D.O.bservations
Posted by Cindy on March 27th, 2008
Yesterday I had lunch at AllGood Cafe with one of my favorite gal-pals, Tiffany Kieren. We have a vision for a defunct Deep Ellum venue, so lunch seemed like good a time as any to work on details. During the course of our dining discussion, several Deep Ellumites came and went. Some conversations about Deep Ellum were…um…a tad on the negative side, others, not so much. One thing was agreed upon, though, and that was the *hear-hears* stemming from this week’s Dallas Observer Music Section…Pete Freedman writes…
…Here, at this party, these area residents chose to keep their eyes on the positive. They wanted to ignore their dreary recent past and instead focus on the hopefully-not-as-dreary times they could be facing in the future—a future where, for better or worse, visual art slides past music as the cornerstone of the area’s culture.
That’s the thing about this night: Although music was performed at this party, it sat firmly planted in the second seat. The event was a fund-raiser for the Deep Ellum Association’s upcoming visual arts showcase, Art-a-lot-a-thon. The people judging the bartending competition were dressed as great visual artists throughout history (see the photos). The fences of the bar’s back patio were covered with paintings. There was no mistaking what was being honored on this night. (No offense to Grassfight, The KuL and Holy Diver.)…you know what to do…click.
I was in attendance, the night Pete writes about, and ’twas, indeed, a great time.
Back to yesterday’s lunch…for you see, here’s the thing, between the various Deep Ellum “groups,” and the city and the D.E. owners….well, there’s where problems lie. If we can’t keep the doors open, or open new ones, then nobody will come. I can assure you of this, though, and that is that the “Deep Ellum is dead” or “bring Deep Ellum back to what it used to be” types of conversation are over and done with…period. There seems to be a collective effort and attitude that is looking towards the future, not the past…and it’s a good thing. But that’s for a whole other post, and I’m starting to ramble.
Ed. Note: – go read the first comment on the article. Whomever “a musician” is, he/she makes some REALLY valid points.
Back to the D.O…
Ben Westoff talks Saul Williams – click
Bloody hell…I started this post at 7:30 this morning, then had to take the boy-child to the doctor and just got back in time to pack up and head to Space for a talk show…click here to read this week’s music issue.
March 27th, 2008 at 4:29 pm
Cindy, I completely disagree with the “musician”‘s comments. We can’t work alone. We have to work together, it’s the only way to, well, unify. AND he’s wrong about the difficulty of booking in Deep Ellum and Expo Park. Shit, I do it all the time. These venues are diverse, and though I LOVE Club Dada and Amanda, Double Wide had great shows nightly and so does Red Blood Club. Hell, Hal’s got some great stuff going too. He says that we aren’t catering to all of Dallas and we don’t pay attention to what’s going outside of our “circle”, that’s bullshit. I talk to folks in Denton, Notrh Dallas, Lakewood, Ft. Worth, Victory, and Greenville, and Austin ALL THE TIME. You do too, and you and I are both in Deep Ellum daily, hell I live here. I’d say the inverse is true. We are well aware of what’s going on in the rest of North Texas (art and music) and we ALWAYS welcome the other areas to be a part of what we do, AND we invite them to do what they do here as well.
March 27th, 2008 at 4:40 pm
Hell, now I can’t even remember what the commenter said…it was 7 a.m. when I read it. I think what stuck with me is the lack of promotions by the clubs. Dada had a recent show, that I most likely would have attended had I known about it, and there was nothing on their site, therefore the band (from another country) played to a crowd of about 5.
It’s funny too, how Adair’s is never mentioned when it comes to Deep Ellum. They book excellent Country/Americana/Alt.Country shows and it’s usually to standing-room-only crowds. I think there’s a great mix of music, art and fun and interesting things going on, I just think they need to be promoted a little better. At a minimum, clubs to at least update their own websites.
March 27th, 2008 at 4:51 pm
Ellum is open to any and all who are interested in doing something / anything. If they choose to do it, they will receive support from various groups and / or circles. The area is not new, shiny or plastic / trendy at this time. This may be a very good thing as many ingenious cultural activities are incubating every day and night. Where else in town is this true?
Sadly promotion is lacking more often than not. Yet parties such as the Art-a-lot-a-thon and last weekends Rockers vs Mods Festival were well promoted and attended. This weekends tattoo closing party and next weekends Art Festival should also prove that if it’s promoted en mass, people will come. See you there and I am sure quite a few musicians (maybe even that musician) will also be in attendance.
March 28th, 2008 at 12:01 am
Cindy, you were cracking me up the other day!! I’m still waiting for your skinny jeans blog;) And maybe one day… one about the yoga shrine;) Haha! I’m counting on you:) You are a classy lady and I had a blast at lunch. I felt like we were starring in that Tower Records movie, every one and their buddy that we know showed up there. I love AllGood. Yum.
So great to see you and let’s hang out again soon. We went to see the Gutter Twins tonight at HOB. Mark Lanegan of Screaming Trees and Greg Dulli of Afghan Whigs. Amaaaaazing. Mark Lanegan’s voice. Heaven. Can’t wait for those shows in Deep Ellum again. It will happen! I say we must make it so!
Your biggest fan,
Tiffany
March 28th, 2008 at 10:33 pm
oops, I meant Empire Records. It’s on now, so it must be a sign that I should clarify;)