One of the associates here at JR was found out. So, this nameless person has resigned as our "PR" agent, meaning that we need someone else to send our emails and score us pot. Covert Ops are a bitch. We might be looking for someone else to help us out, so drop us a line if you have any ideas....

weshotjr@yahoo.com

Heres a little gem we found on Myspace. These guys look young, like high school young, but we're not sure exactly how old they are. They've certainly got a little Belle and Sebastian/Elephant 6/Decemberists thing going on, and what we like most about the one song they have on their Myspace page is that these guys can actually kinda sing. There is obviously some pop songwriting talent in this group, and given some time, I could see this band starting to get a nice little following in the DF to da W. Lets hope they are ready to experiment a little more with their sound. They are playing their first show tonight at Rubber Gloves in Denton.

And by rough, we mean rough to listen to. One of the things that we wanted to do on this blog was to talk about new Dallas bands that have either only played a few shows or haven't played any shows at all. Of course, some bands have never played a show for a reason: they suck. So, we decided to go through Myspace a couple times a month and find two bands: a Dallas band that no one has ever heard of and is pretty good, and one that no one has ever heard of and is pretty bad. I'm sure we'll be able to find bands of the second variety pretty easily, but the first may be hard to come by from time to time. So if you find any really awful Dallas Myspace band pages or any really good ones, send them to us and for your prize we'll try to get you a date with someone in the band, of if you would prefer, we'll get you a date with the wonderful man pictured above.

weshotjr@yahoo.com
(by the way, the above picture is what you get when you do a Google image search for the phrase "Fred Durst is cool.")

Nuttin doin' in Dallas the past couple days. Can't say that we are shocked. If you have any events or anything else going on that you want us to write about, drop us a line at weshotjr@yahoo.com

We have already heard that people have been speculating about our identity at shows and things like that. Keep on knockin cuz you can't come in, sucka. Trust us. The reason that we want to keep our identity secret is that we plan on trashing some local bands, clubs, etc. We won't get gossipy on here, but if a show or an album sucks, we'll tell you about it unless its so obvious that we don't even need to cover it (for example, "gee that new Rocket Summer song really sucks." Of course it sucks, and if you're reading this blog, you probably don't need us to tell you that, although we might just for kicks.) We're not planning on being mean all the time, but its so easy, especially when it comes to Dallas emo bands.

Starting tomorrow, we will be publishing a list of our favorite records of 2005 overall, as a preview to what we hope will be a regular feature on here: album reviews. After our year end list, we're going to focus on local albums mostly, although we'll tell you what we're listening to from time to time. Someone has already promised us an advance of the new Tah Dahs record, so hopefully we'll have that soon.

JR

I think we're gonna watch Ali G.

We had to post late today because we spent most of our morning and afternoon driving all around Dallas, Frisco, and Addison running errands and remembering just how big the metroplex is. Its easy to forget, after all, living downtown and never really having to travel more than a few miles to go anywhere or do anything. You forget what its like to have to drive thirty minutes or more to go to a show and then thirty minutes or more to drive back. Wait. Actually, thats not true at all. I live downtown and I remember exactly what thats like. Why? Because about half the time that I go to a show, I have to drive to Denton to do it. Why is that, considering I live in the absolute center of one of the ten largest urban areas in the United States? Most recently, it has become a truism that Deep Ellum is dead, with the closing of three major venues in the area in addition to the closing of Sanctuary Studios (not a real club or in Deep Ellum but a place that seemed ready to get a decent little scene started around it). I have to drive to Denton to see half of the touring acts I want to see, and I'm not sure thats going to change any time soon.

Ok, well why have these places closed down, and why does Denton have a more interesting scene than Dallas? There are of course a whole host of factors that I don't feel like writing about and you don't feel like reading about. Economic, social, and political factors all play indirect roles, and have a lot to do with a lot we do. However, it occured to me while driving through Frisco that geography plays a large roll in the demise of Deep Ellum and the lack of a scene in Dallas. Do you really want to spend 30 minutes driving through the miserable scenery surrounding the Toll Way, 635, 75, 114 or 30, and then drive back at the end of the night, all to see a local Dallas band or go to a DJ night where people spend more time being cliquish and acting cool than having fun? Do you really want to drive thirty minutes to be disappointed and reminded of how uncool Dallas is and how uncool Dallas thinks you are, all the while fighting for parking and spending way more on drinks than you would if you just went to your local Friday's and split a bloomin onion with some secretaries? Of course not. There are people that are into music, good music, all around DFW. Thousands and thousands of them that you never see at shows, parties, or anywhere else because gas is expensive and the drive to Dallas, at least for the past few years, hasn't been worth it. While there are many factors involved in this, as I said before, I can't help but think that there is only one way to solve this problem: better music and a better scene.

People want to bitch about Dallas music fans and being loyal to local bands, but what is a smart consumer to do when almost ALL the local bands flat out suck? Pretend that we care? And what is someone to do when the local scene seems like such an annoying high school clique that the possibility of actually making friends and and meeting interesting people seems almost nonexistent? The Dallas Observer does a lot of complaining about bad crowds and promoters, but it is bad bands and a subpar scene that really keeps the kids home. Trust me, if Mr. Rogue Wave in Addison had a good reason, he would come out to Dallas all the time. He would come to your parties, he would come to your shows, and you would meet him and possibly become friends. Then who knows, maybe he would start a band or start throwing parties that YOU go to, and so on and so forth. That is how a local scene is built. Not by staring down your nose at people and complaining about how fickle the crowds are. That attitude has been keeping people away from Dallas for some time, and it will continue to do so. There has to be something to get them down here, and even if I don't know what it is, I know it has to happen before anything reopens in Trees, and anyone believes that art and rock and roll can actually exist in Dallas without all the fake L.A. bullshit and bad music that currently characterizes our community.

They say if you build it they will come, but I just don't know what "it" is and who "you" are. All I know is that for now, people are happy in Garland, clueless in Dallas, and I'm going to Haileys.

We love Microsoft Paint because we: 1) Don't have any artistic talents at all and 2) don't know anything about computers. So heres the new logo. We're gonna try to figure out a way to post this on our page permanently at some point. Its so crappy we almost like it. If anyone can come up with a better picture for us, send it on to weshotjr@yahoo.com and we will shower you with kisses.

1. Only one thing I can find for the It list tonight: Wild In the Streets Dj Night: Haileys (Denton)
Sounds like a new mod night in Denton, 60's soul, pop, and motown stuff have been promised. Will probably be going up to see this tonight after we catch a flick. Maybe we'll see you there. If you have anything else that you think should be added to the It list for tonight, let us know: weshotjr@yahoo.com

Caught the show last night, and as usual the Angels were very good. They opened the set with a particularly strong song that I've never heard before (a classic VU influenced psychedelic droner) and were much tighter than when I caught them a couple months ago in Denton. As I noted yesterday, their singer seems to be the center piece of this band, which usually separates bands with a chance to get big from those that are destined to open for Pleasant Grove for the rest of their career. Although they certainly have room to branch out into new musical directions, Black Angels are young and have a chance to get even better in the next year or two. Definitely worth seeing whenever they come to Dallas. By the way, they've got a great video presentation going with their live set, and we seemed to develop a crush on the keyboard player, partially due to the fact that she was wearing a Suede shirt. Oh maybe maybe its the clothes we wear....

Opener Blackheart Society is a new band, and it shows. While they started somewhat strong, the vocals were too low, the drummer was off time, and so was everyone else in the band at different points in the set. From what we understand, however, they have only played a couple shows, so we won't ship them off to the shit list just yet. They've got potential to be a good altcountry meets VU and Neil Young kinda thing once they find their sound and tighten up their shows. And we like the singer's face, but we don't know why....

Darkside Lounge is a place we've never been, but we liked it. Interesting stage space, nice lighting, and pool tables are about all you can ask for these days, and they've got em all. Pretty cheap drinks too. Its a decent place to see a show, even if it means getting stared down by Dr. Dre and the homies on the way to the club. Ed Lover, however, failed to make an appearance. I think even he is afraid of going to Deep Ellum on Saturday nights.... more to come.

JR- weshotjr@yahoo.com

1. Black Angels/Blackheart Society- Dark Side Lounge (Deep Ellum)
The Black Angels ep is fantastic; it sounds like Ian Curtis fronting Velvet Underground and playing Brian Jonestown Massacre songs. They are a local Austin band but are getting national attention due in my opinion to the fact that unlike most local bands, they actually have a good singer. Blackheart Society have a pretty good cover of Syd Barrett's Gigolo Aunt on their Myspace page, but thats about all we know of them, other than that their singer seems to really like Neil Young.

2. Happy Bullets- Double Wide: Now that the Strokes sound like Batman, maybe we can go to this show and just pretend that opening band the Valentines is the Strokes. Its too bad because they look like nice kids, and they're actually a pretty good little pop band. I just know that the first time I heard their songs, I felt like I had already heard them 8 million times over the past four years. Then I realized I had. Oh well, they're playing with Happy Bullets, so it might be worth checking out just for the funk of it, considering you can hear a little Arcade Fire in em too.

3. DJ Nitwit Psychic Drive In- Fallout Lounge: The crowd usually sucks at this thing, but the music and videos are great. I recommend getting high before you go.

4. Black Arm Band/Mazinga Phaser II/ Unconscience Collective- Sanctuary Studios: I don't know anything about these bands, but shows at Sanctuary are usually interesting. The last time I was there I saw some industrial band playing jackhammers while some kid screamed into a microphone with his pants off. Thats always worth checking out since its only 5 bucks and BYOB.

Thats all for tonight: email us with any more info. weshotjr@yahoo.com

Didn't get to make it out to any of the shows we wanted to go to last night because we ended up getting drunk and therefore being lazy. There was also a bong floating around the general area, and that certainly did not motivate us to go hobnobbing at Double Wide. Did anyone catch Paper Chase's set or the Shapes last night? If so, send me an email and tell me about it, or maybe give me some pictures to post. More to come later today.

So I know its almost hip to be a republican scenester these days, but fuck you and fuck that. Its really great to see that this joker finally developed the common sense to step down. As a bleeding heart hippie commie queer, I'm of course happy to see this guy go for ideological reasons, along with the fact that he reminds me of every "self made" redneck in Texas who has stumbled across a little money and decided that the world owes him a favor. Republicans should be happy too, however, because this guy really has a great face for the Democrats to use as a symbol of corruption in the upcoming midterm elections. With the Abramoff thing going full speed ahead, it might be hard for them to avoid being labeled as the party of corrupt special interests, but at least we won't have to see this prick's ugly mug when it happens. Its also good to see that the Justice Department has somehow maintained enough independence to investigate Republican corruption. With all the shit going on on Capitol Hill these days, imagine how many more investigations would be taking place if there was a Democrat in the White House, and therefore a Democrat Attorney General. Yikes!

Oh yes- if you like the blog, be a pal and stop by the myspace page become our friend. We love new friends! Oh, and heres the link.

1. Paper Chase- Sanctuary Studios: A good band to see live in a cool venue

2. The Shapes- Doublewide 10pm: One of my special favorite Dallas bands that reminds me of Beat Happening and the Vaselines

3. Hard Day's Night- Lakewood Bar and Grill: Duh, Beatles!

4. Super Love Attack- Hailey's in Denton

IT

Srange Boys
Tah Dahs
Happy Bullets
Shapes
Paper Chase
Pilotdrift

SHIT

Burden Brothers
Polyphonic Spree
and so many more that I can't even think of... more to come