Dallas News Blog

Robert Greeson

Hubertus Winnubst, left, and Bucks Burnett

​Good ol' Bucks Burnett, ex of 14 Records and The Volares and currently of Eight-Track Museuming, stopped by this week bearing gifts -- specifically, the double-disc debut Colorbl nd (and, yes, that is the correct spelling) by his latest rock-and-roll combo, Rachel Bazooka, which consists of Burnett and the most wonderfully monikerd Hubertus Winnubst. Also guesting on the sprawling record, which Bucks himself says would have made a great single-platter release, are the likes of Salim Nourallah and Paul Averitt, among other notables. He's only been working on it for four years -- hence, this made-in-2007 video for "Chrissie Hynde."

Bucks has given Pete and I the okee-doke to stream a few cuts both here and on DC9 at Night; I'll go first, since I've known Big Bucks since Pete was in diapers. (I'm so old.) And, besides, Bucks sent Unfair Park a most wonderful little essay -- which I've not edited, meaning "capitalized or punctuated" -- to accompany the release, which he also likes to say is "Dallas's version of The White Album." His off-the-cuff liner notes are after the jump, but do watch out for the psychedelics. Here, then, from Disc One, is "Carry Me Down." It's the debut of "The Dallas Sound," so Bucks says.

​One week after providing Unfair Park with the KNUS acid flashback ca. 1970, rock-and-roll alternative George Gimarc has dug into his own vaults -- how awful generous. And he submits for your listening pleasure this most appropriate kick-off for the Friday before All Hallows' Eve: a lengthy interview George conducted in July 1981 with none other than Roky Erickson, long before the Dallas-born, Austin-raised Father of Psychedelic Rock got his synaptic shit together.

Erickson was out promoting The Evil One, which boasts such titles as "I Walked With a Zombie," "Night of the Vampire" and "Bloody Hammer"; George, who was all of 24 at the time, wanted to know, like, what does it all mean? Asked George, "Are you interested in horror stuff now that's much weirder, much more frightening, than you thought 10 years ago you could ever be into?" Responds Roky, "Horror is like many shades of blood."  And then the going gets strange. Also included in the segment: "Don't Shake Me Lucifer," one of Roky's greatest. Boogity, boogity. So jump for the chitchat, already, but mind the bloody hammers.

​In this morning's item about the late, great Don Ivan Punchatz, Jeff Liles drops a comment to remind us of the TCU illustration prof's estimable contribution to the local music scene. Writes Jeff, he "also created that amazing cover illustration for Biting on Tin Foil, the first Three on a Hill vinyl EP on Deep Ellum Records," which Jeff actually released. (There are two copies for sale on the eBays.) Turns out, long-ago Three on a Hill frontman Peter Schmidt remembers how the cover came about like it was yesterday:

"I was friends with his son Greg, who used to come see Three on a Hill a lot," says Schmidt. "He's a nice guy himself. And one day, Greg said, 'Hey, my dad's an artist, why don't you get him to do the album cover?' At the very beginning, I didn't understand the scope of who he was. I just knew he was a real artist and my friend's dad, and I thought it would be neat. But as we went through the process, I very quickly got an idea about what a big deal he was."

Of course this one would be sold out.

​I've spent the better part of 20 years trying to find my box of old Hot Klub fliers, which I'd swipe off telephone poles on my bus drive down Maple Ave. to junior high in the early 1980s. Turns out, all I had to do was look here: Twilite Room Records and Punk Junk, which I found quite by accident -- via its eBay page, actually -- and where hundreds of those old local-show punk-rock fliers are selling for $9.99 and up. (Also available: old 'zines, tees, records and anything else proprietors Tanna and Charlie Gilder kept from the good ol' days.) Fairly sure this is the Go-Go's gig during which my cousin had his car towed from the Jack in the Box off Hondo. And I told him not to park there.

Courtesy SonBrimmer

​The jaunty pick-me-up "Dallas Rag" by the Dallas String Band appears on a number of compilations, among them the easy-to-find Texas Black Country Dance Music (1927-1935) and Before the Blues Vol. 2 and the hard-to-get American Pop: An Audio History - From Minstrel To Mojo: On Record, 1893-1946. By most accounts, it was recorded here in 1927, though I've seen mention of a '28 recording date as well. But as the great Eugene Chadbourne's Allmusic entry on the band suggests, a proper history of the great Coley Jones's band -- the link between Blind Lemon Jefferson and Aaron T-Bone Walker, more or less -- is hard to come by: "Enough lies are told about the group to resemble another great cover-up in Dallas history, the one with the grassy knoll and the book depository."

A long time ago I contemplated a book on the Dallas String Band, or at least a cover story for the paper version of Unfair Park. (I once wrote by way of summary: "Local band signs to major label; lead singer gets own solo deal and probably ends up more famous. Good God, but that sounds familiar.") After all, the band did record for Columbia and scored at least two significant hits, among them the incredibly influential "Dallas Rag," which mandolin players and guitar pickers still love to tackle. Matter o' fact, Bad Liver Mark Rubin performed the song last week in the KNON-FM studios. And now comes word there's a (downloadable!) jug band version from Devine's Jug Band on its due-next-month Terrible Operation Blues. Below you'll find another Dallas String Band classic: "Sugar Blues." An old-timey howdy-do on this lovely morning.

​It's been two months since Texas Monthly's president, Evan Smith, announced he was leaving the magazine to go into the virtual newspaper business as CEO of Texas Tribune. In the October issue of the Monthly, Smith offers his adios: "What I've Learned." And among those myriad lessons is this one: The magazine's audience is "middle-aged" (ooof!) and "elite" (pow!) and therefore not inclined to buy issues whose covers feature American Idol winners from Burleson, even if the story was written by Skip Hollandsworth:

Our readers also tended to be well -- educated and well-to-do, with tastes that were sophisticated but fell short of obnoxiously rarefied. That's not to say they didn't enjoy popular culture (Willie Nelson always sells), but at the end of the day I knew I was serving the elites rather than the masses.

Is it any wonder, then, that when we occasionally gave in to the temptation to pander to the masses, we almost always pulled up short? See Clarkson, Kelly, May 2005, and NASCAR, Popularity of, February 2007. Our profile of the former ("Since She's Been Gone") and our piece on the latter ("EEEEEEAAAOOOOWWW!!!") were terrific journalism, but as cover stories, they were just awful. We couldn't give copies away. They inflicted the kind of commercial wounds you spend the rest of the fiscal year recovering from.

​At last: KERA just sent word that its announced-in-June all-music radio station, now known as KKXT-FM (91.7), will officially makes its bow November 9 at 7 a.m. Also announced this morning were the nationally syndicated programs KXT, as it'll be known, will air: Acoustic Café, American Routes, Mountain Stage, Putumayo World Music Hour, Sound Opinions, The Thistle & Shamrock, UnderCurrents and World Café. But the local programming's still a mystery: The press release, available in full after the jump, offers only these scant, tantalizing details:

The KXT Morning, Afternoon and Evening shows will provide nine to eleven hours of weekday local programming. On Fridays, two hours of Texas Mix will be featured at midday. KXT Weekend will air on Saturdays and Sundays, and The Paul Slavens Show on Sunday evening will move from KERA 90.1 FM to KXT 91.7. Details about local hosts, program features and special live performances developed in celebration of the station's launch will be announced closer to the launch date.

To which KERA veep of radio operations, Jeff Ramirez, adds, "The national public radio music programs selected for KXT complement the station's own local productions and enhance the public service mission of KXT, which is to introduce, discuss and explore music that otherwise may not be heard on free radio."

Also after the jump, the programming grid so far.

KNUS99.com

​I was tracking down some information on the Federal Communications Commission's Web site regarding an unrelated matter, then figured while I was there I'd check in to see how the KVTT-to-KERA transfer was going. Because every few days, someone will ask me when KERA's going to launch its all-music station on 91.7 FM -- like I'd know.

Turns out, at the end of July, the FCC signed off on the swap: North Texas Public Broadcasting will indeed assume control of the frequency from Covenant Educational Media. According to the official document, processed on July 30, "The actual consummation of voluntary transactions shall be completed within 90 days from the date hereof." Which means the station will debut by when, exactly? A few minutes ago, I posed this question to Deborah Johnson, senior vice president of marketing at KERA.

"We're going through the process, and the process is the process," she tells Unfair Park. "Everything's going fine, as far as we know. They've got a schedule -- that is, the FCC has a schedule -- and it's the process." I told her she sounds like a David Mamet character. Then I asked her if the station had a launch date in mind.

Patrick Michels

Danny Balis, still my favorite ABA star

​While I'm sitting around waiting for a few call-backs, a suggestion: Head over to DC9 for a moment, where Pete's got some songs worth downloading to your Walkman or whatever it is you kids use to listen to music these days. I highly recommend Roy Hargrove's swingin' "Ms. Garvey, Ms. Garvey" off the Booker T. grad's upcoming big-band Emergence; seems like only yesterday Wynton Marsalis was in town to school the Waco native on the art of blowing one's horn.

Also worth the trip to our music blog is Trey Johnson's "Unfavorable Way" off the former Sorta frontman's new Mount Pelée; absolutely stunning. And speaking of Sorta and stunning, Pete's also posted the first single to Danny Balis's solo debut Too Much Living, in stores September 1 but available for pre-ordering now. It's called "Tethered," and the commenter on DC9 who references Don Williams, well, that sounds 'bout right. And speaking of Danny, yes, I'll be riding shotgun with him yet again on The Orphanage this Saturday, and we're gonna burn a few segments with a track-by-track run-through from Too Much Living -- my very NPR request, to which he's given the enthusiastic okee-doke. So do tune in for an extended sneak peek.

​Hadn't planned on going to Landmark Commission this morning, but the briefing session at least does look irresistible. First up is that much-worked-over ordinance that would allow the city to tear down historic structures with nothing more than a court order. We've been writing about this thing for a year, but as Sam noted a couple of weeks back, it's still a point of contention among preservationists (who thought this whole point was to deal with blighted structures in residential areas) and city officials (who, some worry, are aiming their wrecking balls at vacant buildings in, oh, let's say downtown).

And, speaking of, we always tend to come back to the Statler. But, boyoboyoboy, there's this to look forward to today as well: "Presentation of design concepts for AIA Dallas and DOWNTOWN DALLAS Dallas Grand Hotel (Statler Hilton) Temporary Facade Installation." Notes the AIA Dallas's Web site for the competition about which we wrote last month, "The winner and honorable mentions will be notified at the beginning of the week of August 3rd." Can. Not. Wait. (Side note: Yesterday, driving down Commerce Street, I noticed a few folks going in and out of the Statler. Why? Hard to say. By the time I swung around, they were gone. Ghosts, pretty sure.)

Bedhead's Kris Wheat and Matt Kadane, long ago but not far away

​Ah, and speaking of local nostalgia ... An old Friend of Unfair Park just sent me a link to Michael Pyeatt's YouTube page, to which he's been posting in recent days clips from the likes of Funland, Bedhead, UFOFU, Tripping Daisy, Tablet and Rumble performing at such late, great local venues as the Bronco Bowl and Club Clearview. I told Pete I'd sort through Pyeatt's pile -- he shot a majority of the video -- and post an old man's best-of over on DC9 tomorrow; till then, just because, a little "Bedside Table" after the jump. And Funland too (I believe from the '96 reopening of the Bronco Bowl). Sorry. Can't help it. That's the way God made me.

Patrick Michels

Patrick Michels is putting the finishing touches on what's sure to be a sprawling slide show from last night's Dallas Observer Music Awards at the Granada. (Hence, the reason for no DC9 postings today -- but, look, back in my day, we wrapped around 1 a.m., grabbed an early breakfast, shook off the bourbonitis and were back in the office at 9. Kids today, I swear.)

I'll update here when it's up (Update: It's up, with captions forthcoming), but till then this preview -- because, really, one of the many highlights of the evening involved Mike Modano and Willa Ford, damned good sports and awfully good people, presenting the Best Experimental/Avant-Garde Act award to Shiny Around the Edges. Made no sense at all. Kinda of like that moment backstage when Martellus Bennett told Cheaters host Joey Greco, "You're doin' what I wanna do one day."

Only a few of us left at the office -- most everyone else is already down at the Granada for tonight's Dallas Observer Music Awards, where doors open at 8 p.m. following the VIP shebang. Pete's got all the details here for those considering the last-minute rally. Me, all I got is a 19-year-old clip from the DOMAs at the Majestic Theater featuring George Gimarc, Liza Richardson and then-Best Act Overall Sara Hickman. Trust me, this isn't from 1989 -- I remember it like it was 17 years ago.

Club Dada's closed. Again. For at least two months. Says owner: "This is bullshit." But, hey, Trees is about to reopen ... with Faster Pussycat, which isn't even the original lineup. This is bullshit. At least Course of Empire's still got the beat.

Willie Hutch

In the paper version of Unfair Park this week, I make mention of my interview with Willie Hutch, the Carrollton-born great who, during our 1998 chat at his Cedar Hill recording studio, recounted how he came to write the Jackson 5's immortal "I'll Be There." The story about The Mack, who died in Duncanville in 2005 at the age of 60, can be found here. But here are some links to versions of "I'll Be There" worth a spin during the holiday weekend.

From 1986 comes this proudly sloppy cover by The Replacements, joined during a Boston gig by the great Barrence Whitfield -- you'll get drunk just listening to the thing. Far more respectful (and tuneful) is this version recorded last Sunday night at the BET Awards, during which Tyler's own Jamie Foxx joined Ne-Yo to close the show with their take on the 1970 hit single. But most surprising and moving of all is this hard-to-find find from 1979: the Jacksons themselves, recorded during a concert in Amsterdam. Revelatory, even at this late date.

And don't miss this bonus Jacksons-related, locally connected track, which Pete pointed to earlier this week: Erykah Badu and The Roots' version of "I Wanna Be Where You Are," a hit in 1972 ... and a song later covered by Willie Hutch. Now, the circle is complete.

The watch-listed Danny Hurley sends the sad news: Joe Christ -- filmmaker, musician, provocateur, parent and all-'round hell-raiser -- died on Father's Day. According to the Facebook memorial page to which the faithful have been posting fond memories and farewells, he passed away in his sleep -- heart attack, three days after he'd turned 52.

For those who don't recall Joe, or didn't live in Dallas when he did (throughout most of the 1980s), he was John Waters turned up to 11 -- don't watch this at work, seriously. Shannon Sutlief nailed it in the paper version of Unfair Park in 2005, when she wrote about one of his many frequent trips back to Dallas: "a sultan of sick humor." And speaking of Waters, this is Joe in 1999, talking about perhaps his most infamous moment in Dallas:

As I understand it, John Waters has seen my movies, and considers them "bad" bad taste, as opposed to his concept of "good" bad taste. But when my band pulled a big publicity stunt -- on the 20th anniversary of his assassination, we rode in a limo through the JFK memorial services in Dallas in costumes resembling JFK and company -- John Waters personally congratulated us over the phone on our immensely bad taste.

As for the music, well, "Acid is Groovy ... Kill the Pigs" remains an unheralded surfabilly classic. What you see above is Joe and his late, great band, the Healing Faith, on a Dallas cable access show called Hi-Res Diner hosted by Paul Quigg; it dates back to August 17, 1987, a million years ago.

Courtesy George Gimarc/94.5 Reunion

That's former KDGE jock Wendy Naylor at left, with the Sugarcubes and some oddly familiar young man backstage at the first Edgefest in 1992.

Back in April we brought word of the KDGE-FM 20th anniversary shindig that George Gimarc's been putting together at the Lakewood Theater without a cent from Clear Channel, which ain't got many pennies left. Well, George called this afternoon to remind us that, yes, the thing's still on and, according to his Web site, filling out with a few familiar faces, among them John Easdale of Dramarama, which headlined the first Edgefest at Starplex at Pearl Jam's request. (Says George, Eddie Vedder was worried folks would leave before the band played, as PJ had yet to perform in a venue that held more than 1,000.) Advance tickets are available through the site; George says buy 'em now, "as they're as cheap as they're gonna be" at this very moment.

Oh, and George says he has "loads of Tales from the Edge CDs" available for those who want 'em -- but they only go back as far as the Volume 5-6 two-fer, which features a whole disc's worth of historic DFW punk and new wave (Nervebreakers, The Doo, Telefones, Stick Men with Rayguns, N.C.M., etc.). And the Volume 9-10 double-disc set, featuing previously unreleased New Bos and Buck Pets, is worth owning too. You can get 'em at the reunion, where George expects all the original on-air staffers to show, even those long out of the radio business. "If you can remember them from The Edge, they will be there," he says. "It's kind of like conjuring a ghost."

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This morning I took a peek at the City Plan Commission's agenda for today in the hopes of getting better grasp on the current state of the University of North Texas Dallas Area Plan, at least as presented during the morning briefing by Peer Chacko in Long Range Planning. (It's a ForwardDallas! thing, if you'll recall. No?) But I found this significantly more interesting (to me, anyway) item on the agenda: Only one day after the Dallas City Council gave Clint Barlow the greenlight to replant Trees, the specific use permit process is beginning for yet another current Deep Ellum not-spot.

It was almost one year ago to the day that the Red Blood Club on Commerce Street shut down, claiming it was a victim of the controversial SUP policies and process put in place by the city council in December 2006. Which isn't stopping Roland Young from trying to open up a new joint in the same location that was also once home to Blue Cat Blues: Today, Young will make his case to the City Plan Commission for "a blues bar, lounge or tavern with live music Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays." The staff's recommending approval for a two-year permit, pending a further look at the plans -- which you can take a further look at right here, matter of fact. Check DC9 later today for results from today's meeting.

Last night, as the storm was turning out lights across town, Jeff Liles and Barry Kooda went down to the Kessler Theater in Oak Cliff. Jeff brought his video camera; Barry, his acoustic guitar and Loco Gringos' "Texas Ranger Man." Not quite sure who brought the thunder.

Yet again, Clint Barlow went down to City Hall all dressed up, only to find out that, well, it wasn't really necessary. That's because it took "all of three minutes" for the Dallas City Council to approve the specific use permit for Trees, which the City Plan Commission unanimously OK'd one month ago.

And just how long will we have to wait till the re-opening of the venerable Deep Ellum venue that died in Dallas bankruptcy court in December 2005? All goes according to schedule, Barlow says, the joint'll reopen on August 14.

"I'll know better in the next week or so," he tells Unfair Park. "I have some tentative bands lined up, some local stuff, for the opening, but a lot of bands have come out of the woodwork who've broken up who want to play the club, so it's pretty cool."

He says construction will begin immediately -- as in, this very moment, as scaffolding's being set into place to crews can begin tearing out the ceiling tomorrow. (He says a dumpster should be out front right .. about ... now.) But there's still significant remodeling to do, not to mention the installation of the sound system, all of which Barlow and his wife Whitney and one other partner are paying for all by their lonesomes.

"It's costly," he says. "We're putting everything we've got into it. We're going broke, or we're gonna do kick-ass, one of the two." He laughs. "It's always easy for everybody to talk about it, but till you try ..." He pauses, then laughs again. "And that's where are. We'll see how it goes."

If you want a sneak peek at what KERA's new frequency will sound like, Paul Slavens's podcast is a "microcosm." That, and World Cafe.

I just got off the phone with Deborah Johnson, the senior veep of marketing at KERA, who was more than happy to answer any and all questions concerning its just-announced, fall-debuting music-only radio station, 91.7 on your FM dial. And, yes, that's the very same frequency currently occupied by The Truth, a Christian talk station owned by Covenant Educational Media, Inc. But Johnson says the owners were looking to sell -- which is how, 18 months ago, KERA management began looking into acquiring the frequency.

"We did a lot of due diligence with the board to see how other public Triple-A radio stations were operated," she says. "We looked at the funding models in other urban markets and put together a business plan, and we decided it was an opportunity we couldn't pass by because it would probably never present itself again."

In the end, KERA purchased the frequency for $18 million, Johnson says.

"That comes from prudent operation of the station," she tells Unfair Park. "We're pretty frugal when it comes to managing our operating budget, so we had the money necessary to get it started on an operating basis. We're also working with three lenders who specialize in nonprofit lending, and we were able to negotiate financing terms even in this economy because our financial situation is strong."

As for what the station will sound like in the fall, look no further than Paul Slavens's biweekly "Track by Track" podcast. "That points to the direction of the station in the future," Johnson says, adding that the show is a "microcosm" of 91.7's future. But she also says such stations as Minnesota Public Radio's The Current, Philadelphia's WXPN and Seattle's KEXP ("Where Music Matters") served as role models during the exploratory process.

Just received a press release from KERA-FM concerning its latest acquisition: 91.7 on your FM dial. So many questions, which we'll get to shortly, but I wanted to offer the announcement in the meantime. The takeaway?

KERA has yet to select a name for the new station. The programming on 91.7 FM will be within the public radio "Triple A" (Adult Album Alternative) music format with diverse, adult-oriented playlists covering a broad spectrum of music such as folk, acoustic, world music, alternative and indie rock and country. Among the programs under consideration for the new station are World Café (distributed by NPR), Echoes (from Public Radio International), Undercurrents (from Native Voice One), American Routes (from American Public Media), plus music specials. NPR news headlines will be broadcast at the top of the hour. KERA's own local programs will include interviews, studio performances and arts-related news and commentary.

Such good news, as the station preps for its "fall 2009" debut. The full release follows.

A recent late-spring clean-up resulted in the discovery of a stash of Dallas-related 78s I'd collected back when I was music editor, which was some time between the switchover from cylinder recordings to reel-to-reel. Most are the scratchy leftovers of forgotten footnotes; one or two sound like sandpaper rubbing against the echo of a pedal steel. But among the pile, which also includes out-of-print 45s from long-ago busted-up Dallas bands from the '50s through the early '90s, I found this gem worth sharing on this flashback Friday: Bill Boyd and His Cowboy Ramblers' "Palace in Dallas," a mid-'40s B-side that survived just long enough for me to transfer it from shellac to MP3 today before it cracked in half when I laid it on a soft surface, awesome.

Boyd was a local -- born in Ladonia in Fannin County in 1910, but moved to Dallas in '29, where three years later, he debuted the first iteration of the Cowboy Ramblers on WRR before going on to record hundreds of titles for a handful of labels. Boyd, who died in Dallas in '77, remains a beloved figure among your more hardcore Western swing afficianados -- you know, those who'll spend hours arguing whether Milton Brown and the Musical Brownies were better than Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys. If "Palace in Dallas" does it for you, take heart: Archive.org has some 90 downloadable Cowboy Ramblers MP3s (scroll down) for your listening pleasure, and the Western Swing on 78 blog offered more than 100 tunes back in '07 that appear to be accessible to this day.

In coming weeks, I'll share these bits of local history here and over on DC9 at Night. Assuming, of course, they don't snap in half for no good reason before then.

Bonus MP3: Bill Boyd and His Cowboy Ramblers, "Palace in Dallas"

Since last we checked in on efforts to resurrect the Kessler Theater in Oak Cliff, my old friend Jeff Liles -- a "consultant" on the project -- has been hard at work parading folks in and out of the old joint for some stripped-down performances, a lovely bonus. I've given Pete one to post over on DC9, featuring Chris Savage of the Buck Pets performing a Mercurotones bonus track; writes Jeff, "I bet he hasn't played that song in twenty years." I'm going instead with Lara Lenhoff's "The Very Thought of You," only because, well, I've always loved that song, so there.

Lara Lenhoff at the Kessler Theatre

wee see - collection one from Rolyn Barthelman on Vimeo.

During Record Store Day last month, I took the 5-year-old who lives in my house to the Good Records all-day shindig, where one Julie Doyle slipped us a Polyphonic treat: a sneak peek at something called Wee See, about which Mrs. Tim DeLaughter didn't say much except, "Watch it." So we did, and I've spent the last month trying to figure out how to describe the thing. Um, dope? Uh, nope. Because, see, the primary audience for the DVD is kids -- hence, the "wee" in the title. In fact, the project -- done in collaboration with New York-based visual artist Rolyn Barthelman -- was intended for the wee-est of 'em all. But, says DeLaughter, "Adults are as engaged as any baby we've shown it to." You'll see why, probably at 4:20 today.

Says the Web site, "Part art installation, part pacifier, Wee See is a collection of black-and-white animations built from basic shapes to delight both child and parent." And as you can see in the clip above, and in the one following after the jump, it's something the growed-ups will most definitely dig -- especially fans of the Spree, as Tim scored the project with the requisite bleeps and relaxing bloops. At the moment, DVDs are available only at Good Records, though you can order both volumes from the site.

Hal Samples

We sent Hal Samples to the House of Blues this morning to shoot Erykah Badu and friends offering a lengthy discourse on blues history to students from St. Philip's School, Prestonwood Elementary and Holy Trinity Catholic School. More photos and some video are to come tomorrow, after we get it all edited down and polished up, but till then I wanted to share this lovely photo courtesy my pal Hal.

Clint Barlow got to Dallas City Hall way too early today -- 10:30 a.m., hours before he was set to plead his case to the City Plan Commission. Still, though it may have taken a while before Barlow spoke to the commissioners about his efforts to re-open Trees, the wait was worth it: The Plan Commission voted unanimously to recommend that the city grant him a special use permit for two years.

"All the commissioners had nice things to say," Barlow tells Unfair Park. "It was really cool. I was blown away by the support. You think there's some giant there: The City of Dallas. But every road block's been a green light. I thought we'd have to dig in." He laughs. "The process has been arduous, but they've all been like, 'What do you need help with?' This is so easy." And, again, he laughs.

Plan commissioner Neil Emmons tells Unfair Park "this has the potential to make Deep Ellum sing once more." The pun is intended. "It's important. This is what makes the city: It's not another Starbucks. It's something unique that defines the city, that attracts people to the city. It's what we need to support."

Right now, the Dallas City Council is scheduled to take a final vote on the SUP, which is necessary before Barlow can obtain a certificate of occupancy and begin construction, on June 10 or June 17. But he's feeling good: He says he's already met with Pauline Medrano and Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Dwaine Caraway, and "they have been nothing but nice and supportive."

Oh, and as for those wondering what kind of music Barlow's planning on booking into the new-and-improved Trees, that's simple, he says: "rock and all variations of it."

George Gimarc and Iggy Pop, back when some of us listened to local FM radio for the music

George Gimarc called yesterday -- and, look, if you would have told me when I was 13 that one day I'd grow up and be friends with the voice behind The Rock and Roll Alternative ... well, anyway. He told me about something he's been planning for months now: a 20th birthday party for KDGE-FM -- or, at the very least, The Edge he co-founded back on June 30, 1989. George then directed my attention to the Web site he had set up especially for the occasion -- where, you will notice, tickets are currently available (at the low, low early price of $9.45) for a concert-shindig-something-or-other scheduled for July 3 at the Lakewood Theater.

Now, don't ask too many questions at this point about who's playing; George isn't working with a lot of money (so far, this is being done without Clear Channel's okee-doke), and he's calling around to cash in as many favors as possible before setting in stone the guest list. (Though, if you're a member of an early '90s Dallas band who, say, once appeared on a Tales From the Edge compilation and are free July 3, do let George hear from ya.) Mr. Gimarc also expects to make all manner of goodies available to those of us nostalgists who'd like to own "old 94.5 bumper stickers, shirts and other stuff" dating back nearly 20 years that George says "was recently found in storage." (Mmmmm, musty.)

Early ticket-buyers may also receive a special treat -- a CD of George's making featuring sounds from The Edge's first hours on the air, depending on how all this shakes out. Till then, he has posted to the party page lengthy audio of Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook performing at J. Pepe's waaaay back when -- a delightful flashback at the end of a Friday. Also, dig the pics. He's adding to the photo album every day. Oh, look -- Josh Venable with The Edge. Cute.

Will Bryant

Big day tomorrow -- takin' the kid (cough, cough) to the Sci-Fi Expo in Richardson, then heading down to Good Records for the shoppe's ninth birthday bash, which so happens to coincide with the 2nd Annual Record Store Day, which DC9'ers already know plenty about. 'Cause, if nothing else, I want one of Will Bryant's specially made tees, which he'll be selling at the Good Records shindig -- from the looks of it, Mr. Fancy Pants made four all told, which will only be available at the Lower Greenville Ave. joint till he throws them on the online store, er, whenever. Oh. And I like music. Do you like music? I like music.

If you're nice tomorrow, maybe Joanna Cassidy will let you touch her snake tomorrow.

But back to that Sci-Fi Expo for a moment. Because, yes, I really do have to be there -- moderating a Q&A at 1 p.m. with one of The Very Special Guests on the guest list, Joanna Cassidy. And, sure, she's there for the Blade Runner connection (she was poor, poor Zhora), but hers is a varied and impressive body of work -- everything from Robert Benton's The Late Show to The Package with Gene Hackman to Under Fire with Nick Nolte to her 26-episode run on the cult-classic Buffalo Bill, for which she won a Golden Globe in 1984. (She was also Emmy-nominated for both that series and her guest stint on Six Feet Under three years ago.) Cassidy's also in the new Polish Brothers movie that stars Hilary Duff, Winona Ryder ... and Chevy Chase. But, seriously, I think it was the Smokey the Bear PSA that did it for me. I was, like, four.

For those who prefer more sci with their fi, well, Battlestar Galactica's Michael Hogan will also sign your pics for a price; so too Bill Mumy, who's no longer Lost in Space. And from 24, The West Wing and about 100 other TV shows since the 1970s, Glenn Morshower's a late addition to the roster -- the ultimate oh-that-guy. The kid'll just want a Clone Trooper action figure.

As we mentioned yesterday, Dallas-born blues guitar great Rocky Hill will be buried today in Hopkins County, with a funeral beginning at 1 p.m. followed by a graveside service. Soon as we noted his death on Friday at the age of 62, Friend of Unfair Park LakeWWWooder sent us this photo of Hill at the Woodrow Wilson High School homecoming dance in 1964 -- guy could clearly get his groove on. The picture's from the 1965 Crusader yearbook.

This morning, I spoke with a familiar voice -- KTCK-AM's Mike Rhyner -- who actually played drums with Rocky a couple of times in the late 1960s and early 1970s. But the Hardline host had been a fan even longer: "The very first rock show I ever went to," he says, "they were the openers" -- they being American Blues, Rocky's band with baby bro Dusty and drummer "Little" Richard Harris. "The headliners were Eric Burdon and the Animals on a Sunday night at the Fair Park Music Hall in 1967," Rhyner says. "And, man, they were flat-out psychedelic. It was him, Dusty and Little Richard, and they had these big Marshall amps and had it turned up to the max -- it was so loud and so wild you couldn't make anything out of it."

After the jump, more of what's on Mike's mind, another Crusader photo of a Hill brother and a link to an extremely rare video of Rocky and Dusty attending the Class of 1967's reunion ... and talking about what little they can remember from those good ol' days.