Well folks, welcome to the best week of the year. "Why's that?" you might ask. Because Thanksgiving is this Thursday and it's the best holiday of the year. (Just ask our resident Englishman about it.) It's one of the rare times of the year when we all get to slow down, however briefly, and contemplate all of the things that we so often taken for granted -- friends, family, our health and well being.
For those of us here at DC9 at Night, Thanksgiving is also a chance to consider just how much we appreciate the music scene here in Dallas. As a token of our appreciation, we pulled together a list of the things we're most grateful for in our scene. The hardest part was narrowing it down to just 50 of them.
See also: 50 Signs You've Been Partying Too Long in Denton
1. The grandeur of Scott Beggs' mutton chops
2. The brilliance of the Dallas promoter mafia
3. Anything the Gonzalez family does, from Yells at Eels to Outward Bound Mixtape Sessions to the La Rondalla program
4. The inspired weirdness of George Quartz's musical performance art
5. Art Pena and his roving DIY space Vice Palace
6. 1919 Hemphill making it to its 12th anniversary
7. Gas Monkey Live sacrificing their brand-new floor to 90 gallons of fake GWAR blood
8. Moshing at a Blue the Misfit show
9. Seeing Power Trip and not getting another concussion doing it
10. Metal concerts at a taqueria, because metal concerts at a taqueria
11. The endless costume closet of Josh Hammertimez and Oliver Peck at Good Luck Karaoke
12. The rebirth of DJ Sober's Big Bang at the Beauty Bar
13. Red Light Lounge finally giving us a dance club in Deep Ellum
14. Going out of our minds at It'll Do Club
15. The new hardwood floor, carpet and disco ball at Crown & Harp
16. Michael Briggs all but running the whole Denton music scene out of his living room
17. Getting a slice and a Schlitz and catching a basement show at J&J's Pizza
18. Red Bull Sound Select bringing us great shows every month and only charging $3 to get in
19. Bob Crawford's starring role in Dan Deacon's Index Festival dance off
20. Seeing Index Festival and Oaktopia embrace their cities and come into their own
21. The impending return of 35 Denton
22. Going Behind the Screen at Texas Theatre
23. Listening to The Ticket skewer bro country on "Fun with Country Music"
24. Paul Slavens' wonderfully quirky approach to radio on KXT
25. Boom 94.5 FM and Hot 93.3 FM for giving us two radio stations with old school hip hop
26. The jukebox at Twilite Lounge
27. The arrival of a new generation of record stores like Dead Wax, Spinster and Josey
28. Off the Record fostering conversation with the High Fidelity Lecture Series
29. Tim DeLaughter's collection of lavish robes
30. Drinking a beer at the Sundown before a show at the Granada Theater
31. Chris McDonald's promotional antics
32. Gavin Mulloy's hustle
33. Homegrown Festival keeping it local
34. Jeffrey Liles' encyclopedic knowledge of Dallas music
35. And the all-but-perfect sound at the Kessler Theater
36. Patio shows at Club Dada
37. Free shows at The Foundry with great beer and fried chicken from Chicken Scratch
38. Catching hot new bands before they get big at Three Links
39. And having Fuzzy's Tacos right next door
40. Drinking a Yoohoo Yeehaw and watching metal bands at Double Wide
41. The hen dance at R.L.'s Blues Palace
42. R.C. & the Gritz's open mic at The Prophet Bar every Wednesday
43. All the wonderfully weird ways that Erykah Badu pops up in the news
44. Seeing Sealion get better with every time they play
45. John Iskander booking great touring bands and going out of his way to help out local ones
46. The way the music community banded together to help the Phuss' Trey Alfaro after his bicycle accident (and how he returned to playing so quickly)
47. Rev. Gean West's return to the stage at the North Oak Cliff Music Festival after his heart surgery
48. Finally getting to hear Mike Scaccia's incredible guitar playing on Rigor Mortis' Slaves to the Grave
49. The chance to see Centro-matic play Dallas one last time (and Denton three more times)
50. The rebirth of Deep Ellum and the robust health of the Dallas music scene
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