1) Here’s a fun thing to do on Thursday night: Dan’s Silverleaf in Denton has a “Dark Side of Oz” show, in which a live band performs Pink Floyd’s seminal 1973 release simultaneously with a projection of The Wizard of Oz. The allegation that Pink Floyd wrote Dark Side of the Moon to line up with The Wizard of Oz is one of the greatest classic rock legends (right up there with backward masking), and even if it is total horseshit, the part where the black and blue lyrics in “Us and Them” line up with the camera’s pans from the Wicked Witch to Glynda always trip me out. And actually, so does the “balanced on the biggest wave” line (in “Breathe”) when Dorothy is walking on the fence. The band has always insisted all the synchronicities are pure coincidence, but if you believe that our reality is a simulation, can a coincidence even exist? In my mind, coincidences are just Easter eggs inserted by whoever designed the fucking “game.” Cover is $10, and the show starts at 9pm, though I assume the music starts on the third roar of the MGM lion, in accordance with tradition.
2) NOFX is playing at the Gas Monkey Grill Friday night, and while I know there are a lot of punk fans who think that band, or at least its front man Fat Mike, is kind of a pathetic joke. I am not one of them, though, I see why you’d say that, since I’ve been having this discussion with people for more than 20 years. But consider this, NOFX haters: Fat Mike is apparently sober and now a citizen of Donald Trump’s America. Don’t you think now is the time to set aside your grievances with the band and see what’s specifically grinding Fat Mike’s gears? Because I’m certain he will have lots to pontificate about in between songs; of course people go to NOFX shows to hear “The Brews” and “Bob” (and hopefully at least part of the “The Decline”), but the banter in between the hits is often better than the music – even moreso when, on the following day, some local music journalist who just doesn’t get it makes a point to call the veteran punk band sloppy or offensive. The joke’s on you, you fuckin’ nerd. If NOFX were tight and polite, they wouldn’t have made it out of the s’90s.
3) Charley Crockett brings his bluesy, retro R&B sound to Lola’s Trailer Park on Saturday evening, and his countrified brother-in-songwriting Vincent Neil Emerson is opening the show. Both exhibit solid songwriting, danceable grooves, not to mention a hard-won authenticity that informs their respective songs with real emotion. Good music doesn’t usually come from easy living. If there’s one thing we can thank Donald Trump’s America for, it’s that there will probably be a lot of crucial records made over the next four years, some of which are probably already roiling around in the minds and hearts of the nation’s songwriters. After all, you can’t write a song like “Change Is Gonna Come” unless you desperately need change. Be sure to keep up with the news, ye folksingers, as well as all the other types of singers, and songwriters, and guitarists, and drummers, and anyone else who makes music and is bummed about what the Trump Administration has in store for the world. We’re gonna need your voices to make it through this shit. VNE starts at 7:30.
4) The Sunshine Bar in Arlingfun hosts a heavy show on Saturday with two locals and two touring acts. Denver’s black metal-influenced Wayfarer headlines, with New York’s Anicon (also black metal) in the direct support spot. Denton-based rifflords Orcanaut, and cross-county crust/doom/hardcore act Wildspeaker open. Of these Wildspeaker is my favorite. If there’s a cover, it’s probably $5.
5) If you knew Jordan Christensen, then you know this already, but a memorial show will be held on Sunday at Shipping & Receiving for the former Doom Ghost drummer, who passed away last week. The show is all-ages, and the cover is a $5 suggested donation; all proceeds will go to help with funeral arrangements. War Party headlines; The Custom Kicks are also playing, and DJ Berto G is providing between-band beats. Fuck. I guess I didn’t unpack this last week like I thought I did. His passing is super sad. Please come celebrate the life of a kind soul, and don’t ever pass up a chance to hug your friends.
