Once again, allow me to get on my high horse and complain about the preponderance of Texas Music at bars in Fort Worth. I’m not a hater. I like a lot of Texas Music. Collin Herring is one of my favorite artists of all time, though, admittedly, he’s only loosely affiliated with the style. Still, I like Stephen Pointer and Brad Hines well enough. I just don’t understand why every bar A.) feels compelled to have live entertainment these days, and B.) why every bar that feels compelled to have live entertainment seems to reflexively defer to Texas Music. Can’t we be a little more creative?
If all a bar wants is some dude with a guitar onstage, then what about performers who only need a guitar to get the job done and aren’t even remotely concerned with twang or drivin’ down I-35 or getting drunk with their buddies or any other Texas Music conceit? What about Chris Hardee? Or Clint Niosi? Or Darrin Kobetich? Or Carey Wolff? Or Jason Worley? Or do bars think that because we’re in Fort Worth, Texas, that we all, naturally, must want to hear Texas Music? I know I don’t.
The Stooges live on through the music and writing of Weekly scribe Ken Shimamoto, who when not playing assorted instruments in the experimprov outfit Hentai Improvising Orchestra plays guitar in Stoogeaphilia, a Stooges tribute band. An interview with Stooges bassist Jimmy Recca is being attached to the liner notes to a Stooges box set released earlier this year. The addendum is being sent out to people who purchased the box set and is also included with orders for the Popped fan package (replica Stooges fan club newsletters, Polaroids, and some live material put together by former Stooges fan club president, Natalie Schlossman, a.k.a. Natalie Stoogeling). Getting hold of the addendum is as easy as visiting the web site of the record label, Easy Action, www.easyaction.co.uk/detail/RECCA001. “I’d done liner notes for Easy Action before, and Carlton Sandercock, the label honcho, was aware that I’d interviewed [former Stooges guitarist and record producer] James Williamson for the I-94 Bar back when he was still a Sony exec and hadn’t talked to anyone about the Stooges in 20 years. Plus, Carlton knows I work cheap.” The addendum contains some enlightening moments, including an anecdote about Recca’s “being sent onstage when the band wasn’t able to play a show in St. Louis, which ended in his inciting a riot.” For more of Shimamoto’s writing, visit his blog: http://stashdauber.blogspot.com.
This weekend will be full of big local shows, starting on Friday at Keys Lounge (5677 Westcreek Ct., 817-292-8627), when the Juke Jumpers will reunite and be preceded by Josh Weathers and the True+Endeavors. Also on Friday, The Grotto (517 University Dr. in the Cultural District, 817-882-9331) welcomes The Me-Thinks, The Dangits, and Pinkish Black, three killer hard-rocking Fort Worth acts. On Saturday at The Moon (2911 W. Berry St. by TCU, 817-926-9600), Phantom Caste headlines a show that also includes Black Taxi, Fate Lions, and Spiral Sound. Also on Saturday, Lola’s Saloon (2736 W. 6th St., 817-877-0666) features The Orbans, Calhoun, The Criminal Minds, and magician Ash Adams.
Contact HearSay at hearsay@fwweekly.com.
