For a couple of weeks now, the Wild Rooster (3204 Camp Bowie Blvd., Cultural District, 817-332-WILD) has been hosting live music –– local and non-local acts –– but I never caught a show there until recently. And I have to say, the Rooster’s doing live music right. The guys onstage during my visit, Fort Worth roots-rocker Scott Copeland and his band, definitely weren’t relegated to the background.
They were front and center –– and loud (clean but loud). Though we probably wouldn’t want to go as far as calling the Rooster a live music venue –– it offers so much more, including awesome food –– the place is shaping up to be a nice y’allternative to the indie-rocking that regularly goes on at nearby Lola’s Saloon and The Grotto. Since most of the Rooster’s acts have been of either the bluesy or twangy persuasion, I’d say the nearest correlative is probably the White Elephant Saloon, all the way in the Stockyards. We also could add to West 7th’s y’allternative scene Fred’s Texas Café, the site of so many countrified shows, but, c’mon, the main reason people go to Fred’s is for the food, not the music. Same goes for Love Shack So7, whose stage is almost always graced by a solo (countrified) performer rather than a band-band. I guess that what I’m getting at is that the Rooster seems to be establishing a nice little niche as a place that offers uniformly great service, superb food, and, now, Southern-fried live music. On Friday at the Rooster is Marc Ford, former lead guitarist for The Black Crowes and a collaborator with Ben Harper. Tonight (Wednesday), Ford will be at the Thirsty Armadillo (120 W. Exchange Ave., Stockyards, 817-624-2770). Ford will be preceded at the Rooster by Fort Worth bluesman James Hinkle. Cover charge is $5.
Straight outta Arlington comes Homeys Tube, a YouTube-like site for hip-hop videos and one whose founders, twin brothers Jerry and Jerald Coney, are hoping becomes the go-to site for North Texas rappers. As of now, Homeys Tube has only a couple of local videos. Most are from national artists. But part of the site also includes interviews with local rappers –– Jerry said to look for sit-downs with Fort Worth’s Immortal Soldierz and recent Weekly cover story subject Six2 (“Fort Worth Hip-Hop: On the Verge,” Jan. 19, 2011) over the next couple of weeks. The site has been up for several months and is a kind of spin-off of another one of the Coneys’ projects, Homeys List, a year-old urban-centric Craigslist of sorts. “I used to be an artist, and the industry went dead to new artists,” Jerry said. “I said, let’s create a site for local artists’ videos. We’ll take a local artist and put him next to Lil’ Wayne” and other rap stars. “We’re trying to blow up DFW,” Jerry said.
Chatterton frontman Kevin Aldridge is putting the finishing touches on his new solo album (“Chatterton’s Kevin Aldridge Solos,” July 21, 2010), though he’s reluctant to attach only his name to the project. “I’m still hesitant to call this band ‘Kevin Aldridge’ because I hate my name and don’t want to be confused with Tommy [Aldridge] from Whitesnake,” Aldridge (Kevin) said.
Contact HearSay at hearsay@fwweekly.com.
