Art&Seek, my favorite place to be…just launched an absolutely fabulous new site just in time for their 2-year anniversary. Alan Melson deserves the medal of A&S….Check it out every single day.

The fabulous Belmont Hotel in Oak Cliff is host to the equally fabby KXT 91.7, “Barefoot at the Belmont” concert series. The Belmont continues its traditional poolside concert series featuring some of the best bands and musicians from North Texas, along with a breathtaking back-drop of the downtown Dallas skyline…reserve a room, wine, dine and take a dip in the Belmont pool…all the while experiencing the whole BFatB/KXT magnificence…you’ll thank me in the morning….prolly twice….

Bill’s birthday bash and Record Store Day are one with the universe. Go on over to Bill’s Records on Saturday for one hella paaartaaay.

Performing:
11:30-12 noon: Molarkey (Inside)
12-12:40 – Richmond Punch (Outside)
12:05-12:30 – Mr. Troll (Inside)
1-1:30 – Jason Castro (Outside)
1:45-2:30 – Meet & Greet with Jason Castro
1:20-2 – Iris Leu (Inside)
2-2:45 – HaHa Tonka (Outside)
2:20-2:50 – Grant
3-3:45 – Kevin Welch (Inside)
3:10-4 – The Marfalites
4-4:20 – Mike Guinn (Inside)
4:40-5:10 – Annie Benjamin (Inside)
5-5:45 – Dem Southernfolkz (Outside)
5:30-6 – Christian Ross (Inside)
6-7 – The Frontier Brothers (Outside)
6:10-6:30 – King G.I. (Inside)
6:45-7:15 – Wailbone (Inside)

This little shindig has something for everyone and it won’t cost you nuthin’.

If Lower Greenville is yo’ thang, then Good Records is da place to be seen:

Performing:
11:00 am – Adrianna Oswell
11:30 am – Little Birds
12:00 pm – Baruch The Scribe
12:30 pm – Cartographers
1:00 pm – Hello Lover
1:30 pm – Hormones
2:00 pm – Doug Burr
2:30 pm – Seryn
3:00 pm – RTB2
3:30 pm – The Angelus
4:00 pm – Murder By Death
4:30 pm – Ha Ha Tonka
5:00 pm – Backsliders
5:30 pm – The Black Dotz
6:00 pm – Rainbows Are Free
7:00 pm – Telegraph Canyon
8:00 pm – PVC Street Gang
9:00 pm – Binary Sunrise
10:00 pm – Maleveller
11:00 pm – New Fumes
12:00 am – DSFZ (dem southernfolkz)
1:00 am – This Will Destroy

Doors open at 8 a.m., so getcher breakfast taco and get on down there early for the best spot. This, too, is a freebie.

The Pull Tabs (Mike Daniel, Eric Grubbs and Kyle Harris) are playin’ at CD Source, but I dunno anything other than that…but then again, ain’t that enough? Oh, and it’s free.

Saturday, April 3
1919 Hemphill in Fort Worth
DFW Punk – a documentary about Dallas punk and new wave in the 80’s and 90’s by Laura Tabor-Huerta
Doors at 7 – Show at 8 p.m.
Read my Q&A with Laura on Art&Seek

Thursday, April 15
Magnolia Gallery in Dallas
The End of the Beginning – An Exhibit by Photographer Dylan Hollingsworth

Just another reason I freakin’ love my job…I get to hang wit’ people like Allan Hayslip. This dude is the real deal…I love him. He shall be mine….

Catch Allan and his rockin’ band, Bonedome at the Kessler Theater on April 8.

Celebrate the moments of your life with a hot cup of International Brand Coffee? Fergetabout it. Do the international thang live and in person with some of the bestest bands coming out of China and good ol’ Poland. My pal, Dave Dart, founder of Dart International, hipped me to some wicked awesome shows a’comin’ our way…

L.Stadt – “Great pop songs. Hang on a second! – Is this actually Pop? But what is the definition of Pop? If it’s melodic music which is easy on the ear, presented in an accessible, short format – then it can be described as Pop… Intentionally rough around the edges, reminiscent of a demo CD sound. Hats off to the band for this decision. On the L.Stadt album every song sounds different.”
- Debut album review, Don’t Panic We Are From Poland

Tonight, March 26
Fred’s Cafe in Fort Worth
Early show and Special Acoustic Set – 5 p.m.

Saturday, March 27
The Moon Bar in Fort Worth
9 p.m.

The Chinese Invasion Tour is gonna be off-da-hookity!

Sunday, March 28
The Double Wide
The line-up is below, just add in a little DJ Woodtronic and Wanz Dover to round out the evening’s festivities. Click here for more details, including how to score free tickets.

Wednesday, March 31
Hailey’s in Denton

Carsick Cars
“Sonic Youth and the Clean both released worthy albums this year, but these three Beijing kids in their early 20s took those bands’ classic guitar-drone sounds and made it pulse with the excitement of discovery.”
- David Malitz, “Lists: David Malitz’s top ten albums of 2009″, The Washington Post
From: Beijing, China
Genre: No Wave, Indie Rock
Touchstones: Sonic Youth, Jesus and Mary Chain, Suicide, Velvet Underground

P.K.14
“P.K. 14’s thrashing chords, dark bass lines and frenetic beats resonate with echoes of Sonic Youth, the Pixies, Fugazi and the New York Dolls. But the Beijing band’s charismatic vocalist, Yang Haisong, 34, says he takes his lead from songwriters such as Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan, Phil Ochs and a whole generation of protest musicians. Think of P.K. 14, in other words, as neither punk nor postpunk but postfolk.”
- Lara Day, “Asia’s Best Bands”, Time Magazine
From: Beijing, China
Genre: Chinese Rock, Post-Punk
Touchstones: Talking Heads, Television, Woodie Guthrie

AV Okubo
“Hong Kong experimental cinema, 80’s Kungfu movies, triad gangsters, Chinese and Japanese cartoons, Qian Xuesen and China’s early space program all collide together in AV Okubo’s sound to create a weird kaleidoscope of modern Chinese sensibilities.” AV Okubo’s debut album is produced by Martin Atkins.
- Maybe Mars
From: Beijing, China
Genre: New wave, experimental noise, disco punk
Touchstones: Ratatat, Battles, These Are Powers, Orange
Home page: http://maybemars.org/index.php/artists/av-okubo/

Hands-down, Rawlins Gilliland is among my top favorite writers and commentators. I fell in love with him during KERA pledge drives, his voice and sense of humor made me want to pledge my first born. Please take a moment out of your busy day to listen to his latest contribution to KERA…you’ll thank me in the morning.

James Bland had a history of Dallas music photographs hung throughout the theater. DJ Mr. Rid aka Mark Ridlen was spinnin’ vinyl GREATNESS in the lobby bar…speaking of which, the joint was absolutely GORGEOUS!

Jason Carney put on one helluva slam poetry performance…you coulda heard a pin drop. Josh Alan Friedman was quite the star of the evening with a line to purchase his latest book, Black Cracker and a standing ovation for his perfect musical performance on stage.

I hit the road back to Richardson before Mark Growden performed, but Liles didn’t miss a beat with his trusty video camera.

Make plans to hit the Kessler Theater very soon and very often. It’s quite fabby.

Ed. Note: The above video was shot and edited for KERA’s Art&Seek.

…this is now!

Bonus cut…

It’s time…

Saturday, March 20
Doors at 6 p.m.
The Opening of the Kessler Theater
Featuring: DJ Mr. Rid (spinning) – Josh Alan Friedman’s Book signing Black Cracker – “A Photographic History of Music in Dallas” by wicked-awesome photographer James Bland – Performances by Mark Growden – Slam Poet Jason Carney – Josh Alan Friedman
Cost: It’s on the house, just bring booze money
Full bar

How about a lively discussion about the arts scene and “rising stars in Dallas?” Even better, how about enjoying this experience in an intimate Park Cities residence and an informal conversation about it with SMU’s Meadows School for the Arts dean, Jose Bowen? Tickets to this event are $50 and limited and include complimentary wine and snacks.

Interested? Better act quick. Art&Seek is running a contest and if you win, you win pair of FREE tickets to the exclusive event. Click it good.

A comment from a member of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra Guild writes:

I am a member of the DSO Guild and let me tell you, we have a TON of FUN at our events. We are a small group of only about 60-65 members and the common denominator is our love of music (membership and attendance are open to anyone, no social connections required!).

At our luncheon last week, our guest speaker Richard Rodzinski had members practically rolling on the floor (you know, ROTFLMAO) with his hilarious backstage tales from the Metropolitan Opera and the rest of his fascinating life in arts administration. (Did you know his father, former NY Phil conductor Artur Rodzinski, was packin’ heat at his concerts? Thought not.)

This is not a see-and-be-seen group; it’s an I-love-music-and-oh-cool-so-do-you! group. Being in the Guild gives me so much more pleasure than I can convey here…

The one fundraising project we have is our dinner to support the Performance Prelude lectures–at our ten regular member events we just enjoy each other’s company and learning about music, be it backstage tidbits, delightful salon performances, conversations with composers, you name it. All the fun goes eventually towards making our intimate gala dinner a big success, so that we can provide DSO concertgoers with another full season of free pre-concert lectures!

Whoever wins these tickets will have a great time

A couple of weeks back, Salim Nourallah invited me into his Pleasantry Lane Recording Studio for an “artist’s studio tour” for KERA’s Art&Seek. It was nearly 5-years ago that I did the same for Pegasus News. The studio has changed dramatically since then.

I was asked to obtain a copy of the Nourallah Brothers self-titled album, which will go into rotation on Gini Mascorro’s Texas Mix on 91.7 KXT…I uploaded the entire CD and its bonus CD to my laptop prior to handing it over to KXT. I’ve been listening all day and it’s really made me melancholy and wishful that the Nourallah brothers would put their differences aside and come back together to make another record. I think it could be quite brilliant and full of quirky and perhaps dramatic stories about the making of it.

Anyway, the above video was shot and produced by my dear friend Alex Kanakis. I was actually invited to sit in on the planning meeting for the video, but Alex took the ball and ran with it, and a lovely, thoughtful and wonderful video resulted.

Below is the latest studio tour I filmed for KERA/Art&Seek.

I dearly love Salim and his family. In fact, I’d say he’s in the top five of my top five favorite humans on earth. He’s also one of my very very very favorite singer-songwriters.

There’s a very cool intimate concert series that takes place at the Studio by the Lake. Salim will perform on April 3rd, alongside other local greats, Trey Johnson and Ronnie Fauss. It’s a not-to-miss-er…so don’t miss it.

So this 13-year old girl contacts me about getting some booking and promotions advice. Reading through the email, I noted that she did some recording with my beloved Salim Nourallah, which in turn boosted my curiosity.

After checking this kid out, I have one phrase and one phrase only….whooooooolllly craaaaaaap!

It reminded me a little of the first time I heard Maren Morris perform at the ripe old age of about 11 and the first time I heard Sarah Jaffe perform at the ripe old age of about 15. Ya kinda don’t believe these amazing voices are coming out of those little girls.

Anna Thomas has already made somewhat of a name for herself, featured on such indie radio shows as Indies Top 10 and Mevio Radio. Her songs have also graced the charts on Top Ten Pop and Broadjam.

Her voice is mature enough to fool ya into thinking she’s in her 20’s. Her songwriting is good enough to think she’s been writing for decades, not just half a decade. Beautiful voice, beautiful songs.

Check out her tunes and bookmark her website. You can thank me later.

PS: Anna is performing at the Lone Star Wine Cellars on Friday, Feb. 5 at 7 p.m. You can thank me with a nice glass of Chardonnay.

I’d kill to be able to shoot and edit like the folks at Lucky Rabbit Films. Hell, I’ll probably ask them if I can be their eldest intern (in the history of film) when I move to Austin in the coming years.

So, working on the calendar today, I noted that Deadman (one of my favorite bands EVER) are playing the Doublewide on Saturday night. While I’m spoken for the AllGood show with Dougie Burr and The Fox and the Bird, I’ll just have to cut out early to go see my beloved Steve Collins and band.

The above video is a 2-year old project that captures the band perfectly. It’s a gorgeous piece, rich with great videography and the perfect sounds of Deadman’s music.

Saturday, January 16th
AllGood Cafe: Doug Burr w/The Fox and the Bird
The Doublewide: Deadman

LaGrange: the opening night musical wrap up. Music courtesy of Slick 57

I was there one of those Quick nights, to shoot a portion of the Jason Janik studio tour for KERA’s Art&Seek. I was supposed to focus, that night, on Jason…but I’m a big Blythe Beck fan…and as you can tell by the video, I didn’t have my glasses on, so I didn’t know how out of focus my camera was that night…who cares, it was Blythe Beck! Thanks jason, Blythe and Farah Fleurima for letting me hang out!

Jason Janik, along with the good folks over at Quick, put together ho…ho…holiday photos of local musicians, personalities and a chef, including Gordon Keith, Tim DeLaughter and the fam, Blythe Beck, Smile Smile and Bowling for Soup, set to a Christmas classic movies theme. You can check out the photos by picking up a copy of Quick, which can be found, like, anywhere. Plus, check out the peek-a-boo videos shot during the photo sessions. Pretty nifty stuff.