Boo Hoo. Due to a combination of security issues, landlord issues, and being forced to get everything together at the last minute issues, we've decided to postpone this Thursday's Obama Fundraiser. However, Lil Wil fans shouldn't start crying just yet, because we'll be doing this same show with the same line up at a new location some time within the next couple of weeks. We'll keep you posted.
Sorry, my server is all screwed up today, so I'm lucky I can publish anything at this point. Hopefully it'll be fixed soon, but for now, some quick links are below. Better than nothing:
Yo. We have two pairs of tickets to give away to this Thursday's Stars of the Lid show at the Granada. Do you want them? If you do, just email weshotjrtix@yahoo.com any time between now and Wednesday at Noon. Please title the subject "Stars of the Lid" and include your full name in the body of the email. We'll choose two winners at random. Good luck!
TUE: The Breeders/Colour Revolt (House of Blues) TUE: DJ Jazzy Jeff (Ghostbar) THU: Obama Benefit with Lil Wil/Hawatha/Sober/Prince William/Fishr Pryce/TBA (3612 Commerce St.) THU: Stars of the Lid/Mom/Balmorhea (Granada) THU: Thrones/the High Cost of Living/Akkolyte (Doublewide) THU: Stay Cool Swag School Presents-- Midlake DJ set/Young Doc/Totally Trash/Markus with a K (Rubber Gloves) FRI: Nouns Group/the Carrots/Daniel Francis Doyle/Fight Bite (Hailey's) FRI: The Sword/Torche/Stinking Lizavetta (Lola's) SAT: Blood on the Wall/Record Hop (Lola's) SAT: Car Stereo Wars/Sydney Confirm/Genova (The Cavern)
A few weeks ago, Prince William approached us about doing a benefit for the Obama campaign. We were down for sure, but we wondered-- who would participate in such a show, and where the hell could we do it? At least one venue told us that they didn't want to get involved with anything "political," and a lot of other venues were simply booked on the one night that we could do it. We almost had to cancel the thing all together because it's set to take place this coming Thursday, May 8th, and we didn't think we would have enough time to promote it and secure a venue. Luckily, we were able to get in touch with the guys at Neva Dug Disco to secure their DIY venue spot at 3612 Commerce St. (just down the street from Doublewide), which provides a great atmosphere for a show like this. Anyway, take a look at the line up:
with Prince William, Sober, and DJ Fishr Pryce spinning before, between and after the sets.
$6 cover donated to Barack Obama's Presidential Campaign; BYOB ( By the way, this benefit has absolutely no official connection with Barack Obama's presidential campaign)
In case you didn't know, Lil Wil is the Dallas based rapper who has been making national headway with his single "My Dougie," and we're very excited that he and everyone else involved has elected to donate their time for this show. We'll have more on this for you throughout the week. Check "My Dougie"
Have some big news guys! Due to urban sprawl Strawberry Fields will be locking the doors for good come this summer. Surprisingly the reason is not due to public outcry but instead to dirty, lying real estate mutha fucka's who like to screw over little old ladies and Jo Shmoe business owners. But being located on the future express way to Razor Ranch Hell we are not surprised by this turn of events. It obviously hurts all the same. It has been a pleasure selling and renting to the greater concrete city area.
But wait! Don't get too bummed just yet, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Effective sometime early next month we are pleased to announce the opening of our new location! Yes we will be opening a brand new location sometime early summer. Our new retail store of horrors will now be conveniently located right next to Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studio. So now in-between watching your favorite indie darlings you can stop by next door and pick up some Funkadelic vinyl and a Bukowski book. We have some very exciting things in the works that we will be keeping you up to date with through out the month.
What this sadly means is we will no longer be able to host DIY shows. The past few months we have had the extreme pleasure of hosting some of the finest local and national acts around. It has been a BLAST hosting all the art this amazing community has to offer. It pains us most of all to say fair well to this chapter. Brenden and I have been exhaustingly searching for ways to continue with this aspect of our business. Unfortunately this hit us before our stimulus checks made it in the mail. So is the nature of the beast.
We here at the Fields see great potential in our new location and we will continue to do our part in supporting the music community.
Who knows what the future holds past those railroad tracks?
Thanks again to all of our customers who have come out full force these past few months. You are the ones that are making this move possible. And of course thank you to Josh and Shep for offering us their old office space in our time of peril. Find another community that looks out for it's own the way Denton does. This will not be a business merger, we will just be occupying the same building along with all the bands rehearsing and performing.
While we no longer host local music, we will be re-directing those energies to promote the community as much as we can. Also look for expanded vinyl, book, ethnobotanocial, detox, DVD, CD and Adult sections. denton Deluxe will continue of course and maybe we can make enough of this one to keep it in stock.
Entries due June 15th for v. IV.
All shows for May are tentatively still on and are some good times are going to be had. We will contact the June + bands and tell them we kicked the bucket and no longer have a space for them.
More info to come and thank you for understanding our situation. I think I smell a big blowout show for the last day...
Be sure to check back here this weekend because we'll have a big announcement for you... which is why we're kind of short on descriptions, etc. today.... you know, we're workin' on shit. It'll be worth it though, trust me. Stuff to do:
FRIDAY
M.I.A. | Holy Fuck (Palladium) Back in 2004, when I was still cooler than you, I saw M.I.A. and Diplo open up for LCD Soundsystem in front of like 50 people in Austin, and she kicked ass even then (I believe it was her first or second US show). I bet the show at Palladium won't be as much fun as seeing her in a little club back when only smart people like me knew what the fuck was up, but I'm really excited to see how what she does translates to a huge stage surrounded by normal people. Probably pretty well. And Holy Fuck has really been picking up steam in blog and trad indie media circles for the past few months (thanks in large part to Chris at Gorilla Vs Bear), and I plan on actually trying to get there early to see these guys, because I hear that their live shows rule for anyone who even remotely likes their recorded material.
Record Hop | When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth | Nouns Group(Rubber Gloves) Still haven't had the chance to see Dinosaurs yet, which features Daniel Francis Doyle and several other Austin musicians, but I really want to.
Cool Out feat. Keith P | Disqo Disco | It's What We Get (Moosh) Moosh is the little place next to Zubar on Greenville, and this will be fun for sure, especially as an MIA after party. A collection of all the best DJs in town NOT associated with Central Booking.
Sunset | The Mercers/Headstream (The Cavern) Sunset is the solo project from that one dude from that one Austin band that got sad when that one website dissed them. This is actually way way better than that band though... sort of reminds me of Atlas Sound, but not as good.
Angklung Performance (Dallas City Hall; 130 PM) The Greater Dallas Asian American Chamber of Commerce presents an Angklung performance as part of this weekend's Asian Festival. I had no idea what these things were until just a couple of minutes ago, but apparently they originate from Southeast Asia, and by the descriptions I've read, produce sort of a low, buzzing kind of sound. I don't know. The performance will take place at 130 (and that's in real time, not in rock show time, my man), and will be comprised of traditional Indonesian music. Something different to do in the nice weather, and it's free. Food will be served as well.
SUNDAY
Meat Beat Manifesto (Granada) All over the place 80's industrial/90's techno legends Meat Beat Manifesto get compared to everything from Nitzer Ebb to The Orb to the Chemical Brothers, so either everyone will like this or no one will.
Old Haunts | Rival Gang | (Strawberry Fields) Olympia,WA's Old Haunts, signed to Kill Rock Stars, sort of remind me of all kinds of stuff-- Television, Velvet Underground, Pere Ubu (mostly for the vocal performances), old classic blues and rock, the Rolling Stones, and a lot of other things I can't put my finger on. Featuring former Bikini Killer Tobi Vail will probably help this band draw a nice crowd to Strawberry Fields on a Sunday, and I bet people will be pleased with what they hear. Good stuff.
New Science Projects | Delmore Pilcrow | Ella Minnow (Dan's Silverleaf; FREE) Martin IIles will be screening videos at this show as well, including a film about Roxy Music, a Lou Reed performance from 1983, and the Texas premier of Bruce Bickford's Prometheus' Garden. Sounds good to me.
Bonde Do Role | The Death Set (The Loft) This is the first night of back-to-back showcases of Diplo cohorts, and both should be big, rude, fun spectacles. Bonde Do Role has survived some tough lineup changes, and continues to be an internationally influential force. Death Set is a little much, there's a weird glossy pop-punk aspect to their music that brings to mind images of badly spiked hair and X-treme snowboarding highlights.
Landlord | Party Garbage | Brickfight (Exploding House) Bloomington Indiana's Landlord is the standout act, with the pretty good mid-tempo demo songs on their page, which feature some nervous but unique vocals.
Kanye West | N.E.R.D. | Lupe Fiasco | Rihanna (Superpages Center) Recently, the 25th Anniversary Edition of Michael Jackson's Thriller was released with "bonus tracks" including several atrocious updates by current popsters, including a particularly bad outing by Fergie. Either surprisingly or not, depending or where you stand, there was one excellent contribution by Kanye West where he (melo)dramatically saps "Billie Jean" of its original beat, and ice-funk feel, and instead adds some very stirring stings, thus rendering the song into a nightmarishly dark piece of postmodern 80's chamber pop. How's that for pretentious? Anyways, listen to it. Not only is it really great, it made me respect his production ability, whereas I previously hadn't thought much of it other than the sped up sample technique being the one-trick-pony polar opposite of DJ Screw's revolution. As for N.E.R.D., I'm not much for Steely Dan, and certainly not through the cloudy revisionist lenses of studio geeks smirking from behind their aviators.
The Raconteurs | Birds Of Avalon (House Of Blues) If you pay fifty dollars to see this show, you get what you deserve: a willfully dumb regression to "good ol' fashioned rockin'" that makes "Smokin' In The Boys Room" sound like it was written by a fucking genius.
