Last Thursday, Halloween, was the last Patio Sessions of the season. These are really nice little free concerts held down in the Dallas Arts District – I’ve been going to as many of these as I can. It’s tough to get down there on time after work, but I rush out and grab a train and usually get there with no problems.
I had circled this one on the calendar because Home by Hovercraft was performing. I am a big fan – have seen them in Klyde Warren Park and in Deep Ellum and enjoyed their theatrical performances, music that doesn’t really fit into any genre that I’m aware of. Their concerts will be on hold for a bit as they prepare for another run of their musical, On The Eve, this time at Theater Three (I am really looking forward to this).
In Halloween style, they were in costume, as were more than a few of the folks present. By the end of the concert, there was a clot of folks decked out in bizarre outfits dancing along the edge of the reflecting pool (sorry, no photos – it was too dark by then). Pretty surreal and a lot of fun.
Home by Hovercraft, at the ATT Patio Sessions, Dallas, Texas
Home by Hovercraft, at the ATT Patio Sessions, Dallas, Texas
Best step-dancing, xylophone playing horse I’ve seen in awhile.
Home by Hovercraft, at the ATT Patio Sessions, Dallas, Texas
Lobby of the Winspear Opera House – taken during the opening festivities three years ago.
The interior of the Winspear, taken when it first opened.
Ever since we stumbled into the unexpected awesomeness that was Turandot at the Death Star – I have been jonesin’ for some more opera. I managed to take in a couple of Met Simulcasts at local movie theaters – which was extra cool – but there is no substitute for the real thing.
Despite our poverty at the moment, I splurged and bought tickets to the Dallas Opera’s production of Carmen at the Winspear. Wanting to enjoy the show with the minimum of folderol I chose the Sunday matinee. The tickets have been magneted on the refrigerator for months… finally, today was the day. I was psyched.
I have always loved the music of Carmen – I have had an album of the orchesteral suite on my own personal heavy rotation for thirty years. It is a treat to hear the familiar melodies on their home turf, so to speak.
The only problem I have with Carmen is one of those stubborn stray childhood memories. Implanted like an intractable splinter is the remembrance of a particular episode of Gilligan’s Island… where the castaways produce a homegrown play of their own device. It is a musical version of Hamlet, set to well known opera themes – in particular a couple of the more famous melodies from Carmen.
The combination of the serious genius of Shakespeare and the classic musical stylings of Bizet mixed with the silly sitcom technique caused a rift in the time-space continuum and a permanent spot of damage in my young brain. The corruption persists to this day. Unfortunately, I can’t listen to The Toreador Song without hearing the Skipper singing, “Neither a borrower nor a lender be….”
And then, Gilligan singing “To be or not to be,” to the tune of Habanera… Oh, man, I wish I had never heard that….
But, other than that, I love the music.
And hearing it live was especially special. So much of the music we hear today (all of it, really) is electronically amplified. Even live music is miked and boomed out over speakers. To hear the complexity and delicacy of the orchestra and the voices within the exquisite acoustics of a place like the Winspear with no intermediary between the instruments and performers and your eardrums is a pure treat… something to be treasured and remembered, experienced whenever possible.
Now, because I am poor, we could only afford nosebleed seats – way up in the top, only three rows down from the ceiling (though, since I bought them on the first day, they were in the center). It wasn’t bad at all. The sound was still perfect and, although we couldn’t make out the emotion in the faces of the performers, the staring-down-on the relatively narrow staging gave the production a three-dimensional look that staring straight through the proscenium from a floor seat doesn’t boast.
As we went to the elevator before the performance the attending woman said, “Sixth Floor – Now at the intermission, go down to the fifth floor if you want to buy something. That’s actually a great place because there is a balcony outside.” So that’s what we did. I really enjoyed the few minutes out on the balcony, looking down onto the familiar reflecting pool and across the arts district… you could even see past the highways on to Fair Park – a beautiful view. The massive aluminum grid of the sunscreen was only a few feet over our heads.
Trammell Crow Center and the Winspear Sunscreen
The aluminum grid of the Winspear Opera House sunshade – very high overhead, reflected in the pool.
The opera is not a quick thing – it takes up the whole day (though for me, the actual performance goes by all too quickly). But it is an experience that I have come to treasure – a special form of entertainment. The history of it, the people watching at the performance, and especially the industry and expertise of everyone associated with the show makes is so worth the effort and expense.
Now I have to look ahead… what to see next? Maybe Death and the Powers? It looks like it will be simulcast all over the world, maybe you can join me?
It was Thursday, time for another Patio Sessions concert around the reflecting pool in front of the Winspear Opera House.
This week was the Dallas String Quartet (facebook). The weather was cool and beautiful, rare for North Texas. I hopped the DART train and made it down there right on time – bought dinner from a food truck and settled in. I knew nothing about the Dallas String Quartet – they are an eclectic electric ensemble. Amplified strings, a bass, a guitar, and a drum kit. They play original arrangements of modern, popular hits and are very, very good at it.
It was a lot of fun.
Dallas String Quartet
(click to enlarge)
Dallas String Quartet, in front of the reflecting pool in the Arts District
(click to enlarge)
Dallas String Quartet
Dallas String Quartet
Dallas String Quartet
(click to enlarge)
Ever since I have been going to the Patio Sessions, I have been slightly aggravated by people that let their children run amok on the reflecting pool while the musicians are playing. The thin layer of moisture on the flat stone is irresistible to the little ones – so I can’t blame them. However, the shows are very mellow, and I wish the parents would control the kids while the band is on – they are very noisy and it’s very distracting.
I was worried about that tonight – a string quartet can be an especially quiet and introspective experience. It was no problem – there were only four kids or so running around and the Dallas String Quartet was well amplified. Plus, their upbeat, modern arrangements held their own against the kids, the rumblings of the food truck generators, and the tolling of the church bells.
And then, to show how wrong I can be… I noticed a crowd of teenagers rapidly gathering on the reflecting pool. It was a dance class from (I assume) the Dallas High School for the Performing Arts right next door. They were on their way somewhere and took the opportunity to dance for all of us.
In ones and twos… and then as an entire group they would run out and dance. They seemed to have a few set pieces memorized and would show off for each other – then dance for the fun of it. It was kinetic and athletic and flat out wonderful. The band said, “I don’t know who they are, but they are great. I’m sure you can do something with this next one,” and they belted out Michael Jackson’s Thriller.
I took a few photos (I’ll put some more up in a few days) but mostly I sat there and stared and laughed. It was a revelation and a surprise and a marvelous one at that. I’ll probably be able to figure out who the kids were, but I almost don’t want to know. Maybe it’s best they remain, to me, a beautiful mystery.
Young dancers on the reflecting pool at the Dallas String Quartet concert.
(click to enlarge)
Dancing at the Dallas String Quartet, Patio Sessions, Arts District, Dallas, Texas
(click to enlarge)
PS– Well, that didn’t take long. I found out who the dancers were. They were from the high school – there to rehearse for their work on the Aurora project on Friday, the 18th.
This is what they will be doing:
Ruddy Udder Dance by Claire Ashley
This performance uses a large-scale, painted inflatable sculpture as a prop worn by twelve dancers. A choreographed sequence unfolds. Ashley is interested in both the high-brow aesthetic pleasure found in the painterly abstraction and monumentality of the object itself, and the absurdly low-brow, playful, high-energy, ecstatic dancing experience and pop culture references that ensue as the object moves in space. Directed by Linda James and Kate Walker and performed by the Repertory Dance Company II from Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts.
A while back we were driving down to the Cedars with a couple friends in the car, looking for something to do. We thought we’d stop by Lee Harvey’s for a beer and maybe a burger, but when we arrived there wasn’t a parking spot in blocks and the beer garden was packed. We weren’t looking for that kind of a crowd – we wanted more of a mellow scene – so we passed by. I was wondering what had attracted that many people so I looked it up later. It was a band called Naked Lunch – a Steely Dan tribute band.
Over time I kept hearing, here and there, how good Naked Lunch was. They were scheduled to play Friday Evening and I thought about going, but the week had been brutal, I was feeling my age, and decided I needed to stay home. Luckily, powerful thunderstorms tore through the Metroplex and the show (semi outdoors) was moved to Sunday afternoon.
I was checking the time out on Lee Harvey’s Facebook Page – and noticed their free food contest. Most days, the fifth commenter on their daily post gets a free drink and entree. I usually never paid attention, but this time I couldn’t help but notice that the post only had two comments. I counted to thirty… then typed “Can’t Buy A Thrill” into the comment line and was surprised to find out I had timed it right and was the winner.
So now we had to go.
Which was extra good because the weather was beautiful (there is no better weather… not even California weather… than late-summer Texas a day or two after a big storm) and the band was most excellent.
Naked Lunch has been playing Steely Dan for fifteen years now… and they have got it about figured out. At one point I was sitting at a picnic table, eating a bit and had my back turned to the band. I remember thinking, “If I didn’t know that was a tribute band playing, I would think someone was spinning some Steely Dan vinyl behind me.”
Of course, to put on a Steely Dan show you need a whale of a band (a lot more than you need for, say, Simon and Garfunkel). Three piece sax/horn section, two guitars, base, drums, xylophone/percussion, keyboards, and a couple of female backup singers. It makes for a big sound.
Since it was a rescheduled afternoon show it wasn’t quite as big a crowd as the time we had driven by. Still, there were a lot of folks, a very diverse crowd, and everybody had a great time.
At a show like this, with so much music over so long of a time, you have to think about what your favorite Steely Dan song is. For someone my age, “Reeling in the Years,” has to be the iconic piece of music, with its rambunctious guitars… or is it “Do it Again”? – man that one brings back memories, but in this, the second decade of the twenty-first century, neither are my favorite. The one I like best is “My Old School” and that amazing horn line. I’ve always had a weakness for instrumentals.
The only downside is that they didn’t do “Dirty Work” – Candy’s favorite.
Naked Lunch at Lee Harvey’s
They may be called “Backup Singers” but they’re pretty important, if you ask me.
Sax and trumpet.
Xylophone and percussion.
Naked Lunch at Lee Harvey’s
Another reason we like to go to Lee Harvey’s on Sundays is that they usually hold benefits for animal rescue groups and there are a lot of dogs in the garden. Candy likes that. Today, Dallas Pets Alive was having their anniversary party. They were selling raffle tickets and Candy, to support the group, bought a handful. Our luck held and we won a 50 buck gift certificate for Lee Harvey’s.
It was time for another Setlist on the Green in Klyde Warren Park – I had been to the first and second ones last season, and the one last week was rained out (though the weather didn’t seem so bad to me). I really have enjoyed these, so I rode the DART train downtown after work and bought myself a sushi roll from a food truck, a beer from the beer trailer, and sat down with my camera down front, ready to rock.
What’s cool about the Setlist on the Green is that, with six different folks playing only a half hour each, you get a variety of styles and attitudes – and if there is one that does not fit your fancy, well, wait a minute and there will be another one. The park is a unique gorgeous urban setting, – even if the stage area and the restaurant site next door seems to be in a perpetual state of construction.
TreyChick at Setlist on the Green
The festivities started with TreyChick (Trey Pendergrass and Natalie Young) who brought a nice sense of humor to their performance. They also were the first band I’ve ever seen using iPads for setlist and lyric sheets. I made a note of one of their lyrics – “I”m not good enough to love you, only good enough to fix your car.” I know that feeling.
Then Luna Matto, Johnny Beuford, and Becky Middleton (from Ishi) did their sets – and they were really cool. As each performer performed and the evening went on, the sun setting, the clouds skidding by overhead between the skyscrapers like oil paints smeared on the sky, behind the stage the distant cars on the busy road shooting down into the buried highway under the park, the crowd slowly growing… it was a great time.
The crowd slowly grows in Klyde Warren Park.
But, I have to admit, almost everyone, me included, were there to hear the last performer, Home by Hovercraft.
First of all… what a damn cool name for a band. I remember, back in the early days of the world (1981) sitting down with another music fanboy and systematically deciding on the best band names. We even made a bracket and voted and such. In the end, he had Talking Heads as the best band name – and I agreed, though I thought The Teardrop Explodes was a hair better. This was thirty years before I had heard of Home by Hovercraft… which would give those titans of the time a run for the money.
Second, there is a lot of buzz about this band and I wanted to see them in the worst way. When the news of something hot and new reaches me, the least cool and hip person on the planet, you know it must be worthwhile.
Home by Hovercraft is greatness. The first thing that strikes you is the instrumentation. The lead singer plays a tarnished euphonium when he isn’t singing. The backup singer (his wife) plays keyboards plus there’s another singer with a mandolin or harmonica. Tonight they added a cello player. There’s a drummer on a kit, but he is assisted in the rhythm section by an Irish Dancer (the lead singer’s sister), stomping out beats on a hunk of basketball court hardwood. When she isn’t dancing, she plays a small glockenspiel.
Home by Hovercraft
Lead Singer with Euphonium
Drums and Mandolin
Irish Dancing Rhythm Section
Keyboards
Home by Hovercraft
Despite the odd instruments, this isn’t a novelty band. They are very tight and extremely talented. The vocals are strong and unique.
I have no idea what genre their music falls into (other than that awful moniker, “indie,” which means nothing)… I guess it can be best described as sounding like Home by Hovercraft.
Home by Hovercraft has a strong theatrical background which comes through on stage – they are very entertaining and confident up there. They have done a musical On the Eve which will be produced by Theater Three later on this year. I have got to see that. I think a lot of the music on their album Are We Chameleons? (I downloaded it from Amazon) is from the musical.
Thursday night was a fun event planned at the park – it was the first Set List on the Green, where they had chosen six local musicians to play from 6:30 on, a half hour each. I had not heard of or heard any of the artists:
Work has been tough this week and as the end of the day approached I began to have second thoughts. I had plenty of stuff I needed to do at home. It would be a hurried trip on the DART train downtown. It was getting cold outside.
Sitting at my desk, I decided to make my decision right when I walked into the parking lot. If it felt cold, I would take my car home, otherwise – off to the train station and a ride downtown.
The air temperature was right on the edge, so I hesitated. I’m am trying to live my life outward, so, if in doubt… I go. I went.
I’m glad I went. I had some sliders from The Butcher’s Son and sat down on a little green table to watch and listen. What I enjoyed was the variety of the performers. You really didn’t know what you were going to get – from someone playing Coldplay covers on a solar powered piano to folk music to cool jazzy vocals to complex emotional original stuff to some real banging on the guitar.
I really liked a few of these guys and will make a note of trying to catch them as they appear hear and there in the Metroplex. There is nothing better than local live music.
They will do this the next couple of Thursday nights, and I’m going to give it a shot. Then they will hopefully start up again in the spring – I’m not sure if this will conflict with the Patio Sessions… but at least Dallas is moving in the right direction.
I did not bring my camera, so no original photos – but here’s some youtube videos of the performers.
I mean, the genuine roots of culture is folk music.
—-Johnny Rotton
Michael Prysock and Mark Deffebach the Mandolin Player
There are no bridges in folk songs because the peasants died building them.
—-Eugene Chadbourne
Michael Prysock
The late sixties and early seventies were kind of a breeding ground for exciting new sounds because easy listening and folk were kind of taking over the airwaves. I think it was a natural next step to take that blissful, easy-going sound and strangle the life out of it.
—-Alice Cooper
You have to open your mind. I like the ability to express myself in a deep way. It’s the closest music to our humanity – it’s like a folk music that rises up out of a culture.
Today was a duo called Bad Veins – a guitar/singer/keyboardist and a drummer. They said they usually play with a backing tape deck (named Irene) but decided to be a little more laid back and simply play. They were pretty darn good. They had a little cadre of fans sitting in plastic chairs in the street. How cool.
Benjamin Davis – Bad Veins guitar player and singer.
I am old enough, just barely old enough, to remember when the Beatles first came over to the States. Back then it was a big deal when a band, a British Invasion Band, actually crossed the pond… I’m not sure why – they had airplanes, after all.
At any rate I remember them getting off the plane at the airport in New York. We lived only a few miles north of the city then. It was covered on the evening news. I had no idea who they were… and am afraid that when I first saw them, I thought they were women. I was only seven years old and I had never seen men with hair that long.
That didn’t last long – even at my age Beatlemania swept everybody up. At that age, I remember the Beatles cartoon on Saturday Morning more than anything, but I was familiar with their music.
Oh, one other little tidbit. I remember when they flew back to England – it was like we would never see them again. Someone was talking about, “Now they are gone, there is this other band, you need to see them.” So I remember watching this “other band” on some variety show. I was too young to understand completely, but even at that age I could tell there was something different about this other band. Especially the lead singer. I didn’t know what, but I knew this guy had something … something different, something a little dangerous.
It was, of course, Mick Jagger and the Stones… and I guess I was right.
Watch this clip of the Stones from Mike Douglas… it’s pretty amazing. Check out the interview at the end (starting at about six minutes). It’s like something from another planet. The world would never be the same after this.
For someone of my age, the music of the Beatles, as much as anything else, set the stage for everything from my earliest memories up through middle school. When I hear anything from them now it brings back memories that are almost visceral, rather than the more specific memories of music that came after.
So even as something as pedestrian as a Beatles tribute band will have a reaction in my noggin’ – bring back the past in a way that’s a lot of fun.
There’s a pretty decent Beatles tribute band in the Metroplex, A Hard Night’s Day. They have been playing around Dallas for fifteen years now. They have five members, which actually makes for a more realistic, if not accurate, recreation of the sound. They usually play two sets – one of the earliest stuff from the sixties, and another of the more psychedelic later Beatles’ fare. Until you sit through one of these long concerts you forget how wide a swath the fab four cut through the music of the decades.
We’ve seen them many times and saw them again when they played on Saturday afternoon at the Cottonwood Arts Festival. It was, as always, a ton of fun and a lot of old memories for some of us and new memories for a few others.
Bill Chance 