1) Shipping and Receiving (201 S Calhoun) has a truly venerable band playing tonight (Thursday), none other than the Skatalites. To quote this informative yet understating sentence from the Wikipedia article about the band, “The Skatalites are a ska band from Jamaica,” which is sort of like saying Magnum P.I. was a crime drama show that ran on CBS – both descriptions skimp on important and exciting details. I’m not going to really wax ecstatic about the Skatalites – you can read the above-linked article and be wowed on your own time – but they started in the ’60s and are pretty much royalty in terms of Jamaican music history, performing as session players and the backing band for ska and reggae greats like Desmond Dekker, Lee Perry, and Bob Marley and the Wailers. Fort Worth’s longest-running reggae band, Pablo and the Hemphill 7 open the show. Suffice to say, this is most definitely the Team to Beat Show of the Week. Tickets at the door are $25. The show is all-ages, doors are at 7pm, and the music starts at 8pm. Here are the Skatalites playing Glastonbury in 2003:
2) Friday is a Friday the 13th, so after you get your 13 tattoo and/or escape getting murdered by Jason Voorhees (or his mom), head to the Moon (2000 W Berry) for a high energy show headlined by Henry the Archer, with Mean Motor Scooter and .orgcore band Ferals in the opening slots. I was thinking about Mean Motor Scooter’s live show the other night, as I was at the DOMAs and that band were up for Best EP. I concluded that few bands really “leave it all on stage” the way MMS do. I kind of hate that phrase, but it is indeed accurate for describing any given Mean Motor Scooter performance. This is the video for Henry the Archer’s “The Bad,” featured in our annual list of the top local music videos:
3) There’s also a good bill at MASS (1002 S Main) on Friday night: surfy garage blasters The Cosmic Creeps shoulder the headlining duties, preceded by’90s rock-influenced The Daybreak Hits hitting the stage at 10:30, off-kilter slacker rockers Chillamundo at 9:30, and ska punk wrecking crew How’s My Driving opening the show at 8:30. Doors are at 8, cover is $8-$10, and age requirement is 18 or older. Here’s a clip of the Cosmic Creeps rockin’ Doc’s:
4) There’s another show at Shipping this week that you probably don’t want to sleep on, even though it doesn’t include any bands. On Saturday night, the Near Southside bar/venue/apartment building’s Tilt Room erupts with the overheated boasts, threats, and bodyslams of the Elite Wrestling Association. If you’re like me, you probably have never heard of EWA, but does that even matter? I’ve been to amateur wrestling events, and take it from me, they are a ton of fan. The Facebook invite is long on super-heated verbiage, including the list of the combatants, a rogues gallery with names like “Sleezyboy” Bam Bam Malone, Nate “The Ice Cream Cowboy” Collins, and Kenny Steele. Fuck, I’m getting amped about this just typing about it! Show is all-ages, but expect a lot of adult themes, cussing, and strobe lights, plus the requisitely cartoonish violence. It goes from 6:30 to 10:30, and cover is $10. Here’s what to expect from this crew of clotheslining knuckleheads:
5) Need a blues fix? Uptown Dallas-based recording studio Regogo Records’ (2503 Butler, Dallas) third annual Bob Dance Texas Blues Festival is on Saturday, and it’s bringing a couple Texas blues legends: Jim Suhler and Monkey Beat and Dempsey “DC” Crenshaw and his band, the Capitols, with roots rockin’ Roller Trio opening the show. Local blues fixtures Morgan Bodie and king of sax Johnny Reno will also appear. If the name Bob Dance means anything to you, there will be some special appearances by some famous faces from the world of F1 racing. The tickets are apparently “invite only,” but that just means you have to email someone; the details for that quest are found here.
