This is your official warning Dallas, It's going to be a rough Monday. This weekend is packed to the brim with great live music and there's nothing you can do about it. Honestly, you'll be lucky if you make it to brunch at all (gasp). Friday night will be especially taxing, as you have five great shows to decide between spanning just about every major genre. There's levels to this shit, and you're going to have to make some choices. Can you catch Booty Fade and Empress Of at Gorilla Vs. Bear and make it in time to see Air Review close down Club Dada? Blues fans, bless your hearts, how are you going to be at Trees and Billy Bob's at the same damn time? Do the best you can, and stay safe out there this weekend folks!
Nervous Curtains, Hormones Thursday, August 22, at The Crown and Harp The Crown and Harp's torrid concert schedule continues tonight with a show anchored by the excellent Nervous Curtains. The propulsive band is the latest to play a room that has hosted as wide and compelling a range of area bands this year as any in this town. Kiernan Maletsky
Cold War Kids Friday, August 23, at South Side Music Hall Though they still haven't managed to top the commercial success of their 2006 debut, Robbers & Cowards, the Long Beach based Cold War Kids have been consistently cranking out albums ever since. You're more than likely familiar with their biggest hit to date, the sultry and hip-twisting "Hang Me Out To Dry". They're on the road supporting their latest effort, Dear Miss Lonelyhearts, which dropped this last April and is based loosely on a Nathanael West novel. The indie rockers have taken a slightly different direction on this effort, drawing on 80s new wave influences for inspiration. Go for the old favorites, stay for the new stuff. Vanessa Quilantan
Gorilla Vs. Bear Festival Friday, August 23, at Granada Theater For the last eight years, Texas based music blog Gorilla Vs Bear has been a special place on the web for music fans of all kinds. As one of the last great MP3 blogs, founder Chris Cantalini has held his footing on the principle of posting good content, regardless of the genre. For the third year of the festival's run- GvB is bring out the big guns with Danny Brown, Blue Hawaii, HAERTS, Empress Of, and local club staple Booty Fade (who just dropped the official festival mix this week). Much like the blog itself, GvB Festival is becoming a big part of the Dallas music scene consciousness. VQ
Air Review | Pageantry Friday, August 23, at Club Dada School is almost back in session, and this one has a decidedly approach-of-fall feel. Denton's Pageantry released an excellent noisy folk EP earlier this summer (you can listen above) and Air Review is a meticulous Dallas band whose "America's Son" remains as striking and warm as it did when it came out a couple years ago. Joining them is a pair of Austin bands with similar pedigree. Kiernan Maletsky
Lance Lopez Friday, August 23, at Trees Although many traditionalists disagree with Lance Lopez's Stevie Ray Vaughan-esque guitar-slinging skills, the blues artist has the seal of approval of Texas legend Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top. "Texas has been known throughout the years to be the breeding ground for some of the baddest guitar players of all time," Gibbons says on Lopez's Facebook page. "Lance is yet another one to carry on that Texas tradition." Lopez carries on not only the tradition but also the skill of the blues legends to take the audience on a ride that crosses the barrier of time. So if you're looking for a night of soul-wrenching guitar playing from one of Texas' living legends, head over to Trees on Friday night and prepare to feel good ol'-fashioned Texas blues. Christian McPhate Whiskey Myers Friday, August 23, at Billy Bob's Texas, Fort Worth Hailing from Tyler, Whiskey Myers has garnered a fairly sizable audience by sticking to a basic but powerful country rock blueprint. Often compared to Lynyrd Skynyrd, Cody Cannon and the rest of this burly five-piece are unapologetic about their love of all things south of the Mason-Dixon Line. But it's exactly this unfaltering commitment to a genre and a lifestyle that makes Whiskey Myers required listening for fans of the Allman Brothers and 38 Special. Songs like "Bar, Guitar, and a Honky Tonk Crowd" and "American Outlaws" tell a great deal of Whiskey Myers' story. This is loud, simple music especially made for well-lubricated crowds. The band is about to release its third full-length effort right in the middle of a 40-stop tour of Texas. Catch them now, because these guys won't be playing bars for long. Darryl Smyers
Ghost of Blind Lemon Showcase Saturday, August 24, at Club Dada The ghost of Blind Lemon Jefferson continues to haunt Deep Ellum, but in this instance the specter has chosen the unusual medium of a blog, which hosts a showcase of local talent, rather than the usual chain-rattling or vowel-heavy noises. Home By Hovercraft headline a Dada bill that Blind Lemon would have been proud of. Gavin Cleaver
Bell Biv Devoe Saturday, August 24, at Verizon Theatre at Grand Prairie Bell Biv Devoe: The gold standard for one-hit wonder R&B. Their single "Poison" seemed to be the anthem for every '90s house party that featured high-top fades and large hooped earrings. Comprising three of the members of New Edition members not named Bobby Brown, Bel Biv Devoe is R&B's version of New Order, formed off the basis of the previous group's allure, but talented enough to cultivate its own fanatic fan base and master the genre New Jack Swing. Lee Escobedo
Icona Pop Saturday, August 24, at House of Blues No one does pop music better than the Swedes. Europe's third largest country seems to churn out pop stars like NBC churns out failed comedy pilots. The latest act to arrive is the duo Icona Pop, whose earworm hit has seen them take the pop landscape by storm. How, exactly? Well, start with heavy blog praise, then get a hit in the clubs. From there, it's video-game soundtracks, MTV reality theme songs and indie cred with an appearance on Girls. And then it's into suburbia, being covered on Glee and used on Dancing With The Stars. And though there might be some who say Icona Pop are nothing more than a one-hit wonder, we don't care -- we love it. Jaime-Paul Falcon
Bone Thugs-N-Harmony Sunday, August 25, at Trees Earlier this year, Ice Cube addressed the subject of aging in front of a middle-aged crowd at Verizon Theatre at Grand Prairie. "I'll never stop. Thirty years from now, I'll be in Vegas," he said. "Rapping that gangsta shit." And he really might be, and it will be a little silly and a little great. His music wasn't really meant to grow old, an attribute it shares with the catalog of Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, whose very name now sounds a bit like a relic. But here they are, doing the 20th anniversary tour featuring a tribute to Cube's old bandmate Eazy-E, who signed the Bones to Ruthless Records back in 1993. There's new BTNH music out there. It's all right. You're not in it for that, though, and they'll play "Thuggish Ruggish Bone." And it will be a little silly and a little great. KM
