By John Clarke, of It's Smelling a Lot Like Tuesday

I just bought a 14-year-old CD for --- and is there really any other reason --- purely nostalgic reasons. It is a compilation of mostly Dallas bands that a local radio station had released. Yes, back before radio stations were all owned by one company, they would actually play and promote bands that their local listeners might enjoy. I doubt these days that many people except me would buy "Tales From the Edge - Volume 2 - Flying Squirrels Ripped My Flesh." That must have been the reason the CD was only 3 bucks.

One of the bands on the CD was the Dizzy Spinning Poets. Back in the late 80's and early 90's, lots of Dallas bands were trying to replicate the radio friendly pop success of (Edie Brickell &) The New Bohemians. The Dizzy Spinning Poets were no different. In fact, I think one of the guys in the band was an ex-New Bohemian.

So in 1989, I was back in Dallas on Christmas break from UT Austin. Dave, a college friend, invited me to go out with some dork he knew from SMU. The SMU guy's name was Quillton. I think his name was really Steve, but he changed it to Quillton --- reason enough to want to punch him in the face. Quillton had long hair --- not because he wanted to be cool or an iconoclast at preppie SMU, but because he was pretentious. He wore oversized wingtips and he'd read you the poetry he'd written, even if you didn't ask to hear it. Vomit.

Quillton wants to go to Poor David's Pub, then on Greenville Avenue, to see The Dizzy Spinning Poets. I don't know if he'd ever heard them before, or his just liked that they had the word "poets" in their name.

We go and I prepare myself for the band to suck. They get on stage and start to play some very acceptable pop music. Nothing earth shattering, but pleasant enough to go along with my beer buzz. The drummer was a guy who grew up on the same street as me in Richardson, so, even better.

Quillton sits in the back by himself, even though there were only about 15 people at the show. He leans forward and seriously studies the band, like there's something to get. It's a pop band dude, lighten up. Man, I wanted to punch him --- hard.

Because of a recent $3 purchase, the long defunct Dizzy Spinning Poets, and Quillton by default, live on.

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