?uestlove, the drummer for The Roots, has DJed in Dallas several times but I've never seen him. ("Too tired" was always my excuse.) Now I'm kicking myself -- last night's show was probably among the best times I've had all year. He played old-school hip-hop and soul from every coast and every genre. Tribe. Ice Cube. Biggie. Juvenile. Isley Brothers. Outkast. Talib Kweli. Even Usher's under-appreciated Confessions-era hit, "Bad Girl." (I love that song!)
The chill, jeans-wearing crowd danced, hooted their approval, yelled along with the words. I never thought I'd hear a sing-along of Eazy-E's "Boyz N Tha Hood" at Ghostbar, but there it was.
If you're into hip-hop, or you just want to dance all night, you gotta catch ?uest the next time he's in town. The man can control the decks.
By the way, he used to have a pretty well-read blog on his MySpace page, but he's since created a new one here. Check it out -- he's pretty honest and open.
The Party's skating-rink bash didn't start until 11:30 on Saturday, and that combined with the fact that it was in Duncanville had me thinking that maybe I should stay home. (I'd been antique shopping with my mom in the god-awful hot weather all day.) But I'm so glad I powered through.
How many times do you get to skate to bumping 90's music as an adult? And bring your own alcohol in a plastic bag?
So last night around 10 p.m., I was innocently having a $2 Miller Light draft on the patio at City Tavern, when suddenly this group in black clothes comes scurrying up to the curb. One dude carries a boom and a few others have cameras.
The girl sitting next to us suddenly stands up and hits the guy she's with.
"Who the [expletive] is that?" she yells. Her comments are directed at a long-haired girl in glasses, standing next to the cameramen. This girl, the hitter, is wearing a short blue dress and a string-bikini top underneath. (Yeah, I didn't get it either.)
Kanye's official after party last night was at Myst, the new place next to Purgatory. The spot used to be Babylon, and before that, Wake Energy Lounge. (Where are my old-school peeps who remember that?) This is the nicest it's ever looked, though.
Myst is small and decked out in all white -- not exactly original decor, Dallas nightclub-wise, but still clean. They've got filmy curtains behind the tables, white booths, and an all-white upstairs VIP area, which is glassed-in so you can watch the go-go dancers writhe on the dance floor.
Absolut sponsored the after party, so there was an open bar all night. Absolut girls in teensy skirts shook their booties on the stripper poles, and other Absolut girls handed out plastic copies of Kanye's signature glasses. DJ Turbulence, Kanye's DJ who's based in L.A., played a bunch of party hits -- Montel Jordan, Biggie, Missy, Lil' Jon. (He'll also be at Obar tonight.)
I didn't feel like dancing, so we just sat and people-watched. My friend and I debated whether tight, curve-hugging dresses were tacky. I said no: If you've got the body and the posture -- posture is key! -- rock it all you want.
We waited until around 1:15 a.m. for Kanye to show up, but he didn't, so we decided to go home. But not before taking a pic of us in the glasses, like everyone else in the club was doing.
UPDATE: Just heard from Myst's owner. Kanye showed up 15 minutes after we left! CRAP. He apparently gave an awesome performance for 45 minutes. And Lupe Fiasco and N.E.R.D. performed too. I can't believe I missed it. If you were there, drop me a line and let me know what it was like.
I've never seen Feist before, so I went to the Palladium last night with kind of low expectations.
To think I doubted her. Feist was genuine and relaxed and funny onstage, and her voice sounded exactly like it does on her CD -- clear, pure, bell-like. I couldn't get over the sound of it. She'd open her mouth, and boom, all these ribbons would unfurl, without her looking like she was trying very hard. I just kept thinking: Where does a sound like that come from? Tried to come up with a modern-day vocal comparison, but the only thing I could think of was Olivia Newton John. Not sure if that entirely works. Actually, it probably doesn't work at all.
Feist performed for about an hour, while silhouettes in different shapes flashed on a screen behind her -- birds, a house, something that looked like a sheet of scales. She ran through most of the stuff on The Reminder. (My Moon My Man, 1234, Sea Lion, I Feel It All, So Sorry, The Park, etc.) And she did Mushaboom, I believe for the encore.
It's hard to make it out to mid-week shows, because when you get home, you're exhausted. (Or at least I am.) This was one that actually made the work-week stress go away. You could just zone out and listen to her and sway and hold your S.O.'s hand. Totally worth the $25 $35-with-fees ticket price.
It was an interesting crowd last night -- hip-hop heads in tees and jeans, AFI-ers with lanyards around their necks (dudes, you can take them off), Ghostbar-y ladies in short dresses and stilettos.
A stage was set up to the left of the DJ booth, just like with the Erykah Badu show. But the crowd this time was definitely more mixed. We got there around 11:30; P.E. took the stage about a half-hour later.
I could barely keep my eyes open last night at 10, and I almost didn't go to the show. So glad I did: Ghostbar, for one night, felt like Minc. The crowd was casual and hip and diverse, and tons of folks were dancing, all in a big cluster in front of the DJ booth. People were laughing, smiling, whooping - there was such great energy in there.
Louie Vega is short, so I could only really see his hat from where we were standing in back. But he got everyone pumped. He opened with these rat-a-tat-tat bongo drums that instantly got my shoulders' shimmying. (It was like a trance, I couldn't help it.) Then he played a bunch of classic-sounding house - just really good, danceable beats, laced with soulful vocals.
We left around 1 a.m. because I couldn't shake my tiredness. (Going out three nights in a row and working during the days can grate on a girl.) But next time I'm going to plan better so I can see the whole thing. He's worth it!
I've really been wanting to check out Steve Aoki, so we stopped by last night around 11:45. He was already on the decks. Unfortunately I wasn't feeling it -- the crowd was very W Hotel-tourist (sorry if I sound snobby, but it's true -- a good handful of 50/60-year-old guys in sweaters), and when we walked up to get a drink, a drunk guy in a pastel button-down asked me if I would grind up on these girls in front of me. Umm.... no.
Steve looked like he was having fun. During the 10 minutes that we stayed -- all while waiting for a drink in the short line, which for some reason was taking forever -- he played a lot of clubby house. I wasn't into it. What about "Shake & Pop" Steve? Or at least something kind of unusual or different. Even the hardcore metal music on his MySpace would have worked.
I got the feeling that he was playing what the crowd wanted. And that's fine. So we left and went to Fallout Lounge.
I’m exhausted this morning, but it’s totally worth it, because last night was probably the most fun at Ghostbar I’ve ever had. I thought: “I’ll probably just stay an hour.” We got there at 10:30, left at 1:30 and the party was STILL going on.
The crowd was as diverse as I’d ever seen at Ghostbar. A lot of guys wore T-shirts and hoodies, and a lotta girls wore jeans. SA-RA, a producer on Erykah’s album, wore silver jazz shoes and a Shriner’s hat on his head.
Instead of the usual DJ booth, they’d set up a stage at the far end of the bar. A roped-off VIP area sat behind it, where Dave Chapelle — he walked right past us! — and Biz Markie and Talib Kweli mingled. Paul Levatino, the marketing manager at Badu World and Control FreaQ records, was in there too. So was Nayrok, Erykah’s sister, decked out in white from head-to-toe. I heard a man compliment her as she walked by, and she offered a courteous "thank you" and kept walking.
My husband and I were talking about this last night, and I think we both expected something different. I thought the DSO would be arranging Led Zepp pieces for the orchestra. That seemed like an interesting idea. What we got was a cover band at the symphony -- again, not bad, but not what we thought it was going to be.
Tickets were sold out. They'd set up a band on stage, with a guitarist and drummer and a bassist, and a hot violinist in leather pants. Vocalist Randy Jackson opened with "Immigrant Song," which you gotta have the vocal chops for. He strained on the falsettos. You also couldn't hear the orchestra very well. Or maybe that was the point?
I know it’s been like 3 days but I got to see Ghostland Observatory at House of Blues on Sunday night and WOW! I got off work at the last minute and I have awesome friends who let me tag along. I had heard of the group but I hadn’t ever heard their music so it was a VERY pleasant surprise when they finally took the stage. I’m not sure if it was the laser-light-show accompaniment, the braided pigtails worn by Aaron Behrens, the long Dracula-style cape worn by Thomas Turner, the way Aaron danced in a manner that could only remind you of Jim Morrison or the delicious Jim Beam I was drinking, but I was intoxicated by the whole evening.
We arrived fashionably late, as usual, so I only got to see Mother’s Anthem and Before the Fall (only two of many bands on the bill that night). I’ve seen Before the Fall more times than I can count so I knew they were going to be good, but this was my first time to see Mother’s Anthem. GREAT band. They are super polished and they know what they are doing for sure. Plus they rock. They play at Firewater on Jan 26 if you want to check them out.
As for tonight: I hear a rumor that there’s a pajama party at Reno’s in Deep Ellum. Drinking in public in my PJs?? I’m in!!
First off: I’m back from vacation, yay! Phoenix was great. Very relaxing.
I know it’s kind of late to be talking about Christmas Eve, but this was too intriguing not to bring up. Does anyone else out there know about the Blue Mansion Christmas Eve party? It’s in a big old house on Haskell, near City Place. (Just past Dolly Python.) It’s held every year and it’s open to the public. But they don’t send invitations so word travels purely by word of mouth. I heard about it this year, so some friends and I decided to go.
The house was amazing, in an eccentric way. New Age-y paintings decorated the walls (i.e., naked men in yoga poses), and the floors slanted sharply downward. A second-floor inside balcony called out for someone (maybe me?) to dress up like Scarlett O’Hara and wave to her adoring crowd. Apparently the house used to be a church, but now it’s a bunch of different apartments and studio spaces for artists. There’s a huge, neat attic with exposed rafters and a basement crammed with old stuff. Outside they’ve got a big patio and fire pits.
The grounds were PACKED — there had to be at least 300 people there. Everyone looked like they came from a different stripe of society: young, grungy East Dallasites, older hippies, children (they all had clothes on, don’t worry), and normal-looking middle-aged folks. Someone had set up a huge spread in the main room with turkey and ham and cheese and pies. Drinks were BYOB.
We wandered around, and met a cool hippie lady named Randy and her orange-tanned Iggy Pop-look-alike boyfriend. A friend said the whole place reminded him of Austin. We’ll have to go back next year.
We had a blast! Thanks to Big J and Schwa and the Melissas for throwing it all together. Also, Dallas, I'm disappointed in you! I only bought three drinks for people the whole night.... and to think I got a new credit card for this and everything.
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