Lookin’ for a good time? I knew you were. Tonight, my friends, tonight is gonna be suuuuuweeeet at Barley House cuz The Dave Little Meltdown will be in the hizzy. The band is our very own birthday boy, Dave Little, along with Trey Carmichael, Linda Garner, Justin Smith and Chad Stockslager. Es muy bueno.
Trey Johnson’s voice has always kept me rather mesmerized. I love it. Add to that, his great brilliance for songwriting, well he had me at Sorta.
Today Trey dropped his first solo album, Mount Pelee on Idol Records. I have a copy. It’s fanfreakintastic. Truly. It’s a gorgeous, exciting, instrumental, beautiful beautiful thing. I’ve barely listened to anything else since I got it (yo Erv, I did found it in a pile of unopened, unpaid bills).
Trey Johnson, former lead singer and songwriter for Dallas band Sorta will release his solo debut Mount Pelée on July 28 .
Trey teamed up with Shibboleth members Don Cento, James Driscoll and Rich Martin who serve as his new backing band to record his Idol debut, with Stuart Sikes producing.
We will be kicking off the release festivities with an in-store performance / release party at Good Records in Dallas on Thursday July 30 and a CD Release show on Sat. August 1 at The AllGood Café in Dallas
Check out songs from Mount Pelée at http://www.myspace.com/sortatrey
I don’t want to go into too much detail, cuz Hunter and I spent the evening with Trey last week, and there’s gonna be a big fuss about this breathtaking album in this week’s Quick. There’s even a video on Quick’s site….not now, on Thursday silly.
Go see the boy live, you’ll so thank me in the morning:
Two boys, who used to share a band, are releasing their very own solo albums soon. I just got a sneak hear, and I must say, they are both BRILLIANT! You’ll get loads of info on all this in next week’s Quick.
During my very short stint in San Antonio a few years back, dear darling John Dufilho recommended that I check out a band based in S.A. I did. I then thanked him profusely.
Buttercup. How can you not love a band named Buttercup? You’ll love them. You won’t be able to stop yourself.
The band just dropped a spankin’ new fabby album, and I must say that after the first listen, my initial adoration has turned into an all-out love-fest.
At first listen, The Weather Here made me smile. I like it when bands send me albums and they are actually really really good. I’m not particularly great at finding the right words to describe music I love. But I’ll try. The Weather Here is a quiet, yet upbeat divine masterpiece. I can’t quite pinpoint an actual genre, but I’d say it weaves in and out of poppy, folky, grown-up types of songs and sounds. There’s something deliciously simplistic to the songs, yet each one keeps me intrigued every time I listen.
It’s hard to keep my attention. There are very few CDs that keep me interested front to back. The Weather Here has spun…oh…about 4-dozen times since it arrived in my mailbox, and I’ve yet to grow tired of it.
Buttercup’s music kept me sane while living in San Antonio (a questionably “good” music scene), and now they keep me sane back in Dallas. Well, sane as I’ll ever be, anyway.
I got a note from Jeff Dennis today. Which, by the way, made my whole day. For you see, Jeff is/was/will be one of the brilliant talents and minds behind the fantabulous Thrift Store Cowboys. The first time I heard the band perform, I was very much moved emotionally. Today, when I hear their haunting sound, I’m moved to tears. For one, because they are so freakin’ good…and fer two, because their music invokes so many really good memories.
I first met the band on our own soil (Buck’s on the Brazos) at Raz on the Braz or Texas Music Nation Celebration, or one of those music festivals we hosted way way back. These kids rolled into Glen Rose, pitched a tent, and wowed the hell out of us on stage. Not only are they talented, they are also a fun bunch of kids. Every year after that first one, they were always invited back to play. They always pitched their tent in the same place, and I always had a great time hanging out with them.
The original band (Jeff Dennis, Daniel Fluitt, Amanda Shires, Clint Miller, Colt Miller and one of I believe 2-different Codys) has sort of gone their different ways, but still come together for special shows. Daniel, Clint, Colt and drummer Kris Killingsworth still make up the whole of the band now, gigging regularly. Amanda Shires went off and started a very successful solo project (a recent feature in Texas Music Magazine, and still climbing on the Americana Charts), Jeff went off the Boulder, CO to pursue even more higher learnin’ and Codys came and went. Cory Ames and Todd Pertll can be seen performing with the band on really, really, really lucky occasions.
A year in the making! Mt Inadale Records will release it’s first split 7″ vinyl featuring Thrift Store Cowboys and One wolf!
Derek Pierce, a lifetime music enthusiast, is the master mind behind this release and Mt Inadale Records itself! Pierce worked for Texas Tech’s college radio station, KTXT as not only a DJ with his very own specialty show, but the Promotion Director where he booked local shows and single handed turned the music scene in Lubbock, Texas right around and made it something to talk about. Don’t get me wrong, the history was there…but I watched this young gentleman contact and develop relationships with several different artist from across the board, putting Lubbock’s name on the map for future bands touring through Texas. Here’s another testimony from Al James of Dolorean to further prove my point. Keyword, wunderkid under the Lubbock/Dan’s backroom paragraph. Very cool…courtesy of Asymmetrical Press
Jeff also started a pretty nifty blog (Windfarm) and you need to check it out, add it to your blogroll and thank me in the morning.
Amanda is touring the country right now, but Thrift Store Cowboys hit DdFW next month…see below…and see you there…
Deep Ellum reaches out to Dallas kids with its youth art program. 501(c)3 organization, the Deep Ellum Foundation, teams up with Dallas art and performance collective, ArtLoveMagic, to host the second ArtLoveMagic Youth Workshop Friday, July 24th, 2009.
After a successful premiere workshop in May, new energy for the interactive art program sparked the interest of Deep Ellum benefactors.
Jeanne Blanton, local real estate and property owner, is founding the Don Blanton Art Endowment Fund in memory of her late husband. Cultivating an appreciation for art, especially in kids, is very important to Blanton. Her first donation from the endowment is a sponsorship of the ArtLoveMagic Youth Workshop.
Madison Partners, LLC is a mainstay property management and real estate company in the Deep Ellum community. Madison Partners’ CEO Susan Reese is happy to support the new program.
“I believe that the interconnections between solid community and the arts are far-reaching. It is with exposure to the arts and hands-on experience within the arts that young people experience the joy, challenges and beauty of creating. In return for supporting this opportunity, our community becomes the beneficiary of more involved, more sensitive, more complete citizens.”
The July workshop will connect kids from Boys and Girls Club Dallas and Arlington’s SafeHaven with artist mentors from ArtLoveMagic. Five visual art genres will be offered to the students. The kids will draw, paint and cartoon alongside the artists. Students will also try their hand at creating pottery and graffiti art.
The interactive model is a fun, different approach to teaching art techniques, tells Michael Lagocki, ArtLoveMagic co-founder.
“This is not like a classroom where the children are taught from the front of a room, using a pre-planned lesson. The kids are in the mix, touching the tools, reacting to what the artist is creating live, just as the artist is reacting to them. Every outing is absolutely unique because it is dependent on what the artists and the kids create together.”
Art, fun, and learning make the workshop an unforgettable experience for all involved. Pizza at lunch tops off the day, and leaves lots of smiling faces in its wake.
On Friday, August 7th, at the Sons of Hermann, local artists will show how they’ve answered the questions, “Watt’s Up?”
More than 20 local artists have created lanterns from coffee tins collected over the last year from a Dallas coffee shop. Art Conspiracy provided the artists with the tins and they are using their talents to turn them into unique and functional pieces of art.
Original artwork and one-of-a-kind Dallas experiences will be up for grabs including a tour of old time Oak Cliff led by history buff and Art Conspiracy co-founder, Jason Roberts, and a Farmer’s Market Tour followed by dinner with Parigi chef, Chad Houser, and Parigi owner, Janice Provost. True Widow, Airline and Glen Farris will be play in between the auction action led by Art Conspiracy auction veterans, Rob McCollum and Rob Shearer.
The money raised during the SEED event will be used to fund the operating costs associated with Art Conspiracy’s large scale December fundraiser. The 2009 event will benefit Resolana, an organization that provides rehabilitative arts programming for women in the Dallas County Jail and Dawson State Jail in Dallas.
Art Conspiracy is street level philanthropy. Members of the creative community in North Texas pool their talents to create bi-annual fundraising events that support other nonprofit arts programs. Art
Conspiracy events are designed to be affordable and offer everyone a chance to purchase original artwork at a reasonable level. Art Conspiracy is a 501c3 organization with IRS nonprofit status (so your donations are tax deductible!)
Since 2005, Art Conspiracy has raised over $50,000 for groups including:
Preservation LINK, an organization that teaches audio and visual media to students in South
Dallas and Fair Park
La Reunion TX, a current sculpture garden and future arts residency on a 30+ acre Oak Cliff site
St. Anthony Community Center, a center that offers visual art, music and dance to more than 800 children in South Dallas.
When: Friday, August 7 from 7 p.m. – 12 a.m. Where: The Sons of Hermann Hall, 3414 Elm St, Dallas, TX 75226 How Much: $7 to get in and $20 opening bids on all artwork
I just left a job that kinda, sorta meant the world to me. Living and working in the same building in Deep Ellum just don’t do it for me no’mo’. I’m tired of looking out the window and seeing a highway and trashed-up alleys. I pick it up, others pick it up, yet every morning there’s a whole new batch of broken bottles, empty chip bags and goodness knows what else. Unfortunately, the lack of change of scenery, many many overtime hours and stress at work…I’m up and leaving it all for destinations unknown. (kinda, I’m moving back out to Richardson so the boy-child can finish his senior year)
Do I still love Deep Ellum? Yes. But it’s just too hard on an old broad like me, and 10-year old pooch who has had his own backyard since birth, and a 17-year old boy, wanting to hang out at Starbuck’s in Richardson.
What the hell am I going to do now? I have no idea. I went from barely making ends meet, to…well…the ends still need to be met, therefore I’m laying awake most nights trying to figure out how I’m going to make that happen.
Inspiration.
I need inspiration. I need an idea. I need a job that pays more than $?.00 an hour. So I often turn to the places that inspire me on a regular basis, or to those folks who do the same. Thank GAWD for Art & Seek. Truly. Thanks.
Art & Seek is my little hideaway, where I go to read, see and hear wonderful things. Wonderful things in a positive way. So it was no surprise that my little oasis on the web featured two other people who always inspire me and make me smile. Camille Cortinas and Eric Neal, two of the loveliest people I know.
Totally stolen from Quick. I’d so be there if I was young, hip, thin, rich, trendy…well, if it was just the 80’s…sigh…
Block partay, anyone?
All day Saturday, Primo’s Bar & Grille and the Quarter Bar will host Rock the Block, an entertainment extravaganza featuring live music, beer and all the Uptown hotties (and face-melting heat) you can handle.
Here’s the deets: When: Saturday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Where: The parking lot across from Primo’s and the Quarter, in the 3300 block of McKinney (about two blocks south of the West Village) Price: $10, with proceeds benefitting Kidd’s Kids and the UT Southwestern Medical Center
Who’s playing: The King Bucks (pictured above), the O’s, Here in Arms, MI King, Kirkland, Southern Drive, the Midnight Special and the Felons. KISS FM’s Big All will MC.
Food and beverages will be sold, and if you’re wanting a real meal, Primo’s and Bread Winner’s (attached to the Quarter) will be open.
Late Update:
DJ Special Blend
Steve McKeown 3-6 pm
Paul Paredes 6-10 pm
Live Music will include:
11:30 am – The Midnight Special
12:30 pm – Kirkland
1:30 pm – The Felons
2:30 pm – ML King & the Juniors
3:30 pm – The Orbans
5:00 pm – Here, in Arms
6:30 pm – The O’s
8:00 pm – The King Bucks
I’ve loved and adored Danny Balis since the first time I saw Sorta perform…like a decade or so ago. Then, upon seeing him solo, with the King Buck’s and various other projects, it turned to lust and total admiration.
The boy can play. The boy can sing. The boy can write. It’s with great pleasure that I announce…
Former Sorta Band Member Releases First Solo Album
DALLAS–July 10, 2009–Danny Balis, former bassist and one of the founding members of Dallas-based band Sorta, will release his first solo album, Too Much Living, , Sept. 1, 2009. The recording will be available beginning Sept. 1 on all popular digital download sites (iTunes, Rhapsody, Napster, etc.), with CDs available in stores, and for sale online through Balis’ MySpace page and www.goodrecords.com.
Too Much Living may seem like a departure from what Sorta fans are accustomed to, as it is a straight up, old school, country and western record — a fresh mixture of Merle Haggard, Townes Van Zandt, and Don Williams. Entirely written and recorded following the tragic death of his best friend Carter Albrecht, Balis draws from the dark side of country music, exploring self destruction, love lost, and the effects of grief. A few reviews from Balis’ contemporaries are already in:
“I grew up listening to country music, so Too Much Living is a nostalgic listen for me. While country music today sounds like a hallmark card gone bad, sung with a southern drawl, Danny is true to the heart of classic country music.”
–Eric Pulido, Midlake
“Danny’s got this smooth, rich, authentic country voice that goes down as easy as a fine wine. A throwback, Danny is at home on a honky tonk stage, a young man with an old soul. Too Much Living is pure, genuine American country music, a body of work that comes straight from the heart.”
–Deryl Dodd
“Too Much Living is a great record. It recalls my favorite, old-time country, yet still feels fresh. Danny Balis is the real deal.”
–Rhett Miller, The Old 97’s
A CD release show is scheduled for Aug. 21 at the Granada Theatre in Dallas at 9:00 p.m., in support of Slobberbone (Denton, Texas). The CD will be available for the first time at this event.
Danny has been a Dallas musician for 23 years and has played with the bands Sorta (Trey Johnson) and Sparrows (Carter Albrecht), as well as with solo artists Doug Burr and Salim Nourallah. He has recorded bass, guitar, and vocals on dozens of releases as well as nationally televised commercials including Coca-Cola and Jack Daniels. He currently plays over 100 shows a year with popular Dallas honky-tonk outfit The King Bucks. Danny has also produced the highly-rated Dallas sports talk radio program, The Hardline, for the last ten years.
Too Much Living is set to drop on September 1st, and saying that I’m absolutely giddy in anticipation would be a huge understatement.
I, quite unintentionally, stumbled into a Petty Theft performance last night. I normally scoff, quite loudly, at cover/tribute bands, but last night I actually really enjoyed those boys…as did the gazillions other people who went to the show on purpose.
Perhaps re-thinking (even more than I’ve had to this week) is in order….la…la…la…la…laaaaaaaaaaaaa….
