This Week In Dallas Music History: Street Beat Archives Yield Timeline On Deep Ellum's "Alleged Heyday"

Sure, this week's selection from the June 17-23 edition of the Observer is a bit of a calendar stretch that would have been better suited for last week, but, whatever, these archived issues don't tend to fall on the right weeks anyway. And, in light of Deep Ellum's recent rejuvenation,...

By Daniel Rodrigue

June 28, 2010

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Sure, this week's selection from the June 17-23 edition of the Observer is a bit of a calendar stretch that would have been better suited for last week, but, whatever, these archived issues don't tend to fall on the right weeks anyway. And, in light of Deep Ellum's recent rejuvenation, we thought it was worth pointing our readers to The preacher and the Prophet for some historical perspective.

As the intro to the six-page piece explains, the article provides a detailed timeline of Deep Ellum's "alleged heyday" from Russell Hobbs' opening of Theatre Gallery in the summer of 1984 to the burning of Hobbs' ~~Prophet Bar~~ The Prophet in the fall of 1988. But instead of getting mired in a "he said, he said" of club owners, booking agents and bands, Robert Wilonsky and Zac Crain pieced the timeline together by pouring through the Observer's archives and pulling out "every single" Street Beat column written by heyday music editor Clay McNear.

The timeline offers up loads of insight into Dallas music history, complete with appearances by everyone from Jeff Liles to Deep Ellum Records to Edie Brickell & New Bohemians to the Dallas Police Department's vice squad (see: Starck Club), as well as plenty of are-you-serious????? trivia notes. For instance: Did you know that the first Deep Ellum band on MTV was 4 Reasons Unknown? After the band's Basement Tapes appearance, 4RU was awarded a recording contract with Epic Records and a "full line of Casio equipment." Eat your heart out, Palomo.

The resulting piece makes for a fascinating account of that era in Deep Ellum's history in the words of those who were there.

Check the original scans after the jump. Or read it here.

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