1) Thursday Evening Free Show Alert: I Happy Am headlines a show at Dreamy Life Records and Music (1310 W Allen), along with a band I do not know called Community Theater, another unknown-to-me band called The Caves, and atmospheric trio Mañana Cowboy. They start the show at 7pm. All-ages. Mañana Cowboy start jamming in this video around the 1:50 mark:
2) Friday night, get your ears scorched with a four-band bill at MASS (1002 S Main) featuring Dallas-based psychedelic trio Monoculture in the headlining spot, local garage-rockers Mean Motor Scooter at 10:30, Denton power trio the Infamists at 9:30, and a “desert rock” band from Denver called the Savage Blush at 8:30. Show is 18+, cover is $7. Here’s what Monoculture look and sound like:
3) MASS has a live music/comedy show on Saturday night to benefit the family of Troll, the tattoo legend and Berry Street mainstay who lost his battle with cancer on January 1. The tributes paid to this beloved soul have wracked my heart with sadness, and if you are fortunate enough to have his art on your skin, you’ll want to be at this get-together. He and I had some hearty, rueful laughs the last time we saw each other, that ended with a big hug. I walked away thinking that for all his acerbic wit, he was a man who cared deeply for his friends, and I was glad to have seen him when I did. Now I am grateful to have known him. Troll’s longtime friend Steedo Smith emcees the event, which features performances from Big Red Ants and Ryan Tharp, and standup sets from Brian Breckenridge, Dalton Pruitt, Monna DP, and Genevieve Rice. There will be a raffle and a bake sale to help Troll’s kin in this time of sorrow. If you skip to the 8:43 mark in this Fort Worth travelogue video from 2011, this woman interviews Troll while he gives her a tattoo at commemorating her trip to Cowtown. Hearing his voice, imagining his inner monologue, man… my eyes are leaking all over again:
4) Tin Panther (937 Woodward) has a high-volume/tall amplifier, hard rock show on Saturday night, headlined by the Dangits, with open noise provided by the Me-Thinks, Dallas’ Creepeth, and Cult-tribute the Sun Kings. The show starts at 8, is 21+, and cost an indeterminate amount of money, probably between $5 and $10. Here’s an old Dangits video, featuring a short-haired Brandon Smith on guitar:
5) Also on Saturday: Ghosts of November and Phantomelo at Lola’s. Show is 21+, it starts at 9, and cover is $5. Phantomelo is getting footage for an upcoming video, presumably to accompany their upcoming record. Right now, they have this video:
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 at 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. 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 since 2002.
