Monks of Saturnalia / Zapruder Sequence / Broose Dickinson w/Pop Poppins / Frankie 45 and Ben Martin

Mike Orren says:

Amanda sez:

This is a lesson in why I shouldn’t be a music promoter or booking agent: I find it next to impossible to say no to people I care about and like (Reid and SamRed)….which means I still will invariably make someone mad in the process. Tonight it will be BobCat, the most amazing sound guy in the universe. I think he will want to harm me for what I have done…and possibly the staff at Dada may ask for my head on a platter...

Tonight’s Listening To: is not only a study in diversity, it will be a study in what happens when Amanda books six freakin’ bands.

This will be Sean Kirkpatrick’s last Thursday as Artist in Residence. As he took the stage last week with pAper chAse bandmate KrisYoumans on cello, I was transfixed. So transfixed in fact that I shushed (actually said ‘shut up’) the bartenders and a patron for whooping it up during Sean’s delicate set. Which is the only way I can describe Sean’s music: delicate. Though other words come to me, like complex, intimate, and tender. Its music that a listener can appreciate, music that should be listened to, not talked over. So if you see me clenching my jaw, furrowing my brow, tonight, be forewarned…I will shush you. And if that doesn’t work, I’m bringing duct tape as back-up.

Now here’s where it starts to get hairy… www.bocatinta.com

Tonight’s Listening To: is a jam-packed cornucopia of music by my friends, music by my friend’s friends, music by old friends, and music by new friends. Tonight I’m all about the bias.

Kicking things off at 9 are The Felons. Let me explain what happened. I was tending bar at Dada, helping out, a guy named Dave Mofo got up on stage with an electric guitar. We all rolled our eyes because any time someone gets up at an open mike night with an electric guitar it usually means one thing: This Is Going To Suck. But then he opened his mouth and began to sing in the most haunting, angelic, damn-near Thom Yorke voice I’ve ever heard. As soon as he got off stage I asked him if he had a band. He didn’t. I told him that was really stupid. So for the next 5 or 6 weeks I pestered him about not having a band. On the 7th week he said he relented and asked for my help. So Blackheart Society’s Joshua Warr stepped up to play bass, The Amazing Fred stepped up to play tambo and keys, and Jared from The Ramonalisas pitched in on drums and The Felons were born. And I think their surf-tinged, indie-pop goodness is fantastically wondermous.

Then at 10 and hot on the heels of their show w/ the Reverend Horton Heat, it’s Frankie 45 & Ben Martin’s CD Release show. Frankie had this wonderful band, Spector 45, and like a lot of young bands, things like college and stuff got in the way and well, the band disbanded. But in my opinion, that was when fortune smiled upon Frankie: (Full disclosure: I stole the following story, verbatim, from Frankie’s site) “On September 15, 2006, Frankie was asked to play a press conference held by Mayor Laura Miller. The gig was in a parking lot under Interstate 30 where Miller announced the new Deep Ellum shuttle bus. One third of Frankie’s band was out of town so he and drummer Ben Martin improvised. Then they were asked if they could also perform on the shuttle’s inaugural ride. Aware that even a basic snare drum would be precarious on a moving bus filled with VIP’s and cameras, they searched frantically for a way to meet this request. Within minutes a device was built consisting of a plastic cup duct taped into a small cardboard box that Ben could play with brushes. (Hell yeah!) Mayor Miller was so impressed with their performance she hired Frankie & Ben to play all evening giving the bus a true Deep Ellum feel. The purity of the music was so inspired and fun, the two practiced beyond the shuttle gig and well into the night. Two weeks later they took the mayor’s money, an acoustic guitar and the cardboard beat box into the Kitchen studios on Garland Road.” Now you can hear it for yourself tonight and buy the CD. I promise you’ll listen to it over and over, like I do. And kudos to Mayor Miller, she actually did something decent with our tax-payer’s dollars.

At 11, I want you all to imagine it’s the late 80’s in Deep Ellum. On any given weekend you could see bands like the Toadies, Ten Hands was all over the place, Island Records had just started paying attention to the sound coming out of Dallas and recently released an album called ‘The Sound of Deep Ellum’ which, featured the likes of the New Bohemians, The Buck Pets and The Daylights. Pop Poppins, out of Saginaw, had just formed and was beginning to catch a foothold as a staple in the Deep Ellum bars. Lead by Broose, they quickly developed quite a local and then regional following. The band began to release some albums, most on Carpe Diem, and their sound soon permeated the South. I can remember their quirky 60’s tinged pop being played on the radio with the likes of their more harder-edged alternative bretheren, though I wasn’t of age to catch a show yet, that is unless Beard WASN’T working the door…The band never really broke up, but rather drifted apart to separate corners of the US. There’s always been a lot of speculation that one day, maybe, if the moon was blue and stars and planets were properly aligned, they’d come together and play again. Now they will. Sort of. I know that I billed it as a Pop Poppins reunion show, but I discovered last week that I was misinformed, so sue me. Broose will be playing solo tonight though a few of the Pop Poppins guys will be joining him on stage tonight and I have been browbeaten for the last few weeks by Broose, Bob, and Papa Kettle Frank to sing Nancy Sinatra’s Somethin’ Stupid with Broose. I will undoubtedly embarrass myself, but it will be fun if I don’t lose my nerve.

Then at 12 we’ve got Zapruder Sequence, thanks to SamRed’s poking and prodding. I love their music, thanks to Cindy for first turning me on to them, and was flattered that they wanted to play. Jordan Munn’s voice has that raspy, whiskey tinged honesty that I love so much. So much that I am pestering them to do one of my Range Wednesdays with Mo Robson and J.D. Whittenburg. A.) Because I am a sucker for ZS’s alt-country-disguised-as-rock and B.) I want to hear a raspy, whiskey tinged sing off between Munn and Whittenburg. Sam’s a gianormous fan of ZS so I’ll let him speak for me when it comes to describing the boys, “jumping from Moog-supported pop-rockers to metal-appreciative howlers to deep-fried crooners.” I’ve never seen a Zapruder show, only listened online, so this will be a treat for me. Oh, and if you try to talk to me during their set and I scowl at you, you have been forwarned about the duct tape.

Finally, it’s the Monks of Saturnalia. Reid from Shanghai 5 asked me to put them on the bill for tonight, and again, I couldn’t say no. I love Reid and I love the Monks. Fortunately for me, when BobCat finds out that I have six freaking bands tonight he won’t kill me too much, because he too loves the Monks. They played a while back at the Observer’s Loser’s Show Reid and I hosted at Club Dada and I was blown away by their trippy jazz. It’s weird and wonderful in its execution and will prove to be a perfect way to end what may prove to be a calamitous evening. Think Sun Ra stoned and playing with a flautist…flutist…flautist…aw fuck, a flute player. The Monks will be a full band tonight with all it’s members intact. (That sounds weird, but I’ll let it stand.)

Exhausted yet?

Oh my Larry… the Dada staff is gonna kill me tonight…

The Particulars…

Listening To: presents Club Dada Tonight – 5 bucks – Free drink with paid admission if you’re legal – 18+