Cory Graves
That Epic Ninja Turtles and Vanilla Ice Party Is On. And Other '90s Icons Are Coming, Too.
Forgive us if we were a bit skeptical when we first heard news of Jared Guynes' plans to throw an “epic” crowd-funded party headlined by Vanilla Ice and featuring a guest appearance by four Dallasites that happened to own movie-grade Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle costumes. But, at the time, the odds seemed stacked against this thing.
Honestly, even after learning that Guynes also planned to feature a magician and a vintage arcade at his shindig, the $50 admission price he was asking from attendees seemed a bit steep to us. Not only that, but he was going to have to sell something like $35,000 worth of tickets just to ensure that thing would indeed happen in the first place.
And yet, when the event's funding campaign officially wound down yesterday, Guynes ended up with $72,778.69 — or more than double what he initially said he'd need to put on the event.
So what's a guy like Guynes to do with all that extra scratch? Well, he's going to turn his party, which claims to be 100 percent not-for-profit, into a full-on man-child fantasy blowout. Now, in addition to Vanilla Ice and his Secret of the Ooze co-stars, this event is set to feature performances from Coolio, Tone-Loc, Rob Base, DJ Babychino, Partners in Kryme and Graceland Ninjaz, along with appearances by Big Al Mack and Burton Gilliam, free pizza from Il Cane Rosso, a Nerf gun battle, free mechanical bull rides, and 32 more features that couldn't be crammed onto the already extraordinarily busy flier.
Somehow, we feel like the overwhelming support for this thing — and specifically the fact that so many people are willing to shell out $50 to see Vanilla Ice — says a lot more about the city's stunted emotional development than it does about the state of Dallas hip-hop.
A better indicator that our hip-hop scene is continuing to step closer to the national spotlight, perhaps, is this glowing review that A.Dd+ received from Pitchfork this week in regards to the duo's DiveHiFlyLo track, “Dirty Cotton Candy.” The site praised the Dallas rappers' ability to find a middle ground between Outkast and UGK.
Likewise, CMJ offered up praise for Dallas rockers Crushed Stars last week as it premiered a new track called “Haters” from the band's upcoming Farewell Young Lovers LP that's due out in January. Says the site: “It's a fuzzy sleepwalking gem that'll bring to mind drops of dew on blades of grass and other similarly cliched romantic moments, but it effortlessly avoids any sonic cliche.” A release show for the disc is set to take place January 24 at The Kessler, with support coming from the newly re-formed Pleasant Grove
Already, it's looking like next month is going to be a big one for the DFW music scene. Reverend Horton Heat's newest disc is also set to drop in January and, per this recent interview with Rolling Stone, frontman Jim Heath says this new batch of tunes will recall the harder-rocking psychobilly sound that the band's best known for. As such, the release will even include a re-working of a 1986 demo from the band called “Longest Gone Man.”
Also in January, Burleson native Kelly Clarkson will appear on an episode of ABC's Nashville. The move is a no-brainer in terms of cross-promotion for Clarkson, who is said to be recording a version of the song “Fade Into You,” which was shown to be “written” by the characters Gunnar and Scarlett in Season One of the series. We presume that also means she'll be performing the song as part of her guest appearance on the show.
Clarkson's not the only North Texas expat set to appear on the small screen in the coming months, either. It was also announced last week that St. Vincent's Annie Clark will join her pals Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen on Season Four of Portlandia, which will begin airing on IFC beginning on February 27. It's far from the first time the trio has worked together, though: While Brownstein and Armisen appeared in St. Vincent's “Laughing With a Mouthful of Blood” video, Clark also returned the favor, portraying a cop uniform model in Season Two of Portlandia. That's not to mention Brownstein and Clark's recent onstage cameo singing with Pearl Jam at the American Airlines Center or Brownstein showing up at another recent Dallas gig of Clark's.
In this week's other release news: Fort Worth hip-hop humorists Rivercrest Yacht Club will cement its comeback with a release party for its latest album this Saturday at Lola's; that same night, Dallas' Auxiliary Voice will release its debut effort at The Prophet Bar; and Austin indie production company Stuck will be releasing its Lou Reed tribute album featuring Denton's The Treelines on December 27 (you can currently hear the band's version of “I Found a Reason” right here).
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