Cory Graves
Ben Kweller Joins Foo Fighters While Neon Indian and Don Henley Hit Late-Night TV.
While the rest of America is busy celebrating “engagement season,” the Republic of Texas once again finds itself otherwise preoccupied with its own October observance — am occurrence more commonly referred to as “festival season.”
Days removed from Austin City Limits and with Fun Fun Fun Fest so near on the horizon, a couple of other big North Texas festivals went ahead and made lineup announcements already this morning — the ninth-annual So What?! Music Fest and the sixth-annual Lights All Night.
But, wait, there's more! Recently, the annual 106.1 KISS-FM Jingle Ball announced its return to the American Airlines Center on Tuesday, December 1, where it'll bring with it pop radio's biggest stars, including One Direction, Calvin Harris, Demi Lovato, 5 Seconds of Summer, Ellie Goulding, Zedd, Shawn Mendes, Tove Lo, Charlie Puth and DNCE. Tickets, which run a pretty reasonable $70 per, went on sale yesterday and are already close to being all scooped up.
Sticking with the festival tip, Foo Fighters had a few surprises in store for the Austin crowd over the weekend as part of its second ACL-headlining set. Addressing the crowd, Dave Grohl mentioned that the band had recorded five new songs while in town, one of which includes Dallas ex-pat Ben Kweller on backing vocals. Then BK joined his old pal on stage for a “sweet, tug-your-heartstrings ballad” version of “Big Me,” the video evidence of which you can watch below.
Speaking of former locals: The new Neon Indian became available to stream in full yesterday via NPR. That effort also coincided with a performance from Alan Palomo and Co. (read: the onetime members of Roy G. & the Biv that now comprise his live backing band) on last night's episode of The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. As Fallon was quick to point out just prior to the band kicking into “Annie,” his old Late Night program was where Neon Indian made its national television debut once upon a time.
Also popping up on late-night TV this week was Dallas resident Don Henley, who swung by Jimmy Kimmel Live! to perform “Take a Picture of This,” from his new solo country album, which is currently No. 1 on the Billboard Country chart, as well as “Dirty Laundry” from his first solo record back in 1982.
Speaking of Cass County: Henley's fellow East Texas native Miranda Lambert pulled down a nomination this morning for the upcoming American Music Awards, which will be broadcast live from Los Angeles on November 22. The Dallas-born Nick Jonas also earned a nod.
Up for even bigger recognition is the East Dallas-raised Steve Miller, as the Woodrow Wilson grad recently found out he was among the nominees for the 2016 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction. The “Abracadabra” rocker will find out whether he makes the cut when the Rock Hall's new class is announced in December.
Also, while on the subject of local blues greats, word came down over the weekend that master Texas blues guitarist Smokin' Joe Kubek died of a heart attack on Sunday, October 11, just before he was set to take the stage at the Pleasure Island Seafood & Blues Festival in North Carolina. After conquering the Dallas scene, Kubek spent three decades touring with longtime collaborator Bnois King, with the pair releasing its most recent album just this past February. He was 58.
Far less worthy of your time is the fact that newly reinstated Dallas Cowboys defensive end Greg “Kraken” Hardy revealed this week how he stayed busy during his 19-game suspension for allegedly throwing a former girlfriend onto a bed full of machine guns and threatening to kill her. He filmed an ill-advised music video filled with strippers and gun sound effects with some no-talent Memphis rapper called JÄ Alan! But, hey, he's good at tackling quarterbacks, right?
There are dozens of actually great emcees right here in Dallas, of course. Take Buffalo Black, for instance, who was just featured in HipHopDX, which interviewed the rapper about his latest SURILLA LP, the release of which he'll formally celebrate tonight when he opens up for Cannibal Ox at Dada.
Also, we forgot to outright say this earlier, but fuck Greg Hardy. That goes double for his music career. Seriously, why waste your time on the above video garbage when there were so many better music videos released this week? Don't let it distract you from treasures like Ynfynyt Scroll's new travel bureau b-roll video for his “Todo Meu Amor” single. That song, we should mention, is part of a new comp from that he and his Track Meet cohorts just released, which can be downloaded for free here.
For good measure, there's another cool new video that you can watch without feeling all icky like you just supported a short-sided, remorseless garbage person. That'd be Brave Young Lion' recently-released clip for its “Girls” single. That song, too, is one you can download for free.
Also on the new music front, Ishi passes along a new tune co-written with Artful Dodger during a 2013 songwriting conference in Nashville. Check that one out below.
Finally, let's close out this week in Dallas music news and notes in quick-hit fashion:
• All four original members of Dallas metal act Slow Roosevelt will reunite as part of this weekend's sixth-annual Lolaspalooza.
• Deep Ellum venue The Prophet Bar will celebrate its 30th anniversary with a pair of shows next weekend. Local yesteryear outfits Ten Hands, Mike Dillon Band, Shallow Reign, The Buena Vistas and others perform on Friday, October 23, with Soul Asylum and the Meat Puppets playing the following night.
• Playdough and DJ Sean P will celebrate the release of their new We Buy Gold this Friday, October 16 at Josey Records.
• After an eight-year run at the venue, Granada Theater marketing guru Chris McDonald begins a similar position at AT&T Performing Arts Center this coming Monday.
Cover photo of Ben Kweller by Melanie Shafranek. Got a tip for White Noise? Email us!
