Last Men | Red Faced Laughter | Bad Sports | Attractive and Popular | Ginsu Wives (Majestic Dwelling of Doom, 731 Texas St., Denton) So you've known this venue as The Eighth Continent, Wisconsin, and now under this new mouthful of a moniker. The Red Faced Laughter will probably always remind me of SHQ's peak, when an unknown band from middle-of-nowhere Texas could come in to that welcoming little place and knock everyone out. There's a lot of talk about the seven-inch that RFL has completed with Last Men, who also split the bill. I'm hoping they actually have some for sale tonight. Attractive And Popular make the best case for themselves in the live setting, making this a solid bill all around.
Uptown Fridays with Select (Zubar) So we've known about Uptown Fridays with Select for a long time, but unfortunately, we've never really had the chance to make it out. However, Select sent us some info describing exactly what he does on Friday night, and we were pretty impressed. Here is some of what he said about Uptown Fridays--
"magine walking into a club...not any where in TX ...maybe like 10 years ago..maybe even later. Imagine the vibe with a dj playing dancehall from the 90's, classic house, hip house, new jack swing, and etc...with a little twist of now.... a mixture of a house night back in the 90's with the mixture of a house party. A night of solid grooves, classic disco sounds with emerging house music. Basically the night is about good times and good music."
Sounds good to me. Maybe there IS something to do in Dallas tonight.
The Polyphonic Spree Christmas Extravaganza (Granada) To quote Norm Macdonald, "Happy Birthday, Jesus. I hope you like crap." That doesn't necessarily apply to this show, but to Christmas shows in general. Christmas shows are the opposite of what rock shows should be. If you want to have a holiday theme, okay, whatever. But if you actually cover a Christmas song, well, you're just hopeless. Unless you cover "Nothing But The Best" by Frank Sinatra. I heard that at Nordstrom Rack the other day, and it's fucking hilarious.
SATURDAY
Fight Bite | Nouns Group | Eat Avery's Bones | ZZZ... (Chat Room) Nice to see Eat Avery's Bones on a bill again. This show is also the debut of Zzz..., a project featuring members of Yay! Telescopes, Boddicker, and Teenage Symphony. The band melds Gene Clark styled chime with bummed-out 80's underground sounds. Kill yourself.
Sarah Jaffe | Astronautalis | Boom Boom Box (Rubber Gloves) The PAperChase canceled and was replaced with Astronautilus. I had a joke about the Spawn soundtrack to make here, but I'll spare you.
Crystal Method (Lizard Lounge) One time I was at my friend's house and his redneck dad was walking around looking for something. All of a sudden, we hear him scream "Damn it!" and we're all "what's wrong?" The guy turns to us and says "I can't find my goddamn techno CDs, damn it," and we started laughing and making fun of him. Eventually, he found his Crystal Method CD and went on his merry way to Arby's. The End.
Ice Cube | Trick Trick | Awkquarius (The Door) If you go to this show, you might be able to catch AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted sippin on a smart drink with a guidance counselor in the back near the "bar." And for a mere $40, how can you NOT go?
SUNDAY
PVC Street Gang | Cocky Americans | Teenage Cool Kids | Florene | Top Secret Robot Alliance/The Teeners (the Lounge, 3PM) Obviously, White Denim canceled, which is a drag, because I'm sure the next time you can see them it will be at a much larger, less intimate venue.
Josh Fletcher: A Retrospective of Illustrative Influences (Brooke Berman Gallery),6-10 pm The final exhibition at Brooke Berman, before they close their doors for good.
The Gift Show (F6), 7-11 pm One night only holiday show.
Margaret Meehan: On Sugar Mountain. Up Shit Creek (Road Agent), 6-8 pm
On Solid Ground (Public Trust), 6-9 pm Kevin Bell, Colin Chillag, Christi Haupt, and Steven Larson
Akkolyte | Darktown Strutters | Lychgate | Hawk vs. Dove (Rubber Gloves) Quite an impressive all local line up tonight at Rubber Gloves. I don't think I've ever had a conversation with anyone who's heard Akkolyte's grindcore perfection that didn't involve said person describing the band using some variation of the phrase "fucking awesome," and I always agree with them, because let's face it-- Akkolyte is one of the most powerful live bands in the area. Maybe THE most. Furthermore, I've pretty much experienced the same phenomenon as applied to Lychgate-- everyone I know raves about their "grim electronics," and again, I have to agree. The group features House of Tinnitus' Rob Buttrum, and their sounds is pure brutality at a level that many of the best Texas harsh noise acts don't ever reach. Truly outstanding. You can also check out three new excellent Darktown Strutters songs recently posted on their Myspace page, and be sure to sample the excellent, Sleep-esque stoner sludge of Dallas' Hawk vs. Dove. Quite good. This kind of quality on an all local bill is rare people, so go totally support your local scene brah.
Nobunny | Uptown Bums | Rival Gang (Bunker Hill) Tucson's Nobunny comes through town with some fairly classic influences to peddle, most notably the New York Dolls, Ramones and T. Rex. Their stuff is quite catchy, and although they certainly aren't doing anything new with this all American, anthem heavy punk rock, most of it works quite well. Should be a solid party tonight.
Eugene Chadbourne | Dennis Gonzalez Yells At Eels | Tid-bits Double Trio | DJ Wanz Dover (The Lounge) First, I want to let you know that the new Dennis Gonzalez album, "Renegade Spirits" is now available to order online, and at Yells At Eels and Akkolyte shows. Featuring the Gonzalez brothers on rhythm section duties, as well as Tim Green on sax and Famoudou Don Moye on percussion, you can order a copy here.
Eugene Chadbourne is one of those great, geeky figures in music that seem to be less and less commonplace: A category-defying virtuoso that has never turned his nose up at playing with a wide variety of people with less chops than he has, the results usually being far more interesting than what either party would attempt alone. Out of every artist on an oft-mentioned resume, the most impressive by far must be The Legendary Stardust Cowboy. A lot has been made of how weird he is, but Chadbourne's recent music is a little more straight-forward than some of his past work and collaborations, so those fearing a full-out free jazz/noise freakout probably shouldn't worry.
Art Show: "A Semester's Weight In Paper" and music by Doyen | Eyes And Ears | Magnets (Rubber Gloves) Gutterth sponsored event with prints and buttons for sale, as well as "live screen-printing." Dirty. Artists include Justin Jones, Mark Raymer, Adam Palmer, Julie Anderson, and many more.
Milwaukee-based painter Peter Barrickman is on his way to Dallas for an opening of his paintings this weekend at And/Or Gallery. He was kind enough to sit down with WeShotJr this week for some bone-crushing art opinions.
Richardson Heights: The press release for your upcoming show says that you're presenting "a series of paintings where both the laws of physics and conventional painting have been reinvented". How so?
Peter Barrickman: To be honest I never made this claim about my work because I'm not doing any reinventing. I'm more into repeating things. Somebody may have said that to just try and get a bunch of people to show up for the opening. Although maybe Petra [Cortright]'s reinventing stuff with physics. She probably is...
RH: What is your studio situation like?
PB: Up until about a month ago I was working in an attic across the street from a bowling alley. On warm nights I could listen to the pins lazily tipping over. Then one day the landlord decided to install a new heating system exactly where I was working so I had to abandon the space. Nowadays I'm working at my apartment on a desk. It reminds me of making art projects for high school. I'm making 'visual aids'. I'll probably move into a new studio in a month or so.
RH: Please describe an unusual or unique studio process you currently use or have used in the past.
PB: OK, In Laziness-Flavored Refusal I obstruct a practical urge with what I simply feel like doing. So I forget that I'm trying to do anything and just fumble into what I feel like doing. Then I put away what I felt like doing when it's done. When I pull it out in a year it effortlessly serves a logical end....as if I couldn't have focused my intentions any better than I did by ignoring them. This game is all an afterthought. I never set out to trick myself too much but it comes up all of the time.
RH: How do you know when you're finished with a painting?
When I feel like I'm wasting time I stop. This is usually not a negative feeling. It becomes apparent when an authentic minute has jumped onto something else.
RH: How would you describe the art scene where you live?
PB: Storefront performance spaces, a few good bands, craft movement, filmmakers shooting stuff in the snow, nice galleries, shoddy galleries, shoddy bass playing... The art scene in Milwaukee is small, open and interconnected. There are a number of channels through which one could enter it. If these channels were caves or subterranean passages then the most traveled, best lit and cleanest ones (carpet, muzak, etc) would be those called Film, Video and Performance.
RH: What do you bring to the world of contemporary art that no other artist does?
PB: I don't think there is a world of contemporary art... it isn't that clear to me. And again, I don't think I'm doing anything in a very new way. I think that craftsmanship in the arts is overrated.
RH: Please describe a favorite piece of art in your personal collection.
PB: Well, I borrowed some swimwear from a friend of mine in India. It's just these batiked trunks with a sort of Marlboro cigarette logo [image above]. I put a beautiful shell in the pocket when I was in Puerto Rico and the zipper's been stuck shut ever since. I can feel the shell in there and I kinda remember what color it is but I'll probably never see it again. Finally one day I spilled coffee on the bottom part of the shorts and now I can never wear them again as it would appear that I had completely crapped. For some reason I treasure these shorts but also I wish I could just throw them in the garbage...
Mr. Barrickman's art wares will be on display starting this Saturday at And/Or Gallery along with art by Petra Cortright. Opening reception December 13 from 6-9 PM including a screening of the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special. The show will run through January 17. Image courtesy of Pater Barrickman.
Well, Lo-Fi Chorus is playing at Dan's Silver Leaf, and I remember them being generally well-liked from the "Denton Band Kits" days. By the way, the Shiny Around The Edges Bakesale show at Dan's last weekend was not only good, it was also a little frightening. I thought that a riot would erupt at any moment towards the end there. But, it did raise $490 for the Denton Community Center. Sometimes, to make an omelette, you've got to break a few eggs. Unless you're a vegan, in which case you have to make some strange-tasting desserts and make everyone eat them.
PS- I just found out that Tommyboy will be at Disqo Disco tonight, so that should be really good.
Tonight is the first "90's Night" at Hailey's.
I was just joking about the vegan desserts. Spiral Diner's brownies are just about the greatest I've ever had.
(Another presentation from TC, who will have a separate log- in soon, I swear.--SR)
Pere Ubu - The Hearpen Singles
As far as I'm concerned, "30 Seconds Over Tokyo b/w Heart of Darkness" is the most riveting debut single by any band that I've ever heard. Shit just didn't sound like that in 1975. I could expound on the details of their greatness forever, but I once saw a copy of the "Final Solution" 45 on ebay that was (allegedly) autographed by late guitarist Peter Laughner and the inscription read something along the lines of: "We do it, others just talk- Peter Laughner." That kinda sums them up for me...
Anyway, these are their first 4 singles, released on Hearpen records, a label the band started themselves. 1975-1978. Enjoy!
30 Seconds Over Tokyo -link Heart of Darkness - link
