1) MASS (1002 S Main) has a double-header of sorts Wednesday night. Along with local blog/curation enterprise The Synaptic, the Southside venue’s been putting on a weekly early show – they start at 6pm and are over before 8pm – for $3 called Wayhomer Wednesdays; this week’s band is Huffer. After that, there’s a free event called Poppin with Ronnie, in which Ronnie Heart DJs a pop-up art show featuring artwork from himself, Katie Cormier, Heather Rendon, Jeremy Pesina, Donny Preteroti, Jason Michael, Chip Tompkins, Emily Bernardo, and Walt Burns. The art ranges from high-end cartoons (re: not bar napkin doodles) to abstract painting to local landmark photography. I don’t know if Ronnie Heart plays any of his own songs during his DJ sets, but here’s one of them:
2) Hope you’re not tired of MASS posts, because here’s another one, lol – Big Mike’s Box of Rock plays at MASS for an all-night classic rock cover spectacular on Thursday. For many of us scene participants, the weekly Box of Rock nights at the Moon Bar – and Lola’s, after the Moon Bar closed – figure in lots of fond memories, no doubt inspired by live, full-band versions of the stuff you’d hear on KZPS, or, if you were of a certain age, your bedroom stereo. Anyway, whether you’re old enough for that kind of nostalgia or the age in which Nirvana is a band that ended before you were born, there’s still plenty of rock ’n roll redemption to be found in an expertly performed Led Zeppelin cover. And speaking of covers, it’s $5 for 21+, $10 for minors (that’s right, kids! This show is all-ages). Set 1 begins at 10pm. In this video, BMBOR performs “Money” by Pink Floyd, with Jeff Dazey on sax:
3) I’ve always been a critic of band names, but never have I encountered a band named for something I actively despise; I’m talking about this band from Albuquerque (aka Duke City) that’s playing Dreamy Life Records and Music (1310 Allen) on Friday evening called Red Light Cameras. The name isn’t awesome, but the band is pretty tight garage rock – a Granada Theater poster might say “goes great with Dum Dum Girls” – but I hate actual red light cameras with the rage of a 1,000 grizzly bears splashed with gasoline and set on fire Don’t let that stop you from seeing this band, though, and since they are obviously on tour, buy some of their merch, because the show is free. The show starts at 7pm, and it also features Funeral Coast (formerly Dead Singers Party, I guess?), and psychedelic pop band Native Fox. This Red Light Cameras video is basically brand-new:
4) Need an injection of countrified rockabilly? Look no further than Magnolia Motor Lounge this Friday; the West 7th Corridor venue has sultry-voiced C&W singer L. Denison backed by the Blondettes starting at 9 and going ’til 1am. The Blondettes have some great voices too, heard here in this video!
5) Lola’s Rummage Sale is happening on Sunday, and that’s always a fun excuse to stroll around the outdoor Trailer Park (2735 5th St) half of the long-running, W 7th area institution. Besides local vendors plying their wares (clothes, jewelry, art, records, etc.), after which, the World Famous Tony Williams and Terminal D perform soulful R&B jams for you. No, it’s not the drummer Tony Williams (though that would be interesting, seeing as how he died 20 years ago) performing, but instead the guy who sang on Kanye West’s College Dropout. Tickets for the show are $10 each, and it starts at 8pm. Here’s a WFTW song you might be familiar with:
FULL DISCLOSURE/WRITER BIO ALERT: per editorial suggestion, in addition to writing about music and other shit for the FW Weekly, I am an investor in a venue/bar called Main at Southside, colloquially known as MASS. I also bartend there, as well as the Boiled Owl Tavern, a bar that also hosts shows a few times a month. And, since we’re on the subject of warning you against what may be perceived as my own icky, unseemly self-promotion and/or conflicts of interest, I play bass in the following bands: Oil Boom, Son of Stan, Darth Vato, and maybe, once again in the hypothetical future, EPIC RUINS. Sometimes I talk about one or more of those entities in this space, but I assure you that it has very little to do with my own vested interests; it just happens that the aforementioned venues and bands are part of the Fort Worth music scene, and this music scene is something I care very passionately about, as I have been part of it for the past fifteen years.
