1) There’s this thing in Dallas called Champ Fest 2018 (El Festivo Del Barrio) that starts at noon, has a $5 cover, is 21+/BYOB, and features 30 fucking bands across two stages, plus Mexican food. I’m not gonna list all of them, but some of them are: LOAFERS, the Thyroids, Sub-Sahara, Sunbuzzed, Mean Motor Scooter, Akkolyte, Vault Dweller, and the Ellen Degenerates. As you may have surmised, this is a punk heavy event. Sounds hella fun to me! The address is 2027 Conner Dr, Dallas, TX 75217. Aztec Death is also playing, so here’s one of their songs, in YouTube form: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2HdNgfp_2E
2) Saturday in Fort Worth is Fall Gallery Night, and there’s an after party at the Blackhouse (1105 Peach St), for which you apparently need tickets; it’s sponsored by PBR and features three DJs. TBH, this is probably the place to be around 11pm, though it gets going at 10:30.
3) Wayne Floyd (see this week’s Hearsay) is at MASS (1002 S Main) on Saturday night, and if you’re into Americana/folk/general songwriter-y vibes, this bill is pretty clutch, as it also features Carey Wolff, Chris Johnson (of the now-defunct Telegraph Canyon), and Jakob Robertson. 18+ or under with a guardian, $7 at the door, doors at 8, music at 9. Here’s Wayne playing at Magnolia Motor Lounge five years ago. Wow! Time flies, yet crowds still never shut the fuck up! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qf8cjo97cRE
4) The Sunshine Bar (902 W Division, Arlingfun), Arlingfun’s most lovable dive/ear-scorching chamber/old cheese puff dispensary has a heavy show on Saturday night, and it’s the last one to be assembled and promoted by heavy metal fan and longtime Sunshine bartender Matt Day. While Day will continue to beam across the bar at his beloved locals, he is handing off the booking duties to the capable claws of Wyatt Burton (Steel-Bearing Hand), Aaron Bartz (Tame… Tame and Quiet, O. Deletron), and Kasi Dane (who also books shows at the Ridglea Lounge) in order to have his Saturday nights open for things like hanging with his family and running D&D games. Anyway, the bill features Houston’s Omotai, Dallas/Midlothian’s Fantom Limb, and local sci-fi doom trio Mountain of Smoke. 21+, starts at 9. This ain’t no funky reggae party; $5 at the door. Here’s an Omotai video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ffgudcs3_EQ
5) MASS’s Sunday night bill leans on the songwriter side, though the three artists each have a country bent. Simon Flory evinces an Americana-influenced take on Dwight Yoakam. Union Specific, from Austin, makes me think of “Ruby”-era Kenny Rogers, not because of the singer’s voice, but the arrangements and sonics of their music. Nathan Mongol Wells’ sound has a wild honky tonk vibe striped with an affinity for punk rock and electrified blues, like if you had a banged up, primer-colored Chevy S-10 and spray-painted the Batman symbol or the Lexus logo on its side. That simile might not make sense, but you can probably picture that truck, right? And probably the house it’s parked in front of, with the lawn next to driveway it’s sitting on in need of a mow, and the house looking like it’s settled on an old foundation, evidenced by wonky window frames and some cracks in the trim above the garage. Inside, there’s probably weed crumbs on the coffee table and empty beer cans on the kitchen counter, as well as a box of cassette tapes in a bedroom closet that includes Social Distortion, Tres Hombres, and I dunno, Vanilla Ice’s To the Extreme, because the occupant might have been 10 or 11 in 1990, and those other tapes came courtesy a cool uncle. Who knows. I just listened to one of Wells’ songs and extrapolated. Anyway: MASS’s usual age restrictions apply (see number 3 above), doors are at 8, show starts at 9, and cover is between $0 and $1000. Here’s Simon Flory. He’s the guy singing, posted up next to the upright player: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-1pD_pFX3s
