whistle Test back in 1978.

It List: Monday

2010-10-25T17:14:00.004-05:00

Aw, is this the last time We Shot JR will ever tell you about Cool Out at The Cavern? We had some good times at Cool Out. I remember discussing "Where The Scene Was At" and "What makes the perfectly bloggable MP3?" and "Why does that guy from The Observer always have that little notepad with him?" This is all while fielding requests to kiss Thatcher on the cheek. Cool Out is like so many other things around here:

1. People make fun of you for doing it.
2. The people that made fun of you wind up doing it themselves.
3. It becomes such an institution that nobody would question it either way.
4. Once it's gone, people will miss it.

I don't know if we'll be so lucky. I have no problem with Cool Out. I never have. I always heard more disco and soul and Danceteria tracks than anything that resembled "Blog Haus" during those tumultuous years.

Oh, I almost forgot. Speaking of the scene and since you're saying goodbye to us, I wanted to give a long-delayed goodbye to a local scene legend. Yes, this is a tribute to someone I came to know only through the wonderful world of the We Shot JR Twitter account. It's Dustin Hollywood, the local party photographer that moved to actual Hollywood. When he lived in Dallas he worked for Helloooooo Dot Com and he also worked for Rockwell Collins, the defense contractor. You can read about this in the Dallas Morning News article linked above.
He recently did a remarkable feature with the fashion blog Style Like U, where he explained his largely organic jewelry style and it's worth checking out as well.

I always found that dichotomy of Hollywood's photography and the lifestyle it represents with the sometimes conservative tone in his tweets fascinating. I have friends that work for Rockwell Collins; but they tend to be housewives and family men, never a Dallas party photog. You might say that in his time around here, Hollywood was kind of like "The Juan Williams of Dallas Nightlife Photography," you know, kind of the way that Williams was the most conservative man on NPR, or now the most liberal guy at Fox News. Makes your head spin.

Speaking of NPR, I wanted to share with you some of Dustin Hollywood's most entertaining Tweets, in which he addresses National Public Radio. Read a few of these and you tell me if Dallas hasn't lost one of its most fascinatingly complex talents:

Five Classics From Dustin Hollywood's Twitter:

1. "FUCK NPR"

2. "I know it's wrong for me to say this but people with wheelchairs really annoy me."

3. "WHAT THE HELL, this fucking wheel chair man just ran over my foot like three times without flinching"

4. (Retweet): "AGREED RT @ninelleefremova: Homeless people are human litter. #justsaying"

5. "I gave $5 to a homeless veteran. They are the only people I believe should never be homeless!!"

ALSO:

Envy/La Dispute/Touche Amore/And So I Watch You From Afar (Rubber Gloves)

Monday Morning Rock

2010-10-25T07:53:00.004-05:00

TUE: Interpol/White Rabbits (Palladium)
TUE: The Fresh & Onlys/Royal Baths/Rayon Beach (The Nightmare)
WED: The Numerators/Sunn Talk/Kiwi Sisters (The Cavern)
THR: Ra Ra Riot (Granada)
THR: Tim Kasher/Minus the Bear (House of Blues)
THR: And You Will Know us By the Trail of the Dead (Loft)
FRI: Bad Brains (Granada)
SAT: We Shot JR is Dead (Rubber Gloves)
SAT: Darktown Strutters/Damaged Goods/Yeah Def (Hailey's)
SUN: Pinkish Black/Transistor Tramps/Vaults of Zin (Chat Room)
SUN: Helmet/Intronaut/Descender (Loft)
SUN: Danzig (Palladium)
SUN: Commando/Heavy Cream/Uptown Bums/Video (Rubber Gloves)

WEEKENDER

2010-10-22T17:01:00.003-05:00

//TENSE// - Turn It Off from tommy boy on Vimeo.

FRIDAY

La Meme Gallery Opening: Mustache Club/Skunk Ape/Yeah Def (Rubber Gloves): Featuring work by John Gonzalez. You wouldn't believe how many acts are called "Skunk Ape."

Black Friday One Year Anniversary with Tense/Anthony Stanford/Keith P/Ben White (Fallout Lounge): Well, this has easily been one of the best DJ nights that's come about in recent memory, and I'm glad to see it reach the one-year mark. Black Friday has always been great for its lack of pretense; you don't feel embarrassed to be there, and it's the perfect night for those who have a little too much Dark and Cold Wave in their collections to not be what one would consider a "closet goth." You know who you are. And you know that it's been a long time since you heard any new music, or returned to any of the spiky post punk records that got you into this stuff. Ben, Keith, and Anthony have all taken the respective tentacles of this genre to their most obscure tangential conclusions, and Dallas audiences have been lucky to hear this stuff blasting out of the taxed speakers of the Fallout for a whole year now thanks to their efforts.

They certainly must have put their heads together for this one, by recruiting //TENSE//, the Houston act that plays an updated version of EBM; the polyrhythms of which have evolved slightly from the more straight-forward Industrial attack that they employed at the K.O.L.D. venue in Denton a couple of years ago. Though their sound has changed somewhat, the mood and themes are as dark as ever, and one would be hard pressed to think of a more fitting band for this occasion.

It should also be noted that //TENSE// will be touring with Industrial pop legends Nitzer Ebb on their North American tour; surely a dream come true for most bands in this genre.

Missile/The Phuss/Max Cady (The Curtain Club): Have you seen the Missile video? Click on the link to check it out. Is this a small band pretending to be huge? Or a huge band pretending to be small? Semantics.

Free Energy/Hollerado/Foxy Shazam (The Loft)

SATURDAY

Vexed UK/Hentai Improvising Orchestra/New Science Projects/Tony Sims/Skeleton Coast/Anion/The Emissary/R-Type VS Nerio (The Gallery At Lander's Machine Shop)

SUNDAY

Lost Generation with Wanz/Gabe/Adam Pickrell (Arcade Bar)

The Thermals/Cymbals Eat Guitars/The Coathangers (Granada Theater)

It List: Thursday

2010-10-21T18:00:00.001-05:00

Guy Clark (The Kessler)

Thrones | Christian Mistress | DeadSea (The Nigthmare)

Pumpkin Carving Contest w/ DJ Boatdad (Rubber Gloves)

add:
Hoyotoho | Novaak | Darktown Strutters (City Tavern)

Art List

2010-10-21T16:22:00.003-05:00

SATURDAY, October 23, 2010

Art Conspiracy
Starting at 7:00 PM (more info)

Denton Rising Artists
LuminArte
1727 East Levee Street, Dallas, TX 75207
7:00 PM - 11:00 PM

Open Studios
Shamrock Hotel Studios
4312 Elm Street, Dallas, TX
5:00 PM - 9:00 PM

New Works (Willie Binnie)
Bows and Arrows
1927 Greenville Avenue, Dallas, TX 75206
7:00 PM - 10:00 PM

Megacities (Christopher Lee Martin)
Haley-Henman Galleries
2335 Hardwick Street, Dallas, TX 75208
6:00 PM - 9:00 PM

Link
Adriana Carvalho
David Zalben
George Schroeder
HCG Gallery
1130 Dragon Street, Suite 190, Dallas, TX 75207
7:00 PM - 9:00 PM

It List: Wednesday

2010-10-20T17:11:00.002-05:00

I had shitty things to say about BOTH of these shows, but alas, I have to work:

Sufjan Stevens (McFarlin Auditorium)

Gorillaz/N.E.R.D (Verizon Theater)

Not New Music

2010-10-19T17:56:00.007-05:00

but first...

I have come to the conclusion that I do not enjoy writing about music, perhaps not as much as you do not enjoy reading my writing but that's besides the point. Before becoming a writer here at weshotjr I of course fantasied about becoming one, but I was much more interested in doing the Not New Music post where I could release my school girl adoration for albums I thought everyone deserved to hear before they died. While I was more than willing to take on the challenge of critiquing local and touring artist as well, I have always had a feeling that my musical taste were slightly askew of the general public's. Which in the end kept me excited and eager to write about the shows/artist that I did.

I can't stand music blogs, mainly the general purpose indie hit factory variety. The state of music blogging seems very stale to me. A race to see which site can post the latest "under the radar" video or attaching their domain name to a buzz worthy show. Very rarely do I see critical analysis, or even any kind of honest debate/thought that doesn't consist solely of reference to other artist and buzzy sub-genre names. After walking a mile in their shoes though, I don't blame them. As cliche as the line may be, Zappa said it best when we defined music journalism akin to "dancing about architecture".

Music is such a visceral experience to any true music fan. It is possible to pin point technical aspects of a song or album that turn you on but it is impossible to describe what is about certain music that just sucks you in. For the more technical minded people I can see how guitar virtuoso centered acts can be judged on their technical abilities as musicians, but for the most part music taste, just like love, makes very little sense. Although I feel like I have done a competent job articulating my point of view when it comes to music, I think it is too hard to do and takes the fun out of the music to a certain extent.

Having said this, I have decided to start a DFW centered movie blog. Although you may not be aware of it, the DFW is a very nice area to live in if you are a film lover. While we may not have any mom and pop indie theaters we do have two massive hulks - Magnolia and Angelika - that would make a cinephile in butt fuck Wisconsin eye balls explode.

So why write about film and give up music? I feel the cinema is a topic much easier to critique in an universal language that everyone can debate in. Even though I have had some great fun being a border line ass hole in my critique of some artist, especially local, about once a every couple months I have a little trouble sleeping when I think about some things I have said. Why it doesn't keep me from posting is because I believe an artist should never, ever be afraid of honest critique. I honestly do respect anyone who takes the time to create music to share with the world which makes it hard to label something created by someone else as garbage.

Also there is already alot of interesting stuff going on in the local scene, mainly with the Texas Theater, which I am sure will serve as great fodder for content. What I would really love to see is a place local film lovers and makers alike to have a place to congregate because I know most of us spend the majority of time alone with our projector and DVD player. I am even snobbier about moves than I am with music and would love to get in some discussions with you cats about film. It is easier to pin point what makes a good film versus what makes good music. This is something I will go into over on the blog at a later point, so instead of wasting my breath here I am going to direct you over to the URL http://phosphateonfilm.blogspot.com/ (which will drop the blogspot soon) and ask you to please come and visit November 4th when the blog officially launches.

What may interest you people who could give two shits about movies is that I will continue to do Monday Morning Rock at the new site. It will be the same format as it is here but maybe with links built in. The anonymous comments section will be open so if you need a place to vent there you go. Although I will not be doing Not New Music post obviously I will be doing (L)ost which is where I will be posting out of prints soundtracks with a write up about the music and probably the movie as well. Featured below is the prototype first (L)ost which can be found on the Phosphate on Film site but now also here.

You can become apart of the party with the Facebook group.

Not New Music

OST - The Sun of Dracula

1972 - Harry Nilsson/Ringo Starr

The early 70's were a wild and wacky time in cinema as the independent visions of auteurs were defining the standard for independent cinema for years to come. There were also numerous celebrities/musicians begging to burn out from years of drug abuse and made the financial decision to breach into the world of cinema. One of the many gems to come out during this wave was Son Of Dracula starring Nilsson as the young Dracula who longs to be a human capable of love and Ringo Starr as Merlin the Magician. The soundtrack is essentially a rehashing of songs from Harry's albums "Nilsson Schmilsson" and "Son of Schmilsson" with dialog interludes from the movie. There is one original song on the album, Daybreak, which is a typically delightful take on the highs and lows of vampire life. Surprisingly the musical selections and clips flow well into one another making for a fairly cohesive re-telling of the story. The film was directed by respected 60's B-Movie horror director and two time Oscar winning (Glory 89'/Sons and Lovers 60') cinematographer Freddie Francis.

Despite the chops of the personnel and the world's never ending love of vampire movies, this one has remained out of print for the past 25 years. So much like the rest of the world I have not had the chance to see this movie, there is a VHS release out there but is extremely hard to find. If anyone has the hookup let me know. While it's hard not to be interested in a vampire movie starring Harry Nilsson, the dialog from the movie - while fascinating - sounds pretty drug addled and non-nonsensical. Of course this doesn't have to be a bad thing. I'm just not expecting something of the caliber of The Point, Nilsson's more highly regarded foray into film. If you really want to see Ringo Star in a decent movie from this time check out Ken Russell's Lisztomania one of the finest pop art films of the early seventies, and another soundtrack I will be posting in the future.

Team Nilsson

It list: Tuesday

2010-10-19T17:06:00.004-05:00

As you can see not much going on tonight. I'll have a very special Not New Music up shortly which contains information about our future together in cyberspace. Also wanted to let you know that Wanz Dover's Blixaboy project released it's album Kliks & Politiks today which can be streamed on his website here. Over and out.

Singles Going Steady (Rubber Gloves)

Something I'm Actually Excited About: The Orange Juice Box Set

2010-10-19T14:57:00.003-05:00

I'm one of those people that still buys things new, yeah, brand new, not used; box sets, cd and vinyl reissues etc. I'll admit it, I'm thirty years old okay? In fact I actually have a saying about thrift stores and dumpster diving: "If I hate most things new, why the hell would I like them any better used?" But that's just me. I received some pub mail today that made me do something I have never done in almost five years of working on this site: Install the HTML code for a "promotional widget." You see, one of my favorite bands of all time, Orange Juice, is releasing a definitive box set on Domino Records called Coals To Newcastle, and I couldn't be happier.

Orange Juice is what I would consider a "tattoo worthy band,"; that may be self explanatory but more specifically they are one of the few bands (and definitely one of the few pop bands) that exist in a small category of acts for which if you've taken the giant leap of getting their name or logo tattooed on you, I can't make fun of you. Other candidates include Swans, Savage Republic, The Ex, The Fall, Throbbing Gristle, and maybe the Magma logo, though that's pretty dorky. Cholas in Los Angeles with décolletage tats that say simply "MORRISSEY" in Olde English are also acceptable. This distinguished distinction is only for people with complete and impenetrable career arcs that never started wearing hockey jerseys onstage.

The group will be heavily featured in a new BBC documentary focusing on Scotland's underground scene during the Post Punk Era called "Caledonia Dreaming," and you are probably already aware of this band's influence on everyone from The Smiths to some modern acts that I won't taint this rare promo post with by mentioning.

This monster set has seven discs and also comes with promo clips for "What Presence?!" and "Rip It Up," as well as their complete performances on The Old Grey Whistle Test. Finally, it also includes the sought-after concert vid entitled "Dada With The Juice," as well as a ton of unreleased tracks. The set is out on November 22nd and will probably be the first Christmas gift I buy for myself.

It List: Monday

2010-10-18T17:46:00.003-05:00

White Denim/Elf Power/PVC Street Gang (The Loft): Wait, what does White Denim sound like again? I know I've written about them before but I can't really remember. Sigh. Guess I'll go listen again. I do a lot of shit for you guys, ya know that? Wait, didn't Gorilla vs Bear used to write about them sometimes? Oh now I remember. They had that song "Let's Talk About It" a few years ago. Are they on Casual Victim Pile? Um, nope, don't see em on the list. Bonus points for not being on that shit, but negative points for being "from Austin." I've listened to five of their songs and still can't think of anything to say. Is that saying something in and of itself? I guess so. Elf Power? Elephant 6 band. Think I used to listen to them sometimes too, can't remember. Feel like Hal when he's getting shut down.... things are moving sloooooowly.... some of the original members of Elf Power were also in Of Montreal. Cute. Minus 10 points, 9 of which are due to the fact that Kevin Barnes is a hipster libertarian who thinks "capitalism is a fun challenge." I hope the Bush tax cuts expire and that shitbag has to make drastic cuts in his monthly face paint budget. I don't think I'd hate the guy so much if he hadn't tried to defend his decision to sell a song to Outback Steakhouse with the kind of Intro to Macroeconomics arguments that most of our political leaders use to rape all of us in every way possible. Meanwhile Barnes dresses like a guy who rapes Unicorns. I'm listening to an Elf Power song called "Spiral Stairs." It's pretty good... sounds like T-Rex, which is alright by me. Now I'm listening to another song that sounds like a mixture of Yo La Tengo and World Party. What the hell am I supposed to do with that? Anyway, this is at the Loft, and I doubt I'd have a good time going to it, even after my third can of $5 bud light or whatever kind of overpriced bullshit they sell there. I'd probably watch the Rangers if I were still in Texas. In fact, I'm probably going to do that anyway.

Cool Out (the Cavern)

Monday Morning Rock

2010-10-18T01:10:00.004-05:00

MON: White Denim/Elf Power/PVC Street Gang (The Loft)
WED: Sufjan Stevens (McFarlin Auditorium)
THR: Thrones/Christian Mistress/Dead Mistress (The Nigthmare)
FRI: No Thanks Fest (Emory, TX)
FRI: Los Campesinos/Johnny Foreigner/Gentle Ghost (Granada)
FRI: Free Energy/Foxy Shazam/Hollerado (The Loft)
SUN: The Thermals/Cymbals eat Guitar/The Coathangers (Granada)

Weekender

2010-10-14T22:15:00.006-05:00

BREAKING NEWS

2010-10-14T18:10:00.003-05:00

CLICK HERE

It List: Thursday

2010-10-14T17:22:00.003-05:00

Pack of Wolves/Baring Teeth (The Nightmare): Austin's Pack of Wolves prove that thrash/black metal can sometimes be about as intimidating as a breakfast taco. And is there anything worse on the entire internet than a "professional" myspace page?

Manned Missiles/Spooky Folk/Babar/Peopleodian (Rubber Gloves): I refuse to search for a band called "Babar," sorry. And although I've heard them before, I hadn't realized until today that Spooky Folk sounds like Barenaked Ladies covering Jeff Buckley songs. Is this what "kids" listen to now?

Jessie Williams/Todi Stronghands/Adam and the Ancient Gods/37 Cents (Hot Box Pizza)

The Toadies/Shiny Around the Edges/Here Holy Spain (Rockin' Rodeo): Sheesh. I used to like the Toadies when I was 15 but doesn't Razor Bladez or whatever his name is wear dragon shirts and shit now? And why does the Idol Records' logo make it look like a label that was started by Master P's broke ass cousin or some shit?

Tech N9ne/E40 (Ridglea Theater): This is without a doubt what I would do tonight if I were still around.

Art List

2010-10-14T15:33:00.004-05:00

Wow, look at all the shit that's going on this weekend in your general vicinity.

WEEKEND EVENT

White Rock Lake Artist's Studio Tour (info)
Saturday, October 16 and Sunday, October 17, 10:00 AM - 5:00 PM

SATURDAY, October 16, 2010

Openings by Jules Buck Jones, W. Tucker, and Christopher Blay
Conduit Gallery
1626 Hi Line Drive, #C, Dallas, TX 75207
6:00 PM - 8:00 PM

All That Glitters (Blakely Dadson)
The Public Trust
2919-C Commerce St, Dallas, TX 75226
6:00 PM - 9:00 PM

Ghost Stories (Tom Orr)
Marty Walker Gallery
2135 Farrington Street, Dallas, TX 75207
6:00 PM - 8:00 PM

Drawing From Life (group show)
Mary Tomas Studio Gallery
1110 Dragon Street, Bldg # 1080, Dallas, TX 75207
6:00 PM - 9:00 PM

California Dreamin' (J. D. Miller)
Samuel Lynne Galleries
1105 Dragon Street, Dallas, TX 75207
6:00 PM - 9:00 PM

Allison V. Smith
Barry Whistler Gallery
2909 B Canton Street, Dallas, TX 75226
6:00 PM - 8:00 PM

500X XPO: College (large group show)
500X
500 Expositon Avenue, Dallas, TX 75226
7:00 PM - 10:00 PM

SUNDAY

24th Annual Día de los Muertos (very large group show)
Bath House Cultural Center
521 E. Lawther, Dallas, TX 75218
5:00 PM - 9:00 PM

It List: Wednesday

2010-10-13T16:16:00.004-05:00

Some people read We Shot JR for the utilitarian aspect; the "It List" if posted promptly can lead you to your evening's activities; The Weekender might very well determine your inebriated trajectory for three whole nights; and Monday Morning Rock could very well do both. But I'm not always about that. We both know that. See, I'm not necessarily here to serve you. What have you ever done for me? With some notable exceptions, probably not much, besides insulted me in comments and sometimes even in person. But I'm into that. I'm sick like that. I feed off of your negativity. It means you can read, and you can pay attention, thanks to Anna ISD and Mesquite ISD and whatever lame suburb you came from before going to UNT. And for those quiet moments, you're all mine. And I love it.

The It List is more...conceptual to me. It bums me out in our last days to see us just posting names and nothing else. Because to me, that's not what WSJR is about. It's about everything else. It's about you reacting to a band name and getting pissed without hearing them. And you swearing up and down that some new genre that recently came into vogue is the halfhearted media fabrication of a bunch of lame intellectuals that imagine things into being without ever stepping foot outside of their overpriced lofts. It's about us "forgetting" to describe the music and talking about anything else. I know, I agree. So many times I've read an article and I'm screaming at the magazine or ripping off the phone film while exclaiming, "YES, BUT WHAT DOES IT SOUND LIKE, ASSHOLE?!" I know the feeling. I hate pretentious people just as much as you do, and I love them even more.

It's really awful that I'm posting this so late, I already know that. One of these shows has even started already. Now that bothers me a little. But overall, really? I don't care. When this works as a show listing hub, that's great. But it's not the point. What matters is the reaction. Otherwise, who cares? I've seen a million show listing sites come and go, and I hardly remember them because they weren't interesting. But it wasn't us that made this interesting. It was you. So, thanks. I mean that. I've defended all of your filthy tongues with so many Voltairian comebacks that it's really worn me out over the years. I think some of you are unbelievably mean-spirited but you're really nothing compared to what I put up with in my daily life. So, no big deal. Thanks for keeping my attention. I just felt like saying that, on with the list:

Mose Giganticus/Naxat/People Men (1919 Hemphill)

Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit/Jesse Sykes and the Sweet Hereafter/Mimicking Birds/Seryn (Haileys)

BC Tha Dinosaur/Sheptastic (Rubber Gloves): What is going on here exactly?

Serena Maneesh/Wovenhand (The Loft)

We Shot JR is Dead

2010-10-13T12:44:00.003-05:00

Sat. Oct. 30th

Rubber Gloves, Denton, TX

$3 for over 21, $5 for under
(poster by Nevada Hill)

Geistheistler 6:00pm (stage)
Cuckoo Byrds 6:30 (floor)
Stefan Gonzalez 7:00(s)
Fungi Girls 7:30(f)
Lychgate 8:00(s)
Eat Avery's Bones 8:35 (f)
Fur 9:00(s)
White Drugs 9:35(f)
Cygnus 10:05(s)
Orange Coax 10:40(f)
Early Lines 11:10 (s)
Vulgar Fashion 12:05 (f)
One Baptist General 12:30- (s)

hosted by Fred Holston with DJ G spinning records

It List: Tuesday

2010-10-12T17:42:00.002-05:00

Not much going on today other than Singles Going Steady over at Rubber Gloves, but it looks like there are plenty of decent shows going on throughout the week.... maybe if you're lucky one of us might even write about a few of them.

It List: Monday

2010-10-11T18:23:00.003-05:00

Monday Morning Rock

2010-10-11T11:36:00.003-05:00

MON: Chicken Little/Curtis Heath/Intent/Star Commander (1919 Hemphill)
MON: Peelander-Z/The Mustache Club/We Are Brothers (Rubber Gloves)
MON: The Futureheads (The Loft)
WED: Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit/Jesse Sykes and the Sweet Hereafter/Mimicking Birds/Seryn (Haileys)
WED: Mose Giganticus/The People Men/Naxat (1919 Hemphill)
WED: Serena Maneesh/Wovenhand (The Loft)
THR: Pack of Wolves/Baring Teeth (The Nightmare)
THR: Manned Missiles/Spooky Folk/Babar/Peopleodian (Rubber Gloves)
THR: Jessie Williams/Todi Stronghands/Adam and the Ancient Gods/37 Cents (Hot Box Pizza)
THR: The Toadies/Shiny Around the Edges/Here Holy Spain (Rockin' Rodeo)
FRI: The Vaselines (The Loft)
FRI: Shapes Have Fangs/Rayon Beach/Kampfgrounds (Rubber Gloves)
FRI: Jessie Williams/Todi Stronghands/Adam and the Ancient Gods/37 Cents (1919 Hemphill)
FRI: Women/Manchild/Nervous Curtains (The Nightmare)
FRI: Born Ruffians/Meligrove Band/Abacus (Haileys)
FRI: Brave Combo/Burnt Sienna Trio/Welcome Signs/Mariachi Quetzal (The Barn)
SAT: The Cocker Spaniels/Eat Avery's Bones/World Racketeering Squad (The Hydrant Cafe)
SAT: Land of Talk/Suuns (The Nightmare)
SAT: MVSCLZ/Sir Name & The Janes (Fallout)
SAT: Azure Ray/Tim Fite/Nik Freitas (The Loft)
SAT: Big Fiction/Young Livers/Innards/Prognosis Negative (1919 Hemphill)
SUN: These United States/Thrift Store Cowboys/Warren Jackson Hearne (Haileys)

Weekender

2010-10-08T16:16:00.004-05:00

Live Feed - Sleep ∞ Over/Prince Rama 10/06/10

2010-10-07T21:06:00.002-05:00

It List: Thursday

2010-10-07T18:20:00.005-05:00

Music. Who needs it?

ADD: Wiccans/Back Stabbath/Prognosis Negative/Jah Breaker (Rubber Gloves): Seven inch release show for Wiccans.

Mayer Hawthorne & The County/Gordon Voidwell (The Loft)

Wild In The Streets (The Amsterdam)

The Soft Pack/Those Darlins/Here Holy Spain (Sons Of Hermann Hall)

Geistheistler/Marriage Material/Deflowered Electric Flesh Bride/Buck E. Bones (The Cavern)

Never Forget...

2010-10-07T13:19:00.005-05:00

I just felt like posting this after seeing it in a Facebook feed. It's great and I don't even mind that Mr. Cheatham once said that I had the "soul of a toaster." I actually kind of agree with him. Anyways, fuck nostalgia, but also, try to name something else being made around here that looks and sounds this original now days. This is a Wolfe-Stone video.

hijacked by Frank

as long as we're reminiscing...

http://www.divshare.com/download/5026453-f21
http://www.divshare.com/download/5039429-97a

Art List

2010-10-07T10:31:00.005-05:00

SATURDAY, October 9th, 2010

Contemporary Art Dealers of Dallas Bus Tours
Starting Saturday at 11:00 AM, tickets are $50 each.
See caddallas.net for more info and/or tickets.

DEEP ArtWalk
Deep Ellum, starting point on Elm St. at Kettle Art
6:00 PM - 8:00 PM

Classical Plastique (Vera Barnett)
Valley House Gallery & Sculpture Garden
6616 Spring Valley Road, Dallas, TX 75254
6:00 PM - 8:30 PM

The Matter of Matter (Martin Gerwers)
Sermons in Stones, and Books in the Running Streams (Cassandra Emswiler)
CentralTrak
800 Exposition Ave, Dallas, TX 75226
6:00 PM - 10:00 PM

It List: Wednesday

2010-10-06T18:27:00.007-05:00

Light Pollution | Prince Rama | Sleep ∞ Over (Hailey's)

Highly recommended. Thanks to whoever booked this for Hailey's, I remember a time when line-ups like this were not a once and awhile thing there. Light Pollution's stab at the ever crowding electronic dream pop genre is a little too confused for me right now, sounding stuck between Matthew and the Arrogant Sea's thematic avant-folk and Fur's intergalactic ambiance. The other two performers tonight, Prince Rhama and Sleep ∞ Over, are two of the more exciting examples of what the genre has to offer right now. Prince Rhama's approach is very lavish and distinct incorporating spooky world music flourishes along with a disregard for song continuity. Even though they are off the wall the trio retain an organic interplay that sounds like a perfect fit for a live performance. I have been digging the stuff Sleep ∞ Over are coming out with mainly because their songs feel like songs and not just electronic meditations. There is not a whole lot of material by the group out there right now but I look forward to seeing what they have in store for the future. Of course a show this rad has to happen on a school night and when I am broke.

Rock Bottom DJ Party w/ DJ Sarah Jaffe (Rubber Gloves)

Vampire Weekend | Beach House | The Very Best (The Palladium)

I think the thing I dislike most about Beach House is that Victoria Legrand is the niece of one of my musical heroes, film composer Michel Legrand. What a waste. I had never heard The Very Best before today but they sound like an indie pop Baha Men.

Every Interview We've Ever Done

2010-10-06T14:29:00.000-05:00

As we start to wind down here over the next few weeks, we thought it might be nice to catalogue all the interviews we've ever done in one post so that it'll be easy for anyone interested in reading them to do so without searching. Below is a list of every interview we've conducted on this website since 2006, and soon we'll have a link at the top of the page to this very post. And who knows, we might do one or two more before all is said and done. Enjoy!

Undeniable Records (1/23/2006)
The Undoing of David Wright (3/1/2006)
Meat Radio (3/15/2006)
Voxtrot (4/21/2006)
Liars (5/24/2006)
High Society (6/1/2006)
Bubba Kadane (6/8/2006)
Gorilla Vs Bear (6/20/2006)
Castanets (7/21/2006)
Tree Wave (7/27/2006)
Zac Crain (8/10/2006)
The Clientele (8/10/2006)
Japanther (8/30/2006)
The Black Angels (10/9/2006)
Beach House (11/16/2006)
Lansing-Dreiden (11/21/2006)
Black Keys (12/7/2006)
Dr. Dog (12/7/2006)
Grizzly Bear (2/25/2007)
Dead Meadow (3/12/2007)
Tussle (4/26/2007)
Glass Candy (5/24/2007)
Dan Deacon (6/12/2007)
Jandek's Backing Band (7/20/2007)
Sonic Boom (9/18/2007)
Matthew Dear (10/8/2007)
Health (10/30/2007)
Mermaid Blonde (11/8/2007)
Clipd Beaks (12/9/2007)
Transona Five (1/10/2008)
Silver Apples (2/21/2008)
Finally Punk (2/22/2008)
Noahn Simblist (4/7/2008)
Negativland (4/18/2008)
Boris (6/23/2008)
Jason Mundo (7/18/2008)
DJ Hatcha (7/22/2008)
Indian Jewelry (8/28/2008)
Aids Wolf (11/20/2008)
Gang Gang Dance (11/20/2008)
Fungi Girls (12/15/2008)
Here We Go Magic (2/18/2009)
Nite Jewel (3/2/2009)
Wolves in the Throne Room (3/5/3009)
Fergus and Geronimo (4/1/2009)
Gorgoroth (4/8/2009)
Vivian Girls (4/11/2009)
Nardwuar (8/20/2009)
Neon Indian (9/15/2009)
Pains of Being Pure at Heart (9/28/2009)
Mary Anne Hobbs (11/20/2009)
Final Club (1/15/2010)
Ga'an (1/19/2010)
Maria Bamford (9/9/2010)
Robert Pollard (9/21/2010)
Dharma (10/4/2010)

It list: Tuesday

2010-10-05T17:12:00.002-05:00

It List: Monday

2010-10-04T18:19:00.003-05:00

Spooky Folk/Drew Andrews & the Spectral Cities/Baruch the Scribe (City Tavern)

Cool Out (the Cavern)

Cosmos (Hailey's)

Local q&a-- Dharma

2010-10-04T13:55:00.002-05:00

Although I no longer live in the area and its obviously become more difficult for me to catch new Dallas/Denton groups perform, several recommendations from WeShotJr writers and other Texas friends that I respect have pointed me in the direction of Kevyn Green, aka Dharma. Her music, which has already attracted the attention of at least one European tape label as well as the highly respected 20 Jazz Funk Greats, is a brand of strange, hypnotic electronic daze that often utilizes the minimalism of cold wave and mixes it with the kind of warped pop sensibility that makes her songs much easier to digest than they should be. Swing by her Myspace page (we'll add a free Mp3 download a bit later) and read what she had to say about her music, which happens to be some of the most interesting stuff I've heard come out of Denton or Dallas for a while now:

Could you tell us some basic info about you-- your name, what you do when you're not making music, how long Dharma has been a project, how long you've been making music, and any other kind of music or art you produce, etc?

My name is Kevyn Green. I just graduated from UT Austin in May. When I'm not making music I'm at my job. I'm a debt collector in Dallas, but we prefer to be called Recovery Analysts. Dharma has been a project for about 3 years but the first 2 were just playing around in my bedroom and not releasing anything or playing shows. I used to play in a band with my old roommate before Dharma for about 2 years. I don't really do much else. I used to make collage art when I had more free time for CD and tape covers but that's about it.

Unfortunately debt collection seems like it has to be one of the fastest growing industries in the country right now. Does your job have any impact on the rest of your life, or are you good at ignoring it? How much do you think the harsh economy and larger social problems affect your music making and listening habits, if at all?

Yeah our company is growing really fast. I'm pretty good at ignoring the job. I really don't have a lot of sympathy for the people I deal with because I hear the same shit all day long. I try not to let anything really impact making music. Sometimes it can be a little frustrating not having nice equipment or trying to record in my bedroom, but that all just adds to the way the music sounds and I deal with it.

Describe how Dharma started as a project.

Dharma started because my old band mate was lame and we really didn't work well together. I was living in Austin and didn't have a lot of friends and spent most of my time alone so I started recording music by myself and realized I was much more comfortable doing that then trying to work with other people. It took me a while to start putting songs together that I actually liked. Most of the really early material is wild and noisy but as time went on they started sounding more like actual songs. As far as my drive to create.. I don't think life is very enjoyable if all you do is work or go to school so to have some sort of creative outlet is really important to me.

Whats the most difficult part about working on music with other people for you? Do you imagine yourself trying it again in the future?

I'm just really impatient and kind of picky about the way things sound. I wouldn't really mind working with other people again it would just have to be a completely different project. I don't want a backing band for Dharma or anything like that. I need all the attention.

Can you tell us about your creative process-- what kind of equipment you use and the method you employ to put songs together?

I don't have any cool equipment. I just use some mini synths and casios, a sequencer, a vocal processor, and some other things I use to make noise. I just record it all into my computer and hope they sound okay.

Your lyrical style seems at times loose, and at other times has an almost mantra like quality. Can you tell us about your lyrics-- how you write them, and maybe some of the things that inspire you to write them?

Lyrics are usually the last thing I write. I'll have an idea for a song and a title then write all the music and record it then I'll write lyrics. For some reason almost every song I write is about Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I have several about philosophy. Others are just about whatever I'm thinking about or reading or watching at the time.

So then are lyrics not all that important to you then? Do they serve more as an additional instrument than as a way to convey a narrative or express something directly with language?

Yeah I'm more interested in the way it sounds then anything else. Most of the lyrics are just completely ridiculous.

Can you tell us about some of Dharma's music influences?

I listen to a lot of different music. I like Depeche Mode, Soft Cell and Fad Gadget and Arab on Radar and I listen to a lot of 90s hip hop and some pop. I guess Dharma is a big mess of all those different genres.

I know that most any artist I have ever spoke with hates being lumped in with a "genre," so i have to ask-- someone in one of our comments sections the other day asked, probably half jokingly, if "Dharma is 'witchhouse?'" what would be your answer to that?

Dharma is BITCHhouse.

So how did you end up on 20 jazzfunk greats?

A small label in Denmark has released a Dharma cassette tape and they're doing an LP and they sent out a bunch of stuff to 20JFG. I guess they liked Dharma and wrote a really strange review about me. They said I was like a satanic aerobics instructor or something.

Could you tell us a little bit about the label and how you connected?

It's just two Danish guys who like a lot of weird noisy music. They've put out some cassette tapes, a few 7" and I think I'll be the first LP. They just emailed me one day because they heard my music on the internets and wanted to put out a tape.

What are some of your favorite bands in Denton and Dallas right now? Favorite place to play?

I really like Cuckoo Byrds and Orange Coax. I played a show with Darktown Strutters and they were really great. I'm friends with Florene and they're pretty good too. I think there's a lot of good music in Denton and Dallas right now, but there's also plenty of terrible bands too. My favorite place to play was DOOM but I guess it shut down after that show we played. I played Dan's Silverleaf a few times but wasn't very well received. I prefer house shows where everyone is crowed around me then playing on a stage though.

What do you think the general quality of the scene, bands and venues here is like compared to austin, or compared to a few years ago?

I definitely prefer to Denton's music scene to Austin. There's an overwhelming number of trashy garage shit punk bands in Austin who play almost every night. However, I think the Denton scene has really died down compared to a few years ago. A few years ago it just seemed a lot more exciting and there were good shows almost every night. Now there's not as much going on. There haven't even been any good touring bands coming to the big venues in town lately. It just seems kind of dead.

Monday Morning Rock

2010-10-04T11:51:00.005-05:00

MON: Spooky Folk/Drew Andrews & the Spectral Cities/Baruch the Scribe (City Tavern)
TUE: Chest Pain/Mass Sterilization/Raging Boner/Prognosis Negative/Wiccans (1919 Hemphill)
TUE: Prefuse 73/Neon Indian/Miniature Tigers (Granada)
WED: Light Pollution/Prince Rama/Sleep ∞ Over (Hailey's)
THR: Wiccans/Back Stabbath/Prognosis Negative/Jah Breaker (Rubber Gloves)
THR: The Soft Pack/Those Darlins/Here Holy Spain (Sons of Herman Hall)
FRI: XX/Warpaint/Zola Jesus (Granada)
FRI: School of Seven Bells/Active Child/Eyes and Ears (Hailey's)
FRI: Electric Vengeance/Ratt Bastards/Tattered Flag/Youth Aggression/Corporate Whore (1919 Hemphill)
SUN: Esben & the Witch/Darktown Strutters/Menkena (Nightmare)

Weekender

2010-10-01T16:24:00.005-05:00

It List: Thursday

2010-09-30T17:09:00.003-05:00

It List: Wednesday

2010-09-29T16:50:00.002-05:00

Guided by Voices/Times New Viking (The Loft): Well we didn't make it much of a secret that we were really looking forward to the classic line up Guided by Voices reunion tour, and I would certainly say that this band was one of the first truly underground bands I was ever exposed to back in the early 90s, and one of the first groups I became really devoted to as a result. As I was putting today's list together, though, I wondered what a band like Guided by Voices might sound like to me now, and whether my impression of them would be any different after diving head first into all kinds of obscure music and living through not only the first but the second wave of fashionable lo-fi. On the one hand, there's nothing too mysterious about what Guided by Voices does, and it was certainly never super impressive to reference Cheap Trick, but on the other hand, I can't think of another band that does what Bob Pollard and company do so well, and perhaps this quality transcends time, technology and scenes. I wonder what any of you readers, who weren't around to hear them the first time, think of this music? Either way, pretty much all of us here at WSJR HQ love these guys, and I'd consider this one of the must see shows of the year. Apparently its not sold out either. Anyway, read last week's interview with Bob Pollard here, and ponder what Times New Viking have grown into since the time we co-hosted them in Denton along with Strawberry Fields.

Tyvek (the Cavern): Ok, so Tyvek's Myspace page says that they're playing a show at the Cavern tonight, although the show isn't listed on the Cavern's website or anywhere else for that matter. So, lets hope they are actually playing tonight, and I do know that they're touring at least, as I caught them here in Chicago a few weeks ago. The Detroit band's self titled full length from last year has been a record I've admired for some time now, reminding me of everything from early Pavement to Television Personalities and Swell Maps, with pop sensibilities and a charming amateur quality that nods to the past without ever falling prey to it. Some people would lump them in with "garage," or even Shitgaze (considering their Siltbreeze affiliation), but I would say that they're doing something pretty different from most other bands that would warrant such labels, and I'm glad.

Casiotone for the Painfully Alone/Tre Orsi (Dan's Silverleaf): Is there a worse band name in the world?

Cocoroise/ Sleep Whale/New Fumes (the Granada): Go back to Brooklyn you trustfund fucks.... well ok, I actually enjoya fair amount of Cocorosie's music, but I still feel compelled to say that every time I hear, see or think of this band.

It List: Tuesday

2010-09-28T18:37:00.004-05:00

Wild In The Streets (Lee Harvey's)

Atari Teenage Riot/The Krum Bums/Razorblade Dolls (Trees): I am the wrong guy to be previewing this, but I will tell you that I distinctly remember there being a great divide with the youth at my school when this band came to prominence. All of a sudden some of the punk crowd started getting into "digital hardcore" once they became disciples of the genre, and the wildly unimaginative record label of the same name. There were fights over whether it was actually more punk to use digital beats, and being openly anti-fascist became hip again amongst people who had never had to live with the fairly recent historical memory of fascism destroying their society. A lot of us found this all pretty silly. But one thing I know and can respect about ATR, is that they were obviously a huge influence on a number of people to search for other things besides the sort of bland 90's punk that was so prevalent at the time, and start researching other less rigid genres of extreme music. Which is always a good thing. Also, watching the huge recent outpouring of nostalgia over this band has been very entertaining. My only bit of nostalgia stems from the fact that they once worked with The Arsonists, who I saw at the rather awful Matador 10th Anniversary Party. Guess how old that label is now. Further adding to the fun: The Krum Bums are opening.

Screening: Black Roses (Dan's Silverleaf): From the invite:

Just in time for the start of school, a free screening of John Fasano's metal horror epic, "Black Roses." When the town of Mill Basin is chosen to kick off the hot new metal sensations Black Roses world tour, the devoted high school fans are thrilled, but the old fogies in the town are pissed! Ends up that the band is actually a bunch of demons from hell disguised in tight leather pants and feathered hair. The band plays a brutal concert and slowly but surely everybody in town gets totally tasted by these hell spawn. Cheesy as fuck, with some killer tunes and above-average special effects. Not to be missed!

Stay after the movie and get hammered while jamming to the all vinyl cuts from DJ Boatdad and Stevie Nipps.

Ratatat/Dom/Bobby Birdman (Palladium): I don't know what to say about Ratatat at this point. But the biggest fan I know is a guy that went to Germany to pick out his new Audi, so hey, at least their fans can afford their merch.

Singles Going Steady with DJ Peepers and guest DJ Krautryn Faustvo (Rubber Gloves)

Live Feed: RIP Doom Special

2010-09-27T23:45:00.004-05:00

As you may have heard this weekend, the Majestic of Dwelling of Doom, the most prominent Denton DIY venue of recent memory, found itself in a difficult spot. After two years of booking independent, genre-bending acts from across the world, as well as showcasing up-and-coming local artists, the operators have been forced to suddenly close the doors for good, an inevitable yet heartbreaking end to a venue that has more than outlasted the expiration date for an operation of its kind. So what exactly happened that night to change the course of the local music scene, leaving it with a gaping hole that Doom had so successfully filled? The answer is not much, but it was enough to bring an end to it all.

The night started off great, and I can’t think of two better acts to close out the Dwelling’s run than Cuckoo Byrds and Dharma; both representative of one of the most important segments of the North Texas musical community that often does not receive a platform-- the weirdos; the music that defies classification and does not fit easily onto any pre-packaged bill. Doom was the kind of place where experimentation and artistic exploration could always be found and expected from the performers, which was refreshing-- in recent times the DIY venues that were once prevalent throughout Denton have been closing their doors with very few replacements arising in response. This has left much of the slack rested upon Doom's shoulders, which they have more than enthusiastically taken upon themselves.

After two great performances that evening, I exited the basement and found myself greeted by what I always dreaded facing after a performance at Doom: an influx of drunk people. I did a quick sweep of the land, talking with some folks and becoming increasingly nervous as the party-goers edged closer and closer to the street. “Get away from the fucking street” flew every minute or so from concerned guests upon deaf ears.

It was at this point I ventured inside one of the neighboring houses (rented by Doom friends) to take a leak and find a corner to hide in until the next act, Sir Name and The Janes. When attending shows at Doom I very rarely would stand out front in between act,s because I found it to be a slightly uncomfortable atmosphere, due to the fact that large amounts of people in one place make me feel more socially awkward than I normally do, and also because there was always the feeling that 'tonight would be the night' that someone, anyone, would do something ridiculous in a fit of inebriation or mental instability that might garner unintended consequences, and this night would be that night.

I was away from the party maybe 15 minutes, and once I returned back into the masses the atmosphere was not the same as the one I had escaped from earlier. After picking up on the bad vibes, I made a bee line for the basement where I searched for shelter from the flashing lights of multiple squad cars to seek some answers.

So what happened? After countless nights of peaceful congregation (with a few isolated exceptions) something had snapped and a tussle broke out. Of the pieces that I have been able to assemble from firsthand accounts, it breaks down like this: some folks were attempting to encourage people to step away from the street for obvious reasons. The tact used by these folks might have been unconventional and involving plastic weaponry which for whatever reason provoked another patron to attempt an engagement in fisticuffs. While this initial brawl was one-sided and quickly dissolved, it sparked another much larger brawl to break out in the street. Before you know it most of the perpetrators had fled and the cops had arrived. No one was arrested, but Natalie the Doom ringleader was given a stern warning that if another show happened on the property she would be going to jail and fines would be issued, so ending the long run of 781 Texas St.

Before the space became Doom, the leaky basement on Texas street had served the same purpose under previous management, first as Eighth Continent and then later as Wisconsin. So as we mourn the loss of Doom we also reflect on the memory of those that came before it.

So there you have it, a senseless act of violence brought a great venue crumbled to its knees. It is easy to point fingers. Why not at the police? Well the police really were doing their job. They were not busting up the party because people were having fun and that's not allowed, they did what they had to do and there is appreciation on the side of the Doom toward the intervening which took place. The real blame is to placed on those who needlessly provoke-- the way I see it, when you have a large group of people together, especially when they are young and alcohol could be involved, something stupid is bound to happen sooner or later. C'est la vie. While the town and Doom patrons mourn the loss, it is important to remember that while unfortunate, this is one of the unavoidable side effects of success.

So if you are stunned by this announcement and are thinking about starting a house venue of your own, I have come up with the these five handy tips that might help you last longer than you really should. These tips apply only to Denton, sorry DFW I don't have anything to help you.

#1 - END YOUR SHOW AT MIDNIGHT - This town has a terrible habit of never starting things before 11pm which ads a lot of risk to your venue. For one, as long as your guest and venue is not too unruly, the police have better things to do at these hours, and will largely avoid any type of intervention. Once midnight comes the carriage turns back into a pumpkin and the police go on the prowl. This is understandable because post-midnight people have had plenty of time to get nice and fucked-up with nowhere else to go. Most touring acts will be fine with an early set time cause they want to hit the road anyway.

#2 - OUT OF SIGHT OUT OF MIND - When choosing a space to open for patronage, be aware of the area you will providing for congregating. Keeping your patrons far away from the street and watchful eyes of the general public is a sure fire way to keep police or noisy neighbors away. Draw a line in the driveway, put up chains or a velvet rope. Whatever you have to do to keep people out of the street.

#3 - CHARGE MONEY - As a DIY venue owner, cover charges will never make a dent in the amount of monetary compensation for time and effort spent, but it can help with purchasing cleaning supplies. Beyond the fiscal dreams, charging at the door, no matter how small a rate, insures that the people at your party are there for your party and have a vested interest in being there. This may sound silly but it will detract the riffraff just looking for good times from crashing your place.

#4 - LIMIT THE NUMBER OF SHOWS HELD, WEEKDAYS ARE YOUR FRIEND - When the scene around town is at its peak, you could book five desirable shows a week easy. This can weigh on the operator's free time and also give the public the impression that your place is the place to hang out and drink for free. By varying the days of week shows are held, as well as the frequency, you take away that consistency factor, which will help in attracting guests who are there to see music and not just loiter.

#5 - START A CO-OP - This is the least realistic step even though it is really the only way to achieve a sustainable DIY space.

It List: Monday

2010-09-27T14:30:00.003-05:00

Eternal Summers | Final Club | Land Mammals | Becoming... (J&Js)

Eternal Summers sound like all the bands on Slumberland wrapped into one bite sized package. I enjoyed listening to the tracks on the band's Myspace but hope the live performance adds some personality missing from the recordings. A couple solid locals opening and one newbie makes this an all around diverse and enjoyable, if not most exciting bill. I expect we are going to see alot more shows at J&J's in the future.

Monday Morning Rock

2010-09-26T22:44:00.005-05:00

MON: Eternal Summers/Land Mammals/Becoming... (J&Js)
TUE: Atari Teenage Riot/The Krum Bums/Razorblade Dolls (Trees)
TUE: Ratatat (Palladium)
WED: Guided by Voices/Times New Viking (The Loft)
THR: Field Music/Monahans/RTBS (The Loft)
THR: Ty Segall/Sir Name and the Janes/The Aquaholics (The Cavern)
THR: Computer Jesus Refrigerator/Sabotaged/Jackie Kennedy/Eccotone (1919 Hemphill)
FRI: Record Hop/Gheistheistler/Deep Snapper/Pumpkin Spice Candle (The Barn)
FRI: Prognosis Negative/Peoplemen/Spacebeach/Genius Party (1919 Hemphill)
FRI: Tera Melos/Zorch/Man Factory/Computer Jesus Refrigerator (The Nightmare)
FRI: RTB2/Orange Peel Sunshine/Bad Design/Delmore Pilcrow (Hailey's)
SAT: Final Club/Buxton/Becoming... (house show Denton)
SAT: The Extraordinaires/Oh Lewis/Skunk Ape (Rubber Gloves)
SAT: Kaboom/George Neal/Paper Robot (Hailey's)

Weekender

2010-09-24T16:52:00.004-05:00

It List: Thursday

2010-09-23T01:43:00.007-05:00

One amazing soul show tonight and three boring rock n' roll shows. Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings won't win any points for originality but they do make some of the best straight up, heartfelt soul music produced today. What I appreciate most about their style is that there is no attempt to contemporize the music or make it sound fresh. No need to. Soul music is about the soul and they pull it off. At least it touches the black little corner of my pericardium that used to be the resting place of my soul. Everybody and their dog has tried to convince me that Torche is the PERFECT blending of pop and metal but I just don't hear it. Just because a song is under three minutes doesn't automatically classify it as a pop song. Give me Napalm Death any day of the week. See you at The Palladium!

Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings | Grace Potter & The Nocturnals (Palladium)

Torche | House Harkonnen | White Mountain (The Nightmare)

Hellbastard | Dissent | Scavenger (Rubber Gloves)

Kings Of Leon | Black Keys | The Whigs (Superpages Center)

It List: Wednesday

2010-09-22T16:34:00.004-05:00

To Catch An Editor: A Public Service Announcement From DL

Following a cordial interview after we announced we were quitting, I promised myself I would leave The Observer alone, but what do you all think of this rather blatant attempt to publish a tasteless article for nothing more than to possibly have it go viral? I don't have the exact demographics on who reads The Observer, but I would like to think that it's not only young heterosexual males that consume 5 to 8 alcoholic drinks a day and go to frat parties every weekend. I mean, that's not the case, right? That's even selling that particular segment of society short. That notoriously elusive and profitable crowd may be the desired demographic, but this kind of Maxim Magazine-styled junk "journalism" isn't really doing the interested parties of the DFW music scene any favors, nor is it respecting your intelligence. People keep bringing up the "void" that will be left once we're gone, and I constantly remind people that it's no big deal at all and a couple of high school bands or gallery attendants could probably do just as well or better. But after reading something like that, even I'm starting to miss us. If the article you're writing causes one to compare oneself to a captive culprit on "To Catch A Predator," perhaps you might want to go back to the drawing board...

Okay, back to the shows-

A Smile Full Of Ale/Ascites/Screamin' Fetus/Welby/Carbon & Water/Jackie Kennedy/So Boring (An Airplane Hangar located at 11653 Airway Blvd, Roanoke, TX 76262): This sounds like a joke made by some shitty commenter: "Why don't you go have a show in an airplane hangar you fucking weirdos?!" Okay, so they are.

Disco Cube Wednesdays with DJ Trademarx (Fallout Lounge)

Cheddy Tedderson's Live Karaoke (Rubber Gloves): Can I do "Interstate Love Song?" That's what this is, right? The 90's regurgitated as a joke in live karaoke form? I remember when it was lame to still like Oingo Boingo. I miss those days.

Robert Pollard of Guided by Voices

2010-09-21T18:57:00.003-05:00

Wow. When Guided By Voices was my favorite band back in the early/mid 90's, there's absolutely no way my teenage self could have ever guessed that I would be asking Bob Pollard questions about his band via email 15 years later (not sure if I even knew what email was at that point), but look at me now! As you probably already know, a reunited Guided by Voices will be coming through Dallas next Wednesday, September 29th (at Palladium) as part of their "classic line up" tour, featuring legendary early members Tobin Sprout, Charles Mitchell, Greg Demos and Kevin Fennel, and in anticipation for this show, we were lucky enough to get a chance to ask founder and lead singer Robert Pollard a few questions about the tour via email. I would have preferred a long phone interview, of course, but the fact that we were able to interview Pollard at all, especially in the last few weeks of our existence, is a huge thrill for me and quite an honor for all of us here at WSJR. Here it is:

One of the reasons you always gave for your home recording practices, was that studios couldn't quite capture the vocal quality you were going for. With all the changes in recording habits and studio technique over the years, has this situation improved? What actual studio was your favorite to record in, or what engineer did you prefer?

I only record with Todd Tobias in his home studio. I like the consistency and familiarity. I don't like a real slick sound and don't want it to sound too primitive. I prefer a middle ground. Todd gets me that, because that's what he likes. I used to enjoy recording with John Shough at Cro-Mag Studios in Dayton. They shut down about 6 or 7 years ago.

Whats your personal favorite GBV album and why? Do you have maybe a couple of favorite songs?

It's a toss up between "Bee Thousand" and "Universal Truths and Cycles". Both of them are very diverse records, full of a lot of, in my opinion, very good songs. Some of them being, "Tractor Rape Chain", "I am a Scientist", "Cheyenne" and "Back to the Lake".

What's the difference to you between a lo-fi record in 2010 and one in 1993? There seems to be a wider acceptance of these sounds in the mainstream than there was at that time. How do you feel about that?

Well, I'd like to think that we had some influence and if we did that's good. The stuff I've hears seems to be much more abrasive than what we did in '93. I was not aware that lo-fi was being incorporated into the mainstream. I'm out of touch. We were all about doing lots of songs very quickly. Economy.

You guys are beloved for your live shows, of course, but could you tell us the funniest thing that's ever happened to you while you were onstage with GBV?

I once stumbled backwards into the drum kit 5 or 6 consecutive times. I had simply inebriated myself to the point that I couldn't stand up. We had just signed to TVT and they didn't think it was too funny. It was actually pitiful and you'll probably not see that happen again.

The lineup that you're touring with is considered the "classic GBV lineup," and they tend to play it less flashy than some of the later backing musicians you toured with. Without forcing you to play favorites, how does the experience differ between lineups? Did it get annoying for people to refer to the older guys as the "classic" lineup? Or is it still flattering anyway?

You know, actually the "classic line-up" played it much more flashy. We wore flashier clothes and we moved around a lot more. There was much more energy. That it's still referred to as "classic" is an honor, but I never really bought into that tag. I understand it being used again. It's a good way to bill this tour. The classic line-up playing the songs from that era. I say it's a reason to get excited.

It List: Tuesday

2010-09-21T16:04:00.003-05:00

Black Tusk | Radio Moscow | The Phuss (The Nightmare)

It List: Monday

2010-09-20T14:49:00.003-05:00

Blissed Out/Cygnus/Marriage Material/Florene (Majestic Dwelling of Doom): I was talking with a friend the other day about the band "Blissed Out," and before I'd ever heard them or read anything about them, I took a guess as to what they sounded like: a chillwave version of Vivian Girls. I was wrong about the specifics, but I was correct to place them into one of the new "genres" getting written about so much as of late, and I really can't decide whether thats a good thing or not. The group could probably fairly be categorized as part of this whole "Witch House" thing that seems to be gathering steam thanks to the nearly break out success of Salem, which is all fine and good if you can dig music that's influenced equally by early Aphex Twin AND the Misfits, and I suppose I can, even if this stuff will never blow anyone away with its originality. Could see the live show being a pretty good time, however, and where better to test this theory than the Wonderful Majestic Dwelling?

TV Buddahs/Mad Happy (Rubber Gloves): Berlin by way of Israel based TV Buddhas have been getting a lot of attention recently in certain circles of the American underground music media, including Dusted Magazine, among others, and for good reason-- the band comes off as some sort of lost midwestern proto-punk band with healthy doses of dark psychedelic rock, nasty, repetitive blues and, of course, The Stooges, and it almost always works quite well. I've been listening to their album the Golden Period a lot this year, and fans of any of the aforementioned things will probably dig it.

Cosmos (Hailey's)

Monday Morning Rock

2010-09-20T09:23:00.004-05:00

MON: Blissed Out/Cygnus/Marriage Material/Florene (Doom)
MON: TV Buddahs/Mad Happy (Rubber Gloves)
TUE: Black Tusk/Radio Moscow/The Phuss (The Nightmare)
WED: Film School/TV Torso/Manned Missiles (The Nightmare)
WED: Smashing Pumpkins/Bad City (Palladium)
WED: Those Damn Kids/Two Knights/The Breakfast Machine/Innards/Vinny Emerson (1919 Hemphill)
THR: Torche/House Harkonnen/White Mountain 9The Nightmare)
THR: Sharon Jones & The Dap Kings/Grace Potter & The Nocturnals (Palladium)
THR: Hellbastard/Dissent/Scavenger (Rubber Gloves)
THR: Kings Of Leon/Black Keys/The Whigs (Superpages Center)
FRI: George Quartz/Sir Name and the Janes/Dharma/Cuckoo Byrds (Doom)
FRI: AIDS Wolf/Orange Coax/Gang Starr Museum/The PeopleMen (Nightmare)
FRI: Slayer/Megadeth/Anthrax (Superpages Center)
FRI: Rotting Out/Soul Search/End Times (1919 Hemphill)
SAT: The Angelus/Daniel Folmer/Burntsienna Trio/The Heartstring Stranglers
SAT: Glen Campbell with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra (Bass)
SAT: Benjamin Wesley/Fright-Wig/Dead Russians/Appleonia (1919 Hemphill)

Weekender

2010-09-17T13:17:00.003-05:00

FRIDAY

Harlem | Sir Name and the Janes | Tiger Thrust (Nightmare)

Ms. Sandy & Ms. Yet/Unconscious Collective/Nick Cabrera & Nevada Hill, art by Evita Cortez, Alex Mitchell, Joshua Vance more (1119 N. Bishop Ave. in Dallas): Show is at 9 pm.

Dungen | No Joy (The Loft)

That's What's Hot with Rodrigo Diaz/Oleg B (The Cavern)

Epic Ruins/Eyes, Wings, And Many Other Things/Future People (Lola's)

Dallas Aids Arm Dance Party with Keith P/DJ G/Wanz Dover (Fallout)

SATURDAY

Missile | George Quartz | Cuckoo Byrds (Prophet Bar)

Phobia/Wormrot/PLF/Akkolyte/Scavenger/Life Erased (Phoenix Project)

Rusko (Lizard Lounge)

Pack of Wolves | Maleveller | Four Days to Burn (Nightmare)

Shonen Knife | Lovie | Romp Almighty (Loft)

Tarik Thornton/Roger Hinkle (Sons Of Hermann Hall)

SUNDAY

Pixies | Fuck Buttons (Verizon)

Martin Iles Presents "Three On Sunday" (Dan's Silverleaf)

Featuring: Moments in Love: A diamond life clip art fantasy adventure.

Relax and enjoy this world of porcelain kittens and gold chain obstacles with a booty bass elevator soundtrack.

Sound??: Featuring Rahsaan Roland Kirk and John Cage.

Although Kirk and Cage never actually meet in this film, these two very different musical iconoclasts share a similar vision of the boundless possibilities of music. Kirk plays three saxes at once, switches to flute, incorporates tapes of birds played backwards... Cage, on the other hand, is preparing a work for musical bicycle with David Tudor and Merce Cunningham at the Seville Theatre in London... -- Martin Williams, JAZZ TIMES

Dutch Treats - Rare Treats: Ultra rare collection of 60's and 70's Dutch Beat Music.
Includes - Les Baroques, Le Zipps, The Dukes, Q'65, The Outsides, Wally Tax, The Ro-d-y's, The Motions, Cuby and the Blizzards, The Shoes, The Golden Earrings, Shocking Blue, Mouth and MacNeil, and more!

Sleepy Sun | True Widow | Sundress (Loft)

Art List

2010-09-17T09:30:00.006-05:00

So, after doing Art Conspiracy for five years, I missed the cutoff by a few minutes yesterday and don't get to participate. All the 120 artist spots went in 13 minutes. It didn't help that my company's retarded firewall blocked their Google Spreadsheets application form and I had to run around to find alternative means of Internet access. My company's retarded firewall also blocks weshotjr.com as "pornography" for some unknown reason.

I can't say I'm entirely disappointed. All my ArtCon pieces have been really pitiful. Painting in sub-freezing temperatures on plywood isn't really conducive to awesome art. A friend and I are considering starting an Arternative Conspiracy in North Dallas -- get it? Because seriously, driving south of 635 sucks. Especially twice in a weekend.

I do have good memories of consuming as much Miller High Life as possible in a 3-hour period as a means of warming up. And good memories of getting to feel like a part of Dallas for a few brief moments. This year they're moving it to October 23, though. So it shouldn't be so cold. Check out the details here.

I'm sure you hate Art Conspiracy -- as only a WeShotJr reader can. What are your reasons?

SATURDAY, September 18, 2010

Here. There. & Beyond.
Dallas Contemporary
161 Glass Street at Riverfront, Dallas, TX 75207
7:00 PM - 10:00 PM

Mexican Bicentennial Exhibition Grand Opening
The MAC
3120 McKinney, Dallas, TX 75204
5:00 PM - 8:00 PM

I love the title of this show:

Precious Moments (Eric Tosten)
Mighty Fine Arts
6:00 PM - 9:00 PM
419 North Tyler, Dallas, TX 75208

I hate the title of this show:

N.R.G. (Sergio Garcia, Mark Nelson, and Richard Ross)
HCG Gallery
1130 Dragon Street, Suite 190, Dallas, TX 75207
7:00 PM - 9:00 PM

Seriously, just because you have your art in a high street gallery like HCG doesn't preclude your having some kind of web presence. Don't you have a nephew or something that can make a website for you?

IT List: Thursday

2010-09-16T19:38:00.002-05:00

Sorry we're so late friends:

Miami Horror/Fizzy Dino Pop (Granada): Miami Horror's track with Alan Palomo, "Holidays," is the strongest thing I've heard them do thus far, but its just a little tough to stomach bands that are influenced by their own contemporaries-- if you're in the mood for this kind of stuff, I'd just stick with Delorean, Hercules and Love Affair or Cut Copy if I were you.

Water Falls/Browningham/Paddock (the Cavern)

Local Remix = Florene - Homemade Ecstacy (I Miss my Mommy Vulgar Fashion remix)

2010-09-15T15:38:00.008-05:00

Came across this interesting remix by two very different local artist and thought it was worth sharing. I would like to see more diverse local artist come together and mix things up a bit, especially when the results are this stimulating.

Florene - Homemade Extacy (Vulgar Fashion I Miss My Mommy Remix) by FLORENENASA

not new video

2010-09-15T11:32:00.005-05:00

Hi guys. Life has kept me from doing the Not New Music posts for a long time now, but I'm planning on writing a couple more before this thing is all said and done. In the meantime I'll probably post a few videos just for the hell of it.

This one is from San Francisco's Units, a band that is probably best remembered these days as the group that made a certain Houston weirdo change his name after he released his 1978 debut lp Ready for the House under the Units moniker. I'm not the biggest new wave fan, but the first two Units 7" singles easily rise above most of the genre and are certainly worth seeking out.

We Shot JR is Dead

2010-09-15T00:34:00.004-05:00

Saturday, Oct. 30th
Rubber Gloves, Denton, TX
7PM
ALL AGES
$2 for over 21
$5 for under 21

feat:

One Baptist General (Chris Flemmons solo performances of new Baptist Generals material)
White Drugs
Orange Coax
Early Lines
Fur

Lychgate
Cygnus
Fungi Girls

Stefan Gonzalez (solo performance)
Eat Avery's Bones
Geistheistler
Cuckoo Byrds
Vulgar Fashion

Hosted by Fred Holston, more details TBA

It List: Tuesday

2010-09-14T17:52:00.008-05:00

Crystal Castles (House of Blues)

I know they have a new album with a pearly white review from Pitchfork but it doesn't seem like this duo has gained anymore more popularity since their ill fated Granada non-appearance last year. On top of that the dark moody dance music they are synonymous with has gone by the waste side in Urban Outfitter Hipster-dom, so I was surprised to see them booked at the same venue that will be hosting giants KC and The Sunshine Band later in the week. Crystal Castles always struck me as the Misfits of modern electro-dance with all the cartoonish indulgence but none of the humor, edginess or talent. Perfect fit with the House of Blues, hope the audio system can handle the massive sound that Crystal Castles demands.

It List: Monday

2010-09-13T18:52:00.003-05:00

Not much going on this evening, but I did want to point out an error of ours that I regret just a bit: last Thursday, we failed to mention a Weekly Tape Deck sponsored show featuring Lower Dens, a Baltimore group that includes Texas ex-pat Jana Hunter. I think I remember when Hunter lived in Texas (Austin, right?), and I also think I remember her music from back then being more traditionally folk or influenced by Joanna Newsom or something like that, but I could be totally wrong-- I do remember her working with Devendra Banhart at one point, so there's that.

Either way, its obvious that her music didn't make an incredible impression on me because I can't seem to remember a damn thing about it. But thats not the point. The point is that I recently got my hands on Lower Dens' most recent record, Twin Hand Movement, and have been enjoying it quite a bit. In a year where I just haven't been impressed with much of anything that has received a lot of attention from hip Mp3 blogs and the larger "indie rock" community as a whole, this record really hit the spot-- dark, sparse arrangements that seem to fall somewhere between Low and Fleetwood Mac with an XX meets Oh Sees sorta feel, except with better songwriting.

Anyway, its one of the better rock records I've heard this year, and I regret that we missed listing it last week, even though the fact that the show was in... barf... Frisco, almost made it not worth talking about at all. JK Frisco love ya!

Cool Out (the Cavern)

Monday Morning Rock

2010-09-13T07:37:00.002-05:00

Weekender

2010-09-10T16:08:00.004-05:00

Oh, man, it takes all of my strength not to post a Keyboard Cat video spliced with footage from tomorrow's extremely exploited date, but I just don't have it in me. Instead I've posted a pic from what is considered Spike Lee's "9/11 movie," because that seems just as ridiculous right now, even though I remember kind of liking it. It's no surprise that I don't have time to break this down show-by-show, but I hope you still find some passing interest in the utilitarian aspects of the following late-as-usual list. Some random thoughts:

1. Today I went record shopping out of a guy's storage space in Richardson. It was fantastic. I found some random nonsense like a Cerrone produced dance record by Don Ray, some terrible rock record that I bought merely for the accidentally good album cover, and Skeeter Davis. Glad to see that Dallas can still surprise me. For more info, DM me.

2. What's more offensive? --"EFF YOU" or "FORGET YOU?"

3. You should really do yourself a favor and click on the audio link accompaniment to yesterday's Maria Bamford interview, as conducted by sometimes WSJR contributor, Rick V. It is sickeningly charming.

FRIDAY

Curvette/Violent Squid/Peopleodian/Kaboom (a Barn in Denton)

Black Friday with Keith P/Anthony Stanford/Ben White (Fallout Lounge)

Female Demand/Final Club ("Big Ol' House" located at
2245 W Oak in Denton)

Hentai Improvising Orchestra/Violent Squid/Tony Sims (1919 Hemphill)

Autolux/Gold Panda (The Loft)

Designer Drugs/Yeah Def (Granada)

Maria Bamford (Sanders Theater in Fort Worth)

That's what's Hot with Rodrigo Diaz/Oleg B (The Cavern)

SATURDAY

"Cats & Dogs Denton Humane Society Benefit" Greg Ginn/Shiny Around the Edges/Dust Congress/Brent Best/Chris Flemmons/Dim Locator/Dear Human/RTB2/Spooky Folk/Record Hop/Video/New Science Projects/Delmore Pilcrow/Sabra Laval (Rubber Gloves): Greg Ginn?

Joe Buckyourself/Dim Locator (Dan's Silverleaf)

Something Fierce/Bare Wires/Static Mind (The Nightmare)

Maria Bamford (Sanders Theater)

Art List

2010-09-09T19:57:00.003-05:00

If you don't feel like burning Korans this weekend, there's a lot of stuff going on in the visual art world around these here parts. Also, happy Unfortunate End of America's Sweet Innocence Day!

FRIDAY, September 10, 2010

Gabriel Dawe
Jennifer Caine
Guerilla Arts
1900 Haskell Blvd, Dallas, TX 75204
7:00 PM - 9:00 PM

This looks like the most unique venue of the weekend. There's a little more information here on Guerilla Arts. Obviously there's something wrong with Jennifer Caine's website (css file missing or something), but if it were real (and actually worked), that would be my vote for best artist portfolio site ever. Make me nostalgic for 1993 and Netscape 1.0. Aw heck, I'll just make a website screen shot is this week's featured image (see above). [NOTE: her website has been fixed since publishing -- pretty nice!]

Work While It Is Day For When Night Cometh No Man Can Work
Trenton Doyle Hancock
Dunn and Brown Contemporary Gallery
5020 Tracy Street, Dallas, TX 75205
6:00 PM - 8:00 PM

Trenton's stuff looks pretty amazing -- take a look here and here. He's fancy enough not to have his own web site and be in wikipedia instead. This guy's kinda awesome.

SATURDAY, September 11, 2010

Recent Work (Vincent Falsetta)
This Spanish Ounce of Gold (Justin Quinn)
Conduit Gallery
1626 Hi Line Drive, #c, Dallas, TX 75207
5:30 PM - 8:30 PM

Craig Cully
Suzanne Unrein
Gallerie Urbane
2277 Monitor Street, Dallas, TX 75206
6:00 PM - 8:30 PM

Suzanne gets my vote this week for least offensive website artist statement.

David Crismon
Jeri Ledbetter
Carole Pierce
Craighead Green Gallery
1011 Dragon Street, Dallas, TX 75207
5:00 PM - 8:00 PM

Sustenance (large group show)
337 Singleton Boulevard, Dallas, TX 75212
11:00 AM - 10:00 PM

Esther Ritz
Jorge Misium
Haley-Henman Gallery
2335 Hardwick Street, Dallas, TX 75208
6:00 PM - 10:00 PM

This Esther Ritz stuff is really kinda nice, except maybe for the queer titles. But maybe that's better than just naming them "Untitled" #1 - 25?

Abstract Thinking (small group show)
Mary Tomas Studio Gallery
1110 Dragon Street, Dallas, TX 75207
6:00 PM - 9:00 PM

NON-FICTION (Pard Morrison)
Marty Walker Gallery
2135 Farrington Street, Dallas, TX 75207
6:00 PM - 8:00 PM

POW! La Revolucion! (Ruben Nieto)
CentralTrak
800 Exposition Avenue, Dallas, TX 75226
7:00 PM - 9:00 PM

Into the Night (Burton Morris)
Samuel Lynne Galleries
1105 Dragon Street, Dallas, TX 75207
6:00 PM - 9:00 PM

Image courtesy of Jennifer Caine's webmaster.

It List: Thursday

2010-09-09T17:05:00.004-05:00

NAILS/Kill The Client/Humanerror/Big Fiction (The Nightmare)

Hormones/Sirname/Bulletproof Tiger (The Cavern)

Kontatto/Night Siege/Life Erased/Reverse Conformity/Verkommen (Phoenix Project)

Maria Bamford

2010-09-09T12:47:00.008-05:00

By Rick V.

Maria Bamford is probably one of my favorite comedians right now, and her album "Unwanted Thought Syndrome" was one of my favorite things that came out last year. Last night I found out she was doing three performances over the course of two days at the Sander Theater at the Fort Worth Community Arts center. This was put together by a group called No 2 Drink Minimum which tries to pull comedians outside of the comedy clubs. That's pretty cool, right?

For those who don't know who Maria Bamford is, look her up immediately. I would write something about her but you guys probably know how bad I am at explaining anything. And frankly, I'm pretty tired.

Here is an email Q&A I did via email with Maria Bamford:

Would you like to answer some non threatening questions so we can put them up on the website as to get people to come out to the shows on Friday and Saturday night?

Yes, I would! Non-threatening, supportive, body-hugging questions that skim the profile.

I personally am very excited that you are coming to Fort Worth. I am even more excited that you are not playing a bar venue/comedy club but a community arts center instead! How did you end up getting hooked up with the (as far as I can tell) nice people at No 2 drink minimum?

They, in fact, hooked up with me- through a great community arts network called The Book of Faces. I am supremely grateful for Carly to make the effort to track me down and poke me.

Any thoughts on comedians playing big chain venues like House of Blues?

The House of Blues is a grassroots-generated folk revival that a couple of old-time-y Bluesmen- Dan Akroyd and Jim Belushi and River Phoenix- decided to open a little hole in the wall diner that would feed the soul. The then sold it to a younger generation of musicians and percussive players and it's just a one-man operation owned by this guy/corporate entity, Live Nation. It's nice to perform anywhere. And get paid for gas.

You've been doing voice work for cartoons for years including the blasphemous Charlottes Web 2. And you've probably been approached about doing voice work more since the popularity of your newest album "Unwanted Thought Syndrome" or the fine programming of "Comedians of Comedy" and "The Maria Bamford Show". Has anybody offered any starring roles?

Not yet, but check out ADVENTURETIME on the Cartoon Network or WORDGIRL on PBS, or, on second thought, lie down and read.

You were on an episode of Mystery Science 3000 playing a violin. Do you know those guys? And what happened to the violin?

Violin let go with burnt sage and given to children who want to jam. I know only TV's Frank and writer Mary Jo Pehl (Austin resident- who is a hilarious stand up and should be booked in Fort Worth).

Whenever I asked around about what kind of questions does one ask Maria Bamford, the most common question was "Will she marry me?". Do you get a lot of marriage proposals from strangers?

Well, this, of course, will change as I age, I'm fairly certain (My mom says - once you turn 50 - I'll get the power of Invisibility!!), but I think marriage is something that you need to think about and really prepare for together, as a couple. Let's say my beloved is 15-20 years younger than me and we have almost nothing in common except a similar sense of humor- it's going to take mutual commitment to get past our differences-that they live in a railroad car outside of Salinas and I'm not high. I think it's easy to "fall in love" with somebody who is amplified, well-lit and mostly scripted. But as a person who has asked my hardworking, warm, stylish, helpful clothes dryer to go out on a date- you've got to wonder if it's just infatuation, not a realistic interest based in compatibility.

What comedians have you come across in your travels that you would recommend to legion of people who think Dane Cook is very unfunny?

Well, I like Dane Cook- he has a nice face- but I would like to recommend the following in no particular order: Jackie Kashian, Jen Kirkman, Mike Birbiglia, Jimmy Pardo, Chris Hardwick, Hard and Phirm, Garfunkel and Oates, Jimmy Dore, Brent Weinbach, David Huntsberger, Marc Maron, Louis CK, Sarah Silverman, Tig Notaro, Susan Rice, Bobbie Oliver, Charleyne Yi and there are thousands more- GO SEE LIVE COMEDY IN YOUR COMMUNITY!!!!!

And as a final stupid question. You have a dog named "Bert" and Brian Posehn has a dog named "Ernie". Any relation?

Bert is a doctor and designer of menswear. Blossom is Catholic and walks around nude in a harness. They have not met "Ernie", but have seen photos and are open to contact.

Would you rather do a phone interview? Because I sure would. It would be a lot more fun, personal and not as awkward. I usually post the audio up on the site as well.

Oof. Rick. I can't talk on the phone anymore. I really, really can't. Well, maybe later. Could you call me at like- 4 PM (my time, pacific). Here's my home phone number which isn't for print but you can pretend it is and print something else other than 555-555-5751. I really hate talking on the phone and talking about myself. I'll interview you. Be ready for my questions. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR YOUR INTEREST AND THOUGHTFUL PREGUNTAS!!!

Maria

We actually did do a phone interview! Sort of. I was overly nervous and gave Maria a lot of wrong information about the city I live in. It's not so much an interview as just a conversation. You can enjoy it here.

And you know what? I really like what Carly from No 2 Drink Minimum is doing and I interviewed her to!

Carly, why did you move to Fort Worth?

I moved to Fort Worth because my apartment lease in New York was up and my sister invited me down here to get an apartment with her. I took her up on it because the New York market is so saturated with this amazing comedy scene, it’s really hard to get started there. Even though I only wanted to produce, almost every comedian there has their own show that they put on and it’s impossible to compete with shows whose bookers have amazing connections, like friends from SNL doing their shows for free. It also takes a lot of work to get shows up and running in NYC.

How long have you been doing No 2 drink Minimum? And is this your first event? if so, it's a pretty intense one.

No 2 Drink Minimum is just a bay-bay. About 3 months old. And this is its first event, yes. We go big or go home here at No 2 Drink Minimum. Most of the time we go home.

What are your goals with N2DM (ooh catchy) and plans for the future?

The initial goal for us was to create a live comedy resource for the NY and LA comedy scenes. There is just so much amazing stuff going on in these shows that have this sort of cult following, but it takes awhile to navigate and figure out what‘s going on and where, so I thought I could help speed up the process. Plus, I hate wasting money on ridiculously expensive covers and drink minimums.

Plans for the future include expanding the cities that we cover (cities we plan to add include Austin, Houston, San Francisco, Chicago, Boston, Philadelphia, and Atlanta). Also, as far as the production side of No 2 Drink Minimum, we hope to bring more comedians to alternative spaces as often as time and resources allow.

It List: Wednesday

2010-09-08T16:27:00.003-05:00

Anberlin (Good Records): I am only listing this show on the off-chance that you might buy something at Good Records that isn't completely terrible. I couldn't find a listing for this act playing anywhere else, so does that mean that Gee Rex (as old-schoolers call it) is actually a venue? There is a controversy over whether or not this emo rock band is "Christian," which should tell you all need to know about this whole affair. Who knows, Good Records may be overrun with young non-denoms still rocking bangs and plugs tonight. Oh, boy.

This is all-too-easy though. Even a frat boy could make fun of this band and go back to listening to Teengirl Fantasy. Yes, friends, these are the times we live in. Show is at 7 PM.

Also: I know you know you'll never believe it, but we do have a great interview coming up from one of our freelancers that I'm actually looking forward to.

Not So New Music

2010-09-07T21:17:00.006-05:00

It's hard to put into words the impact that Joe Meek has had on the past fifty years of pop music in a brief blog post. I am going to do what I can but I also recommend you download the two out-of-print collections I have provided below, read the book The Legendary Joe Meek: The Telstar Man by John Repsch and that you watch the fantastic Arena documentary The Strange Story of Joe Meek, conveniently embedded below.

Joe was one of those cats who seemed to have no sense of the world around him, or if he did he openly thumbed his nose at it. Meek's output as a producer in the early to mid sixties offers a seemingly endless treasure trove of twisted pop gems. Tales of teenager heartache infused with elements of the occult (which Meek was VERY interested in) and recording techniques that, then and now, defy logical thought.

Meek had been recording and engineering sessions for artist of all genres throughout the 50's but his most important work wasn't until the dawn of the sixties. It was then he opened up his in home studio where he would do all his recording, his way throughout the decade. Working in his own home, in his own element outside the watch full eye of studio execs allowed Meek the freedom to take risk and record those risk on tape.

Above all Joe Meek just didn't give a fuck in the studio. His experimentation with effects, recording tricks, instrument deconstruction and noise had nothing to do with a hard fought internal struggle to break down pop conventions (Brian Wilson, Syd Barret) and everything to do with manifesting the music that bopped in his brain . His disregard and eventual disdain for the mainstream hit factory had surprising positive results. The kids loved it and bought it in droves, many of those hits can be found on the collection posted here.

The main stream hits that Meek released mirror most his American counterpart and contemporary Phil Spector. Both were pop visionaries at a time when pop music was about as lame as it has ever been. Both sought to turn the idea of what "the kids" would be listening to upside down, but in very different ways. Both share a dirty and amateur sound. No great singers or crystal clear vocals, all heart and spunk without the studio refinement. Spector had his Wall of Sound and honed in on the precise elements that composed that sound. With each ground breaking and chart topping single Spector worked to refine that Wall of Sound. Meek took a different approach by never getting caught up on one idea, technique or approach. Instead he would constantly be experimenting and recording, painting as many pictures as he could with sound.

The naiveté inherent through out Meek's recordings is endearing like no other. There is an emotional directness shared by his contemporaries Burt Bacharach and Hal David coupled with the anti-establishment sounds of Lee Hazelwood and Billy Strange. Meek takes this all one step further with his informed but innocent spirit resulting in post modern, yet personal avant art that acts like The Residents, Talking Heads and even Beat Happening would later explore.

Meek's popularity began to wain in the mid sixties due to a "lurid sex conviction" which shook up his personal life and drew him into depression and even deeper into his fascination and paranoia with the paranormal. Joe would do things like talk to cats, record in graveyards and commit a murder suicide on the anniversary of his idol Buddy Holly's death. All of these things, along with The Rolling Stones, left Meek with his last hit and last breath in 1967.

But I know what you are really here for is the free music! It's Hard to Believe It is the best one disc collection of the man's work. It is missing some key tracks including a personal favorite The Blue Rondo's Little Baby. Also included is the out-of-print Vampires Cowboys Spacemen & Spooks, a 2CD collection of Meek instrumentals for those of you who can't handle pop music.

Other releases that are in print and recommended, once you realize you can't get enough include I Hear a New World, the 1960 space pop oddity that has more in common with The Residents than anything going on with his contemporaries at the time. Much later in his career the desire to produce more hits and recover money he never received for past hits, forced Meek to jump on the "beat" bandwagon. It was in this time he recorded some more straight forward (but classically Meek) Nuggets style garage tunes. These can be found on the collection Joe Meek's: Freakbeat: 30 Freakbeat Mob & R&B. And if anyone can hook me up with a copy of Joe Meek: The Alchemist of Pop, which seems the only place to find the track Jack the Ripper on CD, that would be most appreciated.

Buddy

Holly

It List: Tuesday

2010-09-07T19:38:00.003-05:00

Sorry for the lateness, we're being dumb today... luckily there isn't a whole hell of a lot:

Mumiy Troll/Run Run Run (The Loft)

Last Minute Add: Singles Going Steady (Rubber Gloves): Special format-breaking appearance by Embolization's John Falvo.

Labor Day Rock

2010-09-06T12:09:00.008-05:00

TUE: Mumiy Troll/Run Run Run (The Loft)
THR: Hormones/Sir Name and the Janes/Bulletproof Tiger (The Cavern)
THR: Nails/Kill the Client/Big Fiction/Humanerror (The Nightmare)*
FRI: Curvette/Violent Squid/Peopleodian/Kaboom (a Barn in Denton)
FRI: Female Demand/Final Club (house show, Denton)
FRI: Hentai Improvising Orchestra/Violent Squid/Tony Sims (1919 Hemphill)
FRI: Autolux/Gold Panda (The Loft)
FRI: Designer Drugs/Yeah Def (Granada)
FRI: Maria Bamford (Sanders Theater in Fort Worth)
SAT: "Cats & Dogs Denton Humane Society Benefit" Greg Ginn/Shiny Around the Edges/Dust Congress/Brent Best/Chris Flemmons/Dim Locator/Dear Human/RTB2/Spooky Folk/Record Hop/Video/New Science Projects/Delmore Pilcrow/Sabra Laval (Rubber Gloves)
SAT: Something Fierce/Bare Wires/Static Mind (The Nightmare)
SAT: Maria Bamford (Sanders Theater)

*I noticed on the Parade of Flesh website (yes I do visit John!) there is a memorial to the comedian Robert Schimmel who passed away in a car wreck last week. PoF list Schimmel as being best known for TV Funhouse when in reality TV Funhouse is the creation of SNL writer Robert SMIGEL, easy mistake I guess. Robert Smigel also played Adam Sandler's dentist brother in law in PT Anderson's Punch Drunk Love and is still alive.

Weekender

2010-09-03T08:05:00.012-05:00

Friday

Kicking Spit | Wiccans | Dark Forces (Little Guys)

One of my favorite places to see shows as of late.

Nervous Curtains | New Science Projects | Pinkish Black | Delmore Pilcrow (Rubber Gloves)

Free week so it's free.

Amandla | Record Hop | Here Holy Spain (Double Wide)

Amandla is the musical project of Ween drummer Claude Coleman Jr. The guy makes some pleasing neo-soul with psychedelic flourishes that help shape the music instead of serving as novelty kitsch. Think an un-ironic Freedom of 76'.

Saturday

Fiskadoro | Marriage Material | Cuckoo Byrds | Wanz Dover | DJG (Nightmare)

Best show in Dallas on a very crowded night. This will be the Dallas debut for Frank favorites Cuckoo Byrds, hope the regulars are ready. Fiskadro come from Houston and feature ex-Indian Jewelery member Travis Kerschen. The sound is reminiscent of early PiL or a lounge-ier Liquid Liquid. Fiskadoro's Hypnotic and dubby sound should be a nice come down after the frenetic jitter of Marriage Material.

Away From the Numbers (Fallout Lounge)

This month's installment of the proto/glam/shoegaze extravaganza helmed by the able crates of DJ Gabriel and Telegram Sam seems to have a Brian Eno theme according to the online postings. Sounds good to me. I once saw a Brian Eno cover night in Austin sometime in the early oughts which consisted mainly of dudes that looked like they were slinging gear for Eno in the early 70s. There was only about ten people there but one of those was none other than Britt Daniel from Austin's own Spoon. I was a never a big Spoon fan but the dude new alot about Eno and his autograph scored me some major significant other points.

Kiki | Opencloud | DragonLazer (the Cavern)

Kiki is pretty hi profile electronic artist out of Germany and on the b-pitch label. Probably the show of the night for electroisseurs but not worth noting to the rest of the population.

Mind Spiders | Sunnybrook | Melting Season | Land Mammals (Rubber Gloves)

More of the free.

Sir Name and the Janes | Missile | Cory Howe and the Dead Flowers (The Doublewide)

This is a CD release for Dallas based 3 piece Missile who are either very tongue in cheek or very eager to star in a sequel to Scorpio Rising. Too bad the straight ahead garage rock sound doesn't match the campy facade. The high production values of the Myspace tells me these guys mean business.

Amandla | Dovehunter (Hailey's)

It List: Thursday

2010-09-02T17:01:00.002-05:00

Balmorhea/Doug Burr/Bosque Brown (The Granada)

MuhammadAli/Leg Sweeper/SRY (the Cavern)

One Against Many/Raging Boner/High Anxieties/Decades (1919 Hemphill)

Peopleodian/Dear Human/Baruch The Scribe/Western Giants (Rubber Gloves): So we've already discussed a lot of these local groups in recent months, particularly the awfulness of Baruch the Scribe and the surprisingly intriguing sounds of Peopleodian, an interesting project with one of the worst names ever. Dear Human play an effective brand of instrumental math rock that isn't and probably won't ever be my thing, but fans of the genre will likely appreciate much of it.

It List: Wednesday

2010-09-01T15:33:00.003-05:00

It List: Tuesday

2010-08-31T16:19:00.005-05:00

90's Night With Yeah Def (Hailey's)

Oh Lewis/On After Dark/We Are Brothers/No Heroes (Rubber Gloves): Free Week.

Titus Andronicus/Soft Environmental Collapse/Bizzaro Kids (Sons of Herman Hall): What I do with a band like Titus Andronicus? Or is it that I know exactly what to do, since we've been through this so many times before. Their first recordings consisted of pretty passable melodic rock; sloppy and impassioned without sounding too stupid. Casual follow-up listens would reveal, along with the bias-flaring occurrence of their subsequent signing to a larger label, what often occurs with so many bands of this ilk: They started acting more serious, had a "concept" for their new record, and started trying to rewrite some normo rock classic like Music From Big Pink or Rum, Sodomy, And The Lash or The Queen Is Dead, but through the band's own collective modern filter. So many once-exciting bands trade in their youthful flame and eventually settle for trying to make a record that's beyond them, and recording it as a band they are not. So many bands have done this over the years; the once-solid Dr. Dog as a recent example comes to mind, as does the aesthetic arc of Paul Westerberg's entire output and eventual descent into adult contemporary music. In Westerberg's defense, he just kind of peaked early. For some bands, it's better for your career to ditch the rough demo-sounding stuff, as it will maybe even ensure that you are played in dark-wood bars and suburban Irish-inspired pubs for years to come. It doesn't however always hold one's interest the way that those earlier recordings will.

Even more dubious is the band's choice of basing their new record around a Civil War-theme. Yikes. These things are all fine on their own; concept records, pub rock, The Civil War. But mix them altogether and you have a somewhat pretentious mess.

A well-respected venue head I know suggested yesterday, that it would be better to find people that are actually into the specific genre of the shows that are written up, and maybe this is a good example. Though the person was referring to punk rock and punk-pop leaning bands, it might be better to ask a "Senior Analyst Of Melodic Bar Rock" to cover this show. But I actually dispute that method. We definitely like punk and melodic bar rock, but only if it's well-done. That's a no-brainer, right?

Earlier today, I actually heard a Trey Johnson song that I liked more than anything on this band's new record. Does that mean I'm "maturing" or getting lamer? It had a guitar lick that almost sounded like Curtis Mayfield. Not bad.

Art By Wes Harbison.

It List: Monday

2010-08-30T18:01:00.002-05:00

Free Week Kick off Party with Live Band Karaoke and Singles Going Steady (Rubber Gloves)

Cool Out (the Cavern)

Live Review - Justice Yeldham - Majestic Dwelling of Doom 8/27/10

2010-08-30T08:00:00.007-05:00

“Merde!” In 1896 this opening line to Alfred Jarry’s play Ubu Roi echoed through a Paris Theater. In case you do not speak french or have never seen a Godard film, the word means "shit," which is exactly what quickly hit the fan that evening. Upon hearing the utterance, the crowd ignited into a flame of critical brutality-- to do a thing as bold as cursing in a public performance was simply unheard of in civilized society at that time, and the patrons revolted, storming the stage and burning the place down. In the past century or so we have obviously moved into a different level of acceptance when dealing with artistic expression, but there are still hidden corners of the planet where art is being produced with the same intentions as Jarry's, namely to shock and assault the audience for the betterment of all involved. Friday night’s show at The Majestic Dwelling of Doom by Australia's Justice Yeldham was a night that I won’t soon forgot and has left me with many unanswered questions about what to expect from a musical performance, especially when a performance becomes hi-jacked as this one did.

I arrived fairly late to show, around midnight, and I stepped up to find the usual cast of characters socializing outside along with some unseen faces. Some of those faces were very fresh faced, yet any innocence that these young-uns carried in would be dismantled within the next 45 minutes. After making the rounds, a sound of indecipherable electronic screeches began to pulsate from the revolving doors of the Doom manner. Time to party.

As with most acts like Justice that I have minuscule to no knowledge of, I did as little research as possible before stepping in, purposely avoiding the Weekender post, which was very hard to do. I like to be surprised. I entered into an already crowded room with the fanatical noise heads and curiosity seekers perched as safely close to Justice as possible. Laid before him was a multitude of effects and distortion pedals which he knelt before like a priest before the altar. Pressed firmly against his face was a piece of glass which he played by the way of screams, moans and a contact mic.

The music was not discernible from most extreme noise that I experience. In my post a few days ago over the Dharma/Pocket Change I spoke of the control that an artist can exude in the face of seeming chaos. There is a sense of safety one experiences as an audience member when in the hands of a confident, focused performer, and this is what kept Yeldham's performance, essentially a man chewing on glass, from being a freakish oddity and instead rendered it a piece of art to absorbed. The music was intense and hypnotic. Watching him play this instrument, seeing and not understanding the way he created the caustic sound that filled the basement, was an experience unlike any other. The looks of delight and energy the audience was giving off kept the affair a communal one, the synergy at noise shows is unrivaled.

You could tell by the degeneration of the glass that the spirited but exhausting final stabs were meant to bring a close to the powerful performance. Then a challenger entered the ring. The man who in hazy retrospect must have been 7 feet tall looked like a rejected Street Fighter character from an Alabama meth-farm with his tattered sweat pants and natty dreaded (or just unwashed) locks. By this time most of the curiosity seekers had exited, leaving a group of about 30 or so to finish out the set. It was quickly apparent to the audience that this guy was either part of the performance or here to upstage it. After much reflection and Internet research, I’m still not totally sure one way or another.

His initial enthusiasm was not out of the ordinary for a wasted noise dedicate, but I think he knew that he had missed most of the performance and therefore needed to make up for some lost time. From his pants he pulled out something sharp that from my vantage point 3 feet away seemed to be a razor blade. As if in a trance he began to slide the edge across his forehead, each slice about a inch in length. There was a moment of clarity at witnessing this almost ritualistic exercise, and I watched in awe as the blood began to flow from the wounds and drip into small puddles upon the floor. The noise blocked out any sort of rational thoughts I could have in the immediacy of that moment. I stood there enraptured by the combination of wonderment and fear that rushed through my veins as the events unfolded in real time.

“I hate you!!!” screams Yeldham as he raised his instrument above his head and brought it down with brute force upon the devoted fan’s skull, sending glass in all directions (luckily by this time most people had made their way far from him). He smelled really bad too. The impact of glass on skull obviously didn’t help the fresh wounds which continued to ooze all over himself and the basement, making the place looking like a crime scene. As everyone made a beeline for the exit I saw Yeldamn take the man and give him a very cautious hug. This sight gave me relief from the tension balled up in me that I was unable to identify at the time, but now attribute to the joy of knowing I had just witnessed a finely orchestrated performance by, if not rehearsed, a dedicated visual artist committed to pushing the boundaries of violence, music, performance and the role of audience members. I would later find I was wrong.

“I challenged the Train, and the train won!” Our mystery man belted out before exiting the performance . I scanned the damaged that had taken place, not taking any pictures out of fear they might be confiscated later by police as evidence. There was a certain transcendental awe that swept up over my body, facilitated by alcohol consumption, that I had to snap myself out of in order to head out side and get away from the smell of sulfur.

As I exited the space I could already hear the rumblings of what had happened amongst the patrons that spend their entire time out side. I was jumping from conversation to conversation trying to put together the pieces from fragmented re-tellings. I heard talk of him being a schizophrenic who was suffering from a break down, that he had to be pulled off the train tracks earlier when going head to head with it and that he may have also shoved glass up ass earlier in the evening. All of which I found out later to be true. Then my investigation was suddenly interrupted and the story quickly became all too clear.

“I HAVE SEX WITH CHILDREN EVERY NIGHT!” Without having to give a second thought to who it might be, I turned around to see the man taking the pew to deliver his sermon of delirium. “I will destroy you Zionist” he began to scream at the young men trying to reason with him. “..but I am an Atheist man!” You really think that is going to help, buddy? This quickly escalated to the guy grabbing these guys by the collar and in case you forgot, all the while still dripping blood. This change of scene plus the impending police sirens coming down the road let me know it was time to gather my posse and get the fuck out of there.

After finally finding my queasy compadres, we headed across the street to the car. By this time the police had already arrived, and this mythical beast that was thundering around minutes earlier was now subdued by the fuzz to a mere mortal like the rest of us. Turning away from that sad scene I saw Justice crossing the street at the same time as me. “great set, I really enjoyed it” I told him with a smile and a non cynical thumbs up. He looked at me and for a brief second the worry and concern that was all over his face dropped and he acknowledged the compliment and quickly went back on his way.

What a night. I know that this review spent more time speaking of a crazy dude instead of the music which was the centerpiece of the show, but to me it is all one in the same. Jarry would be proud.

post script - Big shout outs go to Natalie V Davila, the Doom crew and Rob Buttrum who put their necks on the lines and clean up blood to bring us great shows like this. Thanks to Bradley Santulli for the video.

Monday Morning Rock

2010-08-29T22:22:00.004-05:00

TUE: Oh Lewis/On After Dark/Weare Brothers/No Heroes (Rubber Gloves)
TUE: Titus Andronicus/Soft Environmental Collapse/Bizzaro Kids (Sons of Herman Hall)
WED: The Hope Trust/Tre Orsi/RTB2/Sundress (Rubber Gloves)
WED: Dust Congress/The Kyle Sowashes/Old Snack (Haileys)
WED: English Beat/Bad Manners (Granada)
THR: Flowers of God/Peopleodian/Here Holy Spain (Rubber Gloves)
THR: One Against Many/Raging Boner/High Anxieties/Decades (1919 Hemphill)
THR: Muhammedali/Leg Sweeper/XRY (Cavern)
FRI: Nervous Curtains/New Science Projects/Pinkish Black/Delmore Pilcrow (Rubber Gloves)
SAT: Fiiskadro/Marriage Material/Berliner Eins/Cuckoo Byrds/Wanz Dover/DJG (Nightmare)
SAT: Kiki/Opencloud/DragonLazer (the Cavern)
SAT: Mind Spiders/Sunnybrook/Melting Season/Land Mammals (Rubber Gloves)
SAT: Sir Name and the Janes/Missile/Cory Howe and the Dead Flowers (The Doublewide)
SAT: Amandla/Dovehunter (Rubber Gloves)

Live Feed - Drink to Victory/Daniel Francis Doyle/Dust Congress/Drug Mountain (last show)

2010-08-29T11:12:00.003-05:00

Weekender

2010-08-27T14:40:00.009-05:00

First things first:

I hate to self importantly inundate you with our various press profiles of late, but we are surprised at the amount of interest ever since we announced our imminent finale. You may be surprised to see that we did an interview with The Dallas Observer's Pete Freedman for their DC 9 At Night blog. Freedman starts off by stating:

For the past five years, We Shot JR, for better or worse, has been a fairly prominent player in the local music scene...

What do you all think? Has it been for the better? Or for worse?

Also, bummed to hear about the once-ample parking available at the Phoenix Project, having to be done away with. Click here to read why.

FRIDAY

Black Friday With Anthony Stanford/Keith P/Ben White (Fallout Lounge)

Justice Yeldham/Solypsis/Drums Like Machine Guns/Heavy Medical/Depths/Filth/Ascites (Doom): You may have heard of Justice Yeldham. He's mostly known for his technique of shouting into, and on, and...through a sheet of amplified glass, which often cuts him, and leaves him bloody at the end of a performance. He represents everything that annoys, bothers, or scares people about this type of music and performance, and then goes beyond all of that even. I would actually love to see this show. I have always enjoyed the videos and recordings, but I pass out if I nick myself shaving. I may just have to stomach it, because this seems lie the best lineup all weekend.

This show also marks the birthday of House Of Tinnitus-organizer and Lychgate noisemaker, Rob Buttrum, who helped put this show on at The Majestic Dwelling of Doom, so wish him a Happy Birthday. His shows have been a joy to see over the years and I have always found his aesthetic filter to be one of the most discriminating, as well as one of the most intelligent in the area. He's always been one of those people so rare in any music community; someone that knows how to say that all-too powerful and seldom uttered word: "No." Happy Birthday, Rob. You completely fucking rule.

Kashioboy/Peopleodian/Museum Creatures (The Nightmare)

ADD: Rodrigo Diaz/Oleg B (The Cavern-upstairs-)
SATURDAY

Drug Mountain | Dust Congress | Daniel Francis Doyle | Drink to Victory (Rubber Gloves): This is Drug Mountain's last show, and that's a shame, but at least this lineup is completely solid. Unfortunately, I believe they are almost completely sold-out of their twelve inch, if not just a handful of copies shy.

Stymie | No Heroes | Sour Mash | Genius Party | Prognosis Negative | High Anxieties (Little Guys Movers)

Florene | Missions | Cygnus | Mikey Rodge (The Cavern)

Telegraph Canyon | Spooky Folk | Monahans | Final Club | Old Snack | Baruch the Scribe | Goldilocks & The Rock | Land Mammals | DJ Five Easy Pieces (Hailey's)

El Cento/Orange Peel Sunshine/Les Americains/Diamond Age (Kessler): The description on the invite mentions something about Diamond Age being a "self-contained" project, implying a solo project, and if that's the case I really want to see how this is pulled off. I keep missing this guy.

SUNDAY

Tweak Bird | Drums Like Machine Guns | Heavy Medical | Depths (The Nightmare)

Free Fun Fun Fun Fest Passes

2010-08-27T13:44:00.002-05:00

Good news, losers-- our good friends over at Fun Fun Fun Fest, who we've been working with ever since the first edition of the festival a few years ago, have been nice enough to give us two passes to the festival to pass along to you. So, all you have to do to win is to re-tweet our post about Fun Fun Fun Fest, or, if you don't have a Twitter account, simply email us at weshotjrtix@yahoo.com with your full name in the email body and "Fun Fun Fun Fest" as the subject. You have until Tuesday at 5pm to enter, so get to it!

It List: Thursday

2010-08-26T15:28:00.003-05:00

A lot of people have expressed concern that they won't know "where to find shows" now that We Shot JR is going away, however, I have an answer, though a slightly complicated one, and everyone that has ever said "Let me Google that for you" should go ahead and just jump off of Reunion Tower and do us all a favor.

I recently did an interview* with Pegasus News about the site ending, and I mentioned after the interview that I had missed their old calendar listings for some time now, since I thought they did away with their old calendar format. Well, apparently, I have just been overlooking the placement of the calendar after they did a site redesign a while back. So, stupid me, and of course, many of you will agree with that sentiment. Sure, it's not perfect, and it's best for listing big touring shows, but it's one of the easiest and most concise show listings available for DFW events, and it has quite often surprised me with the things I have overlooked. Special thanks to Pegasus News managing editor Sarah Blaskovich. Click here.

Also, you should always check both Dallas Hardcore and Dallas Dance Music for shows that you won't find in a lot of the traditional media outlets, and especially for events that take place at spots where they may only have a show once every six months, or even never again.

*Do I sound like a total pacifist in the interview? I didn't mean to. I don't know how I feel about that. The shows:

Yatagarasu/Savage And The Big Beat/Colossi/Naxat (J&J's Pizza): Pretty wild show that I didn't hear about until today.

Teenage Cool Kids/Mind Spiders/St. Dad/Best Fwends (Rubber Gloves): I'm guessing this might be one of your last chances to see Teenage Cool Kids for quite some time, so I would go ahead and make it out if possible. I have seen different things listed as to who is actually playing tonight in different places for this show, but hey, all that usually means is that everyone is so excited to go that they start making up dream lineups in their heads and posting them. St. Dad's vocals have the taunted little brat sound that I wish the Strange Boys had stuck with, but I understand. Many bands start with a good gimmick, and you're second act is often to grow out of it. I was pretty struck by this band actually. Best Fwends are a group that once made a recording engineer I know remark that they "are everything wrong with music today." That actually made me like them more. That was during their ipod/rap/a capella phase, but last time I saw them they had a full rock lineup and played a pretty spot-on version of "March Of The Pigs" that everyone liked ironically except that Gutterth guy. Mind Spiders is a local band that released a record through Dirt Nap but nobody has really covered them yet. Weird. I assume that will change soon.

TCK's Andrew Savage was working on a an actual physical zine called "Wild Style" and I hope that I get to see a copy of that before he's off to New York.

80/s Night: La Discoteca D'Italia with Anthony Stanford/Yeah Def (Hailey's): I don't know if this is every week, but I would love to have a place to hear Italo on a regular basis, and unfortunately there has been somewhat of a void with deep-cut, non-John Hughes 80's stuff since DJ G left. Looks like Yeah Def is still on-board, and I hope the theme is permanent.

It List: Wednesday

2010-08-25T18:33:00.006-05:00

Twin Sister | Memoryhouse | Sleep 8 Over (The Loft)

I hate it when shows this good happen in Dallas and not Denton. The best dream-pop show of the summer. At least I got the opportunity to post the Outer Limits cover which was something I hoped to accomplish before the end came. Very recommended if you like the same stuff I do but are afraid to admit it out of fear being made fun of.

Amo Joy! | New Science Projects | Fishboy | Iji (The Hydrant)

Not So New Music

2010-08-24T23:02:00.009-05:00

John Cale - Even Cowgirls Get the Blues

Through out John Cale's long and lustrous career the rock god has released live albums that are not just live performance of old recordings but fully realized albums of their own. This particular recording just barely beats out Sabotage/Live for the coveted spot of favorite live album, with Fragments from a Rainy Season coming in a close second. These recordings stem from 1978 and 79 - depending on who you ask - but was not "officially" released until the very limited CD run in 1987.

Cale is of course know for his avant garde leaning when approaching pop music, but the album is much heavier on the Avant side. The songs here had all been unreleased up to this point, except of course for Helen of Troy which features a BRUTAL performance on the guitar by Ritchie Fliegler as he out Fripps Chris Spedding's original performance. The over the top theatrics of opener Dance of the Seven Veils features Judy Nylon on vocals who he had collaborated previously with on one of my favorite fun Cale tracks The Man Who Couldn't Afford to Orgy. The ballad Don't Know Why She Came stands beside I Keep a Close Watch and I'm Not the Loving Kind as one of his finest.

While this live recording is not as beautifully poetic as the minimalistic Fragments From a Rainy Season or as full on punk rock as Sabotage/Live or as lounge room sleazy as John Cale Comes Alive (boy that's a weird one!) but I think this one one works best as a synchronization of all the aspects of Cale that make him the performer I adore so.

This is the CD version of the album, unfortunately the record is one of the few missing spots in my 23 LP Cale collection. The LP features a couple more tracks one of which is Jack the Ripper. ~~I went ahead and included the studio version featured on the Island Years collection because it is a damn fine song and should be heard.~~*

Since the blog is coming to end I'm going to try and keep these coming every Tuesday until we officially call it quits and I might even throw in some fun extras like the big block of text you see below. This is a review I wrote after seeing the man, one of heroes, live for the first time. Just thought you would like to see that my annoying writing style was framed well before becoming part of the staff here.

Frank Phosphate circa 2005

For most of my adult life I have been a near obsessive fan of a musician by the name of John Cale. He is, in my opinion, one of the most important artists, constructors and trend setters in modern pop and rock and roll. Yet like most truly great artist his work goes unrecognized. When I found out that not only would he performing in Texas, but in Dallas and in Austin with an in store at Waterloo records. I cleared my schedule and have been dreaming for the past two months about these two days of musical ecstasy.

I just returned home from the Dallas show and tomorrow I will be staying at home and cleaning instead of visiting Austin. We will discuss why this is later.

So why is John Cale my favorite musician? Here is a crash course. John Cale is from a foreign country named Wales. It is here that he studied classical performance and at a young age won a scholarship to study in New York. It is here where Cale worked and composed alongside such notable figures in avant garde music as LaMont Young, John Cage and Terry Riley.

Then John Cale changed rock music forever when he met up with Lou Reed, Sterling Morrison and Mo Tucker to form the Velvet Underground. Leaving the band after two monumental albums he went on to create a catalogue of some of the most diverse and forward thinking rock and roll ever recorded. Along with his studio albums Cale produced some great debut records by The Modern Lovers, Squeeze, The Stooges and most notably Patti Smith's Horses.

Now with his latest release BlackAcetate (astralwerks) Cale continues to wow fans and critics with his unique brand of rock and roll. What other 60+ musicians claims his current influences to be The Strokes and Dr Dre? I highly recommend that you go out and purchase any and everything you can by him, or give me a call and I’ll give you a mix CD.

I sat alone toward the front of the stage amongst a crowd of what looked to be community college professors and civil lawyers. The people of my age bracket preferred to hang out toward the back bar area comparing the tightness of one another’s pants and attempting to pick up the bar maid in the mini skirt. I could not stop shaking in anticipation. Just imagine if you had the chance to see Radiohead or Pink Floyd with an audience of maybe one hundred people and you can imagine where my nerves were. As I looked around no one else really seemed to be as excited as I was. Maybe in their later ages they have learned to control their giddy child like glee.

The curtain comes up there he is with his trademark violin and tears right into the Velvet Underground favorite “Venus in Furs”. The sound was amazing and the setting was more intimate than I could have ever hoped for. He didn’t spend much time talking it up or making witty banter. He stuck to the music and that was just fine by me.

The set was very tight, maybe a little too tight. He did a wonderful job of not neglecting his older catalogue playing Guts, Helen of Troy and a few other seventies masterpieces. The supporting band looked and sounded like they could have just as easily been backing up Ashlie Simpson. While they were competent you could see their faces become bewildered as Cale veered off into any territory they hadn’t practiced earlier. This was one of the problems I had with the show. Cale works better as a solo performer. I have heard numerous live albums (official and bootleg) where it is just him, a guitar and a piano. It is in this capacity that he is able to explore the dark recess of his music and emote a near cathartic wale that is uniquely his.

By the end of the show my hands were red and raw from clapping he thanked the audience and left. We demanded more. After a few short moments he came back on to perform “Concrete” from the new album. A very musically haunting and stark piece but lyrically surprisingly suburban with lines such as “a voice calls out from the den ‘What time does Survivor come’” It is songs like this that make Cale so great. He is able to create songs that push you’re your ears and brain to work overtime but never forgets the one element that almost all great artist do, to have a pedestrian sense of humor.

I was now at that critical juncture. Do I bask in the glow that radiated through my soul and ear drums and call it a night or do I try to stalk the musician. Like a recovering heroin addict who just ran out of methadone I took the route that I would later end up regretting. I needed another fix, and was going to go for it.

As the crowd cleared out I made a beeline to the back of the theatre where I saw that the tour bus was. Here was my chance to meet the man who I have been listening to and idolizing for years. Here was my chance to shake hands with one of the most important figures in avant-garde, pop and experimental music of the twentieth century. There were seven people with the same idea as me standing there. They of course were all at least 25 years older than myself. I stood around for over an hour as roadies loaded equipment into the back of a trailer. I cupped my ears to try and hear any talk about Cale and more importantly a hint that he might be exiting the bus anytime soon. After I had flipped through my horrendous digital pictures for the billionth time one of the Granada workers tipped me off.

“Hey man, looks like Cale is off the bus, here is your chance”

I glanced up and indeed, he was off the bus joking around with the drummer. I stood up and with great caution made my way towards him. I cycled through all the ways that I could possibly ask him for a photograph without sounding like just another twenty something male fan or a complete idiot. There I was, about fifteen feet away from him. His conversation with his pal had ended and the man had left toward the club. Here is my chance. I begin to raise my hand to wave and for a split second our eyes met. Before I had time to blink or fully extend my arm he turned around and walked on to his bus. As I stared blankly at the bus I could hear the thunderous clank of the lock being fastened on the door.

It was on the lonely ride home that a lot of things became clear to me. John Cale is an artist and in that respect he is a master. Every time I put on one of his records I get a feeling that no other artist can, and that has not and will not change. I don’t know what I thought seeing him live would have done for me. Maybe I thought I would have a greater insight into him as a man or gain a better understanding of his music. Maybe I just wanted to let him know how much he meant to me beyond just being the guy that left The Velvet Underground. Even though that moment I had never felt such great disappointment, I am glad that he turned his back on me, whether he did it consciously or not.

So I am not going to Austin. I will not be driving for 6 hours, spending 20 more dollars on a concert ticket, waiting in line to get my early 1970’s ads from Melody Maker signed or trying to get my picture taken with a 63 year old musician.

Am I glad that I went to The Granada tonight? Yes. It was a great show and I am glad that I got to experience the music live. And it did something that I didn’t plan on, it turned my views on the relationship between art, artist and consumer upside down. But what else is great art meant to do but to make you feel elated and confused at the same time?

This is all too much to think about. I am going to go lye in bed and listen to Trapped in the Closet.

* EDIT: Ah fuck it I am going to go ahead and include this self made album of unreleased/rare material as well because I just got back from a really nice date involving spinach quesadillas and Terminator 2 so I am feeling extra generous. These are all tracks that I have collected from various bootleg/collections/live sources and arranged in a some what coherent fashion and titled Save us From the House of God. Aren't I clever? Of particular interest is the song Velvet Couch that is a collaboration with David Bowie in Bowie's apartment at cocaine o' clock sometime in the early 70's. The recording quality is horrendous but it is a rare piece of Cale history.

Even Cowgirls Get the Blues

Save Us From the House of God (exclusive FP mix)

It List: Tuesday

2010-08-24T18:02:00.003-05:00

A Giant Dog/ John Wesley Coleman III/ Kampfgrounds (J&J's): I wrote the below Austin dis before I realized that A Giant Dog is in fact a band from Austin, and not a half bad one either. Their sound is pretty much that Austin "garage rock" sound (whatever the hell that even means anymore), but we can't necessarily fault everyone who makes this music just because its the go-to genre for "edgy" Ron Paul supporters. Anyway, A Giant Dog actually does this kind of thing the right way, and fans of the Oh Sees and the Fresh and Onlys, especially those who dig a rougher sound with more rockabilly and classic rock n roll influences, will certainly want to see this.

Singles Going Steady (Rubber Gloves): This looks and sounds like a good time, but if it was in Austin it would annoy me. That's why Denton's "scene" is better, in a nutshell-- thanks to that stupid Matador comp, we're gonna have to face at least several years of almost every band coming out of Austin consisting of people trying to "make it" in music. Bummer.

It List: Monday

2010-08-23T13:13:00.004-05:00

Gobble Gobble | Florene | Pocket Change | Dharma (Doom)

One of the more exciting acts to emerge in the local music scene is the one woman powerhouse who goes by the name Dharma. I have witnessed two of her performance and both times I was astonished by the amount of focus and control she seems to have over every aspect of her squirm worthy performance. She is a refreshingly confrontational performer and not just the the get in your face and scream way (which she does) but the over all aesthetic quality; the way she moves, facial expression, body contortions all seem very deliberate and self assured and totally off the wall. Through out her recent performance at Dan's I kept waiting for the surly sound guy to come pull her off the stage, or the bar top where she ended up at various times. Her stage persona combined with lackadaisical synth-driven ballads and murky distorted lyrics is a refreshing, forward thinking approach which warrants multiple ingestions. Musically you could draw parallels to Darktown Strutters, but Dharma's approach is much less refined and raw, trading in Darktown's post modern ice queen approach for a much dirtier wallop. The performance is almost a cathartic experience, you can watch her wail and pound so you don't have to. It is pretty easy to get in front of a group and make them uncomfortable, but it takes skill to couple that with an engaging performance.

Pocket Change share a similar 'what the fuck' aesthetic to their live performance. The music is much more sexually driven as opposed to Dharma's humanity crushing dissonance. I have been following this group with a close eye since their first splash onto the scene a couple years ago when the then duo would leave audiences with that uncomfortable feeling after a one night stand. The sex was great and freaky but the next morning you are left questioning what happened the night before and where that stain came from. The group has toned the sexuality down since becoming a trio. While the air humping isn't as frequent, there is a certain dime store glamor that they bring to the stage which hits the same nerves. Just like Dharma, Pocket Change make an effort to marry their music with a performance that reinforces the undertones of the music while creating an experience that a recording can't capture. They are a dance band, but unlike the hollow soullessness of Sextape, the group have a certain humanity and fragility that brings the music above the ironic throwback style that is so prominent in the dance music scene. The interactions between the members, both physically and musically, is something I don't see very often either, at least not effectively.

I would not consider either of the acts 'performance artist' because the musical backbone they share is strong and would still be interesting with out the theatrics. But it's a welcome touch.

Gobble Gobble are from Canada, sorry that's all I got.

Rayon Beach | Jack O'Hara | Museum Creatures (The Nightmare)

The End

2010-08-23T12:02:00.003-05:00

So it's sort of been a long time coming for those of us at WeShotJR HQ, but after several months of thinking and talking about it, we've decided, for a variety of reasons, that the time has come to put an end to this website after nearly 5 years. The reasons are many, of course, and we'll explain a lot of them to you here in the coming weeks, but with writers moving to different cities and taking on more involved jobs, etc., we feel like we've slowly been running out of the free time necessary to run this website the right way, and therefore should put a stop to it rather than continue on in a reduced capacity.

We'll continue our posts as usual until some time in mid to late October (we'll reveal the exact date soon), and we'll be hosting a small event around that time to celebrate some of the musicians we've enjoyed here over the past few years. In the meantime, we'll be doing several interesting features, reviews and interviews as we wind things down, and you'll see those pop up here over the next few weeks. Stay tuned for more information in the weeks to come, and thanks so much for reading all these years.

Monday Morning Rock

2010-08-22T21:42:00.004-05:00

Weekender

2010-08-20T08:52:00.012-05:00

By Defensive Listening.

I was lucky enough to catch Yells At Eels and Blixaboy at The Cavern last night, and it was definitely the best show I've seen there in well...probably years. Yells at Eels was as solid as always, but this time the soft refrain/chaos/soft refrain switching-off brought to mind records like Sun Ra's Lanquidity, or Art Ensemble Of Chicago's Les Stances à Sophie which are a couple of personal favorites as far as "out-there" Jazz goes. Stefan Gonzalez is moving to Austin soon, and will be sorely missed, but something tells me we will still continue to hear great things from this legendary local family.

As far as Wanz' Blixaboy set, I'll be the first to tell you that I've heard plenty of hyperbole from Dover over the years about his various projects, and I understand that it's a mix of civic frustration and an almost impossible and borderline insane determination that keeps him so on-edge. Just a guess. Maybe I recognize it in the very reasons that started this whole website. All guessing aside, I have to say that it was by far the best set I've ever seen Wanz play, thanks in no small part to his excellent drummer. I'm the first guy to get nervous when I see the laptop/theremin combo, but Wanz really, really pulled off the various styles of electronic sounds he's into with more confidence and success than I've previously seen. Keep in mind that this is a guy I've watched since I was sixteen. That's much longer ago than I even want to admit, but I'll give you a hint: Chris Farley was still alive.

FRIDAY

George Quartz | Darktown Strutters | Future Blondes | DJG (Pastime Tavern): Dallas debut for Future Blondes, which is yet another avant-leaning Houston group that doesn't suck, and just lends more substance to my theory that the city has always been a dark horse in the never-ending discussion on Texas music. After all, this state is as big as Afghanistan, remember? The group is led by one particularly prolific Houstonian, simply named Domokos, who has ties to other respectable acts like Rusted Shut and has even written (and quite well, I might add) for Houston Press, interviewing such underground luminaries as Psychic TV cohort and Genesis P-Orridge's manager Ryan Martin as well as WFMU musical director Brian Turner. It's important to let people who actually deal with music firsthand to have a say in things, as the content of these interviews proves.

Houston also has some forward thinking venues like Notsouh and Super Happy Fun Land which has regularly hosted noise fests and other under-the-radar events, yet still receives regular coverage in the city's alternative weekly.

Not only that, but the best show I've probably ever attended was in Houston: The Ex playing in a high school cafeteria with The Aislers Set, which was sponsored by the non-profit group, MECA. It was at this show that I realized what a strongly supportive underground, free jazz, and noise scene Houston had, and I started to understand why the city's dealers always have the best selection at every record convention. There were little tables set up with all sorts of activist pamphlets and the atmosphere was extremely friendly and utopian. Finally if you're ever naming names, don't forget Jandek, Red Krayola, DJ Screw, and the entire International Artists roster.

In short, don't sleep on this show and don't talk shit about a place you know very little about. You know what other city is cool? LA.

Sextape | Museum Creatures | Vulgar Fashion | Prince William (Fallout Lounge): Great lineup with various forms of synth aesthetic, both poppy (Sextape, Museum Creatures) and creepy (Vulgar Fashion). Last time I saw Vulgar Fashion here they only performed one song, which was a complete drag, but it was the best one-song set I've ever seen. It's good to see Prince William out and about. I know someone was saying on some comment this week that we only ever covered "hipster" dance music, but I'd like to see someone claim that the work that Prince William did with local rapper Hawatha in particular is hipster. Can we finally abolish that stupid term anyway? We're all guilty. Trust me, when you're hanging out at Gloria's or whatever and you're not the polo-necked men and mannequin women actually enjoying themselves, but instead arguing with your friends over "Who got what?" and "Who's getting the tip?" then you're definitely not anyone that should be calling anyone else a "hipster."

Slow Form of Suicide | Contract Killers | Shudder | Ratt Bastards | Electric Vengeance (1919 Hemphill)

The Smoke: Lost Summer Dance (Sons of Herman Hall)

The Terror Pigeon Dance Revolt | Kiwi Sisters | Manned Missiles (Nightmare)

Analog Rebellion | Archeology | Land Mammals | Young and Brave (Hailey's)

Caleb Ian Campbell | Peopleodian | Savage and the Big Beat (Dan's)

SATURDAY

Embolization | Akkolyte | The Body (Pastime Tavern): I was surprised to see that crazy, costumed duos that play loud and heavy music still come from Providence and that people are still into it. I genuinely think that's cool. It may not be as shocking as it was in 2000, but isn't it kind of reassuring that the world isn't as different as you thought it was? Some of their tracks take themselves more seriously than I was expecting. One track in particular had me worried because it kind of sounded as simultaneously grandiose and somber as something by Dirty Three or Mono. But then I hear this ridiculous cover of Black Flag's "Police Story" and the nasty desperate screams that passed for a vocal made the other slow song so much better. Know what I mean? DIVERSITY. The classic metal of Embolization along with the politico-grind of Akkolyte make this a perfect, fucked up beast of a show.

Ghetto$lang | Gobi | Yeahdef (Hailey's)

Dan Sartain (Nightmare)

SUNDAY

Video | Gestapo Kazi | We Are Brothers (Rubber Gloves)

It List: Thursday

2010-08-19T16:06:00.003-05:00

Archeology/Battlehooch/Six Gallery (The Nightmare)

Blixaboy/Yells At Eels/New Fumes (The Cavern): I was glad to hear that Wanz is calling his newest record Kliks and Politiks since that happens to be one of his most-often made comments that we have quoted endlessly over the years. He will be joined by a drummer tonight, who I would have to imagine is pretty good in order to keep up with the staggeringly wild mess that Dover concocts live, no pun or insult intended. There is usually nothing "minimal" about what Wanz does, let's just get that out of the way right now. Speaking of good drummers, and good at everything really, Yells At Eels is also playing.

White Drugs/Puffy Areolas/Kaboom (Rubber Gloves): I have heard quite a bit about Ohio's Puffy Areolas and it looks like they will be playing with a much more suitable lineup than the last time they were and performed at Mable Peabody's. One of their labels likens them to the screeching and overdriven sound of Raw Power and who doesn't like that? White Drugs is playing not only a rare show, but an even rarer record release show for the limited edition run they have of their second album Gold Magic. It's cool that they released a record with AmRep, but I can't believe they did a split with Halo Of Flies more than anything. Here's an old review SR did on them from 2007. Remember that year? It was awesome.

Art List

2010-08-19T11:52:00.005-05:00

SATURDAY, August 21, 2010

Fresh
Melanie Lewallen
Laura Doughtie
Loran Thrasher
Kettle Art Gallery
2714 Elm Street, Dallas TX 75226
7:00 PM - 10:00 PM

Resonance: Watercolors (Billie Giese)
Birdsong: New Oils (Shari Hornish)
Norwood Flynn Gallery
3318 Shorecrest, Dallas, TX 75235
6:00 PM - 8:00 PM

No Rhyme Or Reason (group show)
RO2Art
1514 Commerce Street, Dallas, TX 75201
7:00 PM - 10:00 PM

Hey I Couldn't Find Anything For The List. Don't Watch this at work.

2010-08-18T16:21:00.003-05:00

It list: Tuesday

2010-08-17T17:37:00.002-05:00

The Room | DJ boatDAD (Dan's)

How could we forget this one. 8pm at Dan's.

Corbin and The Loners | That One Machine | Those Damn Kids | Two Knights | Eccotone (1919 Hemphill)

WSJR Reader of the Week-- Rodrigo Diaz!

2010-08-17T12:55:00.002-05:00

Sometimes we like to kick little shout outs to the people who make all this possible-- the bands? Oh hell no, THE FANS! This week we're showing our appreciation for one of our most avid readers, the Dallas Observer's own Rodrigo Diaz. Why? Well we've never spoken with Rodrigo so we can't be 100% sure how often he reads WeShotJR, but we're pretty sure he must check out the site, at least from time to time, based on the two latest stories he's filed for the Observer.

You see, a couple weeks ago we posted a short story on Denton's White Drugs releasing a full length album on Amphetamine Reptile, and a few days after we did so, Rodrigo went ahead and did his own story on the exact same thing after reading our post (he basically admitted this in the comments section of his story). Was his article just a copy of our post? Well, not exactly. After all, he did make the shocking revelation that the band hadn't "technically signed" with the label, and instead had only come to some kind of agreement on releasing one full length and a couple of tracks on AmRep compilations (altough written or not, any agreement like this could be considered a contract of some kind and thus render the band "signed" with the label, even if they didn't literally pick up a pen). We kind of wish our pal Rodrigo would have let his readers know where he first got wind of this story, but its ok, we won't hold something like that against one of our fans.

Next, we did a short post last week previewing a performance from Italo Disco legend Alexander Robotnick, and several days later, Rodrigo did his very own post previewing the same show, this time adding an interview that was quite enjoyable to read. Again, Rodrigo didn't plagiarize us, but we're pretty sure that we must have served as an inspiration for him yet again, and we're very pround to be able to influence a writer for and thus the reporting of a paper with a large circulation like the Dallas Observer, even if we don't get credit for it.

So thanks for reading, Rodrigo, and keep up the good work! You're welcome to come work directly for us any time you like!

It List: Monday

2010-08-16T17:55:00.002-05:00

Not much tonight:

Rip It Up/Raging Boner/Innards/Prognosis Negative (1919 Hemphill)

Cool Out (the Cavern)

Monday Morning Rock

2010-08-16T08:26:00.000-05:00

MON: Rip It Up/Raging Boner/Innards/Prognosis Negative (1919 Hemphill)
TUE: Corbin and The Loners/Lauren Moseley/Two Knights (1919 Hemphill)
THR: White Drugs/Puffy Areolas/Kaboom (Rubber Gloves)
THR: Blixaboy/Yells At eels/New Fumes (The Cavern)
THR: Gordon Lightfoot (Verizon Theatre)
FRI: George Quartz/Darktown Strutters/Future Blondes/DJG (Pastime Tavern)
FRI: Prince William/Vulgar Fashion/Sextape (Fallout Lounge)
FRI: Slow Form of Suicide/Contract Killers/Shudder/Ratt Bastards/Electric Vengeance (1919 Hemphill
FRI: Analog Rebellion/Archeology/Land Mammals/Young and Brave (Hailey's)
SAT: Violent Squid/Embolization/Akkolyte/The Body (Pastime Tavern)
SUN: Video/Gestapo Kazi/We Are Brothers (Rubber Gloves)

Weekender

2010-08-13T16:17:00.006-05:00

Friday

Nightmare on Mulberry w/ Shane English | R9 | DJG | Denton's Bella Bombers Burlesque (Hailey's)

This is a goth themed dance party with some spooky burlesque entertainment.

The Wax Museums | The Pleasure Kills | Wild America | Bad Lovers (Rubber Gloves)

Alexander Robotnick | Mr. Daishiki Jones | Myles Francis (Brooklyn Jazz Cafe)

I called Brooklyn Jazz and the guy said the show is starting at 8pm.

Birds and Batteries | Spooky Folk | Roy Robertson (Andy's)

Subex's second anniversary show. Congrats on making it this long.

Saturday

Manatee Tights | Dharma | Kampfgrounds (Dan's)

Record Hop | Matthew & the Arrogant Sea | Regina Chellew | Pinkish Black (Kessler)

Sunday

True Woomanhood | Darktown Strutters | Vulgar Fashion (Rubber Gloves)

3 On Sunday (Dan's)

Improvisation on a Concerto Generator

"Under a tight deadline, composer Laurie Spiegel slept in the labs of Bell Telephone while the final components for the Alles synthesizer were being completed. The final composition, commissioned by Bell and the Motion Picture Academy, is seen here in the only existing footage of the first real-time synthesizer being played."

Paddle to the Sea

“Based on Holling C. Holling’s beloved Caldecott-awarded children’s book, William Mason’s stunning film follows the adventures of a tiny, wood-carved canoe as it forges its own path from Lake Superior through the Great Lakes and down to the Atlantic Ocean. Buoyed by beautiful photography and a sense of true wonder about the sun, Earth, and water, the Academy Award–nominated Paddle to the Sea is an unforgettable tribute to the forces of the natural world, as well as a thrilling journey across the waves and rapids of North America.”

PHI TA KHON: Ghost of Isan

"Masks and outfits made of coconut husks, rice steamers, shredded rags and clanging bells transform participants of Thailand’s PHI TA KHON festival into ghosts, devils, demons, and spirits unleashed for a bacchanal. Outrageous wooden phalluses and plenty of rice whiskey heighten licentious behavior as MO LAM--Thai country groove music--blasts from makeshift bands in the back of pickup trucks…  Described as ‘The Mardi Gras from Hell’ and ‘Thai Halloween" PHI TA KHON is a ghost festival that takes place every year in the Isan province of Northern Thailand."

Filmed on location by Robert Millis and Richard Bishop (Sun City Girls) in June 2004.