Friday in Dallas, Saturday in Denton, Sunday in couch-based recovery. That's what I call a good weekend.
Started Friday's festivities by checking out Airline's in-store at Good Records. A small crowd of friends and family members showed up for the Dallas band's preview of its CD release show the next night -- it kinda felt like we were just hangin' out during a rehearsal. If you've never heard Airline, think melodic rock with heavy Beatles influences. If anyone attended the official show Saturday at Barley House, let me know what you thought.
After the in-store, I tagged along with nightclub writer Lesley Tellez on her quest to find cheap beer on Lower Greenville. I won't divulge much -- that's what her future column is for -- but I'll just say that the quest was successful enough that I needed a cab to get home. We interrupted our beerfest long enough for a jaunt through Zubar, where the DJs from the Party were on hand to help PPT member Picnic celebrate his birthday. I'll say it again at the risk of sounding cliche: In this town, there ain't no party like The Party. The dance beats were infectious and the capacity crowd was diverse and friendly. See you there next time.
On Saturday afternoon I made the trek up to Dentonland to see pieces of three shows (you saw in my weekend picks how overbooked last night was). Started out at Strawberry Fields' Spring Halloween celebration, a mini-festival whose lineup featured several folk and electronic acts including Sarah Jaffe, Zanzibar Snails and The Frenz. I stayed long enough to enjoy stripped-down solo sets from Corey Derden (a sample-happy folker from Houston) and Emil Rapstine (former frontman of the Angelus). Fine Line Cindy was there Web casting the whole shebang, and she was nice enough to share some wine from a cooler in the back of her van. Once said wine kicked in, I went kinda crazy with the CD-buying. But crazy at Strawberry Fields isn't that crazy -- I got four things for a mere $10.
I left a huge crowd (they couldn't all fit in the building) behind at Strawberry, conducted a half-drunken band interview at Rubber Gloves, and then scooted over to J&Js basement. Saw Sean Kirkpatrick tear up the keys for the last half of his performance, and then grabbed a slice and a Schlitz to accompany Daniel Folmer's full-band set. Folmer's been tweaking old and new songs to get ready for his SXSW showcase, and the rehearsals have done him good. "Serotonin" is still a highlight, but my faves were new ones "Vegetables and Coffee" and "Time is Passing."
After Folmer, George Neal and the Slow Burners took the excitement level up a notch with some downright blistering folk rock. Neal's a joy to watch with his raw, sometimes screaming vocals and spirited marching movements. The former Little Grizzly frontman has one of those voices that I'll forever associate with Denton itself, and it's good to see he's found a new band that can be equally as affecting.
Followed up J&Js with the headlining set by Denton rockers Record Hop at Rubber Gloves. I've heard the forthcoming album that was recorded last year by the band at Steve Albini's Chicago studio, so I was pleased to see the Hop perform several songs from it. Aside from the surprisingly catchy "End of Line" and "Clique" (both of which are on MySpace), the best moment came from the band's slowest song to date, "Slugworth." Can't wait for you to hear that one.
So, I didn't make it back to East Dallas until 3 a.m. But after a night like last night, I want to go back to Little D ASAP. The vibe everywhere I went was similar to last weekend's Melodica fest -- packed rooms, good conversation and even better music.
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