No Fold

It's been dead around here...
So I'm taking my vacation time while there's not much going on, but I'm popping out of my fortress of solitude long enough to pick up a wireless signal (yes, there's even a Starbucks here in the Arctic) to let you know about a show tonight.

Rubber Gloves(411 E. Sycamore, 9pm, $5)
Fighting for the Universe
The Couture
Progenitor

The band to check out is The Couture, a rock act out of Dallas. They've been compared to a lot of Strokes-ish garage rock bands, but I hear a lot of pre-breakout grunge, back when Nirvana and Pearl Jam were standing in line for Sonic Youth & The Melvins. Maybe it's the cold weather & spitting rain we've had the last couple of days.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm heading back into my fortress of solitude to chew bubble gum & make a rock album. And I'm almost out of bubble gum.

Dan’s Silverleaf, (103 Industrial 9pm $7)
Doug Burr, opening for Eleanor Whitmore & Chris Masterson

Doug Burr, On Promenade

I had the privilege of spending an evening with Americana folk-poet Doug Burr last week. He is in person as he is in song: Entirely without bombast, quietly literate and thoughtful.

Burr is promoting his latest release, On Promenade, at Dan’s Silverleaf tonight. The album is on my personal “best of” list of 2007.

On Promenade evolved from Burr’s ruminations on Greil Marcus’ Mystery Train, a book about rock and roll that follows the career arcs of Robert Johnson, Elvis Presley, The Band and Sly Stone – all against a bigger cultural and historical backdrop. It also grew out of about four years of songwriting.

When you take your first crack at the album, it’s like you’re following a flawed protagonist through his heroic journey. Burr said he prefers to write in the guise of a cast of characters. He’s not into "the confessional song." He said he finds the stories of others just as relevant as the confessional sort.

It’s a rustic album that is nudged along gently, both by Burr’s poetry and expert work by his collaborators. Instinctively, Glen Squibb, Todd Pertll, Britton Beisenherz bend their sound to mirror Burr’s honest-to-goodness voice. Squibb plays the Wurlitzer, a small electronic keyboard that accounts for a lot of the album’s atmosphere. Pertll chips in confidently on pedal steel, and Beisenherz moves from organ to bass with ease. Burr’s other backers – Andy Odom on bass, Rob Sanchez on drums, Amanda Shires on fiddle and Amanda Leggett on background vocals – flesh out several tracks, all with well-worn feeling.

A correction from my Sunday article on Burr: His collaborators worked for no money. But as is so often the case, labors of love are more precious and pure than our commercial strivings.

There’s a lot to like about Burr: the way he trusts his own voice, both in terms of vocals and in lyrics; his artistic integrity; the way he models ensemble work at its finest. As a follow-up to The Sickle & The Sheaves, On Promenade is more mature, deeper and more soul-baring. And that’s saying a lot, as The Sickle & The Sheaves was a meaty debut. Bear witness to the sparse, shining poetry of “Ain’t Got No Chains” from Sickle – it somehow double-dips in the Spiritual and early blues genres without once being derivative. Now, skip on over to On Promenade’s second track, “Come to My Senses” and you get the sense of Burr’s deepening. It’s a Southern Gothic baroque if ever there was one.

Squibb’s Wurlizter brings in an antique sound that’s lush and fresh. Shire’s fiddle is nimble, but she affects a feeble sound at all the right moments. Leggett suggests some hopefulness next to Burr’s ache, and Beisenherz’ mixing is judicious.

Denton has bred its share of Grammy winners, and if there’s such thing as cosmic justice, the industry will someday smile on Burr. The songwriter probably won’t hope for that.

But we can.

Dan's Silverleaf (103 Industrial, FREE):

I was all busy this morning looking for info so I could tell you all about Dentron, but apparently I don't read so good - Lucinda Breeding beat me to the punch a few days ago.

Oh well, just so long as somebody's paying attention.
Click here for her story.

Hailey's:
Doors at 9, $6
Bridges and Blinking Lights
Colour Revolt
Handbrake

Couldn't log in to post this earlier for some reason...
But go see Bridges & Blinking Lights, and pick up a copy of their new CD, Standing on the same stick.

First, there's Dan's Silverleaf, where the're kicking off the Silverleaf A&C Festival RIGHT NOW. There'll be all kinds of things on display & live music, all for free. Then stick around, at 10pm you can see Brave Combo on the Silverleaf stage for $10. It's worth that just to see everybody do the chicken dance.
And congratulate the Brave Combo crew on their latest Grammy Nomination.

If that's not your bag, you can head to J&J's on the Square (north side, middle of Oak st. block across from the courthouse). Starting around 8pm (and another FREE show), Check out Admiral David V and Gun Gun.

After that head down the street and around the corner to Rubber Gloves (411 E. Sycamore) & you could probably catch Oso Closo, a well knit outfit with roots in UNT's school of music.

Whew. Didn't know I was gonna have to type all of that.
Be sure to come back tomorrow, after a little rest I'll come back to tell you about this:

I brought it up a little early so I could point out the "bring a toy for toys for tots" part of the poster.
Just thought I'd give you a little headstart. Kids need toys, yo.

A little too quiet.
I couldn't really find anything going on tonight, which is odd for a town that generally starts the weekend on Thursday. Maybe the holiday wind-down is upon us.
Some great stuff coming up this weekend, though. Stay tuned, I'll post some info on it tomorrow.

In the meantime let me know if there's something I missed.

Dan's Silverleaf(103 Industrial) FREE, 10pm

A sort of singer-songwriter roundtable tonight, featuring Brent Best (ex-Slobberbone, The Drams), Will Kapinos (jetscreamer, Spitfire Tumbleweeds), and Chris Welch (Pinebox Serenade).
It's an intimate setup with three of Denton's best songwriters.

And since it's a free show you should take that cash you saved at the door and buy 'em all a shot of whiskey. It's the decent thing to do.