Michael Harberg, says:

Amanda Newman's "Listening To:" series at Club Dada on Thursday nights is quickly becoming one of the coolest regular events in Dallas. She has created an environment that is both artist friendly and fan friendly while regularly putting some of the hottest local bands on stage. (disclosure: Amanda was instrumental in getting me involved with Texasgigs.com and I am eternally grateful...and she gave me this really cool tripod with which to shoot steady video at shows.) On to the music...

For the second consecutive Thursday night, Fort Worth's JJ & The Rogues (www.myspace.com/jjrogues) rocked a Dallas stage...hard. The kids (all between 20 and 23 years old) played 2 sets with covers from the Shins and Wilco mixed in with their originals. Personal highlights were That's A Lie, I Was Catching You (I am guessing on that song title...but this is one of their coolest songs to see live, when they start harmonizing with 2 microphones for three singers at the front of the stage, one can't help but be reminded of a certain other foursome) and Never Be Easy Again. Everyone seemed to be having a really good time listening to this show. If you haven't been fortunate enough to catch one of their shows yet, mark your calendar now. 6.10.06 at Club Dada with The Jones Thing and Olospo, three of my personal favorites (THE PERFECT STORM!).

Closing out the evening was Matthew James (www.myspace.com/matthewjamesshelton), whose foursome plays a well arranged brand of punkish country (y'allternative?). Matthew's voice and acoustic guitar are backed by Trent Cockerham on guitar, Larry Leicht on bass and Mikee Batista on drums. They put on an energetic show that showcased some very cool vocal harmonies.

All in all, the Listening To: series at Club Dada makes a really fun Thursday night. I am going to try to check out as many of these lineups as I can schedule. See you there!