Blogs

Busted the day after rent was due? Oh, we feel you. Luckily, Wednesday night we can get a fix of rock 'n' roll at Rubber Gloves with The Mishaps for a mere $5. If the five bucks feel steep, keep in mind you're also getting the punk rock stylings of The Exponentials, Be My Doppleganger, The Pumpers and The Uptown Bums. Plus, what else are you doing Wednesday night? Doors open at 9 p.m. -- Chelsea Ide

Fort Worth's PlayRadioPlay! released its national debut earlier this month. Dan Hunter, the one-man show of PRP, will be playing a couple hometown shows this week. We suggest checking PRP out at Good Records (1808 Greenville Ave.) this Sunday afternoon. Hunter will be signing copies of Texas after playing a full acoustic set in-store. The free show starts at 3:30 p.m. Those of you with money to spend (do I sound jealous?), can wait until later on Sunday night to see PRP at the Granada with Yellowcard. Those tickets cost $20. -- Chelsea Ide

The Subchronicles Crew, GOAT, All-In Clic, Bill$ Clinton
9:30 p.m., Friday, November 9. TomCats Deep Ellum, 2914 Commerce St.

Funny, Tomcats--one of the clubs denied a Special Use Permit by the City Planning Commission--is doing the neighborly thing and hosting a canned food drive tonight. You know, as in a charity event. Matter of fact, the entertainment for said event is provided by hip-hop artists, those very elements that frighten away all the fine, upstanding citizens of Deep Ellum. This is a standout lineup, highlighted by GOAT (Grades Of Absolute Truth), who’s fine flow and conscious, spoken-word type content will fly in the face of anyone who thinks rap is bad, mmm'kay? And, even though it’s a steal (just cost you a couple cans of Campbell’s, ya know), that’s not the only reason to go—besides a coolly racially-mixed crowd and the disparate artists who will take the stage, supporting a soon-to-be-closed venue is motivation enough. –- Jonanna Widner

Lu Mitchell, Emilie Aronson, Bill Nash, Julie McClain and Sam Swank
7 p.m., Friday, November 2. Uncle Calvin’s Coffeehouse (9555 North Central Expressway). $2 (25th Anniversary prices all month).

The musical version of Molly Ivins, Lu Mitchell looks like someone’s crazy-ass grandma, replete with a gray bowl haircut enormous, out of style red-rimmed eyeglasses that would better suit Mrs. Roper than a social critic. At first, when you hear the twang of her band Catch-23 and the old-school Americana roots-y twang in her voice, you assume her show will probably be just about as fun as watching granny’s organ recital at the local Baptist church. But Mitchell will surprise you—her songs are just as down-home, rootin’ tootin’ groovy as anything you’d hear at the All Good Café or Poor David’s, and her lyrics are less shtick-y than they are insightful. Take “Love on the Internet,” the story of a couple who meets online and falls in love, only to have the love crushed due to the mores of Dallas social structure, as outlined by the highway system: “She wrote/ ‘Why not come to my house for the evening/ We’ll send out for pizza, watch a video/ He was eager, til he found she lived in Plano/ and north of Loop 12 he would not go/ Oh, it’s a sad, sad tale of one city/ where status draws the line I hate to say/ He would not go north of Northwest Highway/ She would not go south of LBJ.” This, from Mitchell’s excellent album I’m Not Martha Stewart. -– Jonanna Widner

Cheapwads unite! Rent's due soon and Mavs tickets cost money, so it's time to skimp other places. What follows are suggestions for keeping your music expenses down and your endorphins up.

Wolff
6 p.m., Monday, October 29. Good Records, 1808 Greenville Ave. Free

Well, shit, since rock is taking a hiatus, we might as well enjoy what the less straightforward world of music has to offer. Enter Wolff, formerly of Drums & Tuba, now going his own way as just... a tuba. OK, not just tuba--there's also snippets of glitch and piles of brass interweaving to make a hypnotic mix of electronica and more traditional instrumentation. Don't expect big band or jazz, mind you, this is dirge-y, thoughtful stuff; as if Peter Murphy had been in his school marching band. For this in-store, Wolff will perform it all, by the way, solely using a tuba.

Mom, Florene, Mistress, Fizzy Dino Bop, Sticky Buns
9 p.m., Wednesday, October 31. Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studio, 411 E. Sycamore St., Denton. Free with costume, $5 without.

There are those who want to take weird drugs and dance all night on Halloween, and then there are those who want to listen to music that makes them feel like they've taken weird drugs. RGRS's Halloween Party will suit the latter. Headliner Mom is (currently) the most "buzzy" of this lineup, but the undercard is full of sleepers. Florene, for example, serves up a bubbling brew made of fermented computer-generated ambiance and shimmering synth-y non-songs. Fizzy Dino Pop, meantime, lurches way over to the other end of the electronica spectrum, all simplistic, hasty, overwrought beats, screeched vocals and bleeping video game hooks.

...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of the Dead
7 p.m., Friday, October 26. Rubber Gloves Rehearsal Studio, 411 E. Sycamore St., Denton. $12-$14.

OK, OK, 12 bucks ain't nothin' to sneeze at, but Trail of the Dead is a must-see for those who have not had the odd pleasure of catching them live. The Austin group is known for onstage shenanigans such as being general assholes and breaking shit, but they also churn out some of the most beautiful postmodern rock bombast known to man. -- Jonanna Widner

Boy/Girl
4 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 21. Good Records (1808 Greenville Ave.). Free.

L.A.'s aptly named duo Boy/Girl hate comparisons to the White Stripes, and it's understandable why: Aside from the gender breakdown of the band, the similarities are few. Sure, the girl (Lisa Cusack) plays drums while the boy (Eric Stiner) sings and plays guitar, but the two prefer to inject throat-ripping vocals and no-wave rhythms into their blues redux, thank you very much. The duo is all intensity, smashing drums and cacophonous guitars.

Kimya Dawson, Angelo Spencer, The Shortest Distance, Blind Texas Marlin
7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 18. 1919 Hemphill (1919 Hemphill, Fort Worth). $5.

Because we made you wait all the way until Thursday for a steal of the week, we figured we better double-up. So, here are the two best shows of the week for those who only order from the dollar menu.

Lions, Record Hop, Tah-Dahs
Double Wide (3510 Commerce St.). 9 p.m. Friday, Oct. 12. $8

OK, so eight bucks may not sound like a steal, but everyone who pays it gets a free copy of the Lions’ new CD, No Generation. Rrrrawk (that was s’posed to be a lion roar—sorry, couldn’t’ help myself). The title cut sounds a little like Jane’s Addiction, if those guys weren’t such poseurs. In other words, it’s totally fun, cool, unaffected riff-heavy rock, but not sludgy, and full of subtle hooks and an intelligence you don’t often find in this particular genre. It sucks that this band is from Austin, because I’d love for Dallas to be able to claim the members as native sons.

Bonus: Lions will be preceded by the excellent locals Record Hop and the Tah Dahs. So if you think about it, it’s only $2.66 per band, which, given the quality of the bill, is a definite steal.

Timbaland
The Palladium (1135 S. Lamar St.). 9 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 13. Free (if you RSVP at ScionEvents.com)

If you’re too much of a cheapskate to shell out any ducats for a show, it doesn’t come much better than this. Saturday, Timbaland, the man behind some of the most inventive production in hip-hop and pop of the last 10 years (sorry, Dre -- you’re up there too) will perform free. What, you say, there’s gotta be a catch! Yes, yes there is. You have to log on to the Scion promo Web site and RSVP, which also involves being subjected to a momentary Scion pitch. But, to quote one of Timbaland’s best collaborators, Missy Elliott, “if it’s worth it, let me work it.” It’s worth it, so work it ya’ll. (Plus, a couple of DC-9's finest will be at the show.) -- Jonanna Widner

Red Monroe, The Lifters, Oliver Future
Central Market, Fort Worth. Free

Get your broke ass down to Fort Worth on Thursday, Sept. 27, for a trio of nu-nue-nuevo-nouveau pop from this trio of bands. First off, Red Monroe shakes and shimmies with a style that culls from everything from new wave to the disco-era Stones to the choppy, danceable rock of the likes of Modest Mouse. The Lifters take a less frenetic approach; their radio-friendly sound is a blend of modern alt-country and weepy pop. Finally, Oliver Future, some of whom hail from right here in Big D, have found bit of success in L.A. with their glossy, well-written and trickily soulful tunes. Should be a good one, and you can also pick up some hummus on Aisle 5. Or, if you’re really broke, work the free sample circuit. –- Jonanna Widner