According to Play-N-Skillz, here in Dallas, we used the word "hoe" can be used to describe pretty much anything: a girl, a party, a song. Go figure, right?
"Mr. Hit Dat Hoe" is actually neither Treal Lee nor Prince Rick, but an impressive Dallas dancer named Kendrick "Mr. Hit Dat Hoe" Wilson. Wilson earned his nickname while busting out impressive moves on the dance floor--moves so impressive, his nickname became the inspiration for the whole song.
Seriously, kinda fascinating sociological stuff here--if, y'know, you look at it without the obvious connotations that come with something that seems to reference domestic abuse and the like. Anyway, the FADER's got the track up as a free download if you're interested in getting it. And, if you're not? Well, we'll post just the stream here after the jump, so you can hear the song first-hand...
A cursory Wikipedia search tells me that the City of Sherman has at least a little musical history--well more than I was a aware, at least--as the hometowns of Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame saxophone player Buddy Tate and country music icon Buck Owens.
But, the Owens-hosted Hee Haw and his 21 No. 1 Billboard country music hits aside, I think you'd be hard-pressed to find a much more successful week of music news in the city's history than the seven days town just experienced.
Last Thursday night, before apparently an at-capacity crowd at the Hollywood House of Blues, Sherman's own Kirby Kelly beat out 4,000 other guitarists in Guitar Center's "King of the Blues" competition, earning him said title and a slew of prizes, not the least of which include $25,000 in cash, a shopping spree and an upcoming feature in Guitar World magazine.
And, while that alone would be a nice little notch in Sherman's belt, there's this, too: On Monday, Sherman-based pop-punk/rock outfit Kid Libertysigned a deal with Trustkill Records, which will release the band's full-length debut in early 2010. A respected label amongst the teen-scenester set, Trustkill's also the current home for acts like Walls of Jericho and the Dallas-based scene favorite Memphis May Fire.
All in all, not a bad week for a town with a population of under 40,000.
And, uh, you'll have to pardon us for missing the announcement when it first came to pass. For pretty obvious reasons. More on that later, though. Like, say, after the jump, with the dates and bands billed for this two-night affair?
Because it's OK to kill three birds with one stone...
Check the above video, posted to Stereogum this morning, of St. Vincent performing her song "The Party" in Basel, Switzerland, with a little help from her European tourmate, Daniel Rossen of Grizzly Bear. It's an impressive take--for a few reasons, not the least of which is the dedication of the superfan who rushed to the front of the theater just to shoot the clip.
Ever notice how those angel sculptures on the exterior of Bass Hall sorta look like they're chiefing on enormous brass one-hitters? No? Well, here's betting that Cheech and Chong will make that observation when they perform at the Fort Worth performing arts hall Friday, April 30, 2010.
The dope duo follows up last year's "Light Up America" reunion tour with "Get It Legal!", a partnership with the Marijuana Policy Project that pokes fun at this country's absurd drug prohibition laws in light of Tommy Chong's 2003 federal imprisonment for selling bongs.
Tickets are $39.50 to $49.50 and go on sale Friday through LiveNation at--you guessed it--4:20 p.m. That on-sale time may prove to be a mistake, though, as most of Cheech & Chong's fan base will probably be busy.
And as long as we're on the topic of stoner shows, there are also a couple of Laser Spectaculars in the works at the Majestic Theatre. Saturday, December 26 will feature the music of Pink Floyd, while the following day's laser show pays homage to Michael Jackson. Tickets to each range from $29.50 to $37.50 plus those mellow-harshing Ticketmaster fees.
After the jump are a few other upcoming show announcements.
I know, I know. You've had it with daily St. Vincent and Neon Indian updates. All that has to happen now is for St. Vincent to cover "Ice Cream Paint Job" and have Alan Palomo remix it, at which point DC9 would be thrown into a Boolean loop from which it would never emerge.
But when I saw the two listed side-by-side on a list of New York Magazine's "The 40 Songs That Define The Sound" sidebar to this week's cover story about the Brooklyn music scene, I couldn't pass it up.
St. Vincent's "Actor Out Of Work" was listed at number 24, right before Neon Indian's "Deadbeat Summer"at number 23. Of the St. Vincent song, Lizzy Goodman writes, "Beguiling indie-pop romp that merges loose guitars, urgent drumming,
creepy choral noise, and fuzzy horns to make something weird, gorgeous,
and compulsively listenable." As for "Deadbeat Summer," she has this to say: "Woozy synth-pop gem that conjures the feeling of being young, bored, and restless but lazy."
You're probably expecting some griping about how they both started their music careers in North Texas and it's not fair for Brooklyn to claim them and blah blah blah. Not this time. One of the themes of the article is how the New York borough has become a destination for musicians, like Dirty Projectors' David Longstreth, who got their start elsewhere
Frye seems to have the whole "look pensive while sitting out in a field" thing down.
Local singer/songwriter Jessie Frye is in the studio recording a new EP with producer John Congleton at the helm.
Seems like an odd pairing at first--especially since Frye's debut EP, The Delve, was such a meticulously mellow affair. But Frye is adamant about expanding her musical horizons and claims the guy behind The Paper Chase is the right guy at the right time.
"We started recording in July and we are going back in the studio around Thanksgiving," says Frye. "Electric guitar is definitely more prominent in the new stuff and the songs have more attitude and are less safe."
Frye's instrumental prowess and top-notch vocalizing made The Delve one of the surprising local debuts of last year. But Frye still felt the need to break some new ground this time around.
Not familiar with Descender? No worries; the band, which has largely been a studio project to this point, has only one show, held earlier this year at Lola's Sixth in Fort Worth, to its name so far. But at least one of its members should be a familiar name to local music heads: Descender frontman Casey Hess formerly fronted Doosu and, more recently, worked with Toadies frontman Vaden Todd Lewis as the guitarist in Burden Brothers.
Anyway, a few tickets to the New Year's Eve show are still available here. Meanwhile, tickets to the newly added show were supposed to be available starting today, as well via FrontGateTickets.com, but I can't quite find them yet. I imagine they'll be available shortly...
The Jigga Man is going to put Dallas in an Empire State of Mind when he comes to the American Airlines Center February 23 with no less than Young Jeezy in tow, and tickets go on sale Saturday morning at 10 a.m.
Then to co-sign the street cred that Jay-Z provides the AAC, John Mayer will perform at the arena a couple weeks later on March 9, with opener Michael Franti and Spearhead; tickets for that show go on sale to the general public November 21, with pre-sales for American Express cardholders November 16-20. As if pre-sales weren't ridiculous enough, there will be pre-pre-sales with purchase of Mayer's Battle Studies at his web site.
The early word from those who've heard the upcoming Midlake record is that the band's found a new sound for The Courage of Others.
According to a note from Pitchfork this morning, the disc is less a '70s radio rock sound like the band's last effort, The Trials of Van Occupanther, and instead delves into more "lush, haunted folk music territory."
For some, this might be cause for some pause. But as Midlake's Tim Smith tells Pitchfork in its accompanying Q&A, there's some reason to the new rhyme:
Pitchfork: Did you head into this new album with the intention of doing something different?
TS:
It just evolved that way. I don't just change for the sake of changing;
I'm really never satisfied with where we're at. I'm satisfied with this
album, but I already know that the next time we're going to do better.
So it's not a matter of needing to change to find a different sound so
that people will think we're evolving as a band. I don't care about
that. I just wasn't happy anymore. As much as I love "Roscoe", I just
didn't want a whole other album of "Roscoe". It just happened because
of what we were listening to at the time; your tastes just change.
Sorry about the weak blogging day, but illness, vacations and deadline day for the print version of Dallas' Only Alt-Weekly has slowed us down a bit today. Hopefully things will be back to normal tomorrow.
But we're not too busy to pass this along: The Strange Boys PR folks sent word yesterday that the band has already recorded the follow-up to The Strange Boys And Girls Club, titled Be Brave and set for a 2010 release; a blog entry on the Boys' MySpace page from Monday specifies February.
The album will be preceded with a 7-inch single of the title track January 25 in the U.K. and January 26 in the U.S. Like their debut full-length, this one will come out stateside on In The Red. But thanks in part to strong U.K. demand for import copies of ...And Girls Club, the Austin band with Dallas roots signed with Rough Trade Records for outside-the-U.S. sales.
Fresh off their performance at Fun Fun Fun, the band heads out to the West Coast next week for eight shows in 10 days, including three with Julian Casablancas.
But I also get the importance of making a good first impression. And, c'mon, explain this to me: How does a station--one which names itself KXT as a play on our state's abbreviation and one which will go on to play tons of local music over the course of its opening day playlist--start its entire history off by launching with Carlos Santana's "She's Not There"? Really: Explain that to me. Please.
Wilonsky and I spent a good 20 minutes this morning trying to figure that one out--and couldn't for the life of us. We'd both awakened early to catch the station's launch, and we both came up with literally hundreds of other, more suitable options for the station's open.
But maybe I'm harping too much here on the station's first track alone. I'll give you that. Fine. Because, granted, there were some pretty cool moments scattered throughout the day.
Caught up with Rhett Miller this morning over the phone--and overseas too, actually, as Miller's currently in the UK, out on tour as the opening act for Steve Earle. The bulk of the conversation focused largely on Miller's upcoming gig at the Grnada Theater on Saturday, November 14, as part of the annual CF Concert Series benefit show for Cystic Fibrosis research--an event we'll be giving away free passes to, starting on Monday. As for most of the conversation, well, let's save all that for next week's column space in the dead tree version of DC9.
For now, though, two nuggets worth sharing immediately: First, Miller confirmed that, when the Old 97'stake up the band's late-December, four-night residency at Sons of Hermann Hall, it will be crafting unique set lists for each night, hitting all spots on its catalog, with as few repeats as possible from night to night. (When the band performed its residency in Hoboken, New Jersey, earlier this year, the only song it repeated each night was "Timebomb." Miller expects a similar scenario playing out at these upcoming shows.)
"Oh yeah, it's been a long time coming," said co-owner Glenn Jackson earlier today, taking a break from cleaning up and doing some touch-up painting. Two months, to be exact, since the venue's license expired.
The club is already committed to shows for the next few weeks, including next Saturday's show with Wu affiliate Killah Priest, but Jackson hopes to throw a couple of free shows--possibly including recent Rob Viktum collaborator and tourmate Mr. Dibbs--sometime soon to help build awareness that the club is back in full force.
I guess I didn't bring my 'A' game to this week's column in the print edition this week. Not the writing so much--that's still fantastic, of course. But I did make two factual errors that need correcting.
For one, KXT-91.7 FM will not launch at 6 a.m. this coming Monday morning. Rather, it's launch is an hour after that, at 7 a.m.
And, well, as for the second error: Apologies to WeeklyTapeDeck blogger Nathan Smith, who I referred to as Nathan Williams in the original printed version of the column. Nathan Williams, rather, is the frontman for Wavves and has nothing to do with WeeklyTapeDeck, except for the fact that I'm pretty sure Smith is a fan of Williams' work. Either way, a stupid mistake.
Both errors have been fixed on the online version. But, regardless: My bad, guys.
Because we can all use a palate cleanser now and then--and, also, because there's never a wrong time to listen to RTB2--check out the clip above, featuring Ryan Thomas Becker and Grady Sandlin performing their song "Whistle" in the still-under-reconstruction Kessler Theater in Oak Cliff.
And, since we're on that subject, yep, seem about time for a check-in with our old Echoes and Reverberations scribe, Jeff Liles, who'll be serving as the artistic director for the space.
"It's coming along," Liles says. "It's just kind of hard to know exactly when it'll be open for sure. We're still shooting for the week between Christmas and New Year's, but we're not a hundred percent on that yet."
Whether the venue will be open by 2010 or not, this much is sure: On December 27, the venue will be hosting a holiday party performance from Dallas native Emily Elbert, who'll be back in town on school vacation from the Berklee College of Music at the time. That event, Liles says, is happening for sure--whether it's as part of the room's grand opening week or just a one-off event used to showcased the progress made in the completely revamped room is still up in the air.
If the room opens in 2010 or not, though, it's clear, that, in some ways, the venue's remodel won't be complete until mid-February. Explains Liles: That's when the venue will be adorned with its new marquis marquee--one modeled specifically after the venue's old one, which hung from the building during its mid-'40s heyday.