Yells at Eels at the West End DART station

As I strolled down Pacific around lunch time today, I found myself in a strange state of aural disorientation. See, I was waiting for trio Yells At Eels to show up at the West End DART station, which is where I heard they might be starting their "guerrilla" concert series, as part of today's Living Plaza event.

I sat and took in the sounds I never get to hear, because I'm usually in an office, feverishly eating over my desk at that hour: The deep cough of the trains as they passed, the empty clank of construction across the street, the church bells signaling another hour has passed, the conversations that come and go with that hour ("Girl, you better start eating more vegetables or something. Your bones are gonna snap in half."). Thirty minutes or so passed, and every once in a while, those sounds merged and I thought I heard Yells At Eels.

About 15 minutes later, a train stopped in front of where I was sitting, and then, just like in some sappy rom-com, it moved forward, and suddenly there was Yells At Eels set up on the sidewalk across the street. I started to run towards them, and was nearly hit by a bus. They played for only five minutes or so, this being a guerrilla event and all. One cop looking on casually remarked, "Where's the beer?"

The Gonzalez trio then went on to flash mob the Winspear Opera House, and possibly another DART station, before ending up at City Hall. Check out some more photos of their lovely little afternoon of cultural mischief.

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Gorilla Vs. Bear Festival II
Saturday, July 28, at Granada Theater
Hard to believe we're almost a year removed from the first Gorilla Vs. Bear Festival, which took place in an ice-cold Granada Theater during the hottest part of last summer. You can expect this year to be another oasis, both physically and musically. Though, no bands have been announced, the success of last year hints that this event will be even bigger and better. Place your bets: Who will be the first act announced?

Glossary, Austin Lucas
Sunday, May 20, at The Foundry, Free
Perhaps one of the worst names in terms of Google searches, Murfreesboro, Tennessee's Glossary has put out seven full length records without the help anyone else other than the band members and their fans. One fan in particular, Centro-matic's Mark Hedman, reached out to make sure this show on Sunday isn't overlooked, which is as big a recommendation as you can get around here.

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Welcome to Local Music 'Mericans, where we get to know the people behind the scenes in Dallas/Fort Worth music.

Lima, Peru, native John Nicholson has helped out a lot of DFW musicians over the years. His early gigs included Sound Warehouse, Bill's Records and label promotion for Polygram, A&M and Virgin. There's The Phuss' Joshua Fleming, to whom he's been lending a hand since Fleming was 16 and playing in a ska band. More recently, there's Jonathan Tyler, whose new record he promoted for his employer of 10 years, Disney's Hollywood records. Beyond local music, Nicholson has also recently tackled label promotion for artists like Austin's Alpha Rev, The Jonas Brothers, and The Plain White T's.

I enjoyed your Facebook pics of all the promotion surrounding Jonathan Tyler, like checking in from the Jimmy Kimmel show.
The Kimmel appearance was truly amazing. Camping out at Bonnaroo was an experience I'll never forget. The Lynyrd Skynyrd and Kid Rock Tour was both incredible and grueling. Opening for AC/DC in El Paso was a blast. But the best is the first show I booked for JTNL. It was an opening slot for Heart at Nokia... sold-out show and the guys got a standing ovation and sold close to 200 CDs and signed autographs for an hour.

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Jason Pierce of Spiritualized

Spiritualized
Granada Theater
Tuesday, May 15

Life is particularly becoming on Jason Pierce. When Spiritualized took the stage shortly before 9 p.m. at the Granada Theater, Pierce and his two-member gospel "choir" were clothed in pure white, while the rest of the band wore black. Looking remarkably fit and without so much as a glance at the audience from behind his signature wrap-around shades, Pierce launched into a searing version of "Hey Jane," the "single" off new album Sweet Heart Sweet Light.

Like an extremely well-tuned machine, the band locked into signature songs from across the Spiritualized catalog for the next two hours with virtually no pause. Guitarist Tony "Doggen" Foster pulled riffs from what is apparently a bottomless well, layered on top of Pierce's own subtle rhythms.The singers swayed and lent their voices to the band's signature shoegaze gospel, Pierce locked onto his mates across the stage.

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Baish (left) with a member of Boris and his ear, in 2008.

Clubs are born to die, but in Denton, Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studios remains. This Saturday marks 15 years of too much smoke, barely functional restrooms and super cheap drink specials, with performances from Slobberbone, Chris Flemmons, Dove Hunter, Pinkish Black and more. We spoke to owner Josh Baish and asked him about some of his favorite moments.

Riverboat Gamblers and the Broken Gas Line
"Mike Wiebe from Riverboat Gamblers jumped and grabbed a gas line during a show, broke it, and the entire room filled with gas. We had to clear everyone out and cancel the show. Trinidad Leal from Dixie Witch put together that show so when they broke the line, Trinidad was mad. He is this big bear of a guy and after we canceled the show, they were in the parking lot and he was just yelling at Wiebe: 'I can't believe you did that! I'm so mad, but I really love you, man. But I'm so pissed! But I still l love you, OK?' That was a lot of fun."

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We praised Menkena when their debut album, With You I'll Travel, came out last year. But the lineup has changed since then, and now features prominent members of The Polyphonic Spree, The Demigs and The Felons. In advance of their free show at The Foundry on Saturday with Fort Worth's The Cush, we asked about their first musical obsessions, when they played together for the first time, and what to expect with the band's next album.

What was the first instrument you learned to play?
David Hickmott (guitar): Cello. I was in third grade. It was electric though.
Mark Pirro (bass): Drums. My dad was a drum teacher. I concocted this plan to get his drum set out of my grandmother's attic. I wanted to play drums in the grade school band and he said he'd give me drum lessons if I was serious about it. I said I was serious, so he brought me home a drum pad. That's all I ever got. I was like, "Damn Dad, can't you just get me the drum set?" But he was like, "No, you have to earn it." It was like Mr. Miyagi in The Karate Kid. He was making me play traditional and I just wanted to rock out.
Jimmy Menkena (vocals, guitar): When I was growing up, my dad was a bass player so I remember when I was five or six years old, I'd go see him play. I always wanted that sound of that distorted guitar, but at the time, I thought the bass did that. Just because it was big and heavy. So then I plugged my dad's bass in when I was nine and it didn't have the sounds that I thought it would. I said, "Hey Dad, what's that sound?" I can't remember which Beatles record it was. He's like, "Oh, that's a guitar." I was like, "Oh yeah, that's what I want to play." I used to clean my grandfather's store for ten dollars a week. He had a television/VCR repair business, so I worked there every weekend, saved up $300 and bought a Fender Japanese Strat. I didn't even touch an acoustic guitar until the InDK days. I had to sell all my guitar equipment because I was poor and living on the street. I had a beat-up acoustic guitar that one of my friends gave me. That was all I had to write with, so I kept using that and put all these pedals into the acoustic.
Guyton Sanders (drums): I started out on piano. About two years later, the drum genes started kicking in and I've been playing ever since I was eight years old.

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Everyone wears navy blue/To the photo shoot

Although I pride myself in finding patterns and themes in pop music, Maroon 5's recent nostalgic theme came at me like a curveball. I should have seen it before, with song titles such as "Moves Like Jagger" and singer Adam Levine's guest gig on "Stereo Hearts" with Gym Class Heroes. But Maroon 5's latest single, "Payphone," hit it home for me.

I get it now, Adam Levine has a thing for the past. Unfortunately, the theme clashes with his presence in the HD-shot NBC show The Voice. With kaleidoscopic stage lights, LCD screens and starship-captain seats, the nostalgic theme comes off as unnatural. We don't really hear Maroon 5's signature funk guitar chord in latest single "Payphone." The song sounds as if the band missed the recording session, and Levine, with producers Shellback and Benny Blanco, recorded it on their own.

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Jason Pierce, floating in space

"It's ironic that, in some ways, when I needed music the most, making this record really fucked it up for me."

So explains Jason Pierce, the mastermind behind English band Spiritualized and the newly released Sweet Heart Sweet Light, their sixth studio album. He's juggling phone interviews and rehearsals on the first date of an American tour, which will bring him to Dallas for the first time since 2008's Songs in A&E.

He's also commonly known as J. Spaceman, from his days in Spacemen 3, the band he formed in the late '80s in his hometown of Rugby. But Pierce is very much grounded these days. Twenty-odd years of "taking drugs to make music to take drugs to," the title of a 1990 Spacemen 3 release, took a nearly fatal toll on Pierce. Given a diagnosis of chronic liver failure in 2011, he elected to try an experimental drug treatment that could repair the damage relatively quickly. It would be brutal, debilitating chemotherapy, and an end to that lifestyle.

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Music at the Nasher

If you have a chance to visit Dallas' most beautiful garden on a rainy night, it's a rather sublime way to experience the lushness. For the opening of Brazilian artist Ernesto Neto's new exhibition, "Cuddle on the Tightrope," our friends at the Nasher threw a soiree with South American roots on Friday night. I try to savor any moment I am in the sculpture garden from dusk to nightfall, and the dewy lawn and glasses of wine added to an already magical setting.

As the first of many evening rainstorms stirred, Dallas' well-heeled art crowd did not let it dampen the mood. Under a canopy, a Brazilian band performed, the dance floor was still dry and everyone's initial run for cover quickly led to a Samba across the floor.

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h/t Gawker

Austin guitarist David DiDonato started playing at 7pm on Sunday night, at Red 7, and beat the Guinness record for longest guitar solo last night. The record previously stood at 24 hours and 18 minutes, but even after he broke it, DiDonato, formerly of punk band J Church, kept playing, clocking in at nearly 25 hours.

I can't even imagine what sort of freaky thoughts were going through his head about 12 hours in. Guinness allows for five-minute breaks but damn, you've got to go through the whole spectrum of emotions out there, alone, soloing. Sort of like this event over the weekend. Congrats, David. Hope you are hibernating somewhere peaceful.

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