Live in the City Where the Sun Beats Down: Dallas does have a music scene.

When I first came to Dallas, I hated it and thought it was a city of assholes who said mean things under a veil of politeness. Now, I get pissed off when people complain about Dallas. (Turns out I was just in the wrong line of work.)

My current annoyance is hearing people complain that there's no music scene here. It makes me think of the gruff longtime waitresses who were my coworkers in my formative years and their expression "They'd rather bitch than eat when they're hungry." You can see a good show in Dallas. Or you can talk about how cool Austin is while not going out to support the music scene you have right here.

So here's a taste of the music scene you can participate in right here... (maybe I'll continue this theme in future blogs? Who knows, I'm very unreliable.)


First up - Hello Lover.

Hello Lover gets to top the list because I have recent video of them, and I've seen them play more times than I can count and its always a good show. Also, they have a charismatic seven-foot-tall lead singer who dances. The best way to find Hello Lover is to see them live - their internet presence (and the sound in my video) doesn't do them justice. But I like their taste in posters.

St Patty's band flyer - art by J Schaefer, reference photo T Stead

 If you disregard my advice to just see them live, or if you need to figure out how to do that, theres Facebook : http://www.facebook.com/pages/Hello-Lover/108340453574 and Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/hellolovermusic

This brings me to my next introduction- a venue: Club Dada, also seen in the above video.

Dada is off again, on again, off again, now its on again. It's part of the tradition of Deep Ellum legends that are closing down, but this one won't stay dead. Its a good place to see a show - either a local band, or see a bigger act in a smaller venue.

 Favorite bands I've seen there: Hello Lover, Lucero, The Riverboat Gamblers, Record Hop.

One major, MAJOR complaint about Dada though: The bathroom situation. There are a total of two toilets available, and shows here do fill the house.

Website at http://dadadallas.com/

Whatever Happened to my Rock n Roll?

If you don't recognize it, the title is a quotation of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, a band which abjectly DID NOT suck in concert. I would like to keep on writing about thier show, but at this point it wouldn't be current.



The live music highlights of my April in Dallas were both at Granada. One was a band I'd wanted to see for some time and whose catalog I knew well. The other was a band I'd recently taken a liking to, whose Rock Band 3 song I knew well. Unfortunately, both left me disappointed.



The Raveonettes was actually not what I would consider a bad show. I had a pleasant time, and for the most part, the music sounded good. However, persistent back tracking and a lack of life in the show itself (they basically stood, and played, and were always back lit so that the view was pretty much their still silhouettes the entire show) prevented it from being what I'd call a good show. I didn't leave wishing I hadn't come.. but I must admit, I was hoping to leave converted to being a huge fan of the band, which did not happen.




The Kills show had almost everything The Raveonettes lacked. There was life in the show, Alison Mossheart strutted around like a badass, and in general gave the crowd what they wanted. The crowd ate it up. Except for me. I discovered that while I sorely felt the lack of swagger in The Raveonettes show, a heavy pour of swagger wasn't enough to carry The Kills. Despite being a fan of the band, I couldn't delude myself that the over-played, almost cartoon-y distortion sounded good. And then there was the factor that both shows had in common: the goddamn back tracking.




To a degree, I do wish I hadn't gone to see The Kills. In a sort of way, I still wish I was wishing to see them live, and hearing all the positive remarks from people who have seen their show, not realizing that I would sorely disagree with the apparent majority on the experience. After these two lack luster musical experiences, I also find myself wishing I'd started doing rock show video diaries earlier, when I was on a roll and would therefore not have to piss off all the rabid internet fans of the bands. (BTW, The Raveonettes also win the rabid fan pissing contest - their fans largely will not hear the possibility that they did not play an awesome show and want to blame user error. Judging by the amount of people who attended the show, the rabid fans exist in far greater numbers on the internet than IRL. Which is too bad, because if more of them bought tickets, perhaps the band could afford to hire more touring musicians and quite the stupid back tracking. The Kills on the other hand, have no trouble selling tickets.. and still I'd advise them to pick up some guns for hire.)



I'm about as anti-government interference as anyone I know, yet I find myself tempted to say that I think shows should come with a label that makes clear the amount of backtracking additives they include. In fact, I'd like to say it, as it'd be a comfortable level of inflammatory, but actually I'm too super serious about both my politics and my music to risk the suggestion that I want interference in one by the guys that brought you vehicle inspections and the TABC test. ("GiNGer Ale? I want Shomething shTRonGer!")

(also on the blog i share with a few ex-gamerioters - www.slightlyrelevant.com)

The Days of Tequila and Lillies

On Friday night after my show, Thom and our friend Joey (bartender at Vickery) and I made a desperate attempt to catch Hello Lover playing at Club Dada. One of my other friends/Vickery bartenders is in the band..

We ran across the park to the car and flew down 75 to Deep Ellum.. and then, anti-climatically, we parked and walked around looking for the club. We wandered past some sleeping street festival, past salsa clubs and dingy pizza place, past bums, through a landscape that should have probably belonged only to movies. We asked a whole cast of characters where it was, Joey even asked the same cop twice, but to no avail. Fortunately the cop was amused.

We fianally came through a crowd of mohawks and bondage pants and could see it on the other side. But we were five minutes too late, we'd missed the set. Sean was packing up when we got there. We did a couple of shots with him and my boss, who was also there.. i had a coke and Captain as well.. and somewhere between that and our fruitless search for the hottest chick in the bar, I lost track of at least some aspects of sobriety.

Record Hop went on, and the sound assaulted the tiny room with deafening fury. We stood up at the front and side of the stage, not really interacting with each other because the sound made communication rediculous. Everyone was alone with the music. I took a couple of snapshots with my camera.. my foot next to Thom's on the concrete floor, the singer blurring across the screen, a random crowd shot. Lost in the deafness of music, I made a note in my phone- "I hope I remember these snapshots- the last suck of a straw, the half hour of deafness.. the.. oblivion."

I can't remember the last time I could feel the poetry of my own life so intensely.. see the beauty in little pieces of things I see and do and the intricacies of the situations. To be sucking in air like it is something that you can't just get out of thin air. Maybe not since the days of running through a hardee's parking lot in the rain with a girl named Merry. Which is a story I must write soon..

Thom asked if everyone who works at Vickery is a starving artist. Maybe not precisely, but close. Working in a bar is really not a bad gig at all. It has its advantages.. and it offers eternal youth.

A Basic Timeline of Rika's Existence

The end of the eighties.. Rika’s memory starts here. She spent her childhood in the country in Effingham County Illinois- which is far far away from Chicago but only a couple hours from St. Louis. Rika has three sisters and one brother. Dad works on oil rigs, Mom stayed home for the first several years of Rika’s life. A good day for Rika during these years involves some of her cousins visiting. The TV only gets two channels, but Rika watches Ninja Turtles and Mario Brothers nearly religiously. She likes to play outside and frequently has boys’ haircuts.

Elementary school- Rika goes to Dieterich Elementary school. She is not very good at being a kid and never understands what the other kids are talking about because of her lack of watching TV and movies. She likes to read anything historical and is sort of a quiet dork.

Rika’s older sister has a 110 camera and she and Rika begin to take posed pictures of each other. Eventually they move on to 35 mm and eventually older sister emerges as the photographer and Rika becomes the model.

Rika's youngest sister participating in Oldest Sister's early photographic habit

Junior high- Still going to Dieterich, just a different hallway now. Rika does solos at chorus concerts and school variety shows. Starts to play bass guitar. Begins to discover the entertainment value of being odd. Older sister is the “hot girl” at school, Rika is generally well tolerated because of this. Rika starts dying her hair the night of 8^th grade graduation and keeps switching her hair color constantly until after college.

Rika (with wrench at left) with siblings. Photo by Carpe Diem Photography (Oldest Sister and her husband)

High school- Rika plays music with various buddies, eventually spend a significant amount of time playing heavy metal in Nine Circles with best friend/boyfriend Thom, her brother Levi, and neighbor Poe. Destroys a good percent of her voice this way.

Sews her own clothes because the nearest Hot Topic is almost an hour away in Terre Haute, Indiana. Works fast food and waitressing jobs. Gets good roles in school plays and does the announcements every morning on high school cable channel- allowing the whole school to quickly check out what she is wearing. Generally refuses to do homework and graduates 22 out of 42.

Y2K- The coming of the millennium is somewhat uneventful as Rika’s parents make her come home by midnight. Older sister salvages some of the night by insisting on bringing Rika home about a half hour late. J

Older sister becomes a serious photographer sometime during this era.

The graduation cap and the butch haircut caused by too much dying- photo by Christa Tibbs

Rika majors in Fashion Design in college. She works her ass off in school for the first time in her life and also works jobs like Denny’s and Casey’s gas station. Doesn’t have time to do much but school and work. Models occasionally for school fashion shows, ect., sometimes her own designs. Wins first place in eveningwear at Emerging Young Designer in St. Louis- gets a badass embroidery machine. Almost signs with a modeling agent in St. Louis, decides the guy is a creep. Graduates May 2008.

Models in Rika's creations for her senior thesis collection

June 2008- Moves somewhat inexplicably to Dallas TX, starts modeling seriously, and stops dying her hair.