Knee Deep | Blog Log | Mic Check | Handstamps

 Knee-Deep: Is there a Deep Ellum resurrection in the making (though we never really thought it had died in the first place. It was more in sleep mode.)? First, there's the item former DO music editor Sam Machkovech dug up for his blog, www.bigdlittled.com, in which he notes Trees is reopening (we give you props, fella, for tracing down that little item). Next we hear Deep Ellum Live has started booking gigs. What's next, are hipsters gonna start wearing torn jeans and flannel shirts again?

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Blog log: A big change in the terrain of the Dallas music blogosphere this past week: Local stalwart Cindy Chaffin, who founded the standard-bearer of the Dallas blogsistence, Texasgigs.com, four years ago, and who subsequently moved over to FineLineLive.com about a year ago, has semi-retired from the music blog biz.

If you are already a local blog reader, you've read Chaffin's fare-thee-well already (whaddya want from us? We're a weekly!). If not, you should check out her goodbye column on FineLine, or hit up DFWQuick's blog (http://blahblahblah.beloblog.com/) for her contributions.

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Mic Check: In extremely important karaoke news, Rock Star Karaoke, which takes place every Wednesday night at the Barley House, has added the Knack's "My Sharona" to the live karaoke band's repertoire. As DO staffer Merritt Martin commented recently, "That's just askin' for trouble."

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Handstamps: So much rock, so little time...While we don't endorse the fact that 7 million lame bands have sprung up around the current (already fading) fad of synth-based power pop, because, well, most of them suck, we do heartily endorse Arizona's Peachcake, who play Wednesday, November 22, along with Spitalfield, Boys Like Girls, Punchline and Valencia, at the Door (Dallas). Peachcake gets it in a way others don't; instead of relying on the '80s and indulging in false nostalgia, the group picks up where Depeche Mode stopped and runs into the future, all techno beats and spot-on, unobvious melodies...If you don't catch the Hidden Cameras elaborate Gypsy Tea Room show Thursday, November 23, you can still indulge in a scaled-down version of Joel Gibb's glib homo-rock at the in-store that day at 6 p.m., Good Records...The Fun!Fun!Fun! with Ben Lee Dallas tour stop, scheduled for Friday, November 24, at the Lakewood Theater, has been canceled. Guess it's not so fun after all...Finally, don't forget to go, right now, to www.frontgatetickets.com and purchase your tix for the Spune Productions Christmas extravaganza. This 'un'll be a doozy: Starlight Mints, Pleasant Grove, Baboon, The Marked Men, Record Hop, Stumptone, Dove Hunter, Red Monroe and Ghostcar will pack Hailey's on December 9 to help you forget that you basically have to spend the next month with your family. Ten bucks advance will gain you access to auditory eggnog, and since the giant number of band members alone will fill half the place's capacity anyway, you might want to grab tickets while you can. So, go get 'em. Seriously...what are you doing still here—go!