Odds & Ends

Fair warning: On Friday and Saturday, Fry Street Fair finally returns to Denton...we think. The Denton music festival, whose attendance peaked at 20,000 in 2002, was booted out of its hometown two years ago when city officials protested rising costs, crowds and security concerns. Rather than cancel, Fair organizers at the Delta Lodge moved to Deep Ellum with mixed results (along with the oddity of holding something called "Fry Street" on Main Street), and this year, the Lodge has persuaded Denton officials to open Fry Street once more for a two-day, two-stage festival.

The event is a return to locals-only form with headliners Baboon, Record Hop, Bagg and Jetscreamer. To limit crowds, the Lodge has kept this year's Fair as mum as possible, refusing to pre-sell tickets, book national acts or advertise outside Denton.

Here's the catch: The North Texas Daily reports the show won't officially receive its permit until Saturday, in order to confirm that the Fair meets all safety and regulatory requirements, but online schedules indicate a Friday start at 6:45 p.m. Many other roadblocks have been cleared for the festival's go-ahead, including outstanding security payments left over from previous festivals. But we're a little worried about the kick-off.

Still, Denton has already hosted a glut of music festivals in April, including WakeUp! and Wall of Sound, so if the Fair actually goes as planned, we doubt out-of-towners will make yet another hour-long drive to Denton and overcrowd the party. Stages will be on Fry Street between Hickory and Oak streets. Friday night's show is $5, and Saturday's all-day show is $12. BYOB, y'all.

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Teen titan: Big ups to Braidy Bingham for winning the "10 Under 20" contest at Sunday's Dallas Guitar Show. The 17-year-old Booker T. Washington graduate beat nine other pint-sized Texan rockers, including Midlothian's DV8 and last year's winners, Minority, in a teen-only battle of the bands.

The winning singer may not have the local teenage potential of mid-'90s rockers Radish, but her stuff isn't too shabby, with songs that reflect both the new wave of Adventures of Jet and the radio-friendly guitar-pop of that new Kelly Clarkson song. Bingham's alma mater gets $1,000 for her efforts, while she gets...a pat on the back, maybe?

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Sneaky Lizard: Suspects are still at large for the Lizard Lounge burglary on Sunday, April 3. Lounge manager Don Nedler says the suspect hid in the building overnight after a Paul Oakenfold appearance the previous Saturday and, in the morning, disabled all motion sensors and alarms. Accomplices arrived shortly thereafter, allegedly in a red Jeep Grand Cherokee, to dismantle and steal the club's safe, but amazingly, none of the audio or video equipment left from the Oakenfold concert was taken.

Lounge management recently announced a $5,000 reward for information that will lead to the arrest and conviction of the Sunday-night crooks. If you have information, call the Lounge at 214-826-4769.

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Big in Japan: If you're reading this in Osaka, Kyoto or Yokohama, then rush to your nearest record store, as a Dallas Observer Music Awards Best Album nominee hit Japanese record stores yesterday. [DARYL]'s Ohio is now on sale through Can You Fly Discs, and while no Cheap Trick-style Japanese tour has been planned, the band begins a month-long West Coast tour in June with DOMA nominees Black Tie Dynasty.

The two bands are also releasing a split EP, Bloody Basins, with a two-band collaboration and covers of songs by Bruce Springsteen and, um, Ned's Atomic Dustbin. Basins will be out in time for the tour through Idol Records, which is, you guessed it, another DOMA nominee. By the way, voting closes Monday, so quit procrastinating and vote today. Visit www.dallasobserver.com or mail the ballot on page 78.

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Bad Badu?: Did you know that the last time Erykah Badu played a concert in Fort Worth was at the freakin' Caravan of Dreams? The thought fills me with enough nostalgia to whip up a local version of VH1's I Love the'90s, or at least dust off my old Q102 sticker.

At any rate, Badu returns to Cowtown on Thursday, April 28, at Bass Performance Hall, and we sincerely hope the Dallas hip-hop queen won't demand another anti-white revolution (see Letters, March 31, 2005) in those parts. We hear it's a red county.