1) Team to Beat Show of the Week Alert: Don’t miss Telegraph Canyon at Lola’s Trailer Park tonight! As is the case with Trailer Park shows, they start at 7 and are done by 9; if you get there at start time, you’ll be treated to an Austin band called Calliope Musicals.
Now, if you’re a music consumer of a certain cynical, hypercritical stripe, you might see the phrase “an Austin band called Calliope Musicals” and make immediate assumptions about their sound. To your credit, yes, they do have a blonde woman in a flowing dress singing lead vocals. And, admittedly, there is in fact a xylophone. If you just said “I bet the xylophone guy probably plays with his shoes off,” I’d like to interview you about what other accurate psychic premonitions you have experienced – I cheated and looked at the pictures, and the guy playing xylophone is totally barefoot. Calliope Musicals for sure sets off my Precious Band Warning System alarm, but the music is nonetheless enjoyable, sorta-psychedelic folk pop. While Telegraph Canyon is obviously the main draw, their openers will be worth getting out of the house an hour earlier. Oh and also, the show is FREE. Get an eyeful of Calliope Musicals in this video for “What My Eyes Found”:
2) Program your Uber Drones to swoop down and grab you immediately after Telegraph Canyon finishes, because tonight’s bill at Shipping and Receiving is really stellar, too: Kevin Aldridge, Jake Paleshic, and Natural Anthem. You could sum up the two openers as the among the best of two different generations of Fort Worth songwriters. Maybe they should team-up and write an album about the characters from True Grit, Unforgiven, and Men In Black! Natural Anthem will trigger those zones in your brain that really dig harmonies and pop hooks. Too bad digging this clip from the 1969 adaptation of True Grit will likely be marred by a pre-roll ad; sit through it, though. It’s a classic!
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3) That’s enough for Friday, right? Here’s the other Team to Beat this week, Saturday Edition: Bitch Bricks, Pearl Earl, and Squanto at 515 Bar, for FREE.
Of all the bands popping up in the Fairmount over the past four or five years, Bitch Bricks is probably my favorite. The lazy, reductive critic way to describe their sound uses words like surf/punk/reverb/garage/pizza/weed/etc. But really, they’re kind of the best punk band around, because they aren’t trying to be anything but a power trio doing whatever the fuck they want. Watching them is exciting! All other bands look like they’re trying too hard by comparison!
As for Pearl Earl, I don’t know if they’re the best band in Denton (and boy does that discussion sound like a fucking headache made of drunk know-it-alls yelling over each other while seated at a picnic table), but they’ve gotta be the most fun and enjoyable. The lazy, reductive critic way to describe their sound uses words like surf/punk/reverb/garage/pizza/weed/etc. But really, the easiest comparison is to the B-52s. Has that “Karaoke” song of theirs ever been played on KXT? I certainly hope so. If not, it’s just more fuel for the station’s critic’s ire. Listen, KXT program honchos: it’s time to let go of Tracy Chapman. There are female voices that are way more current but just as compelling. Is Pearl Earl even on your radar, KXT? In case they aren’t, Pearl Earl is a five-piece rock band from Denton (four of who are women, a selling point to someone in charge, no doubt) with a surfy sound, clever lyrics, and massive pop hooks, etc. etc. Cut the Sheryl Crow spins down to maybe only nine or ten times a day and give this band a spot onto your playlist!
Squanto gets mentioned in this space nearly week. Don’t miss him.
Send KXT this Pearl Earl video if you have time:
4) Wow, a lot of stuff happening on the Near South Side this weekend! Besides Friday night’s Shipping and Receiving show, and the above-mentioned show at the 515 Bar, Republic Street has its 2nd Anniversary Party on Saturday, featuring The Cush and Henry the Archer. Have you ever owned a Stone Roses CD? Then you’ll want to make it to this show, which is free, and also features meal options from Black Market Café. What’s Black Market Café you ask? If you don’t know, you’ll just have to go to this show and find out. Or you could wander over to Nona Tata after the bars close on Friday and see what you run into. Hint: it’ll probably be served with sweet potato hash or some such.
This is a video for how to make sweet potato hash, by some ginger kid from a family who likes decorating their walls with crosses:
5) Sorry to be on the Lola’s train this week, other venues, but I would be remiss if I didn’t mention long-running reggae/rock band Sally Majestic’s 15th Year Anniversary celebration, which takes place Saturday across two stages at Lola’s, starting at 7:30 pm with Black Market Garden. The other seven bands leading up to the headliner’s performance include nerdcore rapper Doug Funnie, alternative band Moon Grave, garage rockers Mean Motor Scooter, funk rock band Bomb Atomic, hip-hop from Rivercrest Yacht Club, and cover comedy masters POO Live CREW. This 9-band bill can be yours for a mere ZERO dollars! Here’s Sally as a two-piece on a couch, like when your family goes on vacation to Hawaii and your mom or sister or you leaves your bikini on the hotel furniture to dry while you’re at the luau. Use the balcony railing like a normal person! Maybe someone wants to sit on that couch without getting their butt wet!
