So if you read Pete’s post on Friday, you know it was going to be a pretty interesting weekend. Was it? Well, dude, if you can remember it, you weren’t really there.
Sure, Houston was putting on a hell of a show but it’s safe to say Dallas gave Ike a run for its money.
Over at Lola’s (where I’m sure somebody was drinking Cherry Cola), Dr. Dog took the stage and by the looks of the video, the results were good. They’ve been compared to The Beatles, and The Band, and they sound like both. But don’t they look like they’re having fun?
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Umphrey’s Mcgee was playing up a storm. Bathed in green light that makes the eyes all squinty--though that could just be the air (seems awfully smoky in the crowd)--the band has this kind of aliens-from-another-planet effect that makes their music downright otherworldly. Get it? Aliens….green light… yeah, I’ve got a joke about a penguin that it’s probably best I don’t share. Watch them “Jimmy Stewart” (improvise onstage) like the modern day progressive rock, jam band that they are.
When I saw that Deadmau5 was spinning at the Lizard Lounge, I thought mouse as in the rodent kind. I wanted to squeal and go “Ewwww! A mouse!” (My parents had a rodent problem once and I’ll never overcome the absolute horror of putting out my hand for the stairwell and finding it was furry.) But it turns out that Deadmau5 does that trance/electro thing that all those young whippersnappers have been talking about. So people brought their shiny clothes, took their anti-seizure meds and--oh!--there’s this part where Deadmau5 (aka Joel Zimmerman) bounces up and down, and so does everybody else!
In another vein, Day26 was onstage for the Hip Hop for HIV event in Dallas this weekend. Nothing beats a little hip hop for a good cause.
Back at the Granada, Justin Gordon was busy being soulful and playing songs that sound like stuff I’ve played in living rooms and heard in coffee shops, except, you know, they sound a little better.
Mogwai was at the Granada Theater on Saturday night and somebody was thoughtful enough to make a “best of” video--just the highlights, thanks. The video starts and stops a lot from the time where the crowd is still talking over the band to the point where the crowd must be having a group naptime because the video makes me sleepy just watching it.
And, now, for the coup de grace, the Avett Brothers get down with their country punk selves. It’s just an added bonus that the guitarist looks a whole lot like Jason Lee in his Almost Famous Stillwater period.
…and that was your weekend. --Dianna Wray
