First, a reminder of the shows we've already mentioned. Tonight, the Gonzalez brothers will improv with friends at Kettle Art, El Ten Eleven post-rock out at The Cavern, Death Cab For Cutie and some other boring bands play at a boring venue, Nicholas Altobelli releases a CD at Buon Giorno in Grapevine and Eastwood does the same at The Barley House. Tomorrow, Buckcherry, Hinder and Drowning Pool will get flashed by teenage girls at Nokia and Ugly Mus-Tard come out of retirement at The Curtain Club. Sunday, blues god Buddy Guy performs at blues blasphemy House of Blues. And The Theater Fire play with Peter and the Wolf tomorrow at The Chat Room Pub in Fort Worth and Sunday at Muscle Beach in Denton. But there's so much more...
The Theater Fire, Dove Hunter, Hello Lover, RTB2
Friday, December 5 at The Prophet Bar
The Chat Room Pub story mentions that The Theater Fire performs without Peter and the Wolf tonight, but doesn't list the three other excellent acts on the bill. Any one of them would deserve a Good Friday shout-out on its own, but together they make up a top-notch bill from beginning to end. I caught Hello Lover for the first time at The Quinn a few months back and was really impressed with their energetic, sleazy hard rock. Unfortunately, the recordings on the band's MySpace page really don't capture what made it so much fun.
Asylum Street Spankers, Guy Forsyth
Friday, December 5, The Granada Theater
Forsyth was a founding Spanker. In my May Q&A with him,
he said they're still all friends, so I'd bet he's gonna play with them
tonight. I was on Granada Theater's web site yesterday and the
Spankers' "Beer" came up on the player: Still can't get the "Beer,
beer, beer, beer, we love beer" chorus out of my head.
Stumptone, The Unbearables, Har Herrar
Friday, December 5, Lola's in Fort Worth
I just noticed that Spiritualized is in Stumptone's top friends list,
and it makes perfect sense. The band sounds like what Jason Pierce
might have come up with if he were a Texan who loved country and folk
instead of a gospel-loving limey. Har Herrar is Mount Righteous player
Justin Spike's folk-rock project.
Rock n' Roll Bake Sale with Rival Gang, Shiny Around The Edges, Kaboom, Isaac Hoskins, Handbrake and Gun Gun
Saturday, December 6, Dan's Silverleaf in Denton
Some great bands are playing and it benefits the Denton Community Food Center, which is good enough reason to go. But if you need more, Night and Day editor/food critic Merritt Martin raved about the pies provided by Shiny Around The Edges at the event last year. What will the Semans bake this year? Only one way to find out.
Austin Brown Sounds, Sparrowbox, Big Guns
Saturday, The Lounge on Elm Street
Austin Brown Sounds and Sparrowbox both create interesting psychedelic
rock, with Austin Brown being more rooted in blues while Sparrowbox (radio legend Gerard Dirkx' recently reunited project) is more rooted in parody and punk. I can't endorse Brown's white jive singing. He is not to be confused with Young Doc Gooden,
with whom he shares a government name. Opener Big Guns is a spaghetti
Western/surf/instrumental cover band, so no rush getting there.
Holy Moly, Whiskey Folk Ramblers, Blarney Street Hooligans
Saturday, The Aardvark, Fort Worth
Country punk drinking songs, trad-country drinking songs and Celt-punk
drinking songs. Should be a great night for everyone, especially the
bartenders.--Jesse Hughey
