Do you have a heart? If so you should get your ass to Trees Saturday for the Have A Heart Benefit show. It's objective is to raise money for John Bullard who has cerebral palsy. On the bill for the night: Beach Fossils, The Appleseed Cast, Leon Bridges, Son of Stan and more. There's a ton of stuff to check out elsewhere too. DJ Paul Johnson and Bummer Vacation share Crown & Harp, i.e. a beautiful situation made possible by two floors, Rebelution hits South Side Ballroom, Ishi, French 75, George Quartz, and DJ Sober do Artopia, and Gladys Knight is set to bring down the house at WinStar. Here are the rest of your picks:
See also: John Bullard is the Inspiration for the First-Ever Have a Heart Benefit Busking with Salim Nourallah: "The Last Five Years in Dallas Have Been a Golden Time"
Paul Johnson With Resident DJ Boxx, 9 p.m. Friday, January 16, at Crown & Harp, 1919 Greenville Ave., 214-828-1914 or thecrownandharp.com, $10/$15 at the door Deep Inside is celebrating the one-year anniversary of it's monthly house music ritual at Crown & Harp this coming Friday with Chicago house legend Paul Johnson. Johnson has been a fixture at the center of the Chicago scene since the mid-'80s, releasing club hits on a string of equally legendary labels such as Cajual, Defected, Dance Mania, Peacefrog, Relief and Moody and selling millions of copies worldwide. As a DJ Johnson is known for soulful, harder-edged jacking house sets -- a characteristic also found in his enormous back catalogue. That catalogue also happens to make him one of the most prolific DJs in the history of Chicago house, possibly in house music as a whole. He managed to pull this off despite being confined to a wheelchair since the late '80s. It's a true rare treat to hear an artist of Johnson's magnitude in a such a small venue. Wanz Dover
Rebelution With Katchafire, 8:30 p.m., Friday, January 16, at South Side Ballroom, 1135 S. Lamar St., 214-421-2021 or southsideballroomdallas.com, $36 Rebelution has been around for almost a decade, but it doesn't seem that long ago that they were breaking out with their 2007 debut album Courage to Grow. The Southern California act captured the ears (and more importantly, the hearts and minds) of audiences by playing world reggae music with socially mindful lyrics. As the band's name suggests, they are out to make a difference through pointed commentary in the form of their music. Since then, the group has released three more albums, most recently the 2014 Count Me In. Commercially, Rebelution's albums have regularly been at the top of the Billboard charts. Count Me In debuted at No. 14 on the Hot 200, demonstrating that the band is more than just a fringe genre act, but one with mainstream appeal too. They have played the world's biggest festivals and on January 16 they will be coming to Dallas' Southside Ballroom to put on a trademark Rebelution performance: heartfelt and eclectic. James Khubiar
Soul Track Mind With Chris Watson, Van Darien, Saints of Gold, 7:30 p.m., Friday January 16, at The Prophet Bar, 2548 Elm Street, 214-742-3667, http://theprophetbar.com, $10-$12 Revival is a great thing. Soul music is more or less a forgotten art. There are a few acts that thankfully bring it back from the dead with panache. Nick Waterhouse, Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, Mark Ronson, and Mayer Hawthorne make us feel like we're back in the past. Soul Track Mind is in that aforementioned company. The seven piece hailing from Austin blends soul, blues, funk, and jazz for wonderfully vintage sound. If you can't make this show, they're also doing a free show at Good Records at 6:00 p.m. H. Drew Blackburn
Metroplex Battle of the Bands Qualifier With Plew Do Blanc, Dear Anonymous, Rogue Locusts, Ocean Fiend, The Black Cassettes, and more, 7:00 p.m., Friday January 16, at The Prophet Bar, 2548 Elm Street, 214-742-3667, http://theprophetbar.com, $10 Oh, a battle of the bands competition. It's like combining March Madness and music. This friday a handful of bands around the Metroplex with begin the battle, of which the winner walks away with $1,000. For only ten bucks you can catch a slew of them fight hard to be the champion. The best part about these things is you never know who you might catch, maybe a few rising stars. Also, it's kind of awesome to see a familiar sitcom trope in the flesh. HDB
Bummer Vacation With Wildhoney, Expert Alterations, 8:00 p.m., Friday, January 16, at Crown & Harp, 1919 Greenville Ave., 214-828-1914 or thecrownandharp.com, $8 Bummer Vacation is one of Ft Worth's most promising rock acts. The band released their stellar debut album, Creative Differences, last year. The album is an amalgam of the members' respective tastes. There's flickers and splashes of 90s alternative rock, shoe-gaze, and post punk throughout the album. 2015 looks to be a busy year for the band as they're gearing up for a follow up and tour. For the mean time catch them at Crown and Harp with Wildhoney and Expert Alterations HDB.
Thin Line Festival Pre Sale Concert With The Boombachs, Stu Brootal, Emeka Ibe, and La Bell, 9:00 p.m., January 16, at Hailey's Club, 122 West Mulberry Street, Denton, TX, 940-366-5509, www.haileysclub.com, $10 What was once a little documentary fest has now become one of the hottest tickets in Denton. Last year the film festival added music to its lineup and last year was impressive. What's a way to get folks even more hype for the second year of the re-imagining of the festival? Well do a presale of course. The bill for the presale event is pretty stacked itself: The Boombachs headline, with Stu Brootal, Emeka Ibe, and La Bell rolling out the red carpet. It's a soul and rap centric night, in Denton. You might not wanna miss it. HDB
Gladys Knight 8 p.m., Saturday, January 17, at WinStar World Casino, 777 Casino Ave., Thackerville, Oklahoma, 1-800-622-6317 or winstarworldcasino.com, $35-$65 In the beginning of her career, Gladys Knight was one of the driving forces behind the success of R&B and soul in the United States. Fast forward over 50 years and she's still one of the most talented vocalists and performers alive. There is no disputing that the 70-year old Knight doesn't have the same moves that she once did, but the pipes have only gotten richer with age. Knight's stage show focuses more on gospel music than disco these days, but that will suit the crowd at the Winstar just fine. As long as you don't go in expecting Knight to drop a new hip-hop track or otherwise reinvent her own wheel, you'll surely enjoy listening to the Empress of Soul's rich, timeless voice on classic tracks like "Midnight Train From Georgia" and "I Don't Want To Know." Amy McCarthy
Have A Heart Benefit With Beach Fossils, The Appleseed Cast, Leon Bridges, Son of Stan and more, 1:30 p.m., Saturday, January 17, at Trees, 2709 Elm St., 214-741-1122 or treesdallas.com, $25-$30 IT'S MINI-FEST SEASON! You know, the season where we get random mini-fests from promoter's who are trying to test if they have the ability to do real fests later in the year when the SXSW spillover hits, and every band on the planet is trying to grab a Dallas date on their way into and out of Austin. Who wins? You do, Mister or Missus Music Fan. You get to catch lots of music and give money to a good cause at the same time, as this particular mini-fest is intended to be a benefit show. Plus look at the list of bands; those are good bands, you need to see those bands. Indian Jewelry is one of the best bands in Texas, if not the country, and seeing them play "Lesser Snake" live is almost life changing. So go to Trees, give them your money, watch music, and try to forget about the mid-January freeze for a few hours. Jaime-Paul Falcon
Artopia 2015 With Ishi, French 75, George Quartz, DJ Sober, 8:00 p.m., Saturday, January 17, at Centennial Hall at Fair Park, 1001 Washington St., $35-$80 The no-name publication that you would never be caught dead reading, the Dallas Observer, puts on this event called Artopia annually. This year is the fifth year the crux of the event is to shed an eye on the visual arts in the city of Dallas and procuring dead presidents for winners of our Mastermind Awards. However, there's gonna be some music as well, form Ishi, French 75, George Quartz, and DJ Sober. This line up is better than most shows that are just for music. Keep your eye on it. HDB
Salim Nourallah 10 p.m. Sunday, January 18, at Sundown at Granada Theater, 3520 Greenville Ave., 214-823-8305 or granadatheater.com, Free Salim Nourallah has been in the North Texas music scene for two-and-a-half decades. In 1988, he and his brother Faris moved to Denton from El Paso. While in Denton, they formed a band called Moon Festival that performed in the area in the 1990s and released an eponymous album with called, aptly enough, The Nourallah Brothers. Since then, Salim went solo as a singer-songwriter, even having the distinct honor of having a song on HBO drama The Wire. Sheeeeiiiiittt. That's awesome. HDB
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