Dallas News Blog

​One of the more intriguing concerts scheduled around the NBA All-Star Week is a Saturday-night Haitian-relief benefit at the Palladium featuring Erykah Badu and Jamie Foxx. A couple of Friends of Unfair Park have asked how they can buy tix. Problem is, the event's more or less sold out; I was told this morning there are but a handful of tickets left at $75. So, here's the deal: You really want to go, you let me know and I'll pass along your info to the appropriate officials within the Mavericks organization, who've said they'll see what they can do. ...

I happened across the Fair Park calendar and noticed a few All-Star events scheduled on the grounds, among them the Ruff Ryders All Star Celebrity Car+Bike Show on Saturday. (Mommy, what's an "adult video super star"?) Also scheduled at Fair Park: the invite-only Zo & Magic's 8-Ball Challenge -- those being Alonzo Mourning and Earvin "Magic" Johnson, naturally. ...

And here's the official catalog of All-Star Week apparel, which features the $30 shirt pictured here. Too subtle for my taste.

​Maybe you've heard: Richard Hayner, the Denton resident who maintains the Texas International Pop Festival Web site, is trying to raise enough green to plant a Texas historical marker where the old Dallas International Motor Speedway once stood. That's where, over a long Labor Day weekend in '69, Sly and the Family Stone, Janis Joplin, Sam and Dave, Santana, Sweetwater, B.B. King and myriad others converged a mere two weeks after Woodstock; far out, man.

Which brings us to this week's Friday farewell: the entirety of Led Zeppelin's set from the Texas International Pop Festival, including "Train Kept A-Rollin'," "Dazed and Confused," "I Can't Quit You" and the 25-minute medley that starts out as "How Many More Times" before morphing into "Suzy Q," "Eyesight to the Blind," "All Shook Up" and whatever else the band felt like whipping out to the crowd's obvious delight, followed by an almost punk "Communication Breakdown" as the final number.

Funny thing is, as Angus Wynne reminded me this evening, The Led Zeppelin, as the foursome were introduced, didn't even know it was playing the Pop Festival till damned near the last minute; the road manager neglected to mention the booking, "and the band was pissed," Angus recalls. "Well, not really pissed," he says, "but not thrilled either. They thought they were on vacation." But all that unhappiness disappeared once Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and John Bonham took the stage; it's a powerhouse set taken from the soundboard.

The recording has surfaced here and there since the early '90s -- here's the whole sordid history. And there's some video too, as I've mentioned in the past. But I don't recall Zep appearing on the bootleg boxed set, which was stolen from me long ago, and till now I've never bothered to seek out the set as a keepsake. Submitted for your weekend listening pleasure ... and well beyond.

Bonus boot: Buddy Guy and Stevie Ray Vaughan at the Lone Star Cafe in New York in April 1986. Because who doesn't want to end their work week with some "Champagne and Reefer"?

Marvin Hamlisch

​After the jump you'll find the entirety of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra's 2010-2011 season schedule -- including everything from Marvin Hamlisch's debut as pops conductor in August to the Classical Series' bow in early September to Liza Minnelli in October to the Masters of Film Music series sked. The list was just released, along with the formal announcement that Hamlisch -- whose name is synonymous with swingin' '70s cinema soundtracks, not to mention A Chorus Line and a mention in Role Models -- will be the principal pops conductor, meaning he'll be in Dallas thrice during a season that also includes appearances by a host of performers my mother will really enjoy.

"The combination of Marvin Hamlisch and Music Director Jaap van Zweden leading our organization in terms of programming and artistic vision is an unstoppable force," says Douglas Adams, president of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, in a press release accompanying the schedule. "We could not be more thrilled to welcome Marvin to the Dallas Symphony Orchestra family."

Stewart Copeland

​All the details concerning the pops and classical series are available at the DSO's "Destination DSO" Web site, where current subscribers can begin re-upping their renewals this week; latecomers will have to wait till February 15 to buy tickets. Concerning the Classical Series, DSO points to five premieres this season -- among them, finally, a date (or dates -- February 3-5) for Police drummer Stewart Copeland's collaboration with D'Drum, which we told you about way back in October. From the release today:

In a program led by Music Director Jaap van Zweden in February of 2011, Copeland's percussion concerto, titled Gamelan D'Drum, will receive its world premiere. Created in close collaboration with the Dallas Symphony and world music percussion group D'Drum, Copeland's work is promised to include influences from the traditional cultures of Bali, Africa, Persia and other locales, blended with the influences of Western classical and jazz forms.

Matthew Blake

Ryan Adams at SMU in October 2007

​I think we'll make this a regular feature at the end of the working week -- a little rock-and-roll-and somethin-somethin to get you through the weekend. Feel free to offer your suggestions as you stumble across the homegrown during your travels, but this week we go all the way back to October 19, 2007, when Ryan Adams and the Cardinals played McFarlin Auditorium. (As I recall, then-Observer'er Andrea Grimes thought it was quite the good.)

I offer it for several reasons, among them: For an audience recording, it sounds awfully good (a bit muddy, but so what); the set list, ranging from his '00 solo debut through Easy Tiger, is as good as it gets; the performances are top-notch; Adams is chatty and amiable throughout; and that astounding, standing-o rendition of the seldom-performed (at the time, anyway) "Come Pick Me Up" reminds me why it's still my favorite Adams song. Anyway. Something to cuddle up with tonight.

Bonus: Here's his June 17, 2005, show at the Gypsy Tea Room. It's much louder.

I so meant to watch American Idol last night as it aired the Dallas auditions featuring NPH as guest judge. But, um, did not. So I'd like to thank the Friends of Unfair Park who've sent along this clip of Irving's own Erica Rhodes, a former Barney girl, dolled up in dominatrix gear for her shot at stardom.

In actual music news, the Mavs sent word last night that Mary J. Blige will kick off NBA All-Star Weekend with a February 11 concert at the still-seeking-an-operator Majestic Theater that benefits the Mavs Foundation. Also on the bill: Hangin' with Mr. Cooper star Mark Curry and Extra host Mario Lopez. Tickets went on sale this morning. And they run between $150 and $2,500.

Mark your calendars now: Mardi Gras Oak Cliff takes place February 7 in the Bishop Arts District, with a morning 5K run and a nighttime masquerade ball bookending a February 6 pre-game. Which I mention only because I see that Jeff Liles, who's been recording musicians in the Kessler Theater during its redo, just posted a performance by the 19-piece Rebel Alliance Jazz Ensemble, which will be playing the Saturday-night shindig.

Schutze is up shortly, incidentally, with more about the Inland Port's filing for Chapter 11. Till then, though, swing, swing, swing.

​Van Morrison was supposed to be play the Bass Performance Hall in Fort Worth this Sunday and the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center on Monday -- but, of course, he canceled a week ago, claiming "severe exhaustion." Sure. You bet. But let me make it up to you: Captain's Dead has posted what I'll call a make-up show, Morrison at the Fillmore West on April 26. 1970. Let's be honest: This is golden-age Moondance-era Morrison, well before the songs became golden-oldies he would grow weary of performing. Hence the stellar set list that concludes with an essential "Into the Mystic," which he wouldn't have played Monday anyway.

Hey, it was either this or a lengthy Q&A with the man in charge of the Continental Avenue pedestrian bridge project. That can wait till Monday. Didn't think it was a terribly good way to send you off into the weekend. Or the mystic.

​Sorry I didn't make it out to The Gourds show at the Granada on Saturday; had every intention, as it's been too long. And I was just thinking about the boys -- came across the Picket Line Coyotes' '88 cassette Upholstery Van Songs right before Christmas in a Sound Warehouse crate full of demo tapes (also, available for download right here). Anyway. Reason I mention it is, a good Friend of Unfair Park with whom I was recently discussing the greatness of Kevin Russell sends along this recently uploaded three-"disc," 58-song best-of boot compiled from Gourds '04 performances, including two from the Granada -- both of which are covers ("Take Me Back to Tulsa," "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain"). I will spend the weekend listening to this. You might want to do likewise.

Oh, and speaking of Kevin Russell: Till a few weeks ago, he'd been playing at Smoke solo, under the moniker Shiny Ribs, on the first Thursday of every month. Chris Jeffers says he's put the live performances on hold till the weather warms up. Which means Russell will return, oh, 'round the first week of May.

​Speaking of Kettle Art ...

I noticed that on his blog yesterday, U.K.-based illustrator Damien Weighill posted a note that he's all set to make his Dallas debut at Frank Campagna's Deep Ellum gallery. The exhibition runs January 28 through February 2, but on the 30th, Weighill will be joined by Giggle Party, for whom he co-directed the brilliantly NSFW video for "Jason Bought a Hatchet," which, in mid-June of '09, Pete proclaimed "the best video of the year," just maybe. I sent Weighill a note yesterday, to which he responded today:

Truly exciting news about the art show. Obviously I've had the pleasure of working with Giggle Party on various artwork for a little while now and the idea for the show came from the band and John from Parade of Flesh. I'll be trying to peddle some kind of goods at the show but what form those goods will take is yet to be finalised. For certain, I'll have a couple of limited edition screen prints on sale.

It will be my first journey anywhere near Dallas so I'm unbelievably excited about coming over. Can't wait.

Like and wise.

No doubt we'll call it an early day -- I can tell the Friends of Unfair Park have better things to do, and good for you. But before we say, "Till next year," a few words, very few, about a night spent in Deep Ellum -- my first since, well, I can't really can't recall. At first blush, standing amongst familiar faces likewise venturing out for a small taste of the time warp, it felt like a high-school reunion held in the dressed-up school gym -- never more so than when The Toadies, the first night into a two-night stand at Trees, dusted off "Run In With My Dad," a two-decades old deep cut. Good Lord, it's been how long? Many thanks to Jeff Liles for providing the video above: the title track to 2001's Hell Below/Stars Above, a highlight among many. Dallas, this is our classic rock.

But on this New Year's Eve I'll restrain from the backward-glancing; nostalgia for Deep Ellum seems so passé at this late date besides. Onward to the future: I was mightily impressed with Trees' cross-the-street neighbor La Grange, which opened on the very night The Toadies had their downtown homecoming. I ran into Pete, who asked me what I thought. "Nice," I said. "Too nice," he countered, as though such a thing is possible in a neighborhood still dominated by empty storefronts and eateries that close early on ghost town weekdays. With The O's and the King Bucks on the bill, the bar was primed and packed -- a welcome addition to any part of town. I'll return to La Grange sooner than later, and when I do I hope to discover a band I've never heard of. Just like the good old days.

Sugar Mountain

​Several years ago, out of nowhere, a reader sent me a copy of the four-disc Rock and Roll Cowboy collection, which consists of Neil Young live tracks spanning '66 to '94. It was an astoundingly kind gesture: The set had been compiled by an industrious (Italian?) bootlegger tired of waiting for the release of Young's "Archives" collection, first hinted at way back in the 1980s. Of course, the first Archives release showed up this summer, a wide-ranging and not-inexpensive collection covering 1963 through '72; and, earlier this month, Dreamin' Man Live '92 was released, joining a handful of other discs in the so-called "Performance Series."

But here's a belated Christmas gift courtesy the bigO: Neil Young and Crazy Horse at the Tarrant County Convention Center on November 10, 1976. I'd heard some of this earlier this year, and, sure, it's a bit rough -- it's a good audience recording, not from soundboard. But, then, it's Young, Frank Sampedro, Billy Talbot and Ralph Molina. In 1976. Performing "Cortez the Killer," "After The Gold Rush," "Heart Of Gold," "Lotta Love," "Like A Hurricane" and plenty more. What, you gonna complain?

​Says one baton-lovin' Friend of Unfair Park, Dallas Symphony Orchestra music director Jaap van Zweden received some early New Year's best-wishes courtesy the Los Angeles Times, which named him a classical-music "face to watch" in the coming year. Writes Mark Swed of the conductor unknown to locals a mere two years ago: Where's this Dutch treat been hiding all our lives?

From the evidence of Van Zweden's two CDs of Beethoven and Tchaikovsky symphonies recorded live in Dallas during his first season, the 50-year-old Dutch maestro (who is also a Juilliard-trained violinist and former concertmaster of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra) knows how to generate tense, tactile excitement in all kinds of music.

Van Zweden makes his Los Angeles Philharmonic bow in April. But, perhaps you've heard, he won't make his New Year's gigs with the DSO due to a bad shoulder and a note from his doctor.

​Finally, Jeff Catlin, program director at The Ticket, just shot me the links to my Christmas-music spectacular-spectacular, which aired during the very wee small hours of Sunday morn. The sucker ran long -- three-plus hours, till 4 in the a.m. -- so it's been broken up into parts one, two and three for your listening, um, pleasure?

For some inexplicable reason, Cat liked the thing so much that he's asked if I might do it again on Christmas Day -- in other words, when people are, well, awake. So, from noon till 3 p.m. on Friday, The Ticket will preempt network programming at 1310 on Your AM Dial and 104.1 on the FM side and roll with yet another live spin through one Hebrew's collected holiday song list. Since I've been given more than three hours to prep this go-round, the track listing should be significantly different than Sunday's show; there'll be some repeaters (like, oh, The Bellrays, Pinkston and the Donnas), but not too many. Word is it'll rerun at 6 p.m. Friday.

Till then, you know the drill: Fire away with your requests or shoot me an MP3 if you'd like to regift the P1's with something especially hard to find.

​The Austin Film Society just sent word: After inducting the likes of Morgan Fairchild, Rushmore, the director of Twilight and most everyone else who's ever made a TV show or rented a movie in Texas, it's getting around to putting Mike Nesmith in the Texas Film Hall of Fame come March. Per the press release:

Michael Nesmith, born in Houston, will receive the Warren Skaaren Lifetime Achievement Award. Nesmith is perhaps best known for his work with The Monkees band and TV show but has made significant contributions in film, television and music. He served as executive producer of the cult films REPO MAN, TAPEHEADS and TIMERIDER. In 1980, he developed "Pop Clips," which became the inspiration for MTV and his video, "Cruisin" became the first video on the network. The next year, he won the first Grammy Award given for Video of the Year for his hour-long "Elephant Parts." Nesmith served on the board of trustees for the American Film Institute for ten years. World-renowned American artist Edward Ruscha will be on hand to present the award to Nesmith.

Nice. But, may I?

Yes, sure, he was born in Houston. Lived there a whole six years, till he moved here with his mother, Bette Nesmith Graham, a Dallas native who, as you're no doubt aware, invented Liquid Paper while working as executive secretary for W.W. Overton, the chairman of the board of the Texas Bank and Trust. One year later, according to his official Rhino Records bio, "Michael took his first stab at acting with a role in the Thomas Jefferson High School production of Oklahoma (as Andrew Carnes). The following year, he joined school's concert choir, developing his skill as a pitch-perfect vocalist." Houston, sure, fine. Whatever.

Cue the Monkees' Christmas song!

​Bumped into Ticket program director Jeff Catlin last night, and maybe it was the spiked eggnog and rolled mistletoe talking, but somehow I ended up hosting a post-Cowboys-post-game holiday musical spectacular-spectacular that should commence at half past midnightish on 1310 AM tonight. I imagine it'll be a cross between my previous experiment in late-night Ticket-taking and, oh, the late, great Glenn Mitchell's Christmas Blockbuster on KERA-FM, only without Glenn's missed-to-this-very-day talent and taste.

We get rolling with the yuletide soundtrack whenever Norm and Donovan decide to turn over the microphone and go till "whenever," as Jeff said. Maybe I can do a mix with Elf, if he promises to bring the bagels. Feel free to leave requests till then. No need to ask for Universal Robot Band's "Disco Christmas." Already got that covered. And if you miss the show -- because of sleep, say -- there will be a podcast.

There was a time, a looong time ago, when the Flaming Lips played Dallas so often I thought Wayne Coyne was a local. But local Lips performances are hard to come by these days; hence, Pete's 3:20 in the a.m. post about the band's long-rumored, now "likely" outdoor performance at the NX35 Music Conference in Denton in March. Haven't seen any official confirmation from conference organizers yet, but, if nothing else, it gives me good reason to post this recently unearthed footage of the band performing at Trees way back in '92. Also, after the jump, Wayne Coyne's Christmas gift to you: the Silver Trembling Fetus.

Update at 2:30 p.m.: Pete just posted The Official Confirmation over on DC9. As in, "The Flaming Lips' show will be a free, Saturday night performance to be held on an outdoor stage on Denton's Hickory Street." He's got plenty more details to go around.

One minute he's making fun of you; the next, it's a bona fide bromance. But one question: Was that Eminem talking to Tony Romo before yesterday's loss to the Chargers or Princess Leia? What up the headphones, Marshall?

Rachel Parker

One of the pieces auctioned off Saturday night. It looks even better on the other side.

​A hip crowd in cold-weather gear packed the warehouse at 511 W. Commerce Street Saturday night for Art Conspiracy 5, the flash-gallery show with paintings and mixed-media pieces made the night before and auctioned off for charity.

Since its first run inside the Texas Theater, the yearly art and music happening has drawn bigger crowds, and ever higher bids on the art pieces, each of them painted or constructed on same-sized panels. Bargain hunters still walked away from the last show with $20 pieces tucked under their arms, while big ticket items, including this Cabe Booth-painted Christopher Walken, fetched $700 or more. This year's beneficiary was Resolana, a Dallas nonprofit that creates training and rehabilitation programs for women in prison.

With Paul Slavens on as the night's emcee, the action shifted between live auctions and live bands. With the warehouse's bay doors thrown open, the crowd huddled under stand-up heaters to catch sets from RTB2, The Boom Boom Box, The Crash That Took Me and Telegraph Canyon.

You can check out this slide show for more photos from the auctions and the performances.

Update at 5:09 p.m.: And here's some well-edited video Ben Smithson took during ArtCon. Scored to The Crash That Took Me's performance Saturday night.

A Friend of Unfair Park just found and forwarded along this video of Don Meredith singing SMU's school song, "Varsity." It was made back in October, when the university finally retired Dandy Don's No. 17; it was posted a couple of weeks ago. Regardless, I think this is what they call "timeless." Like his other classic.

I love The Who. But I doubt I will buy the band's just-on-sale Super Bowl tee.

​I see Richie's not terribly excited that The Who -- meaning, Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey -- have been tapped to play the Super Bowl halftime. Then again, his musical taste is highly suspect (trying to be ... diplomatic). So don't mind me, Mr. Whitt, when I tell you that, coincidentally enough, the band's in the process up making available, absolutely gratis, video selections from its December 4, 1982, show at the Cotton Bowl, which was a stop on the first Farewell Tour among many since then.

Right now, 10 soundboard-quality, broadcast-ready songs are up out of the 23 performed that night, among them songs you forgot (which is to say, most anything from It's Hard that's not named "Eminence Front") and the requisite standards ("Substitute," "I Can See for Miles" and "Baba O'Riley"). I know, I know. You were there. We probably sat next to each other.

​May I suggest, at this late date, a sure-fire brussels sprouts recipe for those in need of a last-minute green thing on the table tomorrow? You will not regret it. Also: Balcones Baby Blue, which, far as I know, is the only made-in-Texas bourbon commercially available; guaranteed to get you through any family gathering. And, for those who'll spend the better part of tonight cooking and/or driving and/or drinking, a few musical selections: unreleased Band rehearsals (with horns!), the best Stones cover you've never heard, Centro-matic redoing something from Redo the Stacks, my favorite Michael McDonald song ever, some Bobby Patterson just because, a most delightful collection of punk classics all folked up (includes Lisa Loeb and the Bad Livers), the four-track master of Edie and the New Bos performing on Fry Street in 1987 and ... what's that, Greggo? Yes, Fry Street.

To all the Friends of Unfair Park, we hope yours is a most happy Thanksgiving. We love you all. Yes, even you. Back on Friday.

​The folks at the AT&T Performing Arts Center picked quite the inaugural concert for the Wyly Theatre: The Flatlanders, otherwise known as Joe Ely, Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Butch Hancock. No doubt they'll break in the joint Tuesday night with the first song on their first album, recorded in 1971 and only available on eight-track till 1990: "Dallas," from which our musical sibling takes its name. Tickets are still available, but as it happens Unfair Park's got two pair to give away this morning. Here's how you win 'em: essay question.

In the song, Gilmore sings that Dallas is both "a woman who will walk on you when you're down" and "a rich man who tends to believe in his own lies," which would make Dallas, yes, a hermaphrodite. But let's say you had to pick one. Which one? And why? Keep it short, if you like, and best two answers, to be judged by a panel of first-graders and myself, win a pair of tickets. You've got till the end of the business day, 5 sharp. Now go.

Update at 5:29 p.m.: The panel, which consisted of myself and staffers at the AT&T Performing Arts Center, have chosen the winner. And they are: Steve, randall in sachse and publicnewssense. "Too close to call," say the AT&TPAC peeps. Hence, three pair! Now, Friends, send the great Maria May your name, address and phone numbers. Instructions will follow.

KNUS99.com

​We wrap our broadcast week with yet more from the KNUS vaults currently in the possession of one George Gimarc. What you'll find below are few minutes of what aired on Gordon McLendon's FM freak-out on August 22, 1970 -- some of the sounds and some of the smells, dig? The best part: the faaaaar-out-man ads for a Novas show at LouAnn's and a Sticks gig at the Studio Club ... and all the action you can handle at the Fair Park Midway! There's some deep-cuts James Gang and Jefferson Airplane mixed in there as well. So smoke 'em if you got 'em.

The rock and roll alternative provides a sample playlist, including The James Gang ("Thanks"), the Airplane ("The Ballad Of You & Me & Pooneil"), Eric Clapton ("Let it Rain"), Quicksilver Messenger Service ("Fresh Air"), Pacific Gas & Electric ("Staggolee"), Bob Dylan ("Quinn the Eskimo (The Mighty Quinn)"), Rotary Connection ("May Our Amens Be True"), Jeff Beck ("Girl From Mill Valley") and Steve Miller Band ("Quicksilver Girl"). Now, see, that's music to the core. Dig? You want a keeper for your private collection, let me know. I've rolled another just like the other and am only too happy to share.

Justin Terveen

​On Thursday, the owners of 508 Park Avenue will ask the City Plan Commission for permission to demolish the building in which Robert Johnson, Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys, and Charlie Parker once recorded. Two months ago, the Landmark Commission denied the application, upholding the Central Business District Task Force's earlier no-how-no-way, but Colby Properties is determined to raze that building along with the adjacent 1900 Young Street -- despite its own engineer's determination that, no, the former Warner Bros. Pictures storage facility isn't anywhere near falling down.

On an entirely related note, the Associated Press this morning reports that officials in Copiah County, Mississippi, are going to spend $250,000 to restore the bluesman's childhood home in the hopes of turning it into a tourist destination: "A restored Johnson birthplace would offer his latter-day fans something rare: a tangible relic linked to the long-dead musician." Unlike, say, the building in which he actually recorded half of his incalculably influential body of work, including one of the most immortal pieces of American music, "Hellhound on My Trail."

​OK, so KERA's musical youth been on the air for, what, 60 minutes? First song played: Santana's "She's Not There" (probably a little too classic-rock for a new-station kick-off, you ask me), followed by Monsters of Folk, Ingrid Michaelson, Telegraph Canyon and ... well, look, the playlist is here, so there. (Hey! Rhett Miller!) The missus listened for a few minutes before laughing: "It's so ... NPR, like a Saturday Night Live sketch. Little bit." Pete wonders in this week's paper what it all means; hard to say 15 songs into its existence. But ponderin' is fun. So too is Manu Dibango's "Soul Makossa," better than a cup of coffee before 8 a.m.

​So, yes, this is a weekly feature now -- your Friday acid flashback, courtesy the copious collection of one George Gimarc, with whom we're awfully proud to partner. A brief recap so far: KNUS news tuned up with sitar, followed by A Very Roky Halloween. Now, it gets even better as George continues to dig through miles' worth of KNUS odds and sods picked up at a garage sale two weeks ago. I will let the rock and roll alternative explain:

Long before the KERA did acoustic sessions, or KDGE, or even my sessions at KZEW in the '80s, or the Live At January Sounds sessions at KZEW in the mid-1970s, KNUS was doing in-studio performances around 1970-1971. So far I've uncovered astounding sessions by Freddy King (acoustic!), Brewer & Shipley, Ann Benson, Three Faces West (early Ray Wylie Hubbard) and even some songs from Jose Feliciano. There was a time he was considered pretty hip, and here's one of those songs that he never put onto his many RCA albums, but was pretty kindly disposed to sing. Fraternity of Man did this on the Easy Rider soundtrack.

Smoke 'em if you got 'em. And if you want a roadie, you let me know. I'll roll another one, just like the other one, for any good Friend of Unfair Park.

Patrick Michels

A look back inside two of the Nokia Theatre's newly remodeled suites. Check back soon for a slide show with more photos.

​Nobody's ever accused the Nokia Theatre of having too much character, but thanks to a down-to-the-guts remodeling of its luxury suites, the Grand Prairie venue is home to some of the prettiest seats you'll find in the D/FW music scene.

The Nokia showed off 10 of the new suites last night at a party hosted by D Homes, where designers were on hand to accept compliments and explain some of their design choices.

Most of the new suites sport dim lighting and dark tones, with a few choice flourishes of color, like a red counter-top in an otherwise dark suite remodeled by Rutherford Designs. "We didn't want it too light. We really wanted to concentrate on this," Robert Rutherford told Unfair Park last night, pointing out through the glass at the stage below.

The Salvation Army

​No doubt you've already heard (and just pretended you didn't): Daughtry's landed the halftime gig at Cowboys Stadium on Thanksgiving Day, the annual kickoff for the Salvation Army's Red Kettle campaign. Which prompted this locker-room meeting of the musical minds on Friday: Free Reign, meet Daughtry -- which, apparently, is fronted by Marc Colombo's Mini-Me.

​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.

The missus and I are going to Steve Martin's bluegrass hoedown tonight at the Meyerson -- good cause, sure, but also a good time from the sound of recent reviews. And, say what, Onion A.V. Club: "The band nonchalantly launched into a bluegrass take on the novelty tune 'King Tut.'" Sure 'nuff; here's a version from Toronto earlier this month. The folks at the AT&TPAC say there are still tickets available in the way-back up-top. Bonus: Gary Cogill's emceeing.