Horrible MOR music from a former horrible alt-rock artist. Merle Haggard (Bass Performance Hall)
Also wanted to point out that the Thin Line Film Festival begins this week in Denton. This is the second year for the documentary film festival. You might see me at the screening of Beaches of Agnes an autobiographical documentary by one of my favorite film makers Agnes Varda. Other highlight include The Most Dangerous Man in America, Burma VJ and the archival footage mash-up Clandestine.
I realize that this is the third or fourth live recording that I've posted in a row, but there isn't much else to work with when it comes to Sonic's Rendezvous Band. During their five year existence, the band managed to record and release a lone 45, and conflict within the group limited that release to only one song, their signature tune (and a goddamn barn-burner if I've ever heard one) 'City Slang' in mono on one side and in stereo on the other. Thankfully several of their live shows have seen bootleg releases over the last 30 years and a few have even been released officially.
Sonic's Rendezvous Band was made up of Detroit scene veterans Scott Morgan, of The Rationals, on guitar, The Up's Gary Rasmussen on bass, former Stooges timekeeper Scott Asheton and the group's namesake, the late Fred 'Sonic' Smith, who cut his teeth as half of the MC5's monumental twin guitar attack. Smith and Morgan shared songwriting and singing duties. The fact that they rarely played outside of the Detroit area combined with a lack of recorded output and (half of) the band's undeniably legendary pedigree give the SRB the rare distinction of being a 'nearly forgotten supergroup.' I-94 Bar has an extensive history of the band with several first hand accounts from the surviving members and friends, including Deniz Tek, who is credited with taking the Detroit sound 'down under' as a founding member of Sydney's Radio Birdman.
The show featured here is actually disc 4 of Easy Action's SRB 6 disc set that was released in 2006. It is easily my favorite disc of the six, although it is an incomplete set. I'm pretty sure that a 2cd version of the entire show exists, but I haven't had any luck finding it. That small complaint aside, this recording is a defining example of a Rock and Roll band that REALLY has their shit together. I know that's a lame description, but big college words won't do this shit any justice-- just turn it up, push play and have a fucking great time!
Damn, we're busy today guys-- we're working on album reviews and a couple other things that we think you'll like. And its a good thing too, because other than Fat Tuesday with Yeahdef and Ian Bangsat Hailey's tonight, I'm not seeing a whole lot to do out there this evening. Guess its just a "bar" night.
I feel like every time I go to the Granada there are at least 25 to 30 members of the audience that stand out. They are in their late 30's or 40's and dressed a little too uptown for the event that is taking place. Everything is cool with these folks who traditionally travel in couples until the 4th or 5th song of any given artist set when they look at one another in complete ambivalence. "Jeez Paul I can't believe you spent 60 bucks on this Resident's...band" "Uh my bad Suzy, let's go to the Oyster Bar instead."
I guess people who are rich can throw around 60 dollars here and there with the promise of a tolerable night of music. Tonight I believe they will go home with a sense of money well spent because Nouvelle Vague are a hard band not to like. Sexy Bossa Nova interpretations of punk and new wave classics. The sultry jazzy beats transport Suzy to a bistro in France talking with her imaginary best friend Natalie Portman. Paul really digs hearing some of those underground songs from back in his TCU days. Totally inoffensive , but really fun music. What's not to like? Then again I also enjoyed this when it first came out so take what I say with a grain of salt.
MON: Nouvelle Vague (Granada) FRI: True Widow/On After Dark/Kijoto/Oh Lewis (Rubber Gloves) FRI: The Separation/Division of Power/Chest Pain/Lockstep/Collick (1919 Hemphill) FRI: This Old House/The River Mouth/Land Mammals/Final Club (Hailey's) SAT: Vulgar Fashion/Orange Coax/Corporate Park (Rubber Gloves) SAT: Hentai Improvising Orchestra/Yells at Eels/Aunt's Analog/Vexed UK (J&J's) SUN: We Were Promised Jetpacks (Hailey's) SUN: The Soundtrack of our Lives (Granada)
Look, I know it's not indie or art school, but I am really excited about going to the NBA All Star Game on Sunday. You can think I'm a sellout, or "not punk," or lame, or old or whatever, but I'm just going to enjoy myself and buy a fifty dollar pizza, because that's part of the fun. I like stupid things. I like buying a forty dollar seven inch, or going all the way to Europe just to watch a group of grumpy, middle-aged midwesterners play "noise rock," or even better: drive way too far to see some RISD co-ed dropouts bang on things and throw up with the synth keys taped down.
I like trying to go toe-to-toe with life and match its absurdity, every silly overpriced step of the way. I know this is annoying to many of you, especially my friends. Some of this is written as if it were being said by Mark Followill or Bob Ortegel or Norm Hitzges.
Did anyone watch NBC last night? Looks like SA's zippy little foreign-born player, Alan Palomo, was traded to New York. Already doing the rounds on the late night talk shows. Bummer. I wish he'd come back and run for fucking governor.
FRIDAY
Dennis Gonzalez Yells At Eels/Louis Moholo-Moholo/Scott Marsrow (Phoenix Project) Before I get into character here, I want to say that is a show well-worth your time; how often do you get to see a "South African Master Drummer" play in a punk space in Dallas? Get out in the slush and make your way there, starts at 8 PM. Admission is eight bucks, or five for members.
Joe Jack Talcum (The Dead Milkmen) | Lord Grunge | The Bassturd (Rubber Gloves) Space is the Place Opening Party with Darktown Stutters | DJ Wild in the Streets (Webb Gallery Waxahachie) Whoa, looks like we have a road game here, the first of a back-to-back for the Strutters, which sees them playing Fort Worth tomorrow. Back to backs are tough, and often the best you can hope for is a split. Some people have complained that the fast-rising duo has seen too many minutes of floor time, but who else are you going to run to light it up in a gametime situation with a legendary Texas All Star (artist Esther Pearl Watson) looking on? Smile Smile? No! No! No! No! Never! Never! No! Never!
Black Fridays (Fallout Lounge) Tonight's starting lineup includes Anthony Social, Keith P, Red Sean, Young Adult Fiction, and Shane English: the Spud Webb of the bass dunking contest.
Tropical House With Prince William | Dubbel Dutch (Tradewinds) Prince William has long been thought of as a "low post presence," and someone that can "bang on those boards." However, he's changing it up a little with some "Tropical House," which is obviously less boom-ey and explosive. He can do that. This game is waaay down south in Oak Cliff, so watch yourself, Frisco, you have a long drive home.
Retribution Gospel Choir | The Rainhorses | New Science Projects (The Cavern) I don't know anything about Retribution Gospel Choir or , but I hope they don't give NSP's Dale Jones anything but trash minutes. Kid's an embarrassment to North Texas Sports. This reminds me of a related act, the WNBA's Spooky Folk, and they're somehow a much better team, even while toiling endlessly in the D-league.
The English Beat | Fishbone (Granada) "Hey, Little Rich Girl" is such a classic stadium anthem that even troubled track star Amy Winehouse couldn't fuck it up. I'm not really into Skaball, but I listen to that song on a pretty regular basis.
SUNDAY
RJD2 | Kenan Bell | Happy Chichster (Hailey's): At some point in the nineties, the commissioner became very concerned that the league was becoming too "gangsta." So what do you know, the perfect solution: Squeaky clean players like RJD2 came onto the scene along with Team Definitive Jux and provided a safe alternative to the violent lifestyle being promoted in the game at the time. Unfortunately, this safe take on the game was never for me, and neither was the mandatory backpack dress code that the commissioner eventually enforced.
Baby Ruthless/Britni3/Isis (Campus Pub, located at 105 Ave. A in Denton)
Pointdexter/Moral Panic/Oneofus/DJ Metronome/Tomb (Retroplex located at 3001 Gaston C in Dallas)
Pearl Cup One Year Anniversary (The Pearl Cup, located at 1900 Henderson in Dallas)
Schedule/lineup:
4 PM: Bill Martin 5 PM: Sally Glass 6 PM: Jaimee Harris 7 PM: David Ramirez
Looks like the best thing happening this weekend is Esther Pearl Watson's show titled Space is the Place. This is the finest local primitive art I've seen in a while. This is at Webb Gallery in Waxahachie, right about here. The reception is from 7-10 PM tonight, Friday the 12th. The image to the right is called 1985 Garland, Texas.
The other thing deserving mention is the group show opening at CentralTrak: Transitive Pairing: Body Object featuring Sharon Odum, James Gilbert, Gary Cunningham, Gabriel Dawe, Russell Buchanan and Sunny Sliger, and another show called Undercover of Kristen Cochran's work. The opening is tomorrow night, Saturday the 13th, from 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM. That's at 800 Exposition Avenue, Dallas, TX 75226. It's pretty impressive that curator Charissa Terranova can keep coming up with titles like Transitive Pairing: Body Object -- it sure sounds like it's packed with meaning.
And finally, Art List readers and new contributors Mr. and Mrs. Rushmore were nice enough to send in a review of the recent 500x opening. I actually started to edit this for typos and contextual errors, but I think the raw text adds to the charm (what are "hugh heifers"?). Plus I want to get back to enjoying the 2010 Snowpocalypse while "working from home".
Here it is...
Sheep, Sharks, and Nightlights---- Words, words, words--- Feb. 6-28
I like G Q, maybe esquire… i find gq a little more up on things than esquire, or maybe its that name… esquire… trying too hard to fit into something. maybe hugh heifers pocket… GQ is a way better of a name. Tim Best was the Esquire of this show, seemingly as good as GQ, but lagging on common sense, due ironically to having too much common sense. His photographs were printed and shot smartly. Tim Best is a smart artist, a vital thread in the fabric of a scene and makes spaces like the 500x thrive. punks like to go on about how these type are too manicured that they need some pain in the their life. Tim Best does ok.
notes(worthy?) on other artwork in the gallery: trinkets tacked on the wall magazine pictures from the 70's of mustached men with big members 'These here things make me glad' by:Matthew Clark and Kathy Webster: my girl and i walked into this room and she said 'this looks like something my cat made'
Flying Lotus has music like a stream that bubbles and flows in the valley of mars, you are looking at this one part and thats all you see, not the beginning of it, not the end. There is constant activity and evolution of life before you. Todd Camplin's work feels like this. This is a good thing. 15 50x38 inch ink on paper and 6 digital painted prints filling the entire upstairs floor of the 500x gallery. There are quiet, harmonious oranges, reds, blues and purples. It's a static picture realizing itself. at first view you wonder: is this improvised or specific design? He creates them by taking pieces from poems and greeting cards, putting them into the computer, printing out, re arranging, stenciling. deconstructing them. He told me he comes from a background in philosophy and read to much Derrida. i like that he said this. it reminds me of reading books by thinkers like him or ayn rand, where you become so engrossed in the philosophy that when you exit their world you have to slowly re integrate yourself back into your own. The concept of Todd's wordscapes is to take phrases out of their framework until they no longer have the connotations once given to them. He said this and accomplishes this. He has a strong grasp on the emotional and abstract intention of his work, every question i asked was answered clearly, its rare that an artist will be able to speak so articulately on the subject of themselves. Todd says the words he takes from poems are used because of the great significance they have to so many people and then from greeting cards because, altho they go from trivial sentiment they become pertinent to the individuals that receive them from loved ones and lovers. lifted out of their context he rebuilds them, the love and meaning being realized in a new form. This made me say i thought worship in church would have to change, that it had been processed to the point of being an origin less ritual. worship inevitably renewed in me because the soul is in it. This came to me after seeing Flying Lotus live some months ago. the bass frequencies moved thru the people in the room, i closed my eyes and felt the sounds, the music evoked the image of a thin unclothed woman with the deep black tone of african skin crawling towards me, she and I alone in the room, she reaches out and touches me with the tips of her fingers moving slowly over my clothes. After this. sitting in a church listening to a sermon that lacked reverence i felt as if Flying Lotus and physical bass frequencies represented the reconstruction of worship from the desert where it has dried up. Words, words, words evokes this same idea, being a work that reincarnates into galactic designs echoing over whole sheets of drawing paper. Todd Camplin succeeds in energizing the love back into the word.
