Fine Line: November, 2006

If’n youse kids are a’gonna venture out in the “wintery mix” tonight, then go to a show that freakin’ matters, m’kay?

FYI - PEACHES SHOW AT THE RIDGLEA IS CANCELLED!

Gypsy Tea Room
Circle Jerks / Lower Class Brats / The Applicators / Max Cady
Doors at 8 p.m. - $20 Cover - 17+

The Double Wide
DJ Wanz and his muy bueno Lost Generation
Free

The Cavern
Far Star / Hundred Year Storm / The Hannah Wolff Band / Beauxregard
6 p.m. $6 Cover. 21+
PS - Zoo: the Video DJ Spins up-top starting at 10 p.m. and it’s free!

Rubber Gloves
Dressy Bessy / I Love Math / Fishboy
9 p.m. $6 Cover

Black Dog Tavern
Chatterton
10:30 p.m.

Looks like I’ll be in Austin tomorrow…check this…

FunFunFun is a single day music festival that will be held at Waterloo Park on December 1. FunFunFun features 3 stages of music, a Punk Stage which culminates with THE CIRCLE JERKS , an indie stage featuring PEACHES and SPOON and the Austin Fuzion VJ/DJ stage featuring PREFUSE 73. Click the bands button to check out the lineup. Tickets to the event are just $20 and get you access to all the bands on all three stages. Doors open at 1 PM, and bands kick off at 2 PM. No outside food or drink is allowed. Tickets are limited and we expect this show to sell out, advance ticket purchase is highly recommended. Tickets go on sale at 2:00 PM, Friday, October 27. FunFunFun Fest is sponsored by 101X, METV, Emo’s and the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema.

TICKETS GO ON SALE FRIDAY, OCTOBER 27th!

Here’s the line up: (Go here for band links

Indie stage:
Spoon 8:50-10:00
Peaches 7:30-8:30
Black Angels 6:30-7:15
Lucero 5:30-6:15
Dead Meadow 4:30-5:15
Octopus Project 3:30-4:15
The Oranges Band 2:45-3:15
Drag The River 2-2:30

Punk stage:
Circle Jerks 8:55-10
Negative Approach 7:55-8:40
Riverboat Gamblers 6:55-7:40
Electric Frankenstein 5:55-6:40
Lower Class Brats 5-5:40
Applicators 4:15-4:45
Krumbums 3:30-4
Iron Age 2:45-3:15
ADHD 2-2:30

Dance Party stage/tent:
Prefuse 73 9-10
DJ Mel 7:50-8:50
Quintron and Miss Pussycat 6:50-7:35
Ghostland Observatory DJ set (Thomas Turner) 5:35-6:35
Learning Secrets 4:25-5:25
Dirty South Ravers 3:15-4:15
Whitey 2:30-3

Fun Fun Fun Fest is sponsored in part by:
101X, METV, Austinist, The Onion, Alamo Drafthouse and Emos.

Local artists shall gather together for a delightful exhibit at the oh-so-fabby And/Or Gallery this Saturday, December 2nd. Vance Wingate, who has been an humungousoid contributor and supporter of the North Texas artistic scene for nearly two decades, curated this exhibit which includes works by C.J. Davis, Garland Fielder, Jessica McCambly, Brian Jones and Noah Simblist.

And/Or opened in January 2006 and is run by Paul Slocum and Lauren Gray. We show emerging artists from around the country who work in all mediums, but our emphasis is on new media. We are one of the few spaces in the country that has the special equipment and expertise to handle the most current new media work.

The space is a store front in a 100-year-old store front one mile northeast of downtown Dallas. Although we like to maintain a comfortable DIY feel, we have put a lot of effort towards creating a clean, neutral space.

The owners are artists Lauren Gray and Paul Slocum, also known as the music/video/hacker group, Tree Wave. Some selected installations, performances, and video screenings are Deitch Projects, Exit Art, Eyebeam, and The New Museum of Contempory Art in New York, the README Software Art Festival in Denmark, Trasitio MX in Mexico City, and in Dallas, Dunn and Brown Contemporary, Barry Whistler, and The Dallas Museum of Art.

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Saturday, December 2nd
And/Or Gallery
Group Show Curated by Vance Wingate
7 p.m.ish

The new Dallas Observer music section (online) is confusing…or at least it is to me. So sometime today I’ll pick up a hardcopy to see if there really is more than just a feature story and some previews and reviews.

I was quite pleased with Jesse Hughey’s piece on the upcoming shindig this weekend…the kinds of things folks like Sarah Jane Semrad, Cari Weinberg, Jason & Andrea Roberts, etc. are attempting to create make-a-me proud.

Secrecy is the key to any conspiracy, and Art Conspiracy coordinator Sarah Jane Semrad is keeping her lips sealed about the financial situation of the La Reunion group, this year’s Art Conspiracy beneficiary.

That’s not to suggest there’s anything nefarious about her plans. In the city best known as the setting of the most heated conspiracy/lone-nut debate in this country’s history, an artist residency program is the kind of scheme that’s quite welcome. She’d just rather not divulge how close La Reunion is to its goal of $500,000 to become fully functional.

The organization is named for the French utopians who first settled in Dallas in 1855. Though Dallas is a far cry from Utopia these days, local musicians and music fans can certainly identify with the men and women who founded the original La Reunion, for they brought essentials to the city still enjoyed 150 years later: music and beer.

“The first piano brought to Dallas was brought here by a La Reunion settler,” Semrad says. “The first brewery was by a La Reunion settler. The first botanist was a La Reunion colonist. And we’re certainly not trying to be a French utopia, but it’s a nice connection.”

The idea of the new La Reunion is to put artists of all kinds together and see what happens. Semrad is especially interested in the home facilitating “the dialogue between new and traditional media,” she says. That dialogue won’t take place for some time, though. The structure hasn’t been built yet, for one thing. This early in the process, money raised by events such as the Art Conspiracy will be used for costs associated with planning, such as city-required surveys…

Read it all and ATTEND!

Art Conspiracy Details:
Date: 7:00 p.m., Friday, December 1
Location: The Longhorn Ballroom - 216 Corinth - Dallas, TX 75207
Participants: 150 Dallas Artists - 5 Bands - 1 Very large fiberglass longhorn

Benefiting: La Reunion, a Dallas artist residency located in Oak Cliff.

“Disquieting Letter” by the Happy Bullets

Dallas has lost its f*cking mind….

There is very little that I’ll miss not living in Dallas anymore. A handful of people, a gazillion musicians, Goff’s Hamburgers, and a couple of record stores. Bill’s Records is a place I’m particularly fond of…since I was a teen in fact. I got to know Bill hisownself the past decade or so while attending KHYI in-stores. He always did me good. He always had a kind word for me.

Below is footage shot by Jeff Liles while filming The Last Record Store…now that I think back, Bill’s Records was where I met Jeff for the first time. The store is bursting at the seams with everything imaginable pertaining to vinyl, cassette tapes, CDs, posters, t-shirts and hell, even 8-track tapes. I’ve never seen a price tag and I always worry that Bill might doze off with a still-lit smoke and torch the place in seconds. Whadda truly great place to hang.

Even if I wasn’t moving out of town, it’s still going to be kinda strange and sad to see Bill’s move from his Coit/Spring Valley location to the Southside (Lamar) area. We suburban kids don’t got much coolness, which Bill’s supplied, and now it’ll just be a memory…

…speaking of memories…

Well-a-tee, well-a-tee, well-a-tee…it looks like the Shooter is tossin’ his hat into the showcase ring. Durn fine little line-up too, if I say so myself, and I do.

We’re very happy to announce that the nice people who run Art Prostitute have invited us to host a concert at their gallery to celebrate the secular giving of gifts during the holiday season. Its going to take place on the evening of Friday, December 15th, and its going to be fun. But instead of writing out a whole long thing about how great we are for doing this, I’ll just give you the line up and some of the details, which will be just as effective in convincing you that we are in fact great. The line up: not so fast suckers - you gonna have to click to see.

I wonder if there will be an unveiling…nah, me thinks not.

Now here we have a weekend that makes me proud of Big D. Below is your weekend schedule…more to come…

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Friday, December 1st

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This liittle extravaganza is so very very very worthy of your time…

Art Conspiracy Rides Again
Dallas Artists and Musicians Will Once Again Conspire for Charity Using a Groundbreaking Format

November 3, 2006, DALLAS, TX – The Sex Pistols made punk rock history there.
Jack Ruby once owned it. Bob Wills yodeled and fiddled on stage there. And the Longhorn Ballroom in Dallas will once again make history when it host the 2nd Annual Art Conspiracy next month.

At 7:00 p.m., Friday, December 1, more than 150 artists will have their work auctioned off in the historic Longhorn Ballroom. The musical lineup will feature five bands including The Happy Bullets, Fishboy, Salim Nourallah and the Polaroids, and Peter Schmidtt and His Gentlemen Scholars.

The Art Conspiracy is unique because all involved artists do their work on-site. The day before the event, artists will come to the Longhorn Ballroom where they will be issued a canvas. The artists will work in shifts to fill in as many canvases as possible in a 24-hour period. Starting bids for all pieces will be $20.

“It’s not just an artifact that people are buying when they come to Art Conspiracy and contribute,” says Sarah Jane Semrad, Artist Coordinator, Art Conspiracy. “ They’re really buying a piece of process…of a happening.”

Last year’s event marked the first time an event of this scope had ever taken place in Dallas. It attracted over 850 attendees ranging from first time art buyers to serious collectors, casual music listeners to diehard fans. This year the Art Conspiracy will continue to spotlight historic, but under-utilized Dallas venues.

“The buildings we use tell their own incredible stories along with the art and music,” explains Jason Roberts, Music Coordinator, Art Conspiracy. “I think all of us have gotten the chills from throwing the cobwebbed lights back on to these old dusty floors and imagining all of the great performances once hosted here.”

This year’s Art Conspiracy will benefit La Reunion, a Dallas-based artist residency. The future home of La Reunion will be located on 35 wooded acres in Oak Cliff. When completed, La Reunion will provide housing and studio space to artists and gallery and performance spaces that will be open to the
public.

Art Conspiracy organizers, musicians, and artists are available for interviews. For more information and/or Art Conspiracy artwork, please contact Sarah Jane Semrad or Jason Roberts.

Art Conspiracy Details:
Date: 7:00 p.m., Friday, December 1
Location: The Longhorn Ballroom - 216 Corinth - Dallas, TX 75207
Participants: 150 Dallas Artists - 5 Bands - 1 Very large fiberglass longhorn

Benefiting: La Reunion, a Dallas artist residency located in Oak Cliff.

“Disquieting Letter” by the Happy Bullets

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Grand Opening
Pawn Gallery
2540 Elm Street, Dallas TX 75226
December 1st - 7 p.m.
Music, Wine, Beer and hors de oeuvres
Show Shall Continue through December 31st
Gallery hours: Tuesday through Saturday, Noon until 7 p.m.

Pawn Gallery is committed to unfettered artistic freedom, cultural democracy, and transnationalism. This mission is carried out in the presentation of visual arts exhibitions, guerrilla art installations, gallery education and other public programs, and in partnerships with community organizations.

GOOD CAUSE - A.R.T.S. For People is Pawn Gallery’s non-profit partner. A percentage of the openings’ sales will be donated to this worthy cause. This organization People provides a unique blend of interactive art, dance, music, expressive and recreational therapies to contribute to the physical healing and help restore the emotional, mental and social well-being of individuals in Dallas/Ft. Worth healthcare and community facilities.

Inaugural Show - Interior Landscapes: a joint show featuring Wafaa Bilal and C.Taylor. Featuring works from both artists with multimedia presentation, photography and The Human Condition, a coffee table book produced by Mr. Bilal. Within Interior Landscapes, figures exist in equal balance with the landscapes, the images drawing their complexity from this dramatic polar tension. Within the frame, time and place loses specificity to become transcendent and expressive of a broader human condition.

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Saturday, December 2nd

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Where the East Ends presents
Reunion Tower Revue
benefiting the Dallas Homeless
Saturday, December 2nd
Doors at 8 p.m. - $10 Cover

Who/ What: Members of Sorta and Shibboleth have teamed with other local musicians to celebrate a snapshot of the catalog of Dallas music. They also teamed with Dallas promoter Mike Snider and Dallas homeless advocate Hal Samples to give residents and music lovers a place to celebrate homegrown and inspired tunes and an opportunity to help homeless families with children at Family Gateway during this holiday season.

When/ Where: Reunion Tower Revue will be held Saturday, December 2, 2006 at the historic Sons of Herman Hall, located on the corner of Elm and Exposition in Deep Ellum. Doors are at 8:00.

Why:To remind people of Dallas.. rich musical culture and heritage and provide the community an opportunity to experience the power or serving our homeless neighbors in need at Family Gateway.

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Kettle Art is nearly one-whole-year-old. It’s no surprise that owner/artist Frank Campagna is reaching out to help a fellow artist in lieu of a standard birthday bash…cuz that’s just the kinda fella Frank be…

Kettle Art will host a benefit for our friend and fellow artist Tony Bones.

You see, legal troubles have plagued him for nearly a year now.

The pressures of Johnny Law are inescapable and crushing to creativity. I know, you know, what I mean.

If you’ve been looking for a way to get involved w/ Kettle or you’d like to assist by donating a piece towards this cause, it’d be appreciated all around.

This is a one night only exhibit,

Saturday, December 2nd

All proceeds will go towards legal defense and imposed fines. Feel free to contact us for more info. Thanks!

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Sunday, December 3rd

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I wanted to let you all know that Picnic aka Picnic Tyme who is a member and producer of Idol group PPT, lost his entire house and studio last night when a fire gutted his apartment building in Plano, the fire originated in a neighboring apartment and spread throughout the building. It was a total loss of everything including his studio and recording archives. As most of you know, Picnic has produced tracks for many local and national artists including the new PPT Cd Tres Monos In Love. Picnic is one of the most talented upcoming Hip Hop producers and beat makers in North Texas and this is a devastating loss for him and the local hip hop community.

We are in the process of organizing a benefit concert to help him get back on his feet. It will be on Sunday Dec. 3rd at Doublewide. More details will be coming soon.

We would appreciate your help getting the word out and I can be reached at 214-321-8890 or erv@idolrecords.com if anyone is interested in contributing.

Sunday, December 3rd. You can join me at the Double-Wide for a benefit for Picnic Tyme, who lost everything in a fire this week. This benefit show will feature Black Tie Dynasty, Strange Fruit Project, Verbal seed, Pikahsso and more. I’ll see you there kids.

“Christmas Time” by Black Tie Dynasty featuring P.P.T.

Life in, at and among the “Intimate Evening Concert Series” ~By…(magical) Mel Hoy ~

This past weekend at the Studio, Carter Albrecht and Jayson Bales checked in and as Carter put it came to rock our yoga asses. Why? Ask Carter and he says “my grampa played the bend, my father played the bend, and now I will play the bend. That’s just how we roll.” If that explanation leaves your shaking your head it was definitely clear Friday night that Carter; part bad boy, part charmer and 100% talent came to showcase his voice, songs and guitar in a song swap evening with Jayson Bayles who even sans The Revival was brilliant. His slow paced but intensely witty dialogue spent while tuning was put to the test when he broke a guitar sting. Carter came to the rescue providing an “E” string…or was it?…Did I mention Carter’s part joker as well. CD’s of the show will be on-line and available in about 2 weeks… You can get both Jayson Bales and Carter Albrecht in a two CD set for $20 and that’s a big recommend. Order on-line at our merch page at www.bendstudio.com. Check out Dan Dyer’s CD from the weekend prior…Sam/Ruby/Dan, incredible.

Carla Elliot a member of The Bend Community sat in the front row, a bit enthralled I might add with Jayson, she says the Bend Experience is “live music - up close and personal - and the sound is fabulous.”

Ian Moore who will play the Bend on Friday, December 1st (tickets are selling fast so get em’ if you want em’) wrote about his Bend Experience ,

“I think fans really should appreciate that Ally is running one of the few contemporary venues that isn’t underwritten by beer sales, and that songs and the people that write them are cast pretty naked into this VERY intimate setting.

I write songs and play music to be understood and heard, not to be the backdrop for a desperate mating call, and this is one of a very few venues in the country where artists like myself have the opportunity to really showcase their songs and music.”

Having been a flight attendant for nearly 20 years, for 3 major airlines, I’ve found myself obsessively afraid of flying the past decade or so since I retired my gold wings. Like, serious anxiety attacks like nobody’s business. I kind of know how and when it started, but I think most of it stems from knowing too much…know what I mean? So I’m on the Madden plan now. It’s buses, trains and automobiles for me these days.

After Turkey Day, I drove from Dallas to San Antonio with the ol’ man, thus leaving me in need of a ride back to Big D. I opted for the train. It seemed so mysterious and romantic. An adventure if you will. I’ve never been on a train outside of the confines of Six Flags. I even swung for the “Coachette.” Pretty swanky, eh? Departure time leaving San Antonio - 7 a.m.

It’s about 9:30ish now, and actually, even sitting here delayed due to “slow freight trains ahead,” I’m still really enjoying this experience. Tony, my cabin attendant, is a delight, and I’ve already played a rousing game of laptop pinball, and watched Office Space on DVD via my laptop. Ain’t technology grand! Now I sit here watching the gorgeous Hill Country landscape roll by while , Collin Herring pipes through my earphones…sheer Heaven.

I’m sitting here at the station in Temple. We left at 7 a.m. from San Antonio and it’s now 1:36 p.m. The only complaint thus far is the couple who boarded in New Braunfels and took the cabin next to me. The guy seems way too overly curious as to my doin’s here in my little portion of Amtrak for the day. Even when I catch his stare, he doesn’t even bother looking away. I’m about to pull a “WTF dude” on him. Instead though, I just closed my door, pulled all my curtains shut and I’m about to pop Bubba Ho-tep into the ol’ laptop.

2:50 p.m, Bubba Ho-Tep….whadda freakin’ trip man! Loved it. I can’t believe how gorgeous everything is from my view from a train. The rolling hills, the foliage colors are so intense, vibrant, deep and rich - golds, yellows, oranges, reds - it’s like looking at a woodland garden of summer flowers. Everything is real quiet in my car….sleeping I guess. So I ventured forth to take a look around and found the fancier sleeper rooms. Not bad, not even for a cross-country trip. There are sofas, chairs, vanities and your very own in-room potty. The observation car is fantastic. It’s windows all-around, nice comfy seating and a great way to see everything during your journey. Only drawback - the talkers are all in there, tapping on reader’s shoulders in an attempt to tell their stories.

The dining car is pretty cool - but I just took a peek in, not getting the full affect. There’s a café car too, where you can get sandwiches, snacks and my favorite - booze. But I think I’ve had enough of the alcheehaul for one weekend/month, so I opted for water.

I can’t help but think about the episode of I Love Lucy when she thinks there’s a jewelry smuggler in the next cabin and keeps pulling that chain to make the train stop. I looked for that chain, but have yet to find it.

4:39 p.m. We arrive at the Fort Worth station….about an hour and 45 minutes behind at this point. Surprisingly , it’s not the stops (or length time stopped) at the stations along the way that are time-consuming. Rather, it’s following behind slower trains - plus I’m convinced the average speed all the way from San Antone to Fort Worth was about 35 MPH. Seriously, every once in awhile we hit about 60 MPH, but for very short spurts. The rest of the time it felt more like we were going about 30.

Now I must start trying to figure out what and where and how I’ll find myself at home after reaching Dallas. Dart Rail, meet my ass….ass…meet….Dart…

More tomorrow including a gift of a mix-tape…

Looks like one of those super-charged quantum particles from space that pass through the earth completely undetected scored a direct hit on just the perfect bit at the FLL Mainframe to take the site down. Investigation is underway by scientists from Lawrence Livermore and Sandia. We’ll try to reconstruct the extra bits and pieces here over the next few days, but as you might imagine, the physicists are pretty excited.

My good pal David Pilot contributed this commentary…

To: Any Texas Music Fan

When I was a whoppin’ three years old, something very special happened in Luckenbach, Texas. A relatively new collection of musicians, in the midst of a burgeoning outlaw music movement centered in Austin, recorded the seminal live album in Texas music. Jerry Jeff Walker and his Lost Gonzo Band, who would collectively and in a number of spinoff solo moves go on to attain legendary cult status, hit Luckenbach and paid homage to another wonderful Texas experience. The result was “Viva, Terlingua.” The album was a mix of JJW’s own songs and inspired covers culled from artists as varied as Guy Clark, Ray Wylie Hubbard, and Gary P. Nunn. It was a hit, and it established Jerry Jeff and co. as equals and peers with Waylon, Willie and the boys. Of course, as time passed, the latter became far more famous and iconic on a national level, while JJW and crew settled for a less visible but equally brilliant and enduring sort of fame. The “Viva, Terlingua” album became a touchpoint in Texas music, and remained as such long after the outlaw movement faded. When the newer school of artists began to take root and draw some acclaim, the record was often named as a critical early influence.

In 2005/2006, with Texas music back in full swing and the usual sellouts and posers beginning to take center stage (Pat Green on a national level, Kevin Fowler regionally), the time was right for someone to go back to the roots. So a collection of talented artists gathered in Luckenbach to attempt to recreate the original album they’d all listened to for years. In musical circles, that’s called doing a cover as tribute to an inspiration. Except that in this case they covered an album instead of just a song. It was both the ultimate homage and a beacon to the new generation of songwriters reminding them where they came from.

But ol’ Jerry Jeff appears to have taken it, um, differently somehow. He’s filed suit against the record label, Palo Duro, and is looking to stop further distribution of “Viva, Terlingua Nuevo.” Feels it’s copyright infringement, among other things.

What we’ve got here is an aging dinosaur returning, in the twilight of his life, to his yankee roots. An artist deciding that what once was incredible and enduring is his and his alone. An interpreter of songs who once lived to touch the masses (or so we thought), who now is only concerned with preserving his smaller-than-Willie-or-Waylon’s niche in the music world. It’s a shame.

Jerry Jeff: You are shitting all over the legacy you think you’re protecting. You are telling the new generation of Texas artists they’re not allowed to pay tribute to what you and the boys did decades ago. You’re acting the fool, pretending “Viva, Terlingua” was yours and yours alone. But I’ve got a question. Did Guy or Ray or Gary sue you for recording their songs on that damned record?

This is all a terrible shame. What should be a beautiful, touching moment in Texas music history is being sullied by an aging and insecure warhorse who for some reason needs a last moment in the sun. The irony is that had JJW viewed this record in the way it was intended to be viewed, he’d be honored. If he was in it for the music, he’d have contributed to the project. But evidently that’s not his style. In Texas we all understand individuality. We also understand that ultimately it’s a team game. Back north, where both Jerry Jeff and I hail from, it doesn’t work that way. It’s about me-me-me. I guess as the prairie sun sets, JJW is going back to his roots. It’s too bad he chose to do that just as Texas musicians were including him in their own journeys back to where they first began.

Adios, Jerry Jeff. You yankee asshole. Everything you’ve done over the years that mattered to me has been undermined with this grab for headlines. I thought that whole Chris Wall thing was an anomaly, and probably driven by Susan more than by you. But this suit makes it clear you’re just a decrepit old man who can’t take a compliment and doesn’t want others to succeed. Once you were the Lone Wolf. Now you’re just a flea-bitten coyote.

…discuss…

In my well-meaning farewell (ha!) speech, I made mention of my upcoming series, “Live on I-35.” That day has come my friends. By Monday (or Tuesday) of next week, I’ll have audio/video from Charlie Robison live at Floores in Helotes, Texas…

It’s no surprise to hear Charlie Robison describe his first release for Dualtone as “my favorite record that I’ve ever made, the one I’ve been wanting to make for a long, long time.” False modesty has never been the style of this native Texan, known for saying what’s on his mind and letting the chips fall where they may. Along the way, he’s developed a reputation as brash and cocksure, a little ornery, a maverick within a country music industry that prefers artists who are easier to manage, package and promote.

No, the real surprise is the tone of Charlie’s voice, the quiet confidence he exudes when he says “this is a culmination of the different styles I’ve explored, with more maturity in the writing.” Where his breakthrough with 1998’s Life of the Party album spotlighted the more raucous and reckless side of Robison, and 2000’s “Right Man for the Job” single was pure swagger, Good Times is the work of a reflective artist, one whose music has more depth and range than ever. It’s the music of the family man he’s become, not the party boy he’s been

.“A lot can change in a few years,” explains Robison. “When I made my last studio record (Step Right Up in 2000), I was very much a newlywed, a little over a year being married, and we didn’t have our son. Then you have a child and your marriage reaches a more mature state—it’s still really great, but the honeymoon’s over. You’re talking about the future and being an adult. While 95% of me is still the same old guy, I’m a father and a veteran husband now. Whether or not you’re consciously trying to put that on the record—which I wasn’t—if you’re an introspective person at all it’s going to make its way on there.”

With a dedication that reads “for Emily, my star, and Gus, my son,” the album finds its inspiration in the life Robison has come to love since marrying the former Emily Erwin of the Dixie Chicks and fathering Charles Augustus Robison, who’ll turn two years old this fall (“Gus” after a favorite literary characters, from Larry McMurtry’s classic Texas epic, Lonesome Dove). When they’re not in the midst of balancing dual musical careers, Charlie and Emily Robison are more concerned with baling hay, raising cattle and training quarter horses on their spread outside Bandera, where Robison’s family has ranched for eight generations since the 1840s..

“When you get down here, it’s not like you try to forget about music. You have to,” says Charlie. “It’s a full time job, twelve hours a day, and it completely clears my creative palate.”

In heartfelt balladry such as “Photograph” and the bittersweet “Always,” Robison shows just how much he’s grown as both a writer and a singer, plumbing depths of emotions that go well beyond the roadhouse dancefloor. Both the beyond-the-grave “Magnolia” (which could be Robison’s “Long Black Veil”) and the evocatively detailed “New Year’s Day” reflect his command as a narrative songwriter. Yet just in case someone thinks he’s taking his craft a little too seriously, he shows his playful side on “Love Means Never Having to Say You’re Hungry”—which may or may not be about home cooking—and the title track.

“When things get really heavy, I always have to break the tension,” he explains. “This is not rocket science, and I’m not putting myself on any songwriterly pedestal. I’ve always been a huge fan of John Prine, who would write a record with all this heavy stuff, and then there’d be something like ‘Illegal Smile.’ Tom Waits is the same way, and I’ve been strongly influenced by those two guys. You’ve gotta poke fun at yourself.”

While the range of Robison’s formative songwriting inspirations extends to Bruce Springsteen and Jackson Browne, he feels particularly indebted to the Texas school of Townes Van Zandt and Guy Clark. “Too much Texas music today has become what Robert Keen calls ‘the grocery list,’” says Robison. “It’s all ‘We’re going to float down the river and drink some Shiner Bock and go to Greune Hall.’ When you listened to a song by Townes or Guy, it was like getting a whole history lesson in what life in Texas is like.”

In addition to Robison’s ambitious songwriting, the album documents his strength as an interpreter, with a border-flavored revival of “Flatland Boogie” by Texas legend Terry Allen and the bluesy benediction of “The Bottom” by newcomer Waylon Payne. The latter features what could well be Robison’s strongest vocal performance to date, while two songs from Keith Gattis—“El Cerrito Place” and “Big City Blues”—show his affinity for material on the darker side.“With songs like that, you’re not writing for hits; you’re just writing about how you feel and out of that comes the beauty of it,” he says. “It’s like when I wrote ‘Sunset Boulevard’ and ‘My Hometown’ and things like that, when I was at a bad time of my life. It’s harder to write those songs when you’re married, have a kid and everything’s good.”

Joining Robison on “El Cerrito Place,” as she did on “The Wedding Song” from Step Right Up, is the Dixie Chicks’ Natalie Maines. “I love singing with Natalie, and she just took that one over,” says Charlie. “We’d already finished the cut, but telling Natalie ‘no’ is an impossibility. She came into the studio, heard that song, called her dad and said she just had to sing on it.”

Natalie’s dad happens to be Charlie’s co-producer, Lloyd Maines, one of the most respected musicians in Texas. It was a reunion for the two, who’d last worked together six years earlier on Life of the Party.

“We’re all very much family,” says Charlie. “It was like a homecoming, and it was a blast. We were not in any way ready for the record to be over when we’d finished it.”

Yet once they were finished, Charlie knew he’d made the best music of his career.

“Barlight” by Charlie Robison”

Saturday, November 25th
Floores
$15
Purchase tickets

"The Fall" by Hardin Sweaty & the Ready to Go

Read about tonight's show on Blah Blah Blah - Quick Blog.

"Loser" by Tahiti

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"What Turns Inside" by Dove Hunter

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Cold Beer Hot Women by the Derailers

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…that it’s entitled “Fine Line…”

Destigmatizing Mental Illness:
Fine Line: Mental Health/Mental Illness
Sept. 23 – Dec. 3, 2006

Note: Fine Line is free to the public and is recommended for adults and children 8th grade and older.

There is no them and us. There is only us. — Photographer Michael Nye

A photography/audio exhibit portraying real people with mental illnesses opens at the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History Saturday, Sept. 23, 2006. Fine Line: Mental Health/ Mental Illness fights the stigma of mental illness by presenting guests with human stories from individuals affected by mental illness.

Life-size black and white photos, all taken with a large camera to ensure exquisite detail and depth, are accompanied by the subjects’ voices telling their own stories. Each of the portraits has an audio box. Some of the individuals talk about their illnesses, others about the stigma they encounter, and still others about their lives in general – lives that are much like all others.

Developed by San Antonio-based artist Michael Nye and presented by Mental Health Connection of Tarrant County, the exhibit will be on display at the museum though Dec. 3, 2006 and will be offered free of charge to the public.

“Fine Line is a departure from our usual type of exhibit – it’s a window into a segment of our community that is normally hidden,” said Van A. Romans, the museum’s president. “It tells stories that need to be heard. These are our fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, neighbors and friends. To know them is to care for them.”

The individuals portrayed in the exhibit have a range of mental illnesses including depression, anxiety disorders, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. Some have high-level jobs and others are parents with high ideals for their children. Some are homeless or in jail. They are courageous and fragile, rich and poor, young and old. But the common thread they share is an illness that occurs in their brains and affects their minds instead of their bodies. Mental illness can strike anyone at any time and has an impact that goes well beyond the individuals who experience the illness.

Nye conceived the exhibit after losing two close friends to suicide and seeing the struggles of others he knew had mental illnesses. He points out, “There is no them and us. There is only us.”

Fine Line: Mental Health Mental Illness is appropriate for children 8th grade and older; parents of younger children will be encouraged to opt out of bringing their children into the exhibit.

About Mental Health Connection of Tarrant County
Mental Health Connection of Tarrant County is a collaboration of public and private agencies, mental health care providers, patients and caregivers working together to improve the mental health system for all residents of Tarrant County. Its goal is to create a highly networked system of mental health care so there is “no wrong door to the right mental health resources.” To learn more about mental health and services in Tarrant County, visit www.mentalhealthconnection.org.

The highly anticipated new limited edition single from camp Black Tie Dynasty, I Like U hits the Idol store today!

“This song (Christmas Time) will be included as a bonus on our new “I Like U single which also includes two additional tracks (’The Vex” and “Lakes” the acoustic version as recorded live in the KDGE studios for the Adventure Club).”

“Christmas Time” also features the loveable P.P.T. which makes this a splendid CD to add to your collection.

Getcher very own copy today!

Be sure and mark your calendars for Sunday, December 3rd. You can join me at the Double-Wide for a benefit for Picnic Tyme, who lost everything in a fire this week. This benefit show will feature Black Tie Dynasty, Strange Fruit Project, Verbal seed, Pikahsso and more. I’ll see you there kids.

“Christmas Time” by Black Tie Dynasty featuring P.P.T.

Enjoy your family. Enjoy your friends. Enjoy your day.