Earl Harvin Trio makes one of its infrequent appearances on December 22, with a performance at the Gypsy Tea Room along with Hairy Apes BMX. Expect the group's shows to become even rarer next year, since Harvin will be on the road with The The. Harvin -- who's toured with Seal and Joe Henry, among others -- manned the drum kit for the group (essentially frontman Matt Johnson and an ever-revolving cast) in the studio for its forthcoming album, and will fill the same role when The The tours behind the record. You really shouldn't need an excuse to check out Harvin and the rest of the trio, but this one seems to be as good as any...
RainMaker Records boss Paul Nugent's latest pet project, Sugarbomb, recently signed with RCA Records, only a few months after The Nuge released the group's debut, Tastes Like Sugar. The band -- singer-keyboardist Les Farrington, singer-guitarist Daniel Harville, drummer Michael Harville, guitarist Greg Bagby, and bassist Ford Brittian -- plans to use every cent of its advance from the label on shiny shirts and vinyl pants. Sugarbomb's RCA debut should hit stores early next year. Which is several months, at least, before we'll start caring...
The John Freeman publicity juggernaut has finally gone national. Freeman and his group Dooms U.K. are featured in the latest issue of Details magazine, in a story about gimmick-driven bands such as Gettysburg Express, which re-enacts the murder of Abraham Lincoln every time it performs. The article, written by former Dallas Observer contributor Richard Baimbridge, is fine enough, though it did seem as though Baimbridge had never been to a Dooms show when he was in town. Or even heard them, for that matter...
Todd Deatherage is still performing every week at Muddy Waters, though his solo shows happen on Sunday nights instead of Mondays now. And it's probably about time to add "former Calways frontman" to Deatherage's name, since he broke up the band a month or so ago. But it's a safe bet Deatherage will have a new group together before long, and if you want to hear some of his new material, check him out at Muddy Waters. And don't forget to request plenty of Tom Petty covers...
Finally, a slight amendment to a recent article that appeared in the Observer. In her attack of online music distributors ("Net profits," December 2), Emily Vander Veer failed to mention Todd J. Anstis, who -- as co-founder and chief technology officer for etherStream.com -- deserves as much credit for the Web site as anyone. Anyone, meaning Allan Restrepo, who was wrongly credited as being the sole founder of the company. For the record, etherStream.com and w3cd.com (the business Restrepo owns) are different entities with strong business ties. Sorry for the confusion. Any further inquiries may be directed to the brick wall behind us.
Send a clock and the courage to use it to Street Beat at zcrain@dallasobserver.com.
