Odds & Ends

In remembrance: On April 13, local band Daynger Lagoone played its first and final concert. The young Dallas band performed that evening as part of the Curtain Club's "New Music Festival Band Search" series, and after winning the night's contest, lead singer Robert "Tuck" Tucker walked into the bathroom. Minutes later, Daynger Lagoone bandmates found Tucker unconscious on the bathroom floor, and hours after being taken to Baylor hospital, he was pronounced dead by heart attack.

"This is very sad and absolutely sudden," fiancee Sheana Gassney said. "He was a very healthy kid, and only 25 years old. He was one of the funniest people you'd ever meet, and I've never known someone who met him who didn't like him."

We extend our sympathies to Tucker's friends, family and bandmates.

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No problem, Attal: Lollapalooza is set to return after 2004's cancellation disaster. This year, the event changes from a touring festival to a two-day event at Chicago's Grant Park on July 24 and July 25. So why should you care, Dallas? Because Austin-based Charles Attal, who books concerts at the Gypsy Tea Room, has taken Lollapalooza's reins.

Attal and his partner Charlie Jones apparently impressed Lollapalooza founder Perry Farrell with their work on the successful Austin City Limits festival. The two-day concert in Chicago, Attal says, will be based "on the model we use at ACL--open green space, lots of stages, local flavor in the food." The choice of Chi-town came about because "Chicago's one of the best music towns in the country," Attal says. "That park is a beautiful green space."

Attal has managed to snag amazing acts like The Pixies, Weezer, Dinosaur Jr. and, intriguingly, the first Dandy Warhols/Brian Jonestown Massacre double bill since the documentary Dig!, which chronicles the bands' rivalry. (The doc is out on DVD and highly recommended.) We look forward to Jonestown singer Anton Newcombe freaking out in front of thousands. For more information, log onto www.lollapalooza.com.

And a message to Attal: Pleeease book those great Lollapalooza bands in Dallas. Except for Widespread Panic--Chicago can keep those guys.

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Put me in, Coachella: In other festival news, congratulations to Midlake, Eisley and Secret Machines, who will represent D-FW (well, Secret Machines not so much, but we can still pretend) this weekend at California's Coachella Music Festival. Here's hoping that a few of the thousands in attendance will remember the D-FW bands between waves of drug-induced visions.

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Surprise: For weeks, the Granada Theater has been advertising a "surprise" concert for Friday, April 29, and it was anyone's guess who would fill the slot. Wonder no more--System of a Down will play the show as part of a "guerrilla" tour of smaller clubs across the nation. Tickets go on sale Friday at 10 a.m. at the Granada's box office. Expect a sell-out.

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Spin me right 'round: You might've noticed that The Adventure Club, the indie-rock show on 102.1 The Edge every Sunday night, has been bumped an hour early on the radio station's schedule. The change makes more room for The Local Show, but for people who tune in too late, the earlier end to Josh Venable's musical selections is unsettling. If you are among those people, drive to City Tavern, 1402 Main St., after The Adventure Club's over on Sundays, where Venable continues spinning his favorite records every week. Maybe he'll play that Star Wars bit he always uses between songs on The Adventure Club--now that's a toe-tappin' ditty.

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The latest fall fashions: Order the coolest new threads from the 2005 "I Hate the Dallas Observer" fashion line today! Deep Ellum's The Deep End is selling "Dallas Un-Observer" T-shirts, which feature a fake headline about the "Hepola Virus" and christen yours truly as "S.Mack-O-Bitch." Unfortunately, the shirts, which at first glance seem like an amusing dig, are really a veiled attempt at publicity by local Monster Energy Drink peddlers Strangleweed. Here's a tip, guys: If the shirts didn't have a huge advertisement for a T-shirt production company on the back, people might actually wear them. The Deep End says it has sold "three or four" at $14.95 each.

Even better, someone in Dallas has begun handing out "Sarah Hepola Sucks" T-shirts. We're not sure who, if anyone, is selling them, but one of the (sweat-shop free!) American Apparel black shirts showed up at the office last week, reportedly given to a staff member by someone at the Gypsy Tea Room. Dallas, don't miss out on this trend. Anyone up for designing the "Zac Crain Blows" hoodie or the "Robert Wilonsky Can Kiss My Ass" beanie cap?