1) Here’s a Thursday two-for listing, featuring charismatic frontmen in nice venues found in cities people make fun of: famous tequila salesman, noted Bob Weir irritant, and red rocker Sammy Hagar rocks (redly, I assume) at the newly opened Irving Music Pavilion with Collective Soul opening. The show starts at 7, and tickets are available here, or, for free, you could go to Levitt Pavilion in Arlingfun to see Josh Weathers play at 8pm, as part of a North Texas Giving Day event; incidentally, Weathers heads up a charity called Love Like You Mean it. You can learn more about it here. Here’s Sammy bothering Bob Weir at a bar:
2) Pavement-esque indie rockers Chillamundo are releasing their debut CD, Radio Is On, on Friday at MASS, and I highly recommend picking up a copy at the show – which also features Mean Motor Scooter and LeQube in the opening slots – because it’s genuinely fun to listen to, the kind of album that offers new surprises upon subsequent listens. Doors to the 18+ show are at 8 and LeQube starts the night at 9:30. Cover is $7. I had a dream that involved donuts the night before I wrote this list, so seeing this Chillamundo video (which has donuts in it) kind of startled me:
3) Also on Friday: Rapper Sam Lao performs on the roof of Fort Works Art (2100 Montgomery) at 6pm as part of the gallery’s 40 Under 40 show. You could go watch her and then book it to Shipping and Receiving (201 S Calhoun) to see Arrested Development (yes, the “Mr. Wendel” people) with reggae funk band the Effinays and improvisational jazz masters Rage Out Arkestra. Oh yeah, there’s also Earthchild Imperius’ cassette release at MASS (1002 S Main), but you can read more about that in this week’s music feature. I never get tired of saying this: Sam Lao is pretty much the baddest. Here’s her video for “Pineapple.”
4) Saturday’s main event: the Grotto (517 University) has its End of Summer Fest, which starts at 3pm and features 16 bands across two stages. I’m not gonna list them all, but of note: Meach Pango at 4pm, Sub Sahara at 6pm, Sally Majestic at 9pm, and Teenage Sexx at midnight. Cover is $15, show is all-ages. This Teenage Sexx video is pretty perfect. Low budget, simple, direct, and badass:
5) I don’t know if Norman, OK will ever be known for anything other than the fucking Sooners (who, when they are beating Baylor or Texas, I refer to simply as “the Sooners”) and Toby Keith’s dumb bar and grill, but it deserves credit for having a pretty cool music scene (a tip for local bands hitting the road: try to get a show at the Opolis), which spawned the wry, uptempo indie rock of Broncho. One time, I saw Broncho play at City Tavern in Dallas, and they had shirts for sale that were basically their logo printed on some Under Armour tees; I thought that was funny as hell, and their live show is entertaining and exciting. They’re headlining Club Dada on Sunday with Los Angeles’ Billy Changer and local “hard-rock-and-Oates” pop jokers Son of Stan as the local support acts. Tickets are $13 online, or $15 at the door; looks like the show starts at 7pm. This Broncho song is called “Señora Borealis,” and that cracks me up like those Under Armour shirts did:
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.
