Of course, there aren't that many local bands available to open for The Toadies on May 27, mainly because a number of them will be at Trees that night as part of The Adventure Club's sixth anniversary concert. The lengthy lineup includes, in order of appearance: Alan Randolph Reed, The Deathray Davies, Clutch Cargo, Captain Audio, Legendary Crystal Chandelier, Pleasant Grove, The Adventures of Jet, Slobberbone, Chomksy, Corn Mo, [DARYL], Centro-matic, and--whew--Hagfish. Originally, the gig was supposed to happen at Gypsy Tea Room, with bands alternating between the stage in Gypsy's "Tea" room and the larger one in the ballroom. And with that many bands, it likely would have made more sense that way. Instead, all the bands will perform on the same stage, and everyone except for Hagfish and Centro-matic will play for 25 minutes. (Those two bands, the de facto headliners, each get a half-hour set.) No word yet on whether Adventure Club host Josh Venable will indeed gather all the participating bands on stage at the end of the night for a rendition of Neil Young's "Rockin' in the Free World." But here's hoping...
While we're on the subject of multi-act bills, two interesting ones are scheduled for next weekend. First up is Surreality, an electronic-music throw-down headlined by a handful of out-of-towners: Dave London, DJ 43, DJ Dara, and Jason Dunne. But Surreality is especially notable for its wealth of local talent. Almost two dozen area DJs will appear, including Tray Stylz, Mark J, Lacy, Frankie Vega, Michael Todd, Squirt, Phooka, Mundo, Lil Soozee, Ed Crunk, Booth, Eric Entity, and Space Mountain Bob. (Though those are eye-catching names, the best handle of them all hangs on Austin's Muppetfucker.) The shindig happens June 3, and doors are open from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. Check www.valence2000.com for more details. Also on June 3 is Indie Fest 2000, a hip-hop extravaganza at the Gypsy Tea Room sponsored by Digital187.com. It's a solid lineup, featuring sets by The Living Legends Crew (The Grouch, P.S.C., Sunspot Jonz, Murs, Scarus, Eligh, Asop, and Bizzaro), The Family (Shabazz 3, Mental Chaos, and The Free Agents together onstage), Hysteria 51, The Destructicons, and The M.E.N.U. All of a sudden, we feel really out of touch...
Baboon wraps up recording for its forthcoming live album on June 17, with a gig at Rick's Place in Denton featuring Captain Audio and The Paper Chase. But the hard part's not over yet: The band still has to sift through the tapes to find the performances worth including on the disc. The Paper Chase's John Congleton and Last Beat Records' in-house engineer Ben Yeager will most likely oversee the process in the studio. Speaking of Congleton and recording studios, he recently finished tracking songs for Budapest One's follow-up to last year's Good Night, Little Girl of My Dreams. Congleton is high on the project, which features singer-guitarist Keith Killoren, bassist William Pollard, and The Deathray Davies' Jason Garner filling in on drums. Look for the disc to be released later this year...
Because of Captain Audio's sort-of opening slot for The Cure's performance at Starplex Amphitheatre on May 25, the band has rescheduled its upcoming show at Curtain Club. It was, and still is, a part of Cabe Booth's new series of Thursday-night gigs at the club, moving to June 8. Filling the hole in the lineup will be Centro-matic and Legendary Crystal Chandelier, which reminds us of the week we recently spent with a tape of Funland's last performance stuck in the stereo of our new car. Not that that's a bad thing. This Thursday, however, Curtain Club's stage belongs to The Adventures of Jet, The Deathray Davies, and Clumsy. If only the powers that be at Curtain would give over the reins to Booth on a permanent basis...
Denton's Union Camp will properly release its new album, Fever and Pain, on May 29, with a show at Dan's Bar that also includes a performance by the lovely and talented Corn Mo. (Corn Mo, by the way, opened for the REO Speedwagon-Styx-Loverboy-Starship spectacle May 21 at Starplex Amphitheatre, appearing on the Plaza Stage. No doubt someone saw his flowing blond mane and droopy 'stache and mistook him for Styx guitarist Tommy Shaw.) Though the CD has been available through Union Camp's Web site (www.rockshowrecords.com), it will be the first local gig in a few weeks for the band formerly known as Check ("Check this out," May 11). It's worth picking up a copy of the album just so you can play "War Whistle" at top volume while attaching a gun rack to the back window of your truck...
Though we gave Local Access host Chip Adams a little guff a couple of weeks ago for his connections (or lack thereof, it turns out) with Fort Worth's Brasco, we applaud some of the things he's doing. One example: Merge Local Access Sessions Vol. 1 album, a collection of in-studio recordings by local bands, some of whom we even like. Among others, the disc features tracks by Pleasant Grove, Fixture, El Gato, Valve, Pinkston, and yes, Brasco. One Ton Records is helping Adams and Merge put the record out, and it will be officially released on June 10, with performances by Brasco, El Gato, Pinkston, Valve, and Doosu at Hard Rock Cafe. As for Brasco, contrary to what I thought (and wrote), they are not managed by Adams; it only seems that way. Sorry, fellas.
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