Tim Kerr's "Monk"

​Sunday afternoon at the Webb Gallery promises to be quite the feat of synergy, which seems to be a keyword on the blog this week. The Waxahachie gallery and Good Records are combining forces to bring you Groove, a fusion of Texas music and art. The art part comes via Jad Fair and David Fair of Half Japanese, Centro-matic's Will Johnson, Tim Kerr (of just about every band in Austin, but most notably the Big Boys) and Dan Phillips of Slowride and True Widow. I asked co-owner Julie Webb a bit about the inspiration.

"This day and age in music, running a record store is a challenge, but so is running a gallery," she says. "One day while in Good Records, Chris [Penn, co-owner and manager] mentioned we should do something together and that is how it grew. We started with a long list of artists whose music and artwork we liked and whittled it down to our select few."

In addition to the art, Jad Fair, Tim Kerr, Will Johnson and Dan Phillips will play solo, as a preview of the special five-track album available that night.

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Whiskey Folk Rambers as cartoons.

​This morning our inbox had a note about yet another North Texas act given the Daytrotter treatment. Fort Worth's Whiskey Folk Ramblers recorded a four-song-session for the website, including tracks "Pies of Old Kylene" and "Leavin' Here." More >>

Ryan Bingham

​If you know the name Ryan Bingham, it might be because he was partially responsible for "The Weary Kind," from the soundtrack to 2009's Crazy Heart, which won him an Golden Globe in 2010 and released many tears from eye jail. Bingham and his band the Dead Horses have that perfect mix of country, rock and roots that comes from living the life that puts callouses on your hands, and the evidence lies on 2010's stellar Junky Star.

Bingham joins Jonathan Tyler & the Northern Lights on Saturday, March 17, for the Dallas Observer's St. Patrick's Day concert, which will be held in Energy Square on the corner of Greenville and University.

The big new this year: The Observer's partnered with Live Nation and House of Blues to bring you this annual shebang and, of course, the concert's preceded by a parade down Greenville Ave., complete with floats, costumes and, if you wish really hard, possibly a leprechaun or two. Oh, and lots of beer.

Tickets go on sale Friday, February 10, at 10 a.m. Stay tuned for a few more announcements!

​The new Doc's Records & Vintage in Fort Worth has been open for a couple months now, but they've no doubt been letting all that vinyl smell settle in.

Good news for record nerds and fans of that smell: They've finally set a date for their grand opening. On February 25, Doc's breaks a bottle of champagne on its bow with performances from Drift Era, New Fumes, Slumberbuzz, Mind Spiders, Peopleodian, RTB2 and Spooky Folk. Mind Spiders release their new album, Meltdown, that same week, so it should be a pretty bonkers show.

This spells great things for the upcoming Record Store Day on April 21, but then, you know every day should be record store day, right?

Maps & Atlases

​With the excellent addition of SoCal punk supergroup OFF! to the Bro Fest 2012 roster last week comes four more acts, these being of the hazy pop variety: Maps & Atlases, Gauntlet Hair, Hospitality and Netherfriends.

The subtract part: The Entrance Band and Cerebral Ballzy have canceled their SXSW plans and, in turn, their Bro Fest appearances. But there are sure to be some "special guest" announcements coming up, right? It'll all average out.

Get tickets here.

​On Wednesday, Pleasant Grove singer-guitarist Bret Egner was involved in a bicycle accident near Red River in Austin, when he swerved to avoid two jaywalking pedestrians and hit the pavement. Sadly, the pedestrians he swerved to avoid didn't offer help.

Egner went into surgery today to repair a shattered collarbone, but without insurance he and his wife need some help with bills. You can chip in here to give a little support.

With all his friends in the two cities, that shouldn't be a problem.

Mike Brooks

​The saga continues: From the Internet ether comes the (partial) fruits of that Erykah Badu/Flaming Lips collaboration we talked about a few weeks ago.

"Now I Understand" sounds about right coming from the left/right brains of these two. Ambient, heavy-lidded, soulful and it features a sample of Siri's vocals. (The Apple voice-recognition bot, not Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes' "child," though I'd probably listen to Erykah duet with either of them.) It's a straight-up 2001: A Space Odyssey jam.

The track will be available on a compilation Wayne Coyne's putting out for Record Store Day. Check it out, droids.

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The year was 1983 when Rio Room, located in Highland Park, opened its doors for the first time. The crowds of seemingly wealthy hipsters (yes, I believe they had those back then) swelled on nights when Dallas cast members and other big stars commonly graced the club.More >>

Last week, Obama sang the opening line of Al Green's "Let's Stay Together," so of course it's been everywhere online, but last night, Old School 94.5 told me what I really wanted to know: How I could get my own ringtone rendition of it. I think Obama needs to sing parts of old soul songs more often. What could have made the State of the Union address even better? Probably a Soul Train dance line.

Ok, carry on.

​So I fell down one of those Internet rabbit holes a few nights ago -- you know, when YouTube proves itself to be a Rube Goldberg machine -- and ended up at this clip, which I very clearly remember watching on 120 Minutes as a 13-year-old, and knowing then that it would be a formative experience. I wanted to be an adult already so I could be in a band with Kim and Courtney.

Nowadays, being 13 and in a band is a reality, which reminded me that Girls Rock! screens tomorrow at LaGrange, as a benefit for Girls Rock Dallas. They held a boot camp over the weekend for their upcoming Kickstarter program, says Executive Director Rachel Michaud: "We found five girls that had some music experience, brought them in and helped them write a song and we recorded whole process.They picked a band name, made logos, and then wrote a song. At the end of the day, their parents got to see all their hard work with a final performance of their song."

Writing a song in one day -- not to mention coming up with your personal brand -- is not easy, but such is the magic of the camp, which runs July 23-27. Interested parties should definitely gun it to LaGrange tomorrow. $10 suggested donation, plus a silent auction.