The last time I saw Brandin Lea, I think I threatened to throttle him or punch him or inflict some other form of bodily harm upon his well-under-six-foot Italian ass. I was drunk, of course. We were at a bar, The Chat Room, a hip Southside joint that Lea co-owns and tends bar. Nevertheless, my reasoning was – and still is – sound.
Someone as talented as he is should be playing out, in places like the Chat and in Denton, and he should be planning to go into or actually be in the studio. But noooo! “The Pope of Berry Street” is too busy … doing whatever he’s doing when he should be doing music, either solo acoustic or via his music vehicle, The February Chorus. I understand that he needed some time to recoup from the never-ending touring band that was Flickerstick. But c’mon. “Vaycay ended right now,” I said to him, probably poking him in the chest and swaying. And slurring. “You need to get your ass out there and in the studio – or else.” So. I’d like to take full credit for the FebChor’s first show in, like, a year, Thursday at the place where Lea (and dozens of other local greats) got their starts, The Aardvark (2905 W. Berry St., 817-926-7814).
Visit www.myspace.com/februarychorus, a page that hasn’t been accessed, according to the little indicator on the site, since fucking July. … Along with Lea, Calhoun’s Jordan Roberts, Telegraph Canyon’s Austin Green, and Alan’s Douglas Edward, the FebChor includes Iliads frontman and bassist Taylor Craig Mills. Wearing his indie singer-songwriter hat, Mills will be plying his solo trade Friday at Hailey’s (122 Mulberry St., Denton, 940-323-1160), with The Wellington Lights, Pet Hospital, and Love & The Doomsayers. I have never threatened Mills in any way. He just knows not to fritter his talent away, Brandin! (Love ya, cuz!) (That’s right. I’m bringin’ “cuz” back.)
On Saturday, a bunch of mainly 817-local Texas Music purveyors will gather at the Ridglea Theater (6025 Camp Bowie Blvd., 817-738-9500) for the second annual Ridglea Roundup, an all-day event sponsored by 95.9-FM The Ranch to benefit the Children’s Neuroblastoma Cancer Foundation. Slated to play are the Mike McClure Band, Joey Green, Terry Rasor, Jordan Mycoskie & The Fire Breathing Fish, and Brad Hines & Flash, among others. Visit www.nbhope.org. … I’ve never seen Disco: Hate, nor am I familiar with the ostensible main dude behind the band, Casey Colby, a kid who is in some way affiliated with the nuevo-hippies of Mount Righteous’ Grapevine/Mid-Cities crowd. But Disco: Hate’s shit is awesome: totally early-’60s Beatles + indie-rock + early-’80s Police. (The chord progression of “But She Drinks” is an homage – not a rip-off – of The Police’s early hit “Invisible Sun.”) Check out www.myspace.com/discohatecolby. … One of Fort Worth’s last remaining early-jazz legends, flutist/saxophonist Prince Lasha, passed away last week.
A contemporary of fellow Fort Worthians Dewey Redman, who died about two years ago, Charles Moffett (1929-1997), and Ornette Coleman, who’s still kicking at 78, Lasha (pronounced la-shay) made his name on recordings with Eric Dolphy and Elvin Jones and played with Dennis Gonzalez (whose band, Yells at Eels, is the subject of a story on pg. 52).
Contact HearSay at hearsay@fwweekly.com.
