Josh Florence

Homegrown Festival Gets Back to its Dallas Origins

The Power of Kolaches and Support for West Extends to New York City

One should never underestimate the power of kolaches. When the fertilizer plant in West exploded a couple of weeks ago, for many, the soft round pastry that put West on the map sprung quickly to mind as a way to raise money to help the blast's victims. Last weekend, when a few local restaurants and ... More >>

Help West this Sunday: Buy Kolaches and Hear Some Acoustic Solo Toadies (And Many More)

This Sunday local restaurants and musicians will team up to raise money to help West recover from last week's deadly fatal fertilizer plant explosion. Jonathan Tyler and the Northern Lights, The O's, Somebody's Darling and Goodnight will perform, and Toadies front man Vaden Todd Lewis will play a b ... More >>

Josh Florence Talks About Homegrown Festival, Super Moons, the Night City Tavern Was On Fire

Josh Florence has a DOMA nomination or two under his belt, and was part of the team that made Homegrown Festival such a great success again this year. Further, he's an owner of prominent music spots Dada (reopened two years this January) and City Tavern. Florence tends to be an enthusiastic force fo ... More >>

Joshua Jones Keeps It Live and Local on KHYI

Aside from being a spitting image of actor Dermot Mulroney, KHYI-95.3 FMGeneral Manager Joshua Jones is quite the rising celeb. On a local level, anyway. He's taken advantage of the fact that he manages a station owned by true supporters of good, old-fashioned local and live radio, and the Jones fam ... More >>

Homegrown Festival - Main Street Garden Park - 5/26/12

When I finally set foot in Main Street Garden Park on Saturday afternoon, I knew what Homegrown Fest organizer Josh Florence was talking about. The strip of downtown green is beautiful, well-designed and forces interaction, like any good, walkable park should. Looking up at the old Grand Hotel, wh ... More >>

Can Homegrown Festival Thrive On An All-Texas Lineup?

Preview: Homegrown Festival at Main Street Garden Park

Saturday, May 26, at Main Street Garden Park

Downtown Dallas Inc.'s Looking For Someone to Take Over Main Street Garden's Eat-N-Drinkery

​Had a feeling that when The Lily Pad Cafe shuttered about a month ago it wasn't going to return to its digs at Main Street Garden. The official reason for its closing: "cold weather." But when it's 80-something in February here, that seemed like a fairly specious reason. And, as it turns out, it' ... More >>

Carissa Hughes Went From Local Music Fan to Label Rep to Her Current Gig at the AAC.

Welcome to Local Music 'Mericans , where we meet some of the people behind the local music scene -- those who aren't necessarily members of local bands, but more the people who make the scene move.Carissa Hughes​At the moment, Carissa Hughes works for American Airlines ... More >>

An Oral History of the Dallas Music Scene

Some of Dallas' most successful musicians recount the rebirth of its most storied entertainment district: Deep Ellum.

Get To Know Your DOMAXXIII Nominees: Best Folk Act, Best Venue, Best Record Store

​Welcome to our 2011 Dallas Observer Music Awards breakdown, wherein we'll use the weeks leading up to the DOMA showcases on Saturday, October 15 (which is also when voting ends), to explain the nominees in each category Today, we look at the nominees in the Best Folk Act, Best Venue ... More >>

Get To Know Your DOMAXXIII Nominees: Best Experimental/Avant Garde Act, Best Talent Buyer, Best Local Music Advocate

​Welcome to our 2011 Dallas Observer Music Awards breakdown, wherein we'll use the weeks leading up to the DOMA showcases on Saturday, October 15 (which is also when voting ends), to explain the nominees in each category Today, we look at the nominees in the Best Experimental/Avant G ... More >>

Dada Opens Venue's Former Green Room Space As New Dive Bar Concept Called The Red Door

David WilsonThe Red Door at Dada​This past Sunday night in Deep Ellum, the folks behind Dada officially opened their side-room space, which had been previously used as the venue's green room and by the previous owners as "The Listening Room," as a new dive bar concept called The Red Door. The soft ... More >>

The Homegrown Fest Bore Some Nice Fruits

Homegrown Fest Organizer Josh Florence Talks This Year's Offerings and Plans For The Future.

Neff ConnerThe scene at last year's inaugural Homegrown Festival.​Ah, music festivals. You just know that summer is truly here when musicians begin crawling out of their usual habitat of dark clubs and windowless bars, and emerge into the sunlight to spend an afternoon playing live music in the gr ... More >>

No New Year's Eve Celebration For Club Dada. Says Owner: "We Just Didn't Make It."

Club Dada co-owner Josh Florence​So much for that planned New Year's Eve grand re-opening at Club Dada. The anticipated new Year's Eve party scheduled to take place at the newly renovated historic Deep Ellum venue featuring Telegraph Canyon, Air Review and Smile Smile has been officially moved to ... More >>

Club Dada Announces First String of Shows At Renovated Space Set to Open on New Year's Eve

The current state of things at Club Dada. Will it open on time? Its owners say so...​We've been following Club Dada's progress fairly closely ever since City Tavern owner Josh Florence and some investors announced plans to buy and renovate the iconic Deep Ellum venue. Florence, you may recall, w ... More >>

Looking For A Way To Get Rid Of Those Old, Crappy Local CDs? Give 'Em to Club Dada.

​If you look around your place long and hard enough, chances are, considering that you do in fact read this blog, you've got a whole bunch of local albums somewhere. And, in this digital age of mp3s (or, worse, download cards!), you've probably also toyed with the idea of simply tossing the discs ... More >>

Giveaway: A Free Poster and A Pair of Tickets for Tonight's Kurt Vile Show at City Tavern

​In this week's dead tree edition of DC9, Doug Davis wrote a little preview for tonight's pretty phenomenal bill at City Tavern, featuring Kurt Vile & The Violators, Purling Hiss and Dallas' own True Widow.It should be a great show, for sure, given the recent successes Vile has had. Writes Dav ... More >>

Club Dada Gets Necessary Permits, Eyes December For Opening Date

Club Dada co-owner Josh Florence​After two weeks of construction delays blamed on "red tape" from city officials, Club Dada co-owner Josh Florence passes along word today that the club finally has all of the permits it needs to move ahead with construction. "We got 'em," Florence says with a serio ... More >>

Club Dada Faces Delays From City's "Red Tape," Pushes Start Date Back To Undetermined Time

Hal SamplesJosh Florence​Some two months after the initial announcement that City Tavern owner Josh Florence and a crew of investors had signed a lease on Club Dada and hoped to have the venue open near Halloween, the venue's opening has been delayed due to what Florence calls "red tape" and misin ... More >>

Club Dada Re-Joins A Suddenly Crowded Deep Ellum

Coming Attraction

Last Night At La Grange, Imagining A Better Block in Deep Ellum

Danny HurleyA Deep Ellum Better Block may or may not include a lane for dogs to lay down in the street. But will there be fist-pumps?Tucked into Robert's preview of Oak Cliff's Better Block sequel was Jason Roberts's passing mention of a Deep Ellum spin-off slated for September 18 -- and while we kn ... More >>

Over at Club Dada, The Start of The Overhaul Is Already Underway...

Josh Florence​As new Club Dada owner Josh Florence told us last week, it wouldn't be long before crews entered the facilities at the Elm Street venue to start work on the many renovations planned to take place in the next few months. And, indeed, as the above photo passed along to DC9 HQ by Floren ... More >>

Club Dada Returns: City Tavern Owner Signs Lease, Hopes To Re-Open Venue By End of 2010

​Almost a year to the date after Club Dada unceremoniously shuttered its doors under its last ownership regime, a team of investors led by City Tavern owner Josh Florence has signed a new five-year lease on the historic venue. On Monday, workers will enter the building to begin work on the renovat ... More >>

Picture Show: Outtakes from the DOMAXXII Photoshoot

Dylan Hollingsworth and Andrew WilliamsMembers of Spooky Folk, Mount Righteous, galleryCat and The Beaten Sea revel in the greatness that is the state of local music.​ On Tuesday night, each and every nominated person on this year's Dallas Observer Awards Ballot was invited to attend an awards sea ... More >>

Picture Show: Homegrown Music & Arts Fest, Up Close and Personal

Kevin TodoraCareful, This Will Destroy You​Over on Unfair Park, Wilonsky--who is a better man that I, clearly--spent his Sunday morning recapping his thoughts on Saturday's Homegrown Music and Arts Festival at Main Street Garden Park. No need to fully re-hash the thing in this space, then? Probabl ... More >>

As Deep Ellum Rises From the Ashes, Venerable Club Dada Goes Dark